3D Printing for Chemical Process Laboratories I: Materials and Connection Principles

The fabrication of milliliter‐scale test structures for chemical process laboratories with a low‐cost 3D printer operating according to the principle of fused filament fabrication is evaluated. Different polymers such as polypropylene and poly(vinylidene fluoride) were used and fabrication guidelines are provided. Furthermore, reversible and irreversible concepts for connecting 3D‐printed parts to peripherals or to other additively manufactured parts are described. After fabrication, the structures were tested for gas tightness, which was limited without subsequent finishing due to the layer‐wise fabrication process. However, gas tightness up to 600 kPa was attained by using tools like sealing tape. Finally, the developed concepts were extended to permit the insertion of thermoelements or other metallic probes.     

Translation with Scarce Bilingual Resources

Machine translation of human languages is a field almost as old as computers themselves. Recent approaches to this challenging problem aim at learning translation knowledge automatically (or semi-automatically) from online text corpora, especially human-translated documents. For some language pairs, substantial translation resources exist, and these corpus-based systems can perform well. But for most language pairs, data is scarce, andcurrent techniques do not work well. To examine the gap betweenhuman and machine translators, we created an experiment in which humanbeings were asked to translate an unknown language into English on thesole basis of a very small bilingual text. Participants performed quite well,and debriefings revealed a number of valuable strategies. We discuss thesestrategies and apply some of them to a statistical translation system.     

Synthesis of polysulfone block copolymers containing polydimethylsiloxane

The synthesis of polysulfone-polydimethylsiloxane (PSU-PDMS)linear block copolymers has been carried out in solution by condensation of chloro-terminated bisphenol A, diphenylsulfone and , -di (hydrogensilyl)-polydimethylsiloxane with Si–C bond. ¹H-NMR spectra of the block copolymers allow the estimation of siloxane and polysulfone ratio. The molecular weight of the polysulfone and polysiloxane oligomers and the block copolymers was determined by GPC. Thermogravimetric analysis indicates a thermal stability of block copolymers up to 400°C and allows estimation of the process activation energy. Microphase separation of the block copolymers was observed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).     

Quantum particles on graphenic systems. Part 1. roadmap for semiconductor based graphenes

Advances in green nano-technologies is the main field under which the present paper series is firstly envisaged; therefore, advanced, research-progressive nano-science is aimed to shorten the distance from fundamental concepts to applications, devices and their implementations. It however would gather both physics and chemistry fundamental and applicative fields in dealing with solar/black body radiation as well as with new materials based on inorganic-organic hybrids, composites and electron quantum features (excitons, bondons, diffusion, electrical circuits, semiconductors, quantum dots, etc.). Such research is therefore equally highly necessary for both communities (physical engineering and chemical engineering) enlightening the dedicated international forums on quantum-dots based solar cells, as well as for giving further impetus to this new field of photovoltaics by gathering active international scientists in solar energy. The present paper offers a review on the progresses regarding the application of defective graphene and other defect-doped carbon nanostructures in the construction of solar cells devices towards introducing the semiconductor based graphenes. Competitiveness and eco-ecological aspects of such projects are also considered in a resumed scientific and innovative research.     

Learning and analysis of sensors behavior in IoT systems using statistical model checking

Software Quality Journal - Analyzing the behavior of sensors is becoming one of the key challenges due to their increasing use for decision making in IoT systems. The paper proposes an approach for...     

Encapsulation of Noble Metal Nanoparticles through Seeded Emulsion Polymerization as Highly Stable Plasmonic Systems

The implementation of plasmonic nanoparticles in vivo remains hindered by important limitations such as biocompatibility, solubility in biological fluids, and physiological stability. A general and versatile protocol is presented, based on seeded emulsion polymerization, for the controlled encapsulation of gold and silver nanoparticles. This procedure enables the encapsulation of single nanoparticles as well as nanoparticle clusters inside a protecting polymer shell. Specifically, the efficient coating of nanoparticles of both metals is demonstrated, with final dimensions ranging between 50 and 200 nm, i.e., sizes of interest for bio‐applications. Such hybrid nanocomposites display extraordinary stability in high ionic strength and oxidizing environments, along with high cellular uptake, and low cytotoxicity. Overall, the prepared nanostructures are promising candidates for plasmonic applications under biologically relevant conditions.     

Finite dimensional approximations for a class of infinite dimensional time optimal control problems

ABSTRACT

In this work, we study the numerical approximation of the solutions of a class of abstract parabolic time optimal control problems with unbounded control operator. Our main results assert that, provided that the target is a closed ball centered at the origin and of positive radius, the optimal time and the optimal controls of the approximate time optimal problems converge (in appropriate norms) to the optimal time and to the optimal controls of the original problem. In order to prove our main theorem, we provide a nonsmooth data error estimate for abstract parabolic systems.     

Model‐based design of IoT systems with the BIP component framework

The design of software for networked systems with nodes running an Internet of things operating system faces important challenges due to the heterogeneity of interacting things and the constraints stemming from the often limited amount of available resources. In this context, it is hard to build confidence that a design solution fulfills the application's requirements. This paper introduces a design flow for web service applications of the representational state transfer style that is based on a formal modeling language, the behaviour, interaction, priority (BIP) component framework. The proposed flow applies the principles of separation of concerns in a component‐based design process that supports the modular design and reuse of model artifacts. The BIP tools for state‐space exploration allow verifying qualitative properties for service responsiveness, ie, the timely handling of events. Moreover, essential quantitative properties are validated through statistical model checking of a stochastic BIP model. All properties are preserved in actual implementation by ensuring that the deployed code is consistent with the validated model. We illustrate the design of a representational state transfer sense‐compute‐control application for a Wireless Personal Area Network architecture with nodes running the Contiki operating system. The results validate qualitative and quantitative properties for the system and include the study of error behaviours.     

Quantum Oblivious Transfer: a secure practical implementation

Together with bit commitment, Oblivious Transfer is a very useful cryptographic primitive with important applications, most notably in secure multiparty computations. It has been long known that secure Quantum Oblivious Transfer can be achieved from a secure implementation of Quantum Bit Commitment. Unfortunately, it is also well known that unconditionally secure Quantum Bit Commitment is impossible, so building a secure Oblivious Transfer protocol on top of Quantum Bit Commitment is ruled out. In this paper, we propose a relatively simple quantum protocol for Oblivious Transfer which does not require qubit storage, does not rely on bit commitment as a primitive and is easily implementable with current technology, if the two actors are honest. The protocol is proven to be secure against any individual measurements and entanglement-based attacks. Any cheating attempt trying to speculate collective measurements would be considerably difficult to put in practice, even in the near future. Furthermore, the number of qubits used in our scheme (embodied as photons in a physical realization of the protocol) acts as a security parameter, making it increasingly hard to cheat.