Spacer-filled channels are employed in membrane modules in many industrial applications where feed-flow spacers (employed to separate membrane sheets and create flow channels) tend to enhance mass transport characteristics, possibly mitigating fouling and concentration polarization phenomena. In this work direct numerical simulation was performed for the flow in the spacer-filled channels to obtain a better understanding of fluid flow and mass transfer phenomena in these channels. A solute with a Schmidt number of 1 at Reynolds numbers of 300, 500 and 800 (based on the bulk velocity and spacer diameter) was considered. The effect of spacer location was also studied for three different configurations, spacer at the centre of the channel, at off-centre location, and attached to the wall. Instantaneous velocity fields and flow structures such as separation of boundary layer on the walls and on the cylinder, eddies on the walls, recirculation regions and vortex shedding were investigated. A Fourier analysis was carried out on the time series velocity data. Using this analysis the Strouhal number was calculated and the development of the flow towards a broader turbulent state at higher Reynolds number was captured. Other statistical characteristics such as time-averaged velocities and wall shear rates are obtained and discussed. The average pressure loss which represents the operation cost of membrane modules was calculated for the channels and found to be highest for spacer at the centre of the channel and lowest for spacer attached to the wall. Scalar transport equation is directly solved along with Navier-Stokes equation to get the concentration field. Local Sherwood number is obtained on the walls and the relationship between shear stress, vortex shedding, and mass transfer enhancement was explored. The overall Sherwood number and Stanton number of the channels, which indicate the mass transfer performance of the channels, are obtained. It was observed that as spacer approaches the wall mass transfer rate is decreasing. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2010-11-30 11:44:07.479

No description available.

Concrete-filled tubular (CFT) columns have been widely adopted in building structures owing to their superior structural performance, such as enhanced load bearing capacity, compared to hollow tubes. Circular, square and rectangular hollow sections are most commonly used in the past few decades. Elliptical hollow section (EHS) available recently is regarded as a new cross-section for the CFT columns due to its attractive appearance, optional orientation either on major axis or minor axis and improved structural efficiency. The state of the research in terms of elliptical columns, tubular joints between EHSs and connections with CFT columns, etc., are reviewed in this thesis, showing a lack of investigations on EHSs, especially on beam to elliptical column connections which are essential in framed structures. The structural behaviour of elliptical column to I-beam connections under bending is studied in this thesis to fill the research gap. Overall ten specimens with various joint assemblies were tested to failure to highlight the benefits of adopting concrete infill and stiffeners in the columns. A three-dimensional finite element model developed by using ABAQUS software is presented and verified against obtained experimental results, which shows acceptable accuracy and reliability in predicting failure modes of the connections and their moment capacities. Parametric studies were performed to access the main parameters that affecting the bending behaviour of the connections. A simple hand calculation method in terms of ultimate moment capacity is proposed according to experiments conducted for connections with concrete-filled columns.

The present research is conducted to investigate the behaviour of elliptical tube columns filled with self-compacting concrete (SCC). In total, ten specimens, including two empty columns, were tested to failure. The main parameters investigated were the length and the sections of the columns, and the concrete compressive strength. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model was developed to predict the compressive strength of SCC using a comprehensive database collected from different previous studies. The database was used to train and test the developed ANN. Moreover, parallel to the experimental works, a three dimensional nonlinear finite element (FE) model using ABAQUS software was developed to predict the behaviour of SCC elliptical tube columns. The proposed ABAQUS model was verified against the current experimental results. The experimental results indicated that the failure modes of the SCC filled elliptical steel tube columns having large slenderness ratios were dominated by global buckling. Moreover, the composite columns possessed higher critical axial compressive capacities compared with their hollow section companions due to the composite interaction. However, due to the large slenderness ratio of the test specimens, the change of compressive strength of concrete core did not show significant effect on the critical axial compressive capacity of concrete filled columns although the axial compressive capacity increased with the concrete grade increase. The comparisons between the axial compressive load capacities obtained from experimental study and those predicted using simple methods provided in Eurocode 4 for concrete-filled steel rectangular tube columns showed a reasonable agreement. The proposed three dimensional FE model accurately predicted the failure modes, the load capacity and the load-deflection response of the columns tested. The experimental results, analysis and comparisons presented in this thesis clearly support the application of self-compacting concrete filled elliptical steel tube columns in construction engineering practice.

Statistical parametric text-to-speech synthesis currently relies on predefined and highly controlled prompts read in a “neutral” voice. This thesis presents work on utilising recordings of free conversation for the purpose of filled pause synthesis and as an inspiration for improved general modelling of speech for text-to-speech synthesis purposes. A corpus of both standard prompts and free conversation is presented and the potential usefulness of conversational speech as the basis for text-to-speech voices is validated. Additionally, through psycholinguistic experimentation it is shown that filled pauses can have potential subconscious benefits to the listener but that current text-to-speech voices cannot replicate these effects. A method for pronunciation variant forced alignment is presented in order to obtain a more accurate automatic speech segmentation something which is particularly bad for spontaneously produced speech. This pronunciation variant alignment is utilised not only to create a more accurate underlying acoustic model, but also as the driving force behind creating more natural pronunciation prediction at synthesis time. While this improves both the standard and spontaneous voices the naturalness of spontaneous speech based voices still lags behind the quality of voices based on standard read prompts. Thus, the synthesis of filled pauses is investigated in relation to specific phonetic modelling of filled pauses and through techniques for the mixing of standard prompts with spontaneous utterances in order to retain the higher quality of standard speech based voices while still utilising the spontaneous speech for filled pause modelling. A method for predicting where to insert filled pauses in the speech stream is also developed and presented, relying on an analysis of human filled pause usage and a mix of language modelling methods. The method achieves an insertion accuracy in close agreement with human usage. The various approaches are evaluated and their improvements documented throughout the thesis, however, at the end the resulting filled pause quality is assessed through a repetition of the psycholinguistic experiments and an evaluation of the compilation of all developed methods.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Douglas S. McGregor / The low natural abundance and supply shortage of ³He has resulted in an increase in the cost of ³He. The increase in cost of ³He proportional counters has motived the development of low cost, high efficiency, low gamma-ray sensitivity alternative technologies. A recently developed alternative technology is the ⁶Li-based suspended foil microstrip neutron detector (SFMND) that combines the neutron-conversion and gamma-ray discrimination capabilities of ⁶Li foils with the mechanical robustness and electrical capabilities of microstrip electrodes. SFMNDs differ from Li-foil multi-wire proportional counters because the anode wires are replaced by a single microstrip electrode that improves the mechanical robustness, reduces the microphonic sensitivity, and allows for more ⁶Li foils to be incorporated within a smaller form factor. The first-ever SFMNDs containing one and five 96%-enriched, 75-µm thick ⁶Li foils were fabricated using a silicon microstrip electrode. Neutron-sensitivity testing was performed yielding measured intrinsic thermal-neutron detection efficiencies, εth, of 4.02 ± 0.04% and 14.58 ± 0.11%, respectively. High electrode capacitance and gain instability were exhibited by the silicon microstrip electrode during neutron-sensitivity testing that led to the search for an electrically-stable microstrip-electrode substrate. Schott Borofloat® 33 glass was identified as an electrically-stable substrate and microstrip electrodes were fabricated and characterized. The Schott Borofloat® 33 microstrip electrodes were electrically-stable for a minimum duration of time of approximately 23 hours and had capacitances over an order of magnitude less than the identically sized silicon microstrip electrodes. One- and five-foil SFMNDs were fabricated with a Schott Borofloat® 33 microstrip electrode. Using 96%-enriched, 75-µm thick ⁶Li foils, the one- and five-foil devices had maximum measured εth of 12.58 ± 0.15% and 29.75 ± 0.26%, respectively, with measured gamma-ray rejection ratios of 6.46 x 10⁻⁵ ± 4.32 x 10⁻⁷ and 7.96 x 10-5 ± 4.65 x 10-7 for a ¹³⁷Cs exposure rate of 50 mR hr⁻¹. Devices containing one, five, ten, and twenty 96%-enriched, 75-µm thick ⁶Li foils were simulated using MCNP6 and are theoretically capable of having εth of 18.36%, 54.08%, 65.43%, and 68.36%, respectively. The deviation between measured and simulated εth is suspected to occur due to the electric field strength distribution, electron attachment, microstrip-electrode capacitance, or any combination thereof and solutions for each of these suspected concerns are described.

A presente dissertação analisa como a lógica do capital penetrou na saúde como resultado da necessidade de expansão das forças produtivas. O que se pretende confirmar é o processo no qual o capital, ao metamorfosear sua necessidade em necessidade universal, amplia suas bases de produção e faz parecer que, para alcançar níveis melhores de saúde, toda área precise depender de injeções cada vez mais vultuosas de capitais. Essa dependência, em suma ideológica, produz e cria os meios para a reprodução de suas contradições em todos os ramos da área de saúde. É nessa esteira que o capital portador de juros passa a determinar os processos de produção e reprodução na área, com o objetivo de alcançar lucros exorbitantes, ao ponto de sentenciar centenas de milhares de vidas a incerteza, a dor e até a morte do corpo e da alma pela falta de assistência das políticas de saúde. Problematiza-se os projetos em disputa na saúde, ressaltando o projeto contra-hegemônico da Reforma Sanitária elaborado nos anos 1970. Aborda-se a saúde por sua relevância e necessidade de transpô-la ao patamar de valor humanitário, a partir de uma inquietação tangencial, aos processos vivenciados no cotidiano entre aqueles que trabalham, para possibilitar o acesso a uma multidão cada vez maior e mais diversificada que requer, enquanto trabalhadores, direitos aos produtos e aos serviços de saúde. Tomando a referência do complexo industrial da saúde, no contexto de hegemonia do capital financeiro, evidencia-se sua consolidação na ampliação da acumulação e concentração frente à histórica necessidade do capital de assentar-se em bases materiais e de articular-se ao capital portador de juros. Na atualidade esse processo sustenta este modo de produção e garante sua produção/reprodução por meio da invenção crescente de capitais fictícios. No Brasil, ao passo que as políticas sociais são privatizadas, a concentração de capitais, os planos de investimento e crescimento das empresas por participação acionária são financiados com recursos públicos comprovados por meio dos programas do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social. / This dissertation examines how the logic of capital has penetrated in health as a result of the need for expansion of productive forces. It intends to confirm the process in which the capital, in order to metamorphose its needs into universal needs, extends its production bases and makes it seem that, to achieve better health levels, the whole area needs to rely on increasingly large injections of capital. This dependency, altogether ideological, produces and creates the means for the reproduction of its contradictions in all branches of healthcare. Its on this stream that the interest-filled capital shall determine the processes of production and reproduction in this specific area, aiming at achieving exorbitant profits, to the extent of sentencing hundreds of thousands of lives to uncertainty, pain and even death of body and soul, due to the lack of medical care and health policy. Healthcare projects currently in struggle are rendered problematic, emphasizing the counter-hegemonic project of the Sanitary Reform produced in the 70s. Health is tackled by its relevance and by the need of transposing it it to the highest level of humanitarian value, from a tangential concern, to processes experienced in everyday life among those who are working, to enable access to a growing and diversified crowd that requires, while workers, rights over products and health services. Taking as reference the industrial complex of health, in the context of financial capital hegemony, its consolidation is made clear in the widening of accumulation and concentration before the historical capital need of settling on material bases and articulating to interest filled capital. Today that process supports this way of production and ensures its production/reproduction by means of increasing invention of fictitious capital. In Brazil, as social policies are being privatized, the concentration of capital, investment plans and the growth of shareholding companies are funded by public resources by means of programs of the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social (Social Development National Bank).

A presente dissertação analisa como a lógica do capital penetrou na saúde como resultado da necessidade de expansão das forças produtivas. O que se pretende confirmar é o processo no qual o capital, ao metamorfosear sua necessidade em necessidade universal, amplia suas bases de produção e faz parecer que, para alcançar níveis melhores de saúde, toda área precise depender de injeções cada vez mais vultuosas de capitais. Essa dependência, em suma ideológica, produz e cria os meios para a reprodução de suas contradições em todos os ramos da área de saúde. É nessa esteira que o capital portador de juros passa a determinar os processos de produção e reprodução na área, com o objetivo de alcançar lucros exorbitantes, ao ponto de sentenciar centenas de milhares de vidas a incerteza, a dor e até a morte do corpo e da alma pela falta de assistência das políticas de saúde. Problematiza-se os projetos em disputa na saúde, ressaltando o projeto contra-hegemônico da Reforma Sanitária elaborado nos anos 1970. Aborda-se a saúde por sua relevância e necessidade de transpô-la ao patamar de valor humanitário, a partir de uma inquietação tangencial, aos processos vivenciados no cotidiano entre aqueles que trabalham, para possibilitar o acesso a uma multidão cada vez maior e mais diversificada que requer, enquanto trabalhadores, direitos aos produtos e aos serviços de saúde. Tomando a referência do complexo industrial da saúde, no contexto de hegemonia do capital financeiro, evidencia-se sua consolidação na ampliação da acumulação e concentração frente à histórica necessidade do capital de assentar-se em bases materiais e de articular-se ao capital portador de juros. Na atualidade esse processo sustenta este modo de produção e garante sua produção/reprodução por meio da invenção crescente de capitais fictícios. No Brasil, ao passo que as políticas sociais são privatizadas, a concentração de capitais, os planos de investimento e crescimento das empresas por participação acionária são financiados com recursos públicos comprovados por meio dos programas do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social. / This dissertation examines how the logic of capital has penetrated in health as a result of the need for expansion of productive forces. It intends to confirm the process in which the capital, in order to metamorphose its needs into universal needs, extends its production bases and makes it seem that, to achieve better health levels, the whole area needs to rely on increasingly large injections of capital. This dependency, altogether ideological, produces and creates the means for the reproduction of its contradictions in all branches of healthcare. Its on this stream that the interest-filled capital shall determine the processes of production and reproduction in this specific area, aiming at achieving exorbitant profits, to the extent of sentencing hundreds of thousands of lives to uncertainty, pain and even death of body and soul, due to the lack of medical care and health policy. Healthcare projects currently in struggle are rendered problematic, emphasizing the counter-hegemonic project of the Sanitary Reform produced in the 70s. Health is tackled by its relevance and by the need of transposing it it to the highest level of humanitarian value, from a tangential concern, to processes experienced in everyday life among those who are working, to enable access to a growing and diversified crowd that requires, while workers, rights over products and health services. Taking as reference the industrial complex of health, in the context of financial capital hegemony, its consolidation is made clear in the widening of accumulation and concentration before the historical capital need of settling on material bases and articulating to interest filled capital. Today that process supports this way of production and ensures its production/reproduction by means of increasing invention of fictitious capital. In Brazil, as social policies are being privatized, the concentration of capital, investment plans and the growth of shareholding companies are funded by public resources by means of programs of the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social (Social Development National Bank).

Orientador: Pilar Rodriguez de Massaguer / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T19:18:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Spinelli_AnaClaudiaNevesFranco_M.pdf: 3963667 bytes, checksum: 1c82e340e7fafa80d72db43568baa2bb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Os tratamentos térmicos de enchimento a quente não são suficientes para eliminar Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris no suco de laranja, devido a sua alta resistência térmica neste produto. O controle deste microrganismo apenas pode acontecer sob adequada estocagem do produto. Com o intuito de analisar as condições térmicas de estocagem na germinação do Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris em suco de laranja enchido a quente foi desenvolvida uma metodologia abrangendo desde o processamento em unidade Microthermics UHT (Ultra High Temperature), passando pelo monitoramento de vida de prateleira, até o alcance da fase estacionária do microrganismo, através de contagem das formas vegetativas utilizando o meio YSG (Yeast Extract Soluble Starch Glucose). A vazão aplicada foi de 1,7 L/min., ao passo que diversos termosensores foram estrategicamente posicionados para acompanhamento termométrico de todo o procedimento. Os parâmetros de crescimento foram analisados por meio da utilização do software DMFit, que ajusta os modelos primários de Baranyi & Roberts e Gompertz modificado. O objetivo central desta pesquisa foi observar possíveis inibições do crescimento em função das condições impostas, permitindo esclarecer qual é a melhor condição de estocagem do suco de laranja enchido a quente para evitar a germinação, crescimento e produção de guaiacol. Suco de laranja (11º Brix, pH 3,5) foi intencionalmente inoculado com esporos de Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris CRA 7152 reconhecido como produtor de guaiacol (responsável pela deterioração). O suco envasado em garrafa PET (500 mL) foi mantido a 85ºC por 150 segundos em banho termostático. Para verificar o número de reduções decimais foram realizados seis experimentos, simulando a condição da indústria (Hot Fill), ou seja, processamento a 92ºC por 10 segundos, seguido de envase a 85ºC, com manutenção a esta temperatura por 150 segundos e resfriamento por aspersão até 35ºC em 30 minutos. Para avaliação do número de pontos significativos na descrição da curva microbiana de crescimento de Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris foram realizados dois experimentos de enchimento a quente com resfriamento a 25ºC por 48 horas com inóculos (102 e 103 esporos/mL de suco). A evolução da população de Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris em suco de laranja foi monitorada sob cinco diferentes temperaturas de abuso de resfriamento, após pasteurização (92ºC/10s), manutenção a 85ºC por 150 segundos e resfriamento por aspersão de água (85ºC a 35ºC em 30 minutos). Os tratamentos, com três níveis diferentes de inóculo cada (100, 101 esporos/mL de suco e sem inóculo), foram: i. 30ºC no ponto frio da garrafa, ii. 30ºC por 48 horas, iii. 25ºC no ponto frio da garrafa, iv. 25ºC por 48 horas, todos seguidos de incubação a 35ºC, e v. manutenção constante a 20ºC (controle). Foi mostrado que, independente do nível de inóculo, o processo de pasteurização não inativa os esporos de Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris, causando redução decimal (g) inexpressiva, inferiores a 0,5 reduções logarítmicas. Cerca de quinze pontos de contagem foram estabelecidos para descrever com precisão cada curva de crescimento, as quais foram acompanhadas por cerca de 260 horas. Em relação aos tratamentos de resfriamento, a condição v (manutenção a 20ºC) foi a mais eficiente, pois inibe completamente a germinação do microrganismo. Enquanto o tratamento iv (25ºC por 48 horas) para inóculo 100 esporos/mL, mostrou maior tempo de adaptação (100,4 horas), e conseqüente maior tempo para atingir 104UFC/mL (132 horas), condição crítica para iniciar a produção de guaiacol, o tratamento iii (25º no ponto frio) para inóculo 101 esporos/mL, resultou em menor população máxima (logN/N0 = 2,69). Nesse último caso, as garrafas resfriadas até 25ºC apresentaram uma menor população máxima em relação àquelas resfriadas até 30ºC com o mesmo inóculo (logN/N0 = 3,26). O tempo para início da produção detectável de guaiacol foi determinado por meio da utilização do kit Kirin, que é baseado em julgamento visual. Enquanto as predições feitas a partir da curvas de crescimento propiciaram para o tratamento ii a estimativa do defeito entre 100-108 horas, o primeiro resultado positivo obtido através do kit foi às 144 horas, o que pode ser explicado pela baixa produção inicial de guaiacol que é inferior ao tempo de aparecimento de defeito do kit a partir de 25ppm / Abstract: Hot-Fill thermal treatments of orange juice are not enough to eliminate Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris due to its high thermal resistance. Therefore the microbial control of this microorganism can only occur by adequate product storage conditions. In order to evaluate the effects of the thermal conditions of storage on germination of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris in hot-filled orange juice, experiments were carried out involving processing in a Microthermics UHT (Ultra High Temperature) unit and shelf life monitoring until the microorganism reached the stationary phase, by counting in YSG medium (Yeast extract, Soluble Starch, Glucose). The UHT unit was supplied with thermosensors and data loggers for thermal data acquisition of the whole processing. The flow rate applied was 1.7 L/min. Growth data were analyzed by the DMFit program, which fits both the Baranyi & Roberts and the modified Gompertz primary models. The main purpose of this research was to observe possible growth inhibitions as a function of the conditions imposed, permitting to clarify which is the best condition of storage for hot-filled orange juice amongst those tested. Such a condition should avoid or minimize germination, growth and guaiacol production. Orange juice (11º Brix, pH 3.5) was intentionally inoculated with Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris CRA 7152 spores, recognized as guaiacol producers. In order to simulate surge tank maintenance before filling, juice (filled in 500 mL PET bottles) was kept at 85°C for 150s. To verify the number of decimal reductions (g), six experiments were carried out. Industrial conditions were simulated by processing at 92°C for 10 seconds, followed by filling at 85°C, with maintenance at 85°C for 150 seconds and cooling to 35°C in about 30 minutes by spraying with water. Two Hot-Filling experiments with cooling maintained at 25°C for 48 hours were performed, to determine the number of significant points needed to describe the growth curve behavior of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris. The inoculum levels were 102 and 103 spores/mL. The evolution of the Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris population was also monitored under 5 different cooling abuse conditions, after pasteurization (92ºC/10s), maintenance at 85°C for 150 seconds, and cooling with water spray to 35°C in about 30 minutes. The treatments were: i. 30°C for the bottle cold point and storage at 35°C; ii. 30°C for 48h and storage at 35°C; iii. 25°C for the bottle cold point and storage at 35°C; iv. 25°C for 48h and storage at 35°C; v. storage at 20°C (control). Three different levels of inoculum were applied: 100, 10¹ spores/mL of orange juice and a total absence of inoculum. It was shown that, no matter what the inoculum level, the process did not inactivate the spores of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris and caused no expressive reduction in the microorganism population (g < 0.5). About fifteen points were established for every condition studied to accurately describe the growth curves. Each curve was monitored for about 260 hours. Concerning the cooling treatments, it was concluded that treatment v (storage at 20°C) was more efficient than any of the others, since in this case the population remained inhibited. Whilst treatment iv (25°C for 48 hours) with 100 spores/mL, showed a longer lag time (100.4 hours), and consequently longer time to reach 104 CFU/mL, the critical count for guaiacol production (132 hours), treatment iii (25°C for the bottle cold point) for 101 spores/mL, resulted in a lower maximum population ratio (logN/N0 = 2.69). In this latter case, the bottles that were cooled to 25ºC showed a lower maximum population ratio than those cooled to 30ºC, as can be seen in treatment i with the same inoculum 101spores/mL, where the maximum population ratio was 3.26. In addition, the time taken to initiate the detection of guaiacol was determined using the Kirin kit, which is based on a visual examination. Although the estimate for guaiacol production obtained from the growth curves for treatment ii. (30ºC for 48 hours) was between 100-108 hours, the first positive result using the kit was 144 hours, explained by the fact that a visual judgment is only possible at over 25 ppm of guaiacol / Mestrado / Mestre em Ciência de Alimentos

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Physics / Kristan L. Corwin / The focus of this research is improving the pulse output energy of a mid-IR pulsed acetylene-filled Hollow-core Optical Fiber Gas LASer (HOFGLAS) system. Pump pulses and acetylene molecules interact with each other inside hollow-core photonic crystal fiber that effectively confines light and allows for strong gain. This results in lasing at 3.11 μm and 3.17 μm lines based on population inversion of acetylene molecules, which are optically pumped at rotational-vibrational overtones near 1.5 μm using 1 ns pulse duration from an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). This acetylene laser operates with no cavity mirrors because of a high gain in a single pass configuration. There are few laser sources in the mid-IR region while there are many applications for having a laser source in this range such as remote sensing, hazardous chemical detection, and breath analysis. This adds to the importance of the acetylene-filled HOFGLAS system. Some of the applications like remote sensing require high power. So, we moved toward power scaling this laser system by optimizing the laser operation through maximizing the OPA alignment to improve its modal content using longer length of fiber to increase the interaction length and improving the beam quality of the mid-IR emissions. The highest pulse energy ever obtained in the 3 µm mid-IR region from the acetylene-filled HOFGLAS after applying the improvements is reported here (1.4 μJ). Higher mid-IR pulse energies can be achieved by improving the pulse energy achievable from the OPA pump source and working with longer pulse duration to decrease the bandwidth of the OPA. This operation demonstrates many novel properties of acetylene-filled pulsed mid-IR hollow-core fiber lasers. The excellent spatial beam quality at highest power and phenomenological scaling of saturation power and efficiency with pressure that we observe point to the promise of power scaling and motivate further development of numerical models of the laser for deeper insight into these effects. M² measurement method was used to examine spatial beam quality and it was found to be fiber-dependent. For the improved setup, M² was investigated at several input pump powers in addition to the reproducibility checks. M² of 1.14 at the maximum output power motivates for beam combining to scale to higher power. The independence of efficiency on pressure is an evidence for reaching higher mid-IR power at a pressure where saturation behavior does not exist. achieving the highest mid-IR power to date, 1.4 μJ, encourages for building higher power OPA to produce high power mid-IR emissions. Taken as a whole, this laser exhibits novel behavior that motivates both numerical/theoretical investigation and further efforts to scale to higher powers.