The Formation of Porous Membranes by Filtration of Aerosol Nanoparticles

Flame-generated aerosol particles of Al₂O₃ were deposited by gas filtration on two types of porous and ceramic tubes of -Al₂O₃ with mean pore diameters of 450 and 2700nm, respectively. The particles were aggregates with average mobility diameters in the range of 30–100nm and primary particle diameters of 4–8nm. The particles are characterized by differential mobility analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and by their specific surface area. The deposited membranes are characterized by gas permeability measurements, scanning electron microscopy, and by their pore size distribution from nitrogen capillary condensation. The particles form a distinct, homogeneous membrane layer with a porosity of 90% on top of the substrate surface and only penetrate slightly into the substrate structure. The mean pore sizes of the deposited membranes determined by nitrogen condensation agree approximately with those determined by gas permeation and the specific surface area. The mean pore diameter varies in the range of 30–70nm. The gas permeability of the deposited membranes is related to the specific surface area but influenced by the high porosity. The mean pore size and the permeability of the membranes are almost independent of the substrate structure.The development of a membrane with uniform properties is preceded by a short initial period in which the deposited particles, with an equivalent membrane thickness of roughly 2m, have a significantly lower permeability than the ultimately developed uniform membrane layer. This effect is particularly significant for the aerosol particles with the lowest mean size, probably due to particles deposited in the pore mouths of the substrate.The particles and the deposited membranes are X-ray amorphous but retain their specific surface area on heating to even high temperatures. When the membranes are heated to 1473K for 10h, X-ray diffraction shows a mixture of - and -alumina, accompanied by a partial disintegration of the membrane and a considerable loss of surface area.     

Three-Dimensional Analytical Models for Virus Transport in Saturated Porous Media

Analytical models for virus transport in saturated, homogeneous porous media are developed. The models account for three-dimensional dispersion in a uniform flow field, and first-order inactivation of suspended and deposited viruses with different inactivation rate coefficients. Virus deposition onto solid particles is described by two different processes: nonequilibrium adsorption which is applicable to viruses behaving as solutes; and colloid filtration which is applicable to viruses behaving as colloids. The governing virus transport equations are solved analytically by employing Laplace/Fourier transform techniques. Instantaneous and continuous/periodic virus loadings from a point source are examined.     

A model to explain varying Λ, <Emphasis Type="Italic">G</Emphasis> and σ<Superscript>2</Superscript> simultaneously

Models with varying cosmic parameters, which were earlier regarded constant, are getting attention. However, different models are usually invoked to explain the evolution of different parameters. We argue that whatever physical process is responsible for the evolution of one parameter, should also be responsible for the evolution of others. This means that the different parameters are coupled together somehow. Based on this guiding principle, we investigate a Bianchi type I model with variable Λ and G, in which Λ, G and the shear parameter σ², all are coupled. It is interesting that the resulting model reduces to the FLRW model for large t with G approaching a constant.     

Computation of Dispersion in Microstrip Line with Anisotropic Substrate and Overlay

This paper presents an analysis of frequency dependent propagation characteristics of microstrip lines with anisotropic substrate and overlay. The method involves setting up of the Greens functions corresponding to the structure and formulating a dispersion relation in Fourier transform domain. The dispersion relation is constructed in a Galerkins procedure. Numerical results are also presented.     

The impact of metrological traceability on the validity of creatinine measurement as an index of renal function

When the calibration of a routine measurement procedure is traced back to metrological higher order, a significant discrepancy can occur between the analytical conditions of the routine measurement and the analytical conditions that were used in the clinical studies upon which the decision-making criteria are based. This can lead to serious interpretation errors with possible dramatic consequences for patients. The calibration of the creatinine Jaffé method is an excellent example of the importance of medical traceability. The compensated Jaffé method correlated accurately with the reference method and the compensated Jaffé creatinine clearance (CrCl), Cockroft and Gault and MDRD with the ⁵¹Cr EDTA clearance. The Schwartz estimate based upon the compensated Jaffé and enzymatic method overestimated, while uncompensated Jaffé slightly underestimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The situation in children is complex since serum creatinine concentrations are much lower in infants, rendering tubular secretion relatively more important. Low-molecular weight proteins have been suggested to replace serum creatinine as a marker for GFR. -trace protein, cystatin C, and ₂-microglobulin showed good correlation with GFR. However, care should be taken in patients presenting with some malignant tumors, since significant increases of cystatin C in patients with metastatic melanoma or colorectal cancer has been reported.Presented at the 9th Conference on Quality in the Spotlight, 18-19 March 2004, Antwerp, Belgium     

Changes in the Seam-Filtration Mode with Stress Redistribution in Country Rock

A mathematical model for the mechanism of increasing oil output of productive seams is developed. The model involves a deliberate conversion of segments of the fault zone of the country rock to a supercritical state, which leads to a local redistribution of stresses in the block massif of rocks and an increase in contour and seam pressures. Based on solving the problem of restricted filtration, it is shown that the use of the proposed mechanism can ensure a relative increase in well production of 5–8%.     

Anisotropic interpolation and quasi-Wilson element for narrow quadrilateral meshes

In this paper an anisotropic interpolation theorem is presentedthat can be easily used to check the anisotropy of an element.A kind of quasi-Wilson element is considered for second-orderproblems on narrow quadrilateral meshes for which the usualregularity condition _K/h_K c₀ > 0 is not satisfied, whereh_K is the diameter of the element K and _K is the radius of thelargest inscribed circle in K. Anisotropic error estimates ofthe interpolation error and the consistency error in the energynorm and the L²-norm are given. Furthermore, we give a Poincaréinequality on a trapezoid which improves a result of eniek.     

Calculation of Families of Stationary Filtration Convection Regimes in a Narrow Container

A plane Darcy filtration convection problem for rectangular containers elongated in the vertical direction is considered. By the spectraldifference method, which preserved cosymmetry of the initial problem, evolution of families of stationary regimes from the onset of instability on the primary family till the collision of the families is studied.     

Iterated monoidal categories

We develop a notion of an n-fold monoidal category and show that it corresponds in a precise way to the notion of an n-fold loop space. Specifically, the group completion of the nerve of such a category is an n-fold loop space, and free n-fold monoidal categories give rise to a finite simplicial operad of the same homotopy type as the classical little cubes operad used to parametrize the higher H-space structure of an n-fold loop space. We also show directly that this operad has the same homotopy type as the n-th Smith filtration of the Barratt-Eccles operad and the n-th filtration of Berger's complete graph operad. Moreover, this operad contains an equivalent preoperad which gives rise to Milgram's small model for when n=2 and is very closely related to Milgram's model of for n>2.     

De Rham and Infinitesimal Cohomology in Kapranov's Model for Non commutative Algebraic Geometry

The title refers to the nilcommutative or NC-schemes introduced by M. Kapranov in Noncommutative Geometry Based on Commutator Expansions, J. Reine Angew. Math 505 (1998) 73–118. The latter are noncommutative nilpotent thickenings of commutative schemes. We also consider the parallel theory of nil-Poisson or NP-schemes, which are nilpotent thickenings of commutative schemes in the category of Poisson schemes. We study several variants of de Rham cohomology for NC- and NP-schemes. The variants include nilcommutative and nil-Poisson versions of the de Rham complex as well as of the cohomology of the infinitesimal site introduced by Grothendieck in Crystals and the de Rham Cohomology of Schemes, Dix exposés sur la cohomologie des schémas, Masson, Paris (1968), pp. 306–358. It turns out that each of these noncommutative variants admits a kind of Hodge decomposition which allows one to express the cohomology groups of a noncommutative scheme Y as a sum of copies of the usual (de Rham, infinitesimal) cohomology groups of the underlying commutative scheme X (Theorems 6.1, 6.4, 6.7). As a byproduct we obtain new proofs for classical results of Grothendieck (Corollary 6.2) and of Feigin and Tsygan (Corollary 6.8) on the relation between de Rham and infinitesimal cohomology and between the latter and periodic cyclic homology.