Total content and dialyzable iron and zinc in foods from northern and Southern Mexico

Developing countries diets are based on a variety of plant foods that often are the main suppliers of important amounts of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). The objectives of this study were 1) to measure the total and dialyzable amounts of Fe and Zn in foods from Northern Mexico (Sonora) and from Southern Mexico (Oaxaca) and 2) to evaluate the effect of meat content of diets on the dialyzable amount of Fe and Zn. Methods to calculate the total dialyzable amount of Fe and Zn, were those of the AOAC and of Shen et al. Total Fe in e northern Mexican foods went from 0.78 +/- 0.0 to 11.59 +/- to 0.03 mg/ 100g (dry weight, DW); in southern Mexican foods the same micronutrient amounts were 0.86 +/- 0.18 to 8.8 +/- 0.57 mg/100 g (BS). Total Zn values were 0.91 +/- 0.00 to 13.58 +/- 0.05 mg/100 g (DW) in Sonora, and 0.64 +/- 0.18 to 20.80 +/- 0.33 mg/100 g (DW) in Oaxaca. In northern Mexico, foods dialyzable Fe had values from 0.1 +/- 0.04% to 10.6 +/- 0.36% and for Zn from 4.0 +/- 0.21% to 55.32 +/- 0.14%. Meanwhile, the range of values of dialyzable Fe for foods from Oaxaca were from 0.22 +/- 0.06% to 9.40 +/- 0.14% for and from 2.41 +/- 0.26% to 54.27 +/- 1.49% for dialyzable Zn. The average value for dialyzable Fe was higher in the foods that contained meat or meat products (p= 0.001).     

Catalysts based in cerium oxide for wet oxidation of acrylic acid in the prevention of environmental risks

Acrylic acid is a refractory compound for the non-catalytic wet oxidation (WO) process and can seriously damage the environment when released in industrial effluents. Oxidation of acrylic acid by catalytic wet oxidation (CWO) was studied in slurry conditions in a high-pressure batch reactor at 200 °C and 15 bar of oxygen partial pressure. Several solid cerium-based catalysts prepared in our laboratory were used (Ag/Ce, Co/Ce, Mn/Ce, CeO, MnO) and evaluated in terms of activity, selectivity and stability. Mn/Ce shows the higher activity in 2 h with 97.7% reduction of total organic carbon (TOC) followed by: MnO(95.5%)>Ag/Ce(85.0%)>Co/Ce(65.1%)>CeO(61.2%). Attempts were also carried out to analyze the influence of different Mn/Ce molar ratios. High percentages of Mn lead to practically total organic carbon concentration (TOC) abatements while low ratios lead to the formation of non-oxidizable compounds. Acrylic acid was readily degraded by all the catalysts pointing out the high importance of using a catalytic process. pH was an indicator of the reaction pathway and acetic acid was found as the major reaction intermediate compound; however it is completely oxidized after 2 h with exception for Co/Ce, CeO and MnO. Carbon adsorption and leaching of metals were poorly found for Mn/Ce indicating high stability. The catalyst microstructure after the reaction was analyzed and formation of whiskers of β-MnO₂ (or less probably MnOOH) were observed at the catalyst surface. Therefore, Mn/Ce revealed to be a promising catalyst for the treatment of effluents containing acrylic acid; nevertheless, its commercialization depends on further research.     

Modeling of solid—liquid adsorption: Effects of adsorbent loads on model parameters

The adsorption of cobalt phthalocyanine dye onto activated carbon in a continuous stirred tank adsorber was studied. The variables investigated were: adsorbent mass, adsorbent particle size and fluid flowrate. Several models based on film, pore and surface diffusion were constructed and fitted to the experimental data. Experimental results showed: (i) the increasing importance of the film mass transfer resistance for increasing adsorbent loads; (ii) the increasing importance of the surface diffusion mechanism for increasing adsorbent loads; and (iii) the better discrimination among different models for higher adsorbent loads and lower flowrate.     

Degradation of Leaf Litter Phenolics by Aquatic and Terrestrial Isopods

To investigate species-specific decomposition rates of litter from native (Quercus faginea) and introduced (Eucalyptus globulus) tree species in Portugal, we monitored changes in the phenolic signature of leaf litter during decomposition as mediated by an aquatic, Proasellus coxalis (Isopoda: Asellota), and two terrestrial, Porcellio dispar and Eluma caelatum (Isopoda: Oniscidea), detritivores. Although the litter of Eucalyptus and Quercus did not differ in overall protein precipitation capacity, we detected differences in terms of contents of particular phenolic compounds and phenol oxidation products. Accordingly, we observed food-specific consumption rates in Proasellus, but not in the terrestrial isopods. Proasellus digested Eucalyptus at significantly higher rates than Quercus, whereas the opposite was the case for Eluma, and Porcellio digested both litter types equally well. Despite slight differences in detail, effects of Proasellus on changes in the signature of litter phenolics were similar for both litter types, whereas terrestrial isopods—Porcellio and Eluma, although they differed from each other—digestively degraded phenolic compounds in Eucalyptus and Quercus litter, respectively, in different ways. Overall, however, degradation of litter phenolics was similarly effective on both litter types. From these data, we conclude that decomposition of Eucalyptus litter does not proceed more slowly than of litter from native Portuguese trees.     

Effect of low‐temperature plasma and chitosan treatment on wool dyeing with Acid Red 27

This study examines in detail the influence of low‐temperature plasma and biopolymer chitosan treatments on wool dyeability. Wool knitted fabrics were treated and characterized by whiteness and shrink‐resistance measurements. Surface modification was assessed by contact‐angle measurements of human hair fibers, which were used as a model to study the wetting properties of the treated wool knitted fabrics. The dyeing behavior was assessed from the diffusion mechanism point of view. The dyeing kinetics were measured at two different pHs (4.2 and 6.5) and three different temperatures (60, 85, and 100°C) to gain information about the contribution of the surface modification treatment to the dyeing mechanism. The exhaustion and reflectance data were compared, and the apparent diffusion coefficients were calculated. On the basis of the obtained results, a model for the dyeing mechanism of the chitosan treated wool was proposed. When treated with chitosan, the polymer sheath spread on the surface of the fibers acted as a predominant dyeing site in very short dyeing times, thus interacting with the dye and in later stages imparting the dye to the wool fiber. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 2204–2214, 2005     

A formal representation for context-aware business processes

A business process is a set of activities performed in a coordinated manner within an organizational and technical environment that is aimed toward a business goal. The flexibility of a process is related to an understanding of the unexpected events that occur when people, systems and resources interact and require adjustments. Thus, business processes must be designed to respond to information about different events and their specificity. This information defines what the literature calls “context”. To broaden the perception of context in the case of a business process, this work proposes an approach to characterize the context of a business process activity in a given domain through conceptual models structured in layers. A case study was conducted to evaluate the proposal, which provided evidence of the applicability of the model.     

A web-based platform for biosignal visualization and annotation

With the advent of wearable sensing and mobile technologies, biosignals have seen an increasingly growing number of application areas, leading to the collection of large volumes of data. One of the difficulties in dealing with these data sets, and in the development of automated machine learning systems which use them as input, is the lack of reliable ground truth information. In this paper we present a new web-based platform for visualization, retrieval and annotation of biosignals by non-technical users, aimed at improving the process of ground truth collection for biomedical applications. Moreover, a novel extendable and scalable data representation model and persistency framework is presented. The results of the experimental evaluation with possible users has further confirmed the potential of the presented framework.     

Combustion of methane over palladium ZSM-5 and mordenite catalysts

The effect of Pd-loading on Pd-NaZSM-5 and Pd-NaMordenite catalysts prepared by ion exchange was studied for methane combustion with excess oxygen (1% CH₄, 18% O₂, balance N₂) in the temperature range 40–500°C. Fresh and calcined samples (3 h, 450°C) showed methane conversions proportional to Pd-loading on Pd-NaZSM-5 catalysts, while conversions decreased with Pd-loading on calcined Pd-NaMordenite catalysts. TOF (number of methane molecules converted per second per Pd²⁺ ion) for over exchanged Pd-NaZSM5-116 was low as compared to under exchanged Pd-NaZSM5-80 and Pd-NaZSM5-58 samples. Close TOF's were found for the last two samples at 330°C. TOF differences in Pd-NaMordenite catalysts demonstrate the heterogeneity of Pd⁺² sites due to structurally nonidentical locations of cations. TOF's appear to be related to Na/Pd ratios in both catalyst types. Apparent activation energies for Pd-NaZSM-5 materials are higher than those for Pd-NaMordenite catalysts.     

Manufacturing of polypropylene laminates and related structural reorganization in the crystalline phase

The conditions for obtaining recrystallization in more ordered modifications are described for an uniaxially oriented sample of isotactic polypropylene, annealed with fixed ends. These recrystallization conditions are related to the conditions of a lamination process.     

Catkin liked nano-Co3O4 catalyst built-in organic microreactor by PEMOCVD method for trace CO oxidation at room temperature

In this paper, tricobalt tetraoxide (Co₃O₄) catalyst was coated on the polydimethylsiloxane microchannel by the plasma-enhanced metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technology. The obtained Co₃O₄ film was characterized by SEM, XRD, XPS, and TEM, and the results show that the as-deposited Co₃O₄ film was initially composed of many cauliflowers-shaped microclusters. Also, the microcauliflower was transformed from an amorphous phase to a crystal phase when the Co₃O₄ film was treated by Ar and O₂ plasma for more than 20 min, and the crystal lattice line occurred on the surface of nano-sized-Co₃O₄ particles. Meanwhile, the interface of Co₃O₄ particles with diameter between 3 and 12 nm became obvious and some nano-catkin structures were also formed on the Co₃O₄ film. The ratio of Co³⁺/Co²⁺ in the spinel-type Co₃O₄ was nearly 2, and the nano-particles predominantly expose their {311}, {111}, and {220} planes. These morphologies and structure characteristics were found to be ideal for increasing the catalytic activity efficiency of Co₃O₄ for CO oxidation, and the catalytic stability of Co₃O₄ coated on the organic microreactor lasted nearly 85 h for trace CO oxidation at room temperature.