**7. Acknowledgment**

This work was conducted at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Battelle under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830.

#### **8. References**

280 Environmental Monitoring

include particles sizes, filter types, filter loading and burial depths, and analysis of energy spectrums.  From recent publications, additional information is now available on the self-absorption that occurs in filters, the measurement losses associated with the filter loading, and the use of Monte Carlo simulations (Fig. 9) to assess the energy spectra in different geometries. Ongoing research in this area is still warranted, given that standards call out a correction factor for self-absorption effects of

Fig. 9. Comparison of an experimental and simulated energy spectrum in a filter (Geryes et

Concepts for environmental radioactive air sampling and monitoring include establishing the basis for sampling/monitoring, criteria for sampling media and analytical requirements, and reporting and compliance. The processes utilized include a standards based and a DQO approach that should be integrated and applied to both direct effluent and environmental surveillance sampling and monitoring. In addition, program improvement can be enhanced through the sharing of knowledge derived from routine operations and the implementation of tested and reviewed ideas. The overall program is used to demonstrated to the stakeholders that the emissions of radioactive materials to the environment is below regulatory limits and that those doses reported from such emissions are reasonably and

more than 5% (ISO, 2010; ANSI, 2011).

al., 2009)

**6. Conclusion**

conservatively accurate.

**17**

*1Portugal 2Australia*

**Multisyringe Flow Injection**

*2School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne,*

**Applications and Recent Trends**

**Analysis for Environmental Monitoring:**

Marcela A. Segundo1, M. Inês G. S. Almeida1,2 and Hugo M. Oliveira1 *1REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto,*

Multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) was introduced by Víctor Cerdà and coworkers in 1999 (Cerdà et al., 1999) as a robust alternative to its predecessor flow injection techniques, combining the multi-channel operation of flow injection analysis (Ruzicka & Hansen, 1975) with the possibility of flow reversal and selection of the exact volume of sample and reagent required for analysis as presented in sequential injection analysis (Ruzicka & Marshall, 1990). Generally, flow injection systems are automation tools where, in opposition to batch conventional assays, physico-chemical equilibrium is not attained prior to determination. Hence, flow injection analysis is based in three principles: (1) reproducible sample injection or insertion in a flowing carrier stream; (2) controlled dispersion of the sample zone; and (3) reproducible timing of its movement from the injector point to the

Since its inception, MSFIA has been the basis for automation of more than 120 different assays, reviewed in several publications (Almeida et al., 2011; Magalhães et al., 2009; Maya et al., 2009; Segundo & Magalhães, 2006). This type of automatic flow injection systems is based on the utilization of a multisyringe burette, depicted schematically in Fig. 1A and 1B. It is a multiple channel piston pump, containing up to four syringes, driven by a single motor of a usual automatic burette and controlled by computer software through a serial port. A two-way commutation valve is connected to the head of each syringe, allowing

Because the four syringes are driven by the same motor, all pistons move at once in the same direction either delivering (dispense operation) or loading the syringes (pickup operation) with liquids. Considering that the commutation valves can be placed in two positions, there are four possibilities for flow management as depicted in Fig. 1C. Hence, when the pistons are moving upwards, it is possible to dispense liquid into the flow system or send it back to its reservoir. This feature enables that only the necessary amount of reagent solution is introduced into the flow system. Furthermore, when the pistons are moving downwards, it is possible to refill the syringes with solutions present in the respective vessel or to aspirate

optional coupling to the manifold lines or to the solution reservoir.

solutions from the system in order to perform the sampling operation.

**1. Introduction**

detection system.


**Preface to "Nanomaterials to Enhance Food Quality, Safety, and Health Impact"**

Nanomaterials to Enhance Food Quality, Safety, and Health Impact provides overviews of the most recent fundamental and oriented efforts by multidisciplinary researchers and technologists in the application of nanoscience and nanotechnology to generate new added value solutions for the food industry.

Nanotechnology has significant potential to secure or even enhance food quality, safety, and health impact. Nanomaterials produced by nanofabrication or nanoencapsulation techniques provide alternatives to food fortification and to support their quality and safety by being added directly into a food matrix or into food contact materials, such as food packaging. In this sense, nanomaterials can be combined with technologies such as melt compounding, lamination, or electrohydrodynamic processing (EHDP) in the design of food packaging to promote passive, active, and even bioactive properties such as barrier, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and oxygen scavenging roles and the controlled release of functional ingredients. These attributes can be produced either by the intended or non-intended migration of the nanomaterials or by the active substances they may carry. Lastly, nanomaterials can be advantageously applied to provide unique opportunities in Circular Bioeconomy strategies in relation to the valorization of, for instance, agro-industrial wastes, and food processing by-products.

This book is divided into 15 chapters that aim to contribute to advancing knowledge about how nanomaterials can improve food quality, safety, and health. The first three chapters deal with nanocomposites prepared with cellulose nanomaterials, which are an alternative to conventional technologies for improving biopolymer passive properties. It includes two research articles devoted to the isolation of cellulose nanomaterials and their application in food packaging as well as one review focused on their inhalation risks. The next seven chapters discuss the use of nanomaterials to develop active packaging technologies based on both scavenging and releasing systems. All these research articles describe the intentional incorporation of active agents, such as antioxidants and antimicrobials, into packaging material that is thereafter released into and/or absorb substances from the packaged food or the environment surrounding the food. The book continues with three more chapters that present the use of nanotechnology in the field of intelligent or smart packaging. This part of the book includes two research articles and one review that describe the development of various nanomaterials that can allow food packaging to contain, evaluate, and transmit relevant information in a near future. The last two book chapters demonstrate the potential of nanotechnology to encapsulate and release bioactives or functional ingredients to provide health benefits and reduce the risk of diseases. This section is composed of an overview of the potential of nanomaterial applications in dietary supplements and foods for special medical purposes and a research article dealing with the nanoencapsulation of bioactives.

This book, which could be of interest to food scientists, food technologists, and food engineers, provides a source of up-to-date information and broadens the reader's horizons on the use of emergent nanotechnologies to enhance food quality, safety, and health.

#### **Jose Mar´ıa Lagaron, Sergio Torres-Giner, Cristina Prieto**

*Special Issue Editors*


**8. Multiplicity of LBVs**

In recent years it became clear, that a significant part of massive stars are born in double (or multiple) systems. A detailed analysis of the results from the FLAMES-Tarantula survey lead Sana et al. [114] to the following percentages for massive stars: effective single (real single stars or wide binaries without significant interaction ∼29%, stellar merger ∼24%, accretion and spin up or common envelope evolution ∼14%, and envelope stripping ∼33% [114]. Therefore, about ∼71% are affected by binary interaction. Alternatively, if one sees the result of mergers as apparent single stars for most of their lifetime, then only ∼47% of the massive stars should show a companion. The same data also imply that the numbers of equal mass binaries are lower than unequal mass pairs. The ratio goes up to ∼50% at M2/M1 = 0.3, the lowest mass ratio probed by their data [114].

This immediately implies that a sizable number of LBVs should have binary companions. The idea, that binary star evolution is linked to the LBV phenomenon is quite old, see e.g., Gallagher (1989) [115]. More recently, the idea of mergers triggering giant eruptions (or being one path to SN impostors) gained some interest, e.g., [116]. Still, the observation of binary companions of LBVs are difficult, due to the large luminosity of the primary, and its strong stellar wind, which both limits spectroscopic searches. Direct imaging searches only cover relatively large separations, and only few LBVs are analyzed with stellar interferometers, yet. A search for X-ray only covers situations in which colliding winds can occur, and may be in part contaminated by the X-ray emission of circumstellar nebula.

The current state on observed stellar companions to LBVs is the following: As shown in Section 4.4 *η* Carinae show strong signs of being a binary star with a massive, hot companion stars. HD 5980 was first reported as an exlipsing LBV Wolf-Rayet binary system that showed an LBV like eruption [117]. Koenigsberger et al. [118] report new analysis which is consistent with the system being more complex and multiple: a double binary scenario and manifests a quadruple system. The LBV candidate [KMN95] Star A (= 1806-20) showes double He lines [119] but single emission lines, implying a dense stellar wind for the primary, similar to the case of *η* Carinae. MCW 314 shows clear indications in its lightcurve and its radial velocity curve for having a lower luminosity supergiant companion [120]. If the wide companion candidate [121] is truly bound, than MWC 314 would be a hierarchical triple star. The LBV HR Car was observed with stellar interferometry and strong indications of a companion was found [122]. The companion star appears to be relatively low mass (below ∼15M).

A search for wide companions based on natural seeing, AO assisted imaging, and archival HST imaging of 7 galactic LBVs, LBV candidates, and some related objects yielded one star with potential companion (MWC 314) and no apparent bound companions for the 5 other LBVs and LBV candidates (the Pistol star, HD 168625, HD 168607, MWC 930, and [KMN95] Star A (= 1806-20)) [121]. The PSF

subtracted HST images used in the study of LBV nebulae in the LMC by Weis [52] also showed no apparent companion stars, but only relatively large projected orbital distances could be probed (>0.1 pc).

A X-ray archival survey (using XMM-Newton and CHANDRA X-ray satellites) of 31 LBVs, LBV candidates, and related objects was performed by Naze et al. [123]. X-ray emission may indicated colliding winds in a binary, but (softer) X-ray could also be created in a circumstellar nebula, see e.g., Weis [94] for the case of *η* Carinae. The survey of Naze et al. yielded 4 detection (*η* Carinae, W243 (= Westerlund 1 #243), MSX6C G026.4700+00.0207 (= GAL 026.47+00.02), and Schulte #12 (= Cyg OB2 #12). Two more are labeled doubtful candidates (GCIRS 34W, and GCIRS 33SE) by the authors. This result also implies a long list of 25 non-detections, which includes confirmed LBVs like P Cygni, the Pistol star, and FMM 362. While acknowledging their rather heterogenous data base, the authors suggest that their detection rate is consistent with a binary fraction between 26% and 69%, roughly consistent with that of other classes of hot, massive stars.

Given the very different methods used, and the therefore very different orbital radii and mass (and luminosity) ratios probed up to now, it is hard to derive a reliable result on the binary fraction for LBVs as a class. An additional problem are the very different LBV input lists used in the different searches. There are clearly several good cases for binary companions of LBV stars. Still, we regard the actual binary fraction of LBVs as currently very uncertain, but most likely around ∼20% for the confirmed LBVs. This would be somewhat lower than the binary fraction for other classes of massive stars like O supergiants or Wolf-Rayet stars. If this estimate of the binary fraction is correct, it may hold important clues for the evolutionary pathways leading to LBVs.

### **9. LBV and Their Neighborhood**

Smith & Tombleson[124] analyzed the location of LBVs in comparison to their surrounding and concluded that LBVs in MW and LMC are isolated, and not spatially associated with young O-type stars. This would imply a complete change of the standard view of the evolution of LBVs, clearly a far reaching claim, which needed further investigation. Humphreys et al. [125] analyzed the location of a sample of LBVs in M 31, M 33, and the LMC in comparison too other massive main sequence and supergiant stars. With this large and more coherently selected sample,Humphreys et al. [125] concluded that LBVs are associated with supergiant stars and are neither isolated or preferentially run-away stars. Separating the more massive classical and the less luminous LBVs, the classical LBVs have a distribution similar to the late O-type stars, while the less luminous LBVs have a distribution like the red supergiants. Smith [126] questioned the results of this analysis and reiterated the results of his analysis. Davidson et al. [127] shortly after showed that the statistical analysis methods use in [126] are flawed. Independently, Aadland et al. [128] performed a very similar analysis and came to similar conclusions as Humphreys et al. [125], that the stellar environment of LBVs is the same as for supergiants. It is still be worth noting, that the Aadland et al. sample is not a clean LBV sample, but contains many B[e] supergiants. Note that this point was also pointed out by Kraus in her review paper on B[e] in this volume. In a recent paper Smith [129] gravitated to the interpretation by Humphreys et al. of LBV locations within (or near) their birth association. Just lately with an analysis of GAIA data [130], strong evidence was presented, that OB stars form not preferentially in bound clusters, but in a continuous distribution of gas densities, at many locations of the birth cloud. This view is also supported by recent simulations which also favor a hierarchical formation model for the formation of OB stars as a result of the fractal structure of the birth clouds, contrary to a monolithic collapse. In this picture many different stellar neighborhoods of massive stars would be natural, also consistent with our results.


**Author details**

Fernando Moreno-Morejón Catholic University of Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Reconstruction of Ethics: Nature as a Subject of Rights DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112336*


**2. Magnesium borate minerals**

As being notable magnesium compounds, magnesium borates mainly include the atoms of Mg, B, O; however, other types of elements may be included according to the reserves they are mined. According to the conditions they formed in nature or fabricated in the laboratory, the magnesium borates can include crystal waters and/or hydroxyl groups. Therefore, this type of magnesium minerals can be classified as hydrated or dehydrated forms. The common examples of identified magnesium borates and their crystal systems are presented in **Table 1**.

### **Table 1.**

*Identified magnesium borates and their crystal systems [4].*

*Magnesium Borates: The Relationship between the Characteristics, Properties, and Novel… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104487*

### **Figure 1.**

*The examples of boron-oxygen linkages B(3)-O and B(4)-O.*

The arrangement of functional groups in the molecule determines the properties of magnesium borate [5]. As a chemical compound, magnesium borates mainly include the functional groups of three and four coordinated borate anions (B(3)-O and B(4)-O) connected to the magnesium atoms (**Figure 1**). The typical symmetric and asymmetric stretching in a molecule can be determined by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and/or Raman Spectroscopy.

Spectral analyses result of Admontite (MgB6O107H2O) samples prepared at different reaction times in hydrothermal conditions were presented in **Figure 2**. In FT-IR analyses of magnesium borates, the spectrum begins with the peak around 3500 cm1 which indicates the crystal water for the hydrated compounds. The region above the 1600 cm1 is generally called as "free H2O zone". The effects of hydroxyl anions are seen as "bending of hydroxyl groups in plane" and "bending of hydroxyl groups out of plane". The peaks between 1400 and 1200 cm1 indicate "bending of hydroxyl groups in plane" whereas the peaks between 950 and 750 cm1 are related with the "bending of hydroxyl groups out of plane". The stretching between boron and oxygen atom is commonly seen between 1600 and 650 cm1 . The peaks in the region of 1600– 1400 cm1 are related with the "asymmetric stretching of B(3)-O". "Asymmetric stretching of B(4)-O" can be explained with the peaks in the range of 1200–950 cm1 . The peaks at the lower wavelength values of 750 cm1 can be interpreted with the "bending of B(3)-O" [6–8].

### **Figure 2.**

*Spectral analyses result of Admontite prepared at different reaction times (a) FT-IR spectra, and (b) Raman spectra [6].*

In Raman analyses of magnesium borates, the characteristic peaks are seen in the wavelength region of 1200–250 cm1 . The peaks between 1200 and 1050 cm1 are interpreted with the "asymmetric stretching of B(4)-O". "Symmetric stretching of B(3)-O" and "symmetric stretching of B(4)-O" are seen in the range of 1050–900 cm1 and 900–750 cm1 , respectively. For the hydrated forms of magnesium borates, the stretching for polyanion of [B6O7(OH)6] 2 and [B3O3(OH)4] 2 is seen between 750 and 620 cm1 . The "bending of B(3)-O" and "bending of B(4)-O" can be seen in the Raman shift wavelength ranges of 620–500 cm1 and 500–250 cm1 , respectively [6, 7, 9].


**2. Experimental Set-Up and Materials**

NGW were fabricated using both GMAW and the cold wire gas metal arc welding (CW-GMAW) process. Figure 1 shows a schematic of the geometry of the narrow groove used in this work and the detail of cold wire positioning regarding the wire electrode and cold wire feeding angle. The grooves were welded using a Lincoln R500 welding power source linked to a Fanuc ArcMate 120i robotic arm. The size of the joints was 140 mm (length) × 115 mm (width) × 15 mm (thickness). Figure 1 shows groove gap and the root face. To determine the reproducibility, three replicates were manufactured for each welding condition. It is important to mention that the welds were performed in constant voltage mode, where no synergic controls were used during welding to adaptively control the arc dynamics.

To manufacture the welds, ER100S-G in the diameter of 1.2 mm was used as electrode, while the cold wire had a diameter of 1.0 mm. API X80 [9] was selected as base metal. The nominal compositions of the electrodes and of the base metal are given in Table 1. Moreover, no weaving or preheating was used during welding.

Cold wire feed rates are expressed here as a fraction of the electrode mass feed rate, due to the fact that two wires of different diameters were used for the electrode and cold wire, respectively. To quantify the cold wire feed rate as function of the electrode wire, the mass percentage as a fraction of the electrode was used. The mass feed rate was calculated from the wire density and cross-sectional area.

To evaluate the welding process, a NGW joint design used in heavy welding applications such as pipeline welding was considered. This configuration was chosen to demonstrate an immediate application of the process, which is critical to welding of thick structures, since it decreases the heat-induced detrimental effects of welding passes.

**Figure 1.** Schematics of the groove geometries used in this work: (**a**) schematic of the narrow groove, showing the cross-section; and (**b**) detail of CW positioning and feeding angle.

During welding, the current and voltage signals were acquired at the sampling frequency of 20 kHz for 2 s with synchronized high speed imaging at 5000 fps with shutter speed of 25 ms, an aperture of f/22, and a narrow band pass filter of 900 ± 10 nm. The videography was performed with the camera in parallel to the groove longitudinal line to record the metal transfer inside the groove. The high speed images shown in this work were selected to adequately represent the arc dynamics and metal transfer, when in a stable condition. The welding parameters used are reported in Table 2. For all welds, the shielding gas mixture used was Ar-15%CO2 at a flow rate of 17 L/min, and the contact tip to work-piece distance (CTWD) was constant and equal to 17 mm. The welding parameters were set to apply the same heat input using both processes. The quantities of average voltage (*Uaverage*), average current (*Iaverage*), and average power (*Paverage*) were calculated using the average instantaneous algorithm according to Equations (1)–(3):

$$
\mathcal{U}\mathcal{U}\_{\text{average}} = \sum\_{1}^{i} \mathcal{U}\_{i} \tag{1}
$$

$$I\_{\text{average}\text{\(\sigma\)}} = \sum\_{1}^{i} I\_{i} \tag{2}$$

$$P\_{\text{average}} = \sum\_{1}^{\bar{i}} \mathcal{U}\_{\bar{i}} \times I\_{\bar{i}} \tag{3}$$

The arc arc stability was also assessed through cyclogrammes which are voltage versus current plots, and are used to study the events occurring in the arc electric. They are useful since they show the amount of short-circuits and account for the general arc stability of the process [13]. For a more

thorough discussion on cyclogrammes and their respective zones, the reader should refer to prior work [14].

**Table 2.** Welding parameters.

Once the experiments were completed, the specimens were subjected to standard metallographic procedures and etched with 5% Nital to reveal the macrostructure. The cross-sections showing the passes sequence were taken from the start, middle, and end of the joints. The cross-sections showing the complete joint were taken from the middle of the joints. The hardness map was performed with a 200 g load and 10 s dwell time. The distance between indentations was 0.3 mm and the distance between lines was 0.3 mm.