Development of Computer Simulation Software for Single Grain Kernel Drying, Tempering and Stress Analysis

A calibration transfer optimized single kernel near-infrared spectroscopic method.

Wheat grain classification using hyperspectral imaging: Concatenating Vis-NIR and SWIR Data for single and bulk grains

Demand for aromatic rice varieties (e.g., Basmati) is increasing in the US. Aromatic varieties typically have elevated levels of the aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP). Due to its very low aroma threshold, analysis of 2AP provides a useful screening tool for rice breeders. Methods for 2AP analysis in rice should quantitate 2AP at or below sensory threshold level, avoid artifactual 2AP generation, and be able to analyze single rice kernels in cases where only small sample quantities are available (e.g., breeding trials). We combined headspace solid phase microextraction with gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS/MS) for analysis of 2AP, using an extraction temperature of 40 °C and a stable isotopologue as internal standard. 2AP calibrations were linear between the concentrations of 53 and 5380 pg/g, with detection limits below the sensory threshold of 2AP. Forty-eight aromatic and nonaromatic, milled rice samples from three harvest years were screened with the method for their 2AP content, and overall reproducibility, observed for all samples, ranged from 5% for experimental aromatic lines to 33% for nonaromatic lines.

The variation of barley kernels was studied among and within small breeders' plots and within individual barley plants. Differences between the basal, middle, and apical regions of the ear, and differences among individual kernels from different positions in the ear were examined. Kernel weight and protein content varied widely in single kernels of Alexis barleys grown in small plots in different European countries. Sieving tests of three regional fractions of the ear indicated that the kernels of apical fractions were smaller than those of the other two regions. This was also clearly demonstrated by weights of single kernels. The average protein contents of the three regional fractions of the ear did not differ significantly in most cases. However, the variation within one ear and between main and secondary stems of the same plants was of the same magnitude as that among different plants. The β-glucan contents did not vary significantly between the three regional fractions, among individual kernels, or between main and secondary stems. Germination behavior determined by traditional methods did not vary significantly within the ear. However, the Germination Index of the apical fractions was, in some cases, slightly higher than that of the other fractions of the ear.

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Induced stresses in core-shell latex

The distribution of internal stress in the cross section of the decarburized carbon steel bars, which were normalized, quenched and tempered, or shot-peened, were measured.In this measurement of the internal stress, the dissolution method by acid solution was used in order to remove the outer layers of specimen without any effect of workhardening. The results obtained were as follows:(1) In the outer portion of both the normalized and the heat-treated specimens, containing the decarburized zone, the internal stress acts as tension. This tensile internal stress gets maximum at the surface layer and sharply decreases towards the center of the specimen, till it vanishes at a certain point, which lies at a depth of around 0.5-1.0mm from the surface, and afterwards changes its sign; this compressive internal stress increases towards the center.(2) As the depth decarburized increases, each of these maximum tensile internal stress decreases. The maximum value of this tensile stress is about 52kg/mm2 in the specimen, when the depth of decarburized layer is 0.15mm, and it reduces almost by half when the depth is 0.5mm. The compressive maximum internal stresses in their center zones are about 3-6kg/mm2.(3) The distribution of internal stress in the quenched and tempered steel bar after decarburizing is similer to that of the normalized one. The surface maximum tensile stress is 35kg/mm2 in the specimen having a depth decarburized of 0.15mm, and 15kg/mm2 when the depth is 0.5mm. Thus the maximum tensile stress decreases as the depth of decarburized layer increases.(4) The value of maximum tensile internal stress in the normalized steel bar at each depth decarburized is greater than those of the quenched and tempered bar.(5) The distribution of internal stress in the shot-peened specimen after decarburization is opposite to that of the above mentioned normalized, or heat treated steel bar.The value of maximum compressive internal stress at the surface layer increases as the depth decarburized increases. That is 32kg/mm2 in the specimen with a depth decarburized of 0.05mm and is 60kg/mm2 in the 0.5mm depth specimen.

This research was undertaken to quantify the structure of protein variation in a commercial hard red winter (HRW) wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production system. This information will augment our knowledge and practices of sampling, segregating, marketing, and varietal development to improve uniformity and end‐use quality of HRW wheat. The allocation of kernel protein variance to specific components in southwestern Kansas was performed by a hierarchical sampling design. Sources of variability included Field, Plot (plots within a field), Row (rows within a plot), Plant (plants within a row), Head (heads within a plant), Position (spikelets at a specific position on a head), Spikelet (spikelets within a position), and Kernel (kernels within a spikelet). Individual kernels (10 152) were collected from 46 fields planted to one of four cultivars: Jagger, 2137, Ike, or TAM 107. Kernels were evaluated for protein concentration by a single kernel characterization system equipped with a diode array near‐infrared (NIR) spectrometer. For the cultivars 2137 and Ike, all sources of variability except Spikelet were statistically significant (P < 0.05). For Jagger, all sources except Row were significant and for TAM 107, variation attributed to Field and Plant were not significant. Field and Plot sources of variability contributed the greatest amount of variance within the hierarchy for Jagger, 2137, and Ike. For TAM 107, Plot was the greatest source of variability. The least squares means were calculated for the fixed effect Position. Jagger, Ike, and 2137 showed a significant protein gradient in which the highest protein concentration occurred at the base of the head and the lowest protein content at the top. For TAM 107, the greatest protein content was found at the base. Results of this study provide a benchmark for future efforts to improve wheat consistency through breeding and crop management. The protein variance structure described during this study also defines practical limits for managing and marketing protein content in HRW.

The potential for GPUs and many-core CPUs to support high performance computation in the area of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is explored quantitatively through the example of the PPM gas dynamics code with PPB multi fluid volume fraction advection. This code has already been implemented on the IBM Cell processor and run at full scale on the Los Alamos Roadrunner machine. This implementation has involved a complete restructuring of the code that has been described in detail elsewhere. Here the lessons learned from that work are exploited to take advantage oftoday's latest generations of multi-core CPUs and many-core GPUs. The operations performed by this code are characterized in detail after being first decomposed into a series of individual code kernels to allow an implementation on GPUs. Careful implementations of this code for both CPUs and GPU sare then contrasted from a performance point of view. In addition, a single kernel that has many of the characteristics of the full application on CPUs has been built into a full, standalone, scalable parallel application. This single-kernel application shows the GPU at its best. In contrast, the full multi fluid gas dynamics application brings into play computational requirements that highlight the essential differences in CPU and GPU designs today and the different programming strategies needed to achieve the best performance for applications of this type on the two devices. The single kernel application code performs extremely well on both platforms. This application is not limited by main memory bandwidth on either device instead it is limited only by the computational capability of each. In this case, the GPU has the advantage, because it has more computational cores. The full multi fluid gas dynamics code is, however, of necessity memory bandwidth limited on the GPU, while it is still computational capability limited on the CPU. We believe that these codes provide a useful context for quantifying the costs and benefits of design decisions for these powerful new computing devices. Suggestions for improvements in both devices and codes based upon this work are offered in our conclusions.

Analysis of piezoresistive properties of CVD-diamond films on silicon

This paper deals with the problem of forming a surface roughness profile of a machined surface and a definition of the optimal depth of penetration in ball burnishing which would allow minimization of surface roughness. The assumptions, which have been numerically and experimentally verified, claim that maximum surface quality, i.e., minimum surface roughness, Ra, is achieved when the depth of ball penetration into the workpiece material is approximately equal to the maximum peak height, Rp. For the purpose of numerical simulations, a surface roughness model based on milling kinematics was used. Numerical simulations and the used roughness model support the claim that penetrating with a stiff tool up to the mean line of the roughness profile yields best surface quality. The authors maintain that ball penetrations, which exceed Rp, cannot significantly improve surface quality. Furthermore, the phenomenon of profile peak deformation is substantially clarified. The analysis of internal stresses within the workpiece after ball burnishing allowed a relationship to be established between internal stress distribution along the depth of the hardened layer and ball penetration depth.

Morphometrical features of single grain kernels or particles were used to discriminate two visibly similar wheat varieties foreign material in wheat hardsoft and spring-winter wheat classes and whole from broken corn kernels. Milled fractions of hard and soft wheat were evaluated using textural image analysis. Color image analysis of sound and mold damaged corn kernels yielded high recognition rates. The studies collectively demonstrate the potential for automated classification and assessment of grain quality using image analysis.

The influence of ion energy on the magnitude of internal stress, electric conductivity, and surface morphology of nitrogenated carbon coatings on silicon produced by the pulsed vacuum-arc technique has been studied by scanning electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopy. It has been found that an increase in the ion energy with variation in applied acceleration voltage substantially increases the internal compression stress in the forming coating. The ion irradiation results (1) in a considerable inhomogeneity of the internal stress distribution over the coating and (2) in the formation of 15-to 50-nm-high nanoscale islands. Inhomogeneity of the coating conductivity with a minimum on the peaks of the islands has been observed, which indicates the prevalence of tetrahedral bonds between carbon atoms in these regions with sp3 hybridization of atomic electron orbitals (sp3 phases). An explanation of the results has been proposed based on the existing model of the formation of internal stress in coatings prepared under ion irradiation.

Dryeration consists of three basic steps. Initially, the grain mass is fast dried at a high temperature. Drying is interrupted when the grain mass presumably reaches an acceptable moisture content level. In the second step, called tempering, the grain mass is allowed to rest for a few hours. Finally, the grain mass is cooled slowly so as to remove the residual water while letting the drying process to continue. Up to present time, in the reviewed literature, there is no modeling work of dryeration that could cast light to some crucial questions. This work presents a systematic analysis of a single kernel drying and dryeration, by making use of Fortes and Okos irreversible thermodynamics models, which have been applied successfully to model drying of several products. The nonlinear coupled system of energy and mass transport of benchmark solutions were used to warrantee the accuracy of the numerical solutions. Simulation results include a simulation study with drying temperature of 75 C, two tempering periods (4 and 8 h) and a high temperature drying at 97C, followed by cooling, with variable boundary conditions. The kernel moisture content, as well its mass flux and temperature during dryeration process were evaluated. Numerical data were compared with experimental ones, mutatis mutandis. The comparison led to confirmation of the usefulness of the drying models and techniques presented. Thus, the result herein presented should be of value to researchers and engineers interested in optimizing drying procedures.

With the given the boundary and initial conditions, the analysis of internal thermal stress and mechanical stress field distribution was conducted on the special silicon carbide bricks for metallurgical furnace. By the simulation of ANSYS, the results show that a high temperature gradient and thermal stress in the special silicon carbide bricks, with great distortion of pipe within the bricks and a low level of mechanical stress, and the mutual offsetting between mechanical stress and thermal stress in some areas. Key words: metallurgy; new; silicon carbide; thermal stress; mechanical stress.