649 research outputs found

    A detailed kinetic model for biogas steam reforming on Ni and catalyst deactivation due to sulfur poisoning

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    This paper deals with the development and validation of a detailed kinetic model for steam reforming of biogas with and without H2S. The model has 68 reactions among 8 gasphase species and 18 surface adsorbed species including the catalytic surface. The activation energies for various reactions are calculated based on unity bond index-quadratic exponential potential (UBI-QEP) method. The whole mechanism is made thermodynamically consistent by using a previously published algorithm. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to understand the influence of reaction parameters on surface coverage of sulfur. The parameters describing sticking and desorption reactions of H2S are the most sensitive ones for the formation of adsorbed sulfur. The mechanism is validated in the temperature range of 873-1200 K for biogas free from H 2S and 973-1173 K for biogas containing 20-108 ppm H2S. The model predicts that during the initial stages of poisoning sulfur coverages are high near the reactor inlet; however, as the reaction proceeds further sulfur coverages increase towards the reactor exit. In the absence of sulfur, CO and elemental hydrogen are the dominant surface adsorbed species. High temperature operation can significantly mitigate sulfur adsorption and hence the saturation sulfur coverages are lower compared to low temperature operation. Low temperature operation can lead to full deactivation of the catalyst. The model predicts saturation coverages that are comparable to experimental observatio

    Angular-Rate Estimation Using Quaternion Measurements

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    In most spacecraft (SC) there is a need to know the SC angular rate. Precise angular rate is required for attitude determination, and a coarse rate is needed for attitude control damping. Classically, angular rate information is obtained from gyro measurements. These days, there is a tendency to build smaller, lighter and cheaper SC, therefore the inclination now is to do away with gyros and use other means and methods to determine the angular rate. The latter is also needed even in gyro equipped satellites when performing high rate maneuvers whose angular-rate is out of range of the on board gyros or in case of gyro failure. There are several ways to obtain the angular rate in a gyro-less SC. When the attitude is known, one can differentiate the attitude in whatever parameters it is given and use the kinematics equation that connects the derivative of the attitude with the satellite angular-rate and compute the latter. Since SC usually utilize vector measurements for attitude determination, the differentiation of the attitude introduces a considerable noise component in the computed angular-rate vector

    Threat memory reminder under matrix metalloproteinase 9 inhibitor doxycycline globally reduces subsequent memory plasticity

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    Associative memory can be rendered malleable by a reminder. Blocking the ensuing re-consolidation process is suggested as a therapeutic target for unwanted aversive memories. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 is required for structural synapse remodelling involved in memory consolidation. Inhibiting MMP-9 with doxycycline is suggested to attenuate human threat conditioning. Here, we investigate whether MMP-9 inhibition also interferes with threat memory re-consolidation. N=78 male and female human participants learned the association between two visual conditioned stimuli (CS+) and a 50% chance of an unconditioned nociceptive stimulus (US), and between CS- and the absence of US. On day 7, one CS+ was reminded without reinforcement 3.5 hours after ingesting either 200 mg doxycycline, or placebo. On day 14, retention of CS memory was assessed under extinction, by fear-potentiated startle. Contrary to our expectations, we observed a greater CS+/CS- difference in participants who were reminded under doxycycline, compared to placebo. Participants who were reminded under placebo showed extinction learning during the retention test, which was not observed in the doxycycline group. There was no difference between the reminded and the non-reminded CS+ in either group. In contrast, during re-learning after the retention test, CS+/CS- difference was more pronounced in the placebo than the doxycycline group. To summarize, a single dose of doxycycline appeared to have no specific impact on re-consolidation, but to globally impair extinction learning, and threat re-learning, after drug clearance.MMP-9 inhibition appears to attenuate memory consolidation. It could also be a target for blocking reconsolidation. Here, we test this hypothesis in human threat conditioning. We find that doxycycline has no specific impact on a reminded cue, but confers a global reduction in extinction learning and threat learning beyond the clearance of the drug. This may point towards a more long-lasting impact of doxycycline treatment on memory plasticity

    Competition and Selection Among Conventions

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    In many domains, a latent competition among different conventions determines which one will come to dominate. One sees such effects in the success of community jargon, of competing frames in political rhetoric, or of terminology in technical contexts. These effects have become widespread in the online domain, where the data offers the potential to study competition among conventions at a fine-grained level. In analyzing the dynamics of conventions over time, however, even with detailed on-line data, one encounters two significant challenges. First, as conventions evolve, the underlying substance of their meaning tends to change as well; and such substantive changes confound investigations of social effects. Second, the selection of a convention takes place through the complex interactions of individuals within a community, and contention between the users of competing conventions plays a key role in the convention's evolution. Any analysis must take place in the presence of these two issues. In this work we study a setting in which we can cleanly track the competition among conventions. Our analysis is based on the spread of low-level authoring conventions in the eprint arXiv over 24 years: by tracking the spread of macros and other author-defined conventions, we are able to study conventions that vary even as the underlying meaning remains constant. We find that the interaction among co-authors over time plays a crucial role in the selection of them; the distinction between more and less experienced members of the community, and the distinction between conventions with visible versus invisible effects, are both central to the underlying processes. Through our analysis we make predictions at the population level about the ultimate success of different synonymous conventions over time--and at the individual level about the outcome of "fights" between people over convention choices.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of WWW 2017, data at https://github.com/CornellNLP/Macro

    Proton acceleration by irradiation of isolated spheres with an intense laser pulse

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    We report on experiments irradiating isolated plastic spheres with a peak laser intensity of 2-3 x 10(20) W cm(-2). With a laser focal spot size of 10 mu m full width half maximum (FWHM) the sphere diameter was varied between 520 nm and 19.3 mu m. Maximum proton energies of similar to 25 MeV are achieved for targets matching the focal spot size of 10 mu m in diameter or being slightly smaller. For smaller spheres the kinetic energy distributions of protons become nonmonotonic, indicating a change in the accelerating mechanism from ambipolar expansion towards a regime dominated by effects caused by Coulomb repulsion of ions. The energy conversion efficiency from laser energy to proton kinetic energy is optimized when the target diameter matches the laser focal spot size with efficiencies reaching the percent level. The change of proton acceleration efficiency with target size can be attributed to the reduced cross-sectional overlap of subfocus targets with the laser. Reported experimental observations are in line with 3D3V particle in cell simulations. They make use of well-defined targets and point out pathways for future applications and experiments.DFG via the Cluster of Excellence Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP) Transregio SFB TR18NNSA DE-NA0002008Super-MUC pr48meIvo CermakCGC Instruments in design and realization of the Paul trap systemIMPRS-APSLMUexcellent Junior Research FundDAAD|ToIFEEuropean Union's Horizon research and innovation programme 633053Physic

    Bloch-Like Quantum Multiple Reflections of Atoms

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    We show that under certain circumstances an atom can follow an oscillatory motion in a periodic laser profile with a Gaussian envelope. These oscillations can be well explained by using a model of energetically forbidden spatial regions. The similarities and differences with Bloch oscillations are discussed. We demonstrate that the effect exists not only for repulsive but also for attractive potentials, i.e. quantum multiple reflections are also possible.Comment: LaTeX, 7 pages, 7 figure
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