The morphology and gas‐separation performance of membranes comprising multiwalled carbon nanotubes/polysulfone–Kapton

The development of desirable chemical structures and properties in nanocomposite membranes involve steps that need to be carefully designed and controlled. This study investigates the effect of adding multiwalled nanotubes (MWNT) on a Kapton–polysulfone composite membrane on the separation of various gas pairs. Data from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy confirm that some studies on the Kapton–polysulfone blends are miscible on the molecular level. In fact, the results indicate that the chemical structure of the blend components, the Kapton–polysulfone blend compositions, and the carbon nanotubes play important roles in the transport properties of the resulting membranes. The results of gas permeability tests for the synthesized membranes specify that using a higher percentage of polysulfone (PSF) in blends resulted in membranes with higher ideal selectivity and permeability. Although the addition of nanotubes can increase the permeability of gases, it decreases gas pair selectivity. Furthermore, these outcomes suggest that Kapton–PSF membranes with higher PSF are special candidates for CO₂/CH₄ separation compared to CO₂/N₂ and O₂/N₂ separation. High CH₄, CO₂, N₂, and O₂ permeabilities of 0.35, 6.2, 0.34, and 1.15 bar, respectively, are obtained for the developed Kapton–PSF membranes (25/75%) with the highest percentage of carbon nanotubes (8%), whose values are the highest among all the resultant membranes. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43839.     

Robust weighted graph transformation matching for rigid and nonrigid image registration

This paper presents an automatic point matching algorithm for establishing accurate match correspondences in two or more images. The proposed algorithm utilizes a group of feature points to explore their geometrical relationship in a graph arrangement. The algorithm starts with a set of matches (including outliers) between the two images. A set of nondirectional graphs is then generated for each feature and its K nearest matches (chosen from the initial set). Using the angular distances between edges that connect a feature point to its K nearest neighbors in the graph, the algorithm finds a graph in the second image that is similar to the first graph. In the case of a graph including outliers, the algorithm removes such outliers (one by one, according to their strength) from the graph and re-evaluates the angles until the two graphs are matched or discarded. This is a simple intuitive and robust algorithm that is inspired by a previous work. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of this algorithm under various conditions, such as rigid and nonrigid transformations, ambiguity due to partial occlusions or match correspondence multiplicity, scale, and larger view variation.     

Investigation the impact of additives on the displacement of the onset point of asphaltene precipitation using interfacial tension measurement

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of additives on the displacement of the onset point of asphaltene precipitation in crude oil using the interfacial tension measurement method, based on the examined oil has been taken from Iran reservoirs. The experimental results suggest that the addition of surfactants of dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) and coconut diethanolamide (CDEA) to the oil has triggered the onset of asphaltene precipitation. These findings imply that CDEA has a more effective role in preventing asphaltene precipitation. Also, it was observed that increasing the concentration of the surfactants has led to obtaining greater results. Finally, critical micelle concentration was calculated to be 5000 and 4700 ppm in the cases of CDEA and DBSA, respectively.     

Performance of Belief Propagation for Decoding LDPC Codes in the Presence of Channel Estimation Error

In this paper, we investigate the performance of the belief propagation (BP) algorithm for decoding low-density parity-check codes over the additive white Gaussian noise channel when there is an incorrect estimate of the channel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (referred to as "SNR mismatch") at the decoder. At the extremes for over- and underestimation of SNR, the performance of BP tends to that of min-sum algorithm and the channel bit-error rate, respectively. Our results for regular codes indicate that the sensitivity to mismatch increases by increasing the variable-node degree and by decreasing the check-node degree. The effect of variable-node degree, however, appears to be more profound, such that at a given rate, the codes with the smallest variable and check degrees are more robust against SNR mismatch. For irregular codes, by comparing the thresholds of a few ensembles, we demonstrate that the ensemble which performs better in the absence of mismatch can perform worse in the presence of it. To obtain our asymptotic results, we propose a computationally efficient method based on the Gaussian approximation of density evolution in the presence of SNR mismatch. We also show that the asymptotic results are consistent with simulation results for codes with finite block lengths     

Hybrid Fractal-Wavelet Method for Multi-Channel EEG Signal Compression

In this paper, a hybrid method is proposed for multi-channel electroencephalograms (EEG) signal compression. This new method takes advantage of two different compression techniques: fractal and wavelet-based coding. First, an effective decorrelation is performed through the principal component analysis of different channels to efficiently compress the multi-channel EEG data. Then, the decorrelated EEG signal is decomposed using wavelet packet transform (WPT). Finally, fractal encoding is applied to the low frequency coefficients of WPT, and a modified wavelet-based coding is used for coding the remaining high frequency coefficients. This new method provides improved compression results as compared to the wavelet and fractal compression methods.     

Control and Navigation Framework for Quadrotor Helicopters

This paper presents the development of a nonlinear quadrotor simulation framework together with a nonlinear controller. The quadrotor stabilization and navigation problems are tackled using a nested loops control architecture. A nonlinear Backstepping controller is implemented for the inner stabilization loop. It asymptotically tracks reference attitude, altitude and heading trajectories. The outer loop controller generates the reference trajectories for the inner loop controller to reach the desired waypoint. To ensure boundedness of the reference trajectories, a PD controller with a saturation function is used for the outer loop. Due to the complexity involved in controller development and testing, a simulation framework has been developed. It is based on the Gazebo 3D robotics simulator and the Open Dynamics Engine (ODE) library. The framework can effectively facilitate the development and validation of controllers. It has been released and is available at Gazebo quadrotor simulator (2012).     

Vibration of circular plate with multiple eccentric circular perforations by the Rayleigh-Ritz method

The free vibration of a circular plate with multiple perforations is analyzed by using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. Admissible functions are assumed to be separable functions of radial and tangential coordinates. Trigonometric functions are assumed in the circumferential direction. The radial shape functions are the boundary characteristic orthogonal polynomials generated following the Gram-Schmidt recurrence scheme. The assumed functions are used to estimate the kinetic and the potential energies of the plate depending on the number and the position of the perforations. The eigenvalues, representing the dimensionless natural frequencies, are compared with the results obtained using Bessel functions, where the exact solution is available. Moreover, the eigenvectors, which are the unknown coefficients of the Rayleigh-Ritz method, are used to present the mode shapes of the plate. To validate the analytical results of the plates with multiple perforations, experimental investigations are also performed. Two unique case studies that are not addressed in the existing literature are considered. The results of the Rayleigh-Ritz method are found to be in good agreement with those from the experiments. Although the method presented can be employed in the vibration analysis of plates with different boundary conditions and shapes of the perforations, circular perforations that are free on the edges are studied in this paper. The results are presented in terms of dimensionless frequencies and mode shapes.     

Air-breathing microbial fuel cell with enhanced performance using nanocomposite proton exchange membranes

This work aims to improve the performance of air-breathing microbial fuel cells (MFCs) through using hydrocarbon polymer based nanocomposite proton exchange membranes. Accordingly, nanocomposite membranes based on sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) and montmorillonite (MMT) were investigated for such an application. Although the incorporation of MMT into SPEEK membranes resulted in reduced oxygen permeability as well as proton conductivity, but the overall selectivity was found to be improved. MFC tests revealed that using the optimized nanocomposite membrane (SPEEK-70/MMT-3 wt%) results in a considerably higher open circuit voltage (OCV) compared to the corresponding neat membrane. Moreover, it was found that the SPEEK-70/MMT-3 wt% membrane is able to provide about 40% more power output than Nafion^®117. On the account of high proton conductivity, low oxygen permeability, high electrochemical performance, ease of preparation and low cost, hydrocarbon based nanocomposite PEMs could be considered as promising electrolytes to enhance the performance of MFCs.     

New insight into prediction of phase behavior of natural gas hydrate by different cubic equations of state coupled with various mixing rules

Progress in hydrate thermodynamic study necessitates robust and fast models to be incorporated in reservoir simulation softwares. However, numerous models presented in the literature makes selection of the best,proper predictive model a cumbersome task. It is of industrial interest to make use of cubic equations of state(EOS) for modeling hydrate equilibria. In this regard, this study focuses on evaluation of three common EOSs including Peng–Robinson, Soave–Redlich–Kwong and Valderrama–Patel–Teja coupled with van der Waals and Platteeuw theory to predict hydrate P–T equilibrium of a real natural gas sample. Each EOS was accompanied with three mixing rules, including van der Waals(vd W),Avlonitis non-density dependent(ANDD) and general nonquadratic(GNQ). The prediction of cubic EOSs was in sufficient agreement with experimental data and with overall AARD% of less than unity. In addition, PR plus ANDD proved to be the most accurate model in this study for prediction of hydrate equilibria with AARD% of 0.166.It was observed that the accuracy of cubic EOSs studied in this paper depends on mixing rule coupled with them,especially at high-pressure conditions. Lastly, the present study does not include any adjustable parameter to be correlated with hydrate phase equilibrium data.