Potential for the use of ultrasound in the extraction of antioxidants from Rosmarinus officinalis for the food and pharmaceutical industry

Ultrasound was used to increase the extraction efficiency of carnosic acid from the herb Rosmarinus officinalis using butanone, ethyl acetate and ethanol as solvents. Both dried and fresh leaves of the herb were extracted and, when performed at the same temperature, sonication improved the yields of carnosic acid for all three solvents and shortened the extraction times. Sonication also reduced the solvent effect so that ethanol, which is a poor solvent under conventional conditions, reached a similar level of extraction efficiency to the other two when sonicated. The extraction of dried herb with ethanol proved to be more efficient than that of fresh material, probably due to the water present in the latter.     

Special Lagrangian Submanifolds with Isolated Conical Singularities. II. Moduli spaces

This is the second in a series of five papers studying special Lagrangiansubmanifolds (SLV m-folds) X in (almost) Calabi–Yau m-folds M with singularities x ₁ , ..., x _n locally modelled on specialLagrangian cones C ₁, ..., C _n in ^m with isolated singularities at 0.Readers are advised to begin with Paper V.This paper studies the deformation theory of compact SL m-folds X in Mwith conical singularities. We define the moduli space _X of deformations of X in M, and construct a natural topology on it. Then we show that _X is locally homeomorphic to the zeroes of a smooth map : _{X X} between finite-dimensional vector spaces.Here the infinitesimal deformation space _X depends only on the topology of X, and the obstruction space _X only on the cones C ₁, ..., C _n at x ₁, ..., x _n . If the cones C _i are stable then _X is zero, and _X is a smooth manifold. We also extend our results to families of almost Calabi–Yau structures on M.     

Evolution Equations for Special Lagrangian 3-Folds in C3

This is the third in a series of papers constructing explicit examples of special Lagrangian submanifolds in C ^m . The previous paper (Math. Ann. 320 (2001), 757–797), defined the idea of evolution data, which includes an (m – 1)-submanifold P in R ⁿ , and constructed a family of special Lagrangian m-folds N in C ^m , which are swept out by the image of P under a 1-parameter family of affine maps _t : R ⁿ C ^m , satisfying a first-order o.d.e. in t. In this paper we use the same idea to construct special Lagrangian 3-folds in C³. We find a one-to-one correspondence between sets of evolution data with m = 3 and homogeneous symplectic 2-manifolds P. This enables us to write down several interesting sets of evolution data, and so to construct corresponding families of special Lagrangian 3-folds in C³.Our main results are a number of new families of special Lagrangian 3-foldsin C³, which we write very explicitly in parametric form. Generically these are nonsingular as immersed 3-submanifolds, and diffeomorphic to R³ or ¹× R². Some of the 3-folds are singular, and we describe their singularities, which we believe are of a new kind.We hope these 3-folds will be helpful in understanding singularities ofcompact special Lagrangian 3-folds in Calabi–Yau 3-folds. This will beimportant in resolving the SYZ conjecture in Mirror Symmetry.     

Phenotype and in vitro function of mature MDDC generated from cryopreserved PBMC of cancer patients are equivalent to those from healthy donors

Background  

Monocyte-derived-dendritic-cells (MDDC) are the major DC type used in vaccine-based clinical studies for a variety of cancers. In order to assess whether in vitro differentiated MDDC from cryopreserved PBMC of cancer patients are functionally distinct from those of healthy donors, we compared these cells for their expression of co-stimulatory and functional markers. In addition, the effect of cryopreservation of PBMC precursors on the quality of MDDC was also evaluated using samples from healthy donors.     

Effects of diffraction conditions and processes on rheed intensity oscillations during the MBE growth of GaAs

The RHEED intensity oscillation technique has received wide-spread attention for the study of MBE growth dynamics, but insufficient consideration has been given to the diffraction conditions and processes involved. We report here a systematic investigation of the intensity oscillation behaviour as a function of diffraction parameters (azimuth, incidence angle, specular and non-specular beams), with constant growth conditions for GaAs films on GaAs (001) substrates.We show that many reported anomalies attributed to growth effects, such as phase differences and periodicity variations, can be accounted for entirely by diffraction events, provided it is realised that multiple scattering processes are the dominant cause of RHEED intensity variations during growth.The technique can provide valuable information on growth behaviour, but only if diffraction-dependent effects are first eliminated.     

On the complexity of a bundle pricing problem

We consider the problem of pricing items in order to maximize the revenue obtainable from a set of single minded customers. We relate the tractability of the problem to structural properties of customers’ valuations: the problem admits an efficient approximation algorithm, parameterized along the inhomogeneity of the valuations.     

Temporal aspects of suppression in distortion-product otoacoustic emissions

This study examined the time course of cochlear suppression using a tone-burst suppressor to measure decrement of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs). Seven normal-hearing subjects with ages ranging from 19 to 28 yr participated in the study. Each subject had audiometric thresholds ≤ 15 dB HL [re ANSI (2004) Specifications for Audiometers] for standard octave and inter-octave frequencies from 0.25 to 8 kHz. DPOAEs were elicited by primary tones with f(2)?= 4.0 kHz and f(1)?= 3.333 kHz (f(2)/f(1)?= 1.2). For the f(2), L(2) combination, suppression was measured for three suppressor frequencies: One suppressor below f(2) (3.834 kHz) and two above f(2) (4.166 and 4.282 kHz) at three levels (55, 60, and 65 dB SPL). DPOAE decrement as a function of L(3) for the tone-burst suppressor was similar to decrements obtained with longer duration suppressors. Onset- and setoff- latencies were ≤ 4 ms, in agreement with previous physiological findings in auditory-nerve fiber studies that suggest suppression results from a nearly instantaneous compression of the waveform. Persistence of suppression was absent for the below-frequency suppressor (f(3)?= 3.834 kHz) and was ≤ 3 ms for the two above-frequency suppressors (f(3)?= 4.166 and 4.282 kHz).     

Complex plasmas in external fields: the role of non-hamiltonian interactions

Dedicated experiments with strongly coupled complex plasmas in external electric fields were carried out under microgravity conditions using the PK-4 dc discharge setup. The focus was put on the comparative analysis of the formation of stringlike anisotropic structures due to reciprocal (hamiltonian) and nonreciprocal (non-hamiltonian) interactions between microparticles (induced by ac and dc fields, respectively). The experiments complemented by numerical simulations demonstrate that the responses of complex plasmas in these two regimes are drastically different. It is suggested that the observed difference is a manifestation of intrinsic thermodynamic openness of driven strongly coupled systems.     

Optical guided waves at graded metal-dielectric interfaces

Waveguides at interfaces with a linearly graded permittivity between a metal and a dielectric are studied. Analytic expressions for the dispersion relations, modes, losses, and cutoff wavelengths are derived and agree well with simulations. The gradation results in anomalous dispersion, a reduction in the energy velocity, and increased field confinement in the metal-dielectric transition region. These effects lead to increased propagation losses, which are sensitive to the spatial extent of the interface gradation.     

Quality control strategy for the determination of 210Po

A quality control programme is presented for the determination of ²¹⁰Po in samples from the phosphate ore-processing industry. Accuracy and precision of selected steps of the analytical procedure are quantified and the change in these parameters is monitored by analysis of hundreds of reference samples during the last two years.