Composition and thermal stability of SiO2-based hybrid materials TEOS-MTEOS system

Hybrid materials with different amounts of organics permanently bound on the inorganic network obtained in the TEOS-MTEOS (tetraethoxysilan-methyltriethoxysilan) system are used for obtaining coatings with different optical and mechanical properties. To study the thermal stability of the mentioned materials, compositions with different molar ratios of the precursors were prepared. The influence of the solvent and water amounts on the gelation process was also investigated. The gels obtained were characterised by IR spectrometry and their decomposition temperatures were determined by DTA/TG. Thermal stability of the gels is rather influenced by their composition than the conditions of the gelation process. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Radiation dose contribution from coal-slags used as structural building material

A significant dose contribution on the population could be derived from coal slags used as isolation material. Extremely high natural activities are measured in the coal slag, derived from the region of the settlement Ajka, Hungary. In some buildings monitored, the elevated -doses were nearly 5–10 times higher than the world average ones. The annual average indoor radon concentrations from the slag exceeded 400 Bq/m³ and in some cases up to 1200 Bq/m³. Due to the elevated exposure and the radon concentrations in the dwellings the annual dose was estimated to 8–24 mSv/y more than 5–10 times of the world average one.     

CIRCULAR DICHROISM SPECTRA OF SYSTEM I PARTICLES FROM NORMAL CHLOROPLASTS AND CAROTENOID-DEFICIENT MUTANTS OF MAIZE

Abstract— Circular dichroism (CD) spectra were studied in System I particles prepared by digitonin fragmentation of chloroplasts of normal maize and carotenoid-deficient mutants. CD bands of pigment molecules were found to be higher in particles than in solutions. This phenomenon was most pronounced for the particles containing the carotenoid composition of normal chloroplast lamellae. The CD signal of chlorophylls bound to particles of carotenoid-deficient chloroplasts was closer to that found in solutions. This indicates that aggregation and/or binding of chlorophylls in carotenoid-deficient mutants may be less extensive than in normal chloroplasts.     

Mild route to generate gaseous metal anions

Gaseous metal anions such as Na(-), K(-), Cs(-), and Ag(-) can be generated at ambient temperatures by the collision-induced dissociation of the anions of several dicarboxylic acid salts, including oxalate, maleate, fumarate, succinate, and glutamate salts. The formation of gaseous metal anions in this way is unprecedented because the metal is initially present in its cationic form. The mild process described here could facilitate novel applications of metal anions as selective reagents for gas-phase ion-molecule and ion-ion reactions. Ab initio calculations were used to describe the dissociation process for anions of the oxalate salts. The formation of alkalides occurs via production of a metal-carbon dioxide anion intermediate with a bidentate three-center two-electron bond to the metal. The metal atom acquires a partial negative charge in the intermediate structure.     

Differentiable Distance Spaces

The distance function \({\varrho(p, q) ({\rm or} d(p, q))}\) of a distance space (general metric space) is not differentiable in general. We investigate such distance spaces over \({\mathbb{R}^n}\), whose distance functions are differentiable like in case of Finsler spaces. These spaces have several good properties, yet they are not Finsler spaces (which are special distance spaces). They are situated between general metric spaces (distance spaces) and Finsler spaces. We will investigate such curves of differentiable distance spaces, which possess the same properties as geodesics do in Finsler spaces. So these curves can be considered as forerunners of Finsler geodesics. They are in greater plenitude than Finsler geodesics, but they become geodesics in a Finsler space. We show some properties of these curves, as well as some relations between differentiable distance spaces and Finsler spaces. We arrive to these curves and to our results by using distance spheres, and using no variational calculus. We often apply direct geometric considerations.     

General approach for the synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles mediated by supercritical CO2

We report in this paper novel chemistry that addresses the problem of surfactant solubility in supercritical CO2 for metal nanoparticle synthesis. This new approach for the preparation of organic-functionalized inorganic nanoparticles relies on the reduction of a metal precursor in a CO2-containing insoluble polymer. Reduction of the metal with H2 leads to small nanocrystals stabilized by the polymer with a relatively small polydispersity. The functionalized metal nanoparticles are recovered as a dry powder, free of any organic solvents, which can then be resuspended in an appropriate solvent. This approach limits the number of steps for the preparation of functional nanoparticles which are ready for use. To illustrate this, we report results of the preparation of palladium and silver nanoparticles of 3-5 nm size stabilized with hyperbranched polyamines, functionalized with perfluoroalkyl, perfluorooligoether, non-fluorinated alkyl, polysiloxane, or polyethylene glycol moieties.     

Algebraic methods for the solution of linear functional equations

The equation

$$\sum^{n}_ {i=0} a_{i}f(b_{i}x + (1 - b_{i})y) = 0$$

belongs to the class of linear functional equations. The solutions form a linear space with respect to the usual pointwise operations. According to the classical results of the theory they must be generalized polynomials. New investigations have been started a few years ago. They clarified that the existence of non-trivial solutions depends on the algebraic properties of some related families of parameters. The problem is to find the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of non-trivial solutions in terms of these kinds of properties. One of the earliest results is due to Z. Daróczy [1]. It can be considered as the solution of the problem in case of n = 2. We are going to take more steps forward by solving the problem in case of n = 3.

     

Study of theS-matrix near bound states in the continuum

The behaviour ofS-matrix for potentials generating bound states in continuum in the neighbourhood of the positive bound state energies is studied. It is shown that unlike the case of usual negative energy bound states, theS-matrix does not have a pole at the positive bound state energy but becomes unity at the energy corresponding to bound states in continuum. Calculations ofS-waveS-matrix for a local potential constructed by Stillinger and Herrick and a separable nonlocal potential constructed by the present authors verify these results. Our results indicate that the bound states embedded in continuum constructedvia the von Neumann and Wigner procedure cannot be interpreted as resonances with zero width.