CO dissociation and CO+O reactions on a nanosized iron cluster

Catalysis over metal nanoparticles is essential for the growth of carbon nanotubes and all the properties of the resulting nanotube, such as diameter and chirality, are affected by the metal particle. Thus, it is very important to understand the carbon chemistry taking place on nanometer size metal particles. Here we present the first ab initio computational study of chemical reactions on a nanosized iron cluster. The clusters have reaction sites, such as edges and vertexes between the facets, Which have not been studied before. First principles electronic structure calculations, fully incorporating the effects of spin polarization and non-collinear magnetic moments, have been used to investigate CO disproportionation on an isolated Fe₅₅ cluster. After CO dissociation, O atoms remain on the surface while C atoms move into the cluster, presumably as the initial step toward carbide formation. Here we show that the lowest CO dissociation barrier found on the cluster (0.77 eV) is lower than on most previously studied Fe surfaces. This dissociation occurs on a vertex between the facets. Several possible paths for CO₂ formation were identified. The calculated lowest reaction barrier is 1.08 eV, which is comparable to the barrier of 0.65 eV obtained by experiment.      

Comparison of energy conservation building codes of Iran,Turkey, Germany,China, ISO 9164 and EN 832

To improve the energy efficiency of buildings via compliance to regulation in Iran, Code No. 19 was devised in 1991. The code lacks high level aims and objectives, addressing the characteristics of Iranian buildings. As a consequence, the code has been revised and is not completely implemented in practice, and still remains inefficient. As with any energy coding system, this code has to identify the right balance between the different energy variables for the Iranian climate and way of life. In order to assist improvements to high level objectives of Code 19, this code is compared with ISO 9164, EN 832, German regulation, TS 825 of Turkey and China’s GB 50189 to understand how these have adapted international standards to national features. In order to test the appropriateness of Code 19, five case study buildings in Iran are assessed against Code 19 as well as Turkish standard TS 825 and the results are compared. The results demonstrate that Code 19 is efficient in calculations of building envelope, but it needs improvements in the areas of ventilation, gains from internal and solar sources. The paper concludes by offering suggestions for improving the code.     

Differential scanning calorimetric studies on structured lipids from coconut oil triglycerides containing stearic acid

Triglycerides from coconut oil contain high levels of lauric acid. They were replaced by incremental amounts of stearic acid by interesterification reactions catalyzed by immobilized lipase (IM 60 from Rhizomucor miehei). The reactions were carried out in organic solvents such as hexane. Maximum incorporation of stearic acid was observed by 4 h at 37vv°C or by 2 h at 60vv°C when triglycerides to fatty acid (stearic acid) ratio was maintained at 1v:Ң. The stearic acid level in coconut oil triglycerides was increased from an initial value of 2% to 60% under these conditions. The stearic acid replaced lauric, myristic, and palmitic acids in unmodified triglycerides. A major portion of stearic acid incorporated was found in positions 1 and 3 of triglycerides. Differential scanning calorimetry indicated that stearic acid enrichment increased the solid fat content and also the higher melting polymorphs in modified lipids. The studies also indicated that low melting polymorphic forms of coconut oil triglycerides are converted to higher melting forms by stearic acid enrichment. The modified lipids thus obtained can find use in various food applications.     

Activated Hepatic Stellate Cells in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Their Role as a Potential Target for Future Therapies

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a global healthcare challenge, which affects more than 815,000 new cases every year. Activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSCs) remain the principal cells that drive HCC onset and growth. aHSCs suppress the anti-tumor immune response through interaction with different immune cells. They also increase the deposition of the extracellular matrix proteins, challenging the reversion of fibrosis and increasing HCC growth and metastasis. Therapy for HCC was reported to activate HSCs, which could explain the low efficacy of current treatments. Conversely, recent studies aimed at the deactivation of HSCs show that they have been able to inhibit HCC growth. In this review article, we discuss the role of aHSCs in HCC pathophysiology and therapy. Finally, we provide suggestions for the experimental implementation of HSCs in HCC therapies.     

Palladium-Catalyzed Domino Reaction for the Synthesis of 3-Amino 1,2,4-Benzothiadiazine 1,1-Dioxides

A palladium-catalyzed domino reaction of 2-azidosulfonamides and isocyanides enables the synthesis of 3-amino-substituted 1,2,4-benzothiadiazine 1,1-dioxides at room temperature. By applying commercially available Pd(dba)₂ in catalyst loadings as low as 1.0 mol%, a variety of 21 differently substituted 2H-1,2,4-benzothiadiazine 1,1-dioxides can be prepared within 2 h. Moreover, the developed protocol gives access to the related 4H heterocycles.     

Assessment of noise attenuating powertrain components

Forschung im Ingenieurwesen - Wind turbine noise used to be dominated by aerodynamic blade noise, effectively masking mechanical noise, originating from the drivetrain. Successful blade noise...     

基于小波变换与IAGA-BP神经网络的短期风电功率预测

为提高风功率预测精度,减轻输出风能波动性对风电并网不利影响,提出了基于WT-IAGA-BP神经网络的短期风电功率预测方法。首先,利用风速分区、3σ准则及拉格朗日插值法清洗风电场历史数据;其次,依据小波重构误差,选择db4小波分别提取风速、风向、历史风功率的不同频率特征信号,并引入改进自适应遗传算法(IAGA)对各序列BP神经网络的初始权值与阈值寻优,使用Sigmiod函数通过适应度值自适应改变交叉概率与变异概率;最后,构建各序列的WT-IAGA-BP模型对短期风功率组合预测。通过仿真分析,并与ELM、WT-ELM及IAGA-BP方法对比,验证该方法具有更高的预测精度和更好的预测性能。     

Constraint hierarchies

Constraints allow programmers and users to state declaratively a relation that should be maintained, rather than requiring them to write procedures to maintain the relation themselves. They are thus useful in such applications as programming languages, user interface toolkits, and simulation packages. In many situations, it is desirable to be able to state bothrequired andpreferential constraints. The required constraints must hold. Since the other constraints are merely preferences, the system should try to satisfy them if possible, but no error condition arises if it cannot. Aconstraint hierarchy consists of a set of constraints, each labeled as either required or preferred at some strength. An arbitrary number of different strengths is allowed. In the discussion of a theory of constraint hierarchies, we present alternate ways of selecting among competing possible solutions, and prove a number of propositions about the relations among these alternatives. We then outline algorithms for satisfying constraint hierarchies, and ways in which we have used constraint hierarchies in a number of programming languages and systems.     

Low-Voltage CMOS Rail-to-Rail V-I Converters

This paper presents two CMOS low-voltage rail-to-rail voltage-to-current converters (V-I converter) which could be used as basic building blocks to construct low-voltage current-mode analog VLSI circuits. In each of the circuits, an N-type V-I converter cell is connected in parallel with its P-type counterpart to achieve common-mode rail-to-rail operation. A linear differential relationship of the N-type V-I converter, or its P-type complement, is obtained using a new class-AB linearization technique. In the first rail-to-rail V-I converter circuit, a constant transconductance is achieved through the use of two maximum-current selecting circuits and an output subtraction stage. In the second circuit, a constant transconductance value is obtained by manipulating the DC bias currents of N- and P-type V-I converter cells. Both of the circuits can operate from rail to rail with a power supply of 3V, or less depending on the VLSI technology and the DC bias current level.     

A 14b 100-MS/s Time-Interleaved A/D Converter

This article presents a 14-bit, 100-MS/s time-interleaved pipeline ADC, which samples input signal from 210-MHz IF-band. Digital self-calibration is employed to compensate gain mismatch and offset between time-interleaved channels as well as mismatches arise from a single ADC channel. A timing skew-insensitive parallel S/H circuit is utilized in order to avoid timing skew between parallel ADC channels. The ADC, fabricated in a 0.35-μm BiCMOS (SiGe) takes an area of 10.2 mm², reaches an ENOB of 11.4 bits with a 79.9-dB SFDR at 192.5-MHz input and draws 1.4 W from a 3.0-V supply.