An emerging strategy to reducing food waste is converting food processing byproducts to nutritious and inexpensive food ingredients. A relevant food processing waste stream is brewers’ spent grain (BSG), the primary byproduct of beer production. BSG is a promising candidate as a food ingredient because of its high protein and...
The safety of coastal infrastructure has been a concern after the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 and the Great East Japan Tsunami in 2011. The western coast of the United States is also exposed to tsunami hazards due to the Cascadia subduction zone. Therefore, it is critical to design coastal...
Enzymatic browning is a consequence of a series of reactions initiated by polyphenol oxidase (PPO)-catalyzed quinone formation. Unwanted browning negatively affects food quality and lowers consumer acceptability. Thus, there is general interest in strategies to control enzymatic browning. Cyclodextrins are cyclic glucan oligosaccharides that form inclusion complexes with a number...
The finite element software framework, OpenSees, has been used by researchers
to simulate the response of structural and geotechnical systems to earthquake loading. Implementation of the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) has made it possible to simulate hydrodynamic forces through fluid-structure interaction (FSI) in OpenSees. To validate the FSI implementation...
To facilitate the evaluation and design of structures subjected to fluid loading, a study of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) using the particle finite element method (PFEM) is presented to approximate the responses and sensitivities of structures which interact with fluid. A wide range of structural types are permissible by making no...
Hydrogen peroxide quantification is of broad interest due to the common use of hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent in industrial processing and laboratory research. Hydrogen peroxide assays are also of general importance for biological studies aimed at understanding the role of in situ generated reactive oxygen species. In the...
This dissertation has focused on lignin byproducts that result from the alkali processing of wheat straw. The first study evaluated the application of “standard” lignin quantification methods for summative analyses of alkali-based processes. Mass closure during NaOH processing at 25, 50, and 75°C of wheat straw was evaluated using the...
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MichaelH. Penner
This dissertation has focused on lignin byproducts that result from the
The work described in this dissertation focused on chemistry related to the use of aqueous sodium hydroxide as a treatment in the processing of wheat straw. A major emphasis was the comprehensive evaluation of straw component partitioning due to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) processing. This was evaluated over a range of...
Simple models of transpiration, e.g., the Penman-Monteith equation, treat atmospheric conditions as driving variables. In fact, transpiration modifies temperature and humidity throughout the convective boundary layer, creating feedbacks that stabilize the water use of vegetation. This thesis concentrates on the new empirical relationships proposed by Monteith (1995), for developing simple...