EXTRACTION

We model exploration for and production from a multiple-deposit, nonrenewable resource. Exploration is viewed as a Bayesian process involving learning about undiscovered reserves, and is undertaken both to improve the quality of and to replenish known reserves. Known reserves are not physically defined, but depend on the realizations of discrete episodes of exploration elsewhere and on decisions at each instant about the margin between ore to be mined and low-grade material to be rejected. The appropriate measure of resource scarcity, the sustainable level of the contribution of the resource, and the treatment of depletion in the national accounts are considered.

Three dimensional object extraction and recognition (OER) from LIDAR data has been an area of major interest in photogrammetry for quite a long time. However, most of the existing methods for automatic object extraction and recognition from LIDAR data are just based on the range information and employ parametric methods and object’s vagueness behaviour is basically neglected. Thus, these methods do not take into account the extraction and recognition complexities and may fail to reach a satisfied reliability level in complex situations. In this paper a novel approach based on the following strategies is formulated and implemented: (a) for a more comprehensive definition of the objects, information fusion concept is utilized, i.e., object’s descriptive components such as 3D structural and textural (ST) information are automatically extracted from first/last rang and intensity information of LIDAR data and simultaneously fed into the evaluation process, (b) for a more realistic expres...

In view of the increasing littering of the river banks by shells of crustaceans, a study was carried out to investigate the extraction and characterization of chitin and chitosan from mussel shell. Chitin and chitosan was extracted and characterized from mussel shell found in banks of the Gubi Dam in Bauchi, Nigeria using the conventional methods of pretreatment, demineralization, deprotienization and deacetylation. The results obtained revealed that carbon nitrogen ratio of the chitosan extracted was 5.9 with a degree of deacetylation of 60.69% and 60.66% calculated from the elemental analysis and the FTIR spectra of chitosan respectively. The FTIR spectra for chitosan gave a characteristic-NH 2 band of 3447 cm-1 and a carbonyl group band of 1477 cm-1. The mussel shell was discovered to contain a mineral content of 51.62% and a chitin composition was found to be 21.32%.

We report the development of a reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification and nucleic acid lateral flow method (RT-LAMP-NALF) for detection of infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV). The RT-LAMP-NALF method combines simplified nucleic acid extraction, a reversetranscription loop-mediated isothermal amplification platform, and one-step visual colorimetric confirmation of the IMNV amplified sequences using a generic NALF qualitative detection test strip. The sensitivity of RT-LAMP (using two and three primer pairs) and nested RT-LAMP (using three primer pairs) was compared by real-time reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using TaqMan probe. The detection of RT-LAMP (three primer pairs) products was accomplished by using a NALF-test strip. The RT-LAMP-NALF showed equivalent sensitivity to RT-LAMP (using three primer pairs), and it was found to be 100 and 10 times more sensitive than one-step RT-PCR and RT-LAMP (two primer pairs), respectively. On the other hand, the RT-LAMP-NALF was 10 and 100 times less sensitive than nested RT-PCR and real-time RT-PCR, respectively. The simplified RNA extraction method ranged from 4.4 • 10 6 to 2.2 • 10 8 IMNV copy numbers lL)1 RNA, and it was similar with the standard RNA extraction (from 1.2 • 10 6 to 6.3 • 10 7 IMNV copy numbers lL)1 RNA). These results clearly demonstrate that the RT-LAMP-NALF method is specific, sensitive, can shorten the time for analysis, and has potential application for IMNV diagnosis in resource-poor diagnostic settings.

Ethanol was used for the extraction and purification of lipids from the biomass of the microalga Phaeodactylum tricornutum. This microalga is an oil-rich substrate with a high proportion of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The process consisted of two steps. First, ethanol (96% vol/vol) was used to extract the lipids from the lyophilized biomass. Second, a biphasic system was formed by adding water and hexane to the extracted crude oil. In this way, most of the lipids were transferred to the hexanic phase while most impurities remained in the hydroalcoholic phase. The first step was carried out by two consecutive extractions at room temperature, each with 5 mL ethanol per gram of biomass, for 10 and 1.25 h, respectively. Under these conditions, over 90% of the saponifiable lipids in the biomass were extracted. In the second step, the percentage of water in the hydroalcoholic phase, the hexane/hydroalcoholic phase ratio and the number of extraction steps were optimized. A water content of 40% vol/vol in the hydroalcoholic phase provided the highest lipid recovery. A recovery yield of 80% was obtained by four consecutive extractions with a hexane/ hydroalcoholic phase ratio of 0.2 (vol/vol). Equilibrium distribution data of the lipids between the hydroethanolic and the hexanic phases were also obtained in order to predict the lipid recovery yield of the extraction. This process is an alternative to the traditional methods of lipid extraction, which uses less toxic solvents and reduces the total amount of solvents used.

Isolation of carrot fruit (Daucus carrota L., cultivar ''Chanteney") essential oil by supercritical carbon dioxide was investigated from the pretreatment of herbaceous matrix and extraction conditions to the chemical composition of obtained extract and its antimicrobial activity. The qualitative and quantitative analyses of the supercritical extract, as well as of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation, were done by GC/FID and GC/MS methods. Antimicrobial properties of both samples were investigated against ten species of microorganisms. Experimental results showed that the particle size had no influence on the extraction process. The highest yield was obtained at 40°C and 10 MPa. The main component of the supercritical extract, as well as of the essential oil was carotol. The supercritical extract was characterized by the presence of heavier molecular weight compounds, while some lighter compounds, e.g. pinenes, were not detected. The supercritical extract and the essential oil were the most effective against Gram-positive bacteria.

Phycocyanin extraction from cyanobacteria Spirulina platensis was optimized using factorial design and response surface techniques. The effects of temperature and biomass-solvent ratio on phycocyanin concentration and extract purity were evaluated to determine the optimum conditions for phycocyanin extraction. The optimum conditions for the extraction of phycocyanin from S. platensis were the highest biomass-solvent ratio, 0.08 g mL À1 , and 25°C. Under these conditions it's possible to obtain an extract of phycocyanin with a concentration of 3.68 mg mL À1 and purity ratio (A 615 /A 280) of 0.46.

The Vapor Extraction (VAPEX) process, a newly developed Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) process to recover heavy oil and bitumen, has been studied theoretically and experimentally and is found a promising EOR method for certain heavy oil reservoirs. In this work, a simulation study ...

A confirmation procedure for the identification and quantitation of various benzodiazepines in urine is presented. The urine sample is first hydrolyzed enzymatically because of the glucuronide conjugation of some benzodiazepine metabolites, then extracted using bonded-phase columns. After elution into an organic solvent, the samples are evaporated, converted to the trimethylsilyl ether derivatives and analyzed by electron ionization GC-MS. Quantitation was performed using selected-ion monitoring for each benzodiazepine using prazepam as the internal standard. The method provides excellent linearity and sensitivity for the trimethylsilyl derivatives.

Removal of air pollutants, such as nitrogen and sulphur containing compounds from a model oil (dodecane) was studied. An ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [C 2 mim] [Cl]) was used as an extractant. Liquid-liquid extraction by using 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [C 2 mim] [Cl] was found to be a very promising method for the removal of N-and S-compounds. This was evaluated by using a model oil (dodecane) with indole as a neutral nitrogen compound and pyridine as a basic nitrogen compound. Dibenzothiophene (DBT) was used as a sulphur compound. An extraction capacity of up to 90 wt% was achieved for the model oil containing pyridine, while only 76 wt% of indole in the oil was extracted. The extraction capacity of a model sulphur compound DBT was found to be up to 99 wt%. Regeneration of the spent ionic liquid was carried out with toluene back-extraction. A 1:1 toluene-to-IL wt ratio was performed at room temperature. It was observed that, for the spent ionic liquid containing DBT as a model compound more than 85 wt% (corresponding 3852 mg/kg) could be removed from the oil. After the second regeneration cycle, 86 wt% of the DBT was recovered from the ionic liquid to toluene. In the case of indole as the nitrogen containing species, more than 99 wt%, (corresponding to 2993 mg/kg) of the original indole was transferred from the model oil to the ionic liquid. After the first-regeneration cycle of the spent ionic liquid, 54 wt% of the indole-in-IL was transferred to toluene. Thus, both extractions of nitrogen and sulphur model compounds were successfully carried out from model oil and the back-extraction of these compounds from the ionic liquids to toluene demonstrated the proved the concept of the regeneration point of view.

A two-step autolysis process was proposed to enhance amino acid production from spent brewer's yeast. The technique was developed based on comparative study of the dynamics of production and release of proteins and amino acids during the autolysis of a concentrated suspension (22 wt.%) and a dilute yeast cell suspension (11.25 wt.%). The results suggest that, in the concentrated yeast suspension, proteins are more effectively broken down into amino acids, but the product release rate was lower due to a lower concentration gradient across the cell membrane. Thus, a two-step process, in which a high protein conversion occurred in a concentrated cell suspension during the first 13 h period, followed by a 26 h autolysis process within a dilute cell suspension, provided a higher overall yield of amino acids compared than the single-step process. The two-step process was found to result in a 25% higher amino acid yield with a weight fraction increase from 0.4 to 0.5 g=g dry wt. Other than these findings, the effect of adding NaCl to the suspension during autolysis was also investigated. It was found that, for the autolysis conditions employed in this study, the addition of NaCl did not significantly affect the production of protein but inhibited the production of amino acids.

Documents made available through this series result from the work of the Pitt Business initiatives, especially those focused on entrepreneurship, globalization, value chain and supply chain management, and interdisciplinary collaboration between the business disciplines and other disciplines. They are intended to contribute to the knowledge base and debate around critical issues facing business today, at levels from the local community, to the region, and beyond to global perspectives. Pitt Business is made up of the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, the College of Business Administration which offers undergraduate business degrees, and five education and research centers. The papers in this series have been developed in the context of Pitt's work and include literature reviews, scoping studies and, occasionally, issue-oriented studies. They are written primarily by Pitt Business faculty and students. The papers are not subject to peer review, nor reviewed or edited for style and content. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of Pitt Business or the University of Pittsburgh. Pitt's Working Papers published and distributed primarily in electronic format via www.business.pitt.edu, though hardcopies are available upon request. Working papers may be copied freely for research and educational purposes and cited with due acknowledgment.

Diffuse reflectance UV (DR-UV) spectroscopy was used for the first time to quantity the amount of creatinine adsorbed onto mordenite type zeolite from two different media: Phosphate Buffered Saline solution (D-PBS) and D-PBS solution containing albumin at a concentration corresponding to human serum conditions (50 g/L). The UV spectra of creatinine adsorbed onto mordenite zeolites was quantitatively treated using the Kubelka-Munk formalism. Quantification by diffuse reflectance UV spectroscopy after microporous solids extraction was linearly correlated with creatinine concentration whatever the medium. This study evidences that DR-UV spectroscopy may be an efficient method to directly quantify the amount of chosen molecules present in a liquid medium by pre-concentrating them on a specific solid adsorbent like in the solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure. The results on hand also prove that this is even possible in rather complex conditions. The method is simple, fast, and with a low detection threshold.

Mitragyna speciosa, a tropical plant indigenous to Southeast Asia, is well known for its psychoactive properties. Its leaves are traditionally chewed by Thai and Malaysian farmers and manual labourers as it causes a numbing, stimulating effect. The present study aims to evaluate alkaloid yield and composition in the leaf extracts. For this purpose we have compared several non-conventional extraction techniques with classic procedures (room temperature or under heating). Dried M. speciosa leaves belonging to three batches of different origin (from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia) were extracted using ultrasoundassisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction SFE-CO 2 , using methanol, ethanol, water and binary mixtures. The extracts were compared using an HPLC/ESI-MS analysis of mitragynine and four other related alkaloids which were present in the alkaloid fraction. The extraction technique influences both the raw product yield and the relative alkaloid content of M. speciosa leaves. Of the several methods tested, MAE in a closed vessel at 110°C (60 W, methanol/ water 1:1) gave the highest alkaloid fraction amount, while UAE with an immersion horn at 25°C (21.4 kHz, 50 W, methanol) showed the best yield for mitragynine.

An extraction method was developed to recover organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) associated with live and mercuric chloride-treated fungal mycelia. A Cladosporium sp. was inoculated into potato dextrose broth, DDT (90 mg / l) added and incubated for seven days. The combination of a microextraction procedure for aqueous-phase-associated DDT and a sonication extraction for mycelia-bound DDT, using dichloromethane as the extracting solvent, resulted in the recovery of 31-51% of added DDT. DDT recovery was increased to 62-65% by grinding the fungal mycelia before sonication. Alkali and nitric acid pretreatments were tested to increase the recovery of DDT associated with fungal mycelia, however, these treatments resulted in the production of unidentified DDT transformation products. Pretreating mycelia containing DDT in concentrated hydrochloric acid at 608C for 2, 4 and 6 h resulted in DDT recoveries of 90-91%, 99% and 101-102% respectively without the production of transformation products. When an OCP mixture (DDT, DDD and DDE) was added to fungal mycelia, between 89% and 96% of DDT, DDD and DDE were recovered from live cultures compared to 85-91% in mercuric chloride-treated cultures using the microextraction / hydrochloric acid pretreatment (608C / 6 h) sonication extraction method.

The objectives of this study were to characterize the hydrophobic properties of three strains of Bacillus anthracis using the microbial adherence to hydrocarbons (MATH) assay and determine the recovery of spores by hexadecane extraction from water, milk and orange juice using a modified version of this assay. In water mixtures, the hydrophobicity of B. anthracis spores ranged from 5 to 80% as the concentration of hexadecane and the mixing time increased. Two of the three strains showed significantly different hydrophobicity values. Increased pre-incubation temperature of the spore suspension had inconsistent effects on hydrophobicity across the three strains. The hydrophobicity of spores did not change significantly during storage at 4 C. However, recovery of spores in the hexadecane fraction from aqueous mixtures was always less than 5% even at conditions in which the hydrophobicity values were greater than 40%. The recovery of spores in the hexadecane fraction increased to almost 20% when the hexadecane was mixed with milk or orange juice, although the majority of spores remained in the aqueous phase. The B. anthracis spores were relatively hydrophobic according to the MATH assay, but this test was not a good predictor of the partitioning of B. anthracis spores to hexadecane. The separation of B. anthracis from food matrices using hexadecane extraction was ineffective. Although the modified MATH assay was not able to efficiently extract B. anthracis from various food media, development of methods for rapid concentration and separation of this and other select agents from food remains vital to food defense.

Annona squamosa and Catunaregam nilotica seeds and oils were characterized for their approximate analysis and physico-chemical properties. The oil and protein contents were 26.8, 17.5 and 40.0, 22.2%, in A. squamosa and C. nilotica seeds, respectively. The oils were extracted using cold extraction (CE) and Soxhlet extraction (SE) methods. Fatty acids and tocopherols were determined by GC–MS and HPLC, respectively. Generally the physico-chemical properties and fatty acids were not significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by the extraction methods. The major fatty acids of A. squamosa oil extracted by CE and SE were oleic 49.2 and 50.5%, linoleic 22.3 and 22.7%, palmitic 15.6 and 15.2%, and stearic 10.6 and 9.3%, respectively. While the major fatty acids in C. nilotica oil extracted by CE and SE were oleic 10.5, and 10.4%, linoleic 63.1 and 63.4%, palmitic 9.7 and 9.8% and stearic 5.1 and 5.4%, respectively. The tocopherol content of CE and SE extracted oils from A. squamosa amounted to 16.6 and 15.5 and from C. nilotica amounted to 110.5 and 107.7 mg/100 g oil, respectively, with delta-tocopherol as the predominant tocopherol in A. squamosa oil, and beta-tocopherol in C. nilotica oil. The total amount of amino acids was found to be 7.266 and 14.202 g/100 g protein, in seeds of A. squamosa and C. nilotica, respectively.

Grewia polysaccharide gum, a potential pharmaceutical excipient was extracted from the inner stem bark of Grewia mollis, thereupon drying was achieved by three techniques: air-drying, freeze-drying and spraydrying. Analysis of the monosaccharide composition including 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopic analysis of the polysaccharide gum was carried out. The effect of the drying methods on the physicochemical properties of the gum was evaluated by Fourier transformed infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy, solid-state 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and gel permeation chromatography. Monosaccharide sugar analysis revealed that the gum is composed of glucose, rhamnose, galactose, arabinose and xylose as the main neutral sugars. These were supported by the results from 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopic analysis. FT-IR and solid-state NMR results indicated that drying technique has little effect on the structure of the polysaccharide gum but XPS showed that surface chemistry of the gum varied with drying methods. Thermogravimetric analyses showed that oxidation onset varied according to the drying method. The molecular weight was also dependent on the drying technique. For industrial extrapolation, air-drying may be preferable to spray-drying and freeze-drying when relative cost, product stability and powder flow are required, for example in tablet formulation.

— In this time, due to fast improvement in communication technology through a internet accessing is easier. The main disturbance of digital content is to protect distribution and unauthorized copying. Audio watermarking has been proposed as solution to this issue. Audio watermarking is a technique that hides copyright information into audiosignal without affecting original quality of audio signal. In this paper proposes audio watermarking technique to embedding and extraction procedure in DCT domain.

Copper(II) chelates of the Schiff bases (H2L), obtained by condensation of 4-butyryl-3-methyl-1-phenyl-pyrazoline-5-one (HBMPP) with o-phenylene diamine (H2L1) and p-phenylene diamine (H2L2), have been prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, thermogravimetric analyses, magnetic measurements, diffuse reflectance spectra, IR and mass spectra, and conductance measurements. The extractability of copper(II) with H2L in chloroform was examined. Effective extraction was observed with 1 × 10−3 mol dm−3 of ligands at pH 6.5 using H2L1 and pH 7.0 using H2L2. The nature of the extracted species was ascertained by the slope analysis method. The ligand can effectively be used in solvent extraction of copper(II) from aqueous phase to organic phase.

Abstract: Meloidogyne chitwoodi and M. fallax are quarantine organisms in Europe. One measure to restrict the spread of these nematodes is careful inspection of potato tubers. The distribution of M. chitwoodi in heavily infected tubers was studied and several methods for extraction of these nematodes from tubers were compared. The majority of the nematodes (96%) were found in the first 5.25 mm of the tuber, corresponding to the depth of the vascular ring. About half of them were found between 1.75 and 3.50 mm deep. Incubation of small ...

In the paper physical and chemical properties of natural bitumen of oil sands were investigated. For the determination of organic part (natural bitumen) of oil sands the extraction methods was used in Soxhlet apparatus by solvent. Physical and mechanical characteristics of natural bitumen (NB) are established by standard methods: softening temperature was determined by the method Ring and Ball, depth of needle penetration was determined at apparatus Penetrometer, extensibility was determined by apparatus Ductilometer.

This study investigated the use of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) to improve the extraction efficiency of the classical solvent extraction techniques such as maceration and soxhlet extraction to extract anti-oxidant activity compounds, anthraquinones, from the root of Morinda citrifolia. The effects of different extraction conditions were determined, i.e., temperature of (25, 45, 60°C), ultrasonic power, solvent types, and compositions of ethanol in ethanol-water mixtures. The results show that the yield increases with increasing extraction times and extraction temperatures. The percent recovery of anthraquinones using ultrasound was found to be highly dependent on the type of solvents (acetone > acetonitrile > methanol > ethanol). Furthermore, the use of ethanol-water solution as extraction solvent increased the yield of anthraquinones due to the relative polarity, the swelling effect of plant tissue matrix by water, and increased sound absorption. To achieve the same recovery as that achieved by UAE, soxhlet extraction and maceration required much longer time.

The increasing presence of siloxanes in waste activated sludge (WAS) considerably hampers the energy use of the biogas obtained during the anaerobic digestion of the sludge when concentrations exceed critical limits. To prevent the occurrence of unacceptable operating conditions, it is hence necessary to have a reliable analysis method for determining the siloxane content of the sludge. This paper describes and validates such a method, consisting of the extraction of the siloxanes using n-hexane and a subsequent analysis of the extract using GC-FID. The validation procedure confirms the excellent recovery and repeatability of the proposed method.

A sequential arsenic extraction method was developed that yielded extraction efficiencies (EE) that were approximately double those using current methods for terrestrial plants. The method was applied to plants from two arsenic contaminated sites and showed potential for risk assessment studies. In the method, plants were extracted first by 1:1 water-methanol followed by 0.1M hydrochloric (HCl) acid. Total arsenic in plant and soil samples collected from contaminated sites was mineralized by acid digestion and detected by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS). Arsenic speciation was done by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with HG-AAS (HPLC-HGAAS) and by HPLC coupled with ICP-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS). Spike recovery experiments with arsenite (As(III)), arsenate (As(V)), methylarsonic acid (MA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) showed stability of the species in the extraction...

This work is the first attempt to apply aqueous two-phase mixed micellar systems (ATPMS) of the nonionic surfactant Triton X-114 and the anionic one AOT to extract clavulanic acid (CA) from broth fermented by Streptomyces clavuligerus. Cloud points were determined in McIlvane buffer pH 6.5 with or without NaCl, and diagram phases/coexistence curves were constructed. CA partition was investigated following a 2 4 -full factorial design in which AOT (0.022, 0.033 and 0.044% w/w), Triton X-114 (1.0, 3.0 and 5.0% w/w) and NaCl (0, 2.85 and 5.70% w/w) concentrations and temperature (24, 26 and 28 • C) were selected as independent variables, and CA partition coefficient (K CA ) and yield in the top phase (Á CA ) as responses. CA partitioned always to the top, micelle-poor phase. The regression analysis pointed out that NaCl concentration and interaction between temperature and Triton X-114 concentration had statistically significant effects on K CA , while Á CA was mainly influenced by temperature, Triton X-114 concentration and their interaction. Different ATPMS compositions were then needed to maximize these responses, specifically 0.022% (w/w) AOT, 5% (w/w) Triton X-114 for K CA (2.08), and 0.044% (w/w) AOT, 1% (w/w) Triton X-114 for Á CA (98.7%), both at 24 • C without NaCl. Since at 0.022% (w/w) AOT, 1% (w/w) Triton X-114 and 28 • C without NaCl the system was able to ensure satisfactory intermediate results (K CA = 1.48; Á CA = 86.3%), these conditions were selected as the best ones. These preliminary results are of concern for possible industrial application, because CA partition to the dilute phase can simplify the subsequent purification protocol.

There is an increasing interest in the microbial communities resident in the gastrointestinal tracts of verte-brates due to the recognition that these microbiomes play critical roles in the nutrition and health of their hosts (1). To overcome the bias and limitations inherent with cultivation-...

Different rice starch samples were obtained varying extraction solution, soaking temperature and length. Gelatinization properties were determined at different water concentrations by differential scanning calorimetry at constant heating rate, revealing no influence by the extraction parameters. Gelatinization kinetics were studied on starch extracted for 6 h with 0.2% NaOH, at 30°C with the aim of comparing some mathematical methods, in order to find whether this technique could be used to estimate the kinetic parameters. Activation energy and order of reaction were calculated at different water:starch ratios and heating rates, to partly simulate the wide variety of conditions for processes where starch gelatinization is involved. Water content influenced both gelatinization enthalpy and E a , while heating rate influenced the temperature. Non-isothermal DSC was able to characterize the gelatinization process only if the kinetics of the process were already known, since all the tested models well fitted experimental data but gave quite different values of E a .

Among all the arts-those children of pleasure and necessity in which man has participated to help him bear the trials of life and pass on his memory to future generations-one cannot deny that architecture must hold a most eminent place. Even considered only from the point of usefulness, it surpasses all the other arts. It ensures to the salubrity of cities, guards the health of men, protects their properties, and works only for the safety, repose and orderliness of civic life.

Eggplant is one of most common vegetables consumed all around the world. This study has assayed antioxidants from the byproduct (peel) of eggplant (Solanum melongena), using three extraction solvents: 70% methanol, 70% ethanol and 70% acetone. For each solvent, content of total phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, and total anthocyanins were quantified. Antioxidant activity of different extracts were screened using the ferric reducing power, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH • ) radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) scavenging and metal chelating activities. The results showed that 70% methanol is the best solvent for the extraction of anthocyanins (82.83 ± 1.07 mg DGE/100 g DP), whereas, 70% acetone is the best solvent for the extraction of total phenolics, flavonoids and tannins (29.3 ± 1.23 mg GAE/100 g DE; 18.5 ± 0.07 mg QE/100 g DE and 5.37 ± 0.22 mg TAE/100 g DE, respectively). Anthocyanic extracts have exhibited the higher reducing power (39 ± 2.5 mg QE/100 g DE) and scavenging activity (IC 50 = 2.88 ± 0.02 mg/mL), whereas the phenolic extracts have shown the highest metal chelating activity (18.53 ± 0.4%).

Rice bran, a by product of rice milling, is a powdery, fluffy material that consists of particles of pericarp, seed coat, aleurone, germ, and fine starchy endosperm. It may also contain parts of seeds or kernels. Rice bran consists of 12-25% fat, 10-16% protein, 10-20% starch, 3-8% reducing sugars, 8-11% hemicelluloses, 10-12% celluloses, 6-15% crude fiber, 6.5-10% ash, 0.9-2.9% oryzanol (10), and essential mineral contents (18). Rice bran contains low amounts of soluble fiber; therefore, it is cholesterol lowering. Other health-enhancing properties may be related to compounds, such as plant sterols, tocopherols, oryzanol, and β-sitosterol (15). Rice bran contains trypsin, chemotrypsin inhibitors, phytate, and hemaglutinin-lectin. Due to these toxic or indigestible components, rice bran is not readily available as a human food source, although it is incorporated into poultry and cattle feed as a low-quality ingredient (6). However, knowledge and technological advances have made it possible to better overcome these toxicity problems. A significant development was achieved by applying a heat treatment to alleviate the adverse effects of toxicities caused by raw rice bran (6). Functional properties of starch of rice

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In 2013, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa announced the end of the Yasuní-ITT initiative. The initiative had proposed to combat climate change by not exploiting oil reserves in one section of the Yasuní National Park. Anticipating outcry, Correa promised that operations would affect less than one thousandth of the park, or “menos del uno por mil.” This article examines the role of numerical calculations in the governance of subterranean resources. Numbers do a particular kind of labor to rationalize the shift contained in the Yasuní-ITT initiative that rhetoric alone does not. Metrics such as el uno por mil constitute and translate between diverse realms of value. Yet, contrary to the assumption that numbers are derived from strictly technical, expert processes, I show how such metrics are fundamental to translations between incalculable matters of nature, the future, and the “good” when deployed in contests over the effects of oil on life.

The chemical composition and in vitro antioxidant activity of aqueous butanol and ethyl acetate extracts of Pleurotus sajor-caju were investigated in this study. Twenty-two compounds comprising methyl esters, hydrocarbon fatty acids, ethyl esters, and sterols were identified in ethyl acetate extracts, while cinnamic acid, nicotinamide, benzeneacetamide, and 4-hydroxybenzaldyhde were identified in butanol extracts by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and NMR analysis. The antioxidant activity was determined by a β-carotene bleaching method, ferric reducing antioxidant power, trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, and lipid peroxidation assays, while the total phenolic content in P. sajor-caju was assessed by Folin-Ciocalteau's method. The aqueous and butanol extracts exhibited the highest antioxidant activity, corresponding to the total phenolic content. The subfractions from the ethyl acetate extract (EP1, EP2, EP3, and EP4), however, showed moderate antioxidant activity. The regular consumption of P. sajor-caju as a part of our diet may render nutritional and nutraceuticals benefits for good health.

Isolation of carrot fruit (Daucus carrota L., cultivar ''Chanteney") essential oil by supercritical carbon dioxide was investigated from the pretreatment of herbaceous matrix and extraction conditions to the chemical composition of obtained extract and its antimicrobial activity. The qualitative and quantitative analyses of the supercritical extract, as well as of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation, were done by GC/FID and GC/MS methods. Antimicrobial properties of both samples were investigated against ten species of microorganisms. Experimental results showed that the particle size had no influence on the extraction process. The highest yield was obtained at 40°C and 10 MPa. The main component of the supercritical extract, as well as of the essential oil was carotol. The supercritical extract was characterized by the presence of heavier molecular weight compounds, while some lighter compounds, e.g. pinenes, were not detected. The supercritical extract and the essential oil were the most effective against Gram-positive bacteria.

ABSTRACT In order to more fully utilize pennycress, a potentially viable bio-diesel source, the proteinaceous components were extracted from pennycress seeds and press cake. The amino acid composition of the proteins present in pennycress was typical for proteins derived from plants, with glycine, glutamic acid and alanine being prevalent. Water, 0.5 M sodium chloride, 60% acetic acid, 0.1 M sodium hydroxide and ethanol were used in sequential order to remove the protein from pennycress seeds and press cake and determine the various soluble protein fractions. Extraction temperature was varied from 5 to 77 °C. The highest yield of material (35%) was obtained by extracting pennycress seeds with water at 77 °C. However, this material had only moderate levels of protein (25%) with the remainder being carbohydrates and oil (as determined by infrared spectroscopy). The use of 0.5 M sodium chloride to remove protein from press cake at 5 °C produced material with the highest protein content (83%), but extraction yield was 25%. When extractions were carried out at 77 °C, oil typically began to be a major impurity in the protein. Using bomb calorimetry, the material remaining after extraction was found to have some value as a fuel source.

Background: Patients with ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP) lose vision due to corneal disease or cataract, which may be senile, drug induced or complex. The success of cataract surgery in these patients may be limited by an increased risk of surgical complications due to difficult access and visualisation, exacerbation of the cicatrising disease following surgery or later progression of the corneal disease. We report our experience on cataract surgery in OCP. q Methods: Cataract surgery was performed on 15 eyes of 13 patients. In the pre-and postoperative examinations the stage of the condition (according Foster's classification), the degree of conjunctival hyperaemia and the visual acuity (VA) were evaluated and topical and systemic medication recorded. All procedures used a corneal incision. The technique was intracapsular (ICCE) in 1, extracapsular (ECCE) in 4 and phacoemulsification in 10 eyes. In 13 of 15 cases an intraocular lens was implanted. The unoperated fellow eyes constituted a control group. Duration of postoperative follow-up was 35.8±39.1 months. q Results: 10 of 15 eyes had stage III disease or

A review with 178 references on the basic principles and recent developments in the solid phase extraction is presented. New solid phases, chromatographic modes, experimental configurations and off-line and on-line automated devices are discussed.

In this work is presented a method for observing directly the behavior of the interface in a liquid}liquid system and in particular the interfacial cellular convection in the system water}acetic acid}butylacetate. The technique used for visualizing interfacial turbulence is real-time dynamic holographic interferometry (HI) in Bi TiO (BTO) crystal in four-wave mixing con"guration. The present method is quicker and simpler than other optical methods to study interfacial turbulence.

The chemical properties of organic matter affect important soil processes such as speciation, solubilization, and transport of plant nutrients and metals. This work uses ultrahigh resolution electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry to determine the molecular composition of three organic matter fractions of soils and aqueous extracts of crop biomass. Comparison of the van Krevelen plots allowed tracking the changes in organic matter with increasing humification. Aqueous plant biomass extracts contain a diverse mixture of lipids, proteins, and lignins. Soil aqueous extracts were marked by increases in lignin and carbohydrate components and decrease in the protein component as compared to the plant extract. Refractory humic acid fractions were marked by decrease in the lignin component and increases in the lipid and condensed aromatic components. The multivariate indicator species analysis was used to identify marker components of the four organic matter types investigated. The plant extract group had 772 marker components compared to 237 for soil aqueous extract, 92 for mobile humic acid, and 418 for calcium humic acid. This study demonstrates that ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and multivariate methods can be used to identify marker components to gain a molecular-scale description and understanding of C dynamics.