Biomedical subjects

J Garcia-Alvarez

Publications and source records attributed to J Garcia-Alvarez.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Ultrasonic characterisation of flour-water systems: a new approach to investigate dough properties.

The viscoelastic properties of dough are of great interest in the baking industry as they affect the quality of the final product. In this work, the viscoelastic properties of dough were investigated using ultrasonic techniques and then compared with traditional methods. It has been shown that ultrasonics provides a non-destructive, rapid and low cost technique for the measurement of physical food characteristics. A common protocol for dough preparation was used for each type of measurement. Experimental results on more than 30 different flour quality and dough processing were presented. The measurements were correlated and compared with traditional dough quality tests. In addition, the capability of ultrasound measurements for discriminating flours for different purposes was also studied, showing the potential of ultrasound as an alternative measurement method to discriminate types of flours for different purposes.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2006

Noise level analysis in buffer rod geometries for ultrasonic sensors.

This work presents an ultrasonic sensor for on-line batter monitoring with low-noise design considerations. The density and the compressibility of the batter vary as a function of mixing time and are strongly related to the quality of the final product. Traditionally, a batter sample of a fixed volume is removed and weighted in order to determine its density. This is a time consuming process. Benefits to the industry of on-line measuring techniques include better control of product quality, improving processing efficiencies and reduction in wastage. In this paper low-noise design considerations are accounted for an ultrasonic sensor based on a piezoceramic disk mounted between two reference buffer rods of acrylic resin to measure the acoustic impedance of the batter. Measuring the acoustic impedance changes of the batter its compressibility and density can be monitored. Spurious echoes generated at different parts of the buffer rods boundary strongly affect accuracy and reliability of the measurements, and are considered as noise. The influence of buffer rods geometry on noise level is studied using simulations and afterwards justified experimentally. Design aspects such as buffer rods length and radius, piezoceramic disk frequency and radius are discussed and their influence on noise level is shown. Finally, strategies for optimum geometry design of the ultrasonic sensor are given.

Computer Simulation↗

PubMed2006

Diffraction aperture non-ideal behaviour of air coupled transducers array elements designed for NDT.

Air coupled piezoelectric ultrasonic array transducers are a novel tool that could lead to interesting advances in the area of non-contact laminar material testing using Lamb wave's propagation techniques. A key issue on the development of such transducers is their efficient coupling to air media (impedance mismatch between the piezoelectric material and air is 90 dB or more). Adaptation layers are used in order to attain good matching and avoid possible serious signal degradation. However, the introduction of these matching layers modify the transducer surface behaviour and, consequently, radiation characteristics are altered, making the usual idealization criteria (of uniform surface movement) adopted for field simulation purposes inaccurate. In our system, we have a concave linear-array transducer of 64 elements (electrically coupled by pairs) working at 0.8 MHz made of PZ27 rectangular piezoceramics (15 mm x 0.3 mm) with two matching layers made of polyurethane and porous cellulose bonded on them. Experimental measurements of the acoustic aperture of single excited array elements have shown an increment on the geometrical dimensions of its active surface. A sub-millimeter vibrometer laser scan has revealed an extension of the aperture beyond the supposed physical single array element dimensions. Non-uniform symmetric apodized velocity surface vibration amplitude profile with a concave delay contour indicates the presumed existence of travelling wave phenomena over the surface of the outer array matching layer. Also, asymptotic propagation velocities around 2500 m/s and attenuation coefficient between 15 and 20 dB/mm has been determined for the travelling waves showing clear tendencies. Further comparisons between the experimental measurements of single array element field radiation diagram and simulated equivalent aperture counterpart reveal good agreement versus the ideal (uniform displaced) rectangular aperture. For this purpose an Impulse Response Method (IRM) has been used.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2001

Dry deposition and heavy acid loading in the vicinity of Masaya Volcano, a major sulfur and chlorine source in Nicaragua.

Certain volcanoes constitute the world's largest sources of SO2, HCl, and HF emissions and contribute significantly to regional acid deposition. However, the impact of volcanic acid emissions to nearby ecosystems remain poorly documented. In this paper, the spatial pattern of acid dry depositions was monitored within 44 km of Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua, with a network of sulfation plates. Measured SO2 deposition rates were <2-791 mg m(-2) day(-1). The plates also collected the dry deposition of HCI at rates of <1-297 mg m(-2) day(-1). A similar deposition velocity Vd (gas transfer) of 1.6 +/- 0.8 cm/s was calculated for SO2 and HCl above the plate surfaces. Quantities of SO2 and HCI deposited daily within the area surveyed amounted to 1.5 x 10(8) g and 5.7 x 10(7) g, respectively, which correspond to about 10% of the total SO2 and HCl released by the volcano. These depositions may generate an equivalent hydrogen flux ranging from <1 to 30 mg m(-2) day(-1). Our results demonstrate that volcano emissions can dramatically affect acid deposition downwind and in turn cause extreme acid loading of the local ecosystems. This study opens exciting prospects for investigating the sensivity of volcanic ash soils to acid inputs.

Acid Rain↗