Comparing Different Synthesis Procedures for Carbide‐Derived Carbon‐Based Structured Catalyst Supports

Different approaches were analyzed to combine the tuneable micropore structure of carbide‐derived carbons with a foam‐like secondary porosity. The resulting structured catalyst supports were characterized in detail and applied in the model reaction of ethene hydrogenation. Preparation methods studied were dip‐coating using polytetrafluoroethylene as binder on cellular metal structures, a chemical vapor deposition coating of the metal structures with thin carbide layers and subsequent conversion to carbide‐derived carbon, and the partial or full conversion of carbide foams to carbon/carbide composites. For the binder method, optimal parameters for stable slurry preparation as well as for calcination of the slurry were obtained. It could further be demonstrated that the conversion of carbide foams into carbon/carbide composites leads to an appreciation between decreasing mechanical strength and increasing specific surface area.     

Using statistics to make expert systems “user-acquainted”

The user-acquainted feature collects user-specific data regarding the types of advice that have been sought over time and uses this historical information to update the probabilities to affect the firing of its rules and the ordering of the recommendations of the expert system. These updates are done on auser-specific basis so that the expert can more closely emulate a true expert by providing more informed advice. One example of a place where evidence suggests that such a feature would be useful is in the area of debugging of computer programs, especially in support of novice programmers who tend, as individuals, to commit similar classes of errors over time, but who, as a group, commit very different types of errors. We conjecture that the user-acquainted feature, which can keep track of the tendencies of the users and take them into account in the evaluation of diagnostics, will be more effectiveand efficient in determining the fault. In this paper, we discuss the statistical analyses necessary to implement this feature in an expert system for debugging errors in SAS.     

Probing first-order spatial coherence of a Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

We probe the spatial coherence properties of a magnetically trapped Bose gas. Two matter wave beams are extracted from two spatially separated regions of the trap and overlap outside the trapping region. The visibility of the resulting interference pattern measures the phase coherence between the regions of extraction. By varying the spatial separation between the two regions the first-order spatial correlation function of the trapped Bose gas can be measured. The location of the minima of the interference pattern is reproducible, which experimentally confirms that the trapped Bose-Einstein condensate is not fragmented into individual condensates.     

Implementation of a virtual correlative light and transmission electron microscope

In the long run, the widespread use of slide scanners by pathologists requires an adaptation of teaching methods in histology and cytology in order to target these new possibilities of image processing and presentation via the internet. Accordingly, we were looking for a tool with the possibility to teach microscopic anatomy, histology, and cytology of tissue samples which would be able to combine image data from light and electron microscopes independently of microscope suppliers. With the example of a section through the villus of jejunum, we describe here how to process image data from light and electron microscopes in order to get one image‐stack which allows a correlation of structures from the microscopic anatomic to the cytological level. With commercially available image‐presentation software that we adapted to our needs, we present here a platform which allows for the presentation of this new but also of older material independently of microscope suppliers. Microsc. Res. Tech. 76:679–686, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The High-Temperature Proton Conductor Strontium Zirconate: Thermogravimetry of Water Uptake

The water uptake of nominally 5%-Yb-doped strontium zirconate (SrZr_0.95Yb_0.05O_3−α) was studied in situ by thermogravimetry at different temperatures and water vapor pressures. The process could be described in terms of an ideal solution behavior, showing a lower effective vacancy concentration than that expected from the nominal dopant content. The solution reaction was found to have ΔS°=−127 J/(mol·K) and ΔH°=−106 kJ/mol.     

Computer attitude in psychiatric inpatients

Negative computer attitude has been shown to be a possible co-variable in computerized examinations of psychiatric patients, affecting patient–computer interaction as well as reliability and validity of assessments.It remains still uncertain if the psychological construct of computer attitude can be dependably measured in acute psychiatric inpatients or whether it is impeded by the effects of mental illness. For that reason a German translation of the Groningen Computer Attitude Scale (GCAS) was evaluated in 160 acute psychiatric inpatients under naturalistic conditions.General test criteria (internal structure, item analysis, internal consistency, split half reliability) to a large extent corresponded to those formerly found in healthy subjects and psychiatric outpatients. The mean GCAS score was calculated as 56.2 ± 10.8 points and a significantly better computer attitude was found in male, better educated and younger patients. Some diverging correlation patterns were found in diagnostic subgroups, indicating a possible minor impact of mental disorder on computer attitude.Overall, the GCAS was found to be a suitable instrument for measuring computer attitude in acute psychiatric inpatients. It should be used in identifying patients with a negative attitude to computers in order to ensure reliability and validity of computerized assessment.     

Enterprise JavaBeans

Large web-based information systems make high demands on scalability, maintainability, reliability and security. In order to ease the development of such systems appropriate software architectures are needed. These architectures have to take into account business aspects as well as requisite tools and products. Such an architecture is offered by Sun Microsystems in the form of the Enterprise JavaBeans specification. Based on our experience from different projects we undertake a close examination of this architecture.