Influence of layer microstructure on the double nucleation process in Cu/Mg multilayers

We have investigated by differential scanning calorimetry the thermal evolution of Cu/Mg multilayers with different modulation lengths, ranging from 7/28 to 30/120 nm. The Cu and Mg layers were grown by sequential evaporation in an electron beam deposition system. The phase identification and layer microstructure were determined by cross-section transmission electron microscopy, Rutherford backscattering, and scanning electron microscopy with focused ion beam for sample preparation. Upon heating, the intermetallic CuMg2 forms at the interfaces until coalescence is reached and thickens through a diffusion-limited process. Cross-section transmission electron microscopy observations show a distinct microstructure at the top and bottom of the as-prepared Mg layers, while no significant differences were seen in the Cu layers.We show that this effect is responsible for the observed asymmetry in the nucleation process between the Cu on Mg and the Mg on Cu interfaces. By modeling the calorimetric data we determine the role of both interfaces in the nucleation and lateral growth stages.We also show that vertical growth proceeds by grain development of the product phase, increasing significantly the roughness of the interfaces.Spanish Ministry of EducationDirecció General de Recerca of the Generalitat of CataloniaHungarian National Science Fun

Combined visual odometry and visual compass for off-road mobile robots localization

In this paper, we present the work related to the application of a visual odometry approach to estimate the location of mobile robots operating in off-road conditions. The visual odometry approach is based on template matching, which deals with estimating the robot displacement through a matching process between two consecutive images. Standard visual odometry has been improved using visual compass method for orientation estimation. For this purpose, two consumer-grade monocular cameras have been employed. One camera is pointing at the ground under the robot, and the other is looking at the surrounding environment. Comparisons with popular localization approaches, through physical experiments in off-road conditions, have shown the satisfactory behavior of the proposed strateg

Multiagent Systems in Automotive Applications

The multiagent systems have proved to be a useful tool in the design of solutions to problems of distributed nature. In a distributed system, it is possible that the data, the control actions or even both, be distributed. The concept of agent is a suitable notion for capturing situations where the global knowledge about the status of a system is complex or even impossible to acquire in a single entity. In automotive applications, there exist a great number of scenarios of distributed nature, such as the traffic coordination, routes load balancing problems, traffic negotiation among the infrastructure and cars, to mention a few. Even more, the autonomous driving features of the new generation of cars will require the new methods of car to car communication, car to infrastructure negotiation, and even infrastructure to infrastructure communication. This chapter proposes the application of multiagent system techniques to some problems in the automotive field

Solution casting of cellulose acetate films: influence of surface substrate and humidity on wettability, morphology and optical properties

Variations on the processing conditions of conventional methods for polymeric film preparation may allow tuning certain properties. In this work, different casting surfaces and humidity are presented as variables to consider for cellulose acetate (CA) film preparation using conventional solution casting method. Specifically, borosilicate glass, soda-lime glass and Teflon (PTFE) dishes have been used for casting and their influence on various properties on CA films assessed. The surfaces of glass dishes are smooth, while PTFE surface has a pattern constituted by concentric channels of micro dimensions (as seen by optical microscope), which is adopted by cast films upon drying. The resulting patterned films are translucent while films produced using smooth surfaces are transparent. The effect of the environment humidity (35%, 55% and 75% RH) in the properties of the CA films during the evaporation of solvent from solution has been evaluated. Higher humidity produces smoother surfaces and increased crystallinity as shown by XRD and DSC; however, the wettability of the films does not seem to be influenced by this variable. Due to the specific morphology of the patterned films, changes in material opacity upon wetting are detected, from translucent to transparent, while the removal of water from the surface restores the translucency. This micropatterning effect that causes different visual appearance of the material can find use as a humidity sensor in food packaging applications.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was financially supported by CONEX-Plus program of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the European Commission through the Marie-Sklodowska Curie COFUND Action (Grant Agreement No 801538). Authors also appreciate the financial support received from AEI (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain, PID2020-112713RB-C22 and -C21); the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Fondos de Investigación of Fco. Javier González Benito (2012/00130/004) and the strategic Action in Multifunctional Nanocomposite Materials (2011/00287/003)

Assessment of cognitive performance among Mexican children and adolescents afflicted by simple to complex congenital heart diseases. Preliminary study

Among patients afflicted by congenital heart diseases (CHD) diverse, and complex neurological alterations are commonly observed. These have neither been completely identified nor understood. With the aim of identifying specific neurocognitive alterations among children and adolescents afflicted by CHD we investigated the possible presence of cognitive disorders related to the presence of cardiovascular disease with the aid of a sample of 20 patients (12 teenagers and 8 school-age children). Taken altogether, 9 of them were afflicted by simple and 11 by complex pathologies (respectively, CHDs/c). The Neuropsychological Test for Memory and Attention (Neuropsi), standardized for Mexico by Ostrosky et al. (2004), was individually applied to all participants. The information of cognitive performance was obtained in relation to the categories attention and memory, and the same areas allowed us to assess global performance. CHDc subjects performed significantly poorer compared to CHDs in i) attention and executive function, ii) memory and iii) attention and memory. Likewise, among CHDc subjects a significantly higher proportion of cases were diagnosed as abnormal in the same variables. Also a significant and negative correlation was determined between CHD severity and neuropsychological scoring. Children and adolescents afflicted by CHD are at high risk of developing cognitive function alterations including aspects of memory, attention and executive functions, alterations which are likely to be worst among those cases carrying CHDc conditions

Proximate composition and amino acid profile of European eel skin: influence of body weight

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUGAs industrias de procesamento de peixe de todo o mundo están a descartar millóns de quilogramos de residuos de peixe ao ano. A eliminación destes residuos supón un importante inconveniente na industria de transformación de peixe. A pel grosa da anguía considérase un residuo na industria de transformación de peixe e na casa e adoita converterse en produtos de baixo valor no mercado. Os obxectivos deste estudo foron avaliar as variacións da composición química xeral e do contido de aminoácidos da pel de anguía en relación co peso corporal. O contido de humidade diminuíu e o contido de lípidos aumentou co peso das anguías. A pel da anguía tiña un alto contido proteico, que non variou significativamente co peso da anguía. A glicina foi o aminoácido máis abundante. O aminoácido esencial predominante era a leucina. As anguías máis pequenas contiñan niveis máis altos de treonina, valina, isoleucina, leucina, lisina, ácido glutámico e tirosina que os outros grupos. As anguías máis grandes contiñan niveis máis altos de metionina, hidroxiprolina, glicina, arginina, alanina e prolina que os outros grupos. Os índices de proteínas mostraron que a pel das anguías máis pequenas era de maior calidade nutricional.Fish processing industries worldwide are discarding million kilograms of fish waste per year. The disposal of these wastes is an important handicap in fish processing industry. The thick eel skin is considered a waste product in the fish processing industry and in the home and is usually converted into low market-value products. The aims of this study were to evaluate the variations in the general chemical composition and amino acid content of eel skin in relation to body weight. The moisture content decreased and the lipid content increased with the weight of the eels. Eel skin had a high protein content, which did not vary significantly with eel weight. Glycine was the most abundant amino acid. The predominant essential amino acid was leucine. The smaller eels contained higher levels of threonine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, glutamic acid and tyrosine than the other groups. The larger eels contained higher levels of methionine, hydroxyproline, glycine, arginine, alanine and proline than the other groups. The protein indices showed that the skin from smaller eels was of higher nutritional quality.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431E 2018/0

Dynamic behaviour of multi-terminal VSC-based HVDC after a converter outage: DC control strategy

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of DC-voltage control strategy on dynamic behaviour of multi-terminal Voltage-Source Converter (VSC)-Based HVDC after a converter outage. In this paper, two dc voltage control strategies are considered: (i) standard voltage margin method (SVMM) and (ii) standard voltage-droop method (SVDM). The impact is evaluated in this paper using time-domain simulations on simple test system using DIgSILENT PowerFactory considering a sudden disconnection of a converter-station. Simulation results demonstrate how important is the dc-voltage control strategy and the location/number of dc-buses involved in the dc-voltage on the dynamic response of the MTDC systems. The voltage margin control is capable to survive a converter outage just if this converter is operating on constant power mode