Performance of EVA-Based Membranes for SCL in Hard Rock

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holter, Karl Gunnar

2016-04-01

The bonded property of multi-layered sprayed concrete tunnel linings (SCL) waterproofed with sprayed membranes means that the constituent materials will be exposed to the groundwater without any draining or mechanically separating measures. Moisture properties of the sprayed concrete and membrane materials are therefore important in order to establish the system properties of such linings. Ethyl-vinyl-acetate based sprayed membranes exhibit high water absorption potential under direct exposure to water, but are found to be significantly less hygroscopic and exhibit lower sorptivity (water absorption rate) than sprayed concrete. This material behavior explains the relatively dry in situ condition of the membrane that was observed. Measured in situ moisture content levels of the membrane material in tunnel linings have been found to vary within the range of 30-40 % of the maximum water absorption potential, and show a decreasing trend over the first 4 years after construction has been completed. A model for the mechanical loading, moisture condition and thermal exposure of the membrane and the resulting realistic parameters to be tested is presented. Laboratory testing methods for the membrane materials are evaluated considering possible loads, moisture and freezing exposure. Material testing of membrane materials was conducted with preconditioning to realistic moisture contents and under different temperature conditions including relevant freezing temperatures for tunnel linings. The main effects of the in situ moisture condition of the tested membrane materials are favorable tensile strengths in the range of 1.1-1.5 MPa and low risk of freeze-thaw damage. The crack bridging capacity of the tested membranes is found to be sensitive to temperature. With membrane thicknesses in the range of 3-4 mm, crack bridging capacity up to 4-6 mm opening of the crack width at 23 °C and approximately 1 mm opening at -3 °C was measured for the tested membranes. No significant reduction of the tensile bond strength could be demonstrated after 35 freeze-thaw cycles with -3 °C minimum temperature at the membrane location in the lining. Further work is required to verify the performance of the SCL system under exposure to high hydrostatic pressures and the effects of long term mechanical exposure.

Moisture adsorption in optical coatings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macleod, H. Angus

1988-01-01

The thin film filter is a very large aperture component which is exceedingly useful because of its small size, flexibility and ease of mounting. Thin film components, however, do have defects of performance and especially of stability which can cause problems in systems, particularly where long-term measurements are being made. Of all of the problems, those associated with moisture absorption are the most serious. Moisture absorption occurs in the pore-shaped voids inherent in the columnar structure of the layers. Ion-assisted deposition is a promising technique for substantially reducing moisture adsorption effects in thin film structures.

Moisture absorption of starch based biocomposites reinforced with water hyacinth fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abral, H.; Hartono, J.

2017-06-01

Bioplastic based on tapioca starch (TSB) is very sensitive on moisture; meanwhile this substance may be used to replace synthetic plastic. This paper reports effect of Water Hyacinth Fibers (WHF) content on performance moisture absorption of starch based biocomposites. WHF content in the TSB matrix was varied in 1, 3, 5, and 10% respectively. The samples were placed in closed room with high relative humidity (RH) of 99% at 250C with different duration for 30 and 960 min respectively. The result showed that moisture absorption in the beginning was increased rapidly, and then achieved a level steady state. After that, significant swelling of the sample occurred for further duration in 960 min. Gradient of the swelling was decreased as increasing the fibers content in the TSB matrix.

Variation of mechanical properties due to hygrothermal ageing and permanent changes upon redrying in clay/epoxy nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamim, Salah Uddin Ahmed

2011-12-01

Epoxy polymers are an important class of material for use in various applications. Due to their hydrophilic nature, epoxy resins tend to absorb moisture. Absorption of moisture degrades the functional, structural and mechanical properties. For polymers, moisture absorption can lead to both reversible and irreversible changes. In this study, the combined effect of moisture and elevated temperature on the mechanical properties of Epon 862 and its nanocomposites were investigated. The extent of permanent damage on fracture toughness and flexural properties of epoxy, due to the aggressive degradation provided by hygrothermal ageing, was determined by drying the epoxy and their clay/epoxy nanocomposites after moisture absorption. From the investigation it was found out that, clay can help in reducing the negative effect of hygrothermal ageing. Significant permanent damage was observed for fracture toughness and modulus, while the extent of permanent damage was less significant for flexural strength. Failure mechanism of this nanocomposites were studied by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).

Study of moisture absorption by an organoplastic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aniskevich, A. N.; Yanson, Yu. O.

1991-07-01

A complex experimental study of the state of sorbed moisture in a unidirectionally reinforced organoplastic was conducted. The methods of TG, DSC, DTA, and NMR showed that moisture absorption in OP is reversible up to 8%, the sorbed moisture does not crystallize in the temperature range from -70 to 0 °C, it is finely dispersely distributed and is in the strongly and weakly bound state, and there is almost no free moisture. The results of the sorption experiments conducted on OP and its structural components: microplastic and EDT-10 binder, in a wide range of temperature-humidity conditions and the data from physical studies showed that moisture absorption in the materials basically takes place by diffusion and is satisfactorily described by a phenomenological model based on the Fick equation. A method of accelerated determination of the sorption characteristics of anisotropic composite materials was developed, using the introduced concept of the fictitious diffusion coefficient and the extrapolation method of determining the limiting moisture content. The features of migration of moisture on the interface in a multiphase system were investigated, and the possibility of successive calculation estimation of the sorption characteristics of an organoplastic at different structural levels was demonstrated: components—unidirectionally reinforced composite—model laminated article. The tested phenomenological model of the sorption process and the experimentally obtained values of the characteristics of the material were the basis for a method of calculation determination of the resource of moisture-proofing properties of a model multilayer article of CM in nonstationary external conditions.

Improvement of water resistance and dimensional stability of wood through titanium dioxide coating

Treesearch

Qingfeng Sun; Haipeng Yu; Yixing Liu; Jian Li; Yun Lu; John F. Hunt

2010-01-01

Moisture absorption and dimensional distortion are the major drawbacks of wood utilization as building material. In this study, poplar wood coated with a thin layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) was prepared by the cosolvent-controlled hydrothermal method. Subsequently, its moisture absorption and dimensional stability were examined. Scanning...

Sorption Isotherm Modelling Of Fermented Cassava Flour by Red Yeast Rice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cahyanti, M. N.; Alfiah, M. N.; Hartini, S.

2018-04-01

The objective of the study is to determine the characteristic of moisture sorption isotherm from fermented cassava flour by red yeast rice using various modeling. This research used seven salt solutions and storage temperature of 298K, 303K, and 308K. The models used were Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET), Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer (GAB) and Caurie model. The monolayer moisture content was around 4.51 – 5.99% db. Constant related to absorption heat in the multilayer area of [GAB model was around 0.86-0,91. Constant related to absorption heat in the monolayer area of GAB model was around 4.67-5.97. Constant related to absorption heat in the monolayer area of BET model was around 4.83-7.04. Caurie constant was around 1.25-1.59. The equilibrium and monolayer moisture content on fermented cassava flour by red yeast rice was decreasing as increasing temperature. GAB constant value indicated that the process of moisture absorption on the fermented cassava flour by red yeast rice categorized in type II.

[Study on solid dispersion of copovidone-based tanshinone II(A)].

PubMed

Jiang, Yan-Rong; Zhang, Zhen-Hai; Xia, Hai-Jiang; Jia, Xiao-Bin

2013-01-01

To apply PVP-S630 in the preparation of tanshinone II(A) (TS II(A)) solid dispersion, in order to improve its dissolution in vitro and reduce the moisture absorption of the solid dispersion. Tanshinone II(A) solid dispersion was prepared by spray drying method. Such analytical methods as SEM, DSC, XRD were used to characterize their phases and detect their dissolution, moisture absorption and stability. In the solid dispersion prepared with tanshinone II(A) and copovidone with proportion of 1:10, tanshinone II(A) was scattered on the surface of the carrier in the amorphous form, with a dissolution in vitro up to 100% at 0.5 h and a lower moisture absorption than PVP-K30 solid dispersion prepared with the same proportion. After a three-month accelerated stability test, it showed no significant change in drug dissolution and content. The solid dispersion prepared with copovidone as the carrier can significantly improve the dissolution of tanshinone II(A), with a relatively low moisture absorption and high stability, thereby having a good prospect of application.

[Bare Soil Moisture Inversion Model Based on Visible-Shortwave Infrared Reflectance].

PubMed

Zheng, Xiao-po; Sun, Yue-jun; Qin, Qi-ming; Ren, Hua-zhong; Gao, Zhong-ling; Wu, Ling; Meng, Qing-ye; Wang, Jin-liang; Wang, Jian-hua

2015-08-01

Soil is the loose solum of land surface that can support plants. It consists of minerals, organics, atmosphere, moisture, microbes, et al. Among its complex compositions, soil moisture varies greatly. Therefore, the fast and accurate inversion of soil moisture by using remote sensing is very crucial. In order to reduce the influence of soil type on the retrieval of soil moisture, this paper proposed a normalized spectral slope and absorption index named NSSAI to estimate soil moisture. The modeling of the new index contains several key steps: Firstly, soil samples with different moisture level were artificially prepared, and soil reflectance spectra was consequently measured using spectroradiometer produced by ASD Company. Secondly, the moisture absorption spectral feature located at shortwave wavelengths and the spectral slope of visible wavelengths were calculated after analyzing the regular spectral feature change patterns of different soil at different moisture conditions. Then advantages of the two features at reducing soil types' effects was synthesized to build the NSSAI. Thirdly, a linear relationship between NSSAI and soil moisture was established. The result showed that NSSAI worked better (correlation coefficient is 0.93) than most of other traditional methods in soil moisture extraction. It can weaken the influences caused by soil types at different moisture levels and improve the bare soil moisture inversion accuracy.

The hygroscopic behavior of plant fibers: a review.

PubMed

Célino, Amandine; Fréour, Sylvain; Jacquemin, Frédéric; Casari, Pascal

2013-01-01

Environmental concern has resulted in a renewed interest in bio-based materials. Among them, plant fibers are perceived as an environmentally friendly substitute to glass fibers for the reinforcement of composites, particularly in automotive engineering. Due to their wide availability, low cost, low density, high-specific mechanical properties, and eco-friendly image, they are increasingly being employed as reinforcements in polymer matrix composites. Indeed, their complex microstructure as a composite material makes plant fiber a really interesting and challenging subject to study. Research subjects about such fibers are abundant because there are always some issues to prevent their use at large scale (poor adhesion, variability, low thermal resistance, hydrophilic behavior). The choice of natural fibers rather than glass fibers as filler yields a change of the final properties of the composite. One of the most relevant differences between the two kinds of fiber is their response to humidity. Actually, glass fibers are considered as hydrophobic whereas plant fibers have a pronounced hydrophilic behavior. Composite materials are often submitted to variable climatic conditions during their lifetime, including unsteady hygroscopic conditions. However, in humid conditions, strong hydrophilic behavior of such reinforcing fibers leads to high level of moisture absorption in wet environments. This results in the structural modification of the fibers and an evolution of their mechanical properties together with the composites in which they are fitted in. Thereby, the understanding of these moisture absorption mechanisms as well as the influence of water on the final properties of these fibers and their composites is of great interest to get a better control of such new biomaterials. This is the topic of this review paper.

The hygroscopic behavior of plant fibers: a review

PubMed Central

Célino, Amandine; Fréour, Sylvain; Jacquemin, Frédéric; Casari, Pascal

2013-01-01

Environmental concern has resulted in a renewed interest in bio-based materials. Among them, plant fibers are perceived as an environmentally friendly substitute to glass fibers for the reinforcement of composites, particularly in automotive engineering. Due to their wide availability, low cost, low density, high-specific mechanical properties, and eco-friendly image, they are increasingly being employed as reinforcements in polymer matrix composites. Indeed, their complex microstructure as a composite material makes plant fiber a really interesting and challenging subject to study. Research subjects about such fibers are abundant because there are always some issues to prevent their use at large scale (poor adhesion, variability, low thermal resistance, hydrophilic behavior). The choice of natural fibers rather than glass fibers as filler yields a change of the final properties of the composite. One of the most relevant differences between the two kinds of fiber is their response to humidity. Actually, glass fibers are considered as hydrophobic whereas plant fibers have a pronounced hydrophilic behavior. Composite materials are often submitted to variable climatic conditions during their lifetime, including unsteady hygroscopic conditions. However, in humid conditions, strong hydrophilic behavior of such reinforcing fibers leads to high level of moisture absorption in wet environments. This results in the structural modification of the fibers and an evolution of their mechanical properties together with the composites in which they are fitted in. Thereby, the understanding of these moisture absorption mechanisms as well as the influence of water on the final properties of these fibers and their composites is of great interest to get a better control of such new biomaterials. This is the topic of this review paper. PMID:24790971

The coupled effect of fiber volume fraction and void fraction on hydraulic fluid absorption of quartz/BMI laminates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hurdelbrink, Keith R.; Anderson, Jacob P.; Siddique, Zahed; Altan, M. Cengiz

2016-03-01

Bismaleimide (BMI) resin with quartz (AQ581) fiber reinforcement is a composite material frequently used in aerospace applications, such as engine cowlings and radomes. Various composite components used in aircrafts are exposed to different types of hydraulic fluids, which may lead to anomalous absorption behavior over the service life of the composite. Accurate predictive models for absorption of liquid penetrants are particularly important as the composite components are often exposed to long-term degradation due to absorbed moisture, hydraulic fluids, or similar liquid penetrants. Microstructural features such as fiber volume fraction and void fraction can have a significant effect on the absorption behavior of fiber-reinforced composites. In this paper, hydraulic fluid absorption characteristics of quartz/BMI laminates fabricated from prepregs preconditioned at different relative humidity and subsequently cured at different pressures are presented. The composite samples are immersed into hydraulic fluid at room temperature, and were not subjected to any prior degradation. To generate process-induced microvoids, prepregs were conditioned in an environmental chamber at 2% or 99% relative humidity at room temperature for a period of 24 hours prior to laminate fabrication. To alter the fiber volume fraction, the laminates were fabricated at cure pressures of 68.9 kPa (10 psi) or 482.6 kPa (70 psi) via a hot-press. The laminates are shown to have different levels of microvoids and fiber volume fractions, which were observed to affect the absorption dynamics considerably and exhibited clear non-Fickian behavior. A one-dimensional hindered diffusion model (HDM) was shown to be successful in predicting the hydraulic fluid absorption. Model prediction indicates that as the fabrication pressure increased from 68.9 kPa to 482.6 kPa, the maximum fluid content (M∞) decreased from 8.0% wt. to 1.0% wt. The degree of non-Fickian behavior, measured by hindrance coefficient (μ), was shown to increase with the increased void fraction.

19 CFR 151.23 - Allowance for moisture in raw sugar.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. 151.23...; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) EXAMINATION, SAMPLING, AND TESTING OF MERCHANDISE Sugars, Sirups, and Molasses § 151.23 Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. Inasmuch as the absorption of sea water or moisture...

19 CFR 151.23 - Allowance for moisture in raw sugar.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. 151.23...; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) EXAMINATION, SAMPLING, AND TESTING OF MERCHANDISE Sugars, Sirups, and Molasses § 151.23 Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. Inasmuch as the absorption of sea water or moisture...

19 CFR 151.23 - Allowance for moisture in raw sugar.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. 151.23...; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) EXAMINATION, SAMPLING, AND TESTING OF MERCHANDISE Sugars, Sirups, and Molasses § 151.23 Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. Inasmuch as the absorption of sea water or moisture...

Influence of moisture absorption on mechanical properties of wood flour- polypropylene composites

Treesearch

Nicole Stark

2001-09-01

Wood-plastic composites are being examined for a greater number of structural-type applications that may be exposed to different environments, some of them adverse. This paper discusses the influence of moisture absorption on the mechanical proper-ties of wood flour-polypropylene composites. Composites filled with 20% or 40% wood flour (by weight) were placed in...

Properties of honeycomb polyester knitted fabrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, A. F.

2016-07-01

The properties of honeycomb polyester weft-knitted fabrics were studied to understand their advantages. Seven honeycomb polyester weft-knitted fabrics and one common polyester weft-knitted fabric were selected for testing. Their bursting strengths, fuzzing and pilling, air permeability, abrasion resistance and moisture absorption and perspiration were studied. The results show that the honeycomb polyester weft-knitted fabrics have excellent moisture absorption and liberation. The smaller their thicknesses and area densities are, the better their moisture absorption and liberation will be. Their anti-fuzzing and anti-pilling is good, whereas their bursting strengths and abrasion resistance are poorer compared with common polyester fabric's. In order to improve the hygroscopic properties of the fabrics, the proportion of the honeycomb microporous structure modified polyester in the fabrics should not be less than 40%.

19 CFR 151.23 - Allowance for moisture in raw sugar.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. 151.23... Molasses § 151.23 Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. Inasmuch as the absorption of sea water or moisture reduces the polariscopic test of sugar, there shall be no allowance on account of increased weight of raw...

19 CFR 151.23 - Allowance for moisture in raw sugar.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. 151.23... Molasses § 151.23 Allowance for moisture in raw sugar. Inasmuch as the absorption of sea water or moisture reduces the polariscopic test of sugar, there shall be no allowance on account of increased weight of raw...

Effect of temperature and moisture content on tensile behaviour of false banana fibre (Ensete ventricosum)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mizera, Cestmir; Herak, David; Hrabe, Petr; Kabutey, Abraham

2017-07-01

The mechanical behaviour of natural fibres as composite materials can be affected by changes in temperature and moisture content. The aim of this paper was to describe the effect of temperature and moisture content on tensile strength of false banana fibre (Ensete ventricosum) and to determine its water absorption. Samples of fibres were prepared and tested until rupture point with strain rate of 0.05 min-1 at temperature change between -20 and 220°C as well as moisture content between 10 and 90% wb. The water absorption and release of Ensete fibres at 60 and 90% relative humidity was also determined. Results showed that Ensete fibres exhibited stability of tensile strength in the temperature range from 0 to 100°C but the increase of temperature decreased statistically significantly the tensile strength. The effect of moisture content on tensile strength was not statistically significant. The equilibrium moisture content at 60% relative humidity and 25°C was determined.

A model of the thermal-spike mechanism in graphite/epoxy laminates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adamson, M. J.

1982-01-01

The influence of a thermal spike on a moisture-saturated graphite/epoxy composite was studied in detail. A single thermal spike from 25 C to 132 C was found to produce damage as evidenced by a significant increase in the level of moisture saturation in the composite. Approximately half of this increase remained after a vacuum anneal at 150 C for 7 days, suggesting the presence of an irreversible damage component. Subsequent thermal spikes created less and less additional moisture absorption, with the cumulative effect being a maximum or limiting moisture capacity of the composite. These observations are explained in terms of a model previously developed to explain the reverse thermal effect of moisture absorption in epoxy and epoxy matrix composites. This model, based on the inverse temperature dependence of free volume, contributes an improved understanding of thermal-spike effects in graphite/epoxy composites.

LiCl Dehumidifier LiBr absorption chiller hybrid air conditioning system with energy recovery

DOEpatents

Ko, Suk M.

1980-01-01

This invention relates to a hybrid air conditioning system that combines a solar powered LiCl dehumidifier with a LiBr absorption chiller. The desiccant dehumidifier removes the latent load by absorbing moisture from the air, and the sensible load is removed by the absorption chiller. The desiccant dehumidifier is coupled to a regenerator and the desiccant in the regenerator is heated by solar heated hot water to drive the moisture therefrom before being fed back to the dehumidifier. The heat of vaporization expended in the desiccant regenerator is recovered and used to partially preheat the driving fluid of the absorption chiller, thus substantially improving the overall COP of the hybrid system.

The hygroscopic behavior of plant fibres: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Célino, Amandine; Freour, Sylvain; Jacquemin, Frederic; Casari, Pascal

2013-12-01

Environmental concern has resulted in a renewed interest in bio-based materials. Among them, plant fibres are perceived as an environmentally friendly substitute to glass fibres for the reinforcement of composites, particularly in automotive engineering. Due to their wide availability, low cost, low density, high-specific mechanical properties and eco-friendly image, they are increasingly being employed as reinforcements in polymer matrix composites. Indeed, their complex microstructure as a composite material makes plant fibre a really interesting and challenging subject to study. Research subjects about such fibres are abundant because there are always some issues to prevent their use at large scale (poor adhesion, variability, low thermal resistance, hydrophilic behavior). The choice of natural fibres rather than glass fibres as filler yields a change of the final properties of the composite. One of the most relevant differences between the two kinds of fibre is their response to humidity. Actually, glass fibres are considered as hydrophobic whereas plant fibres have a pronounced hydrophilic behavior. Composite materials are often submitted to variable climatic conditions during their lifetime, including unsteady hygroscopic conditions. However, in humid conditions, strong hydrophilic behaviour of such reinforcing fibres leads to high level of moisture absorption in wet environments. This results in the structural modification of the fibres and an evolution of their mechanical properties together with the composites in which they are fitted in. Thereby, the understanding of these moisture absorption mechanisms as well as the influence of water on the final properties of these fibres and their composites is of great interest to get a better control of such new biomaterials. This is the topic of this review paper.

Impact of Different Elastomer Formulations on Moisture Permeation through Stoppers Used for Lyophilized Products Stored under Humid Conditions.

PubMed

Sasaki, Hitoshi; Kikuchi, Jun; Maeda, Terutoshi; Kuboniwa, Hitoshi

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of moisture permeability of different elastomer formulation stoppers, which had different moisture absorption abilities, on the increase of moisture content inside lyophilized vials during long-term storage under humid conditions. Two different elastomer formulation stoppers (high-moisture and low-moisture uptake stoppers) were compared. The increased amount of moisture content inside lyophilized vials fitted with high-moisture stoppers was higher than those fitted with low-moisture stoppers during the early stage of storage. However, this trend was reversed during the later stage of storage. Our data show that the moisture increase inside the lyophilized vials at the early stage was caused by moisture transfer from the stoppers, whereas the later moisture increase was caused by external moisture permeation through the stoppers. Results indicate that the difference in the moisture uptake profile inside the lyophilized vials at each period of storage was caused by the moisture absorption ability and moisture permeation ability of the two elastomer formulation stoppers. In terms of long-term storage stability under humid conditions, our data indicate that external moisture permeating through the stopper into the lyophilized vial during the late stage was the more important factor. In addition, the increase in moisture content at the early stage was controlled by stopper drying time. Furthermore, stopper drying time did not have an effect on moisture permeation at the late stage. Moisture permeation during the storage period appears to be dependent on the different elastomer formulations of the stoppers. The moisture permeation of different elastomer stoppers was an important factor in terms of the increased moisture content inside the lyophilized vials during the late stage of long-term storage under humid conditions. For lyophilized products stored at room temperature, the moisture permeation ability of the stopper is one of the most important factors for long-term storage stability.

Moisture-Absorption and Water Dynamics in the Powder of Egg Albumen Peptide, Met-Pro-Asp-Ala-His-Leu.

PubMed

Yang, Shuailing; Liu, Xuye; Zhang, Mingdi; Lin, Songyi; Chen, Feng

2017-01-01

Moisture absorbed into the powder of Met-Pro-Asp-Ala-His-Leu (MPDAHL)-a novel egg albumen antioxidant peptide-profoundly affects its properties. In this study, we elucidated water dynamics in MPDAHL using DVS, DSC, and low-field 1 H NMR. Based on the DVS data, we found that MPDAHL sorption kinetics obey a parallel exponential model. DSC results indicated that both water and heating could change the microstructure of MPDAHL. The T 2 parameters of NMR reflected the different phases of moisture absorption revealed that there were 4 categories of water with different states or mobility in the MPDAHL during the moisture absorption process. The fastest fraction T 2b mainly dominated the hygroscopicity of MPDAHL and the absorbed water significantly changed the proton distribution and structure of MPDAHL. Thus, this study shows that DVS, DSC, and low-field 1 H NMR are effective methods for monitoring water mobility and distribution in synthetic peptides. It can be used to improve the quality assurance of functional peptides. © 2016 Institute of Food Technologists®.

49 CFR 192.461 - External corrosion control: Protective coating.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... to effectively resist underfilm migration of moisture; (3) Be sufficiently ductile to resist cracking... is an electrically insulating type must also have low moisture absorption and high electrical...

Impact of order of application of moisturizers on percutaneous absorption kinetics: evaluation of sequential application of moisturizer lotions and azelaic acid gel 15% using a human skin model.

PubMed

Del Rosso, James Q; Lehman, Paul A; Raney, Sam G

2009-03-01

The medical management of rosacea increasingly has involved not only the appropriate selection of topical medication but also patient education and specific recommendations regarding appropriate skin care. The recognition that epidermal barrier dysfunction and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) play a pathophysiologic role in rosacea and that skin moisturization may help to mitigate signs and symptoms of the disease has led to a deeper appreciation of the importance of proper skin care in the treatment of rosacea. Data from a percutaneous penetration study performed using human skin suggest that any of the tested moisturizer lotions may be applied either before or after azelaic acid gel 15% without a major change in the percutaneous absorption profile of azelaic acid.

Photoacoustic spectroscopy and thermal relaxation method to evaluate corn moisture content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pedrochi, F.; Medina, A. N.; Bento, A. C.; Baesso, M. L.; Luz, M. L. S.; Dalpasquale, V. A.

2005-06-01

In this study, samples of popcorn with different degrees of moisture were analyzed. The optical absorption bands at the mid infrared were measured using photoacoustic spectroscopy and were correlated to the sample moisture. The results were in agreement with moisture data determined by the well known reference method, the Karl Fischer. In addition, the thermal relaxation method was used to determine the sample specific heat as a function of the moisture content. The results were also in agreement with the two mentioned methods.

Physicochemical Changes and Resistant-Starch Content of Extruded Cornstarch with and without Storage at Refrigerator Temperatures.

PubMed

Neder-Suárez, David; Amaya-Guerra, Carlos A; Quintero-Ramos, Armando; Pérez-Carrillo, Esther; Alanís-Guzmán, María G de J; Báez-González, Juan G; García-Díaz, Carlos L; Núñez-González, María A; Lardizábal-Gutiérrez, Daniel; Jiménez-Castro, Jorge A

2016-08-15

Effects of extrusion cooking and low-temperature storage on the physicochemical changes and resistant starch (RS) content in cornstarch were evaluated. The cornstarch was conditioned at 20%-40% moisture contents and extruded in the range 90-130 °C and at screw speeds in the range 200-360 rpm. The extrudates were stored at 4 °C for 120 h and then at room temperature. The water absorption, solubility index, RS content, viscoelastic, thermal, and microstructural properties of the extrudates were evaluated before and after storage. The extrusion temperature and moisture content significantly affected the physicochemical properties of the extrudates before and after storage. The RS content increased with increasing moisture content and extrusion temperature, and the viscoelastic and thermal properties showed related behaviors. Microscopic analysis showed that extrusion cooking damaged the native starch structure, producing gelatinization and retrogradation and forming RS. The starch containing 35% moisture and extruded at 120 °C and 320 rpm produced the most RS (1.13 g/100 g) after to storage at low temperature. Although the RS formation was low, the results suggest that extrusion cooking could be advantageous for RS production and application in the food industry since it is a pollution less, continuous process requiring only a short residence time.

Water absorption and moisture permeation properties of chitosan/poly(acrylamide-co-itaconic acid) IPC films.

PubMed

Bajpai, M; Bajpai, S K; Jyotishi, Pooja

2016-03-01

In this work, aqueous solutions of chitosan (Ch) and [poly(acrylamide(AAm)-co-itaconicacid(IA)] have been mixed to yield Ch/poly(AAm-co-IA) Inter-polyelectrolyte complex (IPC) films. The films were characterized by FTIR, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). There was remarkable increase in the crystalline nature of IPC films. The films were investigated for their water absorption capacity in the physiological fluid (PF) of pH 7.4 at 37 °C. The amount of IA present in the film forming solutions affected the water absorption behavior of the resulting films. The dynamic water uptake data were interpreted by various kinetic models. The effect of pH on the swelling ratio (SR) indicated that the films showed highest swelling in lower as well as higher pH media. The water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) were obtained in the range of 6000-6645 g/m(2)/day. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Humidity-activated shape memory effect on plasticized starch-based biomaterials.

PubMed

Sessini, Valentina; Arrieta, Marina P; Fernández-Torres, Alberto; Peponi, Laura

2018-01-01

Humidity-activated shape memory behavior of plasticized starch-based films reinforced with the innovative combination of starch nanocrystals (SNCs) and catechin as antioxidant were studied. In a previous work, we reported the processing of gelatinized starch-based films filled with SNCs and catechin as antioxidant agent, and we observed that this novel combination leads to starch-based film with enhanced thermal and mechanical performance. In this work, the humidity-activated shape memory behavior of the previous developed starch-based films was characterized. The moisture loss as well as the moisture absorption were studied since they are essential parameters in humidity-activated shape memory polymers to fix the temporary shape and to recover the original shape, respectively. Therefore, the effect of the incorporation of SNCs and catechin on the humidity-activated shape memory properties of plasticized starch was also studied. Moreover, the effectiveness of catechin to increase the polymer stability under oxidative atmosphere and the thermo-mechanical relaxation of all the starch-based materials were studied. The combination of plasticized starch matrix loaded with both, SNCs and catechin, leads to a multifunctional starch-based films with increased hydrophilicity and with excellent humidity-activated shape memory behavior with interest for potential biomedical applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Degradation Progressive in Composite Laminates Subjected to Thermal Fatigue and Moisture Diffusion by Lamb Waves.

PubMed

Li, Weibin; Xu, Chunguang; Cho, Younho

2016-02-19

Laminate composites which are widely used in the aeronautical industry, are usually subjected to frequency variation of environmental temperature and excessive humidity in the in-service environment. The thermal fatigue and moisture absorption in composites may induce material degradation. There is a demand to investigate the coupling damages mechanism and characterize the degradation evolution of composite laminates for the particular application. In this paper, the degradation evolution in unidirectional carbon/epoxy composite laminates subjected to thermal fatigue and moisture absorption is characterized by Lamb waves. The decrease rate of Lamb wave velocity is used to track the degradation evolution in the specimens. The results show that there are two stages for the progressive degradation of composites under the coupling effect of thermal cyclic loading and moisture diffusion. The present work provides an alternative to monitoring the degradation evolution of in-service aircraft composite Laminates.

Self-Healable Electrical Insulation for High Voltage Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Tiffany S.

2017-01-01

Polymeric aircraft electrical insulation normally degrades by partial discharge with increasing voltage, which causes excessive localized Joule heating in the material and ultimately leads to dielectric failure of the insulator through thermal breakdown. Developing self-healing insulation could be a viable option to mitigate permanent mechanical degradation, thus increasing the longevity of the insulation. Instead of relying on catalyst and monomer-filled microcapsules to crack, flow, and cure at the damaged sites described in well-published mechanisms, establishment of ionic crosslinks could allow for multiple healing events to occur with the added benefit of achieving full recovery strength under certain thermal environments. This could be possible if the operating temperature of the insulator is the same as or close to the temperature where ionic crosslinks are formed. Surlyn, a commercial material with ionic crosslinks, was investigated as a candidate self-healing insulator based off prior demonstrations of self-healing behavior. Thin films of varying thicknesses were investigated and the effects of thickness on the dielectric strength were evaluated and compared to representative polymer insulators. The effects of thermal conditioning on the recovery strength and healing were observed as a function of time following dielectric breakdown. Moisture absorption was also studied to determine if moisture absorption rates in Surlyn were lower than that of common polyimides.

Continuous microwave regeneration apparatus for absorption media

DOEpatents

Smith, Douglas D.

1999-01-01

A method and apparatus for continuously drying and regenerating ceramic beads for use in process gas moisture drying operations such as glove boxes. A microwave energy source is coupled to a process chamber to internally heat the ceramic beads and vaporize moisture contained therein. In a preferred embodiment, the moisture laden ceramic beads are conveyed toward the microwave source by a screw mechanism. The regenerated beads flow down outside of the screw mechanism and are available to absorb additional moisture.

The Utility of Using a Near-Infrared (NIR) Camera to Measure Beach Surface Moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, S.; Schmutz, P. P.

2017-12-01

Surface moisture content is an important factor that must be considered when studying aeolian sediment transport in a beach environment. A few different instruments and procedures are available for measuring surface moisture content (i.e. moisture probes, LiDAR, and gravimetric moisture data from surface scrapings); however, these methods can be inaccurate, costly, and inapplicable, particularly in the field. Near-infrared (NIR) spectral band imagery is another technique used to obtain moisture data. NIR imagery has been predominately used through remote sensing and has yet to be used for ground-based measurements. Dry sand reflects infrared radiation given off by the sun and wet sand absorbs IR radiation. All things considered, this study assesses the utility of measuring surface moisture content of beach sand with a modified NIR camera. A traditional point and shoot digital camera was internally modified with the placement of a visible light-blocking filter. Images were taken of three different types of beach sand at controlled moisture content values, with sunlight as the source of infrared radiation. A technique was established through trial and error by comparing resultant histogram values using Adobe Photoshop with the various moisture conditions. The resultant IR absorption histogram values were calibrated to actual gravimetric moisture content from surface scrapings of the samples. Overall, the results illustrate that the NIR spectrum modified camera does not provide the ability to adequately measure beach surface moisture content. However, there were noted differences in IR absorption histogram values among the different sediment types. Sediment with darker quartz mineralogy provided larger variations in histogram values, but the technique is not sensitive enough to accurately represent low moisture percentages, which are of most importance when studying aeolian sediment transport.

Modeling seasonal changes in live fuel moisture and equivalent water thickness using a cumulative water balance index

Treesearch

Philip E. Dennison; Dar A. Roberts; Sommer R. Thorgusen; Jon C. Regelbrugge; David Weise; Christopher Lee

2003-01-01

Live fuel moisture, an important determinant of fire danger in Mediterranean ecosystems, exhibits seasonal changes in response to soil water availability. Both drought stress indices based on meteorological data and remote sensing indices based on vegetation water absorption can be used to monitor live fuel moisture. In this study, a cumulative water balance index (...

Status of the Suomi-NPP VIIRS Moisture Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borbas, E. E.; Li, Z.; Menzel, W. P.; Rada, M.

2017-12-01

The goal of the Soumi NPP VIIRS Moisture Project is to provide total column water vapor (TPW) properties from merged VIIRS infrared measurements and CrIS plus ATMS water vapor soundings to continue the depiction of global moisture at high spatial resolution started with MODIS. While MODIS has two water vapor channels within the 6.5 μm H2O absorption band and four channels within the 15 μm CO2 absorption band, VIIRS has no channels in either IR absorption band. The VIIRS/CrIS+ATMS TPW algorithm being developed at CIMSS is similar to the MOD07 synthetic regression algorithm. It uses the three VIIRS longwave IR window bands in a regression relation and adds the NUCAPS (CrIS+ATMS) water vapor product to compensate for the absence of VIIRS water vapor channels. This poster presents the methodology and evaluation of the S-NPP TPW Level 2 and 3 products with TPW data from ground-based and satellite-based measurements.

Effect of plasticizer type and concentration on physical properties of biodegradable films based on sugar palm (arenga pinnata) starch for food packaging.

PubMed

Sanyang, M L; Sapuan, S M; Jawaid, M; Ishak, M R; Sahari, J

2016-01-01

In this study, sugar palm starch (SPS) films were developed using glycerol (G), sorbitol (S) or their combination (GS) as plasticizers at the ratio of 15, 30 and 45 (wt)% using casting technique. The addition of plasticizers to SPS film-forming solutions helped to overcome the brittle and fragile nature of unplasticized SPS films. Increased plasticizer concentration resulted to an increase in film thickness, moisture content and solubility. On the contrary, density and water absorption of plasticized films decreased with increasing plasticizer concentration. Raising the plasticizer content from 15 to 45 % showed less effect on the moisture content and water absorption of S-plasticized films. Films containing glycerol and glycerol-sorbitol plasticizer (G, and GS) demonstrated higher moisture content, solubility and water absorption capacity compared to S-plasticized films. The results obtained in this study showed that plasticizer type and concentration significantly improves film properties and enhances their suitability for food packaging applications.

Investigation on stability and moisture absorption of superhydrophobic wood under alternating humidity and temperature conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qing, Yan; Liu, Ming; Wu, Yiqiang; Jia, Shanshan; Wang, Shuang; Li, Xingong

The application of superhydrophobic wood is majorly limited by its durability when subjected to natural conditions. Herein, the stability of two representative superhydrophobic woods (i.e., Poplar (Populus tomentosa) and Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata)), were prepared via a one-step hydrothermal process using tetrabutyltitanate (Ti(OC4H9)4, TBOT) and vinyltriethoxysilane (CH2CHSi(OC2H5)3, VTES) as a co-precursor and sequentially tested under different humidity and temperature conditions. The variables including morphology, water contact angle (WCA), color parameter, chemical components of the surface, and moisture absorption property were characterized using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), WCA measurement, a colorimeter, a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and a moisture absorption test, respectively. It was found that initial static WCAs of superhydrophobic wood were larger than 150°. Micron-sized cracks were formed on the coatings after the alternating humidity and temperature aging cycles. This lowered the water repellency, but the WCA was still greater than 140°. There was nearly no chemical change of wood after the aging test; the color change between the same species of untreated and superhydrophobic wood was very small, only with a difference of 0.42 and 4.05 in overall color change ΔE∗ values for Chinese fir and poplar, respectively. The superhydrophobic coatings had a trivial influence on wood moisture absorption property, which only lowered 3% in poplar and 2% in Chinese fir, respectively.

Measuring Moisture Levels in Graphite Epoxy Composite Sandwich Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nurge, Mark; Youngquist, Robert; Starr, Stanley

2011-01-01

Graphite epoxy composite (GEC) materials are used in the construction of rocket fairings, nose cones, interstage adapters, and heat shields due to their high strength and light weight. However, they absorb moisture depending on the environmental conditions they are exposed to prior to launch. Too much moisture absorption can become a problem when temperature and pressure changes experienced during launch cause the water to vaporize. The rapid state change of the water can result in structural failure of the material. In addition, heat and moisture combine to weaken GEC structures. Diffusion models that predict the total accumulated moisture content based on the environmental conditions are one accepted method of determining if the material strength has been reduced to an unacceptable level. However, there currently doesn t exist any field measurement technique to estimate the actual moisture content of a composite structure. A multi-layer diffusion model was constructed with Mathematica to predict moisture absorption and desorption from the GEC sandwich structure. This model is used in conjunction with relative humidity/temperature sensors both on the inside and outside of the material to determine the moisture levels in the structure. Because the core materials have much higher diffusivity than the face sheets, a single relative humidity measurement will accurately reflect the moisture levels in the core. When combined with an external relative humidity measurement, the model can be used to determine the moisture levels in the face sheets. Since diffusion is temperaturedependent, the temperature measurements are used to determine the diffusivity of the face sheets for the model computations.

Process for improving moisture resistance of epoxy resins by addition of chromium ions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

St.clair, A. K.; Stoakley, D. M.; St.clair, T. L.; Singh, J. J. (Inventor)

1985-01-01

A process for improving the moisture resistance properties of epoxidized TGMDA and DGEBA resin system by chemically incorporating chromium ions is described. The addition of chromium ions is believed to prevent the absorption of water molecules.

An instrument for rapid, accurate, determination of fuel moisture content

Treesearch

Stephen S. Sackett

1980-01-01

Moisture contents of dead and living fuels are key variables in fire behavior. Accurate, real-time fuel moisture data are required for prescribed burning and wildfire behavior predictions. The convection oven method has become the standard for direct fuel moisture content determination. Efforts to quantify fuel moisture through indirect methods have not been...

Sound absorption characteristics of tree bark and forest floor

Treesearch

G. Reethof; O. H. McDaniel; G. M. Heisler

1977-01-01

Results of basic research on absorption of sound by tree bark and forest floors are presented. Amount of sound absorption by tree bark was determined by laboratory experiments with bark samples in a standing-wave tube. A modified portable standing-wave tube was used to measure absorption of sound by forest floors with different moisture contents, with and without leaf...

Investigation of functional properties and color changes of corn extrudates enriched with broccoli or olive paste.

PubMed

Bisharat, Ghassan I; Katsavou, Ioanna D; Panagiotou, Nikolaos M; Krokida, Magdalini K; Maroulis, Zacharias B

2015-12-01

Following the tendency of replacing common food snacks with healthier food products, extruded snacks with corn flour and broccoli (4-10%) or olive paste (4-8%) were investigated in this study. The effect of material characteristics, including feed moisture content (14-19%), and broccoli or olive paste concentration, and extrusion conditions, including screw speed (150-250 r/min), and extrusion temperature (140-180 ℃), on the functional properties (water absorption index, water solubility index, and oil absorption index), as well as color change (ΔE) of the extruded snacks was studied. Regression analysis showed that screw speed did not significantly influence (p > 0.05) the properties. After mathematical modelling it was found that broccoli and olive paste concentration, as well as temperature increment, caused a decrease in water absorption index (minimum of 5.6 and 6.4 g/g sample, respectively) and an increase in water solubility index (maximum of 18.7 and 10.9 g/100 g sample, respectively), while feed moisture presented opposite tendency. Higher extrusion temperature led to an increment of oil absorption index (approximately to 1.2 and 1 mL/g sample) and decrement of color changes. Finally, feed moisture and broccoli concentration lowered oil absorption index and color of corn/broccoli extrudates, while olive paste concentration caused their increment. © The Author(s) 2014.

Water Absorption and Thickness Swelling Behavior of Polypropylene Reinforced with Hybrid Recycled Newspaper and Glass Fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shakeri, Alireza; Ghasemian, Ali

2010-04-01

This study aims to investigate the moisture absorption of recycled newspaper fiber and recycled newspaper-glass fiber hybrid reinforced polypropylene composites to study their suitability in outdoor applications. In this work composite materials were made from E-glass fiber (G), recycled newspaper (NP) and polypropylene (PP), by using internal mixing and hot-pressing molding. Long-term water absorption (WA) and thickness swelling (TS) kinetics of the composites was investigated with water immersion. It was found that the WA and TS increase with NP content in composite and water immersion time before an equilibrium condition was reached. Composites made from the NP show comparable results as those made of the hybrid fiber. The results suggest that the water absorption and thickness swelling composite decrease with increasing glass fiber contents in hybrid fiber composite. It is interesting to find that the WA and TS can be reduced significantly with incorporation of a coupling agent (maleated polypropylene) in the composite formulation. Further studies were conducted to model the water diffusion and thickness swelling of the composites. Diffusion coefficients and swelling rate parameters in the models were obtained by fitting the model predictions with the experimental data.

[Study on Xinyueshu spray drying assisted with copovidone and its effect on powder property].

PubMed

Jiang, Yan-Rong; Zhang, Zhen-Hai; Ding, Dong-Mei; Yan, Hong-Mei; Hu, Shao-Ying; Jia, Xiao-Bin

2013-12-01

To study the application characteristics of copovidone (PVP-S630) in Xinyueshu extracts during the spray drying process, and its effect on such pharmaceutical properties as micromeritics and drug release behavior. PVP-S630 was added into Xinyueshu extracts to study on the spray drying, the effect of different dosages of PVP-S630 against the wall sticking effect of the spray drying, as well as the power property of Xinyueshu spray drying power and the dissolution in vitro behavior of the effective component of hyperoside. The results showed that PVP-S630 revealed a significant anti-wall sticking effect, with no notable change in the grain size of the spray drying power, increase in the fluidity, improvement in the moisture absorption and remarkable rise in the dissolution in vitro behavior of hyperoside. It was worth further studying the application of PVP-S630 in spray drying power of traditional Chinese medicine.

Formulation design of ranitidine hydrochloride to reduce its moisture absorption characteristics.

PubMed

Khan, Shagufta; Giradkar, Praful; Yeole, Pramod

2009-01-01

This investigation examined the effect of a ranitidine hydrocholoride (RHCl)-ion exchange resin complexation on the drug's moisture uptake behavior. Drug resin complexes (DRCs) were prepared using the batch method with (i) two weak cation exchange resins, Polacrilex with exchangeable H+ and Polacrillin potassium; and (ii) a strong cation exchange resin;Sodium polystyrene sulfonate. RHCl, simple resins, and DRCs were subjected to storage stability under 40 +/- 2 degrees C and 75 +/- 5% relative humidity (RH) for 16 h, and the resulting percent increase in weight was calculated. DRCs gained less moisture than the simple drug and free resins. Out of the three complexes tested, DRC containing Polacrilex resin showed the most promising effect in protecting RHCl against moisture uptake with an increase in weight of 10.22 +/- 17% (free RHCl gained 28.11%) and was thereby selected for tablet formulation. Tablets were prepared using simple RHCl with Starch 1500 (F1); low moisture-grade Starch 1500 LM (F2); RHCl as DRC with Starch 1500 (F3); and, Starch 1500 LM (F4). Tablets were tested for equilibrium moisture content (EMC) under different humidity conditions and hygroscopicity in the presence and absence of light. In addition, stability studies were run over the duration of 6 months in conditions under 40 +/- 2 degrees C and 75 +/- 5% RH. The EMC of tablets at 80% RH decreased in the following order: F1 > F2 > marketed coated tablet > F3 > F4. The results of hygroscopicity testing revealed that both rate and extent of moisture gain in the presence or absence of light by F3 and F4 were significantly less than F1, F2, and marketed coated tablet (P < 0.05). Stability studies showed insignificant changes in weight, breaking force, friability, and disintegration time for tablets containing resin, while significant changes in these properties were found in tablets without resin. Thus, Polacrilex resin with exchangeable H+ was found to be the best for protecting RHCl against moisture uptake.

Hands-on Humidity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pankiewicz, Philip R.

1992-01-01

Presents five hands-on activities that allow students to detect, measure, reduce, and eliminate moisture. Students make a humidity detector and a hygrometer, examine the effects of moisture on different substances, calculate the percent of water in a given food, and examine the absorption potential of different desiccants. (MDH)

Preparation and characterization of electrospun in-situ cross-linked gelatin-graphite oxide nanofibers.

PubMed

Zhan, Jianchao; Morsi, Yosry; Ei-Hamshary, Hany; Al-Deyab, Salem S; Mo, Xiumei

2016-01-01

Electrospun gelatin(Gel) nanofibers scaffold has such defects as poor mechanical property and quick degradation due to high solubility. In this study, the in situ cross-linked electrospinning technique was used for the production of gelatin nanofibers. Deionized water was chosen as the spinning solvent and graphite oxide (GO) was chosen as the enhancer. The morphological structure, porosity, thermal property, moisture absorption, and moisture retention performance, hydrolysis resistance, mechanical property, and biocompatibility of the produced nanofibers were investigated. Compared with in situ cross-linked gelatin nanofibers scaffold, in situ cross-linked Gel-GO nanofibers scaffold has the following features: (1) the hydrophilicity, moisture absorption, and moisture retention performance slightly reduce, while the hydrolysis resistance is improved; (2) the breaking strength, breaking elongation, and Young's modulus are significantly improved; (3) the porosity slightly reduces while the biocompatibility considerably increases. The in situ cross-linked Gel-GO nanofibers scaffold is likely to be applied in such fields as drug delivery and scaffold for skin tissue engineering.

Moisture Absorption Behaviour of Biopolymer Polycapralactone (PCL) / Organo Modified Montmorillonite Clay (OMMT) biocomposite films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malik, Neetu; Shrivastava, Sharad; Bandhu Ghosh, Subrata

2018-04-01

Bio composite materials were fabricated using mixing biodegradable polymer polycaptalactone (PCL) and Organo Modified Montmorillonite Clay (OMMT) through solution casting. Various samples of bio composite films were prepared by varying the OMMT wt% composition by 0.1%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%. Thereafter, the density and water absorption of the composites were investigated with respect to immersion time in water. The moisture absorption results show that with an increase in weight percentage (from 0.1 to wt 1.5%) of OMMT within the bio polymer films, the absorption value of bio-nanocomposite films reduced rapidly from 34.4% to 22.3%. The density of hybrid composites also increased with increase in weight percentage of OMMT. The swelling characteristic of PCL increased with increasing % of OMMT clay. These results indicate that the optimized composition of constituents in composite membrane could effectively reduce the anhydrous conditions of bio-composite film.

The Reverse Thermal Effect in Epoxy Resins and Moisture Absorption in Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Networks.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Sa'Ad, Leila

1989-12-01

Available from UMI in association with The British Library. Requires signed TDF. Epoxy resins exhibit many desirable properties which make them ideal subjects for use as matrices of composite materials in many commercial, military and space applications. However, due to their high cross-link density they are often brittle. Epoxy resin networks have been modified by incorporating tough, ductile thermoplastics. Such systems are referred to as Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Networks (Semi-IPN). Systematic modification to the thermoplastics backbone allowed the morphology of the blend to be controlled from a homogeneous one-phase structure to fully separated structures. The moisture absorption by composites in humid environments has been found to lead to a deterioration in the physical and mechanical properties of the matrix. Therefore, in order to utilize composites to their full potential, their response to hot/wet environments must be known. The aims of this investigation were two-fold. Firstly, to study the effect of varying the temperature of exposure at different stages in the absorption process on the water absorption behaviour of a TGDDM/DDS epoxy resin system. Secondly, to study water absorption characteristics, under isothermal conditions, of Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Networks possessing different morphologies, and develop a theoretical model to evaluate the diffusion coefficients of the two-phase structures. The mathematical treatment used in this analysis was based on Fick's second law of diffusion. Tests were performed on specimens immersed in water at 10 ^circ, 40^circ and 70^circC, their absorption behaviour and swelling behaviour, as a consequence of water absorption, were investigated. The absorption results of the variable temperature absorption tests indicated a saturation dependence on the absorption behaviour. Specimens saturated at a high temperature will undergo further absorption when transferred to a lower temperature. This behaviour was termed the "reverse thermal effect". The swelling results suggested that it is more tightly bound water in the polymer which takes part in the reverse thermal effect. The absorption results for the Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Networks suggested that the two key parameters which affected the moisture uptake were the morphology of the network and the percentage of epoxy resin in the system.

Thermo-mechanical behaviors of thermoplastic starch derived from sugar palm tree (Arenga pinnata).

PubMed

Sahari, J; Sapuan, S M; Zainudin, E S; Maleque, M A

2013-02-15

In recent years, increasing environmental concerns focused greater attention on the development of biodegradable materials. A thermoplastic starch derived from bioresources, sugar palm tree was successfully developed in the presence of biodegradable glycerol as a plasticizer. Sugar palm starch (SPS) was added with 15-40 w/w% of glycerol to prepare workable bioplastics and coded as SPS/G15, SPS/G20, SPS/G30 and SPS/G40. The samples were characterized for thermal properties, mechanical properties and moisture absorption on exposure to humidity were evaluated. Morphological studies through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to explain the observed mechanical properties. Generally, the addition of glycerol decrease the transition temperature of plasticized SPS. The mechanical properties of plasticized SPS increase with the increasing of glycerol but up to 30 w/w%. Meanwhile, the water absorption of plasticized SPS decrease with increasing of glycerol. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evidence for direct water absorption by shallow-rooted desert plants in desert-oasis ecotone, Northwest China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Jing

2014-05-01

Besides the absorption by roots from the soil substrate, it has long been known that plants exhibit alternative water-absorption strategies, particularly in drought-prone environments. For many tropical epiphytic orchids, air moisture can be absorbed directly by aerial roots. Some conifers are also found to utilize air moisture by foliar absorption during the summer fog season. However, few studies have been carried out on the atmospheric water vapor absorption by shallow-rooted desert plants. We conducted experiments in desert-oasis ecotone and investigated the effects of dew absorbed by three kinds of shallow-rooted seedlings on net photosynthesis rate, as well as on other water relations variables. Three kinds of typical shallow-rooted desert species (Bassia dasyphylla, Salsola collina and Corispermum declinatum) have been chosen and potted. Each species were subjected to contrasting watering regimes (normal and deficient) and different air moisture conditions (having dew and having no dew) for 10 weeks. Net photosynthesis rate was measured on six occasions during the study. Other water relations variables (midday shoot water potential, relative water content, stomatal conductance) were also measured. Under the dew conditions, average net photosynthesis rate, shoot water potential, leaf relative water content and stomatal conductance increased, with greater responses observed for plants subjected to a deficient watering regime than for well-watered plants. These results indicated dew occurred in arid region could be utilized through foliar absorption by some shallow-rooted plants, and for the shallow-rooted plants, the presence of dew could significantly relieve the deficit of water in water-stressed regime.

Effects of High Hydrostatic Pressure on Water Absorption of Adzuki Beans

PubMed Central

Ueno, Shigeaki; Shigematsu, Toru; Karo, Mineko; Hayashi, Mayumi; Fujii, Tomoyuki

2015-01-01

The effect of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment on dried soybean, adzuki bean, and kintoki kidney bean, which are low-moisture-content cellular biological materials, was investigated from the viewpoint of water absorption. The samples were vacuum-packed with distilled water and pressurized at 200 MPa and 25 °C for 10 min. After the HHP treatment, time courses of the moisture contents of the samples were measured, and the dimensionless moisture contents were estimated. Water absorption in the case of soybean could be fitted well by a simple water diffusion model. High pressures were found to have negligible effects on water absorption into the cotyledon of soybean and kintoki kidney bean. A non-linear least square method based on the Weibull equation was applied for the adzuki beans, and the effective water diffusion coefficient was found to increase significantly from 8.6 × 10−13 to 6.7 × 10−10 m2/s after HHP treatment. Approximately 30% of the testa of the adzuki bean was damaged upon HHP treatment, which was comparable to the surface area of the testa in the partially peeled adzuki bean sample. Thus, HHP was confirmed to promote mass transfer to the cotyledon of legumes with a tight testa. PMID:28231195

Lyophilization closures for protein based drugs.

PubMed

DeGrazio, F; Flynn, K

1992-01-01

Rubber stopper formulations which are currently used as lyophilization stoppers vary widely in their capacities to absorb and release moisture. Release of moisture from the stopper over the shelf life of the product may result in drug degradation for extremely low cake weight products. The degree to which rubber formulations absorb water is dependent upon the components of these formulations. Independently, polymers and fillers absorb water during autoclave cycles to varying levels depending upon such factors as the solubility, structure, possibility of chemical reactions and impurity levels of these materials. Once combined into a stopper formulation, the raw materials can react to form species which further promote absorption. Data is presented comparing the absorption characteristics of low versus high absorbent rubber formulations. The release of moisture from these formulas when stoppered on vials containing dry product is also discussed.

Soil-Water Characteristic Curves of Red Clay treated by Ionic Soil Stabilizer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, D.; Xiang, W.

2009-12-01

The relationship of red clay particle with water is an important factor to produce geological disaster and environmental damage. In order to reduce the role of adsorbed water of red clay in WuHan, Ionic Soil Stabilizer (ISS) was used to treat the red clay. Soil Moisture Equipment made in U.S.A was used to measure soil-water characteristic curve of red clay both in natural and stabilized conditions in the suction range of 0-500kPa. The SWCC results were used to interpret the red clay behavior due to stabilizer treatment. In addition, relationship were compared between the basic soil and stabilizer properties such as water content, dry density, liquid limit, plastic limit, moisture absorption rate and stabilizer dosages. The analysis showed that the particle density and specific surface area increase, the dehydration rate slows and the thickness of water film thins after treatment with Ionic Soil Stabilizer. After treatment with the ISS, the geological disasters caused by the adsorbed water of red clay can be effectively inhibited.

Protection of wooden airplane parts against moisture by means of varnish

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolff, E B; Van Ewijk, L J G

1926-01-01

The objects of the experiments herein described were to test the protection afforded by Valspar oil varnish against the absorption of moisture by wooden airplane parts and the consequent changes in their elastic properties and to compare some of the best Dutch varnishes with Valspar.

Using Whole-House Field Tests to Empirically Derive Moisture Buffering Model Inputs

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

Woods, J.; Winkler, J.; Christensen, D.

2014-08-01

Building energy simulations can be used to predict a building's interior conditions, along with the energy use associated with keeping these conditions comfortable. These models simulate the loads on the building (e.g., internal gains, envelope heat transfer), determine the operation of the space conditioning equipment, and then calculate the building's temperature and humidity throughout the year. The indoor temperature and humidity are affected not only by the loads and the space conditioning equipment, but also by the capacitance of the building materials, which buffer changes in temperature and humidity. This research developed an empirical method to extract whole-house model inputsmore » for use with a more accurate moisture capacitance model (the effective moisture penetration depth model). The experimental approach was to subject the materials in the house to a square-wave relative humidity profile, measure all of the moisture transfer terms (e.g., infiltration, air conditioner condensate) and calculate the only unmeasured term: the moisture absorption into the materials. After validating the method with laboratory measurements, we performed the tests in a field house. A least-squares fit of an analytical solution to the measured moisture absorption curves was used to determine the three independent model parameters representing the moisture buffering potential of this house and its furnishings. Follow on tests with realistic latent and sensible loads showed good agreement with the derived parameters, especially compared to the commonly-used effective capacitance approach. These results show that the EMPD model, once the inputs are known, is an accurate moisture buffering model.« less

Reversible dielectric property degradation in moisture-contaminated fiber-reinforced laminates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, Luis A.; García, Carla; Fittipaldi, Mauro; Grace, Landon R.

2016-03-01

The potential for recovery of dielectric properties of three water-contaminated fiber-reinforced laminates is investigated using a split-post dielectric resonant technique at X-band (10 GHz). The three material systems investigated are bismaleimide (BMI) reinforced with an eight-harness satin weave quartz fabric, an epoxy resin reinforced with an eight- harness satin weave glass fabric (style 7781), and the same epoxy reinforced with a four-harness woven glass fabric (style 4180). A direct correlation between moisture content, dielectric constant, and loss tangent was observed during moisture absorption by immersion in distilled water at 25 °C for five equivalent samples of each material system. This trend is observed through at least 0.72% water content by weight for all three systems. The absorption of water into the BMI, 7781 epoxy, and 4180 epoxy laminates resulted in a 4.66%, 3.35%, and 4.01% increase in dielectric constant for a 0.679%, 0.608%, and 0.719% increase in water content by weight, respectively. Likewise, a significant increase was noticed in loss tangent for each material. The same water content is responsible for a 228%, 71.4%, and 64.1% increase in loss tangent, respectively. Subsequent to full desorption through drying at elevated temperature, the dielectric constant and loss tangent of each laminate exhibited minimal change from the dry, pre-absorption state. The dielectric constant and loss tangent change after the absorption and desorption cycle, relative to the initial state, was 0.144 % and 2.63% in the BMI, 0.084% and 1.71% in the style 7781 epoxy, and 0.003% and 4.51% in the style 4180 epoxy at near-zero moisture content. The similarity of dielectric constant and loss tangent in samples prior to absorption and after desorption suggests that any chemical or morphological changes induced by the presence of water have not caused irreversible changes in the dielectric properties of the laminates.

Effect of plasticizer on moisture sorption isotherm of sugar palm (Arenga Pinnata) starch film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jatmiko, Tri Hadi; Poeloengasih, Crescentiana D.; Prasetyo, Dwi Joko; Rosyida, Vita Taufika

2016-02-01

The effect of plasticizer type (glycerol, sorbitol) and plasticizer concentrations (30, 35, 40, 45% w/w polymer) on the moisture sorption isotherm characteristics of sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) starch films were investigated. Moisture affinity of sugar palm starch films was influenced by the plasticizer type and plasticizer concentration. The affinity of the glycerol plasticized film is stronger than that of sorbitol plasticized film. Sugar palm starch film with a higher concentration of glycerol absorbs more moisture with higher initial absorption rate than that of with sorbitol. Films with higher plasticizer concentration of glycerol and sorbitol show higher equilibrium moisture contents at the given relative humidity. The moisture sorption isotherm characteristic of sugar palm starch films can be described very well with the semi empirical 4 parameter Peleg's model.

[Preparation and application on compound excipient of sodium stearyl fumarate and plasdone S-630].

PubMed

Jiang, Yan-Rong; Zhang, Zhen-Hai; Jia, Xiao-Bin

2013-01-01

The compound excipient containing sodium stearyl fumarate and plasdone S-630 was prepared by applying spray drying method. The basic physical properties of compound excipient were studied by solubility test, scanning electron microscope, differential scanning calorimeter, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy. The effect of compound excipient on moisture absorption and ferulic acid in vitro dissolution of spray drying power of angelica were investigated. The results showed that the chemical constituents of compound excipient did not change before and after spray drying. The water soluble compound excipient can improve significantly moisture absorption and has application prospect.

Material characterization of rigid foam insulation at low temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrios, Matthew

There is a continuing need for improved rigid foam insulation, particularly for cryogenic storage aboard aerospace vehicles. The present work is a material characterization of spray-on foam insulation used on the Space Shuttle External Tank. The characterization includes imaging and measurements of thermal conductivity, ultimate tensile strength, and moisture absorption. Thermal conductivity measurements are the main focus of the present work, as it is the most relevant property to insulation performance. A novel apparatus was developed to measure the thermal conductivity of rigid foam at temperatures ranging from 20 K to 300 K with a DeltaT of 10 K between the sides of the foam sample. The effective thermal conductivity of three samples of NCFI 24-124 foam insulation was measured over the full temperature range. Additionally, the effects of different residual gases and moisture absorption on the thermal conductivity of the foam were studied. The data were compared to data from the literature and to mathematical models developed to predict the thermal conductivity. The data show that gas condensation can play a significant role in the thermal conductivity of the foam at low temperature. Moisture absorption can occur in the foam in application when cryogenic fuel is filled into a tank which sits in a warm, humid environment. An apparatus was developed to subject foam samples to these conditions. The moisture content in the samples was then measured. The samples were then imaged using the 900 MHz NMR magnet at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory to determine the location of the water within the foam. Samples conditioned for 9 hours exhibited a 50% weight increase, and samples conditioned for 69 hours exhibited a 284% weight increase. The NMR images showed that the moisture collects first near the warm side of the foam, and permeates through the foam over time. However, the moisture appears to not collect near the knit lines (areas between sprayed layers of foam, containing cells about 10 times smaller than those that make up the bulk of the foam). The 100 kN mechanical testing system at the NHMFL was used to measure the ultimate tensile strength of the foam. The number of samples available limited the amount of measurements, but the data show that the orientation of the foam (parallel or perpendicular to the knit lines) has a greater effect on the tensile strength than does the moisture absorption or exposure to cryogenic temperature.

Measuring and Modeling the Effect of Surface Moisture on the Spectral Reflectance of Coastal Beach Sand

PubMed Central

Nolet, Corjan; Poortinga, Ate; Roosjen, Peter; Bartholomeus, Harm; Ruessink, Gerben

2014-01-01

Surface moisture is an important supply limiting factor for aeolian sand transport, which is the primary driver of coastal dune development. As such, it is critical to account for the control of surface moisture on available sand for dune building. Optical remote sensing has the potential to measure surface moisture at a high spatio-temporal resolution. It is based on the principle that wet sand appears darker than dry sand: it is less reflective. The goals of this study are (1) to measure and model reflectance under controlled laboratory conditions as function of wavelength () and surface moisture () over the optical domain of 350–2500 nm, and (2) to explore the implications of our laboratory findings for accurately mapping the distribution of surface moisture under natural conditions. A laboratory spectroscopy experiment was conducted to measure spectral reflectance (1 nm interval) under different surface moisture conditions using beach sand. A non-linear increase of reflectance upon drying was observed over the full range of wavelengths. Two models were developed and tested. The first model is grounded in optics and describes the proportional contribution of scattering and absorption of light by pore water in an unsaturated sand matrix. The second model is grounded in soil physics and links the hydraulic behaviour of pore water in an unsaturated sand matrix to its optical properties. The optical model performed well for volumetric moisture content 24% ( 0.97), but underestimated reflectance for between 24–30% ( 0.92), most notable around the 1940 nm water absorption peak. The soil-physical model performed very well ( 0.99) but is limited to 4% 24%. Results from a field experiment show that a short-wave infrared terrestrial laser scanner ( = 1550 nm) can accurately relate surface moisture to reflectance (standard error 2.6%), demonstrating its potential to derive spatially extensive surface moisture maps of a natural coastal beach. PMID:25383709

Effect of different types of plastic packaging films on the moisture and aflatoxin contents of pistachio nuts during storage.

PubMed

Shakerardekani, Ahmad; Karim, Roselina

2013-04-01

Pistachio nut (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the popular tree nuts in the world. Proper selection of packaging materials is necessary to prevent absorption of moisture and aflatoxin formation which will influence the overall product quality and safety. This research is undertaken to study the effect of different type of flexible packaging films on the moisture and aflatoxin contents of whole pistachio nuts during storage at ambient temperature (22-28 °C) and relative humidity of 85-100%. Five types of plastic films tested were low density polyethylene (LDPE) which serves as the control, food-grade polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon (LDPE/PA), polyamide/polypropylene (PA/PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The moisture content and aflatoxin content of pistachio nuts were measured using oven drying method and HPLC, respectively. Sample were analysed at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 months during the storage period. Results showed that there was an increase in moisture content with the increase in storage time of pistachio nuts. The increase in moisture content was associated with the aflatoxin level of pistachio nuts during storage time. All the packaging materials except LDPE delayed the moisture absorption and aflatoxin formation of the product. The most suitable packaging materials for maintaining the quality and safety of pistachio nuts is PET films followed by nylon, PA/PP and PVC. The shelf-life of pistachio can be extended from 2 months (Control) to 5 months when PET is used as the packaging material.

Determining the Uncertainty of X-Ray Absorption Measurements

PubMed Central

Wojcik, Gary S.

2004-01-01

X-ray absorption (or more properly, x-ray attenuation) techniques have been applied to study the moisture movement in and moisture content of materials like cement paste, mortar, and wood. An increase in the number of x-ray counts with time at a location in a specimen may indicate a decrease in moisture content. The uncertainty of measurements from an x-ray absorption system, which must be known to properly interpret the data, is often assumed to be the square root of the number of counts, as in a Poisson process. No detailed studies have heretofore been conducted to determine the uncertainty of x-ray absorption measurements or the effect of averaging data on the uncertainty. In this study, the Poisson estimate was found to adequately approximate normalized root mean square errors (a measure of uncertainty) of counts for point measurements and profile measurements of water specimens. The Poisson estimate, however, was not reliable in approximating the magnitude of the uncertainty when averaging data from paste and mortar specimens. Changes in uncertainty from differing averaging procedures were well-approximated by a Poisson process. The normalized root mean square errors decreased when the x-ray source intensity, integration time, collimator size, and number of scanning repetitions increased. Uncertainties in mean paste and mortar count profiles were kept below 2 % by averaging vertical profiles at horizontal spacings of 1 mm or larger with counts per point above 4000. Maximum normalized root mean square errors did not exceed 10 % in any of the tests conducted. PMID:27366627

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

Du, Gang, E-mail: dugang@hdu.edu.cn; Li, Hongxia; Mao, Qinan

A bidirectional threshold switching (TS) characteristic was demonstrated in Ag/ZrO{sub 2}/Pt electrochemical metallization cells by using the electrochemical active Ag electrode and appropriate programming operation strategies The volatile TS was stable and reproducible and the rectify ratio could be tuned to ∼10{sup 7} by engineering the compliance current. We infer that the volatile behavior is essentially due to the moisture absorption in the electron beam evaporated films, which remarkably improved the anodic oxidation as well as the migration of Ag{sup +} ions. The resultant electromotive force would act as a driving force for the metal filaments dissolution, leading to themore » spontaneous volatile characteristics. Moreover, conductance quantization behaviors were also achieved owing to formation and annihilation of atomic scale metal filaments in the film matrix. Our results illustrate that the Ag/ZrO{sub 2}/Pt device with superior TS performances is a promising candidate for selector applications in passive crossbar arrays.« less

Moisture Absorption of Epoxy Matrix Composites Immersed in Liquids and in Humid Air.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-10-01

Eq. 4). -34- TEMPERATURE, T (K) 165 40 350 300 Neat ResinA / Fit to Data 0\\ 0 o Composite Calculated 0- Data Delasi and Whiteside (1977) 168 AS/3501...moisture ab - sorption characteristics of T300/1034, AS/3501-5 and T300/5208 graphite-epoxy composites. 1) Material immersed in liquid at temperatures 300 to

Nucleic acid aptamers as stabilizers of proteins: the stability of tetanus toxoid.

PubMed

Jain, Nishant Kumar; Jetani, Hardik C; Roy, Ipsita

2013-07-01

Exposure of tetanus toxoid to moisture leads to its aggregation and reduction of potency. The aim of this work was to use SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) protocol and select aptamers which recognize tetanus toxoid (Mr ~150 kDa) with high affinity. Colyophilized preparations of tetanus toxoid and specific aptamers were encapsulated in PLGA microspheres and sustained release of the antigen was observed up to 55 days using different techniques. The total protein released was between 40-55% (24-45% residual antigenicity) in the presence of the aptamers as compared to 25% (11% residual antigenicity) for the antigen alone. We show that instead of inhibiting absorption of moisture, the aptamers blocked the protein unfolding upon absorption of moisture, inhibiting the initiation of aggregation. When exposed to accelerated storage conditions, some of the RNA sequences were able to inhibit moisture-induced aggregation in vitro and retain antigenicity of tetanus toxoid. Nucleic acid aptamers represent a novel class of protein stabilizers which stabilize the protein by interacting directly with it. This mechanism is unlike that of small molecules which alter the medium properties and hence depend on the stress condition a protein is exposed to.

Advanced EMU electrochemically regenerable CO2 and moisture absorber module breadboard

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, M. C.; Sudar, M.; Chang, B. J.

1988-01-01

The applicability of the Electrochemically Regenerable Carbon Dioxide and Moisture Absorption Technology to the advanced extravehicular mobility unit was demonstrated by designing, fabricating, and testing a breadboard Absorber Module and an Electrochemical Regenerator. Test results indicated that the absorber module meets or exceeds the carbon dioxide removal requirements specified for the design and can meet the moisture removal requirement when proper cooling is provided. CO2 concentration in the vent gas stream was reduced from 0.52 to 0.027 kPa (3.9 to 0.20 mm Hg) for the full five hour test period. Vent gas dew point was reduced from inlet values of 294 K (69 F) to 278 K (41 F) at the outlet. The regeneration of expended absorbent was achieved by the electrochemical method employed in the testing. An absorbent bed using microporous hydrophobic membrane sheets with circulating absorbent is shown to be the best approach to the design of an Absorber Module based on sizing and performance. Absorber Module safety design, comparison of various absorbents and their characteristics, moisture absorption and cooling study and subsystem design and operation time-lining study were also performed.

Synthesis of improved moisture resistant polymers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orell, M. K.

1979-01-01

The use of difluoromaleimide-capped prepolymers to provide improved moisture resistant polymers was investigated. Six different prepolymer formulations were prepared by two different methods. One method utilized the PMR approach to polyimides and the second method employed the normal condensation route to provide fully imidized prepolymers. Polymer specimens cured at 450 F exhibited adequate long-term stability in air at 400 F. Moisture absorption studies were conducted on one polymer formulation. Neat Polymer specimens exhibited weight gains of up to 2% (w/w) after exposure to 100% relative humidity at 344K (160 F) for 400 hours.

Enhanced plastic deformations of nanofibrillated cellulose film by adsorbed moisture and protein-mediated interactions.

PubMed

Malho, Jani-Markus; Ouellet-Plamondon, Claudiane; Rüggeberg, Markus; Laaksonen, Päivi; Ikkala, Olli; Burgert, Ingo; Linder, Markus B

2015-01-12

Biological composites are typically based on an adhesive matrix that interlocks rigid reinforcing elements in fiber composite or brick-and-mortar assemblies. In nature, the adhesive matrix is often made up of proteins, which are also interesting model systems, as they are unique among polymers in that we know how to engineer their structures with atomic detail and to select protein elements for specific interactions with other components. Here we studied how fusion proteins that consist of cellulose binding proteins linked to proteins that show a natural tendency to form multimer complexes act as an adhesive matrix in combination with nanofibrillated cellulose. We found that the fusion proteins are retained with the cellulose and that the proteins mainly affect the plastic yield behavior of the cellulose material as a function of water content. Interestingly, the proteins increased the moisture absorption of the composite, but the well-known plastifying effect of water was clearly decreased. The work helps to understand the functional basis of nanocellulose composites as materials and aims toward building model systems for molecular biomimetic materials.

29 CFR 1910.155 - Scope, application and definitions applicable to this subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... moisture absorption (caking) as well as to provide proper flow capabilities. Dry chemical does not include... require formal classroom instruction. (15) Enclosed structure means a structure with a roof or ceiling and... a rigid shell, energy absorption system, and chin strap intended to be worn to provide protection...

29 CFR 1910.155 - Scope, application and definitions applicable to this subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... moisture absorption (caking) as well as to provide proper flow capabilities. Dry chemical does not include... require formal classroom instruction. (15) Enclosed structure means a structure with a roof or ceiling and... a rigid shell, energy absorption system, and chin strap intended to be worn to provide protection...

29 CFR 1910.155 - Scope, application and definitions applicable to this subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... moisture absorption (caking) as well as to provide proper flow capabilities. Dry chemical does not include... require formal classroom instruction. (15) Enclosed structure means a structure with a roof or ceiling and... a rigid shell, energy absorption system, and chin strap intended to be worn to provide protection...

29 CFR 1910.155 - Scope, application and definitions applicable to this subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... moisture absorption (caking) as well as to provide proper flow capabilities. Dry chemical does not include... require formal classroom instruction. (15) Enclosed structure means a structure with a roof or ceiling and... a rigid shell, energy absorption system, and chin strap intended to be worn to provide protection...

Hygrothermal damage mechanisms in graphite-epoxy composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crossman, F. W.; Mauri, R. E.; Warren, W. J.

1979-01-01

T300/5209 and T300/5208 graphite epoxy laminates were studied experimentally and analytically in order to: (1) determine the coupling between applied stress, internal residual stress, and moisture sorption kinetics; (2) examine the microscopic damage mechanisms due to hygrothermal cycling; (3) evaluate the effect of absorbed moisture and hygrothermal cycling on inplane shear response; (4) determine the permanent loss of interfacial bond strength after moisture absorption and drying; and (5) evaluate the three dimensional stress state in laminates under a combination of hygroscopic, thermal, and mechanical loads. Specimens were conditioned to equilibrium moisture content under steady exposure to 55% or 95% RH at 70 C or 93 C. Some specimens were tested subsequent to moisture conditioning and 100 cycles between -54 C and either 70 C or 93 C.

Davis Fire: Fire behavior and fire effects analysis

Treesearch

LaWen T. Hollingsworth

2010-01-01

The Davis Fire presents an interesting example of fire behavior in subalpine fir, partially dead lodgepole pine with multiple age classes, and moist site Douglas-fir vegetation types. This has been summer of moderate temperatures and intermittent moisture that has kept live herbaceous and live woody moistures fairly high and dead fuel moistures at a moderate level....

The effect of moisture content on physicochemical properties of extruded waxy and non-waxy rice flour.

PubMed

Jongsutjarittam, Ornpicha; Charoenrein, Sanguansri

2014-12-19

The properties of waxy rice flour (WRF) and non-waxy rice flour (RF) were modified using an extrusion process with different feeding material moisture contents. WRF was more affected by the thermomechanical stress from extrusion; consequently, it had a lower glass transition temperature but higher water solubility index (WSI) indicating higher molecular degradation than extruded RF. The lower moisture content of the feeding flour caused more severe flour damage (coarser surface of the extruded flour) and lowered relative crystallinity compared to higher moisture content processing. Moreover, low moisture content processing led to complete gelatinization, whereas, partial gelatinization occurred in the higher moisture content extrusion. Consequently, the extruded flours had a lower peak viscosity and gelatinization enthalpy but a higher water absorption index and WSI than native flour. In conclusion, the rice flour type and the moisture content of the extrusion feeding flour affected the physicochemical properties of the extruded flour. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of cladding systems on moisture performance of wood-framed walls in a mixed-humid climate

Treesearch

S. Craig Drumheller; Charles G. Carll

2010-01-01

A 22-month field investigation of nine different north-and south-oriented wood-framed wall assemblies was conducted to determine the moisture performance of various wall construction types, most of which incorporated absorptive cladding. The study was conducted on the campus of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center, in Upper Marlboro, MD, 20...

Airborne Remote Sensing of Trafficability in the Coastal Zone

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

validation instruments: Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) full-range spectrometer; light weight deflectometer ( LWD ), which measures dynamic deflection...liquid water absorption features. The corresponding bearing strength measured by the LWD was high at the shoreline site and low at the backdune site...REVIEW REMOTE SENSING FIGURE 7 Correlation of in situ grain size, moisture, and bearing strength measurements. Scatterplot of percent moisture vs LWD

Improvements to water vapor transmission and capillary absorption measurements in porous materials

Treesearch

Samuel L. Zelinka; Samuel V. Glass; Charles R. Boardman

2016-01-01

The vapor permeability (or equivalently the vapor diffusion resistance factor) and the capillary absorption coefficient are frequently used as inputs to hygrothermal or heat, air, and moisture (HAM) models. However, it has been well documented that the methods used to determine these properties are sensitive to the operator, and wide variations in the properties have...

Effect of moisture on the fatigue behavior of graphite/epoxy composite laminates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramani, S. V.; Nelson, H. G.

1979-01-01

The form of the moisture distribution in the specimen (gradient and flat profile) was considered to establish the influence of accelerated moisture conditioning on fatigue behavior. For the gradient specimens having an average moisture content of 1.4 percent, fatigue life was reduced by a factor of 8 at all stress levels investigated. Corresponding reduction in fatigue life for the flat moisture profile specimens at the same average moisture content was comparatively smaller, being about a factor of 5 from the value in dry specimens. X-ray radiographic analysis of damage accumulation in compression-compression fatigue revealed interlaminar cracking to be the dominant mode of failure responsible for the observed enhanced cyclic degradation of moisture-conditioned specimens. This finding was corroborated by the observed systematic reduction in interlaminar shear strength as a function of moisture content, which, in turn, increased the propensity for delamination under cyclic compressive loads. Residual strength measurements on cycled specimens indicated significant strength reductions at long lives, particularly in moisture conditioned specimens.

An investigation of chemically-induced improvement in saturation moisture characteristics of epoxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, J. J.; St.clair, T. L.; Stoakley, D. M.

1984-01-01

MY-720/DDS epoxy samples were treated with three selected chemical compounds to render the active H-sites inactive for moisture absorption. Treating the epoxy castings with acetyl chloride and dichlorodimethyl silane leads only to surface changes indicating that these molecules are too large to penetrate the epoxy castings. Boron trifluoride, on the other hand, does penetrate the epoxy chain as is indicated by the formation of green domains in the interior of the castings. However, the process of saturating the specimens with moisture appears to leach out the chemical additives--thereby nullifying their possible ameliorative effects.

Design and development of guar gum based novel, superabsorbent and moisture retaining hydrogels for agricultural applications.

PubMed

Thombare, Nandkishore; Mishra, Sumit; Siddiqui, M Z; Jha, Usha; Singh, Deodhari; Mahajan, Gopal R

2018-04-01

The novel hydrogels were synthesized by grafting guar gum with acrylic acid and cross-linking with ethylene glycol di methacrylic acid (EGDMA). The synthesis of hydrogel was confirmed by characterization through 13 C NMR, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM micrography, thermo-gravimetric analysis and water absorption studies under different solutions. Synthesized hydrogel (GG-AA-EGDMA) was confirmed to be biodegradable with half-life period of 77 days through soil burial biodegradation studies. The effects of hydrogel treatment on soil were evaluated by studying various physico-chemical properties of soil like bulk density, porosity, water absorption and retention capacity etc. The hydrogel which could absorb up to 800 ml water per gram, after addition to soil, improved its porosity, moisture absorption and retention capacity significantly. Water holding capacity of water increased up to 54% of its original and porosity also increased up to 9% of its original. The synthesized hydrogel revealed tremendous potential as soil conditioning material for agricultural applications. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Engineering and Design: Composite Materials for Civil Engineering Structures

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-03-31

the effects of acidic, salt, and fresh waters . Acidic, salt, and fresh waters are corrosive to ferrous metals. In Corps of Engineers structures, high...what is commonly called a toughened epoxy. (5) Polymeric resins will absorb moisture. Since many applications are in contact with water (at least...ultraviolet radiation. Some coatings can reduce the amount of moisture absorption by the structure. All polymeric resins will absorb water to some

Discrimination of soil hydraulic properties by combined thermal infrared and microwave remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vandegriend, A. A.; Oneill, P. E.

1986-01-01

Using the De Vries models for thermal conductivity and heat capacity, thermal inertia was determined as a function of soil moisture for 12 classes of soil types ranging from sand to clay. A coupled heat and moisture balance model was used to describe the thermal behavior of the top soil, while microwave remote sensing was used to estimate the soil moisture content of the same top soil. Soil hydraulic parameters are found to be very highly correlated with the combination of soil moisture content and thermal inertia at the same moisture content. Therefore, a remotely sensed estimate of the thermal behavior of the soil from diurnal soil temperature observations and an independent remotely sensed estimate of soil moisture content gives the possibility of estimating soil hydraulic properties by remote sensing.

Effect of Hygrothermal Aging on the Mechanical Properties of Fluorinated and Nonfluorinated Clay-Epoxy Nanocomposites

PubMed Central

Hamim, Salah U.; Singh, Raman P.

2014-01-01

Hydrophilic nature of epoxy polymers can lead to both reversible and irreversible/permanent changes in epoxy upon moisture absorption. The permanent changes leading to the degradation of mechanical properties due to combined effect of moisture and elevated temperature on EPON 862, Nanomer I.28E, and Somasif MAE clay-epoxy nanocomposites are investigated in this study. The extent of permanent degradation on fracture and flexural properties due to the hygrothermal aging is determined by drying the epoxy and their clay-epoxy nanocomposites after moisture absorption. Significant permanent damage is observed for fracture toughness and flexural modulus, while the extent of permanent damage is less significant for flexural strength. It is also observed that permanent degradation in Somasif MAE clay-epoxy nanocomposites is higher compared to Nanomer I.28E clay-epoxy nanocomposites. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed that both clays retained their original chemical structure after the absorption-desorption cycle without undergoing significant changes. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the fracture surfaces provide evidence that Somasif MAE clay particles offered very little resistance to crack propagation in case of redried specimens when compared to Nanomer I.28E counterpart. The reason for the observed higher extent of permanent degradation in Somasif MAE clay-epoxy system has been attributed to the weakening of the filler-matrix interface. PMID:27379285

Effect of Hygrothermal Aging on the Mechanical Properties of Fluorinated and Nonfluorinated Clay-Epoxy Nanocomposites.

PubMed

Hamim, Salah U; Singh, Raman P

2014-01-01

Hydrophilic nature of epoxy polymers can lead to both reversible and irreversible/permanent changes in epoxy upon moisture absorption. The permanent changes leading to the degradation of mechanical properties due to combined effect of moisture and elevated temperature on EPON 862, Nanomer I.28E, and Somasif MAE clay-epoxy nanocomposites are investigated in this study. The extent of permanent degradation on fracture and flexural properties due to the hygrothermal aging is determined by drying the epoxy and their clay-epoxy nanocomposites after moisture absorption. Significant permanent damage is observed for fracture toughness and flexural modulus, while the extent of permanent damage is less significant for flexural strength. It is also observed that permanent degradation in Somasif MAE clay-epoxy nanocomposites is higher compared to Nanomer I.28E clay-epoxy nanocomposites. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed that both clays retained their original chemical structure after the absorption-desorption cycle without undergoing significant changes. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the fracture surfaces provide evidence that Somasif MAE clay particles offered very little resistance to crack propagation in case of redried specimens when compared to Nanomer I.28E counterpart. The reason for the observed higher extent of permanent degradation in Somasif MAE clay-epoxy system has been attributed to the weakening of the filler-matrix interface.

Effect of Moisture Exchange on Interface Formation in the Repair System Studied by X-ray Absorption

PubMed Central

Lukovic, Mladena; Ye, Guang

2015-01-01

In concrete repair systems, material properties of the repair material and the interface are greatly influenced by the moisture exchange between the repair material and the substrate. If the substrate is dry, it can absorb water from the repair material and reduce its effective water-to-cement ratio (w/c). This further affects the hydration rate of cement based material. In addition to the change in hydration rate, void content at the interface between the two materials is also affected. In this research, the influence of moisture exchange on the void content in the repair system as a function of initial saturation level of the substrate is investigated. Repair systems with varying level of substrate saturation are made. Moisture exchange in these repair systems as a function of time is monitored by the X-ray absorption technique. After a specified curing age (3 d), the internal microstructure of the repair systems was captured by micro-computed X-ray tomography (CT-scanning). From reconstructed images, different phases in the repair system (repair material, substrate, voids) can be distinguished. In order to quantify the void content, voids were thresholded and their percentage was calculated. It was found that significantly more voids form when the substrate is dry prior to application of the repair material. Air, initially filling voids and pores of the dry substrate, is being released due to the moisture exchange. As a result, air voids remain entrapped in the repair material close to the interface. These voids are found to form as a continuation of pre-existing surface voids in the substrate. Knowledge about moisture exchange and its effects provides engineers with the basis for recommendations about substrate preconditioning in practice. PMID:28787801

Hygrothermal Properties of Cross Laminated Timber and Moisture Response of Wood at High Relative Humidity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

AlSayegh, George

Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is a new wood-based material composed of cross laminated wood boards that form a structural panel. This study focuses on identifying the appropriate methods to determine the hygrothermal properties of CLTs fabricated with Canadian and European Lumber. The laboratory tests carried out in this study will help establish heat, air and moisture response properties to be used for hygrothermal simulation to assess the durability of CLTs in building envelope construction. Measurement of water vapour permeability, liquid water absorption, sorption isotherms, thermal conductivity, and air permeability were performed on three Canadian CLT specimens composed of Hem-Fir, Eastern Spruce-Pine-Fir, and Western Spruce-Pine-Fir and one European specimen composed of Spruce. The hygrothermal properties of CLT, considered in this study, appear to be similar to commonly used wood specimens reported in the literature. However, liquid water absorption coefficients of CLT were found to be generally lower than common wood species, possibly due to the presence of glue between the wood layers which limits the moisture movement across the specimen. On the other hand, the air permeability across the CLT specimens varied due to the glue discontinuity within the specimen which led some CLTs to be permeable, however all the European specimens were found to be impermeable. This study also critically analyzed the significance of equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of wood at high relative humidity, measured by means of a pressure plate apparatus and humidity chambers, on the moisture management performance of a wood-frame stucco wall, using the hygrothermal simulation tool hygIRC-2D. The simulation results indicate that the prediction of the moisture response of a wood-frame stucco wall assembly depends significantly on the method adopted to derive the EMC of wood at high RH.

Physical properties of extruded products from three Mexican common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivars.

PubMed

Rocha-Guzman, N E; Gallegos-Infante, J A; Gonzalez-Laredo, R F; Bello-Perez, A; Delgado-Licon, E; Ochoa-Martinez, A; Prado-Ortiz, M J

2008-09-01

The physical properties of extruded products from three Mexican common bean cultivars were investigated. Common bean cultivars Flor de Mayo, Pinto Villa and Bayo Victoria from the same harvesting season (2006) were used in this work. Beans were milled and the flour was hydrated to 24, 26 and 28 g of water/100 g of dry weight. Two temperatures, 130 degrees C and 165 degrees C at the end of the extruder barrel without die, were experimented. Common bean flour extrudates were evaluated for water absorption index (WAI), water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity (OAC), and emulsifying capacity (EC). Flor de Mayo extrudates showed the highest WAC and WAI values. Thus starch from Flor de Mayo beans showed minor restricted water availability. In all cases, the OAC of extruded products was lower than the crude bean flour. The EC for Bayo Victoria flour increased as a consequence of the extrusion process. The EC for Flor de Mayo was higher at lower temperature and lower moisture content than Pinto Villa and Bayo Victoria beans. EC behavior of Pinto Villa was similar to Bayo cultivar. These results indicate that it is possible to produce new extruded products with good physical properties from these common bean cultivars.

Effects of whey protein concentrate, feed moisture and temperature on the physicochemical characteristics of a rice-based extruded flour.

PubMed

Teba, Carla da Silva; Silva, Erika Madeira Moreira da; Chávez, Davy William Hidalgo; Carvalho, Carlos Wanderlei Piler de; Ascheri, José Luis Ramírez

2017-08-01

The influence of whey protein concentrate (WPC), feed moisture and temperature on the physicochemical properties of rice-based extrudates has been investigated. WPC (0.64-7.36g/100g rice) was extruded under 5 moisture (16.64-23.36g/100g) and 5 temperature (106.36-173.64°C) established by a 3 2 central composite rotational design. Physicochemical properties [color, porosimetry, crystallinity, water solubility and absorption, pasting properties, reconstitution test, proximate composition, amino acids, minerals and electrophoresis] were determined. WPC and feed moisture increased redness, yellowness and decreased luminosity. Feed moisture and temperature increased density and total volume pore. WPC and moisture increased crystallinity, but only WPC increased solubility and decrease the retrogradation tendency. Increasing temperature increased the viscosity of the extrudates. The addition of WPC improved the nutritional composition of the extrudates, especially proteins. It is suggested that the extrusion process positively affected the retention of most of the polypeptides chains. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ingested hyaluronan moisturizes dry skin.

PubMed

Kawada, Chinatsu; Yoshida, Takushi; Yoshida, Hideto; Matsuoka, Ryosuke; Sakamoto, Wakako; Odanaka, Wataru; Sato, Toshihide; Yamasaki, Takeshi; Kanemitsu, Tomoyuki; Masuda, Yasunobu; Urushibata, Osamu

2014-07-11

Hyaluronan (HA) is present in many tissues of the body and is essential to maintain moistness in the skin tissues, which contain approximately half the body's HA mass. Due to its viscosity and moisturizing effect, HA is widely distributed as a medicine, cosmetic, food, and, recently marketed in Japan as a popular dietary supplement to promote skin moisture. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study it was found that ingested HA increased skin moisture and improved treatment outcomes for patients with dry skin. HA is also reported to be absorbed by the body distributed, in part, to the skin. Ingested HA contributes to the increased synthesis of HA and promotes cell proliferation in fibroblasts. These effects show that ingestion of HA moisturizes the skin and is expected to improve the quality of life for people who suffer from dry skin. This review examines the moisturizing effects of dry skin by ingested HA and summarizes the series of mechanisms from absorption to pharmacological action.

Ingested hyaluronan moisturizes dry skin

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Hyaluronan (HA) is present in many tissues of the body and is essential to maintain moistness in the skin tissues, which contain approximately half the body’s HA mass. Due to its viscosity and moisturizing effect, HA is widely distributed as a medicine, cosmetic, food, and, recently marketed in Japan as a popular dietary supplement to promote skin moisture. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study it was found that ingested HA increased skin moisture and improved treatment outcomes for patients with dry skin. HA is also reported to be absorbed by the body distributed, in part, to the skin. Ingested HA contributes to the increased synthesis of HA and promotes cell proliferation in fibroblasts. These effects show that ingestion of HA moisturizes the skin and is expected to improve the quality of life for people who suffer from dry skin. This review examines the moisturizing effects of dry skin by ingested HA and summarizes the series of mechanisms from absorption to pharmacological action. PMID:25014997

Bioactivity of Several Herbicides on the Nanogram Level Under Different Soil Moisture Conditions.

PubMed

Jung, S C; Kuk, Y I; Senseman, S A; Ahn, H G; Seong, C N; Lee, D J

2015-01-01

In this study, a double-tube centrifuge method was employed to determine the effects of soil moisture on the bioactivity of cafenstrole, pretilachlor, benfuresate, oxyfluorfen and simetryn. In general, the available herbicide concentration in soil solution (ACSS) showed little change as soil moisture increased for herbicides. The total available herbicide in soil solution (TASS) typically increased as soil moisture increased for all herbicides. The relationship between TASS and % growth rate based on dry weight showed strong linear relationships for both cafenstrole and pretilachlor, with r2 values of 0.95 and 0.84, respectively. Increasing TASS values were consistent with increasing herbicide water solubility, with the exception of the ionizable herbicide simetryn. Plant absorption and % growth rate exhibited a strong linear relationship with TASS. According to the results suggested that TASS was a better predictor of herbicidal bioactivity than ACSS for all herbicides under unsaturated soil moisture conditions.

[Study on nano-CaCO3 applicated in Xin Yue Shu Capsules preliminarily].

PubMed

Jiang, Yan-Rong; Zhang, Zhen-Hai; Cui, Li; He, Jun-Jie; Hu, Shao-Ying; Jia, Xiao-Bin

2012-11-01

To investigate the characteristics of nano-CaCO3 applicated in Xin Yue Shu Capsules. Studied the effect of different dosages of aerosil or nano-CaCO3 on fluidity, bulk density, moisture absorption of Xin Yue Shu capsules spray drying powder. In vitro dissolution and ferulic acid stability of Xin Yue Shu capsules was observed. It significantly improved powder fluidity and bulk density of Xin Yue Shu spray drying powder when aerosil or nano-CaCO3 was added. But there was no significant effect on powder moisture absorption, ferulic acid in vitro dissolution and ferulic acid stability. The effect of Nano-CaCO3 on improving powder fluidity and bulk density applicated in the spray drying powder of traditional Chinese medicine deserves studying further.

Polyamides based on the renewable monomer, 1,13-tridecane diamine I: synthesis and characterization of nylon 13,T

DOE PAGES

He, Jie; Samanta, Satyabrata; Selvakumar, Sermadurai; ...

2013-06-01

Nylon 13,T was successfully synthesized and chemical composition, thermal properties, crystal structure, and moisture absorption characterized. Melting temperature and glass transition temperature were determined to be 263 °C and 90 °C, respectively, while the equilibrium melting temperature was determined to be 289 °C. Characterization of the crystallization kinetics showed that nylon 13,T exhibits very fast crystallization compared to the industrially important nylons, nylon 6 and nylon 6,6. In addition, the moisture absorption of nylon 13,T was dramatically lower than nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 which is consistent with the much lower amide content of nylon 13,T. The crystal structure wasmore » determined to be pseudohexagonal.« less

The effect of environmental conditions and soil physicochemistry on phosphate stabilisation of Pb in shooting range soils.

PubMed

Sanderson, Peter; Naidu, Ravi; Bolan, Nanthi

2016-04-01

The stabilisation of Pb in the soil by phosphate is influenced by environmental conditions and physicochemical properties of the soils to which it is applied. Stabilisation of Pb by phosphate was examined in four soils under different environmental conditions. The effect of soil moisture and temperature on stabilisation of Pb by phosphate was examined by measurement of water extractable and bioaccessible Pb, sequential fractionation and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The addition of humic acid, ammonium nitrate and chloride was also examined for inhibition or improvement of Pb stability with phosphate treatment. The effect of moisture level varied between soils. In soil MB and DA a soil moisture level of 50% water holding capacity was sufficient to maximise stabilisation of Pb, but in soil TV and PE reduction in bioaccessible Pb was inhibited at this moisture level. Providing moisture at twice the soil water holding capacity did not enhance the effect of phosphate on Pb stabilisation. The difference of Pb stability as a result of incubating phosphate treated soils at 18 °C and 37 °C was relatively small. However wet-dry cycles decreased the effectiveness of phosphate treatment. The reduction in bioaccessible Pb obtained was between 20 and 40% with the most optimal treatment conditions. The reduction in water extractable Pb by phosphate was substantial regardless of incubation conditions and the effect of different temperature and soil moisture regimes was not significant. Selective sequential extraction showed phosphate treatment converted Pb in fraction 1 (exchangeable, acid and water soluble) to fraction 2 (reducible). There were small difference in fraction 4 (residual) Pb and fraction 1 as a result of treatment conditions. X-ray absorption spectroscopy of stabilised PE soil revealed small differences in Pb speciation under varying soil moisture and temperature treatments. The addition of humic acid and chloride produced the greatest effect on Pb speciation in phosphate treated soils. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physical and functional properties of arrowroot starch extrudates.

PubMed

Jyothi, A N; Sheriff, J T; Sajeev, M S

2009-03-01

Arrowroot starch, a commercially underexploited tuber starch but having potential digestive and medicinal properties, has been subjected to extrusion cooking using a single screw food extruder. Different levels of feed moisture (12%, 14%, and 16%) and extrusion temperatures (140, 150, 160, 170, 180, and 190 degrees C) were used for extrusion. The physical properties--bulk density, true density, porosity, and expansion ratio; functional properties such as water absorption index, water solubility index, oil absorption index, pasting, rheological, and textural properties; and in vitro enzyme digestibility of the extrudates were determined. The expansion ratio of the extrudates ranged from 3.22 to 6.09. The water absorption index (6.52 to 8.85 g gel/g dry sample), water solubility index (15.92% to 41.31%), and oil absorption index (0.50 to 1.70 g/g) were higher for the extrudates in comparison to native starch (1.81 g gel/g dry sample, 1.16% and 0.60 g/g, respectively). The rheological properties, storage modulus, and loss modulus of the gelatinized powdered extrudates were significantly lower (P < 0.05) and these behaved like solutions rather than a paste or a gel. Hardness and toughness were more for the samples extruded at higher feed moisture and lower extrusion temperature, whereas snap force and energy were higher at lower feed moisture and temperature. There was a significant decrease in the percentage digestibility of arrowroot starch (30.07% after 30 min of incubation with the enzyme) after extrusion (25.27% to 30.56%). Extrusion cooking of arrowroot starch resulted in products with very good expansion, color, and lower digestibility, which can be exploited for its potential use as a snack food.

Environmental effects on the compressive properties - Thermosetting vs. thermoplastic composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haque, A.; Jeelani, S.

1992-01-01

The influence of moisture and temperature on the compressive properties of graphite/epoxy and APC-2 materials systems was investigated to assess the viability of using APC-2 instead of graphite/epoxy. Data obtained indicate that the moisture absorption rate of T-300/epoxy is higher than that of APC-2. Thick plate with smaller surface area absorbs less moisture than thin plate with larger surface area. The compressive strength and modulus of APC-2 are higher than those of T-300/epoxy composite, and APC-2 sustains higher compressive strength in the presence of moisture. The compressive strength and modulus decrease with the increase of temperature in the range of 23-100 C. The compression failure was in the form of delamination, interlaminar shear, and end brooming.

Effect of Soil Type and Moisture Availability on the Foraging Behavior of the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study examined the influence of soil type and moisture availability on termite foraging behavior. Physical properties of the soil affected both tunneling behavior and mud tube construction. Termites tunneled through sand faster than top soil and clay. In containers with top soil and clay, termi...

Effect of suction hysteresis on resilient modulus of fine-grained cohesionless soil.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-07-30

The mechanical behavior of subgrade soil is influenced by the seasonal variations in moisture content. To better understand this behavior, it is crucial to study the relationship between soil moisture content and matric suction known as the Soil Wate...

Effect of feed composition, moisture content and extrusion temperature on extrudate characteristics of yam-corn-rice based snack food.

PubMed

Seth, Dibyakanta; Badwaik, Laxmikant S; Ganapathy, Vijayalakshmi

2015-03-01

Blends of yam, rice and corn flour were processed in a twin-screw extruder. Effects of yam flour (10-40 %), feed moisture content (12-24 %) and extruder barrel temperature (100-140 °C) on the characteristics of the dried extrudates was investigated using a statistical technique response surface methodology (RSM). Radial expansion ratio differed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) with change in all the independent variables. Highest expansion (3.97) was found at lowest moisture content (12 %) and highest barrel temperature (140 °C). Increased yam flour level decreased the expansion ratio significantly. Water absorption index (WAI) increased significantly with increase of all variables. However, water solubility index (WSI) did not change with change in yam flour percent. Hardness of extrudates that varied from 3.86 to 6.94 N was positively correlated with yam flour level and feed moisture content, however it decreased significantly (p ≤ 0.001) with increase of barrel temperature. Yam percent of 15.75 with feed moisture and barrel temperature at 12.00 % and 140 °C respectively gave an optimized product of high desirability (> 0.90) with optimum responses of 3.29 expansion ratio, 5.64 g/g dry solid water absorption index, 30.39 % water solubility index and 3.86 N hardness. The predicted values registered non-significant (p < 0.10) differences from the experimental results. Further study would include the sensory properties enhancement of extruded snacks and little emphasis on the chemistry of interaction between different components.

The effect of moisture on the dynamic thermomechanical properties of a graphite/epoxy composite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sykes, G. F.; Burks, H. D.; Nelson, J. B.

1977-01-01

A study has been made of the effect of moisture absorption on the dynamic thermomechanical properties of a graphite/epoxy composite recently considered for building primary aircraft structures. Torsional braid analysis (TBA) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) techniques were used to measure changes in the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the initial softening temperature (heat distortion temperature, HDT) of T-300/5209 graphite/epoxy composites exposed to room temperature water soak.

Fire danger index efficiency as a function of fuel moisture and fire behavior.

PubMed

Torres, Fillipe Tamiozzo Pereira; Romeiro, Joyce Machado Nunes; Santos, Ana Carolina de Albuquerque; de Oliveira Neto, Ricardo Rodrigues; Lima, Gumercindo Souza; Zanuncio, José Cola

2018-08-01

Assessment of the performance of forest fire hazard indices is important for prevention and management strategies, such as planning prescribed burnings, public notifications and firefighting resource allocation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of fire hazard indices considering fire behavior variables and susceptibility expressed by the moisture of combustible material. Controlled burns were carried out at different times and information related to meteorological conditions, characteristics of combustible material and fire behavior variables were recorded. All variables analyzed (fire behavior and fuel moisture content) can be explained by the prediction indices. The Brazilian EVAP/P showed the best performance, both at predicting moisture content of the fuel material and fire behavior variables, and the Canadian system showed the best performance to predicting the rate of spread. The coherence of the correlations between the indices and the variables analyzed makes the methodology, which can be applied anywhere, important for decision-making in regions with no records or with only unreliable forest fire data. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Responses of dead forest fuel moisture to climate change

Treesearch

Yongqiang Liu

2016-01-01

Forest fuel moisture is an important factor for wildland fire behavior. Predicting future wildfire trends and controlled burned conditions is essential to effective natural resource management, but the associated effects of forest fuel moisture remain uncertain. This study investigates the responses of dead forest fuel moisture to climate change in the...

Mechanisms by which moisture generates cocrystals.

PubMed

Jayasankar, Adivaraha; Good, David J; Rodríguez-Hornedo, Naír

2007-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine the mechanisms by which moisture can generate cocrystals when solid particles of cocrystal reactants are exposed to deliquescent conditions (when moisture sorption forms an aqueous solution). It is based on the hypothesis that cocrystallization behavior during water uptake can be derived from solution chemistry using models that describe cocrystal solubility and reaction crystallization of molecular complexes. Cocrystal systems were selected with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that form hydrates and include carbamazepine, caffeine, and theophylline. Moisture uptake and crystallization behavior were studied by gravimetric vapor sorption, X-ray powder diffraction, and on-line Raman spectroscopy. Results indicate that moisture uptake generates cocrystals of carbamazepine-nicotinamide, carbamazepine-saccharin, and caffeine or theophylline with dicarboxylic acid ligands (oxalic acid, maleic acid, glutaric acid, and malonic acid) when solid mixtures with cocrystal reactants deliquesce. Microscopy studies revealed that the transformation mechanism to cocrystal involves (1) moisture uptake, (2) dissolution of reactants, and (3) cocrystal nucleation and growth. Studies of solid blends of reactants in a macro scale show that the rate and extent of cocrystal formation are a function of relative humidity, moisture uptake, deliquescent material, and dissolution rates of reactants. It is shown that the interplay between moisture uptake and dissolution determines the liquid phase composition, supersaturation, and cocrystal formation rates. Differences in the behavior of deliquescent additives (sucrose and fructose) are associated with moisture uptake and composition of the deliquesced solution. Our results show that deliquescence can transform API to cocrystal or reverse the reaction given the right conditions. Key indicators of cocrystal formation and stability are (1) moisture uptake, (2) cocrystal aqueous solubility, (3) solubility and dissolution of cocrystal reactants, and (4) transition concentration.

Transbuccal delivery of chlorpheniramine maleate from mucoadhesive buccal patches.

PubMed

Sekhar, K Chandra; Naidu, K V S; Vishnu, Y Vamshi; Gannu, Ramesh; Kishan, V; Rao, Y Madhusudan

2008-01-01

This article describes buccal permeation of chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM) and its transbuccal delivery using mucoadhesive buccal patches. Permeation of CPM was calculated in vitro using porcine buccal membrane and in vivo in healthy humans. Buccal formulations were developed with hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) and evaluated for in vitro release, moisture absorption, mechanical properties, and bioadhesion, and optimized formulation was subjected for bioavailability studies in healthy human volunteers. In vitro flux of CPM was calculated to be 0.14 +/- 0.03 mg.h(-1).cm(-2) and buccal absorption also was demonstrated in vivo in human volunteers. In vitro drug release and moisture absorbed were governed by HEC content and formulations exhibited good tensile and mucoadhesive properties. Bioavailability from optimized buccal patch was 1.46 times higher than the oral dosage form and the results showed statistically significant difference.

The effects of vegetation cover on the radar and radiometric sensitivity to soil moisture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ulaby, F. T.; Dobson, M. C.; Brunfeldt, D. R.; Razani, M.

1982-01-01

The measured effects of vegetation canopies on radar and radiometric sensitivity to soil moisture are compared to emission and scattering models. The models are found to predict accurately the measured emission and backscattering for various crop canopies at frequencies between 1.4 and 5.0 GHz, especially at theta equal to or less than 30 deg. Vegetation loss factors, L(theta), increase with frequency and are found to be dependent upon canopy type and water content. In addition, the radiometric power absorption coefficient of a mature corn canopy is 1.75 times that calculated for the radar. Comparison of an L-band radiometer with a C-band radar shows the two systems to be complementary in terms of accurate soil moisture sensing over the extreme range of naturally occurring soil moisture conditions.

Environmental effects on the compressive properties - Thermosetting vs. thermoplastic composites

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

Haque, A.; Jeelani, S.

1992-02-01

The influence of moisture and temperature on the compressive properties of graphite/epoxy and APC-2 materials systems was investigated to assess the viability of using APC-2 instead of graphite/epoxy. Data obtained indicate that the moisture absorption rate of T-300/epoxy is higher than that of APC-2. Thick plate with smaller surface area absorbs less moisture than thin plate with larger surface area. The compressive strength and modulus of APC-2 are higher than those of T-300/epoxy composite, and APC-2 sustains higher compressive strength in the presence of moisture. The compressive strength and modulus decrease with the increase of temperature in the range ofmore » 23-100 C. The compression failure was in the form of delamination, interlaminar shear, and end brooming. 9 refs.« less

Effects of processing moisture on the physical properties and in vitro digestibility of starch and protein in extruded brown rice and pinto bean composite flours.

PubMed

Sumargo, Franklin; Gulati, Paridhi; Weier, Steven A; Clarke, Jennifer; Rose, Devin J

2016-11-15

The influence of pinto bean flour and processing moisture on the physical properties and in vitro digestibility of rice-bean extrudates has been investigated. Brown rice: pinto bean flour (0%, 15%, 30%, and 45% bean flour) were extruded under 5 moisture conditions (17.2%, 18.1%, 18.3%, 19.5%, and 20.1%). Physical properties [bulk density, unit density, radial expansion, axial expansion, overall expansion, specific volume, hardness, color, water solubility index, and water absorption index] and in vitro starch and protein digestibilities were determined. Increasing bean flour and processing moisture increased density and hardness while decreasing expansion. Rapidly digestible starch decreased and resistant starch increased as bean substitution and processing moisture increased. In vitro protein digestibility increased with increasing bean flour or with decreasing processing moisture. Incorporating bean flour into extruded snacks can negatively affect physical attributes (hardness, density, and expansion) while positively affecting in vitro starch (decrease) and protein (increase) digestibilities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The L-band PBMR measurements of surface soil moisture in FIFE. [First International satellite land surface climatology project Field Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, James R.; Shiue, James C.; Schmugge, Thomas J.; Engman, Edwin T.

1990-01-01

The NASA Langley Research Center's L-band pushbroom microwave radiometer (PBMR) aboard the NASA C-130 aircraft was used to map surface soil moisture at and around the Konza Prairie Natural Research Area in Kansas during the four intensive field campaigns of FIFE in May-October 1987. There was a total of 11 measurements was made when soils were known to be saturated. This measurement was used for the calibration of the vegetation effect on the microwave absorption. Based on this calibration, the data from other measurements on other days were inverted to generate the soil moisture maps. Good agreement was found when the estimated soil moisture values were compared to those independently measured on the ground at a number of widely separated locations. There was a slight bias between the estimated and measured values, the estimated soil moisture on the average being lower by about 1.8 percent. This small bias, however, was accounted for by the difference in time of the radiometric measurements and the soil moisture ground sampling.

[Effects of Soil Moisture on Phytoremediation of As-Containinated Soils Using As-Hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L].

PubMed

Liu, Qiu-xin; Yan, Xiu-lan; Liao, Xiao-yong; Lin, Long-yong; Yang, Jing

2015-08-01

A pot experiment was carried out to study the effects of soil moisture on the growth and arsenic uptake of As-hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L. The results showed that the remediation efficiency of As was the highest when the soil moisture was between 35%-45%. P. vittata grew best under 45% water content, and its aboveground and underground plant dry weights were 2.95 g x plant(-1) and 11.95 g x plant(-1), respectively; the arsenic concentration in aboveground and roots was the highest under 35% water content, and 40% content was the best for accumulation of arsenic in P. vittata. Moreover, controlling the soil moisture to 35%-45% enhanced the conversion of As(V) to As(III) in aboveground plant, and promoted arsenic detoxification in P. vittata. These above results showed that soil moisture played an important role in the absorption and transport of arsenic by P. vittata. The results of this study can provide important guidance for the large-scale planting of P. vittata and the moisture management measures in engineering application.

Effect of clothing material on thermal responses of the human body

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fengzhi, Li; Yi, Li

2005-09-01

The influence of clothing material on thermal responses of the human body are investigated by using an integrated model of a clothed thermoregulatory human body. A modified 25-nodes model considering the sweat accumulation on the skin surface is applied to simulate the human physiological regulatory responses. The heat and moisture coupled transfer mechanisms, including water vapour diffusion, the moisture evaporation/condensation, the moisture sorbtion/desorption by fibres, liquid sweat transfer under capillary pressure, and latent heat absorption/release due to phase change, are considered in the clothing model. On comparing prediction results with the experimental data in the literature, the proposed model seems able to predict dynamic heat and moisture transfer between the human body and the clothing system. The human body's thermal responses and clothing temperature and moisture variations are compared for different clothing materials during transient periods. We concluded that the hygroscopicity of clothing materials influences the human thermoregulation process significantly during environmental transients.

The effects of stopper drying on moisture levels of Haemophilus influenzae conjugate vaccine.

PubMed

Earle, J P; Bennett, P S; Larson, K A; Shaw, R

1992-01-01

The discovery and development of increasingly potent biological and pharmaceutical products have resulted in very small amounts of the active ingredient in final product formulations. Pediatric vaccines with sub-milliliter dose sizes pose unique problems for final formulation and lyophilization, especially when stabilizers used are present in small amounts or are hygroscopic. Lyophilized Haemophilus b Conjugate Vaccine (Meningococcal Protein Conjugate) (PedvaxHIB) has a plug weight of about 3 mg in its final formulation. Microgram amounts of water absorbed by the lyophilized plug can cause drastic changes in the moisture content of the product. In a small percentage of the final containers absorption of moisture by the vaccine may cause aesthetic defects (plug collapse) over time, or at elevated temperatures. This paper describes drying methods developed to control residual moisture levels in stoppers used as final container closures. Results on the moisture stability of the product capped with dried and non-dried stoppers are presented.

Development of Multifunctional Active Film and Its Application in Modified Atmosphere Packaging of Shiitake Mushrooms.

PubMed

Wang, Hong Jiang; An, Duck Soon; Lee, Dong Sun

2016-09-01

Agar-based films with multiple functions (CO 2 absorption, water vapor absorption, and antimicrobial activity) were developed, tested for their properties, and then applied to the packaging of fresh shiitake mushrooms as an insert label. The films were cast from an agar-based aqueous solution containing a dissolving plasticizer (glycerol), a CO 2 absorbent (sodium carbonate [SC] alone or a combination of SC and sodium glycinate [SC-SG]), and a volatile antimicrobial agent (carvacrol [CRV]). The agar of the film matrix is designed to serve as a water vapor absorbent. The multifunctional films tended to have poor mechanical properties, with a hard texture and an opaque and yellowish color. The CO 2 absorbent, either SC alone or SC-SG, affected CRV retention and release along with the CO 2 and water vapor absorption behavior. Both films (SC-CRV and SC-SG-CRV films) showed good inhibitory effects against Pseudomonas fluorescens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae . SC-CRV film had a higher and faster CO 2 absorption property, higher retention and extended release of CRV, and lower and slower water vapor absorption and was assessed to be better suited for use in shiitake mushroom packaging. The packaging in which the SC-CRV film with an appropriate amount of CRV was used as an insert label was able to generate the desired atmosphere and less moisture condensation inside the package, producing the best preservation of quality in terms of mushroom color, firmness, flavor score, and microbial counts after 6 days of storage at 10°C. A tailored modified atmosphere packaging system using multifunctional film would be useful in the preservation of CO 2 -sensitive fresh commodities.

The influence of alkalinity of portland cement on the absorption characteristics of superabsorbent polymers (SAP) for use in internally cured concrete

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabares Tamayo, Juan D.

The concrete industry increasingly emphasizes advances in novel materials that promote construction of more resilient infrastructure. Due to its potential to improve concrete durability, internal curing (IC) of concrete by means of superabsorbent polymers (SAP) has been identified as one of the most promising technologies of the 21st century. The addition of superabsorbent polymers into a cementitious system promotes further hydration of cement by providing internal moisture during the hardening and strength development periods, and thus limits self-desiccation, shrinkage, and cracking. This thesis presents the work performed on the series of cement pastes with varying alkalinity of their pore solutions to provide a better understanding of: (1) the influence of the chemistry of the pore solution (i.e. its level of alkalinity and the type of ionic species present) on the absorption capacity of SAP, and (2) the effectiveness of SAP with different absorption capacities as an internal curing agent. This research work was divided into three stages: (a) materials characterization, (b) measurement of absorption capacity of SAP in synthetic pore solutions, and (c) evaluation of the internal curing effectiveness of SAP. During the first stage (Materials Characterization), pore solutions were extracted from the fresh (5 minutes old) cement pastes prepared using cements with three different levels of alkalinity. The pH values of the extracted solutions were determined (using the pH meter) and their chemical analysis was performed by means of titration (concentration of hydroxyl), ion chromatography (sulfates and chlorides), atomic absorption (AA) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP) (sodium, potassium and calcium). The commercial SAP adopted for this study was used with "as-supplied" gradation and with the finer gradation obtained by grinding the original polymer in the 6850 Cryomilling Freezer/Mill. The physical properties of these SAP's, such as the shape and size of the particles, were determined by optical microscopy combined with image analysis. The second stage, the absorption capacity of SAP's, involved determination of the swelling behavior and the absorption capacity of polymers exposed to artificial pore solutions with different levels of alkalinity. The swelling behavior was followed using the optical microscope while the absorption capacity was characterized using the tea bag method. It was found that changes in the chemical compositions of the pore solutions influence the adsorption kinetics and result in different absorption isotherms. In the third stage, the internal curing effects of inclusion of SAP in cement pastes were evaluated. Mixture proportions of pastes used in this stage of the study were selected based on the absorption capacity of the SAP determined in stage two. The testing of the pastes involved determination of their set times, heat of hydration, and autogenous shrinkage.

Foliar moisture content of Pacific Northwest vegetation and its relation to wildland fire behavior.

Treesearch

James K. Agee; Clinton S. Wright; Nathan Williamson; Mark H. Huff

2002-01-01

Fotiar moisture was monitored for five conifers and associated understory vegetation in Pacific Northwest forests. Decline in foliar moisture of new foliage occurred over the dry season, while less variation was evident in older foliage. Late season foliar moisture ranged from 130 to 170%. In riparian-upland comparisons, largest differences were found for understory...

Moisture Absorption in Certain Tropical American Woods

DTIC Science & Technology

1949-08-01

surface area was in unobstructed contact with the salt water. Similar wire mesh racks were weighted and placed on top of the specimens to keep them...Oak (Quercus alba)" Br. Guiana Honduras United States (control) II II Total absorption by 2 x 2 x 6-inch uncoated specimens. Probably sapwood ...only. /2 ~~ Probably sapwood Table 3 (Continued) Species Source Increase over 40 percent Fiddlewood (Vit ex Gaumeri) Roble Blanco (Tabebuia

Strategies for multivariate modeling of moisture content in freeze-dried mannitol-containing products by near-infrared spectroscopy.

PubMed

Yip, Wai Lam; Gausemel, Ingvil; Sande, Sverre Arne; Dyrstad, Knut

2012-11-01

Accurate determination of residual moisture content of a freeze-dried (FD) pharmaceutical product is critical for prediction of its quality. Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a fast and non-invasive method routinely used for quantification of moisture. However, several physicochemical properties of the FD product may interfere with absorption bands related to the water content. A commonly used stabilizer and bulking agent in FD known for variation in physicochemical properties, is mannitol. To minimize this physicochemical interference, different approaches for multivariate correlation between NIR spectra of a FD product containing mannitol and the corresponding moisture content measured by Karl Fischer (KF) titration have been investigated. A novel method, MIPCR (Main and Interactions of Individual Principal Components Regression), was found to have significantly increased predictive ability of moisture content compared to a traditional PLS approach. The philosophy behind the MIPCR is that the interference from a variety of particle and morphology attributes has interactive effects on the water related absorption bands. The transformation of original wavelength variables to orthogonal scores gives a new set of variables (scores) without covariance structure, and the possibility of inclusion of interaction terms in the further modeling. The residual moisture content of the FD product investigated is in the range from 0.7% to 2.6%. The mean errors of cross validated prediction of models developed in the investigated NIR regions were reduced from a range of 24.1-27.6% for traditional PLS method to 15.7-20.5% for the MIPCR method. Improved model quality by application of MIPCR, without the need for inclusion of a large number of calibration samples, might increase the use of NIR in early phase product development, where availability of calibration samples is often limited. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Volume 4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, Donald J. (Editor); Goodman, Patrick A. (Editor); Reingold, Lester A. (Editor); Kirchhoff, Christopher M. (Editor); Simon, Ariel H. (Editor)

2003-01-01

The CAIB requested these data be included in this Appendix. This Appendix is a summary of present and past efforts that were initiated to characterize the moisture absorption capability of sprayed-on-foam-insulation (SOFI) and specifically, BX-250.

Nanoparticle Filtration in a RTM Processed Epoxy/Carbon Fiber Composite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Sandi G.; Micham, Logan; Copa, Christine C.; Criss, James M., Jr.; Mintz, Eric A.

2011-01-01

Several epoxy matrix composite panels were fabricated by resin transfer molding (RTM) E862/W resin onto a triaxially braided carbon fiber pre-form. Nanoparticles including carbon nanofiber, synthetic clay, and functionalized graphite were dispersed in the E862 matrix, and the extent of particle filtration during processing was characterized. Nanoparticle dispersion in the resin flashing on both the inlet and outlet edges of the panel was compared by TEM. Variation in physical properties such as Tg and moisture absorption throughout the panel were also characterized. All nanoparticle filled panels showed a decrease in Tg along the resin flow path across the panel, indicating nanoparticle filtration, however there was little change in moisture absorption. This works illustrates the need to obtain good nano-particle dispersion in the matrix resin to prevent particle agglomeration and hence particle filtration in the resultant polymer matrix composites (PMC).

Measuring spatial and temporal variation in surface moisture on a coastal beach with a near-infrared terrestrial laser scanner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smit, Yvonne; Ruessink, Gerben; Brakenhoff, Laura B.; Donker, Jasper J. A.

2018-04-01

Wind-alone predictions of aeolian sand deposition on the most seaward coastal dune ridge often exceed measured deposition substantially. Surface moisture is a major factor limiting aeolian transport on sandy beaches, but existing measurement techniques cannot adequately characterize the spatial and temporal distribution of surface moisture content. Here, we present a new method for detecting surface moisture at high temporal and spatial resolution using a near-infrared terrestrial laser scanner (TLS), the RIEGL VZ-400. Because this TLS operates at a wavelength (1550 nm) near a water absorption band, TLS reflectance is an accurate parameter to measure surface moisture over its full range. Five days of intensive laser scanning were performed on a Dutch beach to illustrate the applicability of the TLS. Gravimetric surface moisture samples were used to calibrate the relation between reflectance and surface moisture. Results reveal a robust negative relation for the full range of possible surface moisture contents (0%-25%), with a correlation-coefficient squared of 0.85 and a root-mean-square error of 2.7%. This relation holds between 20 and 60 m from the TLS. Within this distance the TLS typically produces O (106-107) data points, which we averaged into surface moisture maps with a 1 × 1 m resolution. This grid size largely removes small reflectance disturbances induced by, for example, footprints or tire tracks, while retaining larger scale moisture trends.

Pupation Behaviors and Emergence Successes of Ectropis grisescens (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in Response to Different Substrate Types and Moisture Contents.

PubMed

Wang, Huifang; Ma, Tao; Xiao, Qiang; Cao, Panrong; Chen, Xuan; Wen, Yuzhen; Xiong, Hongpeng; Qin, Wenquan; Liang, Shiping; Jian, Shengzhe; Li, Yanjun; Sun, Zhaohui; Wen, Xiujun; Wang, Cai

2017-12-08

Ectropis grisescens Warren (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) is one of the most severe pests of tea plants in China. This species commonly pupates in soil; however, little is known about its pupation ecology. In the present study, choice and no-choice tests were conducted to investigate the pupation behaviors and emergence success of E. grisescens in response to different substrates (sand, sandy loam 1, sandy loam 2, and silt loam) and moisture contents (5, 20, 35, 50, 65, and 80%). Moisture-choice bioassays showed that significantly more E. grisescens individuals pupated in or on soil (sandy loam 1 and 2 and silt loam) that was at the intermediate moisture levels, whereas 5%- and 35%-moisture sand was significantly more preferred over 80%-moisture sand for pupating. Substrate-choice bioassays showed that sand was most preferred by E. grisescens individuals at 20%- and 80%-moisture levels, but no preference was detected among the four substrates at 50%-moisture content. No-choice tests showed that the percentage of burrowed E. grisescens individuals and pupation depth were significantly lower when soil was dry (20% moisture) or wet (80% moisture). In addition, 20%-moisture sandy loam 2 and silt loam significantly decreased the body water content of pupae and emergence success of adults compared to 50%-moisture content. However, each measurement (percentage of burrowed individuals, pupation depth, body water content, or emergence success) was similar when compared among different moisture levels of sand. Interestingly, pupae buried with 80%-moisture soil exhibited significantly lower emergence success than that were unburied. © The Authors 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.

Effects of the density and homogeneity in NIRS crop moisture estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenzini, Nicola; Rovati, Luigi; Ferrari, Luca

2017-06-01

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is widely used in fruits and vegetables quality evaluation. This technique is also used for the analysis of alfalfa, a crop that occupies a position of great importance in the agricultural field. In particular for the storage, moisture content is a key parameter for the crops and for this reason its monitoring is very important during the harvesting phase. Usually optical methods like NIRS are well suitable in laboratory frameworks where the specimen is properly prepared, while their application during the harvesting phase presents several diffculties. A lot of influencing factors, such as density and degree of homogeneity can affect the moisture evaluation. In this paper we present the NIRS analysis of alfalfa specimens with different values of moisture and density, as well as the obtained results. To study scattering and absorption phenomena, the forward and backward scattered light from the sample have been spectrally analyzed.

Evaluation of the effects of varying moisture contents on microwave thermal emissions from agriculture fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burke, H. H. K.

1980-01-01

Three tasks related to soil moisture sensing at microwave wavelengths were undertaken: (1) analysis of data at L, X and K sub 21 band wavelengths over bare and vegetated fields from the 1975 NASA sponsored flight experiment over Phoenix, Arizona; (2) modeling of vegetation canopy at microwave wavelengths taking into consideration both absorption and volume scattering effects; and (3) investigation of overall atmospheric effects at microwave wavelengths that can affect soil moisture retrieval. Data for both bare and vegetated fields are found to agree well with theoretical estimates. It is observed that the retrieval of surface and near surface soil moisture information is feasible through multi-spectral and multi-temporal analysis. It is also established that at long wavelengths, which are optimal for surface sensing, atmospheric effects are generally minimal. At shorter wavelengths, which are optimal for atmosheric retrieval, the background surface properties are also established.

Improvement of antioxidant and moisture-preserving activities of Sargassum horneri polysaccharide enzymatic hydrolyzates.

PubMed

Shao, Ping; Chen, Xiaoxiao; Sun, Peilong

2015-03-01

In the previous study, we have found that polysaccharides isolated from Sargassum horneri exhibited bioactivities. The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant and moisture-preserving activities of molecular weight alteration of Sargassum horneri polysaccharide in vitro. For this purpose, the homogeneous active polysaccharide SHP was isolated from Sargassum horneri, and response surface methodology was employed to optimize the enzymatic degradation conditions to get SHP-derived fragments with different molecular weight. Results proved that the polysaccharide is capable of scavenging both ABTS and DPPH radicals in vitro. The study revealed that the polysaccharides had strong moisture-absorption and -retention capacities as compared to propanediol and glycerin. Furthermore, these data demonstrated that molecular weight had a certain effect on antioxidant activities and strong moisture-retention capacities of the polysaccharide from Sargassum horneri. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Axial collapse characteristics of CFRP composites with stacking conditions under the hygrothermal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yongjun; Choi, Juho; Hwang, Woochae; Son, Jaekyung; Kook, Hyun; Im, Kwanghee; Sim, Jaeki; Yang, Inyoung

2012-04-01

CFRP composite material has superior specific strength and rigidity compared to metallic material, and is widely adopted in the various fields. Exceptional corrosion resistance enables the acceptance in maritime structural members such as ship and oildrilling machineries. However, CFRP composite material has the weakness in hygrothermal environment and crash environment. Especially, moisture ingress into composite material under hygrothermal environment can change molecule arrangement and chemical properties. In addition, interface characteristics and component material properties can be degraded. An experimental investigation was carried out to study the crash evaluations of CFRP composites to dynamic crushing by impact loading. We have made a collapse experiment to research into the difference of absorbed energy and deformation mode between moisture absorbed specimen and non-moisture absorbed specimen. As a result, the effect of moisture absorption and impact loads of approximately 30~50% reduction in strength are shown.

Axial collapse characteristics of CFRP composites with stacking conditions under the hygrothermal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yongjun; Choi, Juho; Hwang, Woochae; Son, Jaekyung; Kook, Hyun; Im, Kwanghee; Sim, Jaeki; Yang, Inyoung

2011-11-01

CFRP composite material has superior specific strength and rigidity compared to metallic material, and is widely adopted in the various fields. Exceptional corrosion resistance enables the acceptance in maritime structural members such as ship and oildrilling machineries. However, CFRP composite material has the weakness in hygrothermal environment and crash environment. Especially, moisture ingress into composite material under hygrothermal environment can change molecule arrangement and chemical properties. In addition, interface characteristics and component material properties can be degraded. An experimental investigation was carried out to study the crash evaluations of CFRP composites to dynamic crushing by impact loading. We have made a collapse experiment to research into the difference of absorbed energy and deformation mode between moisture absorbed specimen and non-moisture absorbed specimen. As a result, the effect of moisture absorption and impact loads of approximately 30~50% reduction in strength are shown.

Differences between conventional and glyphosate tolerant soybeans and moisture effect in their discrimination by near infrared spectroscopy.

PubMed

Esteve Agelet, Lidia; Armstrong, Paul R; Tallada, Jasper G; Hurburgh, Charles R

2013-12-01

Previous studies showed that Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) could distinguish between Roundup Ready® (RR) and conventional soybeans at the bulk and single seed sample level, but it was not clear which compounds drove the classification. In this research the varieties used did not show significant differences in major compounds between RR and conventional beans, but moisture content had a big impact on classification accuracies. Four of the five RR samples had slightly higher moistures and had a higher water uptake than their conventional counterparts. This could be linked with differences in their hulls, being either compositional or morphological. Because water absorption occurs in the same region as main compounds in hulls (mainly carbohydrates) and water causes physical changes from swelling, variations in moisture cause a complex interaction resulting in a large impact on discrimination accuracies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Moisture effect on mechanical properties of polymeric composite materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Airale, A. G.; Carello, M.; Ferraris, A.; Sisca, L.

2016-05-01

The influence of moisture on the mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composites (PMCs) was investigated. Four materials had been take into account considering: both 2×2-Twill woven carbon fibre or glass fibre, thermosetting matrix (Epoxy Resin) or thermoplastic matrix (Polyphenylene Sulfide). The specimens were submitted for 1800 hours to a hygrothermic test to evaluate moisture absorption on the basis of the Fick's law and finally tested to verify the mechanical properties (ultimate tensile strength). The results showed that the absorbed moisture decreases those properties of composites which were dominated by the matrix or the interface, while was not detectable the influence of water on the considered fibre. An important result is that the diffusion coefficient is highest for glass/PPS and lowest for carbon/epoxy composite material. The results give useful suggestions for the design of vehicle components that are exposed to environmental conditions (rain, snow and humidity).

Non-Venting Thermal and Humidity Control for EVA Suits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Izenson, Mike; Chen, Weibo; Bue, Grant

2011-01-01

Future EVA suits need processes and systems to control internal temperature and humidity without venting water to the environment. This paper describes an absorption-based cooling and dehumidification system as well as laboratory demonstrations of the key processes. There are two main components in the system: an evaporation cooling and dehumidification garment (ECDG) that removes both sensible heat and latent heat from the pressure garment, and an absorber radiator that absorbs moisture and rejects heat to space by thermal radiation. This paper discusses the overall design of both components, and presents recent data demonstrating their operation. We developed a design and fabrication approach to produce prototypical heat/water absorbing elements for the ECDG, and demonstrated by test that these elements could absorb heat and moisture at a high flux. Proof-of-concept tests showed that an ECDG prototype absorbs heat and moisture at a rate of 85 W/ft under conditions that simulate operation in an EVA suit. The heat absorption was primarily due to direct absorption of water vapor. It is possible to construct large, flexible, durable cooling patches that can be incorporated into a cooling garment with this system. The proof-of-concept test data was scaled to calculate area needed for full metabolic loads, thus showing that it is feasible to use this technology in an EVA suit. Full-scale, lightweight absorber/radiator modules have also been built and tested. They can reject heat at a flux of 33 W/ft while maintaining ECDG operation at conditions that will provide a cool and dry environment inside the EVA suit.

The effect of two sock fabrics on physiological parameters associated with blister incidence: a laboratory study.

PubMed

Bogerd, Cornelis Peter; Rechsteiner, Ivo; Wüst, Benno; Rossi, René M; Brühwiler, Paul A

2011-06-01

The goal of the present study was to investigate physiological effects, mainly at the level of the foot, of two sock fabrics with distinct moisture properties. Twelve participants wore two different socks, one on each foot. The following two sock types were used: PP: 99.6% polypropylene and 0.4% elastane and BLEND: 50% Merino wool, 33% polypropylene, and 17% polyamide. The participants walked three times on a treadmill at 5 km h(-1), with no gradient for the first and third phase and a 10% upward inclination for the second walking phase. The microclimate temperature between the boot and foot was measured during walking. Preceding and following the walking phases, additional measurements were carried out at the level of the foot, i.e. skin temperature and skin hydration on three locations and skin friction between the posterior surface of the calcaneus and a glass plate. In addition, the moisture absorption of boots and socks was determined. Differences between the sock fabrics were found for weight gain and microclimate temperature: (i) PP tended to hold less water compared to BLEND, (ii) the boot's microclimate temperature resulted in larger values for BLEND measured at the dorsal surface at the level of the third metatarsal, and (iii) warmer microclimates of the boot were measured for PP compared to BLEND at the distal anterior end of the tibia. The established differences in moisture behavior of both socks did not result in detectable differences in parameters measured on the skin of the foot.

Landscape complexity and soil moisture variation in south Georgia, USA, for remote sensing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giraldo, Mario A.; Bosch, David; Madden, Marguerite; Usery, Lynn; Kvien, Craig

2008-08-01

SummaryThis research addressed the temporal and spatial variation of soil moisture (SM) in a heterogeneous landscape. The research objective was to investigate soil moisture variation in eight homogeneous 30 by 30 m plots, similar to the pixel size of a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) or Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) image. The plots were adjacent to eight stations of an in situ soil moisture network operated by the United States Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service USDA-ARS in Tifton, GA. We also studied five adjacent agricultural fields to examine the effect of different landuses/land covers (LULC) (grass, orchard, peanuts, cotton and bare soil) on the temporal and spatial variation of soil moisture. Soil moisture field data were collected on eight occasions throughout 2005 and January 2006 to establish comparisons within and among eight homogeneous plots. Consistently throughout time, analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed high variation in the soil moisture behavior among the plots and high homogeneity in the soil moisture behavior within them. A precipitation analysis for the eight sampling dates throughout the year 2005 showed similar rainfall conditions for the eight study plots. Therefore, soil moisture variation among locations was explained by in situ local conditions. Temporal stability geostatistical analysis showed that soil moisture has high temporal stability within the small plots and that a single point reading can be used to monitor soil moisture status for the plot within a maximum 3% volume/volume (v/v) soil moisture variation. Similarly, t-statistic analysis showed that soil moisture status in the upper soil layer changes within 24 h. We found statistical differences in the soil moisture between the different LULC in the agricultural fields as well as statistical differences between these fields and the adjacent 30 by 30 m plots. From this analysis, it was demonstrated that spatial proximity is not enough to produce similar soil moisture, since t-test's among adjacent plots with different LULCs showed significant differences. These results confirm that a remote sensing approach that considers homogeneous LULC landscape fragments can be used to identify landscape units of similar soil moisture behavior under heterogeneous landscapes. In addition, the in situ USDA-ARS network will serve better in remote sensing studies in which sensors with fine spatial resolution are evaluated. This study is a first step towards identifying landscape units that can be monitored using the single point reading of the USDA-ARS stations network.

Landscape complexity and soil moisture variation in south Georgia, USA, for remote sensing applications

USGS Publications Warehouse

Giraldo, M.A.; Bosch, D.; Madden, M.; Usery, L.; Kvien, Craig

2008-01-01

This research addressed the temporal and spatial variation of soil moisture (SM) in a heterogeneous landscape. The research objective was to investigate soil moisture variation in eight homogeneous 30 by 30 m plots, similar to the pixel size of a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) or Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) image. The plots were adjacent to eight stations of an in situ soil moisture network operated by the United States Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service USDA-ARS in Tifton, GA. We also studied five adjacent agricultural fields to examine the effect of different landuses/land covers (LULC) (grass, orchard, peanuts, cotton and bare soil) on the temporal and spatial variation of soil moisture. Soil moisture field data were collected on eight occasions throughout 2005 and January 2006 to establish comparisons within and among eight homogeneous plots. Consistently throughout time, analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed high variation in the soil moisture behavior among the plots and high homogeneity in the soil moisture behavior within them. A precipitation analysis for the eight sampling dates throughout the year 2005 showed similar rainfall conditions for the eight study plots. Therefore, soil moisture variation among locations was explained by in situ local conditions. Temporal stability geostatistical analysis showed that soil moisture has high temporal stability within the small plots and that a single point reading can be used to monitor soil moisture status for the plot within a maximum 3% volume/volume (v/v) soil moisture variation. Similarly, t-statistic analysis showed that soil moisture status in the upper soil layer changes within 24 h. We found statistical differences in the soil moisture between the different LULC in the agricultural fields as well as statistical differences between these fields and the adjacent 30 by 30 m plots. From this analysis, it was demonstrated that spatial proximity is not enough to produce similar soil moisture, since t-test's among adjacent plots with different LULCs showed significant differences. These results confirm that a remote sensing approach that considers homogeneous LULC landscape fragments can be used to identify landscape units of similar soil moisture behavior under heterogeneous landscapes. In addition, the in situ USDA-ARS network will serve better in remote sensing studies in which sensors with fine spatial resolution are evaluated. This study is a first step towards identifying landscape units that can be monitored using the single point reading of the USDA-ARS stations network. ?? 2008 Elsevier B.V.

Thermal and optical properties of Tm3+ doped tellurite glasses.

PubMed

Ozen, G; Demirata, B; Oveçoğlu, M L; Genç, A

2001-02-01

Ultraviolet, visible (UV/VIS) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) measurements were carried out in order to investigate the optical and thermal properties of various 0.5 mol.% Tm2O3 containing (1 - x)TeO2 + xLiCl glasses in molar ratio. The samples were prepared by fusing the mixture of their respective reagent grade powders in a platinum cricuble at 750 degrees C for 30 min. DTA curves taken in the 23-600 degrees C temperature range with a heating rate of 10 degrees C/min reveal a change in the value of the glass transition temperature, Tg, while melting was not observed for the glasses containing LiCl content less than 50 mol.%. These glasses were found to be moisture-resistant. However, the glasses with LiCl content higher than 50 mol.%, in which a melting peak was observed at Tc = 401 degrees C, were moisture-sensitive. Absorption measurements in the UV/VIS region of the glasses without Tm2O3 content show that the Urbach cutoff occurs at about 320 nm and, is relatively independent of the LiCl content. Six absorption bands were observed in the Tm2O3 doped glasses corresponding to the absorption of the 1G4, 3F2, 3F3 and 3F4, 3H5 and 3H4 levels from the 3H6 ground level of Tm3+ ions. The spectra also show that the integrated absorption cross-section of each band depends on the glass composition. Judd-Ofelt theory was used to determine the Judd-Ofelt parameters as well as the radiative transition probabilities for the metastable levels of Tm3+ ions in (0.3)LiCl + (0.7) TeO2: 0.01 Tm2O3 glass which is moisture-resistant.

Optical transparency of paper as a function of moisture content with applications to moisture measurement.

PubMed

Forughi, A F; Green, S I; Stoeber, B

2016-02-01

Accurate measurement of the moisture content of paper is essential in papermaking and is also important in some paper-based microfluidic devices. Traditional measurement techniques provide very limited spatiotemporal resolution and working range. This article presents a novel method for moisture content measurement whose operating principle is the strong correlation between the optical transparency of paper and its moisture content. Spectrographic and microscopic measurement techniques were employed to characterize the relation of moisture content and relative transparency of four types of paper: hardwood chemi-thermomechanical pulp paper, Northern bleached softwood kraft paper, unbleached softwood kraft paper, and General Electric(®) Whatman™ grade 1 chromatography paper. It was found that for all paper types, the paper transparency increased monotonically with the moisture content (as the ratio of the mass-of-water to the mass-of-dry-paper increased from 0% to 120%). This significant increase in relative transparency occurred due to the refractive index matching role of water in wet paper. It is further shown that mechanical loading of the paper has little impact on the relative transparency, for loadings that would be typical on a paper machine. The results of two transient water absorption experiments are presented that show the utility and accuracy of the technique.

Scaling behavior of moisture-induced grain degradation in polycrystalline hybrid perovskite thin films

DOE PAGES

Wang, Qi; Chen, Bo; Liu, Ye; ...

2017-01-01

The stability of perovskite solar cells has shown a huge variation with respect to the film process and film morphology, while the underlining mechanism for the morphology-dependent degradation of the perovskite film has remained elusive. Herein, we report a scaling behavior of moisture-induced grain degradation in polycrystalline CH 3NH 3PbI 3 films. The degradation rates of CH 3NH 3PbI 3 films in moisture were shown to be sensitive to the grain sizes. The duration that was needed for different films to degrade by the same percent showed a linear relationship with the grain size, despite the fact that the filmsmore » were formed by five different deposition methods. This scaling behavior can be explained by the degradation along the in-plane direction, which is initiated at the grain boundary (GB). The GBs of CH 3NH 3PbI 3 films consist of an amorphous intergranular layer, which allows quick diffusion of moisture into the perovskite films. It was found that thermal annealing induced surface self-passivation plays a critical role in stabilizing the surfaces of thin films and single crystals by reducing the moisture-sensitive methylammonium ions at the surface. Finally, the determination of the scaling behavior of grain degradation highlights the importance of stabilizing the GBs to improve the stability of perovskite solar cells.« less

Scaling behavior of moisture-induced grain degradation in polycrystalline hybrid perovskite thin films

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

Wang, Qi; Chen, Bo; Liu, Ye

The stability of perovskite solar cells has shown a huge variation with respect to the film process and film morphology, while the underlining mechanism for the morphology-dependent degradation of the perovskite film has remained elusive. Herein, we report a scaling behavior of moisture-induced grain degradation in polycrystalline CH 3NH 3PbI 3 films. The degradation rates of CH 3NH 3PbI 3 films in moisture were shown to be sensitive to the grain sizes. The duration that was needed for different films to degrade by the same percent showed a linear relationship with the grain size, despite the fact that the filmsmore » were formed by five different deposition methods. This scaling behavior can be explained by the degradation along the in-plane direction, which is initiated at the grain boundary (GB). The GBs of CH 3NH 3PbI 3 films consist of an amorphous intergranular layer, which allows quick diffusion of moisture into the perovskite films. It was found that thermal annealing induced surface self-passivation plays a critical role in stabilizing the surfaces of thin films and single crystals by reducing the moisture-sensitive methylammonium ions at the surface. Finally, the determination of the scaling behavior of grain degradation highlights the importance of stabilizing the GBs to improve the stability of perovskite solar cells.« less

Effect of Moisture Cycling on Mechanical Response of Metal-Plate Connector Joints With and Without an Adhesive Interface

Treesearch

Leslie H. Groom

1995-01-01

Wood trusses are frequently located in light-frame structures where they are subjected to significant shifts in moisture conditions. However, little is known about the effects of moisture cycling of the wood members on the mechanical behavior of metal-plate connector (MPC) joints. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to quantify the effect of wood moisture...

Modeling moisture content of fine dead wildland fuels: Input to the BEHAVE fire prediction system

Treesearch

Richard C. Rothermel; Ralph A. Wilson; Glen A. Morris; Stephen S. Sackett

1986-01-01

Describes a model for predicting moisture content of fine fuels for use with the BEHAVE fire behavior and fuel modeling system. The model is intended to meet the need for more accurate predictions of fine fuel moisture, particularly in northern conifer stands and on days following rain. The model is based on the Canadian Fine Fuel Moisture Code (FFMC), modified to...

Moisture-Mediated Interactions Between Amorphous Maltodextrins and Crystalline Fructose.

PubMed

Thorat, Alpana; Marrs, Krystin N; Ghorab, Mohamed K; Meunier, Vincent; Forny, Laurent; Taylor, Lynne S; Mauer, Lisa J

2017-05-01

The effects of coformulating amorphous maltodextrins (MDs) and crystalline fructose, a deliquescent solid, on the moisture sorption, deliquescence point (RH 0 ), and glass transition temperature (T g ) behaviors were determined. Moisture sorption profiles of binary fructose:MD mixtures and individual ingredients were generated using controlled relative humidity (RH) desiccators and by dynamic vapor sorption techniques. Blends exhibited synergistic moisture uptake at RHs below the RH 0 of fructose, attributed to partial dissolution of fructose in plasticized MD matrices without a significant reduction in the RH 0 of the undissolved fructose. Increasing storage temperature decreased the onset RH for moisture sorption synergy. At all storage RHs, the measured T g (2nd scan) was significantly reduced in fructose:MD mixtures compared to individual MDs, and was related to both the synergistic moisture uptake in the blends and heat-induced ternary fructose-MD-water interactions in the differential scanning calorimeter. Differences were found between the behavior of fructose:MD blends and previous reports of sucrose:MD and NaCl:MD blends, caused in part by the lower RH 0 of fructose. The enhanced moisture sorption in blends of deliquescent and amorphous ingredients could lead to problematic moisture-induced changes if storage conditions are not controlled. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Effect of the variation in the ambient moisture on the compaction behavior of powder undergoing roller-compaction and on the characteristics of tablets produced from the post-milled granules.

PubMed

Gupta, Abhay; Peck, Garnet E; Miller, Ronald W; Morris, Kenneth R

2005-10-01

Effect of variation in the ambient moisture levels on the compaction behavior of a 10% acetaminophen (APAP) powder blend in microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) powder was studied by comparing the physical and mechanical properties of ribbons prepared by roller compaction with those of simulated ribbons, i.e., tablets prepared under uni-axial compression. Relative density, moisture content, tensile strength, and Young's modulus were used as key compact properties for comparison. Moisture was found to facilitate the particle rearrangement of both, the APAP and the MCC particles, as well as the deformation of the MCC particles. The tensile strength of the simulated ribbons also showed an increase with increasing moisture content. An interesting observation was that the tensile strength of the roller compacted samples first increased and then decreased with increasing moisture content. Variation in the ambient moisture during roller compaction was also found to influence the characteristics of tablets produced from the granules obtained post-milling the ribbons. A method to study this influence is also reported. Copyright (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association

Effective prime coats for compacted pavement bases.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-08-01

Prime coats have long been used to seal the surface pores in the base, thus reducing the migration of moisture : and absorption of the first application of surface treatment binder, strengthen the granular base near its : surface by binding the finer...

Ground-Based Passive Microwave Remote Sensing Observations of Soil Moisture at S and L Band with Insight into Measurement Accuracy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Laymon, Charles A.; Crosson, William L.; Jackson, Thomas J.; Manu, Andrew; Tsegaye, Teferi D.; Soman, V.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Accurate estimates of spatially heterogeneous algorithm variables and parameters are required in determining the spatial distribution of soil moisture using radiometer data from aircraft and satellites. A ground-based experiment in passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture was conducted in Huntsville, Alabama from July 1-14, 1996 to study retrieval algorithms and their sensitivity to variable and parameter specification. With high temporal frequency observations at S and L band, we were able to observe large scale moisture changes following irrigation and rainfall events, as well as diurnal behavior of surface moisture among three plots, one bare, one covered with short grass and another covered with alfalfa. The L band emitting depth was determined to be on the order of 0-3 or 0-5 cm below 0.30 cubic centimeter/cubic centimeter with an indication of a shallower emitting depth at higher moisture values. Surface moisture behavior was less apparent on the vegetated plots than it was on the bare plot because there was less moisture gradient and because of difficulty in determining vegetation water content and estimating the vegetation b parameter. Discrepancies between remotely sensed and gravimetric, soil moisture estimates on the vegetated plots point to an incomplete understanding of the requirements needed to correct for the effects of vegetation attenuation. Quantifying the uncertainty in moisture estimates is vital if applications are to utilize remotely-sensed soil moisture data. Computations based only on the real part of the complex dielectric constant and/or an alternative dielectric mixing model contribute a relatively insignificant amount of uncertainty to estimates of soil moisture. Rather, the retrieval algorithm is much more sensitive to soil properties, surface roughness and biomass.

Effect of black clay soil moisture on the electrochemical behavior of API X70 pipeline steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hendi, R.; Saifi, H.; Belmokre, K.; Ouadah, M.; Smili, B.; Talhi, B.

2018-03-01

The effect of moisture content variation (20–100 wt.%) on the electrochemical behavior of API X70 pipeline steel buried in the soil of Skikda (East of Algeria) was studied using electrochemical techniques, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and weight loss measurement. The electrochemical measurements showed that the corrosion current Icorr is directly proportional to the moisture content up to 50 wt.%, beyond this content, this value becomes almost constant. The result were confirmed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; the capacitance of the double layer formed on the surface is the highest at 50 wt.%. A single time constant was detected by plotting the Bode diagrams. The steel surface degradation has been appreciated using the scanning electron microscopy observations. A few pitting corrosion at 20 wt.% moisture, followed by more degradation at 50 wt.% have been revealed. However, when the moisture amount exceeded 50 wt.%, the surface became entirely covered by a corrosion product. XRD analysis revealed the dominance of FeOOH and Fe3O4 phases on steel surface for a moisture content of 50 wt.%.

Micro-pulse, differential absorption lidar (dial) network for measuring the spatial and temporal distribution of water vapor in the lower atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spuler, Scott; Repasky, Kevin; Hayman, Matt; Nehrir, Amin

2018-04-01

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Montana State Univeristy (MSU) are developing a test network of five micro-pulse differential absorption lidars to continuously measure high-vertical-resolution water vapor in the lower atmosphere. The instruments are accurate, yet low-cost; operate unattended, and eye-safe - all key features to enable the larger network needed to characterize atmospheric moisture variability which influences important processes related to weather and climate.

Physicochemical patterns of ozone absorption by wood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mamleeva, N. A.; Lunin, V. V.

2016-11-01

Results from studying aspen and pine wood ozonation are presented. The effect the concentration of ozone, the reagent residence time, and the content of water in a sample of wood has on ozone consumption rate and ozone demand are analyzed. The residence time is shown to determine the degree of ozone conversion degree and the depth of substrate destruction. The main patterns of ozone absorption by wood with different moisture content are found. Ways of optimizing the ozonation of plant biomass are outlined.

Effects of Mountain Pine Beetle on Fuels and Expected Fire Behavior in Lodgepole Pine Forests, Colorado, USA

PubMed Central

Schoennagel, Tania; Veblen, Thomas T.; Negron, José F.; Smith, Jeremy M.

2012-01-01

In Colorado and southern Wyoming, mountain pine beetle (MPB) has affected over 1.6 million ha of predominantly lodgepole pine forests, raising concerns about effects of MPB-caused mortality on subsequent wildfire risk and behavior. Using empirical data we modeled potential fire behavior across a gradient of wind speeds and moisture scenarios in Green stands compared three stages since MPB attack (Red [1–3 yrs], Grey [4–10 yrs], and Old-MPB [∼30 yrs]). MPB killed 50% of the trees and 70% of the basal area in Red and Grey stages. Across moisture scenarios, canopy fuel moisture was one-third lower in Red and Grey stages compared to the Green stage, making active crown fire possible at lower wind speeds and less extreme moisture conditions. More-open canopies and high loads of large surface fuels due to treefall in Grey and Old-MPB stages significantly increased surface fireline intensities, facilitating active crown fire at lower wind speeds (>30–55 km/hr) across all moisture scenarios. Not accounting for low foliar moistures in Red and Grey stages, and large surface fuels in Grey and Old-MPB stages, underestimates the occurrence of active crown fire. Under extreme burning conditions, minimum wind speeds for active crown fire were 25–35 km/hr lower for Red, Grey and Old-MPB stands compared to Green. However, if transition to crown fire occurs (outside the stand, or within the stand via ladder fuels or wind gusts >65 km/hr), active crown fire would be sustained at similar wind speeds, suggesting observed fire behavior may not be qualitatively different among MPB stages under extreme burning conditions. Overall, the risk (probability) of active crown fire appears elevated in MPB-affected stands, but the predominant fire hazard (crown fire) is similar across MPB stages and is characteristic of lodgepole pine forests where extremely dry, gusty weather conditions are key factors in determining fire behavior. PMID:22272268

Effects of Medium Temperature and Industrial By-Products on the Key Hardened Properties of High Performance Concrete.

PubMed

Safiuddin, Md; Raman, Sudharshan N; Zain, Muhammad Fauzi Mohd

2015-12-10

The aim of the work reported in this article was to investigate the effects of medium temperature and industrial by-products on the key hardened properties of high performance concrete. Four concrete mixes were prepared based on a water-to-binder ratio of 0.35. Two industrial by-products, silica fume and Class F fly ash, were used separately and together with normal portland cement to produce three concrete mixes in addition to the control mix. The properties of both fresh and hardened concretes were examined in the laboratory. The freshly mixed concrete mixes were tested for slump, slump flow, and V-funnel flow. The hardened concretes were tested for compressive strength and dynamic modulus of elasticity after exposing to 20, 35 and 50 °C. In addition, the initial surface absorption and the rate of moisture movement into the concretes were determined at 20 °C. The performance of the concretes in the fresh state was excellent due to their superior deformability and good segregation resistance. In their hardened state, the highest levels of compressive strength and dynamic modulus of elasticity were produced by silica fume concrete. In addition, silica fume concrete showed the lowest level of initial surface absorption and the lowest rate of moisture movement into the interior of concrete. In comparison, the compressive strength, dynamic modulus of elasticity, initial surface absorption, and moisture movement rate of silica fume-fly ash concrete were close to those of silica fume concrete. Moreover, all concretes provided relatively low compressive strength and dynamic modulus of elasticity when they were exposed to 50 °C. However, the effect of increased temperature was less detrimental for silica fume and silica fume-fly ash concretes in comparison with the control concrete.

Effects of Medium Temperature and Industrial By-Products on the Key Hardened Properties of High Performance Concrete

PubMed Central

Safiuddin, Md.; Raman, Sudharshan N.; Zain, Muhammad Fauzi Mohd.

2015-01-01

The aim of the work reported in this article was to investigate the effects of medium temperature and industrial by-products on the key hardened properties of high performance concrete. Four concrete mixes were prepared based on a water-to-binder ratio of 0.35. Two industrial by-products, silica fume and Class F fly ash, were used separately and together with normal portland cement to produce three concrete mixes in addition to the control mix. The properties of both fresh and hardened concretes were examined in the laboratory. The freshly mixed concrete mixes were tested for slump, slump flow, and V-funnel flow. The hardened concretes were tested for compressive strength and dynamic modulus of elasticity after exposing to 20, 35 and 50 °C. In addition, the initial surface absorption and the rate of moisture movement into the concretes were determined at 20 °C. The performance of the concretes in the fresh state was excellent due to their superior deformability and good segregation resistance. In their hardened state, the highest levels of compressive strength and dynamic modulus of elasticity were produced by silica fume concrete. In addition, silica fume concrete showed the lowest level of initial surface absorption and the lowest rate of moisture movement into the interior of concrete. In comparison, the compressive strength, dynamic modulus of elasticity, initial surface absorption, and moisture movement rate of silica fume-fly ash concrete were close to those of silica fume concrete. Moreover, all concretes provided relatively low compressive strength and dynamic modulus of elasticity when they were exposed to 50 °C. However, the effect of increased temperature was less detrimental for silica fume and silica fume-fly ash concretes in comparison with the control concrete. PMID:28793732

Multi-objective optimization of process conditions in the manufacturing of banana (Musa paradisiaca L.) starch/natural rubber films.

PubMed

Ramírez-Hernández, A; Aparicio-Saguilán, A; Reynoso-Meza, G; Carrillo-Ahumada, J

2017-02-10

Multi-objective optimization was used to evaluate the effect of adding banana (Musa paradisiaca L.) starch and natural rubber (cis-1,4-poliisopreno) at different ratios (1-13w/w) to the manufacturing process of biodegradable films, specifically the effect on the biodegradability, crystallinity and moisture of the films. A structural characterization of the films was performed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and SEM, moisture and biodegradability properties were studied. The models obtained showed that degradability vs. moisture tend to be inversely proportional and crystallinity vs. degradability tend to be directly proportional. With respect to crystallinity vs. moisture behavior, it is observed that crystallinity remains constant when moisture values remain between 27 and 41%. Beyond this value there is an exponential increase in crystallinity. These results allow for predictions on the mechanical behavior that can occur in starch/rubber films. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of Water on the Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of Carbon Cloth Phenolic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sullivan, Roy M.; Stokes, Eric; Baker, Eric H.

2011-01-01

The results of thermo-mechanical experiments, which were conducted previously by one of the authors, are reviewed. The strain in the direction normal to the fabric plane was measured as a function of temperature for a variety of initial moisture contents and heating rates. In this paper, the general features of the thermo-mechanical response are discussed and the effect of heating rate and initial moisture content are highlighted. The mechanical interaction between the phenolic polymer and water trapped within its free volumes as the polymer is heated to high temperatures is discussed. An equation for the internal stresses which are generated within the polymer due to trapped water is obtained from the total stress expression for a binary mixture of polymer and water. Numerical solutions for moisture diffusion in the thermo-mechanical experiments were performed and the results of these solutions are presented. The results of the moisture diffusion solutions help to explain the effects of heating rate and moisture content on the strain behavior normal to the fabric plane.

Spatial and Temporal Soil Moisture Behavior in a Headwater Watershed of the Mantiqueira Range, Minas Gerais, Brazil

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The characterization of temporal and spatial variability of soil moisture is highly relevant in watersheds for understanding the many hydrological and erosion processes, to better model the processes and apply them to conservation planning. The goal of this study was to map soil moisture of the surf...

A Rapid Soils Analysis Kit

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

behavior of moisture content-dry density Proctor curves......................................... 16 Figure 8. Moisture- density data scatter for an... density . Built-in higher order regression equations allow the user to visua- lize complete curves for Proctor density , as-built California Bearing Ratio...requirements involving soil are optimum moisture content (OMC) and maximum dry density (MDD) as determined from a laboratory compaction or Proctor test

Atmospheric moisture's influence on fire behavior: surface moisture and plume dynamics.

Treesearch

Brian E. Potter; Joseph J. Charney; Lesley A. Fusina

2006-01-01

Nine measures of atmospheric surface moisture are tested for statistical relationships with fire size and number of fires using data from the Great Lakes region of the United States. The measures include relative humidity, water vapor mixing ratio, mixing ratio deficit, vapor pressure, vapor pressure deficit, dew point temperature, dew point depression, wet bulb...

Behavior of an epoxy-polysulfide adhesive in wood joints exposed to moisture content changes

Treesearch

Gordon P. Krueger

1965-01-01

The mechanical behavior of a flexible epoxy-resin adhesive system was observed in joints of plywood to lumber. The joints were subjected to internal swelling stresses caused by an increase in moisture content. Previous experimental work at the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory has shown that this adhesive system acts as a strain-absorbing cushion and thus has a...

The different behaviors of glyphosate and AMPA in compost-amended soil.

PubMed

Erban, Tomas; Stehlik, Martin; Sopko, Bruno; Markovic, Martin; Seifrtova, Marcela; Halesova, Tatana; Kovaricek, Pavel

2018-09-01

The broad-spectrum herbicide glyphosate is one of the most widely used pesticides. Both glyphosate and its major metabolite, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), persist in waters; thus, their environmental fates are of interest. We investigated the influence of compost dose, sampling depth, moisture and saturated hydraulic conductivity (K s ) on the persistence of these substances. The amounts of AMPA quantified by triple quadrupole liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-QqQ-MS/MS) using isotopically labeled extraction standards were higher than those of glyphosate and differed among the samples. Both glyphosate and AMPA showed gradually decreasing concentrations with soil depth, and bootstrapped ANOVA showed significant differences between the contents of glyphosate and AMPA and their behavior related to different compost dosages and sampling depths. However, the compost dose alone did not cause significant differences among samples. Bayesian statistics revealed that the amounts of glyphosate and AMPA were both dependent on the sampling depth and compost dose, but differences were found when considering the physical factors of K s and moisture. Glyphosate was influenced by moisture but not K s , whereas AMPA was influenced by K s but not moisture. Importantly, we found behavioral differences between glyphosate and its major metabolite, AMPA, related to the physical properties of K s and moisture. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predicting Fire Susceptibility in the Forests of Amazonia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nepstad, Daniel C.; Brown, I. Foster; Setzer, Alberto

2000-01-01

Although fire is the single greatest threat to the ecological integrity of Amazon forests, our ability to predict the occurrence of Amazon forest fires is rudimentary. Part of the difficulty encountered in making such predictions is the remarkable capacity of Amazon forests to tolerate drought by tapping moisture stored in deep soil. These forests can avoid drought-induced leaf shedding by withdrawing moisture to depths of 8 meters and more. Hence, the absorption of deep soil moisture allows these forests to maintain their leaf canopies following droughts of several months duration, thereby maintaining the deep shade and high relative humidity of the forest interior that prevents these ecosystems from burning. But the drought- and fire-avoidance that is conferred by this deep-rooting phenomenon is not unlimited. During successive years of drought, such as those provoked by El Nino episodes, deep soil moisture can be depleted, and drought-induced leaf shedding begins. The goal of this project was to incorporate this knowledge of Amazon forest fire ecology into a predictive model of forest flammability.

Dynamic analysis of temporal moisture profiles in heatset printing studied with near-infrared spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tåg, C.-M.; Toiviainen, M.; Juuti, M.; Gane, P. A. C.

2010-10-01

Dynamic analysis of the water transfer onto coated paper, and its permeation and absorption into the porous structure were studied online in a full-scale heatset web offset printing environment. The moisture content of the paper was investigated at five different positions during the printing process. Changes in the moisture content of the paper were studied as a function of the web temperature, printing speed and silicone application in the folding unit positioned after the hot air drying oven. Additionally, the influence of fountain solution composition on the pick-up by the paper was investigated. The water content of the fountain solution transferred to the paper from the printing units was observed as changes in near-infrared absorbance. A calibration data set enabled the subsequent quantification of the dynamic moisture content of the paper at the studied locations. An increase in the printing speed reduced the water transfer to the paper and an increase in web temperature resulted in a reduction in the moisture content. An increase in the dosage level of the water-silicone mixture was observed as a re-moistening effect of the paper. Differences in the drying strategy resulted in different moisture profiles depending on the type of fountain solution used. As a conclusion, the near-infrared signal provides an effective way to characterize the moisture dynamics online at different press units.

Physicochemical, nutritional and infrared spectroscopy evaluation of an optimized soybean/corn flour extrudate

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A central composite design using RMS successfully described the effect of independent variables (feed moisture, die temperature and soybean proportion) on the specific parameters of product quality (expansion index, water absorption index, water solubility index and total color difference) studied. ...

Performance Evaluation and Improving Mechanisms of Diatomite-Modified Asphalt Mixture

PubMed Central

Yang, Chao; Xie, Jun; Zhou, Xiaojun; Liu, Quantao; Pang, Ling

2018-01-01

Diatomite is an inorganic natural resource in large reserve. This study consists of two phases to evaluate the effects of diatomite on asphalt mixtures. In the first phase, we characterized the diatomite in terms of mineralogical properties, chemical compositions, particle size distribution, mesoporous distribution, morphology, and IR spectra. In the second phase, road performances, referring to the permanent deformation, crack, fatigue, and moisture resistance, of asphalt mixtures with diatomite were investigated. The characterization of diatomite exhibits that it is a porous material with high SiO2 content and large specific surface area. It contributes to asphalt absorption and therefore leads to bonding enhancement between asphalt and aggregate. However, physical absorption instead of chemical reaction occurs according to the results of FTIR. The resistance of asphalt mixtures with diatomite to permanent deformation and moisture are superior to those of the control mixtures. But, the addition of diatomite does not help to improve the crack and fatigue resistance of asphalt mixture. PMID:29702579

Performance Evaluation and Improving Mechanisms of Diatomite-Modified Asphalt Mixture.

PubMed

Yang, Chao; Xie, Jun; Zhou, Xiaojun; Liu, Quantao; Pang, Ling

2018-04-27

Diatomite is an inorganic natural resource in large reserve. This study consists of two phases to evaluate the effects of diatomite on asphalt mixtures. In the first phase, we characterized the diatomite in terms of mineralogical properties, chemical compositions, particle size distribution, mesoporous distribution, morphology, and IR spectra. In the second phase, road performances, referring to the permanent deformation, crack, fatigue, and moisture resistance, of asphalt mixtures with diatomite were investigated. The characterization of diatomite exhibits that it is a porous material with high SiO₂ content and large specific surface area. It contributes to asphalt absorption and therefore leads to bonding enhancement between asphalt and aggregate. However, physical absorption instead of chemical reaction occurs according to the results of FTIR. The resistance of asphalt mixtures with diatomite to permanent deformation and moisture are superior to those of the control mixtures. But, the addition of diatomite does not help to improve the crack and fatigue resistance of asphalt mixture.

Spectra of normal and nutrient-deficient maize leaves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Al-Abbas, A. H.; Barr, R.; Hall, J. D.; Crane, F. L.; Baumgardner, M. F.

1973-01-01

Reflectance, transmittance and absorptance spectra of normal and six types of nutrient-deficient (N, P, K, S, Mg, and Ca) maize (Zea mays L.) leaves were analyzed at 30 selected wavelengths from 500 to 2600 nm. The analysis of variance showed significant differences in reflectance, transmittance and absorptance in the visible wavelengths among leaf numbers 3, 4, and 5, among the seven treatments, and among the interactions of leaf number and treatments. In the infrared wavelengths only treatments produced significant differences. The chlorophyll content of leaves was reduced in all nutrient-deficient treatments. Percent moisture was increased in S-, Mg-, and N-deficiencies. Polynomial regression analysis of leaf thickness and leaf moisture content showed that these two variables were significantly and directly related. Leaves from the P- and Ca-deficient plants absorbed less energy in the near infrared than the normal plants; S-, Mg-, K-, and N-deficient leaves absorbed more than the normal. Both S- and N-deficient leaves had higher temperatues than normal maize leaves.

Evaluation of selected properties of gluten-free instant gruels processed under various extrusion-cook- ing conditions.

PubMed

Kręcisz, Magdalena; Wójtowicz, Agnieszka

2017-01-01

For consumers suffering with gluten intolerance, the only way to manage the condition is to avoid foods which are high in gluten. Instant gruels, processed from gluten-free corn and rice by extrusion cooking, could be used as a ready meal both for children and for adults on a gluten-free diet. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of various processing conditions on selected characteristics of corn-rice instant gruels. Corn-rice mixtures (75:25 and 50:50) were processed at 12, 14, 16 and 18% of initial moisture content, using an extruder with screw speeds of 80, 100 and 120 rpm. Bulk density, water absorption and solubility, gel formation, color and sensory characteristics were assessed, under various pro- cessing conditions and with various corn:rice ratios. The composition of the raw materials, initial moisture content and screw speed applied during processing affected the characteristics of the corn-rice extruded instant gruels. Increasing the amount of rice in the recipe from 25 to 50% resulted in decreased bulk density, water solubility, volumetric gel formation ability and b* value. Increasing the initial moisture content increased the bulk density, L*, a* and b* intensity, and gel formation index values of extrudates made with a 75:25 corn-rice recipe. Increased rpm increased extrudate solubility and water absorption, if the initial moisture content was higher than 14%. The highest scores for overall acceptability were found for milk suspensions of 75:25 and 50:50 corn-rice instant gruels processed at 12 and 14% of initial moisture content, at 120 rpm. Corn-rice instant gruels can be successfully produced by extrusion-cooking. Variable param- eters, like the initial moisture content of raw materials or screw speed during processing significantly affected the properties of the products. An understanding of the effects of processing conditions on some qualities of extruded instant gruels allows more desirable products to be created. Moreover, the various components can be used for extruded products for consumers on gluten-free diets. Functional additives incorporated in the recipe to improve the nutritional value of the extrudates, which will be investigated in our upcoming research.

Fabrication of Porous Ceramic-Geopolymer Based Material to Improve Water Absorption and Retention in Construction Materials: A Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamil, N. H.; Ibrahim, W. M. A. W.; Abdullah, M. M. A. B.; Sandu, A. V.; Tahir, M. F. M.

2017-06-01

Porous ceramic nowadays has been investigated for a variety of its application such as filters, lightweight structural component and others due to their specific properties such as high surface area, stability and permeability. Besides, it has the properties of low thermal conductivity. Various formation techniques making these porous ceramic properties can be tailored or further fine-tuned to obtain the optimum characteristic. Porous materials also one of the good candidate for absorption properties. Conventional construction materials are not design to have good water absorption and retention that lead to the poor performance on these criteria. Temperature is a major driving force for moisture movement and influences sorption characteristics of many constructions materials. The effect of elevated temperatures on the water absorption coefficient and retention remain as critical issue that need to be investigated. Therefore, this paper will review the process parameters in fabricating porous ceramic for absorption properties.

Is the semi-direct effect for smoke overlying stratocumulus clouds overrated? Circulation variability and radiative impacts Reconsidered for the southeast Atlantic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuidema, P.; Adebiyi, A. A.; Abel, S.

2013-12-01

Smoke produced by seasonal biomass burning in the southwestern African savannah can be advected westward over the Atlantic Ocean, where it mostly overlies a major planetary stratocumulus deck. Shortwave absorption by the smoke warms the atmosphere, stabilizing it, thereby reducing cloud-top entrainment and encouraging cloud thickening (the semi-direct effect). Associated dynamical and moisture effects that may be convoluted with the semi-direct effect have received less attention, and are examined here. Radiosondes at their original resolution are available almost daily from the remote St. Helena Island (15.9oS, 5.6oW), from 2000 through 2012. These are combined with MODIS fine-mode aerosol optical depth (AODf), and composited into pristine and polluted days for the September-October months. Increases in AODf are associated with increases in 750-500 hPa moisture content, often capped by sharply defined temperature and moisture inversions. These corroborate similar associations evident in SAFARI-2000 data. The composite-mean additional moisture of ~2.2 g kg-1 produces a diurnal-mean shortwave heating rate of ~ 0.2 K day-1 in addition to that from smoke. Similarly-composited ERA-Interim Reanalysis profiles match the radiosonde composites more closely than do those based on MERRA or NCEP Reanalyses. ERA-Interim spatial composites show that the polluted conditions are associated with a stronger mid-level anticyclone over southern Africa, facilitating the westward and (offshore) southward transport of both smoke and moisture. The shallower surface-based south Atlantic anticyclone shifts to east, strengthening the low-level coastal jet exiting into the stratocumulus deck, and enhancing warm temperature advection above the main stratocumulus deck. This increases the lower tropospheric stability (θ800-θ1000) and enhances the surface fluxes, strengthening the stratocumulus deck. Thus, the dynamics encouraging smoke transport and the additional shortwave absorption by moisture act in concert with the semi-direct effect to increase the cloud fraction and thicken the clouds. The associations between smoke, moisture and circulation highlight the difficulty of distinguishing aerosol effects on the Atlantic stratocumulus deck from meteorological effects.The uncertainties inherent to the realistic modeling of the smoke, cloud, their interactions and their climatic effects motivate a field deployment, ONFIRE, proposed to the southeast Atlantic in 2016, that will also be discussed.

Real-time monitoring of moisture levels in wound dressings in vitro: an experimental study.

PubMed

McColl, David; Cartlidge, Brian; Connolly, Patricia

2007-10-01

Retaining an appropriate level of moisture at the interface between a healing wound and an applied dressing is considered to be critical for effective wound healing. Failure to control exudate at this interface can result in maceration or drying out of the wound surface. The ability to control moisture balance at the wound interface is therefore a key aspect of wound dressing performance. To date it has not been possible to monitor in any effective manner the distribution of moisture within dressings or how this varies with time. A new measurement system is presented based on sensors placed at the wound/dressing interface which are capable of monitoring moisture levels in real time. The system comprises a model wound bed and sensor array complete with fluid injection path to mimic exudate flow. Eight monitoring points, situated beneath the test dressing, allow the moisture profile across the complete dressing to be measured both during and after fluid injection. The system has been used to evaluate the performance of four foam dressings, a composite hydrofibre dressing and a film dressing. Stark contrasts in the performance of the wound contact layer were found between the different wound dressing types. The composite hydrofibre dressing retained moisture at the wound interface throughout the experiments while areas of the foam dressing quickly became dry, even during constant injection of fluid. The abundance of sensors allowed a moisture map of the surface of the wound dressing to be constructed, illustrating that the moisture profile was not uniform across several of the dressings tested during absorption and evaporation of liquid. These results raise questions as to how the dressings behave on a wound in vivo and indicate the need for a similar clinical monitoring system for tracking wound moisture levels.

Study on the optimal moisture adding rate of brown rice during germination by using segmented moisture conditioning method.

PubMed

Cao, Yinping; Jia, Fuguo; Han, Yanlong; Liu, Yang; Zhang, Qiang

2015-10-01

The aim of this study was to find out the optimal moisture adding rate of brown rice during the process of germination. The process of water addition in brown rice could be divided into three stages according to different water absorption speeds in soaking process. Water was added with three different speeds in three stages to get the optimal water adding rate in the whole process of germination. Thus, the technology of segmented moisture conditioning which is a method of adding water gradually was put forward. Germinated brown rice was produced by using segmented moisture conditioning method to reduce the loss of water-soluble nutrients and was beneficial to the accumulation of gamma aminobutyric acid. The effects of once moisture adding amount in three stages on the gamma aminobutyric acid content in germinated brown rice and germination rate of brown rice were investigated by using response surface methodology. The optimum process parameters were obtained as follows: once moisture adding amount of stage I with 1.06 %/h, once moisture adding amount of stage II with 1.42 %/h and once moisture adding amount of stage III with 1.31 %/h. The germination rate under the optimum parameters was 91.33 %, which was 7.45 % higher than that of germinated brown rice produced by soaking method (84.97 %). The content of gamma aminobutyric acid in germinated brown rice under the optimum parameters was 29.03 mg/100 g, which was more than two times higher than that of germinated brown rice produced by soaking method (12.81 mg/100 g). The technology of segmented moisture conditioning has potential applications for studying many other cereals.

Forest litter crickets prefer higher substrate moisture for oviposition: Evidence from field and lab experiments

PubMed Central

Sperber, Carlos Frankl; Albeny-Simões, Daniel; Breaux, Jennifer Ann; Fianco, Marcos; Szinwelski, Neucir

2017-01-01

For insects, choosing a favorable oviposition site is a type of parental care, as far as it increases the fitness of its offspring. Niche theory predicts that crickets should show a bell-shaped oviposition response to substrate moisture. However, lab experiments with mole crickets showed a linear oviposition response to substrate moisture. Studies with the house cricket Acheta domesticus also showed a linear juvenile body growth response to water availability, thus adult ovipositing females should respond positively to substrate moisture. We used a field experiment to evaluate the relationship between oviposition preference and substrate moisture in forest litter-dwelling cricket species. We also evaluated oviposition responses to substrate moisture level in Ubiquepuella telytokous, the most abundant litter cricket species in our study area, using a laboratory study. We offered cotton substrate for oviposition which varied in substrate moisture level from zero (i.e., dry) to maximum water absorption capacity. We used two complementary metrics to evaluate oviposition preference: (i) presence or absence of eggs in each sampling unit as binary response variable, and (ii) number of eggs oviposited per sampling unit as count response variable. To test for non-linear responses, we adjusted generalized additive models (GAMM) with mixed effects. We found that both cricket oviposition probability and effort (i.e., number of eggs laid) increased linearly with substrate moisture in the field experiment, and for U. telytokous in the lab experiment. We discarded any non-linear responses. Our results demonstrate the importance of substrate moisture as an ecological niche dimension for litter crickets. This work bolsters knowledge of litter cricket life history association with moisture, and suggests that litter crickets may be particularly threatened by changes in climate that favor habitat drying. PMID:28977023

Forest litter crickets prefer higher substrate moisture for oviposition: Evidence from field and lab experiments.

PubMed

de Farias-Martins, Fernando; Sperber, Carlos Frankl; Albeny-Simões, Daniel; Breaux, Jennifer Ann; Fianco, Marcos; Szinwelski, Neucir

2017-01-01

For insects, choosing a favorable oviposition site is a type of parental care, as far as it increases the fitness of its offspring. Niche theory predicts that crickets should show a bell-shaped oviposition response to substrate moisture. However, lab experiments with mole crickets showed a linear oviposition response to substrate moisture. Studies with the house cricket Acheta domesticus also showed a linear juvenile body growth response to water availability, thus adult ovipositing females should respond positively to substrate moisture. We used a field experiment to evaluate the relationship between oviposition preference and substrate moisture in forest litter-dwelling cricket species. We also evaluated oviposition responses to substrate moisture level in Ubiquepuella telytokous, the most abundant litter cricket species in our study area, using a laboratory study. We offered cotton substrate for oviposition which varied in substrate moisture level from zero (i.e., dry) to maximum water absorption capacity. We used two complementary metrics to evaluate oviposition preference: (i) presence or absence of eggs in each sampling unit as binary response variable, and (ii) number of eggs oviposited per sampling unit as count response variable. To test for non-linear responses, we adjusted generalized additive models (GAMM) with mixed effects. We found that both cricket oviposition probability and effort (i.e., number of eggs laid) increased linearly with substrate moisture in the field experiment, and for U. telytokous in the lab experiment. We discarded any non-linear responses. Our results demonstrate the importance of substrate moisture as an ecological niche dimension for litter crickets. This work bolsters knowledge of litter cricket life history association with moisture, and suggests that litter crickets may be particularly threatened by changes in climate that favor habitat drying.

A Literature Review on the Study of Moisture in Polymers

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

Trautschold, Olivia Carol

2016-05-25

This literature review covers the main chemical and physical interactions between moisture and the polymer matrix. Fickian versus Non-Fickian diffusion behaviors are discussed in approximating the characteristics of moisture sorption. Also, bound water and free water sorbed in polymers are distinguished. Methods to distinguish between bound and free water include differential scanning calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy, and time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The difference between moisture sorption and water sorption is considered, as well as the difficulties associated with preventing moisture sorption. Furthermore, specific examples of how moisture sorption influences polymers include natural fiber-polymer composites, starch-based biodegradable thermoplastics, and thermoset polyurethanemore » and epoxies.« less

A moisture and electric coupling stimulated ionic polymer-metal composite actuator with controllable deformation behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ru, Jie; Zhu, Zicai; Wang, Yanjie; Chen, Hualing; Bian, Changsheng; Luo, Bin; Li, Dichen

2018-02-01

Ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuator can generate large and rapid deformation based on ion migration under a relatively low driving voltage. Under full hydrated conditions, the deformation is always prone to relaxation. At room humidity conditions, the deformation increases substantially at the early stage of actuation, and then decreases gradually. Generally, most researchers considered that the change of water content or relative humidity mainly leads to the deformation instabilities, which severely limits the practical applications of IPMC. In this Letter, a novel actuation mode is proposed to control the deformation behavior of IPMC by employing moisture as an independent or collaborative incentive source together with the electric field. The deformation response is continuously measured under electric field, electric field-moisture coupling stimulus and moisture stimulus. The result shows that moisture can be a favorable driving factor for IPMC actuation. Such an electric field-moisture coupling stimulus can avoid the occurrence of deformation instabilities and guarantee a superior controllable deformation in IPMC actuation. This research provides a new method to obtain stable and large deformation of IPMC, which is of great significance for the guidance of material design and application for IPMC and IPMC-type iEAP materials.

Development of rectal self-emulsifying suspension of a moisture-labile water-soluble drug.

PubMed

Kauss, Tina; Gaubert, Alexandra; Tabaran, Luc; Tonelli, Giovanni; Phoeung, Thida; Langlois, Marie-Hélène; White, Nick; Cartwright, Anthony; Gomes, Melba; Gaudin, Karen

2018-01-30

Self-emulsifying drug delivery systems, commonly used for oral delivery of poorly soluble compounds, were used to formulate water soluble but moisture labile compounds for rectal application. The objective was to use the oily phase of the system to formulate a liquid, non-aqueous product while obtaining the advantages of self-emulsification, rapid contact with the rectal mucosa and rapid absorption post-administration. Ceftriaxone was used as a model drug and the human bile salt sodium chenodeoxycholate was used as an absorption enhancer. After preliminary screening of 23 excipients, based on their emulsification ability and emulsion fineness in binary and ternary mixtures, a full factorial design was used to screen different formulations of three preselected excipients. The optimal formulation contained 60% of excipients, namely Capryol 90, Kolliphor EL and Kolliphor PS20 in 4 : 6 : 6 ratio and 40% of a powder blend that included 500 mg of ceftriaxone. Characterization of the system showed that it complied with the requirements for rectal administration, in particular rapid emulsification in a small quantity of liquid. Rabbit bioavailability showed rapid absorption of ceftriaxone, achieving 128% bioavailability compared to powder control formulation. These results demonstrated the potential of self-emulsifying formulations for rectal administration of Class 3 BCS drugs. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermal shock effect on Mechanical and Physical properties of pre-moisture treated GRE composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chakraverty, A. P.; Panda, A. B.; Mohanty, U. K.; Mishra, S. C.; Biswal, B. B.

2018-03-01

Many practical situations may be encountered under which a GFRP (Glass fibre reinforced polymer) composite, during its service life, is exposed to the severities of sudden temperature fluctuations. Moisture absorption of GRE (Glass fibre reinforced epoxy) composites followed by various gradients of temperature fluctuations may cause thermo- mechanical degradation. It is on this context, the hand layed GRE composite samples are exposed to up-thermal shock (-40°C to +50°C) and down-thermal shock (+50°C to -40°C) for various time interval after several periods of moisture (hydrothermal/hygrothermal) conditioning. The thermally shocked GRE specimens are put to 3-point bend test to divulge inter laminar shear strength (ILSS). Least ILSS values are recorded for the samples with maximum period of moisture treatments under with both up-thermal and down-thermal shock conditions. Lower glass transition temperature (Tg) values, as revealed through the low temperature DSC test, are exhibited at maximum durations of both up-thermal and down-thermal shock for the samples with higher periods of hygrothermal/hydrothermal treatments. SEM fractographs of representative GRE specimens after optimum period of moisture treatments and thermal shock show the various modes of failures.

Thermo-responsive gels that absorb moisture and ooze water.

PubMed

Matsumoto, Kazuya; Sakikawa, Nobuki; Miyata, Takashi

2018-06-13

The water content of thermo-responsive hydrogels can be drastically altered by small changes in temperature because their polymer chains change from hydrophilic to hydrophobic above their low critical solution temperature (LCST). In general, such smart hydrogels have been utilized in aqueous solutions or in their wet state, and no attempt has been made to determine the phase-transition behavior of the gels in their dried states. Here we demonstrate an application of the thermo-responsive behavior of an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) gel comprising thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and hydrophilic sodium alginate networks in their dried states. The dried IPN gel absorbs considerable moisture from air at temperatures below its LCST and oozes the absorbed moisture as liquid water above its LCST. These phenomena provide energy exchange systems in which moisture from air can be condensed to liquid water using the controllable hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties of thermo-responsive gels with a small temperature change.

Directional moisture transfer through a wild silkworm cocoon wall.

PubMed

Jin, Xing; Zhang, Jin; Gao, Weimin; Du, Shan; Li, Jingliang; Wang, Xungai

2016-06-25

A silkworm cocoon is a porous biological structure with multiple protective functions. In the current work, the authors have used both experimental and numerical methods to reveal the unique moisture transfer characteristics through a wild Antheraea pernyi silkworm cocoon wall, in comparison with the long-domesticated Bombyx mori silkworm cocoon walls. The water vapor transmission and water vapor permeability (WVP) properties show that the A. pernyi cocoons exhibit directional moisture transfer behavior, with easier moisture transfer from inside out than outside in [e.g., the average WVP is 0.057 g/(h m bar) from inside out and is 0.034 g/(h m bar) from outside in]. Numerical analysis shows that the cubic mineral crystals in the outer section of the A. pernyi cocoon wall create a rough surface that facilitates air turbulence and promotes disturbance amplitude of the flow field, leading to lengthened water vapor transfer path and increased tortuosity of the moist air. It also indicates the vortex of water vapor can be generated in the outer section of cocoon wall, which increases the diffusion distance of water vapor and enhances the turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence eddy dissipation, signifying higher moisture resistance in the outer section. The difference in moisture resistance of the multiple A. pernyi cocoon layers is largely responsible for the unique directional moisture transfer behavior of this wild silkworm cocoon. These findings may inspire a biomimicry approach to develop novel lightweight moisture management materials and structures.

Development of acceptance criteria for batches of silane primer for external tank thermal protection system bonding applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mikes, F.

1985-01-01

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is currently the best technique for observing hydrolytic changes in DC 1200 silane the primers caused by moisture in the atmosphere. To further prove that FTIR can be used as a criterion test for acceptance of silane primer lots, intensities of the FTIR OH- band are being compared with primer adhesive bond strength using a mechanical test suggested by NASA. Results of tests for shear strength and Oh-absorption are tabulated and compared with FTIR absorption intensities in the OH-region.

Effect of isolation techniques on the characteristics of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) protein isolates.

PubMed

Adenekan, Monilola K; Fadimu, Gbemisola J; Odunmbaku, Lukumon A; Oke, Emmanuel K

2018-01-01

In this study, the effect of different isolation techniques on the isolated proteins from pigeon pea was investigated. Water, methanol, ammonium sulfate, and acetone were used for the precipitation of proteins from pigeon pea. Proximate composition, and antinutritional and functional properties of the pigeon pea flour and the isolated proteins were measured. Data generated were statistically analyzed. The proximate composition of the water-extracted protein isolate was moisture 8.30%, protein 91.83%, fat 0.25%, ash 0.05%, and crude fiber 0.05%. The methanol-extracted protein isolate composition was moisture 7.87%, protein 91.83%, fat 0.17%, and ash 0.13%, while crude fiber and carbohydrates were not detected. The composition of the ammonium sulfate-extracted protein isolate was moisture 7.73%, protein 91.73%, fat 0.36, ash 0.13%, and crude fiber 0.67%. The acetone-extracted protein isolate composition was moisture 8.03%, protein 91.50%, ash 0.67%, and fat 0.30%, but crude fiber and carbohydrates were not detected. The isolate precipitated with ammonium sulfate displayed the highest foaming capacity (37.63%) and foaming stability (55.75%). Isolates precipitated with methanol and acetone had the highest water absorption capacity (160%). Pigeon pea protein isolates extracted with methanol and ammonium sulfate had the highest oil absorption capacity of 145%. Protein isolates recovered through acetone and methanol had the highest emulsifying capacity of 2.23% and emulsifying stability of 91.47%, respectively. The proximate composition of the recovered protein isolates were of high purity. This shows the efficiency of the extraction techniques. The isolates had desirable solubility index. All the isolation techniques brought significant impact on the characteristics of the isolated pigeon pea protein.

Physicochemical characterization of tretinoin tocoferil emulsion and povidone-iodine sugar ointment blend developed for improved regulation of wound moisture.

PubMed

Noda, Yasuhiro; Saito, Mika; Watanabe, Kazuya; Sanagawa, Akimasa; Sobajima, Yu; Fujii, Satoshi

2013-01-01

Maintenance of proper moisture and regulation of infection are simultaneously required to promote healing of pressure ulcers. Continuous use of water-rich ointment may often lead to excess moisture and induce edematous granulation tissue. Use of water soluble ointment may excessively absorb exudates and induce dry granulation tissue. Selection of appropriate topical ointment is desired to avoid worse clinical outcomes. For adjustment of wound moisture a novel blended ointment (tretinoin tocoferil-povidone-iodine (TR-PI)) was developed consisting of emulsion base, tretinoin tocoferil oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion (TR-cream), and sugar base, povidone-iodine and sugar (PI-sugar). For the characterization of TR-PI water absorption was tested using Franz diffusion cell with cellulose membrane. For rheological characteristics spreadability was tested using spread meter and yield value was calculated. Iodine permeation was tested using a permeation cell with silicon membrane. Water absorption rate constant of TR-PI with combination ratio of PI-sugar at 75% (TR-PI75, 18.5 mg cm(-2) min(-0.5)) was equivalent to that of TR-cream alone (16.4 mg cm(-2) min(-0.5)). The yield value of TR-PI75 (26.1 Pa) exhibited intermediate values as compared to those of TR-PI with combination ratio of PI-sugar at 50% (11.3 Pa) and TR-cream alone (46.8 Pa). The amount of released free-iodine from TR-PI75 was similar to that released from PI-sugar alone. TR-PI75 may have superior performance in keeping the moist environment in wounds and in preventing infection. TR-PI75 can be used to promote formation of favorable granulation tissue in pressure ulcers with moderate exudates.

Influence of vegetation moisture on combustion of pyrolysis gases in wildland fires

Treesearch

S.C. Dover; A.R. Dahale; B. Shotorban; S. Mahalingam; D.R. Weise

2011-01-01

Since wildland fires occur in living vegetation, the fuel moisture content must be considered in order to correctly predict the behavior of the fire. One facet of combustion of pyrolysis gases that has not been considered in previous research is the effect of moisture on the combustion process. This effect is investigated by using CHEMKIN software to study an opposed...

Experimental Investigation of Widespread Delamination Damage to Composite Materials Caused by Radiant Heating

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-30

Rev. E) 2002. 7. RM-3002 Bismaleimide (BMI) Prepreg , Product Information, Renegade Materials Corporation, Revision Date: 16-May-2012 KOA 16... prepregs /polyimide- prepregs . Renegade Materials Corporation Website, Accessed June 20, 2013. 9. Shen, C. and G.S. Springer, “Moisture Absorption and

The tropical precipitation pickup threshold and clouds in a radiative convective equilibrium model: 2. Two-layer moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Igel, Matthew R.

2017-06-01

This paper complements Part 1 in which cloud processes of aggregated convection are examined in a large-domain radiative convective equilibrium simulation in order to uncover those responsible for a consistently observed, abrupt increase in mean precipitation at a column relative humidity value of approximately 77%. In Part 2, the focus is on how the transition is affected independently by total moisture above and below the base of the melting layer. When mean precipitation rates are examined as simultaneous functions of these two moisture layers, four distinct behaviors are observed. These four behaviors suggest unique, yet familiar, physical regimes in which (i) little rain is produced by infrequent clouds, (ii) shallow convection produces increasing warm rain with increasing low-level moisture, (iii) deep convection produces progressively heavier rain above the transition point with increasing total moisture, and (iv) deep stratiform cloud produces increasingly intense precipitation from melting for increasing upper level moisture. The independent thresholds separating regimes in upper and lower layer humidity are shown to result in the value of total column humidity at which a transition between clear air and deep convection, and therefore a pickup in precipitation, is possible. All four regimes force atmospheric columns toward the pickup value at 77% column humidity, but each does so through a unique set of physical processes. Layer moisture and microphysical budgets are analyzed and contrasted with column budgets.

Experimental study of nonlinear ultrasonic behavior of soil materials during the compaction.

PubMed

Chen, Jun; Wang, Hao; Yao, Yangping

2016-07-01

In this paper, the nonlinear ultrasonic behavior of unconsolidated granular medium - soil during the compaction is experimentally studied. The second harmonic generation technique is adopted to investigate the change of microstructural void in materials during the compaction process of loose soils. The nonlinear parameter is measured with the change of two important environmental factors i.e. moisture content and impact energy of compaction. It is found the nonlinear parameter of soil material presents a similar variation pattern with the void ratio of soil samples, corresponding to the increased moisture content and impact energy. A same optimum moisture content is found by observing the variation of nonlinear parameter and void ratio with respect to moisture content. The results indicate that the unconsolidated soil is manipulated by a strong material nonlinearity during the compaction procedure. The developed experimental technique based on the second harmonic generation could be a fast and convenient testing method for the determination of optimum moisture content of soil materials, which is very useful for the better compaction effect of filled embankment for civil infrastructures in-situ. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Moisture diffusion and permeability characteristics of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose and hard gelatin capsules.

PubMed

Barham, Ahmad S; Tewes, Frederic; Healy, Anne Marie

2015-01-30

The primary objective of this paper is to compare the sorption characteristics of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) and hard gelatin (HG) capsules and their ability to protect capsule contents. Moisture sorption and desorption isotherms for empty HPMC and HG capsules have been investigated using dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) at 25°C. All sorption studies were analysed using the Young-Nelson model equations which distinguishes three moisture sorption types: monolayer adsorption moisture, condensation and absorption. Water vapour diffusion coefficients (D), solubility (S) and permeability (P) parameters of the capsule shells were calculated. ANOVA was performed with the Tukey comparison test to analyse the effect of %RH and capsule type on S, P, and D parameters. The moisture uptake of HG capsules were higher than HPMC capsules at all %RH conditions studied. It was found that values of D and P across HPMC capsules were greater than for HG capsules at 0-40 %RH; whereas over the same %RH range S values were higher for HG than for HPMC capsules. S values decreased gradually as the %RH was increased up to 60% RH. To probe the effect of moisture ingress, spray dried lactose was loaded into capsules. Phase evolution was characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The capsules under investigation are not capable of protecting spray dried lactose from induced solid state changes as a result of moisture uptake. For somewhat less moisture sensitive formulations, HPMC would appear to be a better choice than HG in terms of protection of moisture induced deterioration. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Appearance benefits of skin moisturization.

PubMed

Jiang, Z-X; DeLaCruz, J

2011-02-01

Skin hydration is essential for skin health. Moisturized skin is generally regarded as healthy and healthy looking. It is thus speculated that there may be appearance benefits of skin moisturization. This means that there are corresponding changes in the optical properties when skin is moisturized. The appearance of the skin is the result of light reflection, scattering and absorption at various skin layers of the stratum corneum, epidermis, dermis and beyond. The appearance benefits of skin moisturization are likely primarily due to the changes in the optical properties of the stratum corneum. We hypothesize that the major optical effect of skin moisturization is the decrease of light scattering at the skin surface, i.e., the stratum corneum. This decrease of surface scattering corresponds to an increase of light penetration into the deeper layers of the skin. An experiment was conducted to measure the corresponding change in skin spectral reflectance, the skin scattering coefficient and skin translucency with a change in skin hydration. In the experiment, skin hydration was decreased with the topical application of acetone and alcohol and increased with the topical application of known moisturizers and occlusives such as PJ. It was found that both the skin spectral reflectance and the skin scattering coefficient increased when the skin was dehydrated and decreased when the skin was hydrated. Skin translucency increased as the skin became moisturized. The results agree with the hypothesis that there is less light scattering at the skin surface and more light penetration into the deeper skin layers when the skin is moisturized. As a result, the skin appears darker, more pinkish and more translucent. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Measuring the spatial variation in surface moisture on a coastal beach with an infra-red terrestrial laser scanner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smit, Yvonne; Donker, Jasper; Ruessink, Gerben

2016-04-01

Coastal sand dunes provide essential protection against marine flooding. Consequently, dune erosion during severe storms has been studied intensively, resulting in well-developed erosion models for use in scientific and applied projects. Nowadays there is growing awareness that similarly advanced knowledge on dune recovery and growth is needed to predict future dune development. For this reason, aeolian sand transport from the beach into the dunes has to be investigated thoroughly. Surface moisture is a major factor limiting aeolian transport on sandy beaches. By increasing the velocity threshold for sediment entrainment, pick-up rates reduce and the fetch length increases. Conventional measurement techniques cannot adequately characterize the spatial and temporal distribution of surface moisture content required to study the effects on aeolian transport. Here we present a new method for detecting surface moisture at high temporal and spatial resolution using the RIEGL VZ-400 terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). Because this TLS operates at a wavelength near a water absorption band (1550 nm), TLS reflectance is an accurate parameter to measure surface soil moisture over its full range. Three days of intensive laser scanning were performed on a Dutch beach to illustrate the applicability of the TLS. Gravimetric soil moisture samples were used to calibrate the relation between reflectance and surface moisture. Results reveal a robust negative relation for the full range of possible surface moisture contents (0% - 25%). This relation holds to about 80 m from the TLS. Within this distance the TLS typically produces O(106-107) data points, which we averaged into soil moisture maps with a 0.25x0.25 m resolution. This grid size largely removes small moisture disturbances induced by, for example, footprints or tire tracks, while retaining larger scale trends. As the next step in our research, we will analyze the obtained maps to determine which processes affect the spatial and temporal surface-moisture variability.

Time to ignition is influenced by both moisture content and soluble carbohydrates in live Douglas fir and Lodgepole pine needles

Treesearch

Matt Jolly; Sara McAllister; Mark Finney; Ann Hadlow

2010-01-01

Living plants are often the primary fuels burning in wildland fire but little is known about the factors that govern their ignition behavior. Moisture content has long been hypothesized to determine the characteristics of fires spreading in live fuels but moisture content alone fails to explain observed differences in the ignition of various species at different times...

Tetraglycidyl epoxy resins and graphite fiber composites cured with flexibilized aromatic diamines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delvigs, P.

1986-01-01

Studies were performed to synthesize new ether modified, flexibilized aromatic diamine hardeners for curing epoxy resins. The effect of moisture absorption on the glass transition temperatures of a tetraglycidyl epoxy, MY 720, cured with flexibilized hardeners and a conventional aromatic diamine was studied. Unidirectional composites, using epoxy-sized Celion 6000 graphite fiber as the reinforcement, were fabricated. The room temperature and 300 F mechanical properties of the composites, before and after moisture exposure, were determined. The Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of the composites was characterized using a double cantilever beam technique to calculate the critical strain energy release rate.

Mechanical and Physical Properties of Hydrophobized Lightweight Aggregate Concrete with Sewage Sludge.

PubMed

Suchorab, Zbigniew; Barnat-Hunek, Danuta; Franus, Małgorzata; Łagód, Grzegorz

2016-04-27

This article is focused on lightweight aggregate-concrete modified by municipal sewage sludge and lightweight aggregate-concrete obtained from light aggregates. The article presents laboratory examinations of material physical parameters. Water absorptivity of the examined material was decreased by the admixture of water emulsion of reactive polysiloxanes. Water transport properties were determined using Time Domain Reflectometry, an indirect technique for moisture detection in porous media. Together with basic physical parameters, the heat conductivity coefficient λ was determined for both types of lightweight aggregate-concrete. Analysis of moisture and heat properties of the examined materials confirmed the usefulness of light aggregates supplemented with sewage sludge for prospective production.

Regenerable sorbent technique for capturing CO.sub.2 using immobilized amine sorbents

DOEpatents

Pennline, Henry W; Hoffman, James S; Gray, McMahan L; Fauth, Daniel J; Resnik, Kevin P

2013-08-06

The disclosure provides a CO.sub.2 absorption method using an amine-based solid sorbent for the removal of carbon dioxide from a gas stream. The method disclosed mitigates the impact of water loading on regeneration by utilizing a conditioner following the steam regeneration process, providing for a water loading on the amine-based solid sorbent following CO.sub.2 absorption substantially equivalent to the moisture loading of the regeneration process. This assists in optimizing the CO.sub.2 removal capacity of the amine-based solid sorbent for a given absorption and regeneration reactor size. Management of the water loading in this manner allows regeneration reactor operation with significant mitigation of energy losses incurred by the necessary desorption of adsorbed water.

Empirical relationships among atmospheric variables from rawinsonde and field data as surrogates for AVIRIS measurements: Estimation of regional land surface evapotranspiration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Conel, James E.; Hoover, Gordon; Nolin, Anne; Alley, Ron; Margolis, Jack

1992-01-01

Empirical relationships between variables are ways of securing estimates of quantities difficult to measure by remote sensing methods. The use of empirical functions was explored between: (1) atmospheric column moisture abundance W (gm H2O/cm(sup 2) and surface absolute water vapor density rho(q-bar) (gm H2O/cm(sup 3), with rho density of moist air (gm/cm(sup 3), q-bar specific humidity (gm H2O/gm moist air), and (2) column abundance and surface moisture flux E (gm H2O/(cm(sup 2)sec)) to infer regional evapotranspiration from Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometers (AVIRIS) water vapor mapping data. AVIRIS provides, via analysis of atmospheric water absorption features, estimates of column moisture abundance at very high mapping rate (at approximately 100 km(sup 2)/40 sec) over large areas at 20 m ground resolution.

Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging Technique for Visualization of Moisture Distribution in Cooked Chicken Breast

PubMed Central

Kandpal, Lalit Mohan; Lee, Hoonsoo; Kim, Moon S.; Mo, Changyeun; Cho, Byoung-Kwan

2013-01-01

Spectroscopy has proven to be an efficient tool for measuring the properties of meat. In this article, hyperspectral imaging (HSI) techniques are used to determine the moisture content in cooked chicken breast over the VIS/NIR (400–1,000 nm) spectral range. Moisture measurements were performed using an oven drying method. A partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was developed to extract a relationship between the HSI spectra and the moisture content. In the full wavelength range, the PLSR model possessed a maximum R2p of 0.90 and an SEP of 0.74%. For the NIR range, the PLSR model yielded an R2p of 0.94 and an SEP of 0.71%. The majority of the absorption peaks occurred around 760 and 970 nm, representing the water content in the samples. Finally, PLSR images were constructed to visualize the dehydration and water distribution within different sample regions. The high correlation coefficient and low prediction error from the PLSR analysis validates that HSI is an effective tool for visualizing the chemical properties of meat. PMID:24084119

Spectral characteristics of normal and nutrient-deficient maize leaves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Al-Abbas, A. H.; Barr, R.; Hall, J. D.; Crane, F. L.; Baumgardner, M. F.

1972-01-01

Reflectance, transmittance and absorbance spectra of normal and six types of mineral-deficient (N,P,K,S,Mg and Ca) maize (Zea mays L.) leaves were analyzed at 30 selected wavelengths along the electromagnetic spectrum from 500 to 2600 nm. Chlorophyll content and percent leaf moisture were also determined. Leaf thermograms were obtained for normal, N- and S- deficient leaves. The results of the analysis of variance showed significant differences in reflectance, transmittance and absorbance in the visible wavelengths among leaf numbers 3, 4, and 5, among the seven nutrient treatments, and among the interactions of leaves and treatments. In the reflective infrared wavelengths only treatments produced significant differences. The chlorophyll content of leaves was reduced in all deficiencies in comparison to controls. Percent moisture was increased in S-, Mg- and N- deficiencies. Positive correlation (r = 0.707) between moisture content and percent absorption at both 1450 and 1930 nm were obtained. Polynomial regression analysis of leaf thickness and leaf moisture content showed that these two variables were significantly and directly related (r = 0.894).

Coating WPC's using co-extrusion to improve durability

Treesearch

Nicole M. Stark; Laurent M. Matuana

2007-01-01

Wood-plastic composites (WPCs) have been gaining market share in the residential construction industry as lumber for decking, roof tiles, and siding. The durability of these materials in exterior environments is just beginning to be understood. Current research suggests that controlling moisture absorption by the composite is key to improving durability. Methods to...

Thermal Expansion and Swelling of Cured Epoxy Resin Used in Graphite/Epoxy Composite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adamson, M. J.

1979-01-01

The thermal expansion and swelling of resin material as influenced by variations in temperature during moisture absorption is discussed. Comparison measurements using composites constructed of graphite fibers and each of two epoxy resin matrices are included. Polymer theory relative to these findings is discussed and modifications are proposed.

Polyamides based on the renewable monomer, 1,13-tridecane diamine II: Synthesis and characterization of nylon 13,6

DOE PAGES

Samanta, Satyabrata; He, Jie; Selvakumar, Sermadurai; ...

2012-12-19

The nylon 13,6 was successfully synthesized and its chemical composition, thermal properties, crystal structure, and moisture absorption characterized. Melting temperature and glass transition temperature were determined to be 206 °C and 60 °C, respectively, while the equilibrium melting temperature was determined to be 248 °C. Characterization of the crystallization kinetics showed that nylon 13,6 exhibits very fast crystallization compared to the industrially important nylons, nylon 6 and nylon 6,6. Additionally, the moisture absorption of nylon 13,6 was dramatically lower than nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 which is consistent with the much lower amide content of nylon 13,6. The crystal structuremore » was determined to be different from the expected γ-form, which possess a pseudohexagonal unit cell. Instead, the x-ray scattering pattern was more similar to the α-form. Furthermore, a similar result has been obtained for other odd–even nylons including nylon 5,6, nylon 5,10, nylon 9,2, nylon 11,10, and nylon 11,12.« less

Flight-service program for advanced composite rudders on transport aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Flight service experience and in-service inspection results are reported for DC-10 graphite composite rudders during the third year of airline service. Test results and status are also reported for ground-based and airborne graphite-epoxy specimens with three different epoxy resin systems to obtain moisture absorption data. Twenty graphite composite rudders were produced, nine of which were installed on commercial aircraft during the past three years. The rudders collectively accumulated 75,863 flight hours. The high time rudder accumulated 12,740 flight hours in slightly over 36 months. The graphite composite rudders were inspected visually at approximately 1000 flight hour intervals and ultrasonically at approximately 3000 flight hour intervals in accordance with in-service inspection plans. All rudders were judged acceptable for continued service as a result of these inspections. Composite moisture absorption data on small specimens, both ground-based and carried aboard three flight-service aircraft, are given. The specimens include Thornel 300 fibers in Narmco 5208 and 5209 resin systems, and Type AS fibers in the Hercules 3501-6 resin system.

A method for moisture measurement in porous media based on epithermal neutron scattering.

PubMed

El Abd, A

2015-11-01

A method for moisture measurement in porous media was proposed. A wide beam of epithermal neutrons was obtained from a Pu-Be neutron source immersed in a cylinder made of paraffin wax. (3)He detectors (four or six) arranged in the backward direction of the incident beam were used to record scattered neutrons from investigated samples. Experiments of water absorption into clay and silicate bricks, and a sand column were investigated by neutron scattering. While the samples were absorbing water, scattered neutrons were recorded from fixed positions along the water flow direction. It was observed that, at these positions scattered neutrons increase as the water uptake increases. Obtained results are discussed in terms of the theory of macroscopic flow in porous media. It was shown that, the water absorption processes were Fickian and non Fickian in the sand column and brick samples, respectively. The advantages of applying the proposed method to study fast as well as slow flow processes in porous media are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

System and method for 100% moisture and basis weight measurement of moving paper

DOEpatents

Hernandez, Jose E.; Koo, Jackson C.

2002-01-01

A system for characterizing a set of properties for a moving substance are disclosed. The system includes: a first near-infrared linear array; a second near-infrared linear array; a first filter transparent to a first absorption wavelength emitted by the moving substance and juxtaposed between the substance and the first array; a second filter blocking the first absorption wavelength emitted by the moving substance and juxtaposed between the substance and the second array; and a computational device for characterizing data from the arrays into information on a property of the substance. The method includes the steps of: filtering out a first absorption wavelength emitted by a substance; monitoring the first absorption wavelength with a first near-infrared linear array; blocking the first wavelength from reaching a second near-infrared linear array; and characterizing data from the arrays into information on a property of the substance.

Effect of soil type and moisture availability on the foraging behavior of the Formosan subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae).

PubMed

Cornelius, Mary L; Osbrink, Weste L A

2010-06-01

This study examined the influence of soil type and moisture availability on termite foraging behavior. Physical properties of the soil affected both tunneling behavior and shelter tube construction. Termites tunneled through sand faster than top soil and clay. In containers with top soil and clay, termites built shelter tubes on the sides of the containers. In containers with sand, termites built shelter tubes directly into the air and covered the sides of the container with a layer of sand. The interaction of soil type and moisture availability affected termite movement, feeding, and survival. In assays with moist soils, termites were more likely to aggregate in top soil over potting soil and peat moss. However, termites were more likely to move into containers with dry peat moss and potting soil than containers with dry sand and clay. Termites were also significantly more likely to move into containers with dry potting soil than dry top soil. In the assay with dry soils, termite mortality was high even though termites were able to travel freely between moist sand and dry soil, possibly due to desiccation caused by contact with dry soil. Evaporation from potting soil and peat moss resulted in significant mortality, whereas termites were able to retain enough moisture in top soil, sand, and clay to survive for 25 d. The interaction of soil type and moisture availability influences the distribution of foraging termites in microhabitats.

Using a terrestrial laser scanner to measure spatiotemporal surface moisture dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smit, Y.; Donker, J.; Ruessink, G.

2017-12-01

A terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) is an active remote sensing technique that utilizes the round trip time of an emitted laser beam to provide the range between the laser scanner and the backscattering object. It is routinely used for topographic mapping, forest measurements or 3D city models since it derives useful object representations by means of a dense three-dimensional (3D) point cloud. Here, we present a novel application using the returned intensity of the emitted beam to detect surface moisture with the RIEGL VZ-400. Because this TLS operates at a wavelength near a water absorption band (1550 nm), reflectance is an accurate parameter to measure surface moisture over its full range. Five days of intensive laser scanning were performed on a Dutch beach to illustrate the applicability of the TLS. Concurrent gravimetric surface moisture samples were collected to calibrate the relation between reflectance and surface moisture. Results reveal the reflectance output is a robust parameter to measure surface moisture from the thin upper layer over its full range from 0% to 25%. The obtained calibration curve of the presented TLS, describing the relationship between reflectance and surface moisture, has a root-mean-square error of 2.7% and a correlation coefficient squared of 0.85. This relation holds to about 60 m from the TLS. Within this distance the TLS typically produces O(10^6-10^7) data points, which we averaged into surface moisture maps with a 1 x 1 m resolution. This grid size largely removes small moisture disturbances induced by, for example, footprints or tire tracks, while retaining larger scale trends. Concluding, TLS (RIEGL-VZ 400) is a highly suited technique to accurately and robustly measure spatiotemporal surface moisture variations on a coastal beach with high spatial ( 1 x 1 m) and temporal ( 15-30min.) resolution.

Typical and darkened Portland cement concrete pavement: temperature, moisture, and roughness analyses : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-01-01

The objectives of this research were to 1) investigate the effects of lower concrete albedo on the thermal behavior of concrete pavement by directly comparing temperatures and moisture contents of typical and darkened concrete pavements and 2) invest...

Hygrothermal Performance of West Coast Wood Deck Roofing System

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

Pallin, Simon B.; Kehrer, Manfred; Desjarlais, Andre Omer

2014-02-01

Simulations of roofing assemblies are necessary in order to understand and adequately predict actual the hygrothermal performance. At the request of GAF, simulations have been setup to verify the difference in performance between white and black roofing membrane colors in relation to critical moisture accumulation for traditional low slope wood deck roofing systems typically deployed in various western U.S. Climate Zones. The performance of these roof assemblies has been simulated in the hygrothermal calculation tool of WUFI, from which the result was evaluated based on a defined criterion for moisture safety. The criterion was defined as the maximum accepted watermore » content for wood materials and the highest acceptable moisture accumulation rate in relation to the risk of rot. Based on the criterion, the roof assemblies were certified as being either safe, risky or assumed to fail. The roof assemblies were simulated in different western climates, with varying insulation thicknesses, two different types of wooden decking, applied with varying interior moisture load and with either a high or low solar absorptivity at the roof surface (black or white surface color). The results show that the performance of the studied roof assemblies differs with regard to all of the varying parameters, especially the climate and the indoor moisture load.« less

Humidity data for 9975 shipping packages with cane fiberboard

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

Daugherty, W. L.

The 9975 surveillance program is developing a technical basis to support extending the storage period of 9975 packages in K-Area Complex beyond the currently approved 15 years. A key element of this effort is developing a better understanding of degradation of the fiberboard assembly under storage conditions. This degradation is influenced greatly by the moisture content of the fiberboard, which is not well characterized on an individual package basis. Direct measurements of humidity and fiberboard moisture content have been made on two test packages with cane fiberboard and varying internal heat levels from 0 up to 19W. With an internalmore » heat load, a temperature gradient in the fiberboard assembly leads to varying relative humidity in the air around the fiberboard. However, the absolute humidity tends to remain approximately constant throughout the package. The moisture content of fiberboard varies under the influence of several phenomena. Changes in local fiberboard temperature (from an internal heat load) can cause fiberboard moisture changes through absorption or evaporation. Fiberboard degradation at elevated temperature will produce water as a byproduct. And the moisture level within the package is constantly seeking equilibrium with that of the surrounding room air, which varies on a daily and seasonal basis. One indicator of the moisture condition within a 9975 package might be obtained by measuring the relative humidity in the upper air space, by inserting a humidity probe through a caplug hole. However, the data indicate that for the higher internal heat loads (15 and 19 watts), a large variation in internal moisture conditions produces little or no variation in the air space relative humidity. Therefore, this approach does not appear to be sensitive to fiberboard moisture variations at the higher heat loads which are of most interest to maintaining fiberboard integrity.« less

Moisture Absorption Characteristics of Epoxy Based Adhesive Reinforced with CTBN and Ceramic Particles for Bonded-in Timber Connection: Fickian or Non-Fickian Behaviour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Z.; Ansell, M. P.; Smedley, D.

2011-02-01

For in-situ bonding of pultruded rod into timber structural members, such as in the construction of bonded-in timber connection, strengthening and repair of timber structures, the adhesive used must be thixotropic, room temperature cure, environmentally stable and friendly and applied at without pressure. This study investigates the moisture absorption characteristics of three adhesives specially formulated for bonded-in timber connections where the adhesives are reinforced with nano- and micro-particles denoted as CB10TSS (standard adhesive), Albipox (CB10TSS/CTBN) and Timberset (ceramics filled adhesive) with the aim to improve mechanical properties and raise glass transition temperature. The effect of high temperatures and high humidity on the properties of adhesives were determined following conditioning at different temperatures (20°C, 30°C and 50°C) and relative humidities (65%, 75% and 95%) and soaking in water at 20°C In all cases the properties of Albipox were least affected by environment but Timberset exhibited the lowest moisture uptake. Exposure to humid environments at temperatures 20°C and 30°C for CB10TSS and Albipox and 50°C for Timberset resulted in water uptake characterized as Fickian which had only a modest effect on properties. However, exposure to humid environments at temperature (50°C) which is higher than Tg resulted in non-Fickian uptake of water for CB10TSS and Albipox and a more adverse effect on properties.

Low dielectric constant and moisture-resistant polyimide aerogels containing trifluoromethyl pendent groups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Tingting; Dong, Jie; Gan, Feng; Fang, Yuting; Zhao, Xin; Zhang, Qinghua

2018-05-01

Conventional polyimide aerogels made from biphenyl-3,3‧,4,4‧-tetracarboxylic dianydride (BPDA) and 4,4‧-oxidianiline (ODA) exhibit poor resistance to moisture and mechanical properties. In this work, a versatile diamine, 2,2‧-bis-(trifluoromethyl)-4,4‧-diaminobiphenyl (TFMB), is introduced to BPDA/ODA backbone to modify the comprehensive performance of this aerogel. Among all formulations, the resulted polyimide aerogels exhibit the lowest shrinkage and density as well as highest porosity, at the ODA/TFMB molar ratio of 5/5. Dielectric constants and loss tangents of the aerogels fall in the range of 1.29-1.33 and 0.001-0.004, respectively, and more TFMB fractions results in a slightly decrease of dielectric constant and loss tangent. In addition, moisture-resistance of the aerogels are dramatically enhanced as the water absorption decreasing from 415% for BPDA/ODA to 13% for the polyimide aerogel at the ODA/TFMB molar ratio of 7/3, and even to 4% for the homo-BPDA/TFMB polyimide aerogel, showing a superhydrophobic characteristic, which is a great advantage for polyimide aerogels used as low dielectric materials. Meanwhile, all of formulations of aerogels exhibit high absorption capacities for oils and common organic solvents, indicating that these fluorinated polyimide aerogels are good candidates for the separation of oils/organic solvents and water. Mechanical properties and thermal stability of the polyimide aerogels are also raised to varying degrees due to the rigid-rod biphenyl structure introduced by TFMB.

Surface characterization of lignocellulosics for composite manufacture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iyer, Ananth V.

The objectives of this research were to form moisture resistant wheat strawboards, either by altering the straw surface characteristics or by changing the chemistry of the polymeric 4, 4' diphenylmethane diisocyanate (PMDI)-based matrix and interface. Part I compared the surface characteristics of wheat, barley, oat, rice, kenaf, hemp and softwood particles. All cereal straws had two surfaces: epidermis and brittle-pith unlike one heterogeneous type observed for bast fibers and softwood particles. The epidermis of cereal straws was not wet by water or aqueous binders, whereas the pith surface allowed the penetration of water, but was not readily wetted by aqueous binders. Between the different surface treatments evaluated for wheat straw in Part II, NaOH selectively peeled-off the epidermis and pith layers. The treated straw particles were formable into strawboards using aqueous phenol-formaldehyde, urea-formaldehyde, and duroplastic acrylic acid binders with good internal bond strength (IBS) and adequate water resistance. In Part III it was shown that, decreasing straw particle sizes and bleaching worsened the mechanical properties of strawboards, but the moisture absorption properties of bleached strawboards were lower than the unbleached ones. Layering of straw particles in strawboards did not seem to affect their mechanical or moisture absorption properties. Part IV showed that the pith surface of wheat straw was fractured on curing with PMDI, providing hollow microcrevices for water accumulation. Furthermore, the cured PMDI formed a network polyurea/polyuretonimine/polycarbodiimide/polyisocyanurate polymer on straw surfaces whose properties dictated the properties of strawboards. Among the different mono-, bi-, and tri-functional alcohols, amines and carboxylic acids evaluated in Part V as H-donor substitutes to moisture for reaction with PMDI on straw surfaces, ethylene glycol, resorcinol, glycerin and citric acid provided IBS values greater than the ANSI recommended minimum (60 psi) and lower thickness swell values than the moisture-cure process. In Part VI, strawboards formed with 2% PMDI and 5% epoxy or duroplastic acrylic acid binders had high IBS values, and their thickness swell after 24 h soaking in water was restricted to 13%, which was much lower than the ˜18--20% values obtained for strawboards made with 5% PMDI.

Effects of moisture, elevated temperature, and fatigue loading on the behavior of graphite/epoxy buffer strip panels with center cracks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bigelow, C. A.

1988-01-01

The effects of fatigue loading combined with moisture and heat on the behavior of graphite epoxy panels with either Kevlar-49 or S-glass buffer strips were studied. Buffer strip panels, that had a slit in the center to represent damage, were moisture conditioned or heated, fatigue loaded, and then tested in tension to measure their residual strength. The buffer strips were parallel to the loading direction and were made by replacing narrow strips of the 0 deg graphite plies with Kevlar-49 epoxy or S-glass epoxy on a 1-for-1 basis. The panels were subjected to a fatigue loading spectrum. One group of panels was preconditioned by soaking in 60 C water to produce a 1 percent weight gain then tested at room temperature. One group was heated to 82 C during the fatigue loading. Another group was moisture conditioned and then tested at 82 C. The residual strengths of the buffer panels were not highly affected by the fatigue loading, the number of repetitions of the loading spectrum, or the maximum strain level. The moisture conditioning reduced the residual strengths of the S-glass buffer strip panel by 10 to 15 percent below the ambient results. The moisture conditioning did not have a large effect on the Kevlar-49 panels.

Mechanical and Physical Properties of Hydrophobized Lightweight Aggregate Concrete with Sewage Sludge

PubMed Central

Suchorab, Zbigniew; Barnat-Hunek, Danuta; Franus, Małgorzata; Łagód, Grzegorz

2016-01-01

This article is focused on lightweight aggregate-concrete modified by municipal sewage sludge and lightweight aggregate-concrete obtained from light aggregates. The article presents laboratory examinations of material physical parameters. Water absorptivity of the examined material was decreased by the admixture of water emulsion of reactive polysiloxanes. Water transport properties were determined using Time Domain Reflectometry, an indirect technique for moisture detection in porous media. Together with basic physical parameters, the heat conductivity coefficient λ was determined for both types of lightweight aggregate-concrete. Analysis of moisture and heat properties of the examined materials confirmed the usefulness of light aggregates supplemented with sewage sludge for prospective production. PMID:28773442

Thermodynamic analysis on heavy metals partitioning impacted by moisture during the MSW incineration

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

Zhang Yanguo; Li Qinghai; Jia Jinyan

2012-12-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Partitioning of HMs affected by moisture was investigated by thermodynamic analysis. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Increase in moisture and in temperature was opposite impact on HMs contribution. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The extent of temperature decreased by increase in moisture determines the impact. - Abstract: A thermodynamic calculation was carried out to predict the behavior and speciation of heavy metals (HMs), Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd, during municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration with the different moisture levels. The calculation was based on the minimization of the total Gibbs free energy of the multi-components and multi-phases closed system reaching chemical equilibrium. The calculation also indicatedmore » the reaction directions and tendencies of HMs components. The impacts of chlorine additives (No PVC, 1%PVC, and 5%PVC) and moisture on the behavior of HMs were investigated at different temperature levels in the system (750 Degree-Sign C, 950 Degree-Sign C, and 1150 Degree-Sign C). Furthermore, because the incineration temperature falls down with the increase in moisture in waste, the co-influence of moisture and temperature in combusting MSW on the HMs was also studied with the given chlorine (as 1%PVC + 0.5%NaCl). The results showed that in the non-chlorine system, the impact of the moisture on Pb, Zn, and Cu was not significant, and the ratio of compound transformation was less than 10%, except the Cd compounds at 950 Degree-Sign C and 1150 Degree-Sign C. In the system with low chlorine (as 1%PVC) at constant temperature, the chlorides of HMs (Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu) transferred to oxides, and when the content of chlorine rose up (as 5%PVC), the ratio of the chlorides of HMs (Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu) transferring to oxides fell down noticeably. When the moisture varied together with the temperature, the Zn and Cu compounds transferred from chlorides to oxides with increase in moisture as well as decrease in temperature. At the temperature of 700-1000 Degree-Sign C, the impact of temperature on Pb and Cd was little and the moisture was the main factor; while at the temperature of 1000-1200 Degree-Sign C, the impact of increase in moisture and decrease in temperature on Pb and Cd was almost equal and reversed.« less

Using a Simple Parcel Model to Investigate the Haines Index

Treesearch

Mary Ann Jenkins; Steven K. Krueger; Ruiyu Sun

2003-01-01

The Haines Index (Haines 1988) ia fire-weather index based on stability and moisture conditions of the lower atmosphere that rates the potential for large fire growth or extreme fire behavior. The Hained Index is calculated by adding a temperature term a to a moisture term b.

New high-temperature flame-resistant resin matrix for RP/C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kourtides, D. A.

1981-01-01

The processing parameters of graphite composites utilizing graphite fabric and epoxy or other advanced thermoset and thermoplastic resins as matrices are discussed. The evaluated properties include anaerobic char yield, limiting oxygen index, smoke evolution, moisture absorption, and high-temperature mechanical properties. It is shown that graphite composites having the highest char yield exhibit optimum fire-resistant properties.

Investigating Wind-Driven Rain Intrusion in Walls with the CARWASh

Treesearch

C.R. Boardman; Samuel V. Glass

2013-01-01

Wind-driven rain provides the primary external moisture load for exterior walls.Water absorption by the cladding, runoff, and penetration through the cladding or at details determine how a wall system performs. In this paper we describe a new laboratory facility that can create controlled outdoor and indoor conditions and use it to investigate the water...

Co-extrusion of WPCs with a clear cap layer to improve color stability

Treesearch

Nicole M. Stark; Laurent M. Matuana

2009-01-01

Wood-plastic composites (WPCs) have been gaining market share in residential construction applications such as lumber for decking, roof tiles, and siding. The durability of these materials in exterior environments is just beginning to be understood. Current research suggests that controlling moisture absorption by the composite is key to improving durability. Methods...

Effect of the method of process on the control of microbial growth by water activity in foods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Labuzu, T. D.

1972-01-01

Two methods for preparation of intermediate moisture foods (IMF) were investigated; water absorption and water desorption technique. Results indicate that shelf stability of IMF systems might be enhanced by preparing foods by rehumidifying dehydrated foods to optimum water activity rather than drying food to reduce the water activity.

Pressure-Induced Polymerization of LiN(CN) 2

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

Keefer, Derek W.; Gou, Huiyang; Purdy, Andrew P.

The high-pressure behavior of lithium dicyanamide (LiN(CN) 2) was studied with in situ Raman and infrared (IR) spectroscopies, and synchrotron angle-dispersive powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) to 22 GPa. The fundamental vibrational modes associated with molecular units were assigned using a combination of experimental data and density functional perturbation theory. Some low-frequency modes were observed for the first time. On the basis of spectroscopic and diffraction data, we suggest a polymorphic phase transformation at ~8 GPa, wherein dicyanamide ions remain as discrete molecular species. Above ca. 18 GPa, dicyanamide units polymerize, forming a largely disorderedmore » network, and the extent of polymerization may be increased by annealing at elevated temperature. The polymerized product consists of tricyanomelaminate-like groups containing sp 2-hybidized carbon–nitrogen bonds and exhibits a visible absorption edge near 540 nm. The product is recoverable to ambient conditions but is not stable in air/moisture.« less

Water Dynamics in Egg White Peptide, Asp-His-Thr-Lys-Glu, Powder Monitored by Dynamic Vapor Sorption and LF-NMR.

PubMed

Yang, Shuailing; Liu, Xuye; Jin, Yan; Li, Xingfang; Chen, Feng; Zhang, Mingdi; Lin, Songyi

2016-03-16

Water absorbed into the bulk amorphous structure of peptides can have profound effects on their properties. Here, we elucidated water dynamics in Asp-His-Thr-Lys-Glu (DHTKE), an antioxidant peptide derived from egg white ovalbumin, using water dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). The DVS results indicated that parallel exponential kinetics model fitted well to the data of sorption kinetics behavior of DHTKE. Four different proton fractions with different mobilities were identified based on the degree of interaction between peptide and water. The water could significantly change the proton distribution and structure of the sample. The different phases of moisture absorption were reflected in the T2 parameters. In addition, the combined water content was dominant in the hygroscopicity of DHTKE. This study provides an effective real-time monitoring method for water mobility and distribution in synthetic peptides, and this method may have applications in promoting peptide quality assurance.

Effect of Ca(OH)2 on Oxidation and Ignition Resistances of Pure Mg

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jang, Dong-In; Kim, Shae K.

CaO added Eco-Mg alloy has the potential to maximize the environmental benefits provided by lightweight, unlimited, and recyclable Mg alloy by eliminating global warming SF6 or other protective gases as well as Be addition. It is possible to ensure the safety during manufacturing and application, especially without sacrificing process abilities and mechanical properties and increasing the cost of Mg alloy. However, the one limitation of CaO is prone to moisture absorption during storage. Instead of CaO, it is attempted to use Ca(OH)2, which does not absorb moisture during storage, for Eco-Mg alloy. This paper discusses the effect of Ca(OH)2 on oxidation and ignition resistances of pure Mg and to compare the results with them of CaO addition. The purpose of this study is to investigate effects of CaO and Ca(OH)2 on pure Mg through micro structure observation, ignition test and phase analysis. With increasing Ca(OH)2 content, the hardness of Ca(OH)2 added Mg alloy increased by grain refinement. From oxidation test by TGA, the oxidation behavior of Ca(OH)2 added Mg was comparable to that of CaO added Mg alloy for the previous study. Consequently, it seems that reduction of fluidity and mold adhesion could be minimized by adding small amount of Ca(OH)2 which is cheap and easy to be handled due to its stability in application for Eco-Mg alloy.

Survey of methods for soil moisture determination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmugge, T. J.; Jackson, T. J.; Mckim, H. L.

1979-01-01

Existing and proposed methods for soil moisture determination are discussed. These include: (1) in situ investigations including gravimetric, nuclear, and electromagnetic techniques; (2) remote sensing approaches that use the reflected solar, thermal infrared, and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum; and (3) soil physics models that track the behavior of water in the soil in response to meteorological inputs (precipitation) and demands (evapotranspiration). The capacities of these approaches to satisfy various user needs for soil moisture information vary from application to application, but a conceptual scheme for merging these approaches into integrated systems to provide soil moisture information is proposed that has the potential for meeting various application requirements.

Divergent surface and total soil moisture projections under global warming

USGS Publications Warehouse

Berg, Alexis; Sheffield, Justin; Milly, Paul C.D.

2017-01-01

Land aridity has been projected to increase with global warming. Such projections are mostly based on off-line aridity and drought metrics applied to climate model outputs but also are supported by climate-model projections of decreased surface soil moisture. Here we comprehensively analyze soil moisture projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5, including surface, total, and layer-by-layer soil moisture. We identify a robust vertical gradient of projected mean soil moisture changes, with more negative changes near the surface. Some regions of the northern middle to high latitudes exhibit negative annual surface changes but positive total changes. We interpret this behavior in the context of seasonal changes in the surface water budget. This vertical pattern implies that the extensive drying predicted by off-line drought metrics, while consistent with the projected decline in surface soil moisture, will tend to overestimate (negatively) changes in total soil water availability.

Landscape-scale soil moisture heterogeneity and its influence on surface fluxes at the Jornada LTER site: Evaluating a new model parameterization for subgrid-scale soil moisture variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, I. T.; Prihodko, L.; Vivoni, E. R.; Denning, A. S.

2017-12-01

Arid and semiarid regions represent a large fraction of global land, with attendant importance of surface energy and trace gas flux to global totals. These regions are characterized by strong seasonality, especially in precipitation, that defines the level of ecosystem stress. Individual plants have been observed to respond non-linearly to increasing soil moisture stress, where plant function is generally maintained as soils dry down to a threshold at which rapid closure of stomates occurs. Incorporating this nonlinear mechanism into landscape-scale models can result in unrealistic binary "on-off" behavior that is especially problematic in arid landscapes. Subsequently, models have `relaxed' their simulation of soil moisture stress on evapotranspiration (ET). Unfortunately, these relaxations are not physically based, but are imposed upon model physics as a means to force a more realistic response. Previously, we have introduced a new method to represent soil moisture regulation of ET, whereby the landscape is partitioned into `BINS' of soil moisture wetness, each associated with a fractional area of the landscape or grid cell. A physically- and observationally-based nonlinear soil moisture stress function is applied, but when convolved with the relative area distribution represented by wetness BINS the system has the emergent property of `smoothing' the landscape-scale response without the need for non-physical impositions on model physics. In this research we confront BINS simulations of Bowen ratio, soil moisture variability and trace gas flux with soil moisture and eddy covariance observations taken at the Jornada LTER dryland site in southern New Mexico. We calculate the mean annual wetting cycle and associated variability about the mean state and evaluate model performance against this variability and time series of land surface fluxes from the highly instrumented Tromble Weir watershed. The BINS simulations capture the relatively rapid reaction to wetting events and more prolonged response to drying cycles, as opposed to binary behavior in the control.

Evaluation of moisture barrier coatings on carbon-phenolic SRM nozzle materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcnutt, Ronald C.

1986-01-01

The carbon-phenolic composite ablative material used on the Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) nozzle is known to absorb moisture from the atmosphere. This could cause problems such as pocketing during firing. Several moisture barrier coatings were tested on the SRM nozzle material. Data are presented for six of the 12 coatings to be tested. The data were obtained from immersion of coated samples in an environmental chamber at 100 F and 100% relative humidity and by using a modified TGA (thermal gravimetric analysis) technique. The TGA technique involved allowing wet nitrogen (25 C, 80% relative humidity) to flow across a small sample at about 65 cu cm per minute while continually monitoring the weight increase. These preliminary results show Kel-F-800, a material supplied by 3M Corporation to be the better moisture barrier. A second task was to collect data on the relative absorption of water and kerosene into the carbon-phenolic SRM nozzle material. These data indicate that water absorbs into the nozzle material to a much greater extent than kerosene. Thus kerosene is the more likely solvent in which to make specific gravity measurements on the SRM nozzle material.

An empirical model for the complex dielectric permittivity of soils as a function of water content

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, J. R.; Chmugge, T. J.

1978-01-01

The recent measurements on the dielectric properties of soils shows that the variation of dielectric constant with moisture content depends on soil types. The observed dielectric constant increases only slowly with moisture content up to a transition point. Beyond the transition it increases rapidly with moisture content. The moisture value of transition region was found to be higher for high clay content soils than for sandy soils. Many mixing formulas were compared with, and were found incompatible with, the measured dielectric variations of soil-water mixtures. A simple empirical model was proposed to describe the dielectric behavior of ths soil-water mixtures. The relationship between transition moisture and wilting point provides a means of estimating soil dielectric properties on the basis of texture information.

Inferring Soil Moisture Memory from Streamflow Observations Using a Simple Water Balance Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orth, Rene; Koster, Randal Dean; Seneviratne, Sonia I.

2013-01-01

Soil moisture is known for its integrative behavior and resulting memory characteristics. Soil moisture anomalies can persist for weeks or even months into the future, making initial soil moisture a potentially important contributor to skill in weather forecasting. A major difficulty when investigating soil moisture and its memory using observations is the sparse availability of long-term measurements and their limited spatial representativeness. In contrast, there is an abundance of long-term streamflow measurements for catchments of various sizes across the world. We investigate in this study whether such streamflow measurements can be used to infer and characterize soil moisture memory in respective catchments. Our approach uses a simple water balance model in which evapotranspiration and runoff ratios are expressed as simple functions of soil moisture; optimized functions for the model are determined using streamflow observations, and the optimized model in turn provides information on soil moisture memory on the catchment scale. The validity of the approach is demonstrated with data from three heavily monitored catchments. The approach is then applied to streamflow data in several small catchments across Switzerland to obtain a spatially distributed description of soil moisture memory and to show how memory varies, for example, with altitude and topography.

Soil Moisture Remote Sensing with GNSS-R at the Valencia Anchor Station. The SOMOSTA (Soil Moisture Station) Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez-Baeza, Ernesto

2016-07-01

In this paper, the SOMOSTA (Soil Moisture Monitoring Station) experiment on soil moisture monitoring byGlobal Navigation Satellite System Reflected signals(GNSS-R) at the Valencia Anchor Station is introduced. L-band microwaves have very good advantages in soil moisture remote sensing, for being unaffected by clouds and the atmosphere, and for the ability to penetrate vegetation. During this experimental campaign, the ESA GNSS-R Oceanpal antenna was installed on the same tower as the ESA ELBARA-II passive microwave radiometer, both measuring instruments having similar field of view. This experiment is fruitfully framed within the ESA - China Programme of Collaboration on GNSS-R. The GNSS-R instrument has an up-looking antenna for receiving direct signals from satellites, and two down-looking antennas for receiving LHCP (left-hand circular polarisation) and RHCP (right-hand circular polarisation) reflected signals from the soil surface. We could collect data from the three different antennas through the two channels of Oceanpal and, in addition, calibration could be performed to reduce the impact from the differing channels. Reflectivity was thus measured and soil moisture could be retrieved by the L- MEB (L-band Microwave Emission of the Biosphere) model considering the effect of vegetation optical thickness and soil roughness. By contrasting GNSS-R and ELBARA-II radiometer data, a negative correlation existed between reflectivity measured by GNSS-R and brightness temperature measured by the radiometer. The two parameters represent reflection and absorption of the soil. Soil moisture retrieved by both L-band remote sensing methods shows good agreement. In addition, correspondence with in-situ measurements and rainfall is also good.

Frequency and Thermal Behavior of Acoustic Absorption in ɛ-GaSe Crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dzhafarova, S. Z.

2018-04-01

The paper presents results of measuring acoustic absorption in ɛ-GaSe crystals. The absorption of a longitudinal wave which propagates normal to the crystal layers, quadratically depends on frequency. However, it does not depend on temperature, i.e. it displays an Akhiezer behavior although its absolute value considerably exceeds the expected. The analysis of the frequency and thermal behavior of absorption of piezoelectric waves propagating along the layers, includes the deduction of contribution made by the interaction between waves and charge carriers. This analysis shows the linear dependence between the lattice absorption of these waves and the frequency. The linear frequency and weak temperature dependences of the acoustic absorption characterize the additional ultra-Akhiezer absorption in glasses. In our case, it can be caused by various polytypes forming in GaSe crystals which differ merely in a mutual arrangement of layers.

Application of satellite data to tropic-subtropic moisture coupling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Aylmer H.; Mcguirk, James P.

1987-01-01

Common tropical synoptic events, called moisture bursts, have been defined in terms of their appearance in infrared satellite imagery. Their synoptic and climatological behavior over the tropical North Pacific Ocean is described using data from four cool seasons, including the 1982 to 1983 El Nino winter and the January and May of 1979.

Storage Stability of Food Protein Hydrolysates-A Review.

PubMed

Rao, Qinchun; Klaassen Kamdar, Andre; Labuza, Theodore P

2016-05-18

In recent years, mainly due to the specific health benefits associated with (1) the discovery of bioactive peptides in protein hydrolysates, (2) the reduction of protein allergenicity by protein hydrolysis, and (3) the improved protein digestibility and absorption of protein hydrolysates, the utilization of protein hydrolysates in functional foods and beverages has significantly increased. Although the specific health benefits from different hydrolysates are somewhat proven, the delivery and/or stability of these benefits is debatable during distribution, storage, and consumption. In this review, we discuss (1) the quality changes in different food protein hydrolysates during storage; (2) the resulting changes in the structure and texture of three food matrices, i.e., low moisture foods (LMF, aw < 0.6), intermediate moisture foods (IMF, 0.6 ≤ aw < 0.85), and high moisture foods (HMF, aw ≥ 0.85); and (3) the potential solutions to improve storage stability of food protein hydrolysates. In addition, we note there is a great need for evaluation of biofunction availability of bioactive peptides in food protein hydrolysates during storage.

Gluten-Free Precooked Rice-Yellow Pea Pasta: Effect of Extrusion-Cooking Conditions on Phenolic Acids Composition, Selected Properties and Microstructure.

PubMed

Bouasla, Abdallah; Wójtowicz, Agnieszka; Zidoune, Mohammed Nasereddine; Olech, Marta; Nowak, Renata; Mitrus, Marcin; Oniszczuk, Anna

2016-05-01

Rice/yellow pea flour blend (2/1 ratio) was used to produce gluten-free precooked pasta using a single-screw modified extrusion-cooker TS-45. The effect of moisture content (28%, 30%, and 32%) and screw speed (60, 80, and 100 rpm) on some quality parameters was assessed. The phenolic acids profile and selected pasta properties were tested, like pasting properties, water absorption capacity, cooking loss, texture characteristics, microstructure, and sensory overall acceptability. Results indicated that dough moisture content influenced all tested quality parameters of precooked pasta except firmness. Screw speed showed an effect only on some quality parameters. The extrusion-cooking process at 30% of dough moisture with 80 rpm is appropriate to obtain rice-yellow pea precooked pasta with high content of phenolics and adequate quality. These pasta products exhibited firm texture, low stickiness, and regular and compact interne structure confirmed by high score in sensory overall acceptability. © 2016 Institute of Food Technologists®

Effect of Moisture on the Thermoresponsive Properties of Binary Mixtures of Monoglycerides for Triggerable Drug Delivery Systems.

PubMed

Stonewall, Hannah D; Kessinger, Haley M; Mengesha, Abebe E

2017-10-01

The crystallization behavior and temperature-dependent phase transition of monoglycerides have been utilized to develop thermal-sensitive drug delivery systems. The presence of excess water has been reported to influence the phase transition. The present study investigates the effect of moisture on the thermal behavior of binary blends of monoglycerides. Various compositions (0-100 wt%) of glyceryl monooleate (GMO) and glyceryl monostearate (GMS) were prepared by fusion method, and exposed to varying relative humidity (RH) levels (0-100%). The moisture uptakes, sorption isotherm, and the thermal behavior of GMO-GMS samples were analyzed using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The in vitro nifedipine (NF) release was studied at 37 and 42°C. Samples of GMO-GMS (25:75, 50:50, and 75:25 wt%) stored at 97%RH at 25°C for 3 weeks increased in weight by 14.0, 14.7, and 15.8%, respectively. Despite such high moisture uptake, the GMO-GMS matrices maintained crystalline structure. The melting point (T m ) and heat of fusion (ΔH f ) of the samples were reduced as the amount of moisture in the matrices increased. However, the heat of fusion calculated on dry basis remained constant at 139.4 ± 1.25, 102.7 ± 1.14, and 46.7 ± 1.16 J/g for GMO-GMS 25:75, 50:50, and 75:25 wt%, respectively. The comparison of the XRD measurements of the dry samples with those containing 30% water confirmed the preserved crystalline arrangement in the matrices. This study indicates that despite the high moisture uptakes, the GMO-GMS matrices retained their crystalline properties and provided temperature-dependent drug release indicating the potential application for thermoresponsive local drug delivery systems.

Assessment of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Cement Panel Influenced by Treated and Untreated Coconut Fiber Addition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullah, Alida; Jamaludin, Shamsul Baharin; Anwar, Mohamed Iylia; Noor, Mazlee Mohd; Hussin, Kamarudin

This project was conducted to produce a cement panel with the addition of treated and untreated coconut fiber in cement panel. Coconut fiber was added to replace coarse aggregate (sand) in this cement panel. In this project, the ratios used to design the mixture were 1:1:0, 1:0.97:0.03, 1:0.94:0.06, 1:0.91:0.09 (cement: sand: coconut fiber). The water cement ratio was constant at 0.55. The sizes of sample tested were, 160 mm x 40 mm x 40 mm for compression test, and 100 mm x 100 mm x 40 mm for density, moisture content and water absorption tests. After curing samples for 28 days, it was found that the addition of coconut fiber, further increase in compressive strength of cement panel with untreated coconut fiber. Moisture content of cement panel with treated coconut fiber increased with increasing content of coconut fiber whereas water absorption of cement panel with untreated coconut fiber increased with increasing content of coconut fiber. The density of cement panel decreased with the addition of untreated and treated coconut fiber.

Alkali- or acid-induced changes in structure, moisture absorption ability and deacetylating reaction of β-chitin extracted from jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) pens.

PubMed

Jung, Jooyeoun; Zhao, Yanyun

2014-01-01

Alkali- or acid-induced structural modifications in β-chitin from squid (Dosidicus gigas, d'Orbigny, 1835) pens and their moisture absorption ability (MAA) and deacetylating reaction were investigated and compared with α-chitin from shrimp shells. β-Chitin was converted into the α-form after 3h in 40% NaOH or 1-3 h in 40% HCl solution, and α-chitin obtained from NaOH treatment had higher MAA than had native α-chitin, due to polymorphic destructions. In contrast, induced α-chitin from acid treatment of β-chitin had few polymorphic modifications, showing no significant change (P>0.05) in MAA. β-Chitin was more susceptible to alkali deacetylation than was α-chitin, and required a lower concentration of NaOH and shorter reaction time. These results demonstrate that alkali- or acid-treated β-chitin retained high susceptibility toward solvents, which in turn resulted in good biological activity of β-chitosan for use as a natural antioxidant and antimicrobial substance or application as edible coatings and films for various food applications. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Influence of SiO2 Addition on Properties of PTFE/TiO2 Microwave Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Ying; Wang, Jie; Yao, Minghao; Tang, Bin; Li, Enzhu; Zhang, Shuren

2018-01-01

Composite substrates for microwave circuit applications have been fabricated by filling polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer matrix with ceramic powder consisting of rutile TiO2 ( D 50 ≈ 5 μm) partially substituted with fused amorphous SiO2 ( D 50 ≈ 8 μm) with composition x vol.% SiO2 + (50 - x) vol.% TiO2 ( x = 0, 3, 6, 9, 12), and the effects of SiO2 addition on characteristics such as the density, moisture absorption, microwave dielectric properties, and thermal properties systematically investigated. The results show that the filler was well distributed throughout the matrix. High dielectric constant ( ɛ r > 7.19) and extremely low moisture absorption (<0.02%) were obtained, resulting from the relatively high density of the composites. The ceramic particles served as barriers and improved the thermal stability of the PTFE polymer, retarding its decomposition. The temperature coefficient of dielectric constant ( τ ɛ ) of the composites shifted toward the positive direction (from - 309 ppm/°C to - 179 ppm/°C) as the SiO2 content was increased, while the coefficient of thermal expansion remained almost unchanged (˜ 35 ppm/°C).

The weathering effect in natural environment on kenaf blast and unsaturated polyester composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammed, M.; Rozyanty, A. R.; Beta, B. O.; Adam, T.; Osman, A. F.; Salem, I. A. S.; Dahham, O. S.; Al-Samarrai, M. N.; Mohammed, A. M.

2017-10-01

A Kenaf composite was prepared by using hand lay-up process. The effect of weather on mechanical, morphology and thermal properties of kenaf composite were studied. Tensile strength of kenaf compositewas found to be 60MPa. Unfortunately, tensile strength of thecomposite starts to decrease after the first weathering month through to the weathering periods with constant reduction of tensile, at the end of the wreathing period., almost 85% the composite mechanical behaviour is lost. From the mechanical properties result obtained it clearly seen that natural fiber and their composites are not able to stand environmental condition because they have poor wettability, incompatibility with some polymeric matrices and high moisture absorption. Due to the high moisture absorption properties, there are formations of void in interfacial adhesion between fiber and matrix which can reduce the mechanical properties of composite such as flexural strength or flexural modulus this clearly supported by SEM results. Fortunately some modification can do towards improving the mechanical properties and it is good enough to achieve the high performance of the composite with proper system formulation during the modification processand the result of reinforced kenaffiber will be presented in our next publication.

The effect of dryer load on freeze drying process design.

PubMed

Patel, Sajal M; Jameel, Feroz; Pikal, Michael J

2010-10-01

Freeze-drying using a partial load is a common occurrence during the early manufacturing stages when insufficient amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) are available. In such cases, the immediate production needs are met by performing lyophilization with less than a full freeze dryer load. However, it is not obvious at what fractional load significant deviations from full load behavior begin. The objective of this research was to systematically study the effects of variation in product load on freeze drying behavior in laboratory, pilot and clinical scale freeze-dryers. Experiments were conducted with 5% mannitol (high heat and mass flux) and 5% sucrose (low heat and mass flux) at different product loads (100%, 50%, 10%, and 2%). Product temperature was measured in edge as well as center vials with thermocouples. Specific surface area (SSA) was measured by BET gas adsorption analysis and residual moisture was measured by Karl Fischer. In the lab scale freeze-dryer, the molar flux of inert gas was determined by direct flow measurement using a flowmeter and the molar flux of water vapor was determined by manometric temperature measurement (MTM) and tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) techniques. Comparative pressure measurement (capacitance manometer vs. Pirani) was used to determine primary drying time. For both 5% mannitol and 5% sucrose, primary drying time decreases and product temperature increases as the load on the shelves decreases. No systematic variation was observed in residual moisture and vapor composition as load decreased. Further, SSA data suggests that there are no significant freezing differences under different load conditions. Independent of dryer scale, among all the effects, variation in radiation heat transfer from the chamber walls to the product seems to be the dominant effect resulting in shorter primary drying time as the load on the shelf decreases (i.e., the fraction of edge vials increases).

Practical identification of moisture sources in building assemblies using infrared thermography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McIntosh, Gregory B.; Colantonio, Antonio

2015-05-01

Water, in its various phases, in any environment other than desert (hot or cold) conditions, is the single most destructive element that causes deterioration of materials and failure of building assemblies. It is the key element present in the formation of mold and fungi that lead to indoor air quality problems. Water is the primary element that needs to be managed in buildings to ensure human comfort, health and safety. Under the right thermodynamic conditions the detection of moisture in its various states is possible through the use of infrared thermography for a large variety of building assemblies and materials. The difficulty is that moisture is transient and mobile from one environment to another via air movement, vapor pressure or phase change. Building materials and enclosures provide both repositories and barriers to this moisture movement. In real life steady state conditions do not exist for moisture within building materials and enclosures. Thus the detection of moisture is in a constant state of transition. Sometimes you will see it and sometimes you will not. Understanding the limitations at the time of inspection will go a long way to mitigating unsatisfied clients or difficult litigation. Moisture detection can be observed by IRT via three physical mechanisms; latent heat absorption or release during phase change; a change in conductive heat transfer; and a change in thermal capacitance. Complicating the three methodologies is the factor of variable temperature differentials and variable mass air flow on, through and around surfaces being inspected. Building enclosures come in variable assembly types and are designed to perform differently in different environmental regions. Sources for moisture accumulation will vary for different environmental conditions. Detection methodologies will change for each assembly type in different ambient environments. This paper will look at the issue of the methodologies for detection of the presence of moisture and determination of the various sources from which it accumulates in building assemblies. The end objective for IRT based moisture detection inspections is not to just identify that moisture is present but to determine its extent and source. Accurate assessment of the source(s) and root cause of the moisture is critical to the development of a permanent solution to the problem.

Optimized retrievals of precipitable water from the VAS 'split window'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chesters, Dennis; Robinson, Wayne D.; Uccellini, Louis W.

1987-01-01

Precipitable water fields have been retrieved from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) using a radiation transfer model for the differential water vapor absorption between the 11- and 12-micron 'split window' channels. Previous moisture retrievals using only the split window channels provided very good space-time continuity but poor absolute accuracy. This note describes how retrieval errors can be significantly reduced from plus or minus 0.9 to plus or minus 0.6 gm/sq cm by empirically optimizing the effective air temperature and absorption coefficients used in the two-channel model. The differential absorption between the VAS 11- and 12-micron channels, empirically estimated from 135 colocated VAS-RAOB observations, is found to be approximately 50 percent smaller than the theoretical estimates. Similar discrepancies have been noted previously between theoretical and empirical absorption coefficients applied to the retrieval of sea surface temperatures using radiances observed by VAS and polar-orbiting satellites. These discrepancies indicate that radiation transfer models for the 11-micron window appear to be less accurate than the satellite observations.

Formulation and evaluation of buccal patches for delivery of atenolol.

PubMed

Adhikari, Surya N Ratha; Nayak, Bhabani S; Nayak, Amit K; Mohanty, Biswaranjan

2010-09-01

Buccal patches for the delivery of atenolol using sodium alginate with various hydrophilic polymers like carbopol 934 P, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose in various proportions and combinations were fabricated by solvent casting technique. Various physicomechanical parameters like weight variation, thickness, folding endurance, drug content, moisture content, moisture absorption, and various ex vivo mucoadhesion parameters like mucoadhesive strength, force of adhesion, and bond strength were evaluated. An in vitro drug release study was designed, and it was carried out using commercial semipermeable membrane. All these fabricated patches were sustained for 24 h and obeyed first-order release kinetics. Ex vivo drug permeation study was also performed using porcine buccal mucosa, and various drug permeation parameters like flux and lag time were determined.

Response of some Thematic Mapper band ratios to variation in soil water content

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Musick, H. Brad; Pelletier, Ramona E.

1986-01-01

Bidirectional reflectance to nadir in the reflective TM bands and the 1.15-1.3-micron band was measured in the laboratory as moisture content was varied in ten soils. Stronger absorption by water in TM5 and TM7 was expected to cause ratios of other bands to TM5 and TM7 to increase with water content, but in most cases these ratios were constant or decreased at low to intermediate water content and increased only at high moisture levels. Because these ratios were found to decrease as illumination elevation angle decreased, it was suggested that increased roughness resulting from the methods of moistening and mixing the soil may have tended to counteract the expected ratio increases.

Optimization of the secondary drying step in freeze drying using TDLAS technology.

PubMed

Schneid, Stefan C; Gieseler, Henning; Kessler, William J; Luthra, Suman A; Pikal, Michael J

2011-03-01

The secondary drying phase in freeze drying is mostly developed on a trial-and-error basis due to the lack of appropriate noninvasive process analyzers. This study describes for the first time the application of Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy, a spectroscopic and noninvasive sensor for monitoring secondary drying in laboratory-scale freeze drying with the overall purpose of targeting intermediate moisture contents in the product. Bovine serum albumin/sucrose mixtures were used as a model system to imitate high concentrated antibody formulations. First, the rate of water desorption during secondary drying at constant product temperatures (-22 °C, -10 °C, and 0 °C) was investigated for three different shelf temperatures. Residual moisture contents of sampled vials were determined by Karl Fischer titration. An equilibration step was implemented to ensure homogeneous distribution of moisture (within 1%) in all vials. The residual moisture revealed a linear relationship to the water desorption rate for different temperatures, allowing the evaluation of an anchor point from noninvasive flow rate measurements without removal of samples from the freeze dryer. The accuracy of mass flow integration from this anchor point was found to be about 0.5%. In a second step, the concept was successfully tested in a confirmation experiment. Here, good agreement was found for the initial moisture content (anchor point) and the subsequent monitoring and targeting of intermediate moisture contents. The present approach for monitoring secondary drying indicated great potential to find wider application in sterile operations on production scale in pharmaceutical freeze drying. © 2011 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists

Optimal design of porous structures for the fastest liquid absorption.

PubMed

Shou, Dahua; Ye, Lin; Fan, Jintu; Fu, Kunkun

2014-01-14

Porous materials engineered for rapid liquid absorption are useful in many applications, including oil recovery, spacecraft life-support systems, moisture management fabrics, medical wound dressings, and microfluidic devices. Dynamic absorption in capillary tubes and porous media is driven by the capillary pressure, which is inversely proportional to the pore size. On the other hand, the permeability of porous materials scales with the square of the pore size. The dynamic competition between these two superimposed mechanisms for liquid absorption through a heterogeneous porous structure may lead to an overall minimum absorption time. In this work, we explore liquid absorption in two different heterogeneous porous structures [three-dimensional (3D) circular tubes and porous layers], which are composed of two sections with variations in radius/porosity and height. The absorption time to fill the voids of porous constructs is expressed as a function of radius/porosity and height of local sections, and the absorption process does not follow the classic Washburn's law. Under given height and void volume, these two-section structures with a negative gradient of radius/porosity against the absorption direction are shown to have faster absorption rates than control samples with uniform radius/porosity. In particular, optimal structural parameters, including radius/porosity and height, are found that account for the minimum absorption time. The liquid absorption in the optimized porous structure is up to 38% faster than in a control sample. The results obtained can be used a priori for the design of porous structures with excellent liquid management property in various fields.

Effect of moisture cycling on truss-plate joint behavior

Treesearch

Leslie H. Groom

1994-01-01

The structural performance of wood trusses, which are now commonplace in light-frame construction, is dictated in part by the mechanical properties of the truss-plate joints. However, little information exists quantifying the effect of environmental conditions on truss-plate joint properties. The main objective of this paper was to quantify the effect of moisture...

Quantification of water penetration into concrete through cracks by neutron radiography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanematsu, M.; Maruyama, I.; Noguchi, T.; Iikura, H.; Tsuchiya, N.

2009-06-01

Improving the durability of concrete structures is one of the ways to contribute to the sustainable development of society, and it has also become a crucial issue from an environmental viewpoint. It is well known that moisture behavior in reinforced concrete is linked to phenomena such as cement hydration, volume change and cracking caused by drying shrinkage, rebar corrosion and water leakage that affect the durability of concrete. In this research, neutron radiography was applied for visualization and quantification of water penetration into concrete through cracks. It is clearly confirmed that TNR can make visible the water behavior in/near horizontal/vertical cracks and can quantify the rate of diffusion and concentration distribution of moisture with high spatial and time resolution. On detailed analysis, it is observed that water penetrates through the crack immediately after pouring and its migration speed and distribution depend on the moisture condition in the concrete.

Gene expression programming approach for the estimation of moisture ratio in herbal plants drying with vacuum heat pump dryer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dikmen, Erkan; Ayaz, Mahir; Gül, Doğan; Şahin, Arzu Şencan

2017-07-01

The determination of drying behavior of herbal plants is a complex process. In this study, gene expression programming (GEP) model was used to determine drying behavior of herbal plants as fresh sweet basil, parsley and dill leaves. Time and drying temperatures are input parameters for the estimation of moisture ratio of herbal plants. The results of the GEP model are compared with experimental drying data. The statistical values as mean absolute percentage error, root-mean-squared error and R-square are used to calculate the difference between values predicted by the GEP model and the values actually observed from the experimental study. It was found that the results of the GEP model and experimental study are in moderately well agreement. The results have shown that the GEP model can be considered as an efficient modelling technique for the prediction of moisture ratio of herbal plants.

Skin acceptability of a cosmetic moisturizer formulation in female subjects with sensitive skin.

PubMed

Nisbet, Stephanie J

2018-01-01

This 3-week, open-label, noncomparative clinical study evaluated the skin acceptability of a cosmetic moisturizer in subjects with sensitive skin, by monitoring adverse events (AEs) and cutaneous discomfort related to normal usage. Female subjects aged between 18-60 years, with Fitzpatrick phototype classification I-IV and sensitive skin, verified by a positive reaction on the stinging test at screening, were included. Subjects applied the moisturizer to their face and body twice daily for 21±2 days at home and recorded study product usage and feelings of cutaneous discomfort (eg, dryness, prickling, stinging, and itching) in a diary; any AEs were reported to the clinic. At study end, skin acceptability of the moisturizer was investigator-assessed based on the nature of AEs and subjects' self-reported feelings of discomfort, and by clinical evaluation of skin reactions in the area of moisturizer application (appearance of erythema, formation of edema, and skin desquamation; scored according to an adapted Draize and Kligman scale). Only subjects with a treatment compliance of ≥80% were included in the final analysis. In total, 35 subjects initiated and completed the study; all were compliant to the minimum study product usage. Per investigator clinical dermatological assessment at study end, none of the 35 subjects had skin reactions in the area of moisturizer application and there were no reported AEs. One subject reported sensations of mild prickling and itching immediately after applying the moisturizer (not classified as AEs), which spontaneously remitted after complete absorption of the product and were noted only in exposed areas. These events were considered by the investigator as being possibly/probably related to the use of study product; however, no clinical signs of skin reaction were observed in the exposed areas. This cosmetic moisturizer appears generally well tolerated and suitable for topical use in subjects with sensitive skin.

Skin acceptability of a cosmetic moisturizer formulation in female subjects with sensitive skin

PubMed Central

Nisbet, Stephanie J

2018-01-01

Purpose This 3-week, open-label, noncomparative clinical study evaluated the skin acceptability of a cosmetic moisturizer in subjects with sensitive skin, by monitoring adverse events (AEs) and cutaneous discomfort related to normal usage. Materials and methods Female subjects aged between 18–60 years, with Fitzpatrick phototype classification I–IV and sensitive skin, verified by a positive reaction on the stinging test at screening, were included. Subjects applied the moisturizer to their face and body twice daily for 21±2 days at home and recorded study product usage and feelings of cutaneous discomfort (eg, dryness, prickling, stinging, and itching) in a diary; any AEs were reported to the clinic. At study end, skin acceptability of the moisturizer was investigator-assessed based on the nature of AEs and subjects’ self-reported feelings of discomfort, and by clinical evaluation of skin reactions in the area of moisturizer application (appearance of erythema, formation of edema, and skin desquamation; scored according to an adapted Draize and Kligman scale). Only subjects with a treatment compliance of ≥80% were included in the final analysis. Results In total, 35 subjects initiated and completed the study; all were compliant to the minimum study product usage. Per investigator clinical dermatological assessment at study end, none of the 35 subjects had skin reactions in the area of moisturizer application and there were no reported AEs. One subject reported sensations of mild prickling and itching immediately after applying the moisturizer (not classified as AEs), which spontaneously remitted after complete absorption of the product and were noted only in exposed areas. These events were considered by the investigator as being possibly/probably related to the use of study product; however, no clinical signs of skin reaction were observed in the exposed areas. Conclusion This cosmetic moisturizer appears generally well tolerated and suitable for topical use in subjects with sensitive skin. PMID:29750047

Environmental effects on long term behavior of composite laminates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singhal, S. N.; Chamis, C. C.

Model equations are presented for approximate methods simulating the long-term behavior of composite materials and structures in hot/humid service environments. These equations allow laminate property upgradings with time, and can account for the effects of service environments on creep response. These methodologies are illustrated for various individual and coupled temperature/moisture, longitudinal/transverse, and composite material type cases. Creep deformation is noted to rise dramatically for cases of matrix-borne, but not of fiber-borne, loading in hot, humid environments; the coupled influence of temperature and moisture is greater than a mere combination of their individual influences.

Environmental effects on long term behavior of composite laminates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singhal, S. N.; Chamis, C. C.

1992-01-01

Model equations are presented for approximate methods simulating the long-term behavior of composite materials and structures in hot/humid service environments. These equations allow laminate property upgradings with time, and can account for the effects of service environments on creep response. These methodologies are illustrated for various individual and coupled temperature/moisture, longitudinal/transverse, and composite material type cases. Creep deformation is noted to rise dramatically for cases of matrix-borne, but not of fiber-borne, loading in hot, humid environments; the coupled influence of temperature and moisture is greater than a mere combination of their individual influences.

Modeling effects of moisture content and advection on odor causing VOCs volatilization from stored swine manure.

PubMed

Liao, C M; Liang, H M

2000-05-01

Two models for evaluating the contents and advection of manure moisture on odor causing volatile organic compounds (VOC-odor) volatilization from stored swine manure were studied for their ability to predict the volatilization rate (indoor air concentration) and cumulative exposure dose: a MJ-I model and a MJ-II model. Both models simulating depletion of source contaminant via volatilization and degradation based on an analytical model adapted from the behavior assessment model of Jury et al. In the MJ-I model, manure moisture movement was negligible, whereas in the MJ-II model, time-dependent indoor air concentrations was a function of constant manure moisture contents and steady-state moisture advection. Predicted indoor air concentrations and inhaled doses for the study VOC-odors of p-cresol, toluene, and p-xylene varied by up to two to three orders of magnitude depending on the manure moisture conditions. The sensitivity analysis of both models suggests that when manure moisture movement exists, simply MJ-I model is inherently not sufficient to represent a more generally volatilization process, which can even become stringent as moisture content increases. The conclusion illustrates how one needs to include a wide variety of manure moisture values in order to fully assess the complex volatilization mechanisms that are present in a real situation.

Ecosystem-scale plant hydraulic strategies inferred from remotely-sensed soil moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bassiouni, M.; Good, S. P.; Higgins, C. W.

2017-12-01

Characterizing plant hydraulic strategies at the ecosystem scale is important to improve estimates of evapotranspiration and to understand ecosystem productivity and resilience. However, quantifying plant hydraulic traits beyond the species level is a challenge. The probability density function of soil moisture observations provides key information about the soil moisture states at which evapotranspiration is reduced by water stress. Here, an inverse Bayesian approach is applied to a standard bucket model of soil column hydrology forced with stochastic precipitation inputs. Through this approach, we are able to determine the soil moisture thresholds at which stomata are open or closed that are most consistent with observed soil moisture probability density functions. This research utilizes remotely-sensed soil moisture data to explore global patterns of ecosystem-scale plant hydraulic strategies. Results are complementary to literature values of measured hydraulic traits of various species in different climates and previous estimates of ecosystem-scale plant isohydricity. The presented approach provides a novel relation between plant physiological behavior and soil-water dynamics.

Influence of ambient moisture on the compaction behavior of microcrystalline cellulose powder undergoing uni-axial compression and roller-compaction: a comparative study using near-infrared spectroscopy.

PubMed

Gupta, Abhay; Peck, Garnet E; Miller, Ronald W; Morris, Kenneth R

2005-10-01

This study evaluates the effect of variation in the ambient moisture on the compaction behavior of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) powder. The study was conducted by comparing the physico-mechanical properties of, and the near infrared (NIR) spectra collected on, compacts prepared by roller compaction with those collected on simulated ribbons, that is, compacts prepared under uni-axial compression. Relative density, moisture content, tensile strength (TS), and Young modulus were used as key sample attributes for comparison. Samples prepared at constant roller compactor settings and feed mass showed constant density and a decrease in TS with increasing moisture content. Compacts prepared under uni-axial compression at constant pressure and compact mass showed the opposite effect, that is, density increased while TS remained almost constant with increasing moisture content. This suggests difference in the influence of moisture on the material under roller compaction, in which the roll gap (i.e., thickness and therefore density) remains almost constant, vs. under uni-axial compression, in which the thickness is free to change in response to the applied pressure. Key sample attributes were also related to the NIR spectra using multivariate data analysis by the partial least squares projection to latent structures (PLS). Good agreement was observed between the measured and the NIR-PLS predicted values for all key attributes for both, the roller compacted samples as well as the simulated ribbons. Copyright (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association

A novel approach for improving the drying behavior of sludge by the appropriate foaming pretreatment.

PubMed

Huang, Jing; Yang, Zhao-Hui; Zeng, Guang-Ming; Wang, Hui-Ling; Yan, Jing-Wu; Xu, Hai-Yin; Gou, Cheng-Liu

2015-01-01

Foaming pretreatment has long been recognized to promote drying materials with sticky and viscous behaviors. A novel approach, CaO addition followed by appropriate mechanical whipping, was employed for the foaming of dewatered sludge at a moisture content of 80-85%. In the convective drying, the foamed sludge at 0.70 g/mL had the best drying performance at any given temperature, which saved 35-41% drying time for reaching 20% moisture content compared with the non-foamed sludge. Considering the maximum foaming efficiency, the optimal CaO addition was found at 2.0 wt%. For a better understanding of the foaming mechanisms, the foamability of sludge processed with other pretreatment methods, including NaOH addition (0-3.0 wt%) and heating application (60-120 °C), were investigated while continuously whipping. Their recovered supernatant phases were characterized by pH, surface tension, soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD), protein concentration, polysaccharide concentration and spectra of excitation-emission matrices (EEM). These comparative studies indicated that the sludge foaming was mainly derived from the decreased surface tension by the surfactants and the promoted foam persistence by the protein derived compounds. Further, a comprehensive analysis of the sludge drying characteristics was performed including the surface moisture evaporation, the effective moisture diffusivity and the micromorphology of dried sludge. The results indicated that the drying advantages of foamed sludge were mainly attributed to the larger evaporation surface in a limited drying area and the more active moisture capillary movement through the liquid films, which resulted in longer constant evaporation rate periods and better effective moisture diffusivity, respectively.

Water Filtration Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

American Water Corporation manufactures water filtration products which incorporate technology originally developed for manned space operations. The formula involves granular activated charcoal and other ingredients, and removes substances by catalytic reactions, mechanical filtration, and absorption. Details are proprietary. A NASA literature search contributed to development of the compound. The technology is being extended to a deodorizing compound called Biofresh which traps gas and moisture inside the unit. Further applications are anticipated.

Third Annual Joint Service Pollution Prevention Conference and Exhibition. "Achieving Compliance Through Pollution Prevention"

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-01-01

ASTM D5229, "Standard Test Method for Moisture Absorption Properties and Equilibrium Conditioning of Polymer Matrix Composite Materials." Sandwich...and pollution prevention. Methods and techniques have been established to make building disassembly and salvage cost-competitive with complete...specialized construction methods . • If natural resource conservation is a goal, consider timber framing using sustainably harvested timber, and

Effects Of Moisture On Zinc Orthotitanate Paint

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mon, Gordon R.; Gonzalez, Charles C.; Ross, JR., Ronald g.; Wen, Liang C.; O'Donnell, Timothy

1991-01-01

Report presents results of tests of electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion of zinc orthotitanate (ZOT) paint. Measured effects of temperature, humidity, and vacuum on ceramic paint. Used as temperature-control coating designed to have low and stable ratio of absorptance to emittance for heat radiation. Helps to prevent buildup of static electric charge and helps to protect electronic circuitry from potentially damaging static discharges.

Fixing atmospheric CO2 by environment adaptive sorbent and renewable energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, T.; Liu, J.; Ge, K.; Fang, M.

2014-12-01

Fixing atmospheric CO2, followed by geologic storage in remote areas is considered an environmentally secure approach to climate mitigation. A moisture swing sorbent was investigated in the laboratory for CO2 capture at a remote area with humid and windy conditions. The energy requirement of moisture swing absorption could be greatly reduced compared to that of traditional high-temperature thermal swing, by assuming that the sorbent can be naturally dried and regenerated at ambient conditions. However, for currently developed moisture swing materials, the CO2 capacity would drop significantly at high relative humidity. The CO2 capture amount can be reduced by the poor thermodynamics and kinetics at high relative humidity or low temperature. Similar challenges also exist for thermal or vacuum swing sorbents. Developing sorbent materials which adapt to specific environments, such as high humidity or low temperature, can ensure sufficient capture capacity on the one hand, and realize better economics on the other hand (Figure 1) .An environment adaptive sorbent should have the abilities of tunable capacity and fast kinetics at extreme conditions, such as high humidity or low temperature. In this presentation, the possibility of tuning CO2 absorption capacity of a polymerized ionic liquid material is discussed. The energy requirement evaluation shows that tuning the CO2 binding energy of sorbent, rather than increasing the temperature or reducing the humidity of air, could be much more economic. By determining whether the absorption process is controlled by physical diffusion controlled or chemical reaction, an effective approach to fast kinetics at extreme conditions is proposed. A shrinking core model for mass transfer kinetics is modified to cope with the relatively poor kinetics of air capture. For the studied sample which has a heterogeneous structure, the kinetic analysis indicates a preference of sorbent particle size optimization, rather than support layer optimization. Chemical reaction kinetics could be enhanced by stronger binding energy or higher temperature. However, the total kinetics can only be significantly improved by chemical reaction enhancement if the physical diffusion is fast enough.

Investigation of Hydrological Response of Three Identical Artificial Hillslopes at the Landscape Evolution Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matos, K.; Alves Meira Neto, A.; Troch, P. A. A.; Volkmann, T.

2017-12-01

Hydrological processes at the hillslope scale are complex and heterogeneous, but monitoring hillslopes with a large number of sensors or replicate experimental designs is rarely feasible. The Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) at Biosphere 2 consists of three replicated, large (330 m2) artificial hillslopes (East, Center and West) packed with 1-m depth of initially homogeneous, basaltic soil. Each landscape contains a spatially dense network of sensors capable of resolving meter-scale lateral heterogeneity and sub-meter scale vertical heterogeneity in moisture content and water potential, as well as the hillslope-integrated water balance components. A sophisticated irrigation system allows performing controlled forcing experiments. The three hillslopes are thought to be nearly identical, however recent data showed significant differences in discharge and storage behavior. A 45-day periodic-steady-state tracer experiment was conducted in November and December of 2016, where a 3.5-day long, identical irrigation sequence was repeated 15 times. Each sequence's rainfall, runoff, and storage dynamics were recorded, and distributed moisture characteristics were derived using paired moisture content and matric potential data from 496 positions in each hillslope. In order to understand why the three hillslopes behave hydrologically different, we analyzed soil water retention characteristics at various scales ranging from individually paired moisture and matric potential to whole-hillslope soil water retention characteristics. The results confirm the distinct hydrological behavior between the three hillslopes. The East and West hillslopes behave more similar with respect to the release of water. In contrast, the East and Center hillslopes are more similar with respect to their storage behavior. The differences in hillslope behavior arising from three identically built hillslopes are a surprising and beneficial opportunity to explore how differences in small-scale heterogeneity can impact hydrological dynamics at the hillslope scale.

Fuel moisture influences on fire-altered carbon in masticated fuels: An experimental study

Treesearch

Nolan W. Brewer; Alistair M.S. Smith; Jeffery A. Hatten; Philip E. Higuera; Andrew T. Hudak; Roger D. Ottmar; Wade T. Tinkham

2013-01-01

Biomass burning is a significant contributor to atmospheric carbon emissions but may also provide an avenue in which fire-affected ecosystems can accumulate carbon over time, through the generation of highly resistant fire-altered carbon. Identifying how fuel moisture, and subsequent changes in the fire behavior, relates to the production of fire-altered carbon is...

Effects of particle fracturing and moisture content on fire behaviour in masticated fuelbeds burned in a laboratory

Treesearch

Jesse K. Kreye; J. Morgan Varner; Eric E. Knapp

2011-01-01

Mechanical mastication is a fuels treatment that converts shrubs and small trees into dense fuelbeds composed of fractured woody particles. Although compaction is thought to reduce fireline intensity, the added particle surface area due to fracturing could also influence fire behavior. We evaluated effects of particle fracturing and moisture content (ranging from 2.5...

Low-level water vapor fields from the VAS split-window channels at 11 and 12 microns

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chesters, D.; Uccellini, L. W.; Robinson, W.

1983-01-01

Originally, the VAS split window channels were designed to use the differential water vapor absorption between 11 and 12 microns to estimate sea surface temperature by correcting for the radiometric losses caused by atmospheric moisture. It is shown that it is possible to reverse the procedure in order to estimate the vertically integrated low level moisture content with the background surface (skin) temperature removed, even over the bright, complex background of the land. Because the lower troposphere's water vapor content is an important factor in convective instability, the derived fields are of considerable value to mesoscale meteorology. Moisture patterns are available as quantitative fields (centimeters of precipitable water) at full VAS resolution (as fine as 7 kilometers horizontal resolution every 15 minutes), and are readily converted to image format for false color movies. The technique, demonstrated with GOES-5, uses a sequence of split window radiances taken once every 3 hours from dawn to dusk over the Eastern and Central United States. The algorithm is calibrated with the morning radiosonde sites embedded within the first VAS radiance field; then, entire moisture fields are calculated at all five observation times. Cloud contamination is removed by rejecting any pixel having a radiance less than the atmospheric brightness determined at the radiosonde sites.

Formulation design of a highly hygroscopic drug (pyridostigmine bromide) for its hygroscopic character improvement and investigation of in vitro/in vivo dissolution properties.

PubMed

Huang, Yuh-Tyng; Tsai, Tong-Rong; Cheng, Chun-Jen; Cham, Thau-Ming; Lai, Tsun-Fwu; Chuo, Wen-Ho

2007-04-01

Pyridostigmine bromide (PB) sustained-release (SR) pellets were developed by extrusion-spheronization and fluid-bed methods using Taguchi experimental and 2(3) full factorial design. In vitro studies, the 2(3) full factorial design was utilized to search for the optimal SR pellets with specific release rate at different time intervals (release percent of 2, 6, 12, and 24 hr were 6.24, 33.48, 75.18, and 95.26%, respectively) which followed a zero-order mechanism (n=0.93). The results of moisture absorption by Karl Fischer has shown the optimum SR pellets at 25 degrees C/60% RH, 30 degrees C/65% RH, and 40 degrees C/75% RH chambers from 1 hr-4 weeks, attributing that the moisture absorption was not significantly increased. In the in vivo study, the results of the bioavailability data showed the Tmax (from 0.65+/-0.082 hr-4.82+/-2.12 hr) and AUC0-30 hr (from 734.88+/-230.68 ng/mL.hr-1454.86+/-319.28 ng/mL.hr) were prolonged and increased, as well as Cmax (from 251.87+/-27.51 ng/mL-115.08+/-14.87 ng/mL) was decreased for optimum SR-PB pellets when compared with commercial immediate-release (IR) tablets. Furthermore, a good linear regression relationship (r=0.9943) was observed between the fraction dissolution and fraction absorption for the optimum SR pellets. In this study, the formulation design not only improved the hygroscopic character of PB but also achieved the SR effect.

Effect of Modified Red Pottery Clay on the Moisture Absorption Behavior and Weatherability of Polyethylene-Based Wood-Plastic Composites

PubMed Central

Li, Qingde; Gao, Xun; Cheng, Wanli; Han, Guangping

2017-01-01

Red pottery clay (RPC) was modified using a silane coupling agent, and the modified RPC (mRPC) was then used to enhance the performance of high-density polyethylene-based wood-plastic composites. The effect of the mRPC content on the performances of the composites was investigated through Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, differential mechanical analysis (DMA) and ultraviolet (UV)-accelerated aging tests. After adding the mRPC, a moisture adsorption hysteresis was observed. The DMA results indicated that the mRPC effectively enhanced the rigidity and elasticity of the composites. The mRPC affected the thermal gravimetric, leading to a reduction of the thermal degradation rate and a right-shift of the thermal degradation peak; the initial thermal degradation temperature was increased. After 3000 h of UV-accelerated aging, the flexural strength and impact strength both declined. For aging time between 0 and 1000 h, the increase in amplitude of ΔL* (luminescence) and ΔE* (color) reached a maximum; the surface fading did not became obvious. ΔL* and ΔE* increased more significantly between 1000 and 2000 h. These characterization results indicate that the chromophores of the mRPC became briefly active. However, when the aging times were higher than 2000 h, the photo-degradation reaction was effectively prevented by adding the mRPC. The best overall enhancement was observed for an mRPC mass percentage of 5%, with a storage modulus of 3264 MPa and an increase in loss modulus by 16.8%, the best anti-aging performance and the lowest degree of color fading. PMID:28772470

Disentangling the drivers of coarse woody debris behavior and carbon gas emissions during fire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Weiwei; van der Werf, Guido R.; van Logtestijn, Richard S. P.; van Hal, Jurgen R.; Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.

2016-04-01

The turnover of coarse woody debris, a key terrestrial carbon pool, plays fundamental roles in global carbon cycling. Biological decomposition and fire are two main fates for dead wood turnover. Compared to slow decomposition, fire rapidly transfers organic carbon from the earth surface to the atmosphere. Both a-biotic environmental factors and biotic wood properties determine coarse wood combustion and thereby its carbon gas emissions during fire. Moisture is a key inhibitory environmental factor for fire. The properties of dead wood strongly affect how it burns either directly or indirectly through interacting with moisture. Coarse wood properties vary between plant species and between various decay stages. Moreover, if we put a piece of dead wood in the context of a forest fuel bed, the soil and wood contact might also greatly affect their fire behavior. Using controlled laboratory burns, we disentangled the effects of all these driving factors: tree species (one gymnosperms needle-leaf species, three angiosperms broad-leaf species), wood decay stages (freshly dead, middle decayed, very strongly decayed), moisture content (air-dried, 30% moisture content in mass), and soil-wood contact (on versus 3cm above the ground surface) on dead wood flammability and carbon gas efflux (CO2 and CO released in grams) during fire. Wood density was measured for all coarse wood samples used in our experiment. We found that compared to other drivers, wood decay stages have predominant positive effects on coarse wood combustion (for wood mass burned, R2=0.72 when air-dried and R2=0.52 at 30% moisture content) and associated carbon gas emissions (for CO2andCO (g) released, R2=0.55 when air-dried and R2=0.42 at 30% moisture content) during fire. Thus, wood decay accelerates wood combustion and its CO2 and CO emissions during fire, which can be mainly attributed to the decreasing wood density (for wood mass burned, R2=0.91 when air-dried and R2=0.63 at 30% moisture content) as wood becomes more decomposed. Our results provide quantitative experimental evidence for how several key abiotic and biotic factors, especially moisture content and the key underlying trait wood density, as well as their interactions, together drive coarse wood carbon turnover through fire. Our experimental data on coarse wood behavior and gas efflux during fire will help to improve the predictive power of global vegetation climate models on dead wood turnover and its feedback to climate.

Heat, Moisture and Chemical Resistant Polyimide Compositions and Methods for Making and Using Them

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pater, Ruth H. (Inventor)

2004-01-01

Polyimides having a desired combination of high thermo-oxidative stability, low moisture absorption and excellent chemical and corrosion resistance are prepared by reacting a mixture of compounds including (a) 3,3',4,4'- benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA), (b) 3,4'- oxydianiline (3,4'-ODA), and (c) 5-norbornene-2,3- dicarboxylic anhydride (NA) in a high boiling, aprotic solvent to give 5 to 35% by weight of polyamic acid solution. The ratio of (a), (b), and (c) is selected to afford a family of polyimides having different molecular weights and properties. The mixture first forms a polyamic acid precursor. Upon heating at or above 300 C, the polyamic acids form polyimides, which are particularly suitable for use as a high temperature coating, adhesive, thin film, or composite matrix resin.

Enhancing Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells to Moisture by the Facile Hydrophobic Passivation.

PubMed

Hwang, Insung; Jeong, Inyoung; Lee, Jinwoo; Ko, Min Jae; Yong, Kijung

2015-08-12

In this study, a novel and facile passivation process for a perovskite solar cell is reported. Poor stability in ambient atmosphere, which is the most critical demerit of a perovskite solar cell, is overcome by a simple passivation process using a hydrophobic polymer layer. Teflon, the hydrophobic polymer, is deposited on the top of a perovskite solar cell by a spin-coating method. With the hydrophobic passivation, the perovskite solar cell shows negligible degradation after a 30 day storage in ambient atmosphere. Suppressed degradation of the perovskite film is proved in various ways: X-ray diffraction, light absorption spectrum, and quartz crystal microbalance. This simple but effective passivation process suggests new kind of approach to enhance stability of perovskite solar cells to moisture.

Dynamics of water absorption through superabsorbent polymer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Sooyoung; Kim, Wonjung

2017-11-01

Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) consist of hydrophilic cross-linked polymer networks that can absorb and retain a great amount of water relative to their own mass, so that they are widely used for disposable diapers and holding soil moisture in agriculture. SAPs are typically available in the form of submillimeter-sized particles, and the water absorption is driven by capillary flows between particles as well as diffusion that entail swelling. Although the control of water absorption of SAPs is important in engineering applications, but the dynamics of water absorption in SAP particles has not been fully understood. We examine the dynamics of the water absorption of sodium polyacrylate, one of the most common SAP. We experimentally measured the water absorption of sodium polyacrylate particles in one-dimensional confined channel. The water flows through the particles were analyzed by capillarity dominant at the early stage and by diffusion involving volume expansion critical at a later stage. The results provide a quantitative basis of the hydrodynamic analysis of the water flow through SAP particles from a macroscopic point of view, facilitating the prediction of water uptake of SAPs in hygienic and agricultural applications. This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No.2015R1A2A2A04006181).

Potential Water Retention Capacity as a Factor in Silage Effluent Control: Experiments with High Moisture By-product Feedstuffs.

PubMed

Razak, Okine Abdul; Masaaki, Hanada; Yimamu, Aibibula; Meiji, Okamoto

2012-04-01

The role of moisture absorptive capacity of pre-silage material and its relationship with silage effluent in high moisture by-product feedstuffs (HMBF) is assessed. The term water retention capacity which is sometimes used in explaining the rate of effluent control in ensilage may be inadequate, since it accounts exclusively for the capacity of an absorbent incorporated into a pre-silage material prior to ensiling, without consideration to how much the pre-silage material can release. A new terminology, 'potential water retention capacity' (PWRC), which attempts to address this shortcoming, is proposed. Data were pooled from a series of experiments conducted separately over a period of five years using laboratory silos with four categories of agro by-products (n = 27) with differing moisture contents (highest 96.9%, lowest 78.1% in fresh matter, respectively), and their silages (n = 81). These were from a vegetable source (Daikon, Raphanus sativus), a root tuber source (potato pulp), a fruit source (apple pomace) and a cereal source (brewer's grain), respectively. The pre-silage materials were adjusted with dry in-silo absorbents consisting wheat straw, wheat or rice bran, beet pulp and bean stalks. The pooled mean for the moisture contents of all pre-silage materials was 78.3% (±10.3). Silage effluent decreased (p<0.01), with increase in PWRC of pre-silage material. The theoretical moisture content and PWRC of pre-silage material necessary to stem effluent flow completely in HMBF silage was 69.1% and 82.9 g/100 g in fresh matter, respectively. The high correlation (r = 0.76) between PWRC of ensiled material and silage effluent indicated that the latter is an important factor in silage-effluent relationship.

Potential Water Retention Capacity as a Factor in Silage Effluent Control: Experiments with High Moisture By-product Feedstuffs

PubMed Central

Razak, Okine Abdul; Masaaki, Hanada; Yimamu, Aibibula; Meiji, Okamoto

2012-01-01

The role of moisture absorptive capacity of pre-silage material and its relationship with silage effluent in high moisture by-product feedstuffs (HMBF) is assessed. The term water retention capacity which is sometimes used in explaining the rate of effluent control in ensilage may be inadequate, since it accounts exclusively for the capacity of an absorbent incorporated into a pre-silage material prior to ensiling, without consideration to how much the pre-silage material can release. A new terminology, ‘potential water retention capacity’ (PWRC), which attempts to address this shortcoming, is proposed. Data were pooled from a series of experiments conducted separately over a period of five years using laboratory silos with four categories of agro by-products (n = 27) with differing moisture contents (highest 96.9%, lowest 78.1% in fresh matter, respectively), and their silages (n = 81). These were from a vegetable source (Daikon, Raphanus sativus), a root tuber source (potato pulp), a fruit source (apple pomace) and a cereal source (brewer’s grain), respectively. The pre-silage materials were adjusted with dry in-silo absorbents consisting wheat straw, wheat or rice bran, beet pulp and bean stalks. The pooled mean for the moisture contents of all pre-silage materials was 78.3% (±10.3). Silage effluent decreased (p<0.01), with increase in PWRC of pre-silage material. The theoretical moisture content and PWRC of pre-silage material necessary to stem effluent flow completely in HMBF silage was 69.1% and 82.9 g/100 g in fresh matter, respectively. The high correlation (r = 0.76) between PWRC of ensiled material and silage effluent indicated that the latter is an important factor in silage-effluent relationship. PMID:25049587

Single screw extrusion of apple pomace-enriched blends: Extrudate characteristics and determination of optimum processing conditions.

PubMed

Singha, Poonam; Muthukumarappan, Kasiviswanathan

2018-07-01

Response surface methodology was used to investigate the single screw extrusion of apple pomace-defatted soy flour-corn grits blends and the product properties. Five different blends at a level of 0-20% w/w apple pomace were extrusion cooked with varied barrel and die temperature (100-140℃), screw speed (100-200 rpm), and feed moisture content (14-20% wet basis). Increasing apple pomace content in the blends significantly ( P < 0.05) increased the bulk density, the total phenolic content, and the antioxidant activity of the extrudates. The expansion ratio increased with pomace inclusion level of 5% but decreased significantly ( P < 0.05) at higher levels of pomace inclusion (10-20%). Moisture content had quadratic influence on water absorption and solubility indices. Optimal extrusion cooking conditions most likely to produce apple pomace-enriched extruded snack products were at 140℃ barrel and die temperature, 20% feed moisture content, and 200 rpm screw speed. The results indicated active interaction between apple pomace and starch during expansion process.

Influence of absorbed moisture on desizing of poly(vinyl alcohol) on cotton fabrics during atmospheric pressure plasma jet treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Shujing; Liu, Xiulan; Sun, Jie; Gao, Zhiqiang; Yao, Lan; Qiu, Yiping

2010-04-01

This paper studies the influence of moisture absorption of cotton fabrics on the effectiveness of atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) on desizing of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Cotton fabrics with three different moisture regains (MR), namely 1.8%, 7.3%, and 28.4% corresponding to 10%, 65%, and 98% of relative humidity respectively, are treated for 16 s, 32 s, 48 s, and 64 s. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis indicates that the plasma treated PVA has higher oxygen concentration than the control. Mass loss results show that the fabric with the highest MR has the largest mass loss after 64 s plasma exposure. Solubility measurement reveals that the sample with the lowest MR has the highest desizing efficacy and the percent desizing ratio reaches 96% after 64 s exposure plus a 20 min hot wash, which is shown as clean as the unsized sample through scanning electron microscopy analysis. The yarn tensile strength test results show that APPJ has no negative effect on fabric tensile strength.

Spectroscopic analysis of seasonal changes in live fuel moisture content and leaf dry mass

Treesearch

Yi Qi; Philip E. Dennison; W. Matt Jolly; Rachael C. Kropp; Simon C. Brewer

2014-01-01

Live fuel moisture content (LFMC), the ratio of water mass to dry mass contained in live plant material, is an important fuel property for determining fire danger and for modeling fire behavior. Remote sensing estimation of LFMC often relies on an assumption of changing water and stable dry mass over time. Fundamental understanding of seasonal variation in plant water...

Estimating foundation water vapor release using a simple moisture balance and AIM-2 : case study of a contemporary wood-frame house

Treesearch

C. R. Boardman; Samuel V. Glass; Charles G. Carll

2010-01-01

Proper management of indoor humidity in buildings is an essential aspect of durability. Following dissipation of moisture from construction materials, humidity levels during normal operation are generally assumed to primarily depend on the building volume, the number of building occupants and their behavior, the air exchange rate, and the water vapor content of outdoor...

Combined Investigation on Durability and Dynamic Failure of Advanced Naval Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-06

environment effect”. For example, Karasek et al. (1995) have evaluated the influence of temperature and moisture on the impact resistance of epoxy /graphite...laminates and enhanced the absorption rate. Very recently, Imielinska and Guillaumat (2004) investigated two different woven glass–aramid-fiber/ epoxy ...Each specimen contains two parts which are aluminum and PMMA bonded with Loctite Super Glue Gel Control. The bonding strength will be relatively low if

Cyanate Ester Resin Modified with Nano-particles for Inclusion in Continuous Fiber Reinforced Composites

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-25

custom built rotating oven, to prevent settling during cure. The filler content in the test specimen are verified by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA...using a Shimadzu SA-CP3 centrifugal particle size analyzer. The moisture absorption of the nanoparticles was studied using a Q50 thermogravimetric ...low viscosity bisphenol E cyanate ester resin (BECy) resin reinforced with macro scale carbon fibers and negative CTE nanoparticles . Polymer

Climatic and weather factors affecting fire occurrence and behavior

Treesearch

Randall P. Benson; John O. Roads; David R. Weise

2009-01-01

Weather and climate have a profound influence on wildland fire ignition potential, fire behavior, and fire severity. Local weather and climate are affected by large-scale patterns of winds over the hemispheres that predispose wildland fuels to fire. The characteristics of wildland fuels, especially the moisture content, ultimately determine fire behavior and the impact...

Fire Behavior System for the Full Range of Fire Management Needs

Treesearch

Richard C. Rothermel; Patricia L. Andrews

1987-01-01

An "integrated fire behavior/fire danger rating system" should be "seamless" to avoid requiring choices among alternate, independent systems. Descriptions of fuel moisture, fuels, and fire behavior should be standardized, permitting information to flow easily through the spectrum of fire management needs. The level of resolution depends on the...

Effect of Guar Gum with Sorbitol Coating on the Properties and Oil Absorption of French Fries.

PubMed

Jia, Bo; Fan, Daming; Li, Jinwei; Duan, Zhenhua; Fan, Liuping

2017-12-13

This paper investigated the effects of guar gum with sorbitol coating on the oil absorption of French fries by combined dye oil methods, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that pretreatment of blanching with calcium ions and coating with guar gum and sorbitol could significantly reduce the structural oil (STO) and penetrated surface oil (PSO) of French fries and have no negative effects on its texture and also effectively control the final moisture content ( p < 0.05). Compared with control or samples coated with guar gum (blanching with or without calcium ions), the total oil (TO) of French fries with guar gum and sorbitol reduced by 50.8%, 33.1% and 30.6%, respectively. CLSM photographs confirmed that STO significantly reduced after coating with guar gum and sorbitol, followed by PSO. In the process of frying, the coatings of guar gum or guar gum with sorbitol could effectively prevent oil from infiltrating the potato tissue, which can be seen in the SEM photographs. The barrier properties of French fries were enhanced by coating guar gum, and sorbitol was added to avoid pores and cracks. Blanching with calcium ion can significantly reduce the final moisture content of coating French fries.

Effect of Guar Gum with Sorbitol Coating on the Properties and Oil Absorption of French Fries

PubMed Central

Jia, Bo; Fan, Daming; Li, Jinwei; Duan, Zhenhua; Fan, Liuping

2017-01-01

This paper investigated the effects of guar gum with sorbitol coating on the oil absorption of French fries by combined dye oil methods, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that pretreatment of blanching with calcium ions and coating with guar gum and sorbitol could significantly reduce the structural oil (STO) and penetrated surface oil (PSO) of French fries and have no negative effects on its texture and also effectively control the final moisture content (p < 0.05). Compared with control or samples coated with guar gum (blanching with or without calcium ions), the total oil (TO) of French fries with guar gum and sorbitol reduced by 50.8%, 33.1% and 30.6%, respectively. CLSM photographs confirmed that STO significantly reduced after coating with guar gum and sorbitol, followed by PSO. In the process of frying, the coatings of guar gum or guar gum with sorbitol could effectively prevent oil from infiltrating the potato tissue, which can be seen in the SEM photographs. The barrier properties of French fries were enhanced by coating guar gum, and sorbitol was added to avoid pores and cracks. Blanching with calcium ion can significantly reduce the final moisture content of coating French fries. PMID:29236044

Assessing the uncertainty of soil moisture impacts on convective precipitation using a new ensemble approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henneberg, Olga; Ament, Felix; Grützun, Verena

2018-05-01

Soil moisture amount and distribution control evapotranspiration and thus impact the occurrence of convective precipitation. Many recent model studies demonstrate that changes in initial soil moisture content result in modified convective precipitation. However, to quantify the resulting precipitation changes, the chaotic behavior of the atmospheric system needs to be considered. Slight changes in the simulation setup, such as the chosen model domain, also result in modifications to the simulated precipitation field. This causes an uncertainty due to stochastic variability, which can be large compared to effects caused by soil moisture variations. By shifting the model domain, we estimate the uncertainty of the model results. Our novel uncertainty estimate includes 10 simulations with shifted model boundaries and is compared to the effects on precipitation caused by variations in soil moisture amount and local distribution. With this approach, the influence of soil moisture amount and distribution on convective precipitation is quantified. Deviations in simulated precipitation can only be attributed to soil moisture impacts if the systematic effects of soil moisture modifications are larger than the inherent simulation uncertainty at the convection-resolving scale. We performed seven experiments with modified soil moisture amount or distribution to address the effect of soil moisture on precipitation. Each of the experiments consists of 10 ensemble members using the deep convection-resolving COSMO model with a grid spacing of 2.8 km. Only in experiments with very strong modification in soil moisture do precipitation changes exceed the model spread in amplitude, location or structure. These changes are caused by a 50 % soil moisture increase in either the whole or part of the model domain or by drying the whole model domain. Increasing or decreasing soil moisture both predominantly results in reduced precipitation rates. Replacing the soil moisture with realistic fields from different days has an insignificant influence on precipitation. The findings of this study underline the need for uncertainty estimates in soil moisture studies based on convection-resolving models.

A study of interferences in ozone UV and chemiluminescence monitors

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

Hudgens, E.E.; Kleindienst, T.E.; McElroy, F.F.

A study was conducted to examine interferences and other measurement anomalies in chemiluminescence and ultraviolet ozone monitors. Previous results had show that there was a positive deviation in the chemiluminescence monitors and no direct interference with ultraviolet monitors due to the presence of water at non-condensing concentrations. The present study continues this effort, examining both potential positive and negative effects of moisture and other interferences on these monitors. Aromatic compounds and their oxidation products could potentially show a positive interference with ultraviolet monitors, and test measurements were made with aromatics such as toluene, benzaldehyde, and nitrotoluene to determine their possiblemore » retention in the ozone scrubber and their absorption in the cell as a function of the humidity. A detailed examination of the scrubbers used in ultraviolet ozone monitors has also been undertaken. Ozone scrubbers that have shown anomalous behavior in the field have been studied in various reduced-efficacy modes under controlled laboratory conditions. Longer term tests of unused scrubbers for possible ozone breakthrough under exposure to various simulated field conditions were initiated.« less

Hydration properties and texture fingerprints of easy- and hard-to-cook bean varieties

PubMed Central

Kinyanjui, Peter K; Njoroge, Daniel M; Makokha, Anselimo O; Christiaens, Stefanie; Ndaka, Daniel S; Hendrickx, Marc

2015-01-01

The objective of this study was to understand the factors that affect the hydration and cooking profiles of different bean varieties. During this study, nine bean varieties were classified as either easy-to-cook (ETC) or hard-to-cook (HTC) based on a subjective finger pressing test and an objective cutting test. Rose coco, Red haricot, and Zebra beans were classified as ETC, while Canadian wonder, Soya fupi, Pinto, non-nodulating, Mwezi moja, Gwaku, and New mwezi moja were HTC. The effect of different soaking (pre)-treatments on the cooking behavior and/or water absorption of whole or dehulled beans was investigated. Dehulling, soaking in high pH and monovalent salt solutions reduced the cooking time of beans, while soaking in low pH and CaCl2 solutions increased the cooking time. Moisture uptake was faster in ETC and dehulled beans. Soaking at high temperatures also increased the hydration rate. The results point to pectin-related aspects and the rate of water uptake as possible factors that influence the cooking rate of beans. PMID:25650021

Semicrystalline polyamide engineering thermoplastics based on the renewable monomer, 1,9-nonane diamine: Thermal properties and water absorption

DOE PAGES

Kugel, Alex; He, Jie; Samanta, Satyabrata; ...

2012-08-27

Here, a series of poly(1,9-nonamethylene adipamide-co-1,9-nonamethylene terephthalamide) copolymers were produced using melt polymerization and the thermal properties, crystal structure, and moisture uptake characterized. The results confirmed that the copolymers exhibit isomorphism. As expected, glass transition temperature and the apparent melting temperature increased with increasing terephthalmide content. Using the difference in the apparent melting temperature to the crystallization temperature as a measure of relative crystallization rate, it was observed that crystallization rate decreased as the terephthalamide content of the copolymer was increased from 0 to 50 mole percent but then sharply increased when increased beyond 50 mole percent. This behavior maymore » be the result of extensive inter- and intramolecular interactions in the melt associated with terephthalmide units in the polymer chain that nucleate crystallization upon cooling below the equilibrium melting temperature. Comparing the thermal properties of copolymers possessing an excess of terephthalmide units to the commodity polyamide Nylon 6,6, it is believed that these copolymers may have utility as partially renewable engineering thermoplastics.« less

Study of the weathering effect in a natural environment on the hybrid kenaf bast/glass fibre-filled unsaturated polyester composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammed, Mohammed; Rozyanty, A. R.; Adam, Tijjani; Betar, Bashir O.

2017-09-01

In this research, we prepared pure kenaf composites and kenaf/glass fibre hybrid composites using the hand lay-up procedure. Also, we studied the weather effects on the mechanical, morphological and thermal properties of the pure kenaf and the kenaf/glass fibre hybrid composites. Before the weathering conditions, we determined that the tensile strength of the kenaf /glass fibre hybrid composite was 70.9 MPa, while the tensile modulus was 3030 MPa. However, during the first weathering month, there was a decrease in the tensile modulus values, which further decreased as the weathering continued. Also, there was a significant difference in the tensile modulus reduced values between the pure kenaf and the glass fibre-reinforced kenaf composites, which indicated that the glass fibre was a good reinforcement option, and could be successfully used for producing high performing composites. Based on the flexural strength results obtained, it could be noted that the natural fibre composites could not withstand the environmental conditions, as they displayed poor wettability, a higher moisture adsorption and were incompatible with some of the polymeric matrices. As they had higher moisture absorption properties, they formed voids within the composites that could decrease the composite mechanical properties like the flexural strength or the flexural modulus, which was supported BY our SEM results. However, some of the modifications do tend to improve the mechanical properties, which help in improving the composite performance with a proper composite formulation during modification. Our results showed that the thermal properties of the kenaf and the kenaf hybrid composites are significantly affected by the weather, wherein the composites display a slow and gradual initial weight loss till a massive weight loss was observed at temperatures around 390°C. However, as the weathering increased, the weight loss was seen to occur at even low temperatures of 290°C. This phenomenon was because of the moisture absorption, which was seen to increase it, and the moisture weakened the molecular interfacial bonds.

Effects of Vegetation and of Heat and Vapor Fluxes from Soil on Snowpack Evolution and Radiobrightness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chung, Y. C.; England, A. W.; DeRoo, R. D.; Weininger, Etai

2006-01-01

The radiobrightness of a snowpack is strongly linked to the snow moisture content profile, to the point that the only operational inversion algorithms require dry snow. Forward dynamic models do not include the effects of freezing and thawing of the soil beneath the snowpack and the effect of vegetation within the snow or above the snow. To get a more realistic description of the evolution of the snowpack, we reported an addition to the Snow-Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere- Transfer (SSVAT) model, wherein we coupled soil processes of the Land Surface Process (LSP) model with the snow model SNTHERM. In the near future we will be adding a radiobrightness prediction based on the modeled moisture, temperature and snow grain size profiles. The initial investigations with this SSVAT for a late winter and early spring snow pack indicate that soil processes warm the snowpack and the soil. Vapor diffusion needs to be considered whenever the ground is thawed. In the early spring, heat flow from the ground into a snow and a strong temperature gradient across the snow lead to thermal convection. The buried vegetation can be ignored for a late winter snow pack. The warmer surface snow temperature will affect radiobrightness since it is most sensitive to snow surface characteristics. Comparison to data shows that SSVAT provides a more realistic representation of the temperature and moisture profiles in the snowpack and its underlying soil than SNTHERM. The radiobrightness module will be optimized for the prediction of brightness when the snow is moist. The liquid water content of snow causes considerable absorption compared to dry snow, and so longer wavelengths are likely to be most revealing as to the state of a moist snowpack. For volumetric moisture contents below about 7% (the pendular regime), the water forms rings around the contact points between snow grains. Electrostatic modeling of these pendular rings shows that the absorption of these rings is significantly higher than a sphere of the same volume. The first implementation of the radiobrightness module will therefore be a simple radiative transfer model without scattering.

EDITORIAL: Humidity sensors Humidity sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Regtien, Paul P. L.

2012-01-01

All matter is more or less hygroscopic. The moisture content varies with vapour concentration of the surrounding air and, as a consequence, most material properties change with humidity. Mechanical and thermal properties of many materials, such as the tensile strength of adhesives, stiffness of plastics, stoutness of building and packaging materials or the thermal resistivity of isolation materials, all decrease with increasing environmental humidity or cyclic humidity changes. The presence of water vapour may have a detrimental influence on many electrical constructions and systems exposed to humid air, from high-power systems to microcircuits. Water vapour penetrates through coatings, cable insulations and integrated-circuit packages, exerting a fatal influence on the performance of the enclosed systems. For these and many other applications, knowledge of the relationship between moisture content or humidity and material properties or system behaviour is indispensable. This requires hygrometers for process control or test and calibration chambers with high accuracy in the appropriate temperature and humidity range. Humidity measurement methods can roughly be categorized into four groups: water vapour removal (the mass before and after removal is measured); saturation (the air is brought to saturation and the `effort' to reach that state is measured); humidity-dependent parameters (measurement of properties of humid air with a known relation between a specific property and the vapour content, for instance the refractive index, electromagnetic spectrum and acoustic velocity); and absorption (based on the known relation between characteristic properties of non-hydrophobic materials and the amount of absorbed water from the gas to which these materials are exposed). The many basic principles to measure air humidity are described in, for instance, the extensive compilations by Wexler [1] and Sonntag [2]. Absorption-type hygrometers have small dimensions and can be produced at relatively low cost. Therefore, they find wide use in lots of applications. However, the method requires a material that possesses some conflicting properties: stable and reproducible relations between air humidity, moisture uptake and a specific property (for instance the length of a hair, the electrical impedance of the material), fast absorption and desorption of the water vapour (to obtain a short response time), small hysteresis, wide range of relative humidity (RH) and temperature-independent output (only responsive to RH). For these reasons, much research is done and is still going on to find suitable materials that combine high performance and low price. In this special feature, three of the four papers report on absorption sensors, all with different focus. Aziz et al describe experiments with newly developed materials. The surface structure is extensively studied, in view of its ability to rapidly absorb water vapour and exhibit a reproducible change in the resistance and capacitance of the device. Sanchez et al employ optical fibres coated with a thin moisture-absorbing layer as a sensitive humidity sensor. They have studied various coating materials and investigated the possibility of using changes in optical properties of the fibre (here the lossy mode resonance) due to a change in humidity of the surrounding air. The third paper, by Weremczuk et al, focuses on a cheap fabrication method for absorption-based humidity sensors. The inkjet technology appears to be suitable for mass fabrication of such sensors, which is demonstrated by extensive measurements of the electrical properties (resistance and capacitance) of the absorbing layers. Moreover, they have developed a model that describes the relation between humidity and the electrical parameters of the moisture-sensitive layer. Despite intensive research, absorption sensors still do not meet the requirements for high accuracy applications. The dew-point temperature method is more appropriate, since it uses the accurately known relation between temperature and saturation vapour pressure in air. When an object exposed to humid air is cooled down below the dew-point water vapour condenses as drops on its cold surface. The temperature can be kept exactly at the dew point by controlling the amount of dew (equilibrium between evaporation and condensation). In most dew-point hygrometers dew is detected with optical or capacitive means. In the former the dew drops on a reflective surface (chilled mirror) scatter incident light, and the capacitive method uses the change in capacitance due to the large dielectric constant of liquid water (80) compared to air (1). Kunze et al, in the fourth paper of this special feature, use another property of water to detect dew: the relatively high value of the thermal capacitance of liquid water. In traditional technology this method would not be sensitive enough, but with MEMS technology a sufficient detectivity of dew can be achieved, which is demonstrated in this paper. A control system keeps the temperature of the substrate just at the dew-point temperature, the latter being measured by an on-chip diode. The accuracy achieved is comparable with traditional dew-point hygrometers. These four papers in this issue are nice examples of research leading to significant advances in hygrometry. References [1] Wexler A (ed) 1965 Humidity and Moisture. Vol. I: Principles and Methods of Measuring Humidity in Gases; Vol. II: Applications; Vol. III: Fundamentals and Standards; Vol. IV: Principles and Methods of Measuring Moisture in Liquids and Solids (New York: Reinhold) [2] Sonntag D 1966-1968 Hygrometrie (Berlin: Akademie Verlag)

Compositional and moisture content effects on the biodegradability of zein/ethylcellulose films.

PubMed

Romero-Bastida, Claudia A; Flores-Huicochea, Eduardo; Martin-Polo, Martha O; Velazquez, Gonzalo; Torres, J Antonio

2004-04-21

The effect of moisture content and film composition on biodegradability is the focus of this study. Flexible films were first characterized for the effect on water sorption isotherms of relative humidity, temperature, zein content, and the addition of the plasticizers stearic acid, poly(ethylene glycol), or etoxylated ricine oil. Zein/ethylcellulose (EC) mixture films had a behavior between that for pure zein and EC films, which had the lowest water sorption. For films with plasticizer, the lowest water sorption at 25 degrees C was observed for those with stearic acid. Biodegradability of zein/EC films, evaluated using bacterial cultures selected for their zein proteolytic activity and isolated from a local solid waste landfill and a lagoon, showed no plasticizer effect even though its effect on moisture content was significant. Large differences were observed at different film zein concentration with the highest biodegradability for 100% zein. However, biodegradability did not mimic the water sorption behavior of zein/EC mixture films.

Flexural creep behavior of epoxy/cotton composite materials before and after saline absorption for orthopedics applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kontaxis, L. C.; Georgali, A.; Portan, D. V.; Papanicolaou, G. C.

2018-02-01

In the present study, epoxy resin-non-woven cotton fibers fabric composite plates were manufactured by using the vacuum infusion technique. Next, flexural creep-recovery experiments were performed in order to study the viscoelastic behavior of both the neat resin and the composite material manufactured under both dry and wet conditions. A low cost, mechanically operated flexural creep testing machine was designed and manufactured according to ASTM standards, for providing an economical means of performing flexural creep experiments. Initially, specimens were immersed in physiological saline for different periods of time at constant temperature of 37°C and subsequently tested under flexural creep conditions in order to study the effect of saline absorption on the creep-recovery behavior of the composites. The specific environmental conditions were chosen such as to simulate the real conditions existed into the human body. The combined effect of applied stress, time of immersion, creep time and amount of saline absorbed on the overall flexural viscoelastic behavior of composites was studied. The maximum amount of saline absorbed by the composites was 3.2%, which is double the saline intake of pure resin. It is believed that the 1.5% extra saline was absorbed into the now formed interphase between the matrix and the hydrophobic cotton fibers. It was observed that the creep strain increases as the immersion time increases. This is believed to occur because of the cumulative effect of absorbed saline from the fibers, the matrix, as well as from the fiber-matrix interphase resulting in the fiber matrix debonding and easier relaxation of the macromolecules at higher moisture contents leading to larger deformations at longer times. However, it should be noted that the strain levels of the epoxy resin/cotton fibers fabric composites, never surpassed those of the pure resin, indicating that the fabric successfully reinforces the composite even under the immersion of the latter in saline. Finally, experimental results were fitted using Burger's model and a detailed analysis of the model and the variation of the four characteristic parameters describing the model with time of immersion is given. Several interesting results were derived which are useful for the future application of the cotton - epoxy composites in medical applications such as in orthopedics.

Pre-cure freezing affects proteolysis in dry-cured hams.

PubMed

Bañón, S; Cayuela, J M; Granados, M V; Garrido, M D

1999-01-01

Several parameters (sodium chloride, moisture, intramuscular fat, total nitrogen, non-protein nitrogen, white precipitates, free tyrosine, L* a* b* values and acceptability) related with proteolysis during the curing were compared in dry-cured hams manufactured from refrigerated and frozen/thawed raw material. Pre-cure freezing increased the proteolysis levels significantly (p<0.05) in the zones of the ham where water losses and absorption of salt is slowest. Frozen hams present a high incidence of white precipitates, formed mainly by tyrosine crystals. The colour and acceptability scores are similar in frozen and refrigerated hams. The previous freezing and thawing process accentuates the water losses, salt absorption and proteolysis of the cured meat, although it does not significantly affect the sensory quality of the dry-cured ham.

Method and apparatus for simulating atomospheric absorption of solar energy due to water vapor and CO.sub.2

DOEpatents

Sopori, Bhushan L.

1995-01-01

A method and apparatus for improving the accuracy of the simulation of sunlight reaching the earth's surface includes a relatively small heated chamber having an optical inlet and an optical outlet, the chamber having a cavity that can be filled with a heated stream of CO.sub.2 and water vapor. A simulated beam comprising infrared and near infrared light can be directed through the chamber cavity containing the CO.sub.2 and water vapor, whereby the spectral characteristics of the beam are altered so that the output beam from the chamber contains wavelength bands that accurately replicate atmospheric absorption of solar energy due to atmospheric CO.sub.2 and moisture.

Method and apparatus for simulating atmospheric absorption of solar energy due to water vapor and CO{sub 2}

DOEpatents

Sopori, B.L.

1995-06-20

A method and apparatus for improving the accuracy of the simulation of sunlight reaching the earth`s surface includes a relatively small heated chamber having an optical inlet and an optical outlet, the chamber having a cavity that can be filled with a heated stream of CO{sub 2} and water vapor. A simulated beam comprising infrared and near infrared light can be directed through the chamber cavity containing the CO{sub 2} and water vapor, whereby the spectral characteristics of the beam are altered so that the output beam from the chamber contains wavelength bands that accurately replicate atmospheric absorption of solar energy due to atmospheric CO{sub 2} and moisture. 8 figs.

Conductivity percolation in loosely compacted microcrystalline cellulose: An in situ study by dielectric spectroscopy during densification.

PubMed

Nilsson, Martin; Frenning, Göran; Gråsjö, Johan; Alderborn, Göran; Strømme, Maria

2006-10-19

The present study aims at contributing to a complete understanding of the water-induced ionic charge transport in cellulose. The behavior of this transport in loosely compacted microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) powder was investigated as a function of density utilizing a new type of measurement setup, allowing for dielectric spectroscopy measurement in situ during compaction. The ionic conductivity in MCC was found to increase with increasing density until a leveling-out was observed for densities above approximately 0.7 g/cm3. Further, it was shown that the ionic conductivity vs density followed a percolation type behavior signifying the percolation of conductive paths in a 3D conducting network. The density percolation threshold was found to be between approximately 0.2 and 0.4 g/cm3, depending strongly on the cellulose moisture content. The observed percolation behavior was attributed to the forming of interparticulate bonds in the MCC and the percolation threshold dependence on moisture was linked to the moisture dependence of particle rearrangement and plastic deformation in MCC during compaction. The obtained results add to the understanding of the density-dependent water-induced ionic transport in cellulose showing that, at given moisture content, the two major parameters determining the magnitude of the conductivity are the connectedness of the interparticluate bonds and the connectedness of pores with a diameter in the 5-20 nm size range. At densities between approximately 0.7 and 1.2 g/cm3 both the bond and the pore networks have percolated, facilitating charge transport through the MCC compact.

Reformulation of the CBR Procedure, Report 2: Design, Construction, and Behavior Under Traffic of the Pavement Test Sections

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-01

shows the clay moisture- density curve. The design subgrade CBR values selected for the test section construction were 4%, 10%, and 15%. The high...9  Figure 7. Subgrade moisture- density curve...view of Hangar 4. (a) (b) The in situ soil was a lean clay (loess) deposit, and the depth to the groundwater table was approximately 6 ft

[Fire behavior of Mongolian oak leaves fuel-bed under no-wind and zero-slope conditions. I. Factors affecting fire spread rate and modeling].

PubMed

Jin, Sen; Liu, Bo-Fei; Di, Xue-Ying; Chu, Teng-Fei; Zhang, Ji-Li

2012-01-01

Aimed to understand the fire behavior of Mongolian oak leaves fuel-bed under field condition, the leaves of a secondary Mongolian oak forest in Northeast Forestry University experimental forest farm were collected and brought into laboratory to construct fuel-beds with varied loading, height, and moisture content, and a total of 100 experimental fires were burned under no-wind and zero-slope conditions. It was observed that the fire spread rate of the fuel-beds was less than 0.5 m x min(-1). Fuel-bed loading, height, and moisture contents all had significant effects on the fire spread rate. The effect of fuel-bed moisture content on the fire spread had no significant correlations with fuel-bed loading and height, but the effect of fuel-bed height was related to the fuel-bed loading. The packing ratio of fuel-beds had less effect on the fire spread rate. Taking the fuel-bed loading, height, and moisture content as predictive variables, a prediction model for the fire spread rate of Mongolian oak leaves fuel-bed was established, which could explain 83% of the variance of the fire spread rate, with a mean absolute error 0.04 m x min(-1) and a mean relative error less than 17%.

Spatiotemporal surface moisture dynamics on a coastal beach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smit, Y.; Donker, J.; Ruessink, G.

2017-12-01

Surface moisture strongly controls aeolian transport on a beach and, accordingly, understanding its spatiotemporal variability will aid in developing a predictive model for the aeolian input of wind-blown beach sand into the foredune. In our earlier work (Smit et al., 2017, Aeolian Research) we have illustrated that the reflectance signal of a near-infrared Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) corresponds well to gravimetric surface moisture content (in %) over its full range. Here, we analyze TLS-derived surface moisture maps with a 1x1 m spatial and a 15-min temporal resolution and concurrent groundwater measurements collected during a falling and rising tide at Egmond beach, the Netherlands. The maps show that the beach can be conceptualized into three surface moisture zones. First, the swash zone: 18% - 25%. Second, the intertidal zone: 5% - 25% (large fluctuations). A striking result for this zone is that surface moisture can decrease with a rate varying between 2.5% - 4% per hour, and cumulatively 16% during a single falling tide. And third, the back beach zone: 3% - 7%. During falling tide surface moisture fluctuations are strongly linked to the behavior of groundwater depth. A clear `Van Genuchten-type' retention curve can describe the relation between the two. Furthermore, no anticipated processes by capillary forces were observed in advance of the rising tide and no hysteresis was observed over de complete tidal cycle. Concluding, the TLS-derived moisture maps and the groundwater measurements clearly show that groundwater depth is the key control on spatiotemporal surface moisture variations.

Water sorption studies of hybrid biofiber-reinforced natural rubber biocomposites.

PubMed

Jacob, Maya; Varughese, K T; Thomas, Sabu

2005-01-01

Hybrid biofibers (sisal and oil palm) were incorporated into natural rubber matrix. The water absorption characteristics of the composites were evaluated with reference to fiber loading. The influence of temperature on water sorption of the composites is also analyzed. Moisture uptake was found to be dependent on the properties of the biofibers. The mechanism of diffusion in the gum sample was found to be Fickian in nature, while in the loaded composites, it was non-Fickian. Sisal and oil palm fibers were subjected to different treatments such as mercerization and silanation. The effect of chemical modification on moisture uptake was also analyzed. Chemical modification was seen to decrease the water uptake in the composites. The thermodynamic parameters of the sorption process were also evaluated. Activation energy was found to be maximum for the gum sample.

Adsorption of Cu(II) from aqueous solution on sulfuric acid treated palygorskite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Yan-Ning; Yuan, Yuan; Gao, Wei-Xin; Qian, Sheng; Sun, Wen

2018-03-01

The absorption behavior of Cu2+ from aqueous solution on sulfuric acid treated palygorskite were investigated, the results showed that palygorskite had high absorption ability for Cu2+ from aqueous solution. Effects of the shaking time, pH and the copper ion concentration on the removal rate were discussed. The absorption behavior of Cu2+ could be well imitated by the Langmuir isothermal equation.

Effect of Moisture Content of Paper Material on Laser Cutting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stepanov, Alexander; Saukkonen, Esa; Piili, Heidi; Salminen, Antti

Laser technology has been used in industrial processes for several decades. The most advanced development and implementation took place in laser welding and cutting of metals in automotive and ship building industries. However, there is high potential to apply laser processing to other materials in various industrial fields. One of these potential fields could be paper industry to fulfill the demand for high quality, fast and reliable cutting technology. Difficulties in industrial application of laser cutting for paper industry are associated to lack of basic information, awareness of technology and its application possibilities. Nowadays possibilities of using laser cutting for paper materials are widened and high automation level of equipment has made this technology more interesting for manufacturing processes. Promising area of laser cutting application at paper making machines is longitudinal cutting of paper web (edge trimming). There are few locations at a paper making machine where edge trimming is usually done: wet press section, calender or rewinder. Paper web is characterized with different moisture content at different points of the paper making machine. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of moisture content of paper material on laser cutting parameters. Effect of moisture content on cellulose fibers, laser absorption and energy needed for cutting is described as well. Laser cutting tests were carried out using CO2 laser.

Hydrogel-gauze dressing for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis: development and efficacy study on atopic dermatitis-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Ng, Shiow-Fern; Lew, Pit-Chin; Sin, Yong-Boey

2014-11-01

Topical emollients are known to provide symptomatic relief for atopic dermatitis. In hospitals, wet-wrap therapy has been shown to benefit children with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD), but the application of wet-wraps is tedious and time-consuming. Topical emollients have low residence time and often dry out easily. The aim of this work was to develop a hydrogel-gauze dressing that is not only easy to apply but also rehydrates and traps moisture to provide longer relief for AD patients. In this study, a prototype hydrogel-gauze dressing was developed with varying ratios of sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) and propylene glycol. The hydrogel-gauze dressings were assessed based on the moisture vapor transmission rate, moisture absorption, mechanical properties and storage stability over three months. Then, the efficacy of the hydrogel-gauze dressing was compared to topical emollients using transgenic NC/Nga mice with AD-like lesions. The NaCMC hydrogel-gauze dressings significantly lowered transepidermal water loss, and the animals displayed a faster recovery, which indicates that hydrogel-gauze dressings can trap moisture more effectively and accelerate AD healing. Hence, we propose that hydrogel-gauze dressings can potentially become an alternative to wet-wrap therapy due to the ease of application and the higher efficacy compared to topical products.

Five year ground exposure of composite materials used on the Bell Model 206L flight service evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, Donald J.

1989-01-01

Part of the results of a U.S. Army/NASA-Langley sponsored research program to establish the long term-term effects of realistic ground based exposure on advanced composite materials is presented. Residual strengths and moisture absorption as a function of exposure time and exposure location are reported for four different composite material systems that were exposed for five years on the North American Continent.

Physical changes in white and brown rice during simulated gastric digestion.

PubMed

Kong, Fanbin; Oztop, Mecit Halil; Singh, R Paul; McCarthy, Michael J

2011-08-01

Previous studies have shown that brown rice generates lower glycemic responses than white rice, a trait that may be beneficial in the dietary management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia. The objective of this study was to investigate influence of rice digestion on the physical properties of the gastric digesta that may further impact intestinal absorption. A dynamic stomach model, human gastric simulator, was used to simulate the gastric digestion of white and brown rice. The pH, solids content, and rheological properties of the gastric digesta, as well as the size distribution of particles were studied. Static soaking was conducted to reveal the changes in moisture absorption and texture in rice kernels during simulated gastric digestion, as affected by shaking and the acid in gastric juice. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to image the diffusion of gastric juice into the rice kernels. The results indicate that the bran layer on brown rice had a profound effect in digestion, as it inhibited the absorption of moisture and acid leading to decreased texture degradation, thus delaying the rice disintegration as well as dissolution and slowing emptying of solids. MRI is effective in exhibiting the diffusion of gastric juice as affected by gastric acid and the influence of bran. This study provided quantitative evidence regarding the manner in which structural differences between white and brown rice affect their gastric digestion. The study presented in this paper focuses on how the structural differences in white and brown rice affect their gastric digestion. This information may help consumers to better understand the health benefits associated with eating brown rice. © 2011 Institute of Food Technologists®

Kinetic analysis of an anion exchange absorbent for CO2 capture from ambient air.

PubMed

Shi, Xiaoyang; Li, Qibin; Wang, Tao; Lackner, Klaus S

2017-01-01

This study reports a preparation method of a new moisture swing sorbent for CO2 capture from air. The new sorbent components include ion exchange resin (IER) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as a binder. The IER can absorb CO2 when surrounding is dry and release CO2 when surrounding is wet. The manuscript presents the studies of membrane structure, kinetic model of absorption process, performance of desorption process and the diffusivity of water molecules in the CO2 absorbent. It has been proved that the kinetic performance of CO2 absorption/desorption can be improved by using thin binder and hot water treatment. The fast kinetics of P-100-90C absorbent is due to the thin PVC binder, and high diffusion rate of H2O molecules in the sample. The impressive is this new CO2 absorbent has the fastest CO2 absorption rate among all absorbents which have been reported by other up-to-date literatures.

Speaker box made of composite particle board based on mushroom growing media waste

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tjahjanti, P. H.; Sutarman, Widodo, E.; Kurniawan, A. R.; Winarno, A. T.; Yani, A.

2017-06-01

This research aimed to use mushroom growing media waste (MGMW) that was added by urea, starch and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) glue as a composite particle board to be used as the material of speaker box manufacture. Physical and mechanical testing of particle board including density, moisture content, thickness swelling after immersion in water, strength in water absorption, internal bonding, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture and screw holding power, were carried out in accordance with the Stándar Nasional Indonesia (SNI) 03-2105-2006 and Japanese International Standard (JIS) A 5908-2003. The optimum composition of composite particle boards was 60% MGMW + 39% (50% urea +50% starch) + 1% PVC glue. Furthermore, the optimum composition to create speaker box with hardness values of 14.9 Brinnel Hardness Number and results of vibration test obtained amplitude values of the Z-axis, minimum of 0.032007 and maximum of 0.151575. For the acoustic test, results showed good sound absorption coefficients at frequencies of 500 Hz and it has better damping absorption.

Kinetic analysis of an anion exchange absorbent for CO2 capture from ambient air

PubMed Central

Shi, Xiaoyang; Li, Qibin; Lackner, Klaus S.

2017-01-01

This study reports a preparation method of a new moisture swing sorbent for CO2 capture from air. The new sorbent components include ion exchange resin (IER) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as a binder. The IER can absorb CO2 when surrounding is dry and release CO2 when surrounding is wet. The manuscript presents the studies of membrane structure, kinetic model of absorption process, performance of desorption process and the diffusivity of water molecules in the CO2 absorbent. It has been proved that the kinetic performance of CO2 absorption/desorption can be improved by using thin binder and hot water treatment. The fast kinetics of P-100-90C absorbent is due to the thin PVC binder, and high diffusion rate of H2O molecules in the sample. The impressive is this new CO2 absorbent has the fastest CO2 absorption rate among all absorbents which have been reported by other up-to-date literatures. PMID:28640914

NEUTRON RADIOGRAPHY MEASUREMENT OF SALT SOLUTION ABSORPTION IN MORTAR

PubMed Central

Lucero, Catherine L.; Spragg, Robert P.; Bentz, Dale P.; Hussey, Daniel S.; Jacobson, David L.; Weiss, W. Jason

2017-01-01

Some concrete pavements in the US have recently exhibited premature joint deterioration. It is hypothesized that one component of this damage can be attributed to a reaction that occurs when salt-laden water is absorbed in the concrete and reacts with the matrix. This study examines the absorption of CaCl2 solution in mortar via neutron imaging. Mortar specimens were prepared with water to cement ratios, (w/c), of 0.36, 0.42 and 0.50 by mass and exposed to chloride solutions with concentrations ranging from 0 % to 29.8 % by mass. Depth of fluid penetration and moisture content along the specimen length were determined for 96 h after exposure. At high salt concentration (29.8 %), the sorption rate decreased by over 80 % in all samples. Along with changes in surface tension and viscosity, CaCl2 reacts with the cement paste to produce products (Friedel’s salt, Kuzel’s salt, or calcium oxychloride) that block pores and reduce absorption. PMID:28626299

NEUTRON RADIOGRAPHY MEASUREMENT OF SALT SOLUTION ABSORPTION IN MORTAR.

PubMed

Lucero, Catherine L; Spragg, Robert P; Bentz, Dale P; Hussey, Daniel S; Jacobson, David L; Weiss, W Jason

2017-01-01

Some concrete pavements in the US have recently exhibited premature joint deterioration. It is hypothesized that one component of this damage can be attributed to a reaction that occurs when salt-laden water is absorbed in the concrete and reacts with the matrix. This study examines the absorption of CaCl 2 solution in mortar via neutron imaging. Mortar specimens were prepared with water to cement ratios, ( w/c ), of 0.36, 0.42 and 0.50 by mass and exposed to chloride solutions with concentrations ranging from 0 % to 29.8 % by mass. Depth of fluid penetration and moisture content along the specimen length were determined for 96 h after exposure. At high salt concentration (29.8 %), the sorption rate decreased by over 80 % in all samples. Along with changes in surface tension and viscosity, CaCl 2 reacts with the cement paste to produce products (Friedel's salt, Kuzel's salt, or calcium oxychloride) that block pores and reduce absorption.

Acoustic contributions of a sound absorbing blanket placed in a double panel structure: absorption versus transmission.

PubMed

Doutres, Olivier; Atalla, Noureddine

2010-08-01

The objective of this paper is to propose a simple tool to estimate the absorption vs. transmission loss contributions of a multilayered blanket unbounded in a double panel structure and thus guide its optimization. The normal incidence airborne sound transmission loss of the double panel structure, without structure-borne connections, is written in terms of three main contributions; (i) sound transmission loss of the panels, (ii) sound transmission loss of the blanket and (iii) sound absorption due to multiple reflections inside the cavity. The method is applied to four different blankets frequently used in automotive and aeronautic applications: a non-symmetric multilayer made of a screen in sandwich between two porous layers and three symmetric porous layers having different pore geometries. It is shown that the absorption behavior of the blanket controls the acoustic behavior of the treatment at low and medium frequencies and its transmission loss at high frequencies. Acoustic treatment having poor sound absorption behavior can affect the performance of the double panel structure.

Molecular Modeling for Calculation of Mechanical Properties of Epoxies with Moisture Ingress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancy, Thomas C.; Frankland, Sarah J.; Hinkley, J. A.; Gates, T. S.

2009-01-01

Atomistic models of epoxy structures were built in order to assess the effect of crosslink degree, moisture content and temperature on the calculated properties of a typical representative generic epoxy. Each atomistic model had approximately 7000 atoms and was contained within a periodic boundary condition cell with edge lengths of about 4 nm. Four atomistic models were built with a range of crosslink degree and moisture content. Each of these structures was simulated at three temperatures: 300 K, 350 K, and 400 K. Elastic constants were calculated for these structures by monitoring the stress tensor as a function of applied strain deformations to the periodic boundary conditions. The mechanical properties showed reasonably consistent behavior with respect to these parameters. The moduli decreased with decreasing crosslink degree with increasing temperature. The moduli generally decreased with increasing moisture content, although this effect was not as consistent as that seen for temperature and crosslink degree.

Soil Tillage Management Affects Maize Grain Yield by Regulating Spatial Distribution Coordination of Roots, Soil Moisture and Nitrogen Status.

PubMed

Wang, Xinbing; Zhou, Baoyuan; Sun, Xuefang; Yue, Yang; Ma, Wei; Zhao, Ming

2015-01-01

The spatial distribution of the root system through the soil profile has an impact on moisture and nutrient uptake by plants, affecting growth and productivity. The spatial distribution of the roots, soil moisture, and fertility are affected by tillage practices. The combination of high soil density and the presence of a soil plow pan typically impede the growth of maize (Zea mays L.).We investigated the spatial distribution coordination of the root system, soil moisture, and N status in response to different soil tillage treatments (NT: no-tillage, RT: rotary-tillage, SS: subsoiling) and the subsequent impact on maize yield, and identify yield-increasing mechanisms and optimal soil tillage management practices. Field experiments were conducted on the Huang-Huai-Hai plain in China during 2011 and 2012. The SS and RT treatments significantly reduced soil bulk density in the top 0-20 cm layer of the soil profile, while SS significantly decreased soil bulk density in the 20-30 cm layer. Soil moisture in the 20-50 cm profile layer was significantly higher for the SS treatment compared to the RT and NT treatment. In the 0-20 cm topsoil layer, the NT treatment had higher soil moisture than the SS and RT treatments. Root length density of the SS treatment was significantly greater than density of the RT and NT treatments, as soil depth increased. Soil moisture was reduced in the soil profile where root concentration was high. SS had greater soil moisture depletion and a more concentration root system than RT and NT in deep soil. Our results suggest that the SS treatment improved the spatial distribution of root density, soil moisture and N states, thereby promoting the absorption of soil moisture and reducing N leaching via the root system in the 20-50 cm layer of the profile. Within the context of the SS treatment, a root architecture densely distributed deep into the soil profile, played a pivotal role in plants' ability to access nutrients and water. An optimal combination of deeper deployment of roots and resource (water and N) availability was realized where the soil was prone to leaching. The correlation between the depletion of resources and distribution of patchy roots endorsed the SS tillage practice. It resulted in significantly greater post-silking biomass and grain yield compared to the RT and NT treatments, for summer maize on the Huang-Huai-Hai plain.

Soil Tillage Management Affects Maize Grain Yield by Regulating Spatial Distribution Coordination of Roots, Soil Moisture and Nitrogen Status

PubMed Central

Wang, Xinbing; Zhou, Baoyuan; Sun, Xuefang; Yue, Yang; Ma, Wei; Zhao, Ming

2015-01-01

The spatial distribution of the root system through the soil profile has an impact on moisture and nutrient uptake by plants, affecting growth and productivity. The spatial distribution of the roots, soil moisture, and fertility are affected by tillage practices. The combination of high soil density and the presence of a soil plow pan typically impede the growth of maize (Zea mays L.).We investigated the spatial distribution coordination of the root system, soil moisture, and N status in response to different soil tillage treatments (NT: no-tillage, RT: rotary-tillage, SS: subsoiling) and the subsequent impact on maize yield, and identify yield-increasing mechanisms and optimal soil tillage management practices. Field experiments were conducted on the Huang-Huai-Hai plain in China during 2011 and 2012. The SS and RT treatments significantly reduced soil bulk density in the top 0–20 cm layer of the soil profile, while SS significantly decreased soil bulk density in the 20–30 cm layer. Soil moisture in the 20–50 cm profile layer was significantly higher for the SS treatment compared to the RT and NT treatment. In the 0-20 cm topsoil layer, the NT treatment had higher soil moisture than the SS and RT treatments. Root length density of the SS treatment was significantly greater than density of the RT and NT treatments, as soil depth increased. Soil moisture was reduced in the soil profile where root concentration was high. SS had greater soil moisture depletion and a more concentration root system than RT and NT in deep soil. Our results suggest that the SS treatment improved the spatial distribution of root density, soil moisture and N states, thereby promoting the absorption of soil moisture and reducing N leaching via the root system in the 20–50 cm layer of the profile. Within the context of the SS treatment, a root architecture densely distributed deep into the soil profile, played a pivotal role in plants’ ability to access nutrients and water. An optimal combination of deeper deployment of roots and resource (water and N) availability was realized where the soil was prone to leaching. The correlation between the depletion of resources and distribution of patchy roots endorsed the SS tillage practice. It resulted in significantly greater post-silking biomass and grain yield compared to the RT and NT treatments, for summer maize on the Huang-Huai-Hai plain. PMID:26098548

Field-Scale Soil Moisture Observations in Irrigated Agriculture Fields Using the Cosmic-ray Neutron Rover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franz, T. E.; Avery, W. A.; Finkenbiner, C. E.; Wang, T.; Brocca, L.

2014-12-01

Approximately 40% of global food production comes from irrigated agriculture. With the increasing demand for food even greater pressures will be placed on water resources within these systems. In this work we aimed to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of soil moisture at the field-scale (~500 m) using the newly developed cosmic-ray neutron rover near Waco, NE. Here we mapped soil moisture of 144 quarter section fields (a mix of maize, soybean, and natural areas) each week during the 2014 growing season (May to September). The 11 x11 km study domain also contained 3 stationary cosmic-ray neutron probes for independent validation of the rover surveys. Basic statistical analysis of the domain indicated a strong inverted parabolic relationship between the mean and variance of soil moisture. The relationship between the mean and higher order moments were not as strong. Geostatistical analysis indicated the range of the soil moisture semi-variogram was significantly shorter during periods of heavy irrigation as compared to non-irrigated periods. Scaling analysis indicated strong power law behavior between the variance of soil moisture and averaging area with minimal dependence of mean soil moisture on the slope of the power law function. Statistical relationships derived from the rover dataset offer a novel set of observations that will be useful in: 1) calibrating and validating land surface models, 2) calibrating and validating crop models, 3) soil moisture covariance estimates for statistical downscaling of remote sensing products such as SMOS and SMAP, and 4) provide center-pivot scale mean soil moisture data for optimal irrigation timing and volume amounts.

Measurement and modeling of moist processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cotton, William; Starr, David; Mitchell, Kenneth; Fleming, Rex; Koch, Steve; Smith, Steve; Mailhot, Jocelyn; Perkey, Don; Tripoli, Greg

1993-01-01

The keynote talk summarized five years of work simulating observed mesoscale convective systems with the RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System) model. Excellent results are obtained when simulating squall line or other convective systems that are strongly forced by fronts or other lifting mechanisms. Less highly forced systems are difficult to model. The next topic in this colloquium was measurement of water vapor and other constituents of the hydrologic cycle. Impressive accuracy was shown measuring water vapor with both the airborne DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) system and the the ground-based Raman Lidar. NMC's plans for initializing land water hydrology in mesoscale models was presented before water vapor measurement concepts for GCIP were discussed. The subject of using satellite data to provide mesoscale moisture and wind analyses was next. Recent activities in modeling of moist processes in mesoscale systems was reported on. These modeling activities at the Canadian Atmospheric Environment Service (AES) used a hydrostatic, variable-resolution grid model. Next the spatial resolution effects of moisture budgets was discussed; in particular, the effects of temporal resolution on heat and moisture budgets for cumulus parameterization. The conclusion of this colloquium was on modeling scale interaction processes.

Red Mn4+-Doped Fluoride Phosphors: Why Purity Matters.

PubMed

Verstraete, Reinert; Sijbom, Heleen F; Joos, Jonas J; Korthout, Katleen; Poelman, Dirk; Detavernier, Christophe; Smet, Philippe F

2018-06-06

Traditional light sources, e.g., incandescent and fluorescent lamps, are currently being replaced by white light-emitting diodes (wLEDs) because of their improved efficiency, prolonged lifetime, and environmental friendliness. Much effort has recently been spent to the development of Mn 4+ -doped fluoride phosphors that can enhance the color gamut in displays and improve the color rendering index, luminous efficacy of the radiation, and correlated color temperature of wLEDs used for lighting. Purity, stability, and degradation of fluoride phosphors are, however, rarely discussed. Nevertheless, the typical wet chemical synthesis routes (involving hydrogen fluoride (HF)) and the large variety of possible Mn valence states often lead to impurities that drastically influence the performance and stability of these phosphors. In this article, the origins and consequences of impurities formed during synthesis and aging of K 2 SiF 6 :Mn 4+ are revealed. Both crystalline impurities such as KHF 2 and ionic impurities such as Mn 3+ are found to affect the phosphor performance. While Mn 3+ mainly influences the optical absorption behavior, KHF 2 can affect both the optical performance and chemical stability of the phosphor. Moisture leads to decomposition of KHF 2 , forming HF and amorphous hydrated potassium fluoride. As a consequence of hydrate formation, significant amounts of water can be absorbed in impure phosphor powders containing KHF 2 , facilitating the hydrolysis of [MnF 6 ] 2- complexes and affecting the optical absorption of the phosphors. Strategies are discussed to identify impurities and to achieve pure and stable phosphors with internal quantum efficiencies of more than 90%.

FARSITE: Fire Area Simulator-model development and evaluation

Treesearch

Mark A. Finney

1998-01-01

A computer simulation model, FARSITE, includes existing fire behavior models for surface, crown, spotting, point-source fire acceleration, and fuel moisture. The model's components and assumptions are documented. Simulations were run for simple conditions that illustrate the effect of individual fire behavior models on two-dimensional fire growth.

FT-Raman spectra of cellulose and lignocellulose materials : “self-absorption” phenomenon and its implications for quantitative work

Treesearch

Umesh Agarwal; Nancy Kawai

2003-01-01

The phenomenon of “self-absorption” was found to exist in the FT-Raman spectra of cellulose and thermomechanical pulp (TMP), but not in the spectrum of milled wood lignin. For cellulose and TMP, the effect was responsible for reducing the intensity of the Raman bands in the C-H stretch region. Several factors including sampling position, sample thickness, and moisture...

Hygrothermal influence on delamination behavior of graphite/epoxy laminates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garg, A.; Ishai, O.

1985-01-01

The hygrothermal effect on the fracture behavior of graphite-epoxy laminates was investigated to develop a methodology for damage tolerance predictions in advanced composite materials. Several T300/934 laminates were tested using a number of specimen configurations to evaluate the effects of temperature and humidity on delamination fracture toughness under mode 1 and mode 2 loading. It is indicated that moisture has a slightly beneficial influence on fracture toughness or critical strain energy release rate during mode 1 delamination, but has a slightly deleterious effect on mode 2 delamination, and mode 1 transverse cracking. The failed specimens are examined by SEM and topographical differences due to fracture modes are identified. It is concluded that the effect of moisture on fracture topography can not be distinguished.

Hygrothermal influence on delamination behavior of graphite/epoxy laminates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garg, A.; Ishai, O.

1984-01-01

The hygrothermal effect on the fracture behavior of graphite-epoxy laminates was investigated to develop a methodology for damage tolerance predictions in advanced composite materials. Several T300/934 laminates were tested using a number of specimen configurations to evaluate the effects of temperature and humidity on delamination fracture toughness under mode 1 and mode 2 loading. It is indicated that moisture has a slightly beneficial influence on fracture toughness or critical strain energy release rate during mode 1 delamination, but has a slightly deleterious effect on mode 2 delamination and mode 1 transverse cracking. The failed specimens are examined by SEM and topographical differences due to fracture modes are identified. It is concluded that the effect of moisture on fracture topography can not be distinguished.

Behavior of composite/metal aircraft structural elements and components under crash type loads: What are they telling us

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carden, Huey D.; Boitnott, Richard L.; Fasanella, Edwin L.

1990-01-01

Failure behavior results are presented from crash dynamics research using concepts of aircraft elements and substructure not necessarily designed or optimized for energy absorption or crash loading considerations. To achieve desired new designs which incorporate improved energy absorption capabilities often requires an understanding of how more conventional designs behave under crash loadings. Experimental and analytical data are presented which indicate some general trends in the failure behavior of a class of composite structures which include individual fuselage frames, skeleton subfloors with stringers and floor beams but without skin covering, and subfloors with skin added to the frame-stringer arrangement. Although the behavior is complex, a strong similarity in the static and dynamic failure behavior among these structures is illustrated through photographs of the experimental results and through analytical data of generic composite structural models. It is believed that the similarity in behavior is giving the designer and dynamists much information about what to expect in the crash behavior of these structures and can guide designs for improving the energy absorption and crash behavior of such structures.

Behavior of composite/metal aircraft structural elements and components under crash type loads - What are they telling us?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carden, Huey D.; Boitnott, Richard L.; Fasanella, Edwin L.

1990-01-01

Failure behavior results are presented from crash dynamics research using concepts of aircraft elements and substructure not necessarily designed or optimized for energy absorption or crash loading considerations. To achieve desired new designs which incorporate improved energy absorption capabilities often requires an understanding of how more conventional designs behave under crash loadings. Experimental and analytical data are presented which indicate some general trends in the failure behavior of a class of composite structures which include individual fuselage frames, skeleton subfloors with stringers and floor beams but without skin covering, and subfloors with skin added to the frame-stringer arrangement. Although the behavior is complex, a strong similarity in the static and dynamic failure behavior among these structures is illustrated through photographs of the experimental results and through analytical data of generic composite structural models. It is believed that the similarity in behavior is giving the designer and dynamists much information about what to expect in the crash behavior of these structures and can guide designs for improving the energy absorption and crash behavior of such structures.

Unique failure behavior of metal/composite aircraft structural components under crash type loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carden, Huey D.

1990-01-01

Failure behavior results are presented on some of the crash dynamics research conducted with concepts of aircraft elements and substructure which have not necessarily been designed or optimized for energy absorption or crash loading considerations. To achieve desired new designs which incorporate improved energy absorption capabilities often requires an understanding of how more conventional designs behave under crash type loadings. Experimental and analytical data are presented which indicate some general trends in the failure behavior of a class of composite structures which include individual fuselage frames, skeleton subfloors with stringers and floor beams but without skin covering, and subfloors with skin added to the frame-stringer arrangement. Although the behavior is complex, a strong similarity in the static/dynamic failure behavior among these structures is illustrated through photographs of the experimental results and through analytical data of generic composite structural models. It is believed that the thread of similarity in behavior is telling the designer and dynamists a great deal about what to expect in the crash behavior of these structures and can guide designs for improving the energy absorption and crash behavior of such structures.

An examination of the sensitivity of numerically simulated wildfires to low-level atmospheric stability and moisture, and the consequences for the Haines Index

Treesearch

Mary Ann Jenkins

2002-01-01

The Haines Index, an operational fire-weather index introduced in 1988 and based on the observed stability and moisture content of the near-surface atmosphere, has been a useful indicator of the potential for high-risk fires in low wind conditions and flat terrain. The Haines Index is of limited use, however, as a predictor of actual fire behavior. To develop a fire-...

Numerical Studies of Scattering Properties of Leaves and Leaf Moisture Influences on the Scattering at Microwave Wavelengths

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Bing; Hu, Yongxiang; Sun, Wenbo; Min, Qilong

2008-01-01

This study uses 3-dimensional finite difference time domain method to accurately calculate single-scattering properties of randomly orientated leaves and evaluate the influences of vegetation water content (VWC) on these properties at 19 and 37 GHz frequencies. The studied leaves are assumed to be thin elliptic disks with two different sizes and have various VWC values. Although the leaf moisture produces considerable absorption during scattering processes, the effective efficiencies of extinction and scattering of leaves still near-linearly increase with VWC. Calculated asymmetry factors and phase functions indicate that there are significant amounts of scattering at large scattering angles in microwave wavelengths, which provides good opportunities for off-nadir microwave remote sensing of forests. This study lays a basic foundation in future quantifications of the relations between satellite measurements and physical properties of vegetation canopies.

Characterization of the new biodegradable WPI/clay nanocomposite films based on kefiran exopolysaccharide.

PubMed

Zolfi, Mohsen; Khodaiyan, Faramarz; Mousavi, Mohammad; Hashemi, Maryam

2015-06-01

Physico-mechanical, thermal and structural characteristics of nanocomposite film composed of kefiran-whey protein isolate (WPI)-montmorillonite (MMT; 1, 3 and 5 % w/w) were studied. Incorporation of MMT significantly affected the mechanical attributes of the kefiran-WPI films. The tensile strength and Young's modulus increased and the percentage of elongation at break decreased as the MMT content increased. Moisture content, moisture absorption and water solubility decreased as the MMT concentration increased. Differential scanning calorimetry indicated that the glass transition temperature for kefiran-WPI film was -12.5 °C and was noticeably affected by an increase in MMT. X-ray diffraction analysis showed formation of an exfoliated structure with the addition of small amounts of MMT to the kefiran-WPI matrix. Intercalation and some exfoliation occurred up to 5 % (wt) increase in MMT. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated ideal dispersion for MMT nanoparticles into the structure of the bio-nanocomposite films.

Hygrothermal properties of composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arsenovic, Petar

1996-01-01

The testing procedure and acceptance criteria for outgassing selection of materials to be used in spacecraft has been reviewed. Outgassing testing should be conducted according to ASTM Standard E 595-90. In general, materials with CVCM less than or equal to 0.10% and TML less than or equal to 1.00% are acceptable for space applications. Next, test data on several types of graphite-epoxy composite materials are presented over time at various relative humidity levels at room temperature for moisture absorption, and under vacuum at several temperatures for moisture desorption (outgassing). The data can be accurately represented by simple equations which are useful for materials characterization. Finally, a laser dilatometer systems of extremely high sensitivity and accuracy was assembled and used to measure the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of several types of graphite-epoxy structures, culminating in the ability to perform loading and thermal expansion tests on a prototype optical bench.

Moisture resistant and anti-reflection optical coatings produced by plasma polymerization of organic compounds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hollahan, J. R.; Wydeven, T.

1975-01-01

The need for protective coatings on critical optical surfaces, such as halide crystal windows or lenses used in spectroscopy, has long been recognized. It has been demonstrated that thin, one micron, organic coatings produced by polymerization of flourinated monomers in low temperature gas discharge (plasma) exhibit very high degrees of moisture resistence, e.g., hundreds of hours protection for cesium iodide vs. minutes before degradation sets in for untreated surfaces. The index of refraction of these coatings is intermediate between that of the halide substrate and air, a condition for anti-reflection, another desirable property of optical coatings. Thus, the organic coatings not only offer protection, but improved transmittance as well. The polymer coating is non-absorbing over the range 0.4 to 40 microns with an exception at 8.0 microns, the expected absorption for C-F bonds.

Physical aging and its influence on the reliability of network epoxies and epoxy-matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heinemann, K.

1983-01-01

The matrix-dominated physical and mechanical properties of a carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite and a neat epoxy resin were found to be affected by sub-Tg annealing in nitrogen and dark atmosphere. Postcured specimens of Thornel 300 carbon-fiber/Fiberite 934 epoxy as well as Fiberite 934 epoxy resin were quenched from above Tg and given annealing at 140 C, 110 C, or 80 C, for time up to one-hundred thousand minutes. No weight loss was observed during annealing at these temperatures. Significant variations were found in density, modulus, hardness, damping, moisture absorption ability, thermal expansivity. Moisture-epoxy interactious were also studied. The kinetics of aging as well as the molecular aggregation during this densification process were monitored by differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, density gradient column, microhardness tester, Instron, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Estimation of Physical Parameters of a Multilayered Multi-Scale Vegetated Surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosni, I.; Bennaceur Farah, L.; Naceur, M. S.; Farah, I. R.

2016-06-01

Soil moisture is important to enable the growth of vegetation in the way that it also conditions the development of plant population. Additionally, its assessment is important in hydrology and agronomy, and is a warning parameter for desertification. Furthermore, the soil moisture content affects exchanges with the atmosphere via the energy balance at the soil surface; it is significant due to its impact on soil evaporation and transpiration. Therefore, it conditions the energy transfer between Earth and atmosphere. Many remote sensing methods were tested. For the soil moisture; the first methods relied on the optical domain (short wavelengths). Obviously, due to atmospheric effects and the presence of clouds and vegetation cover, this approach is doomed to fail in most cases. Therefore, the presence of vegetation canopy complicates the retrieval of soil moisture because the canopy contains moisture of its own. This paper presents a synergistic methodology of SAR and optical remote sensing data, and it's for simulation of statistical parameters of soil from C-band radar measurements. Vegetation coverage, which can be easily estimated from optical data, was combined in the backscattering model. The total backscattering was divided into the amount attributed to areas covered with vegetation and that attributed to areas of bare soil. Backscattering coefficients were simulated using the established backscattering model. A two-dimensional multiscale SPM model has been employed to investigate the problem of electromagnetic scattering from an underlying soil. The water cloud model (WCM) is used to account for the effect of vegetation water content on radar backscatter data, whereof to eliminate the impact of vegetation layer and isolate the contributions of vegetation scattering and absorption from the total backscattering coefficient.

Clarifications on the "Comparison Between SMOS, VUA, ASCAT, and ECMWF Soil Moisture Products Over Four Watersheds in U.S."

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, Wolfgang; Luca, Brocca; Naeimi, Vahid; Reichle, Rolf; Draper, Clara; de Jeu, Richard; Ryu, Dongryeol; Su, Chun-Hsu; Western, Andrew; Calvet, Jean-Christophe;

Effects of mountain pine beetle on fuels and expected fire behavior in lodgepole pine forests, Colorado, USA

Treesearch

Tania Schoennagel; Thomas T. Veblen; Jose F. Negron; Jeremy M. Smith

2012-01-01

In Colorado and southern Wyoming, mountain pine beetle (MPB) has affected over 1.6 million ha of predominantly lodgepole pine forests, raising concerns about effects of MPB-caused mortality on subsequent wildfire risk and behavior. Using empirical data we modeled potential fire behavior across a gradient of wind speeds and moisture scenarios in Green stands compared...

Preparation and characterization of starch-based loose-fill packaging foams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Qi

Regular and waxy corn starches were blended in various ratios with biodegradable polymers including polylactic acid (PLA), Eastar Bio Copolyester 14766 (EBC) and Mater-Bi ZF03U (MBI) and extruded with a C. W. Brabender laboratory twin screw extruder using a 3-mm die nozzle at 150°C and 150 rev/min. Physical characteristics including radial expansion, unit density and bulk density and water solubility index, water absorption characteristics, mechanical properties including compressibility, Young's modulus, spring index, bulk compressibility and bulk spring index and abrasion resistance were investigated as affected by the ingredient formulations, i.e. type of polymers, type of starches, polymer to starch ratio and starch moisture content. A completely randomized factorial blocking experimental design was used. Fifty-four treatments resulted. Each treatment was replicated three times. SAS statistical software package was used to analyze the data. Foams made of waxy starch had better radial expansion, lower unit density and bulk density than did foams made of regular starch. Regular starch foams had significantly lower water solubility index than did the waxy starch foams. PLA-starch foams had the lowest compressibility and Young's modulus. MBI-starch foams were the most rigid. All foams had excellent spring indices and bulk spring indices which were comparable to the spring index of commercial expanded polystyrene foam. Correlations were established between the foam mechanical properties and the physical characteristics. Foam compressibility and Young's modulus decreased as increases in radial expansion and decreases in unit and bulk densities. Their relationships were modeled with power law equations. No correlation was observed between spring index and bulk spring index and foam physical characteristics. MBI-starch foams had the highest equilibrium moisture content. EBC-starch and PLA-starch foams had similar water absorption characteristics. No significant difference existed in water absorption characteristics between foams made of regular and waxy starches. Empirical models were developed to correlate foam water absorption characteristics with relative humidity and polymer content. The developed models fit the data well with relatively small standard errors and uniformly scattered residual plots. Foams with higher polymer content had better abrasion resistance than did foams with lower polymer content.

Nonlinear absorption properties of ZnO and Al doped ZnO thin films under continuous and pulsed modes of operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandeep, K. M.; Bhat, Shreesha; Dharmaprakash, S. M.

2018-06-01

In the present investigation, we present the variations in nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of undoped and Al doped ZnO (AZO) films under two different off-resonant regimes using continuous and pulsed mode lasers. Z-scan open aperture experiment is performed to quantify nonlinear absorption constant and imaginary component of third order susceptibility. Reverse saturable absorption (RSA) and saturable absorption (SA) behaviors are noticed in both undoped and AZO films under pulsed mode and continuous wavelength (CW) regime respectively. The RSA and SA behavior observed in the films are attributed to two photon absorption (TPA) and thermal lensing properties respectively. The thermal lensing is assisted by the thermo-optic effects within the films due to the continuous illumination of the laser.

Dietary mannitol increased the absorption of calcium and magnesium in rats.

PubMed

Xiao, J; Sakaguchi, E; Min, X; Kawasaki, K

2016-08-01

The effect of mannitol on bone-related mineral absorption and retention and the mechanism was investigated in this study. Fourteen 8-week-old male Wistar rats in experiment 1 and same number and age cecectomized Wistar male rats in experiment 2 were divided into two subgroups of seven animals, respectively, fed diets containing 0 or 4% mannitol for 28 days. Mineral balance tests were determined twice during days 8-12 and days 22-26, and the rats were slaughtered on day 28 both in experiment 1 and experiment 2. The whole caecum and colon were collected with the content to analyse tissue weight, content weight, content's pH and moisture, organic acids' concentration and mineral levels. In experiment 1, Ca absorption and retention and Mg absorption were significantly increased by mannitol feeding during days 8-12. Caecal total weight, tissue weight and content weight were increased, the pH of caecum and colon was reduced, and the concentrations of caecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were modified by mannitol feeding. In experiment 2, during days 8-12 and days 22-26, Ca absorption and retention were significantly lowered by mannitol feeding in cecectomized rats; however, mannitol feeding decreased Mg absorption during days 8-12, but did not impact Mg retention. Colonic total weight, tissue weight and content weight were significantly increased, and colonic pH was reduced by mannitol feeding. In conclusion, dietary mannitol increased the absorption of Ca and Mg and the caecum markedly contributed to this promoting effect of mannitol. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition © 2016 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Retrieving pace in vegetation growth using precipitation and soil moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sohoulande Djebou, D. C.; Singh, V. P.

2013-12-01

The complexity of interactions between the biophysical components of the watershed increases the challenge of understanding water budget. Hence, the perspicacity of the continuum soil-vegetation-atmosphere's functionality still remains crucial for science. This study targeted the Texas Gulf watershed and evaluated the behavior of vegetation covers by coupling precipitation and soil moisture patterns. Growing season's Normalized Differential Vegetation Index NDVI for deciduous forest and grassland were used over a 23 year period as well as precipitation and soil moisture data. The role of time scales on vegetation dynamics analysis was appraised using both entropy rescaling and correlation analysis. This resulted in that soil moisture at 5 cm and 25cm are potentially more efficient to use for vegetation dynamics monitoring at finer time scale compared to precipitation. Albeit soil moisture at 5 cm and 25 cm series are highly correlated (R2>0.64), it appeared that 5 cm soil moisture series can better explain the variability of vegetation growth. A logarithmic transformation of soil moisture and precipitation data increased correlation with NDVI for the different time scales considered. Based on a monthly time scale we came out with a relationship between vegetation index and the couple soil moisture and precipitation [NDVI=a*Log(% soil moisture)+b*Log(Precipitation)+c] with R2>0.25 for each vegetation type. Further, we proposed to assess vegetation green-up using logistic regression model and transinformation entropy using the couple soil moisture and precipitation as independent variables and vegetation growth metrics (NDVI, NDVI ratio, NDVI slope) as the dependent variable. The study is still ongoing and the results will surely contribute to the knowledge in large scale vegetation monitoring. Keywords: Precipitation, soil moisture, vegetation growth, entropy Time scale, Logarithmic transformation and correlation between soil moisture and NDVI, precipitation and NDVI. The analysis is performed by combining both scenes 7 and 8 data. Schematic illustration of the two dimension transinformation entropy approach. T(P,SM;VI) stand for the transinformation contained in the couple soil moisture (SM)/precipitation (P) and explaining vegetation growth (VI).

Moisture dynamics in masticated fuelbeds: A preliminary analysis

Treesearch

Jesse Kreye; J. Morgan Varner

2007-01-01

Mastication has become a popular fuels treatment in the Western United States, but predicting subsequent fire behavior and effects has proven difficult. Fire behavior and effects in masticated fuelbeds have been more intense and erratic in comparison with model predictions. While various particle or fuelbed characteristics in these fuels may contribute to the...

Teaching Methodology of Flexible Pavement Materials and Pavement Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehta, Yusuf; Najafi, Fazil

2004-01-01

Flexible pavement materials exhibit complex mechanical behavior, in the sense, that they not only show stress and temperature dependency but also are sensitive to moisture conditions. This complex behavior presents a great challenge to the faculty in bringing across the level of complexity and providing the concepts needed to understand them. The…

Effect of moisture on the traction-separation behavior of cellulose nanocrystal interfaces

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

Sinko, Robert; Keten, Sinan, E-mail: s-keten@northwestern.edu; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Room A136, Evanston, Illinois 60208

2014-12-15

Interfaces and stress transfer between cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) dictate the mechanical properties of hierarchical cellulose materials such as neat films and nanocomposites. An interesting question that remains is how the behavior of these interfaces changes due to environmental stimuli, most notably moisture. We present analyses on the traction-separation behavior between Iβ CNC elementary fibrils, providing insight into how the presence of a single atomic layer of water at these interfaces can drastically change the mechanical behavior. We find that molecular water at the interface between hydrophilic CNC surfaces has a negligible effect on the tensile separation adhesion energy. However, whenmore » water cannot hydrogen bond easily to the surface (i.e., hydrophobic surface), it tends to maintain hydrogen bonds with other water molecules across the interface and form a capillary bridge that serves to increase the energy required to separate the crystals. Under shear loading, water lowers the energy barriers to sliding by reducing the atomic friction and consequently the interlayer shear modulus between crystals. Our simulations indicate that these nanoscale interfaces and physical phenomena such as interfacial adhesion, interlayer shear properties, and stick-slip friction behavior can be drastically altered by the presence of water.« less

Water vapor sorption properties of cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibers using dynamic vapor sorption apparatus.

PubMed

Guo, Xin; Wu, Yiqiang; Xie, Xinfeng

2017-10-27

Hygroscopic behavior is an inherent characteristic of nanocellulose which strongly affects its applications. In this study, the water vapor sorption behavior of four nanocellulose samples, such as cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibers with cellulose I and II structures (cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) I, CNC II, cellulose nanofibers (CNF) I, and CNF II) were studied by dynamic vapor sorption. The highly reproducible data including the running time, real-time sample mass, target relative humidity (RH), actual RH, and isotherm temperature were recorded during the sorption process. In analyzing these data, significant differences in the total running time, equilibrium moisture content, sorption hysteresis and sorption kinetics between these four nanocellulose samples were confirmed. It was important to note that CNC I, CNC II, CNF I, and CNF II had equilibrium moisture contents of 21.4, 28.6, 33.2, and 38.9%, respectively, at a RH of 95%. Then, the sorption kinetics behavior was accurately described by using the parallel exponential kinetics (PEK) model. Furthermore, the Kelvin-Voigt model was introduced to interpret the PEK behavior and calculate the modulus of these four nanocellulose samples.

Moisture Effects on the High Strain-Rate Behavior of Sand (Preprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-01

1986) used a conventional SHPB to evaluate a single short pressure pulse traveling through long specimens of 20/40 dry sand, 50/80 dry sand...constant strain-rate within the specimen. In a conventional SHPB experiment, e.g., on dry sand by Veyera (1994), the incident pulse is nearly...strain-rate of 400 s-1. The sand specimen confined in a hardened steel tube, had a dry density of 1.50 g/cm3 with moisture contents varied from 3% to 20

SMOS+RAINFALL: Evaluating the ability of different methodologies to improve rainfall estimations using soil moisture data from SMOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pellarin, Thierry; Brocca, Luca; Crow, Wade; Kerr, Yann; Massari, Christian; Román-Cascón, Carlos; Fernández, Diego

2017-04-01

Recent studies have demonstrated the usefulness of soil moisture retrieved from satellite for improving rainfall estimations of satellite based precipitation products (SBPP). The real-time version of these products are known to be biased from the real precipitation observed at the ground. Therefore, the information contained in soil moisture can be used to correct the inaccuracy and uncertainty of these products, since the value and behavior of this soil variable preserve the information of a rain event even for several days. In this work, we take advantage of the soil moisture data from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite, which provides information with a quite appropriate temporal and spatial resolution for correcting rainfall events. Specifically, we test and compare the ability of three different methodologies for this aim: 1) SM2RAIN, which directly relate changes in soil moisture to rainfall quantities; 2) The LMAA methodology, which is based on the assimilation of soil moisture in two models of different complexity (see EGU2017-5324 in this same session); 3) The SMART method, based on the assimilation of soil moisture in a simple hydrological model with a different assimilation/modelling technique. The results are tested for 6 years over 10 sites around the world with different features (land surface, rainfall climatology, orography complexity, etc.). These preliminary and promising results are shown here for the first time to the scientific community, as also the observed limitations of the different methodologies. Specific remarks on the technical configurations, filtering/smoothing of SMOS soil moisture or re-scaling techniques are also provided from the results of different sensitivity experiments.

Spatiotemporal characterization of soil moisture fields in agricultural areas using cosmic-ray neutron probes and data fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franz, Trenton; Wang, Tiejun

2015-04-01

Approximately 40% of global food production comes from irrigated agriculture. With the increasing demand for food even greater pressures will be placed on water resources within these systems. In this work we aimed to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of soil moisture at the field-scale (~500 m) using the newly developed cosmic-ray neutron rover near Waco, NE USA. Here we mapped soil moisture of 144 quarter section fields (a mix of maize, soybean, and natural areas) each week during the 2014 growing season (May to September). The 12 by 12 km study domain also contained three stationary cosmic-ray neutron probes for independent validation of the rover surveys. Basic statistical analysis of the domain indicated a strong relationship between the mean and variance of soil moisture at several averaging scales. The relationships between the mean and higher order moments were not significant. Scaling analysis indicated strong power law behavior between the variance of soil moisture and averaging area with minimal dependence of mean soil moisture on the slope of the power law function. In addition, we combined the data from the three stationary cosmic-ray neutron probes and mobile surveys using linear regression to derive a daily soil moisture product at 1, 3, and 12 km spatial resolutions for the entire growing season. The statistical relationships derived from the rover dataset offer a novel set of observations that will be useful in: 1) calibrating and validating land surface models, 2) calibrating and validating crop models, 3) soil moisture covariance estimates for statistical downscaling of remote sensing products such as SMOS and SMAP, and 4) provide daily center-pivot scale mean soil moisture data for optimal irrigation timing and volume amounts.

Satellite Moisture Retrieval Techniques. Volume 1. Technique Development and Evaluation

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

M3H 5T4 ONTARIO, CANADA BIBLIOTECA INSTITUTE ANARTICO CHILENO LUIS THAYER OJEDA 814 SANTIAGO , CHILE METEORO. OFFICE LIBRARY LONDON ROAD...levels (which could in practice be determined from CO2 sounding channels). The water vapor amounts at the different tropospheric levels are the...parameters for the gases H2O, CO2 , O3, N2O, CO, CH4 and O2. Water vapor was the largest contributor to absorption for all SSH/2 channels with smaller

Activated mineral powders for asphalt concrete mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuznetsov, D. A.; Lukash, E. A.

2018-03-01

Possibilities of activation of disperse mineral powders from the technogenic raw materials of KMA by ultraviolet irradiation are considered in this article. The optimum time of ultraviolet exposure for each material is determined during which the concentration of exchange centers is increased, the rate of rehydration is slowed down and the moisture absorption is significantly reduced. It is shown that both physical and mechanical characteristics, as well as durability of asphalt concrete prepared on the basis of modified mineral powders are significantly increased.

Chromium Ions Improve Moisure Resistance of Epoxy Resins

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

St. Clair, A. K.; St. Clair, T. L.; Stoakley, D. M.; Singh, J. J.; Sprinkle, D. R.

1986-01-01

Broad spectrum of thermosetting epoxy resins used on commercial and military aircraft, primarily as composite matrices and adhesives. In new technique, chromium-ion containing epoxy with improved resistance to moisture produced where chromium ions believed to prevent absorption of water molecules by coordinating themselves to hydroxyl groups on epoxy chain. Anticipated that improved epoxy formulation useful as composite matrix resin, adhesive, or casting resin for applications on commercial and advanced aircraft. Improvement made without sacrifice in mechanical properties of polymer.

Fatigue qualification of high thickness composite rotor components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raggi, M.; Mariani, U.; Zaffaroni, G.

Fatigue qualification aspects of composite rotor components are presented according with the safe life procedure usually applied by helicopter manufacturers. Test activities are identified at three levels of specimen complexity: coupon, structural element and full scale component. Particular attention is given to high thickness laminates qualification as far as environmental exposure is concerned. A practical approach for an accelerated conditioning procedure is described. The application to a main rotor tension link is presented showing the negligible effect of the moisture absorption on its fatigue strength.

Computer-Graphics Emulation of Chemical Instrumentation: Absorption Spectrophotometers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, D. D.; And Others

1982-01-01

Describes interactive, computer-graphics program emulating behavior of high resolution, ultraviolet-visible analog recording spectrophotometer. Graphics terminal behaves as recording absorption spectrophotometer. Objective of the emulation is study of optimization of the instrument to yield accurate absorption spectra, including…

Light-induced absorption and its relaxation under illumination of continuous wave ultraviolet light in Mn-doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO{sub 3}

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

Liu Youwen; Kitamura, Kenji; Takekawa, Shunji

2005-04-01

The steady-state light-induced absorption and the temporal relaxation behavior under illumination of cw ultraviolet light in Mn-doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO{sub 3} with different crystal compositions are investigated. The ultraviolet-light-induced absorption has been assigned to small polarons Nb{sub Li}{sup 4+} by measuring the absorption spectra at room temperature. The dependences of relaxation behaviors (time constant and stretching factor) of light-induced absorption on various illumination conditions (intensity, polarization) and temperature are presented, which are very different from those observed in Fe-doped LiNbO{sub 3} illuminated with highly intense light pulse, though the temporal relaxation follows the same stretched-exponential decay behavior in both cases. Themore » results are explained reasonably by using the model of distance-dependent electron transition probabilities between localized deep traps and small polarons without any additional assumptions, and discussed to tailor doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO{sub 3} crystals for two-color holographic recording with cw laser light.« less

Applications of Polymer Matrix Syntactic Foams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Nikhil; Zeltmann, Steven E.; Shunmugasamy, Vasanth Chakravarthy; Pinisetty, Dinesh

2013-11-01

A collection of applications of polymer matrix syntactic foams is presented in this article. Syntactic foams are lightweight porous composites that found their early applications in marine structures due to their naturally buoyant behavior and low moisture absorption. Their light weight has been beneficial in weight sensitive aerospace structures. Syntactic foams have pushed the performance boundaries for composites and have enabled the development of vehicles for traveling to the deepest parts of the ocean and to other planets. The high volume fraction of porosity in syntactic foams also enabled their applications in thermal insulation of pipelines in oil and gas industry. The possibility of tailoring the mechanical and thermal properties of syntactic foams through a combination of material selection, hollow particle volume fraction, and hollow particle wall thickness has helped in rapidly growing these applications. The low coefficient of thermal expansion and dimensional stability at high temperatures are now leading their use in electronic packaging, composite tooling, and thermoforming plug assists. Methods have been developed to tailor the mechanical and thermal properties of syntactic foams independent of each other over a wide range, which is a significant advantage over other traditional particulate and fibrous composites.

Effects of Heat-Treated Wood Particles on the Physico-Mechanical Properties and Extended Creep Behavior of Wood/Recycled-HDPE Composites Using the Time-Temperature Superposition Principle.

PubMed

Yang, Teng-Chun; Chien, Yi-Chi; Wu, Tung-Lin; Hung, Ke-Chang; Wu, Jyh-Horng

2017-03-30

This study investigated the effectiveness of heat-treated wood particles for improving the physico-mechanical properties and creep performance of wood/recycled-HDPE composites. The results reveal that the composites with heat-treated wood particles had significantly decreased moisture content, water absorption, and thickness swelling, while no improvements of the flexural properties or the wood screw holding strength were observed, except for the internal bond strength. Additionally, creep tests were conducted at a series of elevated temperatures using the time-temperature superposition principle (TTSP), and the TTSP-predicted creep compliance curves fit well with the experimental data. The creep resistance values of composites with heat-treated wood particles were greater than those having untreated wood particles due to the hydrophobic character of the treated wood particles and improved interfacial compatibility between the wood particles and polymer matrix. At a reference temperature of 20 °C, the improvement of creep resistance ( ICR ) of composites with heat-treated wood particles reached approximately 30% over a 30-year period, and it increased significantly with increasing reference temperature.

Effects of Heat-Treated Wood Particles on the Physico-Mechanical Properties and Extended Creep Behavior of Wood/Recycled-HDPE Composites Using the Time–Temperature Superposition Principle

PubMed Central

Yang, Teng-Chun; Chien, Yi-Chi; Wu, Tung-Lin; Hung, Ke-Chang; Wu, Jyh-Horng

2017-01-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of heat-treated wood particles for improving the physico-mechanical properties and creep performance of wood/recycled-HDPE composites. The results reveal that the composites with heat-treated wood particles had significantly decreased moisture content, water absorption, and thickness swelling, while no improvements of the flexural properties or the wood screw holding strength were observed, except for the internal bond strength. Additionally, creep tests were conducted at a series of elevated temperatures using the time–temperature superposition principle (TTSP), and the TTSP-predicted creep compliance curves fit well with the experimental data. The creep resistance values of composites with heat-treated wood particles were greater than those having untreated wood particles due to the hydrophobic character of the treated wood particles and improved interfacial compatibility between the wood particles and polymer matrix. At a reference temperature of 20 °C, the improvement of creep resistance (ICR) of composites with heat-treated wood particles reached approximately 30% over a 30-year period, and it increased significantly with increasing reference temperature. PMID:28772726

A reexamination of soil textural effects on microwave emission and backscattering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dobson, M. C.; Kouyate, F.; Ulaby, F. T.

1984-01-01

Microwave frequency measurements of moist soil dielectric properties are noted to challenge the validity of percent-of-field-capacity as a moisture indicator that is independent of soil texture in terms of microwave sensitivity. In arriving at this view, gravimetric, volumetric, and percent-of-field-capacity were tested for their ability to reduce dielectric behavior divergence between soil textures at 1.4 and 5.0 GHz. The most congruent dielectric behavior between soil textures is found to occur when soil moisture is expressed on a volumetric basis that is proportional to the number of water dipoles/unit volume. An inadequate characterization of soil bulk density in the field, combined with the dependency of bulk density on water retention at field capacity, offers the most plausible explanation for the earlier conclusions.

A Sensitivity Analysis of NDWI and SRWI to Different types of Vegetation Moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chai, Linna; Chen, Zhizhong

2017-04-01

There are many definitions of vegetation moisture, such as fuel moisture content (FMC), gravimetric water content (GWC), relative water content (RWC), leaf water content (LWC), canopy water content (CWC) and vegetation water content (VWC). They were introduced because of different applications. For example, FMC is with superiority in monitoring wildfire potential, and GWC responses well to determine whether the plant is in health. RWC is suitable for estimating vegetation water stress. LWC and CWC are often used in optical remote sensing and are always related to equivalent water thickness (EWT). For VWC, the main application is for improving retrievals of soil moisture content from microwave sensors. For optical remote sensing technique, the absorption features of liquid water in plant leaves are readily detectable by spectroscopy. Spectral reflectance at 970nm, 1200nm, 1450nm, 1930nm and 2500nm are the basis of numerous remote-sensing indices that could be used in estimating vegetation moisture. Foregoing studies have introduced different spectral indices based on these bands to retrieve vegetation moisture. These spectral indices often fall into two categories, one is Normalized Different Water Index (NDWI), and the other is Simple Ratio Water Index (SRWI). NDWIs take the form of normalized difference spectral index, while SRWIs are in the form of ratio type. They were calculated from different combinations of spectral channels. Since the sensitivities to vegetation moisture of reflectance at different spectral channel are distinguished from each other, the capabilities of these NDWIs and SRWIs in estimating different types of vegetation moisture will be distinguished from one to one. In this work, based on in-situ measurements collected in the north China plain from wheat and corn (Fig. 1), a sensitivity analysis of NDWI and SRWI to different types of vegetation moisture, such as VWC, FMC and GWC, was carried out. They were calculated from different combinations of spectral channels of MODIS and Landsat-8 OLI. Result shows that: 1) NDWI and SRWI are more sensitive to VWC than to FMC and GWC; 2) SRWI and NDWI calculated from reflectances of green band at about 550nm and shortwave infrared band at about 1240nm often yielded relatively higher correlation coefficients with VWC; 3) For a fixed two-band combination, SRWI shows a slight superiority to NDWI. PIC Fig.1 The north China plain and the experimental area with corn and winter wheat sample locations A detailed description to this study work will be demonstrated in the fullpaper.

Interaction Between Ecohydrologic Dynamics and Microtopographic Variability Under Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le, Phong V. V.; Kumar, Praveen

2017-10-01

Vegetation acclimation resulting from elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, along with response to increased temperature and altered rainfall pattern, is expected to result in emergent behavior in ecologic and hydrologic functions. We hypothesize that microtopographic variability, which are landscape features typically of the length scale of the order of meters, such as topographic depressions, will play an important role in determining this dynamics by altering the persistence and variability of moisture. To investigate these emergent ecohydrologic dynamics, we develop a modeling framework, Dhara, which explicitly incorporates the control of microtopographic variability on vegetation, moisture, and energy dynamics. The intensive computational demand from such a modeling framework that allows coupling of multilayer modeling of the soil-vegetation continuum with 3-D surface-subsurface flow processes is addressed using hybrid CPU-GPU parallel computing framework. The study is performed for different climate change scenarios for an intensively managed agricultural landscape in central Illinois, USA, which is dominated by row-crop agriculture, primarily soybean (Glycine max) and maize (Zea mays). We show that rising CO2 concentration will decrease evapotranspiration, thus increasing soil moisture and surface water ponding in topographic depressions. However, increased atmospheric demand from higher air temperature overcomes this conservative behavior resulting in a net increase of evapotranspiration, leading to reduction in both soil moisture storage and persistence of ponding. These results shed light on the linkage between vegetation acclimation under climate change and microtopography variability controls on ecohydrologic processes.

Drying kinetics of apricot halves in a microwave-hot air hybrid oven

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horuz, Erhan; Bozkurt, Hüseyin; Karataş, Haluk; Maskan, Medeni

2017-06-01

Drying behavior and kinetics of apricot halves were investigated in a microwave-hot air domestic hybrid oven at 120, 150 and 180 W microwave power and 50, 60 and 70 °C air temperature. Drying operation was finished when the moisture content reached to 25% (wet basis) from 77% (w.b). Increase in microwave power and air temperature increased drying rates and reduced drying time. Only falling rate period was observed in drying of apricot halves in hybrid oven. Eleven mathematical models were used for describing the drying kinetics of apricots. Modified logistic model gave the best fitting to the experimental data. The model has never been used to explain drying behavior of any kind of food materials up to now. Fick's second law was used for determination of both effective moisture diffusivity and thermal diffusivity values. Activation energy values of dried apricots were calculated from Arrhenius equation. Those that obtained from effective moisture diffusivity, thermal diffusivity and drying rate constant values ranged from 31.10 to 39.4 kJ/mol, 29.56 to 35.19 kJ/mol, and 26.02 to 32.36 kJ/mol, respectively.

Five-Photon Absorption and Selective Enhancement of Multiphoton Absorption Processes

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

We study one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-photon absorption of three centrosymmetric molecules using density functional theory. These calculations are the first ab initio calculations of five-photon absorption. Even- and odd-order absorption processes show different trends in the absorption cross sections. The behavior of all even- and odd-photon absorption properties shows a semiquantitative similarity, which can be explained using few-state models. This analysis shows that odd-photon absorption processes are largely determined by the one-photon absorption strength, whereas all even-photon absorption strengths are largely dominated by the two-photon absorption strength, in both cases modulated by powers of the polarizability of the final excited state. We demonstrate how to selectively enhance a specific multiphoton absorption process. PMID:26120588

Five-Photon Absorption and Selective Enhancement of Multiphoton Absorption Processes.

PubMed

Friese, Daniel H; Bast, Radovan; Ruud, Kenneth

2015-05-20

We study one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-photon absorption of three centrosymmetric molecules using density functional theory. These calculations are the first ab initio calculations of five-photon absorption. Even- and odd-order absorption processes show different trends in the absorption cross sections. The behavior of all even- and odd-photon absorption properties shows a semiquantitative similarity, which can be explained using few-state models. This analysis shows that odd-photon absorption processes are largely determined by the one-photon absorption strength, whereas all even-photon absorption strengths are largely dominated by the two-photon absorption strength, in both cases modulated by powers of the polarizability of the final excited state. We demonstrate how to selectively enhance a specific multiphoton absorption process.

Hydration behaviour of food grains and modelling their moisture pick up as per Peleg's equation: Part I. Cereals.

PubMed

Vasudeva, Singh; Vishwanathan, K H; Aswathanarayana, K N; Indhudhara Swamy, Y M

2010-01-01

Cereals and millets generally hydrate at a moderate rate and their hydration behaviour differs in native and in processed state. The study was on the hydration of paddy, milled rice, parboiled rice, wheat, millets and equilibrium moisture content (EMC) on soaking at room temperature. Paddy hydrated very slowly, hydration rate was slow in brown rice but fast in milled rice and highest in waxy rice. In most of the rice varieties, maximum absorption occurred at the end of 30 min. In wheat hydration rate was slow and its EMC was highest (43%). Maize grits of big size hydrated slowly compared to small grits. In coarse cereals EMC varied from 28 to 38%. Foxtail millet hydration was slow whereas that of finger millet was fast. The data were tested on the Peleg's equation, which gave a reasonable fit to experimental data. Peleg's constants k1 and k2 were calculated for the above grains and their hydration behaviour has been predicted. The model fitted very well to milled rice hydration data where the coefficient of variance ranged from 0.9982 to 0.9995. With exception in some millet the hydration data fitted well with the Peleg's equation. Generalized equations have been formulated for prediction of moisture content of cereals and millets.

Water isotope ratio (δ2H and δ18O) measurements in atmospheric moisture using an optical feedback cavity enhanced absorption laser spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iannone, Rosario Q.; Romanini, Daniele; Cattani, Olivier; Meijer, Harro A. J.; Kerstel, Erik R. Th.

2010-05-01

Water vapor isotopes represent an innovative and excellent tool for understanding complex mechanisms in the atmospheric water cycle over different time scales, and they can be used for a variety of applications in the fields of paleoclimatology, hydrology, oceanography, and ecology. We use an ultrasensitive near-infrared spectrometer, originally designed for use on airborne platforms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, to measure the water deuterium and oxygen-18 isotope ratios in situ, in ground-level tropospheric moisture, with a high temporal resolution (from 300 s down to less than 1 s). We present some examples of continuous monitoring of near-surface atmospheric moisture, demonstrating that our infrared laser spectrometer could be used successfully to record high-concentration atmospheric water vapor mixing ratios in continuous time series, with a data coverage of ˜90%, interrupted only for daily calibration to two isotope ratio mass spectrometry-calibrated local water standards. The atmospheric data show that the water vapor isotopic composition exhibits a high variability that can be related to weather conditions, especially to changes in relative humidity. Besides, the results suggest that observed spatial and temporal variations of the stable isotope content of atmospheric water vapor are strongly related to water vapor transport in the atmosphere.

Compressive Behaviour and Energy Absorption of Aluminium Foam Sandwich

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endut, N. A.; Hazza, M. H. F. Al; Sidek, A. A.; Adesta, E. T. Y.; Ibrahim, N. A.

2018-01-01

Development of materials in automotive industries plays an important role in order to retain the safety, performance and cost. Metal foams are one of the idea to evolve new material in automotive industries since it can absorb energy when it deformed and good for crash management. Recently, new technology had been introduced to replace metallic foam by using aluminium foam sandwich (AFS) due to lightweight and high energy absorption behaviour. Therefore, this paper provides reliable data that can be used to analyze the energy absorption behaviour of aluminium foam sandwich by conducting experimental work which is compression test. Six experiments of the compression test were carried out to analyze the stress-strain relationship in terms of energy absorption behavior. The effects of input variables include varying the thickness of aluminium foam core and aluminium sheets on energy absorption behavior were evaluated comprehensively. Stress-strain relationship curves was used for energy absorption of aluminium foam sandwich calculation. The result highlights that the energy absorption of aluminium foam sandwich increases from 12.74 J to 64.42 J respectively with increasing the foam and skin thickness.

Biot theory and acoustical properties of high porosity fibrous materials and plastic foams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allard, J.; Aknine, A.

1987-01-01

Experimental values of acoustic wave propagation constant and characteristic impedance in fibrous materials, and normal absorption for two plastic foams, were compared to theoretical predictions obtained with Biot's theory. The best agreement was observed for fibrous materials between Biot's theory and Delany and Bazley experiments for a nearly zero mass coupling parameter. For foams, the lambda/4 structure resonance effect on absorption was calculated by using four-pole modelling of the medium. A significant mass coupling parameter is then necessary for obtaining agreement between the behavior of the measured absorption coefficients and the theoretical predictions. It is shown how the formalism used for predicting foams absorption coefficients may be used for studying the acoustic behavior of multi-layered media.

Compression Behavior and Energy Absorption of Aluminum Alloy AA6061 Tubes with Multiple Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simhachalam, Bade; Lakshmana Rao, C.; Srinivas, Krishna

2014-05-01

In this article, compression behavior and energy absorption of aluminum alloy AA6061 tubes are investigated both experimentally and numerically. Static and dynamic simulations are done using LS-Dyna Software for AA6061 tubes. True stress-plastic strain curves from the tensile test are used in the static and dynamic simulations of AA6061 tubes. The energy absorption values between experimental compression results and numeral simulation are found to be in good agreement. Dynamic simulations are done with drop velocity of up to 10 m/s to understand the inertia effects on energy absorption. The deformed modes from the numerical simulation are compared between tubes with and without holes in static and dynamic conditions.

Critical assessment of the performance of electronic moisture analyzers for small amounts of environmental samples and biological reference materials.

PubMed

Krachler, M

2001-12-01

Two electronic moisture analyzers were critically evaluated with regard to their suitability for determining moisture in small amounts (< or = 200 mg) of various environmental matrices such as leaves, needles, soil, peat, sediments, and sewage sludge, as well as various biological reference materials. To this end, several homogeneous bulk materials were prepared which were subsequently employed for the development and optimization of all analytical procedures. The key features of the moisture analyzers included a halogen or ceramic heater and an integrated balance with a resolution of 0.1 mg, which is an essential prerequisite for obtaining precise results. Oven drying of the bulk materials in a conventional oven at 105 degrees C until constant mass served as reference method. A heating temperature of 65degrees C was found to provide accurate and precise results for almost all matrices investigated. To further improve the accuracy and precision, other critical parameters such as handling of sample pans, standby temperature, and measurement delay were optimized. Because of its ponderous heating behavior, the performance of the ceramic radiator was inferior to that of the halogen heater, which produced moisture results comparable to those obtained by oven drying. The developed drying procedures were successfully applied to the fast moisture analysis (1.4-6.3 min) of certified biological reference materials of similar provenance to the investigated the bulk materials. Moisture results for 200 mg aliquots ranged from 1.4 to 7.8% and good agreement was obtained between the recommended drying procedure for the reference materials and the electronic moisture analyzers with absolute uncertainties amounting to 0.1% and 0.2-0.3%, respectively.

Rogue wave train generation in a metamaterial induced by cubic-quintic nonlinearities and second-order dispersion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Essama, Bedel Giscard Onana; Atangana, Jacques; Frederick, Biya Motto; Mokhtari, Bouchra; Eddeqaqi, Noureddine Cherkaoui; Kofane, Timoleon Crepin

2014-09-01

We investigate the behavior of the electromagnetic wave that propagates in a metamaterial for negative index regime. Second-order dispersion and cubic-quintic nonlinearities are taken into account. The behavior obtained for negative index regime is compared to that observed for absorption regime. The collective coordinates technique is used to characterize the light pulse intensity profile at some frequency ranges. Five frequency ranges have been pointed out. The perfect combination of second-order dispersion and cubic nonlinearity leads to a robust soliton at each frequency range for negative index regime. The soliton peak power progressively decreases for absorption regime. Further, this peak power also decreases with frequency. We show that absorption regime can induce rogue wave trains generation at a specific frequency range. However, this rogue wave trains generation is maintained when the quintic nonlinearity comes into play for negative index regime and amplified for absorption regime at a specific frequency range. It clearly appears that rogue wave behavior strongly depends on the frequency and the regime considered. Furthermore, the stability conditions of the electromagnetic wave have also been discussed at frequency ranges considered for both negative index and absorption regimes.

Ozone mass transfer behaviors on physical and chemical absorption for hollow fiber membrane contactors.

PubMed

Zhang, Yong; Li, Kuiling; Wang, Jun; Hou, Deyin; Liu, Huijuan

2017-09-01

To understand the mass transfer behaviors in hollow fiber membrane contactors, ozone fluxes affected by various conditions and membranes were investigated. For physical absorption, mass transfer rate increased with liquid velocity and the ozone concentration in the gas. Gas flow rate was little affected when the velocity was larger than the critical value, which was 6.1 × 10 -3 m/s in this study. For chemical absorption, the flux was determined by the reaction rate between ozone and the absorbent. Therefore, concentration, species, and pH affected the mass transfer process markedly. For different absorbents, the order of mass transfer rate was the same as the reaction rate constant, which was phenol, sodium nitrite, hydrogen peroxide, and oxalate. Five hydrophobic membranes with various properties were employed and the mass transfer behavior can be described by the Graetz-Lévèque equation for the physical absorption process. The results showed the process was controlled by liquid film and the gas phase conditions, and membrane properties did not affect the ozone flux. For the chemical absorption, gas film, membrane and liquid film affected the mass transfer together, and none of them were negligible.

Rogue wave train generation in a metamaterial induced by cubic-quintic nonlinearities and second-order dispersion.

PubMed

Essama, Bedel Giscard Onana; Atangana, Jacques; Frederick, Biya Motto; Mokhtari, Bouchra; Eddeqaqi, Noureddine Cherkaoui; Kofane, Timoleon Crepin

2014-09-01

We investigate the behavior of the electromagnetic wave that propagates in a metamaterial for negative index regime. Second-order dispersion and cubic-quintic nonlinearities are taken into account. The behavior obtained for negative index regime is compared to that observed for absorption regime. The collective coordinates technique is used to characterize the light pulse intensity profile at some frequency ranges. Five frequency ranges have been pointed out. The perfect combination of second-order dispersion and cubic nonlinearity leads to a robust soliton at each frequency range for negative index regime. The soliton peak power progressively decreases for absorption regime. Further, this peak power also decreases with frequency. We show that absorption regime can induce rogue wave trains generation at a specific frequency range. However, this rogue wave trains generation is maintained when the quintic nonlinearity comes into play for negative index regime and amplified for absorption regime at a specific frequency range. It clearly appears that rogue wave behavior strongly depends on the frequency and the regime considered. Furthermore, the stability conditions of the electromagnetic wave have also been discussed at frequency ranges considered for both negative index and absorption regimes.

Study of a Steel’s Energy Absorption System for Heavy Quadricycles and Nonlinear Explicit Dynamic Analysis of its Behavior under Impact by FEM

PubMed Central

López Campos, José Ángel; Segade Robleda, Abraham; Vilán Vilán, José Antonio; García Nieto, Paulino José; Blanco Cordero, Javier

2015-01-01

Current knowledge of the behavior of heavy quadricycles under impact is still very poor. One of the most significant causes is the lack of energy absorption in the vehicle frame or its steel chassis structure. For this reason, special steels (with yield stresses equal to or greater than 350 MPa) are commonly used in the automotive industry due to their great strain hardening properties along the plastic zone, which allows good energy absorption under impact. This paper presents a proposal for a steel quadricycle energy absorption system which meets the percentages of energy absorption for conventional vehicles systems. This proposal is validated by explicit dynamics simulation, which will define the whole problem mathematically and verify behavior under impact at speeds of 40 km/h and 56 km/h using the finite element method (FEM). One of the main consequences of this study is that this FEM–based methodology can tackle high nonlinear problems like this one with success, avoiding the need to carry out experimental tests, with consequent economical savings since experimental tests are very expensive. Finally, the conclusions from this innovative research work are given. PMID:28793607

Study of a Steel's Energy Absorption System for Heavy Quadricycles and Nonlinear Explicit Dynamic Analysis of its Behavior under Impact by FEM.

PubMed

López Campos, José Ángel; Segade Robleda, Abraham; Vilán Vilán, José Antonio; García Nieto, Paulino José; Blanco Cordero, Javier

2015-10-10

Current knowledge of the behavior of heavy quadricycles under impact is still very poor. One of the most significant causes is the lack of energy absorption in the vehicle frame or its steel chassis structure. For this reason, special steels (with yield stresses equal to or greater than 350 MPa) are commonly used in the automotive industry due to their great strain hardening properties along the plastic zone, which allows good energy absorption under impact. This paper presents a proposal for a steel quadricycle energy absorption system which meets the percentages of energy absorption for conventional vehicles systems. This proposal is validated by explicit dynamics simulation, which will define the whole problem mathematically and verify behavior under impact at speeds of 40 km/h and 56 km/h using the finite element method (FEM). One of the main consequences of this study is that this FEM-based methodology can tackle high nonlinear problems like this one with success, avoiding the need to carry out experimental tests, with consequent economical savings since experimental tests are very expensive. Finally, the conclusions from this innovative research work are given.

Structure analysis of BaCe{sub 0.8}Y{sub 0.2}O{sub 3−δ} in dry and wet atmospheres by high-temperature X-ray diffraction measurement

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

Han, Donglin, E-mail: han.donglin.8n@kyoto-u.ac.jp; Majima, Masatoshi; Uda, Tetsuya, E-mail: materials_process@aqua.mtl.kyoto-u.ac.jp

2013-09-15

High temperature X-ray diffraction measurements were performed under dry and wet atmospheres to investigate phase behavior of BaCe{sub 0.8}Y{sub 0.2}O{sub 3−δ} (BCY20). In the temperature range of 30–400 °C, BCY20 was identified to be rhombohedral and monoclinic structures in dry and wet atmospheres, respectively. Larger lattice volumes were obtained in a wet atmosphere due to a chemical expansion induced by water incorporation. A gradual change in diffraction peak shape due to a phase transformation from rhombohedral to monoclinic was observed at 300 °C when moisture was introduced into the atmosphere. These results indicated clearly the dependence of phase behavior ofmore » BCY20 on partial pressure of water vapor in atmosphere. - Graphical abstract: A BaCe{sub 0.8}Y{sub 0.2}O{sub 3−δ} rhombohedral phase transited to a monoclinic phase at 300 °C when moisture was introduced into the atmosphere. Display Omitted - Highlights: • Different structures for hydrated and dehydrated BaCe{sub 0.8}Y{sub 0.2}O{sub 3−δ} (BCY20). • Slow phase transition from rhombohedral to monoclinic at 300 °C in wet atmosphere. • Chemical expansion of BCY20 in wet atmosphere. • Importance of considering moisture when discussing phase behavior of BCY20.« less

Decomposition of standing litter in arid grasslands: Interactions between sunlight, non-rainfall moisture, microbes, and plant traits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Logan, J. R. V.; Jacobson, P. J.; Jacobson, K. M.; Evans, S.

2017-12-01

Although arid lands make up 40% of the Earth's land surface, we still lack a strong understanding of carbon cycling and plant decomposition in these systems. One reason for this is that field studies typically only focus on decomposition at or below the ground surface even though standing dead litter (material that has not yet fallen to the ground) accounts for more than 50% of total necromass in many of these systems. While recent work has begun to recognize the important and unique aspects of standing litter decomposition, few studies have investigated specific mechanisms controlling rates of mass loss. We hypothesized that initial photodegradation of the outer plant cuticle of standing litter is an important determinant of litter decomposition because this process increases moisture absorption and subsequent opportunities for biological decomposition. Our preliminary results offer support for this hypothesis. We found that standing grass stems with their cuticles artificially removed had greater water absorbance and more than 400% greater mass loss over a 6-month period relative to controls with intact cuticles. Additionally, spectroscopic measurements of cuticle integrity showed damage to the litter surface after a period of extended photodegradation, allowing increased moisture uptake during simulated fog/dew events. These findings are especially important in the context of recent work by us and others showing that non-rainfall moisture (fog, dew, and water vapor) plays a much larger role in arid land decomposition than previously thought. Improving our understanding of the mechanisms driving decomposition of standing litter will enable us to develop a more predictive understanding of carbon storage in arid lands.

An inversion method for retrieving soil moisture information from satellite altimetry observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uebbing, Bernd; Forootan, Ehsan; Kusche, Jürgen; Braakmann-Folgmann, Anne

2016-04-01

Soil moisture represents an important component of the terrestrial water cycle that controls., evapotranspiration and vegetation growth. Consequently, knowledge on soil moisture variability is essential to understand the interactions between land and atmosphere. Yet, terrestrial measurements are sparse and their information content is limited due to the large spatial variability of soil moisture. Therefore, over the last two decades, several active and passive radar and satellite missions such as ERS/SCAT, AMSR, SMOS or SMAP have been providing backscatter information that can be used to estimate surface conditions including soil moisture which is proportional to the dielectric constant of the upper (few cm) soil layers . Another source of soil moisture information are satellite radar altimeters, originally designed to measure sea surface height over the oceans. Measurements of Jason-1/2 (Ku- and C-Band) or Envisat (Ku- and S-Band) nadir radar backscatter provide high-resolution along-track information (~ 300m along-track resolution) on backscatter every ~10 days (Jason-1/2) or ~35 days (Envisat). Recent studies found good correlation between backscatter and soil moisture in upper layers, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, indicating the potential of satellite altimetry both to reconstruct and to monitor soil moisture variability. However, measuring soil moisture using altimetry has some drawbacks that include: (1) the noisy behavior of the altimetry-derived backscatter (due to e.g., existence of surface water in the radar foot-print), (2) the strong assumptions for converting altimetry backscatters to the soil moisture storage changes, and (3) the need for interpolating between the tracks. In this study, we suggest a new inversion framework that allows to retrieve soil moisture information from along-track Jason-2 and Envisat satellite altimetry data, and we test this scheme over the Australian arid and semi-arid regions. Our method consists of: (i) deriving time-invariant spatial patterns (base-functions) by applying principal component analysis (PCA) to simulated soil moisture from a large-scale land surface model. (ii) Estimating time-variable soil moisture evolution by fitting these base functions of (i) to the along-track retracked backscatter coefficients in a least squares sense. (iii) Combining the estimated time-variable amplitudes and the pre-computed base-functions, which results in reconstructed (spatio-temporal) soil moisture information. We will show preliminary results that are compared to available high-resolution soil moisture model data over the region (the Australian Water Resource Assessment, AWRA model). We discuss the possibility of using altimetry-derived soil moisture estimations to improve the simulation skill of soil moisture in the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) over Australia.

Aging behavior of near atmospheric N2 ambient sputtered/patterned Au IR absorber thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaur, Surender P.; Kothari, Prateek; Rangra, Kamaljit; Kumar, Dinesh

2018-03-01

Near atmospheric N2 ambient sputtered Au thin films exhibit significant spectral absorptivity over medium to long wave infrared radiations. Thin films were found adequately robust for micropatterning using conventional photolithography and metal lift off processes. Since long term spectral absorptivity is major practical concern for Au blacks, this paper reports on aging behavior of near atmospheric Ar and Ar + N2 (1:1) ambient sputtered infrared absorber Au thin films. Comparative analysis on electrical, morphological and spectral absorption behavior of twenty-five weeks room temperature/vacuum aged Au infrared absorber thin films is performed. The Ar and Ar + N2 ambient sputtered Au thing films have shown anticipated consistency in their physical, electrical and spectral properties regardless the long term aging in this work.

Recalcitrant Behavior of Cherrybark Oak Seed: An FT-IR Study of Desiccation Sensitivity in Quercus pagoda Raf. Acorns

Treesearch

Sharon Sowa; Kristina F. Connor

2003-01-01

The recalcitrant behavior of cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda Raf.) acorns was examined in terms of effects of moisture content on seed storage longevity and (short term) seed germination. Seed samples collected over two consecutive years were fully hydrated, then subjected to drying under ambient conditions of temperature and relative humidity on the...

The Modeling of Coupled Electromagnetic-Thermo-Mechanical Laser Interactions and Microstructural Behavior of Energetic Aggregates

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

analytical Beer - Lambert absorption profile to model laser heating of pure energetic crystals without considering any EM wave propagation effects...temperature. These aggregates were studied using both an analytical distribution for laser heating following Beer - Lambert absorption and the full EM finite...surface (ysurface - y) and material absorption coefficient, α, following a Beer - Lambert absorption relation given by , = !()

Characterisation and potential application of pineapple pomace in an extruded product for fibre enhancement.

PubMed

Selani, Miriam Mabel; Brazaca, Solange Guidolin Canniatti; Dos Santos Dias, Carlos Tadeu; Ratnayake, Wajira S; Flores, Rolando A; Bianchini, Andreia

2014-11-15

This study characterised pineapple pomace (PP) and evaluated its application in extrusion to enhance fibre content of the final product. The pomace had low fat (0.61%) and high dietary fibre (45.22%), showing its potential for fibre enrichment of nutritionally poor products, as some extruded snacks. Results also showed low microbiological counts, water activity, and pH indicating good microbiological quality and low risk of physicochemical deterioration. During extrusion, pomace (0%, 10.5% and 21%), moisture (14%, 15% and 16%) and temperature (140 and 160°C) were evaluated. The PP addition decreased expansion and luminosity; while increasing redness of the extrudates compared to the control (0% pomace/14% moisture/140°C). When hardness, yellowness, water absorption, and bulk density were compared to the control, there was no effect (p>0.05) of 10.5% PP addition on the extrudates, indicating that, at this level, PP could be added without affecting the properties of the final extruded product. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of addition of calcium sulfate dihydrate on drying of autoclaved aerated concrete

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Małaszkiewicz, Dorota; Chojnowski, Jacek

2017-11-01

The quality of the autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) strongly depends on the chemical composition of the raw materials, as well as on the process of the hydrothermal reaction during autoclaving. Performance parameters depend on material structure: fine micron-scale matrix porosity generated by the packing of thin tobermorite plates and coarse aeration pores arising from the foaming of wet mix. In this study the binder varied in calcium sulfate dihydrate (CaSO4ṡ2H2O) content. Five series of AAC specimens were produced, with gypsum content 0; 0.55; 1.15; 2.3 and 3.5% of dry mass respectively. AAC units were produced in UNIPOL technology. The study presents experimental results of AAC moisture stabilization. The initial moisture content was determined directly after autoclaving. Slower drying process was observed for samples containing over 2% of gypsum. Whereas other performance parameters, compressive and tensile strength, as well as water absorption and capillary rise, were significantly better comparing to the reference AAC samples.

Monitoring sediment transfer processes on the desert margin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Millington, Andrew C.; Arwyn, R. Jones; Quarmby, Neil; Townshend, John R. G.

1987-01-01

LANDSAT Thematic Mapper and Multispectral Scanner data have been used to construct change detection images for three playas in south-central Tunisia. Change detection images have been used to analyze changes in surface reflectance and absorption between wet and dry season (intra-annual change) and between different years (inter-annual change). Change detection imagery has been used to examine geomorphological changes on the playas. Changes in geomorphological phenomena are interpreted from changes in soil and foliar moisture levels, differences in reflectances between different salt and sediments and the spatial expression of geomorphological features. Intra-annual change phenomena that can be detected from multidate imagery are changes in surface moisture, texture and chemical composition, vegetation cover and the extent of aeolian activity. Inter-annual change phenomena are divisible into those restricted to marginal playa facies (sedimentation from sheetwash and alluvial fans, erosion from surface runoff and cliff retreat) and these are found in central playa facies which are related to the internal redistribution of water, salt and sediment.

Monitoring of hardening and hygroscopic induced strains in a calcium phosphate bone cement using FBG sensor.

PubMed

Bimis, A; Karalekas, D; Bouropoulos, N; Mouzakis, D; Zaoutsos, S

2016-07-01

This study initially deals with the investigation of the induced strains during hardening stage of a self-setting calcium phosphate bone cement using fiber-Bragg grating (FBG) optical sensors. A complementary Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) investigation was also conducted at different time intervals of the hardening period and its findings were related to the FBG recordings. From the obtained results, it is demonstrated that the FBG response is affected by the microstructural changes taking place when the bone cement is immersed into the hardening liquid media. Subsequently, the FBG sensor was used to monitor the absorption process and hygroscopic response of the hardened and dried biocement when exposed to a liquid/humid environment. From the FBG-based calculated hygric strains as a function of moisture concentration, the coefficient of moisture expansion (CME) of the examined bone cement was obtained, exhibiting two distinct linear regions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Positive tropical marine low-cloud cover feedback inferred from cloud-controlling factors

DOE PAGES

Qu, Xin; Hall, Alex; Klein, Stephen A.; ...

2015-09-28

Differences in simulations of tropical marine low-cloud cover (LCC) feedback are sources of significant spread in temperature responses of climate models to anthropogenic forcing. Here we show that in models the feedback is mainly driven by three large-scale changes—a strengthening tropical inversion, increasing surface latent heat flux, and an increasing vertical moisture gradient. Variations in the LCC response to these changes alone account for most of the spread in model-projected 21st century LCC changes. A methodology is devised to constrain the LCC response observationally using sea surface temperature (SST) as a surrogate for the latent heat flux and moisture gradient.more » In models where the current climate's LCC sensitivities to inversion strength and SST variations are consistent with observed, LCC decreases systematically, which would increase absorption of solar radiation. These results support a positive LCC feedback. Finally, correcting biases in the sensitivities will be an important step toward more credible simulation of cloud feedbacks.« less

Survey of hydrogen monitoring devices

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

Lai, W.

Presented are results of a survey of commercially available monitoring devices suitable for hydrogen detection in the secondary containment vessel of a nuclear power plant during the post postulated accident period. Available detectors were grouped into the following five classes: combustion, solid state, electrochemical, thermal conductivity, and absorption. The performance of most available sensors is likely to deteriorate when exposed to the postulated conditions which include moisture, which could be at high temperature, and radioactive noncondensibles. Of the commercial devices, those using metallic filament thermal conductivity detectors seem least susceptible to performance change. Absorption detectors are best suited for thismore » monitoring task but the only available device is designed for pipeline corrosion assessment. Initiation of experimental study to assess apparent deficiencies of commercial detectors is recommended. Also recommended is an analytical/experimental effort to determine the optimum detector array for monitoring in the secondary containment vessels.« less

Effects of compaction and soil moisture on American burying beetles.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-12-25

Silphid beetles in the genus Nicrophorus bury themselves during periods of inactivity, however, the influence of soil characteristics on burial behavior remains unclear. We examined soil preferences of the federally endangered Nicrophorus americanus,...

Method and Apparatus for Monitoring the Integrity of a Geomembrane Liner using time Domain Reflectometry

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

Morris, John L.

1998-11-09

Leaks are detected in a multi-layered geomembrane liner by a two-dimensional time domain reflectometry (TDR) technique. The TDR geomembrane liner is constructed with an electrically conductive detection layer positioned between two electrically non-conductive dielectric layers, which are each positioned between the detection layer and an electrically conductive reference layer. The integrity of the TDR geomembrane liner is determined by generating electrical pulses within the detection layer and measuring the time delay for any reflected electrical energy caused by absorption of moisture by a dielectric layer.

Method and apparatus for monitoring the integrity of a geomembrane liner using time domain reflectometry

DOEpatents

Morrison, John L [Idaho Falls, ID

2001-04-24

Leaks are detected in a multi-layered geomembrane liner by a two-dimensional time domain reflectometry (TDR) technique. The TDR geomembrane liner is constructed with an electrically conductive detection layer positioned between two electrically non-conductive dielectric layers, which are each positioned between the detection layer and an electrically conductive reference layer. The integrity of the TDR geomembrane liner is determined by generating electrical pulses within the detection layer and measuring the time delay for any reflected electrical energy caused by absorption of moisture by a dielectric layer.

Soil moisture behavior in an experimental basin in Northeast of brazil - the case of Guaraira river basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moura Ramos Filho, Geraldo; das Neves Almeida, Cristiano; da Silva Freitas, Emerson

2017-04-01

In 2003, a hydrological network of the semiarid region (REHISA in Portuguese) was created in Brazil. Since then, experimental watersheds in this region have been providing hydro meteorological data collected in automatic gauges. One of these basins is the Guaraíra river basin, which is operated and maintained by the Federal University of Paraíba. This experimental watershed is located in the coastal region of Paraíba state, where the average annual rainfall is 1.700 mm. According to Köppen its climate is tropical with dry summer, and the drainage area is 5,84 km2. At this experimental basin four rainfall and one climate gauges were installed in 2003. In all of these gauges the soil moisture is monitored hourly with a Time Domain Reflectometry probe representing the 30 cm layer. According to previous analysis the spatial distribution of rainfall in the experimental basin is very low and also soil texture, which is sandy. However, the land use is different and the behavior of the soil moisture is also different. Thus, this paper present part of a study that tries to understand the difference between two gauges, in terms of soil moisture. In order to do this, two years data base were used of different gauges, gauges 2 and 4. In the first part of the study, just the descendent part of the soil moisture curve were used. Different data periods were select from a peak to a stabilization point and then the soil moisture Drying Rate (DR) was calculated to show the speed that a peak reaches the stabilization point. The data analysis was carried out considering the whole data together, then the data were shared into dry and wet periods. The results show that for the gauge 2 the DR range from 0.0335 to 2.772x10-3 kg/kg.h, with an average of 0.632x10-3 kg/kg.h. On the other hand, the gauge 4 present values that range from 0.0139 to 3.617x10-3 kg/kg.h, with an average of 0.375x10-3 kg/kg.h. As can be seen, both gauges presented different DR. When the data set is share into dry and wet period, it was found for both gauges that an exponential equation fits the dry period with determination coefficient equal to 0.68 for gauge 2 and 0.91 for gauge 4. However, for wet period it was not found a representative determination coefficient. The conclusions highlighted that in fact the soil moisture behavior is different in these gauges. Further studies will be carried to evaluate if this difference is related to the groundwater table or to the land use.

Energy Absorption Behaviors of Nanoporous Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER U. S. Army Research Office P.O. Box 12211... Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211 _HLAL1 I - ( 1I. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of...words) In this exploratory research program we investigated the energy absorption behaviors of systems consisting of hydrophobic nanoporous silica

Decrease and enhancement of third-order optical nonlinearity in metal-dielectric composite films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ning, Tingyin; Lu, Heng; Zhou, Yueliang; Man, Baoyuan

2018-04-01

We investigate third-order optical nonlinearity in gold nanoparticles embedded in CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) films using the Z-scan method. We observe that the effective third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities in such composite films can not only be enhanced, in line with the conventional behavior, but also be decreased, depending on the volume concentration of gold. In particular, the nonlinear absorption behavior can be changed from saturable absorption in pure CCTO films to reversed saturable absorption in composite films, and theoretically, even zero nonlinear absorption could be obtained. These results indicate that it should be possible to tune the third-order optical nonlinearity in Au:CCTO composite films by altering the gold concentration, thus making them suitable for applications in photonic devices.

The effect of moisture on the structures and properties of lead halide perovskites: a first-principles theoretical investigation.

PubMed

Zhang, Lei; Ju, Ming-Gang; Liang, WanZhen

2016-08-17

With efficiencies exceeding 20% and low production costs, lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have become potential candidates for future commercial applications. However, there are serious concerns about their long-term stability and environmental friendliness, heavily related to their commercial viability. Herein, we present a theoretical investigation based on the ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations and the first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations to investigate the effects of sunlight and moisture on the structures and properties of MAPbI3 perovskites. AIMD simulations have been performed to simulate the impact of a few water molecules on the structures of MAPbI3 surfaces terminated in three different ways. The evolution of geometric and electronic structures as well as the absorption spectra has been shown. It is found that the PbI2-terminated surface is the most stable while both the MAI-terminated and PbI2-defective surfaces undergo structural reconstruction, leading to the formation of hydrated compounds in a humid environment. The moisture-induced weakening of photoabsorption is closely related to the formation of hydrated species, and the hydrated crystals MAPbI3·H2O and MA4PbI6·2H2O scarcely absorb the visible light. The electronic excitation in the bare and water-absorbed MAPbI3 nanoparticles tends to weaken Pb-I bonds, especially those around water molecules, and the maximal decrease of photoexcitation-induced bond order can reach up to 20% in the excited state in which the water molecules are involved in the electronic excitation, indicating the accelerated decomposition of perovskites in the presence of sunlight and moisture. This work is valuable for understanding the mechanism of chemical or photochemical instability of MAPbI3 perovskites in the presence of moisture.

Field-scale surface soil moisture retrieval using L-band synthetic aperture radar data: shrublands examples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, S.; Arii, M.; Jackson, T. J.

2017-12-01

L-band airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations at 7-m spatial resolution were made over California shrublands to better understand the effects of soil and vegetation parameters on backscattering coefficient (σ0). Temporal changes in σ0 of up to 3 dB were highly correlated to surface soil moisture but not to vegetation, even though vegetation water content (VWC) varied seasonally by a factor of two. HH was always greater than VV, suggesting the importance of double-bounce scattering by the woody parts. However, the geometric and dielectric properties of the woody parts did not vary significantly over time. Instead the changes in VWC occurred primarily in thin leaves that may not meaningfully influence absorption and scattering. A physically-based model for single scattering by discrete elements of plants successfully simulated the magnitude of the temporal variations in HH, VV, and HH/VV with a difference of less than 0.9 dB. In order to simulate the observations, the VWC input of the plant to the model was formulated as a function of plant's dielectric property (water fraction) while the plant geometry remains static in time. In comparison, when the VWC input was characterized by the geometry of a growing plant, the model performed poorly in describing the observed patterns in the σ0 changes. The modeling results offer explanation of the observation that soil moisture correlated highly with σ0: the dominant mechanisms for HH and VV are double-bounce scattering by trunk, and soil surface scattering, respectively. The time-series inversion of the physical model was able to retrieve soil moisture with the difference of -0.037 m3/m3 (mean), 0.025 m3/m3 (standard deviation), and 0.89 (correlation). Together with the previous results over croplands using the SAR data offering 0.05 m3/m3 retrieval accuracy, we will demonstrate the efficacy of the model-based time-series soil moisture retrieval at field scales.

Changing Weather Extremes Call for Early Warning of Potential for Catastrophic Fire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boer, Matthias M.; Nolan, Rachael H.; Resco De Dios, Víctor; Clarke, Hamish; Price, Owen F.; Bradstock, Ross A.

2017-12-01

Changing frequencies of extreme weather events and shifting fire seasons call for enhanced capability to forecast where and when forested landscapes switch from a nonflammable (i.e., wet fuel) state to the highly flammable (i.e., dry fuel) state required for catastrophic forest fires. Current forest fire danger indices used in Europe, North America, and Australia rate potential fire behavior by combining numerical indices of fuel moisture content, potential rate of fire spread, and fire intensity. These numerical rating systems lack the physical basis required to reliably quantify forest flammability outside the environments of their development or under novel climate conditions. Here, we argue that exceedance of critical forest flammability thresholds is a prerequisite for major forest fires and therefore early warning systems should be based on a reliable prediction of fuel moisture content plus a regionally calibrated model of how forest fire activity responds to variation in fuel moisture content. We demonstrate the potential of this approach through a case study in Portugal. We use a physically based fuel moisture model with historical weather and fire records to identify critical fuel moisture thresholds for forest fire activity and then show that the catastrophic June 2017 forest fires in central Portugal erupted shortly after fuels in the region dried out to historically unprecedented levels.

Water sorption behavior and swelling characteristics of starches subjected to dielectric heating.

PubMed

Szepes, Anikó; Szabó-Révész, Piroska; Mohnicke, Mandy

2007-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of microwave irradiation and storage on the moisture content, adsorption behavior and swelling properties of potato (B-type) and maize starches (A-type). Volumetric heating resulted in reversible moisture loss from both types of samples. The crystallinity of potato starch was decreased, whereas its water retention capacity and swelling power were increased irreversibly, and its swelling capacity was increased reversibly by the thermal process applied. The corresponding parameters of maize starch were not influenced significantly by dielectric heating; this may be related to its special structure resulting in the thermal resistance of this polymer. Our results allow the conclusion that microwave irradiation offers an appropriate and selective alternative for the physicochemical modification of potato starch. In consequence of its low susceptibility to thermal processes, maize starch may be used for the microwave drying of pharmaceutical formulations containing starch.

Moisture Separator Reheater for NPP Turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manabe, Jun; Kasahara, Jiro

This paper introduces the development of the current model Moisture Separator Reheater (MSR) for nuclear power plant (NPP) turbines, commercially placed in service in the period 1984-1997, focusing on the mist separation performance of the MSR along with drainage from heat exchanger tubes. A method of predicting the mist separation performance was devised first based on the observation of mist separation behaviors under an air-water test. Then the method was developed for the application to predict under the steam conditions, followed by the verification in comparison with the actual results of a steam condition test. The instability of tube drainage associated with both sub-cooling and temperature oscillation might adversely affect the seal welding of tubes to tube sheet due to thermal fatigue. The instability was measured on an existing unit to clarify behaviors and the development of a method to suppress them. Both methods were applied to newly constructed units and the effectiveness of the methods was demonstrated.

Thermoresponsive Cellulose Acetate-Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Core-Shell Fibers for Controlled Capture and Release of Moisture.

PubMed

Thakur, Neha; Sargur Ranganath, Anupama; Sopiha, Kostiantyn; Baji, Avinash

2017-08-30

In this study, we used core-shell electrospinning to fabricate cellulose acetate-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (CA-PNIPAM) fibrous membranes and demonstrated the ability of these fibers to capture water from a high humid atmosphere and release it when thermally stimulated. The wettability of the fibers was controlled by using thermoresponsive PNIPAM as the shell layer. Scanning electron and fluorescence microscopes are used to investigate the microstructure of the fibers and confirm the presence of the core and shell phases within the fibers. The moisture capturing and releasing ability of these core-shell CA-PNIPAM fibers was compared with those of the neat CA and neat PNIPAM fibers at room temperature as well as at an elevated temperature. At room temperature, the CA-PNIPAM core-shell fibers are shown to have the maximum moisture uptake capacity among the three samples. The external temperature variations which trigger the moisture response behavior of these CA-PNIPAM fibers fall within the range of typical day and night cycles of deserts, demonstrating the potential use of these fibers for water harvesting applications.

Use of models to study forest fire behavior

Treesearch

Wallace L. Fons

1961-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service has started a laboratory study with the ultimate objective of determining model laws for fire behavior. The study includes an examination of the effect of such variables as species of wood, density of wood, moisture content, size of fuel particle, spacing, dimensions of fuel bed, wind, and slope on the rate of spread of fire and the partition of...

On the non-uniqueness of the hydro-geomorphic responses in a zero-order catchment with respect to soil moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jongho; Dwelle, M. Chase; Kampf, Stephanie K.; Fatichi, Simone; Ivanov, Valeriy Y.

2016-06-01

This study advances mechanistic interpretation of predictability challenges in hydro-geomorphology related to the role of soil moisture spatial variability. Using model formulations describing the physics of overland flow, variably saturated subsurface flow, and erosion and sediment transport, this study explores (1) why a basin with the same mean soil moisture can exhibit distinctly different spatial moisture distributions, (2) whether these varying distributions lead to non-unique hydro-geomorphic responses, and (3) what controls non-uniqueness in relation to the response type. Two sets of numerical experiments are carried out with two physically-based models, HYDRUS and tRIBS+VEGGIE+FEaST, and their outputs are analyzed with respect to pre-storm moisture state. The results demonstrate that distinct spatial moisture distributions for the same mean wetness arise because near-surface soil moisture dynamics exhibit different degrees of coupling with deeper-soil moisture and the process of subsurface drainage. The consequences of such variations are different depending on the type of hydrological response. Specifically, if the predominant runoff response is of infiltration excess type, the degree of non-uniqueness is related to the spatial distribution of near-surface moisture. If runoff is governed by subsurface stormflow, the extent of deep moisture contributing area and its "readiness to drain" determine the response characteristics. Because the processes of erosion and sediment transport superimpose additional controls over factors governing runoff generation and overland flow, non-uniqueness of the geomorphic response can be highly dampened or enhanced. The explanation is sediment composed by multi-size particles can alternate states of mobilization or surface shielding and the transient behavior is inherently intertwined with the availability of mobile particles. We conclude that complex nonlinear dynamics of hydro-geomorphic processes are inherent expressions of physical interactions. As complete knowledge of watershed properties, states, or forcings will always present the ultimate, if ever resolvable, challenge, deterministic predictability will remain handicapped. Coupling of uncertainty quantification methods and space-time physics-based approaches will need to evolve to facilitate mechanistic interpretations and informed practical applications.

Impact of feed counterion addition and cyclone type on aerodynamic behavior of alginic-atenolol microparticles produced by spray drying.

PubMed

Ceschan, Nazareth Eliana; Bucalá, Verónica; Ramírez-Rigo, María Verónica; Smyth, Hugh David Charles

2016-12-01

The inhalatory route has emerged as an interesting non-invasive alternative for drug delivery. This allows both pulmonary (local) and systemic treatments (via alveolar absorption). Further advantages in terms of stability, dose and patient preference have often lead researchers to focus on dry powder inhaler delivery systems. Atenolol is an antihypertensive drug with low oral bioavailability and gastrointestinal side effects. Because atenolol possesses adequate permeation across human epithelial membranes, it has been proposed as a good candidate for inhalatory administration. In a previous work, atenolol was combined with alginic acid (AA) and microparticles were developed using spray-drying (SD) technology. Different AA/atenolol ratios, total feed solid content and operative variables were previously explored. In order to improve particle quality for inhalatory administration and the SD yield, in this work the AA acid groups not neutralized by atenolol were kept either free or neutralized to pH∼7 and two different SD cyclones were used. Particle morphology, flow properties, moisture uptake and in vitro aerosolization behavior at different pressure drops were studied. When the AA acid groups were neutralized, particle size decreased as a consequence of the lower feed viscosity. The SD yield and in vitro particle deposition significantly increased when a high performance cyclone was employed, and even when lactose carrier particles were not used. Although the in vitro particle deposition decreased when the storage relative humidity increased, the developed SD powders showed adequate characteristics to be administered by inhalatory route up to storage relative humidities of about 60%. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cyclic Fiber Push-In Test Monitors Evolution of Interfacial Behavior in Ceramic Matrix Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eldridge, Jeffrey I.

1998-01-01

SiC fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites are being developed for high-temperature advanced jet engine applications. Obtaining a strong, tough composite material depends critically on optimizing the mechanical coupling between the reinforcing fibers and the surrounding matrix material. This has usually been accomplished by applying a thin C or BN coating onto the surface of the reinforcing fibers. The performance of these fiber coatings, however, may degrade under cyclic loading conditions or exposure to different environments. Degradation of the coating-controlled interfacial behavior will strongly affect the useful service lifetime of the composite material. Cyclic fiber push-in testing was applied to monitor the evolution of fiber sliding behavior in both C- and BN-coated small-diameter (15-mm) SiC-fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites. The cyclic fiber push-in tests were performed using a desktop fiber push-out apparatus. At the beginning of each test, the fiber to be tested was aligned underneath a 10- mm-diameter diamond punch; then, the applied load was cycled between selected maximum and minimum loads. From the measured response, the fiber sliding distance and frictional sliding stresses were determined for each cycle. Tests were performed in both room air and nitrogen. Cyclic fiber push-in tests of C-coated, SiC-fiber-reinforced SiC showed progressive increases in fiber sliding distances along with decreases in frictional sliding stresses for continued cycling in room air. This rapid degradation in interfacial response was not observed for cycling in nitrogen, indicating that moisture exposure had a large effect in immediately lowering the frictional sliding stresses of C-coated fibers. These results indicate that matrix cracks bridged by C-coated fibers will not be stable, but will rapidly grow in moisture-containing environments. In contrast, cyclic fiber push-in tests of both BN-coated, SiC-fiber-reinforced SiC and BNcoated, SiC-fiber-reinforced barium strontium aluminosilicate showed no significant changes in fiber sliding behavior with continued short-term cycling in either room air or nitrogen. Although the composites with BN-coated fibers showed stable short-term cycling behavior in both environments, long-term (several-week) exposure of debonded fibers to room air resulted in dramatically increased fiber sliding distances and decreased frictional sliding stresses. These results indicate that although matrix cracks bridged by BNcoated fibers will show short-term stability, such cracks will show substantial growth with long-term exposure to moisture-containing environments. Newly formulated BN coatings, with higher moisture resistance, will be tested in the near future.

Physicochemical characteristics and gastrointestinal absorption behaviors of S-propargyl-cysteine, a potential new drug candidate for cardiovascular protection and antitumor treatment.

PubMed

Ma, Guo; Zhang, Lin; Zhang, Peng; Bao, Xingfei; Zhou, Ning; Shi, Qingling; Zheng, Yuanting; Liu, Hongrui; Bu, Fengjiao; Zhang, Ying; Huang, Wenjie; Wang, Fen; Zhu, Yizhun; Cai, Weimin

2015-04-01

1. As a potential new drug candidate for cardiovascular protection and antitumor treatment, the physicochemical properties, gastrointestinal (GI) absorption behaviors and mechanisms of S-propargyl-cysteine (SPRC) were investigated in this study. 2. SPRC exhibited favorable solubility in aqueous media. The log P and log D values were low (≤1.93 ± 0.08). The pKa in the acidic and basic regions was 2.08 ± 0.02 and 8.72 ± 0.03, respectively. The isoelectric point was 5.40 ± 0.02. SPRC was stable in the rat GI fluids, and showed no obvious adsorption and metabolism in the rat GI tract. 3. SPRC displayed poor gastric absorption and favorable intestinal absorption in the rat in situ GI perfusion model. Absorption rate constants (ka), hourly absorption percentage (P) and apparent permeability coefficient (Papp) of SPRC in the small intestine were ≥0.77 ± 0.06 h(-1), 59.25 ± 4.02% and (7.99 ± 0.88) × 10(-5 )cm/s, respectively. Absorption of SPRC exhibited a certain dependence on physiological pH and absorption region. Absorption of SPRC was not inhibited by l-methionine and 2-aminobicyclo-(2,2,1)-heptane-2-carboxylic acid. 4. SPRC showed favorable oral absorption. It can be categorized as a BCS class I drug. The membrane pore transport appeared to be one of the predominant absorption modes for SPRC.

Magnesium for Crashworthy Components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, T.; Easton, M.; Schmidt, R.

Most applications of magnesium in automobiles are for nonstructural components. However, the light weight properties of magnesium make it attractive in structural applications where energy absorption in a crash is critical. Because most deformation in a crash occurs as bending rather than simple tension or compression, the advantages of magnesium are greater than anticipated simply from tensile strength to weight ratios. The increased thickness possible with magnesium strongly influences bending behavior and theoretical calculations suggest almost an order of magnitude greater energy absorption with magnesium compared to the same weight of steel. The strain rate sensitivity of steel is of concern for energy absorption. Mild steels exhibit a distinct yield point which increases with strain rate. At strain rates typical of vehicle impact, this can result in strain localization and poor energy absorption. Magnesium alloys with relatively low aluminum contents exhibit strain rate sensitivity, however, this is manifest as an increase in work hardening and tensile / yield ratio. This behavior suggests that the performance of magnesium alloys in terms of energy absorption actually improves at high strain rates.

Evaluation of the physicochemical properties and compaction behavior of melt granules produced in microwave-induced and conventional melt granulation in a single pot high shear processor.

PubMed

Loh, Z H; Sia, B Y; Heng, Paul W S; Lee, C C; Liew, Celine V

2011-12-01

Recently, microwave-induced melt granulation was shown to be a promising alternative to conventional melt granulation with improved process monitoring capabilities. This study aimed to compare the physicochemical and compaction properties of granules produced from microwave-induced and conventional melt granulation. Powder admixtures comprising equivalent proportions by weight of lactose 200 M and anhydrous dicalcium phosphate were granulated with polyethylene glycol 3350 under the influence of microwave-induced and conventional heating in a 10-L single pot high shear processor. The properties of the granules and compacts produced from the two processes were compared. Relative to conventional melt granulation, the rates at which the irradiated powders heated up in microwave-induced melt granulation were lower. Agglomerate growth proceeded at a slower rate, and this necessitated longer massing durations for growth induction. These factors prompted greater evaporative moisture losses from the melt granules. Additionally, nonuniform heating of the powders under the influence of microwaves led to increased inter-batch variations in the binder contents of resultant melt granules and a reliance of content homogeneity on massing duration. Agglomerate growth proceeded more rapidly under the influence of conventional heating due to the enhanced heating capabilities of the powders. Melt granules produced using the conventional method possessed higher moisture contents and improved content homogeneity. The compaction behavior of melt granules were affected by their mean sizes, porosities, flow properties, binder, and moisture contents. The last two factors were responsible for the disparities in compaction behavior of melt granules produced from microwave-induced and conventional melt granulation.

Characteristics of Sawdust and Cocopeat Beddings, and Their Usefulness According to the Fan and Pen Location for Rearing Hanwoo Cattle.

PubMed

Ahn, Gyu Chul; Jang, Sun Sik; Lee, Kang Yeon; Kwak, Wan Sup; Oh, Young Kyun; Park, Keun Kyu

2016-03-01

This study was designed to examine the characteristics of sawdust and cocopeat bedding materials, including physicochemical properties (Exp. I) and on-farm trial (Exp. II). In Exp. I, the proportion of particle size was in the order of sawdust> cocopeat India>cocopeat Vietnam (p<0.05), and cocopeat contained higher proportion of small particles (250 μm+below 250 μm) than sawdust, causing a dust production problem. Bulk density was cocopeat India>cocopeat Vietnam>sawdust (p<0.05), thus cocopeat treatments showed 4.4 times higher bedding cost than sawdust. The water absorption rates were 702.0% in cocopeat India, 678.3% in cocopeat Vietnam, and 444.0% in sawdust, showing cocopeat had approximately 1.5 times higher water absorption rate than sawdust. Moisture evaporation rates after 12 h of air blowing (2.00 m/s) were higher (p<0.05) in cocopeat Vietnam (80.4%) than sawdust (71.2%) and cocopeat India (72.8%). In vitro ammonia emissions were higher (p<0.05) in sawdust (2.71 mg/m(2)/h) than cocopeat India (1.59 mg/m(2)/h) and Vietnam (1.22 mg/m(2)/h), and total ammonia emissions were higher (p<0.05) in sawdust (37.02 mg/m(2)) than cocopeat India (22.51 mg/m(2)) and Vietnam (13.60 mg/m(2)). In Exp. II, an on-farm trial was conducted with 48 Hanwoo cattle in 16 pens using the same bedding materials as in Exp. I, with fan (blowing 2.00 m/s) and no fan treatments, and feed bunk side (FB) and water supply side (WS) within a pen (4.5 m, width×9.0 m, length). Beddings were replaced with fresh bedding materials when moisture concentrations were over 65%. No interactions among treatments were detected for moisture concentration and increment rates, and ammonia concentrations, but a significant effect was observed (p<0.01) for each of the treatments. Both concentrations and increment rate of moisture were higher (p<0.01) in the beddings without fan than with fan. Moisture concentrations and increment rate within a pen were also higher (p<0.01) in FB than WS. Thus, the whole no-fan-FB and sawdust-fan-FB were replaced with fresh bedding material between 4 to 5 experimental weeks. The ammonia concentrations and pH of beddings were not significantly different among treatments. Therefore, using cocopeat bedding with a blowing fan can extend twice the bedding utilization period, and WS within a pen showed twice the bedding-life compared to FB. Despite the outstanding characteristics of cocopeat compared with sawdust, using cocopeat as an alternative for sawdust bedding is not recommended for cattle management, considering it has 4.4 times higher bedding cost and a dust production problem.

Moisture, anisotropy, stress state, and strain rate effects on bighorn sheep horn keratin mechanical properties

DOE PAGES

Johnson, K. L.; Trim, M. W.; Francis, D. K.; ...

2016-10-01

Our paper investigates the effects of moisture, anisotropy, stress state, and strain rate on the mechanical properties of the bighorn sheep (Ovis Canadensis) horn keratin. The horns consist of fibrous keratin tubules extending along the length of the horn and are contained within an amorphous keratin matrix. We tested samples in the rehydrated (35 wt.% water) and ambient dry (10 wt.% water) conditions along the longitudinal and radial directions under tension and compression. Increased moisture content was found to increase ductility and decrease strength, as well as alter the stress state dependent nature of the material. Furthermore, the horn keratinmore » demonstrates a significant strain rate dependence in both tension and compression, and also showed increased energy absorption in the hydrated condition at high strain rates when compared to quasi-static data, with increases of 114% in tension and 192% in compression. Compressive failure occurred by lamellar buckling in the longitudinal orientation followed by shear delamination. Tensile failure in the longitudinal orientation occurred by lamellar delamination combined with tubule pullout and fracture. Finally, the structure-property relationships quantified here for bighorn sheep horn keratin can be used to help validate finite element simulations of ram’s impacting each other as well as being useful for other analysis regarding horn keratin on other animals.« less

Moisture, anisotropy, stress state, and strain rate effects on bighorn sheep horn keratin mechanical properties

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

Johnson, K. L.; Trim, M. W.; Francis, D. K.

Our paper investigates the effects of moisture, anisotropy, stress state, and strain rate on the mechanical properties of the bighorn sheep (Ovis Canadensis) horn keratin. The horns consist of fibrous keratin tubules extending along the length of the horn and are contained within an amorphous keratin matrix. We tested samples in the rehydrated (35 wt.% water) and ambient dry (10 wt.% water) conditions along the longitudinal and radial directions under tension and compression. Increased moisture content was found to increase ductility and decrease strength, as well as alter the stress state dependent nature of the material. Furthermore, the horn keratinmore » demonstrates a significant strain rate dependence in both tension and compression, and also showed increased energy absorption in the hydrated condition at high strain rates when compared to quasi-static data, with increases of 114% in tension and 192% in compression. Compressive failure occurred by lamellar buckling in the longitudinal orientation followed by shear delamination. Tensile failure in the longitudinal orientation occurred by lamellar delamination combined with tubule pullout and fracture. Finally, the structure-property relationships quantified here for bighorn sheep horn keratin can be used to help validate finite element simulations of ram’s impacting each other as well as being useful for other analysis regarding horn keratin on other animals.« less

A new methodology for determination of macroscopic transport parameters in drying porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Attari Moghaddam, A.; Kharaghani, A.; Tsotsas, E.; Prat, M.

2015-12-01

Two main approaches have been used to model the drying process: The first approach considers the partially saturated porous medium as a continuum and partial differential equations are used to describe the mass, momentum and energy balances of the fluid phases. The continuum-scale models (CM) obtained by this approach involve constitutive laws which require effective material properties, such as the diffusivity, permeability, and thermal conductivity which are often determined by experiments. The second approach considers the material at the pore scale, where the void space is represented by a network of pores (PN). Micro- or nanofluidics models used in each pore give rise to a large system of ordinary differential equations with degrees of freedom at each node of the pore network. In this work, the moisture transport coefficient (D), the pseudo desorption isotherm inside the network and at the evaporative surface are estimated from the post-processing of the three-dimensional pore network drying simulations for fifteen realizations of the pore space geometry from a given probability distribution. A slice sampling method is used in order to extract these parameters from PN simulations. The moisture transport coefficient obtained in this way is shown in Fig. 1a. The minimum of average D values demonstrates the transition between liquid dominated moisture transport region and vapor dominated moisture transport region; a similar behavior has been observed in previous experimental findings. A function is fitted to the average D values and then is fed into the non-linear moisture diffusion equation. The saturation profiles obtained from PN and CM simulations are shown in Fig. 1b. Figure 1: (a) extracted moisture transport coefficient during drying for fifteen realizations of the pore network, (b) average moisture profiles during drying obtained from PN and CM simulations.

Vegetation-induced turbulence influencing evapotranspiration-soil moisture coupling: Implications for semiarid regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haghighi, E.; Kirchner, J. W.; Entekhabi, D.

2016-12-01

The relationship between soil moisture and evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes is an important component of land-atmosphere interactions controlling hydrology-climate feedback processes. Important as this relationship is, it remains empirical and physical mechanisms governing its dynamics are insufficiently studied. This is particularly of importance for semiarid regions (currently comprising about half of the Earth's land surface) where the shallow surface soil layer is the primary source of ET and direct evaporation from bare soil is likely a large component of the total flux. Hence, ET-soil moisture coupling in these regions is hypothesized to be strongly influenced by soil evaporation and associated mechanisms. Motivated by recent progress in mechanistic modeling of localized heat and mass exchange rates from bare soil surfaces covered by cylindrical bluff-body elements, we developed a physically based ET model explicitly incorporating coupled impacts of soil moisture and vegetation-induced turbulence in the near-surface region. Model predictions of ET and its partitioning were in good agreement with measured data and suggest that the strength and nature of ET-soil moisture interactions in sparsely vegetated areas are strongly influenced by aerodynamic (rather than radiative) forcing namely wind speed and near-surface turbulence generation as a function of vegetation type and cover fraction. The results demonstrated that the relationship between ET and soil moisture varies from a nonlinear function (the dual regime behavior) to a single moisture-limited regime (linear relationship) by increasing wind velocity and enhancing turbulence generation in the near-surface region (small-scale woody vegetation species of low cover fraction). Potential benefits of this study for improving accuracy and predictive capabilities of remote sensing techniques when applied to semiarid environments will also be discussed.

Development of mucoadhesive patches for buccal administration of carvedilol.

PubMed

Vishnu, Y Vamshi; Chandrasekhar, K; Ramesh, G; Rao, Y Madhusudan

2007-01-01

A buccal patch for systemic administration of carvedilol in the oral cavity has been developed using two different mucoadhesive polymers. The formulations were tested for in vitro drug permeation studies, buccal absorption test, in vitro release studies, moisture absorption studies and in vitro bioadhesion studies. The physicochemical interactions between carvedilol and polymers were investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. According to FTIR the drug did not show any evidence of an interaction with the polymers used and was present in an unchanged state. XRD studies reveal that the drug is in crystalline state in the polymer matrix. The results indicate that suitable bioadhesive buccal patches with desired permeability could be prepared. Bioavailability studies in healthy pigs reveal that carvedilol has got good buccal absorption. The bioavailability of carvedilol from buccal patches has increased 2.29 folds when compared to that of oral solution. The formulation AC5 (HPMC E 15) shows 84.85 + 0.089% release and 38.69 + 6.61% permeated through porcine buccal membrane in 4 hr. The basic pharmacokinetic parameters like the C(max), T(max) and AUC(total) were calculated and showed statistically significant difference (P<0.05) when given by buccal route compared to that of oral solution.

Formulation and optimization of zinc-pectinate beads for the controlled delivery of resveratrol.

PubMed

Das, Surajit; Ng, Ka-Yun; Ho, Paul C

2010-06-01

Preventive and therapeutic efficacies of resveratrol on several lower gastrointestinal (GI) diseases (e.g., colorectal cancer, colitis) are well documented. To overcome the problems due to its rapid absorption and metabolism at the upper GI tract, a delayed release formulation of resveratrol was designed to treat these lower GI diseases. The current study aimed to develop a delayed release formulation of resveratrol as multiparticulate pectinate beads by varying different formulation parameters. Zinc-pectinate (Zn-pectinate) beads exhibited better delayed drug release pattern than calcium-pectinate (Ca-pectinate) beads. The effects of the formulation parameters were investigated on shape, size, Zn content, moisture content, drug encapsulation efficiency, swelling-erosion, and resveratrol retention pattern of the formulated beads. Upon optimization of the formulation parameters in relative to the drug release profiles, the optimized beads were further subjected to morphological, chemical interaction, enzymatic degradation, and stability studies. Almost all prepared beads were spherical with approximately 1 mm diameter and efficiently encapsulated resveratrol. The formulation parameters revealed great influence on resveratrol retention and swelling-erosion behavior. In most of the cases, the drug release data more appropriately fitted with zero-order equation. This study demonstrates that the optimized Zn-pectinate beads can encapsulate very high amount of resveratrol and can be used as delayed release formulation of resveratrol.

Effects of floor location on response of composite fuselage frames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carden, Huey D.; Jones, Lisa E.; Fasanella, Edwin L.

1992-01-01

Experimental and analytical results are presented which show the effect of floor placement on the structural response and strength of circular fuselage frames constructed of graphite-epoxy composite material. The research was conducted to study the behavior of conventionally designed advanced composite aircraft components. To achieve desired new designs which incorporate improved energy absorption capabilities requires an understanding of how these conventional designs behave under crash type loadings. Data are presented on the static behavior of the composite structure through photographs of the frame specimen, experimental strain distributions, and through analytical data from composite structural models. An understanding of this behavior can aid the dynamist in predicting the crash behavior of these structures and may assist the designer in achieving improved designs for energy absorption and crash behavior of future structures.

Failure behavior of generic metallic and composite aircraft structural components under crash loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carden, Huey D.; Robinson, Martha P.

1990-01-01

Failure behavior results are presented from crash dynamics research using concepts of aircraft elements and substructure not necessarily designed or optimized for energy absorption or crash loading considerations. To achieve desired new designs incorporating improved energy absorption capabilities often requires an understanding of how more conventional designs behave under crash loadings. Experimental and analytical data are presented which indicate some general trends in the failure behavior of a class of composite structures including individual fuselage frames, skeleton subfloors with stringers and floor beams without skin covering, and subfloors with skin added to the frame-stringer arrangement. Although the behavior is complex, a strong similarity in the static/dynamic failure behavior among these structures is illustrated through photographs of the experimental results and through analytical data of generic composite structural models.

Water Absorption Behavior of Hemp Hurds Composites

PubMed Central

Stevulova, Nadezda; Cigasova, Julia; Purcz, Pavol; Schwarzova, Ivana; Kacik, Frantisek; Geffert, Anton

2015-01-01

In this paper, water sorption behavior of 28 days hardened composites based on hemp hurds and inorganic binder was studied. Two kinds of absorption tests on dried cube specimens in deionized water bath at laboratory temperature were performed. Short-term (after one hour water immersion) and long-term (up to 180 days) water absorption tests were carried out to study their durability. Short-term water sorption behavior of original hemp hurds composites depends on mean particle length of hemp and on binder nature. The comparative study of long-term water sorption behavior of composites reinforced with original and chemically modified hemp hurds in three reagents confirmed that surface treatment of filler influences sorption process. Based on evaluation of sorption curves using a model for composites based on natural fibers, diffusion of water molecules in composite reinforced with original and chemically modified hemp hurds is anomalous in terms of the Fickian behavior. The most significant decrease in hydrophility of hemp hurds was found in case of hemp hurds modified by NaOH and it relates to change in the chemical composition of hemp hurds, especially to a decrease in average degree of cellulose polymerization as well as hemicellulose content.

Alternative spatial configurations to reflect landscape structure in a hydrological model: SUMMA applications to the Reynolds Creek Watershed and the Columbia River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nijssen, Bart; Clark, Martyn; Mizukami, Naoki; Chegwidden, Oriana

2016-04-01

Most existing hydrological models use a fixed representation of landscape structure. For example, high-resolution, spatially-distributed models may use grid cells that exchange moisture through the saturated subsurface or may divide the landscape into hydrologic response units that only exchange moisture through surface channels. Alternatively, many regional models represent the landscape through coarse elements that do not model any moisture exchange between these model elements. These spatial organizations are often represented at a low-level in the model code and its data structures, which makes it difficult to evaluate different landscape representations using the same hydrological model. Instead, such experimentation requires the use of multiple, different hydrological models, which in turn complicates the analysis, because differences in model outcomes are no longer constrained by differing spatial representations. This inflexibility in the representation of landscape structure also limits a model's capability for scaling local processes to regional outcomes. In this study, we used the Structure for Unifying Multiple Modeling Alternatives (SUMMA) to evaluate different model spatial configurations to represent landscape structure and to evaluate scaling behavior. SUMMA can represent the moisture exchange between arbitrarily shaped landscape elements in a number of different ways, while using the same model parameterizations for vertical fluxes. This allows us to isolate the effects of changes in landscape representations on modeled hydrological fluxes and states. We examine the effects of spatial configuration in Reynolds Creek, Idaho, USA, which is a research watershed with gaged areas from 1-20 km2. We then use the same modeling system to evaluate scaling behavior in simulated hydrological fluxes in the Columbia River Basin, Pacific Northwest, USA. This basin drains more than 500,000 km2 and includes the Reynolds Creek Watershed.

Seasonality of semi-arid and savanna-type ecosystems in an Earth system model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlin, K.; Swenson, S. C.; Lombardozzi, D.; Kamoske, A.

2016-12-01

Recent work has identified semi-arid and savanna-type (SAST) ecosystems as a critical component of interannual variability in the Earth system (Poulter et al. 2014, Ahlström et al. 2015), yet our understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns present in these systems remains limited. There are three major factors that contribute to the complex behavior of SAST ecosystems, globally. First is leaf phenology, the timing of the appearance, presence, and senescence of plant leaves. Plants grow and drop their leaves in response to a variety of cues, including soil moisture, rainfall, day length, and relative humidity, and alternative phenological strategies might often co-exist in the same location. The second major factor in savannas is soil moisture. The complex nature of soil behavior under extremely dry, then extremely wet conditions is critical to our understanding of how savannas function. The third factor is fire. Globally, virtually all savanna-type ecosystems operate with some non-zero fire return interval. Here we compare model output from the Community Land Model (CLM5-BGC) in SAST regions to remotely sensed data on these three variables - phenology (MODIS LAI), soil moisture (SMAP), and fire (GFED4) - assessing both annual spatial patterns and intra-annual variability, which is critical in these highly variable systems. We present new SAST-specific first- and second-order benchmarks, including numbers of annual LAI peaks (often >1 in SAST systems) and correlations between soil moisture, LAI, and fire. Developing a better understanding of how plants respond to seasonal patterns is a critical first step in understanding how SAST ecosystems will respond to and influence climate under future scenarios.

Transpiration in response to variation in microclimate and soil moisture in southeastern deciduous forests.

PubMed

Oren, Ram; Pataki, Diane E

2001-05-01

Responses of forests to changes in environmental conditions reflect the integrated behavior of their constituent species. We investigated sap flux-scaled transpiration responses of two species prevalent in upland eastern hardwood forests, Quercus alba in the upper canopy and Acer rubrum in the low to mid canopy, to changes in photosynthetically active radiation above the canopy (Q o ), vapor pressure deficit within the canopy (D), and soil moisture depletion during an entire growing season. Water loss before bud break (presumably through the bark) increased linearly with D, reaching 8% of daily stand transpiration (E C ) as measured when leaf area index was at maximum, and accounting for 5% of annual water loss. After leaves were completely expanded and when soil moisture was high, sap flux-scaled daily E C increased linearly with the daily sum of Q o . Species differences in this response were observed. Q. alba reached a maximum transpiration at low Q o , while A. rubrum showed increasing transpiration with Q o at all light levels. Daily E C increased in response to daily average D, with an asymptotic response due to the behavior of Q. alba. Transpiration of A. rubrum showed a greater response to soil moisture depletion than did that of Q. alba. When evaluated at a half-hourly scale under high Q o , mean canopy stomatal conductance (G S ) of individuals decreased with D. The sensitivity of G S to D was greater in species with higher intrinsic G S . Regardless of position in the canopy, diffuse-porous species in this and an additional, more mesic stand showed higher G S and greater stomatal sensitivity to environmental variation than do ring-porous species.

Orientational behavior of thin films of poly(3-methylthiophene) on platinium: A FTIR and near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) study

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

Yang, X.Q.; Chen, J.; Hale, P.D.

1988-01-01

Near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS) have been used to study the orientational behavior of thin films of poly(3-methylthiophene) electrochemically polymerized on a platinum surface. Clear orientational effects, with the thiophene rings predominantly oriented parallel to the platinum surface, were observed when the thickness of the polymer films were within a few hundred /angstrom/A. It was found that more highly ordered films were produced at lower polymerization potential (1.4V vs SCE) than at higher potential (1.8V vs SCE). 5 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.

Activation energy measurements in rheological analysis of cheese

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Activation energy of flow (Ea) was calculated from temperature sweeps of cheeses with contrasting characteristics to determine its usefulness in predicting rheological behavior upon heating. Cheddar, Colby, whole milk Mozzarella, low moisture part skim Mozzarella, Parmesan, soft goat, and Queso Fre...

Cloud Cover Increase with Increasing Aerosol Absorptivity: A Counterexample to the Conventional Semidirect Aerosol Effect

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perlwitz, Jan; Miller, Ron L.

2010-01-01

We reexamine the aerosol semidirect effect using a general circulation model and four cases of the single-scattering albedo of dust aerosols. Contrary to the expected decrease in low cloud cover due to heating by tropospheric aerosols, we find a significant increase with increasing absorptivity of soil dust particles in regions with high dust load, except during Northern Hemisphere winter. The strongest sensitivity of cloud cover to dust absorption is found over land during Northern Hemisphere summer. Here even medium and high cloud cover increase where the dust load is highest. The cloud cover change is directly linked to the change in relative humidity in the troposphere as a result of contrasting changes in specific humidity and temperature. More absorption by aerosols leads to larger diabatic heating and increased warming of the column, decreasing relative humidity. However, a corresponding increase in the specific humidity exceeds the temperature effect on relative humidity. The net effect is more low cloud cover with increasing aerosol absorption. The higher specific humidity where cloud cover strongly increases is attributed to an enhanced convergence of moisture driven by dust radiative heating. Although in some areas our model exhibits a reduction of low cloud cover due to aerosol heating consistent with the conventional description of the semidirect effect, we conclude that the link between aerosols and clouds is more varied, depending also on changes in the atmospheric circulation and the specific humidity induced by the aerosols. Other absorbing aerosols such as black carbon are expected to have a similar effect.

Thermal properties and optical transition probabilities of Tm3 + doped TeO2-WO3 glass.

PubMed

Cenk, S; Demirata, B; Oveçoglu, M L; Ozen, G

2001-10-01

Glasses with the composition of (1 - x)TeO2 + (x)WO3, where x = 0.15, 0.25 and 0.3 were prepared and, their thermal and absorption measurements were carried out. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) curves taken in the 23-600 degrees C temperature range with a heating rate of 10 degrees C/min reveal a change in the value of the glass transition temperature, Tg, while crystallization was not observed for the glasses containing a WO3 content of more than 15 mol%. All the glasses were found to be moisture-resistant. The absorption bands corresponding to the absorption of the 1G4, 3F2, 3F3 and 3F4, 3H5 and 3H4 levels from the 3H6 ground level of the Tm3+ ion were observed in the optical absorption spectra. Integrated absorption cross-sections of each band except that of 3H5 level was found to vary with the glass composition. Judd-Ofelt analysis was carried out for the samples doped with 1.0 mol% Tm2O3. The omega2 parameter shows the strongest dependence on the host composition and it increases with the increasing WO3 amount. The value of omega4 increases rather slowly while the value of omega6 is practically independent of the composition. The strong dependence of the parameter omega2 indicates that this parameter is related to the structural change and the symmetry of the local environment of the Tm3+ ions in this glass.

Facile synthesis of Fe3O4/C composites for broadband microwave absorption properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiang; Ma, Yating; Zhang, Qinfu; Zheng, Zhiming; Wang, Lai-Sen; Peng, Dong-Liang

2018-07-01

Rod-like and flower-like Fe3O4/C composites were successfully synthesized via a facile approach in aqueous phase. The morphologies, structures and static magnetic properties of as-prepared rod-like and flower-like Fe3O4/C composites were characterized thoroughly. The relative complex permittivity and permeability of Fe3O4/C/paraffin composites were recorded by a vector network analyzer (VNA) in the range of 1-18 GHz. The resonant-antiresonant electromagnetic behavior was observed simultaneously in both rod-like and flower-like Fe3O4/C composites. Moreover, the resonant-antiresonant behavior was explained using displacement current lag at the "core/shell" interface. The flower-like Fe3O4/C/paraffin composites show superior microwave absorption performance with minimum reflection loss (RL) of up to -18.73 dB at 15.37 GHz. Comparatively, the rod-like Fe3O4/C/paraffin composites have uncommon continuous trinal absorption peaks at a thickness of 2.5 mm that effectively broadens the absorption bandwidth which is from 8.0 to 13.4 GHz. Furthermore, the microwave absorption mechanism has been discussed to provide a novel design for microwave absorption materials.

Fourier Transform Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy of Gas-Phase and Surface Reaction Products during Si Etching in Inductively Coupled Cl2 Plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miyata, Hiroki; Tsuda, Hirotaka; Fukushima, Daisuke; Takao, Yoshinori; Eriguchi, Koji; Ono, Kouichi

2011-10-01

A better understanding of plasma-surface interactions is indispensable during etching, including the behavior of reaction or etch products, because the products on surfaces and in the plasma are important in passivation layer formation through their redeposition on surfaces. In practice, the nanometer-scale control of plasma etching would still rely largely on such passivation layer formation as well as ion-enhanced etching on feature surfaces. This paper presents in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption spectroscopy of gas-phase and surface reaction products during inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching of Si in Cl2. The observation was made in the gas phase by transmission absorption spectroscopy (TAS), and also on the substrate surface by reflection absorption spectroscopy (RAS). The quantum chemical calculation was also made of the vibrational frequency of silicon chloride molecules. The deconvolution of the TAS spectrum revealed absorption features of Si2Cl6 and SiClx (x = 1-3) as well as SiCl4, while that of the RAS spectrum revealed relatively increased absorption features of unsaturated silicon chlorides. A different behavior was also observed in bias power dependence between the TAS and RAS spectra.

The weathering effect in natural environment on hybrid kenaf/glass fiber unsaturated polyester composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozyanty, A. R.; Mohammed, M. M.; Musa, L.; Shahnaz, S. B. S.; Zuliahani, A.

2017-04-01

Kenaf and glass fiber hybrid composite was prepared by using hand lay-up process. The effect of weather on mechanical properties of kenaf/glass fiber hybrid composites was studied. The hybrid composite samples were exposed to natural weather. Tensile test was performed for samples at different weathering exposure time. Tensile strength of kenaf/glass fiber hybrid composite was 70.9 MPa and tensile modulus was at 30 GPa before expose to environment weather. Unfortunately, mechanical properties of hybrid composite decreased as exposure time increase due to the moisture absorption which further promotes weakness in interfacial bonding.

Operation and testing of Mark 10 Mod 3 underwater breathing apparatus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Milwee, W. I., Jr.

1972-01-01

Performance tests on a closed circuit, mixed gas underwater breathing apparatus are reported. The equipment is designed to provide a minimum diving duration of four hours at 1500 ft below sea surface; it senses oxygen partial pressure in the breathing gas mix and controls oxygen content of the breathing gas within narrow limits about a preset value. The breathing circuit subsystem provides respirable gas to the diver and removes carbon dioxide and moisture from the expired gas. Test results indicate undesirable variations in oxygen partial pressure with oxygen addition and insufficient carbon dioxide absorption.

Influence of aramid fiber moisture regain during atmospheric plasma treatment on aging of treatment effects on surface wettability and bonding strength to epoxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Yu; Wang, Chunxia; Qiu, Yiping

2007-09-01

One of the main differences between a low-pressure plasma treatment and an atmospheric pressure plasma treatment is that in atmosphere, the substrate material may absorb significant amount of water which may potentially influence the plasma treatment effects. This paper investigates how the moisture absorbed by aramid fibers during the atmospheric pressure plasma treatment influences the aging behavior of the modified surfaces. Kevlar 49 fibers with different moisture regains (MR) (0.5, 3.5 and 5.5%, respectively) are treated with atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) with helium as the carrier gas and oxygen as the treatment gas. Surface wettability and chemical compositions, and interfacial shear strengths (IFSS) to epoxy for the aramid fibers in all groups are determined using water contact angle measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and micro-bond pull out tests, respectively. Immediately after the plasma treatment, the treated fibers have substantially lower water contact angles, higher surface oxygen and nitrogen contents, and larger IFSS to epoxy than those of the control group. At the end of 30 day aging period, the fibers treated with 5.5% moisture regain had a lower water contact angle and more polar groups on the fiber surface, leading to 75% improvement of IFSS over the control fibers, while those for the 0.5 and 3.5% moisture regain groups were only 30%.

Vertical movement of adult rusty grain beetles, Cryptolestes ferrugineus, in stored corn and wheat at uniform moisture content

PubMed Central

Jian, Fuji; Jayas, Digvir S.; White, Noel D. G.

2006-01-01

Vertical movement and distribution of Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Laemophloeidae) adults in stored wheat and corn were studied in small (0.1 x 0.1 x 1 m) and large (0.6 m diameter and 1.12 m high) columns. The adults were introduced at the top, middle, and bottom of the small columns with a uniform moisture content (wheat: 14.5 ± 0.1%, corn 13.5 ± 0.1%, 15.5 ± 0.1%, and 17.5 ± 0.1%) at 27.5 ± 0.5°C. When introduced at different locations, adults showed a similar distribution in stored grain bulk with a uniform temperature and moisture content of 14.5% for wheat or 15.5% for corn. Adults showed downward displacement over 24 h when corn moisture was lower than 15.5%, but they did not show downward displacement when moisture content was 17.5%. The upward or downward movement might partially be caused by a drift effect due to beetles sliding between seeds and the displacement of the adults might be the combined effect of walking and falling during their movement. The hydrophilic behavior plus the drift effect explain why the beetles had a faster downward dispersal in the 13.5% corn than in the 15.5% and 17.5% corn and a slight upward displacement in 17.5% corn because they were more active at the lower moisture contents. Adults had a similar movement and distribution in both the small and large wheat columns. PMID:19537976

Phononic glass: a robust acoustic-absorption material.

PubMed

Jiang, Heng; Wang, Yuren

2012-08-01

In order to achieve strong wide band acoustic absorption under high hydrostatic pressure, an interpenetrating network structure is introduced into the locally resonant phononic crystal to fabricate a type of phononic composite material called "phononic glass." Underwater acoustic absorption coefficient measurements show that the material owns high underwater sound absorption coefficients over 0.9 in 12-30 kHz. Moreover, the quasi-static compressive behavior shows that the phononic glass has a compressive strength over 5 MPa which is crucial for underwater applications.

Long-Term Viscoelastic Response of E-glass/Bismaleimide Composite in Seawater Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yian, Zhao; Zhiying, Wang; Keey, Seah Leong; Boay, Chai Gin

2015-12-01

The effect of seawater absorption on the long-term viscoelastic response of E-glass/BMI composite is presented in this paper. The diffusion of seawater into the composite shows a two-stage behavior, dominated by Fickian diffusion initially and followed by polymeric relaxation. The Glass transition temperature (Tg) of the composite with seawater absorption is considerably lowered due to the plasticization effect. However the effect of water absorption at 50 °C is found to be reversible after drying process. The time-temperature superposition (TTS) was performed based on the results of Dynamic Mechanical Analysis to construct the master curve of storage modulus. The shift factors exhibit Arrhenius behavior when temperature is well below Tg and Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) like behavior when temperature gets close to glass transition region. As a result, a semi-empirical formulation is proposed to account for the seawater absorption effect in predicting long-term viscoelastic response of BMI composites based on temperature dependent storage modulus and TTS. The predicted master curves show that the degradation of storage modulus accelerates with both seawater exposure and increasing temperature. The proposed formulation can be applied to predict the long-term durability of any thermorheologically simple composite materials in seawater environment.

Three-photon absorption and nonlinear refraction of BaMgF4 in the ultraviolet region.

PubMed

Ma, Yanzhi; Chen, Junjie; Zheng, Yuanlin; Chen, Xianfeng

2012-08-01

The nonlinear refraction and nonlinear absorption phenomena are investigated in BaMgF(4) single crystal using the Z-scan technique in the ultraviolet region with a pulsed laser at 400 nm with 1 ps pulse duration. The remarkable nonlinear absorption behavior is identified to be three-photon absorption under the experimental conditions. In addition, both nonlinear refraction and nonlinear absorption have relatively large values and possess small anisotropy along three different crystallographic axes. The large values of nonlinear refractive index are demonstrated through the self-phase modulation effect.

Effect of physico-chemical treatments on ripening behavior and post-harvest quality of Amrapali mango (Mangifera indica L.) during storage.

PubMed

Singh, Pankaj; Singh, Manoj Kumar; Kumar, Vipin; Kumar, Mukesh; Malik, Sunil

2012-03-01

An experiment was done to assess the effect of various physico-chemical treatments on ripening behavior and post harvest quality of mango cv. Amrapali. The experiment was planned under completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The treatment units was five fruits per replication. Total 14 treatments were applied. Out of these, ethrel 750 ppm treated fruits showed better results in respect of specific gravity (0.88), moisture loss (8.45%), decay (2.5%), total soluble solids (TSS, 20.7 degrees brix), sugar content (14.39%) and acidity content (0.32) followed by ethrel 500 ppm; specific gravity (0.90), moisture loss (8.82%), decay (3.5%), TSS (20.7 degrees brix), sugar content (13.99%) and acidity content (0.36%). The pedicellate fruits and ethrel+bavistin (750+1000 ppm) were also found to be significantly superior over control in respect of specific gravity (0.88 and 0.86), moisture loss (9.10 and 9.33%), decay (4.0 and 5.33%), TSS (20.1 and 20.4 degrees brix), sugar content (12.70 and 12.80%) and acidity content (0.42 and 0.38%), respectively. Based on results of this study, it can be concluded that ethrel 750 ppm was found to be the most suitable treatment in improving physico-chemical traits i.e. ripening, storage, quality and shelf-life for commercial purpose in mango.

Effect of molecular weight, temperature, and additives on the moisture sorption properties of polyethylene glycol.

PubMed

Baird, Jared A; Olayo-Valles, Roberto; Rinaldi, Carlos; Taylor, Lynne S

2010-01-01

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a hygroscopic polymer that undergoes the phenomenon of deliquescence once a critical relative humidity (RH(0)) is reached. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the deliquescence behavior of PEG will be affected by the polymer molecular weight, temperature, and the presence of additives. The deliquescence relative humidity for single component (RH(0)) and binary mixtures (RH(0,mix)) were measured using an automated gravimetric moisture analyzer at 25 and 40 degrees C. Changes in PEG crystallinity after exposure to moisture were qualitatively assessed using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Optical microscopy was used to visually observe the deliquescence phenomenon. For single component systems, decreasing PEG MW and elevating the temperature resulted in a decrease in the observed RH(0). Physical mixtures of acetaminophen and anhydrous citric acid with both PEG 3350 and PEG 100,000 exhibited deliquescence (RH(0,mix)) at a relative humidity below that of either individual component. Qualitative changes in crystallinity were observed from the X-ray diffractograms for each PEG MW grade at high relative humidities, indicating that phase transformation (deliquescence) of the samples had occurred. In conclusion, it was found that the deliquescence behavior of PEG was affected by the polymer MW, temperature, and the presence of additives. This phenomenon may have important implications for the stability of PEG containing formulations.

Enhancement of the Automated Quality Control Procedures for the International Soil Moisture Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heer, Elsa; Xaver, Angelika; Dorigo, Wouter; Messner, Romina

2017-04-01

In-situ soil moisture observations are still trusted to be the most reliable data to validate remotely sensed soil moisture products. Thus, the quality of in-situ soil moisture observations is of high importance. The International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN; http://ismn.geo.tuwien.ac.at/) provides in-situ soil moisture data from all around the world. The data is collected from individual networks and data providers, measured by different sensors in various depths. The data sets which are delivered in different units, time zones and data formats are then transformed into homogeneous data sets. An erroneous behavior of soil moisture data is very difficult to detect, due to annual and daily changes and most significantly the high influence of precipitation and snow melting processes. Only few of the network providers have a quality assessment for their data sets. Therefore, advanced quality control procedures have been developed for the ISMN (Dorigo et al. 2013). Three categories of quality checks were introduced: exceeding boundary values, geophysical consistency checks and a spectrum based approach. The spectrum based quality control algorithms aim to detect erroneous measurements which occur within plausible geophysical ranges, e.g. a sudden drop in soil moisture caused by a sensor malfunction. By defining several conditions which have to be met by the original soil moisture time series and their first and second derivative, such error types can be detected. Since the development of these sophisticated methods many more data providers shared their data with the ISMN and new types of erroneous measurements were identified. Thus, an enhancement of the automated quality control procedures became necessary. In the present work, we introduce enhancements of the existing quality control algorithms. Additionally, six completely new quality checks have been developed, e.g. detection of suspicious values before or after NAN-values, constant values and values that lie in a spectrum where a high majority of values before and after is flagged and therefore a sensor malfunction is certain. For the evaluation of the enhanced automated quality control system many test data sets were chosen, and manually validated to be compared to the existing quality control procedures and the new algorithms. Improvements will be shown that assure an appropriate assessment of the ISMN data sets, which are used for validations of soil moisture data retrieved by satellite data and are the foundation many other scientific publications.

Sorption Isotherm of Southern Yellow Pine-High Density Polyethylene Composites.

PubMed

Liu, Feihong; Han, Guangping; Cheng, Wanli; Wu, Qinglin

2015-01-20

Temperature and relative humidity (RH) are two major external factors, which affect equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of wood-plastic composites (WPCs). In this study, the effect of different durability treatments on sorption and desorption isotherms of southern yellow pine (SYP)-high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites was investigated. All samples were equilibriumed at 20 °C and various RHs including 16%, 33%, 45%, 66%, 75%, 85%, 93%, and100%. EMCs obtained from desorption and absorption for different WPC samples were compared with Nelson's sorption isotherm model predictions using the same temperature and humidity conditions. The results indicated that the amount of moisture absorbed increased with the increases in RH at 20 °C. All samples showed sorption hysteresis at a fixed RH. Small difference between EMC data of WPC samples containing different amount of ultraviolet (UV) stabilizers were observed. Similar results were observed among the samples containing different amount of zinc borate (ZB). The experimental data of EMCs at various RHs fit to the Nelson's sorption isotherm model well. The Nelson's model can be used to predicate EMCs of WPCs under different RH environmental conditions.

Antimicrobial and enzymatic antibrowning film used as coating for bamboo shoot quality improvement.

PubMed

Badwaik, Laxmikant S; Borah, Pallab Kumar; Deka, Sankar C

2014-03-15

Edible films were prepared with varying proportion of alginate and starch in the ratio of 2:0(F1), 2:1(F2), 1:1(F3), 1:1.5(F4), 1:2(F5), 0:2(F6) with added carboxymethyl cellulose (15%, w/w of starch). The film F5 had superior barrier, mechanical and thermal properties over the other films. Water vapor permeability, moisture absorption, water solubility, breakage strength and elongation capacity of F5 film were reported as 1.21 × 10(-9)g/Pa h m, 9.37%, 40%, 977.3g and 14.62 mm respectively. However, surface characteristics showed the smooth and uniform film and thermal decomposition took place above 200 °C. The film forming solution of selected F5 film, added with antioxidant and antimicrobial extracts was coated on bamboo shoots and stored for 5 days. The film was successful in lowering the browning of bamboo shoots, and also successfully inhibited surface microbial load. Moreover, the moisture loss of coated shoot was less compared to uncoated. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and characterization of the kefiran-whey protein isolate-TiO2 nanocomposite films.

PubMed

Zolfi, Mohsen; Khodaiyan, Faramarz; Mousavi, Mohammad; Hashemi, Maryam

2014-04-01

Biodegradable kefiran-whey protein isolate (WPI)-titanium dioxide (TiO2) blend films were developed and characterized as a function of incorporating amount of TiO2 nanoparticles (1, 3 and 5% wt.). Results showed that the water vapor permeability, moisture content, moisture absorption and water solubility decreased by increasing the nano-TiO2 content. Mechanical tests revealed the plasticizing effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on the kefiran-WPI-TiO2 film. Addition of TiO2 nanoparticles to kefiran-WPI films significantly decreased tensile strength and Young's modulus, while increased its elongation at break. Differential scanning calorimetry data indicated that the glass transition temperature significantly changed by adding nano-TiO2. X-ray diffraction analysis also demonstrated that crystal type in kefiran-WPI was not affected by incorporation of TiO2 nanoparticles. A uniform distribution at 1 and 3% wt. loading levels of TiO2 nanoparticles was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sorption Isotherm of Southern Yellow Pine—High Density Polyethylene Composites

PubMed Central

Liu, Feihong; Han, Guangping; Cheng, Wanli; Wu, Qinglin

2015-01-01

Temperature and relative humidity (RH) are two major external factors, which affect equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of wood-plastic composites (WPCs). In this study, the effect of different durability treatments on sorption and desorption isotherms of southern yellow pine (SYP)-high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites was investigated. All samples were equilibriumed at 20 °C and various RHs including 16%, 33%, 45%, 66%, 75%, 85%, 93%, and100%. EMCs obtained from desorption and absorption for different WPC samples were compared with Nelson’s sorption isotherm model predictions using the same temperature and humidity conditions. The results indicated that the amount of moisture absorbed increased with the increases in RH at 20 °C. All samples showed sorption hysteresis at a fixed RH. Small difference between EMC data of WPC samples containing different amount of ultraviolet (UV) stabilizers were observed. Similar results were observed among the samples containing different amount of zinc borate (ZB). The experimental data of EMCs at various RHs fit to the Nelson’s sorption isotherm model well. The Nelson’s model can be used to predicate EMCs of WPCs under different RH environmental conditions. PMID:28787943

Properties of duck meat sausages supplemented with cereal flours.

PubMed

Yang, H S; Ali, M S; Jeong, J Y; Moon, S H; Hwang, Y H; Park, G B; Joo, S T

2009-07-01

Duck meat sausages were prepared using 10% beef fat (FDS) and 10% hydrated cereal flours including rice (RDS), wheat, corn, millet, and barley to replace fat. Control duck sausages (DS) were also prepared only with duck meat and duck meat plus 10% beef fat. Results showed that protein and fat contents significantly decreased and total expressible fluid reduced with the addition of cereal flours in duck sausage batters. The FDS had higher fat content and lower pH compared with others. Duck sausages with 10% supplemented wheat flour showed the lowest cooking loss among sausages and had similar redness and chroma values to FDS and DS. Texture analysis indicated that hardness of duck sausage significantly decreased when cereal flours and beef fat were added. In particular, RDS showed the lowest values for all texture measurements compared with others. Result of moisture absorption capacity suggested that the decrease in hardness in RDS was due to higher moisture retention for rice flour treatment. Sensory evaluation indicated that DS had significantly lower overall acceptability than RDS, due to its off-flavor, whereas RDS had higher overall acceptability than DS.

Nonlinear absorption and optical limiting in gold-precipitated glasses induced by a femtosecond laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Shiliang; Gao, Yachen; Jiang, Xiongwei; Zeng, Huidan; Song, Yinglin; Qiu, Jianrong; Zhu, Congshan; Hirao, K.

2003-09-01

Nonlinear absorptions of Au nanoparticles precipitated silicate glasses by irradiation of a focused femtosecond pulsed laser were investigated using Z-scan technique with 8 ns pulses at 532 nm. Optical limiting (OL) effects in such glasses have been also measured. It is observed that the behaviors of transition from saturable absorption to reverse saturable absorption and the OL performances for different samples are significantly different, which depend drastically on the irradiation power density of the femtosecond laser used for the Au nanoparticles precipitation in the glass. Strong nonlinear absorptions in these samples are mainly attributed to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and free carrier absorptions of the precipitated Au nanoparticles.

Multiscale analysis of surface soil moisture dynamics in a mesoscale catchment utilizing an integrated ecohydrological model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korres, W.; Reichenau, T. G.; Schneider, K.

2012-12-01

Soil moisture is one of the fundamental variables in hydrology, meteorology and agriculture, influencing the partitioning of solar energy into latent and sensible heat flux as well as the partitioning of precipitation into runoff and percolation. Numerous studies have shown that in addition to natural factors (rainfall, soil, topography etc.) agricultural management is one of the key drivers for spatio-temporal patterns of soil moisture in agricultural landscapes. Interactions between plant growth, soil hydrology and soil nitrogen transformation processes are modeled by using a dynamically coupled modeling approach. The process-based ecohydrological model components of the integrated decision support system DANUBIA are used to identify the important processes and feedbacks determining soil moisture patterns in agroecosystems. Integrative validation of plant growth and surface soil moisture dynamics serves as a basis for a spatially distributed modeling analysis of surface soil moisture patterns in the northern part of the Rur catchment (1100 sq km), Western Germany. An extensive three year dataset (2007-2009) of surface soil moisture-, plant- (LAI, organ specific biomass and N) and soil- (texture, N, C) measurements was collected. Plant measurements were carried out biweekly for winter wheat, maize, and sugar beet during the growing season. Soil moisture was measured with three FDR soil moisture stations. Meteorological data was measured with an eddy flux station. The results of the model validation showed a very good agreement between the modeled plant parameters (biomass, green LAI) and the measured parameters with values between 0.84 and 0.98 (Willmotts index of agreement). The modeled surface soil moisture (0 - 20 cm) showed also a very favorable agreement with the measurements for winter wheat and sugar beet with an RMSE between 1.68 and 3.45 Vol.-%. For maize, the RMSE was less favorable particularly in the 1.5 months prior to harvest. The modeled soil moisture remained in contrast to the measurements very responsive to precipitation with high soil moisture after precipitation events. This behavior indicates that the soil properties might have changed due to the formation of a surface crust or seal towards the end of the growing season. Spatial soil moisture patterns were investigated using a grid resolution of 150 meter. Spatial autocorrelation was computed on a daily basis using patterns of soil texture as well as transpiration and precipitation indices as co-variables. Spatial patterns of surface soil moisture are mostly determined by the structure of the soil properties (soil type) during winter, early growing season and after harvest of all crops. Later in the growing season, after establishment of a closed canopy the dependence of the soil moisture patterns on soil texture patterns becomes smaller and diminishes quickly after precipitation events, due to differences of the transpiration rate of the different crops. When changing the spatial scale of the analysis, the highest autocorrelation values can be found on a grid cell size between 450 and 1200 meters. Thus, small scale variability of transpiration induced by the land use pattern almost averages out, leaving the larger scale structure of soil properties to explain the soil moisture patterns.

Greenhouse gas flux and crop productivity after 10 years of reduced and no tillage in a wheat-maize cropping system.

PubMed

Tian, Shenzhong; Wang, Yu; Ning, Tangyuan; Zhao, Hongxiang; Wang, Bingwen; Li, Na; Li, Zengjia; Chi, Shuyun

2013-01-01

Appropriate tillage plays an important role in mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in regions with higher crop yields, but the emission situations of some reduced tillage systems such as subsoiling, harrow tillage and rotary tillage are not comprehensively studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the emission characteristics of GHG (CH4 and N2O) under four reduced tillage systems from October 2007 to August 2009 based on a 10-yr tillage experiment in the North China Plain, which included no-tillage (NT) and three reduced tillage systems of subsoil tillage (ST), harrow tillage (HT) and rotary tillage (RT), with the conventional tillage (CT) as the control. The soil under the five tillage systems was an absorption sink for CH4 and an emission source for N2O. The soil temperature positive impacted on the CH4 absorption by the soils of different tillage systems, while a significant negative correlation was observed between the absorption and soil moisture. The main driving factor for increased N2O emission was not the soil temperature but the soil moisture and the content of nitrate. In the two rotation cycle of wheat-maize system (10/2007-10/2008 and 10/2008-10/2009), averaged cumulative uptake fluxes of CH4 under CT, ST, HT, RT and NT systems were approximately 1.67, 1.72, 1.63, 1.77 and 1.17 t ha(-1) year(-1), respectively, and meanwhile, approximately 4.43, 4.38, 4.47, 4.30 and 4.61 t ha(-1) year(-1) of N2O were emitted from soil of these systems, respectively. Moreover, they also gained 33.73, 34.63, 32.62, 34.56 and 27.54 t ha(-1) yields during two crop-rotation periods, respectively. Based on these comparisons, the rotary tillage and subsoiling mitigated the emissions of CH4 and N2O as well as improving crop productivity of a wheat-maize cropping system.

Greenhouse Gas Flux and Crop Productivity after 10 Years of Reduced and No Tillage in a Wheat-Maize Cropping System

PubMed Central

Tian, Shenzhong; Wang, Yu; Ning, Tangyuan; Zhao, Hongxiang; Wang, Bingwen; Li, Na; Li, Zengjia; Chi, Shuyun

2013-01-01

Appropriate tillage plays an important role in mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in regions with higher crop yields, but the emission situations of some reduced tillage systems such as subsoiling, harrow tillage and rotary tillage are not comprehensively studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the emission characteristics of GHG (CH4 and N2O) under four reduced tillage systems from October 2007 to August 2009 based on a 10-yr tillage experiment in the North China Plain, which included no-tillage (NT) and three reduced tillage systems of subsoil tillage (ST), harrow tillage (HT) and rotary tillage (RT), with the conventional tillage (CT) as the control. The soil under the five tillage systems was an absorption sink for CH4 and an emission source for N2O. The soil temperature positive impacted on the CH4 absorption by the soils of different tillage systems, while a significant negative correlation was observed between the absorption and soil moisture. The main driving factor for increased N2O emission was not the soil temperature but the soil moisture and the content of nitrate. In the two rotation cycle of wheat-maize system (10/2007–10/2008 and 10/2008–10/2009), averaged cumulative uptake fluxes of CH4 under CT, ST, HT, RT and NT systems were approximately 1.67, 1.72, 1.63, 1.77 and 1.17 t ha−1 year−1, respectively, and meanwhile, approximately 4.43, 4.38, 4.47, 4.30 and 4.61 t ha−1 year−1 of N2O were emitted from soil of these systems, respectively. Moreover, they also gained 33.73, 34.63, 32.62, 34.56 and 27.54 t ha−1 yields during two crop-rotation periods, respectively. Based on these comparisons, the rotary tillage and subsoiling mitigated the emissions of CH4 and N2O as well as improving crop productivity of a wheat-maize cropping system. PMID:24019923

Preparation, optical and non-linear optical power limiting properties of Cu, CuNi nanowires

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

Udayabhaskar, R.; Karthikeyan, B., E-mail: bkarthik@nitt.edu; Ollakkan, Muhamed Shafi

2014-01-06

Metallic nanowires show excellent Plasmon absorption which is tunable based on its aspect ratio and alloying nature. We prepared Cu and CuNi metallic nanowires and studied its optical and nonlinear optical behavior. Optical properties of nanowires are theoretically explained using Gans theory. Nonlinear optical behavior is studied using a single beam open aperture z-scan method with the use of 5 ns Nd: YAG laser. Optical limiting is found to arise from two-photon absorption.

Preparation, optical and non-linear optical power limiting properties of Cu, CuNi nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Udayabhaskar, R.; Ollakkan, Muhamed Shafi; Karthikeyan, B.

2014-01-01

Metallic nanowires show excellent Plasmon absorption which is tunable based on its aspect ratio and alloying nature. We prepared Cu and CuNi metallic nanowires and studied its optical and nonlinear optical behavior. Optical properties of nanowires are theoretically explained using Gans theory. Nonlinear optical behavior is studied using a single beam open aperture z-scan method with the use of 5 ns Nd: YAG laser. Optical limiting is found to arise from two-photon absorption.

A facile synthesis of metal nanoparticle - graphene composites for better absorption of solar radiation

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

Sharma, Bindu; Mulla, Rafiq; Rabinal, M. K., E-mail: mkrabinal@yahoo.com

2015-06-24

Herein, a facile chemical approach has been adopted to prepare silver nanoparticles (AgNPs)- graphene (G) composite to study photothermal effect. Sodium borohydride (SBH), a strong reducing agent has been selected for this work. Effect of SBH concentrations on optical behavior of AgNPs-G composite was also investigated. Resultant materials were characterized by various techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), optical absorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). SEM micrographs confirm wrapping of AgNPs into graphene whereas XRD analysis reveals their particle size variation between 47 nm to 69 nm. Optical studies throw a light on theirmore » strong absorption behavior towards solar radiation.« less

Usage of pumice as bulking agent in sewage sludge composting.

PubMed

Wu, Chuandong; Li, Weiguang; Wang, Ke; Li, Yunbei

2015-08-01

In this study, the impacts of reused and sucrose-decorated pumice as bulking agents on the composting of sewage sludge were evaluated in the lab-scale reactor. The variations of temperature, pH, NH3 and CO2 emission rate, moisture content (MC), volatile solid, dissolved organic carbon, C/N and the water absorption characteristics of pumice were detected during the 25days composting. The MC of pumice achieved 65.23% of the 24h water absorptivity within the first 2h at the mass ratio of 0.6:1 (pumice:sewage sludge). Reused pumice increased 23.68% of CO2 production and reduced 21.25% of NH3 emission. The sucrose-decorated pumice reduced 43.37% of nitrogen loss. These results suggested that adding pumice and sucrose-decorated pumice in sludge composting matrix could not only adjust the MC of materials, but also improve the degradation of organic matters and reduce nitrogen loss. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phosphate absorption by air-stressed root systems.

PubMed

Dove, L D

1969-03-01

Root systems from plants grown in nutrient solution were exposed to air and either transferred to fresh nutrient solution containing (32)P-labeled phosphate or placed in a psychrometer to determine their water potential. The amount of (32)P absorbed by maize and soybean roots in the hour following their exposure to air was proportional to their water potential at the time they were transferred. Some cells, probably located in the stele, were more resistant to moisture stress than others. Absorption of (32)P by all cells was severely inhibited by water potentials below-12 to-15 bars. Nearly normal amounts of the radioisotope and total phosphate were absorbed within 72 hr following root exposure of 4 of 5 species of detopped plants; some phosphorus was lost to the nutrient solution. Uptake of (32)P by passive processes was increased slightly by exposure of roots of intact maize plants to air, but the increase did not compensate for the substantial reduction in actively-absorbed (32)P.

Surface modification study of borate materials from B K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasrai, Masoud; Fleet, Michael E.; Muthupari, Swaminathan; Li, D.; Bancroft, G. M.

The B K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra of two borates with tetrahedrally-coordinated B [[4]B; natural danburite (CaB2Si2O8) and synthetic boron phosphate (BPO4)] have been recorded in total electron yield (TEY) and fluorescence yield (FY) modes to investigate the surface and bulk structure of these materials. The TEY XANES measurement shows that danburite is susceptible to surface damage involving conversion of [4]B sites to [3]B sites by reaction with moisture and/or mechanical abrasion (grinding, polishing, etc.). The bulk of the mineral is essentially unaffected. Commercial boron phosphate powder exhibits more extensive surface and bulk damage, which increases with air exposure but is recovered on heating at 650°C. In contrast to ELNES, the XANES technique is not affected by beam damage and when collected in the FY mode is capable of yielding meaningful information on the coordination and intermediate-range structure of B in borate and borosilicate materials.

Moisture influence on the dielectric behavior of foods

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The importance of dielectric properties of food materials is discussed with respect to their influence on the heating of materials by radio-frequency and microwave energy and their use for rapid, nondestructive sensing of quality characteristics of such materials. Data are presented graphically sho...

Thermochemical Properties of the 1-Ethyl-3-Methylimidazolium Bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide Ionic Liquid under Conditions of Equilibrium with Atmospheric Moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramenskaya, L. M.; Grishina, E. P.; Kudryakova, N. O.

2018-01-01

Thermochemical properties of the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide ionic liquid [EMim]NTf2 containing moisture absorbed from the atmosphere (0.242 wt %) are investigated. The phase behavior and thermal stability relative to salt dried in vacuum are studied by means of thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry at different heating and cooling rates. The glass transition, crystallization, and melting temperatures, the enthalpies of phase transitions, and the changes in heat capacity during the formation of glass are determined. It is established that the absorbed water crystallizes at a temperature of around -40.6°C and has virtually no effect on the thermal stability and phase behavior of the salt. Rapid cooling results in the ionic liquid transitioning into the glass state at -91.7 °C and the formation of three mesophases with different melting temperatures; one crystalline modification that melts at a temperature of -19.3°C forms upon slow cooling.

Insight into unusual impurity absorbability of GeO(2) in GeO(2)∕Ge stacks.

PubMed

Ogawa, Shingo; Suda, Taichi; Yamamoto, Takashi; Kutsuki, Katsuhiro; Hideshima, Iori; Hosoi, Takuji; Shimura, Takayoshi; Watanabe, Heiji

2011-10-03

Adsorbed species and its diffusion behaviors in GeO(2)∕Ge stacks, which are future alternative metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) materials, have been investigated using various physical analyses. We clarified that GeO(2) rapidly absorbs moisture in air just after its exposure. After the absorbed moisture in GeO(2) reaches a certain limit, the GeO(2) starts to absorb some organic molecules, which is accompanied by a structural change in GeO(2) to form a partial carbonate or hydroxide. We also found that the hydrogen distribution in GeO(2) shows intrinsic characteristics, indicative of different diffusion behaviors at the surface and at the GeO(2)∕Ge interface. Because the impurity absorbability of GeO(2) has a great influence on the electrical properties in Ge-MOS devices, these results provide valuable information in realizing high quality GeO(2)∕Ge stacks for the actual use of Ge-MOS technologies.

Passive Microwave Soil Moisture Retrieval through Combined Radar/Radiometer Ground Based Simulator with Special Reference to Dielectric Schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srivastava, Prashant K., ,, Dr.; O'Neill, Peggy, ,, Dr.

2014-05-01

Soil moisture is an important element for weather and climate prediction, hydrological sciences, and applications. Hence, measurements of this hydrologic variable are required to improve our understanding of hydrological processes, ecosystem functions, and the linkages between the Earth's water, energy, and carbon cycles (Srivastava et al. 2013). The retrieval of soil moisture depends not only on parameterizations in the retrieval algorithm but also on the soil dielectric mixing models used (Behari 2005). Although a number of soil dielectric mixing models have been developed, testing these models for soil moisture retrieval has still not been fully explored, especially with SMAP-like simulators. The main objective of this work focuses on testing different dielectric models for soil moisture retrieval using the Combined Radar/Radiometer (ComRAD) ground-based L-band simulator developed jointly by NASA/GSFC and George Washington University (O'Neill et al., 2006). The ComRAD system was deployed during a field experiment in 2012 in order to provide long active/passive measurements of two crops under controlled conditions during an entire growing season. L-band passive data were acquired at a look angle of 40 degree from nadir at both horizontal & vertical polarization. Currently, there are many dielectric models available for soil moisture retrieval; however, four dielectric models (Mironov, Dobson, Wang & Schmugge and Hallikainen) were tested here and found to be promising for soil moisture retrieval (some with higher performances). All the above-mentioned dielectric models were integrated with Single Channel Algorithms using H (SCA-H) and V (SCA-V) polarizations for the soil moisture retrievals. All the ground-based observations were collected from test site-United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) OPE3, located a few miles away from NASA GSFC. Ground truth data were collected using a theta probe and in situ sensors which were then used for validation. Analysis indicated a higher performance in terms of soil moisture retrieval accuracy for the Mironov dielectric model (RMSE of 0.035 m3/m3), followed by Dobson, Wang & Schmugge, and Hallikainen. This analysis indicates that Mironov dielectric model is promising for passive-only microwave soil moisture retrieval and could be a useful choice for SMAP satellite soil moisture retrieval. Keywords: Dielectric models; Single Channel Algorithm, Combined Radar/Radiometer, Soil moisture; L band References: Behari, J. (2005). Dielectric Behavior of Soil (pp. 22-40). Springer Netherlands O'Neill, P. E., Lang, R. H., Kurum, M., Utku, C., & Carver, K. R. (2006), Multi-Sensor Microwave Soil Moisture Remote Sensing: NASA's Combined Radar/Radiometer (ComRAD) System. In IEEE MicroRad, 2006 (pp. 50-54). IEEE. Srivastava, P. K., Han, D., Rico Ramirez, M. A., & Islam, T. (2013), Appraisal of SMOS soil moisture at a catchment scale in a temperate maritime climate. Journal of Hydrology, 498, 292-304. USDA OPE3 web site at http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/.

Statistical analysis of simulated global soil moisture and its memory in an ensemble of CMIP5 general circulation models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiß, Felix; Stacke, Tobias; Hagemann, Stefan

2014-05-01

Soil moisture and its memory can have a strong impact on near surface temperature and precipitation and have the potential to promote severe heat waves, dry spells and floods. To analyze how soil moisture is simulated in recent general circulation models (GCMs), soil moisture data from a 23 model ensemble of Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) type simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) are examined for the period 1979 to 2008 with regard to parameterization and statistical characteristics. With respect to soil moisture processes, the models vary in their maximum soil and root depth, the number of soil layers, the water-holding capacity, and the ability to simulate freezing which all together leads to very different soil moisture characteristics. Differences in the water-holding capacity are resulting in deviations in the global median soil moisture of more than one order of magnitude between the models. In contrast, the variance shows similar absolute values when comparing the models to each other. Thus, the input and output rates by precipitation and evapotranspiration, which are computed by the atmospheric component of the models, have to be in the same range. Most models simulate great variances in the monsoon areas of the tropics and north western U.S., intermediate variances in Europe and eastern U.S., and low variances in the Sahara, continental Asia, and central and western Australia. In general, the variance decreases with latitude over the high northern latitudes. As soil moisture trends in the models were found to be negligible, the soil moisture anomalies were calculated by subtracting the 30 year monthly climatology from the data. The length of the memory is determined from the soil moisture anomalies by calculating the first insignificant autocorrelation for ascending monthly lags (insignificant autocorrelation folding time). The models show a great spread of autocorrelation length from a few months in the tropics, north western Canada, eastern U.S. and northern Europe up to few years in the Sahara, the Arabian Peninsula, continental Eurasia and central U.S. Some models simulate very long memory all over the globe. This behavior is associated with differences between the models in the maximum root and soil depth. Models with shallow roots and deep soils exhibit longer memories than models with similar soil and root depths. Further analysis will be conducted to clearly divide models into groups based on their inter-model spatial correlation of simulated soil moisture characteristics.

Rapid and effective decontamination of chlorophenol-contaminated soil by sorption into commercial polymers: concept demonstration and process modeling.

PubMed

Tomei, M Concetta; Mosca Angelucci, Domenica; Ademollo, Nicoletta; Daugulis, Andrew J

2015-03-01

Solid phase extraction performed with commercial polymer beads to treat soil contaminated by chlorophenols (4-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol and pentachlorophenol) as single compounds and in a mixture has been investigated in this study. Soil-water-polymer partition tests were conducted to determine the relative affinities of single compounds in soil-water and polymer-water pairs. Subsequent soil extraction tests were performed with Hytrel 8206, the polymer showing the highest affinity for the tested chlorophenols. Factors that were examined were polymer type, moisture content, and contamination level. Increased moisture content (up to 100%) improved the extraction efficiency for all three compounds. Extraction tests at this upper level of moisture content showed removal efficiencies ≥70% for all the compounds and their ternary mixture, for 24 h of contact time, which is in contrast to the weeks and months, normally required for conventional ex situ remediation processes. A dynamic model characterizing the rate and extent of decontamination was also formulated, calibrated and validated with the experimental data. The proposed model, based on the simplified approach of "lumped parameters" for the mass transfer coefficients, provided very good predictions of the experimental data for the absorptive removal of contaminants from soil at different individual solute levels. Parameters evaluated from calibration by fitting of single compound data, have been successfully applied to predict mixture data, with differences between experimental and predicted data in all cases being ≤3%. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of a Skin Barrier Cream on Management of Incontinence-Associated Dermatitis in Older Women: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Kon, Yuka; Ichikawa-Shigeta, Yoshie; Iuchi, Terumi; Nakajima, Yukari; Nakagami, Gojiro; Tabata, Keiko; Sanada, Hiromi; Sugama, Junko

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a skin barrier cream with moisturization and skin-protectant characteristics for improving the severity of incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) pertaining to the skin physiology and appearance. We measured the following outcomes: (1) skin physiological characteristics indicating skin protection and enhancement of the skin's moisture barrier (stratum corneum hydration, dermis hydration level, transepidermal water loss, and skin pH); and (2) changes in skin appearance (the degree of erythema and pigmentation, and the sulcus cutis condition). Single-blind, cluster randomized controlled trial. The study was conducted in a long-term care facility in Japan between November 7, 2011, and May 6, 2012. We used block randomization to obtain a random sample of 6 (4 experimental and 2 control) out of 10 available wards. All subjects were elderly women with IAD of the buttock or inner thigh. We assessed 295 patients, but only 33 met inclusion criteria; 18 were allocated to the experimental group and 15 were allocated to the control group. All participants were managed with cleansing with a skin cleanser and application of a moisturizer daily. In addition, a skin barrier cream designed to enhance the skin's moisture barrier and act as a protective barrier was applied to the skin of patients in the experimental group 3 times a day when absorptive briefs were changed. Skin physiological and appearance characteristics were scored only at the buttock or thigh area. All data were collected on days 1 and 14 of the study. Univariate analysis found that the erythema index was lower in the intervention group than in the control group at day 14 (P = .004). Multivariate analysis found significant associations between use of the skin barrier cream and increased stratum corneum hydration (β= .443, P = .031), decreased skin pH (β=-.439, P = .020), and magnitude of erythema (β=-.451, P = .018). Study findings suggest that a barrier cream designed to enhance the skin's moisture barrier and act as a skin protectant increased stratum corneum hydration, reduced cutaneous pH, and reduced erythema.

Influence of fiber treatment on dimensional stabilities of rattan waste composite boards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuraida, A.; Insyirah, Y.; Maisarah, T.; Zahurin, H.

2018-01-01

The main drawback of using natural fibers in composite boards is its hydrophilic properties which absorb a high volume of moisture. This results in low dimensional stability of the produced composite boards. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of fibers’ treatment processes of the rattan waste fibers on the dimensional stabilities of composite boards. The collected fibers underwent two types of retting processes, namely a water treatment and alkaline treatment retting processes; where the fibers were soaked in water and a 1% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution, respectively. The fibers were dried and mixed with poly(lactic) acid (PLA) pellets with ratio of 30% fibers: 70% matrix; before being fabricated into composite boards via a hot-pressing process and were labelled as RF/PLA, WRF/PLA, CRF/PLA for untreated rattan, rattan treated by water retting, rattan treated by chemical retting, respectively. The produced composite boards were cut and soaked in water for 24 hours for dimensional stability in terms of water absorption and thickness swelling tests. The results showed that WRF/PLA has the lowest water absorption (3.2%), and the CRF/PLA had the highest water absorption (23.2%). The thickness swelling showed a similar trend as water absorption. The presence of void contents and fibers damaged the insides of the boards, which contributed to low dimensional stabilities of the composite boards. It can be concluded that water retting facilitated in improving dimensional stability of the produced composite board.

Analysis of temporal decay of diffuse broadband sound fields in enclosures by decomposition in powers of an absorption parameter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bliss, Donald; Franzoni, Linda; Rouse, Jerry; Manning, Ben

2005-09-01

An analysis method for time-dependent broadband diffuse sound fields in enclosures is described. Beginning with a formulation utilizing time-dependent broadband intensity boundary sources, the strength of these wall sources is expanded in a series in powers of an absorption parameter, thereby giving a separate boundary integral problem for each power. The temporal behavior is characterized by a Taylor expansion in the delay time for a source to influence an evaluation point. The lowest-order problem has a uniform interior field proportional to the reciprocal of the absorption parameter, as expected, and exhibits relatively slow exponential decay. The next-order problem gives a mean-square pressure distribution that is independent of the absorption parameter and is primarily responsible for the spatial variation of the reverberant field. This problem, which is driven by input sources and the lowest-order reverberant field, depends on source location and the spatial distribution of absorption. Additional problems proceed at integer powers of the absorption parameter, but are essentially higher-order corrections to the spatial variation. Temporal behavior is expressed in terms of an eigenvalue problem, with boundary source strength distributions expressed as eigenmodes. Solutions exhibit rapid short-time spatial redistribution followed by long-time decay of a predominant spatial mode.

Soil moisture mapping in torrential headwater catchments using a local interpolation method (Draix-Bléone field observatory, South Alps, France)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallet, Florian; Marc, Vincent; Douvinet, Johnny; Rossello, Philippe; Le Bouteiller, Caroline; Malet, Jean-Philippe

2016-04-01

Soil moisture is a key parameter that controls runoff processes at the watershed scale. It is characterized by a high area and time variability, controlled by site properties such as soil texture, topography, vegetation cover and climate. Several recent studies showed that changes in water storage was a key variable to understand the distribution of water residence time and the shape of flood's hydrograph (McDonnell and Beven, 2014; Davies and Beven, 2015). Knowledge of high frequency soil moisture variation across scales is a prerequisite for better understanding the areal distribution of runoff generation. The present study has been carried out in the torrential Draix-Bléone's experimental catchments, where water storage processes are expected to occur mainly on the first meter of soil. The 0,86 km2 Laval marly torrential watershed has a peculiar hydrological behavior during flood events with specific discharge among the highest in the world. To better understand the Laval internal behavior and to identify explanatory parameters of runoff generation, additional field equipment has been setup in sub-basins with various land use and morphological characteristics. From fall 2015 onwards this new instrumentation helped to supplement the routine measurements (rainfall rate, streamflow) and to develop a network of high frequency soil water content sensors (moisture probes, mini lysimeter). Data collected since early May and complementary measurement campaigns (itinerant soil moisture measurements, geophysical measurements) make it now possible to propose a soil water content mapping procedure. We use the LISDQS spatial extrapolation model based on a local interpolation method (Joly et. al, 2008). The interpolation is carried out from different geographical variables which are derived from a high resolution DEM (1m LIDAR) and a land cover image. Unlike conventional interpolation procedure, this method takes into account local forcing parameters such as slope, aspect, soil type or land use. Eventually, the model gives insight into a catchment scale distributed high frequency soil moisture dynamics. This analysis is also used to identify the relative impacts of the morphological determinants on soil moisture content. References : McDonnell, J.J. and K. Beven, 2014. The future of hydrological science: A (common) path forward ? A call to action aimed at understanding velocities, celerities and residence time distributions of the headwater hydrograph. Water Resources Research, 50, 5342-5350. Davies A. C. Davies and K. Beven, 2015. Hysteresis and scale in catchment storage, flow and transport. Hydrological Processes, Volume 29, Issue 16 : 3604-3615. Joly D., Brossard T., Cardot H., Cavailhes J., Hilal M., Wavresky P., 2008. Interpolation par recherche d'information locale. Climatologie, Volume 5 : 27-47.

Spatial and temporal variability of throughfall and soil moisture in a deciduous forest in the low mountain ranges (Hesse, Germany)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chifflard, Peter; Weishaupt, Philipp; Reiss, Martin

2017-04-01

Spatial and temporal patterns of throughfall can affect the heterogeneity of ecological, biogeochemical and hydrological processes at a forest floor and further the underlying soil. Previous research suggests different factors controlling the spatial and temporal patterns of throughfall, but most studies focus on coniferous forest, where the vegetation coverage is more or less constant over time. In deciduous forests the leaf area index varies due to the leaf fall in autumn which implicates a specific spatial and temporal variability of throughfall and furthermore of the soil moisture. Therefore, in the present study, the measurements of throughfall and soil moisture in a deciduous forest in the low mountain ranges focused especially on the period of leaf fall. The aims of this study were: 1) to detect the spatial and temporal variability of both the throughfall and the soil moisture, 2) to examine the temporal stability of the spatial patterns of the throughfall and soil moisture and 3) relate the soil moisture patterns to the throughfall patterns and further to the canopy characteristics. The study was carried out in a small catchment on middle Hesse (Germany) which is covered by beech forest. Annual mean air temperature is 9.4°C (48.9˚F) and annual mean precipitation is 650 mm. Base materials for soil genesis is greywacke and clay shale from Devonian deposits. The soil type at the study plot is a shallow cambisol. The study plot covers an area of about 150 m2 where 77 throughfall samplers where installed. The throughfall and the soil moisture (FDR-method, 20 cm depth) was measured immediately after every rainfall event at the 77 measurement points. During the period of October to December 2015 altogether 7 events were investigated. The geostatistical method kriging was used to interpolate between the measurements points to visualize the spatial patterns of each investigated parameter. Time-stability-plots were applied to examine temporal scatters of each investigated parameter. The spearmen and pearson correlation coefficients were applied to detect the relationship between the different investigated parameters. First results show that the spatial variability of throughfall decreases if the total amount of the throughfall increases. The soil moisture shows a similar behavior. It`s spatial variability decreases if higher soil moisture values were measured. Concerning the temporal stability of throughfall it can be shown that it is very high during the leaf-free period, although the rainfall events have different total througfall amounts. The soil moisture patterns consists of a low temporal stability and additionally only during one event a significant correlations between throughfall and soil moisture patterns exists. This implies that other factors than the throughfall patterns control the spatial patterns of soil moisture.

Utilization of microwave energy for decontamination of oil polluted soils.

PubMed

Iordache, Daniela; Niculae, Dumitru; Francisc, Ioan Hathazi

2010-01-01

Soil oil (petroleum) product pollution represents a great environmental threat as it may contaminate the neighboring soils and surface and underground water. Liquid fuel contamination may occur anywhere during oil (petroleum) product transportation, storing, handling and utilization. The polluted soil recovery represents a complex process due to the wide range of physical, chemical and biological properties of soils which should be analyzed in connection with the study of the contaminated soil behavior under the microwave field action. The soil, like any other non-metallic material, can be heated through microwave energy absorption due to the dielectric losses, expressed by its dielectric complex constant. Oil polluted soil behaves differently in a microwave field depending on the nature, structure and amount of the polluting fuel. Decontamination is performed through volatilization and retrieval of organic contaminant volatile components. After decontamination only a soil fixed residue remains, which cannot penetrate the underground anymore. In carrying out the soil recovery process by means of this technology we should also consider the soil characteristics such as: the soil type, temperature, moisture.The first part of the paper presents the theoretical aspects relating to the behavior of the polluted soil samples in the microwave field, as well as their relating experimental data. The experimental data resulting from the analysis of soils with a different level of pollution point out that the degree of pollutant recovery is high, contributing to changing the initial classification of soils from the point of view of pollution. The paper graphically presents the levels of microwave generated and absorbed power in soil samples, soil temperature during experimentations, specific processing parameters in a microwave field. It also presents the constructive solution of the microwave equipment designed for the contaminated soil in situ treatment.

Observational and Modeling Studies of Radiative, Chemical, and Dynamical Interactions in the Earth''s Atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salby, Murry

1998-01-01

A 3-dimensional model was developed to support mechanistic studies. The model solves the global primitive equations in isentropic coordinates, which directly characterize diabatic processes forcing the Brewer-Dobson circulation of the middle atmosphere. It's numerical formulation is based on Hough harmonics, which partition horizontal motion into its rotational and divergent components. These computational features, along with others, enable 3D integrations to be performed practically on RISC computer architecture, on which they can be iterated to support mechanistic studies. The model conserves potential vorticity quite accurately under adiabatic conditions. Forced by observed tropospheric structure, in which integrations are anchored, the model generates a diabatic circulation that is consistent with satellite observations of tracer behavior and diabatic cooling rates. The model includes a basic but fairly complete treatment of gas-phase photochemistry that represents some 20 chemical species and 50 governing reactions with diurnally-varying shortwave absorption. The model thus provides a reliable framework to study transport and underlying diabatic processes, which can then be compared against chemical and dynamical structure observed and in GCM integrations. Integrations with the Langley GCM were performed to diagnose feedback between simulated convection and the tropical circulation. These were studied in relation to tropospheric properties controlling moisture convergence and environmental conditions supporting deep convection, for comparison against mechanistic integrations of wave CISK that successfully reproduce the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) of the tropical circulation. These comparisons were aimed at identifying and ultimately improving aspects of the convective simulation, with the objective of recovering a successful simulation of the MJO in the Langley GCM, behavior that should be important to budgets of upper-tropospheric water vapor and chemical species.

Mathematical modelling for the drying method and smoothing drying rate using cubic spline for seaweed Kappaphycus Striatum variety Durian in a solar dryer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

M Ali, M. K.; Ruslan, M. H.; Muthuvalu, M. S.; Wong, J.; Sulaiman, J.; Yasir, S. Md.

2014-06-01

The solar drying experiment of seaweed using Green V-Roof Hybrid Solar Drier (GVRHSD) was conducted in Semporna, Sabah under the metrological condition in Malaysia. Drying of sample seaweed in GVRHSD reduced the moisture content from about 93.4% to 8.2% in 4 days at average solar radiation of about 600W/m2 and mass flow rate about 0.5 kg/s. Generally the plots of drying rate need more smoothing compared moisture content data. Special cares is needed at low drying rates and moisture contents. It is shown the cubic spline (CS) have been found to be effective for moisture-time curves. The idea of this method consists of an approximation of data by a CS regression having first and second derivatives. The analytical differentiation of the spline regression permits the determination of instantaneous rate. The method of minimization of the functional of average risk was used successfully to solve the problem. This method permits to obtain the instantaneous rate to be obtained directly from the experimental data. The drying kinetics was fitted with six published exponential thin layer drying models. The models were fitted using the coefficient of determination (R2), and root mean square error (RMSE). The modeling of models using raw data tested with the possible of exponential drying method. The result showed that the model from Two Term was found to be the best models describe the drying behavior. Besides that, the drying rate smoothed using CS shows to be effective method for moisture-time curves good estimators as well as for the missing moisture content data of seaweed Kappaphycus Striatum Variety Durian in Solar Dryer under the condition tested.

Survival and growth of salmonella in high-moisture pecan nutmeats, in-shell pecans, inedible nut components, and orchard soil.

PubMed

Beuchat, Larry R; Mann, David A

2010-11-01

Outbreaks of salmonellosis associated with almonds have raised interest in better understanding the behavior of Salmonella on other tree nuts. We undertook a study to determine the survival and growth characteristics of Salmonella on high-moisture (water activity of 0.96 to 0.99) pecan nutmeats, in-shell pecans, and inedible components (shuck, shell, and middle septum tissue) of in-shell pecans. Salmonella did not grow on high-moisture nutmeat halves, pieces, or granules stored at 4°C for up to 48 h. Growth did occur, however, at 21, 30, and 37°C. Increases of 1.77 to 5.87 log CFU/g of nutmeats occurred within 48 h at 37°C; the order in which nutmeats supported growth was granules > pieces > halves. Populations of Salmonella on and in high-moisture in-shell pecans (kernel water activity of 0.94) stored at 4, 21, 30, and 37°C for 8 days decreased by 0.52 to 1.19 log CFU/g. The pathogen grew on the surface of high-moisture (water activity of 0.99) pecan shucks and shells but died on middle septum tissue stored at 21, 30, and 37°C for up to 6 days. Salmonella died in water extracts of shucks and in pecan orchard soil saturated with water or shuck extract, but survived well for at least 18 weeks in dry soil. The ability of the pathogen to grow on high-moisture nutmeats and some of the inedible components of pecans emphasizes the importance of controlling or limiting the time pecans are exposed to water in preharvest and postharvest environments.

Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makarieva, Anastassia M.; Gorshkov, Victor G.; Nefiodov, Andrei V.; Chikunov, Alexander V.; Sheil, Douglas; Nobre, Antonio Donato; Li, Bai-Lian

2017-09-01

Despite the dangers associated with tropical cyclones and their rainfall, the origin of the moisture in these storms, which include destructive hurricanes and typhoons, remains surprisingly uncertain. Existing studies have focused on the region 40-400 km from a cyclone's center. It is known that the rainfall within this area cannot be explained by local processes alone but requires imported moisture. Nonetheless, the dynamics of this imported moisture appears unknown. Here, considering a region up to three thousand kilometers from cyclone center, we analyze precipitation, atmospheric moisture and movement velocities for severe tropical cyclones - North Atlantic hurricanes. Our findings indicate that even over such large areas a hurricane's rainfall cannot be accounted for by concurrent evaporation. We propose instead that a hurricane consumes pre-existing atmospheric water vapor as it moves. The propagation velocity of the cyclone, i.e. the difference between its movement velocity and the mean velocity of the surrounding air (steering flow), determines the water vapor budget. Water vapor available to the hurricane through its movement makes the hurricane self-sufficient at about 700 km from the hurricane center obviating the need to concentrate moisture from greater distances. Such hurricanes leave a dry wake, whereby rainfall is suppressed by up to 40% compared to the local long-term mean. The inner radius of this dry footprint approximately coincides with the hurricane's radius of water self-sufficiency. We discuss how Carnot efficiency considerations do not constrain the power of such open systems. Our findings emphasize the incompletely understood role and importance of atmospheric moisture stocks and dynamics in the behavior of severe tropical cyclones.

Mathematical modelling for the drying method and smoothing drying rate using cubic spline for seaweed Kappaphycus Striatum variety Durian in a solar dryer

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

M Ali, M. K., E-mail: majidkhankhan@ymail.com, E-mail: eutoco@gmail.com; Ruslan, M. H., E-mail: majidkhankhan@ymail.com, E-mail: eutoco@gmail.com; Muthuvalu, M. S., E-mail: sudaram-@yahoo.com, E-mail: jumat@ums.edu.my

2014-06-19

The solar drying experiment of seaweed using Green V-Roof Hybrid Solar Drier (GVRHSD) was conducted in Semporna, Sabah under the metrological condition in Malaysia. Drying of sample seaweed in GVRHSD reduced the moisture content from about 93.4% to 8.2% in 4 days at average solar radiation of about 600W/m{sup 2} and mass flow rate about 0.5 kg/s. Generally the plots of drying rate need more smoothing compared moisture content data. Special cares is needed at low drying rates and moisture contents. It is shown the cubic spline (CS) have been found to be effective for moisture-time curves. The idea ofmore » this method consists of an approximation of data by a CS regression having first and second derivatives. The analytical differentiation of the spline regression permits the determination of instantaneous rate. The method of minimization of the functional of average risk was used successfully to solve the problem. This method permits to obtain the instantaneous rate to be obtained directly from the experimental data. The drying kinetics was fitted with six published exponential thin layer drying models. The models were fitted using the coefficient of determination (R{sup 2}), and root mean square error (RMSE). The modeling of models using raw data tested with the possible of exponential drying method. The result showed that the model from Two Term was found to be the best models describe the drying behavior. Besides that, the drying rate smoothed using CS shows to be effective method for moisture-time curves good estimators as well as for the missing moisture content data of seaweed Kappaphycus Striatum Variety Durian in Solar Dryer under the condition tested.« less

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

Stefek, T.; Daugherty, W.; Estochen, E.

Compaction of lower layers in the fiberboard assembly has been observed in 9975 packages that contain elevated moisture. Lab testing has resulted in a better understanding of the relationship between the fiberboard moisture level and compaction of the lower fiberboard assembly, and the behavior of the fiberboard during transport. In laboratory tests of cane fiberboard, higher moisture content has been shown to correspond to higher total compaction, greater rate of compaction, and continued compaction over a longer period of time. In addition, laboratory tests have shown that the application of a dynamic load results in higher fiberboard compaction compared tomore » a static load. The test conditions and sample geometric/loading configurations were chosen to simulate the regulatory requirements for 9975 package input dynamic loading. Dynamic testing was conducted to acquire immediate and cumulative changes in geometric data for various moisture levels. Two sample sets have undergone a complete dynamic test regimen, one set for 27 weeks, and the second set for 47 weeks. The dynamic input, data acquisition, test effects on sample dynamic parameters, and results from this test program are summarized and compared to regulatory specifications for dynamic loading. Compaction of the bottom fiberboard layers due to the accumulation of moisture is one possible cause of an increase in the axial gap at the top of the package. The net compaction of the bottom layers will directly add to the axial gap. The moisture which caused this compaction migrated from the middle region of the fiberboard assembly (which is typically the hottest). This will cause the middle region to shrink axially, which will also contribute directly to the axial gap. Measurement of the axial gap provides a screening tool for identifying significant change in the fiberboard condition. The data in this report provide a basis to evaluate the impact of moisture and fiberboard compaction on 9975 package performance during storage at the Savannah River Site (SRS).« less

Flux flow induced microwave absorption in high temperature superconductor Bi 2-XPb XSr 2Ca N-1Cu NO 4+2N

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owens, F. J.

1990-12-01

Direct measurements of microwave absorption without use of rf H field modulation in granular composites of the 115 K superconductor Bi 2-XPb XSr 2Ca N-1Cu NO 4+2N as a function of magnetic field above 0.1 T reveal a continuing increase of absorption of microwave energy increasing magnetic field. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the absorption are very different from the low magnetic field (<0.01 T) absorption arising from weak links in the material. The magnetic field and temperature dependence are consistent with the behavior of thermally activated flux flow resistance suggesting the absorption is due to flux creep.

Effect of moisture transport on microclimate under T-shirts.

PubMed

Dai, Xiao-Qun; Imamura, Ritsuko; Liu, Guo-Lian; Zhou, Fu-Ping

2008-09-01

Water transport through garments has influence on the microclimate between the garments and the body beneath; thus the thermal comfort feeling for the wearer. Soybean protein fiber (SPF), a new type environmental fiber, which has been reported to be superior in water transfer, is often blended with cotton to improve the water transport property. In this paper, T-shirts made of this SPF/cotton blended fabric were focused in comparison with T-shirts made of cotton fabric. Wicking and immersion tests were carried out on the two types of fabrics to investigate the water transport and absorption properties, respectively; wear trials of T-shirts made of the fabrics were also conducted. Comparing with the cotton fabric which had better water absorptive property, it was found that the blended fabric with superior wicking ability could not only delay the increase of the vapor pressure under the T-shirt at the beginning of the exercise, but also help to keep it lower through the exercise significantly, and also kept the skin temperature under the T-shirt lower. It was made clear that it is the water transfer property rather than the water absorption property helps to take away sweat quickly and prevents the increase of the humidity and temperature at skin surface, thus maintaining a comfort microclimate under garments.

Potential of Svalbard reindeer winter droppings for emission/absorption of methane and nitrous oxide during summer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayashi, Kentaro; Cooper, Elisabeth J.; Loonen, Maarten J. J. E.; Kishimoto-Mo, Ayaka W.; Motohka, Takeshi; Uchida, Masaki; Nakatsubo, Takayuki

2014-06-01

Droppings of Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) could affect the carbon and nitrogen cycles in tundra ecosystems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of reindeer droppings originating from the winter diet for emission and/or absorption of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in summer. An incubation experiment was conducted over 14 days using reindeer droppings and mineral subsoil collected from a mound near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, to determine the potential exchanges of CH4 and N2O for combinations of two factors, reindeer droppings (presence or absence) and soil moisture (dry, moderate, or wet). A line transect survey was conducted to determine the distribution density of winter droppings at the study site. The incubation experiment showed a weak absorption of CH4 and a weak emission of N2O. Reindeer droppings originating from the winter diet had a negligible effect on the exchange fluxes of both CH4 and N2O. Although the presence of droppings resulted in a short-lasting increase in N2O emissions on day 1 (24 h from the start) for moderate and wet conditions, the emission rates were still very small, up to 3 μg N2O m-2 h-1.

Tropical Pacific moisture variability: Its detection, synoptic structure and consequences in the general circulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcguirk, James P.

1990-01-01

Satellite data analysis tools are developed and implemented for the diagnosis of atmospheric circulation systems over the tropical Pacific Ocean. The tools include statistical multi-variate procedures, a multi-spectral radiative transfer model, and the global spectral forecast model at NMC. Data include in-situ observations; satellite observations from VAS (moisture, infrared and visible) NOAA polar orbiters (including Tiros Operational Satellite System (TOVS) multi-channel sounding data and OLR grids) and scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR); and European Centre for Medium Weather Forecasts (ECHMWF) analyses. A primary goal is a better understanding of the relation between synoptic structures of the area, particularly tropical plumes, and the general circulation, especially the Hadley circulation. A second goal is the definition of the quantitative structure and behavior of all Pacific tropical synoptic systems. Finally, strategies are examined for extracting new and additional information from existing satellite observations. Although moisture structure is emphasized, thermal patterns are also analyzed. Both horizontal and vertical structures are studied and objective quantitative results are emphasized.

[Optical characteristics of colored dissolved organic material (CDOM) in Yangtze Estuary].

PubMed

Zhu, Wei-Jian; Shen, Fang; Hong, Guan-Lin

2010-10-01

Absorption property of colored dissolved organic material (CDOM) is one of the most important contents to remote sensing of ocean color in estuarine and coastal areas. In this study, the optical properties and mixing behavior of CDOM in surface water of Yangtze Estuary were discussed according to the two surveys in August of 2008 and May of 2009. Based on the research, the absorption coefficient and spectral slope were discussed. It was found that in summer of 2008 CDOM absorption coefficients at 440 nm [a(g) (440)], ranged from 0.20 m(-1) to 0.73 m(-1), while the coefficients in 2009 varied between 0.20 m(-1) and 0.77 m(-1). Statistics showed that the power function model fitted the best in the regression analysis of CDOM absorption spectral. The spectral slopes (S(g2)) of CDOM calculated by the power function model ranged from 5.10 to 7.90 in Summer of 2008 and from 2.95 to 6.11 in Spring of 2009. The highest absorption coefficients of two cruises appeared both in the south passage of the Yangtze Estuary. The absorption coefficient in surfer water was observed varied tremendously in the estuary and the offshore area. And the main reason is affected by the turbidity maximum zone. It is observed that the absorption coefficients of CDOM tended to a homogeneous distribution whilst the layers of water mixed tempestuously, but otherwise it always showed a conservative mixing behavior. Because of the frequent mixture, there is not assured correlativity between S(g2) and a(g) (440). In the offshore area of Yangtze Estuary, the effecting of local production cannot be negligent, which differed from the estuary area. Yet when the hydrological environment was relatively stable, the negative relationship between them was very clear. In conclusion, the optical properties and mixing behavior of CDOM had showed tremendous different characteristics from inside the estuary to outside the estuary because of the influence of complex physical, chemical and hydrology conditions.

Analysis of Absorption Spectra of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Gaseous- and Particle- Phase Emissions from Peat Fuel Combustion Under Controlled Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Connolly, J. I.; Samburova, V.; Moosmüller, H.; Khlystov, A.

2015-12-01

Biomass and fossil fuel burning processes emit important organic pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the atmosphere. Smoldering combustion of peat is one of the largest contributors (up to 70%) of carbonaceous species and, therefore, it may be one of the main sources of these PAHs. PAHs can be detrimental to health, they are known to be potent mutagens and suspected carcinogens. They may also contribute to solar light absorption as the particles absorb in the blue and near ultraviolet (UV) region of the solar spectrum ("brown carbon" species). There is very little knowledge and large ambiguity regarding the contribution of PAHs to optical properties of organic carbon (OC) emitted from smoldering biomass combustion. This study focuses on quantifying and analyzing PAHs emitted from peat smoldering combustion to gain more knowledge on their optical properties. Five peat fuels collected in different regions of the world (Russia, USA) were burned under controlled conditions (e.g., relative humidity, combustion efficiency, fuel-moisture content) at the Desert Research Institute Biomass Burning facility (Reno, NV, USA). Combustion aerosols collected on TIGF filters followed by XAD resin cartridges were extracted and analyzed for gas-phase (semi-volatile) and particle-phase PAHs. Filter and XAD samples were extracted separately with dichloromethane followed by acetone using Accelerated Solvent Extractor (ACE 300, Dionex). To determine absorption properties, absorption spectra of extracts and standard PAHs were recorded between 190 and 900 nm with a UV/VIS spectrophotometer (PerkinElmer, Lambda 650). This poster will discuss the potential contribution of PAHs to brown carbon emitted from peat combustion and give a brief comparison with absorption spectra from biomass burning aerosols.

Solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine trigeneration system for marine applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tse, Lawrence Kar Chung; Wilkins, Steven; McGlashan, Niall; Urban, Bernhard; Martinez-Botas, Ricardo

2011-03-01

Shipping contributes 4.5% to global CO2 emissions and is not covered by the Kyoto Agreement. One method of reducing CO2 emissions on land is combined cooling heating and power (CCHP) or trigeneration, with typical combined thermal efficiencies of over 80%. Large luxury yachts are seen as an ideal entry point to the off-shore market for this developing technology considering its current high cost. This paper investigates the feasibility of combining a SOFC-GT system and an absorption heat pump (AHP) in a trigeneration system to drive the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and electrical base-load systems. A thermodynamic model is used to simulate the system, with various configurations and cooling loads. Measurement of actual yacht performance data forms the basis of this system simulation. It is found that for the optimum configuration using a double effect absorption chiller in Ship 1, the net electric power increases by 47% relative to the electrical power available for a conventional SOFC-GT-HVAC system. This is due to more air cooled to a lower temperature by absorption cooling; hence less electrical cooling by the conventional HVAC unit is required. The overall efficiency is 12.1% for the conventional system, 34.9% for the system with BROAD single effect absorption chiller, 43.2% for the system with double effect absorption chiller. This shows that the overall efficiency of a trigeneration system is far higher when waste heat recovery happens. The desiccant wheel hardly reduces moisture from the outdoor air due to a relative low mass flow rate of fuel cell exhaust available to dehumidify a very large mass flow rate of HVAC air, Hence, desiccant wheel is not recommended for this application.

Supersaturation-nucleation behavior of poorly soluble drugs and its impact on the oral absorption of drugs in thermodynamically high-energy forms.

PubMed

Ozaki, Shunsuke; Minamisono, Takuma; Yamashita, Taro; Kato, Takashi; Kushida, Ikuo

2012-01-01

In order to better understand the oral absorption behavior of poorly water-soluble drugs, their supersaturation-nucleation behavior was characterized in fasted state simulated intestinal fluid. The induction time (t(ind)) for nucleation was measured for four model drugs: itraconazole, erlotinib, troglitazone, and PLX4032. Supersaturated solutions were prepared by solvent shift method, and nucleation initiation was monitored by ultraviolet detection. The relationship between t(ind) and degree of supersaturation was analyzed in terms of classical nucleation theory. The defined supersaturation stability proved to be compound specific. Clinical data on oral absorption were investigated for drugs in thermodynamically high-energy forms such as amorphous forms and salts and was compared with in vitro supersaturation-nucleation characteristics. Solubility-limited maximum absorbable dose was proportionate to intestinal effective drug concentrations, which are related to supersaturation stability and thermodynamic solubility. Supersaturation stability was shown to be an important factor in determining the effect of high-energy forms. The characterization of supersaturation-nucleation behavior by the presented method is, therefore, valuable for assessing the potential absorbability of poorly water-soluble drugs. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Sensitivity of Climate Simulations to Land-Surface and Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Treatments-A Review.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garratt, J. R.

1993-03-01

Aspects of the land-surface and boundary-layer treatments in some 20 or so atmospheric general circulation models (GCMS) are summarized. In only a small fraction of these have significant sensitivity studies been carried out and published. Predominantly, the sensitivity studies focus upon the parameterization of land-surface processes and specification of land-surface properties-the most important of these include albedo, roughness length, soil moisture status, and vegetation density. The impacts of surface albedo and soil moisture upon the climate simulated in GCMs with bare-soil land surfaces are well known. Continental evaporation and precipitation tend to decrease with increased albedo and decreased soil moisture availability. For example, results from numerous studies give an average decrease in continental precipitation of 1 mm day1 in response to an average albedo increase of 0.13. Few conclusive studies have been carried out on the impact of a gross roughness-length change-the primary study included an important statistical assessment of the impact upon the mean July climate around the globe of a decreased continental roughness (by three orders of magnitude). For example, such a decrease reduced the precipitation over Amazonia by 1 to 2 mm day1.The inclusion of a canopy scheme in a GCM ensures the combined impacts of roughness (canopies tend to be rougher than bare soil), albedo (canopies tend to be less reflective than bare soil), and soil-moisture availability (canopies prevent the near-surface soil region from drying out and can access the deep soil moisture) upon the simulated climate. The most revealing studies to date involve the regional impact of Amazonian deforestation. The results of four such studies show that replacing tropical forest with a degraded pasture results in decreased evaporation ( 1 mm day1) and precipitation (1-2 mm day1), and increased near-surface air temperatures (2 K).Sensitivity studies as a whole suggest the need for a realistic surface representation in general circulation models of the atmosphere. It is not yet clear how detailed this representation needs to be, but even allowing for the importance of surface processes, the parameterization of boundary-layer and convective clouds probably represents a greater challenge to improved climate simulations. This is illustrated in the case of surface net radiation for Aniazonia, which is not well simulated and tends to be overestimated, leading to evaporation rates that are too large. Underestimates in cloudiness, cloud albedo, and clear-sky shortwave absorption, rather than in surface albedo, appear to be the main culprits.There are three major tasks that confront the researcher so far as the development and validation of atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) and surface schemes in GCMs are concerned:(i) There is a need to as' critically the impact of `improved' parameterization schemes on WM simulations, taking into account the problem of natural variability and hence the statistical significance of the induced changes.(ii) There is a need to compare GCM simulations of surface and ABL behavior (particularly regarding the diurnal cycle of surface fluxes, air temperature, and ABL depth) with observations over a range of surface types (vegetation, desert, ocean). In this context, area-average values of surface fluxes will be required to calibrate directly the ABL/land-surface scheme in the GCM.(iii) There is a need for intercomparisons of ABL and land-surface schemes used in GCMS, both for one- dimensional stand-alone models and for GCMs that incorporate the respective schemes.

[Fire behavior of Mongolian oak leaves fuel bed under no-wind and zero-slope conditions. II. Analysis of the factors affecting flame length and residence time and related prediction models].

PubMed

Zhang, Ji-Li; Liu, Bo-Fei; Di, Xue-Ying; Chu, Teng-Fei; Jin, Sen

2012-11-01

Taking fuel moisture content, fuel loading, and fuel bed depth as controlling factors, the fuel beds of Mongolian oak leaves in Maoershan region of Northeast China in field were simulated, and a total of one hundred experimental burnings under no-wind and zero-slope conditions were conducted in laboratory, with the effects of the fuel moisture content, fuel loading, and fuel bed depth on the flame length and its residence time analyzed and the multivariate linear prediction models constructed. The results indicated that fuel moisture content had a significant negative liner correlation with flame length, but less correlation with flame residence time. Both the fuel loading and the fuel bed depth were significantly positively correlated with flame length and its residence time. The interactions of fuel bed depth with fuel moisture content and fuel loading had significant effects on the flame length, while the interactions of fuel moisture content with fuel loading and fuel bed depth affected the flame residence time significantly. The prediction model of flame length had better prediction effect, which could explain 83.3% of variance, with a mean absolute error of 7.8 cm and a mean relative error of 16.2%, while the prediction model of flame residence time was not good enough, which could only explain 54% of variance, with a mean absolute error of 9.2 s and a mean relative error of 18.6%.

Two-Dimensional Synthetic Aperture Radiometry over Land Surface During Soil Moisture Experiment in 2003 (SMEX03)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryu, Dongryeol; Jackson, Thomas J.; Bindlish, Rajat; Le Vine, David M.; Haken, Michael

2007-01-01

Microwave radiometry at low frequencies (L-band, approx. 1.4 GHz) has been known as an optimal solution for remote sensing of soil moisture. However, the antenna size required to achieve an appropriate resolution from space has limited the development of spaceborne L-band radiometers. This problem can be addressed by interferometric technology called aperture synthesis. The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission will apply this technique to monitor global-scale surface parameters in the near future. The first airborne experiment using an aircraft prototype of this approach, the Two-Dimensional Synthetic Aperture Radiometer (2D-STAR), was performed in the Soil Moisture Experiment in 2003 (SMEX03). The L-band brightness temperature data acquired in Alabama by the 2DSTAR was compared with ground-based measurements of soil moisture and with C-band data collected by the Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR). Our results demonstrate a good response of the 2D-STAR brightness temperature to changes in surface wetness, both in agricultural and forest lands. The behavior of the horizontally polarized brightness temperature data with increasing view-angle over the forest area was noticeably different than over bare soil. The results from the comparison of 2D-STAR and PSR indicate a better response of the 2D-STAR to the surface wetness under both wet and dry conditions. Our results have important implications for the performance of the future SMOS mission.

Thermal expansion behavior study of Co nanowire array with in situ x-ray diffraction and x-ray absorption fine structure techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mo, Guang; Cai, Quan; Jiang, Longsheng; Wang, Wei; Zhang, Kunhao; Cheng, Weidong; Xing, Xueqing; Chen, Zhongjun; Wu, Zhonghua

2008-10-01

In situ x-ray diffraction and x-ray absorption fine structure techniques were used to study the structural change of ordered Co nanowire array with temperature. The results show that the Co nanowires are polycrystalline with hexagonal close packed structure without phase change up until 700 °C. A nonlinear thermal expansion behavior has been found and can be well described by a quadratic equation with the first-order thermal expansion coefficient of 4.3×10-6/°C and the second-order thermal expansion coefficient of 5.9×10-9/°C. The mechanism of this nonlinear thermal expansion behavior is discussed.

Monitoring water cycle elements using GNSS geodetic receivers at the field research station Marquardt, Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simeonov, Tzvetan; Vey, Sibylle; Alshawaf, Fadwa; Dick, Galina; Guerova, Guergana; Güntner, Andreas; Hohmann, Christian; Kunwar, Ajeet; Trost, Benjamin; Wickert, Jens

2017-04-01

Water storage variations in the atmosphere and in soils are among the most dynamic within the Earth's water cycle. The continuous measurement of water storage in these media with a high spatial and temporal resolution is a challenging task, not yet completely solved by various observation techniques. With the development of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) a new approach for atmospheric water vapor estimation in the atmosphere and in parallel of soil moisture in the vicinity of GNSS ground stations was established in the recent years with several key advantages compared to traditional techniques. Regional and global GNSS networks are nowadays operationally used to provide the Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) information with high temporal resolution above the individual stations. Corresponding data products are used to improve the day-by-day weather prediction of leading forecast centers. Selected stations from these networks can be used to additionally derive the soil moisture in the vicinity of the receivers. Such parallel measurement of IWV and soil moisture using a single measuring device provides a unique possibility to analyze water fluxes between the atmosphere and the land surface. We installed an advanced experimental GNSS setup for hydrology at the field research station of the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy in Marquardt, around 30km West of Berlin, Germany. The setup includes several GNSS receivers, various Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) sensors at different depths for soil moisture measurement and an meteorological station. The setup was mainly installed to develop and improve GNSS based techniques for soil moisture determination and to analyze GNSS IWV and SM in parallel on a long-term perspective. We introduce initial results from more than two years of measurements. The comparison in station Marquardt shows good agreement (correlation 0.79) between the GNSS derived soil moisture and the TDR measurements. A detailed study for several periods with different GNSS settings, vegetation and soil conditions in the vicinity of the station is presented with emphasis on the behavior of GNSS derived soil moisture, compared to TDR. Case studies of intense rainfall events and lasting dry periods show the interaction between the IWV and soil moisture.

Determining thin film properties by fitting optical transmittance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, J. D.; Yen, A.; Cogan, S. F.

1990-08-01

The optical transmission spectra of rf sputtered tungsten oxide films on glass substrates were modeled to determine absorption edge behavior, film thickness, and index of refraction. Removal of substrate reflection and absorption phenomena from the experimental spectra allowed direct examination of thin film optical characteristics. The interference fringe pattern allows determination of the film thickness and the dependence of the real index of refraction on wavelength. Knowledge of the interference fringe behavior in the vicinity of the absorption edge was found essential to unambiguous determination of the optical band gap. In particular, the apparently random deviations commonly observed in the extrapolation of as-acquired data are eliminated by explicitly considering interference fringe phenomena. The multivariable optimization fitting scheme employed allows air-film-substrate reflection losses to be compensated without making reflectance measurements.

Patterns and scaling properties of surface soil moisture in an agricultural landscape: An ecohydrological modeling study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korres, W.; Reichenau, T. G.; Schneider, K.

2013-08-01

Soil moisture is a key variable in hydrology, meteorology and agriculture. Soil moisture, and surface soil moisture in particular, is highly variable in space and time. Its spatial and temporal patterns in agricultural landscapes are affected by multiple natural (precipitation, soil, topography, etc.) and agro-economic (soil management, fertilization, etc.) factors, making it difficult to identify unequivocal cause and effect relationships between soil moisture and its driving variables. The goal of this study is to characterize and analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of surface soil moisture (top 20 cm) in an intensively used agricultural landscape (1100 km2 northern part of the Rur catchment, Western Germany) and to determine the dominant factors and underlying processes controlling these patterns. A second goal is to analyze the scaling behavior of surface soil moisture patterns in order to investigate how spatial scale affects spatial patterns. To achieve these goals, a dynamically coupled, process-based and spatially distributed ecohydrological model was used to analyze the key processes as well as their interactions and feedbacks. The model was validated for two growing seasons for the three main crops in the investigation area: Winter wheat, sugar beet, and maize. This yielded RMSE values for surface soil moisture between 1.8 and 7.8 vol.% and average RMSE values for all three crops of 0.27 kg m-2 for total aboveground biomass and 0.93 for green LAI. Large deviations of measured and modeled soil moisture can be explained by a change of the infiltration properties towards the end of the growing season, especially in maize fields. The validated model was used to generate daily surface soil moisture maps, serving as a basis for an autocorrelation analysis of spatial patterns and scale. Outside of the growing season, surface soil moisture patterns at all spatial scales depend mainly upon soil properties. Within the main growing season, larger scale patterns that are induced by soil properties are superimposed by the small scale land use pattern and the resulting small scale variability of evapotranspiration. However, this influence decreases at larger spatial scales. Most precipitation events cause temporarily higher surface soil moisture autocorrelation lengths at all spatial scales for a short time even beyond the autocorrelation lengths induced by soil properties. The relation of daily spatial variance to the spatial scale of the analysis fits a power law scaling function, with negative values of the scaling exponent, indicating a decrease in spatial variability with increasing spatial resolution. High evapotranspiration rates cause an increase in the small scale soil moisture variability, thus leading to large negative values of the scaling exponent. Utilizing a multiple regression analysis, we found that 53% of the variance of the scaling exponent can be explained by a combination of an independent LAI parameter and the antecedent precipitation.

Bamboo fiberboards and attapulgite : does it lead to an improvement of humidity control in buildings?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, D. M.; Grillet, A. C.; Goldin, T.; Hanh Diep, T. M.; Woloszyn, M.

2018-04-01

In order to save energy used to heat or cool buildings and to improve the inhabitants comfort, control of humidity inside buildings must be improved. This can be done by using buffering materials able to absorb and release moisture when necessary. Natural fibers and mineral absorbent are good candidates to manufacture such materials. The aim of this research is to mix bamboo fibers with attapulgite to evaluate the influence of this mineral absorbent on the hygric behavior of the fiberboards. The hygric properties are slightly improved by the attapulgite and thus bamboo fiberboards can be used as building insulation materials able to participate to the indoor moisture control.

Chemical and spectral behavior of nitric acid in aqueous sulfuric acid solutions: Absorption spectrum and molar absorption coefficient of nitronium ion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ershov, Boris G.; Panich, Nadezhda M.

2018-01-01

The chemical species formed from nitric acid in aqueous solutions of sulfuric acid (up to 18.0 mol L- 1) were studied by optical spectroscopy method. The concentration region of nitronium ion formation was identified and NO2+ ion absorption spectrum was measured (λmax ≤ 190 nm and ε190 = 1040 ± 50 mol- 1 L cm- 1).

The test of Tensile Properties and Water Resistance of a Novel Cross-linked Starch Prepared by Adding Oil-Flax

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Dawei; Wang, Rui

2017-12-01

In this study, to solve the poor water resistance and the low mechanical properties of starch, a mixed-starch composite matrix which including glycerol, sorbitol, and urea, were prepared via single-crew extrusion, then adding oil-flax to improve its physical mechanical and used to a source of biodegradable plastics material. The composite matrix was systematically characterized using various analytic tools including XRD, SEM and TG. The composite showed a maximum tensile strength of 18.11Mpa and moisture absorption 17.67%, while the original starch matrix was only 12.51 Mpa and 24.98%, respectively.

A study of model parameters associated with the urban climate using HCMM data. [St. Louis, Missouri

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

The use of infrared and visible data from the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (HCMM) and in situ data to study the intensity of the urban heat island of Saint Louis is described. Analysis of HCMM data shows that an urban heat island exists day and night in all seasons when clear skies prevail. The lower albedo value of the urban region during the day suggests that the higher temperatures are due to more absorption of solar radiation. Preliminary analysis of in situ meteorological data was performed after merging with HCMM data, and surface roughness, the exchange coefficient, and the soil moisture were calculated.

Modelling of vegetation volumes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanzyl, J. J.; Papas, C. H.; Engheta, N.; Elachi, C.

1985-01-01

The purpose is to describe work that is being done to find theoretical models to describe radar backscatter from vegetation layers. The geometry of the problem is shown. The information that one would like to find through the application of the results of these models would include: the thickness of the layer; the absorption in the layer (i.e., density, moisture content, and biomass); the geometry of the scatterers (i.e., shape and orientation); how much of the received power is due to volume scattering only; and a way to enhance the ratio of scattering that has some interaction with the ground surface. The proposed ways to find this information are discussed.

Runaway and moist greenhouse atmospheres and the evolution of earth and Venus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kasting, James F.

1988-01-01

For the case of fully moisture-saturated and cloud-free conditions, the present one-dimensional climate model for the response of an earthlike atmosphere to large solar flux increases notes the critical solar flux at which runaway greenhouse (total evaporation of oceans) occurs to be 1.4 times the present flux at the earth's orbit, almost independently of the CO2 content of the atmophere. The value is, however, sensitive to the H2O absorption coefficient in the 8-12 micron window. Venus oceans may have been lost early on due to rapid water vapor photodissociation, followed by hydrogen escape into space.