Synthesis,Characterization, Evaluation of Interfacial Properties and Antibacterial Activities of Dicarboxylate Anacardic Acid Derivatives from Cashew Nut Shell Liquid of Anacardium occidentale L.

Anacardic acid, 2-hydroxy-6-[(8Z,11Z-pentadeca-8,11,14-trienyl]-benzoic acid, extracted from cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL), has been structurally modified to obtain the 2-(O-carboxymethyl)-6-[(8Z,11Z)-pentadeca-8,11,14-trienyl]-benzoic acid and its disodium carboxylate salt. Our separation method allows to easily obtain anacardic acid, which has been of interest for the fabrication of green products. These methods proposed for the first time to synthesize these derivatives are short and cheap, and with a high yield. The elucidation of its structure was carried out by means of infrared spectroscopy (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Interfacial rheology properties of surfactant-air-water and surfactant-heptane-water systems were determined by using a new oscillating spinning drop rheometer apparatus. Physicochemical characterization was performed with a salinity scan in a surfactant-heptane-brine system, obtaining a value of the surfactant characteristic parameter σ = −4.3 for the disodium salt and a critical micellar concentration (cmc) of 0.08 wt%, showing high surface activity. The biological activity of both compounds was determined and measurements of their potential antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were performed, exhibiting high effectiveness, especially for the disodium salt against Gram-positive bacteria.     

Mass appraisal without statistical estimation: a simplified comparable sales approach based on a spatiotemporal matrix

The Annals of Regional Science - For mass appraisal in real estate, the hedonic pricing method (HPM) tends to be most commonly used by academic researchers, while the comparable sales approach...     

Sharing Wireless Spectrum in the Forest Ecosystems Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

International Journal of Wireless Information Networks - Intelligent management of power and spectrum is the most important ingredient in creating wireless sensor networks with high reliability and...     

Microstructural Analysis and Effect of Spin-Canting on Magnetic Attributes of Single-Phase Polycrystalline Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - Cobalt ferrite (CF) nanoparticles (CFNPs), prepared using citrate precursor method, were characterized using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning...     

Privileging the private home: a case of persuasive storytelling in early twentieth-century professional discourses

The private, detached single-family house has long been a dominant feature in the cities, towns, and suburbs of the United States to a much greater extent than in most other Western nations. To this very day, the private home is considered a constitutive element of the “American Dream.” This paper seeks to uncover some of the mechanisms through which this house acquired commanding presence in the American imagination and, consequently, in American metropolitan space. Specifically, the paper turns to professional discourses from the early 1900s. The paper argues that city-building experts from that time period – architects, housing reformers, and urban planners – collectively envisioned the detached single-family house as having a privileged claim to the American city and converted this vision into a persuasive story. Through their storytelling, the experts helped craft a number of government strategies that defended the dominant position of the single-family dwelling in the American city through the remainder of the twentieth century.     

Study and improvement in the radio communication quality for rotating electrical machine

Electrical Engineering - The wireless communication for rotating electrical machines is beneficial for diagnosis purposes as well as real-time monitoring. The electromagnetic waves propagation...     

A Mitocentric View of the Main Bacterial and Parasitic Infectious Diseases in the Pediatric Population

Infectious diseases occur worldwide with great frequency in both adults and children. Both infections and their treatments trigger mitochondrial interactions at multiple levels: (i) incorporation of damaged or mutated proteins to the complexes of the electron transport chain, (ii) mitochondrial genome (depletion, deletions, and point mutations) and mitochondrial dynamics (fusion and fission), (iii) membrane potential, (iv) apoptotic regulation, (v) generation of reactive oxygen species, among others. Such alterations may result in serious adverse clinical events with great impact on children’s quality of life, even resulting in death. As such, bacterial agents are frequently associated with loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release, ultimately leading to mitochondrial apoptosis by activation of caspases-3 and -9. Using Rayyan QCRI software for systematic reviews, we explore the association between mitochondrial alterations and pediatric infections including (i) bacterial: M. tuberculosis, E. cloacae, P. mirabilis, E. coli, S. enterica, S. aureus, S. pneumoniae, N. meningitidis and (ii) parasitic: P. falciparum. We analyze how these pediatric infections and their treatments may lead to mitochondrial deterioration in this especially vulnerable population, with the intention of improving both the understanding of these diseases and their management in clinical practice.     

Soil contaminated with PAHs and nitro-PAHs: contamination levels in an urban area of Catania (Sicily,southern Italy) and experimental results from simulated decontamination treatment

This study is aimed at investigating the levels of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and nitro-polyaromatic hydrocarbons in polluted urban soils and the potential application of microwave heating as decontamination treatment. The soil samples were collected from an area of 0.05 km² of Catania (Sicily, southern Italy) rural site. HPLC in fluorescence and electrochemical–fluorescence detection mode were used for selective separation, identification and quantification of pollutants in soil samples. A bench-scale microwave treatment was performed irradiating a contaminated soil using different operating powers for removing both kinds of contaminants. Results reveal that soil pollutant concentrations were sometimes higher than those found in other locations. Polyaromatic and nitro-polyaromatic hydrocarbon levels observed suggest a strong contribution from incomplete combustion of gasoline or other fuels also due to the vicinity to the airport. Many polyaromatic hydrocarbon derivatives are more carcinogenic than the initial contaminant form and may have toxicological significance, even if present at much lower concentrations than their parent compounds. Thus, the environmental levels of these pollutants need to be monitored and removed. Contaminant removals from simulated microwave remediation show that the treatment is effective. Results also showed that contaminant features, especially polarity, significantly influence the dielectric properties of the soil and thus the final temperature reachable during the heating processes and the contaminant removals.