On lévy measure and integrability of the norm in C[0, 1]

We prove that integrability of the norm is the best sufficient condition in terms of integrability of functions of the norm for a positive measure to be a Lévy Measure in C[0, 1].     

Effect of temperature and pH on the aggregation and the surface hydrophobicity of bovine κ-casein

κ-Casein (κ-CN) aggregation by heating has been studied at pH 7.2 and 5.2 using UV-visible spectrophotometry, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, spectrofluorometric study of the 1–8 aniline naphtalene sulfonate (ANS)–κ-CN binding and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The aggregation process to form aggregates like micelles or submicelles and the structural characteristics of these aggregates were pH dependent. Far-UV CD showed that the aggregates obtained by heating presented changes in the κ-CN secondary structure. Near-UV CD spectra showed a certain degree of tertiary organization in the Tyr environment for the protein heated or unheated, only at pH 5.2. ANS binding at both pH was quite different and depends on the self-association process. Heating produced exposition of hydrophobic binding sites only at pH 7.2, including those in the neighborhood of the κ-CN Trp residue.     

TG Study of the Kinetic Parameters of Regeneration of Coked HZSM-5 Zeolite

A thermogravimetric method is proposed for study of the kinetic parameters of coked HZSM-5 zeolite regeneration. The technique, which makes use of integral thermogravimetric curves, was optimized by microprocessed integrated mathematical methods. The kinetic parameters obtained from the TG curves are the activation energy, the rate constants, the half-life times, and in particular the coke removal time as a function of temperature. The activation energy calculated by using the Flynn and Wall kinetic method was 81.4 kJ mol⁻¹. It was observed that, to remove 99% of the coke from the zeolite in a period of 1 h, it would be necessary to carry out thermo-oxidation at 748 K, with a dry air purge flow of 120 cm³ min⁻¹. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Asymmetric microbial reduction of ketones: absolute configuration of trans-4-ethyl-1-(1S-hydroxyethyl)cyclohexanol

A set of five fungal species, Botrytis cinerea, Trichoderma viride and Eutypa lata, and the endophytic fungi Colletotrichum crassipes and Xylaria sp., was used in screening for microbial biocatalysts to detect monooxygenase and alcohol dehydrogenase activities (for the stereoselective reduction of carbonyl compounds). 4-Ethylcyclohexanone and acetophenone were biotransformed by the fungal set. The main reaction pathways involved reduction and hydroxylations at several positions including tertiary carbons. B. cinerea was very effective in the bioreduction of both substrates leading to the chiral alcohol (S)-1-phenylethanol in up to 90% enantiomeric excess, and the cis–trans ratio for 4-ethylcyclohexanol was 0:100. trans-4-Ethyl-1-(1S-hydroxyethyl)cyclohexanol, obtained from biotransformation by means of an acyloin-type reaction, is reported here for the first time. The absolute configurations of the compounds trans-4-ethyl-1-(1S-hydroxyethyl)cyclohexanol and 4-(1S- and 4-(1R-hydroxyethyl)cyclohexanone were determined by NMR analysis of the corresponding Mosher’s esters.     

Ion exchange equilibria between glass and molten salts

It is shown that interaction between the ions undergoing ion exchange leads to a sigmoidal equilibrium curve. A negative interaction in the glass causes the ratio of concentration of the two ions to be more nearly equal to unity in the glass than it is in the molten salt. It is further shown that the Rothmund-Kornfeld parameter is a measure of the non-ideality of the system. A value of the parameter greater than unity indicates a negative interaction energy.     

Gravitomagnetic Effect and Spin-Torsion Coupling

We study the gravitomagnetic effect in the context of absolute parallelism with the use of a modified geodesic equation via a free parameter b. We calculate the time difference in two atomic clocks orbiting the Earth in opposite directions and find a small correction due to the coupling between the torsion of space time and the internal structure of atomic clocks measured by the free parameter.     

Application of a fractional factorial design for the determination of cadmium by ETA-AAS in different atomization systems

A multivariate study was applied to the investigation of the variables affecting the cadmium sensitivity in a graphite furnace, with and without platform atomization or matrix modifier. The results indicated that, depending on the atomization system used, the factors studied (drying, ashing, atomization, calibration curve) exert an influence on the analysis. The interactions between the factors were also analyzed.     

Polyesters from Macrolactones Using Commercial Lipase NS 88011 and Novozym 435 as Biocatalysts

The demand for environmentally friendly products allied with the depletion of natural resources has increased the search for sustainable materials in chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Polyesters are among the most widely used biodegradable polymers in biomedical applications. In this work, aliphatic polyesters (from globalide and ω-pentadecalactone) were synthesized using a new commercial biocatalyst, the low-cost immobilized NS 88011 lipase (lipase B from Candida antarctica immobilized on a hydrophobic support). Results were compared with those obtained under the same conditions using a traditional, but more expensive, commercial biocatalyst, Novozym 435 (lipase B from C. antarctica immobilized on Lewatit VP OC). When NS 88011 was used in the polymerization of globalide, longer reaction times (240 min)—when compared to Novozym 435—were required to obtain high yields (80–90 wt%). However, higher molecular weights were achieved. When poly(ω-pentadecalactone) was synthesized, high yields and molecular weights (130,000 g mol^?1) were obtained and the enzyme concentration showed strong influence on the polyester properties. This is the first report describing NS 88011 in polymer synthesis. The use of this cheaper enzymatic preparation can provide an alternative for polyester synthesis via enzymatic ring-opening polymerization.     

Successive projections algorithm improving the multivariate simultaneous direct spectrophotometric determination of five phenolic compounds in sea water

This paper proposes an analytical method to determine directly and simultaneously five phenolic compounds (4-nitrophenol, 2-nitrophenol, phenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and 4-chlorophenol) in sea water (Ria de Bahía Blanca, Argentine). The advantages of this method is that only requires spectrophotometric measurements (separation steps and derivatization reagents are avoided) and chemometric modelling (PLS and MLR–SPA).The statistical comparison between PLS — a well established multivariate method — and MLR–SPA — a recently presented chemometric modelling — demonstrated better analytical performance for the later one. This fact is indicative of the potentiality of MLR–SPA for solving complex analytical problems.     

Fenton’s reagent-mediated degradation of residual Kraft black liquor

In this work, the effect of Fento’s reagent on the degradation of residual Kraft black liquor was investigated. The effect of Fenton’s reagent on the black liquor degradation was dependent on the concentration of H₂O₂. At low concentrations (5 and 15 mM) of H₂O₂, Fenton’s reagent caused the degradation of phenolic groups (6.8 and 44.8%, respectively), the reduction of reaction medium pH (18.2%), and the polymerization of black liquor lignin. At a high concentration (60 mM) of H₂O₂, Fenton’s reagent induced an extensive degradation of lignin (95–100%) and discoloration of the black liquor. In the presence of traces of iron, the addition of H₂O₂ alone induced mainly lignin fragmentation. In conclusion, Fenton’s reagent and H₂O₂ alone can degrade residual Kraft black liquor under acidic conditions at room temperature.