The Influence of Cathode Voltage and Discharge Current on Neutron Production Rate of Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion (IR-IECF)

In this research effect of gas pressure, discharge current and cathode voltage on the neutron production rate in IR-IECF device is studied. In the experiment discharge current from 20 to 100 mA was tunable by deuterium gas pressure from 6.4 × 10^?3 mbar to 1.7 × 10^?2 mbar and cathode voltage was changed from 20 to 80 kV. Moreover, maximum value of neutron production rate can be achieved in optimum pressure and discharge current at a constant voltage.     

Preliminary Results of the 115 kJ Dense Plasma Focus Device IR-MPF-100

This work summarizes the design and construction of the first Iranian 115 kJ Mather type plasma focus (PF) machine (IR-MPF-100). This machine consists of a 6.25 cm radius and 22 cm height brass made anode with a 50 mm height insulator which separates the anode and cathode electrodes. Twelve copper made 22 cm height rods play the role of cathode with 10.2 cm radius. Twenty four 6 μF capacitors were used with the maximum charging voltage of 40 kV (maximum energy of 115 kJ) as the capacitor bank and maximum theoretical current around 1.224 MA. The total inductance of the system is 120 nH. By using NE-102 plastic Scintillator, Rogowski coil, current and voltage probes, hard X-ray, current derivative, current and voltage signals of IR-MPF-100 were measured. The primary result of neutron detection by neutron activation counter represents approximately 10⁹ neutrons per shot at 65 kJ discharge energy while using deuterium filling gas. Also IR-MPF-100 PF has been tested successfully at 90 kJ by using the argon gas.     

The secrets to the success of the rush-larsen method and its generalizations

One of the most popular methods for solving the ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that describe the dynamic behavior of myocardial cell models is known as the Rush-Larsen (RL) method. Its popularity stems from its improved stability over integrators such as the forward Euler (FE) method along with its easy implementation. The RL method partitions the ODEs into two sets: one for the gating variables, which are treated by an exponential integrator, and another for the remaining equations, which are treated by the FE method. The success of the RL method can be understood in terms of its relatively good stability when treating the gating variables. However, this feature would not be expected to be of benefit on cell models for which the stiffness is not captured by the gating equations. We demonstrate that this is indeed the case on a number of stiff cell models. We further propose a new partitioned method based on the combination of a first-order generalization of the RL method with the FE method. This new method leads to simulations of stiff cell models that are often one or two orders of magnitude faster than the original RL method.     

The Crystal Size Effect of Nano-Sized ZSM-5 in the Catalytic Performance of Petrochemical Processes: A Review

The ZSM-5 catalyst has received significant attention in recent years due to its significant properties such as strong acidity and high surface area. Crystal size of the catalyst has been recognized as an important factor in its performance. This review investigates the effects of the crystal size of ZSM-5 on its catalytic performance—selectivity; conversion; lifetime, product distribution; and coke formation during methanol to hydrocarbons (MTH), methanol to dimethyl ether, ethanol to gasoline (ETG), ethylene to gasoline (ETG), acetone to gasoline (ATG), acetone to olefin (ATO), naphtha cracking, and and n-dodecane cracking processes. This study demonstrates that the reduction of crystal size leads to higher levels of activity, conversion, and stability in these various processes.     

A new spinning reserve requirement forecast method for deregulated electricity markets

Ancillary services are necessary for maintaining the security and reliability of power systems and constitute an important part of trade in competitive electricity markets. Spinning Reserve (SR) is one of the most important ancillary services for saving power system stability and integrity in response to contingencies and disturbances that continuously occur in the power systems. Hence, an accurate day-ahead forecast of SR requirement helps the Independent System Operator (ISO) to conduct a reliable and economic operation of the power system. However, SR signal has complex, non-stationary and volatile behavior along the time domain and depends greatly on system load. In this paper, a new hybrid forecast engine is proposed for SR requirement prediction. The proposed forecast engine has an iterative training mechanism composed of Levenberg–Marquadt (LM) learning algorithm and Real Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA), implemented on the Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network. The proposed forecast methodology is examined by means of real data of Pennsylvania–New Jersey–Maryland (PJM) electricity market and the California ISO (CAISO) controlled grid. The obtained forecast results are presented and compared with those of the other SR forecast methods.     

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of oil from wild Achillea setacea and A. vermicularis

The objective of this study was to determine and compare the composition of volatile components of two species, A. setacea and A. vermicularis, under the temperate climatic conditions (north of Iran) and to investigate quantification of fatty acids in the oil extracted using gas chromatography-flame ionization detector and to evaluate the antioxidant potential and the phytochemical profile in terms of phenolic acids and flavonoids content of the oils obtained from the plants. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of the essential oils showed that the major compounds of A. setacea were nerolidol (20%) and α-cubebene (14%), while in A. vermicularis were camphor (15%) and borneol (13%). Oil analysis revealed that the major components were palmitic and myristic acids. Chromatographic separation of their phenolic compounds (high-performance liquid chromatography) demonstrated that sinapic, gallic, caffeic, vanillic, syringic, and ferulic acids were present in the two oils of the plants, but in different amounts. These results confirmed A. setacea and A. vermicularis as important sources of bioactive metabolites.     

Target optimization for a 10-MeV E-beam neutron converter

Accelerator-based target design and optimization is an approach for neutron generation. The target plays an important role for a neutron source on an electron accelerator. For optimizing a neutron source using 10 MeV electron beams of Rhodotron-TT200, Pb, Ta, or W alloys with Be were calculated as photo-neutron converter. The neutron yield, flux and energy were simulated using the MCNPX code. The results indicate that a 10 MeV electron beam is capable of producing high-intensity neutron flux of 1013n·cm–2·s–1 with average energy of 0.8 MeV.     

Comparison measurements on regular spectral transmittance

A comparison of the scales of regular spectral transmittance of the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) and the Swedish National Testing and Research Institute (SP) was made using a set of 3 absorption neutral-density glass filters and a flat piece of UV grade synthetic silica. The nominal transmittances of the samples were 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, and 0.93. The spatial transmittance profile and the temperature coefficient of spectral transmittance of the filters were measured. A good agreement was found between the results of SP and HUT, since most of the differences in transmittance values are within the relative standard uncertainty of the comparison ranging from 0.2–2% (level of confidence 68%). © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

β-Polymorph enhancement in poly(vinylidene fluoride) by blending with polyamide 6 and barium titanate nanoparticles

Polyamide 6 (PA6) as a cost-effective polar polymer and barium titanate (BT) as piezoelectric ceramic nanofiller were melt compounded with poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) matrix to enhance the β electroactive phase. A series of samples with two blending ratios of PVDF/PA6 (90/10 and 70/30 [wt%/wt%]) each containing 1, 3, and 5 wt% of BT were prepared. The SEM results revealed that the addition of BT to the neat blends refined the biphasic morphology which is mainly due to selective localization of BTs in PA6 dispersed phase as confirmed by TEM observation and wetting parameter predictions. The EDX analysis demonstrated a uniform distribution of BT nanoparticles in the filled systems. FTIR and XRD results showed that β content increased as a result of blending while the α phase was suppressed. The BT nanoparticles inclusion to the blends showed a synergistic effect on the β-polymorph content. These results in combination with the data derived from DSC (indicating reduction of the total crystallinity) complement the idea of β enhancement by the addition of BT nanoparticles and PA6 into PVDF.