998 research outputs found
Sustainable CO2 adsorbents prepared by coating chitosan onto mesoporous silicas for large-scale carbon capture technology
In this article, we report a new sustainable synthesis procedure for manufacturing chitosan/silica CO2 adsorbents. Chitosan is a naturally abundant material and contains amine functionality, which is essential for selective CO2 adsorptions. It is, therefore, ideally suited for manufacturing CO2 adsorbents on a large scale. By coating chitosan onto high-surface-area mesoporous silica supports, including commercial fumed silica (an economical and accessible reagent) and synthetic SBA-15 and MCF silicas, we have prepared a new family of CO2 adsorbents, which have been fully characterised with nitrogen adsorption isotherms, thermogravimetric analysis/differential scanning calorimetry, TEM, FTIR spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. These adsorbents have achieved a significant CO2 adsorption capacity of up to 0.98 mmol g−1 at ambient conditions (P=1 atm and T=25 °C). The materials can also be fully regenerated/recycled on demand at temperatures as low as 75 °C with a >85 % retention of the adsorption capacity after 4 cycles, which makes them promising candidates for advanced CO2 capture, storage and utilisation technology
Cognitive demands of face monitoring: Evidence for visuospatial overload
Young children perform difficult communication tasks better face to face than when they cannot see one another (e.g., Doherty-Sneddon & Kent, 1996). However, in recent studies, it was found that children aged 6 and 10 years, describing abstract shapes, showed evidence of face-to-face interference rather than facilitation. For some communication tasks, access to visual signals (such as facial expression and eye gaze) may hinder rather than help children’s communication. In new research we have pursued this interference effect. Five studies are described with adults and 10- and 6-year-old participants. It was found that looking at a face interfered with children’s abilities to listen to descriptions of abstract shapes. Children also performed visuospatial memory tasks worse when they looked at someone’s face prior to responding than when they looked at a visuospatial pattern or at the floor. It was concluded that performance on certain tasks was hindered by monitoring another person’s face. It is suggested that processing of visual communication signals shares certain processing resources with the processing of other visuospatial information
Dynamical frictional phenomena in an incommensurate two-chain model
Dynamical frictional phenomena are studied theoretically in a two-chain model
with incommensurate structure. A perturbation theory with respect to the
interchain interaction reveals the contributions from phonons excited in each
chain to the kinetic frictional force. The validity of the theory is verified
in the case of weak interaction by comparing with numerical simulation. The
velocity and the interchain interaction dependences of the lattice structure
are also investigated. It is shown that peculiar breaking of analyticity states
appear, which is characteristic to the two-chain model. The range of the
parameters in which the two-chain model is reduced to the Frenkel-Kontorova
model is also discussed.Comment: RevTex, 9 pages, 7 PostScript figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Structure of hard-hypersphere fluids in odd dimensions
The structural properties of single component fluids of hard hyperspheres in
odd space dimensionalities are studied with an analytical approximation
method that generalizes the Rational Function Approximation earlier introduced
in the study of hard-sphere fluids [S. B. Yuste and A. Santos, Phys. Rev. A
{\bf 43}, 5418 (1991)]. The theory makes use of the exact form of the radial
distribution function to first order in density and extends it to finite
density by assuming a rational form for a function defined in Laplace space,
the coefficients being determined by simple physical requirements. Fourier
transform in terms of reverse Bessel polynomials constitute the mathematical
framework of this approximation, from which an analytical expression for the
static structure factor is obtained. In its most elementary form, the method
recovers the solution of the Percus-Yevick closure to the Ornstein-Zernike
equation for hyperspheres at odd dimension. The present formalism allows one to
go beyond by yielding solutions with thermodynamic consistency between the
virial and compressibility routes to any desired equation of state. Excellent
agreement with available computer simulation data at and is
obtained. As a byproduct of this study, an exact and explicit polynomial
expression for the intersection volume of two identical hyperspheres in
arbitrary odd dimensions is given.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures; v2: new references added plus minor changes; to
be published in PR
Realizations of Causal Manifolds by Quantum Fields
Quantum mechanical operators and quantum fields are interpreted as
realizations of timespace manifolds. Such causal manifolds are parametrized by
the classes of the positive unitary operations in all complex operations, i.e.
by the homogenous spaces \D(n)=\GL(\C^n_\R)/\U(n) with for mechanics
and for relativistic fields. The rank gives the number of both the
discrete and continuous invariants used in the harmonic analysis, i.e. two
characteristic masses in the relativistic case. 'Canonical' field theories with
the familiar divergencies are inappropriate realizations of the real
4-dimensional causal manifold \D(2). Faithful timespace realizations do not
lead to divergencies. In general they are reducible, but nondecomposable - in
addition to representations with eigenvectors (states, particle) they
incorporate principal vectors without a particle (eigenvector) basis as
exemplified by the Coulomb field.Comment: 36 pages, latex, macros include
Selfdual 2-form formulation of gravity and classification of energy-momentum tensors
It is shown how the different irreducibility classes of the energy-momentum
tensor allow for a Lagrangian formulation of the gravity-matter system using a
selfdual 2-form as a basic variable. It is pointed out what kind of
difficulties arise when attempting to construct a pure spin-connection
formulation of the gravity-matter system. Ambiguities in the formulation
especially concerning the need for constraints are clarified.Comment: title changed, extended versio
Transversely Driven Charge Density Waves and Striped Phases of High-T Superconductors: The Current Effect Transistor
We show that a normal (single particle) current density {\em
transverse} to the ordering wavevector of a charge density
wave (CDW) has dramatic effects both above and {\em below} the CDW depinning
transition. It exponentially (in ) enhances CDW correlations, and
exponentially suppresses the longitudinal depinning field. The intermediate
longitudinal I-V relation also changes, acquiring a {\em linear} regime. We
propose a novel ``current effect transistor'' whose CDW channel is turned on by
a transverse current. Our results also have important implications for the
recently proposed ``striped phase'' of the high-T superconductors.Comment: change of title and minor corrections, 4 RevTeX pgs, to appear in
Phys. Rev. Lett., 81, 3711 (1998
Thermal Rounding of the Charge Density Wave Depinning Transition
The rounding of the charge density wave depinning transition by thermal noise
is examined. Hops by localized modes over small barriers trigger
``avalanches'', resulting in a creep velocity much larger than that expected
from comparing thermal energies with typical barriers. For a field equal to the
depinning field, the creep velocity is predicted to have a {\em
power-law} dependence on the temperature ; numerical computations confirm
this result. The predicted order of magnitude of the thermal rounding of the
depinning transition is consistent with rounding seen in experiment.Comment: 12 pages + 3 Postscript figure
On the spectrum of Farey and Gauss maps
In this paper we introduce Hilbert spaces of holomorphic functions given by
generalized Borel and Laplace transforms which are left invariant by the
transfer operators of the Farey map and its induced version, the Gauss map,
respectively. By means of a suitable operator-valued power series we are able
to study simultaneously the spectrum of both these operators along with the
analytic properties of the associated dynamical zeta functions.Comment: 23 page
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