Open Access

The separation of nitrogen and methane from hydrogen-rich mixtures is systematically investigated on a recently developed binder-free zeolite 5A. For this adsorbent, the present work provides a series of experimental data on adsorption isotherms and breakthrough curves of nitrogen and methane, as well as their mixtures in hydrogen. Isotherms were measured at temperatures of 283–313 K and pressures of up to 1.0 MPa. Breakthrough curves of CH4, N2, and CH4/N2 in H2 were obtained at temperatures of 300–305 K and pressures ranging from 0.1 to 6.05 MPa with different feed concentrations. An LDF-based model was developed to predict breakthrough curves using measured and calculated data as inputs. The number of parameters and the use of correlations were restricted to focus on the importance of measured values. For the given assumptions, the results show that the model predictions agree satisfactorily with the experiments under the different operating conditions applied.

As in several other industrialized countries, Germany’s statutory health insurance (SHI) is facing rising healthcare costs as well as the challenges caused by a double-aging society. The early detection and prevention of chronic diseases is considered a possible way to reduce the impact of these developments. However, controversy surrounds the costs and effects in terms of medical and financial outcomes of such programmes.

The engineering company Evomotiv GmbH and the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg have developed a drive concept for light city scooters since 2008. The electrical drive train's goal is the series production of the highly-integrated, non-transmission and non-ferrous wheel-hub motor. The German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology (BMWi) supports this project. The concept of this wheel-hub motor was awarded with the Bosch-Innovation prize in 2006. In 2011 Evomotiv will test the first prototypes with its cooperation partners on the track.

We report the fabrication and characterization of glucose-tolerant Raney-platinum cathodes for oxygen reduction in potentially implantable glucose fuel. Fabricated by extraction of aluminum from 1 μm thin platinum–aluminum bi-layers annealed at 300 °C, the novel cathodes show excellent resistance against hydrolytic and oxidative attack. This renders them superior over previous cathodes fabricated from hydrogel-bound catalyst particles. Annealing times of 60, 120, and 240 min result in approximately 400–550 nm thin porous films (roughness factors ∼100–150), which contain platinum and aluminum in a ratio of ∼9:1. Aluminum release during electrode operation can be expected to have no significant effect on physiological normal levels, which promises good biocompatibility. Annealing time has a distinct influence on the density of trenches formed in the cathode. Higher trench densities lead to lower electrode potentials in the presence of glucose. This suggests that glucose sensitivity is governed by mixed potential formation resulting from oxygen depletion within the trenches. During performance characterization the diffusion resistance to be expected from tissue capsule formation upon electrode implantation was taken into account by placing a membrane in front of the cathode. Despite the resulting limited oxygen supply, cathodes prepared by annealing for 60 min show more positive electrode potentials than previous cathodes fabricated from hydrogel-bound activated carbon. Compared to operation in phosphate buffered saline containing 3.0 mM glucose, a potential loss of approximately 120 mV occurs in artificial tissue fluid. This can be reduced to approximately 90 mV with a protective Nafion layer that is easily electro-coated onto the Raney-platinum film.

Thin-layer chromatography is a rapid and reliable working method for quantification of mycotoxins which is suitable for checking EC legislation aflatoxin limits for dried figs without an RP-18 pre-column cleaning step. We describe normal-phase chromatography on silica gel plates with 2.4:0.05:0.1:0.05 ( v/v ) methyl t -butyl ether-water-methanol-cyclohexane as mobile phase and reversed-phase chromatography on RP-18 plates with methanol-4% aqueous ZnSO 4 solution-ethyl methyl ketone 15:15:3 ( v/v ) as mobile phase. Sample pretreatment was by modified QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, Safe) extraction with tetrahydrofuran or acetone. NaCl was used as QuEChERS salt. Response was a linear function of amount chromatographed in the ranges 3 to 100 pg per zone for aflatoxins B 2 and G 2 , 10 to 350 pg per zone for the aflatoxins B 1 and G 1 , and 0.25 to 2.5 ng per zone for ochratoxin A. Quantification limits for the aflatoxins were between 13 and 35 pg per zone (equivalent to 1.5 and 2.4 ppb, taking the pre-treatment procedure into account). Ochratoxin A was detectable with a limit of quantification of 970 pg per zone, corresponding to 56 ppb in the sample. Normal phase and RP-18 separations work rapidly, reliably, and at low cost. They are also suitable for checking the content of the mycotoxins patulin, penicillic acid, zearalenone, and deoxynivalenol.

An interlaboratory comparison was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of a method based on HPTLC in which reagent-free derivatization is followed by UV/fluorescence detection. The method was tested for the determination of sucralose (C12H19C13O8; (2R,3R,4R,5S,6R)-2-[(2R,3S,4S,5S)-2,5-bis(chloromethyl)-3,4-dihydroxyoxolan-2-yl]oxy-5-chloro-6-hydroxymethyl)oxane-3, 4-diol; CAS Registry No. 56038-13-2) in carbonated and still beverages at the proposed European regulatory limits. For still beverages, a portion of the sample was diluted with methanol-water. For carbonated beverages, a portion of the sample was degassed in an ultrasonic bath before dilution. Turbid beverages were filtered after dilution through an HPLC syringe filter. The separation of sucralose was performed by direct application on amino-bonded (NH2) silica gel HPTLC plates (no cleanup needed) with the mobile phase acetonitrile-water. Sucralose was determined after reagent-free derivatization at 190 degrees C; it was quantified by measurements of both UV absorption and fluorescence. The samples, both spiked and containing sucralose, were sent to 14 laboratories in five different countries. Test portions of a sample found to contain no sucralose were spiked at levels of 30.5, 100.7, and 299 mg/L. Recoveries ranged from 104.3 to 124.6% and averaged 112% for determination by UV detection; recoveries ranged from 98.4 to 101.3% and averaged 99.9% for determination by fluorescence detection. On the basis of the results for spiked samples (blind duplicates at three levels), as well as sucralose-containing samples (blind duplicates at three levels and one split level), the values for the RSDr ranged from 10.3 to 31.4% for determinations by UV detection and from 8.9 to 15.9% for determinations by fluorescence detection. The values for the RSDR values ranged from 13.5 to 31.4% for determinations by UV detection and from 8.9 to 20.7% for determinations by fluorescence detection.

Radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PA) are the most power consuming components of a mobile communications unit. They are used to convert the DC power from the battery into RF power delivered to the antenna. In a cell phone it becomes very important to use highly efficient power amplifiers, such as Class C and Class E PAs, to increase the talk time which is directly proportional to the battery life. On the other hand, these RF PAs are inherently nonlinear and produce spectral regrowth and other undesirable effects. Therefore, to exploit their high efficiency, it is desirable to employ linearization techniques to linearize their overall response. Linear model matching linearization techniques are investigated in this work to compensate for PA nonlinearities. The application of these techniques results in a controller architecture that delivers excellent linearity performance of compensated Class C PA models, making them very suitable in wideband digital communication systems that transmit multiple signals at high data rates, assuring that intermodulation distortion and spectral regrowth are minimized at the output of the power amplifier.

A diode array HPTLC method for dequalinium chloride in pharmaceutical preparations is presented. For separation a Nano TLC silica gel plate (Merck) is used with the mobile phase methanol-7.8% aqueous NH(4)(+)CH(3)COO(-) (17:3, v/v) over a distance of 6 cm. Dequalinium chloride shows an R(F) value of 0.58. Pure dequalinium chloride is measured in the wavelength range from 200 to 500 nm and shows several by-products, contour plot visualized in absorption, fluorescence and using the Kubelka-Munk transformation. Scanning of a single track in absorption and fluorescence measuring 600 spectra in the range from 200 to 1100 nm takes 30s. As a sample pre-treatment of an ointment it is simply dissolved in methanol and can be quantified in absorption from 315 to 340 nm. The same separation can also be quantified using fluorescence spectrometry in the range from 355 to 370 nm. A new staining method for dequalinium chloride, using sodium tetraphenyl borate/HCl in water allows a fluorescence quantification in the range from 445 to 485 nm. The linearity range of absorption and fluorescence measurements is from 10 to 2000 ng. Sugar-containing preparations like liquids or lozenges with a reduced sample pre-treatment can be reliably quantified only in fluorescence. The total for the quantification of an ointment sample (measuring four standards and five samples), including all sample pre-treatment steps takes less than 45 min!

Flows in nature and technology are often associated with specific structures and pattern. This paper deals with the development and behaviour of such flow pattern. Flow structures are important for the mass, momentum and energy transport. The behaviour of different flow pattern is used by engineers to obtain an efficient mass and energy consumption. Mechanical power is transmitted via the momentum of rotating machine parts. Therefore the physical and mathematical knowledge of these basic concepts is important. Theoretical and experimental investigations of principle experiments are described in the following. We start with the classical problem of the flow between two concentric cylinders where the inner cylinder rotates. Periodic instabilities occur which are called Taylor vortices. The analogy between the cylindrical gap flow, the heat transfer in a horizontal fluid layer exposed to the gravity field and the boundary layer flow along concave boundaries concerning their stability behaviour is addressed. The vortex breakdown phenomenon in a cylinder with rotating cover is also described. A generalization to spherical sectors leads then to investigations with different boundary conditions. The spherical gap flow exhibits interesting phenomena concerning the nonlinear character of the Navier-Stokes equations. Multiple solutions in the nonlinear regime give rise to different routes during the laminar-turbulent transition. The interaction of two rotating spheres results in flow structures with separation and stagnation lines. Experimental results are confirmed by numerical simulations.

A theoretical description is given for the propagation of surface acoustic wave pulses in anisotropic elastic media subject to the influence of nonlinearity. On the basis of nonlinear elasticity theory, an evolution equation is presented for the surface slope or the longitudinal surface velocity associated with an acoustic pulse. It contains a non-local nonlinearity, characterized by a kernel that strongly varies from one propagation geometry to another due to the anisotropy of the substrate. It governs pulse shape evolution in homogeneous halfspaces and the shapes of solitary surface pulses that exist in coated substrates. The theory describing nonlinear Rayleigh-type surface acoustic waves is extended in a straightforward way to surface waves that are localized at a one-dimensional acoustic waveguide like elastic wedges.