Analysis and Speciation of Traces of Arsenic in Environmental,Food and Industrial Samples by Voltammetry: a Review

Voltammetric approaches for the determination of arsenic and speciation at trace levels are critically appraised in a review covering the literature from 1970 to 2002. Special attention is devoted to stripping modes and to issues related to the choice of working material and supporting electrolyte. A section is dedicated to the management of real samples and aspects of sample preparation. An extensive compilation, organized by real sample type, gathers essential experimental conditions. Potentiometric stripping analysis is introduced for sake of comparison. The coupling of voltammetric detection or preaccumulation with FIA, chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and ICP techniques is also addressed.     

Effect of chloride on heavy metal mobility of harbour sediments

To evaluate the environmental impact of polluted sediments, several operationally defined sequential extraction procedures (SEPs) have been described. Salinity has long been recognised as an important variable determining the physicochemical behaviour of heavy metals in marine sediments. Thus, in the present paper, the modified BCR-SEP has been applied to harbour sediments in order to assess to what extent trace metal mobility (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) could be influenced by chloride content in sediments. For this, washed (W) and non-washed (NW) sediments were compared. The relative mobility order observed for the six trace metals studied was not seen to be influenced by the presence of chloride in the sediments, but an increase of mobility was observed for Cd and Zn (the most mobile metals) when chloride was present in the sediments. Characterisation of the sediments and of the pseudo-total metal contents by means of an aqua regia extraction was also assessed.     

Determination of trace arsenic on hanging copper amalgam drop electrode

Hanging copper amalgam drop electrode has been applied for trace determination of arsenic by cathodic stripping analysis. Detection limit for As(III) as low as 0.33 nM (0.02 μg/L) at deposition time (240 s) could be obtained. For seven successive determinations of As(III) at concentration of 5 nM relative standard deviation was 2.5% (n = 7). Interferences from selected metals and surfactant substances were examined. Absence of copper ions in sample solution causes easier optimization and makes method less vulnerable on contamination. The developed method was validated by analysis of certified reference materials (CRMs) and applied to arsenic determinations in natural water samples.     

Topical Problems in Elemental Analysis of Advanced Ceramic Materials

Selected prominent problems in the analysis of advanced ceramic materials are surveyed. The importance of reliability of results is discussed in the field of elemental trace- and microanalysis in view of its interaction with economy, power of detection, local resolution and speciation selectivity. Particular problems in the analysis of major constituents, trace components and microlocal distributions are based on the striking propertics of ceramics; they are exemplified. Analytical assistance must start from the beginning of the production processing, in the preparation of the powdered base materials. Determination of the stoichiometry requires high accuracy and differentiation of chemical species in bulk and surface analysis of ceramic base powders. Element trace determination by direct instrumental methods requires standard reference materials for calibration; these are currently inavailable in a sufficient variety. For optimum reliability and power of detection, element traces must be prepared in isolated form in a small excitation volume for analysis. A review on the state-of-the-art of wet-chemical combined procedures is presented. Decomposition position procedures are emphasized, due to their risk of contributing severe systematic error. Combustion in elementary fluorine is presented for decomposition of refractory materials. The performance of some direct procedures is discussed. Very efficient methods are available for element trace determinations in ceramic materials, offering high detection power. Several approaches for high-resolution local microanalysis in non-conductive ceramic materials are identified as the most promising development in the analysis of sintered compact ceramic products and devices.     

Practical aspects of the uncertainty and traceability of spectrochemical measurement results by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

The determination of trace elements concentration in water by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) is a common and well established technique in many chemical testing laboratories. However, the evaluation of measurement uncertainty results is not systematically implemented. The paper presents an easy step-by-step example leading to the evaluation of the combined standard uncertainty of copper determination in water using ETAAS. The major contributors to the overall measurement uncertainty are identified due to amount of copper in water sample that mainly depends on the absorbance measurements, due to certified reference material and due to auto-sampler volume measurements. The practical aspects how the traceability of copper concentration in water can be established and demonstrated are also pointed out.     

人体五行微量元素与百草元营养包均衡食疗的研究

通过对人体五行微量元素与食物吸收微量元素影响因素分析,采用“健脾开胃”均衡食疗配方,对百草元营养包的研制作了全面的介绍和论述。经临床患者食疗结果表明：总有效率为98%．该产品达到了预期设计目标与均衡食疗要求．     

Trace metal speciation measurements in waters by the liquid binding phase DGT device

The speciation measurements of trace metals by the diffusive gradients in thin-films technique (DGT) using a poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) aqueous solution as a binding phase and a cellulose dialysis membrane (CDM) as a diffusive layer, CDM-PSS DGT, were investigated and showed good agreement with computer modelling calculations. The diffusion coefficients of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) complexes with Cd²⁺ and Cu²⁺ were measured and compared with those of the inorganic metal ions. CDM-PSS DGT device was tested for speciation measurement in sample solutions containing EDTA, tannic acid (TA), glucose (GL), dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBS) and humic acid (HA) as complexing ligands forming organic complexes with varying stability constants. Lower percentages of DGT labile copper concentrations over total filterable copper concentrations obtained from the deployments in freshwater sites indicated that copper complexes with organic matter were basically not measured by the devices.     

延边地区65～108岁健康老人头发中锌、铜、铁、锰、镁的含量

用原子吸收光谱法测定延边地区317名65～108岁老人头发中锌、铜、铁、锰、镁含量，观察不同民族、性别、年龄老人这些元素的差异。结果表明：1.朝鲜旗发锌低于汉族，满族发铜低于汉族、朝鲜族，汉族发镁高于朝鲜族、满族，发铁、发锰在汉、朝、满民族之间无区别。2．汉族、朝鲜族男发锌高于女性，汉族女性发铜高于男性，发铁、发锰、发镁在性别之间无区别。3、90岁组朝鲜族发锰、发镁低于65岁、76岁组，朝鲜族发锌、发铜、发铁在65～108岁之间无统计学意义。     

High-density properties of hard spheres within a modified Percus-Yevick theory: The role of thermodynamic consistency

Using an integral-equation approach based upon an approximation for the tail function, the equilibrium properties of a system of hard spheres are studied with special concern for the behavior in the region of close packing. The closure adopted is such that full, internal consistency is ensured in the thermodynamics of the model with respect to both the two zero-separation theorems as well as to the more standard virial and fluctuation routes to the equation of state. The scheme also makes use of the continuity properties of the tail function and of the cavity distribution function at contact. These properties are explictly tested in the low-density limit up to the fourth derivative. The theory generates an equilibrium branch bounded on the high-density side by a point corresponding to a packing fraction0.78, a value which closely matches Rogers' least upper bound for the densest packing of spheres. The pair structure of the fluid in the state of random close packing is also compared to the type of local order predicted by the theory at similar densities.     

Convexlike and concavelike conditions in alternative,minimax, and minimization theorems

Convexlike and concavelike conditions are of interest for extensions of the Von Neumann minimax theorem. Since the beginning of the 80's, these conditions also play a certain role in deriving generalized alternative theorems of the Gordan, Motzkin, and Farkas type and Lagrange multiplier results for constrained minimization problems.In this paper, we study various known convexlike conditions for vector-valued functions on a set and investigate convexlike and concavelike conditions for real-valued functions on a product setC×D, where we are mainly interested in the relationships between these conditions. At the end of the paper, we point out several conclusions from our results for the above-mentioned mathematical fields.The author is indebted to Dr. R. Reemtsen and Dr. V. Jeyakumar for their helpful comments during the preparations of this paper.