Process of pyroplastic shaping for special-purpose porcelain stoneware tiles

A novel technique to manufacture special-purpose tiles (i.e. trim pieces, steps, skirting boards, etc.) has been recently developed on the basis of a pyroplastic shaping of porcelain stoneware tiles. This innovative process involves a second firing, peaking at temperatures close to those of sintering, whose effect was investigated by comparing industrially manufactured tiles before and after pyroplastic shaping. Characterization by XRF, XRPD, SEM and standard testing (ISO 10545) put in evidence that pyroplastic bending induced little changes in the water absorption and bulk density values, as in phase composition. Limited variations occurring to closed porosity, mechanical strength and microstructure do not significantly affect the overall technological performance of the special-purpose tiles, which is substantially the same of the original porcelain stoneware tiles. A detailed microstructural characterization was performed for the first time on porcelain stoneware tiles: coarse grains (>10 μm) represent 10–15% of total volume, while fine-grained crystals, dispersed in the glassy phase, amount from 30% to 65% of the viscous matrix. The pyroplastic behaviour was found to depend in a complex way on such microstructural and compositional features, which deeply affect the effective viscosity of the matrix.     

Kinetic modelling of extinction and autoignition of condensed hydrocarbon fuels in non-premixed flows with comparison to experiment

A detailed chemical–kinetic mechanism is used to predict critical conditions of extinction and autoignition of condensed hydrocarbon fuels in non-premixed flows. The mechanism includes reactions that describe “low temperature chemistry” as well as “high temperature chemistry” for many high molecular weight fuels. The fuels considered here are n-heptane, n-decane, n-dodecane, n-hexadecane, and iso-octane. The kinetic model is validated by comparing its predictions of critical conditions of extinction and autoignition for these fuels with experimental data obtained in a counterflow configuration where a steady laminar flow of an oxidizer is directed over the vaporizing surface of a condensed fuel. The residence time in this configuration is given by the strain rate. The kinetic model predicts that n-heptane is most difficult to extinguish followed by n-decane, n-dodecane, and n-hexadecane. This is in agreement with experimental data. Computations show that the influence of low temperature chemistry on critical conditions of extinction is small. The kinetic model predicts that at low strain rates n-hexadecane is most easy to ignite followed by n-dodecane, n-decane, and n-heptane. At high values of strain rate, n-heptane is more easy to ignite in comparison to n-decane. This is again in agreement with experimental data, including the “cross-over” in relative reactivities of n-heptane and n-decane. Sensitivity analysis shows that at low strain rates autoignition is promoted by low temperature chemistry for all fuels. At high strain rates, autoignition for n-heptane is promoted by high temperature chemistry, whilst low temperature chemistry continues to play a significant role in promoting autoignition for the other straight-chain hydrocarbon fuels. The “cross-over” in relative reactivities of n-heptane and n-decane is attributed to competition between the rates of low temperature chemistry, rates of high temperature chemistry, and rates of molecular transport for these fuels.     

Mixed‐Valence Single‐Atom Catalyst Derived from Functionalized Graphene

Single‐atom catalysts (SACs) aim at bridging the gap between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. The challenge is the development of materials with ligands enabling coordination of metal atoms in different valence states, and preventing leaching or nanoparticle formation. Graphene functionalized with nitrile groups (cyanographene) is herein employed for the robust coordination of Cu(II) ions, which are partially reduced to Cu(I) due to graphene‐induced charge transfer. Inspired by nature's selection of Cu(I) in enzymes for oxygen activation, this 2D mixed‐valence SAC performs flawlessly in two O₂‐mediated reactions: the oxidative coupling of amines and the oxidation of benzylic C? H bonds toward high‐value pharmaceutical synthons. High conversions (up to 98%), selectivities (up to 99%), and recyclability are attained with very low metal loadings in the reaction. The synergistic effect of Cu(II) and Cu(I) is the essential part in the reaction mechanism. The developed strategy opens the door to a broad portfolio of other SACs via their coordination to various functional groups of graphene, as demonstrated by successful entrapment of Fe^III/Fe^II single atoms to carboxy‐graphene.     

五个项目,五个理念 2010年上海世博会城市最佳实践区的后世博发展

2010年上海世博会期间,意大利帕维亚大学高等教育学院与同济大学建筑与城市规划学院合作举办了"城市文化及景观重建"国际设计研讨会。文章记述了这次研究与教学实践活动中的部分内容与观点,通过分析说明5个方案,阐述学生们在城市最佳实践区后世博发展方案设计中体现的总体建筑研究价值。这些研究及设计的意义在于,针对如今设计中已经出现的问题提出一些建议,并为新的建筑设计方法提供研究基础。     

Molar exergy and flow exergy of pure chemical fuels

Expressions of the molar exergy and of the molar flow exergy of a pure chemical fuel are deduced rigorously from the basic principles of thermodynamics. It is shown that molar exergy and molar flow exergy coincide when the temperature T and the pressure p of the fuel are equal to the temperature T_B and the pressure p_B of the environment; a general relation between exergy and flow exergy is proved as a consequence. The deduction of the expression of the molar exergy of a chemical fuel for non-standard values of T_B and p_B is clarified. For hydrogen, carbon dioxide and several hydrocarbons, tables are reported to allow a simple calculation of the molar exergy of the fuel for any value of the temperature T_B and the relative humidity φ_B of the environment, in the range 268.15 K ≤ T_B ≤ 313.15 K and 0.1 ≤ φ_B ≤ 1, with reference to the standard atmospheric pressure. Additional tables are provided to evaluate the difference between the exergy or the flow exergy of the fuel in its given initial state and the exergy at T = T_B and p = p_B. In these tables, it is assumed that fuel and environment have the same temperature and that the fuel pressure varies in the range 1.01325 bar ≤ p ≤ 200 bar; the fuel may be gas or liquid.     

An anchoring theory of lightness perception.

A review of the field of lightness perception from Helmholtz to the present shows the most adequate theories of lightness perception to be the intrinsic image models. Nevertheless, these models fail on 2 important counts: They contain no anchoring rule, and they fail to account for the pattern of errors in surface lightness. Recent work on both the anchoring problem and the problem of errors has produced a new model of lightness perception, one that is qualitatively different from the intrinsic image models. The new model, which is based on a combination of local and global anchoring of lightness values, appears to provide an unprecedented account of a wide range of empirical results, both classical and recent, especially the pattern of errors. It provides a unified account of both illumination-dependent failures of constancy and background-dependent failures of constancy, resolving a number of long-standing puzzles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) Investigation of the Reaction Mechanism in Praseodymium-Doped Zircon

The formation mechanism of praseodymium-doped zircon stain was studied, using environment scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) primarily. The significance of ESEM as a processing tool for studying chemical and morphologic dynamic changes under controlled temperature conditions was evaluated, with respect to the traditional investigation methods.     

Multiresolution MAP despeckling of SAR images based on locally adaptive generalized Gaussian pdf modeling.

In this paper, a new despeckling method based on undecimated wavelet decomposition and maximum a posteriori MIAP) estimation is proposed. Such a method relies on the assumption that the probability density function (pdf) of each wavelet coefficient is generalized Gaussian (GG). The major novelty of the proposed approach is that the parameters of the GG pdf are taken to be space-varying within each wavelet frame. Thus, they may be adjusted to spatial image context, not only to scale and orientation. Since the MAP equation to be solved is a function of the parameters of the assumed pdf model, the variance and shape factor of the GG function are derived from the theoretical moments, which depend on the moments and joint moments of the observed noisy signal and on the statistics of speckle. The solution of the MAP equation yields the MAP estimate of the wavelet coefficients of the noise-free image. The restored SAR image is synthesized from such coefficients. Experimental results, carried out on both synthetic speckled images and true SAR images, demonstrate that MAP filtering can be successfully applied to SAR images represented in the shift-invariant wavelet domain, without resorting to a logarithmic transformation.     

Reaction Mechanism in Alumina/Chromia (Al2O3–Cr2O3) Solid Solutions Obtained by Coprecipitation

The aim of this work is to study the structural characteristics and properties of the solid solution (Al,Cr)₂O₃. XRD analysis, ²⁷Al MAS-NMR measurements, and microstructural characterization were used to determine the relationship between color and crystallochemical properties of the compounds formed. In particular, to determine more accurately the mechanism of solid solution formation above the miscibility gap of the system, the marker technique was used. In order to define the behavior of the system for temperatures below the miscibility gap at 1 bar pressure, the composition Al₂O₃:Cr₂O₃ 1:1 was studied with high-temperature XRD.     

Ninja: Automated integrand reduction via Laurent expansion for one-loop amplitudes

We present the public C++ library Ninja, which implements the Integrand Reduction via Laurent Expansion method for the computation of one-loop integrals. The algorithm is suited for applications to complex one-loop processes.