A journey through quality control

The Euroanalysis VII conference in Vienna included a two-day session: Quality Assurance in Analytical Chemistry. The contributions comprised 15 lectures devoted to: intra-laboratory quality measures, inter-laboratory control, formal aspects and accreditation and implementation. The paper presents an overview of the main items developed by the contributors.A survey on the session on Quality Assurance in Analytical Chemistry of Euroanalysis VIIThe authors thank the organizers of EUROANALYSIS VII and in particular Dr. B. Griepink and Dr. E. Maier of the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) of the CEC for their support and considerable contributions.     

Automorphisms of quasitriangular algebras

The outer automorphism group of a nest algebra is canonically isomorphic to the (spatial) automorphism group of the nest itself. The outer automorphism group of the associated quasitriangular algebra is canonically isomorphic to a group of “approximate” automorphisms of the nest. A simple proof that every derivation of a quasitriangular algebra is inner is obtained as a corollary.     

Non-planar smoulder propagation governed by diffusion

The steady propagation of a thin smouldering front in a half-spacehas been considered. A suitable coordinate transformation hasallowed the region near the leading edge of the front to beexamined for both a maintained planar surface and with surfacecollapse due to material shrinkage. The change in the oxidizerconcentration for a small increment in the propagation speedfor large time and surface collapse has been determined. Theinfluence of two types of nonlinear diffusion on the shape ofthe smouldering front has been found; other cases can be dealtwith in a similar manner.     

Time-gated microscopic energy transfer measurements for probing mitochondrial metabolism

Spectroscopic and microscopic methods for probing mitochondrial malfunction were established using cultivated endothelial cells from the calf aorta and various inhibitors of the respiratory chain, which is located at the inner mitochondrial membrane. Time-gated fluorescence spectroscopy was used to measure autofluorescence of the coenzyme NADH as well as “energy transfer efficacy” from excited NADH molecules (energy donor) to the mitochondrial marker rhodamine-123 (energy acceptor). Autofluorescence usually exhibited a weak increase after specific inhibition of enzyme complexes of the respiratory chain. In contrast, a pronounced increase in energy transfer efficacy was observed after inhibition of the same enzyme complexes. The detection of donor (NADH) and acceptor (R123) fluorescence in different nanosecond time gates following the exciting laser pulses enhances selectivity and improves quantification of energy transfer measurements. Therefore, timegated energy transfer spectroscopy is suggested to be an appropriate tool for probing mitochondrial malfunction.