The focus of the presented research is to examine the fundamental physics and chemistry of low-energy electron-stimulated reactions on adsorbate covered single crystal surfaces. Specifically, condensed SiCl₄ on the Si(111) surface and condensed H₂O on the TiO₂ (110) surface have been studied. By varying adsorbate film thicknesses, the coupling strength of the target molecule to the substrate and surrounding media dictates the progression of the electron induced reactions. To investigate the electron interactions with SiCl₄ on the Si(111) surface, desorbing cations and neutrals were detected via time of flight mass spectrometry (ToF-MS) where neutral chlorine atoms were ionized using a resonance enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI) technique. Structure in the cation and neutral yields were assigned to molecular excitations. At an incident electron energy of 10 eV, a resonance structure in the neutral yields was attributed to a negative ion resonance and observed in thick and thin films of SiCl₄. With monoenergetic electrons, specific surface reactions can be controlled which have implications for film growth, surface patterning and masking, and etching. For the H₂O/TiO₂ (110) system, the water interactions with the TiO₂ surface are revealed through the strong electron induced reaction dependencies on the water coverage. Understanding the nonthermal reaction landscape of H₂O on the TiO₂ (110) surface is crucial for developing the system as a catalytic source of hydrogen. The electron-stimulated oxidation of the TiO₂ (110) surface and electron induced sputtering of H ₂O was investigated. Irradiation of water films ([coverage]< 3 ML) oxidized the TiO₂ (110) surface similarly as surface oxidation via O₂ deposition. Each H₂O molecule in the first monolayer seems to be a target for the incoming electron initiating the oxidation. However, water coverages greater than a monolayer limited the oxidation process. The electron-stimulated desorption and sputtering yields of water from the TiO₂ (110) surface were measured as a function of water coverage. Surprisingly, the amount of water sputtered from the surface is nonlinearly dependent on water coverage.

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of sulfur compounds (S and Na2S) for powdered activated carbon derived from carbon black of pyrolyzed waste tires (CPBAC). Besides, this study investigated the distribution of impregnated sulfur in the inner pores of activated carbon and its effected on the specific surface area and pore size distribution. This study investigated the fundamental mechanisms by analysis of thermodynamic properties and to establish the kinetic models for the adsorption/desorption of HgCl2 by/from sulfur impregnated CBPAC. Furthermore, this study investigated the adsorptive and desorption capacity of HgCl2 onto CPBAC via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Experimental results indicated that the specific surface area of sulfur impregnated CBPAC with elemental S (S0) was larger than sulfur impregnated CBPAC with Na2S. Besides, the sulfur content of sulfur impregnated CBPAC increased with increasing the surface area of CBPAC under the same impregnated temperature. And, the adsorptive capacity of CBPAC increased with the increase of influent HgCl2 concentration and surface area of the activated carbon. According to the experimental results of the adsorption capacity under the differential sulfur content, its indicated that the affection of sulfur content for adsorption capacity of HgCl2 was much than HgCl2 concentration and surface area of the activated carbon. The desorption energys were 266 and 282 kJ/mole for HgCl2 desorption from saturated CBPAC-S0 and CBPAC-Na2S, respectively. The results showed the process of HgCl2 adsorption onto CBPAC was in favor of a physisorbed state of HgCl2 at the adsorption temperature of 150 oC but the process of HgCl2 adsorption onto CBPAC which impregated was in favor of a chemisorbed state of HgCl2 at the adsorption of 150 oC. The value of ∆G for CBPAC at the adsorption temperature of 30 ~150 oC were ranged from -15.28 kJ/mole to -26.63 kJ/mole. The value of ∆G for CBPAC-S0 at the adsorption temperature of 30~150 oC ranged from -23.45 kJ/mole to -32.09 kJ/mole. The value of ∆G for CBPAC-Na2S at the adsorption temperature of 30~150 oC ranged from -22.84 kJ/mole to -32.72 kJ/mole. The results showed negative values of ∆G confirmed the feasibility of adsorption process and the spontaneous nature for the adsorption of HgCl2. The value of ∆H for CBPAC at the adsorption temperature of 30 ~150 oC ranged from -35.58 kJ/mole to -35.82 kJ/mole. The value of ∆H for CBPAC-S0 at the adsorption temperature of 30 ~150 oC ranged from -38.07 kJ/mole to -52.49 kJ/mole. The value of ∆H for CBPAC-Na2S at the adsorption temperature of 30~150 oC was -37.45 kJ/mole to -53.12 kJ/mole. A negative ∆H suggested that the adsorption of HgCl2 is an exothermic process. Besides, the adsorptive behavior of HgCl2 for two activated carbons (CBPAC-Na2S and CBPAC-S0) at high temperature (110 ¢J and 150 ¢J ) was the same chemical reaction mechanism due to the same ∆H. Besides, the results of model simulation indicated that modified adsorption kinetic model based on pore diffusion scheme developed in this study could successfully simulate the transport and adsorption of HgCl2 by considering the chemical reaction within the inner pores of carbon grains at 150 oC.

The ultimate objective of this research was to develop a low cost, reliable system that would lead to early detection of lung cancer. Tests involved the quantitation of gaseous metabolic emissions from immortalized lung cancer cell lines in order to correlate the chemical markers to be of cancerous origin. The specific aims of the project were the study of gas emissions in selected cancer cell lines and identification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in them. Disadvantages of earlier studies were that the measurements were not real time or state specific so that molecular identification was often inconclusive. Furthermore the methods of study used in the past were not quantitative, which limited their practicality for medical applications. We felt the need to prove or disprove these earlier results using a new technique. The method we proposed is different and unique when compared to previous methods because cell lines have not been studied extensively for cancer markers. We have studied cancer cell lines which are adherent, immortalized cultures originating from primary tumors obtained from patients with no prior treatment for lung cancer. We have used an alternative method for the spectrometric analysis and quantitation of the selected chemical markers. The pre-concentration method involved a Purge and Trap unit with a thermal desorber where the vapor concentration was enhanced. The concentrated head space gases were analyzed using a Gas Chromatograph ?? Mass Spectrometer setup. This setup eliminated the bulky apparatus used in earlier studies. It is simpler in design and more comprehensive so that external factors such as patient??s diet, habitat and lifestyle do not contribute to our study of recognition of cancer markers. Based on the results obtained in the above experiments, a more comprehensive, inexpensive study of lung cancer related markers could be made. The first section, after giving an introduction to lung cancer, goes on to explain the background work done by other researchers on cancer. The third section gives a detailed explanation of the experimental setup. This is followed by all the tests conducted with corresponding results. The final section deals with the conclusions drawn from all experiments.

<p>Coatings for exterior wood have two basic functions. One isto give an aesthetically acceptable surface appearance andcolour. The other is to provide protection against wooddegradation by microbiological or physical attack. Theseprotective properties, often called the barrier properties,play an important role in the selection of proper material forsupreme durability. The assessment of these barrier propertiesis of great importance. Within the CEN Technical Committee 139,Working Group 2, Coatings for exterior wood test methods andperformance specifications have been established. Forassessment of water protection efficiency a standard testprocedure, EN 927-5, has been launched. The present work hasfocused on its applicability in assessing water protectionefficiency in relation to the degradation of coatings duringexposure.</p><p>Assessments according to EN 927-5 is shown to givesignificant differences in water absorption values fordifferent types of coatings on wood. The proposed performancespecifications in ENV 927 - 2 for the water absorption valuesfor coatings to be used in different constructions seem to beset at acceptable levels. It has been shown that there is agood correlation between the level of water absorption andpractical experience of the performance of paints inScandinavia. However, it has also been shown that thecombination of a standard procedure for water absorptionmeasurement and an artificial weathering procedure gives moreinformation regarding expected durability and longtermperformance than a single measurement of water absorption onfresh, unweathered coated wood. A combination of waterabsorption measurement and artificial weathering could become auseful tool in product development as well as in benchmarking.Together with statistical tools, such as reliability-basedservice life prediction methodologies for predicting theservice life of coating systems a reduction in testing timesmay be achieved.</p><p>Surface-active substances in coatings have a negative effecton the coatings ability to prevent water ingress, which mostprobably is due to the hydrophilic character of thesesubstances. The presence of these substances, which are commonin waterborne coatings, alters the moisture sorptioncharacteristics of wood. Considering that these substancesoccur in waterborne coatings, may be mobilised during and afterfilm formation and accumulate at the coating/substrateinterface, there is a great probability that these substanceschange the moisture sorption characteristics of the woodsubstrate in an unfavourable way and create unexpected dynamicmoisture conditions at the coating/wood interface.</p><p>Computerized tomography has been found to be a valuable,non-destructive tool for visualising the spatial moisturedistribution of water and moisture in coated wood panels. Themethod is suitable for recurrent testing of a specimen exposedto a series of processes of wetting, drying. This thesis showsthat high moisture contents occur locally at and around cracks.In these areas there is an increased risk of internal tensionand stress resulting in crack initiation and propagation andthat high moisture contents may occur in the first fewmillimetres under waterborne coatings despite intact coatingfilms. Even with good barrier properties of the coating,moisture may accumulate by water-vapour absorption in air gapsbehind the cladding thus causing favourable conditions formicrobiological colonization.</p><p>The work that has been carried out regarding assessment ofthe water protection efficiency shows promising resultsregarding the possibility to use reliability-based service lifeprediction methodology for the assessment. The aim of futurework will be to establish more reliable techniques andprotocols for assessing service life expectancy and durability,especially for waterborne coatings with special focus ontendencies to early failure and robustness of the coatingsystems.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Coatings, surfactants, water absorption value,EN 927, paint, additives, moisture dynamics, absorption,desorption, artificial weathering, artificial exposure,computerized tomography, MRI.</p>

Identification of fungi is based on macroscopic observations of morphology and microscopic characteristics. These conventional methods are time-consuming and requires expert knowledge. For the past years Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry has been used for routine bacterial identification in clinical laboratories but not yet in the same extension for fungi. In this study three preanalytic preparation methods for fungi were evaluated in order to shorten the processing time in routine laboratory performance. Clinically relevant strains (n=18) of molds and dermatophytes were cultivated on agar plates and prepared according to the different preparation methods for protein extraction. Each strain was analyzed in quadruplicate by the MALDI Biotyper and the database Filamentous Fungi Library 1.0. The results showed that the genus and species identification rates of the least time-consuming direct extraction method were 33% and 11% respectively. Using the formic acid extraction method, the genus and species identification rates were 83% and 44%, respectively. For the longest sample preparation method, liquid media culturing before formic acid extraction, successfully identified all strains except one, which resulted in an identification rate of 94% and 78% respectively. This study shows that preparing samples in cultured liquid media MADLI-TOF MS effectively identified fungal strains to both genus- and species-level. This method was however too time-consuming and cumbersome to be recommended as a replacement to the conventional method. Future studies should be aimed at expanding the reference library and making the direct extraction method more reproducible in terms of obtaining more reliable identification rates.

No description available.

Previous studies on wood instability have identified some wood basic properties which influence the timber distortion and shape changes while the wood is losing or gaining moisture. These properties include wood anisotropic shrinkage, equilibrium moisture content (EMC) in both desorption and adsorption, fibre saturation point (FSP) and water diffusion coefficient. This study investigated the stability related wood properties and their variations within the stems of the New Zealand grown radiata pine trees. The basic density, EMC and shrinkage for the earlywood and the latewood were also experimentally determined. In taking into account these properties and their variations, an analytical model was developed to simulate the wood distortion. The equilibrium moisture content was determined at 30°C and humidity range from 27% to 90%. It was found that the EMC difference between the earlywood and the latewood was negligible. The experimental results also show that the EMC decreases from pith towards the bark over the disc cross section and the trend is most obvious at high humidities (70-90%). Along the tree height, the EMC decreases from ground towards the top of the stem. The tangential shrinkage results were highly variable but, in general, the latewood has higher values than the earlywood. The opposite trend was found for the longitudinal shrinkage, higher values for the earlywood than the latewood. In the tree height direction, the tangential shrinkage was found to decrease with the tree height. This follows the same trend as the microfibril angle which in general also decreases with the tree height. The fibre saturation point (FSP) was determined from the tangential shrinkage values at different equilibrium moisture contents. These were taken as the intersection point of the tangential shrinkage line with the moisture content axis. The experimental results have revealed a trend that the FSP decreases from the pith towards the bark and also decreases with the tree height. Similar behaviour was found for the tangential and longitudinal swelling during the adsorption. The moisture transport within radiata pine was investigated based on the diffusion theory under transient and isothermal condition of 30°C. The moisture dependant diffusion coefficient was derived from the experimental data using the inverse analysis method. The surface emission coefficient was determined by taking into account the variable surface moisture content, wood density and the ambient conditions. In the experiments, 138 samples in total (46 samples for each XIV of the longitudinal, tangential and radial directions) were used and their diffusion coefficients were determined for both the adsorption and the desorption with moisture content ranging from 6% to 22%. The derived diffusion coefficients are comparable with the reported data in the literature. Further investigation of the wood type influence on the diffusion coefficient revealed that compression wood has the lowest diffusion coefficients in the three directions (longitudinal, tangential and radial) both in the desorption and in the adsorption. In addition, the moisture content has the least influence on the diffusion coefficient in the compression wood. Investigation on the effects of the wood density has shown that in general, the diffusion coefficient decreases with increasing wood density although the correlations are only significant for the longitudinal direction in desorption. An analytical model for the simulation of the wood twist was developed which is based on the geometry and geometrical changes of the grains aligning non parallel to the pith. A board consists of numerous such grains which change the length and shape with moisture content change. The model predictions confirm that the grain angle, the tangential and longitudinal shrinkage and the conical angle all affect the development of the board twist. However, the discrepancies between the model prediction and the experimental data are significant, partly due to the experimental uncertainties and partly due to the model errors. In this study, sound velocity in the longitudinal direction was measured for the test samples used in the shrinkage experiments. The results revealed that the correlations between the sound velocity and the volumetric shrinkage at oven dry are significant. Based on this finding, the relationship between the tangential shrinkage and the radial shrinkage, the tangential shrinkage can be predicted from the sound velocity measurements. As the tangential shrinkage has significant influence on the wood distortion, this method can be used to segregate logs which may be prone to wood distortion.

No description available.

The deposition of hydrocarbons on silicon substrates is a topic of wide interest. This is generally related to the technological importance of silicon carbide (SiC) and a growing interest in graphene and graphitic materials. Methods for producing these materials predominantly involve high processing temperatures. In the case of SiC, these high processing temperatures often result in the formation of surface defects, which compromise the electronic properties of the material. In an effort to grow SiC films at low temperatures, a technique known as electron-beam chemical vapor deposition (EBCVD) has been developed. Most electron beam deposition techniques employ a focused beam of high-energy (20-30 keV) electrons to form nanometer-sized solid deposits on a surface. However, in an effort to deposit macroscale films, a broad beam of low-energy electrons was used. In addition to investigating the applications of low-energy electrons in semiconductor film growth, the fundamental chemical and physical processes induced by the bombardment of adsorbate-covered surfaces with low-energy electrons were examined. Specifically, the electron-stimulated desorption of various adsorbate-substrate systems such as acetylene adsorbed on silicon, graphene oxide on silicon, and ultrathin graphite films on silicon carbide have been investigated. The yields of cation and neutral desorbates as a function incident electron energy were measured, appearance thresholds were determined and mechanisms of desorption were proposed.

It is well known that the optical properties of multi-level atomic and molecular system can be controlled and manipulated efficiently using quantum coherence and interference, which has led to many new effects in quantum optics for e.g. lasing action without population inversion, ultraslow light, high resolution nonlinear spectroscopy etc. Recent experimental and theoretical studies have also provided support for the hypothesis that biological systems uses quantum coherence. Nearly perfect excitation energy transfer in photosynthesis is an excellent example of this. In this dissertation we studied quantum coherence and interference effects in the transient and the continuous-wave regimes. This study led to (i) the first experimental demonstration of carrier-envelope phase effects on bound-bound atomic excitation in multi-cycle regime (~15 cycles), (ii) a unique possibility for standoff detection of trace gases using their rotational and vibrational spectroscopic signals and from herein called Coherent Raman Umklappscattering, (iii) several possibilities for frequency up-conversion and generation of short-wavelength radiation using quantum coherence (iv) the measurement of spontaneous emission noise intensity in Yoked-superfluorescence scheme. Applications of the obtained results are development of XUV (X-Ray) lasers, con- trolled superfluorescent (superradiant) emission, carrier-envelope phase effects, coherent Raman scattering in the backward direction, enhancement of efficiency for generating radiation in XUV and X-Ray regime using quantum coherence with and without population inversion and to extend XUV and X-Ray lasing to ~4.023 nm in Helium-like carbon.