Salt-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction for the determination of iodine in table salt by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection

2-Iodosobenzoate and N,N-dimethylaniline have been used at pH 6.4 for selective conversion of iodide to 4-iodo-N,N-dimethylaniline which was extracted with ethanol, when the phase separation occurred by addition of ammonium sulphate, a process called salt-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction (SALLME), and analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection. Iodate was reduced to iodide before derivatisation. The method has been optimised for extracting solvent, salt for phase separation, and reaction time. A linear calibration was obtained for 10 μg-10 mg L⁻¹ of iodide with correlation coefficient of 0.9989 and limit of detection of 3.7 μg L⁻¹. The SALLME produced 280-fold enrichment of the derivative. The commercial iodised table salt samples have been found highly inhomogeneous; the RSD in analysis of different aliquots of the same sample ranged 18.0-78.1%. The average recovery of spiked iodide to real samples was 98.4% with an average RSD of 7.9% (range 5.2-12.4%).     

Influence of depigmentation of pearl millet (Pennisetum gluacum L.) on sensory attributes, nutrient composition and in vitro digestibility of biscuits

Presence of high concentration of pigments in the pericarp and endosperm regions of pearl millet imparts undesirable gray color to its products. This study attempts to improve the acceptability of pearl millet products through processing technique and to study its effect on nutritional composition of pearl millet product. Pearl millet grains were depigmented by soaking in 0.2 N HCl for 18 h followed by washing, blanching at 98°C for 30 s and sun drying. Three different types of biscuits were prepared from refined flour (Reference), native or unprocessed pearl millet (T-I) and depigmented pearl millet (T-II). Results indicated that depigmentation improved the sensory attributes especially the color of pearl millet biscuits (T-II). The protein, fat, ash and total dietary fiber of pearl millet based biscuits (T-I as well as T-II) were significantly (P?0.05) higher than the reference biscuits. Depigmentation significantly improved the in vitro starch digestibility, in vitro protein digestibility and the soluble dietary fiber content of pearl millet biscuits (T-II) by 14.50, 6.56 and 6.18%, respectively. On the other hand, a significant decrease of 6.73, 2.43 and 17.03 g/100 g in protein, starch and insoluble dietary fiber was detected in pearl millet biscuits (T-II) due to depigmentation.     

Recent Trends in Novel Semiconductor Devices

Silicon - The VLSI industry has grown a lot for several decades. The Packing density of integrated circuits has been increased without compromising the functionality. Scaling of semiconductor...     

Coupled surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and electrical conductivity measurements of 1,4-phenylene diisocyanide in molecular electronic junctions

Probing the structure of molecules in a metal-molecule-metal junction under an applied voltage is critical for understanding molecular electron transport properties. We present an approach that allows recording surface-enhanced Raman spectra simultaneously with electrical measurements of a monolayer of molecules in molecular electronic junctions. 1,4-Phenylene diisocyanide in two different types of junctions was used to illustrate the approach. The results show that the molecular integrity was intact in the molecular junctions and under the applied bias. The monolayer sensitivity of the approach provides a new powerful tool for characterizing molecular structure in a molecular electronic junction.     

Separation and recovery of lead from a mixture of some heavy metals using Amberlite IRC 718 chelating resin

A weakly acidic ion exchanger resin containing the iminodiacetate group has been used to separate and recover metal ion from their mixtures. Batch and column methods were applied for the separation studies. Previous study on the kinetics and thermodynamics shows that the selectivity of this resin for transition metals was quite high as compared to that of alkaline earth metals. The efficiency of this resin in different experimental conditions was established and because of the large difference in the distribution coefficient values separation of the metal ions from their mixture was performed.     

Synthesis and dispersion of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) nanoparticles in supercritical water

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) nanoparticles were synthesized in supercritical water (SCW) without the use of mineralizers that are conventionally used to ensure basic conditions during synthesis. Process parameters were varied and their effect on the synthesis yield and particle morphology and composition were investigated. Conditions for synthesizing a stoichiometric YSZ nanopowder were identified. Dry YSZ particles collected in the continuous SCW process were redispersed in water in order to study their aggregation characteristics (including the size of agglomerates and the degree of agglomeration) in aqueous dispersions. Surface modification by the addition of polyethylenimine (PEI) was shown to result in stable dispersions of particles with average diameters between 50 nm and 100 nm.     

Tuning in structural,optoelectronic, magnetic and ferroelectric properties of NiFe2O4 ceramics engineering nanomaterials by substitution of rare earth element,Pr3+ prepared by sol–gel method

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - The rare earth element Pr3+ substituted nickel ferrite magnetic nanomaterials NiPrxFe2?xO4 (x?=?0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03)...     

Effect of combination and number of b values in IVIM analysis with post-processing methodology: simulation and clinical study

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - To investigate the effect of number and combination of b values used on the accuracy of estimated Intravoxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM)...     

High temperature pretreatment and hydrolysis of cotton stalk for producing sugars for bioethanol production

The aim of this work was to evaluate cotton stalk (waste plant material after harvesting the cotton) as feedstock for bioethanol production. Different pretreatment strategies were tried using sodium hydroxide in a high pressure reactor equipped with a pitch blade turbine stirrer, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis using cellulases; the process optimization was carried out using Taguchi experimental design. Best results were achieved when the pretreatment was carried out at 180 °C for 45 min with mixing of substrate at 100 rpm. The sugar yield was evaluated based on pretreatment severity. The hydrolysis efficiency of pretreated cotton plant waste was very good (96%), showing the excellent efficiency of the method in removing the lignin. The material balance in each stage of the process was estimated and the total process efficiency was found to be 53% based on glucose conversion.