Influence of the gasket materials on the clamping pressure distribution in a PEM water electrolyzer: Bolt torques and operation mode in pre-conditioning

To keep optimally connected, all electrolysis cell elements is one of the most important design criteria. The optimal distribution of the clamping points is crucial to increasing cell performance. In this work, the compression pressure distribution inside of a 25 cm² PEM electrolysis cell was evaluated, using different materials: Teflon®, Viton®, ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM), and nitrile rubber. Sealing material evaluation was performed taking as performance indicators: total compressed area (%) and compression pressure, for different torques applied. Pressure distribution was obtained by using pressure-sensitive films, analyzing the distribution of pressure points from three-dimensional plots (3D), and quantifying intensities of the images obtained. Results showed that pressure points distribution depends on the stiffness and thickness of the gasket materials. For a tightening torque of 3.70 N m, a pressure of 2.23 MPa is obtained with 85% of the membrane area compressed using nitrile rubber-EPDM gaskets.     

Mesomorphic form of isotactic polypropylene in stereodefective polypropylene: Solid mesophase or liquid-crystal like structure

A study of the crystallization of the mesomorphic form of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in samples of different stereoregularity prepared with metallocene catalysts is presented. Contrary to what claimed in the literature, we have found that the mesomorphic form can be obtained by quenching of the melt at 0 °C also in the case of low stereoregular samples, provided that the samples are kept at 0 °C for long time. The key is the formation of mesomorphic bundles with chains in ordered 3/1 helical conformation of size large enough to be stable and inhibit the crystallization of the α form at room temperature. For stereoirregular samples the concentration of long ordered helical stretches is low and this requires long residence time at 0 °C for the formation of mesomorphic aggregates of size larger than the critical size. This result provides evidence that the mesomorphic aggregates are not formed as a result of a cooperative process driven by entropy, as in the case of liquid crystals, but rather they form via a nucleation and growth mechanism, as in the normal crystallization processes, according to the idea that the mesophase of iPP is a highly defective crystalline form.     

Public Service Broadcasting's Participation in the Reconfiguration of Online News Content1

This article analyses public service broadcasting in Europe, looking at public broadcasters' role as promoters of participative processes. Computer‐mediated communication and studies rooted in mediated human interactivity are used to explore participative elements provided by digital technology, and how these can be incorporated into the news websites, through an empirical study of 5 case studies in the European market. The analysis is based on the methodology of content analysis with the goal of outlining the particularities of the participative elements implemented by each broadcaster and revealing the most common participative strategies. The findings suggest that although public service broadcasters offer a wide variety of possibilities, encouraging audiences to take on more active roles, their role is still peripheral and complementary.     

Effect of Combined Natural Antimicrobials on Spoilage Microorganisms and Listeria Innocua in a Whey Cheese “Ricotta”

The effect of nisin alone and in combination with Microgard? on the natural microbial flora of ricotta cheese and in post-process contamination with Listeria innocua was studied. Microbial groups studied were mesophilic, psychrotrophic, proteolytic, lactic acid and coliform bacteria, and total molds and yeasts. Considering the evolution of all microbial groups and failure criteria adopted for mesophilic and coliform bacteria, this product reached the end of its shelf life before 5 days, which is insufficient time for product commercialization. The combined use of nisin and Microgard? proved to be more effective than the individual application on these microbial groups, resulting in a 13 days shelf life extension. Additionally, the combined treatment reduced the growth of L. innocua as a post-process contamination.     

Analysis of coding risks in progressive transmission

In progressive image transmission, there exist some risks which may appear during the processing. A first class of risks is the diminishing coding performance when the occurrence of insignificant coefficients at each transmission time is a small-probability event. It may be a catastrophic transmission risk which can lead to major and irreversible bit losses. In a second class of risks, the performance of the transmission technique diminishes though the occurrence of insignificant sample is still a large-probability event.This paper shows a “Test of Transmission Risks” which can be used to analyze, for a given image, the performance of the state of the art in progressive transmission from the viewpoint of the catastrophic transmission risks. To this aim we make use of a decision making tool based on axioms requiring sensitivity to coding situations where the occurrence of insignificant sample at the transmission time may be either a small-probability or a large-probability event.     

An Analysis of Public Clouds Elasticity in the Execution of Scientific Applications: a Survey

Elasticity can be seen as the ability of a system to increase or decrease the computing resources allocated in a dynamic and on demand way. It is an important feature provided by cloud computing, that has been widely used in web applications and is also gaining attention in the scientific community. Considering the possibilities of using elasticity in this context, a question arises: “Are the available public cloud solutions suitable to provide elasticity to scientific applications?” To answer the question, in a first moment we present a survey on the use of cloud computing in scientific scenarios, providing an overview of the subject. Next, we describe the elasticity mechanisms offered by major public cloud providers and analyzes the limitations of the solutions in providing elasticity for scientific applications. As the main contribution of the article, we also present an analysis over some initiatives that are being developed to overcome the current challenges. In our opinion, current computational clouds are developing rapidly but have not yet reached the necessary maturity level to meet all scientific applications elasticity requirements. We expect that in the coming years the efforts being taken by numerous researchers in this area identify and address these challenges and lead to better and more mature technologies that will improve cloud computing practices.