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To evaluate the evolution of a dark film formation on silver surface objects, several coupons were catalogued and place inside a museum, located in an urban area. The changes on these samples were measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry, in periods of months. This technique allows the reduction of the coupons exposure time, in several months, due to its high sensitivity to surface modifications, with acceptable results for the evaluation of its degradation. The thicknesses of the degradation layers and the optical properties of silver oxide, chloride and sulphide reference samples were determined using a mixture of Tauc-Lorentz and Drude models. The composition of the silver corrosion layer was determined by fitting the layer using a Bruggeman Effective Medium Approximation (BEMA) of the three products plus voids. It was found that the thickness of the layer depends in the placement of the coupons, namely, inside or outside displayers. The average film thickness after 6 months was of 180 Å and 280 Å, inside and outside the displayers, respectively. The main compounds found in the layers were the silver chlorides and sulphides, which composition changed with the thickness of the layer, and the exposition time. © 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

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This paper presents the design of a test rig for an all HTS linear synchronous motor. Although this motor showed to have several unattractive characteristics, its design raised a number of problems which must be considered in future HTS machines design. HTS electromagnetic properties led to the development of new paradigms in electrical machines and power systems, as e. g. in some cases iron removal and consequent assembly of lighter devices. This is due to superconductor's ability to carry high currents with minimum losses and consequent generation in the surrounding air of flux densities much higher than the allowed by ferromagnetic saturation. However, severe restrictions in HTS power devices design that goes further beyond cryogenic considerations must be accounted in. This is usually the case when BSCCO tapes are used as conductors. Its bending limitations and the presence of flux components perpendicular to tape surface, due to the absence of iron, have to be considered for it may turn some possible applications not so attractive or even practically unfeasible. An all HTS linear synchronous motor built by BSCCO tapes as armature conductors and two trapped-flux YBCO bulks in the mover was constructed and thrust force measurements are starting to be performed. Although the device presents severe restrictions due to the exposed and other reasons, it allowed systematising its design. A pulsed-field magnetiser to generate opposite fluxes for both YBCO bulks is also detailed. Thrust force numerical predictions were already derived and presented.

This paper presents the design of a test rig for an all HTS linear synchronous motor. Although this motor showed to have several unattractive characteristics, its design raised a number of problems which must be considered in future HTS machines design. HTS electromagnetic properties led to the development of new paradigms in electrical machines and power systems, as e. g. in some cases iron removal and consequent assembly of lighter devices. This is due to superconductor's ability to carry high currents with minimum losses and consequent generation in the surrounding air of flux densities much higher than the allowed by ferromagnetic saturation. However, severe restrictions in HTS power devices design that goes further beyond cryogenic considerations must be accounted in. This is usually the case when BSCCO tapes are used as conductors. Its bending limitations and the presence of flux components perpendicular to tape surface, due to the absence of iron, have to be considered for it may turn some possible applications not so attractive or even practically unfeasible. An all HTS linear synchronous motor built by BSCCO tapes as armature conductors and two trapped-flux YBCO bulks in the mover was constructed and thrust force measurements are starting to be performed. Although the device presents severe restrictions due to the exposed and other reasons, it allowed systematising its design. A pulsed-field magnetiser to generate opposite fluxes for both YBCO bulks is also detailed. Thrust force numerical predictions were already derived and presented.

This paper presents the design of a test rig for an all HTS linear synchronous motor. Although this motor showed to have several unattractive characteristics, its design raised a number of problems which must be considered in future HTS machines design. HTS electromagnetic properties led to the development of new paradigms in electrical machines and power systems, as e. g. in some cases iron removal and consequent assembly of lighter devices. This is due to superconductor's ability to carry high currents with minimum losses and consequent generation in the surrounding air of flux densities much higher than the allowed by ferromagnetic saturation. However, severe restrictions in HTS power devices design that goes further beyond cryogenic considerations must be accounted in. This is usually the case when BSCCO tapes are used as conductors. Its bending limitations and the presence of flux components perpendicular to tape surface, due to the absence of iron, have to be considered for it may turn some possible applications not so attractive or even practically unfeasible. An all HTS linear synchronous motor built by BSCCO tapes as armature conductors and two trapped-flux YBCO bulks in the mover was constructed and thrust force measurements are starting to be performed. Although the device presents severe restrictions due to the exposed and other reasons, it allowed systematising its design. A pulsed-field magnetiser to generate opposite fluxes for both YBCO bulks is also detailed. Thrust force numerical predictions were already derived and presented.

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This paper addresses an implementation of the upper bound limit analysis theorem using a parallel mixed finite element formulation. The intrinsic characteristics of the adopted upper bound formulation proved to be suitable to adapt it to an efficient parallelization scheme. In order to illustrate the computational power provided by the new parallel processing method, accurate upper bound collapse load estimates, for 3D problems, are produced using a cluster of common PC machines.

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The decolorization of aqueous solutions methylene blue (C.I. Basic Blue 9), due to the presence of nanocrystalline Bi2S3, supported on SiO2 submicron particles, was investigated here. For this decolorization process, two distinct characteristics, though related, associated to the role of SiO2/Bi2S3 were identified: (i) high methylene blue adsorption capability and (ii) photocatalytic activity to methylene blue photodecolorization. Effects of experimental parameters on the decolorization process, such as methylene blue and nanocomposite concentrations, pH and Bi2S3 particle size were investigated. The maximum adsorption ability of the SiO2/Bi2S3 was approximately 15.6 mg methylene blue per gram. The complete decolorization of a 16 ppm organic dye solution can be achieved, by an adsorption process, in an extremely short time (less than 5 min), using 1.6 g/L of SiO2/Bi2S3 nanocomposite. The study of the decolorization of the dye by an adsorption-photoassisted decolorization process was carried out by irradiation of a suspension prepared with 100 mL of methylene blue solution (8 ppm) and 50 mg of SiO2/Bi2S3. In these conditions the complete decolorization of the dye, adsorbed and in the solution, was achieved in 40 min. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this study, we investigate the diffusion of carbon (C) and other elements into steel substrates (Impax Supreme™) during diamond chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The substrate temperature varied from 700 to 850ºC by plasma power manipulations to enable the correlation of substrate temperature with diffusion length and depth of the above mentioned critical elements into steel during film growth conditions. Methane concentration is also a parameter which has been considered during the parametric analysis. The crystalline compounds formed during the diamond growth process were studied using XRD analysis. In addition, SIMS technique is used with depth profiling to monitor the diffusion of elements induced by the process. The results obtained enabled to improve traditional understanding about the mechanisms relating to diamond deposition on steel substrates using CVD processes.

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In this paper, a research project intituled {“Supply} chain management: design for resilient systems” is presented. The project aim is to develop a Management Support System prototype to help managers to react quickly and efficiently to the effects of disruptions that can occur in supply chain. The research project is presented; including the current state of the art in Supply Chain disruptions, the research project objectives and main tasks. Preliminary research findings are presented and discussed.

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Reactive oxygen species (ROS), when in excess, are among the most deleterious species an organism can deal with. The physiological effects of ROS include amino acid chain cleavage, DNA degradation and lipid oxidation, among others. They can be formed in the cytoplasm in a variety of ways, including autooxidation reactions (FMN- and FAD-containing enzymes) and Fenton reactions as a result of the cytoplasmatic pool of iron ions. The superoxide anion (021, despite its short half-life in solution, is particularly pernicious as it can form other reactive ROS (such as the strong oxidant peroxynitrite) or oxidize and/or reduce cellular components. For strict anaerobic or microaerophilic bacteria it is of particular importance to be able to dispose of ROS in a controlled manner, especially if these organisms are temporarily exposed to air. This review aims to describe the structural characteristics of superoxide reductases (SORs) and mechanistic aspects of biological superoxide anion reduction. SORs can be considered the main class of enzymes behind the oxygen detoxification pathway of anaerobic and microaerophilic bacteria. The geometry of the active site (three classes have been described), the possible electron donors in vivo and the current hypothesis for the catalytic mechanism will be discussed. Some phylogenetic considerations are presented, regarding the primary structure of SORs currently available in genome databases. ((c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH {&} Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007).

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