Role of Nd-Ni on structural,spectral and dielectric properties of strontium-barium based nano-sized X-type ferrites

The influence of neodymium and nickel substitution on structural and dielectric parameters was investigated in strontium-barium X-type hexagonal ferrites having composition SrBaCu_2?xNi_xNd_yFe_28?yO₄₆ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1 and y = 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, 0.1). Sol-gel method was employed for synthesizing these hexagonal ferrites. The XRD plots of all studied materials which were annealed at 1250 °C show single phase characteristics. Lattice parameter ‘c’ increased as a consequence of larger radius of rare earth ion (Nd³⁺) as compared to (Fe³⁺), while lattice parameter ‘a’ showed very small variation. The cell volume was obtained in the range 2508.32–2523.75 (ų). The inclusion of Nd-Ni also affected X-ray density, bulk density and porosity. The FTIR spectroscopy indicated the particular absorption peaks of hexagonal ferrites and it was performed in the range of 500–700 cm^?1. On account of Nd-Ni doping, the dielectric constant, dielectric loss and AC-conductivity showed decreasing trend. The occupancy of Nd³⁺ ions at octahedral site impedes the valence alternation of Fe³⁺; therefore there was decrease in dielectric permittivity. Ac conductivity has been decreased from 9.14 to 6.49 (Ω cm)^?1 at frequency of 2.7 GHz. The Cole-Cole plots of synthesized materials noticeably revealed grain boundary contribution. The appearance of single semi-circle in impedance Cole-Cole graphs confirms the exceptional role of grain boundaries in the conduction process. The considerably lower dielectric parameters of investigated nano X-type ferrites propose their feasibility for high-frequency applications (phase shifters, dielectric resonators, stealth technology etc).     

Transesterification of Palm-based Methyl Palmitate into Esteramine Catalyzed by Calcium Oxide Catalyst

The technology for transesterification reactions between methyl esters and alcohols is well established by using classical homogeneous alkaline catalysts, which provide high conversion of methyl esters to specialty or nonindigenous esters. However, in certain products where the purity of the esters is of concern, the removal of homogeneous catalysts after the completion of the reaction is a challenge in terms of production cost and water footprint. Therefore, a study to investigate the potential of heterogeneous catalysts was conducted on reactions between methyl palmitate and triethanolamine. The degree of basicity and active surface area of calcium oxide (CaO), zinc oxide (ZnO), and magnesium oxide (MgO) were first characterized by using temperature-programmed desorption (TPD-CO₂) and Brunauere–Emmett–Teller (BET), respectively. Among the metal oxides investigated, the CaO catalyst showed the best catalytic activity toward the transesterification process as it gave the highest conversion of methyl palmitate and yielded fatty esteramine compositions similar to the conventional homogeneous catalyst. The optimum transesterification condition by using the CaO catalyst utilized a lower vacuum system of approximately 200 mbar, which could minimize a considerable amount of energy consumption. Furthermore, low CaO dosage of 0.1% was able to give a conversion of 94.5% methyl ester and formed esteramine at 170 °C for 2 h. Therefore, the production of esterquats from esteramine may become more economically feasible through the methyl ester route by using the CaO catalyst, which can be recycled three times.     

Zooplankton population in the river tigris: Effects of samarra impoundment

The influences of the Samarra impoundment on the ecology of the downstream sector of the river Tigris are investigated. Zooplankton were collected monthly from July 1987 to July 1988. It was found that zooplankton were most abundant during high river discharges in March. During the month of low river discharge, September, the zooplankton population was greatly reduced immediately below the barrage and remained so to the last downstream station. Several factors seem to explain such differences. The high discharge from the impoundment was found to be the dominating factor and may flush the small backwaters in which zooplankton were abundant, thus increasing the population in the river. Zooplankton species vary in their ability to sustain populations in the river, variations which are due mainly to species-specific characteristics.     

Hyperspectral imaging-based unsupervised adulterated red chili content transformation for classification: Identification of red chili adulterants

Neural Computing and Applications - Preserving red-chili quality is of utmost importance in which the authorities demand quality techniques to detect, classify, and prevent it from impurities. For...     

3，4-二氢吡咯[2，1-c][1，4]噘嗪-1-酮及其7-芳酰基衍生物的设计与合成

以2-吡咯基三氯乙酮为主要原料,经过乙二醇单酯化、羟基氯取代、环合三步反应制得了3,4-二氢吡咯[2,1-c][1,4]噁嗪-1-酮;又经过Friedel—Crafts酰基化和环合反应制得了未见文献报道的7-芳酰基-3,4-二氢吡咯[2,1-c][1,4]噁嗪-1-酮它们及其某些重要中间体的结构分别采用红外光谱、质谱、核磁共振氢谱、核磁共振碳谱以及高分辨率质谱进行了表征．     

Probing the intrinsic optical quality of CVD grown MoS<Subscript>2</Subscript>

Optical emission efficiency of two-dimensional layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is one of the most important parameters affecting their optoelectronic performance.The optimization of the growth parameters by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to achieve optoelectronic-grade quality TMDs is,therefore,highly desirable.Here,we present a systematic photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic approach to assess the intrinsic optical and crystalline quality of CVD grown MoS2 (CVD MoS2).We propose the use of the intensity ratio between the PL measured in air and vacuum as an effective way to monitor the intrinsic optical quality of CVD MoS2.Low-temperature PL measurements are also used to evaluate the structural defects in MoS2,via defect-associated bound exciton emission,which well correlates with the field-effect carrier mobility of MoS2 grown at different temperatures.This work therefore provides a sensitive,noninvasive method to characterize the optical properties of TMDs,allowing the tuning of the growth parameters for the development of optoelectronic devices.     

Controllability of buildings: A multi-input multi-output stability assessment method for buildings with slow acting heating systems

The paper describes a methodology to assess the controllability of a building and its servicing systems, such as heating, lighting and ventilation. The knowledge for these methods has been transferred from design processes and methods used in the design of aircraft flight control systems to establish a modelling and design process for assessing the controllability of buildings. The paper describes a holistic approach to the modelling of the nonlinear and linear dynamics of the integrated building and its systems. This model is used to analyse the controllability of the building using Nonlinear Inverse Dynamics controller design methods used in the aerospace and robotics industry. The results show that this design approach can help the architects in their decisions on which building design and services to use. Furthermore, the results demonstrate how the same method can assist the control systems designer in developing complex control systems especially for buildings designed with a climate adaptive building (CAB) philosophy.     

A novel finite rings based algebraic scheme of evolving secure S-boxes for images encryption

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Substitution-boxes have significant role in block ciphers as they are the only component which offers nonlinearity in the anticipated symmetric encryption...