Surface Analysis Approach Research Articles

Optimizing Electric Racing Car Performance through Telemetry-Integrated Battery Charging: A Response Surface Analysis Approach

Optimizing Electric Racing Car Performance through Telemetry-Integrated Battery Charging: A Response Surface Analysis Approach

Integrated Eye-Tracking Response Surface Analysis to Optimize the Design of Garden Landscapes

Gardens not only provide people with a place for leisure and relaxation, they also contribute to improving urban ecological environments and promoting social interactions and cohesion. Additionally, from a psychological perspective, gardens play a role in alleviating stress, enhancing happiness, and improving the quality of life. Current research on gardens has primarily employed methods such as questionnaire surveys, environmental psychology analyses, and eye-tracking analyses; however, comprehensive studies on the relationships between multiple factors and levels in garden designs are lacking. Here, we propose a response surface analysis approach based on eye-tracking technology for the design and optimization of gardens. Firstly, the impacts of different garden elements on visitors’ psychology and fixation counts were analyzed using environmental psychology and eye-tracking analyses. Subsequently, the optimal range of each garden feature was determined through single-factor experiments, followed by response surface analysis to obtain the optimal value for each element. The results revealed that changes in garden elements such as the greenery ratio, number of buildings, and water saturation significantly affected visitors’ psychology. The greenery ratio had a greater impact than the number of buildings, which in turn had a greater impact than water saturation. This study is the first to analyze the relationships between multiple garden elements. A strong relationship was found between the greenery ratio and the number of buildings, as well as between the number of buildings and water saturation, while the relationship between the greenery ratio and water saturation was weaker. This approach can not only optimize garden designs but can also be widely applied in fields such as urban planning and public space transformation to enhance visitors’ comfort and satisfaction with the environment and promote sustainable urban development.

Inconsistency in psychological resilience and social support with mental health in early adolescents: A multilevel response surface analysis approach

BackgroundGiven the high prevalence of adolescent mental health problems, promoting understanding and implementation of protective factors is crucial for prevention and intervention efforts addressing adolescent mental health problems. This study aims to investigate whether consistency and inconsistency in protective factors are associated with adolescent mental health problems and to inform adolescent mental health interventions that target the unique needs of adolescents and promote adolescent mental health. MethodsWe used multistage cluster sampling to conduct psychological resilience, social support, and mental health questionnaires from April to June 2023 among 10,653 Chinese adolescents (52.3 % were boys). Data were analyzed using polynomial regressions with response surface analysis. ResultsThe higher levels of psychological resilience and social support in adolescents were associated with fewer mental health problems (anxiety: a1 = −1.83, P < 0.001; depression: a1 = −2.44, P < 0.001; and perceived stress: a1 = −1.20, P < 0.001). When the level of psychological resilience was greater than social support, the greater the discrepancy the higher the perceived stress among adolescents (a3 = 1.19, P < 0.001). Moreover, the consistency of psychological resilience and social support had a greater impact on girls' mental health (anxiety: a1 = −1.97, P < 0.001; depression: a1 = −2.71, P < 0.001; perceived stress: a1 = −1.23, P < 0.001). LimitationsThe cross-sectional study design limited the inference of causal relationships between variables. ConclusionsThese results emphasize that adolescents need a balanced development of protective factors and targeted intervention programs for different mental health problems.

Evaluation of Bruising Susceptibility and Response of Pears under Impact Loading through Finite Element Analysis

Mechanical damage and bruising of fruit is a critical problem in the food industry. Minimizing brusing and damage can be achieved by designing energy-absorbing structures and packaging systems in order to ensure the long-term quality of fresh produce. The aim of this study is to investigate the response and bruise susceptibility of pears under impact loading conditions through finite element analysis (FEA) methods. In this paper, three impact heights (0.25 m, 0.5 m, and 1.0 m), four impact material surfaces (poplar wood, rubber, cardboard, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic), two packaging sizes (standard 0.22″ and sandwich lattice 2.1″), and three impact design structures (rigid, corrugated, and honeycomb) are considered. Based on mesh sensitivity analysis, a mesh element of 1.5 mm was adopted for all simulations, assuring the accuracy of results and considering the trade-off between mesh size and computational time. The response surface analysis approach was utilized in order to develop predictive empirical models related to pear bruising. Results revealed that the rubber-based impact platform yielded minimal bruise susceptibility at all heights, while standard-sized corrugated cardboard performed best at a height of 0.25 m. Furthermore, single, double, and triple layers of packaging cardboard were tested. We observed that adding a second soft layer of corrugated cardboard reduced the stress on the pear by around 33%. However, adding a third layer only reduced stress by 5%. The 3D-printed honeycomb ABS has potential as protective packaging but would require further investigations and parameter optimization. Stacking multiple layers of cardboard on top of each other is a cost-effective solution that could improve damping and, therefore, ensure good quality and increase the shelf life of the fresh produce. This study will help decision-makers select the optimal energy-absorbing material for cushioning and packaging designs in order to improve the handling and post-harvesting logistics of fresh produce.

The Relationship between Discrepancies in Career Anchors of Information Technology Personnel and Career Satisfaction.

The career anchors of information technology personnel (ITP) are critical factors influencing their career satisfaction (CS), and these factors are also influenced by national culture. Although a number of scholars have studied the internal CS of employees, these scholars have not explained how to increase the CS of ITP from both individual and organizational perspectives and to further improve the success rate of IS projects. Thus, this study adopts the goal-achievement gap (discrepancy) theory to explore the gap between the "internal career desires (career wants, CW)" and "external career opportunities (career have, CH)" of ITP in two different cultural societies, namely mainland China and the United Arab Emirates, and whether the gap impacts their CS. The data in this study were collected from the Internet. A survey was posted on Internet discussion forums for full-time ITP participants within organizations in China and the United Arab Emirates; thus, the results of this study are possibly only generalizable to these two countries. Finally, the results of this study provide the following contributions: (1) There are 13 career anchors (technical competence, managerial competence, autonomy, organizational stability, challenge, lifestyle, identity, creativity, variety, service, entrepreneurship, geographic security, and learning motivation) of ITP in China, which can be divided into three categories, and these are totally different from the four categories identified by ITP in the United Arab Emirates. (2) The surface analysis approach (RSA) to test the curvilinear relationship between the CW, CH, and CS of ITP indeed can explain more than the linear SEM (structural equation modeling) test between the CW and CS, CH, and CS separately, both tests are in two different cultural societies, China and the United Arab Emirates.

Mass Spectrometry-Based High-Throughput Quantification of Bioproducts in Liquid Culture.

To meet the ever-increasing need for high-throughput screening in metabolic engineering, information-rich, fast screening methods are needed. Mass spectrometry (MS) provides an efficient and general approach for metabolite screening and offers the capability of characterizing a broad range of analytes in a label-free manner, but often requires a range of sample clean-up and extraction steps. Liquid extraction surface analysis (LESA) coupled MS is an image-guided MS surface analysis approach that directly samples and introduces metabolites from a surface to MS. Here, we combined the advantages of LESA-MS and an acoustic liquid handler with stable isotope-labeled internal standards. This approach provides absolute quantitation of target chemicals from liquid culture-dried droplets and enables high-throughput quantitative screening for microbial metabolites. In this study, LESA-MS was successfully applied to quantify several different metabolites (itaconic acid, triacetic acid lactone, and palmitic acid) from different yeast strains in different mediums, demonstrating its versatility, accuracy, and efficiency across a range of microbial engineering applications.

Is parent personality associated with adolescent outcomes for their child? A response surface analysis approach

AbstractA parent has immense control over the experiences of their offspring. Given that personality is associated with important life outcomes—mediated through decision‐making processes—it is likely that parental personality impacts their child's life outcomes. While “compensatory” influences from another person have been identified in romantic partners, the impact of parent's personality on their child's outcomes has not been thoroughly examined. Using a response surface analysis approach, we will look at the associations of adolescent personality with the personality of their parents for the prediction of adolescent outcomes (Ndyads = 9395). Parent personality predicted outcomes for their child above and beyond their child's traits. There were few instances of child–parent personality interactions, suggesting the mechanisms linking child and parent traits to child outcomes are largely independent. Findings suggest parents’ personalities offer a unique influence on the outcomes for children while they develop and navigate through adolescence.Highlights This paper investigated if parental Big Five personality traits predicted outcomes for their child in adolescence, above and beyond the child's own traits. Response surface analyses indicated that parent personality does predict outcomes for their adolescent child, with few interaction or similarity effects emerging. These findings suggest the Big Five traits of parents are impactful in the child and parent relationship and can uniquely influence outcomes for the child above and beyond their own traits.

Investigating the Structural and in-Silico Bioactive Properties of a Newly Synthesized Schiff Base Compound through Experimental and Computational Approaches

A new Schiff base compound, (E)–2–[(2–bromophenylimino)methyl]–4,6–dichloro–3–methoxyphenol, was obtained from the condensation reaction of 3,5–dichloro–2–hydroxy–6–methoxybenzaldehyde and 2–bromoaniline in ethanol. Single-crystal XRD studies revealed that the planarity in 3D molecular structure with 5.2° between the two aromatic rings and the crystal packing pattern which is formed by weak intermolecular C―H···O hydrogen bonds and π···π interactions. Geometry optimizations with Gaussian and Slater-type basis sets revealed the molecule's planarity to be significantly distorted at 40.2°. Fingerprint plots and energy frameworks were generated using the Hirshfeld surface analysis approach to better comprehend crystal packing and show the quantity of intermolecular interaction energies. To confirm the suitability of the chosen computational methods, root mean square errors in bond lengths and angles were calculated for the two calculated structures and the experimental structure. Intramolecular charge transfer effects on the molecule have been investigated with the scan and NBO calculations using Gaussian-type basis sets, which were time-saving basis sets in the geometry optimizations. Using experimental FT–IR/UV spectra and calculated ones, molecular electronic configuration outlined in solid-state and solvent media. Molecular docking studies were carried out to examine the compound's potential inhibitory activities against hMAOB protein, and binding energy was found as -8.84 kcal/mol.

Determination of bruise susceptibility of fresh corn to impact load by means of finite element method simulation

Collision damage is the most common type of damage that occurs in fresh corn ears at harvest, and this type of damage is difficult to quantify. The objective of this study was to determine the bruise susceptibility of fresh corn ears under various collision scenarios using the finite element method (FEM). Explicit dynamics were used to simulate the characteristics of collision deformation during the harvest of fresh corn ears. The precise external shape of the fresh corn ear was obtained by reverse engineering and the material properties of the fresh corn kernels and cob were determined using compression tests to build a finite element model of the fresh corn ear as a two-layer material. Data and deformation images were obtained by running collision simulations using three common impact contact surfaces (steel, neoprene, and PVC), three impact heights (0.6 m, 1.2 m, and 1.8 m), and three impact angles (−30°, 0°, and 30°) were considered. The results showed that the maximum bruise susceptibility value of fresh corn ears was 3.59 × 10−6 m3 J−1 when the impact height was 1.2 m, the collision angle was 0°, and the impact surface was neoprene, whereas the minimum value of fresh corn ear bruise susceptibility was 1.493 × 10−6 m3 J−1 when the impact height was 0.6 m, the impact angle was 30°, and the impact surface was neoprene. An empirical model for predicting the bruise susceptibility of fresh corn ears was obtained using a response surface analysis approach. The relative errors between the simulated and calculated results of the empirical model ranged from 0 % to 8.6 %. The relative error of the results predicted by the empirical model and verified using the drop test was less than 17.3 %. These results indicate that this model can be used to determine the bruise susceptibility of fresh corn ears with respect to specific impact surfaces during harvest. This study provides a theoretical basis for the design of fresh corn ear harvesters.

Effect of Indoor Environment on Occupant Air Comfort and Productivity in Office Buildings: A Response Surface Analysis Approach

Indoor air quality is a significant factor influencing occupant comfort, health and productivity. Indoor air comfort and its relationship to occupant comfort and productivity are widely documented. Statistical correlation between the two has been highlighted in scientific literature. This paper investigates any unique correlations between non-air quality parameters (such as lux level, temperature, and noise level) and indoor air comfort and presents a study investigating the effect of indoor environmental quality on occupant air comfort and productivity. This study was conducted by collecting data on indoor environmental parameters using remote sensors and an online survey for occupant responses for twelve months. Data analysis was performed using Response Surface Analysis to present mathematical relationships between indoor environmental quality parameters and occupant air comfort. Results show that carbon dioxide up to 600 ppm, VOC up to 25% (by volume) and humidity up to 60% have a positive impact on occupant air comfort and productivity. Our research highlighted that some non-air quality parameters, such as outdoor temperature and lux levels, affect occupant air comfort. These results would enable built environment professionals to design and operate offices (subtropical desert climate) conducive to occupant comfort and productivity.

Microanalysis using secondary ion emission By Raimond Castaing and Georges Slodzian

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is an analytical technique used to probe the composition of solids through the sputtering of the sample with a focussed primary ion beam and analyzing the emitted secondary ions generated under impact. These secondary ions ranging from elementals to low molecular weight organics offer precious information on the molecular composition and spatial organization within samples. Today, the combination of modern SIMS methodologies and instrumentation offers the most sensitive surface analysis approach, with elemental detection limits ranging from parts per million to parts per billion. In this month’s special feature article, we retrace the steps taken by Raimond Castaing and Georges Slodzian who in the early 1960’s developed a SIMS instrument based on a magnetic double focusing sector field mass spectrometer and using argon for the primary ion beam. This seminal work was first published in 1962, in French, in the Journal de Microscopie, which limited access to the scientific community at large. This article is now available in English and is beautifully prefaced by Georges Slodzian who revisits his steps as a young graduate student in the Castaing laboratory and discusses the scientific legacy of this article in the development of modern SIMS instrumentation.

SEISMIC FRAGILITY SURFACE ANALYSIS OF RC FRAME STRUCTURES BASED ON BP NEURAL NETWORKS: ACCOUNTING FOR THE EFFECTS OF GROUND MOTION INTENSITY AND DURATION

Comparing with short-duration ground motions, long-duration ground motions may intensify the damage and increase the failure probability of structures. Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate the influence of ground motion duration characteristics on the seismic fragility analysis results. A seismic fragility surface analysis approach based on back propagation (BP) artificial neural networks was proposed. It can account for the effect of both ground motion intensity and duration. Seismic fragility analysis was conducted to get the fragility surfaces under different damage levels. Three reinforced concrete fame structures with different heights were taken as the study cases. Long- and short-duration record sets were selected as the inputs. BP neural network models were employed to build the relationship between the ground motion intensity measures and structural responses, and the seismic fragility surfaces of the investigated structures were obtained. The validity of the proposed approach was discussed. The analysis results show that the accuracy of the established BP neural network model is high. It indicates that the fragility analysis results by this approach is reliable. Comparing with the conventional procedures, the neural network is capable of building more effective correlation models between the ground motion duration and structural damage to obtain fragility analysis results that account for ground motion duration. This approach can be further expanded to include more ground motion characteristics into the program for seismic fragility analysis. It has a definite application prospect.

The Co-Occurrence of Satisfaction and Frustration of Basic Psychological Needs and Its Relationship with Exercisers’ Motivation

Although the relationship between both need frustration and, particularly, need satisfaction and different motivational regulations for exercise has been widely examined in the literature, little is known about the co-occurrence of both need satisfaction and need frustration in the exercise context. Grounded in self-determination theory, the present study aimed to examine the effects of both need satisfaction and frustration on motivational regulations for exercise, by applying a response surface analysis approach. In total, 477 regular exercisers aged 18–54 years participated in this study. The interaction between needs (high on both need satisfaction and frustration) displayed a positive and significant association with amotivation, integrated regulation, and intrinsic motivation. Considering the direction of the discrepancy (high vs. low levels of need satisfaction and frustration) related to the behavioral regulations, results showed that higher need satisfaction relative to need frustration was associated with more self-determined regulations of motivation. Contrarily, higher need satisfaction relative to need frustration was associated with lower scores on amotivation, external, introjected, and identified regulation. Overall, these findings extend previous literature, suggesting that need satisfaction and frustration are distinct factors that can be experienced simultaneously in individuals during exercise and that different degrees of both needs have different associations with behavioral regulations.

Advanced Surface Analysis to Identify Media-Workpiece Contact Modes in a Vibratory Finishing Processes

This paper outlines a robust data processing approach capable of isolating individual process related features such as grinding marks, pits, and scratches from an areal surface measurement of a ground sample that underwent a modified vibratory finishing processing step. The approach combines conventional surface segmentation and feature isolation approaches, with polar plots developed by this research group. Motivation for the work assumes that the mode of media-workpiece interaction occurring during the process, i.e., impact or sliding, can be inferred from the topological features present on the workpiece surface post finishing. Sliding contact is expected to induce scratches, while impact will create local pits. To evaluate the proposed surface analysis approach, two aluminium 6061 samples that were used in previous vibratory finishing tests were re-analysed. In additional to the coherent scanning interferometric areal surface measurements, high speed imaging, particle imaging velocimetry, and computational fluid dynamics models of the media flow around the workpiece is available to verify the media-workpiece interaction modes suggested by the surface analysis approach. By verifying the effectiveness of the approach via the previous imaging and modelling efforts, it becomes possible to understand the nature of the workpiece media-interaction in regions of the vibratory finishing bowl that are not accessible by imaging techniques, i.e., near the bottom of the bowl. The approach can successfully isolate media related pit marks and scratches while also providing information regarding the direction of media motion across the workpiece surface and insights on the nature of the local media pressure fields conditions.

Mechanics of material removal when cutting natural fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites

This paper aims to study the machinability of natural fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites by investigating the mechanics of chip formation and the multiscale cut surface's quality induced by the orthogonal cutting process. Unidirectional flax fibers reinforced polypropylene (UDF/PP) composite has been tested by orthogonal cutting experiments. Mechanical tensile and shear tests have been conducted on UDF/PP specimens to relate the mechanical behavior to the cutting behavior.Results show that UDF/PP composites produce a continuous chip at all the considered cutting conditions. This is inherently related to the specific mechanical behavior of flax fibers inside the thermoplastic matrix under cutting solicitations. The cutting behavior induces a consequent surface damages in the form of debonding zones and uncut fiber extremities. Results demonstrate that the cutting depth has the most significant influence on the machinability after sorting the pertinent scales of the cut surface using the multiscale surface analysis approach.

Determination of bruise susceptibility of pears (Ankara variety) to impact load by means of FEM-based explicit dynamics simulation

This study focuses on determining bruise susceptibility and the realistic representation of time-dependent nonlinear deformation behaviour of pears (Ankara variety) under various impact cases. A reverse engineering approach, physical material tests and finite element method (FEM)-based explicit dynamics simulations were utilised to investigate impact deformation characteristics of the fruit. Three impact heights (0.25, 0.5 and 1m), three impact surfaces (steel, wood and rubber-based materials) and three impact orientations of the fruit (vertical, horizontal and at a 45° angle) were considered in the impact simulation scenarios. Useful numerical data and deformation visuals were obtained from the simulation results. These results revealed that maximum bruise susceptibility magnitude on the fruit was experienced for the case of impact on the wood-based platform (impact height: 1m; impact orientation: 0°) and minimum bruise susceptibility magnitude was calculated for the case of impact on the rubber-based impact platform (impact height: 1m; impact orientation: 45°). In addition to this, numerical results related to fruit bruising were analysed through response surface analysis approach and prediction models were successfully described with a reasonable coefficient of determination (R2) values. Verification checks of the prediction models also indicated that the relative differences between the results of simulation and the empirical model were in agreement (max. 7.03%). These models can describe the bruise susceptibility magnitudes of the fruit for various impact cases on specific impact platforms. This study contributes to further research on the usage of numerical-methods-based nonlinear explicit dynamics simulation techniques in complicated deformation and bruising investigations and industrial applications related to agricultural and food products.

Synergistic inhibition of aluminium corrosion in H2SO4 solution by polypropylene glycol in the presence of iodide ions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of polypropylene glycol (PPG), as a corrosion inhibitor for aluminium corrosion in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution at 303-333 K and the effect of addition of iodide ions on the corrosion inhibition efficacy of PPG. Design/methodology/approach The corrosion inhibition performance of PPG alone and on addition of iodide ions in the acid medium was evaluated using weight loss and electrochemical [electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), linear polarisation resistance (LPR) and potentiodynamic polarization (PDP)] methods as well as surface analysis approach at 303-333 K. The morphology of the corroding aluminium surface without and with the additives was visualised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The trend of inhibition efficiency with temperature was used to propose the mechanism of inhibition and type of adsorption. Findings Results obtained showed that PPG moderately retarded the corrosion of Al in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. Addition of KI to PPG is found to synergistically improve the inhibitive ability of PPG. From the variation of inhibition efficiency, K_ads, and E_a, with rise in temperature, physisorption mechanism is proposed for the adsorption of PPG and PPG + KI onto the Al surface in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. Polarisation results showed that PPG and PPG + KI acted as mixed type inhibitor. The adsorption of PPG and PPG + KI, respectively, onto the metal surface followed El-Awady et al. adsorption isotherm model. SEM and water contact angle analysis confirmed the adsorption of PPG and PPG + KI on Al surface. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to aqueous acid environment in aerated condition, and all tests were performed under static conditions. Practical implications The use of PPG as corrosion inhibitor for Al corrosion in acidic medium were reported for the first time. The results suggest that iodide ions could be used to enhance corrosion protection ability of PPG which could find practical application in corrosion control in aqueous acidic environment. The data obtained would form part of database on the synergistic effect of iodide ions addition to polymer to control acid-induced corrosion of metal. Originality/value The use of PPG as corrosion inhibitor for Al corrosion in acidic medium were reported for the first time. The results suggest that iodide ions could be used to enhance corrosion protection ability of PPG which could find practical application in corrosion control in aqueous acidic environment. The data obtained would form part of database on the synergistic effect of iodide ions addition to polymer to control acid-induced corrosion of metal.

Investigation of the Adsorption Mechanism of Heterocyclic Molecules on Copper using Potentiodynamic ORP-EIS and In-situ Ramans pectroscopy

The adsorption mechanism of 2-amino-5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (AMTD) and 2-methyl-5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (MMTD) was investigated by a combined electrochemical and surface analysis approach. The link with the adsorption kinetics was maintained during AC voltammetry as well as during potentiodynamic broadband multisine (ORP-EIS) measurements. A discrepancy between the thickness of the adsorbate layers determined by both techniques was identified as a result of the frequency dispersion of the system. The use of a broad frequency range and the statistical evaluation with ORP-EIS deemed this the preferential technique for layer thickness determination. The surface-molecular complex was further investigated through in-situ surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), collected under identical electrochemical conditions. The adsorption regions defined by the AC voltammetry measurements corresponded to the SERS response. The proposed adsorption orientation for AMTD and MMTD was through N4-S-Cu σ-bonding. A layer thickness of 0.76 nm and 0.85 nm respectively indicated the formation of multiple adsorbed molecular layers. Application of the in-situ approach on small heterocyclic molecules derived from AMTD and MMTD indicated the importance of adjacent nitrogen atoms in a five membered heterocyclic ring for the adsorbate-substrate complex.

Dental handpiece contamination: a proteomics and surface analysis approach

Dental handpieces (DHPs) become biofouled internally with patient derived material that is difficult to access for removal and inactivation. This study undertook a quantitative and qualitative investigation of protein contamination of internal components from three different types of DHP: the turbine, slow speed contra-angle and surgical. Eluates from the high speed turbine, low speed spray channels and surgical gear were assayed for protein using an orthophthaldehyde assay. Eluates concentrated by Amicon ultrafiltration were also analysed by SDS-PAGE, mass spectroscopy, Western blotting and ELISA. The surfaces of handpiece components were also investigated by SEM, EFSCAN and EDAX microscopy. Surgical gears contained highest levels of protein (403 μg), followed by low speed spray channels (17.7 μg) and the high speed turbine (<5 μg). Mass spectroscopy of surgical gears demonstrated mostly serum derived proteins. Decontamination of the DHPs using an automated washer disinfector and handpiece irrigator showed a significant reduction in residual protein levels.

X-ray emission by electron impact as a surface characterization tool for the light elements B, C, N and O: sensitivity factors and effective attenuation length

X-ray emission induced by electron impact is a common characterization technique associated to electron microscopy. The possibility of employing this technique for surface and thin film analysis arises from the low energy electrons required to excite the inner shell transitions of the light elements, and is a field not sufficiently explored. In this work, we have studied experimentally the X-ray emission intensities from h-BN, B4C and B2O3 bulk samples to determine the sensitivity factors (also known as k-factors) of the light elements C, N and O relative to B as a function of the incident electron beam energy. Furthermore, evaporated carbon thin films grown on Si(100) with thicknesses in the 20–200 nm range were used to derive the effective attenuation length λ(E) of the technique. In this way, and following a classical surface analysis approach, a fast and simple quantification procedure is presented to determine the composition of any compound of the B–C–N–O family in thin film form. These results have been compared with Monte Carlo simulations.