Coprecipitation with calcium hydroxide for determination of iron in fish otoliths by collision cell ICP-MS

A method has been described for the determination of iron from fish otoliths containing high levels of calcium by collision cell technology (CCT) ICP-MS. Iron (Fe) in otolith solutions was quantitatively coprecipitated with small amounts of calcium hydroxide by adding 1.0 M sodium hydroxide solution. The performance of CCT-ICP-MS pressurized with He/H(2) cell gas was investigated on the elimination of Ca-based spectral interferences at m/z 54, 56 and 57. Molecular ion interferences at m/z 54 and 56 were reduced by 2 orders of magnitude. However, the interferences at m/z 57 increased by the same amount in the presence of Ca in solutions owing to the formation of (40)Ca(16) OH(+) through reactions with H(2) in collision cell, indicating that (57)Fe was not suitable for the determination of Fe from otoliths. Results for (56)Fe suffered significantly from interferences of Ca-based molecular ions when the Ca concentration in solution exceeded 100 microg ml(-1), for which matrix-matched calibration was required for accurate determination. CCT with the aid of He/H(2) cell gas proved to be very effective in eliminating the interferences ((40)Ar(14)N(+) and (40)Ca(14)N(+)) at m/z 54. Presence of Ca up to 300 microg ml(-1) had virtually no effect on the ion signals of (54)Fe, which with low background signals, afforded accurate determination of Fe from otoliths by using aqueous external standards.     

Regular expression constrained sequence alignment

We introduce regular expression constrained sequence alignment as the problem of finding the maximum alignment score between given strings $S_1$ and $S_2$ over all alignments such that in these alignments there exists a segment where some substring $s_1$ of $S_1$ is aligned to some substring $s_2$ of $S_2$, and both $s_1$ and $s_2$ match a given regular expression R, i.e. $s_1,s_2\in L(R)$ where $L(R)$ is the regular language described by R. For complexity results we assume, without loss of generality, that $n=|S_1|⩾|m|=|S_2|$. A motivation for the problem is that protein sequences can be aligned in a way that known motifs guide the alignments. We present an $\mathrm{O}(nmr)$ time algorithm for the regular expression constrained sequence alignment problem where $r=\mathrm{O}(t^4)$, and t is the number of states of a nondeterministic finite automaton N that accepts $L(R)$. We use in our algorithm a nondeterministic weighted finite automaton M that we construct from N. M has $\mathrm{O}(t^2)$ states where the transition-weights are obtained from the given costs of edit operations, and state-weights correspond to optimum alignment scores we compute using the underlying dynamic programming solution for sequence alignment. If we are given a deterministic finite automaton D accepting $L(R)$ with $t_d$ states then our construction creates a deterministic finite automaton $M_d$ with $t_d^2$ states. In this case, our algorithm takes $\mathrm{O}(t_d^{2}nm)$ time. Using $M_d$ results in faster computation than using M when $t_d<t^2$. If we only want to compute the optimum score, the space required by our algorithm is $\mathrm{O}(t^{2}n)$ ($\mathrm{O}(t_d^{2}m)$ if we use a given $M_d$). If we also want to compute an optimal alignment then our algorithm uses $\mathrm{O}(t^{2}m+t^2|s_1||s_2|)$ space ($\mathrm{O}(t_d^{2}m+t_d^2|s_1||s_2|)$ space if we use a given $M_d$) where $s_1$ and $s_2$ are substrings of $S_1$ and $S_2$, respectively, $s_1,s_2\in L(R)$, and $s_1$ and $s_2$ are aligned together in the optimal alignment that we construct. We also show that our method generalizes for the case of the problem with affine gap penalties, and for finding optimal regular expression constrained local sequence alignments.     

The reaction OF N‐dichlorophosphoryl‐ P‐trichlorophosphazene with alkyl grignard reagents

The reactions of N‐dichlorophosphoryl‐P‐trichlorophosphazene Cl₃PN P(O)Cl₂ ( 1 ) with benzylmagnesium bromide, 2‐phenylethylmagnesium bromide, trimethylsilylmethylmagnesium chloride, n‐butylmagnesium bromide, cyclohexylmagnesium bromide, cyclopentylmagnesium bromide, tert‐butylmagnesium bromide, iso‐propylmagnesium bromide, and ethylmagnesium bromide were studied. Tri‐ and pentaalkyl phosphazenes were obtained in very poor yield from trimethylsilylmethylmagnesium chloride and cyclohexylmagnesium bromide, respectively. Trialkylphosphoryl compounds formed from benzyl‐, 2‐phenylethyl‐, and n‐butylmagnesium bromide. No phosphorus compound could be isolated from the reaction of 1 with t‐butyl‐, cyclopentyl‐, iso‐propyl‐, and ethylmagnesium bromide. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 14:413–416, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/hc.10153     

Vibrational spectroscopic and thermal studies of some 3-phenylpropylamine complexes

Four new Hofmann–3-phenylpropylamine (3PPA) type complexes with chemical formulae M(3PPA)₂Ni(CN)₄ (M = Ni, Co, Cd, and Pd) have been prepared and their vibrational spectra are reported in the region of 4000–60 cm⁻¹. The vibrational bands arising from 3PPA ligand molecule, the polymeric sheet and metal–ligand bands of the compounds are assigned. The thermal behaviour of these complexes is also provided using the DTA and TGA along with the magnetic susceptibility data. The results indicate that the monodentate 3PPA ligand molecule bonds to the metal atom of |M–Ni(CN)₄|_∞ polymeric layers and hence the compounds are similar in structure to Hofmann-type complexes.     

Analytical stress analysis of partially plastic graded curved bars subjected to pure bending

An analytical model is developed to analyze stresses in functionally graded (FGM) curved bars under pure bending. Both elastic and partially plastic stress states are considered. The modulus of elasticity of the bar material is allowed to vary. While the model is outlined, important findings are mentioned. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Transient heating of a rotating elastic-plastic solid shaft

Based on Tresca's yield criterion and the flow rule associated with it, the transient plasticization in a rotating elastic–plastic solid shaft with temperature dependent yield stress subject to a temperature cycle is studied. Special attention is paid to the residual stresses. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Experimental and numerical investigation of transition to turbulent flow and heat transfer inside a horizontal smooth rectangular duct under uniform bottom surface temperature

In this study, steady-state turbulent forced flow and heat transfer in a horizontal smooth rectangular duct both experimentally and numerically investigated. The study was carried out in the transition to turbulence region where Reynolds numbers range from 2,323 to 9,899. Flow is hydrodynamically and thermally developing (simultaneously developing flow) under uniform bottom surface temperature condition. A commercial CFD program Ansys Fluent 12.1 with different turbulent models was used to carry out the numerical study. Based on the present experimental data and three-dimensional numerical solutions, new engineering correlations were presented for the heat transfer and friction coefficients in the form of $ {\text{Nu}} = {\text{C}}_{2} {\text{Re}}^{{{\text{n}}_{ 1} }} $ and $ {\text{f}} = {\text{C}}_{3} {\text{Re}}^{{{\text{n}}_{3} }} $ , respectively. The results have shown that as the Reynolds number increases heat transfer coefficient increases but Darcy friction factor decreases. It is seen that there is a good agreement between the present experimental and numerical results. Examination of heat and mass transfer in rectangular cross-sectioned duct for different duct aspect ratio (α) was also carried out in this study. Average Nusselt number and average Darcy friction factor were expressed with graphics and correlations for different duct aspect ratios.     

Comparison of simulation methods for electronic structure calculations with experimental electron energy-loss spectra

The electronic structure of hexagonal GaN is studied using two simulation techniques in order to develop a method to interpret the fine-structure of an experimental nitrogen K-edge electron energy loss spectrum obtained using a scanning transmission electron microscope. The application of these simulation methods to the bulk spectrum is a necessary first step in developing a fundamental understanding of the effect of changes in the electronic structure on the properties of defects. It is found here that both of the techniques used, multiple scattering (MS) and density functional theory (DFT), produce excellent agreement with the experimental bulk spectrum. The MS method is limited in accuracy but efficient in time, while the DFT method is more accurate but time consuming. Through the combination of these methods, experimental energy loss spectra can be readily understood, and a means to unravel the complexities of the electronic structure can be determined.     

Cytotoxic effect,enzyme inhibition,and in silico studies of some novel N-substituted sulfonyl amides incorporating 1,3,4-oxadiazol structural motif

Molecular Diversity - The acetylcholinesterase and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (AChEIs and hCAIs) remain key therapeutic agents for many bioactivities such as anti-Alzheimer and antiobesity...