Capillary-driven pumping for passive degassing and fuel supply in direct methanol fuel cells

In this paper we present a new concept of creating and using capillary pressure gradients for passive degassing and passive methanol supply in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). An anode flow field consisting of parallel tapered channels structures is applied to achieve the passive supply mechanism. The flow is propelled by the surface forces of deformed CO₂ bubbles, generated as a reaction product during DMFC operation. This work focuses on studying the influence of channel geometry and surface properties on the capillary-induced liquid flow rates at various bubbly gas flow rates. Besides the aspect ratios and opening angles of the tapered channels, the static contact angle as well as the effect of contact angle hysteresis has been identified to significantly influence the liquid flow rates induced by capillary forces at the bubble menisci. Applying the novel concept, we show that the liquid flow rates are up to thirteen times higher than the methanol oxidation reaction on the anode requires. Experimental results are presented that demonstrate the continuous passive operation of a DMFC for more than 15 h.     

Quality management in service ecosystems

Service-oriented architectures and Web services mature and have become more widely accepted and used by industry. This growing adoption increased the demands for new ways of using Web service technology. Users start re-combining and mediating other providers’ services in ways that have not been anticipated by their original provider. Within organisations and cross-organisational communities, discoverable services are organised in repositories providing convenient access to adaptable end-to-end business processes. This idea is captured in the term Service Ecosystem. This paper addresses the question of how quality management can be performed in such service ecosystems. Service quality management is a key challenge when services are composed of a dynamic set of heterogeneous sub-services from different service providers. This paper contributes to this important area by developing a reference model of quality management in service ecosystems. We illustrate the application of the reference model in an exploratory case study. With this case study, we show how the reference model helps to derive requirements for the implementation and support of quality management in an exemplary service ecosystem in public administration.     

Regulation of proteins mediating neurodegeneration in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is characterized by inflammatory demyelination and axonal loss as pathophysiological correlates of relapsing activity and progressive development of clinical disability. The molecular processes involved in this pathogenesis are still unclear as they are quite complex and heterogeneous. In this article we present protein expression analysis of brain and spinal cord tissues from different models of murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the most commonly used animal model for multiple sclerosis. We observed a number of EAE-specific protein expression and PTM differences. Proteome analysis was extended to multiple sclerosis specimens in order to validate the EAE findings. Our findings suggest the regulation of a number of proteins that shed light on the molecular mechanisms of the disease processes taking place in EAE and multiple sclerosis. We found consistent modulation of proteins including serum amyloid P component, sirtuin 2, dihydropyrimidinase-related protein family proteins, stathmin 1, creatine kinase B and chloride intracellular channel protein 1. Functional classification of the proteins by database and the literature mining reveals their association with neuronal development and myelinogenesis, suggesting possible disease processes that mediate neurodegeneration.     

Combined macro- and microrheometer for use with Langmuir monolayers

A Langmuir monolayer trough that is equipped for simultaneous microrheology and standard rheology measurements has been constructed. The central elements are the trough itself with a full range of optical tools accessing the air-water interface from below the trough and a portable knife-edge torsion pendulum that can access the interface from above. The ability to simultaneously measure the mechanical response of Langmuir monolayers on very different length scales is an important step for our understanding of the mechanical response of two-dimensional viscoelastic networks.     

FFT-split-operator code for solving the Dirac equation in 2+1 dimensions

The main part of the code presented in this work represents an implementation of the split-operator method [J.A. Fleck, J.R. Morris, M.D. Feit, Appl. Phys. 10 (1976) 129-160; R. Heather, Comput. Phys. Comm. 63 (1991) 446] for calculating the time-evolution of Dirac wave functions. It allows to study the dynamics of electronic Dirac wave packets under the influence of any number of laser pulses and its interaction with any number of charged ion potentials. The initial wave function can be either a free Gaussian wave packet or an arbitrary discretized spinor function that is loaded from a file provided by the user. The latter option includes Dirac bound state wave functions. The code itself contains the necessary tools for constructing such wave functions for a single-electron ion. With the help of self-adaptive numerical grids, we are able to study the electron dynamics for various problems in 2+1 dimensions at high spatial and temporal resolutions that are otherwise unachievable.Along with the position and momentum space probability density distributions, various physical observables, such as the expectation values of position and momentum, can be recorded in a time-dependent way. The electromagnetic spectrum that is emitted by the evolving particle can also be calculated with this code. Finally, for planning and comparison purposes, both the time-evolution and the emission spectrum can also be treated in an entirely classical relativistic way.Besides the implementation of the above-mentioned algorithms, the program also contains a large C++ class library to model the geometric algebra representation of spinors that we use for representing the Dirac wave function. This is why the code is called “Dirac++”.

Program summary

Program title: Dirac++ or (abbreviated) d++Catalogue identifier: AEAS_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEAS_v1_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 474 937No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 4 128 347Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: C++Computer: Any, but SMP systems are preferredOperating system: Linux and MacOS X are actively supported by the current version. Earlier versions were also tested successfully on IRIX and AIXNumber of processors used: Generally unlimited, but best scaling with 2-4 processors for typical problemsRAM: 160 Megabytes minimum for the examples given hereClassification: 2.7External routines: FFTW Library [3,4], Gnu Scientific Library [5], bzip2, bunzip2Nature of problem: The relativistic time evolution of wave functions according to the Dirac equation is a challenging numerical task. Especially for an electron in the presence of high intensity laser beams and/or highly charged ions, this type of problem is of considerable interest to atomic physicists.Solution method: The code employs the split-operator method [1,2], combined with fast Fourier transforms (FFT) for calculating any occurring spatial derivatives, to solve the given problem. An autocorrelation spectral method [6] is provided to generate a bound state for use as the initial wave function of further dynamical studies.Restrictions: The code in its current form is restricted to problems in two spatial dimensions. Otherwise it is only limited by CPU time and memory that one can afford to spend on a particular problem.Unusual features: The code features dynamically adapting position and momentum space grids to keep execution time and memory requirements as small as possible. It employs an object-oriented approach, and it relies on a Clifford algebra class library to represent the mathematical objects of the Dirac formalism which we employ. Besides that it includes a feature (typically called “checkpointing”) which allows the resumption of an interrupted calculation.Additional comments: Along with the program's source code, we provide several sample configuration files, a pre-calculated bound state wave function, and template files for the analysis of the results with both MatLab and Igor Pro.Running time: Running time ranges from a few minutes for simple tests up to several days, even weeks for real-world physical problems that require very large grids or very small time steps.References:

[1]

J.A. Fleck, J.R. Morris, M.D. Feit, Time-dependent propagation of high energy laser beams through the atmosphere, Appl. Phys. 10 (1976) 129-160.

[2]

R. Heather, An asymptotic wavefunction splitting procedure for propagating spatially extended wavefunctions: Application to intense field photodissociation of H⁺₂, Comput. Phys. Comm. 63 (1991) 446.

[3]

M. Frigo, S.G. Johnson, FFTW: An adaptive software architecture for the FFT, in: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, vol. 3, IEEE, 1998, pp. 1381-1384.

[4]

M. Frigo, S.G. Johnson, The design and implementation of FFTW3, in: Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 93, IEEE, 2005, pp. 216-231. URL: http://www.fftw.org/.

[5]

M. Galassi, J. Davies, J. Theiler, B. Gough, G. Jungman, M. Booth, F. Rossi, GNU Scientific Library Reference Manual, second ed., Network Theory Limited, 2006. URL: http://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/.

[6]

M.D. Feit, J.A. Fleck, A. Steiger, Solution of the Schrödinger equation by a spectral method, J. Comput. Phys. 47 (1982) 412-433.

     

A Soft,Fast and Versatile Electrohydraulic Gripper with Capacitive Object Size Detection

Soft robotic grippers achieve increased versatility and reduced complexity through intelligence embodied in their flexible and conformal structures. The most widely used soft grippers are pneumatically driven; they are simple and effective but require bulky air compressors that limit their application space and external sensors or computationally expensive vision systems for pick verification. In this study, a multi-material architecture for self-sensing electrohydraulic bending actuators is presented that enables a new class of highly versatile and reconfigurable soft grippers that are electrically driven and feature capacitive pick verification and object size detection. These electrohydraulic grippers are fast (step input results in finger closure in 50 ms), draw low power (6.5 mW per finger to hold grasp), and can pick a wide variety of objects with simple binary electrical control. Integrated high-voltage driving electronics are presented that greatly increase the application space of the grippers and make them readily compatible with commercially available robotic arms.     

Covalent Adaptable Microstructures via Combining Two-Photon Laser Printing and Alkoxyamine Chemistry: Toward Living 3D Microstructures

Manufacturing programmable materials, whose mechanical properties can be adapted on demand, is highly desired for their application in areas ranging from robotics, to biomedicine, or microfluidics. Herein, the inclusion of dynamic and living bonds, such as alkoxyamines, in a printable formulation suitable for two-photon 3D laser printing is exploited. On one hand, taking advantage of the dynamic covalent character of alkoxyamines, the nitroxide exchange reaction is investigated. As a consequence, a reduction of the Young´s Modulus by 50%, is measured by nanoindentation. On the other hand, due to its “living” characteristic, the chain extension becomes possible via nitroxide mediated polymerization. In particular, living nitroxide mediated polymerization of styrene results not only in a dramatic increase of the volume (≈8 times) of the 3D printed microstructure but also an increase of the Young's Modulus by two orders of magnitude (from 14 MPa to 2.7 GPa), while maintaining the shape including fine structural details. Thus, the approach introduces a new dimension by enabling to create microstructures with dynamically tunable size and mechanical properties.     

Numerical aspects of a Godunov-type stabilization scheme for the Boltzmann transport equation

Journal of Computational Electronics - We discuss the numerical aspects of the Boltzmann transport equation (BE) for electrons in semiconductor devices, which is stabilized by Godunov’s...