Thermo and electrochemical characterization of sulfonated PEEK–WC membranes and Krytox-Si-Nafion® composite membranes

Two types of membranes, the sulfonated PEEK-WC (poly(oxa-p-phenylene-3,3-phthalido-p-phenylene-oxyphenylene)(SPWC) and Krytox-Si-Nafion® (KSiN) composite membranes are proposed for DMFC applications.The properties based on water uptake, ion exchange capacity, proton conductivity, gas permeability, thermal stabilityand methanol crossover are summarized. The comparative studies on SPWC and Nafion® 117 membranes clarify us that the amorphous sulfonated PEEK-WC polymer shows thermal and mechanical stability with less methanol flux and gas permeability. The membrane also exhibits the increase in water uptake, ion exchange capacity and proton conductivity as sulfuric acid doping agent concentration was increased. The KSiN is unique in term of its miscible hybrid structure of silica particles modified with Nafion® structured Krytox 157 FSL chain (KSi) andNafion®. Based on the KSiN membranes with different KSi content, it was found that when KSi content increased, the reduction of gas permeability, methanol crossover and thermal stability are improved. The composite membrane performs the proton conductivity in the wide range of high temperature (60–130°C).     

Effects of noise on lidar data inversion with the backward algorithm

The lidar data-inversion algorithm widely known as the Klett method (and its more elaborate variants) has long been used to invert elastic-lidar data obtained from atmospheric sounding systems. The Klett backward algorithm has also been shown to be robust in the face of uncertainties concerning the boundary condition. Nevertheless electrical noise at the photoreceiver output unavoidably has an impact on the data-inversion process, and describing in an explicit way how it affects retrieval of the atmospheric optical coefficients can contribute to improvement in inversion quality. We examine formally the way noise disturbs backscatter-coefficient retrievals done with the Klett backward algorithm, derive a mathematical expression for the retrieved backscatter coefficient in the presence of noise affecting the signal, and assess the noise impact and suggest ways to limit it.     

Conventional sintering of LAS–SiC nanocomposites with very low thermal expansion coefficient

Very low thermal expansion materials have been developed in a wide temperature range from ?150 °C to 450 °C. These very low expansion materials are composed of a lithium aluminosilicate matrix with dispersed silicon carbide nanoparticles. The nSiC content in the most stable composite has resulted to be 27 vol.%. Powder processing and sintering temperature control have been found to be of key importance in order to obtain low porosity sintered nanocomposites. Here it is proposed the sintering by pressureless methods (conventional sintering) in order to obtain a LAS–nSiC nanocomposite with improved mechanical properties and excellent expansion behaviour by means of control of the phase reactions and glass formation during sintering.     

Factors controlling the selectivity of V2O5 supported catalysts in the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

The surface properties of a series of V₂O₅ catalysts supported on different oxides (Al₂O₃, H–Na/Y zeolite, MgO, SiO₂, TiO₂ and ZrO₂) were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy augmented by CO and NH₃ adsorption. In the case of the V₂O₅/SiO₂ system TEM images evidenced the presence of V₂O₅ crystallites, whereas such segregated phase was not observed for the other samples. VO_x species resulted widely spread on the surface of Al₂O₃, H–Na/Y zeolite, MgO and SiO₂, whereas on TiO₂ and ZrO₂ they are assembled in a layer covering almost completely the support. Furthermore, evidences for the presence in this layer of V–OH Brønsted acid sites close to the active centres were found. It is proposed that propene molecules primarily produced by oxydehydrogenation of propane can be adsorbed on this acid centres and then undergo an overoxidation by reaction with redox centres in the neighbourhood. This features could account for the low selectivity of V₂O₅/TiO₂ and V₂O₅/ZrO₂ catalysts.     

Alumina reinforced eucryptite ceramics: Very low thermal expansion material with improved mechanical properties

Composite materials formed by a LAS matrix reinforced with second phases are promising materials in many applications where better mechanical properties than those corresponding to conventional low thermal expansion coefficient materials are required. In this study we will show the capability of the design of a LAS-alumina submicron composite. The main scope of this work is to test the sinterability of the composites and to design a composition for a very low thermal expansion submicron composite. For this purpose, Taimei alumina (TM-DAR) powders and an ad hoc synthesized β-eucryptite phase were used to fabricate the composite. XRD phase compositions and microstructures are discussed together with data from dilatometries in a wide temperature range. The results obtained show the possibility of designing a submicron composite with a very low thermal expansion coefficient and improved mechanical properties that can be used in oxidizing conditions.     

Effect of Short Ageing on Lees on the Mannoprotein Content,Aromatic Profile,and Sensorial Character of White Wines

In Albariño white wines, aging of wines on lees is a technique not used or only used empirically by some producers to obtain a distinctive character in the final wine. This study analyzes the influence of a short aging on lees on the chemical and sensorial parameters of this young white wine. Albariño grape must was inoculated with a locally selected yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae 1) and the effect of a short aging on lees was studied during different times (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 d). Mannoprotein content and the aromatic profile were determined and a sensorial analysis of the wines was conducted. Results showed that aging time was correlated with the concentration of some key aroma compounds and mannoproteins in Albariño wines. The best sensorial character was obtained in wines aged 20 d on lees. Further aging times decreased the sensorial quality of Albariño wine and modified its volatile profile and mannoprotein concentration.     

Camera characterization for improving color archaeological documentation

Determining the correct color is essential for proper cultural heritage documentation and cataloging. However, the methodology used in most cases limits the results since it is based either on perceptual procedures or on the application of color profiles in digital processing software. The objective of this study is to establish a rigorous procedure, from the colorimetric point of view, for the characterization of cameras, following different polynomial models. Once the camera is characterized, users obtain output images in the sRGB space that is independent of the sensor of the camera. In this article we report on pyColorimetry software that was developed and tested taking into account the recommendations of the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE). This software allows users to control the entire digital image processing and the colorimetric data workflow, including the rigorous processing of raw data. We applied the methodology on a picture targeting Levantine rock art motifs in Remigia Cave (Spain) that is considered part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Three polynomial models were tested for the transformation between color spaces. The outcomes obtained were satisfactory and promising, especially with RAW files. The best results were obtained with a second‐order polynomial model, achieving residuals below three CIELAB units. We highlight several factors that must be taken into account, such as the geometry of the shot and the light conditions, which are determining factors for the correct characterization of a digital camera.     

Water slug injection containing n polymers in porous media

Injection of water containing dissolved chemicals is an efficient oil recovery technique. One of the problems of this method is the loss of the chemical components due to interactions between rock and fluid. In polymer injection, adsorption may happen and lead to low process efficiency. The interaction between rock and fluid is governed by the adsorption isotherm, which relates the polymer concentration in water with the adsorbed amount on the rock. In this paper the problem of oil displacement by a water slug containing n chemical components that may be adsorbed is analyzed. The system of conservation laws is solved and the structure of the solution for the case of Henry's adsorption isotherm is completely described. The concentration profile of each component and the chromatographic cycle is calculated through simple expressions. The complete and detailed solution for the case of slug injection containing three chemical components is presented. The general solution developed can be used to model several Enhanced Oil Recovery techniques, in which the chemical components adsorb in porous media following Henry's adsorption isotherm.     

Overcoming statistical machine translation limitations: error analysis and proposed solutions for the Catalan–Spanish language pair

This work aims to improve an N-gram-based statistical machine translation system between the Catalan and Spanish languages, trained with an aligned Spanish–Catalan parallel corpus consisting of 1.7 million sentences taken from El Periódico newspaper. Starting from a linguistic error analysis above this baseline system, orthographic, morphological, lexical, semantic and syntactic problems are approached using a set of techniques. The proposed solutions include the development and application of additional statistical techniques, text pre- and post-processing tasks, and rules based on the use of grammatical categories, as well as lexical categorization. The performance of the improved system is clearly increased, as is shown in both human and automatic evaluations of the system, with a gain of about 1.1 points BLEU observed in the Spanish-to-Catalan direction of translation, and a gain of about 0.5 points in the reverse direction. The final system is freely available online as a linguistic resource.