Cournot oligopolistic competition in spatially separated markets: The Stackelberg equilibrium

Consider a two-stage non-cooperative Cournot game with location choice involving r firms. There are n spatially separated markets located at the vertices of a network. Each firm, first selects the location of a facility and then selects the quantities to supply to the markets in order to maximize its profit. Non-zero conjectural variation at the second stage in the model by Sarkar et al. (1997) is studied. When the demand in each market is sufficiently large, equilibrium in the quantities offered by each firm in the markets exists. Furthermore, each firm chooses to locate its facility at the vertices.Partially financed by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Spain) and FEDER, grant BFM2002-04525-C02-01.Received: August 2002 / Accepted: May 2003     

Production of hydrogen by unmixed steam reforming of methane

Unmixed steam reforming is an alternative method of catalytic steam reforming that uses separate air and fuel–steam feeds, producing a reformate high in H₂ content using a single reactor and a variety of fuels. It claims insensitivity to carbon formation and can operate autothermally. The high H₂ content is achieved by in situ N₂ separation from the air using an oxygen transfer material (OTM), and by CO₂ capture using a solid sorbent. The OTM and CO₂ sorbent are regenerated during the fuel–steam feed and the air feed, respectively, within the same reactor. This paper describes the steps taken to choose a suitable CO₂-sorbent material for this process when using methane fuel with the help of microreactor tests, and the study of the carbonation efficiency and regeneration ability of the materials tested. Elemental balances from bench scale experiments using the best OTM in the absence of the CO₂ sorbent allow identifying the sequence of the chemical reaction mechanism. The effect of reactor temperature between 600 and on the process outputs is investigated. Temperatures of 600 and under the fuel–steam feed were each found to offer a different set of desirable outputs. Two stages during the fuel–steam feed were characterised by a different set of global reactions, an initial stage where the OTM is reduced directly by methane, and indirectly by hydrogen produced by methane thermal decomposition, in the second stage, steam reforming takes over once sufficient OTM has been reduced. The implications of these stages on the process desirable outputs such as efficiency of reactants conversion, reformate gas quality, and transient effects are discussed.     

Influence of climatic ageing on the mechanical properties and the microstructure of low‐density polyethylene films

Blown extruded films of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) have been subjected to climatic ageing in a sub‐Saharan facility at Laghouat (Algeria) with direct exposure to sun. Samples were characterized by complementary techniques after prescribed amounts of time up to 8 months. It was shown by tensile testing that the mechanical properties are quite sensitive to ageing: (i) the elastic modulus increases and saturates, (ii) the tensile stress increases slightly, and (iii) the rupture energy decreases dramatically after 4 months weathering. Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³C NMR) were performed to identify the evolution of the polymer microstructure. The FTIR spectra reveal the initial presence of vinylidene groups that exhaust rapidly after 4 months ageing. Also, it detects the progressive multiplication of vinyl groups and oxidation products of many kinds. The NMR technique revealed specifically the carbon–carbon configurations in the polymer chains. By contrast to the original film that contained almost exclusively butyl chain branches, the aged specimens presented shorter ramifications, namely ethyl branches. Also, the presence of quaternary atoms was detected after long ageing times. The discussion of these complementary results in the light of current literature makes possible to identify the leading mechanisms that control the decay of LDPE film properties. Although these mechanisms are numerous and complex, they can be schematically summarized within three main classes: oxidation, scission, and crosslinking. Each class is discussed in details. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Investigation of the structure of poly(vinyl alcohol)-iodine complex hydrogels prepared from the concentrated polymer solutions

The structure and dynamics of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-iodine complex hydrogels that were prepared from concentrated PVA solutions have been characterized by high-resolution solid-state ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The fully relaxed dipolar decoupling (DD)/MAS ¹³C NMR spectrum indicates that the hydrogels contain at least two components, a highly mobile and broader components. The former is assigned to the soluble or well water-swollen PVA chains that are not closely associated with the PVA-iodine complexes, whereas the latter may be mainly ascribed to the aggregated PVA chains that are produced by the formation of the PVA-iodine complexes because no diffraction peaks due to the conventional PVA crystallites are observed by wide-angle X-ray diffractometry. Furthermore, ¹³C spin-lattice relaxation time (T_1C) analyses reveal that the broader component is composed of the highly restricted component probably assignable to PVA molecular chain aggregates containing the PVA-iodine complexes and the less mobile component. As for the former component, their CH resonance line measured by the T_1C-filtering method is successfully resolved into 7 constituent lines by the least-squares curve fitting. The statistical analysis of the integrated intensities of the constituent lines thus obtained also reveals that the probability f_a for the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonding in the successive two OH groups along each chain and another probability f_t of the trans conformation are, respectively, as high as 0.86 and 0.88. This fact indicates that the PVA molecular chain aggregates containing the PVA-iodine complexes should be composed of PVA segments with the trans-rich conformation and the PVA-iodine complexes therein may also be formed with these several trans-rich segments surrounding the rod-like polyiodine cores in agreement with the so-called aggregation model. Moreover, several new diffraction peaks that should be interpreted in terms of the hexagonal structure are observed for the PVA-iodine complex hydrogels in the low 2θ region in the wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) profile measured by a strong X-ray source at SPring-8. This suggests the necessity of more detailed WAXD characterization to propose a new structure model, which should be referred to as the hexagonal aggregation model, for the PVA-iodine complexes.     

利用合成沸石母液制取电子级碳酸钾

利用钾长石粉为原料合成13X沸石后的母液,经CO2酸化后除去SiO2-3,得NaHCO3-KHCO3-H2O体系;结晶分离可以制备优级纯Na2CO3,余液经除杂,再次酸化得KHCO3结晶,干燥后制备出K2CO3。测试结果表明,碳酸钾产品达到GB/T1587-2000Ⅱ型技术要求。实验证明了利用合成沸石母液提取电子级碳酸钾的可行性,其中碳酸钠回收率达到79.8%,碳酸钾回收率达到83.0%。     

An early warning criterion for the prediction of snowmelt-induced soil slope failures in seasonally cold regions

In Hokkaido, Japan, soil slope failures occur frequently during the snow melting season. These slope failures are triggered by the excess amount of water derived from snowmelt and rainfall. For the prediction of snowmelt-induced soil slope failures in seasonally cold regions, an early warning criterion is required. The existing Japanese early warning criteria for sediment disasters, i.e., the relationship between the 60-min cumulative rainfall and the Soil Water Index (SWI), the effective rainfall index etc., consider the influence of rainfall and the time-dependent random moisture of the soil. However, these criteria do not consider the soil moisture contributed by the snowmelt water. In this study, therefore, the applicability of the existing early warning criteria to predict snowmelt-induced soil slope failures is examined. An empirical method to quantify the amount of snowmelt water is presented. Various scenarios of conceptual soil slope failures are studied using numerical simulations under different magnitudes of rainfall and snowmelt water. As a result, a revision is introduced for the SWI and the effective rainfall index, adding the amount of snowmelt water to that of rainfall, and slope failure scenarios are studied. Based on the results, a new early warning criterion, the Effective Precipitation (EP) index, is introduced. It is found that the new failure criterion performs well for the prediction of snowmelt-induced soil slope failures.     

充分发挥天然气在我国现代能源体系构建中的主力作用——对《天然气发展“十三五”规划》的解读

随着各级政府的天然气"十三五"规划相继出台,以及相关部门对治理灰霾的愈加重视,天然气迎来了成为我国主力能源的战略机遇期。为此,结合中华人民共和国国家发展和改革委员会制定的《天然气发展"十三五"规划》,从供给侧、需求侧、价格体系和基础设施建设等环节入手,预测了我国天然气产业在"十三五"期间的发展态势,从全产业链的角度提出了切实可行的改革建议。研究认为:(1)在供给侧方面,我国天然气产业需要达到可获得(Availability)、运得到(Accessibility)、用得稳(Assurance)、买得起(Affordability)、有责任(Accountability)等5个标准,打造5A级天然气产业链;(2)在需求侧方面,空气污染治理间接推动天然气消费量的增加,燃气发电有望成为消费量增长的主力,天然气交通的发展会为产业带来新机遇。基于上述研究成果,认为当前价格体系和基础设施建设两大短板制约了我国天然气产业的发展,需要通过进一步的改革破除体制机制的障碍,在天然气市场面临诸多不确定性的前提下,充分发挥市场在资源配置中的决定性作用,从而确保天然气在我国现代能源体系的构建中发挥主力作用。     

平顶山矿区构造煤傅里叶红外光谱和~(13)C核磁共振研究

利用傅里叶红外光谱(FTIR)和核磁共振(13C NMR)技术对平顶山矿区不同变形程度构造煤和原生结构煤的分子结构差异进行了分析。红外光谱分析表明,构造煤的生烃潜能('A')和脂肪链长及支链化程度(B)均小于原生结构煤,芳脂比(I)大于原生结构煤,缩合度(DOC)变化不明显;随变形程度的增加,构造煤生烃潜能('A')逐渐减小,缩合度(DOC)逐渐增加。核磁共振分析结果显示,官能团对煤中芳碳率和脂碳率的变化有一定贡献,芳碳区存在显著差异的主控因素为带质子芳碳和桥接芳碳(fH,Ba),脂碳区中的主要影响因素是亚甲基碳(fb2);随变形程度的增加,构造煤中亚甲基碳(fb2)逐渐减小,带质子芳碳和桥接芳碳(fH,Ba)逐渐增加。通过对构造煤化学结构的傅里叶红外光谱和核磁共振分析,进一步揭示了构造煤在煤与瓦斯突出中的作用。     

影响铝硅质介孔分子筛孔序度因素的实验研究

以天然矿物微斜长石为主要原料,13X沸石前驱体为晶核剂,结合介孔分子筛MCM-41与13X沸石合成工艺,合成了孔壁中含有13X沸石基本结构单元的铝硅酸盐介孔分子筛.主要对形成分子筛过程中表面活性剂(CTAB)用量(摩尔比(CTAB∶SiO2)分别为0.10、0.15、0.20和0.25)、母液搅拌时间(0.5h和1 h)和晶化时间(2天、4天、6天和8天)等因素对样品孔序度的影响进行了研究.样品表征采用XRD和傅立叶红外光谱等测试手段.结果表明,由天然矿物微斜长石合成介孔分子筛是可行的;合成的分子筛孔壁中含有13X沸石基本结构单元,即硅铝氧构成的双六元环结构单元.对样品孔序度的研究表明,摩尔比(CTAB ∶ SiO2)越大,样品孔序度越好;母液搅拌时间为1h比0.5h条件下合成的样品的孔序度好;晶化时间由2天逐渐增加到4天后,分子筛孔序度在各个方向上已变得非常好,继续延长晶化时间至6天和8天后,样品在各个方向上的孔序度总体仍然很好,但样品XRD曲线上主衍射峰(100)强度下降,说明随晶化时间延长,样品在(100)方向上孔的短程有序性下降.     

新型环保工艺合成的线型酚醛树脂固化环氧树脂的研究

本文采用一种新型环保工艺合成了线型酚醛树脂(简称SPN).13C NMR方法对其与常规方法生产的线型酚醛树脂(简称CPN)的微观化学结构分析表明:SPN中o-o、o-p、p-p三种结构的含量分别为19.42%、46.21%和22.32%;CPN中这三种结构含量分别为15.87%、56.01%和22.68%;另外,SPN中还含有少量羟甲基苯酚和含醚键的羟甲基苯酚的二聚体等小分子结构,而CPN中不含这样的结构.分别以这两种线型酚醛树脂作为环氧树脂DYD-127的固化剂,比较了两个体系的固化特性和浇铸体性能.结果表明,由于微观化学结构的差异,SPN体系的反应活性略高于CPN体系,而两体系固化产物的力学性能和耐热性没有明显差异.