13,169 research outputs found
An optimized analytical method for the simultaneous detection of iodoform, iodoacetic acid, and other trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids in drinking water
An optimized method is presented using liquid-liquid extraction and derivatization for the extraction of iodoacetic acid (IAA) and other haloacetic acids (HAA9) and direct extraction of iodoform (IF) and other trihalomethanes (THM4) from drinking water, followed by detection by gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC-ECD). A Doehlert experimental design was performed to determine the optimum conditions for the five most significant factors in the derivatization step: namely, the volume and concentration of acidic methanol (optimized values = 15%, 1 mL), the volume and concentration of Na2SO4 solution (129 g/L, 8.5 mL), and the volume of saturated NaHCO3 solution (1 mL). Also, derivatization time and temperature were optimized by a two-variable Doehlert design, resulting in the following optimized parameters: an extraction time of 11 minutes for IF and THM4 and 14 minutes for IAA and HAA9; mass of anhydrous Na2SO4 of 4 g for IF and THM4 and 16 g for IAA and HAA9; derivatization time of 160 min and temperature at 40°C. Under optimal conditions, the optimized procedure achieves excellent linearity (R2 ranges 0.9990–0.9998), low detection limits (0.0008–0.2 µg/L), low quantification limits (0.008–0.4 µg/L), and good recovery (86.6%–106.3%). Intra- and inter-day precision were less than 8.9% and 8.8%, respectively. The method was validated by applying it to the analysis of raw, flocculated, settled, and finished waters collected from a water treatment plant in China
On the Integrability, B\"Acklund Transformation and Symmetry Aspects of a Generalized Fisher Type Nonlinear Reaction-Diffusion Equation
The dynamics of nonlinear reaction-diffusion systems is dominated by the
onset of patterns and Fisher equation is considered to be a prototype of such
diffusive equations. Here we investigate the integrability properties of a
generalized Fisher equation in both (1+1) and (2+1) dimensions. A Painlev\'e
singularity structure analysis singles out a special case () as
integrable. More interestingly, a B\"acklund transformation is shown to give
rise to a linearizing transformation for the integrable case. A Lie symmetry
analysis again separates out the same case as the integrable one and
hence we report several physically interesting solutions via similarity
reductions. Thus we give a group theoretical interpretation for the system
under study. Explicit and numerical solutions for specific cases of
nonintegrable systems are also given. In particular, the system is found to
exhibit different types of travelling wave solutions and patterns, static
structures and localized structures. Besides the Lie symmetry analysis,
nonclassical and generalized conditional symmetry analysis are also carried
out.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Int. J. Bifur. Chaos (2004
A refined invariant subspace method and applications to evolution equations
The invariant subspace method is refined to present more unity and more
diversity of exact solutions to evolution equations. The key idea is to take
subspaces of solutions to linear ordinary differential equations as invariant
subspaces that evolution equations admit. A two-component nonlinear system of
dissipative equations was analyzed to shed light on the resulting theory, and
two concrete examples are given to find invariant subspaces associated with
2nd-order and 3rd-order linear ordinary differential equations and their
corresponding exact solutions with generalized separated variables.Comment: 16 page
Supra-oscillatory critical temperature dependence of Nb-Ho bilayers
We investigate the critical temperature Tc of a thin s-wave superconductor
(Nb) proximity coupled to a helical rare earth ferromagnet (Ho). As a function
of the Ho layer thickness, we observe multiple oscillations of Tc superimposed
on a slow decay, that we attribute to the influence of the Ho on the Nb
proximity effect. Because of Ho inhomogeneous magnetization, singlet and
triplet pair correlations are present in the bilayers. We take both into
consideration when solving the self consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations,
and we observe a reasonable agreement. We also observe non-trivial transitions
into the superconducting state, the zero resistance state being attained after
two successive transitions which appear to be associated with the magnetic
structure of Ho.Comment: Main article: 5 pages, 4 figures; Supplementary materials: 4 pages, 5
figure
Self Assembled II-VI Magnetic Quantum Dot as a Voltage-Controlled Spin-Filter
A key element in the emergence of a full spintronics technology is the
development of voltage controlled spin filters to selectively inject carriers
of desired spin into semiconductors. We previously demonstrated a prototype of
such a device using a II-VI dilute-magnetic semiconductor quantum well which,
however, still required an external magnetic field to generate the level
splitting. Recent theory suggests that spin selection may be achievable in
II-VI paramagnetic semiconductors without external magnetic field through local
carrier mediated ferromagnetic interactions. We present the first experimental
observation of such an effect using non-magnetic CdSe self-assembled quantum
dots in a paramagnetic (Zn,Be,Mn)Se barrier.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The Dynamics of Sustained Reentry in a Loop Model with Discrete Gap Junction Resistance
Dynamics of reentry are studied in a one dimensional loop of model cardiac
cells with discrete intercellular gap junction resistance (). Each cell is
represented by a continuous cable with ionic current given by a modified
Beeler-Reuter formulation. For below a limiting value, propagation is found
to change from period-1 to quasi-periodic () at a critical loop length
() that decreases with . Quasi-periodic reentry exists from
to a minimum length () that is also shortening with .
The decrease of is not a simple scaling, but the bifurcation can
still be predicted from the slope of the restitution curve giving the duration
of the action potential as a function of the diastolic interval. However, the
shape of the restitution curve changes with .Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
X-ray Spectral and timing properties of the black hole x-ray transient Swift J1753.5-0127
We have carried out detailed analysis on the black hole candidate (BHC) X-
ray transient Swift J1753.5-0127 observed by the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer
(RXTE) during its outburst in 2005 {2006. The spectral analysis shows that the
emissions are dominated by the hard X-rays, thus revealing the low/hard state
of the source during the outburst. The peak luminosity is found lower than the
typical value of balancing the mass flow and evaporation of the inner edge of
disk (Meyer-Hofmeister 2004). As a result, the disk is prevented from extending
inward to produce strong soft X-rays, corresponding to the so-called high/soft
state. These are the typical characteristics for a small subset of BHCs, i.e.
those soft X-ray transients stay at the low/hard state during the outburst. In
most observational time, the QPO frequencies are found to vary roughly linearly
with the fluxes and the spectral indices, while the deviation from this
relationship at the peak luminosity might provide the first observational
evidence of a partially evaporated inner edge of the accretion disk. The
anti-correlation between the QPO frequency and spectral color suggests that the
global disk oscillation model proposed by Titarchuk & Osherovich (2000) is not
likely at work.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 24 pages, 13 figures, 3 table
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