Morphological,electrical and electromagnetic interference shielding characterization of vapor grown carbon nanofiber/polystyrene nanocomposites

The influence of melt mixing conditions on the level of dispersion and the aspect ratio of vapor grown carbon nanofibers (VGCNFs) in a polystyrene (PS) matrix was studied. Final electrical and electromagnetic shielding capabilities in the 0.05–1.5 GHz frequency range are reported and discussed in the light of the composites' microstructure. The morphological study was based on analyzing scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy micrographs and measuring the VGCNF length as a function of shear mixing conditions. The influence of mixing conditions on the microstructure was also indirectly studied by analyzing the dynamic mechanical behavior of the composites via rheology. Degradation of the VGCNF aspect ratio was found to be a function of the mixing energy. VGCNFs lost one‐third of their aspect ratio under gentle (low shear stress and mixing energy) mixing conditions. After VGCNFs had lost 40% of their aspect ratio, they had more resistance to breakage with increase in mixing energy. The dispersion of the VGCNFs was remarkably enhanced with increase in mixing energy. The percentage of area taken up by big agglomerates in the micrographs decreased from 14.1% to 5.5% when the mixing energy was increased from 100 J mL^?1 to 453 J mL^?1. The electrical and electromagnetic shielding properties of the 7.5 vol% VGCNF/PS composites were not affected by changing the processing energy because the enhancement of VGCNF dispersion with increasing mixing energy was accompanied by a loss in nanofiber aspect ratio. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

PlanMine: Predicting Plan Failures Using Sequence Mining

This paper presents the PlanMine sequence mining algorithm to extract patterns of events that predict failures in databases of plan executions. New techniques were needed because previous data miningalgorithms were overwhelmed by the staggering number of very frequent,but entirely unpredictive patterns that exist in the plan database.This paper combines several techniques for pruning out unpredictiveand redundant patterns which reduce the size of the returned rule setby more than three orders of magnitude. PlanMine has also beenfully integrated into two real-world planning systems. We experimentally evaluate the rules discovered by PlanMine, and show that theyare extremely useful for understanding and improving plans, as wellas for building monitors that raise alarms before failures happen.     

MC‐MIPOG: A Parallel t‐Way Test Generation Strategy for Multicore Systems

Combinatorial testing has been an active research area in recent years. One challenge in this area is dealing with the combinatorial explosion problem, which typically requires a very expensive computational process to find a good test set that covers all the combinations for a given interaction strength (t). Parallelization can be an effective approach to manage this computational cost, that is, by taking advantage of the recent advancement of multicore architectures. In line with such alluring prospects, this paper presents a new deterministic strategy, called multicore modified input parameter order (MC‐MIPOG) based on an earlier strategy, input parameter order generalized (IPOG). Unlike its predecessor strategy, MC‐MIPOG adopts a novel approach by removing control and data dependency to permit the harnessing of multicore systems. Experiments are undertaken to demonstrate speedup gain and to compare the proposed strategy with other strategies, including IPOG. The overall results demonstrate that MC‐MIPOG outperforms most existing strategies (IPOG, IPOF, IPOF2, IPOG‐D, ITCH, TConfig, Jenny, and TVG) in terms of test size within acceptable execution time. Unlike most strategies, MC‐MIPOG is also capable of supporting high interaction strengths of t > 6.     

Study effect of different parameters on the sulphate sorption onto nano alumina

The aim of this research work is to investigate sorption characteristic of modified nano alumina (n-Al) for the removal of SO₄^2? from aqueous solutions and wastewater. The sorption of SO₄^2? by batch method is carried out. The optimum conditions of sorption were found to be: a sorbent dose of 0.3 g in 100 ml of SO₄^2?, contact time of 35 min, pH = 5. In optimum condition, removal efficiency was 85.6% for the SO₄^2?. Three equations, i.e. Morris–Weber, Lagergren and pseudo second order have been tested to track the kinetics of removal process. The Langmuir, Freundlich and D–R are subjected to sorption data to estimate sorption capacity. It can be concluded that n-Al has potential to remove SO₄^2? ions from aqueous solutions at different concentrations. It was found that the temperature has positive effect on the process and negative ΔG values indicated thermodynamically feasible and spontaneous nature of the sorption. Positive value of ΔS reveals the increased randomness at the solid–solution interface during the fixation of the ion on the active sites of the sorbent. The effect of other anions was studied and it was found the existence of them in the solution has considerable effect on the sulphate removal.     

Experimental Study of Boiling Heat Transfer on Multiple and Single Nucleation Sites Using a Boiling-Meter

The general objective of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of heat transfer in a nucleate boiling regime. The aim is to determine the heat transfer characteristics under controlled operating conditions (thermodynamics of the fluid, noncondensable gas, surface state). Experimental investigations have been carried out in natural convection and nucleate boiling regimes. An experimental device was realized to perform boiling experiments using a boiling-meter, allowing investigations for different orientations of the wall. The boiling-meter is designed to investigate boiling for single and multiple nucleation sites. The purpose of this paper is to detail the experimental setup as well as the boiling-meter. This device allows the determination of the temporal heat transfer characteristics evolutions. In particular, this new device allows bringing to light the phenomenon of nucleation, growth, and detachment of generated vapor bubbles on a single artificial nucleate site, as well as for multiple natural nucleation sites. First results of the influence of the orientation of the heating wall for multiple and single nucleation sites on heat transfer are presented and analyzed.     

Pitting corrosion studies on Al and Al-Zn alloys in SCN solutions

Pitting of Al and Al-6%Zn and Al-12%Zn alloys in KSCN solutions was studied by means of potentiodynamic anodic polarization, cyclic voltammetry, potentiostatic and impedance techniques. Measurements were conducted under different experimental conditions, complemented by ex situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA). The potentiodynamic anodic polarization curves do not exhibit active dissolution region due to spontaneous passivation. The passivity is due to the presence of thin film of Al₂O₃ on the anode surface (in case of Al) and the formation of ZnO on the Al₂O₃ matrix, in case of the two Al-Zn alloys (as evidenced from EDXA). The passive region is followed by pitting corrosion as a result of passivity breakdown by the aggressive attack of SCN⁻ anions. SEM images confirmed the existence of pits on the electrode surface. Alloyed Zn was found to enhance pitting attack. The pitting potential (E_pit) decreases with an increase in SCN⁻ concentration and temperature, but increases with increasing potential scan rate. The current/time transients show that the incubation time for passivity breakdown decreases with increasing applied positive potential, SCN⁻ concentration, and temperature. Impedance measurements showed that Nyquist plots are characterized by a depressed charge-transfer semicircle, the diameter of which is a function of SCN⁻ concentration, applied potential, solution temperature and sample composition.     

The PCDD/PCDF Dioxin Releases in the Climate of Environment of Jordan in the Period （2000-2008）

Many environment problems of the full using of several categories of processing include mining, heat generators, direct combustion of forest fires, cement production, power plant, transport, medical waste. Dioxin/furan releases from these categories are one of these environment problems. Possible lines of reducing the PCDD/ PCDF （Polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins/Polychlorinated dibenzofurans） releases from these categories are eluci- dated. The contribution of this paper is present the identification and estimation of the latest figure of dioxin/furan releases in the climate of environment of Jordan in the period 2000-2008 from the following categories （cement, aluminum, ceramic, medical waste, power plant, land fill, ferrous and non- ferrous metals, uncontrolled combustion process （biomass burning, waste burning, accidental fires in house, transport）. These finding shows the sign of growth of estimated PCDD/PCDF releases from categories which did not calculated and followed after 2003. The result shows the highest PCDD/PCDF release from landfill fires （62.75 g TEQ/year）, medical waste （8.8264 g TEQ/year）, and transport （3.0145 g TEQ/year）. Jordan seeks by next years, a reduction in total releases of dioxins and furans from sources resulting from human activity. This challenge will apply to the aggregate of releases to the air nationwide and of releases to the water within the Jordan area. Jordan should conduct air monitoring for dioxin in order to track fluctuations in atmospheric deposition levels.     

Assessment of Renibacterium salmoninarum infections in four lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) stocks from northern Lakes Huron and Michigan

Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) from four stocks in northern Lakes Michigan and Huron were collected seasonally from fall 2003 through summer 2006 and examined for the presence of Renibacterium salmoninarum, the causative agent of bacterial kidney disease (BKD), using culture techniques on modified kidney disease medium (MKDM) and the quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Q-ELISA). R. salmoninarum was detected in 62.31% (according to Q-ELISA) of the 1284 examined lake whitefish, with some fish displaying the typical signs of BKD, such as renal congestion, swelling, and whitish nodules. Kidney cultures on MKDM yielded bacteria with morphological and biochemical characteristics identical to those of R. salmoninarum recovered from other Great Lakes fish species, as well as those from other parts of the world. Isolate identification was confirmed via nested polymerase chain reaction. Antibiograms demonstrated high sensitivity to enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, sensitivity to oxytetracycline, erythromycin, azithromycin, chloramphenicol, novobiocin, and carbenicillin, and resistance to polymyxin B, clindamycin, and kanamycin. Statistical analysis of R. salmoninarum prevalence and intensities revealed significant interactions among stocks, years and sampling seasons, with highest prevalence generally in fall and frequent wide variation in prevalence and intensity from one season to the next for a particular stock. It was surprising to find that the prevalence of R. salmoninarum exceeded 50% in the four stocks, much higher than originally thought. Moreover, a positive association between R. salmoninarum intensity and the abundance of the swimbladder nematode, Cystidicola farionis, was identified. Our findings suggest that Great Lakes lake whitefish are vulnerable to serious fish pathogens.