Fault-tolerant adaptive routing under an unconstrained set of node and link failures for many-core systems-on-chip

An online fault tolerant routing algorithm for 2D mesh Networks-on-Chip is presented in this work. It combines an adaptive routing algorithm with neighbor fault-awareness and a new traffic-balancing metric. To be able to cope with runtime permanent and temporary failures that may result in message corruption, message loss or deadlocks, the routing algorithm is enhanced with packet retransmission and a new message recovery scheme.     

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes nanoreinforced methacrylate/epoxy hybrids

The aim of this study was to design novel binary and ternary copolymers based on methacrylate and/or epoxy monomers reinforced with 10 wt % mono‐/octafunctional polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) compounds bearing one or eight epoxy or methacrylate moieties. The experimental parameters such as temperature and time of reaction, comonomer ratio and the incorporation of various types of POSS that strongly influences the curing behavior, polymerization kinetics, glass transition temperature (T_g), thermostability and morphological structure of the obtained copolymers were investigated through DSC, FTIR, DMA, TGA, and SEM techniques. The obtained results evidenced that the complex kinetic mechanisms of curing reactions for the binary and ternary copolymers ± POSS influence the thermomechanical and morphological properties of the materials. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 42912.     

Measurement of the Rheology of Lubricant Films Within Elastohydrodynamic Contacts

There is growing need for a reliable model of the rheological response of lubricants in elastohydrodynamic (EHD) contacts, not only to predict behaviour in full-film EHD conditions, but also for use in modelling mixed-film lubrication. One barrier to developing such a model is that measurements of friction actually represent averaged values over the whole, lubricated contact under study. However the fluid film conditions of temperature, pressure and strain rate generally vary over such contacts, which makes it difficult to determine constitutive shear-stress equations from friction measurements. This paper examines the various different techniques used to study the origins of EHD friction and the underlying film rheology. It then describes and applies a technique for obtaining the temperature rise maps of both solid surfaces in a rolling-sliding EHD contacts and thus shear-stress and friction maps. The work shows that the shear stress of the traction fluid studied increases approximately linearly with pressure and decreases approximately linearly with temperature in the high-pressure central region of EHD contacts.     

Designing gluten-free,anthocyanins-enriched cookies on scientific basis

The essential treatment of the coeliac disease is a strict lifelong gluten-free diet based on the avoidance of gluten, thus requiring new perspectives for identifying technological and functional alternatives for gluten-free products, with similar functionality and efficiency. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the potential of purple corn flour (PCF) as a functional and technological alternative to design new gluten-free, anthocyanins-enriched cookies. The PCF was characterised in terms of phytochemical and antioxidant activity, yielding an extract with a total anthocyanin content of 14.94 ± 0.68 mg cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G) per g dry weight (DW). The results of the thermo-mechanical tests indicated that composite flour consisting of rice flour (RF, 75%) and PCF (25%) is suitable for obtaining gluten-free cookies. Tests showed increased anthocyanin content in cookies with 75% addition of PCF, up to 6.99 ± 0.20 mg C3G per 100 g DW, yielding an antioxidant activity of 18.46 ± 0.18 mm Trolox equivalents per g DW. The ELISA test confirmed the absence of prolamins recognised by the monoclonal antibody R5. The sensory analysis revealed that the substitution of RF with PCF had no significant influence on overall acceptability. The results of the shelf-life tests performed on the cookies showed slight variation in phytochemicals in both variants, influencing the antioxidant activity. The obtained results may bring potential benefits to people on restricted diets and coeliac consumers, which can benefit from a contribution of bioactives, with significant health benefits.     

Wittig-Horner reactions on styrene-divinylbenzene supports with benzaldehyde side-groups

Summary A styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer functionalized with aldehyde was prepared under phase transfer catalyzed (PTC) conditions. A statistical method for the calculation of the degree of functionalization with aldehyde groups is proposed. The degree of functionalization with aldehyde groups is relatively high. Styrene-divinylbenzene polymers functionalized with benzaldehyde groups were used in Wittig-Horner reaction, in order to introduce double bonds on polymers. The reactions were carried out using PTC method, solid-liquid-solid (s-l-s) (K₂CO₃, tetrahydrofuran, tetraethylammonium iodide) system. Phase transfer catalyzed reactions are often more easily and cheaply carried out than conventional method and they are therefore of particular interest.     

Synthesis and characterization of side-chain oxazoline–methyl methacrylate copolymers bearing azo-dye

We synthesized new polymeric structures by attaching a side-chain azo-moiety on poly(oxazoline) and poly(oxazoline-co-methyl methacrylate)s. For the polymer analogous transformation, we took advantage of the highly effective ring-opening addition of carboxyl group to the oxazoline cycle. The comonomers feed ratio allowed us to control the composition of the products while the kinetic treatment, employing an integral method, revealed a statistical copolymerization tendency of 2-isopropenyl-2-oxazoline with methyl methacrylate in acetonitrile at 70 °C. The elemental analysis and ¹H NMR spectroscopy provided almost identical composition data for both the substrates and the side-chain copolymers. The UV spectroscopy sustained the quantitative addition of 4-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethylphenylazo)benzoic acid to the oxazoline rings. Both the unmodified copolymers and the coloured ones exhibited good thermal stabilities, up to 371 °C and 302 °C, respectively. The glass transition temperatures ranged from 141.5 to 177.5 °C and from 153.8 to 200.9 °C for the substrates and for the modified copolymers, respectively. Preliminary investigations showed fluorescence activity for all copolymers bearing azo-moieties.     

Atomic structure and reactivity of ferromagnetic Fe deposited on Si(001)

This study presents a correlated study of structural, reactivity, and magnetic properties of ultrathin Fe layers grown on Si(001) by molecular beam epitaxy in ultrahigh vacuum. The interface reactivity is characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy. The surface structure is characterized by low electron energy diffraction with spot profile analysis. The magnetism of the synthesized layers is investigated by magneto-optical Kerr effect. At room temperature, metal Fe layers with poor long-range order are synthesized; these layers are ferromagnetic with an extremely low coercitive field (below 1 Oe). The reactivity with Si is low in this case, with formation of an interface layer of about 8 Å Fe equivalent thickness with about 7 at.% Si diffused. Samples synthesized at higher temperatures (500 °C) exhibit better long-range order, though the Fe reactivity with Si is higher and leads to the formation of an interface compound whose approximate stoichiometry is very close to Fe₃Si. Once this compound is formed (for an equivalent Fe thickness of about 14 monolayers), disordered metal Fe islands are developing with subsequent Fe deposition, which contain also about 8 at.% Si diffused. These structures exhibit a much lower ferrimagnetism, with saturation magnetization about one order of magnitude lower than in the case of the room temperature synthesis. In this case of high temperature synthesis, two phases are observed, a ferrimagnetic one and a superparamagnetic one.     

Influence of high temperature exposure on the adhesion of a micro-composite refractory enamel to a Ni–18Cr–12W superalloy

A new micro-composite refractory enamel (MCRE) was designed to play a multifunctional protective role (thermal barrier coating, corrosive and erosive protection) for the hot working parts made of EI868 superalloy sheets i.e. burning chambers, fire tubes, volets, eclises, etc. The effect of the isothermal heating at elevates temperature (800 °C, 900 °C) were, for the first time, investigate for MCRE/EI868 couple. The adhesion strength has shown an enhancement of about 100% when the couple was heated at 800 °C or at 900 °C for 10 h compared with the unexposed one. SEM-EDS, OM, XRD, EDP-XRFS and SDAR-OES investigations support a chemical bonding mechanism between MCRE and EI868 substrate via a transient interface layer. Elemental EDS distributions show that the Cr selective oxidation is responsible for the formation of the transient layer. The XRD measurements can be correlated with the contribution of the spinellic transformation of the SiO₂, Cr₂O₃, NiO to the adhesion enhancement. The most important result reported herein is the adhesion strength enhancement of the MCRE coatings to the EI868 supperalloy by isothermal treatment. Accordingly, the MCRE behaves as a self-healing coating. Noteworthy, the working lifetime of the MCRE-EI868 couple can be significantly enhanced if an optimum pre-treatment is applied before it comes into service.     

Probing thermal behaviour of microbial transglutaminase with fluorescence and in silico methods

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of transglutaminase behaviour at thermal treatment allows efficient applications in food processing. The heat‐induced conformational changes of microbial transglutaminase were studied by fluorescence spectroscopy and a molecular modelling approach. RESULTS: The experimental results indicate the unfolding of transglutaminase in a single‐phase reaction, at temperatures over 60 °C. The incidence of conformational changes is also supported by the increase of both intrinsic and 1‐anilino‐8‐naphthalene sulfonate fluorescence intensity with temperature. Changes in the secondary and tertiary structure of transglutaminase were outlined after running molecular dynamics simulations at temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 80 °C. CONCLUSION: The motif's particularities varied with the temperature, suggesting structural rearrangements of the protein, mainly in helices. The largest deviation from the structure equilibrated at 25 °C was observed at 80 °C. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry