Preconcentration and separation of copper(II), cadmium(II) and chromium(III) in a syringe filled with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane supported on silica gel

In this study, a syringe was filled with silica gel loaded with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, for the separation and preconcentration of copper, cadmium and chromium prior to their determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) in seawater. For this purpose, a syringe was filled with 0.5 g of modified silica gel and the sample solution was drawn into the syringe and ejected back again. The analyte elements were quantitatively retained at pH 5. Then, the elements sorbed by the silica gel were eluted with 2.0 M of HCl and determined by GFAAS. At optimum conditions, the recovery of Cu, Cd and Cr were 96-98%. Detection limits (3delta) were 6.6, 7.5 and 6.0 micro g L(-1) for Cu, Cd and Cr, respectively. The elements could be concentrated by drawing and discharging several portions of sample successively but eluting only once. Cu, Cd and Cr added to a seawater sample were quantitatively recovered (>95%) in the range of the 95% confidence level. The method proposed in this paper was compared with a column technique. Optimum experimental conditions, reproducibility, precision and recoveries of both techniques are the same, but the syringe technique is much faster, easier and more practical than the column technique. It is a portable system and allows one to make the sorption process in the source of sample. In addition, the risk of contamination is less than in the column technique.     

Effects of electrode size and surface morphology on electrode polarization in physiological buffers

Electrode polarization (EP) is inevitable in high conductivity buffers at low AC frequencies due to the accumulation of free charges at the electrode/electrolyte interface. Electrode miniaturization increases EP effect on impedance measurements. In this paper, six gold planar (GP) electrodes having different diameters () were used to investigate the size effect on EP with parallel plate electrode geometry. GP electrode surface was electrochemically deposited with gold nanostructures (GNs) to minimize the EP effect. Equivalent circuit model was used to attain electrode/electrolyte interfacial impedance. Constant phase element model was used to analyze the relation between the size and morphology of electrodes on EP. The surface morphology of gold nanostructured electrodes was examined using SEM, and the influence of different applied potential on the growth of GNs was elucidated with Nernst equilibrium condition. Surface roughness and wettability characteristics were examined performing surface roughness and contact angle measurements, respectively. The improvement of GNs deposited electrode performance was investigated by analytically generated Jurkat cell suspension spectra. The results show that the error in estimating the subcellular properties can be drastically reduced by using GNs deposited electrodes.     

Modelling,parameterisation and simulation-based optimisation of a microflow-control actuator

A synthetic jet is considered to control microflows, where the Knudsen number is between 0.001 and 0.1. The flow is modelled with the compressible, 2D Navier–Stokes equations. The wall boundary conditions are modified for the slip velocity and the temperature jump encountered for this Knudsen number range. The membrane motion is modelled as a moving boundary. After a validation using experimental results available only for a macroflow over a hump, the present study focuses on developing a design optimisation methodology for micro-synthetic jets in micro-scale, laminar crossflow. First, single-variable optimisations are performed. As compared to the baseline case, the optimisations yield 2, 15, 15 and 200% increase in actuation efficiency for the cases varying the orifice width, the orifice height, the cavity height and the frequency, respectively. Then, multi-variable shape optimisation is performed. Compared to the baseline case, the optimisation using shape parameters results in a 7-fold increase in the actuation efficiency, while the optimisation with Bezier polynomials results in more than a 10-fold increase.     

Application of colloidal palladium modifier for the determination of As, Sb and Pb in a spiked sea water sample by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Colloidal palladium was used as a chemical modifier for analysis of complex samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. In order to demonstrate high potential of the modifier, optimization of the time–temperature program of the atomizer was limited with only pyrolysis and atomization temperatures. Fixed palladium modifier masses were applied (6 μg for pure analyte solutions and 15 μg for matrix-containing solutions). It was shown that in the presence of colloidal palladium, interference-free determinations of As, Sb and Pb are possible up to at least 450 μg of chloride ion, or 40 μg of sulfate ion (as their sodium salts) in the atomizer. Colloidal palladium was used for the direct determination of As, Sb and Pb in a spiked sea water sample (from Bosphorus channel near Istanbul) by means of the calibration graphs prepared with pure analyte solutions. The detection limits for As, Sb and Pb in a sea water matrix calculated according to 2σ criteria are 5.4, 3.6 and 1.1 ng ml⁻¹, respectively (for sample volume 10 μl). In unspiked sea water, the contents of As, Sb and Pb were found to be below the detection limits. Recoveries of spiked analytes (25 and 50 ng ml⁻¹) were in the region of 98–112% depending on the nature of analyte and the concentration of spike.     

Prospects to search for E<Subscript>6</Subscript> isosinglet quarks in ATLAS

We consider pair production of new down-type isosinglet quarks originating from E₆, which is the favorite gauge symmetry group in superstring inspired GUT models. The study concentrates on the possibility of observing the pair production of the lightest of the new quarks, D, in the ATLAS detector at the forthcoming LHC accelerator, in the channel DD̄→ZjZj . Both signal and background events are studied using tree level event generators based on Monte Carlo techniques. The detector effects are taken into account using the ATLAS fast simulation tool. It is shown that ATLAS can observe the D quark within the first year of low luminosity LHC operation if its mass is less than 650 GeV. For the case of two years of full luminosity running, 1 TeV can be reached with about three sigma significance.     

Down type isosinglet quarks in ATLAS

We evaluate the discovery reach of the ATLAS experiment for down type isosinglet quarks, D, using both their neutral and charged decay channels, namely the process pp→DD̄+X with subsequent decays resulting in 2ℓ+2j+≠E_T, 3ℓ+2j+≠E_T and 2ℓ+4j final states. The integrated luminosity required for observation of a heavy quark is estimated for a mass range between 600 and 1000 GeV using the combination of results from different search channels.     

Effect of Cabri-assisted instruction on secondary school students’ misconceptions about graphs of quadratic functions

Pre-existing misconceptions are serious impediments to learning in mathematics. Means for detecting and correcting them have received much attention in the literature of educational research. Dynamic geometry software has been tried at different grade levels. This quasi-experimental study investigates the effect of Cabri-assisted instruction on tenth graders’ misconceptions about graphs of quadratic functions. The results indicate that Cabri-assisted instruction did not have a statistically significant effect on their misconceptions, but the misconception scores of the experimental group were better than those of the control group. Also, there was a significant difference between the achievement scores of the two groups. Scores of the experimental group on a quadratic functions test were significantly higher than those of the control group. In conclusion, some implications and limitations of the study are discussed.