Analysis of switched quantizer based on the quadratic spline functions

In this paper, an approximation of the optimal compressor function using the quadratic spline functions with 2L?=?8 segments is described. Since the quadratic spline with 2L?=?8 segments provides better approximation of the optimal compression function than quadratic spline with 2L?=?4 segments, capitalizing on the benefits of the obtained spline approximation, quantizer designing process is firstly performed for the so assumed number of segments and the Laplacian source of a unit variance. Then, to enhance the usability of the proposed model, the switched quantization technique is applied and a beneficial analysis is derived, providing insight in the robustness of the proposed quantizer performances with respect to the mismatch in designed for and applied to variances. Reached quality has been compared to another model from the literature, and it has been shown that the proposed model outperforms the previous model by almost 1.3?dB.     

High value polyurethane resins from rubber seed oil

Rubber seed oil having high free fatty acid content and high unsaturation was used to obtain high quality polyurethane resins through epoxidation and ring opening with methanol and free fatty acids. Two polyols prepared with free fatty acids and without were cured with modified methylene diphenyl diisocyanate to obtain strong, high modulus glassy polyurethanes. The effect of structure on thermal and mechanical properties was analyzed. This showed that the polyol with free fatty acid utilized to obtain a branched structure gave superior crosslinking density and mechanical properties. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Mathematical modelling of soybean oil solubility in supercritical carbon dioxide

The solubility of soybean oil in supercritical carbon dioxide has been determined in the pressure range of 100–300 bar and in the temperature range of 313–323 K. The obtained values (from 0.0005 to 0.02055 g L^?1) have been correlated using four different empirical equations proposed correspondingly by Chrastil, del Valle and Aquilera, Adachi and Lu and Sparks et al. Since the Sparks et al. equation provided the lowest average absolute relative deviation (AARD) (10.25%) than other models in the examined experimental range, a modified equation of Sparks et al. model was developed for predicting the solubility of soybean oil in supercritical carbon dioxide as a function of temperature and density. An improved equation showed the lowest deviation (2.15%) between experimental data than the other empirical equations considered in this study. The proposed equation was also applied for correlating the solubility of linoleic acid (AARD was 2.40%).     

Electrochemical routes for environmentally friendly recycling of rare-earth-based (Sm–Co) permanent magnets

Journal of Applied Electrochemistry - The consumption of critical raw materials, especially those in permanent magnets of Nd–Fe–B and Sm–Co-type, has significantly grown in the...     

Semantic Mediation for Standard-Based B2B Interoperability

The authors discuss a semantic-mediation architecture to advance traditional approaches for standards-based business-to-business (B2B) interoperability. The architecture is supported by the Athena Knowledge Representation and Semantics Mediation tool suite. Initial experimentations with the architecture and the toolset offer discussions of key architectural and functional aspects and suggest directions for future tools enhancements.