Measurement of firmness

De Man (1983) has reviewed this property of fats. Consistency is defined as (1) an ill-defined and subjectively assessable characteristic of a material that depends on the complex stress-flow relation or as (2) the property by which a material resists change of shape. Spreadabil-ity, a term used in relation to consistency, is the force required to spread the fat with a knife. The definition is similar to that for hardness the resistance of the surface of a body to deformation. The most widely used simple compression test in North America is the cone penetrometer method (AOCS Method Cc 16-60, 1960). More sophisticated rheological procedures are also available. Efforts have been made to calibrate instrumental tests with sensory response. With the cone penetrometer method, penetration depth is used as a measure of firmness. Hayakawa and De Man (1982) studied the hardness of fractions obtained by crystallization of milk fat. Hardness values obtained with a constant speed penetrometer reflected trends in their TG composition and solid fat content. 

Shore A hardness The measure of firmness of a rubbery compound or sealant by means of a durometer hardness gauge. 

Salamon, G., Cash Recovery Rates and Measures of Firm Profitability, The Accounting Review 57(2) 292-302, 1982. 

Illustrated In figure 1, Is modified from a design described by Bourne and Moyer(1968). The Instron cross-head Is moved at 100 mm/mln. A sample of material, contained In the cup, Is compressed as the plunger comes down. At length, the material extrudes back through the annulus between plunger and cup wall. A typical force-distance curve Is shown. The rise reflects the compression, and the plateau of the back extrusion. We use the plateau force as a measure of firmness. Ten replicate measurements are performed. Repeatability Is better than 4. ... 

In this chapter, our goal is to link key financial measures of firm performance to supply chain performance. We introduce the three logistical drivers—facilities, inventory, and transportation—and the three cross-functional drivers—information, sourcing, and pricing—that determine the performance of any supply chain. We discuss how these drivers are used in the design, planning, and operation of the supply chain. We define several metrics that can be used to gauge the performance of each driver and its impact on financial performance. 

Describe key financial measures of firm performance. The key financial measures of firm performance include return on equity return on assets accounts payable turnover profit margin asset turnover and accounts receivable turnover inventory turns property, plant, and equipment turns and cash-to-cash cycle. 

The proposed pathway for the biosynthesis of the avermectins (Fig. 3) has been described in a review (23). Some of the details are yet to be elucidated, although the steps, in general, are based on firm evidence from four types of studies incorporation of labeled precursors, conversion of putative intermediates by producing strains and blocked mutants, in vitro measurement of biosynthetic enzymes, and studies with enzyme inhibitors. The biosynthesis of the oleandrose units was elucidated from studies using and labeled glucose, which indicated a direct conversion of glucose to... 

In addition to freedom from bottoming out , most people prefer a seat which effectively provides a soft surface with a firm interior. One measure of the relationship between such surface softness and inner support is the sag factor or support factor. In one commonly used test this is obtained by dividing the force required to compress a foam by 65% of its height by the force needed to obtain 25% sample compression. This generally increases with density but is typically <2.5 for a conventional slabstock foam but >2.5 for a high-resilience foam. 

Especially for low symmetry compounds the information from measurement of the susceptibility is often not enough to describe the ground state unambiguously. Spectroscopic, EPR and other techniques should be combined with more magnetic investigations to firmly establish the interpretation. 

Non-situ and ex situ studies can provide important information for understanding the properties of metal/electrolyte interfaces. The applicability of these methods for fundamental studies of electrochemistry seems to be firmly established. The main differences between common electrochemical and UHV experiments are the temperature gap (ca. 300 vs. 150 K) and the difference in electrolyte concentration (very high concentrations in UHV experiments). In this respect, experimental research on double-layer properties in frozen electrolytes can be treated as a link between in situ experiments. The measurements of the work functions... 

As was mentioned previously, photoemission has proved to be a valuable tool for measurement of the electronic structure of metal cluster particles. The information measured includes mapping the cluster DOS, ionization threshold, core-level positions, and adsorbate structure. These studies have been directed mainly toward elucidation of the convergence of these electronic properties towards their bulk analogues. Although we will explore several studies in detail, we can say that studies from different laboratories support the view that particles of 150 atoms or more are required to attain nearly bulk-like photoemission properties of transition and noble metal clusters. This result is probably one of the most firmly established findings in the area of small particles. 

One disadvantage of soft gelatin capsules is that such products often must be contracted out to a limited number of firms having the necessary filling equipment and expertise. Materials must be shipped to the soft gelatin capsule facility, and products must be shipped back to the pharmaceutical manufacturer for final packaging and distribution. Additional quality control measures may be required. 

S Vemuri. Measurement of soft elastic gelatin capsule firmness with a universal testing machine. Drug Dev Ind Pharm 10 409 424, 1984. 

The coordination of transition metal ions in acidic chloroaluminate melts has not been firmly established. However, in the case of AICb-EtMelmCI. the E0 values of simple redox systems that are electrochemically accessible in both acidic and basic melt, e.g., Hg(II)/Hg [51], Sb(III)/Sb [52], and Sn(II)/Sn [53] exhibit a large positive potential shift on going from basic melt, where metal ions are known to exist as discrete anionic chloride complexes, to acidic melt. Similar results were observed for Cu(I) in AlCh-NaCl [48]. This dramatic decrease in electrochemical stability isprima facie evidence that metal ions in acidic melt are probably only weakly solvated by anionic species such as AICI4 and AECI-. Additional evidence for this is derived from the results of EXAFS measurements of simple metal ions such Co(II), Mn(II), and Ni(II) in acidic AlCh-EtMelmCl, which indicate that each of these ions is coordinated by three bidentate AICI4 ions to give octahedrally-coordinated species such as [ M (AIC14) 2 ] [54]. Most transition metal chloride compounds are virtually... 

In the study by Thompson, et al. (11), the ml of gel released per 100 g emulsion for the reference emuTsion without soy, with soy isolate (SIF), soy concentrate (SCF) or soy flour (SF) was 6.07, 5.83, 5.49 and 3.08, respectively, when the hydration ratios were 1 4 (flourrwater) for SIF, 1 3 for SCF and 1 2 for SF. The ml gel released per 100 g emulsion containing 10, 15, 20, and 25% soy protein was 6.70, 5.01, 3.94 and 3.57, respectively. When soy protein concentrate was incorporated into an emulsion at the 3.5% level, the processing yields, textural profile and sensory textural attributes of frankfurters were not different among the products with and without added soy concentrate (13). An objective measure of compression and shear modulus indicated that soy protein concentrate incorporated into frankfurters at the 3.5% level had no effect on batter strength or texture ( M). The addition of a cottonseed protein to frankfurters to replace 5, 10 or 15% of the meat resulted in higher pH, less cured color, less firmness of skin, softer texture and reduced desirability as judged by a sensory panel (J5J. 

Sequence comparison is a technique for comparing two strings, sequences, or vectors for the purpose of determining the distance between them, and consequently their relationship. The items making up the sequence could be numbers, symbols, tones, letters, or words. We could, for example, compute a metric distance between the names William and Victor. Recognizing this, it is a simple extension to understand that assertions concerning the causes of firm performance are sequences of words, and that sequence comparison methodology can be used to compute similarity measures between these assertions. 

Growth should not be an objective for all firms. It is only one of several potential measures of effectiveness that might be chosen. And, while growth may be a significant contributor to profitability through its role as a complementary practice, other complementary practices such as innovation and talent can compensate for its absence. 

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