Sprinklered office fire tests

This paper presents data relating to the performance of sprinklers and detectors in real office fire situations. For sprinklers, these data are additional to that associated with the standardized testing used to determine the design delivery density and pressure requirements for various occupancy situations, and provide a useful insight into the effect of sprinklers on developing fires with various office situations. The data given in this paper include the times for activation of various types of sprinkler heads (normal and fast response), the efficacy of the systems as far as extinguishment is concerned, estimates of the maximum size of the fires prior to commencement of extinguishment and associated air temperatures at various locations within the office enclosures. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oxidation of carbon nanofibers and materials obtained on their basis

The results of the oxidation of carbon nanofibers and materials obtained on their basis are presented; these results demonstrate that the nanofibers were formed by carbon with different degrees of crystal structure ordering. The experimental data supported previous hypotheses that amorphous carbon results from the decomposition of metal carbides. The subsequent formation of spatial structures and the appearance of crystalline carbon species resulted from catalytic graphitization. It was demonstrated that sorbents can be prepared based on carbon nanofibers after pyrolytic consolidation followed by activation, and these sorbents are more effective than well-known sorbents.     

Separating n-alkane mixtures by exploiting differences in the adsorption capacity within cages of CHA, AFX and ERI zeolites

The saturation capacity of n-alkanes in CHA, AFX and ERI zeolites, that consist of cages separated by windows, decreases with increasing carbon number. The major aim of the present communication is to demonstrate the possibility of separating n-alkane mixtures relying on differences in saturation capacities. To investigate this possibility, Configurational-Bias Monte Carlo simulations for adsorption of C3–nC6, nC4–nC6, and nC5–nC6 mixtures in CHA, AFX and ERI were carried out for equimolar bulk fluid phase. These mixture simulations show that for operation at fluid phase fugacities below about 1 MPa, the adsorbed phase in equilibrium with the bulk vapor phase is predominantly the alkane with the longer chain length, i.e. nC6. However, for operation at pressures in excess of 1 MPa, the adsorbed phase in equilibrium with the bulk liquid phase is richer in the component with the smaller chain length. In some cases, the nC6 is practically excluded from the zeolite.     

Pheromone Disruption of Argentine Ant Trail Integrity

Disruption of Argentine ant trail following and reduced ability to forage (measured by bait location success) was achieved after presentation of an oversupply of trail pheromone, (Z)-9-hexadecenal. Experiments tested single pheromone point sources and dispersion of a formulation in small field plots. Ant walking behavior was recorded and digitized by using video tracking, before and after presentation of trail pheromone. Ants showed changes in three parameters within seconds of treatment: (1) Ants on trails normally showed a unimodal frequency distribution of walking track angles, but this pattern disappeared after presentation of the trail pheromone; (2) ants showed initial high trail integrity on a range of untreated substrates from painted walls to wooden or concrete floors, but this was significantly reduced following presentation of a point source of pheromone; (3) the number of ants in the pheromone-treated area increased over time, as recruitment apparently exceeded departures. To test trail disruption in small outdoor plots, the trail pheromone was formulated with carnuba wax-coated quartz laboratory sand (1 g quartz sand/0.2 g wax/1 mg pheromone). The pheromone formulation, with a half-life of 30 h, was applied by rotary spreader at four rates (0, 2.5, 7.5, and 25 mg pheromone/m²) to 1- and 4-m² plots in Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. Ant counts at bait cards in treated plots were significantly reduced compared to controls on the day of treatment, and there was a significant reduction in ant foraging for 2 days. These results show that trail pheromone disruption of Argentine ants is possible, but a much more durable formulation is needed before nest-level impacts can be expected. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Synthesis and physicochemical characterization of a well-defined poly(butadiene 1,3)-block-poly(dimethylsiloxane) copolymer

For the first time, order-order and order-disorder transitions were detected and characterized in a model diblock copolymer of poly(butadiene-1,3) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PB-b-PDMS). This model PB-b-PDMS copolymer was synthesized by the sequential anionic polymerization (high vacuum techniques) of butadiene 1,3 (B) and hexamethylciclotrisiloxane (D₃), and subsequently characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H and ¹³C NMR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Small-Angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and rheology. SAXS combined with rheological experiments shows that the order-order and order-disorder transitions are thermoreversible. This fact indicates that the copolymer has sufficient mobility at the timescale and at the temperatures of interest to reach their equilibrium morphologies.     

Stability of hydrogenated nanodiamonds under extreme ultraviolet irradiation

It is generally accepted that diamond is resistant to a wide spectrum of electromagnetic radiation from the ultraviolet through to the soft X-ray range, which makes it very attractive for the fabrication of diamond-based photodetectors. However the effect of photon radiation on the diamond structure has not yet been examined. In the work presented here, photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to study the graphitization of nanodiamond crystallites exposed to extreme ultraviolet radiation. Under such irradiation, the surface hydrogen groups and graphite species are found to prevent graphitization. The mechanism of radiation-induced nanodiamond graphitization is discussed.     

Effect of vibration condition and inter-particle frictions on the packing of uniform spheres

We present a numerical study of the packing of uniform spheres under three-dimensional vibration using the discrete element method (DEM), focusing on the effects of vibration condition (amplitude and frequency) and inter-particle frictions (sliding and rolling frictions). The results are analysed in terms of packing density, coordination number (CN), radial distribution function (RDF) and pore structure. It is shown that increasing either the vibration amplitude or frequency causes packing density to increase initially to a maximum and then decrease. Both vibration frequency and amplitude should be considered to characterize the effect of vibration process on packing structure. The sliding and rolling frictions between particles can decrease packing density since they dissipate energy, although the effect of rolling friction is less significant. In line with the change of packing density, microstructural properties such as CN, RDF and pore distribution also change: a looser packing often corresponds to smaller CN, less peaked RDF and larger but more widely distributed pores.     

Metathesis as a versatile tool in oleochemistry

Olefin metathesis, awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005 for Chauvin, Grubbs and Schrock, has emerged as a powerful tool for organic as well as polymer chemistry. In oleochemistry, this reaction is well known and has been applied for many decades. Examples include the functionalization of the double bonds of different oleochemicals or the (direct) polymerization of plant oils via metathesis. More recent developments, particularly the development of better and more robust catalysts, allow for highly efficient cross‐metathesis reactions opening new possibilities for the direct introduction of chemical functionalities. Within this contribution, the development of metathesis in oleochemistry will be discussed, covering self‐metathesis as well as more recent developments in the field of cross‐metathesis that lead to desired platform chemicals.     

3D velocity from 3D Doppler radial velocity

We present local least squares and regularization frameworks for computing 3D velocity (3D optical flow) from 3D radial velocity measured by a Doppler radar. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithms quantitatively on synthetic radial velocity data and qualitatively on real radial velocity data, obtained from the Doppler radar at Kurnell Radar station, Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia. Radial velocity can be used to predict the future positions of storms in sequences of Doppler radar datasets.© 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 15, 189–198, 2005     

Evaluating hyperspectral imaging of wetland vegetation as a tool for detecting estuarine nutrient enrichment

Nutrient enrichment and eutrophication are major concerns in many estuarine and wetland ecosystems, and the need is urgent for fast, efficient, and synoptic ways to detect and monitor nutrients in wetlands and other coastal systems across multiple spatial and temporal scales. We integrated three approaches in a multi-disciplinary evaluation of the potential for using hyperspectral imaging as a tool to assess nutrient enrichment and vegetation responses in tidal wetlands. For hyperspectral imaging to be an effective tool, spectral signatures must vary in ways correlated with water nutrient content either directly, or indirectly via such proxies as vegetation responses to elevated nitrogen. Working in Elkhorn Slough, central California, where intensive farming practices generate considerable runoff of fertilizers and pesticides, we looked first for long- and short-term trends among temporally ephemeral point data for nutrients and other water quality characters collected monthly at 18 water sampling stations since 1988. Second, we assessed responses of the dominant wetland plant, Salicornia virginica (common pickleweed) to two fertilizer regimes in 0.25 m² experimental plots, and measured changes in tissue composition (C, H, N), biomass, and spectral responses at leaf and at canopy scales. Third, we used HyMap hyperspectral imagery (126 bands; 15–19 nm spectral resolution; 2.5 m spatial resolution) for a synoptic assessment of the entire wetland ecosystem of Elkhorn Slough. We mapped monospecific Salicornia patches (～ 56–500 m²) on the ground adjacent to the 18 regular water sampling sites, and then located these patches in the hyperspectral imagery to correlate long-term responses of larger patches to water nutrient regimes. These were used as standards for correlating plant canopy spectral responses with nitrogen variation described by the water sampling program. There were consistent positive relationships between nitrogen levels and plant responses in both the field experiment and the landscape analyses. Two spectral indices, the Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI) and Derivative Chlorophyll Index (DCI), were correlated significantly with water nutrients. We conclude that hyperspectral imagery can be used to detect nutrient enrichment across three spatial and at least two temporal scales, and suggest that more quantitative information could be extracted with further research and a greater understanding of physiological and physical mechanisms linking water chemistry, plant properties and spectral imaging characteristics.