Electrokinetic microslit experiments to analyse the charge formation at solid/liquid interfaces

Electrokinetic effects play an important role in microfluidics and nanofluidics. Although the related phenomena are often utilized to control fluid flow and sample transport in lab-on-a-chip devices, their dependency on the surface charges on the channel walls often remain enigmatic. This is mainly due to the lack of adequate experimental methods to analyse the electrical charging of solid/liquid interfaces of interest. To address this need, an experimental set-up—designated as microslit electrokinetic set-up (MES)—has been recently developed and applied for the investigation of charge formation processes at planar solid/liquid interfaces. The device permits to perform streaming potential and streaming current measurements across a rectangular streaming channel formed by two parallel sample carriers (20×10×3 mm³) at variable distance allowing for the determination of the surface conductivity. Utilizing the MES, charge characteristics can be determined for a wide variety of materials prepared as thin films on top of planar glass substrates. Streaming potential and streaming current data permit to investigate the mechanisms of charge formation while surface conductivity data provide information about mobile charge carriers located in different zones at the interface. The applicability of this advanced experimental approach is demonstrated with examples obtained for surfaces with different levels of complexity:

1. Preferential ion adsorption onto unpolar fluoropolymer (Teflon^® AF) films was characterized in simple electrolyte solutions; the results were quantitatively evaluated with respect to interfacial ion concentrations.
2. Interrelation of charge density and conformation of grafted poly(L-glutamic acid layers) were unravelled from the determination of pH-depended variations of surface conductivity and layer thickness.
3. The impact of spatial confinements of surface functional groups on their acid–base behaviour was studied with self-assembled monomolecular films of alkanethiols chemisorbed on gold.
4. Charging of and ion mobility within poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) brushes prepared by a Langmuir–Blodgett technique were analysed at varied pH and ionic strength.
5. Interfacial modes of adsorbed proteins were distinguished at two polymer surfaces with varied hydrophobicity/charge density.

     

Flavonolglykoside der Pflaumen der Species Prunus domestica L. und Prunus salicina Lindley

Zusammenfassung Blätter wie Früchte von 6 SortenPrunus domestica-Pflaumen enthalten hauptsächlich 3-Rutinoside, in geringerer Konzentration 3-Glucoside und 3-Galaktoside von Kämpferol und Quercetin Bowie Quercetin-3-rhamnosid. Dagegen weisen Pflaumen vonPrunus salicina (2 untersuchte Sorten) Kämpferol-3,7-bisrhamnosid und Kämpferol-3-arabinosyl-7-rhamnosid als Hauptflavonole auf. Hierdurch ist eine Unterscheidung beider Arten leicht and sicher mög-lich. Weiterhin konnten inSalicina-Pflaumen Kämpfe-rol-3-rutinosid sowie Quercetin-3-rhamnosid, -xylosid,-glucosid, -galaktosid, --l-arabinofuranosid and -rutinosid, auch Quercetin-7-rhamnosid and Kämpferol-7-glucosid nachgewiesen werden.Die Gesamtgehalte an Flavonolglykosiden lagen bei den untersuchten Pflaumensorten vonPrunus domestica (P. salicina) bei 2500–3340 (7170, 10350) ppm in Blättern and 20–52 (8, 24) in Früchten, jeweils bezogen auf Frischgewicht.

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Flavonol glycosides of plums of the species Prunus domestica L. and Prunus salicina lindley12. Phenolics of fruits

Summary Leaves and fruits from 6 cultivars ofPrunus domestica plums contain mainly 3-rutinosides; in smaller concentrations the 3-glycosides and 3-galactosides of kaempferol and quercetin as well as quercetin-3-rhamnoside are present. On the other hand, in plums ofPrunus salicina (2 examined cultivars) main flavonols are kaempferol-3,7-bisrhamnoside and kaempferol-3arabinosyl-7-rhamnoside. Due to the difference in composition, differentiation of these species will be easy and reliable. Additionally kaempferol-3-rutinoside and quercetin-3-rhamnoside, -xyloside,-glucoside, -galactoside, --l-arabinofuranoside and-rutinoside, and also quercetin-7-rhamnoside and kaempferol-7-glucoside could be detected inP. salicina plums. The total content of flavonol glycosides in the investigated plums ofPrunus domestica (P. salicina) were based on fresh weight about 2500–3340 (7170, 10350) ppm in the leaves and 20–52 (8, 24) ppm in the fruits.

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11. Mitt.: Henning W, Herrmann K (1980) Z Lebensm Unters Forsch 170:433–444

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Auszug aus der Promotionsarbeit von W. Henning: Bestimmung der in Pflaumen, Kirschen, Pfirsichen and Aprikosen vorkommenden Flavonolglykoside unter Anwendung der Hochdruckflüssigkeitschromatographie. Diss. Univ. Hannover 1980     

An Initial Inventory and Indexation of Groundwater Mega-Depletion Cases

The state of groundwater systems worldwide is presently not well defined, and in particular there is little context for agencies responsible for managing water resources to evaluate occurrences of groundwater depletion against other cases globally. In this study, an initial inventory of groundwater depletion problems is compiled and ranked to identify the world’s most critical cases, i.e. situations of groundwater mega-depletion. The ranking is based on an indexed approach that considers overdraft, drawdown and subsidence, plus the importance of the resources in terms of population-dependency and rates of extraction. The five most highly ranked depleted aquifers of the world include the shallow aquifers of the Hai River Plain (China), the Altiplano region (Spain), the Mexico Basin (Mexico), the Huang River basin (China) and the California Central Valley (USA). An abridged account of modelling to assess drawdown is described for the Hai River Plain, revealing that despite recharge in the order of 13,000 GL/yr, an overdraft of about 8,000 GL/yr is occurring to support the vast population of the region. This has led to up to 100 m of drawdown in places and reports of subsidence of several metres. The Hai River situation demonstrates that falling water levels may not act to alleviate pumping stresses; a symptom of unchecked extraction and an exemplary illustration of the tragedy of the commons. The causal factors leading to mega-depletion are varying across the globe and each mega-depletion case contains unique elements, although population appears to be an important factor.     

Litter fall, litter stocks and decomposition rates in rainforest and agroforestry sites in central Amazonia

The sustainability of agroforestry systems in Amazonia was assessed from their litter dynamics and decomposition. Litter fall and litter stocks were determined from July 1997 to March 1999 in four sites in central Amazonia: a primary rainforest, a 13-year-old secondary forest, and two sites of a polyculture forestry system which consisted of four planted tree species of commercial use amidst upcoming secondary growth. The average annual litter fall in the undisturbed primary rainforest (FLO) was 8.4 t ha^–1 year^–1, which is within the range of litter fall in other rainforests in the region. It was similar in one of the two polyculture sites (8.3 t ha^–1 year^–1), but lower in the secondary forest and in the second polyculture site. In the litter fall in secondary forest and agroforestry sites, the leaf portion was higher (76–82% of total litter fall) than in FLO, due to reduced fine matter and wood fall. Leaf litter fall variability was much lower in the plantation sites than in the forests, which is explained by the much more homogeneous stand structure of the plantations. The quality of the produced litter, measured as C/N ratio, differed significantly between the primary forest site and one polyculture and the secondary forest site. The cumulative input of nitrogen through litter fall was 144 kg ha^–1 year^–1 in FLO, and 91–112 kg ha^–1 year^–1 in the polycultures and the secondary forest. Litter fall was not correlated with soil parameters, but had a significant linear regression with canopy closure. For the primary rainforest, litter fall was also (inversely) correlated with monthly rainfall. Litter fall was higher in the first year (1997–1998; an El Niño period) than in 1998–1999. Litter stocks on the forest floor were highest in the secondary forest (24.7 t ha^–1), and much lower in the polyculture sites (15.1–16.2 t ha^–1) and the primary forest (12.0 t ha^–1). There were no differences in the relative N content (C/N ratio) of the litter stocks between the sites, but the larger stocks led to higher absolute N contents in the litter layer in the secondary forest. From the monthly values of litter stocks (S) and litter fall (P), the decomposition coefficient k _e=P/S was calculated, which was, on average, highest for the primary forest (0.059), followed by the polyculture systems (0.040–0.042), and by the secondary forest (0.024). Thus, due to low decomposition rates, the secondary forest site showed large litter accumulations in spite of a relatively low litter fall. In contrast, the primary forest showed high litter fall but low stocks, due to high decomposition rates. The decomposition coefficients of the polyculture systems ranged between the primary and the secondary forest. The reduced decomposition rates in the man-managed agroecosystems indicate quantitative and/or qualitative changes in the decomposer communities of these systems that lead to a higher build-up of litter stocks on the forest floor. However, the decomposer systems in the polyculture sites still were more functional than in the site of non-managed secondary growth. Thus, from a soil biological viewpoint, ecologically sustainable low-input agroforestry in Amazonia will benefit from the application of these polyculture systems.     

Specific changes of the uterine cervix due to contraceptives]

A group of 344 cervices, produced by conisation within a period of 5 1/2 years, were examined for specific effects of contraceptives. In half of all women, who used oral contraceptives, specific lesions such as "siebartige polypoide Hyperplasie" (cribriform polypoid hyperplasia) were found. The findings and their etiology and importance are discussed.     

LG飞利浦已研制出用于手机的TFT-LCD

LG. Philips LCD （LPL） announced at Sept. 13th 2006, it has developed the industry＇s fastest TFT-LCD panel for mobile phones, which will permit next-generation handsets to display TV and video content with less motion blur.     

Fourier methods for quasi‐periodic oscillations

Quasi‐periodic oscillations and invariant tori play an important role in the study of forced or coupled oscillators. This paper presents two new numerical methods for the investigation of quasi‐periodic oscillations. Both algorithms can be regarded as generalizations of the averaging and the harmonic (spectral) balance methods. The algorithms are easy to implement and require only minimal a priori knowledge of the system. Most importantly, the methods do not depend on an a priori co‐ordinate transformation. The methods are applied to a number of illustrative examples from non‐linear electrical engineering and the results show that the methods are efficient and reliable. In addition, these examples show that the presented algorithms can also continue through regions of sub‐harmonic (phase‐locked) resonance even though they are designed only for the quasi‐periodic case. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.