Standardization of Methods for Characterizing the Surface Geometry of Solids

Since a comprehensive survey published in 1999 [1] much work was done in standardizing measuring methods to characterize the surface geometry of dispersed and/or porous solids and to certify reference materials. The present paper is an extension of a short communication [2]. It gives a survey on existing standards and reports on new drafts and proposals.     

Synthesis and adsorption properties of gold nanoparticles within pores of surface‐functional porous polymer microspheres

Mesoporous polymer microspheres with gold (Au) nanoparticles inside their pores were prepared considering their surface functionality and porosity. The Au/polymer composite microspheres prepared were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques. The results showed that the adsorption of Au nanoparticles could be increased by imparting the pore structure and surface‐functional groups into the supporting polymer microspheres (in this study, poly (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate‐co‐acrylonitrile) and poly (EGDMA‐co‐AN) system). Above all, from this study, it was established that the porosity of the polymer microspheres is the most important factor that determines the distribution and adsorption amount of face‐centered cubic (fcc) Au nanoparticles in the final products. Our study showed that the continuous adsorption of Au nanoparticles with the aid of the large surface area and surface interaction sites formed more favorably the Au/polymer composite microspheres. The BET measurements of Au/poly(EGDMA‐co‐AN) composite microspheres reveals that the adsorption of Au nanoparticles into the pores kept the pore structure intact and made it more porous. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 5627–5635, 2004     

On‐line Determination of Particle Size Distributions in Flowing Dispersions

Emulsions are of great importance to industry. They are involved in many engineering operations, including chemical reactions, extraction, emulsification and suspension polymerization, etc. However, an important problem for these processes is how to control the size distribution of the dispersed phase. Indeed, off‐line analysis of the emulsion may generate uncertainties due to sampling and dilution of the product, which are likely to change the dispersion state and physico‐chemical properties. In this work, an on‐line optical method is proposed to characterize dispersed media in real flowing conditions. This method is based on the time‐analysis of back‐scattered light fluctuations. The present paper deals with the development of this method and its application to dispersions of alumina in water. The results obtained with the on‐line optical method are compared with those acquired by classical laser light scattering and microscopy.     

A rigid graph for every set

A graph G is called rigid if the identical mapping V(G)→V(G) is the only homomorphism G→G. In this note we give a simple construction of a rigid oriented graph on every set. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 39: 108–110, 2002     

Total surface areas of Group IVA organometallic compounds: Predictors of toxicity to algae and bacteria

There is a high correlation between molecular surface area (TSA) of triorganotin and triorganolead compounds and their toxicity towards a bacterium (Escherichia coli) and an alga (Selenastrum capricornutum). Parallel attempts to correlate other Group IVA organometals incorporating silicon or germanium were unsuccessful. It was further demonstrated, however, that a high correlation was obtainable between certain series of compounds with the same organic substituent but different metal centers involving all Group IVA elements. In both instances, the inability to obtain a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) for all systems studied appears to be a function of the solubility of the compounds. While organotin TSA values have been found to correlate well with their toxicities toward various organisms, this study clearly suggests that this type of QSAR can be readily extended to include other organometal systems, provided that there is no solubility problem and the toxicity is a function of the hydrophobicity of the organometal compounds.     

Superconvergence of discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for the stationary Navier‐Stokes equations

This article focuses on discontinuous Galerkin method for the two‐ or three‐dimensional stationary incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations. The velocity field is approximated by discontinuous locally solenoidal finite element, and the pressure is approximated by the standard conforming finite element. Then, superconvergence of nonconforming finite element approximations is applied by using least‐squares surface fitting for the stationary Navier‐Stokes equations. The method ameliorates the two noticeable disadvantages about the given finite element pair. Finally, the superconvergence result is provided under some regular assumptions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 23: 421–436, 2007     

ℙmax variations related to slaloms

We prove the iteration lemmata, which are the key lemmata to show that extensions by Pmax variations satisfy absoluteness for Π₂-statements in the structure 〈H (ω ₂), ∈, NS_{ω 1}, R 〉 for some set R of reals in L (ℝ), for the following statements: (1) The cofinality of the null ideal is ℵ₁. (2) There exists a good basis of the strong measure zero ideal. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On disjoint configurations in infinite graphs

For a graph A and a positive integer n, let nA denote the union of n disjoint copies of A; similarly, the union of ?₀ disjoint copies of A is referred to as ?₀A. It is shown that there exist (connected) graphs A and G such that nA is a minor of G for all n??, but ?₀A is not a minor of G. This supplements previous examples showing that analogous statements are true if, instead of minors, isomorphic embeddings or topological minors are considered. The construction of A and G is based on the fact that there exist (infinite) graphs G₁, G₂,… such that G_i is not a minor of G_j for all i ≠ j. In contrast to previous examples concerning isomorphic embeddings and topological minors, the graphs A and G presented here are not locally finite. The following conjecture is suggested: for each locally finite connected graph A and each graph G, if nA is a minor of G for all n ? ?, then ?₀A is a minor of G, too. If true, this would be a far‐reaching generalization of a classical result of R. Halin on families of disjoint one‐way infinite paths in graphs. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 39: 222–229, 2002; DOI 10.1002/jgt.10016     

Weierstrass Points and Regular Maps

It was shown by G. A. Jones and the first author in [8] that underlying any map on a compact orientable surface S there is a natural complex structure making S into a Riemann surface. In this paper we consider regular maps and enquire about the Weierstrass points on the underlying Riemann surface. We are particularly interested to know when these are geometric, i.e. whether they lie at vertices, face-centres or edge-centres of the map.