Comprehensive characterization of the functional activities of pressurized liquid and ultrasound-assisted extracts from Chlorella vulgaris

Chlorella vulgaris has been referred as a potential source of bioactive compounds (carotenoids and fatty acids). In this work, the ability of an environmentally friendly extraction technique such as Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) and a traditional extraction technique such as Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction (UAE) to obtain functional compounds from C. vulgaris, at analytical scale, has been demonstrated. Seeked bioactivities were antioxidant and antimicrobial, for their interest in the food industry. Therefore, a methodology including analytical extraction, in-vitro assays and chemical characterization via HPLC-DAD and GC–MS has been used to determine the interest of Chlorella as a source of functional food ingredients. Results demonstrated that PLE provide higher yields than UAE while similar bioactivities were obtained. Important concentration of carotenoids (lutein, neoxanthin, β-carotene, etc.), chlorophylls, sterols, phytols, and fatty acids (among others) have been found in Chlorella extracts that could be correlated to the observed biological activity.     

Thermotropic, Thermo-morphologic, and Thermo-optical Properties of New Smectogenic Calamitic Compounds Containing Imine Linking Groups

The synthesis and investigations of the mesomorphic, thermotropic, thermo-morphologic, and thermo-optical properties of two new salicylaldimine compounds, synthesized by our group, are reported in this work. Temperature transformations of specific textures of the smectic C mesophase, taking place in these compounds, and thermo-morphologic and thermotropic properties of the biphasic regions for direct and reverse phase transitions have been investigated. Temperature hysteresis and enlargement of the biphasic regions have been found. The character of texture transformations and temperature behavior of the optical birefringence indicate to the first order a smectic C–isotropic liquid-phase transition in these salicylaldimine compounds.     

Production of human growth hormone by Lactococcus lactis

A synthetic gene coding for human growth hormone was expressed in Lactococcus lactis. The presence of the recombinant protein was assayed and quantified using ELISA tests. Human growth hormone was detected at high concentrations and displayed a biological activity similar to the one shown by commercial human growth hormone.     

HV-insulation of simple forms

The operational reliability of high-voltage power equipment depends mainly on the quality of its electrical insulation. The main characteristics determining insulating structure (IS) quality are: flashover voltage distribution (FOV); and voltage-time curve (VTC). It is currently thought that FOV follows the normal symmetrical law of distribution, while the VTC is inversely proportional to the degree function (so-called “hyperbolic type”). However, a series of IS discharge characteristics exist which differ significantly from the norm, both in flashover voltage quantity and in form. This paper discusses some results of IS investigations by the author in this area, based on research carried out in the 1980's in Russia at the RV Center of Siberian Research Institute of Energetic (Novosibirsk)     

Enhanced facilitation of spatial attention in schizophrenia.

Objective: While attentional functions are usually found to be impaired in schizophrenia, a review of the literature on the orienting of spatial attention in schizophrenia suggested that voluntary attentional orienting in response to a valid cue might be paradoxically enhanced. We tested this hypothesis with orienting tasks involving the cued detection of a laterally presented target stimulus. Method: Subjects were chronic schizophrenia patients (SZ) and matched healthy control subjects (HC). In Experiment 1 (15 SZ, 16 HC), cues were endogenous (arrows) and could be valid (100% predictive) or neutral with respect to the subsequent target position. In Experiment 2 (16 SZ, 16 HC), subjects performed a standard orienting task with unpredictive exogenous cues (brightening of the target boxes). Results: In Experiment 1, SZ showed a larger attentional facilitation effect on reaction time than HC. In Experiment 2, no clear sign of enhanced attentional facilitation was found in SZ. Conclusions: The voluntary, facilitatory shifting of spatial attention may be relatively enhanced in individuals with schizophrenia in comparison to healthy individuals. This effect bears resemblance to other relative enhancements of information processing in schizophrenia such as saccade speed and semantic priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Soluble polypyrrole copolymers

A new class of dimethyl formamide (DMF)– and acetone‐soluble conducting pyrrole–ketonic resin copolymers has been developed. This was accomplished by oxidatively polymerizing pyrrole monomer by Ce(IV) salt in the presence of methyl ethyl ketone formaldehyde resin (MEKF–R). The resulting copolymers were readily dissolved in DMF and acetone. These products were characterized by FTIR and UV‐visible spectroscopy, conductivity, four‐probe conductivity, viscosity, and DSC measurements. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 1098–1106, 2001     

Numerical solution of the two-yield elastoplastic minimization problem

Summary This paper concentrates on fast calculation techniques for the two-yield elastoplastic problem, a locally defined, convex but non-smooth minimization problem for unknown plastic-strain increment matrices P ₁ and P ₂. So far, the only applied technique was an alternating minimization, whose convergence is known to be geometrical and global. We show that symmetries can be utilized to obtain a more efficient implementation of the alternating minimization. For the first plastic time-step problem, which describes the initial elastoplastic transition, the exact solution for P ₁ and P ₂ can even be obtained analytically. In the later time-steps used for the computation of the further development of elastoplastic zones in a continuum, an extrapolation technique as well as a Newton-algorithm are proposed. Finally, we present a realistic example for the first plastic and the second time-steps, where the new techniques decrease the computation time significantly.      

A hybrid neural model (HNM) for the on‐line monitoring of lipase production by Candida rugosa

A mechanistic model was proposed by Gordillo for the representation of lipase production by Candida rugosa, with the bioreactor in batch and fed‐batch operation. However, the model was not able to represent the lipolytic activity. The objective of the present study is to propose an efficient hybrid neural‐phenomenological model (HNM) for this process. The experimental data used corresponded to fed‐batch operation with constant substrate feed rate at 2.8 × 10^?7; 5.6 × 10^?7 and 9.7 × 10^?7 kg s^?1. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were trained to represent the aqueous and intracellular lipase activity and were further associated with a reduced version of the mechanistic model of the proposed HNM. When compared to the experimental data, the HNM exhibited higher accuracy. The HNM can be employed in process monitoring using only on‐line measurements of CO₂ and substrate feed rate to infer enzyme activities and also substrate and biomass concentrations. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

A convergent adaptive finite element method for the primal problem of elastoplasticity

The boundary value problem representing one time step of the primal formulation of elastoplasticity with positive hardening leads to a variational inequality of the second kind with some nondifferentiable functional. This paper establishes an adaptive finite element algorithm for the solution of this variational inequality that yields the energy reduction and, up to higher order terms, the R‐linear convergence of the stresses with respect to the number of loops. Applications include several plasticity models: linear isotropic‐kinematic hardening, linear kinematic hardening, and multisurface plasticity as model for nonlinear hardening laws. For perfect plasticity, the adaptive algorithm yields strong convergence of the stresses. Numerical examples confirm an improved linear convergence rate and study the performance of the algorithm in comparison with the more frequently applied maximum refinement rule. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study of some equation‐of‐state parameters of poly(methylhydrosiloxane‐co‐dimethylsiloxane) with some solvents by gas chromatography

Trace amount of methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, tert‐butyl acetate, pentane, hexane, and heptane were passed through the chromatographic column loaded with poly(methylhydrosiloxane‐co‐dimethylsiloxane) coated on Chromosorb W. The retention diagrams of the solvents on the copolymer were plotted by means of specific retention volumes at temperatures between 40 and 80°C by inverse gas chromatography technique. In this study, some thermodynamic interaction parameters such as Flory–Huggins polymer–solvent interaction parameter, equation‐of‐state polymer–solvent interaction parameter, effective exchange energy parameter, and weight fraction activity coefficients at infinite dilution of the solvent were determined. Then, the exchange enthalpy parameter and entropy parameter were determined by using a relation for the enthalpy interaction parameter of the equation‐of‐state theory, which is arranged for the inverse gas chromatography conditions. Later, the partial molar heat of sorption and the partial molar heat of mixing were obtained. The solubility parameter of this copolymer was determined as 6.64 (cal/cm³)^1/2 at room temperature. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 1627–1631, 2007