A definitive method for the determination of trace amounts of cobalt in biological materials by neutron activation analysis

A new, very accurate (definitive) method for the determination of trace amounts of cobalt in biological materials has been devised. The method is based on combination of neutron irradiation with quantitative and selective post-irradiation separation of cobalt from all accompanying radionuclides followed by measurement by -ray spectrometry. Column chromatography in which owing to addition of Co carrier the course of separation can be followed visually is the key element of the separation scheme. Several criteria have been formulated which must be simultaneously fulfilled in order to acknowledge the result as obtained by a definitive method. The high accuracy of the method has been demonstrated by the analysis of several certified reference materials of widely different Co contents.     

Atomic absorption spectrophotometric determination of gold with preconcentration by Donnan dialysis

Donnan dialysis enrichment with tubular cation-exchange membrane was used as a preconcentration method prior to determination of gold by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The value of enrichment factor can be controlled for a particular application through adjustment of the membrane tuning length, dialysis time, carrier flow rate, composition of the receiver solution and by addition of complexing ligand to the receiver or the sample solution. For 10 min dialysis enrichment factor above 3 can be achieved. The detection limit (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) of 35 ng/ml was obtained. RSD at 0.2 mug/ml level was 4.7% (n = 6). The results of dialysis of noble metals mixtures are demonstrated.     

Duality transformations in electrodynamics

Electrodynamics admitting a duality transformation group is considered. For such an electrodynamics an extension of the classical Rainich-Misner-Wheeler theory is presented.On leave of absence from the University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.     

The influence of the local surrounding on the hyperfine interactions in Zr(Fe1−x Ni x )2 compounds

Mössbauer spectroscopy and the TDPAC method have been used to study Zr(Fe_1–x Ni _x )₂ compounds forx0.30. The hyperfine magnetic field at the Fe sites and the quadrupole splitting as functions of nickel concentration were analysed by use of⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Values of the internal magnetic field on¹⁸¹Ta nuclei have been found by means of the TDPAC method.     

A new heuristic algorithm solving the linear ordering problem

The linear ordering problem is an NP-hard combinatorial problem with a large number of applications. Contrary to another very popular problem from the same category, the traveling salesman problem, relatively little space in the literature has been devoted to the linear ordering problem so far. This is particularly true for the question of developing good heuristic algorithms solving this problem.In the paper we propose a new heuristic algorithm solving the linear ordering problem. In this algorithm we made use of the sorting through insertion pattern as well as of the operation of permutation reversal. The surprisingly positive effect of the reversal operation, justified in part theoretically and confirmed in computational examples, seems to be the result of a unique property of the problem, called in the paper the symmetry of the linear ordering problem. This property consists in the fact that if a given permutation is an optimal solution of the problem with the criterion function being maximized, then the reversed permutation is a solution of the problem with the same criterion function being minimized.     

The determination of environmental and industrial exposure to heavy metals based on the quantitative isolation of metallothionein from human fluids, with application of covalent affinity chromatography with thiol-disulphide interchange gel as a solid-phase extraction support

The aim of this study was to present a new analytical method for the quantitative determination of metallothionein (MT) proteins in human body fluids and tissues, in order to determine the level of environmental and industrial exposure to heavy metals. For MT isolation, covalent affinity chromatography with thiol-disulphide inter-change (CAC-TDI) was applied. Fundamentals of indirect determination of the contents of metallothionein proteins were worked out through estimation of the quantities of metals bound with metallothionein protein and adsorbed on covalent affinity chromatography gel as on solid-phase extraction support during separating process. The (CAC-TDI) gel, specially prepared, was used as a solid phase extraction support (SPE) for preconcentration of Hg-thionein (Hg-Th), Cd-thionein (Cd-Th), Zn-thionein (Zn-Th) and Cu-thionein (Cu-Th) proteins and Hg, Cd, Zn and Cu bonded with MTs from water, human fluids such as: urine, human plasma, breast milk and tissues homogenates.     

Cerium isotope partition in the HCl/TBP extraction system

The^142/140Ce unit separation factor (q) for Ce(III)-Ce(IV) exchange reaction in an extraction system containing Ce(IV) in tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) and Ce(III) in hydrochloric acid has been determined. The value of q was found to be 0.9996±0.0001 (2) in the 12M HCl/TBP extraction system. The properties of the extraction systems containing nitric and hydrochloric acids in regard to isotope partition have been discussed.     

On two methods of determining the ellipses and ellipsoids of positioning accuracy of robot manipulators

Summary When analysing the problem of the positioning accuracy of robot manipulators it is important to know how far random deviations of the hand may be from the desired position if the joint positioning errors possess a normal distribution. Two methods of determining the ellipses and ellipsoids of probability concentration are compared. The first of them is based on the standard procedure of the probability calculus. The second approximate method consists in finding at first the polygon or polyhedron of the positioning accuracy, and then in finding the ellipse or ellipsoid with principal axes and second order moments coinciding with those of the polygon or polyhedron, respectively. Examples of application demonstrate that these two methods give very close results.

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Zwei Methoden zur Bestimmung der Ellipsen und Ellipsoide der Positioniergenauigkeit von Handhabungsrobotern

Übersicht Bei der Untersuchung der Positioniergenauigkeit von Handhabungsrobotern ist es wichtig, die Größe zufälliger Abweichungen des Greifers von der erstrebten Position zu kennen, wenn die Lagefehler der Verbindungen eine Normalverteilung besitzen. Es werden zwei Methoden zur Bestimmung der Ellipsen bzw. Ellipsoide der Wahrscheinlichkeitsdichte verglichen. Die erste beruht auf dem Standardverfahren der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung. Die zweite Näherungsmethode besteht darin, daß zunächst das Polygon bzw. Polyeder der Positioniergenauigkeit bestimmt wird und danach die Ellipse bzw. das Ellipsoid mit den Hauptachsen und Momenten zweiter Ordnung wie das Polygon oder Polyeder. Beispiele zeigen, daß beide Methoden zu sehr ähnlichen Ergebnissen führen.