Thick Film Planar CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Sensors Based on Na β-Alumina Solid Electrolyte

Practical small-sized thick film CO₂ sensor with self-heater was fabricated with Na β -Alumina (NBA), Na₂Ti₆O₁₃-TiO₂, and Na₂CO₃ as a solid electrolyte, reference electrode, and a sensing electrode, respectively. The measured EMF from the sensor followed the Nernstian behavior with CO₂ concentration change in the range of 400 to 600^∘C (350–580 mW power consumption). However, in the aspect of stability, densification of the NBA thick film and prevention of Na₂CO₃ evaporation were needed. In this study, an Al₂O₃ porous layer deposited on Na₂CO₃ was effective in improving the durability during operation of the sensor. It is thought that Al₂O₃ suppresses evaporation of Na₂CO₃.     

Operation of 1550-nm electroabsorption-Modulated laser at 40/spl deg/C for 10-gb/s, 40-km transmission

Semicooled operation at 40/spl deg/C of electroabsorptive modulator integrated laser (EML) for intermediate reach communication has been demonstrated. Reproducible operation at the elevated temperature was achieved through a device parameter optimized based on the temperature dependence of the dc characteristics of EML and a design of multi-quantum-well structure providing both relevant output power and high-frequency bandwidth at 40/spl deg/C. Good eye pattern and near zero chirp with the average power over 0 dBm are obtained at 40/spl deg/C, with an estimated lifetime over 20 years.     

Hemodynamics in a three-dimensional printed aortic model: a comparison of four-dimensional phase-contrast magnetic resonance and image-based computational fluid dynamics

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - This study aims to compare an electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated four-dimensional (4D) phase-contrast (PC) magnetic resonance imaging...     

A soft‐switching high step‐up DC‐DC converter with a single magnetic component

A soft‐switching high step‐up DC‐DC converter with a single magnetic component is presented in this paper. The proposed converter can provide high voltage gain with a relatively low turn ratio of a transformer. Voltage doubler structure is selected for the output stage. Due to this structure, the voltage gain can be increased, and the voltage stresses of output diodes are clamped as the output voltage. Moreover, the output diode currents are controlled by a leakage inductance of a transformer, and the reverse‐recovery loss of the output diodes is significantly reduced. Two power switches in the proposed converter can operate with soft‐switching due to the reflected secondary current. The voltages across the power switches are confined to the clamping capacitor voltage. Steady‐state analysis, simulation, and experimental results for the proposed converter are presented to validate the feasibility and the performance of the proposed converter. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling and analysis of strategic forward contracting in transmission constrained power markets

Taking the effects of transmission network into account, strategic forward contracting induced by the interaction of generation firms’ strategies in the spot and forward markets is investigated. A two-stage game model is proposed to describe generation firms’ strategic forward contracting and spot market competition. In the spot market, generation firms behave strategically by submitting bids at their nodes in a form of linear supply function (LSF) and there are arbitrageurs who buy and resell power at different nodes where price differences exceed the costs of transmission. The owner of the grid is assumed to ration limited transmission line capacity to maximize the value of the transmission services in the spot market. The Cournot-type competition is assumed for the strategic forward contract market. This two-stage model is formulated as an equilibrium problem with equilibrium constraints (EPEC); in which each firm's optimization problem in the forward market is a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) and parameter-dependent spot market equilibrium as the inner problem. A nonlinear complementarity method is employed to solve this EPEC model.     

Structure of sol-gel prepared ferroelectric Bi3.4La0.6Ti3O12

The Bi_3.4La_0.6Ti₃O₁₂ (BLT) thin film and powder have been prepared by a sol-gel method with annealing at 700^°C. Randomly oriented BLT thin film exhibits a large remanent polarization, 2P _r = 72 μC/cm², with a dc applied field strength of 320 kV/cm. Structure of sol-gel derived BLT powder has been investigated by neutron scatterings, and refined by a Rietveld method resulting a reasonable goodness of fit (wR _p = 6.7%, and R _p = 5.7%) using an orthorhombic (B2cb, a = 5.4221 Å, b = 5.4032 Å, and c = 32.8361 Å). Two different TiO₆ octahedra exhibit different polarization directions; (100) from Ti(1)O₆, and (011) from Ti(2)O₆, which explains the observed large 2P _r of the randomly oriented BLT thin film.     

Preparation of Pt supported on mesoporous carbons for the reduction of oxygen in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)

Porous carbon materials (SM-C, HS-C and TM-C) were prepared using commercial colloidal silicas (SM-30, HS-40 and TM-50) and a resorcinol-formaldehyde resin as a removable template and a carbon precursor, respectively. All of the prepared carbons had high surface areas with narrow pore size distributions. In particular, the pore diameter of the carbons could be controlled over a range of mesopore size by the use of an appropriate silica employed as a template. Mesoporous carbon templated using TM-50 had the largest pore size, while that for SM-C, was the smallest. Pt nanoparticles were supported on these mesoporous carbons for use as a catalyst in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The crystallite size of the Pt catalyst was found to be closely related to the properties of the corresponding carbon support. A carbon support with a large pore size and a high surface roughness was found to favor the dispersion of Pt crystallite. In a single cell test, the Pt catalysts supported on mesoporous carbons exhibited higher cell performance than that on activated carbon. In particular, the Pt/TM-C catalyst showed the best cell performance among the catalysts tested. In addition to the high surface area of the active metal, the large pore size of the Pt/TM-C appears to have positive effect on the distribution of ionomer, resulting in facile formation of a triple-phase boundary.     

Enhanced soft-handoff scheme for real-time streaming services in intelligent transportation systems based on CDMA

Code division multiple access (CDMA)-based radio-on-fiber road-vehicle communication systems were proposed to support real-time streaming services in intelligent transportation systems (ITSs). Soft handoff should be provided for real-time streaming services because these services are required to guarantee real-time property and quality of service (QoS). However, soft handoff of real-time streaming services causes the shortage of resource in view of the system. In this paper, the double-adjustment soft-handoff (DASH) scheme is proposed to support seamless service regardless of the shortage of resource and maximize the resource efficiency when real-time streaming services are served in CDMA-based ITSs. The DASH scheme adjusts the data rate of a call when it starts and finishes soft handoff. The performance of the DASH scheme is evaluated by analytical and simulation methods. Performances are evaluated with respect to the blocking probability, the handoff failure probability, and the carried traffic. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme can give relative good maintenance of calls and good throughput.     

The preparation and characterization of porous carbons for hydrogen storage

Porous carbon materials with a cylindrical pore structure were prepared using ordered mesoporous silica as a removable template. To investigate the effect of the structural and textural properties of the products on hydrogen adsorption capacity, different carbon precursors and synthetic methods were used in their preparation. All of the carbon materials prepared showed a well-defined pore structure with a high surface area irrespective of the carbon precursor used in the preparation. Hydrogen adsorption tests indicated that the capacity of the materials for hydrogen adsorption was highly dependent on total surface area and the pore structure. Based on the N₂ sorption results, the total surface area was directly correlated with the hydrogen adsorption capacity.