Abstract: The St. Michael Archangel's Church in Szalowa, Poland, was selected for closer investigation with respect to the indoor/outdoor air exchange and its influence on the air quality and work arts preservation. Chemical composition, size and abundance of particulate matter and concentration of gases NO2, SO2, O-3 inside and outside the church were determined. To study seasonal variation of the weather condition (temperature, inversion level, wind direction) and the influence of seasonal sources of the air pollution (like heating of the nearby houses), samples were collected in winter and summer time. It was stated that suspended particulate matter inside the wooden church has in general an outdoor source. Several groups of particles were distinguished such as the organic ones, soil dust, nitrates and sulphates. In case of organic and soil dust particles, the concentration inside was higher than outside. From the results, in comparison to literature data, one can conclude that accumulation of particulate suspended matter in the church is more intense than in other types of buildings. Gaseous pollutants were detected but their concentration was negligible.

Abstract: Wigner molecules formed at high magnetic fields in circular and elliptic quantum dots are studied by exact diagonalization (ED) and unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) methods with multicenter basis of displaced lowest Landau level wave functions. The broken symmetry states with semi-classical charge density constructed from superpositions of the ED solutions are compared to the UHF results. UHF overlooks the dependence of the few-electron wave functions on the actual relative positions of electrons localized in different charge puddles and partially compensates for this neglect by an exaggerated separation of charge islands which are more strongly localized than in the exact broken-symmetry states. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: The microstructure of (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3Ox (Bi-2223) tapes has been investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM. The emphasis has been placed on: (1) an examination of the grain morphology and size, (2) grain and colony boundary angles, which are formed during the tape processing, (3) a study of the grain boundaries on an atomic scale, including intergrowth investigations. Tapes with different process parameters have been compared with respect to the microstructure. A fully processed tape has on the average 50% thicker Bi-2223 grains than a tape after the first annealing. The angles of c-axis tilt grain boundaries are on average 14° and 26° for the fully processed tape and the tape after the first annealing, respectively. The intergrowth content (15%) and distribution are similar in these two tapes.

Abstract: Environmentalists generally argue that ecological damage will (eventually) lead to declines in human well-being. From this perspective, the recent introduction of the “environmentalist's paradox” in BioScience by Raudsepp-Hearne and colleagues (2010) is particularly significant. In essence, Raudsepp-Hearne and colleagues (2010) claimed that although ecosystem services have been degraded, human well-being-paradoxically-has increased. In this article, we show that this debate is in fact rooted in a broader discussion on weak sustainability versus strong sustainability (the substitutability of human-made capital for natural capital). We warn against the reductive nature of focusing only on a stock flow framework in which a natural-capital stock produces ecosystem services. Concretely, we recommend a holistic approach in which the complexity, irreversibility, uncertainty, and ethical predicaments intrinsic to the natural environment and its connections to humanity are also considered.

Abstract: Field water flow processes can be precisely delineated with proper sets of soil hydraulic properties derived from in situ and/or laboratory experiments. In this study we analyzed and compared soil hydraulic properties obtained by traditional laboratory experiments and inverse optimization tension infiltrometer data along the vertical direction within two typical Podzol profiles with sand texture in a potato field. The main goal was to identify proper sets of hydraulic parameters and to evaluate their relevance on hydrological model performance for irrigation management purposes. Tension disc infiltration experiments were carried out at four and five different depths for both profiles at consecutive negative pressure heads of 12, 6, 3 and 0.1 cm. At the same locations and depths undisturbed samples were taken to determine Mualem-van Genuchten (MVG) hydraulic parameters (theta(r), residual water content, theta(s), saturated water content, alpha and n, shape parameters and K-ls, saturated hydraulic conductivity) in the laboratory. Results demonstrated horizontal differences and vertical variability of hydraulic properties. The tension disc infiltration data fitted well in inverse modeling using Hydrus 2D/3D in combination with final water content at the end of the experiment, theta(f). Four MVG parameters (theta(s), alpha, n and field saturated hydraulic conductivity K-fs) were estimated (theta(r) set to zero), with estimated K-ls and alpha values being relatively similar to values from Wooding's solution which used as initial value and estimated theta(s) corresponded to (effective) field saturated water content, theta(f). The laboratory measurement of K-ls yielded 2-30 times higher values than the field method K-fs from top to subsoil layers, while there was a significant correlation between both K-s values (r = 0.75). We found significant differences of MVG parameters theta(s), n and alpha values between laboratory and field measurements, but again a significant correlation was observed between laboratory and field MVG parameters namely K-s, n, theta(s) (r >= 0.59). Assessment of the parameter relevance in 1-D model simulations, illustrated that the model over predicted and under predicted top soil-water content using laboratory and field experiments data sets respectively. The field MVG parameter data set resulted in better agreement to observed soil-water content as compared to the laboratory data set at nodes 10 and 20 cm. However, better simulation results were achieved using the laboratory data set at 30-60 cm depths. Results of our study do not confirm whether laboratory or field experiments data sets are most appropriate to predict soil water fluctuations in a complete soil profile, while field experiments are preferred in many studies. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: An inductively coupled plasma, connected to the sampling cone of a mass spectrometer, is computationally investigated. The occurrence of rotational motion of the auxiliary and carrier gas flows is studied. The effects of operating parameters, i.e., applied power and gas flow rates, as well as geometrical parameters, i.e., sampler orifice diameter and injector inlet diameter, are investigated. Our calculations predict that at higher applied power the auxiliary and carrier gas flows inside the torch move more forward to the sampling cone, which is validated experimentally for the auxiliary gas flow, by means of an Elan 6000 ICP-MS. Furthermore, an increase of the gas flow rates can also modify the occurrence of rotational motion. This is especially true for the carrier gas flow rate, which has a more pronounced effect to reduce the backward motion than the flow rates of the auxiliary and cooling gas. Moreover, a larger sampler orifice (e.g., 2 mm instead of 1 mm) reduces the backward flow of the auxiliary gas path lines. Finally, according to our model, an injector inlet of 2 mm diameter causes more rotations in the carrier gas flow than an injector inlet diameter of 1.5 mm, which can be avoided again by changing the operating parameters.

Abstract: Nanocomposites CoOx/SnO2 based on tin oxide powders with different crystallinity have been prepared by wet chemical synthesis and characterized in detail by ICP-MS, XPS, EPR, XRD, HAADF-STEM imaging and EDX-STEM mapping. It was shown that cobalt is distributed differently between the bulk and surface of SnO2 nanocrystals, which depends on the crystallinity of the SnO2 matrix. The measurements of gas sensor properties have been carried out during exposure to CO (10 ppm), and H2S (2 ppm) in dry air. The decrease of sensor signal toward CO was attributed to high catalytic activity of Co3O4 leading to oxidation of carbon monoxide entirely on the surface of catalyst particles. The formation of a p-CoOx/n-SnO2 heterojunction results in high sensitivity of nanocomposites in H2S detection. The conductance significantly changed in the presence of H2S, which was attributed to the formation of metallic cobalt sulfide and removal of the p – n junction.

Abstract: Asymmetric dye molecules have unusual optical and electronic properties1, 2, 3. For instance, they show a strong second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) response that has attracted great interest for potential applications in electro-optic modulators for optical telecommunications and in wavelength conversion of lasers2, 3. However, the strong Coulombic interaction between the large dipole moments of these molecules favours a pairwise antiparallel alignment that cancels out the NLO response when incorporated into bulk materials. Here, we show that by including an elongated dipolar dye (p,p′-dimethylaminonitrostilbene, DANS, a prototypical asymmetric dye with a strong NLO response4) inside single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs)5, 6, an ideal head-to-tail alignment in which all electric dipoles point in the same sense is naturally created. We have applied this concept to synthesize solution-processible DANS-filled SWCNTs that show an extremely large total dipole moment and static hyperpolarizability (β0 = 9,800 × 10−30 e.s.u.), resulting from the coherent alignment of arrays of ∼70 DANS molecules.