Safety Devices Based on Smart Alloys

Journal of Machinery Manufacture and Reliability - A device based on smart alloys has been designed for use in machine building items, in particular, in nuclear engineering, for preventing...     

Unsupervised Segmentation of Stereoscopic Video Objects: Constrained Segmentation Fusion Versus Greedy Active Contours

In this paper, we present a novel memory access reduction scheme (MARS) for two-dimension fast cosine transform (2-D FCT). It targets programmable DSPs with high memory-access latency. It reduces the number of memory accesses by: 1) reducing the number of weighting factors and 2) combining butterflies in vector-radix 2-D FCT pruning diagram from two stages to one stage with an efficient structure. Hardware platform based on general purpose processor is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method for vector-radix 2-D FCT pruning implementation. Experimental results validate the benefits of the proposed method with reduced memory access, less clock cycle and fewer memory space compared with the conventional implementation.     

Uncertainties in the determination of pyrrolizidine alkaloid levels in naturally contaminated honeys and comparison of results obtained by different analytical approaches

The contamination of honey with hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) is a well-known hazard for food safety. While management strategies and controls of the honey industry aim to reduce the PA levels, uncertainties remain with regard to the safety of regionally produced and marketed honey. In addition, a previous study showed large differences of results obtained after various periods of storage and apparent differences between the analytical results of different laboratories. Therefore, this study aimed at examining these uncertainties by monitoring the impact of storage on the PA and PA N-oxide (PANO) content of two freshly harvested honeys and on possible demixing effects caused by pollen settling. Additionally, three analytical approaches – target analysis with matrix-matched calibration or standard addition and a sum parameter method – were applied for a comparative analysis of 20 honeys harvested in summer 2016. All samples originated from Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany where the PA plant Jacobaea vulgaris is currently observed on a massive scale. The results of the time series analyses showed that PANO levels markedly decreased within a few weeks and practically reached the LOD 16 weeks after harvest. Tertiary PAs, by contrast, remained stable and did not increase as a consequence of PANO decrease. The experiments on a putative demixing, which may result in a heterogeneous distribution of PAs/PANOs, revealed that there was no such effect during storage of up to 12 weeks. A comparison of the PA/PANO levels obtained by different analytical approaches showed that in some cases the sum parameter method yielded much higher levels than the target approaches, whereas in other cases, the target analysis with standard addition found higher levels than the other two methods. In summary, the results of this study highlight uncertainties regarding the validity and comparability of analytical results and consequently regarding health risk assessment.     

Valorisation of potato wastes

Potato processing industry has a high degree of discarding, which currently has low added value being used primarily for animal feed. However, potato wastes offer a broad range of interesting components such as antioxidants, starch, protein or fibre with potential applications in the food and non-food industries. The recovery of these high valuable fractions using efficient multistage and multiproduct processes could be of great interest. This short review provides a general overview on the integral valorisation of potato wastes, offering an updated vision of the main residual parts generated during potato harvesting and processing, the high valuable obtained components focusing on the bioactive ones and the potential of the emerging extraction techniques over conventional ones. In addition, innovative applications are discussed to highlight the scientific and applied interest of these underutilised and undervalued fractions and to emphasise the integral valorisation of raw materials.     

Synthesis and Properties of Azo Compounds Based on Nitroaniline Derivatives of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene and 1,3,5-Trinitrobenzene

Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering - New research results, as well as those published earlier by the authors, on the synthesis of azo compounds based on nitroanilines obtained by the...     

Categorical observers for metamerism

A method is proposed to generate categorical colour observer functions (individual colour matching functions) for any field size based on the CIE 2006 system of physiological observer functions. The method combines proposed categorical observer techniques of Sarkar et al with a physiologically-based individual observer model of Asano et al and a clustering technique to produce the optimal set of categorical observers. The number of required categorical observers varies depending on an application with as many as 50 required to predict individual observers' matches when a laser projector is viewed. However, 10 categorical observers are sufficient to represent colour-normal populations for personalized colour imaging. The proposed and recommended categorical observers represent a robust and inclusive technique to examine and quantify observer metamerism in any application of colorimetry.     

Development of a new ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) with Cd2+ ions based on divinylbenzene copolymers containing amidoxime groups

Polymer Bulletin - In this study, we synthesized a new ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) based on introduction of amidoxime groups in acrylonitrile, complexation with Cd2+ ions and polymerization with...     

聚乙二醇-三聚氰胺甲醛和聚乙烯醇半互穿网络的构建及表征

为提高三聚氰胺甲醛(MF)树脂制品的柔韧性,以聚乙二醇接枝三聚氰胺(M-PEG)替代部分三聚氰胺,并与甲醛、聚乙烯醇(PVA)在碱性条件下合成了聚乙二醇-三聚氰胺甲醛(PEG-MF)与PVA的半互穿聚合物网络体系(SemiIPN)。采用红外光谱、拉曼光谱、热重分析、差示扫描量热法等手段对Semi-IPN的微观结构进行了剖析,并分析了PEG、PVA等柔性链段对Semi-IPN黏度、游离甲醛含量、柔韧性等性能的影响。结果表明,PVA作为线型结构贯穿于聚乙二醇-三聚氰胺甲醛树脂交联网络体系结构中,形成了半互穿网络结构;所形成的Semi-IPN的热分解温度比MF树脂降低了60℃左右;Semi-IPN的韧性比纯MF树脂提高了800%,最高可达到19.700kJ/m2。     

Novel Bi-Doped Amorphous SnOx Nanoshells for Efficient Electrochemical CO2 Reduction into Formate at Low Overpotentials

Engineering novel Sn-based bimetallic materials could provide intriguing catalytic properties to boost the electrochemical CO₂ reduction. Herein, the first synthesis of homogeneous Sn_1−xBi_x alloy nanoparticles (x up to 0.20) with native Bi-doped amorphous SnO_x shells for efficient CO₂ reduction is reported. The Bi-SnO_x nanoshells boost the production of formate with high Faradaic efficiencies (>90%) over a wide potential window (−0.67 to −0.92 V vs RHE) with low overpotentials, outperforming current tin oxide catalysts. The state-of-the-art Bi-SnO_x nanoshells derived from Sn_0.80Bi_0.20 alloy nanoparticles exhibit a great partial current density of 74.6 mA cm⁻² and high Faradaic efficiency of 95.8%. The detailed electrocatalytic analyses and corresponding density functional theory calculations simultaneously reveal that the incorporation of Bi atoms into Sn species facilitates formate production by suppressing the formation of H₂ and CO.