Quantitative separation of zinc traces from cadmium matrices by solid-phase extraction with polyurethane foam

A system for separation of zinc traces from large amounts of cadmium is proposed in this paper. It is based on the solid-phase extraction of the zinc in the form of thiocyanate complexes by the polyurethane foam. The following parameters were studied: effect of pH and of the thiocyanate concentration on the zinc extraction, shaking time required for quantitative extraction, amount of PU foam necessary for complete extraction, conditions for the separation of zinc from cadmium, influence of other cations and anions on the zinc sorption by PU foam, and required conditions for back extraction of zinc from the PU foam. The results show that zinc traces can be separated from large amounts of cadmium at pH 3.0±0.50, with the range of thiocyanate concentration from 0.15 to 0.20 mol l⁻¹, and the shaking time of 5 min. The back extraction of zinc can be done by shaking it with water for 10 min. Calcium, barium, strontium, magnesium, aluminum, nickel and iron(II) are efficiently separated. Iron(III), copper(II) and cobalt(II) are extracted simultaneously with zinc, but the iron reduction with ascorbic acid and the use of citrate to mask copper(II) and cobalt(II) increase the selectivity of the zinc extraction. The anions nitrate, chloride, sulfate, acetate, thiosulphate, tartarate, oxalate, fluoride, citrate, and carbonate do not affect the zinc extraction. Phosphate and EDTA must be absent. The method proposed was applied to determine zinc in cadmium salts using 4-(2-pyridylazo)-resorcinol (PAR) as a spectrophotometric reagent. The result achieved did not show significant difference in the accuracy and precision (95% confidence level) with those obtained by ICP–AES analysis.     

The computation of the representation matrices of the generators of the unitary group

A method is presented for the efficient computation of the representation matrices of the unitary group, U(n) in the Gelfand—Tsetlin basis (corresponding to the usual spin-symmetry adapted basis for an N electron CI). The present scheme is conceptually and computationally attractive in that it is formulated directly in terms of Weyl tableaux and also that it permits simultaneous basis vector generation and matrix element evaluation. In addition the basis vectors are ordered so that subsequent restriction to the three dimensional rotation group is facilitated. An illustrative example is also presented.Taken in part from a thesis submitted to the University of London in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD.     

Computation of Rotation Matrices Making Lined‐Up to the Local Cartesian Coordinates

Rotation matrices were expressed in terms of Gaunt coefficients and complex spherical harmonics. The rotation matrices were calculated using two different ways. In the first, Gaunt coefficients and normalized complex spherical harmonics were directly calculated using binomial coefficients; in the second, Gaunt coefficients and complex spherical harmonics were recursively calculated. The methods were compared with respect to accuracy and computation time (CPU) for low and very high quantum numbers.     

Statistics of transfer matrices for disordered quantum thin metallic slabs

In the quantum transport problem of a tight-binding Anderson model, the statistics of eigenvalues for the transfer matrices of thin disordered slabs is studied. Numerical simulations indicate that the probability distribution of nearest neighbor eigenvalue spacing and the ₃ statistics have already become close to that of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble for sample lengths of the order of the mean free path, provided that transverse localization effects are not important. An intuitive argument is given why this should occur independently of the size of the matrix. Therefore, good mixing of the channels is not essential for obtaining Gaussian orthogonal ensemble type statistics and universal conductance fluctuations.     

Properties of balanced and perfect matrices

In this paper we define wheel matrices and characterize some properties of matrices that are perfect but not balanced. A consequence of our results is that if a matrixA is perfect then we can construct a polynomial number of submatricesA _I,,A _n ofA such thatA is balanced if and only if all the submatricesA ₁,,A _n ofA are perfect. This implies that if the problem of testing perfection is polynomially solvable, then so is the problem of testing balancedness.Partial support under NSF Grants DMS-8606188, ECS-8800281 and DDM-8800281.     

Catalysis in Organic Solvents with Lipase Immobilized by Sol-Gel Technique

A series of immobilized lipases were obtained by sol-gel process, using silica prepolymers prepared from tetramethoxysilane, methyltrimethoxysilane, propyltrimethoxysilane and (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane. The activities of these biocatalysts were compared with the lipase adsorbed on poly(methylhydroxysiloxane) and encapsulated into a silicone rubber, lipase entrapped in nanoporous silica matrix and commercial sol-gel lipase. Model reactions were the esterification of stearic acid and Corey lactone bisalcohol (an intermediate of prostaglandin synthesis). The positive effect of hydrophobic-hydrophilic interface, created by the addition of organosilanes, on the activity of biocatalysts was partially reduced by decreasing specific surface of mesopores. Hydrophobic solvents increased the activity of the lipase entrapped in tetramethoxysilane–methyltrimethoxysilane prepolymer in the sequence acetone < toluene < benzene < decane < hexane. The activity of silicone rubber-encapsulated biocatalysts was proportional to polymer swelling in organic solvents (hexane > toluene > acetone).     

Preparation and characterization of bismaleimide/1,3-dicyanatobenzene modified epoxy intercrosslinked matrices

An intercrosslinked network of cyanate ester (CE)-bismaleimide (BMI) modified epoxy matrix system was made by using epoxy resin, 1,3-dicyanatobenzene and bismaleimide (N,N^′-bismaleimido-4,4^′-diphenyl methane) with diaminodiphenylmethane as curing agent. BMI-CE-epoxy matrices were characterised using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and heat deflection temperature (HDT) analysis. The matrices, in the form of castings, were characterised for their mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength and unnotched Izod impact test as per ASTM methods. Mechanical studies indicated that the introduction of cyanate ester into epoxy resin improves the toughness and flexural strength with reduction in tensile strength and glass transition temperature, whereas the incorporation of bismaleimide into epoxy resin influences the mechanical and thermal properties according to its percentage content. DSC thermograms of cyanate ester as well as BMI modified epoxy resin show an unimodal reaction exotherm. Electrical properties were studied as per ASTM method and the morphology of the BMI modified epoxy and CE-epoxy systems were studied by scanning electron microscope.     

适用于圆筒形增益区的同轴四镜腔的失调分析

采用矩阵光学方法,对适用于可见光的圆筒形增益区同轴四镜腔中的腔镜因倾斜而产生的失调特性进行了分析,给出了相关计算公式。该四镜腔由同轴的一个复曲面全反镜和两个光学玻璃加工的透镜和一个平面输出镜组成。以He-Ne激光器为例,给出了数值计算结果,关键元件复曲面镜的失调对输出的影响较大。这为腔元件的加工以及腔镜的安装调试提供了参考。     

STRUCTURES OF CIRCULANT INVERSE M-MATRICES

In this paper, we present a useful result on the structures of circulant inverse Mmatrices. It is shown that if the n × n nonnegative circulant matrix A = Circ[c0, c1,… , c（n- 1）] is not a positive matrix and not equal to c0I, then A is an inverse M-matrix if and only if there exists a positive integer k, which is a proper factor of n, such that cjk 〉 0 for j=0,1…, [n-k/k], the other ci are zero and Circ[co, ck,… , c（n-k）] is an inverse M-matrix. The result is then extended to the so-called generalized circulant inverse M-matrices.