Formulation of sage essential oil (Salvia officinalis,L.) monoterpenes into chitosan hydrogels and permeation study with GC-MS analysis

This study deals with the formulation of natural drugs into hydrogels. For the first time, compounds from the sage essential oil were formulated into chitosan hydrogels. A sample preparation procedure for hydrophobic volatile analytes present in a hydrophilic water matrix along with an analytical method based on the gas chromatography coupled with the mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed and applied for the evaluation of the identity and quantity of essential oil components in the hydrogels and saline samples. The experimental results revealed that the chitosan hydrogels are suitable for the formulation of sage essential oil. The monoterpene release can be effectively controlled by both chitosan and caffeine concentration in the hydrogels. Permeation experiment, based on a hydrogel with the optimized composition [3.5% (w/w) sage essential oil, 2.0% (w/w) caffeine, 2.5% (w/w) chitosan and 0.1% (w/w) Tween-80] in donor compartment, saline solution in acceptor compartment, and semi-permeable cellophane membrane, demonstrated the useful permeation selectivity. Here, (according to lipophilicity) an enhanced permeation of the bicyclic monoterpenes with antiflogistic and antiseptic properties (eucalyptol, camphor and borneol) and, at the same time, suppressed permeation of toxic thujone (not exceeding its permitted applicable concentration) was observed. These properties highlight the pharmaceutical importance of the developed chitosan hydrogel formulating sage essential oil in the dermal applications.     

Lignin from Annual Plants as Raw Material Source for Flavors and Basic Chemicals

The enzymatic conversion of lignins, possibly in combination with electrochemical oxidation, makes aromatics such as syringol, guaiacol, vanillin and catechol available in the qualities required by the fragrance industry. The lignins were obtained by soda digestion from wheat straw and Miscanthus, characterized and then converted with laccases. The overall yield amounted up to 9 wt % with a product spectrum confined to four substances. Catechol was the major product, with a fraction of ≈75 %. It can easily be isolated by extraction with acetone.     

On the effects of the packet size distribution on the packet loss process

Real-time multimedia applications have to use forward error correction (FEC) anderror concealment techniques to cope with losses in today’s best-effort Internet. The efficiency of these solutions is known however to depend on the correlation between losses in the media stream. In this paper we investigate how the packet size distribution affects the packet loss process, that is, the distribution of the number of lost packets in a block, the related FEC performance and the average loss run length. We present mathematical models for the loss process of the MMPP+M/D/1/K and the MMPP+M/M/1/K queues; we validate the models via simulations, and compare the results to simulation results with an MPEG-4 coded video trace. We conclude that the deterministic packet size distribution (PSD) not only results in lower stationary loss probability than the exponential one, but also gives a less correlated loss process, both at a particular average link load and at a particular stationary loss probability as seen by the media stream.Our results show that for applications that can only measure the packet loss probability, the effects of the PSD on FEC performance are higher in access networks, where a single multimedia stream might affect the multiplexing behavior. Our results show that the effects of the PSD on FEC performance are higher in access networks, where a single multimedia stream might affect the multiplexing behavior and thus can improve the queuing performance by decreasing the variance of its PSD.     

A comparison between different PMD compensation techniques

We quantify the benefits of using different techniques for compensation of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in fiber-optic communication systems by means of numerical simulations. This is done both with respect to PMD-induced pulse broadening and in terms of system outage probability for different data formats [nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ)]. Attention is focused on simple and relevant single- and double-stage post-transmission compensators with a few degrees of freedom (DOF). It is generally believed that a PMD compensator with a polarization controller and a variable delay line can only compensate the PMD to the first order. We show, from analytical results, the counterintuitive fact that this scheme can also partially compensate for higher order PMD. We also investigate the benefit of using a polarizer as compensation element where the optical average power can be used as a feedback signal     

Ozonation of Two Acidic Azo Dyes with Different Substituents

The ozonation of two differently substituted azo dyes (Schwarz GRS and Orange Acid 8) in water media is studied. The influence of pH on the effectiveness of the ozonation at various initial concentrations of each dye is explored. It was found out that the rates of decolorization for amino-group substituted dyes reflect the considerable influence by the widely varying initial pH from 4.5 to 10. Specifically, the highest effect of decolorization of this dye was obtained at the highest pH studied (pH 10) for all initial concentrations of the solutions. Considering the dye without an amino-group substitute, the rates of color disappearance in ozonation reflected to a lower degree the variations of the initial pH. Pseudo-first-order trends of decolorization were observed in all the experimental runs. Regarding the kinetic results obtained, an attempt to explain the different dyes reactivity was made based on the absolute electronegativity (E_lumo + E_homo) of both dyes. The COD/BOD analysis shows that the ozonation of both azo dyes can reduce the sample COD but it could not improve the biodegradability ratio (BOD₅/COD). BOD decrease with ozonation time indicates that the intermediates of the ozonation are of lower biodegradability. Oxalic acid was found as the final product of ozonation of both dyes.     

HIPAA's Effect on Web Site Privacy Policies

Healthcare institutions typically post their privacy practices online as privacy policy documents. We conducted a longitudinal study that examines the effects of HIPAA's enactment on a collection of privacy policy documents for a fixed set of organizations over a four-year period. We present our analysis of 24 healthcare privacy policy documents from nine healthcare Web sites, analyzed using goal mining, a content-analysis method that supports extraction of useful information about institutions' privacy practices from documents. We compare our results to our pre-HIPAA study of these same institutions' online privacy practices and evaluate their evolution in the presence of privacy laws     

Xylose-lysine model systems: The effect of pH on the volatile reaction products

Aqueous molal solutions of xylose and lysine (initial pH 4–9) were refluxed either with control of the pH at 5–0 or without pH control (final pH 2–6). Analysis by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry resulted in the identification of 58 and 28 compounds, respectively, from the two systems. Furans were the main reaction products in both systems and 2-furfural alone comprised 522 and 999 g kg^?1 of the volatiles, respectively, from the systems with final pH values of 5–0 and 2–6. Maintaining the pH at 5–0 resulted in a higher yield and greater numbers of nitrogen-containing compounds, and monocyclic pyrroles, pyridines and 2,3-dihydro-l H-pyrrolizines were identified only in that system. Aliphatic compounds, alicyclic compounds, benzene derivatives. l-(2–furfuryl)pyrroles and pyrazines were also identified. This investigation is the first report of the formation of 2.3-dihydro-l H-pyrrolizines in a model system containing lysine as the amino compound; a possible mechanism is proposed.     

Tensile,creep, and low-cycle fatigue behavior of a cast γ-TiAl-based alloy for gas turbine applications

The influence of chemical composition on the microstructure of the γ-titanium aluminide alloy Ti-48Al-2W-0.5Si (at. pct) and the accompanying tensile, low-cycle fatigue, and creep properties has been evaluated. The study showed that small variations in chemical composition and casting procedures resulted in considerable variations in the microstructure, yielding vastly different mechanical properties. Low contents of aluminum and tungsten led to a coarse-grained lamellar (γ/α ₂) microstructure with high creep resistance. A composition close to the nominal one produced a duplex (γ+γ/α ₂) structure with favorable strength, ductility, and low-cycle fatigue properties. By controlling the solidification and cooling rates at casting, a pseudoduplex (PS-DP) microstructure with a unique combination of high strength and high fatigue and creep resistance can be obtained. These unique properties can be explained by the diffuse boundaries between the relatively small γ grains and the neighboring lamellar colonies, combined with semicoherent interfaces between the γ and α ₂ phases. At tensile and low-cycle fatigue loading, these boundaries act like high-angle boundaries, producing a virtually fine-grained material promoting strength, whereas at creep loading, grain-boundary sliding is hindered in the semicoherent interfaces leading to high creep resistance.