Comparison of analytical error and sampling error for contaminated soil

Investigation of soil from contaminated sites requires several sample handling steps that, most likely, will induce uncertainties in the sample. The theory of sampling describes seven sampling errors that can be calculated, estimated or discussed in order to get an idea of the size of the sampling uncertainties. With the aim of comparing the size of the analytical error to the total sampling error, these seven errors were applied, estimated and discussed, to a case study of a contaminated site. The manageable errors were summarized, showing a range of three orders of magnitudes between the examples. The comparisons show that the quotient between the total sampling error and the analytical error is larger than 20 in most calculation examples. Exceptions were samples taken in hot spots, where some components of the total sampling error get small and the analytical error gets large in comparison. Low concentration of contaminant, small extracted sample size and large particles in the sample contribute to the extent of uncertainty.     

Piezo dispensed microarray of multivalent chelating thiols for dissecting complex protein-protein interactions

The fabrication of a novel biochip, designed for dissection of multiprotein complex formation, is reported. An array of metal chelators has been produced by piezo dispensing of a bis-nitrilotriacetic acid (bis-NTA) thiol on evaporated gold thin films, prestructured with a microcontact printed grid of eicosanethiols. The bis-NTA thiol is mixed in various proportions with an inert, tri(ethylene glycol) hexadecane thiol, and the thickness and morphological homogeneity of the dispensed layers are characterized by imaging ellipsometry before and after back-filling with the same inert thiol and subsequent rinsing. It is found that the dispensed areas display a monotonic increase in thickness with increasing molar fraction of bis-NTA in the dispensing solution, and they are consistently a few Angstr?ms thicker than those prepared at the same molar fraction by solution self-assembly under equilibrium-like conditions. The bulkiness of the bis-NTA tail group and the short period of time available for chemisorption and in-plane organization of the dispensed thiols are most likely responsible for the observed difference in thickness. Moreover, the functional properties of this biochip are demonstrated by studying multiple protein-protein interactions using imaging surface plasmon resonance. The subunits of the type I interferon receptor are immobilized as a composition array determined by the surface concentration of bis-NTA in the array elements. Ligand dissociation kinetics depends on the receptor surface concentration, which is ascribed to the formation of a ternary complex by simultaneous interaction of the ligand with the two receptor subunits. Thus, multiplexed monitoring of binding phenomena at various compositions (receptor densities) offers a powerful tool to dissect protein-protein interactions.     

Conversion analysis of acrylated hyperbranched polymers UV‐cured below their ultimate glass transition temperature

The photo‐curing behavior of reactive blends of dipentaerythritol penta/hexaacrylate (DPHA) with an acrylated hyperbranched polyester and an acrylated hyperbranched polyether was investigated by means of photo differential scanning calorimetry. The chemical conversion data was analyzed using an autocatalytic model with close attention paid to the influence of composition, UV intensity, and vitrification. The autocatalytic model was found to be relevant to describe autoacceleration and diffusion controlled reaction stages, as long as the polymers were not vitrified. It was shown that the reaction order and the autocatalytic exponent were independent of UV intensity, whereas the rate constant showed strong intensity dependence, and the maximal conversion showed weak intensity dependence. A criterion for vitrification onset was proposed as the occurrence of a third stage in the conversion process. The ultimate conversion was found to be 0.16 higher than the conversion at vitrification for all investigated multifunctional acrylates independent of composition and UV intensity. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 2366–2376, 2007     

Hydrogen-induced CO2 formation from ethylene deposits on Pt during consecutive O2 and H2 exposures

The oxidation of C₂H₄ deposits on polycrystalline Pt when exposed to consecutive O₂ and H₂ pulses at room temperature has been investigated in a long (L = 36 mm), shallow (d = 600–700 nm) micromachined glass–SiO₂–Pt channel. Hydrogen-induced CO₂ formation from species accumulated on the Pt surface was observed. Frequent switching of the O₂/H₂ exposure pulses was found to increase the efficiency of the oxidation of the carbonaceous deposits markedly. The observations may be of general interest for the regeneration of contaminated catalysts.