46,745 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
NMR Probing Spin Excitations in the Ring-Like Structure of a Two-Subband System
Resistively detected nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is observed inside the
ring-like structure, with a quantized Hall conductance of 6e^2/h, in the phase
diagram of a two subband electron system. The NMR signal persists up to 400 mK
and is absent in other states with the same quantized Hall conductance. The
nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time, T1, is found to decrease rapidly towards
the ring center. These observations are consistent with the assertion of the
ring-like region being a ferromagnetic state that is accompanied by collective
spin excitations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Degree of hydration-based creep modeling of concrete with blended binders : from concept to real applications
The mechanical behavior of hardening concrete is to a large extent determined by the evolving microstructure as a result of the hydration process. For traditional binder systems, consisting of Portland cement or blast furnace slag cement, the degree of hydration is known to be a fundamental parameter in this respect, enabling a detailed study and accurate prediction of the early-age mechanical behavior, including basic creep. Nowadays, in view of improved sustainability of cementitious materials, binder systems tend to become more complex, consisting of a blend of different powders. As the hydration process and microstructure development are influenced by the inclusion of powders into the binder, the question is raised whether the degree of hydration concept is still applicable to concrete based on complex blended binder systems. In this paper, some experimental results are summarized and the application to real structures is illustrated. Basic creep of hardening concrete with complex blended binders can still be modeled following the degree of hydration concept
Large magnetoresistance in bcc Co/MgO/Co and FeCo/MgO/FeCo tunneling junctions
By use of first-principles electronic structure calculations, we predict that
the magnetoresistance of the bcc Co(100)/MgO(100)/bcc Co(100) and
FeCo(100)/MgO(100)/FeCo(100) tunneling junctions can be several times larger
than the very large magnetoresistance predicted for the
Fe(100)/MgO(100)/Fe(100) system. The origin of this large magnetoresistance can
be understood using simple physical arguments by considering the electrons at
the Fermi energy travelling perpendicular to the interfaces. For the minority
spins there is no state with symmetry whereas for the majority spins
there is only a state. The state decays much more slowly
than the other states within the MgO barrier. In the absence of scattering
which breaks the conservation of momentum parallel to the interfaces, the
electrons travelling perpendicular to the interfaces undergo total reflection
if the moments of the electrodes are anti-parallel. These arguments apply
equally well to systems with other well ordered tunnel barriers and for which
the most slowly decaying complex energy band in the barrier has
symmetry. Examples include systems with (100) layers constructed from Fe, bcc
Co, or bcc FeCo electrodes and Ge, GaAs, or ZnSe barriers.Comment: 8 figure files in eps forma
Critical behaviours of contact near phase transitions
A central quantity of importance for ultracold atoms is contact, which
measures two-body correlations at short distances in dilute systems. It appears
in universal relations among thermodynamic quantities, such as large momentum
tails, energy, and dynamic structure factors, through the renowned Tan
relations. However, a conceptual question remains open as to whether or not
contact can signify phase transitions that are insensitive to short-range
physics. Here we show that, near a continuous classical or quantum phase
transition, contact exhibits a variety of critical behaviors, including scaling
laws and critical exponents that are uniquely determined by the universality
class of the phase transition and a constant contact per particle. We also use
a prototypical exactly solvable model to demonstrate these critical behaviors
in one-dimensional strongly interacting fermions. Our work establishes an
intrinsic connection between the universality of dilute many-body systems and
universal critical phenomena near a phase transition.Comment: Final version published in Nat. Commun. 5:5140 doi:
10.1038/ncomms6140 (2014
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