Diffusion and sorption of nitroplasticizers in vinyl copolymer elastomer and its composites

To study the aging behavior of cured vinyl copolymer elastomer (VCE) under thermal and nitroplasticizer (NP) environment, we investigated the sorption and diffusion of NP in VCE and its composites. The sorption kinetics of NP into VCE and its composites with respect to filler concentration (0–80%) and temperature (18–70°C) were investigated by conventional gravimetric method. The NP sorption process is endothermic. Kinetic studies show that Fickian diffusion can describe the NP sorption in the VCE polymer. The samples with a high filler concentration show more complicated behavior at low temperature than that at high temperature. The present article discusses the dependences of diffusion coefficient and other related parameters on the polymer concentration and morphological structures of the samples. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40729.     

Nanostructure and crystallisation kinetics of poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(4-vinylphenol-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) blends

Blends of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(4-vinylphenol-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PVPh-HEM) were studied by means of synchrotron small and wide angle X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS, respectively) and by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The DSC measurements were used in the determination of the Flory–Huggins interaction parameter and also to study the isothermal and non-isothermal crystallisation kinetics of the PEO/PVPh-HEM blend. The interaction parameter, χ₁₂, was found to be negative (between −0.5 and −2.5, approximately) and presented a significant dependence on the blend composition, which is expected for a system with specific interactions such as hydrogen bonding. From the kinetic studies with Kissinger, Friedman and Avrami models, it was shown that crystallisation of PEO chains is slower in the blend than in the pure polymer, despite the decrease in the energy barrier to the crystallisation with the increase in PVPh-HEM concentration.

From the SAXS and WAXS profiles, the nanostructure of the blend was elucidated, exhibiting the formation of PEO lamellae even in the blends containing high concentrations of PVPh-HEM, which are non-crystalline (as observed by the WAXS profiles). The thickness of the PEO lamellae (R_c, approximately 8 nm) remains almost unchanged with the blend composition, while the crystalline peaks, observed at 19.78 and 23.98°, vanish, and the WAXS profile exhibits only a non-crystalline halo. For the non-crystalline blends with high concentrations of PVPh-HEM, PEO chains keep their crystalline structural memory.     

On the power of fuzzy logic

In this article we address the issues brought up by Elkan in his article, “The paradoxical success of fuzzy logic,” [IEEE Expert, 3–8 (1994)]. Elkan's work has caused concern since it purportedly reveals a Fuzzy Logic weakness regarding its theoretical foundations. A further investigation of Elkan's theorem (“Theorem 1”) revealed that its conclusion is not correct. After indicating the points where we disagree with Elkan, we reformulate Theorem 1, calling this new version “Theorem 2.” Theorems 1 and 2 have the same hypotheses but different conclusions. According to Theorem 2 there is a region of points that do hold the equivalence in the hypotheses of Theorem 1. In other words, one does not need to change the definition of logical equivalence in Theorem 1 in order to prove that Fuzzy Logic does not collapse to a two-valued logic. In a further analysis of Theorem 2 we show that Elkan's work does not affect the power of Fuzzy Logic to model vagueness. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A study on toluene disproportionation over mordenite

The disproportionation of toluene over a commercial mordenite catalyst was studied in a fixed bed reactor, in the vapour phase and in the presence of hydrogen. The toluene conversion increased steadily as the temperature was raised but decreased with increase in space velocity. The addition of up to 14.5 mol% m-xylene to the feed led to an increase in the yield of the p- and o-isomers and the isomerization of xylenes proceeded to the thermodynamic equilibrium. The catalyst was impregnated with 8.5 wt% of phosphorus, which suppressed most of the catalytic activity. This was attributed to the reduction in the number of Brönsted and Lewis acid sites, revealed by infrared spectroscopy.     

Photoacoustic Thermal Characterization of Lime-Partially Stabilized Zirconia

Photoacoustic and photothermal techniques are used to investigate the room-temperature thermophysical properties of 9.4 mol% lime-partially stabilized zirconia (Ca–PSZ) samples in the density range of 5.12 × 10³−5.58 × 10³ kg/m³. The open-photoacoustic-cell approach is used to measure thermal diffusivity, and the photothermal technique of continuous illumination of the sample in vacuum is used to measure the product of density and specific heat capacity. Thermal conductivity is shown to be the thermophysical parameter most sensitive to changes in porosity.     

Inverted hierarchical neuro-fuzzy BSP system: a novel neuro-fuzzy model for pattern classification and rule extraction in databases

This paper introduces the Inverted Hierarchical Neuro-Fuzzy BSP System (HNFB/sup -1/), a new neuro-fuzzy model that has been specifically created for record classification and rule extraction in databases. The HNFB/sup -1/ is based on the Hierarchical Neuro-Fuzzy Binary Space Partitioning Model (HNFB), which embodies a recursive partitioning of the input space, is able to automatically generate its own structure, and allows a greater number of inputs. The new HNFB/sup -1/ allows the extraction of knowledge in the form of interpretable fuzzy rules expressed by the following: If x is A and y is B, then input pattern belongs to class Z. For the process of rule extraction in the HNFB/sup -1/ model, two fuzzy evaluation measures were defined: 1) fuzzy accuracy and 2) fuzzy coverage. The HNFB/sup -1/ has been evaluated with different benchmark databases for the classification task: Iris Dataset, Wine Data, Pima Indians Diabetes Database, Bupa Liver Disorders, and Heart Disease. When compared with several other pattern classification models and algorithms, the HNFB/sup -1/ model has shown similar or better classification performance. Nevertheless, its performance in terms of processing time is remarkable. The HNFB/sup -1/ converged in less than one minute for all the databases described in the case study.     

A Strategy for Atherosclerosis Image Segmentation by Using Robust Markers

The watersheds method is a powerful segmentation tool developed in mathematical morphology, which has the drawback of producing over-segmentation. In this paper, in order to prevent its over-segmentation, we present a strategy to obtain robust markers for image segmentation of atherosclerotic lesions of the thoracic aorta. In such sense, we introduced an algorithm, which was very useful in order to obtain the markers of the atherosclerotic lesions. Images were pre-processed using the Gauss filter and a contrast enhancement. The obtained results by using our strategy were validated calculating the false negatives (FN) and false positives (FP) according to criterion of physicians, where 0% for FN and less than 11% for FP were obtained. Extensive experimentation showed that, using real image data, the proposed strategy was very suitable for our application. These images will be subject to an additional morphometrical analysis in order to study automatically the atherosclerosis and its organic-consequences.     

Bone metaplasia of the bladder associated with urothelial tumor. A clinical case

One case report of bone metaplasia of the bladder wall associated to urothelial tumour located on the urothelium coating the lesion. Suspicion diagnosis started from findings identified in the transurethral resection. A stone-like mass attached by a pedicle to the bladder wall was found during the examination. The pathoanatomical study confirmed the diagnosis of bone metaplasia of the bladder wall, identifying nests of urothelial tumour adjacent to the urothelium. No report of similar cases has been found in the literature referring to the association of urothelial tumour and bone metaplasia of the bladder wall.