Metabolite profiling of heat treated whole palm oil extract

The chemically complex and diverse nature of the plant metabolome require different platform technology to entire range of metabolites. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS/MS) technique was developed to profile and identify a set of small-molecule metabolites found in heat treated whole palm oil extract. An investigation was carried out on the effect of heat treatment on the yield, quality and metabolites profile for whole palm oil extract. Palm fruits were collected, cleaned and sterilized for 0, 20, 40 and 60 minutes. The kernels were then stripped from the sterilized fruit to get the pulp (mesocarp part) and later the pulp was pressed using small scale expeller. The resulting puree was centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 20 minutes. The results show that there was a significant difference between sterilization time of 0 minute and 40 minutes in yield and quality. Of all, the highest yield of oil of 19.9% was obtained at sterilization time of 40 minutes with DOBI value of 5.95 ± 0.08 and FFA of 1.44 ± 0.10. The MarkerView software version 1.2.0.1 analysis of the UPLC-ESI-MS/MS preliminary experimental data demonstrated the distribution and identity of several compounds in the whole palm oil extract for 40 minutes sterilization and 0 minute of sterilization

A threshold for a q-sorting methodology for computer-adaptive surveys

© 2017 Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2017. All rights reserved. Computer-Adaptive Surveys (CAS) are multi-dimensional instruments where questions asked of respondents depend on the previous questions asked. Due to the complexity of CAS, little work has been done on developing methods for validating their content and construct validity. We have created a new q-sorting technique where the hierarchies that independent raters develop are transformed into a quantitative form, and that quantitative form is tested to determine the inter-rater reliability of the individual branches in the hierarchy. The hierarchies are then successively transformed to test if they branch in the same way. The objective of this paper is to identify suitable measures and a “good enough” threshold for demonstrating the similarity of two CAS trees. To find suitable measures, we perform a set of bootstrap simulations to measure how various statistics change as a hypothetical CAS deviates from a “true” version. We find that the 3 measures of association, Goodman and Kruskal's Lambda, Cohen's Kappa, and Goodman and Kruskal's Gamma together provide information useful for assessing construct validity in CAS. In future work we are interested in both finding a “good enough” threshold(s) for assessing the overall similarity between tree hierarchies and diagnosing causes of disagreements between the tree hierarchies

A Q-sorting methodology for Computer-Adaptive Surveys - Style "Research"

Computer-Adaptive Surveys (CAS) are multi-dimensional instruments where questions asked of respondents depend on the previous questions asked. Due to the complexity of CAS, little work has been done on developing methods for validating their construct validity. This paper describes the process of using a variant of Q-sorting to validate a CAS item bank. The method and preliminary results are presented. In addition, lessons learned from this study are discussed

Intermittent generalized synchronization in unidirectionally coupled chaotic oscillators

A new behavior type of unidirectionally coupled chaotic oscillators near the generalized synchronization transition has been detected. It has been shown that the generalized synchronization appearance is preceded by the intermitted behavior: close to threshold parameter value the coupled chaotic systems demonstrate the generalized synchronization most of the time, but there are time intervals during which the synchronized oscillations are interrupted by non-synchronous bursts. This type of the system behavior has been called intermitted generalized synchronization (IGS) by analogy with intermitted lag synchronization (ILS) [Phys. Rev. E \textbf{62}, 7497 (2000)].Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, using epl.cls; published in Europhysics Letters. 70, 2 (2005) 169-17

A new neurosurgical tool incorporating differential geometry and cellular automata techniques

Using optical coherence imaging, it is possible to visualize seizure progression intraoperatively. However, it is difficult to pinpoint an exact epileptic focus. This is crucial in attempts to minimize the amount of resection necessary during surgical therapeutic interventions for epilepsy and is typically done approximately from visual inspection of optical coherence imaging stills. In this paper, we create an algorithm with the potential to pinpoint the source of a seizure from an optical coherence imaging still. To accomplish this, a grid is overlaid on optical coherence imaging stills. This then serves as a grid for a two-dimensional cellular automation. Each cell is associated with a Riemannian curvature tensor representing the curvature of the brain's surface in all directions for a cell. Cells which overlay portions of the image which show neurons that are firing are considered "depolarized"

Recovery of rutin from labisia pumila extract using solid phase extraction

Reflux extraction was used to prepare crude extract from the leaves of Labisia pumila var. Alata using 60% methanol. The crude extract was subsequently fractionated by C18 solid phase extraction to recover high yield of rutin using 20-100% methanol. The volume of eluent to recover rutin was found to decrease with the increase of methanol concentration. The recovery of rutin was increased from 20 to 80% methanol system, but slightly decreased in the 100% methanol system. Approximately, 70% of rutin could be recovered using the 80% methanol system. This solvent system also appears to have the lowest distance (9.44 MPa1/2) for rutin as estimated by Hansen solubility. The recovered rutin rich fraction could achieve up to 3.96 mg/g of fraction which was about 4-fold increment from the crude extract. The increment was also noticed for its antioxidant capacity expressed as scavenging activity which was 2 times higher than crude extract. A portion of water (20%) in the 80% methanol system is important to improve the yield of rutin. Rutin is a glycosylated flavonol, and therefore a small portion of water could enhance its elution compared to the lower performance of 100% methanol in rutin recovery

Phenomenological constraints on minimally coupled exotic lepton triplets

By introducing a set of new triplet leptons (with nonzero hypercharge) that can Yukawa couple to their Standard Model counterparts, new sources of tree-level flavor changing currents are induced via mixing. In this work, we study some of the consequences of such new contributions on processes such as the leptonic decays of gauge bosons, $\ell \rightarrow 3\ell'$ and $\ell \rightarrow \ell' \gamma$ which violate lepton flavor, and mu-e conversion in atomic nuclei. Constraints are then placed on the parameters associated with the exotic triplets by invoking the current low-energy experimental data. Moreover, the new physics contribution to the lepton anomalous magnetic moments is calculated.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables (REVTeX4.1); v2: refs added, to appear in PR

Memory difference control of unknown unstable fixed points: Drifting parameter conditions and delayed measurement

Difference control schemes for controlling unstable fixed points become important if the exact position of the fixed point is unavailable or moving due to drifting parameters. We propose a memory difference control method for stabilization of a priori unknown unstable fixed points by introducing a memory term. If the amplitude of the control applied in the previous time step is added to the present control signal, fixed points with arbitrary Lyapunov numbers can be controlled. This method is also extended to compensate arbitrary time steps of measurement delay. We show that our method stabilizes orbits of the Chua circuit where ordinary difference control fails.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures. See also chao-dyn/9810029 (Phys. Rev. E 70, 056225) and nlin.CD/0204031 (Phys. Rev. E 70, 046205

Structural Characterization of Rapid Thermal Oxidized Si\u3csub\u3e1−x−y\u3c/sub\u3eGe\u3csub\u3ex\u3c/sub\u3eC\u3csub\u3ey\u3c/sub\u3e Alloy Films Grown by Rapid Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition

The structural properties of as-grown and rapid thermal oxidized Si1−x−yGexCy epitaxial layers have been examined using a combination of infrared, x-ray photoelectron, x-ray diffraction, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy techniques. Carbon incorporation into the Si1−x−yGexCy system can lead to compressive or tensile strain in the film. The structural properties of the oxidized Si1−x−yGexCy film depend on the type of strain (i.e., carbon concentration) of the as-prepared film. For compressive or fully compensated films, the oxidation process drastically reduces the carbon content so that the oxidized films closely resemble to Si1−xGex films. For tensile films, two broad regions, one with carbon content higher and the other lower than that required for full strain compensation, coexist in the oxidized films