Control of free-radical emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate by oxygen injection. II. Experimental study

Oxygen injection has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated as an effective control measure for limiting the rate of heat release and altering the rate of polymerization in emulsion processes. A detailed mathematical model has been previously developed to describe the system behavior with and without oxygen injection. A simple lab scale apparatus was constructed and run extensively. Only trace quantities of oxygen are needed to inhibit the reaction completely. The facile response makes this method attractive for fast temperature control. However, because of the rapid penetration of dissolved oxygen into the polymer particles, growing radical chains are terminated prematurely, lowering product molecular weights. To minimize this detrimental effect, pulsed oxygen control is used and extensive experimental work was performed to determine the effects of controller set points on molecular weight. Moderate oxygen flows and moderate set point temperatures are found to give the optimal response without significant lowering of the final molecular weight. Injected quantities agree well with the order-of-magnitude sparging calculations needed to completely stop initiation. However, complete agreement between model simulations and experimental results was not reached due to an unmeasured loss of monomer from the reactor. Chain transfer to monomer is found to be important in modeling the polymer molecular weight. It has, however, a negligible effect on the reaction rate.     

A variable-precision square root implementation for field programmable gate arrays

Applications requiring variable-precision arithmetic often rely on software implementations because custom hardware is either unavailable or too costly to build. By using the flexibility of the Xilinx XC4010 field programmable gate arrays, we present a hardware implementation of square root that is easily tailored to any desired precision. Our design consists of three types of modules: a control logic module, a data path module to extend the precision in 4-bit increments, and an interface module to span multiple chips. Our data path design avoids the common problem of large fan-out delay in the critical path. Cycle time is independent of precision, and operation latency can be independent of interchip communication delays.Notation S_j square root digit of weight 2^–j - S _j {–1, 0, 1} - S[j] computed square root value as of stepj - S _j ^s sign bit in the representation ofS _j in sign and magnitude form - S _j ^m magnitude bit in the representation ofS _j in sign and magnitude form - w[j] residual at stepj in two's complement carry-save representation - a sum vector in the carry-save representation of 2w[j] - b carry vector in the carry-save representation of 2w[j] - a _i bit of weight 2^–i in the sum vector,a - b_i bit of weight 2^–i in the carry vector,b - T[j]=–S[j – 1]s_j – s _j ² 2^–(j+1) T _i bit of weight 2^–i inT     

EPW: A program for calculating the electron–phonon coupling using maximally localized Wannier functions

EPW (Electron–Phonon coupling using Wannier functions) is a program written in Fortran90 for calculating the electron–phonon coupling in periodic systems using density-functional perturbation theory and maximally localized Wannier functions. EPW can calculate electron–phonon interaction self-energies, electron–phonon spectral functions, and total as well as mode-resolved electron–phonon coupling strengths. The calculation of the electron–phonon coupling requires a very accurate sampling of electron–phonon scattering processes throughout the Brillouin zone, hence reliable calculations can be prohibitively time-consuming. EPW combines the Kohn–Sham electronic eigenstates and the vibrational eigenmodes provided by the Quantum ESPRESSO package (see Giannozzi et al., 2009 [1]) with the maximally localized Wannier functions provided by the wannier90 package (see Mostofi et al., 2008 [2]) in order to generate electron–phonon matrix elements on arbitrarily dense Brillouin zone grids using a generalized Fourier interpolation. This feature of EPW leads to fast and accurate calculations of the electron–phonon coupling, and enables the study of the electron–phonon coupling in large and complex systems.

Program summary

Program title: EPWCatalogue identifier: AEHA_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEHA_v1_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: GNU Public LicenseNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 304 443No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1 487 466Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Fortran 90Computer: Any architecture with a Fortran 90 compilerOperating system: Any environment with a Fortran 90 compilerHas the code been vectorized or parallelized?: Yes, optimized for 1 to 64 processorsRAM: Heavily system dependent, as small as a few MBSupplementary material: A copy of the “EPW/examples” directory containing the phonon binary files can be downloadedClassification: 7External routines: MPI, Quantum-ESPRESSO package [1], BLAS, LAPACK, FFTW. (The necessary Blas, Lapack and FFTW routines are included in the Quantum-ESPRESSO package [1].)Nature of problem: The calculation of the electron–phonon coupling from first-principles requires a very accurate sampling of electron–phonon scattering processes throughout the Brillouin zone; hence reliable calculations can be prohibitively timeconsuming.Solution method: EPW makes use of a real-space formulation and combines the Kohn–Sham electronic eigenstates and the vibrational eigenmodes provided by the Quantum-ESPRESSO package with the maximally localized Wannier functions provided by the wannier90 package in order to generate electron–phonon matrix elements on arbitrarily dense Brillouin zone grids using a generalized Fourier interpolation.Running time: Single processor examples typically take 5–10 minutes.References:

• [1] 

  P. Giannozzi, et al., J. Phys. Condens. Matter 21 (2009), 395502, http://www.quantum-espresso.org/.

     

65nm半导体工艺发展策略

本文研究Altera在65nm工艺上的工程策略,介绍公司如何为客户降低生产和计划风险,并同时从根本上提高密度、性能,及降低成本和功耗.     

可编程器件为多种应用提供强大驱动力

几年前,超过半数的半导体消费均归功于企业用户,而如今,普通消费者已成为推动这一消费增长的主要推动力.从手机到电视,从计算机到汽车,普通消费者在半导体领域的需求占主导地位,市场竞争也比以往任何时候都更为激烈,成功与否取决于能否推出独树一帜的产品,而价格则是最重要的决定性因素.对系统制造商而言,这意味着必须展开激烈的市场"拼杀",而产品的生命周期则日益缩短.与此同时,市场细分进一步明显,过去的大规模市场被细分为更为狭窄的市场领域,只有提供具有各种不同特性、功能和地域特征的产品才能充分满足客户的特定需求.     

Chemically-speciated on-road PM2.5 motor vehicle emission factors in Hong Kong

PM_2.5 (particle with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm) was measured in different microenvironments of Hong Kong (including one urban tunnel, one Hong Kong/Mainland boundary roadside site, two urban roadside sites, and one urban ambient site) in 2003. The concentrations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), water-soluble ions, and up to 40 elements (Na to U) were determined. The average PM_2.5 mass concentrations were 229 ± 90, 129 ± 95, 69 ± 12, 49 ± 18 µg m^− 3 in the urban tunnel, cross boundary roadside, urban roadside, and urban ambient environments, respectively. Carbonaceous particles (sum of organic material [OM] and EC) were the dominant constituents, on average, accounting for ∼ 82% of PM_2.5 emissions in the tunnel, ∼ 70% at the three roadside sites, and ∼ 48% at the ambient site, respectively. The OC/EC ratios were 0.6 ± 0.2 and 0.8 ± 0.1 at the tunnel and roadside sites, respectively, suggesting carbonaceous aerosols were mainly from vehicle exhausts. Higher OC/EC ratio (1.9 ± 0.7) occurred at the ambient site, indicating contributions from secondary organic aerosols. The PM_2.5 emission factor for on-road diesel-fueled vehicles in the urban area of Hong Kong was 257 ± 31 mg veh^− 1 km^− 1, with a composition of ∼ 51% EC, ∼ 26% OC, and ∼ 9% SO₄⁼. The other inorganic ions and elements made up ∼ 11% of the total PM_2.5 emissions. OC composed the largest fraction (∼ 51%) in gasoline and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) emissions, followed by EC (∼ 19%). Diesel engines showed higher emission rates than did gasoline and LPG engines for most pollutants, except for V, Br, Sb, and Ba.     

Percutaneous fibrin glue therapy of meningeal cysts of the sacral spine

The release of extracellular proteases by the axonal growth cone has been proposed to facilitate its movement by digesting cell-cell and cell-matrix contacts in the path of the advancing growth cone. The serine protease plasminogen activator (PA) has been shown to be secreted and focally concentrated at axonal growth cones of cultured mammalian neurons. Thus, PAs are well-placed to play an active role in growth cone movement and axonal pathfinding in development and regeneration. We discuss recent findings that suggest that the biological action of these proteases is more complex than originally thought.