A novel approach to the acoustic characterisation of porous road surfaces

Porous road surfaces offer an effective means of reducing the generation and propagation of noise from road traffic. However, the porosity of these surfaces can deteriorate over time, leading to a reduction in their noise reducing properties. Efficient methods are therefore required for monitoring this performance. Existing techniques for performing in-situ measurements of acoustic absorption are unsuitable for use within the traffic stream. Static measurements using time domain Maximum Length Sequence (MLS) based techniques have been demonstrated to offer advantages over traditional techniques, presenting the opportunity for measurements under dynamic conditions. This paper describes the design of a system for carrying out dynamic MLS-based measurements. Results are presented which demonstrate that stable dynamic measurements can be carried out at speeds of up to 30 km/h.     

Electronic structure of Ti metal and TiO2 powder studied by hard and soft (Cu Kα1 and Al Kα1) X-ray photoelectron and Auger spectroscopy

High-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is of particular importance for minimizing the effects of surface contamination by increasing photoelectron escape depths. In this study high-resolution high-energy Cu Kα₁ and soft Al Kα₁ XPS and Auger electron spectroscopy were used to compare the electronic structure of Ti in TiO₂ powder and Ti metal. The Ti 1s in TiO₂ XPS line is narrower and more symmetric than in Ti metal. A comparison of the relative intensities of the L₂₃M₂₃M₄₅ and L₂₃M₂₃M₂₃ Auger transitions in Ti metal and TiO₂ is consistent with the expected transfer of Ti 3d electrons away from the Ti site in the oxide. The satellites accompanying the Ti 1s XPS line excited by Cu Kα₁ X-rays occur at the same energies as the satellites accompanying the Ti 2s and 2p XPS lines excited by Al Kα₁ X-rays indicating that they do not depend on the core-level, the experimental resolution or inelastic scattering processes.     

Methods in carbon K-edge NEXAFS: Experiment and analysis

Near-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (NEXAFS) is widely used to probe the chemistry and structure of surface layers. Moreover, using ultra-high brilliance polarised synchrotron light sources, it is possible to determine the molecular alignment of ultra-thin surface films. However, the quantitative analysis of NEXAFS data is complicated by many experimental factors and, historically, the essential methods of calibration, normalisation and artefact removal are presented in the literature in a somewhat fragmented manner, thus hindering their integrated implementation as well as their further development. This paper outlines a unified, systematic approach to the collection and quantitative analysis of NEXAFS data with a particular focus upon carbon K-edge spectra. As a consequence, we show that current methods neglect several important aspects of the data analysis process, which we address with a combination of novel and adapted techniques. We discuss multiple approaches in solving the issues commonly encountered in the analysis of NEXAFS data, revealing the inherent assumptions of each approach and providing guidelines for assessing their appropriateness in a broad range of experimental situations.     

Inclusive\bar K^{0*} (892) andK 0*(892) production on silicon by 200 GeVK − andπ −

The production of the neutralK ^? (892) resonances by 200 GeVK ^? andπ ^? has been studied over the kinematic range 0.0<x _f<1.0 andp _t ² <5.0 GeV². Longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions are presented. In addition the decay angular distributions inK ^? fragmentation to \(\bar K^{0*} \) have been investigated.     

Fragmentations and reactions of the organophosphate insecticide Diazinon and its oxygen analog Diazoxon studied by electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry

The fragmentations and reactions of Diazinon and related compounds have been studied by electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry. Several novel fragmentation and rearrangements have been observed, including an intramolecular thiono-thiolo rearrangement. The stability, in the gas-phase, of the protomers of 2-isopropyl-4-methyl-6-pyrimidinol has been demonstrated. The complexity of the gas phase ion processes observed suggest that, at present, caution should be exercised in using this approach for the analysis of environmental and other samples until our understanding of these processes increases considerably.     

Joint production of ϕ mesons andπ ±,π 0,p,\bar p,K s 0 andK ± in hadronic interactions

The joint production of ? mesons andπ ^±,π ⁰,p, \(\bar p\) ,K _s ⁰ andK ^± is investigated using a sample of 600,000 inclusive ? meson events obtained in hadron Be interactions with incidentπ ^±,p, \(\bar p\) andK ^± beams. Evidence is presented for the joint production of ? mesons and strange particles produced with non-strange incident beams. With incidentK ^± beam the number of additional strange particles is suppressed. The results are found to be in agreement with the qualitative predictions of a parton fusion model. The comparison with the Lund model for lowp _T processes is fair.     

Positron-lithium scattering with the inclusion of positronium formation

Detailed studies have been made of elastic scattering and positronium formation in low energy collisions of positrons with lithium atoms for the two partial wavesl=0,1. For this system, as for all alkali atoms, the positronium formation channel is open even at zero positron energy. A two-channel version of the Kohn variational method is used with trial functions containing many variational parameters, and reasonably well converged results are obtained. The s-wave positronium formation cross section is infinite at zero positron energy but it then falls rapidly to become several orders of magnitude smaller than the elastic scattering cross section which has a maximum value of approximately 100 ₀ ² at a positron energy of 0.5 eV. For p-wave scattering the positronium formation cross section rises to a value of approximately 10 ₀ ² at an energy of 0.1 eV, with the elastic scattering cross section rising to a maximum of approximately 60 ₀ ² just below the first excitation threshold at 1.84 eV.