Photocatalytic desulfurization of dibenzothiophene by NiCo2O4 nanospinel obtained by an oxidative precipitation process modeling and optimization

This paper reports for the first time, synthesis of NiCo₂O₄ nano spinel by green oxidative precipitation and its performance in photocatalytic desulfurization of dibenzothiophene (DBT) from gas oil model at different process conditions under visible light. The as-produced nanostructure was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, UV–VIS diffuse reflective spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. The experiments for the study of different photocatalytic conditions were designed by response surface methodology and a second-order regression model was developed with a determination coefficient (R²) of 0.9769. Pareto analysis predicted that the relative importance of process factors for DBT removal is as follows: irradiation time?>?reaction temperature?>?photocatalyst dosage?>?DBT concentration. The promising results for DBT removal were concluded by photo desulfurization over the nano spinel. The study confirmed that nano spinels could be an alternative and cheap photocatalyst for desulfurization from the oil products.     

Effect of Outrigger Panels on Seismic Performance of Steel Plate Shear Wall Structural System

Structural systems with steel plate shear wall (SPSW) have been used in many tall buildings in the past decades. This system is particularly suitable for s     

Developing a new chance constrained NDEA model to measure the performance of humanitarian supply chains

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a method for measuring performance of decision making units (DMUs). Conventional DEA models view DMUs as black boxes. Network DEA (NDEA) models have been developed to overcome this shortfall. This paper develops a new NDEA model based on modified enhanced Russell measure model. This paper measures performance of humanitarian supply chains (HSCs) by an NDEA model. Capabilities of the proposed model are addressed by theorems. However, in the real world, there might be stochastic data. This paper presents a stochastic version of the proposed NDEA model to measure the performance of HSCs. We analyse main properties of our model. We present a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model.     

Audio Steganalysis based on collaboration of fractal dimensions and convolutional neural networks

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Steganography is the art of concealing a message within a cover media with the least understandable changes. On the other hand, steganalysis algorithms try to...     

Perfect state transfer on spin-1 chains

We show that networks of spin-1 particles connected in a special geometry and subject to Affleck–Kennedy–Lieb–Tasaki (AKLT) interaction are capable of perfectly transferring states of particles (qubits and qutrits) if we also allow a global control of the network in predetermined time intervals. The geometry can be one, two, and three dimensional. The strengths of the couplings have the same modulus, and only their signs differ on various bonds. Any particle which is routed in the network acquires relative phase shifts which can be corrected after it is extracted from the network. An advantage of this protocol is that one can route more than one particle through the network simultaneously. We show that a uniform magnetic fields do not deteriorate the fidelity and only change the relative phases in a controllable way.     

Exopolysaccharide from Pantoea sp. BCCS 001 GH isolated from nectarine fruit: production in submerged culture and preliminary physicochemical characterizations

Food Science and Biotechnology - Exopolysaccharide (EPS), as potential microbial base polysaccharide source, has plenty of applications due to its unique physicochemical structure. A Pantoea sp....     

Timeout Period Analysis to Detect Black Hole Attack in Multihop Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

A novel approach is proposed to estimate the timeout period used in wireless ad hoc networks in order to detect misbehaving nodes that make black hole attacks. Timeout period is an acceptable time frame for a node to forward a packet and is used to judge if the node is behaving properly. To avoid misjudgment and false alarms, the accuracy of the estimate of the timeout period is very important. Our method is based on the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol and Dynamic Source Routing protocol. The main contribution of this paper is proposing a queuing analysis to calculate the mean and maximum delay per hop implementing the 95-percentile of medium access waiting time. In addition, a new technique is introduced that can be applied to determine the mean number of hops in flooding-based ad hoc networks, taking into account edge effects. For each proposed model, analytical results are compared with results obtained from simulations and the validity of the models is confirmed by observing the close relationship between the results.     

A new design of optical add/drop filters and multi-channel filters based on hexagonal PhCRR for WDM systems

Photonic Network Communications - In this research, using photonic crystal dielectric rods with a triangular lattice constant, a photonic crystal ring resonator (PhCRR) has been designed in order...