m-Bromophenolic epoxy resins for electronic packaging

Meta-halogenated phenols are generally known to be more chemically and thermally stable than their ortho- or para-halogenated counterparts. A reactive intermediate, produced by the bromination of 2,4,6-trimethylphenol is being used as an alkylating agent to incorporate this stable m-bromophenol moiety into varieties of organic compounds and polymers. In electronic encapsulation applications, epoxy derivatives of novolacs containing m-bromophenol have exhibited superior hydrolytic and thermal stability as compared with the conventional tetrabromo bisphenol-A epoxies which are ortho-brominated phenolics. The m-bromophenol moiety contributes to the extended device reliability while meeting flame retardency requirements as well.     

Development of an incremental rolling process for the production of defined riblet surface structures

Viscous drag reduction on fan, compressor and turbine blades may be achieved by employing a riblet surface structure. Such a structure assists in increasing efficiency and in reducing energy consumption in flow applications. In order to produce riblet surface structures industrially, a new and incremental rolling process is being developed and investigated. The process design is being determined by common airstream requirements as well as the forming mechanisms that are predominant during the rolling process. Based on this principle, the required shape of the structured rollers is being developed. Research is focused on the feasibility of manufacturing small riblet structures at a size of a few hundred microns. Experimental production of different riblet geometries made from Ti-6Al-4V (WL 3.7164) provides some initial insights with respect to feasibility, shape accuracy, surface quality, and micro structure.     

Comparison of T1-weighted 2D TSE, 3D SPGR,and two-point 3D Dixon MRI for automated segmentation of visceral adipose tissue at 3 Tesla

Objectives

To evaluate and compare conventional T1-weighted 2D turbo spin echo (TSE), T1-weighted 3D volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE), and two-point 3D Dixon-VIBE sequences for automatic segmentation of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume at 3 Tesla by measuring and compensating for errors arising from intensity nonuniformity (INU) and partial volume effects (PVE).

Materials and methods

The body trunks of 28 volunteers with body mass index values ranging from 18 to 41.2 kg/m² (30.02 ± 6.63 kg/m²) were scanned at 3 Tesla using three imaging techniques. Automatic methods were applied to reduce INU and PVE and to segment VAT. The automatically segmented VAT volumes obtained from all acquisitions were then statistically and objectively evaluated against the manually segmented (reference) VAT volumes.

Results

Comparing the reference volumes with the VAT volumes automatically segmented over the uncorrected images showed that INU led to an average relative volume difference of ?59.22 ± 11.59, 2.21 ± 47.04, and ?43.05 ± 5.01 % for the TSE, VIBE, and Dixon images, respectively, while PVE led to average differences of ?34.85 ± 19.85, ?15.13 ± 11.04, and ?33.79 ± 20.38 %. After signal correction, differences of ?2.72 ± 6.60, 34.02 ± 36.99, and ?2.23 ± 7.58 % were obtained between the reference and the automatically segmented volumes. A paired-sample two-tailed t test revealed no significant difference between the reference and automatically segmented VAT volumes of the corrected TSE (p = 0.614) and Dixon (p = 0.969) images, but showed a significant VAT overestimation using the corrected VIBE images.

Conclusion

Under similar imaging conditions and spatial resolution, automatically segmented VAT volumes obtained from the corrected TSE and Dixon images agreed with each other and with the reference volumes. These results demonstrate the efficacy of the signal correction methods and the similar accuracy of TSE and Dixon imaging for automatic volumetry of VAT at 3 Tesla.

     

Platinum-plated nanoporous gold: An efficient,low Pt loading electrocatalyst for PEM fuel cells

Platinum-plated nanoporous gold leaf (Pt-NPGL) is made by coating a conformal, atomically thin skin of platinum over the high surface area pores of a thin membrane of nanoporous gold. Because Pt loading in Pt-NPGL can be controlled down to 0.01 mg cm⁻² using only simple benchtop chemistry, the material holds promise as a low Pt loading, carbon-free electrocatalyst. Here, we report successful use of Pt-NPGL as a catalyst in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Stable and high performance Pt-NPGL/Nafion membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) were made using a stamping technique. The performance of Pt-NPGL MEAs is comparable to conventional carbon-supported nanoparticles-based MEAs with much higher loading, generating an output power density of up to 4.5 kW g⁻¹ Pt in our non-optimized test configuration. Correlations between the performance of Pt-NPGL MEAs, the electrochemically accessible surface area, and material microstructure are discussed. Our success in using Pt-NPGL as a fuel cell catalyst suggests that creating precious metals skins over nanoporous metal supports is a viable strategy for designing new catalysts for PEM fuel cells. This promising approach allows tailoring catalytic activity by engineering precious metal/substrate interactions, employs materials with dual functionality acting both as current collector and catalyst, and may avoid the sintering problems plaguing conventional nanoparticle-based catalysts.     

Demonstration of combined zero-valent iron and electrical resistance heating for in situ trichloroethene remediation

The effectiveness of in situ treatment using zero-valent iron (ZVI) for nonaqueous phase or significant sediment-associated contaminant mass can be limited by relatively low rates of mass transfer to bring contaminants in contact with the reactive media. For a field test in a trichloroethene (TCE) source area, combining moderate-temperature subsurface electrical resistance heating with in situ ZVI treatment was shown to accelerate TCE treatment by a factor of about 4 based on organic daughter products and a factor about 8 based on chloride concentrations. A mass-discharge-based analysis was used to evaluate reaction, dissolution, and volatilization processes at ambient groundwater temperature (~10 °C) and as temperature was increased up to about 50 °C. Increased reaction and contaminant dissolution were observed with increased temperature, but vapor- or aqueous-phase migration of TCE out of the treatment zone was minimal during the test because reactions maintained low aqueous-phase TCE concentrations.     

Carbide formation in tungsten-containing amorphous carbon films by annealing

Tungsten-containing amorphous carbon films were produced by dual magnetron sputter deposition. The formation of carbide phases after heat treatment in inert gas at temperatures up to 2800 K was investigated by X-ray diffraction for tungsten concentrations below 25 at.%. After deposition, each film consists of an amorphous carbon matrix with atomically dispersed W inclusions. Annealing up to 2800 K leads to a formation of carbide phases and to nano clustering. Three tungsten carbide phases were observed (WC, W₂C, and WC_1 − x), mostly as mixtures of two phases. The phase combination depends on annealing temperature and W concentration. Additionally, nano diffraction was performed in a scanning transmission electron microscope, to determine the phase of single crystallites at scales, where X-ray diffraction fails.     

建构 现实性的戏剧与建筑戏剧的真相

文章讨论了建构与技术、与人的身体的关系,揭示了现代主义以来建构概念所面临的威胁。通过对建构概念历史发展的回顾,作者指出建构概念本身亦应随时代变化而加以充实,现代主义对自由的追求在本质上与古老的建构概念并不矛盾,建构所展现的真实是一种表象,是对真实的诠释,是转译而非简单的赤裸裸的直陈。     

Electric Fatigue in Antiferroelectric Lead Zirconate Stannate Titanate Ceramics Prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering

The fatigue behavior of lead zirconate stannate titanate (PZST) ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) was investigated. Polarization and strain hysteresis loops were monitored. The material shows a high resistance to fatigue because of bipolar electric cycling. Both maximum strain and switchable polarization first show a fatigue stage 0 to 10⁵ cycles and then a fatigue-free period up to 10⁸ cycles. The maximum losses of maximum strain and switchable polarization are 18% and 10% of their initial values, respectively. The dominant fatigue mechanism is assigned to the pinning of domain walls by charged defects.