Adsorption von Dampfgemischen an feste Körper. II. Cab-O-Sil

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Microwave absorption studies of MgB2 superconductor

Microwave absorption studies have been carried out on MgB₂ superconductor using a standard X-band EPR spectrometer. The modulated low-field microwave absorption signals recorded for polycrystalline (grain size ∼ 10 μm) samples suggested the absence of weak-link character. The field dependent direct microwave absorption has been found to obey a ✓H dependence with two different slopes, which indicated a transition from strongly pinned lattice to flux flow regime.     

Editorial

On behalf of your students your colleagues, and your friends     

The FT-IR study of the brain tissue of Labeo rohita due to arsenic intoxication

The brain is believed to be particularly vulnerable to arsenic due to its high oxygen consumption rate and high level of polyunsaturated fatty acids and relatively high rate of oxygen free radical generate without commensurable level of arsenic. Hence, in the present work an attempt is made to study the changes in the biochemical contents in the brain tissues of edible fish Labeo rohita due to arsenic intoxication using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. FT-IR spectra reveal significant differences in absorbance intensities between the control and arsenic intoxicated brain tissues, reflecting an alteration on the major biochemical constituents, such as lipids, proteins and nucleic acids of the brain tissues of L. rohita due to arsenic intoxication. Further, the administration of antidote DMSA improves the protein and lipid contents significantly in the brain tissues when compared to arsenic intoxicated tissues. The decrease in α-helix structure due to arsenic intoxication might be responsible for the increase in β-sheet secondary structures, which is consistent with the mechanism of β-sheet formation.     

Headphone simulation of free-field listening. I: Stimulus synthesis

This article describes techniques used to synthesize headphone-presented stimuli that simulate the ear-canal waveforms produced by free-field sources. The stimulus synthesis techniques involve measurement of each subject's free-field-to-eardrum transfer functions for sources at a large number of locations in free field, and measurement of headphone-to-eardrum transfer functions with the subject wearing headphones. Digital filters are then constructed from the transfer function measurements, and stimuli are passed through these digital filters. Transfer function data from ten subjects and 144 source positions are described in this article, along with estimates of the various sources of error in the measurements. The free-field-to-eardrum transfer function data are consistent with comparable data reported elsewhere in the literature. A comparison of ear-canal waveforms produced by free-field sources with ear-canal waveforms produced by headphone-presented simulations shows that the simulations duplicate free-field waveforms within a few dB of magnitude and a few degrees of phase at frequencies up to 14 kHz.     

Bevelled carbon-fiber ultramicroelectrodes

A technique for polishing the surface of carbon-fiber ultramicroelectrodes to a bevelled tip is described which simplifies electrode preparation. The bevelled surface has an active area that is more than twice that of a disk electrode fabricated from the same material. This results in larger faradaic currents. It is found that the chronoamperometric current at these electrodes is equal to that calculated for a disk of equivalent area to the elliptical area of the electrode. While the area is increased, the residual current is not, and thus quantitative applications of these electrodes as in vivo probes as facilitated. Furthermore, the bevelled tip results in an electrode that minimizes tissue damage during insertion into brain tissues.     

Microcylinder electrodes as sensitive detectors for high-efficiency, high-speed liquid chromatography

A carbon fiber microcylinder electrode (r = 3.5 microns) is used as a detector for high-efficiency and high-speed liquid chromatography. The microcylinder has a detection volume of a few picoliters, and can be placed directly at the outlet frit of the column. With proper positioning equipment, the electrode can be placed at the region of the outlet frit where the separation efficiency is highest. Such selective sampling results in greatly increased measured efficiency over a conventional electrochemical detector when short (4 cm) columns of conventional diameter (3.2 mm) are used. The microcylinder detector is sensitive and subpicomole detection limits are obtained in less than 30 s for norepinephrine. The need for expensive positioning equipment is eliminated by mounting the electrode into a fitting which can be mated directly with the column.     

Faradaic electrochemistry at microcylinder,band, and tubular band electrodes

Current-time relationships of faradaic processes at microcylinder, band, and tubular band electrodes have been evaluated. Microcylinder electrodes were fabricated from platinum wires (5 μm radius) sealed in glass capillaries. Band and tubular electrodes were constructed with platinum sheets (～ 20 μm width) or thin pieces of graphite (～ 5 μm width) sealed between insulating mateials. The temporal response of the current at a microcylinder electrode for the reduction of ferricyanide in aqueous potassium chloride solutions is in excellent agreement with that predicted by equations derived for heat flux to a cylinder. An estimation of the magnitude and temporal properties of the measured current at a band electrode can be obtained when a hemicylinder geometry is assumed. The current respone is identical at band and tubular band electrodes even for the smallest tubular radius investigated, 0.54 mm. Cyclic voltammograms at electrodes of all three geometries show significant contributions from radial diffusion at slow scan rates (< 20 mV s^?1). The current at a graphite tubular band electrode was found to be independent of flow of solution through the electrode at flow rates up to 3 ml min^?1.     

Informational masking of speech in children: effects of ipsilateral and contralateral distracters

Using a closed-set speech recognition paradigm thought to be heavily influenced by informational masking, auditory selective attention was measured in 38 children (ages 4-16 years) and 8 adults (ages 20-30 years). The task required attention to a monaural target speech message that was presented with a time-synchronized distracter message in the same ear. In some conditions a second distracter message or a speech-shaped noise was presented to the other ear. Compared to adults, children required higher target/distracter ratios to reach comparable performance levels, reflecting more informational masking in these listeners. Informational masking in most conditions was confirmed by the fact that a large proportion of the errors made by the listeners were contained in the distracter message(s). There was a monotonic age effect, such that even the children in the oldest age group (13.6-16 years) demonstrated poorer performance than adults. For both children and adults, presentation of an additional distracter in the contralateral ear significantly reduced performance, even when the distracter messages were produced by a talker of different sex than the target talker. The results are consistent with earlier reports from pure-tone masking studies that informational masking effects are much larger in children than in adults.