Some recent developments in the isolation and synthesis of lipids

The isolation of certain lipids in pure form from complex natural mixtures, and improved procedures for the synthesis of fatty acids and their esters, of synthetic intermediates, of alkoxylipids, and of some other unusual lipids are reviewed.     

An energy condition for initiation of interfacial microcracks at inclusions

Fracture mechanics is applied to the problem of microcrack initiation on cylindrical (spherical) particles in a matrix. The numerical calculations have been performed by the finite element method.A stress criterion for the initiation of interfacial, cap shaped, microcracks is derived as function of inclusion size and bonding strength. It is found that the cracks are unstable below a minimum “cap angle”. Comparison with experiments shows reasonable quantitative agreement.     

PFVIBAT—a computer program for plane frame vibration analysis by an exact method

The described program PFVIBAT uses the exact displacement method to perform free and forced vibration analysis entirely within the differential equation theory of beams thus avoiding assumed modes and lumped masses. The frame may contain rigid bodies. Clamped, hinged, guided and rolling connections are allowed for. Consideration of rotatory inertia, shear deformation and second-order bending moments and shear forces as caused by static axial load is optional. Eigenfrequencies and modal masses are calculated with an accuracy that may be specified. Displacement and moment modes are plotted. Transient vibrations are studied.     

The order of any stabilizing regulator is sufficient a priori information for adaptive stabilization

Let the unknown linear system , be given, together with the a priori information that for a known, nonnegative integer l, there is a (nonadaptive) regulator of order l which stabilizes the system. It is shown that this suffices as a priori information for an adaptive stabilizing controller. An example of such an algorithm is given. This yields a continuous regulator, which does not utilize probing signals. It is based on a dense search through parameter space, and does not utilize high-gain properties, as opposed to the ‘universal regulators’ proposed before [3–6]. In the absence of information of such an l, it is shown how to modify the algorithm to search over the regulator structures, i.e. the controller's dimension.     

Accuracy in multiangle light scattering measurements for molar mass and radius estimations. Model calculations and experiments

Multiangle light scattering (MALS) is a well-established technique used to determine the size of macromolecules and particles. In this study, different extrapolation procedures used in MALS were investigated with regard to accuracy and robustness in the obtained molar mass and rms radius. Three different mathematical transformations of the light scattering function referred to as the Debye, Zimm, and Berry methods for constructing the Debye plot were investigated for two idealized polymer shapes, homogeneous spheres and random coils, with radii from 25 to 250 nm. The effect of the angular interval used for the extrapolation was investigated, as was the robustness of the different transformations toward errors in the measured light scattering intensity at low angles. For an rms radius less than 50 nm, the relative error in molar mass due to extrapolation was less than 1% independent of the method used. For larger radii, the error increased and the extrapolation procedure became more critical. For random coil polymers, the Berry method was superior in terms of accuracy and robustness. For spheres, the Debye method was superior. The Zimm method was inferior to the others. The different extrapolation methods were evaluated and compared on experimental data from a size exclusion chromatography-MALS analysis of an ultrahigh molar mass poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). The PEO data qualitatively verified the calculations and stressed the importance of optimizing the extrapolation procedure after careful evaluation of the experimental data. A discussion of how to detect erroneous data in an experimental Debye plot is given.     

An Extensible Meta-Model for Program Analysis

Software maintenance tools for program analysis and refactoring rely on a metamodel capturing the relevant properties of programs. However, what is considered relevant may change when the tools are extended with new analyses, refactorings, and new programming languages. This paper proposes a language independent metamodel and an architecture to construct instances thereof, which is extensible for new analyses, refactorings, and new front-ends of programming languages. Due to the loose coupling between analysis, refactoring, and front-end components, new components can be added independently and reuse existing ones. Two maintenance tools implementing the metamodel and the architecture, VIZZANALYZER and X-DEVELOP, serve as proof of concept.     

An Extensible Metamodel for Program Analysis (abstract only)

Software maintenance tools for program analysis and refactoring rely on a metamodel capturing the relevant properties of programs. However, what is considered relevant may change when the tools are extended with new analyses, refactorings, and new programming languages. This paper proposes a language independent metamodel and an architecture to construct instances thereof, which is extensible for new analyses, refactorings, and new front-ends of programming languages. Due to the loose coupling between analysis, refactoring, and front-end components, new components can be added independently and reuse existing ones. Two maintenance tools implementing the metamodel and the architecture, VlZZANALYZER and X-DEVELOP, serve as proof of concept.     

Molar volumes of Al,Li, Mg and Si

The molar volumes of the fcc, bcc, hcp and liquid phases of Al, Li, Mg and Si as well as diamond Si have been evaluated as functions of temperature based on experimental data from the literature. The molar volume of each element in each structure is described by a single polynomial expression as a function of temperature. These polynomials can be used above around 150 K. The molar volumes of the liquids were described by a linear temperature dependence. The molar volumes of nonstable structures were evaluated with the help of lattice parameter measurements of the corresponding solid solutions. A large majority of the solid solutions studied showed negative excess volumes. The molar volumes of the relatively closely packed fcc, bcc and hcp structures were always found to be very close to each other, and a reasonably good approximation would be to set them as equal.     

Developing control logic using aspect-oriented programming and sequence planning

A fundamental functionality of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is to control and execute a set of operations. But a large part of the program code is more involved in supporting the user with concerns like alarm, HMI, communication, safety and manual control. Code related to these supporting concerns is often tangled with operation execution code, the core concerns, which makes it hard to reuse.This paper describes a method to reuse code and functionality when developing PLC programs and code libraries. The method proposes that core concerns are planned with a software tool called Sequence Planner, and the supporting concerns are integrated into the core concerns with a tool based on aspect-oriented programming.     

Materials Emission of Chemicals – PVC Flooring Materials

Abstract Data of chemical emissions from flooring materials have been collected and investigated in a database known as METS. The emission tests are performed using the Field and Laboratory Emission Cell (FLEC). The emission rates of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) in the boiling point range of hexane to octa-decane varies from around 4,000 μg/(m²· h) to less than 10 μg/ (m²· h). Results obtained 1994/95 are presented and compared with the results obtained in 1992 for similar materials. The tests are performed 4 weeks and 26 weeks after the manufacturing of the material. The emission rates of TVOC decrease on the average approximately 60% from 4 to 26 weeks. The differences and trends in emission rates of individual chemicals and their use are discussed. For many VOCs emission rates decrease rapidly and become near to or below 2 μg/(m²· h) (the detection limit) after 26 weeks. For a small number of individual compounds the emission rate decrease little over 26 weeks. A small number of chemicals are singled out for particular interest in a health and comfort evaluation based on the emission results.