A comparison of pilot-scale supersonic direct steam injection to conventional steam infusion and tubular heating systems for the heat treatment of protein-enriched skim milk-based beverages

peer-reviewedDirect supersonic steam injection, direct steam infusion, and indirect tubular heating were each applied to protein-enriched skim milk-based beverages with 4, 6 and 8% (w/w) total protein, and the effect of final heat temperature on the physical properties of these beverages was investigated. Supersonic steam injection resulted in significantly lower levels of denaturation of β-lactoglobulin (34.5%), compared to both infusion (76.3%) and tubular (97.1%) heating technologies. Viscosity, particle size and accelerated physical stability of formulations did not differ significantly between the heating technologies, while noticeable colour differences due to heat treatment (mainly attributed to increasing b* value) were observed, particularly for tubular heating. Overall, the extent of protein denaturation in high-protein dairy products was significantly influenced by the particular heating technology applied. The application of supersonic steam injection technology, with rapid heating and high shear characteristics, may enable differenciated product characteristics for ready-to-drink ambient-delivery high-protein dairy beverages. Industrial relevance: The design and application of novel direct supersonic steam injection technology was comprehensively studied and found to provide significant benefits over direct steam infusion and indirect tubular heating technologies for skim milk-based protein beverages. This type of injection heating system resulted in heat-treated formulations with lower levels of denatured whey proteins, compared to tubular and infusion heating, offering an alternative opportunity to the industry in terms of producing shelf-stable dairy protein beverages

Stress in silicon interlayers at the SiO(x)/Ge interface

Materials such as germanium display an advantage relative to silicon in terms of carrier mobilities but form poor quality interfaces to oxides. By sandwiching silicon layers between a germanium substrate and the oxide, advantages of the silicon oxide/silicon (SiO(x)/Si) interface can be retained combined with the advantage of a high mobility germanium substrate. Using density functional theory calculations, stress within the silicon interlayer is quantified for different interlayer thicknesses revealing that for up to three silicon layers, the stress in the interlayer is compensated for by the energy gained by forming silicon-oxygen bonds at the interface. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics. (DOI:10.1063/1.2713122

Changes in structural network topology correlate with severity of hallucinatory behavior in Parkinson's disease

Inefficient integration between bottom-up visual input and higher order visual processing regions is implicated in visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we investigated white matter contributions to this perceptual imbalance hypothesis. Twenty-nine PD patients were assessed for hallucinatory behavior. Hallucination severity was correlated to connectivity strength of the network using the network-based statistic approach. The results showed that hallucination severity was associated with reduced connectivity within a subnetwork that included the majority of the diverse club. This network showed overall greater between-module scores compared with nodes not associated with hallucination severity. Reduced between-module connectivity in the lateral occipital cortex, insula, and pars orbitalis and decreased within-module connectivity in the prefrontal, somatosensory, and primary visual cortices were associated with hallucination severity. Conversely, hallucination severity was associated with increased between- and within-module connectivity in the orbitofrontal and temporal cortex, as well as regions comprising the dorsal attentional and default mode network. These results suggest that hallucination severity is associated with marked alterations in structural network topology with changes in participation along the perceptual hierarchy. This may result in the inefficient transfer of information that gives rise to hallucinations in PD. Author SummaryInefficient integration of information between external stimuli and internal perceptual predictions may lead to misperceptions or visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, we show that hallucinatory behavior in PD patients is associated with marked alterations in structural network topology. Severity of hallucinatory behavior was associated with decreased connectivity in a large subnetwork that included the majority of the diverse club, nodes with a high number of between-module connections. Furthermore, changes in between-module connectivity were found across brain regions involved in visual processing, top-down prediction centers, and endogenous attention, including the occipital, orbitofrontal, and posterior cingulate cortex. Together, these findings suggest that impaired integration across different sides across different perceptual processing regions may result in inefficient transfer of information

Application of selective leaching in fabrication of thin film ybco devices

Ethylenediamine solutions have been shown to turn bulk YBCO into insulating materials. The effect of these solutions on thin YBCO films is studied. In both unpatterned and patterned films, a smooth decrease in critical currents, a transition to normal state, and a subsequent gradual increase in resistance are observed as a function of exposure time to the solution. It is noted that these characteristics might make this process desirable for weak-link and on-film resistor fabrication.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Intermodulation distortion in coupled-resonator filters with nonuniformly distributed nonlinear properties - Use in HTS IMD compensation.

We present a general procedure for calculating intermodulation distortion in coupled-resonator filters that allows one to predict the performance of a nonlinear filter as a function of the general nodal matrix defining the filter and the material parameters that cause the nonlinear behavior. It is valid for almost any type of nonlinear distributed effects, including those produced by high-temperature superconductors, nonlinear dielectrics such as ferroelectrics, or superconductor/ferroelectric bilayers, and it is valid when the spatial distribution of nonlinearities is not uniform. The procedure has been validated with experimental measurements in an eight-pole quasi-elliptic superconducting filter. Using this procedure, we have assessed a combination of materials with different types of nonlinear effects to partially or completely mitigate the filter's nonlinear response. This includes superconducting filters with a ferroelectric pre- or post-distorter stage or even with intermediate ferroelectric compensation stages.Peer Reviewe

Detuning and saturation of superconducting devices: formulation and measurements

Saturation and detuning of high temperature superconducting (HTS) resonators and filters may occur due to the inherent nonlinear properties of the superconductor. In HTS transmission lines, these nonlinear properties introduce a dependence of the inductance and resistance per unit length on the current through the line and, if the line forms a resonator, this current dependence provokes changes in quality factor and/or resonant frequency with incident power. This paper derives equations for the dependence of the quality factor and resonant frequency of a nonlinear transmission line vs. source power and relates it to the circuit parameters of a nonlinear transmission line. The equations are verified with measurements in a 3.3 GHz YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator at 76 K and with simulations using harmonic balancePeer Reviewe

Key enabling technologies for optical communications at 2000 nm

This paper discusses the potential for opening a new wavelength window at the 2 μm waveband for optical communications, showing current limitations of the system’s performance. It focuses on novel results for key enabling technologies, including the analysis of laser injection locking at this waveband, an improved responsivity for bulk and strained InGaAs edge-couple detectors, and also an increased gain profile for thulium-doped fiber amplifiers

The effect of direct and indirect heat treatment on the attributes of whey protein beverages

peer-reviewedThermal processing of ready-to-drink high protein beverages can have a substantial impact on the physical and sensory properties of the final product for long-life milks such as extended shelf life and ultra high temperature processed products. Direct and indirect heat treatment technologies were applied to whey protein isolate (WPI) -based beverages containing 4, 6 or 8% (w/w) protein. Lower levels of protein denaturation (66–94%) were observed using direct heating compared with indirect heating (95–99%) across protein levels and heating temperatures (121 and 135 °C final heat). Direct heat treatment resulted in significantly lower viscosity and less extensive changes to the volatile profile, compared with indirect heat treatment. Overall, the application of direct and indirect heat treatment to WPI solutions resulted in significantly different final products in terms of appearance, physical characteristics and volatile profile, with direct heating resulting in many enhanced properties compared with conventional indirect heat treatment