Hydrogen production from methane in a dielectric barrier discharge using oxide zinc and chromium as catalyst

The hydrogen fuel cell is a promising option as a future energy resource; however, the nature of the gas is such that the conversion process of other fuels to hydrogen on board is necessary. Among the raw fuel resources, methane could be the best candidate as it is plentiful. In this experiment, the possibility of producing hydrogen with less carbon formation from methane by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) was investigated. Without the addition of a catalyst, the formation of hydrogen reached between 30% and 35% at methane residence time of 0.22 min and supplied powers in the range of 60-130 W. The hydrogen selectivity increased at higher supplied power, but the process efficiency, defined as a ratio of the produced hydrogen to the supplied power, decreased slightly. In order to boost the hydrogen production with less carbon formation, a mixed oxide catalyst of zinc and chromium was added to the reactor. It was shown that the production of hydrogen was ca. 40% higher than the non-catalytic plasma process.     

In vivo confocal microscopy of human skin: A new design for cosmetology and dermatology

In-depth exploration of cellular structures in living human skin in situ is possible with the tandem scanning microscope (TSM). However, the rigid design of the microscope limited observations to the arms, hands, and fingers. A mobile version allowing the investigation of any parts of the body has been designed. The head containing the Nipkow disk and the optical path were the only part saved from the original TSM. This prototype can be used to observe, in real time, the different skin structures down to a depth of 200 μm and to measure the thickness of the different layers with micron precision level. The hydration of the stratum corneum (SC) could be assessed. For example, lengthy immersion of the hand in water led to an increase in SC thickness without affecting that of the living epidermis. Occlusive patch tests also showed that water and, even more so, propylene glycol, led to transient swelling of the SC. In dermatology, the example of psoriasis illustrated the value of the TSM for describing, measuring, and assessing pathologic skin changes. The availability of this noninvasive method for observing changes with time in a given skin site should prove useful for monitoring treatment efficacy. This tool opens up new insight for the investigation of cutaneous pathophysiology.     

A Novel Method Of Transport Barrier Formation

A novel technique is proposed for creating transport barriers by the rf waves. This is that the transport barriers can be created by the rf induced ponderomotive force itself and no rf induced flow shear generation is necessary. It is demonstrated that the ponderomotive force of the rf waves can stabilize the ion temperature gradient (ITG) mode, considered nowadays as the dominant source of anomalous energy losses in the low confinement (L) mode. It is also shown that this stabilization can be achieved for rather modest values of the rf power and hence should be easily obtained in actual experiments.      

Pore‐free mold‐pattern‐transfer method for barrier ribs of HD PDPs

Abstract— Among various barrier‐rib manufacturing processes, the mold‐pattern‐transfer method has potential to reduce processing cost as well as the manufacture of high‐resolution pixels. In this study, the effects of major processing variables of the mold‐pattern‐transfer process on the formation of air‐trapped pores within barrier ribs were examined. The results indicated that with an optimum combination of the processing variables, barrier ribs without trapped defects can be produced, demonstrating the possibility of reducing the number of processing steps and costs of barrier ribs.     

Characteristics of Schottky Barrier Junction Based on Hexagonal Microtube ZnO

Hexagonal microtube ZnO was firstly grown on single crystal p-Si (111) substrates by hydrothermal method, and fabricated Ag/n-ZnO and Au/n-ZnO Schottky junction. Schottky effective barrier heights were calculated by I-V measurement. It is confirmed that the presence of a large amount of surface states related possibly to lattice imperfections existed near the surface leads to the pinning of the surface Fermi level at 0.35 eV below the conduction-band edge. Then the fabricated Schottky barrier junctions are evaluated for their use as UV photodetectors.     

俄罗斯圣彼得堡防潮工程建设的若干历史经验

本文系统介绍了俄罗斯圣彼得堡防潮工程规划的发展过程、工程的布置、组成以及工程的设计和当前施工的进展情况.圣彼得堡防潮工程是圣彼得堡城市建设的重要保障,在各个历史时期均得到了俄罗斯各级政府的高度重视.工程的规划、设计和施工建设过程反映了俄罗斯人对防潮管理、人水和谐相处和工程建设中对环境保护认识的发展过程.对圣彼得堡防潮工程建设经验的分析、总结,将对我国水利工作者和位于河口地区的城市防潮和防洪建设与管理起到积极的借鉴作用.     

基于YCbCr肤色模型改进算法及区域特征的人脸检测研究

针对当前人脸检测的研究现状与难题,采用改进的YCbCr椭圆聚类肤色模型进行肤色区域提取,根据肤色在YCb’Cr’空间的分布,对于亮度小于80的非肤色像素点会误判为肤色点,则缩小椭圆聚类;对于亮度大于230的肤色像素点会误判为非肤色点,则扩大椭圆聚类,有效避免了在高亮度区域和亮度较低的区域中的肤色点误判问题。接着利用人脸的几何特征,对二值化图中的目标区域进行比例、大小结构的分析,排除不可能的人脸区域,并基于肤色和位置进行区域优化,将处理后的结果作为候选人脸区域输出。     

Parametric study of the electrical to thermal power conversion in an inductively coupledrf plasma torch

An inductively coupled (ic) radio-frequency (rf) stabilized argon plasma was generated in a quartz tube using a 7 MHzrf generator. The electrical and thermal powers were measured and the efficiency of energy conversion was computed. The results indicate that for a constant power input, there is an optimum argon flow rate for which maximum energy conversion efficiency occurs.     

栅栏覆盖最大化生存周期调度算法

栅栏覆盖是近年来无线传感器网络的研究热点之一,如何延长生存周期是无线传感器网络研究的一个重要问题。针对无线传感器网络的栅栏覆盖应用,设计了两种最大化网络生存周期的调度算法:集中式的Greedy调度算法和分布式的DBCS调度算法。仿真实验表明:两种算法显著地延长了网络的生存周期;在较稀疏的网络中,DBCS算法与Greedy算法性能接近,分布式的DBCS算法适合应用于大规模传感器网络。     

Chemical composition and bond structure of carbon-nitride films deposited by CH4/N2 dielectric barrier discharge

Carbon nitride films have been deposited by dielectric barrier discharge with a CH₄/N₂ gas mixture at different conditions. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ellipsometry were used to systematically study chemical composition, bond structure and surface morphology of deposited films. Various bonds between carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and also oxygen were observed.