Fine coal desulphurization by leaching with bromine containing hydrobromic acid

Sulphur extraction from coal by leaching with bromine-containing aqueous hydrobromic acid has been investigated in the temperature range from ambient to 120 °C. This procedure was found to be selective for the removal of high levels of sulphate and pyritic sulphur within a few minutes of leaching, while no significant reduction of the organic sulphur could be observed. Leaching led to an appreciable reduction of the ash yield and the up-take of substantial quantities of bromine. The bromine can be removed as hydrogen bromide by thermal treatment under nitrogen, without significant loss of volatile matter; for reduction of the bromine level to below 0.1 wt%, treatment for at least 1 h at ≈ 500 °C was needed.     

Straightforward modeling of dynamic I–V characteristics for microwave FETs

This work presents a straightforward approach aimed at modeling the dynamic I–V characteristics of microwave active solid‐state devices. The drain‐source current generator represents the most significant source of nonlinearity in a transistor and, therefore, its correct modeling is fundamental to predict accurately the current and voltage waveforms under large‐signal operation. The proposed approach relies on using a small set of low‐frequency time‐domain waveform measurements combined with numerical optimization‐based estimation of the nonlinear model parameters. The procedure is applied to a gallium nitride HEMT and silicon FinFET. The effectiveness of the modeling procedure in terms of prediction accuracy and generalization capability is demonstrated by validation of the extracted models under operating conditions different than the ones used for the parameters estimation. Good agreement between measurements and model simulations is achieved for both technologies and in both low‐ and high‐frequency range. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:109–116, 2014.     

Ceramic Microtubes from Preceramic Polymers

A novel process for the production of ceramic microtubes involving the microextrusion of preceramic polymers was studied. Microtubes with a wide range of inner and outer diameters and several centimeters long were produced from two silicone resins. A coextrusion approach was also used to extend the forming capability of the technique. The addition of carbon black resulted in electrically conductive silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) ceramic microtubes. SiOC microtubes possessed a high bending strength, ranging from ∼30–1100 MPa.     

Traffic analysis of peer-to-peer IPTV communities

The Internet is currently experiencing one of the most important challenges in terms of content distribution since its first uses as a medium for content delivery: users from passive downloaders and browsers are moving towards content producers and publishers. They often distribute and retrieve multimedia contents establishing network communities. This is the case of peer-to-peer IPTV communities.In this work we present a detailed study of P2P IPTV traffic, providing useful insights on both transport- and packet-level properties as well as on the behavior of the peers inside the network. In particular, we provide novel results on the (i) ports and protocols used; (ii) differences between signaling and video traffic; (iii) behavior of the traffic at different time scales; (iv) differences between TCP and UDP traffic; (v) traffic generated and received by peers; (vi) peers neighborhood and session duration. The knowledge gained thanks to this analysis is useful for several tasks, e.g. traffic identification, understanding the performance of different P2P IPTV technologies and the impact of such traffic on network nodes and links, and building more realistic models for simulations.¹     

Fibroblast protein profile analysis highlights the role of oxidative stress and vitamin K recycling in the pathogenesis of pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a genetic disorder associated to mutations in the ABCC6 gene; however, the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to elastic fibre calcifications and to clinical manifestations are still unknown. Dermal fibroblasts, directly involved in the production of the extracellular milieu, have been isolated from healthy subjects and from patients affected by PXE, cultured in vitro and characterized for their ability to produce reactive oxygen species, for structural and functional properties of their cell membranes, for changes in their protein profile. Data demonstrate that oxidative stress has profound and endurable consequences on PXE fibroblast phenotype being responsible for: reduced levels of global DNA methylation, increased amount of carbonylated proteins and of lipid peroxidation products, altered structural properties of cell membranes, modified protein expression. Data shed new light on the pathogenetic pathways in PXE, by identifying a network of proteins affecting elastic fibre calcification through inefficient vitamin K recycling, and highlight the role of differentially expressed proteins as targets for validating the efficacy of future therapeutic strategies aiming to delay and/or revert the pathologic phenotype of PXE fibroblasts. Moreover, data open new perspectives for investigating PXE-like phenotypes in the absence of ABCC6 mutations.     

Novel poly(etheraroyl-co-terephthal) hydrazides with liquid crystalline behaviour

Novel poly(etheraroyl-co-terephthal)hydrazides with liquid crystalline (LC) behaviour, synthesized by solution polycondensation followed by non-solvent coagulation in water, have been characterized by means of Fourier Transform infrared (FT-i.r.), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) techniques. DSC thermograms and WAXS intensity profiles of as polymerized and coagulated homo- and copolymers are strongly dependent upon the molecular structure and constitution of the polymers: the poly(etheraroyl-hydrazide) homopolymer shows an LC behaviour and such a characteristic is maintained in copolymers with low content of terephthaloyldichloride comonomer, while a further increase in comonomer content attenuates this LC attitude. Annealing treatments on as polymerized and coagulated copolymers are able to transform the LC phase metastable at room temperature into crystalline and/or amorphous phases.     

Black‐box position and attitude tracking for underwater vehicles by second‐order sliding‐mode technique

In this work we address the tracking control problems for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The proposed solution is based on the variable structure systems (VSS) theory and, in particular, on the second‐order sliding‐mode (2‐SM) methodology. The tuning of the controller is carried out via black‐box approach, dispensing with the knowledge of the actual AUV parameters, by simply progressively increasing a single gain parameter. The presented stability analysis includes explicitly the unmodelled actuator dynamics and the presence of external uncertain disturbances. The good performance of the proposed scheme is verified by means of simulations on a 6‐DOF AUV. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding user requirements and preferences for a digital library Web portal

This article reports the findings of a user study conducted in the context of the TELplus project to gain insights about user needs and preferences for the digital library services offered by The European Library Web portal. The user requirements collection for the Web portal was designed by adopting a comprehensive survey approach. This combined explicit user feedback with implicit usage data so as to provide a more in-depth analysis of user experience with the portal. The analysis conducted shed light on likely motivations for both participant usage and reluctance to use the services provided, leading to more informed decisions on how to refine, improve, and present Web portal services to their future users. The lessons learnt from this case study also contributed to the development of an integrated methodological framework which provided insights for the future design and evaluation of digital library Web portals and services.     

A Survey of Airworthiness and Certification for UAS

The Italian SMAT project is a civilian program supported by Piemonte Region developed for the territorial monitoring and surveillance and for the prevention of natural hazards. In a different way from the previous surveillance programs, the SMAT project is based on the use of several unmanned platforms that are able to cooperate through ground coordination and control station. The flight in non-segregated airspace, needed in order to accomplish the territorial monitoring mission, is a main issue to be investigated and defined, because of the current lack of a common consensus and agreement on the regulations of UAS. The present work outlines the international initiatives that deal with the development of the regulatory framework on airworthiness and certification of UAS and their potential impact on the SMAT project.