2,526 research outputs found
Perovskite-like catalysts for the catalytic flameless combustion of methane
Modified LaCoO3 and LaMnO3 were investigated as catalysts for low tvemperature flameless combustion of methane. Modifications were carried out by the substitution part of La for Sr2+ and Ce4+, by the addition of 0.5% of Pt or Pd and by the substitution with Ag, which have limited solubility in the perovskite structure and may exist as intraframework Ag+ and extraframework metallic silver. Catalysts were synthesized by flame pyrolysis, which lead to a significant increase of both surface area and thermal resistance in comparison with the catalysts prepared by traditional sol-gel method. Samples were mainly characterized by XRD, BET and TPR techniques. Catalytic activity for the flameless combustion of methane was investigated by means of bench scale continuous apparatus, equipped with a quadrupolar mass spectrometer. In addition the resistance of every catalysts against sulphur poisoning was tested by using tetrahydrothiophene (THT) as poisoning agent. In most cases modification of perovskites led to an activity improvement, which was much more evident in the case of silver substitution. All the FP-prepared catalysts showed full methane conversion below 600\ub0C, with CO2 and H2O as the sole detected products. Sr-substitution and addition of noble metals increased resistance to sulphur poisoning, while silver was not effective from this point of view, its main advantage being a substantial increase of the initial activity, which lead to satisfactory performance even after poisoning
La-Ag-Co perovskites for the catalytic flameless combustion of methane
Ag represents an interesting dopant for the highly active LaCoO3 perovskites used for the catalytic flameless combustion (CFC) of methane, due to its ability to adsorb and activate oxygen and to the possibility of incorporation into the framework as Ag+ or Ag2+, with formation of oxygen vacancies. In the present work we compared the catalytic activity and resistance to sulphur poisoning of a series of LaCoO3, x%Ag/LaCoO3, La1-xAgxCoO3 samples (nominal composition), the latter two notations indicating post-synthesis Ag loading or direct incorporation during the synthesis, respectively. The samples were prepared by flame pyrolysis (FP) and by the sot-gel (SG) method, leading to different particle size and possibly to different incorporation degree of the dopant, quantified by Rietveld refinement of XRD patterns.
Higher activity was observed, in general, with fresh catalysts synthesised by FP. The SG samples demonstrated a slightly better resistance to sulphur poisoning when considering the conversion decrease between the fresh and the poisoned samples, due to lower surface exposure. However, interesting data have been obtained with some of the Ag-doped poisoned FP samples, performing even better than the fresh SG-prepared ones.
Ag addition led to a complex change of activity and resistance to poisoning. The activity of FP-prepared samples doped with a small amount of Ag (e.g. 5 mol%) was indeed lower than that of the undoped LaCoO3. By contrast, a further increase of Ag concentration led to increasing catalytic activity, mainly when big extra framework Ag particles were present. By contrast, for SG samples a low Ag amount was beneficial for activity, due to an increased reducibility of Co3+
Radiology of Mummies
In the past, autoptic examinations were usually performed for research. This type of examination, for obvious reasons, did not appeal to paleopathologists as these procedures potentially damaged the finds destined to musealization. Since the discovery of X-ray, radiology has been used to study mummies as a noninvasive technique. The radiology of mummies allows us to discover pathologies, to elaborate on the type of ritual mummification for the artificial embalming, to comprehend the diagenetic process that guaranteed a natural mummification, or to conclude anthropological identification. We present a review on the latest studies on mummies that have shown that the radiological approach has been essential to conduct research
Eosinophilic aseptic arachnoiditis: A neurological complication in HIV-negative drug-addicts
Abstract.: The finding of an eosinophilic aseptic meningitis in IV drug abuse is usually suggestive of an opportunistic infection or an allergic reaction. However, HIV-negative patients are at lower risk for developing these complications. Two young HIV-negative patients, with previous intravenous polytoxicomany, developed cystic arachnoiditis over the spinal cord associated with eosinophilic meningitis. Histology of the meningeal spinal cord lesions revealed a vasculocentric mixed inflammatory reaction. In one patient prednisone led to marked clinical improvement. Since infection, vasculitis, sarcoidosis and previous myelography were ruled out, we believe that the syndrome of eosinophilic aseptic arachnoiditis may be related to an hyperergic reaction in the meniges toward drug-adulterants inoculated through the intravenous rout
Prognostic value of continuous EEG monitoring during therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest
Introduction: Continuous EEG (cEEG) is increasingly used to monitor brain function in neuro-ICU patients. However, its value in patients with coma after cardiac arrest (CA), particularly in the setting of therapeutic hypothermia (TH), is only beginning to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to examine whether cEEG performed during TH may predict outcome.
Methods: From April 2009 to April 2010, we prospectively studied 34 consecutive comatose patients treated with TH after CA who were monitored with cEEG, initiated during hypothermia and maintained after rewarming. EEG background reactivity to painful stimulation was tested. We analyzed the association between cEEG findings and neurologic outcome, assessed at 2 months with the Glasgow-Pittsburgh Cerebral Performance Categories (CPC).
Results: Continuous EEG recording was started 12 ± 6 hours after CA and lasted 30 ± 11 hours. Nonreactive cEEG background (12 of 15 (75%) among nonsurvivors versus none of 19 (0) survivors; P < 0.001) and prolonged discontinuous "burst-suppression" activity (11 of 15 (73%) versus none of 19; P < 0.001) were significantly associated with mortality. EEG seizures with absent background reactivity also differed significantly (seven of 15 (47%) versus none of 12 (0); P = 0.001). In patients with nonreactive background or seizures/epileptiform discharges on cEEG, no improvement was seen after TH. Nonreactive cEEG background during TH had a positive predictive value of 100% (95% confidence interval (CI), 74 to 100%) and a false-positive rate of 0 (95% CI, 0 to 18%) for mortality. All survivors had cEEG background reactivity, and the majority of them (14 (74%) of 19) had a favorable outcome (CPC 1 or 2).
Conclusions: Continuous EEG monitoring showing a nonreactive or discontinuous background during TH is strongly associated with unfavorable outcome in patients with coma after CA. These data warrant larger studies to confirm the value of continuous EEG monitoring in predicting prognosis after CA and TH
High-speed data transfer with FPGAs and QSFP+ modules
We present test results and characterization of a data transmission system
based on a last generation FPGA and a commercial QSFP+ (Quad Small Form
Pluggable +) module. QSFP+ standard defines a hot-pluggable transceiver
available in copper or optical cable assemblies for an aggregated bandwidth of
up to 40 Gbps. We implemented a complete testbench based on a commercial
development card mounting an Altera Stratix IV FPGA with 24 serial transceivers
at 8.5 Gbps, together with a custom mezzanine hosting three QSFP+ modules. We
present test results and signal integrity measurements up to an aggregated
bandwidth of 12 Gbps.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Published on JINST Journal of Instrumentation
proceedings of Topical Workshop on Electronics for Particle Physics 2010,
20-24 September 2010, Aachen, Germany(R Ammendola et al 2010 JINST 5 C12019
NaNet: a Low-Latency, Real-Time, Multi-Standard Network Interface Card with GPUDirect Features
While the GPGPU paradigm is widely recognized as an effective approach to
high performance computing, its adoption in low-latency, real-time systems is
still in its early stages.
Although GPUs typically show deterministic behaviour in terms of latency in
executing computational kernels as soon as data is available in their internal
memories, assessment of real-time features of a standard GPGPU system needs
careful characterization of all subsystems along data stream path.
The networking subsystem results in being the most critical one in terms of
absolute value and fluctuations of its response latency.
Our envisioned solution to this issue is NaNet, a FPGA-based PCIe Network
Interface Card (NIC) design featuring a configurable and extensible set of
network channels with direct access through GPUDirect to NVIDIA Fermi/Kepler
GPU memories.
NaNet design currently supports both standard - GbE (1000BASE-T) and 10GbE
(10Base-R) - and custom - 34~Gbps APElink and 2.5~Gbps deterministic latency
KM3link - channels, but its modularity allows for a straightforward inclusion
of other link technologies.
To avoid host OS intervention on data stream and remove a possible source of
jitter, the design includes a network/transport layer offload module with
cycle-accurate, upper-bound latency, supporting UDP, KM3link Time Division
Multiplexing and APElink protocols.
After NaNet architecture description and its latency/bandwidth
characterization for all supported links, two real world use cases will be
presented: the GPU-based low level trigger for the RICH detector in the NA62
experiment at CERN and the on-/off-shore data link for KM3 underwater neutrino
telescope
Desenvolvimento do coqueiro-anão verde em função de doses de N e K em fertirrigação: avaliação inicial.
bitstream/CNPAT-2010/7109/1/Pa-081.pd
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