Removal of hazardous pharmaceutical from water by photocatalytic treatment

The photocatalytic abatement of hazardous pharmaceuticals has been investigated at very low concentration in the ppb range as found in wastewater and in environmental pollutants. Photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline as a model compound with titania catalysts has been studied using solarium UV-A and black light with differentially applied electric power, tetracycline and catalyst concentration. Abatement of up to 90% has been achieved after 1 hour. Adsorption of tetracycline and photochemical degradation contribute significantly to the abatement of tetracycline resulting in an immediate reduction during the initial period of treatment. Contribution of adsorption is high at very low concentration (500 ppb). Photocatalytic treatment with titania is even highly efficient in the abatement of very small concentrations of tetracycline in drinking water. © 2010 Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Wien

Model of Enterpreneurship and Social-cultural and Market Orientation of Small Business Owners in Poland

In the development of SMEs in Poland crucial meaning is legislation, steadily adapted to EU regulations, especially to the European Charter for Small Enterprises. Research conducted in Poland by many authors provide data for doing so, to confirm the hypothesis that among small businesses a vital role in shaping their work situation did not continue to play the market mechanisms and orientations, but mainly socio-cultural factors.W rozwoju MŚP w Polsce podstawowe znaczenie mają również uregulowania prawne, systematycznie dostosowywane do regulacji unijnych, zwłaszcza zaś do Europejskiej Karty Małych Przedsiębiorstw. Badania prowadzone w Polsce przez wielu autorów dostarczają danych ku temu, by potwierdzić tezę, że wśród drobnych przedsiębiorców decydującą rolę w kształtowaniu ich sytuacji pracy odgrywają nadal nie mechanizmy i orientacje rynkowe, ale przede wszystkim czynniki społeczno-kulturowe

Phonon and Elastic Instabilities in MoC and MoN

We present several results related to the instability of MoC and MoN in the B1 (sodium chloride) structure. These compounds were proposed as potential superconductors with moderately high transition temperatures. We show that the elastic instability in B1-structure MoN, demonstrated several years ago, persists at elevated pressures, thus offering little hope of stabilizing this material without chemical doping. For MoC, another material for which stoichiometric fabrication in the B1-structure has not proven possible, we find that all of the cubic elastic constants are positive, indicating elastic stability. Instead, we find X-point phonon instabilities in MoC (and in MoN as well), further illustrating the rich behavior of carbo-nitride materials. We also present additional electronic structure results for several transition metal (Zr, Nb and Mo) carbo-nitride systems and discuss systematic trends in the properties of these materials. Deviations from strict electron counting dependencies are apparent.Comment: 5 pages and 4 trailing figures. Submitted to PR

Risk measures for direct real estate investments with non-normal or unknown return distributions

The volatility of returns is probably the most widely used risk measure for real estate. This is rather surprising since a number of studies have cast doubts on the view that volatility can capture the manifold risks attached to properties and corresponds to the risk attitude of investors. A central issue in this discussion is the statistical properties of real estate returns—in contrast to neoclassical capital market theory they are mostly non-normal and often unknown, which render many statistical measures useless. Based on a literature review and an analysis of data from Germany we provide evidence that volatility alone is inappropriate for measuring the risk of direct real estate. We use a unique data sample by IPD, which includes the total returns of 939 properties across different usage types (56% office, 20% retail, 8% others and 16% residential properties) from 1996 to 2009, the German IPD Index, and the German Property Index. The analysis of the distributional characteristics shows that German real estate returns in this period were not normally distributed and that a logistic distribution would have been a better fit. This is in line with most of the current literature on this subject and leads to the question which indicators are more appropriate to measure real estate risks. We suggest that a combination of quantitative and qualitative risk measures more adequately captures real estate risks and conforms better with investor attitudes to risk. Furthermore, we present criteria for the purpose of risk classification

Synthesis of Fluorine-18 Functionalized Nanoparticles for use as in vivo Molecular Imaging Agents

Nanoparticles containing fluorine-18 were prepared from block copolymers made by ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). Using the fast initiating ruthenium metathesis catalyst (H_2IMes)(pyr)_2(Cl)_2Ru=CHPh, low polydispersity amphiphilic block copolymers were prepared from a cinnamoyl-containing hydrophobic norbornene monomer and a mesyl-terminated PEG-containing hydrophilic norbornene monomer. Self-assembly into micelles and subsequent cross-linking of the micelle cores by light-activated dimerization of the cinnamoyl groups yielded stable nanoparticles. Incorporation of fluorine-18 was achieved by nucleophilic displacement of the mesylates by the radioactive fluoride ion with 31% incorporation of radioactivity. The resulting positron-emitting nanoparticles are to be used as in vivo molecular imaging agents for use in tumor imaging

Search for CP violation in D+→K−K+π+D^{+} \to K^{-}K^{+}\pi^{+} decays

A model-independent search for direct CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay $D^+ \to K^- K^+\pi^+$ in a sample of approximately 370,000 decays is carried out. The data were collected by the LHCb experiment in 2010 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb$^{-1}$. The normalized Dalitz plot distributions for $D^+$ and $D^-$ are compared using four different binning schemes that are sensitive to different manifestations of CP violation. No evidence for CP asymmetry is found.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma)

The ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0 -> K*0 gamma and Bs0 -> phi gamma has been measured using 0.37 fb-1 of pp collisions at a centre of mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The value obtained is BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) = 1.12 +/- 0.08 ^{+0.06}_{-0.04} ^{+0.09}_{-0.08}, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third is associated to the ratio of fragmentation fractions fs/fd. Using the world average for BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma) = (4.33 +/- 0.15) x 10^{-5}, the branching fraction BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) is measured to be (3.9 +/- 0.5) x 10^{-5}, which is the most precise measurement to date.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 2 table

Opposite-side flavour tagging of B mesons at the LHCb experiment

The calibration and performance of the oppositeside flavour tagging algorithms used for the measurements of time-dependent asymmetries at the LHCb experiment are described. The algorithms have been developed using simulated events and optimized and calibrated with B + →J/ψK +, B0 →J/ψK ∗0 and B0 →D ∗− μ + νμ decay modes with 0.37 fb−1 of data collected in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV during the 2011 physics run. The oppositeside tagging power is determined in the B + → J/ψK + channel to be (2.10 ± 0.08 ± 0.24) %, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic

Observation of excited Lambda_b0 baryons

Using pp collision data corresponding to 1.0 fb-1 integrated luminosity collected by the LHCb detector, two narrow states are observed in the Lambda_b0pi+pi- spectrum with masses 5911.97 +- 0.12(stat) +- 0.02(syst) +- 0.66(Lambda_b0 mass) MeV/c^2 and 5919.77 +- 0.08(stat) +- 0.02(syst) +- 0.66(Lambda_b0 mass) MeV/c^2. The significances of the observations are 5.2 and 10.2 standard deviations, respectively. These states are interpreted as the orbitally-excited Lambda_b0 baryons, Lambda_b*0(5912) and Lambda_b*0(5920).Comment: Replaced by version published in Phys. Rev. Lett, modified fit with better mass resolution treatmen