2,4,6-Triphenyl- thiazolo[3,2-a]-s-Triazine as a Stabilizer for single base propellant

2,4,6-Triphenyl-2,3,4,7-tetrahydro-thiazolo[3,2-a]-s-triazine is used as a stabilizer for single base propellant and gave good results with the stability tests. Comparing the results of the stability and storage tests at 80°C, 90°C and 100°C with the results of the same tests after using diphenylamine instead of the thiazolo compound gave the same results without difference between the two stabilizers.     

An area-efficient VLSI implementation for programmable FIR filters based on a parameterized divide and conquer approach

In this paper, we propose an optimal VLSI implementation for a class of programmable FIR filters with binary coefficients, whose architecture is based on a parameterized divide and conquer approach. The proposed design is shown to be easily extendable to FIR filters with multibit coefficients of arbitrary sign. The area efficiency achieved in comparison to direct form realization is demonstrated by VLSI implementation examples, synthesized in TSMC 0.18-μm single poly six metal layer CMOS process using state-of-art VLSI EDA tools. The possible saving in average power consumption is estimated using gate-level power analysis. Suggestions for applications and topics for further research conclude the paper.     

On the Dieudonné Theorem in Reflexive Banach Spaces

The converse part of the Dieudonné theorem on the closedness of the difference of two closed convex sets is establish. It is proved that, in a reflexive Banach setting, the sufficient conditions given by Dieudonné when applied for the weak topology, are also necessary.     

Effect of added ionomer on morphology and properties of PP/organoclay nanocomposites

Ethylene-methacrylic acid ionomer (Surlyn) with concentration up to 20 wt% based on total weight of polymer resin was added into polypropylene (PP)/organoclay hybrids. The microstructure, rheological properties, crystallization properties and mechanical properties of the obtained nanocomposites have been investigated. The addition of ionomer markedly enlarged interlayer spacing of the platelets and led to an improved degree of exfoliation. Moreover, clay silicates were found to selectively disperse either inside the ionomer phase or at the phase boundary. Compared to the binary immiscible blends, an improved interfacial adhesion was achieved for PP/Surlyn/OMMT hybrids. Unlike PP/Surlyn binary blends, the viscoelastic properties of the hybrids significantly increased with increasing Surlyn concentration, which could be attributed to the improved clay dispersion and the contribution of silicate layers at the interface between PP and Surlyn. A synergistic role between Surlyn and clay was also found to suppress the crystallization of PP matrix. In addition, PP/Surlyn/OMMT hybrids exhibited superior tensile strain compared to the corresponding PP/PP-g-MA/OMMT. Both tensile strength and elongation at break showed maximum at Surlyn concentration of 5 wt%. By comparing the experimental tensile yield strength with model prediction, it was suggested that the clay platelets localized at the interface could play a role of interfacial activation to some extent.     

Some Semiconductor Properties of Carboxymethyl Cellulose-Copper Complexes

Metal chelates of three grades of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) (LI-L3) with Cu(II) ions, either originating from CuCl₂ or CuSO₄, were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectra, and electrical conductivity studies. The results showed that the degree of substitution of CMCs and the origin of the Cu(II) ion have a profound effect on the amount of metal included in the polymer complexes and the structure and the electrical conductivity of the prepared complexes. CMC acts as a uninegatively charged bidentate ligand when it is chelated with Cu(II) of CuCl₂ via the carboxymethyl group and exhibits the formula Cu(L)₂, whereas it acts as a binegatively charged bitentate ligand when it is chelated with CuSO₄ via the carboxymethyl and secondary hydroxyl groups and exhibits the formula CuL.2H₂O. The investigation revealed that the electrical conductivity depends on the temperature and has two maximum peaks. The values of the activation energy for the conductivity of CMC and their complexes indicated that the samples changed from a low-semiconductor to a high-semiconductor property with heating. It is found that CMC-Cu(II) complexes formed from CuSO₄ exhibit a high-semiconductor property compared to complexes derived from CuCl₂.     

Hierarchical scheduling in an intelligent environmental control system

This paper describes the design and implementation of a hierarchical scheduling subsystem and graphical user interface in an intelligent environmental control system. The hierarchical scheduling system is capable of managing all environmental events occurring in widely different time scales as specified by the user. We employ a knowledge representation scheme called a system entity structure to specify the environmental schedules in a hierarchical fashion. A system entity structure called TAL (Timed Action Language) is developed. TAL organizes a family of all possible long-/mid-/short-term schedules from which a specific schedule can be pruned by the user through graphical interface.Research was done while the author was a member of the Environmental Research Lab, University of Arizona. A Preliminary version of the paper was presented at 2nd International Conference on Industrial & Engineering Applications of AI and Expert System [5].     

Bio-film formation on stainless steels Part 2. The role of seasonal changes, seawater composition and surface roughness

Bio-film formation on type 254 SMO stainless steel in Arabian Gulfwater was followed by measuring the variation of the open circuit potentials of test coupons under a variety of conditions. The time-potential curves exhibited two plateaus corresponding to oxide thickening and later to bio film development. The rate of film formation was found to depend on the ambient seawater temperature, which varied with the season. The reduction of the biological activity of the water through additions of pre-boiled and cooled seawater resulted in the retardation of bio-film formation and in the shift of the final steady-state potential towards less positive values. Similar behaviour was obtained when concentrating seawater by the addition of solid salt. The simultaneous reduction of biological activity and of salt content resulted. The characteristics ofthe formed bio-film depend on the nature ofthe metal surfaces. Smooth surfaces allowed the development of thin clear films while thicker dark films formed on coarse rough surfaces. These were usually associated with the growth of worm-like structures, initiating crevice and pitting corrosion.     

Measurement of Power Frequency Fluctuations Using the FFT

A new method for detecting fluctuations in the fundamental frequency component of a power system, by relating it to a leakage coefficient in the FFT, is presented. The phenomenon of leakage in the FFT is used advantageously to increase spectral resolution. The leakage coefficient is a quantitative measure of the deviation from the fundamental frequency component with respect to the sampling frequency. Theoretical aspects are considered along with a method for on-line implementation.     

Packing scheme for mean-filtering of an 8 bit image

Filtering is one of the most well known low-level image processing procedures. In most filtering procedures, the potential capability of an ALU in a processor is not fully used. The authors propose a packed mean filtering scheme. The scheme packs several pixels into a unit and processes them simultaneously. Experiments are held under three distinct machines to evaluate the performance of the scheme. The result shows that the scheme enhances processing speed in all three environments