Optical properties and characterization of zinc nitride nanoneedles prepared from ball-milled Zn powders

Zinc nitride nanoneedles (ZNNs) with diameters at stem and tip parts as 200-300 nm and 30-70 nm respectively have been prepared by the nitridation of ball-milled zinc powders at 600 °C for 120 min under NH₃ gas environment. The structural, compositional and morphological characterizations of the product were conducted by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. From transmission spectrum data, an indirect band gap of 2.72 eV has been calculated for ZNNs whereas photoluminescence studies exhibited a strong UV excitonic mission band at 395 nm as well as two weak defect related blue emissions at 453 and 465 nm. A vapor-solid (VS) process based growth mechanism for the formation of ZNNs has also been discussed briefly.     

On selection of forwarding nodes for long opportunistic routes

Opportunistic routing is a promising routing paradigm which increases the network throughput. It forces the sender’s neighbors, who successfully overheard the transmitted packet, to participate in the packet forwarding process as intermediate forwarding nodes. As a seminal opportunistic routing protocol, MORE combines network coding idea with opportunistic routing to eliminate the need for strict coordination among active forwarding nodes. In this paper, we show that MORE performance does not scale well with the route length, especially when the route length goes beyond two hops. Also, we found that MORE fails to establish a working opportunistic route in sparse networks. Clearly, the network throughput is directly influenced by both the quantity and quality of forwarding nodes, and their cooperation order. In this paper, we propose a new forwarder selection mechanism which considers the route length, link qualities, the distance from the source, and nodes density. It eliminates the occasional route disconnectivity happening in MORE and improves the quality of the established opportunistic routes. The simulation result indicates that our proposal always outperforms MORE when dealing with long opportunistic routes.

     

Quantifying the influence of cold water intrusions in a shallow,coastal system across contrasting years: Green Bay,Lake Michigan

We present water column thermal structure for two climatically different years: 2012, which experienced abnormally warm spring and summer air temperatures preceded by a relatively low ice winter and 2013, which experienced cooler than average spring and average summer air temperatures and preceded by average ice conditions. Mean bottom water temperatures for the season and during cold water intrusions were significantly warmer in 2012 than 2013 leading to a significantly reduced stratified season in 2012. Cold water intrusions were driven into southern Green Bay by southerly winds while intrusions were terminated when winds switched to persistent northerly winds. 2012 observed a significant increase in northerly winds relative to 2013, decreasing cold water intrusion presence and duration but winds did not fully explain the difference in thermal conditions for southern Green Bay. These cold bottom waters drive stratification in polymictic southern Green Bay while dimictic waters were found to have significantly warmer bottom temperatures during 2012 and a deeper mixed layer. Our observations suggest that relatively shallow (<20?m), seasonally stratified systems may not increase in stratification strength and duration under a warming climate; rather, changing wind climatology and surface heat flux can inform the degree to which the mixing regime can be expected to change and impact stratification and thermal structure of coastal systems. We discuss the biogeochemical implications of different thermal regimes, particularly within the context of multiple drivers of physical water column structure in eutrophic, stratified coastal systems.     

Smart films based on bacterial cellulose nanofibers modified by conductive polypyrrole and zinc oxide nanoparticles

In this study, we synthesized novel films based on bacterial cellulose (BC), BC modified by polypyrrole (PPy), and a PPy–zinc oxide nanocomposite (BC–PPy–ZnO). The soft polymerization method at room temperature was used to obtain the BC–PPy and BC–PPy–ZnO films. The Combined D‐Optimal design was used to study the effects of the pyrrole monomer concentration, ZnO concentration, and polymerization time on the morphological, physical, color, and electrical conductivity properties of the films. Fourier transform infrared results reflected that some new interactions occurred between BC and PPy and PPy–ZnO. The X‐ray diffraction analysis showed that the crystalline behavior of the BC fiber was hindered because of the complete coating with the amorphous PPy particles. Scanning electron microscopy results show that the ZnO, PPy, and PPy–ZnO nanoparticles were placed between the BC fibers. PPy decreased the water vapor permittivity and total soluble matter percentage. Electrical conductivity studies of the synthesized BC–PPy–ZnO film showed that the film's electrical resistance was changed in different oxidation–reduction or volatile compounds media, so the results suggest that the BC–PPy–ZnO films could be used in antioxidative food active packaging and smart packaging. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46617.     

Three-Dimensional Chaotic Autonomous System with a Circular Equilibrium: Analysis,Circuit Implementation and Its Fractional-Order Form

A three-dimensional autonomous chaotic system with a circular equilibrium is investigated in this paper. Some dynamical properties and behaviors of this system are described in terms of equilibria, eigenvalue structures, bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents, time series and phase portraits. For specific parameters, the system displays periodic and chaotic attractors. The physical existence of the chaotic behavior found in the proposed system is verified by using the Orcad-PSpice software and experimental verification. A good qualitative agreement is shown between the experimental results, PSpice and numerical simulations. Furthermore, the commensurate fractional-order version of the system with a circular equilibrium is numerically studied. It is found that chaos exists in this system with order less than three. By tuning the commensurate fractional order, the system with a circular equilibrium displays chaotic and periodic attractors, respectively. Finally, chaos synchronization of identical fractional-order chaotic systems with a circular equilibrium is achieved by using the unidirectional linear error feedback coupling. It is shown that the fractional-order chaotic system can achieve synchronization for appropriate coupling strength.     

Low temperature functional analysis of bitumen modified with composite of nano-SiO2 and styrene butadiene styrene polymer

Most parts of Iran have completely different climates in different seasons of year. In other words, in summer it is very warm and in winter it becomes very cold. Achieving modified bitumen that could function adequately in both high and low temperature has always been under attention of researchers. One of bitumen modifiers is styrene butadiene styrene polymer. Because bitumen modified by styrene butadiene styrene does not show expected field function in both high and low temperatures, largely due to phase separation of bitumen and polymer, in the present study it has been tried to analyze the low-temperature function of bitumen modified by combining nano-SiO₂ and styrene butadiene styrene polymer. The study reveals that adding nano-SiO₂ by 3% and 4% of bitumen weight to the double combination of bitumen and styrene butadiene styrene polymer has improved its function in low temperature. This study has innovation as it deals with the analysis of low temperature function of nano-SiO₂ and SBS in modification of bitumen for the first time in the world.     

PVT‐compensated low‐voltage and low‐power CMOS LNA for IoT applications

In this paper, a low‐noise amplifier (LNA) with process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) compensation for low power dissipation applications is designed. When supply voltage and LNA bias are close to the subthreshold, voltage has significant impact on power reduction. At this voltage level, the gain is reduced and various circuit parameters become highly sensitive to PVT variations. In the proposed LNA circuit, in order to enhance efficiency at low supply voltage, the cascade technique with g_m boosting is used. To improve circuit performance when in the subthreshold area, the forward body bias technique is used. Also, a new PVT compensator is suggested to reduce sensitivity of different circuit's parameters to PVT changes. The suggested PVT compensator employs a current reference circuit with constant output regarding temperature and voltage variations. This circuit produces a constant current by subtracting two proportional to absolute temperature currents. At a supply voltage of 0.35 V, the total power consumption is 585 μW. In different process corners, in the proposed LNA with PVT compensator, gain and noise figure (NF) variations are reduced 10.3 and 4.6 times, respectively, compared to a conventional LNA with constant bias. With a 20% deviation in the supply voltage, the gain and noise NF variations decrease 6.5 and 34 times, respectively.     

Effect of γ-irradiation on granule structure and physicochemical properties of starch extracted from two types of potatoes grown in Jammu & Kashmir,India

In this study red and white potato starches were treated with γ-irradiation of 0, 5, 10 and 20 kGy. Physicochemical, pasting and morphological properties of the irradiated starches were investigated. Apparent amylose content, pH, moisture, swelling power and syneresis decreased; whereas carboxyl content, water absorption capacity and solubility increased with increasing irradiation dose. Pasting properties also decreased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) upon increasing the irradiation dose. Observation under scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed surface cracking of the starch granules by γ-irradiation which increased with increase in irradiation dose. X-ray diffraction pattern remained the same upon irradiation but a decrease in relative crystallinity was observed with increasing irradiation dose.     

An adaptive series control for an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor with actuator compensation

An adaptive series speed control system for an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) drive is presented in this paper. This control system consists of a current and a speed control loop, and it is intended to improve the drive’s speed tracking performance as well as to compensate for voltage distortions caused by non-ideal characteristics of the drive’s actuator, which is a voltage source inverter (VSI). To achieve these goals, a simple model that captures these characteristics of the VSI is developed and embedded in the motor’s electrical model. Then, based on the resulting model, an adaptive proportional-integral (PI) control for the current loops is designed, allowing for state regulation and actuator compensation. Additionally, to improve the drive’s speed tracking performance, a proportional-model-reference adaptive controller (MRAC) is designed for the speed loop. Techniques from machine learning are used for designing the MRAC to effectively address nonlinearities and uncertainties in the speed dynamic. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the outstanding performance of the proposed multi-loop controller.