Quantitative Analysis of Coal by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Using TEA CO2 Laser as the Excitation Source

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - This work presents a study of the applicability of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy based on infrared transversally excited atmospheric CO2 pulsed laser...     

A Power Interruption Technique for Investigation of Temperature Difference in Stabilized Low Direct-Current Arc Burning in Pure Argon on Atmospheric Pressure

Plasma of argon stabilized arc column, in a current range 3-11 A, is investigated using emission spectrometric diagnostic techniques. Temperatures are evaluated using several methods： argon line to adjacent recombinational continuum intensity ratio, absolute emissivity of argon line, measurement of electron number density, and power interruption. Electron number density is evaluated from absolute emissivity of recombinational continuum. The difference between electron Te and heavy particle Th temperature ranged from 4500 K for 3 A to 2300 K for 11A arc current. By comparing the present with the previously obtained results, using the same arc device but with the introduction of water aerosol, it is concluded that water aerosol reduces the difference Te - Th and brings plasma closer to the partial thermodynamic equilibrium state.     

Solid phase synthesis of tertiary amines on amide REM resins: Grignard and metal hydride compatible resins

Four new amide REM resins (AM REM 2-5) are described, and their use is illustrated for the synthesis of tertiary amines 6-9 and 13-16. Amide REM resins 4 and 5, which have a phenyl ring attached to the amide nitrogen, are found to give superior product yields and purities, and the resins are stable to a wider range of reagents and conditions compared to REM resin 1.     

A Molecular Approach for Unraveling Surface Phase Transitions: Sulfation of BaO as a Model NO(x) Trap

SO(3) -induced surface reconstruction: The SO(3) molecule as a multidentate ligand induces remarkable surface reconstruction phenomena on alkaline earth oxide surface. By using ab initio computations, adsorption properties are derived to elucidate the thermodynamics of the SO(3) -BaO system.     

A one-pot procedure for methylenating carbonyl compounds using the Nysted reagent and titanocene dichloride

The combination of the Nysted reagent and titanocene dichloride methylenates aldehydes and ketones to give alkenes, and in a microwave-assisted process, esters and lactones give enol ethers. The methylenating agent in this one-pot procedure is presumed to be titanocene methylidene, which is the same reactive intermediate as that generated from Tebbe, Petasis and Grubbs reagents, each of which have to be prepared before use.     

Potential benefits of adaptive frequency-gain characteristics for speech reception in noise.

Some current single-microphone hearing aids employ techniques for adaptively varying the frequency-gain characteristics in an attempt to improve speech reception in noise. The potential benefit of this strategy depends on the spectral spread of masking and the degree to which it can be reduced by changing the frequency-gain characteristic. In this study these benefits were examined for subjects with normal hearing under static listening conditions. In the unprocessed condition, subjects were presented with nonsense syllables in an octave-band noise centered on 0.5, 1, or 2 kHz. The frequency-gain characteristic was then modified with the goal of reducing the intensity of the frequency region containing the octave-band noise. This processing resulted in increases as large as 60 percentage points in consonant-correct scores with the low- and mid-frequency octave noise bands, and a small increase with the high-frequency noise. Masking patterns produced by the octave noises were also measured and were related to the intelligibility results via an analysis based on Articulation Theory. The Articulation Index was also used to compare the effectiveness of three adaptive rules. A simple multiband volume control is expected to provide much of the benefit of more sophisticated systems without the need for separate estimation of input speech and noise spectra.     

The relation between loudness and intensity difference limens for tones in quiet and noise backgrounds

Recent studies of the relation between loudness and intensity difference limens (DLs) suggest that, if two tones of the same frequency are equally loud, they will have equal relative DLs [R. S. Schlauch and C.C. Wier, J. Speech Hear. Res. 30, 13-20 (1987); J.J. Zwislocki and H.N. Jordan, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 79, 772-780 (1986)]. To test this hypothesis, loudness matches and intensity DLs for a 1000-Hz pure tone in quiet and in a 40-dB SPL spectrum level broadband noise were obtained for four subjects with normal hearing. The DLs were obtained in both gated- and continuous-pedestal conditions. Contrary to previous reports, equally loud tones do not yield equal relative DLs at several midintensities in the gated condition and at many intensities in the continuous condition. While the equal-loudness, equal-relative-DL hypothesis is not supported by the data, the relation between loudness and intensity discrimination appears to be well described by a model reported by Houtsma et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 68, 807-813 (1980)].     

Optimization of reaction conditions for REM resin-bound quaternization reactions

A study into the effect of reaction variables on the quaternization of REM resin-bound tertiary amines was undertaken. The influence of resin matrix, solvent, reaction time, temperature, and amount of quaternization agent on the outcome of reaction was evaluated by reaction monitoring using (19)F NMR. The highest yields of tertiary amine products were seen when DMSO was used as reaction solvent in conjunction with a reaction time of 18 h at room temperature. The use of heating for extended reaction times tended to depress yields, indicating product cleavage during quaternization. Quaternization on PS-DVB resin was found to be more robust than reaction on PS-PEG matrices where yields were generally considerably lower than the observed conversions. DMSO was the most efficient reaction solvent for both resins despite poor swelling of the quaternization starting material.