Effects of Radio Frequency Tempering on the Texture of Frozen Tilapia Fillets

Radio frequency (RF) tempering has been proposed as a new alternative method for tempering frozen products because of its advantages of rapid and volumetric heating. In this study, the texture of RF-tempered frozen tilapia fillets was determined under different RF conditions, the effects of related factors on the texture were analyzed, and the mechanisms by which RF tempering affected the texture of the tempered fillets were evaluated. The results show that the springiness (from 0.84 mm to 0.79 mm), cohesiveness (from 0.64 mm to 0.57 mm), and resilience (from 0.33 mm to 0.25 mm) decreased as the electrode gap was increased and the power remained at 600 W, while the shear force increased as the power was increased for the 12 cm electrode gap (from 15.18 N to 16.98 N), and the myofibril fragmentation index (MFI) values were markedly higher at 600 W than at 300 W or 900 W (p < 0.05). In addition, the tempering uniformity had a positive effect on hardness and chewiness. The statistical analysis showed that the texture after RF tempering under different RF conditions correlated relatively strongly with the free water content, cooking loss, and migration of bound water to immobilized water. The decrease in free water and bound water migration to immobilized water resulted in a significant increase in cohesiveness and resilience.

Strength Determination of High Strength Concrete Blended with Copper Slag and Fly Ash

An experimental analysis was conducted to study the effects of using copper slag as a fine aggregate (FA) and the effect of fly ash as partial replacement of cement on the properties high strength concrete. In this analysis total ten concrete mixtures were prepared, out of which five mixes containing different proportions of copper slag ranging from 0% (for the control mix) to 75% were prepared and remaining five mixes containing fly ash as partial replacement of cement ranging from 6% to 30% (all mixes contains 50% copper slag as sand replacements). Concrete matrix were tested for compressive strength, tensile strength and flexural strength tests. Addition of copper slag as sand replacement up to 50% yielded comparable strength with that of the control matrix. However, further additions of copper slag, caused reduction in strength due to an increment of the free water content in the mix. Concrete mix with 75% copper slag replacement gave the lowest compressive strength value of approximately 80 MPa at 28 days curing period, which is almost 4% more than the strength of the control mix. For this concrete containing 50% copper slag, fly ash is introduced in the concrete to achieve the better compressive, split and flexural strengths. It was also observed that, introduction of the fly ash gave better results than concrete containing 50% copper slag. When concrete prepared with 18 % of fly ash, the strength has increased approximately 4%, and strength decreased with further replacements of the cement with fly ash. Hence, it is suggested that 50% of copper slag can be used as replacement of sand and 18% fly ash can be used as replacement of cement in order to obtain high strength concrete.

Dilated perivascular space is related to reduced free-water in surrounding white matter among healthy adults and elderlies but not in patients with severe cerebral small vessel disease

Perivascular space facilitates cerebral interstitial water clearance. However, it is unclear how dilated perivascular space (dPVS) affects the interstitial water of surrounding white matter. We aimed to determine the presence and extent of changes in normal-appearing white matter water components around dPVS in different populations. Twenty healthy elderly subjects and 15 elderly subjects with severe cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD, with lacunar infarction 6 months before the scan) were included in our study. And other 28 healthy adult subjects were enrolled under a different scanning parameter to see if the results are comparable. The normal-appearing white matter around dPVS was categorized into 10 layers (1 mm thickness each) based on their distance to dPVS. We evaluated the mean isotropic-diffusing water volume fraction in each layer. We discovered a significantly reduced free-water content in the layers closely adjacent to the dPVS in the healthy elderlies. however, this reduction around dPVS was weaker in the CSVD subjects. We also discovered an elevated free-water content within dPVS. DPVS played different roles in healthy subjects or CSVD subjects. The reduced water content around dPVS in healthy subjects suggests these MR-visible PVSs are not always related to the stagnation of fluid.

Deep white matter hyperintensity is associated with the dilation of perivascular space

Understanding the pathophysiology of white matter hyperintensity (WMH) is necessary to reduce its harmfulness. Dilated perivascular space (PVS) had been found related to WMH. In the present study, we aimed to examine the topological connections between WMH and PVS, and to investigate whether increased interstitial fluid mediates the correlation between PVS and WMH volumes. One hundred and thirty-six healthy elder subjects were retrospectively included from a prospectively collected community cohort. Sub-millimeter T2 weighted and FLAIR images were acquired for assessing the association between PVS and WMH. Diffusion tensor imaging and free-water (FW) analytical methods were used to quantify white matter free water content, and to explore whether it mediates the PVS-WMH association. We found that most (89%) of the deep WMH lesions were spatially connected with PVS, exhibiting several interesting topological types. PVS and WMH volumes were also significantly correlated (r = 0.222, p < 0.001). FW mediated this association in the whole sample (β = 0.069, p = 0.037) and in subjects with relatively high WMH load (β = 0.118, p = 0.006). These findings suggest a tight association between PVS dilation and WMH formation, which might be linked by the impaired glymphatic drainage function and accumulated local interstitial fluid.

A robust method for the detection of small changes in relaxation parameters and free water content in the vicinity of the substantia nigra in Parkinson’s disease patients

Alterations in the substantia nigra are strongly associated with Parkinson’s disease. However, due to low contrast and partial volume effects present in typical MRI images, the substantia nigra is not of sufficient size to obtain a reliable segmentation for region-of-interest based analysis. To combat this problem, the approach proposed here offers a method to investigate and reveal changes in quantitative MRI parameters in the vicinity of substantia nigra without any a priori delineation. This approach uses an alternative method of statistical, voxel-based analysis of quantitative maps and was tested on 18 patients and 15 healthy controls using a well-established, quantitative free water mapping protocol. It was possible to reveal the topology and the location of pathological changes in the substantia nigra and its vicinity. Moreover, a decrease in free water content, T1 and T2* in the vicinity of substantia nigra was indicated in the Parkinson’s disease patients compared to the healthy controls. These findings reflect a disruption of grey matter and iron accumulation, which is known to lead to neurodegeneration. Consequently, the proposed method demonstrates an increased sensitivity for the detection of pathological changes—even in small regions—and can facilitate disease monitoring via quantitative MR parameters.

Drying Kinetics Characteristics of Human Fecal Matter For the Development of Onsite Sanitation Technologies

This study aims to define the drying kinetics of two types of human fecal matter, stabilized sludge removed from South African pit latrines and unstabilized fresh fecal material collected from healthy donors in the United States. For the purposes of this study the effects of convection, temperature, and relative humidity on the overall drying kinetics were determined. The differences in drying kinetics observed between stabilized and unstabilized material are hypothesized to be related to increased free water content in the stabilized material. Additionally, we explored a fast and efficient method that could be utilized by in-situ waste treatment technologies to increase the free water content of fresh fecal matter to decrease drying time. The outputs from this study are expected to provide insight for the development of onsite sanitation facilities with in-situ treatment of fecal matter and enable production of a stabilized product that is safe for transport or resource recovery.

Application of the Electrometric Method for Determining the Free Water Content in Jet Fuels

The article provides an analysis of the deficiencies of fuel purity control tools for jet engines currently in use. It presents theoretical and experimental studies of the dependence of the loaded quality of a cylindrical cavity resonator on the volume of water placed in it, on the basis of which a method of determining the concentration of free water in jet fuels by the direct electrometric method using a microwave resonator is proposed.