Development of a Procedure for Estimating the Parameters of Mechanistic Emission Source Models from Chamber Testing Data

In order to evaluate the impacts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from building materials on the indoor pollution load and indoor air quality beyond the standard chamber test conditions and test period, mechanistic emission source models have been developed in the past. However, very limited data are available for the required model parameters including the initial concentration (Cm0), in-material diffusion coefficient (Dm), partition coefficient (Kma), and convective mass transfer coefficient (km). In this study, a procedure is developed for estimating the model parameters by using VOC emission data from standard small chamber tests. Multivariate regression analysis on the experimental data are used to determine the parameters. The Least Square and Global search algorithm with multi-starting points are used to achieve a good agreement in the normalized VOC concentrations between the model prediction and experimental data. To verify the procedure and estimate its uncertainty, simulated chamber test data are first generated by superposition of different levels of “experimental uncertainties” on the theoretical curve of the analytical solution to a mechanistic model, and then the procedure is used to estimate the model parameters from these data and determine how well the estimates converged to the original parameter values used for the data generation. Results indicated that the mean value of the estimated model parameters Cm0 was within -0.04%+/-2.47% of the true values if the “experimental uncertainty” were within +/-10% (a typical uncertainty present in small-scale chamber testing). The procedure was further demonstrated by applying it to estimate the model parameters from real chamber test data. Wide applications of the procedure will result in a database of mechanistic source model parameters for assessing the impact of VOC emissions on indoor pollution load, and for evaluating the effectiveness of various IAQ design and control strategies

Exploring a P300 Brain-Computer Interface Based on Three Different RSVP Paradigms

A BCI Speller is a typical Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system for communication purpose. This technology can provide users with severe motor disability with an assistive device controlled by brain activity. In the present preliminary study we investigated, in five subjects, the performance and the Information Transfer Rate (ITR) based on three different Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) paradigms to control a BCI speller. The variants of the three paradigms were the stimuli presented: letters, images and famous faces. These preliminary results showed that performance can increase when using an RSVP paradigm based on images, and ITR can improves when using the images and the famous faces paradigms.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

IEA Project on Indoor Air Quality Design and Control in Low Energy Residential Buildings

International audienc

New High-Performance Materials: Bio-Based, Eco-Friendly Polyimides

The development of high-performance bio-based polyimides (PIs) seems a difficult task due to the incompatibility between petrochemical-derived, aromatic monomers and renewable, natural resources. Moreover, their production usually implies less eco-friendly experimental conditions, especially in terms of solvents and thermal conditions. In this chapter, we touch some of the most significant research endeavors that were devoted in the last decade to engineering naturally derived PI building blocks based on nontoxic, bio-renewable feedstocks. In most cases, the structural motifs of natural products are modified toward amine functionalities that are then used in classical or nonconventional methods for PI synthesis. We follow their evolution as viable alternatives to traditional starting compounds and prove they are able to generate eco-friendly PI materials that retain a combination of high-performance characteristics, or even bring some novel, enhanced features to the field. At the same time, serious progress has been made in the field of nonconventional synthetic and processing options for the development of PI-based materials. Greener experimental conditions such as ionic liquids, supercritical fluids, microwaves, and geothermal techniques represent feasible routes and reduce the negative environmental footprint of PIs’ development. We also approach some insights regarding the sustainability, degradation, and recycling of PI-based materials

New Trends in UV Curing

We present an overview of the use of photochemistry applied to polymerization and crosslinking reactions by radical or cationic process used for thin film technologies and more generally for coatings. Industrially, most of the formulations used are initiated by radical mechanism. Since the discovery by J. Crivello of iodonium and sulfonium salts, the market has been oriented to use cationic systems to crosslink monomers/ oligomers. One of the main advantage of such a system is that it is not sensitive to the presence of oxygene as it is for radical mechanisms. An overview of a photosensitive formulation is presented i.e. photoinitiators, photosensitisers, monomers and/or oligomers mainly used by formulators and additives. A new technique which has been developed to study and optimise any photosensitive formulation – differential phto calorimetry DPC – and which permits to determine kinetic parameters such as enthalpy, degree of conversion, rate constant, Arrhenius parameters, etc. is also describe. Some of the main characteristics and properties of UV cured polymers like acrylates, epoxides, vinylethers and others are correlated with their structures and the photocuring conditions. Applications to thin film technologies based on acrylates, epoxides and silicones is presented. A promising area of research which opens a new route for the obtention of new structure of alternating copolymers for coatings without the use of photoinitiator and based on charge transfer complex CTC is also presented

Synthesis of block copolymers of varying architecture through suppression of transesterification during coordinated anionic ring opening polymerization

Well-defined di-and triblock copolymers consisting of ε-caprolactone (CL), L-lactide (LA), and trimethylene carbonate (TMC) were synthesized via "PLA first route" in coordinated anionic ring opening polymerization/copolymerization (CAROP) with tin (II) octoate as catalyst. The desired block structure was preserved by use of protective additive α-methylstyrene by preventing the transesterification side-reactions. MALDI-TOF analysis revealed that the protection mechanism is associated with α-methylstyrene and tin (II) octoate complexation. Additionally, it was shown that use of α-methylstyrene in ring opening polymerization allowed the formation of polyesters with high molar mass

Electric and Optical Properties of Polyimide Surface Films Modified by Metals

Electric and optical properties of polymer films, which were prepared on the basis of polyimides and metallized by binary aggregates Ag with Ni and Co, have been investigated. The metallized polyimide films with additional coating from Ni, Au and Rh have been studied too. It has been found that the temperature dependence of the specific surface resistance in the metallized films at the temperature from 25 up to 160 °C was in the well agreement with linear law. The specific surface resistance at 20 °C and temperature coefficient showed low values and was 0.16-2.24 Ω and 0.69×10-4-19.18×10-4 K-1 respectively. The film reflection coefficient in visible spectrum field at wavelength of 530 nm was 75% and essentially enlarged with wavelength increasing