Particle Characterization by Projected Area Determination

The projected areas of non-spherical particles do not represent an unambiguous particle characteristic. Depending on the orientation towards a constant observational direction, different projected areas result. The spectrum of all projected area values of a particle, if determined representatively, gives the probability with which a certain value is obtained by a single measurement. In this work, the frequency distributions of different examples of test objects were both calculated and measured. The objects were a cube, a rectangular parallelepiped and also three model agglomerates consisting of spheres of the same size. Instead of just one projected area, during each measuring procedure three projected areas from three orthogonal directions can be obtained. A mean value is then calculated to reduce the ambiguity of the particle characteristic and enhance the resolution. A suitable measurement set-up is introduced. The results of calculation and measurement are compared for observation from just one direction and also simultaneous observation from three directions. The frequency distributions of the equivalent diameters of the particle projected areas show a characteristic trend of the total curve with remarkable properties. The simultaneous measurement of three values from mutually orthogonal directions and their mean value calculation result in a much narrower distribution. In this case, a non-sphericity factor can additionally be calculated, whose frequency distribution contains information in a characteristic manner about the degree to which the particle shape differs from a sphere.     

Minimum boundary touching tilings of polyominoes

We study the problem of tiling a polyomino P with as few squares as possible such that every square in the tiling has a non‐empty intersection with the boundary of P . Our main result is an algorithm which given a simply connected polyomino P computes such a tiling of P . We indicate how one can improve the running time of this algorithm for the more restricted row‐column‐convex polyominoes. Finally we show that a related decision problem is in NP for rectangular polyominoes. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

An instanton-invariant for 3-manifolds

To an oriented closed 3-dimensional manifoldM withH ₁(M, )=0, we assign a ₈-graded homology groupI _*(M) whose Euler characteristic is twice Casson's invariant. The definition uses a construction on the space of instantons onM×.     

Controlled vesicle self-assembly in microfluidic channels with hydrodynamic focusing

Traditional liposome preparation methods are based on mixing of bulk phases, leading to inhomogeneous chemical and/or mechanical conditions during formation; hence liposomes are often polydisperse in size and lamellarity. Here we show the formation of liposomes that encapsulate reagents in a continuous two-phase flow microfluidic network with precision control of size from 100 to 300 nm by manipulation of liquid flow rates. We demonstrate that by creating a solvent-aqueous interfacial region in a microfluidic format that is homogeneous and controllable on the length scale of a liposome, we can facilitate the fine control of liposome size and polydispersity.     

Substituenteneffekte auf azido-tetrazolo-gleichgewichte elektronische und sterische effekte bei s-triazolo[4,3-c]tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidinen1

The azido tetrazolo valence isomerism of twenty 9-methyl-s-triazolo[4,3-c]tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines with different substituents at position 5 has been studied by means of ¹H NMR spectroscopy. All the compounds have been found to be tetrazoles in the solid state and in (CD₃)₂SO solution; in CF₃COOH azido and tetrazolo isomers are in equilibrium. From equilibrium constants K and thermodynamic data determined it is concluded that in this series K depends on both electronic effects and steric requirements of the 5-substituents. A linear relation between K and σ was found for 5-arylderivatives because ΔS° keeps approximately constant and the substituent mainly operates on ΔH°.     

Frequency-domain photopyroelectric spectroscopy of condensed phases (PPES): A new,simple and powerful spectroscopic technique

A new, powerful, and experimentally very convenient spectroscopic technique is described. The technique uses pyroelectric polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) thin film detectors in contact with solid or liquid samples. The instrumental and spectral characteristics of photopyroelectric spectroscopy (PPES) are presented, and its advantages over conventional photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) are discussed.     

Die Umlagerung substituierter Aminoacrylderivate. Präparative anwendungsbreite

The addition of carboxylic acids to dimethylamino-propinal ( 1a ) and 4-dimethyl-amino-but-3-in-2-on ( 1b ) gives, after rearrangement of the very instable primary adducts ( 2 ), Z-3-acetoxy-N,N-dimethylacrylamides and -crotonamides 3 to 8 in excellent yields and in a stereospecific manner. Similarly, the adducts of HCl and HBr to the alkynes 1a and 1b may be rearranged at low temperature by traces of acid to cis/trans equilibria of 3-halo-acrylamides and -crotonamides 9 and 10 . - On the other hand, treatment of 3-alkoxy-3-dimethylaminoacrolein with traces of acid yields alkylesters of E-3-dimethylaminoacrylic acid ( 12 , X = OR). - The preparative aspects of the rearrangement are discussed, and a brief outline of the spectroscopic properties of the compounds 3 to 8 is given.     

Potential energy surfaces for HenNe+ ions: ab initio and diatomics-in-molecule results

The potential energy surface of He2Ne+ has been reinvestigated using a combination of ab initio and diatomics-in-molecule (DIM) calculations. In contrast to the reports of two recent studies the ion is found to have an asymmetric linear He-Ne-He structure, with no barrier to formation from the separated atoms on the ground-state surface. The He-Ne+ bond lengths at the potential minimum are 1.51 and 1.81 A, and the total bonding energy is 0.717 eV. Comparing the He2Ne+ energy to that of HeNe+, the bonding energy for the second helium atom is 0.06 eV, about 10% of that of the first He atom. The saddle point between the two equivalent minima is a symmetric structure, 0.0074 eV above the potential minimum. A symmetric geometry becomes the overall potential minimum if the 2s hole on the Ne is excluded from the reference states of a multireference configuration interaction calculation. A DIM potential was created for the HenNe+ family of ions. The DIM potential is consistent with the asymmetric He2Ne+ ion serving as a core; it predicts a slightly more asymmetric geometry than the ab initio results. Additional helium atoms form five-membered rings around the bonds of the core ion to fill the first shell and then add to the ends of the cluster. The asymmetric core ion and the highly compact structure help to account for the lack of apparent shell structure in the mass spectrometry of HenNe+ clusters. Finally, we recommend that the value De=0.63+/-0.04 eV be adopted for the ground state of HeNe+.