Effect of Light on the Electrokinetic Behavior of TiO(2) Particles in Contact with Cr(VI) Aqueous Solutions

The electrokinetic behavior of titanium dioxide particles (Degussa P25, mainly composed of anatase) put in contact with chromium(VI) aqueous solutions is highly sensitive to light exposure under normal laboratory conditions. In the dark, adsorption of Cr(VI) gives rise to substantial decrements in the mobilities, especially in the acidic branch, and, at higher concentrations, to shifts in the isoelectric point (pH(piep)) to lower values, as expected for anionic chemisorption. A two-mode adsorption model accounts qualitatively for the results. Under light, pH(piep) shifts in the opposite direction as the Cr(VI) concentration increases. A maximum value is attained at [Cr(VI)] approximately 10(-3) mol dm(-3), pH(piep) 8.2, which coincides with values reported for hydrous chromium(III) oxides. At higher concentrations, Cr(VI) adsorption defines a shift of pH(piep) to lower values. It is concluded that light absorption by titanium dioxide promotes the reduction of Cr(VI) and the surface precipitation of the hydrous Cr(III) oxide. The values of pH(piep) for partially covered surfaces are well described by a simple model of surface ionization derived earlier. FTIR/ATR analysis of the surfaces supports this interpretation, and further suggests that one of the modes of Cr(VI) adsorption implies surface dimerization to yield adsorbed dichromate. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

A Robust, Environmentally Benign Catalyst for Highly Selective Hydroformylation

By a sol-gel process a rhodium complex containing a diphosphane with a large natural P-Rh-P bite angle is covalently anchored in a silica matrix (see picture). The immobilized catalyst is a very selective hydroformylation catalyst that is completely and conveniently separated from the product and can be reused in numerous cycles.     

Passages through resonance in weakly nonlinear systems

A method of determining asymptotic expansions for weakly couplednonlinearly perturbed systems of harmonic oscillators with slowlyvarying frequencies is presented. In an example with two oscillators,each one experiences a separate resonance passage that producesa first-order amplitude change. Simultaneously, second-orderadjustments occur to both oscillators. The determination isachieved by carrying the calculations to third order.     

Geometric Fourier Analysis for Computational Vision

Projective Fourier analysis — geometric Fourier analysis of the group SL(2,), the group identified in the conformal camera that provides image perspective transformations—is discussed in the framework of representation theory of semisimple Lie groups. The compact model of projective Fourier analysis is constructed, complementing the noncompact model proposed before. Detailed mathematical formulation of both models is presented. It is demonstrated that the projective Fourier analysis provides the data model for efficient perspectively covariant digital image representation well adapted to the retino-cortical mapping of biological visual system, and therefore, explicitly designed for the foveated sensors of a silicon retina, the use of which in active vision systems is presently limited due to the lack of such a model.     

An updated search of steady TeV γ-ray point sources in northern hemisphere using the Tibet air shower array

Using the data taken from Tibet Ⅱ High Density (HD) Array (1997 February--1999 September) and Tibet-Ⅲ array (1999 November--2005 November), our previous northern sky survey for TeV γ-ray point sources has now been updated by a factor of 2.8 improved statistics. From 0.0° to 60.0° in declination (Dec) range, no new TeV γ-ray point sources with sufficiently high significance were identified while the well-known Crab Nebula and Mrk421 remain to be the brightest TeV T-ray sources within the field of view of the Tibet air shower array. Based on the currently available data and at the 90% confidence level (C.L.), the flux upper limits for different power law index assumption are re-derived, which are approximately improved by 1.7 times as compared with our previous reported limits.     

Compensation of susceptibility-induced signal loss in echo-planar imaging for functional applications

Functional magnetic resonance imaging favors the use of multi-slice gradient-recalled echo-planar imaging due to its short image acquisition times, whole brain coverage and sensitivity to BOLD contrast. However, despite its advantages, gradient-recalled echo-planar imaging also is sensitive to static magnetic field gradients arising primarily from air-tissue interfaces. This can lead to image artifacts such as voxel shifts and complete signal loss. A method to recover signal loss by adjusting the refocusing gradient amplitude in the slice-select direction, preferably axially, is proposed. This method is implemented as an automated computer algorithm that partitions echo-planar images into regions of recoverable signal intensities using a histogram analysis and determines each region's proper refocusing gradient amplitude. As an example, different refocusing gradient amplitudes are interleaved in a fMRI acquisition to maximize the signal to noise ratio and obtain functional activation in normal and dropout regions. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by recovering signal voids in the orbitofrontal cortex, parahippocampal/amygdala region, and inferior visual association cortex near the cerebellum.     

ON THE IMPULSIVE BEVERTON–HOLT EQUATION AND EXTINCTION CONDITIONS IN POPULATION DYNAMICS

Abstract This paper is devoted to investigate extinction and nonextinction conditions of the extended Beverton–Holt equation (BHE) for dynamics of populations in Ecology when potential discontinuities at sampling points are included in the model. The proposed model is described by means of four sequences of parameters. Two of them are the intrinsic growth rate and the carrying capacity sequences which are included in the basic BHE model. The other two ones, namely, the harvesting (i.e., the hunting or fishing quota) and the internal consumption (which can include positive and negative migrations in the considered population habitat) sequences are included to parameterize the model discontinuities. Such discontinuities are related to impulses in the corresponding continuous‐time logistic equation. The obtained results establish how the harvesting quota and/or the internal consumption has to be fixed to guarantee the population nonextinction or, eventually, its extinction. Finally, some controllability results related to the search of a carrying capacity sequence such that the solution of the proposed impulsive BHE tracks a reference one are obtained.