A method for investigating the orientational behaviour of fibrous particles in gaseous flow

A method is described by which the angular orientation distribution of fibrous particles carried in a gaseous stream may be investigated. The method is based upon the interpretation of the spatial intensity distribution or scattering profile of laser light scattered by individual fibres. The scattering instrument used to capture the profiles is described, and the mathematical computation required to ascertain the orientation of each particle at the measurement point is detailed. Illustrative results are given for a study of airborne micromachined silicon particles of 12 μm length and 1.0 μm by 1.5 μm cross-section. The method is currently being employed by the authors to investigate ways of improving the orientation control over nonspherical particles in systems such as aerodynamic particle sizers and particle shape classifiers, since lack of particle orientation control is known to adversely affect the measurement accuracy of both these types of instrument.     

Influence of composition and annealing on the criteria of superparamagnetism and the interaction of particles in granular electrolytically deposited films of CuCo

Films of nonuniform Cu_100−xCo_x alloys with x = 6, 11, 20, and 35 at. %, obtained by electrolytic deposition, are investigated using quantum magnetometry in fields of up to 5.5 T and temperatures of 2–300 K. In all the compositions a characteristic feature is the deviation from pure superparamagnetic behavior, which increases as the annealing of the films and their cobalt content increase. Institute of Solid State and Semiconductor Physics. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 60–62, March, 1998.     

Thickness of a silica-tethered poly(ethylene oxide) layer measured by spin labeling

EPR spectroscopy of labeled poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) grafted on silica has been used to characterize the conformation and local dynamics of the chains. Grafted molecules of MW 2000 with grafting ratios of 0.045, 0.057, 0.126, and 0.42 molecules/nm² were in contact with benzene. The mobility of the label was compared with that observed for solution of PEO from very diluted to highly concentrated and even bulk PEO. Thus, the concentration inside the grafted layer could be evaluated and also the thickness, which evolves rather linearly with the grafting ratio. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Investigation of surface topography, morphology and structure of amorphous carbon films by AFM and TEM

Morphology and structure of amorphous carbon films deposited with a pulsed arc source (LASER-ARC) have been studied using microscopical methods (SEM, TEM and AFM), electron diffraction and spectroscopical investigation (EELS). The parameters of the arc source and the deposition conditions (substrate temperature) influence morphology and structure of deposited amorphous carbon films. Especially the incorporation and growth of particles, embedded in the film have been investigated. By particle analysis using an optical microscope a majority of particles that is smaller than 500 nm has been determined. The morphology has been also demonstrated similar by AFM and TEM images. Their number and size of particles is strongly influenced by the deposition temperature. The structure of amorphous film is characterized by the EELS-spectra, but the particle structure was not detectable.     

Higgs-field gravity within the standard model

Within the framework of the Glashow-Salam-Weinberg model it is shown that the Higgs field mediates an attractive scalar gravitational interaction of Yukawa type between the elementary particles which become massive by the ground state of the Higgs field after symmetry breaking.     

Calculation of the dynamic temperature characteristics of a heated graphite tube used in electrothermal atomic absorption measurements

A method and computer program were developed for calculating the temperature of any part of a graphite furnace tube at any instant of time after onset of the heating cycle. Results for tubes of the Massman design show large differences in spatial temperature distributions during and at the end of the heating cycle when equilibrium is reached. When constant current is applied to contoured tubes, greater heating rates at the tube centres are obtained than with standard tubes.     

A remark on the mild solutions of non-local evolution equations

We provide a counterexample to some recent publications concerning the existence of the mild solutions of the non-local evolution equations, and indicate that in the study of the non-local evolution equations, the operators from which the mild solutions may be derived are in general not compact, thus those fixed point theorems requiring the compactness of the operators are not applicable.     

Liquid chromatographic analysis of prednisolone, prednisone and their 20-reduced metabolites in perfusion media

A reversed-phase liquid chromatographic assay was developed to quantitate prednisolone, prednisone and the 20 alpha-dihydro and 20 beta-dihydro reduced metabolites of both parent compounds in tissue culture media from in vitro perfusions of the human placental lobule. Steroids were extracted from perfusate, using reversed-phase cartridges, with average recoveries of 95.2% or greater. The internal standard for the analyses was 6 alpha-methylprednisolone. In this assay cortisol coelutes with prednisolone, however, no other significant interferences were found. Assay of each steroid was linear in the range 0-1 microgram/ml. Intra-assay coefficients of variation were measured at 10 and 750 ng/ml with ranges of 3.4% (20 alpha-dihydroprednisone) to 8.8% (20 beta-dihydroprednisolone) and 4.1% (20 beta-dihydroprednisone) to 8.8% (prednisone). The corresponding inter-assay coefficients of variation were 3.3% (20 alpha-dihydroprednisone) to 9.1% (20 beta-dihydroprednisolone) and 1.9% (prednisolone) to 3.5% (prednisone). The analyses utilized two C18 columns which were linked together and maintained at 40 degrees C.     

Thin-layer chromatography of radioactively labelled cholesterol and precursors from biological material

Summary The investigation methods of the action of xenobiotics on sterol biosynthesis from ¹⁴C-acetate in rat hepatocyte cultures can be developed, with regard to extraction using Extrelut and the separation of the sterol pattern by thin-layer chromatography, in such a way that they are suitable for wider application, e.g., screening. Good visualisation and recognition of changes in the sterol pattern are possible using autoradiography of the thin-layer chromatogram.

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Dünnschicht-Chromatographie von radioaktiv markiertem Cholesterin und Vorstufen aus biologischem Material. Eine einfache und empfindliche Methode zur Untersuchung einer Beeinflussung des Sterolbiosynthesewegs

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Dedicated to Dr. E. Roesch on occasion of his 65th birthday     

The Efimov effect in a four-body system

It is shown, using a Born-Oppenheimer model, that the four-body Efimov effect may occur in a system consisting of three identical heavy particles and one light particle, if the light-heavy interaction leads to a zeroenergy two-heavy-one-light bound state.