Hydrodynamics of cholinium chloride-based aqueous biphasic systems (ABS): a key study for their industrial implementation

Aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) have been widely studied for extraction and purification processes. Although they are considered biocompatible, amenable, and sustainable separation platforms, their application on an industrial scale remains impractical without proper scaling and integration into existing processes. To better understand the hydrodynamics of ABS formation, three cholinium chloride ([Ch]Cl)-based ABS composed of polypropylene glycol with a molecular weight of 400 g.mol−1 (PPG-400), tripotassium phosphate (K3PO4), and dipotassium hydrogen-phosphate (K2HPO4) were studied. The hydrodynamics of phase separation of ABS composed of PPG-400/[Ch]Cl, [Ch]Cl/K3PO4 and [Ch]Cl/K2HPO4 was studied by analysing the relationship between the mixing time (Tm) and the phase settling time (Ts), at 25 °C and 50 °C. The results showed that Ts is independent of Tm, which is very long for the polymer/salt systems (Ts > 6 h), while for salt/salt ABS, a very fast phase settling was observed (Ts < 150 s). The hydrodynamics of each salt/salt system was then correlated with the physicochemical properties of the coexisting phases and the nature of the phase-forming compounds. The increase in the salting-out effect of the inorganic salts, and the consequent larger differences between the compositions of the coexisting phases, improved the hydrodynamics of the [Ch]Cl-based ABS. With the increase of the tie-line lengths, the composition of the phases stabilized, resulting also in more stable physicochemical properties in each phase and constant Ts. The correlations obtained in this work allow the definition of the best operating region within the biphasic (liquid-liquid) region of [Ch]Cl/salt-based ABS as being the largest TLLs within the LLE region. The definition of these criteria and region of operation is crucial for the design and industrial implementation of these types of LLE processes using conventional mixer-settler units.publishe

Estabilidad oxidativa de aceites de soja y maíz enriquecidos con extracto hidroalcohólico de Pluchea quitoc

Soybean and corn oils are among the most popular vegetable oils, and are ingredients which are widely used in cooking and in the food industry. These oils contain many unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids, which makes them easily oxidized by oxygen. Extensive efforts are being made to prevent or minimize vegetable oil oxidation through the development of antioxidants. Phenolic antioxidants which are present in some extracts can be used as food additives to prevent lipid oxidation. In this study chromatographic analyses (HPLC and GC) of the&nbsp;Pluchea quitoc&nbsp;hydroalcoholic extract were performed. The content of phenolic compounds by the Folin-Ciocalteau method and the antioxidant properties against radicals 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) were also evaluated. The effect of samples prepared with soybean and corn oils enriched with&nbsp;Pluchea quitoc&nbsp;hydroalcoholic extract was determined and compared with samples of these oils which were free of antioxidants and with samples containing the synthetic antioxidant BHT. The results showed potential for application of the extract. A high content of phenolic compounds (314 milligrams of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g of extract) and good IC50 values were detected for the inhibition of the radicals DPPH and ABTS (13.2 µg·mL-1&nbsp;and 5.6 µg·mL-1). In the evaluation of the oxidative stability of the oils enriched with this extract, it was found that at 1% concentration it was possible to obtain values of induction period (IP) close to the samples with added BHT.Los aceites de soja y maíz se encuentran entre los aceites vegetales más populares, ingredientes ampliamente utilizados en la cocina y también en la industria alimentaria. Estos aceites contienen muchos ácidos grasos insaturados como los ácidos oleico, linoleico y linolénico que se oxidan fácilmente con el oxígeno. Se están realizando grandes esfuerzos para prevenir o minimizar la oxidación de los aceites vegetales mediante el desarrollo de antioxidantes. Los antioxidantes fenólicos presentes en algunos extractos se pueden utilizar como aditivos alimentarios para prevenir la oxidación de lípidos. En este estudio se realizó la obtención y análisis cromatográficos (HPLC y GC) del extracto hidroalcohólico de&nbsp;Pluchea quitoc. El contenido de compuestos fenólicos se evaluó por el método de Folin-Ciocalteau y las propiedades antioxidantes frente a radicales DPPH y ABTS. Se determinó el efecto de muestras preparadas con aceites de soja y maíz enriquecidas con extracto hidroalcohólico de&nbsp;Pluchea quitoc&nbsp;y se comparó con muestras de estos aceites libres de antioxidantes y con el antioxidante sintético BHT. Los resultados mostraron potencial para la aplicación del extracto. Se detectó un alto contenido de compuestos fenólicos (314 mg GAE) y buenos valores de IC50 para la inhibición de los radicales DPPH y ABTS (13.2 µg·mL-1&nbsp;y 5.6 µg·mL-1). En la evaluación de la estabilidad oxidativa de los aceites enriquecidos con este extracto, se encontró que para la concentración del 1% es posible obtener valores de período de inducción (IP) cercanos a las muestras adicionadas con BHT

On Aharonov-Casher bound states

In this work bound states for the Aharonov-Casher problem are considered. According to Hagen's work on the exact equivalence between spin-1/2 Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher effects, is known that the $\boldsymbol{\nabla}\cdot\mathbf{E}$ term cannot be neglected in the Hamiltonian if the spin of particle is considered. This term leads to the existence of a singular potential at the origin. By modeling the problem by boundary conditions at the origin which arises by the self-adjoint extension of the Hamiltonian, we derive for the first time an expression for the bound state energy of the Aharonov-Casher problem. As an application, we consider the Aharonov-Casher plus a two-dimensional harmonic oscillator. We derive the expression for the harmonic oscillator energies and compare it with the expression obtained in the case without singularity. At the end, an approach for determination of the self-adjoint extension parameter is given. In our approach, the parameter is obtained essentially in terms of physics of the problem.Comment: 11 pages, matches published versio

Photoinduced antibacterial activity of the essential oils from Eugenia brasiliensis lam and Piper mosenii C. DC. by blue led light

The objective of this work was to evaluate the phytochemical composition and the antibacterial and antibiotic-modulating activities of the essential oils of Eugenia brasiliensis Lam (OEEb) and Piper mosenii C. DC (OEPm) singly or in association with blue LED (Light-emitting diode) light. The antibacterial and antibiotic-modulatory activities of the essential oils on the activity of aminoglycosides were evaluated to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC, \u3bcg/mL) in the presence or absence of exposure to blue LED light. The chemical analysis showed \u3b1-pinene and bicyclogermacrene as major constituents of OEPm, whereas \u3b1-muurolol was the main compound of OEEb. Both OEEb and OEPm showed MIC 65 512 \u3bcg/mL against the strains under study. However, the association of these oils with the blue LED light enhanced the action of the aminoglycosides amikacin and gentamicin. In conclusion, the association of aminoglycosides with the blue LED light and essential oils was effective against resistant bacteria

Parentage test in broad-snouted caimans (Caiman latirostris, Crocodylidae) using microsatellite DNA

In this study, microsatellite markers, developed for Alligator mississipiensis and Caiman latirostris, were used to assess parentage among individuals from the captive colony of Caiman latirostris at the University of São Paulo, in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. Many of the females in the colony were full siblings, which made maternal identification difficult due to genotypic similarity. Even so, the most likely mother could be identified unambiguously among offspring in most of the clutches studied. Two non-parental females displayed maternal behavior which would have misled managers in assigning maternity based on behavior alone. This set of variable loci demonstrates the utility of parentage testing in captive propagation programs

A constructive study of the module structure of rings of partial differential operators

The purpose of this paper is to develop constructive versions of Stafford's theorems on the module structure of Weyl algebras A n (k) (i.e., the rings of partial differential operators with polynomial coefficients) over a base field k of characteristic zero. More generally, based on results of Stafford and Coutinho-Holland, we develop constructive versions of Stafford's theorems for very simple domains D. The algorithmization is based on the fact that certain inhomogeneous quadratic equations admit solutions in a very simple domain. We show how to explicitly compute a unimodular element of a finitely generated left D-module of rank at least two. This result is used to constructively decompose any finitely generated left D-module into a direct sum of a free left D-module and a left D-module of rank at most one. If the latter is torsion-free, then we explicitly show that it is isomorphic to a left ideal of D which can be generated by two elements. Then, we give an algorithm which reduces the number of generators of a finitely presented left D-module with module of relations of rank at least two. In particular, any finitely generated torsion left D-module can be generated by two elements and is the homomorphic image of a projective ideal whose construction is explicitly given. Moreover, a non-torsion but non-free left D-module of rank r can be generated by r+1 elements but no fewer. These results are implemented in the Stafford package for D=A n (k) and their system-theoretical interpretations are given within a D-module approach. Finally, we prove that the above results also hold for the ring of ordinary differential operators with either formal power series or locally convergent power series coefficients and, using a result of Caro-Levcovitz, also for the ring of partial differential operators with coefficients in the field of fractions of the ring of formal power series or of the ring of locally convergent power series. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media

Measurement of the Bs0→J/ψKS0B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0 branching fraction

The $B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ branching fraction is measured in a data sample corresponding to 0.41$fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions affecting the sin2$\beta$ measurement from $B^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ The time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be $BF(B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0)=(1.83\pm0.28)\times10^{-5}$. This is the most precise measurement to date

Model-independent search for CP violation in D0→K−K+π−π+ and D0→π−π+π+π− decays

A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states K−K+π−π+ and π−π+π+π− is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the K−K+π−π+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the π−π+π+π− final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity

Absolute luminosity measurements with the LHCb detector at the LHC

Absolute luminosity measurements are of general interest for colliding-beam experiments at storage rings. These measurements are necessary to determine the absolute cross-sections of reaction processes and are valuable to quantify the performance of the accelerator. Using data taken in 2010, LHCb has applied two methods to determine the absolute scale of its luminosity measurements for proton-proton collisions at the LHC with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. In addition to the classic "van der Meer scan" method a novel technique has been developed which makes use of direct imaging of the individual beams using beam-gas and beam-beam interactions. This beam imaging method is made possible by the high resolution of the LHCb vertex detector and the close proximity of the detector to the beams, and allows beam parameters such as positions, angles and widths to be determined. The results of the two methods have comparable precision and are in good agreement. Combining the two methods, an overall precision of 3.5% in the absolute luminosity determination is reached. The techniques used to transport the absolute luminosity calibration to the full 2010 data-taking period are presented.Comment: 48 pages, 19 figures. Results unchanged, improved clarity of Table 6, 9 and 10 and corresponding explanation in the tex