Preparation of gold nanoparticles (GNP) aqueous suspensions by a new method involving Tiron

A new method is proposed to produce gold nanoparticles (GNP) by in situ reduction of a gold salt dissolved in water. The reducing agent used is Tiron instead of the citrate anion most often mentioned in literature. The influence of various parameters has been investigated, such as the content of Tiron with respect to that of the precursor of gold HAuCl₄, or the initial pH of the solution after mixing of reactants. It is shown that Tiron also exerts a positive influence as a dispersant, which impedes agglomeration of gold nanoparticles. The typical average size of GNP synthesized in the present work is close to 7 nm.     

Dissipation in Mesoscopic Superconductors with Ac Magnetic Fields

The response of mesoscopic superconductors to an ac magnetic field is investigated both experimentally and with numerical simulations. We study small square samples with dimensions of the order of the penetration depth. We obtain the ac susceptibitity χ=χ′+iχ″ at microwave frequencies as a function of the dc magnetic field H _dc. We find that the dissipation, given by x″, has a non monotonous behavior in mesoscopic samples. In the numerical simulations we obtain that the dissipation increases before the penetration of vortices and then it decreases abruptly after vortices have entered, the sample. This is verified experimentally, where we find that χ″ has strong oscillations as a function of H _dc in small squares of Pb.     

Linear demosaicing inspired by the human visual system.

There is an analogy between single-chip color cameras and the human visual system in that these two systems acquire only one limited wavelength sensitivity band per spatial location. We have exploited this analogy, defining a model that characterizes a one-color per spatial position image as a coding into luminance and chrominance of the corresponding three colors per spatial position image. Luminance is defined with full spatial resolution while chrominance contains subsampled opponent colors. Moreover, luminance and chrominance follow a particular arrangement in the Fourier domain, allowing for demosaicing by spatial frequency filtering. This model shows that visual artifacts after demosaicing are due to aliasing between luminance and chrominance and could be solved using a preprocessing filter. This approach also gives new insights for the representation of single-color per spatial location images and enables formal and controllable procedures to design demosaicing algorithms that perform well compared to concurrent approaches, as demonstrated by experiments.     

Application du recuit simulé à la synthèse d’antennes en réseau constituées d’éléments annulaires imprimés

This publication consists of an analysis and a synthesis by the amplitude law of linear and planar ring printed antennas array. The analysis of the structure is based on the modified cavity model which allows taking into account the fringing fields effects. The synthesis problem is solved by the simulated annealing method based on a random process research controlled by temperature parameter. The feeding network amplitude permitting to produce an optimal radiation pattern is then given. Various synthesis results for linear and planar arrays are presented.     

An integrated system to remote monitor and control anaerobic wastewater treatment plants through the internet.

The TELEMAC project brings new methodologies from the Information and Science Technologies field to the world of water treatment. TELEMAC offers an advanced remote management system which adapts to most of the anaerobic wastewater treatment plants that do not benefit from a local expert in wastewater treatment. The TELEMAC system takes advantage of new sensors to better monitor the process dynamics and to run automatic controllers that stabilise the treatment plant, meet the depollution requirements and provide a biogas quality suitable for cogeneration. If the automatic system detects a failure which cannot be solved automatically or locally by a technician, then an expert from the TELEMAC Control Centre is contacted via the internet and manages the problem.     

Crosslinking reactions and swelling behavior of matrices based on N-acryloyl-TRIS(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane

Summary In this study, new hydrogels in rod shape were prepared from N-acryloyl-TRIS(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (NAT) using ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) or N,N’methylenebisacrylamide (BIS) as crosslinking agent, dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as initiator. In most cases, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), acrylamide (Aam) or acrylic acid (Aac) were used as co-monomers. The polymeric matrices obtained by free radical polymerization exhibited different properties by changing crosslinker, crosslinker concentration, co-monomer and initial NAT/co-monomer mole ratio. Besides, hydrogels from HEMA, Aam and Aac with BIS in absence of NAT were prepared under the same experimental reaction conditions in order to compare the properties of these products with those synthesized from NAT and the respective co-monomers. Some of the final products were selected to perform urea release assays, conducted through swelling-controlled release. Urea was chosen as “model” plant fertilizer agent.     

Comparison of D.C. and A.C. techniques for the evaluation of inhibitor efficiency in acid corrosion

Five different techniques (analytical determination of dissolved iron, Tafel line extrapolation, linear polarization method, impedance and Faradaic distortion measurements) were used for the evaluation of the inhibiting efficiency of N-decyl-3-hydroxypyridine bromide in 1 M hydrochloric acid solutions. The results obtained with the different methods were found to agree satisfactorily. High inhibiting efficiency value was obtained at 1× 10^?4Mdm^?3 concentration.     

Stimulation of negative magnetoresistance by an electric field and light in silicon doped with boron and manganese

It is experimentally ascertained that light stimulates the negative magnetoresistance observed in a high electric field in silicon doped with boron and manganese. The optimum conditions (the electric field, temperature, illumination, and resistivity of the material) for observation of the largest magnitude of negative magnetoresistance in (Si:B):Mn are determined. The dependence of the negative magnetoresistance on the concentration of compensating impurity is established.     

Evidence of High Vertical Wave-Number Behavior in a Continuously Stratified Reservoir: Boadella, Spain

High vertical wave-number modes clearly dominate the internal wave field during the stratification period in Boadella reservoir in northeast Spain. In this period, the extraction of hypolimnetic water, due to summer irrigation, brought the surface level down by 6 m in one month and the epilimnetic water progressively occupied the whole water column. The temperature profile, with the exception of a few meters at the surface layer, presented an almost constant temperature gradient of about 0.7°C/m. The period of the main vertical mode is 24 h with an amplitude of around 1 m. Thermistor chain records and meteorological data allow us to deduce that this mode is, at least, a third vertical mode forced by the wind, which normally has a typical periodicity of 24 h. However, when the wind changes direction from south to north, the circulation cells developed due to this forced nonstationary oscillation are destroyed. When this occurs, the Bulk Richardson number is Rib ～ 1. Similar vertical structures as a response to wind forcing should be expected in similar systems, although this has not been reported in the literature.     

A rubber-modified thermoplastic where the morphology produced by phase-separation induced by polymerization disappears at high conversions

An unexpected experimental finding is reported where the primary morphology developed during polymerization-induced phase separation in a rubber-modified thermoplastic practically disappears at high conversions. This process was evidenced by light scattering (LS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for a particular composition of solutions of polyisobutylene oligomers (PIB) in isobornylmethacrylate (IBoMA), during the free-radical polymerization of the monomer. The primary phase separation produced a dispersion of domains rich in PIB containing significant amounts of the monomer (IBoMA). Polymerization of the monomer in these domains occurred at high overall conversions producing the filling of dispersed domains with a PIBoMA-PIB blend that could not be distinguished from the matrix. Under these conditions the final material had the appearance of a homogeneous blend.