Improved method for determination of waxes in olive oils: Reduction of silica and use of a less hazardous solvent

The evaluation of the content of waxes is request both by IOC Trade Standard and by Regulation (EEC) 2568/91 and its further amendments. The official method uses 15 g of silicic acid and elutes several fractions by using huge volumes of dangerous solvent (n-hexane). The developed method uses 1 g of silicic acid with a different particle size and less than 20 mL of solvent mixture, substituting n-hexane with less toxic isooctane. Briefly, after spiking with a suitable internal standard, oil sample is fractionated by SPE (Solid Phase Extraction) cartridge with 1 g of silica, waxes are eluted with 14 mL of isooctane/ethyl ether 99/1 (6 mL discarded and 8 mL collected), then, after elution sample is reconstitute in 200 \u3bcL of n-heptane and analysed by capillary GC. Data of "In home" validation, (repeatability, accuracy and recovery) and relative chromatograms are reported in this paper

Migration of polypropylene oligomers into ready-to-eat vegetable soups

Polyolefin oligomeric hydrocarbons (POH) are non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) which mainly reside in the polymer (PE, PP) as a consequence of the polymerization process, and that under favorable conditions (high fat content, high temperature, and long contact time) may migrate at high amount from the packaging into the food. The food industry offers a wide range of ready-to-eat products, among these, vegetable soups designed to be stored at refrigeration temperature (for times around 6 weeks), and in most cases to be heated for a few minutes in a microwave oven (into the original container, mostly of PP) before consumption. The present work aimed to study for the first-time migration of POH during the shelf life of these products, including storage at refrigeration temperature and after microwave heating. On-line high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-gas chromatography (GC), followed by flame ionization detection (FID), was applied for POH analysis in a number of ready-to-eat products purchased from the Italian market. Microwave heating determined a variable POH increase ranging from 0.1 to 6.2 mg/kg. Parameters possibly affecting migration such as fat content and heating time were also studied

Potential application of liquid dye penetrants for serial number restoration on firearms

© 2018, © 2018 Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences. Chemical reagents for serial number restoration are designed to exploit the plastic deformation zone below the obliterated serial number. Most techniques in operational use are variants of Fry’s Reagent. This technique uses toxic, corrosive chemicals and requires a skilful operator in the laboratory. Fry’s Reagent can also be destructive of the firearm due to rusting. In an attempt to find a non-toxic, non-destructive alternative to Fry’s Reagent, this project tested the use of liquid dye penetrants (LDPs), a non-destructive examination technique to detect cracks and imperfections used in the welding industry, for the restoration of obliterated serial numbers. Steel plates bearing an obliterated serial number with a range of obliteration depths were subjected to LDP treatment under various treatment conditions. The results using LDPs were negative for all obliteration depths and all test conditions attempted. Some of the serial numbers were subsequently restored successfully with Fry’s reagent, proving that the plastic deformation zone was present on the steel plates below the obliteration. Further work to develop a non-toxic, non-destructive serial number restoration process will be undertaken

Microwave-based technique for fast and reliable extraction of organic contaminants from food, with a special focus on hydrocarbon contaminants

Due to food complexity and the low amount at which contaminants are usually present in food, their analytical determination can be particularly challenging. Conventional sample preparation methods making use of large solvent volumes and involving intensive sample manipulation can lead to sample contamination or losses of analytes. To overcome the disadvantages of conventional sample preparation, many researchers put their efforts toward the development of rapid and environmental-friendly methods, minimizing solvent consumption. In this context, microwave-assisted-extraction (MAE) has obtained, over the last years, increasing attention from analytical chemists and it has been successfully utilized for the extraction of various contaminants from different foods. In the first part of this review, an updated overview of the microwave-based extraction technique used for rapid and efficient extraction of organic contaminants from food is given. The principle of the technique, a description of available instrumentation, optimization of parameters affecting the extraction yield, as well as integrated techniques for further purification/enrichment prior to the analytical determination, are illustrated. In the second part of the review, the latest applications concerning the use of microwave energy for the determination of hydrocarbon contaminants-namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH)-are reported and critically overviewed and future trends are delineated

Information filtering via Iterative Refinement

With the explosive growth of accessible information, expecially on the Internet, evaluation-based filtering has become a crucial task. Various systems have been devised aiming to sort through large volumes of information and select what is likely to be more relevant. In this letter we analyse a new ranking method, where the reputation of information providers is determined self-consistently.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication on Europhysics Letter

Simultaneous Orthogonal Planarity

We introduce and study the $\textit{OrthoSEFE}-k$ problem: Given $k$ planar graphs each with maximum degree 4 and the same vertex set, do they admit an OrthoSEFE, that is, is there an assignment of the vertices to grid points and of the edges to paths on the grid such that the same edges in distinct graphs are assigned the same path and such that the assignment induces a planar orthogonal drawing of each of the $k$ graphs? We show that the problem is NP-complete for $k \geq 3$ even if the shared graph is a Hamiltonian cycle and has sunflower intersection and for $k \geq 2$ even if the shared graph consists of a cycle and of isolated vertices. Whereas the problem is polynomial-time solvable for $k=2$ when the union graph has maximum degree five and the shared graph is biconnected. Further, when the shared graph is biconnected and has sunflower intersection, we show that every positive instance has an OrthoSEFE with at most three bends per edge.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016

Effect of the refining process on total hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, and tocopherol contents of olive oil

The impact of the olive oil refining process on major antioxidant compound levels was evaluated by means of UHPLC analysis of lampante olive oils collected at different stages of the refining procedure (degumming, chemical and physical flash neutralization, bleaching, and deodorization). For this purpose, the evolution of the tocopherol fraction was investigated by means of the UHPLC-FL method, while the influence of the refining process on the total hydrolyzed phenolic content was assessed by measuring hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol levels after acid hydrolysis of the phenolic extracts. Refining was found to have a marked effect on total hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol contents, as they are completely removed in the early steps of the refining procedure. In contrast, the variation trends of tocopherols are not always clear-cut, and significant decreases in content from 7% to 16% were only revealed during refining in four out of nine samples. In addition, five of the nine refined oils showed final tocopherol concentrations higher than 200 mg/kg, the limit imposed by international standards regarding the content of such compounds in commercial olive oils. This study supports the need for a revision of the International Olive Oil Council (IOC) standard relative to the limit established for tocopherol addition to refined oils to avoid possible legal and economic trade issues

VSP Traveltime Inversion: Near-Surface Issues

P-wave velocity information obtained from vertical seismic profiles (VSPs) can be useful in imaging subsurface structure, either by directly detecting changes in the subsurface or as an aid to the interpretation of seismic reflection data. In the shallow subsurface, P-wave velocity can change by nearly an order of magnitude over a short distance, so curved rays are needed to accurately model VSP traveltimes. We used a curved-ray inversion to estimate the velocity profile and the discrepancy principle to estimate the data noise level and to choose the optimum regularization parameter. The curved-ray routine performed better than a straight-ray inversion for synthetic models containing high-velocity contrasts. The application of the inversion to field data produced a velocity model that agreed well with prior information. These results show that curved-ray inversion should be used to obtain velocity information from VSPs in the shallow subsurface

Determination of brazed joint constitutive law by inverse method

An important parameter often neglected for the calculation of residual stresses in brazed ceramic/metal assemblies is the joint constitutive law. In situ camber measurements on a model system (axisymmetric TZM/InCuSil ABA/316L samples) performed using a special vertical dilatometer during the whole brazing thermal cycle are compared with results of FEM calculations based on published filler metal constitutive laws. A strong disagreement is observed. Actual constitutive law of the joint is determined from these measurements using a numerical inverse method. Calculated displacements are fully consistent with experimental ones. True solidification temperature of the joint is determined. The identified constitutive law of the joint exhibits a low flow stress from solidification temperature to 320°C