Chemical Synthesis and Characterization of Nickel Powder

The synthesis of magnetic Ni nanoparticles is being investigated by the reduction of NiO nanoparticles in the presence of hydrogen gas. In this study, nanocrystalline NiO particles have been synthesized by a homogenous carbonate precipitation method employing nickel electrolyte (NiSO₄) as the source of nickel and ammonium hydrogen carbonate as the precipitating agent. Nickel electrolyte (NiSO₄) was obtained after processing of sea nodules by the roasting-ammonia leaching-solvent extraction method. The physicochemical characterization of NiO and Ni particles, i.e., bright field image by transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) study, and magnetic measurements by vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) are studied. The particles are observed to be superparamagnetic.     

Offshore manufacturing contract design based on transfer price considering green tax: a bilevel programming approach

The problem of designing offshore manufacturing contract resulting in optimal transfer price is troubling multinational companies over the past few years. This paper proposes designing offshore manufacturing contracts based on the transfer price in the form of bilevel programming problems after considering green tax. In these contract designs, a firm in a developed country sells a single product in its market. The same product is simultaneously being manufactured by another firm in a developing country with lower manufacturing cost. After anticipating the consumer demand, the seller places an order, based on which the manufacturer manufactures the ordered quantity, and offers a transfer price which in turn maximises its net profit after paying green tax to its government. While setting the transfer price, the manufacturer considers the manufacturing cost, the export duty payable to its government and the cost of shipping the product to the developed country. After buying the product from the manufacturer at the transfer price, the seller then sets the retail price which maximises its net profit after paying the import duty to its government; the retail price, however, must not be more than the maximum retail price applicable to the market. Thus, offshore manufacturing contract results in optimal after-tax profits for both the firms. An experimental study has been carried out to discuss the practical aspects of the results developed, where a US firm is offshoring its manufacturing activity to a Chinese firm in order to draw maximum profit.     

Solving conflicting bi-objective facility location problem by NSGA II evolutionary algorithm

This paper focuses on the facility location problem with two conflicting objectives. We observe that minimization of the total cost of a particular echelon may lead to the increase in the total cost of a supply chain as a whole. Thus, these conflicting objectives are required to be met together from a supply chain perspective. We have solved the problem formulated in mixed nonlinear programming by a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) known as non-dominated sorting algorithm, or NSGA II in short. Numerical example is provided to show the effect of the algorithm on the solution.     

Ionic liquid doped poly(N-methyl 4-vinylpyridine iodide) solid polymer electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cell

Ion conducting polymer electrolyte, poly(N-methyl 4-vinylpyridine iodide) (PVPI) is synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) application. A new solid polymer electrolyte composite containing low viscosity ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl 3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (EMImDCN) doped PVPI is developed and its structural, electrical and photoelectrochemical studies are presented in detail. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, proton NMR and atomic force microscopy (AFM) affirms the modified polymer and its composite nature with porous surface morphology. The developed solid polymer electrolyte shows enhancement in ionic conductivity (σ) due to IL doping. The maximum σ value of 9.12 × 10^?6 S cm^?1 was obtained at 40 wt% IL concentration. The redox behavior of the electrolyte has been verified by the cyclic voltammetry studies. For device application, we have fabricated a DSSC using this solid polymer–IL electrolyte system which shows energy conversion efficiency of the solid-state cell as 0.65% under irradiation of simulated sunlight (AM 1.5, 100 mW cm^?2).     

Improved Algorithms for Uniform Partitions of Points

We consider the following one- and two-dimensional bucketing problems: Given a set S of n points in \reals ¹ or \reals ² and a positive integer b , distribute the points of S into b equal-size buckets so that the maximum number of points in a bucket is minimized. Suppose at most (n/b) + Δ points lie in each bucket in an optimal solution. We present algorithms whose time complexities depend on b and Δ . No prior knowledge of Δ is necessary for our algorithms. For the one-dimensional problem, we give a deterministic algorithm that achieves a running time of O(b ⁴ (Δ ² +log n) + n) . For the two-dimensional problem, we present a Monte Carlo algorithm that runs in subquadratic time for small values of b and Δ . The previous algorithms, by Asano and Tokuyama [1], searched the entire parameterized space and required Ω ( n ² ) time in the worst case even for constant values of b and Δ . We also present a subquadratic algorithm for the special case of the two-dimensional problem when b=2 .     

Flux-based active filter controller

This paper presents a synchronous frame flux-based control method for a parallel active filter application. The flux-based controller directly implements the inverter switchings in the synchronous reference frame by a hysteresis rule-based carrier-less pulse-width modulation (PWM) strategy to achieve high current bandwidth. This paper addresses the issues and impact on parallel active filtering requirements for utility interface of commonly used harmonic front-ends. The synchronous frame flux-based controller provides additional insights for harmonic current compensation requirements. Simulation results provide the validation of the flux-based active filter controller to meet IEEE Standard 519 recommended harmonic standards for large rated nonlinear loads under balanced and unbalanced supply conditions     

A selective location update strategy for PCS users

A new location update strategy for personal communication services (PCS) networks and its implementation using a genetic algorithm are proposed. Most of the practical cellular mobile systems partition a geographical region into location areas (LAs) and users are made to update on entering a new LA. The main drawback of this scheme is that it does not consider the individual user mobility and call arrival patterns. Combining these factors with the LAbased approach, we propose an optimal update strategy which determines whether or not a user should update in each LA, and minimizes the average location management cost derived from a userspecific mobility model and call generation pattern. The location management cost optimization problem is also elegantly solved using a genetic algorithm. Detailed simulation experiments are conducted to capture the effects of mobility and callarrival patterns on the location update strategy. The conclusion from this work is that skipping location updates in certain LAs leads to the minimization of the overall location management cost for a user with a specific mobility pattern and even with moderately high call arrival rate.     

Enzymatic preparation of ricinoleic acid esters of long-chain monohydric alcohols and properties of the esters

Apart from the conventional chemical esterification process, long-chain alkyl ricinoleates also can be prepared by enzymatic esterification or by enzymatic alcoholysis with high yield and without undesirable side reactions. On sulfonation to the hydroxyl group, the alkyl ricinoleates produce surface-active compounds. The tetradecyl ricinoleate shows the best surface-active behavior and seems to be much better than that of sulfonated castor oil commonly known as “Turkey Red Oil”.     

Fundamental Limits of Organic Packages and Boards and the Need for Novel Ceramic Boards for Next Generation Electronic Packaging

The system-on-a-package (SOP) paradigm proposes a package level integration of digital, RF/analog and opto-electronic functions to address future convergent microsystems. Two major components of SOP fabrication are sequential build-up of multiple layers (4–8) of conducting copper patterns with interlayer dielectrics on a board and multiple ICs flip-chip bonded on the top layer. A wide range of passives, wave-guides and other RF and opto-electronic components buried within the dielectric layers provide the multiple functions on a single microminiaturized platform.The routing of future nanoscale ICs with 10,000+ I/Os require multiple build-up layers of ultra fine board feature sizes of 10 m lines/space widths and 40 m pad diameters. Current FR4 boards cannot achieve this build-up technology because of dimensional instability during processing. These boards also undergo high warpage during the sequential build-up process which limits the fine-line lithography and also causes misalignment between the vias and their corresponding landing pads. In addition, the CTE mismatch between the silicon die and the board leads to IC-package interconnect reliability concerns, particularly in future fine-pitch assemblies where underfilling becomes complicated and expensive.This work reports experimental and analytical work comparing the performance of organic and novel ceramic boards for SOP requirements. The property requirements as deduced from these results indicate that a high stiffness and tailorable CTE from 2–4 ppm/C is required to enable SOP microminiaturized board fabrication and assembly without underfill. A novel ceramic board technology is proposed to address these requirements.