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The potential use of different hard and soft parts (otolith, scale, eye lens, dorsal spine, vertebral bone, muscle, and liver) of Rutilus kutum for biomonitoring of 13 major and trace elements (Br, Ca, Cl, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Sr, and Zn) was evaluated, for the first time. The specimens were sampled from three sampling sites in the Southern Caspian Sea in May 2016. Twenty specimens were collected from each site. The elements' concentrations in the samples were measured by proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE). In all the hard tissues, except for eye lens, Ca was the most abundant element, whereas Fe was among the least abundant elements. The orders of element occurrence in the two soft tissues were largely similar. Ca, Fe, S, Cl, and K could be detected in all the selected tissues, while Br was detectable only in otolith. Minor similarities among the tissues were identified in the case of eye lens (concerning P, S, and Zn) and liver (in terms of Cl, Fe, and K), whereas, in the case of Sr and Ca, otolith shows the maximum distance. In general, it can be concluded that all the studied hard parts, except for eye lens, may offer alternatives for biomonitoring of Ca, Cl, Fe, K, and S in the southern Caspian Sea. The scales and spines represent a potential non-lethal alternative to the other hard parts.

Electromembrane extraction (EME) was carried out using a novel instrumentation capable of impedometric monitoring of the system during the extraction. This instrumentation involves a classical two-electrode assembly fed by two time-resolved potential functions, the first for the extraction of analyte and the second for obtaining the impedance information. The impedometric analysis of the system was achieved by Laplace transformation of the current recorded during the extraction. It has been shown that the obtained impedance information can be converted to very useful knowledge about time dependence of double layer capacitance, kinetics of analyte depletion, total permeability of the SLM and the effect of experimental parameters on system behavior. It has also been shown that the impedance analysis is a powerful tool for the estimation of optimum experimental parameters without determination of analyte in the acceptor phase., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this work, a simple and efficient surfactant assisted pulsed two-phase electromembrane extraction (SA-PEME) procedure combined with gas chromatography (GC) has been developed for the determination of alfentanil, sufentanil and methadone in various samples. It has been found that the addition of anionic surfactant causes the accumulation of the cationic analytes at the SLM/solution interface resulting in an easier transfer of the analytes into the organic phase. The method was accomplished with 1-octanol as the acceptor phase and supported liquid membrane (SLM) by means of an 80 V pulsed electrical driving force and the extraction time of 20 min. The model analytes were extracted from 3.0 mL sample solution (pH 4.0) containing 0.02% w/v surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate). The duty cycle of 92% and frequency of 0.357 Hz gave the best performance. Extraction recoveries in the range of 70.5-95.2% and satisfactory repeatability (7.6

Electromembrane extraction (EME) of model analytes was carried out using a virtually rotating supported liquid membrane (SLM). The virtual (nonmechanical) rotating of the SLM was achieved using a novel electrode assembly including a central electrode immersed inside the lumen of the SLM and five counter electrodes surrounding the SLM. A particular electronic circuit was designed to distribute the potential among five counter electrodes in a rotating pattern. The effect of the experimental parameters on the recovery of the extraction was investigated for verapamil (VPL), trimipramine (TRP), and clomipramine (CLP) as the model analytes and 2-ethyl hexanol as the SLM solvent. The results showed that the recovery of the extraction is a function of the angular velocity of the virtual rotation. The best results were obtained at an angular velocity of 1.83 RadS(-1) (or a rotation frequency of 0.29 Hz).The optimization of the parameters gave higher recoveries up to 50% greater than those of a conventional EME method. The rotating also allowed the extraction to be carried out at shorter time (15 min) and lower voltage (200 V) with respect to the conventional extraction. The model analytes were successfully extracted from wastewater and human urine samples with recoveries ranging from 38 to 85%. The RSD of the determinations was in the range of 12.6 to 14.8%., (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The distribution of electric field vectors was first calculated for electromembrane extraction (EME) systems in classical and cylindrical electrode geometries. The results showed that supported liquid membrane (SLM) has a general field amplifying effect due to its lower dielectric constant in comparison with aqueous donor/acceptor solutions. The calculated norms of the electric field vector showed that a DC voltage of 50 V can create huge electric field strengths up to 64 kV m(-1) and 111 kV m(-1) in classical and cylindrical geometries respectively. In both cases, the electric field strength reached its peak value on the inner wall of the SLM. In the case of classical geometry, the field strength was a function of the polar position of the SLM whereas the field strength in cylindrical geometry was angularly uniform. In order to investigate the effect of the electrode geometry on the performance of real EME systems, the analysis was carried out in three different geometries including classical, helical and cylindrical arrangements using naproxen and sodium diclofenac as the model analytes. Despite higher field strength and extended cross sectional area, the helical and cylindrical geometries gave lower recoveries with respect to the classical EME. The observed decline of the signal was proved to be against the relations governing migration and diffusion processes, which means that a third driving force is involved in EME. The third driving force is the interaction between the radially inhomogeneous electric field and the analyte in its neutral form., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In order to understand the limitations of electromebrane extraction procedure better, a simple equivalent circuit has been proposed for a supported liquid membrane consisting of a resistor and a low leakage capacitor in series. To verify the equivalent circuit, it was subjected to a simulated periodical polarity changing potential and the resulting time variation of the current was compared with that of a real electromembrane extraction system. The results showed a good agreement between the simulated current patterns and those of the real ones. In order to investigate the impact of various limiting factors, the corresponding values of the equivalent circuit were estimated for a real electromembrane extraction system and were attributed to the physical parameters of the extraction system. A dual charge transfer mechanism was proposed for electromembrane extraction by combining general migration equation and fundamental aspects derived from the simulation. Dual mechanism comprises a current dependent contribution of analyte in total current and could support the possibility of an improvement in performance of an electromembrane extraction by application of an asymmetric polarity changing potential. The optimization of frequency and duty cycle of the asymmetric polarity exchanging potential resulted in a higher recovery (2.17 times greater) in comparison with the conventional electromebrane extraction. The simulation also provided more quantitative approaches toward the investigation of the mechanism of extraction and contribution of different limiting factors in electromembrane extraction. Results showed that the buildup of the double layer is the main limiting factor and the Joule heating has lesser impact on the performance of an electromebrane extraction system., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel method for the selective electromembrane extraction (EME) of U(6+) prior to fluorometric determination has been proposed. The effect of extraction conditions including supported liquid membrane (SLM) composition, extraction time and extraction voltage were investigated. An SLM composition of 1% di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphonic acid in nitrophenyl octyl ether (NPOE) showed good selectivity, recovery and enrichment factor. The best performance was achieved at an extraction potential of 80 volts and an extraction time of 14 minutes Under the optimized conditions, a linear range from 1 to 1000 ng mL(-1) and LOD of 0.1 ng mL(-1) were obtained for the determination of U(6+). The EME method showed good performance in sample cleanup and the reduction of the interfering effects of Mn(2+), Zn(2+), Cd(2+), Ni(2+), Fe(3+), Co(2+), Cu(2+), Cl(-) and PO4(3-) ions during fluorometric determination of uranium in real water samples. The recoveries above 54% and enrichment factors above 64.7 were obtained by the proposed method for real sample analysis., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)