Bioaccumulation and excretion of arsenic compounds by a marine unicellular alga,polyphysa peniculus

Polyphysa peniculus was grown in artificial seawater in the presence of arsenate, arsenite, monomethylarsonate and dimethylarsinic acid. The separation and identification of some of the arsenic species produced in the cells as well as in the growth medium were achieved by using hydride generation–gas chromatography–atomic absorption spectrometry methodology. Arsenite and dimethylarsinate were detected following incubation with arsenate. When the alga was treated with arsenite, dimethylarsinate was the major metabolite in the cells and in the growth medium; trace amounts of monomethylarsonate were also detected in the cells. With monomethylarsonate as a substrate, the metabolite is dimethylarsinate. Polyphysa peniculus did not metabolize dimethylarsinic acid when it was used as a substrate. Significant amounts of more complex arsenic species, such as arsenosungars, were not observed in the cells or medium on the evidence of flow injection–microwave digestion–hydride generation–atomic absorption spectrometry methodology. Transfer of the exposed cells to fresh medium caused release of most cell–associated arsenicals to the surrounding environment.     

Some Oscillatory Singular Integrals on Herz-type Spaces (Ⅱ)

In this paper, the authors prove that some oscillatory singular integral operators of non-convolution type with non-polynomial phases are bounded from the Herz-type Hardy spaces to the Herz spaces and from the Hardy spaces associated with the Beurling algebras to the Beurling algebras in higher dimensions, even though it is well-known that these operators are not bounded from the Hardy space H1(Rn) into the Lebesgue spaceL1(Rn).     

Trace pollutants analysis in soil by a time-resolved laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technique

The results of a joint experiment of IFAM-Pisa and ENEA-Frascati for the detection of traces of pollutants in soil by a time-resolved laser-induced spectroscopy technique are reported. Using samples of soil with known pollutants' concentration [Geochemical Exploration Reference (GXR) silicate from US Geological Survey], we were able to estimate the sensitivity of this Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) technique to be of the order of some parts per million for a vast class of metallic pollutants, including extremely dangerous soil pollutants such as copper, lead and chromium.ENEA guest with HC&M fellowship     

Rheological and diffusion properties of a dextran-con A polymer in the presence of Insulin and Magnesium

Previous work carried out in our laboratories has focused on the formation and investigation of a dextran and concanavalin A (con A) based gel, which has the ability to alter its conformational structure in the presence and absence of free and terminal glucoses such that a gel–sol phase transition occurs. Here we report the diffusion and rheological investigations in to the effects of the addition of insulin and varyingconcentrations of magnesium chloride hexahydrate (Mg₂Cl₂6H₂O) at 20 and 37 °C. Rheological examination of glucose-sensitive (dextran-con A) gels were conducted using a cone and plate viscometer used in continual rotation and oscillatory modes. The results are interpreted in terms of the structure of the gel network and suggest rheological assessment provides an effective method of assessing the properties of gel systems. The subsequent testing of such formulations in in-vitro diffusion experiments revealed a reduction in the rate of diffusivity in the insulin marker, poly R-478 dye. The performance of this self-regulating drug delivery system has been examined and the addition of insulin and magnesium chloride may alter the way in which the gel operates as a drug delivery device and in the delivery of insulin. This may have implications for other ligands.     

Allocation rules for hypergraph communication situations

This paper considers hypergraph communication situations, where for a group of agents the economic possibilities are described by a coalitional game and the communication possibilities are described by a hypergraph in which the nodes are the agents and the edges are the subgroups of agents who can effect communication. Axiomatic characterizations are provided for two allocation rules, the Myerson value and the position value.     

Mössbauer spectroscopic study of core and mantle of rattle stones

Mössbauer spectroscopy has been applied to two rattle stones found in the Netherlands, which have been formed under different pedoenvironment conditions in the past. Ultrafine particles of goethite are dominantly present in both core and mantle of these stones. The latter differs in both composition and mean particle size; this is related to the distinct manner of their formation.