The effects causing the burning of plastic coatings of fire-resistant cables and its consequences

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Electric wiring is part of the fire protection systems; therefore, it must work reliably for a given period of time. Cable is in the first place among...     

Effect of thermal transformation and stability on the flammability of PAN precursors-based carbon fibres

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - During the development of the carbon fibres and oxidized fibres, the aim was to get a material with extraordinary mechanical properties. Nowadays, it...     

Hydrogenation of acetylene–ethylene mixtures on Pd catalysts: study of the surface mechanism by computational approaches. Metal dispersion and catalytic activity

The hydrogenation mechanism of acetylene–ethylene mixtures on Pd catalysts under different experimental conditions was studied by employing a time-dependent Monte Carlo approach set to use a fixed series of event probabilities. The dependence of the catalyst activity and selectivity on the sizes of the metal particles was simulated at microscopic level and the results, also refined by fitting procedures, suggested proper explanations for the apparent nonuniformity of the related experimental findings. The use of the steric hindrance parameter of the surface species and the available surface energy on the metallic catalyst sites was decisive for reproducing the experimental results. Received: 16 September 1999 / Accepted: 3 February 2000 / Published online: 2 May 2000     

Thermal transitions of actin

Actin is one of the main components in the eukaryote cells which plays significant role in many cellular processes, like force-generation, maintenance of the shape of cells, cell-division cycle and transport processes. In this study the thermal transitions of monomer and polymerized actins were studied to get information about the changes induced by polymerization and binding of myosin to actin using DSC and EPR techniques. The main thermal transition of F-actin was at 67.5°C by EPR using spin-labeled actin (the relative viscosity change was around 62°C), while the DSC denaturation T _ms were at 60.3d°C for G-actin and at 70.5°C for F-actin. Applying the Lumry-Eyring model to obtain the parameters of the kinetic process and calculate the activation energy, a ‘break’ was found for F-actin in the function of first-order kinetic constant vs. 1/T. This indicates that an altered interdomain interaction is present in F-actin. The addition of myosin or heavy meromyosin (HMM) in different molar ratio of myosin to actin has changed significantly the EPR spectrum of spin-labeled F-actin, indicating the presence of the supramolecular complex. Analyzing the DSC traces of the actomyosin complex it was possible to identify the different structural domains of myosin and actin.     

Essential oil polymorphism of wild growing Hungarian thyme (Thymus pannonicus) populations in the Carpathian Basin

The volatile oil compositions of Thymus pannonicus All. from nineteen different localities of Hungary were analyzed by GC/MS. The essential oil content of the Hungarian thyme samples varied between very low (0.14 mL/100 g DW) and fairly high (1.9 mL/100 g DW) values. Significant essential oil polymorphism was found: altogether twelve chemovarieties may have been determined, representing a way of adaptation to different habitat conditions. The main volatile compound of chemotype 1 was thymol (24.6-67.5%), while in the case of chemotype 2, thymol (36.5-63.7%) and p-cymene (11.5-27.3%) predominated. Thymol (28.4-63.7%), p-cymene (11.5-31.8%) and gamma-terpinene (9.7-20.9%) were identified as the chief monoterpenes of chemotype 3, while chemotype 4 contained thymol (36.5%), p-cymene (27.3%) and neral (11.2%). Chemotype 5 accumulated thymol (38.5%), p-cymene (20.6%), gamma-terpinene (12.0%) and beta-bisabolene (10.3%) as its main volatiles. The oil of chemotype 6 can be characterized by thymol (41.9%), p-cymene (20.2%), isoborneol (10.3%) and gamma-terpinene (9.9%), while that of chemotype 7 consisted of thymol (27.7%), linalyl acetate (18.8%), gamma-terpinene (18.6%) and alpha-cubebene (13.9%). In the oil of chemotype 8, p-cymene (45.0%), geraniol (13.6%) and linalyl acetate (9.9%) were found in higher percentages, while chemotype 9 mainly produced linalyl acetate (36.2%) and geranyl acetate (20.2%). Chemotype 10 accumulated germacrene-D (43.4) and beta-caryophyllene (15.0%), while the oil of chemotype 11 contained caryophyllene oxide (45.2%), alpha-cubebene (15.7%) and linalool (13.8%) in high proportions. Germacrene-D (29.7%), beta-caryophyllene (22.0%) and farnesol (10.4%) were identified as main essential oil compounds of chemotype 12. The last nine chemotypes were new for the literature, while the first seven contained thymol as their chief compound. The role of certain sesquiterpenes was found to be considerable.     

Redistribution of uranium and thorium by soil/plant interaction in a recultivated mining area

During the recultivation of the uranium mining area of K?vágósz?l?s (Hungary), the tailings were covered with clay and loess soil layers having a thickness of 30 cm and 100 cm, respectively. In the loess covering layer, acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), poplars (Populus × albus, Populus × canescens), oak (Quercus pubescens), silver tree (Eleagnus angustifolia) were planted between 1996 and 2004. In order to establish the extent of the uranium and thorium transport from the sludge to the leaves by uptake and translocation processes through roots with a length higher than 1.3 m results in a remarkable redistribution of these pollutants, a gray poplar tree, growing spontaneously in the last uncovered tailing, being selected as reference tree. The U and Th concentrations in the leaves of the above-mentioned trees, in the covering layers as well as in the original sludge were determined by inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SF-MS). Generally, the Th concentration of the soils was about 4 times higher than that of uranium, while uranium concentration was about 10-130 times higher than that of thorium in the leaf samples and its concentration ranged from 28 to 1045 ng g^− 1, the last value belonging to the poplar tree growing on the last uncovered tailing. In order to assume the mobility and bioavailability of uranium if the dry leaves fall down, the uranium species in the leaves of the poplar tree growing in the uncovered reservoir were determined applying ultrasound-assisted extraction with distilled water and ammonium acetate as well as high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC)-ICP-SF-MS technique. About 20% of total uranium could be extracted in form of uranyl cations and a presumably negatively charged uranium compound. Estimations revealed that the annual increment of U in the soil surface layer due to the dead fallen leaves in case of the investigated gray poplar (Populus × canescens) is about 1.2%.     

Thermal characterization of natural and modified cyclodextrins using TG-MS combined technique

Summary Thermoanalytical techniques (TG, DSC) are frequently used in the investigation of the thermal properties of cyclodextrins and their inclusion complexes. However, the above techniques do not provide information on the chemical composition of the evolved fragments upon the thermal decomposition. In this study &agr;-, &bgr;- and &ggr;-cyclodextrins and 4 methylated and 3 ethylated &bgr;-CD derivatives were investigated with a TG-MS combined thermoanalytical technique in order to get information about their fragmentation behaviour. By comparison of the TG/DTA curves, a different thermal behaviour was found for each of the native and the chemically modified cyclodextrins. Except for the water loss profiles and the solid-solid phase transformations, the thermal behaviour of the (investigated) native CDs do not show remarkable differences. However, the chemical modification of the native &bgr;-CD resulting in a new compound may change the strength of interactions between host and guest causing differences in the thermal stabilities of the derivatives. The mass spectrometry results supported the observed thermal differences and showed significant alterations in the fragmentation of ethylated and methylated compounds. The investigated natural CDs possess a very similar fragmentation profile, due to the common &agr;-D-glucopyranose building units. In the case of modified CDs characteristic signals of the substituents are present.     

Age estimation of old carpets based on cystine and cysteic acid content

A method for the evaluation of the age of wool carpets and textiles was developed based on the age dependent alteration of amino acid composition of proteins. Samples of 23 wool carpets and textiles of known age, obtained from the Hungarian Museum of Industrial Arts and the Hungarian National Museum were analysed for amino acid content. Results were compared with data obtained for contemporary, untreated wool and wool carpet. The cysteic acid content of wool increases with age. The contemporary wool carpet contained 0.31 g of cysteic acid in 100 g of protein. Comparable figures were 1.87 g for a 550-year old carpet and 4.01–4.39 g for the 1600–1750 year old wool carpets. The cystine content decreased with age, the corresponding figures being 7.88, 3.12 and 1.19-0.97 g/100 g, respectively. Corresponding contents of methionine were 0.43, 0.21 and 0.20-0.00 g/ 100 g and for tyrosine 3.07, 2.11 and 0.20-0.00 g/100 g. Prediction equations were developed as linear regressions of the age of wool on cysteic acid, cystine and tyrosine contents. The 95% confidence intervals of estimates for two samples of unknown age were estimates plus or minus 30 and 38 years.