Irreversible electrowetting on thin fluoropolymer films

A study was conducted to investigate electrowetting reversibility associated with repeated voltage actuations for an aqueous droplet situated on a silicon dioxide insulator coated with an amorphous fluoropolymer film ranging in thickness from 20 to 80 nm. The experimental results indicate that irreversible trapped charge may occur at the aqueous-solid interface, giving rise to contact angle relaxation. The accumulation of trapped charge was found to be related to the applied electric field intensity and the breakdown strength of the fluoropolymer. On the basis of the data, an empirical model was developed to estimate the amount of trapped charge in the fluoropolymer as well as the voltage threshold for the onset of irreversible electrowetting.     

Three‐Dimensional Information on the Phase Domain Structure of Thin Films of Polymer Blends Revealed by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

We describe the technique of dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry developed to determine three‐dimensional phase domain structures of films of polymer blends. The polymers are composed of light elements or are labeled with deuterium or heavy elements. The applicability of this method to various polymer blends forming thin and ultrathin films with flat and undulated air/film interface is discussed.     

An Image Encryption Algorithm Using Logistic Map with Plaintext-Related Parameter Values

This paper deals with a plaintext-related image encryption algorithm that modifies the parameter values used by the logistic map according to plain image pixel intensities. The parameter values are altered in a row-wise manner, which enables the usage of the same procedure also during the decryption. Furthermore, the parameter modification technique takes into account knowledge about the logistic map, its fixed points and possible periodic cycles. Since the resulting interval of parameter values achieves high positive values of Lyapunov exponents, the chaotic behavior of the logistic map should be most pronounced. These assumptions are verified by a set of experiments and the obtained numerical values are compared with those reported in relevant papers. It is found that the proposed design that uses a simpler, but well-studied, chaotic map with mitigated issues obtains results comparable with algorithms that use more complex chaotic systems. Moreover, the proposed solution is much faster than other approaches with a similar purpose.     

Lab-scale testing of a low-loaded activated sludge process with membrane filtration

Two membrane bioreactors (MBRs; volume = 300 L) equipped with different types of immersed membrane modules were operated simultaneously under the same laboratory conditions as a low-loaded activated sludge process without any membrane regeneration and excess sludge uptake (sludge retention time SRT up to 170 d; activated sludge concentration MLSS up to 11 g L⁻¹). The aim was to verify the quality of treated water and to study the properties of "very old" activated sludge. Another aim was to compare different selected membrane types and choose the best one for further pilot-scale testing. Presented at the 35th International Conference of the Slovak Society of Chemical Engineering, Tatranské Matliare, 26–30 May 2008.     

Possibilities and limitations of synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction with double crystal and double multilayer monochromators for microscopic speciation studies

The performance of a combined microbeam X-ray fluorescence/X-ray powder diffraction (XRF/XRPD) measurement station at Hamburger Synchrotronstrahlungslabor (HASYLAB) Beamline L is discussed in comparison to that at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) ID18F/ID22. The angular resolution in the X-ray diffractograms is documented when different combinations of X-ray source, optics and X-ray diffraction detectors are employed. Typical angular resolution values in the range 0.3–0.5° are obtained at the bending magnet source when a ‘pink’ beam form of excitation is employed. A similar setup at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility beamlines ID18F and ID22 allows to reach angular resolution values of 0.1–0.15°. In order to document the possibilities and limitations for speciation of metals in environmental materials by means of Hamburger Synchrotronstrahlungslabor Beamline L X-ray fluorescence/X-ray powder diffraction setup, two case studies are discussed, one involved in the identification of the crystal phases in which heavy metals such as chromium, iron, barium and lead are present in polluted soils of an industrial site (Val Basento, Italy) and another involved in the speciation of uranium in depleted uranium particles (Ceja Mountains, Kosovo). In the former case, the angular resolution is sufficient to allow identification of most crystalline phases present while in the latter case, it is necessary to dispose of an angular resolution of ca. 0.2° to distinguish between different forms of oxidized uranium.     

Convexities of partial monounary algebras

In the present paper we prove that the collection of all convexities of partial monounary algebras is finite; namely, it has exactly 23 elements. Further, we show that for each element there exists a subset of such that is generated by and card . This work was supported by the Science and Technology Assistance Agency under the contract No. APVT-20-004104. Supported by Grant VEGA 1/3003/06.     

On the Schröder-Bernstein problem for carathéodory vector lattices

In this note we prove that there exists a Carathéodory vector lattice V such that V ≌ V ³ and V ?V ². This yields that V is a solution of the Schröder-Bernstein problem for Carathéodory vector lattices. We also show that no Carathéodory Banach lattice is a solution of the Schröder-Bernstein problem.     

Differentiation of fluoronitroaniline isomers by negative-ion electrospray mass spectrometry

Tetra- and trifluoronitroanilines were studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. These compounds gave signals only in the negative-ion mode. It was found that the so-called 'in-source' fragmentation, induced by cone voltage increase, enables differentiation of isomers. For para-nitroanilines, in contrast to ortho derivatives, the loss of NO(2) was the most favored process and other fragment ions were characterized by low abundances. For trifluoro conjugates the substitution pattern of aromatic ring by fluorine atoms also affected their fragmentation patterns. For example, in 2,3,6-trifluoro-4-nitroaniline, in contrast to 2,3,5-trifluoro-4-nitroaniline, efficient NO loss, followed by HF loss, took place.