Application of a fast neutron activation method to the determination of oxygen in iron and steel

The determination of oxygen (0.001–0.2%) in iron and steel by the fast neutron activation method was investigated. The relative standard deviations of the method at oxygen levels of 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001%, were 3, 5, and 30%, respectively. The analytical results of the method were in good agreement with those of the conventional method in the range stated.     

Multicommodity flows in graphs

Suppose that G is a graph, and (s_i,t_i) (1≤i≤k) are pairs of vertices; and that each edge has a integer-valued capacity (≥0), and that q_i≥0 (1≤i≤k) are integer-valued demands. When is there a flow for each i, between s_i and t_i and of value q_i, such that the total flow through each edge does not exceed its capacity? Ford and Fulkerson solved this when k=1, and Hu when k=2. We solve it for general values of k, when G is planar and can be drawn so that s₁,…, s_l, t₁, …, t_l,…,t_l are all on the boundary of a face and s_l+1, …,S_k, t_l+1,…,t_k are all on the boundary of the infinite face or when t₁=?=t_l and G is planar and can be drawn so that s_l+1,…,s_k, t₁,…,t_k are all on the boundary of the infinite face. This extends a theorem of Okamura and Seymour.     

Electronic structure of the GdF molecule by frozen-core four-component relativistic configuration interaction calculations

The electronic structure of GdF is calculated based on frozen-core four-component relativistic configuration interactions. The resulting excitation energies are fairly close to experiment and correctly designate the excited states. For instance, the existence of the experimentally inferred state at 0.55 eV above the ground state is confirmed, having Omega=132 with (4f(7)5d(+) (1)6s(+) (1)); it is 0.58 eV above the ground state according to the present calculation.     

High-throughput solid-phase extraction of metal ions using an iminodiacetate chelating porous disk prepared by graft polymerization

A chelating porous sheet for use in solid-phase extraction was prepared by radiation-induced graft polymerization and subsequent chemical modifications. An epoxy-group-containing vinyl monomer was graft-polymerized onto a porous sheet made of polyethylene. The produced epoxy group of the graft chain was converted into an iminodiacetate group. The chelating porous sheet with a density of the iminodiacetate group of 2.1 mol/kg was cut into disks 13 mm in diameter to fit an empty cylindrical cartridge with a capacity of 6 mL. Breakthrough curves using the chelating-porous-disk-packed cartridge overlapped irrespective of the flow rate of the solution ranging up to 1500 mL/h because of negligible diffusional mass-transfer resistance of the copper ions to the iminodiacetate group of the graft chain.     

Efficient radical scavenging ability of artepillin C,a major component of Brazilian propolis,and the mechanism

Hydrogen transfer from artepillin C to cumylperoxyl radical proceeds via one-step hydrogen atom transfer rather than via electron transfer, the rate constant of which is comparable to that of (+)-catechin, indicating that artepillin C can act as an efficient antioxidant.     

Measurement of mechanical deformation of dielectric fibres by a light scattering method

This paper describes an experimental method to detect quantitative changes of both refractive index and diameter of unclad dielectric fibres, such as fused silica fibre and nylon 6 fibre, due to tensile stress. The technique employed here is based on the variation in the position of a fringe in back-scattered light, which is generated when a laser beam is incident at a right angle to the axis of the fibre. This procedure makes it possible to measure refractive index, diameter and ellipticity to within an accuracy of 0.048%, 2.6% and 0.05%, respectively.     

A manual sequence method of peptides and phosphopeptides using 4-(1'-cyanoisoindolyl)phenylisothiocyanate

A method for sequence analysis and identification of phosphoamino acids in peptides based on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is described. The peptides were derivatized with an Edman type reagent, 4-(1'-cyanoisoindolyl)phenylisothiocyanate (CIPIC) and subsequently cleaved to generate stable and fluorescent 4-(1'-cyanoisoindolyl)phenylthiazolinone (CIP-TZ)-amino acids. Several experimental factors that affected derivatization on membranes were examined. Under the optimized conditions, the CIP-TZ derivatives of Try(p), Thr(p) and Ser(p) were obtained and separated from their parent amino acids with baseline resolution using an isocratic elution system. Up to the 4th residue of phosphorylated pentapeptides was successfully identified, whereas phosphoamino acid residues could not be detected by the conventional procedure using phenylisothiocyanate (PITC). The results demonstrated the potential of CIPIC as a derivatization reagent for peptide sequencing and the applicability of the method for the study and identification of phosphoamino acids in peptides.     

Novel biomaterials derived from deoxyribozyme and NAPzyme

We report the potential of a small Ca²⁺-dependent deoxyribozyme as a novel biomaterial to distinguish RNA foldings. It is found that an immobilized deoxyribozyme using avidin-biotin interaction cleaves the target site within only single-stranded RNAs. The RNA cleavage reaction is also detected using the deoxyribozyme SPR sensor chip. Furthermore, we develop a novel NAPzyme (nucleic acid peptide deoxyribozyme) with its RNA cleavage function in the absence of divalent metal ions.