Photocatalytic oxidation of low concentration 2,4-D solution with new TiO2 fiber catalyst in a continuous flow reactor.

Environmental pollution by low concentrations of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is a concern these days due to ever increasingly stringent regulations. Photocatalysis with immobilized TiO2 fiber is a promising oxidation method. Laboratory experiments on photocatalytic degradation of 0.045 mmol l(-1) 2,4-D with the world's first high-strength TiO2 fiber catalyst were carried out in a continuous flow reactor in which the degradations were, in general, similar to those with high 2,4-D concentrations investigated elsewhere. Degradation and mineralization of 2,4-D were significantly enhanced with no initial pH adjustments. The rate constants for total organic carbon (TOC) without pH adjustment were about two-fold bigger than the pH adjustment cases. CO2 gas measurement and carbon mass-balance were carried out for the first time, where about 34% organic carbon converted into CO2 gas during four-hour oxidation. 2,4-Dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), phenol, benzyl alcohol and two unknowns (RT = 2.65 and 3.78 min.) were detected as aromatic intermediates while Phenol was the new aromatic in HPLC analysis. Dechlorination efficiencies were high (> 70%) in all the cases, and more than 90% efficiencies were observed in chloride mass balance. Bigger flow rates and solution temperature fixed at 20 degrees C without pH adjustment greatly enhanced 2,4-D mineralization. These results can be an important basis in applying the treatment method for dioxin-contaminated water and wastewater.     

A cathode readout gas sampling calorimeter with conductive plastic tubes

We constructed and tested a prototype gas sampling electromagnetic calorimeter of the Pb-proportional tube sandwich type. The calorimeter uses conductive plastic tubes and cathode pad readout with a tower structure which resulted in reasonable energy and spatial resolutions for electrons in the momentum range 0.5–4.0 GeV/c; $\text{σ}{}_{\mathrm{E}}\text{E =}\text{21\%}\text{(E(}\text{GeV}\text{)}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{, σ}{}_{\mathrm{x}}\text{= 6}\text{mm}\text{(at 3 GeV}$/c). This paper describes the test and the performance studied under various conditions.     

Removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) using low pressure reverse osmosis membrane (LPROM).

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are the focus of current environmental issues, as they can cause adverse health effects to animals and human, subsequent to endocrine function. The objective of this study was to remove a specific compound of EDCs (i.e. pentachlorophenol, C(6)OCL(5)Na, molecular weight of 288 g/mol) using low pressure reverse osmosis membrane (LPROM). A cross flow module of LPROM was used to observe the effects of operating parameters, i.e. pH, operating pressure and temperature. The design of the experiment was based on MINITAB(TM) software, and the analysis of results was conducted by factorial analysis. It was found that the rejection of pentachlorophenol was higher than 80% at a recovery rate of 60 to 70%. The rejection was subjected to increase with the increase of pH. The flux was observed to be increased with the increase of operating pressure and temperature. This study also investigated the interaction effects between operating parameters involved.     

Structure and dynamics of suspensions of silica particles in liquidcrystals under a low frequency AC applied voltage

Silica particles dispersed in liquid crystals exhibit a novel behavior such as a unique migrating behavior and alignment. These characteristics are found to depend on the size of the nanoparticles, the surface state of nanoparticles, the liquid crystal (LC) phases, the amplitude and the frequency of applied voltage. These are discussed in terms of anisotropic particle-particle and particle-LC molecules interactions in the anisotropic environment of liquid crystal matrix     

Isolation and characterization of a novel 5-oxoprolinase (without ATP-hydrolyzing) from Alcaligenes faecalis N-38A

A screening test was undertaken to isolate a microorganism that produced 5-oxoprolinase (without ATP-hydrolyzing). The 5-oxoprolinase (without ATP-hydrolyzing) activity (decyclization activity toward L-pyroglutamate) was found in a cell-free extract of Alcaligenes faecalis N-38A, newly isolated from a soil sample. The enzyme was purified as a homogeneous preparation. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 47,000. The decyclization activity was specific for L-pyroglutamate, and independent of ATP and metal ions. The reaction was a reversible one, i.e., cyclization reaction of L-glutamate to yield pyroglutamate was identified.     

Differential expression of laminin receptors in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) have been shown to be ideally sensitive to interruptions of the cochlear blood flow. However, a 15- to 30-second latency typically occurs between cessation of circulation and measurable DPOAE level changes. DPOAEs can also be characterized by phase measures. The aim of the present study was to determine in 10 rabbits the effects on DPOAE phase of repetitively compressing the internal auditory artery. In contrast to the delays measured by DPOAE level, phase changes were detected 1 to 5 seconds after internal auditory artery compression. These data suggest that the essentially "real time" monitoring of cochlear function with DPOAE phase can be used to ensure hearing preservation during surgery involving the porus acousticus and skull base.     

Quantitative analysis of metabolic gases by multichannel Raman spectroscopy: use of a newly designed elliptic-spherical integration type of cell holder

We describe the quantitative analysis of some metabolic gases bymultichannel Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectra were measured forair, acetone, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and mixed gas consisting ofacetone, ammonia, and air. We designed a new elliptic-sphericalintegration type of cell holder to obtain the Raman spectra of gaseswith a high signal-to-noise ratio. Concentrations of acetone, ammonia, and carbon dioxide were determined by the peak intensities ofRaman bands at 2940, 3228, and 1385 cm(-1), respectively. To compensate for the fluctuations of Ramanintensities caused by several factors, such as the fluctuations oflaser power, the peak intensity of a band at 2324 cm(-1) dueto nitrogen gas was used as an internal intensity standard. Thecorrelation coefficient between the corrected Raman intensity at 2940cm(-1) and the concentration of acetone was calculated to be0.984 for a concentration range of 2-12 ppm. The detection limitof acetone gas was found to be 2 ppm.     

Accurate finite element method for atomic calculations based on density functional theory and Hartree–Fock method

An accurate finite element method is developed for atomic calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) within local density approximation (LDA) and Hartree–Fock (HF) method. The radial wave functions are expanded by cubic Hermite spline functions on a uniform mesh for , and all the associated integrals are analytically evaluated in conjunction with fitting procedures of the Hartree and the exchange–correlation potentials to the same cubic Hermite spline functions using a set of recurrence formulas. The total energy of atoms systematically converges from above, and the error algebraically decays as the mesh spacing decreases. When the mesh spacing d is taken to be , the total energy for an atom of atomic number Z can be calculated within error of ¹⁰−7 hartree for both the LDA and HF methods. The equal applicability of the method to DFT and the HF method with a similar degree of high accuracy enables the method to be a reliable platform for development of new functionals in DFT such as hybrid functionals.     

Object detection based on a robust and accurate statistical multi-point-pair model

In this paper, we propose a robust and accurate background model, called grayscale arranging pairs (GAP). The model is based on the statistical reach feature (SRF), which is defined as a set of statistical pair-wise features. Using the GAP model, moving objects are successfully detected under a variety of complex environmental conditions. The main concept of the proposed method is the use of multiple point pairs that exhibit a stable statistical intensity relationship as a background model. The intensity difference between pixels of the pair is much more stable than the intensity of a single pixel, especially in varying environments. Our proposed method focuses more on the history of global spatial correlations between pixels than on the history of any given pixel or local spatial correlations. Furthermore, we clarify how to reduce the GAP modeling time and present experimental results comparing GAP with existing object detection methods, demonstrating that superior object detection with higher precision and recall rates is achieved by GAP.     

Mutagenicity and DNA-damaging activity of decomposed products of food colours under UV irradiation

Five synthetic food colours Food Red Nos 3, 40 and 102 and Food Blue Nos 1 and 2, and their UV irradiated products were tested for mutagenic activity by means of the Ames test using Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100. Food colours were irradiated with UV light for 14 days. Food Red Nos 3, 40 and 102 and Food Blue No. 1 were non-mutagenic before and after irradiation. UV irradiated products of Food Blue No. 2 were mutagenic in TA98 with or without S-9 mix. The mutagenic activity increased with increasing irradiation period, reached maximum potency on day 6, and then decreased. Moreover, Food Blue No. 2 showed DNA-damaging activity after 14 days of irradiation in rec-assay using Bacillus subtilis strains H17 and M45. The capillary electrophoresis was applied for the analysis of UV irradiated products of Food Blue No. 2. The original peak of Food Blue No. 2 was decomposed into seven peaks after UV irradiation.