A new method for manufacturing nanostructured electrodes on glass substrates

The present paper describes a new method for manufacturing a nanostructured porous layer of TiO₂ on a conducting glass substrate for use in a dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cell. The method involves deposition of a layer of semiconductor particles onto a conducting substrate and compression of the particle layer to form a mechanically stable, electrically conducting, and porous nanostructured film at room temperature. Photoelectrochemical characteristics and morphology of the resulting nanostructured films are presented. The potential use of the new manufacturing method in the future applications of nanostructured systems is discussed.     

Crystallographic electron microscopy

We present a family of techniques for the transmission electron microscope that generate surface zone-axis patterns. These patterns display the variation of the diffracted-beam intensity as a function of the angle of the incident electrons. The conditions of the experiments are those of reflection high-energy electron diffraction at near grazing incidence. The techniques are: surface convergent-beam diffraction, a surface analogue of the Tanaka method and a modified double-rocking scheme. Experimental results are presented for diffraction from surfaces of MgO and MoS₂. We anticipate that surface zone-axis patterns (surface ZAPs) will become established as an important tool for surface characterization, especially when used in conjunction with high-resolution surface imaging and surface energy loss spectroscopy; surface ZAPs may be expected to play, in surface analysis, a role analogous to that played by convergent-beam diffraction in normal transmission electron microscopy.     

Putting it all together – Formal verification of the VAMP

In the verified architecture microprocessor (VAMP) project we have designed, functionally verified, and synthesized a processor with full DLX instruction set, delayed branch, Tomasulo scheduler, maskable nested precise interrupts, pipelined fully IEEE compatible dual precision floating point unit with variable latency, and separate instruction and data caches. The verification has been carried out in the theorem proving system PVS. The processor has been implemented on a Xilinx FPGA. A shorter version of this article with the title “Instantiating uninterpreted functional units and memory system: functional verification of the VAMP” appeared in [8]. The work reported here was done while all the authors were with Saarland University.     

Industrial energy efficiency: the need for investment decision support from a manager perspective

Global competition, commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and a deregulated, integrated European electricity market will in all probability increase the demand for energy efficiency on the part of companies in Sweden. Investment decisions are an important part of meeting the new demands, because they decide the future efficiency of industrial energy systems. The objective of this study is to investigate, from a managerial perspective, the need to improve decision support in some industries, which can help to facilitate and improve investment decisions concerning energy efficiency. This work has been conducted through in-depth interviews with representatives for a number of energy-intensive companies and non-energy-intensive companies from different sectors. One need that was identified was the improvement of working methods in order to support the decision-making process. Here, external players seem to be playing an increasingly important role. Access to correct information, better follow-up activities, and transparent, understandable calculations are also considered to be important. The study will form the foundation for subsequent work on decision support and energy efficiency in industry.     

Engineering multiple properties of a protein by combinatorial mutagenesis

A method for simultaneously engineering multiple properties of a protein, based on the observed additivity of effects of individual mutations, is presented. We show that, for the gene V protein of bacteriophage f1, effects of double mutations on both protein stability and DNA binding affinity are approximately equal to the sums of the effects of the constituent single mutations. This additivity of effects implies that it is possible to deliberately construct mutant proteins optimized for multiple properties by combination of appropriate single mutations chosen from a characterized library.     

Electrical heat tracing: international harmonization-now and in thefuture

In the past, electrical heat tracing has been thought of as a minor addition to plant utilities. Today, it is recognized as a critical subsystem to be monitored and controlled. A marriage between process, mechanical, and electrical engineers must take place to ensure that optimum economic results are produced. The Internet, expert systems, and falling costs of instrumentation will all contribute to more reliable control systems and improved monitoring systems. There is a harmonization between Europe and North America that should facilitate design and installation using common components. The future holds many opportunities to optimize the design     

High dietary calcium level decreases colonic phytate degradation in pigs fed a rapeseed diet

The degradation of phytate (inositol hexaphosphate) in rapeseed meal diet not containing phytase activity was studied in 15 growing ileum-fistulated pigs. Stomach and small intestinal degradation and total gastrointestinal degradation were compared. The effect of addition of calcium carbonate to the rapeseed meal diet at two levels (9.2 and 18.5 g/kg diet) was investigated. A commercial barley-wheat-soybean diet with intrinsic phytase activity was used as reference. Phytate and its hydrolysis products in diets, ileal digesta and feces were determined by HPLC ion-pair chromatography. Hydrolysis of phytate in the stomach and small intestine was 35-45% in pigs fed the rapeseed meal diet independent of calcium addition, and 65% in pigs fed the reference diet. Total gastrointestinal degradation of phytate in pigs fed the rapeseed diet was 97, 77 and 42% (P < 0.001) when calcium intakes were 4.5, 9.9 and 15 g/d, respectively; total gastrointestinal degradation was 72% in pigs fed the reference diet. The intestinal phytate degradation pattern, when rapeseed diet was fed, indicated the activity of an unspecific phosphatase, whereas that of the reference diet indicated intrinsic dietary phytase activity. We conclude that dietary supplementation of calcium carbonate decreases the phytate degradation in the colon of pigs, but not in the stomach and small intestine.