Solution intercalation of polystyrene and the comparison with poly(ethyl methacrylate)

Polystyrene nanocomposites have been prepared via solution intercalation method. Combination of wide-angle X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis is used to study the effect of solvents on the morphology of the nanocomposites as a function of the amount of residual solvent. d-Spacing of the polystyrene nanocomposites has a minimum value when the residual solvent concentration is between 2 and 4 wt%. Different interaction level between the solvent molecules and polymer chains is considered to be the reason for this special d-spacing change behavior. By comparing the solution intercalation of polystyrene and poly(ethyl methacrylate) from different solvents, it is concluded that the interactions between polymer-surfactant, solvent-surfactant, and polymer-solvent play important role for the solution intercalation of polymers.     

Magnetotransport Calculations for Two-Dimensional Electrons with Spin-Orbit Interaction

We present calculations of the magnetoconductivity in a two-dimensional electron system including the Rashba spin-orbit interaction. Essential for these calculations is an extension of the self-consistent Born approximation which takes into account the electron spin degree of freedom. The calculated magnetoconductivity exhibits, besides the beating in the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, a modulation related to the spin-orbit induced crossings of Landau levels, as a consequence of spin-conserving scattering between spin-orbit coupled states.     

Prediction of swirling confined diffusion flame with a Monte Carlo and a presumed-PDF-model

This work aims to compare numerical results obtained by using the Monte Carlo composition-PDF method and a presumed-β-PDF in order to reveal their effects on the prediction of flow and scalar fields in swirling confined methane diffusion flame. Using the intrinsic low dimensional manifolds method for modelling the chemistry and a second moment closure for the turbulence, it is shown that both PDF-methods provide a similar accuracy level of the prediction of mean quantities. While the presumed-β-PDF performs using reasonable computational efforts, the Monte Carlo-PDF allows to capture well the turbulence-chemistry interaction and strong finite-chemistry effects such as local extinction.     

Innovation in construction: a sociology of technology approach

An alternative approach to understanding innovation is made using two intersecting ideas. The first is that successful innovation requires consideration of the social and organizational contexts in which it is located. The complex context of construction work is characterized by inter-organizational collaboration, a project-based approach and power distributed amongst collaborating organizations. The second is that innovations can be divided into two modes: 'bounded', where the implications of innovation are restricted within a single, coherent sphere of influence, and 'unbounded', where the effects of implementation spill over beyond this. Bounded innovations are adequately explained within the construction literature. However, less discussed are unbounded innovations, where many firms' collaboration is required for successful implementation, even though many innovations can be considered unbounded within construction's inter-organizational context. It is argued that unbounded innovations require an approach to understand and facilitate the interactions both within a range of actors and between the actors and technological artefacts. The insights from a sociology of technology approach can be applied to the multiplicity of negotiations and alignments that constitute the implementation of unbounded innovation. The utility of concepts from the sociology of technology, including 'system building' and 'heterogeneous engineering', is demonstrated by applying them to an empirical study of an unbounded innovation on a major construction project (the new terminal at Heathrow Airport, London, UK). This study suggests that 'system building' contains outcomes that are not only transformations of practices, processes and systems, but also the potential transformation of technologies themselves.     

An Agent Interaction Based Method for Nonlinear Process Plan Scheduling

This article puts forward a scheduling method for nonlinear process plan shop floor.Task allocation and load bal- ance are realized by bidding mechanism.Though the agent interaction process,the execution of tasks is determined and the coherence of manufacturing decision is verified.The employment of heuristic index can help to optimize the system performance.     

A direct stiffness analysis of a composite beam with partial interaction

The use of the conventional semi-analytical stiffness method in finite element analysis, in which interpolation polynomials are used to develop the stiffness relationships, leads to problems of curvature locking when beam-type elements are developed for composite members with partial interaction between the materials of which it is comprised. The curvature locking phenomenon that occurs for composite steel–concrete members is quite well reported, and the general approach to minimizing the undesirable ramifications of curvature locking has been to use higher-order polynomials with increasing numbers of internal nodes. This paper presents an alternate formulation based on a direct stiffness approach rather than starting from pre-defined interpolation polynomials, and which does not possess the undesirable locking characteristics. The formulation is based on a more general approach for a bi-material composite flexural member, whose constituent materials are joined by elastic shear connection so as to provide partial interaction. The stiffness relationships are derived, and these are applied to a simply supported and a continuous steel–concrete composite beam to demonstrate the efficacy of the method, and in particular its ability to model accurately both very flexible and very stiff shear connection that causes difficulties when implemented in competitive semi-analytical algorithms. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

四种别藻蓝蛋白三聚体的时间分辨荧光光谱研究

研究了从Ａｎａｂａｎａｖａｒｉｂｉｌｉｓ中提取的４种别藻蓝蛋白ＡＰＣＩ，ＡＰＣＩＩ，ＡＰＣＩＩ及ＡＰＣＢ三聚体的稳态光谱和皮秒荧光光谱。采用Ｍｏｎｔｅ－Ｃａｒｌｏ方法对瞬态荧光光谱进行拟合，实验结果表明：ＡＰＣＩ荧光有两个带，其中第一个带位于６６２ｎｍ，有两个时间组分：３５．８ｐｓ和１．６７ｎｓ；第二个带位于６８０ｎｍ，有两个时间组分：３４．２ｐｓ和１．６４ｎｓ；ＡＰＣＩＩ瞬态荧光位于６６０ｎｍ，有两个时间组分：２０．４ｐｓ和１．６４ｎｓ；ＡＰＣＩＩ瞬态荧光位于６６０ｎｍ，有两个时间组分：２３．８ｐｓ和１．７６ｎｓ；ＡＰＣＢ瞬态荧光有两个带，其中第一个带位于６６２ｎｍ，有两个时间组分：３６．６ｐｓ和１．４５ｎｓ；第二个带位于６８０ｎｍ，有两个时间组分：２５．８ｐｓ和１．６２ｎｓ。实验结果一方面说明了藻胆体核内４种别藻蓝蛋白形成能量传递的两条途径；另一方面瞬态荧光解叠结果揭示了ＡＰＣＩ和ＡＰＣＢ三聚体内能量传递的超快过程。     

Failure analysis of a hot extrusion die used for Al-Li alloy processing

Al-Li alloys being developed as lighter, substitutes for conventional high strength Al alloys are to be processed by routine methods. During extrusion of a 8090 Al-Li alloy, the extrusion die container failed causing some alarm. This failed die container was analysed to examine if the failure was caused by interaction of Li diffusing out of Al-Li alloy with the carbides of die steel. The evidence, although not conclusive, is sufficient to exercise caution during such processing.     

Robot-assisted wayfinding for the visually impaired in structured indoor environments

We present a robot-assisted wayfinding system for the visually impaired in structured indoor environments. The system consists of a mobile robotic guide and small passive RFID sensors embedded in the environment. The system is intended for use in indoor environments, such as office buildings, supermarkets and airports. We describe how the system was deployed in two indoor environments and evaluated by visually impaired participants in a series of pilot experiments. We analyze the system’s successes and failures and outline our plans for future research and development.