Effect of aeration on lignin peroxidase production by Streptomyces viridosporus T7A

The effect of aeration on lignin peroxidase production by Streptomyces viridosporus T7A was studied in a bench-scale bioreactor using a previously optimized growth medium (0.65% yeast extract and 0.1% corn oil, pH7.0) at 37°C and natural pH. Airflow rates of 0.3, 1.0, and 1.5 vvm and a fixed agitation of 200 rpm were initially studied followed by 1.0 vvm and 200, 300, 400, and 500 rpm. The use of 1.0 vvm and 400 rpm increased enzyme concentration 1.8-fold (100–180 U/L) and process productivity 4.8-fold (1.4–6.7 U/[L·h]) in comparison with the use of 200 rpm and 0.3 vvm. The inexpensive corn oil, used as carbon source, besides its antifoam properties, proved to be nonrepressive for enzyme production.     

The deformation of dextran molecules. Causes and consequences in ultrafiltration

The transfer of dextran T70 solutions through a skinned polysulfone hollow fiber membrane was studied with and without applied pressure. The molecular weight distributions of dextran in the feed and in the permeate were obtained by high pressure liquid chromatography. Two different phenomena appear to play important roles with regard to solute transfer. One is related to the shear stress imposed by the flow at the pore entrances, i.e. to permeate flux, and the other is related to the influence of solute concentration on the expansion of the macromolecular chains. These phenomena explain the observed variations with operating conditions of the overall rejection coefficient.     

Digital image-based titrations

The exploitation of digital images obtained from a CCD camera (WebCam) as a novel instrumental detection technique for titration is proposed for the first time. Named of digital image-based (DIB) titration, it also requires, as a traditional titration (for example, spectrophotometric, potentiometric, conductimetric), a discontinuity in titration curves where there is an end point, which is associated to the chemical equivalence condition. The monitored signal in the DIB titration is a RGB-based value that is calculated, for each digital image, by using a proposed procedure based on the red, green, and blue colour system. The DIB titration was applied to determine HCl and H₃PO₄ in aqueous solutions and total alkalinity in mineral and tap waters. Its results were compared to the spectrophotometric (SPEC) titration and, by applying the paired t-test, no statistic difference between the results of both methods was verified at the 95% confidence level. Identical standard deviations were obtained by both titrations in the determinations of HCl and H₃PO₄, with a slightly better precision for DIB titration in the determinations of total alkalinity. The DIB titration shows to be an efficient and promising tool for quantitative chemical analysis and, as it employs an inexpensive device (WebCam) as analytical detector, it offers an economically viable alternative to titrations that need instrumental detection.     

Influence of oxygen availability on cell growth and xylitol production by Candida guilliermondii

Oxygen availability is the most important environmental parameter in the production of xylitol by yeasts, directly affecting yields and volumetric productivity. This work evaluated the cell behavior in fermentations carried out with different dissolved oxygen concentrations (0.5–30.0% of saturation), as well as a limited oxygen restriction (0% of saturation), at several oxygen volumetric transfer coefficients (12 ≤ k _L a ≤ 70 h⁻¹). These experiments allowed us to establish the specific oxygen uptake rate limits to ensure high yields and volumetric productivity. When oxygen availability was limited, the specific oxygen uptake rate values were between 12 and 26 mg of O₂/of g cell·h, resulting in a yield of 0.71 g of xylitol/xylose consumed, and 0.85 g/[L·h] for the volumetric productivity. According to the results, the effective control of the specific oxygen uptake rate makes it possible to establish complete control over this fermentative process, for both cell growth and xylitol production.     

Application of high temperature high resolution gas chromatography to paraffinic deposits in petroleum production pipelines

HTHRGC was found essential for optimizing representative preparation of high molecular weight samples and enabling fingerprinting of heavy fractions of crude oils and associated paraffinic deposits in production pipelines. Laboratory experiments aimed at simulating the process of paraffin deposition could also be easily evaluated. A comparative investigation of the performance of cold on-column and SPI (PTV type) injectors, in conjunction with high temperature capillary columns, for analysis of high molecular weight fractions, was also conducted during the course of this work.     

Study of Frozen Waves’ theory through a continuous superposition of Bessel beams

This paper presents a study of a recent solution to Maxwell's equation, the so-called “Frozen Waves”, whose main characteristics are to remain static in space, and to keep an arbitrary longitudinal field pattern previously chosen. These waves could be obtained by an adequate, but discrete, superposition of monochromatic Bessel beams. Contrary to that, we have here proposed a new way to get these waves through a continuous superposition of Bessel beams, and discussed some physical aspects and then exemplified for both loss and lossless media.     

Study of Gaussian and Bessel beam propagation using a new analytic approach

The main feature of Bessel beams realized in practice is their ability to resist diffractive effects over distances exceeding the usual diffraction length. The theory and experimental demonstration of such waves can be traced back to the seminal work of Durnin and co-workers already in 1987.Despite that fact, to the best of our knowledge, the study of propagation of apertured Bessel beams found no solution in closed analytic form and it often leads to the numerical evaluation of diffraction integrals, which can be very awkward. In the context of paraxial optics, wave propagation in lossless media is described by an equation similar to the non-relativistic Schrödinger equation of quantum mechanics, but replacing the time t in quantum mechanics by the longitudinal coordinate z. Thus, the same mathematical methods can be employed in both cases. Using Bessel functions of the first kind as basis functions in a Hilbert space, here we present a new approach where it is possible to expand the optical wave field in a series, allowing to obtain analytic expressions for the propagation of any given initial field distribution. To demonstrate the robustness of the method two cases were taken into account: Gaussian and zeroth-order Bessel beam propagation.     

The Biginelli Reaction with an Imidazolium–Tagged Recyclable Iron Catalyst: Kinetics,Mechanism, and Antitumoral Activity

The present work describes the synthesis, characterization, and application of a new ion‐tagged iron catalyst. The catalyst was employed in the Biginelli reaction with impressive performance. High yields have been achieved when the reaction was carried out in imidazolium‐based ionic liquids (BMI ? PF₆, BMI ? NTf₂, and BMI ? BF₄), thus showing that the ionic‐liquid effects play a role in the reaction. Moreover, the ion‐tagged catalyst could be recovered and reused up to eight times without any noticeable loss in activity. Mechanistic studies performed by using high‐resolution electrospray‐ionization quadrupole‐time‐of‐flight mass (HR‐EI‐QTOF) spectrometry and kinetic experiments indicate only one reaction pathway and rule out the other two possibilities under the development conditions. The theoretical calculations are in accordance with the proposed mechanism of action of the iron catalyst. Finally, the 37 dihydropyrimidinone derivatives, products of the Biginelli reaction, had their cytotoxicity evaluated in assays against MCF‐7 cancer cell linages with encouraging results of some derivatives, which were virtually non‐toxic against healthy cell linages (fibroblasts).     

A general theory for the Frozen Waves and their realization through finite apertures

In this paper, we present a generalization of the so-called Frozen Waves, which are new solutions to Maxwell’s equations having the important characteristic of remaining static in space and keeping any previously chosen arbitrary longitudinal field pattern. In the pioneering work, these waves were introduced as a discrete superposition of zero-order Bessel beams. As a fact, here we will represent these waves as a continuous superposition of Bessel beams leading to a simpler and more compact mathematical formalism, which allows us to derive certain inequalities that restrict the physical properties of the Frozen Waves, such as their attainable longitudinal resolution. Besides this, we will discuss losses compensation in a lossy medium and, finally, their practical realization through finite apertures.