The removal of boron from aqueous solution by direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) was studied with self-prepared polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membranes in the present work. The effect of pH, boron concentration, temperature and salt concentration of the feed solution on the boron rejection was investigated. The experimental results indicated that boron rejection was less ...

Recently, a proliferation of athletic supplements has been marketed touting boron as an ergogenic aid capable of increasing testosterone. The effect of boron supplementation was investigated in male bodybuilders. Ten male bodybuilders (aged 20 to 26) were given a 2.5-mg boron supplement, while nine male bodybuilders (aged 21 to 27) were given a placebo for 7 weeks. Plasma total and free testost...

Intact roots of boron-sufficient squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) plants, plants entering boron deficiency, and plants recovering from boron deficiency were exposed to tritiated thymidine at the end of the treatment period to label the replicating DNA of root tip cells. Using histological sections, autoradiographs of intact root meristems were prepared. The labeling pattern in +B root tips revealed t...

Co-precipitation and absorption methods were investigated for removal of boron from produced water, which is groundwater brought to the surface during oil and natural gas extraction. Boron can be toxic to many crops and often needs to be controlled to low levels in irrigation water. The present research focused on synthetic reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate modeled on concentrate expected from a...

A systematic study was carried out to dope single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) bundles with varying amounts of boron using the pulsed laser vaporization technique. Targets containing boron concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 10at.% boron were prepared by mixing elemental boron with carbon paste and the Co/Ni catalysts. The laser-generated products that were obtained from these targets were char...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of rosin upon fixing boron in Styrax tonkinensis (Piere) wood treated with mixtures of 3% boric acid and 1% rosin sizing agent. After treatment, wood samples were also analyzed by scanning electron microscope observation and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The results showed that all boron-rosin formulations impregnated Styrax ton...

We have synthesized boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) in an arc in presence of boron and nitrogen species only, without transition metals. We find that BNNTs are often attached to pure boron nanoparticles, suggesting that root-growth is a likely mechanism for their formation. To gain further insight into this process we have studied key mechanisms for root growth of BNNTs on the surface of a liqu...

The all-boron fullerenes B40(-1) and B39(-1) discovered in recent experiments are characterized and revealed using photoelectron spectroscopy. Except for the photoelectron spectroscopy, one may identify such boron clusters with other spectroscopic techniques, such as infrared spectra and Raman spectra. Insight into the spectral properties of boron clusters is important to understand the boron c...

Current interest in boron incorporation into carbonates arises from the observation that the isotopic composition of carbonates depends on the pH of the fluid from which they precipitated. This finding opened the possibility of using boron isotopic composition of natural carbonates as a paleo-pH proxy. In this study, coprecipitation of boron by calcite was investigated using Atomic Force Micros...

The effects of boron supplementation on blood and urinary minerals were studied in female college students--17 athletes and 11 sedentary controls--over a one-year period. The athletes had lower percent body fat and higher aerobic capacities than sedentary controls. Athletic subjects consumed more boron in their normal diets than sedentary subjects; all other dietary measures were similar betwee...