Impact of ultrasound on oil yield and content of functional food ingredients at the oil extraction from sunflower

In this study, the effect of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) on oil yield and content of functional food ingredients of hulled and non-hulled sunflower is discussed and compared with conventional extraction methods. The optimum extraction parameters for UAE were as follows: n-hexane as extracting solvent, average particle size 250 ± 12 µm, extraction time 2 h, solid-to-solvent ratio 1:12, ultrasound frequency 24 kHz and temperature 50°C. Furthermore, the chromatograph showed that sunflower oil extracted by the UAE was rich in α-Linolenic acid (ω-3). In addition, a marginal reduction in peroxide values and tocopherols were determined.     

Estimates of Transaction Costs in Transfer of Development Rights Programs

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Local jurisdictions in 36 states have implemented transfer of development rights (TDR) programs to provide a market-based approach to preserving farmlands and open space while redirecting future development to targeted areas. Participation in TDR programs involves transaction costs over and above paying for TDR credits. Planners know little about the magnitude of transaction costs; who, if anyone, incurs a disproportionate share of these costs; or how transaction costs affect TDR participation. In this study we estimate the magnitude and distribution of transaction costs incurred by participants in 4 countywide TDR programs in Maryland, a TDR pioneer, by interviewing multiple participants in these programs. We fi nd that total transaction costs were high and borne largely by private sector participants, although we exclude the initial public sector costs of establishing the programs. Total transaction costs range from 13% to 21% of total TDR costs per transaction. Our findings are based on data reported by participants and may not be scalable; transaction costs, however, might deter landowners from participating in TDR programs, thus thwarting the land use goals of planners.

Takeaway for practice: Planners should work to reduce transaction costs by better constructing TDR programs and providing greater information on TDR sale prices and potential buyers and sellers. Lowering and more fairly distributing transaction costs will make the TDR program a more successful approach to achieving land use goals and addressing the externalities arising from land use markets.     

Capillary electrochromatography-mass spectrometry of nonionic surfactants

The Triton X (TX)-series are alkylphenol polyethoxylates -type nonionic surfactants of varying numbers of ethylene oxide units. Applications include industrial and household detergent formulations as well as emulsifying agents. For analysis of these surfactants, capillary electrochromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (CEC-ESI-MS) offers several unique advantages over the traditional hyphenation methods based on HPLC-MS. These include higher plate numbers attainable in CEC-MS, as well as more compatible flow rate (submicroliter) when coupled to ESI-MS and, perhaps most importantly, less consumption of toxic and costly organic solvents. In this work, different CEC-ESI-MS parameters such as mobile-phase composition, sheath liquid, and spray chamber parameters were optimized to provide suitable and sensitive analysis of short-, medium-, and long-chain length (e.g., n = 1-16) TX-series nonionic surfactants. The optimized CEC-ESI-MS conditions were mobile phase containing 90/10 ACN/2.5 mM Tris, pH 8, sheath liquid containing 50/50 MeOH/10 mM HCO(2)NH(4) delivered at 5 microL/min, spray chamber set to drying gas flow of 6 mL/min, nebulizer pressure of 5 psi, and drying gas temperature set to 200 degrees C. This optimization is followed by the more challenging separation of very long chain TX-series with a large number (n = 30-70) of ethoxy units, which were initially found to exhibit extreme retention using the developed method. It was observed that through the addition of small volume fraction of polar-aprotic tetrahydrofuran solvent to the running buffer, the retention time could be significantly reduced thus enhancing the feasibility for CEC-ESI-MS analysis of these very long chain nonionic surfactants for the first time. The detection limit was approximately 37 microg/mL total octylphenol ethoxylate for TX-45; acceptable precision of migration time (<1% RSD, n = 3) and peak area ( approximately 4% RSD, n = 3) were achieved.     

Influence of polyethylene glycol on the excretion and digestibility of amino acids in casein and tannic acid‐fed broilers

Using the precision feeding technique, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of tannic acid (TA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the excretion of amino acids and the apparent and true digestibilities of casein protein in broilers. Seventy‐two 9‐week‐old broiler cockerels grouped in nine treatments of eight replicates were fed warm water (50 mL, control birds), casein alone (12 or 18 g) or casein (12 or 18 g) with TA solution (4.5 g per 10 mL) or/and PEG solution (2 g per 10 mL). Total excreta were collected for 48 h and freeze‐dried. The amino acid content of casein and excreta was determined by reverse phase high‐performance liquid chromatography. In the absence of TA the digestibility of casein was almost complete. TA increased the excretion of amino acids to a varying extent (P < 0.01). Although the digestibility of all essential and non‐essential amino acids was adversely affected by the presence of TA, raising the amount of casein from 12 to 18 g improved significantly (P < 0.05) the apparent and true digestibilities of all amino acids. PEG reduced significantly (P < 0.01) the excretion of amino acids and improved significantly (P < 0.01) the amino acid digestibility of casein in TA‐dosed birds. However, the improvement was greater when the lower level of casein (12 g) was fed. Thus PEG might play an important role in inactivating dietary tannins in the gastrointestinal tract of birds and improving protein digestibility and utilisation, particularly when the diet is low or intermediate in protein. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Reliability-based optimization of trusses with random parameters under dynamic loads

In this work, a reliability-based optimization technique is addressed to obtain the minimum mean value of random mass of the structures with random parameters under stationary stochastic process excitation. The challenge of the problem lies in randomness involved from both structural parameters and dynamic load, which renders the structural reliability becoming the random dynamic reliability of the first passage problem. In order to obtain minimum mean value of random gross mass, element and system dynamic reliability constraints are constructed, respectively, and the structural sizing and shape optimization models based on the dynamic reliability are then presented. Moreover, among two optimal strategies proposed for optimization models, the second one can effectively reduce the workload by avoiding the computation of the variance of the dynamic response during the iterative process. Finally, the implementation of three examples is discussed to display the feasibility and validity of optimization technique given.     

Sodium dodecyl sulfate coated alumina modified with a new Schiff's base as a uranyl ion selective adsorbent

A simple and selective method was used for the preconcentration and determination of uranium(VI) by solid-phase extraction (SPE). In this method, a column of alumina modified with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and a new Schiff's base ligand was prepared for the preconcentration of trace uranyl(VI) from water samples. The uranium(VI) was completely eluted with HCl 2M and determined by a spectrophotometeric method with Arsenazo(III). The preconcentration steps were studied with regard to experimental parameters such as amount of extractant, type, volume and concentration of eluent, pH, flow rate of sample source and tolerance limit of diverse ions on the recovery of uranyl ion. A preconcentration factor more than 200 was achieved and the average recovery of uranyl(VI) was 99.5%. The relative standard deviation was 1.1% for 10 replicate determinations of uranyl(VI) ion in a solution with a concentration of 5 μg mL(-1). This method was successfully used for the determination of spiked uranium in natural water samples.     

Solubilization of multi walled carbon nanotubes under a facile and mild condition

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) functionalized with amino groups was prepared via chemical modification of carboxyl groups introduced on the carbon nanotube surfaces. Oxidation of MWCNTs was performed with ozone in aqueous phase and amidation of generated carboxylic groups, was occurred with amines in the presence of HATU as a coupling agent. Obtained functionalized MWCNTs are soluble in many common organic solvents. The functionalized MWCNTs were characterized in detail using FTIR-ATR, Raman CHN and SEM methods.     

A fuzzy maximum power point tracking method for photovoltaic systems using a single input current sensor

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is one of the major issues in photovoltaic (PV) systems and plays a vital role in optimal utilization of these systems for practical applications. In this paper, we propose a new MPPT method that requires only one current sensor in PV panel side and uses a fuzzy controller to generate proper duty cycle for the DC–DC converter in a PV system. The input current sensor‐based fuzzy MPPT method (ICSF) exhibits proper operation both under steady state and dynamic tests and also performs well in case of severe environmental variations. The proposed method has been simulated in the MATLAB/Simulink workspace and compared with some major MPPT methods. The results reveal that the proposed method behaves well in various conditions. © 2016 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

User pairing schemes for capacity maximization in non‐orthogonal multiple access systems

This paper addresses the issues related with conventional near–far user pairing in non‐orthogonal multiple access. Performance effects of near–far pairing on regions with negligible channel gain differences between users are investigated. These regions occur when pairing is performed between cell center and cell edge users, thus leaving the cell mid users to be either paired with each other or kept unpaired. Pairing these mid users with each other causes successive interference cancelation (SIC) performance degradation resulting in capacity reduction for these users. On the other hand, leaving these mid users unpaired perfectly avoids the SIC issue but makes these users unable to benefit from the capacity gains provided by non‐orthogonal multiple access. Therefore, two user pairing strategies have been proposed that can provide capacity gains to almost all the users by accommodating them in pairs, while avoiding or minimizing the mid users pairing problem. A generalized M‐users pairing scheme is also proposed. Simulations have been performed to investigate the performance of proposed schemes for both perfect and imperfect SIC receiver scenarios in comparison with conventional pairing where the mid users are kept paired with each other. Simulation results show that proposed schemes achieve high capacity gains, especially when imperfect SIC is considered. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi-level wordline driver for robust SRAM design in nano-scale CMOS technology

In this paper, a multi-level wordline driver scheme is presented to improve 6T-SRAM read and write stability. The proposed wordline driver generates a shaped pulse during the read mode and a boosted wordline during the write mode. During read, the shaped pulse is tuned at nominal voltage for a short period of time, whereas for the remaining access time, the wordline voltage is reduced to save the power consumption of the cell. This shaped wordline pulse results in improved read noise margin without any degradation in access time for small wordline load. The improvement is explained by examining the dynamic and nonlinear behavior of the SRAM cell. Furthermore, during the hold mode, for a short time (depending on the size of boosting capacitance), wordline voltage becomes negative and charges up to zero after a specific time that results in a lower leakage current compared to conventional SRAM. The proposed technique results in at least 2× improvement in read noise margin while it improves write margin by 3× for lower supply voltages than 0.7 V. The leakage power for the proposed SRAM is reduced by 2% while the total power is improved by 3% in the worst case scenario for an SRAM array. The main advantage of the proposed wordline driver is the improvement of dynamic noise margin with less than 2.5% penalty in area. TSMC 65 nm technology models are used for simulations.