QUANTIFICATION OF ALUMINUM CONTENTS IN COOKED FOODSTUFFS FROM THREE REGIONS IN JAVA USING NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

Aluminum is widely available in nature and the third most abundant element on earth. Improper intake of aluminum can increase toxicity and correlate with Alzheimer's disease. One source of aluminum comes from food. In this study, aluminum content in foodstuffs was analyzed using neutron activation analysis. Various foodstuffs were purchased from markets in three regions in Java, namely Bangkalan (East Java), Magelang (Central Java), and Cianjur (West Java) and cooked at a temperature above 80°C until the ready-to-eat condition. The cooked samples were freeze-dried and irradiated in the G.A. Siwabessy research reactor with neutron flux of 5x1013 neutrons.m2.s-1. Post-irradiation samples were analyzed using gamma spectrometry. The results show that the aluminum contents in each foodstuff from one region have a strong correlation with other regions (Pearson correlation coefficient r>0.9, P<0.001), indicating that the distribution of aluminum content does not differ from one region to another. The staple food category has a relatively low aluminum content with an average value of 24 mg/kg and a maximum value of 35 mg/kg. The dish category has higher aluminum content with an average value of 51 mg/kg and a maximum value of 77 mg/kg. The vegetable category has the highest content with an average value of 156 mg/kg and a maximum value of 710 mg/kg owned by caisim. Caisim is interesting for further research because of its ability to store large amounts of several elements. In general, the intake of aluminum sourced from these foods is still below the allowed value.Keywords: Neutron activation analysis, Food safety and security, Alzheimer, Aluminum distribution, Pearson correlation

Synchrotron X-ray imaging for characterizing chrysotile asbestos

&lt;p&gt;Over the last decades, rocks containing Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA) have been widely studied by many authors with the aim of determining the potential health risks to exposed neighboring populations. It is difficult to accurately characterize the asbestos fibres contained within the rocks as conventional techniques are not effective and have drawbacks associated with the disturbance of the sample under study. Indeed, the size and geometric shape ratios of asbestos chrysotile fibres can be subjected to change, thus leading to the misevaluation of asbestiform fibre findings. In this frame, our study aims to determine the characteristics of the veins that form in serpentinite (i.e. shape) and their infill (i.e. size of fibres), without grinding and/or particle size reduction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To obtain this ambitious goal, X-ray synchrotron microtomography (SR-&amp;#956;CT) supplemented with polarized light microscope (PLM), scanning electron microscopy analysis combined with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM/EDS), electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA) were used for identifying asbestos fibres in a mineral matrix. In the specific case, we analyzed a representative set of veins and fibrous chrysotile that fills the veins, taken from massive serpentinite outcrops (Southern-Italy; Bloise and Miriello, 2008). The non-destructive SR-&amp;#956;CT technique allowed to identify respirable chrysotile fibres (regulated asbestos) within the serpentinite matrix and to reconstruct the 3D structures of infill chrysotile asbestos fibres as well as other phase, whose structures were not resolvable with PLM, SEM or EPMA. Moreover, due to differences in chemical composition between veins and matrix, the obtained data enabled to evaluate the vein shapes present in the massive serpentinite matrix. In particular, iron and aluminum distribution variations between veins and matrix induce different radiation absorption patterns, thus permitting a detailed image-based 3D geometric reconstruction (Bloise et al., 2019). The results proved that SR-&amp;#956;CT is a valuable and promising technique for analyzing asbestos chrysotile that fills the veins within massive serpentinite. The 3D images of veins may help to identify NOA contained within serpentinite rocks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bloise, A., Miriello, D., 2018. Multi-analytical approach for identifying asbestos minerals in situ. Geosci. 8 (4), 133. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8040133.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bloise, A., Ricchiuti, C., Lanzafame, G., Punturo, R., 2019. X-ray synchrotron microtomography: a new technique for characterizing chrysotile asbestos, Sci. Total Environ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135675&lt;/p&gt;

Localization of Aluminum in Epidermal Cells of Mature Tea Leaves

We have determined the distribution of aluminum in the epidermal cells of mature tea leaves using micro-beam particle-induced X-ray emission. The observed pattern of aluminum distribution in the epidermal cells suggests that aluminum exists in cell walls. Silicon exhibits a distribution that is nearly identical to that of aluminum, suggesting co-localization with aluminum.

Modeling of the Melting of Aluminum Particles during the RH Refining Process

The aluminum content in oriented silicon steel obviously influences its magnetic properties. In the current work, the movement and melting process of added aluminum particles during Ruhrstahl-Heraeus (RH) treatment were simulated using a mathematical approach, considering the effect of the multiphase fluid flow on the evolution of aluminum particles and the dissolved aluminum distribution. The current model was validated by the [Al] content in the molten steel measured by an industry experiment. Most of the added aluminum particles were melted within 5 s after they connected with the molten steel under the superheat of 28 K. The statistics of the melting time and trajectory length showed a normal distribution. Furthermore, both the melting time and the trajectory length of aluminum particles decreased as the superheat increased. Since the maximum mixing time may go up when the superheat is excessive, the suggested superheat should range from 20 K to 30 K during the RH refining process. Besides, an appropriate sampling position with a short mixing time was proposed.