Differential determination of arsenic(III) and total arsenic using flow injection on-line separation and preconcentration for graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

Arsenic(III) can be quantitatively extracted using sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (NaDDTC) as the complexing agent and C18 reversed phase packing as the column material for solid phase extraction. Arsenic(V) must be reduced to its trivalent oxidation state prior to extraction. A mixture of sodium sulphite, hydrochloric acid, sodium thiosulphate and potassium iodide was found to be optimum for on-line reduction. When the sorbent extraction is carried out without and with the addition of the reduction mixture, arsenic(III) and total arsenic can be determined sequentially by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with detection limits (3 σ) of 0.32 ng for As(III) and 0.43 ng for total arsenic. A 7.6-fold enhancement in peak area compared to direct injection of 40 μl samples was obtained after 60 s preconcentration. Results obtained for sea water standard reference materials, using aqueous standards for calibration, agree well with certified values. A precision of 5.5% RSD was obtained for total arsenic in a sea water sample (1.65 As). Results obtained for synthetic mixtures of trivalent and pentavalent arsenic agreed well with expected values.     

Conversion of single-stranded oligonucleotides into cloned duplexes and its consecutive application to short artificial genes.

A general method to convert single-stranded, chemically synthesized oligonucleotides into cloned duplexes is described. Oligonucleotides supplied with 3'-terminal extensions that are complementary to 3'-protruding ends obtained by certain restriction enzymes can be cloned either directly or with the help of an adapter molecule into double-stranded vectors. Two methods have also been developed for consecutive cloning applications. According to these methods, the synthetic oligonucleotides (and their enzymatically prepared complementary strands) are joined, one after the other, inside a cloning vector, each joining requiring one cloning step. Synthetic genes are thus built up from oligonucleotides corresponding to only one strand of the DNA. The sequential assembly of the cloned duplex takes place in the 5' to 3' direction. Each oligonucleotide is supplied with a four-nucleotide-long 3'-terminal extension, but this sequence is eliminated when the joining takes place, leaving no limiting sequence between the oligonucleotides. The two consecutive cloning methods, the adapter and the polycloning site methods, are illustrated by the assembly of short artificial genes.     

Peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence detection of condensates of malondialdehyde with thiobarbituric acids using a flow system.

The peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence(CL) detection method for the evaluation of the CL intensity of malondialdehyde(MDA) condensates with seven 2-thiobarbituric acid derivatives is described. The method consists of a flow injection technique together with a CL detection system using bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate(TCPO) and hydrogen peroxide as chemiluminogenic reagents. Linear correlations between CL intensity and concentration are obtained for pmol levels of condensates. Among the condensates, 1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid(DETBA)-MDA shows the largest CL intensity. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/CL detection of DETBA-MDA and 1,3-diphenyl-2-thiobarbituric acid(DPTBA)-MDA using a mixture of TCPO and hydrogen peroxide in acetonitrile as a postcolumn reagent solution is also described. The detection limits for DETBA-MDA and DPTBA-MDA are 20 and 200 fmol, respectively, per 20 microL injection at a signal-to-noise ratio of 2. This HPLC/CL detection system was applied to the determination of MDA in rat brains by using DETBA as a fluorescent derivatizing reagent.     

An approach to numerical solution of multipoint boundary-value problems

An approach is proposed to solving multipoint boundary-value problems for linear differential equation of w-th order, based on reduction to two-point boundary-value problems. The two-point problems are solved by the stable discrete orthogonalization method. Some numerical examples are considered.Translated from Vychislitel'naya i Prikladnaya Matematika, No. 58, pp. 36–45, 1986.     

Winning controllers and regions in competitive nonlinear dynamic games with two qualitative objectives and uncertain information

The Liapunov technique has been introduced in differential games in a sequence of works over the last decade. We discuss application of this technique to the interface between two competitive semi-games, each with different qualitative objective. The feedback information for controllers is provided from designed, analytically integrable state predictors with reduced dynamics, which considerably shortens the computing time. The case is illustrated on the scenario of target reaching before being intercepted, and intercepting before target is reached.Deceased.     

Effects of saturation on optical bistability with coupled surface plasmons

We present exact numerical results for a symmetric layered medium (prism/Ag film/nonlinear dielectric/Ag film/prism) where the middle dielectric slab is assumed to have a saturation-type nonlinearity. We show bistable behaviour in the power dependence of the reflectivity ofp-polarized light under the condition when coupled surface modes are excited in the structure. Moreover, we study the effect of saturation on the bistable behaviour to show that multivalued character is inhibited by saturation effects. The field distributions corresponding to the minimum reflectivity states of the nonlinear structure are also presented.     

Fluorides of ruthenium and chromium: Theoretical studies

The electronic and structural characteristics of CrF₅, CrF₄, RuF₅ and RuF₄ were studied. Ab initio (SCF-CI) calculations were performed with different structures and spin states for each complex. The favored conformation always corresponds to the highest multiplicity: doublet for CrF₅ in D_3h, triplet for CrF₄ in T_d, quadruplet for RuF₅ in C_4v and quintuplet for RuF₄ in D_4h symmetry.     

The Almost Sure Limit Theorem for Sums of Random Vectors

We establish a sufficient condition for an almost sure limit theorem for sums of independent random vectors under minimal moment conditions and assumptions on normalizing sequences. We provide an example showing that our condition is close to the optimal one, as well as a related sufficient condition due to Berkes and Dehling. Bibliography: 5 titles.     

An optical method and neural network for surface roughness measurement

The measurement of surface roughness using stylus equipment has several disadvantages. A non-contact optical method is needed for measuring the surface roughness of engineering metals with improved accuracy. One candidate for an optical method is the use of a laser source, where the laser light intensity reflected from the surface represents the surface roughness of the illuminated area. A relation can be developed between the reflected laser beam intensity and the surface roughness of the metal. The present study examines the measurement of the surface roughness of the stainless steel samples using a He-Ne laser beam. In the measurement a Gaussian curve parameter of a Gaussian function approximating the peak of the reflected intensity is measured with a fast response photodetector. In order to achieve this, an experimental setup is designed and built. In the experimental apparatus, fiber-optic cables are used to collect the reflected beam from the surface. The output of the fiber-optic system is fed to a back-propagation neural network to classify the resulting surface profile and predict the surface roughness value. The results obtained from the present study are then compared with the stylus measurement results. It is found that the resolution of the surface texture improves considerably in the case of optical method and the neural network developed for this purpose can classify the surface texture according to the control charts developed mathematically.     

Production of neutrinos at HERA

For theep collider at HERA, we study processes with neutrinos in the final state. Furthermore, we discuss the production ofW andZ bosons. Because of the very small lifetimes of theW andZ, we consider the production of their leptonic decay products rather than the bosons themselves. All the results are based on exact calculations of the matrix element at the tree level. Total cross sections and various kinematical distributions are presented.