A highly efficient nanostructured quinary photocatalyst for hydrogen production

Semiconductor photocatalysts play a crucial role when it comes to environmental issues such as global warming, pollutant degradation, fuel shortage, and energy crisis. In this paper, three nanostructured compound (3‐, 4‐, and 5‐component) semiconductor materials were synthesized through a facile one‐pot hydrothermal method, and were applied as alloy photocatalysts to generate hydrogen fuel via a water photo‐splitting process. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms revealed that the synthesized materials were all mesoporous and the highest surface area was witnessed for Ag‐doped quinary photocatalyst, viz. Cd_0.1Zn_0.87Sn_0.01Ag_0.01S (CZTSS). This heterogeneous photocatalyst exhibited a maximum performance in evolving hydrogen gas. The superiority of CZTSS was justified in terms of its greater surface area, higher conduction band and its silver plasmon resonance, enhancing the light absorption at long wavelengths. Field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed a spectacular nanostructure for this photocatalyst that was comprised of nanoparticles, platelets, and microspheres attached together. Energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX) analyses of the CZTSS also proved the synthesis of the quinary photocatalyst, having different compositions in distinct zones. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Axisymmetric and One-Dimensional Thermoelastic Fields of Radially Graded Bodies

In this paper, both Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio along with thermal expansion coefficient are allowed to vary across the radius in a solid ring and a curved beam. Effects of non-constant Poisson's ratio on the thermoelastic field in these graded axisymmetric and one-dimensional problems are studied. A governing differential equation in terms of stress function is obtained for general axisymmetric and one-dimensional problems. Two linearly independent solutions in terms of hypergeometric functions are then attained to calculate the stresses and the strains. Using Green's function method, a form of a solution for the stress functions in terms of integral equations for a curved beam and a solid ring are obtained. Specifically, closed form solutions for the stress functions, when Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are expressed as power law functions across the radius, are calculated. The results show that the effect of varying Poisson's ratio upon the thermal stresses is considerable for the solid ring. In addition, a non-constant Poisson's ratio has significant influences on the thermal strain field in solid rings. The effect of varying Poisson's ratio upon the thermal stresses is negligible for the curved beam. However, non-constant Poisson's ratios have substantial effects on the thermal strain field in curved beams. Finally, the effects of varying Poisson's ratio on the thermal stresses in thick solid rings and curved beams are also investigated.     

A Novel Evolutionary-Based Cooperative Spectrum Sensing Mechanism for Cognitive Radio Networks

Cognitive radio (CR) is considered as a feasible intelligent technology for 4G wireless networks or self-organization networks and envisioned as a promising paradigm of exploiting intelligence for enhancing efficiency of underutilized spectrum bands. In CR, one of the main concerns is to reliably sense the presence of primary users, to attain protection against harmful interference caused by the potential spectrum access of secondary users (SUs). In this paper, evolutionary algorithms, namely, genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are investigated. An imperialistic competitive algorithm (ICA) is proposed to minimize error detection at the common soft data fusion (SDF) center for structurally centralized cognitive radio network (CRN). By using these techniques, evolutionary operations are invoked to optimize the weighting coefficients applied on the sensing measurement components received from multiple cooperative SUs. The proposed method is compared with other evolutionary algorithms, as well as other conventional deterministic, such as maximal ratio combining- (MRC-), modified deflection coefficient- (MDC-), normal deflection coefficient- (NDC-) based SDF schemes and OR-rule HDF based. MATLAB simulations confirm the superiority of the ICA-based scheme over the PSO-, GA-based and other conventional schemes in terms of detection performance. In addition, the ICA-based scheme also shows promising convergence and time running performance as compared to other iterative-based schemes. This makes ICA an adequate solution to meet real-time requirements.     

Reliable Mark-Embedded Algorithm for Verifying Archived/Encrypted Image Contents in Presence Different Attacks with FEC Utilizing Consideration

Wireless Personal Communications - Due to the widely spreading of fake news utilizing image manipulation and its bad effects, this paper investigates efficient image contents verification and...     

A Self-powered Wearable Wireless Sensor System Powered by a Hybrid Energy Harvester for Healthcare Applications

Wireless Personal Communications - In this paper, a wearable medical sensor system is designed for long-term healthcare applications. This system is used for monitoring temperature, heartbeat,...     

Biodegradable Polymeric Nanoparticles Containing an Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor (aPDL1) to Locally Induce Immune Responses in the Central Nervous System

Immunotherapy is an efficient approach to clinical oncology. However, the immune privilege of the central nervous system (CNS) limits the application of immunotherapeutic strategies for brain cancers, especially glioblastoma (GBM). Tumor resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors is a further challenge in immunotherapies. To overcome the immunological tolerance of brain tumors, a novel multifunctional nanoparticle (NP) for highly efficient synergetic immunotherapy is reported. The NP contains an anti-PDL1 antibody (aPDL1), upconverting NPs, and the photosensitizer 5-ALA; the surface of the NP is conjugated with the B1R kinin ligand to facilitate transport across the blood-tumor-barrier. Upon irradiation with a 980 nm laser, 5-ALA is transformed into protoporphyrin IX, generating reactive oxygen species. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) further promotes intratumoral infiltration of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and sensitizes tumors to PDL1 blockade therapy. It is demonstrated that combining PDT and aPDL1 can effectively suppress GBM growth in mouse models. The proposed NPs provide a novel and effective strategy for boosting anti-GBM photoimmunotherapy.     

Tunable ferroelectric impedance matching networks and their impact on digital modulation system performance

In this paper the bit error rate performance and error vector magnitude of a tunable impedance matching network is analyzed assuming QPSK, 16-QAM and 64-QAM digital modulation schemes. The characterized tunable impedance matching network is based on barium–strontium–titanate ferroelectric thick-film varactors. Inherent dispersive behavior is subsumed into the forward transmission of the passive device. Due to this nonlinear phase response, in general to maximize the overall system performance, an agile tuning of the varactor values is demonstrated, taking into account the phase and group delay of s₂₁ parameter. Detailed signal simulation results based on measured data of a testbed are presented. The influence of varying matched impedances on the tuning behavior with different modulation bandwidths is discussed at a center frequency of 1.9 GHz.