Preparation and properties of novel polyurethane insulating coatings based on glycerin‐terminated urethane prepolymers and blocked isocyanate

Novel polyurethane insulating coatings were prepared from the reaction of glycerin‐terminated polyurethane prepolymers (GPUPs) and a blocked isocyanate curing agent (BIC). The GPUPs were prepared from the reaction of one equivalent of polycaprolactone polyol (CAPA 210) with an excess amount of 4,4′‐methylene bis(phenyl isocyanate) (MDI) and subsequent reaction of the NCO‐terminated polyurethane with glycerin. The BIC was prepared from the reaction of trimethylol propane (TMP), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and N‐methylaniline (NMA). The polyols and curing agent were characterized by conventional methods while the curing condition was optimized via gel content measurements. The curing kinetics of the polyurethane coating were investigated and the kinetic parameters derived. The crosslink densities of the samples were determined via the equilibrium swelling method, using the Flory–Rehner equation. The relationships between the crosslink density and the electrical, physical, mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties of the coatings were also studied. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Application of outranking methods to economic and financial justificaton of CIM systems

Traditional economic evaluation methods concentrate on maximizing or minimizing a single objective such as net present value and pay back period. In the last decade, there has been an increased awareness of the need to consider multiple attributes in the evaluation of advanced manufacturing systems. Various methods have recently been developed for the evaluation of CIM systems. This paper discusses multiattribute methods for justification of CIM systems and outranking methods including ELECTRE, ORESTE, and PROMETHEE.     

Preparation and properties of silicone‐containing poly(methyl methacrylate) gels

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) gels with varying amounts of silicone and solvent and constant amounts of crosslinker were prepared by solution free radical crosslinking copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDM), tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) comonomer systems. They were then studied in benzene at a total monomer concentration of 3.5 mol L^?1 and 70 °C. The conversion of monomer, volume swelling ratio, weight fraction and gel point were measured as a function of the reaction time, silicone concentration and benzene content up to the onset of macrogelation. Structural characteristics of the gels were examined by using equilibrium swelling in benzene, gel fraction and Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. The morphology of the copolymers was also investigated by SEM. Based on the obtained results, it was concluded that the FTIR data did not have the capacity to show the presence of the VTES or TEOS moiety in these kinds of copolymers. On the other hand, the variation of weight fraction of gel, W_g, and its equilibrium volume swelling ratio in benzene, q_v, exhibited the same behaviour as that of MMA/EGDM copolymers. Also, the dilution of the monomer mixture resulted in an increase in the gel point and swelling degree and a decrease in the percent of conversion and gel fraction. Finally, TEOS is not an ideal silicone compound for reaction in the MMA/EGDM copolymerization system, whereas VTES is a suitable silicone comonomer for this system and it has been proved useful. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Parallel Lagrange interpolation on <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-ary <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-cubes with maximum channel utilization

This paper proposes an efficient parallel algorithm for computing Lagrange interpolation on k-ary n-cube networks. This is done using the fact that a k-ary n-cube can be decomposed into n link-disjoint Hamiltonian cycles. Using these n link-disjoint cycles, we interpolate Lagrange polynomial using full bandwidth of the employed network. Communication in the main phase of the algorithm is based on an all-to-all broadcast algorithm on the n link-disjoint Hamiltonian cycles exploiting all network channels, and thus, resulting in high-efficiency in using network resources. A performance evaluation of the proposed algorithm reveals an optimum speedup for a typical range of system parameters used in current state-of-the-art implementations.

Re-examining the causal structure of information technology impact research

About 20 years ago, Markus and Robey noted that most research on IT impacts had been guided by deterministic perspectives and had neglected to use an emergent perspective, which could account for contradictory findings. They further observed that most research in this area had been carried out using variance theories at the expense of process theories. Finally, they suggested that more emphasis on multilevel theory building would likely improve empirical reliability. In this paper, we reiterate the observations and suggestions made by Markus and Robey on the causal structure of IT impact theories and carry out an analysis of empirical research published in four major IS journals, Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR), the European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), and Information and Organization (I&O), to assess compliance with those recommendations. Our final sample consisted of 161 theory-driven articles, accounting for approximately 21% of all the empirical articles published in these journals. Our results first reveal that 91% of the studies in MISQ, ISR, and EJIS focused on deterministic theories, while 63% of those in I&O adopted an emergent perspective. Furthermore, 91% of the articles in MISQ, ISR, and EJIS adopted a variance model; this compares with 71% from I&O that applied a process model. Lastly, mixed levels of analysis were found in 14% of all the surveyed articles. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Wettability alteration and retention of mixed polymer-grafted silica nanoparticles onto oil-wet porous medium

Enhanced oil recovery(EOR)processes are applied to recover trapped or residual oil in the reservoir rocks after primary and secondary recovery methods.Changing ...     

Reactivity of the exocyclic double bond in 4-arylidene-2-phenyl-2-imidazolin-5-ones toward organomagnesium compounds. I

4-Arylidene-2-phenyl-1-substituted-2-imidazolin-5-ones 1a – d react with organomagnesium compounds, in ether at room temperature, to yield, as the main isolable products, the 4-disubstituted-methyl derivatives 2a – h . On the other hand, 1a – d react with phenylmagnesium bromide in a boiling ether-benzene mixture to give, among the reaction products, 2a – d and the 4-diarylmethylene derivatives 3a – d . Spectral data of 2 and 3 are discussed. Treatment of the GRIGNARD products 2a – c with formaldehyde and piperidine or morpholine effects aminomethylation at C-4 with the formation of the MANNICH bases 6a – f .     

Tuning fuzzy PD and PI controllers using reinforcement learning

In this paper, we propose a new auto-tuning fuzzy PD and PI controllers using reinforcement Q-learning (QL) algorithm for SISO (single-input single-output) and TITO (two-input two-output) systems. We first, investigate the design parameters and settings of a typical class of Fuzzy PD (FPD) and Fuzzy PI (FPI) controllers: zero-order Takagi–Sugeno controllers with equidistant triangular membership functions for inputs, equidistant singleton membership functions for output, Larsen’s implication method, and average sum defuzzification method. Secondly, the analytical structures of these typical fuzzy PD and PI controllers are compared to their classical counterpart PD and PI controllers. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is proven through simulation examples.