Platinum particle size effect on the oxidative dehydrogenation of aqueous ethanol

The effect of the platinum particle size was investigated for the catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of aqueous ethanol to ethanal at a temperature of 303 K, an ethanol concentration of 260 mol m^–3, a partial oxygen pressure 60 kPa, a pH of 9, and an ethanal and ethanoate concentration of 20 mol m^–3. A particle size effect on the turnover frequency was observed but only for particle sizes smaller than 2 nm. Hence, the reaction shows a limited structure sensitivity.     

Relationship between Viscoelastic and Peeling Properties of Model Adhesives. Part 1. Cohesive Fracture

The viscoelastic and peeling properties of polybutadiene/tackifying resin compatible blends have been studied in detail. Viscoelastic properties have been described through the variations of the complex shear modulus, G*(ω), as a function of frequency, ω and peeling properties through the variations of peeling force (F) as a function of peeling rate (V).

After showing the objective character of the peeling curves obtained, the variations of the peeling force and peeling geometry have been studied as a function of volume fraction of the tackifying resin.

In this first paper, the analysis is focused on the first domain of the peeling curves, i.e. the cohesive fracture region. In this region, the peeling properties have been related to the viscoelastic properties in the terminal region of relaxation. It is shown that the longest relaxation time, τ_o, is a reducing parameter of the peeling curves, so a peeling master curve-which is independent of temperature, resin volume fraction and polymer molecular weight-may be defined. Furthermore, the variations of the test geometry as a function of peeling rate have been investigated: the variations of the radius of curvature of the aluminium foil have been analyzed with respect to the viscoelastic behavior of the adhesive, which in fact governs the test geometry.

A detailed analysis of all these features leads to a model which allows one to calculate the peeling curves in the cohesive domain from the adhesive formulation.     

Hydrogen evolution in alkaline solution on electrolytic nickel-cobalt and nickel-iron deposited with different bath compositions and current densities

Nickel-cobalt and nickel-iron electrodeposits were characterized as hydrogen electrodes in alkaline water electrolysis (6 mol/L KOH, 25°C). The nickel-based codeposits were fabricated with different bath compositions and at different current densities. The hydrogen evolution in water electrolysis on the nickel-based codeposits was apparently enhanced as compared with that on nickel. The improvement of the electrocatalytic behaviour of the hydrogen electrodes is attributed to their composition and an increase of their active surface, which are dependent on the electrodeposition conditions.     

FT²EI: A Dynamic Fault-Tolerant Routing Methodology for Fat Trees with Exclusion Intervals

Fault tolerance in the interconnection network of large clusters of PCs is an issue of growing importance, since their increasing size also increases the failure probability. The fat-tree topology is usually used in these machines since it has become very popular among high-speed interconnect manufacturers. This paper proposes a new distributed fault-tolerant routing methodology for fat trees. Unlike other previous proposals, it does not require additional network hardware, and its memory requirements, switch hardware, and routing delay scales up with the network size. Indeed, it nullifies only the strictly necessary paths, allowing adaptive routing through the healthy paths. The methodology is based on enhancing the interval routing scheme with exclusion intervals. Exclusion intervals are associated to each switch output port and represent the nodes that are unreachable from this port after a fault. We propose a methodology to identify the links where the exclusion intervals must be updated after a fault, the values to write on them, and a very efficient mechanism to distribute the required information through the network without stopping the system activity. Our methodology can tolerate a high number of network failures with a low degradation in performance. Moreover, it can achieve zero packet losing during the updating period.     

Closed Bernoulli Production Lines: Analysis, Continuous Improvement, and Leanness

In closed production lines, each part is placed on a carrier at the input of the first machine and is removed from the carrier at the output of the last machine. The first machine is starved if no carriers are available, and the last machine is blocked if the empty carrier buffer is full. The number of carriers in the system is S and the capacity of the empty carrier buffer is N ₀. Under the assumption that the machines obey the Bernoulli reliability model, this paper provides methods for determining if a pair (N ₀, S) impedes the open line performance and, if it does, develops techniques for improvement with respect to S and N ₀. In addition, bottlenecks in closed lines are discussed, and an approach to selecting the smallest N ₀ and S, which result in no impediment, is described.     

Thermal images generated by a line-scanning technique: statistical properties

The analysis of statistical parameters of computer-generated therfial images by a line-scanning technique indicates an approach to efficient image transmission.     

The biological properties of Aerococcus antagonists, representatives of human microbiocenoses

The paper deals with the data on biology of Aerococcus, a slightly studied group of microorganisms. Physiological-biochemical properties of Aerococcus are described, data of their distribution in nature are given. Peculiar attention is paid to the estimate of the role of Aerococcus in human microbiocenoses. As a result of the profound and all-round study of this group of microorganisms the authors have developed new bacterial drug "A-bakterin" based on the aerococcus strain. Data presented about the results of clinical tests of "A-bakterin" are presented, a possibility to use Aerococcus lysate in the elaboration of new drugs is discussed.     

The effect of combined antenatal vitamin K and phenobarbital therapy on umbilical blood coagulation studies in infants less than 34 weeks' gestation

OBJECTIVE: To determine if antenatal vitamin K and phenobarbital therapy affect coagulation studies in umbilical blood at birth, and to provide 95% reference ranges for umbilical blood coagulation parameters in premature gestations. METHODS: Patients at imminent risk for spontaneous or indicated premature delivery less than 34 weeks' gestation were randomized to receive either placebo or vitamin K and phenobarbital. Prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (PTT), functional coagulation factors, and decarboxylated prothrombin assays were performed on umbilical blood specimens. Decarboxylated prothrombin, also known as "protein induced by vitamin K absence-factor II" or precursor prothrombin, is a sensitive marker for vitamin K deficiency. Standardized values of PT and PTT are reported in seconds and standardized values of factor assays in percentage of normal adult functional activity (mean +/- one standard deviation). RESULTS: Newborns in the placebo and treatment groups had similar umbilical blood PT (12.6 +/- 1.2 versus 12.7 +/- 1.4 seconds), PTT (48.8 +/- 13.4 versus 49.6 +/- 13.8 seconds), and functional activity of factor II (40.3 +/- 12.5 versus 42.0 +/- 12.1%), factor VII (67.0 +/- 20.9 versus 66.8 +/- 18.9%), factor IX (27.4 +/- 12.8 versus 25.8 +/- 8.9%), and factor X (47.0 +/- 12.8 versus 49.2 +/- 11.6%). Newborns in the treatment group were about half as likely as those in the placebo group to have detectable decarboxylated prothrombin levels in umbilical blood at birth (gestational age-adjusted odds ratio 0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.22-1.01; P = .05). CONCLUSIONS: Combined maternal therapy with vitamin K and phenobarbital before premature delivery does not affect umbilical blood PT, PTT, or functional activity of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors II, VII, IX, and X. However, it is associated with the reduced presence of decarboxylated prothrombin in umbilical blood at birth. There is significant improvement in umbilical blood coagulation tests as gestational age advances from 24 to 34 weeks.