http://www.hindawi.comThe latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/759141Catalytic oxidation is a feasible and affordable technology for solvent emission abatement. However, finding optimal operation conditions is important, since they are strongly dependent on the application area of VOC incineration. This paper presents the results of the laboratory experiments concerning four most central parameters, that is, effects of concentration, gas hourly space velocity (GHSV), temperature, and moisture on the oxidation of n-butyl acetate. Both fresh and industrially aged commercial Pt/Al2O3 catalysts were tested to determine optimal process conditions and the significance order and level of selected parameters. The effects of these parameters were evaluated by computer-aided statistical experimental design. According to the results, GHSV was the most dominant parameter in the oxidation of n-butyl acetate. Decreasing GHSV and increasing temperature increased the conversion of n-butyl acetate. The interaction effect of GHSV and temperature was more significant than the effect of concentration. Both of these affected the reaction by increasing the conversion of n-butyl acetate. Moisture had only a minor decreasing effect on the conversion, but it also decreased slightly the formation of by products. Ageing did not change the significance order of the above-mentioned parameters, however, the effects of individual parameters increased slightly as a function of ageing.Satu Ojala, Ulla Lassi, Paavo Perämäki, and Riitta L. Keiski© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/179498The measurement of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in ambient air requires a complex, multistep sample preparation procedure prior to analysis by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Although routine analytical laboratories regularly carry out these measurements, they are often undertaken with little regard to the accurate calculation of measurement uncertainty, or appreciation of the sensitivity of the accuracy of the measurement to each step of the analysis. A measurement equation is developed for this analysis, and the contributory sources to the overall uncertainty when preparing calibration standards and other solutions by gravimetric and volumetric approaches are discussed and compared. For the example analysis presented, it is found that the uncertainty of the measurement is dominated by the repeatability of the GC-MS analysis and suggested that volumetric (as opposed to gravimetric) preparation of solutions does not adversely affect the overall uncertainty. The methodology presented in this work can also be applied to analogous methods for similar analytes, for example, those used to measure polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, dioxins, or furans in ambient air.Andrew S. Brown and Richard J. C. Brown© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/745636A resonance light scattering (RLS) technique to determine chloride ions in drinks was developed. Chloride ions were found to bind Ag+ forming AgCl aggregates that produced intense resonance scattering light. Effects of factors such as acidity, ionic strength, and coexistent interferents on the RLS of AgCl aggregates were investigated. The pH of solution almost did not affect the production of RLS and few foreign species interfered with the detection of chloride ions. The resonance scattering light intensity at the maximum peak of 571 nm was linear to the concentration of chloride ions in the range of 1.42–8.52 ng mL-1 with a detection limit of 0.71 ng mL-1. To determine the feasibility of the proposed method, some samples of water and drinks were analyzed. The attained results were in agreement with that of ion-selective electrode method. Good recovery results were also obtained with the range of 94.08–105.63%. The sensitivity and selectivity of the RLS method are high enough to determine trace amounts of chloride ions without any significant interference from high concentration of other components such as common anions and cations.Hui Cao and Dong Hui Wu© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/586310Different hexoprenaline (Hx2SO4) conventional and coated wire electrodes were constructed and evaluated. Membranes were based on hexoprenalinium phosphotungstate (Hx-PTA) and hexporenalinium phosphomolybdate (Hx-PMA). The electrodes were fully characterized in terms of their composition, response time, life span, pH, and temperature and then were applied to the potentiometric determination of the hexoprenalinium ion in its pure state, pharmaceutical preparations, and biological samples, urine and plasma, under batch and flow injection conditions. The selectivity of the electrodes towards many inorganic cations, sugars, amino acids, and some other brochodilatures of close chemical composition was also tested.Rasha M. El-Nashar© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/71943Peter B. Stockwell© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/498921MODULAR ANALYTICS Serum Work Area (in USA Integrated MODULAR ANALYTICS, MODULAR ANALYTICS is a trademark of a member of the Roche Group) represents a further approach to automation in the laboratory medicine. This instrument combines previously introduced modular systems for the clinical chemistry and immunochemistry laboratory and allows customised combinations for various laboratory workloads. Functionality, practicability, and workflow behaviour of MODULAR ANALYTICS Serum Work Area were evaluated in an international multicenter study at six laboratories. Across all experiments, 236000 results from 32400 samples were generated using 93 methods. Simulated routine testing which included provocation incidents and anomalous situations demonstrated good performance and full functionality. Heterogeneous immunoassays, performed on the E-module with the electrochemiluminescence technology, showed reproducibility at the same level of the general chemistry tests, which was well within the clinical demands. Sample carryover cannot occur due to intelligent sample processing. Workflow experiments for the various module combinations, with menus of about 50 assays, yielded mean sample processing times of <38 minutes for combined clinical chemistry and immunochemistry requests; <50 minutes including automatically repeated samples. MODULAR ANALYTICS Serum Work Area offered simplified workflow by combining various laboratory segments. It increased efficiency while maintaining or even improving quality of laboratory processes.Paolo Mocarelli, Gary L. Horowitz, Pier Mario Gerthoux, Rossana Cecere, Roland Imdahl, Janneke Ruinemans-Koerts, Hilmar Luthe, Silvia Pesudo Calatayud, Marie Luisa Salve, Albert Kunst, Margaret McGovern, Katherine Ng, and Wolfgang Stockmann© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/742319A simple, sensitive, reliable and flexible flow injection spectrophotometric method is proposed for on-line preconcentration and determination of trace amounts of zinc in water. At the presence of Tween-80 in pH 9.3 buffer solutions, the shade of color of Zn (II)-PAN complex is in a linear relation to the zinc amount at the point of the maximum absorption peak of 560 nm. The optimal experimental conditions, including reaction conditions and preconcentration conditions, had been obtained. The linear range of the proposed method was between 2.0 and 360 μg L−1 and the detection limit was 0.42 μg L−1. The relative standard deviation was 3.55% and 2.14% for 5.0 μg L−1 and 50 μg L−1 of zinc standard solution (n=8). The method had been successfully applied to zinc determination in water samples and the analytical results were satisfactory.Liang Wei, Xinshen Zhang, Yichun Dai, Jin Huang, Yong-hong Xie, and Kai Xiao© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/814715No measurement result of any kind is complete without an associated statement of uncertainty. In general, the aim is to minimise this measurement uncertainty to the extent that the measurement made is fit for purpose, or the uncertainty meets an acceptable level such as a ‘‘data quality objective’’. This paper demonstrates how the sampling time used to measure a pollutant in ambient air over a given time period, particularly with automatic instruments, can affect the uncertainty of the measurement result. It is shown that the uncertainty of the overall result depends critically on how the precision characteristics of the measuring instrumentation vary with analyte abundance. An example of the determination of these characteristics for mercury vapour measurement and the conclusions that may be drawn about optimum sampling times to minimise uncertainty are presented. For situations where uncertainty is minimised by the use of long sampling periods, the implications of this strategy on the ‘‘information richness’’ of the data and on the detection of short-term episodes, as well as peak concentrations, are discussed.Richard J. C. Brown, Daniel Hood, and Andrew S. Brown© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/183747The established protocols for evaluating new analytical systems produce indispensable information with regard to quality characteristics, but in general they fail to analyse the system performance under routine-like conditions. We describe a model which allows the testing of a new analytical system under conditions close to the routine in a controlled and systematic manner by using an appropriate software tool. Performing routine simulation experiments, either reflecting imprecision or method comparison characteristics, gives the user essential information on the overall system performance under real intended-use conditions.Wolfgang Stockmann, Werner Engeldinger, Albert Kunst, and Margaret McGovern© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/34373In this approach, a pneumatic flow injection-tandem spectrometer system, without a delivery pump, has been developed to study chromium speciation. In this system, suction force of pneumatic nebulizer of a flame atomic absorption spectrometer has been used for solution delivery through the manifold. Cr(VI) and total Cr concentrations were determined using UV-Vis and FAAS spectrometers, respectively. The Cr(III) was determined by difference. The calibration curves were linear up to 10 μg mL−1 and 20 μg mL−1 for Cr(VI) and total Cr with detection limit of 0.12 μg mL−1 and 0.07 μg mL−1 for Cr(VI) and Cr(III), respectively. The midrange precision and accuracy are less than 1.98% and ± 2.50% for two species, respectively, at a sampling rate of 100 h−1. This system was applied for the determination of the chromium species in spiked and natural waters as well as industrial waters.Meissam Noroozifar, Mozhgan Khorasani-Motlagh, and Reza Akbari© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/32470Experimental design optimization approach was utilized to develop a sequential injection analysis (SIA) method for promazine assay in bulk and pharmaceutical formulations. The method was based on the oxidation of promazine by Ce(IV) in sulfuric acidic media resulting in a spectrophotometrically detectable species at 512 nm. A 33 full factorial design and response surface methods were applied to optimize experimental conditions potentially controlling the analysis. The optimum conditions obtained were 1.0×10−4 M sulphuric acid, 0.01 M Ce(IV), and 10 μL/s flow rate. Good analytical parameters were obtained including range of linearity 1–150 μg/mL, linearity with correlation coefficient 0.9997, accuracy with mean recovery 98.2%, repeatability with RSD 1.4% (n=7 consequent injections), intermediate precision with RSD 2.1% (n=5 runs over a week), limits of detection 0.34 μg/mL, limits of quantification 0.93 μg/mL, and sampling frequency 23 samples/h. The obtained results were realized by the British Pharmacopoeia method and comparable results were obtained. The provided SIA method enjoys the advantages of the technique with respect to rapidity, reagent/sample saving, and safety in solution handling and to the environment.Abubakr M. Idris, Fahad N. Assubaie, and Salah M. Sultan© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/34601The biodegradability of certain biofuels was studied in the case of forest soils using the manometric respirometric technique, which was proved to be very suitable for untreated, fertilized as well as pH adjusted soils. Experiments carried out in infertile sandy forest soil gave a BOD/ThOD value of 45.1% for a typical model substance, that is, sodium benzoate after a period of 30 days and mineral addition improved the BOD/ThOD value to a value of 76.2%. Rapeseed oil-based chain oil almost did not biodegrade at all in 30 days in nonprocessed soil, and when pH was adjusted to 8.0, the BOD/ThOD value increased slightly to a value of 7.4%. Mineral addition improved the BOD/ThOD value on average to 43.2% after 30 days. The combined mineral addition and pH adjustment together increased the BOD/ThOD value to 75.8% in 30 days. The observations were similar with a rapeseed oil-based lubricating oil: after 30 days, the BOD/ThOD value increased from 5.9% to an average value of 51.9%, when the pH and mineral concentrations of the soil were optimized. The mineral addition and pH adjustment also improved the precision of the measurements significantly.Juhani Kaakinen, Pekka Vähäoja, Toivo Kuokkanen, and Katri Roppola© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/38405The aim of this study is to develop a novel fuzzy clustering neural network (FCNN) algorithm as pattern classifiers for real-time odor recognition system. In this type of FCNN, the input neurons activations are derived through fuzzy c mean clustering of the input data, so that the neural system could deal with the statistics of the measurement error directly. Then the performance of FCNN network is compared with the other network which is well-known algorithm, named multilayer perceptron (MLP), for the same odor recognition system. Experimental results show that both FCNN and MLP provided high recognition probability in determining various learn categories of odors, however, the FCNN neural system has better ability to recognize odors more than the MLP network.Bekir Karlık and Kemal Yüksek© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/46219In this work, an automatic device to deliver titrant solution into a titration chamber with the ability to determine the dispensed volume of solution, with good precision independent of both elapsed time and flow rate, is proposed. A glass tube maintained at the vertical position was employed as a container for the titrant solution. Electronic devices were coupled to the glass tube in order to control its filling with titrant solution, as well as the stepwise solution delivering into the titration chamber. The detection of the titration end point was performed employing a photometer designed using a green LED (λ = 545 nm) and a phototransistor. The titration flow system comprised three-way solenoid valves, which were assembled to allow that the steps comprising the solution container loading and the titration run were carried out automatically. The device for the solution volume determination was designed employing an infrared LED (λ = 930 nm) and a photodiode. When solution volume delivered from proposed device was within the range of 5 to 105 μl, a linear relationship (R = 0.999) between the delivered volumes and the generated potential difference was achieved. The usefulness of the proposed device was proved performing photometric titration of hydrochloric acid solution with a standardized sodium hydroxide solution and using phenolphthalein as an external indicator. The achieved results presented relative standard deviation of 1.5%.Sivanildo S. Borges, Gláucia P. Vieira, and Boaventura F. Reis© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/48768A simple and new simultaneous fourth derivative spectrophotometric method is proposed for the analysis of a two-component system containing cobalt(II) and nickel(II) without separation using 2-hydroxy-3-methoxy benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (HMBATSC) as a chromophoric reagent. The reagent reacts with cobalt(II) and nickel(II) at pH 6.0, forming soluble brown and yellow colored species, respectively. Cobalt(II) and nickel(II) present in the mixture are simultaneously determined without solving the simultaneous equations by measuring the fourth derivative amplitudes at 468.5 nm and 474.5 nm, respectively. The derivative amplitudes obey Beer's law at 468.5 nm and 474.5 nm for Co(II) and Ni(II) in the range 0.059–3.299 μgmL-1 and 0.058–3.285 μg mL-1, respectively. A large number of foreign ions do not interfere in the present method. The present simultaneous method is used for the determination of micro amounts of cobalt in biological samples, nickel in plant samples, and in some alloy steels and soil sample.A. Praveen Kumar, P. Raveendra Reddy, and V. Krishna Reddy© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/39761The aim of this research was to study the suitability of a manometric respirometric test (OECD 301F) for the determination of biological oxygen demand (BOD) in domestic wastewater. This was done by comparing four different BOD tests (a manometric respirometric test, oxygen sensor determination, iodometric titration, and UV absorption measurement) and by evaluating the BOD7 value after a short-term measurement applying the manometric respirometric test. Measurements were done in three dif-ferent laboratories. The respirometric test was performed well on municipal sewage, and the precision of results was good. There were minor deviations between BOD7 values as determined by the different methods, but the deviations were not essentially big enough to have a practical impact. Evaluation of the BOD7 value after two or three days' incubation by the respirometric method was shown to work well; average deviations between measured and evaluated values after three days' incubation were 5–18%. Hence, the manometric respirometric test proved to be a rapid and suitable tool for process control purposes.Katri Roppola, Toivo Kuokkanen, Jaakko Rämö, Hanna Prokkola, and Eeva Heiska© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/86857A resonance light scattering technique to determine tinidazole in drugs was developed by tetraphenylboron sodium (TPB). Tinidazole was found to bind B(C6H5)4− anion and transformed to tinidazole-TPB aggregate which displayed intense resonance scattering light. Effects of factors such as wavelength, acidity, stabilizers, and interferents on the RLS of tinidazole TPB were investigated in detail. The RLS intensity of the tinidazole-TPB suspension was obtained in sulfuric acid solution (pH=1.44). The resonance scattering light intensity at the maximum RLS peak of 569.5 nm was linear to the concentration of tinidazole in the range of 10.0–30.0 μgmL−1 with a detection limit of 5.0 μgmL−1. Good results were also obtained with the recovery range of 95.13–106.76%. The method was applied to determine tinidazole in injections and tablets, showing high sensitivity and accuracy compared with the high performance liquid chromatography method (HPLC) according to Chinese Pharmacopoeia.Xin Yu Jiang, Xiao Qing Chen, Zheng Dong, and Ming Xu© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/68143A LabVIEW-based self-constructed chemical virtual instrument (VI) has been developed for determining temperatures and pressures. It can be put together easily and quickly by selecting hardware modules, such as the PCI-DAQ card or serial port method, different kinds of sensors, signal-conditioning circuits or finished chemical instruments, and software modules such as data acquisition, saving, proceeding. The VI system provides individual and extremely flexible solutions for automatic measurements in physical chemistry research.Wen-Bin Wang, Jang-Yuan Li, and Qi-Jun Wu© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/2007/49535This article summarises the advantages of the sequential injection analysis (SIA) for the online determination of nutrients in coastal waters. It concentrates on techniques to improve the reliability of the gained data by continuously monitoring one or more standards and on the advantages of online standard additions and offline determination of manually collected samples with the online SIA system. These measures are advantageous during method development and validation and can be used to verify the system performance on a regular base to reduce the amount of erroneous results. No changes in the flow system are necessary and the sample throughput is only slightly reduced. These techniques have been applied to a SIA system which is able to simultaneously determine ammonium and phosphate at a rate of more than 100 samples per hour each and detection limits (3σ) of 0.06 μM and 0.05 μM. Results from a campaign in summer 2005 are shown.Carsten Frank and Friedhelm Schroeder© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/79038Dopamine acts as neurotransmitter in the central and peripheral sympathetic nervous system. Determination of dopamine (DO) was performed by spectrophotometric analysis depending on the formation of new colored compound. The proposed procedure was efficient in quantitative determination of DO as pure material in pharmaceutical preparations and in urine samples. DO concentration in urine sample of patient confirms the affection with schizophrenia and the proposed procedure was used to facilitate diagnosis and followup of schizophrenic patients. It is recommended to apply the proposed procedures as routine analysis in pharmaceutical companies for quality control and in analytical laboratories to diagnose and follow up schizophrenia.Faten A. Nour El-Dien, Reham G. El-Nahas, and Ahmed G. El-Nahas© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/83247An automated procedure for photometric titration of red wine and associated instrumentation is described. The procedure was based on the flow-batch approach implemented employing multicommutation. The photometric detection was carried out using a homemade LED-based photometer. The mixing device, LED, and photodetector were attached to the titration chamber in order to form a compact and small-sized unit. The flow system comprised an automatic injector and three-way solenoid valves, which were controlled by a microcomputer through an electronic interface card. The software, written in Quick BASIC 4.5, was designed with abilities to accomplish all steps of the titration procedure including data acquisition and real-time processing to decide about the course of titration in the following step and so forth, until the titration endpoint was reached. The usefulness of the proposed titration system was demonstrated by analyzing red wine samples. When results were compared with those obtained using the AOAC reference method, no significant difference was observed at the 95% confidence level. A relative standard deviation of ca 2% (n=9) was obtained when processing a typical red wine sample containing 7.3 gl-1 total acidity expressed as tartaric acid.Ausberta Jesus Cabezas Garcia and Boaventura F. Reis© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/90384The biological oxygen demand (BOD) test is widely used in many wastewater treatment plants. The conventional BOD tests are usually time-consuming and the results are often out of date for process control purposes. The aim of this research was to compare the manometric respirometric test with common chemical methods in the determination of BOD of wastewater from a pulp and paper mills as well as to evaluate the BOD7 values of both wastewaters from the short-term respirometric measurements. The results showed that there were differences in the BOD7 values of paper mill samples measured by conventional and respirometric methods. The main cause was found to be the dilution solution used in the conventional BOD tests. Using the same mineral solution in the respirometric measurements diminished the difference remarkably. Evaluation of the BOD7 value after two or three days incubation was proved to work very well and the estimated results were close to measured values (deviations 1%–12%).Katri Roppola, Toivo Kuokkanen, Hannu Nurmesniemi, Jaakko Rämö, Risto Pöykiö, and Hanna Prokkola© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/47627A multiparametric flow system based on multicommutation and binary sampling has been designed for the automated determination of sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium in large-volume parenteral solutions and hemodialysis concentrated solutions. The goal was to obtain a computer-controlled system capable of determining the four metals without extensive modifications. The system involved the use of five solenoid valves under software control, allowing the establishment of the appropriate flow conditions for each analyte, that is, sample size, dilution, reagent addition, and so forth. Detection was carried out by either flame atomic emission spectrometry (sodium, potassium) or flame atomic absorption spectrometry (calcium, magnesium). The influence of several operating parameters was studied. Validation was carried out by analyzing artificial samples. Figures of merit obtained include linearity, accuracy, precision, and sampling frequency. Linearity was satisfactory: sodium, r2>0.999 (0.5–3.5 g/L), potassium, r2>0.996 (50–150 mg/L), calcium, r2>0.999 (30–120 mg/L), and magnesium, r2>0.999 (20–40 mg/L). Precision (sr, %, n=5) was better than 2.1%, and accuracy (evaluated through recovery assays) was in the range of 99.8%–101.0% (sodium), 100.8–102.5% (potassium), 97.3%–101.3% (calcium), and 97.1%–99.8% (magnesium). Sampling frequencies (h−1) were 70 (sodium), 75 (potassium), 70 (calcium), and 58 (magnesium). According to the results obtained, the use of an automated multiparametric system based on multicommutation offers several advantages for the quality control of large-volume parenteral solutions and hemodialysis concentrated solutions.Mariela Pistón, Isabel Dol, and Moisés Knochen© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/93947Determination of disaccharidase and glucoamylase activities is important for the diagnosis of intestinal diseases. We adapted a widely accepted manual method to an automated system that uses the same reagents reaction volumes, incubation times, and biopsy size as the manual method. A dye was added to the homogenates as the internal quality control to monitor the pipetting precision of the automated system. When the automated system was tested using human intestinal homogenates, the activities of all the routinely tested disaccharidases, including lactase, maltase, sucrase, and palatinase, as well as the activity of glucoamylase, showed perfect agreement with the manual method and were highly reproducible. The automated analyzer can perform the same routine assays of disaccharidases and glucoamylase with high consistency and accuracy and reduce testing costs by performing a larger sample size with the same number of staff. Additional developments, such as barcoding and built-in plate reading, would result in a completely automated system.Zhaoping He, Laura Bolling, Dalal Tonb, Tracey Nadal, and Devendra I. Mehta© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/42987An autosampler/injector commutator for flow injection analysis (FIA) was constructed with electronic components of used equipments. The apparatus is controlled by commercially available multifunctional interface (PCL711B) connected to a personal computer, and the software was written in Visual Basic language. The system was applied to water analysis and it presented satisfactory results. The low cost and simplicity are the principal characteristics of the autosampler/injector commutator.Eduardo Costa de Figueiredo, Leandro Ruela de Souza, Cristiana Schmidt de Magalhães, Célio Wisniewski, and Pedro Orival Luccas© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/51342Moisture content in commercially available milk powder was investigated using near infrared (NIR) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy with an Indian low-cost dispersive NIR spectrophotometer. Different packets of milk powder of the same batch were procured from the market. Forty-five samples with moisture range 4–10% were prepared in the laboratory. Spectra of the samples were collected in the wavelength region 800–2500 nm. Moisture values of all the samples were simultaneously determined by Karl Fischer (KF) titration. These KF values were used as reference for developing calibration model using partial least squares regression (PLSR) method. The calibration and validation statistics are R cal2:0.9942, RMSEC:0.1040, and R val2:0.9822, RMSEV:0.1730. Five samples of unknown moisture contents were taken for NIR prediction using developed calibration model. The agreement between NIR predicted results and those of Karl Fischer values is appreciable. The result shows that the instrument can be successfully used for the determination of moisture content in milk powder.R. Nagarajan, Parul Singh, and Ranjana Mehrotra© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/56329Increasing economic globalization and mounting time and cost pressure on the development of new raw materials for the chemical industry as well as materials and environmental engineering constantly raise the demands on technologies to be used. Parallelization, miniaturization, and automation are the main concepts involved in increasing the rate of chemical and biological experimentation.Norbert Stoll, Arne Allwardt, Uwe Dingerdissen, and Kerstin Thurow© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/83427A microbial-based biosensor has been developed based on enzyme inhibition bioassay for monitoring the presence of Ni(II) in real-time samples. The sensing element is immobilized Bacillus sphaericus MTCC 5100 yielding urease enzyme. The transducer is an NH4+ ion selective electrode in conjunction with a potentiometer. Heavy metals are potentially toxic to human beings. Nickel is associated with causing adverse health effects such as dermatitis and vertigo, in humans. Toxicity is manifested by affecting T-cell system and suppressing the activity of natural killer cells. Nickel finds applications in electroplating, coinage, electrodes, jewellery, alloys. The foods rich in Ni(II) are nuts, beans, oats, and wheat. The range of Ni(II) detection by the developed biosensor is 0.03–0.68 nM (0.002–0.04 ppb) with a response time of 1.5 minutes. For application, the Ni(II) effluent was procured from an electroplating industrial unit and was found to have a concentration of 100.0 ppm Ni(II). In foods, wheat flour sample was acid digested and Ni(II) was specifically complexed in the presence of other cations, and had an Ni(II) concentration of 0.044 ppm. The developed system has a reliability of 91.5% and 90.6%, respectively, for the samples and could possibly replace the existing conventional techniques of analysis.Neelam Verma and Minni Singh© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/45102Mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mode was used for quantifying ethanol, sucrose, and tartaric acid in alcoholic beverages. One hundred synthetic samples were prepared with different ethanol, sucrose, and tartaric acid concentrations. Experiments were carried out on Bio-Rad 175 C FTS using an ATR accessory. Spectra were recorded in the wavelength region 600–4000 cm−1. Calibration was performed using partial least squares (PLS) algorithm. Commercially available alcoholic beverages (gin, rum, vodka, etc.) were experimented and concentration of ethanol in these samples was predicted using the developed calibration model. Chemical analysis of these commercial samples was carried out in order to compare the results. The agreement between ATR results with those of chemical analysis revealed good reliability and repeatability of the technique used.R. Nagarajan, A. Gupta, R. Mehrotra, and M. M. Bajaj© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?doi=10.1155/JAMMC/2006/67571This work describes the development of a dedicated, fully automated sequential-injection analysis (SIA) apparatus suitable for simultaneous electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) and amperometric detection. The instrument is composed of a peristaltic pump, a multiposition selection valve, a home-made potentiostat, a thin-layer electrochemical/optical flow-through cell, and a light detector. Control of the experimental sequence and simultaneous data acquisition of the light and the current intensities were performed in LabVIEW6.1. The CL reagents and the sample were first aspirated as distinct zones into the holding coil of the analyser and, then, delivered to the cell; during their travel, the individual zones mixed and the ECL reaction was initiated as soon as the mixed regents reached the cell. The utility of the analyser was demonstrated for the detection of oxalate and H2O2 based on their ECL reactions with Ru(bpy)32 and luminol, respectively.Anastasios Economou and Maria Nika© 2008, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.