Gamma-irradiation-induced Ag/SiO2 composite films and their optical absorption properties

Small Ag particles or clusters dispersed mesoporous SiO₂ composite films were prepared by a new method: First the matrix SiO₂ films were prepared by sol-gel process combined with the dip-coating technique, then they were soaked in AgNO₃ solutions followed by irradiation of γ-ray at room temperature and in ambient pressure. The structures of these films were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), and optical absorption spectroscopy. It has been shown that the Ag particles grown within the porous SiO₂ films are very small, and they are isolated and dispersed from each other with very narrow size distributions. With increasing the soaking concentration and an additional annealing, an opposite peakshift effect of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was observed in the optical absorption measurements.     

Low Temperature Physics at the Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Pulsés in Toulouse

An overview over past and present activities and future developments at the Toulouse pulsed magnetic field facility is given, both as far as technical developments of the infrastructure, as well as low temperature physics performed at the LNCMP are concerned.     

Joint scheduling and power control supporting multicasting in wireless ad hoc networks

This paper addresses the problem of power control in a multihop wireless network supporting multicast traffic. We face the problem of forwarding packet traffic to multicast group members while meeting constraints on the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the intended receivers. First, we present a distributed algorithm which, given the set of multicast senders and their corresponding receivers, provides an optimal solution when it exists, which minimizes the total transmit power. When no optimal solution can be found for the given set of multicast senders and receivers, we introduce a distributed, joint scheduling and power control algorithm which eliminates the weak connections and tries to maximize the number of successful multicast transmissions. The algorithm allows the other senders to solve the power control problem and minimize the total transmit power. We show that our distributed algorithm converges to the optimal solution when it exists, and performs close to centralized, heuristic algorithms that have been proposed to address the joint scheduling and power control problem.     

Modification of ASM3 for the determination of biomass adsorption/storage capacity in bulking sludge control.

The selector activated sludge (SAS) systems are known to prevent excessive growth of filamentous microorganisms responsible for bulking sludge, but these systems were hardly ever modelled. This study aimed to develop a model capable of predicting rapid substrate removal in the SAS systems. For this purpose, the Activated Sludge Model No. 3 (ASM3) was extended with three processes (adsorption, direct growth on the adsorbed substrate under aerobic or anoxic conditions). The modified ASM3 was tested against the results of batch experiments with the biomass originating from two full-scale SAS systems in Germany. The endogenous biomass was mixed with various readily biodegradable substrates (acetate, peptone, glucose and wastewater) and the utilisation of substrate (expresses as COD) and oxygen uptake rates (OURs) were measured during the experiments. In general, model predictions fitted to the experimental data, but a considerable number of kinetic (5) and stoichiometric (2) parameters needed to be adjusted during model calibration. The simulation results revealed that storage was generally a dominating process compared to direct growth in terms of the adsorbed substrate utilisation. The contribution of storage ranged from 65-71% (Plant A) and 69-92% (Plant B).     

An Acoustic Converter Used to Measure Ionizing Radiation Energy Loss

A monitor is proposed based on ultrasonic production when ionizing radiation passes through a medium. The recording element is a 0.2 mm aluminum plate mounted in a ceramic acoustic converter AC in the form of a wedge of thickness 2 mm. The low plate thickness minimizes the beam parameter distortion, while special technology used in the AC provides high sensitivity. The device has been calibrated in the proton beam from the ITEP accelerator at 200 MeV with 2·10⁹–6·10¹⁰ particles in a pulse and a pulse length of 70 nsec.     

Analogue switch for very low-voltage applications

A new analogue switch suitable for operation at very low-voltage supply in a standard CMOS technology is presented. The proposed switch is based on 'quasi-floating-gate' transistors and has a simple and compact structure. For illustrative purposes, two sample-and-hold circuits operating from a single supply voltage close to the threshold voltage of a transistor, and using the proposed technique, are presented. Experimental results obtained from prototypes in a 1.5 /spl mu/m CMOS technology are provided.     

Development of a Continuous Segmented Flow Tubular Reactor and the “Scale‐out” Concept – In Search of Perfect Powders

The synthesis of powders with controlled shape and narrow particle size distributions is still a major challenge for many industries. A continuous Segmented Flow Tubular Reactor (SFTR) has been developed to overcome homogeneity and scale‐up problems encountered when using batch reactors. Supersaturation is created by mixing the co‐reactants in a micromixer inducing precipitation; the suspension is then segmented into identical micro‐volumes by a non‐miscible fluid and sent through a tube. These micro‐volumes are more homogeneous when compared to large batch reactors leading to narrower size distributions, better particle morphology, polymorph selectivity and stoichiometry. All these features have been demonstrated on single tube SFTR for different chemical systems. To increase productivity for commercial application the SFTR is being “scaled‐out” by multiplying the number of tubes running in parallel instead of scaling‐up by increasing their size. The versatility of the multi‐tube unit will allow changes in type of precipitate with a minimum of new investment as new chemistry can be researched, developed and optimised in a single tube SFTR and then transferred to the multi‐tube unit for powder production.