Mesomorphic form of isotactic polypropylene in stereodefective polypropylene: Solid mesophase or liquid-crystal like structure

A study of the crystallization of the mesomorphic form of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in samples of different stereoregularity prepared with metallocene catalysts is presented. Contrary to what claimed in the literature, we have found that the mesomorphic form can be obtained by quenching of the melt at 0 °C also in the case of low stereoregular samples, provided that the samples are kept at 0 °C for long time. The key is the formation of mesomorphic bundles with chains in ordered 3/1 helical conformation of size large enough to be stable and inhibit the crystallization of the α form at room temperature. For stereoirregular samples the concentration of long ordered helical stretches is low and this requires long residence time at 0 °C for the formation of mesomorphic aggregates of size larger than the critical size. This result provides evidence that the mesomorphic aggregates are not formed as a result of a cooperative process driven by entropy, as in the case of liquid crystals, but rather they form via a nucleation and growth mechanism, as in the normal crystallization processes, according to the idea that the mesophase of iPP is a highly defective crystalline form.     

Saturated spectroscopy applied to Xenon at 3.5 µm

We report the observation of the xenon isotope spectrum using saturation spectroscopy on a gain cell external to a He-Xe laser. Six resonances centered about 3.508μm are observed over the limited tuning range of the laser. These resonances are assigned to the Xe¹²⁸Xe¹³⁰Xe¹³¹Xe¹³²Xe¹³⁴and Xe¹³⁶isotopes. The observed homogeneous linewidth is 9 ± 1 MHz, and the pressure broadening of the homogeneous linewidth is experimentally determined to be 71 ± 20 MHz/ torr.     

Factors structuring macroinvertebrate communities in a headwater stream and its springs in the Upper Austrian Limestone Alps

The Almbach, a headwater stream in the Upper Austrian foothills of the Alps bordered by mountain pastures was studied to gain insight into the benthic macroinvertebrate community and its habitat. Two springs, one of them fenced in to prevent livestock access, and two more sites of the headwater section were investigated. A discriminant analysis (DA) based on hydrochemistry and phytobenthos revealed three functions with 86% of all samples correctly classified to the four sites. The first function clearly separated the two springs with phosphorus and oxygen as the most important discriminating factors. Spring sites and headwater sites were split up by the second function mainly due to nitrate concentration, but no differences could be detected for the two stream sites. With the exception of the fenced spring, indicator taxa could be assigned to all sites by means of an Indicator Species Analysis (ISA). Polyvalent taxa groups such as Gastropoda and Ostracoda were indicators for the unfenced spring site. This is in accordance to observed low abundances of sensitive plecopteran taxa and suggests a negative impact of livestock trampling on the invertebrate community. Redundancy Analysis explained 99% of the macroinvertebrate‐environment relation. The first axis separated springs from stream sites and was correlated with nitrate, pH, water temperature and phytobenthos eveness. Phosphorus was responsible for splitting the unfenced spring and the downstream station from the fenced spring and the upstream location along the second axis. Ephemeropteran taxa like Habrophlebia sp. were related to elevated pH, increased water temperature and low nitrate concentrations. In accordance to the ISA, nitrate played an important role for tolerant Gastropoda and Ostracoda at the unfenced spring. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Syntactic priming in comprehension: The role of argument order and animacy.

Two visual-world eye-movement experiments investigated the nature of syntactic priming during comprehension--specifically, whether the priming effects in ditransitive prepositional object (PO) and double object (DO) structures (e.g., "The wizard will send the poison to the prince/the prince the poison?") are due to anticipation of structural properties following the verb (send) in the target sentence or to anticipation of animacy properties of the first postverbal noun. Shortly following the target verb onset, listeners looked at the recipient more (relative to the theme) following DO than PO primes, indicating that the structure of the prime affected listeners' eye gazes on the target scene. Crucially, this priming effect was the same irrespective of whether the postverbal nouns in the prime sentences did ("The monarch will send the painting to the president") or did not ("The monarch will send the envoy to the president") differ in animacy, suggesting that PO/DO priming in comprehension occurs because structural properties, rather than animacy features, are being primed when people process the ditransitive target verb. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of room-temperature 2.3-µm laser emission from tm3+in YAG and YAlO3

The relaxation of low-lying excited states of Tm³⁺ions doped in YAG, YAlO3, and Y2O3due to photon and phonon emission is studied theoretically. Stimulated emission cross sections (integrated over frequency), fluorescence lifetimes, and radiative quantum efficiencies are calculated and their implications for laser operation on the 2.3-μm³F4→³H5line of Tm³⁺are discussed. The calculations, based on a few phenomenological parameters which have been determined by others, are easily generalizable to other host materials and other rare-earth (RE) ions. Room-temperature pulsed laser emission from Tm³⁺ions near 2.3 μm was observed on one line in Tm:Cr:YAG, and on four lines in Tm:Cr:YAlO3. Lower oscillation thresholds were generally obtained in the YAlO3 rods, consistent with the theory presented. A threshold of 31 J was obtained with a Tm:Cr:YAlO3rod at 2.274 μm. In the free-running pulsed mode, peak power levels up to several hundred watts and total output energies up to 12 mJ/pulse were observed. Other general, observed operating characteristics are discussed.     

Lipid Metabolism in Rats is Modified by Nitric Oxide Availability Through a Ca<Superscript>++</Superscript>-Dependent Mechanism

We studied lipid metabolism and the antioxidant defense system in plasma and liver of rats fed diets supplemented with l ^ω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), isosorbide dinitrate (DIS), l-arginine (Arg), or the associations of these drugs. Liver hydroperoxide and thiobarbituric-acid-reactive substance (TBARS) levels were decreased by Arg and increased by l-NAME or DIS treatments. Oxidized glutathione and conjugated dienes were increased by DIS. Nitrate + nitrite levels and serum calcium ([Ca⁺⁺]) were incremented by Arg or DIS and reduced by l-NAME. Superoxide dismutase and catalase activities decreased under Arg treatment, while l-NAME or DIS caused stimulation. Liver high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was increased by DIS or NAME (alone or associated with Arg). Free fatty acids and neutral and polar lipids were increased by Arg, l-NAME, and DIS. However, predominating phospholipid synthesis increased the neutral/polar ratio. Decreased levels of nitric oxide (NO) (low [Ca⁺⁺]) was directly associated with increased fatty acid synthetase, decreased phospholipase A₂, carnitine-palmitoyl transferase, and fatty acid desaturase activities. Raised NO (high [Ca⁺⁺]) inversely correlated with increased phospholipase-A₂ and acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) synthetase and decreased fatty acid synthetase and β-oxidation rate. Arg or DIS produced changes that were partially reverted by association with l-NAME. Based on these observations, prolonged therapeutical approaches using drugs that modify NO availability should be carefully considered. Julio Nella author in memoriam.     

Mycoplasma bovis infection in dairy herds—Risk factors and effect of control measures

As Mycoplasma bovis spreads to new countries and becomes increasingly recognized as a disease with major welfare and economic effects, control measures on dairy farms are needed. To minimize the risk of infection spread to naive herds, all possible risk factors for M. bovis infection should be identified and controlled. Mycoplasma bovis was first diagnosed in dairy cattle in Finland in 2012, and by January 2020, 86 Finnish dairy farms (<1.5%) supporting M. bovis infections were identified. We evaluated risk factors for M. bovis infection using a questionnaire provided to 40 infected and 30 control dairy farms. Control measures were advised for 19 of the infected dairy farms during visits by a veterinarian. The course of the infection on those farms was followed by analyzing calf nasal swabs with PCR for presence of M. bovis 4 times at 6-mo intervals. Control measures included culling of M. bovis mastitic cows, isolation of new calves from older animals after initial M. bovis mastitic cows had been culled, prevention of nose-to-nose contact with infected animals, early detection of mastitis cases using M. bovis PCR, and hygiene measures mainly related to milking, calf pens, feeding buckets, and teats. Farms implemented the control measures related to the isolation of calves or avoidance of nose-to-nose contact in various ways, according to farm structures and financial circumstances. In our study, the control measures recommended to the dairy farms appeared effective, such that 13 of 19 farms reached a low risk level during at least 3 consecutive negative samplings from calves, with no M. bovis mastitis detected subsequently. Among risk factors, insemination with an M. bovis-positive bull indicated a trend of increasing the odds of M. bovis infection on the farm in a multivariable logistic model. In contrast, higher herd average milk yield had an association with lower odds for M. bovis infection. Occurrence of other infectious diseases affecting several animals on the dairy farm in the previous 6 mo before M. bovis infection were more frequent on M. bovis-infected farms.     

Influence of semiconductor surface preparation on photoelectric properties of Al–Zn3P2 contacts

The Schottky barriers formed by Al on Zn₃P₂ p-type crystals have been studied. Three types of crystals (monocrystal, large-grain crystal and polycrystal) were used for device fabrication. The samples were separated in two groups according to the type of structure and the methods of surface preparation. The samples from the first group were different in structure (monocrystal, large-grain crystal and polycrystals) but prepared in the same way. Three polycrystals with differently prepared surfaces were collected in the second group. Two samples from this group were also annealed in open air at 523 K for 24 h. Measurements of photovoltaic effect at room temperature were carried out to test the impact of surface preparation on photoelectric properties of Al–Zn₃P₂ contacts. Substantial differences in shape and intensity of PV signal were observed depending on whether the surface of semiconductor was mechanically polished, chemically etched or/and heat treated. The height of potential barrier, Φ_B, and optical transitions in semiconductor were determined. The value of Φ_B changed from 0.747 to 0.767 eV for unheated samples and from 0.724 to 0.755 eV for the heated ones. The quality of semiconductor surface seems to have an essential influence on spectral characteristics of Al–Zn₃P₂ junctions, especially in the case of polycrystals. It appeared that thorough preliminary mechanical polishing of crystals surface provides quite good photoelectric properties of Al–Zn₃P₂ junctions.     

Geometrical and physical optimization of a photovoltaic cell by means of a genetic algorithm

A methodology for the geometrical and physical optimization of a photovoltaic cell is proposed, which makes use of a detailed distributed model for the device simulation and a genetic algorithm. For the numerical simulation of the device, a TCAD simulator is used, appropriately interfaced with the genetic algorithm. Since the parameters to be optimized are geometrical, each simulation requires a different mesh grid, which is automatically set within the genetic algorithm optimization cycle. The evaluation of the fitness function requires the post-processing of the output of the device simulation, which is performed by another external software, also interfaced with the genetic algorithm. The feasibility of this methodology is assessed on a homogeneous emitter solar cell, with some relevant free parameters, related to the number of fingers in a cell and to the doping profile of the emitter. The parameters which maximize the efficiency of the cell are determined by using the proposed procedure.