Chemical characteristics and source apportionment of PM_(10) during a brown haze episode in Harbin, China

This study investigates the correlation between PM 10 and meteorological factors such as wind speed, atmospheric visibility, dew point, relative humidity, and ambient temperature during a brown haze episode. In order to identify the potential sources of PM 10 during brown haze episode, respirable particulate matter (PM 10 ) was collected during both non-haze days and haze days and further analyzed for metallic elements, ionic species, and carbonaceous contents. Among them, ionic species contributed 45-64% t...     

Fabrication and characterization of buckypaper-based nanostructured electrodes as a novel material for biofuel cell applications

The fabrication process of buckypapers (BPs) made from stable suspensions of as-received or functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with high purity (97.5 wt%, Baytubes), their characterization and their utilization towards novel biofuel cell electrode applications are reported. The BPs can vary in thickness between 1 μm and 200 μm, are mechanically robust, flexible, stable in solvents, possess high meso-porosities as well as high apparent electrical conductivities of up to 2500 S m(-1). Potentiodynamic measurements of biocathodes based on bilirubin oxidase (BOD)-decorated BPs for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in neutral media (phosphate buffer solution) containing glucose indicate that BP electrodes based on functionalized MWCNTs (fBPs) perform better than BP electrodes of as-received MWCNTs and have high potential as an effective electrode material in biofuel cells and biosensors.     

Proton mobility and stability of water clusters containing the bisulfate anion, HSO4(-)(H2O)n

Bisulfate water clusters, HSO(4)(-)(H(2)O)(n), have been studied both experimentally by a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer and by quantum chemical calculations. For the cluster distributions studied, there are some possible "magic number" peaks, although the increase in abundance compared to their neighbours is small. Experiments with size-selected clusters with n = 0-25, reacting with D(2)O at a center-of-mass energy of 0.1 eV, were performed, and it was observed that the rate of hydrogen/deuterium exchange is lower for the smallest clusters (n < 8) than for the larger (n > 11), with a transition taking place in the range n = 8-11. We propose that the protonic defect of the bisulfate ion remains rather stationary unless the degree of hydration reaches a given level. In addition, it was observed that H/D scrambling becomes close to statistically randomized for the larger clusters. Insight into this size dependency was obtained by B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p) calculations for HSO(4)(-)(H(2)O)(n) with n = 0-10. In agreement with experimental observations, these calculations suggest pronounced effectiveness of a 'see-saw mechanism' for pendular proton transfer with increasing HSO(4)(-)(H(2)O)(n) cluster size.     

Phaseguides: a paradigm shift in microfluidic priming and emptying

Phaseguide technology gives complete control over filling and emptying of any type of microfluidic structures, independent of the chamber and channel geometry. The technique is based on a step-wise advancement of the liquid-air interface using the meniscus pinning effect. In this paper, the main effects and parameters underlying the phaseguiding principle are discussed and a demonstration is given of its potential for dead angle filling, spatially controlled phaseguide overflow and sequential phaseguide overflow, all accumulating in a passive valving approach. Phaseguides represent a new direction in microfluidic design thinking that will prove a leap forward towards more simple, flexible and reliable microfluidic systems.     

Breakdown of the pseudopotential approximation for magnetizabilities and electric multipole moments: test calculations for Au, AuF, and Sn(n) cluster (n ≤ 20)

The response of the electronic wavefunction to an external electric or magnetic field is widely considered to be a typical valence property and should, therefore, be adequately described by accurately adjusted pseudopotentials, especially if a small-core definition is used within this approximation. In this paper we show for atomic Au and Au(+), as well as for the molecule AuF and tin clusters, that in contrast to the case of the static electric dipole polarizability or the electric dipole moment, core contributions to the static magnetizability are non-negligible, and can therefore lead to erroneous results within the pseudopotential approximation. This error increases with increasing size of the core chosen. For tin clusters, which are of interest in ongoing molecular beam experiments currently carried out by the Darmstadt group, the diamagnetic and paramagnetic isotropic components of the magnetizability tensor almost cancel out and large-core pseudopotentials do not even predict the correct sign for this property due to erroneous results in both the diamagnetic and (more importantly) the paramagnetic terms. Hence, all-electron calculations or pseudopotentials with very small cores are required to adequately predict magnetizabilities for atoms, molecules and the solid state, making it computationally more difficult to obtain this quantity for future investigations in heavy atom containing molecules or clusters. We also demonstrate for this property that all-electron density functional calculations are quite robust and give results close to wavefunction based methods for the atoms and molecules studied here.     

An Upper Bound for the Poisson Kernel on Higher Rank <Emphasis Type="Italic">NA</Emphasis> Groups

Let S be a semi direct product S=N\rtimes AS=N\rtimes A where N is a connected and simply connected nilpotent Lie group and A is isomorphic with ℝ ^k , k > 1. We obtain an upper bound for the Poisson kernel for the class of second order left-invariant differential operators on S.     

Phase velocities and attenuations of shear, Lamb, and Rayleigh waves in plate-like tissues submerged in a fluid (L)

In the past several decades, the fields of ultrasound and magnetic resonance elastography have shown promising results in noninvasive estimates of mechanical properties of soft tissues. These techniques often rely on measuring shear wave velocity due to an external or internal source of force and relating the velocity to viscoelasticity of the tissue. The mathematical relationship between the measured velocity and material properties of the myocardial wall, arteries, and other organs with non-negligible boundary conditions is often complicated and computationally expensive. A simple relationship between the Lamb-Rayleigh dispersion and the shear wave dispersion is derived for both the velocity and attenuation. The relationship shows that the shear wave velocity is around 20% higher than the Lamb-Rayleigh velocity and that the shear wave attenuation is about 20% lower than the Lamb-Rayleigh attenuation. Results of numerical simulations in the frequency range 0-500 Hz are presented.     

Relaxation frequencies for flip-flop rotation of three- and four-ring compounds and dual frequency addressing mixtures with high birefringence

Relaxation frequencies f_r characterising the molecular rotation around the short axes (flip-flop movement) of 45 three- and four-ring polar compounds with high birefringence (mainly cyclohexyl, phenyl and biphenyl tolanes and quaterphenyls terminated with F, OCF₃, NCS group) have been measured. These compounds exhibit a large positive dielectric anisotropy Δε = ε_║ ? ε_⊥ in the nematic phase and relatively low f_r values (in the range of dozens kHz). The dependence of f_r upon molecular structures and physical properties of systems (molecular rigid core length, polarity and viscosity) is discussed. Mixtures for dual frequencies addressing display with the crossover frequency f_co of the order of ~1 kHz have been prepared by joining the above compounds with a mixture consisted of two, three and four fluoro-substituted in the lateral position tolanes and phenyltolanes showing negative dielectric anisotropy. It was stated that relaxation frequency is correlated mainly with their length and polarity.     

The Spectrophotometric Investigation of Nonionic Polymer Adsorption (Polyethylene Glycol (PEG), Polyethylene Oxide (PEO) and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)) Influence on the Alumina Suspension Stability – Effects of Polymer Type,its Molecular Weight and Solution pH

The effect of nonionic polymer adsorption on the stability of alumina (Al₂O₃) in the pH range 3–9 was examined. The influences of polymer type and its molecular weight, as well as solution pH, were studied. The following macromolecular substances were used: polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyethylene oxide (PEO) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The spectrophotometry method was applied to obtain the stability curves (dependence of suspension absorbance vs. time). The obtained results indicate that the addition of the polymer influences alumina suspension stability. The addition of the polymer at pH 3 improves the stability conditions of investigated systems. At pH = 6 the decrease of Al₂O₃ suspension stability (except PEG 2 000) was obtained. On the other hand, at pH 9 the presence of polymer improves the stability properties of the alumina. The higher the molecular weight of the polymer, the more pronounced effects were observed. Moreover, adsorption of polyvinyl alcohol whose macromolecules contain ionizable acetate groups causes greater changes in alumina suspension stability in comparison to the systems containing polyethylene glycol and polyethylene oxide.     

The Iwasawa Main Conjectures for GL2

We prove the one-, two-, and three-variable Iwasawa-Greenberg Main Conjectures for a large class of modular forms that are ordinary with respect to an odd prime p. The method of proof involves an analysis of an Eisenstein ideal for ordinary Hida families for GU(2,2).