Concentration of tocopherols from soybean sludge by supercritical carbon dioxide

A supercritical fluid extraction method has been applied to test the feasibility of tocopherol concentration from soybean sludge with carbon dioxide at temperatures and pressures ranging from 35 to 70°C and 200 to 400 bar, respectively. The supercritical solubility of the esterified soybean sludge was over 4–6 times greater than that of the original soybean sludge. By a simple batch-type one-stage method the tocopherols in the esterified soybean sludge could be concentrated up to 40 wt%. The overall results of the present study show that soybean sludge initially containing about 13–14 wt% tocopherols may require a countercurrent multistage column to be highly and effectively concentrated.     

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials from a new octa(2,3-epoxypropyl)silsesquioxane with diamines

Hybrid materials based on a new polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane, octa(2,3-epoxypropyl)silsesquioxane (OE) with diamines of 4,4′-methylenedianiline (DDM) and 5-trifluoromethyl-1,3-phenylenediamine (FPA) were prepared and characterized. OE was synthesized from cage-structured octaallylsilsesquioxane (OA) with m-chloroperbenzoicacid. The FTIR studies suggested that the N-H bond in diamines was not completely reacted with epoxy group due to steric hindrance and also extensive hydrogen bonding existed in the hybrid materials. The retention of the cage structure in the prepared hybrid materials was suggested by the FTIR and ²⁹Si NMR studies. The OE/FPA hybrid materials had superior thermal/mechanical characteristics than the OE/DDM due to the higher rigidity of the FPA than that of DDM or the silicon-fluorine interaction enhancing crosslinking reaction or hydrogen bonding. The prepared OE/FPA had a T_g of 170 °C, which was higher than diglycidyl ether of bisphenyl A (DGEBA)/DDM at the same stoichiometric ratio. It also had excellent thermal, mechanical, and dielectric characteristics with high storage modulus of 1.8 GPa (30 °C) and 0.3 GPa (250 °C), low coefficient of thermal expansion of 86 μm/m °C, and dielectric constant of 2.19. Thus, it can be high performance materials with potential applications for electronic packaging.     

Cure kinetics of high performance epoxy resin systems

Summary Isothermal cure kinetics ofEPON HPT 1071/DDS system have been performed by means of differential scanning calorimetry. The maximum cure rate and the extent of conversion at various DDS concentrations were studied as a function of cure temperature. Maximum cure rate increases with increasing cure temperature and DDS concentration. At various DDS concentrations, the maximum cure rate occured between 19–22% conversion. In order to evaluate the kinetic parameters, numerical calculations by means of a Newton-Raphson technique and experimental results obtained from the peak of reaction rate curve were undertaken.     

High catalytic activity of PdOx/MnO2 for CO oxidation and importance of oxidation state of Mn

PdO_x/MnO₂ has been examined as a catalyst for CO oxidation using a conventional flow reactor at reaction temperatures between 50 and 150°C. In the reaction conditions of GHSV (gashourlyspacevelocity) of 1.22 × 10⁵/h and CO concentration of 2000 ppm, PdO_x/MnO₂ showed higher catalytic activity compared with PdO_x/Mn₂O₃, which had been previously reported as an effective catalyst due to the cooperative action of Pd and Mn₂O₃ for this reaction. The reason for higher activity of PdO_x/MnO₂ than PdO_x/Mn₂O₃ has been investigated using TPR (temperatureprogrammed reduction) and XPS studies. TPR showed that PdO_x/MnO₂ could be reduced by CO at much lower temperature than PdO_x/Mn₂O₃. During the experiment of reduction and oxidation, XPS showed that the valence of Mn in the PdO_x/MnO₂ was between 4+ and 3+, which is higher than that of Mn in the PdO_x/Mn₂O₃ catalyst of which the valence has been reported to be between 3+ and 2+. It is known that in this catalyst system the support supplies oxygen onto Pd, where the oxidation occurs with adsorbed CO, and the ability of the support to provide oxygen improves the performance of the catalyst. Therefore, it was concluded that the readiness of MnO₂ to be reduced with maintaining a higher oxidation state showed higher CO oxidation activity than Mn₂O₃ as support for PdO_x.     

Interaction of CETP inhibitory peptide and lipoprotein substrates in cholesteryl ester transfer assay: relationship between association properties and inhibitory activities

In a previous study, CETP inhibitory peptide (3 kDa) was isolated from hog plasma. The peptide, synthesized chemically according to the amino acid sequence of the 3-kDa peptide (designated P₂₈), showed CETP inhibitory activity both in vitro and in vivo [Cho et al. (1998) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1391, 133–144]. We report herein further unique features of P₂₈ when it was associated with the cholesteryl ester (CE)-donor and-acceptor lipoproteins. Lipoprotein substrates with P₂₈ present in both HDL (as a CE-donor) and LDL (as a CE-acceptor) served as poor substrates, with CE-transfer activity decreased up to 60% compared to normal substrates without P₂₈. P₂₈ was found to be located in HDL fractions of hog plasma and showed the same electromobility as that visualized by PAGE on 7% polyacrylamide gel under nondenaturing conditions. Addition of apolipoprotein A-1 (apoA-1) or apoB antibody to a normal CE-transfer mixture did not alter CE-transfer activity. However, addition of apoA-1 or −B antibody to a CETP-inhibition mixture decreased the inhibitory activity of P₂₈ by ca. 20%. Western blot analysis revealed that P₂₈ was associated only with human and hog HDL among several lipoproteins purified from human, hog, and rabbit. CFTP-inhibition assays with various lipoprotein substrates revealed that P₂₈ exhibited substrate-specific inhibitory activity. The inhibitory activity of P₂₈ was highly dependent on the type of lipoprotein substrate (whether CE-donor or-acceptor); P₂₈ inhibited CE transfer from HDL to LDL, but it did not inhibit CE transfer from HDL to HDL.     

Correction factors involved in mercury porosimetry

In order to calculate the true volume intrusion of mercury into the pores of a sample, a correction must be made to the observed intrusion to account for the compression of the sample cell, mercury and sample. A theoretical analysis of this correction is presented which is shown to overcome the inadequacies of the usual corrective measure of running a blank experiment in the absence of a sample or on a non-porous sample. The equations derived involve the mercury fill volume in the sample cell, the compressibilities of the mercury, glass and sample and the solid volume of the sample.     

Highly ion-conductive solid polymer electrolytes based on polyethylene non-woven matrix

Highly ion-conductive solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) based on polyethylene (PE) non-woven matrix is prepared by filling poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based crosslinked electrolyte inside the pores of the non-woven matrix. The PE non-woven matrix not only shows good mechanical strength for SPE to be a free-standing film, but also has very porous structure for high ion conductivity. The ion conductivity of SPE based on PE non-woven matrix can be enhanced by adding sufficient non-volatile plasticizer such as poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether (PEGDME) into ion conduction phase without sacrificing mechanical strength. SPE with 20 wt.% crosslinking agent and 80 wt.% non-volatile plasticizer shows 3.1 × 10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ at room temperature (20 °C), to our knowledge, which is the highest level for SPEs. It is also electrochemically stable up to 5.2 V and has high transference number about 0.52 due to the introduction of anion receptor as an additive. The interfacial resistance between Li electrode and SPE is low enough to perform charge/discharge test of unit cell consisting of LiCoO₂/SPE/Li at room temperature. The discharge capacity of the unit cell shows 87% of theoretical value with 86% Coulombic efficiency.     

Infrared reflectance and transmission spectra of semiconducting non-stoichiometric CdGe x As2

The infrared reflectance and transmission spectra of amorphous CdGe _x As₂ were investigated to study the amorphous structure with varying Ge content. The mid-infrared optical absorption edges of amorphous CdGe _x As₂ with 0<x<1.2, were observed in the range 1.6–1.7 m, indicating a structural similarity in short-range order throughout. Comparing the reflectance and transmission spectra of amorphous and devitrified crystalline phases established that the structures of amorphous CdGe _x As₂ transformed from the CdAs₂ basic structure to the chalcopyrite (CdGeAs₂) structure, as one progressed fromx=0 tox=1.2. The infrared spectra were interpreted interactively with radial distribution function, magnetic susceptibility, density measurements, and crystallization studies. The crystallization behaviour of amorphous CdGe _x As₂ that was heat treated at different temperatures was investigated using far-infrared transmission spectra.     

Inclusion of third-person perspective in CAVE-like immersive 3D virtual reality role-playing games for social reciprocity training of children with an autism spectrum disorder

Universal Access in the Information Society - The present study aimed to improve the ability of children with autism to recognize emotions correctly. We used our third-person perspective...     

Visiting pebbles on rectangular grids: coordinating multiple robots in mobile fulfilment systems

Intelligent Service Robotics - Multi-robot path finding and coordination is one of the key performance-affecting subsystems of the overall robotic order fulfilment process for use in warehouse...