CALIBRATION OF THE METHOD TO MEASURE BUBBLE PROPERTIES IN 2D FLUIDIZED BEDS

The purpose of the present work is to demonstrate the reliability of a digital image processing technique. A CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is used to perform an investigation on the bubble properties of a 2D gas-solid fluidized bed, and the aim of this study is to establish a criterion in order to reject all images that could not be interpreted as bubbles. This may lead to an alteration of the information obtained. The two-dimensional fluidized bed is 20 cm wide and at least 20 cm high, and the field of view of the camera is 12.54 cm wide and 12.99 cm high. In this way, bubbles could be totally or partially placed into this field of view so that a partial image of a bubble could be analyzed as a whole bubble. With this calibration, a geometric decision criterion for the rejection of nonbubble images was developed.     

Factors affecting resistance of low density lipoproteins to oxidation

Oxidation resistance (OR) of low density lipoproteins (LDL) is frequently determined by the conjugated diene (CD) assay, in which isolated LDL is exposed to Cu²⁺ as prooxidant in the range of 1–10 μM. A brief review on major findings obtained with this assay will be given. A consistent observation is that vitamin E supplements or oleic acid-rich diets increase OR. Oxidation indices measured by the CD assay and effects of antioxidants very significantly depend on the Cu²⁺ concentration used for LDL oxidation. For medium and high Cu²⁺ concentrations, the relationship between lag time and propagation rate can be described by a simple hyperbolic saturation function, which has the same mathematical form as the Michaelis-Menten equation. At medium and high Cu²⁺ concentrations (0.5 to 5 μM), vitamin E increases lag time in a dose-dependent manner. The increase is higher for 0.5 μM Cu²⁺ as compared to 5 μM. At low Cu²⁺ concentrations (0.5 μM or less), the mechanism of LDL oxidation changes. Significant oxidation occurs in a preoxidation phase, which commences shortly after addition of Cu²⁺. Preoxidation is not inhibited by vitamin E. It is concluded that much additional work is needed to validate the importance of oxidation indices derived from CD and similar assays.     

Electrospun composite poly(lactic acid)/polyaniline nanofibers from low concentrations in CHCl3: Making a biocompatible polyester electro-active

Nanofibers of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) blended with polyaniline (PANi) were fabricated via electrospinning at much lower PLA concentrations (∼1wt%) in CHCl₃ than reported before using a more efficient technique of preparing the solutions. The polymer nanofibers had diameters in the range 10 nm–300 nm. Nanofibers prepared with a 3 wt% PLA/PANi solution were conducting and were used to fabricate a diode which was electrically characterized and exhibited a low turn-on voltage and a rectification ratio of 500. The device characteristics were analyzed using the standard thermionic emission model of a Schottky junction and yielded an ideality factor of 1.6 and a barrier height of 0.49 eV. Using a simple circuit, the diode was able to rectify a low frequency alternating current signal with an efficiency of 10%. The ability to engineer insulating PLA into nanofibers that are electro-active extends the range of applications of this biocompatible and biodegradable polyester to include electronic devices that have reduced toxicity.     

Raft crystals of poly(isoprene)-block-poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane) and their surface wetting behavior during melting as observed by AFM and NanoTA

We report on the morphology evolution during heating and melting of lamellar poly(isoprene)-block-poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane) (PI₇₆-b-PFDMS₇₆) raft crystals deposited at the native oxide surface of silicon (SiO₂) or at a highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface, studied by in situ temperature controlled atomic force microscopy. Crystals deposited on hydrophilic SiO₂ surfaces revealed an irreversible decrease in length at temperatures of up to tens of degrees above their expected melting temperature, while maintaining their platelet-like structure. Crystals deposited on hydrophobic HOPG surfaces initially decreased in length below their expected melting temperature, while at 120 °C and above a typical molten morphology was observed. In addition, the irreversible formation of a PI₇₆-b-PFDMS₇₆ wetting layer around the crystals was observed upon increasing the temperature. These observations in the morphological behavior upon heating emphasize the role of interfacial energy between a surface deposited block copolymer based macromolecular nanostructure and its supporting substrate.     

Tribocorrosion and corrosion behavior of stainless steel coated with DLC films in ethanol with different concentrations of water

There has been a recent increase in both the production and consumption of ethanol due to the numerous environmental advantages that it offers, such as the fact that it can be produced from a variety of renewable materials, for instance corn and cellulose, or it can be obtained from sugarcane bagasse and biomass (2nd and 3rd generation ethanol). The result of this is that nowadays ethanol is widely seen as the dominant biofuel – or as a blend component in gasoline or pure fuel - in many countries.However, one disadvantage of the use of ethanol is the high corrosive behavior that occurs when its hygroscopic properties are exposed to a large number of materials. Xiaoyuan Lou and Preet Singh showed that the increase of water concentration in ethanol induces pitting and metal loss. Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) films may be a solution to this problem due to the fact that they can be deposited inside tubes, offer good protection levels against corrosion, and reduce the friction coefficient and wear.This paper shows the tribocorrosion and corrosion studies of DLC films deposited on stainless steel grade 304 (SS304) substrates in order to gauge its appropriateness usage in the construction of pipelines and fuel storage tanks. The surface morphology was analyzed before and after 14 days of immersion. The tribocorrosion, friction coefficient, and wear rate were studied in ethanol to see the effects of water concentration. The films showed good adherence to the substrates. Corrosion and tribocorrosion results showed that for bare Stainless Steel 304 the increase of the water content increases the corrosion and the friction coefficient. DLC coated samples presented few points of delamination, and the friction coefficient and open circuit potentials were very low compared with the bare sample which was water concentration independent.     

The Effect of Excess Aluminum on the Composition and Microstructure of Nb-Al Alloys Produced by Aluminothermic Reduction of Nb2O5

Intermetallic aluminides including those phases of the Nb-Al system are of interest for high-temperature structural applications. Through aluminothermic reduction (ATR) of Nb₂O₅ different alloys of the Nb-Al system can be produced by varying the amount of aluminum (excess aluminum) in the thermit charge. In this work, various Nb-Al alloys were produced by varying Nb₂O₅ and Al powder blends. The resulting alloys were characterized by chemical analysis (Al, O, and C), X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The aluminum content of the alloys increased linearly from 14.5 to 50.4 at% as the excess Al was varied from 10 up to 60% over the stoichiometric amount to reduce the Nb₂O₅. The carbon content was lower than 300 wt-ppm. The oxygen content decreases with increasing excess Al, reaching 1300 wt-ppm for the alloy produced with 60% excess Al. The inclusion content (Al₂O₃) decreases significantly as the excess Al is increased. The following metallic phases were identified in the alloys: Nb_ss (niobium solid solution) and Nb₃Al (alloy produced with 10% excess Al); Nb₃Al (alloys produced with 15 and 20% excess Al); Nb₃Al, Nb₂Al, and NbAl₃ (alloy produced with 30% excess Al); and Nb₂Al and NbAl₃ (alloys produced with 40, 50, and 60% excess Al).     

An algorithm for computerized automatic tuning of power system stabilizers

The main objective of this paper is to relieve the power system engineers from the burden of the complex and time-consuming process of power system stabilizer (PSS) tuning. To achieve this goal, the paper proposes an automatic process for computerized tuning of PSSs, which is based on an iterative process that uses a linear matrix inequality (LMI) solver to find the PSS parameters. It is shown in the paper that PSS tuning can be written as a search problem over a non-convex feasible set. The proposed algorithm solves this feasibility problem using an iterative LMI approach and a suitable initial condition, corresponding to a PSS designed for nominal operating conditions only (which is a quite simple task, since the required phase compensation is uniquely defined). Some knowledge about the PSS tuning is also incorporated in the algorithm through the specification of bounds defining the allowable PSS parameters. The application of the proposed algorithm to a benchmark test system and the nonlinear simulation of the resulting closed-loop models demonstrate the efficiency of this algorithm.     

A technical characterization of APTs by leveraging public resources

Advanced persistent threats (APTs) have rocketed over the last years. Unfortunately, their technical characterization is incomplete—it is still unclear if they are advanced usages of regular malware or a different form of malware. This is key to develop an effective cyberdefense. To address this issue, in this paper we analyze the techniques and tactics at stake for both regular and APT-linked malware. To enable reproducibility, our approach leverages only publicly available datasets and analysis tools. Our study involves 11,651 regular malware and 4686 APT-linked ones. Results show that both sets are not only statistically different, but can be automatically classified with F1 > 0.8 in most cases. Indeed, 8 tactics reach F1 > 0.9. Beyond the differences in techniques and tactics, our analysis shows thats actors behind APTs exhibit higher technical competence than those from non-APT malwares.

     

FILDIG: a program to filter brain electrical signals in the frequency domain

A software program to filter brain electrical signals in the frequency domain has been developed and is presently reported. Many other filters are commercially available; however, most of them are linked to data acquisition and/or analysis programs rendering them costly. Depending on the experimental field, the full programs are not always needed. To overcome the need to obtain narrow bands in EEG research and other biological signals in an easy, fast and cheap way, we developed a computer program (FILDIG) that renders an almost ideal in-phase filter in the frequency domain and can be used in all types of personal microcomputers (PC and Mac's) and with few resources. The system uses an interactive graphic display and, with a minimum interface, it is capable of filtering multiple channels and simultaneously obtaining electrical signals (EEG, EMG, EOG, etc.) without noise or specific frequency bands.