Application of Novel Zn‐Ferrite Modified Glassy Carbon Paste Electrode as a Sensor for Determination of Cd(II) in Waste Water

This paper describes the preparation of a new sensor based on Zn‐ferrite modified glassy carbon paste electrode and its electrochemical application for the determination of trace Cd(II) ions in waste waters using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV). Different Zn/Ni ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X‐ray powder diffraction (XRPD). The prepared ferrite nanoparticles were used for the preparation of Zn‐ferrite‐modified glassy carbon paste electrode (ZnMGCPE) for determination of Cd(II) at nanomolar levels in waste water at pH 5. The different parameters such as conditions of preparation, Zn²⁺/Ni²⁺/Fe²⁺ ratio and electrochemical parameters, percentage of modifier, accumulation time, pH and accumulation potential were investigated. Besides, interference measurements were also evaluated under optimized parameters. The best voltammetric response was observed for ZnFe₂O₄ modifier, when the percentage of modifier was 3 %, accumulation time 9 min, pH of supporting electrolyte 5 and accumulation potential ?1.05 V. Thus prepared electrode displays excellent response to Cd(II) with a detection limit of 0.38 ppb, and selective detection toward Cd(II) was achieved.     

Factors that influence the tribo-charging of insulating ducts in suction-type dilute-phase pneumatic transport systems

The aim of this study is to refine the understanding of the tribo-electrostatic phenomena that can affect the efficiency of suction-type dilute-phase transport systems. The study was conducted with mm-size ABS-PC particles, a granular material originating from genuine information technology wastes. The tribo-charging process was modelled using the response surface method of experimental design. The controlled variables were the granular material feed rate and the aspirating air speed rate. The monitored variable was the charge imparted to a well-defined section of the duct and which is equal to the charge transferred to the particles passing through that section of the pneumatic transport system. An induction type sensor connected to an electrometer has been employed for the measurements. The data were processed by a virtual instrument developed in LabView. A commercial software package was employed for estimating the effects of the various factors and predicting the optimum operating conditions, which were then confirmed by a final experiment.     

Factorizations of complete graphs into caterpillars of diameter 5

We examine factorizations of complete graphs K_2n into caterpillars of diameter 5. First we present a construction generalizing some previously known methods. Then we use the new method along with some previous partial results to give a complete characterization of caterpillars of diameter 5, which factorize the complete graph K_2n.     

Quantum electrodynamics for vector mesons

Quantum electrodynamics for rho mesons is considered. It is shown that, at the tree level, the value of the gyromagnetic ratio of the rho+ is fixed to 2 in a self-consistent effective quantum field theory. Further, the mixing parameter of the photon and the neutral vector meson is equal to the ratio of electromagnetic and strong couplings, leading to the mass difference M(rho0)-M(rho+/-) approximately 1 MeV at tree order.     

Improving detector signal processing with pulse height analysis in Mössbauer spectrometers

A plenty of different programming techniques and instrument solutions are used in the development of Mössbauer spectrometers. Each of them should provide a faster spectrum accumulation process, increased productivity of measurements, decreased nonlinearity of the velocity scale, etc. The well known virtual instrumentation programming method has been used to design a computer-based Mössbauer spectrometer. Hardware solution was based on two commercially-available PCI modules produced by National Instruments Co. Virtual Mössbauer spectrometer is implemented by the graphical programming language LabVIEW 7 Express. This design environment allows to emulate the multichannel analyzer on the digital oscilloscope platform. This is a novel method based on Waveform Peak Detection function which allows detailed analysis of the acquired signal. The optimal treatment of the detector signal from various detector types is achieved by mathematical processing only. As a result, the possibility of an increase of signal/noise ratio is presented.     

Dispersive white-light spectral interferometry including the effect of thin-film for distance measurement

A spectral-domain white-light interferometric technique is used for measuring distances in a Michelson interferometer with a mirror represented by a thin-film structure (TFS) on a substrate. A fibre-optic spectrometer is employed for recording spectral interferograms that include wide wavelength range effects of dispersion in a cube beam splitter and multiple reflection within the TFS. Knowing the effective thickness of the beam splitter, its dispersion and parameters of the TFS and substrate, the positions of the second interferometer mirror are determined precisely by a least-squares fitting of the theoretical spectral interferograms to the recorded ones. We apply the technique to the beam splitter made of BK7 optical glass and to a uniform SiO₂ thin film on a silicon wafer. We compare the results of the processing that include and do not include the effect of the TFS.     

A note on statistical solutions of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations: The stationary case

Stationary statistical solutions of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations for incompressible fluids are considered. They are a mathematical formalization of the notion of ensemble average for turbulent flows in statistical equilibrium in time. They are also a generalization of the notion of invariant measure to the case of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations, for which a global uniqueness result is not known to exist and a semigroup may not be well-defined in the classical sense. The two classical definitions of stationary statistical solutions are considered and compared, one of them being a particular case of the other and possessing a number of useful properties. Furthermore, the so-called time-average stationary statistical solutions, obtained as generalized limits of time averages of weak solutions as the averaging time goes to infinity are shown to belong to this more restrictive class. A recurrent type result is also obtained for statistical solutions satisfying an accretion condition. Finally, the weak global attractor of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations is considered, and in particular it is shown that there exists a topologically large subset of the weak global attractor which is of full measure with respect to that particular class of stationary statistical solutions and which has a certain regularity property.     

A Capelli type theorem for multiplicative convolutions of polynomials

We prove a Capelli type theorem on the canonical decomposition for multiplicative convolutions of polynomials. We derive then some irreducibility criteria for convolutions of polynomials in several variables over a given field. The irreducibility conditions are expressed only in terms of the degrees of the polynomials in convolution, the degrees of their coefficients, and the degrees of some suitable divisors of the resulting leading coefficient. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Parameter estimation for stochastic equations with additive fractional Brownian sheet

We study the maximum likelihood estimator for stochastic equations with additive fractional Brownian sheet. We use the Girsanov transform for the the two-parameter fractional Brownian motion, as well as the Malliavin calculus and Gaussian regularity theory.