1,682 research outputs found
Thermal oxidative degradation reactions of perfluoroalklethers
The objective of this contract was to investigate the mechanisms operative in thermal and thermal oxidative degradation of Fomblin Z and hexafluoropropene oxide derived fluids and the effect of alloys and additives upon these processes. The nature of arrangements responsible for the inherent thermal oxidative instability of the Fomblin Z fluids has not been established. It was determined that this behavior was not associated with hydrogen end-groups or peroxy linkages. The degradation rate of these fluids at elevated temperatures in oxidizing atmospheres was found to be dependent on the surface/volume ratio. Once a limiting ratio was reached, a steady rate appeared to be attained. Based on elemental analysis and oxygen consumption data, -CF2OCF2CF2O-, not -CF2CF2O-, is one of the major arrangements present. The action of the M-50 and Ti(4 Al, 4 Mn) alloys was found to be much more drastic in the case of Fomblin Z fluids than that observed for the hexalfuoropropane oxide derived materials. The effectiveness of antioxidation/anticorrosion additives, P-3 and phospha-s-triazine, in the presence of metal alloys was very limited at 316 C; at 288 C the additives arrested almost completely the fluid degradation. The phospha-s-triazine appeared to be at least twice as effective as the P-3 compound; it also protected the coupon better. The Ti(4 Al, 4 Mn) alloy degraded the fluid mainly by chain scission processes; this took place to a much lesser degree with M-50
Tailoring the carrier mobility of semiconducting nanowires by remote dielectrics
The dielectric environment of thin semiconductor nanowires can affect the
charge transport properties inside the wire. In this work, it is shown that
Coulomb impurity scattering inside thin nanowires can be damped strongly by
coating the wire with a high-k dielectric. This will lead to an increase in the
mobility of free charges inside the wire.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Numerical modelling of liquid droplet dynamics in microgravity
Microgravity provides ideal experimental conditions for studying highly reactive and under-cooled materials where there is no contact between the sample and the other experimental apparatus. The non-contact conditions allow material properties to be measured from the oscillating liquid droplet response to perturbations. This work investigates the impact of a strong magnetic field on these measurement processes for weakly viscous, electrically conducting droplets. We present numerical results using an axisymmetric model that employs the pseudo-spectral collocation method and a recently developed 3D model. Both numerical models have been developed to solve the equations describing the coupled electromagnetic and fluid flow processes. The models represent the changing surface shape that results from the interaction between forces inside the droplet and the surface tension imposed boundary conditions. The models are used to examine the liquid droplet dynamics in a strong DC magnetic field. In each case the surface shape is decomposed into a superposition of spherical harmonic modes. The oscillation of the individual mode coefficients is then analysed to determine the oscillation frequencies and damping rates that are then compared to the low amplitude solutions predicted by the published analytical asymptotic theory
A multifaceted hospital-wide intervention increases hand hygiene compliance
Background. Hand hygiene is an important and basic practice that should be used by all healthcare staff to protect both themselves and their patients against infection. Unfortunately hand hygiene compliance remains poor.Objective. To show an improvement in hand hygiene compliance using a multifaceted approach.Methods. This was a quasiexperimental pre-post intervention study design with a number of standardised interventions to promote hand hygiene. The World Health Organization hand hygiene multimodal (five-step) intervention approach was used. The study ran from June 2015 to August 2015 in 11 selected wards of a 975-bed tertiary and quaternary care public hospital (Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa). The outcome was to assess improvement in hand hygiene compliance monthly over the 3 months, compared with nonintervention wards and compared with the wards’ own performance measured in 2014. The study included both descriptive and analytical components.Results. Post intervention, hand hygiene compliance showed a statistically significant improvement for before patient contact from 34% in 2014 to 76% in 2015 (p<0.05) and for after patient contact from 47% in 2014 to 82% in 2015 (p<0.05).Conclusion. The intervention improved hand hygiene compliance and can easily be replicated in other wards, resulting in sustaining a culture of hand hygiene improvement and behavioural change throughout the hospital
The effects of metals and inhibitors on thermal oxidative degradation reactions of unbranched perfluoroalkylethers
Thermal oxidative degradation studies were performed on unbranched perfluoroalkylethers at 288 C in oxygen. Metals and alloys studied included Ti, Al, and Ti (4 Al, 4 Mn). The mechanism of degradation was by chain scission. Ti and Al promoted less degradation than Ti (4 Al, 4 Mn). The two inhibitors investigated (a perfluorophenyl phosphine and a phosphatriazine) reduced degradation rates by several orders of magnitude. Both inhibitors were effective for the same duration (75 to 100 hours). The phosphatriazine appeared to provide more surface protection
Modelling background charge rearrangements near single-electron transistors as a Poisson process
Background charge rearrangements in metallic single-electron transistors are
modelled in two-level tunnelling systems as a Poisson process with a scale
parameter as only variable. The model explains the recent observation of
asymmetric Coulomb blockade peak spacing distributions in metallic
single-electron transistors. From the scale parameter we estimate the average
size of the tunnelling systems, their density of states, and the height of
their energy barrier. We conclude that the observed background charge
rearrangements predominantly take place in the substrate of the single-electron
transistor.Comment: 7 pages, 2 eps figures, used epl.cls macro include
Fully Analyzing an Algebraic Polya Urn Model
This paper introduces and analyzes a particular class of Polya urns: balls
are of two colors, can only be added (the urns are said to be additive) and at
every step the same constant number of balls is added, thus only the color
compositions varies (the urns are said to be balanced). These properties make
this class of urns ideally suited for analysis from an "analytic combinatorics"
point-of-view, following in the footsteps of Flajolet-Dumas-Puyhaubert, 2006.
Through an algebraic generating function to which we apply a multiple
coalescing saddle-point method, we are able to give precise asymptotic results
for the probability distribution of the composition of the urn, as well as
local limit law and large deviation bounds.Comment: LATIN 2012, Arequipa : Peru (2012
On the uniqueness of the surface sources of evoked potentials
The uniqueness of a surface density of sources localized inside a spatial
region and producing a given electric potential distribution in its
boundary is revisited. The situation in which is filled with various
metallic subregions, each one having a definite constant value for the electric
conductivity is considered. It is argued that the knowledge of the potential in
all fully determines the surface density of sources over a wide class of
surfaces supporting them. The class can be defined as a union of an arbitrary
but finite number of open or closed surfaces. The only restriction upon them is
that no one of the closed surfaces contains inside it another (nesting) of the
closed or open surfaces.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Equation of the field lines of an axisymmetric multipole with a source surface
Optical spectropolarimeters can be used to produce maps of the surface magnetic fields of stars and hence to determine how stellar magnetic fields vary with stellar mass, rotation rate, and evolutionary stage. In particular, we now can map the surface magnetic fields of forming solar-like stars, which are still contracting under gravity and are surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. Their large scale magnetic fields are almost dipolar on some stars, and there is evidence for many higher order multipole field components on other stars. The availability of new data has renewed interest in incorporating multipolar magnetic fields into models of stellar magnetospheres. I describe the basic properties of axial multipoles of arbitrary degree ℓ and derive the equation of the field lines in spherical coordinates. The spherical magnetic field components that describe the global stellar field topology are obtained analytically assuming that currents can be neglected in the region exterior to the star, and interior to some fixed spherical equipotential surface. The field components follow from the solution of Laplace’s equation for the magnetostatic potential
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