Ion-selective electrode for gallium determination in nickel alloy, fly-ash and biological samples

A poly(vinyl chloride)-based membrane of 2,9-dimethyl-4,11-diphenyl-1,5,8,12-tetraazacyclotetradeca-1,4,8,11-tetraene (DDTCT) with sodium tetraphenyl borate (STB) as an anion excluder and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), dibutyl butylphosphonate (DBBP), tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEP) and tributyl phosphate (TBP) as plasticizing solvent mediators was prepared and investigated as a Ga(III)-selective electrode. The best performance was observed with the membrane having the ligand-PVC-DBP-STB composition 1:4:1:1, which worked well over a wide concentration range (1.45 × 10⁻⁶ to 0.1 mol L⁻¹) with a Nernstian slope of 28.7 mV per decade of activity between pH 4.0 and 10.0. This electrode showed a fast response time of 12 s and was used over a period of 100 days with good reproducibility (s = 0.3 mV). The selectivity coefficients for monovalent, divalent and trivalent cations indicate excellent selectivity for Ga(III) ions over a large number of cations. Anions such as Cl⁻ and SO₄²⁻ do not interfere and the electrode also works satisfactorily in partially water-alcohol medium. The practical utility of the membrane sensor has also been observed in solutions contaminated with detergents, i.e., cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and sodium dodecyl sulfate and used for the determination of gallium in nickel alloy, fly-ash and biological samples.     

Determination of ochratoxin A in maize bread samples by LC with fluorescence detection

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a secondary fungal metabolite produced by several moulds, mainly by Aspergillus ochraceus, A. carbonarius, A. niger and by Penicillium verrucosum. The present work shows the results of comparative studies using different procedures for the analysis of OTA in maize bread samples. The studied analytical methods involved extraction with different volumes of PBS/methanol, different extraction apparatus, and clean-up through immunoaffinity columns. The separation and identification were carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The optimized method for analysis of OTA in maize bread involved extraction with PBS:methanol (50:50), and clean-up with IAC column. The limit of quantification was 0.033 ng g⁻¹. Recoveries ranged from 87% to 102% for fortifications at 2.000 and 0.500 ng g⁻¹, respectively, within-day R.S.D. of 1.4% and 4.7%. The proposed method was applied to 15 samples and the presence of OTA was found in nine samples at concentrations ranging from nd to 2.650 ng g⁻¹.     

Orthmodular lattices whose MacNeille completions are not orthomodular

The only known example of an orthomodular lattice (abbreviated: OML) whose MacNeille completion is not an OML has been noted independently by several authors, see Adams [1], and is based on a theorem of Ameniya and Araki [2]. This theorem states that for an inner product space V, if we consider the ortholattice ?(V,⊥) = {A \( \subseteq \) V: A = A ^⊥⊥} where A ^⊥ is the set of elements orthogonal to A, then ?(V,⊥) is an OML if and only if V is complete. Taking the orthomodular lattice L of finite or confinite dimensional subspaces of an incomplete inner product space V, the ortholattice ?(V,⊥) is a MacNeille completion of L which is not orthomodular. This does not answer the longstanding question Can every OML be embedded into a complete OML? as L can be embedded into the complete OML ?(V,⊥), where V is the completion of the inner product space V. Although the power of the Ameniya-Araki theorem makes the preceding example elegant to present, the ability to picture the situation is lost. In this paper, I present a simpler method to construct OMLs whose Macneille completions are not orthomodular. No use is made of the Ameniya-Araki theorem. Instead, this method is based on a construction introduced by Kalmbach [7] in which the Boolean algebras generated by the chains of a lattice are glued together to form an OML. A simple method to complete these OMLs is also given. The final section of this paper briefly covers some elementary properties of the Kalmbach construction. I have included this section because I feel that this construction may be quite useful for many purposes and virtually no literature has been written on it.     

Some identities for products and degree raising of splines

In this paper it is shown how the algebraic product of two spline functions, each represented in terms of B-splines, can again be represented as a linear combination of suitable B-splines. As a corollary to this result we obtain an explicit representation of a given B-spline function in terms of B-splines of some arbitrary higher degree. This generalizes some known results for raising the degree by one. Recurrence relations for both products and degree raising are established that may be useful for computation.Communicated by Larry L. Schumaker.     

DeWitt-Schwinger expansion for projective and Grassmann spaces

We propose a method of calculating the heat kernel expansion of coset spaces. The five first coefficients of this expansion on symmetric spaces of dimension d8 are obtained.     

On error estimates of some higher order projection and penalty-projection methods for Navier-Stokes equations

Summary This paper is a continuation of our previous work [10] on projection methods. We study first existing higher order projection schemes in the semidiscretized form for the Navier-Stokes equations. One error analysis suggests that the precision of these schemes is most likely plagued by the inconsistent Neumann boundary condition satisfied by the pressure approximations. We then propose a penalty-projection scheme for which we obtain improved error estimates.This work is partially supported by NSF grant MS-8802596.     

Some properties of the riesz charge associated with a δ-subharmonic function

The first property is a refinement of earlier results of Ch. de la Vallée Poussin, M. Brelot, and A. F. Grishin. Let w=u–v with u, v superharmonic on a suitable harmonic space (for example an open subset of R ⁿ ), and let [w]=[u]–[v] denote the associated Riesz charge. If w0, and if E denotes the set of those points of at which the lim inf of w in thefine topology is 0, then the restriction of [w] to E is 0. Another property states that, if e denotes a polar subset of such that the fine lim inf of |w| at each point of e is finite, then the restriction of [w] to e is 0.     

Chern forms,chern numbers and curvature conditions on a Kähler-Einstein surface

In this paper we considered curvature conditions on a Kähler-Einstein surface of general type. In particular we showed that it has negative holomorphic sectional curvature if theL ²-norm of (3C ₂ ?C ₁ ² )/C ₁ ² is sufficiently small, whereC ₁ andC ₂ are the first and second Chern classes of the surfaces. This generalizes a result of Yau on the uniformization of Kähler-Einstein surfaces of general type and with 3C ₂ ?C ₁ ² = 0. Also in the process, we obtain a necessary condition in terms of an inequality between Chern numbers for a Kähler-Einstein metric to have negative holomorphic sectional curvature.     

Wavelength-modulated,continuum-source excited atomic fluorescence spectrometric system for wear metals in jet engine lubricating oils using electrothermal atomization

A system for measuring atomic fluorescence of atoms produced via an electrically-heated graphite filament in a flame (acetylene/air or acetylene/nitrous oxide) and excited with a 300-W Eimac xenon are lamp is described. The experimental system also included wavelength modulation for background emission/fluorescence/scatter correction and an optically-triggered electronic integrator for efficient monitoring of the analyte fluorescence signal. Copper, aluminum and molybdenum were determined in jet engine lubricating oil samples (1 μl) with no pretreatment. The determinations are evaluated with respect to the accuracy and repeatability criteria of the U.S. Joint Oil Analysis Program.