Influence of the discharge gas on the emission and thermal characteristics of laser-induced microplasmas

Summary An investigation has been made of the influence of argon, oxygen, and argon/oxygen blends in various ratios as the protective gas medium, on the intensities of the spectral lines, the amount of substance evaporated, and the excitation temperatures in the evaporation of an aluminium sample with the aid of laser irradiation and subsidiary excitation of the microplasma obtained. Maximum intensifying effect was observed when a pure argon medium was used. The gas medium does not influence the amount of substance evaporated from the sample. Within the experimental error of the twoline method used, the excitation temperatures do not appear to be influenced by the type of gas blend. An auxiliary voltage device was added to the laser equipment, which allows evaporation of the substance in an atmosphere of inert gas and in minute absolute amounts, with high energy in the discharge gap. This new approach improves the limits of detection.

---

Zusammenfassung Der Einfluß der Schutzgasatmosphäre aus Argon, Sauerstoff oder Argon/Sauerstoff-Mischung in verschiedenen prozentualen Verhältnissen auf die Intensitäten der Spektrallinien, die Menge der verdampften Substanz und die Anregungstemperaturen wurde bei der Verdampfung einer Aluminiumprobe mit Hilfe von Laserstrahlung und mit Nebenanregung des Mikroplasmas untersucht. Ein maximaler Verstärkungseffekt wurde in reinem Argon beobachtet. Das Gasmedium übt keinen Einfluß auf die Menge der verdampften Probensubstanz aus. Im Rahmen der Fehler und der Genauigkeit der angewandten Zweilinienmethode wurden die Anregungstemperaturen von der Art der Gasmischung nicht beeinflußt. Die Laserausrüstung war mit einer Vorrichtung für Hilfsspannung ausgestattet, welche die Verdampfung und Anregung der Probensubstanz in einer Inertgasatmosphäre und in minimalen absoluten Mengen unter Hochenergiebildung in der Entladungsstrecke ermöglichte. Damit konnten die Nachweisgrenzen der Mikroelemente erweitert werden.

     

Generalized coupling constants for broken gauge symmetries in geometrical terms

A geometrical treatment of the gauge coupling constant is proposed in terms of a generalized connection form using fibre-bundle language. This extends the notion of the coupling constant to a notion of a field. The reduction of a curvature form for the generalized connection form is described in the case of a reduction of a structure group G to a subgroup H (broken gauge symmetry), and a coupling constant for the gauge group H is constructed from the corresponding one for the gauge group G.     

Determination of copper, cadmium, lead and bismuth in phosphoric acid solutions by atomic-absorption spectrometry after extraction with diethylammonium diethyldithiocarbamate and butyl acetate

The possibility of applying diethylammonium diethyldithiocarbamate and butyl acetate for the extraction of copper, cadmium, lead and bismuth from molar solutions of orthophosphoric acid, and from solutions containing up to 55% pyrophosphoric acid and 20% tripolyphosphoric acid has been investigated. Some characteristics of the various diethylammonium diethyldithiocarbamate-butyl acetate-phosphoric acid systems are described. Suitable conditions have been found for flame atomic-absorption spectrometric determination of the ions extracted. This extraction/AAS approach has been used to determine copper, cadmium, lead and bismuth in some iron-, aluminium- and tin-containing samples dissolved in concentrated orthophosphoric acid. The same approach is used for determining 10(-5)-10(-6)% copper, cadmium and lead in orthophosphoric acid and in alkali-metal mono and dihydrogen phosphates.     

The physical solution of the inverse vibrational problem: II. A computational method based on the common solutions of the vibrational equations of two isotopic species

An analysis of the common solutions of the vibrational equations of two isotopic species has been carried out. An iterative computational procedure for evaluation of the general valence force field was developed and described. Some simple examples are used for illustration.     

Thermal investigations of nitrate-hydrates and deuterates of Ca2+, Cd2+ and Mg2+

DTA and DSC were used to study the thermal behaviour of Ca(NO₃)₂·4H₂O, Cd(NO₃)₂·4H₂O, Mg(NO₃)₂·6H₂O and their deuterated analogues. Evidence was found concerning the process of melting of the initial hydrates and deuterates, followed by a one-stage dehydration of the melt to vield the respective anhydrous salt. T _m, ΔH _m ^o , ΔS _m ^o and ΔH _deh ^o were determined and the ΔH _f ^o values for the investigated hydrates were calculated from the ΔH _deh ^o data.

---

Zusammenfassung DTA und DSC wurden zur Untersuchung des thermischen Verhaltens von Ca(NO₃)₂·4H₂O, Cd(NO₃)₂·4H₂O, Mg(NO₃)₂·6H₂O und ihrer deuterierten Analoge eingesetzt. Man fand Aussagen bezüglich des Schmelzvorganges der Ausgangshydrate und Deuterate, gefolgt von einer Einschritt-Dehydratation der Schmelze unter Bildung der entsprechenden wasserfreien Salze. T _m, ΔH _m ^o , ΔS _m ^o und ΔH _deh ^o wurden ermittelt und die ΔH _f ^o Werte für die untersuchten Hydrate wurden anhand der ΔH _deh ^o berechnet.

     

Probabilistic assessment of biodegradability based on metabolic pathways: catabol system

A novel mechanistic modeling approach has been developed that assesses chemical biodegradability in a quantitative manner. It is an expert system predicting biotransformation pathway working together with a probabilistic model that calculates probabilities of the individual transformations. The expert system contains a library of hierarchically ordered individual transformations and matching substructure engine. The hierarchy in the expert system was set according to the descending order of the individual transformation probabilities. The integrated principal catabolic steps are derived from set of metabolic pathways predicted for each chemical from the training set and encompass more than one real biodegradation step to improve the speed of predictions. In the current work, we modeled O2 yield during OECD 302 C (MITI I) test. MITI-I database of 532 chemicals was used as a training set. To make biodegradability predictions, the model only needs structure of a chemical. The output is given as percentage of theoretical biological oxygen demand (BOD). The model allows for identifying potentially persistent catabolic intermediates and their molar amounts. The data in the training set agreed well with the calculated BODs (r2 = 0.90) in the entire range i.e. a good fit was observed for readily, intermediate and difficult to degrade chemicals. After introducing 60% ThOD as a cut off value the model predicted correctly 98% ready biodegradable structures and 96% not ready biodegradable structures. Crossvalidation by four times leaving 25% of data resulted in Q2 = 0.88 between observed and predicted values. Presented approach and obtained results were used to develop computer software for biodegradability prediction CATABOL.     

Real Interpolation for Families of Banach Spaces and Convexity

We show how the geometrical properties of uniform convexity and uniformly non-?? are inherited by real interpolation spaces for infinite families.     

Novel organic material with potential NLO application - electronic and spectroscopic properties

Novel dicyanoisophorone derivative, (E)-2-(3-(4-aminostyryl)-5,5-dimethylcyclohex-2-enylidene)malononitrile, is synthesized and its structure elucidated by means of conventional and linear polarized IR-spectroscopy of oriented colloids in nematic host, ¹H, ¹³C, ¹H, ¹H-COSY NMR, HPLC tandem ESI MS-MS spectrometry, UV-VIS and thermal methods. Ab initio and DFT level of theory are used to theoretically obtain the electronic structure and optical properties, both in ground and exited state, of the compound.      

Incorporation of the Dry Blossom Flour of Sambucus nigra L. in the Production of Sponge Cakes

The present study aims to develop recipe compositions and technology for producing sponge cakes from wholemeal flour, partially replaced with a functional plant component dry blossom flour of Sambucus nigra L. Three designs of sponge cakes with 5, 10, and 15% content of flour of Sambucus nigra L. corrected up to 100% with whole-grain oat flour were studied. Their characteristics were compared with sponge cakes of 100% wheat flour/control. The obtained new products were characterized by reduced carbohydrates, increased content of dietary fiber, and preserved volume compared to the control. The physicochemical parameters of sponge cake and marshmallows with different concentrations of dry flowers of Sambucus nigra L. included in them differed from the control with lower water absorption, pH, and moisture, while having a higher relative mass and ash content and retaining the original size. Pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella sp., and Staphylococcus aureus, and common coliforms were not detected in the control and experimental samples when determining the microbiological parameters. Therefore, the developed formulations are an excellent alternative to wheat flour, significantly improving some nutritional characteristics such as smell, taste, dietary fiber, and lower carbohydrate content.