Intercomparison of volatile organic carbon measurement techniques and data at La Porte during the TexAQS2000 Air Quality Study

The Texas Air Quality Study 2000 (TexAQS2000) investigated the photochemical production of ozone and the chemistry of related precursors and reaction products in the vicinity of Houston, TX. The colocation of four instruments for the measurement of volatile organic carbon compounds (VOCs) allowed a unique opportunity for the intercomparison of the different in-situ measuring techniques. The instruments included three gas chromatographs, each with a different type of detector, and a Proton-Transfer-Reaction Mass Spectrometer (PTR-MS) with each system designed to measure a different suite of VOCs. Correlation plots and correlation statistics are presented for species measured by more than one of these instruments. The GC instruments were all in agreement to within 10-20% (slope) with coefficients of variation (r2) of > or = 0.85. The PTR-MS agreement with other instruments was more dependent on species with some very good agreements (r2 values of approximately 0.95 for some aromatics), but isoprene, acetaldehyde and propene were substantially less highly correlated (0.55 < r2 < 0.80). At least part of these differences were undoubtedly due to the timing of sample acquisition in an environment in which VOC levels changed very rapidly on both quantitative and temporal scales.     

Simulation of the crystallisation of silicon ribbons on substrate

Today's photovoltaic market is divided into multicrystalline silicon wafers from ingot casting and monocrystalline wafers from Czochralski crystals. In both cases large crystals have to be cut into thin wafer geometry. As an alternative approach the EFG process and the string ribbon process are in industrial use for the production of silicon ribbons directly out of the melt. One future alternative for a high production process is the Ribbon Growth on Substrate (RGS) process which is now in the final development stage for industrial production of silicon ribbons.In this paper we will report simulation results for the crystallisation of silicon melt in contact with a substrate. This is the basis not only for the RGS process but also for thin film processes like laser remelting of amorphous Si. The results show the general solidification behaviour at the tip region of a growing Si sheet. Different crystal growth modes are predicted resulting in different grain structures of the silicon sheet as observed experimentally.     

Effects of cell condition, pH, and temperature on lead, zinc, and copper sorption to Acidithiobacillus caldus strain BC13

This study describes the effects of cell condition, pH, and temperature on lead, zinc, and copper sorption to Acidithiobacillus caldus strain BC13 with a Langmuir model. Copper exhibited the highest loading capacity, 4.76 ± 0.28 mmol g(-1), to viable cells at pH 5.5. The highest k(L) (binding-site affinity) observed was 61.2 ± 3.0 L mmol(-1) to dehydrated cells at pH 4.0. The pHs that maximized loading capacities and binding-site affinities were generally between 4.0 and 5.5, where the sum of free-proton and complexed-metal concentrations was near a minimum. Of additional importance, lead, zinc, and copper sorbed to viable cells at pH values as low as 1.5. Previous studies with other acidithiobacilli did not measure viable-cell sorption below pH 4.0. In separate experiments, desorption studies showed that far less copper was recovered from viable cells than any other metal or cell condition, suggesting that uptake may play an important role in copper sorption by At. caldus strain BC13. To reflect an applied system, the sorption of metal mixtures was also studied. In these experiments, lead, zinc, and copper sorption from a tertiary mixture were 40.2 ± 4.3%, 28.7 ± 3.8%, and 91.3 ± 3.0%, respectively, of that sorbed in single-metal systems.     

Efficient oleoresin biomass production in pines using low cost metal containing stimulant paste

Oleoresin biomass production by trees of Pinus elliottii, which is a source of terpenes for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, was investigated. Trees were individually analyzed for oleoresin yield using the bark streak method of wounding for stimulation of resin flow. Controls included plain wounding and wounding followed by application of commercial stimulant paste, based on sulfuric acid and synthetic precursors of the phytohormone ethylene. Metal cofactors of terpene synthases and ethylene receptors applied locally as adjuvants of the oleoresin stimulant paste on wounded bark tissue improved resin yields. The use of potassium, copper, and iron did not affect significantly the composition of semiochemical monoterpenes, which are involved with pine - bark beetle interactions, and are important as oleoresin-derived products. Some adjuvants, particularly potassium, were capable of supporting oleoresin yields equivalent to those obtained with current commercial stimulant paste, even with removal of ethylene precursor, the most expensive adjuvant.     

Pore structure and function of synthetic nanopores with fixed charges: tip shape and rectification properties

We present a complete theoretical study of the relationship between the structure (tip shape and dimensions) and function (selectivity and rectification) of asymmetric nanopores on the basis of previous experimental studies. The theoretical model uses a continuum approach based on the Nernst-Planck equations. According to our results, the nanopore transport properties, such as current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, conductance, rectification ratio, and selectivity, are dictated mainly by the shape of the pore tip (we have distinguished bullet-like, conical, trumpet-like, and hybrid shapes) and the concentration of pore surface charges. As a consequence, the nanopore performance in practical applications will depend not only on the base and tip openings but also on the pore shape. In particular, we show that the pore opening dimensions estimated from the pore conductance can be very different, depending on the pore shape assumed. The results obtained can also be of practical relevance for the design of nanopores, nanopipettes, and nanoelectrodes, where the electrical interactions between the charges attached to the nanostructure and the mobile charges confined in the reduced volume of the inside solution dictate the device performance in practical applications. Because single tracks are the elementary building blocks for nanoporous membranes, the understanding and control of their individual properties should also be crucial in protein separation, water desalination, and bio-molecule detection using arrays of identical nanopores.     

Do background colors improve program comprehension in the #ifdef hell?

Software-product-line engineering aims at the development of variable and reusable software systems. In practice, software product lines are often implemented with preprocessors. Preprocessor directives are easy to use, and many mature tools are available for practitioners. However, preprocessor directives have been heavily criticized in academia and even referred to as “#ifdef hell”, because they introduce threats to program comprehension and correctness. There are many voices that suggest to use other implementation techniques instead, but these voices ignore the fact that a transition from preprocessors to other languages and tools is tedious, erroneous, and expensive in practice. Instead, we and others propose to increase the readability of preprocessor directives by using background colors to highlight source code annotated with ifdef directives. In three controlled experiments with over 70 subjects in total, we evaluate whether and how background colors improve program comprehension in preprocessor-based implementations. Our results demonstrate that background colors have the potential to improve program comprehension, independently of size and programming language of the underlying product. Additionally, we found that subjects generally favor background colors. We integrate these and other findings in a tool called FeatureCommander, which facilitates program comprehension in practice and which can serve as a basis for further research.     

Clinical applications of glass-ceramics in dentistry

Glass-ceramics featuring special properties can be used as a basis to develop biomaterials. It is generally differentiated between highly durable biomaterials for restorative dental applications and bioactive glass-ceramics for medical use, for example, bone replacements. In detail, this paper presents one biomaterial from each of these two groups of materials. In respect to the restorative dental biomaterials, the authors give an overview of the most important glass-ceramics for clinical applications. Leucite, leucite-apatite, lithium disilicate and apatite containing glass-ceramics represent biomaterials for these applications. In detail, the authors report on nucleation and crystallization mechanisms and properties of leucite-apatite glass-ceramics. The mechanism of apatite nucleation is characterized by a heterogeneous process. Primary crystal phases of α - and β -NaCaPO₄ were determined. Rhenanite glass-ceramics represent biomaterials with high surface reactivity in simulated body fluid, SBF, and exhibit reactive behaviour in tests with bone cells. Cell adhesion phenomena and cell growth were observed. Suitable colonization and proliferation and differentiation of cells as a preliminary stage in the development of a material for bone regeneration applications was established. The authors conclude that the processes of heterogeneous nucleation and crystallization are important for controlling the required reactions in both biomaterial groups.     

The Theory of Involutive Divisions and an Application to Hilbert Function Computations

Generalising the divisibility relation of terms we introduce the lattice of so-called involutive divisions and define the admissibility of such an involutive division for a given set of terms. Based on this theory we present a new approach for building a general theory of involutive bases of polynomial ideals. In particular, we give algorithms for checking the involutive basis property and for completing an arbitrary basis to an involutive one. It turns out that our theory is more constructive and more flexible than the axiomatic approach to general involutive bases due to Gerdt and Blinkov.Finally, we show that an involutive basis contains more structural information about the ideal of leading terms than a Gröbner basis and that it is straightforward to compute the (affine) Hilbert function of an idealIfrom an arbitrary involutive basis of alI.     

Indicators for merge conflicts in the wild: survey and empirical study

While the creation of new branches and forks is easy and fast with modern version-control systems, merging is often time-consuming. Especially when dealing with many branches or forks, a prediction of merge costs based on lightweight indicators would be desirable to help developers recognize problematic merging scenarios before potential conflicts become too severe in the evolution of a complex software project. We analyze the predictive power of several indicators, such as the number, size or scattering degree of commits in each branch, derived either from the version-control system or directly from the source code. Based on a survey of 41 developers, we inferred 7 potential indicators to predict the number of merge conflicts. We tested corresponding hypotheses by studying 163 open-source projects, including 21,488 merge scenarios and comprising 49,449,773 lines of code. A notable (negative) result is that none of the 7 indicators suggested by the participants of the developer survey has a predictive power concerning the frequency of merge conflicts. We discuss this and other findings as well as perspectives thereof.