A review of: “The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry”

by Otto Hutzinger, University of Amsterdam and 52 authors from 8 countries, Springer-Verlag Berlin     

Look at data to evaluate uncertainty: a comment on “Uranium assay determination …” by Mathew et al.

In a recent paper, Mathew et al. detailed, for a specific titration-based assay of uranium, a “step-by-step approach to calculate the GUM uncertainty of the measurand”, in which their uncertainty assessment was based solely on prior knowledge, ignoring the manifest variability in their replication data. A simple analysis of the variance from their data reveals that the uncertainty in the average of the replicated quantity (TEF) was at least 3.5 times their estimate. Since the observables that contribute most to the final uncertainty in their method were not replicated, it is unknown whether the estimates for the uncertainties of those quantities, and thus of the output quantity, were also underestimated. This comment demonstrates how a better uncertainty evaluation is possible by extracting as much knowledge as possible from the extant data.     

Comment on the article “BiF3:Ho3+ System for Upconversion of 2-μm Laser Radiation into Visible Emission” of authors A. P. Savikin,A. S. Egorov,A. V. Budruev,and I. A. Grishin [Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry 89 (2), 337–340 (2016)]

Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry -     

Answer to professor H. Werheit’s comment on the article “Is linear group X–Y–Z in boron carbide the weakest link in the structure?”

The author of the comment and the authors of the paper speak about different things. The paper considered the structure of a fragment of the boron carbide structure. The results of quantum-chemical calculations were compared with the structure of the analogous fragments of boron carbide single crystals and their derivatives. The author of the comment analyzed the structure of polycrystals only on the basis of their IR and Raman spectral studies.     

Remarks on the article by brandsma and arens: “di-(alkyne-1-yl)sulfides”

Summary When sulfur dichloride is added to 1-hexyne the sulfur atom attaches itself to the second carbon atom, and the chlorine atom to the first carbon atom.     

Note on “Thermodynamic temperature differences from the ITS-90 for the correction of thermodynamic property data” by F. Pavese,P. Ciarlini,and P.P.M. Steur [1]

A recent paper by Pavese et al. presents formulas for calculating the differences (T ? T₉₀) between temperatures measured on the internationally recognized temperature scale, ITS-90 and the thermodynamic temperature.However, there has been a systematic, international process in place to critically review the differences (T ? T₉₀) and to disseminate the results in a convenient form. The process was undertaken by Working Group 4 (WG4) at the request of the Consultative Committee for Thermometry. WG4 recently published the results of its review including consensus values of (T ? T₉₀) and a user-friendly, representation of (T ? T₉₀). One of the authors of the Pavese et al. paper is member of WG4.A multiplicity of representations of (T ? T₉₀) is an undesirable barrier to the exchange of thermodynamic information and obscures the status of temperature standards. Thus, WG4 recommends that the chemical thermodynamics community use the values (T ? T₉₀) and their polynomial representation as published in the WG4 paper.