Mechanism of hydrogen adsorption/absorption at thin Pd layers on Au(1 1 1)

Hydrogen adsorption and absorption at thin palladium deposits of 0.8-10 monolayers (ML) on Au(1 1 1) was studied in 0.1 M H₂SO₄ and HClO₄ using cyclic voltammetry, ac voltammetry, and impedance spectroscopy in the absence and in the presence of poison, crystal violet. Hydrogen adsorption on palladium is more reversible in sulfuric acid than in perchloric acid but it occurs at potentials 30 mV more positive in latter. The charge-transfer resistance exhibits a minimum at ∼0.27 V versus RHE and decreases with increasing in Pd deposit thickness in both acids. Adsorption capacitance at 0.8 ML Pd reaches maximum at the same potential. At other deposits the pseudo-capacitance starts to increase at lower overpotentials indicating the beginning of absorption, even at 2 ML Pd. The double layer capacitance is similar for all the deposits in sulfuric acid and it has a sharp maximum at 0.27 V versus RHE. In perchloric acid a broad maximum is observed. Crystal violet inhibits hydrogen adsorption but makes hydrogen absorption more reversible. The results suggest a fast direct hydrogen absorption mechanism that proceeds in parallel with slower hydrogen adsorption and indirect absorption.     

Rapid ethanolysis procedure for jojoba wax analysis by gas liquid chromatography

A rapid ethanolysis procedure for preparing jojoba wax for gas liquid chromatographic analysis is described. The wax esters are hydrolyzed by refluxing 4 drops of jojoba wax in 5% HCl in anhydrous ethanol in a test tube. The resulting fatty acid ethyl esters and fatty alcohols are separated and quantitated by a single gas liquid chromatographic run. Analysis of duplicate samples by this procedure gives essentially the same results as a procedure which requires 10 times more sample and reagents and considerably more time.     

An Investigation of Information Systems Interoperability in UK Universities: Findings and Recommendations

This article reports on the key findings and implications of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded Online Catalogue and Repository Interoperability Study (OCRIS), a 3-month project which investigated the interoperability of Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs) and Institutional Repositories (IRs) within UK universities. A series of detailed recommendations enumerate some of the ways in which they might begin to develop and support an interoperable systems landscape to the benefit of all key stakeholders.

The project combined quantitative and qualitative research methods including an online questionnaire distributed to staff within 85 universities, desk research, and two case studies conducted at the Universities of Cambridge and Glasgow.     

Trust management towards service-oriented applications

In service-oriented computing (SOC) environments, service clients interact with service providers for services or transactions. From the point view of service clients, the trust status of a service provider is a critical issue to consider, particularly when the service provider is unknown to them. Typically, the trust evaluation is based on the feedback on the service quality provided by service clients. In this paper, we first present a trust management framework that is event-driven and rule-based. In this framework, trust computation is based on formulae. But rules are defined to determine which formula to use and what arguments to use, according to the event occurred during the transaction or service. In addition, we propose some trust evaluation metrics and a formula for trust computation. The formula is designed to be adaptable to different application domains by setting suitable arguments. Particularly, the proposed model addresses the incremental characteristics of trust establishment process. Furthermore, we propose a fuzzy logic based approach for determining reputation ranks that particularly differentiates new service providers and old (long-existing) ones. This is further incentive to new service providers and penalize poor quality services from service providers. Finally, a set of empirical studies has been conducted to study the properties of the proposed approaches, and the method to control the trust changes in both trust increment and decrement cases. The proposed framework is adaptable for different domains and complex trust evaluation systems.

Molecular structures and conformational studies of triarylcyclopropyl and related nonsteroidal antiestrogens

Molecular structures and conformational characteristics of a series of 1,1-dichloro-2,2,3-triarylcyclopropanes (DTACs), which were reported previously to be distinctly antiestrogenic and inhibitors of the estrogen-receptor-positive MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in culture, are reported. In addition, structural and conformational features of the DTACs were compared to the first-known nonsteroidal antiestrogen, MER25, and the clinically useful antiestrogen Tamoxifen. The molecular structures of four DTAC compounds were determined by X-ray diffraction. Crystallographic structures show that the DTAC molecules have nearly the same relative conformation for the three aryl rings which is designated as a "nonpropeller" conformation in contrast to the observed "propeller" conformation for the three rings in all known triarylethylenes. Systematic conformational searches were performed to find the conformational preferences of DTACs, MER25, and Tamoxifen using idealized model compounds built from their respective crystal structure. Energy-minimization and conformational-search studies demonstrated that all DTAC molecules have a common, single global minimum energy conformer for their central core containing the dichlorotriarylcyclopropyl system, which is similar to that found in their crystal structures. Conformational search of MER25 showed that the molecule can assume a number of low-energy conformers of which two, one anti (A1) and one gauche (G1A), have about the same energy. The anti conformation is similar to the one observed in its crystal structure and resembles the estrogenic E-isomer of Tamoxifen, while the lowest energy gauche conformer of MER25 resembles more closely the antiestrogenic Z-isomer of Tamoxifen. NMR spectroscopic analysis of MER25 showed that the molecule exists predominantly in the anti conformation in solution. A comparative review of the structural features and bioactivities of Tamoxifen, DTACs, and MER25 provides a possible explanation for their low estrogen receptor binding affinity which is common to these compounds together with their antiestrogenic activity.     

Air damping of high performance resonating micro-mirrors with angular vertical comb-drive actuators

Microsystem Technologies - The maximum scan angle amplitude of resonating micro-mirrors, intended for micro-projection display applications is limited by air damping. Three-dimensional transient...     

A Flexible Conformal Piezoresistive Sensor Based on Electrospinning for Deformation Monitoring of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials are widely applied in various areas as key structure components. The structural health monitoring of the CFRP components is crucial to prevent catastrophic failure. However, the nonplane surfaces of CFRP components hinder the attaching of monitoring sensors with hard substrates. Therefore, the substrate conditions for sensor preparation are mainly considered in this study. To adapt the proposed sensors to the curved substrate, including nondevelopable surfaces, electrospinning method is used to prepare conformal piezoresistive fiber films, in which polymethyl methacrylate is served as the matrix and carbon nanotubes are utilized as the conductive filler. The piezoresistive fibers covered on CFRP substrates have a gauge factor up to 207.95 and can response to the strain less than 0.05%. Moreover, the sensor also has high durability and the ability to follow the dynamic excitation signals with as high as 50 Hz.     

Multidimensionality of oral health in dentate adults

OBJECTIVES: An understanding of the validity and usefulness of self-reported measures (as distinct from clinically determined measures) of oral health is emerging. These self-reported measures include self-rated oral health (SROH). Three objectives were to: (1) describe self-rated oral health in dentate adults, (2) quantify associations between self-rated oral health and other measures of oral health (oral disease and tissue damage, pain and discomfort, functional limitation, and disadvantage), and (3) assess the construct validity of a model of oral health proposed herein. METHODS: The Florida Dental Care Study is a longitudinal study of oral health, which included at baseline 873 subjects who had at least one tooth, were 45 years or older, and who participated for an interview and clinical examination. RESULTS: The prevalence of self-rated oral health decrements was substantial; approximately one fourth of subjects reported their oral health as only fair or poor. Bivariate and multivariate results provided consistent evidence of the construct validity of the proposed model of oral health. Additionally, the salience of one measure of dental appearance suggests that persons may use esthetic cues when rating their oral health. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed multidimensional model of oral health has construct validity. Self-rated oral health is affected by oral disease and tissue damage, oral pain and discomfort, oral functional limitation, and oral disadvantage. These self-reported measures and the proposed model should provide useful information for dental care effectiveness research. General health status has been disaggregated into the "physical" and the "mental;" an additional separation into the "oral" aspects of health seems warranted.     

Parametric Extension of the Classical Exposure-Schedule Theory for Angle-Multiplexed Photorefractive Recording over Wide Angles

The gradual reorientations in crystal geometry encountered during angle-multiplexed holographic recording with obliquely incident recording beams can create significant parametric exposure-time and recording-angle dependencies in both grating writing- and erasure-time constants. We present a parametric extension of the classically derived backward-recursion algorithm that compensates for the intermingling effects of recording geometry, writing-beam intensity variations, and unique crystal behavior. We present experimental data for a sequence of 301 holograms recorded with the goal of equal hologram strength and, separately, the same sequence recorded with the goal of equal hologram reconstruction intensity-which are different cases for a steeply incident readout beam.