Catalyst incorporation at defects during nanowire growth

Scanning and transmission electron microscopy was used to correlate the structure of planar defects with the prevalence of Au catalyst atom incorporation in Si nanowires. Site-specific high-resolution imaging along orthogonal zone axes, enabled by advances in focused ion beam cross sectioning, reveals substantial incorporation of catalyst atoms at grain boundaries in <110> oriented nanowires. In contrast, (111) stacking faults that generate new polytypes in <112> oriented nanowires do not show preferential catalyst incorporation. Tomographic reconstruction of the catalyst-nanowire interface is used to suggest criteria for the stability of planar defects that trap impurity atoms in catalyst-mediated nanowires.     

Biodegradation kinetics of the soluble slowly biodegradable substrate in polyamide carpet finishing wastewater

BACKGROUND: Carpet manufacturing and finishing with purely synthetic fibers has received relatively little attention, compared to other textile processing types. This study evaluates the biodegradation kinetics of organic compounds generated from polyamide‐based carpet manufacturing. RESULTS: Experiments were conducted on pre‐washing and dyeing/softening wastewater effluents. Model evaluation of oxygen uptake rate profiles with dual hydrolysis kinetics revealed that the soluble slowly hydrolysable chemical oxygen demand (COD) was the major fraction, constituting nearly 97% of the biodegradable COD and 78% of total COD content. Degradation of the slowly hydrolysable COD fraction was characterized with a rate coefficient of 0.72 day^?1, a significant rate limiting step for substrate utilization. Model simulation of system performance indicated that an unusually long hydraulic retention time was required for an activated sludge system to reduce the effluent COD concentration. CONCLUSION: Compared to domestic wastewater, two additional hydrolysable COD fractions with different degradation kinetics were characterized. The dyeing and softening step had the highest slowly biodegradable organic matter content, with the lowest degradation rate. Simulation results showed that soluble slowly hydrolysable COD degradation did not cause any problem in terms of effluent quality. With the system operated under reduced solids retention time, the effluent COD quality was significantly influenced by the slow hydrolysis rate of soluble hydrolysable matter. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

A detailed analytical analysis of a passive resonant snubber cell perfectly constructed for a pulse width modulated d.c.–d.c. buck converter

In this paper, a detailed analytical analysis of a passive resonant snubber cell that is perfectly constructed for a pulse width modulated (PWM) d.c.-d.c. buck converter is proposed. This snubber cell provides a larger overall efficiency and a wider load range than most of the active snubber cells presented previously, and has a simple structure and low cost. The operation principles and a detailed steady-state analysis of a PWM buck converter implemented with this snubber cell are presented. The theoretical analysis is verified with a prototype of a 5-kW and 50-kHz insulated gate bipolar transistor-(IGBT)-PWM buck converter. All of the semiconductor devices in the converter operate under soft switching conditions. Additionally, at 80% output power, the overall efficiency of the proposed soft switching converter is increased to about 98% from the value of 91% in its counterpart hard switching version.     

Investigation of oxygen diffusion into contact lenses using electron spin resonance spectroscopy

Oxygen permeability is the most important parameter of contact lenses, as lack of oxygen causes corneal edema and threatens the vision of the patient. This study was unique in that it used an electron spin resonance (ESR) technique to determine the oxygen diffusion coefficient (D) of contact lenses. Although there are many methods and techniques for investigating oxygen diffusion into contact lenses, ESR was used for the first time in this study. The ESR technique is based on the scavenging of radicals produced in lenses by oxygen. As a contact lens is not a paramagnetic substance, it cannot give an ESR spectrum. But it does produce an ESR spectrum after γ irradiation. When a vacuum‐irradiated contact lens is exposed to air, the radicals trapped in the lens are transformed into peroxide radicals by the addition of molecular oxygen to the free radicals, and the ESR spectrum begins to change with time. This effect can be used as a tool to measure oxygen uptake in irradiated contact lenses. The oxygen diffusion coefficient of a contact lens was determined from changes in ESR signal intensity varying with time. The diffusion coefficients of oxygen for a contact lens were determined for rapid decay [(1.5 + 0.4) × 10^?8 cm²/s] and slow decay [(1.3 + 0.3) × 10^?9 cm²/s] in this study. These values are in agreement with the D values given in the literature for polymeric materials used for contact lenses. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 2937–2941, 2006     

Integrated photochemical and biological treatment of a commercial textile surfactant: Process optimization,process kinetics and COD fractionation

The biodegradability of surfactants is a frequent and complex issue arising both at domestic as well as industrial treatment facilities. In the present experimental study, the integrated photochemical (H₂O₂/UV-C) and biochemical (activated sludge) treatment of a commercial grade nonionic/anionic textile surfactant formulation was investigated. Photochemical baseline experiments have shown that once the initial pH and H₂O₂ dose were optimized, practically complete COD removal (COD_o = 500 ± 30 mg L⁻¹) could be achieved. Once the COD was elevated to values being typical for the textile fabric preparation stage, treatment efficiency was seriously retarded provided that the photochemical treatment conditions remained constant. Moreover, a definite relationship existed between H₂O₂ consumption and COD removal for H₂O₂/UV-C advanced oxidation of the textile surfactant. In the second part of the study, COD abatement was modeled for the biodegradation of untreated and photochemically pretreated textile surfactant formulation according to their COD fractions. Results have indicated that the readily biodegradable and rapidly hydrolysable COD fractions of the textile surfactant solution could be appreciably increased upon exposure to an optimum H₂O₂ concentration (60 mM; i.e. 2.1 g H₂O₂ (g COD_o)⁻¹) and extended UV-C irradiation times (i.e. 90 and 120 min).     

Investigations of nickel(II) removal from aqueous solutions using tea factory waste

This paper presents the data for the effect of adsorbent dose, initial metal concentration, solution pH, agitating rate and temperature on the adsorption of nickel(II) on waste tea. Batch adsorption studies have been carried out. The equilibrium nature of nickel(II) adsorption at different temperature (25-60 degrees C) has been described by the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption capacity (Q(0)) calculated from Langmuir isotherm was 15.26 mg Ni(II) g(-1) at initial pH of 4.0 at 25 degrees C. The results of the thermodynamic investigations indicate that the adsorption reactions are spontaneous (DeltaG degrees <0), slightly endothermic (DeltaH degrees > 0) and irreversible (DeltaS degrees > 0).     

A new ZVT-PWM DC-DC converter

In this paper, a new active snubber cell that overcomes most of the drawbacks of the normal "zero voltage transition-pulse width modulation" (ZVT-PWM) converter is proposed to contrive a new family of ZVT-PWM converters. A converter with the proposed snubber cell can also operate at light load conditions. All of the semiconductor devices in this converter are turned on and off under exact or near zero voltage switching (ZVS) and/or zero current switching (ZCS). No additional voltage and current stresses on the main switch and main diode occur. Also, the auxiliary switch and auxiliary diodes are subjected to voltage and current values at allowable levels. Moreover, the converter has a simple structure, low cost, and ease of control. A ZVT-PWM boost converter equipped with the proposed snubber cell is analyzed in detail. The predicted operation principles and theoretical analysis of the presented converter are verified with a prototype of a 2 kW and 50 kHz PWM boost converter with insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). In this study, a design procedure of the proposed active snubber cell is also presented. Additionally, at full output power in the proposed soft switching converter, the main switch loss is about 27% and the total circuit loss is about 36% of that in its counterpart hard switching converter, and so the overall efficiency, which is about 91% in the hard switching case, increases to about 97%     

Clinical psychology and logic.

The application of certain forms of formal logic to the thought processes involved in knowing the other person can result in increasing our understanding of the clinical process and also supply a scientific underpinning for the field. "The logical problem involved in clinical psychology is this: The making of inferences about experiences from overt behavior." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The test of significance in psychological research.

The test of significance does not provide the information concerning psychological phenomena characteristically attributed to it; and a great deal of mischief has been associated with its use. The basic logic associated with the test of significance is reviewed. The null hypothesis is characteristically false under any circumstances. Publication practices foster the reporting of small effects in populations. Psychologists have "adjusted" by misinterpretation, taking the p value as a "measure," assuming that the test of significance provides automaticity of inference, and confusing the aggregate with the general. The difficulties are illuminated by bringing to bear the contributions from the decision-theory school on the Fisher approach. The Bayesian approach is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)