Characterisation of porosity and sensor response times of sol-gel-derived thin films for oxygen sensor applications

In recent years, sol-gel-derived films have played a significant role in optical sensor development. This paper focuses on the characterisation of oxygen-sensitive tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTEOS)-based films. Film porosity and sensor response times are reported for a range of films fabricated under different conditions. Porosity data are correlated with predicted film behaviour and also with previous characterisation studies. Oxygen diffusion coefficients are estimated from the response times. The enhanced diffusion coefficient of MTEOS films compared to TEOS films is discussed in terms of the relative oxygen solubility of the films. Comparisons are made with data for oxygen-sensitive polymer films, indicating an enhanced solubility for sol-gel films compared with typical polymer films.     

Analytical Methods for the Determination of Traces of Cr(VI) in Water Samples with Suppressed Ion Chromatography

A rapid and sensitive method for the direct determination of hexavalent chromium in natural waters has been developed. Anion exchange chromatography was used for the fast separation of chromates from matrix anions, within 15 minutes, using a 35 mM KOH eluant. Mobile phase suppression was employed prior to direct conductivity (CD) detection, comparing two different electrolytic suppressor models and achieving a 10 times lower detection limit. Post column derivatization of Cr(VI) with diphenylcarbazide was used for further selective diode array (PDA) detection. Possible Cr(III) interference was evaluated with the addition of concentrations up to 10 mg/L of Cr(III) in a Cr(VI) positive natural water sample resulting in negligible interference. Both detection techniques gave instrumental LOD of 0.05 µg/L and method LOD of 0.08 µg/L for CD and 0.05 µg/L for PDA detection in underground water. Average repeatability and reproducibility (%RSD) was 1.3% and 5.4% for CD and 1.3% and 6.1% for PDA detection for two concentration levels. Recovery ranged from 70% to 103% for CD and from 90% to 100% for PDA. Method accuracy was additionally confirmed by analyzing positive samples with LC-ICP-MS. The method was successfully applied to the determination of Cr(VI) in several tap, spring and groundwater samples from the wider area of Asopos River, Greece. High concentrations where confirmed to the majority of the analyzed samples, revealing the serious and expanded problem of industrial pollution.     

Polyethylene Glycol (PEG 300) and Water–Ethanol as Benign Solvent Systems for the Synthesis of a Novel Series of 2-Hydroxynaphthalen-1(4H)-Ones

An improved, clean, simple, and efficient method for the synthesis of new series of 2-hydroxy-4-methylenenaphthalen-1(4H)-one is described. This new process involves a domino Michael addition of various methylene acid compounds with the sodium salt of 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonate either in basic (tBuOK) polyethylene glycol (PEG300) at room temperature or in a basic (NaOH) water–ethanol medium at 40 °C by a crushing in a mortar or a traditional heating.     

Separation of pectin methylesterase isoenzymes from tomato fruits using short monolithic columns

One of the main forms of tomato pectin methylesterase (PME; EC 3.1.1.1.1) that is applicable to the food industry was isolated from fresh tomato fruit. The extraction of the PME isoenzymes involved washing the fresh tomato flesh with water in order to remove sugars and than solubilizing the enzymes with a diluted HCl solution at pH 1.6. The extract was then neutralized to pH 7.4 using buffer solution. After filtration, the solution was directly fractioned using Convective Interaction Media (CIM) short monolithic disk column bearing sulfonyl (SO3) groups and using a linear gradient from 0 to 700 mM NaCl. The injection volume was 3 ml and the diameter of the column was 12 mm and length 3 mm. The isolated fractions were monitored for protein content and PME activity. The fraction with the targeted enzyme, which showed NaCl independent activity, was further purified and concentrated by ultrafiltration and finally purified by a second semi-preparative cation-exchange chromatography step using a CIM carboxymethyl (CM) disk monolithic column consisting of two disks and applying a step gradient. From 1 kg of fresh tomato fruits, 7.5 mg of purified PME with molecular mass estimated to be 26 000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was obtained. A fraction with mixed PME and polygalacturonase activity was also obtained. Compared to the published procedures for the isolation and purification of PME from plant materials, this new procedure is much faster and more efficient. The potential application of CIM disk short monolithic columns in the analysis and semi-preparative extraction and isolation of the PME isoenzyme is presented.     

Elastic scattering of electrons by benzene

Relative differential cross-sections for the elastic scattering of electrons from benzene have been measured at incident energies 300, 500, 700 and 900eV and for scattering angles between 30° and 120°. The results are discussed and compared with the independent atom model (IAM) calculations. Two different sets of scattering amplitudes for the constituent atoms of benzene were used in these calculations, one obtained from first Born approximation and the other from partial wave analysis of the Dirac equation. Only the static interaction was taken into account in the calculations. The higher the incident energy, the better is the observed agreement between experiment and theory. This indicates that at higher energies, absorption, exchange and polarization effects are not significant as compared to the static interaction and that the IAM satisfactorily predicts the interference of scattering from the individual atoms of C₆H₆.     

AMS-02超导磁体300K-80K受控冷却系统的工艺流程设计

300K-80K受控冷却系统是AMS-02探测器的低温地面支持设备(CGSE)系统中的重要子系统,其主要作用是实现AMS-02磁体从常温(约300K)到接近液氮温度(约80K)的冷却。对该系统进行了工艺流程设计,在恒温器内设置多个调节阀和温度、压力、流量检测元件,通过自动调节手段控制经该系统冷却后前往磁体的氦气的温度和流量。同时介绍了该系统的组成及低温恒温器、HX1、HX2和HX3的结构和特点。     

Pu300能量窗钚年龄算法

美国LLNL提出了采用钚材料γ谱的330—350keV(Pu300)能量窗计算钚年龄, 用此能量窗建立了相关钚年龄算法, 并对几个不同样品的谱数据进行了计算, 并将其结果与PC/FRAM的结果进行比较, 结果表明两者吻合得比较好.     

基于熵算法的股票指数高频数据复杂度测算与评价

在日内高频环境下检验基于兼容法的柯尔莫哥洛夫熵、样本熵和模糊熵等复杂度测算方法对我国沪深300股票指数的测算效率,并运用筛选后的有效算法分阶段研究和比较了序列复杂度的变化过程与变化幅度.结果表明,模糊熵算法是一种更适用于我国沪深300股票指数的有效复杂度测算方法,其对相似容忍度的敏感性更低,测度值连续性更好.随时间推移,我国沪深300股票指数复杂度整体呈上升趋势,而相较于发达市场甚至周边新兴市场其复杂度偏低.     

沪深300股指期货日内绝对收益率与成交量之间动态关系研究

均值为零的观测样本绝对收益率可以看作波动率的无偏估计量,因此本文选取连续20个交易日的日内高频数据来研究沪深300股指期货日内绝对收益率和成交量之间的动态关系。在检验了样本稳定性后,文章采用格兰杰检验方法检验了股指期货日内绝对收益率和成交量之间的因果关系,检验结果表明:所有样本的成交量均不是绝对收益率的格兰杰原因,而20个样本中的15个样本的绝对收益率是成交量的格兰杰原因。随后我们使用向量自回归模型分别对15个模型的系数做估计,并对模型估计结果做了脉冲响应分析。研究发现,在此高频抽样条件下,与以往研究不同,沪深300股指期货绝对收益率的变化会明显降低其观测期的成交量。因此,在股指期货日内成交量与绝对收益率的研究中,历史成交量与收益率都对当前成交量有着重要影响;而绝对收益率只受历史绝对收益率的影响。     

The fatigue of high-strength fused silica optical fibers in low humidity

The strength and dynamic fatigue of UV-acrylate coated silica optical fibers were measured as a function of relative humidity in the range ∼0.025-13% at 25 °C. The degradation kinetics of silica in low humidities was investigated and it was found that the reaction order was approximately first-order with respect to humidity. In our previous work, a second-order reaction was found in the humidity range 20-95% RH at 25 °C and the process for obtaining this reaction order was found to be independent of the mathematical form of the kinetic models used. The change in reaction order observed here verifies some earlier results based on the power law which implied a change in the reaction order from ∼2 (15-100% RH) to ∼1 at low humidity (<0.01%).