Hybrid polyaniline/nanomagnetic particles composites: High performance materials for EMI shielding

In this work, two types of hybrid composite materials were elaborated. The first based on polyaniline (PANI) doped Camphor Sulfonic acid (CSA), Carbon‐Coated Cobalt (CCo), and FeNi nanoparticles dispersed in polyurethane. A value of 10⁴ S/m of conductivity and a 90 dB of shielding effectiveness in multilayer structure were obtained over the 8–18 GHz frequency band. The second type, based on PANI doped para‐toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA), dispersed in epoxy resin with FeNi nanoparticles. A thick material with moderate conductivity and high attenuation of electromagnetic waves was obtained. It was found that a PANI‐PTSA/FeNi/epoxy resin composite with thicknesses of 9.7 and 6.5 mm had, respectively, reflection loss values of ?22 dB at 9.52 GHz, and ?20.7 dB at 14.7 GHz. The electromagnetic properties of the elaborated structure hybrid materials can be optimized to increase the electromagnetic reflection–absorption properties. Thus, the obtained structure can be used in shielding and radar absorbing materials applications. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Simulation of hydrodynamic behaviour and mass transfer efficiency of reduced pressure distillation

A random packing hydrodynamic simulator is designed specially to carry out experiments under reduced pressures with a counter-current flow air/water system. The simulator results (air/water system) compared to those obtained in a real packed distillation column (benzylchloride/ ethylbenzene system) show a good agreement between hydrodynamic parameters like pressure drop, flooding flow rate, and total liquid hold-up. Empirical relationships derived from the simulator experimental results are proposed allowing the calculation of the pressure drop in a packed distillation column, operating in the pressure range between 10 kPa and atmospheric pressure. The influence of reduced pressure on the HETP in the distillation column and interfacial area in the simulator was also investigated.     

Non‐constraining Online Signature Reconstruction System for Persons with Handwriting Problems

This paper presents a new non‐constraining online optical handwritten signature reconstruction system that, in the main, makes use of a transparent glass pad placed in front of a color camera. The reconstruction approach allows efficient exploitation of hand activity during a signing process; thus, the system as a whole can be seen as a viable alternative to other similar acquisition tools. This proposed system allows people with physical or emotional problems to carry out their own signatures without having to use a pen or sophisticated acquisition system. Moreover, the developed reconstruction signature algorithms have low computational complexity and are therefore well suited for a hardware implementation on a dedicated smart system.     

Synthesis of isosorbide based polyurethanes: An isocyanate free method

The synthesis of isocyanate free polyurethanes is a major concern. This paper first reports the synthesis of new biobased isosorbide dicyclocarbonates from isosorbide. Then polyhydroxyurethanes (PHUs) were synthesized by a cyclocarbonate–amine step growth polyaddition with four commercial diamines (e.g. jeffamine D-400, 1,10 diaminodecane, diethylenetriamine and isophoronediamine). These unprecedented products, obtained with high yield, were characterized by ¹H NMR, FTIR, DSC, SEC and TGA analyses. PHUs exhibited glass transition temperatures from ?8 °C to 59 °C, and degradation temperatures (Td 5%) between 234 °C and 255 °C. Last but not least, the compounds produced during the degradation of these PHUs were analyzed by ATG-IR technique and showed that carbon dioxide and secondary amines are released.     

User’s behavior study for smart houses occupant prediction

This paper deals with the smart house occupant prediction issue based on daily life activities. Based on data provided by nonintrusive sensors and devices, our approach use supervised learning technics to predict the house occupant. We applied support vector machines classifier to build a behavior classification model and learn the users’ habits when they perform activities for predicting and identifying the house occupant among a group of inhabitants. We analyzed the publicly available dataset from the Washington State University smart apartment tesbed. We particulary studied the grooming, having breakfast and bed to toilet activities. The results showed a hight prediction precision and demonstrated that each user has his own manner to perform his daily activities and can be easily identified by just learning his habit.     

Fire retardancy effect of phosphorus‐modified halloysite on polyamide‐11 nanocomposites

Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) were successfully incorporated as flame retardants in polyamide‐11 (PA11) after their modification with methyl phosphonic acid. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry were used to evidence the functionalization of the clay. Raw and modified HNTs were then incorporated by melt mixing in PA11 at 20 wt%. Compositions containing both ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and HNTs were also prepared. TGA and pyrolysis combustion flow calorimeter exhibited enhancement in thermal stability upon incorporation of both raw and modified halloysite nanotubes while APP causes degradation at lower temperature. Cone calorimeter data showed that modified halloysite acts by forming an insulating barrier during the combustion, which limits heat and mass transfers. Moreover, elemental analysis of sample residues after cone test evidenced that a part of the phosphorus of the modified halloysite was transferred to the gaseous phase. These results suggest the full potential of halloysite as fire retardant agent for polyamides. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:526–534, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Detecting communities of triangles in complex networks using spectral optimization

The study of the sub-structure of complex networks is of major importance to relate topology and functionality. Many efforts have been devoted to the analysis of the modular structure of networks using the quality function known as modularity. However, generally speaking, the relation between topological modules and functional groups is still unknown, and depends on the semantic of the links. Sometimes, we know in advance that many connections are transitive, and as a consequence, triangles have a specific meaning. Here we propose the study of the modular structure of networks considering triangles as the building blocks of modules. The method generalizes the standard modularity and uses spectral optimization to find its maximum. We compare the partitions obtained with those resulting from the optimization of the standard modularity in several real networks. The results show that the information reported by the analysis of modules of triangles complements the information of the classical modularity analysis.