Insensitive

The sodium ethanoate which is largely dissociated, serves as a source of ethanoate ions, which combine with any hydrogen ions which may be added to the solution to yield more of the acid. The addition of hydrogen ions has therefore much less effect on such a solution than it would have on water. In a similar manner, the solution of the salt of a strong acid and a weak base, in the presence of a weak base, has a pH that is insensitive to additions of alkali. 

In a general manner, diesel engines, jet engines, and domestic or industrial burners operate with lean mixtures and their performance is relatively insensitive to the equivalence ratio. On the other hand, gasoline engines require a fuel-air ratio close to the stoichiometric. Indeed, a too-rich mixture leads to an excessive exhaust pollution from CO emissions and unburned hydrocarbons whereas a too-lean mixture produces unstable combustion (reduced driveability and misfiring). 

To define the thennodynamic state of a system one must specify fhe values of a minimum number of variables, enough to reproduce the system with all its macroscopic properties. If special forces (surface effecls, external fields—electric, magnetic, gravitational, etc) are absent, or if the bulk properties are insensitive to these forces, e.g. the weak terrestrial magnetic field, it ordinarily suffices—for a one-component system—to specify fliree variables, e.g. fhe femperature T, the pressure p and the number of moles n, or an equivalent set. For example, if the volume of a surface layer is negligible in comparison with the total volume, surface effects usually contribute negligibly to bulk thennodynamic properties. 

Nonetheless, the syimnetric interferometer remains very useful, because there, the wavelengdis of fringes with even cliromatic order, N, strongly depend on the refractive index, n, of the central layer, whereas fringes with odd cliromatic order are almost insensitive to This lucky combhiation allows one to measure the thickness as well as the refractive index of a layer between the mica surfaces independently and siniultaneously [49]. 

Carter L E and Carter E A 1995 Fj reaction dynamics with defective Si(IOO) defect-insensitive surface chemistry Surf. Sci. 323 39-50... 

While it is not essential to the method, frozen Gaussians have been used in all applications to date, that is, the width is kept fixed in the equation for the phase evolution. The widths of the Gaussian functions are then a further parameter to be chosen, although it appears that the method is relatively insensitive to the choice. One possibility is to use the width taken from the harmonic approximation to the ground-state potential surface [221]. 

Ah initio methods can yield reliable, quantitatively correct results. It is important to use basis sets with diffrise functions and high-angular-momentum polarization functions. Hyperpolarizabilities seem to be relatively insensitive to the core electron description. Good agreement has been obtained between ECP basis sets and all electron basis sets. DFT methods have not yet been used widely enough to make generalizations about their accuracy. 

The selectivity of an electrophile, measured by the extent to which it discriminated either between benzene and toluene, or between the meta- and ara-positions in toluene, was considered to be related to its reactivity. Thus, powerful electrophiles, of which the species operating in Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions were considered to be examples, would be less able to distinguish between compounds and positions than a weakly electrophilic reagent. The ultimate electrophilic species would be entirely insensitive to the differences between compounds and positions, and would bring about reaction in the statistical ratio of the various sites for substitution available to it. The idea has gained wide acceptance that the electrophiles operative in reactions which have low selectivity factors Sf) or reaction constants (p+), are intrinsically more reactive than the effective electrophiles in reactions which have higher values of these parameters. However, there are several aspects of this supposed relationship which merit discussion. 

The kinetics of the nitration of benzene, toluene and mesitylene in mixtures prepared from nitric acid and acetic anhydride have been studied by Hartshorn and Thompson. Under zeroth order conditions, the dependence of the rate of nitration of mesitylene on the stoichiometric concentrations of nitric acid, acetic acid and lithium nitrate were found to be as described in section 5.3.5. When the conditions were such that the rate depended upon the first power of the concentration of the aromatic substrate, the first order rate constant was found to vary with the stoichiometric concentration of nitric acid as shown on the graph below. An approximately third order dependence on this quantity was found with mesitylene and toluene, but with benzene, increasing the stoichiometric concentration of nitric acid caused a change to an approximately second order dependence. Relative reactivities, however, were found to be insensitive... 

A catalytic enantio- and diastereoselective dihydroxylation procedure without the assistance of a directing functional group (like the allylic alcohol group in the Sharpless epox-idation) has also been developed by K.B. Sharpless (E.N. Jacobsen, 1988 H.-L. Kwong, 1990 B.M. Kim, 1990 H. Waldmann, 1992). It uses osmium tetroxide as a catalytic oxidant (as little as 20 ppm to date) and two readily available cinchona alkaloid diastereomeis, namely the 4-chlorobenzoate esters or bulky aryl ethers of dihydroquinine and dihydroquinidine (cf. p. 290% as stereosteering reagents (structures of the Os complexes see R.M. Pearlstein, 1990). The transformation lacks the high asymmetric inductions of the Sharpless epoxidation, but it is broadly applicable and insensitive to air and water. Further improvements are to be expected. 

A method that is insensitive to changes in experimental conditions is considered rugged. 

Random variations in experimental conditions also introduce uncertainty. If a method s sensitivity is highly dependent on experimental conditions, such as temperature, acidity, or reaction time, then slight changes in those conditions may lead to significantly different results. A rugged method is relatively insensitive to changes in experimental conditions. 

The final part of a gas chromatograph is the detector. The ideal detector has several desirable features, including low detection limits, a linear response over a wide range of solute concentrations (which makes quantitative work easier), responsiveness to all solutes or selectivity for a specific class of solutes, and an insensitivity to changes in flow rate or temperature. 

An electron capture detector is relatively insensitive to nonhalogenated compounds, providing the additional selectivity. 

The thermospray inlet/ion source does not produce a good percentage yield of ions from the original sample, even with added salts (Figure 11.2). Often the original sample is present in very tiny amounts in the solution going into the thermospray, and the poor ion yield makes the thermo-spray/mass spectrometer a relatively insensitive combination when compared with the sensitivity attainable by even quite a modest mass spectrometer alone. Various attempts have been made to increase the ion yield. One popular method is described here. 

By placing a suitable detector at the focus (a point detector), the arrival of ions can be recorded. Point detectors are usually a Faraday cup (a relatively insensitive device) or, more likely, an electron multiplier (a very sensitive device) or, less likely, a scintillator (another sensitive device). 

The specific surface, a, is also relatively insensitive to the duid dynamics, especially in low viscosity broths. On the other hand, it is quite sensitive to the composition of the duid, especially to the presence of substances which inhibit coalescence. In the presence of coalescence inhibitors, the Sauter mean bubble size, is significantly smaller (24), and, especially in stirred bioreactors, bubbles very easily circulate with the broth. This leads to a large hold-up, ie, increased volume fraction of gas phase, 8. Sp, and a are all related... 

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