Fractionation and Bioaccessibility of Manganese,Copper, Zinc,Cadmium, and Lead in Commercial Vegetable and Rice Baby Foods Using Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) with Central Composite Design (CCD)

Abstract

Herein the bioaccessibility of Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb, selected from essential and toxic elements, was determined in commercially sold vegetable purees intended for infant and toddler consumption. Chemical fractionation studies using water, acetone, diethyl ether, chloroform:methanol, and n-hexane were employed to predict the importance of the protein and lipid parts of a matrix to assess the bioaccessibility data. In addition, in-vitro gastrointestinal digestion was performed to determine the bioaccessibility of the elements using a five level, three factor central composite design (CCD) to maximize the elemental solubility. The total elemental concentrations in all of the fractions were determined by inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Based on the consumption of one jar of vegetable/rice-based baby food, Zn was 1.3% of the recommended dietary allowance and Mn was 4.2% of the adequate intake level, while Cu was almost 100% of the adequate intake level. Additionally, Pb was always below the detection limit and Cd was sometimes under the detection limit for the percent bioaccessibility. However, in some samples, Cd was as high as 80% of the tolerable weekly intake level depending on the body weight.     

Schrödinger Equation Solutions for the Central Field Power Potential Energy I. V(r) = V 0(r/a 0)2ν−2, ν ≥ 1

The solution of a generalized non-relativistic Schrödinger equation with radial potential energy V(r)=V ₀(r/a ₀)^2–2 is presented. After reviewing the general properties of the radial ordinary differential equation, power series solutions are developed. The Green's function is constructed, its trace and the trace of its first iteration are calculated, and the ability of the traces to provide upper and lower bounds for the ground eigenvalue is examined. In addition, WKB-like solutions for the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are derived. The approximation method yields valid eigenvalues for large quantum numbers (Rydberg states).     

Energy transfer rates and impact sensitivities of two classes nitramine explosives molecules

Some explosives are stable molecules with large energy barriers to chemical reaction, and in shock or impact initiation, a sizable amount of phonon energy must be converted to the molecular internal higher vibrations by multiphonon up pumping. To investigate the relationship between impact sensitivities and energy transfer rates, the number of doorway modes of explosive molecules is estimated by a simple theory in which the rate is proportional to the number of normal mode vibrations. We evaluated frequencies of normal mode vibrations of 13 explosive molecules which are CHNO nitramine-contained and have not been analyzed previously. The number of doorway modes in the regions of 200–700 cm⁻¹ was evaluated by the direct counting method. For more clear investigation of the relationship we have classified these 13 nitramine explosive molecules, by the number of nitramine group they contained, into two groups. There are eight molecules that contained one nitramine group and five molecules that contained poly-nitramine groups. It is found that the number of doorway modes shows a linearly correlation to the impact sensitivities derived from drop hammer tests. This result is in agreement with that of several previous works. Besides, it is also noted in our study that in those nitramine explosives molecules with similar molecular structure (similar number nitramine group they contained) and similar molecular weight, the correlation between the sensitivity and the number of doorway modes is higher. We found that the vibrational frequency of ω corresponds to nitro group motions of every molecule is contributed to the number of doorway modes in the regions of 200–700 cm⁻¹.     

On the apparent molar volumes of nonelectrolytes in water

Apparent molar volumes of aqueous solutions of argon and xenon have been calculated using a previously developed comprehensive equation of state for nonelectrolyte systems. The equation consists of a virial expansion truncated after the fourth virial coefficient and a closed-form term approximating higher coefficients. Mixing rules are based on the composition dependence of virial coefficients, which is known from statistical mechanics. The equation accurately represents vapor-liquid and gas-gas equilibria for the Ar+H₂O and Xe+H₂O systems over wide ranges of pressure and temperature using two binary parameters. With the binary parameters determined from phase equilibrium data, the equation accurately predicts apparent molar volumes V in the near-critical and far-from-critical regions. Apart from reproducing experimental V data, the equation reveals remarkable maxima of V as a function of pressure and temperature in the near-critical region. The implications of this equation with respect to the Ar–H₂O potential are discussed via the second virial coefficient.     

Estimation of a quantile in some nonstandard cases

A necessary condition for the asymptotic normality of the sample quantile estimator isf(Q(p))=F(Q(p))>0, whereQ(p) is thep-th quantile of the distribution functionF(x). In this paper, we estimate a quantile by a kernel quantile estimator when this condition is violated. We have shown that the kernel quantile estimator is asymptotically normal in some nonstandard cases. The optimal convergence rate of the mean squared error for the kernel estimator is obtained with respect to the asymptotically optimal bandwidth. A law of the iterated logarithm is also established.This research was partially supported by the new faculty award from the University of Oregon.     

Local minima of the trust region problem

We consider the minimization of a quadratic formzVz+2zq subject to the two-norm constraint z=. The problem received considerable attention in the literature, notably due to its applications to a class of trust region methods in nonlinear optimization. While the previous studies were concerned with just the global minimum of the problem, we investigate the existence of all local minima. The problem is approached via the dual Lagrangian, and the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of all local minima are derived. We also examine the suitability of the conventional numerical techniques used to solve the problem to a class of single-instruction multiple-data computers known as processor arrays (in our case, AMT DAP 610). Simultaneously, we introduce certain hardware-oriented multisection algorithms, showing their efficiency in the case of small to medium size problems.This research was partially supported by the National Physical Laboratories of England under Contract RTP2/155/127.     

Convolution semigroups and central limit theorem associated with a dual convolution structure

We consider hypergroups associated with Jacobi functions ⁽⁾ (x), (–1/2). We prove the existence of a dual convolution structure on [0,+[i(]0,s ₀]{{) =++1,s ₀=min(,–+1). Next we establish a Lévy-Khintchine type formula which permits to characterize the semigroup and the infinitely divisible probabilities associated with this dual convolution, finally we prove a central limit theorem.     

Chapter 15 DEA/AR analysis of the 1988–1989 performance of the Nanjing textiles corporation

This article employs new data envelopment analysis/assurance region (DEA/AR) methods to evaluate the efficiency of the 35 textile factories of the Nanjing Textiles Corporation (NTC), Nanjing, China. The returns to scale (RTS) of these factories were studied without assuming that the optimal DEA solutions were unique. All DMUs are identified with pointsE (Extreme Efficient),E (Efficient but not an extreme point) andF (Frontier but not efficient). We then further identify the nonfrontier DMUs with pointsNE, NE andNF according to whether they are projected onto a point inE, E, orF en route to evaluating their performances. All of the inefficient factories were in classNF and had unique optimal primal-dual solution pairs. Consequently, the solution pairs satisfy the strong complementary slackness condition (SCSC). Application of cone-ratio (CR) ARs reduced significantly the number of factories in classE, and showed that some AR-efficient factories were more flexible in adopting the mixture of central planning and market economies that China currently is trying to use. Also, linked-cone (LC) ARs were applied to measure maximum and minimum profit ratios. The SCSC multiplier space approach was utilized to analyze the sensitivity of the efficiency results to potential errors in the data with and without ARs. The results in this article suggest that collective units had a better performance than state-owned units in the two consecutive years analyzed.This paper was written while the author was at the School of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, P.R. China.     

Thin‐Film Infrared Spectroscopy of Acetonitrile

Acetonitrile and [D₃]acetonitrile in the vicinal region of a planar AgX fiber contain linear dipole–dipole linked oligomers as shown by 1) comparison of infrared band intensity ratios in the gaseous and condensed phases and 2) remarkable plots of absorbance (C? N stretch) versus time during evaporation from an AgX planar fiber element. The plots (CH₃CN 2252 cm^?1, CD₃CN 2262 cm^?1) reveal the presence of octamers, hexamers, tetramers, and dimers along with some heptamer, trimer, and monomer structures. A novel isotope effect arises from the somewhat smaller size of the CD₃CN resulting in an increase in the CN band intensity. The organized oligomers may be termed pseudocrystals and are the main components responsible for absorption intensity in the infrared spectrum of acetonitrile, on the AgX planar fiber or in an IR cell.     

Cooperative rearranging regions in polymeric materials: Relationship with the fragility of glass-forming liquids

From measurements performed on different polymeric glass-forming liquids using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), we determined the values of the fragility index m according to the concept proposed by Angell. We calculated the average size of a cooperative rearranging region (CRR) at the glass transition i.e. z(T_g), according to the definition proposed by Solunov. This quantity is linked to the Kauzmann temperature which was determined from dielectric spectroscopy or viscosimetry measurements performed on different samples including three-dimensional polymeric networks and linear polymer families with variable lateral chain lengths. By using our experimental data and others collected in the literature in order to scan a large domain of fragility values, we show that the fragility index m, characterising the glass-forming liquid, can be correlated to z(T_g) which characterises the glass formed.