Large-scale Units Research Articles

Bacteriology as a Cultural System: Analysis and its Discontents

A cultural system in two senses, bacteriology is underrepresented in the history and philosophy of science (significantly, however, it was the home science of the great prophet of underdetermination, Ludwik Fleck).1 Pasteur and Koch garner attention, but more as founders than practitioners.2 A quarter century ago, in 1987, Olga Amsterdamska called attention to the peculiarity of the enterprise, a biomedical praxis tied only loosely to natural history, to biology, or even to science.3 In this paper I shall examine the bacteriology presented in American textbooks between 1935 and 1950 in the terms of John Pickstone's Ways of knowing: A new history of science, technology, and medicine (2000), and supporting work (2007, 2009).4 In the book, Pickstone identified world-reading (natural philosophy), natural history, analysis, and experimental synthesis as distinct modes of knowing, which had arisen in a broadly sequential relation. Later writings would extend the concept to complementary ways of working and make clearer the concurrence of multiple ways of working and knowing in particular times and domains - there was no teleology here, nor were the ways of knowing/working mutually exclusive.From a Pickstonian standpoint, bacteriology is exemplary in two respects. First, there, the categories of natural philosophy, natural history, analysis, and rationalized synthetic craft are almost always conflated though in changing ways. Second, any working-knowing divide dissolves. There is an enormous emphasis on the pragmatic and operational: theories may underwrite practice, but practice is more important.Bacteriology may fit Pickstone, but does Pickstonizing bring anything to it? Some years ago as a reviewer, I suggested that Ways of knowing had a Kuhn-like potential to inform our understanding of science (and technology and medicine). I thought it might link Kuhn to the emerging literature on technoscientific practice and enrich our characterization of large scale units of activity (i.e., paradigms). That enrichment in turn, might help to clarify their dynamics. Kuhn had seen the overturning of paradigms primarily in epistemic terms. Accumulated anomalies brought revolution. He had not gone far into distinguishing multiple ways of knowing and doing, or to exploring factors that might give a technoscientific enterprise extended and trans-epistemic viability. Pickstone's analytic, by contrast, is applicable not only to diachronic changes within a technoscientific enterprise, but also to synchronic differences within and among the enterprises in a particular time and place: it offers, in short, a complement not only to Kuhn, but to J. ? Merz, whose classic History of European thought in the nineteenth century was equally about ways of knowing. By offering a richer set of categories for appreciating what sorts of work 'working knowledges' might do, Pickstone's approach eased burdens of epistemic accountability without sacrificing the benefits of a systematic comparative framework.REPRESENTATIONS OF BACTERIOLOGYBy the 1930s, a third generation of bacteriologists practised a discipline distinct - in terms of institutional organization, textbook traditions, modes of training, and career possibilities - from botany and zoology; equally from the other main biomedical laboratory science, pathology; and from the applied, and significantly colonial, enterprises of genetics, parasitology and veterinary medicine. They had, as we shall see, subverted an incipient biochemistry, which challenged the sanctity of the bacterial species concept. They had spawned as a parallel endeavour, immunology, and its chief practical arm, serology: the relation of immunology to bacteriology would be ambiguous and often contested - serological specificity was a means of defining bacterial specificity, and yet many serologists leaned dangerously toward general physiology and physical chemistry. Any picture of a community of happy equals, with each bacteriologist investigating the wee beasties of his (or rarely her) chosen domain is misleading. …

Sedimentary and diagenetic controls on the multiscale fracturing pattern of a carbonate reservoir: The Madison Formation (Sheep Mountain, Wyoming, USA)

A multidisciplinary approach has been applied to characterize the Madison Formation in the Sheep Mountain anticline at different scales, in order to illustrate the relationship between sedimentology, diagenesis and fracturing pattern. Sedimentary facies are organized into three types of elementary facies sequences showing different vertical evolutions of their petrophysical properties. This is controlled by the double influence of the initial sedimentary facies and the diagenetic evolution. Three main sets of fractures (related to the Sevier and Laramide compressive phases and to the folding of Sheep Mountain) have been described at three orders of scale. At small scale, the Sevier-related set I and folding related set III are the most abundant. Set II, dated from the early stage of the Laramide compression, exhibits the highest fracture intensity. There is also a clear faciologic control on the fracture intensity. Small-scale mechanical units correspond to entire facies sequences when no or little petrophysical property contrasts between beds are observed. Conversely, small-scale mechanical units correspond to each bed of a facies sequence in the case of high contrasts of petrophysical properties between beds. At intermediate scale, set II is not present and sets I and III show the highest fracture intensities. The latter are partly controlled by the mechanical unit thickness. Intermediate and large-scale mechanical unit distribution is mainly controlled by the overall faciologic vertical stacking pattern and by the position across the Sheep Mountain anticline (forelimb or backlimb). Sheep Mountain outcrops provide a good spatial representation of the carbonate reservoir heterogeneities from the micro- to the field scale, illustrating the complexity of fractured-carbonate reservoirs.

Supercritical anti-solvent precipitation of carotenoid fraction from pink shrimp residue: Effect of operational conditions on encapsulation efficiency

Active principles of a drug can be encapsulated through polymers in order to prevent adverse reactions and protect its properties. The aim of this work was the use of the supercritical anti-solvent (SAS) process to co-precipitate shrimp residue extract and polymer. The shrimp residue was pre-treated and macerated with acetone, producing the carotenoid extract. The effect of the operating parameters of the SAS precipitation was performed in small and large scale units, using Pluronic F127. The Supercritical Fluid Extraction of an Emulsion (SFEE) was also applied for the co-precipitation using modified starch. The encapsulation performance was evaluated by morphology and particle size, efficiency of astaxanthin encapsulation and color stability. It was possible to micro-precipitate the carotenoid extract with Pluronic F127 by SAS, with an encapsulation efficiency of up to 74%. Nano-emulsion produced by SFEE presented the highest encapsulation performance and the lowest particle size. All particles produced by SAS and by SFEE obtained better color preservation compared to the crude extract.

Adaptive Fuzzy PID Control Design and Simulate of Main Steam Temperature of Power Plant

Large-scale thermal power units in the main steam temperature as the controlled object with a large delay, large inertia, nonlinear and time-varying characteristics, leads to its control difficult, and make traditional PID control method is difficult to achieved good. Fuzzy systems articulate knowledge, reasoning similar to the human mind the advantages of fuzzy PID control strategy is proposed and used as a powerful mathematical ability of fuzzy PID control system simulation, the result indicate the fuzzy PID algorithm has the ability of fast, immunity, and robust.

Crustal structure beneath Beijing and its surrounding regions derived from gravity data

In this paper we use gravity data to study fine crustal structure and seismogenic environment beneath Beijing and its surrounding regions. Multi-scale wavelet analysis method is applied to separating gravity fields. Logarithmic power spectrum method is also used to calculate depth of gravity field source. The results show that the crustal structure is very complicated beneath Beijing and its surrounding areas. The crustal density exhibits laterally inhomogeneous. There are three large scale tectonic zones in North China, i.e., WNW-striking Zhangjiakou-Bohai tectonic zone (ZBTZ), NE-striking Taihang piedmont tectonic zone (TPTZ) and Cangxian tectonic zone (CTZ). ZBTZ and TPTZ intersect with each other beneath Beijing area and both of them cut through the lithosphere. The upper and middle crusts consist of many small-scale faults, uplifts and depressions. In the lower crust, these small-scale tectonic units disappear gradually, and they are replaced by large-scale tectonic units. In surrounding regions of Beijing, ZBTZ intersects with several other NE-striking tectonic units, such as Cangxian uplift, Jizhong depression and Shanxi Graben System (SGS). In west of Taihangshan uplift, gravity anomalies in upper and middle crusts are correlated with geological and topographic features on the surface. Compared with the crust, the structure is comparatively simple in uppermost mantle. Earthquakes mainly occurred in upper and middle crusts, especially in transitional regions between high gravity anomaly and low gravity anomaly. Occurrence of large earthquakes may be related to the upwelling of upper mantle and asthenosphere heat flow materials, such as Sanhe earthquake (MS8.0) and Tangshan earthquake (MS7.8).

An Advanced Quantum-Inspired Evolutionary Algorithm for Unit Commitment

Based on a quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm for unit commitment, this paper proposed ways to advance the efficiency and robustness of the algorithm so that its capacity for application in large-scale unit commitment problems can be significantly enhanced. The paper develops an advanced quantum-inspired evolutionary unit commitment algorithm by developing a new initialization method based on unit priority list and a special Q-bit expression for ensuring diversity in the initial search area for improving the efficiency of solution searching. Different techniques such as multi-observation, single-search, and group-search are also proposed for incorporation in the advanced algorithm. The advanced algorithm is tested and compared with the earlier quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm and a number of known methods through its applications to test systems with up to 100 generator units for a 24-h scheduling horizon.

The origin of Vesta’s crust: Insights from spectroscopy of the Vestoids

High quality VNIR spectra of 15 Vestoids, small asteroids that are believed to originate from Vesta, were collected and compared to laboratory spectra and compositional data for selected HED meteorites. A combination of spectral parameters such as band centers, and factors derived from Modified Gaussian Model fits (band centers, band strengths, calculation of the low to high-Ca pyroxene ratio) were used to establish if each Vestoid appeared most like eucrite or diogenite material, or a mixture of the two (howardite). This resulted in the identification of the first asteroid with a ferroan diogenite composition, 2511 Patterson. This asteroid can be used to constrain the size of diogenite magma chambers within the crust of Vesta. The Vestoids indicate that both large-scale homogeneous units (>5 km) and smaller-scale heterogeneity (<1 km) exist on the surface of Vesta, as both monomineralogic (eucrite or diogenite material alone) and mixed (both eucrite and diogenite) spectra are observed. The small-scale of the variation observed within the Vestoid population is predicted by the partial melting model, which has multiple intrusions penetrating into the crust of Vesta. It is much more difficult to reconcile the observations here with the magma ocean model, which would predict much more homogeneous layers on a large-scale both at the surface and with depth.

Detailed kinetics of the pyrolysis and oxidation of anisole

Pyrolysis, gasification and combustion of biomass are promising alternative energy sources. The kinetic understanding of these processes is crucial in the design and optimization of large-scale units. This paper proposes a detailed kinetic model for the pyrolysis and oxidation of anisole, a model compound for the lignin fraction of biomass. Model predictions are compared to a wide range set of experimental data. The chemistry of the highly resonant phenoxy radical is relevant in the formation of important intermediates, as cresols, phenol and cyclopentadiene. This kinetic study further confirms the importance and the role of resonantly stabilized radicals such as benzyl and phenoxyl radicals.

An Index of Cumulative Disturbance to River Fish Habitats of the Conterminous United States from Landscape Anthropogenic Activities

Reversal of widespread fish habitat degradation in the conterminous United States will require effective spatial planning, which begins with spatial assessment of current habitat conditions. We present an assessment of cumulative anthropogenic disturbance to fish habitats in approximately 2.23 million U.S. river reaches under the assumption that downstream local habitat conditions will reflect conditions in the catchment upstream. We used geographic information systems data to attribute 15 disturbance variables to the catchments of mapped river reaches to calibrate an index of cumulative disturbance that considered effects originating from both local and upstream catchments. The influence of each variable was adjusted in the index based on the results of multiple linear regression analyses of all variables against percent intolerant fishes at a site—a commonly used biological indicator of habitat condition. Urban landscape indicators were weighted most heavily, followed by point-source pollution, pasture lands, and dam densities. Local factors were found to be less influential on fishes than those originating from the upstream river network. Skewed cumulative disturbance scores indicated that disturbance levels of some reaches far exceeded the national median. Future assessments should include stratification of analyses within regions, expanded use of response metrics and datasets, and alternative analytical approaches to help tease apart the influences of interacting landscape disturbance types. We demonstrate how our results can be visualized and used to make regional comparisons among large-scale planning units and also show how reach-level information about upstream versus local disturbance levels can be used to identify potential habitat management strategies that are suitable to different landscape contexts.

Animal welfare and economic optimisation of farrowing systems

AbstractIn many countries, including the UK, the majority of domestic sows are housed in farrowing crates during the farrowing and lactation periods. Such systems raise welfare problems due to the close confinement of the sow. Despite the fact that many alternative housing systems have been developed, no commercially viable/feasible option has emerged for large scale units. Current scientific and practical knowledge of farrowing systems were reviewed in this study to identify alternative systems, their welfare and production potential. The aim was to establish acceptable trade-offs between profit and welfare within alternative farrowing systems. Linear programming (LP) was used to examine possible trade-offs and to support the design of welfare-friendly yet commercially viable alternatives. The objective of the LP was to optimise the economic performance of conventional crates, simple pens and designed pens subject to both managerial and animal welfare constraints. Quantitative values for constraints were derived from the literature. The potential effects of each welfare component on productivity were assessed by a group of animal welfare scientists and used in the model. The modelled welfare components (inputs) were extra space, substrate and temperature. Results showed that, when using piglet survival rate in the LP based on data drawn from the literature and incorporating costs of extra inputs in the model, the crates obtained the highest annual net margin and the designed pens and the pens were in second and third place, respectively. The designed pens and the pens were able to improve their annual net margin once alternative reference points, following expert-derived production functions, were used to adjust piglet survival rates in response to extra space, extra substrate and modified pen heating. The non-crate systems then provided higher welfare and higher net margin for sows and piglets than crates, implying the possibility of a win-win situation.

Animal welfare and economic optimisation of farrowing systems

In many countries, including the UK, the majority of domestic sows are housed in farrowing crates during the farrowing and lactation periods. Such systems raise welfare problems due to the close confinement of the sow. Despite the fact that many alternative housing systems have been developed, no commercially viable/feasible option has emerged for large scale units. Current scientific and practical knowledge of farrowing systems were reviewed in this study to identify alternative systems, their welfare and production potential. The aim was to establish acceptable trade-offs between profit and welfare within alternative farrowing systems. Linear programming (LP) was used to examine possible trade-offs and to support the design of welfare-friendly yet commercially viable alternatives. The objective of the LP was to optimise the economic performance of conventional crates, simple pens and designed pens subject to both managerial and animal welfare constraints. Quantitative values for constraints were derived from the literature. The potential effects of each welfare component on productivity were assessed by a group of animal welfare scientists and used in the model. The modelled welfare components (inputs) were extra space, substrate and temperature. Results showed that, when using piglet survival rate in the LP based on data drawn from the literature and incorporating costs of extra inputs in the model, the crates obtained the highest annual net margin and the designed pens and the pens were in second and third place, respectively. The designed pens and the pens were able to improve their annual net margin once alternative reference points, following expert-derived production functions, were used to adjust piglet survival rates in response to extra space, extra substrate and modified pen heating. The non-crate systems then provided higher welfare and higher net margin for sows and piglets than crates, implying the possibility of a win-win situation.

Postcombustion CO2 capture with CaO. Status of the technology and next steps towards large scale demonstration

Abstract Postcombustion CO 2 capture using CaO requires a large scale circulating fluidized bed (CFB) reactor as CO 2 absorber, operating between 600–700 °C. In addition, a large scale oxy-fired CFBC must be interconnected to this reactor to allow for the decomposition of CaCO 3 formed in the carbonator. This allows for a continuous regeneration of the CaO sorbent and the production of a CO 2 rich stream suitable for final purification and compression. Despite the known limitations associated to this technology (mainly sorbent deactivation, solid attrition, and high energy requirements in the calciner) clear operating windows have been identified at which the process could be implemented in practice using the know-how on CFBC technology. Theoretical studies on the thermal integration of a carbonation-calcination loop in new and existing power plants have shown that the technology has the potential to achieve a substantial reduction (around 30%) in capture cost and energy penalties with respect to stand-alone oxy-fired systems. Since the solid materials and operating conditions in the CFB units are similar to those present in existing large scale CFBCs, the prospects for a rapid scaling up of the technology are very promising. A rapid development is taking place in recent years by demonstrating the key concepts in laboratory scale test rigs of 10 s of kW. However, it is essential to move on to the next phase of pilot testing and validate the results in conditions fully comparable with those expected in large scale units. We describe here the design of a 1 MW th pilot plant to capture 70–95% of the CO 2 contained in the flue gas from a 1/150 side stream emitted by an existing 50 MW e CFB power plant. The pilot is made up of two interconnected CFB reactors of 15 m height. The construction of the pilot has been initiated and is expected to enter into full operation in the first half of 2011, providing the necessary experimental results to decide on the launching of an aggressive development programme that aims to demonstrate the technology at large scale well before 2020.

Institutional Transformation in the Agricultural Sector of the former Soviet Bloc

Institutional Transformation in the Agricultural Sector of the former Soviet Bloc This article discusses popular explanations for the demise of farm enterprises in Mongolia, such as: reduced state funding, corrupt and self-interested rural elites, and the (supposed) drastic central privatisation policy. It argues that these factors are insufficient to explain the collectives' demise, as they are largely true also for Russia, where no widespread break-up of farm enterprises took place. Farm enterprises in Russia, despite financial difficulties, show remarkable resilience as large-scale units. A tendency which can be observed in general, as well as in most of the regions bordering Mongolia with a similar type of (semi) - pastoralist livestock farming, Therefore, this article takes a look at the level of the Mongolian farm enterprise, and considers the socio-economic specifics of these enterprises to discover the incentives for employees and managers to disband (or leave) these enterprises. In doing so it pays attention to formal structures and informal social structures related to property and production, within a tentative comparison with Russia.

Pressure Control of a Large-scale Hydraulic Power Unit Using Π Bridge Network

The steady state and dynamic characteristics of pressure output of a hydraulic power unit are important to the hydraulic system behavior.Because of the compact structure,the B-half bridge resistance network is widely used in the pilot controlled pressure relief valves.However the steady-state pressure error might be unacceptably big in those pressure control systems.A constant pressure power unit is typically assumed in analysis of steady state and dynamic behavior of hydraulic systems.The flow-pressure relationship seems to be much complex,in particular when big flow variation takes place.In this paper,the π bridge hydraulic resistance network pilot stage is designed in order to get better flow-pressure characteristics.Based on the similarity of electrical circuits,the main factors influencing flow-pressure characteristics are analyzed.Moreover,the optimum diameters of both constant hydraulic resistor and dynamic resistor are proposed.Flow-pressure characteristics are compared with different constant hydraulic resistors,dynamic resistor and spring stiffness by simulations and experiments.Results of simulations and experiments show that flow-pressure characteristics depend very little on the spring stiffness in whole flow range.Good controlled pressure characteristics can be achieved with suitable constant resistors.Overshoot can be reduced with the small diameter of the dynamic resistor.Flow-pressure characteristics of pressure relief valve can be improved with a π bridge pilot stage.The proposed pressure control method will provide some positive guidelines and be helpful to design a high performance hydraulic system with large flow.

Current status of MHI CO2 capture plant technology, large scale demonstration project and road map to commercialization for coal fired flue gas application

Current status of MHI CO2 capture plant technology, large scale demonstration project and road map to commercialization for coal fired flue gas application

Wood Bio-Oil Noncatalytic Gasification: Influence of Temperature, Dilution by an Alcohol and Ash Content

Biomass gasification is gaining attention as a route for biomass energy production. When large scale units are considered, bio-oil shows lots of advantages compared to solid biomass such as high energy volume density and easy handling and storing. Syngas (H2 and CO) can be produced from bio-oil by two gasification processes, also called reforming processes: catalytic reforming at medium temperature and noncatalytic reforming at high temperature. In the literature, most of the works focus on the catalytic reforming and mainly concern the aqueous fraction of bio-oil or model compounds. Only very few works can be found on the noncatalytic reforming of crude bio-oil. The objectives of this work were to perform experimentally the injection and gasification of nondiluted bio-oil in a lab-scale High Temperature Entrained Flow Reactor (HT-EFR) and to determine the syngas composition and yield. The influence of temperature on the gasification process has been investigated over a wide range from 1000 to 1400 °C. Hydrogen yield increases with temperature via steam reforming of CH4 and C2H2 and with water gas shift reaction. A thermodynamic equilibrium calculation was conducted. It shows that equilibrium is reached within several seconds at the temperature of 1400 °C. After that, experiments of gasification were realized at 1400 °C with pure ethanol and with ethanol added bio-oil and in order to study the impact of dilution on the syngas yield. The influence of ash on the gasification process has also been evaluated. The ash seems to cause a decrease in the total amount of gas produced.

Entrepreneurs in Small Scale Sector: A Study of Infrastructural Barriers

Economic development of a nation mainly relies on the industrialisation. Industrialisation helps solve the various socio-economic problems encountered by the developing countries. But these economies do not have adequate resources to build a strong industrial base by setting up large scale industries. They have to depend on small scale sector for the speedy development of their economies. Moreover, they lack a strong human capital base, and whatever manpower is available in the country can be better utilised in the small scale sector. The problem of poverty, inequality and unbalanced regional development can be abridged by the expansion of small scale units. This sector contributes towards the country’s exports and helps solve the problem of balance of payments of the economy. Small scale sector maintains better rapport between the employer and the employees, thereby maintaining better industrial relations. The sector requires less capital as compare to large scale units, and unit can be started by the new generation of entrepreneurs. It can act as a nursery of entrepreneurship in the developing economies. Keeping in view the significance of small scale sector, an attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the infrastructure related problems faced by the small entrepreneurs, which become more imperative in the era of free markets, where efficiency is the way of life. This area needs intensive study because infrastructure related problems can not be tackled by individual entrepreneurs. Without strong infrastructure, the industry cannot move in the right direction. The state has to provide strong infrastructure in the form of transportation, energy, technology and financial institutions to fulfill the basic requirements of the small scale sector.

A Novel Solution Methodology for Solving Large-scale Thermal Unit Commitment Problems

An effective solution methodology for solving large-scale unit commitment problems is proposed. In order to model the line losses, the second-order network model is introduced into the conventional unit commitment problem. The proposed solution methodology consists of three key steps: (1) a transformed problem formulation that is based on a mixed-integer convex programming problem, (2) an improved solution method that is a combination of a modified branch-and-bound method and an interior point method, and (3) some accelerating strategies to speed up the proposed solution method. During the branch-and-bound process, the best first search and depth first search strategy are combined to expedite the required computation. In order to achieve the goal of obtaining a fast, near-optimal feasible solution of large-scale unit commitment problems, some accelerating strategies are developed. An effective scheme to partition the study period is also presented. The proposed solution methodology is applied to several test systems, including a 10-unit system and modified IEEE 118-bus system with 54 thermal units. Numerical study results indicate that the proposed solution methodology is fast and effective in dealing with various constraints and is promising for solving large-scale unit commitment problems. The proposed solution methodology finds better unit commitment solutions than most other methods. In addition, the solutions obtained by the proposed solution methodology are close to the optimal total operational cost. Especially for 60-unit and 80-unit unit commitment problems, the proposed solution methodology finds the best solutions.

Characterization of microbial communities in exhaust air treatment systems of large-scale pig housing facilities

Exhaust air treatment has gained importance as an essential factor in intensive livestock areas due to the rising emissions in the environment. Wet filter walls of multi-stage exhaust air treatment systems precipitate gaseous ammonia and dust particles from exhaust air in washing water. Microbial communities in the biomass developed in the washing water of five large-scale exhaust air treatment units of pig housing facilities, were investigated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and 16S rDNA sequence analyses. No "standard" nitrifying bacteria were found in the washing water. Instead mainly α-Proteobacteria, aggregating β- and χ-Proteobacteria, a large number of Actinobacteria, as well as individual Planctomycetales and Crenarchaeota were detected after more than twelve months' operation. The main Proteobacteria species present were affiliated to the families Alcaligenaceae, Comamonadaceae and Xanthomonadaceae. Furthermore, we investigated the consumption of inorganic nitrogen compounds in the washing water of one exhaust air treatment unit during a fattening period with and without pH control. Maintaining the pH at 6.0 resulted in a ca. fivefold higher ammonium concentration and a ca. fourfold lower concentration of oxidized nitrogen compounds after the fattening period was finished.

On the Use of a Dual-Scale Model to Improve Understanding of a Pharmaceutical Freeze-Drying Process

The evolution of product temperature and of residual ice content in the various vials of a batch during a freeze-drying process can be significantly affected by local conditions around each vial. In fact, vapor fluid dynamics in the drying chamber determines the local pressure that, taking into account the heat flow from the shelf and, eventually, radiation from chamber surfaces, is responsible for the sublimation rate and product temperature. These issues have to be taken into account when using mathematical simulation to predict the evolution of the product as a consequence of the operating conditions (recipe design), as well as during the scale-up of a recipe obtained in a small-scale equipment to a large-scale unit. In this framework, a dual-scale model can significantly improve the understanding for pharmaceuticals freeze-drying processes: it couples a three-dimensional model, describing the fluid dynamics in the chamber, and a second mathematical model, either mono- or bi-dimensional, describing the drying of the product in each vial. Thus, it can be profitably used to gain knowledge about process dynamics, and to improve the design of the equipment, as well as the performance of the control system of the process.