Formation mechanism of 21R AlN-polytypoids in aluminothermic reduction and nitridation process

Synthesis of 21R AlN polytypoids was investigated using Al and ultrafine SiO₂ powder in a flowing nitrogen atmosphere by means of thermal gravity (TG), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM) linked with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The results showed that the formation mechanism of AlN polytypoids was different from that in reaction sintering process using Si₃N₄, AlN, Al₂O₃ and other sintering additive as raw materials. It was suggested that firstly Al reduce SiO₂ into Si and is also nitrided into AlN, then AlN, Al₂O₃ and SiO₂ dissolve into silicon liquid until the AlN polytypoids precipitate in saturated liquid in a flowing nitrogen atmosphere at lower than 1700 °C.     

Measurement of target coordinates in three-dimensional bistatic forward-scattering radar

The maximum-likelihood technique is applied to determine the coordinates of moving targets in a three-dimensional bistatic forward-scattering radar. The potential accuracy of the coordinates’ determination is estimated. Simulation results are presented.     

Closed-form error analysis of the non-identical Nakagami-m relay fading channel

We present closed-form expressions for the average bit error probability (ABEP) of BPSK, QPSK and M-QAM of an amplify-and-forward average power scaling dual-hop relay transmission, over non-identical Nakagami-m fading channels, with integer values of m. Additionally, we evaluate in closed-form the ABEP under sufficiently large signal-to-noise ratio for the source-relay link, valid for arbitrary rn. Numerical and simulation results show the validity of the proposed mathematical analysis and point out the effect of the two hops unbalanced fading conditions on the error performance.     

Thomson scattering diagnostic systems in the ITER divertor

A diagnostic array has been developed for studying the operating modes of the divertor in the ITER tokamak-reactor using the Thomson scattering technique. The aim of this study is to measure the spatial profiles of the electron temperature and density. The structure of the diagnostic setup was selected on the basis of a classical diagnostic geometry and the high-resolution LIDAR system, which provide access to different regions of the divertor plasma. A severe radiation environment, limited access to the plasma in the ITER divertor, and a high-dust environment (the divertor plate erosion material) in the divertor volume pose many problems for performing diagnostics under unique conditions having no analogs in the tokamaks that are now in operation. Different methods for protecting optical surfaces from plasma-enriched deposition are proposed and analyzed. The efficiency of these methods has been demonstrated in bench tests. The concept of laser and detector systems and diffraction polychromators capable of operating at different electron temperatures with a lower limit of 1 eV, has been justified and approved.     

Structural and Superconducting Property Variations with Nominal Mg Non‐Stoichiometry in MgxB2 and Its Enhancement of Upper Critical Field

By applying a combination of characterisation tools, changes in structural and superconducting properties with nominal Mg non‐stoichiometry in Mg_xB₂ are found. The non‐stoichiometry produces enhanced in‐field critical current densities (J_c's) and upper critical field / irreversibility field (H_c2/H_irr(T)) values. Upper critical fields of ～ 21 T (4.2 K) were obtained in nominal Mg‐deficient samples compared to ～ 17 T (4.2 K) for near‐stoichiometric samples.     

Investigation on Single-Mode–Multimode– Single-Mode Fiber Structure

This paper presents an investigation on a single-mode-multimode-single-mode fiber structure. A one-way guided-mode propagation analysis for the circular symmetry waveguide is employed to model the light propagation and the approximated formulations are derived and evaluated concerning the accuracy. Phase conjunction of the multimode interference within the fiber structure is revealed. A simple way to predict and analyze the spectral response of the structure is presented through the space to wavelength mapping with the derived approximated formulations. The prediction of spectral response is verified numerically and experimentally.     

Simultaneous sulfide and acetate oxidation under denitrifying conditions using an inverse fluidized bed reactor

BACKGROUND: Simultaneous removal of sulfur, nitrogen and carbon compounds from wastewaters is a commercially important biological process. The objective was to evaluate the influence of the CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? molar ratio on the sulfide oxidation process using an inverse fluidized bed reactor (IFBR). RESULTS: Three molar ratios of CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? (0.85, 0.72 and 0.62) with a constant S^2?/NO₃^? molar ratio of 0.13 were evaluated. At a CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? molar ratio of 0.85, the nitrate, acetate and sulfide removal efficiencies were approximately 100%. The N₂ yield (g N₂ g^?1 NO₃^?‐N consumed) was 0.81. Acetate was mineralized, resulting in a yield of 0.65 g inorganic‐C g^?1 CH₃COO^?‐C consumed. Sulfide was partially oxidized to S⁰, and 71% of the S^2? consumed was recovered as elemental sulfur by a settler installed in the IFBR. At a CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? molar ratio of 0.72, the efficiencies of nitrate, acetate and sulfide consumption were of 100%, with N₂ and inorganic‐C yields of 0.84 and 0.69, respectively. The sulfide was recovered as sulfate instead of S⁰, with a yield of 0.92 g SO₄^2?‐S g^?1 S^2? consumed. CONCLUSIONS: The CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? molar ratio was shown to be an important parameter that can be used to control the fate of sulfide oxidation to either S⁰ or sulfate. In this study, the potential of denitrification for the simultaneous removal of organic matter, sulfide and nitrate from wastewaters was demonstrated, obtaining CO₂, S⁰ and N₂ as the major end products. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Ni/Pillared Clays as Catalysts for the Selective Catalytic Reduction of Nitrogen Oxides by Propene

Different and alternative methods for the preparation of Ni/pillared clays based on impregnation and encapsulation procedures are reported. Several nickel precursors and metal loadings are considered in order to evaluate their influence on the structural, textural and catalytic properties of the resulting solids. The behaviour of the optimum solids as catalysts has been proved in the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides with propene, and the relevance of the oxidant nature was checked by changing the composition of the oxidant mixture. Of all the factors studied, the nature of the nickel precursors appears as the most important one, owing to the formation of different active nickel species during the synthesis procedure.     

New technical facilities for equipping power industry plants with automatic control systems

The specific features of SPPA-T3000, a new instrumentation and control system intended for automation of processes in power engineering, are briefly described. Distinctive features of the system architecture, central to which is using the model of web systems, are singled out.