Vapor pressure and evaporation coefficient of cadmium oxide

Knudsen effusion experiments were carried out on CdO in fused silica crucibles at temperatures of 918°K, 1008°K with orifice areas from 2.742x10-3 cm2 to 30.52x10-2 cm2. The experiments were made in a molybdenum-wire, resistance-heated vacuum furnace. Several orifice areas were used at each temperature and reciprocal pressure versus orifice area plots were made. These plots yielded an upper limit to the evaporation coefficient of. 4.15x10-2. An equilibrium constant for the vaporization reaction CdO(s) = Cd(g) + 1/202 (g) of log Keq = 11.12 - 1.952x104/T. was obtained. Second and third law values of ΔH°298 were 91.1±1.1 kcal/mole and 88.7±0.9 kcal/mole respectively. A ΔS°298 of 54.1±3.8 was determined by the second law method. The vapor pressure of silver was measured at 1210°K to check experimental techniques. Agreement with an accepted value was within 6.5 per cent --Abstract, page ii

New and improved demonstrations, each illustrating a single scientific paper

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Distribution Of Foraging Shearwaters Relative To Inner Front Of SE Bering Sea

We examined the hypothesis that short-tailed shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris aggregate to forage at the inner front of the SE Bering Sea because of enhanced production there. We tested this hypothesis by comparing primary production, the distribution of euphausiids and the distribution of shearwaters relative to the front during late spring and late summer/early fall of 1997, 1998 and 1999. We found enhanced primary production at the front and offshore of the front during summer but not during spring. Primary production varied between seasons and years. Major differences were related to anomalous conditions in 1997 and 1998. The density of euphausiids was higher at the front and offshore of the front during summer, but there were no differences among regions during spring. Foraging shearwaters aggregated in high densities at the front during summer, but foraged close to shore during spring. At the front, shearwaters foraged on euphausiids Thysanoessa raschii and T. inermis as expected, and on copepods that accumulated in the area. The proportion of zooplankton consumed at the front decreased from summer 1997 to summer 1999, while consumption of sandlance Ammodytes hexapterus at this feature increased. Our results show that, during summer, the inner front supports aggregations of euphausiids and their seabird predators. The means by which the frontal system supports enhanced production and the subsequent trophic transfers is dependent on the availability of nutrients at depth in the frontal region and the aggregation of small zooplankton organisms in this feature

A Compact, Solid-State UV (266 nm) Laser System Capable of Burst-Mode Operation for Laser Ablation Desorption Processing

Compared to wet chemistry and pyrolysis techniques, in situ laser-based methods of chemical analysis provide an ideal way to characterize precious planetary materials without requiring extensive sample processing. In particular, laser desorption and ablation techniques allow for rapid, reproducible and robust data acquisition over a wide mass range, plus: Quantitative, spatially-resolved measurements of elemental and molecular (organic and inorganic) abundances; Low analytical blanks and limits-of-detection ( ng g-1); and, the destruction of minimal quantities of sample ( g) compared to traditional solution and/or pyrolysis analyses (mg)

Human Cytomegalovirus: detection of congenital and perinatal infection in Argentina

BACKGROUND: Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the most commonly found agents of congenital infections. Primary maternal infection is associated with risk of symptomatic congenital diseases, and high morbidity is frequently associated with very low birth weight. Neonates with asymptomatic infection develop various sequelae during infancy. This is the first Argentine study performed in neonates with congenital and postnatal HCMV infection. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique with different pairs of primers, to detect cytomegalovirus isolated in tissue cultures and directly in urine and dried blood spot (DBS) specimens. Results were compared with IgM detection. METHODS: The study was performed between 1999 and 2001 on routine samples in the Laboratory. A total of 61 urine and 56 serum samples were selected from 61 newborns/infants, 33 patients whose samples were analyzed during the first two to three weeks of life were considered congenital infections; the remaining 28 patients whose samples were taken later than the third week were grouped as perinatal infections, although only in 4 the perinatal transmission of infection was determined unequivocally Cytomegalovirus diagnosis was made by isolating the virus from urine samples in human foreskin fibroblast cells. Three different primer pairs directed to IE, LA and gB genes were used for the HCMV PCR assay in viral isolates. Subsequently, PCR and nested PCR (nPCR) assays with gB primers were performed directly in urine and in 11 samples of dried blood spot (DBS) on Guthrie Card, these results were then compared with serology. RESULTS: The main clinical manifestations of the 33 patients with congenital infection were purpura, jaundice, hepatomegaly and anaemia. Three patients presented low birth weight as single symptom, 10, intracranial calcifications, and 2, kidney failure. In the 28 patients grouped as with perinatal infection, anaemia, hepatosplenomegaly and enzymatic alteration were predominant, and 4 patients were HIV positive. The primers used to amplify the gB region had a PCR positivity rate of 100%, whereas those that amplified IE and LA regions had a PCR positivity rate of 54% and 61% respectively, in CMV isolates. Amplification by PCR of urine samples (with no previous DNA extraction), using primers for the gB region, detected 34/61 positive samples. Out of the 33 samples from patients with congenital infection, 24 (73%) were positive. When nPCR was used in these samples, all were positive, whereas in the remaining 28 patients, two negative cases were found. Cytomegalovirus DNA detection in 11 samples was also carried out in DBS: 7 DBS samples were positive and 4 were negative. CONCLUSIONS: Primers directed to the gB fragment region were the best choice for the detection of CMV DNA in positive isolates. In congenital infections, direct PCR in urine was positive in a high percentage (73%) of samples; however, in patients grouped as with perinatal infection only 36% of the cases were positive. With n-PCR, total sample positivity reached 97%. PCR technique performed in DBS allowed identifying congenital infection in four patients and to be confirmed in 3. These results show the value of nPCR for the detection of all cases of CMV infection. The assay offers the advantage that it may be performed within the normal working day and provides reliable results in a much shorter time frame than that required for either traditional tissue culture or the shell-viral assay