Characterization of Tomato Pulp Stickiness during Spray Drying using a Contact Probe Method

A contact probe test was developed to characterize the surface stickiness of a tomato pulp droplet at various moisture contents and temperatures. To provide tomato pulp samples with different moisture contents, tomato powder produced by a laboratory spray dryer was wetted to seven different moisture levels. The instantaneous tensile force curve was recorded during the probe withdrawal from which the maximum tensile force and other useful information were obtained and cross-examined against images of bonding, debonding, and failure of the material. Generally, at higher moisture contents tomato pulp exhibited cohesive failure followed by semi-adhesive failure, but when moisture content decreased to a certain level, a peak tensile pressure was observed and the failure was adhesive. In addition, higher temperatures shifted the points of adhesive failure toward lower moisture content.     

Spray Drying Performance of a Laboratory Spray Dryer for Tomato Powder Preparation

This work investigates the performance of a spray dryer for tomato powder preparation by spray drying of tomato pulp. Samples of tomato pulp with a 14% constant total solids concentration were used, and a pilot scale spray dryer (Buchi, B-191) with cocurrent operation and a two-fluid nozzle atomizer was employed for the spray drying process. Twenty-four different experiments were conducted keeping constant the feed rate, the feed temperature, and the atomizer pressure, and varying the compressed air flow rate, the flow rate of drying rate, and the air inlet temperature. In each experiment the air outlet temperature was recorded. Data for the residue remaining in the chamber and cyclone walls was gathered and two types of efficiencies were calculated as an indication of the spray dryer performance. Analysis of experimental data yielded correlations between residue accumulation and the variable operating conditions. The same operating parameters had a great influence on the air outlet temperature whereas temperature deviations were observed comparing measured air outlet temperatures with corresponding outlet adiabatic saturation temperatures.     

An Advanced Centrifugal Technique to Characterize the Sticking Properties of Tomato Pulp during Drying

An advanced centrifugal technique was developed to characterize the stickiness of tomato pulp at various moisture contents and temperatures. To provide tomato pulp samples with different moisture contents, tomato powder produced by a laboratory spray dryer was wetted to six different moisture levels. By noting the rotational speed for a tomato pulp droplet detachment and weighing the mass of the droplet remaining on the surface it is possible to gauge the approximate attachment forces holding the droplet to the substrate. The effects of droplet mass and centrifugation time after reaching the desired rotor speed on the detachment rate were also studied. The detachment force was found to increase at the beginning and then started decreasing as the moisture content decreased presenting a maximum at moisture content of about 34%. In addition, the higher the droplet temperature, the higher the attachment force.     

Design synthesis and structural optimization of a lightweight,monobloc cast iron brake disc with fingered hub

This article focuses on generating a monobloc fingered hub (top-hat) disc design, aiming at reducing disc mass but maintaining rotor thermal capacity, while also improving heat dissipation characteristics. The analyses and tests demonstrated that such a design is possible to achieve, with mass reduction of just over 9%. The activities included research into cast iron modelling, which gave very important insights into the limits of mechanical performance under bending. Initial finite element analyses enabled considerable progress to be made towards establishing a baseline design, but only through shape optimization and topology optimization procedures was the full potential of the design accomplished. Shape optimization facilitated the reduction of maximum principal stress by 32%, considerably improving disc torsional strength with practically no increase in mass. The safety factor in torsion achieved a value of 3.57. Topology optimization provided further, although small, mass reduction (1.5%) while maintaining low stress levels.     

Pressure- and Temperature-Driven Flow Through Triangular and Trapezoidal Microchannels

A detailed study of pressure- and temperature-driven flows through long channels of triangular and trapezoidal cross sections is carried out. Due to the imposed pressure and temperature gradients there is a combined gas flow consisting of a thermal creep flow from the cold toward the hot reservoir and a Poiseuille flow from the high- toward the low-pressure reservoir. The formulation is based on the linearized Shakhov model subject to Maxwell boundary conditions, and it is solved numerically using a finite-difference scheme in the physical space and the discrete velocity method in the molecular velocity space. The results are valid in the whole range of the Knudsen number. In addition to the dimensionless flow rates, a methodology is presented to estimate for a certain set of input data the mass flow rates and the pressure distribution along the channel. Finally, special attention is given to the case of zero net mass flow and to the computation of the coefficient of the thermomolecular pressure difference.     

Microstructure effect on the properties of a commercial low-fusing dental porcelain

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of firing cycle on a dental porcelain microstructure in order to correlate microstructure changes with mechanical and thermal properties. A commercial low-fusing dental porcelain powder (Omega 900, Vita) was investigated for this purpose. The powder was treated at different temperatures in the range 750–1000 °C. The fired samples were characterized in terms of their morphology and microstructure, and their mechanical and thermal properties were evaluated. The results showed that firing temperature affects porcelain microstructure influencing significantly in this way both the mechanical properties and the thermal expansion coefficient of the fired objects. Firing at 800 °C led to a homogeneous structure. After treatment at this temperature, the leucite crystals exhibit their maximum concentration and they are well dispersed into the glassy phase. As a consequence the optimum mechanical strength and the maximum thermal expansion coefficient are observed in these samples.     

Non-linear properties of conditional returns under scale mixtures

This article provides a framework for analyzing multifactor financial returns that violate the Gaussian distributional assumption. Analytical expressions are provided for the non-linear regression equation and its prediction error (heteroscedasticity) by modeling the returns of financial assets as scale mixtures of the multivariate normal distribution. The expressions involve conditional moments of the mixing variable. These conditional moments are explicitly derived when the mixing variable belongs to the generalized inverse Gaussian family, of which gamma, inverse gamma and the inverse Gaussian distributions are distinguished members. The derived expressions are non-linear in the parameters and involve the modified Bessel function of the third kind. The effects of the non-linear model, in terms of both the regression equation and heteroscedasticity against the corresponding values for the standard linear regression model, are captured through simulations for the gamma, inverse gamma and inverse Gaussian distributions. The proposed scale mixture models extend the well-known arbitrage pricing theory (APT) in financial modeling to non-Gaussian cases. The methodology is applied to analyze the intra-day log returns quarterly data for DELL and COKE regressed against S&P 500 for the years 1998-2000.     

Bioreactors in Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering is a promising interdisciplinary scientific field of regenerative medicine. Aiming at the structural and functional restoration of damaged tissues and organs, it possesses a role of significant socioeconomical impact. In the course towards the ultimate goal of artificially constructed natural organs, our knowledge of the elementary constitutive components of living organisms and the intrinsic mechanisms that drive their interactions is greatly enhanced. Bioreactors are valuable tools providing the technological means to investigate fundamental issues for basic research and to improve tissue‐engineering products for clinical applications. They are devices enabling the in vitro simulation of the in vivo biological, physical and mechanical environment of growing tissues. In this review paper, we discuss the general demands defining the design considerations for modern bioreactor systems. These criteria originate from physiological characteristics of the cells and biochemical and mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM). In this context, we present an overview of the various bioreactor systems dedicated to the study of specific functional tissues developed by numerous research groups.