Application of Aminopolycarboxylic Complexes of V(IV) in Catalytic Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetry of Germanium

In the review, voltammetric analytical procedures that employ vanadium(IV) and aminopolycarboxylic complexes of V(IV) are presented and discussed. The focus of the paper is on the mechanism of vanadium-catalyzed reactions responsible for the amplification of the analytical signal of Ge(IV). The analytical efficacy of different catalytic systems is compared, and the optimal parameters of the respective procedures are reported.

Jittering: A computationally efficient method for generating realistic route networks from origin-destination data

Origin-destination (OD) data is a vital source of information on travel patterns but its utility is limited by reliance on zone centroids. This paper presents a reproducible and open two-stage ‘jittering’ approach to tackling this problem, which (1) uses random points to represent unique start and end points (sampling), and (2) splits OD pairs representing many trips into many ‘sub-OD’ pairs. We find that route networks generated from jittered OD data are more diffuse and potentially realistic based on an example from Edinburgh. Further work is needed to validate the approach and to find optimal parameters for sampling and disaggregation.

Pyroelectrometallurgical processing of bismuth-containing oxides

In this work, we substantiate and develop a general pyroelectrometallurgical technology for processing bismuth dross and oxides (the intermediate products of lead bullion refining by the Betterton-Kroll process) to obtain crude bismuth. The research focuses on bismuth dross (3–5% Bi; 80–85% Pb) remelted at 500–600°С in the presence of NaNO3 and NaOH, as well as the obtained alkaline melt (bismuth oxides, 1–5% Bi; 60–70% Pb). The conducted experiments allowed us to determine optimal parameters of the main steps of processing bismuth oxide, as well as the characteristics of obtained products. Reduction smelting of bismuth oxides at 1150°C (with the addition of sodium carbonate, quartz and fine coke in the amount of 66, 25 and 5% of bismuth oxides mass, respectively) is proposed, leading to bismuth lead formation. Its decoppering is carried out at 350–600°C with 2.0% sulfur (by its weight), added to the melt. We propose to carry out the alkaline treatment of the decoppered Pb-Bi alloy at 500oC in contact with sodium hydroxide, sodium nitrate and sodium chloride, taken in amounts up to 10.2, 8.3 and 1.4% by weight of bismuth lead, respectively. Subsequent electrolysis comprises electrolytic processing of purified Pb-Bi alloy ingots at 550oC. The electrolyte consists of a melt with the following composition, %: NaCl – 7, KCl – 35, PbCl2 – 18 and ZnCl2 – 40. As a result, two end products were obtained by the proposed bismuth oxide processing. The anodic product at the second stage of electrolysis, crude bismuth (yielded 1.1% by the weight of oxides) contains 93.62% Bi and 4.14% Pb, extraction from oxides amounts to 19.0% Bi and 0.1% Pb. About 1.2% Bi and 9.1% Pb of their initial content in the oxides are transferred to the cathodic product containing 0.033% Bi and 97.83% Pb (the yield equalled 5.1% of the oxides).

Dynamic participation in local energy communities with peer-to-peer trading

Background: Energy communities and local electricity markets (e.g., as peer-to-peer trading) are on the rise due to increasingly decentralized electricity generation and favorable adjustment of the legal framework in many European countries. Methods: This work applies a bi-level optimization model for dynamic participation in peer-to-peer electricity trading to determine the optimal parameters of new participants who want to join an energy community, based on the preferences of the members of the original community (e.g., environmental, economic, or mixed preference). The upper-level problem chooses optimal parameters by minimizing an objective function that includes the prosumers' cost-saving and emission-saving preferences, while the lower level problem maximizes community welfare by optimally allocating locally generated photovoltaic (PV) electricity between members according to their willingness-to-pay. The bi-level problem is solved by transforming the lower level problem by its corresponding Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions. Results: The results demonstrate that environment-oriented prosumers opt for a new prosumer with high PV capacities installed and low electricity demand, whereas profit-oriented prosumers prefer a new member with high demand but no PV system capacity, presenting a new source of income. Sensitivity analyses indicate that new prosumers' willingness-to-pay has an important influence when the community must decide between two new members. Conclusions: The added value of this work is that the proposed method can be seen as a basis for a selection process between a large number of potential new community members. Most important future work will include optimization of energy communities over the horizon several years.

A Simple and Efficient Mechanical Cell Disruption Method Using Glass Beads to Extract β-Glucans from Spent Brewer’s Yeast

β-glucan extraction from spent brewer’s yeast is a long process that starts with the lysis of yeast cells, this step lasting up to 36 h and can be disadvantageous when working on a small scale. In this study, a rapid cell rupture method was selected for the lysis of spent brewer’s yeast to obtain β-glucans. Optimal parameters were determined for the lysis of a cellular suspension of spent brewer’s yeast by vortexing with glass beads. Thus, parameters such as the number of 10 min vortex cycles from 1 to 3, the concentration of cell suspension (5, 10, and 15%), and the ratio of yeast/glass beads (1:1, 1:2, and 1:3) were varied in a Box-Behnken design. A cell lysis mechanism using glass beads allows the cell to rupture and permits the removal of intracellular content. An increase in yeast suspension concentration decreased the disruption efficiency, while a proportional increase was observed with the yeast/glass beads ratio and the increasing number of vortexing cycles. The optimal parameters for cell lysis were found to be a cell suspension concentration of 5%, a ratio of yeast/glass beads of 1:2, and a vortexing cycle of 3, with a disruption efficiency of 99.8%. The β-glucan fraction extracted from the optimal sample showed characteristic absorption bands at 1370.77 and 1153.92 cm−1, the content of β-glucan being 78.53%.

INVESTIGATION OF TUNGSTEN SURFACE CARBIDIZATION UNDER PLASMA IRRADIATION

This paper presents the results of a study of the formation of a carbidized layer under various experimental conditions and the choice of optimal parameters for carbidization of a tungsten surface under plasma irradiation. To study the effect of the surface temperature of a tungsten sample and the duration of plasma irradiation, experiments were carried out at a sample surface temperature of 1300 °C and 1700 °C with an irradiation duration of 300–2400 s. Analysis of the research results showed that the maximum formation of W2C on the surface is observed at a test temperature of 1700 °C. At a temperature of 1300 °C, the phase composition of the carbidized layer depends on the duration of plasma irradiation. According to the literature analysis, the formation of WC occurs on the surface of tungsten, from which C diffuses into the particle and forms the underlying layer of W2C. With an increase in the ion fluence, depending on the irradiation time and the temperature of the sample surface, the diffusion of C into W accelerates, the WC content decreases, and W2C becomes the dominant carbide compound.

Theoretical fabrication of subwavelength structures by surface plasmon interference based on complementary grating

This paper presents a surface plasmon interference lithography technique based on the complementary grating, which comprises silicon gratings and complementary aluminum grating masks, for fabricating subwavelength structures. In this theoretical study, the optimal parameters of the complementary grating structure were determined using the reflectance spectrum. The optical field distributions of one- and two-dimensional subwavelength structures were obtained using the finite-difference time-domain method and rotation-related formulas. The results of numerical evaluations show that a one-dimensional periodic structure with a half-pitch resolution of 60.5 nm (approximately [Formula: see text]/6.7) can be fabricated. In addition, subwavelength structures can be diversified using different rotation methods to expose the photolithography samples, such as square dot arrays and quasi-hexagonal closely packed structures. The proposed method combines surface plasmon interference with sample rotation, thereby enabling fabrication of abundant subwavelength structures.

Optimal Spindle Detection Parameters for Predicting Cognitive Performance

Study Objectives Alterations in sleep spindles have been linked to cognitive impairment. This finding has contributed to a growing interest in identifying sleep-based biomarkers of cognition and neurodegeneration, including sleep spindles. However, flexibility surrounding spindle definitions and algorithm parameter settings present a methodological challenge. The aim of this study was to characterize how spindle detection parameter settings influence the association between spindle features and cognition and to identify parameters with the strongest association with cognition. Methods Adult patients (n=167, 49 ± 18 years) completed the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery after undergoing overnight diagnostic polysomnography recordings for suspected sleep disorders. We explored 1000 combinations across seven parameters in Luna, an open-source spindle detector, and used four features of detected spindles (amplitude, density, duration, and peak frequency) to fit linear multiple regression models to predict cognitive scores. Results Spindle features (amplitude, density, duration, and mean frequency) were associated with the ability to predict raw fluid cognition scores (r=0.503) and age-adjusted fluid cognition scores (r=0.315) with the best spindle parameters. Fast spindle features generally showed better performance relative to slow spindle features. Spindle features weakly predicted total cognition and poorly predicted crystallized cognition regardless of parameter settings. Conclusion Our exploration of spindle detection parameters identified optimal parameters for studies of fluid cognition and revealed the role of parameter interactions for both slow and fast spindles. Our findings support sleep spindles as a sleep-based biomarker of fluid cognition.

Лидарная система комбинационного рассеяния света для зондирования молекул водорода в атмосфере

Computer simulation of the Raman lidar equation for measurement of the hydrogen molecules at the concentration level of 1013 cm-3 and higher in atmosphere at the ranging distances up to 100 m in the synchronous photon counting mode and selection of such a lidar optimal parameters have been fulfilled. It is shown that for hydrogen molecules concentration of N(z)=1013 cm-3 measurement at the distances from 5 to 100 m the measurement time t is in the range from 3.83 s to 26.5 min, for measurement of concentration N(z) = 1015 cm-3 - from 38 ms to 15.9 s and for the concentration measurement of N(z) = 1017 cm-3 - already from 0.4 ms to 160 ms, respectively.