Quantitative analysis and processing of surfaces and profiles from profilometry images

Surface metrology is concerned with inspecting morphological parameters of a surfaces or profiles, by using contact or non-contact profilometers. The following abstract describes the development of a software in Python environment that implements various processing methods on images from optical and stylus profilometers. In particular, the program focusses on image pre-processing and determination of dimensional parameters for 2D areas and 1D profiles. It is worth mentioning that many open and closed source programs are already distributed, but they do not provide a sufficient automatization in the image processing, often requiring the user to repeat the same steps for each image to obtain the expected results. The program has been initially developed within the framework of the EMPIR 20IND07 TracOptic project for the processing of a batch of topographies on RS-M and RS-N linear step samples, in order to compensate for the lack of automation for the calculation of height parameters. The developed program is designed to be modular and scalable for expanding the processing capabilities

El rol del control personal en la función paliativa de la justificación del sistema entre la población indígena y no indígena de estudiantes peruanos

Indexación: Scopus.In this article we propose a mediation model for the association between system justification and psychological well-being (i.e., the palliative function of ideology), based on system justification theory and compensatory control theory. Specifically, we argue that endorsing system-justifying beliefs leads to increased perceived personal control, which in turn predicts higher well-being. We used a convenience sample of students from two Peruvian universities. The results showed that system justification was related to general psychological well-being and personal control. In addition, indigenous students rated lower on system justification, general psychological well-being, self-esteem and personal control. Next, we found that the association between system justification and general psychological well-being was stronger among indigenous students, and this relationship was partially mediated by personal control. In addition, we showed that the mediation model is moderated by ethnicity, so that personal control is a mediator only among non-indigenous participants. We conclude that personal control is a mechanism involved in the palliative function of ideology among this group. Finally, we discuss possible explanations for the mechanisms involved in the palliative function of ideology among low-status individuals. © 2018, © 2018 Fundacion Infancia y Aprendizaje.En este artículo se propone un modelo de mediación de las relaciones entre la justificación del sistema y el bienestar psicológico (i.e., la función paliativa de la ideología) basado en las teorías de la justificación del sistema y del control compensatorio. En concreto, se propone que la adopción de creencias justificativas del sistema produce un aumento del control personal percibido que, a su vez, predice niveles más elevados de bienestar. En este estudio se utilizó una muestra por conveniencia de estudiantes provenientes de dos universidades peruanas. Los resultados muestran que la justificación del sistema está relacionada con el bienestar psicológico general y con el control personal. Además, los estudiantes indígenas mostraron niveles más reducidos de justificación del sistema, bienestar psicológico general, autoestima y control personal. También se observó que la relación entre la justificación del sistema y el bienestar psicológico general era más fuerte entre los estudiantes indígenas y que el control personal mediaba parcialmente en esta relación. Asimismo, mostramos que la etnicidad es un factor moderador del modelo de mediación, por lo que el control personal es un mediador únicamente entre los participantes no indígenas. El estudio concluye que el control personal es un mecanismo que interviene en la función paliativa de la ideología en este grupo. Por último, se discuten posibles explicaciones de los mecanismos implicados en la función paliativa de la ideología entre individuos de estatus social bajo.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02134748.2018.153765

Efecto de los parámetros del proceso de extracción por prensado sobre el rendimiento y la calidad de aceite de Pistacho

Pistachio nuts have high economical and nutritional value, mostly due to their elevated oil con­tent (50%), which is composed mainly of oleic and linoleic fatty acids. Box-Behnken experimental designs were performed to optimize the oil extraction by response surface analysis. The independent variables measured were seed moisture content (SMC), restriction die (RD), screw press speed (PS) and pressing temperature (PT), while the response variables considered were oil recovery (OR), fine solid contents in the oil (FSC), oil remain­ing in the cake (OC) and parameters related to oil quality (free fatty acid composition (FFAC, mg KOH/g oil), peroxide value (PV, meq O2/kg oil), K232, K270 and pigment contents, mg/kg oil). Given that the chemical quality of pistachio nut oil pressed under different conditions was not affected, the process response was optimized in order to maximize OR under two pressing temperatures. Therefore, at 75 °C, pistachio oil extraction showed a maximum OR (79.61 g/100 g oil) at 8% SMC, 4 mm RD and 20 rpm SP; while, under cold-pressed conditions, the maximum OR (65.97 g/100 g oil) was achieved at 10% SMC, 4mm RD and 20 rpm SP. It is important to highlight that OR values were higher than the results reported previously and the chemical quality parameters from both oils were in the range of Codex standards for virgin (non-refined) oils (FFAC < 0.31 and PV < 0.33).Los frutos de pistacho son altamente nutritivos, principalmente debido a su contenido de aceite (50%), compuesto principalmente por ácidos grasos mono y di-insaturados. Con la finalidad de conocer las condiciones de proceso adecuadas que permitan maximizar la cantidad de aceite extraído preservando la calidad química del mismo se utilizaron dos diseños experimentales de Box-Behnken. Las variables independientes analizadas fueron la humedad de la semilla (HS), el diámetro de reducción (DR), la velocidad y temperatura de prensado (VP y TP, respectivamente), mientras que las variables de respuesta fueron el rendimiento en aceite (RA), el contenido de sólidos finos en el aceite (CFA), el aceite remanente en torta (AT) y parámetros relacionados con la calidad (composición en ácidos grasos libres (CAGL, mg KOH/g aceite), índice de peróxido (IP, meqO2/kg aceite), K232, K270 y pigmentos (mg/kg aceite)). La calidad química de los aceites obtenidos no mostró daño oxidativo y/o hidrolítico significativo bajo las diferentes condiciones del proceso (IP< 0.33 y CAGL< 0.31, respectivamente), por lo tanto, la respuesta se optimizó para maximizar RA a dos TP, 75 y 40 °C. El rendimiento en aceite se maximizó ajustando HS (8% ó 10% b.h.), DR (4 mm), VP (20 rpm) a ambas temperaturas, alcanzando extracciones de aceite de 79.61% y 65.97%, respectivament

Study of the incorporation of native and microencapsulated chia seed oil on pasta properties

The present work studied the effect of the incorporation of encapsulated chia seed oil on the cooking quality of dry pasta. Pasta morphology and oil distribution in the samples were studied. No significant variations were determined in cooking parameters as optimal cooking time, cooking loss and texture of cooked pasta with the incorporation of the encapsulated oil, but significant differences were determined in uncooked pasta texture and variables that describe water interaction, such as water absorption and swelling index. In addition, the incorporation of microencapsulated oil avoided oxidative deterioration, showing a protective effect and preventing the formation of hydroperoxide radicals in pasta preparation, storage and cooking procedures (compared with free oil-containing pasta), resulting in a safer product. Storage at modified atmosphere exerts an additional protective effect on oil, enhancing the effect of the microcapsules. Microencapsulation proved to be an effective technology that preserves oil quality in ω-3 rich pasta.Fil: González, Agustín. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos y Química Aplicada. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos y Química Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Bordón, María Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Bustos Shmidt, Mariela Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Córdova Salazar, Karina L.. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias y Tecnología de los Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Ribotta, Pablo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Marcela Lilian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentin

Morphological stabilization and KPZ scaling by electrochemically induced co-deposition of nanostructured NiW alloy films

We have assessed the stabilizing role that induced co-deposition has in the growth of nanostructured NiW alloy films by electrodeposition on polished steel substrates, under pulsed galvanostatic conditions. We have compared the kinetic roughening properties of NiW films with those of Ni films deposited under the same conditions, as assessed by Atomic Force Microscopy. The surface morphologies of both systems are super-rough at short times, but differ at long times: while a cauliflower-like structure dominates for Ni, the surfaces of NiW films display a nodular morphology consistent with more stable, conformal growth, whose height fluctuations are in the Kardar-ParisiZhang universality class of rough two-dimensional interfaces. These differences are explained by the mechanisms controlling surface growth in each case: mass transport through the electrolyte (Ni) and attachment of the incoming species to the growing interface (NiW). Thus, the long-time conformal growth regime is characteristic of electrochemical induced co-deposition under current conditions in which surface kinetics is hindered due to a complex reaction mechanism. These results agree with a theoretical model of surface growth in diffusion-limited systems, in which the key parameter is the relative importance of mass transport with respect to the kinetics of the attachment reaction.We acknowledge financial support from ANPCyT (PICT 2012-1808), CONICET (PIP 0671) and Universidad Nacional de La Plata (11X760) as well as from MINECO/FEDER (Spain/UE) Grants MAT2014-54231-C4-1-P, FIS2015-66020-C2-1-P and MAT2014-52405-C2-2-R, as well as by Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain) Grant NANOAVANSENS S2013/MIT-3029. M.E.V. is member of the research career of CICPB

High-resolution x-ray study of the nematic - smectic-A and smectic-A - smectic-C transitions in 8barS5-aerosil gels

The effects of dispersed aerosil nanoparticles on two of the phase transitions of the thermotropic liquid crystal material 4-n-pentylphenylthiol-4'-n-octyloxybenzoate 8barS5 have been studied using high-resolution x-ray diffraction techniques. The aerosils hydrogen bond together to form a gel which imposes a weak quenched disorder on the liquid crystal. The smectic-A fluctuations are well characterized by a two-component line shape representing thermal and random-field contributions. An elaboration on this line shape is required to describe the fluctuations in the smectic-C phase; specifically the effect of the tilt on the wave-vector dependence of the thermal fluctuations must be explicitly taken into account. Both the magnitude and the temperature dependence of the smectic-C tilt order parameter are observed to be unaffected by the disorder. This may be a consequence of the large bare smectic correlation length in the direction of modulation for this transition. These results show that the understanding developed for the nematic to smectic-A transition for octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB) and octyloxycyanobiphenyl (8OCB) liquid crystals with quenched disorder can be extended to quite different materials and transitions.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Modulated structures in electroconvection in nematic liquid crystals

Motivated by experiments in electroconvection in nematic liquid crystals with homeotropic alignment we study the coupled amplitude equations describing the formation of a stationary roll pattern in the presence of a weakly-damped mode that breaks isotropy. The equations can be generalized to describe the planarly aligned case if the orienting effect of the boundaries is small, which can be achieved by a destabilizing magnetic field. The slow mode represents the in-plane director at the center of the cell. The simplest uniform states are normal rolls which may undergo a pitchfork bifurcation to abnormal rolls with a misaligned in-plane director.We present a new class of defect-free solutions with spatial modulations perpendicular to the rolls. In a parameter range where the zig-zag instability is not relevant these solutions are stable attractors, as observed in experiments. We also present two-dimensionally modulated states with and without defects which result from the destabilization of the one-dimensionally modulated structures. Finally, for no (or very small) damping, and away from the rotationally symmetric case, we find static chevrons made up of a periodic arrangement of defect chains (or bands of defects) separating homogeneous regions of oblique rolls with very small amplitude. These states may provide a model for a class of poorly understood stationary structures observed in various highly-conducting materials ("prechevrons" or "broad domains").Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure

Características tecnológicas de almidones de dos variedades de batatas (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam) infectadas con «encrespamiento amarillo»

El cultivo de batata se ve limitado por virosis y un complejo de siete virus, «encrespamiento amarillo» (EA), de alta incidencia en Argentina, provoca significativas disminuciones de rendimiento y calidad. En un ensayo experimental, con variedades Arapey INIA y Beauregard (sanas y enfermas con EA), se estimaron componentes de rendimiento (principalmente peso: PRC y número: NRC de raíces comerciales), rendimiento y característicastecnológicas de almidón como gelatinización y retrogradación (calorimetría diferencial de barrido) y viscosidad aparente de las pastas (analizador de viscosidad). Se analizó el comportamiento reológico de los geles de almidón, mediante resistencia a la compresión con analizador de textura, y se determinó distribución de tamaño de partícula. NRC y PRC fueron significativamente menores en plantas enfermas respecto a sanas (mermas de 81% para NRC en ambas variedades y 87% y 85,5% para PRC, en Beauregard y Arapey, respectivamente). EA no afectó al rendimiento de almidón, sin diferencias entre raíces sanas y enfermas de ambas variedades, aunque Arapey (9,00-10,05%) superó a Beauregard (6,23-8,06%). La entalpía de gelatinización del almidón resultó significativamente mayor en plantas enfermas de Beauregard que en sanas, sin diferencias en la temperatura de inicio de gelatinización entre ambos tratamientos, contrariamente a lo que sucedió en Arapey. El pico de viscosidad y la viscosidad final de los almidones fueron similares en plantas sanas y enfermas de ambas variedades, igual que la resistencia a la compresión de geles elaborados con almidones provenientes de plantas sanas y enfermas de ambos genotipos. Todas las muestras tuvieron una sola población de tamaño de partícula de almidón (rango: 5 -25 μm con pico cercano a 15 μm). En definitiva, EA no afectó la calidad tecnológica del almidón. Sin embargo, la disminución significativa de producción de raíces comerciales en plantas enfermas conllevó relevante reducción de la cantidad total de almidón por planta

Morphological stabilization and KPZ scaling by electrochemically induced co-deposition of nanostructured NiW alloy films

We have assessed the stabilizing role that induced co-deposition has in the growth of nanostructured NiW alloy films by electrodeposition on polished steel substrates, under pulsed galvanostatic conditions. We have compared the kinetic roughening properties of NiW films with those of Ni films deposited under the same conditions, as assessed by Atomic Force Microscopy. The surface morphologies of both systems are super-rough at short times, but differ at long times: while a cauliflower-like structure dominates for Ni, the surfaces of NiW films display a nodular morphology consistent with more stable, conformal growth, whose height fluctuations are in the Kardar-Parisi- Zhang universality class of rough two-dimensional interfaces. These differences are explained by the mechanisms controlling surface growth in each case: mass transport through the electrolyte (Ni) and attachment of the incoming species to the growing interface (NiW). Thus, the long-time conformal growth regime is characteristic of electrochemical induced co-deposition under current conditions in which surface kinetics is hindered due to a complex reaction mechanism. These results agree with a theoretical model of surface growth in diffusion-limited systems, in which the key parameter is the relative importance of mass transport with respect to the kinetics of the attachment reaction.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta