Rehydration of food powders: interplay between physical properties and process conditions

Dehydrated food powders with poor dissolution or dispersion can dramatically compromise food processing, with consequences for the final product quality and consumer experience. In this study, the reconstitution performance of maltodextrin powders with different moisture content and molecular weight, has been determined by varying the processing conditions, including agitation speed, liquid temperature, powder addition rate and mode of addition to the liquid surface. In particular, the inter-relationship between the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the powder, its moisture content and the liquid temperature (TL) is highlighted. When TL ≥ Tg, the individual maltodextrin granules tend to swell, restricting further dispersion and rehydration. It has been shown that higher liquid temperatures reduce the dispersion of food powders containing high molecular weight carbohydrates. Increasing the rate of powder addition to the liquid surface under low agitation conditions has been shown to result in faster reconstitution of low-molecular weight maltodextrin, whilst, on the other hand, the corresponding reconstitution rates of high-molecular weight maltodextrins are reduced. On the basis of this work and a previous study [X.Y. Ong, S.E. Taylor and M. Ramaioli, Pouring of Grains onto Liquid Surfaces: Dispersion or Lump Formation? Langmuir (2019) 11150-11156] an improved, yet simple, approach to improve powder dispersion in a liquid is also demonstrated, by optimizing the distribution of the powder on the liquid surface. This approach avoids powder grains accumulating as heterogeneous lumps on the liquid surface and has been applied herein to a wide range of food powders

Local and non-local approaches to fatigue crack initiation and propogation

Copyright @ 2003 Kulwer Academic Publishers.A functional form of local strength conditions under fatigue loading is introduced and employed to formulation and analysis of fatigue crack initiation and propagation. For the strength conditions associated with the Palmgren-Miner linear damage accumulation rule and the power-type S-N diagram, the problem is reduced to a non-linear integral Volterra equation, which can be transformed to a linear one for the case of a single crack. An analytical solution of some simple problems are presented for the latter case and shortcomings of the local approach are pointed out. A non-local approach free from the shortcomings is presented along with an example of its implementation.This work was completed under the research grant GR/M24592 "Non-local approach to high cyclic fatigue: Theoretical basis" of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK

Observational constraints on the neutron star mass distribution

Radio observations of neutron star binary pulsar systems have constrained strongly the masses of eight neutron stars. Assuming neutron star masses are uniformly distributed between lower and upper bounds $m_l$ and $m_u$, the observations determine with 95\% confidence that $1.01 < m_l/\text{M}_\odot < 1.34$ and $1.43 < m_u/\text{M}_\odot < 1.64$. These limits give observational support to neutron star formation scenarios that suggest that masses should fall predominantly in the range $1.3<m/\text{M}_\odot<1.6$, and will also be important in the interpretation of binary inspiral observations by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory.Comment: Postscript, 4 pages, NU-GR-

Applying Psychological Theory to in-game moral behaviors through the development of a purpose-made game

A number of video games involve moral narratives or require the players to make moral decisions. Research from psychologists has helped to understand the effects that video game content can have on how individuals think, feel and behave. Recent research has examined the role of morality in video games, yet there are many inconsistencies in the findings that could be due to the use of commercial video games for research purposes, which contain biases such as familiarity with the game and favorite characters. By developing a bespoke game designed specifically for the purpose of exploring morality, these potential biases can be reduced. Before designing the game, morality in existing video games is critically analyzed, using theories from moral psychology. From this, a game was developed to measure behavioral outcomes through which moral decisions are made; with the aim to address biases that are inherent in commercial games. Then, the resultant game was used to investigate how participants make moral choices in video games

(A)morally Demanding Game? An Exploration of Moral Decision-Making in a Purpose-Made Video Game

A purpose-made video game was used to measure response time and moral alignment of in-game moral decisions, which were made by 115 undergraduate students. Overall, moral decisions took between 4–6 seconds and were mostly pro-social. Previous gameplay, in-game, and post-game experiences predicted in-game moral alignment. Real-life moral salience was not related to in-game decision-making. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of the demands of video games and in-game moral decision-making models

Is it still double edged? Not for university students’ development of moral reasoning and video game play

Previous research with video game play and moral development with adolescents, found both positive and negative relationships. This study aimed to extend this research to explore moral development and video game play with university students. One hundred and thirty-five undergraduate students (M = 20.29, SD = 2.70) took part in an online survey. The results suggested higher moral reasoning for participants who described themselves as gamers and those which do not play, compared those who play but do not identify as gamers. It was suggested that males had higher moral scores and more mature reasoning than females. The results of a regression analysis suggested that there were no significant predictors for moral development from either game play or the demographic variables. The findings suggest that moral development could be less influenced by sex, age, and video game play factors such as video game content and amount of game play, than was previously thought for this age group