Direct conversion of methane to higher hydrocarbons via an oxygen free,low-temperature route

The direct conversion of methane to higher hydrocarbons over a silica-supported Ru catalyst has been investigated via an oxygen free, two-step route. The reaction consists of decomposition of methane over a 3% silica-supp orted Ru catalyst at temperatures between 400 and 800 K to produce surface carbonaceous species followed by rehydrogenation of these species to higher hydrocarbons at of 368 K. It was found that the Ru/SiO₂ catalyst exhibits a trend similar to that for single-crystal Ru catalysts. However, the temperature at which a maximum in ethane selectivity occurs shifts toward a higher temperature. It was also found that the ethane yield can be optimized by changing the surface carbon coverage. Under optimum conditions a net ethane yield of about 13–15% has been realized. For this two-step reaction sequence, only a few reaction cycles could be operated without intermediate high temperature rehydrogenation and without significant loss in ethane yield. This is attributed to large amounts of inactive carbon that could not be hydrogenated at 368 K. Higher methane partial pressures were found to be desirable for this reaction. The activity of the catalyst could also be maintained at total pressures up to 10 atm.     

Bipartite coherent-state quantum key distribution with strong reference pulse

We propose an optical scheme for quantum key distribution in which bits are encoded in relative phases of four bipartite weak coherent states ${|\alpha, \alpha\rangle, |-\alpha, -\alpha\rangle, |-\alpha, \alpha\rangle}$ and ${|\alpha, -\alpha \rangle}$ , with respect to a strong reference pulse. We discuss security of the scheme against eavesdropping strategies like, photon number splitting, photon beam splitting and intercept-resend attacks. It is found that present scheme is more sensitive against these eavesdropping strategies than the two-dimensional non-orthogonal state based protocol and BB84 protocol. Our scheme is very simple, requires only passive optical elements like beam splitters, phase shifters and photon detectors, hence is at the reach of presently available technology.     

Modeling finite buffer effects on TCP traffic over an IEEE 802.11 infrastructure WLAN

The network scenario is that of an infrastructure IEEE 802.11 WLAN with a single AP with which several stations (STAs) are associated. The AP has a finite size buffer for storing packets. In this scenario, we consider TCP-controlled upload and download file transfers between the STAs and a server on the wireline LAN (e.g., 100 Mbps Ethernet) to which the AP is connected. In such a situation, it is well known that because of packet losses due to finite buffers at the AP, upload file transfers obtain larger throughputs than download transfers. We provide an analytical model for estimating the upload and download throughputs as a function of the buffer size at the AP. We provide models for the undelayed and delayed ACK cases for a TCP that performs loss recovery only by timeout, and also for TCP Reno. The models are validated in comparison with NS2 simulations.     

Coherent Phonon-Induced Modulation of Charge Transfer in 2D Hybrid Perovskites

Electron–phonon interactions play an essential role in charge transport and transfer processes in semiconductors. For most structures, tailoring electron–phonon interactions for specific functionality remains elusive. Here, it is shown that, in hybrid perovskites, coherent phonon modes can be used to manipulate charge transfer. In the 2D double perovskite, (AE2T)₂AgBiI₈ (AE2T: 5,5“-diylbis(amino-ethyl)-(2,2”-(2)thiophene)), the valence band maximum derived from the [Ag_0.5Bi_0.5I₄]^2– framework lies in close proximity to the AE2T-derived HOMO level, thereby forming a type-II heterostructure. During transient absorption spectroscopy, pulsed excitation creates sustained coherent phonon modes, which periodically modulate the associated electronic levels. Thus, the energy offset at the organic–inorganic interface also oscillates periodically, providing a unique opportunity for modulation of interfacial charge transfer. Density-functional theory corroborates the mechanism and identifies specific phonon modes as likely drivers of the coherent charge transfer. These observations are a striking example of how electron–phonon interactions can be used to manipulate fundamentally important charge and energy transfer processes in hybrid perovskites.     

Design,simulation and analysis of RF MEMS capacitive shunt switches with high isolation and low pull-in-voltage

Microsystem Technologies - This paper presents the design a capacitive shunt type RF-MEMS switch with high isolation, high switching speed and low actuation voltage for Ka-band applications. The...     

Secure video communication using firefly optimization and visual cryptography

In recent years, we face an increasing interest in protecting multimedia data and copyrights due to the high exchange of information. Attackers are trying to get confidential information from various sources, which brings the importance of securing the data. Many researchers implemented techniques to hide secret information to maintain the integrity and privacy of data. In order to protect confidential data, histogram-based reversible data hiding with other cryptographic algorithms are widely used. Therefore, in the proposed work, a robust method for securing digital video is suggested. We implemented histogram bit shifting based reversible data hiding by embedding the encrypted watermark in featured video frames. Histogram bit shifting is used for hiding highly secured watermarks so that security for the watermark symbol is also being achieved. The novelty of the work is that only based on the quality threshold a few unique frames are selected, which holds the encrypted watermark symbol. The optimal value for this threshold is obtained using the Firefly Algorithm. The proposed method is capable of hiding high-capacity data in the video signal. The experimental result shows the higher capacity and video quality compared to other reversible data hiding techniques. The recovered watermark provides better identity identification against various attacks. A high value of PSNR and a low value of BER and MSE is reported from the results.

     

Polyelectrolyte multilayers for bio‐applications: recent advancements

The synergistic relationship between structure and the bulk properties of polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) films has generated tremendous interest in their application for loading and release of bioactive species. Layer‐by‐layer assembly is the simplest, cost effective process for fabrication of such PEMs films, leading to one of the most widely accepted platforms for incorporating biological molecules with nanometre precision. The bulk reservoir properties of PEM films render them a potential candidate for applications such as biosensing, drug delivery and tissue engineering. Various biomolecules such as proteins, DNA, RNA or other desired molecules can be incorporated into the PEM stack via electrostatic interactions and various other secondary interactions such as hydrophobic interactions. The location and availability of the biological molecules within the PEM stack mediates its applicability in various fields of biomedical engineering such as programmed drug delivery. The development of advanced technologies for biomedical applications using PEM films has seen rapid progress recently. This review briefly summarises the recent successes of PEM being utilised for diverse bio‐applications.Inspec keywords: polymer electrolytes, multilayers, polymer films, molecular biophysics, biomedical materials, biochemistryOther keywords: bioapplications, polyelectrolyte multilayer films, bioactive species, layer‐by‐layer assembly, biological molecules, biosensing, drug delivery, tissue engineering, biomolecules, proteins, DNA, RNA, electrostatic interactions, secondary interactions, hydrophobic interactions, biomedical engineering, programmed drug delivery, biomedical applications, PEM films     

Computing median and antimedian sets in median graphs

The median (antimedian) set of a profile π=(u ₁,…,u _k ) of vertices of a graph G is the set of vertices x that minimize (maximize) the remoteness ∑ _i d(x,u _i ). Two algorithms for median graphs G of complexity O(n idim(G)) are designed, where n is the order and idim(G) the isometric dimension of G. The first algorithm computes median sets of profiles and will be in practice often faster than the other algorithm which in addition computes antimedian sets and remoteness functions and works in all partial cubes.