Extraction of nutraceuticals from milk thistle

Milk thistle contains compounds that display hepatoxic protection properties. We examined the batch extraction of silymarin compounds from milk thistle seed meal in 50, 70, 85, and 100°C water as a function of time. After 210 min of extraction at 100°C, the yield of taxifolin was 1.2 mg/g of seed, a 6.2-fold increase over the results obtained in a Soxhlet extraction with ethanol on pretreated (defatted) seeds. Similarly, the yield of silychristin was 5.0 mg/g of seed, a 3.8-fold increase. The yields of silybinin A and silybinin B were 1.8 and 3.3 mg/g of seed, respectively, or roughly 30% of the Soxhlet yield. The ratios of the extracted compounds, and particularly the ratios at long extraction times, showed that the more polar compounds (taxifolin and silychristin) were preferentially extracted at 85°C, while the less polar silybinin was favored at 100°C.     

Determination of the electron temperature of the tenuous pulsed argon ion laser plasma by means of the line intensity ratio technique

The validity of the diagnostic line-intensity ratio method for determination of the electron temperature was examined for a tenuous, NLTE pulsed argon ion laser plasma. Recently measured cross sections for simultaneous excitation and ionization of the upper levels of the argon ion laser were used and averaged over the velocity distribution, assumed Maxwellian. The electron temperature was determined by observing the sidelight intensity ratio of doublet 4765 Å and quartet 4806 Å transitions, and it was found to be 1.65 eV. This result is in agreement with electron temperature values obtained by the time resolved measurement and the double probe method, respectively. The theory of the positive column, where wall effects are not considered, gives somewhat larger values as an upper bound.     

Bestimmung von bromierten Dibenzofuranen, die bei der Thermolyse von Polymeren mit Decabromdiphenylether als Flammschutzmittel gebildet werden

Summary Several plastics (polyester and hardened epoxideresins) with flame retardants as additives were tested for the formation of brominated dibenzofurans and dibenzodioxins under temperatures from 400 °C to 800 °C under aerobic conditions. 2,3,7,8-Tetrabromodibenzodioxin was not formed at a detection limit of 10 ppm (g·g^–1). At 400 °C, polymers containing decabromodiphenylether and antimony trioxide as flame retardant yield up to 4,000 ppm tetrabromodibenzofurans (TBrDF), besides other brominated dibenzofurans.In contrast, formation of polybrominated dibenzofurans does not occur with polymers containing decabromodiphenylether without antimony trioxide. 2,3,7,8-Tetrabromodibenzufuran could not be found at a detection limit of 20 ppm. Under the given thermolytical conditions, polymers with brominated flame retardants such as tetrabromobisphenol-A, polytribromostyrene, hydroxyethylated tetrabromobenzimidazolone, poly(pentabromobenzyl)acrylate or N,N-ethylene-bis-tetrabromophthalimide snowed no tendency to form polybrominated dibenzodioxins or dibenzofurans, even in the presence of antimony trioxide.     

A study of localisation in dual-phase high-strength steels under dynamic loading using digital image correlation and FE analysis

Tensile tests were conducted on dual-phase high-strength steel in a Split-Hopkinson Tension Bar at a strain-rate in the range of 150–600/s and in a servo-hydraulic testing machine at a strain-rate between 10^?3 and 10⁰/s. A novel specimen design was utilized for the Hopkinson bar tests of this sheet material. Digital image correlation was used together with high-speed photography to study strain localisation in the tensile specimens at high rates of strain. By using digital image correlation, it is possible to obtain in-plane displacement and strain fields during non-uniform deformation of the gauge section, and accordingly the strains associated with diffuse and localised necking may be determined. The full-field measurements in high strain-rate tests reveal that strain localisation started even before the maximum load was attained in the specimen. An elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model is used to predict the observed stress–strain behaviour and strain localisation for the dual-phase steel. Numerical simulations of dynamic tensile tests were performed using the non-linear explicit FE code LS-DYNA. Simulations were done with shell (plane stress) and brick elements. Good correlation between experiments and numerical predictions was achieved, in terms of engineering stress–strain behaviour, deformed geometry and strain fields. However, mesh density plays a role in the localisation of deformation in numerical simulations, particularly for the shell element analysis.     

Elastic-plastic behaviour of dual-phase, high-strength steel under strain-path changes

The elastic-plastic behaviour of dual-phase, high-strength steel sheets under two-stage strain-path changes has been investigated. Three different loading sequences, namely monotonic, 45° tensile path changes and orthogonal tensile path changes complied by sequences of simple uniaxial tensile tests, were analysed at room temperature. From the experiments, it was found that there is a considerable reduction of the initial flow stress over the strain-path changes. The transient softening phenomenon is observed to be a function of orientation, and the period of the transient behaviour following the strain-path change is lengthened with the amount of pre-strain. A constitutive model is adopted that includes combined isotropic and kinematic hardening and is capable of describing the marked transient softening behaviour after the pre-straining. The experimental stress–strain behaviour subsequent to the strain path change is predicted with reasonable accuracy, while the model fails to accurately describe the transient, deformation-induced anisotropy in the plastic flow.     

Ultrafast all-optical demultiplexer based on monolithic Mach–Zehnder interferometer with integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers

A monolithically integrated and fully packaged Mach–Zehnder interferometer with semiconductor optical amplifiers (MZI-SOA) is demonstrated as polarisation-independent high-speed demultiplexer for up to 160 Gbit/s optical time division multiplexed (OTDM) data streams.     

Coupling the lattice‐Boltzmann and spectrin‐link methods for the direct numerical simulation of cellular blood flow

The implementation of a spectrin‐link (SL) red blood cell (RBC) membrane method coupled with a lattice‐Boltzmann (LB) fluid solver is discussed. Details of the methodology are included along with subtleties associated with its integration into a massively parallel hybrid LB finite element (FE) suspension flow solver. A comparison of the computational performance of the coupled LB–SL method with that of the previously implemented LB–FE is given for an isolated RBC and for a dense suspension in Hagen–Poiseuille flow. Validating results for RBCs isolated in shear and parachuting in microvessel flow are also presented. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.