Decomposition of Two Aluminum Sulfates and Characterization of the Resultant Aluminas

Two special types of anhydrous aluminum sulfate with extreme grain shapes were prepared; one, obtained by precipitation from concentrated sulfuric acid solution, is rhombohedral near cubic single-crystal grains and the other, from acetic acid solution, consists of very thin flaky particles. The morphology of sulfate and calcined alumina, the sulfate decomposition, the η-α alumina transformation, and the crystallite growth of α alumina were studied and compared with those processes for reagent-grade sulfate. The morphology of anhydrous sulfate was shown to greatly affect the heat-treatment characteristics of alumina and the sulfate decomposition behavior.     

11B and 27Al Nuclear Quadrupole Interactions in SiO2-B2O3-Al2O3-R2O Glass Systems

Quadrupole interactions of ¹¹B and ²⁷Al in SiO₂-B₂O₃-Al₂O₃-R₂O glass systems were investigated to determine the structure of these glasses, which should be amenable to chemical strengthening. The ratio of BO₄ units to BO₃ units approached unity as the R₂O/Al₂O₃ ratio for compounds having fixed B₂O₃ contents approached unity. Nuclear quadrupole coupling constants ( e²Qq/h =2.73 to 2.93 MHz) were measured for the NMR spectra of ¹¹B triangles. The line shapes of ²⁷Al spectra varied with chemical composition, but a few glasses exhibited ²⁷Al line shapes similar to those of the AlO₄ triclusters in SiO₂-Al₂O₃-Na₂O glasses. Compositional trends in the formation of BO₄ and AlO₄ were deduced from the NMR spectra.     

Optical and EPR Studies of Redox Interactions of Polyvalent Ions (Cr, Cu) in Glass

Chromium centers in isolated Cr ions and Cr(III)-Cu(II) redox interactions were investigated by optical and EPR spectra. Line shapes and intensities of high-field Cr(III)-Cu(II) superimposed EPR absorption lines were sensitive to alkali content of host glasses. High-field chromium g values (1.94 to 1.99) and intensities (190 to 3600) were calculated. The increase in g values from 1.96 to 1.98 is related to an increase in Cr(V) and to a conversion from Cu(I) to Cu(II) with increased alkali content. Two components of Cr powder spectra near g = 2.0 and g = 5.0 correspond to isolated octahedral Cr centers described by Landry et al. Cr-Cr pair structure was not observed for low Cr₂O₃ concentrations. Three components of optical absorption bands near 340 nm, 430 to 460 nm, and 600 nm were measured in Cr(III)-Cu(II) redox systems. Electronic interactions of Cr(III)-Cu(II) redox systems and the structure of Cr centers are discussed.     

A successive projection method for binary pattern recognition with multilayer feedforward neural networks

Error back-propagation (BP) is one of the most popular ideas used in learning algorithms for multilayer neural networks. In BP algorithms, there are two types of learning schemes, online learning and batch learning. The online BP has been applied to various problems in practice, because of its simplicity of implementation. However, efficient implementation of the online BP usually requires an ad hoc rule for determining the learning rate of the algorithm. In this paper, we propose a new learning algorithm called SPM, which is derived from the successive projection method for solving a system of nonlinear inequalities. Although SPM can be regarded as a modification of online BP, the former algorithm determines the learning rate (step-size) adoptively based on the output for each input pattern. SPM may also be considered a modification of the globally guided back-propagation (GGBP) proposed by Tang and Koehler. Although no theoretical proof of the convergence for SPM is given, some simulation results on pattern classification problems indicate that SPM is more effective and robust than the standard online BP and GGBP     

NUCLEATION AND GROWTH OF OXIDE NANOPARTICLES PREPARED BY INDUCTION THERMAL PLASMAS

The reactive evaporation method of injected metal powders was investigated for preparing oxide nanoparticles. The method has advantages such as evaporation is enhancement of the injected powder owing to exothermic reaction heat of the metal powder oxidation in induction thermal plasmas. Tangential gas flow injection to the plasma tail flame controls the diameter and the yield of the oxide nanoparticles. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of the injection gas flow on the preparation mechanism of oxide nanoparticles in thermal plasmas by experimental work and numerical analysis. An increase in the flow rate of the injection gas leads to an increase in the diameter as well as the yield of the prepared nanoparticles. Numerical analysis for nucleation and growth provides the preparation mechanism of the oxide nanoparticles; however, a more sophisticated model should be developed.     

Finite spectrum assignment of linear systems with a class of non-commensurate delays

This paper is concerned with finite spectrum assignment of linear systems with non-commensurate delays. It is proved that if a feedforward pass between states variables does not have multi non-commensurate delays in parallel but only one or no delay in series, then the system is finite spectrum assignable even though the feedback pass has multi non-commensurate delays in parallel.     

Heat-induced Gelation of Chicken Gizzard Myosin

Chicken gizzard myosin solution formed a gel when heated above 40°C. The rigidity of the gel was constant above 65°C. Maximum pH for gel formation was 5.9 at 0.6M and 5.7 at 0.15M KCl. Higher rigidity of the myosin gel was observed at low ionic strength than at high ionic strength. Rigidities of myosin at 0.6M KCl increased by (mg/mL)^2.5 and at 0.15M (mg/mL)^{1, 4} myosin concentration. The strength of gizzard myosin gels was comparable to that of myosin gels from chicken breast muscle under similar conditions.     

Pore Structure of Calcium Silicate Hydrate in Hydrated Tricalcium Silicate

Adsorption of N₂ and water vapor was studied in completely hydrated tricalcium silicate and in fully hydrated tricalcium silicate from which Ca(OH)₂ had been extracted. Compared with results obtained using N₂, water vapor adsorption led to increased values for small-pore volume, peak shifts to smaller sizes, and decreased values for large-pore volume. Marked hysteresis was observed in the case of water vapor adsorption; the resorption branch apparently represents the true pore structure. Extraction of Ca(OH)₂ from the paste increased the calculated volume of small pores strikingly, suggesting that adsorption is hindered by Ca(OH)₂; this tendency is more obvious in water vapor adsorption. The adsorption measurements indicate the existence of two kinds of pores, i.e. a wider intergel-particle pore and a smaller pore existing within the gel particle. The latter pore was further classified into intercrystallite and intracrystallite pores.     

Effects of storage temperature and water activity on the survival of bifidobacteria in powder form

Effects of water activity and storage temperature on survival of bifidobacteria in powder form were investigated and kinetic analyses were performed to reveal characteristics of the stability. A significant positive correlation was observed between water activity and natural logarithm of the inactivation rate constant of bifidobacteria powder, indicating that higher water activity induced lower stability of bifidobacteria in powder form. Also, higher temperature condition induced lower survival rate, which was supported by that the stability was followed the Arrhenius theory. These findings constructed a prediction model for bifidobacteria survival in powder form.     

5%乙烯-醋酸乙烯共聚物复合低热水泥浆体的碳化促进养护

采用碳化养护方法促进5%乙烯-醋酸乙烯共聚物复合低热水泥浆体的水化.通过X射线衍射定性及定量分析测定了养护后样品的组成及水泥中硅酸三钙(3CaO·SiO2,C3S)、硅酸二钙(2CaO·SiO2,C2S)的水化率;利用带固体样品测试装置的全有机碳素分析仪测定了样品所吸收的CO2量;采用水银压入法检测了样品的孔径分布.结果显示:碳化养护大大促进了低热水泥的水化,并有球霰石生成.样品中的总孔隙体积也明显减少,但有大量较大孔径的毛细孔隙存在.碳化养护前,对样品进行水中预养护可以减少这些毛细孔隙,但不利于水泥的水化并导致CO2吸收量及抗折强度显著降低.