The effect of electric fields on the absorption of pure sulfur dioxide by water drops

The effect of an electric field on the absorption of sulfur dioxide by pure water drops is examined experimentally. Field strength is varied up to 8.0 kV/cm, and nozzle Reynolds number is varied between 26 and 78. Drop surface charge density, size, shape, shape oscillation, acceleration and total sulfur dioxide uptake are measured directly. Significant reduction in drop size and increase in acceleration with increasing field strength are the major effects observed, while alteration in drop shape and oscillation are slight. Calculated average mass transfer coefficients increase with both field strength and nozzle velocity, but total sulfur dioxide uptake decreases with field strength due to reductions in drop-gas contact time. The results suggest that the design of scrubbers with electric fields concentrated in the region of drop formation but absent elsewhere show the greatest promise for improved efficiency.     

Oxidative coupling of methane over LaCoO3−δ-based mixed oxides

The catalytic activity of LaCoO_3–-based mixed oxides for the oxidative coupling of methane has been tested by TPR and cyclic reaction. Characterization has been done by XRD, TGA and Mössbauer spectrometry. It is likely that the perovskite-crystal structure containing hypervalent metal ions has an important role and that unique structural oxygen species in the perovskite contribute to the partial oxidation of methane.     

Control Techniques for Industrial Electrodeposition from Aqueous Solutions

JOM - Over the years, the basic aspects of electrodeposition have remained relatively unchanged. However, the need to make improved and purer metals at a more competitive price is forcing...     

Seasonal Effects of Hydropeaking on Growth,Energetics and Movement of Juvenile Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar)

The performance and movements of juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar exposed to variable water discharge (simulating hydropeaking) but with a stable water‐covered area were studied in six experimental stream channels, both during the winter and summer. Thirty fish were stocked into each channel, and the growth, body fat and movements of the fish were followed for about 2.5 months in each season. During the winter, no effect of hydropeaking was documented on performance or movement. In the summer, fish experiencing hydropeaking had lower body mass, lower body fat, and higher movement rates than the control fish. In general, effect sizes were small, and the rapid and frequent changes in water discharge and water level in the present study had small effects on the performance of juvenile Atlantic salmon. The cumulative long‐term effect at the population level is unknown, but a reduced growth rate of 10% and a reduction in body fat of 16% in the hydropeaking experiments in the summer might to some extent translate into increased smolt age and lower overwintering survival. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermoelectric temperature control device for vapor pressure measurements

The static method of measuring equilibrium vapor pressure requires locating the sample at the coldest part of the apparatus to avoid errors due to evaporation and recondensation elsewhere. This paper describes a device that can hold the sample 1 K below the temperature of the surrounding air without a liquid bath. It comprises a pair of thermoelectric elements and two thermometers attached to an insulated aluminum block. The device can operate as high as 200?°C while controlling the sample with a precision of 0.02 K; below 110?°C, the precision is 2 mK. Also described is a method to measure the small temperature offset due to heat flow between the sample and the surrounding aluminum block. The uncertainty due to the offset is small compared to the 6 mK uncertainty due to the thermometer.     

Gaussian Mixture Kalman Predictive Coding of Line Spectral Frequencies

Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based predictive coding of line spectral frequencies (LSFs) has gained wide acceptance. In such coders, each mixture of a GMM can be interpreted as defining a linear predictive transform coder. In this paper, we use Kalman filtering principles to model each of these linear predictive transform coders to present GMM Kalman predictive coding. In particular, we show how suitable modeling of quantization noise leads to an adaptive a posteriori GMM that defines a signal-adaptive predictive coder that provides improved coding of LSFs in comparison with the baseline recursive GMM predictive coder. Moreover, we show how running the GMM Kalman predictive coders to convergence can be used to design a stationary GMM Kalman predictive coding system which again provides improved coding of LSFs but now with only a modest increase in run-time complexity over the baseline. In packet loss conditions, this stationary GMM Kalman predictive coder provides much better performance than the recursive GMM predictive coder, and in fact has comparable mean performance to a memoryless GMM coder. Finally, we illustrate how one can utilize Kalman filtering principles to design a postfilter which enhances decoded vectors from a recursive GMM predictive coder without any modifications to the encoding process.     

The use of non-proven therapy among patients treated in Norwegian oncological departments. A cross-sectional national multicentre study

A national multicentre study was performed to investigate the prevalent use of "alternative medicine", here called "non-proven therapies (NPT)", applied among Norwegian cancer patients. Of 911 patients invited to take part in the study, 642 were included in the analysis. Demographic characteristics were collected for all patients. The participating physicians gave information about the patients' clinical characteristics. Among 630 evaluable patients, 20% had been or were present users of NPTs for their oncological disease. The preferred methods were healing by hand and faith healing. Herbs, vitamins, diets and Iscador were other popular methods. As many as 40% of the users of NPTs had used NPTs earlier for non-malignant diseases. Elderly patients were less likely to use NPTs. Use was high in the northern part of Norway.     

Growth and optical properties of In x Ga1−x P nanowires synthesized by selective-area epitaxy

Ternary Ⅲ-Ⅴ nanowires (NWs) cover a wide range of wavelengths in the solar spectrum and would greatly benefit from being synthesized as position-controlled arrays for improved vertical yield,reprodudbility,and tunable optical absorption.Here,we report on successful selective-area epitaxy of metal-particle-free vertical InxGa1-xP NW arrays using metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy and detail their optical properties.A systematic growth study establishes the range of suitable growth parameters to obtain uniform NW growth over a large array.The optical properties of the NWs were characterized by room-temperature cathodoluminescence spectroscopy.Tunability of the emission wavelength from 870 nm to approximately 800 nm was achieved.Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray measurements performed on crosssection samples revealed a pure wurtzite crystal structure with very few stacking faults and a slight composition gradient along the NW growth axis.     

Holographic correction of large telescope primaries by proximal, off-axis beacons

Compact telescope configurations incorporating a holographic correction of large, low-quality primary collectors are demonstrated. Aberration correction is demonstrated with an off-axis laser beacon located close to the primary. This arrangement results in a compact telescope with minimum obscuration. The reduction of additional off-axis aberrations introduced by the method is also demonstrated.