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Moisture and oil content of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge can dominate its breeding, processing, and storage in fruit production. This study aims to explore a non-destructive, rapid, and accurate detection of the moisture and oil content of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge, providing excellent seeds during oil extraction and breeding. The peak overlapping was found during detection using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). Two ways were then selected to validate the overlapping moisture and oil signals in food products. One was the removal of the water signal using LF-NMR with dry sampling. The water was evaporated to eliminate the overlapping area and then measure the oil content. Another was to separate the oil and moisture signals using low-field two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-2D-NMR). A series of experiments were conducted to verify the feasibility of two techniques. The national standard oven drying was used to detect the moisture, while Soxhlet extraction was used to detect the oil. The benchmark values were then obtained to verify the accuracy of nondestructive testing. The test results show that anomalous data was using LF-NMR with dry sampling, compared with the national standard. Matlab platform was used to extract the eigenvalues from each color of the Lab in the MRI pseudocolor map. The collected signals were shifted from outside to inside during drying. The physicochemical test revealed that there were abnormal changes inside the Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge. Since LF-NMR failed to differentiate and quantify the overlapping NMR signals in the samples, dry sampling was used to consider the anomalous variations behind these signals. As such, LF-2D-NMR was better performed to detect the oil and moisture content of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge, particularly for the overlapping signals in the one-dimensional spectra. It was found that the drying induced the molecular rupture in the internal molecules of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge, leading to the increasing values of saturated fatty acid and carbonyl. The hazardous substances were formed to explain the abnormal peaks in the LF-NMR data. Meanwhile, there was a significant linear correlation between the peak areas of the T1 -T2 spectra of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge that was measured by LF-2DNMR. The moisture and oil contents were obtained after oven drying and Soxhlet extraction. The correlation coefficients of R2 after verification were 0.920 9 and 0.942 4, respectively. Therefore, the LF-2D-NMR technique can be expected to quantitatively analyze the moisture and oil contents of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge. This finding can provide the theoretical reference of the LF-NMR technique for the high detection accuracy in practical production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the quality indicators of pasta products obtained by partially replacing wheat grits of the highest grade with millet ground 3.8% (of the total mass of the dough, taking into account water). The addition of millet is due to the fact that the raw materials are saturated with various vitamins. As part of the study, organoleptic and physico-chemical parameters (28% humidity) after the procedure of «pressing raw materials» were considered and the indicator of shape preservation after the «cooking» process was determined. The results obtained in terms of quality indicators meet the requirements established in the standardization documents, at the same time, the nutritional properties of the product are improved, the energy value is 337.8 kcal (proteins 10.5 g, fats 1.1 g, carbohydrates 71.4 g per 100 g of pasta), the replacement of wheat flour of the highest grade with more economic raw materials is carried out. Quality indicators are determined in accordance with TR CU 021/2011 «On food safety», TR CU 022/2011 «Food products in terms of their labeling», TR CU 029/2012 «Safety requirements for food additives, flavorings and technological aids», regulatory and technical documents GOST 31743-2017 «Pasta. General technical conditions», GOST 31964-2012 «Pasta. Acceptance rules and methods for determining quality», GOST 572-2016 «Millet millet. Technical conditions». The enrichment of pasta with millet improves the biological, nutritional properties of the product. At the same time, the use of millet as a raw material reduces the cooking time of pasta, the form after cooking will meet the established requirements.

This article discusses the qualitative indicators of pasta products obtained by partially replacing high-quality wheat powder with flaxseed cake. This is due to the fact that flaxseed cake has a high energy value, is rich in essential protein, macro-, microelements and vitamins, fats remaining in flaxseed cake after fat extraction have all useful properties, contain alpha-linolenic (omega-3) fatty acid, as well as other unsaturated fatty acids. After the procedure of "pressing" of raw materials, organoleptic and Physico-chemical parameters were considered, the indicator of shape preservation after the "cooking" process was determined. Quality indicators of GOST 31743-2017 "Pasta. General technical conditions", GOST 31964-2012 "Pasta. Acceptance rules and methods for determining quality", GOST 10974-95 "Flax cake. Technical conditions" are defined in accordance with regulatory and technical documents. The enrichment of pasta with flax cake improves the biological, nutritional properties of the product and allows you to replace high-quality wheat flour with economic raw materials. The results of the study obtained by quality indicators meet the established requirements. The moisture content of pasta when replacing premium wheat powder by 3.8%, 7.7% and 15.5% with flax cake is 28% (after the procedure of "pressing raw materials"). The use of flax cake as a raw material reduces the cooking time of pasta, ensures that the mold after cooking will meet the requirements and will not stick together.

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a well-established primary qualitative screening tool for Condition Monitoring (CM) of in-service lubricants, with three key determinative ASTM methods often used to accept their continued use or condemn them. These include Acid Number (AN), Base Number (BN) and moisture (H2O), all tedious and environmentally problematic titrimetric methods. The latter have been developed into FTIR quantitative methods through the use of targeted stoichiometric reactions to produce infrared-active products readily and accurately quantified. FTIR CM is discussed in the context of these methods, their tribological significance and the basic analytical concepts examined and compared. The evolution of new FTIR qualitative and quantitative methodology is reviewed from its origins in edible oil analysis to the high-throughput analytical FTIR systems used by commercial CM laboratories to produce ASTM-comparable data in lieu of titration. Comparisons of chemometric vs. stoichiometric approaches are made, including implementation, applications, and instrumentation. Commercial implementation and performance of proprietary quantitative FTIR/IR systems are discussed with a focus on the stoichiometric approach. Current developments include generic, manual FTIR methods combining simplicity, universality, and practical environmental benefits in being able to serve as alternatives to titrimetric procedures. A new methodological approach that could unify the three deterministic FTIR methods under a single, IR-active reaction product is also presented.

Rice grain production is important for the world economy. Determining the moisture content of the grains, at several stages of production, is crucial for controlling the quality, safety, and storage of the grain. This work inspects how well rice images from global and local descriptors work for determining the moisture content of the grains using artificial vision and intelligence techniques. Three sets of images of rice grains from the INIAP 12 variety (National Institute of Agricultural Research of Ecuador) were captured with a mobile camera. The first one with natural light and the other ones with a truncated pyramid-shaped structure. Then, a set of global descriptors (color, texture) and a set of local descriptors (AZAKE, BRISK, ORB, and SIFT) in conjunction with the dominate technique bag of visual words (BoVW) were used to analyze the content of the image with classification and regression algorithms. The results show that detecting humidity through images with classification and regression algorithms is possible. Finally, f1-score values of at least 0.9 were accomplished for global color descriptors and of 0.8 for texture descriptors, in contrast to the local descriptors (AKAZE, BRISK, and SIFT) that reached up to an f1-score of 0.96. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the design of an impulsive ultrawideband test bed, developed for remote sensing of dielectric targets. The platform is used for estimating the moisture content in polyamide targets. The main aspects of the design are presented, together with measurements of the constructed prototype. The capability of the platform to estimate the moisture content is explored and validated through measurements of Nylon 6 targets through a nonlinear regression algorithm. The experimental results show that the platform is capable of estimating the moisture content with good accuracy even when the target or the environment is not completely known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soil sink of molecular hydrogen is the largest and most uncertain term in the global atmospheric H2 budget. Lack of information about the mechanisms regulating this sink limits our ability to predict how atmospheric H2 may respond to future changes in climate or anthropogenic emissions. Here we present the results from a series of laboratory experiments designed to systematically evaluate and describe the temperature and soil moisture dependence of H2 uptake by soils from boreal forest and desert ecosystems. We observed substantial H2 uptake between −4°C and 0°C, a broad temperature optimum between 20°C and 30°C, a soil moisture optimum at approximately 20% saturation, and inhibition of uptake at both low and high soil moisture. A sigmoidal function described the temperature response of H2 uptake by soils between −15°C and 40°C. Based on our results, we present a framework for a model of the soil H2 sink.

As it has been already mentioned in the first part of this work devoted to the moisture determination in barley, green and finished malt, the thermogravimetric determination of moisture content in natural samples by means of the HR 83 moisture analyser of the company Mettler - Toledo is based on the principles of halogen warm-up and automatic monitoring of the course of the drying curve. This part describes the results related to the elaboration and validation of the method for thermogravimetric moisture determination in whole hops and hop products. At the same time, comparisons of results obtained by this method with the results obtained by the official method of moisture determination in hops and hop products were made (EBC 7.2, MEBAK 5.2.3 and IOB 2.2). Based on the findings it can be stated that the results of the thermogravimetric method coincided with the results obtained by the official method and therefore this moisture meter can be fully recommended for the needs of hop plants and brewery laboratories.As it has been already mentioned in the first part of this work devoted to the moisture determination in barley, green and finished malt, the thermogravimetric determination of moisture content in natural samples by means of the HR 83 moisture analyser of the company Mettler - Toledo is based on the principles of halogen warm-up and automatic monitoring of the course of the drying curve. This part describes the results related to the elaboration and validation of the method for thermogravimetric moisture determination in whole hops and hop products. At the same time, comparisons of results obtained by this method with the results obtained by the official method of moisture determination in hops and hop products were made (EBC 7.2, MEBAK 5.2.3 and IOB 2.2). Based on the findings it can be stated that the results of the thermogravimetric method coincided with the results obtained by the official method and therefore this moisture meter can be fully recommended for the needs of hop plants and brewery laboratories.

Thermogravimetric determination of the moisture content in native samples with the aid of HR 83 (Mettler Toledo) analyser is based on the concept of halogen heating and an automated monitoring of the course of the kilning curve. The possibility of utilizing this instrument in the field was tested on real samples of barley, green malt and malt. Validation of the methods for determining dry matter in barley, green and finished malt was performed. Based on the obtained observations, it can be stated that this instrument can be recommended to malting and brewing laboratories.Thermogravimetric determination of the moisture content in native samples with the aid of HR 83 (Mettler Toledo) analyser is based on the concept of halogen heating and an automated monitoring of the course of the kilning curve. The possibility of utilizing this instrument in the field was tested on real samples of barley, green malt and malt. Validation of the methods for determining dry matter in barley, green and finished malt was performed. Based on the obtained observations, it can be stated that this instrument can be recommended to malting and brewing laboratories.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the mass of the sample and the type of method used in determining the moisture content of different food matrices. For moisture determination by the muffle method the Colombian norms were followed for each particular product by triplicate: the AOAC norms for squash and mango; the NTC 2558 norm for coffee and the NTC 1663 norm for sausage. These were compared with the halogen moisture analyzer method. It was found that the mass of the sample is an important factor in the determination of moisture by the two methods used, since there were statistically significant differences in some products studied. However, between the two methods no significant differences in determining the percentage of moisture were found. This allowed demonstrating that the standardized moisture analyzer method is reliable for the determination of this parameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid measurement of the moisture content of dehydrated residues is a critical problem, the solution of which will increase the efficiency of treatment facilities and optimize the process of applying flocculants. The ability to determine the moisture content of dehydrated residues using a meter operating on the IR reflectance principle was confirmed experimentally. The most suitable interference filters were selected based on an analysis of the obtained diffuse reflectance spectrum of the dehydrated residue in the range 1.0-2.7 μm. Calibration curves were constructed and compared for each filter set. A measuring filter with a transmittance maximum at 1.19 μm and a reference filter with a maximum at 1.3 μm gave the best agreement with the laboratory measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moisture plays an important role in storage and processing of food grains, cereals and other agricultural products. It is the single most important characteristics of most agricultural products with respect to quality maintenance. This paper describes how to prepare samples for moisture determination, and calibrate a moisture meter for a particular grain. Calibration of a laboratory-developed moisture meter (LDMM) with a a commercial moisture meter (CMM) is also presented in this paper, in order to evaluate its performance. It shows that the values estimated by the LDMM were in good agreement with the moisture content values that are obtained by CMM, and the developed meter has a less than ± 1% error. It also describes the studies carried out for calibration of the LDMM using a microwave oven drying technique. An evaluation of the calibration performance of LDMM with two different techniques has also been reported. The microwave oven method and dry oven method have been compared for moisture determination of Indian wheat. It has been observed that the microwave method took 10–20 min compared with 18–20 h by the standard dry oven method for moisture determination of Indian wheat. The results obtained by the microwave oven method were compared with those obtained by the dry oven method. No statistical difference was observed between the percentage moisture values of Indian wheat samples by microwave drying and dry oven drying. The accuracy of the developed meter has also been tested by taking different numbers of calibration samples. It was observed that the accuracy increased considerably with an increase in the number of calibration samples. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several techniques were evaluated for the establishment of reliable water/moisture content of single-wall carbon nanotubes. Karl Fischer titration (KF) provides a direct measure of the water content and was used for benchmarking against results obtained by conventional oven drying, desiccation over anhydrous magnesium perchlorate as well as by thermogravimetry and prompt gamma-ray activation analysis. Agreement amongst results was satisfactory with the exception of thermogravimetry, although care must be taken with oven drying as it is possible to register mass gain after an initial moisture loss if prolonged drying time or elevated temperatures (120 °C) are used. Thermogravimetric data were precise but a bias was evident that could be accounted for by considering the non-selective loss of mass as volatile carbonaceous components. Simple drying over anhydrous magnesium perchlorate for a minimum period of 8-10 days is recommended if KF is not available for this measurement. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tritium tracers are frequently used in biological assays during the drug discovery process because of their high specific activity and relative ease of synthesis. However, this high specific activity, along with other contributing factors, can lead to an increased rate of radiolytic decomposition. As a result, following long-term storage tritium tracers often require purification. Understanding the elements that cause radiolytic decomposition is extremely important to extend the storage life, and consequently reduce unnecessary inventory purifications. One of these elements is the presence of water in tritium tracers. Upon investigation, it was discovered that aside from the relatively common tritium/water exchange that could occur, residual water could also contribute significantly to the decomposition of tritium tracers. A near-infrared method was developed utilizing a portable device to measure the water content in tritium tracers rapidly and without sample destruction. This method proved to be quick, efficient, and achieved an error less than 5% compared to that of traditional Karl Fischer titration. Method validation was performed and good accuracy, linearity, limit of detection and quantitation were all established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The usefulness of the neutron meter is limited for moisture measurement near the soil surface. In this present work, optimum dimension of a paraffin block has been calculated to correct the surface effect in order to use neutron probe near the soil surface by MCNP4C code and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique. PSO is chiefly a technique to find a global or quasi-minimum for a nonlinear and non-convex optimization problem, and there have been few studies into optimization problems with discrete decision variables. The results show a paraffin block 23.55 × 23.55 cm2 square base with 4.84, 4.92, 5.10, 5.23, and 5.47 cm thickness which can correct the surface effect fairly for 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, and 0.50 g/g moisture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 20 years, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has evolved to become an important tool for quantitative analysis, and its application to edible oil analysis has been an active area of research. This paper reviews the evolutionary development of methodology for FTIR analysis of edible oils in our laboratory, focusing on strategies and techniques used to quantitate a variety of common edible oil quality control parameters, such as free fatty acid content, iodine value, saponification number, peroxide value, solid fat index, trans content, moisture content, anisidine value, etc., as well as conceptual, instrumental, and software/automation innovations originating in related work on lubricant analysis. In our initial development of FTIR methods for edible oil analysis, the calibration approaches employed were mainly based on partial-least-squares regression using either molecular model systems or process samples. Subsequently, the concept of signal transduction was developed as a means of facilitating the routine implementation of some of these FTIR methods and was also considered for the analytically related lubricant sector. However, the viscosity, complexity, and matrix variability of in-service lubricants required new approaches, while the high sample volumes common to the field made automation a prerequisite. These issues were addressed through the use of signal transduction in combination with dilution as well as extraction techniques to facilitate automation while maintaining quantitation. A related concept, termed spectral reconstitution, was initially developed to speed up the qualitative condition monitoring of in-service lubricants. Spectral reconstitution was subsequently successfully applied to trans analysis in edible oils and was shown to provide a generalized means for high-volume FTIR transmission analysis of viscous oils. This technique has since been adapted to quantitative peroxide value and free fatty acid analysis, allowing for throughputs of up to 120 samples per hour. These developments represent the integration of analytical methodologies for the edible oil and lubricant sectors, with potential for extension to the fuel sector as triacylglycerols become a feedstock for biodiesel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare different methods for the determination of moisture in biomass. Twenty different biomass materials from various places in Europe were investigated for total moisture using oven drying in air at three different temperatures (80, 105 and 130°C), distillation with xylene, and freeze drying. In addition, the materials were used for the comparison of different methods for the determination of moisture in the analysis sample. In all cases CEN TC335 Solid Biofuels—Methods for determination of moisture content—Oven dry method was used as the reference method. Significant differences were obtained between the oven-drying methods in air at various temperatures. Similar results were found for some materials when comparing the reference method with xylene distillation and freeze-drying methods. In some cases the discrepancies were explained by the loss of volatile organic compounds during the oven-drying step at elevated temperatures. Small differences were found in the comparison of methods for the determination of moisture in the analysis sample. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A method based on a combination of condensation and adsorption in series using gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry for subsequent determination has been developed for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted during oven drying of biomass materials in air at 105°C. Blank values, linearity, response factors, recovery and extraction efficiency have been studied. The results show recoveries of total amount of volatile matter (moisture and VOC) better than 98% for most materials. The recovery including extraction efficiency for the model substance α-pinene was determined to be 98%, while the corresponding value for the model substance hexanal was less than 60%. A screening investigation of 20 different biomass materials concerning loss of VOC during oven drying have been carried out. The results show significant losses of VOC only for a few materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mannitol hydrate is a metastable form produced during lyophilization. It is unstable, and therefore can undergo dehydration to release water to the surrounding environment at room temperature. The analysis of this form is challenging due to its thermodynamic instability. This study describes the development of a fast and non-invasive method to determine the mannitol hydrate and surface water content in a lyophilized product using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. The mannitol hydrate was produced through lyophilization and characterized using XRPD, TGA, and NIR spectroscopy. Quantitative methods for hydrate and surface water were developed for NIR spectra with curve fitting and partial least square (PLS) regression models. The curve fitting method deconvoluted the NIR spectra into hydrate and surface water peaks and generated a calibration model by correlating pure spectra peak area to concentration. The standard error of prediction (SEP) for hydrate and surface water content were 0.65 and 0.40%, respectively. The PLS model developed for the same sample set was better than the curve fitting model; SEP = 0.50% for hydrate water and 0.22% for surface water, respectively. The methods can be used to monitor the formation and stability of mannitol hydrate in mannitol-containing formulations during the lyophilization process. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 95: 2077–2086, 2006 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the certification of the Cd, Cu and Pb amount contents in a rice material, that were used as reference values for round 19 of the international measurement evaluation programme (IMEP).The protocol developed in this study was based on isotope dilution associated to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ID-ICP–MS). A multiple spiking approach was applied to reduce significantly the number of analytical steps. For the decomposition of the sample, three different microwave assisted digestion procedures were tested and compared. The use of hydrofluoric acid was found necessary to ensure full solubilisation and complete isotopic equilibration. Estimation of the combined uncertainty attached to the measurement results was performed according to the ISO guidelines. Contributions from the correction for moisture content, sample homogeneity, procedural blank, spike impurities, spectral interferences, instrumental background and dead-time effects were evaluated.SI-traceable values with less than 2% combined uncertainty (k = 2) were obtained for Cd, Cu and Pb, respectively, (14.39 ± 0.21) × 10-6 mol kg-1, (44.31 ± 0.42) × 10-6 mol kg-1 and (2.034 ± 0.034) × 10-6 mol kg-1.The rice powder was observed to be highly hygroscopic and a second series of isotope dilution mass spectrometry measurements was carried out on samples in equilibrium with the ambient moisture conditions (‘saturated’ samples). The Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM) requested this approach for the participation to the key comparison 24 on the same rice test material. The excellent agreement for Cd between the IMEP-19 reference value, the value submitted by the institute for reference materials and measurements (IRMM) to CCQM-K24 and the corresponding reference value obtained as the arithmetic mean from the results of the 11 participating National Measurement Institutes (less than 0.27% difference) further validated this work. Eventually, this series of results on ‘saturated’ samples was submitted, for the 3 elements, as the IRMM contribution to the certification of the IRMM-804 rice candidate certified reference material (CRM). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An experimental setup has been developed to determine hydrogen contents of bulk samples using fast neutron transmission technique. Neutrons with 3 MeV energy were produced via D(d, n) reaction. The neutrons transmitted through the sample were detected by a NE213 scintillation detector. Preliminary tests of the setup were carried out using soil samples with different moisture contents. In addition to experimental study, Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to generate calibration curve of the experimental setup. Finally, experimental tests results were compared with the results of Monte Carlo simulations. A good agreement has been obtained between the simulation results and experimental results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]