Dry Fractionation Approach in Concentrating Tocopherols and Tocotrienols from Palm Fatty Acid Distillate: A Green Pretreatment Process for Vitamin E Extraction

Palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) is a rich source of vitamin E. As compared to other vegetable oil, PFAD has higher tocotrienol (70–80%) over tocopherol content, which makes it a valuable source for vitamin E extraction. Current vitamin E extraction methods are not sustainable due to the intensive usage of chemical and high operational cost. Hence, the present study investigated for the first time using dry fractionation process as a green and economical pretreatment method for separating solid fraction (stearin) and liquid fraction (olein) in order to concentrate vitamin E from PFAD in olein fraction. We examined the dry fractionation conditions: crystallization ending temperature (36–44 °C), cooling rate (0.3 and 1.5°C min⁻¹), stirring speed (20–125 rpm), and holding time (0–60 min) on the composition of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids as well as vitamin E content in liquid fraction (olein) and solid fraction (stearin) using gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, respectively. In most of these conditions, vitamin E was ultimately higher in olein fraction as compared to stearin fraction, which is correlated with the high degree of unsaturation. Under a cooling rate of 0.3°C min⁻¹, 90 rpm stirring speed, and ending crystallization of 38 °C, the highest vitamin E rich olein fraction was attained with 1479 ± 10.51 ppm in 50 g olein fraction as compared to 1366 ± 7.94 ppm in 500 g of unfractionated PFAD.     

小像元红外探测器读出电路设计研究

介绍了基于SMIC 0.18 μm 3.3 V工艺设计研究的第一款小像元红外探测器读出电路,间距10 μm,规模1024×1024。文章详细介绍了像素输入级以及列级、输出级运放的设计,为提高线性摆伏,设计选用了低阈值NMOS管nmvt 33,仿真分析证明低阈值管nmvt 33的噪声性能优于普通管n 33；版图设计对关键信号线和敏感点采取隔离处理措施,对像元间串扰进行了仿真分析,有效控制了信号串扰。电路经测试使用各项功能正常,最大电荷处理能力达到4.3 Me-,动态范围≥65 dB,读出速率达到10 MHz,性能指标满足设计要求。     

Conversion kinetics of container glass batch melting

Understanding the batch-to-glass conversion process is fundamental to optimizing the performance of glass-melting furnaces and ensuring that furnace modeling can correctly predict the observed outcome when batch materials or furnace conditions change. To investigate the kinetics of silica dissolution, gas evolution, and primary foam formation and collapse, we performed X-ray diffraction, thermal gravimetry, feed expansion tests, and evolved gas analysis of batch samples heated at several constant heating rates. We found that gas evolving reactions, foaming, and silica dissolution depend on the thermal history of the batch in a similar manner: the kinetic parameters of each process were linear functions of the square root of the heating rate. This kinetic similarity reflects the stronger-than-expected interdependence of these processes. On the basis of our results, we suggest that changes in furnace operating conditions, such as firing or boosting, influence the melting rate less than what one would expect without consideration of batch conversion kinetics.     

Failed Neuroprotection of Combined Inhibition of L-Type and ASIC1a Calcium Channels with Nimodipine and Amiloride

Effective pharmacological neuroprotection is one of the most desired aims in modern medicine. We postulated that a combination of two clinically used drugs—nimodipine (L-Type voltage-gated calcium channel blocker) and amiloride (acid-sensing ion channel inhibitor)—might act synergistically in an experimental model of ischaemia, targeting the intracellular rise in calcium as a pathway in neuronal cell death. We used organotypic hippocampal slices of mice pups and a well-established regimen of oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) to assess a possible neuroprotective effect. Neither nimodipine (at 10 or 20 µM) alone or in combination with amiloride (at 100 µM) showed any amelioration. Dissolved at 2.0 Vol.% dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO), the combination of both components even increased cell damage (p = 0.0001), an effect not observed with amiloride alone. We conclude that neither amiloride nor nimodipine do offer neuroprotection in an in vitro ischaemia model. On a technical note, the use of DMSO should be carefully evaluated in neuroprotective experiments, since it possibly alters cell damage.     

Dynamic mechanical analysis and broadband electromagnetic interference shielding characteristics of poly (vinyl alcohol)-poly (4-styrenesulfonic acid)-titanium dioxide nanoparticles based tertiary nanocomposites

ABSTRACT

Novel tertiary nanocomposite films comprising of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly (4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles (NP_S) were prepared using simple solvent casting method. The structural, thermal, morphological, thermo-mechanical and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding properties of PVA/PSSA/TiO₂ nanocomposite films were investigated. The EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of PVA/PSSA/TiO₂ nanocomposite films in the X and Ku band was found to be 12 dB and 13 dB respectively at 25 wt% TiO₂ NPs loading. These results demonstrate the possible applications of PVA/PSSA/TiO₂ nanocomposite films as low cost, lightweight and flexible material for EMI shielding.     

Physical,mechanical, and biological properties of electrophoretically deposited lithium-doped calcium phosphates

In the present work, the preparation of sintered lithium-doped tricalcium phosphates was studied, along with their physical, mechanical, and biological properties. Calcium phosphates were shaped via the use of electrophoretic deposition (EPD), using colloidally milled dispersions of hydroxyapatite (HAp) particles. The dispersions were stabilised with monochloroacetic acid. Lithium was incorporated into the structure via an addition of lithium chloride, which also served to optimise the deposition process. The dispersions were milled colloidally for periods of 0–48 h. The colloidal milling resulted in two effects: i) disintegration of the commercial HAp powder (10 µm) agglomerates, ii) unimodal distribution of the HAp particles (~ 170 nm). The fine particles of the milled HAp dispersions accelerated the deposition rate, and increased the mass of the deposit. The reduced size of the initial particles, owed to the milling, led to the superior arrangement of the particles during deposition and to reduced porosity after sintering (1050–1250 °C). The HAp decomposed into tricalcium phosphate phases during sintering. At a sintering temperature of 1250 °C, grain growth occurred, which consequently resulted in a slight degradation of the mechanical properties (reduction in hardness and Young's modulus). In contrast, the hardness and Young's modulus increased as the dispersion milling time increased (smaller grain size after sintering); however, the fracture toughness did not change. The results of the biological testing confirmed the bioactivity of the material through the growth of the apatite layer in the simulated body fluid (SBF), and the biodegradation of the prepared materials in the Tris-HCl solution. With regard to the preparation of compact lithium-doped tricalcium phosphates, the best results were obtained in the case of the sample that utilised the dispersion that was milled for 48 h, and was sintered at 1050 °C.     

Viscosity of glass-forming melt at the bottom of high-level waste melter-feed cold caps: Effects of temperature and incorporation of solid components

During the final stages of conversion of melter feed (glass batch) to molten glass, the glass-forming melt becomes a continuous liquid phase that encapsulates dissolving solid particles and gas bubbles that produce primary foam at the bottom of the cold cap (the reacting melter feed in an electric glass-melting furnace). The glass-forming melt viscosity plays a dominant role in primary foam formation, stability, and eventual collapse, thus affecting the rate of melting (the glass production rate per cold-cap area). We have traced the glass-forming melt viscosity during the final stages of feed-to-glass conversion as it changes in response to changing temperature and composition (resulting from dissolving solid particles). For this study, we used high-level waste melter feeds—taking advantage of the large amount of data available to us—and a variety of experimental techniques (feed expansion test, evolved gas analysis, thermogravimetric analyzer-differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and viscometer). Starting with a relatively low value at the moment when the melt connects, melt viscosity reached maximum within the primary foam layer and then decreased to its final melter operating temperature value. At the cold-cap bottom—the boundary between the primary foam layer and the thermal boundary layer—where physicochemical reactions of a melter feed influence the driving force of the heat transfer from the melt to the cold cap, the melt viscosity affects the rate of melting predominantly through its effect on the temperature at which primary foam is collapsing.     

A novel multiscale approach to brittle fracture of nano/micro‐sized components

Principles and advantages of a new concept based on the ab initio aided strain gradient elasticity theory are shown in comparison with the classical Barenblatt cohesive model. The method is applied to the theoretical prediction of the critical energy release rate and the crack tip opening displacement at the crack instability in nanopanels made of germanium and molybdenum crystals. The necessary length scale parameter l₁ is determined for germanium and molybdenum by the best gradient elasticity fits of ab initio computed screw dislocation displacements and phonon dispersions. Values of ab initio computed critical energy release rates and crack opening profiles revealed that the length l₁ is related to inflexion points of profiles. A novel ab initio method in combination with continuum mechanics was successfully tested to replace molecular statics dependent of availability of interatomic potentials. The asymptotic strain gradient elasticity solution for displacement components near the crack tip in materials with cubic lattice was also derived.