Cotton genotypes selection through artificial neural networks.

PubMed

Júnior, E G Silva; Cardoso, D B O; Reis, M C; Nascimento, A F O; Bortolin, D I; Martins, M R; Sousa, L B

2017-09-27

Breeding programs currently use statistical analysis to assist in the identification of superior genotypes at various stages of a cultivar's development. Differently from these analyses, the computational intelligence approach has been little explored in genetic improvement of cotton. Thus, this study was carried out with the objective of presenting the use of artificial neural networks as auxiliary tools in the improvement of the cotton to improve fiber quality. To demonstrate the applicability of this approach, this research was carried out using the evaluation data of 40 genotypes. In order to classify the genotypes for fiber quality, the artificial neural networks were trained with replicate data of 20 genotypes of cotton evaluated in the harvests of 2013/14 and 2014/15, regarding fiber length, uniformity of length, fiber strength, micronaire index, elongation, short fiber index, maturity index, reflectance degree, and fiber quality index. This quality index was estimated by means of a weighted average on the determined score (1 to 5) of each characteristic of the HVI evaluated, according to its industry standards. The artificial neural networks presented a high capacity of correct classification of the 20 selected genotypes based on the fiber quality index, so that when using fiber length associated with the short fiber index, fiber maturation, and micronaire index, the artificial neural networks presented better results than using only fiber length and previous associations. It was also observed that to submit data of means of new genotypes to the neural networks trained with data of repetition, provides better results of classification of the genotypes. When observing the results obtained in the present study, it was verified that the artificial neural networks present great potential to be used in the different stages of a genetic improvement program of the cotton, aiming at the improvement of the fiber quality of the future cultivars.

Effect of four types of dietary fiber on the technological quality of pasta.

PubMed

Bustos, M C; Pérez, G T; León, A E

2011-06-01

The development of dietary fiber-enriched foods permits to obtain products with functional properties but can cause several problems in technological quality. The aim of this study was to study the quality of pasta obtained by replacing bread wheat flour with resistant starch II (RSII), resistant starch IV (RSIV), oat bran (OB) and inulin (IN) with the purpose of improving their nutritional quality. RSII, RSIV, OB and IN were substituted for a portion of bread wheat flour at levels 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 10.0%. Cooking properties, amylose and inulin losses, color and texture were measured. Finally, nutritional quality of enriched pasta was evaluated by protein losses during cooking and total dietary fiber. Microstructure of pasta was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. Addition of RSII into pasta formulation improved the quality of the final product. RSIV-enriched pasta presented an improvement in textural characteristics and OB affected cooking properties positively up to 5% of substitution. Inulin was lost during cooking; besides, its addition negatively affected the technological quality of pasta. The results obtained in this study prove that it is possible to elaborate pasta with acceptable cooking quality and with improved nutritional characteristics by adding 10% of RSII and RSIV and 5% of OB.

Study of imaging fiber bundle coupling technique in IR system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Guoqing; Yang, Jianfeng; Yan, Xingtao; Song, Yansong

2017-02-01

Due to its advantageous imaging characteristic and banding flexibility, imaging fiber bundle can be used for line-plane-switching push-broom infrared imaging. How to precisely couple the fiber bundle in the optics system is the key to get excellent image for transmission. After introducing the basic system composition and structural characteristics of the infrared systems coupled with imaging fiber bundle, this article analysis the coupling efficiency and the design requirements of its relay lenses with the angle of the numerical aperture selecting in the system and cold stop matching of the refrigerant infrared detector. For an actual need, one relay coupling system has been designed with the magnification is -0.6, field of objective height is 4mm, objective numerical aperture is 0.15, which has excellent image quality and enough coupling efficiency. In the end, the push broom imaging experiment is carried out. The results show that the design meets the requirements of light energy efficiency and image quality. This design has a certain reference value for the design of the infrared fiber optical system.

Effect of apple pomace fiber and pork fat levels on quality characteristics of uncured, reduced-fat chicken sausages.

PubMed

Choi, Yun-Sang; Kim, Young-Boong; Hwang, Ko-Eun; Song, Dong-Heon; Ham, Youn-Kyung; Kim, Hyun-Wook; Sung, Jung-Min; Kim, Cheon-Jei

2016-06-01

The effects of reducing pork fat level from 30 to 25 and 20% by partially substituting pork fat with 1 and 2% apple pomace fiber were investigated based on the evaluation of physicochemical properties and textural properties of uncured, reduced-fat chicken sausages. Increased fat level resulted in decreased moisture content, cooking loss, total expressible fluid separation, fat separation, and yellowness of uncured, reduced-fat chicken sausages, whereas, an increase in fat content, caloric energy, pH, lightness, redness, hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness was observed. The results showed that uncured, reduced-fat chicken sausage samples with increased apple pomace fiber level had lower cooking loss, total expressible fluid separation, fat separation, pH, and redness. The results from this study show that inclusion of apple pomace fiber in the formulation will successfully reduce fat content in emulsion sausages, while improving quality characteristics relative to regular-fat (30%) control. © 2016 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Fabrication et applications des reseaux de Bragg ultra-longs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gagne, Mathieu

This thesis presents the principal accomplishments realized during the PhD project. The thesis is presented by publication format and is a collection of four published articles having fiber Bragg gratings as a central theme. First achieved in 1978, UV writing of fiber Bragg gratings is nowadays a common and mature technology being present in both industry and academia. The property of reflecting light guided by optical fibers lead to diverse applications in telecommunication, lasers as well as several types of sensors. The conventional fabrication technique is generally based on the use of generally expensive phase masks which determine the obtained characteristics of the fiber Bragg grating. The fiber being photosensitive at those wavelengths, a periodic pattern can be written into it. The maximal length, the period, the chirp, the index contrast and the apodisation are all characteristics that depend on the phase mask. The first objective of the research project is to be able to go beyond this strong dependance on the phase mask without deteriorating grating quality. This is what really sets apart the technique presented in this thesis from other long fiber Bragg grating fabrication techniques available in the literature. The fundamental approach to obtain ultra long fiber Bragg gratings of arbitrary profile is to replace the scheme of scanning a UV beam across a phase mask to expose a fixed fiber by a scheme where the UV beam and phase mask are fixed and where the fiber is moving instead. To obtain a periodic index variation, the interference pattern itself must be synchronized with the moving fiber. Two variations of this scheme were implanted: the first one using electro-optical phase modulator placed in each arm of a Talbot interferometer and the second one using a phase mask mounted on a piezo electric actuator. A new scheme that imparts fine movements of the interferometer is also implemented for the first time and showed to be essential to achieve high quality ultra long fiber Bragg gratings. High quality theory matching ultra long fiber Bragg gratings up to 1 meter long are obtained for the first time. The possibility of fabricating high quality ultra long fiber Bragg grating of more than 10 cm (approximately the maximal phase mask length) opens a variety of new applications otherwise impossible with short fiber Bragg grating technology. Ultra long fiber Bragg gratings have unique characteristics such as high reflectivity, high dispersion and ultra narrow bandwidth. Those characteristics can be used to do advanced signal processing, non linear propagation experiments, distributed feedback fiber lasers and dispersion compensator for telecommunication or optical tomography. The second objective of this project is to use these ultra-long fiber Bragg gratings as an optical cavity for fiber lasers. Alot of research in the past years have been concentrated on those lasers, particularly on distributed feedback fiber lasers where the gratings spans all the gain media. A new random fiber laser configuration is presented. It is based on passive or active insertion of phase shifts along the Bragg grating to obtained a phenomenon called light localization which is the optical equivalent of Anderson localization. This complex wave phenomenon has the unique property to mimic the reflection of a uniform photonic crystal with the random diffusion of light among the elements of a random media. Being commonly obtained in fine powders which must respect a certain set of rules, the realization of 1D structures is vastly simplified in optical fibers. Two random fiber laser schemes based on light localization, one using erbium dopant and the other one Raman scattering, are demonstrated for the first time and compared to traditional distributed feedback fiber lasers.

Characteristics of holey fibers fabricated at different drawing speeds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seraji, Faramarz E.; Rashidi, Mahnaz; Karimi, Maryam

2007-03-01

The effects of high drawing speeds on parameters of holey fibers are presented. A holey fiber preform structure was made by using tube-in-tube method and was drawn at high speeds with an aim of mass production to meet the demand of next generation communication systems. Transmission parameters such as numerical aperture and normalized frequency of the fabricated holey fibers have been measured and compared with theoretical values based on effective index method. Although the fabricated holey fibers were not of high quality, the analyses of the parameters have shown promising outlook for fabrication of such fibers.

Comparison of NIR and FT-IR spectral models in the prediction of cotton fiber strength

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Strength quality in cotton fibers is one of several important end-use characteristics. In routine programs, it has been mostly assessed by automation-oriented high volume instrument (HVI) system. An alternative method for cotton strength is near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. Although previous NIR mod...

The scatter of mechanical values of carbon fiber composites and its causes. [statistical values of strength

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, S.

1979-01-01

The scatter of experimental data obtained in an investigation of the parameters of structural components was investigated. Strength parameters which are determined by the resin or the adhesion between fiber and resin were included. The statistical characteristics of the mechanical parameters of carbon fiber composites, and the possibilities which exist to reduce this scatter were emphasized. It is found that quality control tests of fiber and resin are important for such a reduction.

Meta-analysis of cotton fiber quality QTLs across diverse environments in a Gossypium hirsutum x G. barbadense RIL population.

PubMed

Lacape, Jean-Marc; Llewellyn, Danny; Jacobs, John; Arioli, Tony; Becker, David; Calhoun, Steve; Al-Ghazi, Yves; Liu, Shiming; Palaï, Oumarou; Georges, Sophie; Giband, Marc; de Assunção, Henrique; Barroso, Paulo Augusto Vianna; Claverie, Michel; Gawryziak, Gérard; Jean, Janine; Vialle, Michèle; Viot, Christopher

2010-06-28

Cotton fibers (produced by Gossypium species) are the premier natural fibers for textile production. The two tetraploid species, G. barbadense (Gb) and G. hirsutum (Gh), differ significantly in their fiber properties, the former having much longer, finer and stronger fibers that are highly prized. A better understanding of the genetics and underlying biological causes of these differences will aid further improvement of cotton quality through breeding and biotechnology. We evaluated an inter-specific Gh x Gb recombinant inbred line (RIL) population for fiber characteristics in 11 independent experiments under field and glasshouse conditions. Sites were located on 4 continents and 5 countries and some locations were analyzed over multiple years. The RIL population displayed a large variability for all major fiber traits. QTL analyses were performed on a per-site basis by composite interval mapping. Among the 651 putative QTLs (LOD > 2), 167 had a LOD exceeding permutation based thresholds. Coincidence in QTL location across data sets was assessed for the fiber trait categories strength, elongation, length, length uniformity, fineness/maturity, and color. A meta-analysis of more than a thousand putative QTLs was conducted with MetaQTL software to integrate QTL data from the RIL and 3 backcross populations (from the same parents) and to compare them with the literature. Although the global level of congruence across experiments and populations was generally moderate, the QTL clustering was possible for 30 trait x chromosome combinations (5 traits in 19 different chromosomes) where an effective co-localization of unidirectional (similar sign of additivity) QTLs from at least 5 different data sets was observed. Most consistent meta-clusters were identified for fiber color on chromosomes c6, c8 and c25, fineness on c15, and fiber length on c3. Meta-analysis provided a reliable means of integrating phenotypic and genetic mapping data across multiple populations and environments for complex fiber traits. The consistent chromosomal regions contributing to fiber quality traits constitute good candidates for the further dissection of the genetic and genomic factors underlying important fiber characteristics, and for marker-assisted selection.

Evaluation of visible and near-infrared spectroscopy as a tool for assessing fiber fineness during mechanical preparation of dew-retted flax.

PubMed

Sharma, H S S; Reinard, N

2004-12-01

Flax fiber must be mechanically prepared to improve fineness and homogeneity of the sliver before chemical processing and wet-spinning. The changes in fiber characteristics are monitored by an airflow method, which is labor intensive and requires 90 minutes to process one sample. This investigation was carried out to develop robust visible and near-infrared calibrations that can be used as a rapid tool for quality assessment of input fibers and changes in fineness at the doubling (blending), first, second, third, and fourth drawing frames, and at the roving stage. The partial least squares (PLS) and principal component regression (PCR) methods were employed to generate models from different segments of the spectra (400-1100, 1100-1700, 1100-2498, 1700-2498, and 400-2498 nm) and a calibration set consisting of 462 samples obtained from the six processing stages. The calibrations were successfully validated with an independent set of 97 samples, and standard errors of prediction of 2.32 and 2.62 dtex were achieved with the best PLS (400-2498 nm) and PCR (1100-2498 nm) models, respectively. An optimized PLS model of the visible-near-infrared (vis-NIR) spectra explained 97% of the variation (R(2) = 0.97) in the sample set with a standard error of calibration (SEC) of 2.45 dtex and a standard error of cross-validation (SECV) of 2.51 dtex R(2) = 0.96). The mean error of the reference airflow method was 1.56 dtex, which is more accurate than the NIR calibration. The improvement in fiber fineness of the validation set obtained from the six production lines was predicted with an error range of -6.47 to +7.19 dtex for input fibers, -1.44 to +5.77 dtex for blended fibers at the doubling, and -4.72 to +3.59 dtex at the drawing frame stages. This level of precision is adequate for wet-spinners to monitor fiber fineness of input fibers and during the preparation of fibers. The advantage of visNIR spectroscopy is the potential capability of the technique to assess fineness and other important quality characteristics of a fiber sample simultaneously in less than 30 minutes; the disadvantages are the expensive instrumentation and the expertise required for operating the instrument compared to the reference method. These factors need to be considered by the industry before installing an off-line NIR system for predicting quality parameters of input materials and changes in fiber characteristics during mechanical processing.

Beam collimation and focusing and error analysis of LD and fiber coupling system based on ZEMAX

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiao, Lvlin; Zhou, Dejian; Xiao, Lei

2017-10-01

Laser diodde has many advantages, such as high efficiency, small volume, low cost and easy integration, so it is widely used. Because of its poor beam quality, the application of semiconductor laser has also been seriously hampered. In view of the poor beam quality, the ZEMAX optical design software is used to simulate the far field characteristics of the semiconductor laser beam, and the coupling module of the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber is designed and optimized. And the beam is coupled into the fiber core diameter d=200µm, the numerical aperture NA=0.22 optical fiber, the output power can reach 95%. Finally, the influence of the three docking errors on the coupling efficiency during the installation process is analyzed.

Fused Deposition Technique for Continuous Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bettini, Paolo; Alitta, Gianluca; Sala, Giuseppe; Di Landro, Luca

2017-02-01

A simple technique for the production of continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic by fused deposition modeling, which involves a common 3D printer with quite limited modifications, is presented. An adequate setting of processing parameters and deposition path allows to obtain components with well-enhanced mechanical characteristics compared to conventional 3D printed items. The most relevant problems related to the simultaneous feeding of fibers and polymer are discussed. The properties of obtained aramid fiber reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) in terms of impregnation quality and of mechanical response are measured.

Influence of the addition of soy product and wheat fiber on rheological, textural, and other quality characteristics of pizza.

PubMed

Glicerina, Virginia; Balestra, Federica; Capozzi, Francesco; Dalla Rosa, Marco; Romani, Santina

2017-11-17

The effect of partial replacement of wheat flour with soy paste and wheat fiber on rheological, textural, physicochemical, and organoleptic characteristics of an enriched pizza base (E) was investigated in comparison with those of a control pizza base (C). New ingredients (e.g., enriched cooked ham, whey cheese, and tomato sauce realized using food industry by-products) were also used in E pizza topping to further increase its nutritional properties. Enriched dough was developed first at a laboratory level. Large and small deformation, moisture, leavening activity, and metabolic heat were tested. On the final product, produced at the industrial level, textural, color, sensory, and nutritional analyses were performed. Preliminary rheological analysis was essential to evaluate the suitability of the new pizza to be processed at industrial level. Both pizza dough samples showed a solid elastic-like behavior; however, the addition of soy and fiber increased moisture content of E pizza, due to the water binding ability of soy protein and to the effect of fibers that also decreased E dough elasticity. No differences in extensibility between the two samples were observed, whereas significantly lower values of resistance to extension and dough force were shown in sample E. These differences were likely due to the presence of soy that interfere with gluten formation and to the dietary fibers that interact with water. Ingredients used in E pizza improved its nutritional quality increasing dietary fibers and protein, and decreasing saturated fatty acids and cholesterol content, which contributed to decrease energy value, in terms of kilocalorie reduction. In this work, the effects of using new ingredients (e.g., soy paste, wheat fiber) on the rheological, textural, physicochemical, nutritional, and organoleptic characteristics of an enriched pizza type were investigated both at laboratory and industrial levels. The new pizza provides a product that combines solid technological performances, in terms of rheological properties and dough elasticity, with improved and balanced nutritional quality, thanks also to the ingredients used in the topping. Results demonstrate the possibility of obtaining new pizza products characterized by nutritional and sensorial properties tailored for different group of consumers. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Physico-chemical characteristics of defatted rice bran and its utilization in a bakery product.

PubMed

Sairam, Sudha; Gopala Krishna, A G; Urooj, Asna

2011-08-01

Defatted rice bran (DRB), a byproduct of rice milling is a rich source of dietary fiber and minerals. In the present study, the physico-chemical characteristics, antioxidant potential of defatted rice bran (Laboratory-LDRB and Commercial -CDRB) and its utilization in preparation of bread were studied. The effect of incorporation of CDRB at varying levels (5, 10 & 15%) on the quality characteristics of bread including physical, rheological and sensory attributes were evaluated and the dietary fiber content and antioxidant activity were determined. The results indicated that LDRB had better nutrient profile, physical and antioxidant properties than CDRB. On the basis of physical characteristics, breads with 5% and 10% CDRB were found to be acceptable as such and those containing 15% were acceptable with addition of bread improvers. The dietary fiber content and total antioxidative activity of bread increased with increasing levels of CDRB, which also improved the shelf life. The results reveal that DRB can be incorporated in breads upto 10% and 15% as such or with bread improvers respectively, as source of fiber and natural antioxidant, as a functional ingredient.

SU-E-T-159: Characteristics of Fiber-Optic Radiation Sensor for Proton Therapeutic Beam

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Son, J; Kim, M; Hwang, U

Purpose: A fiber-optic radiation sensor using Cerenkov radiation has been widely studied for use as a dosimeter for proton therapeutic beam. Although the fiber-optic radiation sensor has already been investigated for proton therapeutic, it has been examined relatively little work for clinical therapeutic proton beams. In this study, we evaluated characteristics of a fiber-optic radiation sensor for clinical therapeutic proton beams. We experimentally evaluated dose-rate dependence, dose response and energy dependence for the proton beam. Methods: A fiber-optic radiation sensor was placed in a water phantom. Beams with energies of low, middle and high were used in the passively-scattered protonmore » therapeutic beam at the National Cancer Center in Korea. The sensor consists of two plastic optical fibers (POF). A reference POF and 2 cm longer POF were used to utilize the subtraction method for having sensitive volume. Each POF is optically coupled to the Multi-Anode Photo Multiplier Tube (MAPMT) and the MAPMT signals are processed using National Instruments Data Acquisition System (NI-DAQ). We were investigated dosimetric properties including dose-rate dependence, dose response and energy dependence. Results: We have successfully evaluated characteristics of a fiber optic radiation sensor using Cerenkov radiation. The fiber-optic radiation sensor showed the dose response linearity and low energy dependence. In addition, as the dose-rate was increased, Cerenkov radiation increased linearly. Conclusion: We evaluated the basic characteristics of the fiber optic radiation sensor, the dosimetry tool, to raise the quality of proton therapy. Based on the research, we developed a real time dosimetry system of the optic fiber to confirm the real time beam position and energy for therapeutic proton pencil beam.« less

Quality and Sensory Characteristics of Reduced-fat Chicken Patties with Pork Back Fat Replaced by Dietary Fiber from Wheat Sprout

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The effects of reducing pork fat levels from 20% to 15% or 10% by partially substituting pork back fat with wheat sprout fiber in reduced-fat chicken patties were investigated. Approximate composition, energy value, pH, color, cooking loss, reduction in diameter, reduction in thickness, shear force, and sensory properties were determined. Moisture content, ash contents, yellowness of uncooked and cooked reduced-fat chicken patties with wheat sprout were higher than those in the control, while displaying fat content, calorie content, and pH of uncooked and cooked lower in reduced-fat chicken patties than in the control. Cooking loss, reduction in diameter, and reduction in thickness were the highest in the reduced-fat chicken patties with 10% fat level. Cooking loss, reduction in diameter, and reduction in thickness were decreased when fat levels and wheat sprout levels were increased. Control samples without wheat sprout dietary fiber had significantly (p<0.05) higher color and flavor scores compared to reduced-fat chicken patties containing wheat sprout dietary fiber. The overall acceptability of the control and treatment with 15% fat and 2% wheat sprout dietary fiber (T3) was the highest. Therefore, 15% fat level in reduced-fat chicken patties with the addition of 2% wheat sprout dietary fiber can be used to improve the quality and sensory characteristics of regular-fat chicken patties containing 20% fat level. PMID:28115892

Gain-guided soliton fiber laser with high-quality rectangle spectrum for ultrafast time-stretch microscopy.

PubMed

Hu, Song; Yao, Jian; Liu, Meng; Luo, Ai-Ping; Luo, Zhi-Chao; Xu, Wen-Cheng

2016-05-16

The ultrafast time-stretch microscopy has been proposed to enhance the temporal resolution of a microscopy system. The optical source is a key component for ultrafast time-stretch microscopy system. Herein, we reported on the gain-guided soliton fiber laser with high-quality rectangle spectrum for ultrafast time-stretch microscopy. By virtue of the excellent characteristics of the gain-guided soliton, the output power and the 3-dB bandwidth of the stable mode-locked soliton could be up to 3 mW and 33.7 nm with a high-quality rectangle shape, respectively. With the proposed robust optical source, the ultrafast time-stretch microscopy with the 49.6 μm resolution and a scan rate of 11 MHz was achieved without the external optical amplification. The obtained results demonstrated that the gain-guided soliton fiber laser could be used as an alternative high-quality optical source for ultrafast time-stretch microscopy and will introduce some applications in fields such as biology, chemical, and optical sensing.

The meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics and fatty acid profile in Jinjiang and F1 Simmental×Jinjiang yellow cattle.

PubMed

Zheng, Yue; Wang, Shizhi; Yan, Peishi

2018-02-01

This study compared the meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics, and fatty acids between Jinjiang yellow cattle (JJ) and F1 Simmental×Jinjiang yellow cattle (SJ) which were offered the same diet. Six JJ and six SJ individuals were reared and fattened from 10 to 26 months of age. After feeding, the highrib (HR), ribeye (RB), and tenderloin (TL) samples were taken from the carcass for meat quality evaluations. The results showed that growth performance of SJ was higher than that of JJ (higher live weight and average daily gain), and the hot carcass weight of SJ was higher than that of JJ (p<0.05). pH of JJ was higher than that of SJ in TL (p<0.05); the color of a* of SJ was higher than that of JJ in TL and RB (p<0.05); the cooking loss of SJ was significantly lower than that of JJ in TL and RB (p<0.05); the shear force value was significantly lower in SJ compared to JJ (p<0.05); the muscle fiber diameter was higher and the fiber density was lower in SJ compared to JJ in HR and TL (p<0.05); compared to SJ, the muscles of JJ had higher saturated fatty acid (SFA) composition; the sum of monounsaturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) were lower in the muscle of JJ; the mRNA expressions of myosin heavy chain-I (MyHC-I) and MyHC-IIa were higher in SJ compared to JJ in muscle of HR and RB; the mRNA expressions of MyHC-IIx and MyHC-IIb were lower in SJ compared to JJ in HR and RB (p<0.05). Meat quality and fatty acid profile differed between SJ and JJ; the muscle of SJ had higher a* and SFA; SJ had lower cooking loss, shear force and PUFA compared to the muscle of JJ. In addition, the type and development characteristics of the muscle fiber had some difference between SJ and JJ; these might be factors which caused the differences in meat quality and fatty acid profile between SJ and JJ.

The meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics and fatty acid profile in Jinjiang and F1 Simmental×Jinjiang yellow cattle

PubMed Central

Zheng, Yue; Wang, Shizhi

2018-01-01

Objective This study compared the meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics, and fatty acids between Jinjiang yellow cattle (JJ) and F1 Simmental×Jinjiang yellow cattle (SJ) which were offered the same diet. Methods Six JJ and six SJ individuals were reared and fattened from 10 to 26 months of age. After feeding, the highrib (HR), ribeye (RB), and tenderloin (TL) samples were taken from the carcass for meat quality evaluations. Results The results showed that growth performance of SJ was higher than that of JJ (higher live weight and average daily gain), and the hot carcass weight of SJ was higher than that of JJ (p<0.05). pH of JJ was higher than that of SJ in TL (p<0.05); the color of a* of SJ was higher than that of JJ in TL and RB (p<0.05); the cooking loss of SJ was significantly lower than that of JJ in TL and RB (p<0.05); the shear force value was significantly lower in SJ compared to JJ (p<0.05); the muscle fiber diameter was higher and the fiber density was lower in SJ compared to JJ in HR and TL (p<0.05); compared to SJ, the muscles of JJ had higher saturated fatty acid (SFA) composition; the sum of monounsaturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) were lower in the muscle of JJ; the mRNA expressions of myosin heavy chain-I (MyHC-I) and MyHC-IIa were higher in SJ compared to JJ in muscle of HR and RB; the mRNA expressions of MyHC-IIx and MyHC-IIb were lower in SJ compared to JJ in HR and RB (p<0.05). Conclusion Meat quality and fatty acid profile differed between SJ and JJ; the muscle of SJ had higher a* and SFA; SJ had lower cooking loss, shear force and PUFA compared to the muscle of JJ. In addition, the type and development characteristics of the muscle fiber had some difference between SJ and JJ; these might be factors which caused the differences in meat quality and fatty acid profile between SJ and JJ. PMID:28823135

Influence of debittered, defatted fenugreek seed powder and flaxseed powder on the rheological characteristics of dough and quality of cookies.

PubMed

Metwal, Nirmala; Jyotsna, R; Jeyarani, T; Venkateswara Rao, G

2011-06-01

A functional ingredient mix (FIM) comprising debittered and defatted fenugreek seed powder (70%) and flaxseed powder (30%) was used in cookies. Ash, fat and protein, dough development time, resistance to extension and peak viscosity values increased as the level of FIM increased from 10 to 30% in the blend. Beyond 20% of FIM substitution, the quality characteristics of cookies were adversely affected. Use of soya lecithin produced a significant improvement in the overall quality of the cookies with 20% FIM. Linolenic acid and total dietary fiber content of the cookies with 20% FIM and lecithin contained four times the amount of linolenic acid (2.3%) and double the amount of dietary fiber (13.04%) when compared with the control cookies (0.5% and 6.22%) respectively. Surface scanning electron microscopy of cookies with different levels of FIM from 10 to 30% showed that there was a disruption in the matrix.

Effect of ingredients on rheological, nutritional and quality characteristics of fibre and protein enriched baked energy bars.

PubMed

Rawat, Neelam; Darappa, Indrani

2015-05-01

Effect of substitution of brown flour (BF) with fiber rich ingredient mixture, FRIM (banana flour, psyllium husk, partially defatted coconut flour and oats) and protein rich ingredient mixture, PRIM (chickpea flour, sesame, soya protein isolate and whey protein concentrate) at the levels of 25, 50 and 75 % on the rheological, nutritional and quality characteristics of baked energy bars (BEB) were studied. Use of increasing amount of FRIM increased farinograph water absorption and amylograph peak viscosity while PRIM decreased the aforementioned parameters. Addition of FRIM or PRIM increased the bar dough hardness and decreased cohesiveness and springiness. The overall quality score of BEB increased only up to the substitution of 50 % of BF with FRIM or PRIM. The BEB with 50 % FRIM and PRIM remained chemically stable during storage up to 3 months and showed 9 times increase in dietary fiber content and about 2 times increase in protein content respectively.

Design of an amplifier model accounting for thermal effect in fully aperiodic large pitch fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tragni, K.; Molardi, C.; Poli, F.; Dauliat, R.; Leconte, B.; Darwich, D.; du Jeu, R.; Malleville, M. A.; Jamier, R.; Selleri, S.; Roy, P.; Cucinotta, A.

2018-02-01

Yb-doped Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCFs) have triggered a significant power scaling into fiber-based lasers. However thermally-induced effects, like mode instability, can compromise the output beam quality. PCF design with improved Higher Order Mode (HOM) delocalization and effective thermal resilience can contain the problem. In particular, Fully- Aperiodic Large-Pitch Fibers (FA-LPFs) have shown interesting properties in terms of resilience to thermal effects. In this paper the performances of a Yb-doped FA-LPF amplifier are experimentally and numerically investigated. Modal properties and gain competition between Fundamental Mode (FM) and first HOM have been calculated, in presence of thermal effects. The main doped fiber characteristics have been derived by comparison between experimental and numerical results.

Tapered fiber based high power random laser.

PubMed

Zhang, Hanwei; Du, Xueyuan; Zhou, Pu; Wang, Xiaolin; Xu, Xiaojun

2016-04-18

We propose a novel high power random fiber laser (RFL) based on tapered fiber. It can overcome the power scaling limitation of RFL while maintaining good beam quality to a certain extent. An output power of 26.5 W has been achieved in a half-open cavity with one kilometer long tapered fiber whose core diameter gradually changes from 8 μm to 20 μm. The steady-state light propagation equations have been modified by taking into account the effective core area to demonstrate the tapered RFL through numerical calculations. The numerical model effectively describes the power characteristics of the tapered fiber based RFL, and both the calculating and experimental results show higher power exporting potential compared with the conventional single mode RFL.

Comparisons of different myosin heavy chain types, AMPK, and PGC-1α gene expression in the longissimus dorsi muscles in Bama Xiang and Landrace pigs.

PubMed

Huang, Y N; Ao, Q W; Jiang, Q Y; Guo, Y F; Lan, G Q; Jiang, H S

2016-07-14

Bama Xiang and Landrace pigs are the local fatty and lean breeds, respectively, in China. We compared differences in carcass traits, meat quality traits, and myosin heavy chain (MyHC) types in the longissimus dorsi muscles between Bama Xiang and Landrace pigs. This was done in pigs of the same age, using real-time PCR, to investigate the relationship between MyHC fiber types and carcass characteristics, meat quality traits, and the key factors regulating muscle fiber type. Bama Xiang pigs exhibited smaller size and slower growth than Landrace pigs (P < 0.01). We found that the superior meat quality, especially the high intramuscular fat (IMF) content in Bama Xiang pig, was related to elevated type I oxidative muscle fiber content (P < 0.01). In contrast, Landrace pig muscle had a higher glycolytic type IIb muscle fiber content (P < 0.01). MyHC I gene expression was significantly positively correlated with backfat thickness and IMF content (P < 0.01). MyHC IIb was significantly negatively correlated with IMF content (P < 0.05), and positively correlated with carcass yield (P < 0.05). AMP-activated protein kinase and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-g coactivator-1a are suggested to be the two key factors regulating muscle fiber type in pigs. Our results indicate that muscle fiber composition is one of the key differences leading to the differences of meat quality between Bama Xiang and Landrace pigs. These results may provide a theoretical basis for further studies of the molecular mechanism underlying the excellent meat quality of the Bama Xiang pig.

Effects of Dietary Fiber Extracted from Pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima Duch.) on the Physico-Chemical and Sensory Characteristics of Reduced-Fat Frankfurters.

PubMed

Kim, Cheon-Jei; Kim, Hyun-Wook; Hwang, Ko-Eun; Song, Dong-Heon; Ham, Youn-Kyung; Choi, Ji-Hun; Kim, Young-Boong; Choi, Yun-Sang

2016-01-01

In this study, we investigated the effects of reducing fat levels from 30% to 25, 20, and 15% by substituting pork fat with water and pumpkin fiber (2%) on the quality of frankfurters compared with control. Decreasing the fat concentration from 30% to 15% significantly increased moisture content, redness of meat batter and frankfurter, cooking loss, and water exudation, and decreased fat content, energy value, pH, and lightness of meat batter and frankfurter, hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, and apparent viscosity. The addition of 2% pumpkin fiber was significantly increased moisture content, yellowness of meat batter and frankfurter, hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, and apparent viscosity, whereas reduced cooking loss and emulsion stability. The treatment of reduced-fat frankfurters formulated with 20 and 25% fat levels and with pumpkin fiber had sensory properties similar to the high-fat control frankfurters. The results demonstrate that when the reduced-fat frankfurter with 2% added pumpkin fiber and water replaces fat levels can be readily made with high quality and acceptable sensory properties.

Effects of Dietary Fiber Extracted from Pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima Duch.) on the Physico-Chemical and Sensory Characteristics of Reduced-Fat Frankfurters

PubMed Central

Kim, Cheon-Jei; Kim, Hyun-Wook; Hwang, Ko-Eun; Song, Dong-Heon; Ham, Youn-Kyung; Choi, Ji-Hun

2016-01-01

In this study, we investigated the effects of reducing fat levels from 30% to 25, 20, and 15% by substituting pork fat with water and pumpkin fiber (2%) on the quality of frankfurters compared with control. Decreasing the fat concentration from 30% to 15% significantly increased moisture content, redness of meat batter and frankfurter, cooking loss, and water exudation, and decreased fat content, energy value, pH, and lightness of meat batter and frankfurter, hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, and apparent viscosity. The addition of 2% pumpkin fiber was significantly increased moisture content, yellowness of meat batter and frankfurter, hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, and apparent viscosity, whereas reduced cooking loss and emulsion stability. The treatment of reduced-fat frankfurters formulated with 20 and 25% fat levels and with pumpkin fiber had sensory properties similar to the high-fat control frankfurters. The results demonstrate that when the reduced-fat frankfurter with 2% added pumpkin fiber and water replaces fat levels can be readily made with high quality and acceptable sensory properties. PMID:27433101

Effects of including saponins (Micro-aid®) on intake, rumen fermentation, and digestibility in steers fed low-quality prairie hay

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Sixteen ruminally-cannulated crossbred steers (529 ± 45 kg initial body weight, BW) were used to evaluate in situ dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (aNDF), and N degradation characteristics of low quality prairie hay, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and rumen fermentation parameters in steers provi...

White light for the fast lane: supercontinuum generation in all-normal dispersion fibers for ultrafast photonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heidt, Alexander M.

2014-03-01

This talk will give an overview of the unique properties of supercontinuum generation (SCG) in all-normal dispersion (ANDi) fibers pumped by ultrashort pulses and the possibilities they offer for ultrafast photonics applications. In contrast to their anomalously pumped counterparts, the SCG process in ANDi fibers conserves a single ultrashort pulse in the time domain, completely suppresses soliton formation and decay, and avoids noise-amplifying nonlinear dynamics. The resulting spectra combine the best of both worlds - the broad, more than octave-spanning bandwidths usually associated with anomalous dispersion pumping with the high temporal coherence, pulse-to-pulse stability and well-defined temporal pulse characteristics known from the normal dispersion regime. These characteristics are ideally suited for ultrafast photonics, and I will present application examples including the generation of high quality single-cycle pulses and their amplification, as well as ultrafast spectroscopy. This talk will also explore the exciting new possibilities enabled by extending this approach into the mid-IR spectral region using novel soft glass fiber designs.

Imaging quality evaluation method of pixel coupled electro-optical imaging system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xu; Yuan, Li; Jin, Chunqi; Zhang, Xiaohui

2017-09-01

With advancements in high-resolution imaging optical fiber bundle fabrication technology, traditional photoelectric imaging system have become ;flexible; with greatly reduced volume and weight. However, traditional image quality evaluation models are limited by the coupling discrete sampling effect of fiber-optic image bundles and charge-coupled device (CCD) pixels. This limitation substantially complicates the design, optimization, assembly, and evaluation image quality of the coupled discrete sampling imaging system. Based on the transfer process of grayscale cosine distribution optical signal in the fiber-optic image bundle and CCD, a mathematical model of coupled modulation transfer function (coupled-MTF) is established. This model can be used as a basis for following studies on the convergence and periodically oscillating characteristics of the function. We also propose the concept of the average coupled-MTF, which is consistent with the definition of traditional MTF. Based on this concept, the relationships among core distance, core layer radius, and average coupled-MTF are investigated.

Rheological, physico-sensory, nutritional and storage characteristics of bread enriched with roller milled fractions of black gram (Phaseolus mungo L.).

PubMed

Indrani, D; Sakhare, Suresh D; Milind; Inamdar, Aashitosh A

2015-08-01

Black gram grains were fractionated using roller flour mill. Effect of combination of additives (CA) namely dry gluten powder, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate, fungal α-amylase on the rheological and bread making characteristics of wheat flour partly replaced with roller milled fractions of black gram was studied. With increase in the addition of straight run flour (SRF), protein rich fraction (PRF), protein and fiber rich fraction (P&FRF) from 0 to 20 %, fiber rich fraction, FRF (0-15 %), the farinograph water absorption increased and dough stability decreased; amylograph pasting temperature increased and peak viscosity decreased; bread volume decreased and crumb firmness value increased indicating adverse effect of these fractions on the rheological and bread making characteristics of wheat flour. Sensory evaluation showed that breads were acceptable only up to the level of 15 % for SRF, PRF & P&FRF and 10 % for FRF. However, when CA containing dry gluten powder, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate and fungal α-amylase was incorporated the overall quality of the products improved. Use of these fractions increased the protein and fiber contents of bread by 1.24-1.66 and 1.48-3.79 times respectively. The results showed that possibility of utilising roller milled black gram fractions along with CA to improve the taste, texture and nutritional quality of bread.

Production, performance, slaughter characteristics, and meat quality of Ziwuling wild crossbred pigs.

PubMed

Chen, Guoshun; Sui, Yanan

2018-02-01

Wild boars, because of their large size and ability to survive adverse conditions, are usually used to cross with domestic breeds to improve the quality of domesticated pigs. This study aimed to investigate the growth performance, slaughter performance, and meat quality of Ziwuling crossbred pigs. Crossbred pigs in four groups (n = 8 per group, 4 boars and 4 sows, all aged 100 days), F 1 [wild × B (Bamei)], F 1  × B, F 1  × Y (Yorkshire), and F 1  × F 1 , were selected at a commercial pig farm. Growth performance, slaughter performance, and meat quality of these crossbred pigs were determined. Characteristics of fatty acids, amino acids, and longissimus muscle fiber in relation to growth, carcass, and meat quality traits were also investigated. Pigs in F 1 and F 1  × F 1 groups had lower average daily weight gain, water and storage loss rates, larger meat color score, higher muscle amino acid levels, larger muscle fiber diameter, and higher ratio of flavor amino acids to unsaturated fatty acids compared to other groups. Crossbred pigs with higher rate of wild boar's consanguinity could improve production performance, slaughter performance, and meat quality. Thus, crossbreeding wild pig with domestic breeds might be an effective method to improve meat quality and flavor.

Chemical composition, starch digestibility and antioxidant capacity of tortilla made with a blend of quality protein maize and black bean.

PubMed

Grajales-García, Eva M; Osorio-Díaz, Perla; Goñi, Isabel; Hervert-Hernández, Deisy; Guzmán-Maldonado, Salvador H; Bello-Pérez, Luis A

2012-01-01

Tortilla and beans are the basic components in the diet of people in the urban and rural areas of Mexico. Quality protein maize is suggested for tortilla preparation because it presents an increase in lysine and tryptophan levels. Beans contain important amounts of dietary fiber. The objective of this study was to prepare tortilla with bean and assesses the chemical composition, starch digestibility and antioxidant capacity using a quality protein maize variety. Tortilla with bean had higher protein, ash, dietary fiber and resistant starch content, and lower digestible starch than control tortilla. The hydrolysis rate (60 to 50%) and the predicted glycemic index (88 to 80) of tortilla decreased with the addition of bean in the blend. Extractable polyphenols and proanthocyanidins were higher in the tortilla with bean than control tortilla. This pattern produced higher antioxidant capacity of tortilla with bean (17.6 μmol Trolox eq/g) than control tortilla (7.8 μmol Trolox eq/g). The addition of bean to tortilla modified the starch digestibility and antioxidant characteristics of tortilla, obtaining a product with nutraceutical characteristics.

Effects of lowering dietary fiber before marketing on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, carcass fat quality, and intestinal weights.

PubMed

Asmus, M D; Derouchey, J M; Tokach, M D; Dritz, S S; Houser, T A; Nelssen, J L; Goodband, R D

2014-01-01

A total of 264 pigs (initially 41.0 kg BW) were used in a 90-d study to determine the effects of lowering dietary fiber before market on pigs fed high dietary fiber [provided by wheat middlings (midds) and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS)] on growth performance, carcass characteristics, carcass fat quality, and intestinal weights of growing-finishing pigs. Pens of pigs were randomly allotted by initial BW and sex to 1 of 6 treatments with 6 replications per treatment and 7 or 8 pigs per pen. A positive control (corn-soybean meal-based) diet containing no DDGS or midds (9.3% NDF) and a negative control diet with 30% DDGS and 19% midds (19% NDF) were fed throughout the entire trial (d 0 to 90). The other 4 treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial with the main effects of length of fiber reduction (23 or 47 d before marketing) and fiber level fed during the reduction period (low or medium). Pigs on these treatments were fed the negative control before the reduction treatment. The medium-fiber diet contained 15% DDGS and 9.5% midds (14.2% NDF) with the low-fiber diet was the positive control diet. Increasing the feeding duration of the low-fiber diets lowered overall ADFI (linear, P = 0.03) and improved G:F (linear, P < 0.01). Lowering the fiber level for the last 23 d did not influence growth performance; however, lowering the fiber level improved carcass yield (P = 0.002), with a greater response (P < 0.001) when the low-fiber diet was fed for 23 d. Jowl fat iodine value (IV) decreased when the longer lower fiber diets were fed (linear, P < 0.01) and was lower (P < 0.001) for pigs fed the low-fiber diet during the fiber reduction period than pigs fed the medium-fiber diet during the same time period; however, increasing the time lower fiber diets were fed from 23 to 47 d further reduced (P < 0.01) jowl IV. Increasing the duration that the control diet was fed by increasing the reduction time from 23 to 47 d increased (P < 0.01) backfat depth. Reducing the fiber level decreased full large intestine weight (linear, P = 0.005) with a greater response (P = 0.04) when the low-fiber diet was fed during the reduction period instead of the medium-fiber diet. In summary, lowering the fiber level before marketing can improve G:F, carcass yield, carcass IV, and reduce large intestine weight; however, the optimal duration of the fiber reduction period depends on the targeted response criteria.

Characteristics of 1.9 μm laser emission from hydrogen-filled hollow-core fiber by stimulated Raman scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Bo; Chen, Yubin; Wang, Zefeng

2016-11-01

We report here the detailed characteristics of 1.9 μm laser emission from hydrogen-filled hollow-core fiber by stimulated Raman scattering. A 6.5 m hydrogen-filled Ice-cream negative curvature hollow-core fiber is pumped with a high peak power, narrow linewidth, liner polarized subnanosecond pulsed 1064 nm microchip laser, generating pulsed 1908.5 nm vibrational Stokes wave. The linewidth of the pump laser and the vibrational Stokes wave is about 1 GHz and 2 GHz respectively. And the maximum Raman conversion quantum efficiency is about 48%. We also studied the pulse shapes of the pump laser and the vibrational Stokes wave. The polarization dependence of the vibrational and the rotational stimulated Raman scattering is also investigated. In addition, the beam profile of vibrational Stokes wave shows good quality, which may be taken advantage of in many applications.

How Muscle Structure and Composition Influence Meat and Flesh Quality

PubMed Central

Listrat, Anne; Lebret, Bénédicte; Louveau, Isabelle; Astruc, Thierry; Bonnet, Muriel; Lefaucheur, Louis; Picard, Brigitte; Bugeon, Jérôme

2016-01-01

Skeletal muscle consists of several tissues, such as muscle fibers and connective and adipose tissues. This review aims to describe the features of these various muscle components and their relationships with the technological, nutritional, and sensory properties of meat/flesh from different livestock and fish species. Thus, the contractile and metabolic types, size and number of muscle fibers, the content, composition and distribution of the connective tissue, and the content and lipid composition of intramuscular fat play a role in the determination of meat/flesh appearance, color, tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and technological value. Interestingly, the biochemical and structural characteristics of muscle fibers, intramuscular connective tissue, and intramuscular fat appear to play independent role, which suggests that the properties of these various muscle components can be independently modulated by genetics or environmental factors to achieve production efficiency and improve meat/flesh quality. PMID:27022618

Nutritional and sensory quality evaluation of sponge cake prepared by incorporation of high dietary fiber containing mango (Mangifera indica var. Chokanan) pulp and peel flours.

PubMed

Aziah, A A Noor; Min, W Lee; Bhat, Rajeev

2011-09-01

Sponge cake prepared by partial substitution of wheat flour with mango pulp and mango peel flours (MPuF and MPeF, respectively) at different concentrations (control, 5%, 10%, 20% or 30%) were investigated for the physico-chemical, nutritional and organoleptic characteristics. Results showed sponge cake incorporated with MPuF and MPeF to have high dietary fiber with low fat, calorie, hydrolysis and predicted glycemic index compared with the control. Increasing the levels of MPuF and MPeF in sponge cake had significant impact on the volume, firmness and color. Sensory evaluation showed sponge cake formulated with 10% MPuF and 10% MPeF to be the most acceptable. MPeF and MPuF have high potential as fiber-rich ingredients and can be utilized in the preparation of cake and other bakery products to improve the nutritional qualities.

Influence of Pupation Substrate on Mass Production and Fitness of Adult Anastrepha obliqua Macquart (Diptera: Tephritidae) for Sterile Insect Technique Application.

PubMed

Aceituno-Medina, Marysol; Rivera-Ciprian, José Pedro; Hernández, Emilio

2017-12-05

Tephritid mass-rearing systems require an artificial substrate for pupation. Pupation substrate characteristics influence the quality of insects produced. Coconut fiber, as an alternative to the conventional pupation substrate vermiculite, was evaluated for Anastrepha obliqua Macquart (Diptera: Tephritidae) pupation behavior (pupation patterns, distribution, respiration rate, and pupal weight) and adult fitness (adult eclosion time, flight ability, and male mating competitiveness). Pupation percentage at 24 h, pupal weight, and flight ability were not significantly affected by substrate type. Adult eclosion levels of 50% were reached at 29.7 and 41.6 h for coconut fiber and vermiculite, respectively. Pupae distribution patterns differed between substrates because the larval aggregation level was reduced during the pupation process in coconut fiber. The pupae aggregation was three times greater in vermiculite than in coconut fiber. A higher respiratory rate in the last days of pupation and adult eclosion were recorded in the insects maintained in coconut fiber. Coconut fiber suitability as a pupation substrate for quality mass production of pupae and its implications for sterile insect technique are discussed. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Effect of sex and rearing system on the quality and mineral content of fiber from raeini cashmere goats

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare the quality characteristics and mineral content of the fiber from male and female cashmere goats raised under different management systems. Male and female Raeini cashmere goats (<1.5 years of age, n = 48) were selected from flocks raised at a government breeding station or raised commercially under either rural or nomadic conditions. The staple length, cashmere fiber diameter, coefficient of variation for fiber diameter, percentage of cashmere in a fleece, percentage of guard hair in a fleece and cashmere tenacity averaged 4.6 ±0.1 cm, 18.0 ±0.1 μm, 20.9 ± 0.4%, 66.1 ± 1.5%, 33.8 ± 1.5% and 1.8 ± 0.2 gf/tex, respectively. The sulfur, copper and zinc content of the cashmere averaged 2.8 ± 0.1%, 0.00065 ± 0.00002% and 0.01276 ± 0.00025%, respectively. Rearing method significantly affected staple length, coefficient of variation of fiber diameter, cashmere tenacity and copper content. Males had a higher coefficient of variation of fiber diameter and cashmere tenacity than females (P < 0.05). PMID:22958733

Characteristics of 1.9-μm laser emission from hydrogen-filled hollow-core fiber by vibrational stimulated Raman scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Bo; Chen, Yubin; Wang, Zefeng

2016-12-01

We report here the characteristics of 1.9-μm laser emission from a gas-filled hollow-core fiber by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). A 6.5-m hydrogen-filled ice-cream negative curvature hollow-core fiber is pumped with a high peak-power, narrow linewidth, linearly polarized subnanosecond pulsed 1064-nm microchip laser, generating a pulsed vibrational Stokes wave at 1908.5 nm. The maximum quantum efficiency of about 48% is obtained, which is mainly limited by the mode mismatch between the pump laser beam and the Stokes wave in the hollow-core fiber. The linewidths of the pump laser and the first-order vibrational Stokes wave are measured to be about 1 and 2 GHz, respectively, by a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer. The pressure selection phenomenon of the vibrational anti-Stokes waves is also investigated. The pulse duration of the vibrational Stokes wave is recorded to be narrower than that of the pump laser. The polarization properties of the hollow-core fiber and the polarization dependence of the vibrational and the rotational SRS are also studied. The beam profile of the vibrational Stokes wave shows good quality.

Online Structural-Health Monitoring of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics Using Different Carbon Allotropes in the Interphase.

PubMed

Müller, Michael Thomas; Pötzsch, Hendrik Florian; Gohs, Uwe; Heinrich, Gert

2018-06-25

An electromechanical response behavior is realized by nanostructuring the glass fiber interphase with different highly electrically conductive carbon allotropes like carbon nanotubes (CNT), graphene nanoplatelets (GNP), or conductive carbon black (CB). The operational capability of these multifunctional glass fibers for an online structural-health monitoring is demonstrated in endless glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene. The electromechanical response behavior, during a static or dynamic three-point bending test of various carbon modifications, shows qualitative differences in the signal quality and sensitivity due to the different aspect ratios of the nanoparticles and the associated electrically conductive network densities in the interphase. Depending on the embedding position within the glass fiber-reinforced composite compression, shear and tension loadings of the fibers can be distinguished by different characteristics of the corresponding electrical signal. The occurrence of irreversible signal changes during the dynamic loading can be attributed to filler reorientation processes caused by polymer creeping or by destruction of electrically conductive paths by cracks in the glass fiber interphase.

Preliminary construction of integral analysis for characteristic components in complex matrices by in-house fabricated solid-phase microextraction fibers combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Tang, Zhentao; Hou, Wenqian; Liu, Xiuming; Wang, Mingfeng; Duan, Yixiang

2016-08-26

Integral analysis plays an important role in study and quality control of substances with complex matrices in our daily life. As the preliminary construction of integral analysis of substances with complex matrices, developing a relatively comprehensive and sensitive methodology might offer more informative and reliable characteristic components. Flavoring mixtures belonging to the representatives of substances with complex matrices have now been widely used in various fields. To better study and control the quality of flavoring mixtures as additives in food industry, an in-house fabricated solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber was prepared based on sol-gel technology in this work. The active organic component of the fiber coating was multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) functionalized with hydroxyl-terminated polydimethyldiphenylsiloxane, which integrate the non-polar and polar chains of both materials. In this way, more sensitive extraction capability for a wider range of compounds can be obtained in comparison with commercial SPME fibers. Preliminarily integral analysis of three similar types of samples were realized by the optimized SPME-GC-MS method. With the obtained GC-MS data, a valid and well-fit model was established by partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) for classification of these samples (R2X=0.661, R2Y=0.996, Q2=0.986). The validity of the model (R2=0.266, Q2=-0.465) has also approved the potential to predict the "belongingness" of new samples. With the PLS-DA and SPSS method, further screening out the markers among three similar batches of samples may be helpful for monitoring and controlling the quality of the flavoring mixtures as additives in food industry. Conversely, the reliability and effectiveness of the GC-MS data has verified the comprehensive and efficient extraction performance of the in-house fabricated fiber. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electron tomography and nano-diffraction enabling the investigation of individual magnetic nanoparticles inside fibers of MR visible implants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slabu, I.; Wirch, N.; Caumanns, T.; Theissmann, R.; Krüger, M.; Schmitz-Rode, T.; Weirich, T. E.

2017-08-01

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONPs) incorporated into the base material of implants are used as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging for the delineation of the implants from the surrounding tissue. However, the delineation quality is strongly related to the structural characteristics of the incorporated SPIONPs and their interparticle interaction as well as their interaction with the polymer matrix of the implant. Consequently, a profound knowledge of the formation of aggregates inside the polymer matrix, which are responsible for strong interparticle interactions, and of their structural characteristics, is required for controlling the magnetic resonance image quality of the implants. In this work, transmission electron microscopy methods such as electron tomography and nano-electron diffraction were used to depict SPIONP aggregates inside the melt-spin polyvinylidene fluoride fibers used for the assembly of implants and to determine the crystal structure of individual nanocrystals inside these aggregates, respectively. Using these techniques it was possible for the first time to characterize the aggregates inside the fibers of implants and to validate the magnetization measurements that have been previously used to assess the interaction phenomena inside the fibers of implants. With electron tomography, inhomogeneously sized distributed aggregates were delineated and 3D models of these aggregates were constructed. Furthermore, the distribution of the aggregates inside the fibers was verified by means of magnetic force microscopy. With nano-diffraction measurements, the SPIONP crystal structure inside the fibers of the implant could not be clearly assigned to that of magnetite (Fe3O4) or maghemite (γ-Fe2O3). Therefore, additional electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements were performed, which revealed the presence of both phases of Fe3O4 and γ-Fe2O3, probably caused by oxidation processes during the manufacture of the fibers by melt-spinning.

Stable transformation and expression of GhEXPA8 fiber expansin gene to improve fiber length and micronaire value in cotton

PubMed Central

Bajwa, Kamran S.; Shahid, Ahmad A.; Rao, Abdul Q.; Bashir, Aftab; Aftab, Asia; Husnain, Tayyab

2015-01-01

Cotton fiber is multigenic trait controlled by number of genes. Previous studies suggest that one of these genes may be responsible for switching cotton fiber growth on and off to influence the fiber quality produced from a cotton seed. In the present study, the Gossypium hirsutum GhEXPA8 fiber expansin gene was introduced into local cotton variety NIAB 846 by using an Agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation. The neomycin phosphotransferase (NPTII) gene was used as a selection marker for screening of putative transgenic cotton plants. Integration and expression of the fiber expansin gene in cotton plants was confirmed with molecular techniques including Southern blot analyses, real-time PCR. Cellulose assay was used for measurement of cellulose contents of transgenic cotton fiber. The data collected from 3 years of field performance of the transgenic cotton plants expressing GhEXPA8 showed that significant improvement has been made in fiber lengths and micronaire values as compared to control G. hirsutum variety NIAB 846 cotton plants. Statistical techniques were also used for analysis of fiber and agronomic characteristics. The results of this study support improvement of cotton fiber through genetic modification. PMID:26583018

Production of superconductor/carbon bicomponent fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wise, S. A.; Fain, C. C.; Leigh, H. D.; Sherrill, M.

1990-01-01

Certain materials are unable to be drawn or spun into fiber form due to their improper melting characteristics or brittleness. However, fibrous samples of such materials are often necessary for the fabrication of intricate shapes and composites. In response to this problem, a unique process, referred to as the piggyback process, was developed to prepare fibrous samples of a variety of nonspinnable ceramics. In this technique, specially produced C-shaped carbon fibers serve as micromolds to hold the desired materials prior to sintering. Depending on the sintering atmosphere used, bicomponent or single component fibers result. While much has been demonstrated worldwide concerning the YBa2Cu3O(7-x) superconductor, fabrication into unique forms has proven quite difficult. However, a variety of intricate shapes are necessary for rapid commercialization of the superconducting materials. The potential for producing fibrous samples of the YBa2Cu3O(7-x) compound by the piggyback process is being investigated. Various organic and acrylic materials were investigated to determine suspending ability, reactivity with the YBa2Cu3O(7-x) compound during long term storage, and burn out characteristics. While many questions were answered with respect to the interfacial reactions between YBa2Cu3O(7-x) and carbon, much work is still necessary to improve the quality of the sintered material if the fibers produced are to be incorporated into useful composites or cables. Additional research is necessary to evaluate quality of the barrier layer during long soakings at the peak temperature; adjust the firing schedule to avoid microcracking and improve densification; and increase the solids loading in the superconductive suspension to decrease porosity.

Films, Preimpregnated Tapes and Composites Made from Polyimide "Salt-Like" Solutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cano, Roberto J. (Inventor); Weiser, Erik S. (Inventor); St.Clair, Terry L. (Inventor); Echigo, Yoshiaki (Inventor); Kaneshiro, Hisayasu (Inventor)

2001-01-01

High quality films, preimpregnated tape (prepegs), and composites have been fabricated from polyimide precursor 'saltlike' solutions. These salt-like solutions have a low viscosity (5,000 to 10,000 cp) and a high solids content (50-65% by weight) and can be coated onto reinforcing fiber to produce prepegs with excellent tack and drape at 12-15% residual solvent (approximately 4-6% water from thermal imidization reaction). The processing of these types of prepegs significantly overcomes solvent removal problems and allows excellent fiber wet out. In addition, the physical characteristics of the polyimide precursor salt-like solutions permits processing into high-performance materials through the use of standard prepregging and composite fabrication equipment. The resultant composites are of high quality.

Chemical Composition, Starch Digestibility and Antioxidant Capacity of Tortilla Made with a Blend of Quality Protein Maize and Black Bean

PubMed Central

Grajales-García, Eva M.; Osorio-Díaz, Perla; Goñi, Isabel; Hervert-Hernández, Deisy; Guzmán-Maldonado, Salvador H.; Bello-Pérez, Luis A.

2012-01-01

Tortilla and beans are the basic components in the diet of people in the urban and rural areas of Mexico. Quality protein maize is suggested for tortilla preparation because it presents an increase in lysine and tryptophan levels. Beans contain important amounts of dietary fiber. The objective of this study was to prepare tortilla with bean and assesses the chemical composition, starch digestibility and antioxidant capacity using a quality protein maize variety. Tortilla with bean had higher protein, ash, dietary fiber and resistant starch content, and lower digestible starch than control tortilla. The hydrolysis rate (60 to 50%) and the predicted glycemic index (88 to 80) of tortilla decreased with the addition of bean in the blend. Extractable polyphenols and proanthocyanidins were higher in the tortilla with bean than control tortilla. This pattern produced higher antioxidant capacity of tortilla with bean (17.6 μmol Trolox eq/g) than control tortilla (7.8 μmol Trolox eq/g). The addition of bean to tortilla modified the starch digestibility and antioxidant characteristics of tortilla, obtaining a product with nutraceutical characteristics. PMID:22312252

Quality Characteristics of Marinated Chicken Breast as Influenced by the Methods of Mechanical Processing

PubMed Central

Kim, Hack-Youn; Kim, Kon-Joong; Lee, Jong-Wan; Kim, Gye-Woong; Choe, Ju-Hui; Kim, Hyun-Wook; Yoon, Yohan; Kim, Cheon-Jei

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of various marination processes on the quality characteristics of chicken breast prepared with chicken feet gelatin and wheat fiber. The chicken feet gelatin was swollen with hydrochloric solution (0.1 N HCl, pH 1.31±0.02) and dehydrated by freeze-drying. The composition (w/w) of the marinade was water (10%), soy sauce (12%), phosphate (0.3%), wheat fiber (1.5%), and chicken feet gelatin (1.5%). Three samples of chicken breast were manufactured with Tumbler (only tumbler), Tenderizer (tenderizer and tumbler), and Injector (injector and tumbler). The water content of the Injector sample was significantly higher than those of the Tumbler and Tenderizer samples (p<0.05). During heating, the lightness of all chicken breasts increased and the redness decreased. The tumbling and cooking yield of the Injector sample were significantly higher than those of the Tumbler and Tenderizer samples (p<0.05). The shear force of the Tenderizer sample was significantly lower than that of the Tumbler and Injector samples (p<0.05). No significant differences, except for color, were observed in the sensory analysis of the samples. Thus, the proper selection of mechanical processing is important to improve the quality characteristics of marinated chicken breast, considering the types of final products. PMID:26761806

Effect of laser incidence angle on cut quality of 4 mm thick stainless steel sheet using fiber laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mullick, Suvradip; Agrawal, Arpit Kumar; Nath, Ashish Kumar

2016-07-01

Fiber laser has potential to outperform the more traditionally used CO2 lasers in sheet metal cutting applications due to its higher efficiency, better beam quality, reliability and ease of beam delivery through optical fiber. It has been however, reported that the higher focusability and shorter wavelength are advantageous for cutting thin metal sheets up to about 2 mm only. Better focasability results in narrower kerf-width, which leads to an earlier flow separation in the flow of assist gas within the kerf, resulting in uncontrolled material removal and poor cut quality. However, the advarse effect of tight focusability can be taken care by shifting the focal point position towards the bottom surface of work-piece, which results in a wider kerf size. This results in a more stable flow within the kerf for a longer depth, which improves the cut quality. It has also been reported that fiber laser has an unfavourable angle of incidence during cutting of thick sections, resulting in poor absorption at the metal surface. Therefore, the effect of laser incidence angle, along with other process parameters, viz. cutting speed and assist gas pressure on the cut quality of 4 mm thick steel sheet has been investigated. The change in laser incidence angle has been incorporated by inclining the beam towards and away from the cut front, and the quality factors are taken as the ratio of kerf width and the striation depth. Besides the absorption of laser radiation, beam inclination is also expected to influence the gas flow characteristics inside the kerf, shear force phenomena on the molten pool, laser beam coupling and laser power distribution at the inclined cut surface. Design of experiment has been used by implementing response surface methodology (RSM) to study the parametric dependence of cut quality, as well as to find out the optimum cut quality. An improvement in quality has been observed for both the inclination due to the combined effect of multiple phenomena.

Nutritional and functional characteristics of seven grades of black tea produced in Turkey.

PubMed

Serpen, Arda; Pelvan, Ebru; Alasalvar, Cesarettin; Mogol, Burçe Ataç; Yavuz, Havvana Tuba; Gökmen, Vural; Özcan, Nihat; Özçelik, Beraat

2012-08-08

Seven grades of black tea [high-quality black tea (grades 1-3) and low-quality black tea (grades 4-7)], processed by ÇAYKUR Tea Processing Plant (Rize, Turkey), were examined for their proximate composition, dietary fiber, minerals, and water-soluble vitamins as well as total phenolic content, various antioxidant assays, phenolics (flavanols, alkoloids, condensed phenolics, and phenolic acids), chlorophylls, and carotenoids. Some variations, albeit to different extents, were observed (p < 0.05) among these parameters in seven grades of black tea. With respect to proximate composition, dietary fiber was the predominant compound (ranging from 49.68 to 54.31 g/100 g), followed by protein, carbohydrate, and, to a lesser extent, ash, moisture, and fat. Thirteen minerals, four water-soluble vitamins, six flavanols, two alkoloids, three condensed phenolics, one phenolic acid, two chlorophylls, and two carotenoids were identified in the seven grades of black tea. Total phenol content ranged from 7.52 to 8.29 g of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g, being lowest in grade 6 and highest in grade 1. With regard to antioxidant activities, a large variation in oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values was observed among all grades of black tea (ranging from 777 μmol of trolox equivalents (TE)/g in grade 7 to 1210 μmol of TE/g in grade 3). The present work suggests that high- and low-quality black teas should not be distinguished on the basis of their nutritional and functional characteristics. The combination of nutritional compounds together with functional characteristics renders combination effects that provide the characteristic quality of each grade of black tea.

Analysis of the mechanics and deformation characteristics of optical fiber acceleration sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zong-kai; Bo, Yu-ming; Zhou, Ben-mou; Wang, Jun; Huang, Ya-dong

2016-10-01

The optical fiber sensor holds many advantages such as smaller volume, lighter weight, higher sensitivity, and stronger anti-interference ability, etc. It can be applied to oil exploration to improve the exploration efficiency, since the underground petroleum distribution can be obtained by detecting and analyzing the echo signals. In this paper, the cantilever beam optical fiber sensor was mainly investigated. Specifically, the finite element analysis method is applied to the numerical analysis of the changes and relations of the optical fiber rail slot elongation on the surface of the PC material fiber winding plate along with the changes of time and power under the action of sine force. The analysis results show that, when the upper and lower quality blocks are under the action of sine force, the cantilever beam optical fiber sensor structure can basically produce synchronized deformation along with the force. And the optical fiber elongation length basically has a linear relationship with the sine force within the time ranges of 0.2 0.4 and 0.6 0.8, which would be beneficial for the subsequent signal acquisition and data processing.

Mode coupling at connectors in mode-division multiplexed transmission over few-mode fiber.

PubMed

Vuong, Jordi; Ramantanis, Petros; Frignac, Yann; Salsi, Massimiliano; Genevaux, Philippe; Bendimerad, Djalal F; Charlet, Gabriel

2015-01-26

In mode-division multiplexed (MDM) transmission systems, mode coupling is responsible for inter-modal crosstalk. We consider the transmission of modulated signals over a few-mode fiber (FMF) having low mode coupling and large differential mode group delay in the presence of a non-ideal fiber connection responsible for extra mode coupling. In this context, we first analytically derive the coupling matrix of the multimode connector and we numerically study the dependence of the matrix coefficients as a function of the butt-joint connection characteristics. The numerical results are then validated through an experiment with a five-mode setup. Finally, through numerical simulations, we assess the impact of the connector on the signal quality investigating different receiver digital signal processing (DSP) schemes.

Experimental and Numerical Investigations on the Mechanical Characteristics of Carbon Fiber Sensors

PubMed Central

Siddiqui, Mohammed

2017-01-01

Carbon fiber-based materials possess excellent mechanical properties and show linear piezoresistive behavior, which make them good candidate materials for strain measurements. They have the potential to be used as sensors for various applications such as damage detection, stress analysis and monitoring of manufacturing processes and quality. In this paper, carbon fiber sensors are prepared to perform reliable strain measurements. Both experimental and computational studies were carried out on commercially available carbon fibers in order to understand the response of the carbon fiber sensors due to changes in the axial strain. Effects of parameters such as diameter, length, and epoxy-hardener ratio are discussed. The developed numerical model was calibrated using laboratory-based experimental data. The results of the current study show that sensors with shorter lengths have relatively better sensitivity. This is due to the fact short fibers have low initial resistance, which will increase the change of resistance over initial resistance. Carbon fibers with low number of filaments exhibit linear behavior while nonlinear behavior due to transverse resistance is significant in fibers with large number of filaments. This study will allow researchers to predict the behavior of the carbon fiber sensor in real life and it will serve as a basis for designing carbon fiber sensors to be used in different applications. PMID:28869538

Genetic variation for agronomic and fiber quality traits in a population derived from high-quality cotton germplasm

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Genetic improvement of fiber quality is necessary to meet the requirements of processors and users of cotton fiber. To foster genetic improvement of cotton fiber quality, adequate genetic variation for the quantitatively inherited physical properties of cotton is required. Additionally, knowledge of...

Chemical composition and functional characteristics of dietary fiber-rich powder obtained from core of maize straw.

PubMed

Lv, Jin-Shun; Liu, Xiao-Yan; Zhang, Xiao-Pan; Wang, Lin-Shuang

2017-07-15

A novel dietary fiber (MsCDF) based core of maize straw (Core) was prepared by using high boiling solvent of sodium peroxide by high pressure pretreatment (HBSHP). The composition of MsCDF, and several physicochemical properties for MsCDF related to its nutritional quality were investigated. The results revealed that the MsCDF contains high contents total dietary fiber (TDF), soluble dietary fiber (SDF), insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) and two main monosaccharaides, xylose and glucose. Meanwhile, the studies of physicochemical properties of MsCDF indicated that MsCDF performed well water-holding capacity (WHC), oil-holding capacity (OHC), Swelling, solubility (SOL), Glucose dialysis retardation index (GDRI) and adsorption capacity on cholesterol. The results of this study serve as evidence that MsCDF can be used as a functional food additive, Core can be used as a crude material to produce MsCDF and the technology of HBSHP can be used to modify the physico-chemical properties of Core. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of simultaneous drought stress and root-knot nematode infection on cotton yield and fiber quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Both drought stress and root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) infection can reduce cotton yield, and drought can affect fiber quality, but it not known what effect the nematodes have on fiber quality. To determine whether nematode parasitism affects fiber quality and whether the combined effec...

Muscle Fiber Characteristics and Fatty Acid Compositions of the Four Major Muscles in Korean Native Black Goat.

PubMed

Hwang, Young-Hwa; Joo, Sung-Hyun; Bakhsh, Allah; Ismail, Ishamri; Joo, Seon-Tea

2017-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between muscle fiber characteristics and fatty acid composition of four major muscles in Korean native black goat (KNBG). Longissimus lumborum (LL), psoas major (PM), semimembranosus (SM), and gluteus medius (GM) were obtained from five male KNBGs of 36 mon of age and subjected to histochemical analysis and to determine fatty acid composition and meat quality traits. There were significant ( p <0.05) differences in fiber number percentage (FNP) and fiber area percentage (FAP) of fiber types among these four muscles. PM had the highest FNP of type I and the lowest FNP of type IIB, while SM had the highest FNP of type IIB. The highest fat content was observed in LL while SM had the lowest fat content. The proportions of SFA and MUFA were significantly ( p <0.05) different among four muscles due to differences in the majority of fatty acids such as oleic (C18:1) and palmitic (C16:0) acids. The PUFA/SFA ratio was significantly ( p <0.05) different among four muscles, and the highest PUFA/SFA ratio was observed in PM. Results suggested that LL and PM might be healthful because of higher desirable fatty acid value and PUFA/SFA ratio, respectively. Also, data showed that correlations between muscle fiber types and fatty acids proportion of goat muscles were reversed with those of cattle muscles.

Fiber Patterns in Young Adults Living in Different Environments (USA, Spain, and Tunisia). Anthropometric and Lifestyle Characteristics.

PubMed

García-Meseguer, María José; Delicado-Soria, Amalia; Serrano-Urrea, Ramón

2017-09-18

Benefits of dietary fiber go beyond its effect on chronic diseases associated with development. Consequently, the pattern of fiber intake has been considered an indicator for diet quality. Young adults are especially vulnerable to a food environment that drives an increase in chronic diseases linked to economic development. The aim of this work was to characterize patterns of fiber intake among university students. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 730 students enrolled at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), the University of Carthage (Tunisia), and Florida International University (USA). Mean age was 21.2. Food consumption was self-reported in two 24-h recalls. Mean dietary fiber intake was 17.8 g, not reaching the adequate intake. Contrary to expectations, American participants were the highest consumers ( p < 0.001), and also exhibited the highest BMI. Cereals, legumes, vegetables and fruit were the main food sources of fiber. Fiber from appetizers, prepared and precooked meals, sauces, spices and condiments accounted for 16.7% in American participants, 7.4% in Spanish participants and 2.6% in Tunisian participants. Total fiber intake increased with energy intake but did not depend on smoking habits and physical activity in any country. It is essential to improve consumers' interpretation of guidelines on fiber intake.

Production of superconductor/carbon bicomponent fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wise, S. A.; Fain, C. C.; Leigh, H. D.

1991-01-01

Certain materials are unable to be drawn or spun into fiber form due to their improper melting characteristics or brittleness. However, fibrous samples of such materials are often necessary for the fabrication of intricate shapes and composites. In response to this problem, a unique process, referred to as the piggyback process, was developed to prepare fibrous samples of a variety of nonspinnable ceramics. In this technique, specially produced C shaped carbon fibers serve as micromolds to hold the desired materials prior to sintering. Depending on the sintering atmosphere used, bicomponent or single component fibers result. While much has been shown worldwide concerning the YBa2Cu3O(7-x) superconductor, fabrication into unique forms has proven quite difficult. However, a variety of intricate shapes are necessary for rapid commercialization of the superconducting materials. The potential for producing fibrous samples of the YBa2Cu3O(7-x) compound by the piggyback process is being studied. Various organic and acrylic materials were studied to determine suspending ability, reactivity with the YBa2Cu3O(7-x) compound during long term storage, and burn out characteristics. While many questions were answered with respect to the interfacial reactions between YBa2Cu3O(7-x) and carbon, much work is still necessary to improve the quality of the sintered material if the fibers produced are to be incorporated into useful composite or cables.

Genetic gains from selection for fiber traits in Gossypium hirsutum L.

PubMed

de Faria, G M P; Sanchez, C F B; de Carvalho, L P; da Silva Oliveira, M; Cruz, C D

2016-11-21

Brazil is among the five largest producers of cotton in the world, cultivating the species Gossypium hirsutum L. r. latifolium Hutch. The cultivars should have good fiber quality as well as yield. Genetic improvement of fiber traits requires the study of the genetic structure of the populations under improvement, leading to the identification of promising parent plants. To this end, it is important to acquire some information, such as estimates of genetic variance components and heritability coefficients, which will support the appropriate choice of the breeding strategy to be employed as well as enable the estimation of gains from selection. This study aimed to evaluate some agronomic characteristics, such as fiber quality and yield, estimating genetic parameters for the purpose of predicting earnings. Twelve cultivars of cotton, including four male progenitors (CNPA 01-42, BRS Verde, Glandless, and Okra leaf) and eight female progenitors (Delta opal, CNPA 7H, Aroeira, Antares, Sucupira, Facual, Precoce 3, and CNPA 8H), were used in performing crosses according to design I, proposed by Comstock and Robinson (1948). The experimental design was a randomized block with four replications. We observed genetic variability among all traits as well as higher efficiency of selection for the gains related to traits. Our results showed that the combined selection presented the highest genetic gains for all traits. For fiber length, the female/male selection and the combined selection resulted in the highest genetic gain.

Tracking cotton fiber quality throughout a stipper harvester: Part II

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton fiber quality begins to degrade naturally with the opening of the boll and mechanical harvesting processes are perceived to exacerbate fiber degradation. Previous research indicates that stripper harvested cotton generally has lower fiber quality and higher foreign matter content than picker ...

Characterization and Effects of Fiber Pull-Outs in Hole Quality of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics Composite.

PubMed

Alizadeh Ashrafi, Sina; Miller, Peter W; Wandro, Kevin M; Kim, Dave

2016-10-13

Hole quality plays a crucial role in the production of close-tolerance holes utilized in aircraft assembly. Through drilling experiments of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic composites (CFRP), this study investigates the impact of varying drilling feed and speed conditions on fiber pull-out geometries and resulting hole quality parameters. For this study, hole quality parameters include hole size variance, hole roundness, and surface roughness. Fiber pull-out geometries are quantified by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the mechanically-sectioned CFRP-machined holes, to measure pull-out length and depth. Fiber pull-out geometries and the hole quality parameter results are dependent on the drilling feed and spindle speed condition, which determines the forces and undeformed chip thickness during the process. Fiber pull-out geometries influence surface roughness parameters from a surface profilometer, while their effect on other hole quality parameters obtained from a coordinate measuring machine is minimal.

Drainage and fractionation of wood fibers in a flotation froth

Treesearch

J.Y. Zhu; Freya Tan

2005-01-01

Understanding fiber fractionation in a froth is very important to the quality of recovered fibers in flotation deinking operations. Fiber length is a very important fiber quality parameter in paper-making. For example, long fibers tend to produce a paper with higher tear strength than short fibers. In this study, fibers in froth collected at different froth drainage...

Developing Accurate Spatial Maps of Cotton Fiber Quality Parameters

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Awareness of the importance of cotton fiber quality (Gossypium, L. sps.) has increased as advances in spinning technology require better quality cotton fiber. Recent advances in geospatial information sciences allow an improved ability to study the extent and causes of spatial variability in fiber p...

Characteristics of fiber-optic radiation sensor for passive scattering proton beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Son, J.; Kim, M.; Jeong, J.; Lim, Y.; Lee, S. B.; Shin, D.; Yoon, M.

2017-11-01

The aims of this study were to investigate the characteristics of a fiber-optic radiation sensor (FORS) that detects the fluorescence light produced by proton beam and to verify its effectiveness in proton therapy quality assurance (QA). Various characteristics of the FORS were investigated, such as the linearity of its relationships to the sensitive length of fiber for the proton beams of intermediate ranges (165.46 and 178.37 MeV) and to the measured dose, as well as its dose rate dependence. In addition, patient specific precription dose QA was conducted for five patients actually undergoing proton therapy and the results were compared with the doses measured using an ion chamber. The results show that the signal of the FORS is linearly related to the sensitive length of fiber and to the irradiated dose in the range from 1 to 500 cGy. The QA results obtained using the FORS system showed good agreement with the corresponding ion chamber results, with an average difference of 0.40% and a standard deviation of 0.35%. The FORS was dose-rate independent for proton currents up to 5 Gy/min. The profiles of various proton beams obtained using an array of FORS, which were measured as an application of the developed dosimetric system, closely agreed with the profiles acquired using EBT3 film. In summary, the experimental results of FORS demonstrated its effectiveness for use in various proton therapy QA tests.

Relationships of cotton fiber properties to ring-spun yarn quality on selected High Plains cottons

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The objective of this research was to evaluate the adequacy of High Volume Instruement (HVI) and Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) fiber quality parameters for predicting quality parameters of ring-spun yarns considering differences in harvest method. Fiber properties measured using the HVI (...

Quality characteristics of pork burger added with albedo-fiber powder obtained from yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis var. flavicarpa) co-products.

PubMed

López-Vargas, Jairo H; Fernández-López, Juana; Pérez-Álvarez, José Ángel; Viuda-Martos, Manuel

2014-06-01

The aim of this work determined the technological, nutritional and sensory characteristics of pork burgers, added with different concentrations (2.5 and 5%) of passion fruit albedo (PFA) co-product, obtained from passion fruit juice processing. The addition of PFA on pork burgers improves their nutritional value (higher fiber content). In raw and cooked burger, all textural parameters, except springiness and cohesiveness, were affected by the incorporation of PFA. PFA addition was found to be effective improving the cooking yield, moisture retention and fat retention. The raw and cooked pork burgers added with PFA had lower TBA values and lower counts of aerobic mesophilic bacteria and enterobacteria than the control samples. No Escherichia coli and molds were found in the samples. The overall acceptability scores showed that the most appreciated sample was the one containing 2.5% PFA. According to the results obtained, 2.5 and 5% of PFA addition can be recommended in pork burger production as a new dietary fiber source. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microbiological Characteristic and Nutrition Quality of Goat Milk Kefir Based on Vitamin D3 Fortification Time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fauziyyah, F.; Panunggal, B.; Afifah, D. N.; Rustanti, N.; Anjani, G.

2018-02-01

Goat milk kefir fortified with vitamin D3 is expected to benefit individual with insulin resistance. Different vitamin D3 fortification time allegedly effect microbiological characteristic and nutrition quality of goat milk kefir due to its microbial growth curve, thus this study aimed to analyze those parameters. This study was an experimental research. This study contains five treatments (vitamin D3 fortification at 0, 6, 12, 18, or 24 hours of fermentation) and a group of control. Total lactic acid bacteria, vitamin D3, protein level, fat contain, crude fiber, viscosity, and pH was analyzed by Total Plate Count, spectrophotometry, Bradford method, Babcock method, gravimetric analysis, Ostwald method, and pH meter respectively. Time of vitamin D3 fortification significantly effect vitamin D3 content (p=0,021), fat content (p=0,001), crude fiber (p=0,0001), viscosity (p=0,010), and total lactic acid bacteria (p=0,048). The highest vitamin D3 content was found on the group fortified at 6 hours of fermentation. All treatment groups has lower fat content and crude fiber content than control group. Total LAB in all group meet the Codex standard (≥ 107 CFU/ml). Control group and fortification group at 24 hours of fermentation have higher viscosity than other groups. There was no significant difference found in goat milk kefir protein level (p=0,262) and pH (p=0,056) despite the difference of fortification time. Vitamin D3 fortification time effect vitamin D3 content, fat content, crude fiber, viscosity, and total lactic acid bacteria of goat milk kefir, but did not effect protein content and pH of goat milk kefir.

A high-fiber diet may improve bowel function and health-related quality of life in patients with Crohn disease.

PubMed

Brotherton, Carol S; Taylor, Ann Gill; Bourguignon, Cheryl; Anderson, Joel G

2014-01-01

Crohn disease is a chronic disorder characterized by episodes of epithelial inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract for which there is no cure. The prevalence of Crohn disease increased in civilized nations during the time period in which food sources were industrialized in those nations. A characteristic of industrialized diets is the conspicuous absence of cereal fiber. The purpose of this 2-group, randomized, controlled study was to investigate the effects of fiber-related dietary instructions specifying wheat bran consumption on health-related quality of life and gastrointestinal function in individuals diagnosed with Crohn disease, as measured by the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire and the partial Harvey Bradshaw Index, respectively. Results demonstrated that consuming a wheat bran-inclusive diet was feasible and caused no adverse effects, and participants consuming whole wheat bran in the diet reported improved health-related quality of life (p = .028) and gastrointestinal function (p = .008) compared to the attention control group. The results of a secondary aim, to investigate differences in measures of systemic inflammation, found no group differences in C-reactive protein or erythrocyte sedimentation rates. This study suggests that diet modification may be a welcomed complementary therapy for individuals suffering gastrointestinal disruption associated with Crohn disease.

Genetic Variability of 27 Traits in a Core Collection of Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

PubMed Central

You, Frank M.; Jia, Gaofeng; Xiao, Jin; Duguid, Scott D.; Rashid, Khalid Y.; Booker, Helen M.; Cloutier, Sylvie

2017-01-01

Assessment of genetic variability of plant core germplasm is needed for efficient germplasm utilization in breeding improvement. A total of 391 accessions of a flax core collection, which preserves the variation present in the world collection of 3,378 accessions maintained by Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC) and represents a broad range of geographical origins, different improvement statuses and two morphotypes, was evaluated in field trials in up to 8 year-location environments for 10 agronomic, eight seed quality, six fiber and three disease resistance traits. The large phenotypic variation in this subset was explained by morphotypes (22%), geographical origins (11%), and other variance components (67%). Both divergence and similarity between two basic morphotypes, namely oil or linseed and fiber types, were observed, whereby linseed accessions had greater thousand seed weight, seeds m−2, oil content, branching capability and resistance to powdery mildew while fiber accessions had greater straw weight, plant height, protein content and resistance to pasmo and fusarium wilt diseases, but they had similar performance in many traits and some of them shared common characteristics of fiber and linseed types. Weak geographical patterns within either fiber or linseed accessions were confirmed, but specific trait performance was identified in East Asia for fiber type, and South Asia and North America for linseed type. Relatively high broad-sense heritability was obtained for seed quality traits, followed by agronomic traits and resistance to powdery mildew and fusarium wilt. Diverse phenotypic and genetic variability in the flax core collection constitutes a useful resource for breeding. PMID:28993783

Genetic Variability of 27 Traits in a Core Collection of Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.).

PubMed

You, Frank M; Jia, Gaofeng; Xiao, Jin; Duguid, Scott D; Rashid, Khalid Y; Booker, Helen M; Cloutier, Sylvie

2017-01-01

Assessment of genetic variability of plant core germplasm is needed for efficient germplasm utilization in breeding improvement. A total of 391 accessions of a flax core collection, which preserves the variation present in the world collection of 3,378 accessions maintained by Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC) and represents a broad range of geographical origins, different improvement statuses and two morphotypes, was evaluated in field trials in up to 8 year-location environments for 10 agronomic, eight seed quality, six fiber and three disease resistance traits. The large phenotypic variation in this subset was explained by morphotypes (22%), geographical origins (11%), and other variance components (67%). Both divergence and similarity between two basic morphotypes, namely oil or linseed and fiber types, were observed, whereby linseed accessions had greater thousand seed weight, seeds m -2 , oil content, branching capability and resistance to powdery mildew while fiber accessions had greater straw weight, plant height, protein content and resistance to pasmo and fusarium wilt diseases, but they had similar performance in many traits and some of them shared common characteristics of fiber and linseed types. Weak geographical patterns within either fiber or linseed accessions were confirmed, but specific trait performance was identified in East Asia for fiber type, and South Asia and North America for linseed type. Relatively high broad-sense heritability was obtained for seed quality traits, followed by agronomic traits and resistance to powdery mildew and fusarium wilt. Diverse phenotypic and genetic variability in the flax core collection constitutes a useful resource for breeding.

Characterization and Effects of Fiber Pull-Outs in Hole Quality of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics Composite

PubMed Central

Alizadeh Ashrafi, Sina; Miller, Peter W.; Wandro, Kevin M.; Kim, Dave

2016-01-01

Hole quality plays a crucial role in the production of close-tolerance holes utilized in aircraft assembly. Through drilling experiments of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic composites (CFRP), this study investigates the impact of varying drilling feed and speed conditions on fiber pull-out geometries and resulting hole quality parameters. For this study, hole quality parameters include hole size variance, hole roundness, and surface roughness. Fiber pull-out geometries are quantified by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the mechanically-sectioned CFRP-machined holes, to measure pull-out length and depth. Fiber pull-out geometries and the hole quality parameter results are dependent on the drilling feed and spindle speed condition, which determines the forces and undeformed chip thickness during the process. Fiber pull-out geometries influence surface roughness parameters from a surface profilometer, while their effect on other hole quality parameters obtained from a coordinate measuring machine is minimal. PMID:28773950

Development of a biotechnological process for the production of high quality linen fibers.

PubMed

Valladares Juárez, Ana Gabriela; Rost, Gernot; Heitmann, Uwe; Heger, Egon; Müller, Rudolf

2011-10-01

A novel biotechnological process for the production of high-quality flax fibers was developed. In this process, decorticated fibers from green flax were washed with 0.5% soda solution and treated with the pectinolytic strain Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius PB94A. Before drying the fibers, they were treated with the textile softener Adulcinol BUN. If the fibers contained contaminant shives, a bleaching step with hydrogen peroxide was performed before the softener treatment. In experiments where fibers were treated by the new process, and in which the bacterial solutions were reused seven times, the fiber quality was similar in all batches. The resolution of the treated fibers was 2.7 ± 0.4 and the fineness was 11.1 ± 1.1 dtex, while the starting material had a resolution of 7.3 and a fineness of 37 dtex. The new biotechnological treatment eliminates the weather-associated risks of the traditional fiber retting completely and produces consistently high-quality fibers that can be used to produce fine linen yarns.

Polymer Optical Fiber Sensor and the Prediction of Sensor Response Utilizing Artificial Neural Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haroglu, Derya

The global market researches showed that there is a growing trend in the field of polymer optical fiber (POF) and POF sensors. Telecommunications, medicine, defense, aerospace, and automotive are the application areas of fiber optic sensors, where the automotive industry is the most promising application area for innovations in the field of POF sensors. The POF sensors in automobiles are particularly for detection of seat occupancy, and intelligent pedestrian protection systems. This dissertation investigates graded index perfluorinated polymer optical fiber as an intensity modulated intrinsic sensor for application in automotive seat occupancy sensing. Since a fiber optic sensor has a high bandwidth, is small in size, is lightweight, and is immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI) it offers higher performance than that of its electrical based counterparts such as strain gauge, elastomeric bladder, and resistive sensor systems. This makes the fiber optic sensor a potential suitable material for seat occupancy sensing. A textile-based fiber optic sensor was designed to be located in the area beneath the typical seated human's thighs. The pressure interval under which the proposed POF sensor design could perform well was found to be between 0.18 and 0.21 N/cm2, where perfluorinated (PF) graded index (GI) POF (62.5/750 mum) was used as the POF material. In addition, the effect of the automotive seat covering including face material (fabric) and foam backing to the sensor's performance was analyzed. The face fabric structure and the thickness of foam backing were not found to be significant factors to change the sensor results. A research study, survey, was conducted of which purpose was to better understand market demands in terms of sensor performance characteristics for automotive seat weight sensors, as a part of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) House of Quality analysis. The companies joined the survey agreed on the first 5 most important sensor characteristics: reproducibility, accuracy, selectivity, aging, and resolution. Artificial neural network (ANN), a mathematical model formed by mimicking the human nervous system, was used to predict the sensor response. Qwiknet (version 2.23) software was used to develop ANNs and according to the results of Qwiknet the prediction performances for training and testing data sets were 75%, and 83.33% respectively. In this dissertation, Chapter 1 describes the worldwide plastic optical fiber (POF) and fiber optic sensor markets, and the existing textile structures used in fiber optic sensing design particularly for the applications of biomedical and structural health monitoring (SHM). Chapter 2 provides a literature review in detail on polymer optical fibers, fiber optic sensors, and occupancy sensing in the passenger seats of automobiles. Chapter 3 includes the research objectives. Chapter 4 presents the response of POF to tensile loading, bending, and cyclic tensile loading with discussion parts. Chapter 5 includes an e-mail based survey to prioritize customer needs in a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) format utilizing Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and survey results. Chapter 6 describes the POF sensor design and the behavior of it under pressure. Chapter 7 provides a data analysis based on the experimental results of Chapter 6. Chapter 8 presents the summary of this study and recommendations for future work.

Meat quality, oxidative stability and blood parameters from Graylag geese offered alternative fiber sources in growing period.

PubMed

He, L W; Meng, Q X; Li, D Y; Zhang, Y W; Ren, L P

2015-04-01

The effects of dietary fiber sources on the meat quality, oxidative stability, and blood parameters of growing Graylag geese (28-112d) were investigated. The birds were randomly allocated into 4 treatments, of which dietary fiber was mainly from corn straw silage (CSS), steam-exploded corn straw (SECS), steam-exploded wheat straw (SEWS), and steam-exploded rice straw (SERS). No influence (P>0.05) on the basic chemical components, oxidative stability, or organoleptic traits of muscle were observed, except that birds fed SECS had a higher (P<0.05) protein proportion than those fed CSS or SERS, and CSS increased (P<0.01) the cholesterol content when compared to SEWS or SERS. Regarding fatty acid profile in meat, CSS and SECS increased (P<0.01) the proportion of C18:2n6t and decreased that of C21:0 and C22:0 when compared to the others. The birds fed SERS had a higher (P<0.05) proportion of C20:0 and C22:0 than the others, a higher proportion of C20:5n3, n-3 fatty acids, Δ-9 desaturase (18) index compared to those fed CSS or SECS, and a lower (P<0.01) proportion of C20:1n9 than those fed SECS or SEWS. Additionally, SEWS resulted in a higher (P<0.01) proportion of C20:2 when compared to the others. In conclusion, these fibers affect just the protein proportion, cholesterol content, and fatty acid profile of breast muscle, along with the concentration of TG and MDA in blood, but not the other characteristics. No superior fiber source exists with respect to meat quality, suggesting that Graylag geese feeding should make the most economically of the convenient fiber source with appropriate pretreatment. © 2015 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Influence of fiber quality on draftometer measurements

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Fiber-to-fiber and fiber-to-machine friction play an important role in determining textile processing efficiency and end-product quality. A process, known as drafting, is used to control the attenuation of the fiber mass being processed in carding, drawing and spinning. The amount of attenuation t...

Chemical composition, rheological, quality characteristics and storage stability of buns enriched with coriander and curry leaves.

PubMed

Sudha, M L; Rajeswari, G; Venkateswara Rao, G

2014-12-01

Effect of addition of normal (NL) and dehydrated (DL) curry leaves (Murraya koeniggi) and coriander leaves (Corinadrum sativum) in the ratio of 1:1 to refined wheat flour (WF) or a blend of refined wheat flour-whole wheat flour (WF-WWF, 1:1) on the rheological, nutritional, storage and quality characteristics of the buns were studied. Water absorption increased on addition of increasing levels of DL from 0 to 7.5 % to WF-WWF when compared to WF. Dough weakening was greater when DL was added to WF-WWF as seen in decrease in dough stability and abscissa at rupture values. Addition of gluten and emulsifiers improved the quality characteristics of buns prepared using either 25 % NL or 5 % DL. Storage stability of buns with DL was better. The protein, dietary fiber, iron and carotenoids in buns prepared from WF-WWF were higher. The results indicate the utilization of leaves in dehydrated form in the preparation of nutritionally improved buns.

True Tapping Mode Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy with Bent Glass Fiber Probes.

PubMed

Smirnov, A; Yasinskii, V M; Filimonenko, D S; Rostova, E; Dietler, G; Sekatskii, S K

2018-01-01

In scanning near-field optical microscopy, the most popular probes are made of sharpened glass fiber attached to a quartz tuning fork (TF) and exploiting the shear force-based feedback. The use of tapping mode feedback could be preferable. Such an approach can be realized, for example, using bent fiber probes. Detailed analysis of fiber vibration modes shows that realization of truly tapping mode of the probe dithering requires an extreme caution. In case of using the second resonance mode, probes vibrate mostly in shear force mode unless the bending radius is rather small (ca. 0.3 mm) and the probe's tip is short. Otherwise, the shear force character of the dithering persists. Probes having these characteristics were prepared by irradiation of a tapered etched glass fiber with a CW CO 2 laser. These probes were attached to the TF in double resonance conditions which enables achieving significant quality factor (4000-6000) of the TF + probe system (Cherkun et al., 2006). We also show that, to achieve a truly tapping character, dithering, short, and not exceeding 3 mm lengths of a freestanding part of bent fiber probe beam should also be used in the case of nonresonant excitation.

Evaluation and Analysis of the ANSI X3T9.5 (FDDI) PMD and Proposed SMF-PMD as Influenced by Various Fiber Link Characteristics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wernicki, M. Chris

1991-01-01

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the operational parameters of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) fiber optic cable plant. The evaluation is based on the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) and Single Mode Fiber (SMF) PMD standards. From the KSC fiber profile, it would be necessary to develop the modifications needed in existing FDDI PMD and proposed SMF-PMD standards to provide for FDDI implementation and operation at KSC. This analysis should examine the major factors that influence the operating conditions of the KSC fiber plant. These factors would include, but are not limited to the number and type of connectors, attenuation and dispersion characteristics of the fiber, non-standard fiber sizes, modal bandwidth, and many other relevant or significant fiber plant characteristics that effect FDDI characteristics. This analysis is needed to gain a better understanding of overall impact that each of these factors have on FDDI performance at KSC.

High-quality fiber fabrication in buffered hydrofluoric acid solution with ultrasonic agitation.

PubMed

Zhong, Nianbing; Liao, Qiang; Zhu, Xun; Wang, Yongzhong; Chen, Rong

2013-03-01

An etching method for preparing high-quality fiber-optic sensors using a buffered etchant with ultrasonic agitation is proposed. The effects of etching conditions on the etch rate and surface morphology of the etched fibers are investigated. The effect of surface roughness is discussed on the fibers' optical properties. Linear etching behavior and a smooth fiber surface can be repeatedly obtained by adjusting the ultrasonic power and etchant pH. The fibers' spectral quality is improved as the ratio of the pit depth to size decreases, and the fibers with smooth surfaces are more sensitive to a bacterial suspension than those with rough surfaces.

Effects of replacing pork back fat with vegetable oils and rice bran fiber on the quality of reduced-fat frankfurters.

PubMed

Choi, Yun-Sang; Choi, Ji-Hun; Han, Doo-Jeong; Kim, Hack-Youn; Lee, Mi-Ai; Jeong, Jong-Youn; Chung, Hai-Jung; Kim, Cheon-Jei

2010-03-01

The effects of substituting olive, grape seed, corn, canola, or soybean oil and rice bran fiber on the chemical composition, cooking characteristics, fatty acid composition, and sensory properties of low-fat frankfurters were investigated. Ten percent of the total fat content of frankfurters with a total fat content of 30% (control) was partially replaced by one of the vegetable oils to reduce the pork fat content by 10%. The moisture and ash content of low-fat frankfurters with vegetable oil and rice bran fiber were all higher than the control (P<0.05). Low-fat frankfurters had reduced-fat content, energy values, cholesterol and trans-fat levels, and increased pH, cooking yield and TBA values compared to the controls (P<0.05). Low-fat frankfurters with reduced-fat content plus rice bran fiber had sensory properties similar to control frankfurters containing pork fat. Crown Copyright 2009. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Water-equivalent fiber radiation dosimeter with two scintillating materials

PubMed Central

Qin, Zhuang; Hu, Yaosheng; Ma, Yu; Lin, Wei; Luo, Xianping; Zhao, Wenhui; Sun, Weimin; Zhang, Daxin; Chen, Ziyin; Wang, Boran; Lewis, Elfed

2016-01-01

An inorganic scintillating material plastic optical fiber (POF) dosimeter for measuring ionizing radiation during radiotherapy applications is reported. It is necessary that an ideal dosimeter exhibits many desirable qualities, including water equivalence, energy independence, reproducibility, dose linearity. There has been much recent research concerning inorganic dosimeters. However, little reference has been made to date of the depth-dose characteristics of dosimeter materials. In the case of inorganic scintillating materials, they are predominantly non water-equivalent, with their effective atomic weight (Zeff) being typically much greater than that of water. This has been a barrier in preventing inorganic scintillating material dosimeter from being used in actual clinical applications. In this paper, we propose a parallel-paired fiber light guide structure to solve this problem. Two different inorganic scintillating materials are embedded separately in the parallel-paired fiber. It is shown that the information of water depth and absorbed dose at the point of measurement can be extracted by utilizing their different depth-dose properties. PMID:28018715

Mapping by sequencing in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) line MD52ne identified candidate genes for fiber strength and its related quality attributes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Fiber strength, length, maturity and fineness determine the market value of cotton fibers and the quality of spun yarn. Cotton fiber strength has been recognized as a critical quality attribute in the modern textile industry. Fine mapping along with quantitative trait loci (QTL) validation and candi...

Automated fiber placement composite manufacturing: The mission at MSFC's Productivity Enhancement Complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vickers, John H.; Pelham, Larry I.

1993-01-01

Automated fiber placement is a manufacturing process used for producing complex composite structures. It is a notable leap to the state-of-the-art in technology for automated composite manufacturing. The fiber placement capability was established at the Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC) Productivity Enhancement Complex in 1992 in collaboration with Thiokol Corporation to provide materials and processes research and development, and to fabricate components for many of the Center's Programs. The Fiber Placement System (FPX) was developed as a distinct solution to problems inherent to other automated composite manufacturing systems. This equipment provides unique capabilities to build composite parts in complex 3-D shapes with concave and other asymmetrical configurations. Components with complex geometries and localized reinforcements usually require labor intensive efforts resulting in expensive, less reproducible components; the fiber placement system has the features necessary to overcome these conditions. The mechanical systems of the equipment have the motion characteristics of a filament winder and the fiber lay-up attributes of a tape laying machine, with the additional capabilities of differential tow payout speeds, compaction and cut-restart to selectively place the correct number of fibers where the design dictates. This capability will produce a repeatable process resulting in lower cost and improved quality and reliability.

Bridging classical and molecular genetics of cotton fiber quality and development

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton is the single most important natural fiber in the world and represents a vital agricultural commodity in the global economy. Ninety percent of cotton’s value resides in the lint fiber. Cotton fiber quality, defined by the physical properties of the lint fibers, is an important part of the cot...

Effect of fiber fractions of prickly pear cactus (nopal) on quality and sensory properties of wheat bread rolls.

PubMed

Guevara-Arauza, Juan Carlos; Bárcenas, Diego Guadalupe; Ortega-Rivas, Enrique; Martínez, Jaime David Pérez; Hernández, Jaime Reyes; de Jesús Ornelas-Paz, José

2015-05-01

In this study the addition of total fiber (TF), insoluble fiber (IF), and soluble fiber (SF) from nopal to wheat flour used to make bread rolls was assessed. The rheological properties of dough as well as quality, texture, sensorial and physical characteristics of the crumb rolls produced were evaluated. The storage (23.50 MPa) and loss modulus (11.95 MPa) for SF-dough were the lowest indicating that a less visco-elastic behavior was obtained. Polarized light microscopy showed that a more homogeneous size and a better distribution of starch granules were developed into SF-dough. Crumb hardness (3.25-4.78 N) and chewiness (0.31-0.81 N) of SF-rolls were lower than the control experiment (3.99-5.81 N and 0.35-1.01 N respectively). Springiness for all treatments was constant (1.0) compared with the control (1.02-0.87) for 2 days of storage. The lowest cohesiveness values (0.24-014) were computed by IF treatment for a similar storage time. The specific crumb volume increased by 12.46, 9.03 and 1.10 % by the addition of SF, TF and IF respectively. The lowest rate of staling was shown by SF-rolls (0.199) and it was followed by TF (0.296), IF (0.381) and control (0.458) treatments. As a result, the highest scores on quality (9.3 out of 10) and sensorial attributes (from 8.9 up to 9.7) were assigned to SF-rolls.

Prototyping of Dental Structures Using Laser Milling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreev, A. O.; Kosenko, M. S.; Petrovskiy, V. N.; Mironov, V. D.

2016-02-01

The results of experimental studies of the effect of an ytterbium fiber laser radiation parameters on processing efficiency and quality of ZrO2 ceramics widely used in stomatology are presented. Laser operating conditions with optimum characteristics for obtaining high quality final surfaces and rapid material removal of dental structures are determined. The ability of forming thin-walled ceramic structures by laser milling technology (a minimum wall thickness of 50 μm) is demonstrated. The examples of three-dimensional dental structures created in computer 3D-models of human teeth using laser milling are shown.

Data reductions and data quality for the high resolution spectrograph on the Southern African Large Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crawford, S. M.; Crause, Lisa; Depagne, Éric; Ilkiewicz, Krystian; Schroeder, Anja; Kuhn, Rudolph; Hettlage, Christian; Romero Colmenaro, Encarni; Kniazev, Alexei; Väisänen, Petri

2016-08-01

The High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS) on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a dual beam, fiber-fed echelle spectrograph providing high resolution capabilities to the SALT observing community. We describe the available data reduction tools and the procedures put in place for regular monitoring of the data quality from the spectrograph. Data reductions are carried out through the pyhrs package. The data characteristics and instrument stability are reported as part of the SALT Dashboard to help monitor the performance of the instrument.

LOW-COST COMPOSITES IN VEHICLE MANUFACTURE - Natural-fiber-reinforced polymer composites in automotive applications.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Holbery, Jim; Houston, Dan

In the last decade, natural fiber composites have experienced rapid growth in the European automotive market, and this trend appears to be global in scale, provided the cost and performance is justified against competing technologies. However, mass reduction, recyclability, and performance requirements can be met today by competing systems such as injection-molded unreinforced thermoplastics; natural fiber composites will continue to expand their role in automotive applications only if such technical challenges as moisture stability, fiber-polymer interface compatibility, and consistent, repeatable fiber sources are available to supply automotive manufacturers. Efforts underway by Tier I and II automotive suppliers to explore hybridmore » glass-natural fiber systems, as well as applications that exploit such capabilities as natural fiber sound dampening characteristics, could very well have far-reaching effects. In addition, the current development underway of bio-based resins such as Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biodegradable polyesters and bio-based polyols could provide fully bio-based composite options to future automotive designers. In short, the development of the natural fiber composite market would make a positive impact on farmers and small business owners on a global scale, reduce US reliance on foreign oil, improve environmental quality through the development of a sustainable resource supply chain, and achieve a better CO2 balance over the vehicle?s lifetime with near-zero net greenhouse gas emissions.« less

Common path endoscopic probes for optical coherence tomography (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Kanwarpal; Gardecki, Joseph A.; Tearney, Guillermo J.

2017-02-01

Background: Dispersion imbalance and polarization mismatch between the reference and sample arm signals can lead to image quality degradation in optical coherence tomography (OCT). One approach to reduce these image artifacts is to employ a common-path geometry in fiber-based probes. In this work, we report an 800 um diameter all-fiber common-path monolithic probe for coronary artery imaging where the reference signal is generated using an inline fiber partial reflector. Methods: Our common-path probe was designed for swept-source based Fourier domain OCT at 1310 nm wavelength. A face of a coreless fiber was coated with gold and spliced to a standard SMF-28 single mode fiber creating an inline partial reflector, which acted as a reference surface. The other face of the coreless fiber was shaped into a ball lens for focusing. The optical elements were assembled within a 560 µm diameter drive shaft, which was attached to a rotary junction. The drive shaft was placed inside a transparent sheath having an outer diameter of 800 µm. Results: With a source input power of 30mW, the inline common-path probe achieved a sensitivity of 104 dB. Images of human finger skin showed the characteristic layers of skin as well as features such as sweat ducts. Images of coronary arteries ex vivo obtained with this probe enabled visualization of the characteristic architectural morphology of the normal artery wall and known features of atherosclerotic plaque. Conclusion: In this work, we have demonstrated a common path OCT probe for cardiovascular imaging. The probe is easy to fabricate, will reduce system complexity and overall cost. We believe that this design will be helpful in endoscopic applications that require high resolution and a compact form factor.

Impairments Computation for Routing Purposes in a Transparent-Access Optical Network Based on Optical CDMA and WDM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Musa, Ahmed

2016-06-01

Optical access networks are becoming more widespread and the use of multiple services might require a transparent optical network (TON). Multiplexing and privacy could benefit from the combination of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and optical coding (OC) and wavelength conversion in optical switches. The routing process needs to be cognizant of different resource types and characteristics such as fiber types, fiber linear impairments such as attenuation, dispersion, etc. as well as fiber nonlinear impairments such as four-wave mixing, cross-phase modulation, etc. Other types of impairments, generated by optical nodes or photonic switches, also affect the signal quality (Q) or the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR), which is related to the bit error rate (BER). Therefore, both link and switch impairments must be addressed and somehow incorporated into the routing algorithm. However, it is not practical to fully integrate all photonic-specific attributes in the routing process. In this study, new routing parameters and constraints are defined that reflect the distinct characteristics of photonic networking. These constraints are applied to the design phase of TON and expressed as a cost or metric form that will be used in the network routing algorithm.

An experimental study on laser drilling and cutting of composite materials for the aerospace industry using excimer and CO2 sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

dell'Erba, M.; Galantucci, L. M.; Miglietta, S.

This paper reports on the results of research which investigated the potential for the application of an excimer laser in the field of composite material drilling and cutting, by comparing this technology with that using CO2 sources. In particular, the scope of the work was to check whether the interaction between excimer lasers and composite materials, whose characteristic feature is the absence of thermal transfer, could yield better results than those obtainable with CO2 sources once heat transfer-induced difficulties had been eliminated. The materials selected for the experiments were multilayer composites having an epoxy resin matrix (65 percent in volume), with aramid fiber (Kevlar), carbon fiber and glass fiber as reinforcing materials, all of considerable interest for the aerospace industry. Optimal operational parameters were identified in relation to each source with a view to obtaining undersize holes or through cuts exhibiting severed areas of good quality. A comparison between the two types of processing carried out show that rims processed by excimer lasers are of better quality - particularly so with Kevlar - whereas the ablation rate is undoubtedly rather low compared with the CO2 technology.

[Quality of pastas supplemented with rice bran].

PubMed

Sangronis, E; Rebolledo, M A

1997-06-01

The objective of this research was to investigate the potential of using rice bran as an ingredient in pastas spaghetti type. Two of the pastas were made with semolina from durum as raw material, supplemented with 10 and 20% rice bran. The other two were made with granular flour and the same percentage of rice bran. Proximate composition of raw material was analyzed. Pastas were elaborated in a local industry. Composition, proximal, color, texture, and sensorial quality of pastas were determined. Protein content (13.9-15.0%), ash (1.47-3.09%) and dietary fiber (6.71-8.45%) of pastas increased according to the percentage of rice bran added. The hardest pastas were those elaborated with semolina from durum wheat and with a 10% of substitution. Also, they were the most yellow. The sensory panel found differences in quality among the pastas evaluated. Pastas with 10% rice bran had the best quality. The results demonstrated that is possible to elaborate pastas with 20% as maximum of rice bran resulting products with high protein, ash and dietetic fiber content, but some undesirable characteristics were given by the rice bran as white spots, wrinkles and color changes.

Miniature spinning: an improved cotton research tools

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton is a natural fiber and is highly variable. Researchers need to evaluate cotton fiber properties to aid in the development of improved varieties and to ensure that changes in agronomic practices do not harm fiber quality or processing propensity. There is a need for fiber quality evaluation be...

The Negative Correlation between Fiber Color and Quality Traits Revealed by QTL Analysis.

PubMed

Feng, Hongjie; Guo, Lixue; Wang, Gaskin; Sun, Junling; Pan, Zhaoe; He, Shoupu; Zhu, Heqin; Sun, Jie; Du, Xiongming

2015-01-01

Naturally existing colored cotton was far from perfection due to having genetic factors for lower yield, poor fiber quality and monotonous color. These factors posed a challenge to colored cotton breeding and innovation. To identify novel quantitative trait loci (QTL) for fiber color along with understanding of correlation between fiber color and quality in colored cotton, a RIL and two F2 populations were generated from crosses among Zong128 (Brown fiber cotton) and two white fiber cotton lines which were then analyzed in four environments. Two stable and major QTLs (qLC-7-1, qFC-7-1) for fiber lint and fuzz color were detected accounting for 16.01%-59.85% of the phenotypic variation across multiple generations and environments. Meanwhile, some minor QTLs were also identified on chromosomes 5, 14, 21 and 24 providing low phenotypic variation (<5%) from only F2 populations, not from the RILs population. Especially, a multiple-effect locus for fiber color and quality has been detected between flanking markers NAU1043 and NAU3654 on chromosome 7 (A genome) over multiple environments. Of which, qLC-7-1, qFC-7-1 were responsible for positive effects and improved fiber color in offsprings. Meanwhile, the QTLs (qFL-7-1, qFU-7-1, qFF-7-1, qFE-7-1, and qFS-7-1) for fiber quality had negative effects and explained 2.19%-8.78% of the phenotypic variation. This multiple-effect locus for fiber color and quality may reveal the negative correlation between the two types of above traits, so paving the way towards cotton genetic improvement.

Fiber-Optic Strain Sensors With Linear Characteristics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Egalon, Claudio O.; Rogowski, Robert S.

1993-01-01

Fiber-optic modal domain strain sensors having linear characteristics over wide range of strains proposed. Conceived in effort to improve older fiber-optic strain sensors. Linearity obtained by appropriate choice of design parameters. Pattern of light and dark areas at output end of optical fiber produced by interference between electromagnetic modes in which laser beam propagates in fiber. Photodetector monitors intensity at one point in pattern.

True Tapping Mode Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy with Bent Glass Fiber Probes

PubMed Central

Yasinskii, V. M.; Filimonenko, D. S.; Rostova, E.; Dietler, G.; Sekatskii, S. K.

2018-01-01

In scanning near-field optical microscopy, the most popular probes are made of sharpened glass fiber attached to a quartz tuning fork (TF) and exploiting the shear force-based feedback. The use of tapping mode feedback could be preferable. Such an approach can be realized, for example, using bent fiber probes. Detailed analysis of fiber vibration modes shows that realization of truly tapping mode of the probe dithering requires an extreme caution. In case of using the second resonance mode, probes vibrate mostly in shear force mode unless the bending radius is rather small (ca. 0.3 mm) and the probe's tip is short. Otherwise, the shear force character of the dithering persists. Probes having these characteristics were prepared by irradiation of a tapered etched glass fiber with a CW CO2 laser. These probes were attached to the TF in double resonance conditions which enables achieving significant quality factor (4000–6000) of the TF + probe system (Cherkun et al., 2006). We also show that, to achieve a truly tapping character, dithering, short, and not exceeding 3 mm lengths of a freestanding part of bent fiber probe beam should also be used in the case of nonresonant excitation. PMID:29849857

Variability in cotton fiber yield, fiber quality, and soil properties in a southeastern coastal plain

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To maximize profitability, cotton (GossypiumhirsutumL.) producers must attempt to control the quality of the crop while maximizing yield. The objective of this research was to measure the intrinsic variability present in cotton fiber yield and quality. The 0.5-ha experimental site was located in a...

Interfacial characteristics of an epoxy composite reinforced with phosphoric acid-functionalized Kevlar fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, J.; Xia, Y. C.

2010-07-01

A Kevlar fiber was functionalized with the phosphoric acid (PA) of different concentrations. The surface characteristics of the fiber were examined by using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that the PA functionalization considerably increased the bond strength between the Kevlar fiber and an epoxy matrix.

Glue-free assembly of glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics using laser light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Binetruy, C.; Clement, S.; Deleglise, M.; Franz, C.; Knapp, W.; Oumarou, M.; Renard, J.; Roesner, A.

2011-05-01

The use of laser light for bonding of continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFTPC) offers new possibilities to overcome the constraints of conventional joining technologies. Laser bonding is environmentally friendly as no chemical additive or glue is necessary. Accuracy and flexibility of the laser process as well as the quality of the weld seams provide benefits which are already used in many industrial applications. Laser transmission welding has already been introduced in manufacturing of short fiber thermoplastic composites. The laser replaces hot air in tapelaying systems for pre-preg carbon fiber placement. The paper provides an overview concerning the technical basics of the joining process and outline some material inherent characteristics to be considered when using continuous glass fiber reinforced composites The technical feasibility and the mechanical characterization of laser bonded CFTPC are demonstrated. The influence of the different layer configurations on the laser interaction with the material is investigated and the dependency on the mechanical strength of the weld seem is analyzed. The results show that the laser provides an alternative joining technique and offers new perspectives to assemble structural components emerging in automotive or aeronautical manufacturing. It overcomes the environmental and technical difficulties related to existing gluing processes.

Starch/PCL composite nanofibers by co-axial electrospinning technique for biomedical applications.

PubMed

Komur, B; Bayrak, F; Ekren, N; Eroglu, M S; Oktar, F N; Sinirlioglu, Z A; Yucel, S; Guler, O; Gunduz, O

2017-03-29

In this study, starch and polycaprolactone (PCL), composite nanofibers were fabricated by co-axial needle electrospinning technique. Processing parameters such as polymer concentration, flow rate and voltage had a marked influence on the composite fiber diameter. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mechanical and physical properties (such as density, viscosity and electrical conductivity) of the composite fibres were evaluated. Moreover, a cell culture test was performed in order to determine their cytotoxicity for wound dressing application. The effect of starch ratio in the solution on the properties and morphological structure of the fibers produced was presented. With lower starch concentration values, the fibers have greater ultimate tensile strength characteristic (mostly 4 and 5 wt%). According to SEM results, it can be figured out that the nanofibers fabricated have good spinnability and morphology. The mean diameter of the fibers is about 150 nm. According to results of cell culture study, the finding can be determined that the increase of starch in the fiber also increases the cell viability. Composite nanofibers of starch/PCL have been prepared using a co-axial needle electrospinning technique. PCL was successfully encapsulated within starch. Fiber formation was observed for different ratio of starch. With several test, analysis and measurement performed, some important parameters such as quality and effectuality of each fiber obtained for wound dressing applications were discussed in detail.

Autoclave processing for composite material fabrication. 1: An analysis of resin flows and fiber compactions for thin laminate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, T. H.

1985-01-01

High quality long fiber reinforced composites, such as those used in aerospace and industrial applications, are commonly processed in autoclaves. An adequate resin flow model for the entire system (laminate/bleeder/breather), which provides a description of the time-dependent laminate consolidation process, is useful in predicting the loss of resin, heat transfer characteristics, fiber volume fraction and part dimension, etc., under a specified set of processing conditions. This could be accomplished by properly analyzing the flow patterns and pressure profiles inside the laminate during processing. A newly formulated resin flow model for composite prepreg lamination process is reported. This model considers viscous resin flows in both directions perpendicular and parallel to the composite plane. In the horizontal direction, a squeezing flow between two nonporous parallel plates is analyzed, while in the vertical direction, a poiseuille type pressure flow through porous media is assumed. Proper force and mass balances have been made and solved for the whole system. The effects of fiber-fiber interactions during lamination are included as well. The unique features of this analysis are: (1) the pressure gradient inside the laminate is assumed to be generated from squeezing action between two adjacent approaching fiber layers, and (2) the behavior of fiber bundles is simulated by a Finitely Extendable Nonlinear Elastic (FENE) spring.

Chemical variation for fiber cuticular wax levels in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) evaluated under contrasting irrigation regimes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Fiber quality is important for the sale of bulk fiber to textile mills for processing but is affected by many environmental factors, including water deficit. These environmental factors have made it difficult to identify the primary determinants of fiber quality which has spurred renewed research ef...

[The relationship between contractile characteristics and fiber type conversion in hind-limb unloading mice soleus].

PubMed

Li, Li; Liu, Hong-Ju; Yang, Ming-Hao; Li, Jing-Long; Wang, Lu; Chen, Xiao-Ping; Fan, Ming

2012-03-01

To explore the relationship between contractile characteristics and fiber type conversion in hind-limb unloading mice soleus. After 28-day hind-limb unloading and muscle atrophy, we used the method of isolated muscle perfusion with different stimulated protocols to determine the changes in contractile characteristics including the isometric twitch force and tetanus force and fatigue index of slow twitch muscle in mice. The muscle myofibrillar composition and fiber type conversion were detected by immunofluorescence staining and real-time PCR. The isometric twitch force and the tetanus force and fatigue index were decreased progressively in 28-day unloaded mice soleus, with the increase in fast twitch fiber subtype and the decrease in slow twitch fiber subtype. The alteration of contractile characteristics is relevant to the slow-to-fast fiber conversion in mice soleus after 28-day hind-limb unloading.

Effects of moist- and dry-heat cooking on the meat quality, microstructure and sensory characteristics of native chicken meat.

PubMed

Chumngoen, Wanwisa; Chen, Chih-Feng; Tan, Fa-Jui

2018-01-01

This study investigates the effects of moist- (water-cooking; WC) and dry-heat (oven-cooking; OC) on the quality, microstructure and sensory characteristics of native chicken breast meat. The results revealed that OC meat had a significantly higher cooking time, cooking loss, and shear force values and lower L* values. Protein solubility decreased after cooking in both cooking methods; however, no statistical difference was observed between WC and OC meats, whereas collagen solubility and myofibrillar fragmentation index (MFI) increased after cooking and WC meat exhibited higher collagen solubility and MFI (P < 0.05). The fiber diameter and sarcomere length decreased substantially after cooking, and fibril shrinkage was noticeable in OC meat (P < 0.05). Descriptive sensory analysis revealed that WC meat exhibited a significantly higher moisture release and lower initial hardness, chewdown hardness and residual loose particles. A darker color and enhanced chickeny flavor were observed for OC meat. Based on the unique sensory and physicochemical characteristics in demand, producers should employ appropriate cooking methods to optimize native chicken meat quality. © 2017 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

Transcriptome Analysis Suggests That Chromosome Introgression Fragments from Sea Island Cotton (Gossypium barbadense) Increase Fiber Strength in Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).

PubMed

Lu, Quanwei; Shi, Yuzhen; Xiao, Xianghui; Li, Pengtao; Gong, Juwu; Gong, Wankui; Liu, Aiying; Shang, Haihong; Li, Junwen; Ge, Qun; Song, Weiwu; Li, Shaoqi; Zhang, Zhen; Rashid, Md Harun Or; Peng, Renhai; Yuan, Youlu; Huang, Jinling

2017-10-05

As high-strength cotton fibers are critical components of high quality cotton, developing cotton cultivars with high-strength fibers as well as high yield is a top priority for cotton development. Recently, chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) have been developed from high-yield Upland cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum ) crossed with high-quality Sea Island cotton ( G. barbadense ). Here, we constructed a CSSL population by crossing CCRI45, a high-yield Upland cotton cultivar, with Hai1, a Sea Island cotton cultivar with superior fiber quality. We then selected two CSSLs with significantly higher fiber strength than CCRI45 (MBI7747 and MBI7561), and one CSSL with lower fiber strength than CCRI45 (MBI7285), for further analysis. We sequenced all four transcriptomes at four different time points postanthesis, and clustered the 44,678 identified genes by function. We identified 2200 common differentially-expressed genes (DEGs): those that were found in both high quality CSSLs (MBI7747 and MBI7561), but not in the low quality CSSL (MBI7285). Many of these genes were associated with various metabolic pathways that affect fiber strength. Upregulated DEGs were associated with polysaccharide metabolic regulation, single-organism localization, cell wall organization, and biogenesis, while the downregulated DEGs were associated with microtubule regulation, the cellular response to stress, and the cell cycle. Further analyses indicated that three genes, XLOC_036333 [mannosyl-oligosaccharide-α-mannosidase ( MNS1 )], XLOC_029945 ( FLA8 ), and XLOC_075372 ( snakin-1 ), were potentially important for the regulation of cotton fiber strength. Our results suggest that these genes may be good candidates for future investigation of the molecular mechanisms of fiber strength formation and for the improvement of cotton fiber quality through molecular breeding. Copyright © 2017 Lu et al.

Melt Electrowriting of Thermoplastic Elastomers.

PubMed

Hochleitner, Gernot; Fürsattel, Eva; Giesa, Reiner; Groll, Jürgen; Schmidt, Hans-Werner; Dalton, Paul D

2018-04-14

Melt electrowriting (MEW), an additive manufacturing process, is established using polycaprolactone as the benchmark material. In this study, a thermoplastic elastomer, namely, poly(urea-siloxane), is synthesized and characterized to identify how different classes of polymers are compatible with MEW. This polyaddition polymer has reversible hydrogen bonding from the melt upon heating/cooling and highly resolved structures are achieved by MEW. The influence of applied voltage, temperature, and feeding pressure on printing outcomes behavior is optimized. Balancing these parameters, highly uniform and smooth-surfaced fibers with diameters ranging from 10 to 20 µm result. The quality of the 3D MEW scaffolds is excellent, with very accurate fiber stacking capacity-up to 50 layers with minimal defects and good fiber fusion between the layers. There is also minimal fiber sagging between the crossover points, which is a characteristic of thicker MEW scaffolds previously reported with other polymers. In summary, poly(urea-siloxane) demonstrates outstanding compatibility with the MEW process and represents a class of polymer-thermoplastic elastomers-that are, until now, untested with this approach. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

[Identification of varieties of textile fibers by using Vis/NIR infrared spectroscopy technique].

PubMed

Wu, Gui-Fang; He, Yong

2010-02-01

The aim of the present paper was to provide new insight into Vis/NIR spectroscopic analysis of textile fibers. In order to achieve rapid identification of the varieties of fibers, the authors selected 5 kinds of fibers of cotton, flax, wool, silk and tencel to do a study with Vis/NIR spectroscopy. Firstly, the spectra of each kind of fiber were scanned by spectrometer, and principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to analyze the characteristics of the pattern of Vis/NIR spectra. Principal component scores scatter plot (PC1 x PC2 x PC3) of fiber indicated the classification effect of five varieties of fibers. The former 6 principal components (PCs) were selected according to the quantity and size of PCs. The PCA classification model was optimized by using the least-squares support vector machines (LS-SVM) method. The authors used the 6 PCs extracted by PCA as the inputs of LS-SVM, and PCA-LS-SVM model was built to achieve varieties validation as well as mathematical model building and optimization analysis. Two hundred samples (40 samples for each variety of fibers) of five varieties of fibers were used for calibration of PCA-LS-SVM model, and the other 50 samples (10 samples for each variety of fibers) were used for validation. The result of validation showed that Vis/NIR spectroscopy technique based on PCA-LS-SVM had a powerful classification capability. It provides a new method for identifying varieties of fibers rapidly and real time, so it has important significance for protecting the rights of consumers, ensuring the quality of textiles, and implementing rationalization production and transaction of textile materials and its production.

Resequencing a core collection of upland cotton identifies genomic variation and loci influencing fiber quality and yield.

PubMed

Ma, Zhiying; He, Shoupu; Wang, Xingfen; Sun, Junling; Zhang, Yan; Zhang, Guiyin; Wu, Liqiang; Li, Zhikun; Liu, Zhihao; Sun, Gaofei; Yan, Yuanyuan; Jia, Yinhua; Yang, Jun; Pan, Zhaoe; Gu, Qishen; Li, Xueyuan; Sun, Zhengwen; Dai, Panhong; Liu, Zhengwen; Gong, Wenfang; Wu, Jinhua; Wang, Mi; Liu, Hengwei; Feng, Keyun; Ke, Huifeng; Wang, Junduo; Lan, Hongyu; Wang, Guoning; Peng, Jun; Wang, Nan; Wang, Liru; Pang, Baoyin; Peng, Zhen; Li, Ruiqiang; Tian, Shilin; Du, Xiongming

2018-05-07

Upland cotton is the most important natural-fiber crop. The genomic variation of diverse germplasms and alleles underpinning fiber quality and yield should be extensively explored. Here, we resequenced a core collection comprising 419 accessions with 6.55-fold coverage depth and identified approximately 3.66 million SNPs for evaluating the genomic variation. We performed phenotyping across 12 environments and conducted genome-wide association study of 13 fiber-related traits. 7,383 unique SNPs were significantly associated with these traits and were located within or near 4,820 genes; more associated loci were detected for fiber quality than fiber yield, and more fiber genes were detected in the D than the A subgenome. Several previously undescribed causal genes for days to flowering, fiber length, and fiber strength were identified. Phenotypic selection for these traits increased the frequency of elite alleles during domestication and breeding. These results provide targets for molecular selection and genetic manipulation in cotton improvement.

Acculturation and Sociocultural Influences on Dietary Intake and Health Status among Puerto Rican Adults in Massachusetts

PubMed Central

Van Rompay, Maria I.; McKeown, Nicola M.; Castaneda-Sceppa, Carmen; Falcon, Luis M.; Ordovas, José M.; Tucker, Katherine L.

2011-01-01

Background Previous studies have shown negative consequences of acculturation on lifestyle factors, health status, and dietary intake of Hispanic immigrants in the US. Despite prevalent type 2 diabetes and low socioeconomic status (SES) among Puerto Rican adults living on the US mainland, little is known about acculturation in this group. Objective We investigated associations among acculturation, lifestyle characteristics, health status, and carbohydrate nutrition in Puerto Rican adults. A secondary objective was to investigate possible confounding and/or effect modification on these associations by SES. Design Cross-sectional data from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, which included 1219 Puerto Ricans in the Boston area, aged 45–75 years. Statistical analyses Characteristics were compared using ANCOVA, linear trend and Pearson’s chi-square tests across quartiles of acculturation. Tests for interaction by poverty status were conducted. Proportional contributions of foods to intake of total carbohydrate and fiber were assessed using SAS RANK. Results Levels of acculturation were low, despite young age at first arrival to the US mainland (25.4 ± 12.3 y) and long length of stay (34.2 ± 12.2 y). Greater English language use was associated with higher SES, alcohol consumption, physical activity, better perceived health, and less central obesity. Acculturation was associated with lower legume fiber and greater cereal fiber intake. Among those above the poverty threshold, acculturation was associated with lower dietary glycemic index and starch intake, and greater fruit and non-starchy vegetable intake. Conclusions In contrast to studies with Mexican Americans, the association of acculturation with dietary quality in these Puerto Rican adults was mixed, but tended toward better carbohydrate quality. Dietary recommendations should include maintenance of traditional, healthful dietary practices including consumption of legumes, but also reduction in refined grains, and greater inclusion of fruit, non-starchy vegetables, and whole grains. Interventions to improve access to better quality carbohydrate sources are necessary for this group disproportionately affected by diabetes. PMID:22389874

Optical fiber characteristics and standards; Proceedings of the Meeting, Cannes, France, November 25-27, 1985

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bouillie, Remy (Editor)

1986-01-01

Papers are presented on outside vapor deposition, the plasma activated CVD process for large scale production of telecommunication fibers, axial lateral plasma deposition technology from plastic clad silica, coatings for optical fibers, primary coating characterization, and radiation-induced time dependent attenuation in a fiber. Topics discussed include fibers with high tensile strength, the characteristics and specifications of airborne fiber optic components, the baseband frequency response of multimode fibers, and fibers for local and broadband networks. Consideration is given to industrial measurements for single mode and multimode fibers, the characterization of source power distribution in a multimode fiber by a splice offset technique, the measurement of chromatic dispersion in a single mode optical, and the effect of temperature on the refracted near-field optical fiber profiling technique.

Herbal Extract Incorporated Nanofiber Fabricated by an Electrospinning Technique and its Application to Antimicrobial Air Filtration.

PubMed

Choi, Jeongan; Yang, Byeong Joon; Bae, Gwi-Nam; Jung, Jae Hee

2015-11-18

Recently, with the increased attention to indoor air quality, antimicrobial air filtration techniques have been studied widely to inactivate hazardous airborne microorganisms effectively. In this study, we demonstrate herbal extract incorporated (HEI) nanofibers synthesized by an electrospinning technique and their application to antimicrobial air filtration. As an antimicrobial herbal material, an ethanolic extract of Sophora flavescens, which exhibits great antibacterial activity against pathogens, was mixed with the polymer solution for the electrospinning process. We measured various characteristics of the synthesized HEI nanofibers, such as fiber morphology, fiber size distribution, and thermal stability. For application of the electrospun HEI nanofibers, we made highly effective air filters with 99.99% filtration efficiency and 99.98% antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis. The pressure drop across the HEI nanofiber air filter was 4.75 mmH2O at a face air velocity of 1.79 cm/s. These results will facilitate the implementation of electrospun HEI nanofiber techniques to control air quality and protect against hazardous airborne microorganisms.

Effects of dietary ramie powder at various levels on carcass traits and meat quality in finishing pigs.

PubMed

Li, Yinghui; Liu, Yingying; Li, Fengna; Lin, Qian; Dai, Qiuzhong; Sun, Jianbang; Huang, Xingguo; Chen, Xiao'an; Yin, Yulong

2018-04-21

This study investigated the effects of ramie (0, 3, 6, 9, or 12%) included in finishing diets on carcass traits and meat quality of Xiangcun black pigs. Results showed that ramie decreased (linear, P < .05) backfat depth while it increased (linear, P < .05) loin-eye area. A quadratic effect of shear force in longissimus thoracis (LT) was observed, and the lowest value was noted in the 6% ramie group. Protein content in LT was linearly increased by ramie (linear, P < .01). Meanwhile, dietary ramie linearly decreased lipogenic genes mRNA levels and fiber cross-sectional area, but it linearly increased total fiber number of LT. These results suggest that ramie included in the diet <9% is an effective feed crop to partly improve carcass trait and muscle chemical composition without negatively affecting growth performance, and the underlying mechanism may be due to the changed lipogenic potential and myofiber characteristics induced by ramie. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Leaf content, seed moisture and module storage time of seed cotton influence cotton fiber quality and aflatoxin contamination of cottonseed in South Texas

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Leaf content, seed moisture and module storage time of seed cotton influence cotton fiber quality and aflatoxin contamination of cottonseed in South Texas. Crop Science ... Cotton is the most important natural fiber used to produce apparel, home furnishing, and industrial products. The quality of th...

Association mapping analysis of fiber yield and quality traits in Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.).

PubMed

Ademe, Mulugeta Seyoum; He, Shoupu; Pan, Zhaoe; Sun, Junling; Wang, Qinglian; Qin, Hongde; Liu, Jinhai; Liu, Hui; Yang, Jun; Xu, Dongyong; Yang, Jinlong; Ma, Zhiying; Zhang, Jinbiao; Li, Zhikun; Cai, Zhongmin; Zhang, Xuelin; Zhang, Xin; Huang, Aifen; Yi, Xianda; Zhou, Guanyin; Li, Lin; Zhu, Haiyong; Pang, Baoyin; Wang, Liru; Jia, Yinhua; Du, Xiongming

2017-12-01

Fiber yield and quality are the most important traits for Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Identifying high yield and good fiber quality genes are the prime concern of researchers in cotton breeding. Association mapping offers an alternative and powerful method for detecting those complex agronomic traits. In this study, 198 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were used to screen markers associated with fiber yield and quality traits with 302 elite Upland cotton accessions that were evaluated in 12 locations representing the Yellow River and Yangtze River cotton growing regions of China. Three subpopulations were found after the estimation of population structure. The pair-wise kinship values varied from 0 to 0.867. Only 1.59% of the total marker locus pairs showed significant linkage disequilibrium (LD, p < 0.001). The genome-wide LD decayed within the genetic distance of ~30 to 32 cM at r 2  = 0.1, and decreased to ~1 to 2 cM at r 2  = 0.2, indicating the potential for association mapping. Analysis based on a mixed linear model detected 57 significant (p < 0.01) marker-trait associations, including seven associations for fiber length, ten for fiber micronaire, nine for fiber strength, eight for fiber elongation, five for fiber uniformity index, five for fiber uniformity ratio, six for boll weight and seven for lint percent, for a total of 35 SSR markers, of which 11 markers were associated with more than one trait. Among marker-trait associations, 24 associations coincided with the previously reported quantitative trait loci (QTLs), the remainder were newly identified QTLs/genes. The QTLs identified in this study will potentially facilitate improvement of fiber yield and quality in the future cotton molecular breeding programs.

Water requirements of the rayon- and acetate-fiber industry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mussey, Orville Durey

1957-01-01

Water is required for several purposes in the manufacture of rayon and acetate fiber. These water requirements, as indicated by a survey of the water used by the plants operating in 1953, are both quantitative and qualitative. About 300 mgd (million gallons per day) of water was used in 1953 in the preparation of purified wood cellulose and cotton linters, the basic material from which the rayon and acetate fiber is made. An additional 620 mgd was used in the process of converting the cellulose to rayon and acetate fiber. The total, 920 mgd, is about 1 percent of the total estimated withdrawals of industrial water in the United States in 1953. The rayon- and acetate-fiber plants are scattered through eastern United States and generally are located in small towns or rural areas where there are abundant supplies of clean, soft water. Water use at a typical rayon-fiber plant was about 9 mgd, and at a typical acetate-fiber plant about 38 mgd. About 110 gallons of water was used to produce a pound of rayon fiber 32 gallons per pound was process water and the remainder was used largely for cooling in connection with power production and air conditioning. For the manufacture of a pound of acetate fiber about 170 gallons of water was used. However, the field survey on which this report is based indicated a wide range in the amount of water used per pound of product. For example, in the manufacture of viscose rayon, the maximum unit water use was 8 times the minimum unit water use. Water use in summer was about 22 percent greater than average annual use. About 8 mgd of water was consumed by evaporation in the manufacture of rayon and acetate fiber. More than 90 percent of the water used by the rayon and acetate industry was withdrawn from surface-water sources, about 8 percent from ground water, and less than 2 percent from municipal water supplies. All available analyses of the untreated waters used by the rayon and acetate industry were collected and studied. The untreated waters were generally cool, low in content of calcium and magnesium, and very low in iron and manganese. At many plants, water was obtained from more than one source, and thus had different quality characteristics. Dissolved solids in all the untreated waters analyzed ranged between 14 and 747 ppm (parts per million) but in those waters used in processing the dissolved solids content was less than 200 ppm. The cooling water used by the industry is also generally of very high quality, principally because the requirements for a high-quality process water necessitate location of the plants in areas where such water is available.

Pressure vessel with improved impact resistance and method of making the same

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeLay, Thomas K. (Inventor); Patterson, James E. (Inventor); Olson, Michael A. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A composite overwrapped pressure vessel is provided which includes a composite overwrapping material including fibers disposed in a resin matrix. At least first and second kinds of fibers are used. These fibers typically have characteristics of high strength and high toughness to provide impact resistance with increased pressure handling capability and low weight. The fibers are applied to form a pressure vessel using wrapping or winding techniques with winding angles varied for specific performance characteristics. The fibers of different kinds are dispersed in a single layer of winding or wound in distinct separate layers. Layers of fabric comprised of such fibers are interspersed between windings for added strength or impact resistance. The weight percentages of the high toughness and high strength materials are varied to provide specified impact resistance characteristics. The resin matrix is formed with prepregnated fibers or through wet winding. The vessels are formed with or without liners.

Cotton breeding-challenges and opportunities

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Competition with synthetic fibers is one of the greatest challenges facing today’s cotton industry. Improved fiber quality is essential to increase US cotton’s competitiveness in the global market place. Enhanced fiber quality also offers an opportunity to capture more value from cotton production. ...

Fiber-Content Measurement of Wool-Cashmere Blends Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

PubMed

Zhou, Jinfeng; Wang, Rongwu; Wu, Xiongying; Xu, Bugao

2017-10-01

Cashmere and wool are two protein fibers with analogous geometrical attributes, but distinct physical properties. Due to its scarcity and unique features, cashmere is a much more expensive fiber than wool. In the textile production, cashmere is often intentionally blended with fine wool in order to reduce the material cost. To identify the fiber contents of a wool-cashmere blend is important to quality control and product classification. The goal of this study is to develop a reliable method for estimating fiber contents in wool-cashmere blends based on near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. In this study, we prepared two sets of cashmere-wool blends by using either whole fibers or fiber snippets in 11 different blend ratios of the two fibers and collected the NIR spectra of all the 22 samples. Of the 11 samples in each set, six were used as a subset for calibration and five as a subset for validation. By referencing the NIR band assignment to chemical bonds in protein, we identified six characteristic wavelength bands where the NIR absorbance powers of the two fibers were significantly different. We then performed the chemometric analysis with two multilinear regression (MLR) equations to predict the cashmere content (CC) in a blended sample. The experiment with these samples demonstrated that the predicted CCs from the MLR models were consistent with the CCs given in the preparations of the two sample sets (whole fiber or snippet), and the errors of the predicted CCs could be limited to 0.5% if the testing was performed over at least 25 locations. The MLR models seem to be reliable and accurate enough for estimating the cashmere content in a wool-cashmere blend and have potential to be used for tackling the cashmere adulteration problem.

Process Optimization of Bismaleimide (BMI) Resin Infused Carbon Fiber Composite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ehrlich, Joshua W.; Tate, LaNetra C.; Cox, Sarah B.; Taylor, Brian J.; Wright, M. Clara; Faughnan, Patrick D.; Batterson, Lawrence M.; Caraccio, Anne J.; Sampson, Jeffery W.

2013-01-01

Engineers today are presented with the opportunity to design and build the next generation of space vehicles out of the lightest, strongest, and most durable materials available. Composites offer excellent structural characteristics and outstanding reliability in many forms that will be utilized in future aerospace applications including the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program and the Orion space capsule. NASA's Composites for Exploration (CoEx) project researches the various methods of manufacturing composite materials of different fiber characteristics while using proven infusion methods of different resin compositions. Development and testing on these different material combinations will provide engineers the opportunity to produce optimal material compounds for multidisciplinary applications. Through the CoEx project, engineers pursue the opportunity to research and develop repair patch procedures for damaged spacecraft. Working in conjunction with Raptor Resins Inc., NASA engineers are utilizing high flow liquid infusion molding practices to manufacture high-temperature composite parts comprised of intermediate modulus 7 (IM7) carbon fiber material. IM7 is a continuous, high-tensile strength composite with outstanding structural qualities such as high shear strength, tensile strength and modulus as well as excellent corrosion, creep, and fatigue resistance. IM7 carbon fiber, combined with existing thermoset and thermoplastic resin systems, can provide improvements in material strength reinforcement and deformation-resistant properties for high-temperature applications. Void analysis of the different layups of the IM7 material discovered the largest total void composition within the [ +45 , 90 , 90 , -45 ] composite panel. Tensile and compressional testing proved the highest mechanical strength was found in the [0 4] layup. This paper further investigates the infusion procedure of a low-cost/high-performance BMI resin into an IM7 carbon fiber material and the optical, chemical, and mechanical analyses performed.

Incident polarization angle and temperature dependence of polarization and spectral response characteristics in optical fiber couplers.

PubMed

Namihira, Y; Kawazawa, T; Wakabayashi, H

1991-03-20

The incident polarization angle and temperature dependence of the polarization and spectral response characteristics of three different types of fiber coupler are presented. The couplers are (1) the biconicalfused- twisted-taper single-mode fiber (coupler A), (2) the asymmetric-etched-fused-taper wavelength division multiplex (coupler B), and (3) the biconical-polished polarization maintaining fiber (coupler C), respectively. It is confirmed experimentally that the polarization characteristics of couplers A and B vary greatly with temperature, but those of coupler C are independent of temperature. Also, the wavelength dependence characteristics of the power splitting ratio of couplers B and C have almost no change with temperature. However, the wavelength dependence of coupler A is greatly changed with temperature. Comparing couplers A and B, it is postulated that the sinusoidal variations of the polarization state vs the incident polarization angle are due to the stress birefringence caused by the fiber twisting when the fused fiber coupler is fabricated and packaged.

Effect of various refining processes for Kenaf Bast non-wood pulp fibers suspensions on heat transfer coefficient in circular pipe heat exchanger

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, Syed Muzamil; Kazi, S. N.; Khan, Ghulamullah; Sadri, Rad; Dahari, Mahidzal; Zubir, M. N. M.; Sayuti, M.; Ahmad, Pervaiz; Ibrahim, Rushdan

2018-03-01

Heat transfer coefficients were obtained for a range of non-wood kenaf bast pulp fiber suspensions flowing through a circular pipe heat exchanger test loop. The data were produced over a selected temperature and range of flow rates from the flow loop. It was found that the magnitude of the heat transfer coefficient of a fiber suspension is dependent on characteristics, concentration and pulping method of fiber. It was observed that at low concentration and high flow rates, the heat transfer coefficient values of suspensions were observed higher than that of the heat transfer coefficient values of water, on the other hand the heat transfer coefficient values of suspensions decreases at low flow rates and with the increase of their concentration. The heat transfer were affected by varying fiber characteristics, such as fiber length, fiber flexibility, fiber chemical and mechanical treatment as well as different pulping methods used to liberate the fibers. Heat transfer coefficient was decreased with the increase of fiber flexibility which was also observed by previous researchers. In the present work, the characteristics of fibers are correlated with the heat transfer coefficient of suspensions of the fibers. Deviations in fiber properties can be monitored from the flowing fiber suspensions by measuring heat transfer coefficient to adjust the degree of fiber refining treatment so that papers made from those fibers will be more uniform, consistent, within the product specification and retard the paper production loss.

The Effects of Fiber Inclusion on Pet Food Sensory Characteristics and Palatability.

PubMed

Koppel, Kadri; Monti, Mariana; Gibson, Michael; Alavi, Sajid; Donfrancesco, Brizio Di; Carciofi, Aulus Cavalieri

2015-02-16

The objectives of this study were to determine (a) the influence of fiber on the sensory characteristics of dry dog foods; (b) differences of coated and uncoated kibbles for aroma and flavor characteristics; (c) palatability of these dry dog foods; and (d) potential associations between palatability and sensory attributes. A total of eight fiber treatments were manufactured: a control (no fiber addition), guava fiber (3%, 6%, and 12%), sugar cane fiber (9%; large and small particle size), and wheat bran fiber (32%; large and small particle size). The results indicated significant effects of fibers on both flavor and texture properties of the samples. Bitter taste and iron and stale aftertaste were examples of flavor attributes that differed with treatment, with highest intensity observed for 12% guava fiber and small particle size sugar cane fiber treatments. Fracturability and initial crispness attributes were lowest for the sugar cane fiber treatments. Flavor of all treatments changed after coating with a palatant, increasing in toasted, brothy, and grainy attributes. The coating also had a masking effect on aroma attributes such as stale, flavor attributes such as iron and bitter taste, and appearance attributes such as porosity. Palatability testing results indicated that the control treatment was preferred over the sugar cane or the wheat bran treatment. The treatment with large sugarcane fiber particles was preferred over the treatment with small particles, while both of the wheat bran treatments were eaten at a similar level. Descriptive sensory analysis data, especially textural attributes, were useful in pinpointing the underlying characteristics and were considered to be reasons that may influence palatability of dog foods manufactured with inclusion of different fibers.

Quality Control Studies of Wavelength Shifting Fibers for a Scintillator-Based Tail Catcher Muon Tracker for Linear Collider Prototype Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dyshkant, A.; Beznosko, D.; Blazey, G.; Fisk, E.; Hahn, E.; Rykalin, V.; Wayne, M.; Zutshi, V.

2006-12-01

Detailed measurements of the wavelength shifting fiber response to a stable and reliable light source are presented. Particulars about materials, a double reference method, and measurement technique are included. The fibers studied were several hundred Kuraray, Y-11, multiclad, 1.2-mm outer diameter wavelength shifting fibers, each cut from a reel to about one meter length. The fibers were polished, mirrored, and the mirrors were UV epoxy protected. Each fiber passed quality control requirements before installation. About 94% of the fibers tested have a response within 1% of the overall mean

Micro-pulling-down furnace modification and single crystal fibers growth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Dongsheng; Jia, Zhitai; Li, Yang; Wu, Baiyi; Tao, Xutang

2016-03-01

Single crystal fiber (SCF) combines the excellent instinct properties of conventional bulk laser crystals, and the special geometry advantage of active optical fibers. YAG and LuAG are proper host candidates for single crystal fiber laser with high thermal conductivity. Despite a lower thermal conductivity for pure crystal than YAG, LuAG crystal is easier to obtain homogeneous optical quality, and has a thermal conductivity nearly independent from the doping level. Micropulling- down (μ-PD) has relatively small thermal gradient, and here we use μ-PD to carry out high quality SCFs. Through the μ-PD furnace manufactured by ourselves, crystal fibers with different diameters have been grown successfully. We designed and fabricated a method to adjust the thermal distribution, and with the favor of pulling-down rate, the specific diameter can be controlled perfectly. The crystalline quality and homogeneity along the whole fiber were investigated, and LuAG SCF was confirmed to have a fine crystal quality for laser.

Intramuscular variations of proteome and muscle fiber type distribution in semimembranosus and semitendinosus muscles associated with pork quality.

PubMed

Kim, Gap-Don; Yang, Han-Sul; Jeong, Jin-Yeon

2018-04-01

Proteome analysis was performed to understand intramuscular variations in muscle fiber distribution in semimembranosus (SM) and semitendinosus (ST) muscles associated with pork quality. Fifteen SM and ST muscles were separated into dark and light portions. The relative area of oxidative fiber was higher (P < .0001) in dark portion than that in light portion, while glycolytic fiber types were distributed primarily (P < .01) in light portions regardless of muscle types. Myosin-1, myosin-4, troponin complex (fast), myosin light chains, and metabolic enzymes responsible for fast-twitch glycolytic types were overexpressed in light portions (P < .05). However, myosin-2, myosin-7, myoglobin, and mitochondrial oxidative metabolic enzymes were closely related to slow-twitch oxidative fibers. These resulted in high pH, redness, and tenderness but low lightness and drip loss of pork quality. In conclusion, differentially expressed muscle proteins are associated with fiber type (oxidative vs. glycolytic) distribution, resulting in intramuscular variations of pork quality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A study on starch profile of rajma bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) incorporated noodle dough and its functional characteristics.

PubMed

Bharath Kumar, S; Prabhasankar, P

2015-08-01

Starch profile reflects functional characteristics like digestibility and product quality. A study was aimed to incorporate rajma in noodle processing to improve product and nutritional quality and also to reduce starch digestibility. It is known that some of the pulses like Kidney beans have an isoforms of Starch-Branching-Enzyme (SBE) helps in converting amylose to amylopectin. Rajma flour was incorporated at 10%, 20% and 30% with Triticumdurum and subjected to rheological, physico-chemical and amylose/amylopectin determination using High-Performance-Size-Exclusion-Chromatography (HPSEC). Results revealed that rajma flour decreased peak-viscosity from 954 to 683 BU and increased water absorption. Protein and dietary fiber content increased significantly. Sensory profile showed higher overall quality (>8.5). In vitro starch digestibility reduced from 65% to 49%. Starch profile from HPSEC showed changes in amylose:amylopectin peak, this may be because of the presence of SBE, further studies may be required to support the hypothesis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality characteristics of gluten-free cookies made of buckwheat, corn, and rice flour with/without transglutaminase.

PubMed

Altındağ, Gülçin; Certel, Muharrem; Erem, Fundagül; İlknur Konak, Ülgen

2015-04-01

Buckwheat is one of the most valuable pseudo-cereals in terms of its nutritional composition, and it is suitable for celiac patients because of its gluten-free characteristic. However, gluten is the main structure-forming protein responsible for the development of structure in baked products. Therefore, it is a challenge to produce high-quality gluten-free products. Transglutaminase addition is a relatively common application used in the production of gluten-free baked goods. The objective of this study was to investigate the combination of buckwheat flour with rice and corn flour at different levels in gluten-free cookie formulations and the impact of transglutaminase on the quality of cookies. Quality parameters evaluated were proximal chemical composition, spread ratio, color, and textural parameters (hardness and fracturability). Spread ratio, protein, crude fiber, ash content, and also b* and hardness values were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by flour combinations. Further, addition of transglutaminase resulted in increased moisture content, spread ratio, and fracturability but decreased hardness values. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Natural lactic acid bacteria population of tropical grasses and their fermentation factor analysis of silage prepared with cellulase and inoculant.

PubMed

Khota, Waroon; Pholsen, Suradej; Higgs, David; Cai, Yimin

2016-12-01

Natural lactic acid bacteria (LAB) populations in tropical grasses and their fermentation characteristics on silage prepared with cellulase enzyme and LAB inoculants were studied. A commercial inoculant Lactobacillus plantarum Chikuso 1 (CH), a local selected strain Lactobacillus casei TH14 (TH14), and 2 cellulases, Acremonium cellulase (AC) and Maicelase (MC; Meiji Seika Pharma Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan), were used as additives to silage preparation with fresh and wilted (6 h) Guinea grass and Napier grass. Silage was prepared using a laboratory-scale fermentation system. Treatments were CH, TH14, AC at 0.01% fresh matter, AC 0.1%, MC 0.01%, MC 0.1%, CH+AC 0.01%, CH+AC 0.1%, CH+MC 0.01%, CH+MC 0.1%, TH14+AC 0.1%, TH14+AC 0.01%, TH14+MC 0.1%, and TH14+MC 0.01%. Microorganism counts of Guinea grass and Napier grass before ensiling were 10 2 LAB and 10 6 aerobic bacteria; these increased during wilting. Based on morphological and biochemical characteristics, and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, natural strains from both grasses were identified as L. plantarum, L. casei, Lactobacillus acidipiscis, Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Leuconostoc garlicum, Weissella confusa, and Lactococcus lactis. Lactobacillus plantarum and L. casei are the dominant species and could grow at lower pH and produce more lactic acid than the other isolates. Crude protein and neutral detergent fiber were 5.8 and 83.7% of dry matter (DM) for Guinea grass, and 7.5 and 77.1% of DM for Napier grass. Guinea grass had a low level of water-soluble carbohydrates (0.39% of DM). Guinea grass silage treated with cellulase had a lower pH and higher lactic acid content than control and LAB treatments. The 0.1% AC and MC treatments had the best result for fermentation quality. All high water-soluble carbohydrate (2.38% DM) Napier grass silages showed good fermentation quality. Compared with control and LAB-inoculated silage, the cellulase-treated silages had significantly higher crude protein content and lower neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber contents. The results confirmed that cellulase could improve tropical silage quality, inhibiting protein degradation and promoting fiber degradation. Copyright © 2016 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Influence of polysaccharide-based edible coatings as carriers of prebiotic fibers on quality attributes of ready-to-eat fresh blueberries.

PubMed

Alvarez, María V; Ponce, Alejandra G; Moreira, María R

2018-05-01

Little information is available regarding the effect of dietary fibers added into edible coatings on quality attributes of ready-to-eat fruits. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of sodium alginate (AL) and chitosan (CH) edible coatings enriched with four different dietary fibers (apple fiber, orange fiber, inulin and oligofructose) on microbiological, nutritional, physico-chemical and sensorial properties of ready-to-eat fresh blueberries stored for 18 days at 5 °C. The most encouraging results were found for CH coatings (with and without fibers) which significantly inhibited the growth of mesophilic bacteria and yeasts/molds (reductions up to 1.9 log CFU g -1 ), reduced decay rate by more than 50%, enhanced antioxidant properties, retained fruit firmness, delayed off-odor development and improved overall visual quality of blueberries. Oligofructose and orange fiber added to CH coatings enhanced antioxidant properties of fruits and allowed higher reductions in yeast/mold counts compared to the use of CH alone. CH-based coatings enriched with inulin, oligofructose and apple fiber extended sensory shelf life of blueberries by 6 days. AL coatings (with and without fiber) allowed delaying fungal decay and also retaining antioxidant properties but did not improve the microbiological and sensory quality of fruits. The results proved that fiber-enriched CH treatments allowed the maintenance of freshness and the improvement of the quality of ready-to-eat blueberries. It might be an interesting option to offer consumers a healthy product with prebiotic potential and an extended shelf life. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Boll sampling protocols and their impact on measurements of cotton fiber quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Within plant fiber variability has long contributed to product inconsistency in the cotton industry. Fiber quality uniformity is a primary plant breeding objective related to cotton commodity economic value. The physiological impact of source and sink relationships renders stress on the upper bran...

Evaluation of modern cotton harvest systems on irrigated cotton: Fiber quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Picker and stripper harvest systems were evaluated on production-scale irrigated cotton on the High Plains of Texas over three harvest seasons. Observations on fiber quality using High Volume Instrument (HVI) and Advanced Fiber Information Systems (AFIS) were made on multiple cultivars harvested fro...

Impact of experimental gins on fiber quality parameters

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Stripper harvested cotton usually contains approximately 6 to 8 times higher levels of trash than machine picked cotton. Ginning in stripper areas should be made more efficient at removing the trash particles while preserving fiber quality. Fiber breakage is a concern at two junctures: the saw gins ...

The Comparative Effect of Carrot and Lemon Fiber as a Fat Replacer on Physico-chemical, Textural, and Organoleptic Quality of Low-fat Beef Hamburger.

PubMed

Soncu, Eda Demirok; Kolsarıcı, Nuray; Çiçek, Neslihan; Öztürk, Görsen Salman; Akoğlu, Ilker T; Arıcı, Yeliz Kaşko

2015-01-01

This study was designed to determine the usability of lemon fiber (LF-2%, 4%, 6%) and carrot fiber (CF-2%, 4%, 6%) to produce low-fat beef hamburgers. To that end, a certain amount of fat was replaced with each fiber. The proximate composition, pH value, cholesterol content, cooking characteristics, color, texture profile, and sensory properties of low-fat beef hamburgers were investigated. LF increased moisture content and cooking yield due to its better water binding properties, while CF caused higher fat and cholesterol contents owing to its higher fat absorption capacity (p<0.05). LF resulted in a lighter, redder, and more yellow color (p<0.05). Hardness, gumminess, springiness, and chewiness parameters decreased when the usage level of both fibers increased (p<0.05). However, more tender, gummy, springy, and smoother hamburgers were produced by the addition of CF in comparison with LF (p<0.05). Moreover, hamburgers including CF were rated with higher sensory scores (p<0.05). In conclusion, LF demonstrated better technological results in terms of cooking yield, shrinkage, moisture retention, and fat retention. However it is suggested that CF produces better low-fat hamburgers since up to 2% CF presented sensory and textural properties similar to those of regular hamburgers.

Construction materials as a waste management solution for cellulose sludge

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Modolo, R., E-mail: regina.modolo@ua.pt; Ferreira, V.M.; Machado, L.M.

2011-02-15

Sustainable waste management system for effluents treatment sludge has been a pressing issue for pulp and paper sector. Recycling is always recommended in terms of environmental sustainability. Following an approach of waste valorisation, this work aims to demonstrate the technical viability of producing fiber-cement roof sheets incorporating cellulose primary sludge generated on paper and pulp mills. From the results obtained with preliminary studies it was possible to verify the possibility of producing fiber-cement sheets by replacing 25% of the conventional used virgin long fiber by primary effluent treatment cellulose sludge. This amount of incorporation was tested on an industrial scale.more » Environmental parameters related to water and waste, as well as tests for checking the quality of the final product was performed. These control parameters involved total solids in suspension, dissolved salts, chlorides, sulphates, COD, metals content. In the product, parameters like moisture, density and strength were controlled. The results showed that it is possible to replace the virgin long fibers pulp by primary sludge without impacts in final product characteristics and on the environment. This work ensures the elimination of significant waste amounts, which are nowadays sent to landfill, as well as reduces costs associated with the standard raw materials use in the fiber-cement industrial sector.« less

Optimizing the noise characteristics of high-power fiber laser systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jauregui, Cesar; Müller, Michael; Kienel, Marco; Emaury, Florian; Saraceno, Clara J.; Limpert, Jens; Keller, Ursula; Tünnermann, Andreas

2017-02-01

The noise characteristics of high-power fiber lasers, unlike those of other solid-state lasers such as thin-disks, have not been systematically studied up to now. However, novel applications for high-power fiber laser systems, such as attosecond pulse generation, put stringent limits to the maximum noise level of these sources. Therefore, in order to address these applications, a detailed knowledge and understanding of the characteristics of noise and its behavior in a fiber laser system is required. In this work we have carried out a systematic study of the propagation of the relative intensity noise (RIN) along the amplification chain of a state-of-the-art high-power fiber laser system. The most striking feature of these measurements is that the RIN level is progressively attenuated after each amplification stage. In order to understand this unexpected behavior, we have simulated the transfer function of the RIN in a fiber amplification stage ( 80μm core) as a function of the seed power and the frequency. Our simulation model shows that this damping of the amplitude noise is related to saturation. Additionally, we show, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, that the fiber design (e.g. core size, glass composition, doping geometry) can be modified to optimize the noise characteristics of high-power fiber laser systems.

Polarized millijoule fiber laser system with high beam quality and pulse shaping ability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Rui; Tian, Xiaocheng; Xu, Dangpeng; Zhou, Dandan; Zong, Zhaoyu; Li, Hongxun; Fan, Mengqiu; Huang, Zhihua; Zhu, Na; Su, Jingqin; Zhu, Qihua; Jing, Feng

2017-05-01

The coherent amplification network (CAN) aims at developing a laser system based on the coherent combination of multiple laser beams, which are produced through a network of high beam quality optical fiber amplifiers. The scalability of the CAN laser facilitates the development of many novel applications, such as fiber-based acceleration, orbital debris removal and inertial confinement fusion energy. According to the requirements of CAN and the front end of high-power laser facilities, a millijoule polarized fiber laser system was studied in this paper. Using polarization maintaining Ytterbium-fiber laser system as the seed, and 10-μm core Yb-doped fiber amplifier as the first power amplifier and 40-μm core polarizing (PZ) photonic crystal fiber (PCF) as the second power amplifier, the all-fiber laser system outputs 1.06-mJ energy at 10 ns and diffraction limited mode quality. Using 85-μm rod-type PCF as the third power amplifiers, 2.5-mJ energy at 10-ns pulse width was obtained with better than 500:1 peak-to-foot pulse shaping ability and fundamental mode beam quality. The energy fluctuation of the system is 1.3% rms with 1-mJ output in one hour. When using phase-modulated pulse as the seed, the frequency modulation to amplitude modulation (FM-to-AM) conversion ratio of the system is better than 5%. This fiber laser system has the advantages of high beam quality, high beam shaping ability, good stability, small volume and free of maintenance, which can be used in many applications.

Photothermal imaging of skeletal muscle mitochondria.

PubMed

Tomimatsu, Toru; Miyazaki, Jun; Kano, Yutaka; Kobayashi, Takayoshi

2017-06-01

The morphology and topology of mitochondria provide useful information about the physiological function of skeletal muscle. Previous studies of skeletal muscle mitochondria are based on observation with transmission, scanning electron microscopy or fluorescence microscopy. In contrast, photothermal (PT) microscopy has advantages over the above commonly used microscopic techniques because of no requirement for complex sample preparation by fixation or fluorescent-dye staining. Here, we employed the PT technique using a simple diode laser to visualize skeletal muscle mitochondria in unstained and stained tissues. The fine mitochondrial network structures in muscle fibers could be imaged with the PT imaging system, even in unstained tissues. PT imaging of tissues stained with toluidine blue revealed the structures of subsarcolemmal (SS) and intermyofibrillar (IMF) mitochondria and the swelling behavior of mitochondria in damaged muscle fibers with sufficient image quality. PT image analyses based on fast Fourier transform (FFT) and Grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) were performed to derive the characteristic size of mitochondria and to discriminate the image patterns of normal and damaged fibers.

Comparative relationship of fiber strength and yarn tenacity in four cotton cultivars

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

High volume instrumentation (HVITM) measurement is a primary and routine tool of providing fiber properties to cotton researchers. There have been considerable studies designed to derive yarn quality from acquired fiber quality data by various means, including HVI. There is also of desired informati...

Assessing the breeding potential of extra-long staple germplasm in an upland cotton breeding program

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Fiber quality improvement of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is essential to increase the value and competitiveness of cotton fiber. The closely related allotetraploid species G. barbadense has long been targeted as a source of beneficial fiber quality alleles. Although interspecific hybridiza...

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PARAMETERS USED FOR CHARACTERIZING COTTON SHORT FIBERS

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The quantity of short cotton fibers in a cotton sample is an important cotton quality parameter which impacts yarn production performance and yarn quality. Researchers have proposed different parameters for characterizing the amount of short fibers in a cotton sample. A comprehensive study was car...

Comparison of a wire belt conveyor and cross auger conveyor for conveying burr cotton on a stripper harvester

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton fiber quality begins to degrade naturally with the opening of the boll, and mechanical harvesting processes are perceived to exacerbate fiber degradation. Previous research indicates that stripper-harvested cotton generally has lower fiber quality including on average lower micronaire, length...

Evaluating the beam quality of double-cladding fiber lasers in applications.

PubMed

Yan, Ping; Wang, Xuejiao; Gong, Mali; Xiao, Qirong

2016-08-10

We put forward a new β_FL factor, which is used exclusively in fiber lasers and is suitable to assess beam quality and choose the LP₀₁ mode as the new suitable ideal beam. We present a new simple measurement method and verify the reasonability of the β_FL factor in experiment in a 20/400 μm fiber laser. Furthermore, we use the β_FL factor to evaluate the beam quality of a 3-kW-level fiber laser. It can be concluded that β_FL is a key factor not only for assessing the performance of the high-power fiber laser that is our main focus, but also for the simple measurement.

Random-hole optical fiber evanescent-wave gas sensing.

PubMed

Pickrell, G; Peng, W; Wang, A

2004-07-01

Research on development of optical gas sensors based on evanescent-wave absorption in random-hole optical fibers is described. A process to produce random-hole optical fibers was recently developed that uses a novel in situ bubble formation technique. Gas molecules that exhibit characteristic vibrational absorption lines in the near-IR region that correspond to the transmission window for silica optical fiber have been detected through the evanescent field of the guided mode in the pore region. The presence of the gas molecules in the holes of the fiber appears as a loss at wavelengths that are characteristic of the particular gas species present in the holes. An experimental setup was constructed with these holey fibers for detection of acetylene gas. The results clearly demonstrate the characteristic absorptions in the optical spectra that correspond to the narrow-line absorptions of the acetylene gas, and this represents what is to our knowledge the first report of random-hole fiber gas sensing in the literature.

The Effects of Fiber Inclusion on Pet Food Sensory Characteristics and Palatability

PubMed Central

Koppel, Kadri; Monti, Mariana; Gibson, Michael; Alavi, Sajid; Donfrancesco, Brizio Di; Carciofi, Aulus Cavalieri

2015-01-01

Simple Summary The results from this research indicate that fibers have an effect on extruded pet food texture and palatability. These results may help pet food companies select ingredients for successful product formulations. Abstract The objectives of this study were to determine (a) the influence of fiber on the sensory characteristics of dry dog foods; (b) differences of coated and uncoated kibbles for aroma and flavor characteristics; (c) palatability of these dry dog foods; and (d) potential associations between palatability and sensory attributes. A total of eight fiber treatments were manufactured: a control (no fiber addition), guava fiber (3%, 6%, and 12%), sugar cane fiber (9%; large and small particle size), and wheat bran fiber (32%; large and small particle size). The results indicated significant effects of fibers on both flavor and texture properties of the samples. Bitter taste and iron and stale aftertaste were examples of flavor attributes that differed with treatment, with highest intensity observed for 12% guava fiber and small particle size sugar cane fiber treatments. Fracturability and initial crispness attributes were lowest for the sugar cane fiber treatments. Flavor of all treatments changed after coating with a palatant, increasing in toasted, brothy, and grainy attributes. The coating also had a masking effect on aroma attributes such as stale, flavor attributes such as iron and bitter taste, and appearance attributes such as porosity. Palatability testing results indicated that the control treatment was preferred over the sugar cane or the wheat bran treatment. The treatment with large sugarcane fiber particles was preferred over the treatment with small particles, while both of the wheat bran treatments were eaten at a similar level. Descriptive sensory analysis data, especially textural attributes, were useful in pinpointing the underlying characteristics and were considered to be reasons that may influence palatability of dog foods manufactured with inclusion of different fibers. PMID:26479141

Commercial breakfast cereals available in Mexican markets and their contribution in dietary fiber, β-glucans and protein quality by rat bioassays.

PubMed

Falcón-Villa, María R; Barrón-Hoyos, Jesús M; Cinco-Moroyoqui, Francisco J

2014-09-01

The beneficial effect of dietary fiber (DF) consumption has long been recognized. The global economy and open market trade policies have increased the availability of food products in Mexican markets, resulting in a wide variety of ready-to-eat commercial breakfast cereals classified as 'high fiber'. This research was aimed to evaluate the total dietary fiber contents, its fractions (soluble and insoluble) and β-glucan in 13 commercial 'high-fiber' breakfast cereals, as well as to evaluate their protein quality by rat bioassays. Commercial 'high-fiber' breakfast cereals had 7.42-39.82% insoluble dietary fiber, 2.53-12.85% soluble dietary fiber, and 0.45-4.96% β-glucan. These ready-to-eat commercial 'high-fiber' breakfast cereals differed significantly in their total dietary fiber, their soluble and insoluble DF fractions, and also in their β-glucan contents. When supplied as experimental diets, in 14-day rat feeding trials, the 'high-fiber' breakfast cereals showed an adverse effect on the % N digestibility but protein utilization, as measured as net protein ratio (NPR), was not significantly affected. The consumption of these commercial breakfast cereals, especially those made of oats as the basic ingredient, is highly recommended, since these products, being a concentrated source of dietary fiber, do not affect their protein quality.

Optical characteristics of modified fiber tips in single fiber, laser Doppler flowmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oberg, P. Ake; Cai, Hongming; Rohman, Hakan; Larsson, Sven-Erik

1994-02-01

Percutaneous laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and bipolar surface electromyography (EMG) were used simultaneously for measurement of skeletal muscle (trapezius) perfusion in relation to static load and fatigue. On-line computer (386 SX) processing of the LDF- and EMG- signals made possible interpretation of the relationship between the perfusion and the activity of the muscle. The single fiber laser Doppler technique was used in order to minimize the trauma. A ray-tracing program was developed in the C language by which the optical properties of the fiber and fiber ends could be simulated. Isoirradiance graphs were calculated for three fiber end types and the radiance characteristics were measured for each fiber end. The three types of fiber-tips were evaluated and compared in flow model measurements.

A Porous Ceramic Interphase for SiC/Si(sub 3)N(sub 4) Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ogbuji, Linus U. J. T.

1995-01-01

A suitable interphase material for non-oxide ceramic-matrix composites must be resistant to oxidation. This means it must exhibit a slow rate of oxidation, and its oxidation product must be such as to ensure that the system survives oxidation when it does occur. Because the current benchmark interphase materials, carbon and boron nitride, lack these qualities, a porous fiber coating was developed to satisfy both the mechanical and oxidative requirements of an interphase for the SiC/SiC and SiC/Si2N4 composites that are of interest to NASA. This report presents the interphase microstructure achieved and the resulting characteristics of fiber push-out from a matrix of reaction-bonded silicon nitride (RBSN), both as-fabricated and after substantial annealing and oxidation treatments.

Fabrication of a microresonator-fiber assembly maintaining a high-quality factor by CO₂ laser welding.

PubMed

Fang, Zhiwei; Lin, Jintian; Wang, Min; Liu, Zhengming; Yao, Jinping; Qiao, Lingling; Cheng, Ya

2015-10-19

We demonstrate fabrication of a microtoroid resonator of a high-quality (high-Q) factor using femtosecond laser three-dimensional (3D) micromachining. A fiber taper is reliably assembled to the microtoroid using CO2 laser welding. Specifically, we achieve a high-Q-factor of 2.12 × 10(6) in the microresonator-fiber assembly by optimizing the contact position between the fiber taper and the microtoroid.

Linkage Map Construction and QTL Analysis of Agronomic and Fiber Quality Traits in Cotton.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The superior fiber properties of Gossypium barbadense L. serve as a source of novel variation for improving fiber quality in Upland cotton (G. hirsutum L.), but introgression from G. barbadense has been largely unsuccessful due to hybrid breakdown and a lack of genetic and genomic resources. In an e...

Mechanical properties and micro-morphology of fiber posts.

PubMed

Zicari, F; Coutinho, E; Scotti, R; Van Meerbeek, B; Naert, I

2013-04-01

To evaluate flexural properties of different fiber posts systems and to morphologically characterize their micro-structure. Six types of translucent fiber posts were selected: RelyX Post (3M ESPE), ParaPost Taper Lux (Colthéne-Whaledent), GC Fiber Post (GC), LuxaPost (DMG), FRC Postec Plus (Ivoclar-Vivadent), D.T. Light-Post (RTD). For each post system and size, ten specimens were subjected to a three-points bending test. Maximum fracture load, flexural strength and flexural modulus were determined using a universal loading device (5848 MicroTester(®), Instron). Besides, for each system, three intact posts of similar dimensions were processed for scanning electron microscopy to morphologically characterize the micro-structure. The following structural characteristics were analyzed: fibers/matrix ratio, density of fibers, diameter of fibers and distribution of fibers. Data were statistically analyzed with ANOVA. Type and diameter of posts were found to significantly affect the fracture load, flexural strength and flexural modulus (p<0.05). Regarding maximum fracture load, it was found to increase with post diameter, in each post system (p<0.001). Regarding flexural strength and flexural modulus, the highest values were recorded for posts with the smallest diameter (p<0.001). Finally, structural characteristics significantly varied among the post systems tested. However, any correlation has been found between flexural strength and structural characteristics. Flexural strength appeared not to be correlated to structural characteristics of fiber posts, but it may rather be affected by mechanical properties of the resin matrix and the interfacial adhesion between fibers and resin matrix. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Electron Microscopy of Dural and Arachnoid Disruptions After Subarachnoid Block.

PubMed

Reina, Miguel Angel; Puigdellívol-Sánchez, Anna; Gatt, Stephen P; De Andrés, José; Prats-Galino, Alberto; van Zundert, André

It has been customary to attribute postdural puncture headache (PDPH) incidence and severity to size and nature of the dural hole produced during major neuraxial blockade or diagnostic dural puncture. Needle orientation in relation to the direction of dural fibers was thought to be of importance because of the propensity for horizontal bevel placement to cause cutting rather than splitting of the dural fibers. In vitro punctures of stringently quality-controlled human dural sac specimens were obtained with 27-gauge (27G) Whitacre needle (n = 33), with 29G Quincke used parallel to the spinal axis (n = 30), and with 29G Quincke in perpendicular approach (n = 40). The samples were studied with a scanning electron microscope, and the perimeter, appearance, and area (%) of the lesion were calculated. When using small 27G to 29G needles, neither needle tip characteristics nor needle orientation had a substantial bearing on the damage to dural fibers in the dural lesion. Of ultimate importance was the characteristic and size of the hole in the arachnoid. Arachnoid layer lesions produced by different types of spinal needles were not markedly different. Accepted theories of the etiology of PDPH need to be revised. This article marks the first time that arachnoid layer damage has been quantified. Dural fibers tend to have sufficient "memory" to close back the hole created by a spinal needle, whereas arachnoid has diminished capacity to do so. The pathogenesis of PDPH and its resolution algorithm are a far more complex process that involves many more "stages" of development than hitherto imagined.

Diode lasers optimized in brightness for fiber laser pumping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelemen, M.; Gilly, J.; Friedmann, P.; Hilzensauer, S.; Ogrodowski, L.; Kissel, H.; Biesenbach, J.

2018-02-01

In diode laser applications for fiber laser pumping and fiber-coupled direct diode laser systems high brightness becomes essential in the last years. Fiber coupled modules benefit from continuous improvements of high-power diode lasers on chip level regarding output power, efficiency and beam characteristics resulting in record highbrightness values and increased pump power. To gain high brightness not only output power must be increased, but also near field widths and far field angles have to be below a certain value for higher power levels because brightness is proportional to output power divided by beam quality. While fast axis far fields typically show a current independent behaviour, for broadarea lasers far-fields in the slow axis suffer from a strong current and temperature dependence, limiting the brightness and therefore their use in fibre coupled modules. These limitations can be overcome by carefully optimizing chip temperature, thermal lensing and lateral mode structure by epitaxial and lateral resonator designs and processing. We present our latest results for InGaAs/AlGaAs broad-area single emitters with resonator lengths of 4mm emitting at 976nm and illustrate the improvements in beam quality over the last years. By optimizing the diode laser design a record value of the brightness for broad-area lasers with 4mm resonator length of 126 MW/cm2sr has been demonstrated with a maximum wall-plug efficiency of more than 70%. From these design also pump modules based on 9 mini-bars consisting of 5 emitters each have been realized with 360W pump power.

Development of a Diet Quality Index Adapted for Pregnant Women

PubMed Central

Crivellenti, Lívia Castro; Zuccolotto, Daniela Cristina Candelas; Sartorelli, Daniela Saes

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To develop a Diet Quality Index Adapted for Pregnant Women (IQDAG) and to evaluate its relation with the characteristics of women treated at the Brazilian Unified Health System. METHODS: The data on food intake come from a cross-sectional study carried out with 785 adult pregnant women in the city of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo, Brazil, between 2011 and 2012. The index was based on the recommendations of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, previous national dietary indexes, and the new Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population. We used the ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and chi-square tests to describe the quality of the diet according to the characteristics of the mother. RESULTS: The IQDAG has nine components, and it is represented by three food groups (in servings/1,000 kcal), five nutrients, and a moderator component. A high proportion of pregnant women reached the maximum score for the components of legumes and vegetables. However, few women reached the maximum score for consumption of fresh fruits, fiber, omega-3, calcium, folate, iron, and ultra-processed foods. We verified a better quality of diet among older and eutrophic pregnant women who reported practicing more physical activity and taking dietary supplements. We also observed the highest index score among women with higher intake of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins C, E, and A, and minerals calcium, folate, and iron, as well as among those with lower intake of total fats and saturated fats. CONCLUSIONS: This dietary index is unprecedented in incorporating the recommendation of the new Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population regarding the moderation of the consumption of ultra-processed foods. It was useful in evaluating the quality of the diet of pregnant women and we verified a higher score among older and eutrophic women who reported a healthy lifestyle. Strategies are needed to promote a higher consumption of fresh fruits, foods high in fiber, omega-3, calcium, folate, iron, and minimally processed foods in pregnant women. PMID:29791675

Genome-wide identification of multifunctional laccase gene family in cotton (Gossypium spp.); expression and biochemical analysis during fiber development

PubMed Central

Balasubramanian, Vimal Kumar; Rai, Krishan Mohan; Thu, Sandi Win; Hii, Mei Mei; Mendu, Venugopal

2016-01-01

The single-celled cotton fibers, produced from seed coat epidermal cells are the largest natural source of textile fibers. The economic value of cotton fiber lies in its length and quality. The multifunctional laccase enzymes play important roles in cell elongation, lignification and pigmentation in plants and could play crucial role in cotton fiber quality. Genome-wide analysis of cultivated allotetraploid (G. hirsutum) and its progenitor diploid (G. arboreum and G. raimondii) cotton species identified 84, 44 and 46 laccase genes, respectively. Analysis of chromosomal location, phylogeny, conserved domain and physical properties showed highly conserved nature of laccases across three cotton species. Gene expression, enzymatic activity and biochemical analysis of developing cotton fibers was performed using G. arboreum species. Of the total 44, 40 laccases showed expression during different stages of fiber development. The higher enzymatic activity of laccases correlated with higher lignin content at 25 DPA (Days Post Anthesis). Further, analysis of cotton fiber phenolic compounds showed an overall decrease at 25 DPA indicating possible incorporation of these substrates into lignin polymer during secondary cell wall biosynthesis. Overall data indicate significant roles of laccases in cotton fiber development, and presents an excellent opportunity for manipulation of fiber development and quality. PMID:27679939

Damping characteristics of damaged fiber composite components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eberle, K.

1986-01-01

Defects in fiber composite components produce changes with respect to the vibrational characteristics of the material. These changes can be recognized in the form of a frequency shift or an alteration of the damping process. The present investigation is concerned with questions regarding the possibility of a utilization of the changes in suitable defect-detecting inspection procedures. A description is given of a method for measuring the damping characteristics of a specimen. This method provides a spectrum of the damping coefficients of the sample as a basis for a comprehensive evaluation of the damping behavior. The correlation between defects and change in the damping characteristics is demonstrated with the aid of results obtained in measurements involving specimens of carbon-fiber composites and a component consisting of glass-fiber-reinforced plastics.

High pumping-power fiber combiner for double-cladding fiber lasers and amplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Jinkun; Zhao, Wei; Zhao, Baoyin; Li, Zhe; Chang, Chang; Li, Gang; Gao, Qi; Ju, Pei; Gao, Wei; She, Shengfei; Wu, Peng; Hou, Chaoqi; Li, Weinan

2018-03-01

A high pumping-power fiber combiner for backward pumping configurations is fabricated and demonstrated by manufacturing process refinement. The pump power handling capability of every pump fiber can extend to 600 W, corresponding to the average pump coupling efficiency of 94.83%. Totally, 2.67-kW output power with the beam quality factor M2 of 1.41 was obtained, using this combiner in the fiber amplifier experimental setup. In addition, the temperature of the splicing region was less than 50.0°C in the designed combiner under the action of circulating cooling water. The experimental results prove that the designed combiner is a promising integrated all-fiber device for multikilowatt continuous-wave fiber laser with excellent beam quality.

Role of Fiber in Symptomatic Uncomplicated Diverticular Disease: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Carabotti, Marilia; Annibale, Bruno; Severi, Carola; Lahner, Edith

2017-01-01

Symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD) is a syndrome characterized by recurrent abdominal symptoms in patients with colonic diverticula. There is some evidence that a high-fiber diet or supplemental fibers may reduce symptoms in SUDD patients and a high-fiber diet is commonly suggested for these patients. This systematic review aims to update the evidence on the efficacy of fiber treatment in SUDD, in terms of a reduction in symptoms and the prevention of acute diverticulitis. According to PRISMA, we identified studies on SUDD patients treated with fibers (PubMed and Scopus). The quality of these studies was evaluated by the Jadad scale. The main outcome measures were a reduction of abdominal symptoms and the prevention of acute diverticulitis. Nineteen studies were included, nine with dietary fiber and 10 with supplemental fiber, with a high heterogeneity concerning the quantity and quality of fibers employed. Single studies suggest that fibers, both dietary and supplemental, could be beneficial in SUDD, even if the quality is very low, with just one study yielding an optimal score. The presence of substantial methodological limitations, the heterogeneity of the therapeutic regimens employed, and the lack of ad hoc designed studies, did not permit a summary of the outcome measure. Thus, the benefit of dietary or supplemental fiber in SUDD patients still needs to be established. PMID:28230737

Fiber moisture content measurements of lint and seed cotton by a small microwave instrument

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The timely and accurate measurement of cotton fiber moisture content is important, as deviations in moisture fiber content can impact the fiber quality and processing of cotton fiber. The Mesdan Aqualab is a small, modular, microwave-based fiber moisture measurement instrument for samples with mode...

Measurement comparison of cotton fiber micronaire and its components by portable near infrared spectroscopy instruments

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Micronaire is a key cotton fiber classing and quality assessment property, and changes in fiber micronaire can impact downstream fiber processing and dye consistency in the textile manufacturing industry. Micronaire is a function of two fiber components—fiber maturity and fineness. Historically, m...

Comparison of different focusing fiber tips for improved oral diode laser surgery.

PubMed

Stock, Karl; Stegmayer, Thomas; Graser, Rainer; Förster, Wolfram; Hibst, Raimund

2012-12-01

State of the art for use of the fiber guided diode laser in dental therapy is the application of bare fibers. A novel concept with delivery fiber and exchangeable fiber tips enables the use of tips with special and optimized geometries for various applications. The aim of this study is the comparison of different focusing fiber tips for enhanced cutting efficacy in oral surgery. For this purpose various designs of tip geometry were investigated and optimized by ray tracing simulations. Two applicators, one with a sphere, and another one with a taper, were realized and tested on porcine gingiva (diode laser, 940 nm, 5 W/cw; 7 W/modulated). The cutting depth and quality were determined by light microscope. Histological sections of the cuts were prepared by a cryo-microtome and microscopically analyzed to determine the cut depths and thermal damage zones. The simulations show that, using a sphere as fiber tip, an intensity increase of up to a factor of 16.2 in air, and 13.2 in water compared to a bare 200 µm fiber can be achieved. Although offering high focusing factor in water, the cutting quality of the sphere was rather poor. This is probably caused by a derogation of the focusing quality due to contamination during cutting and light scattering. Much better results were achieved with conically shaped fiber tips. Compared to bare fibers they exhibit improved handling properties with no hooking, more regular and deeper cuts (5 W/cw: 2,393 ± 468 µm, compared to the cleaved bare fiber 5 W/cw: 711 ± 268 µm). The thermal damage zones of the cuts are comparable for the various tips and fibers. In conclusion the results of our study show that cutting quality and efficiency of diode laser on soft tissue can be significantly improved using conically shaped fiber tips. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Durability Characteristics Analysis of Plastic Worm Wheel with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polyamide.

PubMed

Kim, Gun-Hee; Lee, Jeong-Won; Seo, Tae-Il

2013-05-10

Plastic worm wheel is widely used in the vehicle manufacturing field because it is favorable for weight lightening, vibration and noise reduction, as well as corrosion resistance. However, it is very difficult for general plastics to secure the mechanical properties that are required for vehicle gears. If the plastic resin is reinforced by glass fiber in the fabrication process of plastic worm wheel, it is possible to achieve the mechanical properties of metallic material levels. In this study, the mechanical characteristic analysis of the glass-reinforced plastic worm wheel, according to the contents of glass fiber, is performed by analytic and experimental methods. In the case of the glass fiber-reinforced resin, the orientation and contents of glass fibers can influence the mechanical properties. For the characteristic prediction of plastic worm wheel, computer-aided engineering (CAE) analysis processes such as structural and injection molding analysis were executed with the polyamide resin reinforcement glass fiber (25 wt %, 50 wt %). The injection mold for fabricating the prototype plastic worm wheel was designed and made to reflect the CAE analysis results. Finally, the durability of prototype plastic worm wheel fabricated by the injection molding process was evaluated by the experimental method and the characteristics according to the glass fiber contents.

Durability Characteristics Analysis of Plastic Worm Wheel with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polyamide

PubMed Central

Kim, Gun-Hee; Lee, Jeong-Won; Seo, Tae-Il

2013-01-01

Plastic worm wheel is widely used in the vehicle manufacturing field because it is favorable for weight lightening, vibration and noise reduction, as well as corrosion resistance. However, it is very difficult for general plastics to secure the mechanical properties that are required for vehicle gears. If the plastic resin is reinforced by glass fiber in the fabrication process of plastic worm wheel, it is possible to achieve the mechanical properties of metallic material levels. In this study, the mechanical characteristic analysis of the glass-reinforced plastic worm wheel, according to the contents of glass fiber, is performed by analytic and experimental methods. In the case of the glass fiber-reinforced resin, the orientation and contents of glass fibers can influence the mechanical properties. For the characteristic prediction of plastic worm wheel, computer-aided engineering (CAE) analysis processes such as structural and injection molding analysis were executed with the polyamide resin reinforcement glass fiber (25 wt %, 50 wt %). The injection mold for fabricating the prototype plastic worm wheel was designed and made to reflect the CAE analysis results. Finally, the durability of prototype plastic worm wheel fabricated by the injection molding process was evaluated by the experimental method and the characteristics according to the glass fiber contents. PMID:28809248

Mapping by sequencing in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) line MD52ne identified candidate genes for fiber strength and its related quality attributes.

PubMed

Islam, Md S; Zeng, Linghe; Thyssen, Gregory N; Delhom, Christopher D; Kim, Hee Jin; Li, Ping; Fang, David D

2016-06-01

Three QTL regions controlling three fiber quality traits were validated and further fine-mapped with 27 new single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Transcriptome analysis suggests that receptor-like kinases found within the validated QTLs are potential candidate genes responsible for superior fiber strength in cotton line MD52ne. Fiber strength, length, maturity and fineness determine the market value of cotton fibers and the quality of spun yarn. Cotton fiber strength has been recognized as a critical quality attribute in the modern textile industry. Fine mapping along with quantitative trait loci (QTL) validation and candidate gene prediction can uncover the genetic and molecular basis of fiber quality traits. Four previously-identified QTLs (qFBS-c3, qSFI-c14, qUHML-c14 and qUHML-c24) related to fiber bundle strength, short fiber index and fiber length, respectively, were validated using an F3 population that originated from a cross of MD90ne × MD52ne. A group of 27 new SNP markers generated from mapping-by-sequencing (MBS) were placed in QTL regions to improve and validate earlier maps. Our refined QTL regions spanned 4.4, 1.8 and 3.7 Mb of physical distance in the Gossypium raimondii reference genome. We performed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of 15 and 20 days post-anthesis fiber cells from MD52ne and MD90ne and aligned reads to the G. raimondii genome. The QTL regions contained 21 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the two near-isogenic parental lines. SNPs that result in non-synonymous substitutions to amino acid sequences of annotated genes were identified within these DEGs, and mapped. Taken together, transcriptome and amino acid mutation analysis indicate that receptor-like kinase pathway genes are likely candidates for superior fiber strength and length in MD52ne. MBS along with RNA-seq demonstrated a powerful strategy to elucidate candidate genes for the QTLs that control complex traits in a complex genome like tetraploid upland cotton.

Monitoring of temperature fatigue failure mechanism for polyvinyl alcohol fiber concrete using acoustic emission sensors.

PubMed

Li, Dongsheng; Cao, Hai

2012-01-01

The applicability of acoustic emission (AE) techniques to monitor the mechanism of evolution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber concrete damage under temperature fatigue loading is investigated. Using the temperature fatigue test, real-time AE monitoring data of PVA fiber concrete is achieved. Based on the AE signal characteristics of the whole test process and comparison of AE signals of PVA fiber concretes with different fiber contents, the damage evolution process of PVA fiber concrete is analyzed. Finally, a qualitative evaluation of the damage degree is obtained using the kurtosis index and b-value of AE characteristic parameters. The results obtained using both methods are discussed.

Monitoring of Temperature Fatigue Failure Mechanism for Polyvinyl Alcohol Fiber Concrete Using Acoustic Emission Sensors

PubMed Central

Li, Dongsheng; Cao, Hai

2012-01-01

The applicability of acoustic emission (AE) techniques to monitor the mechanism of evolution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber concrete damage under temperature fatigue loading is investigated. Using the temperature fatigue test, real-time AE monitoring data of PVA fiber concrete is achieved. Based on the AE signal characteristics of the whole test process and comparison of AE signals of PVA fiber concretes with different fiber contents, the damage evolution process of PVA fiber concrete is analyzed. Finally, a qualitative evaluation of the damage degree is obtained using the kurtosis index and b-value of AE characteristic parameters. The results obtained using both methods are discussed. PMID:23012555

A MAGIC population-based genome-wide association study reveals functional association of GhRBB1_A07 gene with superior fiber quality in cotton

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Cotton supplies a great majority of natural fiber for the global textile industry. The negative correlation between yield and fiber quality has hindered breeders’ ability to improve these traits simultaneously. A multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population developed t...

Effect of polymorphisms at the ghrelin gene locus on carcass, microstructure and physicochemical properties of longissimus lumborum muscle of Polish Landrace pigs.

PubMed

Wojtysiak, Dorota; Kaczor, Urszula

2011-12-01

The influence of RFLP-BsrI polymorphisms at the ghrelin gene locus on carcass, meat quality parameters and muscle fiber characteristics of longissimus lumborum was studied in 168 barrows of the Polish Landrace breed. Analysis revealed a high frequency of the 1 allele (0.60) with the frequencies of the 11, 12 and 22 genotypes being 0.45, 0.30 and 0.25, respectively. The most favorable parameters of meat traits were characteristic of pigs with the 22 genotype, together with a higher carcass and loin weight and lower thermal loss compared to 12 heterozygotes. The highest fat content was found in pigs with the 11 genotype, which had the highest abdominal fat weight and mean backfat thickness. Meanwhile, the 12 heterozygotes were characterized by the largest loin eye areas, highest lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) values, and lowest redness (a*) values, as well as the greatest hardness and chewiness and largest diameter of type IIB muscle fibers compared to the other genotypes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards a fully integrated optical gyroscope using whispering gallery modes resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amrane, T.; Jager, J.-B.; Jager, T.; Calvo, V.; Léger, J.-M.

2017-11-01

Since the developments of lasers and the optical fibers in the 70s, the optical gyroscopes have been subject to an intensive research to improve both their resolution and stability performances. However the best optical gyroscopes currently on the market, the ring laser gyroscope and the interferometer fiber optic gyroscope are still macroscopic devices and cannot address specific applications where size and weight constraints are critical. One solution to overcome these limitations could be to use an integrated resonator as a sensitive part to build a fully Integrated Optical Resonant Gyroscope (IORG). To keep a high rotation sensitivity, which is usually degraded when downsizing this kind of optical sensors based on the Sagnac effect, the resonator has to exhibit a very high quality factor (Q): as detailed in equation (1) where the minimum rotation rate resolution for an IORG is given as a function of the resonator characteristics (Q and diameter D) and of the global system optical system characteristics (i.e. SNR and bandwidth B), the higher the Q×D product, the lower the resolution.

Importance of cutaneous silent period in fibromyalgia and its relationship with disease characteristics, psychological disorders and quality of life of patients.

PubMed

Umay, Ebru; Ulas, Umit; Unlu, Ece; Akgun, Hakan; Cakci, Aytul; Odabasi, Zeki

2013-01-01

Cutaneous silent period (CSP) is an inhibitory spinal protective reflex and its afferents consist of A-delta nerve fibers. We aimed to evaluate patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and healthy controls to determine any differences between the groups in terms of CSP duration and latency, and if present, to determine whether there is any relationship with disease characteristics, psychological disorders and quality of life. Thirty-two patients with FM and 32 healthy volunteers were included in the study. The patient and control groups were compared in terms of CSP latency and duration in both upper and lower extremities. Disease characteristics, psychological disorders and quality of life of patients were assessed using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and Short Form-36 (SF-36). Patients with CSP measurements equal to or lower than those of the control group were compared with those with higher values than controls in terms of disease characteristics, psychological status and quality of life. Significantly prolonged CSP latencies in both upper and lower extremities were determined in patients compared to controls. We found that prolongation of CSP latency in the lower extremity is associated with disease severity and functional disability. CSP latencies in both upper and lower extremities in patients with FM are longer than in healthy volunteers. Moreover, prolongation of CSP latency in the lower extremity is associated with disease severity and physical functional disability.

Photonic crystal fiber technology for compact fiber-delivered high-power ultrafast fiber lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Triches, Marco; Michieletto, Mattia; Johansen, Mette M.; Jakobsen, Christian; Olesen, Anders S.; Papior, Sidsel R.; Kristensen, Torben; Bondue, Magalie; Weirich, Johannes; Alkeskjold, Thomas T.

2018-02-01

Photonic crystal fiber (PCF) technology has radically impacted the scientific and industrial ultrafast laser market. Reducing platform dimensions are important to decrease cost and footprint while maintaining high optical efficiency. We present our recent work on short 85 μm core ROD-type fiber amplifiers that maintain single-mode performance and excellent beam quality. Robust long-term performance at 100 W average power and 250 kW peak power in 20 ps pulses at 1030 nm wavelength is presented, exceeding 500 h with stable performance in terms of both polarization and power. In addition, we present our recent results on hollow-core ultrafast fiber delivery maintaining high beam quality and polarization purity.

Physiochemical Characteristics and Molecular Structures for Digestible Carbohydrates of Silages.

PubMed

Refat, Basim; Prates, Luciana L; Khan, Nazir A; Lei, Yaogeng; Christensen, David A; McKinnon, John J; Yu, Peiqiang

2017-10-18

The main objectives of this study were (1) to assess the magnitude of differences among new barley silage varieties (BS) selected for varying rates of in vitro neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility (ivNDFD; Cowboy BS with higher ivNDFD, Copeland BS with intermediate ivNDFD, and Xena BS with lower ivNDFD) with regard to their carbohydrate (CHO) molecular makeup, CHO chemical fractions, and rumen degradability in dairy cows in comparison with a new corn silage hybrid (Pioneer 7213R) and (2) to quantify the strength and pattern of association between the molecular structures and digestibility of carbohydrates. The carbohydrate-related molecular structure spectral data was measured using advanced vibrational molecular spectroscopy (FT/IR). In comparison to BS, corn silage showed a significantly (P < 0.05) higher level of starch and energy content and higher degradation of dry matter (DM). Cowboy BS had lower feeding value (higher indigestible fiber content and lower starch content) and lower DM degradation in the rumen compared to other BS varieties (P < 0.05). The spectral intensities of carbohydrates were significantly (P < 0.05) correlated with digestible carbohydrate content of the silages. In conclusion, the univariate approach with only one-factor consideration (ivNDFD) might not be a satisfactory method for evaluating and ranking BS quality. FT/IR molecular spectroscopy can be used to evaluate silage quality rapidly, particularly the digestible fiber content.

An innovative approach to achieve re-centering and ductility of cement mortar beams through randomly distributed pseudo-elastic shape memory alloy fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shajil, N.; Srinivasan, S. M.; Santhanam, M.

2012-04-01

Fibers can play a major role in post cracking behavior of concrete members, because of their ability to bridge cracks and distribute the stress across the crack. Addition of steel fibers in mortar and concrete can improve toughness of the structural member and impart significant energy dissipation through slow pull out. However, steel fibers undergo plastic deformation at low strain levels, and cannot regain their shape upon unloading. This is a major disadvantage in strong cyclic loading conditions, such as those caused by earthquakes, where self-centering ability of the fibers is a desired characteristic in addition to ductility of the reinforced cement concrete. Fibers made from an alternative material such as shape memory alloy (SMA) could offer a scope for re-centering, thus improving performance especially after a severe loading has occurred. In this study, the load-deformation characteristics of SMA fiber reinforced cement mortar beams under cyclic loading conditions were investigated to assess the re-centering performance. This study involved experiments on prismatic members, and related analysis for the assessment and prediction of re-centering. The performances of NiTi fiber reinforced mortars are compared with mortars with same volume fraction of steel fibers. Since re-entrant corners and beam columns joints are prone to failure during a strong ground motion, a study was conducted to determine the behavior of these reinforced with NiTi fiber. Comparison is made with the results of steel fiber reinforced cases. NiTi fibers showed significantly improved re-centering and energy dissipation characteristics compared to the steel fibers.

Study on strength characteristics of concrete using M-Sand and coconut fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neeraja, D.; Wani, Amir Iqbal; Kamili, Zainulabideen; Agarwal, Krishnakant

2017-11-01

In the current world, concrete has become a very important part of the construction industry and the materials which are used in making concrete have evolved due to better quality of cement and better grade of coarse aggregates. The sand is an important part of concrete. It is mainly procured from natural sources. Thus the grade of sand is not under our control. The methods of removing sand from river beds are causing various environmental issues and river sand is depleting at a faster rate than it is replaced by natural methods. Hence, various replacements for the river sand are being done, one of which is manufactured-sand. It is obtained from various granite quarries. Manufactured-sand or M-sand is slowly replacing the fine aggregate in the concrete as the sand is well graded and gives higher strength of concrete. There are various fibers used for reinforcing concrete which consist mainly of artificial or steel fibers. Some of these fibers are quite costly and sometimes difficult to obtain. So there are many natural fibers which can be used in place of these fibers, one of which is coconut fiber, extracted from the shell of a coconut. Coconut fibers are used in various industries like rope making, coir mattresses etc. Since these fibers are one of the strongest fibers among naturally occuring fibers, they can be used in the concrete mix to increase the resistance in concrete. They are also light weight and easily available and thus can be used in reinforcement of concrete. The studies up till now have tested the use of coconut fibers in normal concrete involving river sand but in this study a particular ratio of M-sand and river sand is used to get the maximum possible strength. Hence, in this project an attempt was made to use M-sand and coconut fiber in concrete. Based on the test results, it can be concluded that combination of M-sand and coconut fibers gave favorable results in strength criteria.

A tunable fiber-optic LED illumination system for non-invasive measurements of the characteristics of a transparent fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Świrniak, Grzegorz; Głomb, Grzegorz

2017-06-01

This study reports an application of a fiber-optic LED-based illumination system to solve an inverse problem in optical measurements of characteristics of a single-mode fiber. The illumination system has the advantages of low temporal coherence, high intensity, collimation, and thermal stability of the emission spectrum. The inverse analysis is investigated to predict the values of the diameter and refractive index of a single-mode fiber and applies to the far field scattering pattern in the vicinity of a polychromatic rainbow. As the inversion possibility depends considerably on the properties of the incident radiation, a detailed discussion is provided on both the specification of the illumination system as well as preliminary characteristics of the produced radiation. The illumination system uses a direct coupling between a thermally-stabilized LED junction and a plastic optical fiber, which transmits light to an optical collimator. A numerical study of fiber-to-LED coupling efficiency helps to understand the influence of lateral and longitudinal misalignments on the output power.

Fabrication of Composite Material Using Gettou Fiber by Injection Molding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setsuda, Roy; Fukumoto, Isao; Kanda, Yasuyuki

This study investigated the mechanical properties of composite using gettou (shell ginger) fiber as reinforcement fabricated from injection molding. Gettou fiber is a natural fiber made from gettou, a subtropical plant that is largely abundant in Okinawa, Japan. We used the stem part of gettou plant and made the gettou fiber by crushing the stem. The composite using gettou fiber contributed to low shrinkage ratio, high bending strength and high flexural modulus. The mechanical strength of composite using long gettou fiber showed higher value than composite using short gettou fiber. Next, because gettou is particularly known for its anti-mold characteristic, we investigated the characteristic in gettou plastic composite. The composite was tested against two molds: aspergillius niger and penicillium funiculosum. The 60% gettou fiber plastic composite was found to satisfy the JISZ2801 criterion. Finally, in order to predict the flexural modulus of composite using gettou fiber by Halpin-Tsai equation, the tensile elastic modulus of single gettou fiber was measured. The tendency of the experimental results of composite using gettou fiber was in good agreement with Halpin-Tsai equation.

Effect of high pressure hydrogen on the mechanical characteristics of single carbon fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeon, Sang Koo; Kwon, Oh Heon; Jang, Hoon-Sik; Ryu, Kwon Sang; Nahm, Seung Hoon

2018-02-01

In this study, carbon fiber was exposed to a pressure of 7 MPa for 24 h in high pressure chamber. The tensile test for carbon fiber was conducted to estimate the effect on the high pressure hydrogen in the atmosphere. To determine the tensile strength and Weibull modulus, approximately thirty carbon fiber samples were measured in all cases, and carbon fiber exposed to high pressure argon was evaluated to verify only the effect of hydrogen. Additionally, carbon fiber samples were annealed at 1950 °C for 1 h for a comparison with normal carbon fiber and then tested under identical conditions. The results showed that the tensile strength scatter of normal carbon fiber exposed to hydrogen was relatively wider and the Weibull modulus was decreased. Moreover, the tensile strength of the annealed carbon fiber exposed to hydrogen was increased, and these samples indicated a complex Weibull modulus because the hydrogen stored in the carbon fiber influenced the mechanical characteristic.

Studies on output characteristics of stable dual-wavelength ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Hongchun; Zhang, Sa; Hou, Zhiyun; Xia, Changming; Zhou, Guiyao; Zhang, Wei; Liu, Jiantao; Wu, Jiale; Fu, Jian

2016-06-01

A stable dual-wavelength ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber laser pumped by a 976 nm laser diode has been demonstrated at room temperature. Single-wavelength, dual-wavelength laser oscillations are observed when the fiber laser operates under different pump power by using different length of fibers. Stable dual-wavelength radiation around 1045 nm and 1075 nm has been generated simultaneously at a high pump power directly from an ytterbium-doped fiber laser without using any spectral control mechanism. A small core ytterbium-doped PCF fabricated by the powder sinter direction drawn rod technology is used as gain medium. The pump power and fiber length which can affect the output characteristics of dual-wavelength fiber laser are analyzed in the experiment. Experiments confirm that higher pump power and longer fiber length favors 1075 nm output; lower pump power and shorter fiber length favors 1045 nm output. Those results have a good reference in multi-wavelength fiber laser.

Experimental investigation of transient temperature characteristic in high power fiber laser cutting of a thick steel plate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phi Long, Nguyen; Matsunaga, Yukihiro; Hanari, Toshihide; Yamada, Tomonori; Muramatsu, Toshiharu

2016-10-01

Experiment of temperature measurement was performed to investigate the transient temperature characteristics of molten metal during laser cutting. The aim of this study was to establish a method for measuring the surface temperature variation near the molten pool correlated with changes in cutting parameters. The relationship between temperature inside the kerf cut and characteristic of the cut surface was investigated by using thermography and thermocouples. Results show strong correlations between the transient temperatures and the thermal image for different cutting conditions. In addition, two-color thermometer has been used to obtain radiation intensity emitted from the irradiating zone as a function of operating conditions. Experiments have shown that one can detect the cutting quality by characterization of the surface temperature during laser cutting process.

Effects of wood fiber characteristics on mechanical properties of wood/polypropylene composites

Treesearch

Nicole M. Stark; Robert E. Rowlands

2003-01-01

Commercial wood flour, the most common wood-derived filler for thermoplastics, is produced in a mixture of particle sizes and generally has a lower aspect ratio than wood and other natural fibers. To understand how wood flour and fiber characteristics influence the mechanical properties of polypropylene composites, we first investigated the effect of different sizes of...

Anisotropic elliptic optical fibers. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kang, Soon Ahm

1991-01-01

The exact characteristic equation for an anisotropic elliptic optical fiber is obtained for odd and even hybrid modes in terms of infinite determinants utilizing Mathieu and modified Mathieu functions. A simplified characteristic equation is obtained by applying the weakly guiding approximation such that the difference in the refractive indices of the core and the cladding is small. The simplified characteristic equation is used to compute the normalized guide wavelength for an elliptical fiber. When the anisotropic parameter is equal to unity, the results are compared with the previous research and they are in close agreement. For a fixed value normalized cross-section area or major axis, the normalized guide wavelength lambda/lambda(sub 0) for an anisotropic elliptic fiber is small for the larger value of anisotropy. This condition indicates that more energy is carried inside of the fiber. However, the geometry and anisotropy of the fiber have a smaller effect when the normalized cross-section area is very small or very large.

Comparative fiber property and transcriptome analyses reveal key genes potentially related to high fiber strength in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) line MD52ne

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Individual fiber strength is an important quality attribute that greatly influences the strength of the yarn spun from cotton fibers. Fiber strength is usually measured from bundles of fibers due to the difficulty of reliably measuring strength from individual cotton fibers. However, bun...

Effect of dietary fibers on physico-chemical, sensory and textural properties of Misti Dahi.

PubMed

Raju, P Narender; Pal, Dharam

2014-11-01

Misti dahi, a popular ethnic delicacy of eastern India analogous to caramel coloured set style sweetened yoghurt, besides several therapeutic virtues, contains high fat and sugar. Alike people elsewhere in the world, people in India too are now becoming health conscious and are aware of the relation between diet and health. Hence, high fat and sugar contents are causes of concern for the successful marketing of misti dahi in India. With a view to enhance the health attributes of misti dahi and improve marketability, three commercial dietary fiber preparations (inulin, soy fiber and oat fiber) were incorporated and their effect on the product's quality in terms of physicochemical, sensory and textural quality was assessed. Standard method was followed for the preparation of fiber fortified misti dahi (FFMD). Among the three dietary fibers, inulin significantly decreased viscosity and instrumental firmness and increased lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*), syneresis and work of shear values of FFMD. Oat fiber settled at the bottom and gave a poor appearance. Soy fiber did not affect the flavor of FFMD. Although overall acceptability scores of inulin and soy fiber containing FFMD were significantly lower than control, they were still above the minimum acceptable score. Based on the results obtained in the present study, it was concluded that acceptable quality FFMD could be prepared using inulin and soy fiber at 1.5 % level of fortification.

High-order random Raman lasing in a PM fiber with ultimate efficiency and narrow bandwidth

PubMed Central

Babin, Sergey A.; Zlobina, Ekaterina A.; Kablukov, Sergey I.; Podivilov, Evgeniy V.

2016-01-01

Random Raman lasers attract now a great deal of attention as they operate in non-active turbid or transparent scattering media. In the last case, single mode fibers with feedback via Rayleigh backscattering generate a high-quality unidirectional laser beam. However, such fiber lasers have rather poor spectral and polarization properties, worsening with increasing power and Stokes order. Here we demonstrate a linearly-polarized cascaded random Raman lasing in a polarization-maintaining fiber. The quantum efficiency of converting the pump (1.05 μm) into the output radiation is almost independent of the Stokes order, amounting to 79%, 83%, and 77% for the 1st (1.11 μm), 2nd (1.17 μm) and 3rd (1.23 μm) order, respectively, at the polarization extinction ratio >22 dB for all orders. The laser bandwidth grows with increasing order, but it is almost independent of power in the 1–10 W range, amounting to ~1, ~2 and ~3 nm for orders 1–3, respectively. So, the random Raman laser exhibits no degradation of output characteristics with increasing Stokes order. A theory adequately describing the unique laser features has been developed. Thus, a full picture of the cascaded random Raman lasing in fibers is shown. PMID:26940082

The Comparative Effect of Carrot and Lemon Fiber as a Fat Replacer on Physico-chemical, Textural, and Organoleptic Quality of Low-fat Beef Hamburger

PubMed Central

Soncu, Eda Demirok; Kolsarıcı, Nuray; Çiçek, Neslihan; Öztürk, Görsen Salman; Akoğlu, ilker T.; Arıcı, Yeliz Kaşko

2015-01-01

This study was designed to determine the usability of lemon fiber (LF-2%, 4%, 6%) and carrot fiber (CF-2%, 4%, 6%) to produce low-fat beef hamburgers. To that end, a certain amount of fat was replaced with each fiber. The proximate composition, pH value, cholesterol content, cooking characteristics, color, texture profile, and sensory properties of low-fat beef hamburgers were investigated. LF increased moisture content and cooking yield due to its better water binding properties, while CF caused higher fat and cholesterol contents owing to its higher fat absorption capacity (p<0.05). LF resulted in a lighter, redder, and more yellow color (p<0.05). Hardness, gumminess, springiness, and chewiness parameters decreased when the usage level of both fibers increased (p<0.05). However, more tender, gummy, springy, and smoother hamburgers were produced by the addition of CF in comparison with LF (p<0.05). Moreover, hamburgers including CF were rated with higher sensory scores (p<0.05). In conclusion, LF demonstrated better technological results in terms of cooking yield, shrinkage, moisture retention, and fat retention. However it is suggested that CF produces better low-fat hamburgers since up to 2% CF presented sensory and textural properties similar to those of regular hamburgers. PMID:26761851

Evaluation of insertion characteristics of less invasive Si optoneural probe with embedded optical fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morikawa, Takumi; Harashima, Takuya; Kino, Hisashi; Fukushima, Takafumi; Tanaka, Tetsu

2017-04-01

A less invasive Si optoneural probe with an embedded optical fiber was proposed and successfully fabricated. The diameter of the optical fiber was completely controlled by hydrogen fluoride etching, and the thinned optical fiber can propagate light without any leakage. This optical fiber was embedded in a trench formed inside a probe shank, which causes less damage to tissues. In addition, it was confirmed that the optical fiber embedded in the probe shank successfully irradiated light to optically stimulate gene transfected neurons. The electrochemical impedance of the probe did not change despite the light irradiation. Furthermore, probe insertion characteristics were evaluated in detail and less invasive insertion was clearly indicated for the Si optoneural probe with the embedded optical fiber compared with conventional optical neural probes. This neural probe with the embedded optical fiber can be used as a simple and easy tool for optogenetics and brain science.

2011 High Plains and Northern Rolling Plains Cotton Harvest-Aid Guide

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Harvest-aid chemicals are generally applied to hasten harvest of a mature crop and to reduce potential preharvest losses of lint yield and fiber quality. Proper use of harvest aids can result in earlier harvest, preservation of fiber quality, and fewer seed quality reductions due to field exposure. ...

2009 High plains and northern rolling plains cotton harvest-aid guide

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Harvest-aid chemicals are generally applied to hasten harvest of a mature crop, and to reduce potential preharvest losses of lint yield and fiber quality. Proper use of harvest aids can result in earlier harvest, preservation of fiber quality, and fewer seed quality reductions due to field exposure....

2012 High Plains and Northern Rolling Plains Cotton harvest aid-guide

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Harvest-aid chemicals are generally applied to hasten harvest of a mature crop, and to reduce potential preharvest losses of lint yield and fiber quality. Proper use of harvest aids can result in earlier harvest, preservation of fiber quality, and fewer seed quality reductions due to field exposure....

Rheological properties and bread quality of frozen yeast-dough with added wheat fiber.

PubMed

Adams, Vivian; Ragaee, Sanaa M; Abdel-Aal, El-Sayed M

2017-01-01

The rheological characteristics of frozen dough are of great importance in bread-making quality. The effect of addition of commercial wheat aleurone and bran on rheological properties and final bread quality of frozen dough was studied. Wheat aleurone (A) and bran (B) containing 240 g kg -1 and 200 g kg -1 arabinoxylan (AX), respectively, were incorporated into refined wheat flour at 150 g kg -1 substitution level (composite A and B, respectively). Dough samples of composite A and B in addition to two reference dough samples, refined flour (ref A) and whole wheat flour (ref B) were stored at -18°C for 9 weeks. Frozen stored composite dough samples contained higher amounts of bound water, less freezable water and exhibited fewer modifications in gluten network during frozen storage based on data from differential scanning calorimetry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Bread made from composite frozen dough had higher loaf volume compared to ref A or ref B throughout the storage period. The incorporation of wheat fiber into refined wheat flour produced dough with minimum alterations in its rheological properties during 9 weeks of frozen storage compared to refined and 100% wheat flour dough samples. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Batako Quality Optimization with Addition of Palm Oil Stem Fiber from Kampar District and Dumai City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zainuri; Yanti, Gusneli; Wahyuni Megasari, Shanti

2017-12-01

The waste of dry palm oil produced by 148 trees per hectare is 3,108 ton/month or 37,296 ton/year as calculated. Riau province has oil palm plantations covering an area of 2.399.172 hectares (BPS Riau Province, 2014). It can be estimated the amount of waste generated. Palm stem waste can be utilized, one of which is the utilization of midrib fiber as an added material in the manufacture of batako. Batako- fiber that is made still must be examined feasibility as building materials. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimization of the quality of batako works by the addition of palm stem fiber originated from the districts of Kampar and Dumai. This research used experimental method with laboratory research. Batako-fiber with the addition of palm fiber stem 1% of the weight of cement can increase the value of compressive strength above the normal batako and a batako with first quality according to SNI 03-0349-1989 standard. The use of palm stem fiber originating from the Kampar district resulted in better batakos with higher average compressive strength values than the dumai-derived fibers, especially in the addition of 1% fiber by weight of cement. The finding of this research is that the batakos originating from Kampar district are better than those from Dumai city. The most optimal addition of palm fiber burrs to batako-fiber products is 1% of the weight of cement.

Near-field optical technique applied for investigation of the characteristics of polymer fiber and waveguide structures.

PubMed

Ming, Hai; Tang, Lin; Sun, Xiaohong; Zhang, Jiangying; Wang, Pei; Lu, Yonghua; Bai, Ming; Guo, Yang; Xie, Aifang; Zhang, Zebo

2004-01-01

This article summarizes the near-field optical technique applied for investigating the characteristics of polymer fiber and waveguide structures. The near-field optical technique is used to analyze multimode interference structures of fiber. The localized fluctuation of the transmission caused by fractal cluster is carried out in Nd3+- and Eu3+-doped polymer fiber and film by means of a scanning near-field optical microscopy. The near-field optical spectrum of Nd3+-doped polymer fiber is investigated. The topography and near-field intensity images of Azo-polymer liquid crystal film for waveguide are obtained simultaneously.

High-power, single-frequency, continuous-wave second-harmonic-generation of ytterbium fiber laser in PPKTP and MgO:sPPLT.

PubMed

Kumar, S Chaitanya; Samanta, G K; Ebrahim-Zadeh, M

2009-08-03

Characteristics of high-power, narrow-linewidth, continuous-wave (cw) green radiation obtained by simple single-pass second-harmonic-generation (SHG) of a cw ytterbium fiber laser at 1064 nm in the nonlinear crystals of PPKTP and MgO:sPPLT are studied and compared. Temperature tuning and SHG power scaling up to nearly 10 W for input fundamental power levels up to 30 W are performed. Various contributions to thermal effects in both crystals, limiting the SHG conversion efficiency, are studied. Optimal focusing conditions and thermal management schemes are investigated to maximize SHG performance in MgO:sPPLT. Stable green output power and high spatial beam quality with M(2)<1.33 and M(2)<1.34 is achieved in MgO:sPPLT and PPKTP, respectively.

Experimental and analytical studies for the NASA carbon fiber risk assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

Various experimental and analytical studies performed for the NASA carbon fiber risk assessment program are described with emphasis on carbon fiber characteristics, sensitivity of electrical equipment and components to shorting or arcing by carbon fibers, attenuation effect of carbon fibers on aircraft landing aids, impact of carbon fibers on industrial facilities. A simple method of estimating damage from airborne carbon fibers is presented.

Mapping quantitative trait loci for lint yield and fiber quality across environments in a Gossypium hirsutum × Gossypium barbadense backcross inbred line population.

PubMed

Yu, Jiwen; Zhang, Ke; Li, Shuaiyang; Yu, Shuxun; Zhai, Honghong; Wu, Man; Li, Xingli; Fan, Shuli; Song, Meizhen; Yang, Daigang; Li, Yunhai; Zhang, Jinfa

2013-01-01

Identification of stable quantitative trait loci (QTLs) across different environments and mapping populations is a prerequisite for marker-assisted selection (MAS) for cotton yield and fiber quality. To construct a genetic linkage map and to identify QTLs for fiber quality and yield traits, a backcross inbred line (BIL) population of 146 lines was developed from a cross between Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) and Egyptian cotton (Gossypium barbadense) through two generations of backcrossing using Upland cotton as the recurrent parent followed by four generations of self pollination. The BIL population together with its two parents was tested in five environments representing three major cotton production regions in China. The genetic map spanned a total genetic distance of 2,895 cM and contained 392 polymorphic SSR loci with an average genetic distance of 7.4 cM per marker. A total of 67 QTLs including 28 for fiber quality and 39 for yield and its components were detected on 23 chromosomes, each of which explained 6.65-25.27% of the phenotypic variation. Twenty-nine QTLs were located on the At subgenome originated from a cultivated diploid cotton, while 38 were on the Dt subgenome from an ancestor that does not produce spinnable fibers. Of the eight common QTLs (12%) detected in more than two environments, two were for fiber quality traits including one for fiber strength and one for uniformity, and six for yield and its components including three for lint yield, one for seedcotton yield, one for lint percentage and one for boll weight. QTL clusters for the same traits or different traits were also identified. This research represents one of the first reports using a permanent advanced backcross inbred population of an interspecific hybrid population to identify QTLs for fiber quality and yield traits in cotton across diverse environments. It provides useful information for transferring desirable genes from G. barbadense to G. hirsutum using MAS.

Recycled fiber quality from a laboratory-scale blade separator/blend

Treesearch

Bei-Hong Liang; Stephen M. Shaler; Laurence Mott; Leslie Groom

1994-01-01

A simple and inexpensive fiber separator/blender was developed to generate useful secondary fibers from hydropulped waste paper. Processing wet hydropulped fiber resulted in a furnish with no change in average fiber length in three out of four types of recycled fibers tested. In all cases, the Canadian Standard freeness increased after processing compared to...

Recycled fiber quality from a laboratory-scale blade separator/blender

Treesearch

Bei-Hong Liang; Stephen M. Shaler; Laurence Mott; Leslie Groom

1994-01-01

A simple and inexpensive fiber separator/blender was developed to generate useful secondary fibers from hydropulped waste paper. Processing wet hydropulped fiber resulted in a furnish with no change in average fiber length in three out of four types of recycled fibers tested. In all cases, the canadian standard freeness increased after processing compared to...

Single crystal fibers for high power lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, W.; Florea, C.; Baker, C.; Gibson, D.; Shaw, L. B.; Bowman, S.; O'Connor, S.; Villalobos, G.; Bayya, S.; Aggarwal, I. D.; Sanghera, J. S.

2012-11-01

In this paper, we present our recent results in developing cladded-single crystal fibers for high power single frequency fiber lasers significantly exceeding the capabilities of existing silica fiber based lasers. This fiber laser would not only exploit the advantages of crystals, namely their high temperature stability, high thermal conductivity, superior environmental ruggedness, high propensity for rare earth ion doping and low nonlinearity, but will also provide the benefits from an optical fiber geometry to enable better thermal management thereby enabling the potential for high laser power output in short lengths. Single crystal fiber cores with diameters as small as 35μm have been drawn using high purity rare earth doped ceramic or single crystal feed rods by Laser Heated Pedestal Growth (LHPG) process. The mechanical, optical and morphological properties of these fibers have been characterized. The fibers are very flexible and show good overall uniformity. We also measured the optical loss as well as the non-radiative loss of the doped crystal fibers and the results show that the fibers have excellent optical and morphological quality. The gain coefficient of the crystal fiber matches the low quantum defect laser model and it is a good indication of the high quality of the fibers.

Roller milled black gram (Phaseolus mungo) semolina and its influence on the quality characteristics of high protein pasta.

PubMed

Rajiv, Jyotsna; Milind; Inamdar, Aashitosh A; Sakhare, Suresh; Venkateswara Rao, G

2015-04-01

Black gram (Phaseolus mungo) was roller milled into semolina (BGS) and was substituted at 25, 50 and 75 % levels in vermicelli making in this investigation. There was an increase in ash and protein content as the inclusion of BGS in blends increased. The quality characteristics of pasta showed marginal increase in cooking loss up to 50 % level of BGS. The firmness value did not change much up to 50 % BGS in pasta. At 75 % level of BGS, the cooking loss and stickiness value were highest (6.10 % and 0. 90 N) whereas firmness value and overall quality score were lowest (4 N and 27.5/40) indicating that the pasta had mushy, indiscrete, sticky strands and had a prominent beany odour making it unacceptable. Hence 50 % BGS was considered optimum in vermicelli. The pasta made with 50 % BGS inclusion had a protein and dietary fiber content of 15.30 % and 8 % as against the control value of 11.30 and 4.20 % respectively.

Transmission of laser pulses with high output beam quality using step-index fibers having large cladding

DOEpatents

Yalin, Azer P; Joshi, Sachin

2014-06-03

An apparatus and method for transmission of laser pulses with high output beam quality using large core step-index silica optical fibers having thick cladding, are described. The thick cladding suppresses diffusion of modal power to higher order modes at the core-cladding interface, thereby enabling higher beam quality, M.sup.2, than are observed for large core, thin cladding optical fibers. For a given NA and core size, the thicker the cladding, the better the output beam quality. Mode coupling coefficients, D, has been found to scale approximately as the inverse square of the cladding dimension and the inverse square root of the wavelength. Output from a 2 m long silica optical fiber having a 100 .mu.m core and a 660 .mu.m cladding was found to be close to single mode, with an M.sup.2=1.6. Another thick cladding fiber (400 .mu.m core and 720 .mu.m clad) was used to transmit 1064 nm pulses of nanosecond duration with high beam quality to form gas sparks at the focused output (focused intensity of >100 GW/cm.sup.2), wherein the energy in the core was <6 mJ, and the duration of the laser pulses was about 6 ns. Extending the pulse duration provided the ability to increase the delivered pulse energy (>20 mJ delivered for 50 ns pulses) without damaging the silica fiber.

Comparative fiber evaluation of the mesdan aqualab microwave moisture measurement instrument

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Moisture is a key cotton fiber parameter, as it can impact the fiber quality and the processing of cotton fiber. The Mesdan Aqualab is a microwave-based fiber moisture measurement instrument for samples with moderate sample size. A program was implemented to determine the capabilities of the Aqual...

QTLs Analysis and Validation for Fiber Quality Traits Using Maternal Backcross Population in Upland Cotton.

PubMed

Ma, Lingling; Zhao, Yanpeng; Wang, Yumei; Shang, Lianguang; Hua, Jinping

2017-01-01

Cotton fiber is renewable natural fiber source for textile. Improving fiber quality is an essential goal for cotton breeding project. In present study, F 14 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population was backcrossed by the maternal parent to obtain a backcross (BC) population, derived from one Upland cotton hybrid. Three repetitive field trials were performed by randomized complete block design with two replicates in three locations in 2015, together with the BC population, common male parent and the RIL population. Totally, 26 QTLs in BC population explained 5.00-14.17% of phenotype variation (PV) and 37 quantitative trait loci (QTL) were detected in RIL population explaining 5.13-34.00% of PV. Seven common QTLs detected simultaneously in two populations explained PV from 7.69 to 23.05%. A total of 20 QTLs in present study verified the previous results across three environments in 2012. Particularly, qFL-Chr5-2 controlling fiber length on chromosome 5 explained 34.00% of PV, while qFL-Chr5-3 only within a 0.8 cM interval explained 13.93% of PV on average in multiple environments. These stable QTLs explaining great variation offered essential information for marker-assisted selection (MAS) to improve fiber quality traits. Lots of epistasis being detected in both populations acted as one of important genetic compositions of fiber quality traits.

Using different fibers to replace fat in sponge cakes: In vitro starch digestion and physico-structural studies.

PubMed

Diez-Sánchez, Elena; Llorca, Empar; Quiles, Amparo; Hernando, Isabel

2018-01-01

This study assessed the effect of substituting 30% of fat by soluble, insoluble fiber, or a mix of both fibers in sponge cake quality, structure, acceptability, and starch digestibility. The apparent viscosity of the different formulations was measured and micro-baking was simulated. Texture profile tests were carried out and the crumb structure was examined. In vitro digestion was performed to study the digestibility of starch and a sensory test was carried out to know consumer acceptance. The soluble fiber (maltodextrin) affected the structure and quality of the cakes less than the insoluble fiber (potato fiber) and the use of soluble fiber in the formulation resulted in lower glucose release under in vitro conditions. Moreover, the consumer did not find differences among the control cake and the cakes prepared with soluble fiber. Considering the results as a whole, soluble fiber may be used for partial replacement of fat in sponge cake formulations and may constitute an appropriate strategy for obtaining healthy sponge cakes.

Effect of Simultaneous Water Deficit Stress and Meloidogyne incognita Infection on Cotton Yield and Fiber Quality

PubMed Central

Davis, R. F.; Earl, H. J.; Timper, P.

2014-01-01

Both water deficit stress and Meloidogyne incognita infection can reduce cotton growth and yield, and drought can affect fiber quality, but the effect of nematodes on fiber quality is not well documented. To determine whether nematode parasitism affects fiber quality and whether the combined effects of nematode and drought stress on yield and quality are additive (independent effects), synergistic, or antagonistic, we conducted a study for 7 yr in a field infested with M. incognita. A split-plot design was used with the main plot factor as one of three irrigation treatments (low [nonirrigated], moderate irrigation, and high irrigation [water-replete]) and the subplot factor as 0 or 56 l/ha 1,3-dichloropropene. We prevented water deficit stress in plots designated as water-replete by supplementing rainfall with irrigation. Plots receiving moderate irrigation received half the water applied to the water-replete treatment. The severity of root galling was greater in nonfumigated plots and in plots receiving the least irrigation, but the amount of irrigation did not influence the effect of fumigation on root galling (no irrigation × fumigation interaction). The weights of lint and seed harvested were reduced in nonfumigated plots and also decreased as the level of irrigation decreased, but fumigation did not influence the effect of irrigation. Nematodes affected fiber quality by increasing micronaire readings but typically had little or no effect on percent lint, fiber length (measured by HVI), uniformity, strength, elongation, length (based on weight or number measured by AFIS), upper quartile length, or short fiber content (based on weight or number). Micronaire also was increased by water deficit stress, but the effects from nematodes and water stress were independent. We conclude that the detrimental effects caused to cotton yield and quality by nematode parasitism and water deficit stress are independent and therefore additive. PMID:24987162

COOP 3D ARPA Experiment 109 National Center for Atmospheric Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Coupled atmospheric and hydrodynamic forecast models were executed on the supercomputing resources of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado and the Ohio Supercomputing Center (OSC)in Columbus, Ohio. respectively. The interoperation of the forecast models on these geographically diverse, high performance Cray platforms required the transfer of large three dimensional data sets at very high information rates. High capacity, terrestrial fiber optic transmission system technologies were integrated with those of an experimental high speed communications satellite in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) to test the integration of the two systems. Operation over a spacecraft in GEO orbit required modification of the standard configuration of legacy data communications protocols to facilitate their ability to perform efficiently in the changing environment characteristic of a hybrid network. The success of this performance tuning enabled the use of such an architecture to facilitate high data rate, fiber optic quality data communications between high performance systems not accessible to standard terrestrial fiber transmission systems. Thus obviating the performance degradation often found in contemporary earth/satellite hybrids.

Tractometer: towards validation of tractography pipelines.

PubMed

Côté, Marc-Alexandre; Girard, Gabriel; Boré, Arnaud; Garyfallidis, Eleftherios; Houde, Jean-Christophe; Descoteaux, Maxime

2013-10-01

We have developed the Tractometer: an online evaluation and validation system for tractography processing pipelines. One can now evaluate the results of more than 57,000 fiber tracking outputs using different acquisition settings (b-value, averaging), different local estimation techniques (tensor, q-ball, spherical deconvolution) and different tracking parameters (masking, seeding, maximum curvature, step size). At this stage, the system is solely based on a revised FiberCup analysis, but we hope that the community will get involved and provide us with new phantoms, new algorithms, third party libraries and new geometrical metrics, to name a few. We believe that the new connectivity analysis and tractography characteristics proposed can highlight limits of the algorithms and contribute in solving open questions in fiber tracking: from raw data to connectivity analysis. Overall, we show that (i) averaging improves quality of tractography, (ii) sharp angular ODF profiles helps tractography, (iii) seeding and multi-seeding has a large impact on tractography outputs and must be used with care, and (iv) deterministic tractography produces less invalid tracts which leads to better connectivity results than probabilistic tractography. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficient technical solution for recycling textile materials by manufacturing nonwoven geotextiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leon, A. L.; Potop, G. L.; Hristian, L.; Manea, L. R.

2016-08-01

This paper aims to support the concept "circular economy" that was developed recently. It presents an efficient method for creating a closed loop in the Romanian textile industry by recycling textile materials, such as polyacrylonitrile knitted old products (collected from population) and small polyester woven patches from pre-consumer waste (garments manufacturing companies). Because of their properties, nonwoven geotextiles have many advantages in railways reinforcement, slopes stabilization, erosion control, drainage, filtration, paving roads, crops coverings, etc. The nonwoven geotextiles were obtained from three fibrous blends based on recovered fibers (PES and PAN) and fibers at first usage (PP) in different ratios. All experimental variants were processed on the same manufacturing line with the same technological parameters. There were tested the main physical and mechanical parameters and it was applied single factor ANOVA method for thickness, bulk density, air permeability and static puncture strength. The conclusion is that adding PP fibers in the blends represents a very important factor for geotextiles characteristics but it possible to decrease the ratio from economical reasons and still maintain a high quality level of nonwovens.

Transfer characteristics of the hair cell's afferent synapse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keen, Erica C.; Hudspeth, A. J.

2006-04-01

The sense of hearing depends on fast, finely graded neurotransmission at the ribbon synapses connecting hair cells to afferent nerve fibers. The processing that occurs at this first chemical synapse in the auditory pathway determines the quality and extent of the information conveyed to the central nervous system. Knowledge of the synapse's input-output function is therefore essential for understanding how auditory stimuli are encoded. To investigate the transfer function at the hair cell's synapse, we developed a preparation of the bullfrog's amphibian papilla. In the portion of this receptor organ representing stimuli of 400-800 Hz, each afferent nerve fiber forms several synaptic terminals onto one to three hair cells. By performing simultaneous voltage-clamp recordings from presynaptic hair cells and postsynaptic afferent fibers, we established that the rate of evoked vesicle release, as determined from the average postsynaptic current, depends linearly on the amplitude of the presynaptic Ca2+ current. This result implies that, for receptor potentials in the physiological range, the hair cell's synapse transmits information with high fidelity. auditory system | exocytosis | glutamate | ribbon synapse | synaptic vesicle

Relationship of Fiber Properties to Vortex Yarn Quality via Partial Least Squares

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Cotton Quality Research Station (CQRS) of the USDA-ARS, recently completed a comprehensive study of the relationship of cotton fiber properties to the quality of spun yarn. The five year study, began in 2001, utilized commercial variety cotton grown, harvested and ginned in each of three major ...

Advances in combined endoscopic fluorescence confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Risi, Matthew D.

Confocal microendoscopy provides real-time high resolution cellular level images via a minimally invasive procedure. Results from an ongoing clinical study to detect ovarian cancer with a novel confocal fluorescent microendoscope are presented. As an imaging modality, confocal fluorescence microendoscopy typically requires exogenous fluorophores, has a relatively limited penetration depth (100 μm), and often employs specialized aperture configurations to achieve real-time imaging in vivo. Two primary research directions designed to overcome these limitations and improve diagnostic capability are presented. Ideal confocal imaging performance is obtained with a scanning point illumination and confocal aperture, but this approach is often unsuitable for real-time, in vivo biomedical imaging. By scanning a slit aperture in one direction, image acquisition speeds are greatly increased, but at the cost of a reduction in image quality. The design, implementation, and experimental verification of a custom multi-point-scanning modification to a slit-scanning multi-spectral confocal microendoscope is presented. This new design improves the axial resolution while maintaining real-time imaging rates. In addition, the multi-point aperture geometry greatly reduces the effects of tissue scatter on imaging performance. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has seen wide acceptance and FDA approval as a technique for ophthalmic retinal imaging, and has been adapted for endoscopic use. As a minimally invasive imaging technique, it provides morphological characteristics of tissues at a cellular level without requiring the use of exogenous fluorophores. OCT is capable of imaging deeper into biological tissue (˜1-2 mm) than confocal fluorescence microscopy. A theoretical analysis of the use of a fiber-bundle in spectral-domain OCT systems is presented. The fiber-bundle enables a flexible endoscopic design and provides fast, parallelized acquisition of the optical coherence tomography data. However, the multi-mode characteristic of the fibers in the fiber-bundle affects the depth sensitivity of the imaging system. A description of light interference in a multi-mode fiber is presented along with numerical simulations and experimental studies to illustrate the theoretical analysis.

Compositional and sensory characteristics of three native sun-dried date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) varieties grown in Oman.

PubMed

Al-Farsi, Mohamed; Alasalvar, Cesarettin; Morris, Anne; Baron, Mark; Shahidi, Fereidoon

2005-09-21

Three native sun-dried date varieties grown in Oman, namely, Fard, Khasab, and Khalas, were examined for their proximate composition, sugars, dietary fiber, minerals, and organic acids as well as sensory characteristics. The study was conducted on sun-dried dates due to their higher consumption compared with fresh dates. All results are expressed as mean value +/- standard deveiation (n = 3) on a fresh weight basis except for sensory analysis. Date varieties were found to be low in fat and protein, but rich in sugars, dietary fiber, and minerals. They were found to be a good source of energy (278-301 kcal/100 g), due to the high sugar content. Total sugar content ranged from 56.1 to 62.2 g/100 g, being lowest in Khasab and highest in Khalas. Total dietary fiber content of dates varied from 6.26 to 8.44 g/100 g, of which 84-94% was insoluble fiber. Twelve minerals were studied in dates, among which the major minerals were potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. Date varieties were also found to be an excellent source of selenium (ranging from 0.36 to 0.53 mg/100 g). Six organic acids were positively identified, among which malic acid predominated in all varieties. Differences (p < 0.05) in the contents of dietary fiber, organic acids, and certain minerals were observed among the three date varieties examined. Descriptive sensory analysis showed that among the nine sensory attributes studied, only the attributes color and desirability were rated as being of significantly (p < 0.01) higher intensity in Fard than in Khasab, whereas flesh firmness was lower (p < 0.01). Thus, these results suggest that although all three dates serve as a good source of vital nutrients, the Khalas variety, which is considered as premium quality, had significantly higher contents of sugar and selenium and a significantly higher energy value than the other varieties studied.

Treatment of diverticular disease of the colon and prevention of acute diverticulitis: a systematic review.

PubMed

Maconi, Giovanni; Barbara, Giovanni; Bosetti, Cristina; Cuomo, Rosario; Annibale, Bruno

2011-10-01

Diverticular disease of the colon is a common disorder, characterized by recurrent symptoms and complications such as diverticulitis, requiring hospital admissions and surgery. This study aimed to systematically review the evidence for medical therapy of diverticular disease in reducing symptoms and preventing acute diverticulitis. MEDLINE and Embase databases (1966 to February 2010). The studies selected were prospective clinical trials on uncomplicated diverticular disease of the colon. Four investigators independently reviewed articles, extracted data, and assessed study quality according to standardized criteria. The main outcomes measured were improvement in symptoms, complete remission of symptoms, and prevention of acute diverticulitis. We identified 31 studies, including 6 placebo-controlled trials. The methodological quality of these studies was suboptimal. Only 10 trials provided a detailed description of the patient history, 8 assessed symptoms by the use of a validated questionnaire, and 14 appropriately defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Only one long-term double-blind placebo-controlled study was identified. This reported a significant improvement in symptoms and greater prevalence of symptom-free patients at 1 year with fiber plus rifaximin in comparison with fiber alone. The efficacy of treatment in preventing acute diverticulitis was evaluated in 11 randomized trials. Four trials compared rifaximin plus fiber vs fiber alone and failed to show a significant difference between treatments. However, cumulative data from these trials revealed a significant benefit following rifaximin and fiber (1-year rate of acute diverticulitis: 11/970 (1.1%) vs 20/690 (2.9%); P = .012), but with a number needed to treat of 57, to prevent an attack of acute diverticulitis. : Heterogeneity of the study design, patients' characteristics, regimens and combination of studied treatment, and outcome reporting precluded the pooling of results and limited interpretation. The treatment for diverticular disease relies mainly on data from uncontrolled studies. Treatment showed some evidence of improvement in symptoms, but its role in the prevention of acute diverticulitis remains to be defined.

Relationship between pectoralis major muscle histology and quality traits of chicken meat.

PubMed

Mazzoni, M; Petracci, M; Meluzzi, A; Cavani, C; Clavenzani, P; Sirri, F

2015-01-01

A trial was conducted to evaluate the influence of myodegeneration of pectoralis major muscle on quality traits and chemical composition of breast meat of heavy-size male broilers. For this purpose, a total of 72 pectoralis major muscles were randomly collected from broilers farmed under homogeneous conditions and graded into three categories (mild, n=22; moderate, n=33; and severe, n=17) based on the presence of abnormal fibers (giant fibers, fibers with hyaline degeneration, and damaged and/or necrotic fibers) evaluated by histological and immunohistochemical analysis. Color, pH, drip loss, Allo-Kramer shear values, and chemical composition (moisture, proteins, total lipids, ashes, and collagen) were determined on nonmarinated breast meat. Purge loss and cook loss, total yield, and Allo-Kramer shear values were measured on vacuum-tumbled samples. Samples showing moderate myodegeneration had the highest mean cross-sectional area of the fibers, while samples with severe myodegeneration had myofibers of different diameter and without the characteristic polygonal shape, multifocal degeneration and necrosis, as well as infiltration of CD3-immunoreactive cells. Cooking losses of nonmarinated meat were lower in the mild group with respect to moderate and severe groups (21.4 vs. 24.7 and 24.7%; P<0.001). Breast muscles with severe damage, in comparison with mild degenerated samples, showed higher moisture (75.4 vs. 74.4%; P<0.05) and lower protein percentages (21.1 vs. 22.6%; P<0.001). The lipid percentage of severely degenerated samples was higher than that from moderate group (2.94 vs. 2.36; P<0.05), while collagen content was not modified by histological lesion levels. Marinated meat from the mild group had higher uptake and total marinade yield after cooking. In conclusion, almost all breast fillets of heavy broiler chickens produced under intensive farming systems had histological lesions, which reflected on the chemical composition of the meat and the impaired water holding/binding capacities of the meat. © 2015 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Effect of Waterlogging on Carbohydrate Metabolism and the Quality of Fiber in Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

PubMed Central

Kuai, Jie; Chen, Yinglong; Wang, Youhua; Meng, Yali; Chen, Binglin; Zhao, Wenqing; Zhou, Zhiguo

2016-01-01

Transient waterlogging occurs frequently in the Yangtze River and adversely affects cotton fiber quality. However, the carbohydrate metabolic mechanism that affects fiber quality after waterlogging remains undescribed. Here, the effects of five waterlogging levels (0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 days) were assessed during flowering and boll formation to characterize the carbohydrates, enzymes and genes that affect the fiber quality of cotton after waterlogging. The cellulose and sucrose contents of cotton fibers were significantly decreased after waterlogging for 6 (WL6), 9 (WL9), and 12 d (WL12), although these properties were unaffected after 3 (WL3) and 6 days at the fruiting branch 14–15 (FB14–15). Sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) was the most sensitive to waterlogging among the enzymes tested. SPS activity was decreased by waterlogging at FB6–7, whereas it was significantly enhanced under WL3–6 at FB10–15. Waterlogging down-regulated the expression of fiber invertase at 10 days post anthesis (DPA), whereas that of expansin, β-1,4-glucanase and endoxyloglucan transferase (XET) was up-regulated with increasing waterlogging time. Increased mRNA levels and activities of fiber SuSy at each fruiting branch indicated that SuSy was the main enzyme responsible for sucrose degradation because it was markedly induced by waterlogging and was active even when waterlogging was discontinued. We therefore concluded that the reduction in fiber sucrose and down-regulation of invertase at 10 DPA led to a markedly shorter fiber length under conditions WL6–12. Significantly decreased fiber strength at FB6–11 for WL6–12 was the result of the inhibition of cellulose synthesis and the up-regulation of expansin, β-1,4-glucanase and XET, whereas fiber strength increased under WL3–6 at FB14–15 due to the increased cellulose content of the fibers. Most of the indictors tested revealed that WL6 resulted in the best compensatory performance, whereas exposure to waterlogged conditions for more than 6 days led to an irreversible limitation in fiber development. PMID:27446110

New definitions for cotton fiber maturity ratio

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton fiber maturity affects fiber physical, mechanical, and chemical properties, as well as the processability and qualities of yarn and fabrics. New definitions of cotton fiber maturity ratio are introduced. The influences of sampling, sample preparation, measurement method, and correlations am...

"allometry" Deterministic Approaches in Cell Size, Cell Number and Crude Fiber Content Related to the Physical Quality of Kangkong (Ipomoea reptans) Grown Under Different Plant Density Pressures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Selamat, A.; Atiman, S. A.; Puteh, A.; Abdullah, N. A. P.; Mohamed, M. T. M.; Zulkeefli, A. A.; Othman, S.

Kangkong, especially the upland type (Ipomoea reptans) is popularly consumed as a vegetable dish in the South East Asian countries for its quality related to Vitamins (A and C) and crude fiber contents. Higher fiber contents would prevent from the occurrence of colon cancer and diverticular disease. With young stem edible portion, its cell number and size contribute to the stem crude fiber content. The mathematical approach of allometry of cell size, number, and fiber content of stem could be used in determining the 'best' plant density pressure in producing the quality young stem to be consumed. Basically, allometry is the ratio of relative increment (growth or change) rates of two parameters, or the change rate associated to the log of measured variables relationship. Kangkog grown equal or lower than 55 plants m-2 produced bigger individual plant and good quality (physical) kangkong leafy vegetable, but with lower total yield per unit area as compared to those grown at higher densities.

Development and evaluation of optical fiber NH3 sensors for application in air quality monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Yu; Wieck, Lucas; Tao, Shiquan

2013-02-01

Ammonia is a major air pollutant emitted from agricultural practices. Sources of ammonia include manure from animal feeding operations and fertilizer from cropping systems. Sensor technologies with capability of continuous real time monitoring of ammonia concentration in air are needed to qualify ammonia emissions from agricultural activities and further evaluate human and animal health effects, study ammonia environmental chemistry, and provide baseline data for air quality standard. We have developed fiber optic ammonia sensors using different sensing reagents and different polymers for immobilizing sensing reagents. The reversible fiber optic sensors have detection limits down to low ppbv levels. The response time of these sensors ranges from seconds to tens minutes depending on transducer design. In this paper, we report our results in the development and evaluation of fiber optic sensor technologies for air quality monitoring. The effect of change of temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide concentration on fiber optic ammonia sensors has been investigated. Carbon dioxide in air was found not interfere the fiber optic sensors for monitoring NH3. However, the change of humidity can cause interferences to some fiber optic NH3 sensors depending on the sensor's transducer design. The sensitivity of fiber optic NH3 sensors was found depends on temperature. Methods and techniques for eliminating these interferences have been proposed.

Single-mode annular chirally-coupled core fibers for fiber lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Haitao; Hao, He; He, Linlu; Gong, Mali

2018-03-01

Chirally-coupled core (CCC) fiber can transmit single fundamental mode and effectively suppresses higher-order mode (HOM) propagation, thus improve the beam quality. However, the manufacture of CCC fiber is complicated due to its small side core. To decrease the manufacture difficulty in China, a novel fiber structure is presented, defined as annular chirally-coupled core (ACCC) fiber, replacing the small side core by a larger side annulus. In this paper, we designed the fiber parameters of this new structure, and demonstrated that the new structure has a similar property of single mode with traditional CCC fiber. Helical coordinate system was introduced into the finite element method (FEM) to analyze the mode field in the fiber, and the beam propagation method (BPM) was employed to analyze the influence of the fiber parameters on the mode loss. Based on the result above, the fiber structure was optimized for efficient single-mode transmission, in which the core diameter is 35 μm with beam quality M2 value of 1.04 and an optical to optical conversion efficiency of 84%. In this fiber, fundamental mode propagates in an acceptable loss, while the HOMs decay rapidly.

The phosphatidylinositol synthase gene (GhPIS) contributes to longer, stronger, and finer fibers in cotton.

PubMed

Long, Qin; Yue, Fang; Liu, Ruochen; Song, Shuiqing; Li, Xianbi; Ding, Bo; Yan, Xingying; Pei, Yan

2018-05-11

Cotton fibers are the most important natural raw material used in textile industries world-wide. Fiber length, strength, and fineness are the three major traits which determine the quality and economic value of cotton. It is known that exogenous application of phosphatidylinositols (PtdIns), important structural phospholipids, can promote cotton fiber elongation. Here, we sought to increase the in planta production of PtdIns to improve fiber traits. Transgenic cotton plants were generated in which the expression of a cotton phosphatidylinositol synthase gene (i.e., GhPIS) was controlled by the fiber-specific SCFP promoter element, resulting in the specific up-regulation of GhPIS during cotton fiber development. We demonstrate that PtdIns content was significantly enhanced in transgenic cotton fibers and the elevated level of PtdIns stimulated the expression of genes involved in PtdIns phosphorylation as well as promoting lignin/lignin-like phenolic biosynthesis. Fiber length, strength and fineness were also improved in the transgenic plants as compared to the wild-type cotton, with no loss in overall fiber yield. Our data indicate that fiber-specific up-regulation of PtdIns synthesis is a promising strategy for cotton fiber quality improvement.

Evaluation of Contemporary Holmium Laser Fibers for Performance Characteristics.

PubMed

Lusch, Achim; Heidari, Emon; Okhunov, Zhamshid; Osann, Kathryn; Landman, Jaime

2016-05-01

Several holmium:YAG laser fibers for urologic applications are currently commercially available. We compared contemporary holmium laser fibers with different core sizes for performance characteristics, including energy transmission, fiber failure, fiber flexibility, and core diameter. Single-use fibers from Cook, Boston Scientific, and Storz were tested in small (200 and 272/273 μm), medium (365 μm), and large (550 and 940/1000 μm) core sizes. Fibers were tested in straight and deflected configurations. All fibers were evaluated for flexibility, true fiber diameter, energy transmission, and fiber failure. For energy transmission, fibers were tested at a pulse energy of 1 J and a frequency of 10 Hz for 30 seconds. All tests were performed on a 30 W holmium laser. For the small core fibers, Storz, Cook OptiLite, and Smart Sync had the smallest core diameter (p < 0.005). In the large core group, Cook OptiLite and Boston Scientific AccuMax showed the smallest diameter. Among the small core fibers, Storz and Cook Smart Sync showed a significant higher deflection, whereas in the 550 μm group, Boston Scientific AccuMax and Cook Smart Sync were the most flexible fibers. In the large and medium core groups, Boston Scientific AccuMax showed superior energy transmission (p = 0.007 and p = 0.001, respectively), whereas in the small core group, there was no significant difference between the fibers, except for 272/3 μm (Storz was inferior compared with the competitors [p < 0.0005]). For fiber failure, Storz, Cook OptiLite, and BS AccuTrac completed all testing without failing (200 μm, bending radius <0.5 cm). In the 365 μm group, Cook OptiLite showed superior results, whereas in the large core group, Boston Scientific AccuMax was superior. Performance characteristics differ significantly between different laser fiber diameters and manufacturers, and fiber choice should depend on specific surgical requirements. There is a trend for less fiber fracture at long pulse, high energy, and low frequency, but this finding will require further investigation.

The effects of fruiting positions on cellulose synthesis and sucrose metabolism during cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fiber development.

PubMed

Ma, Yina; Wang, Youhua; Liu, Jingran; Lv, Fengjuan; Chen, Ji; Zhou, Zhiguo

2014-01-01

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) boll positions on a fruiting branch vary in their contribution to yield and fiber quality. Fiber properties are dependent on deposition of cellulose in the fiber cell wall, but information about the enzymatic differences in sucrose metabolism between these fruiting positions is lacking. Therefore, two cotton cultivars with different sensitivities to low temperature were tested in 2010 and 2011 to quantify the effect of fruit positions (FPs) on fiber quality in relation to sucrose content, enzymatic activities and sucrose metabolism. The indices including sucrose content, sucrose transformation rate, cellulose content, and the activities of the key enzymes, sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS), acid invertase (AI) and sucrose synthase (SuSy) which inhibit cellulose synthesis and eventually affect fiber quality traits in cotton fiber, were determined. Results showed that as compared with those of FP1, cellulose content, sucrose content, and sucrose transformation rate of FP3 were all decreased, and the variations of cellulose content and sucrose transformation rate caused by FPs in Sumian 15 were larger than those in Kemian 1. Under FP effect, activities of SPS and AI in sucrose regulation were decreased, while SuSy activity in sucrose degradation was increased. The changes in activities of SuSy and SPS in response to FP effect displayed different and large change ranges between the two cultivars. These results indicate that restrained cellulose synthesis and sucrose metabolism in distal FPs are mainly attributed to the changes in the activities of these enzymes. The difference in fiber quality, cellulose synthesis and sucrose metabolism in response to FPs in fiber cells for the two cotton cultivars was mainly determined by the activities of both SuSy and SPS.

Fiber Length Measurement In Pulp And Paper Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piirainen, Raili A.

1986-10-01

For the pulp and paper maker, product quality and production costs are the major factors that determine profitability. Quality has to be high enough to satisfy the customer and costs low enough to maintain competitiveness. Accurate and readily available fiber length information is fast becoming one of the most important control factors to achieve these targets. Measurement of fiber length has been difficult and time consuming in the past --- appli-cation to production almost impossible due to the historical nature of the data. The Kajaani fiber length analyzer has revolutionized fiber length analysis. Even more accurate than the microscopic method and infinitely faster than mechanical classifiers, such as Bauer McNett or Clark classifiers, the Kajaani analyzer opens new horizons for the paper maker. The Kajaani method is an optical method and is based on the ability of fibers to change the direction of light polarization. With no critical sample preparation, the results are ready in a few minutes. During this time, the analyzer counts and measures over 3000 individual fibers. Results are printed out either in graphic or numerical form. Some of the typical applications of the Kajaani fiber length analyzer are to determine hardwood/softwood ratios in pulp and paper mills both in brownstock and stock preparation areas, to predict strength properties of mechanical pulp based on the fiber length information, to measure the coarseness of the fibers, to evaluate screening and refining processes and to check the quality of purchased pulp.

Research on influence of different cover to the characteristic of FBG reflectance spectrum in vacuum thermal environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pei, Yifei; Zhang, Jingchuan; Zhang, Luosha; Liu, Yang; Zhang, Lina; Chen, Shiyu

2018-01-01

To satisfy the application of fiber grating sensor technology in high vacuum thermal environment, two different kinds of sleeve compactly single model fiber covered by acrylate and polyimide are researched. Influence of the cover to the characteristic of FBG reflectance spectrum in high vacuum thermal environment is analyzed and verified. First, transmission characteristic of single model fiber in high vacuum thermal environment is analyzed by solve the equation of heat conduction. Then, experimental program of influence on FBG reflection spectrum characteristics is designed and a hardware-in-the-loop detection platform is set up. Finally, the influence of temperature and vacuum on the reflection peak power of FBG in different coating single-mode transmission fiber under high vacuum thermal environment is studied and verified. Experimental results indicate that: when vacuum varied from normal pressure to 10-4Pa level and then return to normal pressure, temperature of two different coating single-mode transmission fiber dropped to -196 ° from room temperature and then returned to room temperature, after 224 hours, the peak power of the FBG reflectance spectrum did not change. It provided the theoretical and experimental basis for the application of optical fiber sensing technology in high vacuum (pressure about 10-4Pa level) and thermal environment (-196 ° 25 ° temperature cycle) .

Structural analysis of Gossypium hirsutum fibers grown under greenhouse and hydroponic conditions.

PubMed

Natalio, Filipe; Tahir, Muhammad Nawaz; Friedrich, Norman; Köck, Margret; Fritz-Popovski, Gerhard; Paris, Oskar; Paschke, Reinhard

2016-06-01

Cotton is the one of the world's most important crops. Like any other crop, cotton growth/development and fiber quality is highly dependent on environmental factors. Increasing global weather instability has been negatively impacting its economy. Cotton is a crop that exerts an intensive pressure over natural resources (land and water) and demands an overuse of pesticides. Thus, the search for alternative cotton culture methods that are pesticide-free (biocotton) and enable customized standard fiber quality should be encouraged. Here we describe a culture of Gossypium hirsutum ("Upland" Cotton) utilizing a greenhouse and hydroponics in which the fibers are morphological similar to conventional cultures and structurally fit into the classical two-phase cellulose I model with 4.19nm crystalline domains surrounded by amorphous regions. These fibers exhibit a single crystalline form of cellulose I-Iß, monoclinic unit cell. Fiber quality bulk analysis shows an improved length, strength, whiteness when compared with soil-based cultures. Finally, we show that our fibers can be spun, used for production of non-woven fabrics and indigo-vat stained demonstrating its potential in industrial and commercial applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Low-latency fiber-millimeter-wave system for future mobile fronthauling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tien Dat, Pham; Kanno, Atsushi; Yamamoto, Naokatsu; Kawanishi, Tetsuya

2016-02-01

A seamless combination of fiber and millimeter-wave (MMW) systems can be very attractive for future heterogeneous mobile networks such as 5G because of its flexibility and high bandwidth. Analog mobile signal transmission over seamless fiber-MMW systems is very promising to reduce the latency and the required band-width, and to simplify the systems. However, stable and high-performance seamless systems are indispensable to conserve the quality of the analog signal transmission. In this paper, we present several technologies to develop such seamless fiber-MMW systems. In the downlink direction, a high-performance system can be realized using a high-quality optical MMW signal generator and a self-homodyne MMW signal detector. In the uplink direction, a cascade of radio-on-radio and radio-over-fiber systems using a burst-mode optical amplifier can support bursty radio signal transmission. A full-duplex transmission with negligible interference effects can be realized using frequency multiplexing in the radio link and wavelength-division multiplexing in the optical link. A high-spectral efficiency MMW-over-fiber system using an intermediate frequency-over-fiber system and a high-quality remote delivery of a local oscillator signal is highly desirable to reduce the costs.

Formation of boron nitride coatings on silicon carbide fibers using trimethylborate vapor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Mengjiao; Zhou, Tong; He, Jing; Chen, Lifu

2016-09-01

High quality boron nitride (BN) coatings have been grown on silicon carbide (SiC) fibers by carbothermal nitridation and at atmospheric pressure. SiC fibers were first treated in chlorine gas to form CDC (carbide-derived carbon) film on the fiber surface. The CDC-coated SiC fibers were then reacted with trimethylborate vapor and ammonia vapor at high temperature, forming BN coatings by carbothermal reduction. The FT-IR, XPS, XRD, SEM, TEM and AES were used to investigate the formation of the obtained coatings. It has been found that the obtained coatings are composed of phase mixture of h-BN and amorphous carbon, very uniform in thickness, have smooth surface and adhere well with the SiC fiber substrates. The BN-coated SiC fibers retain ∼80% strength of the as-received SiC fibers and show an obvious interfacial debonding and fiber pullout in the SiCf/SiOC composites. This method may be useful for the large scale production of high quality BN coating on silicon carbide fiber.

Identification of dangerous fibers: some examples in Northern Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zanetti, Giovanna; Marini, Paola; Giorgis, Ilaria

2016-04-01

The presence of asbestiform minerals has to be foreseen in the planning of infrastructural activities: Asbestos can be a component of sedimentary rocks or of mafic and ultra mafic metamorphic rocks. Surveys and core drilling, in addition to providing important information on the quality of the rock and its geotechnical characteristics, allow for a prediction of the presence of asbestiform minerals in the areas affected by mining or infrastructural activities. During the excavation, workers can be exposed to the asbestos risk, therefore, the control of the air quality and of the excavated materials are fundamental for the safety of involved people. In this work some problems we met in the analysis of airborne filters and bulk samples from sites in northern Italy are presented. The asbestos fibers present in rocks as accessory minerals, are often different in habit and dimension from the well-known asbestos fibers used as industrial minerals and moreover can be erroneously identified as minerals morphologically and chemically similar present in the same rock or environment. In the case of tunnel muck it could be contaminated by substances used for the excavation that could modify colours and optical properties of asbestos minerals. In the PCOM (Phase Contrast Optical Microscope) analysis chrysotile, sepiolite and antigorite, due to their different refraction index, when the fibers have dimension > 0,5 micron and aren't contaminated by lubricant can be easely identified even if the morphology of chrysotile is very similar to that of sepiolite. In Electron Scanning Microscope (SEM) the discrimination between chrysotile and antigorite on the airborne filters is not always possible because the fibers of thin dimensions show similar habit and spectrum. In the case of the tremolite amphibole, morphology changes from prismatic to fibrous depending on its origin (p.eg. Monastero, Val Grana, Verrayes, Brachiello). Both prismatic and asbestiform tremolite (Gamble and Gibbs, 2007; Addison and McConnel, 2007) may show inhalable elements with width less than 3 micron, length more than 5 micron and width length ratio 1:3, whose dangerousness (fiber coming from fibrous tremolite or the cleavage fragments coming from prismatic tremolite) could be different and it is object of epidemiologic studies.

Polishing parameter optimization for end-surface of chalcogenide glass fiber connector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Fangxia; Dai, Shixun; Tang, Junzhou; Wang, Xunsi; Li, Xing; Xu, Yinsheng; Wu, Yuehao; Liu, Zijun

2017-11-01

We have investigated the optimization parameters for polishing end-surface of chalcogenide glass fiber connector in the paper. Six SiC abrasive particles of different sizes were used to polish the fiber in order of size from large to small. We analyzed the effects of polishing parameters such as particle sizes, grinding speeds and polishing durations on the quality of the fiber end surface and determined the optimized polishing parameters. We found that, high-quality fiber end surface can be achieved using only three different SiC abrasives. The surface roughness of the final ChG fiber end surface is about 48 nm without any scratches, spots and cracks. Such polishing processes could reduce the average insertion loss of the connector to about 3.4 dB.

Photonic Crystal Fibers

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-12-01

passive and active versions of each fiber designed under this task. Crystal Fibre shall provide characteristics of the fiber fabricated to include core...passive version of multicore fiber iteration 2. 15. SUBJECT TERMS EOARD, Laser physics, Fibre Lasers, Photonic Crystal, Multicore, Fiber Laser 16...9 00* 0 " CRYSTAL FIBRE INT ODUCTION This report describes the photonic crystal fibers developed under agreement No FA8655-o5-a- 3046. All

Characteristics of a liquid-crystal-filled composite lattice terahertz bandgap fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Jinjun; Ge, Meilan; Wang, Shasha; Yang, Yanan; Li, Yong; Chang, Shengjiang

2018-07-01

A new type of terahertz fiber is presented based on composite lattice photonic crystal bandgap. The cladding is filled selectively with the nematic liquid crystal 5CB which is sensitive to the electric field. The terahertz wave can be modulated by using the electric field to control the orientation of liquid crystal molecules. The plane wave expansion method and the finite element method are employed to theoretically analyze bandgap characteristics, polarization characteristics, energy fraction and material absorption loss. The results show that this fiber structure can be used as tunable terahertz polarization controller.

Morphology of pulp fiber from hardwoods and influence on paper strength

Treesearch

Richard A. Horn

1978-01-01

The results of this investigation showed that physical properties of sheets made from hardwood fiber are very dependent upon fiber morphology. Chemical variation of pulp fibers did not exhibit an influence on sheet strength. Of the morphological characteristics investigated, those contributing the most were fiber length, L/T ratio, and fibril angle. Hardwood fines (...

Femtosecond-pulse inscription of fiber Bragg gratings with single or multiple phase-shifts in the structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolf, Alexey; Dostovalov, Alexandr; Skvortsov, Mikhail; Raspopin, Kirill; Parygin, Alexandr; Babin, Sergey

2018-05-01

In this work, long high-quality fiber Bragg gratings with phase shifts in the structure are inscribed directly in the optical fiber by point-by-point technique using femtosecond laser pulses. Phase shifts are introduced during the inscription process with a piezoelectric actuator, which rapidly shifts the fiber along the direction of its movement in a chosen point of the grating with a chosen shift value. As examples, single and double π phase shifts are introduced in fiber Bragg gratings with a length up to 34 mm in passive fibers, which provide corresponding transmission peaks with bandwidth less than 1 pm. It is shown that 37 mm π -phase-shifted grating inscribed in an active Er-doped fiber forms high-quality DFB laser cavity generating single-frequency radiation at 1550 nm with bandwidth of 20 kHz and signal-to-noise ratio of >70 dB. The inscription technique has a high degree of performance and flexibility and can be easily implemented in fibers of various types.

Cotton fiber quality characterization with light scattering and fourier transform infrared techniques.

PubMed

Thomasson, J A; Manickavasagam, S; Mengüç, M P

2009-03-01

Fiber quality measurement is critical to assessing the value of a bale of cotton for various textile purposes. An instrument that could measure numerous cotton quality properties by optical means could be made simpler and faster than current fiber quality measurement instruments, and it might be more amenable to on-line measurement at processing facilities. To that end, a laser system was used to investigate cotton fiber samples with respect to electromagnetic scattering at various wavelengths, polarization angles, and scattering angles. A Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) instrument was also used to investigate the transmission of electromagnetic energy at various mid-infrared wavelengths. Cotton samples were selected to represent a wide range of micronaire values. Varying the wavelength of the laser at a fixed polarization resulted in little variation in scattered light among the cotton samples. However, varying the polarization at a fixed wavelength produced notable variation, indicating that polarization might be used to differentiate among cotton samples with respect to certain fiber properties. The FT-IR data in the 12 to 22 microm range produced relatively large differences in the amount of scattered light among all samples, and FT-IR data at certain combinations of fixed wavelengths were highly linearly related to certain measures of cotton quality including micronaire.

Plug Repairs of Marine Glass Fiber / Vinyl Ester Laminates Subjected to Uniaxial Tension

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

Material characteristics of glass fiber / vinyl ester composites used in naval surface ships 1.1.1.2 Construction of surface ship hulls with FRP...Piping - Ventilation ducts - Deck gratings 1.1.1.1 Material characteristics of glass fiber / vinyl ester composites used in naval surface ships The...that polysester-based composites do [15, 24]. Typical processing methods for vinyl ester composites are hand lay-up, Resin Transfer Molding (RTM

Genetic and transcriptomic dissection of the fiber length trait using a cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) MAGIC population.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton fiber length is a key determinant of fiber quality for the textile industry. Improving cotton fiber length without reducing yield is one of the major goals for cotton breeding. However, genetic improvement of cotton fiber length by breeding has been a challenge due to narrow genetic diversit...

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT SYMPOSIUM: Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase and mitochondria in Rendement Napole pig growth.

PubMed

Scheffler, T L; Gerrard, D E

2016-09-01

The Rendement Napole mutation (RN-), which is well known to influence pork quality, also has a profound impact on metabolic characteristics of muscle. Pigs with RN- possess a SNP in the γ3 subunit of adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK); AMPK, a key energy sensor in skeletal muscle, modulates energy producing and energy consuming pathways to maintain cellular homeostasis. Importantly, AMPK regulates not only acute response to energy stress but also facilitates long-term adaptation via changes in gene and protein expression. The RN- allele increases AMPK activity, which alters the metabolic phenotype of skeletal muscle by increasing mitochondrial content and oxidative capacity. Fibers with greater oxidative capacity typically exhibit increased protein turnover and smaller fiber size, which indicates that RN- pigs may exhibit decreased efficiency and growth potential. However, whole body and muscle growth of RN- pigs appear similar to that of wild-type pigs and despite increased oxidative capacity, fibers maintain the capacity for hypertrophic growth. This indicates that compensatory mechanisms may allow RN- pigs to achieve rates of muscle growth similar to those of wild-type pigs. Intriguingly, lipid oxidation and mitochondria function are enhanced in RN- pig muscle. Thus far, characteristics of RN- muscle are largely based on animals near market weight. To better understand interaction between energy signaling and protein accretion in muscle, further work is needed to define age-dependent relationships between AMPK signaling, metabolism, and muscle growth.

Development of a Human Brain Diffusion Tensor Template

PubMed Central

Peng, Huiling; Orlichenko, Anton; Dawe, Robert J.; Agam, Gady; Zhang, Shengwei; Arfanakis, Konstantinos

2009-01-01

The development of a brain template for diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is crucial for comparisons of neuronal structural integrity and brain connectivity across populations, as well as for the development of a white matter atlas. Previous efforts to produce a DTI brain template have been compromised by factors related to image quality, the effectiveness of the image registration approach, the appropriateness of subject inclusion criteria, the completeness and accuracy of the information summarized in the final template. The purpose of this work was to develop a DTI human brain template using techniques that address the shortcomings of previous efforts. Therefore, data containing minimal artifacts were first obtained on 67 healthy human subjects selected from an age-group with relatively similar diffusion characteristics (20–40 years of age), using an appropriate DTI acquisition protocol. Non-linear image registration based on mean diffusion-weighted and fractional anisotropy images was employed. DTI brain templates containing median and mean tensors were produced in ICBM-152 space and made publicly available. The resulting set of DTI templates is characterized by higher image sharpness, provides the ability to distinguish smaller white matter fiber structures, contains fewer image artifacts, than previously developed templates, and to our knowledge, is one of only two templates produced based on a relatively large number of subjects. Furthermore, median tensors were shown to better preserve the diffusion characteristics at the group level than mean tensors. Finally, white matter fiber tractography was applied on the template and several fiber-bundles were traced. PMID:19341801

[Determination of flavor compounds in foxtail millet wine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry coupled with headspace solid phase microextraction].

PubMed

Liu, Jingke; Zhang, Aixia; Li, Shaohui; Zhao, Wei; Zhang, Yuzong; Xing, Guosheng

2017-11-08

To comprehensively understand flavor compounds and aroma characteristics of foxtail millet wine, extraction conditions were optimized with 85 μm polyacrylate (PA), 100 μm polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), 75 μm carboxen (CAR)/PDMS and 50/30 μm divinylbenzene (DVB)/CAR/PDMS fibers. The flavor compounds in foxtail millet wine were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) coupled with headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME), and the odor characteristics and intensity were analyzed by odor active values (OAVs). The samples of 8 mL were placed in headspace vials with 1.5 g NaCl, then the headspace vials were heated at 60℃ for 40 min. Using HS-SPME with different fibers, a total of 55 flavor compounds were identified from the samples, including alcohols, esters, benzene derivatives, hydrocarbons, acids, aldehydes, ketones, terpenes, phenols and heterocycle compounds. The main flavor compounds were alcohols compounds. According to their OAVs, phenylethyl alcohol, styrene, 1-methyl-naphthalene, 2-methyl-naphthalene, benzaldehyde, benzeneacetaldehyde and 2-methoxy-phenol were established to be odor-active compounds. Phenylethyl alcohol and benzeneacetaldehyde were the most prominent odor-active compounds. PA and PDMS fibers had good extraction effect for polar and nonpolar compounds, respectively. CAR/PDMS and DVB/CAR/PDMS provided a similar compounds profile for moderate polar compounds. This research comprehensively determined flavor compounds of foxtail millet wine, and provided theoretical basis for product development and quality control.

Development of a human brain diffusion tensor template.

PubMed

Peng, Huiling; Orlichenko, Anton; Dawe, Robert J; Agam, Gady; Zhang, Shengwei; Arfanakis, Konstantinos

2009-07-15

The development of a brain template for diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is crucial for comparisons of neuronal structural integrity and brain connectivity across populations, as well as for the development of a white matter atlas. Previous efforts to produce a DTI brain template have been compromised by factors related to image quality, the effectiveness of the image registration approach, the appropriateness of subject inclusion criteria, and the completeness and accuracy of the information summarized in the final template. The purpose of this work was to develop a DTI human brain template using techniques that address the shortcomings of previous efforts. Therefore, data containing minimal artifacts were first obtained on 67 healthy human subjects selected from an age-group with relatively similar diffusion characteristics (20-40 years of age), using an appropriate DTI acquisition protocol. Non-linear image registration based on mean diffusion-weighted and fractional anisotropy images was employed. DTI brain templates containing median and mean tensors were produced in ICBM-152 space and made publicly available. The resulting set of DTI templates is characterized by higher image sharpness, provides the ability to distinguish smaller white matter fiber structures, contains fewer image artifacts, than previously developed templates, and to our knowledge, is one of only two templates produced based on a relatively large number of subjects. Furthermore, median tensors were shown to better preserve the diffusion characteristics at the group level than mean tensors. Finally, white matter fiber tractography was applied on the template and several fiber-bundles were traced.

Oxidation of carbon fiber surfaces for use as reinforcement in high-temperature cementitious material systems

DOEpatents

Sugama, Toshifumi

1990-01-01

The interfacial bond characteristics between carbon fiber and a cement matrix, in high temperature fiber-reinforced cementitious composite systems, can be improved by the oxidative treatment of the fiber surfaces. Compositions and the process for producing the compositions are disclosed.

Burning characteristics and fiber retention of graphite/resin matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowles, K. J.

1980-01-01

Graphite fiber reinforced resin matrix composites were subjected to controlled burning conditions to determine their burning characteristics and fiber retention properties. Two types of burning equipment were used. Small samples were burned with a natural gas fired torch to study the effects of fiber orientation and structural flaws such as holes and slits that were machined into the laminates. Larger laminate samples were burned in a Heat Release Rate Calorimeter. Unidirectional epoxy/graphite and polyimide/graphite composites and boron powder filled samples of each of the two composite systems were burn tested and exposed to a thermal radiation. The effects of fiber orientation, flaws, and boron filler additives to the resins were evaluated. A high char forming polyimide resin was no more effective in retaining graphite fibers than a low char forming epoxy resin when burning in air.

Protein Supplementation Does Not Further Increase Latissimus Dorsi Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy after Eight Weeks of Resistance Training in Novice Subjects, but Partially Counteracts the Fast-to-Slow Muscle Fiber Transition.

PubMed

Paoli, Antonio; Pacelli, Quirico F; Cancellara, Pasqua; Toniolo, Luana; Moro, Tatiana; Canato, Marta; Miotti, Danilo; Neri, Marco; Morra, Aldo; Quadrelli, Marco; Reggiani, Carlo

2016-06-01

The response to resistance training and protein supplementation in the latissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) has never been investigated. We investigated the effects of resistance training (RT) and protein supplementation on muscle mass, strength, and fiber characteristics of the LDM. Eighteen healthy young subjects were randomly assigned to a progressive eight-week RT program with a normal protein diet (NP) or high protein diet (HP) (NP 0.85 vs. HP 1.8 g of protein·kg(-1)·day(-1)). One repetition maximum tests, magnetic resonance imaging for cross-sectional muscle area (CSA), body composition, and single muscle fibers mechanical and phenotype characteristics were measured. RT induced a significant gain in strength (+17%, p < 0.0001), whole muscle CSA (p = 0.024), and single muscle fibers CSA (p < 0.05) of LDM in all subjects. Fiber isometric force increased in proportion to CSA (+22%, p < 0.005) and thus no change in specific tension occurred. A significant transition from 2X to 2A myosin expression was induced by training. The protein supplementation showed no significant effects on all measured outcomes except for a smaller reduction of 2X myosin expression. Our results suggest that in LDM protein supplementation does not further enhance RT-induced muscle fiber hypertrophy nor influence mechanic muscle fiber characteristics but partially counteracts the fast-to-slow fiber shift.

Nutrients and certain lipid soluble bioactive components in dehusked whole grains (gota) and dehusked splits (dhal) from pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) and their cooking characteristics.

PubMed

Jayadeep, Padmanabhan A; Sashikala, Vadakkoot B; Pratape, Vishwas M

2009-01-01

The nutritional quality of dehusked whole grains (gota) and dehusked splits (dhal) in red and white varieties of pigeon pea regarding proximate composition and certain lipid-soluble bioactive components was investigated. A decrease in fat and crude fiber was noticed when gota was converted to dhal. The lipid profile of gota and dhal from red and white husk pigeon pea types indicated that essential fatty acids were greater in gota than in their respective dhals. Gota from white husk variety contained more tocopherols than the red variety. Dhal contained less tocopherols than gota. A decrease in the content of gamma and alpha tocopherols, vitamin E activity and total antioxidant activity also indicates loss of bioactive components on splitting gota into dhal. Cooking time and dispersed solids on cooking indicated good cooking quality of gotta. The results indicated the nutritional superiority of gota over dhal and its similarity with dhal in cooking characteristics.

Rheology, fatty acid profile and quality characteristics of nutrient enriched pizza base.

PubMed

Gupta, Chaitali Sen; Milind; Jeyarani, T; Rajiv, Jyotsna

2015-05-01

Enrichment of thick bread type pizza base (PZB) was done by substituting wheat flour (WF) with 5, 10 and 15 % soya protein isolate (SPI). The rheological characteristics of WF showed that water absorption increased, extensibility and peak viscosity decreased when level of SPI increased from 5 to 15 %. Baking studies showed that spread ratio decreased and hardness values of PZB increased with the increase in amount of SPI from 5 to15 %. Beyond 10 % SPI, the overall quality of PZB was adversely affected. To the optimal blend of 10 % SPI, 5 % psyllium husk (PH) was added and the hydrogenated fat was replaced by canola oil (CAN) in enriched PZB. The enriched PZB treated with combination of additives had 1.7 and 1.6 times more protein and dietary fiber than the control PZB. Fatty acid analysis showed that the enriched PZB had 58.65 % oleic, 6.58 % linolenic acid and 31.28 % polyunsaturated fatty acid and no Trans fat was present.

Zein/Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) electrospun blend fiber scaffolds: Preparation, characterization and cytocompatibility.

PubMed

Zhijiang, Cai; Qin, Zhang; Xianyou, Song; Yuanpei, Liu

2017-02-01

In the present work, a series of Zein/Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) blend fiber scaffolds have been prepared by electrospinning method. The electrospun fibers showed a circular and uniform morphology with random distribution. The blend fiber scaffolds possessed well interconnected porous fibrous network structure with high porosity and large aspect surface areas. The FTIR and XPS spectra of Zein/P(3HB-co-4HB) blend fibers demonstrated the same characteristics to that of pure Zein and P(3HB-co-4HB) electrospun fibers. However, Zein might hinder the crystallization of P(3HB-co-4HB) owing to the formation of weak intermolecular interactions, which can affect the preferential orientation of P(3HB-co-4HB) molecules. Only one glass transition temperature (Tg) can be detected for electrospun Zein/P(3HB-co-4HB) blend fiber scaffolds implying the miscibility of Zein and P(3HB-co-4HB) in the blend fibers. The Zein/P(3HB-co-4HB) blend fiber scaffolds showed about 50% of improvement in tensile strength and 400% of increase in elongation at break by increasing P(3HB-co-4HB) content from 20% to 80%. The cytocompatibility of the Zein/P(3HB-co-4HB) blend fiber scaffolds was preliminarily evaluated by cell culture in vitro. The as-prepared electrospun Zein/P(3HB-co-4HB) blend fiber scaffolds with the characteristics of good biocompatibility, excellent pore characteristic as well as sufficient mechanical properties should be more promising for applications as tissue engineering scaffold. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Harvester-based sensing system for cotton fiber-quality mapping

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Precision agriculture in cotton production attempts to maximize profitability by exploiting information on field spatial variability to optimize the fiber yield and quality. For precision agriculture to be economically viable, collection of spatial variability data within a field must be automated a...

The LED and fiber based calibration system for the photomultiplier array of SNO+

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seabra, L.; Alves, R.; Andringa, S.; Bradbury, S.; Carvalho, J.; Clark, K.; Coulter, I.; Descamps, F.; Falk, L.; Gurriana, L.; Kraus, C.; Lefeuvre, G.; Maio, A.; Maneira, J.; Mottram, M.; Peeters, S.; Rose, J.; Sinclair, J.; Skensved, P.; Waterfield, J.; White, R.; Wilson, J.; SNO+ Collaboration

2015-02-01

A new external LED/fiber light injection calibration system was designed for the calibration and monitoring of the photomultiplier array of the SNO+ experiment at SNOLAB. The goal of the calibration system is to allow an accurate and regular measurement of the photomultiplier array's performance, while minimizing the risk of radioactivity ingress. The choice in SNO+ was to use a set of optical fiber cables to convey into the detector the light pulses produced by external LEDs. The quality control was carried out using a modified test bench that was used in QC of optical fibers for TileCal/ATLAS. The optical fibers were characterized for transmission, timing and angular dispersions. This article describes the setups used for the characterization and quality control of the system based on LEDs and optical fibers and their results.

Dynamic characteristics and mechanisms of compressible metallic vapor plume behaviors in transient keyhole during deep penetration fiber laser welding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pang, Shengyong; Shao, Xinyu; Li, Wen; Chen, Xin; Gong, Shuili

2016-07-01

The compressible metallic vapor plume or plasma plume behaviors in the keyhole during deep penetration laser welding have significant effects on the joint quality. However, these behaviors and their responses to process parameter variations have not been well understood. In this paper, we first systematically study the dynamic characteristics and mechanisms of compressible metallic vapor plume behaviors in transient keyhole during fiber laser welding of 304 stainless steels based on a multiple timescale multiphase model. The time-dependent temperature, pressure, velocity and Mach number distributions of vapor plume under different process parameters are theoretically predicted. It is found that the distributions of the main physical characteristics of vapor plume such as pressure, velocity as well as Mach number in keyhole are usually highly uneven and highly time dependent. The peak difference of the velocity, pressure, temperature and Mach number of the vapor plume in a keyhole could be greater than 200 m/s, 20 kPa, 1000 K and 0.6 Mach, respectively. The vapor plume characteristics in a transient keyhole can experience significant changes within several hundreds of nanoseconds. The formation mechanisms of these dynamic characteristics are mainly due to the mesoscale keyhole hump (sized in several tens of microns) dynamics. It is also demonstrated that it is possible to suppress the oscillations of compressible vapor plume in the keyhole by improving the keyhole stability through decreasing the heat input. However, stabilizing the keyhole could only weaken, but not eliminate, the observed highly uneven and transient characteristics. This finding may pose new challenges for accurate experimental measurements of vapor plume induced by laser welding.

Overexpression of Arabidopsis thaliana gibberellic acid 20 oxidase (AtGA20ox) gene enhance the vegetative growth and fiber quality in kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) plants.

PubMed

Withanage, Samanthi Priyanka; Hossain, Md Aktar; Kumar M, Sures; Roslan, Hairul Azman B; Abdullah, Mohammad Puad; Napis, Suhaimi B; Shukor, Nor Aini Ab

2015-06-01

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.; Family: Malvaceae), is multipurpose crop, one of the potential alternatives of natural fiber for biocomposite materials. Longer fiber and higher cellulose contents are required for good quality biocomposite materials. However, average length of kenaf fiber (2.6 mm in bast and 1.28 mm in whole plant) is below the critical length (4 mm) for biocomposite production. Present study describes whether fiber length and cellulose content of kenaf plants could be enhanced by increasing GA biosynthesis in plants by overexpressing Arabidopsis thaliana Gibberellic Acid 20 oxidase (AtGA20ox) gene. AtGA20ox gene with intron was overexpressed in kenaf plants under the control of double CaMV 35S promoter, followed by in planta transformation into V36 and G4 varieties of kenaf. The lines with higher levels of bioactive GA (0.3-1.52 ng g(-1) fresh weight) were further characterized for their morphological and biochemical traits including vegetative and reproductive growth, fiber dimension and chemical composition. Positive impact of increased gibberellins on biochemical composition, fiber dimension and their derivative values were demonstrated in some lines of transgenic kenaf including increased cellulose content (91%), fiber length and quality but it still requires further study to confirm the critical level of this particular bioactive GA in transgenic plants.

Overexpression of Arabidopsis thaliana gibberellic acid 20 oxidase (AtGA20ox) gene enhance the vegetative growth and fiber quality in kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) plants

PubMed Central

Withanage, Samanthi Priyanka; Hossain, Md Aktar; Kumar M., Sures; Roslan, Hairul Azman B; Abdullah, Mohammad Puad; Napis, Suhaimi B.; Shukor, Nor Aini Ab.

2015-01-01

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.; Family: Malvaceae), is multipurpose crop, one of the potential alternatives of natural fiber for biocomposite materials. Longer fiber and higher cellulose contents are required for good quality biocomposite materials. However, average length of kenaf fiber (2.6 mm in bast and 1.28 mm in whole plant) is below the critical length (4 mm) for biocomposite production. Present study describes whether fiber length and cellulose content of kenaf plants could be enhanced by increasing GA biosynthesis in plants by overexpressing Arabidopsis thaliana Gibberellic Acid 20 oxidase (AtGA20ox) gene. AtGA20ox gene with intron was overexpressed in kenaf plants under the control of double CaMV 35S promoter, followed by in planta transformation into V36 and G4 varieties of kenaf. The lines with higher levels of bioactive GA (0.3–1.52 ng g−1 fresh weight) were further characterized for their morphological and biochemical traits including vegetative and reproductive growth, fiber dimension and chemical composition. Positive impact of increased gibberellins on biochemical composition, fiber dimension and their derivative values were demonstrated in some lines of transgenic kenaf including increased cellulose content (91%), fiber length and quality but it still requires further study to confirm the critical level of this particular bioactive GA in transgenic plants. PMID:26175614

The effect of pineapple core fiber on dough rheology and the quality of mantou.

PubMed

Shiau, Sy-Yu; Wu, Ming-Yin; Liu, Yao-Ling

2015-09-01

The consumption of dietary fiber offers the health benefit of lowering the risk of many chronic diseases. Pineapple core fiber (PCF) in this study was extracted and incorporated into dough and mantou (i.e., steamed bread). The effects of PCF substitution and fiber size on textural and rheological properties of dough and mantou were evaluated by a texture analyzer. The substitution of wheat flour by PCF resulted in a stiffer and less extensible dough with or without fermentation. The hardness and gumminess of mantou significantly increased as the PCF substitution increased from 0% to 15%, but the cohesiveness, specific volume, and elasticity significantly decreased with the fiber substitution. Ten percent PCF-enriched dough and mantou with various fiber sizes had similar rheological and textural properties, except for the k 1 and k 2 values. By sensory evaluation, 5% PCF-enriched mantou and the control bread had better acceptability in texture, color, odor, and overall acceptability, compared to mantous enriched with 10% or 15% PCF. Significant correlations existed between the rheological properties of dough and textural parameters of mantou and between the sensory quality and textural parameters of mantou. Therefore, we suggest that fiber-enriched mantou can be prepared with 5% PCF substitution to increase the intake of dietary fiber and maintain the quality of mantou. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Oxidation of carbon fiber surfaces for use as reinforcement in high-temperature cementitious material systems

DOEpatents

Sugama, Toshifumi.

1990-05-22

The interfacial bond characteristics between carbon fiber and a cement matrix, in high temperature fiber-reinforced cementitious composite systems, can be improved by the oxidative treatment of the fiber surfaces. Compositions and the process for producing the compositions are disclosed. 2 figs.

Fiber lasers with loop reflectors.

PubMed

Urquhart, P

1989-09-01

The theory of homogeneously broadened four level fiber lasers, which use fiber loops as distributed reflective elements, is examined. Such cavities can be made entirely from rare earth doped fiber. The amplifying characteristics of doped fiber loops are examined. The threshold pump power and the loop reflectivity necessary to optimize the lasing output power from an oscillator formed from two loops in series are predicted.

Effects of carbon fiber surface characteristics on interfacial bonding of epoxy resin composite subjected to hygrothermal treatments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Min; Liu, Hongxin; Gu, Yizhuo; Li, Yanxia; Zhang, Zuoguang

2014-01-01

The changes of interfacial bonding of three types of carbon fibers/epoxy resin composite as well as their corresponding desized carbon fiber composites subjecting to hygrothermal conditions were investigated by means of single fiber fragmentation test. The interfacial fracture energy was obtained to evaluate the interfacial bonding before and after boiling water aging. The surface characteristics of the studied carbon fiber were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The effects of activated carbon atoms and silicon element at carbon fiber surface on the interfacial hygrothermal resistance were further discussed. The results show that the three carbon fiber composites with the same resin matrix possess different hygrothermal resistances of interface and the interfacial fracture energy after water aging can not recovery to the level of raw dry sample (irreversible changes) for the carbon fiber composites containing silicon. Furthermore, the activated carbon atoms have little impact on the interfacial hygrothermal resistance. The irreversible variations of interfacial bonding and the differences among different carbon fiber composites are attributed to the silicon element on the carbon fiber bodies, which might result in hydrolyzation in boiling water treatment and degrade interfacial hygrothermal resistance.

[The Research on Optic Fiber FBG Corrosion Sensor Based on the Analysis of the Spectral Characteristics].

PubMed

Zhang, Jun; Zeng, Jie; Wang, Bo; Wang, Wen-juan; Liang, Da-kai; Liu, Xiao-ying

2016-03-01

Aiming at meeting the need of aluminum corrosion monitoring in aerospace field, a pre-load type fiber grating corrosion sensor based on an aluminum thin tube structure is proposed. The corrosion sensor of aluminum alloy structure in-service monitoring mechanism is studied, a theoretical model about the relation of FBG reflection spectral characteristics and aluminum thickness variation is also obtained. Optical fiber grating corrosion monitoring test system based on the capillary structure of aluminum alloy is constructed by acid-base environment. The problem of cross sensitivity of temperature and strain is solved by configuring an optical fiber grating which is not affected by strain and only sensitive to temperature inside the aluminum alloy tube. The results shows that he aluminum tube packaging design not only can sense the effects of corrosion on the mechanical properties, but also can interference shielding effect of corrosion on the tube optical fiber sensing device. With the deepening of the metal tube corrosion and aluminum alloy tube thickness gradually thinning, fiber grating reflective spectrum gradually shift to the short wavelength and the wall thickness and the grating center wavelength offset has a good monotonic relation. These characteristics can provide useful help to further research corrosion online monitoring based on optic fiber sensor.

Polarization characteristics of Whispering-Gallery-Mode fiber lasers based on evanescent-wave-coupled gain.

PubMed

Zhang, Yuan-Xian; Pu, Xiao-Yun; Feng, Li; Han, De-Yu; Ren, Yi-Tao

2013-05-20

The polarization characteristics of Whispering-Gallery-Mode (WGM) fiber lasers based on evanescent-wave-coupled gain are investigated. For the laser gain is excited by side-pumping scheme, it is found that the polarization property of lasing emission is simply dependent on the polarized states of the pump beams. The polarization property of lasing emission depends on the propagating situation of the pump beams in an optical fiber if the laser gain is excited by evanescent-wave pumping scheme, that is, if the pump beams within the fiber are meridional beams, the lasing emission is a transverse electric (TE) wave that forms a special radial polarization emission. However, if the pump beams within the fiber are skew beams, both transverse magnetic (TM) and TE waves exist simultaneously in lasing emission that forms a special axially and radially mixed polarization emission. Pumped by skew beams, the wave-number differences between TE and TM waves are also investigated quantitatively, the results demonstrate that the wave-number difference decreases with the increase of the fiber diameter and the refractive index (RI) of the cladding solution. The observed polarization characteristics have been well explained based on lasing radiation mechanism of WGM fiber laser of gain coupled by evanescent wave.

Infrared imaging of cotton fibers using a focal-plane array detector

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Vibrational spectroscopy studies can be used to examine the quality and structure of cotton fibers. An emerging area of research relates to the imaging of cotton fibers. Herein, we report the use of a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) microscope to image developing cotton fibers. Studies were perfor...

History of cotton fiber bioscience research at USDA-ARS Southern Regional Research Center

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Improving fiber quality has been an important breeding goal for cotton breeders. Better understanding of fiber development helps cotton scientists to devise a strategy for crop improvement either through marker-assisted selection or via manipulation of fiber genes. USDA-ARS Southern Regional Researc...

Effect of feeding low-fiber fraction of air-classified sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) meal on laying hen productive performance and egg yolk cholesterol.

PubMed

Laudadio, V; Ceci, E; Lastella, N M B; Tufarelli, V

2014-11-01

The present study was designed to determine the effect on laying performance and egg quality resulting from total substitution of soybean meal (SBM) with low-fiber sunflower meal (SFM; Helianthus annus L.) meal in diet of hens. ISA Brown layers, 28 wk of age, were randomly allocated to 2 dietary treatments and fed for 10 wk. The hens were kept in a free-range environment and fed 2 wheat middling-based diets consisting of a control diet, which contained SBM (153 g/kg of diet), and a test diet containing low-fiber SFM (160 g/kg of diet) as the main protein source. Each dietary treatment was replicated 4 times. Low-fiber SFM was obtained by a combination of sieving and air classification processes. Feed consumption was recorded daily and egg production was calculated on a hen-day basis; eggs from each group were collected weekly to evaluate egg components and quality. The total substitution of SBM with low-fiber SFM had no adverse effect on growth performance of laying hens. Egg production and none of egg quality traits examined were influenced by dietary treatment, except for yolk color (P < 0.05) and percentage of large-size eggs (P < 0.05) that were improved in hens fed the low-fiber SFM diet. Including low-fiber SFM decreased serum and egg yolk total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations (P < 0.001), and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level. Our results suggest that the replacement of conventional soybean with low-fiber sunflower meal may be a valid alternative in diets for laying hens to improve egg quality and to develop low-cholesterol eggs. ©2014 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Propagation characteristics of optical fiber structures with arbitrary shape and index variation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manshadi, F.

1990-01-01

The application of the scalar wave-fast Fourier transform (SW-FFT) technique to the computation of the propagation characteristics of some complex optical fiber structures is presented. The SW-FFT technique is based on the numerical solution of the scalar wave equation by a forward-marching fast Fourier transform method. This solution yields the spatial configuration of the fields as well as its modal characteristics in and around the guiding structure. The following are treated by the SW-FFT method: analysis of coupled optical fibers and computation of their odd and even modes and coupling length; the solution of tapered optical waveguides (transitions) and the study of the effect of the slope of the taper on mode conversion; and the analysis of branching optical fibers and demonstration of their mode-filtering and/or power-dividing properties.

Rapid measurement of cotton fiber maturity and fineness by image analysis microscopy using the Cottonscope®

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Two of the important cotton fiber quality and processing parameters are fiber maturity and fineness. Fiber maturity is the degree of development of the fiber’s secondary wall, and fiber fineness is a measure of the fiber’s linear density and can be expressed as mass per unit length. A well-known m...

Bond characteristics of steel fiber and deformed reinforcing steel bar embedded in steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aslani, Farhad; Nejadi, Shami

2012-09-01

Steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) is a relatively new composite material which congregates the benefits of the self-compacting concrete (SCC) technology with the profits derived from the fiber addition to a brittle cementitious matrix. Steel fibers improve many of the properties of SCC elements including tensile strength, ductility, toughness, energy absorption capacity, fracture toughness and cracking. Although the available research regarding the influence of steel fibers on the properties of SFRSCC is limited, this paper investigates the bond characteristics between steel fiber and SCC firstly. Based on the available experimental results, the current analytical steel fiber pullout model (Dubey 1999) is modified by considering the different SCC properties and different fiber types (smooth, hooked) and inclination. In order to take into account the effect of fiber inclination in the pullout model, apparent shear strengths ( τ ( app)) and slip coefficient ( β) are incorporated to express the variation of pullout peak load and the augmentation of peak slip as the inclined angle increases. These variables are expressed as functions of the inclined angle ( ϕ). Furthurmore, steel-concrete composite floors, reinforced concrete floors supported by columns or walls and floors on an elastic foundations belong to the category of structural elements in which the conventional steel reinforcement can be partially replaced by the use of steel fibers. When discussing deformation capacity of structural elements or civil engineering structures manufactured using SFRSCC, one must be able to describe thoroughly both the behavior of the concrete matrix reinforced with steel fibers and the interaction between this composite matrix and discrete steel reinforcement of the conventional type. However, even though the knowledge on bond behavior is essential for evaluating the overall behavior of structural components containing reinforcement and steel fibers, information is hardly available in this area. In this study, bond characteristics of deformed reinforcing steel bars embedded in SFRSCC is investigated secondly.

Transgenic cotton over-producing spinach sucrose phosphate synthase showed enhanced leaf sucrose synthesis and improved fiber quality under controlled environmental conditions.

PubMed

Haigler, Candace H; Singh, Bir; Zhang, Deshui; Hwang, Sangjoon; Wu, Chunfa; Cai, Wendy X; Hozain, Mohamed; Kang, Wonhee; Kiedaisch, Brett; Strauss, Richard E; Hequet, Eric F; Wyatt, Bobby G; Jividen, Gay M; Holaday, A Scott

2007-04-01

Prior data indicated that enhanced availability of sucrose, a major product of photosynthesis in source leaves and the carbon source for secondary wall cellulose synthesis in fiber sinks, might improve fiber quality under abiotic stress conditions. To test this hypothesis, a family of transgenic cotton plants (Gossypium hirsutum cv. Coker 312 elite) was produced that over-expressed spinach sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS) because of its role in regulation of sucrose synthesis in photosynthetic and heterotrophic tissues. A family of 12 independent transgenic lines was characterized in terms of foreign gene insertion, expression of spinach SPS, production of spinach SPS protein, and development of enhanced extractable V (max) SPS activity in leaf and fiber. Lines with the highest V (max) SPS activity were further characterized in terms of carbon partitioning and fiber quality compared to wild-type and transgenic null controls. Leaves of transgenic SPS over-expressing lines showed higher sucrose:starch ratio and partitioning of (14)C to sucrose in preference to starch. In two growth chamber experiments with cool nights, ambient CO(2) concentration, and limited light below the canopy, the transgenic line with the highest SPS activity in leaf and fiber had higher fiber micronaire and maturity ratio associated with greater thickness of the cellulosic secondary wall.

Reinforcing of thermoplastic polycarbonate and polysulfone with carbon fibers: Production and characteristics of UD-compound objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fitzer, E.; Jaeger, H.

1988-01-01

The production and characteristics of the carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics polycarbonate and polysulfone are described. The production of prepregs from defined polymer solutions is emphasized along with methods of optimizing the production of compounds. The characteristics of unidirectionally reinforced thermoplastics, such as shear strength, bending strength, and impact resistance are compared with regard to fracture behavior, the influence of intermediate layers, and the behavior under cryogenic conditions and under slightly elevated temperatures. The problem of adhesion between high strength carbon fibers and thermoplastics is examined, taking into account the effect of moisture on the shear strength and the impact resistance.

[Optimization of a cake formulation with functional characteristics using resistant starch, Sphagnum magellanicum moss and deffated hazel nut flour (Gevuina avellana, Mol)].

PubMed

Villarroel, Mario; Reyes, Carla; Hazbun, Julia; Karmelic, Julia

2007-03-01

Resistant starch (RS) Hi Maize 260, Sphagnum magellanicum Moss (SM) both natural resources rich in total dietary fiber, and defatted hazel nut flour (DHN) as protein resource were used in the development of a pastry product (queque) with functional characteristics. Taguchi methodology was utilized in the optimization process using the orthogonal array L934 with four control factors: RS, SM. DHN and Master Gluten 4000 (MG), 3 factor levels and 9 experimental trials. The best result of Sensory Quality (SQ) and signal to noise ratio (S/N) was obtained combining the minor levels of the independent variables. Main effect (average effects of factor) analysis and anova analysis showed that SM and DHN were the control factors with a significant influence (p<0.05) on the CS with a relative contribution of 83%. It is important to emphasize the total dietary fiber (8.7%) and protein (7.2%) values, the formers due to the presence of RS and SM. Shelf life study showed that the sensory characteristics flavour, appearance and texture were not affected when samples were stored at refrigerated temperatures but not at 20 degrees C, specifically flavour always kept a good preference during the whole period of time. Samples of optimized cakes showed very good results when they were submitted to hedonic test with 100% of favorable consumer's opinions.

Consumption of whole-grain cereals during weight loss: effects on dietary quality, dietary fiber, magnesium, vitamin B-6, and obesity.

PubMed

Melanson, Kathleen J; Angelopoulos, Theodore J; Nguyen, Von T; Martini, Margaret; Zukley, Linda; Lowndes, Joshua; Dube, Thomas J; Fiutem, Justin J; Yount, Byron W; Rippe, James M

2006-09-01

While various weight-management approaches produce weight loss, they may differ in dietary quality. We monitored changes in nutrient intakes in overweight and obese subjects on three different weight-management programs. Randomized clinical trial (pilot study) with two 12-week phases: phase 1, weekly counseling; phase 2, monitoring only. One hundred eighty nonsmoking, sedentary overweight and obese adults began this outpatient study; 134 (body mass index [calculated as kg/m(2)]=30.9+/-2.4; age=42.3+/-1.2 years) were used in analyses. Twenty-four weeks of exercise only (control group), hypocaloric diet plus exercise, or hypocaloric diet with fiber-rich whole-grain cereals plus exercise. At weeks 0, 12, and 24, diet quality was assessed by 3-day food records and body weight was measured. Three-way analysis of variance with repeated measures. The hypocaloric diet with fiber-rich whole-grain cereals plus exercise decreased energy intake more than exercise only (P=0.032). By week 12, the hypocaloric diet with fiber-rich whole-grain cereals plus exercise and the hypocaloric diet plus exercise decreased total fat more than exercise only, which was sustained in the hypocaloric diet with fiber-rich whole-grain cereals plus exercise at 24 weeks (P<0.001). At weeks 12 and 24, the hypocaloric diet with fiber-rich whole-grain cereals plus exercise reduced saturated fat intake more than exercise only. The hypocaloric diet with fiber-rich whole-grain cereals plus exercise increased total fiber, insoluble fiber (both P<0.001), magnesium (P=0.004), and vitamin B-6 (P=0.002) intakes more than the hypocaloric diet plus exercise and exercise only. Calcium and vitamin E intakes were inadequate in all groups. Weight loss was similar in the hypocaloric diet with fiber-rich whole-grain cereals plus exercise and the hypocaloric diet plus exercise. Weight-reduction strategies may be associated with reduced intake of micronutrients, such as calcium and vitamin E. However, a hypocaloric diet with fiber-rich whole-grain cereal is effective for improving or maintaining other aspects of dietary quality during weight loss.

Mechanical characteristics of low-cost hybrid fiber reinforced polymer.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-07-01

This report deals with the experimental investigation of using large deformable FRP, 45 oriented fibers, in concrete-filled fiber : tubes (CFFT) under axial cyclic compressive loading. In addition, this report presents finite element modeling (F...

Thermoluminescence properties of Yb-Tb-doped SiO2 optical fiber subject to 6 and 10 MV photon irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahini, M. H.; Wagiran, H.; Hossain, I.; Saeed, M. A.; Ali, H.

2014-08-01

This paper reports thermoluminescence characteristics of thermoluminescence dosimetry 100 chips and Yb-Tb-doped optical fibers irradiated with 6 and 10 MV photons. Thermoluminescence response of both dosimeters increases over a wide photon dose range from 0.5 to 4 Gy. Yb-Tb-doped optical fibers demonstrate useful thermoluminescence properties and represent a good candidate for thermoluminescence dosimetry application with ionizing radiation. The results of this fiber have been compared with those of commercially available standard thermoluminescence dosimetry-100 media. Commercially available Yb-Tb-doped optical fibers and said standard media are found to yield a linear relationship between dose- and thermoluminescence signal, although Yb-Tb-doped optical fibers provide only 10 % of the sensitivity of thermoluminescence dosimetry-100. With better thermoluminescence characteristics such as small size (125 μm diameter), high flexibility, easy of handling and low cost, as compared to other thermoluminescence materials, indicate that commercial Yb-Tb-doped optical fiber is a promising thermoluminescence material for variety of applications.

Tunable fiber laser based on the refractive index characteristic of MMI effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Lin; Qi, Yanhui; Kang, Zexin; Bai, Yunlong; Jian, Shuisheng

2014-04-01

A tunable erbium-doped all-fiber laser has been demonstrated. This tunable laser is based on a tunable fiber filter using the refractive index characteristics of multimode interference effects. A thinner no-core fiber with a diameter of 104 μm is used to fabricate the tunable fiber filter. The joint point of the thinner no-core fiber with SMF is a taper, which improves its sensitivity for refractive index changes. The filter exhibits a very sensitive response to the change of the environmental refractive index, which is about 1000 nm/RIU in the RI range from 1.418 to 1.427. The tunable fiber laser based on the filter achieved a tunability of 32 nm, with the wavelength tuned from 1532 nm to 1564 nm covering the full C-band. The 3 dB bandwidth of the tunable laser is less than 0.02 nm with the signal-to-noise ratio of about 40 dB.

Thermo-optic characteristic of DNA thin solid film and its application as a biocompatible optical fiber temperature sensor.

PubMed

Hong, Seongjin; Jung, Woohyun; Nazari, Tavakol; Song, Sanggwon; Kim, Taeoh; Quan, Chai; Oh, Kyunghwan

2017-05-15

We report unique thermo-optical characteristics of DNA-Cetyl tri-methyl ammonium (DNA-CTMA) thin solid film with a large negative thermo-optical coefficient of -3.4×10^-4/°C in the temperature range from 20°C to 70°C without any observable thermal hysteresis. By combining this thermo-optic DNA film and fiber optic multimode interference (MMI) device, we experimentally demonstrated a highly sensitive compact temperature sensor with a large spectral shift of 0.15 nm/°C. The fiber optic MMI device was a concatenated structure with single-mode fiber (SMF)-coreless silica fiber (CSF)-single mode fiber (SMF) and the DNA-CTMA film was deposited on the CSF. The spectral shifts of the device in experiments were compared with the beam propagation method, which showed a good agreement.

Acousto-Optical Evaluation Of Fiber Size In Wood Pulp

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dion, J. L.; Garceau, J. J.; Morissette, J. C.

1986-10-01

In the pulp and paper industry, the problem of regular and fast evaluation of wood fiber characteristics such as length and specific area is an important one. With this in view, we have been studying an acousto-optical technique based on the acoustic agglomeration of fibers in a water suspension, where a stationary ultrasonic field is created at about 150 kHz. Under the influence of radiation forces, fibers re-orient themselves parallel to the nodal planes of acoustic pressure, and regroup or agglomerate in these planes in different characteristic times. These are mesured by means of the light scattered at small angles. We have found that these times depend on the size distribution of fibers, particularly length. We present results obtained with an assortment of fiber types, under various experimental conditions which indicate eventual applications in the automatic control of pulp production.

Optical fiber loops and helices: tools for integrated photonic device characterization and microfluidic trapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Yundong; Zhang, Rui; Ti, Chaoyang; Liu, Yuxiang

2016-09-01

Tapered optical fibers can deliver guided light into and carry light out of micro/nanoscale systems with low loss and high spatial resolution, which makes them ideal tools in integrated photonics and microfluidics. Special geometries of tapered fibers are desired for probing monolithic devices in plane as well as optical manipulation of micro particles in fluids. However, for many specially shaped tapered fibers, it remains a challenge to fabricate them in a straightforward, controllable, and repeatable way. In this work, we fabricated and characterized two special geometries of tapered optical fibers, namely fiber loops and helices, that could be switched between one and the other. The fiber loops in this work are distinct from previous ones in terms of their superior mechanical stability and high optical quality factors in air, thanks to a post-annealing process. We experimentally measured an intrinsic optical quality factor of 32,500 and a finesse of 137 from a fiber loop. A fiber helix was used to characterize a monolithic cavity optomechanical device. Moreover, a microfluidic "roller coaster" was demonstrated, where microscale particles in water were optically trapped and transported by a fiber helix. Tapered fiber loops and helices can find various applications ranging from on-the-fly characterization of integrated photonic devices to particle manipulation and sorting in microfluidics.

An Investigation of Crystalline Intensity of the Wood of Poplar Clones Grown in Jiangsu Province, China

Treesearch

Bernard R. Parresol; Fuliang Cao

1998-01-01

To establish manmade poplar (Populus spp.) clonal forests for industrial uses, two requirements must be met. First, forests must have high yield;and second, wood fibers must have specific mechanical properties. For example, both fiberboard and plywood require fibers with a certain stiffness and strength. In fact, fiber characteristics are closely related to the fiber?s...

Optical Fibers Would Sense Local Strains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Egalon, Claudio O.; Rogowski, Robert S.

1994-01-01

Proposed fiber-optic transducers measure local strains. Includes lead-in and lead-out lengths producing no changes in phase shifts, plus short sensing length in which phase shift is sensitive to strain. Phase shifts in single-mode fibers vary with strains. In alternative version, multiple portions of optical fiber sensitive to strains characteristic of specific vibrational mode of object. Same principle also used with two-mode fiber.

Characteristics of regenerated nanocellulosic fibers from cellulose dissolution in aqueous solutions for wood fiber/polypropylene composites

Treesearch

Sangyeob Lee; Hui Pan; Chung Y. Hse; Alfred R. Gunasekaran; Todd F. Shupe

2014-01-01

The effects of aqueous solutions were evaluated on the properties of regenerated cellulosic nanofibers prepared from pure cellulose fibers in various formulations of aqueous solutions. Thermoplastic composites were prepared with reinforcement of the regenerated cellulosic nanofibers. The regenerated cellulosic fibers from cellulosic woody biomass were obtained from...

A design strategy of the circular photonic crystal fiber supporting good quality orbital angular momentum mode transmission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hu; Zhang, Xiaoguang; Li, Hui; Deng, Yifan; Zhang, Xia; Xi, Lixia; Tang, Xianfeng; Zhang, Wenbo

2017-08-01

Based on 5 requirements which are essential for stable OAM mode transmission, we propose an OAM fiber family based on a structure of circular photonic crystal fiber (C-PCF). The proposed C-PCF in the family is made of pure silica, with a big round air hole at the center, several rings of air-hole array as the cladding, and a ring shaped silica area in between as the core where the OAM modes propagate. We also provide a design strategy with which the optimized C-PCF can be obtained with optimum number of high quality OAM modes (up to 42 OAM modes), large effective index separation for corresponding vector modes over a wide bandwidth, relative small and flat dispersion, and low nonlinear coefficient compared with a conventional single mode fiber. The designed fiber can be used in MDM communications and other OAM applications in fibers.

QTL analysis of genotype x environment interactions affecting cotton fiber quality.

PubMed

Paterson, A H; Saranga, Y; Menz, M; Jiang, C-X; Wright, R J

2003-02-01

Cotton is unusual among major crops in that large acreages are grown under both irrigated and rainfed conditions, making genotype x environment interactions of even greater importance than usual in designing crop-improvement strategies. We describe the impact of well-watered versus water-limited growth conditions on the genetic control of fiber quality, a complex suite of traits that collectively determine the utility of cotton. Fiber length, length uniformity, elongation, strength, fineness, and color (yellowness) were influenced by 6, 7, 9, 21, 25 and 11 QTLs (respectively) that could be detected in one or more treatments. The genetic control of cotton fiber quality was markedly affected both by general differences between growing seasons ("years") and by specific differences in water management regimes. Seventeen QTLs were detected only in the water-limited treatment while only two were specific to the well-watered treatment, suggesting that improvement of fiber quality under water stress may be even more complicated than improvement of this already complex trait under well-watered conditions. In crops such as cotton with widespread use of both irrigated and rainfed production systems, the need to manipulate larger numbers of genes to confer adequate quality under both sets of conditions will reduce the expected rate of genetic gain. These difficulties may be partly ameliorated by efficiencies gained through identification and use of diagnostic DNA markers, including those identified herein.

Effects of Prior Aging at 288 deg C in Argon Environment on Creep Response of Carbon Fiber Reinforced PMR-15 Composite with + or - 45 deg Fiber Orientation at 288 deg C

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

typically consists of a thermoset or thermoplastic polymer matrix reinforced with fibers that are much stronger and stiffer than the matrix. The PMCs are...high thermal or electrical conductivity, stealth characteristics , the ability to self-heal, communication, and sensor capabilities. The multi...have factual evidence of limitations and characteristics so as to utilize the material in a manner consistent with its strengths and weaknesses

FIBER AND INTEGRATED OPTICS: Polarization characteristics of anisotropic single-mode fiber waveguides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arutyunyan, Z. É.; Grudinin, A. B.; Gur'yanov, A. N.; Gusovskiĭ, D. D.; Dianov, Evgenii M.; Ignat'ev, S. V.; Smirnov, O. B.; Khrushchev, I. Yu

1990-01-01

An experimental investigation was made of the polarization characteristics of anisotropic fiber waveguides with an elliptic stress-inducing cladding, operating in a wide spectral range. The maximum birefringence amounted to 3.4 × 10 - 4, the minimum mode coupling parameter was 2.5 × 10 - 5 m - 1 (λ = 1.1 μm), and the minimum losses were 0.7 dB/km (λ = 1.5 μm). A qualitative comparison was made with the theoretical data.

Characteristics of Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometric (EFPI) Fiber-Optic Strain Gages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hare, David A.; Moore, Thomas C., Sr.

2000-01-01

The focus of this paper is a comparison of the strain-measuring characteristics of one type of commercially available fiber-optic strain sensor with the performance of conventional resistance strain gages. Fabry-Perot type fiber-optic strain sensors were selected for this testing program. Comparative testing is emphasized and includes load testing at room temperature with apparent strain characterization cryogenically and at elevated temperatures. The absolute accuracy of either of these types of strain gages is not addressed.

The effect of different physical activity levels on muscle fiber size and type distribution of lumbar multifidus. A biopsy study on low back pain patient groups and healthy control subjects.

PubMed

Mazis, N; Papachristou, D J; Zouboulis, P; Tyllianakis, M; Scopa, C D; Megas, P

2009-12-01

Previous studies examining the multifidus fiber characteristics among low back pain (LBP) patients have not considered the variable of physical activity. The present study sought to investigate the muscle fiber size and type distribution of the lumbar multifidus muscle among LBP patient groups with different physical activity levels and healthy controls. Sixty-four patients were assigned to one of three groups named according to the physical activity level, determined for each patient by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. These were low (LPA), medium (MPA) and high (HPA) physical activity groups. A control group comprising of 17 healthy individuals was also recruited. Muscle biopsy samples were obtained from the multifidus muscle at the level L4-L5. contrast with the control group, LBP patient groups showed a significantly higher Type II fiber distribution as well as reduced diameter in both fiber types (P<0.05). The physical activity level did not have an effect on multifidus characteristics since no significant differences were observed in fiber type and diameter (P>0.05) among LPA, MPA and HPA patient groups. Various pathological conditions were detected which were more pronounced in LBP groups compared to the control (P<0.05). Males had a larger fiber diameter compared to females for both fiber types (P<0.05). The results showed that the level of physical activity did not affect muscle fiber size and type distribution among LBP patients groups. These findings suggest that not only inactivity but also high physical activity levels can have an adverse effect on the multifidus muscle fiber characteristics.

Coherent radiation of relativistic electrons in dielectric fibers in the millimeter wavelength range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naumenko, G. A.; Potylitsyn, A. P.; Bleko, V. V.; Soboleva, V. V.

2015-02-01

The generation of visible light by a relativistic electron beam in dielectric fibers was considered in X. Artru and C. Ray, Nucl. Inst. Meth. B 309, 4 (2013), where the characteristics of radiation induced in a fiber by the electromagnetic field of a relativistic charged particle were studied and it was emphasized that they differ from those in the traditional mechanisms of radiation such as transition and diffraction. We have experimentally studied the characteristics of such a radiation in the millimeter wavelength range. It has been shown that radiation can be generated through different mechanisms depending on the geometry of the position of a fiber with respect to the trajectory of the charged particle. Fibers have been shown to be promising for nondestructive diagnostics of accelerator beams.

Coupling of high power laser diode optical power.

PubMed

Landry, M J; Rupert, J W; Mittas, A

1991-06-20

This paper describes the characteristics of optical couplers with high power laser diodes as sources. The couplers investigated include gradient-index (GRIN) lenses manufactured by Nippon Sheet Glass, a plano-convex lens, a prism, optical fibers manufactured by Ensign-Bickford and Nippon Sheet Glass, and fiber optic stub manufacture by Spec Tran. The characteristics measured included: (1) GRIN lens transmission of up to 97%, fiber transmission of up to 90%, plano-convex lens transmission of up to 92%; (2) intensity distribution contours and profiles of the beam transmitted through GRIN lenses and optical fibers; (3) the beam dimensions of a collimating system; and (4) the divergence of optical fibers of varying lengths. Spectra Diode Laboratory and McDonnell Astronautics Company/Opto Electronics Center manufactured the laser diodes sources that emitted up to 3.6 W.

Helical Fiber Amplifier

DOEpatents

Koplow, Jeffrey P.; Kliner, Dahy; Goldberg, Lew

2002-12-17

A multi-mode gain fiber is provided which affords substantial improvements in the maximum pulse energy, peak power handling capabilities, average output power, and/or pumping efficiency of fiber amplifier and laser sources while maintaining good beam quality (comparable to that of a conventional single-mode fiber source). These benefits are realized by coiling the multimode gain fiber to induce significant bend loss for all but the lowest-order mode(s).

The immature fiber mutant phenotype of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is linked to a 22-bp frame-shift deletion in a mitochondria targeted pentatricopeptide repeat gene

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton seed trichomes are the globally most important source of natural fibers. The major fiber thickness properties influence the price of the raw material and the quality of the finished product. The recessive immature fiber (im) gene reduces the degree of fiber cell wall thickening by a process...

Biomarkers of asbestos-induced lung injury: the influence of fiber characteristics and exposure methodology

EPA Science Inventory

ATS 2013 Biomarkers of asbestos-induced lung injury: the influence of fiber characteristics and exposure methodology Urmila P Kodavanti, Debora Andrews, Mette C Schaldweiler, Jaime M Cyphert, Darol E Dodd, and Stephen H Gavett NHEERL, U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC; NIEH...

Design and evaluation of a high-performance broadband fiber access based on coarse wavelength division multiplexing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

R. Horche, Paloma; del Rio Campos, Carmina

2004-10-01

The proliferation of high-bandwidth applications has created a growing interest in upgrading networks to deliver broadband services to homes and small businesses between network providers. There has to be a great efficiency between the total cost of the infrastructures and the services that can be offered to the end users. Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) is an ideal solution to the tradeoff between cost and capacity. This technology uses all or part of the 1270 to 1610 nm wavelength fiber range with optical channel separation about 20 nm. The problem in CWDM systems is that for a given reach the performance is not equal for all of transmitted channels because of the very different fiber attenuation and dispersion characteristics for each channel. In this work, by means of an Optical Communication System Design Software, we study a CWDM network configuration, for lengths of up to 100 km, in order to achieve low Bit Error Rate (BER) performance for all optical channels. We show that the type of fiber used will have an impact on both the performance of the systems and on the bit rate of each optical channel. In the study, we use both on the already laid and widely deployed singlemode ITU-T G.652 optical fibers and on the latest "water-peak-suppressed" versions of the same fiber as well as G.655 fibers. We have used two types of DML. One is strongly adiabatic chirp dominated and another is strongly transient chirp dominated. The analysis has demonstrated that all the studied fibers have a similar performance when laser strongly adiabatic chirp dominated is used for lengths of up to 40 Km and that fibers with negative sign of dispersion has a higher performance for long distance, at high bit rates and throughout the spectral range analyzed. An important contribution of this work is that it has demonstrated that when DML are used it produces a dispersion accommodation that is function of the fiber length, wavelength and bit rate. This could put in danger the quality of a system CWDM if it is not designed carefully.

Single-Crystal Germanium Core Optoelectronic Fibers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ji, Xiaoyu; Page, Ryan L.; Chaudhuri, Subhasis

Synthesis and fabrication of high-quality, small-core single-crystal germanium fibers that are photosensitive at the near-infrared and have low optical losses ≈1 dB cm-1 at 2 μm are reported. These fibers have potential applications in fiber-based spectroscopic imaging, nonlinear optical devices, and photodetection at the telecommunication wavelengths.

Inheritance of the ovule fuzzless trait for Gossypium arboreum germplasm line PI 529708

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Cotton is the most important fiber crop and understanding the genetic mechanisms controlling fiber production on cotton seeds can aid in the development of improved varieties with higher lint yields and improved fiber quality. Lint and fuzz are the two types of fiber produced on the cott...

Examination of cotton fibers and common contaminants using an infrared microscope and a focal-plane array detector

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The chemical imaging of cotton fibers and common contaminants in fibers is presented. Chemical imaging was performed with an infrared microscope equipped with a Focal-Plane Array (FPA) detector. Infrared spectroscopy can provide us with information on the structure and quality of cotton fibers. In a...

7 CFR 28.601 - Official cotton standards for fiber fineness and maturity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Cotton Standards of the United States for Fiber Fineness and Maturity § 28.601 Official cotton standards for fiber fineness and maturity. The official cotton standards of the United States for fiber fineness and maturity shall be the measure of such qualities, in combination, provided by air flow instrument...

Use of FTIR spectroscopy technique in the determination of cotton fiber maturity and crystallinity

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton fiber consists of natural cellulose I component and its end-use qualities depend on the amount of cellulose deposited during the growth. The term fiber maturity has been used to describe the degree of cellulosic development or the secondary cell wall thickening of fibers. Useful information a...

Force deficits and breakage rates after single lengthening contractions of single fast fibers from unconditioned and conditioned muscles of young and old rats.

PubMed

Lynch, Gordon S; Faulkner, John A; Brooks, Susan V

2008-07-01

The deficit in force generation is a measure of the magnitude of damage to sarcomeres caused by lengthening contractions of either single fibers or whole muscles. In addition, permeabilized single fibers may suffer breakages. Our goal was to understand the interaction between breakages and force deficits in "young" and "old" permeabilized single fibers from control muscles of young and old rats and "conditioned" fibers from muscles that completed a 6-wk program of in vivo lengthening contractions. Following single lengthening contractions of old-control fibers compared with young-control fibers, the twofold greater force deficits at a 10% strain support the concept of an age-related increase in the susceptibility of fibers to mechanical damage. In addition, the much higher breakage rates for old fibers at all strains tested indicate an increase with aging in the number of fibers at risk of being severely injured during any given stretch. Following the 6-wk program of lengthening contractions, young-conditioned fibers and old-conditioned fibers were not different with respect to force deficit or the frequency of breakages. A potential mechanism for the increased resistance to stretch-induced damage of old-conditioned fibers is that, through intracellular damage and subsequent degeneration and regeneration, weaker sarcomeres were replaced by stronger sarcomeres. These data indicate that, despite the association of high fiber breakage rates and large force deficits with aging, the detrimental characteristics of old fibers were improved by a conditioning program that altered both sarcomeric characteristics as well as the overall structural integrity of the fibers.

Review of animal/in vitro data on biological effects of man-made fibers.

PubMed

Ellouk, S A; Jaurand, M C

1994-06-01

This paper reviews the investigations with man-made fibers (MMF). Insulation woods: glasswool (GW), rockwool (RW), slagwool (SW), glass microfibers (GMF), glass filaments (GFiI), and refractory ceramic fibers (RCF) have been used in experimental animals and in in vitro cell systems. A large heterogeneous number of fibers, methods of fiber preparation, size selection, aerosolization, fiber size, and fiber burden measurement were noted, rendering difficult a comparison between results. By inhalation, RCF and asbestos used as positive controls produced a significant tumor increase. In some studies, a low tumor yield was found after inhalation of insulation wools; when all inhalation data were gathered, a significant tumor increase was found with GW. However, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions on the potential of other fiber types because, in addition to the different compositions of the fibers, differences in fiber number and sizes existed, especially in comparison with asbestos. Moreover, experiments using inoculation, especially by the intraperitoneal route revealed a carcinogenic potential of all fibers types but GFiI and SW. In these two groups a small number of animals has been investigated and the fiber characteristics were sometimes irrelevant. So far, a relationship between the carcinogenic potency and fiber dimensions has been established. Other fiber parameters may be of importance (surface chemistry, biopersistence, fiber structure, for example) but further investigations are necessary to determine the correlations between these parameters and tumor incidence. In vitro experiments have emphasized the fiber characteristics identified in vivo as playing a role in the carcinogenic potency and should be developed as a better approach of the mechanistic effects of MMF.

3D Fiber Orientation Simulation for Plastic Injection Molding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Baojiu; Jin, Xiaoshi; Zheng, Rong; Costa, Franco S.; Fan, Zhiliang

2004-06-01

Glass fiber reinforced polymer is widely used in the products made using injection molding processing. The distribution of fiber orientation inside plastic parts has direct effects on quality of molded parts. Using computer simulation to predict fiber orientation distribution is one of most efficient ways to assist engineers to do warpage analysis and to find a good design solution to produce high quality plastic parts. Fiber orientation simulation software based on 2-1/2D (midplane /Dual domain mesh) techniques has been used in industry for a decade. However, the 2-1/2D technique is based on the planar Hele-Shaw approximation and it is not suitable when the geometry has complex three-dimensional features which cannot be well approximated by 2D shells. Recently, a full 3D simulation software for fiber orientation has been developed and integrated into Moldflow Plastics Insight 3D simulation software. The theory for this new 3D fiber orientation calculation module is described in this paper. Several examples are also presented to show the benefit in using 3D fiber orientation simulation.

Oil sorption and retention capacities of thermally-bonded hybrid nonwovens prepared from cotton, kapok, milkweed and polypropylene fibers.

PubMed

Thilagavathi, G; Praba Karan, C; Das, Dipayan

2018-08-01

This work reports on a series of thermally-bonded, hybrid and oil-sorbent nonwovens developed from binary and tertiary mixing of cotton, kapok, and three varieties of milkweed fibers (Asclepias Syriaca, Calotropis Procera and Calotropis Gigantea) and polypropylene fibers. The physical and chemical properties of the fibers were investigated to examine their oleophilic character. It was observed that all the fiber surfaces were covered with natural wax. Further, kapok and milkweed fibers were found to have less cell wall thickness and high void ratio. Oil sorption and retention characteristics of these fibers were studied in loose fibrous form as well as in structured assembly form (thermally-bonded nonwovens) using high density oil and diesel oil. The effects of fiber diameter, fiber cross-sectional shape, fiber surface area and porosity on the oil sorption behavior were discussed. An excellent and a selective oil sorption behavior of milkweed fibers (Calotropis Procera and Calotropis Gigantea) blended with cotton and polypropylene fibers were observed. The maximum oil sorption capacity of the developed thermal bonded nonwoven was 40.16 g/g for high density (HD) oil and 23.00 g/g for diesel oil. Further, a high porosity combined with high surface area played a major role in deciding the oil sorption and retention characteristics. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To improve the flame resistance of spandex elastic elastomeric fiber

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

Strength characteristics of fibers were improved to pass the 70% oxygen/30% nitrogen specification. Spinning techniques and information about incorporating these fibers in fabric structures using wrapping materials of Beta Fiberglas, Nomex, and PBI were developed.

Shear Behavior Models of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beams Modifying Softened Truss Model Approaches.

PubMed

Hwang, Jin-Ha; Lee, Deuck Hang; Ju, Hyunjin; Kim, Kang Su; Seo, Soo-Yeon; Kang, Joo-Won

2013-10-23

Recognizing that steel fibers can supplement the brittle tensile characteristics of concrete, many studies have been conducted on the shear performance of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) members. However, previous studies were mostly focused on the shear strength and proposed empirical shear strength equations based on their experimental results. Thus, this study attempts to estimate the strains and stresses in steel fibers by considering the detailed characteristics of steel fibers in SFRC members, from which more accurate estimation on the shear behavior and strength of SFRC members is possible, and the failure mode of steel fibers can be also identified. Four shear behavior models for SFRC members have been proposed, which have been modified from the softened truss models for reinforced concrete members, and they can estimate the contribution of steel fibers to the total shear strength of the SFRC member. The performances of all the models proposed in this study were also evaluated by a large number of test results. The contribution of steel fibers to the shear strength varied from 5% to 50% according to their amount, and the most optimized volume fraction of steel fibers was estimated as 1%-1.5%, in terms of shear performance.

Optimization of mold wheat bread fortified with soy flour, pea flour and whey protein concentrate.

PubMed

Erben, Melina; Osella, Carlos A

2017-07-01

The objective of this work was to study the effect of replacing a selected wheat flour for defatted soy flour, pea flour and whey protein concentrate on both dough rheological characteristics and the performance and nutritional quality of bread. A mixture design was used to analyze the combination of the ingredients. The optimization process suggested that a mixture containing 88.8% of wheat flour, 8.2% of defatted soy flour, 0.0% of pea flour and 3.0% of whey protein concentrate could be a good combination to achieve the best fortified-bread nutritional quality. The fortified bread resulted in high protein concentration, with an increase in dietary fiber content and higher calcium levels compared with those of control (wheat flour 100%). Regarding protein quality, available lysine content was significantly higher, thus contributing with the essential amino acid requirement.

Comparison of analytical protein separation characteristics for three amine-based capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) stationary phases.

PubMed

Jiang, Liuwei; Marcus, R Kenneth

2016-02-01

Capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) fiber stationary phases are finding utility in the realms of protein analytics as well as downstream processing. We have recently described the modification of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) C-CP fibers to affect amine-rich phases for the weak anion-exchange (WAX) separation of proteins. Polyethylenimine (PEI) is covalently coupled to the PET surface, with subsequent cross-linking imparted by treatment with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BUDGE). These modifications yield vastly improved dynamic binding capacities over the unmodified fibers. We have also previously employed native (unmodified) nylon 6 C-CP fibers as weak anion/cation-exchange (mixed-mode) and hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) phases for protein separations. Polyamide, nylon 6, consists of amide groups along the polymer backbone, with primary amines and carboxylic acid end groups. The analytical separation characteristics of these three amine-based C-CP fiber phases are compared here. Each of the C-CP fiber columns in this study was shown to be able to separate a bovine serum albumin/hemoglobin/lysozyme mixture at high mobile phase linear velocity (∼70 mm s(-1)) but with different elution characteristics. These differences reflect the types of protein-surface interactions that are occurring, based on the active group composition of the fiber surfaces. This study provides important fundamental understanding for the development of surface-modified C-CP fiber columns for protein separation.

NASA. Langley Research Center dry powder towpreg system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baucom, Robert M.; Marchello, Joseph M.

1990-01-01

Dry powder polymer impregnated carbon fiber tows were produced for preform weaving and composite materials molding applications. In the process, fluidized powder is deposited on spread tow bundles and melted on the fibers by radiant heating to adhere the polymer to the fiber. Unit design theory and operating correlations were developed to provide the basis for scale up of the process to commercial operation. Special features of the operation are the pneumatic tow spreader, fluidized bed, resin feeder, and quality control system. Bench scale experiments, at tow speeds up to 50 cm/sec, demonstrated that process variables can be controlled to produce weavable LARC-TPI carbon fiber towpreg. The towpreg made by the dry powder process was formed into unidirectional fiber moldings and was woven and molded into preform material of good quality.

Effect of harvest timing and leaf hairiness on fiber quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Recent concerns over leaf grades have generated questions of how both time of day cotton is harvested, as well as leaf hairiness levels of certain varieties, influence fiber quality. To address this, two smooth leaf varieties and two varieties with higher levels of leaf pubescence were harvested at...

Effects of Gin Machinery on Cotton Quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ginning practices affect both the economic returns to cotton producers and the quality of fiber produced for textile mills and, ultimately, consumers. Because of the recent shift from a primarily domestic to an export market for U.S. cotton and the loss of textile market share to synthetic fibers, p...

Development of a multichannel hyperspectral imaging probe for food property and quality assessment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This paper reports on the development, calibration and evaluation of a new multipurpose, multichannel hyperspectral imaging probe for property and quality assessment of food products. The new multichannel probe consists of a 910-miscrometer fiber as a point light source and 30 light receiving fibers...

Ginning picker and stripper harvested high plains cotton - update

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Texas High Plains cotton has improved over the last ten years with regard to yield and High Volume Instrument (HVI) fiber quality. Harvesting and ginning practices are needed which preserve fiber quality and maximize return to the producer. The objective of this work is to investigate the influence ...

Photonic crystal fiber monitors for intracellular ice formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battinelli, Emily; Reimlinger, Mark; Wynne, Rosalind

2012-04-01

An all-silica steering wheel photonic crystal fiber (SW-PCF) device with real-time analysis for cellular temperature sensing is presented. Results are provided for water-filled SW-PCF fibers experiencing cooling down near -40°C. Cellular temperature sensors with fast response times are of interest particularly to the study of cryopreservation, which has been influential in applications such as tissue preservation, food quality control, genetic engineering, as well as drug discovery and in- vitro toxin testing. Results of this investigation are relevant to detection of intracellular ice formation (IIF) and better understanding cell freezing at very low temperatures. IIF detection is determined as a function of absorption occurring within the core of the SW-PCF. The SW-PCF has a 3.3μm core diameter, 125μm outer diameter and steering wheel-like air hole pattern with triangular symmetry, with a 20μm radius. One end of a 0.6m length of the SW-PCF is placed between two thermoelectric coolers, filled with ~0.1μL water. This end is butt coupled to a 0.5m length of single mode fiber (SMF), the distal end of the fiber is then inserted into an optical spectrum analyzer. A near-IR light source is guided through the fiber, such that the absorption of the material in the core can be measured. Spectral characteristics demonstrated by the optical absorption of the water sample were present near the 1300-1700nm window region with strongest peaks at 1350, 1410 and 1460nm, further shifting of the absorption peaks is possible at cryogenic temperatures making this device suitable for IIF monitoring applications.

Postmenopausal women with osteoarthritis and osteoporosis show different ultrastructural characteristics of trabecular bone of the femoral head.

PubMed

Shen, Yun; Zhang, Zi-Ming; Jiang, Sheng-Dan; Jiang, Lei-Sheng; Dai, Li-Yang

2009-04-09

Osteoporosis (OP) and osteoarthritis (OA) are public health diseases affecting the quality of life of the elderly, and bring about a heavy burden to the society and family of patients. It has been debated whether or not there is an inverse relationship between these two disorders. To compare the exact difference in bone tissue structure between osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, we observed the ultrastructure of trabecular bone from the femoral heads using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A total of 15 femoral head specimens from postmenopausal women were collected during the procedures of total or hemi hip replacement (OP, n = 8; OA, n = 7). The morphologic structure of the trabecular bone, collagen fibers, resorption lacuna and osteoblasts were observed. Under SEM, osteoporotic trabeculae appeared to be thinning, tapering, breaking and perforating. A number of resorption lacunae of various shapes were seen on the surface of the trabeculum. The collagen fibers of lacuna were resorbed. On occasion, naked granular bone crystals could be found. In the OA group, the trabecular bone looked thick with integrated structure. Reticular and granular new bone could be found. The trabeculum was covered by well-arranged collagen fibers around the resorption lacuna. In the OP group, under TEM, marginal collagen fibers were observed to be aligned loosely with enlarged spaces. A few inactive osteoblasts and no inflammatory cells were seen. In the OA group, the collagen fibers inside the trabeculum were arranged in a dense manner with many active osteoblasts and inflammatory cells infiltrating the matrix. We found significant differences in the trabecular bone, collagen fibers, lacunae and osteoblasts between postmenopausal women with OP and OA. These findings support the hypothesis that there is an inverse relationship between OP and OA.

Postmenopausal women with osteoarthritis and osteoporosis show different ultrastructural characteristics of trabecular bone of the femoral head

PubMed Central

Shen, Yun; Zhang, Zi-Ming; Jiang, Sheng-Dan; Jiang, Lei-Sheng; Dai, Li-Yang

2009-01-01

Background Osteoporosis (OP) and osteoarthritis (OA) are public health diseases affecting the quality of life of the elderly, and bring about a heavy burden to the society and family of patients. It has been debated whether or not there is an inverse relationship between these two disorders. Methods To compare the exact difference in bone tissue structure between osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, we observed the ultrastructure of trabecular bone from the femoral heads using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A total of 15 femoral head specimens from postmenopausal women were collected during the procedures of total or hemi hip replacement (OP, n = 8; OA, n = 7). The morphologic structure of the trabecular bone, collagen fibers, resorption lacuna and osteoblasts were observed. Results Under SEM, osteoporotic trabeculae appeared to be thinning, tapering, breaking and perforating. A number of resorption lacunae of various shapes were seen on the surface of the trabeculum. The collagen fibers of lacuna were resorbed. On occasion, naked granular bone crystals could be found. In the OA group, the trabecular bone looked thick with integrated structure. Reticular and granular new bone could be found. The trabeculum was covered by well-arranged collagen fibers around the resorption lacuna. In the OP group, under TEM, marginal collagen fibers were observed to be aligned loosely with enlarged spaces. A few inactive osteoblasts and no inflammatory cells were seen. In the OA group, the collagen fibers inside the trabeculum were arranged in a dense manner with many active osteoblasts and inflammatory cells infiltrating the matrix. Conclusion We found significant differences in the trabecular bone, collagen fibers, lacunae and osteoblasts between postmenopausal women with OP and OA. These findings support the hypothesis that there is an inverse relationship between OP and OA. PMID:19356253

Study on parameters affecting the mechanical properties of dry fiber bundles during continuous composite manufacturing processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maier, A.; Schledjewski, R.

2016-07-01

For continuous manufacturing processes mechanical preloading of the fibers occurs during the delivery of the fibers from the spool creel to the actual manufacturing process step. Moreover preloading of the dry roving bundles might be mandatory, e.g. during winding, to be able to produce high quality components. On the one hand too high tensile loads within dry roving bundles might result in a catastrophic failure and on the other hand the part produced under too low pre-tension might have low quality and mechanical properties. In this work, load conditions influencing mechanical properties of dry glass fiber bundles during continuous composite manufacturing processes were analyzed. Load conditions, i.e. fiber delivery speed, necessary pre-tension and other effects of the delivery system during continuous fiber winding, were chosen in process typical ranges. First, the strain rate dependency under static tensile load conditions was investigated. Furthermore different free gauge lengths up to 1.2 m, interactions between fiber points of contact regarding influence of sizing as well as impregnation were tested and the effect of twisting on the mechanical behavior of dry glass fiber bundles during the fiber delivery was studied.

Near-isogenic cotton germplasm lines that differ in fiber-bundle strength have temporal differences in fiber gene expression patterns as revealed by comparative high-throughput profiling.

PubMed

Hinchliffe, Doug J; Meredith, William R; Yeater, Kathleen M; Kim, Hee Jin; Woodward, Andrew W; Chen, Z Jeffrey; Triplett, Barbara A

2010-05-01

Gene expression profiles of developing cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fibers from two near-isogenic lines (NILs) that differ in fiber-bundle strength, short-fiber content, and in fewer than two genetic loci were compared using an oligonucleotide microarray. Fiber gene expression was compared at five time points spanning fiber elongation and secondary cell wall (SCW) biosynthesis. Fiber samples were collected from field plots in a randomized, complete block design, with three spatially distinct biological replications for each NIL at each time point. Microarray hybridizations were performed in a loop experimental design that allowed comparisons of fiber gene expression profiles as a function of time between the two NILs. Overall, developmental expression patterns revealed by the microarray experiment agreed with previously reported cotton fiber gene expression patterns for specific genes. Additionally, genes expressed coordinately with the onset of SCW biosynthesis in cotton fiber correlated with gene expression patterns of other SCW-producing plant tissues. Functional classification and enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes between the two NILs revealed that genes associated with SCW biosynthesis were significantly up-regulated in fibers of the high-fiber quality line at the transition stage of cotton fiber development. For independent corroboration of the microarray results, 15 genes were selected for quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis of fiber gene expression. These analyses, conducted over multiple field years, confirmed the temporal difference in fiber gene expression between the two NILs. We hypothesize that the loci conferring temporal differences in fiber gene expression between the NILs are important regulatory sequences that offer the potential for more targeted manipulation of cotton fiber quality.

Acoustic emission as a screening tool for ceramic matrix composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ojard, Greg; Goberman, Dan; Holowczak, John

2017-02-01

Ceramic matrix composites are composite materials with ceramic fibers in a high temperature matrix of ceramic or glass-ceramic. This emerging class of materials is viewed as enabling for efficiency improvements in many energy conversion systems. The key controlling property of ceramic matrix composites is a relatively weak interface between the matrix and the fiber that aids crack deflection and fiber pullout resulting in greatly increased toughness over monolithic ceramics. United Technologies Research Center has been investigating glass-ceramic composite systems as a tool to understand processing effects on material performance related to the performance of the weak interface. Changes in the interface have been shown to affect the mechanical performance observed in flexural testing and subsequent microstructural investigations have confirmed the performance (or lack thereof) of the interface coating. Recently, the addition of acoustic emission testing during flexural testing has aided the understanding of the characteristics of the interface and its performance. The acoustic emission onset stress changes with strength and toughness and this could be a quality tool in screening the material before further development and use. The results of testing and analysis will be shown and additional material from other ceramic matrix composite systems may be included to show trends.

Characterization of developmental immature fiber (im) mutant and Texas Marker-1 (TM-1) cotton fibers by Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The immature fiber (im) mutant is one type of cotton fiber mutants with unique characteristics of non-fluffy cotton bolls. Compared to its near-isogenic wild type Texas Marker-1 (TM-1), im fiber has thin secondary cell wall and is less mature. In this work, we applied the previously proposed princip...

Human epidemiology: A review of fiber type and characteristics in the development of malignant and nonmalignant disease

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Merchant, J.A.

1990-08-01

Consideration of the human epidemiology of diseases arising from exposure to naturally occurring and man-made mineral fibers encompasses the several forms of asbestos, other naturally occurring silicates, and man-made mineral fibers. The diseases arising from exposures to some of these fibers include pleural thickening, pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancers, mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum, and other cancers. Risk factors important in assessing these diseases include assessment of latency, duration of exposure, cumulative exposure, fiber origin and characteristics, other possible confounding occupational or environmental exposures, and smoking. Methodological issues commonly presenting problems in evaluation of these data include assessment of themore » adequacy of environmental exposures, particularly in regard to fiber identification, distribution, and concentration over the duration of exposure, and the adequacy of study design to detect health effects. Research priorities include further assessment and standardization of pleural thickening relative to fiber exposure, uniform mesothelioma surveillance, further epidemiological assessment of certain silicate and man-made mineral fiber cohorts with emphasis given to assessment of tremolite and small diameter glass and ceramic fibers. Further assessment of possible health risks of the general public should await improved definition of relevant fiber exposure in ambient air.« less

Field emission characteristics of a small number of carbon fiber emitters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Wilkin W.; Shiffler, Donald A.; Harris, John R.; Jensen, Kevin L.; Golby, Ken; LaCour, Matthew; Knowles, Tim

2016-09-01

This paper reports an experiment that studies the emission characteristics of small number of field emitters. The experiment consists of nine carbon fibers in a square configuration. Experimental results show that the emission characteristics depend strongly on the separation between each emitter, providing evidence of the electric field screening effects. Our results indicate that as the separation between the emitters decreases, the emission current for a given voltage also decreases. The authors compare the experimental results to four carbon fiber emitters in a linear and square configurations as well as to two carbon fiber emitters in a paired array. Voltage-current traces show that the turn-on voltage is always larger for the nine carbon fiber emitters as compared to the two and four emitters in linear configurations, and approximately identical to the four emitters in a square configuration. The observations and analysis reported here, based on Fowler-Nordheim field emission theory, suggest the electric field screening effect depends critically on the number of emitters, the separation between them, and their overall geometric configuration.

Scale factor gage for fiber optics inspection device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcmahon, W.; Sugg, F. E.

1971-01-01

Flexible wire device, fastened along outside of fiber bundle from viewing portion to tip, positions calibrated adjustable gage in field of view. Scale factor is determined from known magnification characteristics of fiber optics system or from graduations on gage tip.

Heterogeneous nucleation of a semicrystalline polymer on fiber surfaces

Treesearch

Sangyeob Lee; Todd f. Shupe; Leslie h. Groom; Chung Y. Hse

2006-01-01

Nucleation phenomenon as affected by the surface conditions of six identical wood/non-wood fibers with three levels of fiber treatments were investigated by a combination of complementary techniques. This study was based on results of a preliminary study on the influence of surface characteristics of thermomechanical pulp (TMP) fibers on the transcrystalline layer (TLC...

[Study of Raman scattering of plastic optical fiber].

PubMed

Sun, Xiu-Ping; Feng, Ke-Cheng; Zhang, Xi-He; Tan, Yong; Zhang, Feng-Dong; Wang, Zhao-Min

2005-12-01

The first order stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) spectrum of PMMA plastic optical fiber was given, and the characteristic of the first order Stokes spectrum was studied. The threshold and the spectrum width were measured. The formation mechanism of SRS was analyzed, and then the first order Stokes spectrum of plastic optical fiber and that of silica fiber were compared.

In vitro starch digestion and cake quality: impact of the ratio of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber.

PubMed

Oh, Im Kyung; Bae, In Young; Lee, Hyeon Gyu

2014-02-01

The influence of the ratio of soluble dietary fiber (SDF) and insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) on the in vitro starch digestion, predicted glycemic index (pGI), and the physicochemical properties of fiber-enriched cakes were evaluated. The hydration and pasting properties were affected by the ratio of SDF and IDF. According to the increase of IDF ratio (SDF ratio reduction) in 3 g fiber-enriched cakes, slowly digestible starch (SDS) contents increased, while the rapidly digestible starch (RDS) contents decreased. The pGI values were significantly different with control in 3 g fiber-enriched cake containing more than 50% IDF contents (p<0.05). But the pGI values of 6g fiber-enriched cake samples were not significantly different by SDF and IDF ratio. With the exception of the SDF 100% cake, volume index, hardness, and color values of the fiber-enriched cakes increased according to reductions in the SDF ratio. The cakes containing 3 g of total dietary fiber (the same ratio of SDF and IDF) per serving were shown to have low pGI and acceptable quality attributes. Specially, total dietary fiber amount and IDF ratio are more effective than SDF ratio to lower the pGI value. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bamboo shoot fiber prevents obesity in mice by modulating the gut microbiota

PubMed Central

Li, Xiufen; Guo, Juan; Ji, Kailong; Zhang, Ping

2016-01-01

Dietary fiber has been shown to prevent high-fat diet induced obesity through modulating the gut microbiota; however, quality difference in fiber type is largely unknown. We performed a 6 week study on C57BL/6J mice fed a macronutrient matched high-fat diet with different fiber types including cellulose (HFC), bamboo shoot fiber (HFBS) and several other commonly consumed fibers. Our results showed that the HFBS group exhibited the lowest weight gain among all diet groups and had improved lipid profiles and glycemic control compared with the HFC group. As revealed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, loss of diversity in the gut microbiota induced by the HFC diet was largely prevented by the HFBS diet. Moreover, compared with the HFC diet, the HFBS diet resulted in markedly increased relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and strong inhibition of Verrucomicrobia, two divisions strongly correlated with body weight. In conclusion, the present study provides evidence of a quality difference among different types of dietary fibers and shows that bamboo shoot fiber is the most effective in suppressing high-fat diet induced obesity. Our findings indicate that bamboo shoot fiber is a potential prebiotic fiber which modulates the gut microbiota and improves host metabolism. PMID:27599699

Investigation into the Fiber Orientation Effect on the Formability of GLARE Materials in the Stamp Forming Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shichen; Lang, Lihui; Sherkatghanad, Ehsan; Wang, Yao; Xu, Wencai

2018-04-01

Glass-reinforced aluminum laminate (GLARE) is a new class of fiber metal laminates (FMLs) which has the advantages such as high tensile strength, outstanding fatigue, impact resistance, and excellent corrosion properties. GLARE has been extensively applied in advanced aerospace and automobile industries. However, the deformation behavior of the glass fiber during forming must be studied to the benefits of the good-quality part we form. In this research, we focus on the effect of fiber layer orientation on the GLARE laminate formability in stamp forming process. Experimental and numerical analysis of stamping a hemisphere part in different fiber orientation is investigated. The results indicate that unidirectional and multi-directional fiber in the middle layer make a significant effect on the thinning and also surface forming quality of the three layer sheet. Furthermore, the stress-strain distribution of the aluminum alloy and the unique anisotropic property of the fiber layer exhibit that fiber layer orientation can also affect the forming depths as well as the fracture modes of the laminate. According to the obtained results, it is revealed that multi-directional fiber layers are a good alternative compared to the unidirectional fibers especially when a better formability is the purpose.

Synthesis and adsorption properties of hollow tubular alumina fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lozhkomoev, A. S.; Kazantsev, S. O.; Glazkova, E. A.

2017-12-01

In this study, composite glass fibers coated with alumina nanoplates and hollow tubular alumina fibers with a diameter of 400-500 nm are synthesized based on glass fiber templated hydrothermal strategy. Porous coatings on glass fibers and hollow fibers consist of cross-linked alumina nanoplates with the size of 100-200 nm and thickness of 2-5 nm. Their formation is attributed to the template-induced heterogeneous growth of alumina nanoplates on glass fibers of the B-06-F type. It is important that composite glass fibers and hollow tubular fibers have opposite surface charges and exhibit selective sorption characteristics towards anionic and cationic dyes.

Analysis of multimode fiber bundles for endoscopic spectral-domain optical coherence tomography

PubMed Central

Risi, Matthew D.; Makhlouf, Houssine; Rouse, Andrew R.; Gmitro, Arthur F.

2016-01-01

A theoretical analysis of the use of a fiber bundle in spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems is presented. The fiber bundle enables a flexible endoscopic design and provides fast, parallelized acquisition of the OCT data. However, the multimode characteristic of the fibers in the fiber bundle affects the depth sensitivity of the imaging system. A description of light interference in a multimode fiber is presented along with numerical simulations and experimental studies to illustrate the theoretical analysis. PMID:25967012

Infrared wavelength dependence of leaky mode losses and steady state distribution in W-type glass optical fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djordjevich, Alexandar; Simović, Ana; Savović, Svetislav; Drljača, Branko

2018-07-01

Infrared wavelength dependence of leaky mode losses and steady state distribution (SSD) in W-type glass optical fibers (doubly clad fibers with three layers) is investigated in this paper for parametrically varied depths and widths of the fiber's intermediate optical layer. This enables a tailoring of configuration of the W-type fiber to suit an application at hand. We have shown that the proposed W-type fiber has better transmission characteristics at longer infrared wavelengths.

Remote sensing of key grassland nutrients using hyperspectral techniques in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Leeth; Mutanga, Onisimo; Mafongoya, Paramu; Peerbhay, Kabir

2017-07-01

The concentration of forage fiber content is critical in explaining the palatability of forage quality for livestock grazers in tropical grasslands. Traditional methods of determining forage fiber content are usually time consuming, costly, and require specialized laboratory analysis. With the potential of remote sensing technologies, determination of key fiber attributes can be made more accurately. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of known absorption wavelengths for detecting forage fiber biochemicals, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and lignin using hyperspectral data. Hyperspectral reflectance spectral measurements (350 to 2500 nm) of grass were collected and implemented within the random forest (RF) ensemble. Results show successful correlations between the known absorption features and the biochemicals with coefficients of determination (R2) ranging from 0.57 to 0.81 and root mean square errors ranging from 6.97 to 3.03 g/kg. In comparison, using the entire dataset, the study identified additional wavelengths for detecting fiber biochemicals, which contributes to the accurate determination of forage quality in a grassland environment. Overall, the results showed that hyperspectral remote sensing in conjunction with the competent RF ensemble could discriminate each key biochemical evaluated. This study shows the potential to upscale the methodology to a space-borne multispectral platform with similar spectral configurations for an accurate and cost effective mapping analysis of forage quality.

Performance of large aperture tapered fiber phase conjugate mirror with high pulse energy and 1-kHz repetition rate.

PubMed

Zhao, Zhigang; Dong, Yantao; Pan, Sunqiang; Liu, Chong; Chen, Jun; Tong, Lixin; Gao, Qingsong; Tang, Chun

2012-01-16

A large aperture fused silica tapered fiber phase conjugate mirror is presented with a maximum 70% stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) reflectivity, which is obtained with 1 kHz repetition rate, 15 ns pulse width and 38 mJ input pulse energy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest SBS reflectivity ever reported by using optical fiber as a phase conjugate mirror for such high pulse repetition rate (1 kHz) and several tens of millijoule (mJ) input pulse energy. The influences of fiber end surface quality and pump pulse widths on SBS reflectivity are investigated experimentally. The results show that finer fiber end surface quality and longer input pulse widths are preferred for obtaining higher SBS reflectivity with higher input pulse energy. Double passing amplification experiments are also performed. 52 mJ pulse energy is achieved at 1 kHz repetition rate, with a reflected SBS pulse width of 1.5 ns and a M(2) factor of 2.3. The corresponding peak power reaches 34.6 MW. Obvious beam quality improvement is observed.

Fiber micronaire, fineness and maturity predictions using NIR spectroscopy instruments on seed cotton and cotton fiber, in and outside of the laboratory

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Micronaire is an important fiber quality parameter in the cotton industry. Micronaire is a function of maturity (the degree of the fiber secondary wall development) and fineness (linear density). Bench-top near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has the ability to measure micronaire, maturity and fineness,...

In-Depth Analysis of the Structure and Properties of Two Varieties of Natural Luffa Sponge Fibers

PubMed Central

Chen, Yuxia; Su, Na; Zhang, Kaiting; Zhu, Shiliu; Zhao, Lei; Fang, Fei; Ren, Linyan; Guo, Yong

2017-01-01

The advancement in science and technology has led to luffa sponge (LS) being widely used as a natural material in industrial application because of its polyporous structure and light texture. To enhance the utility of LS fibers as the reinforcement of lightweight composite materials, the current study investigates their water absorption, mechanical properties, anatomical characteristics and thermal performance. Hence, moisture regain and tensile properties of LS fiber bundles were measured in accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards while their structural characteristics were investigated via microscopic observation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the surface morphology and fractured surface of fiber bundles. The test results show that the special structure where the phloem tissues degenerate to cavities had a significant influence on the mechanical properties of LS fiber bundles. Additionally, the transverse sectional area occupied by fibers in a fiber bundle (SF), wall thickness, ratio of wall to lumen of fiber cell, and crystallinity of cellulose had substantial impact on the mechanical properties of LS fiber bundles. Furthermore, the density of fiber bundles of LS ranged within 385.46–468.70 kg/m3, significantly less than that of jute (1360.40 kg/m3) and Arenga engleri (950.20 kg/m3). However, LS fiber bundles demonstrated superior specific modulus than Arenga engleri. PMID:28772838

A Self-Referencing Intensity-Based Fiber Optic Sensor with Multipoint Sensing Characteristics

PubMed Central

Choi, Sang-Jin; Kim, Young-Chon; Song, Minho; Pan, Jae-Kyung

2014-01-01

A self-referencing, intensity-based fiber optic sensor (FOS) is proposed and demonstrated. The theoretical analysis for the proposed design is given, and the validity of the theoretical analysis is confirmed via experiments. We define the measurement parameter, X, and the calibration factor, β, to find the transfer function, Hm,n, of the intensity-based FOS head. The self-referencing and multipoint sensing characteristics of the proposed system are validated by showing the measured Hm,n2 and relative error versus the optical power attenuation of the sensor head for four cases: optical source fluctuation, various remote sensing point distances, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with different characteristics, and multiple sensor heads with cascade and/or parallel forms. The power-budget analysis and limitations of the measurement rates are discussed, and the measurement results of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) coupon strain using the proposed FOS are given as an actual measurement. The proposed FOS has several benefits, including a self-referencing characteristic, the flexibility to determine FBGs, and a simple structure in terms of the number of devices and measuring procedure. PMID:25046010

Fiber Optic Communications Technology. A Status Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hull, Joseph A.

Fiber optic communications (communications over very pure glass transmission channels of diameter comparable to a human hair) is an emerging technology which promises most improvements in communications capacity at reasonable cost. The fiber transmission system offers many desirable characteristics representing improvements over conventional…

Prediction of beef carcass and meat traits from rearing factors in young bulls and cull cows.

PubMed

Soulat, J; Picard, B; Léger, S; Monteils, V

2016-04-01

The aim of this study was to predict the beef carcass and LM (thoracis part) characteristics and the sensory properties of the LM from rearing factors applied during the fattening period. Individual data from 995 animals (688 young bulls and 307 cull cows) in 15 experiments were used to establish prediction models. The data concerned rearing factors (13 variables), carcass characteristics (5 variables), LM characteristics (2 variables), and LM sensory properties (3 variables). In this study, 8 prediction models were established: dressing percentage and the proportions of fat tissue and muscle in the carcass to characterize the beef carcass; cross-sectional area of fibers (mean fiber area) and isocitrate dehydrogenase activity to characterize the LM; and, finally, overall tenderness, juiciness, and flavor intensity scores to characterize the LM sensory properties. A random effect was considered in each model: the breed for the prediction models for the carcass and LM characteristics and the trained taste panel for the prediction of the meat sensory properties. To evaluate the quality of prediction models, 3 criteria were measured: robustness, accuracy, and precision. The model was robust when the root mean square errors of prediction of calibration and validation sub-data sets were near to one another. Except for the mean fiber area model, the obtained predicted models were robust. The prediction models were considered to have a high accuracy when the mean prediction error (MPE) was ≤0.10 and to have a high precision when the was the closest to 1. The prediction of the characteristics of the carcass from the rearing factors had a high precision ( > 0.70) and a high prediction accuracy (MPE < 0.10), except for the fat percentage model ( = 0.67, MPE = 0.16). However, the predictions of the LM characteristics and LM sensory properties from the rearing factors were not sufficiently precise ( < 0.50) and accurate (MPE > 0.10). Only the flavor intensity of the beef score could be satisfactorily predicted from the rearing factors with high precision ( = 0.72) and accuracy (MPE = 0.10). All the prediction models displayed different effects of the rearing factors according to animal categories (young bulls or cull cows). In consequence, these prediction models display the necessary adaption of rearing factors during the fattening period according to animal categories to optimize the carcass traits according to animal categories.

Development of high performance refractory fibers with enhanced insulating properties and longer service lifetimes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martin, P.C.; DePoorter, G.L.; Munoz, D.R.

1991-02-01

We have initiated a three phase investigation of the development of high performance refractory fibers with enhanced insulating properties and longer usable lifetimes. This report presents the results of the first phase of the study, performed from Aug. 1989 through Feb. 1991, which shows that significant energy saving are possible through the use of high temperature insulating fibers that better retain their efficient insulating properties during the service lifetime of the fibers. The remaining phases of this program include the pilot scale development and then full scale production feasibility development and evaluation of enhanced high temperature refractory insulting fibers. Thismore » first proof of principle phase of the program presents a summary of the current use patterns of refractory fibers, a laboratory evaluation of the high temperature performance characteristics of selected typical refractory fibers and an analysis of the potential energy savings through the use of enhanced refractory fibers. The current use patterns of refractory fibers span a wide range of industries and high temperature furnaces within those industries. The majority of high temperature fiber applications are in furnaces operating between 2000 and 26000{degrees}F. The fibers used in furnaces operating within this range provide attractive thermal resistance and low thermal storage at reasonable cost. A series of heat treatment studies performed for this phase of the program has shown that the refractory fibers, as initially manufactured, have attractive thermal conductivities for high temperature applications but the fibers go through rapid devitrification and subsequent crystal growth upon high temperature exposure. Development of improved fibers, maintaining the favorable characteristics of the existing as-manufactured fibers, could save between 1 and 4% of the energy consumed in high temperature furnaces using refractory fibers.« less

Review of animal/in vitro data on biological effects of man-made fibers.

PubMed Central

Ellouk, S A; Jaurand, M C

1994-01-01

This paper reviews the investigations with man-made fibers (MMF). Insulation woods: glasswool (GW), rockwool (RW), slagwool (SW), glass microfibers (GMF), glass filaments (GFiI), and refractory ceramic fibers (RCF) have been used in experimental animals and in in vitro cell systems. A large heterogeneous number of fibers, methods of fiber preparation, size selection, aerosolization, fiber size, and fiber burden measurement were noted, rendering difficult a comparison between results. By inhalation, RCF and asbestos used as positive controls produced a significant tumor increase. In some studies, a low tumor yield was found after inhalation of insulation wools; when all inhalation data were gathered, a significant tumor increase was found with GW. However, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions on the potential of other fiber types because, in addition to the different compositions of the fibers, differences in fiber number and sizes existed, especially in comparison with asbestos. Moreover, experiments using inoculation, especially by the intraperitoneal route revealed a carcinogenic potential of all fibers types but GFiI and SW. In these two groups a small number of animals has been investigated and the fiber characteristics were sometimes irrelevant. So far, a relationship between the carcinogenic potency and fiber dimensions has been established. Other fiber parameters may be of importance (surface chemistry, biopersistence, fiber structure, for example) but further investigations are necessary to determine the correlations between these parameters and tumor incidence. In vitro experiments have emphasized the fiber characteristics identified in vivo as playing a role in the carcinogenic potency and should be developed as a better approach of the mechanistic effects of MMF. PMID:7925187

Impact of temperature and relative humidity on the near infrared spectroscopy measurements of cotton fiber micronaire

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A key cotton fiber property is micronaire, the indirect indicator of the fiber’s maturity (cell wall development or thickening) and fineness (linear density or size). Micronaire can impact the fiber’s quality, textile processing efficiency, and fabric dye consistency. As a key quality property, fi...

Enhancing forest value productivity through fiber quality

Treesearch

D. Briggs

2010-01-01

Developing markets for carbon storage and bioenergy, shifting of the pulp and paper industry to biorefineries, and the potential of new technologies present the forest sector with exciting transformative opportunities and challenges. One of these challenges will be to understand the implications for fiber (wood) quality. This article provides a definitional context for...

Development of a multichannel hyperspectral imaging probe for property and quality assessment of horticultural products

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This paper reports on the development, calibration and evaluation of a new multipurpose, multichannel hyperspectral imaging probe for property and quality assessment of food products. The new multichannel probe consists of a 910-miscrometer fiber as a point light source and 30 light receiving fibers...

Tracking cotton fiber quality and foreign matter through a stripper harvester

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The main objective of this project was to track cotton fiber quality and foreign matter content throughout the harvesting units and conveying/cleaning systems on a brush-roll stripper harvester. Seed cotton samples were collected at six locations in 2011 and five in 2012 including: 1) hand-picked fr...

Improvement of a Harvester Based, Multispectral, Seed Cotton Fiber Quality Sensor

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A multispectral sensor for in-situ seed cotton fiber quality measurement was developed and tested at Texas A&M University. Results of initial testing of the sensor using machine harvested seed cotton have shown promise. Improvements have been made to the system and the measurement method to meet t...

Local load-sharing fiber bundle model in higher dimensions.

PubMed

Sinha, Santanu; Kjellstadli, Jonas T; Hansen, Alex

2015-08-01

We consider the local load-sharing fiber bundle model in one to five dimensions. Depending on the breaking threshold distribution of the fibers, there is a transition where the fracture process becomes localized. In the localized phase, the model behaves as the invasion percolation model. The difference between the local load-sharing fiber bundle model and the equal load-sharing fiber bundle model vanishes with increasing dimensionality with the characteristics of a power law.

Pulsed 1.55μm all-fiber laser combining high energy, ultranarrow linewidth and optimal spatial beam quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liégeois, Flavien; Hernandez, Yves; Kinet, Damien; Giannone, Domenico; Robin, Thierry; Cadier, Benoît

2008-11-01

In this letter, we report on the study of a new all-fiber laser source suitable for coherent Doppler LIDAR use in the eyesafe domain. The laser consists on a MOPA configuration where the Master Oscillator is a modulated ultranarrow (< 8 kHz) fiber laser. The optical amplifiers are also all-fibered and make use of a new Large Mode Area (LMA) index pedestal fiber that is very effective in limiting the non-linear effects without quality degradation of the laser beam. The amplified pulses have a maximum energy of 0.15 mJ for a duration of 340 ns at a repetition rate of 15 kHz. The average output power of the laser is 2.5 W, free of Stimulated Brillouin Scattering and with a measured M2 = 1.3.

Automated Inspection of Defects in Optical Fiber Connector End Face Using Novel Morphology Approaches.

PubMed

Mei, Shuang; Wang, Yudan; Wen, Guojun; Hu, Yang

2018-05-03

Increasing deployment of optical fiber networks and the need for reliable high bandwidth make the task of inspecting optical fiber connector end faces a crucial process that must not be neglected. Traditional end face inspections are usually performed by manual visual methods, which are low in efficiency and poor in precision for long-term industrial applications. More seriously, the inspection results cannot be quantified for subsequent analysis. Aiming at the characteristics of typical defects in the inspection process for optical fiber end faces, we propose a novel method, “difference of min-max ranking filtering” (DO2MR), for detection of region-based defects, e.g., dirt, oil, contamination, pits, and chips, and a special model, a “linear enhancement inspector” (LEI), for the detection of scratches. The DO2MR is a morphology method that intends to determine whether a pixel belongs to a defective region by comparing the difference of gray values of pixels in the neighborhood around the pixel. The LEI is also a morphology method that is designed to search for scratches at different orientations with a special linear detector. These two approaches can be easily integrated into optical inspection equipment for automatic quality verification. As far as we know, this is the first time that complete defect detection methods for optical fiber end faces are available in the literature. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed DO2MR and LEI models yield good comprehensive performance with high precision and accepted recall rates, and the image-level detection accuracies reach 96.0 and 89.3%, respectively.

Surface and Bulk Characteristics of Cesium Iodide (CsI) coated Carbon (C) Fibers for High Power Microwave (HPM) Field Emission Cathodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vlahos, Vasilios; Morgan, Dane; Booske, John H.; Shiffler, Don

2008-11-01

CsI coated C fibers [1] are promising field emission cathodes for HPM applications. Ab initio computational modeling has shown that atomically-thin CsI coatings reduce the work function of C substrates by a surface dipole mechanism [2]. Characterization measurements of the composition and morphology of the CsI-coated C fibers are underway for determining the properties and characteristics of the following important regions of the fiber: (i) the surface on the tip of the fiber where the majority of electron emission is believed to occur, (ii) the surface covering the body of the fiber and its role on the emission properties of the system, and (iii) the interior volume of the fiber and its effects on the CsI surface re-supply process and rate. The results will be interpreted in terms of surface electronic properties and theoretical electron emission models. [1]D. Shiffler, et al., Phys. Plasmas 11 (2004) 1680. [2]V.Vlahos et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 91 (2007) 144102.

Nanostructured Basaltfiberconcrete Exploitational Characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saraykina, K. A.; Shamanov, V. A.

2017-11-01

The article demonstrates that the mass use of basalt fiber concrete (BFC) is constrained by insufficient study of their durability and serviceability in a variety of environments. This research is aimed at the study of the basalt fiber corrosion processes in the cement stone of BFC, the control of the new products structure formation in order to protect the reinforcing fiber from alkaline destruction and thereby improve the exploitational characteristics of the composite. The research result revealed that the modification of basaltfiber concrete by the dispersion of MWNTs contributes to the directional formation of new products in the cement matrix. The HAM additive in basaltfiberconcrete provides for the binding of portlandite to low-basic calcium hydroaluminosilicates, thus reducing the aggressive effect of the cement environment on the reinforcing fibers properties. The complex modification of BFC with nanostructured additives provides for an increase in its durability and exploitational properties (strength, frost resistance and water resistance) due to basalt fiber protection from alkali corrosion on account of the compacting of the contact zone “basalt fiber - cement stone” and designing of the new products structure and morphology of cement matrix over the fiber surface.

Diffusion Raman stimulée à trois ondes dans une fibre optique.

PubMed

Saissy, A; Botineau, J; Azema, A; Gires, F

1980-05-15

Three-wave stimulated Raman scattering in optical fibers has been studied theoretically in connection with the characteristics of the fiber (core diameter, core-cladding refractive-index difference) and excitation conditions. We observe experimentally this type of scattering in a silica fiber, from which we can estimate the nonlinearity of silica and the index difference of the fiber.

How current ginning processes affect fiber length uniformity index

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

There is a need to develop cotton ginning methods that improve fiber characteristics that are compatible with the newer and more efficient spinning technologies. A literature search produced recent studies that described how current ginning processes affect HVI fiber length uniformity index. Resul...

Theoretical and Experimental Study on Wide Range Optical Fiber Turbine Flow Sensor.

PubMed

Du, Yuhuan; Guo, Yingqing

2016-07-15

In this paper, a novel fiber turbine flow sensor was proposed and demonstrated for liquid measurement with optical fiber, using light intensity modulation to measure the turbine rotational speed for converting to flow rate. The double-circle-coaxial (DCC) fiber probe was introduced in frequency measurement for the first time. Through the divided ratio of two rings light intensity, the interference in light signals acquisition can be eliminated. To predict the characteristics between the output frequency and flow in the nonlinear range, the turbine flow sensor model was built. Via analyzing the characteristics of turbine flow sensor, piecewise linear equations were achieved in expanding the flow measurement range. Furthermore, the experimental verification was tested. The results showed that the flow range ratio of DN20 turbine flow sensor was improved 2.9 times after using piecewise linear in the nonlinear range. Therefore, combining the DCC fiber sensor and piecewise linear method, it can be developed into a strong anti-electromagnetic interference(anti-EMI) and wide range fiber turbine flowmeter.

Theoretical and Experimental Study on Wide Range Optical Fiber Turbine Flow Sensor

PubMed Central

Du, Yuhuan; Guo, Yingqing

2016-01-01

In this paper, a novel fiber turbine flow sensor was proposed and demonstrated for liquid measurement with optical fiber, using light intensity modulation to measure the turbine rotational speed for converting to flow rate. The double-circle-coaxial (DCC) fiber probe was introduced in frequency measurement for the first time. Through the divided ratio of two rings light intensity, the interference in light signals acquisition can be eliminated. To predict the characteristics between the output frequency and flow in the nonlinear range, the turbine flow sensor model was built. Via analyzing the characteristics of turbine flow sensor, piecewise linear equations were achieved in expanding the flow measurement range. Furthermore, the experimental verification was tested. The results showed that the flow range ratio of DN20 turbine flow sensor was improved 2.9 times after using piecewise linear in the nonlinear range. Therefore, combining the DCC fiber sensor and piecewise linear method, it can be developed into a strong anti-electromagnetic interference(anti-EMI) and wide range fiber turbine flowmeter. PMID:27428976

Shear Behavior Models of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beams Modifying Softened Truss Model Approaches

PubMed Central

Hwang, Jin-Ha; Lee, Deuck Hang; Ju, Hyunjin; Kim, Kang Su; Seo, Soo-Yeon; Kang, Joo-Won

2013-01-01

Recognizing that steel fibers can supplement the brittle tensile characteristics of concrete, many studies have been conducted on the shear performance of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) members. However, previous studies were mostly focused on the shear strength and proposed empirical shear strength equations based on their experimental results. Thus, this study attempts to estimate the strains and stresses in steel fibers by considering the detailed characteristics of steel fibers in SFRC members, from which more accurate estimation on the shear behavior and strength of SFRC members is possible, and the failure mode of steel fibers can be also identified. Four shear behavior models for SFRC members have been proposed, which have been modified from the softened truss models for reinforced concrete members, and they can estimate the contribution of steel fibers to the total shear strength of the SFRC member. The performances of all the models proposed in this study were also evaluated by a large number of test results. The contribution of steel fibers to the shear strength varied from 5% to 50% according to their amount, and the most optimized volume fraction of steel fibers was estimated as 1%–1.5%, in terms of shear performance. PMID:28788364

Enrichment of probiotic ice cream with different dietary fibers: Structural characteristics and culture viability.

PubMed

Akalın, A S; Kesenkas, H; Dinkci, N; Unal, G; Ozer, E; Kınık, O

2018-01-01

This study evaluated the effect of 5 dietary fibers (apple, orange, oat, bamboo, and wheat) on the physicochemical, rheological, and textural characteristics; sensory properties; and culture viability of probiotic ice cream stored at -18°C for 180 d. The presence of orange and apple fibers increased the titratable acidity, decreased the lightness (color) value of the ice creams, and enhanced the red and yellow coloration. Compared with the control sample, the consistency indices and apparent viscosities of the experimental samples increased with the addition of all dietary fibers except oat fiber. The highest viscosity was obtained in the sample fortified with apple fiber, whereas the ice cream containing orange fiber showed the highest hardness after d 60 of storage. The addition of orange and apple fibers significantly increased melting resistance; however, panelists did not generally like these samples in terms of taste-flavor. All ice creams had viable counts of Lactobacillus acidophilus of ≥7 log cfu/g during storage except the samples with orange and bamboo fiber. Bifidobacterium lactis counts were also found to be >6 log cfu/g in those samples until d 150 of storage. Copyright © 2018 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Muscle fiber characteristics and performance correlates of male Olympic-style weightlifters.

PubMed

Fry, Andrew C; Schilling, Brian K; Staron, Robert S; Hagerman, Fredrick C; Hikida, Robert S; Thrush, John T

2003-11-01

Biopsies fro the vastus lateralis muscle of male weightlifters (WL; n=6; X +/- SE, age=27.0 +/- 2.1 years), and non-weight-trained men (CON; n=7; age=27.0 +/- 2.0 years) were compared for fiber types, myosin heavy chain (MHC) and titin content, and fiber type-specific capillary density. Differences (p<0.05) were observed for percent fiber types IIC (WL=0.4 +/- 0.2, CON=2.4 +/- 0.8); IIA (WL=50.5 +/- 3.2, CON=26.9 +/- 3.7); and IIB (WL=1.7 +/- 1.4, CON=21.0 +/- 5.3), as well as percent MHC IIa (WL=65.3 +/- 2.4, CON=52.1 +/- 4.2) and percent MHC IIB (WL=0.9 +/- 0.9; CON=18.2 +/- 6.1). All WL exhibited only the titin-1 isoform. Capillary density (caps.mm(-2)) for all fiber types combined was greater for the CON subjects (WL=192.7 +/- 17.3; CON=262.9 +/- 26.3), due primarily to a greater capillary density in the IIA fibers. Weightlifting performances and vertical jump power were correlated with type II fiber characteristics. These results suggest that successful weightlifting performance is not dependent on IIB fibers, and that weightlifters exhibit large percentages of type IIA muscle fibers and MHC IIa isoform content.

[Chemical characteristics of the pulp and oil of the annona tree (Annona coriaceae)].

PubMed

Agostini, T da S; Cecchi, H M; Barrera-Arellano, D

1995-09-01

Belonging to the Annonaceae family, marolo (Annona coriaceae) is a native species of the Brazilian "cerrado" región (Minas Gerais, Goiás and Distrito Federal) and can be found in South American tropical zones. Its fruits are highly consumed by local people and commercialized in markets or street stalls. There is, however, a tendency for the extinction of marolo due to deforestation and the large scale plantation of monocultures instead of native plants. The literature still offers no data on the chemical composition of the proximate composition and vitamin C, A and tannin contents were carried out on the yellow marolo pulp as well as the determination of the physico-chemical characteristics of the seed oil. Five batches of fruit from the Alfenas region--south of Minas Gerais State--were analysed in this work and their average composition were: humidity 77%, total sugar 15%, reducing sugar 11%, crude protein 1%, lipids 3%, fiber 5% and fixed mineral residue 1%. The contents of vitamin C and A were 8.2 mg/100g and 117.5 RE/100g, respectively, and the tannin content was 245 mg/100g. The results showed high fiber and lipid contents of marolo pulp in comparison with many other tropical fruit pulps. The vitamin C contents were equivalent to those found in avocado, pineapple and watermelon, while the vitamin A contents were equivalent to papaya, peach, guava and several other tropical fruits. Marolo seed contains 45% of oil on a dry basis. Its composition and physico-chemical characteristics showed the possibility of producing a good quality oil, with great potential for the fine oil market. However the presence of alkaloids in the oil needs to be further studied. Their elimination could be done by refining or extraction in a continuous press. The results exalt the high quality of marolo pulp, showing that the preservation of native species should be stimulated.

High-voltage spark carbon-fiber sticky-tape data analyzer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, L. C.; Hull, G. G.

1980-01-01

An efficient method for detecting carbon fibers collected on a stick tape monitor was developed. The fibers were released from a simulated crash fire situation containing carbon fiber composite material. The method utilized the ability of the fiber to initiate a spark across a set of alternately biased high voltage electrodes to electronically count the number of fiber fragments collected on the tape. It was found that the spark, which contains high energy and is of very short duration, is capable of partially damaging or consuming the fiber fragments. It also creates a mechanical disturbance which ejects the fiber from the grid. Both characteristics were helpful in establishing a single discharge pulse for each fiber segment.

Impact of polymeric membrane breakage on drinking water quality and an online detection method of the breakage.

PubMed

Wu, Qilong; Zhang, Zhenghua; Cao, Guodong; Zhang, Xihui

2017-10-15

Polymeric membrane has been widely used for the treatment of drinking water in China, and the total treating capacity has reached up to 3.8 million m 3 /d. However, the membrane breakage found in the membrane modules in many water treatment plants resulted in an increase in turbidity and bacterial amount in the membrane permeate. In this study, a membrane module running for 3 years in a full-scale application was examined in terms of the breaking positions and the numbers of the broken fibers. It was found that most of the breaking positions were mainly on the outlet side of the module and that the distance from these points to the outlet was about 1/10-2/10 length of the membrane module. The lab-scale tests showed that the increase of the numbers of the breaking fibers in the membrane module (the breaking fibers were from 1 to 4 of 75 fibers) resulted in the increase in turbidity, particle count and the amount of total bacteria and coliform bacteria. Meanwhile, the water quality after the filtration with broken membrane fibers was similar to the quality of the raw water, which indicated that once the membrane fiber breakage occurred in the membrane module, the quality of drinking water after membrane filtration was significantly affected. Furthermore, the breaking position closer to the outlet side of the membrane module exposed much higher microbiological risk than those in the middle or near the bottom side. A pilot scale test was conducted by using a membrane module with 6600 fibers, and the effect of the membrane breakage (1-4 broken fibers) on water quality was also investigated. The results indicated that periodical backwashing caused drastic fluctuation of turbidity, particle count and the bacterial amount in the permeate water, which might be due to the washing force and self-blocking action inside the hollow fibers. Moreover, there is a good quantitative relationship (R 2 = 0.945) between particle count and the bacterial amount, which indicated that an online detection of particle count can be used to evaluate the bacterial risk. It was also suggested that the online detection of particle count after backwashing within 100 s would be a quick and precise method to identify any fiber breakage in time. These results are very important for the safety issue in the application of polymeric membrane to water treatment plants.

Dynamic mechanical analysis and high strain-rate energy absorption characteristics of vertically aligned carbon nanotube reinforced woven fiber-glass composites

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The dynamic mechanical behavior and energy absorption characteristics of nano-enhanced functionally graded composites, consisting of 3 layers of vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) forests grown on woven fiber-glass (FG) layer and embedded within 10 layers of woven FG, with polyester (PE) and...

Correlation of water vapor adsorption behavior of wood with surface thermodynamic properties

Treesearch

Mandla A. Tshabalala; Agnes R. Denes; R. Sam Williams

1999-01-01

To improve the overall performance of wood-plastic composites, appropriate technologies are needed to control moisture sorption and to improve the interaction of wood fiber with selected hydrophobic matrices. The objective of this study was to determine the surface thermodynamic characteristics of a wood fiber and to correlate those characteristics with the fiberas...

Propagation Characteristics Of Weakly Guiding Optical Fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manshadi, Farzin

1992-01-01

Report discusses electromagnetic propagation characteristics of weakly guiding optical-fiber structures having complicated shapes with cross-sectional dimensions of order of wavelength. Coupling, power-dividing, and transition dielectric-waveguide structures analyzed. Basic data computed by scalar-wave, fast-Fourier-transform (SW-FFT) technique, based on numerical solution of scalar version of wave equation by forward-marching fast-Fourier-transform method.

Effect of fiber surface conditioning on the acoustic emission behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aggelis, D. G.; Soulioti, D. V.; Gatselou, E.; Barkoula, N. M.; Paipetis, A.; Matikas, T. E.

2011-04-01

The role of coating in preserving the bonding between steel fibers and concrete is investigated in this paper. Straight types of fibers with and without chemical coating are used in steel fiber reinforced concrete mixes. The specimens are tested in bending with concurrent monitoring of their acoustic emission activity throughout the failure process using two broadband sensors. The different stages of fracture (before, during and after main crack formation) exhibit different acoustic fingerprints, depending on the mechanisms that are active during failure (concrete matrix micro-cracking, macro-cracking and fiber pull out). Additionally, it was seen that the acoustic emission behaviour exhibits distinct characteristics between coated and uncoated fiber specimens. Specifically, the frequency of the emitted waves is much lower for uncoated fiber specimens, especially after the main fracture incident, during the fiber pull out stage of failure. Additionally, the duration and the rise time of the acquired waveforms are much higher for uncoated specimens. These indices are used to distinguish between tensile and shear fracture in concrete and suggest that friction is much stronger for the uncoated fibers. On the other hand, specimens with coated fibers exhibit more tensile characteristics, more likely due to the fact that the bond between fibers and concrete matrix is stronger. The fibers therefore, are not simply pulled out but also detach a small volume of the brittle concrete matrix surrounding them. It seems that the effect of chemical coating can be assessed by acoustic emission parameters additionally to the macroscopic measurements of ultimate toughness.

CdSe/ZnS quantum dot fluorescence spectra shape-based thermometry via neural network reconstruction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Munro, Troy; Laboratory of Soft Matter and Biophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Heverlee; Liu, Liwang

As a system of interest gets small, due to the influence of the sensor mass and heat leaks through the sensor contacts, thermal characterization by means of contact temperature measurements becomes cumbersome. Non-contact temperature measurement offers a suitable alternative, provided a reliable relationship between the temperature and the detected signal is available. In this work, exploiting the temperature dependence of their fluorescence spectrum, the use of quantum dots as thermomarkers on the surface of a fiber of interest is demonstrated. The performance is assessed of a series of neural networks that use different spectral shape characteristics as inputs (peak-based—peak intensity,more » peak wavelength; shape-based—integrated intensity, their ratio, full-width half maximum, peak normalized intensity at certain wavelengths, and summation of intensity over several spectral bands) and that yield at their output the fiber temperature in the optically probed area on a spider silk fiber. Starting from neural networks trained on fluorescence spectra acquired in steady state temperature conditions, numerical simulations are performed to assess the quality of the reconstruction of dynamical temperature changes that are photothermally induced by illuminating the fiber with periodically intensity-modulated light. Comparison of the five neural networks investigated to multiple types of curve fits showed that using neural networks trained on a combination of the spectral characteristics improves the accuracy over use of a single independent input, with the greatest accuracy observed for inputs that included both intensity-based measurements (peak intensity) and shape-based measurements (normalized intensity at multiple wavelengths), with an ultimate accuracy of 0.29 K via numerical simulation based on experimental observations. The implications are that quantum dots can be used as a more stable and accurate fluorescence thermometer for solid materials and that use of neural networks for temperature reconstruction improves the accuracy of the measurement.« less

FIBER AND INTEGRATED OPTICS. FIBER WAVEGUIDE DEVICES: Fiber Michelson interferometer with a 50-km difference between its arms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dianov, Evgenii M.; Kuznetsov, A. V.; Makarenko, A. Yu; Okhotnikov, O. G.; Prokhorov, A. M.; Shcherbakov, E. A.

1990-12-01

Single-mode fiber waveguides were used in constructing a Michelson interferometer with a 50-km difference between its arm lengths. An analysis was made of its resolving power as a function of the parameters of the optical part and of the characteristics of the electronic apparatus used in the system. The width of a spectral emission line of a semiconductor laser with a distributed Rayleigh fiber resonator was determined.

Generating polarization-entangled photon pairs using cross-spliced birefringent fibers.

PubMed

Meyer-Scott, Evan; Roy, Vincent; Bourgoin, Jean-Philippe; Higgins, Brendon L; Shalm, Lynden K; Jennewein, Thomas

2013-03-11

We demonstrate a novel polarization-entangled photon-pair source based on standard birefringent polarization-maintaining optical fiber. The source consists of two stretches of fiber spliced together with perpendicular polarization axes, and has the potential to be fully fiber-based, with all bulk optics replaced with in-fiber equivalents. By modelling the temporal walk-off in the fibers, we implement compensation necessary for the photon creation processes in the two stretches of fiber to be indistinguishable. Our source subsequently produces a high quality entangled state having (92.2 ± 0.2) % fidelity with a maximally entangled Bell state.

Creep of Heat-Resistant Composites of an Oxide-Fiber/Ni-Matrix Family

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mileiko, S. T.

2001-09-01

A creep model of a composite with a creeping matrix and initially continuous elastic brittle fibers is developed. The model accounts for the fiber fragmentation in the stage of unsteady creep of the composite, which ends with a steady-state creep, where a minimum possible average length of the fiber is achieved. The model makes it possible to analyze the creep rate of the composite in relation to such parameters of its structure as the statistic characteristics of the fiber strength, the creep characteristics of the matrix, and the strength of the fiber-matrix interface, the latter being of fundamental importance. A comparison between the calculation results and the experimental ones obtained on composites with a Ni-matrix and monocrystalline and eutectic oxide fibers as well as on sapphire fiber/TiAl-matrix composites shows that the model is applicable to the computer simulation of the creep behavior of heat-resistant composites and to the optimization of the structure of such composites. By combining the experimental data with calculation results, it is possible to evaluate the heat resistance of composites and the potential of oxide-fiber/Ni-matrix composites. The composite specimens obtained and tested to date reveal their high creep resistance up to a temperature of 1150°C. The maximum operating temperature of the composites can be considerably raised by strengthening the fiber-matrix interface.

Narrowband spectral filter based on biconical tapered fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Celaschi, Sergio; Malheiros-Silveira, Gilliard N.

2018-02-01

The ease of fabrication and compactness of devices based on tapered optical fibers contribute to its potential using in several applications ranging from telecommunication components to sensing devices. In this work, we proposed, fabricated, and characterized a spectral filter made of biconical taper from a coaxial optical fiber. This filter is defined by adiabatically tapering a depressed-cladding fiber. The adiabatic taper profile obtained during fabrication prevents the interference of other modes than HE11 and HE12 ones, which play the main role for the beating phenomenon and the filter response. The evolution of the fiber shapes during the pulling was modeled by two coupled partial differential equations, which relate the normalized cross-section area, and the axial velocity of the fiber elongation. These equations govern the mass and axial momentum conservation. The numerical results of the filter characteristics are in good accordance with the experimental ones. The filter was packaged in order to let it ready for using in optical communication bands. The characteristics are: free spectral range (FSR) of 6.19 nm, insertion loss bellow 0.5 dB, and isolation > 20 dB at C-band. Its transmission spectrum extends from 1200 to 1600 nm where the optical fiber core supports monomode transmission. Such characteristics may also be interesting to be applied in sensing applications. We show preliminary numerical results assuming a biconic taper embedded into a dielectric media, showing promising results for electro-optic sensing applications.

Ytterbium-doped Y 2O 3 nanoparticle silica optical fibers for high power fiber lasers with suppressed photodarkening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoo, S.; Kalita, M. P.; Boyland, A. J.; Webb, A. S.; Standish, R. J.; Sahu, J. K.; Paul, M. C.; Das, S.; Bhadra, S. K.; Pal, M.

2010-09-01

We report efficient laser demonstration and spectroscopic characteristics of a Yb-doped Y 2O 3 (or Y 3Al 5O 12) nanoparticle silica fiber developed by conventional fiber fabrication technique. The spectroscopy study evidences modification in the environment of Yb ions by the Y 2O 3 nanoparticles. As a result, photodarkening induced loss is reduced by 20 times relative to Yb-doped aluminosilicate fibers. The fiber is suitable for power scaling with good laser slope efficiency of 79%.

Experimental study on the statistic characteristics of a 3x3 RF MIMO channel over a single conventional multimode fiber.

PubMed

Lei, Yi; Li, Jianqiang; Wu, Rui; Fan, Yuting; Fu, Songnian; Yin, Feifei; Dai, Yitang; Xu, Kun

2017-06-01

Based on the observed random fluctuation phenomenon of speckle pattern across multimode fiber (MMF) facet and received optical power distribution across three output ports, we experimentally investigate the statistic characteristics of a 3×3 radio frequency multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel enabled by mode division multiplexing in a conventional 50 µm MMF using non-mode-selective three-dimensional waveguide photonic lanterns as mode multiplexer and demultiplexer. The impacts of mode coupling on the MIMO channel coefficients, channel matrix, and channel capacity have been analyzed over different fiber lengths. The results indicate that spatial multiplexing benefits from the greater fiber length with stronger mode coupling, despite a higher optical loss.

Simulation of time-dispersion spectral device with sample spectra accumulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhdanov, Arseny; Khansuvarov, Ruslan; Korol, Georgy

2014-09-01

This research is conducted in order to design a spectral device for light sources power spectrum analysis. The spectral device should process radiation from sources, direct contact with radiation of which is either impossible or undesirable. Such sources include jet blast of an aircraft, optical radiation in metallurgy and textile industry. In proposed spectral device optical radiation is guided out of unfavorable environment via a piece of optical fiber with high dispersion. It is necessary for analysis to make samples of analyzed radiation as short pulses. Dispersion properties of such optical fiber cause spectral decomposition of input optical pulses. The faster time of group delay vary the stronger the spectral decomposition effect. This effect allows using optical fiber with high dispersion as a major element of proposed spectral device. Duration of sample must be much shorter than group delay time difference of a dispersive system. In the given frequency range this characteristic has to be linear. The frequency range is 400 … 500 THz for typical optical fiber. Using photonic-crystal fiber (PCF) gives much wider spectral range for analysis. In this paper we propose simulation of single pulse transmission through dispersive system with linear dispersion characteristic and quadratic-detected output responses accumulation. During simulation we propose studying influence of optical fiber dispersion characteristic angle on spectral measurement results. We also consider pulse duration and group delay time difference impact on output pulse shape and duration. Results show the most suitable dispersion characteristic that allow choosing the structure of PCF - major element of time-dispersion spectral analysis method and required number of samples for reliable assessment of measured spectrum.

Identification of Biomarkers Associated with the Rearing Practices, Carcass Characteristics, and Beef Quality: An Integrative Approach.

PubMed

Gagaoua, Mohammed; Monteils, Valérie; Couvreur, Sébastien; Picard, Brigitte

2017-09-20

Data from birth to slaughter of cull cows allowed using a PCA-based approach coupled with the iterative K-means algorithm the identification of three rearing practices classes. The classes were different in their carcass characteristics. Old cows raised mainly on pasture have better carcass characteristics, while having an equivalent tenderness, juiciness, flavor, intramuscular fat content, and pHu to those fattened with hay or haylage. The Longissimus thoracis muscle of the cows raised on pasture (with high physical activity) showed greater proportions of IIA fibers at the expense of the fast IIX ones. Accordingly, the meat of these animals have better color characteristics. Superoxide dismutase (SOD1) and αB-crystallin quantified by Dot-Blot were the only other biomarkers to be more abundant in "Grass" class compared to "Hay" and "Haylage" classes. The relationships between the biomarkers and the 6 carcass and 11 meat quality traits were investigated using multiple regression analyses per rearing practices. The associations were rearing practice class and phenotype trait-dependent. ICDH and TP53 were common for the three classes, but the direction of their entrance was different. In addition, rearing practices and carcass traits were not related with Hsp70-Grp75 and μ-calpain abundances. The other relationships were specific for two or one rearing practices class. The rearing practices dependency of the relationships was also found with meat quality traits. Certain proteins were for the first time related with some beef quality traits. MyHC-IIx, PGM1, Hsp40, ICDH, and Hsp70-Grp75 were common for the three rearing practices classes and retained to explain at list one beef quality trait. A positive relationship was found between PGM1 and hue angle irrespective of rearing practices class. This study confirms once again that production-related traits in livestock are the result of sophisticated biological processes finely orchestrated during the life of the animal and soon after slaughter.

Trenched raised cosine FMF for differential mode delay management in next generation optical networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chebaane, Saleh; Fathallah, Habib; Seleem, Hussein; Machhout, Mohsen

2018-02-01

Dispersion management in few mode fiber (FMF) technology is crucial to support the upcoming standard that reaches 400 Gbps and Terabit/s per wavelength. Recently in Chebaane et al. (2016), we defined two potential differential mode delay (DMD) management strategies, namely sawtooth and triangular. Moreover we proposed a novel parametric refractive index profile for FMF, referred as raised cosine (RC) profile. In this article, we improve and optimize the RC profile design by including additional shaping parameters, in order to obtain much more attractive dispersion characteristics. Our improved design enabled to obtain a zero DMD (z-DMD), strong positive DMD (p-DMD) and near-zero DMD (nz-DMD) for six-mode fiber, all appropriate for dispersion management in FMF system. In addition, we propose a positive DMD (p-DMD) fiber designs for both, four-mode fiber (4-FMF) and six-mode fiber (6-FMF), respectively, having particularly attractive dispersion characteristics.

Harvesting strategies for increasing the availability and quality of hardwood fiber

Treesearch

Chris B. LeDoux

1999-01-01

Worldwide demand for wood and wood products will continue to increase as global human population increases. These increasing demands for wood will continue to provide economic incentives for non-industrial private forest-land (NIPF) owners to increase the availability and quality of wood fiber harvested from their lands. The challenge is to encourage and facilitate...

Preliminary evaluation of feeder and lint slide moisture addition on ginning, fiber quality, and textile processing of western cotton

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of moisture addition at the gin stand feeder conditioning hopper and/or the battery condenser slide on gin performance and Western cotton fiber quality and textile processing. The test treatments included no moisture addition, feeder hopper hum...

Comparative genetic analysis of lint yield and fiber quality among single, three-way, and double crosses in upland cotton

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Decisions on the appropriate crossing systems to employ for genetic improvement of quantitative traits are critical in cotton breeding. Determination of genetic variance for lint yield and fiber quality in three different crossing schemes, i.e., single cross (SC), three-way cross (TWC), and double ...

Identification of detergents for forensic fiber analysis.

PubMed

Heider, Emily C; Mujumdar, Nirvani; Campiglia, Andres D

2016-11-01

Trace fibers are an important form of trace evidence, and identification of exogenous substances on textile fibers provides valuable information about the origin of the fiber. Laundering textiles can provide a unique fluorescent spectral signature of the whitening agent in the detergent that adsorbs to the fiber. Using fluorescence microscopy, the spectral characteristics of seven detergents adsorbed to single fibers drawn from laundered textiles were investigated, and principal component analysis of clusters was used to characterize the type of detergent on the fiber. On dyed nylon fibers, spectra from eight different detergent pairs could be resolved and washed validation fibers correctly classified. On dyed acrylic fibers, five different detergent pairs could be resolved and identified. Identification of the detergent type may prove useful in matching a trace fiber to its bulk specimen of origin.

Measurement of Sub Degree Angular Carbon Fiber Tow Misalignment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, William C.; Moore, Jason P.; McCraw, Hunter

2017-01-01

NASA is investigating the use of carbon fiber tow steering to tune aeroelastic characteristics in advanced composite structures. In support of that effort, NASA is also investigating methods of measuring the angle of carbon fiber tows as they are placed. This work presents the results of using microwave reflectometry in the approximately 2 GHz region to measure carbon fiber tow angles at 0.1deg resolution.

Microdroplet-etched highly birefringent low-loss fiber tapers.

PubMed

Mikkelsen, Jared C; Poon, Joyce K S

2012-07-01

We use hydrofluoric acid microdroplets to directly etch highly birefringent biconical fiber tapers from standard single-mode fibers. The fiber tapers have micrometer-sized cross sections, which are controlled by the etching condition. The characteristic teardrop cross section leads to a high group birefringence of B(G)≈0.017 and insertion losses <0.7 dB over waist lengths of about 2.1 mm.

Does chlorination of seawater reverse osmosis membranes control biofouling?

PubMed

Khan, Muhammad Tariq; Hong, Pei-Ying; Nada, Nabil; Croue, Jean Philippe

2015-07-01

Biofouling is the major problem of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes used for desalting seawater (SW). The use of chlorine is a conventional and common practice to control/prevent biofouling. Unlike polyamide RO membranes, cellulose triacetate (CTA) RO membranes display a high chlorine tolerance. Due to this characteristic, CTA membranes are used in most of the RO plants located in the Middle East region where the elevated seawater temperature and water quality promote the risk of membrane biofouling. However, there is no detailed study on the investigation/characterization of CTA-RO membrane fouling. In this investigation, the fouling profile of a full-scale SWRO desalination plant operating with not only continuous chlorination of raw seawater but also intermittent chlorination of CTA-RO membranes was studied. Detailed water quality and membrane fouling analyses were conducted. Profiles of microbiological, inorganic, and organic constituents of analysed fouling layers were extensively discussed. Our results clearly identified biofilm development on these membranes. The incapability of chlorination on preventing biofilm formation on SWRO membranes could be assigned to its failure in effectively reaching throughout the different regions of the permeators. This failure could have occurred due to three main factors: plugging of membrane fibers, chlorine consumption by organics accumulated on the front side fibers, or chlorine adaptation of certain bacterial populations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Skeletal muscle stem cell characteristics and myonuclei content in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Boutrup, Rasmus Jentoft; Farup, Jean; Vissing, Kristian; Kjaer, Michael; Mikkelsen, Ulla Ramer

2018-06-01

To investigate satellite cells (SCs) and myonuclei characteristics in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Resting biopsies from m. vastus lateralis were obtained from thirteen RA patients and thirteen matched healthy controls (CON). Muscle biopsies were immunohistochemically stained and analyzed for fiber type specific content of SCs (Pax7 + ), proliferating SCs (Pax7 + /MyoD + ) and differentiating SCs (myogenin + ). Furthermore, we quantified fiber type specific content of myonuclei and myofiber cross-sectional area (CSA). Finally, newly formed/regenerating fibers expressing neonatal MHC (nMHC + ) were determined. The fiber type specific number of SCs did not differ between RA patients and CON, nor did the content of proliferating or differentiating SCs. In contrast, the content of myonuclei per fiber was higher in RA patients than CON for both type I (2.01 ± 0.41 vs. 1.42 ± 0.40 myonuclei/fiber, p < 0.01) and type II fibers (2.01 ± 0.41 vs. 1.37 ± 0.32 myonuclei/fiber, p < 0.01). No differences were observed in fiber composition, fiber type specific CSA or content of nMHC + fibers. Our results indicate an increased propensity for myogenic differentiation of SC leading to an elevated myonuclear content in the skeletal muscle of RA patients. It is hypothesized that this could be a compensatory regulatory response related to the chronic inflammation in these patients.

High-energy and high-peak-power nanosecond pulse generation with beam quality control in 200-µm core highly multimode Yb-doped fiberamplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Ming-Yuan; Chang, Yu-Chung; Galvanauskas, Almantas; Mamidipudi, Pri; Changkakoti, Rupak; Gatchell, Peter

2005-02-01

We explored high-energy and high-peak-power pulse generation in large-core multimode fiber amplifiers, achieving what is to our knowledge the highest reported energies, up to 82 mJ for 500-ns pulses, 27 mJ for 50-ns pulses, and 2.4-MW peak power for 4-ns pulses at 1064 nm, using 200-µm-diameter and 0.062-N.A. core Yb-doped double-clad fiber amplifiers. The highly multimode nature of the fiber core was mitigated by use of a coiling-induced mode-filtering effect to yield a significant improvement in output-beam quality from M^2 = 25 from an uncoiled fiber to M^2 = 6.5 from a properly coiled fiber, with the corresponding reduction in number of propagating transverse modes from >or=200 to <or=20.

Verification of echo amplitude envelope analysis method in skin tissues for quantitative follow-up of healing ulcers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omura, Masaaki; Yoshida, Kenji; Akita, Shinsuke; Yamaguchi, Tadashi

2018-07-01

We aim to develop an ultrasonic tissue characterization method for the follow-up of healing ulcers by diagnosing collagen fibers properties. In this paper, we demonstrated a computer simulation with simulation phantoms reflecting irregularly distributed collagen fibers to evaluate the relationship between physical properties, such as number density and periodicity, and the estimated characteristics of the echo amplitude envelope using the homodyned-K distribution. Moreover, the consistency between echo signal characteristics and the structures of ex vivo human tissues was verified from the measured data of normal skin and nonhealed ulcers. In the simulation study, speckle or coherent signal characteristics are identified as periodically or uniformly distributed collagen fibers with high number density and high periodicity. This result shows the effectiveness of the analysis using the homodyned-K distribution for tissues with complicated structures. Normal skin analysis results are characterized as including speckle or low-coherence signal components, and a nonhealed ulcer is different from normal skin with respect to the physical properties of collagen fibers.

Recording high quality speech during tagged cine-MRI studies using a fiber optic microphone.

PubMed

NessAiver, Moriel S; Stone, Maureen; Parthasarathy, Vijay; Kahana, Yuvi; Paritsky, Alexander; Paritsky, Alex

2006-01-01

To investigate the feasibility of obtaining high quality speech recordings during cine imaging of tongue movement using a fiber optic microphone. A Complementary Spatial Modulation of Magnetization (C-SPAMM) tagged cine sequence triggered by an electrocardiogram (ECG) simulator was used to image a volunteer while speaking the syllable pairs /a/-/u/, /i/-/u/, and the words "golly" and "Tamil" in sync with the imaging sequence. A noise-canceling, optical microphone was fastened approximately 1-2 inches above the mouth of the volunteer. The microphone was attached via optical fiber to a laptop computer, where the speech was sampled at 44.1 kHz. A reference recording of gradient activity with no speech was subtracted from target recordings. Good quality speech was discernible above the background gradient sound using the fiber optic microphone without reference subtraction. The audio waveform of gradient activity was extremely stable and reproducible. Subtraction of the reference gradient recording further reduced gradient noise by roughly 21 dB, resulting in exceptionally high quality speech waveforms. It is possible to obtain high quality speech recordings using an optical microphone even during exceptionally loud cine imaging sequences. This opens up the possibility of more elaborate MRI studies of speech including spectral analysis of the speech signal in all types of MRI.

Lasers for industrial production processing: tailored tools with increasing flexibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rath, Wolfram

2012-03-01

High-power fiber lasers are the newest generation of diode-pumped solid-state lasers. Due to their all-fiber design they are compact, efficient and robust. Rofin's Fiber lasers are available with highest beam qualities but the use of different process fiber core sizes enables the user additionally to adapt the beam quality, focus size and Rayleigh length to his requirements for best processing results. Multi-mode fibers from 50μm to 600μm with corresponding beam qualities of 2.5 mm.mrad to 25 mm.mrad are typically used. The integrated beam switching modules can make the laser power available to 4 different manufacturing systems or can share the power to two processing heads for parallel processing. Also CO2 Slab lasers combine high power with either "single-mode" beam quality or higher order modes. The wellestablished technique is in use for a large number of industrial applications, processing either metals or non-metallic materials. For many of these applications CO2 lasers remain the best choice of possible laser sources either driven by the specific requirements of the application or because of the cost structure of the application. The actual technical properties of these lasers will be presented including an overview over the wavelength driven differences of application results, examples of current industrial practice as cutting, welding, surface processing including the flexible use of scanners and classical optics processing heads.

Advance study of fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mironova, M.; Ivanova, M.; Naidenov, V.; Georgiev, I.; Stary, J.

2015-10-01

Incorporation in concrete composition of steel macro- and micro - fiber reinforcement with structural function increases the degree of ductility of typically brittle cement-containing composites, which in some cases can replace completely or partially conventional steel reinforcement in the form of rods and meshes. Thus, that can reduce manufacturing, detailing and placement of conventional reinforcement, which enhances productivity and economic efficiency of the building process. In this paper, six fiber-reinforced with different amounts of steel fiber cement-containing self-compacting compositions are investigated. The results of some of their main strength-deformation characteristics are presented. Advance approach for the study of structural and material properties of these type composites is proposed by using the methods of industrial computed tomography. The obtained original tomography results about the microstructure and characteristics of individual structural components make it possible to analyze the effective macro-characteristics of the studied composites. The resulting analytical data are relevant for the purposes of multi-dimensional modeling of these systems. Multifactor structure-mechanical analysis of the obtained with different methods original scientific results is proposed. It is presented a conclusion of the capabilities and effectiveness of complex analysis in the studies to characterize the properties of self-compacting fiber-reinforced concrete.

Guilty by his fibers: suspect confession versus textile fibers reconstructed simulation.

PubMed

Suzuki, Shinichi; Higashikawa, Yoshiyasu; Sugita, Ritsuko; Suzuki, Yasuhiro

2009-08-10

In one particular criminal case involving murder and theft, the arrested suspect admitted to the theft, but denied responsibility for the murder of the inhabitant of the crime scene. In his confession, the suspect stated that he found the victim's body when he broke into the crime scene to commit theft. For this report, the actual crime scene was reconstructed in accordance with the confession obtained during the interrogation of the suspect, and suspect behavior was simulated in accord to the suspect confession. The number of characteristic fibers retrieved from the simulated crime scene was compared with those of retrieved from the actual crime scene. By comparing the distribution and number of characteristic fibers collected in the simulation experiments and the actual investigation, the reliability of the suspect's confession was evaluated. The characteristic dark yellowish-green woolen fibers of the garment that the suspect wore when he entered the crime scene were selected as the target fiber in the reconstruction. The experimental simulations were conducted four times. The distributed target fibers were retrieved using the same type of adhesive tape and the same protocol by the same police officers who conducted the retrieval of the fibers at the actual crime scene. The fibers were identified both through morphological observation and by color comparisons of their ultaviolet-visible transmittance spectra measured with a microspectrophotometer. The fibers collected with the adhesive tape were counted for each area to compare with those collected in the actual crime scene investigation. The numbers of fibers found at each area of the body, mattress and blankets were compared between the simulated experiments and the actual investigation, and a significant difference was found. In particular, the numbers of fibers found near the victim's head were significantly different. As a result, the suspect's confession was not considered to be reliable, as a stronger contact with the victim was demonstrated by our simulations. During the control trial, traditional forensic traces like DNA or fingerprints were mute regarding the suspect's says. At the opposite, the fiber intelligence was highly significant to explain the suspect's behavior at the crime scene. The fiber results and simulations were presented at the court and the man was subsequently found guilty not only of theft and trespassing but also murder.

Effect of coupling agents on the weathering characteristics of bio-fiber composites

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bio-fiber polymer composites (BFPC) are composite materials made from a thermoplastic or thermoset resin (substrate) with cellulosic fibers as fillers or reinforcement. BFPC have shown a significant growth in the last decade as a building product, automotive parts, and landscaping products. BFPC com...

Muscle fiber characteristics of broiler breast fillets with the wooden breast condition.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Broiler breast fillets exhibiting the wooden breast condition are described as having a rigid feel and abnormal texture attributes; however, changes at the muscle fiber level in wooden breast fillets are not well understood. The objective of this study was to compare the histochemical muscle fiber ...

Quality Evaluation of Biscuits Supplemented with Alfalfa Seed Flour

PubMed Central

Ullah, Fahim; Ahmad, Sajjad; Wahab, Said; Zeb, Alam; Khan Khattak, Mansoor; Khan, Saleem; Kang, Min

2016-01-01

The effect of alfalfa seed flour supplementation on the quality characteristics of refined wheat flour-based biscuits was studied. The proximate composition of refined wheat flour and alfalfa seed flour was determined. Refined wheat flour contained 12.43% moisture, 11.52% crude protein, 1.61% crude fat, 0.71% crude fiber, 1.43% ash and 70.83% nitrogen free extract, while alfalfa seed flour contained 5.79%, 29.49%, 12.71%, 5.53%, 4.80% and 41.73% moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash and nitrogen free extract correspondingly. Alfalfa seed flour at 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% supplementation levels was incorporated in refined wheat flour to produce composite flour. The biscuits prepared were subjected to quality evaluation. Physical analysis of biscuits disclosed that supplementation of alfalfa seed flour decreased the width from 47.25 to 42 mm and the spread factor from 62.7 to 53.12, while it increased the thickness from 7.53 to 8.10 mm. Supplementation of refined wheat flour–based biscuits with alfalfa seed flour at different inclusion levels significantly (p < 0.05) increased the crude protein content from 10.19% to 15.30%, the crude fiber content from 0.73% to 1.62%, the crude fat content from 17.46% to 21.59% and the ash content from 1.37% to 1.92%, whereas it decreased the moisture content from 3.57% to 3.26% and the nitrogen free extract from 66.90% to 59.32%. The effect of supplementation on the mineral contents of biscuits was also significant (p < 0.05). Potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and zinc contents increased from 105.30, 14.65, 43.91, 3.74 and 0.94 to 145.00, 26.64, 79.60, 7.93 and 1.60 mg/100 g, respectively. Sensory evaluation revealed that the quality score of biscuits in terms of color, taste, texture and overall acceptability decreased with increased supplementation. The present research work confirmed that a maximum of 10% alfalfa seed flour supplementation in refined wheat flour could produce acceptable biscuits with an appropriate nutritional profile. PMID:28231168

A 64-pixel NbTiN superconducting nanowire single-photon detector array for spatially resolved photon detection.

PubMed

Miki, Shigehito; Yamashita, Taro; Wang, Zhen; Terai, Hirotaka

2014-04-07

We present the characterization of two-dimensionally arranged 64-pixel NbTiN superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SSPD) array for spatially resolved photon detection. NbTiN films deposited on thermally oxidized Si substrates enabled the high-yield production of high-quality SSPD pixels, and all 64 SSPD pixels showed uniform superconducting characteristics within the small range of 7.19-7.23 K of superconducting transition temperature and 15.8-17.8 μA of superconducting switching current. Furthermore, all of the pixels showed single-photon sensitivity, and 60 of the 64 pixels showed a pulse generation probability higher than 90% after photon absorption. As a result of light irradiation from the single-mode optical fiber at different distances between the fiber tip and the active area, the variations of system detection efficiency (SDE) in each pixel showed reasonable Gaussian distribution to represent the spatial distributions of photon flux intensity.

Ultrathin fiber poly-3-hydroxybutyrate, modified by silicon carbide nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olkhov, A. A.; Krutikova, A. A.; Goldshtrakh, M. A.; Staroverova, O. V.; Iordanskii, A. L.; Ischenko, A. A.

2016-11-01

The article presents the results of studies the composite fibrous material based on poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and nano-size silicon carbide obtained by the electrospinning method. Size distribution of the silicon carbide nanoparticles in the fiber was estimated by X-ray diffraction technique. It is shown that immobilization of the SiC nanoparticles to the PHB fibers contributes to obtaining essentially smaller diameter of fibers, high physical-mechanical characteristics and increasing resistance to degradation in comparison with the fibers of PHB.

Generation of spirally polarized propagation-invariant beam using fiber microaxicon.

PubMed

Philip, Geo M; Viswanathan, Nirmal K

2011-10-01

We present here a fiber microaxicon (MA)based method to generate spirally polarized propagation-invariant optical beam. MA chemically etched in the tip of a two-mode fiber efficiently converts the generic cylindrically polarized vortex fiber mode into a spirally polarized propagation-invariant (Bessel-type) beam via radial dependence of polarization rotation angle. The combined roles of helico-conical phase and nonparaxial propagation in the generation and characteristics of the output beam from the fiber MA are discussed. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Mid-IR supercontinuum generation and applications: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Shizhuo; Ruffin, Paul; Brantley, Christina; Edwards, Eugene; Luo, Claire

2014-09-01

In this paper, a review on mid-IR supercontinuum generation (SCG) and its applications is presented. First, the physical mechanism of the supercontinuum generation in IR crystal fiber is introduced. Second, the recent progress on IR single crystal fiber, in particular ultrathin core double cladding IR single crystal fiber is described. Third, the transmission characteristics of mid-IR crystal fiber is illustrated. Fourth, the mid-IR supercontinuum generation in IR single crystal fiber is presented. Finally, the application of IR supercontinuum for smart target recognition is illustrated

Nd:YAG-laser-based time-domain reflectometry measurements of the intrinsic reflection signature from PMMA fiber splices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawson, Christopher M.; Michael, Robert R., Jr.; Dressel, Earl M.; Harmony, David W.

1991-12-01

Optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) measurements have been performed on polished polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) plastic fiber splices. After the dominant splice reflection sources due to surface roughness, inexact index matching, and fiber core misalignment were eliminated, an intrinsic OTDR signature 3 - 8 dB above the Rayleigh backscatter floor remained with all tested fibers. This minimum splice reflectivity exhibits characteristics that are consistent with sub-surface polymer damage and can be used for detection of PMMA fiber splices.

Properties of carbon fibers with various coatings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seegel, V.; Mcmahon, P.

1983-01-01

It is shown that all high modulus carbon fibers are durable with respect to thermal oxidation in air. Among the more widely used and economical materials with low modulus, Celion displays particularly good oxidative durability at high temperatures. This contrast to other materials is due to the low content of Natrium and Kalium in Celion carbon fibers. It is also noted that improved characteristics are attained in Celion carbon fiber/polyimide systems when fibers are used with high temperature resistant polyimide coatings.

Effects of Friction Reduction on Fiber Damage in a Saw-Type Lint Cleaner

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

U.S. cotton is at a competitive disadvantage from a fiber-quality standpoint, because lint cleaning is required for mechanically harvested cotton, and lint cleaning causes fiber damage. Lint-cleaning research has focused mainly on modifying saw-type lint cleaners, but the work reported here focuses...

Comparative transcriptome analysis of cotton fiber development of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) and Chromosome Segment Substitution Lines from G. hirsutum × G. barbadense.

PubMed

Li, Peng-Tao; Wang, Mi; Lu, Quan-Wei; Ge, Qun; Rashid, Md Harun Or; Liu, Ai-Ying; Gong, Ju-Wu; Shang, Hai-Hong; Gong, Wan-Kui; Li, Jun-Wen; Song, Wei-Wu; Guo, Li-Xue; Su, Wei; Li, Shao-Qi; Guo, Xiao-Ping; Shi, Yu-Zhen; Yuan, You-Lu

2017-09-08

How to develop new cotton varieties possessing high yield traits of Upland cotton and superior fiber quality traits of Sea Island cotton remains a key task for cotton breeders and researchers. While multiple attempts bring in little significant progresses, the development of Chromosome Segment Substitution Lines (CSSLs) from Gossypium barbadense in G. hirsutum background provided ideal materials for aforementioned breeding purposes in upland cotton improvement. Based on the excellent fiber performance and relatively clear chromosome substitution segments information identified by Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers, two CSSLs, MBI9915 and MBI9749, together with the recurrent parent CCRI36 were chosen to conduct transcriptome sequencing during the development stages of fiber elongation and Secondary Cell Wall (SCW) synthesis (from 10DPA and 28DPA), aiming at revealing the mechanism of fiber development and the potential contribution of chromosome substitution segments from Sea Island cotton to fiber development of Upland cotton. In total, 15 RNA-seq libraries were constructed and sequenced separately, generating 705.433 million clean reads with mean GC content of 45.13% and average Q30 of 90.26%. Through multiple comparisons between libraries, 1801 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, of which the 902 up-regulated DEGs were mainly involved in cell wall organization and response to oxidative stress and auxin, while the 898 down-regulated ones participated in translation, regulation of transcription, DNA-templated and cytoplasmic translation based on GO annotation and KEGG enrichment analysis. Subsequently, STEM software was performed to explicate the temporal expression pattern of DEGs. Two peroxidases and four flavonoid pathway-related genes were identified in the "oxidation-reduction process", which could play a role in fiber development and quality formation. Finally, the reliability of RNA-seq data was validated by quantitative real-time PCR of randomly selected 20 genes. The present report focuses on the similarities and differences of transcriptome profiles between the two CSSLs and the recurrent parent CCRI36 and provides novel insights into the molecular mechanism of fiber development, and into further exploration of the feasible contribution of G. barbadense substitution segments to fiber quality formation, which will lay solid foundation for simultaneously improving fiber yield and quality of upland cotton through CSSLs.

[Use of nopal dietary fiber in a powder dessert formulation].

PubMed

Sáenz, Carmen; Sepúlveda, Elena; Pak, Nelly; Vallejos, Ximena

2002-12-01

The development of diverse types of foods of low caloric value and with high content in dietary fiber have occupied a preponderant place in the food industry in the last years, due to the growing interest of the consumers for a healthy and nutritious diet. Pre-cooked or quick to prepare foods are attractive for the time they save; if to this you add their nutritious value, the attractiveness is even greater. For this reason, this study analyzes different formulations of a powder to prepare a dessert (flan), with different percentages of incorporation of nopal flour, as a source of dietary fiber (16%, 18%, 20%). Two flavors (melon and banana) were tried. It was observed that the flan flavored with banana and with 16% of nopal flour, reached better sensorial characteristics. Greater percentages of nopal flour negatively affected the sensorial characteristics, mainly flavor, color and texture. The analysis showed that the powder presented 5.7% of moisture, low water activity (0.48) and therefore a low total recount of microorganisms. The content of protein was high (27.2%), the ether extract low (2.0%) similar to the caloric contribution (40 Kcal/portion). The flan showed a 9.8% of total dietary fiber, being greater the contribution of soluble fiber (6.1%) than that of insoluble fiber (3.7%). Due to these characteristics this formulation could be considered as a food that provides benefits for the human health.

Production process of a new cellulosic fiber with antimicrobial properties.

PubMed

Zikeli, Stefan

2006-01-01

The Lyocell process (system: cellulose-water-N-methylmorpholine oxide) of Zimmer AG offers special advantages for the production of cellulose fibers. The process excels by dissolving the most diverse cellulose types as these are optimally adjusted to the process by applying different pretreatment methods. Based on this stable process, Zimmer AG's objective is to impart to the Lyocell fiber additional value to improve quality of life and thus to tap new markets for the product. Thanks to the specific incorporation of seaweed, the process allows to produce cellulose Lyocell fibers with additional and new features. They are activated in a further step - by specific charging with metal ions - in order to obtain antibacterial properties. The favorable textile properties of fibers produced by the Lyocell process are not adversely affected by the incorporation of seaweed material or by activation to obtain an antibacterial fiber so that current textile products can be made from the fibers thus produced. The antibacterial effect is achieved by metal ion activation of the Lyocell fibers with incorporated seaweed, which contrasts with the antibacterial fibers known so far. Antibacterial fibers produced by conventional methods are in part only surface finished with antibacterially active chemicals or else they are produced by incorporating organic substances with antibacterial and fungicidal effects. Being made from cellulose, the antibacterial Lyocell fiber Sea Cell Active as the basis for quality textiles exhibits a special wear comfort compared to synthetic fibers with antibacterial properties and effects. This justifies the conclusion that the Zimmer Lyocell process provides genuine value added and that it is a springboard for further applications.

Ultra-widely tunable long-period holey-fiber grating by the use of mechanical pressure.

PubMed

Ceballos-Herrera, D E; Torres-Gómez, I; Martínez-Ríos, A; Anzueto-Sánchez, G; Alvarez-Chávez, J A; Selvas-Aguilar, R; Sánchez-Mondragón, J J

2007-01-20

We report an ultra-widely tunable long-period holey-fiber grating, which combines the wide-range single-mode behavior and transverse strain sensitivity of the holey fibers with the advantages of mechanically induced long-period fiber gratings. We obtain a versatile widely tunable long-period holey-fiber grating with attractive transmission spectral characteristics for optical communications, fiber-based amplifiers, and lasers. The mechanically induced long-period holey-fiber grating shows a continuous tuning range over 500 nm, more than 12 dB depth notches with less than 0.75 dB out-of-band losses, and bandwidth control from 10 to 40 nm.

In-Situ Cure Monitoring of the Immidization Reaction of PMR-15

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cossins, Sheryl; Kellar, Jon J.; Winter, Robb M.

1997-01-01

Glass fiber reinforced polymer composites are becoming widely used in industry. With this increase in production, an in-situ method of quality control for the curing of the polymer is desirable. This would allow for the production of high-quality parts having more uniform properties.' Recently, in-situ fiber optic monitoring of polymer curing has primarily focused on epoxy resins and has been performed by Raman or fluorescence methods. In addition, some infrared (IR) investigations have been performed using transmission or ATR cells. An alternate IR approach involves using optical fibers as a sensor by utilizing evanescent wave spectroscopy.

A MAGIC population-based genome-wide association study reveals functional association of GhRBB1_A07 gene with superior fiber quality in cotton

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An Upland cotton multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population was developed through random-mating of 11 diverse cultivars for five generations. In this study, fiber quality data obtained from four environments and 6,071 SNP markers generated via GBS and 223 microsatellite markers...

Fiber laser micromachining of thin NiTi tubes for shape memory vascular stents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Lei; Li, Dong Bo; Tong, Yi Fei; Zhu, Yu Fu

2016-07-01

Nickel titanium (NiTi) alloy has widely been used in the vascular stent manufacturing due to its excellent properties. Neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser is commonly used for the preparation of metal vascular stents. Recently, fiber lasers have been used for stent profiling for better cutting quality. To investigate the cutting-kerf characters of NiTi vascular stents fabricated by fiber laser cutting, laser cutting experiments with thin NiTi tubes were conducted in this study, while NiTi sheets were used in other fiber laser cutting studies. Different with striation topography, new topographies such as layer topography and topography mixed with layers and striations were observed, and the underlying reason for new topographies was also discussed. Comparative research on different topographies was conducted through analyzing the surface roughness, kerf width, heat-affected zone (HAZ) and dross formation. Laser cutting process parameters have a comprehensive influence on the cutting quality; in this study, the process parameters' influences on the cutting quality were studied from the view of power density along the cutting direction. The present research provides a guideline for improving the cutting quality of NiTi vascular stents.

The sweet taste quality is linked to a cluster of taste fibers in primates: lactisole diminishes preference and responses to sweet in S fibers (sweet best) chorda tympani fibers of M. fascicularis monkey.

PubMed

Wang, Yiwen; Danilova, Vicktoria; Cragin, Tiffany; Roberts, Thomas W; Koposov, Alexey; Hellekant, Göran

2009-02-18

Psychophysically, sweet and bitter have long been considered separate taste qualities, evident already to the newborn human. The identification of different receptors for sweet and bitter located on separate cells of the taste buds substantiated this separation. However, this finding leads to the next question: is bitter and sweet also kept separated in the next link from the taste buds, the fibers of the taste nerves? Previous studies in non-human primates, P. troglodytes, C. aethiops, M. mulatta, M. fascicularis and C. jacchus, suggest that the sweet and bitter taste qualities are linked to specific groups of fibers called S and Q fibers. In this study we apply a new sweet taste modifier, lactisole, commercially available as a suppressor of the sweetness of sugars on the human tongue, to test our hypothesis that sweet taste is conveyed in S fibers. We first ascertained that lactisole exerted similar suppression of sweetness in M. fascicularis, as reported in humans, by recording their preference of sweeteners and non- sweeteners with and without lactisole in two-bottle tests. The addition of lactisole significantly diminished the preference for all sweeteners but had no effect on the intake of non-sweet compounds or the intake of water. We then recorded the response to the same taste stimuli in 40 single chorda tympani nerve fibers. Comparison between single fiber nerve responses to stimuli with and without lactisole showed that lactisole only suppressed the responses to sweeteners in S fibers. It had no effect on the responses to any other stimuli in all other taste fibers. In M. fascicularis, lactisole diminishes the attractiveness of compounds, which taste sweet to humans. This behavior is linked to activity of fibers in the S-cluster. Assuming that lactisole blocks the T1R3 monomer of the sweet taste receptor T1R2/R3, these results present further support for the hypothesis that S fibers convey taste from T1R2/R3 receptors, while the impulse activity in non-S fibers originates from other kinds of receptors. The absence of the effect of lactisole on the faint responses in some S fibers to other stimuli as well as the responses to sweet and non-sweet stimuli in non-S fibers suggest that these responses originate from other taste receptors.

Investigation of laser induced parametric interactions in optical waveguides and fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yu, C.

1978-01-01

Experimental and theoretical aspects of the laser pump depletion characteristics in an optical fiber due to stimulated Raman scattering, and stimulated Brillouin scattering were studied. A review is presented of research in fiber transmission accompanied by stimulated scattering. Results of experimental work with tunable dye lasers and argon lasers are presented. The spectral profiles of the laser pump and its transmitted light through the fiber are given.

Characteristic Analysis Light Intensity Sensor Based On Plastic Optical Fiber At Various Configuration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arifin, A.; Lusiana; Yunus, Muhammad; Dewang, Syamsir

2018-03-01

This research discusses the light intensity sensor based on plastic optical fiber. This light intensity sensor is made of plastic optical fiber consisting of two types, namely which is cladding and without cladding. Plastic optical fiber used multi-mode step-index type made of polymethyl metacrylate (PMMA). The infrared LED emits light into the optical fiber of the plastic and is subsequently received by the phototransistor to be converted to an electric voltage. The sensor configuration is made with three models: straight configuration, U configuration and gamma configuration with cladding and without cladding. The measured light source uses a 30 Watt high power LED with a light intensity of 0 to 10 Klux. The measured light intensity will affect the propagation of light inside the optical fiber sensor. The greater the intensity of the measured light, the greater the output voltage that is read on the computer. The results showed that the best optical fiber sensor characteristics were obtained in U configuration. Sensors with U-configuration without cladding had the best sensitivity and resolution values of 0.0307 volts/Klux and 0.0326 Klux. The advantages of this measuring light intensity based on the plastic optical fiber instrument are simple, easy-to-make operational systems, low cost, high sensitivity and resolution.

Transverse mode instability of fiber oscillators in comparison with fiber amplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hejaz, Kamran; Shayganmanesh, Mahdi; Azizi, Saeed; Abedinajafi, Ali; Roohforouz, Ali; Rezaei-Nasirabad, Reza; Vatani, Vahid

2018-05-01

Transverse mode instability (TMI) is experimentally investigated in a fiber oscillator and a fiber amplifier. For a reasonable comparison of TMI in these two configurations, the same optical components and design parameters are applied to both. Our experimental results show that the TMI power threshold in a fiber oscillator is lower than in a corresponding fiber amplifier. By using simulation software, a fiber oscillator and an amplifier are designed with similar characteristics, to provide identical conditions for all effective parameters on TMI in both of them. Since the signal propagation in fiber oscillators is different from that of single-pass fiber amplifiers, and also since both forward and backward propagating signals in fiber oscillators can generate thermo-optic index gratings, the observed lower TMI threshold in the fiber oscillator is due to its different interaction of light with index gratings.

Characterization of fiber diameter using image analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baheti, S.; Tunak, M.

2017-10-01

Due to high surface area and porosity, the applications of nanofibers have increased in recent years. In the production process, determination of average fiber diameter and fiber orientation is crucial for quality assessment. The objective of present study was to compare the relative performance of different methods discussed in literature for estimation of fiber diameter. In this work, the existing automated fiber diameter analysis software packages available in literature were developed and validated based on simulated images of known fiber diameter. Finally, all methods were compared for their reliable and accurate estimation of fiber diameter in electro spun nanofiber membranes based on obtained mean and standard deviation.

Diallel analysis for technological traits in upland cotton.

PubMed

Queiroz, D R; Farias, F J C; Cavalcanti, J J V; Carvalho, L P; Neder, D G; Souza, L S S; Farias, F C; Teodoro, P E

2017-09-21

Final cotton quality is of great importance, and it depends on intrinsic and extrinsic fiber characteristics. The objective of this study was to estimate general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining abilities for technological fiber traits among six upland cotton genotypes and their fifteen hybrid combinations, as well as to determine the effective genetic effects in controlling the traits evaluated. In 2015, six cotton genotypes: FM 993, CNPA 04-2080, PSC 355, TAM B 139-17, IAC 26, and TAMCOT-CAMD-E and fifteen hybrid combinations were evaluated at the Experimental Station of Embrapa Algodão, located in Patos, PB, Brazil. The experimental design was a randomized block with three replications. Technological fiber traits evaluated were: length (mm); strength (gf/tex); fineness (Micronaire index); uniformity (%); short fiber index (%), and spinning index. The diallel analysis was carried out according to the methodology proposed by Griffing, using method II and model I. Significant differences were detected between the treatments and combining abilities (GCA and SCA), indicating the variability of the study material. There was a predominance of additive effects for the genetic control of all traits. TAM B 139-17 presented the best GCA estimates for all traits. The best combinations were: FM 993 x TAM B 139-17, CNPA 04-2080 x PSC 355, FM 993 x TAMCOT-CAMD-E, PSC 355 x TAM B 139-17, and TAM B 139-17 x TAMCOT-CAMD-E, by obtaining the best estimates of SCA, with one of the parents having favorable estimates for GCA.

Burning characteristics and fiber retention of graphite/resin matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowles, K. J.

1980-01-01

Graphite fiber reinforced resin matrix composites were subjected to controlled burning conditions to determine their burning characteristics and fiber retention properties. Small samples were burned with a natural gas fired torch to study the effects of fiber orientation and structural flaws such as holes and slits that were machined into the laminates. Larger laminate samples were burned in a modified heat release rate calorimeter. Unidirectional epoxy/graphite and polyimide/graphite composites and boron powder filled samples of each of the two composite systems were burn tested. The composites were exposed to a thermal radiation of 5.3 Btu/sq ft-sec in air. Samples of each of the unfilled composite were decomposed anaerobically in the calorimeter. Weight loss data were recorded for burning and decomposition times up to thirty-five minutes. The effects of fiber orientation, flaws, and boron filler additives to the resins were evaluated. A high char forming polyimide resin was no more effective in retaining graphite fibers than a low char forming epoxy resin when burned in air. Boron powder additions to both the polyimide and the epoxy resins stabilized the chars and effectively controlled the fiber release.

Low-cost fused taper polymer optical fiber (LFT-POF) splitters for environmental and home-networking solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Supian, L. S.; Ab-Rahman, Mohammad Syuhaimi; Harun, Mohd Hazwan; Gunab, Hadi; Sulaiman, Malik; Naim, Nani Fadzlina

2017-08-01

In visible optical communication over the multimode PMMA fibers, the overall cost of optical network can be reduced by deploying economical splitters for distributing the optical data signals from a point to multipoint in transmission network. The low-cost splitters shall have two main characteristics; good uniformity and high power efficiency. The most cost-effective and environmental friendly optical splitter having those characteristics have been developed. The device material is 100% purely based on the multimode step-index PMMA Polymer Optical Fiber (POF). The region which all fibers merged as single fiber is called as fused-taper POF. This ensures that all fibers are melted and fused properly. The results for uniformity and power efficiency of all splitters have been revealed by injecting red LED transmitter with 650 nm wavelength into input port while each end of output fibers measured by optical power meter. Final analysis shows our fused-taper splitter has low excess loss 0.53 dB and each of the output port has low insertion loss, which the average value is below 7 dB. In addition, the splitter has good uniformity that is 32:37:31% in which it is suitably used for demultiplexer fabrication.

Thermal conductivity and retention characteristics of composites made of boron carbide and carbon fibers with extremely high thermal conductivity for first wall armour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jimbou, R.; Kodama, K.; Saidoh, M.; Suzuki, Y.; Nakagawa, M.; Morita, K.; Tsuchiya, B.

1997-02-01

The thermal conductivity of the composite hot-pressed at 2100°C including B 4C and carbon fibers with a thermal conductivity of 1100 W/ m· K was nearly the same as that of the composite including carbon fibers with a thermal conductivity of 600 W/ m· K. This resulted from the higher amount of B diffused into the carbon fibers through the larger interface. The B 4C content in the composite can be reduced from 35 to 20 vol% which resulted from the more uniform distribution of B 4C by stacking the flat cloth woven of carbon fibers (carbon fiber plain fabrics) than in the composite with 35 vol% B 4C including curled carbon fiber plain fabrics. The decrease in the B 4C content does not result in the degradation of D (deuterium)-retention characteristics or D-recycling property, but will bring about the decreased amount of the surface layer to be melted under the bombardment of high energy hydrogen ions such as disruptions because of higher thermal conduction of the composite.

Analysis on the impact of FBG reflectance spectrum with different optical fiber connection in vacuum thermal environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jingchuan; Zhang, Wen; Lv, Jianfeng; Liang, Shuo; Wang, Lei; Li, Xiyuan

2018-01-01

To satisfy the application of fiber grating sensor technology in high vacuum thermal environment, FBG on sleeve compactly single model fiber with two typical different kind of connection such as fiber splicing and optical fiber connector are researched. Influence of the different connection to the characteristic of FBG reflectance spectrum in high vacuum thermal environment is analyzed and verified. First, experimental program of influence on FBG reflection spectrum characteristics is designed. Then, a hardware-in-the-loop detection platform is set up. Finally, the influence of temperature and vacuum on the reflection peak power of FBG with two typical different connections under high vacuum thermal environment is studied and verified. Experimental results indicate that: when vacuum varied from normal pressure to 10-4Pa level and then return to normal pressure, temperature of two different single-mode optical fiber connection dropped to -196 °C from room temperature and then returned to room temperature, after 224 hours, the peak power of the FBG reflectance spectrum did not change. It provided the experimental basis for the application of optical fiber sensing technology in high vacuum (pressure about 10-4Pa level) and thermal environment (-196 °C temperature cycle).

Fabrication of an Optical Fiber Micro-Sphere with a Diameter of Several Tens of Micrometers.

PubMed

Yu, Huijuan; Huang, Qiangxian; Zhao, Jian

2014-06-25

A new method to fabricate an integrated optical fiber micro-sphere with a diameter within 100 µm, based on the optical fiber tapering technique and the Taguchi method is proposed. Using a 125 µm diameter single-mode (SM) optical fiber, an optical fiber taper with a cone angle is formed with the tapering technique, and the fabrication optimization of a micro-sphere with a diameter of less than 100 µm is achieved using the Taguchi method. The optimum combination of process factors levels is obtained, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of three quality evaluation parameters and the significance of each process factors influencing them are selected as the two standards. Using the minimum zone method (MZM) to evaluate the quality of the fabricated optical fiber micro-sphere, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical fitting image of its surface profile and the true sphericity are subsequently realized. From the results, an optical fiber micro-sphere with a two-dimensional (2D) diameter less than 80 µm, 2D roundness error less than 0.70 µm, 2D offset distance between the micro-sphere center and the fiber stylus central line less than 0.65 µm, and true sphericity of about 0.5 µm, is fabricated.

High-accuracy fiber-optic shape sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duncan, Roger G.; Froggatt, Mark E.; Kreger, Stephen T.; Seeley, Ryan J.; Gifford, Dawn K.; Sang, Alexander K.; Wolfe, Matthew S.

2007-04-01

We describe the results of a study of the performance characteristics of a monolithic fiber-optic shape sensor array. Distributed strain measurements in a multi-core optical fiber interrogated with the optical frequency domain reflectometry technique are used to deduce the shape of the optical fiber; referencing to a coordinate system yields position information. Two sensing techniques are discussed herein: the first employing fiber Bragg gratings and the second employing the intrinsic Rayleigh backscatter of the optical fiber. We have measured shape and position under a variety of circumstances and report the accuracy and precision of these measurements. A discussion of error sources is included.

Propagating modes in gain-guided optical fibers.

PubMed

Siegman, A E

2003-08-01

Optical fibers in which gain-guiding effects are significant or even dominant compared with conventional index guiding may become of practical interest for future high-power single-mode fiber lasers. I derive the propagation characteristics of symmetrical slab waveguides and cylindrical optical fibers having arbitrary amounts of mixed gain and index guiding, assuming a single uniform transverse profile for both the gain and the refractive-index steps. Optical fibers of this type are best characterized by using a complex-valued v-squared parameter in place of the real-valued v parameter commonly used to describe conventional index-guided optical fibers.

Quantification of holmium:YAG optical tip degradation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mues, Adam C.; Teichman, Joel M. H.; Knudsen, Bodo E.

2009-02-01

The holmium:yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) laser is the gold standard laser for intracorporeal lithotripsy. Optical fibers are utilized to transmit laser energy to the surface of a stone for fragmentation. During lithotripsy, fiber tip degradation (burn back) can occur. The exact mechanism for tip degradation and related factors are not completely understood, and have not been investigated. This characteristic is important because fiber burn back may affect diminish fragmentation efficiency, increase operative time, and increase cost due to the need for fiber replacement. We hypothesize that fiber tip degradation (burn back) varies amongst different commercially available holmium:YAG laser fibers.

Fatigue damage development of various CFRP-laminates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schulte, K.; Baron, CH.

1988-01-01

The chronic strength and fatigue behavior of a woven carbon-fiber reinforced laminate in a balanced eight-shaft satin weave style was compared to nonwoven laminates with an equivalent cross-ply layup. Half the fibers were arranged in the direction of the load and the other half perpendicular to it. Two types of nonwoven laminates consisting of continuous fibers and aligned discontinuous fibers, both produced from carbon fiber prepregs, were studied. The cross-ply laminate with continuous fiber showed the best characteristics with regard to both static strength and fatigue. The similarities and differences in damage mechanisms in the laminates are described.

1030 nm high power polarization maintained fiber laser with narrow linewidth and near-diffraction-limited beam quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Qiuhui; Zhao, Pengfei; Li, Chengyu; Wang, Bopeng; Lin, Honghuan; Guo, Chao; Liu, Yu; Jing, Feng; Tang, Chuanxiang

2018-03-01

A high power 1030 nm ytterbium-doped polarization maintained fiber laser with optimized parameters is presented in this paper. The master oscillator power amplifier system with counter-pumped amplifier is established. The output power is 900 W, along with a light-to-light efficiency of 64.2%. The amplified spontaneous emission suppression ratio of spectrum reaches to 40 dB with 3 dB linewidth of 0.14 nm. The polarization extinction ratio is 12 dB, and the beam quality factor is M2x=1.07, M2y=1.12. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of 1030 nm high power fiber laser with narrow linewidth, near linear polarization, and neardiffraction-limited beam quality

Efficient global fiber tracking on multi-dimensional diffusion direction maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, Jan; Köhler, Benjamin; Hahn, Horst K.

2012-02-01

Global fiber tracking algorithms have recently been proposed which were able to compute results of unprecedented quality. They account for avoiding accumulation errors by a global optimization process at the cost of a high computation time of several hours or even days. In this paper, we introduce a novel global fiber tracking algorithm which, for the first time, globally optimizes the underlying diffusion direction map obtained from DTI or HARDI data, instead of single fiber segments. As a consequence, the number of iterations in the optimization process can drastically be reduced by about three orders of magnitude. Furthermore, in contrast to all previous algorithms, the density of the tracked fibers can be adjusted after the optimization within a few seconds. We evaluated our method for diffusion-weighted images obtained from software phantoms, healthy volunteers, and tumor patients. We show that difficult fiber bundles, e.g., the visual pathways or tracts for different motor functions can be determined and separated in an excellent quality. Furthermore, crossing and kissing bundles are correctly resolved. On current standard hardware, a dense fiber tracking result of a whole brain can be determined in less than half an hour which is a strong improvement compared to previous work.

Delivery of high intensity beams with large clad step-index fibers for engine ignition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Sachin; Wilvert, Nick; Yalin, Azer P.

2012-09-01

We show, for the first time, that step-index silica fibers with a large clad (400 μm core and 720 μm clad) can be used to transmit nanosecond duration pulses in a way that allows reliable (consistent) spark formation in atmospheric pressure air by the focused output light from the fiber. The high intensity (>100 GW/cm2) of the focused output light is due to the combination of high output power (typical of fibers of this core size) with high output beam quality (better than that typical of fibers of this core size). The high output beam quality, which enables tight focusing, is due to the large clad which suppresses microbending-induced diffusion of modal power to higher order modes owing to the increased rigidity of the core-clad interface. We also show that extending the pulse duration provides a means to increase the delivered pulse energy (>20 mJ delivered for 50 ns pulses) without causing fiber damage. Based on this ability to deliver high energy sparks, we report the first reliable laser ignition of a natural gas engine including startup under typical procedures using silica fiber optics for pulse delivery.

Method and apparatus for detecting neutrons

DOEpatents

Perkins, R.W.; Reeder, P.L.; Wogman, N.A.; Warner, R.A.; Brite, D.W.; Richey, W.C.; Goldman, D.S.

1997-10-21

The instant invention is a method for making and using an apparatus for detecting neutrons. Scintillating optical fibers are fabricated by melting SiO{sub 2} with a thermal neutron capturing substance and a scintillating material in a reducing atmosphere. The melt is then drawn into fibers in an anoxic atmosphere. The fibers may then be coated and used directly in a neutron detection apparatus, or assembled into a geometrical array in a second, hydrogen-rich, scintillating material such as a polymer. Photons generated by interaction with thermal neutrons are trapped within the coated fibers and are directed to photoelectric converters. A measurable electronic signal is generated for each thermal neutron interaction within the fiber. These electronic signals are then manipulated, stored, and interpreted by normal methods to infer the quality and quantity of incident radiation. When the fibers are arranged in an array within a second scintillating material, photons generated by kinetic neutrons interacting with the second scintillating material and photons generated by thermal neutron capture within the fiber can both be directed to photoelectric converters. These electronic signals are then manipulated, stored, and interpreted by normal methods to infer the quality and quantity of incident radiation. 5 figs.

Method and apparatus for detecting neutrons

DOEpatents

Perkins, Richard W.; Reeder, Paul L.; Wogman, Ned A.; Warner, Ray A.; Brite, Daniel W.; Richey, Wayne C.; Goldman, Don S.

1997-01-01

The instant invention is a method for making and using an apparatus for detecting neutrons. Scintillating optical fibers are fabricated by melting SiO.sub.2 with a thermal neutron capturing substance and a scintillating material in a reducing atmosphere. The melt is then drawn into fibers in an anoxic atmosphere. The fibers may then be coated and used directly in a neutron detection apparatus, or assembled into a geometrical array in a second, hydrogen-rich, scintillating material such as a polymer. Photons generated by interaction with thermal neutrons are trapped within the coated fibers and are directed to photoelectric converters. A measurable electronic signal is generated for each thermal neutron interaction within the fiber. These electronic signals are then manipulated, stored, and interpreted by normal methods to infer the quality and quantity of incident radiation. When the fibers are arranged in an array within a second scintillating material, photons generated by kinetic neutrons interacting with the second scintillating material and photons generated by thermal neutron capture within the fiber can both be directed to photoelectric converters. These electronic signals are then manipulated, stored, and interpreted by normal methods to infer the quality and quantity of incident radiation.

Characteristics of Nd:YAG sculptured contact probes after prolonged laser application.

PubMed

Barroso, E G; Haklin, M F; Staren, E D

1995-01-01

This study analyzed the functional and structural characteristics of cone, hemisphere, and modified sculptured contact fibers (1,000 microns) after 1 hour of continuous Nd:YAG laser application. Continuous laser application was performed on live porcine tissue using 20 watts of power. The fiber's appearance under a microscope as well as the power output was recorded after 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 45, and 60 minutes of continuous laser application. (N = 3 for each fiber). At time 0, all fibers transmitted from 49 to 56% of the initial 20 watts (W); power transmission decreased to less than 9% relative power transmission after 20 minutes and then plateaued. The fibers exhibited severe distortion and carbonization of the surface where laser had been applied with evidence of quartz melting and shattering after only 10 minutes. By 30 minutes of laser application, all three fibers were fractured and essentially indistinguishable from one another; moreover, the fibers exhibited similar power transmission, and cutting and coagulation activity, as determined by a panel of independent, double-blinded surgeons. These data lead us to conclude that 1) Nd:YAG contact laser effects result from thermal heating of the fiber tip with subsequent tissue injury, 2) the unique structural configuration of the fiber's sculptured tip are lost after several minutes of laser application without appreciable change in functional integrity, and 3) fibers may be manually fractured allowing for multiple uses without significant sacrifice of power transmission or surgical utility.

Ultra-long fiber Raman lasers: design considerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koltchanov, I.; Kroushkov, D. I.; Richter, A.

2015-03-01

In frame of the European Marie Currie project GRIFFON [http://astonishgriffon.net/] the usage of a green approach in terms of reduced power consumption and maintenance costs is envisioned for long-span fiber networks. This shall be accomplished by coherent transmission in unrepeatered links (100 km - 350 km) utilizing ultra-long Raman fiber laser (URFL)-based distributed amplification, multi-level modulation formats, and adapted Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms. The URFL uses a cascaded 2-order pumping scheme where two (co- and counter-) ˜ 1365 nm pumps illuminate the fiber. The URFL oscillates at ˜ 1450 nm whereas amplification is provided by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of the ˜ 1365 nm pumps and the optical feedback is realized by two Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) at the fiber ends reflecting at 1450 nm. The light field at 1450 nm provides amplification for signal waves in the 1550 nm range due to SRS. In this work we present URFL design studies intended to characterize and optimize the power and noise characteristics of the fiber links. We use a bidirectional fiber model describing propagation of the signal, pump and noise powers along the fiber length. From the numerical solution we evaluate the on/off Raman gain and its bandwidth, the signal excursion over the fiber length, OSNR spectra, and the accumulated nonlinearities. To achieve best performance for these characteristics the laser design is optimized with respect to the forward/backward pump powers and wavelengths, input/output signal powers, reflectivity profile of the FBGs and other parameters.

Muscle fiber types composition and type identified endplate morphology of forepaw intrinsic muscles in the rat.

PubMed

Pan, Feng; Mi, Jing-Yi; Zhang, Yan; Pan, Xiao-Yun; Rui, Yong-Jun

2016-06-01

The failure to accept reinnervation is considered to be one of the reasons for the poor motor functional recovery of intrinsic hand muscles (IHMs) after nerve injury. Rat could be a suitable model to be used in simulating motor function recovery of the IHMs after nerve injury as to the similarities in function and anatomy of the muscles between human and rat. However, few studies have reported the muscle fiber types composition and endplate morphologic characteristics of intrinsic forepaw muscles (IFMs) in the rat. In this study, the myosin heavy chain isoforms and acetylcholine receptors were stained by immunofluorescence to show the muscle fiber types composition and endplates on type-identified fibers of the lumbrical muscles (LMs), interosseus muscles (IMs), abductor digiti minimi (AM) and flexor pollicis brevis (FM) in rat forepaw. The majority of IFMs fibers were labeled positively for fast-switch fiber. However, the IMs were composed of only slow-switch fiber. With the exception of the IMs, the other IFMs had a part of hybrid fibers. Two-dimensional morphological characteristics of endplates on I and IIa muscle fiber had no significant differences among the IFMs. The LMs is the most suitable IFMs of rat to stimulate reinnervation of the IHMs after nerve injury. Gaining greater insight into the muscle fiber types composition and endplate morphology in the IFMs of rat may help understand the pathological and functional changes of IFMs in rat model stimulating reinnervation of IHMs after peripheral nerve injury.

Multimode optical fiber

DOEpatents

Bigot-Astruc, Marianne; Molin, Denis; Sillard, Pierre

2014-11-04

A depressed graded-index multimode optical fiber includes a central core, an inner depressed cladding, a depressed trench, an outer depressed cladding, and an outer cladding. The central core has an alpha-index profile. The depressed claddings limit the impact of leaky modes on optical-fiber performance characteristics (e.g., bandwidth, core size, and/or numerical aperture).

Formulation and characterization of date palm fibers mortar by addition of silica fume

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mokhtari, A.; Kriker, A.; Ouaggad, H.; Merad, N.

2018-05-01

This paper presents the results of experimental investigations of the formulated and characterization of date palm fibers mortar by addition of silica fume. The use of addition mineral is widely used in the production of cements through the world. The objective of this work is to bring our contribution to the recovery of local resources in the occurrence vegetable fibers of date palm to weak cost and from renewable source and integrate it in the filled of building. Date palm fiber are from Ouargla town in south of Algeria. Different mortar mixtures were prepared in which the cement was substitute by 10% of silica fume. The mechanical characteristics (compressive and flexural strength) of date palm fibers mortar by treatment of the matrix by the adding of silica fume were examined. The results obtained have shown that the mortar workability as well as the compressive and flexural strength decreases with increasing the silica fume replacement. The results showed that the use of silica fume enabled to evaluate the flexural strength. However, another treatment of fibers and matrix will be recommended for Improved the characteristics.

A novel optical fiber displacement sensor of wider measurement range based on neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Yuan; Dai, Xue Feng; Wang, Yu Tian

2006-02-01

By studying on the output characteristics of random type optical fiber sensor and semicircular type optical fiber sensor, the ratio of the two output signals was used as the output signal of the whole system. Then the measurement range was enlarged, the linearity was improved, and the errors of reflective and absorbent changing of target surface are automatically compensated. Meantime, an optical fiber sensor model of correcting static error based on BP artificial neural network(ANN) is set up. So the intrinsic errors such as effects of fluctuations in the light, circuit excursion, the intensity losses in the fiber lines and the additional losses in the receiving fiber caused by bends are eliminated. By discussing in theory and experiment, the error of nonlinear is 2.9%, the measuring range reaches to 5-6mm and the relative accuracy is 2%.And this sensor has such characteristics as no electromagnetic interference, simple construction, high sensitivity, good accuracy and stability. Also the multi-point sensor system can be used to on-line and non-touch monitor in working locales.

All-Fiber Laser Curvature Sensor Using an In-Fiber Modal Interferometer Based on a Double Clad Fiber and a Multimode Fiber Structure

PubMed Central

Durán-Sánchez, Manuel; Prieto-Cortés, Patricia; Salceda-Delgado, Guillermo; Castillo-Guzmán, Arturo A.; Selvas-Aguilar, Romeo; Ibarra-Escamilla, Baldemar; Kuzin, Evgeny A.

2017-01-01

An all-fiber curvature laser sensor by using a novel modal interference in-fiber structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The in-fiber device, fabricated by fusion splicing of multimode fiber and double-clad fiber segments, is used as wavelength filter as well as the sensing element. By including a multimode fiber in an ordinary modal interference structure based on a double-clad fiber, the fringe visibility of the filter transmission spectrum is significantly increased. By using the modal interferometer as a curvature sensitive wavelength filter within a ring cavity erbium-doped fiber laser, the spectral quality factor Q is considerably increased. The results demonstrate the reliability of the proposed curvature laser sensor with advantages of robustness, ease of fabrication, low cost, repeatability on the fabrication process and simple operation. PMID:29182527

All-Fiber Laser Curvature Sensor Using an In-Fiber Modal Interferometer Based on a Double Clad Fiber and a Multimode Fiber Structure.

PubMed

Álvarez-Tamayo, Ricardo I; Durán-Sánchez, Manuel; Prieto-Cortés, Patricia; Salceda-Delgado, Guillermo; Castillo-Guzmán, Arturo A; Selvas-Aguilar, Romeo; Ibarra-Escamilla, Baldemar; Kuzin, Evgeny A

2017-11-28

An all-fiber curvature laser sensor by using a novel modal interference in-fiber structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The in-fiber device, fabricated by fusion splicing of multimode fiber and double-clad fiber segments, is used as wavelength filter as well as the sensing element. By including a multimode fiber in an ordinary modal interference structure based on a double-clad fiber, the fringe visibility of the filter transmission spectrum is significantly increased. By using the modal interferometer as a curvature sensitive wavelength filter within a ring cavity erbium-doped fiber laser, the spectral quality factor Q is considerably increased. The results demonstrate the reliability of the proposed curvature laser sensor with advantages of robustness, ease of fabrication, low cost, repeatability on the fabrication process and simple operation.

Fiber to the serving area: telephone-like star architecture for CATV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fellows, David M.

1992-02-01

CATV systems traditionally use a tree and branch architecture to bring up to 550 MHz of analog bandwidth to every home in a franchise area. This changed slightly with the advent of AM fiber optic equipment, as fiber optics were used in an overlay fashion to reduce coaxial amplifier cascades and improve subscriber quality and reliability. Within the last year, fiber has economically replaced coaxial trunking. The resulting fiber to the serving area architecture combines fiber and coaxial stars for a network that looks much like the carrier serving area architectures used by telephone companies.

Fiber source and inclusion level affects characteristics of excreta from growing pigs

PubMed Central

Ndou, Saymore Petros; Bakare, Archibold Garikayi

2018-01-01

Objective The objective of the study was to determine the influence of varying fibrous diets on fecal characteristics of growing pigs. Methods A total of 104 pigs (initial weight 18±2.0 kg) were used in the study. They were housed in individual pens and fed on diets containing maize cob, grass hay, lucerne hay, maize stover, and sunflower husk. These fibers were included at 0, 80, 160, 240, 320 and 400 g/kg. Fecal and urine samples were collected. Results Fecal output was largest amongst pigs fed on diets containing grass hay and maize stover (p<0.05). Nitrogen content was highest in feces from pigs fed on sunflower husk (p< 0.05). Pigs fed on diets containing maize stover and maize cobs produced the largest concentrations of short chain fatty acids. Acetate concentration was high in feces of pigs fed maize stover than those fed grass hay and lucerne hay (p<0.05). As the level of fiber inclusion increased, fecal consistency and nitrogen content increased linearly (p<0.05). Urea nitrogen decreased as the inclusion level increased across all the fibers (p<0.05), with maize cobs containing the largest content of urea nitrogen. As dietary fiber content increased, fecal nitrogen content also increased (p<0.05). Conclusion It was concluded that different fiber sources influence fecal characteristics, thereby having different implications on pig waste management. It is vital to monitor fiber inclusion thresholds so as to easily manage environmental pollutants such as butyrate that contribute to odors. PMID:26954189

Fiber reinforcement of concrete

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-02-01

A comprehensive experimental program on pullout behavior of polypropylene fibers from cementitious matrices is described. The parameters investigated include the effect of embedded length on the pullout characteristics, the development of the interfa...

Multi-Scale Low-Entropy Method for Optimizing the Processing Parameters during Automated Fiber Placement

PubMed Central

Han, Zhenyu; Sun, Shouzheng; Fu, Hongya; Fu, Yunzhong

2017-01-01

Automated fiber placement (AFP) process includes a variety of energy forms and multi-scale effects. This contribution proposes a novel multi-scale low-entropy method aiming at optimizing processing parameters in an AFP process, where multi-scale effect, energy consumption, energy utilization efficiency and mechanical properties of micro-system could be taken into account synthetically. Taking a carbon fiber/epoxy prepreg as an example, mechanical properties of macro–meso–scale are obtained by Finite Element Method (FEM). A multi-scale energy transfer model is then established to input the macroscopic results into the microscopic system as its boundary condition, which can communicate with different scales. Furthermore, microscopic characteristics, mainly micro-scale adsorption energy, diffusion coefficient entropy–enthalpy values, are calculated under different processing parameters based on molecular dynamics method. Low-entropy region is then obtained in terms of the interrelation among entropy–enthalpy values, microscopic mechanical properties (interface adsorbability and matrix fluidity) and processing parameters to guarantee better fluidity, stronger adsorption, lower energy consumption and higher energy quality collaboratively. Finally, nine groups of experiments are carried out to verify the validity of the simulation results. The results show that the low-entropy optimization method can reduce void content effectively, and further improve the mechanical properties of laminates. PMID:28869520

Multi-Scale Low-Entropy Method for Optimizing the Processing Parameters during Automated Fiber Placement.

PubMed

Han, Zhenyu; Sun, Shouzheng; Fu, Hongya; Fu, Yunzhong

2017-09-03

Automated fiber placement (AFP) process includes a variety of energy forms and multi-scale effects. This contribution proposes a novel multi-scale low-entropy method aiming at optimizing processing parameters in an AFP process, where multi-scale effect, energy consumption, energy utilization efficiency and mechanical properties of micro-system could be taken into account synthetically. Taking a carbon fiber/epoxy prepreg as an example, mechanical properties of macro-meso-scale are obtained by Finite Element Method (FEM). A multi-scale energy transfer model is then established to input the macroscopic results into the microscopic system as its boundary condition, which can communicate with different scales. Furthermore, microscopic characteristics, mainly micro-scale adsorption energy, diffusion coefficient entropy-enthalpy values, are calculated under different processing parameters based on molecular dynamics method. Low-entropy region is then obtained in terms of the interrelation among entropy-enthalpy values, microscopic mechanical properties (interface adsorbability and matrix fluidity) and processing parameters to guarantee better fluidity, stronger adsorption, lower energy consumption and higher energy quality collaboratively. Finally, nine groups of experiments are carried out to verify the validity of the simulation results. The results show that the low-entropy optimization method can reduce void content effectively, and further improve the mechanical properties of laminates.

High Fiber and Low Starch Intakes Are Associated with Circulating Intermediate Biomarkers of Type 2 Diabetes among Women.

PubMed

AlEssa, Hala B; Ley, Sylvia H; Rosner, Bernard; Malik, Vasanti S; Willett, Walter C; Campos, Hannia; Hu, Frank B

2016-02-01

Carbohydrate quality has been consistently related to the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, limited information is available about the effect of carbohydrate quality on biomarkers related to T2D. We examined the associations of carbohydrate quality measures (CQMs) including carbohydrate intake; starch intake; glycemic index; glycemic load; total, cereal, fruit, and vegetable fiber intakes; and different combinations of these nutrients with plasma concentrations of adiponectin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). This is a cross-sectional analysis of 2458 diabetes-free women, ages 43-70 y, in the Nurses Health Study. CQMs were estimated from food-frequency questionnaires, and averages from 1984, 1986, and 1990 were used. Plasma biomarkers were collected in 1990. Multiple linear regression models were used to assess the associations between CQMs and biomarkers. After age, body mass index, lifestyle, and dietary variables were adjusted, 1) total fiber intake was positively associated with adiponectin (P-trend = 0.004); 2) cereal fiber intake was positively associated with adiponectin and inversely associated with CRP, and fruit fiber intake was negatively associated with HbA1c concentrations (all P-trend < 0.03); 3) starch intake was inversely associated with adiponectin (P-trend = 0.02); 4) a higher glycemic index was associated with lower adiponectin and higher HbA1c (both P-trend < 0.05); 5) a higher carbohydrate-to-total fiber intake ratio was associated with lower adiponectin (P-trend = 0.005); 6) a higher starch-to-total fiber intake ratio was associated with lower adiponectin and higher HbA1c (both P-trend < 0.05); and 7) a higher starch-to-cereal fiber intake ratio was associated with lower adiponectin (P-trend = 0.002). A greater fiber intake and a lower starch-to-fiber intake ratio are favorably associated with adiponectin and HbA1c, but only cereal fiber intake was associated with CRP in women. Further research is warranted to understand the potential mechanism of these associations in early progression of T2D. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.

Dependence on fiber Fabry-Pérot tunable filter characteristics in an all-fiber swept-wavelength laser for use in an optical coherence tomography system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stay, Justin L.; Carr, Dustin; Ferguson, Steve; Haber, Todd; Jenkins, Robert; Mock, Joel

2017-02-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become a useful and common diagnostic tool within the field of ophthalmology. Although presently a commercial technology, research continues in improving image quality and applying the imaging method to other tissue types. Swept-wavelength lasers based upon fiber ring cavities containing fiber Fabry-Ṕerot tunable filters (FFP-TF), as an intracavity element, provide swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) systems with a robust and scalable platform. The FFP-TF can be fabricated within a large range of operating wavelengths, free spectral ranges (FSR), and finesses. To date, FFP-TFs have been fabricated at operating wavelengths from 400 nm to 2.2 µm, FSRs as large as 45 THz, and finesses as high as 30 000. The results in this paper focus on presenting the capability of the FFP-TF as an intracavity element in producing swept-wavelength lasers sources and quantifying the trade off between coherence length and sweep range. We present results within a range of feasible operating conditions. Particular focus is given to the discovery of laser configurations that result in maximization of sweep range and/or power. A novel approach to the electronic drive of the PZT-based FFP-TF is also presented, which eliminates the need for the existence of a mechanical resonance of the optical device. This approach substantially increases the range of drive frequencies with which the filter can be driven and has a positive impact for both the short all-fiber laser cavity (presented in this paper) and long cavity FDML designs as well.

Resonantly diode-pumped eye-safe Er:YAG laser with fiber-shaped crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Němec, Michal; Šulc, Jan; Hlinomaz, Kryštof; Jelínková, Helena; Nejezchleb, Karel; Čech, Miroslav

2018-02-01

Solid-state eye-safe lasers are interesting sources for various applications, such as lidar, remote sensing, and ranging. A resonantly diode-pumped Er:YAG laser could be one of them allowing to reach a tunable laser emission in 1.6 μm spectral region. To overcome low pump absorption and poor pumping beam quality generated by commercially available laser diode, an active medium could be formed to long and thin laser rod guiding pumping radiation. Such an effective cooling during a high power pumping, which is a "crystal-fiber" benefit, may be useful for "standard" crystal active medium. The main goal of this work was to investigate the laser characteristics of new developed Er:YAG crystal with a special shape for diode-pumping. Er:YAG fiber-shape crystal with square cross-section (1x1mm) and 40mm in length was doped by 0.1% Er3+ ions. All sides of this crystal were polished and in addition the end-faces of it were antireflection coatings for the wavelength 1470 and 1645 nm. As a pump system, a fiber coupled laser diode (f = 10 Hz, t = 10 ms) emitting radiation at 1465 nm wavelength was used. Er:YAG fiber-shape crystal was placed onto a copper holder in the 85 mm long plan-concave resonator consisting of a pump flat mirror and output curved (r = 150 mm) coupler with a reflectivity of 96 % @ 1645 nm. The dependence of the output peak power on absorbed pump power was investigated and the maximum 0.8 W was obtained. The corresponding slope efficiency was 14.5 %. The emitting wavelength was equaled to 1645 nm (4 nm linewidth, FWHM). The spatial beam structure was close to the Gaussian mode.

Characterization of exposure and dose of man made vitreous fiber in experimental studies.

PubMed Central

Hamilton, R D; Miiller, W C; Christensen, D R; Anderson, R; Hesterberg, T W

1994-01-01

The use of fibrous test materials in in vivo experiments introduces a number of significant problems not associated with nonfibrous particulates. The key to all aspects of the experiment is the accurate characterization of the test material in terms of fiber length, diameter, particulate content, and chemistry. All data related to fiber properties must be collected in a statistically sound manner to eliminate potential bias. Procedures similar to those outlined by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) or the World Health Organization (WHO) must be the basis of any fiber characterization. The test material to which the animal is exposed must be processed to maximize the amount of respirable fiber and to minimize particulate content. The complex relationship among the characteristics of the test material, the properties of the delivery system, and the actual dose that reaches the target tissue in the lung makes verification of dose essential. In the case of man-made vitreous fibers (MMVF), dose verification through recovery of fiber from exposed animals is a complex task. The potential for high fiber solubility makes many of the conventional techniques for tissue preservation and digestion inappropriate. Processes based on the minimum use of aggressive chemicals, such as cold storage and low temperature ashing, are potentially useful for a wide range of inorganic fibers. Any processes used to assess fiber exposure and dose must be carefully validated to establish that the chemical and physical characteristics of the fibers have not been changed and that the dose to the target tissue is completely and accurately described. PMID:7882912

Mechanical and optical characteristics of a new fiber optical system used for cardiac contraction measurement.

PubMed

Kloppe, A; Hoeland, K; Müller, S; Hexamer, M; Nowack, G; Mügge, A; Werner, J

2004-10-01

In order to obtain a better physiological performance and a closer restoration of the regular rhythm of failing hearts, a new fiber optical sensor system for the measurement of cardiac contraction has been developed. It consists of an opto-electrical unit and a sensing fiber which has to be positioned in the heart. The objective of this new fiber optic sensor system is to use the inotropic information to adjust a stimulation algorithm in single or multichamber pacing or to detect arrhythmia in insufficient heart function. In this study, the mechanical and optical characteristics of different fibers are investigated. The relationship between the attenuation (with an achieved numerical maximum of 0.3 dB), the bending diameter and the angle of bending is determined in a range of 20-160 mm. The most suitable fiber for the application in cardiological problems is determined (WT8 fiber), for which the sensitivity is analyzed. Additionally, power spectra are calculated from WT8 fiber signals obtained from pig hearts, working under physiological conditions. The maximal frequency response was 23 Hz. It is concluded that the fiber optical measurement of cardiac contraction is not only feasible and reproducible, but the WT8 fiber also shows optimal behavior in the range of parameters occurring in the heart chambers. Nevertheless, in order to restrict the measured signal reliably to bending processes within the chambers only, it is concluded that a special combined fiber has to be constructed with a high sensitivity only at its terminal section within the heart.

Preliminary comparisons of portable near infrared (nir) instrumentation for laboratory measurements of cotton fiber micronaire

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Micronaire is a key quality and processing parameter for cotton fiber. A program was implemented to determine the capabilities of portable Near Infrared (NIR) instrumentation to monitor cotton fiber micronaire both in the laboratory and in/near the field. Previous evaluations on one NIR unit demon...

Effect of Cotton Fiber Cohesion on Energy Use and Fiber Quality During Processing: 2nd Year

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Energy is a significant expense for cotton gins, and consumers of cotton goods are increasingly concerned with the sustainability of cotton production. Previous research has demonstrated the effect of fiber-seed attachment force on the energy required to gin cotton, which will affect the ginning rat...

Comparison and validation of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic methods for monitoring secondary cell wall cellulose from cotton fibers

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The amount of secondary cell wall (SCW) cellulose in the fiber affects the quality and commercial value of cotton. Accurate assessments of SCW cellulose are essential for improving cotton fibers. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy enables distinguishing SCW from other cell wall componen...

High resistance to thermal decomposition in brown cotton is linked to tannis and sodium content

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Brown cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fibers (SA-1 and MC-BL) studied were inferior to white cotton fiber Sure-Grow 747 (SG747) in fiber quality, i.e., shorter length, fewer twists, and lower crystallinity, but exhibited superior thermal properties in thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermogravime...

Chemical imaging of cotton fibers using an infrared microscope and a focal-plane array detector

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In this presentation, the chemical imaging of cotton fibers with an infrared microscope and a Focal-Plane Array (FPA) detector will be discussed. Infrared spectroscopy can provide us with information on the structure and quality of cotton fibers. In addition, FPA detectors allow for simultaneous spe...

A comparative study on cotton fiber length parameters’ effects on modeling yarn property

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Fiber length is one of the key properties of cotton and has important influences on yarn production and yarn quality. Various parameters have been developed to characterize cotton fiber length in the past decades. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of these parameters and their ...

Laboratory and outside the laboratory measurements of ginned and ot ginned cotton for fiber micronaire and maturity by portable Near Infrared (NIR) Instruments

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Micronaire is a key cotton quality assessment property, impacting downstream fiber processing and dye consistency. A component of micronaire is fiber maturity (degree of secondary wall development). Historically, micronaire and maturity are measured in a laboratory under tight environmental condit...

Experimental investigation of the transverse modal instabilities onset in high power fully-aperiodic-large-pitch fiber lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malleville, Marie-Alicia; Benoît, Aurélien; Dauliat, Romain; Leconte, Baptiste; Darwich, Dia; du Jeu, Rémi; Jamier, Raphaël.; Schwuchow, Anka; Schuster, Kay; Roy, Philippe

2018-02-01

Over the last decade, significant work has been carried out in order to increase the energy/peak power provided by fiber lasers. Indeed, new microstructured fibers with large (or very large) mode area cores (LMA) such as Distributed Mode Filtering (DMF) fibers and Large-Pitch Fibers (LPF) have been developed to address this concern. These technologies have allowed diffraction-limited emission with core diameters higher than 80 μm, and have state-of-the-art performances in terms of pulse energy or peak power while keeping an excellent spatial beam quality. Although these fibers were designed to reach high power levels while maintaining a single transverse mode propagation, power scaling becomes quickly limited by the onset of transverse modal instabilities (TMI). This effect suddenly arises when a certain average power threshold is exceeded, drastically degrading the emitted beam quality. In this work, we investigate the influence of the core dimensions and the refractive index mismatch between the active core and the background cladding material, on the TMI power threshold in rod-type Fully-Aperiodic-LPF. This fiber structure was specifically designed to enhance the higher-order modes (HOMs) delocalization out of the gain region and thus push further the onset of modal instabilities. Using a 400W pump diode at 976 nm, the power scaling, as well as the spatial beam quality and its temporal behavior were investigated in laser configuration, which theoretically provides a lower TMI power threshold than the amplifier one due to the lack of selective excitation of the fundamental mode.

Evaluation of free water and water activity measurements as functional alternatives to total moisture content in broiler excreta and litter samples.

PubMed

van der Hoeven-Hangoor, E; Rademaker, C J; Paton, N D; Verstegen, M W A; Hendriks, W H

2014-07-01

Litter moisture contents vary greatly between and within practical poultry barns. The current experiment was designed to measure the effects of 8 different dietary characteristics on litter and excreta moisture content. Additionally, free water content and water activity of the excreta and litter were evaluated as additional quality measures. The dietary treatments consisted of nonstarch polysaccharide content (NSP; corn vs. wheat), particle size of insoluble fiber (coarse vs. finely ground oat hulls), viscosity of a nonfermentable fiber (low- and high-viscosity carboxymethyl cellulose), inclusion of a clay mineral (sepiolite), and inclusion of a laxative electrolyte (MgSO4). The 8 treatments were randomly assigned to cages within blocks, resulting in 12 replicates per treatment with 6 birds per replicate. Limited effects of the dietary treatments were noted on excreta and litter water activity, and indications were observed that this measurement is limited in high-moisture samples. Increasing dietary NSP content by feeding a corn-based diet (low NSP) compared with a wheat-based diet (high NSP) increased water intake, excreta moisture and free water, and litter moisture content. Adding insoluble fibers to the wheat-based diet reduced excreta and litter moisture content, as well as litter water activity. Fine grinding of the oat hulls diminished the effect on litter moisture and water activity. However, excreta moisture and free water content were similar when fed finely or coarsely ground oat hulls. The effects of changing viscosity and adding a clay mineral or laxative deviated from results observed in previous studies. Findings of the current experiment indicate a potential for excreta free water measurement as an additional parameter to assess excreta quality besides total moisture. The exact implication of this parameter warrants further investigation. © 2014 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Dietary fiber is positively associated with cognitive control among prepubertal children.

PubMed

Khan, Naiman A; Raine, Lauren B; Drollette, Eric S; Scudder, Mark R; Kramer, Arthur F; Hillman, Charles H

2015-01-01

Converging evidence now indicates that aerobic fitness and adiposity are key correlates of childhood cognitive function and brain health. However, the evidence relating dietary intake to executive function/cognitive control remains limited. The current study assessed cross-sectional associations between performance on an attentional inhibition task and dietary fatty acids (FAs), fiber, and overall diet quality among children aged 7-9 y (n = 65). Attentional inhibition was assessed by using a modified flanker task. Three-day food records were used to conduct nutrient-level analyses and to calculate diet quality (Healthy Eating Index-2005) scores. Bivariate correlations revealed that socioeconomic status and sex were not related to task performance or diet measures. However, age, intelligence quotient (IQ), pubertal staging, maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2max), and percentage of fat mass (%fat mass) correlated with task accuracy. Hierarchical regression models were used to determine the relation between diet variables and task accuracy and reaction time across both congruent and incongruent trials of the flanker task. After adjustment of confounding variables (age, IQ, pubertal staging, V̇O2max, and %fat mass), congruent accuracy was positively associated with insoluble fiber (β = 0.26, P = 0.03) and total dietary fiber (β = 0.23, P = 0.05). Incongruent response accuracy was positively associated with insoluble fiber (β = 0.35, P < 0.01), pectins (β = 0.25, P = 0.04), and total dietary fiber (β = 0.32, P < 0.01). Higher diet quality was related to lower accuracy interference (β = -0.26, P = 0.03), whereas higher total FA intake was related to greater accuracy interference (β = 0.24, P = 0.04). No statistically significant associations were observed between diet variables and reaction time measures. These results demonstrate that children's diet quality, specifically dietary fiber, is an important correlate of performance on a cognitive task requiring variable amounts of cognitive control. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

Dietary Fiber Is Positively Associated with Cognitive Control among Prepubertal Children12

PubMed Central

Khan, Naiman A; Raine, Lauren B; Drollette, Eric S; Scudder, Mark R; Kramer, Arthur F; Hillman, Charles H

2015-01-01

Background: Converging evidence now indicates that aerobic fitness and adiposity are key correlates of childhood cognitive function and brain health. However, the evidence relating dietary intake to executive function/cognitive control remains limited. Objective: The current study assessed cross-sectional associations between performance on an attentional inhibition task and dietary fatty acids (FAs), fiber, and overall diet quality among children aged 7–9 y (n = 65). Methods: Attentional inhibition was assessed by using a modified flanker task. Three-day food records were used to conduct nutrient-level analyses and to calculate diet quality (Healthy Eating Index–2005) scores. Results: Bivariate correlations revealed that socioeconomic status and sex were not related to task performance or diet measures. However, age, intelligence quotient (IQ), pubertal staging, maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2max), and percentage of fat mass (%fat mass) correlated with task accuracy. Hierarchical regression models were used to determine the relation between diet variables and task accuracy and reaction time across both congruent and incongruent trials of the flanker task. After adjustment of confounding variables (age, IQ, pubertal staging, V̇O2max, and %fat mass), congruent accuracy was positively associated with insoluble fiber (β = 0.26, P = 0.03) and total dietary fiber (β = 0.23, P = 0.05). Incongruent response accuracy was positively associated with insoluble fiber (β = 0.35, P < 0.01), pectins (β = 0.25, P = 0.04), and total dietary fiber (β = 0.32, P < 0.01). Higher diet quality was related to lower accuracy interference (β = −0.26, P = 0.03), whereas higher total FA intake was related to greater accuracy interference (β = 0.24, P = 0.04). No statistically significant associations were observed between diet variables and reaction time measures. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that children’s diet quality, specifically dietary fiber, is an important correlate of performance on a cognitive task requiring variable amounts of cognitive control. PMID:25527669

Coupling characteristics of the spun optical fiber with triple stress elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Minning; Shang, Fengtao; Chen, Dandan

2018-06-01

An empirical formula related to the stress field distribution in the optical fiber with triple stress elements is proposed and proved. The possible intercoupling between the fundamental modes and the higher order modes is demonstrated. The transmission property of the spun optical fiber with triple stress elements is analyzed. The experimental data from a sample of the spun optical fiber with triple stress elements confirm the theoretical results very well.

Registration of cotton germplasm USDA MD 16-1 and USDA MD 16-2 with enhanced lint yield and fiber quality.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Upland cotton germplasm USDA MD 16-1 (Reg. No. __ and PI ___ ), and USDA MD 16-2 (Reg. No. ___ and PI___) (Gossypium hirsutum L.), have enhanced yield and good fiber quality. These germplasm lines were developed by the USDA-ARS, Stoneville, MS and released in 2017. Two crosses, MD 25-51 X MD 10-9-1 ...

Force-velocity and power characteristics of rat soleus muscle fibers after hindlimb suspension

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcdonald, K. S.; Blaser, C. A.; Fitts, R. H.

1994-01-01

The effects of 1, 2, and 3 wk of hindlimb suspension (HS) on force-velocity and power characteristics of single rat soleus fibers were determined. After 1, 2, or 3 wk of HA, small fiber bundles were isolated, placed in skinning solution, and stored at -20 C until studied. Single fibers were isolated and placed between a motor arm and force transducer, functional properties were studied, and fiber protein content was subsequently analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Additional fibers were isolated from soleus of control after 1 and 3 wk of HS, and fiber type distribution and myosin light chain stoichiometry were determined from SDS-PAGE analysis. After 1 wk of HS, percent type I fibers declined from 82 to 74%, whereas hybrid fibers increased from 10 to 18%. Percent fast type II fibers increased from 8% in control and 1 wk of HS to 26% by 3 wk of HS. Most fibers showed an increased unloaded maximal shortening velocity (V sub O)), but myosin heavy chain remained entirely slow type I. The mechanism for increased V(sub O) is unknown. There was a progressive decrease in fiber diameter and peak force after 1, 2, and 3 wk of HS, respectively. One week of HS resulted in a shift of the force-velocity curve, and between 2 and 3 wk of HS the curve shifted further such that V(sub O) was higher than control at all relative loads less than 45% peak isometric force. Peak absolute power output of soleus fibers progressively decreased through 2 wk of HS but showed no further change at 3 wk. The results suggest that between 2 and 3 wk the HS-induced alterations in the force-velocity relationship act to maintain the power output of single soleus fibers despite a continued reduction in fiber force.

Force-Velocity and Power Characteristics of Rat Soleus Muscle Fibers after Hindlimb Suspension

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McDonald, K. S.; Blaser, C. A.; Fitts, R. H.

1994-01-01

The effects of 1, 2, and 3 wk of Hindlimb Suspension (HS) on force-velocity and power characteristics of single rat soleus fibers were determined. After 1, 2, or 3 wk of HS, small fiber bundles were isolated, placed in skinning solution, and stored at -20 C until studied. Single fibers were isolated and placed between a motor arm and force transducer, functional properties were studied, and fiber protein content was subsequently analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Additional fibers were isolated from soleus of control and after 1 and 3 wk of HS, and fiber type distribution and myosin light chain stoichiometry were determined from SDS-PAGE analysis. After 1 wk of HS, percent type I fibers declined from 82 to 74%, whereas hybrid fibers increased from 10 to 18%. Percent fast type 11 fibers increased from 8% in control and 1 wk of HS to 26% by 3 wk of HS. Most fibers showed an increased unloaded maximal shortening velocity (V(sub 0)), but myosin heavy chain remained entirely slow type I. The mechanism for increased V(sub 0) is unknown. There was a progressive decrease in fiber diameter (14, 30, and 38%) and peak force (38, 56, and 63%) after 1, 2, and 3 wk of HS, respectively. One week of HS resulted in a shift of the force-velocity curve, and between 2 and 3 wk of HS the curve shifted further such that V(sub 0) was higher than control at all relative loads less than 45% peak isometric force. Peak absolute power output of soleus fibers progressively decreased through 2 wk of HS but showed no further change at 3 wk. The results suggest that between 2 and 3 wk the HS-induced alterations in the force-velocity relationship act to maintain the power output of single soleus fibers despite a continued reduction in fiber force.

Evidence-Based Approach to Fiber Supplements and Clinically Meaningful Health Benefits, Part 1

PubMed Central

McRorie, Johnson W.

2015-01-01

Dietary fiber that is intrinsic and intact in fiber-rich foods (eg, fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains) is widely recognized to have beneficial effects on health when consumed at recommended levels (25 g/d for adult women, 38 g/d for adult men). Most (90%) of the US population does not consume this level of dietary fiber, averaging only 15 g/d. In an attempt to bridge this “fiber gap,” many consumers are turning to fiber supplements, which are typically isolated from a single source. Fiber supplements cannot be presumed to provide the health benefits that are associated with dietary fiber from whole foods. Of the fiber supplements on the market today, only a minority possess the physical characteristics that underlie the mechanisms driving clinically meaningful health benefits. The first part (current issue) of this 2-part series will focus on the 4 main characteristics of fiber supplements that drive clinical efficacy (solubility, degree/rate of fermentation, viscosity, and gel formation), the 4 clinically meaningful designations that identify which health benefits are associated with specific fibers, and the gel-dependent mechanisms in the small bowel that drive specific health benefits (eg, cholesterol lowering, improved glycemic control). The second part (next issue) of this 2-part series will focus on the effects of fiber supplements in the large bowel, including the 2 mechanisms by which fiber prevents/relieves constipation (insoluble mechanical irritant and soluble gel-dependent water-holding capacity), the gel-dependent mechanism for attenuating diarrhea and normalizing stool form in irritable bowel syndrome, and the combined large bowel/small bowel fiber effects for weight loss/maintenance. The second part will also discuss how processing for marketed products can attenuate efficacy, why fiber supplements can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, and how to avoid symptoms for better long-term compliance. PMID:25972618

Evidence-Based Approach to Fiber Supplements and Clinically Meaningful Health Benefits, Part 2

PubMed Central

McRorie, Johnson W.

2015-01-01

Dietary fiber that is intrinsic and intact in fiber-rich foods (eg, fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains) is widely recognized to have beneficial effects on health when consumed at recommended levels (25 g/d for adult women, 38 g/d for adult men). Most (90%) of the US population does not consume this level of dietary fiber, averaging only 15 g/d. In an attempt to bridge this “fiber gap,” many consumers are turning to fiber supplements, which are typically isolated from a single source. Fiber supplements cannot be presumed to provide the health benefits that are associated with dietary fiber from whole foods. Of the fiber supplements on the market today, only a minority possess the physical characteristics that underlie the mechanisms driving clinically meaningful health benefits. In this 2-part series, the first part (previous issue) described the 4 main characteristics of fiber supplements that drive clinical efficacy (solubility, degree/rate of fermentation, viscosity, and gel formation), the 4 clinically meaningful designations that identify which health benefits are associated with specific fibers, and the gel-dependent mechanisms in the small bowel that drive specific health benefits (eg, cholesterol lowering, improved glycemic control). The second part (current issue) of this 2-part series will focus on the effects of fiber supplements in the large bowel, including the 2 mechanisms by which fiber prevents/relieves constipation (insoluble mechanical irritant and soluble gel-dependent water-holding capacity), the gel-dependent mechanism for attenuating diarrhea and normalizing stool form in irritable bowel syndrome, and the combined large bowel/small bowel fiber effects for weight loss/maintenance. The second part will also discuss how processing for marketed products can attenuate efficacy, why fiber supplements can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, and how to avoid symptoms for better long-term compliance. PMID:25972619

Characterization of a space orbited incoherent fiber optic bundle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dewalt, Stephen A.; Taylor, Edward W.

1993-01-01

The results of a study performed to determine the effects of adverse space environments on a bundle of over 1800 optical fibers orbited for 69 months are reported. Experimental results are presented on an incoherent fiber optic bundle oriented in low Earth orbit aboard the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite as part of the Space Environment Effects Experiment (M0006). Measurements were performed to determine if space induced radiation effects changed the fiber bundle characteristics. Data demonstrating the success of light transmitting fibers to withstand the adverse space environment are presented.

Fiber optic coupling of a microlens conditioned, stacked semiconductor laser diode array

DOEpatents

Beach, Raymond J.; Benett, William J.; Mills, Steven T.

1997-01-01

The output radiation from the two-dimensional aperture of a semiconductor laser diode array is efficiently coupled into an optical fiber. The two-dimensional aperture is formed by stacking individual laser diode bars on top of another in a "rack and stack" configuration. Coupling into the fiber is then accomplished using individual microlenses to condition the output radiation of the laser diode bars. A lens that matches the divergence properties and wavefront characteristics of the laser light to the fiber optic is used to focus this conditioned radiation into the fiber.

Guided transmission for 10 micron tunable lasers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yu, C.; Sabzali, A.; Yekrangian, A.

1986-01-01

Performance characteristics are reported for two types of IR tunable laser guided transmission, one of which incorporates a CO2 laser, metallic piping or fiber-optics, and a detector system, while the other employs a tunable diode laser, fiber-optics, and a detector system. While existing technology furnishes low loss, rugged, near-single mode piping, fiber-optics exhibits appreciably higher loss, and its multimode fibers are fragile and chemically unstable. Studies have accordingly concentrated on such relevant fiber parameters as loss, toxicity, hygroscopicity, refractive index, flexibility, and thermal behavior at low temperature.

Growth of rare-earth doped single crystal yttrium aluminum garnet fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bera, Subhabrata; Nie, Craig D.; Harrington, James A.; Cheng, Long; Rand, Stephen C.; Li, Yuan; Johnson, Eric G.

2018-02-01

Rare-earth doped single crystal (SC) yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) fibers have great potential as high-power laser gain media. SC fibers combine the superior material properties of crystals with the advantages of a fiber geometry. Improving processing techniques, growth of low-loss YAG SC fibers have been reported. A low-cost technique that allows for the growth of optical quality Ho:YAG single crystal (SC) fibers with different dopant concentrations have been developed and discussed. This technique is a low-cost sol-gel based method which offers greater flexibility in terms of dopant concentration. Self-segregation of Nd ions in YAG SC fibers have been observed. Such a phenomenon can be utilized to fabricate monolithic SC fibers with graded index.

Properties of high-quality long natural cellulose fibers from rice straw.

PubMed

Reddy, Narendra; Yang, Yiqi

2006-10-18

This paper reports the structure and properties of novel long natural cellulose fibers obtained from rice straw. Rice straw fibers have 64% cellulose with 63% crystalline cellulose, strength of 3.5 g/denier (450 MPa), elongation of 2.2%, and modulus of 200 g/denier (26 GPa), similar to that of linen fibers. The rice straw fibers reported here have better properties than any other natural cellulose fiber obtained from an agricultural byproduct. With a worldwide annual availability of 580 million tons, rice straw is an annually renewable, abundant, and cheap source for natural cellulose fibers. Using rice straw for high-value fibrous applications will help to add value to the rice crops, provide a sustainable resource for fibers, and also benefit the environment.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-02-05

This graph depicts the increased signal quality possible with optical fibers made from ZBLAN, a family of heavy-metal fluoride glasses (fluorine combined zirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminum, and sodium) as compared to silica fibers. NASA is conducting research on pulling ZBLAN fibers in the low-g environment of space to prevent crystallization that limits ZBLAN's usefulness in optical fiber-based communications. In the graph, a line closer to the black theoretical maximum line is better. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

Simulation of laser radar tooling ball measurements: focus dependence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Daniel G.; Slotwinski, Anthony; Hedges, Thomas

2015-10-01

The Nikon Metrology Laser Radar system focuses a beam from a fiber to a target object and receives the light scattered from the target through the same fiber. The system can, among other things, make highly accurate measurements of the position of a tooling ball by locating the angular position of peak signal quality, which is related to the fiber coupling efficiency. This article explores the relationship between fiber coupling efficiency and focus condition.

Tunable thulium-doped fiber laser based on an abrupt-tapered in-fiber interferometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández-Arriaga, M. V.; Durán-Sánchez, M.; Ibarra-Escamilla, B.; Álvarez-Tamayo, R. I.; Santiago-Hernández, H.; Bello-Jiménez, M.; Kuzin, E. A.

2017-11-01

An experimental study of an all-fiber tunable thulium-doped fiber laser based on an abrupt-tapered in-fiber interferometer is presented. A microfiber filter with length of 6 mm and diameter of 20 μm is used to achieve single laser wavelength tuning in a range of 19.4 nm and dual-wavelength laser operation at 1761.8 and 1793.4 nm with a channel spacing of 31.6 nm. The abrupt-tapered structure allows multi-modal interference at the air-cladding interface. The proposed in-fiber interferometer exhibits characteristics of low cost and simple fabrication, making it suitable for practical applications in wavelength filtering and wavelength selection in all-fiber lasers.

Compression-recovery model of absorptive glass mat (AGM) separator guided by X-ray micro-computed tomography analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kameswara Rao, P. V.; Rawal, Amit; Kumar, Vijay; Rajput, Krishn Gopal

2017-10-01

Absorptive glass mat (AGM) separators play a key role in enhancing the cycle life of the valve regulated lead acid (VRLA) batteries by maintaining the elastic characteristics under a defined level of compression force with the plates of the electrodes. Inevitably, there are inherent challenges to maintain the required level of compression characteristics of AGM separators during the charge and discharge of the battery. Herein, we report a three-dimensional (3D) analytical model for predicting the compression-recovery behavior of AGM separators by formulating a direct relationship with the constituent fiber and structural parameters. The analytical model of compression-recovery behavior of AGM separators has successfully included the fiber slippage criterion and internal friction losses. The presented work uses, for the first time, 3D data of fiber orientation from X-ray micro-computed tomography, for predicting the compression-recovery behavior of AGM separators. A comparison has been made between the theoretical and experimental results of compression-recovery behavior of AGM samples with defined fiber orientation characteristics. In general, the theory agreed reasonably well with the experimental results of AGM samples in both dry and wet states. Through theoretical modeling, fiber volume fraction was established as one of the key structural parameters that modulates the compression hysteresis of an AGM separator.

Advance study of fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mironova, M., E-mail: mirona@imbm.bas.bg; Ivanova, M., E-mail: magdalena.ivanova@imbm.bas.bg; Naidenov, V., E-mail: valna53@mail.bg

2015-10-28

Incorporation in concrete composition of steel macro- and micro – fiber reinforcement with structural function increases the degree of ductility of typically brittle cement-containing composites, which in some cases can replace completely or partially conventional steel reinforcement in the form of rods and meshes. Thus, that can reduce manufacturing, detailing and placement of conventional reinforcement, which enhances productivity and economic efficiency of the building process. In this paper, six fiber-reinforced with different amounts of steel fiber cement-containing self-compacting compositions are investigated. The results of some of their main strength-deformation characteristics are presented. Advance approach for the study of structural andmore » material properties of these type composites is proposed by using the methods of industrial computed tomography. The obtained original tomography results about the microstructure and characteristics of individual structural components make it possible to analyze the effective macro-characteristics of the studied composites. The resulting analytical data are relevant for the purposes of multi-dimensional modeling of these systems. Multifactor structure-mechanical analysis of the obtained with different methods original scientific results is proposed. It is presented a conclusion of the capabilities and effectiveness of complex analysis in the studies to characterize the properties of self-compacting fiber-reinforced concrete.« less

Structural considerations in design of lightweight glass-fiber composite pressure vessels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Faddoul, J. R.

1973-01-01

The development of structurally efficient, metal-lined, glass-fiber composite pressure vessels. Both the current state-of-the-art and current problems are discussed along with fracture mechanics considerations for the metal liner. The design concepts used for metal-lined, glass-fiber, composite pressure vessels are described and the structural characteristics of the composite designs are compared with each other and with homogeneous metal pressure vessels. Specific design techniques and available design data are identified. Results of a current program to evaluate flaw growth and fracture characteristics of the metal liners are reviewed and the impact of these results on composite pressure vessel designs is discussed.

Physiological changes in fast and slow muscle with simulated weightlessness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dettbarn, W. D.; Misulis, K. E.

1984-01-01

A rat hindlimb suspension model of simulated weightlessness was used to examine the physiological characteristics of skeletal muscle. The physiological sequelae of hindlimb suspension were compared to those of spinal cord section, denervation by sciatic nerve crush, and control. Muscle examined were the predominantly slow (Type 1) soleus (SOL) and the predominantly fast (Type 2) extensor digitorum longus (EDL). Two procedures which alter motor unit activity, hindlimb suspension and spinal cord section, produce changes in characteristics of skeletal muscles that are dependent upon fiber type. The SOL develops characteristics more representative of a fast muscle, including smaller Type 1 fiber proportion and higher AChE activity. The EDL, which is already predominantly fast, loses most of its few Type 1 fibers, thus also becoming faster. These data are in agreement with the studies in which rats experienced actual weightlessness.

[Chemical-nutritional characterization of the moss Spagnum magellanicum].

PubMed

Villarroel, Mario; Biolley, Edith; Yáñez, Enrique; Peralta, Rosario

2002-12-01

The goal of the present study was to know the chemical characteristics of the moss Sphagnum magellanicum (S.M.) growing in the southern part of Chile, spreading approximately. in a geographic area of 500.000 Has. Very few antecedents are reported in the literature concerning the functional properties of this resource, with the exception of the water absorption and holding capacity. Many of the industrial or agricultural uses of this moss are strongly related with this characteristic. Looking for other alternatives of utilization, it has been planned its incorporation to staple foods as a source of dietary fiber. But first it is necessary to know its chemical characteristics Representative samples of this material were submitted to different chemical analysis such as proximal analysis, fractional fiber analysis and anti nutrient factors.. Results of those analysis show the high amount of dietary fiber founded in this resource (77%), higher than reported data for other traditional fiber sources such as lupin bran, rice hull, barley hull, oat bran, etc. Finally it is important emphasize the absence of antinutrient factor in this moss, that could make feasible its use for human nutrition.

Guiding characteristics of sunflower-type fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Exian; Yan, Bei; Tan, Wei; Xie, Jianlan; Ge, Rui; Liu, Jianjun

2018-03-01

In this paper, the guiding characteristics of sunflower-type fiber (SFF) with 6-fold rotational symmetry are investigated theoretically using finite element method (FEM). The behavior of single-mode propagation in SFF is verified. Numerical results reveal that, the cutoff ratio for endlessly single-mode propagation in SFF is 0.575 which is larger than that of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and photonic quasi-crystal fiber (PQF). Moreover, SFF can present ultra-flattened near-zero chromatic dispersion, 0.249 ± 1.146 ps/nm/km, in a broadband of wavelength covering 1.20-1.84 μm over all the telecommunication wavelengths. In term of chromatic dispersion and confinement loss in the wavelength range from 1.00 to 2.00 μm, a comparison between SFF, PCF and PQF with same structure parameters is carried out. Importantly, the rotational symmetry, as a new manageable structure parameter beyond common air hole diameter and lattice constant, can be employed to manipulate the chromatic dispersion, confinement loss, effective mode area and non-linear coefficient and it dependences on these guiding characteristics are discussed in detail.

Multimode optical fibers: steady state mode exciter.

PubMed

Ikeda, M; Sugimura, A; Ikegami, T

1976-09-01

The steady state mode power distribution of the multimode graded index fiber was measured. A simple and effective steady state mode exciter was fabricated by an etching technique. Its insertion loss was 0.5 dB for an injection laser. Deviation in transmission characteristics of multimode graded index fibers can be avoided by using the steady state mode exciter.

Fabrication and Characterization of Tilted Fiber Optic Bragg Grating Filters over Various Wavelengths

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grant, Joseph; Jackson, Kurt V.; Wang, Y.; Sharma, A.; Burdine, Robert V. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Fiber Optic Bragg Grating taps are fabricated and characterized at various wavelengths using a modified Talbot interferometric technique. Gratings are fabricated by tilting the photosensitive fiber to angles up to 45 degrees w.r.t. the writing angle. Diffraction characteristics of the tilted grating is monitored in first and second orders.

Dry chips versus green chips as furnish for medium-density fiberboard

Treesearch

Paul H. Short; George E. Woodson; Duane E. Lyon

1978-01-01

The fiber characteristics and the physical and mechanical properties of medium-density fiberboard (MDF), manufactured with pressure-refined fiber from green and partially dried raw material, were analyzed to determine if dry wood chips made a better furnish than green wood chips. Pressure-refining dry material produced coarser fiber than those obtained from green...

Dry chips versus green chips as furnish for medium-density fiberboard

Treesearch

P.H. Short; G.E. Woodson; D.E. Lyon

1978-01-01

The fiber characteristics and the physical and mechanical properties of medium-density fiberboard (MDF), manufactured with pressure-refined fiber from green and partially dried raw material, were analyzed to determine if dry wood chips made a better furnish than green wood chips. Pressure-refined dry material produced coarser fiber than those obtained from green...

Parameter space for the collective laser coupling in the laser fusion driver based on the concept of fiber amplification network.

PubMed

Huang, Zhihua; Lin, Honghuan; Xu, Dangpeng; Li, Mingzhong; Wang, Jianjun; Deng, Ying; Zhang, Rui; Zhang, Yongliang; Tian, Xiaocheng; Wei, Xiaofeng

2013-07-15

Collective laser coupling of the fiber array in the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) laser driver based on the concept of fiber amplification network (FAN) is researched. The feasible parameter space is given for laser coupling of the fundamental, second and third harmonic waves by neglecting the influence of the frequency conversion on the beam quality under the assumption of beam quality factor conservation. Third harmonic laser coupling is preferred due to its lower output energy requirement from a single fiber amplifier. For coplanar fiber array, the energy requirement is around 0.4 J with an effective mode field diameter of around 500 μm while maintaining the fundamental mode operation which is more than one order of magnitude higher than what can be achieved with state-of-the-art technology. Novel waveguide structure needs to be developed to enlarge the fundamental mode size while mitigating the catastrophic self-focusing effect.

Comprehensive Analysis of the COBRA-Like (COBL) Gene Family in Gossypium Identifies Two COBLs Potentially Associated with Fiber Quality

PubMed Central

Niu, Erli; Shang, Xiaoguang; Cheng, Chaoze; Bao, Jianghao; Zeng, Yanda; Cai, Caiping; Du, Xiongming; Guo, Wangzhen

2015-01-01

COBRA-Like (COBL) genes, which encode a plant-specific glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchored protein, have been proven to be key regulators in the orientation of cell expansion and cellulose crystallinity status. Genome-wide analysis has been performed in A. thaliana, O. sativa, Z. mays and S. lycopersicum, but little in Gossypium. Here we identified 19, 18 and 33 candidate COBL genes from three sequenced cotton species, diploid cotton G. raimondii, G. arboreum and tetraploid cotton G. hirsutum acc. TM-1, respectively. These COBL members were anchored onto 10 chromosomes in G. raimondii and could be divided into two subgroups. Expression patterns of COBL genes showed highly developmental and spatial regulation in G. hirsutum acc. TM-1. Of them, GhCOBL9 and GhCOBL13 were preferentially expressed at the secondary cell wall stage of fiber development and had significantly co-upregulated expression with cellulose synthase genes GhCESA4, GhCESA7 and GhCESA8. Besides, GhCOBL9 Dt and GhCOBL13 Dt were co-localized with previously reported cotton fiber quality quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and the favorable allele types of GhCOBL9 Dt had significantly positive correlations with fiber quality traits, indicating that these two genes might play an important role in fiber development. PMID:26710066

Multi-resonance peaks fiber Bragg gratings based on largely-chirped structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chao; Zhang, Xuan-Yu; Wei, Wei-Hua; Chen, Yong-Yi; Qin, Li; Ning, Yong-Qiang; Yu, Yong-Sen

2018-04-01

A composite fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with multi-resonance peaks (MRPs) has been realized by using femtosecond (fs) laser point-by-point inscription in single-mode fiber. This device contains a segment of largely-chirped gratings with the ultrahigh chirp coefficients and a segment of uniform high-order gratings. The observed MRPs are distributed in an ultra-broadband wavelength range from 1200 nm to 1700 nm in the form of quasi-period or multi-peak-group. For the 8th-order MRPs-FBG, we studied the axial strain and high-temperature sensing characteristics of different resonance peaks experimentally. Moreover, we have demonstrated a multi-wavelength fiber lasers with three-wavelength stable output by using a 9th-order MRPs-FBG as the wavelength selector. This work is significant for the fabrication and functionalization of FBGs with complicated spectra characteristics.

Porosity Assessment for Different Diameters of Coir Lignocellulosic Fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

da Luz, Fernanda Santos; Paciornik, Sidnei; Monteiro, Sergio Neves; da Silva, Luiz Carlos; Tommasini, Flávio James; Candido, Verônica Scarpini

2017-10-01

The application of natural lignocellulosic fibers (LCFs) in engineering composites has increased interest in their properties and structural characteristics. In particular, the inherent porosity of an LCF markedly affects its density and the adhesion to polymer matrices. For the first time, both open and closed porosities of a natural LCF, for different diameter ranges, were assessed. Fibers extracted from the mesocarp of the coconut fruit were investigated by nondestructive methods of density measurements and x-ray microtomography (microCT). It was found that, for all diameter ranges, the closed porosity is significantly higher than the open porosity. The total porosity increases with diameter to around 60% for coir fibers with more than 503 μm in diameter. The amount and characteristics of these open and closed porosities were revealed by t test and Weibull statistics as well as by microCT.

Monitoring Fiber Stress During Curing of Single Fiber Glass- and Graphite-Epoxy Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madhukar, Madhu S.; Kosuri, Ranga P.; Bowles, Kenneth J.

1994-01-01

The difference in thermal expansion characteristics of epoxy matrices and graphite fibers can produce significant residual stresses in the fibers during curing of composite materials. Tests on single fiber glass-epoxy and graphite-epoxy composite specimens were conducted in which the glass and graphite fibers were preloaded in tension, and the epoxy matrix was cast around the fibers. The fiber tension was monitored while the matrix was placed around the fiber and subjected to the temperature-time curing cycle. Two mechanisms responsible for producing stress in embedded fibers were identified as matrix thermal expansion and contraction and matrix cure shrinkage. A simple analysis based on the change in fiber tension during the curing cycle was conducted to estimate the produced stresses. Experimental results on single fiber glass- and graphite-epoxy composites show that the fiber was subjected to significant tensile stresses when the temperature was raised from the first to the second dwell period. When initial fiber pretension is about 60 percent of the fiber failure load, these curing-induced stresses can cause tensile fracture of the embedded fiber.

Assessment of Postoperative Tendon Quality in Patients With Achilles Tendon Rupture Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Tendon Fiber Tracking.

PubMed

Sarman, Hakan; Atmaca, Halil; Cakir, Ozgur; Muezzinoglu, Umit Sefa; Anik, Yonca; Memisoglu, Kaya; Baran, Tuncay; Isik, Cengiz

2015-01-01

Although pre- and postoperative imaging of Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) has been well documented, radiographic evaluations of postoperative intratendinous healing and microstructure are still lacking. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is an innovative technique that offers a noninvasive method for describing the microstructure characteristics and organization of tissues. DTI was used in the present study for quantitative assessment of fiber continuity postoperatively in patients with acute ATR. The data from 16 patients with ATR from 2005 to 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. The microstructure of ART was evaluated using tendon fiber tracking, tendon continuity, fractional anisotropy, and apparent diffusion coefficient values by way of DTI. The distal and proximal portions were measured separately in both the ruptured and the healthy extremities of each patient. The mean patient age was 41.56 ± 8.49 (range 26 to 56) years. The median duration of follow-up was 21 (range 6 to 80) months. The tendon fractional anisotropy values of the ruptured Achilles tendon were significantly lower statistically than those of the normal side (p = .001). However, none of the differences between the 2 groups with respect to the distal and proximal apparent diffusion coefficient were statistically significant (p = .358 and p = .899, respectively). In addition, the fractional anisotropy and apparent diffusion coefficient measurements were not significantly different in the proximal and distal regions of the ruptured tendons compared with the healthy tendons. The present study used DTI and fiber tracking to demonstrate the radiologic properties of postoperative Achilles tendons with respect to trajectory and tendinous fiber continuity. Quantifying DTI and fiber tractography offers an innovative and effective tool that might be able to detect microstructural abnormalities not appreciable using conventional radiologic techniques. Copyright © 2015 American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fire test method for graphite fiber reinforced plastics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowles, K. J.

1980-01-01

A potential problem in the use of graphite fiber reinforced resin matrix composites is the dispersal of graphite fibers during accidential fires. Airborne, electrically conductive fibers originating from the burning composites could enter and cause shorting in electrical equipment located in surrounding areas. A test method for assessing the burning characteristics of graphite fiber reinforced composites and the effectiveness of the composites in retaining the graphite fibers has been developed. The method utilizes a modified rate of heat release apparatus. The equipment and the testing procedure are described. The application of the test method to the assessment of composite materials is illustrated for two resin matrix/graphite composite systems.

Analysis of the tunable asymmetric fiber F-P cavity for fiber sensor edge-filter demodulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Haitao; Liang, Youcheng

2014-12-01

An asymmetric fiber (Fabry-Pérot,F-P) interferometric cavity with good linearity and wide dynamic range is successfully designed basing on optical thin film characteristic matrix theory; by choosing the material of two different thin metallic layers, the asymmetric fiber F-P interferometric cavity is fabricated by depositing the multi-layer thin films on the optical fiber's end face. The demodulation method for the wavelength shift of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor basing on the F-P cavity is demonstrated and a theoretical formula is obtained. And the experimental results coincide well with computational results obtained from the theoretical model.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of microRNAs differenytially expressed in fibers in a cotton phytochrome A1 RNAi line

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Silencing phytochrome A1 gene (PHYA1) by RNA interference in Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Coker 312) had generated PHYA1 RNAi lines with simultaneously improved fiber quality (longer, stronger and finer fiber) and other key agronomic traits. Comparative analyses of altered molecular proc...

Recent progress in Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy study of compositional, structural, and physical attributes of developmental cotton fibers

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cotton fibers are natural plant products and their end-use qualities depend on their stages of development. In general, the quantity of natural fiber cellulose I (ß 1'4 linked glucose residues) increases rapidly, thus it leads to compositional, structural, and physical attribute variations among the...

The load and release characteristics on a strong cationic ion-exchange fiber: kinetics, thermodynamics, and influences.

PubMed

Yuan, Jing; Gao, Yanan; Wang, Xinyu; Liu, Hongzhuo; Che, Xin; Xu, Lu; Yang, Yang; Wang, Qifang; Wang, Yan; Li, Sanming

2014-01-01

Ion-exchange fibers were different from conventional ion-exchange resins in their non-cross-linked structure. The exchange was located on the surface of the framework, and the transport resistance reduced significantly, which might mean that the exchange is controlled by an ionic reaction instead of diffusion. Therefore, this work aimed to investigate the load and release characteristics of five model drugs with the strong cationic ion-exchange fiber ZB-1. Drugs were loaded using a batch process and released in United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) dissolution apparatus 2. Opposing exchange kinetics, suitable for the special structure of the fiber, were developed for describing the exchange process with the help of thermodynamics, which illustrated that the load was controlled by an ionic reaction. The molecular weight was the most important factor to influence the drug load and release rate. Strong alkalinity and rings in the molecular structures made the affinity between the drug and fiber strong, while logP did not cause any profound differences. The drug-fiber complexes exhibited sustained release. Different kinds and concentrations of counter ions or different amounts of drug-fiber complexes in the release medium affected the release behavior, while the pH value was independent of it. The groundwork for in-depth exploration and further application of ion-exchange fibers has been laid.