Synthesis and characterization of gallium-based perovskite-type dense membrane with oxygen semipermeability

La0.15Sr0.85Ga0.3Fe0.7O3-delta (LSGFO) and La0.15Sr0.85Co0.3Fe0.7O3-delta (LSCFO) mixed oxygen-ion and electron conducting oxides were synthesized by using a combined EDTA and citrate complexing method, and the corresponding dense membranes were fabricated. The properties of the oxide powders and membranes were characterized with combined SEM, XRD, H-2-TPR, O-2-TPD techniques, mechanical strength and oxygen permeation measurement. The results showed that LSGFO had much higher thermochemical stability than LSCFO due to the higher valence stability of Ga3+. After the temperature-programmed reduction by 5% H-2 in Ar from 20 degreesC to 1020 degreesC, the basic perovskite structure of LSGFO was successfully preserved. LSGFO also favors the oxygen vacancy formation better than LSCFO. Oxygen permeation measurement demonstrated that LSGFO had higher oxygen permeation flux than LSCFO, but they had similar activation energy for oxygen transportation, with a value of 110 and 117 kJ . mol(-1), respectively The difference in oxygen permeation fluxes was correlated with the difference in oxygen vacancy concentrations for the two materials.

Performance of a mixed-conducting ceramic membrane reactor with high oxygen permeability for methane conversion

A mixed-conducting perovskite-type Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-delta (BSCFO) ceramic membrane reactor with high oxygen permeability was applied for the activation of methane. The membrane reactor has intrinsic catalytic activities for methane conversion to ethane and ethylene. C-2 selectivity up to 40-70% was achieved, albeit that conversion rate were low, typically 0.5-3.5% at 800-900 degreesC with a 50% helium diluted methane inlet stream at a flow rate of 34 ml/min. Large amount of unreacted molecular oxygen was detected in the eluted gas and the oxygen permeation flux improved only slightly compared with that under non-reactive air/He experiments. The partial oxidation of methane to syngas in a BSCFO membrane reactor was also performed by packing LiLaNiO/gamma -Al2O3 with 10% Ni loading as the catalyst. At the initial stage, oxygen permeation flux, methane conversion and CO selectivity were closely related with the state of the catalyst. Less than 21 h was needed for the oxygen permeation flux to reach its steady state. 98.5% CH4 conversion, 93.0% CO selectivity and 10.45 ml/cm(2) min oxygen permeation flux were achieved under steady state at 850 degreesC. Methane conversion and oxygen permeation flux increased with increasing temperature, No fracture of the membrane reactor was observed during syngas production. However, H-2-TPR investigation demonstrated that the BSCFO was unstable under reducing atmosphere, yet the material was found to have excellent phase reversibility. A membrane reactor made from BSCFO was successfully operated for the POM reaction at 875 degreesC for more than 500h without failure, with a stable oxygen permeation flux of about 11.5 ml/cm(2) min. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel zirconium-based perovskite-type membrane material for oxygen permeation

A novel zirconium-based membrane material of BaCo0.4Fe0.4Zr0.2O3-6 with cubic perovskite structure was synthesized for the first time through a method of citric and EDTA acid combined complexes. The structural stability was characterized by XRD, O-2-TPD and H-2-TPR techniques respectively. The high oxygen permeation flux of 0.873 mL/cm(2) min at 950 degreesC was obtained under He/Air gradient. Meanwhile, the single activation energy for oxygen permeation and the long-term steady operation of 200 h at 800 degreesC were achieved.

Twierdzenia o punktach stałych pewnych klas operatorów nieliniowych wraz z ich zastosowaniami

Wydział Matematyki i Informatyki

Creation of a complex butterfly attractor using a novel Lorenz-type system

A novel Lorenz-type system of nonlinear differential equations is proposed. Unlike the original Lorenz system, where the chaotic dynamics remain confined to the positive half-space with respect to the Z state variable due to a limiting threshold effect, the proposed system enables bipolar swing of this state variable. In addition, the classical set of parameters (a, b, c) controlling the behavior of the Lorenz system are reduced to a single parameter, namely a. Two possible modes of operation are admitted by the system; switching between these two modes results in the creation of a complex butterfly chaotic attractor. Numerical simulations and results from an experimental setup are presented

Uniformly convergent finite element and finite difference methods for singularly perturbed ordinary differential equations

This thesis is concerned with uniformly convergent finite element and finite difference methods for numerically solving singularly perturbed two-point boundary value problems. We examine the following four problems: (i) high order problem of reaction-diffusion type; (ii) high order problem of convection-diffusion type; (iii) second order interior turning point problem; (iv) semilinear reaction-diffusion problem. Firstly, we consider high order problems of reaction-diffusion type and convection-diffusion type. Under suitable hypotheses, the coercivity of the associated bilinear forms is proved and representation results for the solutions of such problems are given. It is shown that, on an equidistant mesh, polynomial schemes cannot achieve a high order of convergence which is uniform in the perturbation parameter. Piecewise polynomial Galerkin finite element methods are then constructed on a Shishkin mesh. High order convergence results, which are uniform in the perturbation parameter, are obtained in various norms. Secondly, we investigate linear second order problems with interior turning points. Piecewise linear Galerkin finite element methods are generated on various piecewise equidistant meshes designed for such problems. These methods are shown to be convergent, uniformly in the singular perturbation parameter, in a weighted energy norm and the usual L2 norm. Finally, we deal with a semilinear reaction-diffusion problem. Asymptotic properties of solutions to this problem are discussed and analysed. Two simple finite difference schemes on Shishkin meshes are applied to the problem. They are proved to be uniformly convergent of second order and fourth order respectively. Existence and uniqueness of a solution to both schemes are investigated. Numerical results for the above methods are presented.

Phenotypic characteristics of human type II alveolar epithelial cells suitable for antigen presentation to T lymphocytes.

Type II alveolar epithelial cells (AECII) are well known for their role in the innate immune system. More recently, it was proposed that they could play a role in the antigen presentation to T lymphocytes but contradictory results have been published both concerning their surface expressed molecules and the T lymphocyte responses in mixed lymphocyte cultures. The use of either AECII cell line or fresh cells could explain the observed discrepancies. Thus, this study aimed at defining the most relevant model of accessory antigen presenting cells by carefully comparing the two models for their expression of surface molecules necessary for efficient antigen presentation.

Moment decay rates of solutions of stochastic differential equations

The objective of this paper is to investigate the p-ίh moment asymptotic stability decay rates for certain finite-dimensional Itό stochastic differential equations. Motivated by some practical examples, the point of our analysis is a special consideration of general decay speeds, which contain as a special case the usual exponential or polynomial type one, to meet various situations. Sufficient conditions for stochastic differential equations (with variable delays or not) are obtained to ensure their asymptotic properties. Several examples are studied to illustrate our theory.

A mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian approach for metal extrusion

In this paper a mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian approach for the modelling metal extrusion processes is presented. The approach involves the solution of non-Newtonian fluid flow equations in an Eulerian context, using a free-surface algorithm to track the behaviour of the workpiece and its extrusion. The solid mechanics equations associated with the tools are solved in Lagangrian context. Thermal interactions between the workpiece are modelled and a fluid-structure interaction technique is employed to model the effect of the fluid traction load imposed by the workpiece on the tools. Two extrusion test cases are investigated and the results obtained show the potential of the model with regard to representing the physics of the process and the simulation time.

On subspace lattices I. Closedness type properties and tensor products

We study properties of subspace lattices related to the continuity of the map Lat and the notion of reflexivity. We characterize various “closedness” properties in different ways and give the hierarchy between them. We investigate several properties related to tensor products of subspace lattices and show that the tensor product of the projection lattices of two von Neumann algebras, one of which is injective, is reflexive.

B-type supergiants in the SMC: Chemical compositions and comparison of static and unified models

High-resolution UCLES/AAT spectra are presented for nine B-type supergiants in the SMC, chosen on the basis that they may show varying amounts of nuclear-synthetically processed material mixed to their surface. These spectra have been analysed using a new grid of approximately 12 000 non-LTE line blanketed tlusty model atmospheres to estimate atmospheric parameters and chemical composition. The abundance estimates for O, Mg and Si are in excellent agreement with those deduced from other studies, whilst the low estimate for C may reflect the use of the C II doublet at 4267 Å. The N estimates are approximately an order of magnitude greater than those found in unevolved B-type stars or H II regions but are consistent with the other estimates in AB-type supergiants. These results have been combined with results from a unified model atmosphere analysis of UVES/VLT spectra of B-type supergiants (Trundle et al. 2004, A&A, 417, 217) to discuss the evolutionary status of these objects. For two stars that are in common with those discussed by Trundle et al., we have undertaken a careful comparison in order to try to understand the relative importance of the different uncertainties present in such analyses, including observational errors and the use of static or unified models. We find that even for these relatively luminous supergiants, tlusty models yield atmospheric parameters and chemical compositions similar to those deduced from the unified code fastwind.

University space planning and space-type profiles

Universities planning the provision of space for their teaching requirements need to do so in a fashion that reduces capital and maintenance costs whilst still providing a high-quality level of service. Space plans should aim to provide sufficient capacity without incurring excessive costs due to over-capacity. A simple measure used to estimate over-provision is utilisation. Essentially, the utilisation is the fraction of seats that are used in practice, or the ratio of demand to supply. However, studies usually find that utilisation is low, often only 20–40%, and this is suggestive of significant over-capacity.

Our previous work has provided methods to improve such space planning. They identify a critical level of utilisation as the highest level that can be achieved whilst still reliably satisfying the demand for places to allocate teaching events. In this paper, we extend this body of work to incorporate the notions of event-types and space-types. Teaching events have multiple ‘event-types’, such as lecture, tutorial, workshop, etc., and there are generally corresponding space-types. Matching the type of an event to a room of a corresponding space-type is generally desirable. However, realistically, allocation happens in a mixed space-type environment where teaching events of a given type are allocated to rooms of another space-type; e.g., tutorials will borrow lecture theatres or workshop rooms.

We propose a model and methodology to quantify the effects of space-type mixing and establish methods to search for better space-type profiles; where the term “space-type profile” refers to the relative numbers of each type of space. We give evidence that these methods have the potential to improve utilisation levels. Hence, the contribution of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we present informative studies of the effects of space-type mixing on utilisation, and critical utilisations. Secondly, we present straightforward though novel methods to determine better space-type profiles, and give an example in which the resulting profiles are indeed significantly improved.

Extensive optical and near-infrared observations of the nearby, narrow-lined type Ic SN 2007gr: days 5 to 415

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations at optical and near-infrared wavelengths of the nearby type Ic supernova 2007gr. These represent the most extensive data-set to date of any supernova of this sub-type, with frequent coverage from shortly after discovery to more than one year post-explosion. We deduce a rise time to B-band maximum of 11.5 +/- 2.7 d. We find a peak B-band magnitude of M-B = -16.8, and light curves which are remarkably similar to the so-called "hypernova" SN 2002ap. In contrast, the spectra of SNe 2007gr and 2002ap show marked differences, not least in their respective expansion velocities. We attribute these differences primarily to the density profiles of their progenitor stars at the time of explosion i.e. a more compact star for SN 2007gr compared to SN 2002ap. From the quasi-bolometric light curve of SN 2007gr, we estimate that 0.076 +/- 0.010 M-circle dot of Ni-56 was produced in the explosion. Our near-infrared (IR) spectra clearly show the onset and disappearance of the first overtone of carbon monoxide (CO) between similar to 70 to 175 d relative to B-band maximum. The detection of the CO molecule implies that ionised He was not microscopically mixed within the carbon/oxygen layers. From the optical spectra, near-IR light curves, and colour evolution, we find no evidence for dust condensation in the ejecta out to about +400 d. Given the combination of unprecedented temporal coverage, and high signal-to-noise data, we suggest that SN 2007gr could be used as a template object for supernovae of this sub-class.

The carbon abundance in main-sequence B-type stars towards the Galactic anti-centre

Differential carbon abundances (based on the C II doublet at 6580 Angstrom) are presented for eight early type stars, towards the Galactic anti-centre. All the stars have similar atmospheric parameters with effective temperatures in the range 25000-29000 K and surface gravities between log g = 3.9-4.3 dex. The derived photospheric abundances vary by up to 0.6 dex, and with the exception of one star, RLWT-41, the differential abundances are found to be closely correlated with those of nitrogen. This implies that both elements may have been formed by similar mechanisms and that the lack of correlation between the nitrogen and oxygen abundances previously found in this sample is not directly due to CNO-processed core material being mixed to the stellar surface.

Asymptotic layer-type model of high pressure direct current glow discharge in electronegative gases

Here a self-consistent one-dimensional continuum model is presented for a narrow gap plane-parallel dc glow discharge. The governing equations consist of continuity and momentum equations for positive and negative ions and electrons coupled with Poisson's equation. A singular perturbation method is developed for the analysis of high pressure dc glow discharge. The kinetic processes of the ionization, electron attachment, and ion-ion recombination are included in the model. Explicit results are obtained for the asymptotic limits: delta=(r(D)/L)(2)--> 0, omega=(r(S)/L)(2)--> 0, where r(D) is the Debye radius, r(S) is recombination length, and L is the gap length. The discharge gap divides naturally into four layers with multiple space scales: anode fall region, positive column, transitional region, cathode fall region and diffusion layer adjacent to the cathode surface, its formation is discussed. The effects of the gas pressure, gap spacing and dc voltage on the electrical properties of the layers and its dimension are investigated. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)00813-6].