Appraisal of Agriglass in Promoting Maize Production Under Abiotic Stress Conditions

An agriglass composition containing different oxides acts as a slow release for macro and micro nutrients and was chosen to improve maize yield under most important abiotic stresses which affecting agriculture development; salinity and drought. A field experiment was performed in salt affected soil (EC =?7.5 dSm^??1) by using different water deficit rates (I1 = 100, I2 = 85 and I3 = 70% of maize water requirements). Irrigation levels were located in main plots. Every main-plot divided into six sub-plots contained glassy fertilizer treatments [F1 = 55 kg fed^?1 with 1/2 mm diameter of agriglass (fed. =?4200 m²), F2 = 55 kg fed^?1 with 1 mm diameter, F3 = 80 kg fed^?1 with 1/2 mm diameter, F4 = 80 kg fed^?1 with 1 mm diameter, F5 = Recommendations of Ministry of Agriculture and F6 = control]. The experimental results demonstrated that, ears, straw, grains and biological yields increased with increasing both water and agriglass rates. Application of agriglass as a slow release fertilizer improved yield more than mineral fertilizer. Some growth parameters, water use efficiency (IWUE), macronutrients concentration and their relations were included. Other studies on residual effect of agriglass and the annual application rates to withstand salinity and drought stress by strategic crops are required.     

Single-Crystalline TiO2(B) Nanobelts with Unusual Large Exposed {100} Facets and Enhanced Li-Storage Capacity

The {100} facet of single-crystalline TiO₂(B) is an ideal platform for inserting Li ions, but it is hard to be obtained due to its high surface energy. Here, the single-crystalline TiO₂(B) nanobelts from H₂Ti₃O₇ with nearly 70% {100} facets exposed are synthesized, which significantly enhances Li-storage capacity. The first-principle calculations demonstrate an ab in-plane 2D diffusion through the exposed {100} facets. As a consequence, the nanobelts can significantly accommodate Li ions in LiTiO₂ formula with specific capacity up to 335 mAh g⁻¹, which is in good agreement with the electrochemical characterizations. Coating with conductive and protective poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate), the cut-off discharge voltage is as low as 0.5 V, leading to a capacity of 160.7 mAh g⁻¹ after 1500 cycles with a retention rate of 66% at 1C. This work provides a practical strategy to increase the Li-ion capacity and cycle stability by tailoring the crystal orientation and nanostructures.     

Skidding analysis of angular contact ball bearing subjected to radial load and angular misalignment

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Skidding is a phenomenon that frequently occurs in ball–raceway contact areas of bearings and often leads to their early failure. This paper...     

Effect of ZnO layer thickness upon optoelectrical properties of NiO/ ZnO heterojunction prepared at room temperature

In this work, p-NiO/n-ZnO heterostructures were successfully prepared at room temperature using RF sputtering technique. The influence of ZnO layer thickness on the performance of the heterojunction was investigated. The deposited ZnO layers have a hexagonal Wurtzite structure with preferable growth orientations along (002) and (103) for thinner films. Increasing the thickness results in more crystallographic orientation randomness. The current–voltage measurements of the realized heterojunctions showed a clear rectifying behavior. The measured ideality factor varies from 2.5 to 1.6 according to the thickness of ZnO layer. The series resistance of the device is enlarged with increasing ZnO thickness. The deduced parameters from the I–V characteristics suggest that 200 nm is the optimal thickness of the ZnO layer according to our experimental conditions. We attribute the relatively better performance of this thickness to achieving reasonable compensation between serial resistance and ideality factor. The best heterojunction was tested and successfully used as a UV detector.     

Cross-Layer Optimization of Dynamic Packet Assignment for Video Transmission Over IEEE 802.11e Networks

Video transmission over IEEE 802.11e wireless networks still shows poor performance for large bandwidth demand and frequently changed environments. Thus, several enhancements of IEEE 802.11e were proposed. On the other hand, big frames and simultaneous sending of adjacent frames always cause packet dropping for buffer overflow. In the past, we proposed an IEEE 802.11e enhancement named DFAA and a content aware mechanism to solve the above problems. The motivation of this paper is to find a proper way to integrate these two mechanisms. A DFAA enhancement (DFAA-E) is proposed to make up the insufficiency of content aware mechanism. Experiments results show that the combination of DFAA-E and content aware mechanism improves the video decoded quality greatly. And its performance can be further enhanced by selecting the suitable settings of certain parameters.     

Effect of Supports and Promoters on the Performance of Ni-Based Catalysts in Ethanol Steam Reforming

Ethanol steam reforming (ESR) is one of the potential processes to convert ethanol into valuable products. Hydrogen produced from ESR is considered as green energy for the future and can be an excellent alternative to fossil fuels with the aim of mitigating the greenhouse gas effect. The ESR process has been well studied, using transition metals as catalysts coupled with both acidic and basic oxides as supports. Among various reported transition metals, Ni is an inexpensive material with activity comparable to that of noble metals, showing promising ethanol conversion and hydrogen yields. Additionally, different promoters and supports were utilized to enhance the hydrogen yield and the catalyst stability. This review summarizes and discusses the influences of the supports and promoters of Ni-based catalysts on the ESR process.     

Effect of Initial Grain Size on Friction Stir Weldability for Rolled and Cast CoCrFeMnNi High-Entropy Alloys

Metals and Materials International - This study investigated the influence of the initial grain size on the plastic deformation and tunnel defects that occurred from friction stir welding of...     

Carbon Bonding State Has a Small Effect on Melting of Direct-Reduced Iron

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B - The concentration and chemical bonding state of carbon in direct-reduced iron (DRI) might affect DRI melting temperature and rate. The effects of carbon...     

Reoptimization framework and policy analysis for maritime inventory routing under uncertainty

We study a maritime inventory routing problem, in which shipments between production and consumption nodes are carried out by a fleet of vessels. The vessels have specific capacities and can be chartered under different agreements. The inventory levels of all consumption nodes and some production nodes should be maintained within specified bounds; for the remaining production nodes, orders should be picked up within pre-defined time windows. We propose a discrete-time mixed-integer programming model. In the face of new information and uncertainty, this optimization model has to be re-solved, as the horizon is rolled forward. We discuss how to account for different sources of uncertainty. We present a rolling-horizon reoptimization framework that allows us to study different policies that impact the quality of the implemented solution, so we can identify the optimal set of policies.