Coated wire silver-ion selective electrode based on a N,N'-bis(2-thienylmethylene)-1,2-diaminobenzene.

A novel membrane coated platinum-wire electrode (MCPWE) based on N,N'-bis(2-thienylmethylene)-1,2-diaminobenzene (BTMD) for highly selective determination of Ag+ ion has been developed. The influences of membrane composition and pH on the potentiometric responses of electrode were investigated. The potentiometric responses are independent of the pH of the test solution in the range of 5.0 - 9.0. The electrode shows a linear response for Ag+ ion over the concentration range of 1.0 x 10(-60 to 1.0 x 10(-1) M with a lower detection limit of 6.0 x 10(-7) M. The electrode possesses a Nernstian slope of 59.7 mV decade(-1) and a fast response time of < or = 17 s and can be used for at least 2 months without any observable deviation. The proposed electrode displayed very good selectivity for Ag+ ion with respect to NH4+ and alkali, alkaline earth and some common transition metal ions. The practical utility of the electrode has been demonstrated by its use as the indicator electrode in the potentiometric titration of an AgNO3 solution with a NaI solution and in determination of the silver content of a developed radiological film.     

The use of an atomizer for chemical pleurodesis

Summary An atomizer had been designed that could create an aerosol of a liquid with high viscosity. The amount of additional driving gas that had to be used was very low. In a cooperation with the University Hospital in Zurich the atomizer was miniaturized and used for treating six patients.     

Multibody dynamics of aircraft occupants seated behind interior walls

To improve aircraft crash safety, conditions critical to occupants survival during a crash must be known. In view of the importance of this problem, studies of post-crash dynamic behavior of victims are necessary in order to reduce severe injuries. In this study, crash dynamics program SOM-LA/TA, incorporating a dynamic model of the human body with a finite element model of the seat structure was used. Modifications were performed in the program for reconstruction of an occupant's head impact with the interior walls or bulkhead. A viscoelastic-type contact force model was used to represent the compliance characteristics of the bulkhead. Correlated studies of analytical simulations with impact sled test results were accomplished. A parametric study of the coefficients in the contact force model was then performed in order to obtain the correlations between the coefficients and the Head Injury Criteria. A measure of optimal values for the bulkhead compliance and displacement requirements was thus achieved in order to keep the possibility of a head injury as little as possible. This information could in turn be used in the selection of suitable materials for the bulkhead, instrument panel, or interior walls of an aircraft.     

Studies on recoil proton tracks in NTA films with the T(d,n)He reaction

Recoil proton tracks in nuclear emulsion are counted by scanning them using strip, square or circular field of view of optical microscope. In this paper, the overestimate due to the edge effects in counting recoil proton tracks at different neutron energies produced from the T(d,n)⁴He reaction has been determined by measuring the true track density in NTA film. The overestimate has also been calculated using the measured value of the mean projected track length (L) in the film. The percentage of measured overestimates has been compared with those obtained by calculation and the results agree reasonably well. Fading effect in NTA film has been studied and found to be 22% more in the summer than in the winter season. A great reduction in fading rate could be achieved if the films are desiccated and sealed in highly pure dry nitrogen maintained at an over-pressure of 1000 Pa to reduce water vapour ingress. After the edge effect correction, the sensitivity of NTA film has been calculated from (1.72±0.08)×10⁻³ tracksn⁻¹ to (1.97±0.16)×10⁻³ tracksn⁻¹ in the neutron energy ranges from 15.91 to 18.88 MeV. The response was found to be from 0.24±0.02 trackscm⁻² permSv to 0.26±0.01 trackscm⁻² permSv in the same energy range.     

A novel direct method for preparation of aromatic polyimides via microwave-assisted polycondensation of aromatic dianhydrides and diisocyanates

Possibility of imide structure formation under microwave irradiation of molecules containing anhydride and isocyanate functional groups was investigated. The microwave-assisted polycondensation of aromatic diisocyanates and dianhydrides for preparation of polyimides was studied. The effect of microwave irradiation time and power, solvent nature, solid content of monomers, effect of catalyst, effect of polymerization reactor material and possibility of pressure development during polymerization, on the inherent viscosity of prepared polyimides were discussed. Experimental results showed that polymers obtained via this method had superior inherent viscosity and yield in comparison to the polymers obtained via conventional solution method.     

On the nilpotent * - Fourier transform

LetG be a nilpotent Lie group. The adapted nilpotent Fourier transform was introduced by D. Arnal and J. C. Cortet,:L(G) C (V,L(^2d )), whereL(G) is the Schwartz space ofG andV × ^2k is aG-invariant Zariski open set ing ^* the dual of the Lie algebra ofG. We prove the surjectivity of this transformation, which allows us to extend it to distribution spaces.     

On a bosonic-parafermionic realization ofU_q (\widehat{sl(2)})

We realize the current algebra at an arbitrary level in terms of one deformed free bosonic field and a pair of deformed parafermionic fields. It is shown that the operator product expansions of these parafermionic fields involve an infinite number of simple poles and simple zeros, which then condensate to form a branch cut in the classical limitq1. Our realization coincides with those of Frenkel-Jing and Bernard when the levelk takes the values 1 and 2, respectively.     

Relationship between the molybdenum phases and the conversion of n-butane over Mo/HZSM-5

The conversion of n-C₄H₁₀ was undertaken on MoO₃/HZSM-5 catalyst at 773–973 K and the phases of molybdenum species were detected by XRD. The XRD results show that bulk MoO₃ on HZSM-5 can be readily reduced by n-C₄H₁₀ to MoO₂ at 773 K and MoO₂ can be gradually carburized to molybdenum carbide above 813 K. The molybdenum carbide formed from the carburization of MoO₂ with n-C₄H₁₀ below 893 K is -MoC_1−x with fcc-structure, while hcp-molybdenum carbide formed above 933 K. During the evolution of MoO₃ to MoO₂ (>773 K) or the carburization of MoO₂ to molybdenum carbide (>813 K), deep oxidation, cracking and coke deposition are serious, in particular at higher reaction temperatures, these lead to the poor selectivity to aromatics. Aromatization of n-C₄H₁₀ can proceed catalytically on both Mo₂C/HZSM-5 and MoO₂/HZSM-5, the distribution of the products for the two catalysts is similar below 813 K, but the activity for Mo₂C/HZSM-5 is much higher than that for MoO₂/HZSM-5.     

An investigation of the aggregation and water-air interfacial behaviour of a cationic tentacle molecule

The aggregation and air-water interface properties of a three-legged tentacle molecule tris (11-pyridinium undec-1-yl)benzene-1, 3, 5-tricarboxylate tribromide have been investigated by measurement of the molar conductance, , and equilibrium surface tensin,, over a wide range of bulk concentration (8×10^–6 – 0.3 M). In contrast to the single chain analogue, dodecyl pyridinium bromide, DDPB, the tentacle species shows no evidence for a conventional micellar transition in solutions up to 100 fold more concentrated than the critical micelle concentration of DDPB, though aggregation of small numbers of molecules cannot be excluded. The conductance behaviour suggests the occurrence of ion-pair (or higher) equilibria, which are likely to complicate the interpretation of the data. Also, in contrast to a previous tentacle molecule described in the literature, the present species is significantly surface active, and in the high concentration limit reduces to <30 mNm^–1, significantly lower than the values obtained for simple ionic amphiphiles. In this region the tentacle species seems to stand like a tripod at the water-air interface with both its hydrocarbon legs and its aromatic body lifted clear of the water surface. At much lower concentrations two small plateau regions in are apparent ( 60 and 52 mNm^–1). Here, the tentacle molecule occupies a much larger surface area, and seems to adopt a crab-like crouch with its aromatic body and polar ester substituents lowered into the water surface.