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A novel isoreticular oxamato-based manganese(II)-copper(II) open metal-organic framework H(2)O@iso1 featuring a pillared square/octagonal layer structure with alternating open and closed octagonal pores has been rationally prepared. The open-framework topology is responsible for a large selectivity in the separation of small gas (CO(2) over CH(4)) and vapor molecules (CH(3)OH over CH(3)CN and CH(3)CH(2)OH). H(2)O@iso1 displays a long-range three-dimensional ferromagnetic ordering with a drastic variation of the critical temperature as a function of the guest molecule [T(C) < 2.0 K (CO(2)@iso1 and CH(4)@iso1) and T(C) = 6.5 (CH(3)OH@iso1) and 21.0 K (H(2)O@iso1)].

The metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) MIL-101(Cr) and NH 2-MIL-125 offer high adsorption capacities and have therefore been suggested for sustainable energy conversion in adsorption chillers. Herein, these MOFs are benchmarked to commercial Siogel. The evaluation method combines small-scale experiments with dynamic modeling of full-scale adsorption chillers. For the common temperature set 10/30/80 C, it is found that MIL-101(Cr) has the highest adsorption capacity, but considerably lower efficiency (À19%) and power density (À66%) than Siogel. NH 2-MIL-125 increases efficiency by 18% compared with Siogel, but reduces the practically important power density by 28%. From the results, guidelines for MOF development are derived: High efficiencies are achieved by matching the shape of the isotherms to the specific operating temperatures. By only adapting shape, efficiencies are 1.5 times higher. Also, higher power density requires matching the shape of the isotherms to create high driving forces for heat and mass transfer. Second, if MOFs' heat and mass transfer coefficients could reach the level of Siogel, their maximum power density would double. Thus, development of MOFs should go beyond adsorption capacity, and tune the structure to the application requirements. As a result, MOFs could to serve as optimal adsorbents for sustainable energy conversion.

A mathematical model is used to predict adsorption isotherms from experimentally measured breakthrough curves. Using this approach, by performing only breakthrough experiments for a mixture of two (or more) components, one can obtain pure component adsorption isotherms up to the pressure of the experiment. As a case study, the adsorption of an equimolar mixture of CO 2 and CH 4 in zeolite ITQ-29 is investigated. Pure component linear adsorption isotherms for CO 2 and CH 4 are predicted by fitting the theoretical breakthrough curves to the experimental ones. Henry coefficients obtained from our approach are in excellent agreement with those measured experimentally. A similar procedure is applied to predict the complete Langmuir adsorption isotherm from breakthrough curves at high pressures. The resulting adsorption isotherms are in very good agreement with those measured experimentally. In our model for transient adsorption, mass transfer from the gas phase to the adsorbed phase is considered using the Linear Driving Force model and dispersion of the gas phase in the packed bed is taken into account. IAST is used to compute the equilibrium loadings for a mixture of gases. The influence of the dispersion coefficient and the effective mass transfer coefficient on the shape of breakthrough curves is investigated and discussed. Rough estimations of these values are sufficient to predict adsorption isotherms from breakthrough curves.

Background. Living at home with a physical condition that requires assistance places high emotional burden on older persons that needs to be attended to by nurses. However, nurses in home health care have previously been found to communicate primarily in an instrumental way. This increases the risk that emotional concerns are being overlooked or not responded to in an appropriate way.Aims and Objectives. To enhance emotional interactions with older clients in home health care, an individual feedback intervention was developed for these nurses. The first experiences and results are presented in this paper.Design and Methods. Ten nurses/nurse assistants participated in this exploratory pre-post test study. They were asked to audiotape visits with older persons (65+) before and after an audio-feedback intervention. Older clients’ implicit and explicit expressions of emotional concerns as well as nurses’ responses to these expressions were rated with the Verona Coding Definition of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES). The nurses were given feedback based on the audio-recordings and the observations and were asked to reflect on the audio-feedback intervention.Results. The nurses valued the audio-feedback. Overall, 201 cues and 35 concerns were expressed during 58 recorded visits. At post-intervention, 29% of identified cues and concerns were nurse-initiated, at pre-intervention 18.8% (NS). Nurses provided space in 73.7% of their responses. During shorter visits nurses tended to provide less space (p=.06). After the intervention, 20.9% of the cues and concerns were ignored, before the intervention this was 25% (NS).Conclusions. Receiving feedback was taken in very well by the nurses working in home health care and the feedback intervention seems to enhance emotional interactions in home health care with older persons. Although, due to the low power of the study, the differences between pre-and post-intervention measurements were not significant. Studies with larger samples are needed to replicate these findings.