Element migration from glass compositions containing no added lead

Six crystal glass compositions without added lead were used to prepare standard beakers having a volume of ca. 240 ml. The experimentally determined concentrations of the elements in the glass beakers were in satisfactory agreement with the theoretically predicted values. The degree of leaching of selected elements from these beakers was determined using 4% acetic acid as described in the ISO 7086-1:2000 standard test. In addition, to the degree of leaching by 4% acetic acid, migration into cola, red wine, 40% ethanol and 0.3% citric acid was also determined. Elements tested included antimony, barium, bismuth and zinc as these were considered to be of most interest. The results show that it is possible to produce durable glass containing no added lead. The overall quality of the glasses was good and the concentrations of the various elements migrating (leaching) into the various test solutions used was very small and it is clear that they would not present a hazard to consumers in the event that they were to use glasses of any of these compositions for consumption of either alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. The original ISO7086-1:2000 test using a 4% acetic acid leaching solution was developed to test for lead migration from crystal containing added lead and ceramic ware containing lead glazes or colouring. This work also shows that it is an excellent leaching agent for assessing the safety of crystal containing no added lead as it gave the highest degree of migration for all the glass compositions and all the elements tested. In the case of glasses containing ZnO, it was shown that the degree of zinc migration was linearly related to the mole-% of ZnO in the glass. With respect to the durability of glasses, it was shown that the degree of attack increases when the degree of silica depolymerisation increases.     

Compositional effects on the properties of high nitrogen content alkaline-earth silicon oxynitride glasses, AE = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba

A series of alkaline-earth element containing high nitrogen content oxynitride glasses (AESiON), with AE = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, were prepared in order to investigate the compositional effects on the physical properties of the alkaline-earth element. The physical properties were found to change linearly with the concentration of AE elements. The density of the glasses increases substantially with an increase in the AE atomic mass and slightly with an increase in nitrogen ratio. Ba containing glasses shows the value of density 4.16 g/cm³. Glass transition temperatures are found to be higher for Mg glasses, ca. 1020 °C, in comparison with Ba glasses, ca. 895 °C. The hardness of Mg containing glasses shows high values, up to 12.2 GPa and decreases for Ca, Sr and Ba containing glasses. Ba, containing glasses shows high values of refractive index in comparison with the Sr, Ca and Mg containing glasses.     

Prostate cancer mortality in northern Sweden, with special reference to tumor grade and patient age

Endogenous nitric oxide (NO) mediates certain aspects of synaptic plasticity and neurotoxicity associated with NMDA-type glutamate receptors. Neuronal NO synthase contains a modular protein-protein interaction motif, termed the PDZ domain, that links the synthase to a synaptic protein complex containing postsynaptic density protein PSD-95 and NMDA receptors. Characterization of this pathway has provided new insights into the role of NO in brain physiology and disease.     

Structure and magnetic properties of BeO-Fe2O3-Al2O3-TeO2 glass-ceramic composites

In this work, glass-ceramics in the xBeO–20Fe₂O₃–(80-x)TeO₂ system with x = 0–25 mol% were synthesized by the traditional melt quenching route and studied by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, confocal microscopy, infrared and Raman spectroscopy. BeO addition was found to support the crystallization process of Fe₂O₃ during melting, and an increased BeO content was associated with an increased fraction of the crystalline Fe₂O₃ phase and an increased size of these crystallites. Furthermore, samples doped with BeO exhibit an increasing polymerization of the residual tellurite glass network compared to the undoped sample. The magnetic properties and specific heat of all synthesized materials were measured, and the results show that all studied samples behave as spin-glasses. Also, the Morin transition of hematite was observed at 260 K with intensity depending on the material content in Fe₂O₃ crystalline phase, the formation of which correlates with the amount of added BeO.     

Microwave-Activated Quantum Interferometer in an Environment

Dephasing in a microwave-activated quantum interferometerintroduced by bias voltage fluctuations and by flicker noisein the junction transparency is considered. It is shown thatunder realistic conditions the interferometer effect will notbe washed out.     

A comparison of signal consistency of common ultrasonic couplants used in the inspection of composite structures

To conduct acousto-ultrasonic tests, the transducers should to be coupled to the structure under consideration with couplants that are generally recommended by the equipment manufacturers. Experiments with several ultrasonic couplants have revealed that one of the factors influencing the repeatability of the results is the type used and that for certain couplants a settling time is required. In this paper a comparison of the signal consistency of common ultrasonic couplants is detailed. The aim of this study was to select the couplant that produces the most repeatable results.