Oscillator strengths for Be I

The electric dipole oscillator strengths for lines between some singlet and triplet levels have been calculated using the weakest bound electron potential model theory and the quantum defect orbital theory for Be I. In the calculations both multiplet and fine structure transitions are studied. We employed both the numerical Coulomb approximation method and numerical non-relativistic Hartree-Fock wavefunctions for expectation values of radii. The necessary energy values have been taken from experimental energy data in the literature. The calculated oscillator strengths have been compared with available theoretical results. A good agreement with the results in the literature has been obtained.     

Oscillator strengths of allowed transitions for O III

The electric dipole oscillator strengths for lines in O III between some singlet and triplet levels have been calculated using the weakest bound electron potential model theory and the quantum defect orbital theory. In the calculations, both multiplet and fine-structure transitions are studied. The calculated oscillator strengths have been compared with available theoretical and experimental results. Good agreement with results in the literature has been obtained.     

Preparation and Characterization of Amino-Functionalized Zeolite/SiO2 Materials for Trypsin–Chymotrypsin Co-immobilization

Catalysis Letters - Inorganic supports have attracted increased attention in enzyme immobilization since they not only improve enzyme stability but also reduce the final cost of enzymatic...     

Metabolic fate of oleic acid derived from lysosomal degradation of cholesteryl oleate in human fibroblasts

Low density lipoprotein cholesteryl [14C]oleate (LDL-[14C]CO) was used as a tool to label lysosomes with cholesteryl [14C]oleate (CO) and to follow subsequently the metabolic processing of oleic acid released by acid lipase. Liberated [14C]oleate was incorporated into glycerolipids, mainly into phosphatidylcholine. Incubations in the presence of various concentrations of exogenously added oleic acid and double label experiments showed that oleic acid derived from lysosomal degradation of CO and exogenously added oleic acid distributed in a similar fashion among triacylglycerol and various phospholipids. To further study the metabolism of LDL-derived oleic acid, experiments were performed in which fibroblasts were prelabeled with LDL-[14C]CO. The subsequent processing of lysosome-derived oleic acid was followed with time without LDL-[14C]CO in the medium. From these experiments it became clear that apart from the esterification into glycerolipids a substantial part of lysosome-derived oleic acid was released into the medium. The efflux of oleic acid into the medium preceded the incorporation into glycerolipids, was dependent on the composition of the extracellular medium, and was energy-independent. Our data are compatible with a mechanism in which lysosome-derived fatty acids are transported to the plasma membrane prior to transport to endoplasmic reticulum for esterification. Intra- and extra-cellular factors influence the distribution of lysosome-derived oleic acid among cells and medium.     

Comparison of hemispheric asymmetry measurements for emotional recordings from controls

Four asymmetry measurements (conventional coherence function (CCF), cross wavelet correlation (CWC), phase lag index (PLI), and mean phase coherence (MPC)) have been compared to each other for the first time in order to recognize emotional states (pleasant (P), neutral (N), unpleasant (UP)) from controls in EEG sub-bands (delta (0–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–16 Hz), beta (16–32 Hz), gamma (32–64 Hz)) mediated by affective pictures from the International Affective Picture Archiving System (IAPS). Eight emotional features, computed as hemispheric asymmetry between eight electrode pairs (Fp1 − Fp2, F7 − F8, F3 − F4, C3 − C4, T7 − T8, P7 − P8, P3 − P4, and O1 − O2), have been classified by using data mining methods. Results show that inter-hemispheric emotional functions are mostly mediated by gamma. The best classification is provided by a neural network classifier, while the best features are provided by CWC in time-scale domain due to non-stationary nature of electroencephalographic (EEG) series. The highest asymmetry levels are provided by pleasant pictures at mostly anterio-frontal (F3 − F4) and central (C3 − C4) electrode pairs in gamma. Inter-hemispheric asymmetry levels are changed by each emotional state at all lobes. In conclusion, we can state the followings: (1) Nonlinear and wavelet transform-based methods are more suitable for characterization of EEG; (2) The highest difference in hemispheric asymmetry was observed among emotional states in gamma; (3) Cortical emotional functions are not region-specific, since all lobes are effected by emotional stimuli at different levels; and (4) Pleasant stimuli can strongly mediate the brain in comparison to unpleasant and neutral stimuli.

     

Student teachers’ satisfaction for blended learning via Edmodo learning management system

In a digitally driven world, behaviours of future teachers for blended learning (both face-to-face and on-line classes) need to be examined. This study serves three purposes. The first is to examine student teachers’ preferences for Community-of-Inquiry model-driven blended learning via Edmodo. Second, predicting student satisfaction on b-learning from a combination of four variables (gender, having internet access, using the internet for information access, and previous experience in on-line learning) was questioned. And third, b-learning orientations of participants were investigated. One of the mixed methods, the concurrent triangulation design was employed in which both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. The study group included 135 freshmen and junior students (29 males and 106 females) from a western Turkish educational faculty. The findings for the first question indicated that 70.4% of student teachers prefer b-learning. For the second, 15% of the variance in satisfaction on b-learning was explained by the proposed model with a medium effect. And for the third, the qualitative findings were discussed under Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Uselessness and Unease-of-Use (PU-UU) themes. Although less than a quarter of participants found b-learning useless, most held positive notions for b-learning practices via Edmodo.     

How Subsurface Water Technologies (SWT) can Provide Robust,Effective, and Cost-Efficient Solutions for Freshwater Management in Coastal Zones

Freshwater resources in coastal zones are limited while demands are high, resulting in problems like seasonal water shortage, overexploitation of freshwater aquifers, and seawater intrusion. Three subsurface water technologies (SWT) that can provide robust, effective, and cost-efficient solutions to manage freshwater resources in the subsurface are evaluated using groundwater modelling and validation at field-scale: (1) ASR-coastal to store freshwater surpluses in confined brackish-saline aquifers for recovery in times of demand, (2) the Freshkeeper to counteract salinization of well fields by interception and desalination of upconing brackish groundwater, and (3) the Freshmaker to combine ASR and Freshkeeper to enlarge the volume of natural freshwater lenses for later abstraction. The evaluation indicates that SWT can be used in various hydrogeological settings for various hydrogeological problems like seawater intrusion, upconing, and bubble drift during ASR and have significant economic benefits. Although only sporadically applied to date, we foresee that SWT will stimulate (cost-)efficient and sustainable exploitation of various freshwater sources (like groundwater, rainwater, treated waste water, surface water) in coastal zones. Prolonged SWT testing in the current pilots, replication of SWT in other areas worldwide, and the development of technical and non-technical support tools are required to facilitate potential end-users in investment decision making and SWT implementation.     

Electron‐Induced Dynamics of Heptathioether β‐Cyclodextrin Molecules

Variable‐temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) measurements are performed on heptathioether β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CD) self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au. The β‐CD molecules exhibit very rich dynamical behavior, which is not apparent in ensemble‐averaged studies. The dynamics are reflected in the tunneling current–time traces, which are recorded with the STM feedback loop disabled. The dynamics are temperature independent, but increase with increasing tunneling current and sample bias, thus indicating that the conformational changes of the β‐CD molecules are induced by electrons that tunnel inelastically. Even for sample biases as low as 10 mV, well‐defined levels are observed in the tunneling current–time traces. These jumps are attributed to the excitations of the molecular vibration of the macrocyclic β‐CD molecule. The results are of great importance for a proper understanding of transport measurements in SAMs.     

A two phase multi-attribute decision-making approach for new product introduction

This study aims at improving the quality and effectiveness of decision-making in new product introduction. New product development has long been recognized as one of the corporate core functions to be competitive on an increasingly competitive global market. However, developing new products is a process involving risk and uncertainty. In order to solve this stochastic problem, companies need to evaluate their new product initiatives carefully and make accurate decisions. For this reason, a systematic decision process for selecting more rational new product ideas is proposed. Basically, two stages of decision-making are described: the identification of nondominated new product candidates and the selection of the best new product idea. These stages are composed of an integrated approach based on a fuzzy heuristic multi-attribute utility method and a hierarchical fuzzy TOPSIS method. Finally, an application is given to demonstrate the potential of the methodology.     

Temperature dependent current-voltage characteristics of the Zn/ZnO/n-Si/Au-Sb structure with ZnO interface layer grown on n-Si substrate by SILAR method

This is the first time; it was employed Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR) method in order to prepare Zn/ZnO/n-Si/Au-Sb sandwich structure. The ZnO interface layer was directly formed on n-type Si substrate using SILAR method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies were showed that the film is covered well on n-type Si substrate and have polycrystalline structure. An Au-Sb electrode was used as an ohmic contact. The Zn/ZnO/n-Si/Au-Sb sandwich structure demonstrated clearly rectifying behavior by the current-voltage (I-V) curves studied at room temperature. The sample temperature effect on the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of Zn/ZnO/n-Si/Au-Sb structure was investigated in temperature range 80-320 K by steps of 20 K. The parameters such as barrier height, ideality factor and series resistance of this structure were calculated from the forward bias I-V characteristics as a function of sample temperature. It was seen that the ideality factor and series resistance were decreased; the barrier height were increased with increasing temperature. The experimental values of barrier height and ideality factor for this device were calculated as 0.808 eV and 1.519 at 320 K; 0.220 eV and 4.961 at 80 K, respectively. These abnormal behaviors can be explained by the barrier inhomogeneities at the metal-semiconductor (M-S) interface.