Determination of Lead in Spiked Seawater Samples by Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry using Chemical Modifiers

Abstract

The determination of lead in spiked sodium chloride solution with 3.4% salinity and natural sea‐water samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) with Zeeman‐effect background correction was investigated using neodymium, samarium, and erbium salts as modifiers with the addition of citric acid (CA) as a reducing agent. In order to demonstrate the high potential of rare earth metals in combination with citric acid, optimum pyrolysis temperature, atomization temperature, and optimum masses of neodymium, samarium, and erbium were found for the determination of lead. These modifiers were used for the determination of lead in sodium chloride solution with 3.4% salinity and in natural sea water samples by means of the calibration graphs prepared with pure analyte solutions.

The detection limits for lead spiked sample matrices were calculated with the 2σ criterion between 2.0 to 2.1 ng mL^?1 for neodymium and citric acid, between 5.3 to 7.4 ng mL^?1 for samarium and citric acid, and between 1.7 to 2.1 ng mL^?1 for erbium and citric acid and for a sample volume of 10 µL. The recoveries for lead spiked sea water samples were 97–102%, with neodymium and citric acid modifier and erbium and citric acid modifier. They were only 66–68% without modifier.     

Dextran: Influence of Molecular Weight in Antioxidant Properties and Immunomodulatory Potential

Dextrans (α-d-glucans) extracted from Leuconostoc mesenteroides, with molecular weights (M_W) of 10 (D10), 40 (D40) and 147 (D147) kDa, were evaluated as antioxidant, anticoagulant and immunomodulatory drugs for the first time. None presented anticoagulant activity. As for the antioxidant and immunomodulatory tests, a specific test showed an increase in the dextran activity that was proportional to the increase in molecular weight. In a different assay, however, activity decreased or showed no correlation to the M_W. As an example, the reducing power assay showed that D147 was twice as potent as other dextrans. On the other hand, all three samples showed similar activity (50%) when it came to scavenging the OH radical, whereas only the D10 sample showed sharp activity (50%) when it came to scavenging the superoxide ion. D40 was the single dextran that presented with immunomodulatory features since it stimulated the proliferation (~50%) of murine macrophages (RAW 264.7) and decreased the release of nitric oxide (~40%) by the cells, both in the absence and presence of lipopolysaccharides (LPS). In addition, D40 showed a greater scavenging activity (50%) for the hydrogen peroxide, which caused it to also be the more potent dextran when it came to inhibiting lipid peroxidation (70%). These points toward dextrans with a 40 kDa weight as being ideal for antioxidant and immunomodulatory use. However, future studies with the D40 and other similarly 40 kDa dextrans are underway to confirm this hypothesis.     

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON WEAR ASPECTS OF TAPPING OPERATION ON HARDENED STEELS

Tapping is one of the most intensively used operations for internal threads with diameters below about 15 mm. When a tap fails, the workpiece has a significant added value. The present work investigates some aspects of wear and performance when solid carbide coated taps M10 × 1.5 cut hardened AISI H13 and AISI D2. The results indicated that it was possible to make threads on hardened AISI D2, although the number of holes was essentially low and tool breakage was often. Threads on hardened AISI H13 was possible with reasonably low tool wear. Cutting surface presented some indication of small flaws due to the adhered material on the taps.     

Toc‐Tum mini‐games: An educational game accessible for deaf culture based on virtual reality

Human hearing is an important sense, which complements the other senses, and is essential for children to begin to acquire basic concepts of the world; however, in severe cases of disability, children become marginalized from these benefits. An example of this is with music, a deaf individual is to be able to perceive it. With this in mind, we developed a novel medical expert system based on virtual reality, called Toc‐Tum mini‐games, applying basic concepts of music in an accessible way to the deaf culture. The intelligent proposed system is validated in two different tests: (a) with the target audience to evaluate the interest in the game and (b) with professionals knowledgeable in the field of music or who have had contact with the deaf, evaluate the impact of the game teaching music to the deaf. The tests with the target audience showed that the methods of interaction allowed the children to understand most of the stages and that they were animated during the test days. Regarding the professionals, they were interested in the possibility of using the proposed system in question, even if some modifications in the design had to be made. The results showed that the Toc‐Tum mini‐games is an intelligent tool capable of introducing music in a playful and manageable way using a virtual environment.     

Influence of Al2O3 and B2O3 on Sintering and Crystallization of Lithium Silicate Glass System

This article reports on the effect of Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ added as dopants on the preparation of glass‐ceramics (GCs) belonging to the lithium silicate glass system. The GCs are prepared by sintering route using glass powders. The reasons for the crystallization of the metastable crystalline phase lithium metasilicate (LS) are discussed and the impact of the dopants on the thermodynamics and kinetics of crystallization is investigated. The addition of dopants modifies the thermodynamic equilibrium of the system and this change is mainly entropy driven and also slowdown the kinetics of crystallization. Differential thermal analysis and hot‐stage microscopy are employed to investigate the glass‐forming ability, sintering, and crystallization behavior of the studied glasses. The crystalline phase assemblage studied under nonisothermal heating conditions in the temperature range of 800°C–900°C in air. Well sintered and dense glass‐ceramics are obtained after sintering of glass powders at 850°C–900°C for 1 h featuring crystalline phase assemblage dominated by lithium disilicate (LS₂).     

Maastricht treaty: Consequences for national housing policies

European integration will have several effects on national housing policies. The major responsibility for policy formulation and policy implementation in housing will remain with national and local governments. Nevertheless, the Maastricht Treaty will have important implications for housing through several channels: factor mobility, competition policy and liberalisation of markets, economic growth, lower inflation, cuts in government spending, tax harmonisation and issues of citizenship and social justice. In this exploratory contribution we sketch within a closely specified framework the possible impacts of European integration for national housing policies.     

User Selection Algorithms for MU‐MIMO Systems with Coordinated Beamforming

In this paper, we propose two novel user selection algorithms for multiuser multiple‐input and multiple‐output downlink wireless systems, in which both a base station (BS) and mobile stations (MSs) are equipped with multiple antennas. Linear transmit beamforming at the BS and receive combining at the MSs are used to avoid interference between users and find a better sum‐rate capacity performance. An optimal technique for selecting users would entail an exhaustive search, which in practice becomes computationally complex for a realistic number of users. Suboptimal algorithms with low complexity are proposed for a coordinated beamforming scheme. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed algorithms is better than that provided by previous algorithms and is very close to an optimal approach with reduced complexity.     

The path to successful urban renewal: Current policy debates in the Netherlands

In Dutch urban renewal, we observe an implementation gap between dreaming and doing. Dutch national government recently proposed to focus urban renewal on more than 50 priority areas in the cities and to reduce urban renewal subsidies. It is not very likely that this policy will accelerate urban renewal. This contribution suggests a different approach: the formulation of an urban district vision shared by the sustainable stakeholders in those districts. If they can come to an agreement, they deserve housing association finance and public urban renewal support. By targeting the plans primarily on the social climbers in the urban districts involved, the city can keep their buying power within the city. Combining physical, social, economic and safety agendas and adopting a multi-functional orientation would seem to be a successful strategy.     

Mapping environmental variation in lowland Amazonian rainforests using remote sensing and floristic data

This article describes a method for detailed mapping of ecological variation in a tropical rainforest based on field inventory of pteridophytes (ferns and lycophytes) and remote sensing using Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery. Previously known soil cation optima of the pteridophyte species were first used in calibration, i.e. to infer soil cation concentrations for sites on the basis of their pteridophyte species composition. Multiple linear regression based on spectral reflectance values in the Landsat image was then used to derive an equation that allowed the prediction of these calibrated soil values for unvisited sites in the study area. The predictive accuracy turned out to be high: the mean absolute error, as estimated by leave-one-out cross-validation, was just 7% of the total range of calibrated soil values. This method for detailed mapping of natural environmental variability in lowland tropical rainforest has applications for land-use planning, such as wildlife management, forestry, biodiversity conservation, and payments for carbon sequestration.