Influence of archaeological environment factors in alteration processes of copper alloy artifacts

The article presents the experimental results obtained by combining noninvasive techniques (OM, SEM/EDX, XRF) to analyze three artifacts made of copper alloys discovered in a inhumation tomb (2) and in the soil profile (1) in archaeological sites from Neamt County Romania. To uncover the mechanism of alteration thereof during their longtime underground stay in specific chemical conditions and under the influence of other pedological factors, the corrosion products must be identified. The excess of the chloride ion, from burial site, disturbs the Liesegang effect, transforming the bulk in a stratified sponge structure with chlorapatite and hydroxyapatite. Some of the compounds from primary and secondary patina can be found on the surface of the bulk, as color stains. The presence of alloy components (Cu, Sn, Pb, Zn, Fe, etc.) and of the underground contamination components, allowed us to establish the origin of the ore, the manufacture technology and we identified other materials which affected the artifacts after abandonment. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Crosslinked polysulfone obtained by Wittig‐Horner reaction in biphase system

Phase transfer catalyzed reactions are often more easily and cheaply performed than conventional method and they are therefore of particular interest. A polysulfone functionalized with phosphonate (2‐PSF) was prepared under phase transfer catalysis (PTC) conditions, and it was evaluated by spectrometric method (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, using potassium bromide (KBr) pellet). The phosphorus content of the modified polysulfone was determined, and it was used for the determination the fraction of repeating units functionalized with phosphonate groups. The modified polysulfone contains 1.40 mmol phosphonate/g polysulfone. Polysulfone functionalized with phosphonate groups and polysulfone functionalized with aldehyde groups (3‐PSF) were used in Wittig‐Horner reaction, to introduce double bonds on polymer and to obtain crosslinked polysulfone (4‐PSF). The reactions were performed using PTC method, solid‐liquid (potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃), tetrahydrofuran (THF), tetraethylammonium iodide (TEAI)) system. The structure of polysulfone functionalized with phosphonate groups and polysulfone functionalized with aldehyde group were confirmed by ¹H‐, ¹³C‐, and ³¹P‐nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The peak for phosphorus in PSF‐phosphonate appears in ³¹P NMR spectrum as a singlet at 25.712 ppm. The thermal properties of aldehyde, phosphonate, and crosslinked polysulfone were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and differential thermogravimetric analysis (DTG). Scanning electron microscopy images for polysulfone functionalized with phosphonate and crosslinked polysulfone are in concordance with nitrogen (N₂) adsorption‐desorption isotherms.POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2012. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Adsorption of anionic textile dye Acid Green 9 from aqueous solution onto weak or strong base anion exchangers

The aim of this work is to study the thermodynamic and kinetic studies with regard to the adsorption of Acid Green 9 (AG9) on the most efficient resin, namely, acrylic weak base anion exchange resin with ethylenediamine‐functional groups (A1) selected from several anion exchange resins. The influence of the various experimental parameters such as, pH, initial dye concentration, contact time, temperature, and adsorbent dose was investigated by batch experiments. The extent of the dye adsorption increased with the decrease of the initial dye concentration and the increase of the contact time, temperature, and amount of the adsorbent. Adsorption process was quantitative and very fast at low concentrations of the dye. To investigate the mechanism of the adsorption and potential rate‐controlling steps, pseudo first‐ and second‐order, as well as intraparticle diffusion kinetic equations have been used. The adsorption kinetic of AG9 dye from aqueous solution onto A1 could be described by the pseudo second‐order reaction model. The obtained results are in agreement with the Langmuir and Freundlich models. In the optimum conditions established, an adsorption capacity of 500 mg textile dye (72% purity) g^?1 adsorbent (at 293 K) was reached. Desorption experiments by batch and dynamic methods were performed using a solution of 0.05 mol L^?1 NaOH. A series of 13 adsorption–desorption cycles were carried out by the dynamic method with a quantitative adsorption and the desorption efficiency higher than 95%. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Fracture in epoxy matrix resins

The occurrence of fracture-energy-enhancing steps and welts on fracture surfaces of crosslinked matrix resins has been studied in an epoxy obtained from a trifunctional epoxy resin cured with an anhydride. It is suggested that the steps and welts arise from an underlying basic longitudinal texture, which was revealed by strongly tilting fracture specimens toward the collector in a scanning electron microscope. A model for the development of the basic longitudinal texture is proposed involving a meniscus instability of the propagating crack front, which gives rise to a series of fingers protruding into the bulk resin ahead of the nominal crack front. The periodicity of the basic longitudinal texture seen in the epoxy specimens studied was roughly 350 nm, which was independent of the epoxy resin: hardener ratio within at least 10% of stoichiometry. Because the periodicity of the basic longitudinal texture is roughly equal to the separation of the fracture surfaces immediately behind the crack, a considerable blunting of the crack by plastic deformation or yielding is suggested, a property that should depend on the matrix resin.     

Shape Matching via Quotient Spaces

We introduce a novel method for non‐rigid shape matching, designed to address the symmetric ambiguity problem present when matching shapes with intrinsic symmetries. Unlike the majority of existing methods which try to overcome this ambiguity by sampling a set of landmark correspondences, we address this problem directly by performing shape matching in an appropriate quotient space, where the symmetry has been identified and factored out. This allows us to both simplify the shape matching problem by matching between subspaces, and to return multiple solutions with equally good dense correspondences. Remarkably, both symmetry detection and shape matching are done without establishing any landmark correspondences between either points or parts of the shapes. This allows us to avoid an expensive combinatorial search present in most intrinsic symmetry detection and shape matching methods. We compare our technique with state‐of‐the‐art methods and show that superior performance can be achieved both when the symmetry on each shape is known and when it needs to be estimated.     

Applications of Hierarchical Reasoning in the Verification of Complex Systems

In this paper we show how hierarchical reasoning can be used to verify properties of complex systems. Chains of local theory extensions are used to model a case study taken from the European Train Control System (ETCS) standard, but considerably simplified. We show how testing invariants and bounded model checking (for safety properties expressed by universally quantified formulae, depending on certain parameters of the systems) can automatically be reduced to checking satisfiability of ground formulae over a base theory.     

Bilingualism reduces native-language interference during novel-word learning.

The goal of the present work was to examine the effects of bilingualism on adults’ ability to resolve cross-linguistic inconsistencies in orthography-to-phonology mappings during novel-word learning. English monolinguals and English–Spanish bilinguals learned artificially constructed novel words that overlapped with English orthographically but diverged from English phonologically. Native-language orthographic information presented during learning interfered with encoding of novel words in monolinguals but not in bilinguals. In general, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the word-learning task. These findings indicate that knowledge of 2 languages facilitates word learning and shields English–Spanish bilinguals from interference associated with cross-linguistic inconsistencies in letter-to-phoneme mappings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biotic and Abiotic Sequestration of Selenium in Anoxic Coal Waste Rock

Mobile selenium oxyanions (\({\text{S}}{{\text{e}}^{{\text{VI}}}}{\text{O}}_{4}^{{2 - }}\) and \({\text{S}}{{\text{e}}^{{\text{IV}}}}{\text{O}}_{3}^{{2 - }}\)) can be sequestered by biotic or abiotic reduction to non-mobile species or by adsorption to mineral surfaces. Microbial analyses and geochemical batch testing with samples collected from a coal waste rock dump in the Elk Valley, British Columbia, Canada were conducted to assess whether Se can be sequestered in anoxic, waste rock by these mechanisms. Bacteria that reduce Se(IV) and Se(VI) to Se(0) were isolated from the waste rock. Isolates that reduce Se(IV) to Se(0) were present in a water sample collected from an underlying rock drain. Three isolates were affiliated with Pseudomonas and Arthrobacter. One isolate was a putatively novel species. The production of Se(0) was confirmed by X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy of a red precipitate isolated from a broth media containing rock-drain water. No adsorption or reduction of Se(VI) was observed in anoxic, abiotic (sterile) batch tests conducted with waste rock and a 1.0 mg/L Se(VI) solution, whereas Se(IV) was adsorbed by the waste rock and subsequently reduced to Se(0) in abiotic batch tests with a 0.7 mg/L Se(IV) solution. In non-sterile batch tests using waste rock and rock-drain water (0.39 mg/L Se(VI)), Se(VI) was biologically reduced to Se(IV), which was subsequently removed from solution by a combination of bioreduction, adsorption, and possibly abiotic reduction. This study suggests that, under anoxic conditions, Se sequestration in waste rock may occur via biotic reduction of Se(VI) to Se(IV) followed by adsorption of Se(IV) and abiotic and biotic reduction of Se(IV) to Se(0).