Mass transfer kinetics and quality attributes of osmo-dehydrated candied pumpkins using nutritious sweeteners.

The aim of this study was to investigate the mass transfer and quality properties changes during the osmotic dehydration (OD) step of the candying process in pumpkins. The goal was to obtain nutritious, low calorie candied pumpkins improving the time-consuming and inconsistent traditional technique. The osmotic agents were sucrose, oligofructose and mixture of sucrose-oligofructose (1:1), while the concentration of each solution was constant (70° Brix). The process temperature varied in three levels (75, 85 and 95 °C) and the duration was 180 min for sucrose and 240 min for the other osmotic agents. The determined parameters during OD include solid gain, water loss, water activity, chroma, hardness and compression work. An empirical model based on a first-order kinetic equation was developed to predict the products' properties, in which the rate constant is a function of the process temperature. The process temperature (Tosm ) had a significant effect on the water loss and solid gain as well as on the physiochemical characteristics of processed pumpkins. The chroma of osmo-dehydrated pumpkins was affected significantly by process parameters. Both hardness and compression work decreased until an equilibrium value was reached as time and temperature of the process increased, regardless the osmotic agent used.

Research on the drying kinetics of household food waste for the development and optimization of domestic waste drying technique.

Domestic food waste drying foresees the significant reduction of household food waste mass through the hygienic removal of its moisture content at source. In this manuscript, a new approach for the development and optimization of an innovative household waste dryer for the effective dehydration of food waste at source is presented. Food waste samples were dehydrated with the use of the heated air-drying technique under different air-drying conditions, namely air temperature and air velocity, in order to investigate their drying kinetics. Different thin-layer drying models have been applied, in which the drying constant is a function of the process variables. The Midilli model demonstrated the best performance in fitting the experimental data in all tested samples, whereas it was found that food waste drying is greatly affected by temperature and to a smaller scale by air velocity. Due to the increased moisture content of food waste, an appropriate configuration of the drying process variables can lead to a total reduction of its mass by 87% w/w, thus achieving a sustainable residence time and energy consumption level. Thus, the development of a domestic waste dryer can be proved to be economically and environmentally viable in the future.

Antioxidant potential and quality characteristics of vegetable-enriched corn-based extruded snacks.

Phenolic content, antioxidant activity and sensory characteristics of vegetable-enriched extrudates were investigated as a result of extrusion conditions, including extrusion temperature (140-180 °C), screw rotation speed (150-250 rpm) and feed moisture content (14-19 % w.b.). Broccoli flour and olive paste was used in mixtures with corn flour at a ratio of 4 to 10 % (broccoli/corn) and 4 to 8 % (olive paste/corn). A simple power model was developed for the prediction of phenolic content and antioxidant activity of extrudates by extrusion conditions and feed composition. Phenolic content and antioxidant activity of broccoli enriched extrudates increased with extrusion temperature and broccoli addition and decreased with feed moisture content. The antioxidant activity of olive paste extrudates increased with material ratio and decreased with feed moisture content and screw rotation. Sensory porosity, homogenous structure, crispness, cohesiveness and melting decreased with feed moisture content, while the latter increased the mealy flavor and hardness of extrudates. Acceptable snacks containing broccoli flour or olive paste can be produced by selecting the appropriate process conditions.

Mechanical behavior of facial prosthetic elastomers after outdoor weathering.

OBJECTIVES: The degradation of maxillofacial prosthetic elastomers that occurs during physical weathering is usually responsible for the replacement of prostheses. In this study the mechanical behavior of 4 non-pigmented facial prosthetic elastomers, exposed to outdoor weathering for 1 year, was investigated. The hypothesis investigated was that irradiation time did not affect the properties measured. METHODS: The samples were exposed to solar radiation for 1 year in Thessaloniki (Greece). Three different types of polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) and chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) samples were tested in this study. Mechanical tests (compressive-tensile) were performed using a universal type testing machine. Hardness tests were evaluated using a durometer tester. Simple mathematical models were developed to correlate the measured properties with irradiation time. The stress-strain data of compression and tensile tests were modeled using parameters such as maximum stress (sigma(max)), maximum strain (epsilon(max)), elasticity parameter (E), and non-linearity parameter (p), while the mathematical model used for hardness data involves initial hardness of materials (H(0)). RESULTS: Two of the silicone prosthetics (Elastomer 42, TechSil 25) seem to become harder and more brittle contrary to the other silicone (M 511) and chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) samples that become softer and more ductile. Duration of exposure increases these phenomena. CONCLUSION: The effect of irradiation time on the mechanical behavior was introduced through its effect on the models' parameters. The hypothesis was rejected since changes were observed in the model parameters.

The effect of artificial accelerated weathering on the mechanical properties of maxillofacial polymers PDMS and CPE.

The effect of UVA-UVB irradiation on the mechanical properties of three different industrial types of polydimethylsiloxane and chlorinated polyethylene samples, used in maxillofacial prostheses, was investigated in this study. Mechanical properties and thermal analysis are commonly used to determine the structural changes and mechanical strength. An aging chamber was used in order to simulate the solar radiation and assess natural aging. Compression and tensile tests were conducted on a Zwick testing machine. Durometer Shore A hardness measurements were carried out in a CV digital Shore A durometer according to ASTM D 2240. Glass transition temperature was evaluated with a differential scanning calorimeter. Simple mathematical models were developed to correlate the measured properties with irradiation time. The effect of UVA-UVB irradiation on compressive behavior affected model parameters. Significant deterioration seems to occur due to irradiation in samples.

Structural damages of maxillofacial biopolymers under solar aging.

Additional types of silicone biopolymers are widely used in maxillofacial prosthetics. Therefore, the knowledge of the solar radiation's effect on their structural stability is highly important. Four different industrially synthesized biomaterials were examined, called Episil Europe 1, Europe 2, Europe 3 and Africa 3, which were exposed to solar radiation (UVA, UVB) for eight different time periods (from 8 to 168 h). Structural damages due to irradiation exposure were investigated by mechanical tests (compression) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) methods. Simple mathematical models were developed, containing parameters with physical meaning such as maximum stress (sigma(max)), maximum strain (epsilon), elasticity parameter (E), and viscoelastic parameter (p), for the compression test, and melting temperature (T (m)) and Enthalpy in melting point (Heat) for DSC. With increasing irradiation time their maximum stress and strain decreased significantly, and the materials lost their elasticity and molecular stability. A decrement in their melting points and heats was observed as irradiation time was increasing. Finally, experimental results demonstrated that solar radiation has a severe effect on the structural stability of the examined biomaterials.

Capillary rise kinetics of some building materials.

The presence of water in masonry is one of the main factors in deterioration. Capillary rise is the most usual mechanism of water penetration into building materials. In this study the kinetics of the capillary rise phenomenon was studied for various building materials: four stones, two bricks, and six plasters. A first-order kinetic model was proposed, in which the equilibrium moisture height derived from Darcy law. The capillary height time constant found to be strongly affected by the material characteristics. Moreover, the capillary height time constant can be predicted if the average pore radius of the materials is known.