Isotachophoretic analysis of surfactants

The qualitative and quantitative determination of anionic surfactants (sodium and lithium alkylsulfate, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, sodium di-2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate, sodium and lithium perfluoroalkylcarboxylate, and lithium perfluorooctanesulfonate) were investigated by a capillary tube isotachophoresis using a potential gradient detector. The leading electrolyte solution was the mixture of acetonitrile and aqueous solution of histidine buffer containing calcium chloride. The terminating electrolyte solution was the aqueous solution of sodium octanoate. These electrolytes were effective for the analysis of the mixtures of strongly acidic surfactants.     

Solidification of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Fly Ash with Cement and Its Leaching Behaviors of Heavy Metals

The solidifying qffect of cement addition on municipal solid waste incineration fly ash ( MSWFA for short, collected from the gas exhaust system of MSW incinerator), the interaction of MSWFA with cement and water and the leaching of heavy metals from cement-solidified MSWFA are investigated. The main results show that : ( 1 ) when MSWFA is mixed with cement and water, 112 evolution, the formation and volume expansion of AFt will take place, the volume expansion can be reduced by ground rice husk ash addition ; (2) heavy metals do leach from cement-solidified MSWFA and at lower pH more leaching will occur; (3) compared with cement - so-lidified fly ash, the leachate of solidified MSWFA is with higher heavy metal contents ; (4) with the increment of cement addition leached heavy metals are decreased ; and (5) concentrations of Zn , Mn , Cu and Cd in all the leachates can meet the relevant Standards of Japan, but as the regulations for soil and groundwater protection of Japan are concerned, precautions against the leaching of Pb , Cl^- and Cr^6 and so on are needed.     

Characteristics of Linear Synchronous Motor Drive Cycloconverter for Maglev Vehicle ML-500 at Miyazaki Test Track

Maglev vehicle ML-500 in Japan attained a speed of 517 km/h on December 21, 1979. The linear synchronous motor (LSM) drive cycloconverter fabricated and submitted to the track test has a capacity of approximately 12 000 kVA in a continuously variable frequency range of 0-34 Hz with a sinusoidal current waveform. The current can be arbitrarily controlled in a range of 200-1300 A. Despite the rigorous power conversion and control, excellent current control characteristics were obtained: less than 4 percent in deviation of current peak value, about 4 ° in leading phase deviation and approximately 1.2 ms in zero current interval. Some observations about the LSM driving system are made, and an outline of the design and the data obtained from the super-high-speed running tests on Miyazaki test track are given.     

Steric hindrance by 2 amino acid residues determines the substrate specificity of isomaltase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The structures of the E277A isomaltase mutant from Saccharomyces cerevisiae in complex with isomaltose or maltose were determined at resolutions of 1.80 and 1.40 Å, respectively. The root mean square deviations between the corresponding main-chain atoms of free isomaltase and the E277Α-isomaltose complex structures and those of free isomaltase and the E277A-maltose complex structures were found to be 0.131 Å and 0.083 Å, respectively. Thus, the amino acid substitution and ligand binding do not affect the overall structure of isomaltase. In the E277A-isomaltose structure, the bound isomaltose was readily identified by electron densities in the active site pocket; however, the reducing end of maltose was not observed in the E277A-maltose structure. The superposition of maltose onto the E277A-maltose structure revealed that the reducing end of maltose cannot bind to the subsite + 1 due to the steric hindrance from Val216 and Gln279. The amino acid sequence comparisons with α-glucosidases showed that a bulky hydrophobic amino acid residue is conserved at the position of Val216 in α-1,6-glucosidic linkage hydrolyzing enzymes. Similarly, a bulky amino acid residue is conserved at the position of Gln279 in α-1,6-glucosidic linkage-only hydrolyzing α-glucosidases. Ala, Gly, or Asn residues were located at the position of α-1,4-glucosidic linkage hydrolyzing α-glucosidases. Two isomaltase mutant enzymes – V216T and Q279A – hydrolyzed maltose. Thus, the amino acid residues at these positions may be largely responsible for determining the substrate specificity of α-glucosidases.     

Four-index integral transformation exploiting symmetry

We present a Fortran implementation of four-index integral transformation in the LCAO-MO (linear combination of atomic orbitals-molecular orbitals) framework that exploits symmetry. Electron correlation calculations, such as configuration interaction (CI) calculations, usually require electron repulsion integrals to be transformed to a molecular orbital basis from a basis using atomic orbitals. In large molecular systems it is vital to exploit the sparsity of integrals in making this transformation. By exploiting symmetry, the sparsity of integrals is fully utilized, the size of intermediate file is minimized, and the computational cost is reduced. The present algorithm is simple and can readily be added to existing quantum chemistry program packages.

Program summary

Title of program: SYM4TR (symmetry adapted 4-index integral transformation)Catalogue identifier: ADUWProgram summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADUWProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. IrelandComputers: IBM/AIX, HP Alpha server/Tru64, PC's/LinuxProgram language used: Fortran 95Number of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 4519No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 32 095Distributed format: tar gzip fileNature of physical problem: Molecular orbital calculations including electron correlation effects usually require electron repulsion integrals to be transformed from an atomic orbital (AO) basis to a molecular orbital (MO) basis. By exploiting the sparsity of molecular integrals, the computational cost and memory needed for the transformation are minimized.Method of solution: The sparsity of molecular integrals is exploited. The program treats only nonzero integrals. The length of running indices in DO loops is reduced using the block-diagonal form of the MO coefficient matrix. In the present program, the point group is limited to D_2h and its subgroups.     

Surface chemistry of galvanized steel sheets relevant to adhesion performance

A review is presented on the recent development of surface treatment technologies for hot-dip galvanized steels relevant to adhesion of organic coatings. Applications of surface analytical techniques have elucidated that the surface layers of the nanometer scale dramatically govern the adhesion performance of painting or adhesive bonding. Surface enrichment of aluminium in the zinc layer deteriorates paint adhesion due to the reduction in phosphatability on the galvanized steel sheets and decreases the adhesive strength of the epoxy/dicyandiamide-bonded sheets due to the loss of acid-base interaction at the adhesive-substrate interface. In addition, the co-segregation of Al and Pb into the surface layer is responsible for the intergranular corrosion of zinc and facilitates the formation of a weak boundary layer, resulting in poor bond durability in a wet atmosphere. Improved adhesion performance has been established by developing new technologies that reduce the surface enrichment of minor elements or impurities in the zinc layer on the galvanizing line or that adopt a surface conditioning process prior to pretreatment in subsequent coil coating lines.     

Heterodimerization of Group I Ribozymes Enabling Exon Recombination through Pairs of Cooperative trans‐Splicing Reactions

Group I (GI) self‐splicing ribozymes are attractive tools for biotechnology and synthetic biology. Several trans‐splicing and related reactions based on GI ribozymes have been developed for the purpose of recombining their target mRNA sequences. By combining trans‐splicing systems with rational modular engineering of GI ribozymes it was possible to achieve more complex editing of target RNA sequences. In this study we have developed a cooperative trans‐splicing system through rational modular engineering with use of dimeric GI ribozymes derived from the Tetrahymena group I intron ribozyme. The resulting pairs of ribozymes exhibited catalytic activity depending on their selective dimerization. Rational modular redesign as performed in this study would facilitate the development of sophisticated regulation of double or multiple trans‐splicing reactions in a cooperative manner.     

New fluorescent probes applicable to aggregates of fluorocarbon surfactants

We developed new benzofurazan (NBD) labeled probes for fluorocarbon surfactant systems. The fluorescence behavior depended on the solubilization site of the fluorescent probes in the surfactant aggregates. The NBD-labeled probes suffered virtually complete reduction in the presence of Na(2)S(2)O(4) owing to the solubilization at the surface of 2-hydroxy-1,1,2,3,3-pentahydroperfluoroundecyldiethylammonium bromide (FC(8)DAB) aggregates. On the other hand, N-(3-sulfopropyl)acridinium (SPA) in FC(8)DAB aggregates showed residual fluorescence in spite of NaBH(4) addition. The large vesicles of FC(8)DAB were confirmed by DLS measurements. These facts suggest that SPA is solubilized in an inner water phase of the vesicles. The NBD labeled fluorescence probe is quite effective for the study of the aggregation behavior of fluorocarbon surfactants.     

Mechanistic study of the reduction of copper oxides in alkaline solutions by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to study the mechanism by which copper oxides are reduced in alkaline solutions. For the reductions of CuO and Cu₂O, a capacitive loop and also an inductive loop under certain conditions were observed in the complex plane. The electrochemical impedance for CuO reduction was not greatly dependent on the solution alkalinity and the kind of alkali hydroxide. However, the electrochemical impedance for Cu₂O reduction was considerably affected by the kind and concentration of alkali hydroxide. The diameter of the capacitive loop, i.e., the charge-transfer resistance (R_ct), was increased with increase in solution alkalinity. It should also be noted that R_ct was increased in the order of KOH < NaOH < LiOH. These dependences were consistent with the good separation between the reduction potentials of CuO and Cu₂O in chronopotentiometric and voltammetric measurements with strongly alkaline electrolytes containing Li⁺. The inductive loop observed for the Cu₂O reduction at higher concentrations of KOH (>6 M) and LiOH (>0.2 M) suggested the existence of an intermediate species (probably CuOH). The specific inhibitory effect of Li⁺ ions on the reduction of Cu₂O might be explained by a possible stabilization of CuOH by Li⁺ ions.