Use of potassium-form cation-exchange resin as a conductimetric enhancer in ion-exclusion chromatography of aliphatic carboxylic acids

In this study, a cation-exchange resin (CEX) of the K⁺-form, i.e., an enhancer resin, is used as a postcolumn conductimetric enhancer in the ion-exclusion chromatography of aliphatic carboxylic acids. The enhancer resin is filled in the switching valve of an ion chromatograph; this valve is usually used as a suppressor valve in ion-exchange chromatography. An aliphatic carboxylic acid (e.g., CH₃COOH) separated by a weakly acidic CEX column of the H⁺-form converts into that of the K⁺-form (e.g., CH₃COOK) by passing through the enhancer resin. In contrast, the background conductivity decreases because a strong acid (e.g., HNO₃) with a higher conductimetric response in an eluent converts into a salt (e.g., KNO₃) with a lower conductimetric response. Since the pH of the eluent containing the resin enhancer increases from 3.27 to 5.85, the enhancer accelerates the dissociations of analyte acids. Consequently, peak heights and peak areas of aliphatic carboxylic acids (e.g., acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, and valeric acid) with the enhancer resin are 6.3-8.0 times higher and 7.2-9.2 times larger, respectively, than those without the enhancer resin. Calibrations of peak areas for injected analytes are linear in the concentration range of 0.01-1.0 mM. The detection limits (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) range from 0.10 μM to 0.39 μM in this system, as opposed to those in the range of 0.24-7.1 μM in the separation column alone. The developed system is successfully applied to the determination of aliphatic carboxylic acids in a chicken droppings sample.     

Application of 28Mg to the kinetic study of Mg uptake by rice plants

The time course of Mg uptake and release using intact rice plants and ²⁸Mg as a tracer is presented. Since there is no conventional Mg tracer available, ²⁸Mg was produced via ²⁷Al(α, 3p)²⁸Mg reaction using a cyclotron. Using the purified ²⁸Mg tracer, it was found that the uptake amount of ²⁸Mg by the rice plants increased linearly during 30 min of application. After ²⁸Mg treatment for 90 min, the roots were sequentially washed with iced solution for 120 min. Within about 10 min, almost all of the ²⁸Mg, that was thought to be weakly bound to the apoplast, was washed away.     

Elimination of the uninformative calibration sample subset in the modified UVE(Uninformative Variable Elimination)-PLS (Partial Least Squares) method.

In order to increase the predictive ability of the PLS (Partial Least Squares) model, we have developed a new algorithm, by which uninformative samples which cannot contribute to the model very much are eliminated from a calibration data set. In the proposed algorithm, uninformative wavelength (or independent) variables are eliminated at the first stage by using the modified UVE (Uninformative Variable Elimination)-PLS method that we reported previously. Then, if the prediction error of the ith (1 < or =i< or = n) sample is larger than 3sigma, the corresponding sample is eliminated as uninformative, where n is the total number of calibration samples and sigma is the standard deviation calculated from the other n(-1) samples. Calculation of sigma by the leave-one-out manner enhances the ability to identify the uninformative samples. The final PLS model is constructed precisely because both uninformative wavelength variables and uninformative samples are eliminated. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of the algorithm, we have applied it to two kinds of mid-infrared spectral data sets.     

Theoretical Demonstration of a Newly Designed Micro-Rotator Driven by Optical Pressure on a Light Incident Surface

A newly designed cylindrical optical micro-rotator which has slopes for trapping and rotation on its upper surface is proposed. The cylindrical shape is effective in decreasing viscous drag force (damping factor) in the medium. A ray-tracing method considering the beam waist is employed to analyze the radiation pressure exerted on the upper surface of the rotator. We have demonstrated optical trapping and high speed rotation for various optical beam parameters such as the lens numerical aperture and the Gaussian mode profile as well as rotator shape parameters including oblique angle, height and diameter.     

Structure and morphology of the aliphatic polyester poly(δ‐valerolactone) in solution‐grown,chain‐folded lamellar crystals

Poly(δ‐valerolactone) (PVL) crystals in the form of chain‐folded lamellae were prepared by isothermal crystallization from a 2‐methylbutane‐2‐ol solution. Wide‐angle and small‐angle X‐ray diffraction data, obtained from PVL lamellae sedimented to form oriented mats, were supplemented with morphological and structural data from electron microscopy, both imaging and diffraction. The diffraction signals index on an orthorhombic unit cell with the parameters a = 0.747 ± 0.002 nm, b = 0.502 ± 0.002 nm, and c (chain axis) = 0.742 ± 0.002 nm. Similar unit cell parameters were obtained from crystals grown from 1‐octanol and also from drawn melt‐pressed films. The evidence supports a model containing two antiparallel chain segments in the unit cell. The c value of 0.742 nm is appropriate for an all‐trans or onefold helical backbone conformation for the straight stems. Possible slight perturbations at the ester units from the all‐trans backbone conformation are discussed. Computerized modeling was used to optimize the adjacent‐reentry folded structure. The setting angles, with respect to the a axis, are ±58° for the corner and center chains. The lamellae are 7.26 ± 0.05 nm thick, and the chains run orthogonal to the lamellar surface. The chains fold in the diagonal (110) and (11¯0) planes in an alternating fashion. The X‐ray diffraction data suggest that a proportion of adjacent paired antiparallel entities, or hairpin units, are c‐axis‐sheared, and a relationship to the results obtained from drawn films is discussed. A brief comparison is also made with related polymer structures. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 39: 2622–2634, 2001     

Analog vision chip for motion detection of an approaching object against a moving background based on the insect visual system

A network for motion detection of an approaching object without influence of the moving background was proposed based on the insect visual system. The two-dimensional array of the analog complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits for extracting the edge signals of the approaching object without outputting those of the moving background was inserted at the first stage of the network. At the next stage, analog CMOS circuits for detection of approaching velocity and direction, which accept the extracted edge signals, were inserted based on the locust vision system. A chip of the proposed network was fabricated with the 1.2 mm CMOS process. It was clarified from the measured results and the simulation results with the simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) that the two-dimensional circuits of the first stage can only generate the signals of target edges. The measured results showed that the chip can detect the approaching velocity and direction of the target in the image which contains the moving background.     

A descent method for submodular function minimization

We show a descent method for submodular function minimization based on an oracle for membership in base polyhedra. We assume that for any submodular function f: ?→R on a distributive lattice ?⊆2 ^V with ?,V∈? and f(?)=0 and for any vector x∈R ^V where V is a finite nonempty set, the membership oracle answers whether x belongs to the base polyhedron associated with f and that if the answer is NO, it also gives us a set Z∈? such that x(Z)>f(Z). Given a submodular function f, by invoking the membership oracle O(|V|²) times, the descent method finds a sequence of subsets Z ₁,Z ₂,···,Z _k of V such that f(Z ₁)>f(Z ₂)>···>f(Z _k )=min{f(Y) | Y∈?}, where k is O(|V|²). The method furnishes an alternative framework for submodular function minimization if combined with possible efficient membership algorithms. Received: September 9, 2001 / Accepted: October 15, 2001?Published online December 6, 2001