Effects of gallia additions on sintering behavior of gadolinia-doped ceria

The effects of gallia additions on the sintering behavior of gadolinia-doped ceria were systematically investigated from the following aspects: the variation in sintered density, the variation in grain size, and the existing forms of Ga₂O₃ in CeO₂.Sintered density increased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.% and then it decreased with further addition of Ga₂O₃. Grain size also increased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.% and then decreased with further addition of Ga₂O₃. Decrease in grain size was caused by a pinning effect of Ga₂O₃ precipitation at grain boundaries. Lattice constant decreased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.%. This decrease will be due to the substitution of smaller Ga³⁺ ions for Ce⁴⁺ ions in the CeO₂ structure. According to the results obtained from scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, the solubility limit of Ga₂O₃ in Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O_1.9 ceramics can be estimated to be nearly 5 mol.%. The addition of Ga₂O₃ up to the solubility limit was found to promote the sintering properties of Gd₂O₃-doped CeO₂.     

Electrical conductivity and gas sensitivity of Zn-Sb-O thick films

The thick film of Zn-Sb-O was prepared by coating the paste of nanoparticles mixture (Sb₂O₃:ZnO=1:3) on the alumina substrate, followed by sintering at 500-900 °C for 2 h in air. The electrical resistance and gas-sensing properties to benzene, alcohol and acetone of Zn-Sb-O films were found to be dependent on the change of phase structure caused by sintering temperature.     

缺省理论的简化

缺省理论△=(D,W)中的缺省规则集D,是该理论的不确定因素.如果能去掉一些缺省规则而又不影响该理论的延伸,则就在一定程度上简化了该理论.本文证明了关于规范缺省理论的延伸的若干性质,利用这些性质,我们可以把某些规范缺省理论在一定条件下得以化简,有的甚至可以把它们化为一阶逻辑理论.     

Disorder effects on the strain response of model polymer networks

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate polymer networks made by either end-linking or randomly crosslinking a melt of linear precursor chains. The resulting network structures are very different, since end-linking leads to nearly ideal monodisperse networks, while random crosslinking leads to polydisperse networks, characterized by an exponential strand length distribution. Networks with average strand length 20 and 100 were generated. These networks were used to study the effects of disorder in the network connectivity on observables averaged either over the entire network or selected sub-structures. Heterogeneities in the randomly crosslinked networks cause significant differences in the localization of monomers, however, neither the localization of crosslinks nor the microscopic strain response are significantly affected. Compared to end-linked networks, randomly crosslinked networks have a slightly increased tube diameter, and as a result a slightly decreased shear modulus, but otherwise identical stress-strain behavior. For the investigated systems, we conclude that the microscopic strain response, tube diameter, and stress-strain relation are all insensitive to the heterogeneities due to the linking process by which the network were made.     

Time dependent crystal-smectic transformation in perylene-containing polyimides

The crystalline conformations of perylene polyimides (PPIs), with alkyl spacers varying in length from C₃ to C₁₂ are discussed. Although modeling of single chains would suggest the possibility that those with odd number of CH₂ groups adopt a flat helical shape, X-ray diffraction suggests that the chains with odd and even spacers have the same conformation, due to the necessity to pack the perylene units. Upon annealing, the UV-vis absorption maximum red-shifts by about 10 nm, indicating enhanced π-stacking between the perylenes. Several changes in the spectra are seen with an increase in annealing time, at a given temperature. With an increase in annealing time, X-ray diffraction patterns show changes in the number of reflections, indicative of a crystal to mesogenic transition. The time required for this transition increases with a decrease in the spacer length, and annealing temperature, suggesting that the dynamics of this transition is very slow.     

Evaluating part designs for automatic feeding in robotic assembly systems: A geometric analysis of the nesting of polyhedral objects

One of the problems encountered by automatic feeding devices, such as vibratory bowl feeders, in robotic assembly systems is nesting which leads to inseparability of parts and jamming. In this paper, we describe a design evaluation procedure to determine whether a part is prone to nesting and to quantify the degree of nesting. The proposed methodology reduces the 3-D protrusion-hole polyhedral containment problem of nesting to a 2-D polygon containment problem by employing a loop-based feature recognition scheme. Subsequently, the 3-D containment configuration is reconstructed from that of the 2-D by using a strategy calleddrop, pull and push. In this context, we introduce the notion of axis as a characteristic direction of a feature that facilitates the analysis of generalized 3-D polyhedral containment. The algorithms are applicable to generic B-Rep CAD data, and their time and space complexities are polynomial.     

The stress intensity factors for a short crack partially penetrating an inclusion of arbitrary shape

Some approximate solutions for predicting the stress intensity factor of a short crack penetrating an inclusion of arbitrary shape have been developed under mode I and mode II loading conditions. The derivation of the fundamental formula is based on the transformation toughening theory. The transformation strains in the inclusion are induced by the crack-tip field and remotely applied stresses, and approximately evaluated by the Eshelby equivalent inclusion theory. As validated by detailed finite element (FE) analyses, the developed solutions have good accuracy for different inclusion shape and for a wide range of modulus ratio between inclusion and matrix material.     

Co- and Ni-exchanged ferrierite: The contribution of synchrotron X-ray diffraction data to siting of TMIs

High-silica zeolites exchanged with transition metal ions (TMIs) are the subject of great interest for their unusual catalytic activity and selectivity. Structural information like coordination and accessibility of TMIs in zeolites are important factors for understanding their catalytic activity. Siting of TMIs in zeolites is typically obtained by spectroscopic (EXAFS, EPR, UV–vis and IR) and computational methods, as in the case of Co-ferrierite. However, some controversy exists in the literature concerning the model for incorporation of bare Co ions in ferrierite. We show here that the results of our synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction studies on Co- and Ni-exchanged ferrierite (Si/Al = 8.5) are in a good agreement with the model of Co siting based on an indirect spectroscopic approach and help to validate this model. By direct structural evidences, a possible explanation for the larger catalytic activity of Co sites in the main channels of ferrierite can be inferred. A combination of data from in situ XRD continuous monitoring of the Co ion migration during calcination and crystal-chemical considerations allows to device a strategy for the design of optimised co-cations containing Co-ferrierite catalysts.     

Measuring consistency in TTL-based caches

We propose a general modeling framework to evaluate the performance of cache consistency algorithms. In addition to the usual hit rate, we introduce the hit^* rate as a consistency measure, which captures the fraction of non-stale downloads from the cache. We apply these ideas to the analysis of the fixed TTL consistency algorithm in the presence of network delays. The hit and hit^* rates are evaluated when requests and updates are modeled by renewal processes. Classical results on the renewal function lead to various bounds.     

Sensitivity analysis in conjunction with evidence theory representations of epistemic uncertainty

Three applications of sampling-based sensitivity analysis in conjunction with evidence theory representations for epistemic uncertainty in model inputs are described: (i) an initial exploratory analysis to assess model behavior and provide insights for additional analysis; (ii) a stepwise analysis showing the incremental effects of uncertain variables on complementary cumulative belief functions and complementary cumulative plausibility functions; and (iii) a summary analysis showing a spectrum of variance-based sensitivity analysis results that derive from probability spaces that are consistent with the evidence space under consideration.