Raman detection of hydrohalite formation: Avoiding accidents on icy roads by deicing where salt will not work

The common substance Hydrohalite has a role to play in as diverse areas as Geology, Earth Climatology, Universe Cosmology, and Cryobiology. In this review, the occurrences under very different occasions are described. These relations are not commonly appreciated. During the work, we realized that there is yet an aspect that has been overlooked. Hydrohalite formed sometimes on icy roads resists common salt deicing procedures. Also, hydrohalite can be detected by rather simple Raman spectroscopy instrumentation. It means that it is possible to avoid accidents on icy roads in the following way: Common salt deicing trucks may be equipped with “artificial intelligence” based on a duel deicing system that switches between normal NaCl deicing and non-NaCl deicing based on Raman spectroscopy. The advantages are first of all less traffic accidents and lower environmental impact and corrosion from NaCl, but disadvantages are increased costs of investments and consumption of non-NaCl deicing agents.     

Mediated action in teachers’ discussions about mathematics tasks

This paper presents analyses of teachers?? discussions within mathematics teaching developmental research projects, taking mediation as the central construct. The relations in the so-called ??didactic triangle?? form the basic framework for the analysis of two episodes in which upper secondary school teachers discuss and prepare tasks for classroom use. The analysis leads to the suggestion that the focus on tasks places an emphasis on the task as object and its resolution as goal; mathematics has the role of a mediating artefact. Subject content in the didactic triangle is thus displaced by the task and learning mathematics may be relegated to a subordinate position.     

Trifluoromethylsulfenylation of Masked Carbonyl Compounds

Incorporation of fluorine and fluorine containing groups such as trifluoromethyl and trifluoromethylthio moieties considerably enhances the biopharmacological properties of the parent precursors. Trifluoromethylsulfenylation of masked carbonyl functions, such as the enamines using N-(trifluoromethylthio)phthalimide is described in this communication.     

Complexity of solution structures in nonlinear pricing

This paper characterizes and enumerates the possible solution structures in nonlinear pricing problem when the number of buyer types is given. It is shown that the single-crossing property, which is a standard assumption in the literature, reduces the complexity of solving the problem dramatically. The number of possible solution structures is important when the pricing problem is solved under limited information.     

The Effect of α-, β- and γ-Cyclodextrin on Wheat Dough and Bread Properties

Cyclodextrins (CDs) are cyclic oligosaccharides that have found widespread application in numerous fields. CDs have revealed a number of various health benefits, making them potentially useful food supplements and nutraceuticals. In this study, the impact of α-, β-, and γ-CD at different concentrations (up to 8% of the flour weight) on the wheat dough and bread properties were investigated. The impact on dough properties was assessed by alveograph analysis, and it was found that especially β-CD affected the viscoelastic properties. This behavior correlates well with a direct interaction of the CDs with the proteins of the gluten network. The impact on bread volume and bread staling was also assessed. The bread volume was in general not significantly affected by the addition of up to 4% CD, except for 4% α-CD, which slightly increased the bread volume. Larger concentrations of CDs lead to decreasing bread volumes. Bread staling was investigated by texture analysis and low field nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (LF-NMR) measurements, and no effect of the addition of CDs on the staling was observed. Up to 4% CD can, therefore, be added to wheat bread with only minor effects on the dough and bread properties.     

Biogas Production from N-Methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) Pretreated Forest Residues

Lignocellulosic biomass represents a great potential for biogas production. However, a suitable pretreatment is needed to improve their digestibility. This study investigates the effects of an organic solvent, N-Methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) at temperatures of 120 and 90 °C, NMMO concentrations of 75 and 85 % and treatment times of 3 and 15 h on the methane yield. The long-term effects of the treatment were determined by a semicontinuous experiment. The best results were obtained using 75 % NMMO at 120 °C for 15 h, resulting in 141 % increase in the methane production. These conditions led to a decrease by 9 % and an increase by 8 % in the lignin and in the carbohydrate content, respectively. During the continuous digestion experiments, a specific biogas production rate of 92 NmL/gVS/day was achieved while the corresponding rate from the untreated sample was 53 NmL/gVS/day. The operation conditions were set at 4.4 gVS/L/day organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 20 days in both cases. NMMO pretreatment has substantially improved the digestibility of forest residues. The present study shows the possibilities of this pretreatment method; however, an economic and technical assessment of its industrial use needs to be performed in the future.     

X-ray and X-ray photoelectron spectra of vanadium oxides

X-ray (XS) and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectra are reported for vanadium oxides. Because of the multivalent character of vanadium in the oxide system high quality measurements can be used for chemical shift investigation. Both inner level and valence band spectroscopy give information on the electronic structure and their systematic change with increasing oxidation state. The experimental results are discussed favourable in terms of molecular orbital theory (MO-theory). The complete set of XS and XPS data reported here for V-oxides allows the identification of unknown vanadium oxidation states too.     

Large-scale production of polypropylenimine dendrimers

The synthesis and characterization of a new series of polypropylenimine dendrimers is reported. Using a repetition of the sequence of a Michael addition to a primary amine, followed by a heterogeneously catalyzed hydrogenation, ultra-pure polypropylenimine macromolecules with molecular weights up to 6912 are synthesized. The reaction sequence allows the preparation of these dendrimers at very large scales, whilst the availability of a simple purification in the sequence affords ultra-pure samples. The polypropylenimine dendrimers are fully characterized; apart from the first 0.5 generation they are all oils, possess a Tg in the range from −90 to −40 °C, are unexpectedly stable, and their intrinsic viscosity drops after generation 4.