7,454 research outputs found
Modeling of DBT Biodesulfurization by Resting Cells of Gordonia sp. WQ-01A Immobilized in Alginate Gel Beads in an Oil-water-immobilization System
In this study, the resting cells of Gordonia sp. WQ-01A, a DBT-desulfurizing strain, were immobilized by calcium alginate. Batch DBT biodesulfurization experiments using immobilized cells and n-dodecane as the oil phase were conducted in fermenter under
varying operating conditions such as initial DBT concentration, bead loading and the oil phase volume fraction. When the initial DBT concentration is 0.5, 1 and 5 mmol L-1, the DBT concentration dropped almost to zero after t = 40, 60 and 100 hours, respectively.
The influence of bead loading and the oil-phase volume fraction was small to the DBT biodesulfurization. Furthermore, a mathematical model was proposed to simulate the batch DBT biodesulfurization process in an oil-water-immobilization system, which took
into account the internal and external mass transfer resistances of DBT and oxygen, and the intrinsic kinetics of bacteria. To validate this model, the comparison between the model simulations and the experimental measurements of DBT concentration profiles in
the oil phase was carried out and the agreement is very good. In addition, the time and radius courses of DBT and oxygen concentrations within the alginate gel beads were reasonably
predicted by the proposed model
Intrinsic Josephson junctions in the iron-based multi-band superconductor (V2Sr4O6)Fe2As2
In layered superconductors, Josephson junctions may be formed within the unit
cell due to sufficiently low interlayer coupling. These intrinsic Josephson
junction (iJJ) systems have attracted considerable interest for their
application potential in quantum computing as well as efficient sources of THz
radiation, closing the famous "THz gap". So far, iJJ have been demonstrated in
single-band, copper-based high-Tc superconductors, mainly in Ba-Sr-Ca-Cu-O.
Here we report clear experimental evidence for iJJ behavior in the iron-based
superconductor (V2Sr4O6)Fe2As2. The intrinsic junctions are identified by
periodic oscillations of the flux flow voltage upon increasing a well aligned
in-plane magnetic field. The periodicity is well explained by commensurability
effects between the Josephson vortex lattice and the crystal structure, which
is a hallmark signature of Josephson vortices confined into iJJ stacks. This
finding adds (V2Sr4O6)Fe2As2 as the first iron-based, multi-band superconductor
to the copper-based iJJ materials of interest for Josephson junction
applications, and in particular novel devices based on multi-band Josephson
coupling may be realized.Comment: Accepted in Nature Physic
Color-flavor locked strangelets in a quark mass density-dependent model
The color-flavor locked (CFL) phase of strangelets is investigated in a quark
mass density-dependent model. Parameters are determined by stability arguments.
It is concluded that three solutions to the system equations can be found,
corresponding, respectively, to positively charged, negatively charged, and
nearly neutral CFL strangelets. The charge to baryon number of the positively
charged strangelets is smaller than the previous result, while the charge of
the negatively charged strangelets is nearly proportional in magnitude to the
cubic-root of the baryon number. However, the positively charged strangelets
are more stable compared to the other two solutions.Comment: 11 pages,7 figures, Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Thermodynamics with density and temperature dependent particle masses and properties of bulk strange quark matter and strangelets
Thermodynamic formulas for investigating systems with density and/or
temperature dependent particle masses are generally derived from the
fundamental derivation equality of thermodynamics. Various problems in the
previous treatments are discussed and modified. Properties of strange quark
matter in bulk and strangelets at both zero and finite temperature are then
calculated based on the new thermodynamic formulas with a new quark mass
scaling, which indicates that low mass strangelets near beta equilibrium are
multi-quark states with an anti-strange quark, such as the pentaquark
(u^2d^2\bar{s}) for baryon nmber 1 and the octaquark (u^4d^3\bar{s}) for
dibaryon etc.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, Revtex4 styl
Using value added feedback for accountability and school improvement purposes: evidence from China
Paper Presented at 11th UKFIET international conference on education and development : Global Challenges for Education: Economics, Environment and Emergency, Theme: Education for good governance and sustainability and Subtheme:
Governance, incentives and accountability in education: tackling poor performance and
corruption Oxford 13 - 15 September 2011.This paper examines the potential use of Value Added measures of school effectiveness and
other related data for the purpose of informing and enhancing the impact of strategies to raise
educational quality in China. In particular new approaches to accountability and school
improvement are explored as a way of tackling poor school and student performance.
Evidence is drawn from two recent DFID/ESRC funded projects: “Improving Educational
Evaluation and Quality in China” and “Improving Teacher Development and Educational
Quality in China”. Qualitative interviews with key stakeholders have been conducted and
quantitative evidence of statistically significant differences in senior school effectiveness has
been demonstrated in three eastern and western regions. The findings indicate that Value
Added measures can provide a valid and relevant measure of educational quality in China,
similar to the conclusions drawn from equivalent evidence in other countries such as UK.
Moreover, the Value Added concept and measurement approach are seen as a more scientific
and welcome addition to current methods of evaluating Chinese schools and teachers,
although nevertheless it is essential to take account of local priorities and contexts in China
when considering any new evaluation systems. The key question of whether Value Added
measures of school effectiveness would be most useful or appropriate within a public
accountability framework or as a means to enhance confidential feedback for school selfevaluation
and improvement initiatives, or alternatively for both purposes is discussed. The
challenges and barriers to introducing new accountability and school improvement measures
and reforms in China is also discussed
(Sr_3Sc_2O_5)Fe_2As_2 as a possible parent compound for FeAs-based superconductors
A new compound with the FeAs-layers, namely (Sr_3Sc_2O_5)Fe_2As_2
(abbreviated as FeAs-32522), was successfully fabricated. It has a layered
structure with the space group of I4/mmm, and with the lattice constants a =
4.069 and c = 26.876 . The in-plane Fe ions construct a square
lattice which is close to that of other FeAs-based superconductors, such as
REFeAsO (RE = rare earth elements) and (Ba,Sr)Fe_2As_2. However the inter
FeAs-layer spacing in the new compound is greatly enlarged. The temperature
dependence of resistivity exhibits a weak upturn in the low temperature region,
but a metallic behavior was observed above about 60 K. The magnetic
susceptibility shows also a non-monotonic behavior. Interestingly, the
well-known resistivity anomaly which was discovered in all other parent
compounds, such as REFeAsO, (Ba,Sr)Fe_2As_2 and (Sr,Ca,Eu)FeAsF and associated
with the Spin-Density-Wave (SDW)/structural transition has not been found in
the new system either on the resistivity data or the magnetization data. This
could be induced by the large spacing distance between the FeAs-planes,
therefore the antiferromagnetic correlation between the moments of Fe ions in
neighboring FeAs-layers cannot be established. Alternatively it can also be
attributed to the self-doping effect between Fe and Sc ions. The Hall
coefficient R_H is negative but strongly temperature dependent in wide
temperature region, which indicates the dominance of electrical conduction by
electron-like charge carriers and probably a multi-band effect or a spin
related scattering effect. It is found that the magnetoresistance cannot be
described by the Kohler's rule, which gives further support to above arguments.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, some contents added, and one figure adde
Spin-orbit scattering in quantum diffusion of massive Dirac fermions
Effect of spin-orbit scattering on quantum diffusive transport of
two-dimensional massive Dirac fermions is studied by the diagrammatic
technique. The quantum diffusion of massive Dirac fermions can be viewed as a
singlet Cooperon in the massless limit and a triplet Cooperon in the large-mass
limit. The spin-orbit scattering behaves like random magnetic fields only to
the triplet Cooperon, and suppresses the weak localization of Dirac fermions in
the large-mass regime. This behavior suggests an experiment to detect the weak
localization of bulk subbands in topological insulator thin films, in which a
narrowing of the cusp of the negative magnetoconductivity is expected after
doping heavy-element impurities. Finally, a detailed comparison between the
conventional two-dimensional electrons and Dirac fermions is presented for
impurities of orthogonal, symplectic, and unitary symmetries.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. To be submitted, comments are welcom
Hall effect and magnetoresistance in single crystals of NdFeAsOF
Hall effect and magnetoresistance have been measured on single crystals of
with x = 0 ( = 0 K) and x = 0.18 ( = 50 K). For the undoped samples, strong Hall effect and magnetoresistance with
strong temperature dependence were found below about 150 K. The
magnetoresistance was found to be as large as 30% at 15 K at a magnetic field
of 9 T. From the transport data we found that the transition near 155 K was
accomplished in two steps: first one occurs at 155 K which may be associated
with the structural transition, the second one takes place at about 140 K which
may correspond to the spin-density wave like transition. In the superconducting
sample with = 50 K, it is found that the Hall coefficient also reveals
a strong temperature dependence with a negative sign. But the magnetoresistance
becomes very weak and does not satisfy the Kohler's scaling law. These
dilemmatic results (strong Hall effect and very weak magnetoresistance) prevent
to understand the normal state electric conduction by a simple multi-band model
by taking account the electron and hole pockets. Detailed analysis further
indicates that the strong temperature dependence of cannot be easily
understood with the simple multi-band model either. A picture concerning a
suppression to the density of states at the Fermi energy in lowering
temperature is more reasonable. A comparison between the Hall coefficient of
the undoped sample and the superconducting sample suggests that the doping may
remove the nesting condition for the formation of the SDW order, since both
samples have very similar temperature dependence above 175 K.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure
- …