YAG thermal barrier coatings deposited by suspension and solution precursor thermal spray

Yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) is a promising topcoat material for thermal barrier coatings due to its high temperature stability and better CMAS (calcium-magnesium-alumino-silicate) resistance. YAG topcoats were deposited by suspension and solution precursor high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spray. The relationships between processing, microstructure and final properties were studied through a range of characterization techniques and thermal cycling tests. The microstructure of the as-sprayed YAG topcoat from stoichiometric solution precursor (SP-YAG) had distributed pores and inter-splat boundaries, while the as-sprayed topcoat produced from suspension (S-YAG) had vertical and branched micro cracks, pores, and inter-splat boundaries. Both as-sprayed coatings were composed of amorphous phase, hexagonal yttrium aluminium perovskite (YAP) and cubic YAG. In thermal cycling tests, 20% of SP-YAG failure was reached after the 10th cycle; whereas, S-YAG reached the failure criteria between the 60th and 70th cycle. The failure of both the SP-YAG and the S-YAG topcoats occurred due to thermal stresses during the thermal cycling.     

Merging Results for Distributed Content Based Image Retrieval

Searching information through the Internet often requires users to separately contact several digital libraries, use each library interface to author the query, analyze retrieval results and merge them with results returned by other libraries. Such a solution could be simplified by using a centralized server that acts as a gateway between the user and several distributed repositories: The centralized server receives the user query, forwards the user query to federated repositories—possibly translating the query in the specific format required by each repository—and fuses retrieved documents for presentation to the user. To accomplish these tasks efficiently, the centralized server should perform some major operations such as: resource selection, query transformation and data fusion. In this paper we report on some aspects of MIND, a system for managing distributed, heterogeneous multimedia libraries (MIND, 2001, http://www.mind-project.org). In particular, this paper focusses on the issue of fusing results returned by different image repositories. The proposed approach is based on normalization of matching scores assigned to retrieved images by individual libraries. Experimental results on a prototype system show the potential of the proposed approach with respect to traditional solutions.     

Full quantum treatment of surface roughness effects in Silicon nanowire and double gate FETs

We review recent results on the effect of surface roughness on the transport properties of ultra-short devices like Silicon nanowire and double-gate FETs. We use a full quantum treatment within the non equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) formalism which allows us to take into account quantum confinement, quantum phase interference, out-of-equilibrium, and quasi-ballistic transport and focus on transfer characteristics and low-field mobility.     

Phase stabilization in plasma sprayed BaTiO3

This paper presents a comparison of properties of BaTiO₃ ceramics prepared by two different production methods: gas-stabilized plasma spraying (GSP) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). Samples of both materials were evaluated by various techniques, the goal being to detect the Curie temperature of the ferroelectric transformation between the tetragonal and the cubic phase. All tests, resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, dielectric measurements, differential scanning calorimetry and temperature-resolved X-ray diffraction (XRD), used in combination, proved the absence of this transformation in the case of GSP coating up to 500 °C. Similarly, the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic transition temperature is shifted downwards, this transition probably taking place in a small fraction of the volume of coating. The SPS samples exhibit several anomalies, such as a strong anisotropy of relative permittivity, but their phase transformations were detected in the usual temperature ranges.     

Emissivity errors in the vegetation cover method caused by the lack of atmospheric correction

The influence of the lack of atmospheric correction of the optical images used to calculate land surface emissivity (LSE) was assessed. When thermal emissivity is determined by the vegetation cover method (VCM), information from the solar spectrum is required to calculate the vegetation cover fraction. The atmospheric correction was obtained in this study by using a combination of the dark dense vegetation (DDV) method and the Second Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6S) code. The methodology was applied to a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image of Tomelloso, Spain. We determined that the emissivity between 10 and 12 µm only increases by 0.4% (which represents a systematic error of approximately +0.2 K) when atmospherically corrected reflectances are used in relation to non‐corrected Tomelloso scenes. Nevertheless, other test areas could yield larger differences.     

Use of ozone in detoxification of aflatoxin B1 in red pepper

Red pepper (Capsicum annuum) is one of the most important agricultural products of Turkey. For public health and export requirements, red pepper must be produced free of hazardous contaminants. However, previous investigations showed that red pepper could be contaminated by aflatoxin above the limits that may be critical for health. In this study, use of the high oxidising power of ozone achieved detoxification of aflatoxin. Samples were subjected to ozonation at various ozone concentrations (16, 33, 66 mg/l) and exposure times (7.5, 15, 30, 60 min). In summary, the reductions of content of aflatoxin B₁ in flaked and chopped red peppers were 80% and 93% after exposures to 33 mg/l ozone and 66 mg/l ozone for 60 min, respectively.     

Effects of UV-C Light Processing on Some Quality Characteristics of Grape Juices

White and red grape juices (GJs) were subjected to ultraviolet C (UV-C) light as a non-thermal preservation technology using a coiled tube UV-C reactor with nine lamps. The effects of UV-C light on microbial (total aerobic count and yeast and mould count) and some chemical quality characteristics (total phenolics, antioxidant capacity, anthocyanin and polymeric colour, etc.) of white and red GJs were investigated. The results were compared with control (untreated) and heat-treated juice samples. Single-pass UV-C treatment (12.6 J/mL) of white and red GJs resulted in 3.51 and 3.59 log reductions in total aerobic count and, 2.71 and 2.89 log reductions in yeast and mould counts, respectively. The microbial loads of both GJs were completely eliminated after two passes through the reactor (25.2 J/mL). After UV-C and heat treatments, there were no significant changes in antioxidant capacity, total phenolics, titratable acidity, soluble solids and pH of white and red GJs (P?>?0.05). The losses in monomeric anthocyanins were 6.1% and 8.7% after UV-C treatment of 12.6 and 25.2 J/mL doses, respectively. However, anthocyanin level of red GJ was significantly affected by the heat treatment with an 11.8% loss (P?<?0.05). The percent polymeric colour of the red GJ with heat treatment was significantly higher compared to the colour with the UV-C treatment.