A boronic acid-based fluorescent hydrogel for monosaccharide detection

A boronic acid-based anthracene fluorescent probe was functionalised with an acrylamide unit to incorporate into a hydrogel system for monosaccharide detection. In solution, the fluorescent probe displayed a strong fluorescence turn-on response upon exposure to fructose, and an expected trend in apparent binding constants, as judged by a fluorescence response where D-fructose>D-galactose>D-mannose>D-glucose. The hydrogel incorporating the boronic acid monomer demonstrated the ability to detect monosaccharides by fluorescence with the same overall trend as the monomer in solution with the addition of D-fructose resulting in a 10-fold enhancement (≤0.25 mol/L).     

Diporphyrin tweezer for multichannel spectroscopic analysis of enantiomeric excess

Chiral 1,1’-binaphthyl-linked diporphyrin ‘tweezers’ (R)-1/(S)-1 and the corresponding zinc(II) complexes (R)-2/(S)-2 were prepared as chiral host molecules, and their utility for chiral analyses (especially enantiomeric excess (ee) determinations) were evaluated. Tris(1-n-dodecyl)porphyrins were used for the first time as the interacting units. Host capabilities of the diporphyrin tweezers were investigated by titrations with (R,R)- and (S,S)-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine (CHDA). The host molecules could be used as multichannel probes of ee by using UV-vis, circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence emission and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) methods. Chiral configurations could also be differentiated using CD or ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. All three optical techniques give good resolution of ee with reasonable sensitivity considering the low concentrations used (ca. 10⁻⁶ mol·L⁻¹). The ee determination of CHDA enantiomers using NMR spectroscopy is also possible because of the reasonably well separated resonances in the case of (R,R)- and (S,S)-CHDA. Non-metallated (R)-1/(S)-1 hosts could not be used to detect chiral information in a strongly acidic chiral guest. This work demonstrates the utility of 1,1’-binapthyl-linked chiral hosts for chiral analysis of ditopically interacting enantiomers.     

SPEY项目——聚乳酸(PLA)短纤纱稳定环锭纺的工艺布局

介绍了Spun EcoYarn(SPEY)项目的研究现状。该项目旨在通过方法学分析与工艺分析,研究聚乳酸(PLA)短纤纱在家用或产业用纺织品领域的应用。工艺过程分析的目的是避免PLA在环锭纺过程中出现降解现象。目前,项目已成功制备出100%PLA环锭纱。当生产速度为23 m/min、纱线捻度为100 T/m时,可纺制25 tex的PLA纱,且纺纱工艺稳定、无断头。概述了采用PLA长丝进行环锭纺的试验结果,提出了稳定生产100%PLA环锭纱的优化工艺参数。     

Rare earth metals sorption recovery from uranium in situ leaching process solutions

Sorption characteristics of ion exchange resins 001×7,005×8,D72 regarding rare earth metals(REM) during extraction from barren solution of uranium sorption in dynamic conditions were investigated. It was identified that D72 resin capacity on analyzed REM was 2.46 mg cm-3 after passing 220 BV(bed volume) of initial solution with 95% recovery of element of REM with the lowest affinity. Researches on REM desorption in dynamic conditions from investigated ion exchange resins by solution of 1.7 mol·L-1HNO3 and 8.0 mol·L-1NH4NO3 with 0.2 mol·L-1 HNO3 passing were carried out. It was identified that using desorption solution based on ammonium nitrate allows to achieve acceptable recovery degree of REM from the resin. The possibility of organization of a circulating desorption solution system increases the perspectives of nitrate ammonium solution usage.     

氟化物包覆纳米铝粉对HTPB燃料燃烧性能的影响

为研究氟化物包覆纳米铝粉对端羟基聚丁二烯(HTPB)燃料燃烧性能的影响,采用真空浇注法制备了含氟化物包覆纳米铝粉和不含添加物的两种HTPB燃料,并测试了在氧气流中的燃烧性能。利用NASA-CEA程序计算了两种燃料的理论比冲和绝热火焰温度。结果表明,两种燃料的退移速率都随着氧气质量密流的增加而增大,两种燃料的退移速率与氧气的质量密流关系均满足幂函数,幂函数指数分别为0.704±0.003和0.688±0.002;氟化物包覆纳米铝粉对燃料的退移速率有一定的促进作用,且这种作用不随氧化剂质量密流的变化而变化;在氧化剂质量密流研究范围内,含氟化物包覆纳米铝粉燃料的退移速率比不含添加物的燃料的退移速率高13%左右。氧气与燃料的质量比为2.0时,两种燃料在真空中的理论比冲和绝热火焰温度都达到最大值;氧气与燃料的质量比为0.4~8时,铝粉未能显著提高真空中HTPB燃料的比冲。     

Comparison of particle-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their variability causes in the ambient air in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and in Osaka, Japan, during 2005-2006

A comparative study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with particulate matter (TSP) in the ambient air in an urban area in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and in Osaka, Japan was carried out from 2005 to 2006. The objective of this study was to investigate the environmental levels, emission sources, seasonal variations and health risk of eleven PAHs in the two cities, especially Ho Chi Minh City where air pollution is becoming a serious concern. The results showed that the concentrations of TSP and total PAHs were significantly higher in Ho Chi Minh City than levels in Osaka. The concentrations of 5- and 6-ring PAHs (BeP, BbF, BkF, BaP, BghiP and InP) were much higher in TSP samples in Ho Chi Minh City than in Osaka, accounting for 82% and 51% of total PAHs, respectively. These PAHs are known to be highly carcinogenic and mutagenic in humans. Vehicular emission is suggested as one of the main pollution sources of PAHs in both cities. Motorcycles and gasoline automobiles are suggested as the main emission sources of PAHs in Ho Chi Minh City, whereas diesel automobiles are the primary source in Osaka. Seasonal variations of PAHs were observed in this study; higher concentrations of PAHs were found in the rainy season (May-December) and lower concentrations corresponded to the dry season (February-April) in Ho Chi Minh City, while higher concentrations of PAHs were observed in the winter (November-January) in Osaka. The number of sunshine hours was an important meteorological factor affecting seasonal variations of PAHs in Ho Chi Minh City, while the temperature was a main factor causing the variations of PAHs in Osaka. The high BaP equivalent concentration of 5- and 6-ring PAHs even in the ambient air is an alarming signal for harmfulness to human health and environmental quality in Ho Chi Minh City.     

Rapid and direct estimation of active biomass on granular activated carbon through adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) determination

Granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration is used during drinking water treatment for the removal of micropollutants such as taste and odour compounds, halogenated hydrocarbons, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. In addition, the active microbial biomass established on GAC is responsible for the removal of biodegradable dissolved organic carbon compounds present in water or formed during oxidation (e.g., ozonation and chlorination) processes. In order to conduct correct kinetic evaluations of DOC removal during drinking water treatment, and to assess the state and performance of full-scale GAC filter installations, an accurate and sensitive method for active biomass determination on GAC is required. We have developed a straight-forward method based on direct measurement of the total adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) content of a GAC sample and other support media. In this method, we have combined flow-cytometric absolute cell counting and ATP analysis to derive case-specific ATP/cell conversion values. In this study, we present the detailed standardisation of the ATP method. An uncertainty assessment has shown that heterogeneous colonisation of the GAC particles makes the largest contribution to the combined standard uncertainty of the method. The method was applied for the investigation of biofilm formation during the start-up period of a GAC pilot-scale plant treating Lake Zurich water. A rapid increase in the biomass of up to 1.1 x 10(10)cells/g GAC dry weight (DW) within the first 33 days was observed, followed by a slight decrease to an average steady-state concentration of 7.9 x 10(9)cells/g GAC DW. It was shown that the method can be used to determine the biomass attached to the GAC for both stable and developing biofilms.     

Arsenic abundance and variation in golf course lakes

Monosodium methanearsonate (MSMA) is a commonly used herbicide on golf courses. To investigate the variation in abundance of arsenic (As) after MSMA application, 28 golf course lakes were monitored monthly for one year. The As concentrations varied substantially in and between individual lakes with values up to 124 microg/L (mean=10.9 microg/L, n=336). This is considerably higher than the As concentrations in comparable "non-golf course" lakes (up to 100-times) in the study area. The highest values of As in the lakes were generally observed in the late spring and early summer and corresponded to the intensity of MSMA applications. Arsenic seems to be sequestered by the golf course lake sediments with concentrations as high as 302 mg/kg, which were significantly higher than the 0.1 to 3 mg/kg expected for comparable sediments in central Florida. Arsenic correlates well with Fe in the top 15 cm of the lake sediments suggesting that As is sorbed by hydrous ferric oxides (HFO). As long as conditions are in favour of HFO stability, As is retained in the lake sediments preventing its migration into the Floridan aquifer systems. However, once the loading capacity of the sediment is reached or when as a result of changing physico-chemical conditions HFO may become unstable, As may enter the Floridan aquifer.     

Characterization of denitrifying phosphate-accumulating organisms cultivated under different electron acceptor conditions using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis assay

To investigate the characteristics and the microbial diversity of denitrifying phosphate-accumulating organisms (DNPAOs) that are capable of conducting enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) using nitrate as electron acceptor, three sequencing batch reactors were operated under three different electron acceptor conditions, i.e., only oxygen, oxygen together with nitrate and only nitrate. Based on the chemical analysis concerning the biochemical transformation of each reactor, it was found that phosphate-accumulating organisms responsible for EBPR consisted of at least three populations including DNPAOs, and that the microbial community structure was changed according to the electron acceptor conditions. Also, the sludge cultivated with oxygen together with nitrate showed a drastic increase in the amount of phosphorus uptake under anoxic conditions, which suggested that a proportion of DNPAOs capable of utilizing nitrate under aerobic conditions were present. On the other hand, the change in microbial community structure depending on the type of electron acceptor was demonstrated by the analysis of the results of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified 16S ribosomal DNA fragments. It was found that the bacteria commonly contained in all the reactors were Rhodocyclus sp. (96% identity) and Dechlorimonas sp. (97% identity) that belonged to the beta subclass of Proteobacteria on the basis of the analysis of the sequence excised from DGGE bands and the determination of phylogenetic affiliation. However, only the presence of Rhodocyclus sp. in all the reactors was demonstrated by fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis.     

A semi-operative approach to lake water quality retrieval from remote sensing data

A semi-operative approach to retrieve chlorophyll-a concentration from airborne/spaceborne spectrometer observations has been developed and tested using the airborne imaging spectrometer (AISA) data from 11 lakes located in southern Finland. The retrieval approach is empirical and requires nearly simultaneous in situ training data on water quality for the determination of regression coefficients. However, the training data does not have to be collected from every lake under investigation. Instead, the results obtained indicate that reliable estimates on the level of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) for an individual lake can be achieved without employing in situ data representing this specific lake. This enables the estimation of water quality from remotely sensed data for numerous lakes with the aid of reference data only for a few selected lakes representing the region under investigation. In addition, it is shown that the remotely sensed spectrum shape characteristics are highly affected by the trophic and humic state of the lake water.