A deep analysis of object capabilities for intelligence considering wireless IoT devices with the DNN approach

The Journal of Supercomputing - The Internet of Things (IoT) represents a potential paradigm increase in the number of linked devices, referred to as things. Administering these things remains a...     

Low Temperature Water–Gas Shift Reaction Over Alkali Metal Promoted Cobalt Carbide Catalysts

Low temperature water–gas shift (LT-WGS) was performed over various group I alkali metal (Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs) promoted cobalt carbide (Co₂C) catalysts at temperatures ranging from 453 to 573 K and atmospheric pressure. Cobalt carbide (Co₂C) was found to be active for the WGS reaction. The stability of the catalyst is related to the stability of the cobalt carbide phases under reaction conditions. Potassium promoted cobalt carbide catalysts exhibited higher activity and stability compared to the other alkali promoted catalysts for LT-WGS. X-ray diffraction analyses of fresh and used catalysts suggest that the origin of deactivation of the catalysts is primarily due to the chemical transition of cobalt from carbide to metal during WGS.     

A simple method for concentrating and detecting viruses in wastewater

A simple method has been developed for routine analysis of sewage and sewage effluents for detecting viruses using adsorption at pH 3 on a 0·45 μm 47 mm diameter membrane filter and elution at pH 8. It was tested on viruses added to autoclaved sewage. Homogenizing the sample for 4 min in a Waring blender and clarification by centrifugation at 1800 g and later at 9230 g facilitated easy filtration without any loss of virus. Retention of the eluant for 30 min on the millipore membrane and then elution in situ under suction provided a sterile eluate with 100 per cent recovery of viruses.

Viruses added to fecal suspensions with 600 mg I⁻¹ BOD were completely recovered when the sample pH was adjusted to 3 and its salt concentration increased by adding 1200 mg l⁻¹ of Mg²⁺ as the chloride. This procedure eliminated the need for passing the samples through ion exchange resins for removing membrane coating components. In a 1 yr programme of monitoring of raw sewage from a middle income group community in Nagpur, a maximum of 3150 PFU/1 during monsoon and 11575 PFU/1 during winter was obtained.

High efficiency and reproducibility of the method allowed the use of sample volumes of 40 ml of raw sewage and 320 ml of treated effluent for the detection of viruses.     

Long-term Sector-wise Electrical Energy Forecasting Using Artificial Neural Network and Biogeography-based Optimization

This article presents a hybrid model involving artificial neural networks and biogeography-based optimization for long-term forecasting of India's sector-wise electrical energy demand. It involves socio-economic indicators, such as population and per capita gross domestic product, and uses two artificial neural networks, which are trained through a biogeography-based optimization algorithm with a goal of perfect mapping of the input–output data in the non-linear space through obtaining the global best weight parameters. The biogeography-based optimization based training of the artificial neural network improves the forecasting accuracy and avoids trapping in local optima besides enhancing the convergence to the lowest mean squared error at the minimum number of iterations than existing approaches. The model requires an input and the year of the forecast and predicts the sector-wise energy demand. Forecasts up to the year 2025 are compared with those of the regression model, the artificial neural network model trained by back-propagation, and the artificial neural network model trained by harmony search algorithm to exhibit its effectiveness.     

Growth and characterization of diamond particles,diamond films,and CNT-diamond composite films deposited simultaneously by hot filament CVD

It is important to understand the growth of CNT-diamond composite films in order to improve the inter-link between two carbon allotropes, and, in turn, their physical properties for field emission and other applications. Isolated diamond particles, continuous diamond thin films, and thin films of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) having non-uniformly distributed diamond particles (CNT-diamond composite films) were simultaneously grown on unseeded, seeded, and catalyst pre-treated substrates, respectively, using a large-area multi-wafer-scale hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Films were deposited for four different growth durations at a given deposition condition. The changes in surface morphology and growth behavior of diamond particles with growth duration were investigated ex situ using field emission scanning electron microscopy and 2D confocal Raman depth spectral imaging, respectively. A surface morphological transition from faceted microcrystalline nature to nanocrystalline nature was observed as a function of growth duration in the case of isolated diamond particles grown on both unseeded and catalyst pre-treated substrates. However, such a morphological transition was not observed on the simultaneously grown continuous diamond thin films on seeded substrates. 2D confocal Raman depth spectral imaging of diamond particles showed that the local growth of CNTs did not affect the growth behavior of neighboring diamond particles on catalyst pre-treated substrates. These observations emphasize the importance of surface chemical reactions at the growth site in deciding sp² or sp³ carbon growth and the final grain size of the diamond films.     

Ipomea carnea-based silver nanoparticle synthesis for antibacterial activity against selected human pathogens

The biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNps) has a wide range of applications, and here we develop a rapid synthesis using the leaf extract of Ipomea carnea. We demonstrated that 100?mL of a 1?mM silver nitrate solution was reduced to AgNps by 500?µL of I. carnea extract in 5?min and that one or more of the chemical constituents present in the extract acted as the reducing agent. Surface plasmon resonance peaks were observed from 410 to 440?nm for AgNps synthesised using the plant extract, and the peaks showed a characteristic blue shift with variation of pH from 2 to 8. Particle size analysis revealed the size of the AgNps to be from 30 to 130?nm, which was also confirmed by dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Additionally, the antibacterial effects of the AgNps were evaluated against selected human pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Aeromonas hydrophila, Salmonella typhi, Proteus vulgaris and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Finally, the AgNps were impregnated with a cellulose acetate membrane to form an antimycobacterial membrane. Antimycobacterial activity against a non-pathogenic Mycobacterium smegmatis showed that the AgNp-embedded membrane system has a zone of inhibition of 14?mm.     

Determination of indoor humidity profile using a whole-building hygrothermal model

During the design of a new building or retrofitting of an existing one, it is important to reliably assess the indoor humidity levels of the building as it can potentially affect the building envelope durability, occupants’ comfort and health risks associated with mould growth. Simplistic assumptions of indoor humidity profiles, which ignore the dynamic coupling of the indoor environment and building enclosure, may lead to inaccurate conclusions about the indoor environment and moisture performance of the building enclosure. In this paper, a whole-building hygrothermal model called HAMFitPlus, which takes into account the dynamic interactions between building envelope components, mechanical systems and indoor heat and moisture generation mechanisms, is used to assess the indoor humidity condition of an existing occupied house. HAMFitPlus is developed on SimuLink development platform and integrates COMSOL multiphysics with MatLab. The basic input parameters of the model are discussed in detail, and its simulation results are presented. In general, the HAMFitPlus simulation results are in good agreement with the measured data.