The compressive properties of premium quality cocoa beans from Ghana considering the effect of moisture content in the moisture range of 7% to 22 % (w.b) were studied. The results of the study demonstrated that the displacement at maximum load or the deformation and the crushing energy had more positive linear function with moisture content and increased significantly from 0.80 mm to 1.87 mm an...

Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites are widely used in infrastructure applications including water structures due to their relatively high durability, high strength to weight ratio, and non-corrosiveness. Here we demonstrate the potential use of carbon nanoparticles dispersed during GFRP composite fabrication to reduce water absorption of GFRP and to enable monitoring of moisture d...

Full-waveform inversions were applied to retrieve surface, two-layered and continuous soil moisture profiles from ground penetrating radar (GPR) data acquired in an 11-ha agricultural field situated in the loess belt area in central Belgium. The radar system consisted of a vector network analyzer combined with an off-ground horn antenna operating in the frequency range 2002000 MHz. The GPR syst...

In an effort to determine which biological reactions can occur in relation to the water content of seeds, the regulation of lettuce seed dormancy by red and far red light was determined at various hydration levels. Far red light had an inhibiting effect on germination for seeds at all moisture contents from 4 to 32% water. Germination was progressively stimulated by red light as seed hydratio...

The prediction of hygroscopic swelling of flexible polymer substrates is crucial in various fields from smart structures to flexible electronics. In this study, the prediction method for time-dependent hygroscopic deformation is presented by employing the finite element method (FEM). In order to precisely consider the strain gradients inside the substrate, moisture distribution depending on tim...

—Previous studies have shown the possibility of using European Remote Sensing/synthetic aperture radar (ERS/SAR) data to monitor surface soil moisture from space. The linear relationships between soil moisture and the SAR signal have been derived empirically and, thus, were a priori specific to the considered watershed. In order to overcome this limit, this study focused on two objectives. The ...

OBJECTIVES This study evaluated the effects of intraradicular moisture on the pushout bond strength of a fibre post luted with several self-adhesive resin cements. MATERIALS AND METHODS ENDODONTICALLY TREATED ROOT CANALS WERE TREATED WITH ONE OF THREE LUTING CEMENTS: (1) RelyX U100, (2) Clearfil SA, and (3) G-Cem. Roots were then divided into four subgroups according to the moisture condition...

introduction drying foods, fruits and vegetables is a suitable method to reduce post-harvest losses of the crops. drying is considered as a simultaneous heat and mass transfer process. various physical, chemical and nutritional changes occur during drying of foods and are affected by a number of internal and external heat and mass transfer parameters. external parameters may include temperature...

to design equipment and facilities to dry, preserve and process pomegranates, it is necessary to know their specific heat and thermal conductivity. the objectives of this study were to determine the specific heat and thermal conductivity of pomegranates and develop mathematical estimation models for them. the effects of moisture content (15-75% w.b.) and temperature (5-20°c) on the thermal prop...