Determination of Copper at a Glassy Carbon Electrode Modified with Langmuir–Blodgett Film of p‐tert‐Butylthiacalix[4]arene

A new type of voltammetric sensor, Langmuir–Blodgett film of p‐tert‐butylthiacalix[4]arene modified glassy carbon electrode, was advanced and used for determining copper at trace levels by differential pulse stripping voltammetry. Calibration plot was found to be linear in the range of 2×10^?8 M to 5×10^?6 M; the detection limit was 2×10^?9 M. Possible recognition mechanism was also discussed. From determination of Copper in real samples (river, lake and tap water) it can be concluded that the method is rapid, sensitive in determining of copper and can be used in the analysis of natural water samples.     

Variable Mott-Schottky plots acquisition by potentiodynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Potentiodynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy provides extraction of potential-dependent space charge layer capacitance from potentiodynamic impedance spectra of non-stationary semiconductor–electrolyte interface. The new technique has been applied for acquisition of Mott-Schottky plots of cathodically treated TiO₂ anodic films. Cathodic treatment in 1 M H₂SO₄ increases donor density and flat band potential of TiO₂. Freshly doped films show hysteresis in the space charge layer capacitance in cyclic potential scans. The subsequent cycling eliminates the hysteresis but preserves the greater part of the doping effect. Presented at the 4th Baltic Conference on Electrochemistry, Greifswald, 13–16 March 2005     

Study on flame-retardant mechanism of polycarbonate containing sulfonate-silsesquioxane-fluoro retardants by TGA and FTIR

The flame retardancy of bisphenol A polycarbonate (PC) containing potassium diphenylsulfone sulfonate (KSS), poly(aminopropyl/phenylsilsesquioxane) (PAPSQ) and poly(vinylidenefluoride) (PVDF) was measured by limited oxygen index (LOI) and examined according to UL94. A high LOI and UL94 V-0 rating for 1.6 mm thickness samples were obtained by a combined use of equivalent KSS, PAPSQ and PVDF at 0.1-0.3 wt% loading, respectively. The improvement in flame retardancy of PC compositions arose from the synergistic interaction of three additives. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that the combination decreased the activation energy (E) of PC degradation and elevated the thermal degradation rate of PC to ensure the formation of an insulating carbon layer. FTIR analysis showed that the LOI char of PC containing the three additives took on a highly cross-linking aromatic ester and ether structure.     

Properties of a genetic algorithm extended by a random self-learning operator and asymmetric mutations: A convergence study for a task of powder-pattern indexing

Genetic algorithms represent a powerful global-optimisation tool applicable in solving tasks of high complexity in science, technology, medicine, communication, etc. The usual genetic-algorithm calculation scheme is extended here by introduction of a quadratic self-learning operator, which performs a partial local search for randomly selected representatives of the population. This operator is aimed as a minor deterministic contribution to the (stochastic) genetic search. The population representing the trial solutions is split into two equal subpopulations allowed to exhibit different mutation rates (so called asymmetric mutation). The convergence is studied in detail exploiting a crystallographic-test example of indexing of powder diffraction data of orthorhombic lithium copper oxide, varying such parameters as mutation rates and the learning rate. It is shown through the averaged (over the subpopulation) fitness behaviour, how the genetic diversity in the population depends on the mutation rate of the given subpopulation. Conditions and algorithm parameter values favourable for convergence in the framework of proposed approach are discussed using the results for the mentioned example. Further data are studied with a somewhat modified algorithm using periodically varying mutation rates and a problem-specific operator. The chance of finding the global optimum and the convergence speed are observed to be strongly influenced by the effective mutation level and on the self-learning level. The optimal values of these two parameters are about 6 and 5%, respectively. The periodic changes of mutation rate are found to improve the explorative abilities of the algorithm. The results of the study confirm that the applied methodology leads to improvement of the classical genetic algorithm and, therefore, it is expected to be helpful in constructing of algorithms permitting to solve similar tasks of higher complexity.     

密胺树脂/硼酸锌双层包覆微胶囊化红磷的制备及其在阻燃聚烯烃中的应用

描述了采用密胺树脂和硼酸锌连续双层包覆微胶囊化红磷(MRP)的最新制备方法。采用红外光谱、电子能谱和透射电镜等分析手段对其进行了表征，并证实红磷已被完全包覆。实验数据表明：经包覆的MRP的热稳定性获得了明显改善，吸水率和磷化氢的发生量均大大减少。MRP作为阻燃助剂应用于聚烯烃阻燃材料表现出了良好的阻燃效果。实时红外和热失重测量以及扫描电镜观察表明：其阻燃机制是红磷受热时与树脂反应促进了含磷膨胀炭层的形成，从而提高了材料的热稳定性，碳层起到了隔氧、隔热作用，而且主要在凝聚相中发挥其阻燃作用。     

Effects of Lead on Temporal Response Properties of Retinal Ganglion Cells in Developing Rats

Neonatal rats have taken in lead, during the period from their parturition to their weaning, from the milk of dams fed with water containing 0.2% lead acetate solutions. The alterations in the temporal response properties of retinal ganglion cells in adult rats (90 days) following the lead exposure at their developing stage have been studied. The results of this investigation demonstrate that the lead exposure in neonatal rats causes decreases in the optimal temporal frequency, bandwidth at half amplitude, temporal resolution and response phase of the retinal ganglion cells in adult rats. Compared with the sustained cells, the transient cells have a much greater alteration in temporal response properties.     

Solubilities,thermostabilities and flame retardance behaviour of phosphorus-containing flame retardants and copolymers

Thirteen phosphorus-containing flame retardants were synthesized in this work. The solubilities of flame retardant [(6-oxide-6H-dibenz[c,e][1,2]oxaphosphorin-6-yl)-methyl]-butanedioic acid (DDP) in selected solvents are measured. TGA measurements of the 13 phosphorus-containing flame retardants were carried out and thermal stabilities of three flame-resistant PET (FRPET) resins were investigated. A FRPET incorporated by DDP with terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol reported in literature was also discussed and compared. The thermal stability of the FRPET is improved by the incorporation of phosphorus-containing flame retardants. The LOI values of all phosphorus-containing polyesters are higher than 27%. The improvement of the flame-resistant ability is due to the formation of the char that is not only caused by the existence of phosphorus elements in the resin but also by the relative large number of carbon atoms of the phenyl group in the flame retardants.     

Simple algorithm for isothermal-isobaric molecular dynamics

We review principles of non-Hamiltonian statistical mechanics and present a new set of equations and integration algorithm for isothermal-isobaric dynamics. The chief advantage of the present scheme is that it is somewhat simpler than previous methods. We perform numerical simulations to test the accuracy of the algorithm and compare its stability to that of a "gold standard," a symplectic integrator for Hamiltonian dynamics of the same system. The stability of the isothermal-isobaric algorithm is comparable to the stability of the symplectic integrator.     

气相色谱过程的计算机模拟及操作条件的优化

建立了气相色谱过程的动态数学模型,给出了模型的实用算法,并据此对各种操作条件下的色谱流出曲线进行了动态模拟计算。模拟计算结果表明该模型是有效的,能够用于各种程序控制的色谱过程,可得到色谱分离的优化条件。