Phospho- and sphingolipid distribution during processing of milk, butter and whey

Phospho‐ and sphingolipids (SPHs) were monitored upon processing of raw milk into skimmed milk, cream, butter, buttermilk, fresh cheese, acid whey, anhydrous milk fat and butterserum (=the aqueous phase of butter). These products were analysed on polar lipids, fat and dry matter and corresponding balances were calculated. It was found that polar lipids were preferentially enriched in aqueous phases like skimmed milk, buttermilk and butterserum. Significant differences in relative SPH content were observed. Tangential filtration and thermocalcic aggregation of the acid whey successfully recovered the polar lipids. With 11.5% of polar lipids on a dry matter base, representing 28.4% of the milk polar lipids and only 0.9% of the milk mass, butterserum was found to be most suitable for further purification. This could result in a food (ingredient) with enhanced technological and nutritional properties, as recent studies reveal health‐improving capacities of phospho‐ and SPHs.     

Platinum particle size and support effects in NO(x) mediated carbon oxidation over platinum catalysts

Platinum metal was dispersed on microporous, mesoporous, and nonporous support materials including the zeolites Na-Y, Ba-Y, Ferrierite, ZSM-22, ETS-10, and AIPO-11, alumina, and titania. The oxidation of carbon black loosely mixed with catalyst powder was monitored gravimetrically in a gas stream containing nitric oxide, oxygen, and water. The carbon oxidation activity of the catalysts was found to be uniquely related to the Pt dispersion and little influenced by support type. The optimum dispersion is around 3-4% corresponding to relatively large Pt particle sizes of 20-40 nm. The carbon oxidation activity reflects the NO oxidation activity of the platinum catalyst, which reaches an optimum in the 20-40 nm Pt particle size range. The lowest carbon oxidation temperatures were achieved with platinum loaded ZSM-22 and AIPO-11 zeolite crystallites bearing platinum of optimum dispersion on their external surfaces.     

Landscape as framework for integrating local subsistence and ecotourism: a case study in Zimbabwe

Ecotourism can be a solution for mitigating the negative environmental and socio-economic impacts of new developments in fragile environments. Before planning an ecotourist project, it is necessary to consider an area that not only covers the margins of the development zone, but also a wider perimeter of physically and culturally related landscape parts. This paper describes an approach to the demarcation and analysis of an expanded zone around a new reservoir near Bulawayo, larger than an originally designated narrow natural fringe. The concept gains in many ways, in landscape diversity, in cultural assets and in interaction with local residents to whom ecotourisms should be profitable in the first place.     

Homogeneous Liquid–Liquid Extraction of Rare Earths with the Betaine—Betainium Bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide Ionic Liquid System

Several fundamental extraction parameters such as the kinetics and loading were studied for a new type of metal solvent extraction system with ionic liquids. The binary mixture of the ionic liquid betainium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide and water shows thermomorphic behavior with an upper critical solution temperature (UCST), which can be used to avoid the slower mass transfer due to the generally higher viscosity of ionic liquids. A less viscous homogeneous phase and mixing on a molecular scale are obtained when the mixture is heated up above 55 °C. The influence of the temperature, the heating and cooling times, were studied for the extraction of neodymium(III) with betaine. A plausible and equal extraction mechanism is proposed in bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, nitrate, and chloride media. After stripping of the metals from the ionic liquid phase, a higher recovery of the ionic liquid was obtained by salting-out of the ionic liquid fraction lost by dissolution in the aqueous phase. The change of the upper critical solution temperature by the addition of HCl or betaine was investigated. In addition, the viscosity was measured below and above the UCST as a function of the temperature.     

Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella spp. strains isolated from bovine meat in Za?re.

A large majority (87.4%) of 190 Staphylococcus aureus isolates from fresh beef in Lubumbashi (Za?re) belonged to the human St. aureus ecovar; 81.2% of the phage-typed human strains were partially or solely lysed by phages of group III. Thirteen of the 52 tested strains (25.0%) were enterotoxin producers; nine of these (69.2%) were positive for staphylococcal enterotoxin A. Sixteen serotypes were identified among the 122 Salmonella isolates and nearly all these strains were susceptible to the 8 different antibiotics tested.     

Enhanced Quantitative Extraction and HPLC Determination of Hop and Beer Bitter Acids

A pleasant and consistent bitterness is an essential flavour attribute of beer. Hop‐derived iso‐α‐acids are largely responsible for beer bitterness and accurate determination of these primary flavour compounds is very important in relation to quality control. The most widely used way to determine beer bitterness is based on spectrophotometry, measuring the absorbance of an iso‐octane extract of acidified beer. However, this approach is far from specific as it measures all of the extracted compounds, including non‐bittering principles. For that particular reason, High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is increasingly applied for the quantitative determination of hop‐derived iso‐α‐acids and, if present, reduced iso‐α‐acids. However, to obtain accurate data on beer bitterness profiles, both quantitative sample preparation and state‐of‐the‐art HPLC are essential. In this paper, several extraction procedures based on solid phase extraction (SPE) and liquid‐liquid extraction (LLE), respectively, were evaluated and an optimised extraction methodology using H₃PO₄ for sample acidification prior to extraction is presented. The proposed extraction/HPLC methodology allows for the quantitative recovery and analysis of hop‐derived beer bitterness.     

Solid State Structure and Lyotropic Mesomorphism of Rare-Earth Trisdode-cylsulphates in the Water-Ethylene Glycol System

The phase behaviour of lanthanide(Ⅲ) dodecylsulphates, Ln(C12H25SO4)3, by thermo-optical microscopy using Lawrence penetration technique was investigated. The lyotropic phase behaviour of lanthanide(Ⅲ) dodecylsulphates in ethylene glycol water in mixtures hereof, depends on the composition of the solvent. For pure ethylene glycol and mixtures of ethylene glycol and water three different mesophases are formed, i.e.a lamellar, a cubic and a hexagonal phase, whereas when water is used as solvent no cubic phase is formed. The size of the lanthanide ion has no influence on the mesomorphism of these metallomesogens, although the smaller the lanthanide ion the lower the solubility.     

Negation and affirmation: the role of involutive negators

Strict negators and automorphisms are prevalently used to fuzzify the Boolean negation and affirmation. Involutive negators are of particular interest. Every monotone [0,1] → [0,1] bijection is a composition of at most four involutive negators. Involutive negators are geometrically recognized by the symmetry of their graph w.r.t. the first bisector. If the graph of an automorphism has an alternating behavior, we can generate the automorphism by a pair of involutive negators.     

Component level ESD testing

This paper reviews different aspects of ESD component level testing. Traditional and alternate test methods are addressed. Focus topics are the device-under-test to tester interaction, the tester specifications and parasitics, the test procedures and test result reproduction and correlation. The purpose of the paper is to serve as a tutorial on the subject of Component Level ESD Testing.