Fabrication of Mn–ZnO photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting applications

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - A photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting ability of pure ZnO and manganese-incorporated ZnO thin films fabricated via a simple...     

Multi carrier energy systems and energy hubs: Comprehensive review,survey and recommendations

In this paper, the multi carrier energy (MCE) systems are reviewed from different point of views including mathematical models, integrated components and technologies, uncertainty management, planning objectives, environmental pollution, resilience, and robustness. The basic of MCE systems is formed by combination of cooling, heating and power (CCHP). The natural gas and electricity are the main inputs to MCE systems and the cooling, heating, and electricity are the common outputs. The regular energy converters in the MCE systems are combined heat and power (CHP), gas boiler, absorption-electrical chillers, power to gas (P2G) and fuel-cell. The generic energy storages are electrical, heating, cooling, hydrogen, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and hydro systems.     

Sign Language to Sentence Formation: A Real Time Solution for Deaf People

Communication is a basic need of every human being to exchange thoughts and interact with the society. Acute peoples usually confab through different spoken languages, whereas deaf people cannot do so. Therefore, the Sign Language (SL) is the communication medium of such people for their conversation and interaction with the society. The SL is expressed in terms of specific gesture for every word and a gesture is consisted in a sequence of performed signs. The acute people normally observe these signs to understand the difference between single and multiple gestures for singular and plural words respectively. The signs for singular words such as I, eat, drink, home are unalike the plural words as school, cars, players. A special training is required to gain the sufficient knowledge and practice so that people can differentiate and understand every gesture/sign appropriately. Innumerable researches have been performed to articulate the computer-based solution to understand the single gesture with the help of a single hand enumeration. The complete understanding of such communications are possible only with the help of this differentiation of gestures in computer-based solution of SL to cope with the real world environment. Hence, there is still a demand for specific environment to automate such a communication solution to interact with such type of special people. This research focuses on facilitating the deaf community by capturing the gestures in video format and then mapping and differentiating as single or multiple gestures used in words. Finally, these are converted into the respective words/sentences within a reasonable time. This provide a real time solution for the deaf people to communicate and interact with the society.     

Cognitive Mapping and Planning for Visual Navigation

International Journal of Computer Vision - We introduce a neural architecture for navigation in novel environments. Our proposed architecture learns to map from first-person views and plans a...     

Novel anhydrous composite membranes based on sulfonated poly (ether ketone) and aprotic ionic liquids for high temperature polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cell applications

Novel composite membranes were prepared using imidazolium type aprotic ionic liquids and sulfonated poly (ether ketone) (SPEK) as polymer matrix by solution casting process. All the prepared membranes were characterized for their thermal stability, mechanical properties, ion exchange capacity, proton conductivity and leaching out of ionic liquids in presence of water. Ionic liquid based membranes were more flexible than neat SPEK membrane due to the plasticization effect of ionic liquids. The interactions and compatibility occurring among components were investigated by vibration spectroscopy (FTIR ATR) and scanning electron microscopy respectively. The thermal stability of composite membranes was higher than unmodified membranes. The ion conductivity of composite membranes under anhydrous conditions was found to be dependent on temperature, type and concentration of ionic liquid in SPEK matrix. Ion conductivities of composite membranes under anhydrous condition were found to be up to two orders (∼100 times) higher than neat SPEK membrane and it was found to be ∼5 mS/cm at 140 °C for SPEK/OTf-70. These composite membranes can be successfully operated at temperatures ranging from 40 °C to 140 °C under anhydrous conditions.     

Modeling uranium biosorption by Cystoseira sp. and application studies

The aim of the present work was to determine the applicability of raw and modified brown macroalga Cystoseira sp. as a biosorbent material for the sorption of uranium ions from aqueous solutions. Equilibrium of uranium biosorption was analyzed under isotherm models and thermodynamic parameters of the process. Recovery of uranium from acidic mine wastewater was also applied. The mechanism of biosorption was discussed considering experimental data and theoretical models. The bioremoval efficiency of modified biomass was higher than raw Cystoseira sp. and the theoretical biosorption capacity of modified biosorbent was calculated to be 468.01 mg U/g.     

Modification of glass ionomer cement by incorporating hydroxyapatite-silica nano-powder composite: Sol–gel synthesis and characterization

A nanohydroxyapatite–silica powder was synthesized using an ethanol based sol–gel technique. The synthesized powder was incorporated into commercial glass ionomer powder (Fuji II GC) and characterized using FTIR, ²⁹Si CP/MAS NMR, EDX and XRD spectroscopy. ²⁹Si CP/MAS NMR results showed the presence of higher degree of cross-linking of silyl species between silica and GIC, which makes the Nano-HA–Silica–GIC composite much stronger. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (TEM) was employed to investigate the morphology of the synthesized powder. Results revealed that higher content of nanosilica produced a denser and stronger GIC. Thus, the application of nanohydroxyapatite–silica–GIC with improved properties are envisioned to be of great clinical importance, especially in stress bearing areas.     

An improvement of quantitative strategic planning matrix using multiple criteria decision making and fuzzy numbers

The Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) is a useful tool to prioritize strategies at any level including corporate, business and functional. The ratings and attractive scores used in QSPM, however, require judgmental decisions and should be based on expert's opinion to ensure the applicability of chosen strategies. Application of a fuzzy multi-criteria decision making method is proposed in this paper with the goal of improving the output of conventional QSPM by allowing the experts to employ linguistic terms (qualitative data) in their judgments. Namely, a multi-criteria decision making index via the technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is adapted to the fuzzy QSPM in finding the sum total attractive scores of strategies. As a case study, the proposed method has been applied for strategy prioritization in a Tile Company. The results have been verified with expert knowledge and showed an improvement compared to the non-fuzzy QSPM.     

Photoluminescence emission of nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide films prepared in phosphoric acid

The photoluminescence emission of nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide films formed in phosphoric acid is studied in order to explore their defect-based subband electronic structure. Different excitation wavelengths are used to identify most of the details of the subband states. The films are produced under different anodizing conditions to optimize their emission in the visible range. Scanning electron microscopy investigations confirm pore formation in the produced layers. Gaussian analysis of the emission data indicates that subband states change with anodizing parameters, and various point defects can be formed both in the bulk and on the surface of these nanoporous layers during anodizing.