Synthesis of Kenyaite, Magadiite and Octosilicate Using Poly(ethylene glycol) as a Template

Three types of layered silicates, namely octosilicate, magadiite and kenyaite, were synthesized using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). The influence of reaction parameters, including alkali source, silica source, PEG molecular weight, reaction time and temperature, on the formation of these three phases was investigated. The results indicate that magadiite is preferred when (i) using NaOH as the alkali source and at a lower temperature (150°C), with fumed silica, tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS), tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), Ludox-AS 40 or colloidal sol acting as the silica source in the presence of PEG 200; (ii) using fumed silica as the silica source and PEG 300 as the template at 150°C; (iii) at a higher temperature (180°C), using PEG 200 as template and TEOS as the silica source; and (iv) at 180°C with a combination of PEG 300 and fumed silica. Compared to magadiite, kenyaite was favored at a higher temperature (180°C) with PEG 200 and NaOH, KOH or RbOH, while using fumed silica, silica gel, or colloidal sol as silica source; or at the lower temperature (150°C) using NaOH as alkali source, PEG 200 as template, and silica gel or silicic acid as the silica source. Octosilicate was obtained at 90°C with the combination of NaOH, PEG 200 and fumed silica.     

Factors influencing the photofading of commercial anthraquinone dyes in solution

The photofading of two anthraquinone dyes has been studied in aqueous solution using ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy and flash photolysis. The influence of alcohol concentration, pH, atmosphere, photosensitisers and stabilisers have been examined and these lead to some important conclusions on the mechanism of dye fading. Essentially, the results indicate the photoexcited triplet state of the dye undergoes a process of either electron or hydrogen-atom abstraction depending on the nature of the environment. Other factors such as aggregation and singlet oxygen also appear to play an important role in solution photofading. The relevance of these results to photofading in a polymeric phase is discussed.     

Effect of fish oil on the fatty acid composition of human milk and maternal and infant erythrocytes

To examine the effect of fish oil supplementation on the fatty acid (FA) composition of human milk and maternal and infant erythrocytes, five lactating women were supplemented with 6 g of fish oil daily for 21d. Usual maternal diets contained 1,147 mg of total n−3 FA, with 120 mg from very long-chain (>C₁₈) n−3 FA. Supplementation increased dietary levels to 3,092 mg of total n−3 FA and 2,006 mg of very long-chain n−3 FA. Milk samples were collected daily, prior to fish oil ingestion, and at 4-h intervals on days 1, 7, 14 and 21. Milk n−3 FA content increased within 8 h and reached steady state levels within one week. The n−6 fatty acid content decreased. Erythrocyte eicosapentaenoic acid content increased from 0.24% to 1.4% (P<0.01) in mothers and from 0.11% to 0.70% (P<0.05) in infants. Docosapentaenoic acid increased from 1.4% to 2.2% (P<0.05) in mothers and from 0.30% to 0.78% (P<0.01) in infants. There was no significant change in docosahexaenoic acid or n−6 fatty acid content. Maternal platelet aggregation responses were variable. No differences in milk or plasma tocopherol levels were noted. Based on a paper presented at the Symposium on Milk Lipids held at the AOCS Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, April 1990.     

Behavior of the western pine beetle during host colonization

After living ponderosa pines were baited with either female-infested bolts or synthetic pheromones,Dendroctonus brevicomis were caught on sticky screens throughout trapping periods of 15–46 days; however, large numbers of beetles were trapped during only a small portion (5–10 days) of these trapping periods. The most attractive portions of trees attacked contained 3–6 beetles dm², in galleries ca. 2 cm long. Catch increased following addition of males to female-infested bolts, supporting the hypothesis that male-produced frontalin is an attractive pheromone of the western pine beetle. Catch at bolts removed from trees under attack was strongly dependent upon levels of boring activity. We found no evidence of interruption of the response to attractants during host colonization.Coleoptera: Scolytidae. Trade names and commercial enterprises or products are mentioned solely for information and do not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or University of California.     

Poly(styrene-b-isobutylene-b-styrene) block copolymer ionomers (BCPI) and BCPI/silicate nanocomposites. 2. NaBCPI sol-gel polymerization templates

Polystyrene (PS) blocks in poly(styrene-b-isobutylene-b-styrene) (PS-PIB-PS) block copolymers were partially sulfonated and the acid groups converted to Na⁺SO₃⁻ groups to create ionomers. Then, dimethylacetamide was used to selectively swell the ionic PS domains and the swollen films were exposed to sol-gel reactive tetraethylorthosilicate solutions. (EtO)_4−xSi(OH)_x monomers then permeated films so that sol-gel reactions occurred within/around the ionic PS domains. Environmental scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy investigations showed that silicate structures can be incorporated within the interior of the ionomer films. Differential scanning calorimetry studies indicated that there is no variance in the PIB block T_g with respect to ionomer formation, or with respect to silicate loading of the ionomer at low levels, which suggests that the silicate component does not reside in the PIB phase. ²³Na solid state NMR spectroscopy detected isolated Na⁺SO₃⁻ groups as well as aggregated SO₃⁻Na⁺ ion pairs for ‘as cast’ and ‘dry’ non-silicate containing ionomer samples. In a hydrated sample, almost all Na⁺ ions were solvent-separated. AFM analysis showed that phase separation exists, but that the degree of order is significantly less than that for hybrids based on the corresponding benzyltrimethylammonium ionomer. This frustrated morphology was also seen in the results of small angle X-ray scattering experiments. Given the scale of organic/inorganic heterogeneity, these hybrids are properly classified as nanocomposites.     

On the correspondence between abstract dialectical frameworks and nonmonotonic conditional logics

Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence - The exact relationship between formal argumentation and nonmonotonic logics is a research topic that keeps on eluding researchers despite recent...     

Production of Industrially Useful and Renewable p-Cymene by Catalytic Dehydration and Isomerization of Perillyl Alcohol

We report the dehydration and isomerization of renewable perillyl alcohol to industrially useful p-cymene in 91% yield utilizing 2.0 mol% para-toluenesulfonic acid (pTsOH) catalyst at 110 °C as a 3.0 M solution in toluene. Lower reaction temperatures, catalyst loadings, and/or starting concentrations resulted in lower yields of p-cymene as well as longer reaction times. Conversion of perillyl alcohol to p-cymene yielded atom and carbon economies of 88.1% and 100% as well as an E-factor of 2.7, thereby indicating that the process was both green and sustainable. A lower yield of 86% was observed when the reaction was performed neat, but a lower E-factor of 0.4 indicated that neat conditions were more desirable from an environmental perspective. Application of the optimized parameters to 3.0 M solutions of dl-limonene led predominantly to oligomerization (92%) as opposed to dehydroisomerization (5%), which was attributed to the strong Brønsted acidity of pTsOH. In addition, camphene (44%), terpinene isomers (15%), and limonene (14%) were obtained when dehydroisomerization was attempted on 3.0 M solutions of α- and β-pinene, which was once again attributed to the acidity of the catalyst. Oligomerization was strongly favored when dehydroisomerization of dl-limonene, α- and β-pinene was attempted neat. In summary, synthesis of renewable p-cymene was readily achieved from perillyl alcohol with catalytic pTsOH but competing side reactions suppressed yield when dehydroisomerization of dl-limonene, α- and β-pinene was attempted due to the strong Brønsted acidity of the catalyst.     

Fabrication of niobium doped Pb（Zr, Ti）O3 fibers by viscous polymer processing

A technique based on viscous polymer processing （VPP） was described, which can produce high ceramic content green fibers. PZT-5 ceramic powders were ball milled to get high dispersibility. The slurry prepared for VPP was a composition of PZT-5 powder, PVA binder and glycerin. High ceramic content PZT-5 fibers were extruded with the slurry. The results show that the ceramic powders have fine mean particle size of 0.54 pan, high specific surface area of 3.55 m^2/g and zeta potential of 8.81 mV after 16 h milling. The fibers sintered at 1 280 ℃ for 4 h have pure perovskite structure and grains of 2-5 μm in size, with little pores or cracks. The ultimate tensile strength of sintered fibers is up to 13.84 MPa compared with 2.88 MPa of green fibers. The remnant polarization （Pr） and coercive field （Ec） of the fibers are 50.65 μC/cm^2 and 2.45 kV/mm, respectively. This fiber can withstand an electric field of 9 kV/mm higher than the ceramic （5 kV/mm）, which shows high directional and compact qualities.     

Exploiting SSDs in operational multiversion databases

Multiversion databases store both current and historical data. Rows are typically annotated with timestamps representing the period when the row is/was valid. We develop novel techniques to reduce index maintenance in multiversion databases, so that indexes can be used effectively for analytical queries over current data without being a heavy burden on transaction throughput. To achieve this end, we re-design persistent index data structures in the storage hierarchy to employ an extra level of indirection. The indirection level is stored on solid-state disks that can support very fast random I/Os, so that traversing the extra level of indirection incurs a relatively small overhead. The extra level of indirection dramatically reduces the number of magnetic disk I/Os that are needed for index updates and localizes maintenance to indexes on updated attributes. Additionally, we batch insertions within the indirection layer in order to reduce physical disk I/Os for indexing new records. In this work, we further exploit SSDs by introducing novel DeltaBlock techniques for storing the recent changes to data on SSDs. Using our DeltaBlock, we propose an efficient method to periodically flush the recently changed data from SSDs to HDDs such that, on the one hand, we keep track of every change (or delta) for every record, and, on the other hand, we avoid redundantly storing the unchanged portion of updated records. By reducing the index maintenance overhead on transactions, we enable operational data stores to create more indexes to support queries. We have developed a prototype of our indirection proposal by extending the widely used generalized search tree open-source project, which is also employed in PostgreSQL. Our working implementation demonstrates that we can significantly reduce index maintenance and/or query processing cost by a factor of 3. For the insertion of new records, our novel batching technique can save up to 90 % of the insertion time. For updates, our prototype demonstrates that we can significantly reduce the database size by up to 80 % even with a modest space allocated for DeltaBlocks on SSDs.