Efficient authentication scheme based on near-ring root extraction problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muthukumaran, V.; Ezhilmaran, D.

2017-11-01

An authentication protocolis the type of computer communication protocol or cryptography protocol specifically designed for transfer of authentication data between two entities. We have planned a two new entity authentication scheme on the basis of root extraction problem near-ring in this article. We suggest that this problem is suitably difficult to serve as a cryptographic assumption over the platform of near-ring N. The security issues also discussed.

Automatic Rooftop Extraction in Stereo Imagery Using Distance and Building Shape Regularized Level Set Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, J.; Krauß, T.; d'Angelo, P.

2017-05-01

Automatic rooftop extraction is one of the most challenging problems in remote sensing image analysis. Classical 2D image processing techniques are expensive due to the high amount of features required to locate buildings. This problem can be avoided when 3D information is available. In this paper, we show how to fuse the spectral and height information of stereo imagery to achieve an efficient and robust rooftop extraction. In the first step, the digital terrain model (DTM) and in turn the normalized digital surface model (nDSM) is generated by using a newly step-edge approach. In the second step, the initial building locations and rooftop boundaries are derived by removing the low-level pixels and high-level pixels with higher probability to be trees and shadows. This boundary is then served as the initial level set function, which is further refined to fit the best possible boundaries through distance regularized level-set curve evolution. During the fitting procedure, the edge-based active contour model is adopted and implemented by using the edges indicators extracted from panchromatic image. The performance of the proposed approach is tested by using the WorldView-2 satellite data captured over Munich.

Multicategory Composite Least Squares Classifiers

PubMed Central

Park, Seo Young; Liu, Yufeng; Liu, Dacheng; Scholl, Paul

2010-01-01

Classification is a very useful statistical tool for information extraction. In particular, multicategory classification is commonly seen in various applications. Although binary classification problems are heavily studied, extensions to the multicategory case are much less so. In view of the increased complexity and volume of modern statistical problems, it is desirable to have multicategory classifiers that are able to handle problems with high dimensions and with a large number of classes. Moreover, it is necessary to have sound theoretical properties for the multicategory classifiers. In the literature, there exist several different versions of simultaneous multicategory Support Vector Machines (SVMs). However, the computation of the SVM can be difficult for large scale problems, especially for problems with large number of classes. Furthermore, the SVM cannot produce class probability estimation directly. In this article, we propose a novel efficient multicategory composite least squares classifier (CLS classifier), which utilizes a new composite squared loss function. The proposed CLS classifier has several important merits: efficient computation for problems with large number of classes, asymptotic consistency, ability to handle high dimensional data, and simple conditional class probability estimation. Our simulated and real examples demonstrate competitive performance of the proposed approach. PMID:21218128

RF extraction issues in the relativistic klystron amplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serlin, Victor; Friedman, Moshe; Lampe, Martin; Hubbard, Richard F.

1994-05-01

Relativistic klystron amplifiers (RKAs) were successfully operated at NRL in several frequency regimes and power levels. In particular, an L-band RKA was optimized for high- power rf extraction into the atmosphere and an S-band RKA was operated, both in a two-beam and a single-beam configuration. At L-band the rf extraction at maximum power levels (>= 15 GW) was hindered by pulse shortening and poor repeatability. Preliminary investigation showed electron emission in the radiating horn, due to very high voltages associated with the multi-gigawatt rf power levels. This electron current constituted an electric load in parallel with the radiating antenna, and precipitated the rf pulse collapse. At S-band the peak extracted power reached 1.7 GW with power efficiency approximately 50%. However, pulse shortening limited the duration to approximately 50 nanoseconds. The new triaxial RKA promises to solve many of the existing problems.

Graphene Oxide Derivatives as Hole- and Electron-Extraction Layers for High-Performance Polymer Solar Cells

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-20

Graphene oxide derivatives as hole- and electron- extraction layers for high-performance polymer solar cells Jun Liu,*a Michael Durstockb and Liming...oxide (GO) and its derivatives have been used as a new class of efficient hole- and electron-extraction materials in polymer solar cells (PSCs...new class of efficient hole- and electron-extraction materials in polymer solar cells (PSCs). Highly efficient and stable PSCs have been fabricated

The research of edge extraction and target recognition based on inherent feature of objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Yu-chan; Lin, Yu-chi; Huang, Yin-guo

2008-03-01

Current research on computer vision often needs specific techniques for particular problems. Little use has been made of high-level aspects of computer vision, such as three-dimensional (3D) object recognition, that are appropriate for large classes of problems and situations. In particular, high-level vision often focuses mainly on the extraction of symbolic descriptions, and pays little attention to the speed of processing. In order to extract and recognize target intelligently and rapidly, in this paper we developed a new 3D target recognition method based on inherent feature of objects in which cuboid was taken as model. On the basis of analysis cuboid nature contour and greyhound distributing characteristics, overall fuzzy evaluating technique was utilized to recognize and segment the target. Then Hough transform was used to extract and match model's main edges, we reconstruct aim edges by stereo technology in the end. There are three major contributions in this paper. Firstly, the corresponding relations between the parameters of cuboid model's straight edges lines in an image field and in the transform field were summed up. By those, the aimless computations and searches in Hough transform processing can be reduced greatly and the efficiency is improved. Secondly, as the priori knowledge about cuboids contour's geometry character known already, the intersections of the component extracted edges are taken, and assess the geometry of candidate edges matches based on the intersections, rather than the extracted edges. Therefore the outlines are enhanced and the noise is depressed. Finally, a 3-D target recognition method is proposed. Compared with other recognition methods, this new method has a quick response time and can be achieved with high-level computer vision. The method present here can be used widely in vision-guide techniques to strengthen its intelligence and generalization, which can also play an important role in object tracking, port AGV, robots fields. The results of simulation experiments and theory analyzing demonstrate that the proposed method could suppress noise effectively, extracted target edges robustly, and achieve the real time need. Theory analysis and experiment shows the method is reasonable and efficient.

Reliability and Heat Transfer Performance of a Miniature High-Temperature Thermosyphon-Based Thermal Valve

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

Alleman, Jeffrey L; Olsen, Michele L; Glatzmaier, Gregory C

Latent heat thermal energy storage systems have the advantages of near isothermal heat release and high energy density compared to sensible heat, generally resulting in higher power block efficiencies. Until now, there has been no highly effective and reliable method to passively extract that stored latent energy. Most modern attempts rely on external power supplied to a pump to move viscous heat transfer fluids from the phase change material (PCM) to the power block. In this work, the problem of latent heat dispatchability has been addressed with a redesigned thermosyphon geometry that can act as a 'thermal valve' capable ofmore » passively and efficiently controlling the release of heat from a thermal reservoir. A bench-scale prototype with a stainless steel casing and sodium working fluid was designed and tested to be reliable for more than fifty 'on/off' cycles at an operating temperature of 600 degrees C. The measured thermal resistances in the 'on' and 'off' states were 0.0395 K/W and 11.0 K/W respectively. This device demonstrated efficient, fast, reliable, and passive heat extraction from a PCM and may have application to other fields and industries using thermal processing.« less

Ferrofluid of magnetic clay and menthol based deep eutectic solvent: Application in directly suspended droplet microextraction for enrichment of some emerging contaminant explosives in water and soil samples.

PubMed

Zarei, Ali Reza; Nedaei, Maryam; Ghorbanian, Sohrab Ali

2018-06-08

In this work, for the first time, ferrofluid of magnetic montmorillonite nanoclay and deep eutectic solvent was prepared and coupled with directly suspended droplet microextraction. Incorporation of ferrofluid in a miniaturized sample preparation technique resulted in achieving high extraction efficiency while developing a green analytical method. The prepared ferrofluid has strong sorbing properties and hydrophobic characteristics. In this method, a micro-droplet of ferrofluid was suspended into the vortex of a stirring aqueous solution and after completing the extraction process, was easily separated from the solution by a magnetic rod without any operational problems. The predominant experimental variables affecting the extraction efficiency of explosives were evaluated. Under optimal conditions, the limits of detection were in the range 0.22-0.91 μg L -1 . The enrichment factors were between 23 and 93 and the relative standard deviations were <10%. The relative recoveries were ranged from 88 to 104%. This method was successfully applied for the extraction and preconcentration of explosives in water and soil samples, followed their determination by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-solid phase extraction directly combined with protein precipitation for the determination of triptorelin in plasma.

PubMed

Wang, Jixia; Kong, Song; Yan, Jingyu; Jin, Gaowa; Guo, Zhimou; Shen, Aijin; Xu, Junyan; Zhang, Xiuli; Zou, Lijuan; Liang, Xinmiao

2014-06-01

Peptide drugs play a critical role in therapeutic treatment. However, as the complexity of plasma, determination of peptide drugs using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is a daunting task. To solve this problem, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-solid phase extraction (HILIC-SPE) directly combined with protein precipitation (PPT) was developed for the selective extraction of triptorelin from plasma. The extracts were analyzed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC). Proteins, phospholipids and highly polar interferences could be removed from plasma by the efficient combination of PPT, HILIC-SPE and RPLC-MS/MS. This method was evaluated by matrix effect, recovery and process efficiency at different concentration levels (50, 500 and 5,000 ng/mL) of triptorelin. Furthermore, the performance of HILIC-SPE was compared with that of reversed-phase C18 SPE and hydrophilic lipophilic balance (Oasis HLB) SPE. Among them, HILIC-SPE provided the minimum matrix effect (ranging from 96.02% to 103.41%), the maximum recovery (ranging from 80.68% to 90.54%) and the satisfactory process efficiency (ranging from 82.83% to 92.95%). The validated method was successfully applied to determine triptorelin in rat plasma. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reducing the Bottleneck in Discovery of Novel Antibiotics.

PubMed

Jones, Marcus B; Nierman, William C; Shan, Yue; Frank, Bryan C; Spoering, Amy; Ling, Losee; Peoples, Aaron; Zullo, Ashley; Lewis, Kim; Nelson, Karen E

2017-04-01

Most antibiotics were discovered by screening soil actinomycetes, but the efficiency of the discovery platform collapsed in the 1960s. By now, more than 3000 antibiotics have been described and most of the current discovery effort is focused on the rediscovery of known compounds, making the approach impractical. The last marketed broad-spectrum antibiotics discovered were daptomycin, linezolid, and fidaxomicin. The current state of the art in the development of new anti-infectives is a non-existent pipeline in the absence of a discovery platform. This is particularly troubling given the emergence of pan-resistant pathogens. The current practice in dealing with the problem of the background of known compounds is to use chemical dereplication of extracts to assess the relative novelty of a compound it contains. Dereplication typically requires scale-up, extraction, and often fractionation before an accurate mass and structure can be produced by MS analysis in combination with 2D NMR. Here, we describe a transcriptome analysis approach using RNA sequencing (RNASeq) to identify promising novel antimicrobial compounds from microbial extracts. Our pipeline permits identification of antimicrobial compounds that produce distinct transcription profiles using unfractionated cell extracts. This efficient pipeline will eliminate the requirement for purification and structure determination of compounds from extracts and will facilitate high-throughput screen of cell extracts for identification of novel compounds.

Beam diagnostics at high-intensity storage rings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plum, Mike

1994-10-01

Beam diagnostics at high-intensity facilities feature their own special set of problems and characteristics, issues peculiar to high-intensity storage rings include beam loss, beam halos, extraction efficiency, beam in the gap, clearing electrodes, and beam-profile measurement. The Los Alamos Proton Storage Ring (PSR) is a nice example of a high-intensity storage ring. I will discuss in some detail three diagnostic systems currently in use at the PSR: the beam-loss-monitor system, the electron-clearing system, and the beam-in-the-gap monitor. Much of our discussion is inspired by the problems we have encountered and the useful things we have learned while commissioning and developing the PSR. Another inspiration is our work on the next-generation neutron-spallation source, also known as the National Center for Neutron Research (NCNR).

High-Efficiency and High-Power Mid-Wave Infrared Cascade Lasers

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

internal quantum efficiency () and factor (2) is usually called the optical extraction efficiency (). The optical extraction efficiency ... quantum efficiency involves more fundamental parameters corresponding to the microscopic processes of the device operation, nevertheless, it can be...deriving parameters such as the internal quantum efficiency of a QC laser, the entire injector miniband can be treated as a single virtual state

Large Margin Multi-Modal Multi-Task Feature Extraction for Image Classification.

PubMed

Yong Luo; Yonggang Wen; Dacheng Tao; Jie Gui; Chao Xu

2016-01-01

The features used in many image analysis-based applications are frequently of very high dimension. Feature extraction offers several advantages in high-dimensional cases, and many recent studies have used multi-task feature extraction approaches, which often outperform single-task feature extraction approaches. However, most of these methods are limited in that they only consider data represented by a single type of feature, even though features usually represent images from multiple modalities. We, therefore, propose a novel large margin multi-modal multi-task feature extraction (LM3FE) framework for handling multi-modal features for image classification. In particular, LM3FE simultaneously learns the feature extraction matrix for each modality and the modality combination coefficients. In this way, LM3FE not only handles correlated and noisy features, but also utilizes the complementarity of different modalities to further help reduce feature redundancy in each modality. The large margin principle employed also helps to extract strongly predictive features, so that they are more suitable for prediction (e.g., classification). An alternating algorithm is developed for problem optimization, and each subproblem can be efficiently solved. Experiments on two challenging real-world image data sets demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.

Unusual seeding mechanism for enhanced performance in solid-phase magnetic extraction of Rare Earth Elements

PubMed Central

Polido Legaria, Elizabeth; Rocha, Joao; Tai, Cheuk-Wai; Kessler, Vadim G.; Seisenbaeva, Gulaim A.

2017-01-01

Due to the increasing demand of Rare Earth Elements (REE or RE), new and more efficient techniques for their extraction are necessary, suitable for both mining and recycling processes. Current techniques such as solvent extraction or solid adsorbents entail drawbacks such as using big volumes of harmful solvents or limited capacity. Hybrid nanoadsorbents based on SiO2 and highly stable γ-Fe2O3-SiO2 nanoparticles, proved recently to be very attractive for adsorption of REE, yet not being the absolute key to solve the problem. In the present work, we introduce a highly appealing new approach in which the nanoparticles, rather than behaving as adsorbent materials, perform as inducers of crystallization for the REE in the form of hydroxides, allowing their facile and practically total removal from solution. This induced crystallization is achieved by tuning the pH, offering an uptake efficiency more than 20 times higher than previously reported (up to 900 mg RE3+/g vs. 40 mg RE3+/g). The obtained phases were characterized by SEM-EDS, TEM, STEM and EFTEM and 13C and 29Si solid state NMR. Magnetic studies showed that the materials possessed enough magnetic properties to be easily removed by a magnet, opening ways for an efficient and industrially applicable separation technique. PMID:28266566

Unusual seeding mechanism for enhanced performance in solid-phase magnetic extraction of Rare Earth Elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polido Legaria, Elizabeth; Rocha, Joao; Tai, Cheuk-Wai; Kessler, Vadim G.; Seisenbaeva, Gulaim A.

2017-03-01

Due to the increasing demand of Rare Earth Elements (REE or RE), new and more efficient techniques for their extraction are necessary, suitable for both mining and recycling processes. Current techniques such as solvent extraction or solid adsorbents entail drawbacks such as using big volumes of harmful solvents or limited capacity. Hybrid nanoadsorbents based on SiO2 and highly stable γ-Fe2O3-SiO2 nanoparticles, proved recently to be very attractive for adsorption of REE, yet not being the absolute key to solve the problem. In the present work, we introduce a highly appealing new approach in which the nanoparticles, rather than behaving as adsorbent materials, perform as inducers of crystallization for the REE in the form of hydroxides, allowing their facile and practically total removal from solution. This induced crystallization is achieved by tuning the pH, offering an uptake efficiency more than 20 times higher than previously reported (up to 900 mg RE3+/g vs. 40 mg RE3+/g). The obtained phases were characterized by SEM-EDS, TEM, STEM and EFTEM and 13C and 29Si solid state NMR. Magnetic studies showed that the materials possessed enough magnetic properties to be easily removed by a magnet, opening ways for an efficient and industrially applicable separation technique.

High-Sensitivity Ionization Trace-Species Detector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bernius, Mark T.; Chutjian, Ara

1990-01-01

Features include high ion-extraction efficiency, compactness, and light weight. Improved version of previous ionization detector features in-line geometry that enables extraction of almost every ion from region of formation. Focusing electrodes arranged and shaped into compact system of space-charge-limited reversal electron optics and ion-extraction optics. Provides controllability of ionizing electron energies, greater efficiency of ionization, and nearly 100 percent ion-collection efficiency.

Comparison of extraction buffers for the detection of fumonisin B(1) in corn by immunoassay and high-performance liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Kulisek, E S; Hazebroek, J P

2000-01-01

The Associatian of Official Analytical Chemists approved method for quantification of fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) in corn meal or corn-based food products includes extraction into methanol (MeOH)/water (3:1, v/v). Disposal of the extraction medium can pose safety and environmental problems. To secure a rapid and inexpensive screen for FB(1) contamination, a sensitive competitive ELISA using a rabbit polyclonal antibody was developed. This assay was used in a comparative study measuring the extraction efficiency of FB(1) in aqueous or organic solvent buffers using 16 field corn samples. An aqueous phosphate buffer was found to be suitable for extracting FB(1), thus eliminating the need for organic solvents. HPLC and ELISA determinations compared well in fortified samples at known concentrations between 1 and 50 microg/mL of extract. Overestimation at levels >50 microg/mL were common. The characteristics and application of the ELISA for screening purposes are discussed.

Optimization of a high-pressure pore water extraction device.

PubMed

Cyr, Martin; Daidié, Alain

2007-02-01

High-pressure squeezing is a technique used for the extraction of the pore water of porous materials such as sediments, soils, rocks, and concrete. The efficiency of extraction depends on the maximum pressures on the materials. This article presents the design of a high-pressure device reaching an axial pressure of 1000 MPa which has been developed to improve the efficiency of extraction. The increase in squeezing pressure implies high stresses inside the chamber, so specialized expertise was required to design a safe, functional device that could withstand pressures significantly higher than common laboratory equipment. The design includes finite element calculations, selection of appropriate materials, and descriptive construction details for the apparatus. It also includes an experimental study of the performance of the apparatus in terms of extraction efficiency.

The present status and problems in document retrieval system : document input type retrieval system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inagaki, Hirohito

The office-automation (OA) made many changes. Many documents were begun to maintained in an electronic filing system. Therefore, it is needed to establish efficient document retrieval system to extract useful information. Current document retrieval systems are using simple word-matching, syntactic-matching, semantic-matching to obtain high retrieval efficiency. On the other hand, the document retrieval systems using special hardware devices, such as ISSP, were developed for aiming high speed retrieval. Since these systems can accept a single sentence or keywords as input, it is difficult to explain searcher's request. We demonstrated document input type retrieval system, which can directly accept document as an input, and can search similar documents from document data-base.

Fast and robust curve skeletonization for real-world elongated objects

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We consider the problem of extracting curve skeletons of three-dimensional, elongated objects given a noisy surface, which has applications in agricultural contexts such as extracting the branching structure of plants. We describe an efficient and robust method based on breadth-first search that ca...

An assessment of the efficiency of fungal DNA extraction methods for maximizing the detection of medically important fungi using PCR.

PubMed

Karakousis, A; Tan, L; Ellis, D; Alexiou, H; Wormald, P J

2006-04-01

To date, no single reported DNA extraction method is suitable for the efficient extraction of DNA from all fungal species. The efficiency of extraction is of particular importance in PCR-based medical diagnostic applications where the quantity of fungus in a tissue biopsy may be limited. We subjected 16 medically relevant fungi to physical, chemical and enzymatic cell wall disruption methods which constitutes the first step in extracting DNA. Examination by light microscopy showed that grinding with mortar and pestle was the most efficient means of disrupting the rigid fungal cell walls of hyphae and conidia. We then trialled several published DNA isolation protocols to ascertain the most efficient method of extraction. Optimal extraction was achieved by incorporating a lyticase and proteinase K enzymatic digestion step and adapting a DNA extraction procedure from a commercial kit (MO BIO) to generate high yields of high quality DNA from all 16 species. DNA quality was confirmed by the successful PCR amplification of the conserved region of the fungal 18S small-subunit rRNA multicopy gene.

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

Brown, K. A.; Schoefer, V.; Tomizawa, M.

The new accelerator complex at J-PARC will operate with both high energy and very high intensity proton beams. With a design slow extraction efficiency of greater than 99% this facility will still be depositing significant beam power onto accelerator components [2]. To achieve even higher efficiencies requires some new ideas. The design of the extraction system and the accelerator lattice structure leaves little room for improvement using conventional techniques. In this report we will present one method for improving the slow extraction efficiency at J-PARC by adding duodecapoles or octupoles to the slow extraction system. We will review the theorymore » of resonant extraction, describe simulation methods, and present the results of detailed simulations. From our investigations we find that we can improve extraction efficiency and thereby reduce the level of residual activation in the accelerator components and surrounding shielding.« less

Transparent DNA/RNA Co-extraction Workflow Protocol Suitable for Inhibitor-Rich Environmental Samples That Focuses on Complete DNA Removal for Transcriptomic Analyses

PubMed Central

Lim, Natalie Y. N.; Roco, Constance A.; Frostegård, Åsa

2016-01-01

Adequate comparisons of DNA and cDNA libraries from complex environments require methods for co-extraction of DNA and RNA due to the inherent heterogeneity of such samples, or risk bias caused by variations in lysis and extraction efficiencies. Still, there are few methods and kits allowing simultaneous extraction of DNA and RNA from the same sample, and the existing ones generally require optimization. The proprietary nature of kit components, however, makes modifications of individual steps in the manufacturer’s recommended procedure difficult. Surprisingly, enzymatic treatments are often performed before purification procedures are complete, which we have identified here as a major problem when seeking efficient genomic DNA removal from RNA extracts. Here, we tested several DNA/RNA co-extraction commercial kits on inhibitor-rich soils, and compared them to a commonly used phenol-chloroform co-extraction method. Since none of the kits/methods co-extracted high-quality nucleic acid material, we optimized the extraction workflow by introducing small but important improvements. In particular, we illustrate the need for extensive purification prior to all enzymatic procedures, with special focus on the DNase digestion step in RNA extraction. These adjustments led to the removal of enzymatic inhibition in RNA extracts and made it possible to reduce genomic DNA to below detectable levels as determined by quantitative PCR. Notably, we confirmed that DNase digestion may not be uniform in replicate extraction reactions, thus the analysis of “representative samples” is insufficient. The modular nature of our workflow protocol allows optimization of individual steps. It also increases focus on additional purification procedures prior to enzymatic processes, in particular DNases, yielding genomic DNA-free RNA extracts suitable for metatranscriptomic analysis. PMID:27803690

Ionic-liquid-based ultrasound-assisted extraction of isoflavones from Belamcanda chinensis and subsequent screening and isolation of potential α-glucosidase inhibitors by ultrafiltration and semipreparative high-performance liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Li, Senlin; Li, Sainan; Huang, Yu; Liu, Chunming; Chen, Lina; Zhang, Yuchi

2017-06-01

The separation of a compound of interest from its structurally similar homologues to produce high-purity natural products is a challenging problem. This work proposes a novel method for the separation of iristectorigenin A from its structurally similar homologues by ionic-liquid-based ultrasound-assisted extraction and the subsequent screening and isolation of potential α-glucosidase inhibitors via ultrafiltration and semipreparative high-performance liquid chromatography. Ionic-liquid-based ultrasound-assisted extraction was successfully applied to the extraction of tectorigenin, iristectorigenin A, irigenin, and irisflorentin from Belamcanda chinensis. The optimum conditions for the efficient extraction of isoflavones were determined as 1.0 M 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate with extraction time of 30 min and a solvent to solid ratio of 30 mL/g. Ultrafiltration with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry was applied to screen and identify α-glucosidase inhibitors from B. chinensis, followed by the application of semipreparative high-performance liquid chromatography to separate and isolate the active constituents. Four major compounds including tectorigenin, iristectorigenin A, irigenin, and irisflorentin were screened and identified as α-glucosidase inhibitors, and then the four active compounds abovementioned were subsequently isolated by semipreparative high-performance liquid chromatography (99.89, 88.97, 99.79, and 99.97% purity, respectively). The results demonstrate that ionic liquid extraction can be successfully applied to the extraction of isoflavones from B. chinensis. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-throughput and selective solid-phase extraction of urinary catecholamines by crown ether-modified resin composite fiber.

PubMed

Chen, LiQin; Wang, Hui; Xu, Zhen; Zhang, QiuYue; Liu, Jia; Shen, Jun; Zhang, WanQi

2018-08-03

In the present study, we developed a simple and high-throughput solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure for selective extraction of catecholamines (CAs) in urine samples. The SPE adsorbents were electrospun composite fibers functionalized with 4-carboxybenzo-18-crown-6 ether modified XAD resin and polystyrene, which were packed into 96-well columns and used for high-throughput selective extraction of CAs in healthy human urine samples. Moreover, the extraction efficiency of packed-fiber SPE (PFSPE) was examined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detector. The parameters affecting the extraction efficiency and impurity removal efficiency were optimized, and good linearity ranging from 0.5 to 400 ng/mL was obtained with a low limit of detection (LOD, 0.2-0.5 ng/mL) and a good repeatability (2.7%-3.7%, n = 6). The extraction recoveries of three CAs ranged from 70.5% to 119.5%. Furthermore, stable and reliable results obtained by the fluorescence detector were superior to those obtained by the electrochemical detector. Collectively, PFSPE coupled with 96-well columns was a simple, rapid, selective, high-throughput and cost-efficient method, and the proposed method could be applied in clinical chemistry. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Model-based conifer crown surface reconstruction from multi-ocular high-resolution aerial imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheng, Yongwei

2000-12-01

Tree crown parameters such as width, height, shape and crown closure are desirable in forestry and ecological studies, but they are time-consuming and labor intensive to measure in the field. The stereoscopic capability of high-resolution aerial imagery provides a way to crown surface reconstruction. Existing photogrammetric algorithms designed to map terrain surfaces, however, cannot adequately extract crown surfaces, especially for steep conifer crowns. Considering crown surface reconstruction in a broader context of tree characterization from aerial images, we develop a rigorous perspective tree image formation model to bridge image-based tree extraction and crown surface reconstruction, and an integrated model-based approach to conifer crown surface reconstruction. Based on the fact that most conifer crowns are in a solid geometric form, conifer crowns are modeled as a generalized hemi-ellipsoid. Both the automatic and semi-automatic approaches are investigated to optimal tree model development from multi-ocular images. The semi-automatic 3D tree interpreter developed in this thesis is able to efficiently extract reliable tree parameters and tree models in complicated tree stands. This thesis starts with a sophisticated stereo matching algorithm, and incorporates tree models to guide stereo matching. The following critical problems are addressed in the model-based surface reconstruction process: (1) the problem of surface model composition from tree models, (2) the occlusion problem in disparity prediction from tree models, (3) the problem of integrating the predicted disparities into image matching, (4) the tree model edge effect reduction on the disparity map, (5) the occlusion problem in orthophoto production, and (6) the foreshortening problem in image matching, which is very serious for conifer crown surfaces. Solutions to the above problems are necessary for successful crown surface reconstruction. The model-based approach was applied to recover the canopy surface of a dense redwood stand using tri-ocular high-resolution images scanned from 1:2,400 aerial photographs. The results demonstrate the approach's ability to reconstruct complicated stands. The model-based approach proposed in this thesis is potentially applicable to other surfaces recovering problems with a priori knowledge about objects.

High extraction efficiency ultraviolet light-emitting diode

DOEpatents

Wierer, Jonathan; Montano, Ines; Allerman, Andrew A.

2015-11-24

Ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with tailored AlGaN quantum wells can achieve high extraction efficiency. For efficient bottom light extraction, parallel polarized light is preferred, because it propagates predominately perpendicular to the QW plane and into the typical and more efficient light escape cones. This is favored over perpendicular polarized light that propagates along the QW plane which requires multiple, lossy bounces before extraction. The thickness and carrier density of AlGaN QW layers have a strong influence on the valence subband structure, and the resulting optical polarization and light extraction of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes. At Al>0.3, thinner QW layers (<2.5 nm are preferred) result in light preferentially polarized parallel to the QW plane. Also, active regions consisting of six or more QWs, to reduce carrier density, and with thin barriers, to efficiently inject carriers in all the QWs, are preferred.

Separation of chemical groups from bio-oil aqueous phase via sequential organic solvent extraction

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

Ren, Shoujie; Ye, Philip; Borole, Abhijeet P

Bio-oil aqueous phase contains a considerable amount of furans, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes and phenolics besides the major components of organic acids and anhydrosugars. The complexity of bio-oil aqueous phase limits its efficient utilization. To improve the efficiency of bio-oil biorefinery, this study focused on the separation of chemical groups from bio-oil aqueous phase via sequential organic solvent extractions. Due to their high recoverability and low solubility in water, four solvents (hexane, petroleum ether, chloroform, and ethyl acetate) with different polarities were evaluated, and the optimum process conditions for chemical extraction were determined. Chloroform had high extraction efficiency for furans, phenolics,more » and ketones. In addition to these chemical groups, ethyl acetate had high extraction efficiency for organic acids. The sequential extraction by using chloroform followed by ethyl acetate rendered that 62.2 wt.% of original furans, ketones, alcohols, and phenolics were extracted to chloroform, over 62 wt.% acetic acid was extracted to ethyl acetate, resulting in a high concentration of levoglucosan (~53.0 wt.%) in the final aqueous phase. Chemicals separated via the sequential extraction could be used as feedstocks in biorefinery using processes such as catalytic upgrading of furans and phenolics to hydrocarbons, fermentation of levoglucosan to produce alcohols and diols, and hydrogen production from organic acids via microbial electrolysis.« less

Separation of chemical groups from bio-oil aqueous phase via sequential organic solvent extraction

DOE PAGES

Ren, Shoujie; Ye, Philip; Borole, Abhijeet P

2017-01-05

Bio-oil aqueous phase contains a considerable amount of furans, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes and phenolics besides the major components of organic acids and anhydrosugars. The complexity of bio-oil aqueous phase limits its efficient utilization. To improve the efficiency of bio-oil biorefinery, this study focused on the separation of chemical groups from bio-oil aqueous phase via sequential organic solvent extractions. Due to their high recoverability and low solubility in water, four solvents (hexane, petroleum ether, chloroform, and ethyl acetate) with different polarities were evaluated, and the optimum process conditions for chemical extraction were determined. Chloroform had high extraction efficiency for furans, phenolics,more » and ketones. In addition to these chemical groups, ethyl acetate had high extraction efficiency for organic acids. The sequential extraction by using chloroform followed by ethyl acetate rendered that 62.2 wt.% of original furans, ketones, alcohols, and phenolics were extracted to chloroform, over 62 wt.% acetic acid was extracted to ethyl acetate, resulting in a high concentration of levoglucosan (~53.0 wt.%) in the final aqueous phase. Chemicals separated via the sequential extraction could be used as feedstocks in biorefinery using processes such as catalytic upgrading of furans and phenolics to hydrocarbons, fermentation of levoglucosan to produce alcohols and diols, and hydrogen production from organic acids via microbial electrolysis.« less

Liposome-containing Hibiscus sabdariffa calyx extract formulations with increased antioxidant activity, improved dermal penetration and reduced dermal toxicity.

PubMed

Pinsuwan, Sirirat; Amnuaikit, Thanaporn; Ungphaiboon, Suwipa; Itharat, Arunporn

2010-12-01

Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn, or Roselle, is a medicinal plant used extensively in traditional Thai medicine since ancient times. The extracts of Roselle calyces possess antioxidant activity and have potential for development as active ingredients in cosmetic products. However the limitations of using Roselle extracts in cosmetics are its low skin permeation and dermal irritation. Liposome technology is an obvious approach that might overcome these problems. Liposome formulations of standardized Roselle extracts were developed with various lipid components. The formulation showing the highest entrapment efficiency was selected for stability, skin permeation and dermal irritability studies. The liposome formulation with the highest entrapment efficiency (83%) and smalôlest particle size (332 mm) was formulated with phosphatidylcholine from soybean (SPC): Tween 80: deoxycholic acid (DA); 84:16:2.5 weight ratio, total lipid of 200 g/mL and 10% w/v Roselle extract in final liposomal preparation. This liposome formulation was found to be stable after storage at 4 degrees C, protected from light, for 2 months. The in vitro skin permeation studies, using freshly excised pig skin and modified Franz-diffusion cells, showed that the liposome formulation was able to considerably increased the rate of permeation of active compounds in Roselle extracts compared to the Roselle extract solution. The in vivo dermal irritability testing on rabbit skin showed that the liposome formulation dramatically decreased skin irritability compared to the unformulated extract. These results showed that the liposomes containing Roselle extracts had good stability, high entrapment efficacy, increased skin permeation and low skin irritation.

Simultaneous analysis of 70 pesticides using HPlc/MS/MS: a comparison of the multiresidue method of Klein and Alder and the QuEChERS method.

PubMed

Riedel, Melanie; Speer, Karl; Stuke, Sven; Schmeer, Karl

2010-01-01

Since 2003, two new multipesticide residue methods for screening crops for a large number of pesticides, developed by Klein and Alder and Anastassiades et al. (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe; QuEChERS), have been published. Our intention was to compare these two important methods on the basis of their extraction efficiency, reproducibility, ruggedness, ease of use, and speed. In total, 70 pesticides belonging to numerous different substance classes were analyzed at two concentration levels by applying both methods, using five different representative matrixes. In the case of the QuEChERS method, the results of the three sample preparation steps (crude extract, extract after SPE, and extract after SPE and acidification) were compared with each other and with the results obtained with the Klein and Alder method. The extraction efficiencies of the QuEChERS method were far higher, and the sample preparation was much quicker when the last two steps were omitted. In most cases, the extraction efficiencies after the first step were approximately 100%. With extraction efficiencies of mostly less than 70%, the Klein and Alder method did not compare favorably. Some analytes caused problems during evaluation, mostly due to matrix influences.

Effective Subcritical Butane Extraction of Bifenthrin Residue in Black Tea.

PubMed

Zhang, Yating; Gu, Lingbiao; Wang, Fei; Kong, Lingjun; Qin, Guangyong

2017-03-30

As a natural and healthy beverage, tea is widely enjoyed; however, the pesticide residues in tea leaves affect the quality and food safety. To develop a highly selective and efficient method for the facile removal of pesticide residues, the subcritical butane extraction (SBE) technique was employed, and three variables involving temperature, time and extraction cycles were studied. The optimum SBE conditions were found to be as follows: extraction temperature 45 °C, extraction time 30 min, number of extraction cycles 1, and in such a condition that the extraction efficiency reached as high as 92%. Further, the catechins, theanine, caffeine and aroma components, which determine the quality of the tea, fluctuated after SBE treatment. Compared with the uncrushed leaves, pesticide residues can more easily be removed from crushed leaves, and the practical extraction efficiency was 97%. These results indicate that SBE is a useful method to efficiently remove the bifenthrin, and as appearance is not relevant in the production process, tea leaves should first be crushed and then extracted in order that residual pesticides are thoroughly removed.

Image features dependant correlation-weighting function for efficient PRNU based source camera identification.

PubMed

Tiwari, Mayank; Gupta, Bhupendra

2018-04-01

For source camera identification (SCI), photo response non-uniformity (PRNU) has been widely used as the fingerprint of the camera. The PRNU is extracted from the image by applying a de-noising filter then taking the difference between the original image and the de-noised image. However, it is observed that intensity-based features and high-frequency details (edges and texture) of the image, effect quality of the extracted PRNU. This effects correlation calculation and creates problems in SCI. For solving this problem, we propose a weighting function based on image features. We have experimentally identified image features (intensity and high-frequency contents) effect on the estimated PRNU, and then develop a weighting function which gives higher weights to image regions which give reliable PRNU and at the same point it gives comparatively less weights to the image regions which do not give reliable PRNU. Experimental results show that the proposed weighting function is able to improve the accuracy of SCI up to a great extent. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High Efficiency DNA Extraction by Graphite Oxide/Cellulose/Magnetite Composites Under Na+ Free System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akceoglu, Garbis Atam; Li, Oi Lun; Saito, Nagahiro

2016-04-01

DNA extraction is the key step at various research areas like biotechnology, diagnostic development, paternity determination, and forensic science . Solid support extraction is the most common method for DNA purification. In this method, Na+ ions have often been applied as binding buffers in order to obtain high extraction efficiency and high quality of DNA; however, the presence of Na+ ions might be interfering with the downstream DNA applications. In this study, we proposed graphite oxide (GO)/magnetite composite/cellulose as an innovative material for Na+-free DNA extraction. The total wt.% of GO was fixed at 4.15% in the GO/cellulose/magnetite composite . The concentration of magnetite within the composites were controlled at 0-3.98 wt.%. The extraction yield of DNA increased with increasing weight percentage of magnetite. The highest yield was achieved at 3.98 wt.% magnetite, where the extraction efficiency was reported to be 338.5 ng/µl. The absorbance ratios between 260 nm and 280 nm (A260/A280) of the DNA elution volume was demonstrated as 1.81, indicating the extracted DNA consisted of high purity. The mechanism of adsorption of DNA was provided by (1) π-π interaction between the aromatic ring in GO and nucleobases of DNA molecule, and (2) surface charge interaction between the positive charge magnetite and anions such as phosphates within the DNA molecules. The results proved that the GO/cellulose/magnetite composite provides a Na+-free method for selective DNA extraction with high extraction efficiency of pure DNA.

Countercurrent extraction of soluble sugars from almond hulls and assessment of the bioenergy potential.

PubMed

Holtman, Kevin M; Offeman, Richard D; Franqui-Villanueva, Diana; Bayati, Andre K; Orts, William J

2015-03-11

Almond hulls contain considerable proportions (37% by dry weight) of water-soluble, fermentable sugars (sucrose, glucose, and fructose), which can be extracted for industrial purposes. The maximum optimal solids loading was determined to be 20% for sugar extraction, and the addition of 0.5% (w/v) pectinase aided in maintaining a sufficient free water volume for sugar recovery. A laboratory countercurrent extraction experiment utilizing a 1 h steep followed by three extraction (wash) stages produced a high-concentration (131 g/L fermentable sugar) syrup. Overall, sugar recovery efficiency was 88%. The inner stage washing efficiencies were compatible with solution equilibrium calculations, indicating that efficiency was high. The concentrated sugar syrup was fermented to ethanol at high efficiency (86% conversion), and ethanol concentrations in the broth were 7.4% (v/v). Thin stillage contained 233 g SCOD/L, which was converted to biomethane at an efficiency of 90% with a biomethane potential of 297 mL/g SCODdestroyed. Overall, results suggested that a minima of 49 gal (185 L) ethanol and 75 m(3) methane/t hulls (dry whole hull basis) are achievable.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction of rare-earth elements from carbonatite rocks.

PubMed

Diehl, Lisarb O; Gatiboni, Thais L; Mello, Paola A; Muller, Edson I; Duarte, Fabio A; Flores, Erico M M

2018-01-01

In view of the increasing demand for rare-earth elements (REE) in many areas of high technology, alternative methods for the extraction of these elements have been developed. In this work, a process based on the use of ultrasound for the extraction of REE from carbonatite (an igneous rock) is proposed to avoid the use of concentrated reagents, high temperature and excessive extraction time. In this pioneer work for REE extraction from carbonatite rocks in a preliminary investigation, ultrasonic baths, cup horn systems or ultrasound probes operating at different frequencies and power were evaluated. In addition, the power released to the extraction medium and the ultrasound amplitude were also investigated and the temperature and carbonatite mass/volume of extraction solution ratio were optimized to 70°C and 20mg/mL, respectively. Better extraction efficiencies (82%) were obtained employing an ultrasound probe operating at 20kHz for 15min, ultrasound amplitude of 40% (692Wdm -3 ) and using a diluted extraction solution (3% v/v HNO 3 +2% v/v HCl). It is important to mention that high extraction efficiency was obtained even using a diluted acid mixture and relatively low temperature in comparison to conventional extraction methods for REE. A comparison of results with those obtained by mechanical stirring (500rpm) using the same conditions (time, temperature and extraction solution) was carried out, showing that the use of ultrasound increased the extraction efficiency up to 35%. Therefore, the proposed ultrasound-assisted procedure can be considered as a suitable alternative for high efficiency extraction of REE from carbonatite rocks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Extracting Hot spots of Topics from Time Stamped Documents

PubMed Central

Chen, Wei; Chundi, Parvathi

2011-01-01

Identifying time periods with a burst of activities related to a topic has been an important problem in analyzing time-stamped documents. In this paper, we propose an approach to extract a hot spot of a given topic in a time-stamped document set. Topics can be basic, containing a simple list of keywords, or complex. Logical relationships such as and, or, and not are used to build complex topics from basic topics. A concept of presence measure of a topic based on fuzzy set theory is introduced to compute the amount of information related to the topic in the document set. Each interval in the time period of the document set is associated with a numeric value which we call the discrepancy score. A high discrepancy score indicates that the documents in the time interval are more focused on the topic than those outside of the time interval. A hot spot of a given topic is defined as a time interval with the highest discrepancy score. We first describe a naive implementation for extracting hot spots. We then construct an algorithm called EHE (Efficient Hot Spot Extraction) using several efficient strategies to improve performance. We also introduce the notion of a topic DAG to facilitate an efficient computation of presence measures of complex topics. The proposed approach is illustrated by several experiments on a subset of the TDT-Pilot Corpus and DBLP conference data set. The experiments show that the proposed EHE algorithm significantly outperforms the naive one, and the extracted hot spots of given topics are meaningful. PMID:21765568

Instruction-matrix-based genetic programming.

PubMed

Li, Gang; Wang, Jin Feng; Lee, Kin Hong; Leung, Kwong-Sak

2008-08-01

In genetic programming (GP), evolving tree nodes separately would reduce the huge solution space. However, tree nodes are highly interdependent with respect to their fitness. In this paper, we propose a new GP framework, namely, instruction-matrix (IM)-based GP (IMGP), to handle their interactions. IMGP maintains an IM to evolve tree nodes and subtrees separately. IMGP extracts program trees from an IM and updates the IM with the information of the extracted program trees. As the IM actually keeps most of the information of the schemata of GP and evolves the schemata directly, IMGP is effective and efficient. Our experimental results on benchmark problems have verified that IMGP is not only better than those of canonical GP in terms of the qualities of the solutions and the number of program evaluations, but they are also better than some of the related GP algorithms. IMGP can also be used to evolve programs for classification problems. The classifiers obtained have higher classification accuracies than four other GP classification algorithms on four benchmark classification problems. The testing errors are also comparable to or better than those obtained with well-known classifiers. Furthermore, an extended version, called condition matrix for rule learning, has been used successfully to handle multiclass classification problems.

Comparative Efficiency of the Fenwick Can and Schuiling Centrifuge in Extracting Nematode Cysts from Different Soil Types

PubMed Central

Bellvert, Joaquim; Crombie, Kieran; Horgan, Finbarr G.

2008-01-01

The Fenwick can and Schuiling centrifuge are widely used to extract nematode cysts from soil samples. The comparative efficiencies of these two methods during cyst extraction have not been determined for different soil types under different cyst densities. Such information is vital for statutory laboratories that must choose a method for routine, high-throughput soil monitoring. In this study, samples of different soil types seeded with varying densities of potato cyst nematode (Globodera rostochiensis) cysts were processed using both methods. In one experiment, with 200 ml samples, recovery was similar between methods. In a second experiment with 500 ml samples, cyst recovery was higher using the Schuiling centrifuge. For each method and soil type, cyst extraction efficiency was similar across all densities tested. Extraction was efficient from pure sand (Fenwick 72%, Schuiling 84%) and naturally sandy soils (Fenwick 62%, Schuiling 73%), but was significantly less efficient from clay-soil (Fenwick 42%, Schuiling 44%) and peat-soil with high organic matter content (Fenwick 35%, Schuiling 33%). Residual moisture (<10% w/w) in samples prior to analyses reduced extraction efficiency, particularly for sand and sandy soils. For each soil type and method, there were significant linear relationships between the number of cysts extracted and the numbers of cysts in the samples. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each extraction method for cyst extraction in statutory soil laboratories. PMID:19259516

Highly Efficient Flexible Quantum Dot Solar Cells with Improved Electron Extraction Using MgZnO Nanocrystals.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaoliang; Santra, Pralay Kanti; Tian, Lei; Johansson, Malin B; Rensmo, Håkan; Johansson, Erik M J

2017-08-22

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells have high potential for realizing an efficient and lightweight energy supply for flexible or wearable electronic devices. To achieve highly efficient and flexible CQD solar cells, the electron transport layer (ETL), extracting electrons from the CQD solid layer, needs to be processed at a low-temperature and should also suppress interfacial recombination. Herein, a highly stable MgZnO nanocrystal (MZO-NC) layer is reported for efficient flexible PbS CQD solar cells. Solar cells fabricated with MZO-NC ETL give a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.4% and 9.4%, on glass and flexible plastic substrates, respectively. The reported flexible CQD solar cell has the record efficiency to date of flexible CQD solar cells. Detailed theoretical simulations and extensive characterizations reveal that the MZO-NCs significantly enhance charge extraction from CQD solids and diminish the charge accumulation at the ETL/CQD interface, suppressing charge interfacial recombination. These important results suggest that the low-temperature processed MZO-NCs are very promising for use in efficient flexible solar cells or other flexible optoelectronic devices.

Semantic Segmentation of Forest Stands of Pure Species as a Global Optimization Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dechesne, C.; Mallet, C.; Le Bris, A.; Gouet-Brunet, V.

2017-05-01

Forest stand delineation is a fundamental task for forest management purposes, that is still mainly manually performed through visual inspection of geospatial (very) high spatial resolution images. Stand detection has been barely addressed in the literature which has mainly focused, in forested environments, on individual tree extraction and tree species classification. From a methodological point of view, stand detection can be considered as a semantic segmentation problem. It offers two advantages. First, one can retrieve the dominant tree species per segment. Secondly, one can benefit from existing low-level tree species label maps from the literature as a basis for high-level object extraction. Thus, the semantic segmentation issue becomes a regularization issue in a weakly structured environment and can be formulated in an energetical framework. This papers aims at investigating which regularization strategies of the literature are the most adapted to delineate and classify forest stands of pure species. Both airborne lidar point clouds and multispectral very high spatial resolution images are integrated for that purpose. The local methods (such as filtering and probabilistic relaxation) are not adapted for such problem since the increase of the classification accuracy is below 5%. The global methods, based on an energy model, tend to be more efficient with an accuracy gain up to 15%. The segmentation results using such models have an accuracy ranging from 96% to 99%.

[Progress of light extraction enhancement in organic light-emitting devices].

PubMed

Liu, Mo; Li, Tong; Wang, Yan; Zhang, Tian-Yu; Xie, Wen-Fa

2011-04-01

Organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) have been used in flat-panel displays and lighting with a near-30-year development. OLEDs possess many advantages, such as full solid device, fast response, flexible display, and so on. As the application of phosphorescence material, the internal quantum efficiency of OLED has almost reached 100%, but its external quantum efficiency is still not very high due to the low light extraction efficiency. In this review the authors summarizes recent advances in light extraction techniques that have been developed to enhance the light extraction efficiency of OLEDs.

Determination of organophosphate flame retardants in soil and fish using ultrasound-assisted extraction, solid-phase clean-up, and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Lorenzo, María; Campo, Julián; Picó, Yolanda

2018-03-22

A solid-liquid extraction method in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry was developed and optimized for extraction and analysis of organophosphorus flame retardants in soil and fish. Methanol was chosen as the optimum extraction solvent, not only in terms of extraction efficiency, but also for its broader analyte coverage. The subsequent clean-up by solid-phase extraction is required to eliminate matrix coextractives and reduce matrix effects. Recoveries of the optimized method were 50-121% for soil and 47-123% for biota, both with high precision (RSDs <12% in soil and <23% in biota). The method limits of detection ranged from 0.06 to 0.20 ng/g dry weight and between 0.02 and 0.30 ng/g wet weight for soil and biota samples, respectively. However, samples with a high lipid content produce several problems as solid-phase extraction cartridge clogging that increase variability and analysis time. The method was successfully applied for the determination of organophosphorus flame retardants in soil and fish from L'Albufera Natural Park (Valencia, Spain). Target compounds were detected in all soil and fish samples with values varying from 13.8 to 89.7 ng/g dry weight and from 3.3 to 53.0 ng/g wet weight, respectively. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-efficient extraction of principal medicinal components from fresh Phellodendron bark (cortex phellodendri).

PubMed

Xu, Keqin; He, Gongxiu; Qin, Jieming; Cheng, Xuexiang; He, Hanjie; Zhang, Dangquan; Peng, Wanxi

2018-05-01

There are three key medicinal components (phellodendrine, berberine and palmatine) in the extracts of Phellodendron bark, as one of the fundamental herbs of traditional Chinese medicine. Different extraction methods and solvent combinations were investigated to obtain the optimal technologies for high-efficient extraction of these medicinal components. The results showed that combined solvents have higher extracting effect of phellodendrine, berberine and palmatine than single solvent, and the effect of ultrasonic extraction is distinctly better than those of distillation and soxhlet extraction. The hydrochloric acid/methanol-ultrasonic extraction has the best effect for three medicinal components of fresh Phellodendron bark, providing an extraction yield of 103.12 mg/g berberine, 24.41 mg/g phellodendrine, 1.25 mg/g palmatine.

Molecular tools for the identification of Tuber melanosporum in agroindustry.

PubMed

Séjalon-Delmas, N; Roux, C; Martins, M; Kulifaj, M; Bécard, G; Dargent, R

2000-06-01

Tuber melanosporum Vitt., Tuber magnatum Pico, and Tuber uncinatum Chat. can be differentiated by their morphological characters. Fraud problems have arisen recently with the importation to Europe of truffles from China. T. melanosporum is morphologically very close, but distinct from the Chinese species [Tuber indicum (Cooke and Massee) and T. himalayense BC (Zhang and Winter)]. We have optimized molecular tools to unequivocally identify T. melanosporum. DNA extraction from ascocarps of black truffles is not straightforward. Problems to obtain pure DNA are due to high contents of phenolic compounds, melanine, and various polymers (proteins, polysaccharides, etc). These compounds coprecipitate with the DNA during extraction and strongly inhibit the PCR reaction. We have developed an efficient and reliable protocol for DNA extraction from truffle ascocarps. It was used successfully for DNA extraction from mycorrhizal root tips as well as from canned preparations of T. melanosporum. Several approaches to identify T. melanosporum by PCR were developed. Two specific primers for T. melanosporum were designed after comparison of the ITS region of this species with those of three Chinese fungi. They proved to be efficient to specifically detect the presence of T. melanosporum by PCR. The mycorrhizal status of trees inoculated with T. melanosporum but unable to produce truffles was confirmed in a single-step PCR reaction. A multiplex PCR approach was also developed with three sets of primers (including a specific one for Chinese truffles) to detect, in one PCR reaction, the presence of any other Tuber species mixed with T. melanosporum ascocarps. This optimized protocol, in association with the specific primers we designed, is applicable to quality control in the truffle industry from the production stages to final commercial products.

Graphene Oxide by UV-Ozone Treatment as an Efficient Hole Extraction Layer for Highly Efficient and Stable Polymer Solar Cells.

PubMed

Xia, Yingdong; Pan, Yufeng; Zhang, Haijuan; Qiu, Jian; Zheng, Yiting; Chen, Yonghua; Huang, Wei

2017-08-09

The hole extraction layer has a significant impact on the achievement of high-efficiency polymer solar cells (PSCs). Here, we report an efficient approach to direct UV-ozone treatment by larger device performance enhancement employing graphene oxide (GO). The dramatic performance enhancement of PSCs with the P3HT:PCBM blend as an active layer was demonstrated by the UV-ozone treatment of GO for 30 min: best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.18%, fill factor of 0.63, J sc of 10.94 mA cm -2 , and V oc of 0.61 V, which are significantly higher than those of the untreated GO (1.82%) and highly comparable PEDOT:PSS-based PSCs (3.73%). In addition, PSCs with UV-ozone-treated GO showed a longer stability than PSCs with PEDOT:PSS. The significant enhancement of PCEs of PSCs can be attributed to the fact that ozone molecules can oxidize GO into CO 2 and leave highly conductive graphene particles. We suggest that this simple UV-ozone treatment can provide an efficient method for highly efficient GO hole extraction in high-performance PSCs.

The prediction of crystal structure by merging knowledge methods with first principles quantum mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceder, Gerbrand

2007-03-01

The prediction of structure is a key problem in computational materials science that forms the platform on which rational materials design can be performed. Finding structure by traditional optimization methods on quantum mechanical energy models is not possible due to the complexity and high dimensionality of the coordinate space. An unusual, but efficient solution to this problem can be obtained by merging ideas from heuristic and ab initio methods: In the same way that scientist build empirical rules by observation of experimental trends, we have developed machine learning approaches that extract knowledge from a large set of experimental information and a database of over 15,000 first principles computations, and used these to rapidly direct accurate quantum mechanical techniques to the lowest energy crystal structure of a material. Knowledge is captured in a Bayesian probability network that relates the probability to find a particular crystal structure at a given composition to structure and energy information at other compositions. We show that this approach is highly efficient in finding the ground states of binary metallic alloys and can be easily generalized to more complex systems.

Radiative heat transfer enhancement using geometric and spectral control for achieving high-efficiency solar-thermophotovoltaic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohiyama, Asaka; Shimizu, Makoto; Yugami, Hiroo

2018-04-01

We numerically investigate radiative heat transfer enhancement using spectral and geometric control of the absorber/emitter. A high extraction of the radiative heat transfer from the emitter as well as minimization of the optical losses from the absorber leads to high extraction and solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) system efficiency. The important points for high-efficiency STPV design are discussed for the low and high area ratio of the absorber/emitter. The obtained general guideline will support the design of various types of STPV systems.

Enhanced light extraction in tunnel junction-enabled top emitting UV LEDs

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Yuewei; Allerman, Andrew A.; Krishnamoorthy, Sriram; ...

2016-04-11

The efficiency of ultra violet LEDs has been critically limited by the absorption losses in p-type and metal layers. In this work, surface roughening based light extraction structures are combined with tunneling based p-contacts to realize highly efficient top-side light extraction efficiency in UV LEDs. Surface roughening of the top n-type AlGaN contact layer is demonstrated using self-assembled Ni nano-clusters as etch mask. The top surface roughened LEDs were found to enhance external quantum efficiency by over 40% for UV LEDs with a peak emission wavelength of 326 nm. The method described here can enable highly efficient UV LEDs withoutmore » the need for complex manufacturing methods such as flip chip bonding.« less

Rare Earth Extraction from NdFeB Magnet Using a Closed-Loop Acid Process.

PubMed

Kitagawa, Jiro; Uemura, Ryohei

2017-08-14

There is considerable interest in extraction of rare earth elements from NdFeB magnets to enable recycling of these elements. In practical extraction methods using wet processes, the acid waste solution discharge is a problem that must be resolved to reduce the environmental impact of the process. Here, we present an encouraging demonstration of rare earth element extraction from a NdFeB magnet using a closed-loop hydrochloric acid (HCl)-based process. The extraction method is based on corrosion of the magnet in a pretreatment stage and a subsequent ionic liquid technique for Fe extraction from the HCl solution. The rare earth elements are then precipitated using oxalic acid. Triple extraction has been conducted and the recovery ratio of the rare earth elements from the solution is approximately 50% for each extraction process, as compared to almost 100% recovery when using a one-shot extraction process without the ionic liquid but with sufficient oxalic acid. Despite its reduced extraction efficiency, the proposed method with its small number of procedures at almost room temperature is still highly advantageous in terms of both cost and environmental friendliness. This study represents an initial step towards realization of a closed-loop acid process for recycling of rare earth elements.

Downstream Processing of Synechocystis for Biofuel Production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheng, Jie

Lipids and free fatty acids (FFA) from cyanobacterium Synechocystis can be used for biofuel (e.g. biodiesel or renewable diesel) production. In order to utilize and scale up this technique, downstream processes including culturing and harvest, cell disruption, and extraction were studied. Several solvents/solvent systems were screened for lipid extraction from Synechocystis. Chloroform + methanol-based Folch and Bligh & Dyer methods were proved to be "gold standard" for small-scale analysis due to their highest lipid recoveries that were confirmed by their penetration of the cell membranes, higher polarity, and stronger interaction with hydrogen bonds. Less toxic solvents, such as methanol and MTBE, or direct transesterification of biomass (without preextraction step) gave only slightly lower lipid-extraction yields and can be considered for large-scale application. Sustained exposure to high and low temperature extremes severely lowered the biomass and lipid productivity. Temperature stress also triggered changes of lipid quality such as the degree of unsaturation; thus, it affected the productivities and quality of Synechocystis-derived biofuel. Pulsed electric field (PEF) was evaluated for cell disruption prior to lipid extraction. A treatment intensity > 35 kWh/m3 caused significant damage to the plasma membrane, cell wall, and thylakoid membrane, and it even led to complete disruption of some cells into fragments. Treatment by PEF enhanced the potential for the low-toxicity solvent isopropanol to access lipid molecules during subsequent solvent extraction, leading to lower usage of isopropanol for the same extraction efficiency. Other cell-disruption methods also were tested. Distinct disruption effects to the cell envelope, plasma membrane, and thylakoid membranes were observed that were related to extraction efficiency. Microwave and ultrasound had significant enhancement of lipid extraction. Autoclaving, ultrasound, and French press caused significant release of lipid into the medium, which may increase solvent usage and make medium recycling difficult. Production of excreted FFA by mutant Synechocystis has the potential of reducing the complexity of downstream processing. Major problems, such as FFA precipitation and biodegradation by scavengers, account for FFA loss in operation. Even a low concentration of FFA scavengers could consume FFA at a high rate that outpaced FFA production rate. Potential strategies to overcome FFA loss include high pH, adsorptive resin, and sterilization techniques.

Cyclodextrin-enhanced extraction and energy transfer of carcinogens in complex oil environments.

PubMed

Serio, Nicole; Chanthalyma, Chitapom; Prignano, Lindsey; Levine, Mindy

2013-11-27

Reported herein is the use of γ-cyclodextrin for two tandem functions: (a) the extraction of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from oil samples into aqueous solution and (b) the promotion of highly efficient energy transfer from the newly extracted PAHs to a high-quantum-yield fluorophore. The extraction proceeded in moderate to good efficiencies, and the resulting cyclodextrin-promoted energy transfer led to a new, brightly fluorescent signal in aqueous solution. The resulting dual-function system (extraction followed by energy transfer) has significant relevance in the environmental detection and cleanup of oil-spill-related carcinogens.

Leaching of aluminum and iron from boiler slag generated from a typical Chinese Steel Plant.

PubMed

Li, Jinping; Gan, Jinhua; Li, Xianwang

2009-07-30

This paper presents a new way of recycling aluminum and iron in boiler slag derived from coal combustion plants, which integrates efficient extraction and reuse of the leached pellets together. The boiler slag was pelletized together with washed coal and lime prior to sintering and then was sintered at 800-1200 degrees C for different periods to produce sintered pellets for the leaching test. An elemental analysis of aqueous solutions leached by sulfuric acid was determined by EDTA-Na(2)-ZnCl(2) titration method. The components and microstructures of the samples, sintered pellets and leached residue were examined by means of XRF, XRD and SEM. XRD analysis indicates that predominate minerals such as kaolinite, quartz, calcium silicide, hematate and metakoalin exist in the boiler slag. An aluminum extraction efficiency of 86.50% was achieved. The maximum extraction efficiency of Fe was 94.60% in the same conditions of that for the maximum extraction efficiency of Al. The extraction efficiencies of Al and Fe increased with an increase in temperature, leaching time and acidity. High Al extraction efficiency was obtained for pellets with high CaO content. The final product of alumina would be used directly for the production of metallic aluminum.

Magnetic Partitioning Nanofluid for Rare Earth Extraction from Geothermal Fluids

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

McGrail, Bernard P.; Thallapally, Praveen K.; Liu, Jian

Rare earth metals are critical materials in a wide variety of applications in generating and storing renewable energy and in designing more energy efficient devices. Extracting rare earth metals from geothermal brines is a very challenging problem due to the low concentrations of these elements and engineering challenges with traditional chemical separations methods involving packed sorbent beds or membranes that would impede large volumetric flow rates of geothermal fluids transitioning through the plant. We are demonstrating a simple and highly cost-effective nanofluid-based method for extracting rare earth metals from geothermal brines. Core-shell composite nanoparticles are produced that contain a magneticmore » iron oxide core surrounded by a shell made of silica or metal-organic framework (MOF) sorbent functionalized with chelating ligands selective for the rare earth elements. By introducing the nanoparticles at low concentration (≈0.05 wt%) into the geothermal brine after it passes through the plant heat exchanger, the brine is exposed to a very high concentration of chelating sites on the nanoparticles without need to pass through a large and costly traditional packed bed or membrane system where pressure drop and parasitic pumping power losses are significant issues. Instead, after a short residence time flowing with the brine, the particles are effectively separated out with an electromagnet and standard extraction methods are then applied to strip the rare earth metals from the nanoparticles, which are then recycled back to the geothermal plant. Recovery efficiency for the rare earths at ppm level has now been measured for both silica and MOF sorbents functionalized with a variety of chelating ligands. A detailed preliminary techno-economic performance analysis of extraction systems using both sorbents showed potential to generate a promising internal rate of return (IRR) up to 20%.« less

Extraction of three bioactive diterpenoids from Andrographis paniculata: effect of the extraction techniques on extract composition and quantification of three andrographolides using high-performance liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Kumar, Satyanshu; Dhanani, Tushar; Shah, Sonal

2014-10-01

Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) wall.ex Nees (Acanthaceae) or Kalmegh is an important medicinal plant finding uses in many Ayurvedic formulations. Diterpenoid compounds andrographolides (APs) are the main bioactive phytochemicals present in leaves and herbage of A. paniculata. The efficiency of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using carbon dioxide was compared with the solid-liquid extraction techniques such as solvent extraction, ultrasound-assisted solvent extraction and microwave-assisted solvent extraction with methanol, water and methanol-water as solvents. Also a rapid and validated reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection method was developed for the simultaneous determination of the three biologically active compounds, AP, neoandrographolide and andrograpanin, in the extracts of A. paniculata. Under the best SFE conditions tested for diterpenoids, which involved extraction at 60°C and 100 bar, the extractive efficiencies were 132 and 22 µg/g for AP and neoandrographolide, respectively. The modifier percentage significantly affected the extraction efficiency. © The Author [2013]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluation of the fermentation of high gravity thick sugar beet juice worts for efficient bioethanol production

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Sugar beet and intermediates of sugar beet processing are considered to be very attractive feedstock for ethanol production due to their content of fermentable sugars. In particular, the processing of the intermediates into ethanol is considerably facilitated because it does not require pretreatment or enzymatic treatment in contrast to production from starch raw materials. Moreover, the advantage of thick juice is high solid substance and saccharose content which eliminates problems with the storability of this feedstock. Results The objective of this study were to investigate bioethanol production from thick juice worts and the effects of their concentration, the type of mineral supplement, as well as the dose of yeast inoculum on fermentation dynamics and ethanol yield. The obtained results show that to ensure efficient ethanolic fermentation of high gravity thick juice worts, one needs to use a yeast strain with high ethanol tolerance and a large amount of inoculum. The highest ethanol yield (94.9 ± 2.8% of the theoretical yield) and sugars intake of 96.5 ± 2.9% were obtained after the fermentation of wort with an extract content of 250 g/kg supplemented with diammonium hydrogen phosphate (0.3 g/L of wort) and inoculated with 2 g of Ethanol Red dry yeast per L of wort. An increase in extract content in the fermentation medium from 250 g/L to 280 g/kg resulted in decreased efficiency of the process. Also the distillates originating from worts with an extract content of 250 g/kg were characterized by lower acetaldehyde concentration than those obtained from worts with an extract content of 280 g/kg. Conclusions Under the favorable conditions determined in our experiments, 38.9 ± 1.2 L of 100% (v/v) ethyl alcohol can be produced from 100 kg of thick juice. The obtained results show that the selection of process conditions and the yeast for the fermentation of worts with a higher sugar content can improve the economic performance of the alcohol-distilling industry due to more efficient ethanol production, reduced consumption of cooling water, and energy for ethanol distillation, as well as a decreased volume of fermentation stillage. PMID:24206573

Evaluation of the fermentation of high gravity thick sugar beet juice worts for efficient bioethanol production.

PubMed

Dziugan, Piotr; Balcerek, Maria; Pielech-Przybylska, Katarzyna; Patelski, Piotr

2013-11-08

Sugar beet and intermediates of sugar beet processing are considered to be very attractive feedstock for ethanol production due to their content of fermentable sugars. In particular, the processing of the intermediates into ethanol is considerably facilitated because it does not require pretreatment or enzymatic treatment in contrast to production from starch raw materials. Moreover, the advantage of thick juice is high solid substance and saccharose content which eliminates problems with the storability of this feedstock. The objective of this study were to investigate bioethanol production from thick juice worts and the effects of their concentration, the type of mineral supplement, as well as the dose of yeast inoculum on fermentation dynamics and ethanol yield.The obtained results show that to ensure efficient ethanolic fermentation of high gravity thick juice worts, one needs to use a yeast strain with high ethanol tolerance and a large amount of inoculum. The highest ethanol yield (94.9 ± 2.8% of the theoretical yield) and sugars intake of 96.5 ± 2.9% were obtained after the fermentation of wort with an extract content of 250 g/kg supplemented with diammonium hydrogen phosphate (0.3 g/L of wort) and inoculated with 2 g of Ethanol Red dry yeast per L of wort. An increase in extract content in the fermentation medium from 250 g/L to 280 g/kg resulted in decreased efficiency of the process. Also the distillates originating from worts with an extract content of 250 g/kg were characterized by lower acetaldehyde concentration than those obtained from worts with an extract content of 280 g/kg. Under the favorable conditions determined in our experiments, 38.9 ± 1.2 L of 100% (v/v) ethyl alcohol can be produced from 100 kg of thick juice. The obtained results show that the selection of process conditions and the yeast for the fermentation of worts with a higher sugar content can improve the economic performance of the alcohol-distilling industry due to more efficient ethanol production, reduced consumption of cooling water, and energy for ethanol distillation, as well as a decreased volume of fermentation stillage.

A multiple maximum scatter difference discriminant criterion for facial feature extraction.

PubMed

Song, Fengxi; Zhang, David; Mei, Dayong; Guo, Zhongwei

2007-12-01

Maximum scatter difference (MSD) discriminant criterion was a recently presented binary discriminant criterion for pattern classification that utilizes the generalized scatter difference rather than the generalized Rayleigh quotient as a class separability measure, thereby avoiding the singularity problem when addressing small-sample-size problems. MSD classifiers based on this criterion have been quite effective on face-recognition tasks, but as they are binary classifiers, they are not as efficient on large-scale classification tasks. To address the problem, this paper generalizes the classification-oriented binary criterion to its multiple counterpart--multiple MSD (MMSD) discriminant criterion for facial feature extraction. The MMSD feature-extraction method, which is based on this novel discriminant criterion, is a new subspace-based feature-extraction method. Unlike most other subspace-based feature-extraction methods, the MMSD computes its discriminant vectors from both the range of the between-class scatter matrix and the null space of the within-class scatter matrix. The MMSD is theoretically elegant and easy to calculate. Extensive experimental studies conducted on the benchmark database, FERET, show that the MMSD out-performs state-of-the-art facial feature-extraction methods such as null space method, direct linear discriminant analysis (LDA), eigenface, Fisherface, and complete LDA.

Thermal analysis elements of liquefied gas storage tanks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yanvarev, I. A.; Krupnikov, A. V.

2017-08-01

Tasks of solving energy and resource efficient usage problems, both for oil producing companies and for companies extracting and transporting natural gas, are associated with liquefied petroleum gas technology development. Improving the operation efficiency of liquefied products storages provides for conducting structural, functional, and appropriate thermal analysis of tank parks in the general case as complex dynamic thermal systems.

Combined rule extraction and feature elimination in supervised classification.

PubMed

Liu, Sheng; Patel, Ronak Y; Daga, Pankaj R; Liu, Haining; Fu, Gang; Doerksen, Robert J; Chen, Yixin; Wilkins, Dawn E

2012-09-01

There are a vast number of biology related research problems involving a combination of multiple sources of data to achieve a better understanding of the underlying problems. It is important to select and interpret the most important information from these sources. Thus it will be beneficial to have a good algorithm to simultaneously extract rules and select features for better interpretation of the predictive model. We propose an efficient algorithm, Combined Rule Extraction and Feature Elimination (CRF), based on 1-norm regularized random forests. CRF simultaneously extracts a small number of rules generated by random forests and selects important features. We applied CRF to several drug activity prediction and microarray data sets. CRF is capable of producing performance comparable with state-of-the-art prediction algorithms using a small number of decision rules. Some of the decision rules are biologically significant.

Stiffness-independent highly efficient on-chip extraction of cell-laden hydrogel microcapsules from oil emulsion into aqueous solution by dielectrophoresis

PubMed Central

Huang, Haishui; Sun, Mingrui; Heisler-Taylor, Tyler; Kiourti, Asimina; Volakis, John; Lafyatis, Gregory

2015-01-01

A dielectrophoresis (DEP)-based method is reported to achieve highly efficient on-chip extraction of cell-laden microcapsules of any stiffness from oil into aqueous solution. The hydrogel microcapsules can be extracted into the aqueous solution by DEP and interfacial tension (IFT) forces with no trapped oil while the encapsulated cells are free from the electrical damages due to the Faraday cage effect. PMID:26297051

Analyse et caracterisation d'interactions fluide-structure instationnaires en grands deplacements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cori, Jean-Francois

Flapping wings for flying and oscillating fins for swimming stand out as the most complex yet efficient propulsion methods found in nature. Understanding the phenomena involved is a great challenge generating significant interests, especially in the growing field of Micro Air Vehicles. The thrust and lift are induced by oscillating foils thanks to a complex phenomenon of unsteady fluid-structure interaction (FSI). The aim of the dissertation is to develop an efficient CFD framework for simulating the FSI process involved in the propulsion or the power extraction of an oscillating flexible airfoil in a viscous incompressible flow. The numerical method relies on direct implicit monolithic formulation using high-order implicit time integrators. We use an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation of the equations designed to satisfy the Geometric Conservation Law (GCL) and to guarantee that the high order temporal accuracy of the time integrators observed on fixed meshes is preserved on ALE deforming meshes. Hyperelastic structural Saint-Venant Kirchhoff model, viscous incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for the flow, Newton's law for the point mass and equilibrium equations at the interface form one large monolithic system. The fully implicit FSI approach uses coincidents nodes on the fluid-structure interface, so that loads, velocities and displacements are evaluated at the same location and at the same time. The problem is solved in an implicit manner using a Newton-Raphson pseudo-solid finite element approach. High-order implicit Runge-Kutta time integrators are implemented (up to 5th order) to improve the accuracy and reduce the computational cost. In this context of stiff interaction problems, the highly stable fully implicit one-step approach is an original alternative to traditional multistep or explicit one-step finite element approaches. The methodology has been verified with three different test-cases. Thorough time-step refinement studies for a rigid oscillating airfoil on deforming meshes, for flow induced vibrations of a flexible strip and for a self-propulsed flapping airfoil indicate that the stability of the proposed approach is always observed even with large time steps, spurious oscillations on the structure are avoided without any damping and the high order accuracy of the IRK schemes is maintained. We have applied our powerful FSI framework on three interesting applications, with a detailed dimensional analysis to obtain their characteristic parameters. Firstly, we have studied the vibrational characteristics of a well-documented fluid-structure interaction case : a flexible strip fixed behind a rigid square cylinder. Our results compare favorably with previous works. The accuracy of the IRK time integrators (even for the pressure field of incompressible flow), their unconditional stability and their non-dissipative nature produced results revealing new, never previously reported, higher frequency structural forces weakly coupled with the fluid. Secondly, we have explored the propulsive and power extraction characteristics of rigid and flexible flapping airfoils. For the power extraction, we found an excellent agreement with literature results. A parametric study indicates the optimal motion parameters to get high propulsive efficiencies. An optimal flexibility seems to improve power extraction efficiency. Finally, a survey on flapping propulsion has given initial results for a self-propulsed airfoil and has opened a new way of studying propulsive efficiency. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Comparative Evaluation of Different Cell Lysis and Extraction Methods for Studying Benzo(a)pyrene Metabolism in HT-29 Colon Cancer Cell Cultures

PubMed Central

Myers, Jeremy N.; Rekhadevi, Perumalla V.; Ramesh, Aramandla

2011-01-01

Lysis and extraction of cells are essential sample processing steps for investigations pertaining to metabolism of xenobiotics in cell culture studies. Of particular importance to these procedures are maintaining high lysis efficiency and analyte integrity as they influence the qualitative and quantitative distribution of drug and toxicant metabolites in the intra- and extracellular milieus. In this study we have compared the efficiency of different procedures viz. homogenization, sonication, bead beating, and molecular grinding resin treatment for disruption of HT-29 colon cells exposed to benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compound and a suspected colon carcinogen. Also, we have evaluated the efficiency of various procedures for extracting BaP parent compound/metabolites from colon cells and culture media prior to High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analyses. The extraction procedures include solid phase extraction, solid-supported liquid- liquid extraction, liquid-liquid extraction, and homogeneous liquid- liquid extraction. Our findings showed that bead-beating in combination with detergent treatment of cell pellet coupled with liquid-liquid extraction yielded greater concentrations of BaP metabolites compared to the other methods employed. Our method optimization strategy revealed that disruption of HT-29 colon cells by a combination of mechanical and chemical lysis followed by liquid-liquid extraction is efficient and robust enough for analyzing BaP metabolites from cell culture studies. PMID:21865728

Hydrogen fluoride capture by imidazolium acetate ionic liquid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaban, Vitaly

2015-04-01

Extraction of hydrofluoric acid (HF) from oils is a drastically important problem in petroleum industry, since HF causes quick corrosion of pipe lines and brings severe health problems to humanity. Some ionic liquids (ILs) constitute promising scavenger agents thanks to strong binding to polar compounds and tunability. PM7-MD simulations and hybrid density functional theory are employed here to consider HF capture ability of ILs. Discussing the effects and impacts of the cation and the anion separately and together, we evaluate performance of imidazolium acetate and outline systematic search guidelines for efficient adsorption and extraction of HF.

Highly efficient extraction of anthocyanins from grape skin using deep eutectic solvents as green and tunable media.

PubMed

Jeong, Kyung Min; Zhao, Jing; Jin, Yan; Heo, Seong Rok; Han, Se Young; Yoo, Da Eun; Lee, Jeongmi

2015-12-01

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were investigated as tunable, environmentally benign, yet superior extraction media to enhance the extraction of anthocyanins from grape skin, which is usually discarded as waste. Ten DESs containing choline chloride as hydrogen bond acceptor combined with different hydrogen bond donors were screened for high extraction efficiencies based on the anthocyanin extraction yields. As a result, citric acid, D-(+)-maltose, and fructose were selected as the effective DES components, and the newly designed DES, CM-6 that is composed of citric acid and D-(+)-maltose at 4:1 molar ratio, exhibited significantly higher levels of anthocyanin extraction yields than conventional extraction solvents such as 80% aqueous methanol. The final extraction method was established based on the ultrasound-assisted extraction under conditions optimized using response surface methodology. Its extraction yields were double or even higher than those of conventional methods that are time-consuming and use volatile organic solvents. Our method is truly a green method for anthocyanin extraction with great extraction efficiency using a minimal amount of time and solvent. Moreover, this study suggested that grape skin, the by-products of grape juice processing, could serve as a valuable source for safe, natural colorants or antioxidants by use of the eco-friendly extraction solvent, CM-6.

Application of an efficient strategy based on liquid-liquid extraction, high-speed counter-current chromatography, and preparative HPLC for the rapid enrichment, separation, and purification of four anthraquinones from Rheum tanguticum.

PubMed

Chen, Tao; Liu, Yongling; Zou, Denglang; Chen, Chen; You, Jinmao; Zhou, Guoying; Sun, Jing; Li, Yulin

2014-01-01

This study presents an efficient strategy based on liquid-liquid extraction, high-speed counter-current chromatography, and preparative HPLC for the rapid enrichment, separation, and purification of four anthraquinones from Rheum tanguticum. A new solvent system composed of petroleum ether/ethyl acetate/water (4:2:1, v/v/v) was developed for the liquid-liquid extraction of the crude extract from R. tanguticum. As a result, emodin, aloe-emodin, physcion, and chrysophanol were greatly enriched in the organic layer. In addition, an efficient method was successfully established to separate and purify the above anthraquinones by high-speed counter-current chromatography and preparative HPLC. This study supplies a new alternative method for the rapid enrichment, separation, and purification of emodin, aloe-emodin, physcione, and chrysophanol. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Insecticidal activity of certain medicinal plants.

PubMed

Pavela, Roman

2004-12-01

The methanol extracts of eight species of medicinal plants were tested for insecticidal activity in third instar larvae of Egyptian cottonworm (Spodoptera littoralis). All extracts showed a certain degree of larval toxicity. The extracts of Ocimum basilicum, Origanum majorana and Salvia officinalis appeared to be highly toxic. The extracts significantly affected the growth indexes [relative growth rate (RGR), efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI), efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD)].

Learning from Past Classification Errors: Exploring Methods for Improving the Performance of a Deep Learning-based Building Extraction Model through Quantitative Analysis of Commission Errors for Optimal Sample Selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swan, B.; Laverdiere, M.; Yang, L.

2017-12-01

In the past five years, deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have been increasingly favored for computer vision applications due to their high accuracy and ability to generalize well in very complex problems; however, details of how they function and in turn how they may be optimized are still imperfectly understood. In particular, their complex and highly nonlinear network architecture, including many hidden layers and self-learned parameters, as well as their mathematical implications, presents open questions about how to effectively select training data. Without knowledge of the exact ways the model processes and transforms its inputs, intuition alone may fail as a guide to selecting highly relevant training samples. Working in the context of improving a CNN-based building extraction model used for the LandScan USA gridded population dataset, we have approached this problem by developing a semi-supervised, highly-scalable approach to select training samples from a dataset of identified commission errors. Due to the large scope this project, tens of thousands of potential samples could be derived from identified commission errors. To efficiently trim those samples down to a manageable and effective set for creating additional training sample, we statistically summarized the spectral characteristics of areas with rates of commission errors at the image tile level and grouped these tiles using affinity propagation. Highly representative members of each commission error cluster were then used to select sites for training sample creation. The model will be incrementally re-trained with the new training data to allow for an assessment of how the addition of different types of samples affects the model performance, such as precision and recall rates. By using quantitative analysis and data clustering techniques to select highly relevant training samples, we hope to improve model performance in a manner that is resource efficient, both in terms of training process and in sample creation.

Stiffness-Independent Highly Efficient On-Chip Extraction of Cell-Laden Hydrogel Microcapsules from Oil Emulsion into Aqueous Solution by Dielectrophoresis.

PubMed

Huang, Haishui; Sun, Mingrui; Heisler-Taylor, Tyler; Kiourti, Asimina; Volakis, John; Lafyatis, Gregory; He, Xiaoming

2015-10-28

A dielectrophoresis (DEP)-based method achieves highly efficient on-chip extraction of cell-laden microcapsules of any stiffness from oil into aqueous solution. The hydrogel microcapsules can be extracted into the aqueous solution by DEP and interfacial tension forces with no trapped oil, while the encapsulated cells are free from electrical damage due to the Faraday cage effect. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Drilling Regolith: Why Is It So Difficult?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmitt, H. H.

2017-10-01

The Apollo rotary percussive drill system penetrated the lunar regolith with reasonable efficiency; however, extraction of the drill core stem proved to be very difficult on all three missions. Retractable drill stem flutes may solve this problem.

Optimum oil production planning using infeasibility driven evolutionary algorithm.

PubMed

Singh, Hemant Kumar; Ray, Tapabrata; Sarker, Ruhul

2013-01-01

In this paper, we discuss a practical oil production planning optimization problem. For oil wells with insufficient reservoir pressure, gas is usually injected to artificially lift oil, a practice commonly referred to as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The total gas that can be used for oil extraction is constrained by daily availability limits. The oil extracted from each well is known to be a nonlinear function of the gas injected into the well and varies between wells. The problem is to identify the optimal amount of gas that needs to be injected into each well to maximize the amount of oil extracted subject to the constraint on the total daily gas availability. The problem has long been of practical interest to all major oil exploration companies as it has the potential to derive large financial benefit. In this paper, an infeasibility driven evolutionary algorithm is used to solve a 56 well reservoir problem which demonstrates its efficiency in solving constrained optimization problems. Furthermore, a multi-objective formulation of the problem is posed and solved using a number of algorithms, which eliminates the need for solving the (single objective) problem on a regular basis. Lastly, a modified single objective formulation of the problem is also proposed, which aims to maximize the profit instead of the quantity of oil. It is shown that even with a lesser amount of oil extracted, more economic benefits can be achieved through the modified formulation.

Selective separation of trivalent f-ions using 1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxamide ligands in ionic liquids

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

Dehaudt, Jeremy; Williams, Neil J.; Shkrob, Ilya A.

1,10-Phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxamide complexants decorated with alkyl chains and imidazolium cations have been studied for extraction of trivalent f-ions into imidazolium ionic liquids. The dicationic complexants are shown to extract Am over Eu with separation factors > 50 and high extraction efficiencies. Lastly, the different size selectivities for lanthanide ions were observed for these two types of the complexants, highlighting the importance of the positive charge in controlling both extraction efficiencies and extraction selectivities.

Selective separation of trivalent f-ions using 1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxamide ligands in ionic liquids

DOE PAGES

Dehaudt, Jeremy; Williams, Neil J.; Shkrob, Ilya A.; ...

2016-06-13

1,10-Phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxamide complexants decorated with alkyl chains and imidazolium cations have been studied for extraction of trivalent f-ions into imidazolium ionic liquids. The dicationic complexants are shown to extract Am over Eu with separation factors > 50 and high extraction efficiencies. Lastly, the different size selectivities for lanthanide ions were observed for these two types of the complexants, highlighting the importance of the positive charge in controlling both extraction efficiencies and extraction selectivities.

Smooth light extraction in lighting optical fibre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez-Balbuena, A. A.; Vazquez-Molini, D.; Garcia-Botella, A.; Martinez-Anton, J. C.; Bernabeu, E.

2011-10-01

Recent advances in LED technology have relegated the use of optical fibre for general lighting, but there are several applications where it can be used as scanners lighting systems, daylight, cultural heritage lighting, sensors, explosion risky spaces, etc. Nowadays the use of high intensity LED to inject light in optical fibre increases the possibility of conjugate fibre + LED for lighting applications. New optical fibres of plastic materials, high core diameter up to 12.6 mm transmit light with little attenuation in the visible spectrum but there is no an efficient and controlled way to extract the light during the fibre path. Side extracting fibres extracts all the light on 2π angle so is not well suited for controlled lighting. In this paper we present an extraction system for mono-filament optical fibre which provides efficient and controlled light distribution. These lighting parameters can be controlled with an algorithm that set the position, depth and shape of the optical extraction system. The extraction system works by total internal reflection in the core of the fibre with high efficiency and low cost. A 10 m length prototype is made with 45° sectional cuts in the fibre core as extraction system. The system is tested with a 1W white LED illuminator in one side.

Enhancement of white light OLED efficiency by combining both internal and external light extraction structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kao, I.-Ling; Ku, Chun-Neng; Chen, Yi-Ping; Lin, Ding-Zheng

2012-09-01

We proposed an internal nanostructure with a high reflective index planarization layer to solve the optical loss due to the reflective index mismatch between ITO and glass substrate. In our experiments, we found the electrical property of OLED device was significantly influenced by the internal nanostructures without planarization layer. Moreover, the internal extraction structure (IES) is not necessarily beneficial for light extraction. Therefore, we proposed a new substrate combine both internal and external extraction structure (EES) to extract trapping light. We successfully developed a high refractive index (N 1.7) planarization material with flat surface (RMS roughness < 2 nm), and improved about 70% device efficiency compared to traditional glass substrate.

An Efficient Method for Genomic DNA Extraction from Different Molluscs Species

PubMed Central

Pereira, Jorge C.; Chaves, Raquel; Bastos, Estela; Leitão, Alexandra; Guedes-Pinto, Henrique

2011-01-01

The selection of a DNA extraction method is a critical step when subsequent analysis depends on the DNA quality and quantity. Unlike mammals, for which several capable DNA extraction methods have been developed, for molluscs the availability of optimized genomic DNA extraction protocols is clearly insufficient. Several aspects such as animal physiology, the type (e.g., adductor muscle or gills) or quantity of tissue, can explain the lack of efficiency (quality and yield) in molluscs genomic DNA extraction procedure. In an attempt to overcome these aspects, this work describes an efficient method for molluscs genomic DNA extraction that was tested in several species from different orders: Veneridae, Ostreidae, Anomiidae, Cardiidae (Bivalvia) and Muricidae (Gastropoda), with different weight sample tissues. The isolated DNA was of high molecular weight with high yield and purity, even with reduced quantities of tissue. Moreover, the genomic DNA isolated, demonstrated to be suitable for several downstream molecular techniques, such as PCR sequencing among others. PMID:22174651

Numerical analysis of light extraction enhancement of GaN-based thin-film flip-chip light-emitting diodes with high-refractive-index buckling nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yue, Qing-Yang; Yang, Yang; Cheng, Zhen-Jia; Guo, Cheng-Shan

2018-06-01

In this work, the light extraction efficiency enhancement of GaN-based thin-film flip-chip (TFFC) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with high-refractive-index (TiO2) buckling nanostructures was studied using the three-dimensional finite difference time domain method. Compared with 2-D photonic crystals, the buckling structures have the advantages of a random directionality and a broad distribution in periodicity, which can effectively extract the guided light propagating in all azimuthal directions over a wide spectrum. Numerical studies revealed that the light extraction efficiency of buckling-structured LEDs reaches 1.1 times that of triangular lattice photonic crystals. The effects of the buckling structure feature sizes and the thickness of the N-GaN layer on the light extraction efficiency for TFFC LEDs were also investigated systematically. With optimized structural parameters, a significant light extraction enhancement of about 2.6 times was achieved for TiO2 buckling-structured TFFC LEDs compared with planar LEDs.

L1-norm kernel discriminant analysis via Bayes error bound optimization for robust feature extraction.

PubMed

Zheng, Wenming; Lin, Zhouchen; Wang, Haixian

2014-04-01

A novel discriminant analysis criterion is derived in this paper under the theoretical framework of Bayes optimality. In contrast to the conventional Fisher's discriminant criterion, the major novelty of the proposed one is the use of L1 norm rather than L2 norm, which makes it less sensitive to the outliers. With the L1-norm discriminant criterion, we propose a new linear discriminant analysis (L1-LDA) method for linear feature extraction problem. To solve the L1-LDA optimization problem, we propose an efficient iterative algorithm, in which a novel surrogate convex function is introduced such that the optimization problem in each iteration is to simply solve a convex programming problem and a close-form solution is guaranteed to this problem. Moreover, we also generalize the L1-LDA method to deal with the nonlinear robust feature extraction problems via the use of kernel trick, and hereafter proposed the L1-norm kernel discriminant analysis (L1-KDA) method. Extensive experiments on simulated and real data sets are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method in comparing with the state-of-the-art methods.

Extracting features from protein sequences to improve deep extreme learning machine for protein fold recognition.

PubMed

Ibrahim, Wisam; Abadeh, Mohammad Saniee

2017-05-21

Protein fold recognition is an important problem in bioinformatics to predict three-dimensional structure of a protein. One of the most challenging tasks in protein fold recognition problem is the extraction of efficient features from the amino-acid sequences to obtain better classifiers. In this paper, we have proposed six descriptors to extract features from protein sequences. These descriptors are applied in the first stage of a three-stage framework PCA-DELM-LDA to extract feature vectors from the amino-acid sequences. Principal Component Analysis PCA has been implemented to reduce the number of extracted features. The extracted feature vectors have been used with original features to improve the performance of the Deep Extreme Learning Machine DELM in the second stage. Four new features have been extracted from the second stage and used in the third stage by Linear Discriminant Analysis LDA to classify the instances into 27 folds. The proposed framework is implemented on the independent and combined feature sets in SCOP datasets. The experimental results show that extracted feature vectors in the first stage could improve the performance of DELM in extracting new useful features in second stage. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Photonic Design: From Fundamental Solar Cell Physics to Computational Inverse Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Owen Dennis

Photonic innovation is becoming ever more important in the modern world. Optical systems are dominating shorter and shorter communications distances, LED's are rapidly emerging for a variety of applications, and solar cells show potential to be a mainstream technology in the energy space. The need for novel, energy-efficient photonic and optoelectronic devices will only increase. This work unites fundamental physics and a novel computational inverse design approach towards such innovation. The first half of the dissertation is devoted to the physics of high-efficiency solar cells. As solar cells approach fundamental efficiency limits, their internal physics transforms. Photonic considerations, instead of electronic ones, are the key to reaching the highest voltages and efficiencies. Proper photon management led to Alta Device's recent dramatic increase of the solar cell efficiency record to 28.3%. Moreover, approaching the Shockley-Queisser limit for any solar cell technology will require light extraction to become a part of all future designs. The second half of the dissertation introduces inverse design as a new computational paradigm in photonics. An assortment of techniques (FDTD, FEM, etc.) have enabled quick and accurate simulation of the "forward problem" of finding fields for a given geometry. However, scientists and engineers are typically more interested in the inverse problem: for a desired functionality, what geometry is needed? Answering this question breaks from the emphasis on the forward problem and forges a new path in computational photonics. The framework of shape calculus enables one to quickly find superior, non-intuitive designs. Novel designs for optical cloaking and sub-wavelength solar cell applications are presented.

Effect of solvent addition sequence on lycopene extraction efficiency from membrane neutralized caustic peeled tomato waste.

PubMed

Phinney, David M; Frelka, John C; Cooperstone, Jessica L; Schwartz, Steven J; Heldman, Dennis R

2017-01-15

Lycopene is a high value nutraceutical and its isolation from waste streams is often desirable to maximize profits. This research investigated solvent addition order and composition on lycopene extraction efficiency from a commercial tomato waste stream (pH 12.5, solids ∼5%) that was neutralized using membrane filtration. Constant volume dilution (CVD) was used to desalinate the caustic salt to neutralize the waste. Acetone, ethanol and hexane were used as direct or blended additions. Extraction efficiency was defined as the amount of lycopene extracted divided by the total lycopene in the sample. The CVD operation reduced the active alkali of the waste from 0.66 to <0.01M and the moisture content of the pulp increased from 93% to 97% (wet basis), showing the removal of caustic salts from the waste. Extraction efficiency varied from 32.5% to 94.5%. This study demonstrates a lab scale feasibility to extract lycopene efficiently from tomato processing byproducts. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Study on Suitable Light Conditions and Efficient Lipid Extraction Technologies for Biodiesel Production Based on Microalgae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yao; Zhang, Qingtao; Sun, Yuan; Yang, Chengjia

2018-01-01

As a new generation biodiesel feedstock, microalgae have most potential to replace fossil fuel. However, the limited scale and high cost are two bottleneck problems. Efficient microwave-assisted lipid extraction technologies and suitable light conditions for Chlorella Sorokiniana need further study for lowering the cost. In this study, three photoperiod groups(24L:0D, 12L:12D, 0L:24D), three illumination intensity groups (1800 lux, 3600 lux, 5400 lux)and four light spectrum groups (Red, green, blue, and white) were used to culture Chlorella Sorokiniana to investigate those effects on algae growth rate and biomass accumulation. The suitable microwave treatment was also studied to achieve an optimizing quantum fracturing technology. 400 w, 750 w and 1000 w microwave power were set and 60 °C, 75 °C, 90 °C microwave conditions were investigated. The results showed that Chlorella Sorokiniana under 24L:0D photoperiod with 5400 lux white light can achieve better growth rate. The 90 °C / 1000w microwave treatment was identified as the most simple, easy, and effective way for lipid extraction from Chlorella Sorokiniana. As the raw material of biodiesel production, C18:1, C18:2 and C18:3 have accounted for important components of fatty acid in Chlorella Sorokiniana. Therefore, Chlorella Sorokiniana is a good raw material for the production of good quality biodiesel under suitable and efficient technologies.

Growth kinetics and physiological behavior of co-cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis, fermenting carob sugars extracted with whey.

PubMed

Rodrigues, B; Lima-Costa, M E; Constantino, A; Raposo, S; Felizardo, C; Gonçalves, D; Fernandes, T; Dionísio, L; Peinado, J M

2016-10-01

Alcoholic fermentation of carob waste sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) extracted with cheese whey, by co-cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis has been analyzed. Growth and fermentation of S. cerevisiae in the carob-whey medium showed an inhibition of about 30% in comparison with water-extracted carob. The inhibition of K. lactis on carob-whey was greater (70%) when compared with the whey medium alone, due to osmolarity problems. Oxygen availability was a very important factor for K. lactis, influencing its fermentation performance. When K. lactis was grown alone on carob-whey medium, lactose was always consumed first, and glucose and fructose were consumed afterwards, only at high aeration conditions. In co-culture with S. cerevisiae, K. lactis was completely inhibited and, at low aeration, died after 3 days; at high aeration this culture could survive but growth and lactose fermentation were only recovered after S. cerevisiae became stationary. To overcome the osmolarity and K. lactis' oxygen problems, the medium had to be diluted and a sequential fermentative process was designed in a STR-3l reactor. K. lactis was inoculated first and, with low aeration (0.13vvm), consumed all the lactose in 48h. Then S. cerevisiae was inoculated, consuming the total of the carob sugars, and producing ethanol in a fed-batch regime. The established co-culture with K. lactis increased S. cerevisiae ethanol tolerance. This fermentation process produced ethanol with good efficiency (80g/l final concentration and a conversion factor of 0.4g ethanol/g sugar), eliminating all the sugars of the mixed waste. These efficient fermentative results pointed to a new joint treatment of agro-industrial wastes which may be implemented successfully, with economic and environmental sustainability for a bioethanol industrial proposal. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A modified active appearance model based on an adaptive artificial bee colony.

PubMed

Abdulameer, Mohammed Hasan; Sheikh Abdullah, Siti Norul Huda; Othman, Zulaiha Ali

2014-01-01

Active appearance model (AAM) is one of the most popular model-based approaches that have been extensively used to extract features by highly accurate modeling of human faces under various physical and environmental circumstances. However, in such active appearance model, fitting the model with original image is a challenging task. State of the art shows that optimization method is applicable to resolve this problem. However, another common problem is applying optimization. Hence, in this paper we propose an AAM based face recognition technique, which is capable of resolving the fitting problem of AAM by introducing a new adaptive ABC algorithm. The adaptation increases the efficiency of fitting as against the conventional ABC algorithm. We have used three datasets: CASIA dataset, property 2.5D face dataset, and UBIRIS v1 images dataset in our experiments. The results have revealed that the proposed face recognition technique has performed effectively, in terms of accuracy of face recognition.

A 3D terrain reconstruction method of stereo vision based quadruped robot navigation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ge, Zhuo; Zhu, Ying; Liang, Guanhao

2017-01-01

To provide 3D environment information for the quadruped robot autonomous navigation system during walking through rough terrain, based on the stereo vision, a novel 3D terrain reconstruction method is presented. In order to solve the problem that images collected by stereo sensors have large regions with similar grayscale and the problem that image matching is poor at real-time performance, watershed algorithm and fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm are combined for contour extraction. Aiming at the problem of error matching, duel constraint with region matching and pixel matching is established for matching optimization. Using the stereo matching edge pixel pairs, the 3D coordinate algorithm is estimated according to the binocular stereo vision imaging model. Experimental results show that the proposed method can yield high stereo matching ratio and reconstruct 3D scene quickly and efficiently.

Highly efficient micellar extraction of toxic picric acid into novel ionic liquid: Effect of parameters, solubilization isotherm, evaluation of thermodynamics and design parameters.

PubMed

Bhatt, Darshak R; Maheria, Kalpana C; Parikh, Jigisha K

2015-12-30

A simple and new approach in cloud point extraction (CPE) method was developed for removal of picric acid (PA) by the addition of N,N,N,N',N',N'-hexaethyl-ethane-1,2-diammonium dibromide ionic liquid (IL) in non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114 (TX-114). A significant increase in extraction efficiency was found upon the addition of dicationic ionic liquid (DIL) at both nearly neutral and high acidic pH. The effects of different operating parameters such as pH, temperature, time, concentration of surfactant, PA and DIL on extraction of PA were investigated and optimum conditions were established. The extraction mechanism was also proposed. A developed Langmuir isotherm was used to compute the feed surfactant concentration required for the removal of PA up to an extraction efficiency of 90%. The effects of temperature and concentration of surfactant on various thermodynamic parameters were examined. It was found that the values of ΔG° increased with temperature and decreased with surfactant concentration. The values of ΔH° and ΔS° increased with surfactant concentration. The developed approach for DIL mediated CPE has proved to be an efficient and green route for extraction of PA from water sample. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Green extraction of grape skin phenolics by using deep eutectic solvents.

PubMed

Cvjetko Bubalo, Marina; Ćurko, Natka; Tomašević, Marina; Kovačević Ganić, Karin; Radojčić Redovniković, Ivana

2016-06-01

Conventional extraction techniques for plant phenolics are usually associated with high organic solvent consumption and long extraction times. In order to establish an environmentally friendly extraction method for grape skin phenolics, deep eutectic solvents (DES) as a green alternative to conventional solvents coupled with highly efficient microwave-assisted and ultrasound-assisted extraction methods (MAE and UAE, respectively) have been considered. Initially, screening of five different DES for proposed extraction was performed and choline chloride-based DES containing oxalic acid as a hydrogen bond donor with 25% of water was selected as the most promising one, resulting in more effective extraction of grape skin phenolic compounds compared to conventional solvents. Additionally, in our study, UAE proved to be the best extraction method with extraction efficiency superior to both MAE and conventional extraction method. The knowledge acquired in this study will contribute to further DES implementation in extraction of biologically active compounds from various plant sources. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fake currency detection using image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agasti, Tushar; Burand, Gajanan; Wade, Pratik; Chitra, P.

2017-11-01

The advancement of color printing technology has increased the rate of fake currency note printing and duplicating the notes on a very large scale. Few years back, the printing could be done in a print house, but now anyone can print a currency note with maximum accuracy using a simple laser printer. As a result the issue of fake notes instead of the genuine ones has been increased very largely. India has been unfortunately cursed with the problems like corruption and black money. And counterfeit of currency notes is also a big problem to it. This leads to design of a system that detects the fake currency note in a less time and in a more efficient manner. The proposed system gives an approach to verify the Indian currency notes. Verification of currency note is done by the concepts of image processing. This article describes extraction of various features of Indian currency notes. MATLAB software is used to extract the features of the note. The proposed system has got advantages like simplicity and high performance speed. The result will predict whether the currency note is fake or not.

Optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction to obtain mycosterols from Agaricus bisporus L. by response surface methodology and comparison with conventional Soxhlet extraction.

PubMed

Heleno, Sandrina A; Diz, Patrícia; Prieto, M A; Barros, Lillian; Rodrigues, Alírio; Barreiro, Maria Filomena; Ferreira, Isabel C F R

2016-04-15

Ergosterol, a molecule with high commercial value, is the most abundant mycosterol in Agaricus bisporus L. To replace common conventional extraction techniques (e.g. Soxhlet), the present study reports the optimal ultrasound-assisted extraction conditions for ergosterol. After preliminary tests, the results showed that solvents, time and ultrasound power altered the extraction efficiency. Using response surface methodology, models were developed to investigate the favourable experimental conditions that maximize the extraction efficiency. All statistical criteria demonstrated the validity of the proposed models. Overall, ultrasound-assisted extraction with ethanol at 375 W during 15 min proved to be as efficient as the Soxhlet extraction, yielding 671.5 ± 0.5mg ergosterol/100 g dw. However, with n-hexane extracts with higher purity (mg ergosterol/g extract) were obtained. Finally, it was proposed for the removal of the saponification step, which simplifies the extraction process and makes it more feasible for its industrial transference. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Polyaniline-coated cigarette filters as a solid-phase extraction sorbent for the extraction and enrichment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in water samples.

PubMed

Bunkoed, Opas; Rueankaew, Thanaschaphorn; Nurerk, Piyaluk; Kanatharana, Proespichaya

2016-06-01

Polyaniline coated cigarette filters were successfully synthesized and used as a solid-phase extraction sorbent for the extraction and preconcentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water samples. The polyaniline helped to enhance the adsorption ability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the sorbent through π-π interactions. The high porosity and large surface area of the cigarette filters helped to reduce backpressure and can be operated with high sample flow rate without loss of extraction efficiency. The developed sorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The parameters that affected the extraction efficiencies, i.e. polymerization time, type of desorption solvent and its volume, sample flow rate, sample volume, sample pH, ionic strength, and organic modifier were investigated. Under the optimal conditions, the method was linear over the range of 0.5-10 μg/L and a detection limit of 0.5 ng/L. This simple, rapid, and cost-effective method was successfully applied to the preconcentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from water samples. The developed method provided a high enrichment factor with good extraction efficiency (85-98%) and a relative standard deviation <10%. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Leveraging Pattern Semantics for Extracting Entities in Enterprises

PubMed Central

Tao, Fangbo; Zhao, Bo; Fuxman, Ariel; Li, Yang; Han, Jiawei

2015-01-01

Entity Extraction is a process of identifying meaningful entities from text documents. In enterprises, extracting entities improves enterprise efficiency by facilitating numerous applications, including search, recommendation, etc. However, the problem is particularly challenging on enterprise domains due to several reasons. First, the lack of redundancy of enterprise entities makes previous web-based systems like NELL and OpenIE not effective, since using only high-precision/low-recall patterns like those systems would miss the majority of sparse enterprise entities, while using more low-precision patterns in sparse setting also introduces noise drastically. Second, semantic drift is common in enterprises (“Blue” refers to “Windows Blue”), such that public signals from the web cannot be directly applied on entities. Moreover, many internal entities never appear on the web. Sparse internal signals are the only source for discovering them. To address these challenges, we propose an end-to-end framework for extracting entities in enterprises, taking the input of enterprise corpus and limited seeds to generate a high-quality entity collection as output. We introduce the novel concept of Semantic Pattern Graph to leverage public signals to understand the underlying semantics of lexical patterns, reinforce pattern evaluation using mined semantics, and yield more accurate and complete entities. Experiments on Microsoft enterprise data show the effectiveness of our approach. PMID:26705540

Leveraging Pattern Semantics for Extracting Entities in Enterprises.

PubMed

Tao, Fangbo; Zhao, Bo; Fuxman, Ariel; Li, Yang; Han, Jiawei

2015-05-01

Entity Extraction is a process of identifying meaningful entities from text documents. In enterprises, extracting entities improves enterprise efficiency by facilitating numerous applications, including search, recommendation, etc. However, the problem is particularly challenging on enterprise domains due to several reasons. First, the lack of redundancy of enterprise entities makes previous web-based systems like NELL and OpenIE not effective, since using only high-precision/low-recall patterns like those systems would miss the majority of sparse enterprise entities, while using more low-precision patterns in sparse setting also introduces noise drastically. Second, semantic drift is common in enterprises ("Blue" refers to "Windows Blue"), such that public signals from the web cannot be directly applied on entities. Moreover, many internal entities never appear on the web. Sparse internal signals are the only source for discovering them. To address these challenges, we propose an end-to-end framework for extracting entities in enterprises, taking the input of enterprise corpus and limited seeds to generate a high-quality entity collection as output. We introduce the novel concept of Semantic Pattern Graph to leverage public signals to understand the underlying semantics of lexical patterns, reinforce pattern evaluation using mined semantics, and yield more accurate and complete entities. Experiments on Microsoft enterprise data show the effectiveness of our approach.

Environmentally friendly and cost-efficient analysis of aflatoxins in corn

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The extraction procedure adds a significant cost to the overall expense of aflatoxin analysis in agricultural commodities. An inexpensive and low-waste extraction method using a household espresso coffee maker was tested. This appliance was used for the high-temperature /high-pressure extraction of ...

Fast object detection algorithm based on HOG and CNN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Tongwei; Wang, Dandan; Zhang, Yanduo

2018-04-01

In the field of computer vision, object classification and object detection are widely used in many fields. The traditional object detection have two main problems:one is that sliding window of the regional selection strategy is high time complexity and have window redundancy. And the other one is that Robustness of the feature is not well. In order to solve those problems, Regional Proposal Network (RPN) is used to select candidate regions instead of selective search algorithm. Compared with traditional algorithms and selective search algorithms, RPN has higher efficiency and accuracy. We combine HOG feature and convolution neural network (CNN) to extract features. And we use SVM to classify. For TorontoNet, our algorithm's mAP is 1.6 percentage points higher. For OxfordNet, our algorithm's mAP is 1.3 percentage higher.

Oviposition traps to survey eggs of Lambdina fiscellaria (Lepidoptera: Geometridae).

PubMed

Hébert, Christian; Jobin, Luc; Auger, Michel; Dupont, Alain

2003-06-01

Outbreaks of the hemlock looper, Lambdina fiscellaria (Gueneé), are characterized by rapid increase and patchy distribution over widespread areas, which make it difficult to detect impending outbreaks. This is a major problem with this insect. Population forecasting is based on tedious and expensive egg surveys in which eggs are extracted from 1-m branches; careful observation is needed to avoid counting old unhatched eggs of previous year populations. The efficacy of artificial substrates as oviposition traps to sample hemlock looper eggs was tested as a means of improving outbreak detection and population forecasting. A white polyurethane foam substrate (1,095 lb/ft3) used with the Luminoc insect trap, a portable light trap, was highly efficient in sampling eggs of the hemlock looper. Foam strips placed on tree trunks at breast height were less efficient but easier and less expensive to use for the establishment of extensive survey networks. Estimates based on oviposition traps were highly correlated with those obtained from the 1-m branch extraction method. The oviposition trap is a standard, inexpensive, easy, and robust method that can be used by nonspecialists. This technique makes it possible to sample higher numbers of plots in widespread monitoring networks, which is crucial for improving the management of hemlock looper populations.

Crossing Fibers Detection with an Analytical High Order Tensor Decomposition

PubMed Central

Megherbi, T.; Kachouane, M.; Oulebsir-Boumghar, F.; Deriche, R.

2014-01-01

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is the only technique to probe in vivo and noninvasively the fiber structure of human brain white matter. Detecting the crossing of neuronal fibers remains an exciting challenge with an important impact in tractography. In this work, we tackle this challenging problem and propose an original and efficient technique to extract all crossing fibers from diffusion signals. To this end, we start by estimating, from the dMRI signal, the so-called Cartesian tensor fiber orientation distribution (CT-FOD) function, whose maxima correspond exactly to the orientations of the fibers. The fourth order symmetric positive definite tensor that represents the CT-FOD is then analytically decomposed via the application of a new theoretical approach and this decomposition is used to accurately extract all the fibers orientations. Our proposed high order tensor decomposition based approach is minimal and allows recovering the whole crossing fibers without any a priori information on the total number of fibers. Various experiments performed on noisy synthetic data, on phantom diffusion, data and on human brain data validate our approach and clearly demonstrate that it is efficient, robust to noise and performs favorably in terms of angular resolution and accuracy when compared to some classical and state-of-the-art approaches. PMID:25246940

Computationally Efficient Clustering of Audio-Visual Meeting Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hung, Hayley; Friedland, Gerald; Yeo, Chuohao

This chapter presents novel computationally efficient algorithms to extract semantically meaningful acoustic and visual events related to each of the participants in a group discussion using the example of business meeting recordings. The recording setup involves relatively few audio-visual sensors, comprising a limited number of cameras and microphones. We first demonstrate computationally efficient algorithms that can identify who spoke and when, a problem in speech processing known as speaker diarization. We also extract visual activity features efficiently from MPEG4 video by taking advantage of the processing that was already done for video compression. Then, we present a method of associating the audio-visual data together so that the content of each participant can be managed individually. The methods presented in this article can be used as a principal component that enables many higher-level semantic analysis tasks needed in search, retrieval, and navigation.

FacetGist: Collective Extraction of Document Facets in Large Technical Corpora.

PubMed

Siddiqui, Tarique; Ren, Xiang; Parameswaran, Aditya; Han, Jiawei

2016-10-01

Given the large volume of technical documents available, it is crucial to automatically organize and categorize these documents to be able to understand and extract value from them. Towards this end, we introduce a new research problem called Facet Extraction. Given a collection of technical documents, the goal of Facet Extraction is to automatically label each document with a set of concepts for the key facets ( e.g. , application, technique, evaluation metrics, and dataset) that people may be interested in. Facet Extraction has numerous applications, including document summarization, literature search, patent search and business intelligence. The major challenge in performing Facet Extraction arises from multiple sources: concept extraction, concept to facet matching, and facet disambiguation. To tackle these challenges, we develop FacetGist, a framework for facet extraction. Facet Extraction involves constructing a graph-based heterogeneous network to capture information available across multiple local sentence-level features, as well as global context features. We then formulate a joint optimization problem, and propose an efficient algorithm for graph-based label propagation to estimate the facet of each concept mention. Experimental results on technical corpora from two domains demonstrate that Facet Extraction can lead to an improvement of over 25% in both precision and recall over competing schemes.

FacetGist: Collective Extraction of Document Facets in Large Technical Corpora

PubMed Central

Siddiqui, Tarique; Ren, Xiang; Parameswaran, Aditya; Han, Jiawei

2017-01-01

Given the large volume of technical documents available, it is crucial to automatically organize and categorize these documents to be able to understand and extract value from them. Towards this end, we introduce a new research problem called Facet Extraction. Given a collection of technical documents, the goal of Facet Extraction is to automatically label each document with a set of concepts for the key facets (e.g., application, technique, evaluation metrics, and dataset) that people may be interested in. Facet Extraction has numerous applications, including document summarization, literature search, patent search and business intelligence. The major challenge in performing Facet Extraction arises from multiple sources: concept extraction, concept to facet matching, and facet disambiguation. To tackle these challenges, we develop FacetGist, a framework for facet extraction. Facet Extraction involves constructing a graph-based heterogeneous network to capture information available across multiple local sentence-level features, as well as global context features. We then formulate a joint optimization problem, and propose an efficient algorithm for graph-based label propagation to estimate the facet of each concept mention. Experimental results on technical corpora from two domains demonstrate that Facet Extraction can lead to an improvement of over 25% in both precision and recall over competing schemes. PMID:28210517

Recent Advances in the Development and Application of Power Plate Transducers in Dense Gas Extraction and Aerosol Agglomeration Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riera, E.; Cardoni, A.; Gallego-Juárez, J. A.; Acosta, V. M.; Blanco, A.; Rodríguez, G.; Blasco, M.; Herranz, L. E.

Power ultrasound (PU) is an emerging, innovative, energy saving and environmental friendly technology that is generating a great interest in sectors such as food and pharmaceutical industries, green chemistry, environmental pollution, and other processes, where sustainable and energy efficient methods are required to improve and/or produce specific effects. Two typical effects of PU are the enhancement of mass transfer in gases and liquids, and the induction of particle agglomeration in aerosols. These effects are activated by a variety of mechanisms associated to the nonlinear propagation of high amplitude ultrasonic waves such as diffusion, agitation, entrainment, turbulence, etc. During the last years a great effort has been jointly made by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the company Pusonics towards introducing novel processes into the market based on airborne ultrasonic plate transducers. This technology was specifically developed for the treatment of gas and multiphasic media characterized by low specific acoustic impedance and high acoustic absorption. Different strategies have been developed to mitigate the effects of the nonlinear dynamic behavior of such ultrasonic piezoelectric transducers in order to enhance and stabilize their response at operational power conditions. This work deals with the latter advances in the mitigation of nonlinear problems found in power transducers; besides it describes two applications assisted by ultrasound developed at semi-industrial and laboratory scales and consisting in extraction via dense gases and particle agglomeration. Dense Gas Extraction (DGE) assisted by PU is a new process with a potential to enhance the extraction kinetics with supercritical CO2. Acoustic agglomeration of fine aerosol particles has a great potential for the treatment of air pollution problems generated by particulate materials. Experimental and numerical results in both processes will be shown and discussed.

In-tube electro-membrane extraction with a sub-microliter organic solvent consumption as an efficient technique for synthetic food dyes determination in foodstuff samples.

PubMed

Bazregar, Mohammad; Rajabi, Maryam; Yamini, Yadollah; Asghari, Alireza; Abdossalami asl, Yousef

2015-09-04

A simple and efficient extraction technique with a sub-microliter organic solvent consumption termed as in-tube electro-membrane extraction (IEME) is introduced. This method is based upon the electro-kinetic migration of ionized compounds by the application of an electrical potential difference. For this purpose, a thin polypropylene (PP) sheet placed inside a tube acts as a support for the membrane solvent, and 30μL of an aqueous acceptor solution is separated by this solvent from 1.2mL of an aqueous donor solution. This method yielded high extraction recoveries (63-81%), and the consumption of the organic solvent used was only 0.5μL. By performing this method, the purification is high, and the utilization of the organic solvent, used as a mediator, is very simple and repeatable. The proposed method was evaluated by extraction of four synthetic food dyes (Amaranth, Ponceau 4R, Allura Red, and Carmoisine) as the model analytes. Optimization of variables affecting the method was carried out in order to achieve the best extraction efficiency. These variables were the type of membrane solvent, applied extraction voltage, extraction time, pH range, and concentration of salt added. Under the optimized conditions, IEME-HPLC-UV provided a good linearity in the range of 1.00-800ngmL(-1), low limits of detection (0.3-1ngmL(-1)), and good extraction repeatabilities (RSDs below 5.2%, n=5). It seems that this design is a proper one for the automation of the method. Also the consumption of the organic solvent in a sub-microliter scale, and its simplicity, high efficiency, and high purification can help one getting closer to the objectives of the green chemistry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

White organic light emitting diodes with enhanced internal and external outcoupling for ultra-efficient light extraction and Lambertian emission.

PubMed

Bocksrocker, Tobias; Preinfalk, Jan Benedikt; Asche-Tauscher, Julian; Pargner, Andreas; Eschenbaum, Carsten; Maier-Flaig, Florian; Lemme, Uli

2012-11-05

White organic light emitting diodes (WOLEDs) suffer from poor outcoupling efficiencies. The use of Bragg-gratings to enhance the outcoupling efficiency is very promising for light extraction in OLEDs, but such periodic structures can lead to angular or spectral dependencies in the devices. Here we present a method which combines highly efficient outcoupling by a TiO(2)-Bragg-grating leading to a 104% efficiency enhancement and an additional high quality microlens diffusor at the substrate/air interface. With the addition of this diffusor, we achieved not only a uniform white emission, but also further increased the already improved device efficiency by another 94% leading to an overall enhancement factor of about 4.

Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Metal Chelate: A Review.

PubMed

Ding, Xin; Liu, Qinli; Hou, Xiongpo; Fang, Tao

2017-03-04

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), as a new green extraction technology, has been used in extracting various metal species. The solubilities of chelating agents and corresponding metal chelates are the key factors which influence the efficiency of SFE. Other main properties of them such as stability and selectivity are also reviewed. The extraction mechanisms of mainly used chelating agents are explained by typical examples in this paper. This is the important aspect of SFE of metal ions. Moreover, the extraction efficiencies of metal species also depend on other factors such as temperature, pressure, extraction time and matrix effect. The two main complexation methods namely in-situ and on-line chelating SFE are described in detail. As an efficient chelating agent, tributyl phosphate-nitric acid (TBP-HNO 3 ) complex attracts much attention. The SFE of metal ions, lanthanides and actinides as well as organometallic compounds are also summarized. With the proper selection of ligands, high efficient extraction of metal species can be obtained. As an efficient sample analysis method, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is introduced in this paper. Recently, the extraction method combining ionic liquids (ILs) with supercritical fluid has been becoming a novel technology for treating metal ions. The kinetics related to SFE of metal species is discussed with some specific examples.

A Framework of Temporal-Spatial Descriptors-Based Feature Extraction for Improved Myoelectric Pattern Recognition.

PubMed

Khushaba, Rami N; Al-Timemy, Ali H; Al-Ani, Ahmed; Al-Jumaily, Adel

2017-10-01

The extraction of the accurate and efficient descriptors of muscular activity plays an important role in tackling the challenging problem of myoelectric control of powered prostheses. In this paper, we present a new feature extraction framework that aims to give an enhanced representation of muscular activities through increasing the amount of information that can be extracted from individual and combined electromyogram (EMG) channels. We propose to use time-domain descriptors (TDDs) in estimating the EMG signal power spectrum characteristics; a step that preserves the computational power required for the construction of spectral features. Subsequently, TDD is used in a process that involves: 1) representing the temporal evolution of the EMG signals by progressively tracking the correlation between the TDD extracted from each analysis time window and a nonlinearly mapped version of it across the same EMG channel and 2) representing the spatial coherence between the different EMG channels, which is achieved by calculating the correlation between the TDD extracted from the differences of all possible combinations of pairs of channels and their nonlinearly mapped versions. The proposed temporal-spatial descriptors (TSDs) are validated on multiple sparse and high-density (HD) EMG data sets collected from a number of intact-limbed and amputees performing a large number of hand and finger movements. Classification results showed significant reductions in the achieved error rates in comparison to other methods, with the improvement of at least 8% on average across all subjects. Additionally, the proposed TSDs achieved significantly well in problems with HD-EMG with average classification errors of <5% across all subjects using windows lengths of 50 ms only.

RGB-Stack Light Emitting Diode Modules with Transparent Glass Circuit Board and Oil Encapsulation

PubMed Central

Li, Ying-Chang; Chang, Yuan-Hsiao; Singh, Preetpal; Chang, Liann-Be; Yeh, Der-Hwa; Chao, Ting-Yu; Jian, Si-Yun; Li, Yu-Chi; Lai, Chao-Sung; Ying, Shang-Ping

2018-01-01

The light emitting diode (LED) is widely used in modern solid-state lighting applications, and its output efficiency is closely related to the submounts’ material properties. Most submounts used today, such as low-power printed circuit boards (PCBs) or high-power metal core printed circuit boards (MCPCBs), are not transparent and seriously decrease the output light extraction. To meet the requirements of high light output and better color mixing, a three-dimensional (3-D) stacked flip-chip (FC) LED module is proposed and demonstrated. To realize light penetration and mixing, the mentioned 3-D vertically stacking RGB LEDs use transparent glass as FC package submounts called glass circuit boards (GCB). Light emitted from each GCB stacked LEDs passes through each other and thus exhibits good output efficiency and homogeneous light-mixing characteristics. In this work, the parasitic problem of heat accumulation, which caused by the poor thermal conductivity of GCB and leads to a serious decrease in output efficiency, is solved by a proposed transparent cooling oil encapsulation (OCP) method. PMID:29494534

RGB-Stack Light Emitting Diode Modules with Transparent Glass Circuit Board and Oil Encapsulation.

PubMed

Li, Ying-Chang; Chang, Yuan-Hsiao; Singh, Preetpal; Chang, Liann-Be; Yeh, Der-Hwa; Chao, Ting-Yu; Jian, Si-Yun; Li, Yu-Chi; Tan, Cher Ming; Lai, Chao-Sung; Chow, Lee; Ying, Shang-Ping

2018-03-01

The light emitting diode (LED) is widely used in modern solid-state lighting applications, and its output efficiency is closely related to the submounts' material properties. Most submounts used today, such as low-power printed circuit boards (PCBs) or high-power metal core printed circuit boards (MCPCBs), are not transparent and seriously decrease the output light extraction. To meet the requirements of high light output and better color mixing, a three-dimensional (3-D) stacked flip-chip (FC) LED module is proposed and demonstrated. To realize light penetration and mixing, the mentioned 3-D vertically stacking RGB LEDs use transparent glass as FC package submounts called glass circuit boards (GCB). Light emitted from each GCB stacked LEDs passes through each other and thus exhibits good output efficiency and homogeneous light-mixing characteristics. In this work, the parasitic problem of heat accumulation, which caused by the poor thermal conductivity of GCB and leads to a serious decrease in output efficiency, is solved by a proposed transparent cooling oil encapsulation (OCP) method.

High-Efficiency Nitride-Base Photonic Crystal Light Sources

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

James Speck; Evelyn Hu; Claude Weisbuch

2010-01-31

The research activities performed in the framework of this project represent a major breakthrough in the demonstration of Photonic Crystals (PhC) as a competitive technology for LEDs with high light extraction efficiency. The goals of the project were to explore the viable approaches to manufacturability of PhC LEDS through proven standard industrial processes, establish the limits of light extraction by various concepts of PhC LEDs, and determine the possible advantages of PhC LEDs over current and forthcoming LED extraction concepts. We have developed three very different geometries for PhC light extraction in LEDs. In addition, we have demonstrated reliable methodsmore » for their in-depth analysis allowing the extraction of important parameters such as light extraction efficiency, modal extraction length, directionality, internal and external quantum efficiency. The information gained allows better understanding of the physical processes and the effect of the design parameters on the light directionality and extraction efficiency. As a result, we produced LEDs with controllable emission directionality and a state of the art extraction efficiency that goes up to 94%. Those devices are based on embedded air-gap PhC - a novel technology concept developed in the framework of this project. They rely on a simple and planar fabrication process that is very interesting for industrial implementation due to its robustness and scalability. In fact, besides the additional patterning and regrowth steps, the process is identical as that for standard industrially used p-side-up LEDs. The final devices exhibit the same good electrical characteristics and high process yield as a series of test standard LEDs obtained in comparable conditions. Finally, the technology of embedded air-gap patterns (PhC) has significant potential in other related fields such as: increasing the optical mode interaction with the active region in semiconductor lasers; increasing the coupling of the incident light into the active region of solar cells; increasing the efficiency of the phosphorous light conversion in white light LEDs etc. In addition to the technology of embedded PhC LEDs, we demonstrate a technique for improvement of the light extraction and emission directionality for existing flip-chip microcavity (thin) LEDs by introducing PhC grating into the top n-contact. Although, the performances of these devices in terms of increase of the extraction efficiency are not significantly superior compared to those obtained by other techniques like surface roughening, the use of PhC offers some significant advantages such as improved and controllable emission directionality and a process that is directly applicable to any material system. The PhC microcavity LEDs have also potential for industrial implementation as the fabrication process has only minor differences to that already used for flip-chip thin LEDs. Finally, we have demonstrated that achieving good electrical properties and high fabrication yield for these devices is straightforward.« less

Complex Approach to Conceptual Design of Machine Mechanically Extracting Oil from Jatropha curcas L. Seeds for Biomass-Based Fuel Production

PubMed Central

Mašín, Ivan

2016-01-01

One of important sources of biomass-based fuel is Jatropha curcas L. Great attention is paid to the biofuel produced from the oil extracted from the Jatropha curcas L. seeds. A mechanised extraction is the most efficient and feasible method for oil extraction for small-scale farmers but there is a need to extract oil in more efficient manner which would increase the labour productivity, decrease production costs, and increase benefits of small-scale farmers. On the other hand innovators should be aware that further machines development is possible only when applying the systematic approach and design methodology in all stages of engineering design. Systematic approach in this case means that designers and development engineers rigorously apply scientific knowledge, integrate different constraints and user priorities, carefully plan product and activities, and systematically solve technical problems. This paper therefore deals with the complex approach to design specification determining that can bring new innovative concepts to design of mechanical machines for oil extraction. The presented case study as the main part of the paper is focused on new concept of screw of machine mechanically extracting oil from Jatropha curcas L. seeds. PMID:27668259

CHARACTERIZATION OF VIRAL RNA EXTRACTION EFFICIENCY FROM ENVIRONMENTAL WATERS

EPA Science Inventory

Inhibition of PCR by environmental factors is a common problem affecting the sensitive detection of pathogenic microorganisms in environmental waters. This inhibition is caused by one of three mechanisms: 1) failure to lyse the microorganism, 2) degradation or sequestering of the...

A zero-liquid-discharge scheme for vanadium extraction process by electrodialysis-based technology.

PubMed

Wang, Meng; Xing, Hong-Bo; Jia, Yu-Xiang; Ren, Qing-Chun

2015-12-30

The sharp increase of demand for vanadium makes the treatment of the wastewater generated from its extraction process become an urgent problem. In this study, a hybrid process coupling the electrodialysis with the cooling crystallization is put forward for upgrading the conventional vanadium extraction process to zero discharge. Accordingly, the objective of this work lies in evaluating the feasibility of the proposed scheme on the basis of a systematic study on the influences of membrane types and operating parameters on the electrodialysis performance. The results indicate that the relative importance of osmosis and electro-osmosis to overall water transport is closely related to the applied current density. The increase in the applied current density and the decrease in the mole ratio of water and salt flux will contribute to the concentration degree. Moreover, it is worth noting that a relatively large concentration ratio can result in the remarkable decrease of current efficiency and increase of energy consumption. In general, the reclamation scheme can easily achieve the recovered water with relatively low salt content and the highly concentrated Na2SO4 solution (e.g., 300 g/L) for producing high-purity sodium sulphate crystals. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Carboxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane, a new coating for 96-blade solid-phase microextraction for determination of phenolic compounds in water.

PubMed

Kueseng, Pamornrat; Pawliszyn, Janusz

2013-11-22

A new thin-film, carboxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane (MWCNTs-COOH/PDMS) coating was developed for 96-blade solid-phase microextraction (SPME) system followed by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). The method provided good extraction efficiency (64-90%) for three spiked levels, with relative standard deviations (RSD)≤6%, and detection limits between 1 and 2 μg/L for three phenolic compounds. The MWCNTs-COOH/PDMS 96-blade SPME system presents advantages over traditional methods due to its simplicity of use, easy coating preparation, low cost and high sample throughput (2.1 min per sample). The developed coating is reusable for a minimum of 110 extractions with good extraction efficiency. The coating provided higher extraction efficiency (3-8 times greater) than pure PDMS coatings. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Boosting the power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells using self-organized polymeric hole extraction layers with high work function.

PubMed

Lim, Kyung-Geun; Kim, Hak-Beom; Jeong, Jaeki; Kim, Hobeom; Kim, Jin Young; Lee, Tae-Woo

2014-10-08

A self-organized hole extraction layer (SOHEL) with high work function (WF) is designed for energy level alignment with the ionization potential level of CH3 NH3 PbI3 . The SOHEL increases the built-in potential, photocurrent, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of CH3 NH3 PbI3 perovskite solar cells. Thus, interface engineering of the positive electrode of solution-processed planar heterojunction solar cells using a high-WF SOHEL is a very effective way to achieve high device efficiency (PCE = 11.7% on glass). © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

On-Demand Single Photons with High Extraction Efficiency and Near-Unity Indistinguishability from a Resonantly Driven Quantum Dot in a Micropillar.

PubMed

Ding, Xing; He, Yu; Duan, Z-C; Gregersen, Niels; Chen, M-C; Unsleber, S; Maier, S; Schneider, Christian; Kamp, Martin; Höfling, Sven; Lu, Chao-Yang; Pan, Jian-Wei

2016-01-15

Scalable photonic quantum technologies require on-demand single-photon sources with simultaneously high levels of purity, indistinguishability, and efficiency. These key features, however, have only been demonstrated separately in previous experiments. Here, by s-shell pulsed resonant excitation of a Purcell-enhanced quantum dot-micropillar system, we deterministically generate resonance fluorescence single photons which, at π pulse excitation, have an extraction efficiency of 66%, single-photon purity of 99.1%, and photon indistinguishability of 98.5%. Such a single-photon source for the first time combines the features of high efficiency and near-perfect levels of purity and indistinguishabilty, and thus opens the way to multiphoton experiments with semiconductor quantum dots.

Optimization of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Extraction Efficiency Parameters for Sub- and Supercritical Water Extraction (SCWE) Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Okada, Asahi A.

2005-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a class of molecules composed of multiple, bonded benzene rings. As PAHS are believed to be present on Mars, positive confirmation of their presence on Mars is highly desirable. To extract PAHS, which have low volatility, a fluid extraction method is ideal, and one that does not utilize organic solvents is especially ideal for in situ instrumental analysis. The use of water as a solvent, which at subcritical pressures and temperatures is relatively non-Polar, has significant potential. As SCWE instruments have not yet been commercialized, all instruments are individually-built research prototypes: thus, initial efforts were intended to determine if extraction efficiencies on the JPL-built laboratory-scale SCWE instrument are comparable to differing designs built elsewhere. Samples of soil with certified reference concentrations of PAHs were extracted using SCWE as well as conventional Soxhlet extraction. Continuation of the work would involve extractions on JPL'S newer, portable SCWE instrument prototype to determine its efficiency in extracting PAHs.

Substitution of carcinogenic solvent dichloromethane for the extraction of volatile compounds in a fat-free model food system.

PubMed

Cayot, Nathalie; Lafarge, Céline; Bou-Maroun, Elias; Cayot, Philippe

2016-07-22

Dichloromethane is known as a very efficient solvent, but, as other halogenated solvents, is recognized as a hazardous product (CMR substance). The objective of the present work is to propose substitution solvent for the extraction of volatile compounds. The most important physico-chemical parameters in the choice of an appropriate extraction solvent of volatile compounds are reviewed. Various solvents are selected on this basis and on their hazard characteristics. The selected solvents, safer than dichloromethane, are compared using the extraction efficiency of volatile compounds from a model food product able to interact with volatile compounds. Volatile compounds with different hydrophobicity are used. High extraction yields were positively correlated with high boiling points and high Log Kow values of volatile compounds. Mixtures of solvents such as azeotrope propan-2-one/cyclopentane, azeotrope ethyl acetate/ethanol, and mixture ethyl acetate/ethanol (3:1, v/v) gave higher extraction yields than those obtained with dichloromethane. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Digital relief generation from 3D models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Meili; Sun, Yu; Zhang, Hongming; Qian, Kun; Chang, Jian; He, Dongjian

2016-09-01

It is difficult to extend image-based relief generation to high-relief generation, as the images contain insufficient height information. To generate reliefs from three-dimensional (3D) models, it is necessary to extract the height fields from the model, but this can only generate bas-reliefs. To overcome this problem, an efficient method is proposed to generate bas-reliefs and high-reliefs directly from 3D meshes. To produce relief features that are visually appropriate, the 3D meshes are first scaled. 3D unsharp masking is used to enhance the visual features in the 3D mesh, and average smoothing and Laplacian smoothing are implemented to achieve better smoothing results. A nonlinear variable scaling scheme is then employed to generate the final bas-reliefs and high-reliefs. Using the proposed method, relief models can be generated from arbitrary viewing positions with different gestures and combinations of multiple 3D models. The generated relief models can be printed by 3D printers. The proposed method provides a means of generating both high-reliefs and bas-reliefs in an efficient and effective way under the appropriate scaling factors.

Laser ion source for multi-nucleon transfer reaction products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirayama, Y.; Watanabe, Y. X.; Imai, N.; Ishiyama, H.; Jeong, S. C.; Miyatake, H.; Oyaizu, M.; Kimura, S.; Mukai, M.; Kim, Y. H.; Sonoda, T.; Wada, M.; Huyse, M.; Kudryavtsev, Yu.; Van Duppen, P.

2015-06-01

We have developed a laser ion source for the target-like fragments (TLFs) produced in multi-nucleon transfer (MNT) reactions. The operation principle of the source is based on the in-gas laser ionization and spectroscopy (IGLIS) approach. In the source TLFs are thermalized and neutralized in high pressure and high purity argon gas, and are extracted after being selectively re-ionized in a multi-step laser resonance ionization process. The laser ion source has been implemented at the KEK Isotope Separation System (KISS) for β-decay spectroscopy of neutron-rich isotopes with N = 126 of nuclear astrophysical interest. The simulations of gas flow and ion-beam optics have been performed to optimize the gas cell for efficient thermalization and fast transporting the TLFs, and the mass-separator for efficient transport with high mass-resolving power, respectively. To confirm the performances expected at the design stage, off-line experiments have been performed by using 56Fe atoms evaporated from a filament in the gas cell. The gas-transport time of 230 ms in the argon cell and the measured KISS mass-resolving power of 900 are consistent with the designed values. The high purity of the gas-cell system, which is extremely important for efficient and highly-selective production of laser ions, was achieved and confirmed from the mass distribution of the extracted ions. After the off-line tests, on-line experiments were conducted by directly injecting energetic 56Fe beam into the gas cell. After thermalization of the injected 56Fe beam, laser-produced singly-charged 56Fe+ ions were extracted. The extraction efficiency and selectivity of the gas cell in the presence of plasma induced by 56Fe beam injection as well as the time profile of the extracted ions were investigated; extraction efficiency of 0.25%, a beam purity of >99% and an extraction time of 270 ms. It has been confirmed that the performance of the KISS laser ion source is satisfactory to start the measurements of lifetimes of the β-decayed nuclei with N = 126 .

Ion beam accelerator system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aston, Graeme (Inventor)

1984-01-01

A system is described that combines geometrical and electrostatic focusing to provide high ion extraction efficiency and good focusing of an accelerated ion beam. The apparatus includes a pair of curved extraction grids (16, 18) with multiple pairs of aligned holes positioned to direct a group of beamlets (20) along converging paths. The extraction grids are closely spaced and maintained at a moderate potential to efficiently extract beamlets of ions and allow them to combine into a single beam (14). An accelerator electrode device (22) downstream from the extraction grids, is at a much lower potential than the grids to accelerate the combined beam.

Development of an Efficient Entire-Capsid-Coding-Region Amplification Method for Direct Detection of Poliovirus from Stool Extracts

PubMed Central

Kilpatrick, David R.; Nakamura, Tomofumi; Burns, Cara C.; Bukbuk, David; Oderinde, Soji B.; Oberste, M. Steven; Kew, Olen M.; Pallansch, Mark A.; Shimizu, Hiroyuki

2014-01-01

Laboratory diagnosis has played a critical role in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988, by isolating and identifying poliovirus (PV) from stool specimens by using cell culture as a highly sensitive system to detect PV. In the present study, we aimed to develop a molecular method to detect PV directly from stool extracts, with a high efficiency comparable to that of cell culture. We developed a method to efficiently amplify the entire capsid coding region of human enteroviruses (EVs) including PV. cDNAs of the entire capsid coding region (3.9 kb) were obtained from as few as 50 copies of PV genomes. PV was detected from the cDNAs with an improved PV-specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR system and nucleotide sequence analysis of the VP1 coding region. For assay validation, we analyzed 84 stool extracts that were positive for PV in cell culture and detected PV genomes from 100% of the extracts (84/84 samples) with this method in combination with a PV-specific extraction method. PV could be detected in 2/4 stool extract samples that were negative for PV in cell culture. In PV-positive samples, EV species C viruses were also detected with high frequency (27% [23/86 samples]). This method would be useful for direct detection of PV from stool extracts without using cell culture. PMID:25339406

Polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells with PEDOT:PSS bilayer structure as hole extraction layer.

PubMed

Kim, Wanjung; Kim, Namhun; Kim, Jung Kyu; Park, Insun; Choi, Yeong Suk; Wang, Dong Hwan; Chae, Heeyeop; Park, Jong Hyeok

2013-06-01

A high current density obtained in a limited, nanometer-thick region is important for high efficiency polymer solar cells (PSCs). The conversion of incident photons to charge carriers only occurs in confined active layers; therefore, charge-carrier extraction from the active layer within the device by using solar light has an important impact on the current density and the related to power conversion efficiency. In this study, we observed a surprising result, that is, extracting the charge carrier generated in the active layer of a PSC device, with a thickness-controlled PEDOT:PSS bilayer that acted as a hole extraction layer (HEL), yielded a dramatically improved power conversion efficiency in two different model systems (P3HT:PC₆₀BM and PCDTBT:PC₇₀BM). To understand this phenomenon, we conducted optical strength simulation, photocurrent-voltage measurements, incident photon to charge carrier efficiency measurements, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, and AFM studies. The results revealed that approximately 60 nm was the optimum PEDOT:PSS bilayer HEL thickness in PSCs for producing the maximum power conversion efficiency. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Efficient Removal of Arsenic and Antimony During Blast Furnace Smelting of Lead-Containing Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dosmukhamedov, Nurlan; Kaplan, Valery

2017-02-01

The efficient removal of impurities, As and Sb, from recycled lead-containing materials is a key issue in the selection of the appropriate smelting technology for projects involving metal reuse. Volatilization of impurities such as As and Sb should occur as early as possible in the process, and preferably within the smelting furnace, so that they do not contaminate the industrial environment nor interfere with the operation of downstream equipment. Using of copper-zinc concentrates in the blast furnace process for recycling lead-containing materials achieves: (1) high copper extraction to matte; (2) high lead extraction to lead bullion; and (3) high zinc extraction to slag, while at the same time producing a more efficient volatilization of As and Sb. Based on both laboratory and industrial data and thermodynamic considerations, the advantages of this blast furnace process for the treatment of recycled lead-containing materials are discussed.

Apriori Versions Based on MapReduce for Mining Frequent Patterns on Big Data.

PubMed

Luna, Jose Maria; Padillo, Francisco; Pechenizkiy, Mykola; Ventura, Sebastian

2017-09-27

Pattern mining is one of the most important tasks to extract meaningful and useful information from raw data. This task aims to extract item-sets that represent any type of homogeneity and regularity in data. Although many efficient algorithms have been developed in this regard, the growing interest in data has caused the performance of existing pattern mining techniques to be dropped. The goal of this paper is to propose new efficient pattern mining algorithms to work in big data. To this aim, a series of algorithms based on the MapReduce framework and the Hadoop open-source implementation have been proposed. The proposed algorithms can be divided into three main groups. First, two algorithms [Apriori MapReduce (AprioriMR) and iterative AprioriMR] with no pruning strategy are proposed, which extract any existing item-set in data. Second, two algorithms (space pruning AprioriMR and top AprioriMR) that prune the search space by means of the well-known anti-monotone property are proposed. Finally, a last algorithm (maximal AprioriMR) is also proposed for mining condensed representations of frequent patterns. To test the performance of the proposed algorithms, a varied collection of big data datasets have been considered, comprising up to 3 · 10#x00B9;⁸ transactions and more than 5 million of distinct single-items. The experimental stage includes comparisons against highly efficient and well-known pattern mining algorithms. Results reveal the interest of applying MapReduce versions when complex problems are considered, and also the unsuitability of this paradigm when dealing with small data.

Fatty acids from high rate algal pond's microalgal biomass and osmotic stress effects.

PubMed

Drira, Neila; Dhouibi, Nedra; Hammami, Saoussen; Piras, Alessandra; Rosa, Antonella; Porcedda, Silvia; Dhaouadi, Hatem

2017-11-01

The extraction of oil from a wild microalgae biomass collected from a domestic wastewater treatment facility's high rate algal pond (HRAP) was investigated. An experiment plan was used to determine the most efficient extraction method, the optimal temperature, time and solvent system based on total lipids yield. Microwave-assisted extraction was the most efficient method whether in n-hexane or in a mixture of chloroform/methanol compared to Soxhlet, homogenization, and ultrasounds assisted extractions. This same wild biomass was cultivated in a photobioreactor (PBR) and the effect of osmotic stress was studied. The lipids extraction yield after 3days of stress increased by more than four folds without any significant loss of biomass, however, the quality of extracted total lipids in terms of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids was not affected by salinity change in the culture medium. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Video Shot Boundary Detection Using QR-Decomposition and Gaussian Transition Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amiri, Ali; Fathy, Mahmood

2010-12-01

This article explores the problem of video shot boundary detection and examines a novel shot boundary detection algorithm by using QR-decomposition and modeling of gradual transitions by Gaussian functions. Specifically, the authors attend to the challenges of detecting gradual shots and extracting appropriate spatiotemporal features that affect the ability of algorithms to efficiently detect shot boundaries. The algorithm utilizes the properties of QR-decomposition and extracts a block-wise probability function that illustrates the probability of video frames to be in shot transitions. The probability function has abrupt changes in hard cut transitions, and semi-Gaussian behavior in gradual transitions. The algorithm detects these transitions by analyzing the probability function. Finally, we will report the results of the experiments using large-scale test sets provided by the TRECVID 2006, which has assessments for hard cut and gradual shot boundary detection. These results confirm the high performance of the proposed algorithm.

Robust aptamer sol-gel solid phase microextraction of very polar adenosine from human plasma.

PubMed

Mu, Li; Hu, Xiangang; Wen, Jianping; Zhou, Qixing

2013-03-01

Conventional solid phase microextraction (SPME) has a limited capacity to extract very polar analytes, such as adenosine. To solve this problem, aptamer conjugating sol-gel methodology was coupled with an SPME fiber. According to the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported use of aptamer SPME. The fiber of aptamer sol-gel SPME with a mesoporous structure has high porosity, large surface area, and small water contact angle. Rather than employing direct entrapment, covalent immobilization was the dominant method of aptamer loading in sol-gel. Aptamer sol-gel fiber captured a specified analyte from among the analog molecules, thereby, exhibiting an excellent selective property. Compared with commercial SPME fibers, this aptamer fiber was suitable for extracting adenosine, presenting an extraction efficiency higher than 20-fold. The values of repeatability and reproducibility expressed by relative standard deviation were low (9.4%). Interestingly, the sol-gel network enhanced the resistance of aptamer SPME to both nuclease and nonspecific proteins. Furthermore, the aptamer sol-gel fiber was applied in human plasma with LOQ 1.5 μg/L, which is an acceptable level. This fiber also demonstrates durability and regeneration over 20-cycles without significant loss of efficiency. Given the various targets (from metal ions to biomacromolecules and cells) of aptamers, this methodology will extend the multi-domain applications of SPME. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Increasing Scalability of Researcher Network Extraction from the Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asada, Yohei; Matsuo, Yutaka; Ishizuka, Mitsuru

Social networks, which describe relations among people or organizations as a network, have recently attracted attention. With the help of a social network, we can analyze the structure of a community and thereby promote efficient communications within it. We investigate the problem of extracting a network of researchers from the Web, to assist efficient cooperation among researchers. Our method uses a search engine to get the cooccurences of names of two researchers and calculates the streangth of the relation between them. Then we label the relation by analyzing the Web pages in which these two names cooccur. Research on social network extraction using search engines as ours, is attracting attention in Japan as well as abroad. However, the former approaches issue too many queries to search engines to extract a large-scale network. In this paper, we propose a method to filter superfluous queries and facilitates the extraction of large-scale networks. By this method we are able to extract a network of around 3000-nodes. Our experimental results show that the proposed method reduces the number of queries significantly while preserving the quality of the network as compared to former methods.

Vibration extraction based on fast NCC algorithm and high-speed camera.

PubMed

Lei, Xiujun; Jin, Yi; Guo, Jie; Zhu, Chang'an

2015-09-20

In this study, a high-speed camera system is developed to complete the vibration measurement in real time and to overcome the mass introduced by conventional contact measurements. The proposed system consists of a notebook computer and a high-speed camera which can capture the images as many as 1000 frames per second. In order to process the captured images in the computer, the normalized cross-correlation (NCC) template tracking algorithm with subpixel accuracy is introduced. Additionally, a modified local search algorithm based on the NCC is proposed to reduce the computation time and to increase efficiency significantly. The modified algorithm can rapidly accomplish one displacement extraction 10 times faster than the traditional template matching without installing any target panel onto the structures. Two experiments were carried out under laboratory and outdoor conditions to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the system performance in practice. The results demonstrated the high accuracy and efficiency of the camera system in extracting vibrating signals.

shiftNMFk 1.1: Robust Nonnegative matrix factorization with kmeans clustering and signal shift, for allocation of unknown physical sources, toy version for open sourcing with publications

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

Alexandrov, Boian S.; Lliev, Filip L.; Stanev, Valentin G.

This code is a toy (short) version of CODE-2016-83. From a general perspective, the code represents an unsupervised adaptive machine learning algorithm that allows efficient and high performance de-mixing and feature extraction of a multitude of non-negative signals mixed and recorded by a network of uncorrelated sensor arrays. The code identifies the number of the mixed original signals and their locations. Further, the code also allows deciphering of signals that have been delayed in regards to the mixing process in each sensor. This code is high customizable and it can be efficiently used for a fast macro-analyses of data. Themore » code is applicable to a plethora of distinct problems: chemical decomposition, pressure transient decomposition, unknown sources/signal allocation, EM signal decomposition. An additional procedure for allocation of the unknown sources is incorporated in the code.« less

Building Facade Reconstruction by Fusing Terrestrial Laser Points and Images

PubMed Central

Pu, Shi; Vosselman, George

2009-01-01

Laser data and optical data have a complementary nature for three dimensional feature extraction. Efficient integration of the two data sources will lead to a more reliable and automated extraction of three dimensional features. This paper presents a semiautomatic building facade reconstruction approach, which efficiently combines information from terrestrial laser point clouds and close range images. A building facade's general structure is discovered and established using the planar features from laser data. Then strong lines in images are extracted using Canny extractor and Hough transformation, and compared with current model edges for necessary improvement. Finally, textures with optimal visibility are selected and applied according to accurate image orientations. Solutions to several challenge problems throughout the collaborated reconstruction, such as referencing between laser points and multiple images and automated texturing, are described. The limitations and remaining works of this approach are also discussed. PMID:22408539

Module Extraction for Efficient Object Queries over Ontologies with Large ABoxes

PubMed Central

Xu, Jia; Shironoshita, Patrick; Visser, Ubbo; John, Nigel; Kabuka, Mansur

2015-01-01

The extraction of logically-independent fragments out of an ontology ABox can be useful for solving the tractability problem of querying ontologies with large ABoxes. In this paper, we propose a formal definition of an ABox module, such that it guarantees complete preservation of facts about a given set of individuals, and thus can be reasoned independently w.r.t. the ontology TBox. With ABox modules of this type, isolated or distributed (parallel) ABox reasoning becomes feasible, and more efficient data retrieval from ontology ABoxes can be attained. To compute such an ABox module, we present a theoretical approach and also an approximation for SHIQ ontologies. Evaluation of the module approximation on different types of ontologies shows that, on average, extracted ABox modules are significantly smaller than the entire ABox, and the time for ontology reasoning based on ABox modules can be improved significantly. PMID:26848490

Effect of Energy Alignment, Electron Mobility, and Film Morphology of Perylene Diimide Based Polymers as Electron Transport Layer on the Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells.

PubMed

Guo, Qiang; Xu, Yingxue; Xiao, Bo; Zhang, Bing; Zhou, Erjun; Wang, Fuzhi; Bai, Yiming; Hayat, Tasawar; Alsaedi, Ahmed; Tan, Zhan'ao

2017-03-29

For organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PerSCs), the electron transport layer (ETL) plays a crucial role in efficient electron extraction and transport for high performance PerSCs. Fullerene and its derivatives are commonly used as ETL for p-i-n structured PerSCs. However, these spherical small molecules are easy to aggregate with high annealing temperature and thus induce morphology stability problems. N-type conjugated polymers are promising candidates to overcome these problems due to the tunable energy levels, controllable aggregation behaviors, and good film formation abilities. Herein, a series of perylene diimide (PDI) based polymers (PX-PDIs), which contain different copolymeried units (X), including vinylene (V), thiophene (T), selenophene (Se), dibenzosilole (DBS), and cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT), are introduced as ETL for p-i-n structured PerSCs. The effect of energy alignment, electron mobility, and film morphology of these ETLs on the photovoltaic performance of the PerSCs are fully investigated. Among the PX-PDIs, PV-PDI demonstrates the deeper LUMO energy level, the highly delocalized LUMO electron density, and a better planar structure, making it the best electron transport material for PerSCs. The planar heterojunction PerSC with PV-PDI as ETL achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.14%, among the best values for non-fullerene based PerSCs.

Extracting biomedical events from pairs of text entities

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background Huge amounts of electronic biomedical documents, such as molecular biology reports or genomic papers are generated daily. Nowadays, these documents are mainly available in the form of unstructured free texts, which require heavy processing for their registration into organized databases. This organization is instrumental for information retrieval, enabling to answer the advanced queries of researchers and practitioners in biology, medicine, and related fields. Hence, the massive data flow calls for efficient automatic methods of text-mining that extract high-level information, such as biomedical events, from biomedical text. The usual computational tools of Natural Language Processing cannot be readily applied to extract these biomedical events, due to the peculiarities of the domain. Indeed, biomedical documents contain highly domain-specific jargon and syntax. These documents also describe distinctive dependencies, making text-mining in molecular biology a specific discipline. Results We address biomedical event extraction as the classification of pairs of text entities into the classes corresponding to event types. The candidate pairs of text entities are recursively provided to a multiclass classifier relying on Support Vector Machines. This recursive process extracts events involving other events as arguments. Compared to joint models based on Markov Random Fields, our model simplifies inference and hence requires shorter training and prediction times along with lower memory capacity. Compared to usual pipeline approaches, our model passes over a complex intermediate problem, while making a more extensive usage of sophisticated joint features between text entities. Our method focuses on the core event extraction of the Genia task of BioNLP challenges yielding the best result reported so far on the 2013 edition. PMID:26201478

Low temperature synthesis of hierarchical TiO 2 nanostructures for high performance perovskite solar cells by pulsed laser deposition

DOE PAGES

Yang, Bin; Mahjouri-Samani, Masoud; Rouleau, Christopher M.; ...

2016-06-10

A promising way to advance perovskite solar cells is to improve the quality of the electron transport material e.g., titanium dioxide (TiO 2) in a direction that increases electron transport and extraction. Although dense TiO 2 films are easily grown in solution, efficient electron extraction suffers due to a lack of interfacial contact area with the perovskite. Conversely, mesoporous films do offer high surface-area-to-volume ratios, thereby promoting efficient electron extraction, but their morphology is relatively difficult to control via conventional solution synthesis methods. Here, a pulsed laser deposition method was used to assemble TiO 2 nanoparticles into TiO 2 hierarchicalmore » nanoarchitectures having the anatase crystal structure, and prototype solar cells employing these structures yielded power conversion efficiencies of ~ 14%. Our approach demonstrates a way to grow high aspect-ratio TiO 2 nanostructures for improved interfacial contact between TiO 2 and perovskite materials, leading to high electron-hole pair separation and electron extraction efficiencies for superior photovoltaic performance. In addition, compared to conventional solution-processed TiO 2 films that require 500 °C to obtain a good crystallinity, our relatively low temperature (300 °C) TiO 2 processing method may promote reduced energy-consumption during device fabrication as well as enable compatibility with various flexible polymer substrates.« less

Highly-efficient enzymatic conversion of crude algal oils into biodiesel.

PubMed

Wang, Yao; Liu, Jin; Gerken, Henri; Zhang, Chengwu; Hu, Qiang; Li, Yantao

2014-11-01

Energy-intensive chemical conversion of crude algal oils into biodiesel is a major barrier for cost-effective algal biofuel production. To overcome this problem, we developed an enzyme-based platform for conversion of crude algal oils into fatty acid methyl esters. Crude algal oils were extracted from the oleaginous microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica IMET1 and converted by an immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica. The effects of different acyl acceptors, t-butanol as a co-solvent, oil to t-butanol ratio, oil to methanol ratio, temperature and reaction time on biodiesel conversion efficiency were studied. The conversion efficiency reached 99.1% when the conversion conditions were optimized, i.e., an oil to t-butanol weight ratio of 1:1, an oil to methanol molar ratio of 1:12, and a reaction time of 4h at 25°C. The enzymatic conversion process developed in this study may hold a promise for low energy consumption, low wastewater-discharge biochemical conversion of algal feedstocks into biofuels. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Integrating fuzzy object based image analysis and ant colony optimization for road extraction from remotely sensed images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maboudi, Mehdi; Amini, Jalal; Malihi, Shirin; Hahn, Michael

2018-04-01

Updated road network as a crucial part of the transportation database plays an important role in various applications. Thus, increasing the automation of the road extraction approaches from remote sensing images has been the subject of extensive research. In this paper, we propose an object based road extraction approach from very high resolution satellite images. Based on the object based image analysis, our approach incorporates various spatial, spectral, and textural objects' descriptors, the capabilities of the fuzzy logic system for handling the uncertainties in road modelling, and the effectiveness and suitability of ant colony algorithm for optimization of network related problems. Four VHR optical satellite images which are acquired by Worldview-2 and IKONOS satellites are used in order to evaluate the proposed approach. Evaluation of the extracted road networks shows that the average completeness, correctness, and quality of the results can reach 89%, 93% and 83% respectively, indicating that the proposed approach is applicable for urban road extraction. We also analyzed the sensitivity of our algorithm to different ant colony optimization parameter values. Comparison of the achieved results with the results of four state-of-the-art algorithms and quantifying the robustness of the fuzzy rule set demonstrate that the proposed approach is both efficient and transferable to other comparable images.

A Solution Processed Flexible Nanocomposite Electrode with Efficient Light Extraction for Organic Light Emitting Diodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Lu; Liang, Jiajie; Chou, Shu-Yu; Zhu, Xiaodan; Niu, Xiaofan; Zhibinyu; Pei, Qibing

2014-03-01

Highly efficient organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on multiple layers of vapor evaporated small molecules, indium tin oxide transparent electrode, and glass substrate have been extensively investigated and are being commercialized. The light extraction from the exciton radiative decay is limited to less than 30% due to plasmonic quenching on the metallic cathode and the waveguide in the multi-layer sandwich structure. Here we report a flexible nanocomposite electrode comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires stacked and embedded in the surface of a polymer substrate. Nanoparticles of barium strontium titanate are dispersed within the substrate to enhance light extraction efficiency. Green polymer OLED (PLEDs) fabricated on the nanocomposite electrode exhibit a maximum current efficiency of 118 cd/A at 10,000 cd/m2 with the calculated external quantum efficiency being 38.9%. The efficiencies of white PLEDs are 46.7 cd/A and 30.5%, respectively. The devices can be bent to 3 mm radius repeatedly without significant loss of electroluminescent performance. The nanocomposite electrode could pave the way to high-efficiency flexible OLEDs with simplified device structure and low fabrication cost.

A solution processed flexible nanocomposite electrode with efficient light extraction for organic light emitting diodes.

PubMed

Li, Lu; Liang, Jiajie; Chou, Shu-Yu; Zhu, Xiaodan; Niu, Xiaofan; ZhibinYu; Pei, Qibing

2014-03-17

Highly efficient organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on multiple layers of vapor evaporated small molecules, indium tin oxide transparent electrode, and glass substrate have been extensively investigated and are being commercialized. The light extraction from the exciton radiative decay is limited to less than 30% due to plasmonic quenching on the metallic cathode and the waveguide in the multi-layer sandwich structure. Here we report a flexible nanocomposite electrode comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires stacked and embedded in the surface of a polymer substrate. Nanoparticles of barium strontium titanate are dispersed within the substrate to enhance light extraction efficiency. Green polymer OLED (PLEDs) fabricated on the nanocomposite electrode exhibit a maximum current efficiency of 118 cd/A at 10,000 cd/m(2) with the calculated external quantum efficiency being 38.9%. The efficiencies of white PLEDs are 46.7 cd/A and 30.5%, respectively. The devices can be bent to 3 mm radius repeatedly without significant loss of electroluminescent performance. The nanocomposite electrode could pave the way to high-efficiency flexible OLEDs with simplified device structure and low fabrication cost.

A Solution Processed Flexible Nanocomposite Electrode with Efficient Light Extraction for Organic Light Emitting Diodes

PubMed Central

Li, Lu; Liang, Jiajie; Chou, Shu-Yu; Zhu, Xiaodan; Niu, Xiaofan; ZhibinYu; Pei, Qibing

2014-01-01

Highly efficient organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on multiple layers of vapor evaporated small molecules, indium tin oxide transparent electrode, and glass substrate have been extensively investigated and are being commercialized. The light extraction from the exciton radiative decay is limited to less than 30% due to plasmonic quenching on the metallic cathode and the waveguide in the multi-layer sandwich structure. Here we report a flexible nanocomposite electrode comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires stacked and embedded in the surface of a polymer substrate. Nanoparticles of barium strontium titanate are dispersed within the substrate to enhance light extraction efficiency. Green polymer OLED (PLEDs) fabricated on the nanocomposite electrode exhibit a maximum current efficiency of 118 cd/A at 10,000 cd/m2 with the calculated external quantum efficiency being 38.9%. The efficiencies of white PLEDs are 46.7 cd/A and 30.5%, respectively. The devices can be bent to 3 mm radius repeatedly without significant loss of electroluminescent performance. The nanocomposite electrode could pave the way to high-efficiency flexible OLEDs with simplified device structure and low fabrication cost. PMID:24632742

Ion beam accelerator system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aston, G. (Inventor)

1981-01-01

A system is described that combines geometrical and electrostatic focusing to provide high ion extraction efficiency and good focusing of an accelerated ion beam. The apparatus includes a pair of curved extraction grids with multiple pairs of aligned holes positioned to direct a group of beamlets along converging paths. The extraction grids are closely spaced and maintained at a moderate potential to efficiently extract beamlets of ions and allow them to combine into a single beam. An accelerator electrode device downstream from the extraction grids is at a much lower potential than the grids to accelerate the combined beam. The application of the system to ion implantation is mentioned.

Coupling of ultrasound-assisted extraction and expanded bed adsorption for simplified medicinal plant processing and its theoretical model: extraction and enrichment of ginsenosides from Radix Ginseng as a case study.

PubMed

Mi, Jianing; Zhang, Min; Zhang, Hongyang; Wang, Yuerong; Wu, Shikun; Hu, Ping

2013-02-01

A high-efficient and environmental-friendly method for the preparation of ginsenosides from Radix Ginseng using the method of coupling of ultrasound-assisted extraction with expanded bed adsorption is described. Based on the optimal extraction conditions screened by surface response methodology, ginsenosides were extracted and adsorbed, then eluted by the two-step elution protocol. The comparison results between the coupling of ultrasound-assisted extraction with expanded bed adsorption method and conventional method showed that the former was better than the latter in both process efficiency and greenness. The process efficiency and energy efficiency of the coupling of ultrasound-assisted extraction with expanded bed adsorption method rapidly increased by 1.4-fold and 18.5-fold of the conventional method, while the environmental cost and CO(2) emission of the conventional method were 12.9-fold and 17.0-fold of the new method. Furthermore, the theoretical model for the extraction of targets was derived. The results revealed that the theoretical model suitably described the process of preparing ginsenosides by the coupling of ultrasound-assisted extraction with expanded bed adsorption system. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Mild extraction methods using aqueous glucose solution for the analysis of natural dyes in textile artefacts dyed with Dyer's madder (Rubia tinctorum L.).

PubMed

Ford, Lauren; Henderson, Robert L; Rayner, Christopher M; Blackburn, Richard S

2017-03-03

Madder (Rubia tinctorum L.) has been widely used as a red dye throughout history. Acid-sensitive colorants present in madder, such as glycosides (lucidin primeveroside, ruberythric acid, galiosin) and sensitive aglycons (lucidin), are degraded in the textile back extraction process; in previous literature these sensitive molecules are either absent or present in only low concentrations due to the use of acid in typical textile back extraction processes. Anthraquinone aglycons alizarin and purpurin are usually identified in analysis following harsh back extraction methods, such those using solvent mixtures with concentrated hydrochloric acid at high temperatures. Use of softer extraction techniques potentially allows for dye components present in madder to be extracted without degradation, which can potentially provide more information about the original dye profile, which varies significantly between madder varieties, species and dyeing technique. Herein, a softer extraction method involving aqueous glucose solution was developed and compared to other back extraction techniques on wool dyed with root extract from different varieties of Rubia tinctorum. Efficiencies of the extraction methods were analysed by HPLC coupled with diode array detection. Acidic literature methods were evaluated and they generally caused hydrolysis and degradation of the dye components, with alizarin, lucidin, and purpurin being the main compounds extracted. In contrast, extraction in aqueous glucose solution provides a highly effective method for extraction of madder dyed wool and is shown to efficiently extract lucidin primeveroside and ruberythric acid without causing hydrolysis and also extract aglycons that are present due to hydrolysis during processing of the plant material. Glucose solution is a favourable extraction medium due to its ability to form extensive hydrogen bonding with glycosides present in madder, and displace them from the fibre. This new glucose method offers an efficient process that preserves these sensitive molecules and is a step-change in analysis of madder dyed textiles as it can provide further information about historical dye preparation and dyeing processes that current methods cannot. The method also efficiently extracts glycosides in artificially aged samples, making it applicable for museum textile artefacts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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.

Development of an efficient entire-capsid-coding-region amplification method for direct detection of poliovirus from stool extracts.

PubMed

Arita, Minetaro; Kilpatrick, David R; Nakamura, Tomofumi; Burns, Cara C; Bukbuk, David; Oderinde, Soji B; Oberste, M Steven; Kew, Olen M; Pallansch, Mark A; Shimizu, Hiroyuki

2015-01-01

Laboratory diagnosis has played a critical role in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988, by isolating and identifying poliovirus (PV) from stool specimens by using cell culture as a highly sensitive system to detect PV. In the present study, we aimed to develop a molecular method to detect PV directly from stool extracts, with a high efficiency comparable to that of cell culture. We developed a method to efficiently amplify the entire capsid coding region of human enteroviruses (EVs) including PV. cDNAs of the entire capsid coding region (3.9 kb) were obtained from as few as 50 copies of PV genomes. PV was detected from the cDNAs with an improved PV-specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR system and nucleotide sequence analysis of the VP1 coding region. For assay validation, we analyzed 84 stool extracts that were positive for PV in cell culture and detected PV genomes from 100% of the extracts (84/84 samples) with this method in combination with a PV-specific extraction method. PV could be detected in 2/4 stool extract samples that were negative for PV in cell culture. In PV-positive samples, EV species C viruses were also detected with high frequency (27% [23/86 samples]). This method would be useful for direct detection of PV from stool extracts without using cell culture. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A Modified Active Appearance Model Based on an Adaptive Artificial Bee Colony

PubMed Central

Othman, Zulaiha Ali

2014-01-01

Active appearance model (AAM) is one of the most popular model-based approaches that have been extensively used to extract features by highly accurate modeling of human faces under various physical and environmental circumstances. However, in such active appearance model, fitting the model with original image is a challenging task. State of the art shows that optimization method is applicable to resolve this problem. However, another common problem is applying optimization. Hence, in this paper we propose an AAM based face recognition technique, which is capable of resolving the fitting problem of AAM by introducing a new adaptive ABC algorithm. The adaptation increases the efficiency of fitting as against the conventional ABC algorithm. We have used three datasets: CASIA dataset, property 2.5D face dataset, and UBIRIS v1 images dataset in our experiments. The results have revealed that the proposed face recognition technique has performed effectively, in terms of accuracy of face recognition. PMID:25165748

Inorganic selenium speciation analysis in Allium and Brassica vegetables by ionic liquid assisted liquid-liquid microextraction with multivariate optimization.

PubMed

Castro Grijalba, Alexander; Martinis, Estefanía M; Wuilloud, Rodolfo G

2017-03-15

A highly sensitive vortex assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (VA-LLME) method was developed for inorganic Se [Se(IV) and Se(VI)] speciation analysis in Allium and Brassica vegetables. Trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium decanoate phosphonium ionic liquid (IL) was applied for the extraction of Se(IV)-ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC) complex followed by Se determination with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. A complete optimization of the graphite furnace temperature program was developed for accurate determination of Se in the IL-enriched extracts and multivariate statistical optimization was performed to define the conditions for the highest extraction efficiency. Significant factors of IL-VA-LLME method were sample volume, extraction pH, extraction time and APDC concentration. High extraction efficiency (90%), a 100-fold preconcentration factor and a detection limit of 5.0ng/L were achieved. The high sensitivity obtained with preconcentration and the non-chromatographic separation of inorganic Se species in complex matrix samples such as garlic, onion, leek, broccoli and cauliflower, are the main advantages of IL-VA-LLME. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Earthquake Fingerprints: Representing Earthquake Waveforms for Similarity-Based Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergen, K.; Beroza, G. C.

2016-12-01

New earthquake detection methods, such as Fingerprint and Similarity Thresholding (FAST), use fast approximate similarity search to identify similar waveforms in long-duration data without templates (Yoon et al. 2015). These methods have two key components: fingerprint extraction and an efficient search algorithm. Fingerprint extraction converts waveforms into fingerprints, compact signatures that represent short-duration waveforms for identification and search. Earthquakes are detected using an efficient indexing and search scheme, such as locality-sensitive hashing, that identifies similar waveforms in a fingerprint database. The quality of the search results, and thus the earthquake detection results, is strongly dependent on the fingerprinting scheme. Fingerprint extraction should map similar earthquake waveforms to similar waveform fingerprints to ensure a high detection rate, even under additive noise and small distortions. Additionally, fingerprints corresponding to noise intervals should have mutually dissimilar fingerprints to minimize false detections. In this work, we compare the performance of multiple fingerprint extraction approaches for the earthquake waveform similarity search problem. We apply existing audio fingerprinting (used in content-based audio identification systems) and time series indexing techniques and present modified versions that are specifically adapted for seismic data. We also explore data-driven fingerprinting approaches that can take advantage of labeled or unlabeled waveform data. For each fingerprinting approach we measure its ability to identify similar waveforms in a low signal-to-noise setting, and quantify the trade-off between true and false detection rates in the presence of persistent noise sources. We compare the performance using known event waveforms from eight independent stations in the Northern California Seismic Network.

Selective Separation and Determination of Heavy Metals (Cd, Pb, Cr) Speciation Forms from Hortic Antrosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulgariu, D.; Bulgariu, L.

2009-04-01

The speciation, inter-phases distribution and biodisponibility of heavy metals in soils represent one of main problem of environmental geochemistry and agro-chemistry. This problem is very important in case of hortic antrosols (soils from glasshouses) for the elimination of agricultural products (fruits, vegetables) contamination with heavy metals. In soils from glass houses, the speciation and inter-phases distribution processes of heavy metals have a particular dynamic, different in comparison with those from non-protected soils. The predominant distribution forms of heavy metals in such soils types are: complexes with low mass organic molecules, organic-mineral complexes, complexes with inorganic ligands (hydroxide-complexes, carbonate-complexes, sulphate-complexes, etc.) and basic salts. All of these have high stabilities in conditions of soils from glass houses, and in consequence, the separation and determination of speciation forms (which is directly connected with biodisponibility of heavy metals) by usual methods id very difficult and has a high uncertain degree. In this study is presented an original method for the selective separation and differentiation of speciation forms of heavy metals from glass houses soils, which is based by the combination of solid-liquid sequential extraction (SPE) with the extraction in aqueous polymer-inorganic salt two-phase systems (ABS). The soil samples used for this study have been sampled from three different locations (glass houses from Iasi, Barlad and Bacau - Romania) where the vegetables cultivation have bee performed by three different technologies. In this way was estimated the applicability and the analytical limits of method proposed by as, in function of the chemical-mineralogical and physical-chemical characteristics of soils. As heavy metals have been studied cadmium, lead and chromium, all being known for their high toxicity. The procedure used for the selective separation and differentiation of speciation forms of heavy metals from glass houses soils has two main steps: (i) non-destructive separation of chemical-mineralogical associations and aggregates from soils samples - for this the separation method with heavy liquids (bromophorme) and isodynamic magnetic method have been used; (ii) sequential extraction of heavy metals from soil fractions separated in the first step, by using combined SPE-ABS procedure. For the preparation of combined extraction systems was used polyethylene glycol (with different molecular mass: 2000, 4000 and 8000). As phase-forming inorganic salts and as selective extracting agents we have used different usual inorganic reagents. The type and concentration of phase-forming salts have been selected in function of, both nature of extracted heavy metals and chemical-mineralogical characteristics of soil samples. The experimental parameters investigated in this study are: molecular mass of polyethylene glycol and the concentration of polymeric solutions, nature and concentration of phase-forming salts, nature and concentration of extracting agents, pH in extraction system phase, type of extracted heavy metals, type of speciation forms of heavy metals and their concentrations. All these factors can influence significantly the efficiency and the selectivity of separation process. The experimental results have indicate that the combined SPE-ABS extraction systems have better separation efficiency, in comparison with traditional SPE systems and ca realized a accurate discrimination between speciation forms of heavy metals from soils. Under these conditions, the estimation of inter-phases distribution and biodisponibility of heavy metals has a high precision. On the other hand, when the combined SPE-ABS systems are used, the concomitant extraction of the elements from the same geochemical association with studied heavy metals (inevitable phenomena in case of separation by SPE procedures) is significant diminished. This increases the separation selectivity and facilitated the more accurate determination of speciation forms concentration. By adequate selection of extraction conditions can be realized the selective separation of organic-mineral complexes, which will permit to perform detailed studies about the structure and chemical composition of these. Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from Romanian Ministry of Education and Research (Project PNCDI 2-D5 no. 51045/07).

Using Mobile Laser Scanning Data for Features Extraction of High Accuracy Driving Maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Bisheng; Liu, Yuan; Liang, Fuxun; Dong, Zhen

2016-06-01

High Accuracy Driving Maps (HADMs) are the core component of Intelligent Drive Assistant Systems (IDAS), which can effectively reduce the traffic accidents due to human error and provide more comfortable driving experiences. Vehicle-based mobile laser scanning (MLS) systems provide an efficient solution to rapidly capture three-dimensional (3D) point clouds of road environments with high flexibility and precision. This paper proposes a novel method to extract road features (e.g., road surfaces, road boundaries, road markings, buildings, guardrails, street lamps, traffic signs, roadside-trees, power lines, vehicles and so on) for HADMs in highway environment. Quantitative evaluations show that the proposed algorithm attains an average precision and recall in terms of 90.6% and 91.2% in extracting road features. Results demonstrate the efficiencies and feasibilities of the proposed method for extraction of road features for HADMs.

Needle trap extraction for GC analysis of formic and acetic acids in aqueous solution.

PubMed

Lee, Xinqing; Huang, Daikuan; Lou, Dawei; Pawliszyn, Janusz

2012-07-01

Formic and acetic acids are ubiquitous in the environment, food, and most of the natural products. Extraction of the acids from aqueous solution is required for their isotope analysis by the gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry. To this objective, we have previously developed a purge-and-trap technique using the dynamic solid-phase microextraction technology, the NeedlEX. The extraction efficiency, however, remains unexamined. Here, we address this question using the flame ionization detector and isotope ratio mass spectrometer while comparing it with that of the CAR/PDMS fiber. The results show that the NeedlEX is applicable at a wide range of concentration through coordination of purge volume given the minimum amount 3.7 ng and 1.8 ng of formic and acetic, respectively, is extracted. The efficiency of NeedlEX was 6-7 times lower than the fiber at 1000 μg/mL depending on the analyte. It is, however, superior to the latter at 10 μg/mL or less owing to its lower detection limit. The extraction efficiency of both acids is equivalent in molar amount. This is, however, disguised by the different response of the flame ionization detector. The isotope ratio mass spectrometor overcomes this problem but is compromised by relatively large errors. These results are particularly useful for isotopic analysis of carboxylic acids. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Control of Viscous Fingering in Miscible Displacements in Porous Media with a Periodic Change of Injection Rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Q.; Zeng, F.; Knorr, K. D.; Imran, M.

2017-12-01

Context/PurposeThe viscous fingering (VF) is widely encountered in a series of miscible displacements such as CO2 sequestration and solvent-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Accurate prediction and effective control of its development are significant. Commercial simulators cannot capture VF because of large numerical diffusion. Moreover, previous measures for controlling VF using polymer are very expensive. In the present study, a periodic change of injection rate involving injection and extraction is used to control and reduce VF instabilities at zero cost. MethodsHighly accurate spectral method and fully implicit alternating direction implicit method are used to simulate VF with concentration-dependent diffusion (CDD) and velocity-induced dispersion (VID), although the consideration of CDD and VID may result in strong nonlinearity and stiff problem under unfavourable viscosity ratio. In-house code is developed. The VF is reduced by optimizing period and amplitude of injection rate. ResultsThe results show that the periodic change of injection rates can strongly affect VF and sweep efficiency. In particular, a period-stabilizing range is found in which the VF is reduced compared with widely used constant injection with the same amount of fluid injected. The frequent change of rate results in high sweep efficiency. The optimal injection scheme, when compared with constant injection, can improve sweep efficiency by 20-35%. InterpretationDispersion plays a key role in the mitigation of VF in periodic displacement rates. It enhances the uniform mixing of two fluids in injection stage in any period, while it can more effectively attenuate VF instabilities through the following extraction stage. Fast switch of injection and extraction can mitigate flow instability once it develops. ConclusionThis finding is very novel and significant as it is the first time to control VF instability in porous media without any additional cost. It shows great potential for EOR at zero cost.

Highly sensitive analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental water with porous cellulose/zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 composite microspheres as a novel adsorbent coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Liang, Xiaotong; Liu, Shengquan; Zhu, Rong; Xiao, Lixia; Yao, Shouzhuo

2016-07-01

In this work, novel cellulose/zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 composite microspheres have been successfully fabricated and utilized as sorbent for environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons efficient extraction and sensitive analysis. The composite microspheres were synthesized through the in situ hydrothermal growth of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 on cellulose matrix, and exhibited favorable hierarchical structure with chemical composition as assumed through scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface areas characterization. A robust and highly efficient method was then successfully developed with as-prepared composite microspheres as novel solid-phase extraction sorbent with optimum extraction conditions, such as sorbent amount, sample volume, extraction time, desorption conditions, volume of organic modifier, and ionic strength. The method exhibited high sensitivity with low limit of detection down to 0.1-1.0 ng/L and satisfactory linearity with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.9988 to 0.9999, as well as good recoveries of 66.7-121.2% with relative standard deviations less than 10% for environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons analysis. Thus, our method was convenient and efficient for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons extraction and detection, potential for future environmental water samples analysis. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-Throughput Analytical Techniques for Determination of Residues of 653 Multiclass Pesticides and Chemical Pollutants in Tea--Part V: A Comparative Study of the Influence of Tea Hydration on the Efficiency of Pesticide Multiresidue Determination Using Three Sample Preparation Methods and GC/MS/MS.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; Li, Yan; Chang, Qiao-Ying; Hu, Xue-Yan; Pang, Guo-Fang; Fan, Chun-Lin

2015-01-01

This paper describes a comparative study of the influence of three sample preparation techniques (M1: hydration+oscillating extraction+partial extraction solution hexane partitioning cleanup; M2: hydration+oscillating extraction+overall extraction solution SPE cleanup; and M3: pure acetonitrile homogeneous extraction+overall extraction SPE cleanup) on the determination efficiency of 456 pesticide multiresidues in tea. First, it was discovered from the mathematical correlation equation of 329 pesticide recoveries established and log Kow values that the extraction efficiency of hydration method M1 has obvious correlation with pesticide log Kow, making the extraction efficiency of M1 take the shape of an arc trend line with a certain arc hanging down from both ends of polar pesticides and nonpolar pesticides. Second, regarding the M1 method, the interfering matter after co-extraction increased in large quantities, which markedly lowered the S/N of the target pesticides and method sensitivity, leading to an obvious decrease of the method efficiency. The fortification experiment of the uniform limit 0.010 mg/kg proved that with the M1 hydration method there are 23 pesticides with recoveries between 70 and 120% and RSD<20%, accounting for only 5.0%, while with nonhydration method M3 there are 229 pesticides, making up 50%.

[Antimutagenic activity of plant extracts from Armoracia rusticana, Ficus carica and Zea mays and peroxidase in eukaryotic cells].

PubMed

Agabeĭli, R A; Kasimova, T E; Alekperov, U K

2004-01-01

Antimutagene activity and high efficiency of antimutagene action of plant extracts from horseradish roots (Armoracia rusticana), fig brunches (Ficus carica) and mays seedlings (Zea mays) and their ability to decrease the frequency of spontaneous and induced by gamma-rays chromosome aberrations in meristematic cells of Vicia faba and marrow cells of mice have been shown. Comparative assessment of genoprotective properties of peroxidase and the studied extracts has revealed higher efficiency of antimutagene action of peroxidase.

[Application of microwave technology in extraction process of Guizhi Fuling capsule].

PubMed

Wang, Zheng-kuan; Zhou, Mao; Liu, Yuan; Bi, Yu-an; Wang, Zhen-zhong; Xiao, Wei

2015-06-01

In this paper, optimization of the conditions of microwave technique in extraction process of Guizhi Fuling capsule in the condition of a pilot scale was carried out. First of all, through the single factor experiment investigation of various factors, the overall impact tendency and range of each factor were determined. Secondly, L9 (3(4)) orthogonal test optimization was used, and the contents of gallic acid in liquid, paeoniflorin, benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, benzoyl paeoniflorin, amygdalin of the liquid medicine were detected. The extraction rate and comprehensive evaluation were calculated with the extraction effect, as the judgment basis. Theoptimum extraction process of Guizhi Fuling capsule by microwave technology was as follows: the ratio of liquid to solid was 6: 1 added to drinking water, the microwave power was 6 kW, extraction time was 20 min for 3 times. The process of the three batch of amplification through verification, the results are stable, and compared with conventional water extraction has the advantages of energy saving, time saving, high efficiency advantages. The above results show the optimum extracting technology of high efficiency, stable and feasible.

The high-performance liquid chromatography/multistage electrospray mass spectrometric investigation and extraction optimization of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) bark polyphenols.

PubMed

Hofmann, Tamás; Nebehaj, Esztella; Albert, Levente

2015-05-08

The aim of the present work was the high-performance liquid chromatographic separation and multistage mass spectrometric characterization of the polyphenolic compounds of beech bark, as well as the extraction optimization of the identified compounds. Beech is a common and widely used material in the wood industry, yet its bark is regarded as a by-product. Using appropriate extraction methods these compounds could be extracted and utilized in the future. Different extraction methods (stirring, sonication, microwave assisted extraction) using different solvents (water, methanol:water 80:20 v/v, ethanol:water 80:20 v/v) and time/temperature schedules have been compared basing on total phenol contents (Folin-Ciocâlteu) and MRM peak areas of the identified compounds to investigate optimum extraction efficiency. Altogether 37 compounds, including (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, quercetin-O-hexoside, taxifolin-O-hexosides (3), taxifolin-O-pentosides (4), B-type (6) and C-type (6) procyanidins, syringic acid- and coumaric acid-di-O-glycosides, coniferyl alcohol- and sinapyl alcohol-glycosides, as well as other unknown compounds with defined [M-H](-) m/z values and MS/MS spectra have been tentatively identified. The choice of the method, solvent system and time/temperature parameters favors the extraction of different types of compounds. Pure water can extract compounds as efficiently as mixtures containing organic solvents under high-pressure and high temperature conditions. This supports the implementation of green extraction methods in the future. Extraction times that are too long and high temperatures can result in the decrease of the concentrations. Future investigations will focus on the evaluation of the antioxidant capacity and utilization possibilities of the prepared extracts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Drawing for Traffic Marking Using Bidirectional Gradient-Based Detection with MMS LIDAR Intensity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, G.; Takeda, H.; Nakamura, K.

2016-06-01

Recently, the development of autonomous cars is accelerating on the integration of highly advanced artificial intelligence, which increases demand for a digital map with high accuracy. In particular, traffic markings are required to be precisely digitized since automatic driving utilizes them for position detection. To draw traffic markings, we benefit from Mobile Mapping Systems (MMS) equipped with high-density Laser imaging Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanners, which produces large amount of data efficiently with XYZ coordination along with reflectance intensity. Digitizing this data, on the other hand, conventionally has been dependent on human operation, which thus suffers from human errors, subjectivity errors, and low reproductivity. We have tackled this problem by means of automatic extraction of traffic marking, which partially accomplished to draw several traffic markings (G. Takahashi et al., 2014). The key idea of the method was extracting lines using the Hough transform strategically focused on changes in local reflection intensity along scan lines. However, it failed to extract traffic markings properly in a densely marked area, especially when local changing points are close each other. In this paper, we propose a bidirectional gradient-based detection method where local changing points are labelled with plus or minus group. Given that each label corresponds to the boundary between traffic markings and background, we can identify traffic markings explicitly, meaning traffic lines are differentiated correctly by the proposed method. As such, our automated method, a highly accurate and non-human-operator-dependent method using bidirectional gradient-based algorithm, can successfully extract traffic lines composed of complex shapes such as a cross walk, resulting in minimizing cost and obtaining highly accurate results.

Perovskite solar cells with CuSCN hole extraction layers yield stabilized efficiencies greater than 20%

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arora, Neha; Dar, M. Ibrahim; Hinderhofer, Alexander; Pellet, Norman; Schreiber, Frank; Zakeeruddin, Shaik Mohammed; Grätzel, Michael

2017-11-01

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with efficiencies greater than 20% have been realized only with expensive organic hole-transporting materials. We demonstrate PSCs that achieve stabilized efficiencies exceeding 20% with copper(I) thiocyanate (CuSCN) as the hole extraction layer. A fast solvent removal method enabled the creation of compact, highly conformal CuSCN layers that facilitate rapid carrier extraction and collection. The PSCs showed high thermal stability under long-term heating, although their operational stability was poor. This instability originated from potential-induced degradation of the CuSCN/Au contact. The addition of a conductive reduced graphene oxide spacer layer between CuSCN and gold allowed PSCs to retain >95% of their initial efficiency after aging at a maximum power point for 1000 hours under full solar intensity at 60°C. Under both continuous full-sun illumination and thermal stress, CuSCN-based devices surpassed the stability of spiro-OMeTAD-based PSCs.

Rapid and efficient method to extract metagenomic DNA from estuarine sediments.

PubMed

Shamim, Kashif; Sharma, Jaya; Dubey, Santosh Kumar

2017-07-01

Metagenomic DNA from sediments of selective estuaries of Goa, India was extracted using a simple, fast, efficient and environment friendly method. The recovery of pure metagenomic DNA from our method was significantly high as compared to other well-known methods since the concentration of recovered metagenomic DNA ranged from 1185.1 to 4579.7 µg/g of sediment. The purity of metagenomic DNA was also considerably high as the ratio of absorbance at 260 and 280 nm ranged from 1.88 to 1.94. Therefore, the recovered metagenomic DNA was directly used to perform various molecular biology experiments viz. restriction digestion, PCR amplification, cloning and metagenomic library construction. This clearly proved that our protocol for metagenomic DNA extraction using silica gel efficiently removed the contaminants and prevented shearing of the metagenomic DNA. Thus, this modified method can be used to recover pure metagenomic DNA from various estuarine sediments in a rapid, efficient and eco-friendly manner.

High performance reconciliation for continuous-variable quantum key distribution with LDPC code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Dakai; Huang, Duan; Huang, Peng; Peng, Jinye; Zeng, Guihua

2015-03-01

Reconciliation is a significant procedure in a continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) system. It is employed to extract secure secret key from the resulted string through quantum channel between two users. However, the efficiency and the speed of previous reconciliation algorithms are low. These problems limit the secure communication distance and the secure key rate of CV-QKD systems. In this paper, we proposed a high-speed reconciliation algorithm through employing a well-structured decoding scheme based on low density parity-check (LDPC) code. The complexity of the proposed algorithm is reduced obviously. By using a graphics processing unit (GPU) device, our method may reach a reconciliation speed of 25 Mb/s for a CV-QKD system, which is currently the highest level and paves the way to high-speed CV-QKD.

Solvent extraction of thorium(IV), uranium(VI), and europium(III) with lipophilic alkyl-substituted pyridinium salts. Final report for subcontract 9-XZ2-1123E-1, June 1, 1992--December 1, 1995

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

Ensor, D.D.

1997-01-01

In the treatment of high level nuclear wastes, aromatic pyridinium salts which are radiation-resistant are desired for the extraction of actinides and lanthanides. The solvent extraction of Th{sup +4}, UO{sub 2}{sup +2}, and Eu{sup +3} by three aromatic extractants, 3,5-didodecylpyridinium nitrate (35PY), 2,6-didodecylpyridinium nitrate (26PY), and 1-methyl-3,5-didodecyl-pyridinium iodide (1M35PY) has been studied in nitric acid media. The general order of extractability of the three extractants in toluene was 1M35PY>> 26PY > 35PY. The overall extraction efficiency of the metal ions was Th{sup +4} >UO{sub 2}{sup +2} > Eu{sup +3}. The extraction of HNO{sub 3}, which was competitive with the extractionmore » of metal ions, was quantitatively investigated by NaOH titration and UV spectrometry. The loading capacity suggested that the extracted species in the organic phase for thorium was (R{sub 4}N{sup +}){sub 2}Th(NO{sub 3}{sup -}){sub 6}, where R{sub 4}N{sup +} denotes 1M35PY. A comparison of 1M35PY to the well-characterized extractant, Aliquat-336, an aliphatic ammonium salt was made. At the same extractant concentration, 1M35PY extracted thorium more efficiently than Aliquat-336 at high acidity. Thorium could be readily stripped with dilute nitric acid from 1M35PY. After irradiation of 0.1M 1M35PY with {sup 60}Co at 40R/min for 48 hours, no change in the extraction efficiency of thorium was observed.« less

The direct injection of intense ion beams from a high field electron cyclotron resonance ion source into a radio frequency quadrupole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodrigues, G.; Becker, R.; Hamm, R. W.; Baskaran, R.; Kanjilal, D.; Roy, A.

2014-02-01

The ion current achievable from high intensity ECR sources for highly charged ions is limited by the high space charge. This makes classical extraction systems for the transport and subsequent matching to a radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator less efficient. The direct plasma injection (DPI) method developed originally for the laser ion source avoids these problems and uses the combined focusing of the gap between the ion source and the RFQ vanes (or rods) and the focusing of the rf fields from the RFQ penetrating into this gap. For high performance ECR sources that use superconducting solenoids, the stray magnetic field of the source in addition to the DPI scheme provides focusing against the space charge blow-up of the beam. A combined extraction/matching system has been designed for a high performance ECR ion source injecting into an RFQ, allowing a total beam current of 10 mA from the ion source for the production of highly charged 238U40+ (1.33 mA) to be injected at an ion source voltage of 60 kV. In this design, the features of IGUN have been used to take into account the rf-focusing of an RFQ channel (without modulation), the electrostatic field between ion source extraction and the RFQ vanes, the magnetic stray field of the ECR superconducting solenoid, and the defocusing space charge of an ion beam. The stray magnetic field is shown to be critical in the case of a matched beam.

The direct injection of intense ion beams from a high field electron cyclotron resonance ion source into a radio frequency quadrupole.

PubMed

Rodrigues, G; Becker, R; Hamm, R W; Baskaran, R; Kanjilal, D; Roy, A

2014-02-01

The ion current achievable from high intensity ECR sources for highly charged ions is limited by the high space charge. This makes classical extraction systems for the transport and subsequent matching to a radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator less efficient. The direct plasma injection (DPI) method developed originally for the laser ion source avoids these problems and uses the combined focusing of the gap between the ion source and the RFQ vanes (or rods) and the focusing of the rf fields from the RFQ penetrating into this gap. For high performance ECR sources that use superconducting solenoids, the stray magnetic field of the source in addition to the DPI scheme provides focusing against the space charge blow-up of the beam. A combined extraction/matching system has been designed for a high performance ECR ion source injecting into an RFQ, allowing a total beam current of 10 mA from the ion source for the production of highly charged (238)U(40+) (1.33 mA) to be injected at an ion source voltage of 60 kV. In this design, the features of IGUN have been used to take into account the rf-focusing of an RFQ channel (without modulation), the electrostatic field between ion source extraction and the RFQ vanes, the magnetic stray field of the ECR superconducting solenoid, and the defocusing space charge of an ion beam. The stray magnetic field is shown to be critical in the case of a matched beam.

DNA extraction for streamlined metagenomics of diverse environmental samples.

PubMed

Marotz, Clarisse; Amir, Amnon; Humphrey, Greg; Gaffney, James; Gogul, Grant; Knight, Rob

2017-06-01

A major bottleneck for metagenomic sequencing is rapid and efficient DNA extraction. Here, we compare the extraction efficiencies of three magnetic bead-based platforms (KingFisher, epMotion, and Tecan) to a standardized column-based extraction platform across a variety of sample types, including feces, oral, skin, soil, and water. Replicate sample plates were extracted and prepared for 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in parallel to assess extraction bias and DNA quality. The data demonstrate that any effect of extraction method on sequencing results was small compared with the variability across samples; however, the KingFisher platform produced the largest number of high-quality reads in the shortest amount of time. Based on these results, we have identified an extraction pipeline that dramatically reduces sample processing time without sacrificing bacterial taxonomic or abundance information.

An intelligent fault diagnosis method of rolling bearings based on regularized kernel Marginal Fisher analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Li; Shi, Tielin; Xuan, Jianping

2012-05-01

Generally, the vibration signals of fault bearings are non-stationary and highly nonlinear under complicated operating conditions. Thus, it's a big challenge to extract optimal features for improving classification and simultaneously decreasing feature dimension. Kernel Marginal Fisher analysis (KMFA) is a novel supervised manifold learning algorithm for feature extraction and dimensionality reduction. In order to avoid the small sample size problem in KMFA, we propose regularized KMFA (RKMFA). A simple and efficient intelligent fault diagnosis method based on RKMFA is put forward and applied to fault recognition of rolling bearings. So as to directly excavate nonlinear features from the original high-dimensional vibration signals, RKMFA constructs two graphs describing the intra-class compactness and the inter-class separability, by combining traditional manifold learning algorithm with fisher criteria. Therefore, the optimal low-dimensional features are obtained for better classification and finally fed into the simplest K-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifier to recognize different fault categories of bearings. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach improves the fault classification performance and outperforms the other conventional approaches.

Simultaneous determination of phenolic compounds in Equisetum palustre L. by ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry combined with matrix solid-phase dispersion extraction.

PubMed

Wei, Zuofu; Pan, Youzhi; Li, Lu; Huang, Yuyang; Qi, Xiaolin; Luo, Meng; Zu, Yuangang; Fu, Yujie

2014-11-01

A method based on matrix solid-phase dispersion extraction followed by ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry is presented for the extraction and determination of phenolic compounds in Equisetum palustre. This method combines the high efficiency of matrix solid-phase dispersion extraction and the rapidity, sensitivity, and accuracy of ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. The influential parameters of the matrix solid-phase dispersion extraction were investigated and optimized. The optimized conditions were as follows: silica gel was selected as dispersing sorbent, the ratio of silica gel to sample was selected to be 2:1 (400/200 mg), and 8 mL of 80% methanol was used as elution solvent. Furthermore, a fast and sensitive ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the determination of nine phenolic compounds in E. palustre. This method was carried out within <6 min, and exhibited satisfactory linearity, precision, and recovery. Compared with ultrasound-assisted extraction, the proposed matrix solid-phase dispersion procedure possessed higher extraction efficiency, and was more convenient and time saving with reduced requirements on sample and solvent amounts. All these results suggest that the developed method represents an excellent alternative for the extraction and determination of active components in plant matrices. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

In vivo screening of four phytochemicals/extracts and a fungal immunomodulatory protein against an Eimeria acervulina infection in broilers.

PubMed

Peek, H W; Halkes, S B A; Mes, J J; Landman, W J M

2013-01-01

Besides the anticoccidial drug resistance problem, increasing consumer concerns about food safety and residues have propelled the quest for alternative prevention and control strategies amongst which phytotherapy has gained appeal due to a renewed interest in natural medicine. The objective was in vivo screening of four phytochemicals/extracts and a fungal immunomodulatory protein (FIP) against an Eimeria acervulina infection in broilers. Four phytochemicals/extracts (extract from Echinacea purpurea, betaine (Betain™), curcumin, carvacrol (two different doses)), and a recombinant FIP from Ganoderma lucidum cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli were investigated for their anticoccidial potential. The experiment was conducted in a battery cage trial with 54 cages of eight birds each. Broilers infected with E. acervulina (a low and high infection dose of 10(4) and 10(5) sporulated oocysts, respectively) and treated with the phytochemicals/extracts or the FIP were compared with broilers treated with the anticoccidial salinomycin sodium (Sacox®) and with an untreated uninfected and an untreated infected control group. Coccidiosis lesion scores, body weight gains and oocyst shedding were used as parameters. The results showed a coccidiosis infection dose effect on the mean coccidiosis lesion scores. The phytochemicals/extracts and the FIP failed to reduce coccidiosis lesion scores and oocyst shedding, while salinomycin efficiently controlled the E. acervulina infection and enabled significantly higher body weight gains. In conclusion, the selected phytochemicals/extracts and the FIP did not reduce the lesions of an experimentally induced E. acervulina infection.

Evaluation of the suitability and performance of cassava waste (peel) extracts in a microbial fuel cell for supplementary and sustainable energy production.

PubMed

Adekunle, Ademola; Raghavan, Vijaya

2017-01-01

In a number of energy-poor nations, peel from cassava processing represents one of the most abundant sources of lignocellulosic biomass. This peel is mostly discarded indiscriminately and eventually constitutes a problem to the environment. However, energy can be extracted from this peel in a microbial fuel cell. In this study, the viability of cassava peel extract as a substrate in a single-chamber air cathode microbial fuel cell is demonstrated, and optimum performance conditions are explored. The effects of different pretreatments on the extract are also discussed in the context of observed changes in the internal resistances, conductivity and Coulombic efficiencies. At the best conditions examined, the extract from cassava peel fermented for 168 h and adjusted to a pH of 7.63 attained a peak voltage of 687 mV ± 21 mV, a power density of 155 mW m -3 of reactor volume and a Coulombic efficiency of 11 %. Although this energy is limited to direct use, systems exist that can effectively harvest and boost the energy to levels sufficient for supplementary energy usage in cassava producing regions.

A new approach for the extraction of pollutants from wastewaters handled by the graphic industry.

PubMed

Monteiro, C; Ventura, C; Martins, F

2013-06-15

It is widely recognized that the Graphic Industry handles toxic products and produces, in its various operations, toxic wastes. These wastes can cause serious environmental damages and can lead to severe health problems. In this work we report an efficient, simple and cheap to run method for the removal of some of the most common pollutants involved in the various stages of the Graphic Industry production, using a Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE) methodology. We have determined equilibrium constants, K(eq), and adsorption (k(up)) and desorption (k(off)) rate constants for the extraction of benzene, xylene, toluene and ethylbenzene (BXTE) from water, using C18 disks. The removal of these compounds was monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy, at room temperature. Average extraction efficiencies were of 60% in a mixture of BXTEs and close to 80% when pollutants were assessed separately. Since the retention mechanism in the C18 disk is essentially governed by hydrophobic interactions between the compounds and the alkyl chains of the disk, we have also shown that these pollutants' lipophilicity plays an important role in the rationalization of their behavior during the extraction process. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling and Optimization of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles System Architecture Alternatives

PubMed Central

Wang, Weiping; He, Lei

2014-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems have already been used in civilian activities, although very limitedly. Confronted different types of tasks, multi UAVs usually need to be coordinated. This can be extracted as a multi UAVs system architecture problem. Based on the general system architecture problem, a specific description of the multi UAVs system architecture problem is presented. Then the corresponding optimization problem and an efficient genetic algorithm with a refined crossover operator (GA-RX) is proposed to accomplish the architecting process iteratively in the rest of this paper. The availability and effectiveness of overall method is validated using 2 simulations based on 2 different scenarios. PMID:25140328

Statistical mechanics of budget-constrained auctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altarelli, F.; Braunstein, A.; Realpe-Gomez, J.; Zecchina, R.

2009-07-01

Finding the optimal assignment in budget-constrained auctions is a combinatorial optimization problem with many important applications, a notable example being in the sale of advertisement space by search engines (in this context the problem is often referred to as the off-line AdWords problem). On the basis of the cavity method of statistical mechanics, we introduce a message-passing algorithm that is capable of solving efficiently random instances of the problem extracted from a natural distribution, and we derive from its properties the phase diagram of the problem. As the control parameter (average value of the budgets) is varied, we find two phase transitions delimiting a region in which long-range correlations arise.

Isolation of bioactive allelochemicals from sunflower (variety Suncross-42) through fractionation-guided bioassays.

PubMed

Anjum, Tehmina; Bajwa, Rukhsana

2010-11-01

Plants are rich source of biologically active allelochemicals. However, natural product discovery is not an easy task. Many problems encountered during this laborious practice can be overcome through the modification of preliminary trials. Bioassay-directed isolation of active plant compounds can increase efficiency by eliminating many of the problems encountered. This strategy avoids unnecessary compounds, concentrating on potential components and thus reducing the cost and time required. In this study, a crude aqueous extract of sunflower leaves was fractionated through high performance liquid chromatography. The isolated fractions were checked against Chenopodium album and Rumex dentatus. The fraction found active against two selected weeds was re-fractionated, and the active components were checked for their composition. Thin layer chromatography isolated a range of phenolics, whereas the presence of bioactive terpenoids was confirmed through mass spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Sensitive screening of abused drugs in dried blood samples using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-ion booster-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Chepyala, Divyabharathi; Tsai, I-Lin; Liao, Hsiao-Wei; Chen, Guan-Yuan; Chao, Hsi-Chun; Kuo, Ching-Hua

2017-03-31

An increased rate of drug abuse is a major social problem worldwide. The dried blood spot (DBS) sampling technique offers many advantages over using urine or whole blood sampling techniques. This study developed a simple and efficient ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-ion booster-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-IB-QTOF-MS) method for the analysis of abused drugs and their metabolites using DBS. Fifty-seven compounds covering the most commonly abused drugs, including amphetamines, opioids, cocaine, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and many other new and emerging abused drugs, were selected as the target analytes of this study. An 80% acetonitrile solvent with a 5-min extraction by Geno grinder was used for sample extraction. A Poroshell column was used to provide efficient separation, and under optimal conditions, the analytical times were 15 and 5min in positive and negative ionization modes, respectively. Ionization parameters of both electrospray ionization source and ion booster (IB) source containing an extra heated zone were optimized to achieve the best ionization efficiency of the investigated abused drugs. In spite of their structural diversity, most of the abused drugs showed an enhanced mass response with the high temperature ionization from an extra heated zone of IB source. Compared to electrospray ionization, the ion booster (IB) greatly improved the detection sensitivity for 86% of the analytes by 1.5-14-fold and allowed the developed method to detect trace amounts of compounds on the DBS cards. The validation results showed that the coefficients of variation of intra-day and inter-day precision in terms of the signal intensity were lower than 19.65%. The extraction recovery of all analytes was between 67.21 and 115.14%. The limits of detection of all analytes were between 0.2 and 35.7ngmL -1 . The stability study indicated that 7% of compounds showed poor stability (below 50%) on the DBS cards after 6 months of storage at room temperature and -80°C. The reported method provides a new direction for abused drug screening using DBS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the essential oil of Foeniculum vulgare Mill (fennel) fruits extracted by three different extraction methods by GC/MS.

PubMed

Hammouda, Faiza M; Saleh, Mahmoud A; Abdel-Azim, Nahla S; Shams, Khaled A; Ismail, Shams I; Shahat, Abdelaaty A; Saleh, Ibrahim A

2014-01-01

Hydrodistillation (HD) and steam-distillation, or solvent extraction methods of essential oils have some disadvantages like thermal decomposition of extracts, its contamination with solvent or solvent residues and the pollution of residual vegetal material with solvent which can be also an environmental problem. Thus, new green techniques, such as supercritical fluid extraction and microwave assisted techniques, are potential solutions to overcome these disadvantages. The aim of this study was to evaluate the essential oil of Foeniculum vulgare subsp. Piperitum fruits extracted by three different extraction methods viz. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using CO2, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and hydro-distillation (HD) using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The results revealed that both MAE and SFE enhanced the extraction efficiency of the interested components. MAE gave the highest yield of oil as well as higher percentage of Fenchone (28%), whereas SFE gave the highest percentage of anethol (72%). Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) not only enhanced the essential oil extraction but also saved time, reduced the solvents use and produced, ecologically, green technologies.

Extraction of fullerenes from environmental matrices as affected by solvent characteristics and analyte concentration.

PubMed

Place, Benjamin J; Kleber, Markus; Field, Jennifer A

2013-03-01

Fullerenes possess unique chemical properties that make the isolation of these compounds from heterogeneous environmental matrices difficult. For example, previous reports indicate that toluene-based extraction techniques vary in their ability to extract C60, especially from highly carbonaceous solid matrices. Here, we examined the effects of (i) solvent type (toluene alone versus an 80:20 v/v mixture of toluene and 1-methylnaphthalene) and (ii) analyte concentration on the extraction efficiency of an isotopically labeled surrogate compound, (13)C60. The toluene/1-methylnaphthalene mixture increased fullerene extraction efficiency from carbon lampblack by a factor of five, but was not significantly different from 100% toluene when applied to wood stove soot or montmorillonite. Recovery of the (13)C60 surrogate declined with decreasing analyte concentration. The usefulness of isotopically labeled surrogate is demonstrated and the study provides a quantitative assessment regarding the dependence of fullerene extraction efficiencies on the geochemical characteristics of solid matrices. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Microbial process for the preparation of acetic acid, as well as solvent for its extraction from the fermentation broth

DOEpatents

Gaddy, James L.; Clausen, Edgar C.; Ko, Ching-Whan; Wade, Leslie E.; Wikstrom, Carl V.

2007-03-27

A modified water-immiscible solvent useful in the extraction of acetic acid from aqueous streams is a substantially pure mixture of isomers of highly branched di-alkyl amines. Solvent mixtures formed of such a modified solvent with a desired co-solvent, preferably a low boiling hydrocarbon, are useful in the extraction of acetic acid from aqueous gaseous streams. An anaerobic microbial fermentation process for the production of acetic acid employs such solvents, under conditions which limit amide formation by the solvent and thus increase the efficiency of acetic acid recovery. Methods for the direct extraction of acetic acid and the extractive fermentation of acetic acid also employ the modified solvents and increase efficiency of acetic acid production. Such increases in efficiency are also obtained where the energy source for the microbial fermentation contains carbon dioxide and the method includes a carbon dioxide stripping step prior to extraction of acetic acid in solvent.

Microbial process for the preparation of acetic acid, as well as solvent for its extraction from the fermentation broth

DOEpatents

Gaddy, James L.; Clausen, Edgar C.; Ko, Ching-Whan; Wade, Leslie E.; Wikstrom, Carl V.

2004-06-22

A modified water-immiscible solvent useful in the extraction of acetic acid from aqueous streams is a substantially pure mixture of isomers of highly branched di-alkyl amines. Solvent mixtures formed of such a modified solvent with a desired co-solvent, preferably a low boiling hydrocarbon, are useful in the extraction of acetic acid from aqueous gaseous streams. An anaerobic microbial fermentation process for the production of acetic acid employs such solvents, under conditions which limit amide formation by the solvent and thus increase the efficiency of acetic acid recovery. Methods for the direct extraction of acetic acid and the extractive fermentation of acetic acid also employ the modified solvents and increase efficiency of acetic acid production. Such increases in efficiency are also obtained where the energy source for the microbial fermentation contains carbon dioxide and the method includes a carbon dioxide stripping step prior to extraction of acetic acid in solvent.

[Analysis of triterpenoids in Ganoderma lucidum by microwave-assisted continuous extraction].

PubMed

Lu, Yan-fang; An, Jing; Jiang, Ye

2015-04-01

For further improving the extraction efficiency of microwave extraction, a microwave-assisted contijuous extraction (MACE) device has been designed and utilized. By contrasting with the traditional methods, the characteristics and extraction efficiency of MACE has also been studied. The method was validated by the analysis of the triterpenoids in Ganoderma lucidum. The extraction conditions of MACE were: using 95% ethanol as solvent, microwave power 200 W and radiation time 14.5 min (5 cycles). The extraction results were subsequently compared with traditional heat reflux extraction ( HRE) , soxhlet extraction (SE), ultrasonic extraction ( UE) as well as the conventional microwave extraction (ME). For triterpenoids, the two methods based on the microwaves (ME and MACE) were in general capable of finishing the extraction in 10, 14.5 min, respectively, while other methods should consume 60 min and even more than 100 min. Additionally, ME can produce comparable extraction results as the classical HRE and higher extraction yield than both SE and UE, however, notably lower extraction yield than MASE. More importantly, the purity of the crud extract by MACE is far better than the other methods. MACE can effectively combine the advantages of microwave extraction and soxhlet extraction, thus enabling a more complete extraction of the analytes of TCMs in comparison with ME. And therefore makes the analytic result more accurate. It provides a novel, high efficient, rapid and reliable pretreatment technique for the analysis of TCMs, and it could potentially be extended to ingredient preparation or extracting techniques of TCMs.

A comparative evaluation of six principal IgY antibody extraction methods.

PubMed

Ren, Hao; Yang, Wenjing; Thirumalai, Diraviyam; Zhang, Xiaoying; Schade, Rüdiger

2016-03-01

Egg yolk has been considered a promising source of antibodies. Our study was designed to compare six principal IgY extraction methods (water dilution, polyethylene glycol [PEG] precipitation, caprylic acid extraction, chloroform extraction, phenol extraction, and carrageenan extraction), and to assess their relative extraction efficiencies and the purity of the resulting antibodies. The results showed that the organic solvents (chloroform or phenol) minimised the lipid ratio in the egg yolk. The water dilution, PEG precipitation and caprylic acid extraction methods resulted in high yields, and antibodies purified with PEG and carrageenan exhibited high purity. Our results indicate that phenol extraction would be more suitable for preparing high concentrations of IgY for non-therapeutic usage, while the water dilution and carrageenan extraction methods would be more appropriate for use in the preparation of IgY for oral administration. 2016 FRAME.

Four Different Methods Comparison for Extraction of Astaxanthin from Green Alga Haematococcus pluvialis

PubMed Central

Dong, Shengzhao; Huang, Yi; Zhang, Rui; Wang, Shihui; Liu, Yun

2014-01-01

Haematococcus pluvialis is one of the potent organisms for production of astaxanthin. Up to now, no efficient method has been achieved due to its thick cell wall hindering solvent extraction of astaxanthin. In this study, four different methods, hydrochloric acid pretreatment followed by acetone extraction (HCl-ACE), hexane/isopropanol (6 : 4, v/v) mixture solvents extraction (HEX-IPA), methanol extraction followed by acetone extraction (MET-ACE, 2-step extraction), and soy-oil extraction, were intensively evaluated for extraction of astaxanthin from H. pluvialis. Results showed that HCl-ACE method could obtain the highest oil yield (33.3 ± 1.1%) and astaxanthin content (19.8 ± 1.1%). Quantitative NMR analysis provided the fatty acid chain profiles of total lipid extracts. In all cases, oleyl chains were predominant, and high amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acid chains were observed and the major fatty acid components were oleic acid (13–35%), linoleic acid (37–43%), linolenic acid (20–31%), and total saturated acid (17–28%). DPPH radical scavenging activity of extract obtained by HCl-ACE was 73.2 ± 1.0%, which is the highest amongst the four methods. The reducing power of extract obtained by four extraction methods was also examined. It was concluded that the proposed extraction method of HCl-ACE in this work allowed efficient astaxanthin extractability with high antioxidant properties. PMID:24574909

Four different methods comparison for extraction of astaxanthin from green alga Haematococcus pluvialis.

PubMed

Dong, Shengzhao; Huang, Yi; Zhang, Rui; Wang, Shihui; Liu, Yun

2014-01-01

Haematococcus pluvialis is one of the potent organisms for production of astaxanthin. Up to now, no efficient method has been achieved due to its thick cell wall hindering solvent extraction of astaxanthin. In this study, four different methods, hydrochloric acid pretreatment followed by acetone extraction (HCl-ACE), hexane/isopropanol (6:4, v/v) mixture solvents extraction (HEX-IPA), methanol extraction followed by acetone extraction (MET-ACE, 2-step extraction), and soy-oil extraction, were intensively evaluated for extraction of astaxanthin from H. pluvialis. Results showed that HCl-ACE method could obtain the highest oil yield (33.3±1.1%) and astaxanthin content (19.8±1.1%). Quantitative NMR analysis provided the fatty acid chain profiles of total lipid extracts. In all cases, oleyl chains were predominant, and high amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acid chains were observed and the major fatty acid components were oleic acid (13-35%), linoleic acid (37-43%), linolenic acid (20-31%), and total saturated acid (17-28%). DPPH radical scavenging activity of extract obtained by HCl-ACE was 73.2±1.0%, which is the highest amongst the four methods. The reducing power of extract obtained by four extraction methods was also examined. It was concluded that the proposed extraction method of HCl-ACE in this work allowed efficient astaxanthin extractability with high antioxidant properties.

Rapid and Efficient Isolation of High-Quality Small RNAs from Recalcitrant Plant Species Rich in Polyphenols and Polysaccharides

PubMed Central

Pu, Jinji; Guo, Jianrong; Fan, Zaifeng

2014-01-01

Small RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), are important regulators of plant development and gene expression. The acquisition of high-quality small RNAs is the first step in the study of its expression and function analysis, yet the extraction method of small RNAs in recalcitrant plant tissues with various secondary metabolites is not well established, especially for tropical and subtropical plant species rich in polysaccharides and polyphenols. Here, we developed a simple and efficient method for high quality small RNAs extraction from recalcitrant plant species. Prior to RNA isolation, a precursory step with a CTAB-PVPP buffer system could efficiently remove compounds and secondary metabolites interfering with RNAs from homogenized lysates. Then, total RNAs were extracted by Trizol reagents followed by a differential precipitation of high-molecular-weight (HMW) RNAs using polyethylene glycol (PEG) 8000. Finally, small RNAs could be easily recovered from supernatant by ethanol precipitation without extra elimination steps. The isolated small RNAs from papaya showed high quality through a clear background on gel and a distinct northern blotting signal with miR159a probe, compared with other published protocols. Additionally, the small RNAs extracted from papaya were successfully used for validation of both predicted miRNAs and the putative conserved tasiARFs. Furthermore, the extraction method described here was also tested with several other subtropical and tropical plant tissues. The purity of the isolated small RNAs was sufficient for such applications as end-point stem-loop RT-PCR and northern blotting analysis, respectively. The simple and feasible extraction method reported here is expected to have excellent potential for isolation of small RNAs from recalcitrant plant tissues rich in polyphenols and polysaccharides. PMID:24787387

High efficiency ion beam accelerator system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aston, G.

1981-01-01

An ion accelerator system that successfully combines geometrical and electrostatic focusing principles is presented. This accelerator system uses thin, concave, multiple-hole, closely spaced graphite screen and focusing grids which are coupled to single slot accelerator and decelerator grids to provide high ion extraction efficiency and good focusing. Tests with the system showed a substantial improvement in ion beam current density and collimation as compared with a Pierce electrode configuration. Durability of the thin graphite screen and focusing grids has been proven, and tests are being performed to determine the minimum screen and focusing grid spacing and thickness required to extract the maximum reliable beam current density. Compared with present neutral beam injector accelerator systems, this one has more efficient ion extraction, easier grid alignment, easier fabrication, a less cumbersome design, and the capacity to be constructed in a modular fashion. Conceptual neutral beam injector designs using this modular approach have electrostatic beam deflection plates downstream of each module.

Recent advances in the development of extraction chromatographic materials for the isolation of radionuclides from biological and environmental samples.

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

Dietz, M. L.

1998-11-30

The determination of low levels of radionuclides in environmental and biological samples is often hampered by the complex and variable nature of the samples. One approach to circumventing this problem is to incorporate into the analytical scheme a separation and preconcentration step by which the species of interest can be isolated from the major constituents of the sample. Extraction chromatography (EXC), a form of liquid chromatography in which the stationary phase comprises an extractant or a solution of an extractant in an appropriate diluent coated onto an inert support, provides a simple and efficient means of performing a wide varietymore » of metal ion separations. Recent advances in extractant design, in particular the development of extractants capable of metal ion recognition or of strong complex formation even in acidic media, have substantially improved the utility of the method. For the preconcentration of actinides, for example, an EXC resin consisting of a liquid diphosphonic acid supported on a polymeric substrate has been shown to exhibit extraordinarily strong retention of these elements from acidic chloride media. This resin, together with other related materials, can provide the basis of a number of efficient and flexible schemes for the separation and preconcentration of radionuclides form a variety of samples for subsequent determination.« less

Detection of Organophosphorus Pesticides in Wheat by Ionic Liquid-Based Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction Combined with HPLC

PubMed Central

Quan, Ji; Hu, Zeshu

2018-01-01

Food safety issues closely related to human health have always received widespread attention from the world society. As a basic food source, wheat is the fundamental support of human survival; therefore, the detection of pesticide residues in wheat is very necessary. In this work, the ultrasonic-assisted ionic liquid-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) method was firstly proposed, and the extraction and analysis of three organophosphorus pesticides were carried out by combining high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The extraction efficiencies of three ionic liquids with bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (Tf2N) anion were compared by extracting organophosphorus in wheat samples. It was found that the use of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([OMIM][Tf2N]) had both high enrichment efficiency and appropriate extraction recovery. Finally, the method was used for the determination of three wheat samples, and the recoveries of them were 74.8–112.5%, 71.8–104.5%, and 83.8–115.5%, respectively. The results show that the method proposed is simple, fast, and efficient, which can be applied to the extraction of organic matters in wheat samples. PMID:29854562

Isolation of high quality RNA from cereal seeds containing high levels of starch.

PubMed

Wang, Guifeng; Wang, Gang; Zhang, Xiaowei; Wang, Fang; Song, Rentao

2012-01-01

Cereals are an important source of food, feed and fuel with a rapidly increasing global demand. However, cereal seeds contain high levels of starch and polysaccharides, making the isolation of high quality RNA extremely difficult. To develop a novel method for extracting high quality total RNA from various starch- and polysaccharides-rich cereal seeds, such as maize, rice, sorghum and wheat. We developed a modified sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS)/TRIzol method. The combined use of a Tris buffer (pH 9.0) and SDS before TRIzol extraction effectively resolved the problem of seed homogenate solidification in such a buffer. A high concentration of SDS was used separately, not only to promote cell lysis but also to effectively dissolve seed sample containing high levels of starch. Moreover, acid phenol saturated with 0.1  M citrate buffer (pH 4.3) was used to separate RNA from DNAs, proteins and high levels of starch. This rapid protocol was compared with other RNA isolation methods preferentially used for plants rich in polysaccharides and secondary metabolites. Gel electrophoresis analysis indicated that the extracted total RNA had good integrity without apparent DNA contamination. Furthermore, an A₂₆₀/₂₈₀ ratio of approximately 2.0, an A₂₆₀/₂₃₀ ratio of more than 2.0 and RIN values of more than 8.6 indicated that the isolated RNA was of high purity. The isolated RNA was suitable for subsequent molecular manipulations, such as reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR), rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and real-time PCR. The study has described an easy, efficient and highly reproducible method for RNA isolation from various cereal seeds. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sequential high pressure extractions applied to recover piceatannol and scirpusin B from passion fruit bagasse.

PubMed

Viganó, Juliane; Aguiar, Ana C; Moraes, Damila R; Jara, José L P; Eberlin, Marcos N; Cazarin, Cinthia B B; Maróstica, Mário R; Martínez, Julian

2016-07-01

Passion fruit seeds are currently discarded on the pulp processing but are known for their high piceatannol and scirpusin B contents. Using pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), these highly valuable phenolic compounds were efficiently extracted from defatted passion fruit bagasse (DPFB). PLE was performed using mixtures of ethanol and water (50 to 100% ethanol, w/w) as solvent, temperatures from 50 to 70°C and pressure at 10MPa. The extraction methods were compared in terms of the global yield, total phenolic content (TPC), piceatannol content and the antioxidant capacity of the extracts. The DPFB extracts were also compared with those from non-defatted passion fruit bagasse (nDPFB). Identification and quantification of piceatannol were performed using UHPLC-MS/MS. The results showed that high TPC and piceatannol content were achieved for the extracts obtained from DPFB through PLE at 70°C and using 50 and 75% ethanol as the solvent. The best PLE conditions for TPC (70°C, 75% ethanol) resulted in 55.237mgGAE/g dried and defatted bagasse, whereas PLE at 70°C and 50% ethanol achieved 18.590mg of piceatannol/g dried and defatted bagasse, and such yields were significantly higher than those obtained using conventional extraction techniques. The antioxidant capacity assays showed high correlation with the TPC (r>0.886) and piceatannol (r>0.772). The passion fruit bagasse has therefore proved to be a rich source of piceatannol and PLE showed high efficiency to recover phenolic compounds from defatted passion fruit bagasse. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of processing on the recovery of food allergens from a model dark chocolate matrix.

PubMed

Khuda, Sefat E; Jackson, Lauren S; Fu, Tong-Jen; Williams, Kristina M

2015-02-01

To alleviate the risk to allergic consumers, it is crucial to improve factors affecting the detection of food allergens in processed chocolate products. This study evaluated processing effects on (1) recovery of peanut, egg, and milk allergens using five different extraction buffers, and (2) identification of specific allergenic proteins from extracts of incurred chocolate using allergen-specific antibodies and human allergic sera. Immunochemical staining with polyclonal antibodies showed that the addition of detergent or reducing agent improved extraction efficiency of peanut proteins, but not of egg and milk proteins. Tempering decreased antibody binding regardless of extractant. Detection of IgE-reactive peanut, egg, and milk allergens was differentially affected by tempering and extractant. Detection problems associated with matrix and processing effects may be overcome by the choice of extraction buffer and detecting antibody. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A generalized theory of chromatography and multistep liquid extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chizhkov, V. P.; Boitsov, V. N.

2017-03-01

A generalized theory of chromatography and multistep liquid extraction is developed. The principles of highly efficient processes for fine preparative separation of binary mixture components on a fixed sorbent layer are discussed.

Rapid recovery of high content phytosterols from corn silk.

PubMed

Zhang, Haiyan; Cao, Xiaowan; Liu, Yong; Shang, Fude

2017-10-18

Phytosterols have important physiological and officinal function. An efficient ultrasonic assisted extraction, purification and crystallization procedure of phytosterols was established from corn silk for the first time. The orthogonal test was applied to optimize the process parameters and a maximum phytosterols recovery as high as 10.5886 mg/g was achieved by ultrasonic treatment for 55 min with liquid-solid ratio of 12:1 at 35 °C, 220 w. The ultrasonic extraction temperature (T, °C) has the most significant effect on extraction yield of phytosterols. An orthogonal crystallization test was performed and the optimal conditions [crystallization temperature of 8 °C, time of 12 h and solid-liquid ratio of 1:1 (g/ml)] afforded maximum phytosterols purity of 92.76 ± 0.43%. An efficient extraction and crystallization procedure was established.

Extraction and Refinement Strategy for detection of autism in 18-month-olds: a guarantee of higher sensitivity and specificity in the process of mass screening.

PubMed

Honda, Hideo; Shimizu, Yasuo; Nitto, Yukari; Imai, Miho; Ozawa, Takeshi; Iwasa, Mitsuaki; Shiga, Keiko; Hira, Tomoko

2009-08-01

For early detection of autism, it is difficult to maintain an efficient level of sensitivity and specificity based on observational data from a single screening. The Extraction and Refinement (E&R) Strategy utilizes a public children's health surveillance program to produce maximum efficacy in early detection of autism. In the extraction stage, all cases at risk of childhood problems, including developmental abnormality, are identified; in the refinement stage, cases without problems are excluded, leaving only cases with conclusive diagnoses. The city of Yokohama, Japan, conducts a routine child health surveillance program for children at 18 months in which specialized public health nurses administer YACHT-18 (Young Autism and other developmental disorders CHeckup Tool), a screening instrument to identify children at risk for developmental disorders. Children who screen positive undergo further observation, and those without disorders are subsequently excluded. To study the efficacy of early detection procedures for developmental disorders, including autism, 2,814 children born in 1988, examined at 18 months of age, and not already receiving treatment for diseases or disorders were selected. In the extraction stage, 402 (14.3%) children were identified for follow-up. In the refinement stage, 19 (.7%) of these were referred to the Yokohama Rehabilitation Center and diagnosed with developmental disorders. The extraction stage produced four false negatives, bringing total diagnoses of developmental disorders to 23 (.8%) - including 5 with autistic disorder and 9 with pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified (PDDNOS). Sensitivity was 60% for autistic disorder and 82.6% for developmental disorders. Specificity for developmental disorders rose to 100% with the E&R Strategy. Picture cards used in YACHT-18 provided a finer screen that excluded some false positive cases. An extraction and refinement methodology utilizing child health surveillance programs achieve high efficacy for early detection of autism.

Extraction efficiency and implications for absolute quantitation of propranolol in mouse brain, liver and kidney thin tissue sections using droplet-based liquid microjunction surface sampling-HPLC ESI-MS/MS

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

Kertesz, Vilmos; Weiskittel, Taylor M.; Vavek, Marissa

Currently, absolute quantitation aspects of droplet-based surface sampling for thin tissue analysis using a fully automated autosampler/HPLC-ESI-MS/MS system are not fully evaluated. Knowledge of extraction efficiency and its reproducibility is required to judge the potential of the method for absolute quantitation of analytes from thin tissue sections. Methods: Adjacent thin tissue sections of propranolol dosed mouse brain (10- μm-thick), kidney (10- μm-thick) and liver (8-, 10-, 16- and 24- μm-thick) were obtained. Absolute concentration of propranolol was determined in tissue punches from serial sections using standard bulk tissue extraction protocols and subsequent HPLC separations and tandem mass spectrometric analysis. Thesemore » values were used to determine propranolol extraction efficiency from the tissues with the droplet-based surface sampling approach. Results: Extraction efficiency of propranolol using 10- μm-thick brain, kidney and liver thin tissues using droplet-based surface sampling varied between ~45-63%. Extraction efficiency decreased from ~65% to ~36% with liver thickness increasing from 8 μm to 24 μm. Randomly selecting half of the samples as standards, precision and accuracy of propranolol concentrations obtained for the other half of samples as quality control metrics were determined. Resulting precision ( ±15%) and accuracy ( ±3%) values, respectively, were within acceptable limits. In conclusion, comparative quantitation of adjacent mouse thin tissue sections of different organs and of various thicknesses by droplet-based surface sampling and by bulk extraction of tissue punches showed that extraction efficiency was incomplete using the former method, and that it depended on the organ and tissue thickness. However, once extraction efficiency was determined and applied, the droplet-based approach provided the required quantitation accuracy and precision for assay validations. Furthermore, this means that once the extraction efficiency was calibrated for a given tissue type and drug, the droplet-based approach provides a non-labor intensive and high-throughput means to acquire spatially resolved quantitative analysis of multiple samples of the same type.« less

Extraction efficiency and implications for absolute quantitation of propranolol in mouse brain, liver and kidney thin tissue sections using droplet-based liquid microjunction surface sampling-HPLC ESI-MS/MS

DOE PAGES

Kertesz, Vilmos; Weiskittel, Taylor M.; Vavek, Marissa; ...

2016-06-22

Currently, absolute quantitation aspects of droplet-based surface sampling for thin tissue analysis using a fully automated autosampler/HPLC-ESI-MS/MS system are not fully evaluated. Knowledge of extraction efficiency and its reproducibility is required to judge the potential of the method for absolute quantitation of analytes from thin tissue sections. Methods: Adjacent thin tissue sections of propranolol dosed mouse brain (10- μm-thick), kidney (10- μm-thick) and liver (8-, 10-, 16- and 24- μm-thick) were obtained. Absolute concentration of propranolol was determined in tissue punches from serial sections using standard bulk tissue extraction protocols and subsequent HPLC separations and tandem mass spectrometric analysis. Thesemore » values were used to determine propranolol extraction efficiency from the tissues with the droplet-based surface sampling approach. Results: Extraction efficiency of propranolol using 10- μm-thick brain, kidney and liver thin tissues using droplet-based surface sampling varied between ~45-63%. Extraction efficiency decreased from ~65% to ~36% with liver thickness increasing from 8 μm to 24 μm. Randomly selecting half of the samples as standards, precision and accuracy of propranolol concentrations obtained for the other half of samples as quality control metrics were determined. Resulting precision ( ±15%) and accuracy ( ±3%) values, respectively, were within acceptable limits. In conclusion, comparative quantitation of adjacent mouse thin tissue sections of different organs and of various thicknesses by droplet-based surface sampling and by bulk extraction of tissue punches showed that extraction efficiency was incomplete using the former method, and that it depended on the organ and tissue thickness. However, once extraction efficiency was determined and applied, the droplet-based approach provided the required quantitation accuracy and precision for assay validations. Furthermore, this means that once the extraction efficiency was calibrated for a given tissue type and drug, the droplet-based approach provides a non-labor intensive and high-throughput means to acquire spatially resolved quantitative analysis of multiple samples of the same type.« less

The instanton method and its numerical implementation in fluid mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grafke, Tobias; Grauer, Rainer; Schäfer, Tobias

2015-08-01

A precise characterization of structures occurring in turbulent fluid flows at high Reynolds numbers is one of the last open problems of classical physics. In this review we discuss recent developments related to the application of instanton methods to turbulence. Instantons are saddle point configurations of the underlying path integrals. They are equivalent to minimizers of the related Freidlin-Wentzell action and known to be able to characterize rare events in such systems. While there is an impressive body of work concerning their analytical description, this review focuses on the question on how to compute these minimizers numerically. In a short introduction we present the relevant mathematical and physical background before we discuss the stochastic Burgers equation in detail. We present algorithms to compute instantons numerically by an efficient solution of the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations. A second focus is the discussion of a recently developed numerical filtering technique that allows to extract instantons from direct numerical simulations. In the following we present modifications of the algorithms to make them efficient when applied to two- or three-dimensional (2D or 3D) fluid dynamical problems. We illustrate these ideas using the 2D Burgers equation and the 3D Navier-Stokes equations.

Online extraction-high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry for rapid flavonoid profiling of Fructus aurantii immaturus.

PubMed

Tong, Runna; Peng, Mijun; Tong, Chaoying; Guo, Keke; Shi, Shuyun

2018-03-01

Chemical profiling of natural products by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was critical for understanding of their clinical bioactivities, and sample pretreatment steps have been considered as a bottleneck for analysis. Currently, concerted efforts have been made to develop sample pretreatment methods with high efficiency, low solvent and time consumptions. Here, a simple and efficient online extraction (OLE) strategy coupled with HPLC-diode array detector-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS) was developed for rapid chemical profiling. For OLE strategy, guard column inserted with ground sample (2 mg) instead of sample loop was connected with manual injection valve, in which components were directly extracted and transferred to HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS system only by mobile phase without any extra time, solvent, instrument and operation. By comparison with offline heat-reflux extraction for Fructus aurantii immaturus (Zhishi), OLE strategy presented higher extraction efficiency perhaps because of the high pressure and gradient elution mode. A total of eighteen flavonoids were detected according to their retention times, UV spectra, exact mass, and fragmentation ions in MS/MS spectra, and compound 9, natsudaidain-3-O-glucoside, was discovered in Zhishi for the first time. It is concluded that the developed OLE-HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS system offers new perspectives for rapid chemical profiling of natural products. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Cinnamomum casia Extract Encapsulated Nanochitosan as Antihypercholesterol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngadiwiyana; Purbowatiningrum; Fachriyah, Enny; Ismiyarto

2017-02-01

Atherosclerosis vascular disease with clinical manifestations such as cardiovascular disease and stroke are the leading cause of death in Indonesia. One solution to these problems is a natural antihypercholesterol medicine by utilizing Cinnamomum casia extract. However, the use of natural extracts to lower blood cholesterol levels do not provide optimal results because it is possible that the active components of extract have been degraded/damaged during the absorption process. So that, we need to do the research to get a combination of chitosan nanoparticles-Cinnamomum casia. extract as a compound which has an antihypercholesterol activity through the in vitro study. Modification of natural extracts encapsulated nanochitosan be a freshness in this study, which were conducted using the method of inclusion. The combination of both has the dual function of protecting the natural extracts from degradation and deliver the natural extracts to the target site. Analysis of nanochitosan using the Particle Size Analyzer (PSA) shows the particle size of synthesis product that is equal to 64.9 nm. Encapsulation efficiency of Cinnamomum casia extract-Chitosan Nanoparticles known through UV-VIS spectrophotometry test and obtained the efficiency encapsulation percentage of 84.93%. Zeta Potential at 193,3 mv that chitosan appropriate for a delivery drug. Antihypercholesterol activity tested in vitro assay that showed the extract-nanoparticle chitosan in concentration 150 ppm gave the highest cholesterol decreasing level in the amount of 49.66% w/v. So it can be concluded that Cinnamomum casia extract can be encapsulated in nanoparticles of chitosan and proved that it has a cholesterol-lowering effect through the in vitro study.

Highly Efficient Extraction of Phenolic Compounds by Use of Magnetic Room Temperature Ionic Liquids for Environmental Remediation

PubMed Central

Deng, Ning; Li, Min; Zhao, Lijie; Lu, Chengfei; de Rooy, Sergio L.; Warner, Isiah M.

2011-01-01

A hydrophobic magnetic room temperature ionic liquid (MRTIL), trihexyltetradecylphosphonium tetrachloroferrate(III) ([3C6PC14][FeCl4]), was synthesized from trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride and FeCl3·6H2O. This MRTIL was investigated as a possible separation agent for solvent extraction of phenolic compounds from aqueous solution. Due to its strong paramagnetism, [3C6PC14][FeCl4] responds to an external neodymium magnet, which was employed in the design of a novel magnetic extraction technique. The conditions for extraction, including extraction time, volume ratio between MRTIL and aqueous phase, pH of aqueous solution, and structures of phenolic compounds were investigated and optimized. The magnetic extraction of phenols achieved equilibrium in 20 min and the phenolic compounds were found to have higher distribution ratios under acidic conditions. In addition, it was observed that phenols containing a greater number of chlorine or nitro substitutents exhibited higher distribution ratios. For example, the distribution ratio of phenol (DPh) was 107. In contrast, 3,5-dichlorophenol distribution ratio (D3,5-DCP) had a much higher value of 6372 under identical extraction conditions. When compared with four selected traditional non-magnetic room temperature ionic liquids, our [3C6PC14][FeCl4] exhibited significantly higher extraction efficiency under the same experimental conditions used in this work. Pentachlorophenol, a major component in the contaminated soil sample obtained from a superfund site, was successfully extracted and removed by use of [3C6PC14][FeCl4] with high extraction efficiency. Pentachlorophenol concentration was dramatically reduced from 7.8 μg.mL−1 to 0.2 μg.mL−1 after the magnetic extraction by use of [3C6PC14][FeCl4]. PMID:21783320

An effective placental cotyledons proteins extraction method for 2D gel electrophoresis.

PubMed

Tan, Niu J; Daim, Leona D J; Jamil, Amilia A M; Mohtarrudin, Norhafizah; Thilakavathy, Karuppiah

2017-03-01

Effective protein extraction is essential especially in producing a well-resolved proteome on 2D gels. A well-resolved placental cotyledon proteome, with good reproducibility, have allowed researchers to study the proteins underlying the physiology and pathophysiology of pregnancy. The aim of this study is to determine the best protein extraction protocol for the extraction of protein from placental cotyledons tissues for a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-GE). Based on widely used protein extraction strategies, 12 different extraction methodologies were carefully selected, which included one chemical extraction, two mechanical extraction coupled protein precipitations, and nine chemical extraction coupled protein precipitations. Extracted proteins were resolved in a one-dimensional gel electrophoresis and 2D-GE; then, it was compared with set criteria: extraction efficacy, protein resolution, reproducibility, and recovery efficiency. Our results revealed that a better profile was obtained by chemical extraction in comparison to mechanical extraction. We further compared chemical extraction coupled protein precipitation methodologies, where the DNase/lithium chloride-dense sucrose homogenization coupled dichloromethane-methanol precipitation (DNase/LiCl-DSH-D/MPE) method showed good protein extraction efficiency. This, however, was carried out with the best protein resolution and proteome reproducibility on 2D-gels. DNase/LiCl-DSH-D/MPE was efficient in the extraction of proteins from placental cotyledons tissues. In addition, this methodology could hypothetically allow the protein extraction of any tissue that contains highly abundant lipid and glycogen. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A novel molybdenum disulfide nanosheet self-assembled flower-like monolithic sorbent for solid-phase extraction with high efficiency and long service life.

PubMed

Ran, Fanpeng; Liu, Hongmei; Wang, Xiaoqi; Guo, Yong

2017-07-21

A novel material consisting of molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) nanosheet that self-assemble into flower-like microspheres which aggregate to form a monolithic matrix with a micro or nano-scaled mesopore structure was successfully synthesized and used as an efficient sorbent for solid-phase extraction (SPE) due to its large specific adsorption area and good stability. The extraction properties of the as-prepared sorbent were evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography with variable wavelength detection (HPLC-VWD) by analyzing four flavonoids (apigenin, quercetin, luteolin, and kaempferol). Under optimal conditions, the LODs and LOQs were found to be in the ranges of 0.1-0.25 and 0.4-0.5μgL -1 , respectively, and wide linear ranges were obtained with correlation coefficients (R) ranging from 0.9991 to 0.9996. Compared with commercial C18 and Alumina-N sorbents, the as-prepared sorbent showed high extraction efficiency at different concentrations of flavonoids. After 100 uses, the extraction ability of the self-assembled MoS 2 nanosheet monolithic sorbent had no evident decline, denoting a long service life. Finally, the SPE-HPLC-VWD method using the as-prepared sorbent was applied to flavonoid analysis in beverage samples with satisfactory results. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhancing the photon-extraction efficiency of site-controlled quantum dots by deterministically fabricated microlenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaganskiy, Arsenty; Fischbach, Sarah; Strittmatter, André; Rodt, Sven; Heindel, Tobias; Reitzenstein, Stephan

2018-04-01

We report on the realization of scalable single-photon sources (SPSs) based on single site-controlled quantum dots (SCQDs) and deterministically fabricated microlenses. The fabrication process comprises the buried-stressor growth technique complemented with low-temperature in-situ electron-beam lithography for the integration of SCQDs into microlens structures with high yield and high alignment accuracy. The microlens-approach leads to a broadband enhancement of the photon-extraction efficiency of up to (21 ± 2)% and a high suppression of multi-photon events with g (2)(τ = 0) < 0.06 without background subtraction. The demonstrated combination of site-controlled growth of QDs and in-situ electron-beam lithography is relevant for arrays of efficient SPSs which, can be applied in photonic quantum circuits and advanced quantum computation schemes.

Fabrication of Natural Sensitizer Extracted from Mixture of Purple Cabbage, Roselle, Wormwood and Seaweed with High Conversion Efficiency for DSSC.

PubMed

Chang, Ho; Lai, Xuan-Rong

2016-02-01

This study aims to deal with the influence of different solvent in extraction of natural sensitizer and different thickness of photoelectrode thin film on the photoelectric conversion efficiency and the electron transport properties for the prepared dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The natural dyes of anthocyanin and chlorophyll dyes are extracted from mixture of purple cabbage and roselle and mixture of wormwood and seaweed, respectively. The experimental results show the cocktail dye extracted with ethanol and rotating speed of spin coating at 1000 rpm can achieve the greatest photoelectric conversion efficiency up to 1.85%. Electrochemical impedance result shows that the effective diffusion coefficient for the prepared DSSC with the thickness of photoelectrode thin film at 21 microm are 5.23 x 10(-4) cm2/s.

Detection of free and covalently bound microcystins in animal tissues by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Neffling, Milla-Riina; Lance, Emilie; Meriluoto, Jussi

2010-03-01

Microcystins are cyanobacterial hepatotoxins capable of accumulation into animal tissues. The toxins act by inhibiting specific protein phosphatases and both non-covalent and covalent interactions occur. The 2-methyl-3-methoxy-4-phenylbutyric acid (MMPB) method determines the total, i.e. the sum of free and protein-bound microcystin in tissues. The aim of the method development in this paper was to tackle the problems with the MMPB methodology: the rather laborious workflow and the loss of material during different steps of the method. In the optimised workflow the oxidation recovery was of acceptable level (29-40%), the extraction efficiency good (62-97%), but the signal suppression effect from the matrix remained severe in our system (16-37% signal left). The extraction efficiency for the determination of the free, extractable microcystins, was found to be good, 52-100%, depending on the sample and the toxin variant and concentration. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reevaluation of microplastics extraction efficiency with the aim of Munich Plastic Sediment Separator.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zobkov, Mikhail; Esiukova, Elena; Grave, Aleksei; Khatmullina, Liliya

2017-04-01

Invading of microplastics into marine environment is known as a global ecological threat. Specific density of microplastics can vary significantly depending on a polymer type, technological processes of its production, additives, weathering, and biofouling. Plastic particles can sink or float on the sea surface, but with time, most of drifting plastics become negatively buoyant and sink to the sea floor due to biofouling or adherence of denser particles. As a result, the seabed becomes the ultimate repository for microplastic particles and fibres. A study of microplastics content in aquatic sediments is an important source of information about ways of their migration, sink and accumulation zones. The Munich Plastic Sediment Separator (MPSS), proposed by Imhoff et al. (2012), is considered as the most effective tool for microplastic extraction. However, we observed that the numbers of marine microplastics extracted with this tool from different kinds of bottom sediments were significantly underestimated. We examined the extraction efficiency of the MPSS by adding artificial reference particles (ARPs) to marine sediment sample before the extraction procedure. Extraction was performed by two different methods: the modified NOAA method and using the MPSS. The separation solution with specific density 1.5 g/ml was used. Subsequent cleaning, drying and microscope detection procedures were identical. The microplastics content was determined in supernatant fraction, in the bulk of the extraction solution, in spoil dump fraction of MPSS and in instrument wash-out. While the extraction efficiency from natural sediments of ARPs by the MPSS was really high (100% in most cases), the extraction efficiency of marine microplastics was up to 10 times lower than that obtained with modified NOAA method for the same samples. Less than 40% of the total marine microplastics content has been successfully extracted with the MPSS. Large amounts of marine microplastics were found in the spoil dump and in the bulk solution fractions of the MPSS. Changes in stirring and separation periods had weak impact on the extraction efficiency of ARPs and marine microplastics. Until now, we are unable to find effective working procedures for adequate extraction of marine microplastics with the MPSS. The MPSS was found to be a useful tool for microplastics extraction from large sediment samples for qualitative analysis and to obtain examination specimens. Applying the MPSS for quantitative microplastics analysis requires further testing and elaboration of standardized extraction procedures. The research is supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant number 15-17-10020 (project MARBLE). Imhof, H. K., Schmid, J., Niessner, R., Ivleva, N. P., Laforsch, C. 2012. A novel, highly efficient method for the separation and quantification of plastic particles in sediments of aquatic environments. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 10(7), 524-537. DOI 10.4319/lom.2012.10.524

Biorefinery process for protein extraction from oriental mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.) using ethanol stillage.

PubMed

Ratanapariyanuch, Kornsulee; Tyler, Robert T; Shim, Youn Young; Reaney, Martin Jt

2012-01-12

Large volumes of treated process water are required for protein extraction. Evaporation of this water contributes greatly to the energy consumed in enriching protein products. Thin stillage remaining from ethanol production is available in large volumes and may be suitable for extracting protein rich materials. In this work protein was extracted from ground defatted oriental mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.) meal using thin stillage. Protein extraction efficiency was studied at pHs between 7.6 and 10.4 and salt concentrations between 3.4 × 10-2 and 1.2 M. The optimum extraction efficiency was pH 10.0 and 1.0 M NaCl. Napin and cruciferin were the most prevalent proteins in the isolate. The isolate exhibited high in vitro digestibility (74.9 ± 0.80%) and lysine content (5.2 ± 0.2 g/100 g of protein). No differences in the efficiency of extraction, SDS-PAGE profile, digestibility, lysine availability, or amino acid composition were observed between protein extracted with thin stillage and that extracted with NaCl solution. The use of thin stillage, in lieu of water, for protein extraction would decrease the energy requirements and waste disposal costs of the protein isolation and biofuel production processes.

Biorefinery process for protein extraction from oriental mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.) using ethanol stillage

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Large volumes of treated process water are required for protein extraction. Evaporation of this water contributes greatly to the energy consumed in enriching protein products. Thin stillage remaining from ethanol production is available in large volumes and may be suitable for extracting protein rich materials. In this work protein was extracted from ground defatted oriental mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.) meal using thin stillage. Protein extraction efficiency was studied at pHs between 7.6 and 10.4 and salt concentrations between 3.4 × 10-2 and 1.2 M. The optimum extraction efficiency was pH 10.0 and 1.0 M NaCl. Napin and cruciferin were the most prevalent proteins in the isolate. The isolate exhibited high in vitro digestibility (74.9 ± 0.80%) and lysine content (5.2 ± 0.2 g/100 g of protein). No differences in the efficiency of extraction, SDS-PAGE profile, digestibility, lysine availability, or amino acid composition were observed between protein extracted with thin stillage and that extracted with NaCl solution. The use of thin stillage, in lieu of water, for protein extraction would decrease the energy requirements and waste disposal costs of the protein isolation and biofuel production processes. PMID:22239856

Deep eutectic solvent-based valorization of spent coffee grounds.

PubMed

Yoo, Da Eun; Jeong, Kyung Min; Han, Se Young; Kim, Eun Mi; Jin, Yan; Lee, Jeongmi

2018-07-30

Spent coffee grounds (SCGs) are viewed as a valuable resource for useful bioactive compounds, such as chlorogenic acids and flavonoids, and we suggest an eco-friendly and efficient valorization method. A series of choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were tested as green extraction solvents for use with ultrasound-assisted extraction. Extraction efficiency was evaluated based on total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content, total chlorogenic acids, and/or anti-oxidant activity. A binary DES named HC-6, which was composed of 1,6-hexanediol:choline chloride (molar ratio 7:1) was designed to produce the highest efficiency. Experimental conditions were screened and optimized for maximized efficiency using a two-level fractional factorial design and a central composite design, respectively. As a result, the proposed method presented significantly enhanced TPC and anti-oxidant activity. In addition, phenolic compounds could be easily recovered from extracts at high recovery yields (>90%) by adsorption chromatography. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New method for the rapid extraction of natural products: efficient isolation of shikimic acid from star anise.

PubMed

Just, Jeremy; Deans, Bianca J; Olivier, Wesley J; Paull, Brett; Bissember, Alex C; Smith, Jason A

2015-05-15

A new, practical, rapid, and high-yielding process for the pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE) of multigram quantities of shikimic acid from star anise (Illicium verum) using an unmodified household espresso machine has been developed. This operationally simple and inexpensive method enables the efficient and straightforward isolation of shikimic acid and the facile preparation of a range of its synthetic derivatives.

High-power ultrasonic system for the enhancement of mass transfer in supercritical CO2 extraction processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riera, Enrique; Blanco, Alfonso; García, José; Benedito, José; Mulet, Antonio; Gallego-Juárez, Juan A.; Blasco, Miguel

2010-01-01

Oil is an important component of almonds and other vegetable substrates that can show an influence on human health. In this work the development and validation of an innovative, robust, stable, reliable and efficient ultrasonic system at pilot scale to assist supercritical CO2 extraction of oils from different substrates is presented. In the extraction procedure ultrasonic energy represents an efficient way of producing deep agitation enhancing mass transfer processes because of some mechanisms (radiation pressure, streaming, agitation, high amplitude vibrations, etc.). A previous work to this research pointed out the feasibility of integrating an ultrasonic field inside a supercritical extractor without losing a significant volume fraction. This pioneer method enabled to accelerate mass transfer and then, improving supercritical extraction times. To commercially develop the new procedure fulfilling industrial requirements, a new configuration device has been designed, implemented, tested and successfully validated for supercritical fluid extraction of oil from different vegetable substrates.

Bioleaching mechanism of Zn, Pb, In, Ag, Cd and As from Pb/Zn smelting slag by autotrophic bacteria.

PubMed

Wang, Jia; Huang, Qifei; Li, Ting; Xin, Baoping; Chen, Shi; Guo, Xingming; Liu, Changhao; Li, Yuping

2015-08-15

A few studies have focused on release of valuable/toxic metals from Pb/Zn smelting slag by heterotrophic bioleaching using expensive yeast extract as an energy source. The high leaching cost greatly limits the practical potential of the method. In this work, autotrophic bioleaching using cheap sulfur or/and pyrite as energy matter was firstly applied to tackle the smelting slag and the bioleaching mechanisms were explained. The results indicated autotrophic bioleaching can solubilize valuable/toxic metals from slag, yielding maximum extraction efficiencies of 90% for Zn, 86% for Cd and 71% for In, although the extraction efficiencies of Pb, As and Ag were poor. The bioleaching performance of Zn, Cd and Pb was independent of leaching system, and leaching mechanism was acid dissolution. A maximum efficiency of 25% for As was achieved by acid dissolution in sulfursulfur oxidizing bacteria (S-SOB), but the formation of FeAsO4 reduced extraction efficiency in mixed energy source - mixed culture (MS-MC). Combined works of acid dissolution and Fe(3+) oxidation in MS-MC was responsible for the highest extraction efficiency of 71% for In. Ag was present in the slag as refractory AgPb4(AsO4)3 and AgFe2S3, so extraction did not occur. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecularly imprinted polymers based stir bar sorptive extraction for determination of cefaclor and cefalexin in environmental water.

PubMed

Peng, Jun; Liu, Donghao; Shi, Tian; Tian, Huairu; Hui, Xuanhong; He, Hua

2017-07-01

Although stir bar sportive extraction was thought to be a highly efficiency and simple pretreatment approach, its wide application was limited by low selectivity, short service life, and relatively high cost. In order to improve the performance of the stir bar, molecular imprinted polymers and magnetic carbon nanotubes were combined in the present study. In addition, two monomers were utilized to intensify the selectivity of molecularly imprinted polymers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and selectivity experiments showed that the molecularly imprinted polymeric stir bar was successfully prepared. Then micro-extraction based on the obtained stir bar was coupled with HPLC for determination of trace cefaclor and cefalexin in environmental water. This approach had the advantages of stir bar sportive extraction, high selectivity of molecular imprinted polymers, and high sorption efficiency of carbon nanotubes. To utilize this pretreatment approach, pH, extraction time, stirring speed, elution solvent, and elution time were optimized. The LOD and LOQ of cefaclor were found to be 3.5 ng · mL -1 and 12.0 ng · mL -1 , respectively; the LOD and LOQ of cefalexin were found to be 3.0 ng · mL -1 and 10.0 ng · mL -1 , respectively. The recoveries of cefaclor and cefalexin were 86.5 ~ 98.6%. The within-run precision and between-run precision were acceptable (relative standard deviation <7%). Even when utilized in more than 14 cycles, the performance of the stir bar did not decrease dramatically. This demonstrated that the molecularly imprinted polymeric stir bar based micro-extraction was a convenient, efficient, low-cost, and a specific method for enrichment of cefaclor and cefalexin in environmental samples.

Classification of underground pipe scanned images using feature extraction and neuro-fuzzy algorithm.

PubMed

Sinha, S K; Karray, F

2002-01-01

Pipeline surface defects such as holes and cracks cause major problems for utility managers, particularly when the pipeline is buried under the ground. Manual inspection for surface defects in the pipeline has a number of drawbacks, including subjectivity, varying standards, and high costs. Automatic inspection system using image processing and artificial intelligence techniques can overcome many of these disadvantages and offer utility managers an opportunity to significantly improve quality and reduce costs. A recognition and classification of pipe cracks using images analysis and neuro-fuzzy algorithm is proposed. In the preprocessing step the scanned images of pipe are analyzed and crack features are extracted. In the classification step the neuro-fuzzy algorithm is developed that employs a fuzzy membership function and error backpropagation algorithm. The idea behind the proposed approach is that the fuzzy membership function will absorb variation of feature values and the backpropagation network, with its learning ability, will show good classification efficiency.

Determination of azoxystrobin and chlorothalonil using a methacrylate-based polymer modified with gold nanoparticles as solid-phase extraction sorbent.

PubMed

Catalá-Icardo, Mónica; Gómez-Benito, Carmen; Simó-Alfonso, Ernesto Francisco; Herrero-Martínez, José Manuel

2017-01-01

This paper describes a novel and sensitive method for extraction, preconcentration, and determination of two important widely used fungicides, azoxystrobin, and chlorothalonil. The developed methodology is based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) using a polymeric material functionalized with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as sorbent followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detector (DAD). Several experimental variables that affect the extraction efficiency such as the eluent volume, sample flow rate, and salt addition were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the sorbent provided satisfactory enrichment efficiency for both fungicides, high selectivity and excellent reusability (>120 re-uses). The proposed method allowed the detection of 0.05 μg L -1 of the fungicides and gave satisfactory recoveries (75-95 %) when it was applied to drinking and environmental water samples (river, well, tap, irrigation, spring, and sea waters).

Experiment design for pilot identification in compensatory tracking tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wells, W. R.

1976-01-01

A design criterion for input functions in laboratory tracking tasks resulting in efficient parameter estimation is formulated. The criterion is that the statistical correlations between pairs of parameters be reduced in order to minimize the problem of nonuniqueness in the extraction process. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated for a lower order dynamic system.

Lobster processing by-products as valuable bioresource of marine functional ingredients, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals.

PubMed

Nguyen, Trung T; Barber, Andrew R; Corbin, Kendall; Zhang, Wei

2017-01-01

The worldwide annual production of lobster was 165,367 tons valued over $3.32 billion in 2004, but this figure rose up to 304,000 tons in 2012. Over half the volume of the worldwide lobster production has been processed to meet the rising global demand in diversified lobster products. Lobster processing generates a large amount of by-products (heads, shells, livers, and eggs) which account for 50-70% of the starting material. Continued production of these lobster processing by-products (LPBs) without corresponding process development for efficient utilization has led to disposal issues associated with costs and pollutions. This review presents the promising opportunities to maximize the utilization of LPBs by economic recovery of their valuable components to produce high value-added products. More than 50,000 tons of LPBs are globally generated, which costs lobster processing companies upward of about $7.5 million/year for disposal. This not only presents financial and environmental burdens to the lobster processors but also wastes a valuable bioresource. LPBs are rich in a range of high-value compounds such as proteins, chitin, lipids, minerals, and pigments. Extracts recovered from LPBs have been demonstrated to possess several functionalities and bioactivities, which are useful for numerous applications in water treatment, agriculture, food, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical products, and biomedicine. Although LPBs have been studied for recovery of valuable components, utilization of these materials for the large-scale production is still very limited. Extraction of lobster components using microwave, ultrasonic, and supercritical fluid extraction were found to be promising techniques that could be used for large-scale production. LPBs are rich in high-value compounds that are currently being underutilized. These compounds can be extracted for being used as functional ingredients, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals in a wide range of commercial applications. The efficient utilization of LPBs would not only generate significant economic benefits but also reduce the problems of waste management associated with the lobster industry. This comprehensive review highlights the availability of the global LPBs, the key components in LPBs and their current applications, the limitations to the extraction techniques used, and the suggested emerging techniques which may be promising on an industrial scale for the maximized utilization of LPBs. Graphical abstractLobster processing by-product as bioresource of several functional and bioactive compounds used in various value-added products.

Facile thiol-ene thermal crosslinking reaction facilitated hole-transporting layer for highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells

DOE PAGES

Li, Zhong'an; Zhu, Zonglong; Chueh, Chu -Chen; ...

2016-08-08

A crosslinked organic hole-transporting layer (HTL) is developed to realize highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells via a facile thiol-ene thermal reaction. This crosslinked HTL not only facilitates hole extraction from perovskites, but also functions as an effective protective barrier. Lastly, a high-performance (power conversion efficiency: 18.3%) device is demonstrated to show respectable photo and thermal stability without encapsulation.

Comparison of Gluten Extraction Protocols Assessed by LC-MS/MS Analysis.

PubMed

Fallahbaghery, Azadeh; Zou, Wei; Byrne, Keren; Howitt, Crispin A; Colgrave, Michelle L

2017-04-05

The efficiency of gluten extraction is of critical importance to the results derived from any analytical method for gluten detection and quantitation, whether it employs reagent-based technology (antibodies) or analytical instrumentation (mass spectrometry). If the target proteins are not efficiently extracted, the end result will be an under-estimation in the gluten content posing a health risk to people affected by conditions such as celiac disease (CD) and nonceliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). Five different extraction protocols were investigated using LC-MRM-MS for their ability to efficiently and reproducibly extract gluten. The rapid and simple "IPA/DTT" protocol and related "two-step" protocol were enriched for gluten proteins, 55/86% (trypsin/chymotrypsin) and 41/68% of all protein identifications, respectively, with both methods showing high reproducibility (CV < 15%). When using multistep protocols, it was critical to examine all fractions, as coextraction of proteins occurred across fractions, with significant levels of proteins existing in unexpected fractions and not all proteins within a particular gluten class behaving the same.

[The problems of cataract surgery and intraocular correction: Russian school achievements and modern trends].

PubMed

Maliugin, B E; Linnik, L F; Egorova, E V; Kopaeva, V G; Tolchinskaia, A I

2007-01-01

The development of the safest and, at the same time, efficient methods of cataract surgery, is not only a topical task of medical science and practice, but also, taking the demographic situation into account, a solution to a social problem. The article describes the main achievements of academician S. N. Fyodorov's school in the field of cataract surgery with intraocular lense (IOL) implantation. Special attention is paid to the key components of cataract extraction technique named "small incision surgery", which is based upon the use of ultrasmall surgical approaches with self-sealing ability and no need for suturing. The main advantages and disadvantages of various types of cataract lense fragmentation, including ultrasound emulsification, mechanic and hydraulic fragmentation, and laser destruction, are described. Topical issues concerning cataract extraction technique under the conditions of complicating ophthalmopathology including the weakness of ciliary zonule system, high-degree myopia, glaucoma, pseudoexfoliative syndrome, small pupil, past injuries and eye surgery, are outlined. The paper also reflects a new qualitative step in the development of intraocular aphakia correction technique under modern conditions. Basic requirements to design parameters and IOL materials are determined from the position of reestablishing the accommodative function and fine visual functions. Ways of IOL design improvement are described especially for their application in non-standard and complicated cases.

Long-term purification efficiency of a wetland constructed to treat runoff from peat extraction.

PubMed

Karjalainen, Satu M; Heikkinen, Kaisa; Ihme, Raimo; Kløve, Bjørn

2016-01-01

Peat extraction increases the phosphorus, nitrogen, organic matter, suspended solids, and iron concentrations in runoff, resulting in negative effects on downstream water bodies. Wetlands are commonly used as natural cost-effective solutions to mitigate these negative effects. This study analyzed changes in the quality of runoff water from peat extraction areas and the long-term efficiency of constructed wetlands. The results indicate that the quality of runoff water changed after the initial drainage and during peat extraction. Nitrogen leached at high concentrations in the early stages of peat extraction following drainage, whereas the leaching of iron and phosphorus increased after peat extraction from deeper layers. Comparison of water quality and impurities retained immediately after treatment wetland construction and 14 years later showed that the treatment wetland remained functional, with good retention capacity, over a long period.

Improvement of the cloud point extraction of uranyl ions by the addition of ionic liquids.

PubMed

Gao, Song; Sun, Taoxiang; Chen, Qingde; Shen, Xinghai

2013-12-15

The cloud point extraction (CPE) of uranyl ions by different kinds of extractants in Triton X-114 (TX-114) micellar solution was investigated upon the addition of ionic liquids (ILs) with various anions, i.e., bromide (Br(-)), tetrafluoroborate (BF4(-)), hexafluorophosphate (PF6(-)) and bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide (NTf2(-)). A significant increase of the extraction efficiency was found on the addition of NTf2(-) based ILs when using neutral extractant tri-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO), and the extraction efficiency kept high at both nearly neutral and high acidity. However, the CPE with acidic extractants, e.g., bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP) and 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) which are only effective at nearly neutral condition, was not improved by ILs. The results of zeta potential and (19)F NMR measurements indicated that the anion NTf2(-) penetrated into the TX-114 micelles and was enriched in the surfactant-rich phase during the CPE process. Meanwhile, NTf2(-) may act as a counterion in the CPE of UO2(2+) by TOPO. Furthermore, the addition of IL increased the separation factor of UO2(2+) and La(3+), which implied that in the micelle TOPO, NTf2(-) and NO3(-) established a soft template for UO2(2+). Therefore, the combination of CPE and IL provided a supramolecular recognition to concentrate UO2(2+) efficiently and selectively. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Numerical study on the power extraction performance of a flapping foil with a flexible tail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, J.; Shu, C.; Zhao, N.; Tian, F.-B.

2015-01-01

The numerical study on the power extraction performance of a flapping foil with a flexible tail is performed in this work. A NACA0015 airfoil is arranged in a two-dimensional laminar flow and imposed with a synchronous harmonic plunge and pitch rotary motion. A flat plate that is attached to the trailing edge of the foil is utilized to model a tail, and so they are viewed as a whole for the purpose of power extraction. In addition, the tail either is rigid or can deform due to the exerted hydrodynamic forces. To implement numerical simulations, an immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method is employed. At a Reynolds number of 1100 and the position of the pitching axis at third chord, the influences of the mass and flexibility of the tail as well as the frequency of motion on the power extraction are systematically examined. It is found that compared to the foil with a rigid tail, the efficiency of power extraction for the foil with a deformable tail can be improved. Based on the numerical analysis, it is indicated that the enhanced plunging component of the power extraction, which is caused by the increased lift force, directly contributes to the efficiency improvement. Since a flexible tail with medium and high masses is not beneficial to the efficiency improvement, a flexible tail with low mass together with high flexibility is recommended in the flapping foil based power extraction system.

Highly Efficient and Uniform 1 cm2 Perovskite Solar Cells with an Electrochemically Deposited NiOx Hole-Extraction Layer.

PubMed

Park, Ik Jae; Kang, Gyeongho; Park, Min Ah; Kim, Ju Seong; Seo, Se Won; Kim, Dong Hoe; Zhu, Kai; Park, Taiho; Kim, Jin Young

2017-06-22

Given that the highest certified conversion efficiency of the organic-inorganic perovskite solar cell (PSC) already exceeds 22 %, which is even higher than that of the polycrystalline silicon solar cell, the significance of new scalable processes that can be utilized for preparing large-area devices and their commercialization is rapidly increasing. From this perspective, the electrodeposition method is one of the most suitable processes for preparing large-area devices because it is an already commercialized process with proven controllability and scalability. Here, a highly uniform NiO x layer prepared by electrochemical deposition is reported as an efficient hole-extraction layer of a p-i-n-type planar PSC with a large active area of >1 cm 2 . It is demonstrated that the increased surface roughness of the NiO x layer, achieved by controlling the deposition current density, facilitates the hole extraction at the interface between perovskite and NiO x , and thus increases the fill factor and the conversion efficiency. The electrochemically deposited NiO x layer also exhibits extremely uniform thickness and morphology, leading to highly efficient and uniform large-area PSCs. As a result, the p-i-n-type planar PSC with an area of 1.084 cm 2 exhibits a stable conversion efficiency of 17.0 % (19.2 % for 0.1 cm 2 ) without showing hysteresis effects. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Highly Efficient and Uniform 1 cm 2 Perovskite Solar Cells with an Electrochemically Deposited NiO x Hole-Extraction Layer

DOE PAGES

Park, Ik Jae; Kang, Gyeongho; Park, Min Ah; ...

2017-05-10

Here, given that the highest certified conversion efficiency of the organic-inorganic perovskite solar cell (PSC) already exceeds 22%, which is even higher than that of the polycrystalline silicon solar cell, the significance of new scalable processes that can be utilized for preparing large-area devices and their commercialization is rapidly increasing. From this perspective, the electrodeposition method is one of the most suitable processes for preparing large-area devices because it is an already commercialized process with proven controllability and scalability. Here, a highly uniform NiO x layer prepared by electrochemical deposition is reported as an efficient hole-extraction layer of a p-i-n-typemore » planar PSC with a large active area of >1 cm 2. It is demonstrated that the increased surface roughness of the NiO x layer, achieved by controlling the deposition current density, facilitates the hole extraction at the interface between perovskite and NiO x, and thus increases the fill factor and the conversion efficiency. The electrochemically deposited NiO x layer also exhibits extremely uniform thickness and morphology, leading to highly efficient and uniform large-area PSCs. As a result, the p-i-n-type planar PSC with an area of 1.084 cm 2 exhibits a stable conversion efficiency of 17.0% (19.2% for 0.1 cm 2) without showing hysteresis effects.« less

Automated global structure extraction for effective local building block processing in XCS.

PubMed

Butz, Martin V; Pelikan, Martin; Llorà, Xavier; Goldberg, David E

2006-01-01

Learning Classifier Systems (LCSs), such as the accuracy-based XCS, evolve distributed problem solutions represented by a population of rules. During evolution, features are specialized, propagated, and recombined to provide increasingly accurate subsolutions. Recently, it was shown that, as in conventional genetic algorithms (GAs), some problems require efficient processing of subsets of features to find problem solutions efficiently. In such problems, standard variation operators of genetic and evolutionary algorithms used in LCSs suffer from potential disruption of groups of interacting features, resulting in poor performance. This paper introduces efficient crossover operators to XCS by incorporating techniques derived from competent GAs: the extended compact GA (ECGA) and the Bayesian optimization algorithm (BOA). Instead of simple crossover operators such as uniform crossover or one-point crossover, ECGA or BOA-derived mechanisms are used to build a probabilistic model of the global population and to generate offspring classifiers locally using the model. Several offspring generation variations are introduced and evaluated. The results show that it is possible to achieve performance similar to runs with an informed crossover operator that is specifically designed to yield ideal problem-dependent exploration, exploiting provided problem structure information. Thus, we create the first competent LCSs, XCS/ECGA and XCS/BOA, that detect dependency structures online and propagate corresponding lower-level dependency structures effectively without any information about these structures given in advance.

Highly efficient enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction of 1,2-amino-alcohols using SPINOL based phosphoric acid hosts† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental data regarding the synthesis the hosts as well as procedures and raw data and for ELLE experiments. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc02783d Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Pinxterhuis, Erik B.; Gualtierotti, Jean-Baptiste; Heeres, Hero J.

2017-01-01

Access to enantiopure compounds on large scale in an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient manner remains one of the greatest challenges in chemistry. Resolution of racemates using enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction has great potential to meet that challenge. However, a relatively feeble understanding of the chemical principles and physical properties behind this technique has hampered the development of hosts possessing sufficient resolving power for their application to large scale processes. Herein we present, employing the previously untested SPINOL based phosphoric acids host family, an in depths study of the parameters affecting the efficiency of the resolution of amino-alcohols in the optic of further understanding the core principles behind ELLE. We have systematically investigated the dependencies of the enantioselection by parameters such as the choice of solvent, the temperature, as well as the pH and bring to light many previously unsuspected and highly intriguing interactions. Furthermore, utilizing these new insights to our advantage, we developed novel, highly efficient, extraction and resolving protocols which provide remarkable levels of enantioselectivity. It was shown that the extraction is catalytic in host by demonstrating transport in a U-tube and finally it was demonstrated how the solvent dependency could be exploited in an unprecedented triphasic resolution system. PMID:28989671

The Concept of Resource Use Efficiency as a Theoretical Basis for Promising Coal Mining Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikhalchenko, Vadim

2017-11-01

The article is devoted to solving one of the most relevant problems of the coal mining industry - its high resource use efficiency, which results in high environmental and economic costs of operating enterprises. It is shown that it is the high resource use efficiency of traditional, historically developed coal production systems that generates a conflict between indicators of economic efficiency and indicators of resistance to uncertainty and variability of market environment parameters. The traditional technological paradigm of exploitation of coal deposits also predetermines high, technology-driven, economic risks. The solution is shown and a real example of the problem solution is considered.

Microbial process for the preparation of acetic acid as well as solvent for its extraction from the fermentation broth

DOEpatents

Gaddy, James L.; Clausen, Edgar C.; Ko, Ching-Whan; Wade, Leslie E.; Wikstrom, Carl V.

2006-07-11

A modified water-immiscible solvent useful in the extraction of acetic acid from aqueous streams is a substantially pure mixture of isomers of highly branched di-alkyl amines. This solvent is substantially devoid of mono-alkyl amines and alcohols. Solvent mixtures formed of such a modified solvent with a desired cosolvent, preferably a low boiling hydrocarbon which forms an azeotrope with water are useful in the extraction of acetic acid from aqueous gaseous streams. An anaerobic microbial fermentation process for the production of acetic acid employs such solvents, under conditions which limit amide formation by the solvent and thus increase the efficiency of acetic acid recovery. Methods for the direct extraction of acetic acid and the extractive fermentation of acetic acid also employ the modified solvents and increase efficiency of acetic acid production. Such increases in efficiency are also obtained where the energy source for the microbial fermentation contains carbon dioxide and the method includes a carbon dioxide stripping step prior to extraction of acetic acid in solvent.

Microbial process for the preparation of acetic acid as well as solvent for its extraction from the fermentation broth

DOEpatents

Gaddy, James L.; Clausen, Edgar C.; Ko, Ching-Whan; Wade, Leslie E.; Wikstrom, Carl V.

2002-01-01

A modified water-immiscible solvent useful in the extraction of acetic acid from aqueous streams is a substantially pure mixture of isomers of highly branched di-alkyl amines. This solvent is substantially devoid of mono-alkyl amines and alcohols. Solvent mixtures formed of such a modified solvent with a desired cosolvent, preferably a low boiling hydrocarbon which forms an azeotrope with water are useful in the extraction of acetic acid from aqueous gaseous streams. An anaerobic microbial fermentation process for the production of acetic acid employs such solvents, under conditions which limit amide formation by the solvent and thus increase the efficiency of acetic acid recovery. Methods for the direct extraction of acetic acid and the extractive fermentation of acetic acid also employ the modified solvents and increase efficiency of acetic acid production. Such increases in efficiency are also obtained where the energy source for the microbial fermentation contains carbon dioxide and the method includes a carbon dioxide stripping step prior to extraction of acetic acid in solvent.

Efficient processing of fluorescence images using directional multiscale representations.

PubMed

Labate, D; Laezza, F; Negi, P; Ozcan, B; Papadakis, M

2014-01-01

Recent advances in high-resolution fluorescence microscopy have enabled the systematic study of morphological changes in large populations of cells induced by chemical and genetic perturbations, facilitating the discovery of signaling pathways underlying diseases and the development of new pharmacological treatments. In these studies, though, due to the complexity of the data, quantification and analysis of morphological features are for the vast majority handled manually, slowing significantly data processing and limiting often the information gained to a descriptive level. Thus, there is an urgent need for developing highly efficient automated analysis and processing tools for fluorescent images. In this paper, we present the application of a method based on the shearlet representation for confocal image analysis of neurons. The shearlet representation is a newly emerged method designed to combine multiscale data analysis with superior directional sensitivity, making this approach particularly effective for the representation of objects defined over a wide range of scales and with highly anisotropic features. Here, we apply the shearlet representation to problems of soma detection of neurons in culture and extraction of geometrical features of neuronal processes in brain tissue, and propose it as a new framework for large-scale fluorescent image analysis of biomedical data.

Efficient processing of fluorescence images using directional multiscale representations

PubMed Central

Labate, D.; Laezza, F.; Negi, P.; Ozcan, B.; Papadakis, M.

2017-01-01

Recent advances in high-resolution fluorescence microscopy have enabled the systematic study of morphological changes in large populations of cells induced by chemical and genetic perturbations, facilitating the discovery of signaling pathways underlying diseases and the development of new pharmacological treatments. In these studies, though, due to the complexity of the data, quantification and analysis of morphological features are for the vast majority handled manually, slowing significantly data processing and limiting often the information gained to a descriptive level. Thus, there is an urgent need for developing highly efficient automated analysis and processing tools for fluorescent images. In this paper, we present the application of a method based on the shearlet representation for confocal image analysis of neurons. The shearlet representation is a newly emerged method designed to combine multiscale data analysis with superior directional sensitivity, making this approach particularly effective for the representation of objects defined over a wide range of scales and with highly anisotropic features. Here, we apply the shearlet representation to problems of soma detection of neurons in culture and extraction of geometrical features of neuronal processes in brain tissue, and propose it as a new framework for large-scale fluorescent image analysis of biomedical data. PMID:28804225

Application of micro-solid-phase extraction for the on-site extraction of heterocyclic aromatic amines in seawater.

PubMed

Basheer, Chanbasha

2018-04-01

An efficient on-site extraction technique to determine carcinogenic heterocyclic aromatic amines in seawater has been reported. A micro-solid-phase extraction device placed inside a portable battery-operated pump was used for the on-site extraction of seawater samples. Before on-site applications, parameters that influence the extraction efficiency (extraction time, type of sorbent materials, suitable desorption solvent, desorption time, and sample volume) were investigated and optimized in the laboratory. The developed method was then used for the on-site sampling of heterocyclic aromatic amines determination in seawater samples close to distillation plant. Once the on-site extraction completed, the small extraction device with the analytes was brought back to the laboratory for analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Based on the optimized conditions, the calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 0.05-20 μg/L with correlation coefficients up to 0.996. The limits of detection were 0.004-0.026 μg/L, and the reproducibility values were between 1.3 and 7.5%. To evaluate the extraction efficiency, a comparison was made with conventional solid-phase extraction and it was applied to various fortified real seawater samples. The average relative recoveries obtained from the spiked seawater samples varied in the range 79.9-95.2%. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Plutonium and uranium determination in environmental samples: combined solvent extraction-liquid scintillation method.

PubMed

McDowell, W J; Farrar, D T; Billings, M R

1974-12-01

A method for the determination of uranium and plutonium by a combined high-resolution liquid scintillation-solvent extraction method is presented. Assuming a sample count equal to background count to be the detection limit, the lower detection limit for these and other alpha-emitting nuclides is 1.0 dpm with a Pyrex sample tube, 0.3 dpm with a quartz sample tube using present detector shielding or 0.02 d.p.m. with pulse-shape discrimination. Alpha-counting efficiency is 100%. With the counting data presented as an alpha-energy spectrum, an energy resolution of 0.2-0.3 MeV peak half-width and an energy identification to +/-0.1 MeV are possible. Thus, within these limits, identification and quantitative determination of a specific alpha-emitter, independent of chemical separation, are possible. The separation procedure allows greater than 98% recovery of uranium and plutonium from solution containing large amounts of iron and other interfering substances. In most cases uranium, even when present in 10(8)-fold molar ratio, may be quantitatively separated from plutonium without loss of the plutonium. Potential applications of this general analytical concept to other alpha-counting problems are noted. Special problems associated with the determination of plutonium in soil and water samples are discussed. Results of tests to determine the pulse-height and energy-resolution characteristics of several scintillators are presented. Construction of the high-resolution liquid scintillation detector is described.

A highly efficient, cell-free translation/translocation system prepared from Xenopus eggs.

PubMed Central

Matthews, G; Colman, A

1991-01-01

We describe the use of a Xenopus laevis egg extract for the in vitro translation and post translational modification of membrane and secretory proteins. This extract is capable of the translation and segregation into membranes of microgram per millilitre levels of protein from added mRNAs. Signal sequences of segregated proteins are efficiently cleaved and appropriate N-linked glycosylation patterns are produced. The extract also supports the quantitative assembly of murine immunoglobulin heavy and light chains into tetramers, and two events which take place beyond the endoplasmic reticulum, mannose 6 phosphorylation of murine cathepsin D and O-linked glycosylation of coronavirus E1 protein, also occur, but at reduced efficiency. The stability of the membranes allows protease protection studies and quantitative centrifugal fractionation of segregated and unsegregated proteins to be performed. Conditions for the use of stored extract have also been determined. Images PMID:1754376

Simultaneous extraction and determination of phthalate esters in aqueous solution by yolk-shell magnetic mesoporous carbon-molecularly imprinted composites based on solid-phase extraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Yang, Rui; Liu, Yuxin; Yan, Xiangyang; Liu, Shaomin

2016-12-01

A rapid, sensitive and accurate method for the simultaneous extraction and determination of five types of trace phthalate esters (PAEs) in environmental water and beverage samples using magnetic molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MMIP-SPE) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed. A novel type of molecularly imprinted polymers on the surface of yolk-shell magnetic mesoporous carbon (Fe 3 O 4 @void@C-MIPs) was used as an efficient adsorbent for selective adsorption of phthalate esters based on magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE). The real samples were first preconcentrated by Fe 3 O 4 @void@C-MIPs, subsequently extracted by eluent and finally determined by GC-MS after magnetic separation. Several variables affecting the extraction efficiency of the analytes, including the type and volume of the elution solvent, amount of adsorbent, extraction time, desorption time and pH of the sample solution, were investigated and optimized. Validation experiments indicated that the developed method presented good linearity (R 2 >0.9961), satisfactory precision (RSD<6.7%), and high recovery (86.1-103.1%). The limits of detection ranged from 1.6ng/L to 5.2ng/L and the enrichment factor was in the range of 822-1423. The results indicated that the novel method had the advantages of convenience, good sensitivity, and high efficiency, and it could also be successfully applied to the analysis of PAEs in real samples. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

An Efficient Strategy Based on Liquid-Liquid Extraction with Three-Phase Solvent System and High Speed Counter-Current Chromatography for Rapid Enrichment and Separation of Epimers of Minor Bufadienolide from Toad Meat.

PubMed

Zou, Denglang; Zhu, Xuelin; Zhang, Fan; Du, Yurong; Ma, Jianbin; Jiang, Renwang

2018-01-31

This study presents an efficient strategy based on liquid-liquid extraction with three-phase solvent system and high speed counter-current chromatography for rapid enrichment and separation of epimers of minor bufadienolide from toad meat. The reflux extraction conditions were optimized by response surface methodology first, and a novel three-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane/methyl acetate/acetonitrile/water (3:6:5:5, v/v) was developed for liquid-liquid extraction of the crude extract. This integrative extraction process could enrich minor bufadienolide from complex matrix efficiently and minimize the loss of minor targets induced by repeated extraction with different kinds of organic solvents occurring in the classical liquid two-phase extraction. As a result, four epimers of minor bufadienolide were greatly enriched in the middle phase and total content of these epimers of minor bufadienolide was increased from 3.25% to 46.23%. Then, the enriched four epimers were separated by HSCCC with a two-phase solvent system composed of chloroform/methanol/water (4:2:2, v/v) successfully. Furthermore, we tested Na + ,K + -ATPase (NKA) inhibitory effect of the four epimers. 3β-Isomers of bufadienolide showed stronger (>8-fold) inhibitory activity than 3α-isomers. The characterization of minor bufadienolide in toad meat and their significant difference of inhibitory effect on NKA would promote the further quantitative analysis and safety evaluation of toad meat as a food source.

Graphene oxide membrane as an efficient extraction and ionization substrate for spray-mass spectrometric analysis of malachite green and its metabolite in fish samples.

PubMed

Wei, Shih-Chun; Fan, Shen; Lien, Chia-Wen; Unnikrishnan, Binesh; Wang, Yi-Sheng; Chu, Han-Wei; Huang, Chih-Ching; Hsu, Pang-Hung; Chang, Huan-Tsung

2018-03-20

A graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet-modified N + -nylon membrane (GOM) has been prepared and used as an extraction and spray-ionization substrate for robust mass spectrometric detection of malachite green (MG), a highly toxic disinfectant in liquid samples and fish meat. The GOM is prepared by self-deposition of GO thin film onto an N + -nylon membrane, which has been used for efficient extraction of MG in aquaculture water samples or homogenized fish meat samples. Having a dissociation constant of 2.17 × 10 -9  M -1 , the GOM allows extraction of approximately 98% of 100 nM MG. Coupling of the GOM-spray with an ion-trap mass spectrometer allows quantitation of MG in aquaculture freshwater and seawater samples down to nanomolar levels. Furthermore, the system possesses high selectivity and sensitivity for the quantitation of MG and its metabolite (leucomalachite green) in fish meat samples. With easy extraction and efficient spray ionization properties of GOM, this membrane spray-mass spectrometry technique is relatively simple and fast in comparison to the traditional LC-MS/MS methods for the quantitation of MG and its metabolite in aquaculture products. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ginger extract as green corrosion inhibitor of mild steel in hydrochloric acid solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fidrusli, A.; Suryanto; Mahmood, M.

2018-01-01

Ginger extract as corrosion inhibitor from natural resources was studied to prevent corrosion of mild steel in acid media. Ginger rhizome was extracted to produce green corrosion inhibitor (G-1) while ginger powder bought at supermarket was also extract to form green corrosion inhibitor (G-2). Effectiveness of inhibitor in preventing corrosion process of mild steel was studied in 1.0 M of hydrochloric acid. The experiment of weight loss method and polarization technique were conducted to measure corrosion rate and inhibition efficiency of mild steel in solution containing 1.0 M of hydrochloric acid with various concentration of inhibitor at room temperature. The results showed that, the rate of corrosion dropped from 8.09 mmpy in solution containing no inhibitor to 0.72 mmpy in solution containing 150g/l inhibitor while inhibition efficiency up to 91% was obtained. The polarization curve in polarization experiments shows that the inhibition efficiency is 86% with high concentration of inhibitor. The adsorption of ginger extract on the surface of mild steel was observed by using optical microscope and the characterization analysis was done by using pH measurement method. When high concentration of green inhibitor in the acid solution is used, the pH at the surface of steel is increasing.

Comparison of salting-out and sugaring-out liquid-liquid extraction methods for the partition of 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid in royal jelly and their co-extracted protein content.

PubMed

Tu, Xijuan; Sun, Fanyi; Wu, Siyuan; Liu, Weiyi; Gao, Zhaosheng; Huang, Shaokang; Chen, Wenbin

2018-01-15

Homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction (h-LLE) has been receiving considerable attention as a sample preparation method due to its simple and fast partition of compounds with a wide range of polarities. To better understand the differences between the two h-LLE extraction approaches, salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction (SALLE) and sugaring-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction (SULLE), have been compared for the partition of 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) from royal jelly, and for the co-extraction of proteins. Effects of the amount of phase partition agents and the concentration of acetonitrile (ACN) on the h-LLE were discussed. Results showed that partition efficiency of 10-HDA depends on the phase ratio in both SALLE and SULLE. Though the partition triggered by NaCl and glucose is less efficient than MgSO 4 in the 50% (v/v) ACN-water mixture, their extraction yields can be improved to be similar with that in MgSO 4 SALLE by increasing the initial concentration of ACN in the ACN-water mixture. The content of co-extracted protein was correlated with water concentration in the obtained upper phase. MgSO 4 showed the largest protein co-extraction at the low concentration of salt. Glucose exhibited a large protein co-extraction in the high phase ratio condition. Furthermore, NaCl with high initial ACN concentration is recommended because it produced high extraction yield for 10-HDA and the lowest amount of co-extracted protein. These observations would be valuable for the sample preparation of royal jelly. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Use of the MagNA Pure LC Automated Nucleic Acid Extraction System followed by Real-Time Reverse Transcription-PCR for Ultrasensitive Quantitation of Hepatitis C Virus RNA

PubMed Central

Cook, Linda; Ng, Ka-Wing; Bagabag, Arthur; Corey, Lawrence; Jerome, Keith R.

2004-01-01

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an increasing health problem worldwide. Quantitative assays for HCV viral load are valuable in predicting response to therapy and for following treatment efficacy. Unfortunately, most quantitative tests for HCV RNA are limited by poor sensitivity. We have developed a convenient, highly sensitive real-time reverse transcription-PCR assay for HCV RNA. The assay amplifies a portion of the 5′ untranslated region of HCV, which is then quantitated using the TaqMan 7700 detection system. Extraction of viral RNA for our assay is fully automated with the MagNA Pure LC extraction system (Roche). Our assay has a 100% detection rate for samples containing 50 IU of HCV RNA/ml and is linear up to viral loads of at least 109 IU/ml. The assay detects genotypes 1a, 2a, and 3a with equal efficiency. Quantitative results by our assay correlate well with HCV viral load as determined by the Bayer VERSANT HCV RNA 3.0 bDNA assay. In clinical use, our assay is highly reproducible, with high and low control specimens showing a coefficient of variation for the logarithmic result of 2.8 and 7.0%, respectively. The combination of reproducibility, extreme sensitivity, and ease of performance makes this assay an attractive option for routine HCV viral load testing. PMID:15365000

Therapeutic and nutraceutical potential of bioactive compounds extracted from fruit residues.

PubMed

Babbar, Neha; Oberoi, Harinder Singh; Sandhu, Simranjeet Kaur

2015-01-01

The growing interest in the substitution of synthetic food antioxidants by natural ones has fostered research in identifying new low-cost antioxidants having commercial potential. Fruits such as mango, banana, and those belonging to the citrus family leave behind a substantial amount of residues in the form of peels, pulp, seeds, and stones. Due to lack of infrastructure to handle a huge quantity of available biomass, lack of processing facilities, and high processing cost, these residues represent a major disposal problem, especially in developing countries. Because of the presence of phenolic compounds, which impart nutraceutical properties to fruit residues, such residues hold tremendous potential in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. The biological properties such as anticarcinogenicity, antimutagenicity, antiallergenicity, and antiageing activity have been reported for both natural as well as synthetic antioxidants. Special attention is focused on extraction of bioactive compounds from inexpensive or residual sources. The purpose of this review is to characterize different phenolics present in the fruit residues, discuss the antioxidant potential of such residues and the assays used in determination of antioxidant properties, discuss various methods for efficient extraction of the bioactive compounds, and highlight the importance of fruit residues as potential nutraceutical resources and biopreservatives.

Validation of internal controls for extraction and amplification of nucleic acids from enteric viruses in water samples.

PubMed

Hata, Akihiko; Katayama, Hiroyuki; Kitajima, Masaaki; Visvanathan, Chettiyappan; Nol, Chea; Furumai, Hiroaki

2011-07-01

Inhibitors that reduce viral nucleic acid extraction efficiency and interfere with cDNA synthesis and/or polymerase activity affect the molecular detection of viruses in aquatic environments. To overcome these significant problems, we developed a methodology for assessing nucleic acid yields and DNA amplification efficiencies for environmental water samples. This involved adding particles of adenovirus type 5 and murine norovirus and newly developed primer-sharing controls, which are amplified with the same primer pairs and result in the same amplicon sizes as the targets, to these samples. We found that nucleic acid loss during the extraction process, rather than reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) inhibition, more significantly attributed to underestimation of the presence of viral genomes in the environmental water samples tested in this study. Our success rate for satisfactorily amplifying viral RNAs and DNAs by RT-PCR was higher than that for obtaining adequate nucleic acid preparations. We found that inhibitory properties were greatest when we used larger sample volumes. A magnetic silica bead-based RNA extraction method effectively removed inhibitors that interfere with viral nucleic acid extraction and RT-PCR. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the inhibitory properties of environmental water samples by using both control virus particles and primer-sharing controls.

An EGO-like optimization framework for sensor placement optimization in modal analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morlier, Joseph; Basile, Aniello; Chiplunkar, Ankit; Charlotte, Miguel

2018-07-01

In aircraft design, ground/flight vibration tests are conducted to extract aircraft’s modal parameters (natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes) also known as the modal basis. The main problem in aircraft modal identification is the large number of sensors needed, which increases operational time and costs. The goal of this paper is to minimize the number of sensors by optimizing their locations in order to reconstruct a truncated modal basis of N mode shapes with a high level of accuracy in the reconstruction. There are several methods to solve sensors placement optimization (SPO) problems, but for this case an original approach has been established based on an iterative process for mode shapes reconstruction through an adaptive Kriging metamodeling approach so called efficient global optimization (EGO)-SPO. The main idea in this publication is to solve an optimization problem where the sensors locations are variables and the objective function is defined by maximizing the trace of criteria so called AutoMAC. The results on a 2D wing demonstrate a reduction of sensors by 30% using our EGO-SPO strategy.

Optimized microwave-assisted extraction of 6-gingerol from Zingiber officinale Roscoeand evaluation of antioxidant activity in vitro.

PubMed

Liu, Wei; Zhou, Chun-Li; Zhao, Jing; Chen, Dong; Li, Quan-Hong

2014-01-01

6-Gingerol is one of the most pharmacologically active and abundant components in ginger, which has a wide array of biochemical and pharmacologic activities. In recent years, the application of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) for obtaining bioactive compounds from plant materials has shown tremendous research interest and potential. In this study, an efficient microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) technique was developed to extract 6-gingerol from ginger. The extraction efficiency of MAE was also compared with conventional extraction techniques. Fresh gingers (Zingiber officinale Rose.) were harvested at commercial maturity (originally from Shandong, laiwu, China). In single-factor experiments for the recovery of 6-gingerol, proper ranges of ratio of liquid to solid, ethanol proportion, microwave power, extraction time were determined. Based on the values obtained in single-factor experiments, a Box-Behnken design (BBD) was applied to determine the best combination of extraction variables on the yield of 6-gingerol. The optimum extraction conditions were as follows: microwave power 528 W, ratio of liquid to solid 26 mL·g(-1), extraction time 31 s and ethanol proportion 78%. Furthermore, more 6-gingerol and total polyphenols contents were extracted by MAE than conventional methods including Maceration (MAC), Stirring Extraction (SE), Heat reflux extraction (HRE), Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), as well as the antioxidant capacity. Microwave-assisted extraction showed obvious advantages in terms of high extraction efficiency and antioxidant activity of extract within shortest extraction time. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of ginger powder materials after different extractions were obtained to provide visual evidence of the disruption effect. To our best knowledge, this is the first report about usage of MAE of 6-gingerol extraction from ginger, which could be referenced for the extraction of other active compounds from herbal plants.

Quick and selective extraction of Z-ligustilide from Angelica sinensis using magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes.

PubMed

Zeng, Qiong; Jia, Yan-Wei; Xu, Pei-Li; Xiao, Meng-Wei; Liu, Yi-Ming; Peng, Shu-Lin; Liao, Xun

2015-12-01

A facile and highly efficient magnetic solid-phase extraction method has been developed for Z-ligustilide, the major therapeutic agent in Angelica sinensis. The solid-phase adsorbent material used was prepared by conjugating carbon nanotubes with magnetic Fe3 O4 nanoparticles via a hydrothermal reaction. The magnetic material showed a high affinity toward Z-ligustilide due to the π-π stacking interaction between the carbon nanotubes and Z-ligustilide, allowing a quick and selective exaction of Z-ligustilide from complex sample matrices. Factors influencing the magnetic solid-phase extraction such as the amount of the added adsorbent, adsorption and desorption time, and desorption solvent, were investigated. Due to its high extraction efficiency, this method was proved highly useful for sample cleanup/enrichment in quantitative high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. The proposed method had a linear calibration curve (R(2) = 0.9983) over the concentration between 4 ng/mL and 200 μg/mL Z-ligustilide. The accuracy of the method was determined by the recovery, which was from 92.07 to 104.02%, with the relative standard deviations >4.51%. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High Efficiency Energy Extraction from a Relativistic Electron Beam in a Strongly Tapered Undulator

DOE PAGES

Sudar, N.; Musumeci, P.; Duris, J.; ...

2016-10-19

Here we present results of an experiment where, using a 200 GW CO 2 laser seed, a 65 MeV electron beam was decelerated down to 35 MeV in a 54-cm-long strongly tapered helical magnetic undulator, extracting over 30% of the initial electron beam energy to coherent radiation. These results, supported by simulations of the radiation field evolution, demonstrate unparalleled electro-optical conversion efficiencies for a relativistic beam in an undulator field and represent an important step in the development of high peak and average power coherent radiation sources.

Achieving high efficiency laminated polymer solar cell with interfacial modified metallic electrode and pressure induced crystallization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Yongbo; Bi, Yu; Huang, Jinsong

2011-02-01

We report efficient laminated organic photovoltaic device with efficiency approach the optimized device by regular method based on Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). The high efficiency is mainly attributed to the formation of a concrete polymer/metal interface mechanically and electrically by the use of electronic-glue, and using the highly conductive and flexible silver film as anode to reduce photovoltage loss and modifying its work function for efficiency hole extraction by ultraviolet/ozone treatment, and the pressure induced crystallization of PCBM.

An efficient microwave-assisted extraction process of stevioside and rebaudioside-A from Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni).

PubMed

Jaitak, Vikas; Bikram Singh, Bandna; Kaul, V K

2009-01-01

Stevioside and rebaudioside-A are major low-calorie diterpene steviol glycosides in the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana. They are widely used as natural sweeteners for diabetic patients, but the long extraction procedures required and the optimisation of product yield present challenging problems. To develop a rapid and effective methodology for the extraction of stevioside and rebaudioside-A from S. rebaudiana leaves and to compare yields using different extraction techniques. Dried and powdered leaves of S. rebaudiana were extracted by conventional, ultrasound and microwave-assisted extraction techniques using methanol, ethanol and water as single solvents as well as in binary mixtures. Conventional cold extraction was performed at 25 degrees C for 12 h while ultrasound extraction was carried out at temperature of 35 +/- 5 degrees C for 30 min. Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) was carried out at a power level of 80 W for 1 min at 50 degrees C. MAE yielded 8.64 and 2.34% of stevioside and rebaudioside-A, respectively, while conventional and ultrasound techniques yielded 6.54 and 1.20%, and 4.20 and 1.98% of stevioside and rebaudioside-A, respectively. A rapid and efficient method has been developed for the extraction of stevioside and rebaudioside-A in optimum yields using MAE procedure. This method has the advantage of rapid extraction and fast screening of a large number of S. rebaudiana samples for assessment of planting material. MAE saves considerable time, energy and has implications in the quality assessment of stevioside and rebaudioside-A prior to their industrial production from the leaves of S. rebaudiana. Copyright (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An integrated system for land resources supervision based on the IoT and cloud computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Shifeng; Zhu, Yunqiang; Xu, Lida; Zhang, Jinqu; Zhou, Peiji; Luo, Kan; Yang, Jie

2017-01-01

Integrated information systems are important safeguards for the utilisation and development of land resources. Information technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing, are inevitable requirements for the quality and efficiency of land resources supervision tasks. In this study, an economical and highly efficient supervision system for land resources has been established based on IoT and cloud computing technologies; a novel online and offline integrated system with synchronised internal and field data that includes the entire process of 'discovering breaches, analysing problems, verifying fieldwork and investigating cases' was constructed. The system integrates key technologies, such as the automatic extraction of high-precision information based on remote sensing, semantic ontology-based technology to excavate and discriminate public sentiment on the Internet that is related to illegal incidents, high-performance parallel computing based on MapReduce, uniform storing and compressing (bitwise) technology, global positioning system data communication and data synchronisation mode, intelligent recognition and four-level ('device, transfer, system and data') safety control technology. The integrated system based on a 'One Map' platform has been officially implemented by the Department of Land and Resources of Guizhou Province, China, and was found to significantly increase the efficiency and level of land resources supervision. The system promoted the overall development of informatisation in fields related to land resource management.

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.

Grid-converged solution and analysis of the unsteady viscous flow in a two-dimensional shock tube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Guangzhao; Xu, Kun; Liu, Feng

2018-01-01

The flow in a shock tube is extremely complex with dynamic multi-scale structures of sharp fronts, flow separation, and vortices due to the interaction of the shock wave, the contact surface, and the boundary layer over the side wall of the tube. Prediction and understanding of the complex fluid dynamics are of theoretical and practical importance. It is also an extremely challenging problem for numerical simulation, especially at relatively high Reynolds numbers. Daru and Tenaud ["Evaluation of TVD high resolution schemes for unsteady viscous shocked flows," Comput. Fluids 30, 89-113 (2001)] proposed a two-dimensional model problem as a numerical test case for high-resolution schemes to simulate the flow field in a square closed shock tube. Though many researchers attempted this problem using a variety of computational methods, there is not yet an agreed-upon grid-converged solution of the problem at the Reynolds number of 1000. This paper presents a rigorous grid-convergence study and the resulting grid-converged solutions for this problem by using a newly developed, efficient, and high-order gas-kinetic scheme. Critical data extracted from the converged solutions are documented as benchmark data. The complex fluid dynamics of the flow at Re = 1000 are discussed and analyzed in detail. Major phenomena revealed by the numerical computations include the downward concentration of the fluid through the curved shock, the formation of the vortices, the mechanism of the shock wave bifurcation, the structure of the jet along the bottom wall, and the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability near the contact surface. Presentation and analysis of those flow processes provide important physical insight into the complex flow physics occurring in a shock tube.

High-throughput countercurrent microextraction in passive mode.

PubMed

Xie, Tingliang; Xu, Cong

2018-05-15

Although microextraction is much more efficient than conventional macroextraction, its practical application has been limited by low throughputs and difficulties in constructing robust countercurrent microextraction (CCME) systems. In this work, a robust CCME process was established based on a novel passive microextractor with four units without any moving parts. The passive microextractor has internal recirculation and can efficiently mix two immiscible liquids. The hydraulic characteristics as well as the extraction and back-extraction performance of the passive CCME were investigated experimentally. The recovery efficiencies of the passive CCME were 1.43-1.68 times larger than the best values achieved using cocurrent extraction. Furthermore, the total throughput of the passive CCME developed in this work was about one to three orders of magnitude higher than that of other passive CCME systems reported in the literature. Therefore, a robust CCME process with high throughputs has been successfully constructed, which may promote the application of passive CCME in a wide variety of fields.

ELiXIR—Solid-State Luminaire With Enhanced Light Extraction by Internal Reflection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, Steven C.; Steckl, Andrew J.

2007-06-01

A phosphor-converted light-emitting diode (pcLED) luminaire featuring enhanced light extraction by internal reflection (ELiXIR) with efficacy of 60 lm/W producing 18 lumens of yellowish green light at 100 mA is presented. The luminaire consists of a commercial blue high power LED, a polymer hemispherical shell lens with interior phosphor coating, and planar aluminized reflector. High extraction efficiency of the phosphor-converted light is achieved by separating the phosphor from the LED and using internal reflection to steer the light away from lossy reflectors and the LED package and out of the device. At 10 and 500 mA, the luminaire produces 2.1 and 66 lumens with efficacies of 80 and 37 lm/W, respectively. Technological improvements over existing commercial LEDs, such as more efficient pcLED packages or, alternatively, higher efficiency green or yellow for color mixing, will be essential to achieving 150 200 lm/W solid-state lighting. Advances in both areas are demonstrated.

Semi-Supervised Geographical Feature Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, H.; Yu, L.; Kuo, K. S.

2016-12-01

Extraction and tracking geographical features is a fundamental requirement in many geoscience fields. However, this operation has become an increasingly challenging task for domain scientists when tackling a large amount of geoscience data. Although domain scientists may have a relatively clear definition of features, it is difficult to capture the presence of features in an accurate and efficient fashion. We propose a semi-supervised approach to address large geographical feature detection. Our approach has two main components. First, we represent a heterogeneous geoscience data in a unified high-dimensional space, which can facilitate us to evaluate the similarity of data points with respect to geolocation, time, and variable values. We characterize the data from these measures, and use a set of hash functions to parameterize the initial knowledge of the data. Second, for any user query, our approach can automatically extract the initial results based on the hash functions. To improve the accuracy of querying, our approach provides a visualization interface to display the querying results and allow users to interactively explore and refine them. The user feedback will be used to enhance our knowledge base in an iterative manner. In our implementation, we use high-performance computing techniques to accelerate the construction of hash functions. Our design facilitates a parallelization scheme for feature detection and extraction, which is a traditionally challenging problem for large-scale data. We evaluate our approach and demonstrate the effectiveness using both synthetic and real world datasets.

Extraction of surface plasmons in organic light-emitting diodes via high-index coupling.

PubMed

Scholz, Bert J; Frischeisen, Jörg; Jaeger, Arndt; Setz, Daniel S; Reusch, Thilo C G; Brütting, Wolfgang

2012-03-12

The efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is still limited by poor light outcoupling. In particular, the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at metal-organic interfaces represents a major loss channel. By combining optical simulations and experiments on simplified luminescent thin-film structures we elaborate the conditions for the extraction of SPPs via coupling to high-index media. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate the possibility to extract light from wave-guided modes and surface plasmons in a top-emitting white OLED by a high-index prism.

Use of an online extraction liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry method for the characterization of polyphenols in Citrus paradisi cv. Changshanhuyu peel.

PubMed

Tong, Chaoying; Peng, Mijun; Tong, Runna; Ma, Ruyi; Guo, Keke; Shi, Shuyun

2018-01-19

Chemical profiling of natural products by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was critical for understanding of their clinical bioactivities, and sample pretreatment steps have been considered as a bottleneck for analysis. Currently, concerted efforts have been made to develop sample pretreatment methods with high efficiency, low solvent and time consumptions. Here, a simple and efficient online extraction (OLE) strategy coupled with HPLC-diode array detector-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS) was developed for rapid chemical profiling. For OLE strategy, guard column inserted with ground sample (2 mg) instead of sample loop was connected with manual injection valve, in which components were directly extracted and transferred to HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS system only by mobile phase without any extra time, solvent, instrument and operation. By comparison with offline heat-reflux extraction of Citrus paradisi cv. Changshanhuyu (Changshanhuyu) peel, OLE strategy presented higher extraction efficiency perhaps because of the high pressure and gradient elution mode. A total of twenty-two secondary metabolites were detected according to their retention times, UV spectra, exact mass, and fragmentation ions in MS/MS spectra, and nine of them were discovered in Changshanhuyu peel for the first time to our knowledge. It is concluded that the developed OLE-HPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS system offers new perspectives for rapid chemical profiling of natural products. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Mentha pulegium and investigation of their antibacterial, antifungal and anticancer activity.

PubMed

Kelkawi, Ali Hamad Abd; Abbasi Kajani, Abolghasem; Bordbar, Abdol-Khalegh

2017-06-01

A simple and eco-friendly method for efficient synthesis of stable colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Mentha pulegium extracts is described. A series of reactions was conducted using different types and concentrations of plant extract as well as metal ions to optimize the reaction conditions. AgNPs were characterized by using UV-vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, zetasizer, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). At the optimized conditions, plate shaped AgNPs with zeta potential value of -15.7 and plasmon absorption maximum at 450 nm were obtained using high concentration of aqueous extract. Efficient adsorption of organic compounds on the nanoparticles was confirmed by FTIR and EDAX. The biogenic AgNPs displayed promising antibacterial activity on Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus , and Streptococcus pyogenes . The highest antibacterial activity of 25 µg mL-1 was obtained for all the strains using aqueous extract synthesized AgNPs. The aqueous extract synthesised AgNPs also showed considerable antifungal activity against fluconazole resistant Candida albicans . The cytotoxicity assay revealed considerable anticancer activity of AgNPs on HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells. Overall results indicated high potential of M. pulegium extract to synthesis high quality AgNPs for biomedical applications.

ACCELERATED SOLVENT EXTRACTION COMBINED WITH AUTOMATED SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION-GC/MS FOR ANALYSIS OF SEMIVOLATILE COMPOUNDS IN HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT SOLID SAMPLES

EPA Science Inventory

A research project was initiated to address a recurring problem of elevated detection limits above required risk-based concentrations for the determination of semivolatile organic compounds in high moisture content solid samples. This project was initiated, in cooperation with t...

Determination of N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone in drugs using polypyrrole-based headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-nitrogen-phosphorous detection.

PubMed

Mehdinia, Ali; Ghassempour, Alireza; Rafati, Hasan; Heydari, Rouhollah

2007-03-21

A headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-nitrogen-phosphorous detection (HS-SPME-GC-NPD) method using polypyrrole (PPy) fibers has been introduced to determine two derivatives of pyrrolidone; N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). Two types of PPy fibers, prepared using organic and aqueous media, were compared in terms of extraction efficiency and thermal stability. It was found that PPy film prepared using organic medium (i.e. acetonitrile) had higher extraction efficiency and more thermal stability compared to the film prepared in aqueous medium. To enhance the sensitivity of HS-SPME, the effects of pH, ionic strength, extraction time, extraction temperature and the headspace volume on the extraction efficiency were optimized. Using the results of this research, high sensitivity and selectivity had been achieved due to the combination of the high extraction efficiency of PPy film prepared in organic medium and the high sensitivity and selectivity of nitrogen-phosphorous detection. Linear range of the analytes was found to be between 1.0 and 1000 microg L(-1) with regression coefficients (R(2)) of 0.998 and 0.997 for NVP and NMP, consequently. Limits of detection (LODs) were 0.074 and 0.081 microg L(-1) for NVP and NMP, respectively. Relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) for five replications of analyses was found to be less than 6.0%. In real samples the mean recoveries were 94.81% and 94.15% for NVP and NMP, respectively. The results demonstrated the suitability of the HS-SPME technique for analyzing NVP and NMP in two different pharmaceutical matrices. In addition, the method was used for simultaneous detection of NVP, 2-pyrrolidone (2-Pyr), gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and ethanolamine (EA) compounds.

Comparative analysis of prodigiosin isolated from endophyte Serratia marcescens.

PubMed

Khanam, B; Chandra, R

2018-03-01

Extraction of pigments from endophytes is an uphill task. Up till now, there are no efficient methods available to extract the maximum amount of prodigiosin from Serratia marcescens. This is one of the important endophytes of Beta vulgaris L. The present work was carried out for the comparative study of six different extraction methods such as homogenization, ultrasonication, freezing and thawing, heat treatment, organic solvents and inorganic acids to evaluate the efficiency of prodigiosin yield. Our results demonstrated that highest extraction was observed in ultrasonication (98·1 ± 1·7%) while the lowest extraction by freezing and thawing (31·8 ± 3·8%) methods. However, thin layer chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography and Fourier transform infrared data suggest that bioactive pigment in the extract was prodigiosin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study of extraction methods and identification and purification of prodigiosin from cell biomass of Ser. marcescens isolated from Beta vulgaris L. The prodigiosin family is a potent drug with anticancer, antimalarial, antibacterial, antifungal, antiproliferative and immunosuppressive activities. Moreover, it has immense potential in pharmaceutical, food and textile industries. For the industrial perspective, it is essential to achieve purified, high yield and cost-effective extraction of prodigiosin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study on prodigiosin extraction and also the first report on endophyte Serratia marcescens isolated from Beta vulgaris L. The significance of our results is to extract high amount and good quality prodigiosin for commercial application. © 2017 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Separation of three phenolic high-molecular-weight compounds from the crude extract of Terminalia Chebula Retz. by ultrasound-assisted extraction and high-speed counter-current chromatography.

PubMed

Zou, Deng-lang; Chen, Tao; Li, Hong-mei; Chen, Chen; Zhao, Jing-yang; Li, Yu-lin

2016-04-01

This study presents an efficient strategy for separation of three phenolic compounds with high molecular weight from the crude extract of Terminalia chebula Retz. by ultrasound-assisted extraction and high-speed counter-current chromatography. The ultrasound-assisted extraction conditions were optimized by response surface methodology and the results showed the target compounds could be well enriched under the optimized extraction conditions. Then the crude extract was directly separated by high-speed counter-current chromatography without any pretreatment using n-hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:7:0.5:3, v/v/v/v) as the solvent system. In 180 min, 13 mg of A, 18 mg of B, and 9 mg of C were obtained from 200 mg of crude sample. Their structures were identified as Chebulagic acid (A, 954 Da), Chebulinic acid (B, 956 Da), and Ellagic acid (C) by (1) H NMR spectroscopy. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A Simple and Efficient Method of Extracting DNA from Aged Bones and Teeth.

PubMed

Liu, Qiqi; Liu, Liyan; Zhang, Minli; Zhang, Qingzhen; Wang, Qiong; Ding, Xiaoran; Shao, Liting; Zhou, Zhe; Wang, Shengqi

2018-05-01

DNA is often difficult to extract from old bones and teeth due to low levels of DNA and high levels of degradation. This study established a simple yet efficient method for extracting DNA from 20 aged bones and teeth (approximately 60 years old). Based on the concentration and STR typing results, the new method of DNA extraction (OM) developed in this study was compared with the PrepFiler™ BTA Forensic DNA Extraction Kit (BM). The total amount of DNA extracted using the OM method was not significantly different from that extracted using the commercial kit (p > 0.05). However, the number of STR loci detected was significantly higher in the samples processed using the OM method than using the BM method (p < 0.05). This study aimed to establish a DNA extraction method for aged bones and teeth to improve the detection rate of STR typing and reduce costs compared to the BM technique. © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

High-Capacity Conductive Nanocellulose Paper Sheets for Electrochemically Controlled Extraction of DNA Oligomers

PubMed Central

Razaq, Aamir; Nyström, Gustav; Strømme, Maria; Mihranyan, Albert; Nyholm, Leif

2011-01-01

Highly porous polypyrrole (PPy)-nanocellulose paper sheets have been evaluated as inexpensive and disposable electrochemically controlled three-dimensional solid phase extraction materials. The composites, which had a total anion exchange capacity of about 1.1 mol kg−1, were used for extraction and subsequent release of negatively charged fluorophore tagged DNA oligomers via galvanostatic oxidation and reduction of a 30–50 nm conformal PPy layer on the cellulose substrate. The ion exchange capacity, which was, at least, two orders of magnitude higher than those previously reached in electrochemically controlled extraction, originated from the high surface area (i.e. 80 m2 g−1) of the porous composites and the thin PPy layer which ensured excellent access to the ion exchange material. This enabled the extractions to be carried out faster and with better control of the PPy charge than with previously employed approaches. Experiments in equimolar mixtures of (dT)6, (dT)20, and (dT)40 DNA oligomers showed that all oligomers could be extracted, and that the smallest oligomer was preferentially released with an efficiency of up to 40% during the reduction of the PPy layer. These results indicate that the present material is very promising for the development of inexpensive and efficient electrochemically controlled ion-exchange membranes for batch-wise extraction of biomolecules. PMID:22195031

Accelerated solvent extraction followed by on-line solid-phase extraction coupled to ion trap LC/MS/MS for analysis of benzalkonium chlorides in sediment samples

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ferrer, I.; Furlong, E.T.

2002-01-01

Benzalkonium chlorides (BACs) were successfully extracted from sediment samples using a new methodology based on accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) followed by an on-line cleanup step. The BACs were detected by liquid chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry (LC/MS) or tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) using an electrospray interface operated in the positive ion mode. This methodology combines the high efficiency of extraction provided by a pressurized fluid and the high sensitivity offered by the ion trap MS/MS. The effects of solvent type and ASE operational variables, such as temperature and pressure, were evaluated. After optimization, a mixture of acetonitrile/water (6:4 or 7:3) was found to be most efficient for extracting BACs from the sediment samples. Extraction recoveries ranged from 95 to 105% for C12 and C14 homologues, respectively. Total method recoveries from fortified sediment samples, using a cleanup step followed by ASE, were 85% for C12BAC and 79% for C14-BAC. The methodology developed in this work provides detection limits in the subnanogram per gram range. Concentrations of BAC homologues ranged from 22 to 206 ??g/kg in sediment samples from different river sites downstream from wastewater treatment plants. The high affinity of BACs for soil suggests that BACs preferentially concentrate in sediment rather than in water.

Supercritical-Fluid Extraction of Oil From Tar Sands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Compton, L. E.

1982-01-01

New supercritical solvent mixtures have been laboratory-tested for extraction of oil from tar sands. Mixture is circulated through sand at high pressure and at a temperature above critical point, dissolving organic matter into the compressed gas. Extract is recovered from sand residues. Low-temperature super-critical solvents reduce energy consumption and waste-disposal problems.

Feature extraction and classification algorithms for high dimensional data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Chulhee; Landgrebe, David

1993-01-01

Feature extraction and classification algorithms for high dimensional data are investigated. Developments with regard to sensors for Earth observation are moving in the direction of providing much higher dimensional multispectral imagery than is now possible. In analyzing such high dimensional data, processing time becomes an important factor. With large increases in dimensionality and the number of classes, processing time will increase significantly. To address this problem, a multistage classification scheme is proposed which reduces the processing time substantially by eliminating unlikely classes from further consideration at each stage. Several truncation criteria are developed and the relationship between thresholds and the error caused by the truncation is investigated. Next an approach to feature extraction for classification is proposed based directly on the decision boundaries. It is shown that all the features needed for classification can be extracted from decision boundaries. A characteristic of the proposed method arises by noting that only a portion of the decision boundary is effective in discriminating between classes, and the concept of the effective decision boundary is introduced. The proposed feature extraction algorithm has several desirable properties: it predicts the minimum number of features necessary to achieve the same classification accuracy as in the original space for a given pattern recognition problem; and it finds the necessary feature vectors. The proposed algorithm does not deteriorate under the circumstances of equal means or equal covariances as some previous algorithms do. In addition, the decision boundary feature extraction algorithm can be used both for parametric and non-parametric classifiers. Finally, some problems encountered in analyzing high dimensional data are studied and possible solutions are proposed. First, the increased importance of the second order statistics in analyzing high dimensional data is recognized. By investigating the characteristics of high dimensional data, the reason why the second order statistics must be taken into account in high dimensional data is suggested. Recognizing the importance of the second order statistics, there is a need to represent the second order statistics. A method to visualize statistics using a color code is proposed. By representing statistics using color coding, one can easily extract and compare the first and the second statistics.

Highly efficient extraction and oxidative desulfurization system using Na7H2LaW10O36⋅32 H2O in [bmim]BF4 at room temperature.

PubMed

Xu, Junhua; Zhao, Shen; Chen, Wei; Wang, Miao; Song, Yu-Fei

2012-04-10

Highly efficient, deep desulfurization of model oil containing dibenzothiophene (DBT), benzothiophene (BT), or 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) has been achieved under mild conditions by using an extraction and catalytic oxidative desulfurization system (ECODS) in which a lanthanide-containing polyoxometalate Na(7)H(2)LnW(10)O(36)⋅32 H(2)O (LnW(10); Ln = Eu, La) acts as catalyst, [bmim]BF(4) (bmim = 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) as extractant, and H(2)O(2) as oxidant. Sulfur removal follows the order DBT>4,6-DMDBT>BT at 30 °C. DBT can be completely oxidized to the corresponding sulfone in 25 min under mild conditions, and the LaW(10)/[bmim]BF(4) system could be recycled for ten times with only slight decrease in activity. Thus, LaW(10) in [bmim]BF(4) is one of the most efficient systems for desulfurization using ionic liquids as extractant reported so far. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High performance preconcentration of inorganic Se species by dispersive micro-solid phase extraction with a nanosilica-ionic liquid hybrid material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Llaver, Mauricio; Coronado, Eduardo A.; Wuilloud, Rodolfo G.

2017-12-01

A highly sensitive and efficient dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (D-μ-SPE) method was developed for inorganic Se speciation analysis. A novel ionic liquid (IL)-nanomaterial hybrid consisting of 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide-functionalized nanosilica was used for the efficient retention of Se(IV) complexed with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, followed by elution with an ethyl acetate/Triton X-114 mixture and determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy. The Se(VI) species was selectively determined by difference between total inorganic Se and Se(IV) after pre-reduction. The IL-nanomaterial hybrid was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electronic microscopy. Likewise, Se(IV) sorption capacity of the retention material and maximum amount of IL loaded on its surface were determined. Several factors concerning the functionalization, extraction and elution steps were optimized, yielding a 100% extraction efficiency for Se(IV) under optimal conditions. A limit of detection of 1.1 ng L- 1, a relative standard deviation of 5.7% and a 110-fold enhancement factor were obtained. The D-μ-SPE method was successfully applied to several water samples from different origins and compositions, including rain, tap, underground, river and sea.

Optimization of microwave-assisted extraction conditions for preparing lignan-rich extract from Saraca asoca bark using Box-Behnken design.

PubMed

Mishra, Shikha; Aeri, Vidhu

2016-07-01

Lyoniside is the major constituent of Saraca asoca Linn. (Caesalpiniaceae) bark. There is an immediate need to develop an efficient method to isolate its chemical constituents, since it is a therapeutically important plant. A rapid extraction method for lyoniside based on microwave-assisted extraction of S. asoca bark was developed and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Lyoniside was analyzed and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). The extraction solvent ratio (%), material solvent ratio (g/ml) and extraction time (min) were optimized using Box-Behnken design (BBD) to obtain the highest extraction efficiency. The optimal conditions were the use of 1:30 material solvent ratio with 70:30 mixture of methanol:water for 10 min duration. The optimized microwave-assisted extraction yielded 9.4 mg/g of lyoniside content in comparison to reflux extraction under identical conditions which yielded 4.2 mg/g of lyoniside content. Under optimum conditions, the experimental values agreed closely with the predicted values. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated a high goodness-of-fit model and the success of the RSM method for optimizing lyoniside extraction from the bark of S. asoca. All the three variables significantly affected the lyoniside content. Increased polarity of solvent medium enhances the lyoniside yield. The present study shows the applicability of microwave-assisted extraction in extraction of lyoniside from S. asoca bark.

Enhanced and green extraction polyphenols and furanocoumarins from Fig (Ficus carica L.) leaves using deep eutectic solvents.

PubMed

Wang, Tong; Jiao, Jiao; Gai, Qing-Yan; Wang, Peng; Guo, Na; Niu, Li-Li; Fu, Yu-Jie

2017-10-25

Nowadays, green extraction of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants has gained increasing attention. As green solvent, deep eutectic solvent (DES) have been highly rated to replace toxic organic solvents in extraction process. In present study, to simultaneous extraction five main bioactive compounds from fig leaves, DES was tailor-made. The tailor-made DES composed of a 3:3:3 molar ratio of glycerol, xylitol and D-(-)-Fructose showed enhanced extraction yields for five target compounds simultaneously compared with traditional methanol and non-tailor DESs. Then, the tailor-made DES based extraction methods have compared and microwave-assisted extraction was selected and optimized due to its high extraction yields with lower time consumption. The influencing parameters including extraction temperature, liquid-solid ratio, and extraction time were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Under optimal conditions the extraction yield of caffeoylmalic acid, psoralic acid-glucoside, rutin, psoralen and bergapten was 6.482mg/g, 16.34mg/g, 5.207mg/g, 15.22mg/g and 2.475mg/g, respectively. Macroporous resin D101 has been used to recovery target compounds with recovery yields of 79.2%, 83.4%, 85.5%, 81.2% and 75.3% for caffeoylmalic acid, psoralic acid-glucoside, rutin, psoralen and bergapten, respectively. The present study suggests that DESs are truly designer and efficient solvents and the method we developed was efficient and sustainable for extraction main compounds from Fig leaves.mg/g. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Numerical Study for Groundwater Flow, Heat and Solute Transport Associated with Operation of Open-loop Geothermal System in Alluvial Aquifer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, D. K.; Bae, G. O.; Lee, K. K.

2014-12-01

The open-loop geothermal system directly uses a relatively stable temperature of groundwater for cooling and heating in buildings and thus has been known as an eco-friendly, energy-saving, and cost-efficient technique. The facility for this system was installed at a site located near Paldang-dam in Han-river, Korea. Because of the well-developed alluvium, the site might be appropriate to application of this system requiring extraction and injection of a large amount of groundwater. A simple numerical experiment assuming various hydrogeologic conditions demonstrated that regional groundwater flow direction was the most important factor for efficient operation of facility in this site having a highly permeable layer. However, a comparison of river stage data and groundwater level measurements showed that the daily and seasonal controls of water level at Paldang-dam have had a critical influence on the regional groundwater flow in the site. Moreover, nitrate concentrations measured in the monitoring wells gave indication of the effect of agricultural activities around the facility on the groundwater quality. The facility operation, such as extraction and injection of groundwater, will obviously affect transport of the agricultural contaminant and, maybe, it will even cause serious problems in the normal operation. Particularly, the high-permeable layer in this aquifer must be a preferential path for quick spreadings of thermal and contaminant plumes. The objective of this study was to find an efficient, safe and stable operation plan of the open-loop geothermal system installed in this site having the complicated conditions of highly permeable layer, variable regional groundwater flow, and agricultural contamination. Numerical simulations for groundwater flow, heat and solute transport were carried out to analyze all the changes in groundwater level and flow, temperature, and quality according to the operation, respectively. Results showed that an operation plan for only the thermal efficiency of system cannot be the best in aspect of safe and stable operation related to groundwater quality. All these results concluded that it is essential to understand various and site-specific conditions of the site in a more integrated approach for the successful application of the open-loop geothermal system.

Automated Knowledge Discovery from Simulators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burl, Michael C.; DeCoste, D.; Enke, B. L.; Mazzoni, D.; Merline, W. J.; Scharenbroich, L.

2006-01-01

In this paper, we explore one aspect of knowledge discovery from simulators, the landscape characterization problem, where the aim is to identify regions in the input/ parameter/model space that lead to a particular output behavior. Large-scale numerical simulators are in widespread use by scientists and engineers across a range of government agencies, academia, and industry; in many cases, simulators provide the only means to examine processes that are infeasible or impossible to study otherwise. However, the cost of simulation studies can be quite high, both in terms of the time and computational resources required to conduct the trials and the manpower needed to sift through the resulting output. Thus, there is strong motivation to develop automated methods that enable more efficient knowledge extraction.

Energy Recovery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

The United States and other countries face the problem of waste disposal in an economical, environmentally safe manner. A widely applied solution adopted by Americans is "waste to energy," incinerating the refuse and using the steam produced by trash burning to drive an electricity producing generator. NASA's computer program PRESTO II, (Performance of Regenerative Superheated Steam Turbine Cycles), provides power engineering companies, including Blount Energy Resources Corporation of Alabama, with the ability to model such features as process steam extraction, induction and feedwater heating by external sources, peaking and high back pressure. Expansion line efficiency, exhaust loss, leakage, mechanical losses and generator losses are used to calculate the cycle heat rate. The generator output program is sufficiently precise that it can be used to verify performance quoted in turbine generator supplier's proposals.

[Hydrophidae identification through analysis on Cyt b gene barcode].

PubMed

Liao, Li-xi; Zeng, Ke-wu; Tu, Peng-fei

2015-08-01

Hydrophidae, one of the precious traditional Chinese medicines, is generally drily preserved to prevent corruption, but it is hard to identify the species of Hydrophidae through the appearance because of the change due to the drying process. The identification through analysis on gene barcode, a new technique in species identification, can avoid the problem. The gene barcodes of the 6 species of Hydrophidae like Lapemis hardwickii were aquired through DNA extraction and gene sequencing. These barcodes were then in sequence alignment and test the identification efficency by BLAST. Our results revealed that the barcode sequences performed high identification efficiency, and had obvious difference between intra- and inter-species. These all indicated that Cyt b DNA barcoding can confirm the Hydrophidae identification.

Power line identification of millimeter wave radar based on PCA-GS-SVM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Fang; Zhang, Guifeng; Cheng, Yansheng

2017-12-01

Aiming at the problem that the existing detection method can not effectively solve the security of UAV's ultra low altitude flight caused by power line, a power line recognition method based on grid search (GS) and the principal component analysis and support vector machine (PCA-SVM) is proposed. Firstly, the candidate line of Hough transform is reduced by PCA, and the main feature of candidate line is extracted. Then, upport vector machine (SVM is) optimized by grid search method (GS). Finally, using support vector machine classifier optimized parameters to classify the candidate line. MATLAB simulation results show that this method can effectively identify the power line and noise, and has high recognition accuracy and algorithm efficiency.

[Application of chemical ecology in controlling marine fouling organisms].

PubMed

Fang, Fang; Yan, Tao; Liu, Qing

2005-10-01

Many marine organisms can produce secondary metabolites beneficial to the protection of marine environments against fouling, and thus, applying chemo-ecological methods to extract the natural antifoulants from marine organisms to resolve the problems relevant to marine fouling is a new thinking in resent years. Its aim is to search for high efficient and non-toxic antifoulants to replace the existing chemically synthetic ones which are unfortunately found to have widespread toxic effects on marine environment. Although we know few about the antifouling mechanisms of secondary metabolites, many natural products have been proved to have antifouling activity. Therefore, basic and applied researches on the ecological roles of these natural compounds, their action mechanisms, coating compatibility, controlled release, and field test are required in the future.

Operation of a high impedance applied-B extraction ion diode on the SABRE positive polarity linear induction accelerator

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

Hanson, D.L.; Cuneo, M.E.; McKay, P.F.

We present results from initial experiments with a high impedance applied-B extraction diode on the SABRE ten stage linear induction accelerator (6.7 MV, 300 kA). We have demonstrated efficient coupling of power from the accelerator through an extended MITL (Magnetically Insulated Transmission Line) into a high intensity ion beam. Both MITL electron flow in the diode region and ion diode behavior, including ion source turn-on, virtual cathode formation and evolution, enhancement delay, and ion coupling efficiency, are strongly influenced by the geometry of the diode insulating magnetic field. For our present diode electrode geometry, electrons from the diode feed stronglymore » influence the evolution of the virtual cathode. Both experimental data and particle-in-cell numerical simulations show that uniform insulation of these feed electrons is required for uniform ion emission and efficient diode operation.« less

High-performance polymeric photovoltaic cells with a gold chloride-treated polyacrylonitrile hole extraction interlayer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeong, Ji-Ho; Noh, Yong-Jin; Kim, Seok-Soon; Kwon, Sung-Nam; Na, Seok-In

2018-03-01

We introduce a high efficiency polymeric photovoltaic cell (PPV) to be obtained by polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hole extraction layer (HEL) modification with gold chloride (AuCl3). The role of PAN HELs with AuCl3 and their effects on solar cell performances were studied with ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, internal resistances in PPVs, and current-voltage power curves. The resultant PPVs with AuCl3-treated PAN HELs showed improved cell efficiency compared to PSCs with no interlayer and PAN without AuCl3. Furthermore, with AuCl3-treated PAN, we finally achieved a high efficiency of 6.91%, and a desirable PPV-stability in poly[[4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b‧]dithiophe-ne-2,6-diyl][3-fluoro-2-[(2-thylhexyl)carbonyl]-thieno[3,4-b]thiophenediyl

Efficient Separation and Extraction of Vanadium and Chromium in High Chromium Vanadium Slag by Selective Two-Stage Roasting-Leaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, Jing; Jiang, Tao; Xu, Yingzhe; Liu, Jiayi; Xue, Xiangxin

2018-06-01

Vanadium and chromium are important rare metals, leading to a focus on high chromium vanadium slag (HCVS) as a potential raw material to extract vanadium and chromium in China. In this work, a novel method based on selective two-stage roasting-leaching was proposed to separate and extract vanadium and chromium efficiently in HCVS. XRD, FT-IR, and SEM were utilized to analyze the phase evolutions and microstructure during the whole process. Calcification roasting, which can calcify vanadium selectively using thermodynamics, was carried out in the first roasting stage to transfer vanadium into acid-soluble vanadate and leave chromium in the leaching residue as (Fe0.6Cr0.4)2O3 after H2SO4 leaching. When HCVS and CaO were mixed in the molar ratio CaO/V2O3 (n(CaO)/n(V2O3)) of 0.5 to 1.25, around 90 pct vanadium and less than 1 pct chromium were extracted in the first leaching liquid, thus achieving the separation of vanadium and chromium. In the second roasting stage, sodium salt, which combines with chromium easily, was added to the first leaching residue to extract chromium and 95.16 pct chromium was extracted under the optimal conditions. The total vanadium and chromium leaching rates were above 95 pct, achieving the efficient separation and extraction of vanadium and chromium. The established method provides a new technique to separate vanadium and chromium during roasting rather than in the liquid form, which is useful for the comprehensive application of HCVS.

Efficient Separation and Extraction of Vanadium and Chromium in High Chromium Vanadium Slag by Selective Two-Stage Roasting-Leaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, Jing; Jiang, Tao; Xu, Yingzhe; Liu, Jiayi; Xue, Xiangxin

2018-04-01

Vanadium and chromium are important rare metals, leading to a focus on high chromium vanadium slag (HCVS) as a potential raw material to extract vanadium and chromium in China. In this work, a novel method based on selective two-stage roasting-leaching was proposed to separate and extract vanadium and chromium efficiently in HCVS. XRD, FT-IR, and SEM were utilized to analyze the phase evolutions and microstructure during the whole process. Calcification roasting, which can calcify vanadium selectively using thermodynamics, was carried out in the first roasting stage to transfer vanadium into acid-soluble vanadate and leave chromium in the leaching residue as (Fe0.6Cr0.4)2O3 after H2SO4 leaching. When HCVS and CaO were mixed in the molar ratio CaO/V2O3 (n(CaO)/n(V2O3)) of 0.5 to 1.25, around 90 pct vanadium and less than 1 pct chromium were extracted in the first leaching liquid, thus achieving the separation of vanadium and chromium. In the second roasting stage, sodium salt, which combines with chromium easily, was added to the first leaching residue to extract chromium and 95.16 pct chromium was extracted under the optimal conditions. The total vanadium and chromium leaching rates were above 95 pct, achieving the efficient separation and extraction of vanadium and chromium. The established method provides a new technique to separate vanadium and chromium during roasting rather than in the liquid form, which is useful for the comprehensive application of HCVS.

Multiobjective optimization of temporal processes.

PubMed

Song, Zhe; Kusiak, Andrew

2010-06-01

This paper presents a dynamic predictive-optimization framework of a nonlinear temporal process. Data-mining (DM) and evolutionary strategy algorithms are integrated in the framework for solving the optimization model. DM algorithms learn dynamic equations from the process data. An evolutionary strategy algorithm is then applied to solve the optimization problem guided by the knowledge extracted by the DM algorithm. The concept presented in this paper is illustrated with the data from a power plant, where the goal is to maximize the boiler efficiency and minimize the limestone consumption. This multiobjective optimization problem can be either transformed into a single-objective optimization problem through preference aggregation approaches or into a Pareto-optimal optimization problem. The computational results have shown the effectiveness of the proposed optimization framework.

Evaluation of extraction methods for preparative scale obtention of mangiferin and lupeol from mango peels (Mangifera indica L.).

PubMed

Ruiz-Montañez, G; Ragazzo-Sánchez, J A; Calderón-Santoyo, M; Velázquez-de la Cruz, G; de León, J A Ramírez; Navarro-Ocaña, A

2014-09-15

Bioactive compounds have become very important in the food and pharmaceutical markets leading research interests seeking efficient methods for extracting these bioactive substances. The objective of this research is to implement preparative scale obtention of mangiferin and lupeol from mango fruit (Mangifera indica L.) of autochthonous and Ataulfo varieties grown in Nayarit, using emerging extraction techniques. Five extraction techniques were evaluated: maceration, Soxhlet, sonication (UAE), microwave (MAE) and high hydrostatic pressures (HHP). Two maturity stages (physiological and consumption) as well as peel and fruit pulp were evaluated for preparative scale implementation. Peels from Ataulfo mango at consumption maturity stage can be considered as a source of mangiferin and lupeol using the UEA method as it improves extraction efficiency by increasing yield and shortening time. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ceria nanocubic-ultrasonication assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction coupled with matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry for pathogenic bacteria analysis.

PubMed

Abdelhamid, Hani Nasser; Bhaisare, Mukesh L; Wu, Hui-Fen

2014-03-01

A new ceria (CeO2) nanocubic modified surfactant is used as the basis of a novel nano-based microextraction technique for highly sensitive detection of pathogenic bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus). The technique uses ultrasound enhanced surfactant-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (UESA-DLLME) with and without ceria (CeO2) followed by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). In order to achieve high separation efficiency, we investigated the influential parameters, including extraction time of ultrasonication, type and volume of the extraction solvent and surfactant. Among various surfactants, the cationic surfactants can selectively offer better extraction efficiency on bacteria analysis than that of the anionic surfactants due to the negative charges of bacteria cell membranes. Extractions of the bacteria lysate from aqueous samples via UESA-DLLME-MALDI-MS were successfully achieved by using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB, 10.0 µL, 1.0×10(-3) M) as surfactants in chlorobenzene (10.0 µL) and chloroform (10.0 µL) as the optimal extracting solvent for P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, respectively. Ceria nanocubic was synthesized, and functionalized with CTAB (CeO2@CTAB) and then characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and optical spectroscopy (UV and FTIR). CeO2@CTAB demonstrates high extraction efficiency, improve peaks ionization, and enhance resolution. The prime reasons for these improvements are due to the large surface area of nanoparticles, and its absorption that coincides with the wavelength of MALDI laser (337 nm, N2 laser). CeO2@CTAB-based microextraction offers lowest detectable concentrations tenfold lower than that of without nanoceria. The present approach has been successfully applied to detect pathogenic bacteria at low concentrations of 10(4)-10(5) cfu/mL (without ceria) and at 10(3)-10(4) cfu/mL (with ceria) from bacteria suspensions. Finally, the current approach was applied for analyzing the pathogenic bacteria in biological samples (blood and serum). Ceria assist surfactant (CeO2@CTAB) liquid-liquid microextraction (LLME) offers better extraction efficiency than that of using the surfactant in LLME alone. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the impact of approximate computation in an analog DeSTIN architecture.

PubMed

Young, Steven; Lu, Junjie; Holleman, Jeremy; Arel, Itamar

2014-05-01

Deep machine learning (DML) holds the potential to revolutionize machine learning by automating rich feature extraction, which has become the primary bottleneck of human engineering in pattern recognition systems. However, the heavy computational burden renders DML systems implemented on conventional digital processors impractical for large-scale problems. The highly parallel computations required to implement large-scale deep learning systems are well suited to custom hardware. Analog computation has demonstrated power efficiency advantages of multiple orders of magnitude relative to digital systems while performing nonideal computations. In this paper, we investigate typical error sources introduced by analog computational elements and their impact on system-level performance in DeSTIN--a compositional deep learning architecture. These inaccuracies are evaluated on a pattern classification benchmark, clearly demonstrating the robustness of the underlying algorithm to the errors introduced by analog computational elements. A clear understanding of the impacts of nonideal computations is necessary to fully exploit the efficiency of analog circuits.

Simultaneous application of chemical oxidation and extraction processes is effective at remediating soil Co-contaminated with petroleum and heavy metals.

PubMed

Yoo, Jong-Chan; Lee, Chadol; Lee, Jeung-Sun; Baek, Kitae

2017-01-15

Chemical extraction and oxidation processes to clean up heavy metals and hydrocarbon from soil have a higher remediation efficiency and take less time than other remediation processes. In batch extraction/oxidation process, 3% hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and 0.1 M ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) could remove approximately 70% of the petroleum and 60% of the Cu and Pb in the soil, respectively. In particular, petroleum was effectively oxidized by H 2 O 2 without addition of any catalysts through dissolution of Fe oxides in natural soils. Furthermore, heavy metals bound to Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides could be extracted by metal-EDTA as well as Fe-EDTA complexation due to the high affinity of EDTA for metals. However, the strong binding of Fe-EDTA inhibited the oxidation of petroleum in the extraction-oxidation sequential process because Fe was removed during the extraction process with EDTA. The oxidation-extraction sequential process did not significantly enhance the extraction of heavy metals from soil, because a small portion of heavy metals remained bound to organic matter. Overall, simultaneous application of oxidation and extraction processes resulted in highly efficient removal of both contaminants; this approach can be used to remove co-contaminants from soil in a short amount of time at a reasonable cost. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multivariate analysis of the volatile components in tobacco based on infrared-assisted extraction coupled to headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Yang, Yanqin; Pan, Yuanjiang; Zhou, Guojun; Chu, Guohai; Jiang, Jian; Yuan, Kailong; Xia, Qian; Cheng, Changhe

2016-11-01

A novel infrared-assisted extraction coupled to headspace solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry method has been developed for the rapid determination of the volatile components in tobacco. The optimal extraction conditions for maximizing the extraction efficiency were as follows: 65 μm polydimethylsiloxane-divinylbenzene fiber, extraction time of 20 min, infrared power of 175 W, and distance between the infrared lamp and the headspace vial of 2 cm. Under the optimum conditions, 50 components were found to exist in all ten tobacco samples from different geographical origins. Compared with conventional water-bath heating and nonheating extraction methods, the extraction efficiency of infrared-assisted extraction was greatly improved. Furthermore, multivariate analysis including principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and similarity analysis were performed to evaluate the chemical information of these samples and divided them into three classifications, including rich, moderate, and fresh flavors. The above-mentioned classification results were consistent with the sensory evaluation, which was pivotal and meaningful for tobacco discrimination. As a simple, fast, cost-effective, and highly efficient method, the infrared-assisted extraction coupled to headspace solid-phase microextraction technique is powerful and promising for distinguishing the geographical origins of the tobacco samples coupled to suitable chemometrics. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Automatic drawing for traffic marking with MMS LIDAR intensity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, G.; Takeda, H.; Shimano, Y.

2014-05-01

Upgrading the database of CYBER JAPAN has been strategically promoted because the "Basic Act on Promotion of Utilization of Geographical Information", was enacted in May 2007. In particular, there is a high demand for road information that comprises a framework in this database. Therefore, road inventory mapping work has to be accurate and eliminate variation caused by individual human operators. Further, the large number of traffic markings that are periodically maintained and possibly changed require an efficient method for updating spatial data. Currently, we apply manual photogrammetry drawing for mapping traffic markings. However, this method is not sufficiently efficient in terms of the required productivity, and data variation can arise from individual operators. In contrast, Mobile Mapping Systems (MMS) and high-density Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) scanners are rapidly gaining popularity. The aim in this study is to build an efficient method for automatically drawing traffic markings using MMS LIDAR data. The key idea in this method is extracting lines using a Hough transform strategically focused on changes in local reflection intensity along scan lines. However, also note that this method processes every traffic marking. In this paper, we discuss a highly accurate and non-human-operator-dependent method that applies the following steps: (1) Binarizing LIDAR points by intensity and extracting higher intensity points; (2) Generating a Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) from higher intensity points; (3) Deleting arcs by length and generating outline polygons on the TIN; (4) Generating buffers from the outline polygons; (5) Extracting points from the buffers using the original LIDAR points; (6) Extracting local-intensity-changing points along scan lines using the extracted points; (7) Extracting lines from intensity-changing points through a Hough transform; and (8) Connecting lines to generate automated traffic marking mapping data.

In-coupled syringe assisted octanol-water partition microextraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography for simultaneous determination of neonicotinoid insecticide residues in honey.

PubMed

Vichapong, Jitlada; Burakham, Rodjana; Srijaranai, Supalax

2015-07-01

A simple and fast method namely in-coupled syringe assisted octanol-water partition microextraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been developed for the extraction, preconcentration and determination of neonicotinoid insecticide residues (e.g. imidacloprid, acetamiprid, clothianidin, thiacloprid, thiamethoxam, dinotefuran, and nitenpyram) in honey. The experimental parameters affected the extraction efficiency, including kind and concentration of salt, kind of disperser solvent and its volume, kind of extraction solvent and its volume, shooting times and extraction time were investigated. The extraction process was carried out by rapid shooting of two syringes. Therefore, rapid dispersion and mass transfer processes was created between phases, and thus affects the extraction efficiency of the proposed method. The optimum extraction conditions were 10.00 mL of aqueous sample, 10% (w/v) Na2SO4, 1-octanol (100µL) as an extraction solvent, shooting 4 times and extraction time 2min. No disperser solvent and centrifugation step was necessary. Linearity was obtained within the range of 0.1-3000 ngmL(-1), with the correlation coefficients greater than 0.99. The high enrichment factor of the target analytes was 100 fold and low limit of detection (0.25-0.50 ngmL(-1)) could be obtained. This proposed method has been successfully applied in the analysis of neonicotinoid residues in honey, and good recoveries in the range of 96.93-107.70% were obtained. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Determination of low molecular weight thiols using monobromobimane fluorescent labeling and high-performance liquid chromatography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fahey, Robert C.; Newton, Gerald L.

1988-01-01

Methods are described for the preparation and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of monobromobimane derivatives of low molecular weight thiols in extracts of biological samples. Typical problems encountered in the development and application of these methods are discussed. Analysis of mung bean extract is used as an example.

Energy metabolic state in hypothermically stored boar spermatozoa using a revised protocol for efficient ATP extraction.

PubMed

Nguyen, Quynh Thu; Wallner, Ulrike; Schmicke, Marion; Waberski, Dagmar; Henning, Heiko

2016-11-15

Mammalian spermatozoa utilize ATP as the energy source for key functions on the route to fertilization. ATP and its precursor nucleotides ADP and AMP are regularly investigated in sperm physiology studies, mostly by bioluminescence assays. Assay results vary widely, mainly due to different efficiencies in nucleotide extraction and prevention of their enzymatic degradation. Here, we describe a revised, validated protocol for efficient phosphatase inhibition and adenine nucleotide extraction resulting in consistently high ATP concentrations exceeding previously reported values for boar spermatozoa up to 20-fold. The revised assay is applicable for determining ATP concentrations and adenylate energy charge in extracts from fresh and frozen samples, thereby allowing simultaneous assessment of semen samples from long-term storage experiments. After validation, the assay was applied to liquid-preserved boar spermatozoa stored at 17°C and 5°C for 24 and 72 h. Cooling to 5°C, but not storage duration, reduced ATP concentration in spermatozoa (P<0.05), which was accompanied by the appearance of AMP and ADP in the preservation medium. ATP and energy charge were highly correlated to the proportion of membrane-intact spermatozoa, supporting the idea of nucleotides leaking through disrupted membranes in cold-shocked cells. The present assay allows highly standardized studies of energy metabolism in spermatozoa. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Energy metabolic state in hypothermically stored boar spermatozoa using a revised protocol for efficient ATP extraction

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Quynh Thu; Wallner, Ulrike; Schmicke, Marion; Waberski, Dagmar

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Mammalian spermatozoa utilize ATP as the energy source for key functions on the route to fertilization. ATP and its precursor nucleotides ADP and AMP are regularly investigated in sperm physiology studies, mostly by bioluminescence assays. Assay results vary widely, mainly due to different efficiencies in nucleotide extraction and prevention of their enzymatic degradation. Here, we describe a revised, validated protocol for efficient phosphatase inhibition and adenine nucleotide extraction resulting in consistently high ATP concentrations exceeding previously reported values for boar spermatozoa up to 20-fold. The revised assay is applicable for determining ATP concentrations and adenylate energy charge in extracts from fresh and frozen samples, thereby allowing simultaneous assessment of semen samples from long-term storage experiments. After validation, the assay was applied to liquid-preserved boar spermatozoa stored at 17°C and 5°C for 24 and 72 h. Cooling to 5°C, but not storage duration, reduced ATP concentration in spermatozoa (P<0.05), which was accompanied by the appearance of AMP and ADP in the preservation medium. ATP and energy charge were highly correlated to the proportion of membrane-intact spermatozoa, supporting the idea of nucleotides leaking through disrupted membranes in cold-shocked cells. The present assay allows highly standardized studies of energy metabolism in spermatozoa. PMID:27612509

Experimental and computational studies on molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction for gonyautoxins 2,3 from dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum.

PubMed

Lian, Ziru; Li, Hai-Bei; Wang, Jiangtao

2016-08-01

An innovative and effective extraction procedure based on molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) was developed for the isolation of gonyautoxins 2,3 (GTX2,3) from Alexandrium minutum sample. Molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres were prepared by suspension polymerization and and were employed as sorbents for the solid-phase extraction of GTX2,3. An off-line MISPE protocol was optimized. Subsequently, the extract samples from A. minutum were analyzed. The results showed that the interference matrices in the extract were obviously cleaned up by MISPE procedures. This outcome enabled the direct extraction of GTX2,3 in A. minutum samples with extraction efficiency as high as 83 %, rather significantly, without any need for a cleanup step prior to the extraction. Furthermore, computational approach also provided direct evidences of the high selective isolation of GTX2,3 from the microalgal extracts.

Sample-space-based feature extraction and class preserving projection for gene expression data.

PubMed

Wang, Wenjun

2013-01-01

In order to overcome the problems of high computational complexity and serious matrix singularity for feature extraction using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Fisher's Linear Discrinimant Analysis (LDA) in high-dimensional data, sample-space-based feature extraction is presented, which transforms the computation procedure of feature extraction from gene space to sample space by representing the optimal transformation vector with the weighted sum of samples. The technique is used in the implementation of PCA, LDA, Class Preserving Projection (CPP) which is a new method for discriminant feature extraction proposed, and the experimental results on gene expression data demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.

Spectral-Spatial Shared Linear Regression for Hyperspectral Image Classification.

PubMed

Haoliang Yuan; Yuan Yan Tang

2017-04-01

Classification of the pixels in hyperspectral image (HSI) is an important task and has been popularly applied in many practical applications. Its major challenge is the high-dimensional small-sized problem. To deal with this problem, lots of subspace learning (SL) methods are developed to reduce the dimension of the pixels while preserving the important discriminant information. Motivated by ridge linear regression (RLR) framework for SL, we propose a spectral-spatial shared linear regression method (SSSLR) for extracting the feature representation. Comparing with RLR, our proposed SSSLR has the following two advantages. First, we utilize a convex set to explore the spatial structure for computing the linear projection matrix. Second, we utilize a shared structure learning model, which is formed by original data space and a hidden feature space, to learn a more discriminant linear projection matrix for classification. To optimize our proposed method, an efficient iterative algorithm is proposed. Experimental results on two popular HSI data sets, i.e., Indian Pines and Salinas demonstrate that our proposed methods outperform many SL methods.

A tool for NDVI time series extraction from wide-swath remotely sensed images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhishan; Shi, Runhe; Zhou, Cong

2015-09-01

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is one of the most widely used indicators for monitoring the vegetation coverage in land surface. The time series features of NDVI are capable of reflecting dynamic changes of various ecosystems. Calculating NDVI via Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) and other wide-swath remotely sensed images provides an important way to monitor the spatial and temporal characteristics of large-scale NDVI. However, difficulties are still existed for ecologists to extract such information correctly and efficiently because of the problems in several professional processes on the original remote sensing images including radiometric calibration, geometric correction, multiple data composition and curve smoothing. In this study, we developed an efficient and convenient online toolbox for non-remote sensing professionals who want to extract NDVI time series with a friendly graphic user interface. It is based on Java Web and Web GIS technically. Moreover, Struts, Spring and Hibernate frameworks (SSH) are integrated in the system for the purpose of easy maintenance and expansion. Latitude, longitude and time period are the key inputs that users need to provide, and the NDVI time series are calculated automatically.

Effect of storage of shelled Moringa oleifera seeds from reaping time on turbidity removal.

PubMed

Golestanbagh, M; Ahamad, I S; Idris, A; Yunus, R

2011-09-01

Moringa oleifera is an indigenous plant to Malaysia whose seeds are used for water purification. Many studies on Moringa oleifera have shown that it is highly effective as a natural coagulant for turbidity removal. In this study, two different methods for extraction of Moringa's active ingredient were investigated. Results of sodium chloride (NaCl) and distilled water extraction of Moringa oleifera seeds showed that salt solution extraction was more efficient than distilled water in extracting Moringa's active coagulant ingredient. The optimum dosage of shelled Moringa oleifera seeds extracted by the NaCl solution was comparable with that of the conventional chemical coagulant alum. Moreover, the turbidity removal efficiency was investigated for shelled Moringa oleifera seeds before drying in the oven under different storage conditions (i.e. open and closed containers at room temperature, 27 °C) and durations (fresh, and storage for 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks from the time the seeds were picked from the trees). Our results indicate that there are no significant differences in coagulation efficiencies and, accordingly, turbidity removals between the examined storage conditions and periods.

Highly efficient extraction and lipase-catalyzed transesterification of triglycerides from Chlorella sp. KR-1 for production of biodiesel.

PubMed

Lee, Ok Kyung; Kim, Young Hyun; Na, Jeong-Geol; Oh, You-Kwan; Lee, Eun Yeol

2013-11-01

We developed a method for the highly efficient lipid extraction and lipase-catalyzed transesterification of triglyceride from Chlorella sp. KR-1 using dimethyl carbonate (DMC). Almost all of the total lipids, approximately 38.9% (w/w) of microalgae dry weight, were extracted from the dried microalgae biomass using a DMC and methanol mixture (7:3 (v/v)). The extracted triglycerides were transesterified into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) using Novozyme 435 as the biocatalyst in DMC. Herein, DMC was used as the reaction medium and acyl acceptor. The reaction conditions were optimized and the FAMEs yield was 293.82 mg FAMEs/g biomass in 6 h of reaction time at 60 °C in the presence of 0.2% (v/v) water. Novozyme 435 was reused more than ten times while maintaining relative FAMEs conversion that was greater than 90% of the initial FAMEs conversion. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Production of neutron-rich nuclei approaching r-process by gamma-induced fission of 238U at ELI-NP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mei, Bo; Balabanski, Dimiter; Constantin, Paul; Anh Le, Tuan; Viet Cuong, Phan

2018-05-01

The investigation of neutron-rich exotic nuclei is crucial not only for nuclear physics but also for nuclear astrophysics. Experimentally, only few neutron-rich nuclei near the stability have been studied, however, most neutron-rich nuclei have not been measured due to their small production cross sections as well as short half-lives. At ELI-NP, gamma beams with high intensities will open new opportunities to investigate very neutron-rich fragments produced by photofission of 238U targets in a gas cell. Based on some simulations, a novel gas cell has been designed to produce, stop and extract 238U photofission fragments. The extraction time and efficiency of photofission fragments have been optimized by using SIMION simulations. According to these simulations, a high extraction efficiency and a short extraction time can be achieved for 238U photofission fragments in the gas cell, which will allow one to measure very neutron-rich fragments with short half-lives by using the IGISOL facility proposed at ELI-NP.

Impact of industrial hammer mill rotor speed on extraction efficiency and quality of extra virgin olive oil.

PubMed

Polari, Juan J; Garcí-Aguirre, David; Olmo-García, Lucía; Carrasco-Pancorbo, Alegría; Wang, Selina C

2018-03-01

Crushing is a key step during olive oil extraction. Among commercial crushers, the hammer mill is the most widely used due to its robustness and high throughput. In the present work, the impact of hammer mill rotor speed on extraction yield and overall quality of super-high-density Arbosana olive oils were assessed in an industrial facility. Our results show that increasing the rotor speed from 2400rpm to 3600rpm led to a rise in oil yield of 1.2%, while conserving quality parameters. Sensory analysis showed more pungency with increased rotation speed, while others attributes were unaffected. Volatile compounds showed little variation with the differences in crusher speed; however, total phenols content, two relevant secoiridoids, and triterpenoids levels increased with rotor speed. Hammer mill rotor speed is a processing variable that can be tuned to increase the extraction efficiency and modulate the chemical composition of extra virgin olive oil. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Black Phosphorus Quantum Dots for Hole Extraction of Typical Planar Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells.

PubMed

Chen, Wei; Li, Kaiwen; Wang, Yao; Feng, Xiyuan; Liao, Zhenwu; Su, Qicong; Lin, Xinnan; He, Zhubing

2017-02-02

Black phosphorus, famous as two-dimensional (2D) materials, shows such excellent properties for optoelectronic devices such as tunable direct band gap, extremely high hole mobility (300-1000 cm 2 /(V s)), and so forth. In this Letter, facile processed black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) were successfully applied to enhance hole extraction at the anode side of the typical p-i-n planar hybrid perovskite solar cells, which remarkably improved the performance of devices with photon conversion efficiency ramping up from 14.10 to 16.69%. Moreover, more detailed investigations by c-AFM, SKPM, SEM, hole-only devices, and photon physics measurements discover further the hole extraction effect and work mechanism of the BPQDs, such as nucleation assistance for the growth of large grain size perovskite crystals, fast hole extraction, more efficient hole transfer, and suppression of energy-loss recombination at the anode interface. This work definitely paves the way for discovering more and more 2D materials with high electronic properties to be used in photovoltaics and optoelectronics.

Collection and processing of whole blood for transformation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and extraction of DNA: the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium

PubMed Central

Rosinger, Silke; Nutland, Sarah; Mickelson, Eric; Varney, Michael D; Boehm, Bernard O; Olsem, Gary J; Hansen, John A; Nicholson, Ian; Hilner, Joan E; Perdue, Letitia H; Pierce, June J; Akolkar, Beena; Nierras, Concepcion; Steffes, Michael W

2010-01-01

Background and Purpose To yield large amounts of DNA for many genotype analyses and to provide a renewable source of DNA, the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium (T1DGC) harvested DNA and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from individuals with type 1 diabetes and their family members in several regions of the world. Methods DNA repositories were established in Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and the United Kingdom. To address region-specific needs, different methods and sample processing techniques were used among the laboratories to extract and to quantify DNA and to establish Epstein-Barr virus transformed cell lines. Results More than 98% of the samples of PBMCs were successfully transformed. Approximately 20–25 µg of DNA were extracted per mL of whole blood. Extraction of DNA from the cell pack ranged from 92 to 165 µg per cell pack. In addition, the extracted DNA from whole blood or transformed cells was successfully utilized in each regional human leukocyte antigen genotyping laboratory and by several additional laboratories performing consortium-wide genotyping projects. Limitations Although the isolation of PBMCs was consistent among sites, the measurement of DNA was difficult to harmonize. Conclusions DNA repositories can be established in different regions of the world and produce similar amounts of high-quality DNA for a variety of high-throughput genotyping techniques. Furthermore, even with the distances and time necessary for transportation, highly efficient transformation of PBMCs is possible. For future studies/trials involving several laboratories in different locations, the T1DGC experience includes examples of protocols that may be applicable. In summary, T1DGC has developed protocols that would be of interest to any scientific organization attempting to overcome the logistical problems associated with studies/trials spanning multiple research facilities, located in different regions of the world. PMID:20595244

Fundamental experiment of ion thruster using ECR discharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yasui, Toshiaki; Kitayama, Jiro; Tahara, Hirokazu; Onoe, Ken-Ichi; Yoshikawa, Takao

A microwave ion thruster has the potential to overcome a lifetime problem of electric propulsion by eliminating electrodes. Two types of microwave ion thruster have been investigated to examine the operational characteristics. The one is the thruster using cavity-resonance microwave discharge, and the other is the thruster using Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) discharge. Cavity-resonance microwave discharge produced plasmas by strong electric field in the resonant cavity and sustained plasmas at argon mass flow rates above 10 sccm. However, ECR discharge was capable of sustaining plasmas at lower mass flow rate, because ECR discharge efficiently produced plasmas by resonance absorption. From these generated microwave plasmas, ions were electrostatically extracted by two multiaperture grids. In ECR discharge, the maximum ion beam current of 75 mA and the highest mass utilization efficiency of 18.7% were achieved at a total extraction voltage of 950 V.

Light-extraction efficiency and forward voltage in GaN-based light-emitting diodes with different patterns of V-shaped pits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Min-Shuai; Huang, Xiao-Jing

2013-08-01

We present a new method of making a textured V-pit surface for improving the light extraction efficiency in GaN-based light-emitting diodes and compare it with the usual low-temperature method for p-GaN V-pits. Three types of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with surface V-pits in different densities and regions were grown by metal—organic chemical vapor deposition. We achieved the highest output power and lowest forward voltage values with the p-InGaN V-pit LED. The V-pits enhanced the light output power values by 1.45 times the values of the conventional LED owing to an enhancement of the light scattering probability and an effective reduction of Mg-acceptor activation energy. Moreover, this new technique effectively solved the higher forward voltage problem of the usual V-pit LED.

The ability of in vitro antioxidant assays to predict the efficiency of a cod protein hydrolysate and brown seaweed extract to prevent oxidation in marine food model systems.

PubMed

Jónsdóttir, Rósa; Geirsdóttir, Margrét; Hamaguchi, Patricia Y; Jamnik, Polona; Kristinsson, Hordur G; Undeland, Ingrid

2016-04-01

The ability of different in vitro antioxidant assays to predict the efficiency of cod protein hydrolysate (CPH) and Fucus vesiculosus ethyl acetate extract (EA) towards lipid oxidation in haemoglobin-fortified washed cod mince and iron-containing cod liver oil emulsion was evaluated. The progression of oxidation was followed by sensory analysis, lipid hydroperoxides and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) in both systems, as well as loss of redness and protein carbonyls in the cod system. The in vitro tests revealed high reducing capacity, high DPPH radical scavenging properties and a high oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) value of the EA which also inhibited lipid and protein oxidation in the cod model system. The CPH had a high metal chelating capacity and was efficient against oxidation in the cod liver oil emulsion. The results indicate that the F. vesiculosus extract has a potential as an excellent natural antioxidant against lipid oxidation in fish muscle foods while protein hydrolysates are more promising for fish oil emulsions. The usefulness of in vitro assays to predict the antioxidative properties of new natural ingredients in foods thus depends on the knowledge about the food systems, particularly the main pro-oxidants present. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Improved performance of mesoscopic perovskite solar cell using an accelerated crystalline formation method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidhik, Siraj; Esparza, Diego; Martínez-Benítez, Alejandro; López-Luke, Tzarara; Carriles, Ramón; De la Rosa, Elder

2017-10-01

Highly smooth organo-lead halide perovskite (OHP) films with less intra-granular defects are necessary to minimize the non-radiative carrier recombination in photovoltaic devices. Herein, a simple air-extraction anti-solvent deposition (AAD) technique is proposed to improve the quality of perovskite films. An air extraction process accompanied by anti-solvent washing helps to improve the morphology of perovskite, leading to smooth, homogeneous, compact, pin-hole free and densely packed films. Perovskite films with an average roughness of 5.01 nm, which is the smoothest morphology in mesoscopic-perovskite solar cell to the extent of our knowledge, high crystallinity, and a crystallite size in the range of ∼500 nm to 1 μm have been achieved. Average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.99% for 15 cells and a best PCE of 17.70% with a high open circuit voltage of 1.075 and fill factor of 74.22% were achieved using the AAD approach without a glove box. The cells exhibit virtually no hysteresis. These efficiency values are approximately 37.68% higher than the cells fabricated using anti-solvent process without air-extraction, where an average efficiency of 12.34% was measured. This method demonstrates high reproducibility and can be employed for the large scale production of PSC at reduced cost.

[Advances in studies on multi-stage countercurrent extraction technology in traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Xie, Zhi-Peng; Liu, Xue-Song; Chen, Yong; Cai, Ming; Qu, Hai-Bin; Cheng, Yi-Yu

2007-05-01

Multi-stage countercurrent extraction technology, integrating solvent extraction, repercolation with dynamic and countercurrent extraction, is a novel extraction technology for the traditional Chinese medicine. This solvent-saving, energy-saving and high-extraction-efficiency technology can at the most drive active compounds to diffuse from the herbal materials into the solvent stage by stage by creating concentration differences between the herbal materials and the solvents. This paper reviewed the basic principle, the influence factors and the research progress and trends of the equipments and the application of the multi-stage countercurrent extraction.

Demonstration of a simplified optical mouse lighting module by integrating the non-Lambertian LED chip and the free-form surface.

PubMed

Pan, Jui-Wen; Tu, Sheng-Han

2012-05-20

A cost-effective, high-throughput, and high-yield method for the efficiency enhancement of an optical mouse lighting module is proposed. We integrated imprinting technology and free-form surface design to obtain a lighting module with high illumination efficiency and uniform intensity distribution. The imprinting technique can increase the light extraction efficiency and modulate the intensity distribution of light-emitting diodes. A modulated light source was utilized to add a compact free-form surface element to create a lighting module with 95% uniformity and 80% optical efficiency.

Graded Heterojunction Engineering for Hole-Conductor-Free Perovskite Solar Cells with High Hole Extraction Efficiency and Conductivity.

PubMed

Li, Bo; Zhang, Yanan; Zhang, Luyuan; Yin, Longwei

2017-10-01

Despite great progress in the photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE) of inorganic-organic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the large-scale application of PSCs still faces serious challenges due to the poor-stability and high-cost of the spiro-OMeTAD hole transport layer (HTL). It is of great fundamental importance to rationally address the issues of hole extraction and transfer arising from HTL-free PSCs. Herein, a brand-new PSC architecture is designed by introducing multigraded-heterojunction (GHJ) inorganic perovskite CsPbBr x I 3- x layers as an efficient HTL. The grade adjustment can be achieved by precisely tuning the halide proportion and distribution in the CsPbBr x I 3- x film to reach an optimal energy alignment of the valance and conduction band between MAPbI 3 and CsPbBr x I 3- x . The CsPbBr x I 3- x GHJ as an efficient HTL can induce an electric field where a valance/conduction band edge is leveraged to bend at the heterojunction interface, boosting the interfacial electron-hole splitting and photoelectron extraction. The GHJ architecture enhances the hole extraction and conduction efficiency from the MAPbI 3 to the counter electrode, decreases the recombination loss during the hole transfer, and benefits in increasing the open-circuit voltage. The optimized HTL-free PCS based on the GHJ architecture demonstrates an outstanding thermal stability and a significantly improved PCE of 11.33%, nearly 40% increase compared with 8.16% for pure HTL-free devices. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A new strategy for accelerated extraction of target compounds using molecularly imprinted polymer particles embedded in a paper-based disk.

PubMed

Zarejousheghani, Mashaalah; Schrader, Steffi; Möder, Monika; Schmidt, Matthias; Borsdorf, Helko

2018-03-01

In this study, a general simple and inexpensive method is introduced for the preparation of a paper-based selective disk-type solid phase extraction (SPE) technique, appropriate for fast and high throughput monitoring of target compounds. An ion exchange molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was synthesized for the extraction and analysis of acesulfame, an anthropogenic water quality marker. Acesulfame imprinting was used as an example for demonstrating the benefits of a nanosized, swellable MIP extraction sorbents integrated in an on-site compatible concept for water quality monitoring. Compared with an 8 mL standard SPE cartridge, the paper-based MIP disk (47 mm ø) format allowed (1) high sample flow rates up to 30 mL•min -1 without losing extraction efficiency (2) extracting sample volumes up to 500 mL in much shorter times than with standard SPE, (3) the reuse of the disks (up to 3 times more than SPE cartridge) due to high robustness and an efficient post-cleaning, and (4) reducing the sampling time from 100 minutes (using the standard SPE format) to about 2 minutes with the MIP paper disk for 50 mL water sample. Different parameters like cellulose fiber/polymer ratios, sample volume, sample flow-rate, washing, and elution conditions were evaluated and optimized. Using developed extraction technique with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS-MS) analysis, a new protocol was established that provides detection and quantification limits of 0.015 μg•L -1 and 0.05 μg•L -1 , respectively. The developed paper disks were used in-field for the selective extraction of target compounds and transferred to the laboratory for further analysis. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

VLSI implementation of a new LMS-based algorithm for noise removal in ECG signal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Satheeskumaran, S.; Sabrigiriraj, M.

2016-06-01

Least mean square (LMS)-based adaptive filters are widely deployed for removing artefacts in electrocardiogram (ECG) due to less number of computations. But they posses high mean square error (MSE) under noisy environment. The transform domain variable step-size LMS algorithm reduces the MSE at the cost of computational complexity. In this paper, a variable step-size delayed LMS adaptive filter is used to remove the artefacts from the ECG signal for improved feature extraction. The dedicated digital Signal processors provide fast processing, but they are not flexible. By using field programmable gate arrays, the pipelined architectures can be used to enhance the system performance. The pipelined architecture can enhance the operation efficiency of the adaptive filter and save the power consumption. This technique provides high signal-to-noise ratio and low MSE with reduced computational complexity; hence, it is a useful method for monitoring patients with heart-related problem.

A poly(alkyl methacrylate-divinylbenzene-vinylbenzyl trimethylammonium chloride) monolithic column for solid-phase microextraction.

PubMed

Liu, Wan-Ling; Lirio, Stephen; Yang, Yicong; Wu, Lin-Tai; Hsiao, Shu-Ying; Huang, Hsi-Ya

2015-05-22

In this study, an organic polymer monolithic columns, which were prepared via in situ polymerization of alkyl methacrylate-ester (AMA), divinylbenzene (DVB) and vinylbenzyl trimethylammonium chloride (VBTA, charged monomer), were developed as adsorbent for solid-phase microextraction (SPME). Different parameters affecting the extraction efficiency for nine (9) non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as the ratio of the stearyl methacrylate (SMA) to DVB monomer, column length, sample pH, extraction flow rate and desorption solvent were investigated to obtain the optimal SPME condition. Also, the permeability for each poly(AMA-DVB-VBTA) monolithic column was investigated by adding porogenic solvent (poly(ethylene glycol), PEG). Using the optimized condition, a series of AMA-based poly(AMA-DVB-VBTA) monolith columns were developed to determine the effect the extraction efficiency of NSAIDs by varying the alkyl chain length of the methacrylate ester (methyl-, butyl-, octyl-, or lauryl-methacrylate; (MMA, BMA, OMA, LMA)). Results showed that decreasing the AMA chain length increases the extraction efficiency of some NSAIDs (i.e. sulindac (sul), naproxen (nap), ketoprofen (ket) and indomethacin (idm)). Among the poly(AMA-DVB-VBTA) monolithic columns, poly(BMA-DVB-VBTA) showed a highly repeatable extraction efficiency for NSAIDs with recoveries ranging from 85.0 to 100.2% with relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 6.8% (n=3). The poly(BMA-DVB-VBTA) can also be reused for at least 50 times without any significant effect in extraction efficiency for NSAIDs. Finally, using the established conditions, the poly(BMA-DVB-VBTA) was used to extract trace-level NSAIDs (100μgL(-1)) in river water with good recoveries ranging from 75.8 to 90.8% (RSD<14.9%). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Short Communication An efficient method for simultaneous extraction of high-quality RNA and DNA from various plant tissues.

PubMed

Oliveira, R R; Viana, A J C; Reátegui, A C E; Vincentz, M G A

2015-12-29

Determination of gene expression is an important tool to study biological processes and relies on the quality of the extracted RNA. Changes in gene expression profiles may be directly related to mutations in regulatory DNA sequences or alterations in DNA cytosine methylation, which is an epigenetic mark. Correlation of gene expression with DNA sequence or epigenetic mark polymorphism is often desirable; for this, a robust protocol to isolate high-quality RNA and DNA simultaneously from the same sample is required. Although commercial kits and protocols are available, they are mainly optimized for animal tissues and, in general, restricted to RNA or DNA extraction, not both. In the present study, we describe an efficient and accessible method to extract both RNA and DNA simultaneously from the same sample of various plant tissues, using small amounts of starting material. The protocol was efficient in the extraction of high-quality nucleic acids from several Arabidopsis thaliana tissues (e.g., leaf, inflorescence stem, flower, fruit, cotyledon, seedlings, root, and embryo) and from other tissues of non-model plants, such as Avicennia schaueriana (Acanthaceae), Theobroma cacao (Malvaceae), Paspalum notatum (Poaceae), and Sorghum bicolor (Poaceae). The obtained nucleic acids were used as templates for downstream analyses, such as mRNA sequencing, quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction, bisulfite treatment, and others; the results were comparable to those obtained with commercial kits. We believe that this protocol could be applied to a broad range of plant species, help avoid technical and sampling biases, and facilitate several RNA- and DNA-dependent analyses.

An Online Respiratory Quotient-Feedback Strategy of Feeding Yeast Extract for Efficient Arachidonic Acid Production by Mortierella alpina

PubMed Central

Li, Xiangyu; Yu, Chao; Yao, Jianming; Wang, Zhiming; Lu, Shuhuan

2018-01-01

Mortierella alpina (M. alpina) is well known for arachidonic acid (ARA) production. However, low efficiency and unstableness are long existed problems for industrial production of ARA by M. alpina due to the lack of online regulations. The aim of the present work is to develop an online-regulation strategy for efficient and stable ARA production in industry. The strategy was developed in 50 L fermenters and then applied in a 200 m3 fermenter. Results indicated that yeast extract (YE) highly increased cell growth in shake flask, it was then used in bioreactor fermentation by various feeding strategies. Feeding YE to control respiratory quotient (RQ) at 1.1 during 0–48 h and at 1.5 during 48–160 h, dry cell weight, and ARA titer reached 53.1 and 11.49 g/L in 50 L fermenter, which were increased by 79.4 and 36.9% as compared to that without YE feeding, respectively. Then, the online RQ-feedback strategy was applied in 200 m3 bioreactor fermentation and an average ARA titer of 16.82 g/L was obtained from 12 batches, which was 41.0% higher than the control batches. This is the first report on successful application of online RQ-feedback control of YE in ARA production, especially in an industrial scale of 200 m3 fermentation. It could be applied to other industrial production of microbial oil by oleaginous microorganisms. PMID:29404320

Emission enhancement, light extraction and carrier dynamics in InGaAs/GaAs nanowire arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kivisaari, Pyry; Chen, Yang; Anttu, Nicklas

2018-03-01

Nanowires (NWs) have the potential for a wide range of new optoelectronic applications. For example, light-emitting diodes that span over the whole visible spectrum are currently being developed from NWs to overcome the well known green gap problem. However, due to their small size, NW devices exhibit special properties that complicate their analysis, characterization, and further development. In this paper, we develop a full optoelectronic simulation tool for NW array light emitters accounting for carrier transport and wave-optical emission enhancement (EE), and we use the model to simulate InGaAs/GaAs NW array light emitters with different geometries and temperatures. Our results show that NW arrays emit light preferentially to certain angles depending on the NW diameter and temperature, encouraging temperature- and angle-resolved measurements of NW array light emission. On the other hand, based on our results both the EE and light extraction efficiency can easily change by at least a factor of two between room temperature and 77 K, complicating the characterization of NW light emitters if conventional methods are used. Finally, simulations accounting for surface recombination emphasize its major effect on the device performance. For example, a surface recombination velocity of 104 cm s-1 reported earlier for bare InGaAs surfaces results in internal quantum efficiencies less than 30% for small-diameter NWs even at the temperature of 30 K. This highlights that core-shell structures or high-quality passivation techniques are eventually needed to achieve efficient NW-based light emitters.

A Robust Zero-Watermarking Algorithm for Audio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ning; Zhu, Jie

2007-12-01

In traditional watermarking algorithms, the insertion of watermark into the host signal inevitably introduces some perceptible quality degradation. Another problem is the inherent conflict between imperceptibility and robustness. Zero-watermarking technique can solve these problems successfully. Instead of embedding watermark, the zero-watermarking technique extracts some essential characteristics from the host signal and uses them for watermark detection. However, most of the available zero-watermarking schemes are designed for still image and their robustness is not satisfactory. In this paper, an efficient and robust zero-watermarking technique for audio signal is presented. The multiresolution characteristic of discrete wavelet transform (DWT), the energy compression characteristic of discrete cosine transform (DCT), and the Gaussian noise suppression property of higher-order cumulant are combined to extract essential features from the host audio signal and they are then used for watermark recovery. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our scheme in terms of inaudibility, detection reliability, and robustness.

New auto-segment method of cerebral hemorrhage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Weijiang; Shen, Tingzhi; Dang, Hua

2007-12-01

A novel method for Computerized tomography (CT) cerebral hemorrhage (CH) image automatic segmentation is presented in the paper, which uses expert system that models human knowledge about the CH automatic segmentation problem. The algorithm adopts a series of special steps and extracts some easy ignored CH features which can be found by statistic results of mass real CH images, such as region area, region CT number, region smoothness and some statistic CH region relationship. And a seven steps' extracting mechanism will ensure these CH features can be got correctly and efficiently. By using these CH features, a decision tree which models the human knowledge about the CH automatic segmentation problem has been built and it will ensure the rationality and accuracy of the algorithm. Finally some experiments has been taken to verify the correctness and reasonable of the automatic segmentation, and the good correct ratio and fast speed make it possible to be widely applied into practice.

A Taxonomy of 3D Occluded Objects Recognition Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soleimanizadeh, Shiva; Mohamad, Dzulkifli; Saba, Tanzila; Al-ghamdi, Jarallah Saleh

2016-03-01

The overall performances of object recognition techniques under different condition (e.g., occlusion, viewpoint, and illumination) have been improved significantly in recent years. New applications and hardware are shifted towards digital photography, and digital media. This faces an increase in Internet usage requiring object recognition for certain applications; particularly occulded objects. However occlusion is still an issue unhandled, interlacing the relations between extracted feature points through image, research is going on to develop efficient techniques and easy to use algorithms that would help users to source images; this need to overcome problems and issues regarding occlusion. The aim of this research is to review recognition occluded objects algorithms and figure out their pros and cons to solve the occlusion problem features, which are extracted from occluded object to distinguish objects from other co-existing objects by determining the new techniques, which could differentiate the occluded fragment and sections inside an image.

Simultaneous Enrichment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Cu(2+) in Water Using Tetraazacalix[2]arene[2]triazine as a Solid-Phase Extraction Selector.

PubMed

Zhao, Wenjie; Yang, Liu; He, Lijun; Zhang, Shusheng

2016-08-10

On the basis of the definite retention mechanism proven by the stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography, tetraazacalix[2]arene[2]triazine featuring multiple recognition sites was assessed as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) selector. The applicability of its silica support was used for the extraction of trace amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and Cu(2+) in aqueous samples, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography fluorometric and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric determination. On the basis of the π-π interaction with PAHs and the chelating interaction with Cu(2+), the simultaneous extraction of PAHs and Cu(2+) and stepwise elution through tuning the eluent were successfully achieved, respectively. The SPE conditions affecting the extraction efficiency were optimized, including type and concentration of organic modifier, sample solution pH, flow rate, and volume. As a result of the special adsorption and desorption mechanism, high extraction efficiency was achieved with relative recoveries of 94.3-102.4% and relative standard deviations of less than 10.5%. The limits of detection were obtained with 0.4-3.1 ng L(-1) for PAHs and 15 ng L(-1) for Cu(2+), respectively. The method was applied to the analyses of PAHs and Cu(2+) in Xiliu Lake water samples collected in Zhengzhou, China.

Vacuum Nanohole Array Embedded Phosphorescent Organic Light Emitting Diodes

PubMed Central

Jeon, Sohee; Lee, Jeong-Hwan; Jeong, Jun-Ho; Song, Young Seok; Moon, Chang-Ki; Kim, Jang-Joo; Youn, Jae Ryoun

2015-01-01

Light extraction from organic light-emitting diodes that utilize phosphorescent materials has an internal efficiency of 100% but is limited by an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 30%. In this study, extremely high-efficiency organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) with an EQE of greater than 50% and low roll-off were produced by inserting a vacuum nanohole array (VNHA) into phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs). The resultant extraction enhancement was quantified in terms of EQE by comparing experimentally measured results with those produced from optical modeling analysis, which assumes the near-perfect electric characteristics of the device. A comparison of the experimental data and optical modeling results indicated that the VNHA extracts the entire waveguide loss into the air. The EQE obtained in this study is the highest value obtained to date for bottom-emitting OLEDs. PMID:25732061

High-pressure processing as emergent technology for the extraction of bioactive ingredients from plant materials.

PubMed

Jun, Xi

2013-01-01

High-pressure processing is a food processing technique that has shown great potentials in the food industry. Recently, it was developed to extract bioactive ingredients from plant materials, known as ultrahigh pressure extraction (UPE), taking advantages of time saving, higher extraction yields, fewer impurities in the extraction solution, minimal heat and can avoid thermal degradation on the activity and structure of bioactive components, and so on. This review provides an overview of the developments in the UPE of bioactive ingredients from plant material. Apart from a brief presentation of the theories of UPE and extraction equipment systems, the principal parameters that influence the extraction efficiency to be optimized in the UPE (e.g., solvent, pressure, temperature, extraction time, and the number of cycle) were discussed in detail, and finally the more recent applications of UPE for the extraction of active compounds from plant materials were summarized.

The study on the extraction and recovery of Au from scrap of the used computer using chloride solvent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Su-ji; Choi, Eunju; Choi, Nagchoul; Park, Cheonyoung

2013-04-01

Recently, due to the realization of environmental problems of cyanide, it is a worldwide quest to find viable alternatives. One of the alternatives is a chloride solvent(chlorine-hypochlorite acid) with an appropriate oxidizing agent. The rate of dissolution of Au by chloride solvent is much faster than that by cyanide. Also, due to presence of chloride ions, there is no passivation of gold surfaces during chlorination. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of Au extraction efficiency under various experimental conditions(pulp density, chlorine-hypochlorite ratio and concentration of NaCl) from scrap of the used computer by chloride solvent. In addition, the recovery experiment was conducted to examine of the precipitation efficiency of Au under various metabisulfite concentration from extracted solution. In an EDS analysis, valuable metals such as Cu, Sn, Sb, Al, Ni, Pb and Au were observed in scrap of the used computer. The result of extraction experiment showed that the highest extraction rate was obtained under 1% of pulp density with a chlorine-hypochlorite ratio of 2:1, and a concentration of NaCl at 2M. The highest Au recovery(precipitation) rate was observed the addition of sodium metabisulfite at 2M concentration. Under these conditions, chlorine-hypochlorite could effectively Au extraction from scrap of the used computer sections and the additive reagent using sodium metabisulfite could easily precipitate the Au from the chlorine-hypochlorite solution.

A rapid assay for the simultaneous determination of nicotine, cocaine and metabolites in meconium using disposable pipette extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

PubMed

Mozaner Bordin, Dayanne C; Alves, Marcela N R; Cabrices, Oscar G; de Campos, Eduardo G; De Martinis, Bruno Spinosa

2014-01-01

Drug abuse by pregnant women is considered a serious public health problem worldwide. Meconium is the first excretion in newborns and has been used as an alternative matrix to evaluate in utero drug exposure. Solid phase extraction (SPE) is widely employed to prepare and clean up samples in the field of forensic analysis. Most SPE products require large volumes of solvent, which culminates in longer sample processing times and increased cost per sample. Disposable pipette extraction (DPX) tips have been used as an alternative to traditional SPE cartridges. They combine efficient and rapid extraction with reduced solvent consumption. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a method to determine nicotine, cotinine, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene and methyl ester anhydroecgonine in meconium using DPX and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Validation results indicated that extraction efficiency ranged 50-98%, accuracy 92-106%, intra-assay precision 4-12% and inter-assay precision 6-12%. Linear calibration curves resulted in R(2) values >0.99, limits of detection ranged from 2.5 to 15 ng/g and the limit of quantitation from 10 to 20 ng/g. The DPX-GC-MS method was shown to selectively analyze trace concentrations of drugs in meconium samples. Finally, the developed and validated method was applied to 50 meconium samples.

Concentration and purification of HIV-1 virions by microfluidic separation of superparamagnetic nanoparticles

PubMed Central

Chen, Grace Dongqing; Alberts, Catharina Johanna

2009-01-01

The low concentration and complex sample matrix of many clinical and environmental viral samples presents a significant challenge in the development of low cost, point-of-care viral assays. To address this problem, we investigated the use of a microfluidic passive magnetic separator combined with on-chip mixer to both purify and concentrate whole particle HIV-1 virions. Virus-containing plasma samples are first mixed to allow specific binding of the viral particles with antibody-conjugated superparamagnetic nanoparticles, and several passive mixer geometries were assessed for their mixing efficiencies. The virus-nanoparticle complexes are then separated from the plasma in a novel magnetic separation chamber, where packed micron-sized ferromagnetic particles serve as high magnetic gradient concentrators for an externally applied magnetic field. Thereafter, a viral lysis buffer was flowed through the chip and the released HIV proteins were assayed off-chip. Viral protein extraction efficiencies of 62% and 45% were achieved at 10uL/min and 30uL/min throughputs respectively. More importantly, an 80-fold concentration was observed for an initial sample volume of 1mL, and a 44-fold concentration for an initial sample volume of 0.5mL. The system is broadly applicable to microscale sample preparation of any viral sample and can be used for nucleic acid extraction as well as 40–80 fold enrichment of target viruses. PMID:19954210

Coarse-to-fine wavelet-based airport detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Cheng; Wang, Shuigen; Pang, Zhaofeng; Zhao, Baojun

2015-10-01

Airport detection on optical remote sensing images has attracted great interest in the applications of military optics scout and traffic control. However, most of the popular techniques for airport detection from optical remote sensing images have three weaknesses: 1) Due to the characteristics of optical images, the detection results are often affected by imaging conditions, like weather situation and imaging distortion; and 2) optical images contain comprehensive information of targets, so that it is difficult for extracting robust features (e.g., intensity and textural information) to represent airport area; 3) the high resolution results in large data volume, which makes real-time processing limited. Most of the previous works mainly focus on solving one of those problems, and thus, the previous methods cannot achieve the balance of performance and complexity. In this paper, we propose a novel coarse-to-fine airport detection framework to solve aforementioned three issues using wavelet coefficients. The framework includes two stages: 1) an efficient wavelet-based feature extraction is adopted for multi-scale textural feature representation, and support vector machine(SVM) is exploited for classifying and coarsely deciding airport candidate region; and then 2) refined line segment detection is used to obtain runway and landing field of airport. Finally, airport recognition is achieved by applying the fine runway positioning to the candidate regions. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms the existing algorithms in terms of detection accuracy and processing efficiency.

Efficiency enhancement of hybridized solar cells through co-sensitization and fast charge extraction by up-converted polyethylene glycol modified carbon quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Wanlu; Duan, Jialong; Duan, Yanyan; Zhao, Yuanyuan; Tang, Qunwei

2017-11-01

Photovoltaics are promising solutions to energy crisis and environmental pollution problems. The dye-sensitized solar cells with mesoscopic structures have attracted growing interests because of zero emissions, easy fabrication, scalable materials and techniques, etc. However, the state-of-the-art dye-sensitized solar cells have narrow spectral absorption for photoelectric conversion and high electron-hole recombination rate under sunlight illumination. Therefore, it is a persistent object to make wide-spectral absorption and fast charge extraction solar cells for energy harvest in both solar and dark-light conditions. To address this issue, we present here experimental realization of a category of solar cells converting visible and near-infrared light into electricity by co-sensitizing photoanode with N719 dye and polyethylene glycol (PEG) modified carbon quantum dots (PEG-m-CQDs), arising from up-conversion and hole-transporting behaviors of PEG-m-CQDs as well as photofluorescence of green-emitting long persistence phosphors. The optimized solar cell yields maximized photoelectric conversion efficiencies of 9.89% and 25.81% under simulated sunlight (air mass 1.5, 100 mW cm-2) illumination and dark conditions, respectively. This work is far from optimization, but the physical proof-of-concept hybridized solar cell may markedly increase electricity generation time and total power output of photovoltaic platforms.

Lunar Oxygen Production and Metals Extraction Using Ionic Liquids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marone, Matthew; Paley, Mark Steven; Donovan, David N.; Karr, Laurel J.

2009-01-01

Initial results indicate that ionic liquids are promising media for the extraction of oxygen from lunar regolith. IL acid systems can solubilize regolith and produce water with high efficiency. IL electrolytes are effective for water electrolysis, and the spent IL acid media are capable of regeneration.

Quantitative analysis of psilocybin and psilocin in psilocybe baeocystis (Singer and Smith) by high-performance liquid chromatography and by thin-layer chromatography.

PubMed

Beug, M W; Bigwood, J

1981-03-27

Rapid quantification of psilocybin and psilocin in extracts of wild mushrooms is accomplished by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with paired-ion reagents. Nine solvent systems and three solid supports are evaluated for their efficiency in separating psilocybin, psilocin and other components of crude mushroom extracts by thin-layer chromatography.

A method for extracting high-quality total RNA from plant rich in polysaccharides and polyphenols using Dendrobium huoshanense

PubMed Central

Yu, Nianjun; Zhang, Wei; Xing, Lihua; Xie, Dongmei; Peng, Daiyin

2018-01-01

Acquiring high quality RNA is the basis of plant molecular biology research, plant genetics and other physiological investigations. At present, a large number of nucleotide isolation methods have been exploited or modified, such as commercial kits, CTAB, SDS methods and so on. Due to the nature of different plants, extraction methods vary. Moreover, efficiency of certain approach cannot be guaranteed due to composition of different plants and extracting high quality RNA from plants rich in polysaccharides and polyphenols are often difficult. The physical and chemical properties of polysaccharides which are similar to nucleic acids and other secondary metabolites will be coprecipitated with RNA irreversibly. Therefore, how to remove polysaccharides and other secondary metabolites during RNA extraction is the primary challenge. Dendrobium huoshanense is an Orchidaceae perennial herb that is rich in polysaccharides and other secondary metabolites. By using D. huoshanense as the subject, we improved the method originated from CHAN and made it suitable for plants containing high amount of polysaccharides and polyphenols. The extracted total RNA was clear and non-dispersive, with good integrity and no obvious contamination with DNA and other impurities. And it was also evaluated by gel electrophoresis, nucleic acid quantitative detector and PCR assessment. Thus, as a simple approach, it is suitable and efficient in RNA isolation for plants rich in polysaccharides and polyphenols. PMID:29715304

Microwave-assisted extraction with water for fast extraction and simultaneous RP-HPLC determination of phenolic acids in radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae.

PubMed

Fang, Xinsheng; Wang, Jianhua; Zhou, Hongying; Jiang, Xingkai; Zhu, Lixiang; Gao, Xin

2009-07-01

An optimized microwave-assisted extraction method using water (MAE-W) as the extractant and an efficient HPLC analysis method were first developed for the fast extraction and simultaneous determination of D(+)-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl) lactic acid (Dla), salvianolic acid B (SaB), and lithospermic acid (La) in radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae. The key parameters of MAE-W were optimized. It was found that the degradation of SaB was inhibited when using the optimized MAE-W and the stable content of Dla, La, and SaB in danshen was obtained. Furthermore, compared to the conventional extraction methods, the proposed MAE-W is a more rapid method with higher yield and lower solvent consumption with a reproducibility (RSD <6%). In addition, using water as extractant is safe and helpful for environment protection, which could be referred to as green extraction. The separation and quantitative determination of the three compounds was carried out by a developed reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method with UV detection. Highly efficient separation was obtained using gradient solvent system. The optimized HPLC analysis method was validated to have specificity, linearity, precision, and accuracy. The results indicated that MAE-W followed by HPLC-UV determination is an appropriate alternative to previously proposed method for quality control of radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae.

Introduction of agarose gel as a green membrane in electromembrane extraction: An efficient procedure for the extraction of basic drugs with a wide range of polarities.

PubMed

Tabani, Hadi; Asadi, Sakine; Nojavan, Saeed; Parsa, Mitra

2017-05-12

Developing green methods for analyte extraction is one of the most important topics in the field of sample preparation. In this study, for the first time, agarose gel was used as membrane in electromembrane extraction (EME) without using any organic solvent, for the extraction of four model basic drugs (rivastigmine (RIV), verapamil (VER), amlodipine (AML), and morphine (MOR)) with a wide polarity window (log P from 0.43 to 3.7). Different variables playing vital roles in the proposed method were evaluated and optimized. As a driving force, a 25V electrical field was applied to make the analyte migrate from sample solution with pH 7.0, through the agarose gel 3% (w/v) with 5mm thickness, into an acceptor phase (AP) with pH 2.0. The best extraction efficiency was obtained with an extraction duration of 25min. With this new methodology, MOR with high polarity (log P=0.43) was efficiently extracted without using any carrier or ion pair reagents. Limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were in the ranges of 1.5-1.8ngmL -1 and 5.0-6.0ngmL -1 , respectively. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to determine concentrations of the model drugs in the wastewater sample. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Review of the harvesting and extraction program within the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts

DOE PAGES

Marrone, Babetta L.; Lacey, Ronald E.; Anderson, Daniel B.; ...

2017-08-07

Energy-efficient and scalable harvesting and lipid extraction processes must be developed in order for the algal biofuels and bioproducts industry to thrive. The major challenge for harvesting is the handling of large volumes of cultivation water to concentrate low amounts of biomass. For lipid extraction, the major energy and cost drivers are associated with disrupting the algae cell wall and drying the biomass before solvent extraction of the lipids. Here we review the research and development conducted by the Harvesting and Extraction Team during the 3-year National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB) algal consortium project. The harvesting andmore » extraction team investigated five harvesting and three wet extraction technologies at lab bench scale for effectiveness, and conducted a techoeconomic study to evaluate their costs and energy efficiency compared to available baseline technologies. Based on this study, three harvesting technologies were selected for further study at larger scale. We evaluated the selected harvesting technologies: electrocoagulation, membrane filtration, and ultrasonic harvesting, in a field study at minimum scale of 100 L/h. None of the extraction technologies were determined to be ready for scale-up; therefore, an emerging extraction technology (wet solvent extraction) was selected from industry to provide scale-up data and capabilities to produce lipid and lipid-extracted materials for the NAABB program. One specialized extraction/adsorption technology was developed that showed promise for recovering high value co-products from lipid extracts. Overall, the NAABB Harvesting and Extraction Team improved the readiness level of several innovative, energy efficient technologies to integrate with algae production processes and captured valuable lessons learned about scale-up challenges.« less

Review of the harvesting and extraction program within the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts

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

Marrone, Babetta L.; Lacey, Ronald E.; Anderson, Daniel B.

Energy-efficient and scalable harvesting and lipid extraction processes must be developed in order for the algal biofuels and bioproducts industry to thrive. The major challenge for harvesting is the handling of large volumes of cultivation water to concentrate low amounts of biomass. For lipid extraction, the major energy and cost drivers are associated with disrupting the algae cell wall and drying the biomass before solvent extraction of the lipids. Here we review the research and development conducted by the Harvesting and Extraction Team during the 3-year National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB) algal consortium project. The harvesting andmore » extraction team investigated five harvesting and three wet extraction technologies at lab bench scale for effectiveness, and conducted a techoeconomic study to evaluate their costs and energy efficiency compared to available baseline technologies. Based on this study, three harvesting technologies were selected for further study at larger scale. We evaluated the selected harvesting technologies: electrocoagulation, membrane filtration, and ultrasonic harvesting, in a field study at minimum scale of 100 L/h. None of the extraction technologies were determined to be ready for scale-up; therefore, an emerging extraction technology (wet solvent extraction) was selected from industry to provide scale-up data and capabilities to produce lipid and lipid-extracted materials for the NAABB program. One specialized extraction/adsorption technology was developed that showed promise for recovering high value co-products from lipid extracts. Overall, the NAABB Harvesting and Extraction Team improved the readiness level of several innovative, energy efficient technologies to integrate with algae production processes and captured valuable lessons learned about scale-up challenges.« less

Extraction of a group-pair relation: problem-solving relation from web-board documents.

PubMed

Pechsiri, Chaveevan; Piriyakul, Rapepun

2016-01-01

This paper aims to extract a group-pair relation as a Problem-Solving relation, for example a DiseaseSymptom-Treatment relation and a CarProblem-Repair relation, between two event-explanation groups, a problem-concept group as a symptom/CarProblem-concept group and a solving-concept group as a treatment-concept/repair concept group from hospital-web-board and car-repair-guru-web-board documents. The Problem-Solving relation (particularly Symptom-Treatment relation) including the graphical representation benefits non-professional persons by supporting knowledge of primarily solving problems. The research contains three problems: how to identify an EDU (an Elementary Discourse Unit, which is a simple sentence) with the event concept of either a problem or a solution; how to determine a problem-concept EDU boundary and a solving-concept EDU boundary as two event-explanation groups, and how to determine the Problem-Solving relation between these two event-explanation groups. Therefore, we apply word co-occurrence to identify a problem-concept EDU and a solving-concept EDU, and machine-learning techniques to solve a problem-concept EDU boundary and a solving-concept EDU boundary. We propose using k-mean and Naïve Bayes to determine the Problem-Solving relation between the two event-explanation groups involved with clustering features. In contrast to previous works, the proposed approach enables group-pair relation extraction with high accuracy.

[Antiradical properties of essential oils and extracts from clove bud and pimento].

PubMed

Misharina, T A; Alinkina, E S; Medvedeva, I B

2015-01-01

The antiradical properties of essential oils and extracts from the clove bud (Eugenia caryophyllata Thumb.) and berries of tree (Pimenta dioica (L.) Meriff) were studied and compared with the properties of synthetic antioxidant ionol (2,6-ditret-butyl-4-hydroxytoluene, BHT) in model reactions with the stable free 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical. The essential oils of clove bud and pimento had qualitatively close composition of the main components but differed by their quantitative content. In the studied samples, eugenol was the main compound with high antiradical activity. The reaction rates of essential oils and extracts with the DPPH radical were practically the same for essential oils and twice the reaction rate of BHT. The values of antiradical efficiency (AE) were also close for essential oils and were twice that for extracts and ionol. A synergetic action of components in the essential oil and extract of pimento on antiradical efficiency values was found.

Extraction study on uranyl nitrate for energy applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giri, R.; Nath, G.

2017-07-01

Due to the ever-growing demand of energy nuclear reactor materials and the nuclear energy are now considered to be the most critical materials and source of energy for future era. Deposition of nuclear wastes in different industry, nuclear power sector are very much toxic in open environment which are hazardous to living being. There are different methods for extraction and reprocessing of these materials which are cost effective and tedious process. Ultrasonic assisted solvent extraction process is a most efficient and economical way for extraction of such type materials. The presence of third phase in mixing of extractants-diluent pair with aqueous phase imposes the problems in extraction of nuclear reactor materials. The appropriate solvent mixture in proper concentration is an important step in the solvent extraction process. Study of thermo-physical properties helps in selecting an optimum blend for extraction process. In the present work, the extraction of uranium with the binary mixture of Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) and Kerosene was investigated and discussed with the variation of ultrasonic frequency for different temperatures. The result shows that the low frequency and low temperature is suitable environment for extraction. The extraction of uranium by this method is found to be a better result for extraction study in laboratory scale as well as industrial sector.

Optimization of microwave-assisted extraction for the characterization of olive leaf phenolic compounds by using HPLC-ESI-TOF-MS/IT-MS(2).

PubMed

Taamalli, Amani; Arráez-Román, David; Ibañez, Elena; Zarrouk, Mokhtar; Segura-Carretero, Antonio; Fernández-Gutiérrez, Alberto

2012-01-25

In the present work, a simple and rapid method for the extraction of phenolic compounds from olive leaves, using microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) technique, has been developed. The experimental variables that affect the MAE process, such as the solvent type and composition, microwave temperature, and extraction time, were optimized using a univariate method. The obtained extracts were analyzed by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS) and electrospray ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-IT-MS(2)) to prove the MAE extraction efficiency. The optimal MAE conditions were methanol:water (80:20, v/v) as extracting solvent, at a temperature equal to 80 °C for 6 min. Under these conditions, several phenolic compounds could be characterized by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS(2). As compared to the conventional method, MAE can be used as an alternative extraction method for the characterization of phenolic compounds from olive leaves due to its efficiency and speed.

High-Resolution Remote Sensing Image Building Extraction Based on Markov Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, W.; Yan, L.; Chang, Y.; Gong, L.

2018-04-01

With the increase of resolution, remote sensing images have the characteristics of increased information load, increased noise, more complex feature geometry and texture information, which makes the extraction of building information more difficult. To solve this problem, this paper designs a high resolution remote sensing image building extraction method based on Markov model. This method introduces Contourlet domain map clustering and Markov model, captures and enhances the contour and texture information of high-resolution remote sensing image features in multiple directions, and further designs the spectral feature index that can characterize "pseudo-buildings" in the building area. Through the multi-scale segmentation and extraction of image features, the fine extraction from the building area to the building is realized. Experiments show that this method can restrain the noise of high-resolution remote sensing images, reduce the interference of non-target ground texture information, and remove the shadow, vegetation and other pseudo-building information, compared with the traditional pixel-level image information extraction, better performance in building extraction precision, accuracy and completeness.

High density FTA plates serve as efficient long-term sample storage for HLA genotyping.

PubMed

Lange, V; Arndt, K; Schwarzelt, C; Boehme, I; Giani, A S; Schmidt, A H; Ehninger, G; Wassmuth, R

2014-02-01

Storage of dried blood spots (DBS) on high-density FTA(®) plates could constitute an appealing alternative to frozen storage. However, it remains controversial whether DBS are suitable for high-resolution sequencing of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Therefore, we extracted DNA from DBS that had been stored for up to 4 years, using six different methods. We identified those extraction methods that recovered sufficient high-quality DNA for reliable high-resolution HLA sequencing. Further, we confirmed that frozen whole blood samples that had been stored for several years can be transferred to filter paper without compromising HLA genotyping upon extraction. Concluding, DNA derived from high-density FTA(®) plates is suitable for high-resolution HLA sequencing, provided that appropriate extraction protocols are employed. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Aqueous Leaf Extract of Jatropha gossypiifolia L. (Euphorbiaceae) Inhibits Enzymatic and Biological Actions of Bothrops jararaca Snake Venom

PubMed Central

Félix-Silva, Juliana; Souza, Thiago; Menezes, Yamara A. S.; Cabral, Bárbara; Câmara, Rafael B. G.; Silva-Junior, Arnóbio A.; Rocha, Hugo A. O.; Rebecchi, Ivanise M. M.; Zucolotto, Silvana M.; Fernandes-Pedrosa, Matheus F.

2014-01-01

Snakebites are a serious public health problem due their high morbi-mortality. The main available specific treatment is the antivenom serum therapy, which has some disadvantages, such as poor neutralization of local effects, risk of immunological reactions, high cost and difficult access in some regions. In this context, the search for alternative therapies is relevant. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antiophidic properties of Jatropha gossypiifolia, a medicinal plant used in folk medicine to treat snakebites. The aqueous leaf extract of the plant was prepared by decoction and phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of sugars, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, terpenes and/or steroids and proteins. The extract was able to inhibit enzymatic and biologic activities induced by Bothrops jararaca snake venom in vitro and in vivo. The blood incoagulability was efficiently inhibited by the extract by oral route. The hemorrhagic and edematogenic local effects were also inhibited, the former by up to 56% and the latter by 100%, in animals treated with extract by oral and intraperitoneal routes, respectively. The inhibition of myotoxic action of B. jararaca reached almost 100%. According to enzymatic tests performed, it is possible to suggest that the antiophidic activity may be due an inhibitory action upon snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) and/or serine proteinases (SVSPs), including fibrinogenolytic enzymes, clotting factors activators and thrombin like enzymes (SVTLEs), as well upon catalytically inactive phospholipases A2 (Lys49 PLA2). Anti-inflammatory activity, at least partially, could also be related to the inhibition of local effects. Additionally, protein precipitating and antioxidant activities may also be important features contributing to the activity presented. In conclusion, the results demonstrate the potential antiophidic activity of J. gossypiifolia extract, including its significant action upon local effects, suggesting that it may be used as a new source of bioactive molecules against bothropic venom. PMID:25126759

Efficient quantitative assessment of facial paralysis using iris segmentation and active contour-based key points detection with hybrid classifier.

PubMed

Barbosa, Jocelyn; Lee, Kyubum; Lee, Sunwon; Lodhi, Bilal; Cho, Jae-Gu; Seo, Woo-Keun; Kang, Jaewoo

2016-03-12

Facial palsy or paralysis (FP) is a symptom that loses voluntary muscles movement in one side of the human face, which could be very devastating in the part of the patients. Traditional methods are solely dependent to clinician's judgment and therefore time consuming and subjective in nature. Hence, a quantitative assessment system becomes apparently invaluable for physicians to begin the rehabilitation process; and to produce a reliable and robust method is challenging and still underway. We introduce a novel approach for a quantitative assessment of facial paralysis that tackles classification problem for FP type and degree of severity. Specifically, a novel method of quantitative assessment is presented: an algorithm that extracts the human iris and detects facial landmarks; and a hybrid approach combining the rule-based and machine learning algorithm to analyze and prognosticate facial paralysis using the captured images. A method combining the optimized Daugman's algorithm and Localized Active Contour (LAC) model is proposed to efficiently extract the iris and facial landmark or key points. To improve the performance of LAC, appropriate parameters of initial evolving curve for facial features' segmentation are automatically selected. The symmetry score is measured by the ratio between features extracted from the two sides of the face. Hybrid classifiers (i.e. rule-based with regularized logistic regression) were employed for discriminating healthy and unhealthy subjects, FP type classification, and for facial paralysis grading based on House-Brackmann (H-B) scale. Quantitative analysis was performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. Experiments show that the proposed method demonstrates its efficiency. Facial movement feature extraction on facial images based on iris segmentation and LAC-based key point detection along with a hybrid classifier provides a more efficient way of addressing classification problem on facial palsy type and degree of severity. Combining iris segmentation and key point-based method has several merits that are essential for our real application. Aside from the facial key points, iris segmentation provides significant contribution as it describes the changes of the iris exposure while performing some facial expressions. It reveals the significant difference between the healthy side and the severe palsy side when raising eyebrows with both eyes directed upward, and can model the typical changes in the iris region.

Monitoring of electrokinetic removal of heavy metals in tailing-soils using sequential extraction analysis.

PubMed

Kim, S O; Kim, K W

2001-08-17

This research focused on the monitoring of the electrokinetic removal of heavy metals from tailing-soils, and emphasizes the dependency of removal efficiencies upon their physico-chemical states, as demonstrated by the different extraction methods adopted, which included aqua regia and sequential extraction. The tailing-soils examined contained high concentrations of target metal contaminants (Cd=179mgkg(-1), Cu=207mgkg(-1), Pb=5175mgkg(-1), and Zn=7600mgkg(-1)). The removal efficiencies of the different metals were significantly influenced by their speciations, mobilities and affinities (adsorption capacities) in the soil matrix. The removal efficiencies of mobile and weakly bound fractions, such as the exchangeable fraction were more than 90% by electrokinetic treatment, but strongly bound fractions, such as the organically bound species and residual fraction were not significantly removed (less than 30% removal efficiencies). In accordance with the general sequence of mobilities of heavy metals in soils, the removal efficiencies of more mobile heavy metals (Cd, Cu, and Zn) were higher than that of less mobile heavy metal (Pb).

Comparative analyses of universal extraction buffers for assay of stress related biochemical and physiological parameters.

PubMed

Han, Chunyu; Chan, Zhulong; Yang, Fan

2015-01-01

Comparative efficiency of three extraction solutions, including the universal sodium phosphate buffer (USPB), the Tris-HCl buffer (UTHB), and the specific buffers, were compared for assays of soluble protein, free proline, superoxide radical (O2∙-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and the antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and glutathione reductase (GR) in Populus deltoide. Significant differences for protein extraction were detected via sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE). Between the two universal extraction buffers, the USPB showed higher efficiency for extraction of soluble protein, CAT, GR, O2∙-, GPX, SOD, and free proline, while the UTHB had higher efficiency for extraction of APX, POD, and H2O2. When compared with the specific buffers, the USPB showed higher extraction efficiency for measurement of soluble protein, CAT, GR, and O2∙-, parallel extraction efficiency for GPX, SOD, free proline, and H2O2, and lower extraction efficiency for APX and POD, whereas the UTHB had higher extraction efficiency for measurement of POD and H2O2. Further comparisons proved that 100 mM USPB buffer showed the highest extraction efficiencies. These results indicated that USPB would be suitable and efficient for extraction of soluble protein, CAT, GR, GPX, SOD, H2O2, O2∙-, and free proline.

Joint detection and localization of multiple anatomical landmarks through learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dikmen, Mert; Zhan, Yiqiang; Zhou, Xiang Sean

2008-03-01

Reliable landmark detection in medical images provides the essential groundwork for successful automation of various open problems such as localization, segmentation, and registration of anatomical structures. In this paper, we present a learning-based system to jointly detect (is it there?) and localize (where?) multiple anatomical landmarks in medical images. The contributions of this work exist in two aspects. First, this method takes the advantage from the learning scenario that is able to automatically extract the most distinctive features for multi-landmark detection. Therefore, it is easily adaptable to detect arbitrary landmarks in various kinds of imaging modalities, e.g., CT, MRI and PET. Second, the use of multi-class/cascaded classifier architecture in different phases of the detection stage combined with robust features that are highly efficient in terms of computation time enables a seemingly real time performance, with very high localization accuracy. This method is validated on CT scans of different body sections, e.g., whole body scans, chest scans and abdominal scans. Aside from improved robustness (due to the exploitation of spatial correlations), it gains a run time efficiency in landmark detection. It also shows good scalability performance under increasing number of landmarks.

[Remediation efficiency of lead-contaminated soil at an industrial site by ultrasonic-assisted chemical extraction].

PubMed

Wang, Xin-jie; Huang, Jin-lou; Liu, Zhi-qiang; Yue, Xi

2013-09-01

This research chose five lead-contaminated sites of a lead-acid battery factory to analyze the speciation distribution and concentration of lead. Under the same conditions (0.1 mol x L(-1) EDTA,30 min, 25 degrees C), the removal effect of heavy metal was compared between ultrasonic-assisted chemical extraction (UCE) and conventional chemical extraction ( CCE), and the variation of lead speciation was further explored. The results showed that the lead removal efficiency of UCE was significantly better than CCE. The lead removal efficiency of WS, A, B, C and BZ was 10.06%, 48.29%, 48.69%, 53.28% and 36.26% under CCE. While the removal efficiency of the UCE was 22.42%, 69.31%, 71.00%, 74.49% and 71.58%, with the average efficiency higher by 22%. By comparing the speciation distribution of the two washing methods, it was found that the acid extractable content maintained or decreased after UCE, whereas it showed an increasing trend after CCE. The reduction effect of the reducible was as high as 98% by UCE. UCE also showed a more efficient reduction effect of the organic matter-sulfite bounded form and the residual form. Hence, it is feasible to improve the washing efficiency of heavy metal contained in soil by conducting the cleaning process with the help of ultrasonic wave, which is a simple and fast mean to remove lead from contaminated sites.

Chemical interactions in complex matrices: Determination of polar impurities in biofuels and fuel contaminants in building materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baglayeva, Ganna

The solutions to several real-life analytical and physical chemistry problems, which involve chemical interactions in complex matrices are presented. The possible interferences due to the analyte-analyte and analyte-matrix chemical interactions were minimized on each step of the performed chemical analysis. Concrete and wood, as major construction materials, typically become contaminated with fuel oil hydrocarbons during their spillage. In the catastrophic scenarios (e.g., during floods), fuel oil mixes with water and then becomes entrained within the porous structure of wood or concrete. A strategy was proposed for the efficient extraction of fuel oil hydrocarbons from concrete to enable their monitoring. The impacts of sample aging and inundation with water on the extraction efficiency were investigated to elucidate the nature of analytematrix interactions. Two extraction methods, 4-days cold solvent extraction with shaking and 24-hours Soxhlet extraction with ethylacetate, methanol or acetonitrile yielded 95-100 % recovery of fuel oil hydrocarbons from concrete. A method of concrete remediation after contamination with fuel oil hydrocarbons using activated carbon as an adsorbent was developed. The 14 days remediation was able to achieve ca. 90 % of the contaminant removal even from aged water-submerged concrete samples. The degree of contamination can be qualitatively assessed using transport rates of the contaminants. Two models were developed, Fickian and empirical, to predict long-term transport behavior of fuel oil hydrocarbons under flood representative scenarios into wood. Various sorption parameters, including sorption rate, penetration degree and diffusion coefficients were obtained. The explanations to the observed three sorption phases are provided in terms of analyte-matrix interactions. The detailed simultaneous analysis of intermediate products of the cracking of triacylglycerol oils, namely monocarboxylic acids, triacyl-, diacyl- and monoacylglycerols was developed. The identification and quantification of analytes were performed using a 15-m high temperature capillary column (DB-1HT) with a GC coupled to both flame ionization and mass spectrometric detectors. To eliminate discrimination of low or high molecular weight species, programmed temperature vaporization (PTV) injection parameters were optimized using design of experiments methodology. Evaluation of the column temperature program and MS parameters allowed achieving separation of majority of target compounds based on their total number of carbon atoms, regioisomerization and, to some extent, degree of unsaturation.

Highly efficient phosphorescent, TADF, and fluorescent OLEDs (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jang-Joo; Kim, Kwon-Hyeon; Moon, Chang-Ki; Shin, Hyun

2016-09-01

High efficiency OLEDs based on phosphorescent, thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) and fluorescent emitters will be presented. We will show that EQEs over 60% is achievable if OLEDs are fabricated using organic semiconductors with the refractive indices of 1.5 and fully horizontal emitting dipoles without any extra light extracting structure. We will also show that reverse intersystem crossing RISC rate plays an important role to reduce the efficiency roll-off in efficient TADF and fluorescent OLEDs and a couple to methods will be presented to increase the RISC rate in the devices.

Tactical Synthesis Of Efficient Global Search Algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nedunuri, Srinivas; Smith, Douglas R.; Cook, William R.

2009-01-01

Algorithm synthesis transforms a formal specification into an efficient algorithm to solve a problem. Algorithm synthesis in Specware combines the formal specification of a problem with a high-level algorithm strategy. To derive an efficient algorithm, a developer must define operators that refine the algorithm by combining the generic operators in the algorithm with the details of the problem specification. This derivation requires skill and a deep understanding of the problem and the algorithmic strategy. In this paper we introduce two tactics to ease this process. The tactics serve a similar purpose to tactics used for determining indefinite integrals in calculus, that is suggesting possible ways to attack the problem.

Comparing NetCDF and SciDB on managing and querying 5D hydrologic dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Haicheng; Xiao, Xiao

2016-11-01

Efficiently extracting information from high dimensional hydro-meteorological modelling datasets requires smart solutions. Traditional methods are mostly based on files, which can be edited and accessed handily. But they have problems of efficiency due to contiguous storage structure. Others propose databases as an alternative for advantages such as native functionalities for manipulating multidimensional (MD) arrays, smart caching strategy and scalability. In this research, NetCDF file based solutions and the multidimensional array database management system (DBMS) SciDB applying chunked storage structure are benchmarked to determine the best solution for storing and querying 5D large hydrologic modelling dataset. The effect of data storage configurations including chunk size, dimension order and compression on query performance is explored. Results indicate that dimension order to organize storage of 5D data has significant influence on query performance if chunk size is very large. But the effect becomes insignificant when chunk size is properly set. Compression of SciDB mostly has negative influence on query performance. Caching is an advantage but may be influenced by execution of different query processes. On the whole, NetCDF solution without compression is in general more efficient than the SciDB DBMS.

High-Performance Semitransparent Perovskite Solar Cells with 10% Power Conversion Efficiency and 25% Average Visible Transmittance Based on Transparent CuSCN as the Hole-Transporting Material

DOE PAGES

Jung, Jae Woong; Chueh, Chu-Chen; Jen, Alex K. -Y.

2015-07-06

High-performance planar heterojunction perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) solar cell (PVSC) is demonstrated by utilizing CuSCN as a hole-transporting layer. Efficient hole-transport and hole-extraction at the CuSCN/CH3NH3PbI3 interface facilitate the PVSCs to reach 16% power conversion efficiency (PCE). In addition, excellent transparency of CuSCN enables high-performance semitransparent PVSC (10% PCE and 25% average visible transmittance) to be realized.

[Validation of Differential Extraction Kit in forensic sexual assault cases].

PubMed

Wu, Dan; Cao, Yu; Xu, Yan; He, Bai-Fang; Bi, Gang; Zhou, Huai-Gu

2009-12-01

To evaluate the validity of Differential Extraction Kit in isolating spermatozoa and epithelial cell DNA from mixture samples. Selective lysis of spermatid and epithelial cells combined with paramagnetic particle method were applied to extract the DNA from the mock samples under controlled conditions and forensic case samples, and template DNA were analyzed by STR genotype method. This Differential Extraction Kit is efficient to obtain high quality spermatid and epithelial cell DNA from the mixture samples with different proportion of sperm to epithelial cell. The Differential Extraction Kit can be applied in DNA extraction for mixed stain from forensic sexual assault samples.

A new efficient method for color image compression based on visual attention mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Xiaoguang; Gao, Kun; Lv, Lily; Ni, Guoqiang

2010-11-01

One of the key procedures in color image compression is to extract its region of interests (ROIs) and evaluate different compression ratios. A new non-uniform color image compression algorithm with high efficiency is proposed in this paper by using a biology-motivated selective attention model for the effective extraction of ROIs in natural images. When the ROIs have been extracted and labeled in the image, the subsequent work is to encode the ROIs and other regions with different compression ratios via popular JPEG algorithm. Furthermore, experiment results and quantitative and qualitative analysis in the paper show perfect performance when comparing with other traditional color image compression approaches.

Factors Affecting the Capture Efficiency of a Fume Extraction Torch for Gas Metal Arc Welding.

PubMed

Bonthoux, Francis

2016-07-01

Welding fumes are classified as Group 2B 'possibly carcinogenic' and this prompts to the implementation of local exhaust ventilation (LEV). The fume extraction torch with LEV integrated into the tool is the most attractive solution but its capture efficiency is often disappointing in practice. This study assesses the main parameters affecting fume capture efficiency namely the extraction flow rate, the positioning of the suction openings on the torch, the angle of inclination of the torch to the workpiece during welding, the metal transfer modes, and the welding deposition rate. The theoretical velocity induced by suction, estimated from the extraction flow rate and the position of the suction openings, is the main parameter affecting effectiveness of the device. This is the design parameter and its value should never be <0.25 m s(-1) The angle of the torch relative to the workpiece also has a great deal of influence. To improve efficiency, work station layouts need to favour positions where the torch is held with angles closer to perpendicular (<15°). Welding with high deposition rates (>1.1g s(-1)) and spray transfer leads to low capture efficiency if induced velocities are <0.5 m s(-1) The results of the study can be used in the design of integrated on-torch extraction systems and provide information for fixing system objectives. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

Two-color light-emitting diodes with polarization-sensitive high extraction efficiency based on graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

H, Sattarian; S, Shojaei; E, Darabi

2016-05-01

In the present study, graphene photonic crystals are employed to enhance the light extraction efficiency (LEE) of two-color, red and blue, light-emitting diode (LED). The transmission characteristics of one-dimensional (1D) Fibonacci graphene photonic crystal LED (FGPC-LED) are investigated by using the transfer matrix method and the scaling study is presented. We analyzed the influence of period, thickness, and permittivity in the structure to enhance the LEE. The transmission spectrum of 1D FGPC has been optimized in detail. In addition, the effects of the angle of incidence and the state of polarization are investigated. As the main result, we found the optimum values of relevant parameters to enhance the extraction of red and blue light from an LED as well as provide perfect omnidirectional and high peak transmission filters for the TE and TM modes.

Antimicrobial activity of hop extracts against foodborne pathogens for meat applications.

PubMed

Kramer, B; Thielmann, J; Hickisch, A; Muranyi, P; Wunderlich, J; Hauser, C

2015-03-01

The objective of this study was the fundamental investigation of the antimicrobial efficiency of various hop extracts against selected foodborne pathogens in vitro, as well as their activity against Listeria monocytogenes in a model meat marinade and on marinated pork tenderloins. In a first step, the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of three hop extracts containing either α- or β-acids or xanthohumol were determined against test bacteria including L. monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli by a colorimetric method based on the measurement of bacterial metabolic activity. Moreover, the influence of either lactic or citric acid on the antimicrobial activity of the hop extracts was evaluated. The efficiency of hop extracts as a natural food preservative was then tested in a model meat marinade at 2 and 8°C, respectively, and finally on marinated pork. The experiments showed that Gram-positive bacteria were strongly inhibited by hop extracts containing β-acids and xanthohumol (MIC values of 6.3 and 12.5 ppm, respectively), whereas the antimicrobial activity of the investigated α-acid extract was significantly lower (MIC values of 200 ppm). Gram-negative bacteria were highly resistant against all tested hop extracts. Acidification of the test media led to a decrease of the MIC values. The inhibitory activity of the hop extracts against L. monocytogenes was strongly reduced in a fat-containing model meat marinade, but the efficiency of β-acids in this matrix could be increased by lowering pH and storage temperatures. By applying 0.5 % β-acids at pH = 5 in a model marinade, the total aerobic count of pork tenderloins was reduced up to 0.9 log10 compared with marinated pork without hop extract after 2 weeks of storage at 5°C. β-acid containing hop extracts have proven to possess a high antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria in vitro and in a practice-related application for food preservation. Antimicrobial hop extracts could be used as natural preservatives in food applications to extend the shelf life and to increase the safety of fresh products. © 2014 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

In Vivo Anti-Candida Activity of Phenolic Extracts and Compounds: Future Perspectives Focusing on Effective Clinical Interventions

PubMed Central

Martins, Natália; Barros, Lillian; Henriques, Mariana; Silva, Sónia; Ferreira, Isabel C. F. R.

2015-01-01

Candida species have increasingly deserved a special attention among the medical community. In spite of the presence of Candida species as a human commensal, alarming rates of local and systemic infections have been observed, varying from moderate to severe impact. Currently available antifungal drugs have progressively lost their effectiveness, pointing urgently the problem of the microorganisms with acquired-resistance. Natural matrices are secularly used for numerous purposes, being inclusive and highly effective as antimicrobials. Increasing evidence gives a particular emphasis to the contribution of phenolic extracts and related individual compounds. In vitro studies clearly confirm their prominent effects, but the confirmation through in vivo studies, including the involved mechanisms of action, is not so much deepened. Therefore, the present report aims to provide extensive knowledge about all these aspects, highlighting the most efficient phytochemical formulations, including therapeutic doses. Further studies need to be incited to deepen knowledge on this area, namely, focused on clinical trials to provide safer and more effective antimicrobials than the current ones. PMID:26380266

Shale Fracture Analysis using the Combined Finite-Discrete Element Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carey, J. W.; Lei, Z.; Rougier, E.; Knight, E. E.; Viswanathan, H.

2014-12-01

Hydraulic fracturing (hydrofrac) is a successful method used to extract oil and gas from highly carbonate rocks like shale. However, challenges exist for industry experts estimate that for a single $10 million dollar lateral wellbore fracking operation, only 10% of the hydrocarbons contained in the rock are extracted. To better understand how to improve hydrofrac recovery efficiencies and to lower its costs, LANL recently funded the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project: "Discovery Science of Hydraulic Fracturing: Innovative Working Fluids and Their Interactions with Rocks, Fractures, and Hydrocarbons". Under the support of this project, the LDRD modeling team is working with the experimental team to understand fracture initiation and propagation in shale rocks. LANL's hybrid hydro-mechanical (HM) tool, the Hybrid Optimization Software Suite (HOSS), is being used to simulate the complex fracture and fragment processes under a variety of different boundary conditions. HOSS is based on the combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) and has been proven to be a superior computational tool for multi-fracturing problems. In this work, the comparison of HOSS simulation results to triaxial core flooding experiments will be presented.

Plasmonically sensitized metal-oxide electron extraction layers for organic solar cells.

PubMed

Trost, S; Becker, T; Zilberberg, K; Behrendt, A; Polywka, A; Heiderhoff, R; Görrn, P; Riedl, T

2015-01-16

ZnO and TiOx are commonly used as electron extraction layers (EELs) in organic solar cells (OSCs). A general phenomenon of OSCs incorporating these metal-oxides is the requirement to illuminate the devices with UV light in order to improve device characteristics. This may cause severe problems if UV to VIS down-conversion is applied or if the UV spectral range (λ < 400 nm) is blocked to achieve an improved device lifetime. In this work, silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are used to plasmonically sensitize metal-oxide based EELs in the vicinity (1-20 nm) of the metal-oxide/organic interface. We evidence that plasmonically sensitized metal-oxide layers facilitate electron extraction and afford well-behaved highly efficient OSCs, even without the typical requirement of UV exposure. It is shown that in the plasmonically sensitized metal-oxides the illumination with visible light lowers the WF due to desorption of previously ionosorbed oxygen, in analogy to the process found in neat metal oxides upon UV exposure, only. As underlying mechanism the transfer of hot holes from the metal to the oxide upon illumination with hν < Eg is verified. The general applicability of this concept to most common metal-oxides (e.g. TiOx and ZnO) in combination with different photoactive organic materials is demonstrated.

DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Risk assessment is a crucial component of the site remediation decision-making process. Some current EPA methods do not have detection limits low enough for risk assessment of many VOCs (e.g., EPA Region 3 Risk Based Concentration levels, EPA Region 9 Preliminary Remediation Goals, state-specified concentration levels). The magnitude of this problem was described in a paper recently presented at a University of Massachusetts Remediation Conference with the conclusion that the resolution of this issue is critical for valid human health and ecological risk assessments. Likewise, the difficulty of obtaining complete extraction of water-soluble VOCs and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) makes the generation of reliable and reproducible data a serious concern in site characterization and risk assessment programs.This poster presents findings of the development of an analytical method which uses thermal desorption combined with dual gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to extract and accurately measure low levels of VOCs and SVOCs in soil and sediment samples with medium to high moisture content. Thermal extraction was selected for examination because the technique is simpler and more efficient than the present EPA purge-and-trap methods, and all water-soluble compounds are amenable to the procedure. Efforts were made to modify commonly used instrumentation (e.g., Archon

Plasmonically sensitized metal-oxide electron extraction layers for organic solar cells

PubMed Central

Trost, S.; Becker, T.; Zilberberg, K.; Behrendt, A.; Polywka, A.; Heiderhoff, R.; Görrn, P.; Riedl, T.

2015-01-01

ZnO and TiOx are commonly used as electron extraction layers (EELs) in organic solar cells (OSCs). A general phenomenon of OSCs incorporating these metal-oxides is the requirement to illuminate the devices with UV light in order to improve device characteristics. This may cause severe problems if UV to VIS down-conversion is applied or if the UV spectral range (λ < 400 nm) is blocked to achieve an improved device lifetime. In this work, silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are used to plasmonically sensitize metal-oxide based EELs in the vicinity (1–20 nm) of the metal-oxide/organic interface. We evidence that plasmonically sensitized metal-oxide layers facilitate electron extraction and afford well-behaved highly efficient OSCs, even without the typical requirement of UV exposure. It is shown that in the plasmonically sensitized metal-oxides the illumination with visible light lowers the WF due to desorption of previously ionosorbed oxygen, in analogy to the process found in neat metal oxides upon UV exposure, only. As underlying mechanism the transfer of hot holes from the metal to the oxide upon illumination with hν < Eg is verified. The general applicability of this concept to most common metal-oxides (e.g. TiOx and ZnO) in combination with different photoactive organic materials is demonstrated. PMID:25592174

Orthogonal array design in optimizing the extraction efficiency of active constituents from roots of Panax notoginseng.

PubMed

Dong, T T X; Zhao, K J; Huang, W Z; Leung, K W; Tsim, K W K

2005-08-01

The root of Panax notoginseng (Radix Notoginseng, Sanqi) is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, which is mainly cultivated in Wenshan of Yunnan China. The identified active constituents in Radix Notoginseng include saponin, ssavonoid and polysaccharide; however, the levels of these active constituents vary greatly with different extraction processes. This variation causes a serious problem in standardizing the herbal extract. By using HPLC and spectrophotometry, the contents of notoginsenoside R(1), ginsenoside R(g1), R(b1), R(d), and ssavonoids were determined in the extracts of Radix Notoginseng that were derived from different processes of extraction according to an orthogonal array experimental design having three variable parameters: nature of extraction solvent, extraction volume and extraction time. The nature of extraction solvent and extraction volume were two distinct factors in obtaining those active constituents, while the time of extraction was a subordinate factor. The optimized condition of extraction therefore is considered to be 20 volumes of water and extracted for 24 h. In good agreement with the amount of active constituents, the activity of anti-platelet aggregation was found to be the highest in the extract that contained a better yield of the active constituents. The current results provide an optimized extraction method for the quality control of Radix Notoginseng. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Alternative and Efficient Extraction Methods for Marine-Derived Compounds

PubMed Central

Grosso, Clara; Valentão, Patrícia; Ferreres, Federico; Andrade, Paula B.

2015-01-01

Marine ecosystems cover more than 70% of the globe’s surface. These habitats are occupied by a great diversity of marine organisms that produce highly structural diverse metabolites as a defense mechanism. In the last decades, these metabolites have been extracted and isolated in order to test them in different bioassays and assess their potential to fight human diseases. Since traditional extraction techniques are both solvent- and time-consuming, this review emphasizes alternative extraction techniques, such as supercritical fluid extraction, pressurized solvent extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, pulsed electric field-assisted extraction, enzyme-assisted extraction, and extraction with switchable solvents and ionic liquids, applied in the search for marine compounds. Only studies published in the 21st century are considered. PMID:26006714

Two-party quantum key agreement with five-particle entangled states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Ye-Feng; Ma, Wen-Ping

A two-party quantum key agreement protocol is proposed with five-particle entangled states and the delayed measurement technique. According to the measurement correlation property of five-particle entangled states, two participants can deduce the measurement results of each other’s initial quantum states. As a result, two parties can extract the secret keys of each other by using the publicly announced value or by performing the delayed measurement, respectively. Thus, a shared key is fairly established. Since each particle is transmitted only once in quantum channel, the protocol is congenitally free from the Trojan horse attacks. It is shown that the protocol not only is secure against both participant and outsider attacks but also has no information leakage problem. Moreover, it has high qubit efficiency.

[Study on extraction technology of soyasaponins from residual of bean ware].

PubMed

Lu, Rumei; Zhang, Yizhen; Bi, Yi

2003-04-01

To find out the optimum extraction technology of soyasaponins from residual of bean ware. The optimum extraction conditions were investigated by the orthogonal design, and the content of soyasaponins was determined by UV-spectro-pho-tometry. The optimum extraction technology was A3B1C1, that is adding 7 times and 6 times amount of 70% alcohol and refluxing for two times and each time for 1.0 h. The selected technology showed higher yield of soyasaponins, good stability and high efficient.

Research of information classification and strategy intelligence extract algorithm based on military strategy hall

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Lei; Li, Dehua; Yang, Jie

2007-12-01

Constructing virtual international strategy environment needs many kinds of information, such as economy, politic, military, diploma, culture, science, etc. So it is very important to build an information auto-extract, classification, recombination and analysis management system with high efficiency as the foundation and component of military strategy hall. This paper firstly use improved Boost algorithm to classify obtained initial information, then use a strategy intelligence extract algorithm to extract strategy intelligence from initial information to help strategist to analysis information.

Extraction methods and food uses of a natural red colorant from dye sorghum.

PubMed

Akogou, Folachodé Ug; Kayodé, Ap Polycarpe; den Besten, Heidy Mw; Linnemann, Anita R

2018-01-01

The interest in stable natural colorants for food applications continues to grow. A red pigment extracted from the leaf sheaths of a sorghum variety (Sorghum bicolor) with a high content of apigeninidin is widely used as a biocolorant in processed foods in West Africa. This study compared the colour and anthocyanin composition from traditional extraction methods to determine options for improvement and use of the red biocolorant from dye sorghum in the food sector. Sorghum biocolorant was commonly applied in fermented and heated foods. Traditional extraction methods predominantly differed in two aspects, namely the use of an alkaline rock salt (locally known as kanwu) and the temperature of the extraction water. Cool extraction using the alkaline ingredient was more efficient than hot alkaline and hot aqueous extractions in extracting anthocyanins. The apigeninidin content was three times higher in the cool and hot alkaline extracts than in the aqueous extract. Cool and hot alkaline extractions at pH 8-9 were the most efficient methods for extracting apigeninidin from dye sorghum leaf sheaths. Broader use of the sorghum biocolorant in foods requires further research on its effects on nutrient bioavailability and antioxidant activity. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Extraction of methylxanthines from guaraná seeds, maté leaves, and cocoa beans using supercritical carbon dioxide and ethanol.

PubMed

Saldaña, Marleny D A; Zetzl, Carsten; Mohamed, Rahoma S; Brunner, G

2002-08-14

New experimental data on the extraction of caffeine from guaraná seeds and maté tea leaves, and theobromine from cocoa beans, with supercritical CO2 were obtained using a high-pressure extraction apparatus. The effect of the addition of ethanol to carbon dioxide on the extraction efficiency was also investigated. Caffeine extraction yields of 98% of the initial caffeine content in both wet ground guaraná seeds and maté tea leaves were obtained. Extractions of caffeine from guaraná seeds and maté tea leaves also exhibited a retrograde behavior for the two temperatures considered in this work. In the removal of theobromine from cocoa beans, a much smaller extraction yield was obtained with longer extraction periods and consequently larger solvent requirements. The results of this study confirm the higher selectivity of CO2 for caffeine in comparison with that for theobromine, and also the influence of other components in each particular natural product on the extraction of methylxanthines. The effect of the addition of ethanol to carbon dioxide on the extraction of methylxanthines was significant, particularly in the extraction of theobromine from cocoa beans. In general, the use of ethanol results in lower solvent and energy requirements and thereby improved extraction efficiency.

Extraction and preparation of high-aroma and low-caffeine instant green teas by the novel column chromatographic extraction method with gradient elution.

PubMed

Li, Qing-Rong; Wu, Min; Huang, Rui-Jie; Chen, Ya-Fei; Chen, Chan-Jian; Li, Hui; Ni, He; Li, Hai-Hang

2017-06-01

The lack of aroma and natural taste is a critical problem in production and consumption of instant green teas. A method to prepare instant green teas high in-natural-aroma and low-caffeine by the novel column chromatographic extraction with gradient elution is reported. This method simultaneously extracted aroma (or volatile) and non-aroma compounds from green tea. Green tea was loaded into columns with 2.0-fold of petroleum ether (PE): ethanol (8:2). After standing for 3 h until the aroma compounds dissolved, the column was sequentially eluted with 3.0-fold 40% ethanol and 3.5-fold water. The eluant was collected together and automatically separated into PE and ethanol aqueous phases. The aroma extracts was obtained by vacuum-evaporation of PE phase at 45 °C. The ethanol aqueous phase was vacuum-concentrated to aqueous and partially or fully decaffeinated with 4% or 9% charcoal at 70 °C. A regular instant green tea with epigallocatechin-3-gallate: caffeine of 3.5:1 and a low-caffeine instant green tea (less than 1% caffeine) with excellent aroma and taste were prepared, by combining the aroma and non-aroma extracts at a 1:10 ratio. This work provides a practical approach to solve the low-aroma and low-taste problems in the production of high quality instant green teas.

Engineering, construction, and operations in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Stewart W. (Editor); Wetzel, John P. (Editor)

1990-01-01

The century-old Mond process for carbonyl extraction of metals from ore shows great promise as an efficient low energy scheme for producing high-purity Fe, Ni, Cr, Mn, and Co from lunar or asteroidal feedstocks. Scenarios for winning oxygen from the lunar regolith can be enhanced by carbonyl processing of the metallic alloy by-products of such operations. The native metal content of asteroidal regoliths is even more suitable to carbonyl processing. High-purity, corrosion resistant Fe and Ni can be extracted from asteroidial feedstocks along with a Co-rich residue containing 0.5 percent platinum-group metals. The resulting gaseous metal carbonyl can produce a variety of end products using efficient vapor forming techniques.

Tech Gets Physical

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ravage, Barbara

2011-01-01

As colleges push for increased efficiencies, facilities departments nationwide are turning more and more to high-tech approaches. Nowhere has this trend been more visible than in the realm of energy consumption, where managers hope to extract significant cost savings. Technology is helping facilities managers achieve significant efficiencies,…

Homogeneity study of a GaAs:Cr pixelated sensor by means of X-rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Billoud, T.; Leroy, C.; Papadatos, C.; Pichotka, M.; Pospisil, S.; Roux, J. S.

2018-04-01

Direct conversion semiconductor detectors have become an indispensable tool in radiation detection by now. In order to obtain a high detection efficiency, especially when detecting X or γ rays, high-Z semiconductor sensors are necessary. Like other compound semiconductors GaAs, compensated by chromium (GaAs:Cr), suffers from a number of defects that affect the charge collection efficiency and homogeneity of the material. A precise knowledge of this problem is important to predict the performance of such detectors and eventually correct their response in specific applications. In this study we analyse the homogeneity and mobility-lifetime products (μe τe) of a 500 μ m thick GaAs:Cr pixelated sensor connected to a Timepix chip. The detector is irradiated by 23 keV X-rays, each pixel recording the number of photon interactions and the charge they induce on its electrode. The μe τe products are extracted on a per-pixel basis, using the Hecht equation corrected for the small pixel effect. The detector shows a good time stability in the experimental conditions. Significant inhomogeneities are observed in photon counting and charge collection efficiencies. An average μe τe of 1.0 ṡ 10‑4 cm2V‑1 is found, and compared with values obtained by other methods for the same material. Solutions to improve the response are discussed.

Ultrafast single photon emitting quantum photonic structures based on a nano-obelisk.

PubMed

Kim, Je-Hyung; Ko, Young-Ho; Gong, Su-Hyun; Ko, Suk-Min; Cho, Yong-Hoon

2013-01-01

A key issue in a single photon source is fast and efficient generation of a single photon flux with high light extraction efficiency. Significant progress toward high-efficiency single photon sources has been demonstrated by semiconductor quantum dots, especially using narrow bandgap materials. Meanwhile, there are many obstacles, which restrict the use of wide bandgap semiconductor quantum dots as practical single photon sources in ultraviolet-visible region, despite offering free space communication and miniaturized quantum information circuits. Here we demonstrate a single InGaN quantum dot embedded in an obelisk-shaped GaN nanostructure. The nano-obelisk plays an important role in eliminating dislocations, increasing light extraction, and minimizing a built-in electric field. Based on the nano-obelisks, we observed nonconventional narrow quantum dot emission and positive biexciton binding energy, which are signatures of negligible built-in field in single InGaN quantum dots. This results in efficient and ultrafast single photon generation in the violet color region.

Packed in-tube solid phase microextraction with graphene oxide supported on aminopropyl silica: Determination of target triazines in water samples.

PubMed

De Toffoli, Ana L; Fumes, Bruno H; Lanças, Fernando M

2018-02-22

On-line in-tube solid phase microextraction (in-tube SPME) coupled to high performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was successfully applied to the determination of selected triazines in water samples. The method based on the employment of a packed column containing graphene oxide (GO) supported on aminopropyl silica (Si) showed that the extraction phase has a high potential for triazines extraction aiming to its physical-chemical properties including ultrahigh specific surface area, good mechanical and thermal stability and high fracture strength. Injection volume and loading time were both investigated and optimized. The method validation using Si-GO to extract and concentrate the analytes showed satisfactory results, good sensitivity, good linearity (0.2-4.0 µg L -1 ) and low detection limits (1.1-2.9 ng L -1 ). The high extraction efficiency was determined with enrichment factors ranging from 1.2-2.9 for the lowest level, 1.3-4.9 intermediate level and 1.2-3.0 highest level (n = 3). Although the analytes were not detected in the real samples evaluated, the method has demonstrated to be efficient through its application in the analysis of spiked triazines in ground and mineral water samples.

RNA isolation from mammalian cells using porous polymer monoliths: an approach for high-throughput automation.

PubMed

Chatterjee, Anirban; Mirer, Paul L; Zaldivar Santamaria, Elvira; Klapperich, Catherine; Sharon, Andre; Sauer-Budge, Alexis F

2010-06-01

The life science and healthcare communities have been redefining the importance of ribonucleic acid (RNA) through the study of small molecule RNA (in RNAi/siRNA technologies), micro RNA (in cancer research and stem cell research), and mRNA (gene expression analysis for biologic drug targets). Research in this field increasingly requires efficient and high-throughput isolation techniques for RNA. Currently, several commercial kits are available for isolating RNA from cells. Although the quality and quantity of RNA yielded from these kits is sufficiently good for many purposes, limitations exist in terms of extraction efficiency from small cell populations and the ability to automate the extraction process. Traditionally, automating a process decreases the cost and personnel time while simultaneously increasing the throughput and reproducibility. As the RNA field matures, new methods for automating its extraction, especially from low cell numbers and in high throughput, are needed to achieve these improvements. The technology presented in this article is a step toward this goal. The method is based on a solid-phase extraction technology using a porous polymer monolith (PPM). A novel cell lysis approach and a larger binding surface throughout the PPM extraction column ensure a high yield from small starting samples, increasing sensitivity and reducing indirect costs in cell culture and sample storage. The method ensures a fast and simple procedure for RNA isolation from eukaryotic cells, with a high yield both in terms of quality and quantity. The technique is amenable to automation and streamlined workflow integration, with possible miniaturization of the sample handling process making it suitable for high-throughput applications.

Dynamic pH junction high-speed counter-current chromatography coupled with microwave-assisted extraction for online separation and purification of alkaloids from Stephania cepharantha.

PubMed

Yuan, Zhiquan; Xiao, Xiaohua; Li, Gongke

2013-11-22

A simple and efficient dynamic pH junction high-speed counter-current chromatography method was developed and further applied to the online extraction, separation and purification of alkaloids from Stephania cepharantha by coupling with microwave-assisted extraction. Mineral acid and organic base were added into the mobile phase and the sample solution, respectively, leading to the formation of a dynamic pH junction in the column and causing focus of alkaloids. Selective focus of analytes can be achieved on the basis of velocity changes of the pH junction through appropriate selection of solvent systems and optimization of additive concentrations. The extract can be directly introduced into the HSCCC for the online extraction, separation and purification of alkaloids from S. cepharantha. Continuous separation can be easily achieved with the same solvent system. Under the optimum conditions, 6.0 g original sample was extracted with 60 mL of the upper phase of hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (1:1:1:1, v/v/v/v) containing 10% triethylamine under 50 °C and 400 W irradiation power for 10 min, the extracts were directly separated and purified by high-speed counter-current chromatography. A total of 5.7 mg sinomenine, 8.3mg 6,7-di-O-acetylsinococuline, 17.9 mg berbamine, 12.7 mg isotetrandrine and 14.6 mg cepharanthine were obtained with purities of 96.7%, 93.7%, 98.7%, 97.3% and 99.3%, respectively. The online method provides good selectivity to ionizable compounds and improves the separation and purification efficiency of the high-speed counter-current chromatography technique. It has good potential for separation and purification of effective compounds from natural products. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Coping with effects of high dissolved salt samples on the inductively coupled plasma spectrometer

Treesearch

Jane E. Hislop; James W. Hornbeck; James W. Hornbeck

2002-01-01

Research on acidic forest soils typically uses unbuffered salt solutions as extractants for exchangeable cations. Our lab uses 1 M NH4C1 extractant for exchangeable cations (Ca, K, Mg, and Na) and 1 M KC1 for exchangeable aluminum. The resulting high dissolved salt solutions presented chronic analytical problems on flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and...

Aqueous two-phase based on ionic liquid liquid-liquid microextraction for simultaneous determination of five synthetic food colourants in different food samples by high-performance liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Sha, Ou; Zhu, Xiashi; Feng, Yanli; Ma, Weixing

2015-05-01

A rapid and effective method of aqueous two-phase systems based on ionic liquid microextraction for the simultaneous determination of five synthetic food colourants (tartrazine, sunset yellow, amaranth, ponceau 4R and brilliant blue) in food samples was established. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with an ultraviolet detector of variable wavelength was used for the determinations. 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide was selected as the extraction reagent. The extraction efficiency of the five colourants in the proposed system is influenced by the types of salts, concentrations of salt and [CnMIM]Br, as well as the extracting time. Under the optimal conditions, the extraction efficiencies for these five colourants were above 95%. The phase behaviours of aqueous two-phase system and extraction mechanism were investigated by UV-vis spectroscopy. This method was applied to the analysis of the five colourants in real food samples with the detection limit of 0.051-0.074 ng/mL. Good spiked recoveries from 93.2% to 98.9% were obtained. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How PNNL Extracts Rare Earth Elements from Geothermal Brine

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

None

2016-07-12

By looking at a problem at a nanoscale level, PNNL researchers are developing an economic way to extract valuable rare earth elements from geothermal fluids. This novel approach may help meet the high demand for rare earth elements that are used in many clean energy technologies.

Oriented modulation for watermarking in direct binary search halftone images.

PubMed

Guo, Jing-Ming; Su, Chang-Cheng; Liu, Yun-Fu; Lee, Hua; Lee, Jiann-Der

2012-09-01

In this paper, a halftoning-based watermarking method is presented. This method enables high pixel-depth watermark embedding, while maintaining high image quality. This technique is capable of embedding watermarks with pixel depths up to 3 bits without causing prominent degradation to the image quality. To achieve high image quality, the parallel oriented high-efficient direct binary search (DBS) halftoning is selected to be integrated with the proposed orientation modulation (OM) method. The OM method utilizes different halftone texture orientations to carry different watermark data. In the decoder, the least-mean-square-trained filters are applied for feature extraction from watermarked images in the frequency domain, and the naïve Bayes classifier is used to analyze the extracted features and ultimately to decode the watermark data. Experimental results show that the DBS-based OM encoding method maintains a high degree of image quality and realizes the processing efficiency and robustness to be adapted in printing applications.

Optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction of charantin from Momordica charantia fruits using response surface methodology.

PubMed

Ahamad, Javed; Amin, Saima; Mir, Showkat R

2015-01-01

Momordica charantia Linn. (Cucurbitaceae) fruits are well known for their beneficial effects in diabetes that are often attributed to its bioactive component charantin. The aim of the present study is to develop and optimize an efficient protocol for the extraction of charantin from M. charantia fruits. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used for the optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) conditions. RSM was based on a three-level, three-variable Box-Behnken design (BBD), and the studied variables included solid to solvent ratio, extraction temperature, and extraction time. The optimal conditions predicted by the BBD were: UAE with methanol: Water (80:20, v/v) at 46°C for 120 min with solid to solvent ratio of 1:26 w/v, under which the yield of charantin was 3.18 mg/g. Confirmation trials under slightly adjusted conditions yielded 3.12 ± 0.14 mg/g of charantin on dry weight basis of fruits. The result of UAE was also compared with Soxhlet extraction method and UAE was found 2.74-fold more efficient than the Soxhlet extraction for extracting charantin. A facile UAE protocol for a high extraction yield of charantin was developed and validated.

Corrosion resistance of API 5L grade B steel with taro leaf (Colocasia esculenta) addition as corrosion inhibitor in HCl 0.1 M

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lestari, Yulinda; Priyotomo, Gadang

2018-05-01

Taro leaf (Colocasia esculenta) has the potential to be used as a corrosion inhibitor because it has a substance called polyphenol that binds to the hydroxyl group and essential amino acids. Taro leaf extract is taken by maceration method. In this study, the specimen was steel API 5L grade B that would measured the corosivity in 0.1 M HCl solution + taro leaf extract with a specific concentration (in ppm). Tests conducted by FTIR method taro leaves, potentiodynamic polarization (Tafel) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Based on the results revealed that there is a phenolic group in taro leaves, which has polyphenol content 0.053 % (mg/100 mg). The optimum composition of taro leaf extract is 4000 ppm which generate corrosion rate value of 30.22 mpy and efficiency inhibitor performance of 72.7 %. In this study, the Kads value of taro leaf extract ranged from 0.885 to greater than Kads value of ginger extract in hydrochloric acid solution. The high Kads values indicate a more efficient process of adsorption and better value of inhibition efficiency.

Fast and comprehensive analysis of secondary metabolites in cocoa products using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography directly after pressurized liquid extraction.

PubMed

Damm, Irina; Enger, Eileen; Chrubasik-Hausmann, Sigrun; Schieber, Andreas; Zimmermann, Benno F

2016-08-01

Fast methods for the extraction and analysis of various secondary metabolites from cocoa products were developed and optimized regarding speed and separation efficiency. Extraction by pressurized liquid extraction is automated and the extracts are analyzed by rapid reversed-phase ultra high-performance liquid chromatography and normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography methods. After extraction, no further sample treatment is required before chromatographic analysis. The analytes comprise monomeric and oligomeric flavanols, flavonols, methylxanthins, N-phenylpropenoyl amino acids, and phenolic acids. Polyphenols and N-phenylpropenoyl amino acids are separated in a single run of 33 min, procyanidins are analyzed by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography within 16 min, and methylxanthins require only 6 min total run time. A fourth method is suitable for phenolic acids, but only protocatechuic acid was found in relevant quantities. The optimized methods were validated and applied to 27 dark chocolates, one milk chocolate, two cocoa powders and two food supplements based on cocoa extract. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Efficient and robust quantum random number generation by photon number detection

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

Applegate, M. J.; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE; Thomas, O.

2015-08-17

We present an efficient and robust quantum random number generator based upon high-rate room temperature photon number detection. We employ an electric field-modulated silicon avalanche photodiode, a type of device particularly suited to high-rate photon number detection with excellent photon number resolution to detect, without an applied dead-time, up to 4 photons from the optical pulses emitted by a laser. By both measuring and modeling the response of the detector to the incident photons, we are able to determine the illumination conditions that achieve an optimal bit rate that we show is robust against variation in the photon flux. Wemore » extract random bits from the detected photon numbers with an efficiency of 99% corresponding to 1.97 bits per detected photon number yielding a bit rate of 143 Mbit/s, and verify that the extracted bits pass stringent statistical tests for randomness. Our scheme is highly scalable and has the potential of multi-Gbit/s bit rates.« less

Carnot cycle at finite power: attainability of maximal efficiency.

PubMed

Allahverdyan, Armen E; Hovhannisyan, Karen V; Melkikh, Alexey V; Gevorkian, Sasun G

2013-08-02

We want to understand whether and to what extent the maximal (Carnot) efficiency for heat engines can be reached at a finite power. To this end we generalize the Carnot cycle so that it is not restricted to slow processes. We show that for realistic (i.e., not purposefully designed) engine-bath interactions, the work-optimal engine performing the generalized cycle close to the maximal efficiency has a long cycle time and hence vanishing power. This aspect is shown to relate to the theory of computational complexity. A physical manifestation of the same effect is Levinthal's paradox in the protein folding problem. The resolution of this paradox for realistic proteins allows to construct engines that can extract at a finite power 40% of the maximally possible work reaching 90% of the maximal efficiency. For purposefully designed engine-bath interactions, the Carnot efficiency is achievable at a large power.

A highly efficient bead extraction technique with low bead number for digital microfluidic immunoassay

PubMed Central

Tsai, Po-Yen; Lee, I-Chin; Hsu, Hsin-Yun; Huang, Hong-Yuan; Fan, Shih-Kang; Liu, Cheng-Hsien

2016-01-01

Here, we describe a technique to manipulate a low number of beads to achieve high washing efficiency with zero bead loss in the washing process of a digital microfluidic (DMF) immunoassay. Previously, two magnetic bead extraction methods were reported in the DMF platform: (1) single-side electrowetting method and (2) double-side electrowetting method. The first approach could provide high washing efficiency, but it required a large number of beads. The second approach could reduce the required number of beads, but it was inefficient where multiple washes were required. More importantly, bead loss during the washing process was unavoidable in both methods. Here, an improved double-side electrowetting method is proposed for bead extraction by utilizing a series of unequal electrodes. It is shown that, with proper electrode size ratio, only one wash step is required to achieve 98% washing rate without any bead loss at bead number less than 100 in a droplet. It allows using only about 25 magnetic beads in DMF immunoassay to increase the number of captured analytes on each bead effectively. In our human soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I (sTNF-RI) model immunoassay, the experimental results show that, comparing to our previous results without using the proposed bead extraction technique, the immunoassay with low bead number significantly enhances the fluorescence signal to provide a better limit of detection (3.14 pg/ml) with smaller reagent volumes (200 nl) and shorter analysis time (<1 h). This improved bead extraction technique not only can be used in the DMF immunoassay but also has great potential to be used in any other bead-based DMF systems for different applications. PMID:26858807

Concept of turbines for ultrasupercritical, supercritical, and subcritical steam conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikhailov, V. E.; Khomenok, L. A.; Pichugin, I. I.; Kovalev, I. A.; Bozhko, V. V.; Vladimirskii, O. A.; Zaitsev, I. V.; Kachuriner, Yu. Ya.; Nosovitskii, I. A.; Orlik, V. G.

2017-11-01

The article describes the design features of condensing turbines for ultrasupercritical initial steam conditions (USSC) and large-capacity cogeneration turbines for super- and subcritical steam conditions having increased steam extractions for district heating purposes. For improving the efficiency and reliability indicators of USSC turbines, it is proposed to use forced cooling of the head high-temperature thermally stressed parts of the high- and intermediate-pressure rotors, reaction-type blades of the high-pressure cylinder (HPC) and at least the first stages of the intermediate-pressure cylinder (IPC), the double-wall HPC casing with narrow flanges of its horizontal joints, a rigid HPC rotor, an extended system of regenerative steam extractions without using extractions from the HPC flow path, and the low-pressure cylinder's inner casing moving in accordance with the IPC thermal expansions. For cogeneration turbines, it is proposed to shift the upper district heating extraction (or its significant part) to the feedwater pump turbine, which will make it possible to improve the turbine plant efficiency and arrange both district heating extractions in the IPC. In addition, in the case of using a disengaging coupling or precision conical bolts in the coupling, this solution will make it possible to disconnect the LPC in shifting the turbine to operate in the cogeneration mode. The article points out the need to intensify turbine development efforts with the use of modern methods for improving their efficiency and reliability involving, in particular, the use of relatively short 3D blades, last stages fitted with longer rotor blades, evaporation techniques for removing moisture in the last-stage diaphragm, and LPC rotor blades with radial grooves on their leading edges.

The feature extraction of "cat-eye" targets based on bi-spectrum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tinghua; Fan, Guihua; Sun, Huayan

2016-10-01

In order to resolve the difficult problem of detection and identification of optical targets in complex background or in long-distance transmission, this paper mainly study the range profiles of "cat-eye" targets using bi-spectrum. For the problems of laser echo signal attenuation serious and low Signal-Noise Ratio (SNR), the multi-pulse laser signal echo signal detection algorithm which is based on high-order cumulant, filter processing and the accumulation of multi-pulse is proposed. This could improve the detection range effectively. In order to extract the stable characteristics of the one-dimensional range profile coming from the cat-eye targets, a method is proposed which extracts the bi-spectrum feature, and uses the singular value decomposition to simplify the calculation. Then, by extracting data samples of different distance, type and incidence angle, verify the stability of the eigenvector and effectiveness extracted by bi-spectrum.

Development of high efficiency (14 percent) solar cell array module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iles, P. A.; Khemthong, S.; Olah, S.; Sampson, W. J.; Ling, K. S.

1980-01-01

Most effort was concentrated on development of procedures to provide large area (3 in. diameter) high efficiency (16.5 percent AM1, 28 C) P+NN+ solar cells. Intensive tests with 3 in. slices gave consistently lower efficiency (13.5 percent). The problems were identified as incomplete formation of and optimum back surface field (BSF), and interaction of the BSF process and the shallow P+ junction. The problem was shown not to be caused by reduced quality of silicon near the edges of the larger slices.

Carrier mediated hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction combined with HPLC-UV for preconcentration and determination of some tetracycline antibiotics.

PubMed

Shariati, Shahab; Yamini, Yadollah; Esrafili, Ali

2009-02-01

In the present study, a simple and efficient preconcentration method was developed using carrier mediated three phase liquid phase microextraction prior to HPLC-UV for simultaneous extraction and determination of trace amounts of highly hydrophilic tetracycline antibiotics including tetracycline (TCN), oxytetracycline (OTCN) and doxycycline (DCN) in bovine milk, human plasma and water samples. For extraction, 11.0 mL of the aqueous sample containing TCNs and 0.05 M Na(2)HPO(4) (9.10.995). Finally, applicability of the proposed method was successfully confirmed by extraction and determination of the drugs in water and plasma samples as well as in bovine milk samples with low and high fat contents. Comparing to the traditional methods, the proposed method exhibits high sensitivity and high preconcentration factors as well as good precision. The extraction setup is simple and due to active transport of analytes, high cleanup effect and good selectivity are obtained in extraction process.

Efficiency of RNA extraction from selected bacteria in the context of biogas production and metatranscriptomics.

PubMed

Stark, Lucy; Giersch, Tina; Wünschiers, Röbbe

2014-10-01

Understanding the microbial population in anaerobic digestion is an essential task to increase efficient substrate use and process stability. The metabolic state, represented e.g. by the transcriptome, of a fermenting system can help to find markers for monitoring industrial biogas production to prevent failures or to model the whole process. Advances in next-generation sequencing make transcriptomes accessible for large-scale analyses. In order to analyze the metatranscriptome of a mixed-species sample, isolation of high-quality RNA is the first step. However, different extraction methods may yield different efficiencies in different species. Especially in mixed-species environmental samples, unbiased isolation of transcripts is important for meaningful conclusions. We applied five different RNA-extraction protocols to nine taxonomic diverse bacterial species. Chosen methods are based on various lysis and extraction principles. We found that the extraction efficiency of different methods depends strongly on the target organism. RNA isolation of gram-positive bacteria was characterized by low yield whilst from gram-negative species higher concentrations can be obtained. Transferring our results to mixed-species investigations, such as metatranscriptomics with biofilms or biogas plants, leads to the conclusion that particular microorganisms might be over- or underrepresented depending on the method applied. Special care must be taken when using such metatranscriptomics data for, e.g. process modeling. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantification of trans-1,4-polyisoprene in Eucommia ulmoides by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Takeno, Shinya; Bamba, Takeshi; Nakazawa, Yoshihisa; Fukusaki, Eiichiro; Okazawa, Atsushi; Kobayashi, Akio

2008-04-01

Commercial development of trans-1,4-polyisoprene from Eucommia ulmoides Oliver (EU-rubber) requires specific knowledge on selection of high-rubber-content lines and establishment of agronomic cultivation methods for achieving maximum EU-rubber yield. The development can be facilitated by high-throughput and highly sensitive analytical techniques for EU-rubber extraction and quantification. In this paper, we described an efficient EU-rubber extraction method, and validated that the accuracy was equivalent to that of the conventional Soxhlet extraction method. We also described a highly sensitive quantification method for EU-rubber by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (PyGC/MS). We successfully applied the extraction/quantification method for study of seasonal changes in EU-rubber content and molecular weight distribution.

Metasurface integrated high energy efficient and high linearly polarized InGaN/GaN light emitting diode.

PubMed

Wang, Miao; Xu, Fuyang; Lin, Yu; Cao, Bing; Chen, Linghua; Wang, Chinhua; Wang, Jianfeng; Xu, Ke

2017-07-06

We proposed and demonstrated an integrated high energy efficient and high linearly polarized InGaN/GaN green LED grown on (0001) oriented sapphire with combined metasurface polarizing converter and polarizer system. It is different from those conventional polarized light emissions generated with plasmonic metallic grating in which at least 50% high energy loss occurs inherently due to high reflection of the transverse electric (TE) component of an electric field. A reflecting metasurface, with a two dimensional elliptic metal cylinder array (EMCA) that functions as a half-wave plate, was integrated at the bottom of a LED such that the back-reflected TE component, that is otherwise lost by a dielectric/metal bi-layered wire grids (DMBiWG) polarizer on the top emitting surface of the LED, can be converted to desired transverse magnetic (TM) polarized emission after reflecting from the metasurface. This significantly enhances the polarized light emission efficiency. Experimental results show that extraction efficiency of the polarized emission can be increased by 40% on average in a wide angle of ±60° compared to that with the naked bottom of sapphire substrate, or 20% compared to reflecting Al film on the bottom of a sapphire substrate. An extinction ratio (ER) of average value 20 dB within an angle of ±60° can be simultaneously obtained directly from an InGaN/GaN LED. Our results show the possibility of simultaneously achieving a high degree of polarization and high polarization extraction efficiency at the integrated device level. This advances the field of GaN LED toward energy efficiency, multi-functional applications in illumination, display, medicine, and light manipulation.

Highway extraction from high resolution aerial photography using a geometric active contour model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Xutong

Highway extraction and vehicle detection are two of the most important steps in traffic-flow analysis from multi-frame aerial photographs. The traditional method of deriving traffic flow trajectories relies on manual vehicle counting from a sequence of aerial photographs, which is tedious and time-consuming. This research presents a new framework for semi-automatic highway extraction. The basis of the new framework is an improved geometric active contour (GAC) model. This novel model seeks to minimize an objective function that transforms a problem of propagation of regular curves into an optimization problem. The implementation of curve propagation is based on level set theory. By using an implicit representation of a two-dimensional curve, a level set approach can be used to deal with topological changes naturally, and the output is unaffected by different initial positions of the curve. However, the original GAC model, on which the new model is based, only incorporates boundary information into the curve propagation process. An error-producing phenomenon called leakage is inevitable wherever there is an uncertain weak edge. In this research, region-based information is added as a constraint into the original GAC model, thereby, giving this proposed method the ability of integrating both boundary and region-based information during the curve propagation. Adding the region-based constraint eliminates the leakage problem. This dissertation applies the proposed augmented GAC model to the problem of highway extraction from high-resolution aerial photography. First, an optimized stopping criterion is designed and used in the implementation of the GAC model. It effectively saves processing time and computations. Second, a seed point propagation framework is designed and implemented. This framework incorporates highway extraction, tracking, and linking into one procedure. A seed point is usually placed at an end node of highway segments close to the boundary of the image or at a position where possible blocking may occur, such as at an overpass bridge or near vehicle crowds. These seed points can be automatically propagated throughout the entire highway network. During the process, road center points are also extracted, which introduces a search direction for solving possible blocking problems. This new framework has been successfully applied to highway network extraction from a large orthophoto mosaic. In the process, vehicles on the highway extracted from mosaic were detected with an 83% success rate.

Continuous nucleus extraction by optically-induced cell lysis on a batch-type microfluidic platform.

PubMed

Huang, Shih-Hsuan; Hung, Lien-Yu; Lee, Gwo-Bin

2016-04-21

The extraction of a cell's nucleus is an essential technique required for a number of procedures, such as disease diagnosis, genetic replication, and animal cloning. However, existing nucleus extraction techniques are relatively inefficient and labor-intensive. Therefore, this study presents an innovative, microfluidics-based approach featuring optically-induced cell lysis (OICL) for nucleus extraction and collection in an automatic format. In comparison to previous micro-devices designed for nucleus extraction, the new OICL device designed herein is superior in terms of flexibility, selectivity, and efficiency. To facilitate this OICL module for continuous nucleus extraction, we further integrated an optically-induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) module with the OICL device within the microfluidic chip. This on-chip integration circumvents the need for highly trained personnel and expensive, cumbersome equipment. Specifically, this microfluidic system automates four steps by 1) automatically focusing and transporting cells, 2) releasing the nuclei on the OICL module, 3) isolating the nuclei on the ODEP module, and 4) collecting the nuclei in the outlet chamber. The efficiency of cell membrane lysis and the ODEP nucleus separation was measured to be 78.04 ± 5.70% and 80.90 ± 5.98%, respectively, leading to an overall nucleus extraction efficiency of 58.21 ± 2.21%. These results demonstrate that this microfluidics-based system can successfully perform nucleus extraction, and the integrated platform is therefore promising in cell fusion technology with the goal of achieving genetic replication, or even animal cloning, in the near future.

An efficient algorithm for measurement of retinal vessel diameter from fundus images based on directional filtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xuchu; Niu, Yanmin

2011-02-01

Automatic measurement of vessels from fundus images is a crucial step for assessing vessel anomalies in ophthalmological community, where the change in retinal vessel diameters is believed to be indicative of the risk level of diabetic retinopathy. In this paper, a new retinal vessel diameter measurement method by combining vessel orientation estimation and filter response is proposed. Its interesting characteristics include: (1) different from the methods that only fit the vessel profiles, the proposed method extracts more stable and accurate vessel diameter by casting this problem as a maximal response problem of a variation of Gabor filter; (2) the proposed method can directly and efficiently estimate the vessel's orientation, which is usually captured by time-consuming multi-orientation fitting techniques in many existing methods. Experimental results shows that the proposed method both retains the computational simplicity and achieves stable and accurate estimation results.

Meat authentication: a new HPLC-MS/MS based method for the fast and sensitive detection of horse and pork in highly processed food.

PubMed

von Bargen, Christoph; Brockmeyer, Jens; Humpf, Hans-Ulrich

2014-10-01

Fraudulent blending of food products with meat from undeclared species is a problem on a global scale, as exemplified by the European horse meat scandal in 2013. Routinely used methods such as ELISA and PCR can suffer from limited sensitivity or specificity when processed food samples are analyzed. In this study, we have developed an optimized method for the detection of horse and pork in different processed food matrices using MRM and MRM(3) detection of species-specific tryptic marker peptides. Identified marker peptides were sufficiently stable to resist thermal processing of different meat products and thus allow the sensitive and specific detection of pork or horse in processed food down to 0.24% in a beef matrix system. In addition, we were able to establish a rapid 2-min extraction protocol for the efficient protein extraction from processed food using high molar urea and thiourea buffers. Together, we present here the specific and sensitive detection of horse and pork meat in different processed food matrices using MRM-based detection of marker peptides. Notably, prefractionation of proteins using 2D-PAGE or off-gel fractionation is not necessary. The presented method is therefore easily applicable in analytical routine laboratories without dedicated proteomics background.

Development of tunable high pressure CO2 laser for lidar measurements of pollutants and wind velocities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levine, J. S.; Guerra, M.; Javan, A.

1980-01-01

The problem of laser energy extraction at a tunable monochromatic frequency from an energetic high pressure CO2 pulsed laser plasma, for application to remote sensing of atmospheric pollutants by Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) and of wind velocities by Doppler Lidar, was investigated. The energy extraction principle analyzed is based on transient injection locking (TIL) at a tunable frequency. Several critical experiments for high gain power amplification by TIL are presented.

An optimized protocol for DNA extraction in plants with a high content of secondary metabolites, based on leaves of Mimosa tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir. (Leguminosae).

PubMed

Arruda, S R; Pereira, D G; Silva-Castro, M M; Brito, M G; Waldschmidt, A M

2017-07-06

Some species are characterized by a high content of tannins, alkaloids, and phenols in their leaves. These secondary metabolites are released during DNA extraction and might hinder molecular studies based on PCR (polymerase chain reaction). To provide an efficient method to extract DNA, Mimosa tenuiflora, an important leguminous plant from Brazilian semiarid region used in popular medicine and as a source of fuelwood or forage, was used. Eight procedures previously reported for plants were tested and adapted from leaf tissues of M. tenuiflora stored at -20°C. The optimized procedure in this study encompassed the utilization of phenol during deproteinization, increased concentrations of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and sodium chloride, and a shorter period and lower temperature of incubation concerning other methods. The extracted DNA did not present degradation, and amplification via PCR was successful using ISSR, trnL, ITS, and ETS primers. Besides M. tenuiflora, this procedure was also tested and proved to be efficient in genetic studies of other plant species.

Salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction coupled to ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of tetracycline residues in infant foods.

PubMed

Moreno-González, David; García-Campaña, Ana M

2017-04-15

The use of salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction (SALLE) combined with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) has been evaluated for the determination of tetracyclines in infant foods based on meat and vegetables or in milk. To obtain satisfactory extraction efficiencies for the studied analytes, several parameters affecting the SALLE procedure were optimized. Analytical performances of the method were satisfactory, obtaining limits of quantification lower than 0.48μgkg -1 in all cases. The precision, expressed as relative standard deviation (%, RSD) was below 11.3%. The extraction efficiency for fortified samples ranged from 89.2 to 96.8%, with RSDs lower than 7.3%. Matrix effect was evaluated for all samples studied, being lower than |21|% in all cases. In relation to the low solvent consumption, the proposed methodology could be considered rapid, cheap and environmentally friendly. Its applicability has been successfully tested in a wide range of infant foods. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fast, simple and efficient salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction of naringenin from fruit juice samples prior to their enantioselective determination by liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Magiera, Sylwia; Kwietniowska, Ewelina

2016-11-15

In this study, an easy, simple and efficient method for the determination of naringenin enantiomers in fruit juices after salting-out-assisted liquid-liquid extraction (SALLE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode-array detection (DAD) was developed. The sample treatment is based on the use of water-miscible acetonitrile as the extractant and acetonitrile phase separation under high-salt conditions. After extraction, juice samples were incubated with hydrochloric acid in order to achieve hydrolysis of naringin to naringenin. The hydrolysis parameters were optimized by using a half-fraction factorial central composite design (CCD). After sample preparation, chromatographic separation was obtained on a Chiralcel® OJ-RH column using the mobile phase consisting of 10mM aqueous ammonium acetate:methanol:acetonitrile (50:30:20; v/v/v) with detection at 288nm. The average recovery of the analyzed compounds ranged from 85.6 to 97.1%. The proposed method was satisfactorily used for the determination of naringenin enantiomers in various fruit juices samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Room-temperature, solution-processable organic electron extraction layer for high-performance planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells

DOE PAGES

Kim, Jong H.; Chueh, Chu-Chen; Williams, Spencer T.; ...

2015-09-24

Here in this work, we describe a room-temperature, solution-processable organic electron extraction layer (EEL) for high-performance planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells (PHJ PVSCs). This EEL is composed of a bilayered fulleropyrrolidinium iodide (FPI)-polyethyleneimine (PEIE) and PC 61BM, which yields a promising power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.7% with insignificant hysteresis. We reveal that PC 61BM can serve as a surface modifier of FPI-PEIE to simultaneously facilitate the crystallization of perovskite and the charge extraction at FPI-PEIE/CH 3NH 3PbI 3 interface. Furthermore, the FPI-PEIE can also tune the work function of ITO and dope PC 61BM to promote the efficient electronmore » transport between ITO and PC 61BM. Based on the advantages of room-temperature processability and decent electrical property of FPI-PEIE/PC 61BM EEL, a high-performance flexible PVSC with a PCE ~10% is eventually demonstrated. Lastly, this study shows the potential of low-temperature processed organic EEL to replace transition metal oxide-based interlayers for highly printing compatible PVSCs with high-performance.« less

Automatic sentence extraction for the detection of scientific paper relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sibaroni, Y.; Prasetiyowati, S. S.; Miftachudin, M.

2018-03-01

The relations between scientific papers are very useful for researchers to see the interconnection between scientific papers quickly. By observing the inter-article relationships, researchers can identify, among others, the weaknesses of existing research, performance improvements achieved to date, and tools or data typically used in research in specific fields. So far, methods that have been developed to detect paper relations include machine learning and rule-based methods. However, a problem still arises in the process of sentence extraction from scientific paper documents, which is still done manually. This manual process causes the detection of scientific paper relations longer and inefficient. To overcome this problem, this study performs an automatic sentences extraction while the paper relations are identified based on the citation sentence. The performance of the built system is then compared with that of the manual extraction system. The analysis results suggested that the automatic sentence extraction indicates a very high level of performance in the detection of paper relations, which is close to that of manual sentence extraction.

High efficiency power generation from coal and wastes utilizing high temperature air combustion technology (Part 1: Performance of pebble bed gasifier for coal and wastes)

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

Kosaka, Hitoshi; Iwahashi, Takashi; Yoshida, Nobuhiro

1998-07-01

A new concept of a gasifier for coal and wastes is proposed where entrained bed and fixed pebble bed are combined. Main features of this pebble bed gasifier are high efficiency molten slag capture, high efficiency gasification and compactness. Coal and RFD combustion experiments using the pebble bed gasifier demonstrated high efficiency capture and continuous extraction of molten slag as well as complete char combustion with extra ordinarily short residence time of pulverized coal and crushed RDF at the temperature level of about 1,500 C within the pebble bed. Durability tests using high temperature electric furnace has shown that highmore » density alumna is a good candidate for pebble material.« less

Validation of a Microscale Extraction and High Throughput UHPLC-QTOF-MS Analysis Method for Huperzine A in Huperzia

PubMed Central

Cuthbertson, Daniel; Piljac-Žegarac, Jasenka; Lange, Bernd Markus

2011-01-01

Herein we report on an improved method for the microscale extraction of huperzine A (HupA), an acetylcholinesterase-inhibiting alkaloid, from as little as 3 mg of tissue homogenate from the clubmoss Huperzia squarrosa (G. Forst.) Trevis with 99.95 % recovery. We also validated a novel UHPLC-QTOF-MS method for the high-throughput analysis of H. squarrosa extracts in only 6 min, which, in combination with the very low limit of detection (20 pg on column) and the wide linear range for quantification (20 to 10,000 pg on column), allow for a highly efficient screening of extracts containing varying amounts of HupA. Utilization of this methodology has the potential to conserve valuable plant resources. PMID:22275140

Visual words for lip-reading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassanat, Ahmad B. A.; Jassim, Sabah

2010-04-01

In this paper, the automatic lip reading problem is investigated, and an innovative approach to providing solutions to this problem has been proposed. This new VSR approach is dependent on the signature of the word itself, which is obtained from a hybrid feature extraction method dependent on geometric, appearance, and image transform features. The proposed VSR approach is termed "visual words". The visual words approach consists of two main parts, 1) Feature extraction/selection, and 2) Visual speech feature recognition. After localizing face and lips, several visual features for the lips where extracted. Such as the height and width of the mouth, mutual information and the quality measurement between the DWT of the current ROI and the DWT of the previous ROI, the ratio of vertical to horizontal features taken from DWT of ROI, The ratio of vertical edges to horizontal edges of ROI, the appearance of the tongue and the appearance of teeth. Each spoken word is represented by 8 signals, one of each feature. Those signals maintain the dynamic of the spoken word, which contains a good portion of information. The system is then trained on these features using the KNN and DTW. This approach has been evaluated using a large database for different people, and large experiment sets. The evaluation has proved the visual words efficiency, and shown that the VSR is a speaker dependent problem.

Qualitative review of usability problems in health information systems for radiology.

PubMed

Dias, Camila Rodrigues; Pereira, Marluce Rodrigues; Freire, André Pimenta

2017-12-01

Radiology processes are commonly supported by Radiology Information System (RIS), Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and other software for radiology. However, these information technologies can present usability problems that affect the performance of radiologists and physicians, especially considering the complexity of the tasks involved. The purpose of this study was to extract, classify and analyze qualitatively the usability problems in PACS, RIS and other software for radiology. A systematic review was performed to extract usability problems reported in empirical usability studies in the literature. The usability problems were categorized as violations of Nielsen and Molich's usability heuristics. The qualitative analysis indicated the causes and the effects of the identified usability problems. From the 431 papers initially identified, 10 met the study criteria. The analysis of the papers identified 90 instances of usability problems, classified into categories corresponding to established usability heuristics. The five heuristics with the highest number of instances of usability problems were "Flexibility and efficiency of use", "Consistency and standards", "Match between system and the real world", "Recognition rather than recall" and "Help and documentation", respectively. These problems can make the interaction time consuming, causing delays in tasks, dissatisfaction, frustration, preventing users from enjoying all the benefits and functionalities of the system, as well as leading to more errors and difficulties in carrying out clinical analyses. Furthermore, the present paper showed a lack of studies performed on systems for radiology, especially usability evaluations using formal methods of evaluation involving the final users. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparison of methods for hydrocarbon analysis of marine biota

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

Gritz, R.L.; Shaw, D.G.

1977-04-01

A comparison was made of several procedures for the isolation of hydrocarbons from other matter and for the fractionation of hydrocarbons according to chemical type. The efficiency of Soxhlet extraction followed by saponification with extraction by alkaline digestion (direct saponification) was compared using two hour and 24 hour reaction times. All procedures were performed on approximately 60 g of soft parts of Saxidomus gigantea (butter clam). The 24 hour saponification and column chromatography on partially deactivated columns constituted the best procedure tested. Soxhlet extraction followed by two hour saponification did not completely remove methyl esters and was the most laboriousmore » technique. Direct two hour saponification was also questionable in the removal of esters and led to severe emulsion problems. The recoveries of hydrocarbons by the three procedures was substantially the same.« less

Highly efficient red OLEDs using DCJTB as the dopant and delayed fluorescent exciplex as the host.

PubMed

Zhao, Bo; Zhang, Tianyou; Chu, Bei; Li, Wenlian; Su, Zisheng; Wu, Hairuo; Yan, Xingwu; Jin, Fangming; Gao, Yuan; Liu, Chengyuan

2015-05-29

In this manuscript, we demonstrated a highly efficient DCJTB emission with delayed fluorescent exciplex TCTA:3P-T2T as the host. For the 1.0% DCJTB doped concentration, a maximum luminance, current efficiency, power efficiency and EQE of 22,767 cd m(-2), 22.7 cd A(-1), 21.5 lm W(-1) and 10.15% were achieved, respectively. The device performance is the best compared to either red OLEDs with traditional fluorescent emitter or traditional red phosphor of Ir(piq)3 doped into CBP host. The extraction of so high efficiency can be explained as the efficient triplet excitons up-conversion of TCTA:3P-T2T and the energy transfer from exciplex host singlet state to DCJTB singlet state.

Sparse Image Reconstruction on the Sphere: Analysis and Synthesis.

PubMed

Wallis, Christopher G R; Wiaux, Yves; McEwen, Jason D

2017-11-01

We develop techniques to solve ill-posed inverse problems on the sphere by sparse regularization, exploiting sparsity in both axisymmetric and directional scale-discretized wavelet space. Denoising, inpainting, and deconvolution problems and combinations thereof, are considered as examples. Inverse problems are solved in both the analysis and synthesis settings, with a number of different sampling schemes. The most effective approach is that with the most restricted solution-space, which depends on the interplay between the adopted sampling scheme, the selection of the analysis/synthesis problem, and any weighting of the l 1 norm appearing in the regularization problem. More efficient sampling schemes on the sphere improve reconstruction fidelity by restricting the solution-space and also by improving sparsity in wavelet space. We apply the technique to denoise Planck 353-GHz observations, improving the ability to extract the structure of Galactic dust emission, which is important for studying Galactic magnetism.

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.

Bilinear Inverse Problems: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ling, Shuyang

We will discuss how several important real-world signal processing problems, such as self-calibration and blind deconvolution, can be modeled as bilinear inverse problems and solved by convex and nonconvex optimization approaches. In Chapter 2, we bring together three seemingly unrelated concepts, self-calibration, compressive sensing and biconvex optimization. We show how several self-calibration problems can be treated efficiently within the framework of biconvex compressive sensing via a new method called SparseLift. More specifically, we consider a linear system of equations y = DAx, where the diagonal matrix D (which models the calibration error) is unknown and x is an unknown sparse signal. By "lifting" this biconvex inverse problem and exploiting sparsity in this model, we derive explicit theoretical guarantees under which both x and D can be recovered exactly, robustly, and numerically efficiently. In Chapter 3, we study the question of the joint blind deconvolution and blind demixing, i.e., extracting a sequence of functions [special characters omitted] from observing only the sum of their convolutions [special characters omitted]. In particular, for the special case s = 1, it becomes the well-known blind deconvolution problem. We present a non-convex algorithm which guarantees exact recovery under conditions that are competitive with convex optimization methods, with the additional advantage of being computationally much more efficient. We discuss several applications of the proposed framework in image processing and wireless communications in connection with the Internet-of-Things. In Chapter 4, we consider three different self-calibration models of practical relevance. We show how their corresponding bilinear inverse problems can be solved by both the simple linear least squares approach and the SVD-based approach. As a consequence, the proposed algorithms are numerically extremely efficient, thus allowing for real-time deployment. Explicit theoretical guarantees and stability theory are derived and the number of sampling complexity is nearly optimal (up to a poly-log factor). Applications in imaging sciences and signal processing are discussed and numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach.

Theoretical study of the design and performance of a high-gain, high-extraction-efficiency FEL oscillator

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

Goldstein, J.; Nguyen, D.C.; Sheffield, R.L.

1996-10-01

We present the results of theoretical and simulation studies of the design and performance of a new F type of FEL oscillator. This device, known by the acronym RAFEL for Regenerative Amplifier Free-Electron Laser, will be constructed in the space presently occupied by the AFEL (Advanced FEL) at Los Alamos, and will be driven by an upgraded (to higher average power) version of the present AFEL linac. In order to achieve a long-time-averaged optical output power of {approximately} 1 kW using an electron beam with an average power of {approximately} 20 kW, a rather high extraction efficiency {eta} {approximately} 5%more » is required. We have designed a 2-m-long undulator to attain this goal: the first meter is untapered and provides high gain while the second meter is linearly-tapered in magnetic field amplitude to provide high extraction efficiency in the standard K-M-R manner. Two-plane focusing and linear polarization of the undulator are assumed. Electron-beam properties from PARMEIA simulations of the AFEL accelerator were used in the design. A large saturated gain, {approximately} 500, requires a very small optical feedback to keep the device operating at steady-state. However, the large gain leads to distorted optical modes which require two- and three-dimensional simulations to adequately treat diffraction effects. This FEL will be driven by 17 MeV electrons and will operate in the 16 {mu}m spectral region.« less

Surfactants assist in lipid extraction from wet Nannochloropsis sp.

PubMed

Wu, Chongchong; Xiao, Ye; Lin, Weiguo; Zhu, Junying; De la Hoz Siegler, Hector; Zong, Mingsheng; Rong, Junfeng

2017-11-01

An efficient approach involving surfactant treatment, or the modification and utilization of surfactants that naturally occur in algae (algal-based surfactants), was developed to assist in the extraction of lipids from wet algae. Surfactants were found to be able to completely replace polar organic solvents in the extraction process. The highest yield of algal lipids extracted by hexane and algal-based surfactants was 78.8%, followed by 78.2% for hexane and oligomeric surfactant extraction, whereas the lipid yield extracted by hexane and ethanol was only 60.5%. In addition, the saponifiable lipids extracted by exploiting algal-based surfactants and hexane, or adding oligomeric surfactant and hexane, accounted for 78.6% and 75.4% of total algal lipids, respectively, which was more than 10% higher than the lipids extracted by hexane and ethanol. This work presents a method to extract lipids from algae using only nonpolar organic solvents, while obtaining high lipid yields and high selectivity to saponifiables. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic algorithms used for the optimization of light-emitting diodes and solar thermal collectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayer, Alexandre; Bay, Annick; Gaouyat, Lucie; Nicolay, Delphine; Carletti, Timoteo; Deparis, Olivier

2014-09-01

We present a genetic algorithm (GA) we developed for the optimization of light-emitting diodes (LED) and solar thermal collectors. The surface of a LED can be covered by periodic structures whose geometrical and material parameters must be adjusted in order to maximize the extraction of light. The optimization of these parameters by the GA enabled us to get a light-extraction efficiency η of 11.0% from a GaN LED (for comparison, the flat material has a light-extraction efficiency η of only 3.7%). The solar thermal collector we considered consists of a waffle-shaped Al substrate with NiCrOx and SnO2 conformal coatings. We must in this case maximize the solar absorption α while minimizing the thermal emissivity ɛ in the infrared. A multi-objective genetic algorithm has to be implemented in this case in order to determine optimal geometrical parameters. The parameters we obtained using the multi-objective GA enable α~97.8% and ɛ~4.8%, which improves results achieved previously when considering a flat substrate. These two applications demonstrate the interest of genetic algorithms for addressing complex problems in physics.

NEOCHIM: An electrochemical method for environmental application

USGS Publications Warehouse

Leinz, R.W.; Hoover, D.B.; Meier, A.L.

1999-01-01

Ion migration and electroosmosis are the principal processes underlying electrokinetic remediation of hazardous wastes from soils. These processes are a response of charged species to an applied electrical current and they are accompanied by electrolysis of water at the electrodes through which the current is applied. Electrolysis results in the formation of OH- at the cathode and H+ at the anode. The current drives the OH- and H+ thus formed from the electrodes, through the soil and to the electrode of opposite charge. Introduction of OH- and H+ into the soil being treated modifies soil chemistry and can interfere with either the collection or immobilization of hazardous waste ions. The introduction of either OH- or H+ to the soil can be problematic to electrokinetic remediation but the problem caused by OH- has been the focus of most researchers. The problem has been addressed by flushing the OH- from the soil near the cathode or treating the soil with buffers. These treatments would apply as well to soils affected by H+. With the NEOCHIM technology, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for use as a sampling technique in exploration for buried ore deposits, OH- and H+ are retained in the inner compartment of two-compartment electrodes and are thus prevented from reaching the soil. This enables the extraction of cations and anions, including anionic forms of toxic metals such as HAsO42-. One of the principal attributes of NEOCHIM is the large volume of soil from which ions can be extracted. It is mathematically demonstrable that NEOCHIM extraction volumes can be orders of magnitude greater than volumes typically sampled in more conventional geochemical exploration methods or for environmental sampling. The technology may also be used to introduce selected ions into the soil that affect the solubility of ceratin ions present in the soil. Although field tests for mineral exploration have shown NEOCHIM extraction efficiencies of about 25-35%, laboratory experiments suggest that significantly higher efficiencies are possible. The attributes of NEOCHIM combined with relatively low cost of electrical power, indicate that the technology may be useful for remediation and monitoring of hazardous waste sites. Of particular importance is that NEOCHIM extractions affect only dissolved and electrically charged species, hence those prone to move in groundwater.The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a technology called NEOCHIM for use as a sampling technique in exploration for buried deposits. With this technology, OH- and H+ are retained in the inner compartment of two-compartment electrodes and are thus prevented from reaching the soil. This enables the extraction of cations and anions. Laboratory experiments suggest extraction efficiencies higher than 25-35%.

Potential for improved extraction of tellurium as a byproduct of current copper mining processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayes, S. M.; Spaleta, K. J.; Skidmore, A. E.

2016-12-01

Tellurium (Te) is classified as a critical element due to its increasing use in high technology applications, low average crustal abundance (3 μg kg-1), and primary source as a byproduct of copper extraction. Although Te can be readily recovered from copper processing, previous studies have estimated a 4 percent extraction efficiency, and few studies have addressed Te behavior during the entire copper extraction process. The goals of the present study are to perform a mass balance examining Te behavior during copper extraction and to connect these observations with mineralogy of Te-bearing phases which are essential first steps in devising ways to optimize Te recovery. Our preliminary mass balance results indicate that less than 3 percent of Te present in copper ore is recovered, with particularly high losses during initial concentration of copper ore minerals by flotation. Tellurium is present in the ore in telluride minerals (e.g., Bi-Te-S phases, altaite, and Ag-S-Se-Te phases identified using electron microprobe) with limited substitution into sulfide minerals (possibly 10 mg kg-1 Te in bulk pyrite and chalcopyrite). This work has also identified Te accumulation in solid-phase intermediate extraction products that could be further processed to recover Te, including smelter dusts (158 mg kg-1) and pressed anode slimes (2.7 percent by mass). In both the smelter dusts and anode slimes, X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicates that about two thirds of the Te is present as reduced tellurides. In anode slimes, electron microscopy shows that the remaining Te is present in an oxidized form in a complex Te-bearing oxidate phase also containing Pb, Cu, Ag, As, Sb, and S. These results clearly indicate that more efficient, increased recovery of Te may be possible, likely at minimal expense from operating copper processing operations, thereby providing more Te for manufacturing of products such as inexpensive high-efficiency solar panels.

Sol-gel niobia sorbent with a positively charged octadecyl ligand providing enhanced enrichment of nucleotides and organophosphorus pesticides in capillary microextraction for online HPLC analysis.

PubMed

Kesani, Sheshanka; Malik, Abdul

2018-04-01

A niobia-based sol-gel organic-inorganic hybrid sorbent carrying a positively charged C 18 ligand (Nb 2 O 5 -C 18 (+ve)) was synthesized to achieve enhanced enrichment capability in capillary microextraction of organophosphorus compounds (which include organophosphorus pesticides and nucleotides) before their online analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography. The sorbent was designed to simultaneously provide three different types of molecular level interactions: electrostatic, Lewis acid-base, and van der Waals interactions. To understand relative contributions of various molecular level analyte-sorbent interactions in the extraction process, two other sol-gel niobia sorbents were also created: (a) a purely inorganic sol-gel niobia sorbent (Nb 2 O 5 ) and (b) an organic-inorganic hybrid sol-gel niobia sorbent carrying an electrically neutral-bonded octadecyl ligand (Nb 2 O 5 -C 18 ). The extraction efficiency of the created sol-gel niobia sorbent (Nb 2 O 5 -C 18 (+ve)) was compared with that of analogously designed and synthesized titania-based sol-gel sorbent (TiO 2 -C 18 (+ve)), taking into consideration that titania-based sorbents present state-of-the-art extraction media for organophosphorus compounds. In capillary microextraction with high-performance liquid chromatography analysis, Nb 2 O 5 -C 18 (+ve) had shown 40-50% higher specific extraction values (a measure of extraction efficiency) over that of TiO 2 -C 18 (+ve). Compared to TiO 2 -C 18 (+ve), Nb 2 O 5 -C 18 (+ve) also provided superior analyte desorption efficiency (96 vs. 90%) during the online release of the extracted organophosphorus pesticides from the sorbent coating in the capillary microextraction capillary to the chromatographic column using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography mobile phase. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Efficient Light Extraction of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes on a Fully Solution-Processed Flexible Substrate

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

Tong, Kwing; Liu, Xiaofeng; Zhao, Fangchao

A flexible, nanocomposite substrate for maximizing light outcoupling efficiencies of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is introduced. In depth investigation is performed on designing the integrated strategy based on considerations of surface conductivity, microcavity tuning, and internal light scattering. The resulting nanocomposite substrate consists of silver nanowires as the electrode and a high-index polymer layer and a light-scattering layer for light extraction. It is able to outcouple both the waveguide and the substrate modes, two modes accounting for significant losses in OLED device efficiency. With enhanced light outcoupling, white OLEDs subsequently fabricated on the nanocomposite substrates demonstrate performance metrics of 107more » lm W -1 power efficiency and 49% external quantum efficiency at 1000 cd m -2. Thus, the nanocomposite substrate is fabricated by solution processes at low temperatures for potentially low manufacturing cost.« less

Photonic crystal light emitting diode based on Er and Si nanoclusters co-doped slot waveguide

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

Lo Savio, R.; Galli, M.; Liscidini, M.

We report on the design, fabrication, and electro-optical characterization of a light emitting device operating at 1.54 μm, whose active layer consists of silicon oxide containing Er-doped Si nanoclusters. A photonic crystal (PhC) is fabricated on the top-electrode to enhance the light extraction in the vertical direction, and thus the external efficiency of the device. This occurs if a photonic mode of the PhC slab is resonant with the Er emission energy, as confirmed by theoretical calculations and experimental analyses. We measure an increase of the extraction efficiency by a factor of 3 with a high directionality of light emission inmore » a narrow vertical cone. External quantum efficiency and power efficiency are among the highest reported for this kind of material. These results are important for the realization of CMOS-compatible efficient light emitters at telecom wavelengths.« less

Efficient Light Extraction of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes on a Fully Solution-Processed Flexible Substrate

DOE PAGES

Tong, Kwing; Liu, Xiaofeng; Zhao, Fangchao; ...

2017-07-18

A flexible, nanocomposite substrate for maximizing light outcoupling efficiencies of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is introduced. In depth investigation is performed on designing the integrated strategy based on considerations of surface conductivity, microcavity tuning, and internal light scattering. The resulting nanocomposite substrate consists of silver nanowires as the electrode and a high-index polymer layer and a light-scattering layer for light extraction. It is able to outcouple both the waveguide and the substrate modes, two modes accounting for significant losses in OLED device efficiency. With enhanced light outcoupling, white OLEDs subsequently fabricated on the nanocomposite substrates demonstrate performance metrics of 107more » lm W -1 power efficiency and 49% external quantum efficiency at 1000 cd m -2. Thus, the nanocomposite substrate is fabricated by solution processes at low temperatures for potentially low manufacturing cost.« less

Extraction and quantification of adenosine triphosphate in mammalian tissues and cells.

PubMed

Chida, Junji; Kido, Hiroshi

2014-01-01

Adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) is the "energy currency" of organisms and plays central roles in bioenergetics, whereby its level is used to evaluate cell viability, proliferation, death, and energy transmission. In this chapter, we describe an improved and efficient method for extraction of ATP from tissues and cells using phenol-based reagents. The chaotropic extraction reagents reported so far co-precipitate ATP with insoluble proteins during extraction and with salts during neutralization. In comparison, the phenol-based reagents extract ATP well without the risks of co-precipitation. The extracted ATP can be quantified by the luciferase assay or high-performance liquid chromatography.

Improved detection of multiple environmental antibiotics through an optimized sample extraction strategy in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis.

PubMed

Yi, Xinzhu; Bayen, Stéphane; Kelly, Barry C; Li, Xu; Zhou, Zhi

2015-12-01

A solid-phase extraction/liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization/multi-stage mass spectrometry (SPE-LC-ESI-MS/MS) method was optimized in this study for sensitive and simultaneous detection of multiple antibiotics in urban surface waters and soils. Among the seven classes of tested antibiotics, extraction efficiencies of macrolides, lincosamide, chloramphenicol, and polyether antibiotics were significantly improved under optimized sample extraction pH. Instead of only using acidic extraction in many existing studies, the results indicated that antibiotics with low pK a values (<7) were extracted more efficiently under acidic conditions and antibiotics with high pK a values (>7) were extracted more efficiently under neutral conditions. The effects of pH were more obvious on polar compounds than those on non-polar compounds. Optimization of extraction pH resulted in significantly improved sample recovery and better detection limits. Compared with reported values in the literature, the average reduction of minimal detection limits obtained in this study was 87.6% in surface waters (0.06-2.28 ng/L) and 67.1% in soils (0.01-18.16 ng/g dry wt). This method was subsequently applied to detect antibiotics in environmental samples in a heavily populated urban city, and macrolides, sulfonamides, and lincomycin were frequently detected. Antibiotics with highest detected concentrations were sulfamethazine (82.5 ng/L) in surface waters and erythromycin (6.6 ng/g dry wt) in soils. The optimized sample extraction strategy can be used to improve the detection of a variety of antibiotics in environmental surface waters and soils.

Efficient combination of a 3D Quasi-Newton inversion algorithm and a vector dual-primal finite element tearing and interconnecting method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voznyuk, I.; Litman, A.; Tortel, H.

2015-08-01

A Quasi-Newton method for reconstructing the constitutive parameters of three-dimensional (3D) penetrable scatterers from scattered field measurements is presented. This method is adapted for handling large-scale electromagnetic problems while keeping the memory requirement and the time flexibility as low as possible. The forward scattering problem is solved by applying the finite-element tearing and interconnecting full-dual-primal (FETI-FDP2) method which shares the same spirit as the domain decomposition methods for finite element methods. The idea is to split the computational domain into smaller non-overlapping sub-domains in order to simultaneously solve local sub-problems. Various strategies are proposed in order to efficiently couple the inversion algorithm with the FETI-FDP2 method: a separation into permanent and non-permanent subdomains is performed, iterative solvers are favorized for resolving the interface problem and a marching-on-in-anything initial guess selection further accelerates the process. The computational burden is also reduced by applying the adjoint state vector methodology. Finally, the inversion algorithm is confronted to measurements extracted from the 3D Fresnel database.

Optical Analysis of Power Distribution in Top-Emitting Organic Light Emitting Diodes Integrated with Nanolens Array Using Finite Difference Time Domain.

PubMed

Han, Kyung-Hoon; Park, Young-Sam; Cho, Doo-Hee; Han, Yoonjay; Lee, Jonghee; Yu, Byounggon; Cho, Nam Sung; Lee, Jeong-Ik; Kim, Jang-Joo

2018-06-06

Recently, we have addressed that a formation mechanism of a nanolens array (NLA) fabricated by using a maskless vacuum deposition is explained as the increase in surface tension of organic molecules induced by their crystallization. Here, as another research using finite difference time domain simulations, not electric field intensities but transmitted energies of electromagnetic waves inside and outside top-emitting blue organic light-emitting diodes (TOLEDs), without and with NLAs, are obtained, to easily grasp the effect of NLA formation on the light extraction of TOLEDs. Interestingly, the calculations show that NLA acts as an efficient light extraction structure. With NLA, larger transmitted energies in the direction from emitting layer to air are observed, indicating that NLAs send more light to air otherwise trapped in the devices by reducing the losses by waveguide and absorption. This is more significant for higher refractive index of NLA. Simulation and measurement results are consistent. A successful increase in both light extraction efficiency and color stability of blue TOLEDs, rarely reported before, is accomplished by introducing the highly process-compatible NLA technology using the one-step dry process. Blue TOLEDs integrated with a N, N'-di(1-naphthyl)- N, N'-diphenyl-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine NLA with a refractive index of 1.8 show a 1.55-times-higher light extraction efficiency, compared to those without it. In addition, viewing angle characteristics are enhanced and image blurring is reduced, indicating that the manufacturer-adaptable technology satisfies the requirements of highly efficient and color-stable top-emission displays.

Isolation and Analysis of Keratins and Keratin-Associated Proteins from Hair and Wool.

PubMed

Deb-Choudhury, Santanu; Plowman, Jeffrey E; Harland, Duane P

2016-01-01

The presence of highly cross-linked protein networks in hair and wool makes them very difficult substrates for protein extraction, a prerequisite for further protein analysis and characterization. It is therefore imperative that these cross-links formed by disulfide bridges are first disrupted for the efficient extraction of proteins. Chaotropes such as urea are commonly used as efficient extractants. However, a combination of urea and thiourea not only improves recovery of proteins but also results in improved resolution of the keratins in 2DE gels. Reductants also play an important role in protein dissolution. Dithiothreitol effectively removes keratinous material from the cortex, whereas phosphines, like Tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine, remove material from the exocuticle. The relative extractability of the keratins and keratin-associated proteins is also dependent on the concentration of chaotropes, reductants, and pH, thus providing a means to preferentially extract these proteins. Ionic liquids such as 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIM(+)[Cl](-)) are known to solubilize wool by disrupting noncovalent interactions, specifically intermolecular hydrogen bonds. BMIM(+)[Cl](-) proved to be an effective extractant of wool proteins and complementary in nature to chaotropes such as urea and thiourea for identifying unique peptides of wool proteins using mass spectrometry (MS). Successful identification of proteins resolved by one- or two-dimensional electrophoresis and MS is highly dependent on the optimal recovery of its protease-digested peptides with an efficient removal of interfering substances. The detergent sodium deoxycholate used in conjunction with Empore™ disks improved identification of proteins by mass spectrometry leading to higher percentage sequence coverage, identification of unique peptides and higher score. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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.

Real time groove characterization combining partial least squares and SVR strategies: application to eddy current testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, S.; Salucci, M.; Miorelli, R.; Anselmi, N.; Oliveri, G.; Calmon, P.; Reboud, C.; Massa, A.

2017-10-01

A quasi real-time inversion strategy is presented for groove characterization of a conductive non-ferromagnetic tube structure by exploiting eddy current testing (ECT) signal. Inversion problem has been formulated by non-iterative Learning-by-Examples (LBE) strategy. Within the framework of LBE, an efficient training strategy has been adopted with the combination of feature extraction and a customized version of output space filling (OSF) adaptive sampling in order to get optimal training set during offline phase. Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) have been exploited for feature extraction and prediction technique respectively to have robust and accurate real time inversion during online phase.

Modeling axisymmetric flow and transport

USGS Publications Warehouse

Langevin, C.D.

2008-01-01

Unmodified versions of common computer programs such as MODFLOW, MT3DMS, and SEAWAT that use Cartesian geometry can accurately simulate axially symmetric ground water flow and solute transport. Axisymmetric flow and transport are simulated by adjusting several input parameters to account for the increase in flow area with radial distance from the injection or extraction well. Logarithmic weighting of interblock transmissivity, a standard option in MODFLOW, can be used for axisymmetric models to represent the linear change in hydraulic conductance within a single finite-difference cell. Results from three test problems (ground water extraction, an aquifer push-pull test, and upconing of saline water into an extraction well) show good agreement with analytical solutions or with results from other numerical models designed specifically to simulate the axisymmetric geometry. Axisymmetric models are not commonly used but can offer an efficient alternative to full three-dimensional models, provided the assumption of axial symmetry can be justified. For the upconing problem, the axisymmetric model was more than 1000 times faster than an equivalent three-dimensional model. Computational gains with the axisymmetric models may be useful for quickly determining appropriate levels of grid resolution for three-dimensional models and for estimating aquifer parameters from field tests.

Unified anomaly suppression and boundary extraction in laser radar range imagery based on a joint curve-evolution and expectation-maximization algorithm.

PubMed

Feng, Haihua; Karl, William Clem; Castañon, David A

2008-05-01

In this paper, we develop a new unified approach for laser radar range anomaly suppression, range profiling, and segmentation. This approach combines an object-based hybrid scene model for representing the range distribution of the field and a statistical mixture model for the range data measurement noise. The image segmentation problem is formulated as a minimization problem which jointly estimates the target boundary together with the target region range variation and background range variation directly from the noisy and anomaly-filled range data. This formulation allows direct incorporation of prior information concerning the target boundary, target ranges, and background ranges into an optimal reconstruction process. Curve evolution techniques and a generalized expectation-maximization algorithm are jointly employed as an efficient solver for minimizing the objective energy, resulting in a coupled pair of object and intensity optimization tasks. The method directly and optimally extracts the target boundary, avoiding a suboptimal two-step process involving image smoothing followed by boundary extraction. Experiments are presented demonstrating that the proposed approach is robust to anomalous pixels (missing data) and capable of producing accurate estimation of the target boundary and range values from noisy data.

High-efficiency Light-emitting Devices based on Semipolar III-Nitrides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Sang Ho

In the future, the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are expected to fully penetrate into the lighting market. A tremendous amount of energy will be saved through the LED-based lighting. Apparently, the amount of the energy saving strongly depends on the efficiency of the LEDs: this dissertation is all about the efficiency. First, the III-nitride LEDs grown on free-standing semipolar (202¯1¯) GaN substrates will be discussed. In many studies, LEDs grown on semipolar III-nitride substrates exhibited high efficiency at high current density. In this dissertation, "droop-free" (202¯1¯) blue LEDs will be demonstrated, especially for the standard industrial chip size. In addition, contact optimization process for (202¯1¯) LEDs will be discussed. Series resistance of the (202¯1¯) LED devices has been improved through the contact optimization. As a result, the wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of the device was boosted by ˜50%, compared to that of the previously reported (202¯1¯) LEDs. Also, chip shaping for the semipolar LEDs to enhance the extraction efficiency will be covered as well. A new mesa design will be introduced, and the cleaving scheme for semipolar LED wafers will be thoroughly discussed. Lastly, as a future work, selective area growth of ZnO light extraction features will be introduced and its preliminary result will be demonstrated.

Current lipid extraction methods are significantly enhanced adding a water treatment step in Chlorella protothecoides.

PubMed

Ren, Xiaojie; Zhao, Xinhe; Turcotte, François; Deschênes, Jean-Sébastien; Tremblay, Réjean; Jolicoeur, Mario

2017-02-11

Microalgae have the potential to rapidly accumulate lipids of high interest for the food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and energy (e.g. biodiesel) industries. However, current lipid extraction methods show efficiency limitation and until now, extraction protocols have not been fully optimized for specific lipid compounds. The present study thus presents a novel lipid extraction method, consisting in the addition of a water treatment of biomass between the two-stage solvent extraction steps of current extraction methods. The resulting modified method not only enhances lipid extraction efficiency, but also yields a higher triacylglycerols (TAG) ratio, which is highly desirable for biodiesel production. Modification of four existing methods using acetone, chloroform/methanol (Chl/Met), chloroform/methanol/H 2 O (Chl/Met/H 2 O) and dichloromethane/methanol (Dic/Met) showed respective lipid extraction yield enhancement of 72.3, 35.8, 60.3 and 60.9%. The modified acetone method resulted in the highest extraction yield, with 68.9 ± 0.2% DW total lipids. Extraction of TAG was particularly improved with the water treatment, especially for the Chl/Met/H 2 O and Dic/Met methods. The acetone method with the water treatment led to the highest extraction level of TAG with 73.7 ± 7.3 µg/mg DW, which is 130.8 ± 10.6% higher than the maximum value obtained for the four classical methods (31.9 ± 4.6 µg/mg DW). Interestingly, the water treatment preferentially improved the extraction of intracellular fractions, i.e. TAG, sterols, and free fatty acids, compared to the lipid fractions of the cell membranes, which are constituted of phospholipids (PL), acetone mobile polar lipids and hydrocarbons. Finally, from the 32 fatty acids analyzed for both neutral lipids (NL) and polar lipids (PL) fractions, it is clear that the water treatment greatly improves NL-to-PL ratio for the four standard methods assessed. Water treatment of biomass after the first solvent extraction step helps the subsequent release of intracellular lipids in the second extraction step, thus improving the global lipids extraction yield. In addition, the water treatment positively modifies the intracellular lipid class ratios of the final extract, in which TAG ratio is significantly increased without changes in the fatty acids composition. The novel method thus provides an efficient way to improve lipid extraction yield of existing methods, as well as selectively favoring TAG, a lipid of the upmost interest for biodiesel production.

Towards a high yield recovery of polyphenols from olive mill wastewater on activated carbon coated with milk proteins: Experimental design and antioxidant activity.

PubMed

Yangui, Asma; Abderrabba, Manef

2018-10-01

Activated carbon coated with milk proteins was used for the removal and recovery of phenolic compounds from actual olive mill wastewater (OMW). The extraction of polyphenols using the new adsorbent based on natural coating agent has significant potential compared with traditional extraction methods, as it significantly increases the extraction yield (80%) and overall efficiencies of the process for total phenols (75.4%) and hydroxytyrosol (90.6%) which is the most valuable compound. Complete discussions on the adsorption isotherms, kinetic and thermodynamic were performed and the optimum adsorption variables were investigated using the response surface methodology and the central composite experimental design. The extracted polyphenols exhibited a high antioxidant activity and a fast scavenging effect on DPPH free radical. The strategy devised in this work for polyphenol extraction using modified activated carbon with biological coating agent is of simple design, very effective and ensure the recovery of highly antioxidant extract. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of theoretical efficiency limit of hot carriers solar cells with a bulk indium nitride absorber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aliberti, P.; Feng, Y.; Takeda, Y.; Shrestha, S. K.; Green, M. A.; Conibeer, G.

2010-11-01

Theoretical efficiencies of a hot carrier solar cell considering indium nitride as the absorber material have been calculated in this work. In a hot carrier solar cell highly energetic carriers are extracted from the device before thermalisation, allowing higher efficiencies in comparison to conventional solar cells. Previous reports on efficiency calculations approached the problem using two different theoretical frameworks, the particle conservation (PC) model or the impact ionization model, which are only valid in particular extreme conditions. In addition an ideal absorber material with the approximation of parabolic bands has always been considered in the past. Such assumptions give an overestimation of the efficiency limits and results can only be considered indicative. In this report the real properties of wurtzite bulk InN absorber have been taken into account for the calculation, including the actual dispersion relation and absorbance. A new hybrid model that considers particle balance and energy balance at the same time has been implemented. Effects of actual impact ionization (II) and Auger recombination (AR) lifetimes have been included in the calculations for the first time, considering the real InN band structure and thermalisation rates. It has been observed that II-AR mechanisms are useful for cell operation in particular conditions, allowing energy redistribution of hot carriers. A maximum efficiency of 43.6% has been found for 1000 suns, assuming thermalisation constants of 100 ps and ideal blackbody absorption. This value of efficiency is considerably lower than values previously calculated adopting PC or II-AR models.

Development of a novel ultrasound-assisted headspace liquid-phase microextraction and its application to the analysis of chlorophenols in real aqueous samples.

PubMed

Xu, Hui; Liao, Ying; Yao, Jinrong

2007-10-05

A new sample pretreatment technique, ultrasound-assisted headspace liquid-phase microextraction was developed as mentioned in this paper. In the technique, the volatile analytes were headspace extracted into a small drop of solvent, which suspended on the bottom of a cone-shaped PCR tube instead of the needle tip of a microsyringe. More solvent could be suspended in the PCR tube than microsyringe due to the larger interfacial tension, thus the analysis sensitivity was significantly improved with the increase of the extractant volume. Moreover, ultrasound-assisted extraction and independent controlling temperature of the extractant and the sample were performed to enhance the extraction efficiency. Following the extraction, the solvent-loaded sample was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Chlorophenols (2-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,6-dichlorophenol) were chosen as model analytes to investigate the feasibility of the method. The experimental conditions related to the extraction efficiency were systematically studied. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the detection limit (S/N=3), intra- and inter-day RSD were 6 ng mL(-1), 4.6%, 3.9% for 2-chlorophenol, 12 ng mL(-1), 2.4%, 8.8% for 2,4-dichlorophenol and 23 ng mL(-1), 3.3%, 5.3% for 2,6-dichlorophenol, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to determine chlorophenols in real aqueous samples. Good recoveries ranging from 84.6% to 100.7% were obtained. In addition, the extraction efficiency of our method and the conventional headspace liquid-phase microextraction were compared; the extraction efficiency of the former was about 21 times higher than that of the latter. The results demonstrated that the proposed method is a promising sample pretreatment approach, its advantages over the conventional headspace liquid-phase microextraction include simple setup, ease of operation, rapidness, sensitivity, precision and no cross-contamination. The method is very suitable for the analysis of trace volatile and semivolatile pollutants in real aqueous sample.

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in kerosene and bio-kerosene soot.

PubMed

Andrade-Eiroa, Auréa; Leroy, Valérie; Dagaut, Philippe; Bedjanian, Yuri

2010-03-01

Here we report a new, efficient and reliable analytical methodology for sensitive and selective quantification of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soot samples. The methodology developed is based on ultrasonic extraction of the soot-bound PAHs into small volumes of acetonitrile, purification of the extracts through C(18) Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) cartridges and analysis by Reverse Phase Liquid Chromatography (RPLC) with UV and fluorimetric detection. For the first time, we report the convenience of adapting the SPE procedure to the nature of the soot samples. As a matter of fact, extracts containing high percentage of unpolar material are recommended to be cleaned with acetone, whereas extracts poor in unpolar compounds can be efficiently cleaned with methanol. The method was satisfactorily applied to kerosene and bio-kerosene soot from atmospheric open diffusion flames (pool fires) and premixed flames achieving Quantification and Detection limits in the range ng mg(-1) soot and recoveries about 90% for most of the PAHs studied. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

226Ra, 210Pb, 210Bi and 210Po deposition and removal from surfaces and liquids.

PubMed

Wójcik, M; Zuzel, G

Deposition of 226 Ra from water on nylon was investigated. Measurements performed for different pH and different radium concentrations in the water gave similar absolute activities deposited on the foil surface. Obtained results were used to estimate the amount of 226 Ra plated-out on the nylon scintillator vessel in the solar neutrino experiment BOREXINO during filling of the detector. Another problem studied in the frame of BOREXINO was the removal of 210 Pb from its organic liquid scintillator by applying distillation and water extraction. After several tests had been performed for both methods it was found that after the water extraction the initial lead content in the scintillator sample was reduced only accordingly to the ratio of the volumes of the applied liquids (simple dilution). In contrast to this, distillation was very effective providing in the best case a 210 Pb reduction factor higher than 100. Removal efficiencies of the long-lived 222 Rn daughters during etching from surfaces of standard and high purity germanium were investigated in the frame of the GERDA experiment, which aims to search for neutrino-less double beta decay of 76 Ge. The standard etching procedure of Canberra used during production of high purity n-type germanium diodes was applied to germanium discs, which had been exposed earlier to a strong 222 Rn source for its progenies deposition. In contrast to copper and stainless steel, 210 Pb, 210 Bi and 210 Po was removed from germanium very efficiently. An evidence of a reverse process was also observed-the isotopes were transferred from the etchant to the clean germanium surface.

Online hyphenation of extraction, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and high-speed countercurrent chromatography: A highly efficient strategy for the preparative separation of andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata in a single step.

PubMed

Zhang, Ying-Qi; Wang, Shan-Shan; Han, Chao; Xu, Jin-Fang; Luo, Jian-Guang; Kong, Ling-Yi

2017-12-01

A novel isolation strategy, online hyphenation of ultrasonic extraction, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography combined with high-speed countercurrent chromatography, was developed for pure compounds extraction and purification. Andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata was achieved only in a single step purification protocol via the present strategy. The crude powder was ultrasonic extracted and extraction was pumped into Sephadex LH-20 column directly to cut the nontarget fractions followed by the second-dimensional high-speed countercurrent chromatography, hyphenated by a six-port valve equipped at the post-end of Sephadex LH-20 column, for the final purification. The results yielded andrographolide with the amount of 1.02 mg and a purity of 98.5% in a single step, indicating that the present method is effective to harvest target compound from medicinal plant. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

An improved high-throughput lipid extraction method for the analysis of human brain lipids.

PubMed

Abbott, Sarah K; Jenner, Andrew M; Mitchell, Todd W; Brown, Simon H J; Halliday, Glenda M; Garner, Brett

2013-03-01

We have developed a protocol suitable for high-throughput lipidomic analysis of human brain samples. The traditional Folch extraction (using chloroform and glass-glass homogenization) was compared to a high-throughput method combining methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) extraction with mechanical homogenization utilizing ceramic beads. This high-throughput method significantly reduced sample handling time and increased efficiency compared to glass-glass homogenizing. Furthermore, replacing chloroform with MTBE is safer (less carcinogenic/toxic), with lipids dissolving in the upper phase, allowing for easier pipetting and the potential for automation (i.e., robotics). Both methods were applied to the analysis of human occipital cortex. Lipid species (including ceramides, sphingomyelins, choline glycerophospholipids, ethanolamine glycerophospholipids and phosphatidylserines) were analyzed via electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and sterol species were analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. No differences in lipid species composition were evident when the lipid extraction protocols were compared, indicating that MTBE extraction with mechanical bead homogenization provides an improved method for the lipidomic profiling of human brain tissue.

High power tube solid-state laser with zigzag propagation of pump and laser beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savich, Michael

2015-02-01

A novel resonator and pumping design with zigzag propagation of pumping and laser beams permits to design an improved tube Solid State Laser (SSL), solving the problem of short absorption path to produce a high power laser beam (100 - 1000kW). The novel design provides an amplifier module and laser oscillator. The tube-shaped SSL includes a gain element fiber-optically coupled to a pumping source. The fiber optic coupling facilitates light entry at compound Brewster's angle of incidence into the laser gain element and uses internal reflection to follow a "zigzag" path in a generally spiral direction along the length of the tube. Optics are arranged for zigzag propagation of the laser beam, while the cryogenic cooling system is traditional. The novel method of lasing uses advantages of cylindrical geometry to reach the high volume of gain medium with compactness and structural rigidity, attain high pump density and uniformity, and reach a low threshold without excessive increase of the temperature of the crystal. The design minimizes thermal lensing and stress effects, and provides high gain amplification, high power extraction from lasing medium, high pumping and lasing efficiency and a high beam quality.

Efficient 3D multi-region prostate MRI segmentation using dual optimization.

PubMed

Qiu, Wu; Yuan, Jing; Ukwatta, Eranga; Sun, Yue; Rajchl, Martin; Fenster, Aaron

2013-01-01

Efficient and accurate extraction of the prostate, in particular its clinically meaningful sub-regions from 3D MR images, is of great interest in image-guided prostate interventions and diagnosis of prostate cancer. In this work, we propose a novel multi-region segmentation approach to simultaneously locating the boundaries of the prostate and its two major sub-regions: the central gland and the peripheral zone. The proposed method utilizes the prior knowledge of the spatial region consistency and employs a customized prostate appearance model to simultaneously segment multiple clinically meaningful regions. We solve the resulted challenging combinatorial optimization problem by means of convex relaxation, for which we introduce a novel spatially continuous flow-maximization model and demonstrate its duality to the investigated convex relaxed optimization problem with the region consistency constraint. Moreover, the proposed continuous max-flow model naturally leads to a new and efficient continuous max-flow based algorithm, which enjoys great advantages in numerics and can be readily implemented on GPUs. Experiments using 15 T2-weighted 3D prostate MR images, by inter- and intra-operator variability, demonstrate the promising performance of the proposed approach.

Analysis of entropy extraction efficiencies in random number generation systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chao; Wang, Shuang; Chen, Wei; Yin, Zhen-Qiang; Han, Zheng-Fu

2016-05-01

Random numbers (RNs) have applications in many areas: lottery games, gambling, computer simulation, and, most importantly, cryptography [N. Gisin et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 74 (2002) 145]. In cryptography theory, the theoretical security of the system calls for high quality RNs. Therefore, developing methods for producing unpredictable RNs with adequate speed is an attractive topic. Early on, despite the lack of theoretical support, pseudo RNs generated by algorithmic methods performed well and satisfied reasonable statistical requirements. However, as implemented, those pseudorandom sequences were completely determined by mathematical formulas and initial seeds, which cannot introduce extra entropy or information. In these cases, “random” bits are generated that are not at all random. Physical random number generators (RNGs), which, in contrast to algorithmic methods, are based on unpredictable physical random phenomena, have attracted considerable research interest. However, the way that we extract random bits from those physical entropy sources has a large influence on the efficiency and performance of the system. In this manuscript, we will review and discuss several randomness extraction schemes that are based on radiation or photon arrival times. We analyze the robustness, post-processing requirements and, in particular, the extraction efficiency of those methods to aid in the construction of efficient, compact and robust physical RNG systems.

Zeolite-loaded poly(dimethylsiloxane) hybrid films for highly efficient thin-film microextraction of organic volatiles in water.

PubMed

Wang, Tao; Ansai, Toshihiro; Lee, Seung-Woo

2017-01-15

ZSM-5 zeolite-loaded poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) hybrid thin films were demonstrated for efficient thin-film microextraction (TFME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for analyzing organic volatiles in water. The extraction efficiency for a series of aliphatic alcohols and two aromatic compounds was significantly improved owing to the presence of ZSM-5 zeolites. The extraction efficiency of the hybrid films was increased in proportion to the content of ZSM-5 in the PDMS film, with 20wt% of ZSM-5 showing the best results. The 20wt% ZSM-5/PDMS hybrid film exhibited higher volatile organic content extraction compared with the single-component PDMS film or PDMS hybrid films containing other types of zeolite (e.g., SAPO-34). Limits of detection and limits of quantitation for individual analytes were in the range of 0.0034-0.049ppb and of 0.010-0.15 ppb, respectively. The effects of experimental parameters such as extraction time and temperature were optimized, and the molecular dispersion of the zeolites in/on the hybrid film matrix was confirmed with scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Furthermore, the optimized hybrid film was preliminarily tested for the analysis of organic volatiles contained in commercially available soft drinks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation of saponification for determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in marine sediments.

PubMed

Numata, Masahiko; Yarita, Takashi; Aoyagi, Yoshie; Yamazaki, Misako; Takatsu, Akiko

2005-02-01

The effects of saponification conditions (temperature and water content of saponifying solution) on the determination of chlorinated biphenyls (CBs) in marine sediments were investigated. Although highly chlorinated biphenyls (nona- to deca-CBs) decomposed during high-temperature saponification, the degree of degradation was reduced by adding water to the ethanolic potassium hydroxide saponifying solution. Room-temperature saponification yielded quantitative recovery of highly chlorinated biphenyl surrogates but low extraction efficiencies of lightly chlorinated biphenyls (mono- to di-CBs). The same samples were analyzed by other extraction techniques, for example, pressurized liquid extraction, and analytical results were compared. The mono- and di-CB concentrations were correlated with the extraction temperatures of various extraction techniques. In particular, the concentrations of some CB congeners (CB11, CB14) were higher with saponification. The low degree of degradation of highly chlorinated biphenyls and the high recovery of lightly chlorinated biphenyls were compatible when room-temperature and high-temperature saponification were combined. Except for the anomalies of CB11 and CB14, the combined method gave satisfactory results for analysis of PCBs.

Efficiency of several leaching reagents on removal of Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn from highly contaminated paddy soil.

PubMed

Gao, Ruili; Zhu, Pengfei; Guo, Guangguang; Hu, Hongqing; Zhu, Jun; Fu, Qingling

2016-11-01

The efficiency of five different single leaching reagents (tartaric acid (TA), citric acid (CA), CaCl 2 , FeCl 3 , EDTA) and two different composite leaching reagents (CA + FeCl 3 , CA + EDTA) on removing Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd from contaminated paddy soil in Hunan Province (in China) was studied. The results indicated that the efficiencies of CA, FeCl 3 , and EDTA on extracting Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn from soil were greater than that of TA and CaCl 2 , and their extraction efficiencies were EDTA ≥ FeCl 3 > CA. The efficiencies of CA + FeCl 3 on extracting Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn were higher than that of single CA or FeCl 3 . The 25 mmol L -1 CA + 20 mmol L -1 FeCl 3 was a promising composite leaching reagent for paddy soil, and it could remove Cu (57.6 %), Pb (59.3 %), Cd (84.8 %), and Zn (28.0 %), respectively. With the same amount of leaching reagent, the efficiency of continuous leaching by several times was higher than that by once. In addition, the easily reducible and oxidizable fractions of heavy metals showed significant decrease during the process of leaching.

Achieving High Current Density of Perovskite Solar Cells by Modulating the Dominated Facets of Room-Temperature DC Magnetron Sputtered TiO2 Electron Extraction Layer.

PubMed

Huang, Aibin; Lei, Lei; Zhu, Jingting; Yu, Yu; Liu, Yan; Yang, Songwang; Bao, Shanhu; Cao, Xun; Jin, Ping

2017-01-25

The short circuit current density of perovskite solar cell (PSC) was boosted by modulating the dominated plane facets of TiO 2 electron transport layer (ETL). Under optimized condition, TiO 2 with dominant {001} facets showed (i) low incident light loss, (ii) highly smooth surface and excellent wettability for precursor solution, (iii) efficient electron extraction, and (iv) high conductivity in perovskite photovoltaic application. A current density of 24.19 mA cm -2 was achieved as a value near the maximum limit. The power conversion efficiency was improved to 17.25%, which was the record value of PSCs with DC magnetron sputtered carrier transport layer. What is more, the room-temperature process had a great significance for the cost reduction and flexible application of PSCs.

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

Candel, Arno; Li, Z.; Ng, C.

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) provides a path to a multi-TeV accelerator to explore the energy frontier of High Energy Physics. Its novel two-beam accelerator concept envisions rf power transfer to the accelerating structures from a separate high-current decelerator beam line consisting of power extraction and transfer structures (PETS). It is critical to numerically verify the fundamental and higher-order mode properties in and between the two beam lines with high accuracy and confidence. To solve these large-scale problems, SLAC's parallel finite element electromagnetic code suite ACE3P is employed. Using curvilinear conformal meshes and higher-order finite element vector basis functions, unprecedentedmore » accuracy and computational efficiency are achieved, enabling high-fidelity modeling of complex detuned structures such as the CLIC TD24 accelerating structure. In this paper, time-domain simulations of wakefield coupling effects in the combined system of PETS and the TD24 structures are presented. The results will help to identify potential issues and provide new insights on the design, leading to further improvements on the novel CLIC two-beam accelerator scheme.« less

Optimization Algorithm for Kalman Filter Exploiting the Numerical Characteristics of SINS/GPS Integrated Navigation Systems.

PubMed

Hu, Shaoxing; Xu, Shike; Wang, Duhu; Zhang, Aiwu

2015-11-11

Aiming at addressing the problem of high computational cost of the traditional Kalman filter in SINS/GPS, a practical optimization algorithm with offline-derivation and parallel processing methods based on the numerical characteristics of the system is presented in this paper. The algorithm exploits the sparseness and/or symmetry of matrices to simplify the computational procedure. Thus plenty of invalid operations can be avoided by offline derivation using a block matrix technique. For enhanced efficiency, a new parallel computational mechanism is established by subdividing and restructuring calculation processes after analyzing the extracted "useful" data. As a result, the algorithm saves about 90% of the CPU processing time and 66% of the memory usage needed in a classical Kalman filter. Meanwhile, the method as a numerical approach needs no precise-loss transformation/approximation of system modules and the accuracy suffers little in comparison with the filter before computational optimization. Furthermore, since no complicated matrix theories are needed, the algorithm can be easily transplanted into other modified filters as a secondary optimization method to achieve further efficiency.

Analytic corrections to CFD heating predictions accounting for changes in surface catalysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gnoffo, Peter A.; Inger, George R.

1996-01-01

Integral boundary-layer solution techniques applicable to the problem of determining aerodynamic heating rates of hypersonic vehicles in the vicinity of stagnation points and windward centerlines are briefly summarized. A new approach for combining the insight afforded by integral boundary-layer analysis with comprehensive (but time intensive) computational fluid dynamic (CFD) flowfield solutions of the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations is described. The approach extracts CFD derived quantities at the wall and at the boundary layer edge for inclusion in a post-processing boundary-layer analysis. It allows a designer at a workstation to address two questions, given a single CFD solution. (1) How much does the heating change for a thermal protection system with different catalytic properties than was used in the original CFD solution? (2) How does the heating change at the interface of two different TPS materials with an abrupt change in catalytic efficiency? The answer to the second question is particularly important, because abrupt changes from low to high catalytic efficiency can lead to localized increase in heating which exceeds the usually conservative estimate provided by a fully catalytic wall assumption.

A simple method for the enrichment of bisphenols using boron nitride.

PubMed

Fischnaller, Martin; Bakry, Rania; Bonn, Günther K

2016-03-01

A simple solid-phase extraction method for the enrichment of 5 bisphenol derivatives using hexagonal boron nitride (BN) was developed. BN was applied to concentrate bisphenol derivatives in spiked water samples and the compounds were analyzed using HPLC coupled to fluorescence detection. The effect of pH and organic solvents on the extraction efficiency was investigated. An enrichment factor up to 100 was achieved without evaporation and reconstitution. The developed method was applied for the determination of bisphenol A migrated from some polycarbonate plastic products. Furthermore, bisphenol derivatives were analyzed in spiked and non-spiked canned food and beverages. None of the analyzed samples exceeded the migration limit set by the European Union of 0.6mg/kg food. The method showed good recovery rates ranging from 80% to 110%. Validation of the method was performed in terms of accuracy and precision. The applied method is robust, fast, efficient and easily adaptable to different analytical problems. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hypolipidaemic Effect of Hericium erinaceum Grown in Artemisia capillaris on Obese Rats

PubMed Central

Choi, Won-Sik; Kim, Young-Sun; Park, Byeoung-Soo; Kim, Jang-Eok

2013-01-01

In this study, ethanolic extracts from Hericium erinaceum cultivated with Artemisia capillaris (HEAC) were assessed for their ability to lower the cholesterol levels of male Sprague-Dawley rats fed a high-fat diet. Rats were randomly subdivided into seven test groups. Each group contained eight rats fed a high-fat diet during a growth period lasting 4 wk. Supplementation with the extracts was performed once a day for 2 wk after the high-fat diet. The control group (rats fed a high-fat diet) showed a high efficiency ratio (feed efficiency ratio) value compared to the normal group. Biochemical parameters, including total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c), and triglyceride (TG) levels dramatically increased in the control group compared to the normal group. High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c) content in the control group was also significantly lower relative to the normal group. Two positive control groups, treated with simvastatin and atorvastatin, had lowered TC, LDL-c, and TG levels, and increased HDL-c content compared to the control group. Treatment with the tested extracts, including HEAC, ethanolic extracts from Hericium erinaceum, and ethanolic extracts from Artemisia capillaris reduced TC, LDL-c, and TG levels and elevated HDL-c content in the hyperlipidemia rats. The atherogenic index and cardiac risk factor values for the HEAC-treated group were 0.95 and 1.95, respectively. Simvastatin- and atorvastatin-treated groups showed atherogenic index values of 1.56 and 1.69, respectively, and cardiac risk factor values of 2.56 and 2.69, respectively. These results show HEAC possesses an ability to cure hyperlipidemia in rats and may serve as an effective natural medicine for treating hyperlipidemia in humans. PMID:23874132

Hypolipidaemic Effect of Hericium erinaceum Grown in Artemisia capillaris on Obese Rats.

PubMed

Choi, Won-Sik; Kim, Young-Sun; Park, Byeoung-Soo; Kim, Jang-Eok; Lee, Sung-Eun

2013-06-01

In this study, ethanolic extracts from Hericium erinaceum cultivated with Artemisia capillaris (HEAC) were assessed for their ability to lower the cholesterol levels of male Sprague-Dawley rats fed a high-fat diet. Rats were randomly subdivided into seven test groups. Each group contained eight rats fed a high-fat diet during a growth period lasting 4 wk. Supplementation with the extracts was performed once a day for 2 wk after the high-fat diet. The control group (rats fed a high-fat diet) showed a high efficiency ratio (feed efficiency ratio) value compared to the normal group. Biochemical parameters, including total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c), and triglyceride (TG) levels dramatically increased in the control group compared to the normal group. High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c) content in the control group was also significantly lower relative to the normal group. Two positive control groups, treated with simvastatin and atorvastatin, had lowered TC, LDL-c, and TG levels, and increased HDL-c content compared to the control group. Treatment with the tested extracts, including HEAC, ethanolic extracts from Hericium erinaceum, and ethanolic extracts from Artemisia capillaris reduced TC, LDL-c, and TG levels and elevated HDL-c content in the hyperlipidemia rats. The atherogenic index and cardiac risk factor values for the HEAC-treated group were 0.95 and 1.95, respectively. Simvastatin- and atorvastatin-treated groups showed atherogenic index values of 1.56 and 1.69, respectively, and cardiac risk factor values of 2.56 and 2.69, respectively. These results show HEAC possesses an ability to cure hyperlipidemia in rats and may serve as an effective natural medicine for treating hyperlipidemia in humans.

Production of Magnesium and Aluminum-Magnesium Alloys from Recycled Secondary Aluminum Scrap Melts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gesing, Adam J.; Das, Subodh K.; Loutfy, Raouf O.

2016-02-01

An experimental proof of concept was demonstrated for a patent-pending and trademark-pending RE12™ process for extracting a desired amount of Mg from recycled scrap secondary Al melts. Mg was extracted by electrorefining, producing a Mg product suitable as a Mg alloying hardener additive to primary-grade Al alloys. This efficient electrorefining process operates at high current efficiency, high Mg recovery and low energy consumption. The Mg electrorefining product can meet all the impurity specifications with subsequent melt treatment for removing alkali contaminants. All technical results obtained in the RE12™ project indicate that the electrorefining process for extraction of Mg from Al melt is technically feasible. A techno-economic analysis indicates high potential profitability for applications in Al foundry alloys as well as beverage—can and automotive—sheet alloys. The combination of technical feasibility and potential market profitability completes a successful proof of concept. This economical, environmentally-friendly and chlorine-free RE12™ process could be disruptive and transformational for the Mg production industry by enabling the recycling of 30,000 tonnes of primary-quality Mg annually.

Airfoil Design and Optimization by the One-Shot Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuruvila, G.; Taasan, Shlomo; Salas, M. D.

1995-01-01

An efficient numerical approach for the design of optimal aerodynamic shapes is presented in this paper. The objective of any optimization problem is to find the optimum of a cost function subject to a certain state equation (governing equation of the flow field) and certain side constraints. As in classical optimal control methods, the present approach introduces a costate variable (Lagrange multiplier) to evaluate the gradient of the cost function. High efficiency in reaching the optimum solution is achieved by using a multigrid technique and updating the shape in a hierarchical manner such that smooth (low-frequency) changes are done separately from high-frequency changes. Thus, the design variables are changed on a grid where their changes produce nonsmooth (high-frequency) perturbations that can be damped efficiently by the multigrid. The cost of solving the optimization problem is approximately two to three times the cost of the equivalent analysis problem.

Airfoil optimization by the one-shot method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuruvila, G.; Taasan, Shlomo; Salas, M. D.

1994-01-01

An efficient numerical approach for the design of optimal aerodynamic shapes is presented in this paper. The objective of any optimization problem is to find the optimum of a cost function subject to a certain state equation (Governing equation of the flow field) and certain side constraints. As in classical optimal control methods, the present approach introduces a costate variable (Language multiplier) to evaluate the gradient of the cost function. High efficiency in reaching the optimum solution is achieved by using a multigrid technique and updating the shape in a hierarchical manner such that smooth (low-frequency) changes are done separately from high-frequency changes. Thus, the design variables are changed on a grid where their changes produce nonsmooth (high-frequency) perturbations that can be damped efficiently by the multigrid. The cost of solving the optimization problem is approximately two to three times the cost of the equivalent analysis problem.

Efficient Variable Selection Method for Exposure Variables on Binary Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohno, Manabu; Tarumi, Tomoyuki

In this paper, we propose a new variable selection method for "robust" exposure variables. We define "robust" as property that the same variable can select among original data and perturbed data. There are few studies of effective for the selection method. The problem that selects exposure variables is almost the same as a problem that extracts correlation rules without robustness. [Brin 97] is suggested that correlation rules are possible to extract efficiently using chi-squared statistic of contingency table having monotone property on binary data. But the chi-squared value does not have monotone property, so it's is easy to judge the method to be not independent with an increase in the dimension though the variable set is completely independent, and the method is not usable in variable selection for robust exposure variables. We assume anti-monotone property for independent variables to select robust independent variables and use the apriori algorithm for it. The apriori algorithm is one of the algorithms which find association rules from the market basket data. The algorithm use anti-monotone property on the support which is defined by association rules. But independent property does not completely have anti-monotone property on the AIC of independent probability model, but the tendency to have anti-monotone property is strong. Therefore, selected variables with anti-monotone property on the AIC have robustness. Our method judges whether a certain variable is exposure variable for the independent variable using previous comparison of the AIC. Our numerical experiments show that our method can select robust exposure variables efficiently and precisely.

Iterative filtering decomposition based on local spectral evolution kernel

PubMed Central

Wang, Yang; Wei, Guo-Wei; Yang, Siyang

2011-01-01

The synthesizing information, achieving understanding, and deriving insight from increasingly massive, time-varying, noisy and possibly conflicting data sets are some of most challenging tasks in the present information age. Traditional technologies, such as Fourier transform and wavelet multi-resolution analysis, are inadequate to handle all of the above-mentioned tasks. The empirical model decomposition (EMD) has emerged as a new powerful tool for resolving many challenging problems in data processing and analysis. Recently, an iterative filtering decomposition (IFD) has been introduced to address the stability and efficiency problems of the EMD. Another data analysis technique is the local spectral evolution kernel (LSEK), which provides a near prefect low pass filter with desirable time-frequency localizations. The present work utilizes the LSEK to further stabilize the IFD, and offers an efficient, flexible and robust scheme for information extraction, complexity reduction, and signal and image understanding. The performance of the present LSEK based IFD is intensively validated over a wide range of data processing tasks, including mode decomposition, analysis of time-varying data, information extraction from nonlinear dynamic systems, etc. The utility, robustness and usefulness of the proposed LESK based IFD are demonstrated via a large number of applications, such as the analysis of stock market data, the decomposition of ocean wave magnitudes, the understanding of physiologic signals and information recovery from noisy images. The performance of the proposed method is compared with that of existing methods in the literature. Our results indicate that the LSEK based IFD improves both the efficiency and the stability of conventional EMD algorithms. PMID:22350559

Long-Term Frozen Storage of Urine Samples: A Trouble to Get PCR Results in Schistosoma spp. DNA Detection?

PubMed Central

Fernández-Soto, Pedro; Velasco Tirado, Virginia; Carranza Rodríguez, Cristina; Pérez-Arellano, José Luis; Muro, Antonio

2013-01-01

Background Human schistosomiasis remains a serious worldwide public health problem. At present, a sensitive and specific assay for routine diagnosis of schistosome infection is not yet available. The potential for detecting schistosome-derived DNA by PCR-based methods in human clinical samples is currently being investigated as a diagnostic tool with potential application in routine schistosomiasis diagnosis. Collection of diagnostic samples such as stool or blood is usually difficult in some populations. However, urine is a biological sample that can be collected in a non-invasive method, easy to get from people of all ages and easy in management, but as a sample for PCR diagnosis is still not widely used. This could be due to the high variability in the reported efficiency of detection as a result of the high variation in urine samples’ storage or conditions for handling and DNA preservation and extraction methods. Methodology/Principal Findings We evaluate different commercial DNA extraction methods from a series of long-term frozen storage human urine samples from patients with parasitological confirmed schistosomiasis in order to assess the PCR effectiveness for Schistosoma spp. detection. Patientś urine samples were frozen for 18 months up to 7 years until use. Results were compared with those obtained in PCR assays using fresh healthy human urine artificially contaminated with Schistosoma mansoni DNA and urine samples from mice experimentally infected with S. mansoni cercariae stored frozen for at least 12 months before use. PCR results in fresh human artificial urine samples using different DNA based extraction methods were much more effective than those obtained when long-term frozen human urine samples were used as the source of DNA template. Conclusions/Significance Long-term frozen human urine samples are probably not a good source for DNA extraction for use as a template in PCR detection of Schistosoma spp., regardless of the DNA method of extraction used. PMID:23613907

Long-term frozen storage of urine samples: a trouble to get PCR results in Schistosoma spp. DNA detection?

PubMed

Fernández-Soto, Pedro; Velasco Tirado, Virginia; Carranza Rodríguez, Cristina; Pérez-Arellano, José Luis; Muro, Antonio

2013-01-01

Human schistosomiasis remains a serious worldwide public health problem. At present, a sensitive and specific assay for routine diagnosis of schistosome infection is not yet available. The potential for detecting schistosome-derived DNA by PCR-based methods in human clinical samples is currently being investigated as a diagnostic tool with potential application in routine schistosomiasis diagnosis. Collection of diagnostic samples such as stool or blood is usually difficult in some populations. However, urine is a biological sample that can be collected in a non-invasive method, easy to get from people of all ages and easy in management, but as a sample for PCR diagnosis is still not widely used. This could be due to the high variability in the reported efficiency of detection as a result of the high variation in urine samples' storage or conditions for handling and DNA preservation and extraction methods. We evaluate different commercial DNA extraction methods from a series of long-term frozen storage human urine samples from patients with parasitological confirmed schistosomiasis in order to assess the PCR effectiveness for Schistosoma spp. detection. Patients urine samples were frozen for 18 months up to 7 years until use. Results were compared with those obtained in PCR assays using fresh healthy human urine artificially contaminated with Schistosoma mansoni DNA and urine samples from mice experimentally infected with S. mansoni cercariae stored frozen for at least 12 months before use. PCR results in fresh human artificial urine samples using different DNA based extraction methods were much more effective than those obtained when long-term frozen human urine samples were used as the source of DNA template. Long-term frozen human urine samples are probably not a good source for DNA extraction for use as a template in PCR detection of Schistosoma spp., regardless of the DNA method of extraction used.

Sol-gel approach to in situ creation of high pH-resistant surface-bonded organic-inorganic hybrid zirconia coating for capillary microextraction (in-tube SPME).

PubMed

Alhooshani, Khalid; Kim, Tae-Young; Kabir, Abuzar; Malik, Abdul

2005-01-07

A novel zirconia-based hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel coating was developed for capillary microextraction (CME) (in-tube SPME). High degree of chemical inertness inherent in zirconia makes it very difficult to covalently bind a suitable organic ligand to its surface. In the present work, this problem was addressed from a sol-gel chemistry point of view. Principles of sol-gel chemistry were employed to chemically bind a hydroxy-terminated silicone polymer (polydimethyldiphenylsiloxane, PDMDPS) to a sol-gel zirconia network in the course of its evolution from a highly reactive alkoxide precursor undergoing controlled hydrolytic polycondensation reactions. A fused silica capillary was filled with a properly designed sol solution to allow for the sol-gel reactions to take place within the capillary for a predetermined period of time (typically 15-30 min). In the course of this process, a layer of the evolving hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel polymer got chemically anchored to the silanol groups on the capillary inner walls via condensation reaction. At the end of this in-capillary residence time, the unbonded part of the sol solution was expelled from the capillary under helium pressure, leaving behind a chemically bonded sol-gel zirconia-PDMDPS coating on the inner walls. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, and aldehydes were efficiently extracted and preconcentrated from dilute aqueous samples using sol-gel zirconia-PDMDPS coated capillaries followed by thermal desorption and GC analysis of the extracted solutes. The newly developed sol-gel hybrid zirconia coatings demonstrated excellent pH stability, and retained the extraction characteristics intact even after continuous rinsing with a 0.1 M NaOH solution for 24 h. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of a sol-gel zirconia-based hybrid organic-inorganic coating as an extraction medium in solid phase microextraction (SPME).

Extraction of trace tilmicosin in real water samples using ionic liquid-based aqueous two-phase systems.

PubMed

Pan, Ru; Shao, Dejia; Qi, Xueyong; Wu, Yun; Fu, Wenyan; Ge, Yanru; Fu, Haizhen

2013-01-01

The effective method of ionic liquid-based aqueous two-phase extraction, which involves ionic liquid (IL) (1-butyl-3-methyllimidazolium chloride, [C4mim]Cl) and inorganic salt (K2HPO4) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), has been used to extract trace tilmicosin in real water samples which were passed through a 0.45 μm filter. The effects of the different types of salts, the concentration of K2HPO4 and of ILs, the pH value and temperature of the systems on the extraction efficiencies have all been investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the average extraction efficiency is up to 95.8%. This method was feasible when applied to the analysis of tilmicosin in real water samples within the range 0.5-40 μg mL(-1). The limit of detection was found to be 0.05 μg mL(-1). The recovery rate of tilmicosin was 92.0-99.0% from the real water samples by the proposed method. This process is suggested to have important applications for the extraction of tilmicosin.

In-vitro antimicrobial activity of marine actinobacteria against multidrug resistance Staphylococcus aureus

PubMed Central

Sathish, Kumar SR; Kokati, Venkata Bhaskara Rao

2012-01-01

Objective To investigate the antibacterial activity of marine actinobacteria against multidrug resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MDRSA). Methods Fifty one actinobacterial strains were isolated from salt pans soil, costal area in Kothapattanam, Ongole, Andhra Pradesh. Primary screening was done using cross-streak method against MDRSA. The bioactive compounds are extracted from efficient actinobacteria using solvent extraction. The antimicrobial activity of crude and solvent extracts was performed using Kirby-Bauer method. MIC for ethyl acetate extract was determined by modified agar well diffusion method. The potent actinobacteria are identified using Nonomura key, Shirling and Gottlieb 1966 with Bergey's manual of determinative bacteriology. Results Among the fifty one isolates screened for antibacterial activity, SRB25 were found efficient against MDRSA. The ethyl acetate extracts showed high inhibition against test organism. MIC test was performed with the ethyl acetate extract against MDRSA and found to be 1 000 µg/mL. The isolated actinobacteria are identified as Streptomyces sp with the help of Nonomura key. Conclusions The current investigation reveals that the marine actinobacteria from salt pan environment can be able to produce new drug molecules against drug resistant microorganisms. PMID:23569848

In-vitro antimicrobial activity of marine actinobacteria against multidrug resistance Staphylococcus aureus.

PubMed

Sathish, Kumar S R; Kokati, Venkata Bhaskara Rao

2012-10-01

To investigate the antibacterial activity of marine actinobacteria against multidrug resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MDRSA). Fifty one actinobacterial strains were isolated from salt pans soil, costal area in Kothapattanam, Ongole, Andhra Pradesh. Primary screening was done using cross-streak method against MDRSA. The bioactive compounds are extracted from efficient actinobacteria using solvent extraction. The antimicrobial activity of crude and solvent extracts was performed using Kirby-Bauer method. MIC for ethyl acetate extract was determined by modified agar well diffusion method. The potent actinobacteria are identified using Nonomura key, Shirling and Gottlieb 1966 with Bergey's manual of determinative bacteriology. Among the fifty one isolates screened for antibacterial activity, SRB25 were found efficient against MDRSA. The ethyl acetate extracts showed high inhibition against test organism. MIC test was performed with the ethyl acetate extract against MDRSA and found to be 1 000 µg/mL. The isolated actinobacteria are identified as Streptomyces sp with the help of Nonomura key. The current investigation reveals that the marine actinobacteria from salt pan environment can be able to produce new drug molecules against drug resistant microorganisms.

Glucosamine:chondroitin or ginger root extract have little effect on articular cartilage in swine

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Sows are culled at a high rate from breeding herds due to musclo-skeletal problems and lameness. Research in our laboratory has shown that even first-parity sows have significant amounts of osteochondritic lesions of their articular cartilage. Glusoamine chondroitin and ginger root extract have both...

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

Stolterfoht, Martin; Armin, Ardalan; Pandey, Ajay K.

Photovoltaic performance in relation to charge transport is studied in efficient (7.6%) organic solar cells (PTB7:PC{sub 71}BM). Both electron and hole mobilities are experimentally measured in efficient solar cells using the resistance dependent photovoltage technique, while the inapplicability of classical techniques, such as space charge limited current and photogenerated charge extraction by linearly increasing voltage is discussed. Limits in the short-circuit current originate from optical losses, while charge transport is shown not to be a limiting process. Efficient charge extraction without recombination can be achieved with a mobility of charge carriers much lower than previously expected. The presence of dispersivemore » transport with strongly distributed mobilities in high efficiency solar cells is demonstrated. Reduced non-Langevin recombination is shown to be beneficial for solar cells with imbalanced, low, and dispersive electron and hole mobilities.« less

High efficiency blue and white phosphorescent organic light emitting devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eom, Sang-Hyun

Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have important applications in full-color flat-panel displays and as solid-state lighting sources. Achieving high efficiency deep-blue phosphorescent OLEDs (PHOLEDs) is necessary for high performance full-color displays and white light sources with a high color rendering index (CRI); however it is more challenging compared to the longer wavelength light emissions such as green and red due to the higher energy excitations for the deep-blue emitter as well as the weak photopic response of deep-blue emission. This thesis details several effective strategies to enhancing efficiencies of deep-blue PHOLEDs based on iridium(III) bis(4',6'-difluorophenylpyridinato)tetrakis(1-pyrazolyl)borate (FIr6), which are further employed to demonstrate high efficiency white OLEDs by combining the deep-blue emitter with green and red emitters. First, we have employed 1,1-bis-(di-4-tolylaminophenyl) cyclohexane (TAPC) as the hole transporting material to enhance electron and triplet exciton confinement in Fir6-based PHOLEDs, which increased external quantum efficiency up to 18 %. Second, dual-emissive-layer (D-EML) structures consisting of an N,N -dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene (mCP) layer doped with 4 wt % FIr6 and a p-bis (triphenylsilyly)benzene (UGH2) layer doped with 25 wt % FIr6 was employed to maximize exciton generation in the emissive layer. Combined with the p-i-n device structure, high power efficiencies of (25 +/- 2) lm/W at 100 cd/m2 and (20 +/- 2) lm/W at 1000 cd/m 2 were achieved. Moreover, the peak external quantum efficiency of (20 +/- 1) % was achieved by employing tris[3-(3-pyridyl)mesityl]borane (3TPYMB) as the electron transporting material, which further improves the exciton confinement in the emissive layer. With Cs2CO3 doping in the 3TPYMB layer to greatly increase its electrical conductivity, a peak power efficiency up to (36 +/- 2) lm/W from the deep-blue PHOLED was achieved, which also maintains Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.16, 0.28). High efficiency white PHOLEDs are also demonstrated by incorporating green and red phosphorescent emitters together with the deep-blue emitter FIr6. Similar to the FIr6-only devices, the D-EML structure with high triplet energy charge transport materials leads to a maximum external quantum efficiency of (19 +/- 1) %. Using the p-i-n device structure, a peak power efficiency of (40 +/- 2) lm/W and (36 +/- 2) lm/W at 100 cd/m2 were achieved, and the white PHOLED possesses a CRI of 79 and CIE coordinates of (0.37, 0.40). The limited light extraction from the planar-type OLEDs is also one of the remaining challenges to the OLED efficiency. Here we have developed a simple soft lithography technique to fabricate a transparent, close-packed hemispherical microlens arrays. The application of such microlens arrays to the glass surface of the large-area fluorescent OLEDs enhanced the light extraction efficiency up to (70 +/- 7)%. It is also shown that the light extraction efficiency of the OLEDs is affected by microlens contact angle, OLEDs size, and detailed layer structure of the OLEDs.

In-tube solid-phase microextraction based on NH2-MIL-53(Al)-polymer monolithic column for online coupling with high-performance liquid chromatography for directly sensitive analysis of estrogens in human urine.

PubMed

Luo, Xialin; Li, Gongke; Hu, Yufei

2017-04-01

In this work, a novel NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) incorporated poly(styrene-divinylbenzene-methacrylic acid) (poly(St-DVB-MAA)) monolith was prepared via chemical fabrication. Moreover, it has been efficiently applied to the in-tube solid-phase microextraction (SPME) for online coupling with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to the direct determination of five estrogens in human urine samples. The NH 2 -MIL-53(Al)-polymer monolith was suitable for in-tube SPME owing to its good permeability, high extraction efficiency, chemical stability, good reproducibility and long lifetime. The extraction conditions including extraction solvent, pH of sample solution, flow rate of extraction and desorption, and desorption volume were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factors were 180-304 and saturated amounts of extraction were 2326-21393 pmol for estriol, 17β-estradiol, estrone, ethinyl estradiol and progesterone, respectively. The adsorption mechanism was also explored which contributed to its strong extraction to target compounds. The proposed method had low limit of detection (2.0-40ng/L) and good linearity (with R 2 between 0.9908 and 0.9978). Four endogenous estrogens were detected in urine samples and the recoveries of all five analytes were ranged from 75.1-120% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 8.7%. The results showed that the proposed online SPME-HPLC method based on NH 2 -MIL-53(Al)-polymer monolithic column was highly sensitive for directly monitoring trace amount of estrogens in human urine sample. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ultra-preconcentration and determination of selected pharmaceutical and personal care products in different water matrices by solid-phase extraction combined with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction prior to ultra high pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis.

PubMed

Celano, Rita; Piccinelli, Anna Lisa; Campone, Luca; Rastrelli, Luca

2014-08-15

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) are one of the most important classes of emerging contaminants. The potential of ecological and environmental impacts associated with PPCPs are of particular concern because they continually penetrate the aquatic environment. This work describes a novel ultra-preconcentration technique for the rapid and highly sensitive analysis of selected PPCPs in environmental water matrices at ppt levels. Selected PPCPs were rapidly extracted and concentrated from large volumes of aqueous solutions (500 and 250mL) by solid-phase extraction combined with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (SPE-DLLME) and then analyzed using UHPLC-MS/MS. Experimental parameters were carefully investigated and optimized to achieve the best SPE-DLLME efficiency and higher enrichment factors. The best results were obtained using the ternary mixture acetonitrile/methanol/dichloromethane 3:3:4, v/v/v, both as SPE eluent and DLLME extractant/dispersive mixture. DLLME aqueous solution (5% NaCl, 10mgL(-1) TBAB) was also modified to improve the extraction efficiency of more hydrophilic PPCPs. Under the optimal conditions, an exhaustive extraction for most of the investigated analytes (recoveries >70%), with a precision (RSD <10%) and very high enrichment factors were attained for different aqueous matrices (drinking, sea, river and wastewater). Method detection and quantification limits were at very low ppt levels and below 1 and 3ngL(-1), respectively, for 15 of selected PPCPs. The proposed analytical procedure offers numerous advantages such as the simplicity of operation, rapidity, a high enrichment factor and sensitivity. So it is suitable for monitoring and studies of occurrence of PPCPs in different environmental compartments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrated utilization of red radish seeds for the efficient production of seed oil and sulforaphene.

PubMed

Zhang, Jie; Zhou, Xing; Fu, Min

2016-02-01

Supercritical CO2 was used to obtain seed oil from red radish seeds. The influence of pressure, temperature, CO2 flow rate and time on extraction yield of oil were investigated in detail. The maximum extraction yield of oil was 92.07 ± 0.76% at the optimal extraction conditions. The physicochemical properties and fatty acid composition of oil indicated that the seed oil can be used as a dietary oil. Meanwhile, the high purity sulforaphene (96.84 ± 0.17%) was separated by solvent extraction coupled with preparative high performance liquid chromatography from red radish seed meal. The initial pH, R, extraction temperature and extraction time for each cycle had a considerable influence both on the extraction yield and purity of sulforaphene of crude product. The extraction of oil was directly responsible for an increase of 18.32% in the yield of sulforaphene. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The high intensity solar cell - Key to low cost photovoltaic power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sater, B. L.; Goradia, C.

1975-01-01

This paper discusses the problems associated with conventional solar cells at high intensities and presents the design considerations and performance characteristics of the 'high intensity' (HI) solar cell which appears to eliminate the major problems. Test data obtained at greater than 250 AM1 suns gave a peak output power density of 2 W per sq cm at an efficiency exceeding 6% with an unoptimized cell operating at over 100 C. It appears that operation at 1000 AM1 suns at efficiencies greater than 10% is possible. At 1000 AM1 suns and 10% efficiency, the HI cell manufacturing cost is estimated to be $0.25/watt, with multi-megawatt annual production capability already existing within the industrial sector. A high intensity solar system was also analyzed to determine its cost effectiveness and to assess the benefits of further improving HI cell efficiency.

Development of superparamagnetic high-magnetization C18-functionalized magnetic silica nanoparticles as sorbents for enrichment and determination of methylprednisolone in rat plasma by high performance liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Yu, Panfeng; Wang, Qi; Zhang, Xifeng; Zhang, Xuesong; Shen, Shun; Wang, Yan

2010-09-23

In this study, a novel extraction and enrichment technique based on superparamagnetic high-magnetization C(18)-functionalized magnetic silica nanoparticles (C(18)-MNPs) as sorbents was successfully developed for the determination of methylprednisolone (MP) in rat plasma by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The synthesized silica-coated magnetite modified with chlorodimethyl-n-octadecylsilane was about 320 nm in diameter with strong magnetism and high surface area. It provided an efficient way for extraction and concentration of MP in the samples through hydrophobic interaction by the interior C(18) groups. Moreover, MP adsorbed with C(18)-MNPs could be simply and rapidly isolated through placing a strong magnet on the bottom of container, and then easily eluted from C(18)-MNPs by n-hexane solution. Extraction conditions such as amounts of C(18)-MNPs added, adsorption time and desorption solvent, were investigated. Method validations including linear range, detection limit, precision, and recovery were also studied. The results showed that the proposed method based on C(18)-MNPs was a simple, accurate and high efficient approach for the analysis of MP in the complex plasma samples. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

One-pot polymerization of monolith coated stir bar for high efficient sorptive extraction of perfluoroalkyl acids from environmental water samples followed by high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry detection.

PubMed

Yao, Xuezi; Zhou, Zhen; He, Man; Chen, Beibei; Liang, Yong; Hu, Bin

2018-06-08

In this work, poly(1-vinylimidazole-ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate) (poly(VI-EDMA)) monolith coated stir bars were synthesized by one-pot polymerization, and they exhibited higher extraction efficiency and faster extraction dynamics for selected PFAAs than commercial ethylene glycol modified silicone (EG-silicone) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coated stir bars. Taking eleven PFAAs as target analytes, including C4-C12 perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) and C6, C8 perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSAs), a method combining monolith-based stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) - electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) was proposed for the determination of multiplex PFAAs in environmental water samples. Under the optimized conditions, low limits of detection (0.06-0.40 ng/L) and wide linear range (0.6-400 ng/L) were obtained for target PFAAs with. The developed method was then applied for the analysis of target PFAAs in environmental water samples, and recoveries of 80.1-117% and 80.3-122% were obtained for target PFAAs in spiked Yangtze River and East Lake water samples respectively. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficient isolation method for high-quality genomic DNA from cicada exuviae.

PubMed

Nguyen, Hoa Quynh; Kim, Ye Inn; Borzée, Amaël; Jang, Yikweon

2017-10-01

In recent years, animal ethics issues have led researchers to explore nondestructive methods to access materials for genetic studies. Cicada exuviae are among those materials because they are cast skins that individuals left after molt and are easily collected. In this study, we aim to identify the most efficient extraction method to obtain high quantity and quality of DNA from cicada exuviae. We compared relative DNA yield and purity of six extraction protocols, including both manual protocols and available commercial kits, extracting from four different exoskeleton parts. Furthermore, amplification and sequencing of genomic DNA were evaluated in terms of availability of sequencing sequence at the expected genomic size. Both the choice of protocol and exuvia part significantly affected DNA yield and purity. Only samples that were extracted using the PowerSoil DNA Isolation kit generated gel bands of expected size as well as successful sequencing results. The failed attempts to extract DNA using other protocols could be partially explained by a low DNA yield from cicada exuviae and partly by contamination with humic acids that exist in the soil where cicada nymphs reside before emergence, as shown by spectroscopic measurements. Genomic DNA extracted from cicada exuviae could provide valuable information for species identification, allowing the investigation of genetic diversity across consecutive broods, or spatiotemporal variation among various populations. Consequently, we hope to provide a simple method to acquire pure genomic DNA applicable for multiple research purposes.

Analysis of flavor and perfume using an internally cooled coated fiber device.

PubMed

Chen, Yong; Begnaud, Frédéric; Chaintreau, Alain; Pawliszyn, Janusz

2007-05-01

A miniaturized internally cooled coated fiber device was applied for the analysis of flavors and fragrances from various matrices. Its integration with a CTC CombiPAL autosampler enabled high throughput for the analysis of analytes in complex matrices that required simultaneous heating of the matrices and cooling of the fiber coating to achieve high extraction efficiency. It was found that up to ten times increase of extraction efficiencies was observed when the device was used to extract flavor compounds in water, even when limited sample temperatures were used to preserve the integrity of target compounds. The extraction of the flavor compounds in water with the device was reproducible, with RSD not larger than 15%. The lower limits of the linear ranges were in the low ppb range, which was about one order of magnitude smaller than those obtained with the commercialized 100 microm PDMS fibers. Exhaustive extraction of some perfume ingredients from a complex matrix (shampoo) was realized. All achieved recoveries were not less than 80%. The repeatability of the extraction of the perfume compounds from shampoo was better than 10%. The linear ranges were about 1-3000 microg/g, and the LOD was about 0.2-1 microg/g. The automated internally cooled coated fiber device was demonstrated to be a powerful sample preparation tool in flavor and fragrance analysis.

MIL-101(Cr)@GO for dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction of pharmaceutical residue in chicken breast used in microwave-assisted coupling with HPLC-MS/MS detection.

PubMed

Wang, Yudan; Dai, Xinpeng; He, Xi; Chen, Lin; Hou, Xiaohong

2017-10-25

In this work, MIL-101(Cr)@GO (Graphite Oxide) was synthesized using a hydrothermal synthesis method and was applied as a dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction (D-μ-SPE) sorbent for the efficient concentration of four residual drugs (metronidazole, MNZ; tinidazole, TNZ; chloramphenicol, CAP; sulfamethoxazole, SMX). Meanwhile, the extraction process was optimized by combining it with microwave-assisted extraction. Factors affecting the D-μ-SPE efficiency, such as selection of sorbent materials, pH of the sample solution, salting-out effect, amount of used material, extraction time, desorption solvent and desorption time, were studied. Under the optimal extraction conditions, the linearity ranged from 10 to 1000ngkg -1 and 1-100ngkg -1 (r 2 ≥0.9928) for the target analytes. The limits of detection were between 0.08 and 1.02ngkg -1 , and the limits of quantitation were between 0.26 and 3.40ngkg -1 . Additionally, the developed method also exhibited good precision (RSD≤2.5%), repeatability (RSD≤4.3%), high recoveries (88.9%-102.3%) and low matrix effects (78.2%-95.1%). The proposed method proved to be an efficient and reliable approach for the determination of the analytes. Finally, we successfully detected the four drugs in chicken breast. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Deep Eutectic Solvents as Efficient Media for the Extraction and Recovery of Cynaropicrin from Cynara cardunculus L. Leaves.

PubMed

de Faria, Emanuelle L P; do Carmo, Rafael S; Cláudio, Ana Filipa M; Freire, Carmen S R; Freire, Mara G; Silvestre, Armando J D

2017-10-30

In recent years a high demand for natural ingredients with nutraceutical properties has been witnessed, for which the development of more environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient extraction solvents and methods play a primary role. In this perspective, in this work, the application of deep eutectic solvents (DES), composed of quaternary ammonium salts and organic acids, as alternative solvents for the extraction of cynaropicrin from Cynara cardunculus L. leaves was studied. After selecting the most promising DES, their aqueous solutions were investigated, allowing to obtain a maximum cynaropicrin extraction yield of 6.20 wt %, using 70 wt % of water. The sustainability of the extraction process was further optimized by carrying out several extraction cycles, reusing either the biomass or the aqueous solutions of DES. A maximum cynaropicrin extraction yield of 7.76 wt % by reusing the solvent, and of 8.96 wt % by reusing the biomass, have been obtained. Taking advantage of the cynaropicrin solubility limit in aqueous solutions, water was added as an anti-solvent, allowing to recover 73.6 wt % of the extracted cynaropicrin. This work demonstrates the potential of aqueous solutions of DES for the extraction of value-added compounds from biomass and the possible recovery of both the target compounds and solvents.

Optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction of charantin from Momordica charantia fruits using response surface methodology

PubMed Central

Ahamad, Javed; Amin, Saima; Mir, Showkat R.

2015-01-01

Background: Momordica charantia Linn. (Cucurbitaceae) fruits are well known for their beneficial effects in diabetes that are often attributed to its bioactive component charantin. Objective: The aim of the present study is to develop and optimize an efficient protocol for the extraction of charantin from M. charantia fruits. Materials and Methods: Response surface methodology (RSM) was used for the optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) conditions. RSM was based on a three-level, three-variable Box-Behnken design (BBD), and the studied variables included solid to solvent ratio, extraction temperature, and extraction time. Results: The optimal conditions predicted by the BBD were: UAE with methanol: Water (80:20, v/v) at 46°C for 120 min with solid to solvent ratio of 1:26 w/v, under which the yield of charantin was 3.18 mg/g. Confirmation trials under slightly adjusted conditions yielded 3.12 ± 0.14 mg/g of charantin on dry weight basis of fruits. The result of UAE was also compared with Soxhlet extraction method and UAE was found 2.74-fold more efficient than the Soxhlet extraction for extracting charantin. Conclusions: A facile UAE protocol for a high extraction yield of charantin was developed and validated. PMID:26681889

Energy extraction of a spinning particle via the super Penrose process from an extremal Kerr black hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yan; Liu, Wen-Biao

2018-03-01

The energy extraction of the collisional Penrose process has been investigated in recent years. Previous researchers mainly concentrated on the case of nonspin massive or massless particles, and they discovered that when the collision occurs near the horizon of extremal rotating black holes, the arbitrary large efficiency can be achieved with the particle's angular momentum below the critical value as L1<2 . In this paper, the energy extraction of spinning massive particles is calculated via the super Penrose process. We obtain the dependence of the impact factor and the turning points on the particle's spin s . The super Penrose process can occur only when s ≤1 and J1<2 , where J1 is the spinning particle's angular momentum. It is found that the efficiency of the energy extraction is monotonously increasing with the particle's spin s increasing for s <1 , and it can become arbitrarily high when the collision occurs close to the horizon. We compare the maximum extracted energy of spinning particles with that of the nonspin case and find a significant increase of the extracted energy. When s →1 , the maximum extracted energy can be orders of magnitude larger than that of the nonspin case. For the astrophysical black holes, the large efficiency is also obtained. Naturally, when the particle's spin s ≪1 , we can degenerate the result back to the nonspin case.

Development of coatings for automated 96-blade solid phase microextraction-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry system, capable of extracting a wide polarity range of analytes from biological fluids.

PubMed

Mirnaghi, Fatemeh S; Pawliszyn, Janusz

2012-10-26

This work presents the development and evaluation of biocompatible polyacrylonitrile-polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PAN-PS-DVB) and polyacrylonitrile-phenylboronic acid (PAN-PBA) coatings for automated 96-blades (thin-film) solid phase microextraction (SPME) system, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). The SPME condition was optimized for 60 min equilibrium extraction and 40 min desorption for PAN-PS-DVB, and 120 min equilibrium extraction and 60 min desorption for PAN-PBA for parallel sample preparation of up to 96 samples. The thin film geometry of the SPME blades provided good extraction efficiency due to the larger surface area of the coating, and simultaneous sample preparation provided fast and accurate analysis. The PAN-PS-DVB and PAN-PBA 96-blade SPME coatings were evaluated for extraction of analytes in a wide range of polarity (log P=2.8 to -3.7), and they demonstrated efficient extraction recovery (3.5-98.9% for PAN-PS-DVB and 4.0-74.1% for PAN-PBA) for both polar and non-polar groups of compounds. Reusability, reproducibility, and reliability of the system were evaluated. The results demonstrated that both coatings presented chemical and mechanical stability and long-lasting extraction efficiency for more than 100 usages in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and human plasma. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study on Locally Confined Deposition of Si Nanocrystals in High-Aspect-Ratio Si Nano-Pillar Array for Nano-Electronic and Nano-Photonic Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-02-23

reflection, thus increasing the quantum efficiency by one order of magnitude and improving the light extraction from the nano-roughened device surface by...respectively. At a biased current of 400 A, the highest external quantum efficiency is over 0.2% to obtain the maximum EL power of >1 W. In...processing techniques for improving the internal and external quantum efficiencies of Si MOSLEDs via detuning the size and density of high-aspect-ratio Si

Reactor experiments to study luminescence of He-Ne and He-Kr gaseous mixtures, excited by the products of 6Li (n, α) 3H nuclear reaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batyrbekov, E. G.; Gordienko, Yu. N.; Barsukov, N. I.; Ponkratov, Yu. V.; Kulsartov, T. V.; Khassenov, M. U.; Zaurbekova, Zh. A.; Tulubayev, Ye. Y.; Samarkhanov, K. K.

2018-04-01

The spectral studies of optical radiation of gaseous mixtures are of interest for solving problems associated with finding gaseous media with high energy conversion efficiency of nuclear reactions into the energy of laser or spontaneous emission [1, 2]. Such media can be used to extract energy from nuclear and fusion reactors in the form of optical radiation, and also to control and adjust the nuclear reactors parameters. This paper presents the preliminary results of the reactor experiments to study the spectral-luminescent properties of gas mixtures (based on He, Ne and Kr noble gases) excited by the products of 6Li(n,α)3H nuclear reaction at different levels of the stationary power of the IVG.1M reactor.

Hollow Fiber Supported Ionic Liquids Liquid-Phase Micro-extraction Followed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography for the Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Milk Samples.

PubMed

Wang, Meng; Cheng, Chunsheng; Liu, Chunbo; Yang, Yaling

2018-01-01

A rapid, simple, reliable and efficient hollow fiber supported ionic liquids liquid-phase micro-extraction method (IL-HF-LPME) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography was successfully applied to the determination of four kinds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in milk samples. In the IL-HF-LPME method, a mixture of [OMIM]PF6 and lauric acid, in a ratio of 3:1, was immobilized in the pores of a polypropylene hollow fiber used as extraction solvent. A series of essential parameters influencing the extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the extraction equilibrium is achieved within 3 min, the good linearity was >0.9990, the limits of detection varied from 0.14 to 0.71 ng/mL, the limit of quantification values were between 0.4 and 1.8 ng/mL, and the relative standard deviations were in the range of 1.24-3.27% (n = 5). The proposed method was applied to analyze four PAHs in milk samples and recoveries were between 93.6 and 102.8%. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Detection of Chlorogenic Acid in Honeysuckle Using Infrared-Assisted Extraction Followed by Capillary Electrophoresis with UV Detector

PubMed Central

Tang, Zhuxing; Zang, Shuliang; Zhang, Xiangmin

2012-01-01

In this study, a novel infrared-assisted extraction method coupled capillary electrophoresis (CE) is employed to determine chlorogenic acid from a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), honeysuckle. The effects of pH and the concentration of the running buffer, separation voltage, injection time, IR irradiation time, and anhydrous ethanol in the extraction concentration were investigated. The optimal conditions were as follows: extraction time, 30 min; extraction solvent, 80% (v/v) ethanol in water solution; and 50 mmol/L borate buffer (pH 8.7) was used as the running buffer at a separation voltage of 16 kV. The samples were injected electrokinetically at 16 kV for 8 s. Good linearity (r2 > 0.9996) was observed over the concentration ranges investigated, and the stability of the solutions was high. Recoveries of the chlorogenic acid were from 95.53% to 106.62%, and the relative standard deviation was below 4.1%. By using this novel IR-assisted extraction method, a higher extraction efficiency than those extracted with conventional heat-reflux extraction was found. The developed IR-assisted extraction method is simple, low-cost, and efficient, offering a great promise for the quick determination of active compounds in TCM. The results indicated that IR-assisted extraction followed by CE is a reliable method for quantitative analysis of active ingredient in TCM. PMID:22291060

Highly efficient red OLEDs using DCJTB as the dopant and delayed fluorescent exciplex as the host

PubMed Central

Zhao, Bo; Zhang, Tianyou; Chu, Bei; Li, Wenlian; Su, Zisheng; Wu, Hairuo; Yan, Xingwu; Jin, Fangming; Gao, Yuan; Liu, Chengyuan

2015-01-01

In this manuscript, we demonstrated a highly efficient DCJTB emission with delayed fluorescent exciplex TCTA:3P-T2T as the host. For the 1.0% DCJTB doped concentration, a maximum luminance, current efficiency, power efficiency and EQE of 22,767 cd m−2, 22.7 cd A−1, 21.5 lm W−1 and 10.15% were achieved, respectively. The device performance is the best compared to either red OLEDs with traditional fluorescent emitter or traditional red phosphor of Ir(piq)3 doped into CBP host. The extraction of so high efficiency can be explained as the efficient triplet excitons up-conversion of TCTA:3P-T2T and the energy transfer from exciplex host singlet state to DCJTB singlet state. PMID:26023882

Microfluidic Separation of Ethylene and Ethane Using Frustrated Lewis Pairs.

PubMed

Voicu, Dan; Stephan, Douglas W; Kumacheva, Eugenia

2015-12-21

Separation of gaseous olefins and paraffins is one of the most important separation processes in the industry. Development of new cost-effective technologies aims at reducing the high energy consumption during the separation process. Here, we took advantage of the reaction of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) with ethylene to achieve reactive extraction of ethylene from ethylene-ethane mixtures. The extraction was studied using a microfluidic platform, which enabled a rapid, high-throughput assessment of reaction conditions to optimize gas separation efficiency. A separation factor of 7.3 was achieved for ethylene from a 1:1 volume ratio mixture of ethylene and ethane, which corresponded to an extracted ethylene purity of 88 %. The results obtained in the microfluidic studies were validated using infrared spectroscopy. This work paves the way for further development of the FLPs and optimization of reaction conditions, thereby maximizing the separation efficiency of olefins from their mixtures with paraffins. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.