An Investigation of Diffusion Barrier Characteristics of an Electroless Co(W,P) Layer to Lead-Free SnBi Solder

Diffusion barrier characteristics for eutectic SnBi solder/electroless Co(W,P) couples were investigated via liquid-state aging at 250°C and solid-state aging at 120°C. At the couple interface, CoSn₃ intermetallic compound (IMC) spallation was observed for the SnBi/amorphous Co(W,P) couple subjected to liquid-state aging. In contrast, no spallation of IMCs was observed for the SnBi/amorphous Co(W,P) couples subjected to solid-state aging. For the SnBi/polycrystalline Co(W,P) couple, a thick IMC layer was observed adjacent to a tungsten-enriched amorphous interfacial layer regardless of aging conditions. IMC formation in all samples indicated that Co(W,P) is essentially a sacrificial barrier to SnBi solder. However, amorphous Co(W,P) might also exhibit stuffed-type barrier behavior due to its relatively high phosphorus (P) content. Analytical results indicated that the P content in Co(W,P) is a crucial factor affecting the structural evolution at the SnBi/electroless Co(W,P) interface.     

Introduction of affinity set and its application in data-mining example of delayed diagnosis

At least 44,000 people die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors, and these deaths are becoming the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States. Thus, medical providers have the responsibility to pay attention for reducing avoidable medical errors and improve patient safety as best as they can. It requires the rapid evaluation and prioritisation of life threatening injuries in the primary survey followed by a detailed secondary survey in the emergency room. However, time is always valuable and limited such that some important vital signs may be delayed and ignored. This research explores delayed diagnosis problem and uses the affinity set by Topology concept to classify/focus on key attributes causing delayed diagnosis (missed injury) in order to reduce error risk. Results interestingly indicate that when a patient can breathe normally, but his (or her) blood-pressure or pulse is abnormal, a high probability of delayed diagnosis exists. This affinity work also compares the performance with the model of rough set (Rosetta), neural network, support vector machine and logistic regression. And our affinity model shows its advantage by prediction accuracy and explanation power.     

Predictive maintenance of abnormal wind turbine events by using machine learning based on condition monitoring for anomaly detection

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - The predictive maintenance of wind turbines has become a critical issue with the rapid development of wind power generation. The early detection of...     

Maximum entropy probability distributions for flood frequency analysis

It is customary to assume a frequency distribution in flood frequency analysis. The parameters of the distribution are estimated by using observed or transformed data. The fitted distribution is then used to estimate the magnitudes of floods of different frequencies.

The maximum entropy (ME) probability distribution is defined as the 'minimally prejudiced probability distribution which maximizes the entropy subject to constraints supplied by the given information'. In spite of many attractive features of the ME distribution, it has not been used in its general form in practice. The main reason for not using the ME distribution in its general form is that the parameter estimation problem associated with the ME distribution is not easy. Recently this problem has been solved and an algorithm has been developed to estimate the parameters of the ME distribution.

The objective of the research reported in the present paper is to fit ME distributions to flood data. The ME distributions are compared with other well known distributions. The computational aspects and selection of orders of distributions are also discussed. The ME distribution is shown to be versatile and fits a variety of flood data very well.     

Preparation and characterization of lactitol-based poly(ether polyol)s for rigid polyurethane foam

Propoxylation of lactitol [4-O-β-D -galactopyranosyl-D -glucitol] under alkaline conditions afforded poly(ether polyol)s (PEP) which have been characterized by their unsaturation content, alpha color, hydroxyl number, viscosity, hygroscopicity, and molecular weight distribution. The analogous sucrose-based PEP were prepared for comparison. Lactitol was found to require shorter reaction times and produced lighter-colored polyols than did sucrose. Polyols produced from lactitol displayed similar physical properties to sucrose-based PEP. Molecular weight analysis by GPC using the universal calibration method showed lactitol PEP to have polydispersities between 1.04 and 1.07. Negligible decomposition of lactitol during propoxylation was confirmed by ¹³C-NMR and GPC. ¹H-NMR of trifluoroacetyl derivatives of lactitol PEP afforded secondary determination of M_n. In addition, rigid polyurethane foams (PURF) formulated with lactitol-, sucrose-, or commercial sucrose–glycerin-based polyols and PAPI 27 were prepared and characterized. Lactitol-based PURF were found to compare favorably with sucrose-based foams, displaying a density and compressive strength of 28.9 kg/m³ and 1.213 × 10⁵ N/M², respectively. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Green and Highly-Efficient Microwave Synthesis Route for Sulfur/Carbon Composite for Li-S Battery

Multiporous carbons (MPCs) are prepared using ZnO as a hard template and biomass pyrolysis oil as the carbon source. It is shown that the surface area, pore volume, and mesopore/micropore ratio of the as-prepared MPCs can be easily controlled by adjusting the ZnO/oil ratio. Sulfur/MPC (S/MPC) composite is prepared by blending sulfur powder with the as-prepared MPCs followed by microwave heating at three different powers (100 W/200 W/300 W) for 60 s. The unique micro/mesostructure characteristics of the resulting porous carbons not only endow the S/MPC composite with sufficient available space for sulfur storage, but also provide favorable and efficient channels for Li-ions/electrons transportation. When applied as the electrode material in a lithium-ion battery (LIB), the S/MPC composite shows a reversible capacity (about 500 mAh g⁻¹) and a high columbic efficiency (>95%) after 70 cycles. Overall, the method proposed in this study provides a simple and green approach for the rapid production of MPCs and S/MPC composite for high-performance LIBs.     

Self-assisted wound healing using piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators

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Reported Use of Reduced-sugar Foods and Beverages Reflect High-quality Diets

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to determine differences in nutrient and energy intakes and in quantity of food eaten, and to compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of users of reduced-sugars foods and beverages with those who use only the full sugar versions of the same products. Records for adults (≥ 20 y old) responding to the 1994–1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) and the Diet Health and Knowledge Survey were used. CSFII food lists were scanned for both full and reduced-sugar versions of yogurt, cocoa, and other milk beverages, frozen and gelatin desserts, puddings, breads, cookies, cakes, fruit drinks, carbonated and noncarbonated drinks, confectionary products, and sweeteners. Recalls were sorted for those reporting use of only full sugar (FS) products and those reporting mixed use of full sugar and reduced-sugar (RS) versions. Comparisons were made between demographic characteristics, body mass index, food group servings, food intake amounts, and nutrient densities. When compared with FS users, RS users consistently reported significantly higher intakes of fruit, lower intakes of discretionary fat and added sugars, and equal or lower intakes of other foods (in gram amounts), except for greater intake of yogurt and frozen and gelatin desserts. RS users tended to report similar or higher micronutrient intakes compared with FS users. After adjusting for energy intake, significantly higher micronutrient intakes were found for both males and females consuming RS foods and beverages (13 and 15 of 17 nutrients, respectively).     

Issues Related to the Use of Blood in Food and Animal Feed

Blood has traditionally been used as a high protein ingredient in both human food and animal feed, with resulting economic, environmental and nutritional benefits. However, potentially serious health and safety issues related to blood consumption, particularly the risk of pathogenic or harmful metabolic materials, the infectivity of prion diseases, and the presence of identified allergens such as bovine serum albumin (BSA), are causing many consumers to shy away from any product containing either animal blood or ingredients derived from animal blood. Thus, despite the significant volumes of blood produced by slaughterhouses, blood is currently underutilized as a food ingredient. This article reviews the use of animal blood as an ingredient in food intended for human consumption or for animal feed and discusses the related consumer concerns.     

Use of Soy Protein and Microbial Transglutaminase as a Binder in Low-sodium Restructured Meats

ABSTRACT: Pork sticks were prepared by mixing pork chucks with various amounts of bisulfite-treated soy protein and microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) to evaluate the potential of using soy protein as meat binders. According to tensile strength, the favorable conditions for binding the restructured pork chunks were 5% soy protein containing 0.2% NaHSO₃ and 20 unit MTGase/g, and the setting condition was 60 min at 40°C. The tensile strength and cooking yield of restructured pork sticks made with bisulfite-treated soy protein and MTGase were much higher than those of using salt, suggesting the high potential of using soy protein and MTGase as binders in products where NaCl reduction is desired.