Bimetallic Pd–Cu/ZnO–Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> and Pd–Cu/ZrO<Subscript>2</Subscript>–Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> catalysts for methanol synthesis

Monometallic copper and bimetallic palladium-copper catalysts supported on ZnO–Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂–Al₂O₃ were prepared by conventional impregnation method and tested in methanol synthesis reaction under elevated pressure (3.5 MPa) in gradientless reactor at 220°C. The physicochemical properties of prepared catalytic systems were studied using BET, X-ray, TPR-H₂, TPD-NH₃ techniques. The promotion effect of palladium on catalytic activity and selectivity of copper supported catalyst in methanol synthesis reaction was proven. The highest activity of this system is explained by the Pd–Cu alloy formation.     

Probabilistic Length-Reducing Two-Pushdown Automata

Hardness of a separation of nondeterminism, randomization and determinism for polynomial time computations has motivated the analysis of this issue for restricted models of computation. Following this line of research, we consider randomized length-reducing two-pushdown automata ( ), a natural extension of pushdown automata ( ). Our main results are as follows. We show that deterministic s are weaker than Las Vegas s which in turn are weaker than Monte Carlo s. Moreover, bounded two-sided error s are stronger than Monte Carlo s and they are able to recognize some languages which cannot be recognized nondeterministically. Finally, we prove that amplification is impossible for Las Vegas and Monte Carlo automata. Partially supported by MNiSW grant number N206 024 31/3826, 2006-2008. An extended abstract of this paper appeared in the MFCS06 Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 4162, pp. 561–572, 2006).     

A real‐time field experiment on search and rescue operations assisted by unmanned aerial vehicles

This paper reports on the performance of a novel system for supporting search and rescue activities, known as SARUAV (search and rescue unmanned aerial vehicle), in a field experiment during which a real‐world search scenario was simulated. The experiment took place on March 2–3, 2017, at two sites located in southwestern Poland. Three groups acted in the experiment: (1) SARUAV and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators, (2) ground searchers, and (3) participants who simulated being lost. In the uncomplicated topography without snow cover, the system identified the lost persons, and ground searchers found them 31 min after the SARUAV report had been disseminated. In the mountainous area covered with snow, one person was found within 9 min after searchers received the SARUAV report; however, the other two persons were not identified by SARUAV. The field experiment served as a proof of concept of the SARUAV system, confirmed its potential in person identification studies, and helped to identify numerous scientific and technical problems that need to be solved to develop a mature version of the system.     

Heterotypic Scaffold Design Orchestrates Primary Cell Organization and Phenotypes in Cocultured Small Diameter Vascular Grafts

To facilitate true regeneration, a vascular graft should direct the evolution of a neovessel to obtain the function of a native vessel. For this, scaffolds have to permit the formation of an intraluminal endothelial cell monolayer, mimicking the tunica intima. In addition, when attempting to mimic a tunica media‐like outer layer, the stacking and orientation of vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) should be recapitulated. An integral scaffold design that facilitates this has so far remained a challenge. A hybrid fabrication approach is introduced by combining solution electrospinning and melt electrowriting. This allows a tissue‐structure mimetic, hierarchically bilayered tubular scaffold, comprising an inner layer of randomly oriented dense fiber mesh and an outer layer of microfibers with controlled orientation. The scaffold supports the organization of a continuous luminal endothelial monolayer and oriented layers of vSM‐like cells in the media, thus facilitating control over specific and tissue‐mimetic cellular differentiation and support of the phenotypic morphology in the respective layers. Neither soluble factors nor a surface bioactivation of the scaffold is needed with this approach, demonstrating that heterotypic scaffold design can direct physiological tissue‐like cell organization and differentiation.     

On the correctness of electronic documents: studying,finding, and localizing inconsistency bugs in PDF readers and files

Electronic documents are widely used to store and share information such as bank statements, contracts, articles, maps and tax information. Many different applications exist for displaying a given electronic document, and users rightfully assume that documents will be rendered similarly independently of the application used. However, this is not always the case, and these inconsistencies, regardless of their causes—bugs in the application or the file itself—can become critical sources of miscommunication. In this paper, we present a study on the correctness of PDF documents and readers. We start by manually investigating a large number of real-world PDF documents to understand the frequency and characteristics of cross-reader inconsistencies, and find that such inconsistencies are common—13.5% PDF files are inconsistently rendered by at least one popular reader. We then propose an approach to detect and localize the source of such inconsistencies automatically. We evaluate our automatic approach on a large corpus of over 230 K documents using 11 popular readers and our experiments have detected 30 unique bugs in these readers and files. We also reported 33 bugs, some of which have already been confirmed or fixed by developers.     

Photo‐aligned photonic ferroelectric liquid crystal fibers

Preliminary studies of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) partially infiltrated with photo‐aligned ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) under the influence of external electric field are reported. The proper alignment of the FLC molecules is achieved by generating a photo‐aligning layer on the inner side of the PCF microcavities. The sulfonic azo dye, which is used as an alignment layer, offers a variable anchoring energy depending on the irradiation energy, and thus, a good control on the FLC alignment inside microchannels is possible. Moreover, a state of polarization of the light being guided inside the PCF infiltrated selectively with FLC changes under the influence of external electric field.     

An object-oriented C++ implementation of Davidson method for finding a few selected extreme eigenpairs of a large, sparse, real, symmetric matrix

A C++ class named Davidson is presented for determining a few eigenpairs with lowest or alternatively highest values of a large, real, symmetric matrix. The algorithm described by Stathopoulos and Fischer is used. The exception mechanism is involved to report the errors. The class is written in ANSI C++, so it is fully portable. In addition a console program as well as a program with graphical user interface for Microsoft Windows is attached, which allow one to calculate the lowest eigenstates of time-independent Schrödinger equation for a given binding potential in one, two or three spatial dimensions. The package contains the classes providing often used potential functions (model atom potential, Coulomb potential, square well potential and Kramers-Henneberger well potential) as well as a possibility to use any potential stored in a file (then any dimensionality of the problem is allowed).The described code is the subject of M.Sc. thesis of T.D. prepared under the supervision of J.M.

Program summary

Program title: DavidsonCatalogue identifier: ADZM_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADZM_v1_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 3 037 055No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 20 002 609Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: C++Computer: AllOperating system: AnyRAM: User's parameters dependentWord size: 32 and 64 bitsSupplementary material: Test results for the 2D and 3D cases is availableClassification: 4, 4.8Nature of problem: Finding a few extreme eigenpairs of a real, symmetric, sparse matrix. Examples in quantum optics (interaction of matter with a laser field).Solution method: Davidson algorithmRunning time: The test example included in the distribution package (1D matrix) takes approximately 30 minutes to run. 2D matrix calculations can take hours and 3D, days, to run.     

Interactions of acetone with MoO3

Interactions of acetone and acetone/oxygen mixtures with MoO₃ were studied at 215–300 °C by pulse method. It has been shown that acetone is deoxygenated to propylene or oxidized to acetic acid, CO, and CO₂. Moreover a part of acetone is reversibly adsorbed and several minutes are necessary for acetone to be removed with a flow of carrier gas. As the surface is endowed with deoxygenating and oxidizing sites the desorbing acetone leaves the reactor mainly in the form of CO. These results agree with theoretical predictions based on the bond-strength model of active sites, according to which the sites of the first type (conversion of acetone) are localized on (100) face of MoO₃ and those of the second type (adsorption) on (001) and (101) planes. Both types of sites consist of surface anion vacancies and differ in the strength of bonding of oxygen. On the (100) face the bond strength is sufficiently large to break CO bond in acetone. On the other faces the interactions between acetone and surface are much weaker. In this context the application of acetone as poison of other reactions (e.g., conversion of methanol) is discussed.     

Curing and Morphology Studies of Thermosets from Blends of a Main Chain Liquid Crystalline Polyester and Diepoxide/Diamine

Summary: Blends of the commercial liquid‐crystalline polyester Rodrun LC‐3000 (60–90 wt.‐%) with a bisphenol A‐diglycidyl ether based diepoxide (DOW D.E.R.330) and an aromatic diamine (MCDEA) prepared in a twin‐screw extruder have been compression‐moulded and cured either isothermally at 260 °C or in a temperature ramp between 160 and 230 °C. The blends were investigated with SEM and thermal analysis (DSC, DMTA). Blends with 80% Rodrun and less cured at 260 °C and the blend containing 60% Rodrun cured in a temperature ramp showed macro‐phase separation followed by reaction‐induced micro‐phase separation (RIPS) both in the Rodrun‐rich and in the epoxy‐rich macro‐separated phases. Blends containing 90, 80 and 70% Rodrun moulded at 160 °C and cured in the temperature ramp showed only RIPS and a morphology rather similar to that of the uncured blends that was most likely co‐continuous; the blend with 90% Rodrun cured at 260 °C showed RIPS and a dispersed epoxy phase in a Rodrun matrix. Phase composition has been determined by extraction of the soluble fraction and chemical analysis.

SEM showing the reaction induced micro‐phase separation for sample REA90/10i.