Detection of freeze injury in oranges using magnetic resonance imaging under motion conditions

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is applied for on-line inspection of fruits. The aim of this work is to address the applicability of MRI for freeze injury detection in oranges directly on a distribution chain. Undamaged and damaged oranges are conveyed at 50 and 100 mm/s by a specially designed conveyor within a 4.7 T spectrometer obtaining fast low-angle shot images. An automatic segmentation algorithm is proposed that allows the discrimination between undamaged and damaged orange

Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis of aqueous sugar solutions containing fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose and lactose

The glass transition of glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose and sucrose solutions at maximum cryo-concentration was studied by Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA), using the disc bending technique. The glass transition temperatures were determined from the peaks in the loss modulus E′′, which corresponds theoretically to the resonance point (Maxwell model) for several input frequencies. The frequency dependence was well described by both an Arrhenius-type model and by the WLF (Williams, Landel and Ferry) equation, yielding glass transition temperatures for an average molecular vibration time of 100 s, which were similar to published midpoint temperatures determined by DSC scans. Some sugar mixtures were studied, yielding results that were well described by the Gordon–Taylor equation, using literature data. The frequency dependence of the viscoelastic ratio was also well approximated by an Arrhenius-type equation, with activation energies similar to those of the glass transition temperature and corresponded well to published values of the endset of glass transition

New Insights into White-Light Flare Emission from Radiative-Hydrodynamic Modeling of a Chromospheric Condensation

(abridged) The heating mechanism at high densities during M dwarf flares is poorly understood. Spectra of M dwarf flares in the optical and near-ultraviolet wavelength regimes have revealed three continuum components during the impulsive phase: 1) an energetically dominant blackbody component with a color temperature of T $\sim$ 10,000 K in the blue-optical, 2) a smaller amount of Balmer continuum emission in the near-ultraviolet at lambda $<$ 3646 Angstroms and 3) an apparent pseudo-continuum of blended high-order Balmer lines. These properties are not reproduced by models that employ a typical "solar-type" flare heating level in nonthermal electrons, and therefore our understanding of these spectra is limited to a phenomenological interpretation. We present a new 1D radiative-hydrodynamic model of an M dwarf flare from precipitating nonthermal electrons with a large energy flux of $10^{13}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The simulation produces bright continuum emission from a dense, hot chromospheric condensation. For the first time, the observed color temperature and Balmer jump ratio are produced self-consistently in a radiative-hydrodynamic flare model. We find that a T $\sim$ 10,000 K blackbody-like continuum component and a small Balmer jump ratio result from optically thick Balmer and Paschen recombination radiation, and thus the properties of the flux spectrum are caused by blue light escaping over a larger physical depth range compared to red and near-ultraviolet light. To model the near-ultraviolet pseudo-continuum previously attributed to overlapping Balmer lines, we include the extra Balmer continuum opacity from Landau-Zener transitions that result from merged, high order energy levels of hydrogen in a dense, partially ionized atmosphere. This reveals a new diagnostic of ambient charge density in the densest regions of the atmosphere that are heated during dMe and solar flares.Comment: 50 pages, 2 tables, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in the Solar Physics Topical Issue, "Solar and Stellar Flares". Version 2 (June 22, 2015): updated to include comments by Guest Editor. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11207-015-0708-

Track D Social Science, Human Rights and Political Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138414/1/jia218442.pd

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Phytochemical stability in dried apple and green tea functional products as related to moisture properties

In this study, apple products made with and without added green tea extract were freeze-dried and stored for up to 45 days at 30 C in low and intermediate moisture environments (water activity, aw, 0.11, 0.22, 0.32, 0.57, and 0.75). Kinetic models were developed for the changes in color and decreases in contents of selected green tea and apple monomeric and polymeric flavanols and ascorbic acid. Moisture isotherms were developed for each product. At various moisture levels, the glass transition temperature (Tg) was measured by DSC and water mobility by 1H NMR. Chemical changes were related to Tg, aw, and water mobility in the products. Phytochemical degradation occurred more rapidly at higher moisture contents, except for caffeine which was stable. In the product containing apple with green tea, the content of monomeric flavan-3-ols decreased by 34% and 39% after 45 days of storage at aw of 0.56 and 0.75, respectively. Phytochemical degradation correlated with increasing aw, Tg, and water mobility. This study showed that, in general, storage at aw 0.75 most affected phytochemical stability and color