Tri-axial sensors and actuators made of a single piezoelectric cylindrical shell

Electromechanical transducers for sensing and actuating disturbances or vibrations have been used in many fields of applications. There have been transducers of different configuration developed for the unidirectional transduction. This paper demonstrates a single element transducer for tri-axial components made of a piezoelectric cylindrical shell. The separation of the tri-axial transductions is achieved by devising a proper electrode arrangement. The structure and the fundamental idea are first presented, and then the numerical analysis by means of the finite element modeling follows, and their characteristics and behaviors are then experimentally verified.     

A tree partitioning dynamic policy for OVSF codes assignment in wideband CDMA

This paper proposes some novel techniques to accommodate users with different rate requirements in a wideband code-division multiple-access system employing orthogonal variable spreading factor codes. Two simple static code assignment strategies are first considered, and an improvement based on multicode assignment. Then the new idea of tree partitioning is introduced and used to devise a dynamic code reassignment algorithm. The behavior of these different techniques is experimentally investigated, in terms of call blocking probability and number of required reassignments. The tree partitioning method exhibits very good performances.     

Ring‐opening polymerization of lactones initiated by diphenylzinc–coinitiator systems

Diphenylzinc, alone or in combination with water and butanone as coinitiators, was used as a polymerization initiator system for a variety of lactones at varying temperatures. The resulting data indicate that the course of the polymerization is greatly influenced by the lactone structure, as well as by the molar ratio of coinitiator to diphenylzinc. When used alone, diphenylzinc exhibited high activity as an initiator in δ‐valerolactone polymerizations, although it was less efficient when used in the β‐butyrolactone and the β‐propiolactone polymerizations. Activity in the polymerization of β‐lactones was increased by adding small amounts of butanone or water. It was also observed that the diphenylzinc–butanone combination was more effective than the diphenylzinc–water mixture in the polymerizations of β‐butyrolactone and β‐propiolactone. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

Catalytic aminolysis of epoxide by alumina prepared from amine-protected Al precursor

The catalytic activities of alumina prepared from an Al alkoxide-amine adduct monomer for the reaction of cyclopentene oxide with piperidine was determined after various pretreatments, including calcination and exposure to moisture. They were compared with the activity of alumina prepared by the conventional hydrolysis method. It was found that the as-prepared sample from the alkoxide-amine monomer preparation was five times more active than a conventional preparation, suggesting that it has a higher density of surface Lewis acid sites. However, its activity was much more severely suppressed by exposure to moisture.     

Prediction of brittle-to-ductile transitions in polystyrene

In this study it is attempted to predict brittle-to-ductile transitions (BDTs) in polystyrene blends, induced either by an increase in temperature or by a decrease in inter-particle distance. A representative, two-dimensional volume element (RVE) of a polystyrene matrix with 20% circular voids, is deformed in tension. During deformation a hydrostatic-stress based craze-nucleation criterion [1] is evaluated. The simulations demonstrate that crazes initiate at low temperatures while a transition from crazing to shear yielding (BDT) is found around 75 °C. The numerical results correlate well with tensile tests on similar heterogeneous polystyrene. The presence of an absolute length, as experimentally found, is more difficult to explain. Near a free surface a T_g-depression is measured for polystyrene and also the resistance to indentation in polystyrene is lower than expected from bulk properties. Both observations are rationalised by an enhanced segmental mobility of chains near a free surface. As a consequence of these findings, an absolute length-scale could be incorporated in the numerical simulations. For simplicity, the length-scale is modelled by taking a temperature gradient over a thin layer near the internal free surfaces of the RVE. Deformation of the RVE with different absolute length-scales shows that indeed also the experimentally found brittle-to-ductile transition can be predicted if the ligament thickness between the inclusions (‘voids’) in polystyrene is below a critical value of ca. 15 nm.     

Formulation of a ceramic ink for a wide-array drop-on-demand ink-jet printer

This paper describes the methodology for simulating a reprographic ink with a ceramic ink based on a commercially available zirconia powder for direct ceramic ink-jet printing. Of over-riding importance was matching viscosity and this was tested systematically by using a mineral oil–hexane binary system. Of secondary importance was adjustment of the pressure defect behind the nozzle to compensate for small differences in surface tension. The inks tested in the wide array print-head were based on low electrical conductivity liquids to avoid damage to the electroding system. The organic binder for the zirconia ink was paraffin wax and the dispersant was a hydroxystearic acid based polyester.     

A decision support system for interactive decision making - Part II: analysis and output interpretation

For pt.I see ibid., p.42-55 (2003). The development of a comprehensive decision support system, GMCR II, for the systematic study of real-world interactive decision problems is presented. The companion paper (Part I), discusses how GMCR II elicits, stores, and manages conflict models; here (Part II), the focus is on GMCR IIs analysis and output interpretation subsystems. Specifically, this paper describes the powerful and efficient analysis engine contained in GMCR II, its informative output presentation and interpretation facilities, and a number of follow-up analyses. Furthermore, an illustrative case study is used to demonstrate how GMCR II can be conveniently applied in practice.