Evaluation of a proficiency test on cadmium and lead in herbal material using assigned reference values

This paper presents an international proficiency testing program (APLAC T065) on two trace elements, cadmium and lead, in an herbal sample, Herba Desmodii Styracifolii. The program was registered with a total of 109 laboratories from 42 countries. The assigned reference values of the analytes for performance assessment were provided by the organizers using an accurate gravimetric isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry technique. z-Score was used as the numerical indicator to interpret participants' competence. The between-laboratory variations for cadmium and lead were respectively 18.7% and 19.8% and the consensus values were found to be consistent with the assigned reference values. Twenty-two participants gave at least one unsatisfactory z-score, but the performance of the majority of participants on the analysis of cadmium and lead in herbal matrix was generally good when compared with the assigned reference values.     

Element assessment in whole blood, serum and urine of three Italian healthy sub-populations by INAA

This research, that is a framework of a big project regarding the knowledge of human metabolism in patients affected by renal disease, is aimed to assess the levels of some selected essential (Co, Fe, K, Na, Rb, Se and Zn) and non-essential elements (Br Cr, Cs, Hg, Ni and Sb) in different biological matrices such as whole blood, serum and urine, of three Italian sub-populations.The analytical methodology involved is the Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), a primary analytical technique: the samples (totally 144) were irradiated in the Triga nuclear reactor at the R.C.-Casaccia ENEA for 12 h at a neutron flux of 2.6 × 10¹² n × cm^{− 2} × s^{− 1}.The results show a similar distribution for essential elements whereas quite different for non-essential elements. The statistical treatment has evidenced no differences among the samples grouping the subpopulations into unique one. In this way, the levels found can be considered “reference values” in the investigated matrices.     

A new biosynthetic tracer for the inline measurement of virus retention in membrane processes: part II. Biochemical and physicochemical characterizations of the new tracer

In a previous work, a reproducible procedure to produce a new biosynthetic tracer was developed. This new tracer is an MS2 bacteriophage with enzymatic probes grafted on its surface, which can induce enzymatic activity of the tracer. In this paper, the biochemical and physicochemical characteristics of this new tracer are determined. A protocol was developed to determine the specific enzymatic activity kcat_TRACER of the tracer, which was found to be 2.93 ± 0.78 × 10⁴ min⁻¹ on average. Physicochemical characterizations of this new tracer showed that it is representative of viruses and may thus be used as a virus surrogate to assess the virus retention of membrane systems inline. Notably, the mean diameter and molecular weight of the tracer were found to be respectively 64.1 ± 0.3 nm and 12140 ± 3654 kDa, which are within the size and molecular weight ranges of pathogenic viruses carried by water. The tracer surface was also studied and revealed the considerable porosity of the grafted probe layer, with a mean porosity of 88%, which could explain why the zeta potential of the tracers (−14.34 ± 1.66 mV) was nearly the same as that of the native MS2 phages. Finally, a comparison between filtration of the reference microorganism used for membrane performance assessment (the MS2 phage) and the tracer suspensions showed the same filtration behaviour.     

A Proper Generalized Decomposition for the solution of elliptic problems in abstract form by using a functional Eckart-Young approach

The Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD) is a methodology initially proposed for the solution of partial differential equations (PDE) defined in tensor product spaces. It consists in constructing a separated representation of the solution of a given PDE. In this paper we consider the mathematical analysis of this framework for a larger class of problems in an abstract setting. In particular, we introduce a generalization of Eckart and Young theorem which allows to prove the convergence of the so-called progressive PGD for a large class of linear problems defined in tensor product Hilbert spaces.     

Center problem and bifurcation behavior for a class of quasi analytic systems

Results about the study of nonanalytic systems’ center-focus and bifurcations of limit cycles are hardly seen in published references up till now. In this paper, we investigated the problems of determining center or focus and bifurcations for a class of planar quasi cubic analytic systems. The recursive formula to figure out generalized focal values is given, ulteriorly the conditions for four limit cycles from the origin or the point at infinity are obtained and center problems are considered. What is worth pointing out is that we offer a kind of interesting phenomenon that the exponent parameter λ control the non-analyticity of studied system (3.8) in this paper. In terms of nonanalytic differential systems, our work is new.     

The Rayleigh-Ritz method, refinement and Arnoldi process for periodic matrix pairs

We extend the Rayleigh-Ritz method to the eigen-problem of periodic matrix pairs. Assuming that the deviations of the desired periodic eigenvectors from the corresponding periodic subspaces tend to zero, we show that there exist periodic Ritz values that converge to the desired periodic eigenvalues unconditionally, yet the periodic Ritz vectors may fail to converge. To overcome this potential problem, we minimize residuals formed with periodic Ritz values to produce the refined periodic Ritz vectors, which converge under the same assumption. These results generalize the corresponding well-known ones for Rayleigh-Ritz approximations and their refinement for non-periodic eigen-problems. In addition, we consider a periodic Arnoldi process which is particularly efficient when coupled with the Rayleigh-Ritz method with refinement. The numerical results illustrate that the refinement procedure produces excellent approximations to the original periodic eigenvectors.     

On differential–algebraic equations in infinite dimensions

We consider a class of differential–algebraic equations (DAEs) with index zero in an infinite dimensional Hilbert space. We define a space of consistent initial values, which lead to classical continuously differential solutions for the associated DAE. Moreover, we show that for arbitrary initial values we obtain mild solutions for the associated problem. We discuss the asymptotic behaviour of solutions for both problems. In particular, we provide a characterisation for exponential stability and exponential dichotomies in terms of the spectrum of the associated operator pencil.     

Energy levels and spectral lines of Ne VIII

All experimental data on the valence-shell-excited and core-excited spectra of Li-like neon, including previously unpublished beam-foil spectroscopy data, have been compiled and critically evaluated. Seventeen spectral lines have been newly identified. Sets of recommended energy levels have been derived from the total list of observed lines and from selected results of theoretical and semi-empirical calculations. An accurate value of the ionization potential has been derived from existing theoretical calculations. Electronic supplementary material Online Material