Electrochemistry of surface grafted copper(II) benzoate complexes

Glassy carbon electrodes were grafted with carboxyphenyl groups by reduction of 4-carboxyphenyldiazonium tetrafluoroborate and these modified electrodes were characterised by cyclic voltammetry and ac impedance measurements. Cu(II) was reacted with the carboxyphenyl groups in the film to give a surface voltammetric response for the immobilised Cu(II)/Cu(I) couple. The results indicated an ECEC mechanism, in which the chemical steps correspond to the change of coordination environment following the electron transfer steps. The relaxation half-life time for the Cu(I) species formed after electron transfer was estimated at (140 ± 11) s. The large value of the peak width of 200 mV was analysed by modelling the voltammograms and the large value of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) could be explained by dispersion in the formal potentials of Cu centres present in a variety of environments in the films studied. An ECEC mechanism (scheme of square) is proposed for the electron transfer reaction considering that the chemical step after reduction of the Cu(II) complex corresponds to conformational changes within the attached layer. Experimental data clearly show that the oxidation of the reduced film can take place from different Cu(I) complexes formed along the reduction to the fully relaxed Cu(I) species.     

The relationship between chord length and rime icing on wind turbines

Numerical simulations of ice accumulation on four different wind turbine blade profiles, from 450 kW, 600 kW, 1 MW and 2 MW, fixed speed, stall controlled, wind turbines, were performed to determine how wind turbine size affects atmospheric icing. The simulations indicate that dry rime icing is less severe for larger wind turbines both in terms of local ice mass and in terms of relative ice thickness. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A three-dimensional numerical model of thermoelectric generators in fluid power systems

In thermoelectric generators, the heat sources are usually fluids or flames. To simplify the co-design and co-optimization of the fluid or combustion system and the thermoelectric device, which are crucial for maximizing the system performance, a three-dimensional thermoelectric generator model is proposed and implemented in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation environment (FLUENT). This model of the thermoelectric power source accounts for all temperature dependent characteristics of the materials, and includes nonlinear fluid-thermal-electric multi-physics coupled effects. In solid regions, the heat conduction equation is solved with ohmic heating and thermoelectric source terms, and user defined scalars are used to determine the electric field produced by the Seebeck potential and electric current throughout the thermoelements. The current is solved in terms of the load value using user defined functions but not a prescribed parameter, and thus the field-circuit coupled effect is included. The model is validated by simulation data from other models and experimental data from real thermoelectric devices. Within the common CFD simulator FLUENT, the thermoelectric model can be connected to various CFD models of heat sources as a continuum domain to predict and optimize the system performance.     

Thermal effect of a thermoelectric generator on parallel microchannel heat sink

Thermoelectric generators (TEG) convert heat energy to electrical power by means of semiconductor charge carriers serving as working fluid. In this work, a TEG is applied to a parallel microchannel heat sink. The effect of the inlet plenum arrangement on the laminar flow distribution in the channels is considered at a wide range of the pressure drop along the heat sink. The particular focus of this study is geometrical effect of the TEG on the heat transfer characteristics in the micro-heat sink. The hydraulic diameter of the microchannels is 270 μm, and three heat fluxes are applied on the hot surface of the TEG. By considering the maximum temperature limitation for Bi₂Te₃ material and using the microchannel heat sink for cooling down the TEG system, an optimum pumping power is achieved. The results are in a good agreement with the previous experimental and theoretical studies.     

The Self-Assembled Behavior of DNA Bases on the Interface

A successful example of self-assembly in a biological system is that DNA can be an excellent agent to self-assemble into desirable two and three-dimensional nanostructures in a well-ordered manner by specific hydrogen bonding interactions between the DNA bases. The self-assembly of DNA bases have played a significant role in constructing the hierarchical nanostructures. In this review article we will introduce the study of nucleic acid base self-assembly by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at vacuum and ambient condition (the liquid/solid interface), respectively. From the ideal condition to a more realistic environment, the self-assembled behaviors of DNA bases are introduced. In a vacuum system, the energetic advantages will dominate the assembly formation of DNA bases, while at ambient condition, more factors such as conformational freedom and the biochemical environment will be considered. Therefore, the assemblies of DNA bases at ambient condition are different from the ones obtained under vacuum. We present the ordered nanostructures formed by DNA bases at both vacuum and ambient condition. To construct and tailor the nanostructure through the interaction between DNA bases, it is important to understand the assembly behavior and features of DNA bases and their derivatives at ambient condition. The utilization of STM offers the advantage of investigating DNA base self-assembly with sub-molecular level resolution at the surface.     

Problems in the extreme value analysis

Engineering design for structural safety is largely based on the statistics of natural hazards. These statistics are utilized by applying the theory of extremes, which predicts a cumulative distribution function of the extreme events. The parameters of this distribution are found by a fit to the historical extremes and the probabilities of potentially disastrous events are then calculated. It is pointed out here that this procedure often results in underestimation of the risk. This is because wrong probability plotting positions are widely used and because theoretical extreme value distributions are asymptotic only, so that in many cases they bring misleading information to the analysis. The means to avoid these problems in the extreme value analysis are outlined.     

Dynamic simulation of product process

During 90’s Nokia utilized Concurrent Engineering (CE) process in mobile phone business successfully. Strong growing of the company, more complex technologies, maturing markets and changes in competition has increased the need to develop the product process of the company to keep its position as an agile, innovative and productive product developer. Dynamic simulation approach has been one of the activities among other product process re-engineering efforts in the company.This paper describes the approach and “Product Process Decision Simulation” (PPDS) solution as the first implemented application of the approach. A dynamic model of product development has been created and applied to manage product process complex dynamic behavior on system level in order to reduce product development cycle times, slippages and costs as well as improve perceived product quality. The key contribution of the simulation solution is to provoke facilitated discussion in order to gain shared understanding of interdependencies and dynamic causes and effects in product process.The implementation and frequent simulation workshops have started in June 2006 and about 500 R&D people have already participated.     

Non-destructive Case Depth Determination by Means of Low-Frequency Barkhausen Noise Measurements

The availability of a fast and reliable method for non-destructive case depth determination which can be used to directly monitor the quality of various heat treatment processes is of great interest. Conventionally hardened steel components are analyzed by means of depth-resolved microhardness measurements providing the case hardening depth (CHD) of the material. However, as a consequence of mechanical destruction, the investigated part cannot be used in its original state anymore and needs to be replaced by a twin part whose properties might be different. In this work, a new approach of non-destructive CHD determination based on Barkhausen noise analysis with an excitation frequency of 0.5 Hz is described. The use of a low frequency allows to enhance the penetration depth of the external magnetic field and to reduce the eddy current damping of the filtered Barkhausen (BN) signal at the same time. In this way, simultaneous information about the hard case and the soft base material core is experimentally accessible. Various measurands derived from the detected BN signals are sensitive to the different magnetic properties of the case and the core. The so-obtained correlations with the measured CHD can be used for non-destructive CHD determination by means of appropriate calibration data. The investigated sample set consists of cylindrical parts of 18CrNiMo7-6 which were case-hardened and ground in order to provide graded CHD values up to 3.6 mm. The sensitivity of the tested low-frequency method will be quantitatively demonstrated over the complete range of interest and its potential for industrial applications will be discussed.     

Comparison of burnt area estimates derived from satellite products and national statistics in Europe

Burnt area maps based on satellite observations are frequently used in calculations related to fire regime, such as those of carbon dioxide emissions. Nevertheless, burnt area estimates between products vary widely, and validation against independent data is scarce, especially for Europe. Here we compare two active fire maps (the ATSR World Fire Atlas and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Active Fire Product) and two fire scars maps (the L3JRC and the MODIS Burned Area Product) to independent national statistics taken from 22 European countries between 1997 and 2008. We also tested the coincidence between satellite products derived by calculation of the fraction of active fires that were confirmed by a subsequent drop in reflectance. As a large proportion of fire pixels (between 40% and 66%, depending on the product) is located on urban land or crop fields, filtering out fires located on these land uses greatly improves the agreement between satellite-based burnt area estimates and national statistics and it also improves the coincidence between satellite products. The MODIS Active Fire Product appears to be most suitable for use as a proxy for burnt area patterns, showing a high correlation to national statistics (R² = 0.9), relatively low spatial and temporal heterogeneity and only a slight underestimation of the total burnt area (19 000 ha year^–1). Unfiltered products show cases of substantial wildfire overestimation in all products, mainly attributable to anthropogenic activity, in the case of active fire products, and drought-induced vegetation dieback, in that of fire scar maps. Thus, filtering out fires on anthropogenic land uses seems to be essential when analysing patterns of forest fires from satellite observations. However, if agricultural fires are to be included, a combination of MODIS Active Fire and MODIS Burned Area products is recommended. We obtained that such combination shows low temporal and spatial heterogeneity and the highest coincidence between satellite products (25%), although the correlation to national statistics is not very high (R² = 0.67) and clearly underestimates the total burnt area (187 000 ha year^–1).     

Temperature effects of PTFE diffusers

Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) is the most commonly used diffuser material in ultraviolet irradiance measurements. The temperature sensitivities of five PTFE diffusers were measured over a broad temperature range. The transmittance change varied from −0.015%/°C to −0.1%/°C. At 19 °C there was an unexpected abrupt change in transmittance ranging from 1% to 3%. This change is due to the change of the crystal structure of PTFE at 19 °C. Temperature sensitivity decreases significantly the accuracy of high precision measurements, especially if the temperature of the diffusers is not stabilized.