Simple flow-injection system for the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate in water samples

A novel spectrophotometric reaction system was developed for the determination of nitrite as well as nitrate in water samples, and was applied to a flow-injection analysis (FIA). The spectrophotometric flow-injection system coupled with a copperised cadmium reductor column was proposed. The detection was based on the nitrosation reaction between nitrite ion and phloroglucinol (1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene), a commercially available phenolic compound. Sample injected into a carrier stream was split into two streams at the Y-shaped connector. One of the streams merged directly and reacted with the reagent stream: nitrite ion in the samples was detected. The other stream was passed through the copperised cadmium reductor column, where the reduction of nitrate to nitrite occurred, and the sample zone was then mixed with the reagent stream and passed through the detector: the sum of nitrate and nitrite was detected. The optimised conditions allow a linear calibration range of 0.03–0.30 μg NO₂⁻-N ml⁻¹ and 0.10–1.00 μg NO₃⁻-N ml⁻¹. The detection limits for nitrite and nitrate, defined as three times the standard deviation of measured blanks are 2.9 ng NO₂⁻-N ml⁻¹ and 2.3 ng NO₃⁻-N ml⁻¹, respectively. Up to 20 samples can be analyzed per hour with a relative standard deviation of less than 1.5%. The proposed method could be applied successfully to the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate in water samples.     

Spectral decomposition of path space in solvable lattice model

We give thespectral decomposition of the path space of the vertex model with respect to the local energy functions. The result suggests the hidden Yangian module structure on the levell integrable modules, which is consistent with the earlier work [1] in the level one case. Also we prove the fermionic character formula of the levell integrable representations in consequence.     

Spectrophotometric determination of 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride by flow injection analysis.

1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC.HCl) is a very useful agent to form amide bonds (peptide bonds) in an aqueous medium. A simple and fast detection system was developed using the reaction with pyridine and ethylenediamine in acidic aqueous solution and spectrophotometric flow injection analysis. The absorbances were measured at 400 nm and the reaction was accelerated at 40 degrees C. The calibration graph showed good linearity from 0 to 10% of EDC.HCl solutions: the regression equation was y=3.15x10(4)x (y, peak area; x, % concentration of EDC.HCl). The RSD was under 1.0%. Sample throughput was 15 h(-1). This method was applied to monitoring the EDC.HCl concentration that remained after the anhydration of phthalic acid in water, esterification of acetic acid in methanol or dehydration condensation of malonic acid and ethylenediamine in water.     

Structural changes of silica particles in elongated rubber by two-dimensional small-angle X-ray scattering and extended reverse Monte Carlo analysis

Two-dimensional pattern reverse Monte Carlo method is applied to investigate structural changes of silica particle filler in uniaxially elongat ed rubber. We calculated three-dimensional confor mations of spherical silica particles using a series of two-dimensional patterns of structure factors during elongation. The structure factors we used are inter polated from experimentally observed structure factors for the elongation ratio ε?=?0.0, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5. To make a continuous motion of particles, we set the elongation ratio with small interval Δε?=?0.001. It is found that the structural change of the particles seem to be reliable at least for small ε regions because spurious motions like the Brownian motions are not observed.     

Observation of High-j Two-Quasiparticle Bands in Odd-Odd ^174Re

High spin states in ^174Re have been investigated via the ^152Sm （^27 Al, 5nγ） ^174Re reaction. Gamma-ray excitation functions, x-γ and γ-γ coincidences have been measured. Two rotational bands built on the πh9/2 × vi13/2 and πh11/2 × vi13/2 configurations have been identified and extended up to high-spin states. The relative spin and parity of the band levels have been unambiguously fixed due to observations of several inter-band transitions. Both the bands show the low-spin signature inversion, which is consistent with systematic expectations for the high-j two-quasiparticle bands in the A = 170 mass region.     

Effects of stimulation techniques on vocal responses: Implications for assessment and treatment

During voice evaluation and treatment it is customary for clinicians to elicit samples of the vowel /a/ from clients using various elicitation techniques. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of four commonly used stimulation tasks on the laryngeal mechanism. Eleven female singing students, studying at a university music school, served as subjects for the study. The subjects phonated the vowel /a/ using 4 vocal stimulation techniques: yawn-sigh, gentle onset, focus, and the use of the voiceless fricative. Videoendoscopic and acoustic evaluations of their productions were done. Results show that, in the first 100 ms following the end of the formant transition, these techniques affected voice differently. The fundamental frequency was found to be highest in the yawn-sigh condition, whereas the maximum frequency perturbation was obtained for the voiceless fricative condition. Planned comparisons were made by comparing the data across 2 dimensions: (1) vowels elicited with voiced contexts versus those elicited with voiceless consonantal contexts and (2) vowels elicited with obstruent versus vowels elicited with nonobstruent consonantal contexts. Some changes in acoustic parameters brought about by these stimulation techniques may be explained on the basis of coarticulatory effects of the consonantal context.