Effect of simultaneous chemical substitution of A and B sites on the electronic structure of BiFeO3 films grown on BaTiO3/SiO2/Si substrate

Electrical properties and electronic structure of Bi_1?xCa_xFe_1?yMn_yO_3?δ grown by pulsed-laser deposition on BaTiO₃/SiO₂/Si substrate were investigated. Results showed that Ca has drastic effect on symmetry of crystal and electrical poperties of BiFeO₃. On the other hand, Mn revealed to have more radical effect on optical properties and energy gap of the compound. XPS results represented that although Ca tend to decrease Fe valence state, Mn tends to stabilize it at 3+ (at least in this concentrations). UV–visible study yielded bandgap of 2.51–2.81 eV (at 300 K) for different concentrations of Ca and Mn. UV–visible spectra also revealed sub-bandgap defect transitions at 2.2 and 2.4 eV. Slave-particle approach has also been applied to elucidate nature of the metal–insulator transition.     

Effect of chemical substitution on the morphology and optical properties of Bi1−xCaxFeO3 films grown by pulsed-laser deposition

The morphological characteristics as well the optical properties of Ca-doped BiFeO₃ films grown by pulsed-laser deposition technique have been investigated. AFM images revealed that calcium has a radical effect on the surface features of BiFeO₃ films. By utilizing spectrophotometer, transmission behaviour of the films was investigated. Local IV characteristics of the films disclosed about three orders of magnitude enhancement concerning electrical conductivity through Ca doping. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results revealed that Ca can reduce the valence state of iron in the compound.     

Comparison of Physical,Thermal, and Thermomechanical Properties of Cotton/Epoxy Composite and Cotton/Vinyl Ester Composite Inhibitors

The inhibition of a double‐base solid propellant is used to control and prevent the burning degree of the exposed area, which is due to longer burning time. In recent years, inhibition with cellulose derivatives has become popular, but these monolithic systems usually suffer from the drawback of a high erosion rate and demand high thickness and low burning time. In this research two composite inhibitors based on natural fibers were manufactured by filament winding technique and their physical, thermal, and thermomechanical properties were compared. In addition, a chlorinated flame retardant (CFR) as well as antimony trioxide were added in inhibitor compositions to control their burning processes. It was found that the cotton/epoxy composite inhibitor displays a compatible thermal expansion coefficient with the propellant and a high amount of residual char compared to cotton/vinyl ester composite. Also, it was understood that the moisture absorption resistance and thermal stability, i.e., initial decomposition temperature of cotton/vinyl ester specimen were better than cotton/epoxy specimen. Furthermore, density and the flame retardant performance of both composite inhibitors were similar. Additionally, the tan(δ) value obtained for cotton/epoxy composite was higher than that of cotton/vinyl ester composite indicating its good dissipation of vibrational energy.     

The effect of process parameters on the size and morphology of poly(D,L‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) micro/nanoparticles prepared by an oil in oil emulsion/solvent evaporation technique

For the past few decades, there has been a considerable research interest in the area of biodegradable polymeric micro‐ and nanoparticles for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, implants, stents, medical devices, and drug delivery systems. Poly(D,L ‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) (PLGA) is well‐known by its safety in biomedical preparations which has been approved for human use by the FDA. The goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of process parameters on size characteristics of PLGA microparticles prepared by oil in oil (o/o) solvent evaporation technique. This method has been introduced as one of the most appropriate methods for hydrophilic agents. Scanning electron microscopy showed that prepared particles were spherical with smooth surface without aggregation. Particle size varied from 570 nm to 29 μm in different experimental conditions. Stirring speed, polymer concentration, impeller type, and dropping size had a significant effect on the particle size. The polydispersity index of particles showed a strong relationship with the surfactant concentration, impeller type, and dropping size. It was concluded that increasing in temperature up to 50°C or changing in dropping rate has a little effect on reducing the size of PLGA particles. The residual solvent content in the final suspension was less than 0.1 ppm that is in appropriate range for biomedical application. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Presentation of regression analysis,GP and GMDH models to predict the pedestrian density in various urban facilities

In this study, the relationship between space mean speed (SMS), flow rate and density of pedestrians was investigated in different pedestrian facilities, including 1 walkway, 2 sidewalks, 2 signalized crosswalks and 2 mid-block crosswalks. First, statistical analysis was performed to investigate the normality of data and correlation of variables. Regression analysis was then applied to determine the relationship between SMS, flow rate, and density of pedestrians. Finally, two prediction models of density were obtained using genetic programming (GP) and group method of data handling (GMDH) models, and k-fold and holdout cross-validation methods were used to evaluate the models. By the use of regression analysis, the mathematical relationships between variables in all facilities were calculated and plotted, and the best relationships were observed in flow rate-density diagrams. Results also indicated that GP had a higher R² than GMDH in the prediction of pedestrian density in terms of flow rate and SMS, suggesting that GP was better able to model SMS and pedestrian density. Moreover, the application of k-fold cross-validation method in the models led to better performances compared to the holdout cross-validation method, which shows that the prediction models using k-fold were more reliable. Finally, density relationships in all facilities were obtained in terms of SMS and flow rate.     

Effect of ultrasound radiation on the size and size distribution of synthesized copper particles

The effect of ultrasound radiation on the size and size distribution of synthesized copper particles was investigated under various concentrations of ethylene glycol (E.G.) as a capping agent. Monodispersed copper particles were produced by the reduction of an aqueous copper (II) sulfate solution at the presence of hydrazine monohydrate. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that the morphology, size, and size distribution of produced particles were influenced by the reducing agent injection rate, capping agent concentration, and sonication. Increasing the injection rate of reducing agent to an amount higher than a critical value decreases the size of copper particles and also converts the monodispersed particles to polydispersed particles. Results of using a sonifier at the reduction stage revealed that finer monodispersed copper particles can be achieved at higher injection rates related to the critical value. Increasing the concentration of E.G. as a capping agent decreases the size of copper particles, while applying ultrasound radiation along with increasing the concentration of E.G. increases the size of copper particles. Morphology of particles varies by the concentration and type of the capping agent. Higher reducing agent injection rates and the application of a sonifier at the instance of reduction result in smaller spherical particles at various capping agent concentrations.     

Commercial,high-impact polypropylenes: Composition and chain structure as revealed by temperature-gradient extraction fractionation

Four different grades of commercial, high-impact polypropylene (hiPP) were fractionated by temperature-gradient extraction fractionation, and the chain structure and melting behavior of the fractions were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Furthermore, the morphology of the disperse phase in the resins was characterized by scanning electron microscopy of the microtome-cut etched and original samples. The results show that there was a strong relation between the chain structure, content, and distribution of the dispersed phase and the mechanical properties of hiPP. These parameters of the elastomeric phase are really critical in reaching the best rigidity-impact balance in hiPP. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Design and implementation of an information system for performance assessment of management and organization in a gas refinary

Abstract

The objective of this study is to present an information system for assessment of management and organization in a gas refinery. To achieve the objective of this study, Balanced Score Card (BSC) methodology was utilized to categorize management and organization indicators into four categories. The data related to a five year period was then collected to provide a benchmark for the refinery. Furthermore, the data from 19 developed and developing countries were collected for the purpose of benchmarking. A t‐test was then introduced to benchmark the refinery's management and organization indicators. Moreover, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to analyze and further assess the violated indicators. Finally, an integrated information system was designed in .Net environment by C#. It was introduced to facilitate the assessment of management and organization indicators. This is the first study that introduces an information system for performance assessment of management and organization in a gas refinery by integration of BSC, DEA and t‐test.     

Applying simulated annealing for designing cellular manufacturing systems using MDmTSP

The design of cellular manufacturing systems involves many structural and operational issues. One of the important design steps is the formation of part families and machine cells (cell formation). Despite a large number of papers on cell formation published worldwide, only a handful incorporates operation sequence in layout design (intra-cell move calculations). We propose a solution to solve the part-family and machine-cell formation problem considering the within-cell layout problem, simultaneously. In this paper, the cellular manufacturing system is formulated as a multiple departures single destination multiple travelling salesman problem (MDmTSP) and a solution methodology based on simulated annealing is proposed to solve the formulated model. Numerical examples show that the proposed method is efficient and effective in finding optimal solutions. The results also indicate that the proposed approach performs well compared to some well-known cell formation methods.     

An integrated model for solving cell formation and cell layout problem simultaneously considering new situations

Cellular manufacturing system (CMS) is one of the group technology (GT) usages. Among the necessary decisions for a successful CMS implementation, cell formation problem (CFP) and cell layout problem (CLP) are two most popular ones. The majority of past studies in CMS discussed on CFPs and some of those focused on CLP ones. A few researchers solve the CPF and CLP simultaneously. In this paper, we present a new integrated mathematical model considering cell formation and cell layout simultaneously. The goal of our model is to group similar parts and corresponding different machines in same cells. Machines sequence in each cell and cell positions is also specified in the system. Moreover, our proposed model considers forward and backtracking movements as well as new assumptions for distances between cells using sequence data and production volume. One appropriate adjusted measure from the literature and two new measures of performance for evaluating solutions are defined. To validate the model, two well-known critical benchmark examples are employed. Computational experiments demonstrate that our proposal is a proficient model and show the effectiveness of our implementation.