Chromatographic characterization of thermally upgraded products from alternative fuels

An overview is presented of the analytical approaches developed by our research group over the last ten years for analysis of alternative fuel, both biomass and fossil. The alternative fuels are analyzed successively by PLC-8 (preparative liquid chromatography–group-type) fractionation and high resolution gas chromatography. Some of the possibilities for fractionation and characterization of alternative fuels are herein exemplified with sugar cane bagasse pyrolysis products.     

Weak type (1, 1) inequalities of maximal convolution operators

In this paper we study the behavior of the constants which appear in the weak type (1, 1) inequalities for maximal convolution operators by means of discrete methods. One of the first applications of these techniques will give us a very simple proof of the ergodic theorem. We also present partial results in order to investigate the best constant in the weak type (1, 1) inequality for the Hardy-Littlewood centered maximal operator in dimension one. In dimension bigger than one we also obtain some lower bounds for that constant.     

Polynomial Stability to Three-Dimensional Magnetoelastic Waves

In this work we show that the energy associated to the linear three-dimensional magneto-elastic system decays polynomially to zero as time goes to infinity, provided the initial data is smooth enough.     

A new technique for obtaining the activation energy distribution of a relaxing system

This paper describes a robust and fast fitting procedure applicable for relaxing processes that cannot be understood as a discrete sum of single processes but require an activation energy distribution. The method is based on a set of closed-form expressions that allow the computation of the relaxation parameters directly from the isochronal curves obtained experimentally. The usefulness of this method is checked by analyzing the isochronal curves given by a theoretical energy distribution and the magnetic disaccommodation spectra observed in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) samples. PACS 02.60.Ed; 75.60.Lr; 75.50.Gg     

Algebraic Formulation of Quantum Decoherence

An algebraic formalism for quantum decoherence in systems with continuous evolution spectrum is introduced. A certain subalgebra, dense in the characteristic algebra of the system, is defined in such a way that Riemann–Lebesgue theorem can be used to explain decoherence in a well defined final pointer basis.     

Discretization and resolution of the (<Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis>|<Emphasis Type="Italic">X</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis></Subscript>)-medianoid problem involving quality criteria

In this paper an extension of the (r|X _p )-medianoid on networks introduced by Hakimi (1983) is studied. In this extension the customer considers not only the distance but some characteristics of the facilities such as store size, quality of service and parking space. A new firm wants to establishr new facilities which have to compete with thep facilities that already exist in the market. The entry firm wants to find their locations and characteristics to maximize profits. Three different customer choice rules (binary, partially binary and proportional preferences) are considered. Some discretization results are obtained and a resolution procedure is proposed. The problem is solved combining a global search algorithm based on a branch and bound procedure with some combinatorial heuristics (greedy, interchange, and tabu search). Some computational experiences are presented. Partially supported by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Spain) and FEDER, grant BFM2002-04525-C02-01.     

Simultaneous Determination of Carbamate and Organophosphorus Pesticides in Honeybees by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Summary The potential of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has been studied for the simultaneous determination of sixteen carbamate and organophosphorus pesticides in honeybees using a traditional sample preparation protocol based on acetone extraction and dichloromethane partitioning. The performances of both atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and electrospray (ES) interfaces were compared. APCI offered better sensitivity and specificity for a higher range of pesticides. Limits of quantification were from 0.01 to 0.17 mg kg^–1, at which recoveries obtained were between 64 and 93%, except for pirimicarb that was at 13%, with relative standard deviations ranging from 7 to 20%. Fenitrothion, fenoxycarb, methiocarb and phoxim were found in bees from Valencian Community beehives at concentrations between 0.03 and 3.75 mg kg^–1.     

Infinitely renormalizable diffeomorphisms of the disk at the boundary of chaos

We show that, among area contracting embeddings of the 2-disk, infinitely renormalizable maps with a bounded geometry either have positive topological entropy or correspond to a cascade of period doubling.