法国蒙彼利埃Georges-Freche酒店管理学校

Georges-Freche学校建在蒙彼利埃东侧玛丽安港区3.95英亩(1.66hm2)的用地上,它改变了当地的景观,并赋予这一区域新的特色。建筑是水平延展的,多变的形式、紧凑的体量、雕塑般的形态存在于同一个实体上,独特的空间贯穿建筑内外。学校的功能空间主要包括两栋主楼(由穿过种植树木的中央庭院的天桥相连)、学生宿舍75张床位布置在3层楼内)、管理人员住房(10间公寓布置在5层楼内)、健身房、跑道及户外运     

PVC membrane and coated graphite potentiometric sensors based on Et4todit for selective determination of samarium(III)

Solution studies on the binding properties of 4,5,6,7-tetrathiocino[1,2-b:3,4-b']diimidazolyl-1,3,8,10-tetraethyl-2,9-dithione (Et(4)todit) toward a number of cationic species including some lanthanide ions revealed the occurrence of a selective 1:1 complexation of the ligand with Sm(3+) ion. Consequently, Et(4)todit was used as a suitable neutral ionophore for the preparation of novel polymeric membrane (PME) and coated graphite (CGE) Sm(3+)-selective electrodes. The electrodes exhibit a Nernstian behavior for Sm(3+) ions over wide concentration ranges (1.0 x 10(-5)-1.0 x 10(-1) M for PME and 1.0 x 10(-7)-1.0 x 10(-1) M for CGE) and very low limits of detection (8.0 x 10(-6) M for PME and 1.6 x 10(-8) M for CGE). The proposed potentiometric sensors manifest advantages of relatively fast response, and, most importantly, good selectivities relative to wide variety of other cations, including other lanthanide ions. The selectivity behavior of the proposed Sm(3+)-selective electrodes revealed a great improvement compared to the best previously reported electrode for samarium(III) ion. The potentiometric responses of the electrodes are independent of the pH of the test solution in the pH range 4.0-6.5. The electrodes were successfully applied to the recovery of Sm(3+) ion from tap water samples and also, as an indicator electrode, in potentiometric titration of samarium(III) ions.     

L-lanthionine oxidation by snake venom L-amino acid oxidase

L-Lanthionine is oxidized by snake venom L-amino acid oxidase with the release of one mole of ammonia per mole of lanthionine. Spectrophotometric, chromatographic, and analytical properties are all consistent with the identification of the mono-keto derivative of lanthionine as the first enzymatic product of the reaction. This then cyclizes into a dihydrothiazine dicarboxylic acid which is further subject to spontaneous changes. Authentic samples of the thiazine derivative have been prepared by interacting L-cysteine with bromopyruvic acid. The properties of the synthetic product are described and compared with those exhibited by the enzymatic product.     

Peak Response of a Nonlinear Beam

A model for estimating the peak dynamic response distribution of a nonlinear beam, based on a special class of non-Gaussian stochastic processes, is proposed in this paper. It is shown that the stochastic response of a cantilever beam with geometrically nonlinear behavior can be accurately calibrated with translation processes. Different models to describe the significant bimodal features in the marginal probability density functions of the response time histories are proposed. Finally, two of these models are used to estimate the response peak value distributions and the results are compared. This comparison demonstrates the effects of inaccurate models for the parent response processes on the peaks estimation.     

A transformed gamma process for bounded degradation phenomena

Most of the stochastic models adopted to describe the evolution over time of degradation phenomena of technological units assume that their degradation level can increase indeterminately. However, these degradation phenomena are typically subjected to obvious bounds, if only because technological units have finite size. In fact, very often, this inconsistency does not significantly affect the effectiveness of unbounded degradation models, since degrading units are usually assumed to fail when their degradation level exceeds a failure threshold that is much smaller than the obvious bounds. Nevertheless, in some cases, due to the very nature of the underlying degradation mechanism, less obvious bounds could exist, which are not necessarily far from the failure thresholds. The question that arises is whether the use of a bounded degradation model, in this latter type of experimental situations, could be beneficial. For this purpose, since a bounded degradation process should necessarily have dependent increments, in this paper we investigate the potential of a new bounded transformed gamma (TG) process to adequately describe bounded degradation phenomena and predict their future evolution. Differently from other existing gamma process based bounded degradation models, here the upper bound is treated as an unknown parameter that has to be estimated from the available degradation data. A numerical example is presented where the parameters of the proposed model are estimated from simulated data. Then the model is applied to a set of wear measures of cylinder liners that equip a diesel engine for marine propulsion, which have also stimulated this study. Model parameters are estimated by using the maximum likelihood (ML) method. The fitting ability of the proposed new bounded process is compared to that of an unbounded gamma process, which was previously adopted to analyze the same liner wear data. Obtained results are critically discussed in the paper.     

Print base decorative paper with high-dimensional stability by chemical fiber modification: An experimental and analytical approach

The main structural component of wood fibers is cellulose, which, being highly hydrophilic, interacts with water. Cellulose-based paper has, therefore, the same affinity with water. However, for most products such as decorative paper, this is more of a disadvantage, where water uptake both as liquid and from humid air not only weakens the paper by breaking hydrogen bonds but also alters its dimension and stability over time. The dimensional stability (ability of the paper to retain the size as its moisture content changes) is a critical parameter when the paper is submitted to printing, copying, and converting operations. Humidity can cause sheet wrinkling or warping, thus compromising the processability and the results achievable. The modification of fibers with chemical additives can be a way to improve the performance of paper against water and water vapor uptake. For this reason, several tests of horizontal diffusion of solvents were carried out to evaluate the change in uptake of as-is paper and of papers modified by several different chemical treatments. Solvent uptake tests were performed to assess the interaction of chemically treated and untreated papers with water, dichloromethane, and ethanol. Diffusion mechanisms of the solvents flow within the fiber networks and their movement through the porous solids were analyzed. The chemical treatments of the fiber with silane, siloxane, and polyelectrolyte multilayer were found to considerably influence both solvent contact angles and absorption times of the papers, thus affecting the rate of solvent (more interestingly, of the water) diffusion into the fiber wall. By comparing all the treated and untreated samples, the contact angles with the solvents decreased by performing siloxane, oligo-siloxane, and silane treatments. More specifically, the diffusivity rates of water decreased because of the disappearance of a fraction of the hydrophilic sites and the onset of higher crystallinity regions on the paper sheets.     

High-Performance Heterocyclic Friction Modifiers for Boundary Lubrication

The demand for increased energy efficiency continuously drives the development of new lubricants. Here we report the design and synthesis of hexahydrotriazine, triazine, and cyclen derivatives as friction modifiers (FMs) for enhanced fuel economy. This series of sulfur- and phosphorus-free oil-soluble heterocyclic ring-based molecules exhibits differing thermal and chemical stability depending on the degree of aromatization and number of linking spacers within the central heterocyclic ring. Thermally stable triazine and cyclen FMs significantly increase friction performance in the boundary lubrication regime. Cyclens in particular reduce friction by up to 70% over a wide temperature range. Detailed experimental investigations of the newly synthesized FMs at elevated temperatures demonstrate their favorable tribological performance under four operating conditions: variable-temperature sliding, linear speed ramping, reciprocating sliding, and rolling–sliding contact. These latest experimental findings suggest the potential of the application of “designer” heterocyclic FMs for reducing frictional loss in motor vehicles.     

Respirometric method for kinetic modeling of ammonium-oxidizing and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in a membrane bioreactor

A respirometric method for the kinetic modeling of ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was implemented in two membrane bioreactor (MBR_A and MBR_B) systems. These biological systems worked at mixed liquor suspended solids concentration of about 6.6 g L⁻¹. MBR_A worked at 6 hr of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and 20.7°C, while the operational conditions for MBR_B were 9.5 hr of HRT and 14.7°C. Experimental data were fitted to the kinetic model with R² values of .9320 and .9250 for MBR_A and MBR_B, respectively. Both systems showed similar performances regarding organic matter and nitrogen removal. However, MBR_B showed highest rates of carbon source degradation and net heterotrophic bacteria growth, and MBR_A had highest rates of nitrogen source degradation and net autotrophic bacteria growth. This last system was characterized by values for Y_AOB, Y_NOB, μ_m,AOB and μ_m,NOB of 1.1749 mgVSS mgN⁻¹, 0.6473 mgVSS mgN⁻¹, 0.3664 hr⁻¹ and 0.1823 hr⁻¹, respectively.     

Social capital and immigrants' labour market performance

This paper analyses the role of social capital on immigrants' labour market outcomes. We use principal component analysis (PCA) to build an index of social networks and explore its impact on the probability of getting a job and on wage levels using the Households Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) longitudinal survey data (2002–2010). We find a positive effect of social capital on migrants' employment outcomes and wages, especially for women. Distinguishing employment into blue and white‐collar jobs, we find that social capital only affects the probability of getting a white‐collar job. These results suggest that promoting opportunities to create social capital has a beneficial effect on migrants' integration in the host country.