Highly sensitive elemental analysis for Cd and Pb by liquid electrode plasma atomic emission spectrometry with quartz glass chip and sample flow

This paper describes the development of a highly sensitive liquid-electrode plasma atomic emission spectrometry (LEP-AES) by combination of quartz glass chip and sample flow system. LEP-AES is an ultracompact elemental analysis method, in which the electroconductive sample solution is put into a microfluidic channel whose center is made narrower (～100 μm in width). When high voltage pulses (1500 V) are applied at both ends of the channel, the sample evaporates locally at the narrow part and generates plasma. By the emission from the plasma, elemental concentration is analyzed. In this paper, the limits of detection (LODs) were investigated in various conditions of accumulation time, material of the chip, and the sample flow. It was found that the long accumulation using the quartz chip with sample flow was effective to improve LOD. Authors suggested that this was because bubbles remaining after each plasma pulse were removed from the narrow channel by sample flow, resulting in highly reproducible plasma generation, to enable a high accumulation effect. Finally, LODs were calculated from a calibration curve, to be 0.52 μg/L for Cd and 19.0 μg/L for Pb at optimized condition. Sub-ppb level LOD was achieved for Cd.     

Heat transfer in pool fires at a certain small lip height

Under the assumptions of a gray-diffuse and homogeneous disk flame at the top plane of the vessel, a diffuse-gray fuel and vessel wall surfaces, and a transparent medium in the ullage space of the vessel, the longitudinal temperature and heat flux distributions at the vessel wall surface for ethanol and kerosene pool fires were calculated numerically. The calculations were performed using the data of Rasbash et al. The emissive power of the disk flame assumed at the top plane of the vessel, which is determined from the heat balance in the combustion system, is approximately equal to the mean values of the radiative flux measured near the top plane of the vessel in the similar fuel type and pool size at the relatively small lip height. The calculated emissive power of the assumed disk flame decreases with time and approaches the asymptote, depending on the depth of the vapor zone. The heat of evaporation and the rate of increase of the sensible heat of the liquid increases and decreases, respectively, with time and approach asymptotes. The time evolution of the sum of them is similar to that of the emissive power of the disk flame derived from the heat balance in the combustion system. Even in relatively small lip heights and low emissive power flames, as in non-hot-zone-forming pool fires, the rates of heat transfer between the wall and the ambient fluids are large, and cannot be neglected in comparison to the heat input from above to the fuel surface.     

Molecular cloning of the gene encoding the di-D-Fructofuranose 1,2':2,3' dianhydride hydrolysis enzyme (DFA IIIase) from Arthrobacter sp. H65-7

The gene encoding an intracellular enzyme hydrolyzing di-d-fructofuranose 1,2':2,3' dianhydride (DFA III) (DFA IIIase) was cloned from the genomic DNA of Arthrobacter sp. H65-7 for the first time. The single open reading frame (ORF) of the DFA IIIase gene consisted of 1368-bp encoding 455 amino acids. DFA IIIase showed a phylogenetically distinct position from other inulin-degrading enzymes and showed similarity only with inulin fructotransferases (depolymerizing) (inulase II, EC 2.4.1.93) from Arthrobacter globiformis C11-1, Arthrobacter sp. A-6, and Arthrobacter sp. H65-7 (48.7-50.3%), and inulin fructotransferase (DFA I-producing) (EC 2.4.1.200) from A. globiformis S14-3 (44.4%). An Escherichia coli transformant harboring a recombinant plasmid, pINB2, in which the DFA IIIase gene was fused with the beta-galactosidase of pUC19 and under the control of the lac promoter, expressed DFA IIIase and the cloned enzyme produced inulobiose from DFA III similarly to the DFA IIIase of the wild-type strain, Arthrobacter sp. H65-7.     

Inter-laboratory evaluation studies for establishment of notified ELISA methods for allergic substances (buckwheat)

Inter-laboratory evaluation studies were conducted for the ELISA methods for allergic substances (buckwheat). Extracts of snack, bun and udon spiked with buckwheat standard protein at a level of 5-20 ng/mL as sample solutions were analyzed in replicate at 10 laboratories. Coefficients of variation (CVs) of the ELISA methods using a Buckwheat Protein ELISA Kit (Buckwheat kit) and a FASTKIT Buckwheat ELISA kit (Buckwheat ELISA kit) were mostly below 10%. Mean recoveries of the buckwheat standard protein from the food extracts were over 40% in the two ELISA methods. Repeatability relative standard deviations of buckwheat standard protein in three food extracts were in the ranges of 6.8-78.5% and 5.0-33.9% for the Buckwheat kit and the Buckwheat ELISA kit, respectively. Reproducibility relative standard deviations of buckwheat standard protein in three food extracts were 11.9-69.5% and 16.5-34.1% for the Buckwheat kit and the Buckwheat ELISA kit, respectively. The detection limits of both ELISA methods were 1 ng/mL in sample solutions. These results suggest that the notified ELISA methods are reliable and reproducible for the inspection of buckwheat protein levels in extracts of snack, bun and udon.     

Isolation of enterocin SE-K4-encoding plasmid and a high enterocin SE-K4 producing strain of Enterococcus faecalis K-4

Enterococcus faecalis K-4, which produces a class IIa bacteriocin, enterocin SE-K4, carries two plasmids, pEK4S (approximately 60 kb) and pEK4L (approximately 75 kb). Plasmid-curing experiments showed that pEK4S was involved in the production of and immunity to enterocin SE-K4 in strain K-4. A derivative strain, M6, with pEK4S produced a higher amount of enterocin SE-K4 than the parental strain K-4, although its growth rate was lower than that of parental strain K-4. Phenotypic changes in strain M6 are attributed to an increase in plasmid copy number.     

The performance of PV‐t systems for residential application in Bangkok

This paper focused on the performance of photovoltaic‐thermal (PVT) systems working in Bangkok for residential applications. The PVT system is one which produces both electricity and low temperature heat at the same time. This paper investigated the performance of PVT systems that use different types of commercial solar PV panels. The characteristics of the PV panels were used as input parameters in the simulation. Each system comprises 2 m² of PVT collector area. Water draw patterns are those with a typical consumption of medium size houses in Bangkok, and the measured monthly average city water temperature of Bangkok has been used to estimate the energy output. The results show that the optimum water flow rate is 20 kg/h for all types of PVT collectors and the effect of water flow can improve the cell efficiency of PV cells. Moreover, the total energy output from the PVT collectors, which had glass covers is very significantly higher than those without one. The c‐Si PVT panel gave the best performance with the highest rate of primary energy reduction. The payback time of each system is 6.4, 11.8, and 13.4 years for a‐Si, mc‐Si, and c‐Si types of PVT system, respectively. This investigation concludes that from the viewpoint of system performance, c‐Si PVT is the most promising type than whereas from the viewpoint of economy, a‐Si PVT has the fastest payback time. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis of nanoparticles of silver and platinum by microwave-induced plasma in liquid

We have conducted a basic study of microwave plasma in liquid at atmospheric pressure. Plasma could be successfully induced by radiated microwave from pointed and ring tungsten electrodes. The tungsten electrode showed a long lifetime of 70 h. Melting and chemical etching of the electrode's top limited the lifetime. Silver cations from silver nitrates could be rapidly and completely reduced to generate metallic silver nanoparticles using this plasma source without any addition of reducing chemical reagents. Optimization of electric conductivity of the reaction solution was not needed. When the material of the electrode was changed to platinum from tungsten, platinum nanoparticles were produced by vaporization into pure water. Both these preparation processes can be expected to produce lower contamination than chemical synthesis.     

Hydrogen entry behaviour of newly developed Al–Mg–Si coating produced by physical vapour deposition

A ternary Al–Mg–Si alloy was prepared by co-evaporation technique and tested with respect to hydrogen entry behaviour as an alternative to conventional zinc coating on steel. Hydrogen entry behaviour evaluated using Devanathan cell showed a smaller hydrogen entry for this new coating than conventional zinc coating. Compared to an unscratched surface, hydrogen entry increased by more than 100 times in the scratched surface, but it was lower than that for the zinc coating with a scratched surface owing to the moderate galvanic corrosion potential of the new coating. This new coating is proposed especially for high-strength steel application.