A threshold auto-adjustment algorithm of feature points extraction based on grid

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Zili; Li, Jun; Dong, Gaojie

2018-02-01

When dealing with high-resolution digital images, detection of feature points is usually the very first important step. Valid feature points depend on the threshold. If the threshold is too low, plenty of feature points will be detected, and they may be aggregated in the rich texture regions, which consequently not only affects the speed of feature description, but also aggravates the burden of following processing; if the threshold is set high, the feature points in poor texture area will lack. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a threshold auto-adjustment method of feature extraction based on grid. By dividing the image into numbers of grid, threshold is set in every local grid for extracting the feature points. When the number of feature points does not meet the threshold requirement, the threshold will be adjusted automatically to change the final number of feature points The experimental results show that feature points produced by our method is more uniform and representative, which avoids the aggregation of feature points and greatly reduces the complexity of following work.

Immunomodulation Potential of Andrographis Paniculata and Tinospora Cordifolia Methanolic Extracts in Combination Forms

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Rajesh Yadav

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: This work mainly focuses on the immunomodulatory effect of different drug combinations (DC-I to DC-V of methanolic extracts of aerial parts of Andrographis paniculata (AP and mature stems of Tinospora cordifolia (TC.Materials and Methods: The  coarse  powder  (40-mesh  of  shade  dried  aerial parts of AP and mature stems of TC  (500g each  was  subjected  separately to successive extraction with 1000ml each of petroleum ether (60-80oC followed by methanol. The doses of DC-I to DC-V were selected and were administered orally at doses of 200 mg/kg body weight to Albino Wistar rats and compared with the control group and standard drug i.e.  cyclophosphamide (100mg/kg respectively.Results: Results suggest that although all the five tested combinations (DC-I to DC-V prepared using different proportion of methanol extracts of A. paniculata and T. cordifolia (100:Zero, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and Zero:100 showed a significant  increase  in macrophase count,  neutrophil  adhesion(NA,  haemagglutinating  antibody (HA  titre  and delayed  type  hypersensitivity  (DTH  response. In rats immunized with sheep RBC,  DC-I to DC-V enhanced  the humoral  antibody  response  to  the  antigen  and  significantly potentiated  the cellular immunity by facilitating the footpad thickness response to sheep RBC in sensitized rats on chosen experimental models.Conclusion: The values of macrophase, NA, HA, DTH and cellular responses of combination DC-II at a 200 mg/kg body weight were statistically significant as compared to other combinations. Combination DC-II exhibited best immunostimulant potential, indicating that it has promising immunomodulatory activity, as proposed from commercial point of view.

Automated Extraction of 3D Trees from Mobile LiDAR Point Clouds

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Y. Yu

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an automated algorithm for extracting 3D trees directly from 3D mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR data. To reduce both computational and spatial complexities, ground points are first filtered out from a raw 3D point cloud via blockbased elevation filtering. Off-ground points are then grouped into clusters representing individual objects through Euclidean distance clustering and voxel-based normalized cut segmentation. Finally, a model-driven method is proposed to achieve the extraction of 3D trees based on a pairwise 3D shape descriptor. The proposed algorithm is tested using a set of mobile LiDAR point clouds acquired by a RIEGL VMX-450 system. The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

THE COMBINATION OF MANGOSTEEN PEEL EXTRACT WITH ROSELLA FLOWER PETALS EXTRACT AND ANTHILL PLANT EXTRACT AS CHOLESTEROL AND TRIGLYCERIDES REDUCER ON MALE WHITE RATS

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Anjar Mahardian Kusuma

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Hypercholesterolemia is a disease associated with high levels of cholesterol and LDL levels in the blood. Utilization of the commercial drugs can be given; however apart from the expensive price, adverse side effects might occur. It makes people choose alternative medication with herbal medicine through the use of natural materials. This study aimed to determine the effect of the combination of mangosteen peel extract-extract of roselle calyx and mangosteen peel extract-extract the ant nest plant as lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels in male rats. The method used in this study was a laboratory experimental method using device posttest only control group design (simple experimental design. This study used 25 male rats of Wistar strain, divided into 5 groups; Group I: group without treatment, group II: control group solvent (NaCMC 1%, group III: positive control group (Simvastatin, Group IV: combination group mangosteen peel extract (200 mg / kg - extract of roselle calyx (250 mg / kg, group V: group combination of mangosteen peel extract 200 mg / kg - extract anthill (270 mg / kg. Induction of cholesterol in rats using quail egg yolk (10 ml / kg. The results showed that there was no significant difference in cholesterol and triglycerides between the combination of both extracts of mangosteen peel with a positive control (p<0,05.

Preconcentration and determination of zinc and lead ions by a combination of cloud point extraction and flame atomic absorption spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tavallali, H. [Chemistry Department, Payamenore University, Shiraz (Iran); Shokrollahi, A.; Zahedi, M. [Chemistry Department, Yasouj University, Yasouj (Iran); Niknam, K. [Chemistry Department, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr (Iran); Soylak, M. [Chemistry Department, University of Erciyes, Kayseri (Turkey); Ghaedi, M.

2009-04-15

The phase-separation phenomenon of non-ionic surfactants occurring in aqueous solution was used for the extraction of lead(II) and zinc(II). After complexation with 3-[(4-bromophenyl) (1-H-inden-3-yl)methyl]-1 H-indene (BPIMI), the analytes were quantitatively extracted to a phase rich in Triton X-114 after centrifugation. Methanol acidified with 1 mol/L HNO{sub 3} was added to the surfactant rich phase prior to its analysis by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The concentration of bis((1H-benzo [d] imidazol-2yl)ethyl)sulfane, Triton X-114, pH and amount of surfactant were all optimized. Detection limits (3 SDb/m) of 2.5 and 1.6 ng/mL for Pb{sup 2+} and Zn{sup 2+} along with preconcentration factors of 30 and an enrichment factor of 32 and 48 for Pb{sup 2+}and Zn {sup 2+} ions were obtained, respectively. The proposed cloud point extraction was been successfully applied for the determination of these ions in real samples with complicated matrices such as food and soil samples, with high efficiency. (Abstract Copyright [2009], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Combining extractant systems for the simultaneous extraction of transuranic elements and selected fission products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horwitz, E.P.

1993-01-01

The popularity of solvent extraction (SX) stems from its ability to operate in a continuous mode, to achieve high throughputs and high decontamination factors of product streams, and to utilize relatively small quantities of very selective chemical compounds as metal ion complexants. The chemical pretreatment of nuclear waste for the purpose of waste minimization will probably utilize one or more SX processes. Because of the diversity and complexity of nuclear waste, perhaps the greatest difficulty for the separation chemist is to develop processes that remove not only actinides but also selected fission products in a single process. A stand alone acid-side SX process (TRUEX) for removal of uranium and transuranic elements (Np, Pu, Am) from nuclear waste has been widely reported. Recently, an acid-side SX process (SREX) to extract and recover 90 Sr from high-level nuclear waste has also been reported. Both the TRUEX and SREX processes extract Tc to a significant extent although not as efficiently as they extract transuranics and Sr. Ideally one would like to have a process that can extract and recover all actinides as well as 99 Tc, 90 Sr, and 137 Cs. A possible solution to multielement extraction is to mix two extractants with totally different properties into a single process solvent formulation. For this approach to be successful, both extractants must be essentially the same type, either neutral, liquid cationic, or liquid anionic. Experimental work has been carried out on mixed TRUEX and SREX processes, for synthetically created waste, and demonstrates the combined solvent formulation is effective at extracting both the actinides and Tc, as well as Sr. There is no evidence for the presence of either synergistic or antagonistic effects between the two extractants. This demonstates the feasibility of at least part of a combined solvent extraction scheme

Test of the combined method for extracting spectroscopic factors in N =50 nuclei

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, David; Cizewski, J. A.; Baugher, T.; Ratkiewicz, A.; Pain, S. D.; Nunes, F. M.; Ahn, S.; Cerizza, G.; Jones, K. L.; Manning, B.; Thornsberry, C.

2017-09-01

The single-particle properties of nuclei near shell closures and r-process waiting points can be observed using single-nucleon transfer reactions with beams of rare isotopes. However, approximations have to be made about the final bound state to extract spectroscopic information. An approach to constrain the bound state potential has been proposed by Mukhamedzhanov and Nunes. At peripheral reaction energies ( 5 MeV/u), the ANC for the nucleus can be extracted, and is combined with the same reaction at higher energies ( 40 MeV/u). These combined measurements can constrain the shape of the bound state potential, and the spectroscopic factor can be reliably extracted. To test this method, the 86Kr(d , p) reaction was performed in inverse kinematics with a 35 MeV/u beam at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) with the ORRUBA and SIDAR arrays of silicon strip detectors coupled to the S800 spectrometer. Successful results supported the measurement of a radioactive ion beam of 84Se at 45 MeV/u at the NSCL to be measured at the end of 2017. Results from the 86Kr(d , p) measurement will be presented as well as preparations for the upcoming 84Se(d , p) measurement. This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation and U.S. D.O.E.

LiveWire interactive boundary extraction algorithm based on Haar wavelet transform and control point set direction search

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Jun; Zhang, Jun; Tian, Jinwen

2015-12-01

Based on deep analysis of the LiveWire interactive boundary extraction algorithm, a new algorithm focusing on improving the speed of LiveWire algorithm is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the Haar wavelet transform is carried on the input image, and the boundary is extracted on the low resolution image obtained by the wavelet transform of the input image. Secondly, calculating LiveWire shortest path is based on the control point set direction search by utilizing the spatial relationship between the two control points users provide in real time. Thirdly, the search order of the adjacent points of the starting node is set in advance. An ordinary queue instead of a priority queue is taken as the storage pool of the points when optimizing their shortest path value, thus reducing the complexity of the algorithm from O[n2] to O[n]. Finally, A region iterative backward projection method based on neighborhood pixel polling has been used to convert dual-pixel boundary of the reconstructed image to single-pixel boundary after Haar wavelet inverse transform. The algorithm proposed in this paper combines the advantage of the Haar wavelet transform and the advantage of the optimal path searching method based on control point set direction search. The former has fast speed of image decomposition and reconstruction and is more consistent with the texture features of the image and the latter can reduce the time complexity of the original algorithm. So that the algorithm can improve the speed in interactive boundary extraction as well as reflect the boundary information of the image more comprehensively. All methods mentioned above have a big role in improving the execution efficiency and the robustness of the algorithm.

Extracting valley-ridge lines from point-cloud-based 3D fingerprint models.

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Xufang; Song, Zhan; Xie, Wuyuan

2013-01-01

3D fingerprinting is an emerging technology with the distinct advantage of touchless operation. More important, 3D fingerprint models contain more biometric information than traditional 2D fingerprint images. However, current approaches to fingerprint feature detection usually must transform the 3D models to a 2D space through unwrapping or other methods, which might introduce distortions. A new approach directly extracts valley-ridge features from point-cloud-based 3D fingerprint models. It first applies the moving least-squares method to fit a local paraboloid surface and represent the local point cloud area. It then computes the local surface's curvatures and curvature tensors to facilitate detection of the potential valley and ridge points. The approach projects those points to the most likely valley-ridge lines, using statistical means such as covariance analysis and cross correlation. To finally extract the valley-ridge lines, it grows the polylines that approximate the projected feature points and removes the perturbations between the sampled points. Experiments with different 3D fingerprint models demonstrate this approach's feasibility and performance.

Antiosteoporotic Effect of Combined Extract of Morus alba and Polygonum odoratum

Science.gov (United States)

Sungkamanee, Sudarat; Thukham-mee, Wipawee

2014-01-01

Due to the limitation of osteoporosis therapy, the alternative therapies from natural sources have been considered. In this study, we aimed to determine the antiosteoporotic effect of the combined extract of Morus alba and Polygonum odoratum leaves. Ovariectomized rats, weighing 200–220 g, were orally given the combined extract at doses of 5, 150, and 300 mg·kg−1 BW for 3 months. At the end of study, blood was collected to determine serum osteocalcin, calcium, and alkaline phosphatase level. In addition, tibia bone was isolated to determine bone oxidative stress markers, cortical bone thickness, and density of osteoblast. The combined extract decreased oxidative stress and osteoclast density but increased osteoblast density and cortical thickness. The elevation of serum calcium, alkaline phosphatase, and osteocalcin was also observed. These results suggested the antiosteoporotic effect of the combined extract via the increased growth formation together with the suppression of bone resorption. However, further studies concerning chronic toxicity and the underlying mechanism are required. PMID:25478061

Statistical MOSFET Parameter Extraction with Parameter Selection for Minimal Point Measurement

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Marga Alisjahbana

2013-11-01

Full Text Available A method to statistically extract MOSFET model parameters from a minimal number of transistor I(V characteristic curve measurements, taken during fabrication process monitoring. It includes a sensitivity analysis of the model, test/measurement point selection, and a parameter extraction experiment on the process data. The actual extraction is based on a linear error model, the sensitivity of the MOSFET model with respect to the parameters, and Newton-Raphson iterations. Simulated results showed good accuracy of parameter extraction and I(V curve fit for parameter deviations of up 20% from nominal values, including for a process shift of 10% from nominal.

Cloud point extraction for trace inorganic arsenic speciation analysis in water samples by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Shan, E-mail: ls_tuzi@163.com; Wang, Mei, E-mail: wmei02@163.com; Zhong, Yizhou, E-mail: yizhz@21cn.com; Zhang, Zehua, E-mail: kazuki.0101@aliyun.com; Yang, Bingyi, E-mail: e_yby@163.com

2015-09-01

A new cloud point extraction technique was established and used for the determination of trace inorganic arsenic species in water samples combined with hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HGAFS). As(III) and As(V) were complexed with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate and molybdate, respectively. The complexes were quantitatively extracted with the non-ionic surfactant (Triton X-114) by centrifugation. After addition of antifoam, the surfactant-rich phase containing As(III) was diluted with 5% HCl for HGAFS determination. For As(V) determination, 50% HCl was added to the surfactant-rich phase, and the mixture was placed in an ultrasonic bath at 70 °C for 30 min. As(V) was reduced to As(III) with thiourea–ascorbic acid solution, followed by HGAFS. Under the optimum conditions, limits of detection of 0.009 and 0.012 μg/L were obtained for As(III) and As(V), respectively. Concentration factors of 9.3 and 7.9, respectively, were obtained for a 50 mL sample. The precisions were 2.1% for As(III) and 2.3% for As(V). The proposed method was successfully used for the determination of trace As(III) and As(V) in water samples, with satisfactory recoveries. - Highlights: • Cloud point extraction was firstly established to determine trace inorganic arsenic(As) species combining with HGAFS. • Separate As(III) and As(V) determinations improve the accuracy. • Ultrasonic release of complexed As(V) enables complete As(V) reduction to As(III). • Direct HGAFS analysis can be performed.

Hetero-azeotropic distillation: combining fungal dehydration and lipid extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Tough, A J; Isabella, B L; Beattie, J E; Herbert, R A

2000-01-01

A low-cost single-stage laboratory process combining fungal dehydration and lipid extraction was compared with a traditional two-stage method employing freeze-drying and subsequent mechanical disruption in the presence of solvent. The ability of a number of organic solvents to form hetero-azeotropes with water was exploited. Chloroform, cyclohexane and hexane were assessed in their abilities to both dry and extract lipid from the oleaginous phycomycete Mortierella alpina (ATCC 32222). Drying rate and lipid extraction were maximised under conditions that prevented fungal agglomeration. The total processing time was limited by the rate of dehydration rather than by the rate of lipid extraction. In all cases azeotropic distillation facilitated a greater rate of dehydration than was possible with freeze-drying. A consequent reduction in overall processing time was observed. Uniquely, both the solvent used and the mode of mixing employed controlled the morphology of the aggregates formed during distillation. In combination with mild mixing chloroform discouraged agglomeration whereas cyclohexane and hexane promoted aggregation. Successful lipid extraction was dependent on the use of dry biomass rather than on the application of heat to effect distillation. Neither the application of heat nor the solvent employed had any significant effect on the lipid composition of the extracted oil.

Improvement of the cloud point extraction of uranyl ions by the addition of ionic liquids.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Song; Sun, Taoxiang; Chen, Qingde; Shen, Xinghai

2013-12-15

The cloud point extraction (CPE) of uranyl ions by different kinds of extractants in Triton X-114 (TX-114) micellar solution was investigated upon the addition of ionic liquids (ILs) with various anions, i.e., bromide (Br(-)), tetrafluoroborate (BF4(-)), hexafluorophosphate (PF6(-)) and bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide (NTf2(-)). A significant increase of the extraction efficiency was found on the addition of NTf2(-) based ILs when using neutral extractant tri-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO), and the extraction efficiency kept high at both nearly neutral and high acidity. However, the CPE with acidic extractants, e.g., bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP) and 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) which are only effective at nearly neutral condition, was not improved by ILs. The results of zeta potential and (19)F NMR measurements indicated that the anion NTf2(-) penetrated into the TX-114 micelles and was enriched in the surfactant-rich phase during the CPE process. Meanwhile, NTf2(-) may act as a counterion in the CPE of UO2(2+) by TOPO. Furthermore, the addition of IL increased the separation factor of UO2(2+) and La(3+), which implied that in the micelle TOPO, NTf2(-) and NO3(-) established a soft template for UO2(2+). Therefore, the combination of CPE and IL provided a supramolecular recognition to concentrate UO2(2+) efficiently and selectively. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the Interactions of Botanical Extract Combinations Against the Viability of Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

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Lynn S. Adams

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Herbal medicines are often combinations of botanical extracts that are assumed to have additive or synergistic effects. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the effect of individual botanical extracts with combinations of extracts on prostate cell viability. We then modeled the interactions between botanical extracts in combination isobolographically. Scutellaria baicalensis, Rabdosia rubescens, Panax-pseudo ginseng, Dendranthema morifolium, Glycyrrhiza uralensis and Serenoa repens were collected, taxonomically identified and extracts prepared. Effects of the extracts on cell viability were quantitated in prostate cell lines using a luminescent ATP cell viability assay. Combinations of two botanical extracts of the four most active extracts were tested in the 22Rv1 cell line and their interactions assessed using isobolographic analysis. Each extract significantly inhibited the proliferation of prostate cell lines in a time- and dose-dependent manner except repens. The most active extracts, baicalensis, D. morifolium, G. uralensis and R. rubescens were tested as two-extract combinations. baicalensis and D. morifolium when combined were additive with a trend toward synergy, whereas D. morifolium and R. rubescens together were additive. The remaining two-extract combinations showed antagonism. The four extracts together were significantly more effective than the two-by-two combinations and the individual extracts alone. Combining the four herbal extracts significantly enhanced their activity in the cell lines tested compared with extracts alone. The less predictable nature of the two-way combinations suggests a need for careful characterization of the effects of each individual herb based on their intended use.

Antiosteoporotic Effect of Combined Extract of Morus alba and Polygonum odoratum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sudarat Sungkamanee

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the limitation of osteoporosis therapy, the alternative therapies from natural sources have been considered. In this study, we aimed to determine the antiosteoporotic effect of the combined extract of Morus alba and Polygonum odoratum leaves. Ovariectomized rats, weighing 200–220 g, were orally given the combined extract at doses of 5, 150, and 300 mg·kg−1 BW for 3 months. At the end of study, blood was collected to determine serum osteocalcin, calcium, and alkaline phosphatase level. In addition, tibia bone was isolated to determine bone oxidative stress markers, cortical bone thickness, and density of osteoblast. The combined extract decreased oxidative stress and osteoclast density but increased osteoblast density and cortical thickness. The elevation of serum calcium, alkaline phosphatase, and osteocalcin was also observed. These results suggested the antiosteoporotic effect of the combined extract via the increased growth formation together with the suppression of bone resorption. However, further studies concerning chronic toxicity and the underlying mechanism are required.

Efficient point cloud data processing in shipbuilding: Reformative component extraction method and registration method

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Jingyu Sun

2014-07-01

Full Text Available To survive in the current shipbuilding industry, it is of vital importance for shipyards to have the ship components’ accuracy evaluated efficiently during most of the manufacturing steps. Evaluating components’ accuracy by comparing each component’s point cloud data scanned by laser scanners and the ship’s design data formatted in CAD cannot be processed efficiently when (1 extract components from point cloud data include irregular obstacles endogenously, or when (2 registration of the two data sets have no clear direction setting. This paper presents reformative point cloud data processing methods to solve these problems. K-d tree construction of the point cloud data fastens a neighbor searching of each point. Region growing method performed on the neighbor points of the seed point extracts the continuous part of the component, while curved surface fitting and B-spline curved line fitting at the edge of the continuous part recognize the neighbor domains of the same component divided by obstacles’ shadows. The ICP (Iterative Closest Point algorithm conducts a registration of the two sets of data after the proper registration’s direction is decided by principal component analysis. By experiments conducted at the shipyard, 200 curved shell plates are extracted from the scanned point cloud data, and registrations are conducted between them and the designed CAD data using the proposed methods for an accuracy evaluation. Results show that the methods proposed in this paper support the accuracy evaluation targeted point cloud data processing efficiently in practice.

Cloud Point Extraction for Electroanalysis: Anodic Stripping Voltammetry of Cadmium.

Science.gov (United States)

Rusinek, Cory A; Bange, Adam; Papautsky, Ian; Heineman, William R

2015-06-16

Cloud point extraction (CPE) is a well-established technique for the preconcentration of hydrophobic species from water without the use of organic solvents. Subsequent analysis is then typically performed via atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), UV-vis spectroscopy, or high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). However, the suitability of CPE for electroanalytical methods such as stripping voltammetry has not been reported. We demonstrate the use of CPE for electroanalysis using the determination of cadmium (Cd(2+)) by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). Rather than using the chelating agents which are commonly used in CPE to form a hydrophobic, extractable metal complex, we used iodide and sulfuric acid to neutralize the charge on Cd(2+) to form an extractable ion pair. This offers good selectivity for Cd(2+) as no interferences were observed from other heavy metal ions. Triton X-114 was chosen as the surfactant for the extraction because its cloud point temperature is near room temperature (22-25 °C). Bare glassy carbon (GC), bismuth-coated glassy carbon (Bi-GC), and mercury-coated glassy carbon (Hg-GC) electrodes were compared for the CPE-ASV. A detection limit for Cd(2+) of 1.7 nM (0.2 ppb) was obtained with the Hg-GC electrode. ASV with CPE gave a 20x decrease (4.0 ppb) in the detection limit compared to ASV without CPE. The suitability of this procedure for the analysis of tap and river water samples was demonstrated. This simple, versatile, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective extraction method is potentially applicable to a wide variety of transition metals and organic compounds that are amenable to detection by electroanalytical methods.

On-line Incorporation of Cloud Point Extraction in Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometric Determination of Silver

OpenAIRE

DALALI, Nasser; JAVADI, Nasrin; AGRAWAL, Yadvendra KUMAR

2008-01-01

A cloud point extraction method was incorporated into a flow injection system, coupled with flame atomic absorption spectrometry, for determination of trace amounts of silver. The analyte in the aqueous solution was acidified with 0.2 mol L-1 sulfuric acid and complexed with dithizone. The cloud point extraction was performed using the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114. After obtaining the cloud point, the surfactant-rich phase containing the dithizonate complex was collected in a m...

Design of Automatic Extraction Algorithm of Knowledge Points for MOOCs

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Haijian Chen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs are very popular among college students and have a powerful impact on academic institutions. In the MOOCs environment, knowledge discovery and knowledge sharing are very important, which currently are often achieved by ontology techniques. In building ontology, automatic extraction technology is crucial. Because the general methods of text mining algorithm do not have obvious effect on online course, we designed automatic extracting course knowledge points (AECKP algorithm for online course. It includes document classification, Chinese word segmentation, and POS tagging for each document. Vector Space Model (VSM is used to calculate similarity and design the weight to optimize the TF-IDF algorithm output values, and the higher scores will be selected as knowledge points. Course documents of “C programming language” are selected for the experiment in this study. The results show that the proposed approach can achieve satisfactory accuracy rate and recall rate.

Cloud point extraction-fluorimetric combined methodology for the determination of trace warfarin based on the sensitization effect of supramolecule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang Zheng; Yan Hongtao

2012-01-01

Compared to the fluorescence spectra of warfarin in pure ethanol and in the presence of the nonionic surfactant Tergitol 15-S-7 after cloud point extraction (CPE), it can be seen that the fluorescence emission peak underwent an obvious red shift and the fluorescence intensity of warfarin was significantly increased in the presence of Tergitol 15-S-7. In order to confirm Tergitol 15-S-7-induced supramolecular effects, the investigations on the fluorescence quantum yields of warfarin in the micellar medium and pure ethanol were performed. The experimental results showed that the supramolecular interactions between Tergitol 15-S-7 and the warfarin excimers played a key role for improving the warfarin fluorescence properties. Based on these facts, a simple fluorometric method combined with CPE for the determination of trace warfarin was developed for the first time. Under optimized experimental conditions, the linear concentration range for warfarin was 3.0×1.0 −9 –1.0×10 −6 mol L −1 and the detection limit was 3.3×10 −10 mol L −1 . And, the proposed method was approved to be appropriate for monitoring warfarin in actual pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluid samples by recovery test, in comparison with other reported methods being satisfactory. - Highlights: ► A CPE fluorescence method for trace warfarin was developed for the first time. ► Supramolecule effects play a key role for improving the fluorescence property. ► Notion presents an opportunity so far neglected area of CPE investigation. ► Without previous treatment, urine species after CPE had no significant interference.

RESEARCH ON FEATURE POINTS EXTRACTION METHOD FOR BINARY MULTISCALE AND ROTATION INVARIANT LOCAL FEATURE DESCRIPTOR

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Hongwei Ying

2014-08-01

Full Text Available An extreme point of scale space extraction method for binary multiscale and rotation invariant local feature descriptor is studied in this paper in order to obtain a robust and fast method for local image feature descriptor. Classic local feature description algorithms often select neighborhood information of feature points which are extremes of image scale space, obtained by constructing the image pyramid using certain signal transform method. But build the image pyramid always consumes a large amount of computing and storage resources, is not conducive to the actual applications development. This paper presents a dual multiscale FAST algorithm, it does not need to build the image pyramid, but can extract feature points of scale extreme quickly. Feature points extracted by proposed method have the characteristic of multiscale and rotation Invariant and are fit to construct the local feature descriptor.

Root water extraction under combined water and osmotic stress

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jong van Lier, de Q.; Dam, van J.C.; Metselaar, K.

2009-01-01

Using a numerical implicit model for root water extraction by a single root in a symmetric radial flow problem, based on the Richards equation and the combined convection-dispersion equation, we investigated some aspects of the response of root water uptake to combined water and osmotic stress. The

The Extraction of Vegetation Points from LiDAR Using 3D Fractal Dimension Analyses

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Haiquan Yang

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR, a high-precision technique used for acquiring three-dimensional (3D surface information, is widely used to study surface vegetation information. Moreover, the extraction of a vegetation point set from the LiDAR point cloud is a basic starting-point for vegetation information analysis, and an important part of its further processing. To extract the vegetation point set completely and to describe the different spatial morphological characteristics of various features in a LiDAR point cloud, we have used 3D fractal dimensions. We discovered that every feature has its own distinctive 3D fractal dimension interval. Based on the 3D fractal dimensions of tall trees, we propose a new method for the extraction of vegetation using airborne LiDAR. According to this method, target features can be distinguished based on their morphological characteristics. The non-ground points acquired by filtering are processed by region growing segmentation and the morphological characteristics are evaluated by 3D fractal dimensions to determine the features required for the determination of the point set for tall trees. Avon, New York, USA was selected as the study area to test the method and the result proves the method’s efficiency. Thus, this approach is feasible. Additionally, the method uses the 3D coordinate properties of the LiDAR point cloud and does not require additional information, such as return intensity, giving it a larger scope of application.

Automatic Extraction of Road Markings from Mobile Laser-Point Cloud Using Intensity Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, L.; Chen, Q.; Qin, C.; Wu, H.; Zhang, S.

2018-04-01

With the development of intelligent transportation, road's high precision information data has been widely applied in many fields. This paper proposes a concise and practical way to extract road marking information from point cloud data collected by mobile mapping system (MMS). The method contains three steps. Firstly, road surface is segmented through edge detection from scan lines. Then the intensity image is generated by inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation and the road marking is extracted by using adaptive threshold segmentation based on integral image without intensity calibration. Moreover, the noise is reduced by removing a small number of plaque pixels from binary image. Finally, point cloud mapped from binary image is clustered into marking objects according to Euclidean distance, and using a series of algorithms including template matching and feature attribute filtering for the classification of linear markings, arrow markings and guidelines. Through processing the point cloud data collected by RIEGL VUX-1 in case area, the results show that the F-score of marking extraction is 0.83, and the average classification rate is 0.9.

Roadside Multiple Objects Extraction from Mobile Laser Scanning Point Cloud Based on DBN

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LUO Haifeng

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper proposed an novel algorithm for exploring deep belief network (DBN architectures to extract and recognize roadside facilities (trees,cars and traffic poles from mobile laser scanning (MLS point cloud.The proposed methods firstly partitioned the raw MLS point cloud into blocks and then removed the ground and building points.In order to partition the off-ground objects into individual objects,off-ground points were organized into an Octree structure and clustered into candidate objects based on connected component.To improve segmentation performance on clusters containing overlapped objects,a refining processing using a voxel-based normalized cut was then implemented.In addition,multi-view features descriptor was generated for each independent roadside facilities based on binary images.Finally,a deep belief network (DBN was trained to extract trees,cars and traffic pole objects.Experiments are undertaken to evaluate the validities of the proposed method with two datasets acquired by Lynx Mobile Mapper System.The precision of trees,cars and traffic poles objects extraction results respectively was 97.31%,97.79% and 92.78%.The recall was 98.30%,98.75% and 96.77% respectively.The quality is 95.70%,93.81% and 90.00%.And the F1 measure was 97.80%,96.81% and 94.73%.

Average combination difference morphological filters for fault feature extraction of bearing

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Jingxiang; Yu, Jianbo

2018-02-01

In order to extract impulse components from vibration signals with much noise and harmonics, a new morphological filter called average combination difference morphological filter (ACDIF) is proposed in this paper. ACDIF constructs firstly several new combination difference (CDIF) operators, and then integrates the best two CDIFs as the final morphological filter. This design scheme enables ACIDF to extract positive and negative impacts existing in vibration signals to enhance accuracy of bearing fault diagnosis. The length of structure element (SE) that affects the performance of ACDIF is determined adaptively by a new indicator called Teager energy kurtosis (TEK). TEK further improves the effectiveness of ACDIF for fault feature extraction. Experimental results on the simulation and bearing vibration signals demonstrate that ACDIF can effectively suppress noise and extract periodic impulses from bearing vibration signals.

Morphological Operations to Extract Urban Curbs in 3D MLS Point Clouds

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Borja Rodríguez-Cuenca

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Automatic curb detection is an important issue in road maintenance, three-dimensional (3D urban modeling, and autonomous navigation fields. This paper is focused on the segmentation of curbs and street boundaries using a 3D point cloud captured by a mobile laser scanner (MLS system. Our method provides a solution based on the projection of the measured point cloud on the XY plane. Over that plane, a segmentation algorithm is carried out based on morphological operations to determine the location of street boundaries. In addition, a solution to extract curb edges based on the roughness of the point cloud is proposed. The proposed method is valid in both straight and curved road sections and applicable both to laser scanner and stereo vision 3D data due to the independence of its scanning geometry. The proposed method has been successfully tested with two datasets measured by different sensors. The first dataset corresponds to a point cloud measured by a TOPCON sensor in the Spanish town of Cudillero. The second dataset corresponds to a point cloud measured by a RIEGL sensor in the Austrian town of Horn. The extraction method provides completeness and correctness rates above 90% and quality values higher than 85% in both studied datasets.

Tie Points Extraction for SAR Images Based on Differential Constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, X.; Jin, G.; Xu, Q.; Zhang, H.

2018-04-01

Automatically extracting tie points (TPs) on large-size synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is still challenging because the efficiency and correct ratio of the image matching need to be improved. This paper proposes an automatic TPs extraction method based on differential constraints for large-size SAR images obtained from approximately parallel tracks, between which the relative geometric distortions are small in azimuth direction and large in range direction. Image pyramids are built firstly, and then corresponding layers of pyramids are matched from the top to the bottom. In the process, the similarity is measured by the normalized cross correlation (NCC) algorithm, which is calculated from a rectangular window with the long side parallel to the azimuth direction. False matches are removed by the differential constrained random sample consensus (DC-RANSAC) algorithm, which appends strong constraints in azimuth direction and weak constraints in range direction. Matching points in the lower pyramid images are predicted with the local bilinear transformation model in range direction. Experiments performed on ENVISAT ASAR and Chinese airborne SAR images validated the efficiency, correct ratio and accuracy of the proposed method.

Antibacterial activity of combined medicinal plants extract against multiple drug resistant strains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafiqul Islam

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: To find out the combined antibacterial efficacy of Aegle marmelos, Aphanamixis polystachya, Cuscuta reflexa and Aesclynomene indica against bacterial pathogens. Methods: Antibacterial potency of combined plant extracts has been tested against Bacillus subtilis IFO 3026, Sarcina lutea IFO 3232, Xanthomonas campestris IAM 1671, Escherichia coli IFO 3007, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATTC 10031, Proteus vulgaris MTCC 321 and Pseudomonas denitrificans KACC 32026 by disc diffusion assay. Commercially available standard antibiotic discs were also used to find out antibiotic resistance pattern of test organisms. Results: Among the test organisms, Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus denitrificans showed resistance against multiple commercially available antibiotics. On the other hand, these multiple drug resistant organisms showed susceptibility against combined plant extracts. Conclusions: These combined plants extracts showed synergistic antibacterial activity and could lead to new antibacterial drug designing.

Species selective preconcentration and quantification of gold nanoparticles using cloud point extraction and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartmann, Georg; Schuster, Michael

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► We optimized cloud point extraction and ET-AAS parameters for Au-NPs measurement. ► A selective ligand (sodium thiosulphate) is introduced for species separation. ► A limit of detection of 5 ng Au-NP per L is achieved for aqueous samples. ► Measurement of samples with high natural organic mater content is possible. ► Real water samples including wastewater treatment plant effluent were analyzed. - Abstract: The determination of metallic nanoparticles in environmental samples requires sample pretreatment that ideally combines pre-concentration and species selectivity. With cloud point extraction (CPE) using the surfactant Triton X-114 we present a simple and cost effective separation technique that meets both criteria. Effective separation of ionic gold species and Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) is achieved by using sodium thiosulphate as a complexing agent. The extraction efficiency for Au-NP ranged from 1.01 ± 0.06 (particle size 2 nm) to 0.52 ± 0.16 (particle size 150 nm). An enrichment factor of 80 and a low limit of detection of 5 ng L −1 is achieved using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS) for quantification. TEM measurements showed that the particle size is not affected by the CPE process. Natural organic matter (NOM) is tolerated up to a concentration of 10 mg L −1 . The precision of the method expressed as the standard deviation of 12 replicates at an Au-NP concentration of 100 ng L −1 is 9.5%. A relation between particle concentration and the extraction efficiency was not observed. Spiking experiments showed a recovery higher than 91% for environmental water samples.

Combining different types of scale space interest points using canonical sets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kanters, F.M.W.; Denton, T.; Shokoufandeh, A.; Florack, L.M.J.; Haar Romenij, ter B.M.; Sgallari, F.; Murli, A.; Paragios, N.

2007-01-01

Scale space interest points capture important photometric and deep structure information of an image. The information content of such points can be made explicit using image reconstruction. In this paper we will consider the problem of combining multiple types of interest points used for image

Automatic extraction of discontinuity orientation from rock mass surface 3D point cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jianqin; Zhu, Hehua; Li, Xiaojun

2016-10-01

This paper presents a new method for extracting discontinuity orientation automatically from rock mass surface 3D point cloud. The proposed method consists of four steps: (1) automatic grouping of discontinuity sets using an improved K-means clustering method, (2) discontinuity segmentation and optimization, (3) discontinuity plane fitting using Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) method, and (4) coordinate transformation of discontinuity plane. The method is first validated by the point cloud of a small piece of a rock slope acquired by photogrammetry. The extracted discontinuity orientations are compared with measured ones in the field. Then it is applied to a publicly available LiDAR data of a road cut rock slope at Rockbench repository. The extracted discontinuity orientations are compared with the method proposed by Riquelme et al. (2014). The results show that the presented method is reliable and of high accuracy, and can meet the engineering needs.

TIE POINTS EXTRACTION FOR SAR IMAGES BASED ON DIFFERENTIAL CONSTRAINTS

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X. Xiong

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Automatically extracting tie points (TPs on large-size synthetic aperture radar (SAR images is still challenging because the efficiency and correct ratio of the image matching need to be improved. This paper proposes an automatic TPs extraction method based on differential constraints for large-size SAR images obtained from approximately parallel tracks, between which the relative geometric distortions are small in azimuth direction and large in range direction. Image pyramids are built firstly, and then corresponding layers of pyramids are matched from the top to the bottom. In the process, the similarity is measured by the normalized cross correlation (NCC algorithm, which is calculated from a rectangular window with the long side parallel to the azimuth direction. False matches are removed by the differential constrained random sample consensus (DC-RANSAC algorithm, which appends strong constraints in azimuth direction and weak constraints in range direction. Matching points in the lower pyramid images are predicted with the local bilinear transformation model in range direction. Experiments performed on ENVISAT ASAR and Chinese airborne SAR images validated the efficiency, correct ratio and accuracy of the proposed method.

Effect of a combination of Phaseolus vulgaris L. extract and acarbose on postprandial glucose level after cooked rice intake in healthy volunteers

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Robby Zulkarnain

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Aim This study was aimed to measure the effects of combination Phaseolus vulgaris extract and acarbose compared to acarbose alone on postprandial glucose concentration in healthy volunteers after cooked rice intake.Methods Blood sample were obtained at several time points up to three hours after cooked rice intake. The parameter for postprandial glucose concentration is the area under the curve (AUC of glucose concentration vs.time for three hours after cooked rice intake.Results After taking this combination, postprandial glucose concentration was reduced by 21.6%, while the reduction by acarbose alone was 22.9%.Conclusions The reduction of postprandial glucose concentration after administration of this combination was not significantly different compared to that after administration of acarbose alone. (Med J Indones 2009; 18: 25-30Keywords: Phaseolus vulgaris extract, acarbose, postprandial glucose concentration

Searching for fixed point combinators by using automated theorem proving: A preliminary report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wos, L.; McCune, W.

1988-09-01

In this report, we establish that the use of an automated theorem- proving program to study deep questions from mathematics and logic is indeed an excellent move. Among such problems, we focus mainly on that concerning the construction of fixed point combinators---a problem considered by logicians to be significant and difficult to solve, and often computationally intensive and arduous. To be a fixed point combinator, Θ must satisfy the equation Θx = x(Θx) for all combinators x. The specific questions on which we focus most heavily ask, for each chosen set of combinators, whether a fixed point combinator can be constructed from the members of that set. For answering questions of this type, we present a new, sound, and efficient method, called the kernel method, which can be applied quite easily by hand and very easily by an automated theorem-proving program. For the application of the kernel method by a theorem-proving program, we illustrate the vital role that is played by both paramodulation and demodulation---two of the powerful features frequently offered by an automated theorem-proving program for treating equality as if it is ''understood.'' We also state a conjecture that, if proved, establishes the completeness of the kernel method. From what we can ascertain, this method---which relies on the introduced concepts of kernel and superkernel---offers the first systematic approach for searching for fixed point combinators. We successfully apply the new kernel method to various sets of combinators and, for the set consisting of the combinators B and W, construct an infinite set of fixed point combinators such that no two of the combinators are equal even in the presence of extensionality---a law that asserts that two combinators are equal if they behave the same. 18 refs

Searching for fixed point combinators by using automated theorem proving: A preliminary report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wos, L.; McCune, W.

1988-09-01

In this report, we establish that the use of an automated theorem- proving program to study deep questions from mathematics and logic is indeed an excellent move. Among such problems, we focus mainly on that concerning the construction of fixed point combinators---a problem considered by logicians to be significant and difficult to solve, and often computationally intensive and arduous. To be a fixed point combinator, THETA must satisfy the equation THETAx = x(THETAx) for all combinators x. The specific questions on which we focus most heavily ask, for each chosen set of combinators, whether a fixed point combinator can be constructed from the members of that set. For answering questions of this type, we present a new, sound, and efficient method, called the kernel method, which can be applied quite easily by hand and very easily by an automated theorem-proving program. For the application of the kernel method by a theorem-proving program, we illustrate the vital role that is played by both paramodulation and demodulation---two of the powerful features frequently offered by an automated theorem-proving program for treating equality as if it is ''understood.'' We also state a conjecture that, if proved, establishes the completeness of the kernel method. From what we can ascertain, this method---which relies on the introduced concepts of kernel and superkernel---offers the first systematic approach for searching for fixed point combinators. We successfully apply the new kernel method to various sets of combinators and, for the set consisting of the combinators B and W, construct an infinite set of fixed point combinators such that no two of the combinators are equal even in the presence of extensionality---a law that asserts that two combinators are equal if they behave the same. 18 refs.

REGISTRATION OF OVERLAPPING 3D POINT CLO UDS USING EXTRACTED LINE SEGMENTS

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Poręba Martyna

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The registration of 3D point clouds collected from different scanner positions is necessary in order to avoid occlusions, ensure a full coverage of areas, and collect useful data for analyzing an d documenting the surrounding environment. This procedure involves three main stages: 1 choosing appropriate features, which can be reliably extracted; 2 matching conjugate primitives; 3 estimating the transformation parameters. Currently, points and spheres are most frequently chosen as the registration features. However, due to limited point cloud resolution, proper identification and precise measurement of a common point within the overlapping laser data is almost impossible. One possible solution to this problem may be a registration process based on the Iterative Closest Point (ICP algorithm or its variation. Alternatively, planar and linear feature - based registration techniques can also be applied. In this paper, we propose the use of line segments obtained from intersecting planes modelled within individual scans. Such primitives can be easily extracted even from low - density point clouds. Working with synthetic data, several existing line - based registration methods are evaluated according to their robustness to noise and the precision of the estimated transformation parameters. For the purpose of quantitative assessment, an accuracy criterion based on a modified Hausdorff distance is defined. Since a n automated matching of segments is a challenging task that influences the correctness of the transformation parameters, a correspondence - finding algorithm is developed. The tests show that our matching algorithm provides a correct pairing with an accuracy of 99 % at least, and about 8% of omitted line pairs.

Effect of mangosteen peel extract combined with demineralized freezed-dried bovine bone xenograft on osteoblast and osteoclast formation in post tooth extraction socket

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Utari Kresnoadi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Tooth extraction, a common procedure in dentistry, can cause bone resorption during socket healing. Therefore, it is important to perform socket preservation procedure to maintain alveolar bone. Providing a combination of mangosteen peel extract with demineralized freezed-dried bovine bone xenograft (DFDBBX in tooth extraction socket was expected to accelerate alveol bone formation. Purpose: This study aims to determine the effect of mangosteen peel extract combined with DFDBBX introduced into the socket of post tooth extraction on the formation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Method: Twenty-eight (28 Cavia cobayas were divided into four groups. Extraction to the lower left incisor of Cavia cobaya was performed. The extraction socket was filled with 25 gram of PEG (group I as a control, active materials consisted of mangosteen peel extract and DFDBBX 0.5% (group II, active materials consisted of mangosteen peel extract and DFDBBX 1% (group III, and active materials consisted of mangosteen peel extract and DFDBBX 2% (group IV. After thirty days, those Cavia cobayas were sacrificed. By using HE on Histopatological examination, the number of osteoblasts and osteoclasts were measured by light microscope with 400 times of magnification. The statistical analysis was then performed using oneway Anova & TukeyHSD test. Result: The component active materials consisted of mangosteen peel extract and DFDBBX 2% had the most significant results related to the formation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Conclusion: Mangosteen peel extract combined with DFDBBX can increase osteoblasts and decrease osteoclasts in the socket of tooth extraction in Cavia cobaya. The combination of mangosteen peel extract and DFDBBX 2% is the most effective material in increasing osteoblast and decreasing osteoclast.

Is a Combine Therapy of Aqueous Extract of Azadirachta indica Leaf ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Herbal medication is commonly employed in treatment of diseases. Aqueous extract of Azadirachta indica leaf (A. indica) is commonly used in treatment of malaria by Nigerians. Most often, aqueous extract of A. indica leaf is taken in combination with chloroquine in order to cure malaria infection without ...

Self-Similarity Based Corresponding-Point Extraction from Weakly Textured Stereo Pairs

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Min Mao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available For the areas of low textured in image pairs, there is nearly no point that can be detected by traditional methods. The information in these areas will not be extracted by classical interest-point detectors. In this paper, a novel weakly textured point detection method is presented. The points with weakly textured characteristic are detected by the symmetry concept. The proposed approach considers the gray variability of the weakly textured local regions. The detection mechanism can be separated into three steps: region-similarity computation, candidate point searching, and refinement of weakly textured point set. The mechanism of radius scale selection and texture strength conception are used in the second step and the third step, respectively. The matching algorithm based on sparse representation (SRM is used for matching the detected points in different images. The results obtained on image sets with different objects show high robustness of the method to background and intraclass variations as well as to different photometric and geometric transformations; the points detected by this method are also the complement of points detected by classical detectors from the literature. And we also verify the efficacy of SRM by comparing with classical algorithms under the occlusion and corruption situations for matching the weakly textured points. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed weakly textured point detection algorithm.

Extraction and Categorisation of User Activity from Windows Restore Points

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Damir Kahvedzic

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The extraction of the user activity is one of the main goals in the analysis of digital evidence. In this paper we present a methodology for extracting this activity by comparing multiple Restore Points found in the Windows XP operating system. The registry copies represent a snapshot of the state of the system at a certain point in time. Differences between them can reveal user activity from one instant to another. The algorithms for comparing the hives and interpreting the results are of high complexity. We develop an approach that takes into account the nature of the investigation and the characteristics of the hives to reduce the complexity of the comparison and result interpretation processes. The approach concentrates on hives that present higher activity and highlights only those differences that are relevant to the investigation. The approach is implemented as a software tool that is able to compare any set of offline hives and categorise the results according to the user needs. The categorisation of the results, in terms of activity will help the investigator in interpreting the results. In this paper we present a general concept of result categorisation to prove its efficiency on Windows XP, but these can be adapted to any Windows versions including the latest versions.  

Anti-malarial activities of Andrographis paniculata and Hedyotis corymbosa extracts and their combination with curcumin

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Swain Bijay K

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Herbal extracts of Andrographis paniculata (AP and Hedyotis corymbosa (HC are known as hepato-protective and fever-reducing drugs since ancient time and they have been used regularly by the people in the south Asian sub-continent. Methanolic extracts of these two plants were tested in vitro on choloroquine sensitive (MRC-pf-20 and resistant (MRC-pf-303 strains of Plasmodium falciparum for their anti-malarial activity. Methods Growth inhibition was determined using different concentrations of these plant extracts on synchronized P. falciparum cultures at the ring stage. The interactions between these two plant extracts and individually with curcumin were studied in vitro. The performance of these two herbal extracts in isolation and combination were further evaluated in vivo on Balb/c mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA and their efficacy was compared with that of curcumin. The in vivo toxicity of the plant derived compounds as well as their parasite stage-specificity was studied. Results The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50 of AP (7.2 μg/ml was found better than HC (10.8 μg/ml. Combination of these two herbal drugs showed substantial enhancement in their anti-malarial activity. Combinatorial effect of each of these with curcumin also revealed anti-malarial effect. Additive interaction between the plant extracts (AP + HC and their individual synergism with curcumin (AP+CUR, HC+CUR were evident from this study. Increased in vivo potency was also observed with the combination of plant extracts over the individual extracts and curcumin. Both the plant extracts were found to inhibit the ring stage of the parasite and did not show any in vivo toxicity, whether used in isolation or in combination. Conclusion Both these two plant extracts in combination with curcumin could be an effective, alternative source of herbal anti-malarial drugs.

Anti-malarial activities of Andrographis paniculata and Hedyotis corymbosa extracts and their combination with curcumin

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, Kirti; Dash, Aditya P; Swain, Bijay K; Dey, Nrisingha

2009-01-01

Background Herbal extracts of Andrographis paniculata (AP) and Hedyotis corymbosa (HC) are known as hepato-protective and fever-reducing drugs since ancient time and they have been used regularly by the people in the south Asian sub-continent. Methanolic extracts of these two plants were tested in vitro on choloroquine sensitive (MRC-pf-20) and resistant (MRC-pf-303) strains of Plasmodium falciparum for their anti-malarial activity. Methods Growth inhibition was determined using different concentrations of these plant extracts on synchronized P. falciparum cultures at the ring stage. The interactions between these two plant extracts and individually with curcumin were studied in vitro. The performance of these two herbal extracts in isolation and combination were further evaluated in vivo on Balb/c mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA and their efficacy was compared with that of curcumin. The in vivo toxicity of the plant derived compounds as well as their parasite stage-specificity was studied. Results The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of AP (7.2 μg/ml) was found better than HC (10.8 μg/ml). Combination of these two herbal drugs showed substantial enhancement in their anti-malarial activity. Combinatorial effect of each of these with curcumin also revealed anti-malarial effect. Additive interaction between the plant extracts (AP + HC) and their individual synergism with curcumin (AP+CUR, HC+CUR) were evident from this study. Increased in vivo potency was also observed with the combination of plant extracts over the individual extracts and curcumin. Both the plant extracts were found to inhibit the ring stage of the parasite and did not show any in vivo toxicity, whether used in isolation or in combination. Conclusion Both these two plant extracts in combination with curcumin could be an effective, alternative source of herbal anti-malarial drugs. PMID:19216765

Determination of isoquercitrin in rat plasma by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with a novel synergistic cloud point extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Jun; Sun, Jiang Bing; Wang, Qiao Feng

2018-01-01

A novel improved preconcentration method known as synergistic cloud point extraction was established for isoquercitrin preconcentration and determination in rat plasma prior to its determination by high performance liquid chromatography. Synergistic cloud point extraction greatly simplified isoquercitrin extraction and detection. This method was accomplished at room temperature (about 22°C) in 1min with the nonionic surfactant Tergitol TMN-6 as the extractant, n-octanol as cloud point revulsant and synergic reagent. Parameters that affect the synergistic cloud point extraction processes, such as the concentrations of Tergitol TMN-6, volume of n-octanol, sample pH, salt content and extraction time were investigated and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration curve for the analyte was linear in the range from 5 to 500ngmL -1 with the correlation coefficients greater than 0.9996. Meanwhile, limit of detection (S/N=3) was less than 1.6ngmL -1 and limit of quantification (S/N=10) was less than 5ngmL -1 . It demonstrated that the method can be successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic investigation of isoquercitrin. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantum mechanics of a free particle on a plane with an extracted point

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kowalski, K.; Podlaski, K.; Rembielinski, J.

2002-01-01

A detailed study of a quantum free particle on a pointed plane is presented in this paper. In particular, some questions posed in the very recent paper by M. A. Cirone et al, Phys. Rev. A 65, 022101 (2002) are clarified. Namely, the topological effects related to extracting a point from a plane are indicated. The proposed results are introduced concerning self-adjoint extensions of operators describing the free particle on a pointed plane as well as the role played by discrete symmetries in the analysis of such extensions

A Robust Formant Extraction Algorithm Combining Spectral Peak Picking and Root Polishing

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Seo Kwang-deok

2006-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a robust formant extraction algorithm that combines the spectral peak picking, formants location examining for peak merger checking, and the root extraction methods. The spectral peak picking method is employed to locate the formant candidates, and the root extraction is used for solving the peak merger problem. The location and the distance between the extracted formants are also utilized to efficiently find out suspected peak mergers. The proposed algorithm does not require much computation, and is shown to be superior to previous formant extraction algorithms through extensive tests using TIMIT speech database.

Determination of Cd in urine by cloud point extraction-tungsten coil atomic absorption spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Donati, George L; Pharr, Kathryn E; Calloway, Clifton P; Nóbrega, Joaquim A; Jones, Bradley T

2008-09-15

Cadmium concentrations in human urine are typically at or below the 1 microgL(-1) level, so only a handful of techniques may be appropriate for this application. These include sophisticated methods such as graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. While tungsten coil atomic absorption spectrometry is a simpler and less expensive technique, its practical detection limits often prohibit the detection of Cd in normal urine samples. In addition, the nature of the urine matrix often necessitates accurate background correction techniques, which would add expense and complexity to the tungsten coil instrument. This manuscript describes a cloud point extraction method that reduces matrix interference while preconcentrating Cd by a factor of 15. Ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate and Triton X-114 are used as complexing agent and surfactant, respectively, in the extraction procedure. Triton X-114 forms an extractant coacervate surfactant-rich phase that is denser than water, so the aqueous supernatant is easily removed leaving the metal-containing surfactant layer intact. A 25 microL aliquot of this preconcentrated sample is placed directly onto the tungsten coil for analysis. The cloud point extraction procedure allows for simple background correction based either on the measurement of absorption at a nearby wavelength, or measurement of absorption at a time in the atomization step immediately prior to the onset of the Cd signal. Seven human urine samples are analyzed by this technique and the results are compared to those found by the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis of the same samples performed at a different institution. The limit of detection for Cd in urine is 5 ngL(-1) for cloud point extraction tungsten coil atomic absorption spectrometry. The accuracy of the method is determined with a standard reference material (toxic metals in freeze-dried urine) and the determined values agree with

Species selective preconcentration and quantification of gold nanoparticles using cloud point extraction and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartmann, Georg; Schuster, Michael

2013-01-25

The determination of metallic nanoparticles in environmental samples requires sample pretreatment that ideally combines pre-concentration and species selectivity. With cloud point extraction (CPE) using the surfactant Triton X-114 we present a simple and cost effective separation technique that meets both criteria. Effective separation of ionic gold species and Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) is achieved by using sodium thiosulphate as a complexing agent. The extraction efficiency for Au-NP ranged from 1.01 ± 0.06 (particle size 2 nm) to 0.52 ± 0.16 (particle size 150 nm). An enrichment factor of 80 and a low limit of detection of 5 ng L(-1) is achieved using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS) for quantification. TEM measurements showed that the particle size is not affected by the CPE process. Natural organic matter (NOM) is tolerated up to a concentration of 10 mg L(-1). The precision of the method expressed as the standard deviation of 12 replicates at an Au-NP concentration of 100 ng L(-1) is 9.5%. A relation between particle concentration and the extraction efficiency was not observed. Spiking experiments showed a recovery higher than 91% for environmental water samples. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Determination of biphenyl ether herbicides in water using HPLC with cloud-point extraction].

Science.gov (United States)

He, Cheng-Yan; Li, Yuan-Qian; Wang, Shen-Jiao; Ouyang, Hua-Xue; Zheng, Bo

2010-01-01

To determine residues of multiple biphenyl ether herbicides simultaneously in water using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with cloud-point extraction. The residues of eight biphenyl ether herbicides (including bentazone, fomesafen, acifluorfen, aclonifen, bifenox, fluoroglycofenethy, nitrofen, oxyfluorfen) in water samples were extracted with cloud-point extraction of Triton X-114. The analytes were separated and determined using reverse phase HPLC with ultraviolet detector at 300 nm. Optimized conditions for the pretreatment of water samples and the parameters of chromatographic separation applied. There was a good linear correlation between the concentration and the peak area of the analytes in the range of 0.05-2.00 mg/L (r = 0.9991-0.9998). Except bentazone, the spiked recoveries of the biphenyl ether herbicides in the water samples ranged from 80.1% to 100.9%, with relative standard deviations ranging from 2.70% to 6.40%. The detection limit of the method ranged from 0.10 microg/L to 0.50 microg/L. The proposed method is simple, rapid and sensitive, and can meet the requirements of determination of multiple biphenyl ether herbicides simultaneously in natural waters.

Automatic extraction of pavement markings on streets from point cloud data of mobile LiDAR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Yang; Zhong, Ruofei; Liu, Xianlin; Tang, Tao; Wang, Liuzhao

2017-01-01

Pavement markings provide an important foundation as they help to keep roads users safe. Accurate and comprehensive information about pavement markings assists the road regulators and is useful in developing driverless technology. Mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems offer new opportunities to collect and process accurate pavement markings’ information. Mobile LiDAR systems can directly obtain the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of an object, thus defining spatial data and the intensity of (3D) objects in a fast and efficient way. The RGB attribute information of data points can be obtained based on the panoramic camera in the system. In this paper, we present a novel method process to automatically extract pavement markings using multiple attribute information of the laser scanning point cloud from the mobile LiDAR data. This method process utilizes a differential grayscale of RGB color, laser pulse reflection intensity, and the differential intensity to identify and extract pavement markings. We utilized point cloud density to remove the noise and used morphological operations to eliminate the errors. In the application, we tested our method process on different sections of roads in Beijing, China, and Buffalo, NY, USA. The results indicated that both correctness ( p ) and completeness ( r ) were higher than 90%. The method process of this research can be applied to extract pavement markings from huge point cloud data produced by mobile LiDAR. (paper)

Automatic extraction of pavement markings on streets from point cloud data of mobile LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Yang; Zhong, Ruofei; Tang, Tao; Wang, Liuzhao; Liu, Xianlin

2017-08-01

Pavement markings provide an important foundation as they help to keep roads users safe. Accurate and comprehensive information about pavement markings assists the road regulators and is useful in developing driverless technology. Mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems offer new opportunities to collect and process accurate pavement markings’ information. Mobile LiDAR systems can directly obtain the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of an object, thus defining spatial data and the intensity of (3D) objects in a fast and efficient way. The RGB attribute information of data points can be obtained based on the panoramic camera in the system. In this paper, we present a novel method process to automatically extract pavement markings using multiple attribute information of the laser scanning point cloud from the mobile LiDAR data. This method process utilizes a differential grayscale of RGB color, laser pulse reflection intensity, and the differential intensity to identify and extract pavement markings. We utilized point cloud density to remove the noise and used morphological operations to eliminate the errors. In the application, we tested our method process on different sections of roads in Beijing, China, and Buffalo, NY, USA. The results indicated that both correctness (p) and completeness (r) were higher than 90%. The method process of this research can be applied to extract pavement markings from huge point cloud data produced by mobile LiDAR.

Analysis of Alphalactalbumin and Betalactoglobulin from the Rehydration of Bovine Colostrum Powder Using Cloud Point Extraction and Mass Spectrometry

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Fan Zhang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Alphalactalbumin (α-La and betalactoglobulin (β-Lg in the rehydration of bovine colostrum powder were successfully separated by cloud point extraction using a nonionic surfactant Triton X-114. The effects of different factors, including the surfactant concentration, sample volume, electrolyte, and pH were discussed. The optimized conditions for cloud point extraction of alphalactalbumin (α-La and betalactoglobulin (β-Lg can be concluded that the best surfactant is 1% (w/v Triton X-114, 200 μL of sample volume, 150 mmol/L NaCl, and 6% (w/v sucrose. After cloud point extraction, the capillary electrophoresis is used to check the efficiency of the extraction procedure. The results had been effectively confirmed by the characterization with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS.

Section curve reconstruction and mean-camber curve extraction of a point-sampled blade surface.

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Wen-long Li

Full Text Available The blade is one of the most critical parts of an aviation engine, and a small change in the blade geometry may significantly affect the dynamics performance of the aviation engine. Rapid advancements in 3D scanning techniques have enabled the inspection of the blade shape using a dense and accurate point cloud. This paper proposes a new method to achieving two common tasks in blade inspection: section curve reconstruction and mean-camber curve extraction with the representation of a point cloud. The mathematical morphology is expanded and applied to restrain the effect of the measuring defects and generate an ordered sequence of 2D measured points in the section plane. Then, the energy and distance are minimized to iteratively smoothen the measured points, approximate the section curve and extract the mean-camber curve. In addition, a turbine blade is machined and scanned to observe the curvature variation, energy variation and approximation error, which demonstrates the availability of the proposed method. The proposed method is simple to implement and can be applied in aviation casting-blade finish inspection, large forging-blade allowance inspection and visual-guided robot grinding localization.

Experimental evaluation of ALS point cloud ground extraction over different land cover in the Malopolska Province

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Korzeniowska, Karolina; Mandlburger, Gottfried; Klimczyk, Agata

2013-04-01

The paper presents an evaluation of different terrain point extraction algorithms for Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) point clouds. The research area covers eight test sites in the Małopolska Province (Poland) with varying point density between 3-15points/m² and surface as well as land cover characteristics. In this paper the existing implementations of algorithms were considered. Approaches based on mathematical morphology, progressive densification, robust surface interpolation and segmentation were compared. From the group of morphological filters, the Progressive Morphological Filter (PMF) proposed by Zhang K. et al. (2003) in LIS software was evaluated. From the progressive densification filter methods developed by Axelsson P. (2000) the Martin Isenburg's implementation in LAStools software (LAStools, 2012) was chosen. The third group of methods are surface-based filters. In this study, we used the hierarchic robust interpolation approach by Kraus K., Pfeifer N. (1998) as implemented in SCOP++ (Trimble, 2012). The fourth group of methods works on segmentation. From this filtering concept the segmentation algorithm available in LIS was tested (Wichmann V., 2012). The main aim in executing the automatic classification for ground extraction was operating in default mode or with default parameters which were selected by the developers of the algorithms. It was assumed that the default settings were equivalent to the parameters on which the best results can be achieved. In case it was not possible to apply an algorithm in default mode, a combination of the available and most crucial parameters for ground extraction were selected. As a result of these analyses, several output LAS files with different ground classification were achieved. The results were described on the basis of qualitative and quantitative analyses, both being in a formal description. The classification differences were verified on point cloud data. Qualitative verification of ground extraction was

Cloud-Point Extraction Combined with Liquid Chromatography for the Determination of Ergosterol, a Natural Product with Diuretic Activity, in Rat Plasma, Urine, and Faeces

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Dan-Qian Chen

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Ergosterol from many medicinal fungi has been demonstrated to possess a variety of pharmacological activities in vivo and in vitro. A new method based on cloud-point extraction has been developed, optimized and validated for the determination of ergosterol in rat plasma, urine and faeces by liquid chromatography. The non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114 was chosen as the extract solvent. The chromatographic separation was performed on an Inertsil ODS-3 analytical column with a mobile phase consisting of methanol and water (98 : 2, v/v at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The methodology was validated completely. The results indicated good performance in terms of specificity, linearity, detection and quantification limits, precision and accuracy. The method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic studies of ergosterol in rats. The results indicate that the ergosterol levels in feces are much higher than those in plasma and urine of the rat.

A method for the solvent extraction of low-boiling-point plant volatiles.

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Xu, Ning; Gruber, Margaret; Westcott, Neil; Soroka, Julie; Parkin, Isobel; Hegedus, Dwayne

2005-01-01

A new method has been developed for the extraction of volatiles from plant materials and tested on seedling tissue and mature leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana, pine needles and commercial mixtures of plant volatiles. Volatiles were extracted with n-pentane and then subjected to quick distillation at a moderate temperature. Under these conditions, compounds such as pigments, waxes and non-volatile compounds remained undistilled, while short-chain volatile compounds were distilled into a receiving flask using a high-efficiency condenser. Removal of the n-pentane and concentration of the volatiles in the receiving flask was carried out using a Vigreux column condenser prior to GC-MS. The method is ideal for the rapid extraction of low-boiling-point volatiles from small amounts of plant material, such as is required when conducting metabolic profiling or defining biological properties of volatile components from large numbers of mutant lines.

Simultaneous cloud point extraction of low levels of Cd, Cr and Hg in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A one-step preconcentration cloud point extraction (CPE) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of Cd, Cr, and Hg using a mixture of 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) and 1-(2-thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol (TAN) chelating agents and polyoxyethylene nonylphenylether-20 (PONPE-20) surfactant.

Registration of TLS and MLS Point Cloud Combining Genetic Algorithm with ICP

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YAN Li

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Large scene point cloud can be quickly acquired by mobile laser scanning (MLS technology,which needs to be supplemented by terrestrial laser scanning (TLS point cloud because of limited field of view and occlusion.MLS and TLS point cloud are located in geodetic coordinate system and local coordinate system respectively.This paper proposes an automatic registration method combined genetic algorithm (GA and iterative closed point ICP to achieve a uniform coordinate reference frame.The local optimizer is utilized in ICP.The efficiency of ICP is higher than that of GA registration,but it depends on a initial solution.GA is a global optimizer,but it's inefficient.The combining strategy is that ICP is enabled to complete the registration when the GA tends to local search.The rough position measured by a built-in GPS of a terrestrial laser scanner is used in the GA registration to limit its optimizing search space.To improve the GA registration accuracy,a maximum registration model called normalized sum of matching scores (NSMS is presented.The results for measured data show that the NSMS model is effective,the root mean square error (RMSE of GA registration is 1~5 cm and the registration efficiency can be improved by about 50% combining GA with ICP.

KARAKTERISTIK PRODUK FERMENTASI DARI BAHAN BAKU KOMBINASI SUSU KAMBING DENGAN EKSTRAK KEDELAI, EKSTRAK JAGUNG, ATAU SANTAN KELAPA [Characterization of Fermented Products Made From Caprine Milk in Combination with Soy Extract, Corn Extract or Coconut Extract

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Hartati Chairunnisa*

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to determine the best combination of caprine milk with soy extract, corn extract, or coconut extract in the production of flavored fermented milk products. Products were analyzed for the lactic acid content, crude protein, viscosity and also organoleptic properties (color, texsture, flavour, overall acceptance. This study was performed by a Completely Randomized Design with four kind of treatments, i.e.caprine, caprine milk in combination with soy extract, corn extract, or coconut extract with five replications. The result indicated that the caprine milk in combination with soy extract resulted an acceptable flavored fermented milk product containing 0.78% lactic acid, 6.62% crude protein, and had a viscosity of 2120 centipoise. The texture of the most liked flavoured fermented milk product was viscous to most viscous, and the flavour was slightly sour to sour.

Deacidification of Soybean Oil Combining Solvent Extraction and Membrane Technology

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M. L. Fornasero

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work was to study the removal of free fatty acids (FFAs from soybean oil, combining solvent extraction (liquid-liquid for the separation of FFAs from the oil and membrane technology to recover the solvent through nanofiltration (NF. Degummed soybean oil containing 1.05 ± 0.10% w/w FFAs was deacidified by extraction with ethanol. Results obtained in the experiences of FFAs extraction from oil show that the optimal operating conditions are the following: 1.8 : 1 w : w ethanol/oil ratio, 30 minutes extraction time and high speed of agitation and 30 minutes repose time after extraction at ambient temperature. As a result of these operations two phases are obtained: deacidified oil phase and ethanol phase (containing the FFAs. The oil from the first extraction is subjected to a second extraction under the same conditions, reducing the FFA concentration in oil to 0.09%. Solvent recovery from the ethanol phase is performed using nanofiltration technology with a commercially available polymeric NF membrane (NF-99-HF, Alfa Laval. From the analysis of the results we can conclude that the optimal operating conditions are pressure of 20 bar and temperature of 35°C, allowing better separation performance: permeate flux of 28.3 L/m2·h and FFA retention of 70%.

Combined Effects of Muricid Extract and 5-Fluorouracil on Intestinal Toxicity in Rats

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Roger Yazbeck

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Chemotherapy drugs, such as 5-fluorouracil (5FU, are the standard approach for cancer and are associated with several peripheral toxicities. We previously demonstrated that Muricidae marine molluscs exhibit chemopreventive properties. This study investigated the combined effect of muricid extract derived from Dicathais orbita, with 5FU, on intestinal toxicity in rats. Groups of rats were orally gavaged water, muricid extract, or sunflower oil, with or without 5FU (150 mg/kg. Metabolic data was collected daily and small intestinal brush border enzyme activity was measured by sucrose breath test (SBT. Blood was collected by cardiac puncture for whole blood analysis. Intestinal biopsies were taken for histopathology. Neutrophil activity was measured by myeloperoxidase activity. No additional toxicity effects were observed in rats receiving the combination of 5FU and muricid extract compared to 5FU alone, as indicated by SBT, histopathology, and myeloperoxidase activity. Intestinal integrity was protected from 5FU-induced damage in the sunflower oil vehicle group, compared to controls, as measured by SBT, villus height, and crypt depth. We concluded that combination of muricid extract and 5FU did not confer any additional intestinal toxicity, further supporting its potential as a chemopreventive food product. In this model system, sunflower oil partially protected against 5FU-induced intestinal toxicity.

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of uranium and zirconium using cloud point extraction and multivariate methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghasemi, Jahan B.; Hashemi, Beshare; Shamsipur, Mojtaba

2012-01-01

A cloud point extraction (CPE) process using the nonionic surfactant Triton X-114 to simultaneous extraction and spectrophotometric determination of uranium and zirconium from aqueous solution using partial least squares (PLS) regression is investigated. The method is based on the complexation reaction of these cations with Alizarin Red S (ARS) and subsequent micelle-mediated extraction of products. The chemical parameters affecting the separation phase and detection process were studied and optimized. Under the optimum experimental conditions (i.e. pH 5.2, Triton X-114 = 0.20%, equilibrium time 10 min and cloud point 45 C), calibration graphs were linear in the range of 0.01-3 mg L -1 with detection limits of 2.0 and 0.80 μg L -1 for U and Zr, respectively. The experimental calibration set was composed of 16 sample solutions using an orthogonal design for two component mixtures. The root mean square error of predictions (RMSEPs) for U and Zr were 0.0907 and 0.1117, respectively. The interference effect of some anions and cations was also tested. The method was applied to the simultaneous determination of U and Zr in water samples.

Cloud point extraction, preconcentration and spectrophotometric determination of nickel in water samples using dimethylglyoxime

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Morteza Bahram

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A new and simple method for the preconcentration and spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of nickel was developed by cloud point extraction (CPE. In the proposed work, dimethylglyoxime (DMG was used as the chelating agent and Triton X-114 was selected as a non-ionic surfactant for CPE. The parameters affecting the cloud point extraction including the pH of sample solution, concentration of the chelating agent and surfactant, equilibration temperature and time were optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration graph was linear in the range of 10-150 ng mL-1 with a detection limit of 4 ng mL-1. The relative standard deviation for 9 replicates of 100 ng mL-1 Ni(II was 1.04%. The interference effect of some anions and cations was studied. The method was applied to the determination of Ni(II in water samples with satisfactory results.

Combined effects of plant extracts in inhibiting the growth of Bacillus cereus in reconstituted infant rice cereal.

Science.gov (United States)

Jun, Hyejung; Kim, Jinsol; Bang, Jihyun; Kim, Hoikyung; Beuchat, Larry R; Ryu, Jee-Hoon

2013-01-01

A study was done to determine the potential use of plant extracts to inhibit the growth of Bacillus cereus in reconstituted infant rice cereal. A total of 2116 extracts were screened for inhibitory activity against B. cereus using an agar well diffusion assay. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimal lethal concentrations (MLC) of 14 promising extracts in tryptic soy broth (TSB) were determined. Dryopteris erythrosora (autumn fern) root extract showed the lowest MIC (0.0156 mg/ml), followed by Siegesbeckia glabrescens (Siegesbeckia herb) leaf (0.0313 mg/ml), Morus alba (white mulberry) cortex (0.0313 mg/ml), Carex pumila (sand sedge) root (0.0625 mg/ml), and Citrus paradisi (grapefruit) seed (0.0625 mg/ml) extracts. The order of MLCs of extracts was D. erythrosora root (0.0156 mg/ml)extracts against B. cereus in TSB were determined using a checkerboard assay. A combination of D. erythrosora and C. pumila extracts showed a partial synergistic inhibition, with a fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) of 0.75. Single and combined inhibitory activities of selected plant extracts against B. cereus in reconstituted infant rice cereal were investigated. The MICs of S. glabrescens, M. alba, D. erythrosora, and C. pumila extracts against B. cereus were 1.0, 2.0, 2.0, and 8.0mg/ml, respectively. A combination of D. erythrosora (1.00 mg/ml) and C. pumila (1.00 mg/ml) extracts showed a partial synergistic effect (FICI 0.63) in inhibiting the growth of B. cereus. Results indicate that by combining extracts, the amounts of D. erythrosora and C. pumila extracts can be reduced by 50% and 87.5%, respectively, compared with individual extracts, and give similar inhibitory activity in reconstituted infant rice cereal. Sensory evaluation showed that supplementing reconstituted infant rice cereal with plant extracts reduces sensorial quality. These observations will be useful when developing and applying interventions using natural plant extracts to inhibit B

Effects of Combined Creatine Plus Fenugreek Extract vs. Creatine Plus Carbohydrate Supplementation on Resistance Training Adaptations

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Lem; Poole, Chris; Pena, Earnest; Lewing, Morgan; Kreider, Richard; Foster, Cliffa; Wilborn, Colin

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of combined creatine and fenugreek extract supplementation on strength and body composition. Forty- seven resistance trained men were matched according to body weight to ingest either 70 g of a dextrose placebo (PL), 5 g creatine/70 g of dextrose (CRD) or 3.5 g creatine/900 mg fenugreek extract (CRF) and participate in a 4-d/wk periodized resistance-training program for 8-weeks. At 0, 4, and 8-weeks, subjects were tested on body composition, muscular strength and endurance, and anaerobic capacity. Statistical analyses utilized a separate 3X3 (condition [PL vs. CRD vs. CRF] x time [T1 vs. T2 vs. T3]) ANOVAs with repeated measures for all criterion variables (p ≤ 0.05). No group x time interaction effects or main effects (p > 0.05) were observed for any measures of body composition. CRF group showed significant increases in lean mass at T2 (p = 0.001) and T3 (p = 0.001). Bench press 1RM increased in PL group (p = 0.050) from T1-T3 and in CRD from T1-T2 (p = 0. 001) while remaining significant at T3 (p 0.05). In conclusion, creatine plus fenugreek extract supplementation had a significant impact on upper body strength and body composition as effectively as the combination of 5g of creatine with 70g of dextrose. Thus, the use of fenugreek with creatine supplementation may be an effective means for enhancing creatine uptake while eliminating the need for excessive amounts of simple carbohydrates. Key points Fenugreek plus creatine supplementation may be a new means of increasing creatine uptake. Creatine plus fenugreek seems to be just as effective as the classic creatine plus carbohydrate ingestion in terms of stimulating training adaptations. This is the first study to our knowledge that has combined fenugreek with creatine supplementation in conjunction with a resistance training program. PMID:24149869

Optimization of cloud point extraction and solid phase extraction methods for speciation of arsenic in natural water using multivariate technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Baig, Jameel A; Kazi, Tasneem G; Shah, Abdul Q; Arain, Mohammad B; Afridi, Hassan I; Kandhro, Ghulam A; Khan, Sumaira

2009-09-28

The simple and rapid pre-concentration techniques viz. cloud point extraction (CPE) and solid phase extraction (SPE) were applied for the determination of As(3+) and total inorganic arsenic (iAs) in surface and ground water samples. The As(3+) was formed complex with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (APDC) and extracted by surfactant-rich phases in the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114, after centrifugation the surfactant-rich phase was diluted with 0.1 mol L(-1) HNO(3) in methanol. While total iAs in water samples was adsorbed on titanium dioxide (TiO(2)); after centrifugation, the solid phase was prepared to be slurry for determination. The extracted As species were determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The multivariate strategy was applied to estimate the optimum values of experimental factors for the recovery of As(3+) and total iAs by CPE and SPE. The standard addition method was used to validate the optimized methods. The obtained result showed sufficient recoveries for As(3+) and iAs (>98.0%). The concentration factor in both cases was found to be 40.

Combined transuranic-strontium extraction process

Science.gov (United States)

Horwitz, E. Philip; Dietz, Mark L.

1992-01-01

The transuranic (TRU) elements neptunium, plutonium and americium can be separated together with strontium from nitric acid waste solutions in a single process. An extractant solution of a crown ether and an alkyl(phenyl)-N,N-dialkylcarbanylmethylphosphine oxide in an appropriate diluent will extract the TRU's together with strontium, uranium and technetium. The TRU's and the strontium can then be selectively stripped from the extractant for disposal.

Synergistic cloud point extraction behavior of aluminum(III) with 2-methyl-8-quinolinol and 3,5-dichlorophenol.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohashi, Akira; Tsuguchi, Akira; Imura, Hisanori; Ohashi, Kousaburo

2004-07-01

The cloud point extraction behavior of aluminum(III) with 8-quinolinol (HQ) or 2-methyl-8-quinolinol (HMQ) and Triton X-100 was investigated in the absence and presence of 3,5-dichlorophenol (Hdcp). Aluminum(III) was almost extracted with HQ and 4(v/v)% Triton X-100 above pH 5.0, but was not extracted with HMQ-Triton X-100. However, in the presence of Hdcp, it was almost quantitatively extracted with HMQ-Triton X-100. The synergistic effect of Hdcp on the extraction of aluminum(III) with HMQ and Triton X-100 may be caused by the formation of a mixed-ligand complex, Al(dcp)(MQ)2.

Development of cloud point extraction - UV-visible spectrophotometric method for vanadium (V) determination in hydrogeochemical samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durani, Smeer; Mathur, Neerja; Chowdary, G.S.

2007-01-01

The cloud point extraction behavior (CPE) of vanadium (V) using 5,7 dibromo 8-hydroxyquinoline (DBHQ) and triton X 100 was investigated. Vanadium (V) was extracted with 4 ml of 0.5 mg/ml DBHQ and 6 ml of 8% (V/V) triton X 100 at the pH 3.7. A few hydrogeochemical samples were analysed for vanadium using the above method. (author)

Effect of Polycosanol, a grape seed extract and its combined therapy on oxidation markers in rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oyarzabal Yera, Ambar; Molina Cuevas, Vivian; Jimenez Despaigne, Sonia

2010-01-01

The Polycosanol, a mixture of superior primary aliphatic alcohols obtained from the sugarcane wax (Sacharum officinarum, L.) and the grape seeds extract (Vitis vinifera, L.) produces antioxidant effects experimentally and clinically demonstrated. The aim of present paper was to compare the effects of Polycosanol, the grape seed extract, and its combined therapy on oxidative markers in plasma and liver of rats. The rats were distributed into 4 groups: a control one and three treated with Polycosanol, grape seed extract and its combined therapy, respectively, using a 25 mg/kg dose over 4 weeks. The single-therapies significantly reduced the plasmatic concentrations of malonyldialdehyde and of protein-associated carbonyl groups regarding the control, showing a similar efficacy. Combined therapy reduced in a more effective way (p < 0,001) the malonyldialdehyde concentrations of carbonyl groups, and also decreased (p < 0,01) the concentrations of carbonyl groups, but no more than the single-therapies. Each single-therapy reduced the malonyldialdehyde concentrations generated by spontaneous oxidant system in liver homogenate. The effect of combined therapy was higher (p < 0,05) than the grape seed extract, but no more than that of polycosanol. We concluded that oral single-therapies using polycosanol and grape seed extract, administered during 4 weeks, decreased in a similar way, the lipid peroxidation in plasma and liver of rats. Combined therapy was more effective to inhibits the lipid peroxidation in plasma than each single-therapy, separately

Extraction and Simplification of Building Façade Pieces from Mobile Laser Scanner Point Clouds for 3D Street View Services

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Yan Li

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Extraction and analysis of building façades are key processes in the three-dimensional (3D building reconstruction and realistic geometrical modeling of the urban environment, which includes many applications, such as smart city management, autonomous navigation through the urban environment, fly-through rendering, 3D street view, virtual tourism, urban mission planning, etc. This paper proposes a building facade pieces extraction and simplification algorithm based on morphological filtering with point clouds obtained by a mobile laser scanner (MLS. First, this study presents a point cloud projection algorithm with high-accuracy orientation parameters from the position and orientation system (POS of MLS that can convert large volumes of point cloud data to a raster image. Second, this study proposes a feature extraction approach based on morphological filtering with point cloud projection that can obtain building facade features in an image space. Third, this study designs an inverse transformation of point cloud projection to convert building facade features from an image space to a 3D space. A building facade feature with restricted facade plane detection algorithm is implemented to reconstruct façade pieces for street view service. The results of building facade extraction experiments with large volumes of point cloud from MLS show that the proposed approach is suitable for various types of building facade extraction. The geometric accuracy of building façades is 0.66 m in x direction, 0.64 in y direction and 0.55 m in the vertical direction, which is the same level as the space resolution (0.5 m of the point cloud.

[Cloud Point extraction for determination of mercury in Chinese herbal medicine by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry with optimization using Box-Behnken design].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Mei; Li, Shan; Zhou, Jian-dong; Xu, Ying; Long, Jun-biao; Yang, Bing-yi

2014-08-01

Cloud point extraction (CPE) is proposed as a pre-concentration procedure for the determination of Hg in Chinese herbal medicine samples by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS). Hg2+ was reacted with dithizone to form hydrophobic chelate under the condition of pH. Using Triton X-114, as surfactant, chelate was quantitatively extracted into small volume of the surfactant-rich phase by heating the solution in a water bath for 15 min and centrifuging. Four variables including pH, dithizone concentration, Triton X-114 concentration and equilibrium temperature (T) showed the significant effect on extraction efficiency of total Hg evaluated by single-factor experiment, and Box-Behnken design and response surface method- ology were adopted to further investigate the mutual interactions between these variables and to identify their optimal values that would generate maximum extraction efficiency. The results showed that the binomial was used to fit the response to experimental levels of each variable. ALL linear, quadratic terms of four variables, and interactions between pH and Trion X-114, pH and di- thizone affected the response value(extraction efficiency) significantly at 5% level. The optimum extraction conditions were as follows: pH 5.1, Triton X-114 concentration of 1.16 g x L(-1), dithizone concentration of 4.87 mol x L(-1), and T 58.2 degrees C, the predicted value of fluorescence was 4528.74 under the optimum conditions, and the experimental value had only 2.1% difference with it. Under the conditions, fluorescence was linear to mercury concentration in the range of 1-5 microg x L(-1). The limit of detection obtained was 0.01247 microg x L(-1) with the relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) for six replicate determinations of 1.30%. The proposed method was successfully applied to determination of Hg in morindae Radix, Andrographitis and dried tangerine samples with the recoveries of 95.0%-100.0%. Apparently Box-Behnken design combined with

Datum Feature Extraction and Deformation Analysis Method Based on Normal Vector of Point Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, W.; Wang, J.; Jin, F.; Liang, Z.; Yang, Y.

2018-04-01

In order to solve the problem lacking applicable analysis method in the application of three-dimensional laser scanning technology to the field of deformation monitoring, an efficient method extracting datum feature and analysing deformation based on normal vector of point cloud was proposed. Firstly, the kd-tree is used to establish the topological relation. Datum points are detected by tracking the normal vector of point cloud determined by the normal vector of local planar. Then, the cubic B-spline curve fitting is performed on the datum points. Finally, datum elevation and the inclination angle of the radial point are calculated according to the fitted curve and then the deformation information was analyzed. The proposed approach was verified on real large-scale tank data set captured with terrestrial laser scanner in a chemical plant. The results show that the method could obtain the entire information of the monitor object quickly and comprehensively, and reflect accurately the datum feature deformation.

Comprehension of synergistic mechanisms for uranium extraction from phosphate ores

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pecheur, Olivia

2014-01-01

Uranium VI is commonly extracted from phosphoric ores by a well-known process exploiting the synergistic mixture of two extractant molecules: HDEHP and TOPO. In the field of liquid-liquid extraction, synergistic combinations are common but the mechanisms at the origin of the synergy are not well understood. A multi-scale approach has been used to describe these mechanisms, combining two different descriptions: the molecular scale focuses on the ion point of view, while the supramolecular scale focuses on extractants' aggregation. These two approaches have been rationalized by molecular dynamics computations. The results allow describing the synergy through the structure of the complexes and aggregates. With the same approach, some bifunctional compounds, combining the two extracting sites in one molecule, have been studied and compared to the HDEHP/TOPO system in order to identify the origin of their increased capacities in extraction and selectivity. (author) [fr

Combined effect of gamma radiation and some plant extracts on spodoptera littoralis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ibrahim, R.S.H.

2012-01-01

The present investigation was carried out to study the effects of exposure of male full-grown pupae of the cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis to sub sterilizing doses of gamma radiation (100,150 or 300 Gy), treating larval diet with different concentrations of Terminalia arjuna , Erythrine caffra, Taxodium distichum or Melaleuca cajuputi plant extracts on certain biological aspects of the parental (P 1 ),F 1 generation and combined effect of Taxodium distichum(1.25 ethanol , 2.5% water extracts) and 100 Gy of gamma radiation on also, the certain biological aspects of the parental (P 1 ) and first filial (F 1 ) generations. The biological aspects included the effect on fecundity, egg hatchability, mating ability, and malformation, beside larval survival until adult emergence and sex ratio of the produced adult at different mating crosses between treated and untreated or treated other sex. Special attention was given to inherited sterility of treated male. In addition, the studies also explained the effect of gamma radiation and different concentration of plant extracts of Taxodium disticum and combined effect of both on three tested enzymes (TOC,TAC and Cytochrom p 450 ) . In addition the effect of them on the free testosterone .Using radiation in combination with Taxodium disticum gave synergistic effect by decreasing the activity of these enzymes among F 1 adult male.This means that these treatments also interfered in the functions of these enzymes and hormone.

Automatic Rail Extraction and Celarance Check with a Point Cloud Captured by Mls in a Railway

Science.gov (United States)

Niina, Y.; Honma, R.; Honma, Y.; Kondo, K.; Tsuji, K.; Hiramatsu, T.; Oketani, E.

2018-05-01

Recently, MLS (Mobile Laser Scanning) has been successfully used in a road maintenance. In this paper, we present the application of MLS for the inspection of clearance along railway tracks of West Japan Railway Company. Point clouds around the track are captured by MLS mounted on a bogie and rail position can be determined by matching the shape of the ideal rail head with respect to the point cloud by ICP algorithm. A clearance check is executed automatically with virtual clearance model laid along the extracted rail. As a result of evaluation, the accuracy of extracting rail positions is less than 3 mm. With respect to the automatic clearance check, the objects inside the clearance and the ones related to a contact line is successfully detected by visual confirmation.

Extraction of Features from High-resolution 3D LiDaR Point-cloud Data

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, P.; Kreylos, O.; Hamann, B.; Kellogg, L. H.; Cowgill, E. S.; Yikilmaz, M. B.; Hering-Bertram, M.; Hagen, H.

2008-12-01

Airborne and tripod-based LiDaR scans are capable of producing new insight into geologic features by providing high-quality 3D measurements of the landscape. High-resolution LiDaR is a promising method for studying slip on faults, erosion, and other landscape-altering processes. LiDaR scans can produce up to several billion individual point returns associated with the reflection of a laser from natural and engineered surfaces; these point clouds are typically used to derive a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM). Currently, there exist only few methods that can support the analysis of the data at full resolution and in the natural 3D perspective in which it was collected by working directly with the points. We are developing new algorithms for extracting features from LiDaR scans, and present method for determining the local curvature of a LiDaR data set, working directly with the individual point returns of a scan. Computing the curvature enables us to rapidly and automatically identify key features such as ridge-lines, stream beds, and edges of terraces. We fit polynomial surface patches via a moving least squares (MLS) approach to local point neighborhoods, determining curvature values for each point. The size of the local point neighborhood is defined by a user. Since both terrestrial and airborne LiDaR scans suffer from high noise, we apply additional pre- and post-processing smoothing steps to eliminate unwanted features. LiDaR data also captures objects like buildings and trees complicating greatly the task of extracting reliable curvature values. Hence, we use a stochastic approach to determine whether a point can be reliably used to estimate curvature or not. Additionally, we have developed a graph-based approach to establish connectivities among points that correspond to regions of high curvature. The result is an explicit description of ridge-lines, for example. We have applied our method to the raw point cloud data collected as part of the Geo

Speciation of silver nanoparticles and Ag(I) species using cloud point extraction followed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

López-García, Ignacio; Vicente-Martínez, Yesica; Hernández-Córdoba, Manuel

2014-01-01

Silver nanoparticles in the presence of Triton-X114 were extracted into a micellar phase obtained after incubation at 40 °C for 10 min followed by centrifugation. After injection of an aliquot (30 μL) of the surfactant-rich phase into the electrothermal atomizer, the enrichment effect due to cloud point extraction allowed a detection limit of 2 ng L −1 silver to be achieved. The preconcentration factor was 242, and the repeatability for ten measurements at a 50 ng L −1 silver level was 4.6%. Ag(I) species were adsorbed onto the silver nanoparticles and were also extracted in the micellar phase. The incorporation of 0.01 mol L −1 ammonium thiocyanate to the sample solution prevented the extraction of Ag(I) species. Speciation was carried out using two extractions, one in the absence and the other in the presence of thiocyanate, the concentration of Ag(I) species being obtained by difference. The procedure was applied to the determination of silver nanoparticles and Ag(I) species in waters and in lixiviates obtained from sticking plasters and cleaning cloths. - Highlights: • Silver nanoparticles and Ag(I) species are separated into a surfactant-rich phase. • The Ag(I) species are not extracted in the presence of thiocyanate. • The cloud point extraction of two aliquots allows speciation to be carried out. • Extreme sensitivity (detection limit 2 ng L −1 ) is achieved

Speciation of silver nanoparticles and Ag(I) species using cloud point extraction followed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

López-García, Ignacio; Vicente-Martínez, Yesica; Hernández-Córdoba, Manuel, E-mail: hcordoba@um.es

2014-11-01

Silver nanoparticles in the presence of Triton-X114 were extracted into a micellar phase obtained after incubation at 40 °C for 10 min followed by centrifugation. After injection of an aliquot (30 μL) of the surfactant-rich phase into the electrothermal atomizer, the enrichment effect due to cloud point extraction allowed a detection limit of 2 ng L{sup −1} silver to be achieved. The preconcentration factor was 242, and the repeatability for ten measurements at a 50 ng L{sup −1} silver level was 4.6%. Ag(I) species were adsorbed onto the silver nanoparticles and were also extracted in the micellar phase. The incorporation of 0.01 mol L{sup −1} ammonium thiocyanate to the sample solution prevented the extraction of Ag(I) species. Speciation was carried out using two extractions, one in the absence and the other in the presence of thiocyanate, the concentration of Ag(I) species being obtained by difference. The procedure was applied to the determination of silver nanoparticles and Ag(I) species in waters and in lixiviates obtained from sticking plasters and cleaning cloths. - Highlights: • Silver nanoparticles and Ag(I) species are separated into a surfactant-rich phase. • The Ag(I) species are not extracted in the presence of thiocyanate. • The cloud point extraction of two aliquots allows speciation to be carried out. • Extreme sensitivity (detection limit 2 ng L{sup −1}) is achieved.

The MAGIC Touch: Combining MAGIC-Pointing with a Touch-Sensitive Mouse

Science.gov (United States)

Drewes, Heiko; Schmidt, Albrecht

In this paper, we show how to use the combination of eye-gaze and a touch-sensitive mouse to ease pointing tasks in graphical user interfaces. A touch of the mouse positions the mouse pointer at the current gaze position of the user. Thus, the pointer is always at the position where the user expects it on the screen. This approach changes the user experience in tasks that include frequent switching between keyboard and mouse input (e.g. working with spreadsheets). In a user study, we compared the touch-sensitive mouse with a traditional mouse and observed speed improvements for pointing tasks on complex backgrounds. For pointing task on plain backgrounds, performances with both devices were similar, but users perceived the gaze-sensitive interaction of the touch-sensitive mouse as being faster and more convenient. Our results show that using a touch-sensitive mouse that positions the pointer on the user’s gaze position reduces the need for mouse movements in pointing tasks enormously.

Determination of cadmium(II), cobalt(II), nickel(II), lead(II), zinc(II), and copper(II) in water samples using dual-cloud point extraction and inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhao, Lingling; Zhong, Shuxian; Fang, Keming; Qian, Zhaosheng [College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004 (China); Chen, Jianrong, E-mail: cjr@zjnu.cn [College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004 (China); College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004 (China)

2012-11-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A dual-cloud point extraction (d-CPE) procedure was firstly developed for simultaneous pre-concentration and separation of trace metal ions combining with ICP-OES. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The developed d-CPE can significantly eliminate the surfactant of Triton X-114 and successfully extend to the determination of water samples with good performance. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The designed method is simple, high efficient, low cost, and in accordance with the green chemistry concept. - Abstract: A dual-cloud point extraction (d-CPE) procedure has been developed for simultaneous pre-concentration and separation of heavy metal ions (Cd{sup 2+}, Co{sup 2+}, Ni{sup 2+}, Pb{sup 2+}, Zn{sup 2+}, and Cu{sup 2+} ion) in water samples by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The procedure is based on forming complexes of metal ion with 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) into the as-formed Triton X-114 surfactant rich phase. Instead of direct injection or analysis, the surfactant rich phase containing the complexes was treated by nitric acid, and the detected ions were back extracted again into aqueous phase at the second cloud point extraction stage, and finally determined by ICP-OES. Under the optimum conditions (pH = 7.0, Triton X-114 = 0.05% (w/v), 8-HQ = 2.0 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4} mol L{sup -1}, HNO{sub 3} = 0.8 mol L{sup -1}), the detection limits for Cd{sup 2+}, Co{sup 2+}, Ni{sup 2+}, Pb{sup 2+}, Zn{sup 2+}, and Cu{sup 2+} ions were 0.01, 0.04, 0.01, 0.34, 0.05, and 0.04 {mu}g L{sup -1}, respectively. Relative standard deviation (RSD) values for 10 replicates at 100 {mu}g L{sup -1} were lower than 6.0%. The proposed method could be successfully applied to the determination of Cd{sup 2+}, Co{sup 2+}, Ni{sup 2+}, Pb{sup 2+}, Zn{sup 2+}, and Cu{sup 2+} ion in water samples.

An Automatic Building Extraction and Regularisation Technique Using LiDAR Point Cloud Data and Orthoimage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Ali Naqi Gilani

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The development of robust and accurate methods for automatic building detection and regularisation using multisource data continues to be a challenge due to point cloud sparsity, high spectral variability, urban objects differences, surrounding complexity, and data misalignment. To address these challenges, constraints on object’s size, height, area, and orientation are generally benefited which adversely affect the detection performance. Often the buildings either small in size, under shadows or partly occluded are ousted during elimination of superfluous objects. To overcome the limitations, a methodology is developed to extract and regularise the buildings using features from point cloud and orthoimagery. The building delineation process is carried out by identifying the candidate building regions and segmenting them into grids. Vegetation elimination, building detection and extraction of their partially occluded parts are achieved by synthesising the point cloud and image data. Finally, the detected buildings are regularised by exploiting the image lines in the building regularisation process. Detection and regularisation processes have been evaluated using the ISPRS benchmark and four Australian data sets which differ in point density (1 to 29 points/m2, building sizes, shadows, terrain, and vegetation. Results indicate that there is 83% to 93% per-area completeness with the correctness of above 95%, demonstrating the robustness of the approach. The absence of over- and many-to-many segmentation errors in the ISPRS data set indicate that the technique has higher per-object accuracy. While compared with six existing similar methods, the proposed detection and regularisation approach performs significantly better on more complex data sets (Australian in contrast to the ISPRS benchmark, where it does better or equal to the counterparts.

Combinations of Ashwagandha leaf extracts protect brain-derived cells against oxidative stress and induce differentiation.

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Navjot Shah

Full Text Available Ashwagandha, a traditional Indian herb, has been known for its variety of therapeutic activities. We earlier demonstrated anticancer activities in the alcoholic and water extracts of the leaves that were mediated by activation of tumor suppressor functions and oxidative stress in cancer cells. Low doses of these extracts were shown to possess neuroprotective activities in vitro and in vivo assays.We used cultured glioblastoma and neuroblastoma cells to examine the effect of extracts (alcoholic and water as well as their bioactive components for neuroprotective activities against oxidative stress. Various biochemical and imaging assays on the marker proteins of glial and neuronal cells were performed along with their survival profiles in control, stressed and recovered conditions. We found that the extracts and one of the purified components, withanone, when used at a low dose, protected the glial and neuronal cells from oxidative as well as glutamate insult, and induced their differentiation per se. Furthermore, the combinations of extracts and active component were highly potent endorsing the therapeutic merit of the combinational approach.Ashwagandha leaf derived bioactive compounds have neuroprotective potential and may serve as supplement for brain health.

Hierarchical extraction of urban objects from mobile laser scanning data

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Bisheng; Dong, Zhen; Zhao, Gang; Dai, Wenxia

2015-01-01

Point clouds collected in urban scenes contain a huge number of points (e.g., billions), numerous objects with significant size variability, complex and incomplete structures, and variable point densities, raising great challenges for the automated extraction of urban objects in the field of photogrammetry, computer vision, and robotics. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing an automated method to extract urban objects robustly and efficiently. The proposed method generates multi-scale supervoxels from 3D point clouds using the point attributes (e.g., colors, intensities) and spatial distances between points, and then segments the supervoxels rather than individual points by combining graph based segmentation with multiple cues (e.g., principal direction, colors) of the supervoxels. The proposed method defines a set of rules for merging segments into meaningful units according to types of urban objects and forms the semantic knowledge of urban objects for the classification of objects. Finally, the proposed method extracts and classifies urban objects in a hierarchical order ranked by the saliency of the segments. Experiments show that the proposed method is efficient and robust for extracting buildings, streetlamps, trees, telegraph poles, traffic signs, cars, and enclosures from mobile laser scanning (MLS) point clouds, with an overall accuracy of 92.3%.

Determination of trace uranium by resonance fluorescence method coupled with photo-catalytic technology and dual cloud point extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jiekang; Li, Guirong; Han, Qian

2016-12-05

In this paper, two kinds of salophens (Sal) with different solubilities, Sal1 and Sal2, have been respectively synthesized, and they all can combine with uranyl to form stable complexes: [UO2(2+)-Sal1] and [UO2(2+)-Sal2]. Among them, [UO2(2+)-Sal1] was used as ligand to extract uranium in complex samples by dual cloud point extraction (dCPE), and [UO2(2+)-Sal2] was used as catalyst for the determination of uranium by photocatalytic resonance fluorescence (RF) method. The photocatalytic characteristic of [UO2(2+)-Sal2] on the oxidized pyronine Y (PRY) by potassium bromate which leads to the decrease of RF intensity of PRY were studied. The reduced value of RF intensity of reaction system (ΔF) is in proportional to the concentration of uranium (c), and a novel photo-catalytic RF method was developed for the determination of trace uranium (VI) after dCPE. The combination of photo-catalytic RF techniques and dCPE procedure endows the presented methods with enhanced sensitivity and selectivity. Under optimal conditions, the linear calibration curves range for 0.067 to 6.57ngmL(-1), the linear regression equation was ΔF=438.0 c (ngmL(-1))+175.6 with the correlation coefficient r=0.9981. The limit of detection was 0.066ngmL(-1). The proposed method was successfully applied for the separation and determination of uranium in real samples with the recoveries of 95.0-103.5%. The mechanisms of the indicator reaction and dCPE are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Recovery of anthocyanins from residues of Rubus fruticosus, Vaccinium myrtillus and Eugenia brasiliensis by ultrasound assisted extraction, pressurized liquid extraction and their combination.

Science.gov (United States)

Machado, Ana Paula Da Fonseca; Pereira, Ana Luiza Duarte; Barbero, Gerardo Fernández; Martínez, Julian

2017-09-15

This work investigated the extraction efficiency of polyphenols (anthocyanins) from blackberry, blueberry and grumixama residues using combined ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) (UAE+PLE). The performance of UAE+PLE was compared to those achieved by the isolated PLE and UAE methods and conventional Soxhlet extraction. The effects of the extraction methods and solvents (acidified water pH 2.0, ethanol+water 50% v/v and ethanol+water 70% ethanol v/v) on total phenolics content, anthocyanin composition and antioxidant capacity of extracts were investigated by a full factorial design. The extraction efficiency for total phenolics and antioxidant capacity in decreasing order was: UAE+PLE>PLE≈Soxhlet>UAE, and for anthocyanins it was: Soxhlet≈UAE>UAE+PLE>PLE, using hydroethanolic mixtures as solvents. Extractions with acidified water and ultrasound were not effective to recover phenolics. Two, four and fourteen anthocyanins were identified in the extracts from grumixama, blackberry and blueberry, respectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determination of gold nanoparticles in environmental water samples by second-order optical scattering using dithiotreitol-functionalized CdS quantum dots after cloud point extraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mandyla, Spyridoula P.; Tsogas, George Z.; Vlessidis, Athanasios G.; Giokas, Dimosthenis L., E-mail: dgiokas@cc.uoi.gr

2017-02-05

Highlights: • A new method has been developed to determine gold nanoparticles in water samples. • Extraction was achieved by cloud point extraction. • A nano-hybrid assembly between AuNPs and dithiol-coated quantum dots was formulated. • Detection was accomplished at pico-molar levels by second-order light scattering. • The method was selective against ionic gold and other nanoparticle species. - Abstract: This work presents a new method for the sensitive and selective determination of gold nanoparticles in water samples. The method combines a sample preparation and enrichment step based on cloud point extraction with a new detection motif that relies on the optical incoherent light scattering of a nano-hybrid assembly that is formed by hydrogen bond interactions between gold nanoparticles and dithiotreitol-functionalized CdS quantum dots. The experimental parameters affecting the extraction and detection of gold nanoparticles were optimized and evaluated to the analysis of gold nanoparticles of variable size and surface coating. The selectivity of the method against gold ions and other nanoparticle species was also evaluated under different conditions reminiscent to those usually found in natural water samples. The developed method was applied to the analysis of gold nanoparticles in natural waters and wastewater with satisfactory results in terms of sensitivity (detection limit at the low pmol L{sup −1} levels), recoveries (>80%) and reproducibility (<9%). Compared to other methods employing molecular spectrometry for metal nanoparticle analysis, the developed method offers improved sensitivity and it is easy-to-operate thus providing an additional tool for the monitoring and the assessment of nanoparticles toxicity and hazards in the environment.

Determination of gold nanoparticles in environmental water samples by second-order optical scattering using dithiotreitol-functionalized CdS quantum dots after cloud point extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mandyla, Spyridoula P.; Tsogas, George Z.; Vlessidis, Athanasios G.; Giokas, Dimosthenis L.

2017-01-01

Highlights: • A new method has been developed to determine gold nanoparticles in water samples. • Extraction was achieved by cloud point extraction. • A nano-hybrid assembly between AuNPs and dithiol-coated quantum dots was formulated. • Detection was accomplished at pico-molar levels by second-order light scattering. • The method was selective against ionic gold and other nanoparticle species. - Abstract: This work presents a new method for the sensitive and selective determination of gold nanoparticles in water samples. The method combines a sample preparation and enrichment step based on cloud point extraction with a new detection motif that relies on the optical incoherent light scattering of a nano-hybrid assembly that is formed by hydrogen bond interactions between gold nanoparticles and dithiotreitol-functionalized CdS quantum dots. The experimental parameters affecting the extraction and detection of gold nanoparticles were optimized and evaluated to the analysis of gold nanoparticles of variable size and surface coating. The selectivity of the method against gold ions and other nanoparticle species was also evaluated under different conditions reminiscent to those usually found in natural water samples. The developed method was applied to the analysis of gold nanoparticles in natural waters and wastewater with satisfactory results in terms of sensitivity (detection limit at the low pmol L −1 levels), recoveries (>80%) and reproducibility (<9%). Compared to other methods employing molecular spectrometry for metal nanoparticle analysis, the developed method offers improved sensitivity and it is easy-to-operate thus providing an additional tool for the monitoring and the assessment of nanoparticles toxicity and hazards in the environment.

Determination of synthetic phenolic antioxidants in cake by hplc/dad after mixed micelle-mediated cloud point extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, P.; Liu, C.

2013-01-01

A mixed micelle-mediated cloud point extraction (MMCPE) system was developed for the extraction and preconcentration of four synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) (propyl gallate (PG), tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and octyl gallate (OG) ) in cake. The mixture of two kinds of non-ionic surfactants polyoxy ethylene nonyl phenyl ether (NP-7) and polyoxy ethylene nonyl phenyl ether (NP-9) was utilized as a suitable micellar medium for preconcentration and extraction of SPAs. The surfactant-rich phase was then analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). The effect of different parameters such as concentration of surfactants, proportion of NP-7 and NP-9, equilibration time and temperature on the cloud point extraction (CPE) was carefully optimized. Under the studied conditions, four SPAs were successfully separated within 12 min. The relative standard deviations (RSD, n=6) were 1.2-2.0% and the limits of detection (LOD) were 1.5 ng mL-1 for PG, 3.6 ng mL-1 for TBHQ, 2.9 ng mL-1 for BHA, and 0.8 ng mL-1 for OG, respectively. Recoveries of the SPAs in spiked cake samples were in the range of 92% to 99%. The MMCPE method showed potential advantage for the preconcentration of the SPAs, with enrichment factor of 25. Moreover, the method is simple, has high sensitivity, consumes much less solvent, and has significant advantage in extraction efficiency compared to traditional CPE methods. (author)

Spherical Projection Based Straight Line Segment Extraction for Single Station Terrestrial Laser Point Cloud

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZHANG Fan

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Due to the discrete distribution computing errors and lack of adaptability are ubiquitous in the current straight line extraction for TLS data methods. A 3D straight line segment extraction method is proposed based on spherical projection for single station terrestrial laser point clouds. Firstly, horizontal and vertical angles of each laser point are calculated by means of spherical coordinates, intensity panoramic image according to the two angles is generated. Secondly, edges which include straight line features are detected from intensity panoramic image by using of edge detection algorithm. Thirdly, great circles are detected from edges of panoramic image using spherical Hough transform. According to the axiom that a straight line segment in 3D space is a spherical great circle after spherical projection, detecting great circles from spherical projected data sets is essentially detecting straight line segments from 3D data sets without spherical projection. Finally, a robust 3D straight line fitting method is employed to fitting the straight lines and calculating parameters of the straight line segments. Experiments using different data sets and comparison with other methods show the accuracy and applicability of the proposed method.

Speciation and Determination of Low Concentration of Iron in Beer Samples by Cloud Point Extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Khalafi, Lida; Doolittle, Pamela; Wright, John

2018-01-01

A laboratory experiment is described in which students determine the concentration and speciation of iron in beer samples using cloud point extraction and absorbance spectroscopy. The basis of determination is the complexation between iron and 2-(5-bromo-2- pyridylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol (5-Br-PADAP) as a colorimetric reagent in an aqueous…

Combined Enzymatic and Mechanical Cell Disruption and Lipid Extraction of Green Alga Neochloris oleoabundans

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dongqin; Li, Yanqun; Hu, Xueqiong; Su, Weimin; Zhong, Min

2015-01-01

Microalgal biodiesel is one of the most promising renewable fuels. The wet technique for lipids extraction has advantages over the dry method, such as energy-saving and shorter procedure. The cell disruption is a key factor in wet oil extraction to facilitate the intracellular oil release. Ultrasonication, high-pressure homogenization, enzymatic hydrolysis and the combination of enzymatic hydrolysis with high-pressure homogenization and ultrasonication were employed in this study to disrupt the cells of the microalga Neochloris oleoabundans. The cell disruption degree was investigated. The cell morphology before and after disruption was assessed with scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The energy requirements and the operation cost for wet cell disruption were also estimated. The highest disruption degree, up to 95.41%, assessed by accounting method was achieved by the combination of enzymatic hydrolysis and high-pressure homogenization. A lipid recovery of 92.6% was also obtained by the combined process. The combined process was found to be more efficient and economical compared with the individual process. PMID:25853267

Combined Enzymatic and Mechanical Cell Disruption and Lipid Extraction of Green Alga Neochloris oleoabundans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongqin Wang

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Microalgal biodiesel is one of the most promising renewable fuels. The wet technique for lipids extraction has advantages over the dry method, such as energy-saving and shorter procedure. The cell disruption is a key factor in wet oil extraction to facilitate the intracellular oil release. Ultrasonication, high-pressure homogenization, enzymatic hydrolysis and the combination of enzymatic hydrolysis with high-pressure homogenization and ultrasonication were employed in this study to disrupt the cells of the microalga Neochloris oleoabundans. The cell disruption degree was investigated. The cell morphology before and after disruption was assessed with scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The energy requirements and the operation cost for wet cell disruption were also estimated. The highest disruption degree, up to 95.41%, assessed by accounting method was achieved by the combination of enzymatic hydrolysis and high-pressure homogenization. A lipid recovery of 92.6% was also obtained by the combined process. The combined process was found to be more efficient and economical compared with the individual process.

Reliability assessment of Indian Point Unit 3 containment structure under combined loads

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hwang, H.; Shinozuka, M.; Kawakami, J.; Reich, M.

1984-01-01

In the current design criteria, the load combinations specified for design of concrete containment structures are in the deterministic format. However, by applying the probability-based reliability analysis method developed by BNL to the concrete containment structures designed according to the criteria, it is possible to evaluate the reliability levels implied in the current design criteria. For this purpose, the reliability analysis is applied to the Indian Point Unit No. 3 containment. The details of the containment structure such as the geometries and the rebar arrangements, etc., are taken from the working drawings and the Final Safety Analysis Report. Three kinds of loads are considered in the reliability analysis. They are, dead load, accidental pressure due to a large LOCA, and earthquake ground acceleration. This paper presents the reliability analysis results of the Indian Point Unit 3 containment subjected to all combinations of loads

Cloud-point extraction of green-polymers from Cupriavidus necator lysate using thermoseparating-based aqueous two-phase extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Leong, Yoong Kit; Lan, John Chi-Wei; Loh, Hwei-San; Ling, Tau Chuan; Ooi, Chien Wei; Show, Pau Loke

2017-03-01

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a class of renewable and biodegradable green polymers, have gained attraction as a potential substitute for the conventional plastics due to the increasing concern towards environmental pollution as well as the rapidly depleting petroleum reserve. Nevertheless, the high cost of downstream processing of PHA has been a bottleneck for the wide adoption of PHAs. Among the options of PHAs recovery techniques, aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE) outshines the others by having the advantages of providing a mild environment for bioseparation, being green and non-toxic, the capability to handle a large operating volume and easily scaled-up. Utilizing unique properties of thermo-responsive polymer which has decreasing solubility in its aqueous solution as the temperature rises, cloud point extraction (CPE) is an ATPE technique that allows its phase-forming component to be recycled and reused. A thorough literature review has shown that this is the first time isolation and recovery of PHAs from Cupriavidus necator H16 via CPE was reported. The optimum condition for PHAs extraction (recovery yield of 94.8% and purification factor of 1.42 fold) was achieved under the conditions of 20 wt/wt % ethylene oxide-propylene oxide (EOPO) with molecular weight of 3900 g/mol and 10 mM of sodium chloride addition at thermoseparating temperature of 60°C with crude feedstock limit of 37.5 wt/wt %. Recycling and reutilization of EOPO 3900 can be done at least twice with satisfying yield and PF. CPE has been demonstrated as an effective technique for the extraction of PHAs from microbial crude culture. Copyright © 2016 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards 3D Matching of Point Clouds Derived from Oblique and Nadir Airborne Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ming

Because of the low-expense high-efficient image collection process and the rich 3D and texture information presented in the images, a combined use of 2D airborne nadir and oblique images to reconstruct 3D geometric scene has a promising market for future commercial usage like urban planning or first responders. The methodology introduced in this thesis provides a feasible way towards fully automated 3D city modeling from oblique and nadir airborne imagery. In this thesis, the difficulty of matching 2D images with large disparity is avoided by grouping the images first and applying the 3D registration afterward. The procedure starts with the extraction of point clouds using a modified version of the RIT 3D Extraction Workflow. Then the point clouds are refined by noise removal and surface smoothing processes. Since the point clouds extracted from different image groups use independent coordinate systems, there are translation, rotation and scale differences existing. To figure out these differences, 3D keypoints and their features are extracted. For each pair of point clouds, an initial alignment and a more accurate registration are applied in succession. The final transform matrix presents the parameters describing the translation, rotation and scale requirements. The methodology presented in the thesis has been shown to behave well for test data. The robustness of this method is discussed by adding artificial noise to the test data. For Pictometry oblique aerial imagery, the initial alignment provides a rough alignment result, which contains a larger offset compared to that of test data because of the low quality of the point clouds themselves, but it can be further refined through the final optimization. The accuracy of the final registration result is evaluated by comparing it to the result obtained from manual selection of matched points. Using the method introduced, point clouds extracted from different image groups could be combined with each other to build a

AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION AND TOPOLOGY RECONSTRUCTION OF URBAN VIADUCTS FROM LIDAR DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Wang

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Urban viaducts are important infrastructures for the transportation system of a city. In this paper, an original method is proposed to automatically extract urban viaducts and reconstruct topology of the viaduct network just with airborne LiDAR point cloud data. It will greatly simplify the effort-taking procedure of viaducts extraction and reconstruction. In our method, the point cloud first is filtered to divide all the points into ground points and none-ground points. Region growth algorithm is adopted to find the viaduct points from the none-ground points by the features generated from its general prescriptive designation rules. Then, the viaduct points are projected into 2D images to extract the centerline of every viaduct and generate cubic functions to represent passages of viaducts by least square fitting, with which the topology of the viaduct network can be rebuilt by combining the height information. Finally, a topological graph of the viaducts network is produced. The full-automatic method can potentially benefit the application of urban navigation and city model reconstruction.

Automated extraction and analysis of rock discontinuity characteristics from 3D point clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Bianchetti, Matteo; Villa, Alberto; Agliardi, Federico; Crosta, Giovanni B.

2016-04-01

A reliable characterization of fractured rock masses requires an exhaustive geometrical description of discontinuities, including orientation, spacing, and size. These are required to describe discontinuum rock mass structure, perform Discrete Fracture Network and DEM modelling, or provide input for rock mass classification or equivalent continuum estimate of rock mass properties. Although several advanced methodologies have been developed in the last decades, a complete characterization of discontinuity geometry in practice is still challenging, due to scale-dependent variability of fracture patterns and difficult accessibility to large outcrops. Recent advances in remote survey techniques, such as terrestrial laser scanning and digital photogrammetry, allow a fast and accurate acquisition of dense 3D point clouds, which promoted the development of several semi-automatic approaches to extract discontinuity features. Nevertheless, these often need user supervision on algorithm parameters which can be difficult to assess. To overcome this problem, we developed an original Matlab tool, allowing fast, fully automatic extraction and analysis of discontinuity features with no requirements on point cloud accuracy, density and homogeneity. The tool consists of a set of algorithms which: (i) process raw 3D point clouds, (ii) automatically characterize discontinuity sets, (iii) identify individual discontinuity surfaces, and (iv) analyse their spacing and persistence. The tool operates in either a supervised or unsupervised mode, starting from an automatic preliminary exploration data analysis. The identification and geometrical characterization of discontinuity features is divided in steps. First, coplanar surfaces are identified in the whole point cloud using K-Nearest Neighbor and Principal Component Analysis algorithms optimized on point cloud accuracy and specified typical facet size. Then, discontinuity set orientation is calculated using Kernel Density Estimation and

Providing full point-to-point communications among compute nodes of an operational group in a global combining network of a parallel computer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Archer, Charles J.; Faraj, Daniel A.; Inglett, Todd A.; Ratterman, Joseph D.

2018-01-30

Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for providing full point-to-point communications among compute nodes of an operational group in a global combining network of a parallel computer, each compute node connected to each adjacent compute node in the global combining network through a link, that include: receiving a network packet in a compute node, the network packet specifying a destination compute node; selecting, in dependence upon the destination compute node, at least one of the links for the compute node along which to forward the network packet toward the destination compute node; and forwarding the network packet along the selected link to the adjacent compute node connected to the compute node through the selected link.

The algorithm of fast image stitching based on multi-feature extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Chunde; Wu, Ge; Shi, Jing

2018-05-01

This paper proposed an improved image registration method combining Hu-based invariant moment contour information and feature points detection, aiming to solve the problems in traditional image stitching algorithm, such as time-consuming feature points extraction process, redundant invalid information overload and inefficiency. First, use the neighborhood of pixels to extract the contour information, employing the Hu invariant moment as similarity measure to extract SIFT feature points in those similar regions. Then replace the Euclidean distance with Hellinger kernel function to improve the initial matching efficiency and get less mismatching points, further, estimate affine transformation matrix between the images. Finally, local color mapping method is adopted to solve uneven exposure, using the improved multiresolution fusion algorithm to fuse the mosaic images and realize seamless stitching. Experimental results confirm high accuracy and efficiency of method proposed in this paper.

Combining automatic table classification and relationship extraction in extracting anticancer drug-side effect pairs from full-text articles.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Rong; Wang, QuanQiu

2015-02-01

Anticancer drug-associated side effect knowledge often exists in multiple heterogeneous and complementary data sources. A comprehensive anticancer drug-side effect (drug-SE) relationship knowledge base is important for computation-based drug target discovery, drug toxicity predication and drug repositioning. In this study, we present a two-step approach by combining table classification and relationship extraction to extract drug-SE pairs from a large number of high-profile oncological full-text articles. The data consists of 31,255 tables downloaded from the Journal of Oncology (JCO). We first trained a statistical classifier to classify tables into SE-related and -unrelated categories. We then extracted drug-SE pairs from SE-related tables. We compared drug side effect knowledge extracted from JCO tables to that derived from FDA drug labels. Finally, we systematically analyzed relationships between anti-cancer drug-associated side effects and drug-associated gene targets, metabolism genes, and disease indications. The statistical table classifier is effective in classifying tables into SE-related and -unrelated (precision: 0.711; recall: 0.941; F1: 0.810). We extracted a total of 26,918 drug-SE pairs from SE-related tables with a precision of 0.605, a recall of 0.460, and a F1 of 0.520. Drug-SE pairs extracted from JCO tables is largely complementary to those derived from FDA drug labels; as many as 84.7% of the pairs extracted from JCO tables have not been included a side effect database constructed from FDA drug labels. Side effects associated with anticancer drugs positively correlate with drug target genes, drug metabolism genes, and disease indications. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Enhancement of white light OLED efficiency by combining both internal and external light extraction structures

Science.gov (United States)

Kao, I.-Ling; Ku, Chun-Neng; Chen, Yi-Ping; Lin, Ding-Zheng

2012-09-01

We proposed an internal nanostructure with a high reflective index planarization layer to solve the optical loss due to the reflective index mismatch between ITO and glass substrate. In our experiments, we found the electrical property of OLED device was significantly influenced by the internal nanostructures without planarization layer. Moreover, the internal extraction structure (IES) is not necessarily beneficial for light extraction. Therefore, we proposed a new substrate combine both internal and external extraction structure (EES) to extract trapping light. We successfully developed a high refractive index (N 1.7) planarization material with flat surface (RMS roughness < 2 nm), and improved about 70% device efficiency compared to traditional glass substrate.

Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius and Licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Root Extract Combinations Increase Hepatocarcinoma Cell (Hep-G2 Viability

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David G. Popovich

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The combined cytoactive effects of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius and licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis root extracts were investigated in a hepatocarcinoma cell line (Hep-G2. An isobolographic analysis was utilized to express the possibility of synergistic, additive or antagonistic interaction between the two extracts. Both ginseng and licorice roots are widely utilized in traditional Chinese medicine preparations to treat a variety of ailments. However, the effect of the herbs in combination is currently unknown in cultured Hep-G2 cells. Ginseng (GE and licorice (LE extracts were both able to reduce cell viability. The LC50 values, after 72 h, were found to be 0.64 ± 0.02 mg/mL (GE and 0.53 ± 0.02 mg/mL (LE. An isobologram was plotted, which included five theoretical LC50s calculated, based on the fixed fraction method of combination ginseng to licorice extracts to establish a line of additivity. All combinations of GE to LE (1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 4/5 produced an effect on Hep-G2 cell viability but they were all found to be antagonistic. The LC50 of fractions 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 were 23%, 21% and 18% above the theoretical LC50. Lactate dehydrogenase release indicated that as the proportion of GE to LE increased beyond 50%, the influence on membrane permeability increased. Cell-cycle analysis showed a slight but significant arrest at the G1 phase of cell cycle for LE. Both GE and LE reduced Hep-G2 viability independently; however, the combinations of both extracts were found to have an antagonistic effect on cell viability and increased cultured Hep-G2 survival.

Hepatoprotective activity of aqueous extract of Portulaca oleracea in combination with lycopene in rats

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Anusha, M.; Venkateswarlu, M.; Prabhakaran, V.; Taj, S. Shareen; Kumari, B. Pushpa; Ranganayakulu, D.

2011-01-01

Objective: To investigate the hepatoprotective activity of the aqueous extract of the aerial parts of Portulaca oleracea (P. oleracea) in combination with lycopene against carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Materials and Methods: Hepatotoxicity was induced in male Wistar rats by intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride (0.1 ml/kg b.w for 14 days). The aqueous extract of P. oleracea in combination with lycopene (50 mg/kg b.w) was administered to the experimental animals at two selected doses for 14 days. The hepatoprotective activity of the combination was evaluated by the liver function marker enzymes in the serum [aspartate transaminases (AST), alanine transaminases (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (Alk.P), total bilirubin (TB), total protein (TP) and total cholesterol (TC)], pentobarbitone induced sleeping time (PST) and histopathological studies of liver. Results: Both the treatment groups showed hepatoprotective effect against carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity by significantly restoring the levels of serum enzymes to normal which was comparable to that of silymarin group. Besides, the results obtained from PST and histopathological results also support the study. Conclusions: The oral administration of P. oleracea in combination with lycopene significantly ameliorates CCl4 hepatotoxicity in rats. PMID:22022001

Effect of the Combined Extracts of Herba Epimedii and Fructus Ligustri Lucidi on Sex Hormone Functional Levels in Osteoporosis Rats

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RenHui Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The combination of Herba Epimedii and Fructus Ligustri Lucidi has been used to treat osteoporosis for almost 50 years by Professor Shizeng Li, a famous doctor of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM. However, it is unclear whether the combination of the effective constituents of the two herbs may have a protective influence on the skeleton. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the combination extracts of Herba Epimedii and Fructus Ligustri Lucidi on rat model of osteoporosis induced by retinoic acid by gavage. With administrations of the combination extracts of the two herbs (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg/day via oral gavage for 3 weeks, bone mineral density (BMD, femur histomorphometry, some sex hormones, and sex hormone receptors were measured. Results showed that the combined extracts could increase BMD, affect bone histomorphometry, coordinate the sex hormones at the level of hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis, and increase the protein and mRNA expressions of sex hormone receptors. The findings suggested that the combination extracts of Herba Epimedii and Fructus Ligustri Lucidi might be beneficial as an alternative medicine for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

Sequential Combination of Microwave- and Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of Total Flavonoids from Osmanthus fragrans Lour. Flowers

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Jianfeng Yu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Microwave-assisted and ultrasound-assisted extraction assays were used to isolate total flavonoids (TF from Osmanthus fragrans flowers. The effects of the solid-liquid ratio, ethanol concentration, microwave power, microwave extraction time, ultrasonic power and ultrasonic extraction time on the yield of TF were studied. A sequential combination of microwave- and ultrasound-assisted extraction (SC-MUAE methods was developed, which was subsequently optimized by Box-Behnken design-response surface methodology (BBD-RSM. The interaction effects of the ethanol concentration (40–60%, microwave extraction time (5–7 min, ultrasonic extraction time (8–12 min and ultrasonic power (210–430 W on the yield of TF were investigated. The optimum operating parameters for the extraction of TF were determined to be as follows: ethanol concentration (48.15%, microwave extraction time (6.43 min, ultrasonic extraction time (10.09 min and ultrasonic power (370.9 W. Under these conditions, the extraction yield of TF was 7.86 mg/g.

Subcritical water extraction combined with molecular imprinting technology for sample preparation in the detection of triazine herbicides.

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Zhao, Fengnian; Wang, Shanshan; She, Yongxin; Zhang, Chao; Zheng, Lufei; Jin, Maojun; Shao, Hua; Jin, Fen; Du, Xinwei; Wang, Jing

2017-09-15

A selective, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective sample extraction method based on a combination of subcritical water extraction (SWE) and molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) was developed for the determination of eight triazine herbicides in soil samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In SWE, the highest extraction yields of triazine herbicides were obtained under 150°C for 15min using 20% ethanol as the organic modifier. Addition of MIP during SWE increased the extraction efficiency, and using MIP as a selective SPE sorbent improved the enrichment capability. Soil samples were treated with the optimized extraction MIP/SWE-MISPE method and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. The novel technique was then applied to soil samples for the determination of triazine herbicides, and better recoveries (78.9%-101%) were obtained compared with using SWE-MISPE (30%-67%). Moreover, this newly developed method displayed good linearity (R 2 >0.99) and precision (2.7-9.8%), and low enough detection limits (0.4-3.3μgkg -1 ). This combination of SWE and MIP technology is a simple, effective and promising method to selectively extract class-specific compounds in complex samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A combined cesium-strontium extraction/recovery process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horwitz, E.P.; Dietz, M.L.; Jensen, M.P.

1996-01-01

A new solvent extraction process for the simultaneous extraction of cesium and strontium from acidic nitrate media is described. This process uses a solvent formulation comprised of 0.05 M di-t-butylcyclohexano-18-crown-6 (DtBuCH18C6), 0.1 M Crown 100' (a proprietary, cesium-selective derivative of dibenzo-18-crown-6), 1.2 M tributyl phosphate (TBP), and 5% (v/v) lauryl nitrile in an isoparaffinic hydrocarbon diluent. Distribution ratios for cesium and strontium from 4 M nitric acid are 4.13 and 3.46, respectively. A benchtop batch countercurrent extraction experiment indicates that >98% of the cesium and strontium initially present in the feed solution can be removed in only four extraction stages. Through proper choice of extraction and strip conditions, extracted cesium and strontium can be recovered either together or individually

Low frequency sonic waves assisted cloud point extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoate from Cupriavidus necator.

Science.gov (United States)

Murugesan, Sivananth; Iyyaswami, Regupathi

2017-08-15

Low frequency sonic waves, less than 10kHz were introduced to assist cloud point extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoate from Cupriavidus necator present within the crude broth. Process parameters including surfactant system variables and sonication parameters were studied for their effect on extraction efficiency. Introduction of low frequency sonic waves assists in the dissolution of microbial cell wall by the surfactant micelles and release of cellular content, polyhydroxyalkanoate granules released were encapsulated by the micelle core which was confirmed by crotonic acid assay. In addition, sonic waves resulted in the separation of homogeneous surfactant and broth mixture into two distinct phases, top aqueous phase and polyhydroxyalkanoate enriched bottom surfactant rich phase. Mixed surfactant systems showed higher extraction efficiency compared to that of individual Triton X-100 concentrations, owing to increase in the hydrophobicity of the micellar core and its interaction with polyhydroxyalkanoate. Addition of salts to the mixed surfactant system induces screening of charged surfactant head groups and reduces inter-micellar repulsion, presence of ammonium ions lead to electrostatic repulsion and weaker cation sodium enhances the formation of micellar network. Addition of polyethylene glycol 8000 resulted in increasing interaction with the surfactant tails of the micelle core there by reducing the purity of polyhydroxyalkanoate. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a cloud-point extraction method for copper and nickel determination in food samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azevedo Lemos, Valfredo; Selis Santos, Moacy; Teixeira David, Graciete; Vasconcelos Maciel, Mardson; Almeida Bezerra, Marcos de

2008-01-01

A new, simple and versatile cloud-point extraction (CPE) methodology has been developed for the separation and preconcentration of copper and nickel. The metals in the initial aqueous solution were complexed with 2-(2'-benzothiazolylazo)-5-(N,N-diethyl)aminophenol (BDAP) and Triton X-114 was added as surfactant. Dilution of the surfactant-rich phase with acidified methanol was performed after phase separation, and the copper and nickel contents were measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The variables affecting the cloud-point extraction were optimized using a Box-Behnken design. Under the optimum experimental conditions, enrichment factors of 29 and 25 were achieved for copper and nickel, respectively. The accuracy of the method was evaluated and confirmed by analysis of the followings certified reference materials: Apple Leaves, Spinach Leaves and Tomato Leaves. The limits of detection expressed to solid sample analysis were 0.1 μg g -1 (Cu) and 0.4 μg g -1 (Ni). The precision for 10 replicate measurements of 75 μg L -1 Cu or Ni was 6.4 and 1.0, respectively. The method has been successfully applied to the analysis of food samples

Extraction of Generalized Parton Distributions from combined Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering and Timelike Compton scattering fits

Science.gov (United States)

Boer, Marie

2017-09-01

Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) contain the correlation between the parton's longitudinal momentum and their transverse distribution. They are accessed through hard exclusive processes, such as Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS). DVCS has already been measured in several experiments and several models allow for extracting GPDs from these measurements. Timelike Compton Scattering (TCS) is, at leading order, the time-reversal equivalent process to DVCS and accesses GPDs at the same kinematics. Comparing GPDs extracted from DVCS and TCS is a unique way for proving GPD universality. Combining fits from the two processes will also allow for better constraining the GPDs. We will present our method for extracting GPDs from DVCS and TCS pseudo-data. We will compare fit results from the two processes in similar conditions and present what can be expected in term of contraints on GPDs from combined fits.

Analysis of Free Amino Acids in Different Extracts of Orthosiphon stamineus Leaves by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Combined with Solid-Phase Extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Shafaei, Armaghan; Halim, Nor Hidayah Ab; Zakaria, Norhidayah; Ismail, Zhari

2017-10-01

Orthosiphon stamineus (OS) Benth is a medicinal plant and native in Southeast Asia. Previous studies have shown that OS leaves possess antioxidant, cytotoxic, diuretic, antihypertensive, and uricosuric effects. These beneficial effects have been attributed to the presence of primary and secondary metabolites such as polyphenols, amino acids, and flavonoids. To develop and validate an high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-diode array detector (DAD) method combined with solid-phase extraction that involves precolumn derivatization with O -phthaladehyde for simultaneous analysis of free amino acids in OS leaves extracts. OS leaves were extracted with water (OS-W), ethanol (OS-E), methanol (OS-M), 50% ethanol (OS-EW), and 50% methanol (OS-MW). The extracts were treated by C18 cartridge before derivatization, resulting in great improvement of separation by Zorbox Eclipse XDB-C 18 column. The HPLC-DAD method was successfully developed and validated for analyzing the contents of free amino acids in OS extracts. The results showed that l-aspartic acid with 0.93 ± 0.01 nmol/mg was the major free amino acid in OS-W extract. However, in OS-E, OS-M, OS-EW, and OS-MW, l-glutamic acid with 3.53 ± 0.16, 2.17 ± 0.10, 4.01 ± 0.12, and 2.49 ± 0.12 nmol/mg, respectively, was the major free amino acid. Subsequently, l-serine, which was detected in OS-W, OS-E, and OS-M, was the minor free amino acid with 0.33 ± 0.02, 0.12 ± 0.01, and 0.06 ± 0.01 nmol/mg, respectively. However, l-threonine with 0.26 ± 0.02 and 0.19 ± 0.08 nmol/mL in OS-EW and OS-MW, respectively, had the lowest concentration compared with other amino acid components. All validation parameters of the developed method indicate that the method is reliable and efficient to simultaneously determine the free amino acids content for routine analysis of OS extracts. The HPLC-DAD method combined with solid phase extraction was successfully developed and validated for simultaneous determination and

Ion-pair cloud-point extraction: a new method for the determination of water-soluble vitamins in plasma and urine.

Science.gov (United States)

Heydari, Rouhollah; Elyasi, Najmeh S

2014-10-01

A novel, simple, and effective ion-pair cloud-point extraction coupled with a gradient high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for determination of thiamine (vitamin B1 ), niacinamide (vitamin B3 ), pyridoxine (vitamin B6 ), and riboflavin (vitamin B2 ) in plasma and urine samples. The extraction and separation of vitamins were achieved based on an ion-pair formation approach between these ionizable analytes and 1-heptanesulfonic acid sodium salt as an ion-pairing agent. Influential variables on the ion-pair cloud-point extraction efficiency, such as the ion-pairing agent concentration, ionic strength, pH, volume of Triton X-100, extraction temperature, and incubation time have been fully evaluated and optimized. Water-soluble vitamins were successfully extracted by 1-heptanesulfonic acid sodium salt (0.2% w/v) as ion-pairing agent with Triton X-100 (4% w/v) as surfactant phase at 50°C for 10 min. The calibration curves showed good linearity (r(2) > 0.9916) and precision in the concentration ranges of 1-50 μg/mL for thiamine and niacinamide, 5-100 μg/mL for pyridoxine, and 0.5-20 μg/mL for riboflavin. The recoveries were in the range of 78.0-88.0% with relative standard deviations ranging from 6.2 to 8.2%. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Investigation of metal ion extraction and aggregate formation combining acidic and neutral organophosphorous reagents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Braatz, A.D.; Nilsson, M. [Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, 916 Engineering Tower, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-2575 (United States); Ellis, R.; Antonio, M. [Chemical Science and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Building 200 9700 South Cass Ave, Argonne, IL 60439-4831 (United States)

2013-07-01

In the present study, we investigate how varying mixtures of tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) and dibutyl phosphate (HDBP) results in enhanced extraction of lanthanum(III), La{sup 3+}, and dysprosium(III), Dy{sup 3+}. Water and metal ion extraction were carefully monitored as a function of TBP:HDBP mole ratio.In addition to these techniques, EXAFS was used to determine the coordination environment of the metal ion in this system. To produce the necessary signal, a concentration of 1.25*10{sup -3} M La{sup 3+} and Dy{sup 3+} was used. Although previous studies of synergistic extraction of metal cations using combinations of neutral and acidic reagents explain the enhanced extraction by increased dehydration of the metal ion and the formation of mixed extractant complexes, our evidence for the increased water extraction coupled with the aggregate formation suggests a reverse micellar aspect to synergism in the system containing TBP and HDBP. It is quite possible that both of these phenomena contribute to our system behavior. The EXAFS data shows that, based on coordination numbers alone, several possible structures may exist. From this study, we cannot provide a definitive answer as to the nature of extraction in this system or the exact complex formed during extraction.

A Combined Control Chart for Identifying Out–Of–Control Points in Multivariate Processes

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Marroquín–Prado E.

2010-10-01

Full Text Available The Hotelling's T2 control chart is widely used to identify out–of–control signals in multivariate processes. However, this chart is not sensitive to small shifts in the process mean vec tor. In this work we propose a control chart to identify out–of–control signals. The proposed chart is a combination of Hotelling's T2 chart, M chart proposed by Hayter et al. (1994 and a new chart based on Principal Components. The combination of these charts identifies any type and size of change in the process mean vector. Us ing simulation and the Average Run Length (ARL, the performance of the proposed control chart is evaluated. The ARL means the average points within control before an out–of–control point is detected, The results of the simulation show that the proposed chart is more sensitive that each one of the three charts individually

Novel Fluorinated Tensioactive Extractant Combined with Flotation for Decontamination of Extractant Residual during Solvent Extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xue; Chang, Zhidong; Liu, Yao; Choe, Chol Ryong

2017-12-01

Solvent-extraction is widely used in chemical industry. Due to the amphiphilic character, a large amount of extractant remains in water phase, which causes not only loss of reagent, but also secondary contamination in water phase. Novel fluorinated extractants with ultra-low solubility in water were regarded as effective choice to reduce extractant loss in aqueous phase. However, trace amount of extractant still remained in water. Based on the high tensioactive aptitude of fluorinated solvent, flotation was applied to separate fluorinated extractant remaining in raffinate. According to the data of surface tension measurement, the surface tension of solution was obviously decreased with the addition of fluorinated extractant tris(2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoropentyl) phosphate (FTAP). After flotation, the FTAP dissolved in water can be removed as much as 70%, which proved the feasibility of this key idea. The effects of operation time, gas velocity, pH and salinity of bulk solution on flotation performance were discussed. The optimum operating parameters were determined as gas velocity of 12ml/min, operating time of 15min, pH of 8.7, and NaCl volume concentration of 1.5%, respectively. Moreover, adsorption process of FTAP on bubble surface was simulated by ANSYS VOF model using SIMPLE algorithm. The dynamic mechanism of flotation was also theoretically investigated, which can be considered as supplement to the experimental results.

Cloud Point Extraction and Determination of Silver Ion in Real Sample using Bis((1H-benzo[d ]imidazol-2ylmethylsulfane

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Farshid Ahmadi

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Bis((1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2ylmethylsulfane (BHIS was used as a complexing agent in cloud point extraction for the first time and applied for selective pre-concentration of trace amounts of silver. The method is based on the extraction of silver at pH 8.0 by using non-ionic surfactant T-X114 and bis((1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2ylmethylsulfane as a chelating agent. The adopted concentrations for BHIS, Triton X-114 and HNO3, bath temperature, centrifuge rate and time were optimized. Detection limits (3SDb/m of 1.7 along with enrichment factor of 39 for silver ion was achieved. The high efficiency of cloud point extraction to carry out the determination of analytes in complex matrices was demonstrated. The proposed method was successfully applied to the ultra-trace determination of silver in real samples.

An improved approach for flow-based cloud point extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Frizzarin, Rejane M; Rocha, Fábio R P

2014-04-11

Novel strategies are proposed to circumvent the main drawbacks of flow-based cloud point extraction (CPE). The surfactant-rich phase (SRP) was directly retained into the optical path of the spectrophotometric cell, thus avoiding its dilution previously to the measurement and yielding higher sensitivity. Solenoid micro-pumps were exploited to improve mixing by the pulsed flow and also to modulate the flow-rate for retention and removal of the SRP, thus avoiding the elution step, often carried out with organic solvents. The heat released and the increase of the salt concentration provided by an on-line neutralization reaction were exploited to induce the cloud point without an external heating device. These innovations were demonstrated by the spectrophotometric determination of iron, yielding a linear response from 10 to 200 μg L(-1) with a coefficient of variation of 2.3% (n=7). Detection limit and sampling rate were estimated at 5 μg L(-1) (95% confidence level) and 26 samples per hour, respectively. The enrichment factor was 8.9 and the procedure consumed only 6 μg of TAN and 390 μg of Triton X-114 per determination. At the 95% confidence level, the results obtained for freshwater samples agreed with the reference procedure and those obtained for digests of bovine muscle, rice flour, brown bread and tort lobster agreed with the certified reference values. The proposed procedure thus shows advantages in relation to previously proposed approaches for flow-based CPE, being a fast and environmental friendly alternative for on-line separation and pre-concentration. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A new dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction using ionic liquid based microemulsion coupled with cloud point extraction for determination of copper in serum and water samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Arain, Salma Aslam; Kazi, Tasneem Gul; Afridi, Hassan Imran; Arain, Mariam Shahzadi; Panhwar, Abdul Haleem; Khan, Naeemullah; Baig, Jameel Ahmed; Shah, Faheem

2016-04-01

A simple and rapid dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction procedure based on ionic liquid assisted microemulsion (IL-µE-DLLME) combined with cloud point extraction has been developed for preconcentration copper (Cu(2+)) in drinking water and serum samples of adolescent female hepatitits C (HCV) patients. In this method a ternary system was developed to form microemulsion (µE) by phase inversion method (PIM), using ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C4mim][PF6]) and nonionic surfactant, TX-100 (as a stabilizer in aqueous media). The Ionic liquid microemulsion (IL-µE) was evaluated through visual assessment, optical light microscope and spectrophotometrically. The Cu(2+) in real water and aqueous acid digested serum samples were complexed with 8-hydroxyquinoline (oxine) and extracted into IL-µE medium. The phase separation of stable IL-µE was carried out by the micellar cloud point extraction approach. The influence of of different parameters such as pH, oxine concentration, centrifugation time and rate were investigated. At optimized experimental conditions, the limit of detection and enhancement factor were found to be 0.132 µg/L and 70 respectively, with relative standard deviation <5%. In order to validate the developed method, certified reference materials (SLRS-4 Riverine water) and human serum (Sero-M10181) were analyzed. The resulting data indicated a non-significant difference in obtained and certified values of Cu(2+). The developed procedure was successfully applied for the preconcentration and determination of trace levels of Cu(2+) in environmental and biological samples. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Model for Semantically Rich Point Cloud Data

Science.gov (United States)

Poux, F.; Neuville, R.; Hallot, P.; Billen, R.

2017-10-01

This paper proposes an interoperable model for managing high dimensional point clouds while integrating semantics. Point clouds from sensors are a direct source of information physically describing a 3D state of the recorded environment. As such, they are an exhaustive representation of the real world at every scale: 3D reality-based spatial data. Their generation is increasingly fast but processing routines and data models lack of knowledge to reason from information extraction rather than interpretation. The enhanced smart point cloud developed model allows to bring intelligence to point clouds via 3 connected meta-models while linking available knowledge and classification procedures that permits semantic injection. Interoperability drives the model adaptation to potentially many applications through specialized domain ontologies. A first prototype is implemented in Python and PostgreSQL database and allows to combine semantic and spatial concepts for basic hybrid queries on different point clouds.

MODEL FOR SEMANTICALLY RICH POINT CLOUD DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Poux

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes an interoperable model for managing high dimensional point clouds while integrating semantics. Point clouds from sensors are a direct source of information physically describing a 3D state of the recorded environment. As such, they are an exhaustive representation of the real world at every scale: 3D reality-based spatial data. Their generation is increasingly fast but processing routines and data models lack of knowledge to reason from information extraction rather than interpretation. The enhanced smart point cloud developed model allows to bring intelligence to point clouds via 3 connected meta-models while linking available knowledge and classification procedures that permits semantic injection. Interoperability drives the model adaptation to potentially many applications through specialized domain ontologies. A first prototype is implemented in Python and PostgreSQL database and allows to combine semantic and spatial concepts for basic hybrid queries on different point clouds.

Determination of cadmium(II), cobalt(II), nickel(II), lead(II), zinc(II), and copper(II) in water samples using dual-cloud point extraction and inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Lingling; Zhong, Shuxian; Fang, Keming; Qian, Zhaosheng; Chen, Jianrong

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A dual-cloud point extraction (d-CPE) procedure was firstly developed for simultaneous pre-concentration and separation of trace metal ions combining with ICP-OES. ► The developed d-CPE can significantly eliminate the surfactant of Triton X-114 and successfully extend to the determination of water samples with good performance. ► The designed method is simple, high efficient, low cost, and in accordance with the green chemistry concept. - Abstract: A dual-cloud point extraction (d-CPE) procedure has been developed for simultaneous pre-concentration and separation of heavy metal ions (Cd 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ , and Cu 2+ ion) in water samples by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The procedure is based on forming complexes of metal ion with 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) into the as-formed Triton X-114 surfactant rich phase. Instead of direct injection or analysis, the surfactant rich phase containing the complexes was treated by nitric acid, and the detected ions were back extracted again into aqueous phase at the second cloud point extraction stage, and finally determined by ICP-OES. Under the optimum conditions (pH = 7.0, Triton X-114 = 0.05% (w/v), 8-HQ = 2.0 × 10 −4 mol L −1 , HNO 3 = 0.8 mol L −1 ), the detection limits for Cd 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ , and Cu 2+ ions were 0.01, 0.04, 0.01, 0.34, 0.05, and 0.04 μg L −1 , respectively. Relative standard deviation (RSD) values for 10 replicates at 100 μg L −1 were lower than 6.0%. The proposed method could be successfully applied to the determination of Cd 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ , and Cu 2+ ion in water samples.

PolyFit: Polygonal Surface Reconstruction from Point Clouds

KAUST Repository

Nan, Liangliang; Wonka, Peter

2017-01-01

We propose a novel framework for reconstructing lightweight polygonal surfaces from point clouds. Unlike traditional methods that focus on either extracting good geometric primitives or obtaining proper arrangements of primitives, the emphasis of this work lies in intersecting the primitives (planes only) and seeking for an appropriate combination of them to obtain a manifold polygonal surface model without boundary.,We show that reconstruction from point clouds can be cast as a binary labeling problem. Our method is based on a hypothesizing and selection strategy. We first generate a reasonably large set of face candidates by intersecting the extracted planar primitives. Then an optimal subset of the candidate faces is selected through optimization. Our optimization is based on a binary linear programming formulation under hard constraints that enforce the final polygonal surface model to be manifold and watertight. Experiments on point clouds from various sources demonstrate that our method can generate lightweight polygonal surface models of arbitrary piecewise planar objects. Besides, our method is capable of recovering sharp features and is robust to noise, outliers, and missing data.

PolyFit: Polygonal Surface Reconstruction from Point Clouds

KAUST Repository

Nan, Liangliang

2017-12-25

We propose a novel framework for reconstructing lightweight polygonal surfaces from point clouds. Unlike traditional methods that focus on either extracting good geometric primitives or obtaining proper arrangements of primitives, the emphasis of this work lies in intersecting the primitives (planes only) and seeking for an appropriate combination of them to obtain a manifold polygonal surface model without boundary.,We show that reconstruction from point clouds can be cast as a binary labeling problem. Our method is based on a hypothesizing and selection strategy. We first generate a reasonably large set of face candidates by intersecting the extracted planar primitives. Then an optimal subset of the candidate faces is selected through optimization. Our optimization is based on a binary linear programming formulation under hard constraints that enforce the final polygonal surface model to be manifold and watertight. Experiments on point clouds from various sources demonstrate that our method can generate lightweight polygonal surface models of arbitrary piecewise planar objects. Besides, our method is capable of recovering sharp features and is robust to noise, outliers, and missing data.

Therapeutic and Safety Evaluation of Combined Aqueous Extracts of Azadirachta indica and Khaya senegalensis in Chickens Experimentally Infected with Eimeria Oocysts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. G. Gotep

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Coccidiosis is a disease of economic importance in poultry causing morbidity and mortality. Reports show that Azadirachta indica and Khaya senegalensis have been used individually in the treatment of avian coccidiosis. We thus investigated the efficacy and safety of the combined aqueous extracts of these plants for the treatment of experimentally induced coccidiosis in broiler chickens using oocyst count, oxidative stress biomarkers, serum biochemistry, histology, and haematological parameters. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, cardiac glycosides, and steroids in both extracts. In addition, alkaloids and flavonoids were present in Azadirachta indica. There was significant (p<0.05 dose dependent decrease in oocyst count across the treatment groups with 400 mg/kg of the combined extract being the most efficacious dose. Immunomodulatory and erythropoietic activity was observed. There were decreased intestinal lesions and enhanced antioxidant activity across the treatment groups compared to the negative control. Administration of the combined extract did not cause damage to the liver as ALT, AST, and ALP levels were significantly reduced in the uninfected chickens treated with the extracts compared to control suggesting safety at the doses used. The combined aqueous extracts of K. senegalensis stem bark and Azadirachta indica leaves were ameliorative in chickens infected with coccidiosis.

Induction of Apoptosis by Alcoholic Extract of Combination Verbascum thapsus and Ginger officinale on Iranian Isolate of Trichomonas vaginalis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zohreh FAKHRIEH-KASHAN

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: The protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD. Metronidazole is a chosen drug for the treatment. This study evaluated the anti trichomonal activity of alcoholic extracts of combination Verbascum thapsus and Ginger officinale.Methods: This experimental study was conducted in the Parasitology Laboratory, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran in 2015, on 23 women with suspected trichomoniasis referring to Kashan clinical centers. Medium TYI-S-33 was used for culture of three T. vaginalis isolates. Different concentrations (25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 µg/ml of V. thapsus and G. officinale ethanol extract added to Trichomonas trophozoites in 48-well plates and metronidazole considered as positive control and the negative control was TYI-S33 containing Trichomonas trophozoites without any drug. In all of mentioned groups, trophozoites number counted 12, 24, 48 h after culture. Results were analyzed using ANOVA statistical test, to evaluate the toxicity of extract, measured by MTT assay. Induced apoptosis of T. vaginalis after treatment with different concentrations of extract was determined by Flow Cytometry. Results: IC50 of alcoholic extract of combination V. thapsus and G. officinale and metronidazole after 24h was 73.80 µg/ml and 0.0326 µg/ml, respectively. The toxicity percentage of 25-800 μg/ml concentrations of this combination were between 0.2-1.98. In different concentrations of extract (25,50,100,200 and 400 µg/ml apoptosis percent after 48h was 18.97 to 77.19 and necrosis percent was calculated 1.35, 3.18, 3.10, 1.16 and 4.09, respectively.Conclusion: Alcoholic extract of combination V. thapsus and G. officinale induces programmed death in T. vaginalis. Due to no toxicity on macrophages, it can be examined in vivo studies.

Combination of electromembrane extraction and liquid-phase microextraction in a single step: Simultaneous group separation of acidic and basic drugs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Chuixiu; Seip, Knut Fredrik; Gjelstad, Astrid

2015-01-01

at high concentration. This approach was further investigated from human plasma. Extraction recoveries were strongly dependent on dilution of plasma with buffer and on extraction time. Finally, this simultaneous EME/LPME approach was evaluated in combination with liquid chromatography (LC......Electromembrane extraction (EME) and liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) were combined in a single step for the first time to realize simultaneous and clear group separation of basic and acidic drugs. Using 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether as the supported liquid membrane (SLM) for EME and dihexyl ether...

Optimisation of beryllium-7 gamma analysis following BCR sequential extraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Taylor, A. [Plymouth University, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, 8 Kirkby Place, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom); Blake, W.H., E-mail: wblake@plymouth.ac.uk [Plymouth University, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, 8 Kirkby Place, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom); Keith-Roach, M.J. [Plymouth University, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, 8 Kirkby Place, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom); Kemakta Konsult, Stockholm (Sweden)

2012-03-30

Graphical abstract: Showing decrease in analytical uncertainty using the optimal (combined preconcentrated sample extract) method. nv (no value) where extract activities were Pointing-Pointer Knowledge of {sup 7}Be geochemical behaviour is required to support tracer studies. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Sequential extraction with natural {sup 7}Be returns high analytical uncertainties. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Preconcentrating extracts from a large sample mass improved analytical uncertainty. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer This optimised method can be readily employed in studies using low activity samples. - Abstract: The application of cosmogenic {sup 7}Be as a sediment tracer at the catchment-scale requires an understanding of its geochemical associations in soil to underpin the assumption of irreversible adsorption. Sequential extractions offer a readily accessible means of determining the associations of {sup 7}Be with operationally defined soil phases. However, the subdivision of the low activity concentrations of fallout {sup 7}Be in soils into geochemical fractions can introduce high gamma counting uncertainties. Extending analysis time significantly is not always an option for batches of samples, owing to the on-going decay of {sup 7}Be (t{sub 1/2} = 53.3 days). Here, three different methods of preparing and quantifying {sup 7}Be extracted using the optimised BCR three-step scheme have been evaluated and compared with a focus on reducing analytical uncertainties. The optimal method involved carrying out the BCR extraction in triplicate, sub-sampling each set of triplicates for stable Be analysis before combining each set and coprecipitating the {sup 7}Be with metal oxyhydroxides to produce a thin source for gamma analysis. This method was applied to BCR extractions of natural {sup 7}Be in four agricultural soils. The approach gave good counting statistics from a 24 h analysis period ({approx}10% (2

Coordinate alignment of combined measurement systems using a modified common points method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, G.; Zhang, P.; Xiao, W.

2018-03-01

The co-ordinate metrology has been extensively researched for its outstanding advantages in measurement range and accuracy. The alignment of different measurement systems is usually achieved by integrating local coordinates via common points before measurement. The alignment errors would accumulate and significantly reduce the global accuracy, thus need to be minimized. In this thesis, a modified common points method (MCPM) is proposed to combine different traceable system errors of the cooperating machines, and optimize the global accuracy by introducing mutual geometric constraints. The geometric constraints, obtained by measuring the common points in individual local coordinate systems, provide the possibility to reduce the local measuring uncertainty whereby enhance the global measuring certainty. A simulation system is developed in Matlab to analyze the feature of MCPM using the Monto-Carlo method. An exemplary setup is constructed to verify the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method associated with laser tracker and indoor iGPS systems. Experimental results show that MCPM could significantly improve the alignment accuracy.

Combined antioxidant effects of Neem extract, bacteria, red blood cells and Lysozyme: possible relation to periodontal disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Heyman, Leali; Houri-Haddad, Yael; Heyman, Samuel N; Ginsburg, Isaac; Gleitman, Yossi; Feuerstein, Osnat

2017-08-10

The common usage of chewing sticks prepared from Neem tree (Azadirachta indica) in India suggests its potential efficacy in periodontal diseases. The objective of this study is to explore the antibacterial effects of Neem leaf extract on the periodontophatic bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum, and its antioxidant capacities alone and in combination with bacteria and polycationic peptides that may be at the site of inflammation. Neem leaf extract was prepared by ethanol extraction. The growth kinetics of P. gingivalis and F. nucleatum under anaerobic conditions in the presence of Neem leaf extract were measured. Broth microdilution test was used to determine the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of Neem leaf extract against each bacterial strain. The effect of Neem leaf extract on the coaggregation of the bacteria was assessed by a visual semi-quantitative assay. The antioxidant capacities of Neem leaf extract alone and in combination with bacteria, with the addition of red blood cells or the polycationic peptides chlorhexidine and lisozyme, were determined using a chemiluminescence assay. Neem leaf extract showed prominent dose-dependent antibacterial activity against P. gingivalis, however, had no effect on the growth of F. nucleatum nor on the coaggregation of the two bacteria. Yet, it showed intense antioxidant activity, which was amplified following adherence to bacteria and with the addition of red blood cells or the polycationic peptides. Neem leaf extract, containing polyphenols that adhere to oral surfaces, have the potential to provide long-lasting antibacterial as well as synergic antioxidant activities when in complex with bacteria, red blood cells and lisozyme. Thus, it might be especially effective in periodontal diseases.

Extracting Loop Bounds for WCET Analysis Using the Instrumentation Point Graph

Science.gov (United States)

Betts, A.; Bernat, G.

2009-05-01

Every calculation engine proposed in the literature of Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) analysis requires upper bounds on loop iterations. Existing mechanisms to procure this information are either error prone, because they are gathered from the end-user, or limited in scope, because automatic analyses target very specific loop structures. In this paper, we present a technique that obtains bounds completely automatically for arbitrary loop structures. In particular, we show how to employ the Instrumentation Point Graph (IPG) to parse traces of execution (generated by an instrumented program) in order to extract bounds relative to any loop-nesting level. With this technique, therefore, non-rectangular dependencies between loops can be captured, allowing more accurate WCET estimates to be calculated. We demonstrate the improvement in accuracy by comparing WCET estimates computed through our HMB framework against those computed with state-of-the-art techniques.

Optimisation of gelatin extraction from Unicorn leatherjacket (Aluterus monoceros) skin waste: response surface approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanjabam, Mandakini Devi; Kannaiyan, Sathish Kumar; Kamei, Gaihiamngam; Jakhar, Jitender Kumar; Chouksey, Mithlesh Kumar; Gudipati, Venkateshwarlu

2015-02-01

Physical properties of gelatin extracted from Unicorn leatherjacket (Aluterus monoceros) skin, which is generated as a waste from fish processing industries, were optimised using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A Box-Behnken design was used to study the combined effects of three independent variables, namely phosphoric acid (H3PO4) concentration (0.15-0.25 M), extraction temperature (40-50 °C) and extraction time (4-12 h) on different responses like yield, gel strength and melting point of gelatin. The optimum conditions derived by RSM for the yield (10.58%) were 0.2 M H3PO4 for 9.01 h of extraction time and hot water extraction of 45.83 °C. The maximum achieved gel strength and melting point was 138.54 g and 22.61 °C respectively. Extraction time was found to be most influencing variable and had a positive coefficient on yield and negative coefficient on gel strength and melting point. The results indicated that Unicorn leatherjacket skins can be a source of gelatin having mild gel strength and melting point.

Microwave assisted aqua regia extraction of thallium from sediment and coal fly ash samples and interference free determination by continuum source ETAAS after cloud point extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Meeravali, Noorbasha N; Madhavi, K; Kumar, Sunil Jai

2013-01-30

A simple cloud point extraction method is described for the separation and pre-concentration of thallium from the microwave assisted aqua regia extracts of sediment and coal fly ash samples. The method is based on the formation of extractable species of thallium and its interaction with hydrophobic solubilizing sites of Triton X-114 micelles in the presence of aqua regia and electrolyte NaCl. These interactions of micelles are used for extraction of thallium from a bulk aqueous phase into a small micelles-rich phase. The potential chloride interferences are eliminated effectively, which enabled interference free determination of thallium from aqua regia extracts using continuum source ETAAS. The parameters affecting the extraction process are optimized. Under the optimized conditions, pre-concentration factor and limit of detection are 40 and 0.2 ng g(-1), respectively. The recoveries are in the range of 95-102%. A characteristic mass, 13 pg was obtained. The accuracy of the method is verified by analyzing certified reference materials such as NIST 1633b coal fly ash, NIST 1944 marine sediment and GBW 07312 stream sediments. The results obtained are in good agreement with the certified values and method is also applied to real samples. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Combined radio- and chemotherapy from the point of view of the internist-oncologist

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engelhardt, R.

1979-01-01

The indications for a combined radio- and chemotherapy can be summarized from three points of view: 1) Intensifying local radiotherapy by chemotherapy. 2) Extending local radiotherapy by systematical chemotherapy. 3) Supporting chemotherapy by radiotherapy. The side effects of the combination are discussed, classified as immediate type and long-term type. It is indicated that in all combinations the drug-specific and/or organ-specific side effects of the cytostatics must be taken into consideration. The substantial therapeutical aspect lies in prophylaxis. Exact data concerning the reduction of the dosage of the radiotherapy and/or the chemotherapy must be found after exact observation of the complications. Knowing the side effects of the immediate-type and taking into consideration the long-term damage which can be expected, there are today clear indications for a combined radio- and chemotherapy. (orig./MG) 891 MG/orig.- 892 RDG [de

Combinations of Epoch Durations and Cut-Points to Estimate Sedentary Time and Physical Activity among Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Fröberg, Andreas; Berg, Christina; Larsson, Christel; Boldemann, Cecilia; Raustorp, Anders

2017-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to investigate how combinations of different epoch durations and cut-points affect the estimations of sedentary time and physical activity in adolescents. Accelerometer data from 101 adolescents were derived and 30 combinations were used to estimate sedentary time, light, moderate, vigorous, and combined…

Combining functional CT and FDG PET allows the calculation of FDG extraction fraction and hepatic glucose phosphorylation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Griffiths, M R [Centre for Medical and Health Physics, Queensland University of Technology (Australia); Wesley Research Institute, QLD (Australia); Miles, K A [Centre for Medical and Health Physics, Queensland University of Technology (Australia); Wesley Research Institute, QLD (Australia); Southern X-ray Clinics, Brisbane [Australia; Keith, C J [Wesley Research Institute, QLD (Australia)

2002-09-01

Perfusion data from Functional CT and FDG-PET data may be combined to provide additional information about the uptake of FDG. We have developed methods to calculate FDG extraction fraction in tissues and to quantify hepatic glucose phosphorylation in the liver. Extraction fraction: Functional CT and FDG-PET studies were used to obtain measurements of perfusion and glucose uptake respectively within ten pulmonary nodules. The net influx constant (Ki) was determined from SUV measurements for each lung mass Extraction fraction (E) for each mass lesion was determined from: E=Ki/(Px[1-Hct]). A pixel by pixel calculation allowed generation of extraction fraction maps. The extraction fraction measurements ranged (median) from 0.6% to 4.81% (2.7%). The values for a benign nodule and an organising pneumonia were 0.6% and 0.71% respectively. Extraction fraction measurements for the malignant nodules ranged from 2.01% to 4.81%. A clearer separation of benign and malignant lesions is seen with E values rather than with SUV. Hepatic Glucose Phosphorylation: Functional CT and FDG-PET were utilised to obtain measurements of perfusion and glucose uptake respectively within the livers of a series of 35 patients with colorectal cancer. Hepatic perfusion and the net influx constant were incorporated into FDG kinetic analysis to determine hepatic glucose phosphorylation fraction. SUV and Ki were significantly lower in the 12 patients with advanced disease (p=0.015 and p=0.013 respectively) whereas portal and total hepatic perfusion were increased (p=0.013 and p=0.008 respectively). Combining the PET and CT data yielded phosphorylation fractions of 1.14% and 0.74% for early and advanced disease respectively (p=0.002). By combining functional CT measurements of blood flow with PET measurements of FDG uptake, it is possible to calculate the extraction fraction of FDG and Hepatic glucose phosphorylation. The use of the extraction fraction has improved the distinction between malignant and

Combining functional CT and FDG PET allows the calculation of FDG extraction fraction and hepatic glucose phosphorylation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griffiths, M.R.; Miles, K.A.; Keith, C.J.

2002-01-01

Perfusion data from Functional CT and FDG-PET data may be combined to provide additional information about the uptake of FDG. We have developed methods to calculate FDG extraction fraction in tissues and to quantify hepatic glucose phosphorylation in the liver. Extraction fraction: Functional CT and FDG-PET studies were used to obtain measurements of perfusion and glucose uptake respectively within ten pulmonary nodules. The net influx constant (Ki) was determined from SUV measurements for each lung mass Extraction fraction (E) for each mass lesion was determined from: E=Ki/(Px[1-Hct]). A pixel by pixel calculation allowed generation of extraction fraction maps. The extraction fraction measurements ranged (median) from 0.6% to 4.81% (2.7%). The values for a benign nodule and an organising pneumonia were 0.6% and 0.71% respectively. Extraction fraction measurements for the malignant nodules ranged from 2.01% to 4.81%. A clearer separation of benign and malignant lesions is seen with E values rather than with SUV. Hepatic Glucose Phosphorylation: Functional CT and FDG-PET were utilised to obtain measurements of perfusion and glucose uptake respectively within the livers of a series of 35 patients with colorectal cancer. Hepatic perfusion and the net influx constant were incorporated into FDG kinetic analysis to determine hepatic glucose phosphorylation fraction. SUV and Ki were significantly lower in the 12 patients with advanced disease (p=0.015 and p=0.013 respectively) whereas portal and total hepatic perfusion were increased (p=0.013 and p=0.008 respectively). Combining the PET and CT data yielded phosphorylation fractions of 1.14% and 0.74% for early and advanced disease respectively (p=0.002). By combining functional CT measurements of blood flow with PET measurements of FDG uptake, it is possible to calculate the extraction fraction of FDG and Hepatic glucose phosphorylation. The use of the extraction fraction has improved the distinction between malignant and

Ultrasound assisted extraction of food and natural products. Mechanisms, techniques, combinations, protocols and applications. A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Chemat, Farid; Rombaut, Natacha; Sicaire, Anne-Gaëlle; Meullemiestre, Alice; Fabiano-Tixier, Anne-Sylvie; Abert-Vian, Maryline

2017-01-01

This review presents a complete picture of current knowledge on ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) in food ingredients and products, nutraceutics, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and bioenergy applications. It provides the necessary theoretical background and some details about extraction by ultrasound, the techniques and their combinations, the mechanisms (fragmentation, erosion, capillarity, detexturation, and sonoporation), applications from laboratory to industry, security, and environmental impacts. In addition, the ultrasound extraction procedures and the important parameters influencing its performance are also included, together with the advantages and the drawbacks of each UAE techniques. Ultrasound-assisted extraction is a research topic, which affects several fields of modern plant-based chemistry. All the reported applications have shown that ultrasound-assisted extraction is a green and economically viable alternative to conventional techniques for food and natural products. The main benefits are decrease of extraction and processing time, the amount of energy and solvents used, unit operations, and CO 2 emissions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ge extraction from gasification fly ash

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oriol Font; Xavier Querol; Angel Lopez-Soler; Jose M. Chimenos; Ana I. Fernandez; Silvia Burgos; Francisco Garcia Pena [Institute of Earth Sciences ' Jaume Almera' , Barcelona (Spain)

2005-08-01

Water-soluble germanium species (GeS{sub 2}, GeS and hexagonal-GeO{sub 2}) are generated during coal gasification and retained in fly ash. This fact together with the high market value of this element and the relatively high contents in the fly ashes of the Puertollano Integrated Gasification in Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant directed our research towards the development of an extraction process for this element. Major objectives of this research was to find a low cost and environmentally suitable process. Several water based extraction tests were carried out using different Puertollano IGCC fly ash samples, under different temperatures, water/fly ash ratios, and extraction times. High Ge extraction yields (up to 84%) were obtained at room temperature (25{sup o}C) but also high proportions of other trace elements (impurities) were simultaneously extracted. Increasing the extraction temperature to 50, 90 and 150{sup o}C, Ge extraction yields were kept at similar levels, while reducing the content of impurities, the water/fly ash ratio and extraction time. The experimental data point out the influence of chloride, calcium and sulphide dissolutions on the Ge extraction. 16 refs., 9 figs., 6 tabs.

Combined Influence of Visual Scene and Body Tilt on Arm Pointing Movements: Gravity Matters!

Science.gov (United States)

Scotto Di Cesare, Cécile; Sarlegna, Fabrice R.; Bourdin, Christophe; Mestre, Daniel R.; Bringoux, Lionel

2014-01-01

Performing accurate actions such as goal-directed arm movements requires taking into account visual and body orientation cues to localize the target in space and produce appropriate reaching motor commands. We experimentally tilted the body and/or the visual scene to investigate how visual and body orientation cues are combined for the control of unseen arm movements. Subjects were asked to point toward a visual target using an upward movement during slow body and/or visual scene tilts. When the scene was tilted, final pointing errors varied as a function of the direction of the scene tilt (forward or backward). Actual forward body tilt resulted in systematic target undershoots, suggesting that the brain may have overcompensated for the biomechanical movement facilitation arising from body tilt. Combined body and visual scene tilts also affected final pointing errors according to the orientation of the visual scene. The data were further analysed using either a body-centered or a gravity-centered reference frame to encode visual scene orientation with simple additive models (i.e., ‘combined’ tilts equal to the sum of ‘single’ tilts). We found that the body-centered model could account only for some of the data regarding kinematic parameters and final errors. In contrast, the gravity-centered modeling in which the body and visual scene orientations were referred to vertical could explain all of these data. Therefore, our findings suggest that the brain uses gravity, thanks to its invariant properties, as a reference for the combination of visual and non-visual cues. PMID:24925371

ECG fiducial point extraction using switching Kalman filter.

Science.gov (United States)

Akhbari, Mahsa; Ghahjaverestan, Nasim Montazeri; Shamsollahi, Mohammad B; Jutten, Christian

2018-04-01

In this paper, we propose a novel method for extracting fiducial points (FPs) of the beats in electrocardiogram (ECG) signals using switching Kalman filter (SKF). In this method, according to McSharry's model, ECG waveforms (P-wave, QRS complex and T-wave) are modeled with Gaussian functions and ECG baselines are modeled with first order auto regressive models. In the proposed method, a discrete state variable called "switch" is considered that affects only the observation equations. We denote a mode as a specific observation equation and switch changes between 7 modes and corresponds to different segments of an ECG beat. At each time instant, the probability of each mode is calculated and compared among two consecutive modes and a path is estimated, which shows the relation of each part of the ECG signal to the mode with the maximum probability. ECG FPs are found from the estimated path. For performance evaluation, the Physionet QT database is used and the proposed method is compared with methods based on wavelet transform, partially collapsed Gibbs sampler (PCGS) and extended Kalman filter. For our proposed method, the mean error and the root mean square error across all FPs are 2 ms (i.e. less than one sample) and 14 ms, respectively. These errors are significantly smaller than those obtained using other methods. The proposed method achieves lesser RMSE and smaller variability with respect to others. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analytical and Experimental Feasibility Study of Combined OTEC on NPPs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Jeongtae; Oh, Kyemin; Heo, Gyunyoung [Kyung Hee Univ., Yongin (Korea, Republic of); Jung, Hoon [KEPCO Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-05-15

The concept of the Combined Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (Combined OTEC) needs to study. Combined OTEC uses exhausted steam on Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) as heat source instead surface water. Exhausted steam extracted from condenser evaporates working fluid of Combined OTEC at heat exchanger (Hx-W). Essential calculation for conceptual design of Combined OTEC was already performed and presented before. However, the technical issue whether sufficient extraction of exhausted steam from high degree of vacuum of condenser to Hx-W can be supplied or not was unclear, which is significant to continue a demonstration program. In this study, so, we calculated the rate of extracted steam to evaluate whether sufficient steam can be extracted using RELAP code. In aspect of implementation of Combined OTEC, confirmation of sufficient flow of exhausted steam into Hx-W is the starting point of research. As the result of RELAP calculation, we confirmed that exhausted steam would flow into Hx-W. Considering the amount of exhausted steam in NPPs which is 1000 MWe and has 36 % of efficiency, 9 % of flow rate to Hx-W is means that 160 MWt of heat can be available as heat source of Combined OTEC. Using this, it can be possible to improve efficiency of aged NPPs and can compensate power loss caused by increase of circulation water temperature particularly in summer season.

Antimicrobial efficacy of Acacia nilotica, Murraya koenigii (L.) Sprengel, Eucalyptus hybrid, Psidium guajava extracts and their combination on Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandra Shekar, B R; Nagarajappa, Ramesh; Jain, Richa; Singh, Rupal; Thakur, Rupesh; Shekar, Suma

2016-01-01

The aim of this in vitro study was to assess antimicrobial efficacy of Acacia nilotica, Murraya koenigii (L.) Sprengel, Eucalyptus hybrid, Psidium guajava extracts, and their combination on Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus. The branches of four plants were collected, identified, and authenticated by a taxonomist. The plants were rinsed in water, healthy leaves were separated and shade dried over a period of 3-4 weeks. Soxhlet apparatus using ethanol was employed for extraction procedure. The combinations of plant extracts were prepared by mixing equal quantities of 10% solutions of each of these extracts. 0.2% chlorhexidine and dimethyl sulfoxide were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. The antimicrobial efficacy testing was done using agar well-diffusion method under anaerobic conditions. The mean diameter of inhibition zone was computed and compared between different categories using one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post-hoc test. A qualitative assay was carried out to identify the various phytochemical constituents in the plants. The data was assessed by SPSS version 20. The statistical significance was fixed at 0.05. All the plants extracts and their combinations inhibited S. mutans and L. acidophilus. However, the quadruple combination of A. nilotica + M. koenigii (L.) Sprengel + Eucalyptus hybrid + P. guajava produced the maximum inhibition zone (23.5 ± 2.2 mm) against S. mutans. Although, 0.2% chlorhexidine produced the highest inhibition zone against L. acidophilus (18.8 ± 1.2 mm), A. nilotica extract produced maximum inhibition among the various plant extracts and their combinations (14.1 ± 1.8 mm). All the individual plant extracts and their combinations were effective against S. mutans and L. acidophilus. These could be tried as herbal alternates to chlorhexidine. However, these in vitro results have to be further evaluated for any toxicity of the polyherbal combinations in animal models and effectiveness

Evaluation of pitches and cokes from solvent-extracted coal materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McHenry, E.R.

1996-12-01

Three initial coal-extracted (C-E) samples were received from the West Virginia University (WVU) Chemical Engineering Department. Two samples had been hydrogenated to obtain pitches that satisfy Theological requirements. One of the hydrogenated (HC-E) samples had been extracted by toluene to remove ash and higher molecular weight aromatic compounds. We were unable to measure the softening point and viscosity of the non-hydro treated solid extract sample, Positive characteristics in the HC-E materials were softening points of 113-119{degrees}C, low sulfur and ash. The oxygen and nitrogen content of the HC-E samples may limit future usage in premium carbon and graphite products. Coking values were similar to petroleum pitches. Laboratory anode testing indicates that in combination with standard coal-tar pitch, the HC-E material can be used as a binder pitch.

Development of automatic extraction method of left ventricular contours on long axis view MR cine images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Utsunomiya, Shinichi; Iijima, Naoto; Yamasaki, Kazunari; Fujita, Akinori

1995-01-01

In the MRI cardiac function analysis, left ventricular volume curves and diagnosis parameters are obtained by extracting the left ventricular cavities as regions of interest (ROI) from long axis view MR cine images. The ROI extractions had to be done by manual operations, because automatization of the extraction is difficult. A long axis view left ventricular contour consists of a cardiac wall part and an aortic valve part. The above mentioned difficulty is due to the decline of contrast on the cardiac wall part, and the disappearance of edge on the aortic valve part. In this paper, we report a new automatic extraction method for long axis view MR cine images, which needs only 3 manually indicated points on the 1st image to extract all the contours from the total sequence of images. At first, candidate points of a contour are detected by edge detection. Then, selecting the best matched combination of candidate points by Dynamic Programming, the cardiac wall part is automatically extracted. The aortic valve part is manually extracted for the 1st image by indicating both the end points, and is automatically extracted for the rest of the images, by utilizing the aortic valve motion characteristics throughout a cardiac cycle. (author)

Separation and recycling of nanoparticles using cloud point extraction with non-ionic surfactant mixtures.

Science.gov (United States)

Nazar, Muhammad Faizan; Shah, Syed Sakhawat; Eastoe, Julian; Khan, Asad Muhammad; Shah, Afzal

2011-11-15

A viable cost-effective approach employing mixtures of non-ionic surfactants Triton X-114/Triton X-100 (TX-114/TX-100), and subsequent cloud point extraction (CPE), has been utilized to concentrate and recycle inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous media. Gold Au- and palladium Pd-NPs have been pre-synthesized in aqueous phases and stabilized by sodium 2-mercaptoethanesulfonate (MES) ligands, then dispersed in aqueous non-ionic surfactant mixtures. Heating the NP-micellar systems induced cloud point phase separations, resulting in concentration of the NPs in lower phases after the transition. For the Au-NPs UV/vis absorption has been used to quantify the recovery and recycle efficiency after five repeated CPE cycles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to investigate NP size, shape, and stability. The results showed that NPs are preserved after the recovery processes, but highlight a potential limitation, in that further particle growth can occur in the condensed phases. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automatic Registration of Vehicle-borne Mobile Mapping Laser Point Cloud and Sequent Panoramas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHEN Chi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available An automatic registration method of mobile mapping system laser point cloud and sequence panoramic image is proposed in this paper.Firstly,hierarchical object extraction method is applied on LiDAR data to extract the building façade and outline polygons are generated to construct the skyline vectors.A virtual imaging method is proposed to solve the distortion on panoramas and corners on skylines are further detected on the virtual images combining segmentation and corner detection results.Secondly,the detected skyline vectors are taken as the registration primitives.Registration graphs are built according to the extracted skyline vector and further matched under graph edit distance minimization criteria.The matched conjugate primitives are utilized to solve the 2D-3D rough registration model to obtain the initial transformation between the sequence panoramic image coordinate system and the LiDAR point cloud coordinate system.Finally,to reduce the impact of registration primitives extraction and matching error on the registration results,the optimal transformation between the multi view stereo matching dens point cloud generated from the virtual imaging of the sequent panoramas and the LiDAR point cloud are solved by a 3D-3D ICP registration algorithm variant,thus,refine the exterior orientation parameters of panoramas indirectly.Experiments are undertaken to validate the proposed method and the results show that 1.5 pixel level registration results are achieved on the experiment dataset.The registration results can be applied to point cloud and panoramas fusion applications such as true color point cloud generation.

Comparison of Point and Line Features and Their Combination for Rigid Body Motion Estimation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pilz, Florian; Pugeault, Nicolas; Krüger, Norbert

2009-01-01

evaluate and compare the results using line and point features as 3D-2D constraints and we discuss the qualitative advantages and disadvantages of both feature types for RBM estimation. We also demonstrate an improvement in robustness through the combination of these features on large data sets...

Combining cationic and anionic mixed-mode sorbents in a single cartridge to extract basic and acidic pharmaceuticals simultaneously from environmental waters.

Science.gov (United States)

Salas, Daniela; Borrull, Francesc; Fontanals, Núria; Marcé, Rosa Maria

2018-01-01

The aim of the present study is to broaden the applications of mixed-mode ion-exchange solid-phase extraction sorbents to extract both basic and acidic compounds simultaneously by combining the sorbents in a single cartridge and developing a simplified extraction procedure. Four different cartridges containing negative and positive charges in the same configuration were evaluated and compared to extract a group of basic, neutral, and acidic pharmaceuticals selected as model compounds. After a thorough optimization of the extraction conditions, the four different cartridges showed to be capable of retaining basic and acidic pharmaceuticals simultaneously through ionic interactions, allowing the introduction of a washing step with 15 mL methanol to eliminate interferences retained by hydrophobic interactions. Using the best combined cartridge, a method was developed, validated, and further applied to environmental waters to demonstrate that the method is promising for the extraction of basic and acidic compounds from very complex samples.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SINGLE AND COMBINATION FEATURE EXTRACTION TECHNIQUES FOR DETECTING CERVICAL CANCER LESIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Pradeep Kumar Kenny

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Cervical cancer is the third most common form of cancer affecting women especially in third world countries. The predominant reason for such alarming rate of death is primarily due to lack of awareness and proper health care. As they say, prevention is better than cure, a better strategy has to be put in place to screen a large number of women so that an early diagnosis can help in saving their lives. One such strategy is to implement an automated system. For an automated system to function properly a proper set of features have to be extracted so that the cancer cell can be detected efficiently. In this paper we compare the performances of detecting a cancer cell using a single feature versus a combination feature set technique to see which will suit the automated system in terms of higher detection rate. For this each cell is segmented using multiscale morphological watershed segmentation technique and a series of features are extracted. This process is performed on 967 images and the data extracted is subjected to data mining techniques to determine which feature is best for which stage of cancer. The results thus obtained clearly show a higher percentage of success for combination feature set with 100% accurate detection rate.

Protective effect of combined pumpkin seed and ginger extracts on sperm characteristics, biochemical parameters and epididymal histology in adult male rats treated with cyclophosphamide.

Science.gov (United States)

Aghaie, Somaieh; Nikzad, Hossein; Mahabadi, Javad Amini; Taghizadeh, Mohsen; Azami-Tameh, Abolfazl; Taherian, Aliakbar; Sajjadian, Seyyed Mohammad Sajjad; Kamani, Mehran

2016-09-01

Reproductive toxicity is one of the side effects of cyclophosphamide (CP) in cancer treatment. Pumpkin seeds and Zingiber officinale are natural sources of antioxidants. We investigated the possible protective effect of combined pumpkin seed and Zingiber officinale extracts on sperm characteristics, epididymal histology and biochemical parameters of CP-treated rats. Male adult Wistar rats were divided randomly into six groups. Group 1, as a control, received an isotonic saline solution injection intraperitoneally (IP). Group 2 were injected IP with a single dose of CP (100 mg/kg) once. Groups 3 and 4 received CP plus 300 and 600 mg/kg combined pumpkin seed and Zingiber officinale extract (50:50). Groups 5 and 6 received only 300 and 600 mg/kg combined pumpkin seed and Zingiber officinale extract. Six weeks after treatment, sperm characteristics, histopathological changes and biochemical parameters were assessed. In CP-treated rats, motile spermatozoa were decreased, and abnormal or dead spermatozoa increased significantly (P < 0.001) but administration of the mixed extract improved sperm parameters. Epididymal epithelium and fibromascular thickness were also improved in extract-treated rats compared to control or CP groups. Biochemical analysis showed that the administration of combined extracts could increase the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) level significantly in groups 3, 4, 5 and 6. Interestingly, the mixed extract could decrease most of the side effects of CP such as vacuolization and separation of epididymal tissue. Our findings indicated that the combined extracts might be used as a protective agent against CP-induced reproductive toxicity.

Sequential cloud point extraction for the speciation of mercury in seafood by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li Yingjie [Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China); Hu Bin [Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China)], E-mail: binhu@whu.edu.cn

2007-10-15

A novel nonchromatographic speciation technique for the speciation of mercury by sequential cloud point extraction (CPE) combined with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was developed. The method based on Hg{sup 2+} was complexed with I{sup -} to form HgI{sub 4}{sup 2-}, and the HgI{sub 4}{sup 2-} reacted with the methyl green (MG) cation to form hydrophobic ion-associated complex, and the ion-associated complex was then extracted into the surfactant-rich phase of the non-ionic surfactant octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114), which are subsequently separated from methylmercury (MeHg{sup +}) in the initial solution by centrifugation. The surfactant-rich phase containing Hg(II) was diluted with 0.5 mol L{sup -1} HNO{sub 3} for ICP-OES determination. The supernatant is also subjected to the similar CPE procedure for the preconcentration of MeHg{sup +} by the addition of a chelating agent, ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC), in order to form water-insolvable complex with MeHg{sup +}. The MeHg{sup +} in the micelles was directly analyzed after disposal as describe above. Under the optimized conditions, the extraction efficiency was 93.5% for Hg(II) and 51.5% for MeHg{sup +} with the enrichment factor of 18.7 for Hg(II) and 10.3 for MeHg{sup +}, respectively. The limits of detection (LODs) were 56.3 ng L{sup -1} for Hg(II) and 94.6 ng L{sup -1} for MeHg{sup +} (as Hg) with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 3.6% for Hg(II) and 4.5% for MeHg{sup +} (C = 10 {mu}g L{sup -1}, n = 7), respectively. The developed technique was applied to the speciation of mercury in real seafood samples and the recoveries for spiked samples were found to be in the range of 93.2-108.7%. For validation, a certified reference material of DORM-2 (dogfish muscle) was analyzed and the determined values are in good agreement with the certified values.

Sequential cloud point extraction for the speciation of mercury in seafood by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Yingjie; Hu Bin

2007-01-01

A novel nonchromatographic speciation technique for the speciation of mercury by sequential cloud point extraction (CPE) combined with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was developed. The method based on Hg 2+ was complexed with I - to form HgI 4 2- , and the HgI 4 2- reacted with the methyl green (MG) cation to form hydrophobic ion-associated complex, and the ion-associated complex was then extracted into the surfactant-rich phase of the non-ionic surfactant octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114), which are subsequently separated from methylmercury (MeHg + ) in the initial solution by centrifugation. The surfactant-rich phase containing Hg(II) was diluted with 0.5 mol L -1 HNO 3 for ICP-OES determination. The supernatant is also subjected to the similar CPE procedure for the preconcentration of MeHg + by the addition of a chelating agent, ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC), in order to form water-insolvable complex with MeHg + . The MeHg + in the micelles was directly analyzed after disposal as describe above. Under the optimized conditions, the extraction efficiency was 93.5% for Hg(II) and 51.5% for MeHg + with the enrichment factor of 18.7 for Hg(II) and 10.3 for MeHg + , respectively. The limits of detection (LODs) were 56.3 ng L -1 for Hg(II) and 94.6 ng L -1 for MeHg + (as Hg) with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 3.6% for Hg(II) and 4.5% for MeHg + (C = 10 μg L -1 , n = 7), respectively. The developed technique was applied to the speciation of mercury in real seafood samples and the recoveries for spiked samples were found to be in the range of 93.2-108.7%. For validation, a certified reference material of DORM-2 (dogfish muscle) was analyzed and the determined values are in good agreement with the certified values

Combined ab interno trabeculotomy and lens extraction: a novel management option for combined uveitic and chronic narrow angle raised intraocular pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Siying; Gupta, Bhaskar; Rossiter, Jonathan

2016-02-01

Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery is a developing area that has the potential to replace traditional glaucoma surgery, with its known risk profile, but at present there are no randomised controlled data to validate its use. We report on a case where sequential bilateral combined ab interno trabeculotomy and lens extraction surgery was performed on a 45-year-old woman with combined uveitic and chronic narrow angle raised intraocular pressure. Maximal medical management alone could not control the intraocular pressure. At 12-month follow-up, the patient had achieved stable intraocular pressure in both eyes on a combination of topical ocular antiglaucomatous and steroid therapies. This case demonstrates the effectiveness of trabecular meshwork ablation via ab interno trabeculotomy in a case of complex mixed mechanism glaucoma. 2016 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Determination of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin by cloud point extraction and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Mei; Wu Qianghua

2010-01-01

A cloud point extraction (CPE) method for the preconcentration of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin prior to its determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) had been developed in this paper. The CPE method was based on the complex of Al(III) with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) and Triton X-114 was used as non-ionic surfactant. The main factors affecting cloud point extraction efficiency, such as pH of solution, concentration and kind of complexing agent, concentration of non-ionic surfactant, equilibration temperature and time, were investigated in detail. An enrichment factor of 34.8 was obtained for the preconcentration of Al(III) with 10 mL solution. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limit of Al(III) was 0.06 ng mL -1 . The relative standard deviation (n = 7) of sample was 3.6%, values of recovery of aluminum were changed from 92.3% to 94.7% for three samples. This method is simple, accurate, sensitive and can be applied to the determination of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin.

Determination of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin by cloud point extraction and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun Mei, E-mail: sunmei@ustc.edu.cn [Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences on Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, No. 96, Jinzhai Road, Hefei 230026 (China); Wu Qianghua [Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)

2010-04-15

A cloud point extraction (CPE) method for the preconcentration of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin prior to its determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) had been developed in this paper. The CPE method was based on the complex of Al(III) with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) and Triton X-114 was used as non-ionic surfactant. The main factors affecting cloud point extraction efficiency, such as pH of solution, concentration and kind of complexing agent, concentration of non-ionic surfactant, equilibration temperature and time, were investigated in detail. An enrichment factor of 34.8 was obtained for the preconcentration of Al(III) with 10 mL solution. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limit of Al(III) was 0.06 ng mL{sup -1}. The relative standard deviation (n = 7) of sample was 3.6%, values of recovery of aluminum were changed from 92.3% to 94.7% for three samples. This method is simple, accurate, sensitive and can be applied to the determination of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin.

Parallel point-multiplication architecture using combined group operations for high-speed cryptographic applications.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md Selim Hossain

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a novel parallel architecture for fast hardware implementation of elliptic curve point multiplication (ECPM, which is the key operation of an elliptic curve cryptography processor. The point multiplication over binary fields is synthesized on both FPGA and ASIC technology by designing fast elliptic curve group operations in Jacobian projective coordinates. A novel combined point doubling and point addition (PDPA architecture is proposed for group operations to achieve high speed and low hardware requirements for ECPM. It has been implemented over the binary field which is recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST. The proposed ECPM supports two Koblitz and random curves for the key sizes 233 and 163 bits. For group operations, a finite-field arithmetic operation, e.g. multiplication, is designed on a polynomial basis. The delay of a 233-bit point multiplication is only 3.05 and 3.56 μs, in a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA, for Koblitz and random curves, respectively, and 0.81 μs in an ASIC 65-nm technology, which are the fastest hardware implementation results reported in the literature to date. In addition, a 163-bit point multiplication is also implemented in FPGA and ASIC for fair comparison which takes around 0.33 and 0.46 μs, respectively. The area-time product of the proposed point multiplication is very low compared to similar designs. The performance ([Formula: see text] and Area × Time × Energy (ATE product of the proposed design are far better than the most significant studies found in the literature.

A simple method for determination of carmine in food samples based on cloud point extraction and spectrophotometric detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Heydari, Rouhollah; Hosseini, Mohammad; Zarabi, Sanaz

2015-01-01

In this paper, a simple and cost effective method was developed for extraction and pre-concentration of carmine in food samples by using cloud point extraction (CPE) prior to its spectrophotometric determination. Carmine was extracted from aqueous solution using Triton X-100 as extracting solvent. The effects of main parameters such as solution pH, surfactant and salt concentrations, incubation time and temperature were investigated and optimized. Calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.04-5.0 μg mL(-1) of carmine in the initial solution with regression coefficient of 0.9995. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification were 0.012 and 0.04 μg mL(-1), respectively. Relative standard deviation (RSD) at low concentration level (0.05 μg mL(-1)) of carmine was 4.8% (n=7). Recovery values in different concentration levels were in the range of 93.7-105.8%. The obtained results demonstrate the proposed method can be applied satisfactory to determine the carmine in food samples. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Combining surface plasmonic and light extraction enhancement on InGaN quantum-well light-emitters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fadil, Ahmed; Ou, Yiyu; Iida, Daisuke

2016-01-01

and internal quantum efficiency enhancement for InGaN/GaN quantum-well light-emitters. By fabricating dielectric nano-rod pattern on the GaN surface, an optical coating that improves the light extraction is obtained, and furthermore has a low refractive index which blue-shifts the plasmonic resonance of Ag NPs......Surface plasmon coupling with light-emitters and surface nano-patterning have widely been used separately to improve low efficiency InGaN light-emitting diodes. We demonstrate a method where dielectric nano-patterning and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) are combined to provide both light extraction...

Process of extracting oil from stones and sands. [heating below cracking temperature and above boiling point of oil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergfeld, K

1935-03-09

A process of extracting oil from stones or sands bearing oils is characterized by the stones and sands being heated in a suitable furnace to a temperature below that of cracking and preferably slightly higher than the boiling-point of the oils. The oily vapors are removed from the treating chamber by means of flushing gas.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY POWER LINE EXTRACTION USING MOBILE LASER SCANNING DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Zhang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Research on power line extraction technology using mobile laser point clouds has important practical significance on railway power lines patrol work. In this paper, we presents a new method for automatic extracting railway power line from MLS (Mobile Laser Scanning data. Firstly, according to the spatial structure characteristics of power-line and trajectory, the significant data is segmented piecewise. Then, use the self-adaptive space region growing method to extract power lines parallel with rails. Finally use PCA (Principal Components Analysis combine with information entropy theory method to judge a section of the power line whether is junction or not and which type of junction it belongs to. The least squares fitting algorithm is introduced to model the power line. An evaluation of the proposed method over a complicated railway point clouds acquired by a RIEGL VMX450 MLS system shows that the proposed method is promising.

Maghemite nanoparticle-decorated hollow fiber electromembrane extraction combined with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for the determination of thymol from Carum copticum

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khajeh, Mostafa; Pedersen-Bjergaard, Stig; Bohlooli, Mousa

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND A novel technique using maghemite nanoparticle-decorated hollow fibers to assist electromembrane extraction is proposed. Electromembrane extraction combined with dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (EME-DLLME) was applied for the extraction of thymol from Carum copticum, followed...... by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). RESULTS The use of maghemite nanoparticle-decorated hollow fibers was found to improve the extraction efficiency of thymol significantly. Important operational parameters, including pH of acceptor phase, extraction time, voltage...

Small-incision cataract extraction combined trabeculectomy for primary angle-closure glaucoma with cataract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Feng Wu

2014-09-01

Full Text Available AIM: To observe the curative effect of treating small-incision cataract extraction by intraocular lens implantation combined with trabeculectomy for primary angle-closure glaucoma with cataract. METHODS: Totally 44 cases(52 eyesof primary angle-closure glaucoma combined with cataract were selected to undergo the combined surgery, in order to observe the patients' pre- and postoperative eyesights, intraocular pressures and the postoperative complications.RESULTS: The postoperative eyesight was improved significantly as compared with the preoperative eyesight. The intraocular pressure was declined dramatically. The result was of statistical significance(P0.05. All the 52 cases' surgeries were performed by the same surgeon. The surgeries were processed smoothly, with 6 postoperative eyes of anterior chamber inflammation cell response, 3 eyes of anterior chamber fibrinoid exudate, 2 eyes of shallow anterior chamber through mydriasis and treatment with glucocorticoids and non-steroidal eyedrops before absorption, and no complications like malignant glaucoma, cyclodialysis, etc. were reported through mydriasis and pressure bandaging before recovery.CONCLUSION: Treating the primary angle-closure glaucoma combined with cataract through the combined surgery has high reliability and desirable curative effect. The surgical method is simple to learn and applicable for promotion on the basic level.

Cloud point extraction and flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination of cadmium and nickel in drinking and wastewater samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Naeemullah; Kazi, Tasneem G; Shah, Faheem; Afridi, Hassan I; Baig, Jameel Ahmed; Soomro, Abdul Sattar

2013-01-01

A simple method for the preconcentration of cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) in drinking and wastewater samples was developed. Cloud point extraction has been used for the preconcentration of both metals, after formation of complexes with 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) and extraction with the surfactant octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114). Dilution of the surfactant-rich phase with acidified ethanol was performed after phase separation, and the Cd and Ni contents were measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The experimental variables, such as pH, amounts of reagents (8-HQ and Triton X-114), temperature, incubation time, and sample volume, were optimized. After optimization of the complexation and extraction conditions, enhancement factors of 80 and 61, with LOD values of 0.22 and 0.52 microg/L, were obtained for Cd and Ni, respectively. The proposed method was applied satisfactorily for the determination of both elements in drinking and wastewater samples.

A reliable method of quantification of trace copper in beverages with and without alcohol by spectrophotometry after cloud point extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramazan Gürkan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A new cloud point extraction (CPE method was developed for the separation and preconcentration of copper (II prior to spectrophotometric analysis. For this purpose, 1-(2,4-dimethylphenyl azonapthalen-2-ol (Sudan II was used as a chelating agent and the solution pH was adjusted to 10.0 with borate buffer. Polyethylene glycol tert-octylphenyl ether (Triton X-114 was used as an extracting agent in the presence of sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS. After phase separation, based on the cloud point of the mixture, the surfactant-rich phase was diluted with acetone, and the enriched analyte was spectrophotometrically determined at 537 nm. The variables affecting CPE efficiency were optimized. The calibration curve was linear within the range 0.285-20 µg L-1 with a detection limit of 0.085 µg L-1. The method was successfully applied to the quantification of copper in different beverage samples.

An improved contour symmetry axes extraction algorithm and its application in the location of picking points of apples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, D.; Song, H.; Yu, X.; Zhang, W.; Qu, W.; Xu, Y.

2015-07-01

The key problem for picking robots is to locate the picking points of fruit. A method based on the moment of inertia and symmetry of apples is proposed in this paper to locate the picking points of apples. Image pre-processing procedures, which are crucial to improving the accuracy of the location, were carried out to remove noise and smooth the edges of apples. The moment of inertia method has the disadvantage of high computational complexity, which should be solved, so convex hull was used to improve this problem. To verify the validity of this algorithm, a test was conducted using four types of apple images containing 107 apple targets. These images were single and unblocked apple images, single and blocked apple images, images containing adjacent apples, and apples in panoramas. The root mean square error values of these four types of apple images were 6.3, 15.0, 21.6 and 18.4, respectively, and the average location errors were 4.9°, 10.2°, 16.3° and 13.8°, respectively. Furthermore, the improved algorithm was effective in terms of average runtime, with 3.7 ms and 9.2 ms for single and unblocked and single and blocked apple images, respectively. For the other two types of apple images, the runtime was determined by the number of apples and blocked apples contained in the images. The results showed that the improved algorithm could extract symmetry axes and locate the picking points of apples more efficiently. In conclusion, the improved algorithm is feasible for extracting symmetry axes and locating the picking points of apples. (Author)

Determination of carcinogenic herbicides in milk samples using green non-ionic silicone surfactant of cloud point extraction and spectrophotometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohd, N I; Zain, N N M; Raoov, M; Mohamad, S

2018-04-01

A new cloud point methodology was successfully used for the extraction of carcinogenic pesticides in milk samples as a prior step to their determination by spectrophotometry. In this work, non-ionic silicone surfactant, also known as 3-(3-hydroxypropyl-heptatrimethylxyloxane), was chosen as a green extraction solvent because of its structure and properties. The effect of different parameters, such as the type of surfactant, concentration and volume of surfactant, pH, salt, temperature, incubation time and water content on the cloud point extraction of carcinogenic pesticides such as atrazine and propazine, was studied in detail and a set of optimum conditions was established. A good correlation coefficient ( R 2 ) in the range of 0.991-0.997 for all calibration curves was obtained. The limit of detection was 1.06 µg l -1 (atrazine) and 1.22 µg l -1 (propazine), and the limit of quantitation was 3.54 µg l -1 (atrazine) and 4.07 µg l -1 (propazine). Satisfactory recoveries in the range of 81-108% were determined in milk samples at 5 and 1000 µg l -1 , respectively, with low relative standard deviation, n  = 3 of 0.301-7.45% in milk matrices. The proposed method is very convenient, rapid, cost-effective and environmentally friendly for food analysis.

Combination of Garcinia cambogia Extract and Pear Pomace Extract Additively Suppresses Adipogenesis and Enhances Lipolysis in 3T3-L1 Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Kushal; Kang, Siwon; Gong, Dalseong; Oh, Sung-Hwa; Park, Eun-Young; Oak, Min-Ho; Yi, Eunyoung

2018-01-01

Inhibition of adipogenesis has been a therapeutic target for reducing obesity and obesity-related disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and cancer. For decades, anti-adipogenic potential of many herbal extracts has been investigated. One example is Garcinia cambogia extract (GE) containing (-)-hydroxycitric acid as an active ingredient. GE is currently marketed as a weight loss supplement, used alone or with other ingredients. Pear pomace extract (PE), another natural product, has been also shown to have anti-adipogenic activity in a recent report. It was tested if the mixture of PE and GE (MIX) would produce more effective anti-adipogenic activity than PE or GE alone. Differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocyte was induced by adding insulin, dexamethasone, and isobutylmethylxanthine and lipid accumulation was measured by Oil Red O staining. Cellular markers for adipogenesis and lipolysis such as CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP-α), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ), fatty acid synthase (FAS), and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) was measured using immunocytochemistry. MIX, compared to PE or GE alone, showed greater inhibition of lipid accumulation. Furthermore, MIX reduced the expression of adipogenesis-related factors C/EBP-α, PPAR-γ, and FAS more than PE or GE alone did. In contrast, the expression of HSL the enzyme required for lipolysis was further enhanced in MIX-treated adipocytes compared to the PE or GE alone treated groups. Anti-adipogenic effect of PE and GE appears synergistic, and the MIX may be a useful therapeutic combination for the treatment of obesity and obesity-related diseases. PE and GE efficiently inhibited adipocyte differentiation by suppressing the expression of adipogenic transcription factor CEBP-α and PPAR-γ.PE and GE significantly decreased the expression of adipogenic enzyme FAS.PE and GE increased the expression of lipid degrading enzyme HSL.Mixture of PE and GE exhibited additive or

Cloud point extraction for the determination of heavy metals by nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 and PAN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cabrera Puig, I.; Perez Gramatges, A.

2006-01-01

A novel methodology for extraction and preconcentration of trace metals based on cloud point phenomenon was applied to the analysis of Co(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Pb(II) y Ni(II) in a certified reference material (CRM), using Triton X-100 as nonionic surfactant, and AAS for the determination. Different parameters that can influence the extraction efficiency were studied, such as pH and ionic strength of the solution. The precision, accuracy and detection limits of the method were determined using a CRM from the Environmental Analysis Laboratory of InSTEC. We applied our methodology to the detection of the metals in naturals waters (Almendares river and tap water) . The data obtained presented in this work is part of the validation file of the proposed analytical procedure for the determination of heavy metals

Combining a nanosensor and ELISA for measurement of tyrosyl-dna phosphodiesterase 1 (tdp1) activity and protein amount in cell and tissue extract

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Ann-Katrine; Stougaard, Magnus

2015-01-01

be combined with ELISA measurement into one assay facilitating measurement of both the enzymatic activity and the protein amount of TDP1. We show that the combined assay can be used for measurements both in cell line-based studies and for measurement in clinical tissue samples. Due to all measurements being...... performed in the exact same aliquot of cell or tissue extract, the combined assay allows the use of minimal amount of cells or tissue and without additional incubation steps compared to the normal ELISA procedure. Measuring protein amount and activity within the same portion of extract also minimizes...... the risk of variation being introduced when comparing amount to activity. Since the assay only uses small amounts of extract, it requires no advanced equipment besides a plate reader, and can work in whole-cell or tissue extract. We expect that it could be useful for analysis of posttranslational...

Determination of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin by cloud point extraction and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Mei; Wu, Qianghua

2010-04-15

A cloud point extraction (CPE) method for the preconcentration of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin prior to its determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) had been developed in this paper. The CPE method was based on the complex of Al(III) with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) and Triton X-114 was used as non-ionic surfactant. The main factors affecting cloud point extraction efficiency, such as pH of solution, concentration and kind of complexing agent, concentration of non-ionic surfactant, equilibration temperature and time, were investigated in detail. An enrichment factor of 34.8 was obtained for the preconcentration of Al(III) with 10 mL solution. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limit of Al(III) was 0.06 ng mL(-1). The relative standard deviation (n=7) of sample was 3.6%, values of recovery of aluminum were changed from 92.3% to 94.7% for three samples. This method is simple, accurate, sensitive and can be applied to the determination of ultra-trace aluminum in human albumin. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

CO-REGISTRATION AIRBORNE LIDAR POINT CLOUD DATA AND SYNCHRONOUS DIGITAL IMAGE REGISTRATION BASED ON COMBINED ADJUSTMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. H. Yang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Aim at the problem of co-registration airborne laser point cloud data with the synchronous digital image, this paper proposed a registration method based on combined adjustment. By integrating tie point, point cloud data with elevation constraint pseudo observations, using the principle of least-squares adjustment to solve the corrections of exterior orientation elements of each image, high-precision registration results can be obtained. In order to ensure the reliability of the tie point, and the effectiveness of pseudo observations, this paper proposed a point cloud data constrain SIFT matching and optimizing method, can ensure that the tie points are located on flat terrain area. Experiments with the airborne laser point cloud data and its synchronous digital image, there are about 43 pixels error in image space using the original POS data. If only considering the bore-sight of POS system, there are still 1.3 pixels error in image space. The proposed method regards the corrections of the exterior orientation elements of each image as unknowns and the errors are reduced to 0.15 pixels.

[Low-frequency pulsed magnetotherapy combined with electrostimulation of biologically active points in the combined treatment of traumatic mandibular osteomyelitis].

Science.gov (United States)

Korotkikh, N G; Oreshkin, A V

1999-01-01

The results of treatment are analyzed in 51 patients (35 with exacerbation of chronic traumatic mandibular osteomyelitis and 16 with chronic traumatic mandibular osteomyelitis). Low-intensity pulsed magnetic therapy of the focus in combination with electric stimulation of segmentary bioactive points, synchronized by the patient's pulse, are proposed to be added to the therapeutic complex. Such a modality improved the regional hemodynamics, promoted liquidation of the postoperative edema on days 1-2 after intervention, and sooner than after traditional therapy repaired the energy of the patient's organism.

The Combined Effect of Gamma Irradiation and Plant Extract (Barnoof) on the Nutritional Profile to the Black Cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufn.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Naggar, S. E. M.; Ibrahim, S. M.; Mohamed, H. F.

2004-01-01

The combined effect of two sub sterilizing doses 100 and 150 Gray (Gy) of gamma irradiation and plant extract Conyza dioscorides (Barnoof) on Ten day old larvae of F1 generation of Agrotis ipsilon in on their ability to consume, digest and utilize food was studied. Gamma irradiation alone reduced the amount of food consumed and digested by the larvae as compared to unirradiated ones. Also, the utilization efficiency was more significantly decreased at dose level 150 Gy than at the dose level 100 Gy and leading to a reduction in weight gain. The effect of plant extract (Barnoof) alone was not significantly difference at the two tested concentration 1.5 and 3 % by the solvent (Petroleum ether) treatment. The combined effect of gamma radiation and plant extract (on F1 larvae) were significantly decreased the growth rate of the larvae than the treatment of them alone when compared with the untreated larvae. Also, the combined effect of gamma radiation and plant extract were significantly decreased the utilization of food as indicated by determining both efficiency of conversion of ingested food (E.C.I.) and digested food (E.C.D.) to body matter. (authors)

Application of Micro-cloud point extraction for spectrophotometric determination of Malachite green, Crystal violet and Rhodamine B in aqueous samples

Science.gov (United States)

Ghasemi, Elham; Kaykhaii, Massoud

2016-07-01

A novel, green, simple and fast method was developed for spectrophotometric determination of Malachite green, Crystal violet, and Rhodamine B in water samples based on Micro-cloud Point extraction (MCPE) at room temperature. This is the first report on the application of MCPE on dyes. In this method, to reach the cloud point at room temperature, the MCPE procedure was carried out in brine using Triton X-114 as a non-ionic surfactant. The factors influencing the extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. Under the optimized condition, calibration curves were found to be linear in the concentration range of 0.06-0.60 mg/L, 0.10-0.80 mg/L, and 0.03-0.30 mg/L with the enrichment factors of 29.26, 85.47 and 28.36, respectively for Malachite green, Crystal violet, and Rhodamine B. Limit of detections were between 2.2 and 5.1 μg/L.

Use of a Combined Technology of Ultrasonication, Three-Phase Partitioning, and Aqueous Enzymatic Oil Extraction for the Extraction of Oil from Spirogyra sp.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adisheshu Reddy

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Algal oil from Spirogyra sp. was extracted using a combined technology of ultrasonication, three-phase partitioning, and aqueous enzymatic oil extraction. Ultrasonication was done to rupture the cell wall and papain was used for an easier release of the trapped oil. The salt concentration for three-phase partitioning, preincubation period with (or without the protease, and its operational temperature were optimized for a maximum possible yield of the oil and the effect of ultrasonication, and three-phase partitioning with (or without the protease were studied. It was found that under optimized conditions at 50% ammonium sulphate concentration using tert-butanol (in 1 : 1, v/v ratio a presonicated and papain treated algal suspension could produce 24% (w/w, dry weight oil within few hours which was ten times higher as compared to the oil obtained by Soxhlet extraction using hexane and two times higher than the oil obtained without using the protease.

Automatic River Network Extraction from LIDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Maderal, E. N.; Valcarcel, N.; Delgado, J.; Sevilla, C.; Ojeda, J. C.

2016-06-01

National Geographic Institute of Spain (IGN-ES) has launched a new production system for automatic river network extraction for the Geospatial Reference Information (GRI) within hydrography theme. The goal is to get an accurate and updated river network, automatically extracted as possible. For this, IGN-ES has full LiDAR coverage for the whole Spanish territory with a density of 0.5 points per square meter. To implement this work, it has been validated the technical feasibility, developed a methodology to automate each production phase: hydrological terrain models generation with 2 meter grid size and river network extraction combining hydrographic criteria (topographic network) and hydrological criteria (flow accumulation river network), and finally the production was launched. The key points of this work has been managing a big data environment, more than 160,000 Lidar data files, the infrastructure to store (up to 40 Tb between results and intermediate files), and process; using local virtualization and the Amazon Web Service (AWS), which allowed to obtain this automatic production within 6 months, it also has been important the software stability (TerraScan-TerraSolid, GlobalMapper-Blue Marble , FME-Safe, ArcGIS-Esri) and finally, the human resources managing. The results of this production has been an accurate automatic river network extraction for the whole country with a significant improvement for the altimetric component of the 3D linear vector. This article presents the technical feasibility, the production methodology, the automatic river network extraction production and its advantages over traditional vector extraction systems.

AUTOMATIC RIVER NETWORK EXTRACTION FROM LIDAR DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. N. Maderal

2016-06-01

Full Text Available National Geographic Institute of Spain (IGN-ES has launched a new production system for automatic river network extraction for the Geospatial Reference Information (GRI within hydrography theme. The goal is to get an accurate and updated river network, automatically extracted as possible. For this, IGN-ES has full LiDAR coverage for the whole Spanish territory with a density of 0.5 points per square meter. To implement this work, it has been validated the technical feasibility, developed a methodology to automate each production phase: hydrological terrain models generation with 2 meter grid size and river network extraction combining hydrographic criteria (topographic network and hydrological criteria (flow accumulation river network, and finally the production was launched. The key points of this work has been managing a big data environment, more than 160,000 Lidar data files, the infrastructure to store (up to 40 Tb between results and intermediate files, and process; using local virtualization and the Amazon Web Service (AWS, which allowed to obtain this automatic production within 6 months, it also has been important the software stability (TerraScan-TerraSolid, GlobalMapper-Blue Marble , FME-Safe, ArcGIS-Esri and finally, the human resources managing. The results of this production has been an accurate automatic river network extraction for the whole country with a significant improvement for the altimetric component of the 3D linear vector. This article presents the technical feasibility, the production methodology, the automatic river network extraction production and its advantages over traditional vector extraction systems.

Triton X-114 based cloud point extraction: a thermoreversible approach for separation/concentration and dispersion of nanomaterials in the aqueous phase.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jing-fu; Liu, Rui; Yin, Yong-guang; Jiang, Gui-bin

2009-03-28

Capable of preserving the sizes and shapes of nanomaterials during the phase transferring, Triton X-114 based cloud point extraction provides a general, simple, and cost-effective route for reversible concentration/separation or dispersion of various nanomaterials in the aqueous phase.

Remediation of soils combining soil vapor extraction and bioremediation: benzene.

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, António Alves; Albergaria, José Tomás; Domingues, Valentina Fernandes; Alvim-Ferraz, Maria da Conceição M; Delerue-Matos, Cristina

2010-08-01

This work reports the study of the combination of soil vapor extraction (SVE) with bioremediation (BR) to remediate soils contaminated with benzene. Soils contaminated with benzene with different water and natural organic matter contents were studied. The main goals were: (i) evaluate the performance of SVE regarding the remediation time and the process efficiency; (ii) study the combination of both technologies in order to identify the best option capable to achieve the legal clean up goals; and (iii) evaluate the influence of soil water content (SWC) and natural organic matter (NOM) on SVE and BR. The remediation experiments performed in soils contaminated with benzene allowed concluding that: (i) SVE presented (a) efficiencies above 92% for sandy soils and above 78% for humic soils; (b) and remediation times from 2 to 45 h, depending on the soil; (ii) BR showed to be an efficient technology to complement SVE; (iii) (a) SWC showed minimum impact on SVE when high airflow rates were used and led to higher remediation times for lower flow rates; (b) NOM as source of microorganisms and nutrients enhanced BR but hindered the SVE due the limitation on the mass transfer of benzene from the soil to the gas phase. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determination of trace inorganic mercury species in water samples by cloud point extraction and UV-vis spectrophotometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Ulusoy, Halil Ibrahim

2014-01-01

A new micelle-mediated extraction method was developed for preconcentration of ultratrace Hg(II) ions prior to spectrophotometric determination. 2-(2'-Thiazolylazo)-p-cresol (TAC) and Ponpe 7.5 were used as the chelating agent and nonionic surfactant, respectively. Hg(II) ions form a hydrophobic complex with TAC in a micelle medium. The main factors affecting cloud point extraction efficiency, such as pH of the medium, concentrations of TAC and Ponpe 7.5, and equilibration temperature and time, were investigated in detail. An overall preconcentration factor of 33.3 was obtained upon preconcentration of a 50 mL sample. The LOD obtained under the optimal conditions was 0.86 microg/L, and the RSD for five replicate measurements of 100 microg/L Hg(II) was 3.12%. The method was successfully applied to the determination of Hg in environmental water samples.

Combining Stochastic Deformation/Relaxation and Intermolecular Contacts Analysis for Extracting Pharmacophores from Ligand-Receptor Complexes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatmal, Ma'mon M; Taha, Mutasem O

2018-04-23

We previously combined molecular dynamics (classical or simulated annealing) with ligand-receptor contacts analysis as a means to extract valid pharmacophore model(s) from single ligand-receptor complexes. However, molecular dynamics methods are computationally expensive and time-consuming. Here we describe a novel method for extracting valid pharmacophore model(s) from a single crystallographic structure within a reasonable time scale. The new method is based on ligand-receptor contacts analysis following energy relaxation of a predetermined set of randomly deformed complexes generated from the targeted crystallographic structure. Ligand-receptor contacts maintained across many deformed/relaxed structures are assumed to be critical and used to guide pharmacophore development. This methodology was implemented to develop valid pharmacophore models for PI3K-γ, RENIN, and JAK1. The resulting pharmacophore models were validated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis against inhibitors extracted from the CHEMBL database. Additionally, we implemented pharmacophores extracted from PI3K-γ to search for new inhibitors from the National Cancer Institute list of compounds. The process culminated in new PI3K-γ/mTOR inhibitory leads of low micromolar IC 50 s.

Synergistic effect of apple extracts and quercetin 3-beta-d-glucoside combination on antiproliferative activity in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in vitro.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jun; Liu, Rui Hai

2009-09-23

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women. An alternative strategy to reduce the risk of cancer is through dietary modification. Although phytochemicals naturally occur as complex mixtures, little information is available regarding possible additive, synergistic, or antagonistic interactions among compounds. The antiproliferative activity of apple extracts and quercetin 3-beta-d-glucoside (Q3G) was assessed by measurement of the inhibition of MCF-7 human breast cancer cell proliferation. Cell cytotoxicity was determined by the methylene blue assay. The two-way combination of apple plus Q3G was conducted. In this two-way combination, the EC(50) values of apple extracts and Q3G were 2- and 4-fold lower, respectively, than those of apple extracts and Q3G alone. The combination index (CI) values at 50 and 95% inhibition rates were 0.76 +/- 0.16 and 0.42 +/- 0.10, respectively. The dose-reduction index (DRI) values of the apple extracts and Q3G to achieve a 50% inhibition effect were reduced by 2.03 +/- 0.55 and 4.28 +/- 0.39-fold, respectively. The results suggest that the apple extracts plus Q3G combination possesses a synergistic effect in MCF-7 cell proliferation.

Solid-Phase Extraction Combined with High Performance Liquid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Methods: Solid-phase extraction method was employed for the extraction of the estrogen from milk and high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was used for the determination of estrogen. Results: Optimal chromatographic conditions were achieved on an Eclipse XDB-C18 column at a ...

Determination of alcohol and extract concentration in beer samples using a combined method of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and refractometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Castritius, Stefan; Kron, Alexander; Schäfer, Thomas; Rädle, Matthias; Harms, Diedrich

2010-12-22

A new approach of combination of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and refractometry was developed in this work to determine the concentration of alcohol and real extract in various beer samples. A partial least-squares (PLS) regression, as multivariate calibration method, was used to evaluate the correlation between the data of spectroscopy/refractometry and alcohol/extract concentration. This multivariate combination of spectroscopy and refractometry enhanced the precision in the determination of alcohol, compared to single spectroscopy measurements, due to the effect of high extract concentration on the spectral data, especially of nonalcoholic beer samples. For NIR calibration, two mathematical pretreatments (first-order derivation and linear baseline correction) were applied to eliminate light scattering effects. A sample grouping of the refractometry data was also applied to increase the accuracy of the determined concentration. The root mean squared errors of validation (RMSEV) of the validation process concerning alcohol and extract concentration were 0.23 Mas% (method A), 0.12 Mas% (method B), and 0.19 Mas% (method C) and 0.11 Mas% (method A), 0.11 Mas% (method B), and 0.11 Mas% (method C), respectively.

The coupling of rapidly synergistic cloud point extraction with thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wen, X.; Deng, Q.; Guo, J.; Zhao, X.; Zhao, Y.; Ji, S.

2012-01-01

Rapidly synergistic cloud point extraction (RS-CPE) was coupled with thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (TS-FF-AAS) to result in new CPE patterns and accelerated (1 min) protocols. It is demonstrated, for the case of copper (II) ion, that TS-FF-AAS improves the sampling efficiency and the sensitivity of FAAS determinations. Problems of nebulization associated with previous methods based on the coupling of FAAS and RS-CPE are overcome. TS-FF-AAS also improves sensitivity and gives a limit of detection for copper of 0.20 μg L -1 , which is better by a factor of 32. Compared to direct FAAS, the factor is 114. (author)

Pseudo-dynamic source modelling with 1-point and 2-point statistics of earthquake source parameters

KAUST Repository

Song, S. G.; Dalguer, L. A.; Mai, Paul Martin

2013-01-01

statistical framework that governs the finite-fault rupture process with 1-point and 2-point statistics of source parameters in order to quantify the variability of finite source models for future scenario events. We test this method by extracting 1-point

Reduced herbicide doses in combination with allelopathic plant extracts suppress weeds in wheat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afridi, R.A.; Khan, M.A.

2014-01-01

Allelopathy is gaining popularity worldwide probably for decreasing the cost of production and environment friendly weed suppressing approach. Repeated field studies conducted during 2011-12 and 2012-13 at Agricutural Research Institute Tarnab, Peshawar, Pakistan where allelopathic water extracts of Oryza sativa, Parthenium hysterophorus, Phragmites australis and Datura alba along with reduced doses of phenoxaprop-p-ethyl and bromoxinil+MCPA were tested for controlling weeds in wheat. It was observed that weed density was encouragly suppressed whereas spike length (cm), number of spikelets spike-1 and 1000 grain weight (g) of the wheat were improved when the allelopathic plant water extracts were used in combination with lower doses of herbicides. Thus, allelochemicals provide weed suppressing option in wheat. However, more studies are required to fully explore the possibility of weed management and isolation of the chemicals involved in weed suppression for environment friendly weed management in wheat. Such studies may decrease the cost of crop production and total use of herbicides. (author)

Quantifying the Metabolome of Pseudomonas taiwanensis VLB120: Evaluation of Hot and Cold Combined Quenching/Extraction Approaches

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wordofa, Gossa Garedew; Kristensen, Mette; Schrübbers, Lars

2017-01-01

Absolute quantification of free intracellular metabolites is a valuable tool in both pathway discovery and metabolic engineering. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive examination of different hot and cold combined quenching/extraction approaches to extract and quantify intracellular...... (such as cold methanol/acetonitrile/water, hot water, and boiling ethanol/water, as well as cold ethanol/water) were tested and evaluated for P. taiwanensis VLB120 metabolome analysis. In total 94 out of 107 detected intracellular metabolites were quantified using an isotope-ratio-based approach....... The quantified metabolites include amino acids, nucleotides, central carbon metabolism intermediates, redox cofactors, and others. The acquired data demonstrate that the pressure driven fast filtration approach followed by boiling ethanol quenching/extraction is the most adequate technique for P. taiwanensis VLB...

On-line lab-in-syringe cloud point extraction for the spectrophotometric determination of antimony.

Science.gov (United States)

Frizzarin, Rejane M; Portugal, Lindomar A; Estela, José M; Rocha, Fábio R P; Cerdà, Victor

2016-02-01

Most of the procedures for antimony determination require time-consuming sample preparation (e.g. liquid-liquid extraction with organic solvents), which are harmful to the environment. Because of the high antimony toxicity, a rapid, sensitive and greener procedure for its determination becomes necessary. The goal of this work was to develop an analytical procedure exploiting for the first time the cloud point extraction on a lab-in-syringe flow system aiming at the spectrophotometric determination of antimony. The procedure was based on formation of an ion-pair between the antimony-iodide complex and H(+) followed by extraction with Triton X-114. The factorial design showed that the concentrations of ascorbic acid, H2SO4 and Triton X-114, as well as second and third order interactions were significant at the 95% confidence level. A Box-Behnken design was applied to obtain the response surfaces and to identify the critical values. System is robust at the 95% confidence level. A linear response was observed from 5 to 50 µg L(-1), described by the equation A=0.137+0.050C(Sb) (r=0.998). The detection limit (99.7% confidence level), the coefficient of variation (n=5; 15 µg L(-1)) and the sampling rate was estimated at 1.8 µg L(-1), 1.6% and 16 h(-1), respectively. The procedure allows quantification of antimony in the concentrations established by environmental legislation (6 µg L(-1)) and it was successfully applied to the determination of antimony in freshwater samples and antileishmanial drugs, yielding results in agreement with those obtained by HGFAAS at the 95% confidence level. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Herbal tea extract combined with light-induced significant in vitro cytotoxicity of human bladder cancer cells

Science.gov (United States)

Nseyo, Unyime; Kim, Albert; Stavropoulos, Nicholas E.; Skalkos, Dimitris; Nseyo, U. U.; Chung, Theodore D.

2005-04-01

The anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antiviral, and antidepressant activities of the Greek herb, Hypericum Perforatum L, HP L, have been attributed to the total extract or single constituents. We investigated the use of the extract,specifically of the polar methanolic fraction (PMF) of Epirus"HPL in photodynamic therapy (PDT) alone and in combination with recombinant Interferon-a2b (IFN) and gemcitabine (GCB) in the treatment of human bladder cancer cells. The PMF was extracted from the dry herb with methanol, followed by liquid-liquid extraction with petroleum ether. T-24 bladder cancer cells were plated (105 cells/well) and placed in the incubator (370 C, 5%CO) for 24 hours prior to addition of drugs. PMF 60ug/ml was added and incubation continued. After 24 hours, the cells were subjected to laser light (630nm) treatment with 0, 1, 4 and 8 Joules. After reincubation for 24 hours, IFN, (50,000 IU) or GCB, (2ug/ml) was added to the PDT-treated cells. After this incubation cell survival was assessed by the MTT assay. PMF-PDT alone-induced percent cell kill of 0%, 8%, 44% and 80% versus 31%, 64 and 86 % for PMF-PDT and IFN, versus 63%, 80% and 88% for MPF-PDT plus GCB at 1, 2, 4 and 8 Joules respectively. IFN and GCB induced 20% and 53% cell kill respectively. Our data suggest that MPF may be an effective agent for in vitro photodynamic therapy. PMF-PDT combined with Intron A, or gemcitabine achieved improved kill of cultured bladder cancer cells. Confirmation of these results in preclinical studies may lead to clinical trials.

Combined Extraction Processes of Lipid from Chlorella vulgaris Microalgae: Microwave Prior to Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Dejoye, Céline; Vian, Maryline Abert; Lumia, Guy; Bouscarle, Christian; Charton, Frederic; Chemat, Farid

2011-01-01

Extraction yields and fatty acid profiles from freeze-dried Chlorella vulgaris by microwave pretreatment followed by supercritical carbon dioxide (MW-SCCO2) extraction were compared with those obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction alone (SCCO2). Work performed with pressure range of 20–28 Mpa and temperature interval of 40–70 °C, gave the highest extraction yield (w/w dry weight) at 28 MPa/40 °C. MW-SCCO2 allowed to obtain the highest extraction yield (4.73%) compared to SCCO2 extraction alone (1.81%). Qualitative and quantitative analyses of microalgae oil showed that palmitic, oleic, linoleic and α-linolenic acid were the most abundant identified fatty acids. Oils obtained by MW-SCCO2 extraction had the highest concentrations of fatty acids compared to SCCO2 extraction without pretreatment. Native form, and microwave pretreated and untreated microalgae were observed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). SEM micrographs of pretreated microalgae present tearing wall agglomerates. After SCCO2, microwave pretreated microalgae presented several micro cracks; while native form microalgae wall was slightly damaged. PMID:22272135

Combined Extraction Processes of Lipid from Chlorella vulgaris Microalgae: Microwave Prior to Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farid Chemat

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Extraction yields and fatty acid profiles from freeze-dried Chlorella vulgaris by microwave pretreatment followed by supercritical carbon dioxide (MW-SCCO2 extraction were compared with those obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction alone (SCCO2. Work performed with pressure range of 20–28 Mpa and temperature interval of 40–70 °C, gave the highest extraction yield (w/w dry weight at 28 MPa/40 °C. MW-SCCO2 allowed to obtain the highest extraction yield (4.73% compared to SCCO2 extraction alone (1.81%. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of microalgae oil showed that palmitic, oleic, linoleic and α-linolenic acid were the most abundant identified fatty acids. Oils obtained by MW-SCCO2 extraction had the highest concentrations of fatty acids compared to SCCO2 extraction without pretreatment. Native form, and microwave pretreated and untreated microalgae were observed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM. SEM micrographs of pretreated microalgae present tearing wall agglomerates. After SCCO2, microwave pretreated microalgae presented several micro cracks; while native form microalgae wall was slightly damaged.

Evaluation of xylitol production using corncob hemicellulosic hydrolysate by combining tetrabutylammonium hydroxide extraction with dilute acid hydrolysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Honghua; Shao, Tingting; Zhong, Chao; Li, Hengxiang; Jiang, Min; Zhou, Hua; Wei, Ping

2016-10-20

In this paper, we produced hemicellulosic hydrolysate from corncob by tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH) extraction and dilute acid hydrolysis combined, further evaluating the feasibility of the resultant corncob hemicellulosic hydrolysate used in xylitol production by Candida tropicalis. Optimized conditions for corncob hemicellulose extraction by TBAH was obtained via response surface methodology: time of 90min, temperature of 60°C, liquid/solid ratio of 12 (v/w), and TBAH concentration of 55%, resulting in a hemicellulose extraction of 80.07% under these conditions. The FT-IR spectrum of the extracted corncob hemicellulose is consistent with that of birchwood hemicellulose and exhibits specific absorbance of hemicelluloses at 1380, 1168, 1050, and 900cm(-1). In addition, we found that C. tropicalis can ferment the resulting corncob hemicellulosic hydrolysate with pH adjustment and activated charcoal treatment leading to a high xylitol yield and productivity of 0.77g/g and 2.45g/(Lh), respectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automatic Road Centerline Extraction from Imagery Using Road GPS Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuqing Cao

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Road centerline extraction from imagery constitutes a key element in numerous geospatial applications, which has been addressed through a variety of approaches. However, most of the existing methods are not capable of dealing with challenges such as different road shapes, complex scenes, and variable resolutions. This paper presents a novel method for road centerline extraction from imagery in a fully automatic approach that addresses the aforementioned challenges by exploiting road GPS data. The proposed method combines road color feature with road GPS data to detect road centerline seed points. After global alignment of road GPS data, a novel road centerline extraction algorithm is developed to extract each individual road centerline in local regions. Through road connection, road centerline network is generated as the final output. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed method can rapidly and accurately extract road centerline from remotely sensed imagery.

Extraction of Urban Trees from Integrated Airborne Based Digital Image and LIDAR Point Cloud Datasets - Initial Results

Science.gov (United States)

Dogon-yaro, M. A.; Kumar, P.; Rahman, A. Abdul; Buyuksalih, G.

2016-10-01

Timely and accurate acquisition of information on the condition and structural changes of urban trees serves as a tool for decision makers to better appreciate urban ecosystems and their numerous values which are critical to building up strategies for sustainable development. The conventional techniques used for extracting tree features include; ground surveying and interpretation of the aerial photography. However, these techniques are associated with some constraint, such as labour intensive field work, a lot of financial requirement, influences by weather condition and topographical covers which can be overcome by means of integrated airborne based LiDAR and very high resolution digital image datasets. This study presented a semi-automated approach for extracting urban trees from integrated airborne based LIDAR and multispectral digital image datasets over Istanbul city of Turkey. The above scheme includes detection and extraction of shadow free vegetation features based on spectral properties of digital images using shadow index and NDVI techniques and automated extraction of 3D information about vegetation features from the integrated processing of shadow free vegetation image and LiDAR point cloud datasets. The ability of the developed algorithms shows a promising result as an automated and cost effective approach to estimating and delineated 3D information of urban trees. The research also proved that integrated datasets is a suitable technology and a viable source of information for city managers to be used in urban trees management.

Magic Pointing for Eyewear Computers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jalaliniya, Shahram; Mardanbegi, Diako; Pederson, Thomas

2015-01-01

In this paper, we propose a combination of head and eye movements for touchlessly controlling the "mouse pointer" on eyewear devices, exploiting the speed of eye pointing and accuracy of head pointing. The method is a wearable computer-targeted variation of the original MAGIC pointing approach...... which combined gaze tracking with a classical mouse device. The result of our experiment shows that the combination of eye and head movements is faster than head pointing for far targets and more accurate than eye pointing....

The healing effect of combined hydroalcoholic extract of Teocurium polium and the seed hull of Quercus brantii on burn wounds in rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammadi Jamshid

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Plants and their extracts have considerable potential for wound healing. So, The aim of this study was to evaluate the wound healing effect of combined hydroalcoholic extract of Teocurium Polium (TP and the seed hull of Quercus brantii (Persian oak (QB and comparing with silver sulfadiazine (SSD ointment (1% in rats. Animals were divided into six groups consist of normal (untreated, physiologic serum, TP, seed hulls of Quercus brantii (QB, combination of TP and QB and the other group was SSD. Burn area size, epidermal and dermal diameter, number of hair follicle, histopathology of the burn skin and concentration of plasma malondialdehide (MDA were determined in different groups. Animals treated with QB and TP, SSD and combination of two extracts (QB +TP showed a significant reduction in the burn area. Serum MDA decreased significantly in animals treated with QB, TP and QB+TP. Histological comparison has shown that TP, QB and combination of them significantly increased reepithelialization in burn wounds, as compared to normal group. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that topical application of TP and QB has a significant effect on the burn wound healing.

Effects of music in combination with vibration in acupuncture points on the treatment of fibromyalgia.

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, Augusto; Werneck, Lineu; Paiva, Eduardo; Gans, Paulo

2015-02-01

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disease that causes widespread pain and increased sensitivity to pain because of a dysfunction in the central nervous system. This study investigated the effect of music combined with vibration on acupuncture points for the treatment of FM. A total of 120 patients with FM were allocated randomly to four groups (30 patients each). One group listened to a sequence of Bach's compositions. The second group was subjected to vibratory stimuli on a combination of acupuncture points on the skin. The third group (complete) underwent both procedures in a simultaneous and synchronized manner, with inclusion of binaural beats. The fourth group (control) received no stimulation. The participants underwent the experimental procedure during five sessions performed on alternate days. They were assessed by the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) before the first session and after the last session (20 days). All groups showed a significant improvement in FIQ and HAQ scores at the evaluation after the intervention. The complete group exhibited the best result on both the FIQ and HAQ (p<0.001), and the improvement in HAQ score was significant (p<0.004). The results suggest that the placebo effect in FM may be substantial. However, comparison between groups revealed that the complete group had the greatest reduction in both FIQ and HAQ, with a significant improvement in HAQ, suggesting that the combined use of music and vibration exerts a greater effect on FM symptoms.

Combining Chalk Talk with PowerPoint to Increase In-class Student Engagement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Swati Betharia

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In striving to attain a higher degree of in-class student engagement, and target a larger number of preferred student-learning styles, this case study describes a multimodal teaching approach. PowerPoint slides have gradually gained popularity over the more traditional chalk and talk lecture design. The student population in today’s age seeks more non-passive modes of information delivery. Numerous novel approaches to enhance active learning, such as flipped classroom and problem-based learning, have recently been explored. While working well for therapeutic and lab-based courses, these formats may not be best-suited for all basic science topics. The importance of basic science in a pharmacy curriculum is well emphasized in the 2016 ACPE Standards. To actively involve students in a pharmacology lecture on diuretics, a session was designed to combine the PowerPoint and chalk talk approaches. Students created 10 concept diagrams following an instructor, who explained each step in the process using a document camera. For visual learners, these diagrams provided a layered representation of the information, gradually increasing in complexity. For learners with a preference for the reading learning style, the information was also available in corresponding PowerPoint slides. Scores from pre- and post-session quizzes indicated a high level of concept understanding and recall (median 1 [IQR 0 – 2] vs 4 [IQR 3 – 5]; p<0.001. The student perception survey data reported higher in-class attention levels (76%, an appreciation for the utility of self-created concept diagrams (88%, and a call for additional sessions being presented in this format (73%. Targeting a variety of student learning styles by using the active development of concept diagrams, in addition to traditional PowerPoint slides, can promote student engagement and enhance content understanding.   Type: Case Study

Designing basin-customized combined drought indices via feature extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Zaniolo, Marta; Giuliani, Matteo; Castelletti, Andrea

2017-04-01

The socio-economic costs of drought are progressively increasing worldwide due to the undergoing alteration of hydro-meteorological regimes induced by climate change. Although drought management is largely studied in the literature, most of the traditional drought indexes fail in detecting critical events in highly regulated systems, which generally rely on ad-hoc formulations and cannot be generalized to different context. In this study, we contribute a novel framework for the design of a basin-customized drought index. This index represents a surrogate of the state of the basin and is computed by combining the available information about the water available in the system to reproduce a representative target variable for the drought condition of the basin (e.g., water deficit). To select the relevant variables and how to combine them, we use an advanced feature extraction algorithm called Wrapper for Quasi Equally Informative Subset Selection (W-QEISS). The W-QEISS algorithm relies on a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to find Pareto-efficient subsets of variables by maximizing the wrapper accuracy, minimizing the number of selected variables (cardinality) and optimizing relevance and redundancy of the subset. The accuracy objective is evaluated trough the calibration of a pre-defined model (i.e., an extreme learning machine) of the water deficit for each candidate subset of variables, with the index selected from the resulting solutions identifying a suitable compromise between accuracy, cardinality, relevance, and redundancy. The proposed methodology is tested in the case study of Lake Como in northern Italy, a regulated lake mainly operated for irrigation supply to four downstream agricultural districts. In the absence of an institutional drought monitoring system, we constructed the combined index using all the hydrological variables from the existing monitoring system as well as the most common drought indicators at multiple time aggregations. The soil

Evaluation of Trigonella foenum-graecum extract in combination with swimming exercise compared to glibenclamide consumption on type 2 Diabetic rodents

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Sajad Arshadi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Background/objective: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of fenugreek seed extract in combination with swimming exercise compared to glibenclamide consumption on type 2 diabetic rats. Design: The acute toxicity test was carried out to choose the safe doses and identify the toxicity effects of the fenugreek seed extract. To investigate the hypoglycemic effect of the extract and its effect in combination with swimming training, 80 Wistar Kyoto male streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats were divided randomly into eight groups: diabetic control (C; fenugreek seed extract 0.8 g/kg (F1; fenugreek extract 1.6 g/kg (F2; swimming training (S; swimming training plus fenugreek extract 0.8 g/kg (SF1; swimming training plus fenugreek extract 1.6 g/kg (SF2; glibenclamide (G and swimming training plus glibenclamide (SG. The rats were orally administrated with the treatments once a day with the respective treatment, and the training groups were subjected to swimming training every day for 60 min. Fasting blood samples were collected to measure fasting blood glucose, lipid profile, adiponectin, leptin, and insulin concentrations. Results: The results obtained from acute toxicity study showed no toxicity effect of fenugreek seed extract on the tested dose. Biochemical analysis showed significant improvements in all of the groups compared to the control group (p<0.05. Plasma insulin concentration and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR was significantly reduced in treated groups compared with the diabetic control group. Plasma leptin were significantly decreased in treated groups compared with the control group; while adiponectin had markedly increased (p<0.05. Conclusion: The findings suggest that fenugreek seed consuming, alongside swimming exercise, has a strong therapeutic effect on the improvement of diabetic parameters.

ECG denoising and fiducial point extraction using an extended Kalman filtering framework with linear and nonlinear phase observations.

Science.gov (United States)

Akhbari, Mahsa; Shamsollahi, Mohammad B; Jutten, Christian; Armoundas, Antonis A; Sayadi, Omid

2016-02-01

In this paper we propose an efficient method for denoising and extracting fiducial point (FP) of ECG signals. The method is based on a nonlinear dynamic model which uses Gaussian functions to model ECG waveforms. For estimating the model parameters, we use an extended Kalman filter (EKF). In this framework called EKF25, all the parameters of Gaussian functions as well as the ECG waveforms (P-wave, QRS complex and T-wave) in the ECG dynamical model, are considered as state variables. In this paper, the dynamic time warping method is used to estimate the nonlinear ECG phase observation. We compare this new approach with linear phase observation models. Using linear and nonlinear EKF25 for ECG denoising and nonlinear EKF25 for fiducial point extraction and ECG interval analysis are the main contributions of this paper. Performance comparison with other EKF-based techniques shows that the proposed method results in higher output SNR with an average SNR improvement of 12 dB for an input SNR of -8 dB. To evaluate the FP extraction performance, we compare the proposed method with a method based on partially collapsed Gibbs sampler and an established EKF-based method. The mean absolute error and the root mean square error of all FPs, across all databases are 14 ms and 22 ms, respectively, for our proposed method, with an advantage when using a nonlinear phase observation. These errors are significantly smaller than errors obtained with other methods. For ECG interval analysis, with an absolute mean error and a root mean square error of about 22 ms and 29 ms, the proposed method achieves better accuracy and smaller variability with respect to other methods.

Antioxidant Activity and Thermal Stability of Oleuropein and Related Phenolic Compounds of Olive Leaf Extract after Separation and Concentration by Salting-Out-Assisted Cloud Point Extraction

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Konstantinos Stamatopoulos

2014-04-01

Full Text Available A fast, clean, energy-saving, non-toxic method for the stabilization of the antioxidant activity and the improvement of the thermal stability of oleuropein and related phenolic compounds separated from olive leaf extract via salting-out-assisted cloud point extraction (CPE was developed using Tween 80. The process was based on the decrease of the solubility of polyphenols and the lowering of the cloud point temperature of Tween 80 due to the presence of elevated amounts of sulfates (salting-out and the separation from the bulk solution with centrifugation. The optimum conditions were chosen based on polyphenols recovery (%, phase volume ratio (Vs/Vw and concentration factor (Fc. The maximum recovery of polyphenols was in total 95.9%; Vs/Vw was 0.075 and Fc was 15 at the following conditions: pH 2.6, ambient temperature (25 °C, 4% Tween 80 (w/v, 35% Na2SO4 (w/v and a settling time of 5 min. The total recovery of oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, verbascoside and apigenin-7-O-glucoside, at optimum conditions, was 99.8%, 93.0%, 87.6%, 99.3% and 100.0%, respectively. Polyphenolic compounds entrapped in the surfactant-rich phase (Vs showed higher thermal stability (activation energy (Ea 23.8 kJ/mol compared to non-entrapped ones (Ea 76.5 kJ/mol. The antioxidant activity of separated polyphenols remained unaffected as determined by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl method.

Extraction of the bare form factors for the semi-leptonic Bs decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bahr, F.; Banerjee, D.; Koren, M.; Simma, H.; Sommer, R.

2017-01-01

The computation of the form factors for the B s →lν decay is presented. The b quark is treated by means of Heavy Quark Effective Theory, currently in the static approximation. In these proceedings we discuss the extraction of the bare matrix elements from lattice data through a combined fit to two- and three-point correlation functions, as well as by considering suitable ratios. The different methods agree concerning the extracted form factors and approximately 2% accuracy is reached. The non-perturbative renormalization and matching to QCD is described in accompanying proceedings.

Combining essential oils and olive extract for control of multi-drug resistant Salmonella enterica on organic leafy greens

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We investigated the combined antimicrobial effects of plant essential oils and olive extract against antibiotic resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Newport on organic leafy greens. Organic baby spinach, mature spinach, romaine lettuce, and iceberg lettuce were inoculated with S. Newport and dip-t...

Potentiation of antimalarial activity of arteether in combination with Vetiver root extract.

Science.gov (United States)

Dhawan, Sangeeta; Gunjan, Sarika; Pal, Anirban; Tripathi, Renu

2016-05-01

In malaria, development of resistance towards artemisinin derivatives has urged the need for new drugs or new drug combinations to tackle the drug resistant malaria. We studied the fresh root extract of Vetiver zizanioides (Linn.) Nash (VET) with a CDRI-CIMAP antimalarial α/β arteether (ART) together for their antimalarial potential. Our results showed additive to synergistic antimalarial activity of VET and ART with sum fractional inhibitory concentrations Σ FICs 1.02 ± 0.24 and 1.12 ± 0.32 for chloroquine sensitive (CQS) and chloroquine resistant (CQR) strain of Plasmodium falciparum (William H. Welch), respectively. Further, these combinations were explored against multidrug resistant rodent malaria parasite i.e. P. yoelii nigeriensis. Analysis of in vivo interaction of ART and VET showed that 10 mg/kg x 5 days of ART with 1000 mg/kg of VET x 5 days cured 100% mice infected with MDR parasite, while the same dose of ART could produce only up to 30% cure and VET fraction was not curative at all. Synergism/additiveness, found between VET and ART is reported for the first time. The curative dose of ART in the combination was reduced to its one fourth, and thus limits the side effects, if any. Although antimalarial potential of ART was enhanced by VET, action mechanism of later needs to be elucidated in detail.

Hot water extraction with in situ wet oxidation: Kinetics of PAHs removal from soil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dadkhah, Ali A.; Akgerman, Aydin

2006-01-01

Finding environmentally friendly and cost-effective methods to remediate soils contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is currently a major concern of researchers. In this study, a series of small-scale semi-continuous extractions - with and without in situ wet oxidation - were performed on soils polluted with PAHs, using subcritical water (i.e. liquid water at high temperatures and pressures, but below the critical point) as the removal agent. Experiments were performed in a 300 mL reactor using an aged soil sample. To find the desorption isotherms and oxidation reaction rates, semi-continuous experiments with residence times of 1 and 2 h were performed using aged soil at 250 deg. C and hydrogen peroxide as oxidizing agent. In all combined extraction and oxidation flow experiments, PAHs in the remaining soil after the experiments were almost undetectable. In combined extraction and oxidation no PAHs could be detected in the liquid phase after the first 30 min of the experiments. Based on these results, extraction with hot water, if combined with oxidation, should reduce the cost of remediation and can be used as a feasible alternative technique for remediating contaminated soils and sediments

Combined Cataract Extraction With Pars Plana Vitrectomy and Metallic Intraocular Foreign Body Removal Through Sclerocorneal Tunnel Using a Novel "Magnet Handshake" Technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Dhoble, Pankaja; Khodifad, Ashish

2018-01-01

To study the outcomes of combined cataract extraction with pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and metallic intraocular foreign body (IOFB) removal through a sclerocorneal tunnel using the "magnetic handshake" technique. A retrospective review. Retrospective review of case records of 14 patients from 2010 to 2016 with metallic IOFB and traumatic cataract was performed. Cataract extraction was combined with PPV. Two intraocular magnets (IOMs) introduced through 20-gauge vitrectomy port and sclerocorneal tunnel helped achieve safe delivery of IOFB outside the globe by the "magnetic handshake" technique. All patients were males with a mean age of 33.04 years. A final best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 20/60 or better was noted in 10 (71.42%) of 14 patients. Final reattachment with more than 1 surgery was achieved in 13 (92.85%) patients. Postoperative complications included retinal detachment (RD) and phthisis bulbi in 1 (14.28%) patient each. Combined cataract extraction with PPV and metallic IOFB removal through sclerocorneal tunnel using the "magnet handshake" technique gives good visual and surgical outcomes. Copyright 2017 Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.

Streamlined sample cleanup using combined dispersive solid-phase extraction and in-vial filtration for analysis of pesticides and environmental pollutants in shrimp

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A new method of sample preparation was developed and is reported for the first time. The approach combines in-vial filtration with dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) in a fast and convenient cleanup of QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) extracts. The method was appli...

Liquid-liquid extraction and separation of VIII group elements, especially ruthenium, by synergic combinations or aromatic polyimines and micellar cationic exchangers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vitart, X.

1991-01-01

This thesis aims to characterize and to quantify the chemical equilibria involved in d-elements liquid-liquid extraction systems, especially elements belonging to the VIII group (Fe, Ni, Co, Ru, Rh, Pd, Pt). These systems are composed of synergic combination of aromatic polyimines and micellar cationic exchangers. Substitutions are first performed in aqueous acidic media by aromatic polyimines; then extractions are operated using micellic canionic exchangers. Chemical equilibria, selectivity effects, especially those due to ion-pair formations, kinetics, extractant behaviour are analysed and quantified [fr

Equipment-free nucleic acid extraction and amplification on a simple paper disc for point-of-care diagnosis of rotavirus A.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Xin; Xu, Jin; Lu, Lijuan; Li, Xinxin; Fang, Xueen; Kong, Jilie

2018-08-14

The use of paper-based methods for clinical diagnostics is a rapidly expanding research topic attracting a great deal of interest. Some groups have attempted to realize an integrated nucleic acid test on a single microfluidic paper chip, including extraction, amplification, and readout functions. However, these studies were not able to overcome complex modification and fabrication requirements, long turn-around times, or the need for sophisticated equipment like pumps, thermal cyclers, or centrifuges. Here, we report an extremely simple paper-based test for the point-of-care diagnosis of rotavirus A, one of the most common pathogens that causes pediatric gastroenteritis. This paper-based test could perform nucleic acid extraction within 5 min, then took 25 min to amplify the target sequence, and the result was visible to the naked eye immediately afterward or quantitative by the UV-Vis absorbance. This low-cost method does not require extra equipment and is easy to use either in a lab or at the point-of-care. The detection limit for rotavirus A was found to be 1 × 10 3 copies/mL. In addition, 100% sensitivity and specificity were achieved when testing 48 clinical stool samples. In conclusion, the present paper-based test fulfills the main requirements for a point-of-care diagnostic tool, and has the potential to be applied to disease prevention, control, and precision diagnosis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cloud point extraction of palladium in water samples and alloy mixtures using new synthesized reagent with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Priya, B. Krishna; Subrahmanayam, P.; Suvardhan, K.; Kumar, K. Suresh; Rekha, D.; Rao, A. Venkata; Rao, G.C.; Chiranjeevi, P.

2007-01-01

The present paper outlines novel, simple and sensitive method for the determination of palladium by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) after separation and preconcentration by cloud point extraction (CPE). The cloud point methodology was successfully applied for palladium determination by using new reagent 4-(2-naphthalenyl)thiozol-2yl azo chromotropic acid (NTACA) and hydrophobic ligand Triton X-114 as chelating agent and nonionic surfactant respectively in the water samples and alloys. The following parameters such as pH, concentration of the reagent and Triton X-114, equilibrating temperature and centrifuging time were evaluated and optimized to enhance the sensitivity and extraction efficiency of the proposed method. The preconcentration factor was found to be (50-fold) for 250 ml of water sample. Under optimum condition the detection limit was found as 0.067 ng ml -1 for palladium in various environmental matrices. The present method was applied for the determination of palladium in various water samples, alloys and the result shows good agreement with reported method and the recoveries are in the range of 96.7-99.4%

Light extraction block with curved surface

Science.gov (United States)

Levermore, Peter; Krall, Emory; Silvernail, Jeffrey; Rajan, Kamala; Brown, Julia J.

2016-03-22

Light extraction blocks, and OLED lighting panels using light extraction blocks, are described, in which the light extraction blocks include various curved shapes that provide improved light extraction properties compared to parallel emissive surface, and a thinner form factor and better light extraction than a hemisphere. Lighting systems described herein may include a light source with an OLED panel. A light extraction block with a three-dimensional light emitting surface may be optically coupled to the light source. The three-dimensional light emitting surface of the block may includes a substantially curved surface, with further characteristics related to the curvature of the surface at given points. A first radius of curvature corresponding to a maximum principal curvature k.sub.1 at a point p on the substantially curved surface may be greater than a maximum height of the light extraction block. A maximum height of the light extraction block may be less than 50% of a maximum width of the light extraction block. Surfaces with cross sections made up of line segments and inflection points may also be fit to approximated curves for calculating the radius of curvature.

The Effect of a combination of 12% spirulina and 20% chitosan on macrophage, PMN, and lymphocyte cell expressions in post extraction wound

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Nike Hendrijantini

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Tooth extraction is the ultimate treatment option for defective teeth followed by the need for dentures. Inflammation is one phase of the healing process that should be minimized in order to preserve alveolar bone for denture support. Macrophage, PMN and lymphocyte cells are indicators of acute inflammation. Spirulina and chitosan are natural compounds with the potential to be anti-inflammatory agents. Purpose: This research aimed to determine macrophage, PMN and lymphocyte cells of animal models treated with a combination of 12% spirulina and 20% chitosan on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd post-extraction day. Methods: Animal models were randomly divided into control (K and treatment (P groups. Each group was further divided into three subgroups (KI, KII, KIII and PI, PII, PIII. The post-extraction sockets of the control group animals were then filled with CMC Na 3%. Meanwhile, the post-extraction sockets of the treatment group members were filled with a combination of 12% spirulina and 20% chitosan. Subsequently, the number of PMN, macrophage and lymphocyte cells was analyzed by means of HE analysis on the 1st., 2nd. and 3rd. days. Statistical analysis was then performed using a T-test. Results: There was a decrease in PMN cells and an increase in macrophage and lymphocyte cells on Days 1, 2, and 3. Conclusion: It can be concluded that a combination of 12% spirulina and 20% chitosan can not only decrease PMN cells, but can also increase macrophage and lymphocyte cells on Days 1, 2 and 3 after tooth extraction.

Evaluation of a cloud point extraction approach for the preconcentration and quantification of trace CuO nanoparticles in environmental waters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majedi, Seyed Mohammad; Kelly, Barry C.; Lee, Hian Kee

2014-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • The robustness of cloud point extraction approach was investigated for the analysis of trace CuO NPs in water. • The behavior and fate, and therefore, the recovery of CuO NPs varied substantially under different extraction conditions. • The effects of environmental factors on the NP behavior and extraction were determined and minimized. • Limits of detection of 0.02 and 0.06 μg L −1 were achieved using ICP-MS and GF-AAS, respectively. • Environmental water samples were successfully pre-treated and analyzed. - Abstract: The cloud point extraction (CPE) of commercial copper(II) oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs, mean diameter of 28 nm) in water samples was fully investigated. Factors such as Triton X-114 (TX-114) concentration, pH, incubation temperature and time, were optimized. The effects of CuO NP behavior like agglomeration, dissolution, and surface adsorption of natural organic matter, Cu 2+ , and coating chemicals, on its recovery were studied. The results indicated that all the CPE factors had significant effects on the extraction efficiency. An enrichment factor of ∼89 was obtained under optimum CPE conditions. The hydrodynamic diameter of CuO NPs increased to 4–5 μm upon agglomeration of NP-micelle assemblies, and decreased at pH >10.0 at which the extraction efficiency was also lowered. The solubility and therefore, the loss of NPs were greatly enhanced at pH 5 mg C L −1 and Cu 2+ >2 times that of CuO NPs, lowered and enhanced the extraction efficiency, respectively. Pre-treatment of samples with 3% w v −1 of hydrogen peroxide and 10 mM of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid minimized the interferences posed by DOC and Cu 2+ , respectively. The decrease in CPE efficiency was also evident for ligands like poly(ethylene glycol). The TX-114-rich phase could be determined with either inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry following microwave digestion, or graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

3D OBJECT COORDINATES EXTRACTION BY RADARGRAMMETRY AND MULTI STEP IMAGE MATCHING

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A. Eftekhari

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Nowadays by high resolution SAR imaging systems as Radarsat-2, TerraSAR-X and COSMO-skyMed, three-dimensional terrain data extraction using SAR images is growing. InSAR and Radargrammetry are two most common approaches for removing 3D object coordinate from SAR images. Research has shown that extraction of terrain elevation data using satellite repeat pass interferometry SAR technique due to atmospheric factors and the lack of coherence between the images in areas with dense vegetation cover is a problematic. So the use of Radargrammetry technique can be effective. Generally height derived method by Radargrammetry consists of two stages: Images matching and space intersection. In this paper we propose a multi-stage algorithm founded on the combination of feature based and area based image matching. Then the RPCs that calculate for each images use for extracting 3D coordinate in matched points. At the end, the coordinates calculating that compare with coordinates extracted from 1 meters DEM. The results show root mean square errors for 360 points are 3.09 meters. We use a pair of spotlight TerraSAR-X images from JAM (IRAN in this article.

Biological response of the cotton leaf worm, Spodoptera littoralis, towards combination of seed and leaf extracts from red gum Eucalyptus Camaldulensis and/or gamma radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El Shall, S.S.A.; Alm El Din, M.M.S.; Hazaa, M.A.M.

2005-01-01

The biological response of the F1 progeny of the cotton leaf worm, Spodoptera Littoralis (Bosid.), (from males irradiated as parental pupae with 75 and 125 Gy gamma radiation) to seed or leaf extracts of Eucalyptus Camaldulensis plant were studied. The fecundity, fertility, and mating potency of F1 adults were employed as assess for response. Analysis of variance indicated that, different treatments with gamma irradiation and/or plant extracts, at most mating crosses and most interactions between all of them, showed significant role in decreasing the fecundity and fertility of F1 adults. In general, the combined treatments of seed or leaf extracts with gamma irradiation. as dependent factors regardless other factors, decreased the emergence of adults compared to the control or single treatments of either seed extract or gamma irradiation. As well, combination treatments of radiation and seed extract decreased significantly the fecundity of moths compared to control or irradiation treatment alone. On the other hand, the combination treatments of either seed or leaf extracts did not have any significant difference in the number of mating per female, as compared to control, while irradiation treatments decreased the number of mating compared to vontrol. The effects of most possible probabilities of interaction between doses, crosses and treatments on reproduction were estimated and discussed and also the effects on development of F1 progeny were included

Extraction of bowing parameters from violin performance combining motion capture and sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Schoonderwaldt, E; Demoucron, M

2009-11-01

A method is described for measurement of a complete set of bowing parameters in violin performance. Optical motion capture was combined with sensors for accurate measurement of the main bowing parameters (bow position, bow velocity, bow acceleration, bow-bridge distance, and bow force) as well as secondary control parameters (skewness, inclination, and tilt of the bow). In addition, other performance features (moments of on/off in bow-string contact, string played, and bowing direction) were extracted. Detailed descriptions of the calculations of the bowing parameters, features, and calibrations are given. The described system is capable of measuring all bowing parameters without disturbing the player, allowing for detailed studies of musically relevant aspects of bow control and coordination of bowing parameters in bowed-string instrument performance.

Dual-cloud point extraction coupled to high performance liquid chromatography for simultaneous determination of trace sulfonamide antimicrobials in urine and water samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Nong, Chunyan; Niu, Zongliang; Li, Pengyao; Wang, Chunping; Li, Wanyu; Wen, Yingying

2017-04-15

Dual-cloud point extraction (dCPE) was successfully developed for simultaneous extraction of trace sulfonamides (SAs) including sulfamerazine (SMZ), sulfadoxin (SDX), sulfathiazole (STZ) in urine and water samples. Several parameters affecting the extraction were optimized, such as sample pH, concentration of Triton X-114, extraction temperature and time, centrifugation rate and time, back-extraction solution pH, back-extraction temperature and time, back-extraction centrifugation rate and time. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied for the SAs analysis. Under the optimum extraction and detection conditions, successful separation of the SAs was achieved within 9min, and excellent analytical performances were attained. Good linear relationships (R 2 ≥0.9990) between peak area and concentration for SMZ and STZ were optimized from 0.02 to 10μg/mL, for SDX from 0.01 to 10μg/mL. Detection limits of 3.0-6.2ng/mL were achieved. Satisfactory recoveries ranging from 85 to 108% were determined with urine, lake and tap water spiked at 0.2, 0.5 and 1μg/mL, respectively, with relative standard deviations (RSDs, n=6) of 1.5-7.7%. This method was demonstrated to be convenient, rapid, cost-effective and environmentally benign, and could be used as an alternative tool to existing methods for analysing trace residues of SAs in urine and water samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Detection of Pb-LIII edge XANES spectra of urban atmospheric particles combined with simple acid extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Funasaka, K.; Tojo, T.; Katahira, K.; Shinya, M.; Miyazaki, T.; Kamiura, T.; Yamamoto, O.; Moriwaki, H.; Tanida, H.; Takaoka, M.

2008-01-01

Pb-LIII edge XANES spectra of atmospheric particles are directly obtained by fluorescent XAFS spectroscopy using a 19-element solid state detector (SSD). Particulate sample was collected on a quartz fiber filter using a high-volume air sampler, and the filter was cut into small pieces (25 x 25 mm). Then, surface layer of the filter piece was scaled and accumulated in order to enhance the particle density per filter unit. Use of 10 pieces of the surface layer enables the measurement of Pb-LIII edge XANES spectra on beamline BL01B1 at SPring-8, Hyogo, Japan. The shape of the Pb-LIII edge XANES spectra of the particulate sample is similar to the shapes of the spectra for PbS, PbCO 3 , PbSO 4 and/or PbCl 2 . Additionally, the filter sample is also divided into water-soluble, 0.1 M HCl-extractable, and residual fractions of Pb compounds by a simple acid extraction procedure. We discuss the possibility of Pb speciation in the particulate samples with combination of highly sensitive XANES spectroscopy and simple acid extraction

Wrox SharePoint 2010 SharePoint911 three-pack

CERN Document Server

Klindt, Todd; Mason, Jennifer; Rogers, Laura; Drisgill, Randy; Ross, John; Riemann, Larry; Perran, Amanda; Perran, Shane; Sanford, Jacob J; Stubbs, Paul; Caravajal, Steve

2012-01-01

The Wrox SharePoint 2010 SharePoint911 Three-Pack combines the contents of three full e-books written by the experts from SharePoint911.  That's over 1800 pages of hands-on advice from Todd Klindt, Shane Young, Laura Rogers, Randy Drisgill, Jennifer Mason, John Ross, and Larry Riemann, among others. In Beginning SharePoint 2010: Building Business Solutions with SharePoint (ISBN 978-0-470-61789-2) by Amanda Perran, Shane Perran, Jennifer Mason, and Laura Rogers, readers learn the core concepts, terminology, and features of SharePoint 2010. In Professiona

Homogenization, lyophilization or acid-extraction of meat products improves iron uptake from cereal-meat product combinations in an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell model.

Science.gov (United States)

Pachón, Helena; Stoltzfus, Rebecca J; Glahn, Raymond P

2009-03-01

The effect of processing (homogenization, lyophilization, acid-extraction) meat products on iron uptake from meat combined with uncooked iron-fortified cereal was evaluated using an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell model. Beef was cooked, blended to create smaller meat particles, and combined with electrolytic iron-fortified infant rice cereal. Chicken liver was cooked and blended, lyophilized, or acid-extracted, and combined with FeSO4-fortified wheat flour. In the beef-cereal combination, Caco-2 cell iron uptake, assessed by measuring the ferritin formed by cells, was greater when the beef was blended for the greatest amount of time (360 s) compared with 30 s (P meat products on iron absorption in iron-fortified cereals.

Cloud point extraction of vanadium in pharmaceutical formulations, dialysate and parenteral solutions using 8-hydroxyquinoline and nonionic surfactant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, Sumaira; Kazi, Tasneem G.; Baig, Jameel A.; Kolachi, Nida F.; Afridi, Hassan I.; Wadhwa, Sham Kumar; Shah, Abdul Q.; Kandhro, Ghulam A.; Shah, Faheem

2010-01-01

A cloud point extraction (CPE) method has been developed for the determination of trace quantity of vanadium ions in pharmaceutical formulations (PF), dialysate (DS) and parenteral solutions (PS). The CPE of vanadium (V) using 8-hydroxyquinoline (oxine) as complexing reagent and mediated by nonionic surfactant (Triton X-114) was investigated. The parameters that affect the extraction efficiency of CPE, such as pH of sample solution, concentration of oxine and Triton X-114, equilibration temperature and time period for shaking were investigated in detail. The validity of CPE of V was checked by standard addition method in real samples. The extracted surfactant-rich phase was diluted with nitric acid in ethanol, prior to subjecting electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Under these conditions, the preconcentration of 50 mL sample solutions, allowed raising an enrichment factor of 125-fold. The lower limit of detection obtained under the optimal conditions was 42 ng/L. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of trace quantity of V in various pharmaceutical preparations with satisfactory results. The concentration ranges of V in PF, DS and PS samples were found in the range of 10.5-15.2, 0.65-1.32 and 1.76-6.93 μg/L, respectively.

Slicing Method for curved façade and window extraction from point clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Iman Zolanvari, S. M.; Laefer, Debra F.

2016-09-01

Laser scanning technology is a fast and reliable method to survey structures. However, the automatic conversion of such data into solid models for computation remains a major challenge, especially where non-rectilinear features are present. Since, openings and the overall dimensions of the buildings are the most critical elements in computational models for structural analysis, this article introduces the Slicing Method as a new, computationally-efficient method for extracting overall façade and window boundary points for reconstructing a façade into a geometry compatible for computational modelling. After finding a principal plane, the technique slices a façade into limited portions, with each slice representing a unique, imaginary section passing through a building. This is done along a façade's principal axes to segregate window and door openings from structural portions of the load-bearing masonry walls. The method detects each opening area's boundaries, as well as the overall boundary of the façade, in part, by using a one-dimensional projection to accelerate processing. Slices were optimised as 14.3 slices per vertical metre of building and 25 slices per horizontal metre of building, irrespective of building configuration or complexity. The proposed procedure was validated by its application to three highly decorative, historic brick buildings. Accuracy in excess of 93% was achieved with no manual intervention on highly complex buildings and nearly 100% on simple ones. Furthermore, computational times were less than 3 sec for data sets up to 2.6 million points, while similar existing approaches required more than 16 hr for such datasets.

Study on the improvement effect of edaravone combined with Ginkgo biloba extract on neurological function after interventional therapy of cerebral infarction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang-Yang Hu1

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: To study the effect of edaravone combined with Ginkgo biloba extract on neurological function after interventional therapy of cerebral infarction. Methods: A total of 152 cases of patients with acute cerebral infarction who received interventional therapy in Mianyang Central Hospital between May 2013 and September 2016 were retrospectively analyzed and divided into intervention group and control group, intervention group received routine treatment combined with edaravone and Ginkgo biloba extract treatment after interventional therapy, and control group received routine medical treatment after interventional therapy. 3 d, 7 d, 14 d after therapy, serum was separated, and the levels of neural function injury markers, oxidative stress products, antioxidant enzymes and platelet activation indexes were determined. Results: 3 d, 7 d and 14 d after treatment, serum UCH-L1, GFAP, NSE, S100B, ROS, GMP-140, PAC-1 and CD62p contents of intervention group were significantly lower than those of control group while CAT, SOD and GSH-PX contents were significantly higher than those of control group. Conclusion: Edaravone combined with Ginkgo biloba extract can reduce neurological injury and promote neurological function recovery after interventional therapy of cerebral infarction, and this effect is related to the reduction of oxidative stress and inhibition of platelet activation.

Multi-scale calculation based on dual domain material point method combined with molecular dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dhakal, Tilak Raj [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-02-27

This dissertation combines the dual domain material point method (DDMP) with molecular dynamics (MD) in an attempt to create a multi-scale numerical method to simulate materials undergoing large deformations with high strain rates. In these types of problems, the material is often in a thermodynamically non-equilibrium state, and conventional constitutive relations are often not available. In this method, the closure quantities, such as stress, at each material point are calculated from a MD simulation of a group of atoms surrounding the material point. Rather than restricting the multi-scale simulation in a small spatial region, such as phase interfaces, or crack tips, this multi-scale method can be used to consider non-equilibrium thermodynamic e ects in a macroscopic domain. This method takes advantage that the material points only communicate with mesh nodes, not among themselves; therefore MD simulations for material points can be performed independently in parallel. First, using a one-dimensional shock problem as an example, the numerical properties of the original material point method (MPM), the generalized interpolation material point (GIMP) method, the convected particle domain interpolation (CPDI) method, and the DDMP method are investigated. Among these methods, only the DDMP method converges as the number of particles increases, but the large number of particles needed for convergence makes the method very expensive especially in our multi-scale method where we calculate stress in each material point using MD simulation. To improve DDMP, the sub-point method is introduced in this dissertation, which provides high quality numerical solutions with a very small number of particles. The multi-scale method based on DDMP with sub-points is successfully implemented for a one dimensional problem of shock wave propagation in a cerium crystal. The MD simulation to calculate stress in each material point is performed in GPU using CUDA to accelerate the

Combined effect of gamma irradiation and rosemary extract on the shelf-life of refrigerated ready-to-cook chicken sausages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tawfik, S.S.; EL-Kabbany, H.M.; Atia, A.E.; Sallam, M.H.; Aly, S.M.E.

2006-01-01

Combined treatment of gamma irradiation and rosemary extract as natural anti-microbial and anti-oxidative food flavouring was used in the formulation of ready-to-cook chicken sausage for shelf-life extension and improvement of its microbiological quality. Sausages were treated with 500 ppm of rosemary extract, gamma irradiation with doses of 6 and 8 KGy and stored at 5 ± 1 degree C for 30 days.From the microbiological aspects, 8 KGy irradiation was sufficient to inactivate the microbial load during storage period. Addition of the antioxidant rosemary extract modulated releasing of thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and total volatile bases nitrogen (TVBN) occurred during storage. Sensory and textural evaluation results were significantly different in groups supplied with rosemary extract.Fresh ready-to-cook chicken sausage with rosemary exposed to 8 KGy were microbiologically safe and well acceptable for consumers when stored at 5± 1 degree C up to 30 days

Combined Effect of Kimchi Powder and Onion Peel Extract on Quality Characteristics of Emulsion Sausages Prepared with Irradiated Pork

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Yun-Sang; Lee, Ju-Woon; Lee, Si-Kyung

2015-01-01

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of kimchi powder and onion peel extract on the quality characteristics of emulsion sausage manufactured with irradiated pork. The emulsion sausages were formulated with 2% kimchi powder and/or 0.05% onion peel extract. The changes in pH value of all treatments were similar, depending on storage periods. The addition of kimchi powder increased the redness and yellowness of the emulsion sausage. The addition of onion peel extract decreased the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances value of the emulsion sausages prepared with irradiated pork. The volatile basic nitrogen value of the emulsion sausage prepared with kimchi powder was the highest, whereas that of the emulsion sausage prepared with onion peel extract was the lowest. The treatment without kimchi powder or onion peel extract and the treatments prepared with onion peel extract showed lower microbial populations than the other treatment. Sensory evaluations indicated that a higher acceptability was attained when kimchi powder was added to the emulsion sausages manufactured with irradiated pork. In conclusion, our results suggest that combined use of kimchi powder and onion peel extract could improve quality characteristics and shelf stability of the emulsion sausage formulated with irradiated pork during chilled storage. PMID:26761840

Point sources and multipoles in inverse scattering theory

CERN Document Server

Potthast, Roland

2001-01-01

Over the last twenty years, the growing availability of computing power has had an enormous impact on the classical fields of direct and inverse scattering. The study of inverse scattering, in particular, has developed rapidly with the ability to perform computational simulations of scattering processes and led to remarkable advances in a range of applications, from medical imaging and radar to remote sensing and seismic exploration. Point Sources and Multipoles in Inverse Scattering Theory provides a survey of recent developments in inverse acoustic and electromagnetic scattering theory. Focusing on methods developed over the last six years by Colton, Kirsch, and the author, this treatment uses point sources combined with several far-reaching techniques to obtain qualitative reconstruction methods. The author addresses questions of uniqueness, stability, and reconstructions for both two-and three-dimensional problems.With interest in extracting information about an object through scattered waves at an all-ti...

Multivariate analysis and extraction of parameters in resistive RAMs using the Quantum Point Contact model

Science.gov (United States)

Roldán, J. B.; Miranda, E.; González-Cordero, G.; García-Fernández, P.; Romero-Zaliz, R.; González-Rodelas, P.; Aguilera, A. M.; González, M. B.; Jiménez-Molinos, F.

2018-01-01

A multivariate analysis of the parameters that characterize the reset process in Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) has been performed. The different correlations obtained can help to shed light on the current components that contribute in the Low Resistance State (LRS) of the technology considered. In addition, a screening method for the Quantum Point Contact (QPC) current component is presented. For this purpose, the second derivative of the current has been obtained using a novel numerical method which allows determining the QPC model parameters. Once the procedure is completed, a whole Resistive Switching (RS) series of thousands of curves is studied by means of a genetic algorithm. The extracted QPC parameter distributions are characterized in depth to get information about the filamentary pathways associated with LRS in the low voltage conduction regime.

Advanced integrated solvent extraction systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horwitz, E.P.; Dietz, M.L.; Leonard, R.A. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

1997-10-01

Advanced integrated solvent extraction systems are a series of novel solvent extraction (SX) processes that will remove and recover all of the major radioisotopes from acidic-dissolved sludge or other acidic high-level wastes. The major focus of this effort during the last 2 years has been the development of a combined cesium-strontium extraction/recovery process, the Combined CSEX-SREX Process. The Combined CSEX-SREX Process relies on a mixture of a strontium-selective macrocyclic polyether and a novel cesium-selective extractant based on dibenzo 18-crown-6. The process offers several potential advantages over possible alternatives in a chemical processing scheme for high-level waste treatment. First, if the process is applied as the first step in chemical pretreatment, the radiation level for all subsequent processing steps (e.g., transuranic extraction/recovery, or TRUEX) will be significantly reduced. Thus, less costly shielding would be required. The second advantage of the Combined CSEX-SREX Process is that the recovered Cs-Sr fraction is non-transuranic, and therefore will decay to low-level waste after only a few hundred years. Finally, combining individual processes into a single process will reduce the amount of equipment required to pretreat the waste and therefore reduce the size and cost of the waste processing facility. In an ongoing collaboration with Lockheed Martin Idaho Technology Company (LMITCO), the authors have successfully tested various segments of the Advanced Integrated Solvent Extraction Systems. Eichrom Industries, Inc. (Darien, IL) synthesizes and markets the Sr extractant and can supply the Cs extractant on a limited basis. Plans are under way to perform a test of the Combined CSEX-SREX Process with real waste at LMITCO in the near future.

Modelling extraction and separation of some alpha-transition elements from acidic media by synergic combinations of aromatic polyimines and micellar cationic exchangers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vitart, X.; Musikas, C.

1988-01-01

In this paper is emphasized, taking the extraction and separation by Dinonylnaphtalene sulfonic acid (HDMNS)of ruthenium-rhodium from a nitric acid media and nickel-cobalt from a sulfuric acid media as examples, the quantified chemical equilibria involved in order to elucidate the extraction mechanism. Reactions in aqueous media were investigated within three aspects: kinetics of formation, stability of metal complexes, ionic associations between complexes and mineral anions present in acidic media. This last point explains partly the selectivity of the system. The behaviour of HDNNS within extraction conditions, was studied leading to the structure of the micelle and to the quantification of equilibria involved (critical micelle concentration, polymerisation constant, etc...). Ligand extraction was studied previously to metal complexes extraction since the general mechanism of the system proceeds as a competitive extraction of cationic species in aqueous media (protonated forms of the free ligand, cationic metal complexes). The modelling of independent extraction of metals was used to predict numerically the behaviour of a multicomponent system where few metals are initially in aqueous media. These simulations are in accordance with experimental results

Sample preparation method for the combined extraction of ethyl glucuronide and drugs of abuse in hair.

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, Ulf; Briellmann, Thomas; Scheurer, Eva; Dussy, Franz

2018-04-01

Often in hair analysis, a small hair sample is available while the analysis of a multitude of structurally diverse substances with different concentration ranges is demanded. The analysis of the different substances often requires different sample preparation methods, increasing the amount of required hair sample. When segmental hair analysis is necessary, the amount of hair sample needed is further increased. Therefore, the required sample amount for a full analysis can quickly exceed what is available. To combat this problem, a method for the combined hair sample preparation using a single extraction procedure for analysis of ethyl glucuronide with liquid chromatography-multistage fragmentation mass spectrometry/multiple reaction monitoring (LC-MS 3 /MRM) and common drugs of abuse with LC-MRM was developed. The combined sample preparation is achieved by separating ethyl glucuronide from the drugs of abuse into separate extracts by fractionation in the solid-phase extraction step during sample clean-up. A full validation for all substances for the parameters selectivity, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, accuracy, precision, matrix effects, and recovery was successfully completed. The following drugs of abuse were included in the method: Amphetamine; methamphetamine; 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA); 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA); 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine (MDE); morphine; 6-monoacetylmorphine; codeine; acetylcodeine; cocaine; benzoylecgonine; norcocaine; cocaethylene; methadone; 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) and methylphenidate. In conclusion, as only 1 sample preparation is needed with 1 aliquot of hair, the presented sample preparation allows an optimal analysis of both ethyl glucuronide and of the drugs of abuse, even when the sample amount is a limiting factor. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Preconcentrative separation of chromium(III) species from chromium(VI) by cloud point extraction and determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yildiz, Z.; Arslan, G.; Tor, A.

2011-01-01

We describe a high-throughput technique for the determination of chromium species in water samples by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) after preconcentrative separation of Cr(III) species from Cr(VI) by cloud point extraction (CPE) using diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) as the chelating agent and the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 as the extractant. The Cr(III)-DDTC complex is extracted if the temperature is higher than the CPE temperature of Triton X-100, while Cr(VI) remains in the aqueous phase. The Cr(III) in the surfactant phase was analyzed by FAAS, and the concentration of Cr(VI) was calculated by subtraction of Cr(III) from total chromium which was directly determined by FAAS. The effect of pH, concentration of chelating agent, surfactant, and equilibration temperature were investigated. The detection limit for Cr(III) was 0. 08 μg L -1 with an enrichment factor of 98, and the relative standard deviation was 1. 2% (n = 3, c = 100 μg L -1 ). A certified reference material and several water samples were analyzed with satisfactory results. (author)

[Clinical study of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy treated with massage therapy combined with Magnetic sticking therapy at the auricular points and the cost comparison].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Saina; Sheng, Feng; Pan, Yunhua; Xu, Feng; Wang, Zhichao; Cheng, Lei

2015-08-01

To compare the clinical efficacy on cervical spondylotic radiculopathy between the combined therapy of massage and magnetic-sticking at the auricular points and the simple massage therapy, and conduct the health economics evaluation. Seventy-two patients of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy were randomized into a combined therapy group, and a simple massage group, 36 cases in each one. Finally, 35 cases and 34 cases were met the inclusive criteria in the corresponding groups separately. In the combined therapy group, the massage therapy and the magnetic sticking therapy at auricular points were combined in the treatment. Massage therapy was mainly applied to Fengchi (GB 20), Jianjing (GB 21), Jianwaishu (SI 14), Jianyu (LI 15) and Quchi (LI 11). The main auricular points for magnetic sticking pressure were Jingzhui (AH13), Gan (On12) Shen (CO10), Shenmen (TF4), Pizhixia (AT4). In the simple massage group, the simple massage therapy was given, the massage parts and methods were the same as those in the combined therapy group. The treatment was given once every two days, three times a week, for 4 weeks totally. The cervical spondylosis effect scale and the simplified McGill pain questionnaire were adopted to observe the improvements in the clinical symptoms, clinical examination, daily life movement, superficial muscular pain in the neck and the health economics cost in the patients of the two groups. The effect was evaluated in the two groups. The effective rate and the clinical curative rate in the combined therapy group were better than those in the control group [100. 0% (35/35) vs 85. 3% (29/34), 42. 9% (15/35) vs 17. 6% (6/34), both Pmassage therapy, the massage therapy combined with magnetic sticking therapy at auricular points achieves the better effect and lower cost in health economics.

Vanadium extraction by combined process of lixiviation and toasting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coral, Aldo

1992-01-01

Combinated toasting and leaching processes were applied at laboratory level to vanadiferous ore from Puyango deposit in order to evaluate different rates. Before leaching, a pretreatment consisting in toasting at open atmosphere was given to the ore. Both raw and toasted ore were later washed in organic solvents. In reason of mineralogical and petrographic characteristics of the ore, only alcaline leaching was tested under different pressure temperature and pH conditions of leaching solution (pH=9.8) in order to optimize time and efficiency of each individual process. Four different unitary alcaline leaching processes were studied: MECHANICAL STIRRING, PNEUMATIC STIRRING, LEACHING IN AUTOCLAVE AND LEACHING IN COLUMNS. For these four processes were obtained recovery rates (in percentage) of 18.63 and 87.82; 17.03 and 82.57; 60.42 and 99.55; 2.5 and 30.10; respectively from raw and pre-toasted ore. After filtration, vanadium was extracted from enriched solutions by using liquid resin ALAMINE 336, selective for vanadium at pH=2.8. Vanadium was later discharged with a Sodium Carbonate solution (10 per cent) and finally precipitated as the commercial compound Ammonium Vanadate, NH4VO3. Nuclear techniques as X-ray fluorescence and Atomic Absorption spectroscopy were used for analysis all over the investigation

Extraction of the bare form factors for the semi-leptonic B{sub s} decays

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bahr, F.; Banerjee, D.; Koren, M.; Simma, H.; Sommer, R. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC

2017-01-12

The computation of the form factors for the B{sub s}→lν decay is presented. The b quark is treated by means of Heavy Quark Effective Theory, currently in the static approximation. In these proceedings we discuss the extraction of the bare matrix elements from lattice data through a combined fit to two- and three-point correlation functions, as well as by considering suitable ratios. The different methods agree concerning the extracted form factors and approximately 2% accuracy is reached. The non-perturbative renormalization and matching to QCD is described in accompanying proceedings.

Advances in the sample preparation and the detector for a combined solvent extraction-liquid scintillation method of low-level plutonium measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perdue, P.T.; Christian, D.J.; Thorngate, J.H.; McDowell, W.J.; Case, G.N.

1976-07-01

A combined solvent extraction-liquid scintillation technique, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has many possible applications to the determination of low levels of plutonium and other alpha-emitting nuclides. Using these procedures, plutonium can be extracted from biological or environmental samples and introduced directly into a liquid scintillator. Quenching of the scintillator is thus minimized so that spectroscopic techniques may be employed. Existing chemical procedures and counting equipment were reviewed and improved. Purification of the di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (used as the actinide extractant) was found necessary. Destruction of organic material in the sample and control of the valence state of plutonium were found to be major sources of irreproducibility. Methods were developed to allow samples separated with commonly used ion exchange techniques to be extracted into the scintillator. Comparisons were made of a wide variety of the components and parameters of the detector system to find the best combination of pulse-height resolution and pulse-shape discrimination. When a single phototube was used, optimum performance was obtained using a hemispherical reflector-sample holder viewed sideways by an RCA 8575 photomultiplier tube used in conjunction with a special integrating preamplifier and a good quality linear amplifier that used delay lines to shape the pulses

Binary Solvent Extraction of Tocols, γ-Oryzanol, and Ferulic Acid from Rice Bran Using Alkaline Treatment Combined with Ultrasonication.

Science.gov (United States)

Truong, Hoa Thi; Luu, Phuong Duc; Imamura, Kiyoshi; Matsubara, Takeo; Takahashi, Hideki; Takenaka, Norimichi; Boi, Luu Van; Maeda, Yasuaki

2017-06-21

Alkaline treatment (Alk) combined with ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) (Alk+UAE) was examined as a means of extracting tocols and γ-oryzanol from rice bran into an organic phase while simultaneously recovering ferulic acid into an aqueous phase. The tocols and γ-oryzanol/ferulic acid yields were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence and UV detection. The effects of extraction conditions were evaluated by varying the Alk treatment temperature and extraction duration. The maximum yields of tocols and γ-oryzanol were obtained at 25 °C over a time span of 30 min. When the temperature was increased to 80 °C, the yield of ferulic acid increased dramatically, whereas the recovery of γ-oryzanol slightly decreased. Employing the Alk+UAE procedure, the recovered concentrations of tocols, γ-oryzanol, and ferulic acid were in the ranges of 146-518, 1591-3629, and 352-970 μg/g, respectively. These results are in good agreement with those reported for rice bran samples from Thailand.

Deep convolutional neural networks for building extraction from orthoimages and dense image matching point clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Maltezos, Evangelos; Doulamis, Nikolaos; Doulamis, Anastasios; Ioannidis, Charalabos

2017-10-01

Automatic extraction of buildings from remote sensing data is an attractive research topic, useful for several applications, such as cadastre and urban planning. This is mainly due to the inherent artifacts of the used data and the differences in viewpoint, surrounding environment, and complex shape and size of the buildings. This paper introduces an efficient deep learning framework based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) toward building extraction from orthoimages. In contrast to conventional deep approaches in which the raw image data are fed as input to the deep neural network, in this paper the height information is exploited as an additional feature being derived from the application of a dense image matching algorithm. As test sites, several complex urban regions of various types of buildings, pixel resolutions and types of data are used, located in Vaihingen in Germany and in Perissa in Greece. Our method is evaluated using the rates of completeness, correctness, and quality and compared with conventional and other "shallow" learning paradigms such as support vector machines. Experimental results indicate that a combination of raw image data with height information, feeding as input to a deep CNN model, provides potentials in building detection in terms of robustness, flexibility, and efficiency.

Characters Feature Extraction Based on Neat Oracle Bone Rubbings

OpenAIRE

Lei Guo

2013-01-01

In order to recognize characters on the neat oracle bone rubbings, a new mesh point feature extraction algorithm was put forward in this paper by researching and improving of the existing coarse mesh feature extraction algorithm and the point feature extraction algorithm. Some improvements of this algorithm were as followings: point feature was introduced into the coarse mesh feature, the absolute address was converted to relative address, and point features have been changed grid and positio...

Combining Follicular Unit Extraction and Scalp Micropigmentation for the Cosmetic Treatment of Alopecias

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Rassman, MD

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Two relatively new modalities, follicular unit extraction (FUE and scalp micropigmentation have changed the treatment of hair loss, to reduce the number of procedures and the total costs of the hair restoration process. These 2 modalities augment each other when treating patients with thinning hair and balding. The explosion of FUE procedures (which reflected 52.6% of the hair transplant procedures performed in 2016, up from 48.5% and the appearance of more and more new physicians offering hair restoration technologies employing FUE have caused a 20% annual growth in this industry over the past few years. This article reviews the use of FUE and scalp micropigmentation when used in combination.

Diluent effects in solvent extraction. The Effects of Diluents in Solvent Extraction - a literature study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loefstroem-Engdahl, Elin; Aneheim, Emma; Ekberg, Christian; Foreman, Mark; Skarnemark, Gunnar

2010-01-01

The fact that the choice of organic diluent is important for a solvent extraction process goes without saying. Several factors, such as e.g. price, flash point, viscosity, polarity etc. each have their place in the planning of a solvent extraction system. This high number of variables makes the lack of compilations concerning diluent effects to an interesting topic. Often the interest for the research concerning a specific extraction system focuses on the extractant used and the complexes built up during an extraction. The diluents used are often classical ones, even if it has been shown that choice of diluent can affect extraction as well as separation in an extraction system. An attempt to point out important steps in the understanding of diluent effects in solvent extraction is here presented. This large field is, of course, not summarized in this article, but an attempt is made to present important steps in the understanding of diluents effects in solvent extraction. Trying to make the information concerning diluent effects and applications more easily accessible this review offers a selected summarizing of literature concerning diluents effects in solvent extraction. (authors)

Cloud point extraction-flame atomic absorption spectrometry for pre-concentration and determination of trace amounts of silver ions in water samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiupei; Jia, Zhihui; Yang, Xiaocui; Li, Gu; Liao, Xiangjun

2017-03-01

A cloud point extraction (CPE) method was used as a pre-concentration strategy prior to the determination of trace levels of silver in water by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) The pre-concentration is based on the clouding phenomena of non-ionic surfactant, triton X-114, with Ag (I)/diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) complexes in which the latter is soluble in a micellar phase composed by the former. When the temperature increases above its cloud point, the Ag (I)/DDTC complexes are extracted into the surfactant-rich phase. The factors affecting the extraction efficiency including pH of the aqueous solution, concentration of the DDTC, amount of the surfactant, incubation temperature and time were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal experimental conditions, no interference was observed for the determination of 100 ng·mL -1 Ag + in the presence of various cations below their maximum concentrations allowed in this method, for instance, 50 μg·mL -1 for both Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ , 80 μg·mL -1 for Pb 2+ , 1000 μg·mL -1 for Mn 2+ , and 100 μg·mL -1 for both Cd 2+ and Ni 2+ . The calibration curve was linear in the range of 1-500 ng·mL -1 with a limit of detection (LOD) at 0.3 ng·mL -1 . The developed method was successfully applied for the determination of trace levels of silver in water samples such as river water and tap water.

Evaluation of single-walled carbon nanohorns as sorbent in dispersive micro solid-phase extraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jimenez-Soto, Juan Manuel; Cardenas, Soledad [Department of Analytical Chemistry, Institute of Fine Chemistry and Nanochemistry, Marie Curie Building, Campus de Rabanales, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba (Spain); Valcarcel, Miguel, E-mail: qa1meobj@uco.es [Department of Analytical Chemistry, Institute of Fine Chemistry and Nanochemistry, Marie Curie Building, Campus de Rabanales, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba (Spain)

2012-02-10

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The potential of single walled carbon nanohorns in dispersive solid phase microextraction has been evaluated. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The method was characterized for the extraction of PAHs from waters. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Single walled carbon nanohorns were better extractant than carbon nanotubes and carbon nanocones. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The limits of detection were adequate for the target analytes in environmental waters. - Abstract: A new dispersive micro solid-phase extraction method which uses single-walled carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) as sorbent is proposed. The procedure combines the excellent sorbent properties of the nanoparticles with the efficiency of the dispersion of the material in the sample matrix. Under these conditions, the interaction with the analytes is maximized. The determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was selected as model analytical problem. Two dispersion strategies were evaluated, being the functionalization via microwave irradiation better than the use of a surfactant. The extraction was accomplished by adding 1 mL of oxidized SWHNs (o-SWNHs) dispersion to 10 mL of water sample. After extraction, the mixture was passed through a disposable Nylon filter were the nanoparticles enriched with the PAHs were retained. The elution was carried out with 100 {mu}L of hexane. The limits of detection achieved were between 30 and 60 ng L{sup -1} with a precision (as repeatability) better than 12.5%. The recoveries obtained for the analytes in three different water samples were acceptable in all instances. The performance of o-SWNHs was favourably compared with that provided by carboxylated single-walled carbon nanotubes and thermally treated carbon nanocones.

Energy-Dissipation Performance of Combined Low Yield Point Steel Plate Damper Based on Topology Optimization and Its Application in Structural Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haoxiang He

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In view of the disadvantages such as higher yield stress and inadequate adjustability, a combined low yield point steel plate damper involving low yield point steel plates and common steel plates is proposed. Three types of combined plate dampers with new hollow shapes are proposed, and the specific forms include interior hollow, boundary hollow, and ellipse hollow. The “maximum stiffness” and “full stress state” are used as the optimization objectives, and the topology optimization of different hollow forms by alternating optimization method is to obtain the optimal shape. Various combined steel plate dampers are calculated by finite element simulation, the results indicate that the initial stiffness of the boundary optimized damper and interior optimized damper is lager, the hysteresis curves are full, and there is no stress concentration. These two types of optimization models made in different materials rations are studied by numerical simulation, and the adjustability of yield stress of these combined dampers is verified. The nonlinear dynamic responses, seismic capacity, and damping effect of steel frame structures with different combined dampers are analyzed. The results show that the boundary optimized damper has better energy-dissipation capacity and is suitable for engineering application.

Membrane extraction instead of solvent extraction - what does it give

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Macasek, F.

1989-01-01

Membrane extraction, i.e. separation in double-emulsion systems, is analyzed theoretically as a three-phase distribution process. Its efficiency is evaluated from the point of view of chemical equilibria and diffusion transport kinetics. The main advantages of membrane extraction as compared with solvent extraction are in higher yields (for preconcentration) and higher capacity for recovery of solutes. A pertraction factor and multiplication factor were defined. They are convenient parameters for numerical characterization of solute distribution, system capacity, process economics, and separation kinetics (both at a linear and non-linear extraction isotherm). 17 refs.; 4 figs

Daya Insektisida Alami Kombinasi Perasan Umbi Gadung (Dioscorea Hispida Dennst ) Dan Ekstrak Tembakau ( Nicotiana Tabacum L) (the Natural Insecticide Capacity of Squeeze Combination of Cassava (Dioscoreahispida Dennst) and Tobacco's Extract (Nicotiana T)

OpenAIRE

Hasanah, Misroul; Tangkas, I Made; Sakung, Jamaluddin

2012-01-01

The research regarding the natural insecticide capacity of squeeze combination of cassava (dioscoreahispida Dennst) and tobacco's extract has been done. The purposes are to measure the capacity of squeeze combination of cassava and tobacco's extract as a natural insecticide and to determine the most effective combination as natural insecticide. The method was the laboratory experiments by using squeeze cassava and tobacco's extract with the comparison ratio (in mL) as follow; 0:100, 25:75, 50...

Sensing cocaine in saliva with attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy combined with a one-step extraction method

Science.gov (United States)

Hans, Kerstin M.-C.; Gianella, Michele; Sigrist, Markus W.

2012-03-01

On-site drug tests have gained importance, e.g., for protecting the society from impaired drivers. Since today's drug tests are majorly only positive/negative, there is a great need for a reliable, portable and preferentially quantitative drug test. In the project IrSens we aim to bridge this gap with the development of an optical sensor platform based on infrared spectroscopy and focus on cocaine detection in saliva. We combine a one-step extraction method, a sample drying technique and infrared attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectroscopy. As a first step we have developed an extraction technique that allows us to extract cocaine from saliva to an almost infrared-transparent solvent and to record ATR spectra with a commercially available Fourier Transform-infrared spectrometer. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that such a simple and easy-to-use one-step extraction method is used to transfer cocaine from saliva into an organic solvent and detect it quantitatively. With this new method we are able to reach a current limit of detection around 10 μg/ml. This new extraction method could also be applied to waste water monitoring and controlling caffeine content in beverages.

Effects of point massage of liver and stomach channel combined with pith and trotter soup on postpartum lactation start time.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Qiong; Hu, Yin; Zhang, Hui

2017-10-01

Delay in lactation initiation causes maternal anxiety and subsequent adverse impact on maternal exclusive breast feeding. It is important to explore a safe and convenient way to promote lactation initiation. The feasibility of point massage of liver and stomach channel combined with pith and trotter soup on prevention of delayed lactation initiation was investigated in the present study. 320 women were enrolled and randomly divided into four groups, control group (80 women), point massage group (80 women), pith and trotter soup group (80 women), and massage + soup group (80 women) to compare the lactation initiation time. We found that women in point massage group, pith and trotter soup group and massage + soup group had earlier initiation of lactation compared with control group. Women in massage + soup group had the earliest initiation time of lactation. There were significant differences between massage + soup group and pith and trotter soup group. But, there were no significant differences between massage + soup group and massage group. We conclude that point massage of the liver and stomach channel is easy to operate and has the preventive effect on delayed lactation initiation. Impact statement What is already known on this subject: Initiation of lactation is a critical period in postpartum milk secretion. Delays in lactation initiation lead to maternal anxiety and have an adverse impact on maternal exclusive breastfeeding. Sucking frequently by babies and mammary massage might be effective but insufficient for delayed lactation initiation. What the results of this study add: We found in the present study that lactation initiation is significantly earlier in women receiving routine nursing combined with point massage of liver and stomach channel, or pith trotters soup, or massage of liver and stomach channel with pith and trotters soup than in a control group receiving routine nursing. These three methods are all effective, while the most

Ultrasonic-assisted extraction combined with sample preparation and analysis using LC-ESI-MS/MS allowed the identification of 24 new phenolic compounds in pecan nut shell [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh) C. Koch] extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilbig, Josiane; Alves, Victor Rodrigues; Müller, Carmen Maria Olivera; Micke, Gustavo Amadeu; Vitali, Luciano; Pedrosa, Rozangela Curi; Block, Jane Mara

2018-04-01

Ultrasonic-assisted extraction combined with statistical tools (factorial design, response surface methodology and kinetics) were used to evaluate the effects of the experimental conditions of temperature, solid-to-solvent ratio, ethanol concentration and time for the extraction of the total phenolic content from pecan nut shells. The optimal conditions for the aqueous and hydroalcoholic extract (with 20% v/v of ethanol) were 60 and 80 °C; solid to solvent ratio of 30 mL·g -1 (for both) and extraction time of 35 and 25 min, respectively. Using these optimize extraction conditions, 426 and 582 mg GAE·g -1 of phenolic compounds, from the aqueous and hydroalcoholic phases respectively, were obtained. In addition, the analysis of the phenolic compounds using the LC-ESI-MS/MS system allowed the identification of 29 phenolic compounds, 24 of which had not been reported in literature for this raw material yet. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Feature curve extraction from point clouds via developable strip intersection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Wah Lee

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we study the problem of computing smooth feature curves from CAD type point clouds models. The proposed method reconstructs feature curves from the intersections of developable strip pairs which approximate the regions along both sides of the features. The generation of developable surfaces is based on a linear approximation of the given point cloud through a variational shape approximation approach. A line segment sequencing algorithm is proposed for collecting feature line segments into different feature sequences as well as sequential groups of data points. A developable surface approximation procedure is employed to refine incident approximation planes of data points into developable strips. Some experimental results are included to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.

A New Spectrophotometric Method for Determination of Selenium in Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical Preparations after Preconcentration with Cloud Point Extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Hosein Soruraddin

2011-01-01

Full Text Available A simple, rapid, and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of trace amounts of selenium (IV was described. In this method, all selenium spices reduced to selenium (IV using 6 M HCl. Cloud point extraction was applied as a preconcentration method for spectrophotometric determination of selenium (IV in aqueous solution. The proposed method is based on the complexation of Selenium (IV with dithizone at pH < 1 in micellar medium (Triton X-100. After complexation with dithizone, the analyte was quantitatively extracted to the surfactant-rich phase by centrifugation and diluted to 5 mL with methanol. Since the absorption maxima of the complex (424 nm and dithizone (434 nm overlap, hence, the corrected absorbance, Acorr, was used to overcome the problem. With regard to the preconcentration, the tested parameters were the pH of the extraction, the concentration of the surfactant, the concentration of dithizone, and equilibration temperature and time. The detection limit is 4.4 ng mL-1; the relative standard deviation for six replicate measurements is 2.18% for 50 ng mL-1 of selenium. The procedure was applied successfully to the determination of selenium in two kinds of pharmaceutical samples.

Fabrication of an infrared Shack-Hartmann sensor by combining high-speed single-point diamond milling and precision compression molding processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lin; Zhou, Wenchen; Naples, Neil J; Yi, Allen Y

2018-05-01

A novel fabrication method by combining high-speed single-point diamond milling and precision compression molding processes for fabrication of discontinuous freeform microlens arrays was proposed. Compared with slow tool servo diamond broaching, high-speed single-point diamond milling was selected for its flexibility in the fabrication of true 3D optical surfaces with discontinuous features. The advantage of single-point diamond milling is that the surface features can be constructed sequentially by spacing the axes of a virtual spindle at arbitrary positions based on the combination of rotational and translational motions of both the high-speed spindle and linear slides. By employing this method, each micro-lenslet was regarded as a microstructure cell by passing the axis of the virtual spindle through the vertex of each cell. An optimization arithmetic based on minimum-area fabrication was introduced to the machining process to further increase the machining efficiency. After the mold insert was machined, it was employed to replicate the microlens array onto chalcogenide glass. In the ensuing optical measurement, the self-built Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor was proven to be accurate in detecting an infrared wavefront by both experiments and numerical simulation. The combined results showed that precision compression molding of chalcogenide glasses could be an economic and precision optical fabrication technology for high-volume production of infrared optics.

Efficacy of fungicide combinations, phosphoric acid, and plant extract from stinging nettle on potato late blight management and tuber yield

Science.gov (United States)

Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans is a major constraint to potato production. Inadequate management of the disease has often resulted in heavy losses in various production regions. We assessed the efficacy of fungicides, phosphoric acid, and stinging nettle plant extract combinations for...

Prediction of high-temperature point defect formation in TiO2 from combined ab initio and thermodynamic calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, J.; Behera, R.K.; Finnis, M.W.; Li, X.; Dickey, E.C.; Phillpot, S.R.; Sinnott, S.B.

2007-01-01

A computational approach that integrates ab initio electronic structure and thermodynamic calculations is used to determine point defect stability in rutile TiO 2 over a range of temperatures, oxygen partial pressures and stoichiometries. Both donors (titanium interstitials and oxygen vacancies) and acceptors (titanium vacancies) are predicted to have shallow defect transition levels in the electronic-structure calculations. The resulting defect formation energies for all possible charge states are then used in thermodynamic calculations to predict the influence of temperature and oxygen partial pressure on the relative stabilities of the point defects. Their ordering is found to be the same as temperature increases and oxygen partial pressure decreases: titanium vacancy → oxygen vacancy → titanium interstitial. The charges on these defects, however, are quite sensitive to the Fermi level. Finally, the combined formation energies of point defect complexes, including Schottky, Frenkel and anti-Frenkel defects, are predicted to limit the further formation of point defects

Extracting electron backscattering coefficients from backscattered electron micrographs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zupanic, F.

2010-01-01

Electron backscattering micrographs possess the so-called Z-contrast, carrying information about the chemical compositions of phases present in microstructures. The intensity at a particular point in the backscattered electron micrograph is proportional to the signal detected at a corresponding point in the scan raster, which is, in turn, proportional to the electron backscattering coefficient of a phase at that point. This article introduces a simple method for extracting the electron backscattering coefficients of phases present in the microstructure, from the backscattered electron micrographs. This method is able to convert the micrograph's greyscale to the backscattering-coefficient-scale. The prerequisite involves the known backscattering coefficients for two phases in the micrograph. In this way, backscattering coefficients of other phases can be determined. The method is unable to determine the chemical compositions of phases or the presence of an element only from analysing the backscattered electron micrograph. Nevertheless, this method was found to be very powerful when combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy, and the calculations of backscattering coefficients. - Research Highlights: →A simple method for extracting the electron backscattering coefficients →The prerequisite is known backscattering coefficients for two phases →The information is complementary to the EDS-results. →This method is especially useful when a phase contains a light element (H, Li, Be, and B)

Point cloud processing for smart systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaromír Landa

2013-01-01

Full Text Available High population as well as the economical tension emphasises the necessity of effective city management – from land use planning to urban green maintenance. The management effectiveness is based on precise knowledge of the city environment. Point clouds generated by mobile and terrestrial laser scanners provide precise data about objects in the scanner vicinity. From these data pieces the state of the roads, buildings, trees and other objects important for this decision-making process can be obtained. Generally, they can support the idea of “smart” or at least “smarter” cities.Unfortunately the point clouds do not provide this type of information automatically. It has to be extracted. This extraction is done by expert personnel or by object recognition software. As the point clouds can represent large areas (streets or even cities, usage of expert personnel to identify the required objects can be very time-consuming, therefore cost ineffective. Object recognition software allows us to detect and identify required objects semi-automatically or automatically.The first part of the article reviews and analyses the state of current art point cloud object recognition techniques. The following part presents common formats used for point cloud storage and frequently used software tools for point cloud processing. Further, a method for extraction of geospatial information about detected objects is proposed. Therefore, the method can be used not only to recognize the existence and shape of certain objects, but also to retrieve their geospatial properties. These objects can be later directly used in various GIS systems for further analyses.

Placement of replace select Ti-Unite-coated type implants using a combination of immediate and submerge techniques after tooth extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Coen Pramono D

2006-06-01

Full Text Available The high success rate of immediate implant placement both in the anterior and posterior regions were reported by many authors, therefore applying this techniques can be considered as a safe surgical procedure and minimizing the dental office visit for patient satisfaction. This paper reports the outcome of immediate placement of implants following extraction of anterior maxillary teeth. Combination technique of immediate and submerge implant placements including bone grafting procedure were used. Four implants with TiUnite surface type were placed immediately in two patients with the short-term result indicated that this technique may serve as a simple and safe procedure for immediate implant placement. It was concluded that immediate implant placement technique combined with TiUnite implant surface was successful in treating region directly after tooth extraction therefore this technique can be use as an alternative surgical method for dental implant rehabilitation.

Accelerated Solvent Extraction: An Innovative Sample Extraction Technique for Natural Products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazlina Ahmad Hassali; Azfar Hanif Abd Aziz; Rosniza Razali

2015-01-01

Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) is one of the novel techniques that have been developed for the extraction of phytochemicals from plants in order to shorten the extraction time, decrease the solvent consumption, increase the extraction yield and enhance the quality of extracts. This technique combines elevated temperatures and pressure with liquid solvents. This paper gives a brief overview of accelerated solvent extraction technique for sample preparation and its application to the extraction of natural products. Through practical examples, the effects of operational parameters such as temperature, volume of solvent used, extraction time and extraction yields on the performance of ASE are discussed. It is demonstrated that ASE technique allows reduced solvent consumption and shorter extraction time, while the extraction yields are even higher than those obtained with conventional methods. (author)

Investigation of Figopitant and Its Metabolites in Rat Tissue by Combining Whole-Body Autoradiography with Liquid Extraction Surface Analysis Mass Spectrometry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schadt, S.; Kallbach, S.; Almeida, R.

2012-01-01

tissue extraction, sample cleanup, and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. The parent drug and the N-dealkylated metabolite M474(1) (BIIF 1148) in varying ratios were the predominant compounds in all tissues investigated. In addition, several metabolites formed by oxygenation, dealkylation......This article describes the combination of whole-body autoradiography with liquid extraction surface analysis (LESA) and mass spectrometry (MS) to study the distribution of the tachykinin neurokinin-1 antagonist figopitant and its metabolites in tissue sections of rats after intravenous...

Application of dual-cloud point extraction for the trace levels of copper in serum of different viral hepatitis patients by flame atomic absorption spectrometry: A multivariate study

Science.gov (United States)

Arain, Salma Aslam; Kazi, Tasneem G.; Afridi, Hassan Imran; Abbasi, Abdul Rasool; Panhwar, Abdul Haleem; Naeemullah; Shanker, Bhawani; Arain, Mohammad Balal

2014-12-01

An efficient, innovative preconcentration method, dual-cloud point extraction (d-CPE) has been developed for the extraction and preconcentration of copper (Cu2+) in serum samples of different viral hepatitis patients prior to couple with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The d-CPE procedure was based on forming complexes of elemental ions with complexing reagent 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN), and subsequent entrapping the complexes in nonionic surfactant (Triton X-114). Then the surfactant rich phase containing the metal complexes was treated with aqueous nitric acid solution, and metal ions were back extracted into the aqueous phase, as second cloud point extraction stage, and finally determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry using conventional nebulization. The multivariate strategy was applied to estimate the optimum values of experimental variables for the recovery of Cu2+ using d-CPE. In optimum experimental conditions, the limit of detection and the enrichment factor were 0.046 μg L-1 and 78, respectively. The validity and accuracy of proposed method were checked by analysis of Cu2+ in certified sample of serum (CRM) by d-CPE and conventional CPE procedure on same CRM. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of Cu2+ in serum samples of different viral hepatitis patients and healthy controls.

Cloud point extraction-flame atomic absorption spectrometry for pre-concentration and determination of trace amounts of silver ions in water samples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiupei Yang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available A cloud point extraction (CPE method was used as a pre-concentration strategy prior to the determination of trace levels of silver in water by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS The pre-concentration is based on the clouding phenomena of non-ionic surfactant, triton X-114, with Ag (I/diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC complexes in which the latter is soluble in a micellar phase composed by the former. When the temperature increases above its cloud point, the Ag (I/DDTC complexes are extracted into the surfactant-rich phase. The factors affecting the extraction efficiency including pH of the aqueous solution, concentration of the DDTC, amount of the surfactant, incubation temperature and time were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal experimental conditions, no interference was observed for the determination of 100 ng·mL−1 Ag+ in the presence of various cations below their maximum concentrations allowed in this method, for instance, 50 μg·mL−1 for both Zn2+ and Cu2+, 80 μg·mL−1 for Pb2+, 1000 μg·mL−1 for Mn2+, and 100 μg·mL−1 for both Cd2+ and Ni2+. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 1–500 ng·mL−1 with a limit of detection (LOD at 0.3 ng·mL−1. The developed method was successfully applied for the determination of trace levels of silver in water samples such as river water and tap water.

Immune responses induced in rabbits after oral administration of bovine serum albumin in combination with different adjuvants (herb extracts, aluminium hydroxide and platinum nanoparticles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Bižanov

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of the current study was to evaluate the immunostimulatory activity of 10 different herbal extracts from Vitex agnus-castus, Vinca major, Aloe arborescens and the polyherbal product containing extracts from Sambucus nigra, Primula versis, Pinus alba, Gentiana lutea, Cetraria islandica, Eucaliptus globulus, Citrus limon and aluminium hydroxide, as well as platinum nanoparticles. Rabbits were immunized three times orally with bovine serum albumin (BSA in combination with the components mentioned above. BSA-specific IgA antibodies in saliva and IgG antibodies in serum were examined by ELISA. It was found that the rabbits immunized with BSA in combination with either platinum nanoparticles or aluminium hydroxide had higher titres of BSA-specific IgA antibodies in their saliva at day 56 of observation. Likewise, rabbits treated with BSA and Vinca major or Aloe arborescens extracts showed higher levels of BSA-specific IgG antibodies in the serum at the end of observation. These results suggest that some plant extracts, aluminium hydroxide and platinum nanoparticles components could be used as oral adjuvants or as immunomodulators for rabbits.

Nuclear magnetic resonance and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with an incompleted separation strategy for identifying the natural products in crude extract

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dai Dongmei; He Jiuming; Sun Ruixiang; Zhang Ruiping; Aisa, Haji Akber; Abliz, Zeper

2009-01-01

NMR and LC-MS combined with an incompleted separation strategy were proposed to the simultaneous structure identification of natural products in crude extracts, and a novel method termed as NMR/LC-MS parallel dynamic spectroscopy (NMR/LC-MS PDS) was developed to discover the intrinsic correlation between retention time (Rt), mass/charge (m/z) and chemical shift (δ) data of the same constituent from mixture spectra by the co-analysis of parallelly visualized multispectroscopic datasets from LC-MS and 1 H NMR. The extracted ion chromatogram (XIC) and 1 H NMR signals deriving from the same individual constituent were correlated through fraction ranges and intensity changing profiles in NMR/LC-MS PDS spectrum due to the signal amplitude co-variation resulted from the concentration variation of constituents in a series of incompletely separated fractions. NMR/LC-MS PDS was applied to identify 12 constituents in an active herbal extract including flavonol glycosides, which was separated into a series of fractions by flash column chromatography. The complementary spectral information of the same individual constituent in the crude extract was discovered simultaneously from mixture spectra. Especially, two groups of co-eluted isomers were identified successfully. The results demonstrated that NMR/LC-MS PDS combined with the incompleted separation strategy achieved the similar function of on-line LC-NMR-MS analysis in off-line mode and had the potential for simplifying and accelerating the analytical routes for structure identification of constituents in herbs or their active extracts

Nuclear magnetic resonance and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with an incompleted separation strategy for identifying the natural products in crude extract

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dai Dongmei; He Jiuming [Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resource Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, 1 Xian Nong Tan Street, Beijing 100050 (China); Sun Ruixiang [Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080 (China); Zhang Ruiping [Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resource Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, 1 Xian Nong Tan Street, Beijing 100050 (China); Aisa, Haji Akber [Xinjiang Technological Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011 (China); Abliz, Zeper [Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resource Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, 1 Xian Nong Tan Street, Beijing 100050 (China)], E-mail: zeper@imm.ac.cn

2009-01-26

NMR and LC-MS combined with an incompleted separation strategy were proposed to the simultaneous structure identification of natural products in crude extracts, and a novel method termed as NMR/LC-MS parallel dynamic spectroscopy (NMR/LC-MS PDS) was developed to discover the intrinsic correlation between retention time (Rt), mass/charge (m/z) and chemical shift ({delta}) data of the same constituent from mixture spectra by the co-analysis of parallelly visualized multispectroscopic datasets from LC-MS and {sup 1}H NMR. The extracted ion chromatogram (XIC) and {sup 1}H NMR signals deriving from the same individual constituent were correlated through fraction ranges and intensity changing profiles in NMR/LC-MS PDS spectrum due to the signal amplitude co-variation resulted from the concentration variation of constituents in a series of incompletely separated fractions. NMR/LC-MS PDS was applied to identify 12 constituents in an active herbal extract including flavonol glycosides, which was separated into a series of fractions by flash column chromatography. The complementary spectral information of the same individual constituent in the crude extract was discovered simultaneously from mixture spectra. Especially, two groups of co-eluted isomers were identified successfully. The results demonstrated that NMR/LC-MS PDS combined with the incompleted separation strategy achieved the similar function of on-line LC-NMR-MS analysis in off-line mode and had the potential for simplifying and accelerating the analytical routes for structure identification of constituents in herbs or their active extracts.

A novel perspective on pectin extraction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dominiak, Malgorzata Maria

optimization is a long process because the evaluation of the final product quality is accomplished at the end of the procedure, employing time-consuming off-line laboratory tests. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and carbohydrate microarrays, combined with chemometrics, were evaluated...... determined the optimal extraction time for both the enzymatic and acidic extraction processes. The combined results suggested major differences in the crude pectin extract traits of enzymatically vs. acidically extracted pectin with respect to the degree of esterification, purity, and abundance...

Surfactant enhanced non-classical extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szymanowski, J.

2000-01-01

Surfactant enhanced non-classical extractions are presented and discussed. They include micellar enhanced ultrafiltration and cloud point extraction. The ideas of the processes are given and the main features are presented. They are compared to the classical solvent extraction. The fundamental of micellar solutions and their solubilisation abilities are also discussed. (author)

Surfactant enhanced non-classical extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szymanowski, J.

1999-01-01

Surfactant enhanced non-classical extractions are presented and discussed. They include micellar enhanced ultrafiltration and cloud point extraction. The ideas of the processes are given and the main features are presented. They are compared to the classical solvent extraction. The fundamental of micellar solutions and their solubilization abilities are also discussed. (author)

Combined contactless conductometric, photometric, and fluorimetric single point detector for capillary separation methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryvolová, Markéta; Preisler, Jan; Foret, Frantisek; Hauser, Peter C; Krásenský, Pavel; Paull, Brett; Macka, Mirek

2010-01-01

This work for the first time combines three on-capillary detection methods, namely, capacitively coupled contactless conductometric (C(4)D), photometric (PD), and fluorimetric (FD), in a single (identical) point of detection cell, allowing concurrent measurements at a single point of detection for use in capillary electrophoresis, capillary electrochromatography, and capillary/nanoliquid chromatography. The novel design is based on a standard 6.3 mm i.d. fiber-optic SMA adapter with a drilled opening for the separation capillary to go through, to which two concentrically positioned C(4)D detection electrodes with a detection gap of 7 mm were added on each side acting simultaneously as capillary guides. The optical fibers in the SMA adapter were used for the photometric signal (absorbance), and another optical fiber at a 45 degrees angle to the capillary was applied to collect the emitted light for FD. Light emitting diodes (255 and 470 nm) were used as light sources for the PD and FD detection modes. LOD values were determined under flow-injection conditions to exclude any stacking effects: For the 470 nm LED limits of detection (LODs) for FD and PD were for fluorescein (1 x 10(-8) mol/L) and tartrazine (6 x 10(-6) mol/L), respectively, and the LOD for the C(4)D was for magnesium chloride (5 x 10(-7) mol/L). The advantage of the three different detection signals in a single point is demonstrated in capillary electrophoresis using model mixtures and samples including a mixture of fluorescent and nonfluorescent dyes and common ions, underivatized amino acids, and a fluorescently labeled digest of bovine serum albumin.

Determination of cadmium in real water samples by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after cloud point extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naeemullah, A.; Kazi, T.G.

2011-01-01

Water pollution is a global threat and it is the leading world wide cause of death and diseases. The awareness of the potential danger posed by heavy metals to the ecosystems and in particular to human health has grown tremendously in the past decades. Separation and preconcentration procedures are considered of great importance in analytical and environmental chemistry. Cloud point is one of the most reliable and sophisticated separation methods for determination of traces quantities of heavy metals. Cloud point methodology was successfully employed for preconcentration of trace quantities of cadmium prior to their determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The metals react with 8-hydroxquinoline in a surfactant Triton X-114 medium. The following parameters such as pH, concentration of the reagent and Triton X-114, equilibrating temperature and centrifuging time were evaluated and optimized to enhance the sensitivity and extraction efficiency of the proposed method. Dilution of the surfactant-rich phase with acidified ethanol was performed after phase separation and the cadmium content was measured by FAAS. The validation of the procedure was carried out by spiking addition methods. The method was applied for determination of Cd in water samples of different ecosystems (lake and river). (author)

Method of extracting tritium from heavy water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuchiya, Hiroyuki; Kikuchi, Makoto; Asakura, Yamato; Yusa, Hideo.

1979-01-01

Purpose: To extract tritium in heavy water by combining isotope exchange reaction with liquefaction distillation to increase the concentration of recovered tritium, thereby reducing the quantity of radioactive wastes recovered. Constitution: Heavy water containing tritium from a reactor is introduced into a tritium separator through a conduit pipe. On the other hand, a D 2 gas is introduced through the conduit pipe in the lower part of a tritium separator to transfer tritium into D 2 gas by isotope exchange. The D 2 gas containing DT is introduced into a liquefaction distillation tower together with an outlet gas of a converter supplied through a pipeline. The converter is filled with net-like metals of platinum group such as Pt, Ni, Pd and the like, and the D 2 gas affluent in DT, extracted from the distillation tower is converted into D 2 and T 2 . The gas which has been introduced into the liquefaction distillation tower is liquefied. The D 2 gas of low boiling point components reaches the tower top, and the T 2 gas of high boiling point components is concentrated at the tower bottom, and is rendered into tritium water in a recoupler and stored in a water storage apparatus. (Yoshino, Y.)

Sequential cloud-point extraction for toxicological screening analysis of medicaments in human plasma by high pressure liquid chromatography with diode array detector.

Science.gov (United States)

Madej, Katarzyna; Persona, Karolina; Wandas, Monika; Gomółka, Ewa

2013-10-18

A complex extraction system with the use of cloud-point extraction technique (CPE) was developed for sequential isolation of basic and acidic/neutral medicaments from human plasma/serum, screened by HPLC/DAD method. Eight model drugs (paracetamol, promazine, chlorpromazine, amitriptyline, salicyclic acid, opipramol, alprazolam and carbamazepine) were chosen for the study of optimal CPE conditions. The CPE technique consists in partition of an aqueous sample with addition of a surfactant into two phases: micelle-rich phase with the isolated compounds and water phase containing a surfactant below the critical micellar concentration, mainly under influence of temperature change. The proposed extraction system consists of two chief steps: isolation of basic compounds (from pH 12) and then isolation of acidic/neutral compounds (from pH 6) using surfactant Triton X-114 as the extraction medium. Extraction recovery varied from 25.2 to 107.9% with intra-day and inter-day precision (RSD %) ranged 0.88-1087 and 5.32-17.96, respectively. The limits of detection for the studied medicaments at λ 254nm corresponded to therapeutic or low toxic plasma concentration levels. Usefulness of the proposed CPE-HPLC/DAD method for toxicological drug screening was tested via its application to analysis of two serum samples taken from patients suspected of drug overdosing. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Cloud point extraction coupled with microwave-assisted back-extraction (CPE-MABE) for determination of Eszopiclone (Z-drug) using UV-Visible, HPLC and mass spectroscopic (MS) techniques: Spiked and in vivo analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kori, Shivpoojan; Parmar, Ankush; Goyal, Jony; Sharma, Shweta

2018-02-01

A procedure for the determination of Eszopiclone (ESZ) from complex matrices i.e. in vitro (spiked matrices), as well as in vivo (mice model) was developed using cloud point extraction coupled with microwave-assisted back-extraction (CPE-MABE). Analytical measurements have been carried using UV-Visible, HPLC and MS techniques. The proposed method has been validated according to ICH guidelines and legitimate reproducible and reliability of protocol is assessed through intraday and inter-day precision UV-Visible techniques, corresponding to assessed linearity range. The coaservate phase in CPE was back extracted under microwaves exposure, with isooctane at pre-concentration factor ~50 when 5mL of sample solution was pre-concentrated to 0.1mL. Under optimized conditions i.e. Aqueous-Triton X-114 4% (w/v), pH4.0, NaCl 4% (w/v) and equilibrium temperature of 45°C for 20min, average extraction recovery has been obtained between 89.8 and 99.2% and 84.0-99.2% from UV-Visible and HPLC analysis, respectively. The method has been successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic estimation (post intraperitoneal administration) of ESZ in mice. MS analysis precisely depicted the presence of active N‑desmethyl zopiclone in impales as well as in mice plasma. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

System and method for free-boundary surface extraction

KAUST Repository

Algarni, Marei

2017-10-26

A method of extracting surfaces in three-dimensional data includes receiving as inputs three-dimensional data and a seed point p located on a surface to be extracted. The method further includes propagating a front outwardly from the seed point p and extracting a plurality of ridge curves based on the propagated front. A surface boundary is detected based on a comparison of distances between adjacent ridge curves and the desired surface is extracted based on the detected surface boundary.

Simple method for the determination of personal care product ingredients in lettuce by ultrasound-assisted extraction combined with solid-phase microextraction followed by GC-MS.

Science.gov (United States)

Cabrera-Peralta, Jerónimo; Peña-Alvarez, Araceli

2018-05-01

A simple method for the simultaneous determination of personal care product ingredients: galaxolide, tonalide, oxybenzone, 4-methylbenzyliden camphor, padimate-o, 2-ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, octocrylene, triclosan, and methyl triclosan in lettuce by ultrasound-assisted extraction combined with solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry was developed. Lettuce was directly extracted by ultrasound-assisted extraction with methanol, this extract was combined with water, extracted by solid-phase microextraction in immersion mode, and analyzed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Good linear relationships (25-250 ng/g, R 2  > 0.9702) and low detection limits (1.0-25 ng/g) were obtained for analytes along with acceptable precision for almost all analytes (RSDs < 20%). The validated method was applied for the determination of personal care product ingredients in commercial lettuce and lettuces grown in soil and irrigated with the analytes, identifying the target analytes in leaves and roots of the latter. This procedure is a miniaturized and environmentally friendly proposal which can be a useful tool for quality analysis in lettuce. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Optimal Information Extraction of Laser Scanning Dataset by Scale-Adaptive Reduction

Science.gov (United States)

Zang, Y.; Yang, B.

2018-04-01

3D laser technology is widely used to collocate the surface information of object. For various applications, we need to extract a good perceptual quality point cloud from the scanned points. To solve the problem, most of existing methods extract important points based on a fixed scale. However, geometric features of 3D object come from various geometric scales. We propose a multi-scale construction method based on radial basis function. For each scale, important points are extracted from the point cloud based on their importance. We apply a perception metric Just-Noticeable-Difference to measure degradation of each geometric scale. Finally, scale-adaptive optimal information extraction is realized. Experiments are undertaken to evaluate the effective of the proposed method, suggesting a reliable solution for optimal information extraction of object.

OPTIMAL INFORMATION EXTRACTION OF LASER SCANNING DATASET BY SCALE-ADAPTIVE REDUCTION

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Y. Zang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available 3D laser technology is widely used to collocate the surface information of object. For various applications, we need to extract a good perceptual quality point cloud from the scanned points. To solve the problem, most of existing methods extract important points based on a fixed scale. However, geometric features of 3D object come from various geometric scales. We propose a multi-scale construction method based on radial basis function. For each scale, important points are extracted from the point cloud based on their importance. We apply a perception metric Just-Noticeable-Difference to measure degradation of each geometric scale. Finally, scale-adaptive optimal information extraction is realized. Experiments are undertaken to evaluate the effective of the proposed method, suggesting a reliable solution for optimal information extraction of object.

Parallel algorithm for dominant points correspondences in robot binocular stereo vision

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Tammami, A.; Singh, B.

1993-01-01

This paper presents an algorithm to find the correspondences of points representing dominant feature in robot stereo vision. The algorithm consists of two main steps: dominant point extraction and dominant point matching. In the feature extraction phase, the algorithm utilizes the widely used Moravec Interest Operator and two other operators: the Prewitt Operator and a new operator called Gradient Angle Variance Operator. The Interest Operator in the Moravec algorithm was used to exclude featureless areas and simple edges which are oriented in the vertical, horizontal, and two diagonals. It was incorrectly detecting points on edges which are not on the four main directions (vertical, horizontal, and two diagonals). The new algorithm uses the Prewitt operator to exclude featureless areas, so that the Interest Operator is applied only on the edges to exclude simple edges and to leave interesting points. This modification speeds-up the extraction process by approximately 5 times. The Gradient Angle Variance (GAV), an operator which calculates the variance of the gradient angle in a window around the point under concern, is then applied on the interesting points to exclude the redundant ones and leave the actual dominant ones. The matching phase is performed after the extraction of the dominant points in both stereo images. The matching starts with dominant points in the left image and does a local search, looking for corresponding dominant points in the right image. The search is geometrically constrained the epipolar line of the parallel-axes stereo geometry and the maximum disparity of the application environment. If one dominant point in the right image lies in the search areas, then it is the corresponding point of the reference dominant point in the left image. A parameter provided by the GAV is thresholded and used as a rough similarity measure to select the corresponding dominant point if there is more than one point the search area. The correlation is used as

Environmentally safe separation and pre-concentration of rhodium and ruthenium from spent nuclear fuel using mixed-micelle cloud point extraction and determination by ICP-MS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ranjit, M.; Meeravali, N.N.; Kumar, S.J.

2010-01-01

Full text: Recently, spend nuclear fuel waste of thermal and fast reactors are emerging as an alternative valuable resource for Rh, Ru and Pd. In addition, its presence causes the difficulty in the vitrification process. Hence, its safe extraction from these wastes has to be carried out by using the environmental friendly extraction procedure. In this study, we have reported the simple mixed-micelle cloud point extraction (MM-CPE) procedure for separation as well as pre-concentration of Rh, Ru and Pd. This MM-CPE is carried out preliminarily from aqueous chloride medium with Aliquat-336/Triton X-114 mixed-micelles in the absence and presence of tin(II) chloride. In presence of chloride medium alone, only Pd get extracted quantitatively, while extraction of Rh and Ru are negligible. In presence of tin chloride, the extraction of Rh and Ru increases and becomes quantitative, without affecting the extraction of Pd. The MM-CPE conditions are optimized under influence of variables such as HCI, Aliquat-336, Triton X-114 and tin chloride concentrations and incubation time and temperature. Under the optimized conditions, the accuracy of the procedure is verified by using recovery study carried out from real water samples. This work is under progress to apply real nuclear fuel waste samples

Development of a Cloud-Point Extraction Method for Cobalt Determination in Natural Water Samples

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Mohammad Reza Jamali

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A new, simple, and versatile cloud-point extraction (CPE methodology has been developed for the separation and preconcentration of cobalt. The cobalt ions in the initial aqueous solution were complexed with 4-Benzylpiperidinedithiocarbamate, and Triton X-114 was added as surfactant. Dilution of the surfactant-rich phase with acidified ethanol was performed after phase separation, and the cobalt content was measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The main factors affecting CPE procedure, such as pH, concentration of ligand, amount of Triton X-114, equilibrium temperature, and incubation time were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the limit of detection (LOD for cobalt was 0.5 μg L-1, with sensitivity enhancement factor (EF of 67. Calibration curve was linear in the range of 2–150 μg L-1, and relative standard deviation was 3.2% (c=100 μg L-1; n=10. The proposed method was applied to the determination of trace cobalt in real water samples with satisfactory analytical results.

Combination of Aloe vera and xenograft induction on decreasing of NF-kb of tooth extraction socket preservation in Cavia cobaya

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Utari Kresnoadi

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Tooth extraction can naturally cause inflammation triggering osteoclast proliferation and alveolar bone resorption. Preservation of the tooth extraction sockets is needed for patients in order to reduce alveolar bone resorption risks. Aloe vera is known to have anthraquinones components, namely Aloin, Aloe emedin, and barbaloin, considered as anti-inflammation. Therefore, to overcome the inflammation, the role of NF-kb is very significant to decrease nuclear factor kappa b (NF-kb. As a result, inflammation risks will be decreased. Purpose: The study was aimed to determine the induction effect of combination of Aloe vera and XCB into tooth extraction sockets to reduce inflammation by reducing NF-kb expression, osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Methods: Forty-eight Cavia cobaya were divided into eight groups, each group consisted of six animals. The mandibular incisors of those Cavia cobaya were extracted and induced with either PEG, XCB, Aloe vera, or the combination of Aloe vera + XCB. Those animals were sacrificed on day 7 and day 30 after the extraction. Then immunohistochemical and histopathology examinations were conducted to observe NF-kb expression, osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Results: It was known that in group induced with the combination of Aloe vera and xenograft concelous bovine, the growth of osteoblasts was high, while NF-kb expression and osteoclasts reduced. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the induction of the combination of Aloe vera and XCB into the tooth extraction sockets can reduce NF-kb expression and osteoclast, as a result, alveolar bone resorption risks decrease, and osteoblast increase.Latar belakang: Trauma mekanis akibat pencabutan gigi asli menyebabkan keradangan. Keradangan memicu proliferasi osteoklas sehingga menyebabkan resorpsi tulang alveolararis. Pada pembuatan gigi tiruan, resorpsi tulang alveolar yang terjadi, sangat tidak diinginkan, sebab resorpsi tulang alveolar mengurangi keberhasilan

[Trabeculotomy ab interno combined with extracapsular cataract extraction and IOL implantation].

Science.gov (United States)

Alekseev, B N; Ermolaev, A P

2003-01-01

We made a total of 96 surgeries of extracapsular cataract extraction and IOL implantation combined with trabeculotomy ab interno during a period of 7 years. Patients with both open-angle and narrow-angle glaucoma of stages I and II and with the intraocular pressure (IOP) below or equal to 23 mm Hg according to Goldman under the conditions of hypotensive medicamental regimen were selected for surgery. After IOL was implanted into the lens bag, trabeculotomy ab interno was implemented as stage 2. A special mirror, introduced through the cataract incision, was used for direct gonioscopic monitoring. The trabecula was incised by the edge of a curved surgical knife under direct visual control. We regarded bleeding from the opened sinus as a favorable sign indicative of that the intrascleral collectors were intact. Only minor hyphemas were registered as postoperative complications; there was not a single case of ciliary-and-choroidal detachment. IOP was compensated for, in 6 months after surgery, in 94% of patients--69.8% of them did not use any hypotensive drops.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT AND HAZARD ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINTS TO THE PASTA PRODUCT

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Yulexis Meneses Linares

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work is to combine the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP methodologies for the determination of risks that the food production represents to the human health and the ecosystem. The environmental performance of the production of pastas in the “Marta Abreu” Pasta Factory of Cienfuegos is assessed, where the critical control points determined by the biological dangers (mushrooms and plagues and the physical dangers (wood, paper, thread and ferromagnetic particles were the raw materials: flour, semolina and its mixtures, and the disposition and extraction of them. Resources are the most affected damage category due to the consumption of fossil fuels.

Antimicrobial efficacy of Acacia nilotica, Murraya koenigii (L. Sprengel, Eucalyptus hybrid, Psidium guajava extracts and their combination on Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus

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B R Chandra Shekar

2016-01-01

Conclusion: All the individual plant extracts and their combinations were effective against S. mutans and L. acidophilus. These could be tried as herbal alternates to chlorhexidine. However, these in vitro results have to be further evaluated for any toxicity of the polyherbal combinations in animal models and effectiveness has to be assessed using in vivo studies on humans.

Simple Approaches to Minimally-Instrumented, Microfluidic-Based Point-of-Care Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests

Science.gov (United States)

Mauk, Michael G.; Song, Jinzhao; Liu, Changchun; Bau, Haim H.

2018-01-01

Designs and applications of microfluidics-based devices for molecular diagnostics (Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests, NAATs) in infectious disease testing are reviewed, with emphasis on minimally instrumented, point-of-care (POC) tests for resource-limited settings. Microfluidic cartridges (‘chips’) that combine solid-phase nucleic acid extraction; isothermal enzymatic nucleic acid amplification; pre-stored, paraffin-encapsulated lyophilized reagents; and real-time or endpoint optical detection are described. These chips can be used with a companion module for separating plasma from blood through a combined sedimentation-filtration effect. Three reporter types: Fluorescence, colorimetric dyes, and bioluminescence; and a new paradigm for end-point detection based on a diffusion-reaction column are compared. Multiplexing (parallel amplification and detection of multiple targets) is demonstrated. Low-cost detection and added functionality (data analysis, control, communication) can be realized using a cellphone platform with the chip. Some related and similar-purposed approaches by others are surveyed. PMID:29495424

Simple Approaches to Minimally-Instrumented, Microfluidic-Based Point-of-Care Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests

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Michael G. Mauk

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Designs and applications of microfluidics-based devices for molecular diagnostics (Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests, NAATs in infectious disease testing are reviewed, with emphasis on minimally instrumented, point-of-care (POC tests for resource-limited settings. Microfluidic cartridges (‘chips’ that combine solid-phase nucleic acid extraction; isothermal enzymatic nucleic acid amplification; pre-stored, paraffin-encapsulated lyophilized reagents; and real-time or endpoint optical detection are described. These chips can be used with a companion module for separating plasma from blood through a combined sedimentation-filtration effect. Three reporter types: Fluorescence, colorimetric dyes, and bioluminescence; and a new paradigm for end-point detection based on a diffusion-reaction column are compared. Multiplexing (parallel amplification and detection of multiple targets is demonstrated. Low-cost detection and added functionality (data analysis, control, communication can be realized using a cellphone platform with the chip. Some related and similar-purposed approaches by others are surveyed.

Combining protein extraction and anaerobic digestion to produce feed, fuel and fertilizer from green biomass – An organic biorefinery concept

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fernandez, Maria Santamaria; Salces, Beatriz Molinuevo; Lübeck, Mette

Organically grown green biomass (red clover, clover grass) was investigated as a resource for organic feed and organic fertilizer by combination of proteins extraction and anaerobic digestion of the residues. Extraction of proteins from both crops revealed very favourable amino acid composition...... for the use as animal feed. The residual 90% of organic matter, leaving the separation as solid press cake and brown juice was subjected to anaerobic digestion to produce biogas and fertilizer. Methane yields of 220-310 and 430-540 ml CH4/g VS were obtained for press cake and brown juice, respectively...

COSMO-RS-based extractant screening for phenol extraction as model system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burghoff, B.; Goetheer, E.L.V.; Haan, A.B. de

2008-01-01

The focus of this investigation is the development of a fast and reliable extractant screening approach. Phenol extraction is selected as the model process. A quantum chemical conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS) is combined with molecular design considerations. For this

Determination of rhodium in metallic alloy and water samples using cloud point extraction coupled with spectrophotometric technique

Science.gov (United States)

Kassem, Mohammed A.; Amin, Alaa S.

2015-02-01

A new method to estimate rhodium in different samples at trace levels had been developed. Rhodium was complexed with 5-(4‧-nitro-2‧,6‧-dichlorophenylazo)-6-hydroxypyrimidine-2,4-dione (NDPHPD) as a complexing agent in an aqueous medium and concentrated by using Triton X-114 as a surfactant. The investigated rhodium complex was preconcentrated with cloud point extraction process using the nonionic surfactant Triton X-114 to extract rhodium complex from aqueous solutions at pH 4.75. After the phase separation at 50 °C, the surfactant-rich phase was heated again at 100 °C to remove water after decantation and the remaining phase was dissolved using 0.5 mL of acetonitrile. Under optimum conditions, the calibration curve was linear for the concentration range of 0.5-75 ng mL-1 and the detection limit was 0.15 ng mL-1 of the original solution. The enhancement factor of 500 was achieved for 250 mL samples containing the analyte and relative standard deviations were ⩽1.50%. The method was found to be highly selective, fairly sensitive, simple, rapid and economical and safely applied for rhodium determination in different complex materials such as synthetic mixture of alloys and environmental water samples.

An absorbing microwave micro-solid-phase extraction device used in non-polar solvent microwave-assisted extraction for the determination of organophosphorus pesticides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang Ziming, E-mail: wangziming@jlu.edu.cn [College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012 (China); College of Environment and Resources, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012 (China); Zhao Xin; Xu Xu; Wu Lijie; Su Rui; Zhao Yajing; Jiang Chengfei; Zhang Hanqi [College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012 (China); Ma Qiang [Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, Beijing 100123 (China); Lu Chunmei [College of Technology Center, Jilin Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Changchun 130062 (China); Dong Deming [College of Environment and Resources, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012 (China)

2013-01-14

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An absorbing microwave {mu}-SPE device packed with activated carbon was used. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Absorbing microwave {mu}-SPE device was made and used to enrich the analytes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Absorbing microwave {mu}-SPE device was made and used to heat samples directly. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer MAE-{mu}-SPE was applied to the extraction of OPPs with non-polar solvent only. - Abstract: A single-step extraction-cleanup method, including microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and micro-solid-phase extraction ({mu}-SPE), was developed for the extraction of ten organophosphorus pesticides in vegetable and fruit samples. Without adding any polar solvent, only one kind of non-polar solvent (hexane) was used as extraction solvent in the whole extraction step. Absorbing microwave {mu}-SPE device, was prepared by packing activated carbon with microporous polypropylene membrane envelope, and used as not only the sorbent in {mu}-SPE, but also the microwave absorption medium. Some experimental parameters effecting on extraction efficiency was investigated and optimized. 1.0 g of sample, 8 mL of hexane and three absorbing microwave {mu}-SPE devices were added in the microwave extraction vessel, the extraction was carried out under 400 W irradiation power at 60 Degree-Sign C for 10 min. The extracts obtained by MAE-{mu}-SPE were directly analyzed by GC-MS without any clean-up process. The recoveries were in the range of 93.5-104.6%, and the relative standard deviations were lower than 8.7%.

Cloud point extraction and speciation of iron(3) of 10-7-10-6 M level using 8-quinolinol derivatives and triton X-100

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohashi, K.; Ougiyanagi, J.; Choi, S.Y.; Ito, H.; Imura, H.

2001-01-01

The cloud point extraction behaviour, specification, and determination of traces of iron(III) with 8-quinolinol derivatives (HA), such as 8-quinolinol (HQ), 2-methyl-8-quinolinol (HMQ), and 2-methyl-5-octyl-oxy-methyl-8-quinolinol (HMO 8 Q) were investigated. Above pH 4.0, more than 95% of iron(III) was extracted with 5.00 x 10 -2 M HQ, HMQ, and HMO 8 Q in 4 (v/v)% Triton X-100. The proposed method was applied to the determination of iron(III) in the Riverine Water Reference (JAC 0031 and JAC 0032) by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The results agreed well with the certified values within 2% of the RSD. (authors)

SHAPE FROM TEXTURE USING LOCALLY SCALED POINT PROCESSES

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Eva-Maria Didden

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Shape from texture refers to the extraction of 3D information from 2D images with irregular texture. This paper introduces a statistical framework to learn shape from texture where convex texture elements in a 2D image are represented through a point process. In a first step, the 2D image is preprocessed to generate a probability map corresponding to an estimate of the unnormalized intensity of the latent point process underlying the texture elements. The latent point process is subsequently inferred from the probability map in a non-parametric, model free manner. Finally, the 3D information is extracted from the point pattern by applying a locally scaled point process model where the local scaling function represents the deformation caused by the projection of a 3D surface onto a 2D image.

Effects of Artemisin and Moringa oleifera Extract Combination on CD4+ and CD8+ Percentage of Mice Infected with Plasmodium berghei

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Melda Fio Flora BR. Sijabat

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This research aims to examine the effect of Artemisin and Moringa oleifera leaf extract combination on the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell of mice infected with P.berghei. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells have important role in eliminating Plasmodium intracellular parasite that causes malaria infection. Artemisin is a potent antimalarial that kills the parasite through free radicals production. Excessive free radicals damage the immune cells, including CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Flavonoid (quercetin and kaempferol bioactive on Moringa leaves is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, and is expected to prevent and decrease the adverse effects of Artemisin. This experimental post-test group research was conducted on six groups, i.e. normal mice (negative control, P.berghei infected mice without treatment (positive control, and four other groups, i.e. P.berghei infected mice and treated with Artemisin 0.004mg/gBW (A, and combinations of Artemisin 0.004mg/gBW and Moringa leaf extract 0.125mg/gBW (DK1, 0.250mg/gBW (DK2, and 0.500mg/gBW (DK3. On day 3 and 7, blood samples from each group were drawn randomly, parasitemia degree was calculated microscopically (magnification 1000 times, the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells was determined using flowcytometry. The results of this study indicated that the administration of Artemisin and Moringa leaf extract combination for 7 days significant increased the percentage of CD4 + T cells in DK2 (p=0.001 and DK3 (p=0.000, and decreased the degree of parasitemia in DK1 (p=0.000, DK2 (p=0.000, and DK3 (p=0.000, however CD8 + T cells show no difference. There was a relationship between Artemisin and Moringa leaf extract combination with the degree of parasitemia (p=0.000 and the percentage of CD4+ T cells (p = 0.000, but not on CD8+ T cells.   Keywords: parasitemia, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, Moringa oleifera

Automatic extraction of road features in urban environments using dense ALS data

Science.gov (United States)

Soilán, Mario; Truong-Hong, Linh; Riveiro, Belén; Laefer, Debra

2018-02-01

This paper describes a methodology that automatically extracts semantic information from urban ALS data for urban parameterization and road network definition. First, building façades are segmented from the ground surface by combining knowledge-based information with both voxel and raster data. Next, heuristic rules and unsupervised learning are applied to the ground surface data to distinguish sidewalk and pavement points as a means for curb detection. Then radiometric information was employed for road marking extraction. Using high-density ALS data from Dublin, Ireland, this fully automatic workflow was able to generate a F-score close to 95% for pavement and sidewalk identification with a resolution of 20 cm and better than 80% for road marking detection.

Hypoglycemic Effect of Combination of Azadirachta indica A. Juss. and Gynura procumbens (Lour. Merr. Ethanolic Extracts Standardized by Rutin and Quercetin in Alloxan-induced Hyperglycemic Rats

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Anggit Listyacahyani Sunarwidhi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Exploration of plant combinations could be an alternative approach for diabetes treatment. The aim of this study is to evaluate the hypoglycemic effect of combination of A. indica and G. procumbens ethanolic extract s in alloxan - induce d diabetic rats. Metho ds : Powder of A. indica and G. procumbens leaves were macerated with ethanol 70%. Determination of rutin in A. indica and quercetin in G. procumbens w ere performed by TLC - densitometry. Hyperglycemia in rats was induced by an intraperitoneal injection of alloxan monohydrate at a single dose of 150 mg/kgBW. The rats were treated with 3 dosage variation of combinations for 15 days. Hypoglycemic effect was evaluated by estimating the blood glucose levels and the rats pancreas histological study . Results: A. i ndica contained 2. 90 ±0.15% of rutin and G. procumbens contained 18.86±0.86% of quercetin. Combination at the ratio of 50mg/kgBW A. indica : 112.5mg/kgBW G. procumbens showed the highest hypoglycemic effect: 68 . 74±4 . 83% (preprandial and 73 . 9 1 ±3 . 18% (postprandial. Histolog ical studies indicated that this combination improved the mor ph ology of the islets of Langerhans and β cells. It also increased insulin expression and decreased the elevated - glucose concentrations . Conclusion: This study showed that combination of both extracts has better hypoglycemic effect than the single treatment of A. indica or G. procumbens . Combination of both extracts was potential to develo p as a blood glucose - lowering agent for diabetic patients.

The registration of non-cooperative moving targets laser point cloud in different view point

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shuai; Sun, Huayan; Guo, Huichao

2018-01-01

Non-cooperative moving target multi-view cloud registration is the key technology of 3D reconstruction of laser threedimension imaging. The main problem is that the density changes greatly and noise exists under different acquisition conditions of point cloud. In this paper, firstly, the feature descriptor is used to find the most similar point cloud, and then based on the registration algorithm of region segmentation, the geometric structure of the point is extracted by the geometric similarity between point and point, The point cloud is divided into regions based on spectral clustering, feature descriptors are created for each region, searching to find the most similar regions in the most similar point of view cloud, and then aligning the pair of point clouds by aligning their minimum bounding boxes. Repeat the above steps again until registration of all point clouds is completed. Experiments show that this method is insensitive to the density of point clouds and performs well on the noise of laser three-dimension imaging.

Fault Detection and Diagnosis of Railway Point Machines by Sound Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jonguk; Choi, Heesu; Park, Daihee; Chung, Yongwha; Kim, Hee-Young; Yoon, Sukhan

2016-01-01

Railway point devices act as actuators that provide different routes to trains by driving switchblades from the current position to the opposite one. Point failure can significantly affect railway operations, with potentially disastrous consequences. Therefore, early detection of anomalies is critical for monitoring and managing the condition of rail infrastructure. We present a data mining solution that utilizes audio data to efficiently detect and diagnose faults in railway condition monitoring systems. The system enables extracting mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients (MFCCs) from audio data with reduced feature dimensions using attribute subset selection, and employs support vector machines (SVMs) for early detection and classification of anomalies. Experimental results show that the system enables cost-effective detection and diagnosis of faults using a cheap microphone, with accuracy exceeding 94.1% whether used alone or in combination with other known methods. PMID:27092509

Application of dual-cloud point extraction for the trace levels of copper in serum of different viral hepatitis patients by flame atomic absorption spectrometry: a multivariate study.

Science.gov (United States)

Arain, Salma Aslam; Kazi, Tasneem G; Afridi, Hassan Imran; Abbasi, Abdul Rasool; Panhwar, Abdul Haleem; Naeemullah; Shanker, Bhawani; Arain, Mohammad Balal

2014-12-10

An efficient, innovative preconcentration method, dual-cloud point extraction (d-CPE) has been developed for the extraction and preconcentration of copper (Cu(2+)) in serum samples of different viral hepatitis patients prior to couple with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The d-CPE procedure was based on forming complexes of elemental ions with complexing reagent 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN), and subsequent entrapping the complexes in nonionic surfactant (Triton X-114). Then the surfactant rich phase containing the metal complexes was treated with aqueous nitric acid solution, and metal ions were back extracted into the aqueous phase, as second cloud point extraction stage, and finally determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry using conventional nebulization. The multivariate strategy was applied to estimate the optimum values of experimental variables for the recovery of Cu(2+) using d-CPE. In optimum experimental conditions, the limit of detection and the enrichment factor were 0.046μgL(-1) and 78, respectively. The validity and accuracy of proposed method were checked by analysis of Cu(2+) in certified sample of serum (CRM) by d-CPE and conventional CPE procedure on same CRM. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of Cu(2+) in serum samples of different viral hepatitis patients and healthy controls. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Clinical effect observation of pranoprofen combined with deproteinized calf blood extract eye drops for moderate to severe dry eye

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Jing-Hua Qiu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available AIM: To explore clinical effect of pranoprofen combined with deproteinized calf blood extract eye drops for moderate to severe dry eye. METHODS: A total of 84 patients(132 eyeswho received treatment at the Zhengzhou Second Hospital were selected from January 2016 to January 2017. According to random number table method they were divided into control group 42 cases(68 eyesand observation group 42 cases(64 eyes, the control group using polyvinyl alcohol eye drops with pranoprofen, observation group with pranoprofen with deproteinized extract of calf blood eye drops. Subjective and objective scores before and after treatment were recorded. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference on the four objective indicators of pretreatment FL, BUT, SⅠt, and vision between the two groups(P>0.05. Dry eye symptom scores of the two groups decreased after treatment, both with significantly different(PPPPCONCLUSION: The clinical effect of praprofen on the treatment of moderate to severe dry eye with the deproteinized calf blood extract is better.

Accurate quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in dust samples using microwave-assisted solvent extraction combined with isotope-dilution mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Nobuyasu; Fushimi, Akihiro; Yarita, Takashi; Aoyagi, Yoshie; Numata, Masahiko

2011-01-01

Highlights: → We applied MAE-IDMS for accurate quantification of PAHs in dust samples. → Both partitioning and isotopic equilibria can be achieved using this technique. → MAE-IDMS can provide accurate concentrations even if extraction efficiencies were low. → Characteristics of samples strongly affected for low extraction efficiencies of PAHs. - Abstract: For accurate quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in dust samples, we investigated the use of microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MAE) combined with isotope-dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) using deuterium-labelled PAHs (D-PAHs). Although MAE with a methanol/toluene mixture (1:3 by volume) at 160 deg. C for 40 min was best for extracting PAHs from tunnel dust among examined, the recovery yields of D-PAHs decreased with increasing molecular weight (<40% for MW ≥ 264; that of deuterium-labelled indeno[123-cd]pyrene (D-IcdP) was only 7.1%). Although the residues were extracted a second time, the observed concentrations did not change dramatically (<5%), and the recovery yields of heavier D-PAHs (i.e., MW ≥ 264) were approximately half of those of the first extract, including D-IcdP (3.4%). These results suggest that both partitioning and isotopic equilibria of PAHs and D-PAHs between sample and solvent were achieved for extractable heavier PAHs under the condition. Thus, the observed concentrations of PAHs obtained by MAE-IDMS were reasonable, even though recovery yields of D-PAHs were <50%. From the results of carbon analyses and extractable contents, lower recovery yields of D-PAHs from the tunnel dust were due to a large content of char with low extractable contents.

Determination of carbohydrates in tobacco by pressurized liquid extraction combined with a novel ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction method.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Kai; Hu, Deyu; Lei, Bo; Zhao, Huina; Pan, Wenjie; Song, Baoan

2015-07-02

A novel derivatization-ultrasonic assisted-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (UA-DLLME) method for the simultaneous determination of 11 main carbohydrates in tobacco has been developed. The combined method involves pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), derivatization, and UA-DLLME, followed by the analysis of the main carbohydrates with a gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). First, the PLE conditions were optimized using a univariate approach. Then, the derivatization methods were properly compared and optimized. The aldononitrile acetate method combined with the O-methoxyoxime-trimethylsilyl method was used for derivatization. Finally, the critical variables affecting the UA-DLLME extraction efficiency were searched using fractional factorial design (FFD) and further optimized using Doehlert design (DD) of the response surface methodology. The optimum conditions were found to be 44 μL for CHCl3, 2.3 mL for H2O, 11% w/v for NaCl, 5 min for the extraction time and 5 min for the centrifugation time. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the detection limit of the method (LODs) and linear correlation coefficient were found to be in the range of 0.06-0.90 μg mL(-1) and 0.9987-0.9999. The proposed method was successfully employed to analyze three flue-cured tobacco cultivars, among which the main carbohydrate concentrations were found to be very different. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of different extraction methods on the yield and linalool content of the extracts of Eugenia uniflora L.

Science.gov (United States)

Galhiane, Mário S; Rissato, Sandra R; Chierice, Gilberto O; Almeida, Marcos V; Silva, Letícia C

2006-09-15

This work has been developed using a sylvestral fruit tree, native to the Brazilian forest, the Eugenia uniflora L., one of the Mirtaceae family. The main goal of the analytical study was focused on extraction methods themselves. The method development pointed to the Clevenger extraction as the best yield in relation to SFE and Soxhlet. The SFE method presented a good yield but showed a big amount of components in the final extract, demonstrating low selectivity. The essential oil extracted was analyzed by GC/FID showing a large range of polarity and boiling point compounds, where linalool, a widely used compound, was identified. Furthermore, an analytical solid phase extraction method was used to clean it up and obtain separated classes of compounds that were fractionated and studied by GC/FID and GC/MS.

In vitro interaction between Agrimonia eupatoria L.: Extracts and antibiotic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muruzović Mirjana Ž.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Synergistic activity between water, acetone, ethanol and diethyl ether extract of Agrimonia eupatoria L. and commonly used antibiotic (ampicillin were evaluated. Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were used. Interaction between plant extracts and antibiotic were tested by checkerboard method and expressed as fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC index showed indifferent, additive and synergistic effects. Synergism was observed against E. coli for every combination of agents. FICI values were ranged from 0.03 to 0.29. Inhibitory concentration (IC50 was evaluated for every combination of tested extracts and antibiotic and the best combinations for every tested bacteria were combination of diethyl ether extract + ampicillin and combination of acetone extract + ampicillin.

OPTIMIZATION OF LOZENGES FORMULA OF SENGGUGU ROOT BARK (Clerodendrum serratum L. Moon EXTRACTS FOR MUCUS DILUENT (MUCOLITIC IN COMBINATION WITH MANNITOL-LACTOSE-SUCROSE FILLERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T.N. Saifullah Sulaiman

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Senggugu root bark (Clerodendrum serratum L. Moon is known as a mucolitics. Senggugu root bark is made in the dosage form of lozenges in combination with sucrose, mannitol and lactose in order to obtain good flavor and comfortable when consumed. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the combination of fillers on the physical properties of granules and tablets as well as the composition of the combination of excipients to produce lozenges of extract of senggugu root bark with optimum physical properties. Seven formulas were made with a combination of mannitol, lactose and sucrose as follows: FI (100%: 0%: 0%, FII (0%: 100%: 0%, FIII (0%: 0%: 100%, FIV (50 %: 50%: 0%, FV (50%: 0%: 50%, FVI (0%: 50%: 50%, and FVII (33.3%: 33.3%: 33.3% . The results showed that the combination of mannitol, lactose and sucrose affected the physical properties of the granules and lozenges of extract of senggugu root bark i.e. flow rate, hardness, dissolved time, compactibility and perceptive sense. The dominant amount of sucrose and lactose can improve the physical properties of granules and tablets. The optimal composition of the combination of mannitol, lactose and sucrose obtained from Design Expert 7.1.5. program was 5.491%: 37.387%: 57.122%, respectively.

Determination of mobile form contents of Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu in soil extracts by combined stripping voltammetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nedeltcheva, T.; Atanassova, M.; Dimitrov, J.; Stanislavova, L.

2005-01-01

The amount of mobile forms of Zn, Pb, Cd and Cu in extracts obtained by treating soil samples with ammonium nitrate were determined by an appropriate combination of anodic and cathodic stripping voltammetry with hanging mercury drop electrode. Every analysis required three mercury drops: on the first one, zinc was determined; on the second, cadmium and lead; on the third, copper was determined. Zinc, lead and cadmium were determined by conventional differential-pulse anodic stripping voltammetry. For copper determination, adsorptive differential-pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry with amalgamation using chloride ions as a complexing agent was applied. The standard deviation of the results was from 1 to 10% depending on the metal content in the sample. Voltammetric results were in good agreement with the AAS analysis. No microwave digestion of soil extracts was necessary

Determination of mobile form contents of Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu in soil extracts by combined stripping voltammetry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nedeltcheva, T. [Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 8 Kl. Ohridsi Blvd., 1756 Sofia (Bulgaria)]. E-mail: nedel@uctm.edu; Atanassova, M. [Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 8 Kl. Ohridsi Blvd., 1756 Sofia (Bulgaria); Dimitrov, J. [N. Pushkarov Institute of Soil Science and Agroecology, 7 Shosse Bankya St., 1080 Sofia (Bulgaria); Stanislavova, L. [N. Pushkarov Institute of Soil Science and Agroecology, 7 Shosse Bankya St., 1080 Sofia (Bulgaria)

2005-01-10

The amount of mobile forms of Zn, Pb, Cd and Cu in extracts obtained by treating soil samples with ammonium nitrate were determined by an appropriate combination of anodic and cathodic stripping voltammetry with hanging mercury drop electrode. Every analysis required three mercury drops: on the first one, zinc was determined; on the second, cadmium and lead; on the third, copper was determined. Zinc, lead and cadmium were determined by conventional differential-pulse anodic stripping voltammetry. For copper determination, adsorptive differential-pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry with amalgamation using chloride ions as a complexing agent was applied. The standard deviation of the results was from 1 to 10% depending on the metal content in the sample. Voltammetric results were in good agreement with the AAS analysis. No microwave digestion of soil extracts was necessary.

Sabrewing: A lightweight architecture for combined floating-point and integer arithmetic

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruintjes, Tom; Walters, K.H.G.; Gerez, Sabih H.; Molenkamp, Egbert; Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria

In spite of the fact that floating-point arithmetic is costly in terms of silicon area, the joint design of hardware for floating-point and integer arithmetic is seldom considered. While components like multipliers and adders can potentially be shared, floating-point and integer units in

Zero Point Energy of Renormalized Wilson Loops

OpenAIRE

Hidaka, Yoshimasa; Pisarski, Robert D.

2009-01-01

The quark antiquark potential, and its associated zero point energy, can be extracted from lattice measurements of the Wilson loop. We discuss a unique prescription to renormalize the Wilson loop, for which the perturbative contribution to the zero point energy vanishes identically. A zero point energy can arise nonperturbatively, which we illustrate by considering effective string models. The nonperturbative contribution to the zero point energy vanishes in the Nambu model, but is nonzero wh...

A numerical investigation of combined heat storage and extraction in deep geothermal reservoirs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Major, Márton; Poulsen, Søren Erbs; Balling, Niels

2018-01-01

Heat storage capabilities of deep sedimentary geothermal reservoirs are evaluated through numerical model simulations. We combine storage with heat extraction in a doublet well system when storage phases are restricted to summer months. The effects of stored volume and annual repetition on energy...... recovery are investigated. Recovery factors are evaluated for several different model setups and we find that storing 90 °C water at 2500 m depth is capable of reproducing, on average 67% of the stored energy. In addition, ambient reservoir temperature of 75 °C is slightly elevated leading to increased...... efficiency. Additional simulations concerning pressure build-up in the reservoir are carried out to show that safety levels may not be reached. Reservoir characteristics are inspired by Danish geothermal conditions, but results are assumed to have more general validity. Thus, deep sedimentary reservoirs...

Optimized production of vanillin from green vanilla pods by enzyme-assisted extraction combined with pre-freezing and thawing.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yanjun; Mo, Limei; Chen, Feng; Lu, Minquan; Dong, Wenjiang; Wang, Qinghuang; Xu, Fei; Gu, Fenglin

2014-02-19

Production of vanillin from natural green vanilla pods was carried out by enzyme-assisted extraction combined with pre-freezing and thawing. In the first step the green vanilla pods were pre-frozen and then thawed to destroy cellular compartmentation. In the second step pectinase from Aspergillus niger was used to hydrolyze the pectin between the glucovanillin substrate and β-glucosidase. Four main variables, including enzyme amount, reaction temperature, time and pH, which were of significance for the vanillin content were studied and a central composite design (CCD) based on the results of a single-factor tests was used. Response surface methodology based on CCD was employed to optimize the combination of enzyme amount, reaction temperature, time, and pH for maximum vanillin production. This resulted in the optimal condition in regards of the enzyme amount, reaction temperature, time, and pH at 84.2 mg, 49.5 °C, 7.1 h, and 4.2, respectively. Under the optimal condition, the experimental yield of vanillin was 4.63% ± 0.11% (dwb), which was in good agreement with the value predicted by the model. Compared to the traditional curing process (1.98%) and viscozyme extract (2.36%), the optimized method for the vanillin production significantly increased the yield by 133.85% and 96%, respectively.

A Classification-oriented Method of Feature Image Generation for Vehicle-borne Laser Scanning Point Clouds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

YANG Bisheng

2016-02-01

Full Text Available An efficient method of feature image generation of point clouds to automatically classify dense point clouds into different categories is proposed, such as terrain points, building points. The method first uses planar projection to sort points into different grids, then calculates the weights and feature values of grids according to the distribution of laser scanning points, and finally generates the feature image of point clouds. Thus, the proposed method adopts contour extraction and tracing means to extract the boundaries and point clouds of man-made objects (e.g. buildings and trees in 3D based on the image generated. Experiments show that the proposed method provides a promising solution for classifying and extracting man-made objects from vehicle-borne laser scanning point clouds.

A Registration Method Based on Contour Point Cloud for 3D Whole-Body PET and CT Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiying Song

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The PET and CT fusion image, combining the anatomical and functional information, has important clinical meaning. An effective registration of PET and CT images is the basis of image fusion. This paper presents a multithread registration method based on contour point cloud for 3D whole-body PET and CT images. Firstly, a geometric feature-based segmentation (GFS method and a dynamic threshold denoising (DTD method are creatively proposed to preprocess CT and PET images, respectively. Next, a new automated trunk slices extraction method is presented for extracting feature point clouds. Finally, the multithread Iterative Closet Point is adopted to drive an affine transform. We compare our method with a multiresolution registration method based on Mattes Mutual Information on 13 pairs (246~286 slices per pair of 3D whole-body PET and CT data. Experimental results demonstrate the registration effectiveness of our method with lower negative normalization correlation (NC = −0.933 on feature images and less Euclidean distance error (ED = 2.826 on landmark points, outperforming the source data (NC = −0.496, ED = 25.847 and the compared method (NC = −0.614, ED = 16.085. Moreover, our method is about ten times faster than the compared one.

Obtaining Global Picture From Single Point Observations by Combining Data Assimilation and Machine Learning Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Shprits, Y.; Zhelavskaya, I. S.; Kellerman, A. C.; Spasojevic, M.; Kondrashov, D. A.; Ghil, M.; Aseev, N.; Castillo Tibocha, A. M.; Cervantes Villa, J. S.; Kletzing, C.; Kurth, W. S.

2017-12-01

Increasing volume of satellite measurements requires deployment of new tools that can utilize such vast amount of data. Satellite measurements are usually limited to a single location in space, which complicates the data analysis geared towards reproducing the global state of the space environment. In this study we show how measurements can be combined by means of data assimilation and how machine learning can help analyze large amounts of data and can help develop global models that are trained on single point measurement. Data Assimilation: Manual analysis of the satellite measurements is a challenging task, while automated analysis is complicated by the fact that measurements are given at various locations in space, have different instrumental errors, and often vary by orders of magnitude. We show results of the long term reanalysis of radiation belt measurements along with fully operational real-time predictions using data assimilative VERB code. Machine Learning: We present application of the machine learning tools for the analysis of NASA Van Allen Probes upper-hybrid frequency measurements. Using the obtained data set we train a new global predictive neural network. The results for the Van Allen Probes based neural network are compared with historical IMAGE satellite observations. We also show examples of predictions of geomagnetic indices using neural networks. Combination of machine learning and data assimilation: We discuss how data assimilation tools and machine learning tools can be combine so that physics-based insight into the dynamics of the particular system can be combined with empirical knowledge of it's non-linear behavior.

Combining extreme learning machines using support vector machines for breast tissue classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Daliri, Mohammad Reza

2015-01-01

In this paper, we present a new approach for breast tissue classification using the features derived from electrical impedance spectroscopy. This method is composed of a feature extraction method, feature selection phase and a classification step. The feature extraction phase derives the features from the electrical impedance spectra. The extracted features consist of the impedivity at zero frequency (I0), the phase angle at 500 KHz, the high-frequency slope of phase angle, the impedance distance between spectral ends, the area under spectrum, the normalised area, the maximum of the spectrum, the distance between impedivity at I0 and the real part of the maximum frequency point and the length of the spectral curve. The system uses the information theoretic criterion as a strategy for feature selection and the combining extreme learning machines (ELMs) for the classification phase. The results of several ELMs are combined using the support vector machines classifier, and the result of classification is reported as a measure of the performance of the system. The results indicate that the proposed system achieves high accuracy in classification of breast tissues using the electrical impedance spectroscopy.

Solvent extraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coombs, D.M.; Latimer, E.G.

1988-01-05

It is an object of this invention to provide for the demetallization and general upgrading of heavy oil via a solvent extracton process, and to improve the efficiency of solvent extraction operations. The yield and demetallization of product oil form heavy high-metal content oil is maximized by solvent extractions which employ either or all of the following techniques: premixing of a minor amount of the solvent with feed and using countercurrent flow for the remaining solvent; use of certain solvent/free ratios; use of segmental baffle tray extraction column internals and the proper extraction column residence time. The solvent premix/countercurrent flow feature of the invention substantially improves extractions where temperatures and pressures above the critical point of the solvent are used. By using this technique, a greater yield of extract oil can be obtained at the same metals content or a lower metals-containing extract oil product can be obtained at the same yield. Furthermore, the premixing of part of the solvent with the feed before countercurrent extraction gives high extract oil yields and high quality demetallization. The solvent/feed ratio features of the invention substanially lower the captial and operating costs for such processes while not suffering a loss in selectivity for metals rejection. The column internals and rsidence time features of the invention further improve the extractor metals rejection at a constant yield or allow for an increase in extract oil yield at a constant extract oil metals content. 13 figs., 3 tabs.

Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water and beverages using membrane-assisted solvent extraction in combination with large volume injection-gas chromatography-mass spectrometric detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodil, Rosario; Schellin, Manuela; Popp, Peter

2007-09-07

Membrane-assisted solvent extraction (MASE) in combination with large volume injection-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LVI-GC-MS) was applied for the determination of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aqueous samples. The MASE conditions were optimized for achieving high enrichment of the analytes from aqueous samples, in terms of extraction conditions (shaking speed, extraction temperature and time), extraction solvent and composition (ionic strength, sample pH and presence of organic solvent). Parameters like linearity and reproducibility of the procedure were determined. The extraction efficiency was above 65% for all the analytes and the relative standard deviation (RSD) for five consecutive extractions ranged from 6 to 18%. At optimized conditions detection limits at the ng/L level were achieved. The effectiveness of the method was tested by analyzing real samples, such as river water, apple juice, red wine and milk.

Hierarchical model generation for architecture reconstruction using laser-scanned point clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Ning, Xiaojuan; Wang, Yinghui; Zhang, Xiaopeng

2014-06-01

Architecture reconstruction using terrestrial laser scanner is a prevalent and challenging research topic. We introduce an automatic, hierarchical architecture generation framework to produce full geometry of architecture based on a novel combination of facade structures detection, detailed windows propagation, and hierarchical model consolidation. Our method highlights the generation of geometric models automatically fitting the design information of the architecture from sparse, incomplete, and noisy point clouds. First, the planar regions detected in raw point clouds are interpreted as three-dimensional clusters. Then, the boundary of each region extracted by projecting the points into its corresponding two-dimensional plane is classified to obtain detailed shape structure elements (e.g., windows and doors). Finally, a polyhedron model is generated by calculating the proposed local structure model, consolidated structure model, and detailed window model. Experiments on modeling the scanned real-life buildings demonstrate the advantages of our method, in which the reconstructed models not only correspond to the information of architectural design accurately, but also satisfy the requirements for visualization and analysis.

Cloud-point extraction is compatible with liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for the determination of antazoline in human plasma.

Science.gov (United States)

Giebułtowicz, Joanna; Kojro, Grzegorz; Piotrowski, Roman; Kułakowski, Piotr; Wroczyński, Piotr

2016-09-05

Cloud-point extraction (CPE) is attracting increasing interest in a number of analytical fields, including bioanalysis, as it provides a simple, safe and environmentally-friendly sample preparation technique. However, there are only few reports on the application of this extraction technique in liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) analysis. In this study, CPE was used for the isolation of antazoline from human plasma. To date, only one method of antazoline isolation from plasma exists-liquid-liquid extraction (LLE). The aim of this study was to prove the compatibility of CPE and LC-ESI-MS/MS and the applicability of CPE to the determination of antazoline in spiked human plasma and clinical samples. Antazoline was isolated from human plasma using Triton X-114 as a surfactant. Xylometazoline was used as an internal standard. NaOH concentration, temperature and Triton X-114 concentration were optimized. The absolute matrix effect was carefully investigated. All validation experiments met international acceptance criteria and no significant relative matrix effect was observed. The compatibility of CPE and LC-ESI-MS/MS was confirmed using clinical plasma samples. The determination of antazoline concentration in human plasma in the range 10-2500ngmL(-1) by the CPE method led to results which are equivalent to those obtained by the widely used liquid-liquid extraction method. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a Combined Trifluoroacetic Acid Hydrolysis and HPLC-ELSD Method to Identify and Quantify Inulin Recovered from Jerusalem artichoke Assisted by Ultrasound Extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuyi Li

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Over the last years, inulin, a fructan mixture consisting of oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, has attracted more and more attention from both food industry and researchers, due to its unique functional properties as a natural resource. Therefore, there is an increased interest in the extraction and quantification of inulin for its valorization from inulin rich plants, wastes and by-products. In this work, ultrasonic treatment was applied for inulin extraction, observing a great impact of extraction temperature and ultrasonic power on the inulin content in the obtained extracts. A combined process including trifluoroacetic acid (TFA-assisted hydrolysis and analysis with high performance liquid chromatography equipped with evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD was developed to quantify inulin content. The effect of hydrolysis parameters was investigated, obtaining the optimal conditions after using TFA at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, hydrolysis temperature of 90 °C, and hydrolysis duration of 60 min. The good linearity (>0.995, precision, recovery (100.27%, and stability obtained during the validation process showed that this developed method allows the quantification of total inulin content in the samples analyzed. This combined method may also contribute to the investigation of the functional properties of inulin (e.g., as prebiotic.

Magnetic silica nanomaterials for solid-phase extraction combined with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction of ultra-trace quantities of plasticizers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamini, Yadollah; Faraji, Mohammad; Adeli, Mahnaz

2015-01-01

We are presenting surface modified magnetic silica nanoparticles (m-Si-NPs) for use in solid-phase extraction combined with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME). The m-Si-NPs were surface-functionalized with octadecyl groups to give a material for the extraction of the plasticizers dibutyl phthalate, di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate from water samples. The functionalized m-Si-NPs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometry. The results showed that the m-Si-NPs were well functionalized with octadecyl groups. The effects of various experimental variables on the extraction efficiencies were investigated. The analytes were quantified by GC/FID. Under optimal conditions, the calibration plots are linear in the range from 0.01 to 100 μg∙L -1 , and very high enrichment factors (mean value ∼20,000) were obtained. As a result of the high enrichment factors, the detection limits are as low as 2–3 ng∙L -1 . The method was successfully employed to the extraction of the plasticizers from (spiked) water samples, and recoveries are in the order of 93.9 to 106.7 %. The method is low cost, fast, and very sensitive (author)

Accurate experimental determination of the isotope effects on the triple point temperature of water. II. Combined dependence on the 18O and 17O abundances

Science.gov (United States)

Faghihi, V.; Kozicki, M.; Aerts-Bijma, A. T.; Jansen, H. G.; Spriensma, J. J.; Peruzzi, A.; Meijer, H. A. J.

2015-12-01

This paper is the second of two articles on the quantification of isotope effects on the triple point temperature of water. In this second article, we address the combined effects of 18O and 17O isotopes. We manufactured five triple point cells with waters with 18O and 17O abundances exceeding widely the natural abundance range while maintaining their natural 18O/17O relationship. The 2H isotopic abundance was kept close to that of VSMOW (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water). These cells realized triple point temperatures ranging between  -220 μK to 1420 μK with respect to the temperature realized by a triple point cell filled with VSMOW. Our experiment allowed us to determine an accurate and reliable value for the newly defined combined 18, 17O correction parameter of AO  =  630 μK with a combined uncertainty of 10 μK. To apply this correction, only the 18O abundance of the TPW needs to be known (and the water needs to be of natural origin). Using the results of our two articles, we recommend a correction equation along with the coefficient values for isotopic compositions differing from that of VSMOW and compare the effect of this new equation on a number of triple point cells from the literature and from our own institute. Using our correction equation, the uncertainty in the isotope correction for triple point cell waters used around the world will be  <1 μK.

In vitro activity of certain drugs in combination with plant extracts ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

STORAGESEVER

2009-09-01

Sep 1, 2009 ... organisms (Hugo et al., 1993; Levinson and Jawetz,. 2002). Drug synergism between known antimicrobial agents and bioactive plant extracts is .... Ibezim EC, Esimone CO, Nnamani PO, Onyishi IV, Brown SA, Obodo. CE (2006). In vitro study of the interaction between some fluoroquinolones and extracts of ...

Combination pulsed electric field with ethanol solvent for Nannochloropsis sp. extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Nafis, Ghazy Ammar; Mumpuni, Perwitasari Yekti; Indarto, Budiman, Arief

2015-12-01

Nowadays, energy is one of human basic needs. As the human population increased, energy consumption also increased. This condition causes energy depletion. In case of the situation, alternative energy is needed to replace existing energy. Microalgae is chosen to become one of renewable energy resource, especially biodiesel, because it contains high amount of lipid instead of other feedstock which usually used. Fortunately, Indonesia has large area of water and high intensity of sunlight so microalgae cultivation becomes easier. Nannochloropsis sp., one of microalgae species, becomes the main focus because of its high lipid content. Many ways to break the cell wall of microalgae so the lipid content inside the microalgae will be released, for example conventional extraction, ultrasonic wave extraction, pressing, and electrical method. The most effective way for extraction is electrical method such as pulsed electric field method (PEF). The principal work of this method is by draining the electrical current into parallel plate. Parallel plate will generate the electrical field to break microalgae cell wall and the lipid will be released. The aim of this work is to evaluate two-stage procedure for extraction of useful components from microalgae Nannochloropsis sp. The first stage of this procedure includes pre-treatment of microalgae by ethanol solvent extraction and the second stage applies the PEF extraction using a binary mixture of water and ethanol solvent. Ethanol is chosen as solvent because it's safer to be used and easier to be handled than other solvent. Some variables that used to study the most effective operation conditions are frequency and duty cycle for microalgae. The optimum condition based on this research are at frequency 1 Hz and duty cycle 13%.

Cloud point extraction and flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination of cadmium(II), lead(II), palladium(II) and silver(I) in environmental samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghaedi, Mehrorang; Shokrollahi, Ardeshir; Niknam, Khodabakhsh; Niknam, Ebrahim; Najibi, Asma; Soylak, Mustafa

2009-01-01

The phase-separation phenomenon of non-ionic surfactants occurring in aqueous solution was used for the extraction of cadmium(II), lead(II), palladium(II) and silver(I). The analytical procedure involved the formation of understudy metals complex with bis((1H-benzo [d] imidazol-2yl)ethyl) sulfane (BIES), and quantitatively extracted to the phase rich in octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114) after centrifugation. Methanol acidified with 1 mol L -1 HNO 3 was added to the surfactant-rich phase prior to its analysis by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The concentration of BIES, pH and amount of surfactant (Triton X-114) was optimized. At optimum conditions, the detection limits of (3 sdb/m) of 1.4, 2.8, 1.6 and 1.4 ng mL -1 for Cd 2+ , Pb 2+ , Pd 2+ and Ag + along with preconcentration factors of 30 and enrichment factors of 48, 39, 32 and 42 for Cd 2+ , Pb 2+ , Pd 2+ and Ag + , respectively, were obtained. The proposed cloud point extraction has been successfully applied for the determination of metal ions in real samples with complicated matrix such as radiology waste, vegetable, blood and urine samples.

[Hygienic assessment of a recirculatory combined air-conditioning extract-and-input system in office building].

Science.gov (United States)

Malysheva, A G; Abramov, E G

2006-01-01

The high concentrations of lead were reveled in the air and dust of some premises and on the filters of a combined air-conditioning extract-and-input system in the high-rise office buildings located in the ecologically lead favorable environment. The dust content of lead in some premises on the first floors dust was as high as 200 mg/kg, which was more than 6 times higher than that in the soil at the highway near the office buildings. The use of new technologies and devices for cleaning and optimizing the air in the premises requires analytical studies to assess the quality of the environment, by taking into account the optimal conditions of their operation.

Combined alkaline hydrolysis and ultrasound-assisted extraction for the release of nonextractable phenolics from cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzales, Gerard Bryan; Smagghe, Guy; Raes, Katleen; Van Camp, John

2014-04-16

Cauliflower waste contains high amounts phenolic compounds, but conventional solvent extraction misses high amounts of nonextractable phenolics (NEP), which may contribute more to the valorization of these waste streams. In this study, the NEP content and composition of cauliflower waste were investigated. The ability of alkaline hydrolysis, sonication, and their combination to release NEP was assessed. Alkaline hydrolysis with sonication was found to extract the highest NEP content (7.3 ± 0.17 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry waste), which was higher than the extractable fraction. The highest yield was obtained after treatment of 2 M NaOH at 60 °C for 30 min of sonication. Quantification and identification were done using U(H)PLC-DAD and U(H)PLC-ESI-MS(E). Kaempferol and quercetin glucosides along with several phenolic acids were found. The results of the study show that there are higher amounts of valuable health-promoting compounds from cauliflower waste than what is currently described in the literature.

An optimized hollow microneedle for minimally invasive blood extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Cheng Guo; Lee, Chang Yeol; Lee, Kwang; Jung, Hyungil

2013-02-01

The healthcare system relies widely on biochemical information obtained from blood sample extracted via hypodermic needles, despite the invasiveness and pain associated with this procedure. Therefore, an alternative micro-scale needle for minimally invasive blood sampling is highly desirable. Traditional fabrication techniques to create microneedles do not generate needles with the combined features of a sharp tip, long length, and hollow structure concurrently. Here, we report the fabrication of a microneedle long enough to reach blood vessels and sharp enough to minimize nerve contact for minimally invasive blood extraction. The microneedle structure was precisely controlled using a drawing lithography technique, and a sharp tip angle was introduced using a laser-cutting system. We investigated the characteristics of a microneedle with a length of 1,800 μm length, an inner diameter of 60 μm, a tip diameter of 120 μm, and a 15° bevel angle through in-vitro liquid extraction and mechanical strength analysis. We demonstrated that the proposed structure results in blood extraction at a reasonable rate, and that a microneedle with this geometry can reliably penetrate skin without breaking. We integrated this microneedle into a blood extraction device to extract a 20 μl volume of mouse blood in-vivo. Our optimized, hollow microneedle can potentially be incorporated with other cutting-edge technologies such as microactuators, biosensors, and microfluidic chips to create blood analysis systems for point-of-care diagnostics.

Environmental monitoring of phenolic pollutants in water by cloud point extraction prior to micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Stege, Patricia W; Sombra, Lorena L; Messina, Germán A; Martinez, Luis D; Silva, María F

2009-05-01

Many aromatic compounds can be found in the environment as a result of anthropogenic activities and some of them are highly toxic. The need to determine low concentrations of pollutants requires analytical methods with high sensitivity, selectivity, and resolution for application to soil, sediment, water, and other environmental samples. Complex sample preparation involving analyte isolation and enrichment is generally necessary before the final analysis. The present paper outlines a novel, simple, low-cost, and environmentally friendly method for the simultaneous determination of p-nitrophenol (PNP), p-aminophenol (PAP), and hydroquinone (HQ) by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography after preconcentration by cloud point extraction. Enrichment factors of 180 to 200 were achieved. The limits of detection of the analytes for the preconcentration of 50-ml sample volume were 0.10 microg L(-1) for PNP, 0.20 microg L(-1) for PAP, and 0.16 microg L(-1) for HQ. The optimized procedure was applied to the determination of phenolic pollutants in natural waters from San Luis, Argentina.

Effect of a combination of inulin and polyphenol-containing adzuki bean extract on intestinal fermentation in vitro and in vivo.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagata, Ryuji; Echizen, Mao; Yamaguchi, Yukari; Han, Kyu-Ho; Shimada, Kenichiro; Ohba, Kiyoshi; Kitano-Okada, Tomoko; Nagura, Taizo; Uchino, Hirokatsu; Fukushima, Michihiro

2018-03-01

The effect of a combination of inulin (INU) and polyphenol-containing adzuki bean extract (AE) on intestinal fermentation was examined in vitro using fermenters for 48 h and in vivo using rats for 28 d. The total short-chain fatty acid concentrations in the fermenters were decreased by a combination of INU and AE, but the concentration in the INU + AE group was higher than the cellulose (CEL) and CEL + AE groups. The cecal propionate concentration was increased by a combination of INU and AE compared with their single supplement. The ammonia-nitrogen concentration in the fermenters and rat cecum was decreased by INU and AE. Cecal mucin levels were increased by INU and AE respectively. Therefore, our observations suggested that the combination of INU and AE might be a material of functional food that includes several healthy effects through intestinal fermentation.

Optimized Production of Vanillin from Green Vanilla Pods by Enzyme-Assisted Extraction Combined with Pre-Freezing and Thawing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanjun Zhang

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Production of vanillin from natural green vanilla pods was carried out by enzyme-assisted extraction combined with pre-freezing and thawing. In the first step the green vanilla pods were pre-frozen and then thawed to destroy cellular compartmentation. In the second step pectinase from Aspergillus niger was used to hydrolyze the pectin between the glucovanillin substrate and β-glucosidase. Four main variables, including enzyme amount, reaction temperature, time and pH, which were of significance for the vanillin content were studied and a central composite design (CCD based on the results of a single-factor tests was used. Response surface methodology based on CCD was employed to optimize the combination of enzyme amount, reaction temperature, time, and pH for maximum vanillin production. This resulted in the optimal condition in regards of the enzyme amount, reaction temperature, time, and pH at 84.2 mg, 49.5 °C, 7.1 h, and 4.2, respectively. Under the optimal condition, the experimental yield of vanillin was 4.63% ± 0.11% (dwb, which was in good agreement with the value predicted by the model. Compared to the traditional curing process (1.98% and viscozyme extract (2.36%, the optimized method for the vanillin production significantly increased the yield by 133.85% and 96%, respectively.

Adaptive Ridge Point Refinement for Seeds Detection in X-Ray Coronary Angiogram

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruoxiu Xiao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Seed point is prerequired condition for tracking based method for extracting centerline or vascular structures from the angiogram. In this paper, a novel seed point detection method for coronary artery segmentation is proposed. Vessels on the image are first enhanced according to the distribution of Hessian eigenvalue in multiscale space; consequently, centerlines of tubular vessels are also enhanced. Ridge point is extracted as candidate seed point, which is then refined according to its mathematical definition. The theoretical feasibility of this method is also proven. Finally, all the detected ridge points are checked using a self-adaptive threshold to improve the robustness of results. Clinical angiograms are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, and the results show that the proposed algorithm can detect a large set of true seed points located on most branches of vessels. Compared with traditional seed point detection algorithms, the proposed method can detect a larger number of seed points with higher precision. Considering that the proposed method can achieve accurate seed detection without any human interaction, it can be utilized for several clinical applications, such as vessel segmentation, centerline extraction, and topological identification.

Investigation of acupuncture-point injection combined with intratumor injection of radionuclide phosphorus 32 in treatment of metastatic carcinoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chou, H.C.

1986-01-01

Seventeen patients with carcinoma and three patients with benign lesions of the head were studied by acupuncture-point injection combined with intratumor injection of radionuclide P-32 for treatment of metastatic carcinoma. The metastatic cervical nodules shrank to half their original sizes within 2-3 weeks in five cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The injected dose ranged from 0.222 to 0.421 mCi, approximately 10 times less than that given by the ordinary method. The acupuncture points are selected according to the Theory of Channels and Collaterals of Chinese traditional medicine. The mechanism of therapeutic action of radionuclide P-32 is possibly by the delivery of destructive ionizing radiation from beta emission properties of P-32. This method appears to offer a low-dose means of P-32 treatment of metastatic carcinoma

Maximizing Output Power of a Solar Panel via Combination of Sun Tracking and Maximum Power Point Tracking by Fuzzy Controllers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohsen Taherbaneh

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In applications with low-energy conversion efficiency, maximizing the output power improves the efficiency. The maximum output power of a solar panel depends on the environmental conditions and load profile. In this paper, a method based on simultaneous use of two fuzzy controllers is developed in order to maximize the generated output power of a solar panel in a photovoltaic system: fuzzy-based sun tracking and maximum power point tracking. The sun tracking is performed by changing the solar panel orientation in horizontal and vertical directions by two DC motors properly designed. A DC-DC converter is employed to track the solar panel maximum power point. In addition, the proposed system has the capability of the extraction of solar panel I-V curves. Experimental results present that the proposed fuzzy techniques result in increasing of power delivery from the solar panel, causing a reduction in size, weight, and cost of solar panels in photovoltaic systems.

A hierarchical methodology for urban facade parsing from TLS point clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhuqiang; Zhang, Liqiang; Mathiopoulos, P. Takis; Liu, Fangyu; Zhang, Liang; Li, Shuaipeng; Liu, Hao

2017-01-01

The effective and automated parsing of building facades from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds of urban environments is an important research topic in the GIS and remote sensing fields. It is also challenging because of the complexity and great variety of the available 3D building facade layouts as well as the noise and data missing of the input TLS point clouds. In this paper, we introduce a novel methodology for the accurate and computationally efficient parsing of urban building facades from TLS point clouds. The main novelty of the proposed methodology is that it is a systematic and hierarchical approach that considers, in an adaptive way, the semantic and underlying structures of the urban facades for segmentation and subsequent accurate modeling. Firstly, the available input point cloud is decomposed into depth planes based on a data-driven method; such layer decomposition enables similarity detection in each depth plane layer. Secondly, the labeling of the facade elements is performed using the SVM classifier in combination with our proposed BieS-ScSPM algorithm. The labeling outcome is then augmented with weak architectural knowledge. Thirdly, least-squares fitted normalized gray accumulative curves are applied to detect regular structures, and a binarization dilation extraction algorithm is used to partition facade elements. A dynamic line-by-line division is further applied to extract the boundaries of the elements. The 3D geometrical façade models are then reconstructed by optimizing facade elements across depth plane layers. We have evaluated the performance of the proposed method using several TLS facade datasets. Qualitative and quantitative performance comparisons with several other state-of-the-art methods dealing with the same facade parsing problem have demonstrated its superiority in performance and its effectiveness in improving segmentation accuracy.

SurfCut: Free-Boundary Surface Extraction

KAUST Repository

Algarni, Marei Saeed Mohammed; Sundaramoorthi, Ganesh

2016-01-01

We present SurfCut, an algorithm for extracting a smooth simple surface with unknown boundary from a noisy 3D image and a seed point. In contrast to existing approaches that extract smooth simple surfaces with boundary, our method requires less user

Fingerprint Minutiae Extraction using Deep Learning

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Darlow, Luke Nicholas

2017-10-01

Full Text Available components, such as image enhancement. We pose minutiae extraction as a machine learning problem and propose a deep neural network – MENet, for Minutiae Extraction Network – to learn a data-driven representation of minutiae points. By using the existing...

Zero point energy of renormalized Wilson loops

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hidaka, Yoshimasa; Pisarski, Robert D.

2009-01-01

The quark-antiquark potential, and its associated zero point energy, can be extracted from lattice measurements of the Wilson loop. We discuss a unique prescription to renormalize the Wilson loop, for which the perturbative contribution to the zero point energy vanishes identically. A zero point energy can arise nonperturbatively, which we illustrate by considering effective string models. The nonperturbative contribution to the zero point energy vanishes in the Nambu model, but is nonzero when terms for extrinsic curvature are included. At one loop order, the nonperturbative contribution to the zero point energy is negative, regardless of the sign of the extrinsic curvature term.

Development of "ultrasound-assisted dynamic extraction" and its combination with CCC and CPC for simultaneous extraction and isolation of phytochemicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yuchi; Liu, Chunming; Li, Jing; Qi, Yanjuan; Li, Yuchun; Li, Sainan

2015-09-01

A new method for the extraction of medicinal herbs termed ultrasonic-assisted dynamic extraction (UADE) was designed and evaluated. This technique was coupled with counter-current chromatography (CCC) and centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) and then applied to the continuous extraction and online isolation of chemical constituents from Paeonia lactiflora Pall (white peony) roots. The mechanical parameters, including the pitch and diameter of the shaft, were optimized by means of mathematical modeling. Furthermore, the configuration and mechanism of online UADE coupled with CCC and CPC were elaborated. The stationary phases of the two-phase solvent systems from CCC and CPC were utilized as the UADE solution. The extraction solution was pumped into the sample loop and then introduced into the CCC column; the target compounds were eluted with the lower aqueous phase of the two-phase solvent system. During the CCC separation, the extraction solution was continuously fed in the sample loop by turning the ten-port valve; the extraction solution was then pumped into the CPC column and eluted by the mobile phase of the two-phase solvent system mentioned above. When the first cycle of the UADE/CCC/CPC was completed, the second cycle experiment could be carried out, and so on. Four target compounds (albiflorin, benzoylpaeoniflorin, paeoniflorin, and galloylpaeoniflorin) with purities above 94.96% were successfully extracted and isolated online using the two-phase solvent system comprising ethyl acetate-n-butanol-ethanol-water (1:3.5:2:4.5, v/v/v/v). Compared with conventional extraction methods, the instrumental setup of the present method offers the advantages of automation and systematic extraction and isolation of natural products. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of combination of Eurycoma longifolia Jack ethanolic extract and doxorubicine on hematological profile in rats given by 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene

Science.gov (United States)

Nurani, L. H.; Mursyidi, A.; Widyarini, S.; Rohman, A.

2017-11-01

Doxorubicin (Dox) is known as anticancer drug commonly used for cancer treatment. Eurycoma longifolia Jack or Pasakbumi was reported to have chemopreventive effect. In cancer patients, there are some dysfunctions of blood parameter, therefore some hematologic tests are needed to monitor cancer patients. In this study, the effects of combination of ethanolic extract of E. longifolia Jack (EEE) and Dox on hematologic profiles were investigated in rats injected by DMBA. Rats were divided into eight groups. Group I was normal group; Group II, rats were treated with extract dose 100 mg/kgbw; Groups III, IV, V, VI, VII and VIII, rats were treated with Dox, DMBA, DMBA+Dox, DMBA+EEE, DMBA+Dox +EEE, and Dox+EEE, respectively. DMBA administration orally was conducted twice a week for 5 weeks. At 16th week of treatments, bloods were taken from orbitalis sinus for hematologicals profile (levels of Hb, erytrocyte, hematocrite, leukocyte, MCV, MCH, and differencial leucocyte count) measurements. These data were analyzed by one way ANOVA followed by LSD test. DMBA administration significantly decreased the hematological profiles compared to the normal group, except in lymphocyte level. Rats treated with extract and extract+Dox were able to increase the hematological profile compared to rats given by DMBA only. Based on these findings it can be concluded that the combination of EEE and Dox potentially increase hematological profile of rats given by DMBA.

Cloud-point extraction and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of synthetic phenolic antioxidants in edible oils.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Miao; Xia, Qinghai; Liu, Mousheng; Yang, Yaling

2011-01-01

A cloud-point extraction (CPE) method using Triton X-114 (TX-114) nonionic surfactant was developed for the extraction and preconcentration of propyl gallate (PG), tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) from edible oils. The optimum conditions of CPE were 2.5% (v/v) TX-114, 0.5% (w/v) NaCl and 40 min equilibration time at 50 °C. The surfactant-rich phase was then analyzed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection at 280 nm, using a gradient mobile phase consisting of methanol and 1.5% (v/v) acetic acid. Under the studied conditions, 4 synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) were successfully separated within 24 min. The limits of detection (LOD) were 1.9 ng mL(-1) for PG, 11 ng mL(-1) for TBHQ, 2.3 ng mL(-1) for BHA, and 5.9 ng mL(-1) for BHT. Recoveries of the SPAs spiked into edible oil were in the range 81% to 88%. The CPE method was shown to be potentially useful for the preconcentration of the target analytes, with a preconcentration factor of 14. Moreover, the method is simple, has high sensitivity, consumes much less solvent than traditional methods, and is environment-friendly. Practical Application: The method established in this article uses less organic solvent to extract SPAs from edible oils; it is simple, highly sensitive and results in no pollution to the environment.

Correlation between quarter-point angle and nuclear radius

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Wei-Hu; Wang, Jian-Song; Mukherjee, S.; Wang, Qi; Patel, D.; Yang, Yan-Yun; Ma, Jun-Bing; Ma, Peng; Jin, Shi-Lun; Bai, Zhen; Liu, Xing-Quan

2017-04-01

The correlation between quarter-point angle of elastic scattering and nuclear matter radius is studied systematically. Various phenomenological formulae with parameters for nuclear radius are adopted and compared by fitting the experimental data of quarter point angle extracted from nuclear elastic scattering reaction systems. A parameterized formula related to binding energy is recommended, which gives a good reproduction of nuclear matter radii of halo nuclei. It indicates that the quarter-point angle of elastic scattering is quite sensitive to the nuclear matter radius and can be used to extract the nuclear matter radius. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1432247, 11575256), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)(2014CB845405 and 2013CB83440x) and (SM) Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative (2015-FX-04)

AN ADAPTIVE APPROACH FOR SEGMENTATION OF 3D LASER POINT CLOUD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Lari

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Automatic processing and object extraction from 3D laser point cloud is one of the major research topics in the field of photogrammetry. Segmentation is an essential step in the processing of laser point cloud, and the quality of extracted objects from laser data is highly dependent on the validity of the segmentation results. This paper presents a new approach for reliable and efficient segmentation of planar patches from a 3D laser point cloud. In this method, the neighbourhood of each point is firstly established using an adaptive cylinder while considering the local point density and surface trend. This neighbourhood definition has a major effect on the computational accuracy of the segmentation attributes. In order to efficiently cluster planar surfaces and prevent introducing ambiguities, the coordinates of the origin's projection on each point's best fitted plane are used as the clustering attributes. Then, an octree space partitioning method is utilized to detect and extract peaks from the attribute space. Each detected peak represents a specific cluster of points which are located on a distinct planar surface in the object space. Experimental results show the potential and feasibility of applying this method for segmentation of both airborne and terrestrial laser data.

One adenosine deaminase allele in a patient with severe combined immunodeficiency contains a point mutation abolishing enzyme activity.

OpenAIRE

Valerio, D; Dekker, B M; Duyvesteyn, M G; van der Voorn, L; Berkvens, T M; van Ormondt, H; van der Eb, A J

1986-01-01

We have cloned and sequenced an adenosine deaminase (ADA) gene from a patient with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) caused by inherited ADA deficiency. Two point mutations were found, resulting in amino acid substitutions at positions 80 (Lys to Arg) and 304 (Leu to Arg) of the protein. Hybridization experiments with synthetic oligonucleotide probes showed that the determined mutations are present in both DNA and RNA from the ADA-SCID patient. In addition, wild-type sequences could be ...

Synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Dioscorea bulbifera tuber extract and evaluation of its synergistic potential in combination with antimicrobial agents.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Sougata; Patil, Sumersing; Ahire, Mehul; Kitture, Rohini; Kale, Sangeeta; Pardesi, Karishma; Cameotra, Swaranjit S; Bellare, Jayesh; Dhavale, Dilip D; Jabgunde, Amit; Chopade, Balu A

2012-01-01

Development of an environmentally benign process for the synthesis of silver nanomaterials is an important aspect of current nanotechnology research. Among the 600 species of the genus Dioscorea, Dioscorea bulbifera has profound therapeutic applications due to its unique phytochemistry. In this paper, we report on the rapid synthesis of silver nanoparticles by reduction of aqueous Ag(+) ions using D. bulbifera tuber extract. Phytochemical analysis revealed that D. bulbifera tuber extract is rich in flavonoid, phenolics, reducing sugars, starch, diosgenin, ascorbic acid, and citric acid. The biosynthesis process was quite fast, and silver nanoparticles were formed within 5 hours. Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction confirmed reduction of the Ag(+) ions. Varied morphology of the bioreduced silver nanoparticles included spheres, triangles, and hexagons. Optimization studies revealed that the maximum rate of synthesis could be achieved with 0.7 mM AgNO(3) solution at 50°C in 5 hours. The resulting silver nanoparticles were found to possess potent antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Beta-lactam (piperacillin) and macrolide (eryth-romycin) antibiotics showed a 3.6-fold and 3-fold increase, respectively, in combination with silver nanoparticles selectively against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Notable synergy was seen between silver nanoparticles and chloramphenicol or vancomycin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and was supported by a 4.9-fold and 4.2-fold increase in zone diameter, respectively. Similarly, we found a maximum 11.8-fold increase in zone diameter of streptomycin when combined with silver nanoparticles against E. coli, providing strong evidence for the synergistic action of a combination of antibiotics and silver nanoparticles. This is the first report on

Uncertainty analysis of point by point sampling complex surfaces using touch probe CMMs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barini, Emanuele; Tosello, Guido; De Chiffre, Leonardo

2007-01-01

The paper describes a study concerning point by point scanning of complex surfaces using tactile CMMs. A four factors-two level full factorial experiment was carried out, involving measurements on a complex surface configuration item comprising a sphere, a cylinder and a cone, combined in a singl...

Terrain Extraction by Integrating Terrestrial Laser Scanner Data and Spectral Information

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, C. L.; Halim, S.; Zulkepli, M.; Azwan, A. M.; Tang, W. L.; Chong, A. K.

2015-10-01

The extraction of true terrain points from unstructured laser point cloud data is an important process in order to produce an accurate digital terrain model (DTM). However, most of these spatial filtering methods just utilizing the geometrical data to discriminate the terrain points from nonterrain points. The point cloud filtering method also can be improved by using the spectral information available with some scanners. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of using the three-channel (red, green and blue) of the colour image captured from built-in digital camera which is available in some Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) for terrain extraction. In this study, the data acquisition was conducted at a mini replica landscape in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai campus using Leica ScanStation C10. The spectral information of the coloured point clouds from selected sample classes are extracted for spectral analysis. The coloured point clouds which within the corresponding preset spectral threshold are identified as that specific feature point from the dataset. This process of terrain extraction is done through using developed Matlab coding. Result demonstrates that a higher spectral resolution passive image is required in order to improve the output. This is because low quality of the colour images captured by the sensor contributes to the low separability in spectral reflectance. In conclusion, this study shows that, spectral information is capable to be used as a parameter for terrain extraction.

FIR: An Effective Scheme for Extracting Useful Metadata from Social Media.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Long-Sheng; Lin, Zue-Cheng; Chang, Jing-Rong

2015-11-01

Recently, the use of social media for health information exchange is expanding among patients, physicians, and other health care professionals. In medical areas, social media allows non-experts to access, interpret, and generate medical information for their own care and the care of others. Researchers paid much attention on social media in medical educations, patient-pharmacist communications, adverse drug reactions detection, impacts of social media on medicine and healthcare, and so on. However, relatively few papers discuss how to extract useful knowledge from a huge amount of textual comments in social media effectively. Therefore, this study aims to propose a Fuzzy adaptive resonance theory network based Information Retrieval (FIR) scheme by combining Fuzzy adaptive resonance theory (ART) network, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), and association rules (AR) discovery to extract knowledge from social media. In our FIR scheme, Fuzzy ART network firstly has been employed to segment comments. Next, for each customer segment, we use LSI technique to retrieve important keywords. Then, in order to make the extracted keywords understandable, association rules mining is presented to organize these extracted keywords to build metadata. These extracted useful voices of customers will be transformed into design needs by using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) for further decision making. Unlike conventional information retrieval techniques which acquire too many keywords to get key points, our FIR scheme can extract understandable metadata from social media.

Feature Point Extraction from the Local Frequency Map of an Image

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Jesmin Khan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a novel technique for detecting rotation- and scale-invariant interest points from the local frequency representation of an image. Local or instantaneous frequency is the spatial derivative of the local phase, where the local phase of any signal can be found from its Hilbert transform. Local frequency estimation can detect edge, ridge, corner, and texture information at the same time, and it shows high values at those dominant features of an image. For each pixel, we select an appropriate width of the window for computing the derivative of the phase. In order to select the width of the window for any given pixel, we make use of the measure of the extent to which the phases, in the neighborhood of that pixel, are in the same direction. The local frequency map, thus obtained, is then thresholded by employing a global thresholding approach to detect the interest or feature points. Repeatability rate, a performance evaluation criterion for an interest point detector, is used to check the geometric stability of the proposed method under different transformations. We present simulation results of the detection of feature points from image utilizing the suggested technique and compare the proposed method with five existing approaches that yield good results. The results prove the efficacy of the proposed feature point detection algorithm. Moreover, in terms of repeatability rate; the results show that the performance of the proposed method with respect to different aspect is compatible with the existing methods.

New method based on combining ultrasonic assisted miniaturized matrix solid-phase dispersion and homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction for the determination of some organochlorinated pesticides in fish

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rezaei, Farahnaz; Hosseini, Mohammad-Reza Milani

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Ultrasonic assisted miniaturized matrix solid-phase dispersion combined with HLLE was developed as a new method for the extraction of OCPs in fish. → The goal of this combination was to enhance the selectivity of HLLE procedure and to extend its application in biological samples. → This method proposed the advantages of good detection limits, lower consumption of reagents, and does not need any special instrumentation. - Abstract: In this study, ultrasonic assisted miniaturized matrix solid-phase dispersion (US-MMSPD) combined with homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction (HLLE) has been developed as a new method for the extraction of organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs) in fish prior to gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). In the proposed method, OCPs (heptachlor, aldrin, DDE, DDD, lindane and endrin) were first extracted from fish sample into acetonitrile by US-MMSPD procedure, and the extract was then used as consolute solvent in HLLE process. Optimal condition for US-MMSPD step was as follows: volume of acetonitrile, 1.5 mL; temperature of ultrasound, 40 deg. C; time of ultrasound, 10 min. For HLLE step, optimal results were obtained at the following conditions: volume of chloroform, 35 μL; volume of aqueous phase, 1.5 mL; volume of double distilled water, 0.5 mL; time of centrifuge, 10 min. Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factors for the studied compounds were obtained in the range of 185-240, and the overall recoveries were ranged from 39.1% to 81.5%. The limits of detection were 0.4-1.2 ng g -1 and the relative standard deviations for 20 ng g -1 of the OCPs, varied from 3.2% to 8% (n = 4). Finally, the proposed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of the OCPs in real fish sample, and satisfactory results were obtained.

New method based on combining ultrasonic assisted miniaturized matrix solid-phase dispersion and homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction for the determination of some organochlorinated pesticides in fish

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rezaei, Farahnaz [Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16846 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Hosseini, Mohammad-Reza Milani, E-mail: drmilani@iust.ac.ir [Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16846 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Electroanalytical Chemistry Research Center, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16846 (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2011-09-30

Highlights: {yields} Ultrasonic assisted miniaturized matrix solid-phase dispersion combined with HLLE was developed as a new method for the extraction of OCPs in fish. {yields} The goal of this combination was to enhance the selectivity of HLLE procedure and to extend its application in biological samples. {yields} This method proposed the advantages of good detection limits, lower consumption of reagents, and does not need any special instrumentation. - Abstract: In this study, ultrasonic assisted miniaturized matrix solid-phase dispersion (US-MMSPD) combined with homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction (HLLE) has been developed as a new method for the extraction of organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs) in fish prior to gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). In the proposed method, OCPs (heptachlor, aldrin, DDE, DDD, lindane and endrin) were first extracted from fish sample into acetonitrile by US-MMSPD procedure, and the extract was then used as consolute solvent in HLLE process. Optimal condition for US-MMSPD step was as follows: volume of acetonitrile, 1.5 mL; temperature of ultrasound, 40 deg. C; time of ultrasound, 10 min. For HLLE step, optimal results were obtained at the following conditions: volume of chloroform, 35 {mu}L; volume of aqueous phase, 1.5 mL; volume of double distilled water, 0.5 mL; time of centrifuge, 10 min. Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factors for the studied compounds were obtained in the range of 185-240, and the overall recoveries were ranged from 39.1% to 81.5%. The limits of detection were 0.4-1.2 ng g{sup -1} and the relative standard deviations for 20 ng g{sup -1} of the OCPs, varied from 3.2% to 8% (n = 4). Finally, the proposed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of the OCPs in real fish sample, and satisfactory results were obtained.

The effect of combined Moringa oleifera and demineralized freeze-dried bovine bone xenograft on the amount of osteoblast and osteoclast in the healing of tooth extraction socket of Cavia cobaya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rostiny Rostiny

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Alveolar bone has an important role in providing support to teeth and dentures. Loss of support caused by alveolar resorption will cause functional and aesthetic problems. Preservation socket using bone graft is one way to maintain the dimensions of the alveolar bone. Moringa oleifera leaf can increase the activity of bone graft in the formation of new bone. Purpose: This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of combined Moringa oleivera leaf extract and demineralized freeze-dried bovine bone xenograft (DFDBBX towards the formation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts in the tooth extraction sockets of cavia cobaya. Method: This study used 28 cavia cobayas divided into four groups. The combination of Moringa oleifera leaf extract and DFDBBX was inducted into the sockets of lower incisor tooth with certain dose in each group, ointment 1 containing PEG (a mixture of PEG 400 and PEG 4000 for control group, ointment 2 containing Moringa oleifera leaf extract and DFDBBX and PEG (at active subtance consentration of 0.5% for group 1, ointment 3 containing Moringa oleifera leaf extract and DFDBBX and PEG (at active substance concentration of 1% for group 2, and Ointment 4 containing Moringa oleifera leaf extract and DFDBBX and PEG (at active substance consentration of 2% for group 3. paraffin block preparations were made for histopathology examination using hematoxylin eosin staining. Result: The results showed that there were significant differences of the number of osteoblasts and osteoclasts in each treatment group (p <0.05. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the combination of Moringa oleifera leaf extract and DFDBBX at 2% cocentration can increase the number of osteoblasts and decrease osteoclasts in the healing of tooth extraction sockets of cavia cobaya.

Fructus mume Extracts Alleviate Diarrhea in Breast Cancer Patients Receiving the Combination Therapy of Lapatinib and Capecitabine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hua Xing

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Lapatinib and capecitabine have been widely used in the therapy of breast cancer. However, long-term use of lapatinib and capecitabine often causes the most common side effect diarrhea, which limit the medicine use. Fructus mume (F. mume has been proved to be effective to treat chronic diarrhea with few side effects. The compounds from F. mume were extracted by using an ethanol method. Extracts of F. mume (EFM were analyzed by HPLC. We investigated the protective effects of EFM on the diarrhea caused by lapatinib and capecitabine. From March 1st, 2016 to June 1st, 2017, 208 breast cancer patients with diarrhea caused by lapatinib and capecitabine were recruited. The patients were evenly assigned into two groups: EG group (the patients took 100 mg EFM daily and CG group (the patients took placebo daily. The effects of EFM on diarrhea and gastrointestinal symptoms were measured by a semiquantitative method seven-point Likert scale. Overall quality of life was measured by SF-36 questionnaire and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS. The HPLC analysis showed that there were three components in EFM, including citric acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF, and chlorogenic acid. Breast cancer types were observed by using Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E stain. The breast cancer can be divided into leaflet, gland and fibroblast types. Patient age, skin metastases, treatment, and grade 1 diarrhea were significant risk factors associated with for grade 2 diarrhea. EFM reduced diarrhea and gastrointestinal symptoms by reducing the average scores of the diarrhea symptom and seven-point Likert scale, and improved life quality of patients significantly by improving SF-36 scores and reducing HADS scores when compared to that in the CG group after 6-week therapy and further 4-week follow-up (P < 0.05. EFM may be a potential choice for the diarrhea therapy in breast cancer patients.

Solids recycling in solvent extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, L.F.

1980-01-01

In an extraction process for extracting values from a first stream into a substantially immiscible second stream using a multi-compartmental rotary contactor, unwanted solids formed in the contactor and discharged at least partly with the the first stream are separated and re-entered into the contactor intermediate the points at which the streams are discharged. (author)

Combined and separated effects of gamma irradiation and bifuran plant extract on the dietary profile of the black cutworm, agitators ipsilon (Hun.) 1- treatment of the eight days old larvae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Naggar, S.E.M.; Ibrahim, S.M.; Mohamed, H.F.

2007-01-01

The combined and separate effects of two sub sterilizing doses 100 or 150 Gy of gamma irradiation and the plant extract Conyza dioscorides (Barnoof) on eight days- old larvae of F1 generation of Agrotis ipsilon as to their ability to consume, digest and utilize food were studied. Gamma irradiation alone reduced the amount of food consumed and digested by the larvae as compared to non-irradiated ones. Also, the utilization efficiency was decreased more significantly at the dose level 150 Gy than at the dose level 100 Gy leading to a reduction in weight gain. The effect of plant extract (Barnoof) alone was non-significantly different at the two tested concentrations 1.5 or 3 % by the solvent (Petroleum ether) treatment. The combined effect of gamma radiation and plant extract on F1 larvae significantly decreased the growth rate of the larvae than when treating them alone as compared to the untreated larvae. Also, the combined effects of gamma radiation and plant extract significantly decreased the utilization of food as indicated by determining both efficiency of conversion of ingested food (E.C.I.) and digested food (E.C.D.) to body matters

Extracting Corresponding Point Based on Texture Synthesis for Nearly Flat Textureless Object Surface

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Min Mao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Since the image feature points are always gathered at the range with significant intensity change, such as textured portions or edges of an image, which can be detected by the state-of-the-art intensity based point-detectors, there is nearly no point in the areas of low textured detected by classical interest-point detectors. In this paper we describe a novel algorithm based on affine transform and graph cut for interest point detecting and matching from wide baseline image pairs with weakly textured object. The detection and matching mechanism can be separated into three steps: firstly, the information on the large textureless areas will be enhanced by adding textures through the proposed texture synthesis algorithm TSIQ. Secondly, the initial interest-point set is detected by classical interest-point detectors. Finally, graph cuts are used to find the globally optimal set of matching points on stereo pairs. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm is verified by three kinds of experiments, that is, the influence of point detecting from synthetic texture with different texture sample, the stability under the different geometric transformations, and the performance to improve the quasi-dense matching algorithm, respectively.

Cloud point extraction and flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination of cadmium(II), lead(II), palladium(II) and silver(I) in environmental samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ghaedi, Mehrorang, E-mail: m_ghaedi@mail.yu.ac.ir [Chemistry Department, Yasouj University, Yasouj 75914-353 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Shokrollahi, Ardeshir [Chemistry Department, Yasouj University, Yasouj 75914-353 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Niknam, Khodabakhsh [Chemistry Department, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Niknam, Ebrahim; Najibi, Asma [Chemistry Department, Yasouj University, Yasouj 75914-353 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Soylak, Mustafa [Chemistry Department, University of Erciyes, 38039 Kayseri (Turkey)

2009-09-15

The phase-separation phenomenon of non-ionic surfactants occurring in aqueous solution was used for the extraction of cadmium(II), lead(II), palladium(II) and silver(I). The analytical procedure involved the formation of understudy metals complex with bis((1H-benzo [d] imidazol-2yl)ethyl) sulfane (BIES), and quantitatively extracted to the phase rich in octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114) after centrifugation. Methanol acidified with 1 mol L{sup -1} HNO{sub 3} was added to the surfactant-rich phase prior to its analysis by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The concentration of BIES, pH and amount of surfactant (Triton X-114) was optimized. At optimum conditions, the detection limits of (3 sdb/m) of 1.4, 2.8, 1.6 and 1.4 ng mL{sup -1} for Cd{sup 2+}, Pb{sup 2+}, Pd{sup 2+} and Ag{sup +} along with preconcentration factors of 30 and enrichment factors of 48, 39, 32 and 42 for Cd{sup 2+}, Pb{sup 2+}, Pd{sup 2+} and Ag{sup +}, respectively, were obtained. The proposed cloud point extraction has been successfully applied for the determination of metal ions in real samples with complicated matrix such as radiology waste, vegetable, blood and urine samples.

A simple method for simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of brilliant blue fcf and sunset yellow fcf in food samples after cloud point extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heydari, R.

2016-01-01

In this study, a simple and low-cost method for extraction and pre-concentration of brilliant blue FCF and sunset yellow FCF in food samples using cloud point extraction (CPE) and spectrophotometric detection was developed. The effects of main factors such as solution pH, surfactant concentration, salt and its concentration, incubation time and temperature on the CPE of both dyes were investigated and optimized. Linear range of calibration graphs were obtained in the range of 16.0-1300 ng mL-1 for brilliant blue FCF and 25.0-1300 ng mL/sup -1/ for sunset yellow FCF under the optimum conditions. Limit of detection values for brilliant blue FCF and sunset yellow FCF were 3 and 6 ng mL-1, respectively. The relative standard deviation (RSD) values of both dyes for repeated measurements (n=6) were less than 4.57 %. The obtained results were demonstrated the proposed method can be applied satisfactory to determine these dyes in different food samples. (author)

SurfCut: Free-Boundary Surface Extraction

KAUST Repository

Algarni, Marei Saeed Mohammed

2016-09-15

We present SurfCut, an algorithm for extracting a smooth simple surface with unknown boundary from a noisy 3D image and a seed point. In contrast to existing approaches that extract smooth simple surfaces with boundary, our method requires less user input, i.e., a seed point, rather than a 3D boundary curve. Our method is built on the novel observation that certain ridge curves of a front propagated using the Fast Marching algorithm are likely to lie on the surface. Using the framework of cubical complexes, we design a novel algorithm to robustly extract such ridge curves and form the surface of interest. Our algorithm automatically cuts these ridge curves to form the surface boundary, and then extracts the surface. Experiments show the robustness of our method to errors in the data, and that we achieve higher accuracy with lower computational cost than comparable methods. © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.

Reaction Wheel Disturbance Model Extraction Software - RWDMES

Science.gov (United States)

Blaurock, Carl

2009-01-01

The RWDMES is a tool for modeling the disturbances imparted on spacecraft by spinning reaction wheels. Reaction wheels are usually the largest disturbance source on a precision pointing spacecraft, and can be the dominating source of pointing error. Accurate knowledge of the disturbance environment is critical to accurate prediction of the pointing performance. In the past, it has been difficult to extract an accurate wheel disturbance model since the forcing mechanisms are difficult to model physically, and the forcing amplitudes are filtered by the dynamics of the reaction wheel. RWDMES captures the wheel-induced disturbances using a hybrid physical/empirical model that is extracted directly from measured forcing data. The empirical models capture the tonal forces that occur at harmonics of the spin rate, and the broadband forces that arise from random effects. The empirical forcing functions are filtered by a physical model of the wheel structure that includes spin-rate-dependent moments (gyroscopic terms). The resulting hybrid model creates a highly accurate prediction of wheel-induced forces. It accounts for variation in disturbance frequency, as well as the shifts in structural amplification by the whirl modes, as the spin rate changes. This software provides a point-and-click environment for producing accurate models with minimal user effort. Where conventional approaches may take weeks to produce a model of variable quality, RWDMES can create a demonstrably high accuracy model in two hours. The software consists of a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables the user to specify all analysis parameters, to evaluate analysis results and to iteratively refine the model. Underlying algorithms automatically extract disturbance harmonics, initialize and tune harmonic models, and initialize and tune broadband noise models. The component steps are described in the RWDMES user s guide and include: converting time domain data to waterfall PSDs (power spectral

Instant controlled pressure drop technology and ultrasound assisted extraction for sequential extraction of essential oil and antioxidants.

Science.gov (United States)

Allaf, Tamara; Tomao, Valérie; Ruiz, Karine; Chemat, Farid

2013-01-01

The instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) technology enabled both the extraction of essential oil and the expansion of the matrix itself which improved solvent extraction. The sequential use of DIC and Ultrasound Assisted Extraction (UAE) triggered complementary actions materialized by supplementary effects. We visualized these combination impacts by comparing them to standard techniques: Hydrodistillation (HD) and Solvent Extraction (SE). First, the extraction of orange peel Essential Oils (EO) was achieved by HD during 4h and DIC process (after optimization) during 2 min; EO yields was 1.97 mg/g dry material (dm) with HD compared to 16.57 mg/g d m with DIC. Second, the solid residue was recovered to extract antioxidant compounds (naringin and hesperidin) by SE and UAE. Scanning electron microscope showed that after HD the recovered solid shriveled as opposite to DIC treatment which expanded the product structure. HPLC analyses showed that the best kinetics and yields of naringin and hesperidin extraction was when DIC and UAE are combined. Indeed, after 1h of extraction, DIC treated orange peels with UAE were 0.825 ± 1.6 × 10(-2)g/g of dry material (dm) for hesperidin and 6.45 × 10(-2) ± 2.3 × 10(-4)g/g d m for naringin compared to 0.64 ± 2.7 × 10(-2)g/g of dry material (dm) and 5.7 × 10(-2) ± 1.6 × 10(-3)g/g d m, respectively with SE. By combining DIC to UAE, it was possible to enhance kinetics and yields of antioxidant extraction. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Image mosaicking based on feature points using color-invariant values

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Dong-Chang; Kwon, Oh-Seol; Ko, Kyung-Woo; Lee, Ho-Young; Ha, Yeong-Ho

2008-02-01

In the field of computer vision, image mosaicking is achieved using image features, such as textures, colors, and shapes between corresponding images, or local descriptors representing neighborhoods of feature points extracted from corresponding images. However, image mosaicking based on feature points has attracted more recent attention due to the simplicity of the geometric transformation, regardless of distortion and differences in intensity generated by camera motion in consecutive images. Yet, since most feature-point matching algorithms extract feature points using gray values, identifying corresponding points becomes difficult in the case of changing illumination and images with a similar intensity. Accordingly, to solve these problems, this paper proposes a method of image mosaicking based on feature points using color information of images. Essentially, the digital values acquired from a real digital color camera are converted to values of a virtual camera with distinct narrow bands. Values based on the surface reflectance and invariant to the chromaticity of various illuminations are then derived from the virtual camera values and defined as color-invariant values invariant to changing illuminations. The validity of these color-invariant values is verified in a test using a Macbeth Color-Checker under simulated illuminations. The test also compares the proposed method using the color-invariant values with the conventional SIFT algorithm. The accuracy of the matching between the feature points extracted using the proposed method is increased, while image mosaicking using color information is also achieved.

Comparison of low-level polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediment revealed by Soxhlet extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, and pressurized liquid extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Nobuyasu; Numata, Masahiko; Aoyagi, Yoshie; Yarita, Takashi

2008-01-01

We analyzed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in lake sediment at low levels ( -1 ) by using Soxhlet extraction (Soxhlet), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) in combination with gas chromatography and isotope-dilution mass spectrometry. Although all extraction techniques showed good repeatability for five target PAHs (relative standard deviation MAE > Soxhlet. Differences in the results originated mainly from differences in the extraction efficiencies of the techniques for native PAHs, because all techniques gave comparable recovery yields of corresponding 13 C-labeled PAHs ( 13 C-PAHs) (51-84%). Since non-negligible amounts of both native PAHs and 13 C-PAHs were re-adsorbed on matrix in MAE, not only recovery yields of 13 C-PAHs but also efficiencies of extraction of native PAHs should be examined to evaluate the appropriateness of any analytical procedures

RECONSTRUCTION OF 3D VECTOR MODELS OF BUILDINGS BY COMBINATION OF ALS, TLS AND VLS DATA

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H. Boulaassal

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS and Vehicle based Laser Scanning (VLS are widely used as data acquisition methods for 3D building modelling. ALS data is often used to generate, among others, roof models. TLS data has proven its effectiveness in the geometric reconstruction of building façades. Although the operating algorithms used in the processing chain of these two kinds of data are quite similar, their combination should be more investigated. This study explores the possibility of combining ALS and TLS data for simultaneously producing 3D building models from bird point of view and pedestrian point of view. The geometric accuracy of roofs and façades models is different due to the acquisition techniques. In order to take these differences into account, the surfaces composing roofs and façades are extracted with the same algorithm of segmentation. Nevertheless the segmentation algorithm must be adapted to the properties of the different point clouds. It is based on the RANSAC algorithm, but has been applied in a sequential way in order to extract all potential planar clusters from airborne and terrestrial datasets. Surfaces are fitted to planar clusters, allowing edge detection and reconstruction of vector polygons. Models resulting from TLS data are obviously more accurate than those generated from ALS data. Therefore, the geometry of the roofs is corrected and adapted according to the geometry of the corresponding façades. Finally, the effects of the differences between raw ALS and TLS data on the results of the modeling process are analyzed. It is shown that such combination could be used to produce reliable 3D building models.

PENGENALAN POLA SIDIK JARI RIDGE ENDING DAN BIFURCATION POINT DENGAN EKSTRAKSI MINUSI METODE CROSSING NUMBER

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I Putu Dody Lesmana

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Biometric is a development of basic method of identification using human natural characteristics as its basic. One of the biometric system that is often used is fingerprint. Fingerprint matching system can be obtained by extraction of minutiae information. Information from minutiae extraction generated ridge ending and bifurcation. The technique coffered in this paper is based on the extraction of minutiae from fingerprint image using crossing number (CN method to get ridge ending and bifurcation point by scanning each of ridges point. False identification of minutiae structure may be introduced into the fingerprint image due to hole and spur structure. It is necessary to test the validity of each minutiae point to eliminate false minutiae. Experiments are firstly conducted to assess how well the crossing number method is able to extract the minutiae point. The minutiae validation algorithm is then evaluated to see how effective the algorithm is in detecting the false minutiae. From experiments result using crossing number method, it can be deduced that all ridge points corresponding to ridge ending and bifurcation point have been detected successfully. However, there are a few cases where the extracted minutiae do not correspond to true minutiae points due to hole and spur structure. Applying minutiae validation algorithm is able to cancel out the false ridge endings created by the spur structure and bifurcations created by the hole structures.

The effects of combining Artemisia annua and Curcuma longa ethanolic extracts in broilers challenged with infective oocysts of Eimeria acervulina and E. maxima

Science.gov (United States)

Due to an increasing demand for natural products to control coccidiosis in broilers we investigated the effects of supplementing a combination of ethanolic extracts of Artemisia annua and Curcuma longa in drinking water. Three different dosages of this herbal mixture were compared with a negative co...

Combined use of high-resolution α-glucosidase inhibition profiling and HPLC-HRMS-SPE-NMR for investigation of antidiabetic principles in crude plant extracts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kongstad, Kenneth Thermann; Özdemir, Ceylan; Barzak, Asmah

2015-01-01

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder affecting millions of people worldwide, and new drug leads or functional foods containing selective α-glucosidase inhibitors are needed. Crude extract of 24 plants were assessed for α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Methanol extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum...... bark, Rheum rhabarbarum peel, and Rheum palmatum root and ethyl acetate extracts of C. zeylanicum bark, Allium ascalonicum peel, and R. palmatum root showed IC50 values below 20 μg/mL. Subsequently, high-resolution α-glucosidase profiling was used in combination with high-performance liquid...... chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry–solid-phase extraction–nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for identification of metabolites responsible for the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Quercetin (1) and its dimer (2), trimer (3), and tetramer (4) were identified as main α-glucosidase inhibitors...

Processing Relative Clause Extractions in Swedish

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Damon Tutunjian

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Relative clauses are considered strong islands for extraction across languages. Swedish comprises a well-known exception, allegedly allowing extraction from relative clauses (RCE, raising the possibility that island constraints may be subject to “deep variation” between languages. One alternative is that such exceptions are only illusory and represent “surface variation” attributable to independently motivated syntactic properties. Yet, to date, no surface account has proven tenable for Swedish RCEs. The present study uses eyetracking while reading to test whether the apparent acceptability of Swedish RCEs has any processing correlates at the point of filler integration compared to uncontroversial strong island violations. Experiment 1 tests RCE against licit that-clause extraction (TCE, illicit extraction from a non-restrictive relative clause (NRCE, and an intransitive control. For this, RCE was found to pattern similarly to TCE at the point of integration in early measures, but between TCE and NRCE in total durations. Experiment 2 uses RCE and extraction from a subject NP island (SRCE to test the hypothesis that only non-islands will show effects of implausible filler-verb dependencies. RCE showed sensitivity to the plausibility manipulation across measures at the first potential point of filler integration, whereas such effects were limited to late measures for SRCE. In addition, structural facilitation was seen across measures for RCE relative to SRCE. We propose that our results are compatible with RCEs being licit weak island extractions in Swedish, and that the overall picture speaks in favor of a surface rather than a deep variation approach to the lack of island effects in Swedish RCEs.

Ultrasound assisted extraction combined with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (US-DLLME)-a fast new approach to measure phthalate metabolites in nails.

Science.gov (United States)

Alves, Andreia; Vanermen, Guido; Covaci, Adrian; Voorspoels, Stefan

2016-09-01

A new, fast, and environmentally friendly method based on ultrasound assisted extraction combined with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (US-DLLME) was developed and optimized for assessing the levels of seven phthalate metabolites (including the mono(ethyl hexyl) phthalate (MEHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (5-OH-MEHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (5-oxo-MEHP), mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP), mono-isobutyl phthalate (MiBP), monoethyl phthalate (MEP), and mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP)) in human nails by UPLC-MS/MS. The optimization of the US-DLLME method was performed using a Taguchi combinatorial design (L9 array). Several parameters such as extraction solvent, solvent volume, extraction time, acid, acid concentration, and vortex time were studied. The optimal extraction conditions achieved were 180 μL of trichloroethylene (extraction solvent), 2 mL trifluoroacetic acid in methanol (2 M), 2 h extraction and 3 min vortex time. The optimized method had a good precision (6-17 %). The accuracy ranged from 79 to 108 % and the limit of method quantification (LOQm) was below 14 ng/g for all compounds. The developed US-DLLME method was applied to determine the target metabolites in 10 Belgian individuals. Levels of the analytes measured in nails ranged between <12 and 7982 ng/g. The MEHP, MBP isomers, and MEP were the major metabolites and detected in every sample. Miniaturization (low volumes of organic solvents used), low costs, speed, and simplicity are the main advantages of this US-DLLME based method. Graphical Abstract Extraction and phase separation of the US-DLLME procedure.

Automated Extraction of Cranial Landmarks from Computed Tomography Data using a Combined Method of Knowledge and Pattern Based Approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roshan N. RAJAPAKSE

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Accurate identification of anatomical structures from medical imaging data is a significant and critical function in the medical domain. Past studies in this context have mainly utilized two main approaches, the knowledge and learning methodologies based methods. Further, most of previous reported studies have focused on identification of landmarks from lateral X-ray Computed Tomography (CT data, particularly in the field of orthodontics. However, this study focused on extracting cranial landmarks from large sets of cross sectional CT slices using a combined method of the two aforementioned approaches. The proposed method of this study is centered mainly on template data sets, which were created using the actual contour patterns extracted from CT cases for each of the landmarks in consideration. Firstly, these templates were used to devise rules which are a characteristic of the knowledge based method. Secondly, the same template sets were employed to perform template matching related to the learning methodologies approach. The proposed method was tested on two landmarks, the Dorsum sellae and the Pterygoid plate, using CT cases of 5 subjects. The results indicate that, out of the 10 tests, the output images were within the expected range (desired accuracy in 7 instances and acceptable range (near accuracy for 2 instances, thus verifying the effectiveness of the combined template sets centric approach proposed in this study.

A combination of solid-phase extraction and dispersive solid-phase extraction effectively reduces the matrix interference in liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection during pyraclostrobin analysis in perilla leaves.

Science.gov (United States)

Farha, Waziha; Rahman, Md Musfiqur; Abd El-Aty, A M; Jung, Da-I; Kabir, Md Humayun; Choi, Jeong-Heui; Kim, Sung-Woo; Im, So Jeong; Lee, Young-Jun; Shin, Ho-Chul; Kwon, Chan-Hyeok; Son, Young-Wook; Lee, Kang-Bong; Shim, Jae-Han

2015-12-01

Perilla leaves contain many interfering substances; thus, it is difficult to protect the analytes during identification and integration. Furthermore, increasing the amount of sample to lower the detection limit worsens the situation. To overcome this problem, we established a new method using a combination of solid-phase extraction and dispersive solid-phase extraction to analyze pyraclostrobin in perilla leaves by liquid chromatography with ultraviolet absorbance detection. The target compound was quantitated by external calibration with a good determination coefficient (R(2) = 0.997). The method was validated (in triplicate) with three fortification levels, and 79.06- 89.10% of the target compound was recovered with a relative standard deviation <4. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.0033 and 0.01 mg/kg, respectively. The method was successfully applied to field samples collected from two different areas at Gwangju and Muan. The decline in the resiudue concentrations was best ascribed to a first-order kinetic model with half-lives of 5.7 and 4.6 days. The variation between the patterns was attributed to humidity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Therapeutic Efficacy of the Combined Extract of Herbal Medicine Against Infectious Bursal Disease in Chickens

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Changbo Ou, Ningning Shi1, Qing Pan, Deyu Tian, Wenshu Zeng and Cheng He*

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Currently, infectious bursal disease (IBD is a highly contagious disease leading to huge economic losses in poultry industry. Our objective was to investigate potential therapeutic effects of the combined extracts of Rhizoma Dryopteridis crassirhizomatis and Fructus mume (RDCFM against IBDV infection. Seventy-two 4-week-old SPF chickens were randomly divided into six groups and inoculated intranasally with 0.2 ml of 102.5 EID50 of IBDV strain CJ801. Twenty-four hours post infection, the birds were orally administered with 400, 200 and 100 mg/kg BW of RDCFM, respectively, 125 mg/kg Astragalus polysaccharide (ASP and saline water, respectively for 5 days and then monitored daily for 10 days. Finally, the remaining birds were euthanized to collect the sera for detecting antibodies and immune organs for determining the immune organs index as well as virus loads. The herbal extracts improved survival rate and relative body gain rate. Virus loads in bursa of Fabricius in herbal treated groups decreased significantly while higher antibody levels were detected in the three RDCFM groups as compared to those of ASP and infection group. These results implied that chickens administered with 100-200 mg/kg of RDCFM for 5 days could improve protection against IBDV infection and RDCFM may be a promising alternative to ASP and egg yolk antibody.

Robust surface registration using N-points approximate congruent sets

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Yao Jian

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Scans acquired by 3D sensors are typically represented in a local coordinate system. When multiple scans, taken from different locations, represent the same scene these must be registered to a common reference frame. We propose a fast and robust registration approach to automatically align two scans by finding two sets of N-points, that are approximately congruent under rigid transformation and leading to a good estimate of the transformation between their corresponding point clouds. Given two scans, our algorithm randomly searches for the best sets of congruent groups of points using a RANSAC-based approach. To successfully and reliably align two scans when there is only a small overlap, we improve the basic RANSAC random selection step by employing a weight function that approximates the probability of each pair of points in one scan to match one pair in the other. The search time to find pairs of congruent sets of N-points is greatly reduced by employing a fast search codebook based on both binary and multi-dimensional lookup tables. Moreover, we introduce a novel indicator of the overlapping region quality which is used to verify the estimated rigid transformation and to improve the alignment robustness. Our framework is general enough to incorporate and efficiently combine different point descriptors derived from geometric and texture-based feature points or scene geometrical characteristics. We also present a method to improve the matching effectiveness of texture feature descriptors by extracting them from an atlas of rectified images recovered from the scan reflectance image. Our algorithm is robust with respect to different sampling densities and also resilient to noise and outliers. We demonstrate its robustness and efficiency on several challenging scan datasets with varying degree of noise, outliers, extent of overlap, acquired from indoor and outdoor scenarios.

Combined effect of oxygen deficient point defects and Ni doping in radio frequency magnetron sputtering deposited ZnO thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saha, B., E-mail: biswajit.physics@gmail.com [Thin Film and Nano Science Laboratory, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, 700 032 Kolkata (India); Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology Agartala, Jirania 799046, Tripura (India); Das, N.S.; Chattopadhyay, K.K. [Thin Film and Nano Science Laboratory, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, 700 032 Kolkata (India)

2014-07-01

Ni doped ZnO thin films with oxygen deficiency have been synthesized on glass substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique using argon plasma. The combined effect of point defects generated due to oxygen vacancies and Ni doping on the optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films has been studied in this work. Ni doping concentrations were varied and the structural, optical and electrical properties of the films were studied as a function of doping concentrations. The films were characterized with X-ray diffractometer, UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and electrical conductivity measurements. Oxygen deficient point defects (Schottky defects) made the ZnO thin film highly conducting while incorporation of Ni dopant made it more functional regarding their electrical and optical properties. The films were found to have tunable electrical conductivity with Ni doping concentrations. - Highlights: • ZnO thin films prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique • Synthesis process was stimulated to introduce Schottky-type point defects. • Point defects and external doping of Ni made ZnO thin films more functional. • Point defect induced high electrical conductivity in ZnO thin film. • Significant shift in optical bandgap observed in ZnO with Ni doping concentrations.

A combined model of heat and mass transfer for the in situ extraction of volatile water from lunar regolith

Science.gov (United States)

Reiss, P.

2018-05-01

Chemical analysis of lunar soil samples often involves thermal processing to extract their volatile constituents, such as loosely adsorbed water. For the characterization of volatiles and their bonding mechanisms it is important to determine their desorption temperature. However, due to the low thermal diffusivity of lunar regolith, it might be difficult to reach a uniform heat distribution in a sample that is larger than only a few particles. Furthermore, the mass transport through such a sample is restricted, which might lead to a significant delay between actual desorption and measurable outgassing of volatiles from the sample. The entire volatiles extraction process depends on the dynamically changing heat and mass transfer within the sample, and is influenced by physical parameters such as porosity, tortuosity, gas density, temperature and pressure. To correctly interpret measurements of the extracted volatiles, it is important to understand the interaction between heat transfer, sorption, and gas transfer through the sample. The present paper discusses the molecular kinetics and mechanisms that are involved in the thermal extraction process and presents a combined parametrical computation model to simulate this process. The influence of water content on the gas diffusivity and thermal diffusivity is discussed and the issue of possible resorption of desorbed molecules within the sample is addressed. Based on the multi-physical computation model, a case study for the ProSPA instrument for in situ analysis of lunar volatiles is presented, which predicts relevant dynamic process parameters, such as gas pressure and process duration.

Photosynthetic Performance of the Imidazolinone Resistant Sunflower Exposed to Single and Combined Treatment by the Herbicide Imazamox and an Amino Acid Extract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dobrinka Anastasova Balabanova

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The herbicide imazamox may provoke temporary yellowing and growth retardation in IMI-R sunflower hybrids, more often under stressful environmental conditions. Although photosynthetic processes are not the primary sites of imazamox action, they might be influenced; therefore, more information about the photosynthetic performance of the herbicide-treated plants could be valuable for a further improvement of the Clearfield technology. Plant biostimulants have been shown to ameliorate damages caused by different stress factors on plants, but very limited information exists about their effects on herbicide-stressed plants. In order to characterize photosynthetic performance of imazamox-treated sunflower IMI-R plants, we carried out experiments including both single and combined treatments by imazamox and a plant biostimulants containing amino acid extract. We found that imazamox application in a rate of 132 μg per plant (equivalent of 40 g active ingredient ha-1 induced negative effects on both light-light dependent photosynthetic redox reactions and leaf gas exchange processes, which was much less pronounced after the combined application of imazamox and amino acid extract.

Polypyrrole-magnetite dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction combined with ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry for the determination of rhodamine 6G and crystal violet in textile wastewater.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamaruddin, Amirah Farhan; Sanagi, Mohd Marsin; Wan Ibrahim, Wan Aini; Md Shukri, Dyia S; Abdul Keyon, Aemi S

2017-11-01

Polypyrrole-magnetite dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction method combined with ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry was developed for the determination of selected cationic dyes in textile wastewater. Polypyrrole-magnetite was used as adsorbent due to its thermal stability, magnetic properties, and ability to adsorb Rhodamine 6G and crystal violet. Dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction parameters were optimized, including sample pH, adsorbent amount, extraction time, and desorption solvent. The optimum polypyrrole-magnetite dispersive micro-solid phase-extraction conditions were sample pH 8, 60 mg polypyrrole-magnetite adsorbent, 5 min of extraction time, and acetonitrile as the desorption solvent. Under the optimized conditions, the polypyrrole-magnetite dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction with ultraviolet-visible method showed good linearity in the range of 0.05-7 mg/L (R 2  > 0.9980). The method also showed a good limit of detection for the dyes (0.05 mg/L) and good analyte recoveries (97.4-111.3%) with relative standard deviations extraction and determination of dyes at trace concentration levels. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Comparison of results from simple expressions for MOSFET parameter extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Buehler, M. G.; Lin, Y.-S.

1988-01-01

In this paper results are compared from a parameter extraction procedure applied to the linear, saturation, and subthreshold regions for enhancement-mode MOSFETs fabricated in a 3-micron CMOS process. The results indicate that the extracted parameters differ significantly depending on the extraction algorithm and the distribution of I-V data points. It was observed that KP values vary by 30 percent, VT values differ by 50 mV, and Delta L values differ by 1 micron. Thus for acceptance of wafers from foundries and for modeling purposes, the extraction method and data point distribution must be specified. In this paper measurement and extraction procedures that will allow a consistent evaluation of measured parameters are discussed.

Airborne LIDAR and high resolution satellite data for rapid 3D feature extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Jawak, S. D.; Panditrao, S. N.; Luis, A. J.

2014-11-01

This work uses the canopy height model (CHM) based workflow for individual tree crown delineation and 3D feature extraction approach (Overwatch Geospatial's proprietary algorithm) for building feature delineation from high-density light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point cloud data in an urban environment and evaluates its accuracy by using very high-resolution panchromatic (PAN) (spatial) and 8-band (multispectral) WorldView-2 (WV-2) imagery. LiDAR point cloud data over San Francisco, California, USA, recorded in June 2010, was used to detect tree and building features by classifying point elevation values. The workflow employed includes resampling of LiDAR point cloud to generate a raster surface or digital terrain model (DTM), generation of a hill-shade image and an intensity image, extraction of digital surface model, generation of bare earth digital elevation model (DEM) and extraction of tree and building features. First, the optical WV-2 data and the LiDAR intensity image were co-registered using ground control points (GCPs). The WV-2 rational polynomial coefficients model (RPC) was executed in ERDAS Leica Photogrammetry Suite (LPS) using supplementary *.RPB file. In the second stage, ortho-rectification was carried out using ERDAS LPS by incorporating well-distributed GCPs. The root mean square error (RMSE) for the WV-2 was estimated to be 0.25 m by using more than 10 well-distributed GCPs. In the second stage, we generated the bare earth DEM from LiDAR point cloud data. In most of the cases, bare earth DEM does not represent true ground elevation. Hence, the model was edited to get the most accurate DEM/ DTM possible and normalized the LiDAR point cloud data based on DTM in order to reduce the effect of undulating terrain. We normalized the vegetation point cloud values by subtracting the ground points (DEM) from the LiDAR point cloud. A normalized digital surface model (nDSM) or CHM was calculated from the LiDAR data by subtracting the DEM from the DSM

Geographical point cloud modelling with the 3D medial axis transform

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peters, R.Y.

2018-01-01

A geographical point cloud is a detailed three-dimensional representation of the geometry of our geographic environment.
Using geographical point cloud modelling, we are able to extract valuable information from geographical point clouds that can be used for applications in asset management,

Optimization of physico-chemical properties of gelatin extracted from fish skin of rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss).

Science.gov (United States)

Tabarestani, H Shahiri; Maghsoudlou, Y; Motamedzadegan, A; Mahoonak, A R Sadeghi

2010-08-01

Physico-chemical properties of gelatin extracted from rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss) skin were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Central rotatable composite design was applied to study the combined effects of NaOH concentration (0.01-0.21 N), acetic acid concentration (0.01-0.21 N) and pre-treatment time (1-3h) on yield, molecular weight distribution, gel strength, viscosity and melting point of gelatin. Regression models were developed to predict the variables. Predict values of multiple response at optimal condition were that yield=9.36%, alpha(1)/alpha(2) chain ratio=1.76, beta chain percent=32.81, gel strength=459 g, viscosity=3.2 mPa s and melting point=20.4 degrees C. The optimal condition was obtained using 0.19 N NaOH and 0.121 N acetic acid for 3h. The results showed that the concentration of H(+) during pre-treatment had significant effect on molecular weight distribution, melting point and gel strength. The concentration of OH(-) had significant effect on viscosity and for extraction yield, pretreatment time was the critical factor. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Combination of Mangifera indica L. extract supplementation plus methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

López Mantecón, Ana M; Garrido, Gabino; Delgado-Hernández, René; Garrido-Suárez, Bárbara B

2014-08-01

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the possible therapeutic effects and the safety of Mangifera indica extract (Vimang tablets, 300 mg) combined with methotrexate (MTX) on reducing disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Twenty patients with active RA underwent a year of treatment with MTX (12.5 mg/week) associated to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and/or prednisone (5-10 mg/day) were randomly allocated to the experimental group (n=10), that received the extract supplementation (900 mg/day) or preceding usual treatment (n=10) during 180 days. RA activity was evaluated using the tender and swollen joint counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, disease activity score-28 (DAS 28), visual analogue scale (VAS) and health assessment questionnaire (HAQ). Treatment's efficacy was demonstrated with ACR criteria. Only the patients of MTX-Vimang group revealed statistically significant improvement in DAS 28 parameters with respect baseline data but no differences were observed between groups. ACR improvements amounted 80% only in MTX-Vimang group at the 90 days (pVimang group, 100% of patients decreased NSAIDs administration (p<0.01) and 70% of those eradicated gastrointestinal side effects (p<0.01) ensuing of the preceding treatment. Other adverse effects were not reported. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Elastic dipoles of point defects from atomistic simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Varvenne, Céline; Clouet, Emmanuel

2017-12-01

The interaction of point defects with an external stress field or with other structural defects is usually well described within continuum elasticity by the elastic dipole approximation. Extraction of the elastic dipoles from atomistic simulations is therefore a fundamental step to connect an atomistic description of the defect with continuum models. This can be done either by a fitting of the point-defect displacement field, by a summation of the Kanzaki forces, or by a linking equation to the residual stress. We perform here a detailed comparison of these different available methods to extract elastic dipoles, and show that they all lead to the same values when the supercell of the atomistic simulations is large enough and when the anharmonic region around the point defect is correctly handled. But, for small simulation cells compatible with ab initio calculations, only the definition through the residual stress appears tractable. The approach is illustrated by considering various point defects (vacancy, self-interstitial, and hydrogen solute atom) in zirconium, using both empirical potentials and ab initio calculations.

Point features extraction: towards slam for an autonomous underwater vehicle

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Matsebe, O

2010-07-01

Full Text Available and Control. Available: http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~pnewman/papers/Robotica.pdf, date accessed: [2009, 05/20] [7] Williams, S.B., Newman, P., Rosenblatt, J., Dissanayake, G. & Whyte, H.D., Autonomous Underwater Simultaneous and Localisation and Map Building.... Available: http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~pnewman/papers/Robotica.pdf., date accessed: [2009, 05/20] [8]http://www.tritech.co.uk/products/products-micron_sonar.htm, date accessed: [10/01/10] [9] Tena, I., Petillot, Y., Lane, D.M.,Salson. Feature Extraction...

In vitro evaluation of the synergistic antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the combined extracts from Malaysian Ganoderma lucidum and Egyptian Chlorella vulgaris.

Science.gov (United States)

Abu-Serie, Marwa M; Habashy, Noha H; Attia, Wafaa E

2018-05-10

Since oxidative stress and inflammation are two linked factors in the pathogenesis of several human diseases. Thus identification of effective treatment is of great importance. Edible mushroom and microalgae are rich in the effective antioxidant phytochemicals. Hence, their beneficial effects on oxidative stress-associated inflammation are extremely required to be investigated. This study evaluated the functional constituents, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Malaysian Ganoderma lucidum aqueous extract (GLE) and Egyptian Chlorella vulgaris ethanolic extract (CVE). Also, the synergistic, addictive or antagonistic activities of the combination between the two extracts (GLE-CVE) were studied. Expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, and nuclear factor-kappa B, as well as levels of nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, lipid peroxidation, reduced glutathione and antioxidant enzymes were determined using in vitro model of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated white blood cells.

Simultaneous Determination of Four Tanshinones by UPLC-TQ/MS and Their Pharmacokinetic Application after Administration of Single Ethanol Extract of Danshen Combined with Water Extract in Normal and Adenine-Induced Chronic Renal Failure Rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hong-Die Cai

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Salvia miltiorrhiza, one of the major traditional Chinese medicines, is commonly used and the main active ingredients—tanshinones—possess the ability to improve renal function. In this paper, the UPLC-TQ/MS method of simultaneously determining four tanshinones—tanshinone IIA, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone I, and cryptotanshinone—was established and applied to assess the pharmacokinetics in normal and chronic renal failure (CRF rat plasma. The pharmacokinetics of tanshinones in rats were studied after separately intragastric administration of Salvia miltiorrhiza ethanol extract (SMEE (0.65 g/kg, SMEE (0.65 g/kg combined with Salvia miltiorrhiza water extract (SMWE (1.55 g/kg. The results showed Cmax and AUC0–t of tanshinone IIA, tanshinone I, cryptotanshinone reduced by 50%~80% and CLz/F increased by 2~4 times (p < 0.05 in model group after administrated with SMEE. Nevertheless, after intragastric administration of a combination of SMWE and SMEE, the Cmax and AUC0–t of four tanshinones were upregulated and CLz/F was downregulated, which undulated similarity from the model group to the normal group with compatibility of SMEE and SMWE. These results hinted that SMWE could improve the bioavailability of tanshinones in CRF rats, which provides scientific information for further exploration the mechanism of the combination of SMWE and SMEE and offers a reference for clinical administration of Salvia miltiorrhiza.

Synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Dioscorea bulbifera tuber extract and evaluation of its synergistic potential in combination with antimicrobial agents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghosh S

2012-02-01

-positive bacteria. Beta-lactam (piperacillin and macrolide (erythromycin antibiotics showed a 3.6-fold and 3-fold increase, respectively, in combination with silver nanoparticles selectively against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Notable synergy was seen between silver nanoparticles and chloramphenicol or vancomycin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and was supported by a 4.9-fold and 4.2-fold increase in zone diameter, respectively. Similarly, we found a maximum 11.8-fold increase in zone diameter of streptomycin when combined with silver nanoparticles against E. coli, providing strong evidence for the synergistic action of a combination of antibiotics and silver nanoparticles.Conclusion: This is the first report on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using D. bulbifera tuber extract followed by an estimation of its synergistic potential for enhancement of the antibacterial activity of broad spectrum antimicrobial agents.Keywords: Dioscorea bulbifera tuber extract, silver nanoparticles, antimicrobial synergy

Exact extraction method for road rutting laser lines

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Zhiming

2018-02-01

This paper analyzes the importance of asphalt pavement rutting detection in pavement maintenance and pavement administration in today's society, the shortcomings of the existing rutting detection methods are presented and a new rutting line-laser extraction method based on peak intensity characteristic and peak continuity is proposed. The intensity of peak characteristic is enhanced by a designed transverse mean filter, and an intensity map of peak characteristic based on peak intensity calculation for the whole road image is obtained to determine the seed point of the rutting laser line. Regarding the seed point as the starting point, the light-points of a rutting line-laser are extracted based on the features of peak continuity, which providing exact basic data for subsequent calculation of pavement rutting depths.

Combined GPS/GLONASS Precise Point Positioning with Fixed GPS Ambiguities

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Lin; Cai, Changsheng; Santerre, Rock; Zhu, Jianjun

2014-01-01

Precise point positioning (PPP) technology is mostly implemented with an ambiguity-float solution. Its performance may be further improved by performing ambiguity-fixed resolution. Currently, the PPP integer ambiguity resolutions (IARs) are mainly based on GPS-only measurements. The integration of GPS and GLONASS can speed up the convergence and increase the accuracy of float ambiguity estimates, which contributes to enhancing the success rate and reliability of fixing ambiguities. This paper presents an approach of combined GPS/GLONASS PPP with fixed GPS ambiguities (GGPPP-FGA) in which GPS ambiguities are fixed into integers, while all GLONASS ambiguities are kept as float values. An improved minimum constellation method (MCM) is proposed to enhance the efficiency of GPS ambiguity fixing. Datasets from 20 globally distributed stations on two consecutive days are employed to investigate the performance of the GGPPP-FGA, including the positioning accuracy, convergence time and the time to first fix (TTFF). All datasets are processed for a time span of three hours in three scenarios, i.e., the GPS ambiguity-float solution, the GPS ambiguity-fixed resolution and the GGPPP-FGA resolution. The results indicate that the performance of the GPS ambiguity-fixed resolutions is significantly better than that of the GPS ambiguity-float solutions. In addition, the GGPPP-FGA improves the positioning accuracy by 38%, 25% and 44% and reduces the convergence time by 36%, 36% and 29% in the east, north and up coordinate components over the GPS-only ambiguity-fixed resolutions, respectively. Moreover, the TTFF is reduced by 27% after adding GLONASS observations. Wilcoxon rank sum tests and chi-square two-sample tests are made to examine the significance of the improvement on the positioning accuracy, convergence time and TTFF. PMID:25237901

Combined GPS/GLONASS Precise Point Positioning with Fixed GPS Ambiguities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lin Pan

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Precise point positioning (PPP technology is mostly implemented with an ambiguity-float solution. Its performance may be further improved by performing ambiguity-fixed resolution. Currently, the PPP integer ambiguity resolutions (IARs are mainly based on GPS-only measurements. The integration of GPS and GLONASS can speed up the convergence and increase the accuracy of float ambiguity estimates, which contributes to enhancing the success rate and reliability of fixing ambiguities. This paper presents an approach of combined GPS/GLONASS PPP with fixed GPS ambiguities (GGPPP-FGA in which GPS ambiguities are fixed into integers, while all GLONASS ambiguities are kept as float values. An improved minimum constellation method (MCM is proposed to enhance the efficiency of GPS ambiguity fixing. Datasets from 20 globally distributed stations on two consecutive days are employed to investigate the performance of the GGPPP-FGA, including the positioning accuracy, convergence time and the time to first fix (TTFF. All datasets are processed for a time span of three hours in three scenarios, i.e., the GPS ambiguity-float solution, the GPS ambiguity-fixed resolution and the GGPPP-FGA resolution. The results indicate that the performance of the GPS ambiguity-fixed resolutions is significantly better than that of the GPS ambiguity-float solutions. In addition, the GGPPP-FGA improves the positioning accuracy by 38%, 25% and 44% and reduces the convergence time by 36%, 36% and 29% in the east, north and up coordinate components over the GPS-only ambiguity-fixed resolutions, respectively. Moreover, the TTFF is reduced by 27% after adding GLONASS observations. Wilcoxon rank sum tests and chi-square two-sample tests are made to examine the significance of the improvement on the positioning accuracy, convergence time and TTFF.