Toward optimization of a robust low-cost sulfonated-polyethersulfone containing layered double hydroxide for PEM fuel cells

Polyethersulphone (PES) is an aromatic thermoplastic, at low environmental impact, evaluated in this work as a promising candidate for new polymer electrolytes in the PEMFCs technology. A sulfonation procedure has been tuned in order to graft sulfonic acid groups on the polymer chains (sPES) and to make it hydrophilic. Homogeneous membranes with different polymer's sulfonation degrees (SD%) have demonstrated excellent mechanical properties and very low permeability toward methanol (important in the DMFCs), even if low proton conductivity. Nanocomposite sPES membranes were prepared by dispersion of highly hydrophilic lamellar particles such as layered double hydroxide (LDH) in the polymer. Deep investigations performed by a combination of PFG-NMR, EIS, XRD, DMA, and scanning electron microscopy have evidenced the exfoliation of the lamellae in polymer matrix. However, a certain anisotropy was evidenced both in the morphology and molecular diffusion, favored in the longitudinal direction (parallel to surface), while completely inhibited in the cross-section. This finding is most likely induced by the polymer structure, therefore particular attention must be paid to the choice of the filler and preparation of the composites. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47884.     

包含热模型的大功率MOSFET新型电路模型

功率转换器的功率密度越来越高，发热问题越来越严重，这种功率转换器的设计对现代大功率半导体技术提出了新的挑战；因而，热问题的优化设计和核实变得比大功率器件的电模型更加重要，本文提出一种新的PSPICE模型，可以利用它计算MOSFET芯片在瞬变过程中的温度。其中的热阻可以从制造商提供的产品使用说明书得到。本文介绍的模型提供发热和电气参数之间的动态关系。它建立了与许可的热环境的关系，例如，栅极驱动电路、负载、以及散热器的分析与优化设计。利用这个模型可以改善散热器的设计。由于决定功率损耗的参数是分布在一定范围内，受生产制造的影响很大，因而散热器的设计往往由于无法预先知道功率损耗而无法进行。     

From the individual element test to finite element templates: Evolution of the patch test

This paper starts a sequence of three articles that follow an unconventional approach in finite element research. The ultimate objective is to construct high-performance elements and element-level error estimators for those elements. The approach takes off from our previous work in high-performance elements and culminates with the development of finite element templates. The present paper concentrates on the patch test and evolved versions of the test that have played a key role in this research. Following a brief review of the historical roots, we present the Individual Element Test (IET) of Bergan and Hanssen in an expanded context that encompasses several important classes of new elements. The relationship of the IET to the multielement forms A, B and C of the patch test and to the single-element test are investigated. An important consequence of the IET application is that the element stiffness equations decompose naturally into basic and higher-order parts. The application of this decomposition to the “sanitization” of the non-convergent BCIZ element is described and verified with numerical experiments. Two sequel papers in preparation are subtitled ‘the algebraic approach’ and ‘element-level error estimation’. These apply the fundamental decomposition to the derivation of templates for specific mechanical elements and to the construction of element-level error estimators, respectively.     

On a circuit theory approach to evaluate the stray capacitances oftwo coupled inductors

This paper provides a method for evaluating three lumped equivalent capacitances which take into account the physical effects of stray capacitances in two coupled inductors. Capacitance evaluation is performed in two steps: (i) initially, the resistance and leakage inductance of each winding, together with the magnetic core equivalent impedance, are evaluated by means of discrete parameter estimation; (ii) successively, the three equivalent capacitances are evaluated by resolving a linear set of three algebraical equations after the natural oscillation frequencies of the two coupled inductors in experimental tests are determined. The paper provides both the definitions and the mathematical theory on which the method is based. The actual response of two coupled inductors was compared with the response of the identified model; tests showed a good correlation between them     

Direct Methods Optimised for Solving Crystal Structure by Powder Diffraction Data: Limits,Strategies, and Prospects

The ab-initio crystal structure solution by powder diffraction data requires great efforts because of the collapse of the experimental information onto the one dimensional 2θ axis of the pattern. Different strategies will be described aiming at improving the process of extraction of the integrated intensities from the experimental pattern in order to make more straightforward the structure solution process by direct methods. Particular attention will be devoted to the EXPO program. Some of its performance will be analysed and results will be shown.     

Cannabidiol and (-)Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol are neuroprotective antioxidants

The neuroprotective actions of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids were examined in rat cortical neuron cultures exposed to toxic levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate toxicity was reduced by both cannabidiol, a nonpsychoactive constituent of marijuana, and the psychotropic cannabinoid (-)Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Cannabinoids protected equally well against neurotoxicity mediated by N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, 2-amino-3-(4-butyl-3-hydroxyisoxazol-5-yl)propionic acid receptors, or kainate receptors. N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor-induced toxicity has been shown to be calcium dependent; this study demonstrates that 2-amino-3-(4-butyl-3-hydroxyisoxazol-5-yl)propionic acid/kainate receptor-type neurotoxicity is also calcium-dependent, partly mediated by voltage sensitive calcium channels. The neuroprotection observed with cannabidiol and THC was unaffected by cannabinoid receptor antagonist, indicating it to be cannabinoid receptor independent. Previous studies have shown that glutamate toxicity may be prevented by antioxidants. Cannabidiol, THC and several synthetic cannabinoids all were demonstrated to be antioxidants by cyclic voltametry. Cannabidiol and THC also were shown to prevent hydroperoxide-induced oxidative damage as well as or better than other antioxidants in a chemical (Fenton reaction) system and neuronal cultures. Cannabidiol was more protective against glutamate neurotoxicity than either ascorbate or alpha-tocopherol, indicating it to be a potent antioxidant. These data also suggest that the naturally occurring, nonpsychotropic cannabinoid, cannabidiol, may be a potentially useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of oxidative neurological disorders such as cerebral ischemia.     

Pulse height defect in pCVD and scCVD diamond based detectors

Polycrystalline (pCVD) and single crystal (scCVD) diamond films grown from Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), if sufficiently pure at Raman analysis, are very good materials for beam or flux monitors inside accelerators or nuclear reactors. This is because they are very hard to damage in high radiation fields and very resistant to high temperatures. Films of pCVD diamond are, however, not so good as spectroscopy detectors due to inhomogeneities induced by their growth in grains with the consequent presence of grain boundaries which worsen their energy resolution. The latter can be significantly improved by growing scCVD diamond films onto HPHT synthetic diamond substrates. We have shown that it is possible to measure the density of defects inside diamond specimens using as probes suitable penetrating nuclear radiations. With the preliminary results reported here we'll show that, bombarding CVD diamond films grown at Roma “Tor Vergata” with energetic protons and ⁴He, ⁶Li and ¹²C ions produced in the accelerators of Catania laboratories, the pulse height defects are higher than those in silicon detectors and likewise well described by a power law in the deposited energy. Furthermore, we'll show that pulse heights for the same particles seem to depend on the duration of the measurement, thus exhibiting a sort of depolarization of the insulator when exposed to the electric voltage which makes it a particle detector.     

Suitability of the SWAT Model for Simulating Water Discharge and Sediment Load in a Karst Watershed of the Semiarid Mediterranean Basin

Water Resources Management - This paper presents a case study conducted in the Upper Argos River, in southeast Spain, to verify the applicability of the SWAT model for prediction of the water...