Effect of the preparation method on the surface coverage of Mo/Al2O3 catalysts

Two series of Mo/Al₂O₃ catalysts were prepared by equilibrium adsorption and incipient wetness impregnation methods. The effect of preparation method on the surface coverages of the calcined catalysts was investigated by the combined use of CO₂ chemisorption, low temperature CO adsorption and ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS). For a given Mo loading, the CO₂ and CO adsorption results showed little difference between the two preparation methods. As previously noted, the CO₂ chemisorption method overestimated the Mo surface coverage. In contrast to the adsorption methods, the ISS technique gave different Mo surface coverage values for a given Mo content of the two series of catalysts. This apparent discrepancy was attributed to different repartition of the Mo phase between the internal and external surfaces which can only be detected by ISS. This interpretation is supported by the observed agreement between the coverage values measured from ISS and low temperature CO adsorption for presumably uniform catalysts obtained by the equilibrium adsorption method.     

Interchain ion formation in secondary ion mass spectrometry resulting from the double-helical structure of isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) in adsorbed monolayers

Results from time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectra (TOF-SIMS) of Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers of various isomers (isotactic and syndiotactic) of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) are reported. A detailed analysis of the repeating pattern of fragment ion clusters yields very different patterns for isotactic PMMA LB layers than for the syndiotactic and atactic forms. This is attributed to the resulting double-helical tertiary structure of isotactic PMMA, a structure that does not form for the syndiotactic and atactic PMMA polymer monolayers. The double-helical structure of isotactic PMMA monolayers is verified using reflection absorption Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The repeating patterns of cluster ions in syndiotactic and atactic PMMA monolayers can be explained using statistical chain-breaking models for fragmentation of single isolated polymer chains. The repeating ion patterns from the TOF-SIMS of the isotactic PMMA monolayers are analyzed by considering bond breaking and ion formation between adjacent polymer chains, resulting in a newly proposed ion formation model due to the tertiary structure of the double-helical form. A rearrangement mechanism consistent with all ions that are formed is proposed.     

Application of Visual Basic for Automation of LC-MS Analysis

An approach to customizing the data acquisition and interpretation process of liquid chromatography electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis of compound libraries is presented. Macro programs, using Microsoft Visual Basic, were applied to allow the seamless flow of data from the sample synthesis stage through data acquisition/interpretation and reporting, with minimum user interaction. Logical functions were also incorporated into the macros to allow automated actions to be performed based on experimental results. The application of this approach as a universal method for supplementing the automation process of other instruments controlled by the Microsoft Windows PC platform is also discussed.     

The production of naturally fermented fish silage using various lactobacilli and different carbohydrate sources

The suitability for fish silage-making of eight different Lactobacillus cultures was investigated. The industrial by-products whey powder and molasses, as well as refined sugar, were tested as fermentation substrates. Using the information obtained two batches of fish silage were made at local white fish processing plants on a semi-commercial basis and subsequently successfully used on local cattle and pig farms.     

Identification of biomarkers of whole Coxiella burnetii phase I by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) specific biomarkers have been shown to be an effective tool for identifying microorganisms. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of using this technique to detect the obligate intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii, a category B bioterrorism agent. Specific biomarkers were detected in C. burnetii Nine Mile phase I (NMI) strain purified from embryonated egg yolk sac preparations. Whole organisms were applied directly to the MALDI target. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of C. burnetii NMI grown and purified at different times and places revealed a group of unique, characteristic, and reproducible spectral markers in the mass range of 1000-25000 Da. Statistical analysis of the averaged centroided masses uncovered at least 24 peptides or biomarkers. Three biomarkers observed in the MALDI-TOF MS spectrum consistently matched proteins that had been previously described in C. burnetii, one of them being the small cell variant protein A. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of whole organisms represents a sensitive and specific option for characterizing C. burnetii isolates, especially when coupled with antigen capture techniques. The method also has potential for several applications in basic microbial research, including regulation of gene expression.     

A Flexible,High-Performance FPGA Implementation of a Feed-Forward Equalizer for Optical Interconnects up to 112 Gb/s

Commodity optoelectronic components and multi-level modulation formats are combined nowadays in optical networks to increase their throughput while decreasing their cost. To overcome the inherent limitations of such interconnects, research focuses on digital equalizers that compensate for the effects of the developed channels. The current paper proposes the use of FPGAs to enhance the speed, power and flexibility of digital equalization for the next generation 100 Gb/s rack-to-rack optical links in datacenters. We present the high-performance hardware architecture of a flexible feed-forward equalizer (FFE) with multiple reconfigurations. We describe parallelization techniques to accelerate FFE, accuracy analysis for various FFE scenarios, as well as a design space exploration leading to a fine-tuned and platform-dependent FFE customization. Our final implementation on a single Xilinx XC7VH580T FPGA device with GTZ transceivers can support a single link of up to 112 Gbps (56 GSa/s with PAM-4 modulation) and 2.26?10^?6 Bit-Error-Rate.     

Absolute surface coverage of tungsten-alumina catalysts

Absolute surface coverages (θ) of a series of tungsten-alumina catalysts prepared by the equilibrium adsorption method were determined by ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS) and low-temperature CO adsorption. The θ_CO values for the W catalysts were very similar to those obtained with the ISS method, for a given W loading. A linear increase in W coverage with increasing W loading, reaching ~55% coverage for the 13.1% W solid, was observed. The calculated W cross-sections (22.0- 24.5Ų/W) were in agreement with other reports in the literature. Due to the inherent limitations of each method, the combined use of ISS and low-temperature CO adsorption is recommended for estimating absolute surface coverages in tungsten-alumina catalysts.     

On the overtraining phenomenon of backpropagation neural networks

A very important subject for the consolidation of neural networks is the study of their capabilities. In this paper, the relationships between network size, training set size and generalization capabilities are examined. The phenomenon of overtraining in backpropagation networks is discussed and an extension to an existing algorithm is described. The extended algorithm provides a new energy function and its advantages, such as improved plasticity and performance along with its dynamic properties, are explained. The algorithm is applied to some common problems (XOR, numeric character recognition and function approximation) and simulation results are presented and discussed.