Hydrogen sorption sites in the gallium containing hybrid catalysts used for the aromatization of light alkanes

Gallium species which were incorporated initially in the oxide form, were all in the (+3) oxidation state in the hybrid catalyst and exhibited two types of hydrogen chemisorption sites, s_hw and s_hs. The stronger sorption sites shs which predominated at higher gallium dispersion, corresponded probably to the most effective surface configuration for gallium in the aromatization ofn-butane.     

Sintering of Pt/Al2O3 reforming catalysts: EXAFS study of the behavior of metal particles under oxidizing atmosphere

The effect of an oxidative atmosphere (300 °C) is studied on fresh and sintered unchlorinated naphtha reforming catalysts containing 0.6–1% Pt. The TPR profiles show that only one species is formed using our experimental conditions, regardless of the mean crystallite size of the metal particles. The structural information supplied by EXAFS compared with cuboctahedral particle modeling, implies that such species is a surface platinum oxide, the structure of which is close to that of PtO₂, but largely distorted. This is true whether the catalyst is sintered or not.     

Objective classification of vehicle seat discomfort

The objective of this study was to identify how physiological measures relate to self-reported vehicle seating discomfort. Twelve subjects of varied anthropometric characteristics were enrolled in the study. Subjects sat in two seats over a 2-h period and were evaluated via three physiological measures (near-infrared spectroscopy, electromyography and pressure mapping) yielding six testing sessions. Subjective discomfort surveys were recorded before and after each session for nine regions of the body. Conditional classification discomfort models were developed through dichotomised physiological responses and anthropometry to predict subjective discomfort in specific body locations. Models revealed that subjects taller than 171 cm with reduced blood oxygenation in the biceps femoris or constant, low-level muscle activity in the trapezius tended to report discomfort in the lower extremities or neck, respectively. Subjects weighing less than 58 kg with reduced blood oxygenation in the biceps femoris or unevenly distributed pressure patterns tended to report discomfort in the buttocks. The sensitivities and specificities of cross-validated models ranged between 0.69 and 1.00.     

Effects of physical refining on contents of waxes and fatty alcohols of refined olive oil

Changes in the contents of waxes and fatty alcohols during deodorization/physical refining of bleached olive oil were studied. Experiments were carried out with 1.85% acidity oil, which was physically refined in a discontinuous deodorizer of 250-kg maximum capacity using nitrogen as stripping gas instead of steam. The variables studied were load and temperature of oil in the deodorizer as well as N₂ flow. Analyses of waxes and alcohols were carried out at different operation times. The maximum content of wax was always observed when the oil reached the deodorization temperature. The variation in the wax content depended on temperature and N₂ flow. Wax decomposition started and continued during the operating time, and a progressive decrease, which was pronounced between 3 and 4 h, was observed. Small changes in waxes were observed between 4 and 5 h. Total content of fatty alcohols diminished throughout the operating time, and changes did not depend on the variables studied.     

The effect of reaction conditions on montmorillonite-catalysed peptide formation

Oligomerization of glycine (gly) and diglycine (gly₂) on montmorillonite was performed as cyclic, drying-wetting process at temperatures below 100°C, under varying reaction conditions. The influence of substrate/clay ratio, temperature and pH was found to be different for amino acid (AA) dimerization, cyclic anhydride (CA) formation and peptide chain elongation. High temperatures and neutral pH favour CA formation over diglycine production. An AA/catalyst ratio of 0.2 mmol/g leads to optimal yields. This supports the assumption that amino acid dimerization and CA formation take place at the edges of clay particles. Peptide chain elongation, starting from gly₂, produces higher yields at higher temperatures and neutral pH.     

Experimental and theoretical analysis of the operation of a natural gas cogeneration system using a polymer exchange membrane fuel cell

This paper reports experimental and numerical results of an investigation of five identical cogeneration systems using PEM (Polymer Exchange Membrane) fuel cells and running on natural gas. The natural gas is reformed locally to produce hydrogen. The accuracy of numerical results is validated by comparison with experimental data and the system performances are analysed in terms of electrical, thermal and total efficiencies. It appears that the energetic performances are low, particularly at low current. Simple solutions for enhancing the system electrical performances by modifying control laws are proposed.     

Personalized identification of abdominal wall hernia meshes on computed tomography

An abdominal wall hernia is a protrusion of the intestine through an opening or area of weakness in the abdominal wall. Correct pre-operative identification of abdominal wall hernia meshes could help surgeons adjust the surgical plan to meet the expected difficulty and morbidity of operating through or removing the previous mesh. First, we present herein for the first time the application of image analysis for automated identification of hernia meshes. Second, we discuss the novel development of a new entropy-based image texture feature using geostatistics and indicator kriging. Third, we seek to enhance the hernia mesh identification by combining the new texture feature with the gray-level co-occurrence matrix feature of the image. The two features can characterize complementary information of anatomic details of the abdominal hernia wall and its mesh on computed tomography. Experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed study. The new computational tool has potential for personalized mesh identification which can assist surgeons in the diagnosis and repair of complex abdominal wall hernias.     

An effective approach for maintenance of pre-large-based frequent-itemset lattice in incremental mining

Incremental mining has attracted the attention of many researchers due to its usefulness in online applications. Many algorithms have thus been proposed for incrementally mining frequent itemsets. Maintaining a frequent-itemset lattice (FIL) is difficult for databases with large numbers of frequent itemsets, especially huge databases, due to the storage of links of nodes in the lattice. However, generating association rules from a FIL has been shown to be more effective than traditional methods such as directly generating rules from frequent itemsets or frequent closed itemsets. Therefore, when the number of frequent itemsets is not huge (i.e., they can be stored in the lattice without excessive memory overhead), the lattice-based approach outperforms approaches which mine association rules from frequent itemsets/frequent closed itemsets. However, incremental algorithms for building FILs have not yet been proposed. This paper proposes an effective approach for the maintenance of a FIL based on the pre-large concept in incremental mining. The building process of a FIL is first improved using two proposed theorems regarding the paternity relation between two nodes in the lattice. An effective approach for maintaining a FIL with dynamically inserted data is then proposed based on the pre-large and the diffset concepts. The experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms the batch approach for building a FIL in terms of execution time.     

求解工程结构优化问题的改进布谷鸟搜索算法

针对布谷鸟搜索算法局部搜索能力不强的缺点, 提出一种基于随机局部搜索的改进布谷鸟搜索算法用于求解工程结构优化问题。引入惯性权重以平衡算法的勘探和开采能力; 利用随机局部搜索方法对当前最优解进行局部搜索, 以加快算法的收敛速度。两个工程结构优化问题的实验结果表明了该算法的可行性和有效性。     

可逆冷带轧机速度张力多变量耦合系统的建模及分散控制

针对具有多变量、非线性、强耦合和不确定性的可逆冷带轧机速度张力系统,提出了一种基于扩张状态观测器(extended state observer,ESO)的全局积分滑模自适应反步分散控制方法.首先,采用机理建模方法,建立了相对完备的可逆冷带轧机速度张力多变量耦合系统的数学模型.其次,将各子系统的耦合项和不确定项看成外扰,通过构造的ESO对其进行动态观测,并分别引入所设计的全局积分滑模自适应反步控制器中进行补偿,速度张力系统实现了有效的动态解耦和协调控制.理论分析表明,所提出的控制方法能够保证滑模面的渐近稳定和闭环系统的渐近跟踪性能.最后,基于某1422mm可逆冷带轧机速度张力系统的实际数据进行仿真,结果验证了所提方法的有效性.