Influence of the composition of the binder and the carbonation on the zeta potential values of hardened cementitious materials

Electroosmotic experiments have been carried out on eight different mixes of hardened cementitious matrixes including concrete, mortar and pastes, different types of binders, carbonated and non-carbonated specimens and different test conditions. From these trials, the zeta potential values have been determined and the optimum experimental parameters and devices have been established. In addition, the influence of the composition of the binder on the zeta potential has been quantified indicating that higher amounts of Al₂O₃ in the binder lead to higher positive values of zeta potential, while the SiO₂ acts just on the opposite side. This has been explained in terms of the different i.e.p. (isoelectric point) for both oxides. Concerning the influence of carbonation, it increases the absolute value of the zeta potential toward more negative values; this behaviour has been attributed to the influence of the specifically adsorbed Ca²⁺ in the negative sites of the surface in the non-carbonated samples.     

Land Use Effect on the CN Model Parameters in a Tropical Dry Environment

Dry tropical forests account for over 1,000,000 km², and there is still lack of knowledge on their hydrologic processes. The curve number (CN) hydrologic model developed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is widely applied for runoff determination in various parts of the world, but not so in tropical semiarid regions. This study analyzes the impact of land use changes on the CN model in a tropical semiarid environment, in two catchments of native dry tropical forest and thinned dry tropical forest land use from 2009 to 2012. The CN model was calibrated and validated for the NRCS recommended initial abstraction ratio λ = 0.2, and for λ evaluated from rainfall and runoff data. A reliability analysis was performed using Monte Carlo simulation. Model goodness-of-fit was assessed with statistical criteria. A total of 42 and 40 rainfall-runoff events were analyzed for the native and thinned dry tropical forest, respectively. Characteristic λ values of 0.15 and 0.11 were determined for the two respective catchments. Although CN values were similar for both land uses, CN_λ=0.20 = 80 and CN_{median λ} = 77, the thinned catchment showed a higher CN model parameters variability. The CN model was more sensitive to variations of CN values than to those of λ. This study showed that no matter the vegetation management in a dry tropical forest environment, modeled runoff is not affected by λ, but rather affected by CN, which represents soil, landuse and management.     

Testing usability and trainability of indirect touch interaction: perspective for the next generation of air traffic control systems

This study aims to determine whether indirect touch device can be used to interact with graphical objects displayed on another screen in an air traffic control (ATC) context. The introduction of such a device likely requires an adaptation of the sensory-motor system. The operator has to simultaneously perform movements on the horizontal plane while assessing them on the vertical plane. Thirty-six right-handed participants performed movement training with either constant or variable practice and with or without visual feedback of the displacement of their actions. Participants then performed a test phase without visual feedback. Performance improved in both practice conditions, but accuracy was higher with visual feedback. During the test phase, movement time was longer for those who had practiced with feedback, suggesting an element of dependency. However, this ‘cost’ of feedback did not extend to movement accuracy. Finally, participants who had received variable training performed better in the test phase, but accuracy was still unsatisfactory. We conclude that continuous visual feedback on the stylus position is necessary if tablets are to be introduced in ATC.     

Preparation of ketoprofen‐loaded high‐molecular‐weight poly(vinyl alcohol) gels

High‐molecular‐weight atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) (a‐PVA) gels loaded with (R,S)‐2‐(3‐benzoylphenyl)propionic acid (ketoprofen) were prepared from 5, 6, 7, and 8 g/dL solutions of a‐PVA with a number‐average degree of polymerization of 4000 in an ethylene glycol/water mixture with an aging method to identify the effect of the initial polymer concentration on the swelling behavior, morphology, and thermal properties of a‐PVA gels. Then, the release behavior of ketoprofen from a‐PVA gels was investigated. As the polymer concentration decreased, the ability for network formation decreased, and the degree of swelling of the a‐PVA gels increased. In addition, the enthalpy increased with an increase in the a‐PVA concentration, but the melting temperatures of the gels prepared at different initial polymer concentrations were the same; this indicated that tighter gel networks would be formed by a higher polymer chain density. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Effect of the reaction conditions on the properties of poly(4,4′-diphenylether-1,3,4-oxadiazole)s

Summary Poly(4,4-diphenylether-1,3,4-oxadiazole)s have been prepared by polycondensation of 4,4-diphenylether dicarboxylic acid and hydrazine sulphate, HS, in poly(phosphoric acid), PPA, under different reaction condictions. The products were characterized by viscometry, gel permeation chromatography, ¹H-NMR spectrometry and thermogravimetric analysis. Dense membranes have been prepared and submitted to gas transport and wide angle X-ray diffraction, WAXD, experiments. The differences found in permeability and selectivity parameters, as well as in density and WAXD results, are discussed in terms of their solution viscosities and hydrazide repeat unit contents.     

Eddy characteristics on mass transfer close to free interface

The velocity fluctuations in the immediate vicinity of a free interface were measured with a hot film anemometer. And mass transfer rates and eddy exposure times were analyzed by using the method of deterministic approach. These mass transfer rates were compared with the mass transfer rates by means of concentration measurements in the air-water system. The eddy exposure time distributions obtained from velocity data were skewed toward the lower time value. The contribution of eddies wi:h small exposure time was increased as the liquid became more turbulent. The mass transfer rates were mainly contributed by the Prandtl size eddies and even larger eddies. The mass transfer predictions by the single eddy model employing a deterministic method were in good agreement with the experimental results by independent measurements of concentration.     

Pervaporation of 50 wt % ethanol–water mixtures with poly(1‐trimethylsilyl‐1‐propyne) membranes at high temperatures

Poly(1‐trimethylsilyl‐1‐propyne) (PTMSP) membranes have been used to separate ethanol–water mixtures by pervaporation. This polyacetylene is known to present high affinity toward ethanol, showing high selectivity and ethanol permeation flux. The performance of this polymer in the separation of alcohol–water solutions has been evaluated over long periods (572 h) at a high temperature (75°C) to examine the deterioration of the transport properties in the separation of 50 wt % ethanol–water solutions. Although PTMSP membranes present good characteristics for the separation of gases and liquid mixtures, their organic selectivity decrease with the operating time because of the relaxation processes of the polymeric chains, which affect the free volume of the polymer, the deterioration being more evident for concentrated solutions. The effects of the operation temperature on the characteristic parameters of pervaporation have also been studied to establish how this variable affects the performance of PTMSP membranes. The selectivity increases slightly with the operation temperature, but the effect of the temperature on the separation factor decreases as membranes are degraded with the operation time. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 2843–2848, 2007     

BiOSS: A system for biomedical ontology selection

In biomedical informatics, ontologies are considered a key technology for annotating, retrieving and sharing the huge volume of publicly available data. Due to the increasing amount, complexity and variety of existing biomedical ontologies, choosing the ones to be used in a semantic annotation problem or to design a specific application is a difficult task. As a consequence, the design of approaches and tools addressed to facilitate the selection of biomedical ontologies is becoming a priority. In this paper we present BiOSS, a novel system for the selection of biomedical ontologies. BiOSS evaluates the adequacy of an ontology to a given domain according to three different criteria: (1) the extent to which the ontology covers the domain; (2) the semantic richness of the ontology in the domain; (3) the popularity of the ontology in the biomedical community. BiOSS has been applied to 5 representative problems of ontology selection. It also has been compared to existing methods and tools. Results are promising and show the usefulness of BiOSS to solve real-world ontology selection problems. BiOSS is openly available both as a web tool and a web service.     

Robust control of variable speed autonomous underwater vehicle

Set point tracking control of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) via robust model predictive control (RMPC) is considered. Input-constrained RMPC with integral action, which has been developed in our previous work, is used to control the AUV in this study. In order to derive a RMPC control rule, non-linear dynamics of AUV with six degree of freedom is linearized at certain operating points. So, horizontal and vertical plane dynamics of system are represented by linear models which have polytopic uncertainties. Since the derived control rule will be used in real time, the computation time should be reduced. To overcome this computational time problem and get rid of trial–error step of Algorithm 1, a new algorithm is proposed here. The simulations are carried out using the control rule based on this algorithm and these results are presented.