Generations of massless composite quarks and leptons

We present a QCD-like composite model in which quarks, leptons and technifermions are three-body systems made out of three kinds of massless elementary fermions t, c and w, each carrying technicolor, color and weak gauge interactions, respectively. Discrete symmetries, remnants of the U(1)_A of the original lagrangian, are responsible for the masslessness of all the quarks and leptons and give the precise meaning of the generations. The model exhibits three generations for both quarks and leptons. Small but non-zero masses of the quarks and leptons are produced by the technicolor condensate of the composite technifermions, which thereby leads to the non-trivial Cabibbo mixing. Proton decays are all forbidden at the mass scale of the QCD-like theory.     

Microscope measurements for the transient formation of W/O emulsions of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate in the dodecane/water interfacial region

The present study investigated the transient formation of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (aerosol OT, AOT) in a dodecane/water interfacial region and the anomalous uptake of water in the dodecane phase by in situ bright-field optical microscopy and water concentration measurements in detail. The hydrodynamic radius of the individual W/O emulsions in the dodecane phase was determined to be 0.1-1.2 μm from the analysis of their diffusion behavior; they are much larger than common W/O microemulsions (a few nanometers in radius). At first, they were formed spontaneously in the dodecane/water interfacial region without shaking, and they diffused away into the dodecane phase. Then, almost all of them vanished at the interface by fusion. Their number and the water concentration in the dodecane phase increased first and then decreased gradually. The formation mechanism was discussed with estimated concentration profiles of AOT and water molecules, which suggests that larger W/O emulsions of 0.01-0.44 μm in radius can be formed in the dodecane phase near the interface (within 2 μm) because the concentration of AOT becomes lower than that of water there.     

EFFECT OF IRON(III) ON CHEMILUMINESCENCE FROM THE NEUTRALIZATION REACTION OF NITRIC ACID and POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE

Low levels (around 90 μM) of iron(III) caused an increase in chemiluminescence (CL) from the neutralization reaction involving nitric acid and potassium hydroxide without use of any luminescent reagent. When oxygen was excluded from the reaction, a significant decrease in the CL emission was observed. This suggests that molecular oxygen present in the solutions may play an important role in the process of the iron-catalyzed CL induced by the neutralization reaction, which liberates a sufficient energy. Other experimental parameters like the influence of several other metal ions, counteranions and acid media were also examined. The results showed that the observed CL enhancement by iron(III) proved to become most remarkable under sporadical conditions alone, and the presence of small amounts (less than 0.20 mM) of sulfate ion increase the catalytic activity of iron(III). A possible mechanism involving transient formation of iron–radical complexes upon neutralization and subsequent reaction of the complexes with molecular oxygen is considered for the present CL reaction.     

High preconcentration of ultra-trace metal ions by liquid–liquid extraction using water/oil/water emulsions as liquid surfactant membranes

A high preconcentration method by liquid–liquid extraction using liquid surfactant membranes was developed. The water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion containing dilute hydrochloric acid, 2-ethylhexyl hydrogen 2-ethylhexylphosphonate (PC-88A), liquid paraffin, and kerosene was used for the extraction. In a resulting volume of 1000 cm³ of an aqueous sample solution (pH 5.0) containing less than 1 mg of each metal ion, 2 cm³ of w/o emulsion droplets coated with sorbitan monooleate were dispersed. The analyte metal ions in the outer bulk aqueous phase were extracted into the organic phase to form a complex with PC-88A and successively back-extracted into the inner aqueous phase. The analytes in the resulting inner aqueous phase were determined subsequently by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry applied as a detector. By this procedure, concentration factors of 570, 820, 750, 970, 860, and 880 were achieved for chromium(III), manganese(II), cobalt(II), nickel(II), copper(II), and cadmium(II), respectively, and also the respective detection limits (3σ) of 0.4, 20, 1.2, 18, 18, and 0.7 pg cm⁻³ were obtained.     

In situ measurements of emission transition dipole moment of individual ordered microdomain of diprotonated tetraphenylporphine aggregate formed at dodecane/aqueous H<Subscript>2</Subscript>SO<Subscript>4</Subscript> interface

Rhombic-ordered microdomains of diprotonated 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphine aggregate, whose sizes were 10–200 μm, were formed at dodecane/aqueous H₂SO₄ interfaces. The light excitation of their two absorption bands (410 and 473 nm for H- and J-bands, respectively) led to one fluorescence band at longer wavelength (723 nm). The direction of the emission transition dipole moment (μ _e) of individual rhombic microdomains, determined with an in situ optical microscope and a linear polarizer, was almost parallel to the major axis, which was also almost parallel to the direction of the absorption transition dipole moment of their J-bands. Their absorption and emission transition scheme was proposed.