Simulation of Image Fusion of Dual Modality (Electrical Capacitance and Optical Tomography) in Solid/Gas Flow

This paper presents a novel method of combining dual modality electrical capacitance and optical tomography for applications in monitoring and investigating solid/gas flow. The objective of this method is to obtain a good quality image of the full-scale concentration distribution of solid/gas flow. A new image reconstruction algorithm fused the dual modality images is developed and evaluated.     

SAPO-34 supported Pt–Sn-based novel catalyst for propane dehydrogenation to propylene

The Pt–Sn-based catalyst was intensified using SAPO-34 as support for direct propane dehydrogenation to propylene. The catalyst was prepared by sequential impregnation method and characterized by XRF, BET, XRD, NH₃-IR, NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR, HR-TEM and O₂-pulse coke analysis. NH₃-TPD, IR spectra and XRD results suggested that the doping of metals on SAPO-34 did not affect its acidic strength and structural topology of support, respectively. Propylene selectivity of 94% and total olefins selectivity greater than 97% was achieved using Pt–Sn/SAPO-34. The results were compared with Pt–Sn/ZSM-5 under identical conditions. The possible reasons for improvement were the larger surface area, shape selectivity and particular by suitable acidity of SAPO-34.     

Evaluation of process parameter space of bulk FinFETs using 3D TCAD

Using full 3D TCAD, an evaluation of process parameter space of bulk FinFET is presented from the point of view of DRAM, SRAM and I/O applications. Process and device simulations are performed with varying uniform fin doping, anti-punch implant dose and energy, fin width, fin height and gate oxide thickness. Bulk FinFET architecture with anti-punch implant is introduced beneath the channel region to reduce the punch-through and junction leakage. For 30 nm bulk FinFET, anti-punch implant with low energy of 15 to 25 keV and dose of 5.0 × 10¹³ to 1.0 × 10¹⁴ cm⁻² is beneficial to effectively suppress the punch-through leakage with reduced GIDL and short channel effects. Our simulations show that bulk FinFETs are approximately independent of back bias effect. With identical fin geometry, bulk FinFETs with anti-punch implant show same I_ON-I_OFF behavior and approximately equal short channel effects like SOI FinFETs.     

Fabrication and characterization of polyetherimide/polyvinyl acetate polymer blend membranes for CO2/CH4 separation

This article presents fabrication, characterization, and performance evaluation of polyetherimide (PEI)/polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) blend membranes. Polymer blend membranes with various blend ratios of PEI/PVAc were prepared by solution casting and evaporation technique. Morphology and miscibility of polymer blend membranes were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. The interaction between blend polymers was analyzed by FTIR analysis. Gas separation performance was evaluated in terms of permeability and selectivity. FESEM results revealed that pure polymer and blend membranes were homogeneous and dense in structure. A single glass transition temperature of polymer blend membranes was found in DSC analysis which indicated the miscibility of PEI/PVAc blend. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of molecular interaction between blend polymers. The permeation results showed that the presence of PVAc (3 wt%) in blend membranes has improved CO₂ permeability up to 95% compared to pure PEI membrane. In addition, CO₂/CH₄ selectivity was found to be 40% higher than pure PEI membrane. This study shows that blending a small fraction of PVAc can improve the gas separation performance of PEI/PVAc blend membranes. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:E293–E301, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Facile modification of polysulfone hollow-fiber membranes via the incorporation of well-dispersed iron oxide nanoparticles for protein purification

Protein existence in wastewater is an important issue in wastewater management because proteins are generally present as contaminants and foulants. Hence, in this study, we focused on designing a polysulfone (PSf) hollow-fiber membrane embedded with hydrophilic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) for protein purification by means of ultrafiltration. Before membrane fabrication, the dispersion stability of the IONPs was enhanced by the addition of a stabilizer, namely, citric acid (CA). Next, PSf–IONP–CA nanocomposite hollow-fiber membranes were prepared via a dry–wet spinning process and then characterized in terms of their hydrophilicity and morphology. Ultrafiltration and adsorption experiments were then conducted with bovine serum albumin as a model protein. The results that an IONP/CA weight ratio of 1:20 contributed to the most stable IONP dispersion. It was also revealed that the membrane incorporated with IONP–CA at a weight ratio of 1:20 exhibited the highest pure water permeability (58.6 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹) and protein rejection (98.5%) while maintaining a low protein adsorption (3.3 μg/cm²). The addition of well-dispersed IONPs enhanced the separation features of the PSf hollow-fiber membrane for protein purification. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47502.     

Silicon Mitigates Drought Stress in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Through Improving Photosynthetic Pigments,Biochemical and Yield Characters

Silicon - Feeling prone to stress differs with plant production stage, water scarcity near commencement of grain filling phase has a significant reduced grain yield through fewer endosperm and sink...     

Exploring Regional Profile of Drought History- a New Procedure to Characterize and Evaluate Multi-Scaler Drought Indices Under Spatial Poisson Log-Normal Model

Water Resources Management - Drought is recurrently occurring in many parts of the globe. In contrast to other natural hazards, drought has complex climatic characteristics. Several environmental...