Cobaltocene as a spin filter

In the context of investigating organic molecules for molecular electronics, doping molecular wires with transition metal atoms provides additional means of controlling their transport behavior. The incorporation of transition metal atoms may generate spin dependence because the conduction channels of only one spin component align with the chemical potential of the leads, resulting in a spin polarized electric current. The possibility to create such a spin polarized current is investigated here with the organometallic moiety cobaltocene. According to our calculations, cobaltocene contacted with gold electrodes acts as a robust spin filter: Applying a voltage less than 0.2 V causes the current of one spin component crossing the molecular bridge to be two orders of magnitude larger than the other. We address the key issue of sensitivity to molecule-lead geometry by showing that a weak barrier generated by CH(2) groups between the cobaltocene and the leads is crucial in reducing the sensitivity to the contact geometry while only reducing the current modestly. These results suggest cobaltocene as a robust basic building block for molecular spintronics.     

The Kalman filter in analytical chemistry

During the past ten years, the means by which more information can be extracted from experimental data have become an important area of research in analytical chemistry. Digital filters have been demonstrated to have a number of applications to analytical problems. These techniques typically involve a least-squares fit of experimental data to some model of the process being filtered. One method for filtering experimental data is based on the Kalman filter, a recursive, linear digital filter first developed for use in navigation, but now used in many fields. This paper discusses the implementation of Kalman filters in analytical chemistry. The principles of state-space digital filtering are reviewed, and the development of state/space models is discussed. Discussion is focused on the discrete Kalman algorithms. Two examples are provided to demonstrate the operation of the discrete Kalman filtering algorithm. Similarities between Kalman filtering and weighted least-squares methods are considered, and the specific advantages and disadvantages of linear and nonlinear Kalman filtering approaches are evaluated. To illustrate the range of problems which benefit from use of the filter, a comprehensive literature survey of the application of Kalman filtering to chemical problems is provided.     

Serial filter method for fluorescence evaluation

A method has been developed to obtain the reflective spectral data, β_R(λ), for a fluorescent sample by making a simple modification to a conventional poly-chromatically illuminated spectrophotometer. To use this procedure, a series of sharp cut-off filters are inserted successively into the illumination beam of the instrument to obtain a number of spectral curves from which the complete reflectance curve is constructed piece-wise. The calculation of the complete reflectance curve is done wavelength-by-wavelength, starting at about 30 nm above the peak emission of the sample and proceeding toward the shortest wavelength cut-off filter, selecting the spectral data that are the lowest value. When the data from each filter are assembled, the long wavelength portion above the peak emission is made equal to the unmodified spectrum. Examples are given of the method of computation and comparison with bi-spectral data. The serial filter technique is equally applicable to instruments having either 45/0 or d/8 integrating sphere optical geometry.     

A 3-D dielectrophoretic filter chip

The paper presents a 3-D filter chip employing both mechanical and dielectrophoretic (DEP) filtration, and its corresponding microfabrication techniques. The device structure is similar to a classical capacitor: two planar electrodes, made from a stainless steel mesh, and bonded on both sides of a glass frame filled with round silica beads. The solution with the suspension of particles flows through both the mesh-electrodes and silica beads filter. The top stainless steel mesh (with openings of 60 mum and wires of 30 mum-thickness) provides the first stage of filtration based on mechanical trapping. A second level of filtration is based on DEP by using the nonuniformities of the electric field generated in the capacitor due to the nonuniformities of the dielectric medium. The filter can work also with DC and AC electric fields. The device was tested with yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisae) and achieved a maximal trapping efficiency of 75% at an applied AC voltage of 200 V and a flow rate of 0.1 mL/min, from an initial concentration of cells of 5 x 10(5) cells/mL. When the applied frequency was varieted in the range between 20 and 200 kHz, a minimal value of capture efficiency (3%) was notticed at 50 kHz, when yeast cells exhibit negative DEP and the cells are repelled in the space between the beads.     

Grafting of cyclodextrins onto filter paper

Grafting of cyclodextrins and cyclodextrins derivatives on cellulosic surface, such as paper or filter paper, provides hosting cavities that can include a large variety of chemicals for specific cellulose finishing. In this study grafting of monocholorotriazinyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCT-β-CD) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) to filter paper has been performed. β-cyclodextrin has been bonded to filter paper using 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether as the crosslinking agent. The untreated and treated filter papers were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), demonstrating the covalent binding of cyclodextrins to filter paper. The quantification of β-CD and MCT-β-CD grafted to filter paper was determined by the dye extinction method with the inclusion of phenolphthalein. The final β-CD content amounted to 15.9 μmol per gram of support (1.8% by weight), and 72.8 μmol per gram of support (11.3% by weight) for MCT-β-CD.     

Graphite filter atomizer in atomic absorption spectrometry

Graphite filter atomizers (GFA) for electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) show substantial advantages over commonly employed electrothermal vaporizers and atomizers, tube and platform furnaces, for direct determination of high and medium volatility elements in matrices associated with strong spectral and chemical interferences. Two factors provide lower limits of detection and shorter determination cycles with the GFA: the vaporization area in the GFA is separated from the absorption volume by a porous graphite partition; the sample is distributed over a large surface of a collector in the vaporization area. These factors convert the GFA into an efficient chemical reactor. The research concerning the GFA concept, technique and analytical methodology, carried out mainly in the author's laboratory in Russia and South Africa, is reviewed. Examples of analytical applications of the GFA in AAS for analysis of organic liquids and slurries, bio-samples and food products are given. Future prospects for the GFA are discussed in connection with analyses by fast multi-element AAS.     

A one-dimensional kalman filter for peak resolution

A one-dimensional Kalman filter algorithm is presented that resolves several overlapped liquid chromatographic peaks without algebraic operations of matrices. The resolving powers or filtering reliability of the algorithm is independent of the number of peaks, but depends on both the peak overlap (resolution value R_s) and the signal-to-noise ratio more significantly than the usual multi-dimensional Kalman filter. The reliability is shown to be similar to that of the multi-dimensional filter for the resolution of overlapped Gaussian peaks with limited R_s and S/N values.     

Simplex optimization of the adaptive kalman filter

A method for determining concentrations from overlapped spectral data when a complete model is not available is described. This approach combines simplex optimization with the adaptive Kalman filter to yield a method in which initial guesses for the adaptive filter are generated by the simplex algorithm. The performance of the method is demonstrated by deconvoluting overlapped synthetic data and spectral data.     

Simultaneous kinetic determinations with the kalman filter

The linear Kalman filter is successfully applied to the processing of data for simultaneous kinetic determinations. The Kalman filter offrs all of the advantages of linear least squares over traditional methods of data processing, but is simpler and more efficient than batch-mode least squares. The viability of the Kalman filter is demonstrated with synthetic data and it is then applied to the analysis of amino acid mixtures by their reaction with trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid. Mixtures of glycine and asparagine are successfully analyzed even though their pseudeo-first-order rate constants differ by a factor of only 2.5. The potential of the Kalman filter for real-time application is discussed.     

Modifications to the simplex-optimized adaptive kalman filter

New response functions for the simplex-optimized adaptive Kalman filter have been examined as a means of improving the estimation of known components in the presence of unknown components or other matrix effects. Four response functions based on the innovations sequence have been tested with respect to increasing the computational speed of the filter and reducing the estimation error for the quantitated components. The response function based on the area under the innovations sequence with a penalty function was found to provide the best estimates for synthetic data and ultraviolet-visible spectra.     

Use of a filter in atomic-fluorescence spectroscopy

A detecting system incorporating an interference filter is described for use in atomic-fluorescence spectroscopy analysis in the 200.0-300.0 nm spectral region. Results obtained by using this system are compared with those from a detecting system incorporating either a monochromator or a solar-blind photomultiplier. Improvements of approximately 700-fold and 10-fold respectively in the limits of detection for zinc and mercury result from replacing the monochromator with the filter, while results with the filter are similar to those from a solar-blind photomultiplier. Limits of detection of 10(-5) ppm for zinc and 2.5 x 10(-4) ppm for mercury, both in aqueous solutions aspirated into an air-town-gas flame, are an improvement on other published results for these elements, obtained by atomic-fluorescence flame spectroscopy.     

Lightfast filter dyes derived from five-membered heterocycles

The lightfastness of new potential filter dyes derived from furan and pyrazole in three polymer matrices, cellulose acetobutyrate, poly(methyl methacrylate), and styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, was studied.     

Pretreatment of swine wastewater using anaerobic filter

Efforts were made to assess the efficiency of an anaerobic filter packed with porous floating ceramic media and to identify the optimum operational condition of anaerobic filter as a pretreatment of swine wastewater for the subsequent biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus. A stepwise decrease in hydraulic retention time (HRT) and an increase in organic loading rate (OLR) were utilized in an anaerobic filter reactor at mesophilic temperature (35°C). The optimum operating condition of the anaerobic filter was found to be at an HRT of 1 d. A soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 62% and a total suspended solids removal efficiency of 39% at an HRT of 1 d were achieved with an OLR of 16.0 kg total COD/(m³·d), respectively. The maximum methane production rate approached 1.70 vol of biogas produced per volume of reactor per day at an HRT of 1 d. It was likely that the effluent COD/total Kjeldahl nitrogen ratio, of 22, the COD/total phosphorous ratio of 47, and the high effluent alkalinity >2500 mg/L as CaCO₃ of the anaerobic filter operated at an HRT of 1 d was adequate for the subsequent biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus.     

SERS of C60/C70 on gold-coated filter paper or filter film influenced by the gold thickness

SERS of C(60)/C(70) adsorbed on gold nanoparticles coated on filter paper or filter film was studied. As a new SERS substrate, dried gold-coated filter paper or filter film has a high SERS activity, whose enhancement factor can be up to about 10(5), because it avoided the influence of solvents in C(60)/C(70) solution and water in gold hydrosols. The influence of the gold thickness coated on filter paper or filter film to SERS of C(60)/C(70) adsorbed on gold nanoparticles was mainly discussed. It is indicated that the SERS effect of C(60)/C(70) was very sensitive to the distribution and aggregated characteristics of gold nanoparticles, and the SERS intensity of each mode increased at its own proportion, but it integrally tended to saturation when the thickness of colloidal gold coatings increased.     

Industrial commercial respirator filter as indoor radon monitor

This paper presents a method for measuring indoor radon concentrations using a commercially available air-purifying respirator filter as a component of the radon monitor. The filter used was Survivair’s NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety)-approved 100800 model. The method is based on the diffusion of radon gas into the activated carbon of the filter and the measurement of the radioactive daughters resulting from the radon decay. The photopeaks of the ²¹⁴Bi daughter gamma rays (0.609 MeV) were analyzed with a Hyper-Pure Germanium (HPGe) detector and a multichannel system. A monotonically increasing and very close to linear response relation between the integrated area under the ²¹⁴Bi photopeak and the radon concentration of the activated carbon was found. A well-defined relation held for radon levels ranging from 15 to 4,700 Bq/m³. This procedure results in highly reproducible and reliable measurements of indoor radon levels. Interesting applications include the investigation of radiological accidents involving radon and the retrospective measuring of indoor radon concentrations by analyzing the filters of the respirators worn by personnel working during the relevant period.     

Switchable Fabry–Perot filter for mid-infrared radiation

ABSTRACT

In this work, switchable liquid crystal infrared filter is presented. The tailored superfluorinated liquid crystal material exhibiting low parasitic absorption at the operating range has been used for the construction of the filter. The switching range as high as 300 nm is achieved by applying 18 V. The filter can operate continuously from 3.45 up to 3.75 μm.     

Regeneration of ceramic filter cells for water purification

Regeneration of ceramic aluminosilicate filter cells for water purification by chemical methods and, in particular, by acid dissolution of the deposit formed in filter pores was studied.