Bio‐diesel lubricity: correlation study with residual acidity

Bio‐diesel has been accepted as a renewable liquid biofuel worldwide. In order to ensure customers' acceptance, standardisation and quality assurance are the key factors to the market introduction of bio‐diesel as a transport fuel. Lubricity of bio‐diesel is an important issue and it is well reported that 1–2% bio‐diesel is sufficient to maintain the lubricity of diesel even of very poor lubricity. However, a wide variation in lubricity performance of bio‐diesel from different vegetable oils and sources has been noticed. In addition, on critical examination, it was noticed that the variation in the lubricating performance of bio‐diesel could be better linked to its residual acidity than to variation in fatty acid composition. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling of a pressure modulated desalination system using bond graph methodology

A desalination system is a complex multi energy domain system comprising power/energy flow across several domains such as electrical, thermal, and hydraulic. The dynamic modeling of a desalination system that comprehensively addresses all these multi energy domains is not adequately addressed in the literature. This paper proposes to address the issue of modeling the various energy domains for the case of a single stage flash evaporation desalination system. This paper presents a detailed bond graph modeling of a desalination unit with seamless integration of the power flow across electrical, thermal, and hydraulic domains. The paper further proposes a performance index function that leads to the tracking of the optimal chamber pressure giving the optimal flow rate for a given unit of energy expended. The model has been validated in steady state conditions by simulation and experimentation.     

Numerical implementation of drop and tilt method of five-axis tool positioning for tensor product surfaces

The Drop and Tilt tool position method for five-axis machining positions a toroidal tool to have two points of contact with a tensor product Bézier surface. The method results in high order simultaneous non-linear transcendental equations that are slow to solve. In this paper, an efficient numerical implementation of the Drop and Tilt Method of multi-point tool positioning on tensor product surfaces is presented. The method was implemented in C++, and is a direct method that does not convert the tensor product surface into an intermediate representation such as triangles or point clouds. The method is successfully demonstrated on a number of tensor product Bézier surfaces.     

Uncertainty Assessment in Cognitive Load for Multiple Object Tracking Based on EEG

Cognitive load varies the attention level, which has serious consequences in complex dynamic situations. Assessment of uncertainty in cognitive load during multiple object tracking task is necessary, as it is used to improve the cognitive capabilities. The present research work investigates the uncertainty in cognitive load of multiple object tracking task using electroencephalograph (EEG) on 25 football players. A d2 test of neuropsychological measure of attention was employed before starting the experiment. Each player participated in four levels of the task with variation in the cognitive load, which varies in terms of the targets from 2 to 5. Percentage changes in the power spectral density were estimated for the cognitive levels. Results show that the percentage changes were much more in high cognitive load than in low cognitive load. Significant changes (p < 0.05) were observed in level 1 (− 11.07 to 1.91%), level 2 (− 3.13 to − 14.51%), level 3 (− 6.33 to − 19.46%) and level 4 (− 8.10 to − 20.88%). Variation in the EEG data in terms of the combined uncertainty corresponds very well with low to high cognitive loads. The fourth level of the task with high cognitive load has more uncertainty than the low cognitive load levels. The results are useful for assessing the cognitive state of the player, which is valuable for the design of the effective training model.     

Significance of interface barrier at electrode of hematite hydroelectric cell for generating ecopower by water splitting

Recent increase in energy demand and associated environmental degradation concern has triggered more research towards alternative green energy sources. Eco‐friendly energy in facile way has been generated from abundantly available iron oxides using only few microliters of water without any external energy source. Hydroelectric cell (HEC) compatible to environment benign, low cost oxygen‐deficient mesoporous hematite nanoparticles has been used for splitting water molecules spontaneously to generate green electricity. Hematite nanoparticles have been synthesized by coprecipitation method. Chemidissociated hydroxyl group presence on hematite surface has been confirmed by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Surface oxygen vacancies in nanostructured hematite have been identified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), XPS, and photoluminescence (PL) measurement. Hematite‐based HEC delivers 30 mA current with 0.92 V emf using approximately 500 μL water. Maximum off‐load output power 27.6 mW delivered by 4.84 cm² area hematite‐based HEC is 3.52 times higher than reported 7.84 mW power generated by Li‐magnesium ferrite HEC. Electrochemistry of HEC in different irreversible polarization loss regions has been estimated by applying empirical modeling on V‐I polarization curve revealing the reaction and charge transport mechanism of cell. Tafel slope 22.7 mV has been calculated by modeling of activation polarization overvoltage region of 0.11 V. Low activation polarization indicated easy charge/ion diffusion and faster reaction kinetics of Ag/Zn electrode owing to lesser energy barrier at interface. Dissociated H₃O⁺ ions diffuse through surface via proton hopping, while OH^? ions migrate through interconnected defective crystallite boundaries resulting into high output cell current.     

A new statistic in the one-way multivariate analysis of variance

In the multivariate one-way analysis of variance a test statistic based solely on the rank orders of the data is proposed. In the two group case the statistic simplifies to a test of Puri and Sen [19]. Monte Carlo simulation techniques are used to evaluate the performance of the test statistic under various distributions. These evaluation include the simulated significance levels and power functions. By the nature of the proposed test it is evident that the new procedure is easier to implement than other existing rank based tests.     

Structural phase transition,impedance spectroscopy and narrow optical band Gap in 1-xKNbO3-xBaSc12Nb12O3

In the progress of exploring lead-free ferroelectric perovskites, a new solid solution of $\left(1-x\right)\mathrm{}\mathrm{K}\mathrm{N}\mathrm{b}{\mathrm{O}}_3-\mathrm{}x\mathrm{}\mathrm{B}\mathrm{a}\left({\mathrm{S}\mathrm{c}}_{\frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{}{\mathrm{N}\mathrm{b}}_{\frac{1}{2}}\right)O_3$ is synthesized using solid state method. The effect of Ba and Sc codoping on structural phase transition, dielectric, ferroelectric, electrical, and optical properties is systematically studied. A narrow band gap of 1.98eV is observed at x?=?0.05. On further increase in x, the optical band gap increases due to increased strain. The crystal symmetry changes from orthorhombic at x?=?0.00 to tetragonal phase at x?≤?0.15, remains in pseudocubic phase for 0.15?<?x?<?0.35, and finally transforms to the cubic symmetry at x?≥?0.35. A new Raman active mode evolves at 180?${\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ at x?=?0.15, which could be the TO or LO phonon of ${\mathrm{A}}_1$ symmetry. The electrical microstructure of the prepared electroceramics at room temperature has been investigated using impedance spectroscopy. This newly synthesized ferroelectric perovskite material has promising potential applications for photocatalysis and photovoltaics, especially under the visible light spectrum.     

Electrical conductivity of chromium substituted copper ferrites

Electrical conductivity of copper–chromium (Cu–Cr) ferrites of various compositions have been investigated as a function of composition and temperature. Plots of log (σT) versus 10³/T are almost linear and have shown a transition near the Curie temperature. The activation energy in the ferrimagnetic region is in general less than that in the paramagnetic region. An attempt is made to explain the conduction mechanism in Cu–Cr ferrites.     

Design and simulation of equilateral triangular microstrip antenna using particle swarm optimization (PSO) and advanced particle swarm optimization (APSO)

In this paper a new design is proposed in microstrip antenna family. In this paper, a review design of microstrip antenna design using particle swarm optimization (PSO) and advanced particle swarm optimization (APSO) has been presented which optimizes the parameters and both results are compared. This technique helps antenna engineers to design, analyze, and simulate antenna efficiently and effectively. An advanced PSO driven antenna has been developed to calculate resonant frequency of slit-cut stacked equilateral triangular microstrip antenna. The paper presents simplicity, accuracy and comparison of result between PSO and APSO.