Investigations of alkali doped Fe2O3--V2O5 catalysts by transmission and conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy

Fe₂O₃--V₂O₅ catalysts doped with Cs₂SO₄ (molar ratio: V:Fe:Cs=1:0.74:0.06) were found to be a rather inhomogeneous mixture of various crystalline and amorphous iron vanadate phases. After calcination in air the catalyst was divided into three different parts which were analyzed separately revealing the formation of FeVO₄ in the top and bottom fraction of the crucible and Fe₂V₄O₁₃ in the middle fraction. As compared to the well crystallized FeVO₄ reference sample, the quadrupole splittings of FeVO₄ in the Cs-doped catalysts were larger pointing to more distorted iron sites which were assumed to be responsible for high catalytic selectivities. In contrast, the quadrupole splittings of FeVO₄ in the less selective K- and Rb-doped Fe₂O₃--V₂O₅ catalysts were smaller. Additional components in the bottom fraction were also α-Fe₂O₃ and Fe_1-xS. As indicated by the CEMS spectra the latter is located preferentially on the surface of the catalyst particles. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Positron-lifetime study of vacancy annealing in neutron-irradiated GaAs

Positron-lifetime measurements have been used to study the annealing of vacancies in neutron-irradiated GaAs. The vacancies which are interpreted as defects in the Ga sublattice disappear in a single annealing stage (at 500°C in GaAs doped with Si or Zn, and at 600°C in Cr-doped GaAs).     

Isobar separation at FRS-ESR – a development towards pure isomeric stored beams

One important goal of the ILIMA project at FAIR is the study of masses and decay properties of relativistic isomeric beams stored and cooled in the planned storage-ring complex. A new scheme is described, where a storage-cooler ring is used for high-resolution mass separation. Experimental results on the separation of the isobaric pair ¹⁴⁰Pr-¹⁴⁰Ce are presented. P. Beller, deceased.     

Sample preparation procedure for the determination of sulphur and trace metals in oil products by the ICP with a minitorch using emulsions

A quick sample preparation method was used for the determination of sulphur and trace metals in oil and oily products by the ICP with a minitorch. Stable aqueous emulsions of oils and oil products were made by using two kinds of emulsifiers (one with low sulphur content, the other sulfonated). Aqueous standard solutions can be used for the preparation of calibration solutions. The contents of S, Al, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Ni and Pb in aqueous emulsions were determined and the results were in good agreement with the composition of oil standard solutions used for control analysis procedure.     

Convex ordering criteria for Lévy processes

Modelling financial and insurance time series with Lévy processes or with exponential Lévy processes is a relevant actual practice and an active area of research. It allows qualitatively and quantitatively good adaptation to the empirical statistical properties of asset returns. Due to model incompleteness it is a problem of considerable interest to determine the dependence of option prices in these models on the choice of pricing measures and to establish nontrivial price bounds. In this paper we review and extend ordering results of stochastic and convex type for this class of models. We also extend the ordering results to processes with independent increments (PII) and present several examples and applications as to α-stable processes, NIG-processes, GH-distributions, and others. Criteria are given for the Lévy measures which imply corresponding comparison results for European type options in (exponential) Lévy models.     

Cationic poly(methacryl oxyethyl trimethylammonium) and its poly(ethylene glycol)‐grafted analogue as capillary coating materials in electrophoresis

Cationic polyelectrolytes were synthesized and used as semipermanent coating materials for capillaries in electrophoresis. The polyelectrolytes used were a homopolymer of poly(methacryl oxyethyl trimethylammonium chloride) (PMOTAC) and its poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)‐grafted analogue. Two PMOTAC polyelectrolytes, with molar masses of 85,000 and 300,000 g/mol, and PEG‐grafted PMOTAC with a molar mass of 280,000 g/mol were synthesized and then characterized by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Attachment of the polyelectrolytes to the wall of the fused silica capillary for electrophoresis caused the electroosmotic flow (EOF) to reverse. The polyelectrolyte coatings were tested over the pH range 2–11 at different buffer ionic strengths, and the most stable and strongest anodic EOFs were obtained at acidic pH values with low ionic strength buffers. Between runs the capillary is merely rinsed for 2 or 3 min with the background electrolyte solution. With the PMOTAC coatings at pH values ≤5, the RSDs of the EOFs were less than 2.9% after 60 injections. The effects of the molar mass of the polycation and of PEGylation of PMOTAC on the interactions between the polycations and basic proteins were studied at acidic pH values. The differences in the effective electrophoretic mobilities, resolution values, and plate numbers of the proteins with the different coatings were due to the EOF, as demonstrated through calculations of reduced mobilities, relative resolution values, and relative plate numbers. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2655–2663, 2007