How do commission rates influence a firm’s success? statistical analysis of a corporate strategy simulation experiment

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between commission rates and a firm’s success within a corporate strategic planning simulation experiment. Teams of students are assigned to the role of managers of a firm within a competitive market situation. They have the task to experience the complex situation in which they act as managers to increase the performance of a firm by setting specific parameters. Our most interesting parameter is the commission rate. The Marketing Game considers a reasonably complex and realistic situation for the participants. We examine to what extent subjects succeed in increasing a firm’s turnover and profit by varying the commission rates.     

Periodic mesoporous organosilicas with Im3m symmetry and large isocyanurate bridging groups

Adsorption and structural properties of periodic mesoporous organosilica with Im3m symmetry (SBA-16) and large heterocyclic bridging groups in cage-like mesopores are studied. The core of this bridging group is an isocyanurate ring integrated with three trimethoxysilyls through flexible propyl chains.     

Polymer-templated organosilicas with hexagonally ordered mesopores: the effect of organosilane addition at different synthesis stages

Two series of ordered mesoporous organosilica (OMO) SBA-15 materials with surface and bridging groups were fabricated by varying the organic precursor addition at different synthesis stages. The consequence of the delayed introduction of organic precursor on the structural and adsorption properties of the resulting OMOs was investigated. The OMOs studied were synthesized via co-condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and ureidopropyltrimethoxysilane (UPS) as well as TEOS and bis(triethoxysilylpropyl) disulfide (BTDS) in the presence of poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)- poly(ethylene oxide) triblock copolymer Pluronic P123 (EO₂₀PO₇₀EO₂₀). The aforementioned OMOs were characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms at −196 °C and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). Nitrogen adsorption isotherms were used to estimate the pore volume, mesopore diameter and the BET specific surface area, whereas the XRD data provided information about structural ordering and unit cell of the samples studied. Ryan Felix, undergraduate student from Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH, USA) participating in the NSF-REU program during Summer 2006.     

Direct synthesis of mesostructured lamellar molybdenum disulfides using a molten neutral n-alkylamine as the solvent and template

A series of novel mesostructured lamellar molybdenum disulfides with the d spacings from 17 to 30 A can be prepared by the reaction of Mo(CO)6 with elemental sulfur using a molten n-alkylamine as the solvent as well as the template at 140 degrees C. Such intercalated phases can be transformed into mesoporous molybdenum disulfides by slow thermal treatments at 200 degrees C.     

Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Studies of the Interaction of Functionalized Siloxane Polymers with Porous Silica

Adsorption behavior of the siloxane polymer, cyanopropylmethyl-phenyl-methyl-siloxane, in contact with a mesoporous silica has been investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) using a series of physically modified materials with different coating levels up to 20 w/w%. The nitrile stretch bands, which are observed in the 2150-2350 cm(1) range, exhibited complex profiles due to a variety of interactions of the cyano groups within the polymer and with the surface silanols. These complex bands have been resolved into multiple components using a curve-fitting procedure. Three major spectral components have been found and assigned to the nitrile stretch in the bulk polymer, interfacial polymer, and polymer attached to surface silanols via hydrogen bonding. The latter spectral component is dominating for the samples with low coating levels. Its relative contribution decreased with the increasing amount of the polymer on the silica surface due to increasing contribution of the pure-polymer spectral component. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Short-time synthesis of SBA-15 using various silica sources

A short-time synthesis of SBA-15 is reported by using two different silica sources, sodium metasilicate (Na2SiO3(9)H2O) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The SBA-15 samples obtained from both silica sources were highly ordered as evidenced by SAXS spectra showing five reflection peaks characteristic for p6mm symmetry group. While the surface areas of these samples were similar, the pore volume of the sample prepared from TEOS was slightly larger than that from sodium metasilicate. However, the latter exhibited higher microporosity and thicker pore walls. It was shown that a significant reduction of time of the self-assembly step from 24 to 2 h had no detrimental influence on the quality of SBA-15 materials.     

A Quantum Version of Sanov's Theorem

We present a quantum version of Sanov's theorem focussing on a hypothesis testing aspect of the theorem: There exists a sequence of typical subspaces for a given set Ψ of stationary quantum product states asymptotically separating them from another fixed stationary product state. Analogously to the classical case, the separating rate on a logarithmic scale is equal to the infimum of the quantum relative entropy with respect to the quantum reference state over the set Ψ. While in the classical case the separating subsets can be chosen universally, in the sense that they depend only on the chosen set of i.i.d. processes, in the quantum case the choice of the separating subspaces depends additionally on the reference state.     

Ordered Mesoporous Silicas with 2,5-Dimercapto-1,3,4-Thiadiazole Ligand: High Capacity Adsorbents for Mercury Ions

This work reports two-step synthesis of novel ordered mesoporous silicas (OMS), which contain mercury-specific multifunctional ligand and have high surface area and well-developed porosity. One pot co-condensation synthesis was employed to introduce chloropropyl functionality on the mesopore walls of hexagonally ordered silica. In the next step, 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole was reacted with chloropropyl groups during template-displacement process, which resulted in high affinity adsorbent towards mercury ions. The maximum adsorption capacity of this adsorbent for mercury ions from aqueous solutions was as high as 1.7 g/g, which is about three times higher than the concentration of surface ligand. This study shows that the surface properties of OMS can be tailored by proper choice of chemical modification method, which affects the ligand bonding density and determines the adsorbent capacity and affinity towards heavy metal ions. Three methods, one-pot synthesis, template-displacement and post-synthesis modification, were used for the introduction of surface ligands into MCM41 and SBA15 mesostructures to prepare mercury-specific adsorbents. In addition, adsorption properties of these adsorbents as well as their effectiveness for mercury removal from aqueous solutions were comparatively studied.     

Synthesis of an ordered macroporous carbon with 62 nm spherical pores that exhibit unique gas adsorption properties

An ordered macroporous carbon with 62 nm spherical pores was synthesized using colloidal-crystal templating and found to exhibit unique gas adsorption properties that have been so far attributed to adsorption in mesopores (size below 50 nm).