Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate latexes: adhesive properties

In this study, butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate (BA/MMA) latexes of bimodal molecular weight and particle size distribution were prepared in a multi-step process by seeded conventional emulsion and seeded miniemulsion polymerization. For the conventional emulsion case, a BA/MMA batch copolymerization was conducted as a first step (seed generation) and was followed by a monomer addition step to ensure particle growth. In a third step, a BA/MMA pre-emulsified mixture was added to generate a second particle population. For the miniemulsion case, a BAIMMA copolymerization was carried out as a first step (seed generation) and was followed by a monomer addition step. The addition of a BA/MMA miniemulsion served to generate a bimodal particle size and molecular weight distribution. The final latexes were coated onto a polyethylene terephthalate carrier, dried and their performance as pressure-sensitive adhesives was evaluated using tack, peel and shear adhesion measurements: Structure-property relationships between the adhesive properties and the weight-average molecular weight and average particle size were examined. Even though the polymers obtained by miniemulsion showed better shear resistance, their shear resistance was low. There was no statistically significant difference in peel resistance of the polymers obtained by the two reactions. While a significant difference in tackiness between the two emulsion procedures was found when the adhesives were tested using the less sensitive, rolling ball test, no differences were found when they were tested using a loop tack test.
A Sensitive Method to Measure Changes in the Surface Stress of Solids

Abstract A technique for determining surface stress changes at solid–gas and solid–liquid interfaces with an atomic force microscope is presented. Therefore, the bending of a microfabricated cantilever, prepared with different opposite faces, is measured. This bending is directly proportional to a change of Δσ1− Δσ2, where σ1and σ2are the surface stresses of the two faces. To demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of the technique (i) a reduction of the surface stress of silicon nitride upon the covalent binding of gaseous dimethyldichlorosilane was measured; (ii) an increase of the surface stress of silicon nitride in aqueous medium with increasing pH was detected; (iii) the unspecific adsorption of the protein bovine albumin in buffer was monitored. The accuracy of the method is better than 0.005 J m−2. The main limit is residual drift of the cantilever deflection. As a consequence only changes of the surface stress which occurred more rapidly than ≈0.02 J m−2h−1could be reliably detected.
Effect of the Reynolds and Richardson Numbers on the Growth of Well-Aligned Ultralong Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

In this study, the effect of the Reynolds number (Re) and Richardson number (Ri) on the growth of well-aligned ultralong single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been systematically investigated. Smaller Re and larger Ri are favored for the growth of ultralong SWNTs by analyzing the fluid dynamical properties of chemical vapor deposition and the floating growth mode of ultralong SWNTs. Comparative experiments at different Re and Ri were carried out by altering the inner diameter of the quartz tube and gas flux in different growth processes. Growth results indicated that either reducing the gas flux or increasing the inner diameter of the tube, which corresponds to smaller Re or larger Ri, is beneficial for the growth of well-aligned ultralong SWNTs. On the other hand, too large a Ri, namely, a large buoyancy, is not suitable to grow parallel SWNT arrays for its disturbance to the laminar flow. The laminar flow and appropriate buoyancy are two vital factors for the growth of parallel and high-quality SWN.
Antioxidative activity of alcoholic beverages made from purple rice (Oryza sativa var. Indica cv. Shiun)

Alcoholic beverages made from purple rice grains contained 11.0 to 11.5% (v/v) ethanol and a higher amount of phenolic compounds. Alcoholic beverages made from purple rice grain were brilliant red, similar to the color of red wine, especially those made from uncooked purple rice. The amount of anthocyanin in beverages made from cooked and uncooked rice was 36 and 88 μg/mL, respectively. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of the alcoholic beverages made from purple rice was much higher than that of beverages made from ordinary brown and polished rice. The lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity of the alcoholic beverage made from uncooked purple rice was also the strongest. In the course of this study, we produced purple rice wine that was red and exhibited antioxidative activity.
Infinite Beamforming: Wavenumber Decomposition of Surface Pressure Fluctuations

The fluctuating pressure field underneath a turbulent boundary layer can lead to excitation of the surface structure of airplanes, trains and cars. At high flow speeds, this excitation becomes a major noise source in the vehicle interior. In the past, the characteristics of this excitation have been measured by the DLR in wind tunnels and in flight tests. A beam forming technique using planar waves was used as wavenumber decomposition in order to analyze the pressure fluctuations present over an installed microphone array. The information contained in the wavenumber spectrum resulting from the analysis is essential when empirically modeling the excitation behavior of a surface exposed to a pressure field. Speed, direction, and propagation mechanism (acoustic or hydrodynamic) of pressure waves can be determined from the position of sources in the wavenumber domain. This makes the wavenumber decomposition a helpful tool for the characterization of source mechanisms. In this paper, a summary of the test results is given. The attributes and potential of the wavenumber decomposition are emphasized in particular.
Surface-tension-driven liquid–liquid displacement in a capillary

This paper presents theoretical and experimental studies of the surface-tension-driven, two-immiscible liquid–liquid displacement in a horizontal capillary. Using the dynamic contact angle approach, a one-dimensional mathematical model is developed to describe the capillary displacement of a fixed liquid column by another liquid that continuously flows into the capillary by surface tension. Experiments for a water column displaced by silicon oil were carried out to examine the effect of the water column length and capillary diameter on the displacement dynamics. It was found that a faster and longer displacement is achieved for a shorter water column in a larger capillary. The theoretical predictions agree reasonably well with the experimental studies conducted for the capillary displacement of the silicon oil–water interface. In addition, for a single liquid capillary flow, dimensionless Pi groups are derived using the similarity analysis. It is demonstrated that using the derived Pi groups, the experimental data for the displacement of silicon oil of various viscosities in capillaries of various diameters can collapse into one curve that is consistent with the Washburn equation.
Effect of structural difference on wastewater treatment efficiency in multi-soil-layering systems: Relationship between soil mixture block size and removal efficiency of selected contaminants

Abstract Multi-soil-layering systems composed of soil mixture blocks (SMB) arranged in a brick-like pattern and surrounded by permeable zeolite layers (PL) were designed for domestic wastewater and polluted river water treatment. To investigate the efficiency of MSL systems in relation to structural differences, five MSL systems with different sizes and layers of SMB and PL were constructed in five 50 cm × 10 cm × 60 cm acrylic boxes. The SMB comprised sandy soil, charcoal, sawdust and iron on a dry weight ratio of 7:1:1:1. Diluted domestic wastewater with an average suspended solids (SS), biological oxygen demand (BOD5), total phosphorus (T-P) and total nitrogen (T-N) concentration of 73, 34, 1.3 and 15 mg L−1, respectively, was applied at a hydraulic loading rate (HLR) ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 L m−2 day−1. At HLR of 1,000 and 2,000 L m−2 day−1, systems with larger SMB surface area had higher removal rates for SS, BOD5, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and T-P because of the enhanced contact efficiency between wastewater and SMB. The structural difference was greatest at a HLR of 2,000 L m−2 day−1, especially for COD and T-P removal. An increase in the top surface area of SMB was found to affect the efficiency of MSL systems more than an increase in side surface area. When the HLR was increased to 3,000 L m−2 day−1, the effect of structural differences on MSL systems was not as great, probably because of preferential water flow into PL as well as the oxidation–reduction potential ORP change caused by the accumulation of SS at high HLR. For T-N removal, no structural difference was found at a low HLR of 1,000 L m−2 day−1 and when HLR increased to more than 2,000 L m−2 day−1, a secondary effect of SS accumulation and ORP change appeared to influence the systems’ performance more than the expansion of SMB surface area.
Trace Analysis and Speciation for Arsenic Anions by HPLC-Hydride Generation Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy

Abstract High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has already been successfully interfaced with inductively coupled plasma (ICP) emission spectroscopy for arsenic analysis and speciation. However, in many instances the overall minimum detection limits (MDLs) are inadequate for many environmental type samples. Arsine generation in a continuous, on-line fashion has been shown to provide for significantly improved MDLs by direct-ICP approaches. This hydride generation-ICP (HY-ICP) derivatization approach has now been successfully interfaced with paired-ion, reversed phase HPLC. This provides a doubly hyphenated technique, namely HPLC-HY-ICP in order to perform true metal/nonmetal speciation. Such methods of arsenic speciation have now been perfected with regard to minimum detection limits, linearity responses over several orders of magnitude, separation of various arsenic species from possible sample interferences, and related analytical matters. The final approaches have been applied both to spiked wat.
The effects of subcutaneous oxidation at the interfaces between elemental and compound semiconductors and SiO2 thin films deposited by remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

We have observed that in the low‐temperature deposition of thin films of SiO2 onto semiconductor surfaces by remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, oxidation occurs at the semiconductor–SiO2 interface. This subcutaneous process generates a thin film of native oxide, which can then play a significant role in determining the electrical properties of the semiconductor/oxide interface. The native oxide formed on Si is SiO2, and we have determined that the growth of this oxide does not interfere with the formation of device quality interfaces provided that the thickness of the deposited oxide layer is less than ∼250 A. For an oxide thickness greater than ∼250–300 A, trapping states associated with defects produced along with the subcutaneous oxidation degrade the properties of the Si/SiO2 interface. The native oxide that forms on Ge surfaces during SiO2 depositions is the water‐soluble, rutile‐structured form of GeO2, and the presence of this oxide significantly degrades the electrical quality of th.
Zur Kristallchemie der WasserstoffSauerstoff-Bindungen

The interdependence of hydrogen-oxygen distances in inorganic compounds can be described by a close correlation if sufficiently high coordination numbers for hydrogen are taken into account. For this purpose, the coordination is favourably defined as chemical coordination number K which is derived from the geometrical coordination or Niggli's Wirkungsbereich. Distances R i [pm] from one hydrogen to the surrounding oxygen atoms are connected by the rule that the sum of bond valences, s(R i ) equals the valence of hydrogen: Σs (R i ) = Σ exp (2.26 − 0.0248 . R i ) = 1
SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF [60]FULLERENE-POLYVINYLPYRIDINE CONJUGATES FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES

A two-phase radical polymerization was applied for the synthesis of fullerene-containing poly(4-vinylpyridine), which were used as polyelectrolytes in the fabrication of photovoltaic devices. Two-phase radical polymerization resulted in the products of poly(4-vinyl pyridinated) fullerenes (PVPyF) containing a high fullerene content and poly(4-vinylpyridine) arms of short length. These polyelectrolytes with a C60 content of up to 35% by weight are soluble in organic solvents and water at a low pH. High efficient photoinduced charge transfer in samples of PVPyF and polyanionic polythiophene derivatives fabricated by the electrostatic layer-by-layer deposition technique in producing self-assembled multilayers (SAMs) was demonstrated. As a result, high response to the increase of photoinduced conductivity was observed on the 75 bilayer device of PVPyF-3+/H-PURET− upon irradiation. Photoconductivity was found to increase in more than one order of magnitude from 0.024 to 0.31 S/cm at an applied voltage of 1.0 volt. The sign of short-circuit photocurrent was consistent with electrons flowing from Al electrode towards the ITO modified substrate. †Deceased.
Pressure‐Temperature Phase Diagrams of Proteins

Originally published in: Protein Folding Handbook. Part I. Edited by Johannes Buchner and Thomas Kiefhaber. Copyright © 2005 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA Weinheim. Print ISBN: 3-527-30784-2 The sections in this article are Introduction Basic Aspects of Phase Diagrams of Proteins and Early Experiments Thermodynamics of Pressure–Temperature Phase Diagrams Measuring Phase Stability Boundaries with Optical Techniques Fluorescence Experiments with Cytochrome c Results What Do We Learn from the Stability Diagram? Thermodynamics Determination of the Equilibrium Constant of Denaturation Microscopic Aspects Structural Features of the Pressure-denatured State Conclusions and Outlook Acknowledgment Keywords: phase diagram; protein stability; pressure denaturation; cytochrome c
Significance of nitrification and vegetation uptake in proton budgets in forest surface soil

Abstract We calculated the annual proton budgets of surface soils (0 and A horizons) in a deciduous forest (Df site) and a coniferous forest (Cf site) of Volcanogenous Regosols in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan. To estimate the nitrification and nutrient uptake by vegetation, we took soil leachates by using tension-free lysimeters under the conditions excluding and including vegetation uptake. It was suggested that the method of determining the vegetation uptake by subtracting the net flux in the horizon with vegetation uptake from the net flux in the horizon without vegetation uptake was appropriate, after comparing the calculation results obtained using growth increment in terms' of nitrogen uptake. Nitrate was the major nitrogen source accounting for 97 to 96% of the total nitrogen uptake due to the remarkable nitrification activity of the Tomakomai soil. The total H+ source amounted to 13.1 and 11.5 kmole ha-1 y-1 at the Df site and Cf site, respectively. The inflow amount of H+ from throughfall and stemflow to the 0 horizon was negligible and the internal H+ sources in the 0 and A horizons accounted for 99% of the total H+ sources at the Df site and 98% at the Cf site. Base cation uptake by vegetation and nitrification were quantitatively important H+ sources. On the other hand, weathering and ion exchange of base cations as well as NO3 - uptake by vegetation were the major H+ sinks. The H+ outflow from surface soil was negligible.
Depth‐dependent elemental compositions of particulate organic matter (POM) in the ocean

For the determination of the elemental composition of particulate organic material (POM) and its impact on the marine carbon cycle, we assembled C:N data for POM from many different sources into a single data collection for joint evaluation. The data set contains 10,200 C:N values, encompassing all major oceans and trophic levels, showing that C:N ratios are highly variable with values below the traditional Redfield ratio (C:N = 6.6) to values greatly exceeding it. On a global mean, C:N ratios of marine sinking particles from the surface water amount to 7.1 ± 0.1, and there is a systematic increase of C:N ratios with depth of 0.2 ± 0.1 units per 1000 m. The discrepancy with results from analyses of dissolved nutrient fields, yielding constant C:N ratios close to the Redfield value, can be explained by the implicit depth averaging caused by depth variations of the surfaces under consideration. Additionally, due to preferential remineralization of nitrogen compared to carbon, the C:N ratio of the dissolving component, which is seen on dissolved nutrient fields, is smaller than the C:N ratio of the remaining particles. For carbon flux estimations, elevated and depth dependent C:N ratios should be implemented in biogeochemical models to correctly represent relative strengths of downward carbon and nitrogen fluxes.
Seasonal variations of NOM composition and their reactivity in a low humic water

Natural organic matter (NOM) and its potential to form disinfection by‐products (DBPs) during water treatment are of great public health concern. Understanding the seasonal changes in NOM composition and their reactivity in DBP formation could lead to a better treatment of drinking water and a more consistent water quality. NOM from the Terkos Lake was fractionated and characterized by XAD resin adsorption and ultrafiltration (UF) techniques during four different seasons within a year. XAD fraction analysis indicates that the HPI (38%) and the TPI (21%) were the dominant chemical fractions as DOC masses across the sampling period. Moreover, the fractions contributing to the most UV254 absorbance were HPO, which accounted for more than 72% of total UV254. It was found that the percentages of UV254 of HPI and TPI showed significant amount of variation with coefficients of variation of 48% (HPI) and 35% (TPI), respectively. Moreover, it was concluded that the HPO fraction was the primary THM precursor, which contributed more than 48%, and while the primary fraction of HAA precursors was found to be TPI, accounting for more than 47% of total HAAFP with exceptions in January 2011. As obviously seen in this study, the hydrophobic constituents in Terkos Lake water are on the low end of the spectrum in terms of their reactivity to form HAAs. In the context of THM reactivity, the physical properties (i.e., moleculer size) of Terkos Lake NOM are more important than their chemical properties (i.e., aromaticity). On the other hand, the predominant fraction as the source of HAAs precursors was found to be with the TPI and HPI chemical fractions. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 33: 962–971, 2014
Synthesis and study of optical properties of linear and hyperbranched conjugated polymers containing thiophene and triphenylamine units

We report the synthesis of solution processable donor–acceptor type conjugated monomer (M1) and polymers (P1 and P2) consisting of electron-accepting 1,3,4-oxadiazole unit and electron-donating 3,4-didecyloxythiophene, and triphenylamine units through Wittig polycondensation reaction. The linear polymer P1 is thermally stable up to 325 °C whereas the hyperbranched polymer P2 showed better thermal stability with an onset of decomposition at 375 °C. Polymer P2 showed lower band gap energy (1.96 eV) than that of P1 (2.09 eV). Polymers P1 and P2 emit yellow and orange light, respectively, under the irradiation of UV light. Electrochemical studies revealed that the polymers possess high-lying highest occupied molecular orbital and low-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels. Polymer light-emitting diodes are fabricated with the device configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer (P1 or P2)/Al. The device based on P2 showed a very low threshold voltage of 2 V. The third-order nonlinear optical properties of the polymers are studied using Z-scan technique. Both polymers showed a strong optical limiting behavior. The value of nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) of the polymers is of the order 10−10 mW−1 which indicates that these materials may be accomplished for fabricating optical limiters.
Coating by laser surface treatment

The application of optical engineering in industrial processing is gaining greater acceptance. The range of surface treatment processes available goes all the way from transformation hardening, annealing, shock hardening and bending (as processes which do not involve melting) to processes which involve melting such as surface melting, surface alloying, surface cladding and those processes which involve some form of photochemistry such as laser chemical vapour deposition, laser physical vapour deposition and stereolithography. One of these processes, laser cladding, has been recently extended at University of Liverpool to provide a technique of rapid alloy scanning whereby variable composition laser clad tracks can be laid down by the laser thus giving the whole range of compositions in the alloy system in a single sample. Evaluation of specimens of this type can be carried out by a range of micro testing techniques including corrosion testing procedures. Laser surface treatment processes available for the production of corrosion resistant surfaces are reviewed. These include surface melting, surface alloying and surface cladding procedures. Consideration is then given to the new variable composition laser melt track technique with particular reference to the rapid prototyping of corrosion resistant alloys.
New sol–gel synthesis of a (CaO)0.3(Na2O)0.2(P2O5)0.5 bioresorbable glass and its structural characterisation

An improved sol-gel synthesis of (CaO)(0.3)(Na2O)(0.2)(P2O5)(0.5) bioresorbable glass has been developed. The structures of both the dried gel and the stabilised sol-gel glass have been characterised using high-energy XRD, P-31 MAS NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy. The structure of the analogous melt-quench prepared glass has also been studied for comparison. The results show that the dried gel has a structure consisting of mainly Q(0) and Q(1) phosphate units, whereas that of the stabilised sol-gel glass comprises predominantly Q(1) and Q(2) units. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the structure of the sol-gel glass is similar to that of its melt-quenched counterpart except for the presence of hydroxyl groups which terminate the phosphate chains, reducing the connectivity of the network.