Investigation of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectra of Human Gallstones on Colloidal Silver

The surface-enhanced Raman scatterihg (SERS) spectra of human gallstones is investigated. Complicated Raman bands were due to multiple components that include bilirubin, bilirubinate salts, cholesterol, fatty salts and proteins. The results suggest that besides bilirubin and cholesterol, fatty salts and proteins may play an important role in the formation of gallstone. The experimental data supply an useful information for the research of the formation mechanism of gallstones.     

Iridium and Rhodium as Permanent Chemical Modifiers for the Determination of Ag, As, Bi, Cd, and Sb by Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Performance of graphite platforms coated with Ir, Rh, and a mixture of both, as permanent modifiers for Ag, As, Bi, Cd, and Sb, was evaluated. The coating process is very simple: a solution containing Ir, Rh, or a mixture of both is pipetted on the platform inserted in a graphite tube, and this is submitted to a temperature program. High pyrolysis temperatures are allowed, especially for As and Bi, 1400°C, in the Ir + Rh-coated platform. The sensitivity remains about the same for all analytes with different coatings, except for As in the Ir-coated platform, for which a remarkable gain was obtained in comparison to the other coatings. The lifetimes of the treated tubes were in the range 50 to more than 1000 cycles, being especially long for Sb and Ag in the Rh-coated platform, more than 600 and 1000 cycles, respectively. The Rh coating could not be used for Bi and Cd. Analysis of a certified reference water and of acid oyster tissue digests showed the absence of interference and good precision. Advantages of the permanent coatings are the possibility of low blanks byin situcleaning of the modifier and shorter analysis time.     

Stochastic Lyapunov method

This paper is devoted to stability properties of solutions to stochastic differential equations obtained by a stochastic Lyapunov method.     

Phenolic and Triterpenoid Glycosides from Pyrola calliantha

Pyrocallianthasides A ( 1 ) and B ( 2 ), a new dimer and a new mono‐deglucosyl trimer of homoarbutin (=4‐hydroxy‐3‐methylphenyl β‐glucopyranoside), and callianthaside A ( 3 ), a new ursane‐type triterpene glycoside, together with three known phenolic glycosides and three known ursane‐type triterpenoids, were isolated from the whole plants of Pyrola calliantha. The structures of 1 – 3 were elucidated by chemical and spectroscopic methods.     

Method to reduce the memory effect of mercury in the analysis of fish tissue using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

The routine determination of mercury (Hg) by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is affected by a pronounced memory effect in the sample introduction system. This results in long washout times for the analyte, which affects the accuracy and reliability of the analytical procedure. By using a combination of flow injection sample introduction and a sulfur-containing compound in the carrier solution, it was possible to decrease the memory effect of mercury to that for the internal standard (rhodium). The carrier solution contained 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) and the developed method was evaluated using three different fish tissue certified reference materials: CRM 464 (BCR, Brussels); DORM-1; and DORM-2 (NRC, Canada). The samples were mineralized using a combination of concentrated nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide and heating in a closed microwave oven. The developed flow injection ICP-MS procedure gave values for total mercury in all three CRM materials in agreement with the certified concentration range. Cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CV-AFS) confirmed the results from the developed method. The developed flow injection method had a detection limit (defined as three times the standard deviation of the blank concentration) for mercury of 5.1 μg l⁻¹.     

Fluorinated comblike homopolymers: The effect of spacer lengths on surface properties

A series of polyacrylate monomers with F‐alkylalkyl [F(CF₂)_n(CH₂)_n′] side groups were prepared by free‐radical polymerization. The effect of the chemical structure on the surface properties of poly(ethylene terephthalate)s was evaluated by variations in the relative length of the fluorocarbon and hydrocarbon units in the side group. The resulting polymers were quite surface‐active in the solid state. The surface and bulk organization was investigated by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. A strong correlation between the bulk organization and surface properties of the polymers was established. The outmost layer, formed from trifluoromethyl groups and some ester functions, suggests that the side chain is arranged irregularly in the polymer–air interface. The length of the lateral chain governs this organization: long fluorinated chains and short hydrocarbon spacers are essential elements of the molecular design for such low‐surface‐energy materials. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 3737–3747, 2005     

Innovative mechanical device for the post-tensioning of glass fiber reinforced polymer bars for masonry type retrofit applications

A mechanical device specially designed for the application of low-level post-tensioning forces to glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars has been developed at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Some of the advantageous features of this device are that it is simple to assemble and the low-level post-tensioning forces can be applied manually and safely without the need for hydraulic jacks or heavy equipment. This device has been conceived with the main objective of retrofitting masonry buildings, some of which remain in service despite large, open cracks leading to considerable instability and serviceability concerns. According to the method derived in this paper, GFRP bars are installed in artificially imposed grooves and then post-tensioned with low-level stresses with the main objective to partially close these cracks, such that the serviceability and in-plane capacity of un-reinforced masonry (URM) buildings may be regained. In this paper we describe the mechanical components of this device, along with its advantageous features and potential application for the retrofit of URM walls.     

Interdiffusion at Sb/Ge interfaces induced in thin multilayer films by nanosecond laser irradiation

Thin films consisting of 3 or 4 Sb and Ge alternating layers are irradiated with single nanosecond laser pulses (12 ns, 193 nm). Real time reflectivity (RTR) measurements are performed during irradiation, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) is used to obtain the concentration depth profiles before and after irradiation. Interdiffusion of the elements takes place at the layer interfaces within the liquid phase. The reflectivity transients allow to determine the laser energy thresholds both to induce and to saturate the process being both thresholds dependent on the multilayer configuration. It is found that the energy threshold to initiate the process is lower when Sb is at the surface while the saturation is reached at lower energy densities in those configurations with thinner layers.     

关于群体决策的偏比映射

本文引进群体决策的决策个体和决策群体关于供选方案对的偏比度,以及偏比泛函概念.由此,定义了群体在供选方案集上的偏比映射,构造了相应的偏比公理系,并且建立了关于群体决策的偏比度分析的基本理论.最后,给出一个利用偏比映射进行群体排序的方法.特别是,文中表明,满足本文所提出的所有偏比公理的偏比映射是存在的.