The influence of minor components on the structural reorganization in glassforming materials

Correlation of structure parameters of glasses and related crystals formed in homogeneous or heterogeneous nucleation processes by thermal treatment is discussed on the basis of DTA, TG and EGA measurements in relation to the textural patterns of the materials. For cordierite glass, crystallization of metastable disordered cordierite polymorphs is related to an exothermic heat evolution and simultaneous with a small weight loss (appr. 0.025%). By MS-EGA, evolution of water was determined during the transformation of the metastable melt to a metastable intermediate crystalline phase. Interpretation of the crystallization by comparing the available structure parameters of cordierite glasses and crystals alone is insufficient to explain the role of water in the kinetics of crystallization. Optical and electron microscopy of the primary crystallization phenomena show the metastable solid solution with low quartz-type structure. Interpretation of the crystallization behaviour in terms of conventional theory of nucleation and crystal growth is impossible.     

Alysis of the volatile constituents of food by headspace GC-MS with reversal of the carrier gas flow during sampling

A technique has been developed for performing headspace GC-MS analysis of volatile components of food, in which the carrier gas flow is reversed during sampling in order to overcome problems caused by the diffusion of substances not retained by the cold trap. Chromatographic profiles of volatile compounds from cheeses, obtained at room temperature, provide confirmation of the validity of the reversed flow technique, and the versatility of the system is evidenced by its successful application to both solid and liquid matrixes: the absence of any discrimination against the various components reveals its efficacy for compounds with a wide range of volatility. Addition of internal standards to the sample enables the use of the technique for quantitative analysis.     

Limit of detection estimator for second-order bilinear calibration

A new approach is developed for estimating the limit of detection in second-order bilinear calibration with the generalized rank annihilation method (GRAM). The proposed estimator is based on recently derived expressions for prediction variance and bias. It follows the latest IUPAC recommendations in the sense that it concisely accounts for the probabilities of committing both types I and II errors, i.e. false positive and false negative declarations, respectively. The estimator has been extensively validated with simulated data, yielding promising results.     

Multivariate analysis of non-homogeneous peaks in liquid chromatography

Summary The effects of concentration, separation and spectral similarity as factors influencing the accuracy of iterative target testing factor analysis (ITT-FA) are investigated for three component systems by the application of analysis of variance (ANOVAR). ANOVAR is applied over a range of peak separations to map the changing effects of the three factors with increasing overlap. Two error responses were measured and analysed, (a) Relative cluster error (RCE) a measure of the error over all peaks in a cluster and (b) Relative peak error (RPE) the error of an individual peak. Multicomponent analysis (MCA) a method requiringa priori spectral information, is used as a referee method for ITT-FA.     

A study for quality evaluation of Taxilli Herba from different hosts based on fingerprint-activity relationship modeling and multivariate statistical analysis

In this study, a fingerprint-activity relationship modeling between chemical fingerprints and antirheumatic activity was established, and multivariate statistical analysis was used to evaluate the quality of Taxilli Herba (TH) from different hosts. Characteristic fingerprints of 20 batches of TH samples were generated by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-Triple TOF-MS/MS), and the similarity analysis was calculated based on thirteen common characteristic peaks by hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). Subsequently, nine efficacy markers were discovered by combining fingerprints and antirheumatic activity through grey correlation analysis (GCA) and bivariate correlation analysis (BCA). Meanwhile, the content of 5 constituents in 9 markers was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-QTRAP-MS/MS). The comprehensive quality of TH was assessed using multivariate statistical analysis, including principal components analysis (PCA) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results showed that a high dose of TH extract could markedly ameliorate arthritis damage compared to other doses, with flavonoids playing an important role in the antirheumatic activity. The comprehensive quality of samples from Morus alba L. (SS) was superior to those from Liquidambar formosana Hance (FXS). The present study will demonstrate the markers associated with efficacy, and provide an applicable strategy for more comprehensive quality control and evaluation of TH.     

Some exact expressions for the mean and higher moments of functions of sample moments

Examples of exact expressions for the moments (mainly of the mean) of functions of sample moments are given. These provide checks on alternative developments such as asymptotic series for n, and simulation processes. Exact expressions are given for the mean of the square of the sample coefficient of variation, particularly in uniform sampling; Frullani integrals studied by G. H. Hardy arise. It should be kept in mind that exact results for (joint) moment generating functions (mgfs) are of interest as they produce a means of obtaining exact results for (cross) moments—including moments with negative indices. Thus an exact expression for the joint mgf of the 1st two noncentral moments can be used to obtain the mean of the (c.v.)² (but not for the mean of the c..). A general expression is given for the moment generating function of the sample variance. The limitations of Fisher's symbolic formula for the characteristic function of sample moments (or more general statistics) are noted.This research was sponsored by the Applied Mathematical Sciences Research program, Office of Energy Research, U. S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC0584OR21400 with the Martin Marietta Energy Systems. Inc.     

Thermodynamics of ionic solid solutions: II. Discontinuous series: A new treatment of existing distribution data

A method of finding the activity coefficients of salts, anhydrous or hydrated, in binary solid solutions, described in an earlier paper as it applies to continuous series, has been applied to discontinuous series. The salts must differ with respect to only one ion. The method requires isothermal distribution data for equilibria between liquid (aqueous) and solid solutions in the ternary system consisting of the two salts and water. The following salt pairs were used for illustration: K(I/Br) at 0, 15, 25, 35, and 50°C., (NH₄/K)SCN at 0, 30, 60, and 90°C., (K/Tl)C10₃ at 10°C., and (NH₄/K)SO₃NH₂, (NH₄/K)Br, (Mg/Co)SO₄-7H₂O, and (Mn/Cu) SO₄.n H₂O-all at 25°C. Two kinds of behavior were noted and treated differently: systems in which the two series have the same, and those in which they have different crystal lattices. For two salts, A and B, which have the same lattice, and whose rational activity coefficients, f _A and f _B , can be described by 2-suffix Margules equations (regular solutions), lnf _A =B_sx _B ² and lnf _B =B_sx _A ² to be partially miscible, B_s>2, but this requirement does not apply if the lattices are different. In each series, distribution constants for the equilibria were also determined. Where possible, the calculated activities of the salts or the Gibbs excess energies of the solid solutions were compared with values reported by others who determined them by other methods. All the salt pairs studied show slight or strong positive deviations from ideality.     

Determination of cocaine contamination on banknotes using tandem mass spectrometry and pattern recognition

Tandem mass spectrometry is used to monitor the contamination of banknotes by cocaine. By introducing a series of banknotes into an instrument a distribution of contamination can be obtained. The distribution of samples arising from defendants where the banknotes have been in close proximity to cocaine should differ from the distribution from the general background population. Peak picking and integration is used to produce a series of intensity readings for a batch of banknotes. By visually inspecting these distribution, and applying a variety of chemometric methods (principal components analysis, cluster analysis and class modelling via Mahalanobis distance) it is possible to discriminate effectively between the two classes of distribution (7157 background notes and 4826 case notes alleged to be from drug dealers). By calculating the Mahalonobis distance over 100 bootstrap iterations, background samples were correctly classified 96.48% of the time, while case samples were correctly classified 89.37% of the time.     

罗布麻活性成分与人血清白蛋白结合的光谱学研究

应用荧光和紫外光谱研究了人血清白蛋白与罗布麻活性成分槲皮素(QUE)、芸香苷(RUT)和儿茶素(CAT)的结合机理. 在QUE与蛋白质浓度比小于3.5时, 其荧光猝灭机理主要是静态猝灭, 在药物浓度较高时动态猝灭所占的比例增加; RUT在整个实验浓度范围内对蛋白质的荧光猝灭机理为静态猝灭; CAT与蛋白质之间不能形成复合物, 其荧光猝灭主要由动态猝灭产生. QUE和RUT分别与蛋白质形成1∶1的复合物, 结合常数分别为(1.51±0.13)×10⁵和(0.81±0.08)×10⁵ L•mol^－1. 由于激发态质子转移, 与蛋白质的相互作用引起QUE和RUT内源荧光发射峰强度的明显增加, 进一步证实了它们与蛋白质的结合. 与蛋白质的结合也引起了QUE紫外吸收带的明显红移, 说明药物分子中的酚羟基发生了解离, 以离子形式与蛋白质发生作用. RUT的紫外吸收谱带没有明显移动, 说明它主要以中性状态与蛋白质结合. 应用与蛋白质作用后药物分子紫外吸收光谱的二阶导数谱, 对药物与蛋白质的结合模式进行了深入探讨.     

Quarter wave plates for submillimeter wavelengths

A review is given of different types of quarter wave plates as presently used in the optical and microwave spectral range, with a view to their application in the sub-mm wave-length range. Two types of quarter wave plates have been constructed and results of measurements at 640m are given.