A Preliminary experimental study of the boron concentration in vapor and the isotopic A preliminary experimental study of the boron concentrationin vapor and the isotopic fractionation of boron betweenseawater and vapor during evaporation of seawater

A laboratory experiment was undertaken to investigate the behaviour of boron at theseawater-air interface under air flow conditions. Dried air at 25 and 35℃ was passed over or bub-bled through seawater at the same temperature. A combination of ice-chilled condensers and KOHimpregnated cellulose fibre filters was used to collect boron from the reacted air. When air strippedof boron was passed over the seawater, boron was found in the reacted air, and its concentrationwas higher in the higher temperature test. In the tests where air was bubbled through seawater theconcentration of boron in the reacted air was directly proportional to the air flow rate. In this situa-tion the boron in the reacted air was mainly introduced as a spray of microdroplets. Isotopic analy-sis of the collected boron in the non-bubbled tests yields fractionation factors which demonstratethat the lighter isotope, 10B, is enriched in the reacted air. The size of the fractionation changeswith temperature, ruling out a purely kinetic effect.     

Fabrication of quantum dot transistors incorporating a single self-assembled quantum dot

We report on the fabrication and the characterization of quantum dot transistors incorporating a single self-assembled quantum dot. The current–voltage characteristics exhibit clear staircase structures at room temperature. They are attributed to electron tunneling through the quantized energy levels of a single quantum dot.     

HPLC determination of irbesartan in human plasma: its application to pharmacokinetic studies

A simple and rapid HPLC method using fluorescence detection was developed for determination of irbesartan in human plasma. Sample preparation was accomplished through a simple deproteinization procedure with 0.4 mL of acetonitrile containing 800 ng/mL of losartan (internal standard), and to a 0.1 mL plasma sample. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Zorbax Xclipse XDB C₁₈ column (150 × 4.6 mm, i.d., 5 µm) at 40°C. An isocratic mobile phase, acetonitrile:0.1% formic acid (37:63, v/v), was run at a flow‐rate of 1.0 mL/min, and the column eluent was monitored using a fluorescence detector set at excitation and emission wavelengths of 250 and 370 nm, respectively. The retention times of irbesartan and losartan were 4.4 and 5.9 min, respectively. This assay was linear over a concentration range of 10–5000 ng/mL with a lower limit of quantification of 10 ng/mL. The coefficient of variation for this assay precision was less than 8.48%, and the accuracy exceeded 94.4%. The mean relative recoveries of irbesartan and losartan were 98.4 and 99.1%, respectively. This method was successfully applied for pharmacokinetic study after oral administration of irbesartan (300 mg) to 23 Korean healthy male volunteers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Blue luminescence of nanocrystalline PbWO4 phosphor synthesized via a citrate complex route assisted by microwave irradiation

Nanocrystalline PbWO₄ phosphor powders, which have scheelite structure, were successfully synthesized at low temperatures via a modified citrate complex route assisted by microwave irradiation. Crystallization of the PbWO₄ precursor were detected at 400 °C, and entirely completed at 500 °C. Prepared PbWO₄ nanocrystallites showed primarily spherical and disperse morphology. The average crystallite sizes were between 18 and 29 nm, showing an ordinary tendency to increase with temperature. The nanocrytalline PbWO₄ phosphor powders exhibited spread-eagle shape of blue luminescence. Especially the PbWO₄ phosphor powders prepared at 600 °C showed the strongest luminescent intensity, which was due to the higher crystallinity and homogeneous particle morphology.     

A simple approach toward low‐dielectric polyimide nanocomposites: Blending the polyimide precursor with a fluorinated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane

This article describes a new and simple method for preparing polyimide nanocomposites that have very low dielectric constants and good thermal properties: simply through blending the polyimide precursor with a fluorinated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane derivative, octakis(dimethylsiloxyhexafluoropropyl) silsesquioxane (OF). The low polarizability of OF is compatible with polyimide matrices, such that it can improve the dispersion and free volume of the resulting composites. Together, the higher free volume and lower polarizability of OF are responsible for the lower dielectric constants of the PI‐OF nanocomposites. This simple method for enhancing the properties of polyimides might have potential applicability in the electronics industry. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6296–6304, 2008     

Growth and characterization of MOMBE grown HfO2

HfO₂ dielectric layers were grown directly on the p-type Si (1 0 0) by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE). Hafnium tetra-butoxide was used as a Hf precursor and pure oxygen was introduced to form an oxide layer. The properties of the layers with different thicknesses were evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and capacitance–voltage (C–V) and current–voltage (I–V) analyses. XRD and HRTEM results showed that the HfO₂ films thinner than 12 nm were amorphous while the films thicker than 12 nm began to crystallize in the tetragonal and the monoclinic phases. The XPS spectra of O 1s show that the O---Si binding energies shifted to the lower binding energy with increasing the HfO₂ layer thickness. Moreover, the snap back phenomenon is observed in accumulation capacitance. These changes are believed to be linked with the decomposition of SiO and the crystallization of HfO₂ layer during the film growth.     

Uniqueness for weak solutions of a one-dimensional boundary value problem for the Vlasov-Poisson system

The Vlasov-Poisson system models a collisionless plasma. When a boundary condition is included in the problem it is known that singularities can occur but that weak solutions exist globally in time. This article shows that the weak solution is unique for a problem in one dimension with specular reflection at the boundary.     

Efficiency decomposition in two-stage data envelopment analysis: An application to non-life insurance companies in Taiwan

The efficiency of decision processes which can be divided into two stages has been measured for the whole process as well as for each stage independently by using the conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology in order to identify the causes of inefficiency. This paper modifies the conventional DEA model by taking into account the series relationship of the two sub-processes within the whole process. Under this framework, the efficiency of the whole process can be decomposed into the product of the efficiencies of the two sub-processes. In addition to this sound mathematical property, the case of Taiwanese non-life insurance companies shows that some unusual results which have appeared in the independent model do not exist in the relational model. In other words, the relational model developed in this paper is more reliable in measuring the efficiencies and consequently is capable of identifying the causes of inefficiency more accurately. Based on the structure of the model, the idea of efficiency decomposition can be extended to systems composed of multiple stages connected in series.