A novel porous polymer-ionic liquid composite with poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIPF6) has been synthesized by γ-irradiation without heat or chemical initiators. The products can be reversibly converted into organogels. The composites are potential candidates for electrochemical applications. The use of γ-radiation can be a simple and versatile alternative way to obtain these materials.

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The Late Triassic (ca. 237-201.5 million years ago) was a transitional interval in the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, during which ‘modern’ clades such as archosaurs and mammals were radiating while ‘archaic’ groups such as temnospondyl amphibians and basal synapsids remained abundant. Little is known about the Triassic terrestrial (nonmarine) vertebrates of the Iberian Peninsula. The Algarve Basin of southern Portugal is an extensional rift basin formed during the breakup of Pangaea, which is filled with terrestrial, lacustrine, and marginal marine siliciclastics of the Grés de Silves Formation, interbedded with CAMP basalts that mark the end-Triassic extinction (radioisotopically dated to ~198-201.5 Ma). Since 2009, our field project in the Algarve has discovered numerous vertebrate specimens within the Grés de Silves, including a monodominant bonebed containing hundreds of specimens of metoposaurids, a peculiar group of temnospondyls that filled crocodile-like predatory niches in lacustrine and fluvial environments. These specimens appear to belong to a new species of Metoposaurus, similar to M. diagnosticus and M. krasiejowensis from central Europe but possessing several putative autapomorphies of the braincase and lower jaw. We also discovered a mandible of a phytosaur, the first specimen of these long-snouted, semi-aquatic archosauriforms from the Iberian Peninsula. These discoveries of characteristic Carnian Norian taxa indicate that the fossil-bearing portion of the Grés de Silves is Late Triassic in age, and provide further evidence that metoposaurids and phytosaurs commonly occurred together in low palaeolatitudes during this time.

This work presents a multi-objective optimization methodology that accounts for economic, environmental and social concerns in a supply chain with reverse flows. Environmental impact assessment is considered through the use of Recipe 2008. A social benefit indicator is developed where the creation of employment in less developed regions is preferred. The multi-objective approach is used to reach a solution of compromise between the three sustainability pillars. The model is applied to a case study developed in collaboration with a Portuguese company, leader in battery production.

We report here the addition of two rare mosasaur taxa to the Maastrichtian marine amniote fauna of Angola. The new specimens include a dentary fragment referable to the large carnivore Prognathodon saturator and an isolated tooth of the small durophage Carinodens belgicus. Both were recovered from Maastrichtian outcrops in southern Angola in 2011. Additionally, a complete posterior mandibular unit of a large mosasaur from the type Maastrichtian of The Netherlands, collected some time prior to 1879 and previously identified as ‘Mosasaurus giganteus’, is described and reassigned here to Prognathodon saturator; historical issues surrounding the taxonomic attribution of this specimen are clarified. The new material extends the known geographic distribution of Prognathodon saturator and Carinodens belgicus.

A rapidly changing market leads to software systems with highly volatile requirements. In many cases, new demands in software can often be met by extending the functionality of systems already in operation. By modularizing volatile requirements that can be altered at the client’s initiative or according to market demands, we can build a stepping-stone for management of requirements change. The volatility must be managed in a way that reduces the time and costs associated with updating a system to meet the new requirements. In this chapter, we present an approach for handling volatile concerns during early life cycle software modeling. The key insight is that techniques for aspect-oriented software development can be applied to modularize volatility and to weave volatile concerns into the base software artifacts.

Purpose - The main objective of this paper is to identify and rank a set of performance measures using the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) approach to support the automotive supply chain performance evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach - The paper develops a framework to analyze the interactions among a suggested set of performance measures using the {ISM} approach. To identify the contextual relationships among the suggested measures, five experts from the automotive industry were consulted.
Findings - Using the {ISM} approach the performance measures were clustered attending to their driving and dependence power. Inventory level and lead time are the two performance measures at the bottom level of the hierarchy, implying higher driving power. Also, operational costs, business wastage, environmental costs, delivery time and customer satisfaction are identified as autonomous measures. This means that they are relatively disconnected from the other suggested performance measures. It is also observed that the cash-to-cash cycle is a weak driver but strongly dependent on the other performance measures.
Practical implications - The proposed approach gives managers a better understanding on mutual influences of performance measures (driving performance measures) and also those measures which are most influenced by others (dependent performance measures). Using {ISM} managers can get insight on the order and direction of complex relations among the suggested performance measures. This kind of information is strategic for managers could identify which performance measures they should concentrate on, and how they can manage the tradeoffs between them.
Originality/value - This paper highlights the deployment of {ISM} as a manager' decision support tool in the identification and ranking of a set of performance measures to make part of a supply chain performance measurement system.

The advancement of CMOS technology led to the integration of more complex functions. In the particular of wireless transceivers, integrated LC tanks are becoming popular both for VCOs and integrated filters [1]. For RF applications the main challenge is still the design of integrated inductors with the maximum quality factor. For that purpose, tapered, i.e., variable width inductors have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, analytical expressions for the determination the pi-model parameters, for the characterization of variable width integrated inductors are proposed. The expressions rely exclusively on geometrical and technological parameters, thus granting the rapid adaptation of the model to different technologies. The results obtained with the model are compared against simulation with ASITIC, showing errors below 10%. The model is then integrated into an optimization procedure where inductors with a quality factor improvement in the order of 20-30% are obtained, when compared with fixed width inductors.

The notion of service-enhanced product brings new perspectives for value creation and differentiation in manufacturing. The existence of complex and highly customized products, the inclusion of business services that add value to the product typically require the collaboration of multiple stakeholders. It is natural that each stakeholder has its own set of values and preferences and as a result, conflicts among them might emerge due to some values misalignment. Therefore, the Value System Alignment assessment should be included when selecting partner for the formation of long-term collaborative networks for the operation and management of the product life-cycle. This paper presents the implementation of a Value System alignment assessment model, as a component of the cloud-based collaborative environment designed to support a mix of collaborative enterprise networks involved in the solar energy sector.

Progressive scaling of CMOS technology towards nanoscale regime enables the design of highly integrated systems for the wireless communications market. As technology continues to scale, the variability in process parameters may cause significant deviations in device behaviour. The complexity of designing spiral inductors has lead to the development of multi-objective optimization based design methodologies yielding the generation of Pareto-optimal surfaces. However, the variability of the process parameters is usually ignored, yielding the selection of ideally optimal solutions in detriment of quasi-optimal solutions that may prove to be better, should the robustness against process parameter variation be accounted for. We propose the generation of an extended Pareto front containing both optima and quasi-optima solutions. Finally information on the robustness to process parameter variations, is used for electing the best design solutions.The evaluation of the extended set of sub-optima solutions requires methods capable to find the set of local optima, since solutions that are close to each other in the performance index space may be very distant in the design parameter space.

Natural polymers have been studied during the last years for the transport and separation of liquid and gas mixtures, in terms of solubility and permeability data, and their structure and mechanical properties have been characterised. However, no transport models have been reported, relating transport with the material morphology. Cork is a natural cellular material containing three structural polymers (suberin, lignin and polysaccharides). Cork is considered a natural polymer, with economic relevance due to its sealing, non-toxic, stable and low-density properties. Corkwas characterised in this work in terms of its solubility and permeability data in relation to various gases with different molecular mass: He, O2,N2,CO2 and 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R134a). A morphological analysis of the structure of the cork sample chosen in this work was also performed using SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and TEM (transmission electron microscope) image analysis, which took into account the variation of each relevant structural parameter. A transport model was developed supported on the morphology of cork characterised in this work. The transport model developed considers that gas permeation occurs through the plasmodesmata, which are channels with approximately 100 nm of diameter that cross the cell walls of the cork cells. It was found that gas transport follows a Knudsen mechanism, as proved by the gas permeability behaviour with increasing gasmolecularmass, with a negligible contribution of viscous transport to the total flux. &

{New cationic Ag(I) complexes were prepared by reaction of AgBF4 with two thioether-functionalized bis-(diphenylphosphino) amine ligands, Ph2PN(p-ArSMe)PPh2 (L1) and Ph2PN(n-PrSMe)PPh2 (L2), and compared with those obtained from the unfunctionalized ligands Ph2PN(Ph)PPh2 (L3) and Ph2PN(n-Bu)PPh2 (L4), respectively. The complex {[}Ag-3(mu(3)-Cl)(2)(mu(2)-L1-P, P)(3)](BF4) (1 center dot BF4) contains a triangular array of Ag centres supported by three bridging L1 ligands and two triply-bridging chlorides. In contrast, ligand L2 led to the coordination polymer {[}\{Ag-2(mu(3)-L2,-P,P,S)(2)(MeCN)(2)\}\{Ag-2(mu(2)-L2-P,P)(2)(MeCN)(2) \}(BF4)(4)](n) (2) in which the tethered thioether group connects intermolecularly a Ag2 unit to the diphosphine bridging the other Ag2 unit. With L3 and L4, two similar complexes were obtained, {[}Ag-2(mu(2)-L3)(BF4)(2)] (3) and {[}Ag-2(mu(2)-L4)(BF4)(2)] (4), respectively, with bridging diphosphine ligands and a BF4 anion completing the coordination sphere of the metal. Complexes 1 center dot BF4 center dot CH2Cl2, 2 center dot THF, 3 center dot 3CH(2)Cl(2) and 4 have been fully characterized, including by single crystal X-ray diffraction.}

Transport properties of natural (noncompressed) cork were evaluated for water and ethanol in both vapor and liquid phases. The permeability for these permeants has been measured, as well as the sorption and diffusion coefficients. This paper focuses on the differences between the transport of gases' relevant vapors and their liquids (water and ethanol) through cork. A transport mechanism of vapors and liquids is proposed. Experimental evidence shows that both vapors and liquids permeate not only through the small channels across the cells (plasmodesmata), as in the permeation of gases, but also through the walls of cork cells by sorption and diffusion as in dense membranes. The present study also shows that cork permeability for gases was irreversibly and drastically decreased after cork samples were exposed to ethanol or water in liquid phase.