Unperturbed dimensions and the g factor of a star-shaped polystyrene

Unperturbed dimensions of a star-shaped polystyrene near the θ temperatures, 25°C, 35°C and 45°C were determined by the measurement of intrinsic viscosity of the polymer in poor solvents. It was found that the inferred mean square radius of gyration of the star-shaped polystyrene, while much smaller than that of the linear polystyrene, as expected, changes much faster with the increase of temperature. The geometric factor g of the star-shaped polystyrene was found to be temperature-dependent.     

Synthesis,structural and magnetic properties of self-organized single-crystalline nanobricks of chalcopyrite CuFeS2

A thermal pyrolysis method has been developed to synthesize the tetragonal phase of chalcopyrite magnetic semiconductor CuFeS₂ nanoparticles. All nanoparticles have the same anisotropic brick-like shape, and the “bricks” are self-organized in a certain orientation, creating well-ordered nanocomposites. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction data show that every nanobrick is a single crystal with a layered atomic structure and characteristic dimensions of about 5 nm × 20 nm in plane. Magnetic measurements support the antiferromagnetic spin structure and reveal the appearance of a small ferromagnetic component below 60 K. Magnetic anomalies observed in the zero-field cooled magnetization curves at low temperatures may be related to an appearance of magnetic moment at the Cu ion site. The Mössbauer spectra show that only about 50% of Fe atoms are in the magnetically ordered α-phase of chalcopyrite. The remaining Fe is non-magnetic and may be located either in the γ-phase of chalcopyrite or in isocubanite.     

Water permeation analysis on gas diffusion layers of proton exchange membrane fuel cells for Teflon-coating annotation

This study presents an analysis of water permeation of a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-coated gas diffusion layer (GDL) to determine the influence of hydrophobic treatment on the GDL for diagnosis of water flooding. It is found that the behaviour of water drainage is controlled by the pore configuration instead of the hydrophobicity in GDL. Better water drainage is achieved by the action of the Teflon coating in modulating the GDL pore configuration to give both a larger average pore size and a wider distribution of pore size. The results show that water penetration through the GDL must overcome a threshold surface tension defined by the largest pore range. A 30 wt.% PTFE coating of a GDL is shown to generate a satisfactory pore configuration, explaining the improved cell polarization performance with a lower driven pressure (∼1.91 kPa) and a higher rate of water drainage.     

The dielectric property and phase transition of Sr-doping effect of Ba1−xSrxTi0.9Mn0.1O3-δ ceramic

In this work, we prepare Ba_1−xSr_xTi_0.9Mn_.01O_3-δ (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07) ceramics by the mixed oxide method and study the relationship between phase transition and dielectric property of the ceramics. The phase of the samples transformed from a hexagonal phase to mixed phases due to the increase in Sr doping amount. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) profiles and Raman spectra of the samples also show the same phase transformation due to increasing Sr doping amount. The XRD pattern of the undoped sample indicates a single h-BaTiO₃ phase with P6₃/mmc symmetric space group, while the samples with high Sr doping amounts have a mixed phase with t-BaTiO₃ with P₄mm symmetric space group. The scanning electron microscopy images show two types of BaTiO₃ grains, which grew with increasing sintering temperature. With increasing Sr concentration, the K-values (relative dielectric constant) of the ceramics increased, while the Q_xf values (the quality factor multiplied by frequency) decreased, which indicate that the microwave dielectric property is related to phase transformation.     

The Effects of Solid-State Aging on the Intermetallic Compounds of Sn-Ag-Bi-In Solders on Cu Substrates

The growth behavior of the intermetallic compounds that formed at the interfaces between Sn-Ag-Bi-In solders and Cu substrates during solid-state aging is investigated. The compositions of the intermetallic compounds are Cu₃(Sn,In) near the Cu substrates and Cu₆(Sn,In)₅ near the solders; very little Bi or Ag was dissolved in the compounds. The aging temperatures were 120°C, 150°C, and 180°C for 5 days, 10 days, 20 days, and 40 days. The change in the morphology of Cu₆(Sn,In)₅ from scallop type to layer type was prominent at the aging temperature of 180°C. The thickness of the compound layers did not vary much at the lower aging temperatures but followed the diffusion- controlled mechanism at 180°C. Massive Kirkendall voids were observed in Cu₃(Sn,In) layers at the aging temperature of 180°C.     

Preparation of a DNA aptamer-Pt complex and its use in the colorimetric sensing of thrombin and anti-thrombin antibodies

DNA aptamers carrying Pt nanoparticles were prepared by the reaction of DNA aptamers (without functionalization with biotin, thiol, or other reactive groups) with K 2[PtCl 4] in solution at 60-90 degrees C. The DNA-Pt complexes possessed peroxidase enzymatic activity while retaining the specific binding ability of the aptamers. The enzymatic reaction of these complexes obeyed Michaelis-Menten kinetics. K M for the DNA-Pt complex was found to be on the same order as K M for hemin and hemin-DNA complex but 1 or 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of horseradish peroxidase. The rate of the reaction catalyzed by the DNA-Pt complex, k cat, was found to be on the same order as that of hemin and hemin-DNA complex but 2 or 3 orders of magnitude lower than that of horseradish peroxidase. Two types of DNAzyme-linked aptamer assays (DLAAs) were developed using these complexes, which successfully detected target proteins, with the sandwich type of DLAA targeting thrombin and the competitive type of DLAA targeting anti-thrombin IgA/G/M in serum. The DNA-Pt complexes retained their peroxidase enzymatic activity even after heat treatment. DLAAs having high thermal stability were developed using these complexes, which were free of animal and plant matter because neither antibodies nor horseradish peroxidase were used in their synthesis.     

Characterisation of Mechanical Properties of Magnetite‐Polymer Composite Films

Abstract: Time dependent mechanical properties of magnetic polymer films were investigated. These polymer films, synthesised by using solution polymerisation followed by the inverse emulsion process, consist of poly (MMA‐co‐MAA‐co‐BA) and different weight ratios of magnetite nano‐particles. This study deals with the influence of weight ratios of magnetite nano‐particles on the time dependent mechanical properties of hybrid copolymer films. The viscoelastic properties of aforementioned polymer films with 0, 20 and 40% of magnetite nano particles were studied. Ramp‐hold experiments were performed by using a custom‐made tension testing apparatus to evaluate the time dependent stress‐strain behaviour of magnetic polymer films under uniaxial tensile load at different loading strain rates. It can be seen that the magnetite nano‐particles weight percentage of polymer has a strong effect on the stress‐strain relations of polymer films. The polymer with a higher weight ratio of magnetite nano‐particles can sustain higher stress under the same test condition. Experimental data were fitted into 3, 5 and 7 parameter linear viscoelastic models. It is shown that the 7‐parameter Wiechert model leads to better curve‐fitting results for the magnetic polymer material under ramp‐hold experiments.     

A robust optimal sliding‐mode control approach for magnetic levitation systems

This paper presents a robust optimal sliding‐mode control approach for position tracking of a magnetic levitation system. First, a linear model that represents the nonlinear dynamics of the magnetic levitation system is derived by the feedback linearization technique. Then, the robust optimal sliding‐mode control developed from the linear model is proposed. In the proposed control scheme, the integral sliding‐mode control with robust optimal approach is developed to achieve the features of high performance in position tracking response and robustness to the matched and unmatched uncertainties. Simulation and experimental results from the computer‐controlled magnetic levitation system are illustrated to show the validity of the proposed control approach for practical applications. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Using magnetic seeds to improve the aggregation and precipitation of nanoparticles from backside grinding wastewater

Backside grinding (BG) wastewater treatment typically requires large quantities of chemicals, i.e. polyaluminum chloride (PAC) coagulant and produces considerable amounts of sludge, increasing the loading and cost of subsequent sludge treatment and disposal processes. This study investigated the effects of the addition of magnetic seeds (FeO*Fe₂O₃) of selected particle sizes and of optimized combinations of magnetic seeds and PAC on the aggregation of silica nanoparticles from BG wastewater and on the sedimentation time at various pH values (5-9). The results show that the turbidity of BG wastewater was significantly reduced by the magnetic aggregation treatment. The dosage of PAC combined with 2.49 g L⁻¹ or 1.24 g L⁻¹ of magnetic seeds was reduced by 83% (from 60 to 10 mg L⁻¹) compared to the conventional process of using only PAC as a coagulant. The turbidity of the BG wastewater, initially 1900-2500 NTU, could also be successfully decreased about to 23 NTU by the addition of 3.74 g L⁻¹ magnetite (FeO*Fe₂O₃) only at pH 5 with an applied magnetic field of 1000 G. Different coagulation conditions using magnetic seeds combined with coagulant resulted in different aggregation performances. The treatment performance was more effective by using two-stage dosing, in which magnetic seeds and PAC were added separately, than that with one-stage dosing, where the magnetic seeds and PAC were added simultaneously during rapid mixing. The two-stage dosing allowed for a reduction in the optimum dosage of magnetic seeds from 3.74 g L⁻¹ to 2.49 g L⁻¹ or 1.24 g L⁻¹ without affecting performance when coupled with 0.01 g L⁻¹ of PAC coagulant. The developed method effectively reduced the production of waste sludge.     

Wavelet-based ECG compression by bit-field preserving and running length encoding

Efficient electrocardiogram (ECG) compression can reduce the payload of real-time ECG transmission as well as reduce the amount of data storage in long-term ECG recording. In this paper an ECG compression/decompression architecture based on the bit-field preserving (BFP) and running length encoding (RLE)/decoding schemes incorporated with the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is proposed. Compared to complex and repetitive manipulations in the set partitioning in hierarchical tree (SPIHT) coding and the vector quantization (VQ), the proposed algorithm has advantages of simple manipulations and a feedforward structure that would be suitable to implement on very-large-scale integrated circuits and general microcontrollers.