The limit of the film extraction technique for annular two-phase flow in a small tube

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Helm, D.E.; Lopez de Bertodano, M.; Beus, S.G.

1999-07-01

The limit of the liquid film extraction technique was identified in air-water and Freon-113 annular two-phase flow loops. The purpose of this research is to find the limit of the entrainment rate correlation obtained by Lopez de Bertodano et. al. (1998). The film extraction technique involves the suction of the liquid film through a porous tube and has been widely used to obtain annular flow entrainment and entrainment rate data. In these experiments there are two extraction probes. After the first extraction the entrained droplets in the gas core deposit on the tube wall. A new liquid film develops entirelymore » from liquid deposition and a second liquid film extraction is performed. While it is assumed that the entire liquid film is removed after the first extraction unit, this is not true for high liquid flow. At high liquid film flows the interfacial structure of the film becomes frothy. Then the entire liquid film cannot be removed at the first extraction unit, but continues on and is extracted at the second extraction unit. A simple model to characterize the limit of the extraction technique was obtained based on the hypothesis that the transition occurs due to a change in the wave structure. The resulting dimensionless correlation agrees with the data.« less

The limit of the film extraction technique for annular two-phase flow in a small tube

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Helm, D.E.; Lopez de Bertodano, M.; Beus, S.G.

1999-07-01

The limit of the liquid film extraction technique was identified in air-water and Freon-113 annular two-phase flow loops. The purpose of this research is to find the limit of the entrainment rate correlation obtained by Lopez de Bertodano et al. (1998). The film extraction technique involves the suction of the liquid film through a porous tube and has been widely used to obtain annular flow entrainment and entrainment rate data. In the experiments there are two extraction probes. After the first extraction the entrained droplets in the gas core deposit on the tube wall. A new liquid film develops entirelymore » from liquid deposition and a second liquid film extraction is performed. While it is assumed that the entire liquid film is removed after the first extraction unit, this is not true for high liquid flow. At high liquid film flows the interfacial structure of the film becomes frothy. Then the entire liquid film cannot be removed at the first extraction unit, but continues on and is extracted at the second extraction unit. A simple model to characterize the limit of the extraction technique was obtained based on the hypothesis that the transition occurs due to a change in the wave structure. The resulting dimensionless correlation agrees with the data.« less

21 CFR 169.175 - Vanilla extract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... odorous principles extractable from vanilla beans. In vanilla extract the content of ethyl alcohol is not... less than one unit per gallon. The vanilla constituent may be extracted directly from vanilla beans or...

21 CFR 169.175 - Vanilla extract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... odorous principles extractable from vanilla beans. In vanilla extract the content of ethyl alcohol is not... less than one unit per gallon. The vanilla constituent may be extracted directly from vanilla beans or...

21 CFR 169.175 - Vanilla extract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... odorous principles extractable from vanilla beans. In vanilla extract the content of ethyl alcohol is not... less than one unit per gallon. The vanilla constituent may be extracted directly from vanilla beans or...

Process for producing fuel grade ethanol by continuous fermentation, solvent extraction and alcohol separation

DOEpatents

Tedder, Daniel W.

1985-05-14

Alcohol substantially free of water is prepared by continuously fermenting a fermentable biomass feedstock in a fermentation unit, thereby forming an aqueous fermentation liquor containing alcohol and microorganisms. Continuously extracting a portion of alcohol from said fermentation liquor with an organic solvent system containing an extractant for said alcohol, thereby forming an alcohol-organic solvent extract phase and an aqueous raffinate. Said alcohol is separated from said alcohol-organic solvent phase. A raffinate comprising microorganisms and unextracted alcohol is returned to the fermentation unit.

A pilot scale ultrasonic system to enhance extraction processes with dense gases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riera, E.; Blasco, M.; Tornero, A.; Casas, E.; Roselló, C.; Simal, S.; Acosta, V. M.; Gallego-Juárez, J. A.

2012-05-01

The use of dense gases (supercritical fluids) as extracting agents has been attracting wide interest for years. In particular, supercritical carbon dioxide is considered nowadays as a green and very useful solvent. Nevertheless, the extraction process has a slow dynamics. Power ultrasound represents an efficient way for accelerating and enhancing the kinetics of the process by producing strong agitation and turbulence, compressions and decompressions, and heating in the media. For this purpose, a device prototype for using ultrasound in supercritical media was developed, tested and validated in extraction processes of oil from grounded almonds (55% oil content, wet basis and 3-4 mm particle size) in a 5 L extraction unit. An amount of 1500 g of grounded almonds was placed in a cylindrical basket during the trials inside the dense gas extractor (DGE) where solvent was introduced at different flow rates, pressures and temperatures. In all cases the ultrasonic energy confirmed the enhancement and acceleration of the almond oil extraction kinetics using supercritical CO2. Presently the power ultrasound effect in such a process is being deeply analyzed in a 5 L extraction unit before scaling-up a new ultrasonic system. This technology, still under development, has been designed for a bigger dense gas pilot-plant consisting of two extractors (20 L capacity), two separation units and has the possibility of operating at a pressure up to 50 MPa. The goal of this work is to study the effect of high-power ultrasound coupled to dense gas extraction inside the basket with the product, and to present a prototype for the use of power ultrasound in extraction processes with dense gases inside a new 20 L extractor unit.

Research and application of thermal power unit’s load dynamic adjustment based on extraction steam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jun; Li, Huicong; Li, Weiwei

2018-02-01

The rapid development of heat and power generation in large power plant has caused tremendous constraints on the load adjustment of power grids and power plants. By introducing the thermodynamic system of thermal power unit, the relationship between thermal power extraction steam and unit’s load has analyzed and calculated. The practical application results show that power capability of the unit affected by extraction and it is not conducive to adjust the grid frequency. By monitoring the load adjustment capacity of thermal power units, especially the combined heat and power generating units, the upper and lower limits of the unit load can be dynamically adjusted by the operator on the grid side. The grid regulation and control departments can effectively control the load adjustable intervals of the operating units and provide reliable for the cooperative action of the power grid and power plants, to ensure the safety and stability of the power grid.

The Science and Art of Eyebrow Transplantation by Follicular Unit Extraction

PubMed Central

Gupta, Jyoti; Kumar, Amrendra; Chouhan, Kavish; Ariganesh, C; Nandal, Vinay

2017-01-01

Eyebrows constitute a very important and prominent feature of the face. With growing information, eyebrow transplant has become a popular procedure. However, though it is a small area it requires a lot of precision and knowledge regarding anatomy, designing of brows, extraction and implantation technique. This article gives a comprehensive view regarding eyebrow transplant with special emphasis on follicular unit extraction technique, which has become the most popular technique. PMID:28852290

Development and validation of an automated unit for the extraction of radiocaesium from seawater.

PubMed

Bokor, Ilonka; Sdraulig, Sandra; Jenkinson, Peter; Madamperuma, Janaka; Martin, Paul

2016-01-01

An automated unit was developed for the in-situ extraction of radiocaesium ((137)Cs and (134)Cs) from large volumes of seawater to achieve very low detection limits. The unit was designed for monitoring of Australian ocean and coastal waters, including at ports visited by nuclear-powered warships. The unit is housed within a robust case, and is easily transported and operated. It contains four filter cartridges connected in series. The first two cartridges are used to remove any suspended material that may be present in the seawater, while the last two cartridges are coated with potassium copper hexacyanoferrate for caesium extraction. Once the extraction is completed the coated cartridges are ashed. The ash is transferred to a small petri dish for counting of (137)Cs and (134)Cs by high resolution gamma spectrometry for a minimum of 24 h. The extraction method was validated for the following criteria: selectivity, trueness, precision, linearity, limit of detection and traceability. The validation showed the unit to be fit for purpose with the method capable of achieving low detection limits required for environmental samples. The results for the environmental measurements in Australian seawater correlate well with those reported in the Worldwide Marine Radioactivity Study (WOMARS). The cost of preparation and running the system is low and waste generation is minimal. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

RESOLVE OVEN Field Demonstration Unit for Lunar Resource Extraction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paz, Aaron; Oryshchyn, Lara; Jensen, Scott; Sanders, Gerald B.; Lee, Kris; Reddington, Mike

2013-01-01

The Oxygen and Volatile Extraction Node (OVEN) is a subsystem within the Regolith & Environment Science and Oxygen & Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) project. The purpose of the OVEN subsystem is to release volatiles from lunar regolith and extract oxygen by means of a hydrogen reduction reaction. The complete process includes receiving, weighing, sealing, heating, and disposing of core sample segments while transferring all gaseous contents to the Lunar Advanced Volatile Analysis (LAVA) subsystem. This document will discuss the design and performance of the OVEN Field Demonstration Unit (FDU), which participated in the 2012 RESOLVE field demonstration.

30 CFR 707.5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

.... For purposes of this part, only that coal extracted from within the right-of-way, in the case of a... construction. Extraction of coal outside the right-of-way or boundary of the area directly affected by the... or office of the unit which, directly or through another unit of government, finances construction...

A Database Design for a Unit Status Reporting System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-03-01

definitions. g. Extraction of data dictionary entries from existing programs. [Ref. 7:pp. 63-66] The third tool is used to define the logic of the...Automation of the Unit Status Reporting System is feasible, and would require: integrated files of data, some direct data extraction from those files...an extract of AR 220-1. Relevant sections of the regulation are included to provide an easy reference for the reader. The last section of the

Application of Magnetic Nanoparticles in Pretreatment Device for POPs Analysis in Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Dongzhi; Kong, Xiangfeng; Wu, Bingwei; Fan, Pingping; Cao, Xuan; Zhang, Ting

2018-01-01

In order to reduce process time and labour force of POPs pretreatment, and solve the problem that extraction column was easily clogged, the paper proposed a new technology of extraction and enrichment which used magnetic nanoparticles. Automatic pretreatment system had automatic sampling unit, extraction enrichment unit and elution enrichment unit. The paper briefly introduced the preparation technology of magnetic nanoparticles, and detailly introduced the structure and control system of automatic pretreatment system. The result of magnetic nanoparticles mass recovery experiments showed that the system had POPs analysis preprocessing capability, and the recovery rate of magnetic nanoparticles were over 70%. In conclusion, the author proposed three points optimization recommendation.

21 CFR 169.180 - Vanilla-vanillin extract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Vanilla-vanillin extract. 169.180 Section 169.180... Dressings and Flavorings § 169.180 Vanilla-vanillin extract. (a) Vanilla-vanillin extract conforms to the... prescribed for vanilla extract by § 169.175, except that for each unit of vanilla constituent, as defined in...

21 CFR 169.180 - Vanilla-vanillin extract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Vanilla-vanillin extract. 169.180 Section 169.180... Dressings and Flavorings § 169.180 Vanilla-vanillin extract. (a) Vanilla-vanillin extract conforms to the... prescribed for vanilla extract by § 169.175, except that for each unit of vanilla constituent, as defined in...

21 CFR 169.180 - Vanilla-vanillin extract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Vanilla-vanillin extract. 169.180 Section 169.180... Dressings and Flavorings § 169.180 Vanilla-vanillin extract. (a) Vanilla-vanillin extract conforms to the... prescribed for vanilla extract by § 169.175, except that for each unit of vanilla constituent, as defined in...

21 CFR 169.180 - Vanilla-vanillin extract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Vanilla-vanillin extract. 169.180 Section 169.180... Dressings and Flavorings § 169.180 Vanilla-vanillin extract. (a) Vanilla-vanillin extract conforms to the... prescribed for vanilla extract by § 169.175, except that for each unit of vanilla constituent, as defined in...

21 CFR 169.180 - Vanilla-vanillin extract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Vanilla-vanillin extract. 169.180 Section 169.180... Dressings and Flavorings § 169.180 Vanilla-vanillin extract. (a) Vanilla-vanillin extract conforms to the... prescribed for vanilla extract by § 169.175, except that for each unit of vanilla constituent, as defined in...

Single-trial event-related potential extraction through one-unit ICA-with-reference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lih Lee, Wee; Tan, Tele; Falkmer, Torbjörn; Leung, Yee Hong

2016-12-01

Objective. In recent years, ICA has been one of the more popular methods for extracting event-related potential (ERP) at the single-trial level. It is a blind source separation technique that allows the extraction of an ERP without making strong assumptions on the temporal and spatial characteristics of an ERP. However, the problem with traditional ICA is that the extraction is not direct and is time-consuming due to the need for source selection processing. In this paper, the application of an one-unit ICA-with-Reference (ICA-R), a constrained ICA method, is proposed. Approach. In cases where the time-region of the desired ERP is known a priori, this time information is utilized to generate a reference signal, which is then used for guiding the one-unit ICA-R to extract the source signal of the desired ERP directly. Main results. Our results showed that, as compared to traditional ICA, ICA-R is a more effective method for analysing ERP because it avoids manual source selection and it requires less computation thus resulting in faster ERP extraction. Significance. In addition to that, since the method is automated, it reduces the risks of any subjective bias in the ERP analysis. It is also a potential tool for extracting the ERP in online application.

Single-trial event-related potential extraction through one-unit ICA-with-reference.

PubMed

Lee, Wee Lih; Tan, Tele; Falkmer, Torbjörn; Leung, Yee Hong

2016-12-01

In recent years, ICA has been one of the more popular methods for extracting event-related potential (ERP) at the single-trial level. It is a blind source separation technique that allows the extraction of an ERP without making strong assumptions on the temporal and spatial characteristics of an ERP. However, the problem with traditional ICA is that the extraction is not direct and is time-consuming due to the need for source selection processing. In this paper, the application of an one-unit ICA-with-Reference (ICA-R), a constrained ICA method, is proposed. In cases where the time-region of the desired ERP is known a priori, this time information is utilized to generate a reference signal, which is then used for guiding the one-unit ICA-R to extract the source signal of the desired ERP directly. Our results showed that, as compared to traditional ICA, ICA-R is a more effective method for analysing ERP because it avoids manual source selection and it requires less computation thus resulting in faster ERP extraction. In addition to that, since the method is automated, it reduces the risks of any subjective bias in the ERP analysis. It is also a potential tool for extracting the ERP in online application.

A novel dual-valve sequential injection manifold (DV-SIA) for automated liquid-liquid extraction. Application for the determination of picric acid.

PubMed

Skrlíková, Jana; Andruch, Vasil; Sklenárová, Hana; Chocholous, Petr; Solich, Petr; Balogh, Ioseph S

2010-05-07

A novel dual-valve sequential injection system (DV-SIA) for online liquid-liquid extraction which resolves the main problems of LLE utilization in SIA has been designed. The main idea behind this new design was to construct an SIA system by connecting two independent units, one for aqueous-organic mixture flow and the second specifically for organic phase flow. As a result, the DV-SIA manifold consists of an Extraction unit and a Detection unit. Processing a mixture of aqueous-organic phase in the Extraction unit and a separated organic phase in the Detection unit solves the problems associated with the change of phases having different affinities to the walls of the Teflon tubing used in the SI-system. The developed manifold is a simple, user-friendly and universal system built entirely from commercially available components. The system can be used for a variety of samples and organic solvents and is simple enough to be easily handled by operators less familiar with flow systems. The efficiency of the DV-SIA system is demonstrated by the extraction of picric acid in the form of an ion associate with 2-[2-(4-methoxy-phenylamino)-vinyl]-1,3,3-trimethyl-3H-indolium reagent, with subsequent spectrophotometric detection. The suggested DV-SIA concept can be expected to stimulate new experiments in analytical laboratories and can be applied to the elaboration of procedures for the determination of other compounds extractable by organic solvents. It could thus form a basis for the design of simple, single-purpose commercial instruments used in LLE procedures. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mass Transfer And Hydraulic Testing Of The V-05 And V-10 Contactors With The Next Generation Solvent

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Herman, D. T.; Duignan, M. R.; Williams, M. R.

The Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) Unit (MCU) facility is actively pursuing the transition from the current BOBCalixC6 based solvent to the Next Generation Solvent (NGS)-MCU solvent. To support this integration of NGS into the MCU facilities, Savannah River Remediation (SRR) requested that Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) perform testing of a blend of the NGS (MaxCalix based solvent) with the current solvent (BOBCalixC6 based solvent) for the removal of cesium (Cs) from the liquid salt waste stream. This testing differs from prior testing by utilizing a blend of BOBCalixC6 based solvent and the NGS with the full (0.05more » M) concentration of the MaxCalix as well as a new suppressor, tris(3,7dimethyloctyl) guanidine. Single stage tests were conducted using the full size V-05 and V-10 centrifugal contactors installed at SRNL. These tests were designed to determine the mass transfer and hydraulic characteristics with the NGS solvent blended with the projected heel of the BOBCalixC6 based solvent that will exist in MCU at time of transition. The test program evaluated the amount of organic carryover and the droplet size of the organic carryover phases using several analytical methods. Stage efficiency and mass distribution ratios were determined by measuring Cs concentration in the aqueous and organic phases during single contactor testing. The nominal cesium distribution ratio, D(Cs) measured for extraction ranged from 37-60. The data showed greater than 96% stage efficiency for extraction. No significant differences were noted for operations at 4, 8 or 12 gpm aqueous salt simulant feed flow rates. The first scrub test (contact with weak caustic solution) yielded average scrub D(Cs) values of 3.3 to 5.2 and the second scrub test produced an average value of 1.8 to 2.3. For stripping behavior, the “first stage” D Cs) values ranged from 0.04 to 0.08. The efficiency of the low flow (0.27 gpm aqueous) was calculated to be 82.7%. The Spreadsheet Algorithm for Stagewise Solvent Extraction (SASSE) predicted equivalent DF for MCU from this testing is greater than 3,500 assuming 95% efficiency during extraction and 80% efficiency during scrub and strip. Hydraulically, the system performed very well in all tests. Target flows were easily obtained and stable throughout testing. Though some issues were encountered with plugging in the coalescer, they were not related to the solvent. No hydraulic upsets due to the solvent were experienced during any of the tests conducted. The first extraction coalescer element used in testing developed high pressure drop that made it difficult to maintain the target flow rates. Analysis showed an accumulation of sodium aluminosilicate solids. The coalescer was replaced with one from the same manufacturer’s lot and pressure drop was no longer an issue. Concentrations of Isopar™ L and Modifier were measured using semi-volatile organic analysis (SVOA) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determine the amount of solvent carryover. For low-flow (0.27 gpm aqueous) conditions in stripping, SVOA measured the Isopar™ L post-contactor concentration to be 25 mg/L, HPLC measured 39 mg/L of Modifier. For moderate-flow (0.54 gpm aqueous) conditions, SVOA measured the Isopar™ L postcontactor to be ~69 mg/L, while the HPLC measured 56 mg/L for Modifier. For high-flow (0.8 gpm aqueous) conditions, SVOA measured the Isopar™ L post-contactor to be 39 mg/L. The post-coalescer (pre-decanter) measurements by SVOA for Isopar™ L were all less than the analysis detection limit of 10 mg/L. The HPLC measured 18, 22 and 20 mg/L Modifier for the low, medium, and high-low rates respectively. In extraction, the quantity of pre-coalescer Isopar™ L carryover measured by SVOA was ~280-410 mg/L at low flow (4 gpm aqueous), ~400-450 mg/L at moderate flow (8 gpm aqueous), and ~480 mg/L at high flow (12 gpm aqueous). The amount of post coalescer (pre-decanter) Isopar™ L carryover measured by SVOA was less than 45 mg/L for all flow rates. HPLC results for Modifier were 182, 217 and 222 mg/L for the post-contactor low, medium and high flow rates. The post-coalescer (pre-decanter) samples were measured to contain 12, 10 and 22 mg/L Modifier for the low, medium, and high flow rates. The carryover results and droplet size measurements were used to determine the decanter performance utilizing the decanter model developed by the ARES Corporation. Results show for the targeted salt flow rate of approximately 8 gpm, that over 93% of the solvent carryover from stripping is predicted to be recovered and over 96% solvent carryover from extraction is predicted to be recovered. This translates to a predicted solvent carryover of <3 ppm from stripping and <20 ppm solvent carryover from extraction. This projected performance at MCU is expected to be well within the operating limits and the historical performance for the baseline BOBCalixC6 based solvent. Droplet-size data obtained by MicroTrac™ S3400 analyzer consistently shows that the droplet size post-oalescer is significantly greater than the post-contactor or pre-coalescer samples. Increased flow rates did not show a consistent impact to the droplet size results. For the extraction testing, droplet size analysis showed that the post-contactor and pre-coalescer samples were essentially the same. The mean droplet sizes post-coalescer were less than the mean droplet sizes pre-coalescer with a very slight upward trend in the mean droplet size as the flow rate was increased. This result is probably due to the method of sampling. The larger post-coalescer drops immediately rise to the surface after leaving the coalescer element. The downstream sampling point was horizontally in-line with the element and therefore would only capture those organic droplets well mixed in the flowing aqueous stream.« less

THE IMPACT OF THE MCU LIFE EXTENSION SOLVENT ON DWPF GLASS FORMULATION EFFORTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peeler, D; Edwards, T

2011-03-24

As a part of the Actinide Removal Process (ARP)/Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) Life Extension Project, a next generation solvent (NG-CSSX), a new strip acid, and modified monosodium titanate (mMST) will be deployed. The strip acid will be changed from dilute nitric acid to dilute boric acid (0.01 M). Because of these changes, experimental testing with the next generation solvent and mMST is required to determine the impact of these changes in 512-S operations as well as Chemical Process Cell (CPC), Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) glass formulation activities, and melter operations at DWPF. To support programmatic objectives,more » the downstream impacts of the boric acid strip effluent (SE) to the glass formulation activities and melter operations are considered in this study. More specifically, the impacts of boric acid additions to the projected SB7b operating windows, potential impacts to frit production temperatures, and the potential impact of boron volatility are evaluated. Although various boric acid molarities have been reported and discussed, the baseline flowsheet used to support this assessment was 0.01M boric acid. The results of the paper study assessment indicate that Frit 418 and Frit 418-7D are robust to the implementation of the 0.01M boric acid SE into the SB7b flowsheet (sludge-only or ARP-added). More specifically, the projected operating windows for the nominal SB7b projections remain essentially constant (i.e., 25-43 or 25-44% waste loading (WL)) regardless of the flowsheet options (sludge-only, ARP added, and/or the presence of the new SE). These results indicate that even if SE is not transferred to the Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT), there would be no need to add boric acid (from a trim tank) to compositionally compensate for the absence of the boric acid SE in either a sludge-only or ARP-added SB7b flowsheet. With respect to boron volatility, the Measurement Acceptability Region (MAR) assessments also suggest that Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) acceptability decisions would not be different assuming either 100% of the B{sub 2}O{sub 3} from the SE were retained or volatilized. More specifically, the 0.84 wt% B{sub 2}O{sub 3} in the SE is so minor that its presence in the SME analysis does not influence SME acceptability decisions. In fact, using the 100% retention and 100% volatilization composition projections, only minor differences in the predicted properties of the glass product occur with all of the glasses being acceptable over a WL interval of 32-42%. Based on the 0.01M boric acid flowsheet, there is very little difference between Frit 418 and Frit 418-7D (a frit that was compositionally altered to account for the 0.84 wt% B{sub 2}O{sub 3} in the SE) with respect to melt temperature. In fact, when one evaluates the composition of Frit 418-7D, it lies within the current Frit 418 vendor specifications and therefore could have been produced by the vendor targeting the nominal composition of Frit 418.« less

Obstetric management in vacuum-extraction deliveries.

PubMed

Ahlberg, Mia; Saltvedt, Sissel; Ekéus, Cecilia

2016-06-01

The aim of this observational study was to describe the obstetric management in vacuum extraction (VE) deliveries and to compare these findings to instructions in clinical guidelines on VE. In 2013, detailed data on management of 600 VE cases were consecutively collected from six different delivery units in Sweden. Each unit also contributed their own clinical VE guideline. In total, 93% of the VEs ended with a vaginal delivery while 7% failed and were converted to an emergency cesarean section. In 2.3% extraction time exceeded 20 minutes, and in 6% more than six pulls were used to deliver the fetus. Cup detachment occurred in 14.6%, and fundal pressure was used in 11% of the deliveries. In 2.3%, fetal station was assessed as above the level of the maternal ischial spines. The clinical guidelines on VE varied in scope and content between units, and were often incomplete according to best practice. The vast majority of the VEs were conducted in accordance with safety recommendations. However, in a few extractions, safety rules were disregarded and more than six pulls or an extraction time of more than 20 minutes were used to complete the delivery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Extractives in eastern hardwoods : a review

Treesearch

John W. Rowe

1979-01-01

This report extensively reviews the chemistry of extractives from wood and bark of hardwoods from the eastern United States. While such extractives are not used to a great extent commercially, they may influence properties of the wood and performance of wood products. For example, extractives can protect wood from decay, add color and odor to wood, accent grain pattern...

Hot-compressed water extraction of polysaccharides from soy hulls.

PubMed

Liu, Hua-Min; Wang, Fei-Yun; Liu, Yu-Lan

2016-07-01

The polysaccharides of soy hulls were extracted by hot-compressed water at temperatures of 110 from 180°C and various treatment times (10-150min) in a batch system. It was determined that a moderate temperature and short time are suitable for the preparation of polysaccharides. The structure of xylan and the inter- and intra-chain hydrogen bonding of cellulose fibrils in the soy hulls were not significantly broken down. The polysaccharides obtained were primarily composed of α-L-arabinofuranosyl units, 4-O-methyl-glucuronic acid units and α-D-galactose units attached with substituted units. A sugar analysis indicated that arabinose was the major component, constituting 35.6-46.9% of the polysaccharide products extracted at 130°C, 140°C, and 150°C. This investigation contributes to the knowledge of the polysaccharides of soy by-products, which can reduce the environmental impact of waste from the food industries. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hepatoprotective Activity of Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum Thunb.) Bulb Extracts.

PubMed

Tang, Wenping; Munafo, John P; Palatini, Kimberly; Esposito, Debora; Huang, Mou-Tuan; Komarnytsky, Slavko; Ho, Chi-Tang; Gianfagna, Thomas J

2015-11-11

The hepatoprotective activities of two different extracts, a hydroethanolic crude bulb extract (CB) and a steroidal glycoside-rich 1-butanol extract (BuOH), prepared from the bulbs of Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum Thunb.), were evaluated in a 24 week study in the female KK.Cg-A(y)/J Type 2 diabetic mouse model. Animals were divided into six groups (n = 16): control mice received Easter lily bulb extract-free drinking water together with a low- or high-fat diet (diabetic control); drinking water for the remaining groups was supplemented with CB extract (1%), BuOH extract (0.1 or 0.2%), and reference drug Metformin (0.001%), together with a high-fat diet. Both CB and BuOH extract treatment groups exhibited significantly improved liver function based on comparisons of triglycerides [diabetic 219 ± 34 mg/dL, CB 131 ± 27 mg/dL, BuOH(0.2%) 114 ± 35 mg/dL], CB total cholesterol (TC) (diabetic 196 ± 12 mg/dL, CB 159 ± 5 mg/dL), average liver mass [diabetic 2.96 ± 0.13 g, CB 2.58 ± 0.08 g, BuOH(0.1%) 2.48 ± 0.13 g], alanine transferase [diabetic 74 ± 5 units/L, CB 25 ± 1 units/L, BuOH(0.1%) 45 ± 1 units/L], and histological examinations. Glucose metabolism was improved only in CB, which was confirmed by oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) in diet-induced obese C57BL/6J mice exposed to CB extract. These data suggest that steroidal glycosides 1-5 might play a role in the hepatoprotective activity of the BuOH extracts, while the results of the TC measurements and OGTT study indicate that other constituents present in the CB extract are responsible for its hypocholesterolemic and hypoglycemic activity.

Automated extraction of natural drainage density patterns for the conterminous United States through high performance computing

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stanislawski, Larry V.; Falgout, Jeff T.; Buttenfield, Barbara P.

2015-01-01

Hydrographic networks form an important data foundation for cartographic base mapping and for hydrologic analysis. Drainage density patterns for these networks can be derived to characterize local landscape, bedrock and climate conditions, and further inform hydrologic and geomorphological analysis by indicating areas where too few headwater channels have been extracted. But natural drainage density patterns are not consistently available in existing hydrographic data for the United States because compilation and capture criteria historically varied, along with climate, during the period of data collection over the various terrain types throughout the country. This paper demonstrates an automated workflow that is being tested in a high-performance computing environment by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to map natural drainage density patterns at the 1:24,000-scale (24K) for the conterminous United States. Hydrographic network drainage patterns may be extracted from elevation data to guide corrections for existing hydrographic network data. The paper describes three stages in this workflow including data pre-processing, natural channel extraction, and generation of drainage density patterns from extracted channels. The workflow is concurrently implemented by executing procedures on multiple subbasin watersheds within the U.S. National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). Pre-processing defines parameters that are needed for the extraction process. Extraction proceeds in standard fashion: filling sinks, developing flow direction and weighted flow accumulation rasters. Drainage channels with assigned Strahler stream order are extracted within a subbasin and simplified. Drainage density patterns are then estimated with 100-meter resolution and subsequently smoothed with a low-pass filter. The extraction process is found to be of better quality in higher slope terrains. Concurrent processing through the high performance computing environment is shown to facilitate and refine the choice of drainage density extraction parameters and more readily improve extraction procedures than conventional processing.

A method for real-time implementation of HOG feature extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Hai-bo; Yu, Xin-rong; Liu, Hong-mei; Ding, Qing-hai

2011-08-01

Histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) is an efficient feature extraction scheme, and HOG descriptors are feature descriptors which is widely used in computer vision and image processing for the purpose of biometrics, target tracking, automatic target detection(ATD) and automatic target recognition(ATR) etc. However, computation of HOG feature extraction is unsuitable for hardware implementation since it includes complicated operations. In this paper, the optimal design method and theory frame for real-time HOG feature extraction based on FPGA were proposed. The main principle is as follows: firstly, the parallel gradient computing unit circuit based on parallel pipeline structure was designed. Secondly, the calculation of arctangent and square root operation was simplified. Finally, a histogram generator based on parallel pipeline structure was designed to calculate the histogram of each sub-region. Experimental results showed that the HOG extraction can be implemented in a pixel period by these computing units.

Automatic movie skimming with general tempo analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Shih-Hung; Yeh, Chia-Hung; Kuo, C. C. J.

2003-11-01

Story units are extracted by general tempo analysis including tempos analysis including tempos of audio and visual information in this research. Although many schemes have been proposed to successfully segment video data into shots using basic low-level features, how to group shots into meaningful units called story units is still a challenging problem. By focusing on a certain type of video such as sport or news, we can explore models with the specific application domain knowledge. For movie contents, many heuristic rules based on audiovisual clues have been proposed with limited success. We propose a method to extract story units using general tempo analysis. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed technique.

Development of blood extraction system for health monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuchiya, Kazuyoshi; Nakanishi, Naoyuki; Nakamachi, Eiji

2004-03-01

The purpose of this research is to develop the compact human blood sampling device applied for a health monitoring system(HMS), which is called "Mobile Hospital". The HMS consists of (1) a micro electrical pumping system for blood extraction, (2) a bio-sensor to detect and evaluate an amount of Glucose, Cholesterol and Urea in extracted blood, by using enzyme such as Glucoseoxidase (GOD), Cholesteroloxidase and Urease. The mechanical design elements of the device are bio-compatible microneedle, indentation unit using a shape memory alloy(SMA) actuator and pumping unit using a piezoelectric microactuator. The design concept is the biomimetic micromachine of female mosquito"s blood sampling mechanism. The performances of the main mechanical elements such as indentation force of the microneedle, actual stroke of the indentation unit using a SMA actuator and liquid sampling ability of the pumping unit using PZT piezoelectric microactuator were measured. The 3 mm stroke of the indentation load generated by SMA actuator was 0.8mN. The amount of imitation blood extracted by using bimorph PZT actuators was about 0.5 microliters for 10 sec. A 60-micrometer outer diameter and 25-micrometer inner diameter Titanium microneedle, which size is same as female mosquito"s labium, was produced by sputter deposition.

A Novel Framework Based on FastICA for High Density Surface EMG Decomposition

PubMed Central

Chen, Maoqi; Zhou, Ping

2015-01-01

This study presents a progressive FastICA peel-off (PFP) framework for high density surface electromyogram (EMG) decomposition. The novel framework is based on a shift-invariant model for describing surface EMG. The decomposition process can be viewed as progressively expanding the set of motor unit spike trains, which is primarily based on FastICA. To overcome the local convergence of FastICA, a “peel off” strategy (i.e. removal of the estimated motor unit action potential (MUAP) trains from the previous step) is used to mitigate the effects of the already identified motor units, so more motor units can be extracted. Moreover, a constrained FastICA is applied to assess the extracted spike trains and correct possible erroneous or missed spikes. These procedures work together to improve the decomposition performance. The proposed framework was validated using simulated surface EMG signals with different motor unit numbers (30, 70, 91) and signal to noise ratios (SNRs) (20, 10, 0 dB). The results demonstrated relatively large numbers of extracted motor units and high accuracies (high F1-scores). The framework was also tested with 111 trials of 64-channel electrode array experimental surface EMG signals during the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle contraction at different intensities. On average 14.1 ± 5.0 motor units were identified from each trial of experimental surface EMG signals. PMID:25775496

European and Mexican vs US diagnostic extracts of Bermuda grass and cat in skin testing.

PubMed

Larenas-Linnemann, Désirée; Cruz, Alfredo Arias; Gutierrez, Isabel Rojo; Rodriguez, Pablo; Shah-Hosseini, Kijawasch; Michels, Alexandra; Mösges, Ralph

2011-05-01

Laboratory testing of various diagnostic extracts has shown lower potencies for several European and Mexican extracts relative to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reference (10,000 BAU/mL). Quantitative skin prick testing (QSPT) with Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus extracts have previously shown a similar picture. To compare European and Mexican Bermuda grass (BG) and cat diagnostic extracts against an FDA-validated extract using QSPT. Six diagnostic BG and cat extracts (1 reference FDA extract, 3 European extracts, 1 imported nonstandardized extract from the United States, and 1 Mexican extract) were tested with quadruplicate QSPT, as a concentrate and as 2 serial 2-fold dilutions, in cat and BG allergic individuals. BG showed good dose response in wheal size for the concentrate (1:2-1:4 dilutions; steep part of the curve). Cat showed poorer dose response. The Wilcoxon test for linked random samples was used to investigate whether the distribution of the reference differed from each of the test extracts to a statistically significant degree (2-sided asymptotic significance, α = .05). All BG and 2 cat extracts were statistically less potent than the 10,000 BAU/mL US reference. European BG extracts were 7,700, 4,100, and 1,600 BAU/mL, and cat extracts were 12,500, 4,400, and 5,100 BAU/mL. The potency of some diagnostic extracts of BG and cat used in Europe, Mexico, and the United States differs, with the US extracts being generally more potent. On the basis of provocation tests, optimal diagnostic concentrations should be determined. Similar comparisons using other manufacturers and therapeutic extracts might be interesting. Copyright © 2011 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

WHEN FUE GOES WRONG!

PubMed Central

Poswal, Arvind; Bhutia, Sangay; Mehta, Ruby

2011-01-01

Follicular unit extraction (FUE) is an accepted method of extracting individual follicular unit grafts for hair transplant surgery. Since follicles are harvested from the back of the scalp using tiny punches resulting in minimal scarring, it has gained rapid acceptance among the patients. However, due care needs to be exercised while performing FUE. FUE should not be confused with the older plug graft extraction methods of coring out hair-bearing skin plugs. Lack of due diligence while performing such extractions can lead to subluxation of the grafts into the subdermal layer of scalp. Overtumescence of the scalp donor area, use of blunt punches and trying to “core” out the full thickness grafts can all contribute to this. The following cases illustrate some pitfalls to be avoided while performing FUE and the adverse consequences if they occur. PMID:22121268

78 FR 18624 - U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi-Stakeholder Group (USEITI MSG) Advisory...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-27

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary [Docket No. ONRR-2012-0003] U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi- Stakeholder Group (USEITI MSG) Advisory Committee AGENCY: Policy..., teleconference and the May 1-2, 2013, meeting of the United States Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative...

77 FR 51041 - 30-Day Extension of Call for Nominations for the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-23

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary [Docket No. ONRR-2012-0003] 30-Day Extension of Call for Nominations for the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Advisory Committee... the United States Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (USEITI) Multi- Stakeholder Group (MSG...

30 CFR 700.11 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

.... Noncommercial use does not include the extraction of coal by one unit of an integrated company or other business or nonprofit entity which uses the coal in its own manufacturing or power plants; (2) The extraction... all coal exploration and surface coal mining and reclamation operations, except: (1) The extraction of...

30 CFR 700.11 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

.... Noncommercial use does not include the extraction of coal by one unit of an integrated company or other business or nonprofit entity which uses the coal in its own manufacturing or power plants; (2) The extraction... all coal exploration and surface coal mining and reclamation operations, except: (1) The extraction of...

Characteristics of Lignin Fractions from Dilute Acid Pretreated Switchgrass and Their Effect on Cellobiohydrolase from Trichoderma longibrachiatum

DOE PAGES

Yao, Lan; Yang, Haitao; Yoo, Chang Geun; ...

2018-02-06

To investigate the interactions between acid pretreated switchgrass lignin and cellobiohydrolase (CBH), three different lignin fractions were isolated from dilute acid pretreated switchgrass by (i) ethanol extraction, followed by (ii) dioxane/H2O extraction, and (iii) cellulase treatment, respectively. Structural properties of each lignin fraction were elucidated by GPC, 13C-NMR, and 2D-HSQC NMR analyses. The adsorptions of CBH to the isolated lignin fractions were also studied by Langmuir adsorption isotherms. Ethanol-extractable lignin fraction, mainly composed of syringyl (S) and guaiacyl (G) units, had the lowest molecular weight, while dioxane/H2O-extracted lignin fraction had the lowest S/G ratio with higher content of p-coumaric acidmore » (pCA) unit. The residual lignin fraction after enzymatic treatment had the highest S/G ratio without hydroxyphenyl (H) unit. Strong associations were found between lignin properties such as lignin composition and S/G ratio and its non-productive enzyme adsorption factors including the maximum adsorption capacity and binding strength.« less

Characteristics of Lignin Fractions from Dilute Acid Pretreated Switchgrass and Their Effect on Cellobiohydrolase from Trichoderma longibrachiatum

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yao, Lan; Yang, Haitao; Yoo, Chang Geun

To investigate the interactions between acid pretreated switchgrass lignin and cellobiohydrolase (CBH), three different lignin fractions were isolated from dilute acid pretreated switchgrass by (i) ethanol extraction, followed by (ii) dioxane/H2O extraction, and (iii) cellulase treatment, respectively. Structural properties of each lignin fraction were elucidated by GPC, 13C-NMR, and 2D-HSQC NMR analyses. The adsorptions of CBH to the isolated lignin fractions were also studied by Langmuir adsorption isotherms. Ethanol-extractable lignin fraction, mainly composed of syringyl (S) and guaiacyl (G) units, had the lowest molecular weight, while dioxane/H2O-extracted lignin fraction had the lowest S/G ratio with higher content of p-coumaric acidmore » (pCA) unit. The residual lignin fraction after enzymatic treatment had the highest S/G ratio without hydroxyphenyl (H) unit. Strong associations were found between lignin properties such as lignin composition and S/G ratio and its non-productive enzyme adsorption factors including the maximum adsorption capacity and binding strength.« less

The system of sulfated galactans from the red seaweed Gymnogongrus torulosus (Phyllophoraceae, Rhodophyta): Location and structural analysis.

PubMed

Estevez, José M; Ciancia, Marina; Cerezo, Alberto S

2008-09-05

Sulfated polysaccharides were localized in the cuticle, cortex and medulla of the gametophyte thallus, being more concentrated in the intercellular matrix than in the cell walls. During the water extraction sequence, a small percentage of galactan sulfates (5.1% of dry seaweed) with average low Mr (6-11.4kDa) were extracted at room temperature without disturbing the cellular arrangement, while sulfated galactans of average medium Mr (18-45kDa) were obtained by further hot-water extractions (52.4% of dry seaweed), with diorganization of the tissue. The residue (40.0% of dry seaweed) still contained carrageenan-type (major) and agaran-type (minor) galactans. Part of these galactans was extracted with 8.4% LiCl solution in DMSO, from which "pure" κ/ι-carrageenans were isolated. Carrageenans and agarans were extracted in a ratio 1:0.5, showing the highest amount of agaran-structures for a carrageenophyte. The galactans comprise alternating 4-sulfated (major) and non-sulfated (minor) 3-linked β-d-galactopyranose units, and 4-linked α-galactopyranose units with the following substitutions: (i) non-sulfated and 2-sulfated 3,6-anhydro-α-d-galactopyranose residues in the carrageenan-structures, which belong to the κ-family (κ/ι-carrageenans); (ii) 3-sulfated α-l-galactopyranose units and 2-sulfated 3,6-anhydro-α-l-galactopyranose residues in the agaran-structures. Alkaline treatment and alkaline dialysis of the main extracts gave "pure" κ/ι-carrageenans, showing that carrageenan molecules are extracted together with low Mr agarans or agaran-dl-hybrids. Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of condensed and hydrolysable tannins from commercial plant extracts.

PubMed

Romani, A; Ieri, F; Turchetti, B; Mulinacci, N; Vincieri, F F; Buzzini, P

2006-05-03

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/DAD and MS qualitative and quantitative analyses of polyphenols, hydrolysable and condensed tannins from Pinus maritima L. and tannic acid (TA) extracts were performed using normal and reverse phase. Normal-phase HPLC was more suitable for pine bark (PBE) and tannic acid extracts analysis. The chromatographic profile revealed that P. maritima L. extract was mainly composed by polymeric flavanols (containing from two to seven units) and tannic acid (characterized by a mixture of glucose gallates containing from three to seven units of gallic acid). Concerning their antimycotic properties, P. maritima L. extract exhibited a broad activity towards yeast strains of the genera Candida, Cryptococcus, Filobasidiella, Issatchenkia, Saccharomyces: MICs from 200 to 4000 microg/ml (corresponding to 140-2800 microg/ml of active polyphenols) were determined. Conversely, no activity of tannic acid was observed over the same target microorganisms. Taken into consideration the above results of HPLC analysis and on the basis of the current literature, we may conclude that only 70.2% of polyphenols (recognized as condensed tannins) occurring in P. maritima L. extract can be apparently considered responsible for its antimycotic activity.

Patterns of Inequality. Unit 3, The Philosophy of Equality and Inequality. Unit 4, Personal Inequality as an Ideological Concept.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hookham, Maurice; Holloway, Clive

Open University course units are presented on the philosophy of equality and inequality (Unit 3) and on personal inequality as an ideological concept (Unit 4). The substance of Unit 3 consists of extracts from the writings of eight philosophers. The role of the philosopher in forming legitimatizing ideologies is also illustrated. The eight…

Preliminary phytochemical and antibacterial screening of Sesuvium portulacastrum in the United Arab Emirates.

PubMed

Al-Azzawi, Amad; Alguboori, Alyaa; Hachim, Mahmoud Y; Najat, M; Al Shaimaa, A; Sad, Maryam

2012-10-01

The present study describes the phytochemical profile and antimicrobial activity of Sesuvium portulacastrum. Three extracts of S. portulacastrum obtained by extraction in aqueous, ethanolic and dichloromethane solvents, respectively, were compared for their antimicrobial activity and ethanolic extract further subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis to find out the nature of the compounds responsible for the antimicrobial activity. The antibacterial activities were assessed by measuring the diameter of the inhibition zones, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values. Compared to the aqueous and dichloromethane extract, the ethanolic extract showed better antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli, indicating its potential application related to noscomial infections. GC-MS results revealed 22, 23-Dihydrostigmasterol, Benzoic acid, 3,4,5-trihydroxy-(Gallic acid), (2R,3R)-(-)-Epicatechin and Capsaicin in the ethanolic extract to be the molecules responsible for the antimicrobial activity of S. portulacastrum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on analysis of antimicrobial components from S. portulacastrum in United Arab Emirates (UAE), and our results confer the utility of this plant extract in developing a novel broad spectrum antimicrobial agent.

Cuticular extracts of five common mantids (Mantodea:Mantidae) of the eastern United States.

PubMed

Jones, T H; Moran, M D; Hurd, L E

1997-04-01

We undertook a preliminary investigation of the cuticular extracts of five common mantid species in the eastern United States: Tenodera sinensis (Saussure), T. angustipennis (Saussure) and Mantis religiosa (Linnaeus) introduced from the Old World and Stagmomantis carolina (Johannson) and Bruneria borealis (Scudder), which are New World species. The major components of these mixtures were normal alkanes, predominately hentriacontane, or in the case of the parthenogenic species B. borealis, tritriacontane. Tricontanal was detected in the extracts of all five species, and smaller amounts of other aldehydes and n-tricontanol were detected in some species. Complex mixtures of methyl and dimethylalkanes also were present in these extracts. The composition of the cuticular hydrocarbons of these mantids may be an adaptation for reduction of evaporative water loss in these insects that inhabit open fields.

Food allergen extracts to diagnose food-induced allergic diseases: How they are made.

PubMed

David, Natalie A; Penumarti, Anusha; Burks, A Wesley; Slater, Jay E

2017-08-01

To review the manufacturing procedures of food allergen extracts and applicable regulatory requirements from government agencies, potential approaches to standardization, and clinical application of these products. The effects of thermal processing on allergenicity of common food allergens are also considered. A broad literature review was conducted on the natural history of food allergy, the manufacture of allergen extracts, and the allergenicity of heated food. Regulations, guidance documents, and pharmacopoeias related to food allergen extracts from the United States and Europe were also reviewed. Authoritative and peer-reviewed research articles relevant to the topic were chosen for review. Selected regulations and guidance documents are current and relevant to food allergen extracts. Preparation of a food allergen extract may require careful selection and identification of source materials, grinding, defatting, extraction, clarification, sterilization, and product testing. Although extractions for all products licensed in the United States are performed using raw source materials, many foods are not consumed in their raw form. Heating foods may change their allergenicity, and doing so before extraction may change their allergenicity and the composition of the final product. The manufacture of food allergen extracts requires many considerations to achieve the maximal quality of the final product. Allergen extracts for a select number of foods may be inconsistent between manufacturers or unreliable in a clinical setting, indicating a potential area for future improvement. Copyright © 2016 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Process optimisation of microwave-assisted extraction of peony ( Paeonia suffruticosa Andr .) seed oil using hexane-ethanol mixture and its characterisation

Treesearch

Xiaoli Sun; Wengang Li; Jian Li; Yuangang Zu; Chung-Yun Hse; Jiulong Xie; Xiuhua Zhao

2016-01-01

Ethanol and hexane mixture agent microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) method was conducted to extract peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.) seed oil (PSO). The aim of the study was to optimise the extraction for both yield and energy consumption in mixture agent MAE. The highest oil yield (34.49%) and lowest unit energy consumption (14 125.4 J g -1)...

DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center) Model Action Plan for Incorporating DGIS (DOD Gateway Information System) Capabilities.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-05-01

Information System (DGIS) is being developed to provide the DD crmjnj t with a modern tool to access diverse dtabaiees and extract information products...this community with a modern tool for accessing these databases and extracting information products from them. Since the Defense Technical Information...adjunct to DROLS xesults. The study , thereor. centerd around obtaining background information inside the unit on that unit’s users who request DROLS

Modular 3D-Printed Soil Gas Probes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Good, S. P.; Selker, J. S.; Al-Qqaili, F.; Lopez, M.; Kahel, L.

2016-12-01

ABSTRACT: Extraction of soil gas is required for a variety of applications in earth sciences and environmental engineering. However, commercially available probes can be costly and are typically limited to a single depth. Here, we present the open-source design and lab testing of a soil gas probe with modular capabilities that allow for the vertical stacking of gas extraction points at different depths in the soil column. The probe modules consist of a 3D printed spacer unit and hydrophobic gas permeable membrane made of high density Polyethylene with pore sizes 20-40 microns. Each of the modular spacer units contain both a gas extraction line and gas input line for the dilution of soil gases if needed. These 2-inch diameter probes can be installed in the field quickly with a hand auger and returned to at any frequency to extract soil gas from desired soil depths. The probes are tested through extraction of soil pore water vapors with distinct stable isotope ratios.

Estimation of Potential Shale Gas Yield Amount and Land Degradation in China by Landcover Distribution regarding Water-Food-Energy and Forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, N.; Heo, S.; Lim, C. H.; Lee, W. K.

2017-12-01

Shale gas is gain attention due to the tremendous reserves beneath the earth. The two known high reservoirs are located in United States and China. According to U.S Energy Information Administration China have estimated 7,299 trillion cubic feet of recoverable shale gas and placed as world first reservoir. United States had 665 trillion cubic feet for the shale gas reservoir and placed fourth. Unlike the traditional fossil fuel, spatial distribution of shale gas is considered to be widely spread and the reserved amount and location make the resource as energy source for the next generation. United States dramatically increased the shale gas production. For instance, shale gas production composes more than 50% of total natural gas production whereas China and Canada shale gas produce very small amount of the shale gas. According to U.S Energy Information Administration's report, in 2014 United States produced shale gas almost 40 billion cubic feet per day but China only produced 0.25 billion cubic feet per day. Recently, China's policy had changed to decrease the coal powerplants to reduce the air pollution and the energy stress in China is keep increasing. Shale gas produce less air pollution while producing energy and considered to be clean energy source. Considering the situation of China and characteristics of shale gas, soon the demand of shale gas will increase in China. United States invested 71.7 billion dollars in 2013 but it Chinese government is only proceeding fundamental investment due to land degradation, limited water resources, geological location of the reservoirs.In this study, firstly we reviewed the current system and technology of shale gas extraction such as hydraulic Fracturing. Secondly, listed the possible environmental damages, land degradations, and resource demands for the shale gas extraction. Thirdly, invested the potential shale gas extraction amount in China based on the location of shale gas reservoirs and limited resources for the gas extraction. Fourthly, invested the potential land degradation on agricultural, surface water, and forest in developing shale gas extraction scenario. In conclusion, we suggested possible environmental damages and social impacts from shale gas extraction in China.

Development of blood extraction system designed by female mosquito's blood sampling mechanism for bio-MEMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuchiya, Kazuyoshi; Nakanishi, Naoyuki; Nakamachi, Eiji

2005-02-01

A compact and wearable wristwatch type Bio-MEMS such as a health monitoring system (HMS) to detect blood sugar level for diabetic patient, was newly developed. The HMS consists of (1) a indentation unit with a microneedle to generate the skin penetration force using a shape memory alloy(SMA) actuator, (2) a pumping unit using a bimorph PZT piezoelectric actuator to extract the blood and (3) a gold (Au) electrode as a biosensor immobilized GOx and attached to the gate electrode of MOSFET to detect the amount of Glucose in extracted blood. GOx was immobilized on a self assembled spacer combined with an Au electrode by the cross-link method using BSA as an additional bonding material. The device can extract blood in a few microliter through a painless microneedle with the negative pressure by deflection of the bimorph PZT piezoelectric actuator produced in the blood chamber, by the similar way the female mosquito extracts human blood with muscle motion to flex or relax. The performances of the liquid sampling ability of the pumping unit through a microneedle (3.8mm length, 100μm internal diameter) using the bimorph PZT piezoelectric microactuator were measured. The blood extraction micro device could extract human blood at the speed of 2μl/min, and it is enough volume to measure a glucose level, compared to the amount of commercial based glucose level monitor. The electrode embedded in the blood extraction device chamber could detect electrons generated by the hydrolysis of hydrogen peroxide produced by the reaction between GOx and glucose in a few microliter extracted blood, using the constant electric current measurement system of the MOSFET type hybrid biosensor. The output voltage for the glucose diluted in the chamber was increased lineally with increase of the glucose concentration.

Development of portable health monitoring system for automatic self-blood glucose measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Huijun; Mizuno, Yoshihumi; Nakamachi, Eiji; Morita, Yusuke

2010-02-01

In this study, a new HMS (Health Monitoring System) device is developed for diabetic patient. This device mainly consists of I) 3D blood vessel searching unit and II) automatic blood glucose measurement (ABGM) unit. This device has features such as 1)3D blood vessel location search 2) laptop type, 3) puncturing a blood vessel by using a minimally invasive micro-needle, 4) very little blood sampling (10μl), and 5) automatic blood extraction and blood glucose measurement. In this study, ABGM unit is described in detail. It employs a syringe type's blood extraction mechanism because of its high accuracy. And it consists of the syringe component and the driving component. The syringe component consists of a syringe itself, a piston, a magnet, a ratchet and a micro-needle whose inner diameter is about 80μm. And the syringe component is disposable. The driving component consists of body parts, a linear stepping motor, a glucose enzyme sensor and a slider for accurate positioning control. The driving component has the all-in-one mechanism with a glucose enzyme sensor for compact size and stable blood transfer. On designing, required thrust force to drive the slider is designed to be greater than the value of the blood extraction force. Further, only one linear stepping motor is employed for blood extraction and transportation processes. The experimental result showed more than 80% of volume ratio under the piston speed 2.4mm/s. Further, the blood glucose was measured successfully by using the prototype unit. Finally, the availability of our ABGM unit was confirmed.

The gastroprotective effects of Eugenia dysenterica (Myrtaceae) leaf extract: the possible role of condensed tannins.

PubMed

Prado, Ligia Carolina da Silva; Silva, Denise Brentan; de Oliveira-Silva, Grasielle Lopes; Hiraki, Karen Renata Nakamura; Canabrava, Hudson Armando Nunes; Bispo-da-Silva, Luiz Borges

2014-01-01

We applied a taxonomic approach to select the Eugenia dysenterica (Myrtaceae) leaf extract, known in Brazil as "cagaita," and evaluated its gastroprotective effect. The ability of the extract or carbenoxolone to protect the gastric mucosa from ethanol/HCl-induced lesions was evaluated in mice. The contributions of nitric oxide (NO), endogenous sulfhydryl (SH) groups and alterations in HCl production to the extract's gastroprotective effect were investigated. We also determined the antioxidant activity of the extract and the possible contribution of tannins to the cytoprotective effect. The extract and carbenoxolone protected the gastric mucosa from ethanol/HCl-induced ulcers, and the former also decreased HCl production. The blockage of SH groups but not the inhibition of NO synthesis abolished the gastroprotective action of the extract. Tannins are present in the extract, which was analyzed by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI); the tannins identified by fragmentation pattern (MS/MS) were condensed type-B, coupled up to eleven flavan-3-ol units and were predominantly procyanidin and prodelphinidin units. Partial removal of tannins from the extract abolished the cytoprotective actions of the extract. The extract exhibits free-radical-scavenging activity in vitro, and the extract/FeCl3 sequence stained gastric surface epithelial cells dark-gray. Therefore, E. dysenterica leaf extract has gastroprotective effects that appear to be linked to the inhibition of HCl production, the antioxidant activity and the endogenous SH-containing compounds. These pleiotropic actions appear to be dependent on the condensed tannins contained in the extract, which bind to mucins in the gastric mucosa forming a protective coating against damaging agents. Our study highlights the biopharmaceutical potential of E. dysenterica.

Global distribution of plant-extractable water capacity of soil

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dunne, K.A.; Willmott, C.J.

1996-01-01

Plant-extractable water capacity of soil is the amount of water that can be extracted from the soil to fulfill evapotranspiration demands. It is often assumed to be spatially invariant in large-scale computations of the soil-water balance. Empirical evidence, however, suggests that this assumption is incorrect. In this paper, we estimate the global distribution of the plant-extractable water capacity of soil. A representative soil profile, characterized by horizon (layer) particle size data and thickness, was created for each soil unit mapped by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)/Unesco. Soil organic matter was estimated empirically from climate data. Plant rooting depths and ground coverages were obtained from a vegetation characteristic data set. At each 0.5?? ?? 0.5?? grid cell where vegetation is present, unit available water capacity (cm water per cm soil) was estimated from the sand, clay, and organic content of each profile horizon, and integrated over horizon thickness. Summation of the integrated values over the lesser of profile depth and root depth produced an estimate of the plant-extractable water capacity of soil. The global average of the estimated plant-extractable water capacities of soil is 8??6 cm (Greenland, Antarctica and bare soil areas excluded). Estimates are less than 5, 10 and 15 cm - over approximately 30, 60, and 89 per cent of the area, respectively. Estimates reflect the combined effects of soil texture, soil organic content, and plant root depth or profile depth. The most influential and uncertain parameter is the depth over which the plant-extractable water capacity of soil is computed, which is usually limited by root depth. Soil texture exerts a lesser, but still substantial, influence. Organic content, except where concentrations are very high, has relatively little effect.

75 FR 81949 - Disclosure of Cochineal Extract and Carmine in the Labeling of Wines, Distilled Spirits, and Malt...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-29

... Extract and Carmine in the Labeling of Wines, Distilled Spirits, and Malt Beverages; Comment Period... Extract and Carmine in the Labeling of Wines, Distilled Spirits, and Malt Beverages, a notice of proposed... wines sold in the United States. The letter explained that because DISCUS is in the process of...

78 FR 50437 - U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi-Stakeholder Group (USEITI MSG) Advisory...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-19

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary [Docket No. ONRR-2012-0003; DS63600000 DR2PS0000.PX8000 134D0102R2] U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi- Stakeholder Group...: This notice announces the next three meetings of the United States Extractive Industries Transparency...

78 FR 60304 - U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi-Stakeholder Group (USEITI MSG) Advisory...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-01

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary [Docket No. ONRR-2012-0003; DS63600000 DR2PS0000.PX8000 134D0102R2] U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi- Stakeholder Group...: This notice announces the meeting date change of the United States Extractive Industries Transparency...

Extraction of Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen from Seawater by an Electrochemical Acidification Cell. Part 4. Electrode Compartments of Cell Modified and Tested in Scaled-Up Mobile Unit

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-03

Electrochemical Acidification Cell Part IV: Electrode Compartments of Cell Modified and Tested in Scaled-Up Mobile Unit September 3, 2013 Approved for public...OF ABSTRACT Extraction of Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen from Seawater by an Electrochemical Acidification Cell Part IV: Electrode Compartments of Cell...Electrochemical acidification cell Carbon dioxide Hydrogen Polarity reversal An electrochemical acidification cell was scaled-up and integrated into a

Research on structural integration of thermodynamic system for double reheat coal-fired unit with CO2 capture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lanjing; Shao, Wenjing; Wang, Zhiyue; Fu, Wenfeng; Zhao, Wensheng

2018-02-01

Taking the MEA chemical absorption carbon capture system with 85% of the carbon capture rate of a 660MW ultra-super critical unit as an example,this paper puts forward a new type of turbine which dedicated to supply steam to carbon capture system. The comparison of the thermal systems of the power plant under different steam supply schemes by using the EBSILON indicated optimal extraction scheme for Steam Extraction System in Carbon Capture System. The results show that the cycle heat efficiency of the unit introduced carbon capture turbine system is higher than that of the usual scheme without it. With the introduction of the carbon capture turbine, the scheme which extracted steam from high pressure cylinder’ s steam input point shows the highest cycle thermal efficiency. Its indexes are superior to other scheme, and more suitable for existing coal-fired power plant integrated post combustion carbon dioxide capture system.

A mobile unit for memory retrieval in daily life based on image and sensor processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takesumi, Ryuji; Ueda, Yasuhiro; Nakanishi, Hidenobu; Nakamura, Atsuyoshi; Kakimori, Nobuaki

2003-10-01

We developed a Mobile Unit which purpose is to support memory retrieval of daily life. In this paper, we describe the two characteristic factors of this unit. (1)The behavior classification with an acceleration sensor. (2)Extracting the difference of environment with image processing technology. In (1), By analyzing power and frequency of an acceleration sensor which turns to gravity direction, the one's activities can be classified using some techniques to walk, stay, and so on. In (2), By extracting the difference between the beginning scene and the ending scene of a stay scene with image processing, the result which is done by user is recognized as the difference of environment. Using those 2 techniques, specific scenes of daily life can be extracted, and important information at the change of scenes can be realized to record. Especially we describe the effect to support retrieving important things, such as a thing left behind and a state of working halfway.

Integrated sampling and analysis unit for the determination of sexual pheromones in environmental air using fabric phase sorptive extraction and headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Alcudia-León, M Carmen; Lucena, Rafael; Cárdenas, Soledad; Valcárcel, Miguel; Kabir, Abuzar; Furton, Kenneth G

2017-03-10

This article presents a novel unit that integrates for the first time air sampling and preconcentration based on the use of fabric phase sorptive extraction principles. The determination of Tuta absoluta sexual pheromone traces in environmental air has been selected as analytical problem. For this aim, a novel laboratory-built unit made up of commercial brass elements as holder of the sol-gel coated fabric extracting phase has been designed and optimized. The performance of the integrated unit was evaluated analyzing environmental air sampled in tomato crops. The unit can work under sampling and analysis mode which eliminates any need for sorptive phase manipulation prior to instrumental analysis. In the sampling mode, the unit can be connected to a sampling pump to pass the air through the sorptive phase at a controlled flow-rate. In the analysis mode, it is placed in the gas chromatograph autosampler without any instrumental modification. It also diminishes the risk of cross contamination between sampling and analysis. The performance of the new unit has been evaluated using the main components of the sexual pheromone of Tuta absoluta [(3E,8Z,11Z)-tetradecatrien-1-yl acetate and (3E,8Z)-tetradecadien-1-yl acetate] as model analytes. The limits of detection for both compounds resulted to be 1.6μg and 0.8μg, respectively, while the precision (expressed as relative standard deviation) was better than 3.7%. Finally, the unit has been deployed in the field to analyze a number of real life samples, some of them were found positive. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Family Life and Human Development: Sample Units, K-6. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prince George's County Public Schools, Upper Marlboro, MD.

Sample unit outlines, designed for kindergarten through grade six, define the content, activities, and assessment tasks appropriate to specific grade levels. The units have been extracted from the Board-approved curriculum, Health Education: The Curricular Approach to Optimal Health. The instructional guidelines for grade one are: describing a…

Follicular unit extraction hair transplant automation: options in overcoming challenges of the latest technology in hair restoration with the goal of avoiding the line scar.

PubMed

Rashid, Rashid M; Morgan Bicknell, Lindsay T

2012-09-15

Follicular unit extraction (FUE) provides many advantages over the strip surgical method of harvesting hair grafts for hair restoration. However, FUE also has its shortcomings because it is a more time intensive approach that results in increased costs and is technically a more challenging technique of hair transplantation. In this manuscript, we seek to share approaches used at our center to help minimize and/or improve on some of the challenges of FUE.

SURFACTANT-ENHANCED EXTRACTION TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION VERSUCHSEININCHTUNG ZUR GRUNDWASSER-UND ALTLASTENSANIERUNG (VEGAS) FACILITY, STUTTGART, GERMANY

EPA Science Inventory

This innovative technology evaluation report (ITER) summarized the results of an evaluation of a surfactant-enhanced extraction technology. This evaluation was conducted under a bilateral agreement between the United States (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund ...

Hydrolyzable tannins with the hexahydroxydiphenoyl unit and the m-depsidic link: HPLC-DAD-MS identification and model synthesis.

PubMed

Arapitsas, Panagiotis; Menichetti, Stefano; Vincieri, Franco F; Romani, Annalisa

2007-01-10

This study was designed to develop efficient analytical tools for the difficult HPLC-DAD-MS identification of hydrolyzable tannins in natural tissue extracts. Throughout the study of the spectroscopic characteristics of properly synthesized stereodefined standards, it was observed that the UV-vis spectra of compounds with the m-depsidic link showed a characteristic shoulder at 300 nm, consistent with the simple glucogalloyl esters, whereas compounds with the hexahydroxydiphenoyl (HHDP) unit gave a diagnostic fragmentation pattern, caused by a spontaneous lactonization in the mass spectrometer. These observations were confirmed by HPLC-DAD-MS analyses of tannic acid and raspberry extracts, which are rich in hydrolyzable tannins with the m-depsidic link and the HHDP unit, respectively.

Maintenance dosing for sublingual immunotherapy by prominent European allergen manufacturers expressed in bioequivalent allergy units.

PubMed

Larenas-Linnemann, Désirée; Esch, Robert; Plunkett, Greg; Brown, Shannon; Maddox, Daniel; Barnes, Charles; Constable, Derek

2011-11-01

Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) has become established in Europe, and its efficacy is being evaluated in the United States. The doses used for SLIT in Europe today are difficult to evaluate, because each manufacturer expresses the potency of its extracts differently. To compare in vitro European SLIT maintenance solutions against US licensed standardized allergenic extract concentrates and to determine the monthly SLIT doses delivered expressed in bioequivalent allergy units ([B]AU). We studied Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, timothy grass pollen, cat (hair) and short ragweed pollen allergen extracts. The SLIT maintenance solutions of 4 leading European manufacturers and standardized concentrate extracts of 3 US manufacturers were analyzed with the following assays: protein content, relative potency (immunoglobulin E [IgE]-binding enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] inhibition) and major allergen content. The relative monthly allergen dose in (B)AU was calculated for each recommended SLIT schedule. Relative potency was approximately 10 times higher for US concentrate standardized extracts-which are meant to be diluted-than for European SLIT maintenance solutions of D pteronyssinus and timothy grass pollen. For cat (hair) and short ragweed pollen, the difference was less. Measurements of relative potency and major allergen content correlated well. In our assays, European mite extracts contain a very low quantity of Der p 2 compared with US mites. Recommended SLIT doses in Europe vary widely among the manufacturers, but are consistently lower (Eur1) or higher (Eur4) over all four allergens tested. SLIT efficacy probably depends on additional factors apart from the exact dose. SLIT dose finding studies should be done for each product. Copyright © 2011 American College of Allergy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Antimycobacterial Efficacy of Andrographis paniculata Leaf Extracts Under Intracellular and Hypoxic Conditions.

PubMed

Bhatter, Purva; Gupta, Pooja; Daswani, Poonam; Tetali, Pundarikakshudu; Birdi, Tannaz

2015-01-01

The inhibition of the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the extracts of Andrographis paniculata has been studied using intracellular and axenic hypoxic conditions. The inhibition (confirmed using the gold standard colony forming unit assay) was found to increase with "double stimuli" or higher concentration of the extract. Organic solvent extracts were found to inhibit bacterial growth more than the aqueous extracts under microaerophilic conditions mimicked through axenic and intracellular assays. This could be further explored to evaluate the potential of the plant to be used against nonreplicating/dormant bacilli. © The Author(s) 2014.

Contrasting digestive strategies in four New Zealand herbivorous fishes as reflected by carbohydrase activity profiles.

PubMed

Skea, G L; Mountfort, D O; Clements, K D

2007-01-01

Enzymatic degradation of algal carbohydrates was examined in the New Zealand herbivorous fishes Parma alboscapularis (Pomacentridae), Aplodactylus etheridgii (Aplodactylidae), Girella tricuspidata and G. cyanea (Girellidae). Enzyme extract taken from the anterior gut wall, gut fluid and microbial pellet from sections sampled along the gut were tested for activity against starch, carrageenan, agarose and carboxymethylcellulose. Hydrolysis of starch was greater than for all other substrates tested. Endogenous (host-produced) activity in the anterior gut fluid varied between species in the order G. tricuspidata (7700 units mL(-1))>G. cyanea (2300 units mL(-1))>P. alboscapularis (2000)>A. etheridgii (1400 units mL(-1)) where one unit is equivalent to 1 mug of reducing sugar released per minute. Activity decreased markedly along the gut in all cases, so that at the posterior end of the gut only 0.3-8% of the anterior activity remained in the gut fluid. Enzyme activity against structural carbohydrates was lower than that against starch, and was of exogenous (produced by resident microbiota) origin in all species although the location of activity along the gut differed. The microbial extract of A. etheridgii displayed the highest activity against carrageenan and agarose in all gut sections, reaching maxima of 47 units mL(-1) against carrageenan and 35 units mL(-1) against agarose in the mid-gut microbial extract. Carrageenase and agarase activity in the other three species was <10 units mL(-1) for all gut sections. Results suggest that carrageenan and agarose are potentially important substrates for microbial fermentation, particularly in A. etheridgii, and that there is microbial activity in the mid-gut of this species, rather than primarily in the hind-gut as in other herbivorous species.

Probability of detecting nematode infestations for quarantine sampling with imperfect extraction efficacy

PubMed Central

Chen, Peichen; Liu, Shih-Chia; Liu, Hung-I; Chen, Tse-Wei

2011-01-01

For quarantine sampling, it is of fundamental importance to determine the probability of finding an infestation when a specified number of units are inspected. In general, current sampling procedures assume 100% probability (perfect) of detecting a pest if it is present within a unit. Ideally, a nematode extraction method should remove all stages of all species with 100% efficiency regardless of season, temperature, or other environmental conditions; in practice however, no method approaches these criteria. In this study we determined the probability of detecting nematode infestations for quarantine sampling with imperfect extraction efficacy. Also, the required sample and the risk involved in detecting nematode infestations with imperfect extraction efficacy are presented. Moreover, we developed a computer program to calculate confidence levels for different scenarios with varying proportions of infestation and efficacy of detection. In addition, a case study, presenting the extraction efficacy of the modified Baermann's Funnel method on Aphelenchoides besseyi, is used to exemplify the use of our program to calculate the probability of detecting nematode infestations in quarantine sampling with imperfect extraction efficacy. The result has important implications for quarantine programs and highlights the need for a very large number of samples if perfect extraction efficacy is not achieved in such programs. We believe that the results of the study will be useful for the determination of realistic goals in the implementation of quarantine sampling. PMID:22791911

[Assessment of two DNA extraction methods to amplify the pneumolysin gene (PLY) from blood culture samples of Streptococcus pneumoniae].

PubMed

Hernández, Carolina; Durán, Claudia; Ulloa, María Teresa; Prado, Valeria

2004-05-01

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common etiologic agent of invasive respiratory infections among children under 5 years of age and older adults. Isolation rates of S. pneumoniae by traditional culture techniques are low. To study the sensitivity and specificity of two different DNA extraction methods to amplify the ply gene, applied to three different types of blood culture broths, experimentally inoculated with S. pneumoniae. DNA was extracted from the cultures using an organic method or a technique that consists in dilution, washing with NaOH and concentration of the sample. This was followed by PCR amplification of a 355 pb fragment of the pneumolysin gene (ply). The organic DNA extraction method inhibited the PCR reaction at all concentrations studied (0.6 to 10(6) colony forming units/mL). Using the NaOH extraction, ply gene amplification was positive in all three blood culture broths, but only at concentrations of 10(3) colony forming units/mL, or higher. Using the same DNA extraction method, PCR was negative when the broths were inoculated with seven other related bacterial species, which results in a 100% specificity. Detection of S. pneumoniae by amplification of ply gene from blood cultures using the protocol of NaOH for DNA extraction is specific and provides results in a short lapse. However, the diagnostic sensitivity is not optimal, which limits its clinical use.

7 CFR 51.1179 - Method of juice extraction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Florida Oranges and Tangelos Standards for Internal Quality... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Method of juice extraction. 51.1179 Section 51.1179 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards...

77 FR 31377 - U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Tribal Consultation

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-25

... Industries Transparency Initiative Tribal Consultation AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior. ACTION... regarding the United States Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, to be held at the National... tribes in the months of June and July regarding this initiative. Interior also invites tribes to...

Data assimilation to extract soil moisture information from SMAP observations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study compares different methods to extract soil moisture information through the assimilation of Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observations. Neural Network(NN) and physically-based SMAP soil moisture retrievals were assimilated into the NASA Catchment model over the contiguous United Sta...

System and method for conditioning a hardwood pulp liquid hydrolysate

DOEpatents

Waite, Darrell M; Arnold, Richard; St. Pierre, James; Pendse, Hemant P; Ceckler, William H

2013-12-17

A system and method for hardwood pulp liquid hydrolysate conditioning includes a first evaporator receives a hardwood mix extract and outputting a quantity of vapor and extract. A hydrolysis unit receives the extract, hyrolyzes and outputs to a lignin separation device, which separates and recovers a quantity of lignin. A neutralization device receives extract from the lignin separation device and a neutralizing agent, producing a mixture of solid precipitate and a fifth extract. The solid precipitate is removed from the fifth extract. A second evaporator removes a quantity of acid from the fifth extract in a vapor form. This vapor may be recycled to improve total acid recovery or discarded. A desalination device receives the diluted extract, separates out some of the acid and salt and outputs a desalinated solution.

The currently used commercial DNA-extraction methods give different results of clostridial and actinobacterial populations derived from human fecal samples.

PubMed

Maukonen, Johanna; Simões, Catarina; Saarela, Maria

2012-03-01

Recently several human health-related microbiota studies have had partly contradictory results. As some differences may be explained by methodologies applied, we evaluated how different storage conditions and commonly used DNA-extraction kits affect bacterial composition, diversity, and numbers of human fecal microbiota. According to our results, the DNA-extraction did not affect the diversity, composition, or quantity of Bacteroides spp., whereas after a week's storage at -20 °C, the numbers of Bacteroides spp. were 1.6-2.5 log units lower (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the numbers of predominant bacteria, Eubacterium rectale (Erec)-group, Clostridium leptum group, bifidobacteria, and Atopobium group were 0.5-4 log units higher (P < 0.05) after mechanical DNA-extraction as detected with qPCR, regardless of storage. Furthermore, the bacterial composition of Erec-group differed significantly after different DNA-extractions; after enzymatic DNA-extraction, the most prevalent genera detected were Roseburia (39% of clones) and Coprococcus (10%), whereas after mechanical DNA-extraction, the most prevalent genera were Blautia (30%), Coprococcus (13%), and Dorea (10%). According to our results, rigorous mechanical lysis enables detection of higher bacterial numbers and diversity from human fecal samples. As it was shown that the results of clostridial and actinobacterial populations are highly dependent on the DNA-extraction methods applied, the use of different DNA-extraction protocols may explain the contradictory results previously obtained. © 2011 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Public perception: Distrust for fracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacNaghten, Philip

2017-04-01

Oil and gas extraction via hydraulic fracturing is controversial, with government support but mixed public opinion. Deliberative research shows that securing public support may be difficult because citizens in the United States and United Kingdom are sceptical of government and industry motives.

Quantity and unit extraction for scientific and technical intelligence analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

David, Peter; Hawes, Timothy

2017-05-01

Scientific and Technical (S and T) intelligence analysts consume huge amounts of data to understand how scientific progress and engineering efforts affect current and future military capabilities. One of the most important types of information S and T analysts exploit is the quantities discussed in their source material. Frequencies, ranges, size, weight, power, and numerous other properties and measurements describing the performance characteristics of systems and the engineering constraints that define them must be culled from source documents before quantified analysis can begin. Automating the process of finding and extracting the relevant quantities from a wide range of S and T documents is difficult because information about quantities and their units is often contained in unstructured text with ad hoc conventions used to convey their meaning. Currently, even simple tasks, such as searching for documents discussing RF frequencies in a band of interest, is a labor intensive and error prone process. This research addresses the challenges facing development of a document processing capability that extracts quantities and units from S and T data, and how Natural Language Processing algorithms can be used to overcome these challenges.

A method for the extraction and quantitation of phycoerythrin from algae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, D. E.

1982-01-01

A summary of a new technique for the extraction and quantitation of phycoerythrin (PHE) from algal samples is described. Results of analysis of four extracts representing three PHE types from algae including cryptomonad and cyanophyte types are presented. The method of extraction and an equation for quantitation are given. A graph showing the relationship of concentration and fluorescence units that may be used with samples fluorescing around 575-580 nm (probably dominated by cryptophytes in estuarine waters) and 560 nm (dominated by cyanophytes characteristics of the open ocean) is provided.

Superfund record of decision amendment (EPA Region 5): Ninth Avenue Dump, Gary, IN, September 13, 1994

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The decision document, together with Records of Decision dated June 30, 1989 (PB90-114810) and September 20, 1988 (PB89-153837) and an Explanation of Significant Differences dated October 1991, present the selected remedial action for the Ninth Avenue Dump site. The remedial action for the site consists of two operable units. The first operable unit addressed an oil layer floating on the groundwater by means of oil and groundwater extraction, oil storage, reintroduction of the groundwater, containment with a slurry wall, and management of excess surface water. The extracted groundwater was treated prior to reintroduction. The second operable unit, which is beingmore » amended by this decision document, addresses the remaining threats at the site.« less

Kinetics of the water/air phase transition of radon and its implication on detection of radon-in-water concentrations: practical assessment of different on-site radon extraction methods.

PubMed

Schubert, Michael; Paschke, Albrecht; Bednorz, Denise; Bürkin, Walter; Stieglitz, Thomas

2012-08-21

The on-site measurement of radon-in-water concentrations relies on extraction of radon from the water followed by its detection by means of a mobile radon-in-air monitor. Many applications of radon as a naturally occurring aquatic tracer require the collection of continuous radon concentration time series, thus necessitating the continuous extraction of radon either from a permanent water stream supplied by a water pump or directly from a water body or a groundwater monitoring well. Essentially, three different types of extraction units are available for this purpose: (i) a flow-through spray chamber, (ii) a flow-through membrane extraction module, and (iii) a submersible (usually coiled) membrane tube. In this paper we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these three methodical approaches with particular focus on their individual response to instantaneously changing radon-in-water concentrations. After a concise introduction into theoretical aspects of water/air phase transition kinetics of radon, experimental results for the three types of extraction units are presented. Quantitative suggestions for optimizing the detection setup by increasing the water/air interface and by reducing the air volume circulating through the degassing unit and radon detector are made. It was shown that the flow-through spray chamber and flow-through membrane perform nearly similarly, whereas the submersible membrane tubing has a significantly larger delay in response to concentration changes. The flow-through spray chamber is most suitable in turbid waters and to applications where high flow rates of the water pump stream can be achieved (e.g., where the power supply is not constrained by field conditions). The flow-through membrane is most suited to radon extraction from clear water and in field conditions where the power supply to a water pump is limited, e.g., from batteries. Finally, the submersible membrane tube is most suitable if radon is to be extracted in situ without any water pumping, e.g., in groundwater wells with a low yield, or in long-term time series, in which short-term variations in the radon concentration are of no relevance.

Method 1664: N-hexane extractable material (hem) and silica gel treated n-hexane extractable material (SGT-HEM) by extraction and gravimetry (oil and grease and total petroleum hydrocarbons), April 1995

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

Method 1664 was developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Science and Technology to replace previously used gravimetric procedures that employed Freon-113, a Class I CFC, as the extraction solvent for the determination of oil and grease and petroleum hydrocarbons. Method 1664 is a performance-based method applicable to aqueous matrices that requires the use of n-hexane as the extraction solvent and gravimetry as the determinative technique. In addition, QC procedures designed to monitor precision and accuracy have been incorporated into Method 1664.

Cytotoxicity of ethanolic extracts of Artemisia annua to Molt-4 human leukemia cells

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cancer is the second cause of death in the United States, and current treatment is expensive and kills also healthy cells. Affordable alternatives that kill only cancer cells are needed. Artemisinin, extracted from the Artemisia annua, has potent anticancer activity and low toxicity to normal cell...

Application of in vitro extraction studies to evaluate element bioaccessibility in soils from a transect across the United States and Canada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Morman, S.A.; Plumlee, G.S.; Smith, D.B.

2009-01-01

In vitro bioaccessibility tests (IVBA) are inexpensive, physiologically-based extraction tests designed to estimate the bioaccessibility of elements along ingestion exposure pathways. Published IVBA protocols call for the testing to be done on the Pb > Ni > As > Cr.

Eastern red cedar: critical fluid extraction and bioactivity of extracts

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Eastern red cedar is an abundant natural resource in the United States. It is valuable for its lumber and cedarwood oil derived from the wood. Cedarwood is generally obtained by steam distillation; however, this process has several disadvantages, including relatively low yields and altered oil chara...

System and method for conditioning a hardwood pulp liquid hydrolysate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Waite, Darrell; Arnold, Richard; St. Pierre, James

2015-06-30

A system and method for hardwood pulp liquid hydrolysate conditioning includes a first evaporator receives a hardwood mix extract and outputting a quantity of vapor and extract. A hydrolysis unit receives the extract, hydrolyzes and outputs to a lignin separation device, which separates and recovers a quantity of lignin. A neutralization device receives extract from the lignin separation device and a neutralizing agent, producing a mixture of solid precipitate and a fifth extract. The solid precipitate is removed from the fifth extract. A second evaporator removes a quantity of acid from the fifth extract in a vapor form. This vapormore » may be recycled to improve total acid recovery or discarded. A desalination device receives the diluted extract, separates out some of the acid and salt and outputs a desalinated solution.« less

[Evaluation of the total biological activity and allergenic composition of allergenic extracts].

PubMed

Lombardero, M; González, R; Duffort, O; Juan, F; Ayuso, R; Ventas, P; Cortés, C; Carreira, J

1986-01-01

In the present study, a complete procedure is presented in order to standardize allergenic extracts, the meaning of which is the measurement of the total allergenic activity and the determination of the allergenic composition. The measurement of the biological activity comprises 2 steps: Preparation of Reference Extracts and determination of their "in vivo" activity. Evaluation of the total allergenic activity of extracts for clinical use. Reference extracts were prepared from the main allergens and their "in vivo" biological activity was determined by a quantitative skin prick test in a sample of at least 30 allergic patients. By definition, the protein concentration of Reference Extract that produces, in the allergic population, a geometric mean wheal of 75 mm.2 has an activity of 100 biological units (BUs). The determination of the biological activity of a problem extract is made by RAST inhibition. The sample is compared with the corresponding Reference Extract by this technique and, from this comparison, it is possible to quantify the activity of the problem extract in biologic units (BUs) with clinical significance. Likewise, different techniques have been used to determine the allergenic composition of extracts. These techniques comprise 2 steps: Separation of the components of the extract. Identification of the components that bind specific human IgE. The separation of the components of the extract has been carried out by isoelectric focusing (IEF) and electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS-PAGE). In order to identify the allergenic components, an immunoblotting technique has been employed. The separated components in the IEF gel or SDS-PAGE gel are transferred to a nitrocellulose sheet and later on, this membrane is overlaid with a serum pool from allergic patients and a mouse monoclonal anti-human IgE, labelled with 125I. Finally, the autoradiography of the nitrocellulose membrane is obtained. In this way it is possible to compare the allergenic composition of an extract with the corresponding Reference Extract and so to employ for clinical use only those extracts with the right allergenic composition.

Dynamical analysis of contrastive divergence learning: Restricted Boltzmann machines with Gaussian visible units.

PubMed

Karakida, Ryo; Okada, Masato; Amari, Shun-Ichi

2016-07-01

The restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) is an essential constituent of deep learning, but it is hard to train by using maximum likelihood (ML) learning, which minimizes the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence. Instead, contrastive divergence (CD) learning has been developed as an approximation of ML learning and widely used in practice. To clarify the performance of CD learning, in this paper, we analytically derive the fixed points where ML and CDn learning rules converge in two types of RBMs: one with Gaussian visible and Gaussian hidden units and the other with Gaussian visible and Bernoulli hidden units. In addition, we analyze the stability of the fixed points. As a result, we find that the stable points of CDn learning rule coincide with those of ML learning rule in a Gaussian-Gaussian RBM. We also reveal that larger principal components of the input data are extracted at the stable points. Moreover, in a Gaussian-Bernoulli RBM, we find that both ML and CDn learning can extract independent components at one of stable points. Our analysis demonstrates that the same feature components as those extracted by ML learning are extracted simply by performing CD1 learning. Expanding this study should elucidate the specific solutions obtained by CD learning in other types of RBMs or in deep networks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CONTINUOUS DISSOLVER EXTRACTOR FOR PROCESSING METAL

DOEpatents

Lemon, R.B.; Buckham, J.A.

1959-02-01

An apparatus is presented for the continuous dissolution of metal slugs in an aqueous acid and sequential continuous extraction of selected metal values from the acid solution by counter-current contact with an organic solvent. The apparatus comprises a cylindrical tank divided into upper and lower sections. Dissolution of the metal slug takes place in the lower section and the solution so produced is continuously fed to the topmost plate of the upper extraction section. An immiscible organic extractant is continuously passed by a pulsing pump into the lowermost unit of the extraction section. Suitable piping and valving permits of removing the aqueous raffinate solution from the lowermost portion of the extraction section, and simultaneous removal of organic solvent extractant containing the desired product from the uppermost portion of the extraction section.

Design of a Closed-Loop, Bidirectional Brain Machine Interface System With Energy Efficient Neural Feature Extraction and PID Control.

PubMed

Liu, Xilin; Zhang, Milin; Richardson, Andrew G; Lucas, Timothy H; Van der Spiegel, Jan

2017-08-01

This paper presents a bidirectional brain machine interface (BMI) microsystem designed for closed-loop neuroscience research, especially experiments in freely behaving animals. The system-on-chip (SoC) consists of 16-channel neural recording front-ends, neural feature extraction units, 16-channel programmable neural stimulator back-ends, in-channel programmable closed-loop controllers, global analog-digital converters (ADC), and peripheral circuits. The proposed neural feature extraction units includes 1) an ultra low-power neural energy extraction unit enabling a 64-step natural logarithmic domain frequency tuning, and 2) a current-mode action potential (AP) detection unit with time-amplitude window discriminator. A programmable proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller has been integrated in each channel enabling a various of closed-loop operations. The implemented ADCs include a 10-bit voltage-mode successive approximation register (SAR) ADC for the digitization of the neural feature outputs and/or local field potential (LFP) outputs, and an 8-bit current-mode SAR ADC for the digitization of the action potential outputs. The multi-mode stimulator can be programmed to perform monopolar or bipolar, symmetrical or asymmetrical charge balanced stimulation with a maximum current of 4 mA in an arbitrary channel configuration. The chip has been fabricated in 0.18 μ m CMOS technology, occupying a silicon area of 3.7 mm 2 . The chip dissipates 56 μW/ch on average. General purpose low-power microcontroller with Bluetooth module are integrated in the system to provide wireless link and SoC configuration. Methods, circuit techniques and system topology proposed in this work can be used in a wide range of relevant neurophysiology research, especially closed-loop BMI experiments.

Using input feature information to improve ultraviolet retrieval in neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Zhibin; Chang, Ni-Bin; Gao, Wei; Chen, Maosi; Zempila, Melina

2017-09-01

In neural networks, the training/predicting accuracy and algorithm efficiency can be improved significantly via accurate input feature extraction. In this study, some spatial features of several important factors in retrieving surface ultraviolet (UV) are extracted. An extreme learning machine (ELM) is used to retrieve the surface UV of 2014 in the continental United States, using the extracted features. The results conclude that more input weights can improve the learning capacities of neural networks.

Chemical and behavioral analysis of the cuticular hydrocarbons from Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri.

PubMed

Mann, Rajinder S; Rouseff, Russell L; Smoot, Jack; Rao, Nandikeswara; Meyer, Wendy L; Lapointe, Stephen L; Robbins, Paul S; Cha, Dong; Linn, Charles E; Webster, Francis X; Tiwari, Siddharth; Stelinski, Lukasz L

2013-06-01

Huanglongbing (HLB) is the most destructive disease of citrus worldwide. The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is the vector of the phloem-inhabiting bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, which is presumed to cause HLB in Florida citrus. Laboratory and field studies were conducted to examine the behavioral responses of male and female D. citri to their cuticular extracts. In olfactometer assays, more male D. citri were attracted to one, five, or 10 female cuticular extract equivalent units than blank controls. The results were confirmed in field studies in which clear or yellow traps baited with 10 female cuticular extract equivalent units attracted proportionately more males than clear traps baited with male cuticular extract or unbaited traps. Analyses of cuticular constituents of male and female D. citri revealed differences between the sexes in chemical composition of their cuticular extracts. Laboratory bioassays with synthetic chemicals identified from cuticular extracts indicated that dodecanoic acid attracted more males than clean air. Traps baited with dodecanoic acid did not increase total catch of D. citri as compared with blank traps at the dosages tested; however, the sex ratio of psyllid catch was male biased on traps baited with the highest lure loading dosage tested (10.0 mg). © 2012 The Authors Insect Science © 2012 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Active films based on cocoa extract with antioxidant, antimicrobial and biological applications.

PubMed

Calatayud, Marta; López-de-Dicastillo, Carolina; López-Carballo, Gracia; Vélez, Dinoraz; Hernández Muñoz, Pilar; Gavara, Rafael

2013-08-15

Novel films of ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) containing flavonoid-rich cocoa were developed. To understand their potential application as active packaging material, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the films were determined as well as the antioxidant activity of the release compounds in Caco-2 human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma cells. Exposure of the films to aqueous food simulant showed antioxidant capacity. The release of cocoa extract components was dependent on the antioxidant concentration incorporated in the film and on temperature. Cocoa extract and the fraction obtained after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion presented antioxidant activity against oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide in Caco-2 cells. Films with 10%, 15%, and 20% cocoa extract produced bactericidal effect against Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica. The application of films to an infant milk formula, previously inoculated with L. monocytogenes, inhibited the growth of bacteria 1.5 log units the first day and showed sustained release, inhibiting 0.52 and 0.76 log units, respectively, by the sixth day, while cocoa powder added directly did not produce any effect. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A Kinetic Study of DDGS Hemicellulose Acid Hydrolysis and NMR Characterization of DDGS Hydrolysate.

PubMed

Chen, Hanchi; Liu, Shijie

2015-09-01

Liquid hot water (LHW) extraction was used as a pretreatment method to separate the hemicellulose fraction from dried distiller's grain with solubles (DDGS) into liquid phase. Acid hydrolysis using 3.264 % w/w sulfuric acid at 130 °C was performed to convert polysaccharides in LHW extract to monosaccharides. The structure characterization of DDGS in anomeric carbon region based on proton NMR and heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) during acid hydrolysis was studied in this work. It reveals that the sugar units in DDGS hemicelluloses are constructed with (1-4)-β-D-xylopyranose and α-L-arabinofuranosyl residues. A kinetic model is included to explain the changing concentration of monomer, oligomer, and sugar units. The model was further tested based on the changing concentration of five carbon sugar units during hydrolysis.

Updated United Nations Framework Classification for reserves and resources of extractive industries

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ahlbrandt, T.S.; Blaise, J.R.; Blystad, P.; Kelter, D.; Gabrielyants, G.; Heiberg, S.; Martinez, A.; Ross, J.G.; Slavov, S.; Subelj, A.; Young, E.D.

2004-01-01

The United Nations have studied how the oil and gas resource classification developed jointly by the SPE, the World Petroleum Congress (WPC) and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) could be harmonized with the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC) for Solid Fuel and Mineral Resources (1). The United Nations has continued to build on this and other works, with support from many relevant international organizations, with the objective of updating the UNFC to apply to the extractive industries. The result is the United Nations Framework Classification for Energy and Mineral Resources (2) that this paper will present. Reserves and resources are categorized with respect to three sets of criteria: ??? Economic and commercial viability ??? Field project status and feasibility ??? The level of geologic knowledge The field project status criteria are readily recognized as the ones highlighted in the SPE/WPC/AAPG classification system of 2000. The geologic criteria absorb the rich traditions that form the primary basis for the Russian classification system, and the ones used to delimit, in part, proved reserves. Economic and commercial criteria facilitate the use of the classification in general, and reflect the commercial considerations used to delimit proved reserves in particular. The classification system will help to develop a common understanding of reserves and resources for all the extractive industries and will assist: ??? International and national resources management to secure supplies; ??? Industries' management of business processes to achieve efficiency in exploration and production; and ??? An appropriate basis for documenting the value of reserves and resources in financial statements.

Basewide Groundwater Operable Unit. Groundwater Operable Unit Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study Report. Volume 3

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-06-01

technologies were organized into five categories: * In Situ Biological Treatment * In Situ Physical/Chemical Treatment * Ex Situ Biological Groundwater...Technology FIGURE 11-3 PRIMARY SCORING SUMMARY EX SITU BIOLOGICAL GROUNDWATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES GROUNDWATER OPERABLE UNIT RIIFS McCLELLAN AIR FORCE... Biological Treatment CometabolicAnaerobic Anaerobic/Aerobic In Situ Physical/Chemical Treatment Sparging/Soil Vapor Extraction Ex Situ Biological

Diversity and antifungal activity of the endophytic fungi associated with the native medicinal cactus Opuntia humifusa (Cactaceae) from the United States.

PubMed

Silva-Hughes, Alice F; Wedge, David E; Cantrell, Charles L; Carvalho, Camila R; Pan, Zhiqiang; Moraes, Rita M; Madoxx, Victor L; Rosa, Luiz H

2015-06-01

The endophytic fungal community associated with the native cactus Opuntia humifusa in the United States was investigated and its potential for providing antifungal compounds. A hundred-eight endophytic fungal isolates were obtained and identified by molecular methods into 17 different taxa of the genera Alternaria, Aureobasidium, Biscogniauxia, Cladosporium, Cryptococcus, Curvularia, Diaporthe, Epicoccum, Paraconiothyrium, Pestalotiopsis and Phoma. The most frequent species associated with O. humifusa were Alternaria sp. 3, Aureobasidium pullulans and Diaporthe sp. The fungal community of O. humifusa had a high richness and diversity; additionally, the species richness obtained indicates that the sample effort was enough to recover the diversity pattern obtained. Six extracts of endophytes showed antifungal properties and (1)H NMR analyses of the extracts of Alternaria sp. 5 Ohu 8B2, Alternaria sp. 3 Ohu 30A, Cladosporium funiculosum Ohu 17C1 and Paraconiothyrium sp. Ohu 17A indicated the presence of functional groups associated with unsaturated fatty-acid olefinic protons and fatty acid methylene and methyl protons. GC-FID analysis of these extracts confirmed the presence of a mixture of different fatty acids. The (1)H NMR analyses of Biscogniauxia mediterranea Ohu 19B extracts showed the presence of aromatic compounds. From the extract of B. mediterranea we isolated the compound 5-methylmellein that displayed moderate antifungal activity against the phytopathogenic fungi Phomopsis obscurans. Our results suggest that native medicinal cacti of the United States can live symbiotically with rich and diverse endophytic communities and may be a source of bioactive molecules, including those able to inhibit or control plant disease pathogens. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

The Rim Inertial Measuring System (RIMS). [to measure angular rate and linear acceleration of a moving vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Groom, N. J.

1979-01-01

The rim inertial measuring system (RIMS) is introduced and an approach for extracting angular rate and linear acceleration information from a RIMS unit is presented and discussed. The RIMS consists of one or more small annular momentum control devices (AMCDs), mounted in a strapped down configuration, which are used to measure angular rates and linear accelerations of a moving vehicle. An AMCD consists of a spinning rim, a set of noncontacting magnetic bearings for supporting the rim, and a noncontacting electromagnetic spin motor. The approach for extracting angular rate and linear acceleration information is for a single spacecraft mounted RIMS unit.

Risk factors for anal sphincter tears in vacuum-assisted delivery.

PubMed

Ryman, P; Ahlberg, M; Ekéus, C

2015-10-01

The aim of the present study was to describe the prevalence of anal sphincter tears (AST) in relation to obstetric management and technique during vacuum extraction deliveries (VE) (re: indications, the station of the fetal head at application of the cup, number of tractions, the length for the extraction, cup detachments, pain relief, episiotomy, fetal presentation, and experience of the operator) as well as maternal and infant anthropometrics. Descriptive study. Data on six hundred vacuum extraction deliveries were consecutively collected from six different delivery units in Sweden. Each unit contributed with data on 100 deliveries. The final study population included 596 women who delivered by vacuum extraction. There was no correlation between the management of the vacuum extraction and risk for anal sphincter tear. Women from Africa had nearly a fourfold risk for anal sphincter tear during vacuum-assisted delivery compared with Swedish-born women (OR 3.82 CI 1.47-9.89). Compared with infants with birth weight less than 4000 g, birth weight above 4000 g was associated with increased risk of AST (OR 1.87 CI 1.06-3.28). In this study, the obstetric management in VE-assisted deliveries did not impact the risk of AST. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Marcellus Shale Extraction Emissions on Regionally Monitored Dry Reactive Nitrogen Deposition.

PubMed

Coughlin, Justin G; Rose, Lucy A; Bain, Daniel J; Elliott, Emily M

2017-03-21

Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO x ) in the United States (U.S.) from large stationary sources, such as electric generating units, have decreased since 1995, driving decreases in nitrogen deposition. However, increasing NO x emissions from emerging industries, such as unconventional natural gas (UNG) extraction, could offset stationary source emission reductions in shale gas producing regions of the U.S. The Marcellus Shale in the northeastern U.S. has seen dramatic increases in the number of wells and associated natural gas production during the past 10 years. In this study, we examine the potential impacts of shale gas development on regional NO x emission inventories and dry deposition fluxes to Clean Air Status and Trends (CASTNET) sites in Pennsylvania and New York. Our results demonstrate that the current distribution of CASTNET sites is ineffective for monitoring the influence of Marcellus well NO x emissions on regional nitrogen deposition. Despite the fact that existing CASTNET sites are not influenced by UNG extraction activity, NO x emissions densities from shale gas extraction are substantial and are estimated to reach up to 21 kg NO x ha -1 year -1 in some regions. If these emissions deposit locally, UNG extraction activity could contribute to critical nitrogen load exceedances in areas of high well density.

Petroleum mineral oil refining and evaluation of cancer hazard.

PubMed

Mackerer, Carl R; Griffis, Larry C; Grabowski, John S; Reitman, Fred A

2003-11-01

Petroleum base oils (petroleum mineral oils) are manufactured from crude oils by vacuum distillation to produce several distillates and a residual oil that are then further refined. Aromatics including alkylated polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) are undesirable constituents of base oils because they are deleterious to product performance and are potentially carcinogenic. In modern base oil refining, aromatics are reduced by solvent extraction, catalytic hydrotreating, or hydrocracking. Chronic exposure to poorly refined base oils has the potential to cause skin cancer. A chronic mouse dermal bioassay has been the standard test for estimating carcinogenic potential of mineral oils. The level of alkylated 3-7-ring PAC in raw streams from the vacuum tower must be greatly reduced to render the base oil noncarcinogenic. The processes that can reduce PAC levels are known, but the operating conditions for the processing units (e.g., temperature, pressure, catalyst type, residence time in the unit, unit engineering design, etc.) needed to achieve adequate PAC reduction are refinery specific. Chronic dermal bioassays provide information about whether conditions applied can make a noncarcinogenic oil, but cannot be used to monitor current production for quality control or for conducting research or developing new processes since this test takes at least 78 weeks to conduct. Three short-term, non-animal assays all involving extraction of oil with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) have been validated for predicting potential carcinogenic activity of petroleum base oils: a modified Ames assay of a DMSO extract, a gravimetric assay (IP 346) for wt. percent of oil extracted into DMSO, and a GC-FID assay measuring 3-7-ring PAC content in a DMSO extract of oil, expressed as percent of the oil. Extraction with DMSO concentrates PAC in a manner that mimics the extraction method used in the solvent refining of noncarcinogenic oils. The three assays are described, data demonstrating the validation of the assays are shown, and test results of currently manufactured base oils are summarized to illustrate the general lack of cancer hazard for the base oils now being manufactured.

Recent Rates of Forest Harvest and Conversion in North America

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Masek, Jeffrey G.; Cohen, Warren B.; Leckie, Donald; Wulder, Michael A.; Vargas, Rodrigo; de Jong, Ben; Healey, Sean; Law, Beverly; Birdsey, Richard; Houghton, R. A.;

Older nurses' experiences of providing direct care in hospital nursing units: a qualitative systematic review.

PubMed

Parsons, Karen; Gaudine, Alice; Swab, Michelle

2018-03-01

Most developed countries throughout the world are experiencing an aging nursing workforce as their population ages. Older nurses often experience different challenges then their younger nurse counterparts. With the increase in older nurses relative to younger nurses potentially available to work in hospitals, it is important to understand the experience of older nurses on high paced hospital nursing units. This understanding will lend knowledge to ways of lessening the loss of these highly skilled experienced workers and improve patient outcomes. To identify, evaluate and synthesize the existing qualitative evidence on older nurses' experiences of providing direct care to patients in hospital nursing units. The review considered studies which included registered nurses 45 years and over who work as direct caregivers in any type of in-patient hospital nursing unit. The phenomenon of interest was the experience of older nurses in providing direct nursing care in any type of in-patient hospital nursing unit (i.e. including but not limited to medical/surgical units, intensive care units, critical care units, perioperative units, palliative care units, obstetrical units, emergency departments and rehabilitative care units). The review excluded studies focussing entirely on enrolled nurses, licensed practical nurses and licensed vocational nurses. Qualitative data including, but not limited to the following methodologies: phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research. The databases CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, AgeLine, Sociological Abstracts and SocINDEX were searched from inception; the search was conducted on October 13, 2017; no date limiters or language limiters were applied. Each paper was assessed by two independent reviewers for methodological quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research. Any disagreements that arose between the reviewers were resolved through discussion. Data extraction was conducted by two independent reviewers using the standardized qualitative data extraction tool from JBI. The qualitative research findings were pooled using JBI methodology. The JBI process of meta-aggregation was used to identify categories and synthesized findings. Twelve papers were included in the review. Three synthesized findings were extracted from 12 categories and 75 findings. The three synthesized findings extracted from the papers were: (1) Love of nursing: It's who I am and I love it; (2) It's a rewarding but challenging and changing job; it's a different job and it can be challenging; (3) It's a challenging job; can I keep up? Older nurses love nursing and have created an identity around their profession. They view their profession positively and believe their job to be unlike any other, yet they identify many ongoing challenges and changes. Despite their desire to continue in their role they are often faced with hardships that threaten their ability to stay at the bedside. A key role of hospital administrators to keep older nurses in the workplace is to develop programs to prevent work related illness and to promote health. Given the low ConQual scores in the current systematic review, additional research is recommended to understand the older nurses' experience in providing direct care in hospital nursing units as well as predicting health age of retirement and length of bedside nursing.

Processing can alter the properties of peanut extract preparations.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

As peanut allergy is an increasing public health risk, affecting over 1% of the United States and United Kingdom school children; it is important that methods and reagents for accurate diagnosis of food allergy, and detection of allergenic foods are reliable and consistent. Given that most current e...

Cueing Animations: Dynamic Signaling Aids Information Extraction and Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boucheix, Jean-Michel; Lowe, Richard K.; Putri, Dian K.; Groff, Jonathan

2013-01-01

The effectiveness of animations containing two novel forms of animation cueing that target relations between event units rather than individual entities was compared with that of animations containing conventional entity-based cueing or no cues. These relational event unit cues ("progressive path" and "local coordinated" cues) were specifically…

United Nations Environment Programme. Annual Review 1981.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi (Kenya).

This edition of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) annual report is structured in three parts. Part 1 focuses on three contemporary problems (ground water, toxic chemicals and human food chains and environmental economics) and attempts to solve them. Also included is a modified extract of "The Annual State of the Environment…

Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum) utilization: characterization of extractives and cell-wall chemistry

Treesearch

Thomasl L. Eberhardt; Xiaobo Li; Todd F. Shupe; Chung Y. Hse

2007-01-01

Wood, bark, and the wax-coated seeds from Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb. syn. Triadica sebifera (L.) Small), an invasive tree species in the southeastern United States, were subjected to extractions and degradative chemical analyses in an effort to better understand the mechanism(s) by which this tree species...

78 FR 22898 - Certain Omega-3 Extracts From Marine or Aquatic Biomass and Products Containing the Same...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-17

... or Aquatic Biomass and Products Containing the Same; Institution of Investigation Pursuant to 19 U.S... or aquatic biomass and products containing the same by reason of infringement of certain claims of U... within the United States after importation of certain omega-3 extracts from marine or aquatic biomass and...

Multilayer neural networks for reduced-rank approximation.

PubMed

Diamantaras, K I; Kung, S Y

1994-01-01

This paper is developed in two parts. First, the authors formulate the solution to the general reduced-rank linear approximation problem relaxing the invertibility assumption of the input autocorrelation matrix used by previous authors. The authors' treatment unifies linear regression, Wiener filtering, full rank approximation, auto-association networks, SVD and principal component analysis (PCA) as special cases. The authors' analysis also shows that two-layer linear neural networks with reduced number of hidden units, trained with the least-squares error criterion, produce weights that correspond to the generalized singular value decomposition of the input-teacher cross-correlation matrix and the input data matrix. As a corollary the linear two-layer backpropagation model with reduced hidden layer extracts an arbitrary linear combination of the generalized singular vector components. Second, the authors investigate artificial neural network models for the solution of the related generalized eigenvalue problem. By introducing and utilizing the extended concept of deflation (originally proposed for the standard eigenvalue problem) the authors are able to find that a sequential version of linear BP can extract the exact generalized eigenvector components. The advantage of this approach is that it's easier to update the model structure by adding one more unit or pruning one or more units when the application requires it. An alternative approach for extracting the exact components is to use a set of lateral connections among the hidden units trained in such a way as to enforce orthogonality among the upper- and lower-layer weights. The authors call this the lateral orthogonalization network (LON) and show via theoretical analysis-and verify via simulation-that the network extracts the desired components. The advantage of the LON-based model is that it can be applied in a parallel fashion so that the components are extracted concurrently. Finally, the authors show the application of their results to the solution of the identification problem of systems whose excitation has a non-invertible autocorrelation matrix. Previous identification methods usually rely on the invertibility assumption of the input autocorrelation, therefore they can not be applied to this case.

Activity of Extracts from Submerged Cultured Mycelium of Winter Mushroom, Flammulina velutipes (Agaricomycetes), on the Immune System In Vitro.

PubMed

Kashina, Svetlana; Villavicencio, Lerida Liss Flores; Zaina, Silvio; Ordaz, Marco Balleza; Sabanero, Gloria Barbosa; Fujiyoshi, Victor Tsutsumi; Lopez, Myrna Sabanero

2016-01-01

Extracts from submerged cultured mycelium of two strains of Flammulina velutipes, a popular culinary mushroom, were obtained by ultrasound and tested in vitro to determine their activity in innate immunity (monocytes/ macrophages). In addition, polyclonal antibodies against the extracts were produced. Both extracts have similar glycoproteins that contain mannose and glucose but have different glycoproteins with galactoseamine units. Two novel immunogenic glycoproteins with molecular weights of 32 and 25 kDa have been revealed. It is thought that these proteins are produced only by submerged cultured mycelium. Both extracts show immune-enhancing activity based on the significant modification of various parameters such as cytokine production, phagocytosis, and reactive oxygen species production.

Music video shot segmentation using independent component analysis and keyframe extraction based on image complexity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Wei; Chen, Ting; Zhang, Wenjun; Shi, Yunyu; Li, Jun

2012-04-01

In recent years, Music video data is increasing at an astonishing speed. Shot segmentation and keyframe extraction constitute a fundamental unit in organizing, indexing, retrieving video content. In this paper a unified framework is proposed to detect the shot boundaries and extract the keyframe of a shot. Music video is first segmented to shots by illumination-invariant chromaticity histogram in independent component (IC) analysis feature space .Then we presents a new metric, image complexity, to extract keyframe in a shot which is computed by ICs. Experimental results show the framework is effective and has a good performance.

Efficient approach for the extraction of proanthocyanidins from Cinnamomum longepaniculatum leaves using ultrasonic irradiation and an evaluation of their inhibition activity on digestive enzymes and antioxidant activity in vitro.

PubMed

Liu, Zaizhi; Mo, Kailin; Fei, Shimin; Zu, Yuangang; Yang, Lei

2017-08-01

Proanthocyanidins were separated for the first time from Cinnamomum longepaniculatum leaves. An experiment-based extraction strategy was used to research the efficiency of an ultrasound-assisted method for proanthocyanidins extraction. The Plackett-Burman design results revealed that the ultrasonication time, ultrasonic power and liquid/solid ratio were the most significant parameters among the six variables in the extraction process. Upon further optimization of the Box-Behnken design, the optimal conditions were obtained as follows: extraction temperature, 100°C; ethanol concentration, 70%; pH 5; ultrasonication power, 660 W; ultrasonication time, 44 min; liquid/solid ratio, 20 mL/g. Under the obtained conditions, the extraction yield of the proanthocyanidins using the ultrasonic-assisted method was 7.88 ± 0.21 mg/g, which is higher than that obtained using traditional methods. The phloroglucinolysis products of the proanthocyanidins, including the terminal units and derivatives from the extension units, were tentatively identified using a liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Cinnamomum longepaniculatum proanthocyanidins have promising antioxidant and anti-nutritional properties. In summary, an ultrasound-assisted method in combination with a response surface experimental design is an efficient methodology for the sufficient isolation of proanthocyanidins from Cinnamomum longepaniculatum leaves, and this method could be used for the separation of other bioactive compounds. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Combining Follicular Unit Extraction and Scalp Micropigmentation for the Cosmetic Treatment of Alopecias

PubMed Central

Pak, Jae; Kim, Jino

2017-01-01

Two relatively new modalities, follicular unit extraction (FUE) and scalp micropigmentation have changed the treatment of hair loss, to reduce the number of procedures and the total costs of the hair restoration process. These 2 modalities augment each other when treating patients with thinning hair and balding. The explosion of FUE procedures (which reflected 52.6% of the hair transplant procedures performed in 2016, up from 48.5%) and the appearance of more and more new physicians offering hair restoration technologies employing FUE have caused a 20% annual growth in this industry over the past few years. This article reviews the use of FUE and scalp micropigmentation when used in combination. PMID:29263945

Effectiveness of artichoke extract in preventing alcohol-induced hangovers: a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

Pittler, Max H.; White, Adrian R.; Stevinson, Clare; Ernst, Edzard

2003-01-01

Background Extract of globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus) is promoted as a possible preventive or cure for alcohol-induced hangover symptoms. However, few rigorous clinical trials have assessed the effects of artichoke extract, and none has examined the effects in relation to hangovers. We undertook this study to test whether artichoke extract is effective in preventing the signs and symptoms of alcohol-induced hangover. Methods We recruited healthy adult volunteers between 18 and 65 years of age to participate in a randomized double-blind crossover trial. Participants received either 3 capsules of commercially available standardized artichoke extract or indistinguishable, inert placebo capsules immediately before and after alcohol exposure. After a 1-week washout period the volunteers received the opposite treatment. Participants predefined the type and amount of alcoholic beverage that would give them a hangover and ate the same meal before commencing alcohol consumption on the 2 study days. The primary outcome measure was the difference in hangover severity scores between the artichoke extract and placebo interventions. Secondary outcome measures were differences between the interventions in scores using a mood profile questionnaire and cognitive performance tests administered 1 hour before and 10 hours after alcohol exposure. Results Fifteen volunteers participated in the study. The mean number (and standard deviation) of alcohol units (each unit being 7.9 g, or 10 mL, of ethanol) consumed during treatment with artichoke extract and placebo was 10.7 (3.1) and 10.5 (2.4) respectively, equivalent to 1.2 (0.3) and 1.2 (0.2) g of alcohol per kilogram body weight. The volume of nonalcoholic drink consumed and the duration of sleep were similar during the artichoke extract and placebo interventions. None of the outcome measures differed significantly between interventions. Adverse events were rare and were mild and transient. Interpretation Our results suggest that artichoke extract is not effective in preventing the signs and symptoms of alcohol-induced hangover. Larger studies are required to confirm these findings. PMID:14662662

77 FR 22485 - Disclosure of Cochineal Extract and Carmine in the Labeling of Wines, Distilled Spirits, and Malt...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-16

... additives that are permitted for use in foods, including alcohol beverage products, in the United States. The FDA has listed these color additives, and the conditions for their safe use in foods, in Sec. 73... brand label or on a back label using its respective common or usual name ``cochineal extract'' or...

Near-quantitative extraction of genomic DNA from various food-borne eubacteria

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In this work we have tested a dozen commercial bacterial genomic DNA extraction methodologies on an average of 7.70E6 (± 9.05%), 4.77E8 (± 31.0%), and 5.93E8 (± 4.69%) colony forming units (CFU) associated with 3 cultures (n = 3) each of Brochothrix thermosphacta (Bt), Shigella sonnei (Ss), and Esch...

Environmental Assessment for the Replacement of Water Reservoirs

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-25

Intensive extraction of groundwater does not occur at Travis because of poor water- bearing subsurface geology. Intensive extraction SECTION 3.0...largest contiguous estuarine marsh and the largest wetland in the continental United States (CH2M HILL, 2001). Suisun Marsh drains into Grizzly and...and other support facilities. • Community (Commercial) – Uses include the exchange, commissary, banking, dining facilities, eating

1:100,000-scale Counties of the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1993-01-01

This is a coverage of the county boundaries of the conterminous United States (AK, HI and Puerto Rico are available separately). The lines were extracted from U.S. Census TIGER/line files using an AML program (see 4.), written by Doug Nebert and Mark Negri, running on two Data General 6220 servers.

Organic Liquids Containing Oxygen.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, J.; And Others

This unit is one of a group of units written to fit the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies (CSYS) chemistry course, but it could be used with most Sixth Form courses. It includes: (1) background information for teachers with notes on five topics (antifreeze, ethanol production, solvent prices, iron extraction, and paint solvents); (2) a student…

Superfund Record of Decision (EPA Region 9): San Fernando Valley Area 2, operable unit 2, Los Angeles County, CA, June 1993

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1993-06-01

This decision document presents the selected remedial action for the Glendale North Operable Unit, San Fernando Valley Area 2 Superfund site. The remedy involves groundwater extraction and treatment for the shallow aquifer system in the Glendale area of the San Fernando Valley.

Superfund Record of Decision (EPA Region 9): San Fernando Valley Area 2, operable unit 3, Los Angeles County, CA, June 1993

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1993-06-01

This decision document presents the selected remedial action for the Glendale South Operable Unit, San Fernando Valley Area 2 Superfund site. The remedy involves groundwater extraction and treatment for the shallow aquifer system in the Glendale area of the San Fernando Valley.

Preparation and analysis of fetal liver extracts.

PubMed

Zwicky, C; Gerber, S; Gasparini, D; Forestier, F; Hohlfeld, P; Tissot, J D; Schneider, P

2000-09-01

The aim of this work is to describe the techniques that have been used for preparation and analysis of whole fetal liver extracts destined for in utero transplantation. Nine fetal livers between 12 and 17 weeks of gestation were prepared: cell counts and assessment of the hematopoietic cell viability were performed on cell suspensions. Hepatocytes represented 40 to 80% of the whole cell population. The remaining cells were constituted by hematopoietic cells (mainly erythroblasts), as well as by endothelial cells. The latter expressed CD34 on their surface, interfering with the assessment of CD34+ hematopoietic cells by flow cytometry. Direct visual morphologic control using alkaline phosphatase anti-alkaline phosphatase techniques was needed to differentiate hematopoietic from extra-hematopoietic CD34+ cells. Between 3.0 and 34.6 x 10(6) CD34+ viable hematopoietic cells were collected per fetal liver. Adequate differentiation of these cells into burst-forming units erythroid (BFU-E), colony-forming units granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM), and colony-forming units granulocyte erythroid macrophage megakaryocyte (CFU-GEMM) has been shown for each sample in clonogeneic cultures. In conclusion, fetal liver is a potential source of hematopoietic stem cells. Their numeration, based on the presence of CD34, is hampered by the expression of this antigen on other cells contained in the liver cell extract, in particular endothelial cells.

Extraction of drainage networks from large terrain datasets using high throughput computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Jianya; Xie, Jibo

2009-02-01

Advanced digital photogrammetry and remote sensing technology produces large terrain datasets (LTD). How to process and use these LTD has become a big challenge for GIS users. Extracting drainage networks, which are basic for hydrological applications, from LTD is one of the typical applications of digital terrain analysis (DTA) in geographical information applications. Existing serial drainage algorithms cannot deal with large data volumes in a timely fashion, and few GIS platforms can process LTD beyond the GB size. High throughput computing (HTC), a distributed parallel computing mode, is proposed to improve the efficiency of drainage networks extraction from LTD. Drainage network extraction using HTC involves two key issues: (1) how to decompose the large DEM datasets into independent computing units and (2) how to merge the separate outputs into a final result. A new decomposition method is presented in which the large datasets are partitioned into independent computing units using natural watershed boundaries instead of using regular 1-dimensional (strip-wise) and 2-dimensional (block-wise) decomposition. Because the distribution of drainage networks is strongly related to watershed boundaries, the new decomposition method is more effective and natural. The method to extract natural watershed boundaries was improved by using multi-scale DEMs instead of single-scale DEMs. A HTC environment is employed to test the proposed methods with real datasets.

Large-Scale Pumping Test Recommendations for the 200-ZP-1 Operable Unit

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Spane, Frank A.

2010-09-08

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) is currently assessing aquifer characterization needs to optimize pump-and-treat remedial strategies (e.g., extraction well pumping rates, pumping schedule/design) in the 200-ZP-1 operable unit (OU), and in particular for the immediate area of the 241 TX-TY Tank Farm. Specifically, CHPRC is focusing on hydrologic characterization opportunities that may be available for newly constructed and planned ZP-1 extraction wells. These new extraction wells will be used to further refine the 3-dimensional subsurface contaminant distribution within this area and will be used in concert with other existing pump-and-treat wells to remediate the existing carbon tetrachloride contaminant plume.more » Currently, 14 extraction wells are actively used in the Interim Record of Decision ZP-1 pump-and-treat system for the purpose of remediating the existing carbon tetrachloride contamination in groundwater within this general area. As many as 20 new extraction wells and 17 injection wells may be installed to support final pump-and-treat operations within the OU area. It should be noted that although the report specifically refers to the 200-ZP-1 OU, the large-scale test recommendations are also applicable to the adjacent 200-UP-1 OU area. This is because of the similar hydrogeologic conditions exhibited within these two adjoining OU locations.« less

Extracting laboratory test information from biomedical text

PubMed Central

Kang, Yanna Shen; Kayaalp, Mehmet

2013-01-01

Background: No previous study reported the efficacy of current natural language processing (NLP) methods for extracting laboratory test information from narrative documents. This study investigates the pathology informatics question of how accurately such information can be extracted from text with the current tools and techniques, especially machine learning and symbolic NLP methods. The study data came from a text corpus maintained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, containing a rich set of information on laboratory tests and test devices. Methods: The authors developed a symbolic information extraction (SIE) system to extract device and test specific information about four types of laboratory test entities: Specimens, analytes, units of measures and detection limits. They compared the performance of SIE and three prominent machine learning based NLP systems, LingPipe, GATE and BANNER, each implementing a distinct supervised machine learning method, hidden Markov models, support vector machines and conditional random fields, respectively. Results: Machine learning systems recognized laboratory test entities with moderately high recall, but low precision rates. Their recall rates were relatively higher when the number of distinct entity values (e.g., the spectrum of specimens) was very limited or when lexical morphology of the entity was distinctive (as in units of measures), yet SIE outperformed them with statistically significant margins on extracting specimen, analyte and detection limit information in both precision and F-measure. Its high recall performance was statistically significant on analyte information extraction. Conclusions: Despite its shortcomings against machine learning methods, a well-tailored symbolic system may better discern relevancy among a pile of information of the same type and may outperform a machine learning system by tapping into lexically non-local contextual information such as the document structure. PMID:24083058

FY10 Report on Multi-scale Simulation of Solvent Extraction Processes: Molecular-scale and Continuum-scale Studies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wardle, Kent E.; Frey, Kurt; Pereira, Candido

2014-02-02

This task is aimed at predictive modeling of solvent extraction processes in typical extraction equipment through multiple simulation methods at various scales of resolution. We have conducted detailed continuum fluid dynamics simulation on the process unit level as well as simulations of the molecular-level physical interactions which govern extraction chemistry. Through combination of information gained through simulations at each of these two tiers along with advanced techniques such as the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) which can bridge these two scales, we can develop the tools to work towards predictive simulation for solvent extraction on the equipment scale (Figure 1). Themore » goal of such a tool-along with enabling optimized design and operation of extraction units-would be to allow prediction of stage extraction effrciency under specified conditions. Simulation efforts on each of the two scales will be described below. As the initial application of FELBM in the work performed during FYl0 has been on annular mixing it will be discussed in context of the continuum-scale. In the future, however, it is anticipated that the real value of FELBM will be in its use as a tool for sub-grid model development through highly refined DNS-like multiphase simulations facilitating exploration and development of droplet models including breakup and coalescence which will be needed for the large-scale simulations where droplet level physics cannot be resolved. In this area, it can have a significant advantage over traditional CFD methods as its high computational efficiency allows exploration of significantly greater physical detail especially as computational resources increase in the future.« less

Evaluation of a Wipe Surface Sample Method for Collection of Bacillus Spores from Nonporous Surfaces▿

PubMed Central

Brown, Gary S.; Betty, Rita G.; Brockmann, John E.; Lucero, Daniel A.; Souza, Caroline A.; Walsh, Kathryn S.; Boucher, Raymond M.; Tezak, Mathew; Wilson, Mollye C.; Rudolph, Todd

2007-01-01

Polyester-rayon blend wipes were evaluated for efficiency of extraction and recovery of powdered Bacillus atrophaeus spores from stainless steel and painted wallboard surfaces. Method limits of detection were also estimated for both surfaces. The observed mean efficiency of polyester-rayon blend wipe recovery from stainless steel was 0.35 with a standard deviation of ±0.12, and for painted wallboard it was 0.29 with a standard deviation of ±0.15. Evaluation of a sonication extraction method for the polyester-rayon blend wipes produced a mean extraction efficiency of 0.93 with a standard deviation of ±0.09. Wipe recovery quantitative limits of detection were estimated at 90 CFU per unit of stainless steel sample area and 105 CFU per unit of painted wallboard sample area. The method recovery efficiency and limits of detection established in this work provide useful guidance for the planning of incident response environmental sampling following the release of a biological agent such as Bacillus anthracis. PMID:17122390

Evaluation of a wipe surface sample method for collection of Bacillus spores from nonporous surfaces.

PubMed

Brown, Gary S; Betty, Rita G; Brockmann, John E; Lucero, Daniel A; Souza, Caroline A; Walsh, Kathryn S; Boucher, Raymond M; Tezak, Mathew; Wilson, Mollye C; Rudolph, Todd

2007-02-01

Polyester-rayon blend wipes were evaluated for efficiency of extraction and recovery of powdered Bacillus atrophaeus spores from stainless steel and painted wallboard surfaces. Method limits of detection were also estimated for both surfaces. The observed mean efficiency of polyester-rayon blend wipe recovery from stainless steel was 0.35 with a standard deviation of +/-0.12, and for painted wallboard it was 0.29 with a standard deviation of +/-0.15. Evaluation of a sonication extraction method for the polyester-rayon blend wipes produced a mean extraction efficiency of 0.93 with a standard deviation of +/-0.09. Wipe recovery quantitative limits of detection were estimated at 90 CFU per unit of stainless steel sample area and 105 CFU per unit of painted wallboard sample area. The method recovery efficiency and limits of detection established in this work provide useful guidance for the planning of incident response environmental sampling following the release of a biological agent such as Bacillus anthracis.

Extracting Country-of-Origin from Electronic Health Records for Gene- Environment Studies as Part of the Epidemiologic Architecture for Genes Linked to Environment (EAGLE) Study

PubMed Central

Farber-Eger, Eric; Goodloe, Robert; Boston, Jonathan; Bush, William S.; Crawford, Dana C.

2017-01-01

We describe here the extraction of country-of-origin, an acculturation variable relevant for gene-environment studies, in a biorepository linked to de-identified electronic health records (EHRs) assessed by the Epidemiologic Architecture for Genes Linked to Environment (EAGLE), a study site of the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) I study. We extracted country-of-origin from the unstructured clinical free text using regular expressions within the MySQL relational database system in a cohort of 15,863 subjects of mostly non-European descent (including 11,519 African Americans, 1,702 Hispanics, and 1,118 Asians). We performed searches for 231 world countries (including independent sovereign states, dependent areas, and disputed territories) and common misspellings in >14 gigabytes of data including >13 billion characters of clinical text. Manual review of a fraction of the initial country-of-origin assignments established rules for data cleaning and quality control to achieve final country-of-origin status for each subject. After data cleaning, a total of 1,911/15,893 (12.02%) subjects were assigned to a country-of-origin outside of the United States. Mexico was the most commonly assigned country outside of the United States (264 subjects; 13.8% of subjects with a foreign country-of-origin assignment). The distribution of the countries assigned followed expectations based on known migration patterns to the United States with an emphasis on the southeastern region. These data suggest country-of-origin can be successfully extracted from unstructured clinical text for downstream genetic association studies. PMID:28815105

Extracting Country-of-Origin from Electronic Health Records for Gene- Environment Studies as Part of the Epidemiologic Architecture for Genes Linked to Environment (EAGLE) Study.

PubMed

Farber-Eger, Eric; Goodloe, Robert; Boston, Jonathan; Bush, William S; Crawford, Dana C

2017-01-01

We describe here the extraction of country-of-origin, an acculturation variable relevant for gene-environment studies, in a biorepository linked to de-identified electronic health records (EHRs) assessed by the Epidemiologic Architecture for Genes Linked to Environment (EAGLE), a study site of the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) I study. We extracted country-of-origin from the unstructured clinical free text using regular expressions within the MySQL relational database system in a cohort of 15,863 subjects of mostly non-European descent (including 11,519 African Americans, 1,702 Hispanics, and 1,118 Asians). We performed searches for 231 world countries (including independent sovereign states, dependent areas, and disputed territories) and common misspellings in >14 gigabytes of data including >13 billion characters of clinical text. Manual review of a fraction of the initial country-of-origin assignments established rules for data cleaning and quality control to achieve final country-of-origin status for each subject. After data cleaning, a total of 1,911/15,893 (12.02%) subjects were assigned to a country-of-origin outside of the United States. Mexico was the most commonly assigned country outside of the United States (264 subjects; 13.8% of subjects with a foreign country-of-origin assignment). The distribution of the countries assigned followed expectations based on known migration patterns to the United States with an emphasis on the southeastern region. These data suggest country-of-origin can be successfully extracted from unstructured clinical text for downstream genetic association studies.

Fatalities among oil and gas extraction workers--United States, 2003-2006.

PubMed

2008-04-25

Oil and gas extraction (i.e., removing oil and natural gas from the ground) is a growing industry in the United States, employing approximately 380,000 workers in 2006. In recent years, activity in this industry has increased substantially, from an average of 800 actively drilling rigs in the United States during the 1990s to approximately 1,300 during 2003-2006. In August 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) asked CDC to investigate a 15% increase in fatalities among oil and gas extraction workers (from 85 fatalities in 2003 to 98 in 2004). CDC analyzed data from the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) for the period 2003-2006. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that increases in oil and gas extraction activity were correlated with an increase in the rate of fatal occupational injuries in this industry, with an annual fatality rate of 30.5 per 100,000 workers (404 fatalities) during 2003-2006, approximately seven times the rate for all workers (4.0 per 100,000 workers). Nearly half of all fatal injuries among these workers were attributed to highway motor-vehicle crashes and workers being struck by machinery or equipment. Employers should work with existing industry groups and federal, state, and local government agencies to promote seatbelt use. In addition, researchers and public health officials should collaborate with industry groups to establish engineering and process controls that remove workers from potentially dangerous machinery while drilling and servicing oil and gas wells.

Temporal Variations of Organic Acids in Sumac Fruit

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robbins, C.; Mulcahy, F.; Somayajula, K.

2006-10-01

Extracts from staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) fruits were obtained from fresh fruits obtained from June to October in two successive years. Total acidity, pH, and concentrations of malic and succinic acids determined using liquid chromatography were measured for each extract. Acidity and acid concentrations reached their maxima in late July, and declined slowly thereafter. Malic and succinic acid concentrations in the extracts reached maxima of about 4 and 0.2% (expressed per unit weight of fruit), respectively. Malic and succinic acids were the only organic acids observed in the extracts, and mass balance determinations indicate that these acids are most likelymore » the only ones present in appreciable amounts.« less

Enhancing polyphenol extraction from unripe apples by carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes.

PubMed

Zheng, Hu-zhe; Hwang, In-Wook; Chung, Shin-Kyo

2009-12-01

The effects of process variables such as enzyme types, enzyme ratio, reaction temperature, pH, time, and ethanol concentration on the extraction of unripe apple polyphenol were investigated. The results indicated that Viscozyme L had the strongest effect on polyphenols extraction and was selected to study the polyphenol composition. The ratio of enzyme (Viscozyme L) to substrate (2 fungal beta-glucanase units (FBG)) at 0.02, reaction at pH 3.7, 50 degrees C for 12 h, and ethanol concentration of 70% were chosen as the most favorable extraction condition. Total phenolic content (TPC), reducing sugar content (RSC), and extraction yield increased by about 3, 1.5, and 2 times, respectively, compared with control. The contents of p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and caffeic acid increased to 8, 4, and 32 times, respectively. The enzyme-aided polyphenol extraction process from unripe apples might be applied to food industry for enhancing bioactive compound production.

Enhancing polyphenol extraction from unripe apples by carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes*

PubMed Central

Zheng, Hu-zhe; Hwang, In-Wook; Chung, Shin-Kyo

2009-01-01

The effects of process variables such as enzyme types, enzyme ratio, reaction temperature, pH, time, and ethanol concentration on the extraction of unripe apple polyphenol were investigated. The results indicated that Viscozyme L had the strongest effect on polyphenols extraction and was selected to study the polyphenol composition. The ratio of enzyme (Viscozyme L) to substrate (2 fungal beta-glucanase units (FBG)) at 0.02, reaction at pH 3.7, 50 °C for 12 h, and ethanol concentration of 70% were chosen as the most favorable extraction condition. Total phenolic content (TPC), reducing sugar content (RSC), and extraction yield increased by about 3, 1.5, and 2 times, respectively, compared with control. The contents of p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and caffeic acid increased to 8, 4, and 32 times, respectively. The enzyme-aided polyphenol extraction process from unripe apples might be applied to food industry for enhancing bioactive compound production. PMID:19946955

Methods for Estimating Water Withdrawals for Mining in the United States, 2005

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lovelace, John K.

2009-01-01

The mining water-use category includes groundwater and surface water that is withdrawn and used for nonfuels and fuels mining. Nonfuels mining includes the extraction of ores, stone, sand, and gravel. Fuels mining includes the extraction of coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Water is used for mineral extraction, quarrying, milling, and other operations directly associated with mining activities. For petroleum and natural gas extraction, water often is injected for secondary oil or gas recovery. Estimates of water withdrawals for mining are needed for water planning and management. This report documents methods used to estimate withdrawals of fresh and saline groundwater and surface water for mining during 2005 for each county and county equivalent in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fresh and saline groundwater and surface-water withdrawals during 2005 for nonfuels- and coal-mining operations in each county or county equivalent in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands were estimated. Fresh and saline groundwater withdrawals for oil and gas operations in counties of six states also were estimated. Water withdrawals for nonfuels and coal mining were estimated by using mine-production data and water-use coefficients. Production data for nonfuels mining included the mine location and weight (in metric tons) of crude ore, rock, or mineral produced at each mine in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands during 2004. Production data for coal mining included the weight, in metric tons, of coal produced in each county or county equivalent during 2004. Water-use coefficients for mined commodities were compiled from various sources including published reports and written communications from U.S. Geological Survey National Water-use Information Program (NWUIP) personnel in several states. Water withdrawals for oil and gas extraction were estimated for six States including California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming, by using data from State agencies that regulate oil and gas extraction. Total water withdrawals for mining in a county were estimated by summing estimated water withdrawals for nonfuels mining, coal mining, and oil and gas extraction. The results of this study were distributed to NWUIP personnel in each State during 2007. NWUIP personnel were required to submit estimated withdrawals for numerous categories of use in their States to a national compilation team for inclusion in a national report describing water use in the United States during 2005. NWUIP personnel had the option of submitting the estimates determined by using the methods described in this report, a modified version of these estimates, or their own set of estimates or reported data. Estimated withdrawals resulting from the methods described in this report may not be included in the national report; therefore the estimates are not presented herein in order to avoid potential inconsistencies with the national report. Water-use coefficients for specific minerals also are not presented to avoid potential disclosure of confidential production data provided by mining operations to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Extraction of Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen from Seawater by an Electrochemical Acidification Cell. Part 3. Scaled-up Mobile Unit Studies (Calendar Year 2011)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-30

Electrochemical Acidification Cell Part III: Scaled-up Mobile Unit Studies (Calendar Year 2011) May 30, 2012 Approved for public release; distribution is...Hydrogen from Seawater by an Electrochemical Acidification Cell Part III: Scaled-up Mobile Unit Studies (Calendar Year 2011) Heather D. Willauer, Dennis R...Unclassified Unlimited Unclassified Unlimited Unclassified Unlimited 41 Heather D. Willauer (202) 767-2673 Electrochemical acidification cell Carbon

26 CFR 1.907(c)-1 - Definitions relating to FOGEI and FORI (for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1982).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... taxpayer or any other person) of minerals from oil or gas wells located outside the United States and its... those minerals. Extraction of minerals from oil or gas wells will result in gross income from extraction... value. For purposes of this paragraph (b), the fair market value of oil or gas in the immediate vicinity...

26 CFR 1.907(c)-1 - Definitions relating to FOGEI and FORI (for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1982).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... taxpayer or any other person) of minerals from oil or gas wells located outside the United States and its... those minerals. Extraction of minerals from oil or gas wells will result in gross income from extraction... value. For purposes of this paragraph (b), the fair market value of oil or gas in the immediate vicinity...

26 CFR 1.907(c)-1 - Definitions relating to FOGEI and FORI (for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1982).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... taxpayer or any other person) of minerals from oil or gas wells located outside the United States and its... those minerals. Extraction of minerals from oil or gas wells will result in gross income from extraction... value. For purposes of this paragraph (b), the fair market value of oil or gas in the immediate vicinity...

26 CFR 1.907(c)-1 - Definitions relating to FOGEI and FORI (for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1982).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... taxpayer or any other person) of minerals from oil or gas wells located outside the United States and its... those minerals. Extraction of minerals from oil or gas wells will result in gross income from extraction... value. For purposes of this paragraph (b), the fair market value of oil or gas in the immediate vicinity...

Sapphire Energy - Integrated Algal Biorefinery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

White, Rebecca L.; Tyler, Mike

2015-07-22

Sapphire Energy, Inc. (SEI) is a leader in large-scale photosynthetic algal biomass production, with a strongly cohesive research, development, and operations program. SEI takes a multidiscipline approach to integrate lab-based strain selection, cultivation and harvest and production scale, and extraction for the production of Green Crude oil, a drop in replacement for traditional crude oil.. SEI’s technical accomplishments since 2007 have produced a multifunctional platform that can address needs for fuel, feed, and other higher value products. Figure 1 outlines SEI’s commercialization process, including Green Crude production and refinement to drop in fuel replacements. The large scale algal biomass productionmore » facility, the SEI Integrated Algal Biorefinery (IABR), was built in Luna County near Columbus, New Mexico (see fig 2). The extraction unit was located at the existing SEI facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, approximately 95 miles from the IABR. The IABR facility was constructed on time and on budget, and the extraction unit expansion to accommodate the biomass output from the IABR was completed in October 2012. The IABR facility uses open pond cultivation with a proprietary harvesting method to produce algal biomass; this biomass is then shipped to the extraction facility for conversion to Green Crude. The operation of the IABR and the extraction facilities has demonstrated the critical integration of traditional agricultural techniques with algae cultivation knowledge for algal biomass production, and the successful conversion of the biomass to Green Crude. All primary unit operations are de-risked, and at a scale suitable for process demonstration. The results are stable, reliable, and long-term cultivation of strains for year round algal biomass production. From June 2012 to November 2014, the IABR and extraction facilities produced 524 metric tons (MT) of biomass (on a dry weight basis), and 2,587 gallons of Green Crude. Additionally, the IABR demonstrated significant year over year yield improvements (2013 to 2014), and reduction in the cost of biomass production. Therefore, the IABR fulfills a number of critical functions in SEI’s integrated development pipeline. These functions are critical in general for the commercialization of algal biomass production and production of biofuels from algal biomass.« less

The utility of an automated electronic system to monitor and audit transfusion practice.

PubMed

Grey, D E; Smith, V; Villanueva, G; Richards, B; Augustson, B; Erber, W N

2006-05-01

Transfusion laboratories with transfusion committees have a responsibility to monitor transfusion practice and generate improvements in clinical decision-making and red cell usage. However, this can be problematic and expensive because data cannot be readily extracted from most laboratory information systems. To overcome this problem, we developed and introduced a system to electronically extract and collate extensive amounts of data from two laboratory information systems and to link it with ICD10 clinical codes in a new database using standard information technology. Three data files were generated from two laboratory information systems, ULTRA (version 3.2) and TM, using standard information technology scripts. These were patient pre- and post-transfusion haemoglobin, blood group and antibody screen, and cross match and transfusion data. These data together with ICD10 codes for surgical cases were imported into an MS ACCESS database and linked by means of a unique laboratory number. Queries were then run to extract the relevant information and processed in Microsoft Excel for graphical presentation. We assessed the utility of this data extraction system to audit transfusion practice in a 600-bed adult tertiary hospital over an 18-month period. A total of 52 MB of data were extracted from the two laboratory information systems for the 18-month period and together with 2.0 MB theatre ICD10 data enabled case-specific transfusion information to be generated. The audit evaluated 15,992 blood group and antibody screens, 25,344 cross-matched red cell units and 15,455 transfused red cell units. Data evaluated included cross-matched to transfusion ratios and pre- and post-transfusion haemoglobin levels for a range of clinical diagnoses. Data showed significant differences between clinical units and by ICD10 code. This method to electronically extract large amounts of data and linkage with clinical databases has provided a powerful and sustainable tool for monitoring transfusion practice. It has been successfully used to identify areas requiring education, training and clinical guidance and allows for comparison with national haemoglobin-based transfusion guidelines.

Social versus biophysical availability of wood in the northern United States

Treesearch

Brett J. Butler; Ma Zhao; David B. Kittredge; Paul Catanzaro

2010-01-01

The availability of wood, be it harvested for sawlogs, pulpwood, biomass, or other products, is constrained by social and biophysical factors. Knowing the difference between social and biophysical availability is important for understanding what can realistically be extracted. This study focuses on the wood located in family forests across the northern United States....

Music Educator Vacancies in Faith-Based K-12 Schools in the United States: 2013-2014

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hash, Phillip M.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze and summarize characteristics of music educator vacancies in faith-based K-12 schools in the United States for the 2013-2014 academic year. Data extracted from placement notices and supplemental sources included demographic information, job responsibilities, and employment requirements for 153 listings in…

Ultrasound assisted extraction of food and natural products. Mechanisms, techniques, combinations, protocols and applications. A review.

PubMed

Chemat, Farid; Rombaut, Natacha; Sicaire, Anne-Gaëlle; Meullemiestre, Alice; Fabiano-Tixier, Anne-Sylvie; Abert-Vian, Maryline

2017-01-01

This review presents a complete picture of current knowledge on ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) in food ingredients and products, nutraceutics, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and bioenergy applications. It provides the necessary theoretical background and some details about extraction by ultrasound, the techniques and their combinations, the mechanisms (fragmentation, erosion, capillarity, detexturation, and sonoporation), applications from laboratory to industry, security, and environmental impacts. In addition, the ultrasound extraction procedures and the important parameters influencing its performance are also included, together with the advantages and the drawbacks of each UAE techniques. Ultrasound-assisted extraction is a research topic, which affects several fields of modern plant-based chemistry. All the reported applications have shown that ultrasound-assisted extraction is a green and economically viable alternative to conventional techniques for food and natural products. The main benefits are decrease of extraction and processing time, the amount of energy and solvents used, unit operations, and CO 2 emissions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Establishment of a New Drug Code for Marihuana Extract. Final rule.

PubMed

2016-12-14

The Drug Enforcement Administration is creating a new Administration Controlled Substances Code Number for "Marihuana Extract." This code number will allow DEA and DEA-registered entities to track quantities of this material separately from quantities of marihuana. This, in turn, will aid in complying with relevant treaty provisions. Under international drug control treaties administered by the United Nations, some differences exist between the regulatory controls pertaining to marihuana extract versus those for marihuana and tetrahydrocannabinols. The DEA has previously established separate code numbers for marihuana and for tetrahydrocannabinols, but not for marihuana extract. To better track these materials and comply with treaty provisions, DEA is creating a separate code number for marihuana extract with the following definition: "Meaning an extract containing one or more cannabinoids that has been derived from any plant of the genus Cannabis, other than the separated resin (whether crude or purified) obtained from the plant." Extracts of marihuana will continue to be treated as Schedule I controlled substances.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harman-Ware, Anne E.; Sykes, Robert; Peter, Gary F.

Terpenoids, naturally occurring compounds derived from isoprene units present in pine oleoresin, are a valuable source of chemicals used in solvents, fragrances, flavors, and have shown potential use as a biofuel. This paper describes a method to extract and analyze the terpenoids present in loblolly pine saplings and pine lighter wood. Various extraction solvents were tested over different times and temperatures. Samples were analyzed by pyrolysis-molecular beam mass spectrometry before and after extractions to monitor the extraction efficiency. The pyrolysis studies indicated that the optimal extraction method used a 1:1 hexane/acetone solvent system at 22°C for 1 h. Extracts frommore » the hexane/acetone experiments were analyzed using a low thermal mass modular accelerated column heater for fast-GC/FID analysis. The most abundant terpenoids from the pine samples were quantified, using standard curves, and included the monoterpenes, α- and β-pinene, camphene, and δ-carene. Sesquiterpenes analyzed included caryophyllene, humulene, and α-bisabolene. In conclusion, diterpenoid resin acids were quantified in derivatized extractions, including pimaric, isopimaric, levopimaric, palustric, dehydroabietic, abietic, and neoabietic acids.« less

The Physical Economy of the United States of America

PubMed Central

Gierlinger, Sylvia; Krausmann, Fridolin

2012-01-01

The United States is not only the world's largest economy, but it is also one of the world's largest consumers of natural resources. The country, which is inhabited by some 5% of the world's population, uses roughly one-fifth of the global primary energy supply and 15% of all extracted materials. This article explores long-term trends and patterns of material use in the United States. Based on a material flow account (MFA) that is fully consistent with current standards of economy-wide MFAs and covers domestic extraction, imports, and exports of materials for a 135-year period, we investigated the evolution of the U.S. industrial metabolism. This process was characterized by an 18-fold increase in material consumption, a multiplication of material use per capita, and a shift from renewable biomass toward mineral and fossil resources. In spite of considerable improvements in material intensity, no dematerialization has happened so far; in contrast to other high-income countries, material use has not stabilized since the 1970s, but has continued to grow. This article compares patterns and trends of material use in the United States with those in Japan and the United Kingdom and discusses the factors underlying the disproportionately high level of U.S. per capita resource consumption. PMID:24436632

RF control hardware design for CYCIAE-100 cyclotron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Zhiguo; Fu, Xiaoliang; Ji, Bin; Zhao, Zhenlu; Zhang, Tianjue; Li, Pengzhan; Wei, Junyi; Xing, Jiansheng; Wang, Chuan

2015-11-01

The Beijing Radioactive Ion-beam Facility project is being constructed by BRIF division of China Institute of Atomic Energy. In this project, a 100 MeV high intensity compact proton cyclotron is built for multiple applications. The first successful beam extraction of CYCIAE-100 cyclotron was done in the middle of 2014. The extracted proton beam energy is 100 MeV and the beam current is more than 20 μA. The RF system of the CYCIAE-100 cyclotron includes two half-wavelength cavities, two 100 kW tetrode amplifiers and power transmission line systems (all above are independent from each other) and two sets of Low Level RF control crates. Each set of LLRF control includes an amplitude control unit, a tuning control unit, a phase control unit, a local Digital Signal Process control unit and an Advanced RISC Machines based EPICS IOC unit. These two identical LLRF control crates share one common reference clock and take advantages of modern digital technologies (e.g. DSP and Direct Digital Synthesizer) to achieve closed loop voltage and phase regulations of the dee-voltage. In the beam commission, the measured dee-voltage stability of RF system is better than 0.1% and phase stability is better than 0.03°. The hardware design of the LLRF system will be reviewed in this paper.

Variations in toxicity of semi-coking wastewater treatment processes and their toxicity prediction.

PubMed

Ma, Xiaoyan; Wang, Xiaochang; Liu, Yongjun; Gao, Jian; Wang, Yongkun

2017-04-01

Chemical analyses and bioassays using Vibrio fischeri and Daphnia magna were conducted to evaluate comprehensively the variation of biotoxicity caused by contaminants in wastewater from a semi-coking wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Pretreatment units (including an oil-water separator, a phenols extraction tower, an ammonia stripping tower, and a regulation tank) followed by treatment units (including anaerobic-oxic treatment units, coagulation-sedimentation treatment units, and an active carbon adsorption column) were employed in the semi-coking WWTP. Five benzenes, 11 phenols, and five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated as the dominant contaminants in semi-coking wastewater. Because of residual extractant, the phenols extraction process increased acute toxicity to V. fischeri and immobilization and lethal toxicity to D. magna. The acute toxicity of pretreated wastewater to V. fischeri was still higher than that of raw semi-coking wastewater, even though 90.0% of benzenes, 94.8% of phenols, and 81.0% of PAHs were removed. After wastewater pretreatment, phenols and PAHs were mainly removed by anaerobic-oxic and coagulation-sedimentation treatment processes respectively, and a subsequent active carbon adsorption process further reduced the concentrations of all target chemicals to below detection limits. An effective biotoxicity reduction was found during the coagulation-sedimentation and active carbon adsorption treatment processes. The concentration addition model can be applied for toxicity prediction of wastewater from the semi-coking WWTP. The deviation between the measured and predicted toxicity results may result from the effects of compounds not detectable by instrumental analyses, the synergistic effect of detected contaminants, or possible transformation products. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The isoflavone content of two new alfalfa-derived products for instant beverage preparation.

PubMed

Soto-Zarazúa, M Guadalupe; Rodrigues, Francisca; Pimentel, Filipa B; Bah, M M; Oliveira, M Beatriz P P

2016-01-01

The frequent use of plant-based products to promote health leads to the search for scientific information related to efficacy and safety of those products for human consumption. Two alfalfa-derived products (ADP), freeze-dried juice (FDJ) and dehydrated powder (DP), from alfalfa harvested in Mexico, are being developed as new possible nutraceuticals. To the best of our knowledge, any study reports the real composition of such products used to prepare instant beverages in what concerns isoflavone contents. Seven isoflavones (glycitein, formononetin, biochanin A, daidzein, genistein, daidzin and genistin) were assessed by HPLC-DAD analysis as well as its variation in five different batches of these products. Different solvents were tested in order to choose the best one to extract isoflavones. The results showed the presence of daidzein, genistein, genistin and daidzin in most samples while glycitein, formononetin and biochanin A were not detected. Significant differences between isoflavone contents were found with different solvent systems. Water was the best option to extract daidzein (0.40-1.08 mg per unit and 1.30-4.90 mg per unit for DP and FDJ, respectively) whereas the water-methanol-formic acid mixture was efficient to extract genistein (0.19-0.43 mg per unit and 0.15-0.72 mg per unit for DP and FDJ, respectively). In all cases, the total isoflavone content was higher in freeze-dried juices than in dehydrated powders. Genistein and daidzein were the more abundant isoflavones quantified. Further physiological and nutritional studies are needed to complete the validation of effectiveness and safety of these products.

Screening for antibiofilm and antioxidant potential of turmeric (Curcuma longa) extracts.

PubMed

Hayat, Sumreen; Sabri, Anjum Nasim

2016-07-01

The antibiofilm and antioxidant activities associated with turmeric were the main focus of the study. Antibacterial activity was explored against bacteria isolated from dental plaques and dental unit water lines exhibiting resistance against antibiotics and biocides respectively. This study provides a comparison of the natural plant extract against synthetic mouthwash, chemicals and commonly prescribed antibiotics. Methanol extract was more effective as compared to other extracts. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ranged from 2.5-10mg/ml. Time based killing kinetic assay showed a significant reduction of bacterial load with increasing concentration of turmeric. Micro titer plate assay indicated significant inhibition of biofilm formation in cells treated with turmeric extract. Phytochemical screening of plant extracts showed the presence of vital secondary metabolites. Flavonoid content and total phenolic content varied among extracts, phenolic content for methanolic extract was 61.669 mg GAE/ gm dry extract and flavonoid content was 3.119mg quercitin/gm dry extract. The values of ferric reducing power were in the range of 5.55- 15.55 mmol of FeSO4 equivalent/ liter of the extract. Antioxidant activities and total phenolic content of the turmeric extracts had significant positive correlation. On the basis of these results turmeric may confidently be recommended as natural antibiofilm and antioxidant agent.

Technical aspects on production of fluid extract from Brosimum gaudichaudii Trécul roots

PubMed Central

Martins, Frederico Severino; Pascoa, Henrique; de Paula, José Realino; da Conceição, Edemilson Cardoso

2015-01-01

Instruction: Despite the increased use of Brosimum gaudichaudii roots as raw material on medicine to treatment of vitiligo, there are not studies that showing the impact of unit operations on the quality and standardized of the extract of B. gaudichaudii. The quality of the herbal extract is essential to ensure the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical product. Due the medical and commercial importance, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of the extraction method (ultrasound or percolation) on the quality of herbal extract and optimize the extraction of psoralen and 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) from B. gaudichaudii. Materials and Methods: The extraction recovery was evaluate by high-performance liquid chromatography (C8 reverse phase column and acetonitrile: Water 45:55 and flow rate 0.6 mL/min). The extraction was performed by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UEA) or percolation using a Box-Behnken design. Results: From both chemical markers (psoralen and bergapten), the optimal conditions for the UEA were an extraction time of 25 min, the mean particle size of 100 μm, and an ethanol: Water ratio of 55:45 (v/v). Conclusion: The extraction by percolation revealed that ethanol 55% was more efficient than ethanol 80% to extract psoralen and bergapten. PMID:25709236

Nutritional Composition and Phytochemical, Antioxidative, and Antifungal Activities of Pergularia tomentosa L.

PubMed Central

Belghith, Hafedh; Ben Abdallah, Ferjani; Belghith, Karima

2017-01-01

Crude extracts from a medicinal Tunisian plant, Pergularia tomentosa L., were the investigated natural material. Butanolic extract of roots analyzed with IR spectra revealed the presence of hydroxyl, alcoholic, and carboxylic groups and sugars units. Analysis of some secondary metabolites, total phenolic, flavonoids, flavonols, and procyanidins, was performed using different solvents following the increased gradient of polarity. Fruits and leaves contained the highest amounts of all these compounds. Antioxidant properties were evaluated by the determination of free radical scavenging activity and the reducing power of methanolic extracts. Fruits and leaf extracts were the most powerful antioxidants for the two-assay in vitro system. Stems and fruits extracts exhibit an antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici which could become an alternative to synthetic fungicide to control Solanum species fungal diseases. PMID:28409159

Determination of terpenoid content in pine by organic solvent extraction and fast-GC analysis

DOE PAGES

Harman-Ware, Anne E.; Sykes, Robert; Peter, Gary F.; ...

2016-01-25

Terpenoids, naturally occurring compounds derived from isoprene units present in pine oleoresin, are a valuable source of chemicals used in solvents, fragrances, flavors, and have shown potential use as a biofuel. This paper describes a method to extract and analyze the terpenoids present in loblolly pine saplings and pine lighter wood. Various extraction solvents were tested over different times and temperatures. Samples were analyzed by pyrolysis-molecular beam mass spectrometry before and after extractions to monitor the extraction efficiency. The pyrolysis studies indicated that the optimal extraction method used a 1:1 hexane/acetone solvent system at 22°C for 1 h. Extracts frommore » the hexane/acetone experiments were analyzed using a low thermal mass modular accelerated column heater for fast-GC/FID analysis. The most abundant terpenoids from the pine samples were quantified, using standard curves, and included the monoterpenes, α- and β-pinene, camphene, and δ-carene. Sesquiterpenes analyzed included caryophyllene, humulene, and α-bisabolene. In conclusion, diterpenoid resin acids were quantified in derivatized extractions, including pimaric, isopimaric, levopimaric, palustric, dehydroabietic, abietic, and neoabietic acids.« less

Enzymatic extraction of star gooseberry (Phyllanthus acidus) juice with high antioxidant level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loan, Do Thi Thanh; Tra, Tran Thi Thu; Nguyet, Ton Nu Minh; Man, Le Van Viet

2017-09-01

Ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds are main antioxidants in star gooseberry (Phyllanthus acidus) fruit. In this study, Pectinex Ultra SP-L preparation with pectinase activity was used in the extraction of star gooseberry juice. The effects of pectinase concentration and biocatalytic time on the content of ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of the fruit juice were firstly investigated. Response surface methodology was then used to optimize the conditions of enzymatic extraction for maximizing the antioxidant activity of the star gooseberry juice. The optimal pectinase concentration and biocatalytic time were 19 polygalacturonase units per 100g pulp dry weight and 67 min, respectively under which the maximal antioxidant activity achieved 5595±6 µmol Trolox equivalent per 100g juice dry weight. On the basis of kinetic model of second-order extraction, the extraction rate constant of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds in the enzymatic extraction increased approximately 21% and 157%, respectively in comparison with that in the conventional extraction. Application of pectinase preparation to the fruit juice extraction was therefore potential for improvement in antioxidant level of the product.

Hill AFB, Utah Installation Restoration Program. Phase IIB, IRP Survey. Volume 1. Text. Volume 2. Appendices

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-09-11

5 EPA 625 . Endosulfan sulfate wg/L 5 EPA 625 Chlordane pg/L * Toxaphene Pg/L * Acid Extractable Detection Analytical Compound Units Limit Method...ND ND ND ND 4,4’-DDT 5 ND ND ND ND Endosuif an sulfate 5 ND ND ND ND Chlordane* Toxa phene* Detection Acid Extractable Compound Limit M4-2 M4-6 14-9 Ge...Endosulfan sulfate 5 ND ND Chlordane * Toxaphene * Detection Acid Extractable Compound Limit BPM-1 BPM-2 2-Chlorophenol 2 ND ND 2-Nitrophenol 2 ND ND

A novel simultaneous demultiplexing and clock recovery unit for high speed OTDM system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Kangping; Jia, Nan; Li, Tangjun; Wang, Muguang; Chi, Jianfeng; Sun, Jian; Wang, Jingtian

2010-11-01

In this letter, a novel simultaneous demultiplexing and clock recovery unit based on EAMs and clock recovery module is presented and experimentally demonstrated for a high speed OTDM system. The 10GHz clock signal with low jitter is extracted from 80Gbit/s and 160Gbit/s OTDM signal, and every channel of the OTDM signal is successfully demultiplexed using this unit. The power penalty is lower than 3dB at BER of 10-9.

A Model of Family Factors and Individual and Unit Readiness: Literature Review

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-02-01

ability of forces, units, weapon systems, or equipment to deliver the outputs for which they were designed (includes the ability to deploy and employ...the Army’s "Extracts of Non -Divisional TOE," FM 101-10-2, 1977.) At last count, there were approximately a zillion company-sized units in the Army...Hawley (1985) lays out the minimum considerations that must be addressed in designing cross-training programs for surge (i.e., combat condition

Design of automated oil sludge treatment unit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chukhareva, N.; Korotchenko, T.; Yurkin, A.

2015-11-01

The article provides the feasibility study of contemporary oil sludge treatment methods. The basic parameters of a new resource-efficient oil sludge treatment unit that allows extracting as much oil as possible and disposing other components in efficient way have been outlined. Based on the calculation results, it has been revealed that in order to reduce the cost of the treatment unit and the expenses related to sludge disposal, it is essential to apply various combinations of the existing treatment methods.

The United States Army Medical Department Journal, January - March 2009

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

and performing routine chemistry testing for moisture, protein, fat , and solids. Chemistry methods range from simple extractions for percent fat ...States and abroad. The risk for food and waterborne disease is greatest in regions with fractured public health and veterinary infrastructure, lack of a...surgery during the deployment. Two aural hematoma repairs, an extraction of an abscessed tooth, and a root canal on a fractured canine tooth were

Hawthorn Herb Increases the Risk of Bleeding after Cardiac Surgery: An Evidence-Based Approach.

PubMed

Rababa'h, Abeer M; Altarabsheh, Salah E; Haddad, Osama; Deo, Salil V; Obeidat, Yagthan; Al-Azzam, Sayer

2016-08-22

Hawthorn extract consumption is becoming more widespread among the Jordanian population with cardiovascular disorders. We conducted this prospective observational longitudinal study to determine the impact of hawthorn extract on bleeding risk in patients who undergo cardiac surgery. A prospective observational study was performed on 116 patients who underwent cardiac surgery in the period between June 2014 and May 2015. Patients were divided into two groups: Group I (patients recently consumed hawthorn extract) and Group II (patients never consumed hawthorn extract). Endpoint measures included the rates of reopening to control bleeding, early mortality, duration of intensive care unit stay, total in-hospital stay period, and duration and amount of chest tube drainage. Hawthorn patients had a significantly higher rate of postoperative bleeding necessitating take back to the operating room compared to the control group (10% versus 1%; P = .03) respectively. The overall mortality rate for group I and II was 4% and 0% respectively; P = .17. Chest tubes were kept in for longer times in group I compared to group II (54 ± 14.6 versus 49 ± 14.7 hours respectively; P = .01). Group I stayed longer in the intensive care unit compared to group II (24 versus 22 hours respectively; P = .01). The total in-hospital stay period was comparable between the two groups. Hawthorn extract consumption does increase the potential for bleeding and the amount of chest tube output after cardiac surgery.

The Prophylactic Extraction of Third Molars: A Public Health Hazard

PubMed Central

Friedman, Jay W.

2007-01-01

Ten million third molars (wisdom teeth) are extracted from approximately 5 million people in the United States each year at an annual cost of over $3 billion. In addition, more than 11 million patient days of “standard discomfort or disability”—pain, swelling, bruising, and malaise—result postoperatively, and more than 11000 people suffer permanent paresthesia—numbness of the lip, tongue, and cheek—as a consequence of nerve injury during the surgery. At least two thirds of these extractions, associated costs, and injuries are unnecessary, constituting a silent epidemic of iatrogenic injury that afflicts tens of thousands of people with lifelong discomfort and disability. Avoidance of prophylactic extraction of third molars can prevent this public health hazard. PMID:17666691

Studies on the use of supercritical ammonia for ceramic nitride synthesis and fabrication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cornell, Linda; Lin, Y. C.; Philipp, Warren H.

1990-01-01

The extractability of ammonia halides (including ammonium thiocyanate) formed as byproducts from the synthesis of Si(NH)2 via ammonolysis of the corresponding silicon tetrahalides using supercritical NH3 as the extraction medium was investigated. It was found that the NH4SCN byproduct of ammonolysis of Si(SCN)4 can be almost completely extracted from the insoluble Si(NH)2 forming a promising system for the synthesis of pure Si(NH)2, one of the best precursors for Si3N4. In addition it was found that Si3N4, AlN, BN, and Si(NH)2 are insoluble in SC ammonia. Also discussed are design considerations for a supercritical ammonia extraction unit.

Meta-Generalis: A Novel Method for Structuring Information from Radiology Reports

PubMed Central

Barbosa, Flavio; Traina, Agma Jucci

2016-01-01

Summary Background A structured report for imaging exams aims at increasing the precision in information retrieval and communication between physicians. However, it is more concise than free text and may limit specialists’ descriptions of important findings not covered by pre-defined structures. A computational ontological structure derived from free texts designed by specialists may be a solution for this problem. Therefore, the goal of our study was to develop a methodology for structuring information in radiology reports covering specifications required for the Brazilian Portuguese language, including the terminology to be used. Methods We gathered 1,701 radiological reports of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the lumbosacral spine from three different institutions. Techniques of text mining and ontological conceptualization of lexical units extracted were used to structure information. Ten radiologists, specialists in lumbosacral MRI, evaluated the textual superstructure and terminology extracted using an electronic questionnaire. Results The established methodology consists of six steps: 1) collection of radiology reports of a specific MRI examination; 2) textual decomposition; 3) normalization of lexical units; 4) identification of textual superstructures; 5) conceptualization of candidate-terms; and 6) evaluation of superstructures and extracted terminology by experts using an electronic questionnaire. Three different textual superstructures were identified, with terminological variations in the names of their textual categories. The number of candidate-terms conceptualized was 4,183, yielding 727 concepts. There were a total of 13,963 relationships between candidate-terms and concepts and 789 relationships among concepts. Conclusions The proposed methodology allowed structuring information in a more intuitive and practical way. Indications of three textual superstructures, extraction of lexicon units and the normalization and ontologically conceptualization were achieved while maintaining references to their respective categories and free text radiology reports. PMID:27580980

Meta-generalis: A novel method for structuring information from radiology reports.

PubMed

Barbosa, Flavio; Traina, Agma Jucci; Muglia, Valdair Francisco

2016-08-24

A structured report for imaging exams aims at increasing the precision in information retrieval and communication between physicians. However, it is more concise than free text and may limit specialists' descriptions of important findings not covered by pre-defined structures. A computational ontological structure derived from free texts designed by specialists may be a solution for this problem. Therefore, the goal of our study was to develop a methodology for structuring information in radiology reports covering specifications required for the Brazilian Portuguese language, including the terminology to be used. We gathered 1,701 radiological reports of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the lumbosacral spine from three different institutions. Techniques of text mining and ontological conceptualization of lexical units extracted were used to structure information. Ten radiologists, specialists in lumbosacral MRI, evaluated the textual superstructure and terminology extracted using an electronic questionnaire. The established methodology consists of six steps: 1) collection of radiology reports of a specific MRI examination; 2) textual decomposition; 3) normalization of lexical units; 4) identification of textual superstructures; 5) conceptualization of candidate-terms; and 6) evaluation of superstructures and extracted terminology by experts using an electronic questionnaire. Three different textual superstructures were identified, with terminological variations in the names of their textual categories. The number of candidate-terms conceptualized was 4,183, yielding 727 concepts. There were a total of 13,963 relationships between candidate-terms and concepts and 789 relationships among concepts. The proposed methodology allowed structuring information in a more intuitive and practical way. Indications of three textual superstructures, extraction of lexicon units and the normalization and ontologically conceptualization were achieved while maintaining references to their respective categories and free text radiology reports.

Teaching Note--No Peace without Justice: Addressing the United States' War on Drugs in Social Work Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, Elizabeth A.; Redmond, Helen

2016-01-01

The United States' War on Drugs encompasses a body of legislation characterized by punitive approaches to drug control. These policies have resulted in escalating incarceration rates and have extracted a particularly harsh toll on low-income people of color. This article argues that education on the War on Drugs is essential for effective practice…

Removal of gasoline volatile organic compounds via air biofiltration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, R.S.; Saberiyan, A.G.; Esler, C.T.

1995-12-31

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated by vapor extraction and air-stripping systems can be biologically treated in an air biofiltration unit. An air biofilter consists of one or more beds of packing material inoculated with heterotrophic microorganisms capable of degrading the organic contaminant of concern. Waste gases and oxygen are passed through the inoculated packing material, where the microorganisms will degrade the contaminant and release CO{sub 2} + H{sub 2}O. Based on data obtained from a treatability study, a full-scale unit was designed and constructed to be used for treating gasoline vapors generated by a vapor-extraction and groundwater-treatment system at amore » site in California. The unit is composed of two cylindrical reactors with a total packing volume of 3 m{sup 3}. Both reactors are packed with sphagnum moss and inoculated with hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms of Pseudomonas and Arthrobacter spp. The two reactors are connected in series for air-flow passage. Parallel lines are used for injection of water, nutrients, and buffer to each reactor. Data collected during the startup program have demonstrated an air biofiltration unit with high organic-vapor-removal efficiency.« less

HOTS: A Hierarchy of Event-Based Time-Surfaces for Pattern Recognition.

PubMed

Lagorce, Xavier; Orchard, Garrick; Galluppi, Francesco; Shi, Bertram E; Benosman, Ryad B

2017-07-01

This paper describes novel event-based spatio-temporal features called time-surfaces and how they can be used to create a hierarchical event-based pattern recognition architecture. Unlike existing hierarchical architectures for pattern recognition, the presented model relies on a time oriented approach to extract spatio-temporal features from the asynchronously acquired dynamics of a visual scene. These dynamics are acquired using biologically inspired frameless asynchronous event-driven vision sensors. Similarly to cortical structures, subsequent layers in our hierarchy extract increasingly abstract features using increasingly large spatio-temporal windows. The central concept is to use the rich temporal information provided by events to create contexts in the form of time-surfaces which represent the recent temporal activity within a local spatial neighborhood. We demonstrate that this concept can robustly be used at all stages of an event-based hierarchical model. First layer feature units operate on groups of pixels, while subsequent layer feature units operate on the output of lower level feature units. We report results on a previously published 36 class character recognition task and a four class canonical dynamic card pip task, achieving near 100 percent accuracy on each. We introduce a new seven class moving face recognition task, achieving 79 percent accuracy.This paper describes novel event-based spatio-temporal features called time-surfaces and how they can be used to create a hierarchical event-based pattern recognition architecture. Unlike existing hierarchical architectures for pattern recognition, the presented model relies on a time oriented approach to extract spatio-temporal features from the asynchronously acquired dynamics of a visual scene. These dynamics are acquired using biologically inspired frameless asynchronous event-driven vision sensors. Similarly to cortical structures, subsequent layers in our hierarchy extract increasingly abstract features using increasingly large spatio-temporal windows. The central concept is to use the rich temporal information provided by events to create contexts in the form of time-surfaces which represent the recent temporal activity within a local spatial neighborhood. We demonstrate that this concept can robustly be used at all stages of an event-based hierarchical model. First layer feature units operate on groups of pixels, while subsequent layer feature units operate on the output of lower level feature units. We report results on a previously published 36 class character recognition task and a four class canonical dynamic card pip task, achieving near 100 percent accuracy on each. We introduce a new seven class moving face recognition task, achieving 79 percent accuracy.

The effect of Psilocybe cubensis extract on hippocampal neurons in vitro.

PubMed

Moldavan, M G; Grodzinskaya, A A; Solomko, E F; Lomberh, M L; Wasser, S P; Storozhuk, V M

2001-01-01

The action of P. cubensis mushroom extract, containing psilocybin (PCB) and psilocin, on spike activity of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons was studied in in vitro rat brain slices. In 38 (76%) out of 50 investigated neurons spike activity was decreased, in 2 (4%) cells it increased. There was no response 10 (20%) neurons. Application of the extract caused short burst firing in 12 (24%) neurons. All neurons showing inhibition during PCB-containing extract application, were also inhibited by serotonin (5-HT). Usually inhibitory reaction did not last over 4-5 min upon 3 min extract application and could be prolonged up to 10-43 min up on serotonin application. Part of neurons were inhibited by serotonin and did not react to extract application. Inhibitory reactions induced by extract application were blocked by ritanserin in half of the tested units and were induced due to activation of 5-HT2 serotonin receptors. The extract suppressed excitative spike reactions caused by application of L-glutamic acid. It is concluded, that application of PCB-containing extract in most cases reduced spike activity in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons and suppressed glutamate transmission.

SpecOp: Optimal Extraction Software for Integral Field Unit Spectrographs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCarron, Adam; Ciardullo, Robin; Eracleous, Michael

2018-01-01

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope’s new low resolution integral field spectrographs, LRS2-B and LRS2-R, each cover a 12”x6” area on the sky with 280 fibers and generate spectra with resolutions between R=1100 and R=1900. To extract 1-D spectra from the instrument’s 3D data cubes, a program is needed that is flexible enough to work for a wide variety of targets, including continuum point sources, emission line sources, and compact sources embedded in complex backgrounds. We therefore introduce SpecOp, a user-friendly python program for optimally extracting spectra from integral-field unit spectrographs. As input, SpecOp takes a sky-subtracted data cube consisting of images at each wavelength increment set by the instrument’s spectral resolution, and an error file for each count measurement. All of these files are generated by the current LRS2 reduction pipeline. The program then collapses the cube in the image plane using the optimal extraction algorithm detailed by Keith Horne (1986). The various user-selected options include the fraction of the total signal enclosed in a contour-defined region, the wavelength range to analyze, and the precision of the spatial profile calculation. SpecOp can output the weighted counts and errors at each wavelength in various table formats using python’s astropy package. We outline the algorithm used for extraction and explain how the software can be used to easily obtain high-quality 1-D spectra. We demonstrate the utility of the program by applying it to spectra of a variety of quasars and AGNs. In some of these targets, we extract the spectrum of a nuclear point source that is superposed on a spatially extended galaxy.

Treatment of pancreatic insufficiency using pancreatic extract in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: a pilot study (PICNIC).

PubMed

Zdenkowski, Nicholas; Radvan, George; Pugliese, Leanna; Charlton, Julie; Oldmeadow, Christopher; Fraser, Allison; Bonaventura, Antonino

2017-06-01

Survival with advanced pancreatic cancer is less than 12 months. Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency may contribute to pancreatic cancer-related cachexia, via nutrient malabsorption. We aimed to determine the feasibility of prescribing pancreatic extract (Creon®) for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, without frank malabsorption, were randomised in this feasibility study to pancreatic extract 50,000 units with meals and 25,000 units with snacks, or placebo. Standardised dietary advice was given. Anti-cancer and supportive care treatments were permitted. Outcomes included weight, body mass index (BMI), quality of life (QLQC30, PAN26), survival and nutritional assessment (PG-SGA). Eighteen patients were randomised before study closure due to slow recruitment. Baseline characteristics were well matched. Weight loss prior to randomisation was numerically greater in the pancreatic extract group (mean 0.7 vs 2.2 kg). Weight loss was numerically greater in the placebo group, however not significantly. No differences in BMI or nutrition score were seen. Quality of life did not differ between study groups. Median overall survival was 17 (95% CI 8.1-48.7) weeks in the control group, and 67.6 (95% CI 14.1-98.4) weeks in the pancreatic extract group (p = 0.1063). Only 17% (18/106) of potentially eligible patients were recruited, related to patient/family reluctance, rapid clinical deterioration and patients already prescribed pancreatic extract. A moderate pill burden was noted. Despite intriguing survival results, this study was not sufficiently feasible to proceed to a fully powered comparative study. A multi-centre study would be required to exclude a significant difference in outcomes.

Enhanced light extraction from a GaN-based green light-emitting diode with hemicylindrical linear grating structure.

PubMed

Jin, Yuanhao; Yang, Fenglei; Li, Qunqing; Zhu, Zhendong; Zhu, Jun; Fan, Shoushan

2012-07-02

Significant enhancement in the light output from GaN-based green light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was achieved with a hemicylindrical grating structure on the top layer of the diodes. The grating structure was first optimized by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, which showed that the profile of the grating structure was critical for light extraction efficiency. It was found that the transmission efficiency of the 530 nm light emitted from the inside of the GaN LED increased for incidence angles between 23.58° and 60°. Such a structure was fabricated by electron-beam lithography and an etching method. The light output power from the LED was increased approximately 4.7 times compared with that from a conventional LED. The structure optimization is the key to the great increase in transmission efficiency. Furthermore, the light emitted from the edge of the LED units could be collected and extracted by the grating structures in adjacent LED units, thus enhancing the performance of the whole LED chip.

Protease inhibitors in various flours and breads: Effect of fermentation, baking and in vitro digestion on trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitory activities.

PubMed

Kostekli, Mine; Karakaya, Sibel

2017-06-01

In this study trypsin (TIA) and chymotrypsin inhibitory (CIA) activities were determined in the extracts of wheat, rye mix, mixed cereals and, whole wheat flours and, breads made with these flours. In addition, effects of fermentation, baking and in vitro digestion on TIA and CIA were studied. Whole wheat flour, dough, and bread did not show any TIA. Other flours displayed TIA. Contrary to, all flours, doughs, and breads exhibited CIA. Although TIA was not detected in the protein extracts obtained from wheat and rye mix breads, protein extract of rye mix flour exhibited TIA. Following in vitro digestion process, TIA of wheat bread was found as 5.91units/mL gastric dialysate and 9.17units/mL intestine dialysate. CIA was determined in dialysates obtained from wheat (2.12CI/mL and 3.78CI/mL for gastric and intestinal dialysate respectively) and rye breads (4.16CI/mL and 2.46CI/mL for gastric and intestinal dialysate respectively). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phenolic Compounds of Potato Peel Extracts: Their Antioxidant Activity and Protection against Human Enteric Viruses.

PubMed

Silva-BeltrÁn, Norma Patricia; Chaidez-Quiroz, Cristóbal; López-Cuevas, Osvaldo; Ruiz-Cruz, Saul; López-Mata, Marco A; Del-Toro-SÁnchez, Carmen Lizette; Marquez-Rios, Enrique; Ornelas-Paz, José de Jesús

2017-02-28

Potato peels (PP) contain several bioactive compounds. These compounds are known to provide human health benefits, including antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. In addition, these compounds could have effects on human enteric viruses that have not yet been reported. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the phenolic composition, antioxidant properties in the acidified ethanol extract (AEE) and water extract of PP, and the antiviral effects on the inhibition of Av-05 and MS2 bacteriophages, which were used as human enteric viral surrogates. The AEE showed the highest phenolic content and antioxidant activity. Chlorogenic and caffeic acids were the major phenolic acids. In vitro analysis indicated that PP had a strong antioxidant activity. A 3 h incubation with AEE at a concentration of 5 mg/ml was needed to reduce the PFU/ml (plaque-forming unit per unit volume) of Av-05 and MS2 by 2.8 and 3.9 log₁₀, respectively, in a dose-dependent manner. Our data suggest that PP has potential to be a source of natural antioxidants against enteric viruses.

The Effect of One Session Low Level Laser Therapy of Extracted Follicular Units on the Outcome of Hair Transplantation.

PubMed

Tabaie, Seyed Mehdi; Berenji Ardestani, Hoda; Azizjalali, Mir Hadi

2016-01-01

Photobiostimulation with low level laser (LLL) has been used in medicine for a long time and its effects have been shown in many diseases. Some studies have evaluated the effect of LLL on androgenic alopecia. One of the most important limitations of the use of LLL in the treatment of alopecia is the requirement for multiple sessions, which is hardly accepted by patients. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the irradiation of extracted follicular hair units by LLL on the outcome of hair transplantation. We enrolled 10 patients with androgenic alopecia and after screening tests for infections and other diseases, we extracted hair follicular units. The hair units were divided in two groups. One group was irradiated by LLL 20 minutes before transplantation (660 nm, 80 Hz, 100 mW) and the other one was used as control. The containing plates were labeled as A and B and sent to the operation room. The surgeon was unaware of the therapy assigned to the plates and transplanted them randomly on the right or left side of the head. One hundred follicular units on each sides of the scalp were transplanted symmetrically. The follicles on both sides were evaluated at 3 and 6 months of transplantation for hair growth rate by another physician, blinded to the treatment assigned to each side. Ten patient with androgenic alopecia and mean (SD) age of 31.5 (6.6) years (range 25-45 years) completed the study. All patients had 100% hair growth at 3 and 6 months follow-up except one who had hair growth of 20% at three months of transplantation, which changed to 100% at sixth months. There was no significant difference between the groups regarding hair growth (P > 0.8). One session of LLL irradiation has no significant effect on the outcome of transplanted hair follicles. Studies with larger sample size are needed to draw a definite conclusion.

Isolation and structural characterization of sugarcane bagasse lignin after dilute phosphoric acid plus steam explosion pretreatment and its effect on cellulose hydrolysis.

PubMed

Zeng, Jijiao; Tong, Zhaohui; Wang, Letian; Zhu, J Y; Ingram, Lonnie

2014-02-01

The structure of lignin after dilute phosphoric acid plus steam explosion pretreatment process of sugarcane bagasse in a pilot scale and the effect of the lignin extracted by ethanol on subsequent cellulose hydrolysis were investigated. The lignin structural changes caused by pretreatment were identified using advanced nondestructive techniques such as gel permeation chromatography (GPC), quantitative (13)C, and 2-D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The structural analysis revealed that ethanol extractable lignin preserved basic lignin structure, but had relatively lower amount of β-O-4 linkages, syringyl/guaiacyl units ratio (S/G), p-coumarate/ferulate ratio, and other ending structures. The results also indicated that approximately 8% of mass weight was extracted by pure ethanol. The bagasse after ethanol extraction had an approximate 22% higher glucose yield after enzyme hydrolysis compared to pretreated bagasse without extraction. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Accelerating Biomedical Signal Processing Using GPU: A Case Study of Snore Sound Feature Extraction.

PubMed

Guo, Jian; Qian, Kun; Zhang, Gongxuan; Xu, Huijie; Schuller, Björn

2017-12-01

The advent of 'Big Data' and 'Deep Learning' offers both, a great challenge and a huge opportunity for personalised health-care. In machine learning-based biomedical data analysis, feature extraction is a key step for 'feeding' the subsequent classifiers. With increasing numbers of biomedical data, extracting features from these 'big' data is an intensive and time-consuming task. In this case study, we employ a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) via Python to extract features from a large corpus of snore sound data. Those features can subsequently be imported into many well-known deep learning training frameworks without any format processing. The snore sound data were collected from several hospitals (20 subjects, with 770-990 MB per subject - in total 17.20 GB). Experimental results show that our GPU-based processing significantly speeds up the feature extraction phase, by up to seven times, as compared to the previous CPU system.

[Comparison of Chemical Components of Essential Oil from Ocimum basilicum var. pilosum Extracted by Supercritical CO2 Fluid and Steam Distillation].

PubMed

Wang, Zhao-yu; Zheng, Jia-huan; Shi, Sheng-ying; Luo, Zhi-xiong; Ni, Shun-yu; Lin, Jing-ming

2015-11-01

To compare the chemical components of essential oil prepared by steam distillation extraction (SD) and supercritical CO2 fluid extraction (SFE-CO2) from Ocimum basilicum var. pilosum whole plant. The essential oil of Ocimum basilicum var. pilosum were extracted by SD and SFE-CO2. The chemical components of essential oil were separated and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry( GC-MS). Their relative contents were determined by normalization of peak area. 40 and 42 compounds were detected in the essential oil prepared by SD and SFE-CO2 respectively. 25 compounds were common. Thereare significant differences of the chemical components between the Ocimum basilicum var. pilosum essential oil prepared by SD and thatby SFE-CO2. Different methods showed different extraction efficiency with a special compound. It might be a good idea to unite several methods in the modern traditional Chinese medicine industry.

United States Air Force Environmental Restoration Program. Guidance on Soil Vapor Extraction Optimization

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-06-01

Pump Exposed Capillary Fringe SVE System Pneumatic/ Hydraulic Fracturing Points Increased Advective Flow draw\\svehandbk1.cdr aee p1 4/5/01 022/736300...propagate further from the extraction well, increasing the advective flow zone round the well. Pneumatic and hydraulic fracturing are the primary methods...enhancing existing fractures and increasing the secondary fracture network. Hydraulic fracturing involves the injection of water or slurry into the

15 CFR 4.3 - Records under the FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... undertaking significant programming work) or merely extracts them from an existing database may be unclear... the United States Code or the National Archives and Records Administration's General Records Schedule...

15 CFR 4.3 - Records under the FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... undertaking significant programming work) or merely extracts them from an existing database may be unclear... the United States Code or the National Archives and Records Administration's General Records Schedule...

15 CFR 4.3 - Records under the FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... undertaking significant programming work) or merely extracts them from an existing database may be unclear... the United States Code or the National Archives and Records Administration's General Records Schedule...

15 CFR 4.3 - Records under the FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... undertaking significant programming work) or merely extracts them from an existing database may be unclear... the United States Code or the National Archives and Records Administration's General Records Schedule...

Application of the Geo-Anomaly Unit Concept in Quantitative Delineation and Assessment of Gold Ore Targets in Western Shandong Uplift Terrain, Eastern China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen Yongqing, E-mail: ydonglai@mail.cgs.gov.cn; Zhao Pengda; Chen Jianguo

2001-03-15

A number of large and giant ore deposits have been discovered within the relatively small areas of lithospheric structure anomalies, including various boundary zones of tectonic plates. The regions have become the well-known intercontinental ore-forming belts, such as the circum-Pacific gold-copper, copper-molybdenum, and tungsten-tin metallogenic belts. These belts are typical geological anomalous areas. An investigation into the hydrothermal ore deposits in different regions in the former Soviet Union illustrated that the geologic structures of ore fields of almost all major commercial deposits have distinct features compared with the neighboring areas. These areas with distinct features are defined as geo-anomalies. Amore » geo-anomaly refers to such a geologic body or a combination of bodies that their composition, texture-structure, and genesis are significantly different from those of their surroundings. A geo-anomaly unit (GU) is an area containing distinct features that can be delineated with integrated ore-forming information using computer techniques on the basis of the geo-anomaly concept. Herein, the GU concept is illustrated by a case study of delineating the gold ore targets in the western Shandong uplift terrain, eastern China. It includes: (1) analyses of gold ore-forming factors; (2) compilation of normalized regional geochemical map and extraction of geochemical anomalies; (3) compilation of gravitational and aeromagnetic tectonic skeleton map and extraction of gravitational and aeromagnetic anomalies; (4) extraction of circular and linear anomalies from remote-sensing Landsat TM images; (5) establishment of a geo-anomaly conceptual model associated with known gold mineralization; (6) establishment of gold ore-forming favorability by computing techniques; and (7) delineation and assessment of ore-forming units. The units with high favorability are suggested as ore targets.« less

Aircrew Sizing Survey 2011

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

Resource JSF Joint Strike Fighter JPATS Joint Primary Aircraft Training System USMC United States Marine Corps USAF United States Air Force LIST...Surface Anthropometry Resource (CAESAR) was developed for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. The ACSS was intended to replace the JSF-CAESAR...an aircrew sample was made in 2003 by Hudson et al. They extracted a subset, named JSF CAESAR (Joint Strike Fighter), from the Civilian American and

Woody residues and solid waste wood available for recovery in the United States, 2002

Treesearch

David B. McKeever; Robert H. Falk

2004-01-01

Large amounts of woody residues and solid wood waste are generated annually in the United States from the extraction of timber from forests, from forestry cultural operations, in the conversion of forest land to nonforest uses, in the initial processing of roundwood timber into usable products, in the construction and demolition of buildings and structures, and in the...

Inventories of woody residues and solid wood waste in the United States, 2002

Treesearch

David B. McKeever

2004-01-01

Large amounts of woody residues and wood waste are generated annually in the United States. In 2002, an estimated 240 million metric tons was generated during the extraction of timber from the Nation’s forests, from forestry cultural operations, in the conversion of forest land to nonforest uses, in the initial processing of roundwood timber into usable products, in...

Clinical impact of the disposable ventouse iCup® versus a metallic vacuum cup: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Equy, Véronique; David-Tchouda, Sandra; Dreyfus, Michel; Riethmuller, Didier; Vendittelli, Françoise; Cabaud, Victoire; Langer, Bruno; Margier, Jennifer; Bosson, Jean-Luc; Schaal, Jean-Patrick

2015-12-15

Assisted vaginal delivery by vacuum extraction is frequent. Metallic resterilizible metallic vacuum cups have been routinely used in France. In the last few years a new disposable semi-soft vacuum extraction cup, the iCup, has been introduced. Our objective was to compare maternal and new-born outcomes between this disposable cup and the commonly used Drapier-Faure metallic cup. This was a multicenter prospective randomized controlled open clinical trial performed in the maternity units of five university hospitals and one community hospital in France from October 2009 to February 2013. We included consecutive eligible women with a singleton gestation of at least 37 weeks who required vacuum assisted delivery. Women were randomized to vacuum extraction using the iCup or usual Drapier-Faure metallic cup. The primary outcome was a composite criterion including both the risk of cup dysfunction and the most frequent maternal and neonatal harms: the use of other instruments after attempted vacuum extraction, caesarean section after attempted vacuum extraction, three detachments of the cup, caput succedaneum, cephalohaematoma, episiotomy and perineal tears. 335 women were randomized to the disposable cup and 333 to extraction using the metallic cup. There was no significant difference between the two groups for the primary outcome. However, failed instrumental delivery was more frequent in the disposable cup group, mainly due to detachment: 35.6 % vs 7.1 %, p < 0.0001. Conversely, perineal tears were more frequent in the metallic cup group, especially third or fourth grade perineal tears: 1.7 % versus 5.0 %, p = 0.003. There were no significant differences between the two groups concerning post-partum haemorrhage, transfer to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or serious adverse events. While the disposable cup had more detachments and extraction failures than the standard metallic cup, this innovative disposable device had the advantage of fewer perineal injuries. www.clinicaltrials.gov : NCT01058200 on Jan. 27 2010.

Microwave Extraction of Lunar Water for Rocket Fuel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ethridge, Edwin C.; Donahue, Benjamin; Kaukler, William

2008-01-01

Nearly 50% of the lunar surface is oxygen, present as oxides in silicate rocks and soil. Methods for reduction of these oxides could liberate the oxygen. Remote sensing has provided evidence of significant quantities of hydrogen possibly indicating hundreds of millions of metric tons, MT, of water at the lunar poles. If the presence of lunar water is verified, water is likely to be the first in situ resource exploited for human exploration and for LOX-H2 rocket fuel. In-Situ lunar resources offer unique advantages for space operations. Each unit of product produced on the lunar surface represents 6 units that need not to be launched into LEO. Previous studies have indicated the economic advantage of LOX for space tugs from LEO to GEO. Use of lunar derived LOX in a reusable lunar lander would greatly reduce the LEO mass required for a given payload to the moon. And Lunar LOX transported to L2 has unique advantages for a Mars mission. Several methods exist for extraction of oxygen from the soil. But, extraction of lunar water has several significant advantages. Microwave heating of lunar permafrost has additional important advantages for water extraction. Microwaves penetrate and heat from within not just at the surface and excavation is not required. Proof of concept experiments using a moon in a bottle concept have demonstrated that microwave processing of cryogenic lunar permafrost simulant in a vacuum rapidly and efficiently extracts water by sublimation. A prototype lunar water extraction rover was built and tested for heating of simulant. Microwave power was very efficiently delivered into a simulated lunar soil. Microwave dielectric properties (complex electric permittivity and magnetic permeability) of lunar regolith simulant, JSC-1A, were measured down to cryogenic temperatures and above room temperature. The microwave penetration has been correlated with the measured dielectric properties. Since the microwave penetration depth is a function of temperature and frequency, an extraction system can be designed for water removal from different depths.

Inhibitory Effects of Pterodon emarginatus Bean Oil and Extract on Staphylococcus aureus

PubMed Central

Mendes, V. S.; Sant'Anna, J. B.; Oliveira, S. C. C.; Maldonade, Iriani Rodrigues; Machado, Eleuza Rodrigues

2017-01-01

Background: Pterodon emarginatus is a tree of the Brazilian Savannah. The beans of this tree are used in folk medicine as anti-inflammatory preparations, especially for infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus. These bacteria can cause simple infections or serious illnesses such as pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis, toxic shock syndrome, septicemia, and others. Objective: This study had the goal of verifying the effect of the essential oil (OE) from P. emarginatus on the inhibition of S. aureus in culture medium, i.e., “ in vitro” tests. Materials and Methods: The vegetable material was cut and crushed with a press. The OE was obtained by extraction using hexane, alcohol, and water. The P. emarginatus extracts obtained were used to evaluate the antimicrobial effect on S. aureus (ATCC 25923) by tests of well diffusion, disc diffusion, and microdilution. The strain used in the assays was maintained in brain heart infusion broth and nutrient agar until testing. Afterward, the bacteria were spread on agar plates with Mueller-Hinton agar medium. In the wells and on the paper discs, the OE suspensions were placed in the following volumes: 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, and 80 μL and subsequently they were incubated at 35°C ± 2°C. After 24 h, the number of colony-forming unit was determined. Results: Pure OE and hydroalcoholic extract inhibited the growth of S. aureus, while aqueous extract had no effect on bacterial growth in all microbial methods used. Conclusion: Thus, the present study showed the potential of sucupira-based extracts against S. aureus growth, opening new perspectives for the evaluation of these bioactive compounds as phytopharmaceutical products. SUMMARY Plant extract act as antimicrobials to prevent and reduce bacterial contaminationBeans of Pterodon emarginatus has antibacterial propertiesExtraction with different solvents might implicate on the rate of bacterial deathThe effect of different microbiological methods (well diffusion, disc diffusion and microdilution) was evaluated on reducing CFUThe results showed by MBC that concentrations superior to 10% (v/v) using AC and 7.5% (v/v) using OE were necessary to eliminate colonies formedAccording to data of MIC, at 2.5% of AC and OE was enough to kill S. aureusThe well diffusion technique demonstrated better performance than disc diffusion test for OE and AC extractsHydroalcoholic and oil extracts of sucupira beans had highest effect against Staphylococcus aureusAqueous extract had no effect on bacterial growth in all microbial methods testedThe sucupira-based extracts is a promising source as herbal drug due to therapeutic value Abbreviations Used: OE: Essencial oil; AC: Hydroalcoholic oil extract; AQ: Aqueous extracts; MIC: Minimum inhibitory concentration; MBC: Minimum bactericidal concentration; CFU: Colony formed unit. PMID:29263627

Inhibitory Effects of Pterodon emarginatus Bean Oil and Extract on Staphylococcus aureus.

PubMed

Mendes, V S; Sant'Anna, J B; Oliveira, S C C; Maldonade, Iriani Rodrigues; Machado, Eleuza Rodrigues

2017-01-01

Pterodon emarginatus is a tree of the Brazilian Savannah. The beans of this tree are used in folk medicine as anti-inflammatory preparations, especially for infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus . These bacteria can cause simple infections or serious illnesses such as pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis, toxic shock syndrome, septicemia, and others. This study had the goal of verifying the effect of the essential oil (OE) from P. emarginatus on the inhibition of S. aureus in culture medium, i.e., " in vitro " tests. The vegetable material was cut and crushed with a press. The OE was obtained by extraction using hexane, alcohol, and water. The P. emarginatus extracts obtained were used to evaluate the antimicrobial effect on S. aureus (ATCC 25923) by tests of well diffusion, disc diffusion, and microdilution. The strain used in the assays was maintained in brain heart infusion broth and nutrient agar until testing. Afterward, the bacteria were spread on agar plates with Mueller-Hinton agar medium. In the wells and on the paper discs, the OE suspensions were placed in the following volumes: 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, and 80 μL and subsequently they were incubated at 35°C ± 2°C. After 24 h, the number of colony-forming unit was determined. Pure OE and hydroalcoholic extract inhibited the growth of S. aureus , while aqueous extract had no effect on bacterial growth in all microbial methods used. Thus, the present study showed the potential of sucupira-based extracts against S. aureus growth, opening new perspectives for the evaluation of these bioactive compounds as phytopharmaceutical products. Plant extract act as antimicrobials to prevent and reduce bacterial contaminationBeans of Pterodon emarginatus has antibacterial propertiesExtraction with different solvents might implicate on the rate of bacterial deathThe effect of different microbiological methods (well diffusion, disc diffusion and microdilution) was evaluated on reducing CFUThe results showed by MBC that concentrations superior to 10% (v/v) using AC and 7.5% (v/v) using OE were necessary to eliminate colonies formedAccording to data of MIC, at 2.5% of AC and OE was enough to kill S. aureus The well diffusion technique demonstrated better performance than disc diffusion test for OE and AC extractsHydroalcoholic and oil extracts of sucupira beans had highest effect against Staphylococcus aureus Aqueous extract had no effect on bacterial growth in all microbial methods testedThe sucupira-based extracts is a promising source as herbal drug due to therapeutic value Abbreviations Used: OE: Essencial oil; AC: Hydroalcoholic oil extract; AQ: Aqueous extracts; MIC: Minimum inhibitory concentration; MBC: Minimum bactericidal concentration; CFU: Colony formed unit.

Extraction of bromelain from pineapple peels.

PubMed

Ketnawa, S; Chaiwut, P; Rawdkuen, S

2011-08-01

Large amount of pineapple peels (by-products) is left over after processing and they are a potential source for bromelain extraction. Distilled water (DI), DI containing cysteine and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) (DI-CE), sodium phosphate buffer pH 7.0 (PB) and PB containing cysteine and EDTA (PB-CE) were used as extractants for bromelain from the pineapple peels. The highest bromelain activity was obtained when it was extracted with PB-CE (867 and 1032 units for Nang Lae and Phu Lae cultv, respectively). The PB could maintain the pH of the extract (pH 5.1-5.7) when compared with others. Under sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the extract showed protein bands in the range 24-28 kDa. The protein band with a molecular weight of ∼28 kDa exposed the clear zone on blue background under the casein-substrate gel electrophoresis. The effects of the bromelain extract on the protein patterns of beef, chicken and squid muscles were also determined. Trichloroacetic acid soluble peptide content of all the treated muscles increased when the amount of bromelain extract increased. Decrease in myosin heavy chains and actin was observed in all the muscle types when bromelain extract was used. The best extractant for bromelain from pineapple peels was PB-CE. Moreover, bromelain extract could be used as a muscle food tenderizing agent in food industries.

Valx: A system for extracting and structuring numeric lab test comparison statements from text

PubMed Central

Hao, Tianyong; Liu, Hongfang; Weng, Chunhua

2017-01-01

Objectives To develop an automated method for extracting and structuring numeric lab test comparison statements from text and evaluate the method using clinical trial eligibility criteria text. Methods Leveraging semantic knowledge from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and domain knowledge acquired from the Internet, Valx takes 7 steps to extract and normalize numeric lab test expressions: 1) text preprocessing, 2) numeric, unit, and comparison operator extraction, 3) variable identification using hybrid knowledge, 4) variable - numeric association, 5) context-based association filtering, 6) measurement unit normalization, and 7) heuristic rule-based comparison statements verification. Our reference standard was the consensus-based annotation among three raters for all comparison statements for two variables, i.e., HbA1c and glucose, identified from all of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes trials in ClinicalTrials.gov. Results The precision, recall, and F-measure for structuring HbA1c comparison statements were 99.6%, 98.1%, 98.8% for Type 1 diabetes trials, and 98.8%, 96.9%, 97.8% for Type 2 Diabetes trials, respectively. The precision, recall, and F-measure for structuring glucose comparison statements were 97.3%, 94.8%, 96.1% for Type 1 diabetes trials, and 92.3%, 92.3%, 92.3% for Type 2 diabetes trials, respectively. Conclusions Valx is effective at extracting and structuring free-text lab test comparison statements in clinical trial summaries. Future studies are warranted to test its generalizability beyond eligibility criteria text. The open-source Valx enables its further evaluation and continued improvement among the collaborative scientific community. PMID:26940748

Valx: A System for Extracting and Structuring Numeric Lab Test Comparison Statements from Text.

PubMed

Hao, Tianyong; Liu, Hongfang; Weng, Chunhua

2016-05-17

To develop an automated method for extracting and structuring numeric lab test comparison statements from text and evaluate the method using clinical trial eligibility criteria text. Leveraging semantic knowledge from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and domain knowledge acquired from the Internet, Valx takes seven steps to extract and normalize numeric lab test expressions: 1) text preprocessing, 2) numeric, unit, and comparison operator extraction, 3) variable identification using hybrid knowledge, 4) variable - numeric association, 5) context-based association filtering, 6) measurement unit normalization, and 7) heuristic rule-based comparison statements verification. Our reference standard was the consensus-based annotation among three raters for all comparison statements for two variables, i.e., HbA1c and glucose, identified from all of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes trials in ClinicalTrials.gov. The precision, recall, and F-measure for structuring HbA1c comparison statements were 99.6%, 98.1%, 98.8% for Type 1 diabetes trials, and 98.8%, 96.9%, 97.8% for Type 2 diabetes trials, respectively. The precision, recall, and F-measure for structuring glucose comparison statements were 97.3%, 94.8%, 96.1% for Type 1 diabetes trials, and 92.3%, 92.3%, 92.3% for Type 2 diabetes trials, respectively. Valx is effective at extracting and structuring free-text lab test comparison statements in clinical trial summaries. Future studies are warranted to test its generalizability beyond eligibility criteria text. The open-source Valx enables its further evaluation and continued improvement among the collaborative scientific community.

Synthesis of Quercetin-imprinted Polymer Spherical Particles with Improved Ability to Capture Quercetin Analogues.

PubMed

Pardo, Antonelle; Josse, Thomas; Mespouille, Laetitia; Blankert, Bertrand; Dubois, Philippe; Duez, Pierre

2017-07-01

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are composed of specific cavities able to selectively recognise a template molecule. Used as chromatographic sorbents, MIPs may not trap related structures due to the high rigidity of their cross-linking. To improve the capture of quercetin analogues by modulating the synthesis strategy for a quercetin-imprinted polymer (Qu MIP). An additional comonomer bearing a short oligoethylene glycol (OEG) unit was used to prepare a Qu MIP that was compared to a traditional one formulated in a similar fashion, but without the OEG-comonomer. The Qu MIPs were prepared in bead form through fluorocarbon suspension polymerisation. After solid phase extraction (SPE) assessment of their imprinted cavities, the MIPs were evaluated by HPLC for their recognition properties towards quercetin and other polyphenols, including flavonoids, phenolic acids and curcumin. The Qu MIPs were finally SPE-tested on a white onion extract. The incorporation of OEG units modulated the selectivity of the Qu MIP by improving the recognition of quercetin related structures (12-61% increase in the imprinting effect for distant analogues). It also allowed limiting or suppressing non-specific hydrophobic interactions (decrease of about 10% in the rate of quercetin retention on the non-imprinted polymer). The SPE application of the MIP to a white onion extract indicates its interest for the selective extraction of quercetin and its analogues. The OEG-modified Qu MIP appears to be an attractive tool to discover new drug candidates from natural sources by extracting, amongst interfering compounds, structural analogues of quercetin. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bats, cyanide, and gold mining

USGS Publications Warehouse

Clark, Donald R.

1991-01-01

Although the boom days of prospectors and gold nuggets are long gone, modern technology enables gold to continue to be extracted from ore. Unfortunately, the extraction method has often been disastrous for bats and other wildlife, an issue I first became aware of in early 1989. Phone calls from Drs. Merlin Tuttle and Elizabeth Pierson, a BCI member and bat researcher from Berkeley, California, alerted me that bats were dying from apparent cyanide poisoning at gold mines in the western United States.

Competing sovereignties: Oil extraction, corporate social responsibility, and indigenous subjectivity in Ecuador

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Billo, Emily Ruth

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs developed in recent years as the business response to social and environmental criticism of corporate operations, and are most debated in those societies where neoliberalism emerged most prominently, the United States and the United Kingdom. My dissertation expands these debates investigating the CSR programs of a Spanish-owned multinational oil company, Repsol-YPF operating in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. It explores CSR programs as institutions that can facilitate ongoing resource extraction, and particular technologies of rule that serve to discipline indigenous peoples at the point of extraction. I conducted an institutional ethnography to examine the social relationships produced through CSR programs, and contend that the relationships formed within CSR programs enable ongoing resource extraction. This dissertation argues that CSR programs produce entanglements between state, corporate and indigenous actors that lead to competing and conflicting spaces of governance in Ecuador. These entanglements reflect the Ecuadorian state's attempts to 'erase' indigenous difference in the name of securing wealth and membership in the nation-state. In turn, CSR programs can both contain indigenous mobilization and resistance in Ecuador, but also highlight indigenous difference and rights and access to resources, predicated on membership in the nation-state. To that end, the dissertation is attentive to the ambivalence and uncertainty of indigenous actors produced through engagement with corporate capital, and suggests that ambivalence can also be a productive space.

Sperm retrieval rate and pregnancy rate in infertile couples undergoing in-vitro fertilisation and testicular sperm extraction for non-obstructive azoospermia in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Ko, J Ky; Chai, J; Lee, V Cy; Li, R Hw; Lau, E; Ho, K L; Tam, P C; Yeung, W Sb; Ho, P C; Ng, E Hy

2016-12-01

There are currently no local data on the sperm retrieval and pregnancy rates in in-vitro fertilisation and testicular sperm extraction cycles, especially with regard to the presence of genetic abnormalities. This study aimed to determine the sperm retrieval and pregnancy rates in infertile couples who underwent in-vitro fertilisation and testicular sperm extraction for non-obstructive azoospermia. This retrospective case series was conducted at a tertiary assisted reproduction unit in Hong Kong. Men with non-obstructive azoospermia who underwent in-vitro fertilisation and testicular sperm extraction between January 2001 and December 2013 were included. The main outcome measures were sperm retrieval and pregnancy rates. During the study period, 89 men with non-obstructive azoospermia underwent in-vitro fertilisation and testicular sperm extraction. Sperm was successfully retrieved in 40 (44.9%) men. There was no statistically significant difference in the sperm retrieval rate of those with karyotypic abnormalities (2/5, 40.0% vs 28/61, 45.9%; P=1.000) and AZFc microdeletion (3/6, 50.0% vs 28/61, 45.9%; P=1.000) compared with those without. Sperms were successfully retrieved in patients who had mosaic Klinefelter syndrome (2/3, 66.7%) but not in the patient with non-mosaic Klinefelter syndrome. No sperms were found in men with AZFa or AZFb microdeletions. Pregnancy test was positive in 15 (16.9%) patients and the clinical pregnancy rate was 13.5% (12/89) per cycle. The clinical pregnancy rate per transfer was 34.3% (12/35). The sperm retrieval rate and clinical pregnancy rate per initiated cycle in men undergoing in-vitro fertilisation and testicular sperm extraction in our unit were 44.9% and 13.5%, respectively. No sperms could be retrieved in the presence of AZFa and AZFb microdeletions, but karyotype and AZFc microdeletion abnormalities otherwise did not predict the success of sperm retrieval in couples undergoing in-vitro fertilisation and testicular sperm extraction. Genetic tests are important prior to testicular sperm extraction for patient selection and genetic counselling.

Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of water-soluble chlorophyll-binding protein from Chenopodium album

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ohtsuki, Takayuki; Ohshima, Shigeru; Uchida, Akira, E-mail: auchida@biomol.sci.toho-u.ac.jp

2007-09-01

A water-soluble chlorophyll-binding protein with photoconvertibility from C. album was extracted, purified and crystallized in a darkroom. The crystal diffracted to around 2.0 Å resolution. A water-soluble chlorophyll-binding protein (WSCP) with photoconvertibility from Chenopodium album was extracted, purified and crystallized in a darkroom. Green crystals suitable for data collection appeared in about 10 d. A native data set was collected to 2.0 Å resolution at 100 K. The space group of the crystal was determined to be orthorhombic I222 or I2{sub 1}2{sub 1}2{sub 1}, with unit-cell parameters a = 48.13, b = 60.59, c = 107.21 Å. Preliminary analysis ofmore » the X-ray data indicated that there is one molecule per asymmetric unit.« less

Characterization of solids deposited on the modular caustic-side solvent extraction unit (MCU) coalescer media removed in May and October 2014

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fondeur, F. F.

During routine maintenance, the coalescers utilized in the Modular Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) processing of Salt Batch 6 and a portion of Salt Batch 7 were sampled and submitted to the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) for characterization, for the purpose of identifying solid phase constituents that may be accumulating in these coalescers. Specifically, two samples were received and characterized: A decontaminated salt solution (DSS) coalescer sample and a strip effluent (SE) coalescer sample. Aliquots of the samples were analyzed by XRD, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, SEM, and EDS. Other aliquots of the samples were leached in acidmore » solution, and the leachates were analyzed by ICP-AES. In addition, modeling was performed to provide a basis for comparison of the analytical results.« less

Economic impacts of anthropogenic activities on coastlines of the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Magoon, Orville T.; Williams, S. Jeffress; Lent, Linda K.; Richmond, James A.; Treadwell, Donald D.; Douglass, Scott L.; Edge, Billy L.; Ewing, Lesley C.; Pratt, Anthony P.

2004-01-01

Anthropogenic activities primarily impact coasts by reducing sediment inputs, altering sediment transport processes, and accelerating sediment losses to the offshore. These activities include: sand and gravel extraction, navigation and shore protection works; non-structural shoreline management strategies such as beach nourishment, sand by-passing and beach scraping, dams and flood control works; channel and inlet dredging; subsidence caused by fluid extraction and reduction of carbonate beach material. Although many of these activities have improved the quality of life, they also have had unintended effects on the coast. The issues that arise from human alterations of the coast are common to many coastal regions around the world; this paper draws from several areas of the United States to present an overview and provisional assessment of the economic consequences of anthropogenic activities along the Pacific coast.

Maintaining the confidentiality of plot locations by exploiting the low sensitivity of forest structure models to different spectral extraction kernels

Treesearch

Sean P. Healey; Elizabeth Lapoint; Gretchen G. Moisen; Scott L. Powell

2011-01-01

The United States Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) unit maintains a large national network of inventory plots.While the consistency and extent of this network make FIA data attractive for ecological modelling, the FIA is charged by statute not to publicly reveal inventory plot locations. However, use of FIA plot data by the remote sensing community...

Standardization of Weed Pollen Extracts, Japanese Hop and Mugwort, in Korea

PubMed Central

Jeong, Kyoung Yong; Son, Mina; Choi, Soo-Young; Park, Kyung Hee; Park, Hye Jung; Hong, Chein-Soo; Lee, Jae-Hyun

2016-01-01

Purpose Japanese hop (Humulus spp.) and mugwort (Artemisia spp.) are notable causes of autumn pollinosis in East Asia. However, Japanese hop and mugwort pollen extracts, which are widely used for the diagnosis, have not been standardized. This study was performed to standardize Japanese hop and mugwort pollen extracts. Materials and Methods Allergen extracts were prepared in a standardized way using locally collected Humulus japonicus and purchased Artemisia vulgaris pollens. The immunoglobulin E (IgE) reactivities of prepared extracts were compared with commercial extracts via IgE immunoblotting and inhibition analyses. Intradermal skin tests were performed to determine the bioequivalent allergy unit (BAU). Results The IgE reactive components of the extracts via IgE immunoblotting were similar to those of commercial extracts. A 11-kDa allergen showed the strongest IgE reactivity in Japanese hop, as did a 28-kDa allergen in mugwort pollen extracts. Allergenic potencies of the investigatory Japanese hop and mugwort extracts were essentially indistinguishable from the commercial ones. Sums of erythema of 50 mm by the intradermal skin test (ΣED50) were calculated to be 14.4th and 13.6th three-fold dilutions for Japanese hop and mugwort extracts, respectively. Therefore, the allergenic activity of the prepared extracts was 90827.4 BAU/mg for Japanese hop and 34412 BAU/mg for mugwort. Conclusion We produced Japanese hop and mugwort pollen extracts using a standardized method. Standardized Japanese hop and mugwort pollen extracts will facilitate the production of improved diagnostic and immunotherapeutic reagents. PMID:26847293

Age of patient at the extraction of the third molar.

PubMed

Kautto, A; Vehkalahti, M M; Ventä, I

2018-04-13

The purpose of this study was to assess the age of patients at the time of extraction of third molars. Our data included all routine and surgical extractions of third molars (n=8199 teeth) performed by general and specialist dentists of the public oral health services of the city of Helsinki over the period 2013-2014. Measurements included patient's age, gender, the identified third molar, the type of anaesthesia, the method of extraction, and the diagnosis at extraction. Patients' ages ranged from 10 to 99years. We found significant differences between younger and older age groups: third molar extractions occurred more often for women than for men below the age of 30years (P<0.001) and vice versa for patients older than 30. Extractions were more prevalent for the upper jaw (P<0.001), and surgical extractions were more common than routine extractions (P<0.001) below the age of 40years, but the corresponding prevalences reversed after the age of 40years. Diagnoses at extraction differed between younger and older patients. We conclude that the treatment pattern of third molars at public health services varies greatly over a lifetime, and that a greater variety exists than had been reported previously from oral and maxillofacial units. Copyright © 2018 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of a remedial system and its operation on volatile organic compound-contaminated ground water, Operable Unit 1, Savage Municipal Well Superfund Site, Milford, New Hampshire, 1998-2004

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harte, Philip T.

2006-01-01

The Savage Municipal Well Superfund site in the Town of Milford, N.H., is underlain by a 0.5-square mile plume of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mostly tetrachloroethylene (PCE). The plume occurs mostly within a highly transmissive sand and gravel layer, but also extends into underlying till and bedrock. The plume has been divided into two areas called Operable Unit 1 (OU1), which contains the primary source area, and Operable Unit 2 (OU2), which is defined as the extended plume area. PCE concentrations in excess of 100,000 parts per billion (ppb) had been detected in the OU1 area in 1995, indicating a likely Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (DNAPL) source. In the fall of 1998, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) installed a remedial system in OU1 to contain and capture the dissolved VOC plume. The OU1 remedial system includes a low-permeability barrier wall that encircles the highest detected concentrations of PCE, and a series of injection and extraction wells to contain and remove contaminants. The barrier wall likely penetrates the full thickness of the sand and gravel; in most places, it also penetrates the full thickness of the underlying basal till and sits atop bedrock. Remedial injection and extraction wells have been operating since the spring of 1999 and include a series of interior (inside the barrier wall) injection and extractions wells and exterior (outside the barrier wall) injection and extraction wells. A recharge gallery outside the barrier wall receives the bulk of the treated water and reinjects it into the shallow aquifer. From 1998 to 2004, PCE concentrations decreased by an average of 80 percent at most wells outside the barrier wall. This decrease indicates (1) the barrier wall and interior extraction effectively contained high PCE concentrations inside the wall, (2) other sources of PCE did not appear to be outside of the wall, and (3) ambient ground-water flow in conjunction with the exterior remedial wells effectively remediated most of the dissolved PCE plume outside the wall. The overburden at middle depths (40 to 70 ft below land surface) downgradient from exterior extraction wells showed relatively slow decreases in PCE concentrations compared to other areas outside the barrier wall. Numerical simulation shows extraction caused the formation of a small downgradient slow-velocity zone. Because the ambient ground-water velocities are high (approximately 1 foot per day), temporary termination of extraction at the exterior wells may increase dilution downgradient from the exterior extraction wells. Extraction can also be optimized on the basis of seasonal hydrologic conditions to facilitate exterior well capture from upgradient areas outside of the barrier wall where PCE concentrations are highest. Reductions in concentrations of PCE inside the barrier wall from 1998 to 2003 were minimal near suspected source areas, indicating that the operation of interior remedial wells had not been effective in remediating dissolved PCE or the DNAPL source. Capture of the dissolved PCE plume within the barrier wall by interior extraction wells could be enhanced if operation (injection rates) increased at underutilized interior injection wells, thereby increasing hydraulic gradients.

Surgical and social implications of extraction of mandibular third molars as a separate procedure before bilateral sagittal split osteotomy.

PubMed

Morton, L; Downie, I

2017-11-01

In some units, lower wisdom teeth are extracted in a separate procedure before bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO), whereas in others they are removed at the time of the osteotomy. We identified 57 patients who had BSSO at Salisbury Hospital between October 2013 and September 2015, 40 of whom had their wisdom teeth extracted at the same time. The remaining 17 did not have wisdom teeth. Patients who have these teeth extracted as a separate procedure require at least one day off work, which can result in a loss of earnings. Our findings showed that the removal of third molars at the time of orthognathic surgery has considerable social and financial benefits, and does not increase the risk of morbidity. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

High-efficiency wind turbine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hein, L. A.; Myers, W. N.

1980-01-01

Vertical axis wind turbine incorporates several unique features to extract more energy from wind increasing efficiency 20% over conventional propeller driven units. System also features devices that utilize solar energy or chimney effluents during periods of no wind.

Singularity-free extraction of a quaternion from a direction-cosine matrix. [for spacecraft control and guidance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpp, A. R.

1976-01-01

A computer algorithm for extracting a quaternion from a direction-cosine matrix (DCM) is described. The quaternion provides a four-parameter representation of rotation, as against the nine-parameter representation afforded by a DCM. Commanded attitude in space shuttle steering is conveniently computed by DCM, while actual attitude is computed most compactly as a quaternion, as is attitude error. The unit length of the rotation quaternion, and interchangeable of a quaternion and its negative, are used to advantage in the extraction algorithm. Protection of the algorithm against square root failure and division overflow are considered. Necessary and sufficient conditions for handling the rotation vector element of largest magnitude are discussed

Molecular Characteristics of Kraft-AQ Pulping Lignin Fractionated by Sequential Organic Solvent Extraction

PubMed Central

Wang, Kun; Xu, Feng; Sun, Runcang

2010-01-01

Kraft-AQ pulping lignin was sequentially fractionated by organic solvent extractions and the molecular properties of each fraction were characterized by chemical degradation, GPC, UV, FT-IR, 13C-NMR and thermal analysis. The average molecular weight and polydispersity of each lignin fraction increased with its hydrogen-bonding capacity (Hildebrand solubility parameter). In addition, the ratio of the non-condensed guaiacyl/syringyl units and the content of β-O-4 linkages increased with the increment of the lignin fractions extracted successively with hexane, diethylether, methylene chloride, methanol, and dioxane. Furthermore, the presence of the condensation reaction products was contributed to the higher thermal stability of the larger molecules. PMID:21152286

Co-evaluation of plant extracts as petrochemical substitutes and for biologically active compounds

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McChesney, J.D.; Adams, R.P.

Recent efforts to discover phytochemicals that could substitute for petroleum-derived fuels and industrial feedstocks have not given much attention to the potential of these same phytochemicals to provide sources of biologically active compounds. The suitability of extraction products made to assess specific plants as potential botanochemical sources has been evaluated for use in screening procedures for evidence of biologically active compounds. Screening procedures for antibacterial, antifungal and toxic properties are discussed. Screening results are presented for extracts of nearly 80 species of plants from the southeastern United States and southern Great Plains that had previously been evaluated as sources ofmore » botanochemicals.« less

Analysis of a Probabilistic Model of Redundancy in Unsupervised Information Extraction

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-25

5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS( ES ) University of Washington,Department of Computer Science and Engineering...Box 352350,Seattle,WA,98195 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS( ES ) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S...approximation, with algebra we have: PUSC(x ∈ C|x appears k times inndraws) ≈ 1 1 + |E||C| ( pE pC )ken(pC−pE) . (2) In general, we expect the extraction

Extending the Query Language of a Data Warehouse for Patient Recruitment.

PubMed

Dietrich, Georg; Ertl, Maximilian; Fette, Georg; Kaspar, Mathias; Krebs, Jonathan; Mackenrodt, Daniel; Störk, Stefan; Puppe, Frank

2017-01-01

Patient recruitment for clinical trials is a laborious task, as many texts have to be screened. Usually, this work is done manually and takes a lot of time. We have developed a system that automates the screening process. Besides standard keyword queries, the query language supports extraction of numbers, time-spans and negations. In a feasibility study for patient recruitment from a stroke unit with 40 patients, we achieved encouraging extraction rates above 95% for numbers and negations and ca. 86% for time spans.

Reinforcement of the bio-gas conversion from pyrolysis of wheat straw by hot caustic pre-extraction.

PubMed

Zhang, Lilong; Chen, Keli; He, Liang; Peng, Lincai

2018-01-01

Pyrolysis has attracted growing interest as a versatile means to convert biomass into valuable products. Wheat straw has been considered to be a promising biomass resource due to its low price and easy availability. However, most of the products obtained from wheat straw pyrolysis are usually of low quality. Hot soda extraction has the advantage of selective dissolution of lignin whilst retaining the carbohydrates. This can selectively convert biomass into high-quality desired products and suppress the formation of undesirable products. The aim of this study was to investigate the pyrolysis properties of wheat straw under different hot caustic pretreatment conditions. Compared with the untreated straw, a greater amount of gas was released and fewer residues were retained in the extracted wheat straw, which was caused by an increase in porosity. When the NaOH loading was 14%, the average pore size of the extracted straw increased by 12% and the cumulative pore volume increased by 157% compared with the untreated straw. The extracted straw obtained from the 14% NaOH extraction was clearly selective for pyrolysis products. On one hand, many lignin pyrolysis products disappeared, and only four main lignin-unit-pyrolysis products were retained. On the other hand, polysaccharide pyrolysis products were enriched. Both propanone and furfural have outstanding peak intensities that could account for approximately 30% of the total pyrolysis products. However, with the excessive addition of NaOH (i.e. > 22% w/w) during pretreatment, the conversion of bio-gas products decreased. Thermogravimetric and low-temperature nitrogen-adsorption analysis showed that the pore structure had been seriously destroyed, leading to the closing of the release paths of the bio-gas and thus increasing the re-polymerisation of small bio-gas molecules. After suitable extraction (14% NaOH loading extraction), a considerable amount (25%) of the soluble components dissolved out of the straw. This resulted in an increase in both pore size and volume. This condition appeared to be optimally selective for the release of value-added pyrolysis products such as furfural, ketones and lignin monomer units. However, excessive addition of alkali (22%) for extraction could change the original interior structure, resulting in a decrease in both pore size and volume. This interior structure modification limited the release of pyrolysis products, and greater carbonisation occurred.

[Rapid and efficient extraction of soluble proteins from gram-negative microorganisms without disruption of cell walls].

PubMed

Danilevich, V N; Petrovskaia, L E; Grishin, E V

2006-01-01

The ability of buffer solutions containing low concentrations of nonionic detergents (Triton X-100, Tween 20, Brij 58, and Lubrol PX) and the anionic detergent sodium deoxycholate, as well as mixtures of these detergents with chaeotropes (urea and guanidine hydrochloride), to extract intracellular proteins of Gram-negative microorganisms (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) was studied. It was established that the solutions containing Triton X-100 and sodium deoxycholate and the mixtures of these detergents with urea are the most effective. It was shown that the extraction of proteins from bacterial cells under the studied conditions is not accompanied by a release of DNA into solution but is associated with extraction of low-molecular RNAs. The level of protein extraction reaches 80%. No disruption of the bacterial cell wall occurs during the extraction, and proteins probably permeate through meshes of the murein network. The efficiencies of our buffer mixtures are close to or higher than that of the commercial reagent CelLytic B (Sigma, United States). The practical uses of the chaeotropic mixtures developed are discussed.

Parallel Key Frame Extraction for Surveillance Video Service in a Smart City.

PubMed

Zheng, Ran; Yao, Chuanwei; Jin, Hai; Zhu, Lei; Zhang, Qin; Deng, Wei

2015-01-01

Surveillance video service (SVS) is one of the most important services provided in a smart city. It is very important for the utilization of SVS to provide design efficient surveillance video analysis techniques. Key frame extraction is a simple yet effective technique to achieve this goal. In surveillance video applications, key frames are typically used to summarize important video content. It is very important and essential to extract key frames accurately and efficiently. A novel approach is proposed to extract key frames from traffic surveillance videos based on GPU (graphics processing units) to ensure high efficiency and accuracy. For the determination of key frames, motion is a more salient feature in presenting actions or events, especially in surveillance videos. The motion feature is extracted in GPU to reduce running time. It is also smoothed to reduce noise, and the frames with local maxima of motion information are selected as the final key frames. The experimental results show that this approach can extract key frames more accurately and efficiently compared with several other methods.

Review of online coupling of sample preparation techniques with liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Pan, Jialiang; Zhang, Chengjiang; Zhang, Zhuomin; Li, Gongke

2014-03-07

Sample preparation is still considered as the bottleneck of the whole analytical procedure, and efforts has been conducted towards the automation, improvement of sensitivity and accuracy, and low comsuption of organic solvents. Development of online sample preparation techniques (SP) coupled with liquid chromatography (LC) is a promising way to achieve these goals, which has attracted great attention. This article reviews the recent advances on the online SP-LC techniques. Various online SP techniques have been described and summarized, including solid-phase-based extraction, liquid-phase-based extraction assisted with membrane, microwave assisted extraction, ultrasonic assisted extraction, accelerated solvent extraction and supercritical fluids extraction. Specially, the coupling approaches of online SP-LC systems and the corresponding interfaces have been discussed and reviewed in detail, such as online injector, autosampler combined with transport unit, desorption chamber and column switching. Typical applications of the online SP-LC techniques have been summarized. Then the problems and expected trends in this field are attempted to be discussed and proposed in order to encourage the further development of online SP-LC techniques. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A software package for interactive motor unit potential classification using fuzzy k-NN classifier.

PubMed

Rasheed, Sarbast; Stashuk, Daniel; Kamel, Mohamed

2008-01-01

We present an interactive software package for implementing the supervised classification task during electromyographic (EMG) signal decomposition process using a fuzzy k-NN classifier and utilizing the MATLAB high-level programming language and its interactive environment. The method employs an assertion-based classification that takes into account a combination of motor unit potential (MUP) shapes and two modes of use of motor unit firing pattern information: the passive and the active modes. The developed package consists of several graphical user interfaces used to detect individual MUP waveforms from a raw EMG signal, extract relevant features, and classify the MUPs into motor unit potential trains (MUPTs) using assertion-based classifiers.

Extraction of quantitative surface characteristics from AIRSAR data for Death Valley, California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kierein-Young, K. S.; Kruse, F. A.

1992-01-01

Polarimetric Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) data were collected for the Geologic Remote Sensing Field Experiment (GRSFE) over Death Valley, California, USA, in Sep. 1989. AIRSAR is a four-look, quad-polarization, three frequency instrument. It collects measurements at C-band (5.66 cm), L-band (23.98 cm), and P-band (68.13 cm), and has a GIFOV of 10 meters and a swath width of 12 kilometers. Because the radar measures at three wavelengths, different scales of surface roughness are measured. Also, dielectric constants can be calculated from the data. The AIRSAR data were calibrated using in-scene trihedral corner reflectors to remove cross-talk; and to calibrate the phase, amplitude, and co-channel gain imbalance. The calibration allows for the extraction of accurate values of rms surface roughness, dielectric constants, sigma(sub 0) backscatter, and polarization information. The radar data sets allow quantitative characterization of small scale surface structure of geologic units, providing information about the physical and chemical processes that control the surface morphology. Combining the quantitative information extracted from the radar data with other remotely sensed data sets allows discrimination, identification and mapping of geologic units that may be difficult to discern using conventional techniques.

Logistic Principles Application for Managing the Extraction and Transportation of Solid Minerals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tyurin, Alexey

2017-11-01

Reducing the cost of resources in solid mineral extraction is an urgent task. For its solution the article proposes logistic approach use to management of mining company all resources, including extraction processes, transport, mineral handling and storage. The account of the uneven operation of mining, transport units and complexes for processing and loading coal into railroad cars allows you to identify the shortcomings in the work of the entire enterprise and reduce resources use at the planned production level. In the article the mining planning model taking into account the dynamics of the production, transport stations and export coal to consumers rail transport on example of Krasnoyarsk region Nazarovo JSC «Razrez Sereul'skiy». Rolling planning methods use and data aggregation allows you to split the planning horizon (month) on equal periods and to use of dynamic programming method for building mining optimal production programme for the month. Coal mining production program definition technique will help align the work of all enterprise units, to optimize resources of all areas, to establish a flexible relationship between manufacturer and consumer, to take into account the irregularity of rail transport.

Isolation of DNA methyltransferase from plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ehrlich, K.; Malbroue, C.

1987-05-01

DNA methyltransferases (DMT) were isolated from nuclei of cauliflower, soybean, and pea by extraction with 0.35 M NaCl. Assays were performed on hemimethylated Micrococcus luteus DNA or on M. luteus DNA to test for maintenance or de novo methylase activity, respectively. Fully methylated DNA was used as a substrate to determine background levels of methylation. Based on these tests, yields of maintenance DMT activity in the crude extract from pea hypocotyl, soybean hypocotyl, and cauliflower inflorescence were 2.8, 0.9, and 1.6 units per g wet tissue (one unit equals 1 pmol of methyl from (/sup 3/H)AdoMet incorporated into acid precipitablemore » material per h at 30/sup 0/). Two peaks of DMT activity were detected in the soybean nuclear extract following phosphocellulose chromatography. One eluted at 0.4 M and the other at 0.8 M KCl. With both fractions maintenance activity was approximately 2 times that of the de novo activity. Using gel filtration the DMT eluted at 220,000 Daltons. The optimal pH for activity was between 6.5 and 7.0, and the optimal temperature was 30/sup 0/.« less

Analysis of human muscle extracts by proton NMR

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Venkatasubramanian, P.N.; Barany, M.; Arus, C.

1986-03-01

Perchloric acid extracts were prepared from pooled human muscle biopsies from patients diagnosed with scoliosis (SCOL) and cerebral palsy (CP). After neutralization with KOH and removal of perchlorate, the extracts were concentrated by freeze drying and dissolved in /sup 2/H/sub 2/O to contain 120 O.D. units at 280 nm per 0.5 ml. /sup 1/H NMR spectroscopy was performed with the 5 mm probe of a Varian XL300 instrument. Creatine, lactate, carnosine, and choline were the major resonances in the one-dimensional spectra of both extracts. With creatine as reference, 2.5-fold more lactate was found in SCOL than in CP, and amore » much smaller difference was also found in their carnosine content. Two-dimensional COSY comparison revealed several differences between the two extracts. Taurine, N-acetyl glutamate, glycerophosphoryl choline (or phosphoryl choline) and an unidentified spot were present only in the extract from SCOL but not in that from CP. On the other hand, aspartate, hydroxy-proline, carnitine and glycerophosphoryl ethanolamine were only present in CP but absent in SCOL. Alanine, cysteine, lysine and arginine appeared in both extracts without an apparent intensity difference.« less

Preparation and Extraction of Insoluble (Inclusion-Body) Proteins from Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Palmer, Ira; Wingfield, Paul T.

2013-01-01

High-level expression of many recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli leads to the formation of highly aggregated protein commonly referred to as inclusion bodies. Inclusion bodies are normally formed in the cytoplasm; however, if a secretion vector is used, they can form in the periplasmic space. Inclusion bodies can be recovered from cell lysates by low speed centrifugation. Following preextaction (or washing) protein is extracted from washed pellets using guanidine·HCl. The solubilized and unfolded protein is either directly folded as described in UNIT 6.1 or further purified by gel filtration in the presence of guanidine·HCl as described here. A support protocol describes the removal of guanidine·HCl from column fractions so they can be monitored by SDS-PAGE. High-level expression of many recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli leads to the formation of highly aggregated protein commonly referred to as inclusion bodies (UNITS 5.1 & 6.1). Inclusion bodies are normally formed in the cytoplasm; alternatively, if a secretion vector is used, they can form in the periplasmic space. Inclusion bodies are not restricted to E. coli; they can also form in yeast, mammalian, and insect cells. Inclusion bodies recovered from cell lysates by low-speed centrifugation are heavily contaminated with E. coli cell wall and outer membrane components. The latter are largely removed by selective extraction with detergents and low concentrations of either urea or guanidine·HCl to produce so-called washed pellets. These basic steps result in a significant purification of the recombinant protein, which usually makes up ~60% of the washed pellet protein. The challenge, therefore, is not to purify the recombinant-derived protein, but to solubilize it and then fold it into native and biologically active protein. Basic Protocol 1 describes preparation of washed pellets and solubilization of the protein using guanidine·HCl. The extracted protein, which is unfolded, is either directly folded as described in UNIT 6.5 or further purified by gel filtration in the presence of guanidine·HCl as in basic Protocol 2. A Support Protocol describes the removal of guanidine·HCl from column fractions so they can be monitored by SDS-PAGE (UNIT 10.1). Other methods discussed in the Commentary section of this unit include the direct purification of polyhistidine-tagged proteins solubilized in guanidine·HCl, preparative removal of guanidine·HCl by reversed-phase chromatography as a prelude to protein folding, and the solubilization of inclusion bodies with anionic detergents. PMID:23151747

Preparation and Extraction of Insoluble (Inclusion-Body) Proteins from Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Palmer, Ira; Wingfield, Paul T.

2012-01-01

High-level expression of many recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli leads to the formation of highly aggregated protein commonly referred to as inclusion bodies. Inclusion bodies are normally formed in the cytoplasm; however, if a secretion vector is used, they can form in the periplasmic space. Inclusion bodies can be recovered from cell lysates by low speed centrifugation. Following preextaction (or washing) protein is extracted from washed pellets using guanidine·HCl. The solubilized and unfolded protein is either directly folded as described in UNIT 6.1 or further purified by gel filtration in the presence of guanidine·HCl as described here. A support protocol describes the removal of guanidine·HCl from column fractions so they can be monitored by SDS-PAGE. High-level expression of many recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli leads to the formation of highly aggregated protein commonly referred to as inclusion bodies (UNITS 5.1 & 6.1). Inclusion bodies are normally formed in the cytoplasm; alternatively, if a secretion vector is used, they can form in the periplasmic space. Inclusion bodies are not restricted to E. coli; they can also form in yeast, mammalian, and insect cells. Inclusion bodies recovered from cell lysates by low-speed centrifugation are heavily contaminated with E. coli cell wall and outer membrane components. The latter are largely removed by selective extraction with detergents and low concentrations of either urea or guanidine·HCl to produce so-called washed pellets. These basic steps result in a significant purification of the recombinant protein, which usually makes up ~60% of the washed pellet protein. The challenge, therefore, is not to purify the recombinant-derived protein, but to solubilize it and then fold it into native and biologically active protein. Basic Protocol 1 describes preparation of washed pellets and solubilization of the protein using guanidine·HCl. The extracted protein, which is unfolded, is either directly folded as described in UNIT 6.5 or further purified by gel filtration in the presence of guanidine·HCl as in basic Protocol 2. A Support Protocol describes the removal of guanidine·HCl from column fractions so they can be monitored by SDS-PAGE (UNIT 10.1). Other methods discussed in the Commentary section of this unit include the direct purification of polyhistidine-tagged proteins solubilized in guanidine·HCl, preparative removal of guanidine·HCl by reversed-phase chromatography as a prelude to protein folding, and the solubilization of inclusion bodies with anionic detergents. PMID:18429271

Molecular and functional properties of gelatin from the skin of unicorn leatherjacket as affected by extracting temperatures.

PubMed

Kaewruang, Phanngam; Benjakul, Soottawat; Prodpran, Thummanoon

2013-06-01

Gelatins extracted from the skin of unicorn leatherjacket at different temperatures (45, 55, 65 and 75°C) in the presence and the absence of soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI; 100 units/g pretreated skin) for 12h were characterised. In general, the addition of SBTI resulted in the lower yield, regardless of extraction temperature. Higher yield was obtained when higher extraction temperature was used (P<0.05). Gelatin from skin extracted at 75°C in the absence of SBTI showed the highest yield (10.66 ± 0.41%) (based on dry weight). The highest α-amino group content was observed in gelatin extracted at 55°C without SBTI incorporated. The band intensity of β-chain and α-chains increased as the extraction temperature increased, particularly above 55°C. Gelatin extracted at 65°C with and without SBTI incorporation exhibited the highest gel strength (178.00 ± 7.50 g and 170.47 ± 1.30 g, respectively). FTIR spectra indicated that a greater loss of molecular order of triple helix with a higher degradation was found in gelatin extracted at 55°C in the absence SBTI. Gelatin extracted at 65°C, either with or without SBTI, had the highest EAI and ESI with high foam expansion and stability. Thus, the extraction of gelatin from the skin of unicorn leatherjacket at temperature sufficiently high could render the gelatin with less degradation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of process parameters on the extraction of soluble substances from OFMSW and methane production.

PubMed

Campuzano, Rosalinda; González-Martínez, Simón

2017-04-01

Microorganisms involved in anaerobic digestion require dissolved substrates to transport them through the cell wall to different processing units and finally to be disposed as waste, such as methane and carbon dioxide. In order to increase methane production, this work proposes to separate the soluble substances from OFMSW and analyse methane production from extracts and OFMSW. Using water as solvent, four extraction parameters were proposed: (1) Number of consecutive extractions, (2) Duration of mixing for every consecutive extraction, (3) OFMSW to water mass ratios 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 and, (4) The influence of temperature on the extraction process. Results indicated that is possible to separate 40% of VS from OFMSW with only three consecutive extraction with mixing of 30min in every extraction using ambient temperature water. For every OFMSW to water combination, the first three consecutive extracts were analysed for biochemical methane potential test during 21days at 35°C; OFMSW was also tested as reference. Methane production from all substrates is highest during the first day and then it slowly decreases to increase again during a second stage. This was identified as diauxic behaviour. Specific methane production at day 21 increased with increasing water content of the extracts where OFMSW methane production was the lowest of all with 535NL/kgVS. These results indicate that it is feasible to rapidly produce methane from extracted substances. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Techno-economic analysis of extraction-based separation systems for acetone, butanol, and ethanol recovery and purification.

PubMed

Grisales Díaz, Víctor Hugo; Olivar Tost, Gerard

2017-01-01

Dual extraction, high-temperature extraction, mixture extraction, and oleyl alcohol extraction have been proposed in the literature for acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) production. However, energy and economic evaluation under similar assumptions of extraction-based separation systems are necessary. Hence, the new process proposed in this work, direct steam distillation (DSD), for regeneration of high-boiling extractants was compared with several extraction-based separation systems. The evaluation was performed under similar assumptions through simulation in Aspen Plus V7.3 ® software. Two end distillation systems (number of non-ideal stages between 70 and 80) were studied. Heat integration and vacuum operation of some units were proposed reducing the energy requirements. Energy requirement of hybrid processes, substrate concentration of 200 g/l, was between 6.4 and 8.3 MJ-fuel/kg-ABE. The minimum energy requirements of extraction-based separation systems, feeding a water concentration in the substrate equivalent to extractant selectivity, and ideal assumptions were between 2.6 and 3.5 MJ-fuel/kg-ABE, respectively. The efficiencies of recovery systems for baseline case and ideal evaluation were 0.53-0.57 and 0.81-0.84, respectively. The main advantages of DSD were the operation of the regeneration column at atmospheric pressure, the utilization of low-pressure steam, and the low energy requirements of preheating. The in situ recovery processes, DSD, and mixture extraction with conventional regeneration were the approaches with the lowest energy requirements and total annualized costs.

Treatment of different parts of corn stover for high yield and lower polydispersity lignin extraction with high-boiling alkaline solvent.

PubMed

Yang, Mengyao; Rehman, Muhammad Saif Ur; Yan, Tingxuan; Khan, Asad Ullah; Oleskowicz-Popiel, Piotr; Xu, Xia; Cui, Ping; Xu, Jian

2018-02-01

The influence of different parts of corn stover on lignin extraction was investigated. Five kinds of lignin were isolated by the high boiling point solvent extraction from the whole corn stover and four different parts including leaf, husk, bark and pith. The optimal condition was obtained: 6.25 g/L NaOH, 140 °C, 1 h and 60% (v/v) 1,4-butanediol. The extracted lignins were then characterized. FT-IR analysis revealed that all of the lignins were typically herbaceous. The lignin extracted from husk contained more S unit. Gel permeation chromatography analysis showed that it was necessary to separate corn stover into different parts to obtain low polydispersity lignin. The SEM and FT-IR analysis proved that the lignin dissolution was related to the tightness structure presenting a positive correlation with hydrogen bond index. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An open source high-performance solution to extract surface water drainage networks from diverse terrain conditions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stanislawski, Larry V.; Survila, Kornelijus; Wendel, Jeffrey; Liu, Yan; Buttenfield, Barbara P.

2018-01-01

This paper describes a workflow for automating the extraction of elevation-derived stream lines using open source tools with parallel computing support and testing the effectiveness of procedures in various terrain conditions within the conterminous United States. Drainage networks are extracted from the US Geological Survey 1/3 arc-second 3D Elevation Program elevation data having a nominal cell size of 10 m. This research demonstrates the utility of open source tools with parallel computing support for extracting connected drainage network patterns and handling depressions in 30 subbasins distributed across humid, dry, and transitional climate regions and in terrain conditions exhibiting a range of slopes. Special attention is given to low-slope terrain, where network connectivity is preserved by generating synthetic stream channels through lake and waterbody polygons. Conflation analysis compares the extracted streams with a 1:24,000-scale National Hydrography Dataset flowline network and shows that similarities are greatest for second- and higher-order tributaries.

Guinea’s 2008 Military Coup and Relations with the United States

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-07-16

Guinea’s extractive industry sector is of financial and strategic interest to the United States. In addition to gold, diamonds, uranium , and potential...agency’s legal mandate and authorities have not been clearly defined, and the CNDD has not publicly outlined how the agency is meant to interact with...Guinea’s economy relies heavily on primary commodity exports, notably bauxite (used to produce aluminum), gold, diamonds, uranium , and iron ore

Validation of a DNA IQ-based extraction method for TECAN robotic liquid handling workstations for processing casework.

PubMed

Frégeau, Chantal J; Lett, C Marc; Fourney, Ron M

2010-10-01

A semi-automated DNA extraction process for casework samples based on the Promega DNA IQ™ system was optimized and validated on TECAN Genesis 150/8 and Freedom EVO robotic liquid handling stations configured with fixed tips and a TECAN TE-Shake™ unit. The use of an orbital shaker during the extraction process promoted efficiency with respect to DNA capture, magnetic bead/DNA complex washes and DNA elution. Validation studies determined the reliability and limitations of this shaker-based process. Reproducibility with regards to DNA yields for the tested robotic workstations proved to be excellent and not significantly different than that offered by the manual phenol/chloroform extraction. DNA extraction of animal:human blood mixtures contaminated with soil demonstrated that a human profile was detectable even in the presence of abundant animal blood. For exhibits containing small amounts of biological material, concordance studies confirmed that DNA yields for this shaker-based extraction process are equivalent or greater to those observed with phenol/chloroform extraction as well as our original validated automated magnetic bead percolation-based extraction process. Our data further supports the increasing use of robotics for the processing of casework samples. Crown Copyright © 2009. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conterminous United States Crop Field Size Quantification from Multi-temporal Landsat Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, L.; Roy, D. P.

2015-12-01

Field sizes are indicative of the degree of agricultural capital investment, mechanization and labor intensity. Information on the size of fields is needed to plan and understand these factors, and may help the allocation of agricultural resources. The Landsat satellites provide the longest global land observation record and their data have potential for monitoring field sizes. A recently published automated methodology to extract agricultural crop fields was refined and applied to 30 m weekly Landsat 5 and 7 time series of year 2010 in the range of all the conterminous United States (CONUS). For the first time, spatially explicit CONUS field size maps and derived information are presented. A total of 4.18 million fields were extracted with mean and median field sizes of 0.193 km2 and 0.278 km2, respectively. There were discernable patterns between field size and the majority crop type as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) cropland data layer (CDL) classification. In general, larger field sizes occurred where a greater proportion of the land was dedicated to agriculture, predominantly in the U.S. Wheat and Corn belts, and in regions of irrigated agriculture. The CONUS field size histogram was skewed, and 50% of the extracted fields had sizes greater than or smaller than 0.361 km2, and there were four distinct peaks that corresponded closely to sizes equivalent to fields with 0.25 × 0.25 mile, 0.25 × 0.5 mile, 0.5 × 0.5 mile, and 0.5 × 1 mile side dimensions. The results of validation by comparison with independent field boundaries at 48 subsets selected across the 16 states with the greatest harvested cropland area are summarized. The presentation concludes with a discussion of the implications of this NASA funded research and challenges for field size extraction from global coverage long term satellite data.

Source-to-accelerator quadrupole matching section for a compact linear accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seidl, P. A.; Persaud, A.; Ghiorso, W.; Ji, Q.; Waldron, W. L.; Lal, A.; Vinayakumar, K. B.; Schenkel, T.

2018-05-01

Recently, we presented a new approach for a compact radio-frequency (RF) accelerator structure and demonstrated the functionality of the individual components: acceleration units and focusing elements. In this paper, we combine these units to form a working accelerator structure: a matching section between the ion source extraction grids and the RF-acceleration unit and electrostatic focusing quadrupoles between successive acceleration units. The matching section consists of six electrostatic quadrupoles (ESQs) fabricated using 3D-printing techniques. The matching section enables us to capture more beam current and to match the beam envelope to conditions for stable transport in an acceleration lattice. We present data from an integrated accelerator consisting of the source, matching section, and an ESQ doublet sandwiched between two RF-acceleration units.

EER, COP, and the Second Law Efficiency for Air Conditioners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leff, Harvey S.; Teeters, William D.

1978-01-01

Describes the relationship existing between coefficient of performance (COP) and energy efficiency ratio (EER) in air conditioning units and introduces new efficiency parameters measured relative to the energy extracted from the primary energy source. (SL)

Point sources of emerging contaminants along the Colorado River Basin: Source water for the arid Southwestern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones-Lepp, Tammy L.; Sanchez, Charles; Alvarez, David A.; Wilson, Doyle C.; Taniguchi-Fu, Randi-Laurant

2012-01-01

Emerging contaminants (ECs) (e.g., pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, personal care products) have been detected in waters across the United States. The objective of this study was to evaluate point sources of ECs along the Colorado River, from the headwaters in Colorado to the Gulf of California. At selected locations in the Colorado River Basin (sites in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California), waste stream tributaries and receiving surface waters were sampled using either grab sampling or polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS). The grab samples were extracted using solid-phase cartridge extraction (SPE), and the POCIS sorbents were transferred into empty SPEs and eluted with methanol. All extracts were prepared for, and analyzed by, liquid chromatography–electrospray-ion trap mass spectrometry (LC–ESI-ITMS). Log DOW values were calculated for all ECs in the study and compared to the empirical data collected. POCIS extracts were screened for the presence of estrogenic chemicals using the yeast estrogen screen (YES) assay. Extracts from the 2008 POCIS deployment in the Las Vegas Wash showed the second highest estrogenicity response. In the grab samples, azithromycin (an antibiotic) was detected in all but one urban waste stream, with concentrations ranging from 30 ng/L to 2800 ng/L. Concentration levels of azithromycin, methamphetamine and pseudoephedrine showed temporal variation from the Tucson WWTP. Those ECs that were detected in the main surface water channels (those that are diverted for urban use and irrigation along the Colorado River) were in the region of the limit-of-detection (e.g., 10 ng/L), but most were below detection limits.

In vitro anti-mycobacterial activities of three species of Cola plant extracts (Sterculiaceae).

PubMed

Adeniyi, B A; Groves, M J; Gangadharam, P R J

2004-05-01

Extracts obtained from three Nigerian Sterculiaceae plants: Cola accuminata, C. nitida and C. milleni were screened for anti-mycobacterium properties using a slow growing Mycobacterium bovis ATCC 35738 (designated BCG Mexican and known to have some virulence in mouse and guinea pig) at 1000 microg/ml using the radiometric (BACTEC) method. The extracts were also tested against six fast growing ATCC strains of M. vaccae using the broth microdilution method. The methanol extracts from both leaves, stem bark and root bark of Cola accuminata and from the leaves and stem bark of C. nitida and C. milleni were not active at the highest concentration of 1000 microg/ml. Only the methanol extract of root bark for both C. nitida and C. milleni were found to be potent against both M. bovis and strains of M. vaccae. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of C. nitida against M. bovis is 125 microg/ml while the MIC of C. milleni against M. bovis is 62.5 microg/ml after at least 6 days of inhibition with growth index (GI) units lesser than or equal to the change in GI units inoculated with a 1/100 of the BACTEC inoculum for a control vial. The minimum inhibitory concentration of C. milleni against the six ATCC strain of M. vaccae ranged from 62.5 microg/ml to 250 microg/ml while for C. nitida ranged from 500 microg/ml to above 1000microg/ml. Evidently, C. milleni has the highest inhibitory activity against both M. bovis and strains of M. vaccae used. Rifampicin, the positive control used has strong activity against M. bovis at the tested concentration of 5 microg and 10 microg/ml and 4 to 8 microg/ml against the six strains of M. vaccae. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Genotoxicity assessments of alluvial soil irrigated with wastewater from a pesticide manufacturing industry.

PubMed

Anjum, Reshma; Krakat, Niclas

2015-10-01

In this study, organochlorine pesticides (OCP) and heavy metals were analyzed from wastewater- and groundwater- irrigated soils (control samples) by gas chromatography (GC) and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS), respectively. Gas chromatographic analysis revealed the presence of high concentration of pesticides in soil irrigated with wastewater (WWS). These concentrations were far above the maximum residue permissible limits indicating that alluvial soils have high binding capacity of OCP. AAS analyses revealed higher concentration of heavy metals in WWS as compared to groundwater (GWS). Also, the DNA repair (SOS)-defective Escherichia coli K-12 mutant assay and the bacteriophage lambda system were employed to estimate the genotoxicity of soils. Therefore, soil samples were extracted by hexane, acetonitrile, methanol, chloroform, and acetone. Both bioassays revealed that hexane-extracted soils from WWS were most genotoxic. A maximum survival of 15.2% and decline of colony-forming units (CFUs) was observed in polA mutants of DNA repair-defective E. coli K-12 strains when hexane was used as solvent. However, the damage of polA (-) mutants triggered by acetonitrile, methanol, chloroform, and acetone extracts was 80.0, 69.8, 65.0, and 60.7%, respectively. These results were also confirmed by the bacteriophage λ test system as hexane extracts of WWS exhibited a maximum decline of plaque-forming units for lexA mutants of E. coli K-12 pointing to an elevated genotoxic potential. The lowest survival was observed for lexA (12%) treated with hexane extracts while the percentage of survival was 25, 49.2, 55, and 78% with acetonitrile, methanol, chloroform, and acetone, respectively, after 6 h of treatment. Thus, our results suggest that agricultural soils irrigated with wastewater from pesticide industries have a notably high genotoxic potential.

Modelling Nonlinear Dynamic Textures using Hybrid DWT-DCT and Kernel PCA with GPU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghadekar, Premanand Pralhad; Chopade, Nilkanth Bhikaji

2016-12-01

Most of the real-world dynamic textures are nonlinear, non-stationary, and irregular. Nonlinear motion also has some repetition of motion, but it exhibits high variation, stochasticity, and randomness. Hybrid DWT-DCT and Kernel Principal Component Analysis (KPCA) with YCbCr/YIQ colour coding using the Dynamic Texture Unit (DTU) approach is proposed to model a nonlinear dynamic texture, which provides better results than state-of-art methods in terms of PSNR, compression ratio, model coefficients, and model size. Dynamic texture is decomposed into DTUs as they help to extract temporal self-similarity. Hybrid DWT-DCT is used to extract spatial redundancy. YCbCr/YIQ colour encoding is performed to capture chromatic correlation. KPCA is applied to capture nonlinear motion. Further, the proposed algorithm is implemented on Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which comprise of hundreds of small processors to decrease time complexity and to achieve parallelism.

Hair Transplantation Controversies.

PubMed

Avram, Marc R; Finney, Robert; Rogers, Nicole

2017-11-01

Hair transplant surgery creates consistently natural appearing transplanted hair for men. It is increasingly popular procedure to restore natural growing hair for men with hair loss. To review some current controversies in hair transplant surgery. Review of the English PubMed literature and specialty literature in hair transplant surgery. Some of the controversies in hair transplant surgery include appropriate donor harvesting technique including elliptical donor harvesting versus follicular unit extraction whether manual versus robotic, the role of platelet-rich plasma and low-level light surgery in hair transplant surgery. Hair transplant surgery creates consistently natural appearing hair. As with all techniques, there are controversies regarding the optimal method for performing the procedure. Some of the current controversies in hair transplant surgery include optimal donor harvesting techniques, elliptical donor harvesting versus follicular unit extraction, the role of low-level light therapy and the platelet-rich plasma therapy in the procedure. Future studies will further clarify their role in the procedure.

Radioactivity concentration in liquid and solid phases of scale and sludge generated in the petroleum industry.

PubMed

Paranhos Gazineu, Maria Helena; de Araújo, Andressa Arruda; Brandão, Yana Batista; Hazin, Clovis Abrahão; de O Godoy, José Marcos

2005-01-01

Scales and sludge generated during oil extraction and production can contain uranium, thorium, radium and other natural radionuclides, which can cause exposure of maintenance personnel. This work shows how the oil content can influence the results of measurements of radionuclide concentration in scale and sludge. Samples were taken from a PETROBRAS unit in Northeast Brazil. They were collected directly from the inner surface of water pipes or from barrels stored in the waste storage area of the E&P unit. The oil was separated from the solids with a Soxhlet extractor by using aguarras at 90+/-5 degrees C as solvent. Concentrations of 226Ra and 228Ra in the samples were determined before and after oil extraction by using an HPGe gamma spectrometric system. The results showed an increase in the radionuclide concentration in the solid (dry) phase, indicating that the above radionuclides concentrate mostly in the solid material.

Root cause analysis of oxide scale forming and shedding in high temperature reheater of a 200MW super high pressure boiler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bo, Jiang; Hao, Weidong; Hu, Zhihong; Liu, Fuguo

2015-12-01

In order to solve the problem of over temperature tube-burst caused by oxide scale shedding and blocking tubes of high temperature reheater of a 200MW super high pressure power plant boiler, this paper expounds the mechanism of scale forming and shedding, and analyzes the probable causes of the tube-burst failure. The results show that the root cause of scale forming is that greater steam extraction flow after reforming of the second extraction leads to less steam flow into reheater, which causes over temperature to some of the heated tubes; and the root cause of scale shedding is that long term operation in AGC-R mode brings about great fluctuations of unit load, steam temperature and pressure, accelerating scale shedding. In conclusion, preventive measures are drawn up considering the operation mode of the unit.

Species Variation in the Predawn Inhibition of Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase 1

PubMed Central

Servaites, Jerome C.; Parry, Martin A. J.; Gutteridge, Steven; Keys, Alfred J.

1986-01-01

The activity of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase was measured in extracts of leaves collected before dawn (predawn activity, pa) and at midday (midday activity, ma). Twenty-three of the 37 species examined showed a pa/ma ratio (≤0.75, while only Capsicum frutescens, Cucumis sativa, Glycine max, Nicotiana tabacum, Vigna unguiculata, and 3 Solanum species showed a pa/ma ratio ≤0.5. Phaseolus vulgaris consistently showed a pa/ma ratio of ≤0.1. Activities and pa/ma ratios of the same species grown in the United States and the United Kingdom were very similar. Gel filtration of extracts before assay had no effect on the observed activities and the pa/ma ratios. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that in a number of species the enzyme is partially inhibited following the night period by the presence of a tight-binding inhibitor. PMID:16665155

The effects of electrolysis on operational solutions in electromembrane extraction: The role of acceptor solution.

PubMed

Kubáň, Pavel; Boček, Petr

2015-06-12

Fundamental operational principle and instrumental set-up of electromembrane extraction (EME) suggest that electrolysis may play an important role in this recently developed micro-extraction technique. In the present study, the effect of electrolysis in EME is described comprehensively for the first time and it is demonstrated that electrolysis considerably influences EME performance. Micro-electromembrane extraction (μ-EME) across free liquid membrane formed by 1-pentanol was utilized for real-time monitoring of the electrolytically induced changes in composition of μ-EME solutions. These changes were visualized with a set of acid-base indicators. Changes in colours of their aqueous solutions revealed serious variations in their pH values, which occurred within seconds to minutes of the μ-EME process. Variations of up to eight pH units were observed for indicator solutions initially prepared in 1, 5 and 10mM hydrochloric acid. No or only negligible pH changes (less than 0.15 pH unit) were observed for indicator solutions prepared in 50 and 100mM acetic acid demonstrating that initial composition of the aqueous solutions was the crucial parameter. These results were also confirmed by theoretical calculations of maximum pH variations in the solutions, which were based on total electric charge transfers measured in the μ-EME systems, and by exact measurements of their pH values after μ-EMEs. Acceptor solutions that, in the current practice, consist predominantly of low concentrations of strong mineral acids or alkali hydroxides may thus not always ensure adequate EME performance, which was manifested by decrease in extraction recoveries of a basic drug papaverine. A suitable remedy to the observed effects is the application of acceptor solutions containing high concentrations of weak acids or bases. These solutions not only eliminate the decrease in recoveries but also serve well as matrices of extracted samples for subsequent analysis by capillary electrophoresis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In Vitro efficacy of antimicrobial extracts against the atypical ruminant pathogen Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri.

PubMed

Arjoon, Amanda V; Saylor, Charlotte V; May, Meghan

2012-10-02

Mycoplasmosis is a common infection in human and veterinary medicine, and is associated with chronic inflammation and high morbidity. Mycoplasma species are often intrinsically resistant to many conventional antimicrobial therapies, and the resistance patterns of pathogenic mycoplasmas to commonly used medicinal (antimicrobial) plant extracts are currently unknown. Aqueous extracts, ethanol extracts, or oils of the targeted plant species and colloidal silver were prepared or purchased. Activity against the wall-less bacterial pathogen Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri was determined and compared to activities measured against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by broth microdilution assays. The lethal or inhibitory nature of each extract was determined by subculture into neat growth medium. Growth of M. mycoides capri, E. coli, and B. subtilis was inhibited by elderberry extract, oregano oil, ethanol extract of oregano leaves, and ethanol extract of goldenseal root. No inhibition was seen with aqueous extract of astragalus or calendula oil. Growth of M. mycoides capri and B. subtilis was inhibited by ethanol extract of astragalus, whereas growth of E. coli was not. Similarly, M. mycoides capri and E. coli were inhibited by aqueous extract of thyme, but B. subtilis was unaffected. Only B. subtilis was inhibited by colloidal silver. Measured MICs ranged from 0.0003 mg/mL to 3.8 mg/mL. Bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects differed by species and extract. The atypical pathogen M. mycoides capri was sensitive to extracts from many medicinal plants commonly used as antimicrobials in states of preparation and concentrations currently available for purchase in the United States and Europe. Variation in bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities between species and extracts indicates that multiple effecter compounds are present in these plant species.

In Vitro efficacy of antimicrobial extracts against the atypical ruminant pathogen Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Mycoplasmosis is a common infection in human and veterinary medicine, and is associated with chronic inflammation and high morbidity. Mycoplasma species are often intrinsically resistant to many conventional antimicrobial therapies, and the resistance patterns of pathogenic mycoplasmas to commonly used medicinal (antimicrobial) plant extracts are currently unknown. Methods Aqueous extracts, ethanol extracts, or oils of the targeted plant species and colloidal silver were prepared or purchased. Activity against the wall-less bacterial pathogen Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri was determined and compared to activities measured against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by broth microdilution assays. The lethal or inhibitory nature of each extract was determined by subculture into neat growth medium. Results Growth of M. mycoides capri, E. coli, and B. subtilis was inhibited by elderberry extract, oregano oil, ethanol extract of oregano leaves, and ethanol extract of goldenseal root. No inhibition was seen with aqueous extract of astragalus or calendula oil. Growth of M. mycoides capri and B. subtilis was inhibited by ethanol extract of astragalus, whereas growth of E. coli was not. Similarly, M. mycoides capri and E. coli were inhibited by aqueous extract of thyme, but B. subtilis was unaffected. Only B. subtilis was inhibited by colloidal silver. Measured MICs ranged from 0.0003 mg/mL to 3.8 mg/mL. Bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects differed by species and extract. Conclusions The atypical pathogen M. mycoides capri was sensitive to extracts from many medicinal plants commonly used as antimicrobials in states of preparation and concentrations currently available for purchase in the United States and Europe. Variation in bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities between species and extracts indicates that multiple effecter compounds are present in these plant species. PMID:23031072

A deconvolution extraction method for 2D multi-object fibre spectroscopy based on the regularized least-squares QR-factorization algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Jian; Yin, Qian; Guo, Ping; Luo, A.-li

2014-09-01

This paper presents an efficient method for the extraction of astronomical spectra from two-dimensional (2D) multifibre spectrographs based on the regularized least-squares QR-factorization (LSQR) algorithm. We address two issues: we propose a modified Gaussian point spread function (PSF) for modelling the 2D PSF from multi-emission-line gas-discharge lamp images (arc images), and we develop an efficient deconvolution method to extract spectra in real circumstances. The proposed modified 2D Gaussian PSF model can fit various types of 2D PSFs, including different radial distortion angles and ellipticities. We adopt the regularized LSQR algorithm to solve the sparse linear equations constructed from the sparse convolution matrix, which we designate the deconvolution spectrum extraction method. Furthermore, we implement a parallelized LSQR algorithm based on graphics processing unit programming in the Compute Unified Device Architecture to accelerate the computational processing. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed extraction method can greatly reduce the computational cost and memory use of the deconvolution method and, consequently, increase its efficiency and practicability. In addition, the proposed extraction method has a stronger noise tolerance than other methods, such as the boxcar (aperture) extraction and profile extraction methods. Finally, we present an analysis of the sensitivity of the extraction results to the radius and full width at half-maximum of the 2D PSF.

The Effect of One Session Low Level Laser Therapy of Extracted Follicular Units on the Outcome of Hair Transplantation

PubMed Central

Tabaie, Seyed Mehdi; Berenji Ardestani, Hoda; Azizjalali, Mir Hadi

2016-01-01

Introduction: Photobiostimulation with low level laser (LLL) has been used in medicine for a long time and its effects have been shown in many diseases. Some studies have evaluated the effect of LLL on androgenic alopecia. One of the most important limitations of the use of LLL in the treatment of alopecia is the requirement for multiple sessions, which is hardly accepted by patients. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the irradiation of extracted follicular hair units by LLL on the outcome of hair transplantation. Methods: We enrolled 10 patients with androgenic alopecia and after screening tests for infections and other diseases, we extracted hair follicular units. The hair units were divided in two groups. One group was irradiated by LLL 20 minutes before transplantation (660 nm, 80 Hz, 100 mW) and the other one was used as control. The containing plates were labeled as A and B and sent to the operation room. The surgeon was unaware of the therapy assigned to the plates and transplanted them randomly on the right or left side of the head. One hundred follicular units on each sides of the scalp were transplanted symmetrically. The follicles on both sides were evaluated at 3 and 6 months of transplantation for hair growth rate by another physician, blinded to the treatment assigned to each side. Results: Ten patient with androgenic alopecia and mean (SD) age of 31.5 (6.6) years (range 25-45 years) completed the study. All patients had 100% hair growth at 3 and 6 months follow-up except one who had hair growth of 20% at three months of transplantation, which changed to 100% at sixth months. There was no significant difference between the groups regarding hair growth (P > 0.8). Conclusion: One session of LLL irradiation has no significant effect on the outcome of transplanted hair follicles. Studies with larger sample size are needed to draw a definite conclusion. PMID:27330694

Spatial confinement of active microtubule networks induces large-scale rotational cytoplasmic flow

PubMed Central

Suzuki, Kazuya; Miyazaki, Makito; Takagi, Jun; Itabashi, Takeshi; Ishiwata, Shin’ichi

2017-01-01

Collective behaviors of motile units through hydrodynamic interactions induce directed fluid flow on a larger length scale than individual units. In cells, active cytoskeletal systems composed of polar filaments and molecular motors drive fluid flow, a process known as cytoplasmic streaming. The motor-driven elongation of microtubule bundles generates turbulent-like flow in purified systems; however, it remains unclear whether and how microtubule bundles induce large-scale directed flow like the cytoplasmic streaming observed in cells. Here, we adopted Xenopus egg extracts as a model system of the cytoplasm and found that microtubule bundle elongation induces directed flow for which the length scale and timescale depend on the existence of geometrical constraints. At the lower activity of dynein, kinesins bundle and slide microtubules, organizing extensile microtubule bundles. In bulk extracts, the extensile bundles connected with each other and formed a random network, and vortex flows with a length scale comparable to the bundle length continually emerged and persisted for 1 min at multiple places. When the extracts were encapsulated in droplets, the extensile bundles pushed the droplet boundary. This pushing force initiated symmetry breaking of the randomly oriented bundle network, leading to bundles aligning into a rotating vortex structure. This vortex induced rotational cytoplasmic flows on the length scale and timescale that were 10- to 100-fold longer than the vortex flows emerging in bulk extracts. Our results suggest that microtubule systems use not only hydrodynamic interactions but also mechanical interactions to induce large-scale temporally stable cytoplasmic flow. PMID:28265076

A novel pathogenic Mammalian orthoreovirus from diarrheic pigs and Swine blood meal in the United States.

PubMed

Thimmasandra Narayanappa, Athmaram; Sooryanarain, Harini; Deventhiran, Jagadeeswaran; Cao, Dianjun; Ammayappan Venkatachalam, Backiyalakshmi; Kambiranda, Devaiah; LeRoith, Tanya; Heffron, Connie Lynn; Lindstrom, Nicole; Hall, Karen; Jobst, Peter; Sexton, Cary; Meng, Xiang-Jin; Elankumaran, Subbiah

2015-05-19

Since May 2013, outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea have devastated the U.S. swine industry, causing immense economic losses. Two different swine enteric coronaviruses (porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and Delta coronavirus) have been isolated from the affected swine population. The disease has been reported from at least 32 states of the United States and other countries, including Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Canada, Columbia, Ecuador, and Ukraine, with repeated outbreaks in previously infected herds. Here we report the isolation and characterization of a novel mammalian orthoreovirus 3 (MRV3) from diarrheic feces of piglets from these outbreaks in three states and ring-dried swine blood meal from multiple sources. MRV3 could not be isolated from healthy or pigs that had recovered from epidemic diarrhea from four states. Several MRV3 isolates were obtained from chloroform-extracted pig feces or blood meal in cell cultures or developing chicken embryos. Biological characterization of two representative isolates revealed trypsin resistance and thermostability at 90°C. NextGen sequencing of ultrapurified viruses indicated a strong homology of the S1 segment to mammalian and bat MRV3. Neonatal piglets experimentally infected with these viruses or a chloroform extract of swine blood meal developed severe diarrhea and acute gastroenteritis with 100% mortality within 3 days postinfection. Therefore, the novel porcine MRV3 may contribute to enteric disease along with other swine enteric viruses. The role of MRV3 in the current outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea in the United States remains to be determined, but the pathogenic nature of the virus warrants further investigations on its epidemiology and prevalence. Porcine orthoreoviruses causing diarrhea have been reported in China and Korea but not in the United States. We have isolated and characterized two pathogenic reassortant MRV3 isolates from swine fecal samples from porcine epidemic diarrhea outbreaks and ring-dried swine blood meal in the United States. These fecal and blood meal isolates or a chloroform extract of blood meal induced severe diarrhea and mortality in experimentally infected neonatal pigs. Genetic and phylogenetic analyses of two MRV3 isolates revealed that they are identical but differed significantly from nonpathogenic mammalian orthoreoviruses circulating in the United States. The present study provides a platform for immediate development of suitable vaccines and diagnostics to prevent and control porcine orthoreovirus diarrhea. Copyright © 2015 Thimmasandra Narayanappa et al.

Mechanical Extraction of Power From Ocean Currents and Tides

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Jack; Chao, Yi

2010-01-01

A proposed scheme for generating electric power from rivers and from ocean currents, tides, and waves is intended to offer economic and environmental advantages over prior such schemes, some of which are at various stages of implementation, others of which have not yet advanced beyond the concept stage. This scheme would be less environmentally objectionable than are prior schemes that involve the use of dams to block rivers and tidal flows. This scheme would also not entail the high maintenance costs of other proposed schemes that call for submerged electric generators and cables, which would be subject to degradation by marine growth and corrosion. A basic power-generation system according to the scheme now proposed would not include any submerged electrical equipment. The submerged portion of the system would include an all-mechanical turbine/pump unit that would superficially resemble a large land-based wind turbine (see figure). The turbine axis would turn slowly as it captured energy from the local river flow, ocean current, tidal flow, or flow from an ocean-wave device. The turbine axis would drive a pump through a gearbox to generate an enclosed flow of water, hydraulic fluid, or other suitable fluid at a relatively high pressure [typically approx.500 psi (approx.3.4 MPa)]. The pressurized fluid could be piped to an onshore or offshore facility, above the ocean surface, where it would be used to drive a turbine that, in turn, would drive an electric generator. The fluid could be recirculated between the submerged unit and the power-generation facility in a closed flow system; alternatively, if the fluid were seawater, it could be taken in from the ocean at the submerged turbine/pump unit and discharged back into the ocean from the power-generation facility. Another alternative would be to use the pressurized flow to charge an elevated reservoir or other pumped-storage facility, from whence fluid could later be released to drive a turbine/generator unit at a time of high power demand. Multiple submerged turbine/pump units could be positioned across a channel to extract more power than could be extracted by a single unit. In that case, the pressurized flows in their output pipes would be combined, via check valves, into a wider pipe that would deliver the combined flow to a power-generating or pumped-storage facility.

Distribution of pesticides in n-hexane/water and n-hexane/acetonitrile systems and estimation of possibilities of their extraction isolation and preconcentration from various matrices.

PubMed

Zayats, M F; Leschev, S M; Petrashkevich, N V; Zayats, M A; Kadenczki, L; Szitás, R; Szemán Dobrik, H; Keresztény, N

2013-04-24

Distribution of 150 most widely used pesticides of different chemical classes (amides, anilinopirimidines, aromatics, benzenesulfonates, carbamates, dicarboximides, organophosphorus compounds, phenyl esters, phenylureas, pyrazoles, pyrethroids, pyrimidines, strobilurins, sulfamides, triazines, triazoles, etc.) in n-hexane/water and n-hexane/acetonitrile systems was investigated at 25°C. Distribution constants of pesticides (P) have been calculated as ratio of pesticide concentration in n-hexane to its concentration in water or acetonitrile phase. HPLC and GC methods were used for pesticides determination in phases. It was found that the overwhelming majority of pesticides are hydrophobic, i.e. in n-hexane/water system LgP≫0, and the difference in LgP values can reach 9.1 units. Replacement of water for acetonitrile leads to dramatic fall of LgP values reaching 9.5 units. The majority of LgP values in this case are negative and their differences is strongly leveled in comparison with a hexane/water system. Thus, maximal difference in pesticides LgP values for n-hexane/acetonitrile system is 3.2 units. It is shown that n-hexane can be used for selective and efficient extraction and preconcentration of pesticides from water matrices. On the other hand, acetonitrile is effective for the isolation and preconcentration of pesticides from hydrocarbon and vegetable oil matrices. The distribution constants described in the paper may be effectively used for the estimation of possibilities of extraction isolation, preconcentration and separation of pesticides. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sensitive gas analysis system on a microchip and application for on-site monitoring of NH3 in a clean room.

PubMed

Hiki, Shinichiro; Mawatari, Kazuma; Aota, Arata; Saito, Maki; Kitamori, Takehiko

2011-06-15

A portable, highly sensitive, and continuous ammonia gas monitoring system was developed with a microfluidic chip. The system consists of a main unit, a gas pumping unit, and a computer which serves as an operation console. The size of the system is 45 cm width × 30 cm depth × 30 cm height, and the portable system was realized. A highly efficient and stable extraction method was developed by utilizing an annular gas/liquid laminar flow. In addition, a stable gas/liquid separation method with a PTFE membrane was developed by arranging a fluidic network in three dimensions to achieve almost zero dead volume at the gas/liquid extraction part. The extraction rate was almost 100% with a liquid flow rate of 3.5 μL/min and a gas flow rate of 100 mL/min (contact time of ~15 ms), and the concentration factor was 200 times by calculating the NH(3) concentration (w/w unit) in the gas and liquid phases. Stable phase separation and detection was sustained for more than 3 weeks in an automated operation, which was sufficient for the monitoring application. The lower limit of detection calculated based on a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 was 84 ppt, which showed good detectability for NH(3) analysis. We believe that our system is a very powerful tool for gas analysis due to the advantages of portable size, high sensitivity, and continuous monitoring, and it is particularly useful in the semiconductor field.

Performance of a Retrofitted Multicyclone for PM2.5 Emission Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewika, M.; Rashid, M.; Ammar, M. R.

2018-03-01

This paper presents on the performance of a retrofitted multicyclone system, which aims to increase the collection efficiency of PM2.5 (i.e. particulate size fraction ≤ 2.5 μm) emission. The multicyclone was retrofitted by extracting 15% and 20% of the total volumetric air flow rate at the dust hopper of the unit using an additional Induced Draft Fan. The total collection efficiency with and without the extraction was measured at various air volumetric flow rates and particulate mass inlet concentration. The results showed that there was a reduction of 12% to 54% depending on the inlet concentration of PM2.5 emission in the stack with compared to without extraction increasing the collection efficiency of the retrofitted multicyclone. The finding suggests that a simple technique of applying gas extraction at the dust hopper of a multicyclone as reported in this study able to increase the overall performance in fine particulate collection.

Alexnet Feature Extraction and Multi-Kernel Learning for Objectoriented Classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, L.; Li, H.; Hu, C.; Zhang, W.; Wang, S.

2018-04-01

In view of the fact that the deep convolutional neural network has stronger ability of feature learning and feature expression, an exploratory research is done on feature extraction and classification for high resolution remote sensing images. Taking the Google image with 0.3 meter spatial resolution in Ludian area of Yunnan Province as an example, the image segmentation object was taken as the basic unit, and the pre-trained AlexNet deep convolution neural network model was used for feature extraction. And the spectral features, AlexNet features and GLCM texture features are combined with multi-kernel learning and SVM classifier, finally the classification results were compared and analyzed. The results show that the deep convolution neural network can extract more accurate remote sensing image features, and significantly improve the overall accuracy of classification, and provide a reference value for earthquake disaster investigation and remote sensing disaster evaluation.

A new method to extract modal parameters using output-only responses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Byeong Hwa; Stubbs, Norris; Park, Taehyo

2005-04-01

This work proposes a new output-only modal analysis method to extract mode shapes and natural frequencies of a structure. The proposed method is based on an approach with a single-degree-of-freedom in the time domain. For a set of given mode-isolated signals, the un-damped mode shapes are extracted utilizing the singular value decomposition of the output energy correlation matrix with respect to sensor locations. The natural frequencies are extracted from a noise-free signal that is projected on the estimated modal basis. The proposed method is particularly efficient when a high resolution of mode shape is essential. The accuracy of the method is numerically verified using a set of time histories that are simulated using a finite-element method. The feasibility and practicality of the method are verified using experimental data collected at the newly constructed King Storm Water Bridge in California, United States.

Unconventional oil and gas extraction and animal health.

PubMed

Bamberger, M; Oswald, R E

2014-08-01

The extraction of hydrocarbons from shale formations using horizontal drilling with high volume hydraulic fracturing (unconventional shale gas and tight oil extraction), while derived from methods that have been used for decades, is a relatively new innovation that was introduced first in the United States and has more recently spread worldwide. Although this has led to the availability of new sources of fossil fuels for domestic consumption and export, important issues have been raised concerning the safety of the process relative to public health, animal health, and our food supply. Because of the multiple toxicants used and generated, and because of the complexity of the drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and completion processes including associated infrastructure such as pipelines, compressor stations and processing plants, impacts on the health of humans and animals are difficult to assess definitively. We discuss here findings concerning the safety of unconventional oil and gas extraction from the perspectives of public health, veterinary medicine, and food safety.

Lunar Resource Utilization: Development of a Reactor for Volatile Extraction from Regolith

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kleinhenz, Julie E.; Sacksteder, Kurt R.; Nayagam, Vedha

2007-01-01

The extraction and processing of planetary resources into useful products, known as In- Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), will have a profound impact on the future of planetary exploration. One such effort is the RESOLVE (Regolith and Environment Science, Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction) Project, which aims to extract and quantify these resources. As part of the first Engineering Breadboard Unit, the Regolith Volatiles Characterization (RVC) reactor was designed and built at the NASA Glenn Research Center. By heating and agitating the lunar regolith, loosely bound volatiles, such as hydrogen and water, are released and stored in the reactor for later analysis and collection. Intended for operation on a robotic rover, the reactor features a lightweight, compact design, easy loading and unloading of the regolith, and uniform heating of the regolith by means of vibrofluidization. The reactor performance was demonstrated using regolith simulant, JSC1, with favorable results.

First external quality assurance program of the Italian HLA-B*57:01 Network assessing the performance of clinical virology laboratories in HLA-B*57:01 testing.

PubMed

Meini, Genny; Dello Russo, Cinzia; Allice, Tiziano; Barresi, Renata; D'Arrigo, Roberta; Falasca, Francesca; Lipsi, Maria Rosaria; Paolucci, Stefania; Zanussi, Stefania; Antonetti, Raffaele; Baldanti, Fausto; Basaglia, Giancarlo; Bruzzone, Bianca; Polilli, Ennio; Ghisetti, Valeria; Pucillo, Leopoldo Paolo; Turriziani, Ombretta; Pirazzoli, Antonella; Navarra, Pierluigi; Zazzi, Maurizio

2016-05-01

Since the HLA-B*57:01 allele is strongly associated with abacavir hypersensitivity reaction, testing for the presence of HLA-B*57:01 is mandatory before administration of abacavir. While HLA-B*57:01 testing is usually provided by pharmacogenetics, genetics or blood transfusion services, clinical virology laboratories can be an optimal opportunity for HLA-B*57:01 testing since they receive blood samples for routine HIV monitoring and have the expertise for convenient and less expensive PCR-based point mutation assays. The Italian HLA-B*57:01 Network gathers accredited clinical virology laboratories offering HLA-B*57:01 testing in Italy with the aim to share protocols, test new methods, develop and maintain external quality assurance (EQA) programs. A panel of 9HLA-B*57:01-positive and 16HLA-B*57:01-negative frozen blood samples were blindly distributed to 10 units including 9 clinical virology laboratories and one reference pharmacology laboratory. Each laboratory was free to use its own routine method for DNA extraction and HLA-B*57:01 testing. DNA was extracted by automated workstations in 6 units and by manual spin columns in 4. Eight units used the Duplicα Real Time HLA-B*57:01 kit by Euroclone and two units used two different PCR homemade protocols. All the 10 units correctly identified all the 25 samples. The first HLA-B*57:01 EQA program run in Italy showed that clinical virology units are equipped and proficient for providing HLA-B*57:01 testing by inexpensive assays easy to integrate into their routine. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterization of in vivo anti-rotavirus activities of saponin extracts from Quillaja Saponaria Molina

PubMed Central

Tam, Ka Ian; Roner, Michael R.

2011-01-01

Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea disease in newborns and young children worldwide with approximately 300,000 pre-adolescent deaths each year. Quillaja saponins are a natural aqueous extract obtained from the Chilean soapbark tree. The extract is approved for use in humans by the FDA for use in beverages as a food addictive. We have demonstrated that Quillaja extracts have strong antiviral activities in vitro against six different viruses. In this study, we evaluated the in vivo antiviral activity of these extracts against rhesus rotavirus (RRV) using a mouse model. We established that at a dosage of 0.015 mg/mouse of saponin extract, RRV induced diarrhea can be significantly reduced from 79% to 11% when mice are exposed to 500 plaque-forming-units (PFU) for each of five consecutive days. Additionally, while a reduction of RRV induced diarrhea depended both on the concentration of virus introduced and on the amount of Quillaja extract given to each mouse, the severity and interval of diarrhea under a variety of conditions tested, in all the treated mice were greatly reduced when compared to those that did not receive the Quillaja extracts. Mechanistically, there is strong evidence that the Quillaja extracts are able to “block” rotavirus infection by inhibiting virus-host attachment through disruption of cellular membrane proteins and/or virus receptors. We believe that Quillaja extracts have promise as antivirals to reduce rotavirus infection and the severity of the disease in humans. PMID:21549151

Facile analysis of contents and compositions of the chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate hybrid chain in shark and ray tissues.

PubMed

Takeda, Naoko; Horai, Sawako; Tamura, Jun-ichi

2016-04-07

The chondroitin sulfate (CS)/dermatan sulfate (DS) hybrid chain was extracted from specific tissues of several kinds of sharks and rays. The contents and sulfation patterns of the CS/DS hybrid chain were precisely analyzed by digestion with chondroitinases ABC and AC. All samples predominantly contained the A- and C-units. Furthermore, all samples characteristically contained the D-unit. Species-specific differences were observed in the contents of the CS/DS hybrid chain, which were the highest in Mako and Blue sharks and Sharpspine skates, but were lower in Hammerhead sharks. Marked differences were observed in the ratio of the C-unit/A-unit between sharks and rays. The contents of the CS/DS hybrid chain and the ratio of the C-unit/A-unit may be related to an oxidative stress-decreasing ability. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CONTROL TECHNOLOGY EXTRACTION OF MERCURY FROM GROUNDWATER IMMOBILIZED ALGAE

EPA Science Inventory

Bio-Recovery Systems, Inc. conducted a project under the Emerging Technology portion of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPAs) Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program to evaluate the ability of immobilized algae to adsorb mercury from contamina...

ASTP video tape recorder ground support equipment, addendum 1 (CTE splitter/buffer). Operations manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A descriptive handbook for the CTE splitter (RCA part No. 8673734-503) was presented. This unit is designed to extract time data from an interleaved video audio signal. It is a rack mounting unit 7 inches high, 19 inches wide, 20 inches deep, mounted on slides for retracting from the rack, and weighs approximately 40 pounds. The following information is provided: installation, operation, principles of operation, maintenance, schematics and parts lists.

ASTP video tape recorder ground support equipment, addendum 2 (CTE splitter/buffer). Operations manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A descriptive handbook for the CTE splitter (RCA part No. 8673734-50A) was presented. This unit is designed to extract time data from an interleaved video/audio signal. It is a rack mounting unit 7 inches high, 19 inches wide, 20 inches deep, mounted on slides for retracting from the rack, and weighs approximately 40 pounds. The following information is provided: installation, operation, principles of operation, maintenance, schematics and parts lists.

Computer program documentation: Raw-to-processed SINDA program (RTOPHS) user's guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Damico, S. J.

1980-01-01

Use of the Raw to Processed SINDA(System Improved Numerical Differencing Analyzer) Program, RTOPHS, which provides a means of making the temperature prediction data on binary HSTFLO and HISTRY units generated by SINDA available to engineers in an easy to use format, is discussed. The program accomplishes this by reading the HISTRY unit and according to user input instructions, the desired times and temperature prediction data are extracted and written to a word addressable drum file.

Basewide Engineering Evaluation-Cost Analysis for Soil Vapor Extraction. General Evaluation Document

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-01

Agricultural (low density) a 3.7%/ Residential Leand McFR6 Open Space (recreational) Suron ding Solid Waste Disposal Faiiy(transfer sttin Areas 12...designed, manufactured , and sold as integrated units by vendors of SVE systems. Smaller systems, such as those with total 42 GENERAL EVALUATION...the 2,000 scfm and larger capacity range, can be supplied either as portable units (e g., on multiple trailers), or manufactured on one to three skids

Geo-Environmental Change and the United States Military: How History Can Inform Future Arctic Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-17

and the Northern Sea Route, extraction of potential oil and gas resources, and expanded fishing and tourism .‖ 6 The Arctic‘s vast natural resources...sudden and substantial increase in commercial shipping, marine tourism , and large passenger vessels in the Arctic poses significant challenges to the...security,‖ Huebert states that, ―Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States have all either begun to rebuild their Arctic capabilities

Solid state production of polygalacturonase and xylanase by Trichoderma species using cantaloupe and watermelon rinds.

PubMed

Mohamed, Saleh A; Al-Malki, Abdulrahman L; Khan, Jalaluddin A; Kabli, Saleh A; Al-Garni, Saleh M

2013-10-01

Different solid state fermentation (SSF) sources were tested such as cantaloupe and watermelon rinds, orange and banana peels, for the production of polygalacturonase (PG) and xylanase (Xyl) by Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma virens. The maximum production of both PG and Xyl were obtained by T. harzianum and T. virnes grown on cantaloupe and watermelon rinds, respectively. Time course, moisture content, temperature, pH, supplementation with carbon and nitrogen sources were optimized to achieve the maximum production of both PG and Xyl of T. harzianum and T. virens using cantaloupe and watermelon rinds, respectively. The maximum production of PG and Xyl of T. harzianum and T. virens was recorded at 4-5 days of incubation, 50-66% moisture, temperature 28-35°C and pH 6-7. The influence of supplementary carbon and nitrogen sources was studied. For T. harzianum, lactose enhanced PG activity from 87 to 120 units/g solid, where starch and maltose enhanced Xyl activity from 40 to 55-60 units/g solid for T. virnes. Among the nitrogen sources, ammonium sulphate, ammonium nitrate, yeast extract and urea increased PG activity from 90 to 110-113 units/g solid for T. harzianum. Similarly, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulphate and yeast extract increased Xyl activity from 45 to 55-70 units/g solid for T. virens.

A large format in operando wound cell for analysing the structural dynamics of lithium insertion materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brant, William R.; Roberts, Matthew; Gustafsson, Torbjörn; Biendicho, Jordi Jacas; Hull, Stephen; Ehrenberg, Helmut; Edström, Kristina; Schmid, Siegbert

2016-12-01

This paper presents a large wound cell for in operando neutron diffraction (ND) from which high quality diffraction patterns are collected every 15 min while maintaining conventional electrochemical performance. Under in operando data collection conditions the oxygen atomic displacement parameters (ADPs) and cell parameters were extracted for Li0.18Sr0.66Ti0.5Nb0.5O3. Analysis of diffraction data collected under in situ conditions revealed that the lithium is located on the (0.5 0.5 0) site, corresponding to the 3c Wyckoff position in the cubic perovskite unit cell, after the cell is discharged to 1 V. When the cell is discharged under potentiostatic conditions the quantity of lithium on this site increases, indicating a potential position where lithium becomes pinned in the thermodynamically stable phase. During this potentiostatic step the oxygen ADPs reduce significantly. On discharge, however, the oxygen ADPs were observed to increase gradually as more lithium is inserted into the structure. Finally, the rate of unit cell expansion changed by ∼44% once the lithium content approached ∼0.17 Li per formula unit. A link between lithium content and degree of mobility, disorder of the oxygen positions and changing rate of unit cell expansion at various stages during lithium insertion and extraction is thus presented.

Medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids containing products - Regulations in Europe and North America.

PubMed

Abuhasira, Ran; Shbiro, Liat; Landschaft, Yuval

2018-03-01

In 1937, the United States of America criminalized the use of cannabis and as a result its use decreased rapidly. In recent decades, there is a growing interest in the wide range of medical uses of cannabis and its constituents; however, the laws and regulations are substantially different between countries. Laws differentiate between raw herbal cannabis, cannabis extracts, and cannabinoid-based medicines. Both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) do not approve the use of herbal cannabis or its extracts. The FDA approved several cannabinoid-based medicines, so did 23 European countries and Canada. However, only four of the reviewed countries have fully authorized the medical use of herbal cannabis - Canada, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands, together with more than 50% of the states in the United States. Most of the regulators allow the physicians to decide what specific indications they will prescribe cannabis for, but some regulators dictate only specific indications. The aim of this article is to review the current (as of November 2017) regulations of medical cannabis use in Europe and North America. Copyright © 2018 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimized bit extraction using distortion modeling in the scalable extension of H.264/AVC.

PubMed

Maani, Ehsan; Katsaggelos, Aggelos K

2009-09-01

The newly adopted scalable extension of H.264/AVC video coding standard (SVC) demonstrates significant improvements in coding efficiency in addition to an increased degree of supported scalability relative to the scalable profiles of prior video coding standards. Due to the complicated hierarchical prediction structure of the SVC and the concept of key pictures, content-aware rate adaptation of SVC bit streams to intermediate bit rates is a nontrivial task. The concept of quality layers has been introduced in the design of the SVC to allow for fast content-aware prioritized rate adaptation. However, existing quality layer assignment methods are suboptimal and do not consider all network abstraction layer (NAL) units from different layers for the optimization. In this paper, we first propose a technique to accurately and efficiently estimate the quality degradation resulting from discarding an arbitrary number of NAL units from multiple layers of a bitstream by properly taking drift into account. Then, we utilize this distortion estimation technique to assign quality layers to NAL units for a more efficient extraction. Experimental results show that a significant gain can be achieved by the proposed scheme.

Silybin, a Major Bioactive Component of Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum L. Gaernt.)-Chemistry, Bioavailability, and Metabolism.

PubMed

Bijak, Michal

2017-11-10

Milk thistle ( Silybum marianum ) is a medicinal plant that has been used for thousands of years as a remedy for a variety of ailments. The main component of S. marianum fruit extract (silymarin) is a flavonolignan called silybin, which is not only the major silymarin element but is also the most active ingredient of this extract, which has been confirmed in various studies. This compound belongs to the flavonoid group known as flavonolignans. Silybin's structure consists in two main units. The first is based on a taxifolin, the second a phenyllpropanoid unit, which in this case is conyferil alcohol. These two units are linked together into one structure by an oxeran ring. Since the 1970s, silybin has been regarded in official medicine as a substance with hepatoprotective properties. There is a large body of research that demonstrates silybin's many other healthy properties, but there are still a lack of papers focused on its molecular structure, chemistry, metabolism, and novel form of administration. Therefore, the aim of this paper is a literature review presenting and systematizing our knowledge of the silybin molecule, with particular emphasis on its structure, chemistry, bioavailability, and metabolism.

Automated DNA extraction from genetically modified maize using aminosilane-modified bacterial magnetic particles.

PubMed

Ota, Hiroyuki; Lim, Tae-Kyu; Tanaka, Tsuyoshi; Yoshino, Tomoko; Harada, Manabu; Matsunaga, Tadashi

2006-09-18

A novel, automated system, PNE-1080, equipped with eight automated pestle units and a spectrophotometer was developed for genomic DNA extraction from maize using aminosilane-modified bacterial magnetic particles (BMPs). The use of aminosilane-modified BMPs allowed highly accurate DNA recovery. The (A(260)-A(320)):(A(280)-A(320)) ratio of the extracted DNA was 1.9+/-0.1. The DNA quality was sufficiently pure for PCR analysis. The PNE-1080 offered rapid assay completion (30 min) with high accuracy. Furthermore, the results of real-time PCR confirmed that our proposed method permitted the accurate determination of genetically modified DNA composition and correlated well with results obtained by conventional cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-based methods.

Exploratory Modeling: Extracting Causality From Complexity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsen, Laurel; Thomas, Chris; Eppinga, Maarten; Coulthard, Tom

2014-08-01

On 22 May 2011 a massive tornado tore through Joplin, Mo., killing 158 people. With winds blowing faster than 200 miles per hour, the tornado was the most deadly in the United States since modern record keeping began in the 1950s.

OPERATION CASTLE - Project 4.1 Addendum. Report of the Scientific Director, Exposure of Marshall Islanders and American Military Personnel to Fallout. Extracted Version,

DTIC Science & Technology

Fallout, *Radiation injuries, Exposure(General), Radioactive materials, Nuclear explosion testing, Bikini Atoll, Indigenous population, Marshall ... Islands , Military forces(United States), Villages, Decontamination, Lesions, Therapy, Hematology, Dosimetry

A Magnetic Nanoparticle Based Nucleic Acid Isolation and Purification Instrument for DNA Extraction of Escherichia Coli O157: H7.

PubMed

Chen, Yahui; Lin, Jianhan; Jiang, Qin; Chen, Qi; Zhang, Shengjun; Li, Li

2016-03-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a nucleic acid isolation and purification instrument using Escherichia coli O157:H7 as the model. The instrument was developed with magnetic nanoparticles for efficiently capturing nucleic acids and an intelligent mechanical unit for automatically performing the whole nucleic acid extraction process. A commercial DNA extraction kit from Huier Nano Company was used as reference. Nucleic acids in 1 ml of E. coli O157: H7 at a concentration of 5 x 10(8) CFU/mL were extracted by using this instrument and the kit in parallel and then detected by an ultraviolet spectrophotometer to obtain A260 values and A260/A280 values for the determination of the extracted DNA's quantity and purity, respectively. The A260 values for the instrument and the kit were 0.78 and 0.61, respectively, and the A260/A280 values were 1.98 and 1.93. The coefficient of variations of these parallel tests ranged from 10.5% to 16.7%. The results indicated that this nucleic acid isolation and purification instrument could extract a comparable level of nucleic acid within 50 min compared to the commercial DNA extraction kit.

Antioxidant Activity of a Red Lentil Extract and Its Fractions

PubMed Central

Amarowicz, Ryszard; Estrella, Isabell; Hernández, Teresa; Dueñas, Montserrat; Troszyńska, Agnieszka; Agnieszka, Kosińska; Pegg, Ronald B.

2009-01-01

Phenolic compounds were extracted from red lentil seeds using 80% (v/v) aqueous acetone. The crude extract was applied to a Sephadex LH-20 column. Fraction 1, consisting of sugars and low-molecular-weight phenolics, was eluted from the column by ethanol. Fraction 2, consisting of tannins, was obtained using acetone-water (1:1; v/v) as the mobile phase. Phenolic compounds present in the crude extract and its fractions demonstrated antioxidant and antiradical activities as revealed from studies using a β-carotene-linoleate model system, the total antioxidant activity (TAA) method, the DPPH radical-scavenging activity assay, and a reducing power evaluation. Results of these assays showed the highest values when tannins (fraction 2) were tested. For instance, the TAA of the tannin fraction was 5.85 μmol Trolox® eq./mg, whereas the crude extract and fraction 1 showed 0.68 and 0.33 μmol Trolox® eq./mg, respectively. The content of total phenolics in fraction 2 was the highest (290 mg/g); the tannin content, determined using the vanillin method and expressed as absorbance units at 500 nm per 1 g, was 129. There were 24 compounds identified in the crude extract using an HPLC-ESI-MS method: quercetin diglycoside, catechin, digallate procyanidin, and p-hydroxybenzoic were the dominant phenolics in the extract. PMID:20054484

UNIT 10.7 Electroblotting from Polyacrylamide Gels

PubMed Central

Goldman, Aaron; Speicher, David W.

2015-01-01

Transferring proteins from polyacrylamide gels onto retentive membranes is now primarily used for immunoblotting. A second application that was quite common up to about a decade ago was electroblotting of proteins for N-terminal and internal sequencing using Edman chemistry. This unit contains procedures for electroblotting proteins from polyacrylamide gels onto a variety of membranes, including polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and nitrocellulose. In addition to the commonly used tank or wet transfer system, protocols are provided for electroblotting using semidry and dry systems. This unit also describes procedures for eluting proteins from membranes using detergents or acidic extraction with organic solvents for specialized applications. PMID:26521711

Delivering a National Process Design Unit with Industry Support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibana, Don

Supported by the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) through the Minerals Tertiary Education Council (MTEC), three Australian universities-Curtin University, Murdoch University and the University of Queensland-have formed the Metallurgical Education Partnership (MEP) to jointly develop and deliver an engineering design capstone unit-Metallurgical Process and Plant Design-in their respective undergraduate programs in extractive metallurgy, in order to enhance the students' educational experience. A unique feature of the program is the close interaction of the students in all three universities and a significant involvement of industry professionals. Now in its sixth year, it is clear that this unit is achieving its objectives.

Robotic hair restoration.

PubMed

Rose, Paul T; Nusbaum, Bernard

2014-01-01

The latest innovation to hair restoration surgery has been the introduction of a robotic system for harvesting grafts. This system uses the follicular unit extraction/follicular isolation technique method for harvesting follicular units, which is particularly well suited to the abilities of a robotic technology. The ARTAS system analyzes images of the donor area and then a dual-chamber needle and blunt dissecting punch are used to harvest the follicular units. The robotic technology is now being used in various locations around the world. This article discusses the use of the robotic system, its capabilities, and the advantages and disadvantages of the system. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thermal degradation of the solvent employed in the next-generation caustic-side solvent extraction process and its effect on the extraction, scrubbing, and stripping of cesium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roach, Benjamin D.; Williams, Neil J.; Moyer, Bruce A.

As part of the ongoing development of the Next-Generation Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (NGS) process, the thermal stability of the process solvent was investigated and shown to be adequate for industrial application. The solvent was thermally treated at 35 C over a period of 13 months whilst in dynamic contact with each of the aqueous phases of the current NGS process, namely SRS 15 (a highly caustic waste simulant), sodium hydroxide scrub solution (0.025 M), and boric acid strip solution (0.01 M). The effect of thermal treatment was evaluated by assessing batch extract/scrub/strip performance as a function of time, by monitoringmore » the sodium extraction capacity of the solvent, and by analysis of the solvent using electrospray mass spectrometry. Current studies indicate that the NGS solvent should be thermally robust for a period of XXX months at the Modular Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) pilot plant located at Savannah River Site. Furthermore, the guanidine suppressor appears to be the solvent component most significantly impacted by thermal treatment of the solvent, showing significant degradation over time.« less

Adulteration of Ginkgo biloba products and a simple method to improve its detection.

PubMed

Wohlmuth, Hans; Savage, Kate; Dowell, Ashley; Mouatt, Peter

2014-05-15

Extracts of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) leaf are widely available worldwide in herbal medicinal products, dietary supplements, botanicals and complementary medicines, and several pharmacopoeias contain monographs for ginkgo leaf, leaf extract and finished products. Being a high-value botanical commodity, ginkgo extracts may be the subject of economically motivated adulteration. We analysed eight ginkgo leaf retail products purchased in Australia and Denmark and found compelling evidence of adulteration with flavonol aglycones in three of these. The same three products also contained genistein, an isoflavone that does not occur in ginkgo leaf. Although the United States Pharmacopeia - National Formulary (USP-NF) and the British and European Pharmacopoeias stipulate a required range for flavonol glycosides in ginkgo extract, the prescribed assays quantify flavonol aglycones. This means that these pharmacopoeial methods are not capable of detecting adulteration of ginkgo extract with free flavonol aglycones. We propose a simple modification of the USP-NF method that addresses this problem: by assaying for flavonol aglycones pre and post hydrolysis the content of flavonol glycosides can be accurately estimated via a simple calculation. We also recommend a maximum limit be set for free flavonol aglycones in ginkgo extract. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Thermal degradation of the solvent employed in the next-generation caustic-side solvent extraction process and its effect on the extraction, scrubbing, and stripping of cesium

DOE PAGES

Roach, Benjamin D.; Williams, Neil J.; Moyer, Bruce A.

2015-09-02

As part of the ongoing development of the Next-Generation Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (NGS) process, the thermal stability of the process solvent was investigated and shown to be adequate for industrial application. The solvent was thermally treated at 35 C over a period of 13 months whilst in dynamic contact with each of the aqueous phases of the current NGS process, namely SRS 15 (a highly caustic waste simulant), sodium hydroxide scrub solution (0.025 M), and boric acid strip solution (0.01 M). The effect of thermal treatment was evaluated by assessing batch extract/scrub/strip performance as a function of time, by monitoringmore » the sodium extraction capacity of the solvent, and by analysis of the solvent using electrospray mass spectrometry. Current studies indicate that the NGS solvent should be thermally robust for a period of XXX months at the Modular Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) pilot plant located at Savannah River Site. Furthermore, the guanidine suppressor appears to be the solvent component most significantly impacted by thermal treatment of the solvent, showing significant degradation over time.« less

Potential Bio-Control Agent from Rhodomyrtus tomentosa against Listeria monocytogenes

PubMed Central

Odedina, Grace Fiyinfoluwa; Vongkamjan, Kitiya; Voravuthikunchai, Supayang Piyawan

2015-01-01

Listeria monocytogenes is an important foodborne pathogen implicated in many outbreaks of listeriosis. This study aimed at screening for the potential use of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa ethanolic leaf extract as a bio-control agent against L. monocytogenes. Twenty-two L. monocytogenes isolates were checked with 16 commercial antibiotics and isolates displayed resistance to 10 antibiotics. All the tested isolates were sensitive to the extract with inhibition zones ranging from 14 to 16 mm. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values ranged from 16 to 32 µg/mL and 128 to 512 µg/mL, respectively. Time-kill assay showed that the extract had remarkable bactericidal effects on L. monocytogenes. The extract at a concentration of 16 µg/mL reduced tolerance to 10% NaCl in L. monocytogenes in 4 h. Stationary phase L. monocytogenes cells were rapidly inactivated by greater than 3-log units within 30 min of contact time with R. tomentosa extract at 128 µg/mL. Electron microscopy revealed fragmentary bacteria with changes in the physical and morphological properties. Our study demonstrates the potential of the extract for further development into a bio-control agent in food to prevent the incidence of L. monocytogenes contamination. PMID:26371033

Carbon footprint assessment of recycling technologies for rare earth elements: A case study of recycling yttrium and europium from phosphor.

PubMed

Hu, Allen H; Kuo, Chien-Hung; Huang, Lance H; Su, Chao-Chin

2017-02-01

Rare earth elements are key raw materials in high-technology industries. Mining activities and manufacturing processes of such industries have caused considerable environmental impacts, such as soil erosion, vegetation destruction, and various forms of pollution. Sustaining the long-term supply of rare earth elements is difficult because of the global shortage of rare earth resources. The diminishing supply of rare earth elements has attracted considerable concern because many industrialized countries regarded such elements as important strategic resources for economic growth. This study aims to explore the carbon footprints of yttrium and europium recovery techniques from phosphor. Two extraction recovery methods, namely, acid extraction and solvent extraction, were selected for the analysis and comparison of carbon footprints. The two following functional units were used: (1) the same phosphor amounts for specific Y and Eu recovery concentrations, and (2) the same phosphor amounts for extraction. For acid extraction method, two acidic solutions (H 2 SO 4 and HCl) were used at two different temperatures (60 and 90°C). For solvent extraction method, acid leaching was performed followed by ionic liquid extraction. Carbon footprints from acid and solvent extraction methods were estimated to be 10.1 and 10.6kgCO 2 eq, respectively. Comparison of the carbon emissions of the two extraction methods shows that the solvent extraction method has significantly higher extraction efficiency, even though acid extraction method has a lower carbon footprint. These results may be used to develop strategies for life cycle management of rare earth resources to realize sustainable usage. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In situ analysis and structural elucidation of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) tannins for high-throughput germplasm screening.

PubMed

Gea, An; Stringano, Elisabetta; Brown, Ron H; Mueller-Harvey, Irene

2011-01-26

A rapid thiolytic degradation and cleanup procedure was developed for analyzing tannins directly in chlorophyll-containing sainfoin ( Onobrychis viciifolia ) plants. The technique proved suitable for complex tannin mixtures containing catechin, epicatechin, gallocatechin, and epigallocatechin flavan-3-ol units. The reaction time was standardized at 60 min to minimize the loss of structural information as a result of epimerization and degradation of terminal flavan-3-ol units. The results were evaluated by separate analysis of extractable and unextractable tannins, which accounted for 63.6-113.7% of the in situ plant tannins. It is of note that 70% aqueous acetone extracted tannins with a lower mean degree of polymerization (mDP) than was found for tannins analyzed in situ. Extractable tannins had between 4 and 29 lower mDP values. The method was validated by comparing results from individual and mixed sample sets. The tannin composition of different sainfoin accessions covered a range of mDP values from 16 to 83, procyanidin/prodelphinidin (PC/PD) ratios from 19.2/80.8 to 45.6/54.4, and cis/trans ratios from 74.1/25.9 to 88.0/12.0. This is the first high-throughput screening method that is suitable for analyzing condensed tannin contents and structural composition directly in green plant tissue.

Rare earth elements in sedimentary phosphate deposits: Solution to the global REE crisis?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Emsbo, Poul; McLaughlin, Patrick I.; Breit, George N.; du Bray, Edward A.; Koenig, Alan E.

2015-01-01

The critical role of rare earth elements (REEs), particularly heavy REEs (HREEs), in high-tech industries has created a surge in demand that is quickly outstripping known global supply and has triggered a worldwide scramble to discover new sources. The chemical analysis of 23 sedimentary phosphate deposits (phosphorites) in the United States demonstrates that they are significantly enriched in REEs. Leaching experiments using dilute H2SO4 and HCl, extracted nearly 100% of their total REE content and show that the extraction of REEs from phosphorites is not subject to the many technological and environmental challenges that vex the exploitation of many identified REE deposits. Our data suggest that phosphate rock currently mined in the United States has the potential to produce a significant proportion of the world's REE demand as a byproduct. Importantly, the size and concentration of HREEs in some unmined phosphorites dwarf the world's richest REE deposits. Secular variation in phosphate REE contents identifies geologic time periods favorable for the formation of currently unrecognized high-REE phosphates. The extraordinary endowment, combined with the ease of REE extraction, indicates that such phosphorites might be considered as a primary source of REEs with the potential to resolve the global REE (particularly for HREE) supply shortage.

Recent trends in the impurity profile of pharmaceuticals

PubMed Central

Pilaniya, Kavita; Chandrawanshi, Harish K.; Pilaniya, Urmila; Manchandani, Pooja; Jain, Pratishtha; Singh, Nitin

2010-01-01

Various regulatory authorities such as the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), the United States Food and Drug administration (FDA), and the Canadian Drug and Health Agency (CDHA) are emphasizing on the purity requirements and the identification of impurities in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). The various sources of impurity in pharmaceutical products are — reagents, heavy metals, ligands, catalysts, other materials like filter aids, charcoal, and the like, degraded end products obtained during \\ after manufacturing of bulk drugs from hydrolysis, photolytic cleavage, oxidative degradation, decarboxylation, enantiomeric impurity, and so on. The different pharmacopoeias such as the British Pharmacopoeia, United State Pharmacopoeia, and Indian Pharmacopoeia are slowly incorporating limits to allowable levels of impurities present in APIs or formulations. Various methods are used to isolate and characterize impurities in pharmaceuticals, such as, capillary electrophoresis, electron paramagnetic resonance, gas–liquid chromatography, gravimetric analysis, high performance liquid chromatography, solid-phase extraction methods, liquid–liquid extraction method, Ultraviolet Spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, supercritical fluid extraction column chromatography, mass spectrometry, Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and RAMAN spectroscopy. Among all hyphenated techniques, the most exploited techniques for impurity profiling of drugs are Liquid Chromatography (LC)-Mass Spectroscopy (MS), LC-NMR, LC-NMR-MS, GC-MS, and LC-MS. This reveals the need and scope of impurity profiling of drugs in pharmaceutical research. PMID:22247862

Analytical methods for characterization of explosives-contaminated sites on U.S. Army installations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenkins, Thomas F.; Walsh, Marianne E.; Thorne, Philip G.

1995-10-01

The U.S. Army manufactures munitions at facilities throughout the United States. Many of these facilities are contaminated with residues of explosives from production, disposal of off- specification, and out-of-data munitions. The first step in remediating these sites is careful characterization. Currently sites are being characterized using a combination of on-site field screening and off-site laboratory analysis. Most of the contamination is associated with TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) and RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-tri-nitro-1,3,5-triazine) and their manufacturing impurities and environmental transformation products. Both colorimetric and enzyme immunoassay-based field screening methods have been used successfully for on-site characterization. These methods have similar detection capabilities but differ in their selectivity. Although field screening is very cost-effective, laboratory analysis is still required to fully characterize a site. Laboratory analysis for explosives residues in the United States is generally conducted using high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with a UV detector. Air-dried soils are extracted with acetonitrile in an ultrasonic bath. Water is analyzed directly if detection limits in the range of 10 - 20 (mu) g/L are acceptable, or preconcentrated using either salting-out solvent extraction with acetonitrile or solid phase extraction.

Heterogeneous postsurgical data analytics for predictive modeling of mortality risks in intensive care units.

PubMed

Yun Chen; Hui Yang

2014-01-01

The rapid advancements of biomedical instrumentation and healthcare technology have resulted in data-rich environments in hospitals. However, the meaningful information extracted from rich datasets is limited. There is a dire need to go beyond current medical practices, and develop data-driven methods and tools that will enable and help (i) the handling of big data, (ii) the extraction of data-driven knowledge, (iii) the exploitation of acquired knowledge for optimizing clinical decisions. This present study focuses on the prediction of mortality rates in Intensive Care Units (ICU) using patient-specific healthcare recordings. It is worth mentioning that postsurgical monitoring in ICU leads to massive datasets with unique properties, e.g., variable heterogeneity, patient heterogeneity, and time asyncronization. To cope with the challenges in ICU datasets, we developed the postsurgical decision support system with a series of analytical tools, including data categorization, data pre-processing, feature extraction, feature selection, and predictive modeling. Experimental results show that the proposed data-driven methodology outperforms traditional approaches and yields better results based on the evaluation of real-world ICU data from 4000 subjects in the database. This research shows great potentials for the use of data-driven analytics to improve the quality of healthcare services.

Shapefile for Coastal Zone Management Program counties of the United States and its territories, 2009 (CZMP_counties_2009.shp)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hartwell, Stephen R.; Wingfield, Dana K.; Allwardt, Alan O.; Wong, Florence L.; Lightsom, Frances L.

2013-01-01

A shapefile of 492 Coastal Zone Management Program counties of the United States and its territories, current for the ground condition in 2009, has been extracted from the U.S. Census Bureau MAF/TIGER database. Geospatial information systems with the capability to search user-defined, polygonal geographic areas will be able to utilize this shapefile or secondary products derived from it, such as well-known text representations of the individual polygons within the shapefile.

Mercury Phase II Study - Mercury Behavior across the High-Level Waste Evaporator System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bannochie, C. J.; Crawford, C. L.; Jackson, D. G.

2016-06-17

The Mercury Program team’s effort continues to develop more fundamental information concerning mercury behavior across the liquid waste facilities and unit operations. Previously, the team examined the mercury chemistry across salt processing, including the Actinide Removal Process/Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (ARP/MCU), and the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) flowsheets. This report documents the data and understanding of mercury across the high level waste 2H and 3H evaporator systems.

Antimicrobial effects of herbal extracts on Streptococcus mutans and normal oral streptococci.

PubMed

Lee, Sung-Hoon

2013-08-01

Streptococcus mutans is associated with dental caries. A cariogenic biofilm, in particular, has been studied extensively for its role in the formation of dental caries. Herbal extracts such as Cudrania tricuspidata, Sophora flavescens, Ginkgo biloba, and Betula Schmidtii have been used as a folk remedy for treating diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the antibacterial activity of herbal extracts against normal oral streptococci, planktonic and biofilm of S. mutans. Streptococcus gordonii, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus sanguinis, and S. mutans were cultivated with brain heart infusion broth and susceptibility assay for the herbal extracts was performed according to the protocol of Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute. Also, S. mutans biofilm was formed on a polystyrene 12-well plate and 8-well chamber glass slip using BHI broth containing 2% sucrose and 1% mannose after conditioning the plate and the glass slip with unstimulated saliva. The biofilm was treated with the herbal extracts in various concentrations and inoculated on Mitis-Salivarius bacitracin agar plate for enumeration of viable S. mutans by counting colony forming units. Planktonic S. mutans showed susceptibility to all of the extracts and S. mutans biofilm exhibited the highest level of sensitivity for the extracts of S. flavescens. The normal oral streptococci exhibited a weak susceptibility in comparison to S. mutans. S. oralis, however, was resistant to all of the extracts. In conclusion, the extract of S. flavescens may be a potential candidate for prevention and management of dental caries.

Evaluation and Comparison of the Antibacterial Activity against Streptococcus mutans of Grape Seed Extract at Different Concentrations with Chlorhexidine Gluconate: An in vitro Study.

PubMed

Swadas, Milan; Dave, Bhavna; Vyas, Soham M; Shah, Nupur

2016-01-01

Streptococcus mutans has been implicated as primary microorganisms which cause dental caries in humans. There has been an increased interest in the therapeutic properties of some medicinal plants and natural compounds which have demonstrated antibacterial activities. Grape is one of the plants of this group which contains tannin and polyphenolic compound. To evaluate and compare antibacterial activity of grape seed extract at different concentrations with chlorhexidine gluconate against S. mutans. Grape seeds were extracted with ethanol/water ratio of 70:30 volume/volume. The extracts were filtered through Whatman No. 1 filter paper until it becomes colorless. Streptococcus mutans strains were taken. To check the antimicrobial properties of grape seed extract at different concentration and chlorhexidine gluconate, they were added to S. mutans strain and incubated for 48 hours than colony-forming units/mL were checked. Grape seed extract at higher concentration were found to be more potent against S. mutans. Chlorhexidine gluconate was found to have most potent antibacterial action compared to all different concentrations of grape seed extract. Grape seed extract as a natural antimicrobial compound has inhibitory effect against S. mutans. Swadas M, Dave B, Vyas SM, Shah N. Evaluation and Comparison of the Antibacterial Activity against Streptococcus mutans of Grape Seed Extract at Different Concentrations with Chlorhexidine Gluconate: An in vitro Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2016;9(3):181-185.

Evaluation of the organization of the homoionic smectite layers (Na(+) or Ca(2+)) in diluted dispersions using granulometry, microscopy and rheometry.

PubMed

Paumier, S; Pantet, A; Monnet, P

2008-09-01

Smectites are swelling clay materials with pronounced colloidal properties that are widely used in industry. These properties originate in the electrokinetic properties of the smectite layers and their linkage capacities. Thin layers may be dispersed or aggregated according to many parameters, such as concentration, particle size and morphology, exchangeable cation nature and chemical environment (pH, ionic strength). The literature usually provides general rules, like the sodium dispersion contains a lot of small units whereas the calcium dispersion contains a few large units. A volume of water molecules bound to the clay surface is considered as the immobile water phase that behaves like the solid phase obstructing the flow. The water immobilized around layers and trapped inside aggregates cannot participate to the flow. In this study, we evaluated the volume occupied by calcium and sodium units inside the dispersion containing the immobile water phase. First, the smectite was cautiously extracted from a raw bentonite and its physicochemical properties were determined. A large quantity of extracted and saturated smectite (Na-smectite and Ca-smectite) was obtained. Second, the unit size and a shape factor for each sample were evaluated using granulometry and scanning transmission electron microscopy on wet samples (Wet STEM) and some flow curves. Na-smectite dispersions contain 0.13 microm(2) surface units with a shape factor of 50. Ca-smectite dispersions contain 0.32 microm(2) surface units with a shape factor of 3.3. Finally, rheometry allowed us to evaluate the unit occupancy using an adaptation of the Krieger-Dougherty law. We used shape factors and evaluated the concentration from which the entire immobile volume was connected (6.4% for Na-smectite and 11.9% for Ca-smectite). This study explains the evolution of flow properties with increasing concentrations by the evolution of layer interactions at the microscopic scale for homoionic smectite particles in diluted dispersions.

Phytochemical Characterization of an Adaptogenic Preparation from Rhodiola heterodonta

PubMed Central

Grace, Mary H.; Yousef, Gad G.; Kurmukov, Anvar G.; Raskin, Ilya; Lila, Mary Ann

2013-01-01

The phytochemical constituents of a biologically active, standardized, 80% ethanol extract of Rhodiola heterodonta were characterized. The extract was fractionated over a Sephadex LH-20 column to afford two main fractions representing two classes of secondary metabolites: phenylethanoids and proanthocyanidins. This fractionation facilitated the identification and quantification of individual compounds in the fractions and sub-fractions using HPLC, and LC-MS. The major compounds in the phenylethanoid fraction were heterodontoside, tyrosol methyl ether, salidroside, viridoside, mongrhoside, tyrosol, and the cyanogenic glucoside rhodiocyanoside A. These seven compounds comprised 17.4% of the EtOH extract. Proanthocyanidins ranged from oligomers to polymers based on epigallocatechin and gallate units. The main identified oligomeric compounds in the proanthocyanidin fraction were epigallocatechin gallate, epigallocatechin-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate and 3-O-galloylepigallocatechin-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate, which constituted 1.75% of the ethanol extract. Tyrosol methyl ether, mongrhoside, and the two proanthocyanidin dimers were reported for the first time from this species in this study. Intraperitoneal injection of the 80% ethanol extract increased survival time of mice under hypoxia by 192%, as an indication of adaptogenic activity. PMID:19768982

19 CFR 10.913 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... ARTICLES CONDITIONALLY FREE, SUBJECT TO A REDUCED RATE, ETC. United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement... natural resources not included in paragraphs (g)(1) through (g)(4) of this section that are extracted or...; banners; marketing displays; free samples; sales, marketing, and after-sales service literature (product...

19 CFR 10.3013 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... ARTICLES CONDITIONALLY FREE, SUBJECT TO A REDUCED RATE, ETC. United States-Colombia Trade Promotion... natural resources not included in paragraphs (g)(1) through (g)(4) of this section that are extracted or... conferences, trade shows and conventions; banners; marketing displays; free samples; sales, marketing, and...

A NEW APPROACH FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM ALGAE

EPA Science Inventory

The supply of energy for the United States and world is currently dependent on extraction of fossil fuels. Eventually, a novel or sustainable source of energy will be required for industrial societies. In particular, transportation fuels are currently dependent on dwindling su...

Antimicrobial and antiinsectan phenolic metabolites of dalea searlsiae

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Continued interest in the chemistry of Dalea spp. (Fabaceae) has led to investigation of Dalea searlsiae, a plant native to areas of the western United States. Methanol extractions of D. searlsiae roots, and subsequent chromatographic fractionation, afforded the new prenylated and geranylated flavan...

Revisiting the structure of the anti-neoplastic glucans of Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guerin. Structural analysis of the extracellular and boiling water extract-derived glucans of the vaccine substrains.

PubMed

Dinadayala, Premkumar; Lemassu, Anne; Granovski, Pierre; Cérantola, Stéphane; Winter, Nathalie; Daffé, Mamadou

2004-03-26

The attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), used worldwide to prevent tuberculosis and leprosy, is also clinically used as an immunotherapeutic agent against superficial bladder cancer. An anti-tumor polysaccharide has been isolated from the boiling water extract of the Tice substrain of BCG and tentatively characterized as consisting primarily of repeating units of 6-linked-glucosyl residues. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other mycobacterial species produce a glycogen-like alpha-glucan composed of repeating units of 4-linked glucosyl residues substituted at some 6 positions by short oligoglucosyl units that also exhibits an anti-tumor activity. Therefore, the impression prevails that mycobacteria synthesize different types of anti-neoplastic glucans or, alternatively, the BCG substrains are singular in producing a unique type of glucan that may confer to them their immunotherapeutic property. The present study addresses this question through the comparative analysis of alpha-glucans purified from the extracellular materials and boiling water extracts of three vaccine substrains. The polysaccharides were purified, and their structural features were established by mono- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry of the enzymatic and chemical degradation products of the purified compounds. The glucans isolated by the two methods from the three substrains of BCG were shown to exhibit identical structural features shared with the glycogen-like alpha-glucan of M. tuberculosis and other mycobacteria. Incidentally, we observed an occasional release of dextrans from Sephadex columns that may explain the reported occurrence of 6-substituted alpha-glucans in mycobacteria.

A taxonomy of state public health preparedness units: an empirical examination of organizational structure.

PubMed

Menachemi, Nir; Yeager, Valerie A; Duncan, W Jack; Katholi, Charles R; Ginter, Peter M

2012-01-01

State public health preparedness units (SPHPUs) were developed in response to federal funding to improve response to disasters: a responsibility that had not traditionally been within the purview of public health. The SPHPUs were created within the existing public health organizational structure, and their placement may have implications for how the unit functions, how communication takes place, and ultimately how well the key responsibilities are performed. This study empirically identifies a taxonomy of similarly structured SPHPUs and examines whether this structure is associated with state geographic, demographic, and threat-vulnerability characteristics. Data representing each SPHPU were extracted from publically available sources, including organizational charts and emergency preparedness plans for 2009. A cross-sectional segmentation analysis was conducted of variables representing structural attributes. Fifty state public health departments. Variables representing "span of control" and "hierarchal levels" were extracted from organizational charts. Structural "complexity" and "centralization" were extracted from state emergency preparedness documents and other secondary sources. On average, 6.6 people report to the same manager as the SPHPU director; 2.1 levels separate the SPHPU director from the state health officer; and a mean of 13.5 agencies collaborate with SPHPU during a disaster. Despite considerable variability in how SPHPUs had been structured, results of the cluster and principal component analysis identified 7 similarly structured groups. Neither the taxonomic groups nor the individual variables representing structure were found to be associated with state characteristics, including threat vulnerabilities. Our finding supports the hypothesis that SPHPUs are seemingly inadvertently (eg, not strategically) organized. This taxonomy provides the basis for which future research can examine how SPHPU structure relates to performance measures and preparedness strategies.

Total integrated slidable and valveless solid phase extraction-polymerase chain reaction-capillary electrophoresis microdevice for mini Y chromosome short tandem repeat genotyping.

PubMed

Kim, Yong Tae; Lee, Dohwan; Heo, Hyun Young; Sim, Jeong Eun; Woo, Kwang Man; Kim, Do Hyun; Im, Sung Gap; Seo, Tae Seok

2016-04-15

A fully integrated slidable and valveless microsystem, which performs solid phase DNA extraction (SPE), micro-polymerase chain reaction (μPCR) and micro-capillary electrophoresis (μCE) coupled with a portable genetic analyser, has been developed for forensic genotyping. The use of a slidable chip, in which a 1 μL-volume of the PCR chamber was patterned at the center, does not necessitate any microvalves and tubing systems for fluidic control. The functional micro-units of SPE, μPCR, and μCE were fabricated on a single glass wafer by conventional photolithography, and the integrated microdevice consists of three layers: from top to bottom, a slidable chip, a channel wafer in which a SPE chamber, a mixing microchannel, and a CE microchannel were fabricated, and a Ti/Pt resistance temperature detector (RTD) wafer. The channel glass wafer and the RTD glass wafer were thermally bonded, and the slidable chip was placed on the designated functional unit. The entire process from the DNA extraction using whole human blood sample to identification of target Y chromosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci was serially carried out with simply sliding the slidable chamber from one to another functional unit. Monoplex and multiplex detection of amelogenin and mini Y STR loci were successfully analysed on the integrated slidable SPE-μPCR-μCE microdevice by using 1 μL whole human blood within 60 min. The proposed advanced genetic analysis microsystem is capable of point-of-care DNA testing with sample-in-answer-out capability, more importantly, without use of complicated microvalves and microtubing systems for liquid transfer. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Potential uranium supply from phosphoric acid: A U.S. analysis comparing solvent extraction and Ion exchange recovery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Haeyeon; G. Eggert, Roderick; W. Carlsen, Brett

Phosphate rock contains significant amounts of uranium, although in low concentrations. Recovery of uranium as a by-product from phosphoric acid, an intermediate product produced during the recovery of phosphorus from phosphate rock, is not unprecedented. Phosphoric acid plants ceased to produce uranium as a by-product in the early 1990s with the fall of uranium prices. In the last decade, this topic has regained attention due to higher uranium prices and expected increase in demand for uranium. Our study revisits the topic and estimates how much uranium might be recoverable from current phosphoric acid production in the United States and whatmore » the associated costs might be considering two different recovery processes: solvent extraction and ion exchange. Based on U.S. phosphoric acid production in 2014, 5.5 million pounds of U 3O 8 could have been recovered, more than domestic U.S. mine production of uranium in the same year. Annualized costs for a hypothetical uranium recovery plant are US$48-66 per pound U 3O 8 for solvent extraction, the process used historically in the United States to recover uranium from phosphoric acid. For ion exchange, not yet proven at a commercial scale for uranium recovery, the estimated costs are US$33-54 per pound U 3O 8. Our results suggest that it is technically possible for the United States to recover significant quantities of uranium from current phosphoric acid production. And for this type of uranium production to be economically attractive on a large scale, either recovery costs must fall or uranium prices rise.« less

Potential uranium supply from phosphoric acid: A U.S. analysis comparing solvent extraction and Ion exchange recovery

DOE PAGES

Kim, Haeyeon; G. Eggert, Roderick; W. Carlsen, Brett; ...

2016-06-16

Phosphate rock contains significant amounts of uranium, although in low concentrations. Recovery of uranium as a by-product from phosphoric acid, an intermediate product produced during the recovery of phosphorus from phosphate rock, is not unprecedented. Phosphoric acid plants ceased to produce uranium as a by-product in the early 1990s with the fall of uranium prices. In the last decade, this topic has regained attention due to higher uranium prices and expected increase in demand for uranium. Our study revisits the topic and estimates how much uranium might be recoverable from current phosphoric acid production in the United States and whatmore » the associated costs might be considering two different recovery processes: solvent extraction and ion exchange. Based on U.S. phosphoric acid production in 2014, 5.5 million pounds of U 3O 8 could have been recovered, more than domestic U.S. mine production of uranium in the same year. Annualized costs for a hypothetical uranium recovery plant are US$48-66 per pound U 3O 8 for solvent extraction, the process used historically in the United States to recover uranium from phosphoric acid. For ion exchange, not yet proven at a commercial scale for uranium recovery, the estimated costs are US$33-54 per pound U 3O 8. Our results suggest that it is technically possible for the United States to recover significant quantities of uranium from current phosphoric acid production. And for this type of uranium production to be economically attractive on a large scale, either recovery costs must fall or uranium prices rise.« less

Novel single stripper with side-draw to remove ammonia and sour gas simultaneously for coal-gasification wastewater treatment and the industrial implementation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Feng, D.C.; Yu, Z.J.; Chen, Y.

2009-06-15

A large amount of wastewater is produced in the Lurgi coal-gasification process with the complex compounds carbon dioxide, ammonia, phenol, etc., which cause a serious environmental problem. In this paper, a novel stripper operated at elevated pressure is designed to improve the pretreatment process. In this technology, two noticeable improvements were established. First, the carbon dioxide and ammonia were removed simultaneously in a single stripper where sour gas (mainly carbon dioxide) is removed from the tower top and the ammonia vapor is drawn from the side and recovered by partial condensation. Second, the ammonia is removed before the phenol recoverymore » to reduce the pH value of the subsequent extraction units, so as the phenol removal performance of the extraction is greatly improved. To ensure the operational efficiency, some key operational parameters are analyzed and optimized though simulation. It is shown that when the top temperature is kept at 40 C and the weight ratio of the side draw to the feed is above 9%, the elevated pressures can ensure the removal efficiency of NH{sub 3} and carbon dioxide and the desired purified water as the bottom product of the unit is obtained. A real industrial application demonstrates the attractiveness of the new technique: it removes 99.9% CO{sub 2} and 99.6% ammonia, compared to known techniques which remove 66.5% and 94.4%, respectively. As a result, the pH value of the wastewater is reduced from above 9 to below 7. This ensures that the phenol removal ratio is above 93% in the following extraction units. The operating cost is lower than that of known techniques, and the operation is simplified.« less

Microfluidic process monitor for industrial solvent extraction system

DOEpatents

Gelis, Artem; Pereira, Candido; Nichols, Kevin Paul Flood

2016-01-12

The present invention provides a system for solvent extraction utilizing a first electrode with a raised area formed on its surface, which defines a portion of a microfluidic channel; a second electrode with a flat surface, defining another portion of the microfluidic channel that opposes the raised area of the first electrode; a reversibly deformable substrate disposed between the first electrode and second electrode, adapted to accommodate the raised area of the first electrode and having a portion that extends beyond the raised area of the first electrode, that portion defining the remaining portions of the microfluidic channel; and an electrolyte of at least two immiscible liquids that flows through the microfluidic channel. Also provided is a system for performing multiple solvent extractions utilizing several microfluidic chips or unit operations connected in series.

15th Anniversary of the Molecular Techniques Unit at the Department of Forensic Medicine at Wroclaw Medical University.

PubMed

Pluta, Dominika; Tokarski, Miron; Karpiewska, Anna; Dobosz, Tadeusz

2017-01-01

Molecular Techniques Unit at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Wroclaw Medical University has been operating since December 2003. Soon it will be 15 years since its establishment. This anniversary become an inspiration to write down the story of this institution whose origins illustrate the immense changes that have taken place in forensic genetics. The aim of our work was also to consolidate the professional achievements of Professor Tadeusz Dobosz, chief of the Unit, one of the pioneers of introducing DNA testing technology into Polish forensic medicine. The most important achievements of the Unit include participation in two EU research projects, the development of a non-destructive method of extraction of genetic material, research in field of gene therapy and certification of the Laboratory of the Molecular Techniques Unit by the Polish Accreditation Center (PCA) confirming compliance with the requirements of the PN-EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standard.

Anthropogenic emissions of methane in the United States

PubMed Central

Miller, Scot M.; Wofsy, Steven C.; Michalak, Anna M.; Kort, Eric A.; Andrews, Arlyn E.; Biraud, Sebastien C.; Dlugokencky, Edward J.; Eluszkiewicz, Janusz; Fischer, Marc L.; Janssens-Maenhout, Greet; Miller, Ben R.; Miller, John B.; Montzka, Stephen A.; Nehrkorn, Thomas; Sweeney, Colm

2013-01-01

This study quantitatively estimates the spatial distribution of anthropogenic methane sources in the United States by combining comprehensive atmospheric methane observations, extensive spatial datasets, and a high-resolution atmospheric transport model. Results show that current inventories from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research underestimate methane emissions nationally by a factor of ∼1.5 and ∼1.7, respectively. Our study indicates that emissions due to ruminants and manure are up to twice the magnitude of existing inventories. In addition, the discrepancy in methane source estimates is particularly pronounced in the south-central United States, where we find total emissions are ∼2.7 times greater than in most inventories and account for 24 ± 3% of national emissions. The spatial patterns of our emission fluxes and observed methane–propane correlations indicate that fossil fuel extraction and refining are major contributors (45 ± 13%) in the south-central United States. This result suggests that regional methane emissions due to fossil fuel extraction and processing could be 4.9 ± 2.6 times larger than in EDGAR, the most comprehensive global methane inventory. These results cast doubt on the US EPA’s recent decision to downscale its estimate of national natural gas emissions by 25–30%. Overall, we conclude that methane emissions associated with both the animal husbandry and fossil fuel industries have larger greenhouse gas impacts than indicated by existing inventories. PMID:24277804

Dual extraction of essential oil and podophyllotoxin from creeping juniper (Juniperus horizontalis)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Juniperus horizontalis Moench (Family Cupressaceae), commonly called creeping juniper, is a widely distributed species in the United States and much of Canada. It is potentially a source for two important chemical products, the anticancer drug synthetic precursor, podophyllotoxin and essential oils....

Uinta Basin Pneumatic Controller Research Project: Industry meeting slides

EPA Science Inventory

Upstream oil and natural gas (ONG) production has increased significantly within Utah’s Uinta & Ouray (U&O) Basin and across the United States over the last decade. ONG extraction and production activities can co-emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a subset of which consists...

37 CFR 102.3 - Records under FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... COMMERCE ADMINISTRATION DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION Freedom of Information Act § 102.3 Records... extracted from an existing database is not always apparent. When responding to FOIA requests for electronic... Title 44 of the United States Code or a National Archives and Records Administration's General Records...

37 CFR 102.3 - Records under FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... COMMERCE ADMINISTRATION DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION Freedom of Information Act § 102.3 Records... extracted from an existing database is not always apparent. When responding to FOIA requests for electronic... Title 44 of the United States Code or a National Archives and Records Administration's General Records...

37 CFR 102.3 - Records under FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... COMMERCE ADMINISTRATION DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION Freedom of Information Act § 102.3 Records... extracted from an existing database is not always apparent. When responding to FOIA requests for electronic... Title 44 of the United States Code or a National Archives and Records Administration's General Records...

37 CFR 102.3 - Records under FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... COMMERCE ADMINISTRATION DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION Freedom of Information Act § 102.3 Records... extracted from an existing database is not always apparent. When responding to FOIA requests for electronic... Title 44 of the United States Code or a National Archives and Records Administration's General Records...

37 CFR 102.3 - Records under FOIA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... COMMERCE ADMINISTRATION DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION Freedom of Information Act § 102.3 Records... extracted from an existing database is not always apparent. When responding to FOIA requests for electronic... Title 44 of the United States Code or a National Archives and Records Administration's General Records...

[Pilot-scale purification of lipopeptide from marine-derived Bacillus marinus].

PubMed

Gu, Kangbo; Guan, Cheng; Xu, Jiahui; Li, Shulan; Luo, Yuanchan; Shen, Guomin; Zhang, Daojing; Li, Yuanguang

2016-11-25

This research was aimed at establishing the pilot-scale purification technology of lipopeptide from marine-derived Bacillus marinus. We studied lipopeptide surfactivity interferences on scale-up unit technologies including acid precipitation, methanol extraction, solvent precipitation, salting out, extraction, silica gel column chromatography and HZ806 macroporous absorption resin column chromatography. Then, the unit technologies were combined in a certain order, to remove the impurities gradually, and to gain purified lipopeptide finally, with high recovery rate throughout the whole process. The novel pilot-scale purification technology could effectively isolate and purify lipopeptide with 87.51% to 100% purity in hectograms from 1 ton of Bacillus marinus B-9987 fermentation broth with more than 81.73% recovery rate. The first practical hectogram production of highly purified lipopeptide derived from Bacillus marinus was achieved. With this new purification method, using complex media became possible in fermentation process to reduce the fermentation cost and scale-up the purification for lipopeptide production. For practicability and economy, foaming problem resulting from massive water evaporation was avoided in this technology.

Extracting salient sublexical units from written texts: “Emophon,” a corpus-based approach to phonological iconicity

PubMed Central

Aryani, Arash; Jacobs, Arthur M.; Conrad, Markus

2013-01-01

A growing body of literature in psychology, linguistics, and the neurosciences has paid increasing attention to the understanding of the relationships between phonological representations of words and their meaning: a phenomenon also known as phonological iconicity. In this article, we investigate how a text's intended emotional meaning, particularly in literature and poetry, may be reflected at the level of sublexical phonological salience and the use of foregrounded elements. To extract such elements from a given text, we developed a probabilistic model to predict the exceeding of a confidence interval for specific sublexical units concerning their frequency of occurrence within a given text contrasted with a reference linguistic corpus for the German language. Implementing this model in a computational application, we provide a text analysis tool which automatically delivers information about sublexical phonological salience allowing researchers, inter alia, to investigate effects of the sublexical emotional tone of texts based on current findings on phonological iconicity. PMID:24101907

Pressure Ulcer Risk and Prevention Practices in Pediatric Patients: A Secondary Analysis of Data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators®.

PubMed

Razmus, Ivy; Bergquist-Beringer, Sandra

2017-01-01

Little is known about pressure ulcer prevention practice among pediatric patients. To describe the frequency of pressure ulcer risk assessment in pediatric patients and pressure ulcer prevention intervention use overall and by hospital unit type, a descriptive secondary analysis was performed of data submitted to the National Database for Nursing Quality Indicators® (NDNQI®) for at least 3 of the 4 quarters in 2012. Relevant data on pressure ulcer risk from 271 hospitals across the United States extracted from the NDNQI database included patient skin and pressure ulcer risk assessment on admission, time since the last pressure ulcer risk assessment, method used to assess pressure ulcer risk, and risk status. Extracted data on pressure ulcer prevention included skin assessment, pressure-redistribution surface use, routine repositioning, nutritional support, and moisture management. These data were organized by unit type and merged with data on hospital characteristics for the analysis. The sample included 39 984 patients ages 1 day to 18 years on 678 pediatric acute care units (general pediatrics, pediatric critical care units, neonatal intensive care units, pediatric step-down units, and pediatric rehabilitation units). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze study data. Most of the pediatric patients (33 644; 89.2%) were assessed for pressure ulcer risk within 24 hours of admission. The Braden Q Scale was frequently used to assess risk on general pediatrics units (75.4%), pediatric step-down units (85.5%), pediatric critical care units (81.3%), and pediatric rehabilitation units (56.1%). In the neonatal intensive care units, another scale or method was used more often (55% to 60%) to assess pressure ulcer risk. Of the 11 203 pediatric patients (39%) determined to be at risk for pressure ulcers, the majority (10 741, 95.8%) received some kind of pressure ulcer prevention intervention during the 24 hours preceding the NDNQI pressure ulcer survey. The frequency of prevention intervention use among those at risk ranged from 99.2% for skin assessment to 70.7% for redistribution surface use. Most pediatric patients are being assessed for pressure ulcer risk, but the implementation of interventions to prevent pressure ulcers among children needs to be improved. Future qualitative research should be conducted to determine how and when clinical judgment is used to assess pressure ulcer risk and the type of pressure-redistribution surfaces used among younger pediatric patients.

Extraction-Scrub-Strip test results from the interim Salt Disposition Program Macrobatch 9 Tank 21H qualification samples

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peters, T.

2016-02-23

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) analyzed samples from Tank 21H in support of qualification of Macrobatch (Salt Batch) 9 for the Interim Salt Disposition Program (ISDP). The Salt Batch 9 characterization results were previously reported. An Extraction-Scrub-Strip (ESS) test was performed to determine cesium distribution ratios (D (Cs)) and cesium concentration in the strip effluent and decontaminated salt solution (DSS) streams; this data will be used by Tank Farm Engineering to project a cesium decontamination factor (DF). This test used actual Tank 21H material, and a blend solvent prepared by SRNL that mimics the solvent composition currently being used atmore » the Modular Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU). The ESS test showed acceptable performance with an extraction D (Cs) value of 52.4. This value is consistent with results from previous salt batch ESS tests using similar solvent formulations. This compares well against the predicted value of 56.5 from a recently created D (Cs) model« less

Automated solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography for assay of cyclosporine in whole blood.

PubMed

Kabra, P M; Wall, J H; Dimson, P

1987-12-01

In this rapid, precise, accurate, cost-effective, automated liquid-chromatographic procedure for determining cyclosporine in whole blood, the cyclosporine is extracted from 0.5 mL of whole blood together with 300 micrograms of cyclosporin D per liter, added as internal standard, by using an Advanced Automated Sample Processing unit. The on-line solid-phase extraction is performed on an octasilane sorbent cartridge, which is interfaced with a RP-8 guard column and an octyl analytical column, packed with 5-microns packing material. Both columns are eluted with a mobile phase containing acetonitrile/methanol/water (53/20/27 by vol) at a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min and column temperature of 70 degrees C. Absolute recovery of cyclosporine exceeded 85% and the standard curve was linear to 5000 micrograms/L. Within-run and day-to-day CVs were less than 8%. Correlation between automated and manual Bond-Elut extraction methods was excellent (r = 0.987). None of 18 drugs and four steroids tested interfered.

Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) for the Isolation of Willow Lignin (Salix matsudana cv. Zhuliu)

PubMed Central

Li, Tengfei; Liu, Yu; Lou, Rui; Yang, Guihua; Chen, Jiachuan; Saeed, Haroon A. M.

2017-01-01

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a potentially high-value lignin extraction methodology. DESs prepared from choline chloride (ChCl) and three hydrogen-bond donors (HBD)—lactic acid (Lac), glycerol, and urea—were evaluated for isolation of willow (Salix matsudana cv. Zhuliu) lignin. DESs types, mole ratio of ChCl to HBD, extraction temperature, and time on the fractionated DES-lignin yield demonstrated that the optimal DES-lignin yield (91.8 wt % based on the initial lignin in willow) with high purity of 94.5% can be reached at a ChCl-to-Lac molar ratio of 1:10, extraction temperature of 120 °C, and time of 12 h. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) , 13C-NMR, and 31P-NMR showed that willow lignin extracted by ChCl-Lac was mainly composed of syringyl and guaiacyl units. Serendipitously, a majority of the glucan in willow was preserved after ChCl-Lac treatment. PMID:29143790

[Application of continuous mixing technology in ethanol precipitation process of Salvia miltiorrhiza by using micromixer].

PubMed

Gong, Xing-Chu; Shen, Ji-Chen; Qu, Hai-Bin

2016-12-01

Continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing is one of the development directions in international pharmaceutical technology. In this study, a continuous mixing technology of ethanol and concentrated extract in the ethanol precipitation of Salvia miltiorrhiza was realized by using a membrane dispersion method. The effects of ethanol flowrate, concentrated extract flowrate, and flowrate ratio on ethanol precipitation results were investigated. With the increase of the flowrates of ethanol and concentrated extract, retention rate of active phenolic acids components was increased, and the total solid removal rate was decreased. The purity of active components in supernatants was mainly affected by the ratio of ethanol flowrate and concentrated extract flowrate. The mixing efficiency of adding ethanol under continuous flow mixing mode in this study was comparable to that of industrial ethanol precipitation. Continuous adding ethanol by using a membrane dispersion mixer is a promising technology with many advantages such as easy enlargement, large production per unit volume, and easy control. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Extraction, -scrub, -strip test results from the interim salt disposition program macrobatch 10 tank 21H qualification samples

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peters, T. B.

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) analyzed samples from Tank 21H in support of qualification of Macrobatch (Salt Batch) 10 for the Interim Salt Disposition Program (ISDP). The Salt Batch 10 characterization results were previously reported.ii,iii An Extraction, -Scrub, -Strip (ESS) test was performed to determine cesium distribution ratios (D(Cs)) and cesium concentration in the strip effluent (SE) and decontaminated salt solution (DSS) streams; this data will be used by Tank Farm Engineering to project a cesium decontamination factor (DF). This test used actual Tank 21H material, and a sample of the NGS Blend solvent currently being used at the Modularmore » Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU). The ESS test showed acceptable performance with an extraction D(Cs) value of 110. This value is consistent with results from previous salt batch ESS tests using similar solvent formulations. This is better than the predicted value of 39.8 from a recently created D(Cs) model.« less

Unique low-molecular-weight lignin with high purity extracted from wood by deep eutectic solvents (DES): a source of lignin for valorization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alvarez-Vasco, Carlos; Ma, Ruoshui; Quintero, Melissa

This paper reports a new method of applying Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) for extracting lignin from woody biomass with high yield and high purity. DES mixtures prepared from Choline Chloride (ChCl) and four hydrogen-bond donors–acetic acid, lactic acid, levulinic acid and glycerol–were evaluated for treatment of hardwood (poplar) and softwood (D. fir). It was found that these DES treatments can selectively extract a significant amount of lignin from wood with high yields: 78% from poplar and 58% from D. fir. The extracted lignin has high purity (95%) with unique structural properties. We discover that DES can selectively cleave ether linkagesmore » in wood lignin and facilitate lignin removal from wood. The mechanism of DES cleavage of ether bonds between phenylpropane units was investigated. The results from this study demonstrate that DES is a promising solvent for wood delignification and the production of a new source of lignin with promising potential applications.« less

Isolation and Characterization of Anthocyanins from Hibiscus sabdariffa Flowers.

PubMed

Grajeda-Iglesias, Claudia; Figueroa-Espinoza, Maria C; Barouh, Nathalie; Baréa, Bruno; Fernandes, Ana; de Freitas, Victor; Salas, Erika

2016-07-22

The intense red-colored Hibiscus sabdariffa flowers are an inexpensive source of anthocyanins with potential to be used as natural, innocuous, and health-beneficial colorants. An anthocyanin-rich extract from hibiscus flowers was obtained by ultrasound-assisted extraction. By a single-step process fractionation using a Sep-Pak C18 cartridge, the main hibiscus anthocyanins, delphinidin-3-O-sambubioside (Dp-samb) and cyanidin-3-O-sambubioside (Cy-samb), were separated and then characterized via NMR and HPLC-ESIMS data. Since Dp-samb was the most abundant anthocyanin identified in the extract, its colorant properties were studied by the pH jumps method, which allowed the calculation of the single acid-base equilibrium (pK'a 2.92), the acidity (pKa 3.70), and the hydration constants (pKh 3.02). Moreover, by using size-exclusion chromatography, new cyanidin-derived anthocyanins (with three or more sugar units) were successfully identified and reported for the first time in the hibiscus extract.

Follicular unit transplantation: 2005.

PubMed

Bernstein, Robert M; Rassman, William R

2005-07-01

The recognition that the follicular unit is a discrete, anatomic and physiologic entity, and that preserving it through stereomicroscopic dissection is the best way to ensure the naturalness of the restoration, has brought hair transplantation into the twenty-first century. Issues yet to be resolved include determining the maximum density and number of grafts that can be used safely in a single session, deciding whether it is preferable to premake recipient sites or immediately place grafts into sites as they are made, and defining the precise role of follicular unit extraction. The essence of providing the best care for patients rests on proper patient selection, establishing realistic expectations, and using nonsurgical management for young persons who are just starting to thin.

Antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity of switchgrass-derived extractives

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Labbe, Nicole; Ownley, Bonnie H.; Gwinn, Kimberly D.

Switchgrass is an increasingly important biofuel crop, but knowledge of switchgrass fungal pathogens is not extensive. The purpose of this research was to identify the fungal pathogens that decrease crop yield of switchgrass grown in Tennessee and to investigate a potential sustainable disease management strategy from a value-added by-product of the switchgrass biofuel conversion process. The specific objectives were 1) to identify and characterize prevalent fungal pathogens of switchgrass in Tennessee, 2) assess switchgrass seed produced in the United States for seedborne fungal pathogens, and 3) evaluate switchgrass extractives for antimicrobial activity against plant pathogens.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction of pectins from grape pomace using citric acid: a response surface methodology approach.

PubMed

Minjares-Fuentes, R; Femenia, A; Garau, M C; Meza-Velázquez, J A; Simal, S; Rosselló, C

2014-06-15

An ultrasound-assisted procedure for the extraction of pectins from grape pomace with citric acid as the extracting agent was established. A Box-Behnken design (BBD) was employed to optimize the extraction temperature (X1: 35-75°C), extraction time (X2: 20-60 min) and pH (X3: 1.0-2.0) to obtain a high yield of pectins with high average molecular weight (MW) and degree of esterification (DE) from grape pomace. Analysis of variance showed that the contribution of a quadratic model was significant for the pectin extraction yield and for pectin MW whereas the DE of pectins was more influenced by a linear model. An optimization study using response surface methodology was performed and 3D response surfaces were plotted from the mathematical model. According to the RSM model, the highest pectin yield (∼32.3%) can be achieved when the UAE process is carried out at 75°C for 60 min using a citric acid solution of pH 2.0. These pectic polysaccharides, composed mainly by galacturonic acid units (<97% of total sugars), have an average MW of 163.9 kDa and a DE of 55.2%. Close agreement between experimental and predicted values was found. These results suggest that ultrasound-assisted extraction could be a good option for the extraction of functional pectins with citric acid from grape pomace at industrial level. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation and Comparison of the Antibacterial Activity against Streptococcus mutans of Grape Seed Extract at Different Concentrations with Chlorhexidine Gluconate: An in vitro Study

PubMed Central

Dave, Bhavna; Vyas, Soham M; Shah, Nupur

2016-01-01

Introduction Streptococcus mutans has been implicated as primary microorganisms which cause dental caries in humans. There has been an increased interest in the therapeutic properties of some medicinal plants and natural compounds which have demonstrated antibacterial activities. Grape is one of the plants of this group which contains tannin and polyphenolic compound. Aim To evaluate and compare antibacterial activity of grape seed extract at different concentrations with chlorhexidine gluconate against S. mutans. Materials and methods Grape seeds were extracted with ethanol/water ratio of 70:30 volume/volume. The extracts were filtered through Whatman No. 1 filter paper until it becomes colorless. Streptococcus mutans strains were taken. To check the antimicrobial properties of grape seed extract at different concentration and chlorhexidine gluconate, they were added to S. mutans strain and incubated for 48 hours than colony-forming units/mL were checked. Results Grape seed extract at higher concentration were found to be more potent against S. mutans. Chlorhexidine gluconate was found to have most potent antibacterial action compared to all different concentrations of grape seed extract. Conclusion Grape seed extract as a natural antimicrobial compound has inhibitory effect against S. mutans. How to cite this article Swadas M, Dave B, Vyas SM, Shah N. Evaluation and Comparison of the Antibacterial Activity against Streptococcus mutans of Grape Seed Extract at Different Concentrations with Chlorhexidine Gluconate: An in vitro Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2016;9(3):181-185. PMID:27843246

The bioactivity of plant extracts against representative bacterial pathogens of the lower respiratory tract

PubMed Central

Bocanegra-García, Virgilio; del Rayo Camacho-Corona, María; Ramírez-Cabrera, Mónica; Rivera, Gildardo; Garza-González, Elvira

2009-01-01

Background Lower respiratory tract infections are a major cause of illness and death. Such infections are common in intensive care units (ICU) and their lethality persists despite advances in diagnosis, treatment and prevention. In Mexico, some plants are used in traditional medicine to treat respiratory diseases or ailments such as cough, bronchitis, tuberculosis and other infections. Medical knowledge derived from traditional societies has motivated searches for new bioactive molecules derived from plants that show potent activity against bacterial pathogens. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of hexanic, chloroformic (CLO), methanolic (MET) and aqueous extracts from various plants used in Mexican traditional medicine on various microorganisms associated with respiratory disease. Methods thirty-five extracts prepared from nine plants used in Mexican traditional medicine for the treatment of respiratory infections were evaluated against 15 control bacterial species and clinical isolates. Results Both chloroformic (CLO) and methanolic (MET) extracts of Larrea tridentata were active against Methicillin-resistant S. aureus, B. subtilis and L. monocytogenes. A MET extract of L. tridentata was also active against S. aureus, S. pneumoniae, S. maltophilia, E. faecalis and H. influenzae and the CLO extract was active against A. baumannii. An Aqueous extract of M. acumitata and a MET extract of N. officinale were active against S. pneumoniae. CLO and MET extracts of L. tridentata were active against clinical isolates of S. aureus, S. pneumoniae and E. faecalis. Conclusion Overall, our results support the potential use of L. tridentata as a source of antibacterial compounds. PMID:19486533

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated activity of particulate organic matter from the Paso del Norte airshed along the U.S.-Mexico border.

PubMed Central

Arrieta, Daniel E; Ontiveros, Cynthia C; Li, Wen-Whai; Garcia, Jose H; Denison, Michael S; McDonald, Jacob D; Burchiel, Scott W; Washburn, Barbara Shayne

2003-01-01

In this study, we determined the biologic activity of dichloromethane-extracted particulate matter < 10 micro m in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) obtained from filters at three sites in the Paso del Norte airshed, which includes El Paso, Texas, USA; Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and Sunland Park, New Mexico, USA. The extracts were rich in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and had significant biologic activity, measured using two in vitro assay systems: ethoxyresorufin-(O-deethylase (EROD) induction and the aryl hydrocarbon-receptor luciferase reporter system. In most cases, both EROD (5.25 pmol/min/mg protein) and luciferase activities (994 relative light units/mg) were highest in extracts from the Advance site located in an industrial neighborhood in Juarez. These values represented 58% and 55%, respectively, of induction associated with 1 micro M ss-naphthoflavone exposures. In contrast, little activity was observed at the Northeast Clinic site in El Paso, the reference site. In most cases, luciferase and EROD activity from extracts collected from the Tillman Health Center site, situated in downtown El Paso, fell between those observed at the other two sites. Overall, a statistically significant correlation existed between PM10 and EROD and luciferase activities. Chemical analysis of extracts collected from the Advance site demonstrated that concentrations of most PAHs were higher than those reported in most other metropolitan areas in the United States. Calculations made with these data suggest a cancer risk of 5-12 cases per 100,000 people. This risk estimate, as well as comparisons with the work of other investigators, raises concern regarding the potential for adverse health effects to the residents of this airshed. Further work is needed to understand the sources, exposure, and effects of PM10 and particulate organic material in the Paso del Norte airshed. PMID:12896850

40 CFR 98.422 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Suppliers of Carbon Dioxide § 98.422 GHGs to report. (a) Mass of CO2 captured from each production process unit. (b) Mass of CO2 extracted from each CO2 production wells. (c) Mass of CO2 imported. (d) Mass of CO2 exported. ...

CLEANING EXCAVATED SOIL USING EXTRACTION AGENTS: A STATE-OF-THE-ART REVIEW

EPA Science Inventory

This report presents a state-of-the-art review of soil washing technologies and their applicability to Superfund sites in the United States. The review includes Superfund site soil and contamination characteristics; as well as soil cleaning technologies, their principles of opera...

School Leadership: A Contemporary Reader.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burdin, Joel L., Ed.

This four-part document provides an overview of the knowledge, perspectives, and skills of administration. The chapters are extracted mostly from issues of "Educational Administration Quarterly." Part 1, "The Society in Which Leaders Lead," contains five chapters: (1) "Do Political Ideologies Influence Education in the United States?" (Ralph B.…

Eastern red cedar: Cedarwood oil extraction and bioactivity

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Eastern red cedar (ERC), Juniperus virginana L. (Cupressaceae) is a common coniferous evergreen tree and is a very abundant natural resource in the United States. Because of its encroachment onto pastures and rangeland, ERC is considered an invasive species. Eastern red cedar, however, is highly pri...

Program review presentation to Level 1, Interagency Coordination Committee

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

Progress in the development of crop inventory technology is reported. Specific topics include the results of a thematic mapper analysis, variable selection studies/early season estimator improvements, the agricultural information system simulator, large unit proportion estimation, and development of common features for multi-satellite information extraction.

Publications - GMC 292 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical

Science.gov Websites

and core chips (13760'-13820') of Union Oil Company of California Clam Gulch Unit #1 Authors: Marathon Oil Company Publication Date: 2000 Publisher: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys information. Bibliographic Reference Marathon Oil Company, 2000, Hydrocarbon extraction gas chromatograph

Identification of an exposure risk to heavy metals from pharmaceutical-grade rubber stoppers.

PubMed

Li, Xianghui; Qian, Pingping

2017-07-01

Exposure to low concentrations of heavy metals and metalloids represents a well-documented risk to animal and human health. However, current standards (European Pharmacopeia [EP], United States Pharmacopoeia [USP], International Organization for Standardization [ISO], YBB concerned with rubber closures) only require testing for Zn in pharmaceutical-grade rubber stoppers and then using only pure water as a solvent. We extracted and quantified heavy metals and trace elements from pharmaceutical-grade rubber stoppers under conditions that might occur during the preparation of drugs. Pure water, saline, 10% glucose, 3% acetic acid (w/v), 0.1 mol/L hydrochloric acid, and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (4 mg/mL, 0.4 mg/mL, and 0.04 mg/mL) were used as extraction agents. We quantified the extracted arsenic, lead, antimony, iron, magnesium, aluminum, and zinc using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The concentration of extracted metals varied depending on the different extraction solutions used and between the different rubber stopper manufacturers. Rubber stoppers are ubiquitously used in the pharmaceutical industry for the storage and preparation of drugs. Extraction of heavy metals during the manufacturing and preparation of drugs represents a significant risk, suggesting a need for industry standards to focus on heavy metal migration from rubber stoppers. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Deep liquid-chromatographic purification of uranium extract from technetium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Volk, V.; Dvoeglazov, K; Podrezova, L.

The recycling of uranium in the nuclear fuel cycle requires the removal of a number of radioactive and stable impurities like {sup 99}Tc from spent fuels. In order to improve the grade of uranium extract purification from technetium the method of liquid chromatography and the apparatus for its performance have been developed. Process of technetium extraction and concentrating in aqueous solution containing reducing agent has been studied on simulated solutions (U-Tc-HNO{sub 3}-30% TBP-isoparM). The dynamic tests of the method have been carried out on the laboratory unit. Solution of diformyl-hydrazine in nitric acid was used as a stationary phase. Silicamore » gel with specific surface of 186 m{sup 2}/g was used as a carrier of the stationary phase. It is shown that the volume of purified extract increases as the solution temperature increases, concentration of reducing agent increases and extract flow rate decreases. It is established that the technetium content in uranium by this method could achieve a value below 0.3 ppm. Some variants of overload and composition of the stationary phase containing the extracted technetium have been offered and tested. It is defined that the method provides reduction of processing medium-active wastes by more than 10 times during finish refining process. (authors)« less

Egg extract of apple snail for eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their antibacterial activity.

PubMed

Janthima, Ratima; Khamhaengpol, Arunrat; Siri, Sineenat

2018-03-01

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) provides the alternative method with cost effectiveness and the eco-friendly process by using natural biomolecules as reducing and stabilizing agents. Alternative to the most studies of plant extracts, this work demonstrated a use of egg extract of apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) for an eco-friendly production of AgNPs. The extract contained at least six proteins with the molecular weight in a range of 24-65 kDa that exhibited the reducing activity. The dispersive AgNPs were produced in the reaction containing only the extract and silver nitrate, as determined by the characteristic surface plasmon resonance peak of silver at 412 nm. The synthesized AgNPs were spherical with the average diameter of 9.0 ± 5.9 nm. The X-ray diffraction pattern and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analyses confirmed the face-cubic centre (fcc) unit cell structure of AgNPs. The synthesized AgNPs exhibited the antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli. Results of this work clearly showed the potential use of the egg extract of apple snail for a green synthesis of small size AgNPs exhibiting the antibacterial activity.

Effect of St.John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) oily extract for the care and treatment of pressure sores; a case report.

PubMed

Yücel, Ali; Kan, Yüksel; Yesilada, Erdem; Akın, Onat

2017-01-20

Topical formulations such as oily extracts or ointments prepared with the flowering aerial parts of St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L., Hypericaceae) have been used in the management of a wide range dermatological problems including superficial wounds and burns, bruises, contusions and many others in the worldwide traditional medicines. This is the first case study reporting the beneficial effects of an oily extract of St. John's wort in the treatment of pressure sores in a intensive care unit (ICU) patient. The oily extract of St. John's wort was applied to a volunteer patient at ICU daily for forty successive days for wound care and treatment. Healing status was monitored macroscopically by measuring the wound size and stages at certain intervals as well as histopathological evaluation of the tissue sections taken at the initial and final dates of treatment. Evaluation of the results obtained from the macroscopical and histopathological experimentation have shown that oily extract of St. John's wort provided significant efficacy for the treatment of pressure sore wounds. St. John's wort oily extract may be suggested as a cost-effective option for the prevention or treatment of pressure sores in ICU patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chlorella vulgaris cultivation in sludge extracts from 2,4,6-TCP wastewater treatment for toxicity removal and utilization.

PubMed

Wang, Lu; Chen, Xiurong; Wang, Hualin; Zhang, Yuying; Tang, Qingjie; Li, Jiahui

2017-02-01

Chlorella vulgaris was cultivated in different proportions of activated sludge extracts, which was from the treatment of the synthetic wastewater containing 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP). The nutrients, total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), were removed over 45% and 90%, respectively. The maximum reduction amount of ecotoxicity and total organic carbon (TOC) occurred in the 100% sludge group on the 8th day (68%; 86.2 mg L -1 ). The variations of Excitation-emission matrix spectra (EEMs) and TOC indicated that extracellular organic matters (EOM) produced by algae led to TOC increase in the medium. The cell density was close to each other for groups with sludge extract proportion below 50%; sludge extracts (below 75% addition) had a stimulating effect on the accumulation of chlorophyll-a in per unit algal cell. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) variation demonstrated that C. vulgaris response positively to sludge extracts addition. Lipid content in C. vulgaris was up to its maximum value on the 8th day. Considering the performance on nutrients removal, toxicity reduction and algal growth, the optimal cultivation period for C. vulgaris before harvesting was around 8 days with sludge extracts proportion below 50%. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamic ultrasonic nebulisation extraction coupled with headspace ionic liquid-based single-drop microextraction for the analysis of the essential oil in Forsythia suspensa.

PubMed

Yang, Jinjuan; Wei, Hongmin; Teng, Xiane; Zhang, Hanqi; Shi, Yuhua

2014-01-01

Ionic liquids have attracted much attention as an extraction solvent instead of traditional organic solvent in single-drop microextraction. However, non-volatile ionic liquids are difficult to couple with gas chromatography. Thus, the following injection system for the determination of organic compounds is described. To establish an environmentally friendly, simple, and effective extraction method for preparation and analysis of the essential oil from aromatic plants. The dynamic ultrasonic nebulisation extraction was coupled with headspace ionic liquid-based single-drop microextraction(UNE-HS/IL/SDME)for the extraction of essential oils from Forsythia suspense fruits. After 13 min of extraction for 50 mg sample, the extracts in ionic liquid were evaporated rapidly in the gas chromatography injector through a thermal desorption unit (5 s). The traditional extraction method was carried out for comparative study. The optimum conditions were: 3 μL of 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate was selected as the extraction solvent, the sample amount was 50 mg, the flow rate of purging gas was 200 mL/min, the extraction time was 13 min, the injection volume was 2 μL, and the thermal desorption temperature and time were 240 °C and 5 s respectively. Comparing with hydrodistillation (HD), the proposed method was environment friendly and efficient. The proposed method is environmentally friendly, time saving, with high efficiency and low consumption. It would extend the application range of the HS/SDME and would be useful especially for aromatic plants analysis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Conceptual model of the uppermost principal aquifer systems in the Williston and Powder River structural basins, United States and Canada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Long, Andrew J.; Aurand, Katherine R.; Bednar, Jennifer M.; Davis, Kyle W.; McKaskey, Jonathan D.R.G.; Thamke, Joanna N.

2014-01-01

The three uppermost principal aquifer systems of the Northern Great Plains—the glacial, lower Tertiary, and Upper Cretaceous aquifer systems—are described in this report and provide water for irrigation, mining, public and domestic supply, livestock, and industrial uses. These aquifer systems primarily are present in two nationally important fossil-fuelproducing areas: the Williston and Powder River structural basins in the United States and Canada. The glacial aquifer system is contained within glacial deposits that overlie the lower Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous aquifer systems in the northeastern part of the Williston structural basin. Productive sand and gravel aquifers exist within this aquifer system. The Upper Cretaceous aquifer system is contained within bedrock lithostratigraphic units as deep as 2,850 and 8,500 feet below land surface in the Williston and Powder River structural basins, respectively. Petroleum extraction from much deeper formations, such as the Bakken Formation, is rapidly increasing because of recently improved hydraulic fracturing methods that require large volumes of relatively freshwater from shallow aquifers or surface water. Extraction of coalbed natural gas from within the lower Tertiary aquifer system requires removal of large volumes of groundwater to allow degasification. Recognizing the importance of understanding water resources in these energy-rich basins, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Groundwater Resources Program (http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/gwrp/) began a groundwater study of the Williston and Powder River structural basins in 2011 to quantify this groundwater resource, the results of which are described in this report. The overall objective of this study was to characterize, quantify, and provide an improved conceptual understanding of the three uppermost and principal aquifer systems in energy-resource areas of the Northern Great Plains to assist in groundwater-resource management for multiple uses. The study area includes parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming in the United States and Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada. The glacial aquifer system is contained within glacial drift consisting primarily of till, with smaller amounts of glacial outwash sand and gravel deposits. The lower Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous aquifer systems are contained within several formations of the Tertiary and Cretaceous geologic systems, which are hydraulically separated from underlying aquifers by a basal confining unit. The lower Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous aquifer systems each were divided into three hydrogeologic units that correspond to one or more lithostratigraphic units. The period prior to 1960 is defined as the predevelopment period when little groundwater was extracted. From 1960 through 1990, numerous flowing wells were installed near the Yellowstone, Little Missouri and Knife Rivers, resulting in local groundwater declines. Recently developed technologies for the extraction of petroleum resources, which largely have been applied in the study area since about 2005, require millions of gallons of water for construction of each well, with additional water needed for long-term operation; therefore, the potential for an increase in groundwater extraction is high. In this study, groundwater recharge and discharge components were estimated for the period 1981–2005. Groundwater recharge primarily occurs from infiltration of rainfall and snowmelt (precipitation recharge) and infiltration of streams into the ground (stream infiltration). Total estimated recharge to the Williston and Powder River control volumes is 4,560 and 1,500 cubic feet per second, respectively. Estimated precipitation recharge is 26 and 15 percent of total recharge for the Williston and Powder River control volumes, respectively. Estimated stream infiltration is 71 and 80 percent of total recharge for the Williston and Powder River control volumes, respectively. Groundwater discharge primarily is to streams and springs and is estimated to be about 97 and 92 percent of total discharge for the Williston and Powder River control volumes, respectively. Most of the remaining discharge results from pumped and flowing wells. Groundwater flow in the Williston structural basin generally is from the west and southwest toward the east, where discharge to streams occurs. Locally, in the uppermost hydrogeologic units, groundwater generally is unconfined and flows from topographically high to low areas, where discharge to streams occurs. Groundwater flow in the Powder River structural basin generally is toward the north, with local variations, particularly in the upper Fort Union aquifer, where flow is toward streams.

Should the United States Marine Corps Refine Its System of Active Component Enlisted Recruitment in Order to Target the Needs of Select Marine Corps Reserve Units?

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-23

1K.pdf ( accessed January 3, 2012). 6 Charts built by the author using data extracted the Marine Corps Total Force System database. Information...Washington D.C., February 2012. http://www.defense.gov/news/Fact_Sheet_Budget.pdf ( accessed February 17, 2012). 10 Department of Defense. 11...www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=66698 ( accessed January 8, 2012) 12 Amos. 13 David Cloud, and Christi Parsons. "President Obama Calls for

The bony cartilaginous unit: the missing graft in septorhinoplasty.

PubMed

Sazgar, A A

2016-08-01

To achieve the desired nasoseptal refinements in septorhinoplasty, sufficient septal cartilage is needed. There are many cases in which septal cartilage is insufficient, especially in revision surgery. To obtain an optimal outcome, a bony cartilaginous unit is proposed as a versatile graft for various parts of the nose. This bony cartilaginous unit is extracted using the open septorhinoplasty approach in which the bilateral septal flaps are elevated over the entire cartilaginous and bony part; however, the cartilaginous septum and posterior bony part are not separated and are removed as an integrated unit. These bony cartilaginous units can be used as various types of grafts at different sites in the nose. In the present study, the bony cartilaginous units were used as caudal extension grafts, spreader grafts, lateral crural strut grafts, and for the closure of septal perforations. This research has shown the advantage of using septal bone in conjunction with cartilage as an integrated unit to correct external nose and septal deformities, especially in cartilage-depleted patients. Copyright © 2016 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identification And Characterization Of The Solids Found In Extraction Contactor SEP-401 In June 2012

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fondeur, F. F.; Fink, S. D.

2012-12-10

The Modular Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) recently conducted an outage that included maintenance on the centrifugal contactors. Operations personnel observed solids or deposits in two contactors and attempted to collect samples for analyses by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). The residues found in Extraction Contactor SEP-401 are a mixture of amorphous silica, aluminosilicate, titanium, and debris from low alloy steel. The solids contain low concentrations of plutonium and strontium. These isotopes are associated with the titanium that came from the monosodium titanate (MST) added in the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) most likely as leached Ti from the MST thatmore » precipitated subsequently in MCU. An attempt was also made to obtain samples from the contents of Wash Contactor SEP-702. However, sampling provide ineffective.« less

1:6000 Scale (6K) Quadrangles developed by USEPA to Support Reconnaissance, and Tactical and Strategic Planning for Emergency Responses and Homeland Security Events (Region 9 Extract)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Reference quads for emergency response reconnaissance developed for use by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Grid cells are based on densification of the USGS Quarterquad (1:12,000 scale or 12K) grids for the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico and are roughly equivalent to 1:6000 scale (6K) quadrangles approximately 2 miles long on each side. Note: This file is a regional subset that has been extracted from a national file 6K quad file. Each regional extract includes a 20 mile buffer of tiles around each EPA Region. To access the national layer (size is greater than 80MB), go to https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/OLEM/6kquads_epa.zip.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and polymerase chain reaction performance using Mexican and Guatemalan discrete typing unit I strains of Trypanosoma cruzi.

PubMed

Ballinas-Verdugo, Martha; Reyes, Pedro Antonio; Mejia-Dominguez, Ana; López, Ruth; Matta, Vivian; Monteón, Victor M

2011-12-01

Thirteen Trypanosoma cruzi isolates from different geographic regions of Mexico and Guatemala belonging to discrete typing unit (DTU) I and a reference CL-Brener (DTU VI) strain were used to perform enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A panel of 57 Mexican serum samples of patients with chronic chagasic cardiopathy and asymptomatic infected subjects (blood bank donors) were used in this study. DNA from the above 14 T. cruzi strains were extracted and analyzed by PCR using different sets of primers designed from minicircle and satellite T. cruzi DNA. The chronic chagasic cardiopathy serum samples were easily recognized with ELISA regardless of the source of antigenic extract used, even with the CL-Brener TcVI, but positive serum samples from blood bank donors in some cases were not recognized by some Mexican antigenic extracts. On the other hand, PCR showed an excellent performance despite the set of primers used, since all Mexican and Guatemalan T. cruzi strains were correctly amplified. In general terms, Mexican, Guatemalan, and CL-Brener T. cruzi strains are equally good sources of antigen when using the ELISA test to detect Mexican serum samples. However, there are some strains with poor performance. The DTU I strains are easily detected using either kinetoplast or satellite DNA target designed from DTU VI strains.

LC-UV-solid-phase extraction-NMR-MS combined with a cryogenic flow probe and its application to the identification of compounds present in Greek oregano.

PubMed

Exarchou, Vassiliki; Godejohann, Markus; van Beek, Teris A; Gerothanassis, Ioannis P; Vervoort, Jacques

2003-11-15

Structure elucidation of natural products usually relies on a combination of NMR spectroscopy with mass spectrometry whereby NMR trails MS in terms of the minimum sample amount required. In the present study, the usefulness of on-line solid-phase extraction (SPE) in LC-NMR for peak storage after the LC separation prior to NMR analysis is demonstrated. The SPE unit allows the use of normal protonated solvents for the LC separation and fully deuterated solvents for flushing the trapped compounds to the NMR probe. Thus, solvent suppression is no longer necessary. Multiple trapping of the same analyte from repeated LC injections was utilized to solve the problem of low concentration and to obtain 2D heteronuclear NMR spectra. In addition, a combination of the SPE unit with a recently developed cryoflow NMR probe and an MS was evaluated. This on-line LC-UV-SPE-NMR-MS system was used for the automated analysis of a Greek oregano extract. Combining the data provided by the UV, MS, and NMR spectra, the flavonoids taxifolin, aromadendrin, eriodictyol, naringenin, and apigenin, the phenolic acid rosmarinic acid, and the monoterpene carvacrol were identified. This automated technique is very useful for natural product analysis, and the large sensitivity improvement leads to significantly reduced NMR acquisition times.

ChemBrowser: a flexible framework for mining chemical documents.

PubMed

Wu, Xian; Zhang, Li; Chen, Ying; Rhodes, James; Griffin, Thomas D; Boyer, Stephen K; Alba, Alfredo; Cai, Keke

2010-01-01

The ability to extract chemical and biological entities and relations from text documents automatically has great value to biochemical research and development activities. The growing maturity of text mining and artificial intelligence technologies shows promise in enabling such automatic chemical entity extraction capabilities (called "Chemical Annotation" in this paper). Many techniques have been reported in the literature, ranging from dictionary and rule-based techniques to machine learning approaches. In practice, we found that no single technique works well in all cases. A combinatorial approach that allows one to quickly compose different annotation techniques together for a given situation is most effective. In this paper, we describe the key challenges we face in real-world chemical annotation scenarios. We then present a solution called ChemBrowser which has a flexible framework for chemical annotation. ChemBrowser includes a suite of customizable processing units that might be utilized in a chemical annotator, a high-level language that describes the composition of various processing units that would form a chemical annotator, and an execution engine that translates the composition language to an actual annotator that can generate annotation results for a given set of documents. We demonstrate the impact of this approach by tailoring an annotator for extracting chemical names from patent documents and show how this annotator can be easily modified with simple configuration alone.

Improved system integration for integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems.

PubMed

Frey, H Christopher; Zhu, Yunhua

2006-03-01

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems are a promising technology for power generation. They include an air separation unit (ASU), a gasification system, and a gas turbine combined cycle power block, and feature competitive efficiency and lower emissions compared to conventional power generation technology. IGCC systems are not yet in widespread commercial use and opportunities remain to improve system feasibility via improved process integration. A process simulation model was developed for IGCC systems with alternative types of ASU and gas turbine integration. The model is applied to evaluate integration schemes involving nitrogen injection, air extraction, and combinations of both, as well as different ASU pressure levels. The optimal nitrogen injection only case in combination with an elevated pressure ASU had the highest efficiency and power output and approximately the lowest emissions per unit output of all cases considered, and thus is a recommended design option. The optimal combination of air extraction coupled with nitrogen injection had slightly worse efficiency, power output, and emissions than the optimal nitrogen injection only case. Air extraction alone typically produced lower efficiency, lower power output, and higher emissions than all other cases. The recommended nitrogen injection only case is estimated to provide annualized cost savings compared to a nonintegrated design. Process simulation modeling is shown to be a useful tool for evaluation and screening of technology options.

Preliminary evaluation of a fully automated quantitative framework for characterizing general breast tissue histology via color histogram and color texture analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, Brad M.; Gastounioti, Aimilia; Batiste, Rebecca C.; Kontos, Despina; Feldman, Michael D.

2016-03-01

Visual characterization of histologic specimens is known to suffer from intra- and inter-observer variability. To help address this, we developed an automated framework for characterizing digitized histology specimens based on a novel application of color histogram and color texture analysis. We perform a preliminary evaluation of this framework using a set of 73 trichrome-stained, digitized slides of normal breast tissue which were visually assessed by an expert pathologist in terms of the percentage of collagenous stroma, stromal collagen density, duct-lobular unit density and the presence of elastosis. For each slide, our algorithm automatically segments the tissue region based on the lightness channel in CIELAB colorspace. Within each tissue region, a color histogram feature vector is extracted using a common color palette for trichrome images generated with a previously described method. Then, using a whole-slide, lattice-based methodology, color texture maps are generated using a set of color co-occurrence matrix statistics: contrast, correlation, energy and homogeneity. The extracted features sets are compared to the visually assessed tissue characteristics. Overall, the extracted texture features have high correlations to both the percentage of collagenous stroma (r=0.95, p<0.001) and duct-lobular unit density (r=0.71, p<0.001) seen in the tissue samples, and several individual features were associated with either collagen density and/or the presence of elastosis (p<=0.05). This suggests that the proposed framework has promise as a means to quantitatively extract descriptors reflecting tissue-level characteristics and thus could be useful in detecting and characterizing histological processes in digitized histology specimens.

Ground-water flow and the possible effects of remedial actions at J-Field, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hughes, W.B.

1995-01-01

J-Field, located in the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md, has been used since World War II to test and dispose of explosives, chemical warfare agents, and industrial chemicals resulting in ground-water, surface-water, and soil contami- nation. The U.S. Geological Survey finite-difference model was used to better understand ground-water flow at the site and to simulate the effects of remedial actions. A surficial aquifer and a confined aquifer were simulated with the model. A confining unit separates these units and is represented by leakance between the layers. The area modeled is 3.65 mi2; the model was constructed with a variably spaced 40 X 38 grid. The horizontal and lower boundaries of the model are all no-flow boundaries. Steady-state conditions were used. Ground water at the areas under investigation flows from disposal pit areas toward discharge areas in adjacent estuaries or wetlands. Simulations indicate that capping disposal areas with an impermeable cover effectively slows advective ground water flow by 0.7 to 0.5 times. Barriers to lateral ground-water flow were simulated and effectively prevented the movement of ground water toward discharge areas. Extraction wells were simulated as a way to contain ground-water contamination and to extract ground water for treatment. Two wells pumping 5 gallons per minute each at the toxic-materials disposal area and a single well pumping 2.5 gallons per minute at the riot-control-agent disposal area effectively contained contamination at these sites. A combi- nation of barriers to horizontal flow east and south of the toxic-materials disposal area, and a single extraction well pumping at 5 gallons per minute can extract contaminated ground water and prevent pumpage of marsh water.

Postsurgical consequences in lower third molar surgical extraction using micromotor and piezosurgery.

PubMed

Mistry, Freddy Kersi; Hegde, Nidarsh Diwakar; Hegde, Mithra Nidarsh

2016-01-01

One of the most critical and crucial steps in surgical extraction is cutting the bone or osteotomy, for which many techniques are used, e.g., chisels and mallet, rotary instruments, and ultrasound bone-cutting instruments. If they are not used judiciously, they can be hazardous. To assess the efficiency of piezosurgery unit over micromotor while performing surgical extraction of lower third molars by assessing the time taken for the surgery and measuring postoperative parameters such as pain, trismus, and swelling. Thirty patients having bilateral impacted third molars with the same difficulty index were selected for the study. One side surgical removal was done using micromotor and other side by piezosurgery with an interval of 15 days. After each surgery, time taken to finish was measured and patients were followed up on postoperative days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 15 for assessing pain, trismus, and swelling. Data obtained were statistically analyzed. The mean time taken for the micromotor group is 37.90 min whereas by the piezosurgery group is 54.63 min, showing a statistically significant difference ( P < 0.001). Furthermore, there is statistically significant difference ( P < 0.001) in the level of pain, trismus, and swelling on postoperative days 1, 3, 5, and 7. Even the intragroup comparison of piezosurgical group for trismus and swelling showed no statistically significant difference on postoperative day 7, indicating faster recovery of trismus and swelling. On postoperative day 15, there was no difference in any parameter in both groups indicating complete symptom-free recovery in both groups. It takes more time to perform surgical extraction of third molars when piezosurgical unit is used. Despite that, it causes less pain postoperatively with faster improvement in trismus and quicker reduction in swelling.

Postsurgical consequences in lower third molar surgical extraction using micromotor and piezosurgery

PubMed Central

Mistry, Freddy Kersi; Hegde, Nidarsh Diwakar; Hegde, Mithra Nidarsh

2016-01-01

Background: One of the most critical and crucial steps in surgical extraction is cutting the bone or osteotomy, for which many techniques are used, e.g., chisels and mallet, rotary instruments, and ultrasound bone-cutting instruments. If they are not used judiciously, they can be hazardous. Objectives: To assess the efficiency of piezosurgery unit over micromotor while performing surgical extraction of lower third molars by assessing the time taken for the surgery and measuring postoperative parameters such as pain, trismus, and swelling. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients having bilateral impacted third molars with the same difficulty index were selected for the study. One side surgical removal was done using micromotor and other side by piezosurgery with an interval of 15 days. After each surgery, time taken to finish was measured and patients were followed up on postoperative days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 15 for assessing pain, trismus, and swelling. Data obtained were statistically analyzed. Results: The mean time taken for the micromotor group is 37.90 min whereas by the piezosurgery group is 54.63 min, showing a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). Furthermore, there is statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) in the level of pain, trismus, and swelling on postoperative days 1, 3, 5, and 7. Even the intragroup comparison of piezosurgical group for trismus and swelling showed no statistically significant difference on postoperative day 7, indicating faster recovery of trismus and swelling. On postoperative day 15, there was no difference in any parameter in both groups indicating complete symptom-free recovery in both groups. Conclusion: It takes more time to perform surgical extraction of third molars when piezosurgical unit is used. Despite that, it causes less pain postoperatively with faster improvement in trismus and quicker reduction in swelling. PMID:28299267

Hierarchical extraction of urban objects from mobile laser scanning data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Bisheng; Dong, Zhen; Zhao, Gang; Dai, Wenxia

2015-01-01

Point clouds collected in urban scenes contain a huge number of points (e.g., billions), numerous objects with significant size variability, complex and incomplete structures, and variable point densities, raising great challenges for the automated extraction of urban objects in the field of photogrammetry, computer vision, and robotics. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing an automated method to extract urban objects robustly and efficiently. The proposed method generates multi-scale supervoxels from 3D point clouds using the point attributes (e.g., colors, intensities) and spatial distances between points, and then segments the supervoxels rather than individual points by combining graph based segmentation with multiple cues (e.g., principal direction, colors) of the supervoxels. The proposed method defines a set of rules for merging segments into meaningful units according to types of urban objects and forms the semantic knowledge of urban objects for the classification of objects. Finally, the proposed method extracts and classifies urban objects in a hierarchical order ranked by the saliency of the segments. Experiments show that the proposed method is efficient and robust for extracting buildings, streetlamps, trees, telegraph poles, traffic signs, cars, and enclosures from mobile laser scanning (MLS) point clouds, with an overall accuracy of 92.3%.

Investigation on the phenolic constituents in Hamamelis virginiana leaves by HPLC-DAD and LC-MS/MS.

PubMed

Duckstein, Sarina M; Stintzing, Florian C

2011-08-01

Aqueous and acetone/water extracts from Hamamelis virginiana leaves were investigated to obtain a thorough insight into their phenolic composition. To secure compound integrity, a gentle extraction method including the exclusion of light was used. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analyses yielded a fingerprint including 27 phenolic constituents. Quantification of the key compounds on an equivalent basis by high-performance liquid chromatography diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) showed that gallotannins consisting of six to 11 galloyl units constitute the main fraction, whereas procyanidins and catechin represented only a minor part. Closer inspection revealed that both extracts possess virtually the same galloyl hexose distribution, and the octagalloyl hexose represents the major tannin constituent. Additionally, eight flavonol glycosides and their corresponding aglycones quercetin and kaempferol, as well as three chlorogenic acid isomers and other hydroxycinnamic acids, were identified. Moreover, stability studies on the aqueous extract (5 °C, dark; room temperature, dark; room temperature, light) revealed that the phenolic profile underwent changes when exposed to light. Especially the gallotannins proved to be considerably unstable which may result in phytochemically altered Hamamelis leaf extracts upon transport and storage.

Estrogens determination in wastewater samples by automatic in-syringe dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction prior silylation and gas chromatography.

PubMed

González, Alba; Avivar, Jessica; Cerdà, Víctor

2015-09-25

A new procedure for the extraction, preconcentration and simultaneous determination of the estrogens most used in contraception pharmaceuticals (estrone, 17β-estradiol, estriol, and 17α-ethynylestradiol), cataloged as Contaminants of Emergent Concern by the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States (US-EPA), is proposed. The developed system performs an in-syringe magnetic stirring-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (in-syringe-MSA-DLLME) prior derivatization and gas chromatography (GC-MS). Different extraction (carbon tetrachloride, ethyl acetate, chloroform and trichloroethylene) and disperser solvents (acetone, acetonitrile and methanol) were tested. Chloroform and acetone were chosen as extraction and disperser solvent, respectively, as they provided the best extraction efficiency. Then, a multivariate optimization of the extraction conditions was carried out. Derivatization conditions were also studied to ensure the conversion of the estrogens to their respective trimethylsilyl derivatives. Low LODs and LOQs were achieved, i.e. between 11 and 82ngL(-1), and 37 and 272ngL(-1), respectively. Good values for intra and inter-day precision were obtained (RSDs≤7.06% and RSD≤7.11%, respectively). The method was successfully applied to wastewater samples. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterization of a bio-oil from pyrolysis of rice husk by detailed compositional analysis and structural investigation of lignin.

PubMed

Lu, Yao; Wei, Xian-Yong; Cao, Jing-Pei; Li, Peng; Liu, Fang-Jing; Zhao, Yun-Peng; Fan, Xing; Zhao, Wei; Rong, Liang-Ce; Wei, Yan-Bin; Wang, Shou-Ze; Zhou, Jun; Zong, Zhi-Min

2012-07-01

Detailed compositional analysis of a bio-oil (BO) from pyrolysis of rice husk was carried out. The BO was extracted sequentially with n-hexane, CCl(4), CS(2), benzene and CH(2)Cl(2). In total, 167 organic species were identified with GC/MS in the extracts and classified into alkanes, alcohols, hydroxybenzenes, alkoxybenzenes, dioxolanes, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, nitrogen-containing organic compounds and other species. The benzene ring-containing species (BRCCs) were attributed to the degradation of lignin while most of the rests were derived from the degradation of cellulose and hemicellulose. Along with guaiacyl and p-hydroxyphenyl units as the main components, a new type of linkage was suggested, i.e., C(ar)-CH(2)-C(ar) in 4,4'-methylenebis(2,6-dimethoxyphenol). Based on the species identified, a possible macromolecular structure of the lignin and the mechanism for its pyrolysis are proposed. The BO was also extracted with petroleum ether in ca. 17.8% of the extract yield and about 82.1% of the extracted components are BRCCs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of produced water on soil characteristics, plant biomass, and secondary metabolites

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana contains the United States’ largest coal reserve. The area produces large amounts of natural gas through extraction from water-saturated coalbeds. Determining the impacts of coalbed natural gas-produced efflux water on crops is important when considering...

STUDY OF WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS DURING RIVERBANK FILTRATION AT THREE MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES DRINKING WATER UTILITIES

EPA Science Inventory

Riverbank filtration (RBF) is a process during which surface water is subjected to subsurface flow prior to extraction from wells. During infiltration and soil passage, surface water is subjected to a combination of physical, chemical, and biological processes such as filtration...

Study area description

Treesearch

Mary M. Rowland; Matthias Leu

2011-01-01

The boundary for the Wyoming Basins Ecoregional Assessment (WBEA) was largely determined by the co-occurrence of some of the largest tracts of intact sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) remaining in the western United States with areas of increasing resource extraction. The WBEA area includes two ecoregions in their entirety, Wyoming Basins and Utah-Wyoming...

Compounds from Terminalli brownii extracts with toxicity against the fish pathogenic bacterium Flavobacterium columnare

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The pond-raised channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) industry in the United States of America can incur losses of over a $100 million annually due to bacterial diseases including columnaris disease caused by Flavobacterium columnare. One management approach available to catfish producers is the use...

Standard Operating Procedure for the Turbidimetric Determination of Lead in Paint Extracts

EPA Science Inventory

Exposure to lead (Pb) may adversely impact children's brains, nervous systems and many organs. An estimated 310,000 US children ages 1 to 5 have elevated blood leads. In the United States, the major exposure pathway for children to Pb is from deteriorated Pb-based paint (LBP), ...

Phosphorus solubility of agricultural soils: a surface charge and phosphorus-31 NMR speciation study

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We investigated ten soils from six states in United States to determine the relationship between potentiometric titration derived soil surface charge and Phosphorus-31 (P) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) speciation with the concentration of water-extractable P (WEP). The surface charge value at the...

Genome sequence of the first coleopteran iflavirus isolated from western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, adults were collected from cornfields in the United States (Iowa, Arizona, Pennsylvania), and Europe (Hungary, Croatia, Austria). Total RNA was extracted from ~100 individuals from different locations, and putative viral RNA was isolated f...

Organizational Learning for Library Enhancements: A Collaborative, Research-Driven Analysis of Academic Department Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loo, Jeffery L.; Dupuis, Elizabeth A.

2015-01-01

This article presents a qualitative evaluation methodology of academic departments for library organizational learning and library enhancement planning. This evaluation used campus units' academic program review reports as a data source and employed collaborative content analysis by library liaisons to extract departmental strengths, weaknesses,…

The Chemistry of Perfume: A Laboratory Course for Nonscience Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Logan, Jennifer L.; Rumbaugh, Craig E.

2012-01-01

"The Chemistry of Perfume" is a lab-only course for nonscience majors. Students learn fundamental concepts of chemistry through the context of fragrance, a pervasive aspect of daily life. The course consists of laboratories pertaining to five units: introduction, extraction, synthesis, characterization, and application. The introduction unit…

"Wireless": Some Facts and Figures from a Corpus-Driven Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rizzo, Camino Rea

2009-01-01

"Wireless" is the word selected to illustrate a model of analysis designed to determine the specialized character of a lexical unit. "Wireless" belongs to the repertoire of specialized vocabulary automatically extracted from a corpus of telecommunication engineering English (TEC). This paper describes the procedure followed in the analysis which…

Energy Implications of Materials Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayes, Earl T.

1976-01-01

Processing of materials could become energy-limited rather than resource-limited. Methods to extract metals, industrial minerals, and energy materials and convert them to useful states requires more than one-fifth of the United States energy budget. Energy accounting by industries must include a total systems analysis of costs to insure net energy…

Word Recognition: Theoretical Issues and Instructional Hints.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Edward E.; Kleiman, Glenn M.

Research on adult readers' word recognition skills is used in this paper to develop a general information processing model of reading. Stages of the model include feature extraction, interpretation, lexical access, working memory, and integration. Of those stages, particular attention is given to the units of interpretation, speech recoding and…

Ecological consequences of elevated total dissolved solids associated with fossil fuel extraction in the United States

EPA Science Inventory

Fossil fuel burning is considered a major contributor to global climate change. The outlook for production and consumption of fossil fuels int he US indicates continued growth to support growing energy demands. For example, coal-generated electricity is projected ot increase from...

An Automated Approach to Extracting River Bank Locations from Aerial Imagery Using Image Texture

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

Atchafalaya River, LA. Map Data: Google, United States Department of Agriculture Farm Ser- vice Agency, Europa Technologies AUTOMATED RIVER BANK...traverse morphologically smooth landscapes including rivers in sand or ice . Within these limitations, we hold that this technique rep- resents a valuable

50 CFR 23.68 - How can I trade internationally in roots of American ginseng?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... of American ginseng? 23.68 Section 23.68 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE... trade internationally in roots of American ginseng? (a) U.S. and foreign general provisions. Whole... as powders, pills, extracts, tonics, teas, and confectionery) of American ginseng (Panax...

50 CFR 23.68 - How can I trade internationally in roots of American ginseng?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... of American ginseng? 23.68 Section 23.68 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE... trade internationally in roots of American ginseng? (a) U.S. and foreign general provisions. Whole... as powders, pills, extracts, tonics, teas, and confectionery) of American ginseng (Panax...

Timeframe of socket cortication after tooth extraction: A retrospective radiographic study.

PubMed

Bertl, Kristina; Kukla, Edmund Benjamin; Albugami, Rajaa; Beck, Florian; Gahleitner, André; Stavropoulos, Andreas

2018-01-01

To assess the timeframe between tooth extraction and radiographically detectable socket cortication in humans. Two hundred and fifty patients with a CT scan ≤36 months after tooth extraction were included. First, three orthoradial multiplanar reconstruction slices, representing the major part of the extraction socket, were scored regarding the degree of bone healing as (i) healed, that is, complete/continuous cortication of the socket entrance, or (ii) non-healed. Thereafter, based on the results of all three slices, the stage of cortication of the extraction socket, as one unit, was classified as (i) non-corticated, that is, all three slices judged as non-healed, (ii) partially corticated, that is, 1 or 2 slices judged as non-healed, or (iii) completely corticated, that is, all three slices judged as healed. The possible effect of several independent parameters, that is, age, gender, timeframe between tooth extraction and CT scan, tooth type, extent of radiographic bone loss of the extracted tooth, tooth-gap type, smoking status, presence of any systemic disease, and medication intake, on cortication status was statistically evaluated. Three to 6 months after tooth extraction, 27% of the sockets were judged as non-corticated and 53% were judged as partially corticated. After 9-12 months, >80% of the sockets were corticated, while some incompletely corticated sockets were detected up to 15 months after extraction. Each additional month after tooth extraction contributed significantly to a higher likelihood of a more advanced stage of cortication, while radiographic bone loss ≥75% significantly prolonged cortication time; no other independent variable had a significant effect. The results indicate a considerably long timeframe until complete cortication of an extraction socket, that is, 3-6 months after tooth extraction 3 of 4 sockets were still not completely corticated, and only after 9-12 months, complete cortication was observed in about 80% of the sockets. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Thresholds for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair in England and the United States

PubMed Central

Karthikesalingam, Alan; Vidal-Diez, Alberto; Holt, Peter J.; Loftus, Ian M.; Schermerhorn, Marc L.; Soden, Peter A.; Landon, Bruce E.; Thompson, Matthew M.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Thresholds for repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms vary considerably among countries. METHODS We examined differences between England and the United States in the frequency of aneurysm repair, the mean aneurysm diameter at the time of the procedure, and rates of aneurysm rupture and aneurysm-related death. Data on the frequency of repair of intact (nonruptured) abdominal aortic aneurysms, in-hospital mortality among patients who had undergone aneurysm repair, and rates of aneurysm rupture during the period from 2005 through 2012 were extracted from the Hospital Episode Statistics database in England and the U.S. Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Data on the aneurysm diameter at the time of repair were extracted from the U.K. National Vascular Registry (2014 data) and from the U.S. National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (2013 data). Aneurysm-related mortality during the period from 2005 through 2012 was determined from data obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.K. Office of National Statistics. Data were adjusted with the use of direct standardization or conditional logistic regression for differences between England and the United States with respect to population age and sex. RESULTS During the period from 2005 through 2012, a total of 29,300 patients in England and 278,921 patients in the United States underwent repair of intact abdominal aortic aneurysms. Aneurysm repair was less common in England than in the United States (odds ratio, 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.48 to 0.49; P<0.001), and aneurysm-related death was more common in England than in the United States (odds ratio, 3.60; 95% CI, 3.55 to 3.64; P<0.001). Hospitalization due to an aneurysm rupture occurred more frequently in England than in the United States (odds ratio, 2.23; 95% CI, 2.19 to 2.27; P<0.001), and the mean aneurysm diameter at the time of repair was larger in England (63.7 mm vs. 58.3 mm, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS We found a lower rate of repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms and a larger mean aneurysm diameter at the time of repair in England than in the United States and lower rates of aneurysm rupture and aneurysm-related death in the United States than in England. (Funded by the Circulation Foundation and others.) PMID:27959727

A novel shape-changing haptic table-top display

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jiabin; Zhao, Lu; Liu, Yue; Wang, Yongtian; Cai, Yi

2018-01-01

A shape-changing table-top display with haptic feedback allows its users to perceive 3D visual and texture displays interactively. Since few existing devices are developed as accurate displays with regulatory haptic feedback, a novel attentive and immersive shape changing mechanical interface (SCMI) consisting of image processing unit and transformation unit was proposed in this paper. In order to support a precise 3D table-top display with an offset of less than 2 mm, a custommade mechanism was developed to form precise surface and regulate the feedback force. The proposed image processing unit was capable of extracting texture data from 2D picture for rendering shape-changing surface and realizing 3D modeling. The preliminary evaluation result proved the feasibility of the proposed system.

Accuracy of pulse oximetry in assessing heart rate of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.

PubMed

Singh, Jasbir K S B; Kamlin, C Omar F; Morley, Colin J; O'Donnell, Colm P F; Donath, Susan M; Davis, Peter G

2008-05-01

To determine the accuracy of pulse oximetry measurement of heart rate in the neonatal intensive care unit. Stable preterm infants were monitored with a pulse oximeter and an ECG. The displays of both monitors were captured on video. Heart rate data from both monitors, including measures of signal quality, were extracted and analysed using Bland Altman plots. In 30 infants the mean (SD) difference between heart rate measured by pulse oximetry and electrocardiography was -0.4 (12) beats per minute. Accuracy was maintained when the signal quality or perfusion was low. Pulse oximetry may provide a useful measurement of heart rate in the neonatal intensive care unit. Studies of this technique in the delivery room are indicated.

Bioethanol production optimization: a thermodynamic analysis.

PubMed

Alvarez, Víctor H; Rivera, Elmer Ccopa; Costa, Aline C; Filho, Rubens Maciel; Wolf Maciel, Maria Regina; Aznar, Martín

2008-03-01

In this work, the phase equilibrium of binary mixtures for bioethanol production by continuous extractive process was studied. The process is composed of four interlinked units: fermentor, centrifuge, cell treatment unit, and flash vessel (ethanol-congener separation unit). A proposal for modeling the vapor-liquid equilibrium in binary mixtures found in the flash vessel has been considered. This approach uses the Predictive Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation of state, with original and modified molecular parameters. The congeners considered were acetic acid, acetaldehyde, furfural, methanol, and 1-pentanol. The results show that the introduction of new molecular parameters r and q in the UNIFAC model gives more accurate predictions for the concentration of the congener in the gas phase for binary and ternary systems.

Effect of cholesterol deposition on bacterial adhesion to contact lenses.

PubMed

Babaei Omali, Negar; Zhu, Hua; Zhao, Zhenjun; Ozkan, Jerome; Xu, Banglao; Borazjani, Roya; Willcox, Mark D P

2011-08-01

To examine the effect of cholesterol on the adhesion of bacteria to silicone hydrogel contact lenses. Contact lenses, collected from subjects wearing Acuvue Oasys or PureVision lenses, were extracted in chloroform:methanol (1:1, v/v) and amount of cholesterol was estimated by thin-layer chromatography. Unworn lenses were soaked in cholesterol, and the numbers of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains or Staphylococcus aureus strains that adhered to the lenses were measured. Cholesterol was tested for effects on bacterial growth by incubating bacteria in medium containing cholesterol. From ex vivo PureVision lenses, 3.4 ± 0.3 μg/lens cholesterol was recovered, and from Acuvue Oasys lenses, 2.4 ± 0.2 to 1.0 ± 0.1 μg/lens cholesterol was extracted. Cholesterol did not alter the total or viable adhesion of any strain of P. aeruginosa or S. aureus (p > 0.05). However, worn PureVision lenses reduced the numbers of viable cells of P. aeruginosa (5.8 ± 0.4 log units) compared with unworn lenses (6.4 ± 0.2 log units, p = 0.001). Similarly, there were fewer numbers of S. aureus 031 adherent to worn PureVision (3.05 ± 0.8 log units) compared with unworn PureVision (4.6 ± 0.3 log units, p = 0.0001). Worn Acuvue Oasys lenses did not affect bacterial adhesion. Cholesterol showed no effect on the growth of any test strain. Although cholesterol has been shown to adsorb to contact lenses during wear, this lipid does not appear to modulate bacterial adhesion to a lens surface.

Evidence of biological activity in Hawaiian subsurface basalts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisk, M. R.; Storrie-Lombardi, M. C.; Douglas, S.; Popa, R.; McDonald, G.; di Meo-Savoie, C.

2003-12-01

The Hawaii Scientific Drilling Program (HSDP) cored and recovered igneous rock from the surface to a depth of 3109 m near Hilo, Hawaii. Much of the deeper parts of the hole is composed of hyaloclastite (fractured basalt glass that has been cemented in situ with secondary minerals). Some hyaloclastite units have been altered in a manner attributed to microorganisms in volcanic rocks. Samples from one such unit (1336 m to 1404 m below sea level) were examined to test the hypothesis that the alteration was associated with microorganisms. Deep ultraviolet native fluorescence and resonance Raman spectroscopy indicate that nucleic acids and aromatic amino acids are present in clay inside spherical cavities (vesicles) within basalt glass. Chemical mapping shows that phosphorus and carbon were enriched at the boundary between the clay and volcanic glass of the vesicles. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) reveals two to three micrometer coccoid structures in these same boundaries. ESEM-linked energy dispersive spectroscopy demonstrated carbon, phosphorous, chloride, and magnesium in these bodies significantly differing from unoccupied neighboring regions of basalt. These observations taken together indicate the presence of microorganisms at the boundary between primary volcanic glass and secondary clays. Amino acids and nucleic acids were extracted from bulk samples of the hyaloclastite unit. Amino acid abundance was low, and if the amino acids are derived from microorganisms in the rock, then there are less than 100,000 cells per gram of rock. Most nucleic acid sequences extracted from the unit were closely related to sequences of Crenarchaeota collected from the subsurface of the ocean floor.

Risk Factors of Cancer in the United Arab Emirates.

PubMed

Razzak, Hira Abdul; Harbi, Alya; Shelpai, Wael; Qawas, xAhmadxx

2018-01-01

Cancer is recognized to be a major healthcare problem globally. Cancer is a disease that mainly occurs when alterations in a normal cell group within the body leads to uncontrolled growth, mainly causing a lump referred to as a tumor. The aim of this study is to systematically review and extract studies reporting the risk factors of cancer in UAE between 2007 and 2016. A systematic literature search was performed by using "PubMed, Scopus databases, Science direct, and local journals" and appropriate key terms to retrieve studies carried out in United Arab Emirates with regards to risk factors of the cancer. 75 articles were extracted in the beginning. After screening for exclusion criteria and retrieval of full texts, overall 16 articles were used in this study. Search limits were restricted to studies in English language, between 2007 and 2016, and on UAE population (both citizens and expatriates). This review yielded 16 studies about the cancer risk factors in United Arab Emirates, including cross sectional studies (n = 9), population-based crosssectional retrospective survey (n = 1), retrospective cohort studies (n = 4) and qualitative studies (n = 2). Tobacco use, unhealthy diet, family history, infection with HPV, physical activity, and radiation exposure were among the factors investigated. There was insufficient evidence available on some potentially essential risk factors such as use of alcohol, aging, and being overweight. This systematic review signifies an increasing cancer prevalence in the United Arab Emirates and suggests that extra effort is needed with a multi-sectorial approach in future at both the national and international level to effectively tackle the burden of cancer.

3D-printed lab-on-valve for fluorescent determination of cadmium and lead in water.

PubMed

Mattio, Elodie; Robert-Peillard, Fabien; Vassalo, Laurent; Branger, Catherine; Margaillan, André; Brach-Papa, Christophe; Knoery, Joël; Boudenne, Jean-Luc; Coulomb, Bruno

2018-06-01

In recent years, the development of 3D printing in flow analysis has allowed the creation of new systems with various applications. Up to now, 3D printing was mainly used for the manufacture of small units such as flow detection cells, preconcentration units or mixing systems. In the present study, a new 3D printed lab-on-valve system was developed to selectively quantify lead and cadmium in water. Different technologies were compared for lab-on-valve 3D printing. Printed test units have shown that stereolithography or digital light processing are satisfactory techniques for creating complex lab-on-valve units. The lab-on-valve system was composed of two columns, eight peripheral ports and a central port, and a coil integrating baffles to increase mixing possibilities. A selective extraction of lead was first carried out by TrisKem Pb™ Resin column. Then, cadmium not retained on the first column was extracted on a second column of Amberlite® IR 120 resin. In a following step, lead and cadmium were eluted with ammonium oxalate and potassium iodide, respectively. Finally, the two metals were sequentially detected by the same Rhod-5N™ fluorescent reagent. This 3D printed lab-on-valve flow system allowed us to quantify lead and cadmium with a linear response from 0.2 to 15 µg L -1 and detection limits of 0.17 and 0.20 µg L -1 for lead and cadmium, respectively, which seems adapted for natural water analysis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Re-refining of waste petroleum by competing solubility characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byars, Michael Steven

1998-11-01

The United States produces over 1.3 billion gallons of used oil per year. Of the 1.3 billion gallons about 60% is used as fuel, nearly 20% is dumped into the environment, 13% is placed in landfills, 2% is re-refined into lube oil, and the remaining is either used for other purposes or incinerated. This is a great potential source of lubricating oil. The work presented here is a solvent extraction process using a solvent (highly miscible with the oil) and a co-solvent (slightly miscible with the oil). Extractions using isopropanol, ethanol, methyl tert-butylether and methanol are presented. The criteria used for evaluation of the extraction processes are yield, product viscosity index, and ash percent. The solvent/co-solvent combinations of MTBE and ethanol performed best and had the advantage of a common solvent/co-solvent in all extraction steps. The extraction process that provided the best results was a two step process using a combination solvent of MTBE and ethanol. The used oil was first extracted using MTBE/ethanol. The extracted oil was then contacted with a solvent combination composed of 80% ethanol. This solvent combination extracted the remaining additives from the oil. The recovered oil was nearly 60% by weight with a high viscosity index and no ash content. A preliminary battery limits design and economic analysis of the process was performed. A 500 bbl/day plant would have a capital cost of 1.9 million and an annual operation cost of 310,000. The plant as designed would produce 300 bbl/day of lube feedstock and have an ROI of 19%.

Extraction of the plasticizers diethylhexylphthalate and polyadipate from polyvinylchloride nasogastric tubes through gastric juice and feeding solution.

PubMed

Subotic, Ulrike; Hannmann, Torsten; Kiss, Matthias; Brade, Joachim; Breitkopf, Katja; Loff, Steffan

2007-01-01

Except for polyadipate, which is used as an alternative in polyvinylchloride (PVC) feeding tubes, diethylhexylphthalate (DEHP) is the plasticizer used almost exclusively in PVC medical products. A clear response to the chronic intake of DEHP has been shown in several organ systems from different species. In the present study, we compared the extraction of DEHP and polyadipate from PVC gastric tubes. An in vivo setting was simulated. We used 5 cm of PVC nasogastric tubes containing DEHP or polyadipate, which were incubated with gastric juice for 1 week and a feeding solution for 4 weeks. The leakage of these plasticizers was measured daily in the gastric juice group and weekly in the feeding solution group. The amount of plasticizer extracted was compared between groups and days. In the feeding solution group, the extraction of DEHP ranged from 200 to 542 microg after 1 week and from 660 to 1700 microg after 4 weeks. The extraction of polyadipate was 10 times lower than that of DEHP. In the gastric juice group, extracted DEHP ranged from 635 to 1043 microg, whereas the extraction of polyadipate was 100 times lower. Within 1 week, the extraction of DEHP from a 5-cm PVC tube reaches up to 1 mg. Extrapolated, this represents an in vivo load of up to 4 mg. The load accumulated by a newborn in an intensive care unit can therefore easily reach several milligrams of DEHP per day. Polyadipate nasogastric tubes may therefore be an alternative and help to reduce the daily load of DEHP.

Double-disk solid-phase extraction--Simultaneous cleanup and trace enrichment of herbicides and metabolites from environmental samples

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ferrar, Imma; Barceló, Damià; Thurman, E.M.

1999-01-01

Phenylurea and triazine herbicides, including some metabolites, were isolated from water and soil extracts by solid-phase extraction using a layered system of two extraction disks, a method called double-disk solid-phase extraction. The first disk consisted of strong anion exchange (SAX) of 10-μm styrene divinylbenzene (SDB) particles embedded in Teflon, and the second disk was a C18 disk of 10-μm particles also embedded in Teflon. A volume of 500 mL of water or aqueous soil extract is passed through the layered system with the SAX disk first. The purpose of the SAX disk is to remove the humic and fulvic acids from the water or aqueous soil extract by ion exchange through their carboxyl groups. Even during methanol elution of herbicides, the humic substances remain bound to the SAX disk with >85% retention. Elution with methanol results in more than 90% recovery of the herbicides from the layered extraction disks. Removal of the humic and fulvic acids results in greater sensitivity for diode array detection quantitation (0.05 μg/L for herbicides) by substantially reducing the absorbance of the humic peak on the LC chromatogram. The herbicides adsorb to the SAX disk either through hydrogen bonding to the anion-exchange sites or by hydrophobic interaction with the SDB surface of the anion-exchange disk. The method was tested for the analysis of natural water samples from the Mississippi Embayment, a cotton-growing area of the southeastern United States.

Color and polyphenolic stability in extracts produced from muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia) pomace.

PubMed

Cardona, Jorge A; Lee, Joon-Hee; Talcott, Stephen T

2009-09-23

The muscadine grape ( Vitis rotundifolia ) industry of the southern United States is largely devoid of value-added processes that capture the phytochemical content of wine and juice byproducts. Methods to recover and stabilize polyphenolics from muscadine grape pomace following juice manufacture were evaluated in laboratory-scale and pilot-scale trials. In laboratory-scale trials using osmotic equilibration, water-based extracts from juice pomace initially extracted 31-42% of total polyphenolics, 26-32% of total ellagic acid, and 36-62% of total anthocyanins. When adsorbed onto Amberlite XAD-4 resin to concentrate polyphenolics, these extracts lost 10.5% of their total ellagic acid from inefficient adsorption to the solid phase support. Subsequent pilot-scale trials were evaluated using hot water extracts from grape juice pomace followed by aerobic yeast fermentation to remove sugars and comparison to reversed phase C(18) and Amberlite XAD-4. Extracts were also concentrated using spray-drying and vacuum evaporation. Fermentation had a minor impact on the retention of most polyphenolic compounds evaluated, yet resulted in a 16.3% decrease in antioxidant capacity. Spray-drying resulted in a 30.3% loss in total anthocyanins, a 21.5% loss in total phenolics, and a 23.3% decrease in antioxidant activity, whereas vacuum evaporation had no deleterious impact on these parameters. The physiology of the muscadine grape and its unique phytochemical composition has limited utilization of pomace from wine and juice manufacture. However, these studies demonstrated the potential to extract and concentrate polyphenolic-rich extracts for use in value-added applications.

Evaluation of antioxidant and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity of different solvent extracts of leaves of Citrullus colocynthis

PubMed Central

Nessa, Fazilatun; Khan, Saeed A.

2014-01-01

Background: Citrullus colocynthis is a folk medicinal plan of United Arab Emirates. Several studies on this plant reported and focused on the biological and toxicological profile of fruits pulp. The present study focused on the antioxidant potency of leaf extract of this plant. Aim: To evaluate the antioxidant and xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activities of C. colocynthis by chemical method. Materials and Methods: Four different solvent extracts (methanol-CCM, methanol: water (1:1)-CCMW, chloroform-CCC and hexane-CCH) of leaves of C. colocynthis were investigated for their free radical scavenging activity using DPPH radical as a substrate, lipid peroxidation (LPO) inhibitory activity using a model system consisting of β-carotene-linoleic acid, superoxide radical scavenging activity (enzymatically/nonenzymatically) and XO inhibitory activity. A dose response curve was plotted for determining SC50 and IC50 values for expressing the results of free radical scavenging activity and XO inhibitory activities respectively. Results: The high polyphenolic content of CCM and CCMW extract showed highest antioxidant activity irrespective the method used for this investigation. The overall results decreased in the order of: CCM > CCMW > CCC > CCH. CCH extract was inactive towards chemically generated superoxide radical and poor DPPH radical scavengers. The results of LPO inhibitory activities of leaves extract (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mg/mL) also decreased in the order of: CCM > CCMW > CCC > CCH. Overall 1.0 mg/mL leaves extract showed highest antioxidant potency amongst the studied concentration. Conclusion: CCMW and CCM extract of C. colocynthis exhibited promising antioxidants and XO inhibitory activities. PMID:25002802

Evaluation of Argonne 9-cm and 10-cm Annular Centrifugal Contactors for SHINE Solution Processing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wardle, Kent E.; Pereira, Candido; Vandegrift, George

2015-02-01

Work is in progress to evaluate the SHINE Medical Technologies process for producing Mo-99 for medical use from the fission of dissolved low-enriched uranium (LEU). This report addresses the use of Argonne annular centrifugal contactors for periodic treatment of the process solution. In a letter report from FY 2013, Pereira and Vandegrift compared the throughput and physical footprint for the two contactor options available from CINC Industries: the V-02 and V-05, which have rotor diameters of 5 cm and 12.7 cm, respectively. They suggested that an intermediately sized “Goldilocks” contactor might provide a better balance between throughput and footprint tomore » meet the processing needs for the uranium extraction (UREX) processing of the SHINE solution to remove undesired fission products. Included with the submission of this letter report are the assembly drawings for two Argonne-design contactors that are in this intermediate range—9-cm and 10-cm rotors, respectively. The 9-cm contactor (drawing number CE-D6973A, stamped February 15, 1978) was designed as a single-stage unit and built and tested in the late 1970s along with other size units, both smaller and larger. In subsequent years, a significant effort to developed annular centrifugal contactors was undertaken to support work at Hanford implementing the transuranic extraction (TRUEX) process. These contactors had a 10-cm rotor diameter and were fully designed as multistage units with four stages per assembly (drawing number CMT-E1104, stamped March 14, 1990). From a technology readiness perspective, these 10-cm units are much farther ahead in the design progression and, therefore, would require significantly less re-working to make them ready for UREX deployment. Additionally, the overall maximum throughput of ~12 L/min is similar to that of the 9-cm unit (10 L/min), and the former could be efficiently operated over much of the same range of throughput. As a result, only the 10-cm units are considered here, though drawings are provided for the 9-cm unit for reference.« less

Gallbladder Boundary Segmentation from Ultrasound Images Using Active Contour Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciecholewski, Marcin

Extracting the shape of the gallbladder from an ultrasonography (US) image allows superfluous information which is immaterial in the diagnostic process to be eliminated. In this project an active contour model was used to extract the shape of the gallbladder, both for cases free of lesions, and for those showing specific disease units, namely: lithiasis, polyps and changes in the shape of the organ, such as folds or turns of the gallbladder. The approximate shape of the gallbladder was found by applying the motion equation model. The tests conducted have shown that for the 220 US images of the gallbladder, the area error rate (AER) amounted to 18.15%.

Nominations sought for extractive industries committee

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

2012-08-01

U.S. secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced on 26 July the establishment of a national committee to guide U.S. implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The Interior Department is seeking nominations of people interested in serving on the committee, which will be convened as a new federal advisory group. The initiative calls on governments to publicly disclose revenues from oil, gas, and mining assets and for companies to make disclosures about payments. U.S. president Barack Obama announced the commitment of the United States to participate in this initiative as part of the U.S. National Action Plan for the International Open Government Partnership.

Non-invasive assessment of skeletal muscle activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merletti, Roberto; Orizio, Claudio; di Prampero, Pietro E.; Tesch, Per

2005-10-01

After the first 3 years (2002-2005), the MAP project has made available: - systems fo electrodes, signal conditioning and digital processing for multichannel simultaneously-detected EMG and MMG as well as for simultaneous electrical stimulation and EMG detection with artifact cancellation. - innovative non-invasive techniques for the extraction of individual motor unit action potentials (MUAPS) and individual motor and MMG contributions from the surface EMG interference signal and the MMG signal. - processing techniques for extractions of indicators of progressive fatigue from the electrically-elicited (M-wave) EMG signal. - techniques for the analysis of dynamic multichannel EMG during cyclic or explosive exercise (in collaboration with project EXER/MAP-MED-027).

Evaluation of Feruloylated and p-Coumaroylated Arabinosyl Units in Grass Arabinoxylans by Acidolysis in Dioxane/Methanol.

PubMed

Lapierre, Catherine; Voxeur, Aline; Karlen, Steven D; Helm, Richard F; Ralph, John

2018-05-30

The arabinosyl side chains of grass arabinoxylans are partially acylated by p-coumarate ( pCA) and ferulate (FA). These aromatic side chains can cross-couple wall polymers resulting in modulation of cell wall physical properties. The determination of p-coumaroylated and feruloylated arabinose units has been the target of analytical efforts with trifluoroacetic acid hydrolysis the standard method to release feruloylated and p-coumaroylated arabinose units from arabinoxylans. Herein, we report on a more robust method to measure these acylated units. Acidolysis of extractive-free grass samples in a dioxane/methanol/aqueous 2 M HCl mixture provided the methyl 5- O- p-coumaroyl- and 5- O-feruloyl-l-arabinofuranoside anomers ( pCA-MeAra and FA-MeAra). These conjugates were readily analyzed by liquid chromatography combined with both UV and MS detection. The method revealed the variability of the relative acylation of arabinose units by pCA or FA in grass cell walls. This methodology will permit delineation of hydroxycinnamate acylation patterns in arabinoxylans.

Similar and functionally typical kinematic reaching parameters in 7- and 15-month-old in utero cocaine-exposed and unexposed infants.

PubMed

Tronick, E Z; Fetters, Linda; Olson, Karen L; Chen, Yuping

2004-04-01

This study examined the effects of intrauterine cocaine exposure on the reaches of 19 exposed and 15 unexposed infants at 7 and 15 months using kinematic measures. Infants sat at a table and reached for a rattle, a toy doll, and a chair. Videotaped reaches were digitized using the Peak Performance system. Kinematic movement variables were extracted (e.g., reach duration, peak velocity, movement units, path length) and ratios computed (e.g., path length divided by number of movement units). Regardless of exposure status, reaches of older infants were faster, more direct, had fewer movement units, and covered more distance with the first movement unit. Exposed infants covered more distance per movement unit than unexposed infants, but there were no other significant differences. Reaches of exposed and unexposed infants were essentially similar. Importantly, reach parameters for these high-risk infants were similar to reach parameters for infants at lower social and biological risk. Copyright 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Antimicrobial Efficacy of Salvadora persica Extracts on a Monospecies Biofilm on Orthodontic Brackets In Vitro.

PubMed

Halawany, Hassan S; Abraham, Nimmi B; Siddiqui, Yunus M; Balto, Hanan A; Jacob, Vimal

2016-01-01

The oral cavity is a rich ecosystem with a plethora of microorganisms, and different components of fixed orthodontic appliances may contribute to a shift in the balance of oral ecology. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial potential of hexane and ethanol extracts of Salvadora persica on a monospecies biofilm model established on orthodontic brackets in vitro. Streptococcus mutans biofilm was formed on mini diamond orthodontic brackets following three days of anaerobic incubation at 37˚C. The bacterial cell viability of this biofilm was measured after their exposure to saline, hexane extract of S. persica, ethanol extract of S. persica and 0.2% chlorhexidine using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol- 2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulphophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay. On half of the brackets, the colony forming units (CFU) were counted. Both experiments were performed in triplicate. The absorbance values obtained from the MTS reduction assay after exposure to the different test agents showed a decline in the bacterial cell viability of the S. mutans biofilm as follows: chlorhexidine (+)0.05). The CFU counts of S. mutans obtained from chlorhexidine exposure were lower than from hexane and ethanol extracts. S. persica extracts were found to have antimicrobial effects on S. mutans biofilm established in vitro on orthodontic brackets suggestive of its potential use as an oral antimicrobial agent for orthodontic patients.

Underground Injection Control, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Sources of Drinking Water in the Western United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, R. B.; Kang, M.

2016-12-01

Oil and gas extraction is expanding in the United States, attributable to the success of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, and associated wastewater disposal is increasing as a result. The United States currently has approximately 180,000 Class II injection wells associated with the oil and gas industry, more than 50,000 of them in California. Hydraulic fracturing and underground injection often occur many thousands of feet belowground. Previously, however, we documented shallow hydraulic fracturing and other oil and gas activities across the western United States in particular, including California and Wyoming. In eight CA counties, for example, as many as 19% and 35% of oil/gas activities have occurred directly in freshwater zones and USDWs, respectively (Kang and Jackson 2016 PNAS). Here we expand this analysis to examine the underground injection control program and accompanying hydrogeologic variables found in California and elsewhere.

[Better communication between surgery and anesthesia may provide safer surgery. The exchange of information has been mapped within the framework of "Safe abdominal surgery"].

PubMed

Göransson, Katarina; Lundberg, Johan; Ljungqvist, Olle; Ohlsson, Elisabet; Sandblom, Gabriel

2015-09-01

Poor communication between surgical and anesthesia unit personnel may jeopardize patient safety.  Review reports from a national survey on patient safety performed at 17 units 2011-2013 were analyzed in order to identify strategies to reduce risks related to the interaction between surgery and anesthesia. The reports were reviewed in this study by an independent group in order to extract findings related to communication between anesthesia and surgical unit personnel. Suggested strategies to improve patient safety included: uniform national health declaration forms; consistent use of admission notes; uniform systems for documenting medical information; multidisciplinary forum for evaluation of high-risk patients; weekly and daily scheduling of surgical programs; application of the WHO check list; open dialog during surgery; oral and written reports from the surgeon to the postoperative unit; and combined mortality and morbidity conferences.

[In-vitro research on the thermal debonding of ceramic brackets].

PubMed

Bäzner, B; Ettwein, K H; Röhlcke, F; Sernetz, F

1991-12-01

The mechanical debonding of ceramic brackets using special instruments involves the use of a degree of force that is damaging to the enamel. For this reason, the authors have developed the Ceramic Debonding Unit for the thermal debonding of ceramic brackets. The unit reduces the force necessary for debonding, without overheating the tooth. The present article explains the principle of the unit. The influence on the temperature increase in the pulpa of the mechanical torque applied during debonding, and the time taken for debonding was investigated in extracted teeth (lower central incisors). Tests on ceramic brackets made by various manufacturers showed that safe debonding is possible if the debonding time does not exceed 3 seconds at a torque of 100 Nnm. The temperature increase in the pulpa will not exceed 5 degrees C when the Ceramic Debonding Unit is used under these conditions, so that harmful overheating of healthy teeth does not occur.

Human Papillomavirus Prevalence in Oropharyngeal Cancer before Vaccine Introduction, United States

PubMed Central

Saraiya, Mona; Goodman, Marc T.; Peters, Edward S.; Watson, Meg; Cleveland, Jennifer L.; Lynch, Charles F.; Wilkinson, Edward J.; Hernandez, Brenda Y.; Copeland, Glen; Saber, Maria S.; Hopenhayn, Claudia; Huang, Youjie; Cozen, Wendy; Lyu, Christopher; Unger, Elizabeth R.

2014-01-01

We conducted a study to determine prevalence of HPV types in oropharyngeal cancers in the United States and establish a prevaccine baseline for monitoring the impact of vaccination. HPV DNA was extracted from tumor tissue samples from patients in whom cancer was diagnosed during 1995–2005. The samples were obtained from cancer registries and Residual Tissue Repository Program sites in the United States. HPV was detected and typed by using PCR reverse line blot assays. Among 557 invasive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas, 72% were positive for HPV and 62% for vaccine types HPV16 or 18. Prevalence of HPV-16/18 was lower in women (53%) than in men (66%), and lower in non-Hispanic Black patients (31%) than in other racial/ethnic groups (68%–80%). Results indicate that vaccines could prevent most oropharyngeal cancers in the United States, but their effect may vary by demographic variables. PMID:24751181

A prototype system to support evidence-based practice.

PubMed

Demner-Fushman, Dina; Seckman, Charlotte; Fisher, Cheryl; Hauser, Susan E; Clayton, Jennifer; Thoma, George R

2008-11-06

Translating evidence into clinical practice is a complex process that depends on the availability of evidence, the environment into which the research evidence is translated, and the system that facilitates the translation. This paper presents InfoBot, a system designed for automatic delivery of patient-specific information from evidence-based resources. A prototype system has been implemented to support development of individualized patient care plans. The prototype explores possibilities to automatically extract patients problems from the interdisciplinary team notes and query evidence-based resources using the extracted terms. Using 4,335 de-identified interdisciplinary team notes for 525 patients, the system automatically extracted biomedical terminology from 4,219 notes and linked resources to 260 patient records. Sixty of those records (15 each for Pediatrics, Oncology & Hematology, Medical & Surgical, and Behavioral Health units) have been selected for an ongoing evaluation of the quality of automatically proactively delivered evidence and its usefulness in development of care plans.

Sequential solvent extraction for forms of antimony in five selected coals

USGS Publications Warehouse

Qi, C.; Liu, Gaisheng; Kong, Y.; Chou, C.-L.; Wang, R.

2008-01-01

Abundance of antimony in bulk samples has been determined in five selected coals, three coals from Huaibei Coalfield, Anhui, China, and two from the Illinois Basin in the United States. The Sb abundance in these samples is in the range of 0.11-0.43 ??g/g. The forms of Sb in coals were studied by sequential solvent extraction. The six forms of Sb are water soluble, ion changeable, organic matter bound, carbonate bound, silicate bound, and sulfide bound. Results of sequential extraction show that silicate-bound Sb is the most abundant form in these coals. Silicate- plus sulfide-bound Sb accounts for more than half of the total Sb in all coals. Bituminous coals are higher in organic matterbound Sb than anthracite and natural coke, indicating that the Sb in the organic matter may be incorporated into silicate and sulfide minerals during metamorphism. ?? 2008 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

Alternative fuels in fire debris analysis: biodiesel basics.

PubMed

Stauffer, Eric; Byron, Doug

2007-03-01

Alternative fuels are becoming more prominent on the market today and, soon, fire debris analysts will start seeing them in liquid samples or in fire debris samples. Biodiesel fuel is one of the most common alternative fuels and is now readily available in many parts of the United States and around the world. This article introduces biodiesel to fire debris analysts. Biodiesel fuel is manufactured from vegetable oils and/or animal oils/fats. It is composed of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and is sold pure or as a blend with diesel fuel. When present in fire debris samples, it is recommended to extract the debris using passive headspace concentration on activated charcoal, possibly followed by a solvent extraction. The gas chromatographic analysis of the extract is first carried out with the same program as for regular ignitable liquid residues, and second with a program adapted to the analysis of FAMEs.

Method development for the analysis of 1,4-dioxane in drinking water using solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Grimmett, Paul E; Munch, Jean W

2009-01-01

1,4-Dioxane has been identified as a probable human carcinogen and an emerging contaminant in drinking water. The United States Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA) National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) has developed a method for the analysis of 1,4-dioxane in drinking water at ng/L concentrations. The method consists of an activated carbon solid-phase extraction of 500-mL or 100-mL water samples using dichloromethane as the elution solvent. The extracts are analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. In the NERL laboratory, recovery of 1,4-dioxane ranged from 94-110% in fortified laboratory reagent water and recoveries of 96-102% were demonstrated for fortified drinking water samples. The relative standard deviations for replicate analyses were less than 6% at concentrations exceeding the minimum reporting level.

Mining marine shellfish wastes for bioactive molecules: chitin and chitosan--Part A: extraction methods.

PubMed

Hayes, Maria; Carney, Brian; Slater, John; Brück, Wolfram

2008-07-01

Legal restrictions, high costs and environmental problems regarding the disposal of marine processing wastes have led to amplified interest in biotechnology research concerning the identification and extraction of additional high grade, low-volume by-products produced from shellfish waste treatments. Shellfish waste consisting of crustacean exoskeletons is currently the main source of biomass for chitin production. Chitin is a polysaccharide composed of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine units and the multidimensional utilization of chitin derivatives including chitosan, a deacetylated derivative of chitin, is due to a number of characteristics including: their polyelectrolyte and cationic nature, the presence of reactive groups, high adsorption capacities, bacteriostatic and fungistatic influences, making them very versatile biomolecules. Part A of this review aims to consolidate useful information concerning the methods used to extract and characterize chitin, chitosan and glucosamine obtained through industrial, microbial and enzymatic hydrolysis of shellfish waste.

Special object extraction from medieval books using superpixels and bag-of-features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Ying; Rushmeier, Holly

2017-01-01

We propose a method to extract special objects in images of medieval books, which generally represent, for example, figures and capital letters. Instead of working on the single-pixel level, we consider superpixels as the basic classification units for improved time efficiency. More specifically, we classify superpixels into different categories/objects by using a bag-of-features approach, where a superpixel category classifier is trained with the local features of the superpixels of the training images. With the trained classifier, we are able to assign the category labels to the superpixels of a historical document image under test. Finally, special objects can easily be identified and extracted after analyzing the categorization results. Experimental results demonstrate that, as compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms, our method provides comparable performance for some historical books but greatly outperforms them in terms of generality and computational time.

A Prototype System to Support Evidence-based Practice

PubMed Central

Demner-Fushman, Dina; Seckman, Charlotte; Fisher, Cheryl; Hauser, Susan E.; Clayton, Jennifer; Thoma, George R.

2008-01-01

Translating evidence into clinical practice is a complex process that depends on the availability of evidence, the environment into which the research evidence is translated, and the system that facilitates the translation. This paper presents InfoBot, a system designed for automatic delivery of patient-specific information from evidence-based resources. A prototype system has been implemented to support development of individualized patient care plans. The prototype explores possibilities to automatically extract patients’ problems from the interdisciplinary team notes and query evidence-based resources using the extracted terms. Using 4,335 de-identified interdisciplinary team notes for 525 patients, the system automatically extracted biomedical terminology from 4,219 notes and linked resources to 260 patient records. Sixty of those records (15 each for Pediatrics, Oncology & Hematology, Medical & Surgical, and Behavioral Health units) have been selected for an ongoing evaluation of the quality of automatically proactively delivered evidence and its usefulness in development of care plans. PMID:18998835

Isolation and characterization of new lignin streams derived from extractive-ammonia (EA) pretreatment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

da Costa Sousa, Leonardo; Foston, Marcus; Bokade, Vijay

One of the key challenges facing lignin conversion to fuels and chemicals is related to the level of carbohydrate and ash impurities found in extracted lignin. Structural modifications of lignin may also occur as a result of biomass pretreatment and harsh lignin extraction protocols. Extractive-Ammonia (EA) is a new pretreatment technology that uses liquid ammonia to cleave lignin–carbohydrate complexes, decrystallize cellulose, solubilize lignin, and selectively extract lignin from lignocellulosic biomass, enabling better utilization of both lignin and carbohydrate components in a biorefinery. The EA-based biorefinery produces two different lignin-rich streams, with different properties, that could potentially be upgraded to fuelsmore » and chemicals using green processes. Here, a water/ethanol-based fractionation method was developed to enrich the ammonia-soluble extractives, resulting in a major product stream containing 92% lignin. Detailed characterization of the various streams resulting from EA treatment, including compositional analysis, structural characterization by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry, elemental analysis, molecular weight analysis, and thermo-gravimetric analysis provides a broad evaluation of the EA-derived lignin product stream structures and properties, assessing their potential for commercial applications. In conclusion, EA-derived lignins preserve much of lignin's functionality, including the sensitive β-aryl ether units. Furthermore, we observed nitrogen incorporation in the lignin-rich streams, notably due to the presence of hydroxycinnamoyl amides formed during ammonia pretreatment.« less

Rapid Screening of Natural Plant Extracts with Calcium Diacetate for Differential Effects Against Foodborne Pathogens and a Probiotic Bacterium.

PubMed

Colonna, William; Brehm-Stecher, Byron; Shetty, Kalidas; Pometto, Anthony

2017-12-01

This study focused on advancing a rapid turbidimetric bioassay to screen antimicrobials using specific cocktails of targeted foodborne bacterial pathogens. Specifically, to show the relevance of this rapid screening tool, the antimicrobial potential of generally recognized as safe calcium diacetate (DAX) and blends with cranberry (NC) and oregano (OX) natural extracts was evaluated. Furthermore, the same extracts were evaluated against beneficial lactic acid bacteria. The targeted foodborne pathogens evaluated were Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus using optimized initial cocktails (∼10 8 colony-forming unit/mL) containing strains isolated from human food outbreaks. Of all extracts evaluated, 0.51% (w/v) DAX in ethanol was the most effective against all four pathogens. However, DAX when reduced to 0.26% and with added blends from ethanol extractions consisting of DAX:OX (3:1), slightly outperformed or was equal to same levels of DAX alone. Subculture of wells in which no growth occurred after 1 week indicated that all water and ethanol extracts were bacteriostatic against the pathogens tested. All the targeted antimicrobials had no effect on the probiotic organism Lactobacillus plantarum. The use of such rapid screening methods combined with the use of multistrain cocktails of targeted foodborne pathogens from outbreaks will allow rapid large-scale screening of antimicrobials and enable further detailed studies in targeted model food systems.

Biosynthesis of Novel Exopolymers by Aureobasidium pullulans

PubMed Central

Lee, Jin W.; Yeomans, Walter G.; Allen, Alfred L.; Deng, Fang; Gross, Richard A.; Kaplan, David L.

1999-01-01

Aureobasidium pullulans ATCC 42023 was cultured under aerobic conditions with glucose, mannose, and glucose analogs as energy sources. The exopolymer extracts produced under these conditions were composed of glucose and mannose. The molar ratio of glucose to mannose in the exopolymer extract and the molecular weight of the exopolymer varied depending on the energy source and culture time. The glucose content of exopolymer extracts formed with glucose and mannose as the carbon sources was between 91 and 87%. The molecular weight decreased from 3.5 × 106 to 2.12 × 106 to 0.85 × 106 to 0.77 × 106 with culture time. As the culture time increased, the glucose content of the exopolymer extract formed with glucosamine decreased from 55 ± 3 to 29 ± 2 mol%, and the molecular weight increased from 2.73 × 106 to 4.86 × 106. There was no evidence that glucosamine was directly incorporated into exopolymers. The molar ratios of glucose to mannose in exopolymer extracts ranged from 87 ± 3:13 ± 3 to 28 ± 2:72 ± 2 and were affected by the energy source added. On the basis of the results of an enzyme hydrolysis analysis of the exopolymer extracts and the compositional changes observed, mannose (a repeating unit) was substituted for glucose, which gave rise to a new family of exopolymer analogs. PMID:10583975

Micro-electromembrane extraction across free liquid membranes. Instrumentation and basic principles.

PubMed

Kubáň, Pavel; Boček, Petr

2014-06-13

A micro-electromembrane extraction (μ-EME) technique using electrically induced transfer of charged analytes across free liquid membranes (FLMs) was presented. A disposable extraction unit was proposed and it was made of a short segment of transparent perfluoroalkoxy tubing, which was successively filled with three liquid plugs serving as acceptor solution, FLM and donor solution. These plugs formed a three-phase extraction system, which was precisely defined, that was stable and required μL to sub-μL volumes of all respective solutions. Basic instrumental set-up and extraction principles of μ-EME were examined using an anionic and a cationic dye, 4,5-dihydroxy-3-(p-sulfophenylazo)-2,7-naphthalene disulfonic acid trisodium salt (SPADNS) and crystal violet, respectively. Transfers of the charged dyes from donor into acceptor solutions across FLMs consisting of 1-pentanol were visualized by a microscope camera and quantitative measurements were performed by UV-vis spectrophotometry. The effects of operational parameters of μ-EME system were comprehensively investigated and experimental measurements were accompanied with theoretical calculations. Extraction recoveries above 60% were achieved for 5min μ-EME of 1mM SPADNS at 100V with repeatability values below 5%. Selectivity of FLMs was additionally examined by capillary electrophoretic analyses of acceptor solutions and the potential of FLMs for μ-EME pretreatment of samples with artificial complex matrices was demonstrated. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Part 1: Antiplasmodial, cytotoxic, radical scavenging and antioxidant activities of Thai plants in the family Acanthaceae.

PubMed

Charoenchai, Panarat; Vajrodaya, Srunya; Somprasong, Winai; Mahidol, Chulabhorn; Ruchirawat, Somsak; Kittakoop, Prasat

2010-11-01

Crude extracts (CH(2)Cl(2) and MeOH) of 20 plants in the family Acanthaceae were screened for their antiplasmodial, cytotoxic, antioxidant, and radical scavenging activities. These plants included Asystasia nemorum, Barleria cristata, B. strigosa, Dicliptera burmanni, Eranthemum tetragonum, Hygrophila ringens, Justicia balansae, J. procumbens, Lepidagathis incurva, Peristrophe lanceolaria, Phaulopsis dorsiflora, Ruellia kerrii, Strobilanthes auriculata, S. corrugata, S. cusia, S. dimorphotricha, S. karensium, S. maxwellii, S. pateriformis, and S. brandisii. CH(2)Cl(2) extracts of A. nemorum, S. corrugata, S. cusia, S. maxwellii, S. pateriformis, and S. brandisii, as well as MeOH extracts of J. balansae and J. procumbens, showed antiplasmodial activity with IC(50) values of 10-100 µg/mL. CH(2)Cl(2) extracts of nine plants including D. burmanni, H. ringens, J. balansae, J. procumbens, L. incurva, P. lanceolaria, P. dorsiflora, S. corrugata, and S. maxwellii showed cytotoxic activity with IC(50) values of 3.5-46.0 µg/mL. MeOH extracts (at 100 µg/mL) of R. kerrii and S. auriculata could effectively scavenge DPPH free radicals (82-83% inhibition) and superoxide anion radicals (79% and 88% inhibition). In the ORAC antioxidant assay, MeOH extracts of B. cristata, J. procumbens, R. kerrii, and S. auriculata exhibited activity with ORAC units of 3.1-3.9. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

A reproducible and scalable procedure for preparing bacterial extracts for cell-free protein synthesis.

PubMed

Katsura, Kazushige; Matsuda, Takayoshi; Tomabechi, Yuri; Yonemochi, Mayumi; Hanada, Kazuharu; Ohsawa, Noboru; Sakamoto, Kensaku; Takemoto, Chie; Shirouzu, Mikako

2017-11-01

Cell-free protein synthesis is a useful method for preparing proteins for functional or structural analyses. However, batch-to-batch variability with regard to protein synthesis activity remains a problem for large-scale production of cell extract in the laboratory. To address this issue, we have developed a novel procedure for large-scale preparation of bacterial cell extract with high protein synthesis activity. The developed procedure comprises cell cultivation using a fermentor, harvesting and washing of cells by tangential flow filtration, cell disruption with high-pressure homogenizer and continuous diafiltration. By optimizing and combining these methods, ∼100 ml of the cell extract was prepared from 150 g of Escherichia coli cells. The protein synthesis activities, defined as the yield of protein per unit of absorbance at 260 nm of the cell extract, were shown to be reproducible, and the average activity of several batches was twice that obtained using a previously reported method. In addition, combinatorial use of the high-pressure homogenizer and diafiltration increased the scalability, indicating that the cell concentration at disruption varies from 0.04 to 1 g/ml. Furthermore, addition of Gam protein and examinations of the N-terminal sequence rendered the extract prepared here useful for rapid screening with linear DNA templates. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Japanese Biochemical Society. All rights reserved.

Muscle synergies evoked by microstimulation are preferentially encoded during behavior

PubMed Central

Overduin, Simon A.; d'Avella, Andrea; Carmena, Jose M.; Bizzi, Emilio

2014-01-01

Electrical microstimulation studies provide some of the most direct evidence for the neural representation of muscle synergies. These synergies, i.e., coordinated activations of groups of muscles, have been proposed as building blocks for the construction of motor behaviors by the nervous system. Intraspinal or intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) has been shown to evoke muscle patterns that can be resolved into a small set of synergies similar to those seen in natural behavior. However, questions remain about the validity of microstimulation as a probe of neural function, particularly given the relatively long trains of supratheshold stimuli used in these studies. Here, we examined whether muscle synergies evoked during ICMS in two rhesus macaques were similarly encoded by nearby motor cortical units during a purely voluntary behavior involving object reach, grasp, and carry movements. At each microstimulation site we identified the synergy most strongly evoked among those extracted from muscle patterns evoked over all microstimulation sites. For each cortical unit recorded at the same microstimulation site, we then identified the synergy most strongly encoded among those extracted from muscle patterns recorded during the voluntary behavior. We found that the synergy most strongly evoked at an ICMS site matched the synergy most strongly encoded by proximal units more often than expected by chance. These results suggest a common neural substrate for microstimulation-evoked motor responses and for the generation of muscle patterns during natural behaviors. PMID:24634652

Detection of bacteria in platelet concentrates prepared from spiked single donations using cultural and molecular genetic methods.

PubMed

Störmer, M; Cassens, U; Kleesiek, K; Dreier, J

2007-02-01

Bacteria show differences in their growth kinetics depending on the type of blood component. On to storage at 22 degrees C, platelet concentrates (PCs) seem to be more prone to bacterial multiplication than red cell concentrates. Knowledge of the potential for bacterial proliferation in blood components, which are stored at a range of temperatures, is essential before considering implementation of a detection strategy. The efficacy of bacterial detection was determined, using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), following bacterial growth in blood components obtained from a deliberately contaminated whole-blood (WB) unit. Cultivation was used as the reference method. WB was spiked with 2 colony-forming units mL(-1)Staphylococcus epidermidis or Klebsiella pneumoniae, kept for 15 h at room temperature and component preparation was processed. Samples were drawn, at intervals throughout the whole separation process, from each blood component. Nucleic acids were extracted using an automated high-volume extraction method. The 15-h storage revealed an insignificant increase in bacterial titre. No bacterial growth was detected in red blood cell or plasma units. K. pneumoniae showed rapid growth in the pooled PC and could be detected immediately after preparation using RT-PCR. S. epidermidis grew slowly and was detected 24 h after separation. These experiments show that sampling is indicative at 24 h after preparation of PCs at the earliest to minimize the sampling error.

Techno-economic evaluation of the application of ozone-oxidation in a full-scale aerobic digestion plant.

PubMed

Chiavola, Agostina; D'Amato, Emilio; Gori, Riccardo; Lubello, Claudio; Sirini, Piero

2013-04-01

This paper deals with the application of the ozone-oxidation in a full scale aerobic sludge digester. Ozonation was applied continuously to a fraction of the biological sludge extracted from the digestion unit; the ozonated sludge was then recirculated to the same digester. Three different ozone flow rates were tested (60,500 and 670g O3 h(-1)) and their effects evaluated in terms of variation of the total and soluble fractions of COD, nitrogen and phosphorous, of total and volatile suspended solids concentrations and Sludge Volume Index in the aerobic digestion unit. During the 7-month operation of the ozonation process, it was observed an appreciable improvement of the aerobic digestion efficiency (up to about 20% under the optimal conditions) and of the sludge settleability properties. These results determined an average reduction of about 60% in the biological sludge extracted from the plant and delivered to final disposal. A thorough economic analysis showed that this reduction allowed to achieve a significant cost saving for the plant with respect to the previous years operated without ozonation. Furthermore, it was determined the threshold disposal cost above which implementation of the ozone oxidation in the aerobic digestion units of similar WWTPs becomes economically convenient (about 60€t(-1) of sludge). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gut carbohydrases from the New Zealand marine herbivorous fishes Kyphosus sydneyanus (Kyphosidae), Aplodactylus arctidens (Aplodactylidae) and Odax pullus (Labridae).

PubMed

Skea, G L; Mountfort, D O; Clements, K D

2005-02-01

Carbohydrase activities were examined in Odax pullus (Labridae), Kyphosus sydneyanus (Kyphosidae) and Aplodactylus arctidens (Aplodactylidae) collected from subtidal reefs in northeastern New Zealand. Enzyme extracts were prepared using two methods from gut wall, gut fluid and microbial pellet samples taken serially along the gut, and assayed against the substrates starch, laminarin, carrageenan, alginate and agarose. In all three fish species, starch degradation activity was substantially higher than for any other substrate tested. Activities of 500, 1294 and 3326 units g tissue(-1) were measured in anterior gut wall extracts of O. pullus, K. sydneyanus and A. arctidens, respectively. Starch degrading activity in gut fluid declined from 37, 313 and 284 units ml(-1) in anterior gut sections of O. pullus, K. sydneyanus and A. arctidens, respectively, to less than 50 units ml(-1) in terminal gut section of each species. Activity against structural polysaccharides was much lower than against starch and was detected mainly in posterior gut sections. The two methods of sample preparation differed little in enzyme activities; however, method of sample preparation did affect isoform patterns as displayed by zymogram analysis. Results suggest that these fish species fall on a continuum from maximizing throughput and digesting easily hydrolysed substrates in the foregut in A. arctidens to relying more heavily on microbial fermentation in the hindgut in K. sydneyanus.

4 Vesta in Color: High Resolution Mapping from Dawn Framing Camera Images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reddy, V.; LeCorre, L.; Nathues, A.; Sierks, H.; Christensen, U.; Hoffmann, M.; Schroeder, S. E.; Vincent, J. B.; McSween, H. Y.; Denevi, B. W.;

Survey of Wound-Healing Centers and Wound Care Units in China.

PubMed

Jiang, Yufeng; Xia, Lei; Jia, Lijing; Fu, Xiaobing

2016-09-01

The purpose of this study is to report the Chinese experience of establishing hospital-based wound care centers over 15 years. A total of 69 wound-healing centers (WHCs) and wound care units (WCUs) were involved. Questionnaires were diverged to the principal directors of these sites; data extracted for this study included origin, year of establishment, medical staff, degree of hospitals, wound etiology, wound-healing rate, hospital stay, and outcomes data. The period of data extraction was defined as before and after 1 year of the establishment of WHCs and WCUs. The earliest WHC was established in 1999, and from 2010 the speeds of establishing WHCs and WCUs rapidly increased. The majority of WHCs were divisions of burn departments, and all WHCs came from departments of outpatient dressing rooms. Full-time multidisciplinary employees of WHCs differed greatly to WCUs. Types of wound and outcomes vary with those of centers reported from Western countries and the United States. Improvement in wound healing caused by the establishment of WHCs and WCUs in China occurred without doubt. Some advices include the following: rearrange and reorganize the distribution of WHCs and WCUs; enact and generalize Chinese guidelines for chronic wounds; utilize medical resources reasonably; improve multidisciplinary medical staff team; draw up and change some medical and public policies and regulations. © The Author(s) 2015.

Development of Singlet Oxygen Absorption Capacity (SOAC) Assay Method Using a Microplate Reader.

PubMed

Takahashi, Shingo; Iwasaki-Kino, Yuko; Aizawa, Koichi; Terao, Junji; Mukai, Kazuo

2016-01-01

Recently, a new assay method that can quantify the singlet oxygen absorption capacity (SOAC) of natural antioxidants and food extracts was developed. The SOAC values were measured in ethanol-chloroform-D2O (50 + 50 + 1, v/v/v) solution at 35°C using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer equipped with a six-channel cell positioner and an electron-temperature control unit. In the present study, measurement of the SOAC values was performed for eight representative carotenoids and three vegetable extracts (tomato, carrot, and red paprika) using a versatile instrument, the microplate reader. A 24-well glass microplate was used for measurements because a plastic microplate, commonly used in the laboratory, dissolves in the ethanol-chloroform-D2O solution. The SOAC values of eight carotenoids and three vegetable extracts measured using a microplate reader were in good agreement with the corresponding values measured using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, suggesting that the microplate reader is an applicable instrument for the measurement of reliable SOAC values for general antioxidants and food extracts in solution.

Theoretical investigation of the interaction between aromatic sulfur compounds and [BMIM](+)[FeCl4](-) ionic liquid in desulfurization: A novel charge transfer mechanism.

PubMed

Li, Hongping; Zhu, Wenshuai; Chang, Yonghui; Jiang, Wei; Zhang, Ming; Yin, Sheng; Xia, Jiexiang; Li, Huaming

2015-06-01

In this work, interaction nature between a group of aromatic sulfur compounds and [BMIM](+)[FeCl4](-) have been investigated by density functional theory (DFT). A coordination structure is found to be critical to the mechanism of extractive desulfurization. Interaction energy and extractive selectivity follow the order: thiophene (TH)

Biomarkers in Tertiary mélange, western Olympic Peninsula, Washington, U.S.A.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kvenvolden, Keith A.; Hostettler, Frances D.; Rapp, John B.; Snavely, Parke D.

1991-01-01

Middle Eocene to middle Miocene mélange and broken formations are exposed in the coastal outcrops along the west side of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. A petroleum geochemical assessment of these geologic units has included the investigation of biomarker compounds. A comparison was made of biomarkers in an oil sample from a middle Miocene reservoir penetrated in the Medina No. 1 well with biomarkers in extracts from two samples of middle Eocene Ozette mélange (one sample having a strong petroliferous odor, and the other sample lacking this characteristic odor). Distribution patterns of n-alkanes, tricyclic terpanes, pentacyclic triterpanes, steranes, and diasteranes are remarkably similar in the oil and rock extracts. Biomarker maturity parameters indicate higher maturity in the oil relative to the extracts. The presence of 17α(H)-23,28-bisnorlupane, 18α(H)- and 18β(H)-oleanane, and de-A-lupane and an odd-carbon-number dominance of the n-alkanes in the oil and extracts seems to tie the hydrocarbons to a common source that has a significant terrigenous component.

Hemimorphite Ores: A Review of Processing Technologies for Zinc Extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ailiang; Li, Mengchun; Qian, Zhen; Ma, Yutian; Che, Jianyong; Ma, Yalin

2016-10-01

With the gradual depletion of zinc sulfide ores, exploration of zinc oxide ores is becoming more and more important. Hemimorphite is a major zinc oxide ore, attracting much attention in the field of zinc metallurgy although it is not the major zinc mineral. This paper presents a critical review of the treatment for extraction of zinc with emphasis on flotation, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods based on the properties of hemimorphite. The three-dimensional framework structure of hemimorphite with complex linkage of its structural units lead to difficult desilicification before extracting zinc in the many metallurgical technologies. It is found that the flotation method is generally effective in enriching zinc minerals from hemimorphite ores into a high-grade concentrate for recovery of zinc. Pure zinc can be produced from hemimorphite or/and willemite with a reducing reagent, like methane or carbon. Leaching reagents, such as acid and alkali, can break the complex structure of hemimorphite to release zinc in the leached solution without generation of silica gel in the hydrometallurgical process. For optimal zinc extraction, combing flotation with pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical methods may be required.

A research framework for pharmacovigilance in health social media: Identification and evaluation of patient adverse drug event reports.

PubMed

Liu, Xiao; Chen, Hsinchun

2015-12-01

Social media offer insights of patients' medical problems such as drug side effects and treatment failures. Patient reports of adverse drug events from social media have great potential to improve current practice of pharmacovigilance. However, extracting patient adverse drug event reports from social media continues to be an important challenge for health informatics research. In this study, we develop a research framework with advanced natural language processing techniques for integrated and high-performance patient reported adverse drug event extraction. The framework consists of medical entity extraction for recognizing patient discussions of drug and events, adverse drug event extraction with shortest dependency path kernel based statistical learning method and semantic filtering with information from medical knowledge bases, and report source classification to tease out noise. To evaluate the proposed framework, a series of experiments were conducted on a test bed encompassing about postings from major diabetes and heart disease forums in the United States. The results reveal that each component of the framework significantly contributes to its overall effectiveness. Our framework significantly outperforms prior work. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Radiometric and geometric evaluation of GeoEye-1, WorldView-2 and Pléiades-1A stereo images for 3D information extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poli, D.; Remondino, F.; Angiuli, E.; Agugiaro, G.

2015-02-01

Today the use of spaceborne Very High Resolution (VHR) optical sensors for automatic 3D information extraction is increasing in the scientific and civil communities. The 3D Optical Metrology (3DOM) unit of the Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK) in Trento (Italy) has collected VHR satellite imagery, as well as aerial and terrestrial data over Trento for creating a complete testfield for investigations on image radiometry, geometric accuracy, automatic digital surface model (DSM) generation, 2D/3D feature extraction, city modelling and data fusion. This paper addresses the radiometric and the geometric aspects of the VHR spaceborne imagery included in the Trento testfield and their potential for 3D information extraction. The dataset consist of two stereo-pairs acquired by WorldView-2 and by GeoEye-1 in panchromatic and multispectral mode, and a triplet from Pléiades-1A. For reference and validation, a DSM from airborne LiDAR acquisition is used. The paper gives details on the project, dataset characteristics and achieved results.

Green fabricated CuO nanobullets via Olea europaea leaf extract shows auspicious antimicrobial potential.

PubMed

Maqbool, Qaisar; Iftikhar, Sidra; Nazar, Mudassar; Abbas, Fazal; Saleem, Asif; Hussain, Talib; Kausar, Rizwan; Anwaar, Sadaf; Jabeen, Nyla

2017-06-01

In present investigation, copper oxide (CuO) nanostructures have been prepared via green chemistry. Olea europaea leaf extract act as strong chelating agent for tailoring physical as well as bio-medical characteristics of CuO at the nano-size. Physical characterisation such as scanning electron microscope analysis depicts the formation of homogenised spherical shape nanoparticles (NPs) with average size of 42 nm. X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy further confirmed the crystalline pure phase and monoclinic structure. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) testing is performed to evaluate the relative concentration of bioactive molecules in the O. europaea leaf extract. From HPLC results capping action of organic molecules around CuO-NPs is hypothesised. The antimicrobial potency of biosynthesised CuO-NPs have been evaluated using colony forming unit (CFU) counting assay and disc diffusion method which shows a significant zone of inhibition against bacterial and fungal strains may be highly potential for future antimicrobial pharmaceutics. Furthermore, reduction of various precursors by plant extract will reduce environmental impact over chemical synthesis.

Feature extraction using first and second derivative extrema (FSDE) for real-time and hardware-efficient spike sorting.

PubMed

Paraskevopoulou, Sivylla E; Barsakcioglu, Deren Y; Saberi, Mohammed R; Eftekhar, Amir; Constandinou, Timothy G

2013-04-30

Next generation neural interfaces aspire to achieve real-time multi-channel systems by integrating spike sorting on chip to overcome limitations in communication channel capacity. The feasibility of this approach relies on developing highly efficient algorithms for feature extraction and clustering with the potential of low-power hardware implementation. We are proposing a feature extraction method, not requiring any calibration, based on first and second derivative features of the spike waveform. The accuracy and computational complexity of the proposed method are quantified and compared against commonly used feature extraction methods, through simulation across four datasets (with different single units) at multiple noise levels (ranging from 5 to 20% of the signal amplitude). The average classification error is shown to be below 7% with a computational complexity of 2N-3, where N is the number of sample points of each spike. Overall, this method presents a good trade-off between accuracy and computational complexity and is thus particularly well-suited for hardware-efficient implementation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Online System Adoption and K-12 Academic Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kimmons, R.

2015-01-01

This study seeks to understand the relationship between K-12 online system adoption (e.g., Blackboard, Edmodo, WordPress) and school-level academic achievement ratings. Utilizing a novel approach to data collection via website data extraction and indexing of all school websites in a target state in the United States (n?=?732) and merging these…

Removal of Heavy Metal Contamination from Peanut Skin Extracts by Waste Biomass Adsorbents

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Each year, 3.6 million pounds of peanuts are harvested in the United States. Consequent processing, however, generates large amounts of waste biomass as only the seed portion of the fruit is consumed. The under-utilization of waste biomass is a lost economic opportunity to the industry. In particula...

7 CFR 319.56-44 - Untreated grapefruit, sweet oranges, and tangerines from Mexico for processing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... from Mexico for processing. 319.56-44 Section 319.56-44 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of... Mexico for processing. Untreated grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis), and tangerines (Citrus reticulata) may be imported into the United States from Mexico for extracting juice if...

National rivers and streams assessment survey: evaluating the extent of selected human prescription pharmaceuticals in United States surface waters

EPA Science Inventory

The Ecological Exposure Research Division (EERD) has prioritized a list of the most prescribed active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) in the U.S. based on the potential of their wastewater residues to cause biological effects. A method using selective solid phase extraction and...

7 CFR 457.169 - Mint crop insurance provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... process of extracting mint oil from harvested mint plants by heating and condensing. Existing mint. Mint... or peppermint plant of the family Labiatae and the genus Mentha grown for distillation of mint oil... percent share in 100 acres of peppermint in the unit, with a production guarantee of 50 pounds of oil per...

7 CFR 457.169 - Mint crop insurance provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... process of extracting mint oil from harvested mint plants by heating and condensing. Existing mint. Mint... or peppermint plant of the family Labiatae and the genus Mentha grown for distillation of mint oil... percent share in 100 acres of peppermint in the unit, with a production guarantee of 50 pounds of oil per...

7 CFR 457.169 - Mint crop insurance provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... process of extracting mint oil from harvested mint plants by heating and condensing. Existing mint. Mint... or peppermint plant of the family Labiatae and the genus Mentha grown for distillation of mint oil... percent share in 100 acres of peppermint in the unit, with a production guarantee of 50 pounds of oil per...

7 CFR 457.169 - Mint crop insurance provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... process of extracting mint oil from harvested mint plants by heating and condensing. Existing mint. Mint... or peppermint plant of the family Labiatae and the genus Mentha grown for distillation of mint oil... percent share in 100 acres of peppermint in the unit, with a production guarantee of 50 pounds of oil per...

7 CFR 457.169 - Mint crop insurance provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... process of extracting mint oil from harvested mint plants by heating and condensing. Existing mint. Mint... or peppermint plant of the family Labiatae and the genus Mentha grown for distillation of mint oil... percent share in 100 acres of peppermint in the unit, with a production guarantee of 50 pounds of oil per...

43 CFR 9239.0-7 - Penalty for unauthorized removal of material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

...) BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TECHNICAL SERVICES (9000) TRESPASS Kinds of Trespass § 9239.0-7 Penalty for unauthorized removal of material. The extraction, severance, injury, or... Department, is an act of trespass. Trespassers will be liable in damages to the United States, and will be...

43 CFR 9239.0-7 - Penalty for unauthorized removal of material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...) BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TECHNICAL SERVICES (9000) TRESPASS Kinds of Trespass § 9239.0-7 Penalty for unauthorized removal of material. The extraction, severance, injury, or... Department, is an act of trespass. Trespassers will be liable in damages to the United States, and will be...

43 CFR 9239.0-7 - Penalty for unauthorized removal of material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

...) BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TECHNICAL SERVICES (9000) TRESPASS Kinds of Trespass § 9239.0-7 Penalty for unauthorized removal of material. The extraction, severance, injury, or... Department, is an act of trespass. Trespassers will be liable in damages to the United States, and will be...

43 CFR 9239.0-7 - Penalty for unauthorized removal of material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

...) BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TECHNICAL SERVICES (9000) TRESPASS Kinds of Trespass § 9239.0-7 Penalty for unauthorized removal of material. The extraction, severance, injury, or... Department, is an act of trespass. Trespassers will be liable in damages to the United States, and will be...

Reinvestigation of Cactoblastis Captorum (LEPIDOPTERA: PYRALIDAE) sex pheromone for improved attractiveness and greater specificity

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg.) is recognized as an invasive species in the Caribbean, United States, and Mexico with potential to adversely impact native cactus population. Prior work using hexane extracts of sex glands showed that the sex pheromone of this species has 54% of (Z, E) -9.12 tetradecadi...

Conversion of SPORL pretreated Douglas fir forest residues into microbial lipids with oleaginous yeasts

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Douglas fir is the dominant commercial tree grown in the United States. In this study Douglas fir residue was converted to single cell oils using oleaginous yeasts. Monosaccharides were extracted from the woody biomass by pretreating with sulfite and dilute sulfuric acid (SPORL process) and hydrol...

Self-Paced Tutorial Courses for Mineral Science - Metallurgy Departments. Final Progress Report (July 1975-August 1980).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Twidwell, L. G.

Four courses in extractive metallurgy (Pyrometallurgy, Hydrometallurgy, Electrometallurgy; and Physical Chemistry of Iron and Steel) were prepared in a modular, self-paced format. Development of the course materials included: (1) preparation of course outlines by unit coordinators and advisory committees; (2) approval of course outlines (included…

7 CFR 319.56-44 - Untreated grapefruit, sweet oranges, and tangerines from Mexico for processing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... from Mexico for processing. 319.56-44 Section 319.56-44 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of... Mexico for processing. Untreated grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis), and tangerines (Citrus reticulata) may be imported into the United States from Mexico for extracting juice if...

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Quarterly Reports and Semiannual Report to the United States Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-30

focus has been, and is, shifting from major reconstruction into helping with gover - nance, helping with capacity, helping with policy reform, and...extractive industries, including oil, gas, and minerals agriculture tourism In December, a U.S. Treasury and execution. The team met with the chief

7 CFR 319.56-44 - Untreated grapefruit, sweet oranges, and tangerines from Mexico for processing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... from Mexico for processing. 319.56-44 Section 319.56-44 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of... Mexico for processing. Untreated grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis), and tangerines (Citrus reticulata) may be imported into the United States from Mexico for extracting juice if...

7 CFR 319.56-44 - Untreated grapefruit, sweet oranges, and tangerines from Mexico for processing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... from Mexico for processing. 319.56-44 Section 319.56-44 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of... Mexico for processing. Untreated grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis), and tangerines (Citrus reticulata) may be imported into the United States from Mexico for extracting juice if...

7 CFR 319.56-44 - Untreated grapefruit, sweet oranges, and tangerines from Mexico for processing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... from Mexico for processing. 319.56-44 Section 319.56-44 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of... Mexico for processing. Untreated grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis), and tangerines (Citrus reticulata) may be imported into the United States from Mexico for extracting juice if...

Working Commitment among Trainee Teachers: A Meta Evaluation Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamzah, Mohd Sahandri Gani B.; Mohamed, Hapidah Bt.; Abdullah, Saifuddin Kumar B.; Baki, Roselan B.

2008-01-01

The main aim of the study was to evaluate trainee teachers working commitment in their teaching practicum. There were seven component teaching practices and eleven demographic factors. The instrument of the study was extracted from various sources to suit the research design based on Units, Treatments, Observing, and Surveying (UTOS) model…

36 CFR 6.7 - Mining wastes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Mining wastes. 6.7 Section 6... DISPOSAL SITES IN UNITS OF THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM § 6.7 Mining wastes. (a) Solid waste from mining includes but is not limited to mining overburden, mining byproducts, solid waste from the extraction...

30 CFR 843.15 - Informal public hearing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., “mining” includes (1) extracting coal from the earth or from coal waste piles and transporting it within... section shall be delivered to such person by an authorized representative or sent by certified mail to... of the mine. (e) Section 554 of Title 5 of the United States Code, regarding requirements for formal...

Optimization of mechanical extraction conditions for producing grape seed oil

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In the United States, over 150 thousand metric tons of dried grape seeds containing 13-19% of oil are produced every year, as a byproduct from processing of about 5.8 million metric tons of grapes. The health promoting properties of grape seed oil is due to the presence of many bioactive components ...

Mapping of Supply Chain Learning: A Framework for SMEs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thakkar, Jitesh; Kanda, Arun; Deshmukh, S. G.

2011-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to propose a mapping framework for evaluating supply chain learning potential for the context of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach: The extracts of recently completed case based research for ten manufacturing SME units and facts reported in the previous research are utilized…

Airlift 2025: The First with the Most

DTIC Science & Technology

1996-08-01

Use Delivery and Extraction............................................................ 8 Long Unrefueled Range...political changes will likely necessitate the basing of most, if not all, US military forces in the continental United States (CONUS). However, this...will not end the requirement for a global US presence. Although the probability of direct foreign military threats to our interests may be slight

Comparative evaluation of surgical outcome after removal of impacted mandibular third molars using a Piezotome or a conventional handpiece: a prospective study.

PubMed

Goyal, Manoj; Marya, Karan; Jhamb, Aakarsh; Chawla, Sonia; Sonoo, Priyanshu Ranjan; Singh, Veenita; Aggarwal, Anuj

2012-09-01

Our aim was to compare the use of a conventional rotary handpiece and a Piezosurgical unit for extraction of lower third molars. We studied 40 patients, who were allocated alternately to have the third molar removed with either the handpiece or the Piezosurgical unit. Pain, trismus, and oedema were evaluated at baseline and then postoperatively, together with paraesthesiae, on postoperative days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 15. Damage to surrounding tissue was checked on the same day whereas dry socket was evaluated from postoperative day 3 onwards. More patients complained of pain in the conventional group, they also required more analgesics, and they developed trismus more often than in the Piezosurgery group. There was also significantly more postoperative swelling in the conventional group. Patients were also evaluated using the subjective Postoperative Symptom Severity (PoSSe) scale. Our results suggest that apart from some inherent limitations with the Piezotome, it is a valuable alternative for extraction of third molars. Copyright © 2011 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Direct extraction of electron parameters from magnetoconductance analysis in mesoscopic ring array structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawada, A.; Faniel, S.; Mineshige, S.; Kawabata, S.; Saito, K.; Kobayashi, K.; Sekine, Y.; Sugiyama, H.; Koga, T.

2018-05-01

We report an approach for examining electron properties using information about the shape and size of a nanostructure as a measurement reference. This approach quantifies the spin precession angles per unit length directly by considering the time-reversal interferences on chaotic return trajectories within mesoscopic ring arrays (MRAs). Experimentally, we fabricated MRAs using nanolithography in InGaAs quantum wells which had a gate-controllable spin-orbit interaction (SOI). As a result, we observed an Onsager symmetry related to relativistic magnetic fields, which provided us with indispensable information for the semiclassical billiard ball simulation. Our simulations, developed based on the real-space formalism of the weak localization/antilocalization effect including the degree of freedom for electronic spin, reproduced the experimental magnetoconductivity (MC) curves with high fidelity. The values of five distinct electron parameters (Fermi wavelength, spin precession angles per unit length for two different SOIs, impurity scattering length, and phase coherence length) were thereby extracted from a single MC curve. The methodology developed here is applicable to wide ranges of nanomaterials and devices, providing a diagnostic tool for exotic properties of two-dimensional electron systems.

Impact of thermal processing on the activity of gallotannins and condensed tannins from Hamamelis virginiana used as functional ingredients in seafood.

PubMed

González, María Jesús; Torres, Josep Lluís; Medina, Isabel

2010-04-14

Phenolic extracts from witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, are efficient antioxidants against fish lipid peroxidation. The impact of fish thermal processes on the hydrolyzable polyphenols from this source was studied. H. virginiana polyphenols included 80% of hydrolyzable tannins, characterized by a mixture of glucose gallates containing from 5 to 10 units of gallic acid, hamamelitannin, and 20% of proanthocyanidins. Structural modifications of the polyphenols during thermal processes were determined by HPLC-MS. Changes in their reducing and free radical scavenging capacities as a result of high temperatures were also determined. Thermal processes triggered a significant breakdown of hydrolyzable tannins with 6-10 galloyl units to give pentagalloyl glucose (PGG). The release of high concentrations of free gallic acid especially in long-term thermally processed samples leads to an increase of the antioxidant ability of heated H. virginiana extracts. Such an increase was evidenced by an increment in the reducing and radical scavenging capacities as well as an improvement in the antioxidant effectiveness for inhibiting lipid oxidation of processed fatty fish muscle.

Soil-borne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in El Paso, Texas: Analysis of a potential problem in the United States/Mexico border region

PubMed Central

De La Torre-Roche, Roberto J.; Lee, Wen-Yee; Campos-Díaz, Sandra I.

2009-01-01

Ultrasonic extraction followed by Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction (SBSE) and thermal desorption inline coupled with Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry (TD/GC/MS)was used to perform a comprehensive determination of soil-borne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in El Paso, Texas. The method provided good sensitivity and faster processing time for the analysis. The total PAHs in El Paso soil ranged from 0.1 to 2225.5 µg kg−1. Although the majority of PAH concentrations did not exceed the soil screening levels regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the existence of PAHs in this ecosystem is ubiquitous. Naphthalene were found in 100% of the soil samples; while the heavy PAHs (five- and six-ring) were not often detected and mostly remained in closer proximity to industrial areas and major traffic points. The results ruled out the possibility of petroleum refining as the significant source of local soil-borne PAH contamination, but they suggested that the PAHs found in El Paso soil were closely linked to human activities and possible other industrial processes. PMID:18768257

Rapid analysis of foodborne pathogens by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sengupta, Atanu; Shende, Chetan; Huang, Hermes; Farquharson, Stuart; Inscore, Frank

2012-05-01

Foodborne diseases resulting from Campylobacter, Escherichia, Listeria, Salmonella, Shigella and Vibrio species affect as many as 76 million persons in the United States each year, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. The challenge to preventing distribution and consumption of contaminated foods lies in the fact that just a few bacterial cells can rapidly multiply to millions, reaching infectious doses within a few days. Unfortunately, current methods used to detect these few cells rely on lengthy growth enrichment steps that take a similar amount of time (1 to 4 days). Consequently, there is a critical need for an analyzer that can rapidly extract and detect foodborne pathogens in 1-2 hours (not days), at 100 colony forming units per gram of food, and with a specificity that differentiates from indigenous microflora, so that false alarms are eliminated. In an effort to meet this need, we have been developing a sample system that extracts such pathogens from food, selectively binds these pathogens, and produces surface-enhanced Raman spectra (SERS). Here we present preliminary SERS measurements of Listeria and Salmonella.

The system of galactans of the red seaweed, Kappaphycus alvarezii, with emphasis on its minor constituents.

PubMed

Estevez, José M; Ciancia, Marina; Cerezo, Alberto S

2004-10-20

The galactans extracted with hot water from Kappaphycus alvarezii, after previous extraction at room temperature, are mainly composed of kappa-carrageenans (approximately 74%) and micro-carrageenans (approximately 3%). However, a significant percentage of these galactans (at least 14%) is composed of sulfated agarans and, possibly, agaran-type sulfated DL-hybrid galactans. These agarans are partially substituted on C-2 or C-4 or disubstituted on both positions of the beta-D-galactose units and on C-3 or C-2 and C-3 of the alpha-L-galactose residues with sulfate groups or single stubs of beta-D-xylopyranose, D-glucopyranose, and galactose or with D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-D-glucopyranose side chains. Significant quantities of 2-O-methyl- and 3-O-methyl-L-galactose units are also present. A great tendency to retain Ca2+ and Mg2+, in spite of massive treatments with Na+ and K+ salts, was observed. The complexation between agarans and agarans-kappa-carrageenans through divalent cations and the possible zipper-type carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions would be two complementary mechanisms of interactions.

ASTP video tape recorder ground support equipment (audio/CTE splitter/interleaver). Operations manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

A descriptive handbook for the audio/CTE splitter/interleaver (RCA part No. 8673734-502) was presented. This unit is designed to perform two major functions: extract audio and time data from an interleaved video/audio signal (splitter section), and provide a test interleaved video/audio/CTE signal for the system (interleaver section). It is a rack mounting unit 7 inches high, 19 inches wide, 20 inches deep, mounted on slides for retracting from the rack, and weighs approximately 40 pounds. The following information is provided: installation, operation, principles of operation, maintenance, schematics and parts lists.

Compact, high energy gas laser

DOEpatents

Rockwood, Stephen D.; Stapleton, Robert E.; Stratton, Thomas F.

1976-08-03

An electrically pumped gas laser amplifier unit having a disc-like configuration in which light propagation is radially outward from the axis rather than along the axis. The input optical energy is distributed over a much smaller area than the output optical energy, i.e., the amplified beam, while still preserving the simplicity of parallel electrodes for pumping the laser medium. The system may thus be driven by a comparatively low optical energy input, while at the same time, owing to the large output area, large energies may be extracted while maintaining the energy per unit area below the threshold of gas breakdown.

Selenium content and oxidation states in fly ashes from western U.S. coals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mattigod, Shas V; Quinn, Thomas R

2003-08-01

A selective extraction scheme was developed for the determination of the oxidation states of Se species in coal ashes. As compared to HF dissolution, extractions with 70% HC1O4 mobilized 90 to 100% of all compound and redox forms of Se from four of the five fly ashes. Extractions with 16M HNO3 did not mobilize all forms of Se as effectively as perchloric acid. Both oxidized forms of Se (IV and VI) were completely mobilized by 12M HCl extraction. Deionized-distilled water was not an effective extractant for mobilizing all compound forms of Se(IV) from fly ashes. Extraction data (70% HClO4, 16Mmore » HNO3, 12M HCl, DI water) indicated that the solid:solution ratio is a critical factor in Se extractability from fly ashes. Maximum extractions in all cases were obtained only with very high (1:500) solid:solution ratios. Extraction times from 1.5 to 25 hours did not significantly change Se extractability with any of the extractants except with 12M HCl, which required a minimum reaction time of 48 hours to attain maximum Se extractability. Reaction times shorter than the critical time and low solid:solution ratios significantly affected Se extractability from these fly ashes. Measurements of Se content and redox state in particle size and density fractions five western United States coal ashes indicated that typically, the Se content increased with decreasing particle size.. However, no consistent trend in Se concentration between the light and heavy density fractions of <2.7-m size fraction was observed. Selenium redox state data indicated that only Se(0) and Se(IV) forms were present in these five coal ashes. The presence of Se(IV) is significant since it is much more easily mobilized than the elemental form. Examination of fly ashes by the proposed scheme to determine Se redox species could permit better estimation of the Se content of plants grown on fly ash amended soils.« less

Geochemical and multi-isotopic (87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd, 238U/235U) perspectives of sediment sources, depositional conditions, and diagenesis of the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phan, Thai T.; Gardiner, James B.; Capo, Rosemary C.; Stewart, Brian W.

2018-02-01

We investigate sediment sources, depositional conditions and diagenetic processes affecting the Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin, eastern USA, a major target of natural gas exploration. Multiple proxies, including trace metal contents, rare earth elements (REE), the Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotope systems, and U isotopes were applied to whole rock digestions and sequentially extracted fractions of the Marcellus shale and adjacent units from two locations in the Appalachian Basin. The narrow range of εNd values (from -7.8 to -6.4 at 390 Ma) is consistent with derivation of the clastic sedimentary component of the Marcellus Shale from a well-mixed source of fluvial and eolian material of the Grenville orogenic belt, and indicate minimal post-depositional alteration of the Sm-Nd system. While silicate minerals host >80% of the REE in the shale, data from sequentially extracted fractions reflect post-depositional modifications at the mineralogical scale, which is not observed in whole rock REE patterns. Limestone units thought to have formed under open ocean (oxic) conditions have δ238U values and REE patterns consistent with modern seawater. The δ238U values in whole rock shale and authigenic phases are greater than those of modern seawater and the upper crust. The δ238U values of reduced phases (the oxidizable fraction consisting of organics and sulfide minerals) are ∼0.6‰ greater than that of modern seawater. Bulk shale and carbonate cement extracted from the shale have similar δ238U values, and are greater than δ238U values of adjacent limestone units. We suggest these trends are due to the accumulation of chemically and, more likely, biologically reduced U from anoxic to euxinic bottom water as well as the influence of diagenetic reactions between pore fluids and surrounding sediment and organic matter during diagenesis and catagenesis.

Model-based design of a pilot-scale simulated moving bed for purification of citric acid from fermentation broth.

PubMed

Wu, Jinglan; Peng, Qijun; Arlt, Wolfgang; Minceva, Mirjana

2009-12-11

One of the conventional processes used for the recovery of citric acid from its fermentation broth is environmentally harmful and cost intensive. In this work an innovative benign process, which comprises simulated moving bed (SMB) technology and use of a tailor-made tertiary poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PVP) resin as a stationary phase is proposed. This paper focuses on a model-based design of the operation conditions for an existing pilot-scale SMB plant. The SMB unit is modeled on the basis of experimentally determined hydrodynamics, thermodynamics and mass transfer characteristics in a single chromatographic column. Three mathematical models are applied and validated for the prediction of the experimentally attained breakthrough and elution profiles of citric acid and the main impurity component (glucose). The transport dispersive model was selected for the SMB simulation and design studies, since it gives a satisfactory prediction of the elution profiles within acceptable computational time. The equivalent true moving bed (TMB) and SMB models give a good prediction of the experimentally attained SMB separation performances, obtained with a real clarified and concentrated fermentation broth as a feed mixture. The SMB separation requirements are set to at least 99.8% citric acid purity and 90% citric acid recovery in the extract stream. The complete regeneration in sections 1 and 4 is unnecessary. Therefore the net flow rates in all four SMB sections have been considered in the unit design. The influences of the operating conditions (the flow rate in each section, switching time and unit configuration) on the SMB performances were investigated systematically. The resulting SMB design provides 99.8% citric acid purity and 97.2% citric acid recovery in the extract. In addition the citric acid concentration in the extract is a half of its concentration in the pretreated fermentation broth (feed).

Thrombotic events associated with C1 esterase inhibitor products in patients with hereditary angioedema: investigation from the United States Food and Drug Administration adverse event reporting system database.

PubMed

Gandhi, Pranav K; Gentry, William M; Bottorff, Michael B

2012-10-01

To investigate reports of thrombotic events associated with the use of C1 esterase inhibitor products in patients with hereditary angioedema in the United States. Retrospective data mining analysis. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adverse event reporting system (AERS) database. Case reports of C1 esterase inhibitor products, thrombotic events, and C1 esterase inhibitor product-associated thrombotic events (i.e., combination cases) were extracted from the AERS database, using the time frames of each respective product's FDA approval date through the second quarter of 2011. Bayesian statistical methodology within the neural network architecture was implemented to identify potential signals of a drug-associated adverse event. A potential signal is generated when the lower limit of the 95% 2-sided confidence interval of the information component, denoted by IC₀₂₅ , is greater than zero. This suggests that the particular drug-associated adverse event was reported to the database more often than statistically expected from reports available in the database. Ten combination cases of thrombotic events associated with the use of one C1 esterase inhibitor product (Cinryze) were identified in patients with hereditary angioedema. A potential signal demonstrated by an IC₀₂₅ value greater than zero (IC₀₂₅ = 2.91) was generated for these combination cases. The extracted cases from the AERS indicate continuing reports of thrombotic events associated with the use of one C1 esterase inhibitor product among patients with hereditary angioedema. The AERS is incapable of establishing a causal link and detecting the true frequency of an adverse event associated with a drug; however, potential signals of C1 esterase inhibitor product-associated thrombotic events among patients with hereditary angioedema were identified in the extracted combination cases. © 2012 Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

Evaluation of the immuno-stimulatory potential of stopper extractables and leachables by using dendritic cells as readout.

PubMed

Mueller, Robert; Karle, Anette; Vogt, Anne; Kropshofer, Harald; Ross, Alfred; Maeder, Karsten; Mahler, Hanns-Christian

2009-10-01

Recombinant protein pharmaceuticals may bear some risks and undesirable side effects, such as the appearance of immunogenic reactions. The increased incidence of antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) outside the United States after administration of a human serum albumin (HSA)-free EPREX (recombinant human erythropoietin alpha) formulation was explained with the generation of rubber stopper related leachables, possibly acting as immunogenic adjuvants. In our study, we have investigated the potential of extractable and leachable preparations of three different pharmaceutical relevant stoppers to generate a "danger signal" in a dendritic cell assay. Furthermore, the investigated extractable and leachable preparations were characterized by NMR and a micelle-based polysorbate quantification method. In summary, we could demonstrate that stopper extractables, either generated by extraction or by leaching conditions, were not acting as danger signals for dendritic cells. Instead we identified degradation products of polysorbate 80, oleic acid and follow-up products, occur only under very accelerated conditions (100 degrees C for 4 days) as a potential stimulator for these immune cells. As this degradation did not occur at real-time, the authors however do not consider their finding to be linked to any direct safety implications of polysorbate-containing formulations in clinical practice.

Potential applications for Annona squamosa leaf extract in the treatment and prevention of foodborne bacterial disease.

PubMed

Dholvitayakhun, Achara; Trachoo, Nathanon; Sakee, Uthai; Cushnie, T P Tim

2013-03-01

Foodborne disease is a major public health problem. The present study examined Annona squamosa leaves, which are traditionally used to treat diarrhea and other infections, for their potential to be used in modern food safety or medicine. Active constituents were partially purified by ethanol extraction and column chromatography. MICs of the extract were 62.5 to 125 microg/mL against Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus, and 250 microg/mL against Campylobacter jejuni. In time-kill assays, 500 microg/mL of the extract reduced colony forming unit numbers of C. jejuni almost 10 000-fold within 12 hours. Similar decreases were seen against B. cereus, but over a longer time-frame. LC-MS analysis indicated the presence of reticuline and oxophoebine. Assessment of stability by MIC assay showed activity was heat-labile, with loss of activity greatest following high temperature treatments. Activity was relatively stable at refrigeration temperature. These results indicate A. squamosa has broad-spectrum but heat-labile activity against foodborne bacterial pathogens, and bactericidal activity against B. cereus and C. jejuni. This bactericidal activity is not sufficiently rapid for A. squamosa to be used as a food sanitizer, but the extract could potentially be developed as an additive for refrigerated foods, or a modern treatment for foodborne illness.

Disposable bioluminescence-based biosensor for detection of bacterial count in food.

PubMed

Luo, Jinping; Liu, Xiaohong; Tian, Qing; Yue, Weiwei; Zeng, Jing; Chen, Guangquan; Cai, Xinxia

2009-11-01

A biosensor for rapid detection of bacterial count based on adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence has been developed. The biosensor is composed of a key sensitive element and a photomultiplier tube used as a detector element. The disposable sensitive element consists of a sampler, a cartridge where intracellular ATP is chemically extracted from bacteria, and a microtube where the extracted ATP reacts with the luciferin-luciferase reagent to produce bioluminescence. The bioluminescence signal is transformed into relevant electrical signal by the detector and further measured with a homemade luminometer. Parameters affecting the amount of the extracted ATP, including the types of ATP extractants, the concentrations of ATP extractant, and the relevant neutralizing reagent, were optimized. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the biosensor showed a linear response to standard bacteria in a concentration range from 10(3) to 10(8) colony-forming units (CFU) per milliliter with a correlation coefficient of 0.925 (n=22) within 5min. Moreover, the bacterial count of real food samples obtained by the biosensor correlated well with those by the conventional plate count method. The proposed biosensor, with characteristics of low cost, easy operation, and fast response, provides potential application to rapid evaluation of bacterial contamination in the food industry, environment monitoring, and other fields.

Demonstration and validation of automated agricultural field extraction from multi-temporal Landsat data for the majority of United States harvested cropland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, L.; Roy, D. P.

2014-12-01

The spatial distribution of agricultural fields is a fundamental description of rural landscapes and the location and extent of fields is important to establish the area of land utilized for agricultural yield prediction, resource allocation, and for economic planning, and may be indicative of the degree of agricultural capital investment, mechanization, and labor intensity. To date, field objects have not been extracted from satellite data over large areas because of computational constraints, the complexity of the extraction task, and because consistently processed appropriate resolution data have not been available or affordable. A recently published automated methodology to extract agricultural crop fields from weekly 30 m Web Enabled Landsat data (WELD) time series was refined and applied to 14 states that cover 70% of harvested U.S. cropland (USDA 2012 Census). The methodology was applied to 2010 combined weekly Landsat 5 and 7 WELD data. The field extraction and quantitative validation results are presented for the following 14 states: Iowa, North Dakota, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, South Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Michigan (sorted by area of harvested cropland). These states include the top 11 U.S states by harvested cropland area. Implications and recommendations for systematic application to global coverage Landsat data are discussed.

Sequential extraction of flavonoids and pectin from yellow passion fruit rind using pressurized solvent or ultrasound.

PubMed

de Souza, Caroline G; Rodrigues, Tigressa Hs; E Silva, Lorena Ma; Ribeiro, Paulo Rv; de Brito, Edy S

2018-03-01

Passion fruit rind (PFR) represents 90% of the total fruit weight and is wasted during juice processing. Passion fruit rind is known to contain flavonoids and pectin. An alternative use for this fruit juice industrial residue is to obtain these compounds. This study aimed to verify the influence of pressurized solvent extraction (PSE) or ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) of flavonoid and pectin in a sequential process. The PSE using ethanol at 60:40 (v/v) yielded a total polyphenol content of 4.67 g GAE kg -1 PFR, orientin-7-O-glucoside (1.57 g kg -1 PFR) and luteolin-6-C-glucoside (2.44 g kg -1 PFR). Pectin yield was 165 g kg -1 PFR, either in PSE or UAE. Pectin characterization indicates that the pectic structure has basically homogalacturonans and galacturonate followed by a galacturonic acid ester unit, with methylation degree of 70%. With this study it can be concluded that mixtures of alcohols with water favor the extraction of bioactive compounds of passion fruit peel. Both PSE and UAE were effective in sequentially extracting flavonoids and pectin. The preferred solvent is ethanol due to its lower toxicity. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Dataset of timberland variables used to assess forest conditions in two Southeastern United States' fuelsheds

DOE PAGES

Parish, Esther S.; Dale, Virginia H.; Tobin, Emma; ...

2017-05-27

The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled “How is wood-based pellet production affecting forest conditions in the southeastern United States?” (Dale et al., 2017). This article describes how United States Forest Service (USFS) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data from multiple state inventories were aggregated and used to extract ten annual timberland variables for trend analysis in two case study bioenergy fuelshed areas. This dataset is made publically available to enable critical or extended analyses of changes in forest conditions, either for the fuelshed areas supplying the ports of Savannah, Georgia and Chesapeake, Virginia,more » or for other southeastern US forested areas contributing biomass to the export wood pellet industry.« less

Dataset of timberland variables used to assess forest conditions in two Southeastern United States' fuelsheds

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Parish, Esther S.; Dale, Virginia H.; Tobin, Emma

The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled “How is wood-based pellet production affecting forest conditions in the southeastern United States?” (Dale et al., 2017). This article describes how United States Forest Service (USFS) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data from multiple state inventories were aggregated and used to extract ten annual timberland variables for trend analysis in two case study bioenergy fuelshed areas. This dataset is made publically available to enable critical or extended analyses of changes in forest conditions, either for the fuelshed areas supplying the ports of Savannah, Georgia and Chesapeake, Virginia,more » or for other southeastern US forested areas contributing biomass to the export wood pellet industry.« less

In vitro and in vivo antifungal activities of selected Cameroonian dietary spices.

PubMed

Dzoyem, Jean Paul; Tchuenguem, Roland T; Kuiate, Jules R; Teke, Gerald N; Kechia, Frederick A; Kuete, Victor

2014-02-17

Spices and herbs have been used in food since ancient times to give taste and flavor and also as food preservatives and disease remedies. In Cameroon, the use of spices and other aromatic plants as food flavoring is an integral part of dietary behavior, but relatively little is known about their antifungal potential.The present work was designed to assess the antifungal properties of extracts from spices used in Cameroonian dietary. The in vitro antifungal activities of twenty three extracts from twenty one spices were assessed by the broth micro-dilution method against eight fungi. Also, the in vivo activity of Olax subscorpioidea extract (the most active extract) was evaluated in rat model of disseminated candidiasis due to Candida albicans by estimating the fungal burden in blood and kidney. Seven extracts (30%) exhibited moderate to significant antifungal activities, inhibiting the growth of the microorganisms at concentrations ranging from 0.048 to 0.39 mg/mL. Olax subscorpioidea extract exhibited the highest antifungal activity particularly against Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis (MIC of 0.097 mg/mL and 0.048 mg/mL respectively). Sixteen extracts (70%) were weakly active (MICs > 6.25 mg/mL). Oral administration of O. subscorpioidea extract at the dose 2 g/kg of body weight (bw) to artificially infected rats revealed a drop in the number of colony forming units per milliliter (cfu/mL) of Candida albicans cells in the blood below the detection limit (100 cfu/mL) while a modest decrease was observed in the kidney. The present work shows that some of the spices studied possess interesting antifungal properties and could be used to treat candidiasis. Among the plant species tested, Olax subscorpioidea displayed the most promising result.

PCA Tomography: how to extract information from data cubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steiner, J. E.; Menezes, R. B.; Ricci, T. V.; Oliveira, A. S.

2009-05-01

Astronomy has evolved almost exclusively by the use of spectroscopic and imaging techniques, operated separately. With the development of modern technologies, it is possible to obtain data cubes in which one combines both techniques simultaneously, producing images with spectral resolution. To extract information from them can be quite complex, and hence the development of new methods of data analysis is desirable. We present a method of analysis of data cube (data from single field observations, containing two spatial and one spectral dimension) that uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to express the data in the form of reduced dimensionality, facilitating efficient information extraction from very large data sets. PCA transforms the system of correlated coordinates into a system of uncorrelated coordinates ordered by principal components of decreasing variance. The new coordinates are referred to as eigenvectors, and the projections of the data on to these coordinates produce images we will call tomograms. The association of the tomograms (images) to eigenvectors (spectra) is important for the interpretation of both. The eigenvectors are mutually orthogonal, and this information is fundamental for their handling and interpretation. When the data cube shows objects that present uncorrelated physical phenomena, the eigenvector's orthogonality may be instrumental in separating and identifying them. By handling eigenvectors and tomograms, one can enhance features, extract noise, compress data, extract spectra, etc. We applied the method, for illustration purpose only, to the central region of the low ionization nuclear emission region (LINER) galaxy NGC 4736, and demonstrate that it has a type 1 active nucleus, not known before. Furthermore, we show that it is displaced from the centre of its stellar bulge. Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (Brazil) and SECYT (Argentina). E-mail: steiner@astro.iag.usp.br

Cyclodextrin based polymer sorbents for micro-solid phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in determination of endogenous steroids.

PubMed

Manaf, Normaliza Abdul; Saad, Bahruddin; Mohamed, Mohamed H; Wilson, Lee D; Latiff, Aishah A

2018-03-30

Sorbents were prepared by cross-linking β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) using two different types of cross-linker units at variable reactant mole ratios. The resulting polymers containing β-CD were evaluated as sorbents in micro-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) format for the extraction of the endogenous steroids testosterone (T), epitestosterone (E), androsterone (A), etiocholanolone (Etio), 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol (5αAdiol) and 5β-androstane-3α,17β-diol (5βAdiol). The best sorbent (C1; cyclodextrin polymer) showed superior extraction characteristics compared with commercial sorbents (C18 and Bond Elut Plexa). Parameters influencing the extraction efficiency of the C1 sorbent such as extraction and desorption times, desorption solvent and volume of sample were investigated. The extracts were separated using a Hypersil Gold column (50 × 2.1 mm, 1.9 μm) under gradient elution coupled to a LC-MS/MS. The compounds were successfully separated within 8 min. The method offers good repeatability (RSD < 10%) and linearity (r 2  > 0.995) were within the range of 1-200 ng mL -1 for T and E, 250-4000 ng mL -1 for A and Etio and 25-500 ng mL -1 for 5αAdiol and 5βAdiol, respectively. The method was applied for the determination of steroid profile of urine from volunteers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Fundus Fluorescein Angiogram Based on the Hessian Matrix of Directional Curvelet Sub-bands and Distance Regularized Level Set Evolution.

PubMed

Soltanipour, Asieh; Sadri, Saeed; Rabbani, Hossein; Akhlaghi, Mohammad Reza

2015-01-01

This paper presents a new procedure for automatic extraction of the blood vessels and optic disk (OD) in fundus fluorescein angiogram (FFA). In order to extract blood vessel centerlines, the algorithm of vessel extraction starts with the analysis of directional images resulting from sub-bands of fast discrete curvelet transform (FDCT) in the similar directions and different scales. For this purpose, each directional image is processed by using information of the first order derivative and eigenvalues obtained from the Hessian matrix. The final vessel segmentation is obtained using a simple region growing algorithm iteratively, which merges centerline images with the contents of images resulting from modified top-hat transform followed by bit plane slicing. After extracting blood vessels from FFA image, candidates regions for OD are enhanced by removing blood vessels from the FFA image, using multi-structure elements morphology, and modification of FDCT coefficients. Then, canny edge detector and Hough transform are applied to the reconstructed image to extract the boundary of candidate regions. At the next step, the information of the main arc of the retinal vessels surrounding the OD region is used to extract the actual location of the OD. Finally, the OD boundary is detected by applying distance regularized level set evolution. The proposed method was tested on the FFA images from angiography unit of Isfahan Feiz Hospital, containing 70 FFA images from different diabetic retinopathy stages. The experimental results show the accuracy more than 93% for vessel segmentation and more than 87% for OD boundary extraction.

Analysis of Fundus Fluorescein Angiogram Based on the Hessian Matrix of Directional Curvelet Sub-bands and Distance Regularized Level Set Evolution

PubMed Central

Soltanipour, Asieh; Sadri, Saeed; Rabbani, Hossein; Akhlaghi, Mohammad Reza

2015-01-01

This paper presents a new procedure for automatic extraction of the blood vessels and optic disk (OD) in fundus fluorescein angiogram (FFA). In order to extract blood vessel centerlines, the algorithm of vessel extraction starts with the analysis of directional images resulting from sub-bands of fast discrete curvelet transform (FDCT) in the similar directions and different scales. For this purpose, each directional image is processed by using information of the first order derivative and eigenvalues obtained from the Hessian matrix. The final vessel segmentation is obtained using a simple region growing algorithm iteratively, which merges centerline images with the contents of images resulting from modified top-hat transform followed by bit plane slicing. After extracting blood vessels from FFA image, candidates regions for OD are enhanced by removing blood vessels from the FFA image, using multi-structure elements morphology, and modification of FDCT coefficients. Then, canny edge detector and Hough transform are applied to the reconstructed image to extract the boundary of candidate regions. At the next step, the information of the main arc of the retinal vessels surrounding the OD region is used to extract the actual location of the OD. Finally, the OD boundary is detected by applying distance regularized level set evolution. The proposed method was tested on the FFA images from angiography unit of Isfahan Feiz Hospital, containing 70 FFA images from different diabetic retinopathy stages. The experimental results show the accuracy more than 93% for vessel segmentation and more than 87% for OD boundary extraction. PMID:26284170

Lack of diversity in orthopaedic trials conducted in the United States.

PubMed

Somerson, Jeremy S; Bhandari, Mohit; Vaughan, Clayton T; Smith, Christopher S; Zelle, Boris A

2014-04-02

Several orthopaedic studies have suggested patient race and ethnicity to be important predictors of patient functional outcomes. This issue has also been emphasized by federal funding sources. However, the reporting of race and ethnicity has gained little attention in the orthopaedic literature. The objective of this study was to determine the percentage of orthopaedic randomized controlled clinical trials in the United States that included race and ethnicity data and to record the racial and ethnic distribution of patients enrolled in these trials. A systematic review of orthopaedic randomized controlled trials published from 2008 to 2011 was performed. The studies were identified through a manual search of thirty-two scientific journals, including all major orthopaedic journals as well as five leading medical journals. Only trials from the United States were included. The publication date, journal impact factor, orthopaedic subspecialty, ZIP code of the primary research site, number of enrolled patients, type of funding, and race and ethnicity of the study population were extracted from the identified studies. A total of 158 randomized controlled trials with 37,625 enrolled patients matched the inclusion criteria. Only thirty-two studies (20.3%) included race or ethnicity with at least one descriptor. Government funding significantly increased the likelihood of reporting these factors (p < 0.05). The percentages of Hispanic and African-American patients were extractable for studies with 7648 and 6591 enrolled patients, respectively. In those studies, 4.6% (352) of the patients were Hispanic and 6.2% (410) were African-American; these proportions were 3.5-fold and twofold lower, respectively, than those represented in the 2010 United States Census. Few orthopaedic randomized controlled trials performed in the United States reported data on race or ethnicity. Among trials that did report demographic race or ethnicity data, the inclusion of minority patients was substantially lower than would be expected on the basis of census demographics. Failure to represent the true racial diversity may result in decreased generalizability of trial conclusions across clinical populations.