Simultaneous electrochemical determination of arsenic, copper, lead and mercury in unpolluted fresh waters using a vibrating gold microwire electrode

In this work, a simple, rapid, reliable and low cost method for simultaneous electrochemical determination of As, Cu, Hg and Pb ions, on a vibrating gold microwire electrode combined with stripping voltammetry, is described for the first time.The multi-element detection was performed in the presence of oxygen by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV) in HCl 0.1 M with NaCl 0.5 M. This media was found optimum in terms of peak resolution, peak shape and sensitivities, and has a composition similar to seawater to which the method could potentially be applied. The gold microwire electrode presented well defined, undistorted, sharp and reproducible peaks for trace concentrations of Cu, Hg and Pb and As presented a reproducible peak with a small shoulder. Using a gold vibrating microwire electrode of 25 μm diameter and 30 s deposition time, the detection limits of As, Cu, Hg and Pb were 0.07, 0.4, 0.07 and 0.2 μg L⁻¹, respectively. Possible effects of Al, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Sb and Zn were investigated but did not cause any significant interferences.Finally, the method was applied for the simultaneous determination of these four metals in unpolluted river water samples and the results were validated by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy with Electrothermal Atomization (AAS-EA) or by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS).     

Electrochemical behaviour of a Cu/CuSe microelectrode and its application in detecting temporal and spatial localisation of copper(II) fluxes along Olea europaea roots

The electrochemical behaviour of a Cu/CuSe electrode was studied in order to define its selectivity towards cupric ions, Nerstian response, limit of detection and response time. The chalcogenide electrode was prepared by cathodic deposition of Se and subsequent formation of a thin layer of CuSe on a copper substrate. A Cu/CuSe microelectrode was prepared using copper wire 75 μm in diameter. The dimensions and response time (<0.5 s) allowed use of this electrode in the “vibrating probe method” with the aim of measuring net influxes as well as effluxes of copper(II) ions in Olea europaea roots. The electrode potential was measured along the root at a distance of 5 μm from the surface for 5 s, and then again for 5 s at a distance of 55 μm, moving the microelectrode with respect to the root surface by steps with a frequency of 0.1 Hz. The potentials measured at the two extremes of vibration were then converted to copper(II) concentrations. Substitution of these values in Fick's law yields the flux, assuming the diffusion constant D for copper ions in aqueous solutions. The results enabled us to detect copper(II) fluxes as small as 0.05 pmol cm⁻² s⁻¹. Copper(II) influx showed marked spatial and temporal features: it was highest at about 1.5 mm from the root apex and exhibited an oscillatory pattern in time. Received: 29 September 1999 / Accepted: 11 January 2000     

Compressed liquid densities of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane (HFC-245fa) and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropane (HFC-236fa)

Densities of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane (HFC-245fa) and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropane (HFC-236fa) have been measured for temperatures from 293 to 373 K and pressures up to 70 MPa, with a high-pressure vibrating tube densimeter system in the liquid state. The system was calibrated using water and vacuum via the method of Lagourette et al. The uncertainty in the density measurement was estimated to be ±0.6 kg m⁻³. The experimental results were correlated to a Tait equation. The average absolute percentage deviations of measurement results from the correlations of HFC-245fa and HFC-236fa are 0.0096% and 0.031%, respectively.     

Arsenic speciation in natural waters by cathodic stripping voltammetry

Contamination of groundwater with arsenic (As) is a major health risk through contamination of drinking and irrigation water supplies. In geochemically reducing conditions As is mostly present as As(III), its most toxic species. Various methods exist to determine As in water but these are not suitable for monitoring arsenic speciation at its original pH and without preparation. We present a method that uses cathodic stripping voltammetry (CSV) to determine reactive As(III) at a vibrating, gold, microwire electrode. The As(III) is detected after adsorptive deposition of As(OH)₃⁰, followed by a potential scan to measure the reduction current from As(III) to As(0). The method is suitable for waters of pH 7-12, has an analytical range of 1 nM to 100 μM As (0.07-7500 ppb) and a limit of detection of 0.5 nM with a 60 s deposition time. The As speciation protocol involves measuring reactive As(III) by CSV at the original pH and acidification to pH 1 to determine inorganic As(III) + As(V) by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) using the same electrode. Total dissolved As is determined by ASV after UV-digestion at pH 1. The method was successfully tested on various raw groundwater samples from boreholes in the UK and West Bengal.     

SiO2 coated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticle dispersed multiwalled carbon nanotubes based amperometric glucose biosensor

A new type of amperometric glucose biosensor based on silicon dioxide coated magnetic nanoparticle decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Fe₃O₄@SiO₂/MWNTs) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) has been developed. MWNTs have been synthesized by catalytic chemical vapour decomposition (CCVD) of acetylene over rare earth (RE) based AB₃ alloy hydride catalyst. The as-grown MWNTs have been purified and further functionlized. Functionalized MWNTs have been decorated with magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles which have been uniformly coated with biocompatible SiO₂ using a simple chemical reduction method. The characterization of magnetic nanoparticle modified MWNTs have been done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and UV-vis spectroscopy. Amperometric biosensor has been fabricated by the deposition of glucose oxidase (GOD) over Nafion-solubilized Fe₃O₄@SiO₂/MWNTs electrode. The resultant bioelectrode retains its biocatalytic activity and offers fast and sensitive glucose quantification. The performance of the biosensor has been studied using cyclic voltammetry and amperometry and the results have been discussed. The fabricated glucose biosensor exhibits a linear response from 1 μM to 30 mM with an excellent detection limit of 800 nM indicating the potential applications in food industries.     

The suppression of selected acoustic frequencies in MRI

A study is made of certain dominant frequencies in the acoustic noise spectrum of the magnetic resonance imaging system. Motivated by both spring and string ideas, we investigate whether the contributions to the sound from certain frequencies can be canceled by the appropriate gradient pulse sequence design. From both simulations and experiments, vibrations resulting from an impulsive force associated with a ramping up of a gradient pulse are shown to be cancelled immediately upon the application of another impulsive force coming from the subsequent appropriately timed ramping down of that pulse. A general approach to suppression of multiple-frequency contributions involving a series of gradient pulses with variable timings is given for the cancellations between pairs of impulsive forces. Various examples are confirmed through string simulations, MRI experiments, and linear response theory. This also provides a foundation to explain some results in previous papers on this subject. The method suggests that a variety of pulse profiles and timing combinations can be used to attenuate important contributions to the acoustic spectrum.     

振动工具传至手臂系统的能量

振动白指病(VWF)是手持振动工具操作工人的职业病,其发病率决定于从工具传入手中的总能量水平。本文介绍了传入手中的能量的计算方法,并结合对操作工人的实测结果加以比较。结论指出,在6.3～1000Hz范围以内,由风镐手柄传入手中的单位时间的功为1.57×10~2J·S~(-1),而由风镐凿子传入手中的单位时间的功则更多。     

The Design of the Microwave Exciter for Klystron

To carry out lower hybrid wave heating and current drive plasma experiment on tokamak, we need mega-watt order of microwave power generated by the parallel-running klystrons. Those klystrons must be driven by the microwave exciter. Now our microwave exciter is used for many years and its performance is decreased very much. It can not satisfy any more the hybrid wave heating and current drive plasma experiment. So we set out to design a new microwave exciter that is consist of the microwave solid components, amplitudestabilization control, modularization design with multitude-outputs, microwave phase control in order to satisfy the demand of the different work in the hybrid wave heating and current drive plasma experiment.     

On the Reconstruction of a String from Spectral Data

We consider the problem to reconstruct the mass distribution of a string where the mass is concentrated in a finite number of points, or, equivalently, the problem to reconstruct a simply connected mass spring system with unknown masses and stiffness parameters if the following data are given. Problem 1: The spectra of the string and of a modification of the string, or. Problem 2: The spectra of two different modifications of the string. Here a modification of the string is a string which appears if we link the unknown string with another string of known mass distribution. The paper contains a necessary condition for the existence of a solution of Problem 1, and explicit formulas and an algorithm for the solutions of the Problems 1 and 2 under the condition that there exists a solution. For the case that the mass distribution of the unknown string is not discrete we consider the problem to find discrete approximations of this distribution from the respective spectral data. The methods are based on the spectral theory of generalized second order differential operators as developed by M. G. Krein     

On an inverse spectral problem for a quadratic Jacobi matrix pencil

Given two monic polynomials P2n and P2n−2 of degree 2n and 2n−2 (n?2) with complex coefficients and with disjoint zero sets. We give necessary and sufficient conditions on these polynomials such that there exist two n×n Jacobi matrices B and C for which