Purification Potentials of Activated Carbon from Chrysophyllum albidum Seed Shells on Petroleum Fractions.

This research work investigates the use of locally sourced activated carbon as adsorbent in removing impurities and odoriferous substances from some petroleum fractions. The activated carbon was prepared from Crysophyllum abidum (cherry) seed shells. The seed shells were cracked to remove the seeds, washed, dried and pulverized. The powder was carbonized in a furnace at 500 0C, cooled and screened with a 100μm sized sieve. The carbonized powder was impregnated with phosphoric acid and sodium hydroxide in a mixture ratio of 2:1, stirred vigorously for activation and kept in an oven to dry at 110 0C for 2 h. The activated carbon was washed and dried to constant weight, and in comparison with the commercial type were characterized in terms of the moisture, ash, volatile matter contents, pH, bulk density, iodine adsorption number, silica content and percentage yield and gave 2.20%, 1.50%, 83.50%, 7.15, 0.45 g/cm3, 61.01 mg/g, 0.25% and 22.50% respectively. The activated carbon was applied in the purification of the petroleum fractions (dual purpose kerosene, DPK and premium motor spirit, PMS). The observed density, specific gravity (S.G), initial and final boiling points, flash point, ethanol content and research octane number (RON) of the petroleum fractions before and after the purification process were measured, the results showed that the treated DPK and PMS had improved properties due to the purification potentials of the activated carbons applied on them. The locally sourced activated carbon performed almost as well as the commercial type used, with slight inferiority in RON enhancement. Keywords: Chrysophyllum albidum seed shell, activated carbon, purification and petroleum fractions.

Influence of Drying Method on Some Bioactive Compounds and the Composition of Volatile Components in Dried Pink Rock Rose (Cistus creticus L.)

This study investigates the effects of various drying methods applied to leaves of Cistus creticus L. on the contents of polyphenols and the composition of the volatile fraction. The following four drying methods were used: convection drying at a temperature of 40 °C (CD 40 °C), 50 °C (CD 50 °C), and 60 °C (CD 60 °C); vacuum-microwave (VMD 240 W); combined drying, involving convection pre-drying (50 °C) and vacuum-microwave (240 W) finish drying (CPD-VMFD) as well as freeze-drying (FD). Polyphenols in the dried leaves were determined using chromatography-photodiode detector-quadrupole/time of flight-mass spectrometry (UPLC-PDA-Q/TOF-MS). The contents of odoriferous substances in the dry material were determined by means of head space-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) with the use of a gas chromatograph (GC). Thirty-seven polyphenol components including 21 flavonols, eight flavan-3-ols, and eight hydrolyzed tannins in dry Pink Rock Rose material were found for the first time. The highest contents of polyphenols, totaling 2.8 g 100 g−1 dry matter (d.m.), were found in the samples subjected to the CPD/VMFD drying method. Pink Rock Rose subjected to this drying method was characterized by large quantities of odoriferous compounds, mainly eugenol, thymol, and carvacrol, which contribute to its antiseptic properties. By using CPD/VMFD methods, it is possible to obtain fine quality dry material from the leaves of C. creticus.

Some considerations on indoor and outdoor impacts of different ways of pm release and odour emission in industrial sectors

In the industrial sectors, the ways of release pollutants into the atmosphere can vary significantly. We can find various combinations of primary conveyed emissions, secondary conveyed releases, diffused emissions, depending on the characteristics of the industrial plant. When an environmental impact assessment is performed, discussion concerns mainly the impact on the public health, whilst the occupational impact of these releases is moved to other contexts. The present paper zooms on selected case studies in order to understand the consequences of different way of pollutant release on the outdoor and indoor air quality at the site of the plant (within the fence). Two kinds of pollutants were selected: particulate matter and odoriferous substances. Results demonstrate that the industrial sector is unbalanced: the regulations in force in EU give different attention to the impact of the releases to the atmosphere depending on the industrial sector. In particular, in some sectors the impact of diffused emissions is underestimated because of a raw management of their control. Some preliminary proposals are put forwards for a better management of the emissions to the atmosphere in potentially critical cases. These proposals are based on the concept that conveyed solutions for pollutant release must be preferred, with the care of designing the related stacks with an optimised combination of stack height, conveyed gas velocity, temperature at the exit. The opposition to this approach is basically related to the additional costs. This article demonstrate that these extra-costs are due in many cases. Their economic sustainability is discussed too.

Scent-robbing and fighting among male orchid bees, Eulaema (Apeulaema) nigrita Lepeletier, 1841 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini)

Male Neotropical orchid bees (Euglossini) collect volatile chemicals from floral and non-floral sources and store then in specialized hind tibial structures. The ultimate causes of euglossine fragrance collection remain a mystery. Recent evidence suggests that odoriferous substances play a role in euglossine courtship and serve as indicator of male genetic quality. Males of Eulaema nigrita were observed robbing scents from the detached hind legs of a conspecific male E. nigrita in Belém, Brazil. The hind leg seemed to have been detached during fights between males, since one male was missing a hind leg where the observation was made. This behavior appears to be common among males of E. nigrita since more than one case was observed on the same day. The observation reported here shows that males of E. nigrita with tibiae filled with fragrances are attacked by conspecific males that attempt to steal it.

“I Am Wholly Your Own”: Liturgical Piety and Community among the Nuns of Helfta

When William James long ago characterized the God of the thirteenth-century Cistercian cloister of Helfta, in Saxony, as “full of partiality for his individual favorites,” he might have illustrated his claim with any number of passages from three of the surviving works composed by the nuns of Helfta, the Book of Special Grace, associated with Mechtild of Hackeborn (1241–ca. 1298/99), the Herald of Divine Love, associated with Gertrude of Helfta (1256–ca. 1301/02), and the Spiritual Exercises, written by Gertrude. James drew his readers' attention to the following account from the Herald: Suffering from a headache, she [Gertrude] sought, for the glory of God, to relieve herself by holding certain odoriferous substances in her mouth, when the Lord appeared to her to lean over towards her lovingly, and to find comfort himself in these odors. After having gently breathed them in, He arose, and said with a gratified air to the Saints, as if contented with what he had done: “See the new present which my betrothed has given Me!”

OBTAINING AND PROTECTING RED-CLOVER POLLINATING SPECIES OF BOMBUS (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE)

The use of false-underground hives (surface hives with tunnels attached to their entrances) when and where the desired species of bumblebees were common made the task of obtaining colonies for pollination purposes comparatively easy. False-underground hives were much less costly to set out than underground hives and attracted many more queens of surface-nesting and versatile species, as well as underground-nesting species, than did surface hives. Apparently the surface-nesting species will accept a nest that is entered through an upward-sloping tunnel but not one that must be reached through a downward-sloping tunnel; underground-nesting species require a tunnel but are not influenced by the direction of its slope.Setting occupied hives on posts with moats protected the queens or their broods from flooding, ants, ground squirrels, skunks, mice, shrews, and ungulates, but not from Psithyrus, even when odoriferous substances were put in the moats to mask the odor of the broods.