Determination Of Flavanones In Orange Juices Obtained From Different Sources By Hplc/dad.

Flavanones (hesperidin, naringenin, naringin, and poncirin) in industrial, hand-squeezed orange juices and from fresh-in-squeeze machines orange juices were determined by HPLC/DAD analysis using a previously described liquid-liquid extraction method. Method validation including the accuracy was performed by using recovery tests. Samples (36) collected from different Brazilian locations and brands were analyzed. Concentrations were determined using an external standard curve. The limits of detection (LOD) and the limits of quantification (LOQ) calculated were 0.0037, 1.87, 0.0147, and 0.0066 mg 100 g(-1) and 0.0089, 7.84, 0.0302, and 0.0200 mg 100 g(-1) for naringin, hesperidin, poncirin, and naringenin, respectively. The results demonstrated that hesperidin was present at the highest concentration levels, especially in the industrial orange juices. Its average content and concentration range were 69.85 and 18.80-139.00 mg 100 g(-1). The other flavanones showed the lowest concentration levels. The average contents and concentration ranges found were 0.019, 0.01-0.30, and 0.12 and 0.1-0.17, 0.13, and 0.01-0.36 mg 100 g(-1), respectively. The results were also evaluated using the principal component analysis (PCA) multivariate analysis technique which showed that poncirin, naringenin, and naringin were the principal elements that contributed to the variability in the sample concentrations.201429683

Determination of mercury in airborne particulate matter collected on glass fiber filters using high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry and direct solid sampling

A study has been undertaken to assess the capability of high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry for the determination of mercury in airborne particulate matter (APM) collected on glass fiber filters using direct solid sampling. The main Hg absorption line at 253.652 nm was used for all determinations. The certified reference material NIST SRM 1648 (Urban Particulate Matter) was used to check the accuracy of the method, and good agreement was obtained between published and determined values. The characteristic mass was 22 pg Hg. The limit of detection (3σ), based on ten atomizations of an unexposed filter, was 40 ng g- 1, corresponding to 0.12 ng m- 3 in the air for a typical air volume of 1440 m3 collected within 24 h. The limit of quantification was 150 ng g-1, equivalent to 0.41 ng m-3 in the air. The repeatability of measurements was better than 17% RSD (n = 5). Mercury concentrations found in filter samples loaded with APM collected in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were between < 40 ng g-1 and 381 ± 24 ng g-1. These values correspond to a mercury concentration in the air between < 0.12 ng m-3 and 1.47 ± 0.09 ng m-3. The proposed procedure was found to be simple, fast and reliable, and suitable as a screening procedure for the determination of mercury in APM samples.Fil: Araujo, Rennan G. O.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Vignola, Fabíola. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Castilho, Ivan N. B.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Borges, Daniel L. G.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; Brasil. Universidade Federal da Bahia; BrasilFil: Welz, Bernhard. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; Brasil. Universidade Federal da Bahia; BrasilFil: Vale, Maria Goreti R.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Brasil. Universidade Federal da Bahia; BrasilFil: Smichowski, Patricia Nora. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ferreira, Sérgio L. C.. Universidade Federal da Bahia; BrasilFil: Becker Ross, Helmut. Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften; Alemani

Multivariate optimization and validation of an analytical method for the determination of cadmium in wines employing ET AAS

This work describes the optimization and validation of a direct method employing electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET AAS) for the determination of cadmium in wine. The optimization step was carried out using a two-level full factorial design, involving the followings factors: pyrolysis time (10 s) and temperature (600 ºC), atomization temperature (1300 ºC) and modifier mass (15 µg). Under the optimized conditions, a characteristic mass of 0.7 pg and limits of detection and quantification of 0.030 and 0.100 µg L-1, respectively, were obtained using a sample volume of 20 µL. The precision expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD %) was 0.30, 0.37 and 0.49% for wines with cadmium concentrations of 1.286, 0.266 and 0.356 µg L-1, respectively. The accuracy of the new direct determination methodology applying ET AAS was assessed by comparison with an acid digestion methodology, also with determination by ET AAS, using five wine samples. The proposed method was applied for the determination of cadmium in 30 Brazilian wine samples. The cadmium content varied from 0.146 to 1.563 µg L-1; all these values are lower than the permissible maximum level stipulated by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) and also by Brazilian legislation, which is 10 µg L-1.O presente trabalho descreve a otimização e validação de um método para determinação direta de cádmio em amostras de vinho por espectrometria de absorção atômica com atomização eletrotérmica (ET AAS). A otimização foi realizada empregando um planejamento fatorial completo de 2 níveis, incluindo os fatores: tempo (10 s) e temperatura de pirólise (600 ºC), temperatura de atomização (1300 ºC) e massa de modificador (15 µg). Sob as condições otimizadas, foi encontrada uma massa característica de 0,7 pg, limite de detecção e quantificação de 0,030 e 0,100 µg L-1, respectivamente, para um volume de amostra de 20 µL. A precisão foi de 0,30, 0,37 e 0,49% (RSD) para amostras de vinho com concentrações de 1,286, 0,266 e 0.356 µg L-1, respectivamente. A exatidão da metodologia de determinação direta empregando ET AAS foi avaliada por comparação usando um método de digestão ácida e determinação também por ET AAS para cinco amostras de vinho. O método foi aplicado para determinação de cádmio em 30 amostras de vinhos brasileiros. A concentração de cádmio variou de 0,146 a 1,563 µg L-1, cujos valores estão abaixo do nível máximo permitido pela Organização Internacional de Vinha e Vinho (OIV) e pela legislação brasileira, 10 µg L-1.788794Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Effectiveness of habitat management in the recovery of low-density populations of wild rabbit.

Understanding the relationship between spatial patterns of landscape attributes and population presence and abundance is essential for understanding population processes as well as supporting management and conservation strategies. This study evaluates the influence of three factors: environment, habitat management, and season on the presence and abundance of the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), an important prey species for Mediterranean endangered predator species. To address this issue, we estimated wild rabbit presence and abundance by latrine counting in transects located in 45 plots within a 250×250 m grid from June 2007 until June 2009 in a 1,200 ha hunting area in southern Portugal.We then analyzed how wild rabbit presence and abundance correlatewith the aforementioned factors. Our results showed that the main variable influencing wild rabbit presence and abundance was the distance to the artificial warrens. North and northeast slope directions were negatively related to wild rabbit presence. Conversely, rabbit presence was positively correlated with short distances to ecotone, artificial warrens, and spring. Regarding rabbit abundance, in addition to artificial warrens, soft soils, bushes, and season also had a positive effect. We found that environmental variables, management practices, and season each affect wild rabbit presence and abundance differently at a home range scale in low-density population. Thus, our major recommendations are reducing the distance to artificial warrens and ecotone, ideally to less than 100 m, and promoting habitat quality improvement on slopes with plenty of sun exposure

Crew Dispatch for Commercial and Technical Services in an Electric Power Distribution Company Using ACO Technique

The aim of this paper is to describe the application of ACO optimization method for dispatch of road crews for commercial and supply restoration services in an electric power distribution company. The proposed methodology takes as input a large amount of different service orders (commercial and supply restoration), ranked by importance. Thus, it is able to create routes to be taken by each road crew, to select the sequence in which the requests will be met on the current day and the ones that will be met on another day in order to better achieve the company’s targets. The methodology presented in this paper is of great relevance for electricity utilities because it optimizes the use of the potential capacity of the available road crews, increasing its efficiency and reducing costs. A computer program – named as ANTECOM – has been developed to apply this method and the results were compared with the ones from the current methodology used by CEMAR (and from other available on the literature), providing better results. Also, it is more suitable for real time applications