Proportional sensitivity

As decommissioning approaches, enhanced recovery e.g. chemical flooding processes are often considered as a means of recovering a proportion of the hydrocarbons that remain after primary production. The economic viability of such techniques is very sensitive to the oil price, and whilst some are used in onshore developments they can rarely be justified offshore at current oil prices. 

The amplified signal is passed to a double-balanced mixer configured as a phase-sensitive detector where the two inputs are the NMR signal (cOq) and the frequency of the synthesizer (03. gf) with the output proportional to cos(coq - co gj.)t + 0) + cos((coq + + 9). The sum frequency is much larger than the total bandwidth of the... 

The sensitivity in an NMR experiment is directly proportional to the number of spins, making quantification of the amount of a particular element present straightforward, at least for spin / = inuclei. Furtliemiore, the... 

The sharpness of the frequency response of a resonant system is conunonly described by a factor of merit, called the quality factor, Q=v/Av. It may be obtained from a measurement of the frill width at half maxuuum Av, of the resonator frequency response curve obtained from a frequency sweep covering the resonance. The sensitivity of a system (proportional to the inverse of tlie minimum detectable number of paramagnetic centres in an EPR cavity) critically depends on the quality factor... 

In the ideal case for REMPI, the efficiency of ion production is proportional to the line strength factors for 2-photon excitation [M], since the ionization step can be taken to have a wavelength- and state-mdependent efficiency. In actual practice, fragment ions can be produced upon absorption of a fouitli photon, or the ionization efficiency can be reduced tinough predissociation of the electronically excited state. It is advisable to employ experimentally measured ionization efficiency line strengdi factors to calibrate the detection sensitivity. With sufficient knowledge of the excited molecular electronic states, it is possible to understand the state dependence of these intensity factors [65]. 

In Section 1.3 it was noted that the energy of adsorption even for a perfect crystal differs from one face to another. An actual specimen of solid will tend to be microcrystalline, and the proportion of the various faces exposed will depend not only on the lattice itself but also on the crystal habit this may well vary amongst the crystallites, since it is highly sensitive to the conditions prevailing during the preparation of the specimen. Thus the overall behaviour of the solid as an adsorbent will be determined not only by its chemical nature but also by the way in which it was prepared. 

A proportional determinate error, in which the error s magnitude depends on the amount of sample, is more difficult to detect since the result of an analysis is independent of the amount of sample. Table 4.6 outlines an example showing the effect of a positive proportional error of 1.0% on the analysis of a sample that is 50.0% w/w in analyte. In terms of equations 4.4 and 4.5, the reagent blank, Sreag, is an example of a constant determinate error, and the sensitivity, k, may be affected by proportional errors. 

There are two ways in which the sensitivity can be increased. The first, and most obvious, is to decrease the concentration of the titrant, since it is inversely proportional to the sensitivity, k. The second method, which only applies if the analyte is multiprotic, is to titrate to a later equivalence point. When H2SO3 is titrated to the second equivalence point, for instance, equation 9.10 becomes... 

Standardizing the Method Equations 10.32 and 10.33 show that the intensity of fluorescent or phosphorescent emission is proportional to the concentration of the photoluminescent species, provided that the absorbance of radiation from the excitation source (A = ebC) is less than approximately 0.01. Quantitative methods are usually standardized using a set of external standards. Calibration curves are linear over as much as four to six orders of magnitude for fluorescence and two to four orders of magnitude for phosphorescence. Calibration curves become nonlinear for high concentrations of the photoluminescent species at which the intensity of emission is given by equation 10.31. Nonlinearity also may be observed at low concentrations due to the presence of fluorescent or phosphorescent contaminants. As discussed earlier, the quantum efficiency for emission is sensitive to temperature and sample matrix, both of which must be controlled if external standards are to be used. In addition, emission intensity depends on the molar absorptivity of the photoluminescent species, which is sensitive to the sample matrix. 

For example, when the activity is determined by counting 10,000 radioactive particles, the relative standard deviation is 1%. The analytical sensitivity of a radiochemical method is inversely proportional to the standard deviation of the measured ac-... 

Clearly, the lower the ionization energy with respect to the work function, the greater is the proportion of ions to neutrals produced and the more sensitive the method. For this reason, the filaments used in analyses are those whose work functions provide the best yields of ions. The evaporated neutrals are lost to the vacuum system. With continued evaporation of ions and neutrals, eventually no more material remains on the filament and the ion current falls to zero. 

The detector must be sensitive to the radiation falling on it, and the spectrum is very often displayed on a chart recorder. The spectrum may be a plot of absorbance or percentage transmittance (IOO///0 see Equation 2.16) as a function of frequency or wavenumber displayed linearly along the chart paper. Wavelength is not normally used because, unlike frequency and wavenumber, it is not proportional to energy. Wavelength relates to the optics rather than the spectroscopy of the experiment. 

A CCD is a two-dimensional array of silicon photosensors, each photosensor usually being referred to as a pixel. When radiation falls on a pixel, photoelectrons are produced in numbers proportional to the intensity of the radiation. A typical wavelength range to which the CCD is sensitive is 400-1050 nm, but this may be extended down to below 1.5 nm with a phosphor that converts short-wavelength into visible radiation. 

The sensitivity equation can be developed by differentiating equation 4 with respect to J. Since the signal is proportional to J and detection is defined as to when the measured signal to noise ratio equals 3, the gas detection sensitivity (ppm) in terms of the NEP for gas detection becomes ... 

Odors are characterized by quaUty and intensity. Descriptive quaUties such as sour, sweet, pungent, fishy, and spicy are commonly used. Intensity is deterrnined by how much the concentration of the odoriferous substance exceeds its detection threshold (the concentration at which most people can detect an odor). Odor intensity is approximately proportional to the logarithm of the concentration. However, several factors affect the abiUty of an individual to detect an odor the sensitivity of a subject s olfactory system, the presence of other masking odors, and olfactory fatigue (ie, reduced olfactory sensitivity during continued exposure to the odorous substance). In addition, the average person s sensitivity to odor decreases with age. 

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate is a high energy explosive that is used as a pressed base charge in blasting caps and detonators, as the core explosive in commercial detonating cord, and as the main explosive ingredient in sheet explosives. It is also mixed in various proportions with TNT to form the less sensitive pentoHtes, eg, PETN 50/TNT 50. PETN is easily initiated, its responses are reproducible, and it is readily available (144—146). 

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