Sintering of Pt/Al2O3 reforming catalysts: EXAFS study of the behavior of metal particles under oxidizing atmosphere

The effect of an oxidative atmosphere (300 °C) is studied on fresh and sintered unchlorinated naphtha reforming catalysts containing 0.6–1% Pt. The TPR profiles show that only one species is formed using our experimental conditions, regardless of the mean crystallite size of the metal particles. The structural information supplied by EXAFS compared with cuboctahedral particle modeling, implies that such species is a surface platinum oxide, the structure of which is close to that of PtO₂, but largely distorted. This is true whether the catalyst is sintered or not.     

Capacity Scaling in Ad Hoc Networks With Heterogeneous Mobile Nodes: The Super-Critical Regime

We analyze the capacity scaling laws of mobile ad hoc networks comprising heterogeneous nodes and spatial inhomogeneities. Most of previous work relies on the assumption that nodes are identical and uniformly visit the entire network space. Experimental data, however, show that the mobility pattern of individual nodes is usually restricted over the area, while the overall node density is often largely inhomogeneous due to the presence of node concentration points. In this paper we introduce a general class of mobile networks which incorporates both restricted mobility and inhomogeneous node density, and describe a methodology to compute the asymptotic throughput achievable in these networks by the store-carry-forward communication paradigm. We show how the analysis can be mapped, under mild assumptions, into a Maximum Concurrent Flow (MCF) problem over an associated Generalized Random Geometric Graph (GRGG). Moreover, we propose an asymptotically optimal scheduling and routing scheme that achieves the maximum network capacity.     

The wick catheter technique for measurement of intramuscular pressure. A new research and clinical tool

The wick catheter technique was developed in 1968 for measurement of subcutaneous pressure and has been modified for easy intramuscular insertion and continuous recording of interstitial fluid pressure in animals and humans. Studies in dogs of the anterolateral compartment of the leg in simulation of the compartment syndrome showed the technique to be accurate and reproducible. The wick catheter technique is capable of important clinical applications in the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic compartment syndromes.     

An Analytical Model for Wireless Sensor Networks with Sleeping Nodes

We consider a wireless sensor network whose nodes may enter the so-called sleep mode, corresponding to low power consumption and reduced operational capabilities. We develop a Markov model of the network representing: 1) the behavior of a single sensor as well as the dynamics of the entire network, 2) the channel contention among sensors, and 3) the data routing through the network. We use this model to evaluate the system performance in terms of energy consumption; network capacity, and data delivery delay. Analytical results present a very good matching with simulation results for a large variety of system scenarios, showing the accuracy of our approach     

N-doping effects on the oxygen sensing of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> films

Gas sensors based on Titanium dioxide films have been a subject of interest due to its high sensitivity and low cost. The sensing mechanism of this type of sensors is based on the conduction mechanism, which is governed by the potential barriers formed at the inter-grains of the polycrystalline structure. The shape of these potential barriers strongly depends on the characteristics of the material, and then it is expected that a doping aggregation will affect significantly the conductivity and thus the sensitivity of the sensor. In this work, we study the effect in the oxygen sensitivity of titanium dioxide films due to N-doping. We developed a model in order to explain our experimental results based on the fact that, for the particle size of our titanium dioxide samples, grains are completely depleted of carriers.     

Deep Oxidation of Benzene on Pt/V2O5–TiO2 Catalysts

The combustion of benzene was studied on Pt supported on V₂O₅–TiO₂ samples containing different amounts of V₂O₅. Vanadium was highly dispersed as V⁴⁺ for low V₂O₅ loadings, forming a vanadia monolayer on titanium dioxide for a V₂O₅ concentration of about 5%wt. V₂O₅–TiO₂ samples were more active than V₂O₅ and TiO₂ single oxides, and the activity increased with the vanadia content. The platinum dispersion in Pt/V₂O₅–TiO₂ catalysts increased with the V₂O₅ loading but the activity for the deep oxidation of benzene exhibited an opposite trend. Benzene combustion was a structure sensitivity reaction promoted on larger metallic Pt crystallites which were preferentially formed when the V₂O₅ content in the sample was decreased.     

Route Stability in MANETs under the Random Direction Mobility Model

A fundamental issue arising in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is the selection of the optimal path between any two nodes. A method that has been advocated to improve routing efficiency is to select the most stable path so as to reduce the latency and the overhead due to route reconstruction. In this work, we study both the availability and the duration probability of a routing path that is subject to link failures caused by node mobility. In particular, we focus on the case where the network nodes move according to the Random Direction model, and we derive both exact and approximate (but simple) expressions of these probabilities. Through our results, we study the problem of selecting an optimal route in terms of path availability. Finally, we propose an approach to improve the efficiency of reactive routing protocols.