Characterization and Catalytic Properties of Combustion Synthesized Au/CeO2 Catalyst

Ceria-supported Au catalyst has been synthesized by the solution combustion method for the first time and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Au is dispersed as Au⁰ as well as Au³⁺ states on CeO₂ surface of 20-30 nm crystallites. On heating the as-prepared 1% Au/CeO₂ in air, the concentration of Au³⁺ ions on CeO₂ increases at the expense of Au⁰. Catalytic activities for CO and hydrocarbon oxidation and NO reduction over the as-prepared and the heat-treated 1% Au/CeO₂ have been carried out using a temperature-programmed reaction technique in a packed bed tubular reactor. The results are compared with nano-sized Au metal particles dispersed on -Al₂O₂ substrate prepared by the same method. All the reactions over heat-treated Au/CeO₂ occur at lower temperature in comparison with the as-prepared Au/CeO₂ and Au/Al₂O₂. The rate of NO + CO reaction over as-prepared and heat-treated 1% Au/CeO₂ are 28.3 and 54.0 mol g^-1 s^-1 at 250 and 300 °C respectively. Activation energy (E _a) values are 106 and 90 kJ mol^-1 for CO + O₂ reaction respectively over as-prepared and heat-treated 1% Au/CeO₂ respectively.     

Strain and electric field-modulated indirect-to-direct band transition of monolayer GaInS2

Journal of Computational Electronics - The strain- and electric field-dependent electronic and optical properties of monolayer GaInS2 have been calculated using density functional...     

An adaptive penalty function-based maximin desirability index for close tolerance multiple-response optimization problems

Simultaneous optimization of multiple-quality characteristics and determining the process settings is a critical and difficult task for practitioners. Such types of problems are generally referred to as “multiple-response optimization” problems. To handle high-dimensional multiple-response problems, a popular strategy, using desirability functions, is recommended by various researchers. Various types of desirability index functions are recommended to convert multiple scale-free desirability measures to a single composite desirability (or single objective) value. Thus, the objective is then to maximize the single composite desirability for a specific problem. In this paper, a new adaptive penalty function-based “maximin” desirability index is proposed, which provide superior solution as compared to existing maximin approach, for close (or tight) engineering tolerances of response characteristics. The superiority was proved based on statistical comparison using varied case situations and different swarm intelligent search strategies.     

Synthesis of SBA 15 graphene oxide composite membrane using phenol–formaldehyde resin pore modifier for CO2 separation

Present study highlights the development of carbon-loaded SBA 15 membrane on clay-alumina tubular support and its performance on the CO₂ separation efficiencies from different mixture gases. To modify the large pores of SBA 15 by graphitic carbon, low molecular weight phenol–formaldehyde (PF) resin was incorporated into the mesoporous channel followed by calcination under inert atmosphere. The modified ordered pore structure of the membrane has been characterized by low-angle XRD, TEM, and pore size distribution analysis. The chemical state of the deposited carbon phase into the SBA 15 pores was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopy. Carbon having graphitic nature mainly in graphene oxide has been deposited into the mesopore of SBA 15 resulting decrease in pore size from 8.9 to 1.0 nm. Finally, the developed SBA 15 carbon membranes were characterized by CO₂ permeation and separation selectivity of CO₂/CH₄, CO₂/CO. Highest CO₂/CH₄ separation factor was achieved as 16.9 with CO₂ permeance 13.6 × 10^–8 mol/m²/s/Pa at 200 kPa feed pressure by the 20% resin with 2 times coated membrane. In flue gas analysis, highest CO₂/CO separation factor of 32.8 was achieved. This study offers an observation on CO₂ separation from simulated BF gas for the first time and the results show the potential of the developed SBA 15/C composite membranes in commercial application.     

Remote monitoring of different electrical parameters of multi-machine system using PC

This paper describes a PC based centralized monitoring of the running condition of a multi-machine system. This kind of monitoring from remote central location is one of the primary requirements in today’s era of automation. The convergence of embedded system like microcontroller/DSP/FPGA, etc., now-a-days, is adding a new dimension to enhance the capability of the PC based data acquisition. In this present approach, conditions of different parameters of each motor have been measured by dedicated microcontroller based hardware. All these units are connected in a network using bus topology. All parameters are communicated to a remote PC through this bus where user friendly state-of-the-art developed software stores it for display and analysis purposes.     

Shear strength response of reinforced pond ash

Reinforced pond ash is a composite material, which can be used as an alternative construction material in the field of geotechnical engineering. To study the shear strength response of reinforced pond ash, a series of unconsolidated undrained (UU) triaxial test has been conducted on both unreinforced and reinforced pond ash. In the present investigation the effects of confining pressure (σ₃), number of geotextile layers (N), and types of geotextiles on shear strength response of pond ash are studied. The results demonstrate that normal stress at failure (σ_1f) increases with increase in confining pressure. The rate of increase of normal stress at failure (σ_1f) is maximum for three layers of reinforcement, while the corresponding percentage increase in σ_1f is around (103%), when the number of geotextile layers increases from two layers to three layers of reinforcement. With increase in confining pressure the increment in normal stress at failure, Δσ increases and attains a peak value at a certain confining pressure (threshold value) after that Δσ becomes more or less constant. The threshold value of confining pressure depends on N, dry unit weight (γ_d) of pond ash, type of geotextile, and also type of pond ash.     

Robust control of HIV infection by antiretroviral therapy: a super‐twisting sliding mode control approach

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is an epidemic infectious disease which is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and that has proliferated across worldwide. It has been a matter of concern for the scientific community to develop an antiretroviral therapy, which will prompt a rapid decline in viral abundance. With this motivation, this study proposes the design of a robust super twisting sliding mode controller based on output information for an uncertain HIV infection model. The control objective is to decrease the concentration of infected CD4+ T cells to a specified level by drug administration using only the output information of the uncertain HIV infection model which is total CD4+ T cell concentration. The robust output‐feedback controller has been developed in combination with a robust exact differentiator, functioning as an observer. The reported analysis demonstrates that the approach proposed here is capable of ensuring robust performance under several operating conditions, measurement and modelling error, parametric uncertainties and external disturbances and the simulation results prove the proficiency of the controller proposed.Inspec keywords: control system synthesis, observers, robust control, drugs, medical control systems, diseases, uncertain systems, variable structure systems, patient treatment, feedback, cellular biophysics, microorganismsOther keywords: robust control, antiretroviral therapy, sliding mode control approach, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, epidemic infectious disease, human immunodeficiency virus, scientific community, robust super, mode controller, output information, uncertain HIV infection model, control objective, infected CD4, total CD4, T cell concentration, robust output‐feedback controller, robust exact differentiator, robust performance     

Mixed valency character of bismuth in ferrite lattices

Abstracts are not published in this journal This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An accurate technique of measurement of a transducer output by using a modified two core saturable reactor

Saturable reactor or transductor used as a magnetic modulator or amplifier for the measurement of the small value DC output signal of a transducer may suffer from error due to the fact that a part of the current drawn from the transducer by the transductor unit is utilized to magnetize the core material. In this paper a modified two core saturable reactor circuit has been proposed to eliminate this error. This unit also minimizes some other errors like common mode error, material error, etc. Theory of operation and design of the circuit has been explained in this paper. The circuit has been tested by using a millivolt input signal as well as a thermocouple to measure temperature. The experimental results are presented in this paper. Linear static characteristic graphs have been observed.