Mineral composition of fruit by-products evaluated by neutron activation analysis

Brazil is one of the largest producers of fruits cropping 40 million tons per year. In agro-food processing, approximately 50 % of raw material is discarded generating large amounts of by-products. The lack of information on the nutritional quality of agroindustrial by-products precludes their potential use in the manufacture of food products accessible to all. In this context, the objective of this work was to investigate the nutritional quality of by-products of the industrial processing of fruits. Samples of bagasse, peel and seeds of several fruits (banana, camu camu, coconut, cupuaçu, guava, jackfruit, mango, orange, papaya, pineapple, and soursop) were analysed by neutron activation analysis for the determination of Br, Ca, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, K, La, Na, Rb, Sc and Zn. In general, higher levels of minerals were found in the by-products rather than in the pulps of fruits. This indicates that the use of the by-products should be encouraged, thereby reducing the economic and environmental impact of waste generated by agroindustrial processing.     

Morphological modifications and surface amorphization in ZnO sonochemically treated nanoparticles

Application of nanoscale materials in photovoltaic and photocatalysis devices and photosensors are dramatically affected by surface morphology of nanoparticles, which plays a fundamental role in the understanding of the physical and chemical properties of nanoscale materials. Zinc oxide nanoparticles with an average size of 20 nm were obtained by the use of a sonochemical technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) associated to Rietveld refinements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to study structural and morphological characteristics of the samples. An amorphous shell approximately 10 nm thick was observed in the ultrasonically treated sample, and a large reduction in particle size and changes in the lattice parameters were also observed.     

Correlation between Enterococcus faecalis biofilms development stage and quantitative surface roughness using atomic force microscopy.

Biofilms are assemblages of microorganisms and their associated extracellular products at an interface and typically with an abiotic or biotic surface. The study of the morphology of biofilms is important because they are associated with processes of biofouling, corrosion, catalysis, pollutant transformation, dental caries, drug resistance, and so forth. In the literature, biofilms have been examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM), which has proven to be a potent tool to study different aspects of the biofilm development on solid surfaces. In this work, we used AFM to investigate topographical changes during the development process of Enterococcus faecalis biofilms, which were generated on sterile cellulose nitrate membrane (CNM) filters in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth agar blood plates after 24, 36, 72, 192, and 360 h. AFM height images showed topographical changes due to biofilm development, which were used to characterize several aspects of the bacterial surface, such as the presence of extracellular polymeric substance, and the biofilm development stage. Changes in the development stage of the biofilm were shown to correlate with changes in the surface roughness as quantified through the mean roughness.     

Quality system implementation in a Brazilian university laboratory

The introduction of quality systems in laboratories at universities is a difficult task. Test services for external customers are provided to generate additional budget, and there may be a clear awareness about the need for systematic QA/QC actions. However, offering services is not of the highest priority within most university environments. The staff performance is commonly evaluated on basis of published papers and teaching activities, giving little or no weight for the test services. Therefore, implementation of a quality system is often pushed back to a lower priority leading to postponement. The efforts for creating a quality system in a laboratory from a Brazilian university are described in this paper, along with the results produced.     

Formalism and applications of electrofission and photofission fragment angular distributions

A formalism for the joint analysis of angular distributions of electro- and photofission fragments is presented, utilizing the vitual-photon spectrum technique in DWBA. This formalism is applied to the study of angular distributions for the electrofission of ²³⁸U, measured near the fission barrier, to obtain information about the low-lying levels (J^π, K) of the transition nucleus. The (2⁺, 0), (1^?, 0), and (1^?, 1) levels, previously detected in photofission experiments, were confirmed. Evidences of a significant contributions of (1⁺, 1), (2⁺, 1)and (2⁺, 2) levels are also presented.     

The Influence of Network Properties on the Synchronization of Kuramoto Oscillators Quantified by a Bayesian Regression Analysis

The influence of the network structure on the emergence of collective dynamical behavior is an important topic of research that has not been fully understood yet. In the current work, it is shown how statistical regression analysis can be considered to address this issue. The regression model proposed suggests that the average shortest path length is the network property most influencing the degree of synchronization of Kuramoto oscillators. Moreover, this model revealed to be very accurate, being the predicted and measured values of synchronization highly correlated. Therefore, the regression modeling allows predicting the values of the dynamic variable in terms of network structure.     

Cloud Point Extraction as a Procedure of Separation and Pre‐Concentration for Metal Determination Using Spectroanalytical Techniques: A Review

Abstract

Cloud point extraction is a separation and preconcentration procedure that has been extensively applied for trace metal determination in several different matrices. Its major advantages are simple experimental procedures, low cost, high preconcentration factors, and environmental safety. These aspects include it in a set of analytical methods in agreement with the “green chemistry” principles. The surfactants characteristics and the process of micelle formation are outlined for a better understanding of the technique. After general considerations about the cloud point extraction basis and its extraction mechanism for metal chelates are considered, selected spectroanalytical techniques and their application for analysis of the micellar phase are discussed. The micellar extraction in metal speciation analysis, the on‐line incorporation of cloud point extraction to flow injection analysis, and coupling with capillary electrophoresis are described.     

Investigation of the quantitative properties of the quadrupole orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer with electrospray ionisation using 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine

This paper describes the investigation of the potential of a quadrupole orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Q-TOF) equipped with an atmospheric pressure ionisation interface for quantitative measurements of small molecules separated by reversed phase liquid chromatography. To this end, the detection limits and linear dynamic range in particular were studied in an LC/MS/MS experiment using 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine standards and 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine for internal standardisation. In a second phase, the experiment was repeated with real biological extracts (whole blood, serum, and vitreous humour). A calibration for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and its metabolite 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine was prepared in each of these matrices again using 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine as internal standard. The resulting quantitative data were compared with those obtained by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection for the same extracts. The Q-TOF results revealed excellent sensitivity and a linear dynamic range of nearly four decades (2-10 000 pg on-column, r(2) = 0.9998, 1/x weighting). Furthermore, all the calibration curves prepared in biological material were superimposable, LC/MS/MS and LC-fluorescence, and the quantitative results for actual samples compared very favourably. It was concluded that the Q-TOF achieves a linear dynamic range for quantitative LC/MS/MS work exceeding that of fluorescence detection and at much better absolute sensitivity. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geometrical interpretation of acoustic holography: Adaptation of the propagator and minimum quality guaranteed in the presence of errors

A large number of inverse problems in acoustics consist of a reverse propagation of the acoustic pressure measured with an array of microphones. The goal is usually to identify the acoustic source location and strength or the surface velocity of a vibrating structure. The quality of the results obtained depends on the propagation model, on the accuracy of the pressure measurements and, finally, on the inverse problem conditioning. How to quantify this quality is the issue addressed in this paper. For this purpose, a geometrical interpretation of the inverse acoustic problem is proposed. The main application will, eventually, be near-field acoustic holography (NAH), but it is expected that the proposed approach will also apply to other types of inverse acoustic problems. First, the geometrical representation of the inverse problem is proposed. The inverse problem is stated from a direct linear problem in the frequency domain. For each frequency, an overdetermined system of linear complex algebraic equations must be inverted. The concept of quality is discussed and a quality index is proposed based upon the residue of the inverse problem, solved in a mean square sense. Then, a simple one-dimensional (plane wave) acoustic example consisting of a source and two pressure measurements is used to illustrate the proposed geometrical representation of the inverse problem and the quality criterion inspired by it. In the simple example, the propagation model can be improved by searching for a reflection coefficient at the origin of the simulated hologram. This reflection coefficient is used to simulate the presence of a hidden source placed behind the source. An artificial attenuation is introduced to simulate the effect of geometrical attenuation present in real NAH problems. Again, using the geometrical representation, it is shown how, from an improved propagation model together with a given measurement noise level in the hologram, one can guarantee a certain quality level of the inverse procedure. Finally, numerical results show, in a preliminary way, how the identified source strength converges towards the exact velocity when the estimated propagation model tends to the exact propagation model.