Preparation and Photoluminescence of Partially Filled ZnO Microtubes Using Block Copolymers

Partially filled ZnO microtubes were synthesized in large scale using block copolymers. The growth mechanism of this unique construction is proposed on the basis of adsorption of block copolymers on {0002} plane of wurtzite ZnO. The photoluminescence property of these unique ZnO microtubes is also studied using a Xe lamp as the excitation source at room temperature. Blue emission band at 425 nm is a much stronger ultraviolet emission band, which is due to laminar structure of ZnO microtubes.     

Preparation of Titanium Nitride/Alumina Laminate Composites

A preparation route for TiN/Al₂O₃ laminate composites has been described. A water-based process using Al₂O₃ and TiN slurries with solids contents of 40 and 35 vol%, respectively, was used to make TiN and Al₂O₃ tapes. The removal of the binder was monitored by weight-loss measurements in a thermogravimetry unit. Bodies composed of Al₂O₃ and TiN tapes were densified at temperatures of 1400° and 1500°C using the Spark Plasma Sintering^® (SPS) technique. Densities of >98% of the theoretical densities were approached. Crack-free and almost fully densified TiN/Al₂O₃ compacts were prepared by heating the burned-out green bodies to the final sintering temperature (1500°C) at a rate of 100°C/min, and with a holding time of 5–10 min, under a pressure of 75 MPa. The microstructures of the obtained compacts were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Grain sizes in the sintered Al₂O₃ and TiN compacts were similar to those of the precursor powders. Hardness and indentation fracture toughness were measured at room temperature, and the monolithic compacts as well as the laminate composites exhibited anisotropic mechanical behavior; i.e., the cracks propagated much more easily in a direction parallel to the laminas than perpendicular to them.     

Phase Assemblages of Pr α-sialon Derived from SHS-ed Powders and TEM Study on the Nucleation of Pr α-sialon

The Pr α-sialon powders prepared by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), consisting of 55 wt% Pr α-sialon and 45 wt% of β-sialon (abbreviated as α' and β'), were hot-pressed at 1800°C for 1 h. The results showed that Pr α' phase would transfer to β' with the appearance of JEM phase (Pr(Si_{6− z} Al _z )(N_{10− z} O _z )) after sintering, thus resulting in the increase of β' phase to 86 wt%. The addition of Y₂O₃ into SHS-ed Pr α' powders as the starting materials restrains the transformation of α' to β' and prevents the formation of JEM phase as well. The nucleation mechanism of Pr α' grain during hot-pressing was investigated in terms of transmission electron microscope and energy-dispersive spectrometer analysis. Two nucleation modes of Pr α' grains were found, i.e., nucleating on the undissolved Pr α' grains and on the nuclei of (Pr, Y) α' grains precipitated from liquid phase.     

A noisy-smoothing relevance feedback method for content-based medical image retrieval

In this paper, we address a new problem of noisy images which present in the procedure of relevance feedback for medical image retrieval. We concentrate on the noisy images, caused by the users mislabeling some irrelevant images as relevant ones, and a noisy-smoothing relevance feedback (NS-RF) method is proposed. In NS-RF, a two-step strategy is proposed to handle the noisy images. In step 1, a noisy elimination algorithm is adopted to identify and eliminate the noisy images. In step 2, to further alleviate the influence of noisy images, a fuzzy membership function is employed to estimate the relevance probabilities of retained relevant images. After noisy handling, the fuzzy support vector machine, which can take into account different relevant images with different relevance probabilities, is adopted to re-rank the images. The experimental results on the IRMA medical image collection demonstrate that the proposed method can deal with the noisy images effectively.     

Mechanosynthesis of complex oxides and preparation of mixed conducting nanocomposites for catalytic membrane reactors

Nanopowders of LaGaO₃- and LaMnO₃-based complex perovskites (P) and ceria-based fluorites (F) were prepared by mechanosynthesis. Compatible nanocomposites F + P and P + P with mixed ion and electron conducting (MIEC) properties were prepared and sintered at moderate temperatures up to dense ceramics. The obtained materials were studied by means of XRD, SEM, TEM, electrical conductivity measurements, temperature programmed (TP) reduction/oxidation and preliminary estimations of permeability were obtained. A new strategy based on the advantages of the mechanochemical ceramic approach is proposed to design multilayer ceramic membranes for CMR. Casting technology and one-step sintering were used for the production of thin film membranes with MIEC properties on porous substrates. The coarse fraction of as-milled powders from agglomerates with density 70% was used for the porous substrate, and fine fractions of aggregates with sizes <1 μm were used in preparation of composites for thin dense films. Ceria-based composites prepared by the Pechini route and/or mechanochemical method are proposed as materials for protecting thin films.     

CuO-NiO/Al_20_2催化剂上N-甲基哌嗪合成研究

以共沉淀法制备铜、铝系复合氧化物作为催化剂,二乙醇胺和甲胺为原料,合成了N-甲基哌嗪.利用高压反应釜对其进行活性评价,发现CuO-NiO/Al2O3活性最高.并对铜、铝、镍摩尔比、沉淀剂种类、沉淀方式,焙烧温度等条件进行了优化.结果表明:催化剂中理想的Cu、Al、Ni摩尔比为1:1:3.2,沉淀剂为氢氧化钠,沉淀方式为并流,焙烧温度为500℃.该条件下N-甲基哌嗪的选择性为27.7%,二乙醇胺的转化率达89.8%.另外通过对使用前后催化剂进行表征分析发现催化剂失活原因为表面高聚物的附着和对孔道的堵塞.     

Finite Time Synchronization of Delayed Quaternion Valued Neural Networks with Fractional Order

Neural Processing Letters - In this article, the finite time (FT) synchronization problem of fractional order quaternion valued neural networks with time delay is investigated. Without separating...     

Theoretical Investigation of the Viscous Damping Coefficient of Hydraulic Actuators

The viscous damping coefficient(VDC) of hydraulic actuators is crucial for system modeling,control and dynamic characteristic analysis.Currently,the researches on hydraulic actuators focus on behavior assessment,promotion of control performance and efficiency.However,the estimation of the VDC is difficult due to a lack of study.Firstly,using two types of hydraulic cylinders,behaviors of the VDC are experimentally examined with velocities and pressure variations.For the tested plunger type hydraulic cylinder,the exponential model B=αυ~(-β),(α0,β0)or B=α_1e~(-β_1υ)+α_2e~(-β_2υ)(α_1,α_20,β_1,β_20),fits the relation between the VDC and velocities for a given pressure of chamber with high precision.The magnitude of the VDC decreases almost linearly under certain velocities when increasing the chamber pressure from 0.6 MPa to 6.0 MPa.Furthermore,the effects of the chamber pressures on the VDC of piston and plunge type hydraulic cylinders are different due to different sealing types.In order to investigate the VDC of a plunger type hydraulic actuator drastically,a steady-state numerical model has been developed to describe the mechanism incorporating tandem seal lubrication,back-up ring related friction behaviors and shear stress of fluid.It is shown that the simulated results of VDC agree with the measured results with a good accuracy.The proposed method provides an instruction to predict the VDC in system modeling and analysis.     

Oxidation behavior and mechanism of aluminum oxynitride (AlON) at elevated temperatures

The oxidation behavior and mechanism of aluminum oxynitride (AlON) powder exposed to air at elevated temperatures between 800°C and 1300°C was investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron spin resonance (ESR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and simultaneous thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis, and mass spectrometry techniques (TG-DTA-MS). The weight of AlON gradually increases to a maximum value at 1150°C and then decreases with further heating. Meanwhile, AlON powder undergoes chemical changes, as evidenced by lattice expansion, and turns eventually into alumina. ESR spectra reveal the occurrence of lone pair electrons in the oxidized products and the intensity of corresponding resonance signal increases before disappearing with the increase in temperature. Combined with the results of NMR and TG-DTA-MS, the measured data suggest that Al-N in [AlO₃N] tetrahedron and [AlO₅N] octahedron are gradually oxidized into Al-O-N group with lone pair electrons, which causes continuous weight gain and lattice expansion. Further oxidation at higher temperatures results in alumina and N₂.     

A linear algebra approach to OLAP

Inspired by the relational algebra of data processing, this paper addresses the foundations of data analytical processing from a linear algebra perspective. The paper investigates, in particular, how aggregation operations such as cross tabulations and data cubes essential to quantitative analysis of data can be expressed solely in terms of matrix multiplication, transposition and the Khatri–Rao variant of the Kronecker product. The approach offers a basis for deriving an algebraic theory of data consolidation, handling the quantitative as well as qualitative sides of data science in a natural, elegant and typed way. It also shows potential for parallel analytical processing, as the parallelization theory of such matrix operations is well acknowledged.