Capacitive Deionization for Selective Extraction of Lithium from Aqueous Solutions

The paper deals with extraction of lithium by means of two capacitive deionization systems: one composed of lithium selective electrode and second with electrode wrapped with Li-selective membrane. In the case of the first system, hybrid electrodes where obtained by mixing λ-MnO2sorbent with activated carbon .The best Li-capacity was determined for electrode with 20 wt.-% of manganese oxide. For larger amounts of λ-MnO2 the electrode capacity decreased significantly. The second system was composed of carbon electrodes wrapped with ion-exchange membranes. The lithium selective membranes were synthesized by plasma induced interpolymerization of (meth)acrylic monomersinpores of Celgard 2400 support. Two functional monomers, poly(di(ethylene glycol)methyl ether methacrylate) and poly(glycidylmethacylate modified with hydroxymethyl-12-crown-4) were copolymerized with acrylic acid. It was found that the extraction of lithium chloride was the best for membrane caring copolymers of acrylic acid and glycidyl methacrylate modified with crown ether, andit was better than for membranes with sole poly(acrylic acid)

The effect of bandwidth in scale-free network traffic

We model information traffic on scale-free networks by introducing the bandwidth as the delivering ability of links. We focus on the effects of bandwidth on the packet delivering ability of the traffic system to better understand traffic dynamic in real network systems. Such ability can be measured by a phase transition from free flow to congestion. Two cases of node capacity C are considered, i.e., C=constant and C is proportional to the node's degree. We figured out the decrease of the handling ability of the system together with the movement of the optimal local routing coefficient $\alpha_c$, induced by the restriction of bandwidth. Interestingly, for low bandwidth, the same optimal value of $\alpha_c$ emerges for both cases of node capacity. We investigate the number of packets of each node in the free flow state and provide analytical explanations for the optimal value of $\alpha_c$. Average packets traveling time is also studied. Our study may be useful for evaluating the overall efficiency of networked traffic systems, and for allevating traffic jam in such systems.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Structure and dynamics of complex systems

A family of navigation algorithms for packet transport in complex networks is introduced. These algorithms use deterministic and probabilistic rules which depend, in different ways, on the degree of the node, packet flow and the temporal properties of packet delivery and distribution. On scale-free networks all our algorithms can handle a larger load than the random walk algorithm. I examined the fluctuation properties of packet traffic on scale-free networks and random graphs using random diffusion and a locally navigated diffusive motion with preferred edges. I found that preferential behaviour in either the topology or in the dynamics leads to the scaling of fluctuations of the number of packets passing nodes and the number of packets flowing along edges, respectively. I showed that the absence of any preference results in the absence of scaling. Broad distributions of the return times at nodes and edges illustrate that the basis of the observed scaling is the cooperative behaviour between groups of nodes or edges. I presented an empirical study of the networks created by users within internet news groups and forums and showed that they organise themselves into scale-free trees. The structure of these trees depends on the topic under discussion; specialist topics have trees with a short shallow structure whereas more universal topics are discussed widely and have a deeper tree structure. The correlation function of activity shows long range correlations connected with the users' daily routines. I presented an analysis of empirical data on the arrival and discharge times at a UK Accident and Emergency (A&E) department. I found that discharges rates vary with the workload and that the distribution of the length of stay has a fat tail. A sand pile model is introduced to show that the A&E department is a driven self-organised system. In my model I used a variable input space to mimic the queuing discipline related to different types of patients presenting to the department.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Erratum: Correction: Kujawski et al. Autonomic and Cognitive Function Response to Normobaric Hyperoxia Exposure in Healthy Subjects. Preliminary Study. Medicina 2020, 56, 172 (Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) (2020) 56 4 PII: 255)

There was an error in the original publication [...]

Revisiting wetting, freezing, and evaporation mechanisms of water on copper

Wetting of metal surfaces plays an important role in fuel cells, corrosion science, and heat-transfer devices. It has been recently stipulated that Cu surface is hydrophobic. In order to address this issue we use high purity (1 1 1) Cu prepared without oxygen, and resistant to oxidation. Using the modern Fringe Projection Phase-Shifting method of surface roughness determination, together with a new cell allowing the vacuum and thermal desorption of samples, we define the relation between the copper surface roughness and water contact angle (WCA). Next by a simple extrapolation, we determine the WCA for the perfectly smooth copper surface (WCA = 34°). Additionally, the kinetics of airborne hydrocarbons adsorption on copper was measured. It is shown for the first time that the presence of surface hydrocarbons strongly affects not only WCA, but also water droplet evaporation and the temperature of water droplet freezing. The different behavior and features of the surfaces were observed once the atmosphere of the experiment was changed from argon to air. The evaporation results are well described by the theoretical framework proposed by Semenov, and the freezing process by the dynamic growth angle model

Bloggers Behavior and Emergent Communities in Blog Space

Interactions between users in cyberspace may lead to phenomena different from those observed in common social networks. Here we analyse large data sets about users and Blogs which they write and comment, mapped onto a bipartite graph. In such enlarged Blog space we trace user activity over time, which results in robust temporal patterns of user--Blog behavior and the emergence of communities. With the spectral methods applied to the projection on weighted user network we detect clusters of users related to their common interests and habits. Our results suggest that different mechanisms may play the role in the case of very popular Blogs. Our analysis makes a suitable basis for theoretical modeling of the evolution of cyber communities and for practical study of the data, in particular for an efficient search of interesting Blog clusters and further retrieval of their contents by text analysis

In situ characterization of the decomposition behavior of Mg(BH4)(2) by X-ray Raman scattering spectroscopy

We present an in situ study of the thermal decomposition of Mg(BH4)(2) in a hydrogen atmosphere of up to 4 bar and up to 500 degrees C using X-ray Raman scattering spectroscopy at the boron K-edge and the magnesium L2,3-edges. The combination of the fingerprinting analysis of both edges yields detailed quantitative information on the reaction products during decomposition, an issue of crucial importance in determining whether Mg(BH4)(2) can be used as a next-generation hydrogen storage material. This work reveals the formation of reaction intermediate(s) at 300 degrees C, accompanied by a significant hydrogen release without the occurrence of stable boron compounds such as amorphous boron or MgB12H12. At temperatures between 300 degrees C and 400 degrees C, further hydrogen release proceeds via the formation of higher boranes and crystalline MgH2. Above 400 degrees C, decomposition into the constituting elements takes place. Therefore, at moderate temperatures, Mg(BH4)(2) is shown to be a promising high-density hydrogen storage material with great potential for reversible energy storage applications.Peer reviewe

Collective emotions online and their influence on community life

E-communities, social groups interacting online, have recently become an object of interdisciplinary research. As with face-to-face meetings, Internet exchanges may not only include factual information but also emotional information - how participants feel about the subject discussed or other group members. Emotions are known to be important in affecting interaction partners in offline communication in many ways. Could emotions in Internet exchanges affect others and systematically influence quantitative and qualitative aspects of the trajectory of e-communities? The development of automatic sentiment analysis has made large scale emotion detection and analysis possible using text messages collected from the web. It is not clear if emotions in e-communities primarily derive from individual group members' personalities or if they result from intra-group interactions, and whether they influence group activities. We show the collective character of affective phenomena on a large scale as observed in 4 million posts downloaded from Blogs, Digg and BBC forums. To test whether the emotions of a community member may influence the emotions of others, posts were grouped into clusters of messages with similar emotional valences. The frequency of long clusters was much higher than it would be if emotions occurred at random. Distributions for cluster lengths can be explained by preferential processes because conditional probabilities for consecutive messages grow as a power law with cluster length. For BBC forum threads, average discussion lengths were higher for larger values of absolute average emotional valence in the first ten comments and the average amount of emotion in messages fell during discussions. Our results prove that collective emotional states can be created and modulated via Internet communication and that emotional expressiveness is the fuel that sustains some e-communities.Comment: 23 pages including Supporting Information, accepted to PLoS ON