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The research objective is to increase the efficiency of export railway transportation of grain freights in Ukraine by the introduction of consignor routing, a concentration of loading of grain on junction elevators and the organization of the movement of grain routes according to the schedule. According to the researchers in USA and EU, one of the effective directions for decreasing the expenses in a logistic chain of grain delivery to ports is consignor routing of railway transportation. Consignor routing of transportations of grain freights provides a concentration of their loading at junctions. The choice of junctions is proposed to be carried out on the basis of methods of the cluster analysis. For formation of regions for a concentration of grain loading the theory of sets and multicriteria optimization are used. As a result, on the basis of the modified simplex method are chosen 24 regions of possible concentration of grain loading that cover 70 stations on Ukrainian railways providing 7,5 million t consignor routing for grain in a year with minimal additional expenses. The assessment of the efficiency of railway transportation routing of grain freights is calculated with use of the developed simulation model. Researches showed that application of consignor routing allows to reduce a turn-round cycle for grain wagon in a logistic chain of deliveries up to 27%, and application of the schedule for consignor routes allows to reduce a turn-round cycle up to 62%, in comparison with transportation by car loading. Thus, as showed the calculations executed for one of the directions of grain transportation for export, the necessary operation park of grain-carrier wagons is reduced twice, thereby allowing to cut logistic expenses on a delivery of the Ukrainian grain through seaports to the world markets.

Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa L.) fruit has long been used as a functional food in various forms. The main bioactive components are proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds, all of which have various bioactivities. However, most previous studies have focused on the component analysis of black chokeberries and not on the effects of processing methods. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the contents of the major components of freeze-dried ethanol extracts (FEEs) and purified aronia bioactive fractions (ABFs). The main components were determined using an ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, whereas individual compounds were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Consequently, the total anthocyanin, proanthocyanidin, and flavonoid contents were determined to be 1.55%, 7.95%, and 0.42% in FEEs, and 17.7%, 38.0%, and 4.05% in ABFs. The total content of each chemical group in the ABF samples was 4.9 to 11.4 times higher than in the FEE samples. Additionally, individual sugars and organic acids were quantified in the FEE samples, with determined compositions of 9.20% malic acid, 2.70% quinic acid, 18.1% fructose, 16.3% glucose, and 25.4% sorbitol. These compounds were not detected in the ABF samples. Furthermore, the bioactivities of the ABF and FEE samples were compared by evaluating the antioxidant activities using the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method. The ABF samples showed better antioxidant effects than the FEE samples. Collectively, the processed ABF samples enhanced the bioactivity of black chokeberry fruits, enabling their effective application as novel functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stachys sieboldii MiQ (SSM) is an important food and medicinal herb in Korea, used to improve memory of patients with senile dementia and cardiovascular diseases. However, little information on bioactive components from SSM or standardized extraction methods for these components is available. This study isolated and purified major components from SSM for the first time, and assessed their ability to inhibit soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH). The results showed that acteoside is the most potent inhibitor of sEH, with an IC50 of 33.5 ± 0.5 μM. Additional active components, including harpagide, tryptophan, and 8-acetate-harpagide, along with acteoside, were tentatively identified using high‐performance liquid chromatography photodiode array tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–PDA–MS/MS) and quantified using an ultraviolet detector at 210 nm. Further, an ultrasonic-assisted extraction technique for extraction of four bioactive compounds in SSM was developed and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The optimal extraction conditions were: extraction time, 30.46 minutes; extraction temperature, 67.95 °C, and methanol concentration 53.85%. The prediction model of RSM was validated with laboratory experiments. The similarity between predicted and actual values was 97.84%. The extraction method is thus a rapid, environment-friendly, energy-saving method can be applied to extract bioactive components from SSM in large quantities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]