The value of communicative skills for developing an energy strategy

A case study is presented of how a public-sector client organization engaged with a political directive on energy efficiency in buildings. The value of communication skills of built environment professionals is explored during a strategic change process. An interpretative approach is used to study the organizational discussions and interactions between mainly a senior engineer (an energy expert), the management team and officials. It demonstrates how the political directive led to an initially ambiguous energy target, but was successfully framed, contextualized and anchored within the organization. This change process was shaped by key actors’ ability to influence others. Use of discursive competence is important for explaining what stakeholders may gain from the changes needed to meet the energy target. The focus on the role of a senior engineer (middle management rather than top management) provides a novel perspective on how strategies develop and are adopted in organizations.     

The Traveling Agent Problem

 This paper considers a sequencing problem which arises naturally in the scheduling of software agents. We are given n sites at which a certain task might be successfully performed. The probability of success is p _i at the ith site and these probabilities are independent. Visiting site i and trying the task there requires time (or some other cost metric) t _i whether successful or not. Latencies between sites i and j are l _ij, that is, the travel time between those two sites. Should the task be successfully completed at a site then any remaining sites do not need to be visited. The Traveling Agent Problem is to find the sequence which minimizes the expected time to complete the task. The general formulation of this problem is NP-Complete. However, if the latencies are constant we show that the problem can be solved in polynomial time by sorting the ratios t _i/p _i according to increasing value and visiting the sites in that order. This result then leads to an efficient algorithm when groups of sites form subnets in which latencies within a subnet are constant but can vary across subnets. We also study the case when there are deadlines for solving the problem in which case the goal is to maximize probability of success subject to satisfying the deadlines. Applications to mobile and intelligent agents are described. Date received: February 10, 1998. Date revised: November 16, 1999.     

Computer Supported Social Networking For Augmenting Cooperation

The exploration of social networks is essential for finding capable cooperators who can help problem-solving and for augmenting cooperation between workers in an organization. This paper describes PeCo-Mediator-II to seek capable cooperators through a chain of personal connections (PeCo) in a networked organization. Moreover, this system helps to gather, explore, and visualize social networks in an organization. The experimental results show that the system facilitates users' encounters with cooperators and develops new helpful connections with the cooperators.     

Effects of complexing agents on acidic electroless nickel deposition

Our previous study reported the influences of different complexing agents on electroless nickel (EN) by examining the properties of the deposits. In the present work, the effects of four common-used complexing agents on EN deposition rate and the stability of solution pH values were examined, either with an acetic pH buffer agent or absent of them. It is indicated that the pH buffering effect of them is dominative when the EN solution is lack of the pH buffer. Under this situation, the EN deposition rate increases with the concentration of complexing agents increasing. The EN deposition rate decreases with further adding the complexing agent when the solution already has enough pH buffer capability. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy obtained during EN deposition illustrates that, in this case, the enhanced reaction resistance is the main reason for a lower deposition rate. However, the influence of polarization caused by mass transfer is not negligible at high complex ratio for sodium citrate and malic acid EN solutions.     

预防和治理大型发电机组脱硫设备的GGH（空气换热器）结垢堵塞有效方法

某发电公司发电机组FGD脱硫设备的GGH换热器原件在使用过程中经常性地发生结垢堵塞,GGH的差压增大,影响了脱硫的效果。在线高压水冲洗与压缩空气吹扫能够减少GGH的差压。但因设备老化和使用时间长,效果不是很好。而化学清洗则能够有效解决GGH的换热原件结垢堵塞的疏通问题。     

制革中的基本有机鞣剂应用

目前为止用于制革的有机鞣剂，种类繁多，不同的鞣剂有各自不同的优缺点。本文详细介绍了几种常见的基本有机鞣剂，对它们的鞣制机理也进行了详细的阐述，同时还对不同类的材料举例说明其应用方法。     

Preparation and characterization of polyacrylamide/palygorskite

Polyacrylamide/palygorskite(PAM/PA) as prepared by solution polymerization of acrylamide (AM) on the γ-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxy-silane (KH-570) modified palygorskite (PA). The influence of monomer concentration, polymerization time, initiator concentration and polymerization temperature on mercury adsorption of PAM/PA was investigated. The maximum adsorption capacity was 135.5 mg/g at optimum polymerization conditions. PAM/PA was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).     

Reaction of sulfur mustard gas,soman and agent VX with nanosized anatase TiO2 and ferrihydrite

Homogeneous hydrolysis of titanium oxo‐sulfate and iron(III) sulfate has been used to prepare anatase TiO₂ and ferrihydrite with high specific surface area. Resulting samples were characterised by specific surface area (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method) and porosity (Barrett–Joyner–Halenda method) measurements, X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The samples of anatase TiO₂ and ferrihydrite were evaluated for their ability to degrade chemical warfare agents (sulfur mustard gas, soman and agent VX) to non‐toxic products. The largest percentage of mustard gas converted into non‐toxic products after the completion of the reaction was 99%. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Using Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization for the Synthesis of Grafted PVDF Copolymers towards the Synthesis of Membranes

Graft copolymers of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with poly(3-sulfopropyl methacrylic acid) (PVDF-g-PSPMA), poly(styrene-4-sulfonic acid) (PVDF-g-PSSA), and poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDVFg-PDMAEMA) were synthesized. The aforementioned grafted copolymers were prepared from the corresponding (PDVF-g-PSPMPS) poly(3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium) and (PVDF-g-PSSS) poly(styrene-4-sulfonate sodium) salts using PVDF as a macroinitiator for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The copolymers were casted into membranes by the phase inversion method in aqueous media. The effects of polymerization time, degree of conversion, chain transfer agent (CTA) additive, crosslink process, and various solvents were investigated. The products were characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The maximum grafting incorporation was up to 26, 20 and 20 wt % for PSSA, PSPMA and PDMAEMA, respectively. The incorporation was reduced using a CTA additive. The most impressive feature of the graft copolymer membranes produced in this study are the improved water fluxes and polyethylene glycol (PEG) rejection properties when compared to the commercially available, pristine PVDF.     

The Inactivation Mechanism of Human Group IIA Phospholipase A2 by Scalaradial

Secretory phospholipases A₂ (sPLA₂s) are implicated in the pathogenesis of several inflammation diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, septic shock, psoriasis, and asthma. Thus, an understanding of their inactivation mechanisms could be useful for the development of new classes of chemical selective inhibitors. In the marine environment, several bioactive terpenoids possess interesting anti‐inflammatory activity, often through covalent and/or noncovalent inactivation of sPLA₂. Herein, we report the molecular mechanism of human group IIA phospholipase A₂ (sPLA₂‐IIA) inactivation by Scalaradial (SLD), a marine 1,4‐dialdehyde terpenoid isolated from the sponge Cacospongia mollior and endowed with a significant anti‐inflammatory profile. Our results have been collected by a combination of biochemical approaches, advanced mass spectrometry, surface plasmon resonance, and molecular modeling. These suggest that SLD acts as a competitive inhibitor. Indeed, the sPLA₂‐IIA inactivation process seems to be driven by the noncovalent recognition process of SLD in the enzyme active site and by chelation of the catalytic calcium ion. In contrast, covalent modification of the enzyme by the SLD dialdehyde moiety emerges as only a minor side event in the ligand–enzyme interaction. These results could be helpful for the rational design of new PLA₂ inhibitors that would be able to selectively target the enzyme active site.