Incorporation of silica nanoparticles and polyurethane into hybrid composites for increase of char residue

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Effect of different chain extenders, silica nanoparticle loading, and using sol–gel method on the thermal properties of polyurethane (PU) hybrid...     

Individually addressable recessed gold microelectrode arrays with monolayers of thio-cyclodextrin nanocavities

Four, individually addressable 30 microm diameter, e-beam deposited, gold microelectrodes recessed by 6 microm were suitably spaced on a single substrate to avoid diffusional overlap between each microelectrode. The single substrate device was functionalised with thiolated alpha-, beta-, and gamma-cyclodextrin nanocavities without spacer groups to ensure close proximity of the cavities to the electrode surface. The microelectrodes were assessed in two stages. The e-beam deposited micron sized electrodes were characterized using models for recessed and inlaid microdisk electrodes. Subsequently, each individually addressable, atomically flat, micro-patterned gold electrode with thiolated CD ensembles was treated as a nanoporous electrode assembly. Theoretical and experimental results were compared using cyclic voltammetry. Atomic force microscopy was also used to characterise the modified microelectrodes. Comparisons were made with thiolated CDs deposited on macroelectrodes. This is the first report of the behaviour of immobilized CD nanocavities ensembles on atomically flat gold microelectrodes.     

Solid-state 109Ag CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy of some diammine silver(I) complexes

Solid-state cross-polarization magic-angle spinning (CP/MAS) NMR spectra were recorded for the compounds [Ag(NH3)2]2SO4, [Ag(NH3)2]2SeO4 and [Ag(NH3))]NO3, all of which contain the linear or nearly linear two-coordinate [Ag(NH3)2]+ ion. The 109Ag CP/MAS NMR spectra show centrebands and associated spinning sideband manifolds typical for systems with moderately large shielding anisotropy, and splittings due to indirect 1J(109Ag,14N) spin-spin coupling. Spinning sideband analysis was used to determine the 109Ag shielding anisotropy and asymmetry parameters Deltasigma and eta from these spectra, yielding anisotropies in the range 1500-1600 ppm and asymmetry parameters in the range 0-0.3. Spectra were also recorded for 15N and (for the selenate) 77Se. In all cases the number of resonances observed is as expected for the crystallographic asymmetric units. The crystal structure of the selenate is reported for the first time. One-bond (107, 109Ag,15N) coupling constants are found to have magnitudes in the range 60-65 Hz. Density functional calculations of the Ag shielding tensor for model systems yield results that are in good agreement with the experimentally determined shielding parameters, and suggest that in the solid compounds Deltasigma and eta are reduced and increased, respectively, from the values calculated for the free [Ag(NH3)2]+ ion (1920 ppm and 0, respectively), primarily as a result of cation-cation interactions, for which there is evidence from the presence of metal-over-metal stacks of [Ag(NH3)2]+ ions in the solid-state structures of these compounds.     

Selenium heterocycles XXVI. Synthesis of theino[3,4-b]benzofuran and selenolo[3,4-b] benzofuran. Two novel heterocycles

Starting from the readily available aryl 3-methyl-2-benzo[b] furyl ketones a series of 3-sub-stituted thieno[3,4-b] benzofurans and 3-substituted selenolo[3,4-b] benzofurans were prepared in high yield. The parent compound, thieno[3,4-b] benzofuran was prepared through the reaction of thioacetamide with 2-chloromethyl-3-formylbenzo[b] furan in moderate yield.     

A robust-adaptive fuzzy coverage control for robotic swarms

In this paper, a decentralized adaptive control scheme for multi-robot coverage is proposed. This control method is designed based on centroidal Voronoi configuration integrated with robust adaptive fuzzy control techniques. We consider simple single integrator mobile robots used for covering dynamical environments, where an adaptive fuzzy logic system is used to approximate the unknown parts of control law. A robust coverage criterion is used to attenuate the adaptive fuzzy approximation error and measurement noises to a prescribed level. Therefore, the robots motion is forced to obey solutions of a coverage optimization problem. The advantages of the proposed controller can be listed as robustness to external disturbances, computation uncertainties, and measurement noises, while applicability on dynamical environments. A Lyapunov-function based proof is given of robust stability, i.e. convergence to the optimal positions with bounded error. Finally, simulation results are demonstrated for a swarm coverage problem simultaneous with tracking mobile intruders.     

Electric field in two-dimensional complex plasma crystal:Simulated lattices

We focus on molecular dynamics simulated two-dimensional complex plasma crystals. We use rigid walls as a confinement force and produce square and rectangular crystals. We report various types of two-row crystals. The narrow and long crystals are likely to be used as wigglers; therefore, we simulate such crystals. Also, we analyze the electric fields of simulated crystals. A bit change in lattice parameters can change the internal structures of crystals and their electric fields notably. These parameters are the number of grains, grains charge, length, and width of the crystal. With the help of electric fields, we show the details of crystal structures.     

A new design of the elimination and choice translating reality method for multi-criteria group decision-making in an intuitionistic fuzzy environment

The purpose of this paper is to design a new extension of the ELECTRE, known as the elimination and choice translating reality method, for multi-criteria group decision-making problems based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets. This method is widely utilized when a set of alternatives should be identified and evaluated with respect to a set of conflicting criteria by reflecting decision makers’ (DMs’) preferences. However, handling the exact data and numerical measure is difficult to be precisely focused because the DMs’ judgments are often vague in real-life decision problems and applications. A more realistic and practical approach can be to use linguistic variables expressed in intuitionistic fuzzy numbers instead of numerical data to model DMs’ judgments and to describe the inputs in the ELECTRE method. The proposed intuitionsitic fuzzy ELECTRE utilizes the truth-membership function and non-truth-membership function to indicate the degrees of satisfiability and non-satisfiability of each alternative with respect to each criterion and the relative importance of each criterion, respectively. Then, a new discordance intuitionistic index is introduced, which is extended from the concept of the fuzzy distance measure. Outranking relations are defined by pairwise comparisons and a decision graph is depicted to determine which alternative is preferable, incomparable or indifferent in the intuitionistic fuzzy environment. Finally, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis is employed to further study regarding the impact of threshold values on the final evaluation, and a comparative analysis is demonstrated with an application example in flexible manufacturing systems between the proposed ELECTRE method and the existing intuitionistic fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (IF-TOPSIS) method.     

Sonochemical Synthesis and Photocatalytic Properties of Metal Hydroxide and Carbonate (M:Mg, Ca, Sr or Ba) Nanoparticles

In this work Mg(OH)₂, Ca(OH)₂, CaCO₃, SrCO₃ and BaCO₃ nanoparticles were synthesized via a simple sonochemical reaction at room temperature. Nanoparticles were synthesized via a surfactant-free reaction solvent water. Nanostructures materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The photocatalytic behavior of nanoparticles was evaluated using the degradation of a methyl orange aqueous solution under ultraviolet light irradiation. The results show that metal hydroxide and metal carbonate nanoparticles are promising materials with excellent performance in photocatalytic applications.     

Operations research in the space industry

Operations research techniques have been used in the space industry since its infancy, and various competing methods and codes, with widely varying characteristics, have been used over time. This survey is intended to give an overview of current application cases of different operations research techniques and methodologies in the domain of space engineering and space science.