Optical Tunnelling from One-Dimensional Square-Well Potentials

The authors study a one-dimensional model for optical tunnellingwith a refractive index in the shape of a square well. The relevanceof the model and its limiting cases are discussed. The mainresult is the leading behaviour of the exponentially small imaginarypart of the eigenvalue which determines the radiation loss.The leading behaviour of the imaginary part is calculated usingBerry's formula which controls the asymptotic expansion of theAiry function Bi(z) to better-than-exponential accuracy.     

Silver nitrate-acetonitrile and iodine-benzene complexes as studied by NMR in thermotropic liquid crystals

Silver nitrate-acetonitrile and π iodine-benzene complexes in thermotropic liquid crystals have been studied by ¹H, ²H, and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and by optical microscopy. Evidence for at least two silver complexes in each liquid crystal is presented.     

Determination of total ammonium-nitrogen and free ammonia in a fermentation medium by sequential injection analysis

Summary Automated methods for the determination of ammonium and ammonia are reviewed, and techniques based on gas diffusion using a semi-permeable membrane were selected for the determination of both total ammonium-nitrogen and free ammonia in fermentation samples. A simple and robust instrument based on sequential injection analysis (SIA) consisting of a piston pump and two selector valves was used. Two different methods of ammonia detection, the Berthelot method and detection using pH-indicators, have been evaluated and compared. The indicator method showed higher reproducibility and the range of determination could easily be adjusted to match the concentrations of the samples. The range of determination could be adjusted from 0.05 mmol/l to 350 mmol/l, depending on choice of acceptor solution. This method has been evaluated with fermentation medium samples and tested on-line in a yeast fermentation process.Dedicated to Professor Dr. Wilhelm Fresenius on the occasion of his 80th birthday     

Aqueous solution and solid state interactions of lanthanide ions with a methacrylic ester polymer bearing pendant 15‐crown‐5 moieties

The interaction between trivalent lanthanide ions and poly(1,4,7,10,13‐pentaoxacyclopentadecan‐2‐yl‐methyl methacrylate), PCR5, in aqueous solution and in the solid state have been studied. In aqueous solution, evidence of a weak interaction between the lanthanides and PCR5 comes from the small red shift of the Ce(III) emission spectra and the slight broadening of the Gd(III) EPR spectra. From the Tb(III) lifetimes in the presence of H₂O and D₂O the loss of one or two water coordinated molecules is confirmed when Tb(III) is bound to PCR5. An association constant of the order of 200 M^?1 was obtained for a 1:1 (lanthanide:15‐crown‐5) complex from the shift of the polymer NMR signals induced by Tb(III). A similar association constant is obtained from the differences of the molar conductivity of Ce(III) solution at various concentrations in presence and absence of PCR5. When Tb(III) is adsorbed on PCR5 membranes, lifetime experiments in H₂O and D₂O confirm the loss of 5 or 6 water coordinated molecules indicating that in solid state the lanthanide(III)‐PCR5 interaction is stronger than in solution. The adsorption of Ce(III) in PCR5 membranes shows a Langmuir type isotherm, from which an equilibrium constant of 39 M^?1 has been calculated. SEM shows that the membrane morphology is not much affected by lanthanide adsorption. Support for lanthanide ion–crown interactions comes from ab initio calculations on 15‐crown‐5/La(III) complex. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 1788–1799, 2007     

Adaptive local grid refinement algorithms for finite-element collocation

An adaptive grid refinement procedure allows accurate solutions to advection-dominated, time-dependent flows using finite-element collocation. The technique relies on a data structure that is readily amenable to parallel computing. The paper discusses computational aspects of the method.     

On Critical Stability of Three Quantum Charges Interacting Through Delta Potentials

We consider three one-dimensional quantum, charged and spinless particles interacting through delta potentials. We derive sufficient conditions which guarantee the existence of at least one bound state.     

Butyltins in california river and lake marina waters

Butyltins were analyzed in waters from California river and lake marinas and were detected at the part per trillion (ppt) level in most locations. The tributyltin:dibutyltin (TBT/DBT) ratios in the fresh waters were similar to those in their saline counterparts indicating like rates of degradation in the two salinity regimes.     

On the excitation of a closely spaced array by a line source

An infinite row of periodically spaced, identical rigid circularcylinders is excited by an acoustic line source which is parallelto the generators of the cylinders. A method for calculatingthe scattered field accurately and efficiently is presented.When the cylinders are sufficiently close together, Rayleigh–Blochsurface waves that propagate energy to infinity along the arrayare excited. An expression is derived which enables the amplitudesof these surface waves to be computed without requiring thesolution to the full scattering problem.