Simultaneous effects of total solids content, milk base, heat treatment temperature and sample temperature on the rheological properties of plain stirred yogurt

Response surface methodology was used to establish a relationship between total solids content, milk base, heat treatment temperature, and sample temperature, and consistency index, flow behaviour index, and apparent viscosity of plain stirred yogurts. Statistical treatments resulted in developments of mathematical models. All samples presented shear thinning fluid behaviour. The increase of the content of total solids (9.3-22.7 %) and milk base heat treatment temperature (81.6-98.4°C) resulted in a significant increase in consistency index and a decrease in flow behaviour index. Increase in the sample temperature (1.6-18.4°C) caused a decrease in consistency index and increase in flow behaviour index. Apparent viscosity was directly related to the content of total solids. Rheological properties of yogurt were highly dependent on the content of total solids in milk.

Perception of brittle nails in dermatologic patients: a cross-sectional study

A síndrome das unhas frágeis caracteriza-se por fragilidade da lâmina ungueal, acometendo 27% das mulheres. Realizamos estudo transversal com pacientes dermatológicas sobre a percepção de fragilidade ungueal. Avaliamos 138 pacientes com idade mediana de 36,5 anos. Ao exame, 57% apresentavam alterações e 49% relatavam fragilidade ungueal. Os três primeiros dedos das mãos foram os mais acometidos. A onicosquizia associou-se com onicofagia (OR = 3,29), trabalhos domésticos (OR = 2,95) e contato com água (OR = 2,44). A onicorrexe teve a mais forte associação com a percepção de fragilidade ungueal (OR = 17,89). A fragilidade foi mais percebida em negras, pardas e atópicas e associou-se com humor depressivo.

A local-global scheme for tracking crack path in three-dimensional solids

This paper aims to contribute to the three-dimensional generalization of numerical prediction of crack propagation through the formulation of finite elements with embedded discontinuities. The analysis of crack propagation in two-dimensional problems yields lines of discontinuity that can be tracked in a relatively simple way through the sequential construction of straight line segments oriented according to the direction of failure within each finite element in the solid. In three-dimensional analysis, the construction of the discontinuity path is more complex because it requires the creation of plane surfaces within each element, which must be continuous between the elements. In the method proposed by Chaves (2003) the crack is determined by solving a problem analogous to the heat conduction problem, established from local failure orientations, based on the stress state of the mechanical problem. To minimize the computational effort, in this paper a new strategy is proposed whereby the analysis for tracking the discontinuity path is restricted to the domain formed by some elements near the crack surface that develops along the loading process. The proposed methodology is validated by performing three-dimensional analyses of basic problems of experimental fractures and comparing their results with those reported in the literature.

Construction of a chamber for in situ monitoring of the drying process of gels and porous solids

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Dyspeptic symptoms and delayed gastric emptying of solids in patients with inactive Crohn's disease

Background: Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) have been shown to present dyspeptic symptoms more frequently than the general population. Some of these symptoms could be related to motility disorders to some degree. Then, we propose to investigate whether gastric emptying of solids in patients with inactive CD is delayed and to determine the relationships between gastric emptying and dyspeptic symptoms in inactive CD. Methods: Twenty-six patients with inactive Crohn's disease, as defined by a Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) < 150, underwent a gastric emptying test by breath test using C-13 octanoic acid coupled to a solid meal and answered a validated questionnaire (The Porto Alegre Dyspeptic Symptoms Questionnaire) to assess dyspeptic symptoms. Patients with scores >= 6 were considered to have dyspepsia. The control group was composed by 19 age-and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Results: Patients with CD had a significantly longer t 1/2 and t lag (p<0.05) than the controls. CD patients with dyspepsia had significantly (p<0.05) prolonged gastric emptying when compared to patients without dyspeptic symptoms. When the individual symptom patterns were analyzed, only vomiting was significantly associated with delayed gastric emptying (p<0.05). There was no difference between the subgroups of patients with respect to gender, CDAI scores, disease location, clinical behavior (obstructive/obstructive) or previous gastrointestinal surgery. Conclusion: Delayed gastric emptying in inactive Crohn's disease patients seems to be associated with dyspeptic symptoms, particularly vomiting, even without any evidence of gastrointestinal obstruction.

Dependence of brittle-to-ductile transition on crystallographic direction in diamond turning of single-crystal silicon

The objective of this paper is to show the dependence relationship between the crystallographic orientations upon brittle-to-ductile transition during diamond turning of monocrystalline silicon. Cutting tests were performed using a -5 degrees rake angle round nose diamond tool at different machining scales. At the micrometre level, the feedrate was kept constant at 2.5 micrometres per revolution (mu m/r), and the depth of cut was varied from 1 to 5 mu m. At the submicrometre level, the depth of cut was kept constant at 500 nm and the feedrate varied from 5 to 10 mu m/r. At the micrometre level, the uncut shoulder generated with an interrupted cutting test procedure provided a quantitative measurement of the ductile-to-brittle transition. Results show that the critical chip thickness in silicon for ductile material removal reaches a maximum of 285 nm in the [100] direction and a minimum of 115 nm in the [110] direction, when the depth of cut was 5 mu m. It was found that when a submicrometre depth of cut was applied, microcracks were revealed in the [110] direction, which is the softer direction in silicon. Micro Raman spectroscopy was used to estimate surface residual stress after machining. Compressive residual stress in the range 142 MPa and smooth damage free surface finish was probed in the [100] direction for a depth of cut of 5 mu m, whereas residual stresses in the range 350 MPa and brittle damage was probed in the [110] direction for a depth of cut of 500 nm.

Dyspeptic symptoms and delayed gastric emptying of solids in patients with inactive Crohn’s disease

Background Patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) have been shown to present dyspeptic symptoms more frequently than the general population. Some of these symptoms could be related to motility disorders to some degree. Then, we propose to investigate whether gastric emptying of solids in patients with inactive CD is delayed and to determine the relationships between gastric emptying and dyspeptic symptoms in inactive CD. Methods Twenty-six patients with inactive Crohn’s disease, as defined by a Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI) < 150, underwent a gastric emptying test by breath test using 13C octanoic acid coupled to a solid meal and answered a validated questionnaire (The Porto Alegre Dyspeptic Symptoms Questionnaire) to assess dyspeptic symptoms. Patients with scores ≥ 6 were considered to have dyspepsia. The control group was composed by 19 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Results Patients with CD had a significantly longer t 1/2 and t lag (p<0.05) than the controls. CD patients with dyspepsia had significantly (p<0.05) prolonged gastric emptying when compared to patients without dyspeptic symptoms. When the individual symptom patterns were analyzed, only vomiting was significantly associated with delayed gastric emptying (p<0.05). There was no difference between the subgroups of patients with respect to gender, CDAI scores, disease location, clinical behavior (obstructive/obstructive) or previous gastrointestinal surgery. Conclusion Delayed gastric emptying in inactive Crohn’s disease patients seems to be associated with dyspeptic symptoms, particularly vomiting, even without any evidence of gastrointestinal obstruction.

The meccano method for simultaneous volume parametrization and mesh generation of complex solids

[EN]The meccano method is a novel and promising mesh generation method for simultaneously creating adaptive tetrahedral meshes and volume parametrizations of a complex solid. We highlight the fact that the method requires minimum user intervention and has a low computational cost. The method builds a 3-D triangulation of the solid as a deformation of an appropriate tetrahedral mesh of the meccano. The new mesh generator combines an automatic parametrization of surface triangulations, a local refinement algorithm for 3-D nested triangulations and a simultaneous untangling and smoothing procedure. At present, the procedure is fully automatic for a genus-zero solid. In this case, the meccano can be a single cube. The efficiency of the proposed technique is shown with several applications...

The meccano method for automatic 3-d triangulation and volume parametrization of complex solids

[EN]In this paper we review the novel meccano method. We summarize the main stages (subdivision, mapping, optimization) of this automatic tetrahedral mesh generation technique and we concentrate the study to complex genus-zero solids. In this case, our procedure only requires a surface triangulation of the solid. A crucial consequence of our method is the volume parametrization of the solid to a cube. We construct volume T-meshes for isogeometric analysis by using this result. The efficiency of the proposed technique is shown with several examples. A comparison between the meccano method and standard mesh generation techniques is introduced.-1…

Experimental investigation into the effect of stress on dissolution and growth of very soluble brittle salts in aqueous solution

Das Studium der Auflösungs- und Wachstumsprozesse an Feststoff-Flüssigkeits-Grenzflächen unter nicht-hydrostatischen Beanspruchungen ist wesentlich für das Verständnis von Defor-mationsprozessen, die in der Erde ablaufen. Unter diesen genannten Prozessen gehört die Drucklösung zu den wichtigsten duktilen Deformationsprozessen, von der Diagenese bishin zur niedrig- bis mittelgradigen metamorphen Bedingungen. Bisher ist allerdings wenig darüber bekannt, welche mechanischen, physikalischen oder chemischen Potentialenergie-Gradienten die Drucklösung steuern. I.a. wird angenommen, daß die Drucklösung durch Un-terschiede kristallplastischer Verformungsenergien oder aber durch Unterschiede der Normal-beanspruchung an Korngrenzen gesteuert wird. Unterschiede der elastischen Verformungs-energien werden dabei allerdings als zu gering erachtet, um einen signifikanten Beitrag zu leisten. Aus diesem Grund werden sie als mögliche treibende Kräfte für die Drucklösung vernachlässigt. Andererseits haben neue experimentelle und theoretische Untersuchungen gezeigt, daß die elastische Verformung in der Tat einen starken Einfluß auf Lösungs- und Wachstumsmechanismen von Kristallen in einer Lösung haben kann. Da die in der Erdkruste vorherrschenden Deformationsmechanismen überwiegend im elastischen Verformungsbereich der Gesteine ablaufen, ist es sehr wichtig, das Verständnis für die Effekte, die die elastische Verformung verursacht, zu erweitern, und ihre Rolle während der Deformation durch Drucklösung zu definieren. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit Experimenten, bei denen der Effekt der mechanisch kompressiven Beanspruchung auf Lösungs- und Wachstumsprozesse von Einzelkristallen unterschiedlicher, sehr gut löslicher, elastisch/spröder Salze untersucht wurde. Diese Salze wurden als Analoga gesteinsbildender Minerale wie Quarz und Calcit ausgewählt. Der Einfluß von Stress auf die Ausbildung der Oberflächenmikrostrukturen in einer untersättigten Lösung wurde an Kaliumalaun untersucht.Lösungsrillen (20 – 40 µm breit, 10 – 40 µm tief und 20 – 80 µm Abstand) entwickelten sich in den Bereichen, in denen die Beanspruchung im Kristall am größten war. Sie verschwanden wieder, sobald der Kristall entlastet wurde. Diese Rillen entwickelten sich parallel zu niedrig indizierten kristallographischen Richtungen und sub-perpendikular zu den Trajektorien, die der maximalen, lokalen kompressiven Beanspruchung entsprachen. Die Größe der Lösungsrillen hing von der lokalen Oberflächenbeanspruchung, der Oberflächenenergie und dem Untersättigungsgrad der wässrigen Lösung ab. Die mikrostrukturelle Entwicklung der Kristalloberflächen stimmte gut mit den theoretischen Vorhersagen überein, die auf den Modellen von Heidug & Leroy (1994) und Leroy & Heidug (1994) basieren. Der Einfluß der Beanspruchung auf die Auflösungsrate wurde an Natriumchlorat-Einzelkristallen untersucht. Dabei wurde herausgefunden, daß sich gestresste Kristalle schneller lösen als Kristalle, auf die keine Beanspruchung einwirkt. Der experimentell beobachtete Anstieg der Auflösungsrate der gestressten Kristalle war ein bis zwei Größenordnungen höher als theoretisch erwartet. Die Auflösungsrate stieg linear mit dem Stress an, und der Anstieg war um so größer, je stärker die Lösung untersättigt war. Außerdem wurde der Effekt der Bean-spruchung auf das Kristallwachstum an Kaliumalaun- und Kaliumdihydrogenphosphat-Ein-zelkristallen untersucht. Die Wachstumsrate der Flächen {100} und {110} von Kalium-alaun war bei Beanspruchung stark reduziert. Für all diese Ergebnisse spielte die Oberflächenrauhigkeit der Kristalle eine Schlüsselrolle, indem sie eine nicht-homogene Stressverteilung auf der Kristalloberfläche verursachte. Die Resultate zeigen, daß die elastische Verformung eine signifikante Rolle während der Drucklösung spielen kann, und eine signifikante Deformation in der oberen Kruste verursachen kann, bei Beanspruchungen, die geringer sind, als gemeinhin angenommen wird. Somit folgt, daß die elastische Bean-spruchung berücksichtigt werden muß, wenn mikrophysikalische Deformationsmodelle entwickelt werden sollen.

From discrete anions to extended solids: new uranium thiophosphates

Die wichtigste Klasse zeotyper Verbindungen sind die Thio- und Selenophosphate der Übergangsmetalle. Ziel dieser Dissertation war die Darstellung und Charakterisierung neuer Uranthiophosphate. Die dargestellten Verbindungen enthalten vierwertige Urankationen, die von acht Schwefelatomen koordiniert sind. Da die enthaltenen Thiophosphatanionen in den meisten Fällen als zweizähnige Liganden fungieren, entstehen dreidimensionale Netzwerke mit pseudotetraedrisch koordinierten Metallzentren. In der Verbindung U(P2S6)2 durchdringen sich drei identische diamantartige Netzwerke, wodurch optimale Raumerfüllung erreicht wird. Die Einführung von Alkalimetallkationen in das System führt zu einer Vielzahl neuer Verbindungen, deren Eigenschaften durch die Stöchiometrie der Edukte und durch die Kationenradien bestimmt werden. Beispielsweise enthält die Kristallstruktur von Na2U(PS4)2 zweidimensionale anionische [U(PS4)2]n-Schichten, während die analoge Verbindung CsLiU(PS4)2 eine poröse dreidimensionale Netzwerkstruktur besitzt. Der Vergleich der untersuchten quaternären und quinären Verbindungen zeigt, dass eine Korrelation zwischen dem Kationenradius und dem Durchmesser der Poren besteht. Dies lässt auf eine Templatfunktion der Alkalimetallkationen beim Aufbau der anionischen Teilstruktur schließen. Die neuen Verbindungen wurden aus reaktiven Polysulfidschmelzflüssen oder durch Auflösen amorpher Vorläufer in Alkalimetallchloridschmelzen synthetisiert. Die Kristallstrukturen wurden durch Einkristall-Röntgenmethoden bestimmt. Ein Vergleich der magnetischen Eigenschaften der Verbindungen beweist, dass in allen untersuchten Fällen U(IV) vorliegt. Die Substanzen zeigen paramagnetisches Verhalten, in UP2S7 und CsLiU(PS4)2 sind außerdem antiferromagnetische Wechselwirkungen zwischen benachbarten Uranatomen nachweisbar.

A study of high solids anaerobic digestion of Bucknell University food waste followed by aerobic curing

Anaerobic digestion of food scraps has the potential to accomplish waste minimization, energy production, and compost or humus production. At Bucknell University, removal of food scraps from the waste stream could reduce municipal solid waste transportation costs and landfill tipping fees, and provide methane and humus for use on campus. To determine the suitability of food waste produced at Bucknell for high-solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD), a year-long characterization study was conducted. Physical and chemical properties, waste biodegradability, and annual production of biodegradable waste were assessed. Bucknell University food and landscape waste was digested at pilot-scale for over a year to test performance at low and high loading rates, ease of operation at 20% solids, benefits of codigestion of food and landscape waste, and toprovide digestate for studies to assess the curing needs of HSAD digestate. A laboratory-scale curing study was conducted to assess the curing duration required to reduce microbial activity, phytotoxicity, and odors to acceptable levels for subsequent use ofhumus. The characteristics of Bucknell University food and landscape waste were tested approximately weekly for one year, to determine chemical oxygen demand (COD), total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), and biodegradability (from batch digestion studies). Fats, oil, and grease and total Kjeldahl nitrogen were also tested for some food waste samples. Based on the characterization and biodegradability studies, Bucknell University dining hall food waste is a good candidate for HSAD. During batch digestion studies Bucknell University food waste produced a mean of 288 mL CH4/g COD with a 95%confidence interval of 0.06 mL CH4/g COD. The addition of landscape waste for digestion increased methane production from both food and landscape waste; however, because the landscape waste biodegradability was extremely low the increase was small.Based on an informal waste audit, Bucknell could collect up to 100 tons of food waste from dining facilities each year. The pilot-scale high-solids anaerobic digestion study confirmed that digestion ofBucknell University food waste combined with landscape waste at a low organic loading rate (OLR) of 2 g COD/L reactor volume-day is feasible. During low OLR operation, stable reactor performance was demonstrated through monitoring of biogas production and composition, reactor total and volatile solids, total and soluble chemical oxygendemand, volatile fatty acid content, pH, and bicarbonate alkalinity. Low OLR HSAD of Bucknell University food waste and landscape waste combined produced 232 L CH4/kg COD and 229 L CH4/kg VS. When OLR was increased to high loading (15 g COD/L reactor volume-day) to assess maximum loading conditions, reactor performance became unstable due to ammonia accumulation and subsequent inhibition. The methaneproduction per unit COD also decreased (to 211 L CH4/kg COD fed), although methane production per unit VS increased (to 272 L CH4/kg VS fed). The degree of ammonia inhibition was investigated through respirometry in which reactor digestate was diluted and exposed to varying concentrations of ammonia. Treatments with low ammoniaconcentrations recovered quickly from ammonia inhibition within the reactor. The post-digestion curing process was studied at laboratory-scale, to provide a preliminary assessment of curing duration. Digestate was mixed with woodchips and incubated in an insulated container at 35 °C to simulate full-scale curing self-heatingconditions. Degree of digestate stabilization was determined through oxygen uptake rates, percent O2, temperature, volatile solids, and Solvita Maturity Index. Phytotoxicity was determined through observation of volatile fatty acid and ammonia concentrations.Stabilization of organics and elimination of phytotoxic compounds (after 10–15 days of curing) preceded significant reductions of volatile sulfur compounds (hydrogen sulfide, methanethiol, and dimethyl sulfide) after 15–20 days of curing. Bucknell University food waste has high biodegradability and is suitable for high-solids anaerobic digestion; however, it has a low C:N ratio which can result in ammonia accumulation under some operating conditions. The low biodegradability of Bucknell University landscape waste limits the amount of bioavailable carbon that it can contribute, making it unsuitable for use as a cosubstrate to increase the C:N ratio of food waste. Additional research is indicated to determine other cosubstrates with higher biodegradabilities that may allow successful HSAD of Bucknell University food waste at high OLRs. Some cosubstrates to investigate are office paper, field residues, or grease trap waste. A brief curing period of less than 3 weeks was sufficient to produce viable humus from digestate produced by low OLR HSAD of food and landscape waste.

Sudden Increase and Regrowth of Fecal Coliforms and Escherichia Coli in Wastewater Biosolids After High Solids Centrifugation

Treatment plants that operate either thermophilic or mesophilic anaerobic digesters with centrifugal dewatering processes have consistently observed densities of fecal coliform and Escherichia coli, both indicator bacteria, that decrease during digestion but then increase after dewatering and storage. The increases have been characterized as two separate phenomena to explain this observation: 1) “Sudden Increase,” or SI, which is defined as the increase that occurs immediately after dewatering and 2) “regrowth,” which is defined as an increase during storage of cake samples over a period of hours or days. The SI observation appears to be more prevalent with biosolids that are generated with thermophilic processes and dewatered by centrifugation. Both thermophilic and mesophilic digesters with centrifuge dewatering processes have observed the regrowth phenomena. This research hypothesizes that the SI phenomenon is due to the presence of viable nonculturable (VNC) bacteria that are reactivated during dewatering. In other words, the bacteria were always present but were not enumerated by standard culturing methods (SCM). Analysis of the E. coli density in thermally treated solids by SCMs and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) indicated that E. coli densities are often underestimated by SCM. When analyzed with qPCR, the E. coli density after digestion can be 4-5 orders of magnitude greater than the non-detect levels identified by SCMs, which supports the non-culturable hypothesis. The VNC state describes a condition where bacteria are alive but unable to sustain the metabolic process needed for cellular division. Supplements added to culturing media were investigated to determine if the resuscitation of VNC bacteria could be enhanced. The autoinducer molecules Nhexanoyl- L-Homoserine lactone (C6-HSL), 3-oxo-N-octanoyl-L-Homoserine lactone (3-oxo- C8-HSL), and norepinephrine were unable to induce the resuscitation of VNC E. coli. Additional sampling was performed to determine if autoinducer molecules, peroxides, or other as of yet unknown inhibitory agents and toxins could be removed from biosolids during SCM. Culture media supplemented with the peroxide degrading compounds catalase, α-ketoglutaric acid, and sodium pyruvate was unable to resuscitate non-culturable E. coli. The additions of bentonite and exponential growth phase E. coli cell-free supernatant to culturing media were also unable to increase the culturability of E. coli. To remove inhibitory agents and toxins, a cell washing technique was employed prior to performing SCM; however, this cell washing technique may have increased cellular stresses that inhibited resuscitation since cell densities decreased. A novel laboratory-scale dewatering process was also investigated to determine if the SI and regrowth phenomena observed in full-scale centrifugal dewatering could be mimicked in the laboratory using a lab shearing device. Fecal coliform and E. coli densities in laboratory prepared cake samples were observed to be an order of magnitude higher than full-scale dewatered cakes. Additionally, the laboratory-scale dewatering process was able to resuscitate fecal coliforms and E. coli in stored sludge such that the density increased by 4-5 orders of magnitude from nondetect values. Lastly, the addition of aluminum sulfate during centrifuge dewatering at a full-scale utility produced an increased regrowth of fecal coliforms and E. coli that was sustained for 5 days.

High Solids Co-Digestion of Food and Landscape Waste and the Potential for Ammonia Toxicity

A pilot-scale study was completed to determine the feasibility of high-solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD) of a mixture of food and landscape wastes at a university in central Pennsylvania (USA). HSAD was stable at low loadings (2g COD/L-day), but developed inhibitory ammonia concentrations at high loadings (15g COD/L-day). At low loadings, methane yields were 232L CH4/kg COD fed and 229L CH4/kg VS fed, and at high loadings yields were 211L CH4/kg COD fed and 272L CH4/kg VS fed. Based on characterization and biodegradability studies, food waste appears to be a good candidate for HSAD at low organic loading rates; however, the development of ammonia inhibition at high loading rates suggests that the C:N ratio is too low for use as a single substrate. The relatively low biodegradability of landscape waste as reported herein made it an unsuitable substrate to increase the C:N ratio. Codigestion of food waste with a substrate high in bioavailable carbon is recommended to increase the C:N ratio sufficiently to allow HSAD at loading rates of 15g COD/L-day. Copyright 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.