Catalytic aminolysis of epoxide by alumina prepared from amine-protected Al precursor

The catalytic activities of alumina prepared from an Al alkoxide-amine adduct monomer for the reaction of cyclopentene oxide with piperidine was determined after various pretreatments, including calcination and exposure to moisture. They were compared with the activity of alumina prepared by the conventional hydrolysis method. It was found that the as-prepared sample from the alkoxide-amine monomer preparation was five times more active than a conventional preparation, suggesting that it has a higher density of surface Lewis acid sites. However, its activity was much more severely suppressed by exposure to moisture.     

Online and Offline Rotary Regression Analysis of Torque Estimator for Switched Reluctance Motor Drives

A new torque estimator for switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives based on 2-D rotary regression analysis is presented in this paper. The proposed torque estimator is composed of a bicubic regressive polynomial as a function of rotor position and input current. The regressive coefficients can be computed offline or online from the torque characteristics acquired either experimentally or from numerical computation. Furthermore, a torque estimation method by taking mutual coupling into consideration is proposed. It can be seen that the estimated and experimentally obtained self-coupling and mutual-coupling torque characteristics are in good agreement with each other. In addition, the dynamic torque waveforms with and without the mutual coupling, estimated by the proposed estimator, are found to be virtually the same as those obtained from the bicubic spline interpolation for SRM drives with single-pulse voltage, hysteresis current chopping, as well as with voltage pulse width modulation control. The success of all the case studies being reported is a good validation of the usefulness and accuracy of the proposed real-time torque estimator that, as described in this paper, can be used to quickly estimate the instantaneous output torque of SRM drives.     

Microstructure study of Sm,Mn-modified PbTiO3 piezoelectric ceramics by XRD profile-fitting technique

By using the X-ray diffraction profile-fitting technique, the microstructures of Sm, Mn-modified PbTiO₃ piezoelectric ceramic discs, including ferroelectric domain sizes, microstrains, and their variations with the poling strength have been quantitatively investigated. The results manifest that the modified PbTiO₃ ceramics contain a high density of domain walls due to the presence of finely-divided coherent domain structures (tens of nanometres in dimension). The poling treament can evidently influence the domain-size distribution, with a more homogeneous microstructure being developed; however, it simultaneously causes high anisotropic microstrains within the structure which, together with the high density of domain walls, is expected to be responsible for the unusual high electromechanical coupling properties possessed by this material.     

Security concepts for the dynamics of autonomous vehicle networks

The secure operation of autonomous vehicle networks in the presence of adversarial observation is examined, in the context of a canonical double-integrator-network (DIN) model. Specifically, we study the ability of a sentient adversary to estimate the full network’s state, from noisy local measurements of vehicle motions. Algebraic, spectral, and graphical characterizations are provided, which indicate the critical role of the inter-vehicle communication topology and control scheme in achieving security.     

Recent developments of cement chemistry in China: Invited review paper

In recent years, much work has been done by the cement chemists in China centering on energy saving in cement and concrete making and improving the properties of both.     

An SVD-based adaptive robust speech steganography using MDCT coefficient

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Speech is one of the essential ways of communication. The study of speech steganography provides great value in information security. To improve imperceptibility...     

Preparation and characterization of GaN films grown on Ga-diffused Si （111） substrates

Hexagonal GaN films were prepared by nitriding Ga2O3 films with flowing ammonia. Ga2O3 films were deposited on Ga-diffused Si (111) substrates by radio frequency (r.f.) magnetron sputtering. This paper have investigated the change of structural properties of GaN films nitrided in NH3 atmosphere at the temperatures of 850, 900, and 950℃ for 15 min and nitrided at the temperature of 900℃ for 10, 15, and 20 rain, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to analyze the structure, surface morphology and composition of synthesized samples. The results reveal that the as-grown films are polycrystalline GaN with hexagonal wurtzite structure and GaN films with the highest crystal quality can be obtained when nitrided at 900℃ for 15 min.     

Camouflage texture evaluation using a saliency map

Multimedia Systems - Camouflage effect evaluation and examination is an important procedure in digital camouflage pattern design as it is helpful in improving the objectivity and effectiveness...     

Creep effect on dynamic visco-elastic properties of polymer matrix composite

This paper deals with the creep effect on dynamic visco-elastic properties of short fibre reinforced polymer SMC composite. The vibration-creep-vibration test procedure was applied to examine the influence of creep on dynamic modulus E and loss tangent tg of the material. The results show that creep causes appreciable influence on E and tg.     

Entrapping multifunctional dendritic nanoparticles into a hydrogel for local therapeutic delivery and synergetic immunochemotherapy

Nano Research - Developing multifunctional nanoparticles to support new therapy models is a promising and challenging task to address the current dilemma on antitumor treatment. Herein, we...