Mixed-metal oxide aerogels for oxidation of volatile organic compounds

Aerogels of 100% silica, 8 wt% Zr in silica, 5 wt% V in silica and 100% zirconia were synthesized and tested as oxidation catalysts in the temperature range of 300–700°C for destruction of volatile organic compounds. The silica-based aerogels were all amorphous and had surface areas above 600 m²/g after oxidation. The zirconia aerogel was crystalline with a relatively low surface area of 250 m²/g. As catalysts for oxidation (using O₂ in He) of CH₃OH to CO₂, the zirconia aerogel exhibited the highest activity and best selectivity while the silica aerogel exhibited the poorest. Inclusion of Zr at levels as low as 8 wt% into the silica aerogel framework produced activities and selectivities which were very much like the zirconia aerogel. These properties have the impact of producing a Zr based catalyst with high activity, but with thermal stability afforded by Zr–silica mixtures.     

Calculation of chemical and phase equilibria via simulated annealing

We present a new class of techniques for the solution of the chemical and phase equilibria problem for reacting species in a closed system. The minimisation of the Gibbs free energy for all the species in the system is conducted using the technique of simulated annealing (SA). The SA objective function incorporates non‐ideal equations of state. This new approach is demonstrably able to solve multi‐species and multi‐phase LTCE problems in ideal‐gas solutions, ideal solutions and mixtures of ideal and non‐ideal solutions.     

A study of hand vibration on chipping and grinding operators,part I: Vibration acceleration levels measured on pneumatic tools used in chipping and grinding operations

This paper describes the acceleration measurements and data analysis aspect of a comprehensive multidisciplined field study of several hundred chipper and grinder workers using pneumatic hand-held tools. Engineering testing of a sampling of these tools indicated that for a frequency range of 6·3 Hz to 1000 Hz, overall acceleration levels between 2000 m/s² and 24 000 m/s² were measured on the chisels and levels between 37 m/s² and 350 m/s² were measured on the handles of chipping hammers. Hand grinder acceleration levels ranged from 6 m/s² to 21 m/s².     

Construction of factory schedules using reverse simulation

A real-world, multi-stage, industrial scheduling problem is presented. An algorithm is described that converts a sequence of jobs into a complete schedule. Backward simulation is used to determine minimum storage requirements when scheduling each job, and to calculate the minimum amount of delay required. Combining this algorithm with a metaheuristic, such as simulated annealing, results in an effective algorithm for schedule optimization.     

Chaotic advection in the near-wake of a low-rise building

Properties of the mean-streamlines of a turbulent wake flow behind a low-rise building have been investigated in numerical simulations. For some near wind directions, the solutions to the equations for the mean-streamlines in the recirculating region of flow are found to be chaotic. This is shown to be analogous to the occurrence of chaotic advection in laminar flows and consistent with the current understanding of chaotic dynamics in Hamiltonian systems. The transitions between regular and chaotic solutions for the mean-streamlines are found to occur abruptly over incremental changes, Δθ<2°, in the mean wind direction, θ. These transitions are shown to be accompanied by abrupt changes in the characteristics of plumes formed from tracer-particles undergoing turbulent dispersion. Small fluctuations in the mean wind direction at the transition between regular and chaotic solutions for the mean-streamlines are predicted to result in strongly intermittent turbulent dispersion.     

An X-ray scattering study of the lamellar/nematic/isotropic sequence of phases in decylammonium chloride/H2O/NH4Cl

An X-ray scattering study is presented of the lamellar/nematic/isotropic sequence in the lyotropic system DACI/H₂O/NH₄Cl. The whole reciprocal space of monocrystalline samples oriented in magnetic fields are reconstructed from their two dimensional sections on photographic films. Intense diffuse scatterings are observed in the lamellar phase, around and away from the Bragg spots. Their evolution close to the lamellar/nematic transition reveals the presence of intense structural fluctuations. They take place over temperature ranges which are significantly greater than those associated with the smectic/nematic transitions in thermotropic liquid crystals. A similar situation is observed in the isotropic phase in the vicinity of the nematic/isotropic transition.     

Biological sample preparation and data reduction concepts in pharmaceutical analysis

This paper describes strategies to rapidly develop sensitive and selective preparations using manual and robotic liquid-solid isolation (LSI) methods. LSI procedures offer selective isolation of drug or metabolites from complex matrices and are applicable to many pharmaceutical compounds. The beneficial effect of weighted linear regression is described, and several data reduction techniques are contrasted.     

A theoretical study of N-nitrosamine metabolites: Possible alkylating species in carcinogenesis by N,N'-dimethyl nitrosamine

The results of ab initio calculations using a 4–21G basis set are reported for various possible metabolites of N,N'-dimethylnitrosamine. The relevance of these results to the nature of the alkylating agent is discussed. Although the calculations widen the range of possible alkylating agents that need to be considered, the diazonium ion appears to be the most likely candidate.