Evaluation of selected poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) lines by their morphine and other alkaloids contents

The alkaloid analysis was performed in the laboratory of the alkaloid factory located at Bolvadin province of Turkey in 2000 on selected 99 poppy lines, which were selected with respect to their morphological and agronomic characteristics from around 1,000 poppy lines provided by Agriculture faculty, Ankara University. Our results showed that the ratio of the alkaloids, morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine and noscapine ranged from 0.110 to 1.140%, 0.005 to 0.134%, 0.005 to 0.27%, 0.001 to 0.440% and 0.006 to 0.418%, respectively, in the selected 99 poppy lines. According to their alkaloid content, 15 lines had significantly higher morphine, three lines had higher noscapine, and one line had higher papaverine levels.     

Effects of sowing and harvesting dates on yield and some quality characteristics of crops in sugar beet/cereal rotation system

BACKGROUND: Cereals are the main crops in rotation following sugar beet harvest. However, a delay in planting winter cereals as a result of late sugar beet harvest is a disadvantage in sugar beet/cereal rotations. In this study, field trials were carried out to investigate the effects of sowing and harvesting dates on the yield and quality of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and cereals (wheat, Triticum aestivum L., and six‐rowed barley, Hordeum vulgare L.) during two consecutive years. Beet was sown on three dates and harvested on four dates, followed by cereals which were sown on four dates. Root yield and digestion ratio (sugar beet) and grain yield, 1000‐kernel weight, test weight and protein content (wheat and barley) were determined. RESULTS: The highest root yield (52.53 t ha^?1) was obtained from early sown (5 April) and late harvested (1 November) beet, while the highest digestion ratio (17.4%) was obtained from late sown (3 May) and late harvested (1 November) beet. Lower cereal grain yields were obtained from later sowings. The highest grain yields (5.87 and 6.02 t ha^?1) were obtained from earlier sown wheat. Protein content was also affected by sowing date, which appeared to be very important under unstable climatic conditions. CONCLUSION: It is essential to consider the timing of sowing of cereal crops when unstable climatic conditions are present. Hence sowing date recommendations in regular climatic conditions may be misleading for countries dependent on winter rainfall for cereal production. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

The effect of sulphuric acid activation on the crystallinity,surface area,porosity, surface acidity,and bleaching power of a bentonite

The Hanç?l? (Keskin, Ankara, Turkey) bentonite was activated with H₂SO₄ by dry method at 97 °C for 6 h to obtain optimum parameters for imparting a maximum bleaching power towards soybean oil. The H₂SO₄ content in dry bentonite-acid mixture was changed between 0% and 70%. The natural and activated samples were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂ adsorption–desorption, and n-butylamine adsorption (from the solution in cyclohexane). The specific surface area (S), specific micro–mesopore volume (V), mesopore size distribution (PSD), and surface acidity (n_m) of the samples were determined. The bleaching power (BP) of each sample for alkali-refined soybean oil was determined. The S, V, n_m, and BP increase after activation at various acid contents up to 40% H₂SO₄ without any considerable change in crystal structure of the smectite. The BP is controlled more by the PSD rather than other adsorptive properties of the bleaching earth. The optimum parameters for activation to obtain maximum bleaching power, are H₂SO₄% = 50–60, S = 250–230 m² g⁻¹, V = 0.46–0.47 cm³ g⁻¹, n_m = 9.0 × 10⁻⁴–8.4 × 10⁻⁴ mol g⁻¹ and PSD mainly distributed between 1.4 and 6.0 nm.     

Rapid quantitation of curcumin in turmeric via NMR and LC–tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid, sensitive and accurate ¹H NMR method has been developed for the quantitation of curcumin isolated from Curcuma longa rhizome (turmeric) extract, the results of which were compared with a validated LC–MS/MS method. The relative standard deviations of the methods were found to be 2.49% and 3.48% for the ¹H NMR and LC–MS/MS methods, respectively. The correlation coefficients were 0.998 for ¹H NMR and 0.995 for LC–MS/MS assay in the calibration range. The recoveries at 5 mg mL⁻¹ and 50 μg mL⁻¹ concentrations averaged to 99–101% for both techniques, respectively. The uncertainty of the measurement of curcumin via ¹H NMR spectroscopy was determined to be 5.80% while in LC–ESI-MS/MS method was 7.38%.     

Production of Si3N4 by carbothermal reduction and nitridation of sepiolite

A study was undertaken to determine the optimum parameters for production of Si3N4 powders by carbothermal reduction and nitridation (CTRN) of Turkish sepiolite. Test samples were prepared by mixing 99% purity –325 mesh carbon black and –100 mesh leached brown sepiolite with C/SiO2 molar ratios of 1.5; 3; 4; 5, and 7.5. Prepared samples were subjected to the CTRN process at temperatures of 1200, 1300, 1400 and 1450 °C for 2, 4, 8, and 16 h. The CTRN process was conducted in an atmosphere controlled tube furnace in a nitrogen flow of 4.5 cm3/min. All products were examined by XRD and SEM-EDX to determine the transformation, morphology and chemical composition. The results showed that the best Si3N4 transformation occurred at 1400 °C for 16 h with C/SiO2 molar ratio of 4.     

Determination of interfacial energies of solid Sn solution in the In–Bi–Sn ternary alloy

The equilibrated grain boundary groove shapes of solid Sn solution (Sn-40.14 at.% In-16.11 at.% Bi) in equilibrium with the In–Bi–Sn liquid (In-21.23 at.% Bi-19.04 at.% Sn) were observed from the quenched sample at 59 °C. Gibbs–Thomson coefficient, solid–liquid interfacial energy and grain boundary energy of the solid Sn solution have been determined from the observed grain boundary groove shapes. The thermal conductivity of solid phase for In-21.23 at.% Bi-19.04 at.% Sn alloy and the thermal conductivity ratio of liquid phase to solid phase at the melting temperature have also been measured with radial heat flow apparatus and Bridgman type growth apparatus, respectively.     

Reconfigurable Multiplier Blocks: Structures,Algorithm and Applications

This paper presents the efficient design methodology and applications of reconfigurable multiplier blocks (ReMB). ReMB offers significant area, delay and possibly power reduction in time-multiplexed implementation of multiple constant multiplications in many application areas from fixed digital filters, adaptive filters, and filter banks to DFT, FFT and DCT. The reader will be exposed to the fundamental principles of ReMB structures coupled with a novel algorithm for their design as well as illustrative examples where appropriate that help the reader understand the technique in action. The paper also looks into the pros and cons of deploying the technique on standard FPGA platforms as well as discussing the effectiveness of the ReMB approach in custom silicon realization by means of application examples. Area, delay and power (where possible) of the ReMB designs are compared to standard implementations. S.S. Demirsoy now with Altera European Technology Centre, High Wycombe, UK. A. Dempster now with the School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.     

Lattice QCD as a video game

The speed, bandwidth and cost characteristics of today's PC graphics cards make them an attractive target as general purpose computational platforms. High performance can be achieved also for lattice simulations but the actual implementation can be cumbersome. This paper outlines the architecture and programming model of modern graphics cards for the lattice practitioner with the goal of exploiting these chips for Monte Carlo simulations. Sample code is also given.     

An experimental optimization study on a tube-in-shell latent heat storage

Thermal energy storage (TES) using phase change materials (PCMs) has recently received considerable attention in the literature, due to its high storage capacity and isothermal behaviour during the storage (melting or charging) and removal (discharging or solidification). In this study, a novel modification on a tube-in-shell-type storage geometry is suggested. In the proposed geometry, the outer surface of the shell is inclined and it is the objective of this study to determine the optimum range for the inclination angle of the shell surface. Paraffin with a melting temperature of 58.06°C, which is supplied by the Merck Company, is used as the PCM. The PCM is stored in the vertical annular space between an inner tube through which the heat transfer fluid (HTF), hot water, is flowing and a concentrically placed outer shell. At first, the thermophysical properties of this paraffin are determined through the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) analysis. Temporal behaviour of the PCM undergoing a non-isothermal solid–liquid phase change during its melting or charging by the HTF are determined for different values of the inlet temperature and the mass flow rate of the HTF. The new geometry is shown to respond well with the melting characteristics of the PCM and to enhance heat transfer inside the PCM for a specific range of the shell inclination angle. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.