Solubility of 1-Butene in Water and in a Medium for Cultivation of a Bacterial Strain

Solubility measurements of 1-butene in water, from 20 to 50°C and at atmospheric pressure, were carried out using a Ben-Naim/Baer-type apparatus. The experimental results have a precision of about ±0.3%. Using accurate thermodynamic relations, the Ostwald coefficients at the experimental conditions and at infinite dilution, the mole fractions of the dissolved gas at the gas partial pressure of 101.325 kPa and the Henry coefficients at the water vapor pressure were calculated. The mole fraction of dissolved gas were fitted to the Clarke, Glew, and Weiss equation and thermodynamic quantities, standard molar Gibbs energy, entropy, and enthalpy changes, for the process of transferring the 1-butene molecules from the gaseous to the water phase, were computed. Moreover, solubility measurements of 1-butene in an aqueous medium for the cultivation of Xanthobacter Py2 in the same temperature range were also performed at atmospheric pressure. These solubility data are approximately 2.6% lower than those observed in pure water.     

Determination of Phenolic Compounds Based on Co‐Immobilization of Methylene Blue and HRP on Multi‐Wall Carbon Nanotubes

This work evaluated an amperometric biosensor based on multi‐wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), chemically modified with methylene blue (Met) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP), for detection of phenolic compounds. The dependences of the biosensor response due to the enzyme immobilization procedure, HRP amounts, pH and working potential were investigated. The amperometric response for catechol using the proposed biosensor showed a very wide linear response range (1 to 150 μmol L^?1), good sensitivity (50 nA cm^?2 μmol^?1 L), excellent operational stability (after 300 determinations the response remained at 97%) and very good storage stability (lifetime>3 months). Based on all these characteristics, it is possible to affirm that the material is promising for phenol detection due to its good electrochemical response and enzyme stabilization. The biosensor response for various phenolic compounds was investigated.     

Flow injection turbidimetric determination of thiamine in pharmaceutical formulations using silicotungstic acid as precipitant reagent

A simple flow injection system is proposed for the determination of thiamine in pharmaceutical formulations. The determination is based on the precipitation reaction of thiamine with silicotungstic acid in acidic medium to form a thiamine silicotungstate suspension that is measured at 420 nm. Adding 0.05% (w/v) poly(ethyleneglycol) in the carrier solution (0.5 mol l(-1) hydrochloric acid), an improvement in the sensitivity, repeatability and baseline stability of the flow injection system was obtained. The calibration graph was linear in the thiamine concentration range from 5.0x10(-5) to 3.0x10(-4) mol l(-1) with a detection limit of 1.0x10(-5) mol l(-1). The relative standard deviations for ten successive measurements of 1.0x10(-4) mol l(-1) and 2.5x10(-4) mol l(-1) thiamine were less than 1% and an analytical frequency of 90 h(-1) was obtained.     

Pigment Production by Filamentous Fungi on Agro-Industrial Byproducts: an Eco-Friendly Alternative

The search for new sources of natural pigments has increased, mainly because of the toxic effects caused by synthetic dyes used in food, pharmaceutical, textile, and cosmetic industries. Fungi provide a readily available alternative source of natural pigments. In this context, the fungi Penicillium chrysogenum IFL1 and IFL2, Fusarium graminearum IFL3, Monascus purpureus NRRL 1992, and Penicillium vasconiae IFL4 were selected as pigments producers. The fungal identification was performed using ITS and part of the β-tubulin gene sequencing. Almost all fungi were able to grow and produce water-soluble pigments on agro-industrial residues, with the exception of P. vasconiae that produced pigments only on potato dextrose broth. The production of yellow pigments was predominant and the two strains of P. chrysogenum were the largest producers. In addition, the production of pigments and mycotoxins were evaluated in potato dextrose agar using TOF-MS and TOF-MS/MS. Metabolites as roquefortine C, chrysogine were found in both extracts of P. chrysogenum, as well fusarenone X, diacetoxyscirpenol, and neosolaniol in F. graminearum extract. In the M. purpureus extract, the pigments monascorubrin, rubropunctatin, and the mycotoxin citrinin were found. The crude filtrates have potential to be used in the textile industry; nevertheless, additional pigment purification is required for food and pharmaceutical applications.     

Unital affine semigroups

Affine semigroups are convex sets on which there exists an associative binary operation which is affine separately in either variable. They were introduced by Cohen and Collins in 1959. We look at examples of affine semigroups which are of interest to matrix and operator theory and we prove some new results on the extreme points and the absorbing elements of certain types of affine semigroups. Most notably we improve a result of Wendel that every invertible element in a compact affine semigroup is extreme by extending this result to linearly bounded affine semigroups.     

Tetragonal to monoclinic phase transition observed during Zr anodisation

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is a coating procedure that utilises anodic oxidation in aqueous electrolytes above the dielectric breakdown voltage to produce oxide coatings that have specific properties. These conditions facilitate oxide formation under localised high temperatures and pressures that originate from short-lived microdischarges at sites over the metal surface and have fast oxide volume expansion. Anodic ZrO₂ films were prepared by subjecting metallic zirconium to PEO in acid solutions (H₂C₂O₄ and H₃PO₄) using a galvanostatic DC regime. The ZrO₂ microstructure was investigated in films that were prepared at different charge densities. During the anodic breakdown, an important change in the amplitude of the voltage oscillations at a specific charge density was observed (i.e., the transition charge density (Q ^T)). We verified that this transition charge is a monotonic function of both the current density and temperature applied during the anodisation, which indicated that Q ^T is an intrinsic response of this system. The oxide morphology and microstructure were characterised using SEM and X-ray diffraction experiments (XRD) techniques. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the change in voltage oscillation was correlated with oxide microstructure changes during the breakdown process.     

Optimal investment with two-factor uncertainty

This paper presents a real options model to value the option to invest in a project contingent on two stochastic factors. A general sensitivity analysis is conducted highlighting the importance of the variance and correlation between the two variables. A higher correlation is shown to increase always the values of the trigger, the active project and the option. The impact of uncertainty is more complex and depends on the assumption about which variables adjust and the correlation between the variables and the market.