An approach to calculate sputtering rates in glow discharges by using a new crater volume evaluation method

The determination of sputtering rates is, commonly, an important parameter in glow discharge analyses. In particular, in those quantification procedures where the emission yield plays an important role in calibrations, the correct calculation of such value becomes crucial. The volumetric methods to calculate the sputtering rates (they offer a higher accuracy than the gravimetric ones) aim to measure the crater volume created in the sample during the analysis. The standard approximation assumes the crater as a cylinder and so it is mandatory to achieve crater shapes with a flat bottom and walls perpendicular to it. But in practice, craters show many times a convex (or concave) bottom which depends on the measurement conditions.     

Olive milling wastewater as a medium for growth of fourPleurotus species

Four species of Pleurotus were adapted to grow on olive milling wastewater, and in certain conditions produced high yield of fruit bodies. Some biochemical transformations were observed in the olive milling wastewater owing to the growth of Pleurotus. In particular, the fungi actively excreted large amounts of laccase in the medium, and at the same time the concentration of phenolics and other toxic compounds significantly decreased, as revealed by HPLC analysis and toxicity tests on standard cultures of human cell lines.     

Numerical simulation of the turbulent boundary layer equations via a Runge-Kutta algorithm

This paper addresses a hybrid computational procedure for the step-by-step calculation of momentum transfer in turbulent boundary layer flows along flat plates. The proposed procedure relies on a modified method of lines wherein transversal discretizations are carried out by a “control volume” being infinitesimal in the streamwise direction and finite in the transversal direction of the fluid flow. Using mixing length theory and coarse intervals in the transversal direction, the resulting system of ordinary differential equations of first order may be readily integrated on a personal computer utilizing a fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm. In general, a maximum number of sixteen lines is necessary at the trailing edge of the flat plate for a typical calculation. As a consequence, computing time and storage for each run were very small when compared to other finite-difference methods. Furthermore, to validate the hybrid procedure involving the method of lines and control volumes (MOLCV), comparisons with experimental data have been done in terms of both velocity distributions and local skin friction coefficients. For all cases tested, the proposed methodology predicts the growth of the boundary layer of gases correctly.     

On the asymptotic solution of the Graetz‐Nusselt problem for short x → 0 and large x → ∞ with partial usage of finite differences

The principal goal of this article is to present two asymptotic solutions for the classical Graetz‐Nusselt problem. The method of lines (MOL) has been adopted for solving the governing partial differential energy equation in two independent variables in an asymptotic manner. Two temperature subfields are determined semianalytically: one for small x (x → 0) and the other for large x (x → ∞). Later, the two asymptotic mean Nusselt number subdistributions, Nu _X→0(x) and Nu _X→∞(x), blend themselves into a generalized correlation equation for the mean Nusselt number distribution Nu (x) covering the entire x‐domain. The simplicity of the MOL procedure, combined with the high quality asymptotic mean Nusselt number subdistributions, provides an alternative methodology for solving the Graetz‐Nusselt problem without using higher level mathematics. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2004.     

Intermittency in branching processes

We study the intermittency properties of two branching processes, one with a uniform and another with a singular splitting kernel. The asymptotic intermittency indices, as well as the leading corrections to the asymptotic linear regime are explicitly computed in an analytic framework. Both models are found to possess a monofractal spectrum with ? _q =q ? 1 and inverse logarithmic corrections. Relations with previous results are discussed.     

Rheology and processing of salad dressing emulsions

In order to study the influence that the processing parameters exert on the rheology and stability of salad dressing emulsions, both steady-state shear and oscillatory measurements, as well as droplet size distribution tests were performed. Emulsions containing a mixture of egg yolk and sucrose stearate as emulsifier were prepared using two different emulsification machines, a rotor-stator turbine and a colloidal mill. An increase both in energy input and in the temperature of processing yields higher values of the steady-state viscosity, an increase in emulsion stability and, generally, lower droplet size and lower polydispersity. Furthermore, a plateau region in the loss modulus versus frequency plots appears as the energy input and processing temperature increase. This effect has been analyzed by calculating the relaxation spectra of these emulsions. The results have been discussed taking into account the relationship between several structural parameters, such as interparticle interactions and droplet size distribution, and the rheological response of these emulsions.     

Ion chemistry of phthalamic acids. III. The origin of [M ? 1]+ ions under electron impact

Electron impact mass spectra and collisional activation/mass-analysed ion kinetic energy spectra of some phthalamic acids and their deuterium labelled analogues suggested that the genesis of [M ? 1]⁺ ions is due to the loss of an aromatic hydrogen ortho to the amidic group, as for aromatic amides and thioamides.