Biomass Characterization of Bolo (<i>Gigantochloa levis</i>) for Bio-Energy Applications: Proximate Analysis and Calorific Value Variation along the Culm

Date Palm Byproducts for Green Fuels and Bioenergy Production

Respiration rate, glutamine/glutamic acid levels and the activities of glutamine synthetase (GS, EC 6.3.1.2) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH, EC 1.4.1.2) in the top and bottom portions of harvested asparagus spears (Asparagus officinalis L. cv. Welcome) were examined. Spears were stored for up to 5 days at 25°C. Respiration rate (CO2 production) of the spears declined during the first 2 days of storage and increased subsequently until the end of the storage period. The respiration rate of the top portion was over 2 or 3 times greater than that of the bottom portion or intact spears. GS activity increased in the top and bottom portions of the spears after 1 day and declined to about 38% and 65% of the initial levels by day 5, respectively. GDH activities in the top portion as well as the bottom portion showed an increasing trend until the end of the storage. Glutamine level increased, whereas glutamic acid decreased in concentration substantially during the first 24 h after harvest, in the top and bottom portions of the spears. There was a highly significant negative correlation observed between GS activity and the glutamine and glutamic acid content in the top and bottom portions of the spears. On the other hand, a highly significant positive correlation between GDH activity and the glutamine and glutamic acid content in the top and bottom portions of the spears was observed.

Fresh spears of asparagus were stored in the dark at 4, 10 or 20°C for 2 weeks. During storage contents of glucose, fructose, sucrose, 1-kestose, neokestose and nystose, and activities of invertase, 1-kestose hydrolyzing enzyme (1-KHE), sucrose: sucrose 1-fructosyltransferase (1-SST), fructan: fructan 1-fructosyltransferase (1-FFT) and fructan: fructan 6G-fructosyltransferase (6G-FFT) were determined in the top, middle and bottom portions of the spears. A gradient was observed, from the bottom to the top, for glucose, fructose and sucrose which constitute the major proportion of carbohydrates, while fructooligosaccharides, neokestose and nystose, exhibited low levels. Glucose and fructose varied significantly during storage, while sucrose was stable. The average variations were from 7.8 to 12.21 mg/g FW in the middle portion and 7.88 to 13.52 mg/g FW in the bottom portion for glucose and fructose, respectively. 1-Kestose and nystose increased at the end of the storage period and this increase was more apparent at 20°C. Invertase activity showed similar variation at 4 and 10°C but increased sharply after 2 days, before decreasing abruptly after 1 week of storage, while 1-kestose hydrolyzing activity showed a similar pattern to that of invertase activity. 1-SST did not vary in the bottom portion but initially increased in the middle and top portions. 1-FFT was high in the top portion and decreased during storage, while in the middle and bottom portions its activity varied slightly. The variation of 6G-FFT activity was similar to that of 1-FFT, however, the level of 6G-FFT was higher, and the 6G-FFT to 1-FFT activity ratio was temperature independent. These results suggest that short fructooligosaccharides and their metabolizing enzymes could play a role of balance between the hydrolysis and synthesis activities of carbohydrates. The high content of sugars may also extend the rapid decline of sugars in the top portion of the spears.

The study of the body measurements of Brazilian women used the Kinect Body Imaging system for 3D body scanning. The result of the study aims to meet the needs of the apparel industry for accurate measurements. Data was statistically treated using the IBM SPSS 23 system, with 95% confidence (P<0,05) for the inferential analysis, with the purpose of grouping the measurements in sizes, so that a smaller number of sizes can cover a greater number of people. The sample consisted of 101 volunteers aged between 19 and 62 years. A cluster analysis was performed to identify the main body shapes of the sample. The results were divided between the top and bottom body portions; For the top portion, were used the measurements of the abdomen, waist and bust circumferences, as well as the height; For the bottom portion, were used the measurements of the hip circumference and the height. Three sizing systems were developed for the researched sample from the Abdomen-to-Height Ratio – AHR (top portion): Small (AHR < 0,52), Medium (AHR: 0,52-0,58), Large (AHR > 0,58) and from the Hip-to-Height Ratio – HHR (bottom portion): Small (HHR < 0,62), Medium (HHR: 0,62-0,68), Large (HHR > 0,68).

Nineteen genotypes of bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss), 10 of high in vitro digestibility (IVD) and nine of low, were harvested at three stages of maturity in the field and two stages in the growth room. “Stems” (including leaf sheaths and heads) were divided into top and bottom portions, dried, ground, and analyzed for acid detergent fiber (ADF), lignin, cellulose, silica, total cell wall constitutents (CWC), and IVD. The IVD declined at the rate of one percentage unit/day from head emergence to headed stage and 0.5 percentage unit/day from headed stage to anthesis under field conditions. The top portion was approximately 4 to 8 units more digestible than the bottom. All cell wall components increased from head emergence until headed. From the headed stage to anthesis, lignin and silica increased, whereas, ADF, cellulose, and CWC declined. All cell wall components except silica were higher in the bottom portion than in the top. All cell wall components showed significant negative correlations with IVD, but lignin had the highest phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients followed by ADF. Lignin and ADF were positively correlated. Lignin content of the plant could be used as a criterion for selection for IVD.

The molecular and enzymatic changes that follow harvesting of asparagus are important aspects for postharvest deterioration. To define the factors contributing to postharvest deterioration, the early changes in ethylene production and the activities and expression of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase, ACC oxidase, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) were studied in whole spears and in excised top and bottom portions. As a result of wounding, ethylene production was found higher in both top and bottom portions compared with whole spears but followed the same trend reaching the peak at 16 hours after harvest. ACC synthase was rapidly induced in excised top portions but no significant ACC synthase activity was observed in excised bottom portions. In top portions, ACC synthase reached a peak 8 hours after harvest and thereafter started to decline. In contrast to ACC synthase, ACC oxidase was induced markedly in both top and bottom portions and remained high until 16 hours after excision. On the other hand, PAL greatly increased in activity in bottom portions but not in excised tops. Northern blot analysis showed that increased mRNA levels coincided well with the excision-promoted increases in enzyme activity and ethylene production.

A study was conducted to determine the effect of sugarcane maturation on the contents of chlorophyll, tannin, and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and on color change of sugarcane juice. The maturation period of the cane studied was between 3 and 10 months after planting. Different parts of the cane, namely, the top, middle, and bottom portions, were analyzed. Results obtained indicated that there were significant (P < 0.01) decreases in total chlorophyll a and b and tannin contents during maturity followed by slower rates of decrease of both parameters at the end of maturity stages. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in chlorophyll and tannin contents between the middle and bottom portions. On the other hand, the top portion of the stem had a significantly (P < 0.01) lower concentration of chlorophyll and a significantly (P < 0.01) higher content of tannin. PPO activity of sugarcane juice was determined using chlorogenic acid as a substrate. There was a highly significant difference (P < 0.01) in PPO activity of cane juice during maturity. PPO activity was high at the early development stage, decreased during maturation, and then remained relatively constant at the end of maturity. PPO activity was higher when chlorogenic acid was used as substrate. There were also significant differences (P < 0.01) in juice color (L*, a*, b* values) from different portions at different maturity stages. At the early stages, the color of extracted juice was dark, and then the juice turned to yellowish green during maturity. The decrease in green color or the increase in the yellow color could be associated with the decline in chlorophyll. The overall color change (DeltaE) at maturity indicated that the color of the middle and bottom portions was lower than that of the top portion.

The purpose of the proximate analysis is to evaluate the fuel characteristics of raw materials. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the proximate properties of the mixture of Leucaena leucocephala and Acacia mangium fuel pellets. The moisture analyser, mx-50 machine was used in the identification of moisture content (MC) in the samples. Meanwhile, volatile matter (VM) was analysed based on BS EN 15148:2009 standard. Ash content (AC) was obtained using BS EN 14775:2009 standard. On the other hand, fix carbon (FC) was obtained through the summation of percentage in all three (3) different values of moisture content, ash content and volatile matter subtracted from 100%. The average percentage of MC of bottom, middle and top portion are 3.85%, 1.93%, 2.99% respectively. Meanwhile, the average percentage of VM of the same portion is 82.88%, 83.85%, 83.22% respectively. The average percentage of AC with the same portion are 0.44%, 0.17%, 0.29% respectively. Last but not least, the average percentage of FC with the same portion are 12.94%, 14.06%, 14.62% respectively. Based on the results of proximate analysis above which are high in VM and FC and low in MC and AC contents, it can be concluded that the mixture of L. leucocephala and A. mangium fuel pellets has a very good potential to be utilised as solid fuel.

This work aimed to characterize physically and physiologically buffelgrass seeds collected in different municipalities located in the semiarid region of Bahia and at different positions in the panicle. At each site, two hundred mature, whole panicles were collected when seeds were naturally falling. A 5 &amp;times; 3 factorial in a completely randomized design was used. Factors were five municipalities where seeds were collected and three positions within the panicle (bottom, middle and top portions), with four replicates of 50 seeds for each treatment. Moisture content, dry seed weight, electrical conductivity, germination percentage, germination speed index and emergence speed index were assessed. Data were tested by analysis of variance and Tukey test at 5% of significance level. Soil and climate conditions of each region affect the physiological quality of buffelgrass seeds. Seeds located in bottom and middle portions of the panicle are more vigorous than seeds located in the top portion. The municipality of Po&amp;ccedil;&amp;otilde;es has better conditions for yielding buffelgrass seeds of better quality than the remaining municipalities.

Fluorescence microscopes are commonly used to detect micro and nano biological entities (blood cells, microbes, functionalized particles etc.). Several experimental assays have been developed for biomarker measurements using this microscopy instrument. Common examples include cell viability analysis, surface receptor based specific blood cell enumeration, phagocytosis determination etc. However, the laboratory-based bench top fluorescence microscope suffers from high capital cost, maintenance, experienced staff for its operation and lack of portability. To address several of these challenges, here we have developed a hand-held, portable, 3D printed fluorescence microscope to enable single cell enumeration and nanoparticle imaging operated by smartphone.3D printed platform is composed of top and bottom portions. The bottom portion includes excitation optics including an LED and excitation filter. While the top portion houses an emission filter, and a lens, while a smartphone can be placed on top portion for imaging. The excitation and emission filters can be swapped out for different fluorophores used. We have used the platform for imaging leukocytes collected from the whole blood. Blood samples were procured from Robert Wood Johnson Medical Hospital. We ran the leukocytes on our photonics platform and laboratory florescence microscope concurrently for a comparative analysis and found a high correlation of R2 = 0.99 in between cell counting results. Further, swapping different lenses can achieve high resolution for the imaging system. The resolution was verified by US Airforce Resolution Chart. This allowed us to image fluorescent nanoparticles up to 800nm at various concentrations and excitation modalities.This platform can be used for single-cell analysis, specific leukocytes enumeration and nanoparticles imaging. The demonstrated results can enable significant applications to develop many biomedical and diagnostic assays.

An attempt was made to study the invert ratio in juice of top and bottom portion of 30 clones at 9, 10, 11 and 12 months. Differences between varieties, between stages and between top and bottom portions, interactions between varieties and stages, between varieties and portions, between stages and portions, interactions between varieties, stages and portions were significant. The mean invert ratio in juice of 4 stages ranged from 1.59 in CoC. 671 to 5.56 in Co 7717 in top portion of the cane and from 0.62 in Co C. 671 to 3.30 in CP 44-101 in bottom portion of the cane. The lowest invert ratio was 0.39 in CoC. 671 at 12 months in bottom portion cane while 12.54 in Co 7717 at 9 months in top cane juice was the highest. Co 775, Co 997, Co 62174, Co 6806, Co 7201, Co 7204, Co 7304, Co 7508, Co 7704, Co 7712, CoJ 64, CoC. 671 and CoA 7601 were classified as early maturing at 10.moths. Remaining 17 varieties were classified as late maturing both in top and bottom portions. Invert ratio in juice had significant positive correlations with reducing sugars, glucose, fructose and negative associations with brix, sucrose, purity, C. C. S%, hand refractrometer brix, F/G ratio, HR brix T/B ratio in top and bottom portion cane juice at 9, 10, 11 and 12 months.

Modified method for proximate analysis of biochars

We demonstrate a negative Poisson's ratio in carbon nanotube forest devices subjected to extension motion obtained by means of electrostatic actuation. Actuated devices were optically monitored, while electrostatic force was applied and the axial (parallel to the carbon nanotubes) and lateral (perpendicular to the carbon nanotubes) motions were extracted. Poisson's ratios were then calculated for the top, middle and bottom portions of the carbon nanotube forest devices. Since extension motion is associated with morphology change of enhancement of carbon nanotube alignment, negative Poisson's ratios were obtained. Large negative Poisson's ratios were obtained in the top portion (where morphology change is most significant), while other portions (where morphology change is less significant) demonstrated smaller value of negative Poisson's ratio. This property makes carbon nanotube forest attractive material for building of micro-electromechanical devices with versatile motion transformation.

Cone and seed characters were observed on top, middle and bottom portions of tree crown in 3 ramets/clone in three Turkish Pinus sylvestris seed orchards. Broad sense heritability (clonal repeatability), and correlations among characters were estimated. Around one quarter of the seed production occurred in the top portion, half in the middle and one quarter in the bottom portion of the crown for all orchards. The percentage of filled seeds varied little with the crown position, indicating more or less similar levels of selfing in the bottom of the crown as in the top. The seed weight was typically 11 mg. Differences were found for studied cone and seed characters among orchards and crown positions. Variation among grafts within clone was higher than among clones for most characters. The heritability was on average below 0.5 (e.g., cone diameter, number of filled seed per cone) and rarely rose above that (e.g., cone form, length/diameter; percentage of filled seed) for any individual characters. The coefficient of variation within clones was often higher than among clones. Thus, non-genetic factors seem often more important for the variation in performance of grafts than their genetic constitution. Cone form (length/diameter) was the character where the clone influence was the strongest. Cone number and cone dry weight showed significant correlations with seed characters (numbers of total and filled seed, percentage and weight of filled seeds). Significant correlation was found between seed characters.

In this study, proximate and physicochemical analysis of castor oil (CO), neem oil (NO), and waste cooking oil (WCO) is being investigated. The castor and neem seed oil were extracted using soxhlet extraction method with n-hexane as solvent with yields of 40.43% and 41.10% respectively. The results of the study indicated low moisture contents of 2.95% and 2.58% for castor and neem seed-cake/shell composite biomasses respectively. The castor seed-cake/shell composite biomass contained volatile matter (54.83%), ash content (7.85%), and fixed carbon (34.37%), while the neem seed-cake/shell composite biomass contained volatile matter (52.45%), ash content (12.74%), and fixed carbon (31.25%) respectively. The order of the proximate parameters in percentage for both castor and neem seed cake/shell composite biomasses is: Volatile Matter &gt; Fixed Carbon &gt; Ash Content &gt; Moisture. Acid value is highest in the NO sample (14.95 mg KOH/g) than in the other two samples (CO (3.96 mg KOH/g) and WCO (3.93 mg KOH/g)). The NO sample had highest saponification value (198.17 mg KOH/g) and a low density (0.938 g/cm3) than the CO (181.48 mg KOH/g, 0.984 g/cm3) and WCO (184.29 mg KOH/g, 0.961 g/cm3) samples. The WCO (122.14 gI2/100g) sample had higher amount of unsaturated fatty acid compounds than NO (82.49 gI2/100g) and CO (80.39 gI2/100g) samples based on the iodine values obtained. The low moisture contents and significant amount of carbon contents in the two composite biomasses indicates that activated or carbonized carbon can be prepared using these composite biomass samples.