Biological predispositions influence approach and avoid responses from the time of birth or hatching. Neonates of species that require parental care (e.g. human babies and chicks of the domestic fowl) are attracted by stimuli associated with animate social partners, such as face-like configurations, biological motion and self-propulsion. The property of being filled is used as a cue of animacy ...

The water supply is the crucial problem of human beings in the world. Earth dams are usually the most important structures to store and manage the main sources: surface waters. The safety of earth dams in different conditions especially under earthquake loadings plays a vital role in sustainable developments. Recently, mixed-clay soil is widely used as water- seal material in the core of earth ...

Integrally-skinned asymmetric Polyetherimide/Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PEI/PVA) hollow fber membranes for pervaporation dehydration were fabricated by non-solvent induced phase inversion. PVA inside the PEI matrix could be crosslinked to provide membrane performance stability during long term operation. The effects of different PEI/PVA blend ratio, external coagulant type and...

Here the hollow vortex Gaussian beam is described by the exact solution of the Maxwell equations. By means of the method of the vectorial angular spectrum, analytical expressions of the electromagnetic fields of a hollow vortex Gaussian beam propagating in free space are derived. By using the electromagnetic fields of a hollow vortex Gaussian beam beyond the paraxial approximation, one can calc...

Semiconductor CdX (X=Te, Se, S) hollow structures have been successfully prepared by using Cd(OH)Cl precursors as a sacrificial template. The hollow structures can be hollow spheres or tubes by controlling the shape of the sacrificial template. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive spectrometry...

Arsenic (As) contaminated aquifers contain iron minerals and clays that strongly bind As at their surfaces. It was suggested that As mobilization is driven by natural organic matter (including fulvic acids (FA) and humic acids (HA)) present in the aquifers either via providing reducing equivalents for reductive dissolution of Fe(III) (hydr)oxides or via competitive desorption of As from the min...

A novel sulfonated polybenzimidazole/organoclay (Cloisite-30B) (SPBI/clay) nanocomposite membranes was successfully synthesized based on aromatic diacide (1) and diaminobenzidine. Nanocomposite membranes were fabricated using 1, 4-bis (hydroxymethyl) benzene (BHMB) as cross-linker, and Cloisite-30B organoclay as the pseudo cross-linker. The cross-linked SPBI/clay nanocomposite membranes were pr...

Slow release formulations of the anionic herbicide sulfosulfuron (SFS) were prepared by incorporating it in micelles of an organic cation octadecyltrimethylammonium, which adsorb on the clay-mineral montmorillonite. The fraction of SFS adsorbed on the micelle-clay complex reached 98%, whereas for monomer-clay complexes, its adsorption was insignificant. Fluorescence studies showed surface conta...