Surface Pretreatments of Silicon Nitride for CVD Diamond Deposition

The efficiency of different surface pretreatments (four standard chemical etchings and four diamond powder abrasive procedures) on silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) substrates for chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of diamond has been systematically investigated. Blank Si₃N₄ samples were polished with colloidal silica (∼0.25 μm). Diamond nucleation and growth runs were conducted in a microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition apparatus for 10 min and 6 h, respectively. Superior results concerning nucleation density ( N _d∼ 10¹⁰ cm⁻² after 10 min), film uniformity, and grain size (below 2 μm after 6 h) were obtained for the mechanically microflawed samples, revealing that chemical etchings (hot and cold strong acids, molten base or CF₄ plasma) are not crucial for good CVD diamond quality on Si₃N₄.     

Supported Molybdenum Carbides Lie Between Metallic and Sulfided Catalysts for Deep HDS

Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene on alumina-supported Mo₂C has been studied. These catalysts are stable and active under deep HDS conditions (0-250 wt ppm S). However, although they are well known to have hydrogenation properties, they lead preferentially to a non-hydrogenated product of the HDS reaction: dimethylbiphenyl. For the same reaction, supported platinum and sulfided molybdenum oxide lead to the hydrogenated products dimethyldicyclohexyl and methylcyclohexyltoluene, respectively. The ranking of HDS activity is as follows: MoS₂/Al₂O₃ < Mo₂C/Al₂O₃ < Pt/SiO₂.     

Hepatic damage produced by long-term alcohol consumption in well-nourished rats

A study of the effect of long-term alcohol consumption on the liver of well-nourished rats is described. Rats fed for 16 weeks on a semipurified diet supplemented with high levels of vitamins and lipotropic factors and alcohol corresponding to 35% of the total caloric intake developed marked fatty changes of the liver. Mild fatty changes were observed in pair-fed controls receiving as isoenergetic equivalent of sucrose instead of alcohol. Intracellular hyaline bodies, corresponding ultrastructurally to giant mitochondria were abundantly found in the hepatocytes of alcoholic rats, while in the controls they were not seen. Te findings in this investigation are postulated to provide further evidence that the long-term intake of alcohol exerts a direct causative role in the pathogenesis of liver damage.     

HEAT TRANSFER IN PARTIALLY MISCIBLE TERNARY SYSTEMS

In the study of mass transfer between partially miscible liquids, temperature perturbations have been found to have an important effect in the generation of interfacial activity. Micro- and macro-generated interfacial convection usually occurs in combination with one another even in fairly simple heat or mass transfer events. These combinations are responsible for the enhancement of mass transfer rates. In an effort to acquire a better understanding of the heat transfer effects in ternary liquid-liquid systems, temperature difference profiles were measured when contacting two partially miscible phases. A vertical and a rotational transfer cell were designed to contact the partially miscible phases without inducing external disturbances. Five thermocouples were immersed in the bottom liquid phase at predetermined positions below the interface. In order to understand the influence of the convection generated, the vertical cell was designed to hinder convection in one phase, while the rotational cell permits convection in both phases. The experimental results showed larger temperature differences in the rotational cell after the contact of the phases. Also, systems which were initially unsaturated presented larger heat effects than those in which the partially miscible solvents were initially saturated. Several parameters indicating the importance of heat effects in the ternary systems studied are reported.     

A two-step reaction mechanism of oxygen release from Pd/CeO2: mathematical modelling based on step gas concentration experiments

Topics in Catalysis - A mathematical model has been developed to study the transient release of oxygen from a 1 wt% Pd/CeO2 catalyst in the 450–550&nbsp;°C range based on alternate...     

Design and analysis of single-factor experiments: Analysis of variance of the effect of rice husk ash and commercial fillers in NR compounds

Summary White rice husk ash (WRHA) and black rice husk ash (BRHA) were incorporated into natural rubber (NR) using a laboratory-sized two-roll mill. A conventional vulcanization system was used for curing and physical tests of the NR vulcanized involved determining of tensile and tear resistances. For comparison purposes, precipitated silica (Zeosil-175) and carbon black (N774) were used too. Using the analysis of variance of single-factor experiments, it can be concluded that: BRHA is non-reinforcing filler and its use is limited to 20 phr; WRHA is semi-reinforcing filler and the variation of filler loading (0 up to 50 phr) causes the maximum variation upon tensile strength of NR compounds; and, that although carbon black and silica are reinforcing fillers, a real reinforcement is reached up to 20 phr for tensile strength.     

On reactive routing protocols in ZigBee wireless sensor networks

ZigBee is the primary standard solution for wireless sensor networks, implementing the Ad hoc On‐Demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol in the network layer and supported by the standard IEEE 802.15.4. This study is focused on mesh topologies and the critical problems encountered when AODV is executed in conjunction with the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance protocol. These problems are mainly related to the packet overhead required to carry out route creation. To perform preliminary experiments to be able to implement AODV in a real network, a new metric is proposed herein. This metric uses fuzzy logic to help in the decision‐making process. The objective of the fuzzy routine is to determine, during the route‐discovery process, the best node to forward request/reply packets, with the aim of reducing packet overhead and energy consumption. Moreover, minor changes are also added to the discovery procedure of AODV to improve the performance of the route‐creation process. This intelligent version of AODV has provided promising experimental results, greatly reducing the number of packets required, with the consequent energy saving while selecting the best nodes to be part of the routes.     

Rice husk ash filled natural rubber. I. Overall rate constant determination for the vulcanization process from rheometric data

Black rice husk ash (BRHA) and white rice husk ash (WRHA) were incorporated into natural rubber (NR) using a laboratory‐size two‐roll mill. A conventional vulcanization system (CV) was chosen and cure studies were carried out on a TI‐100 Curometer. The torque curves were obtained at 150, 160, 170, and 180°C. The overall rate and the apparent activation energy for the vulcanization process were calculated for each compound assuming that vulcanization follows first‐order kinetics. For comparison purposes, two commercial fillers, precipitated silica (Zeosil‐175) and carbon black (N762), were also used. It was observed that addition of WRHA to NR compounds increased the cross‐linking rate and lowered the apparent activation energy more markedly than the other fillers. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 1194–1203, 2003     

Engineering plastics from lignin. XVI. Starlike macromers with propylene oxide

Starlike macromers were prepared from hydroxypropyl organosolv lignin by reaction with propylene oxide, and they were analyzed by a combination of conventional analysis techniques. The average number of arms per macromer was controlled by partial capping with an alkoxy group; and the average length of arms by the degree of chain extension with propylene oxide. Analysis methods included treatment with hydriodic acid followed by gas chromatographic separation of alkyl iodides (HI/GC), UV spectroscopy, H-NMR spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. The results were consistent with a hypothetical pentameric model structure having between two and six radiating arms, each with a length of between 1 and 4 propylene oxide units. The UV method was best qualified to determine degree of chain extension, while HI/GC was best suited for analyzing average number of arms per macromer fragment. The synthesis and analysis of starlike macromers from lignin is viewed as an important stepping stone for the formulation of lignin-based engineering plastics and multiphase materials.     

On the robust control of stable minimum phase plants with large uncertainty in a time constant. A fractional-order control approach

This paper addresses the problem of designing controllers that are robust to a great uncertainty in a time constant of the plant. Plants must be represented by minimum phase rational transfer functions of an arbitrary order. The design specifications are: (1) a phase margin for the nominal plant, (2) a gain crossover frequency for the nominal plant, (3) zero steady state error to step commands, and (4) a constant phase margin for all the possible values of the time constant (T$T$): 0<T<∞$0<T<\infty$. We propose a theorem that defines the structure of the set of controllers that fulfil these specifications and show that it is necessary for these robust controllers to include a fractional-order PI$PI$ term. Examples are developed for both stable and unstable plants, and the results are compared with a standard PI$PI$ controller and a robust controller designed using the QFT$QFT$ methodology.