The challenges in reliable determination of degradation rates and lifetime in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

The durability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) needs to be further improved to cope with application requirements and economic competitiveness. This article highlights the challenges in the reliable determination of degradation rates and lifetime. The reliable evaluation of performance degradation rates is fundamental to quantify and benchmark durability and to allow comparisons between PEMFC durability tests performed using different materials or in different laboratories. The use of efficient recovery procedures enables the discrimination of reversible and irreversible voltage losses and facilitates the understanding of recovery mechanisms. In the end, recent contributions about lifetime diagnoses and prediction are presented, which are promising to be implemented in PEMFC applications.     

Three kinds of normative behaviour: minimal requirements for feedback models

We present an analysis for modelling social norms. In social psychology three different normative behaviours have been identified: obedience, conformity and compliance. We show that this triad is a useful conceptualisation of normative behaviour and that current models only ever deal with conformity and obedience two, neglecting compliance. We argue that this is a result from modelling having so far focussed too much on agent behaviour rather than agent knowledge and that cognitive models of normative behaviour are needed to capture this third and arguably most interesting normative behaviour.     

Bioavailability and biotransformation of sulforaphane and erucin metabolites in different biological matrices determined by LC–MS–MS

The food-related isothiocyanate sulforaphane (SFN), a hydrolysis product of the secondary plant metabolite glucoraphanin, has been revealed to have cancer-preventive activity in experimental animals. However, these studies have often provided inconsistent results with regard to bioavailability, bioaccessibility, and outcome. This might be because the endogenous biotransformation of SFN metabolites to the structurally related erucin (ERN) metabolites has often not been taken into account. In this work, a fully validated liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of SFN and ERN metabolites in a variety of biological matrices. To reveal the importance of the biotransformation pathway, matrices including plasma, urine, liver, and kidney samples from mice and cell lysates derived from colon-cancer cell lines were included in this study. The LC–MS–MS method provides limits of detection from 1 nmol L^?1 to 25 nmol L^?1 and a mean recovery of 99 %. The intra and interday imprecision values are in the range 1–10 % and 2–13 %, respectively. Using LC–MS–MS, SFN and ERN metabolites were quantified in different matrices. The assay was successfully used to determine the biotransformation in all biological samples mentioned above. For a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the potential health effects of SFN, it is necessary to consider all metabolites, including those formed by biotransformation of SFN to ERN and vice versa. Therefore, a sensitive and robust LC–MS–MS method was validated for the simultaneous quantification of mercapturic-acid-pathway metabolites of SFN and ERN.

Open image in new window

Graphical Abstract Biotransformation of sulforaphane and erucin metabolites in mice and cell culture

     

The Lagrange spectrum of some square-tiled surfaces

Lagrange spectra have been defined for closed submanifolds of the moduli space of translation surfaces which are invariant under the action of SL(2, R). We consider the closed orbit generated by a specific covering of degree 7 of the standard torus, which is an element of the stratum H(2). We give an explicit formula for the values in the spectrum, in terms of a cocycle over the classical continued fraction. Differently from the classical case of the modular surface, where the lowest part of the Lagrange spectrum is discrete, we find an isolated minimum, and a set with a rich structure right above it.     

Robust flows over time: models and complexity results

Mathematical Programming - The problem of finding a zero of the sum of two maximally monotone operators is of central importance in optimization. One successful method to find such a zero is the...     

Distinct methylalumoxane(MAO)-derived Me-MAO- anions in contact with a zirconocenium cation--a 13C-NMR study

Zirconocenium cations of the type [(MeC5H4)2ZrMe]+, formed by excess methylalumoxane (MAO) from (MeC5H4)2ZrCl2 or (MeC5H4)2ZrMe2 with 13C-labelled ring ligands, are found to form ion pairs with two types of anions, Me-MAO(A)- and Me-MAO(B)-, which differ in their coordinative strengths: More strongly coherent ion pairs [(MeC5H4)2ZrMe+...Me-MAO(B)-] are converted to more easily separable ion pairs [(MeC5H4)2ZrMe+...Me-MAO(A)-] by a sufficient excess of MAO. These react with Al2Me6 to form outer-sphere ion pairs containing the cationic AlMe3 adduct [(MeC5H4)2Zr(mu-Me)2AlMe2]+; formation of the more easily separable ion pairs might be required also for polymerisation catalysis.     

On geometric convergence rate of Markov search towards the fat target

Let $f:A\to \mathbb{R}$ be a continuous function with the minimal value $f^{?}$, where $A$ is the compact metric space. Let ${\left\{X_t\right\}}_{t\in \mathbb{N}}$ be a Markov chain which represents the global optimization process on $A$. We present sufficient conditions for very strong, geometric convergence mode of the form $Ef\left(X_t\right)?f^1\le c^t?(Ef\left(X_0\right)?f^1)$, where $c\in (0,1)$ is some constant. This convergence mode is natural if the set of global minima is fat.     

The effect of sample weight in thermogravimetric analysis of low viscosity polypropylene in air atmosphere

Low viscosity polypropylene is a new group of homopolymers for the manufacture of melt-blown nonwovens. The thermooxidative degradation of isotactic polypropylene was studied. Experiments using varied sample size and flow rates were undertaken to determine possible effects of these experimental parameters on the low viscosity thermo-oxidation process. It was found that the results of thermogravimetric analysis (temperature of 50%) of low viscosity polypropylene samples very strongly depend on the weight of the sample. The influence of gas flow conditions, sample pan geometry and sample melt flow rates parameters on the results of thermogravimetric analysis has not been observed.