Storage and permeation of hydrogen molecule,atom and ions (H+ and H−) through silicon carbide nanotube; a DFT approach

The barriers for the encapsulation and decapsulation of hydrogen ions (cationic hydrogen and hydride), atom, and molecule through silicon carbide nanotube are thoroughly studied. DFT method is selected to measure the kinetic barriers for the passage of hydrogen atom, ions and molecule through nanotube via scanning potential energy surface. The kinetic barriers for the passage (encapsulation and decapsulation) of hydrogen are very important to understand the mechanism of hydrogen storage and release. The barriers for the permeation of H, H⁺ and H^? across SiC nanosheet are lower compared to hydrogen molecule (H₂). The exohedral and endohedral adsorption of hydrogen ions (cation and anion), atom and exohedral hydrogen molecule on silicon carbide are exothermic in nature. Whereas the encapsulation of hydrogen molecule in silicon carbide is endothermic. Electronic properties are analyzed through measurement of energy gap between highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals gap (G_H-L) and the density of state (DOS) spectra. The G_H-L analysis reveals that endohedral complexes have more pronounced effect on electronic properties compared to exohedral complexes. The SiC nanotube has highly favorable properties for storage and release of hydrogen ions, and atom.     

Nitrogen-Doped Porous Nickel Molybdenum Phosphide Sheets for Efficient Seawater Splitting

Hydrogen is emerging as an alternative clean fuel; however, its dependency on freshwater will be a threat to a sustainable environment. Seawater, an unlimited source, can be an alternative, but its salt-rich nature causes corrosion and introduces several competing reactions, hindering its use. To overcome these, a unique catalyst composed of porous sheets of nitrogen-doped NiMo₃P (N-NiMo₃P) having a sheet size of several microns is designed. The presence of large homogenous pores in the basal plane of these sheets makes them catalytically more active and ensures faster mass transfer. The introduction of N and Ni into MoP significantly tunes the electronic density of Mo, surface chemistry, and metal-non-metal bond lengths, optimizing surface energies, creating new active sites, and increasing electrical conductivity. The presence of metal-nitrogen bonds and surface polyanions increases the stability and improves anti-corrosive properties against chlorine chemistry. Ultimately, the N-NiMo₃P sheets show remarkable performance as it only requires overpotentials of 23 and 35 mV for hydrogen evolution reaction, and it catalyzes full water splitting at 1.52 and 1.55 V to achieve 10 mA cm⁻² in 1 m KOH and seawater, respectively. Hence, structural and compositional control can make catalysts effective in realizing low-cost hydrogen directly from seawater.     

Searching surface orientation of microscopic objects for accurate 3D shape recovery

In this article, we propose a new shape from focus (SFF) method to estimate 3D shape of microscopic objects using surface orientation cue of each object patch. Most of the SFF algorithms compute the focus value of a pixel from the information of neighboring pixels lying on the same image frame based on an assumption that the small object patch corresponding to the small neighborhood of a pixel is a plane parallel to the focal plane. However, this assumption fails in the optics with limited depth of field where the neighboring pixels of an image have different degree of focus. To overcome this problem, we try to search the surface orientation of the small object patch corresponding to each pixel in the image sequence. Searching of the surface orientation is done indirectly by principal component analysis. Then, the focus value of each pixel is computed from the neighboring pixels lying on the surface perpendicular to the corresponding surface orientation. Experimental results on synthetic and real microscopic objects show that the proposed method produces more accurate 3D shape in comparison to the existing techniques.     

Comparison of Methods for Colorimetric Amylose Determination in Cereal Grains

Iodine‐based colorimetry remains the most widespread method for the determination of amylose content of starch. There are, however, many variants of this method, differing in solvent, temperature and method for converting absorbance to amylose content. Therefore, in thisstudy some of these methods were compared in order to identify which, if any, was most reliable. Australian commercial samples of wheat, rice, rye and oat were used. Flour was ground and starch was extracted. Half of the samples of flour and starch were defatted with n‐propanol. Defatted and full‐fat flours and starches were dissolved by six procedures: DMSO, urea‐DMSO, CaCl₂‐DMSO, hot NaOH, cold NaOH and HCl. The solutions were diluted, coloured with iodine and the absorbances determined at 535 and 620 nm. Amylose content was determined by reference to standards using 620 nm as the single wavelength or by two calculations based on the ratio between the two absorbances. Reliability was tested by repeating all tests on three non‐consecutive days with three replicates on each day. Defatted starch provided more consistent results than flour or non‐defatted starch. The most reliable dissolution procedure, with both the lowest standard error and least day‐to‐day variation, was cold NaOH. One of the ratio‐based calculations provided adequate correction for the non‐starch content of flour of wheat and rice, but not of the other two cereals, and the other ratio‐based calculation seldom provided realistic results. It is concluded that a cold NaOH dissolution procedure is suitable for reliable amylose determination on defatted starch of a range of cereals from a single wavelength and that it is also suitable for use on defatted flour of some species.     

A novel two-stage genetic algorithm for a mixed-model U-line balancing problem with duplicated tasks

A widespread supposition on mixed-model assembly line-balancing problems assigns a task, which is shared between two or more models to a single station. Bukchin and Rabinowitch (European Journal of Operational Research, 174:492–508, 2006) relaxed the restriction for mixed-model straight-line assembly line problems and allowed tasks common to multiple models to be assigned to different stations, called task duplication. In this paper, considering the same relaxation but for mixed-model U-shaped assembly lines, a novel genetic algorithm (GA) approach for solving large-scale problems is developed. Although superiorities of U-shaped assembly lines over straight lines have been discussed in several articles, this paper makes the advantage more tangible by providing a quantitative example. This paper also presents a novel two-stage genetic algorithm which is fittingly devised for solving the new proposed model. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the GA, one small-scale and one medium-scale problem are solved using both the proposed GA and Lingo 8.0 software, and the obtained outcomes are compared. The computational results indicate that the GA is capable of providing high-quality solutions for small- and medium-scale problems in negligible central processing unit (CPU) times. It is worth mentioning that, for large-scale problems, such as Kim and Arcus test problems, no analogous results for those obtained by our proposed GA exist. To conclude, it can be said that the proposed GA performs well and is able to solve large-scale problems within acceptable CPU times.     

Application of the MOSFET device structure in characterizing imperfection centers in indium-doped silicon

C.T. Sah has published a review article demonstrating the application of high-frequency small signal capacitance and current transients of a space charge layer. Application of such transients is a powerful technique in characterizing deep level imperfection center concentrations, energy levels, thermal and optical emission rates and thermal capture cross sections. The MOSFET device structure is particularly convenient for low temperature measurements of shallow levels where deionization occurs and the substrate becomes highly resistive, seriously limiting capacitance transient techniques. Examples are given by results on indium-doped silicon, such as employed in extrinsic IR detectors. The emission time constant of holes from the neutral indium center has been found to depend on the indium doping. Measurements on lightly doped samples yield a value for the emission rate, $\text{1}\text{e}{}_{\mathrm{p}}$, of 6.0 msec at 77°K and a thermal activation energy of 0.15 eV. Measurements on heavily doped samples yield values of $\text{1}\text{e}{}_{\mathrm{p}}$ of 20 μsec at 77°K and an activation energy of 0.117 eV. These results are consistent with the Poole-Frenkel effect describing field enhanced thermal emission of holes from the indium center. Measurements of the hole capture coefficient at 77°K yield values for c_p of 3.7 × 10^?7 cm³/sec. These measurements have been made on heavily doped samples. The capture coefficient measured is the zero field or quasi-equilibrium value. The temperature dependence of the hole capture coefficient has been found to be T^?4. Small transients in the thermal emission rate measurements have been observed. These transients have thermal activation energies of around 0.08 eV and are associated with the 0.11 eV level as reported by Hughes Research Labs after accounting for barrier lowering by the Poole-Frenkel effect.     

Neutronic analysis for core conversion (HEU–LEU) of Pakistan research reactor-2 (PARR-2)

Neutronic analyses for the core conversion of Pakistan research reactor-2 (PARR-2) from high enriched uranium (HEU) fuel to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel has been performed. Neutronic model has been verified for 90.2% enriched HEU fuel (UAl₄–Al). For core conversion, UO₂ fuel was chosen as an appropriate fuel option because of higher uranium density. Clad has been changed from aluminum to zircalloy-4. Uranium enrichment of 12.6% has been optimized based on the design basis criterion of excess reactivity 4 mk in miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR). Lattice calculations for cross-section generation have been performed utilizing WIMS while core modeling was carried out employing three dimensions option of CITATION. Calculated neutronic parameters were compared for HEU and LEU fuels. Comparison shows that to get same thermal neutron flux at inner irradiation sites, reactor power has to be increased from 30 to 33 kW for LEU fuel. Reactivity coefficients calculations show that doppler and void coefficient values of LEU fuel are higher while moderator coefficient of HEU fuel is higher. It is concluded that from neutronic point of view LEU fuel UO₂ of 12.6% enrichment with zircalloy-4 clad is suitable to replace the existing HEU fuel provided that dimensions of fuel pin and total number of fuel pins are kept same as for HEU fuel.     

Rheological and thermal stability of novel weak gels based on sulfonated polyacrylamide/scleroglucan/chromium triacetate

The present study deals with weak gels based on sulfonated polyacrylamide (SPA)/scleroglucan (SC)/Cr³⁺ with an exceptional thermal stability in electrolyte media. The rheological results showed that on increasing the SC concentration the shear viscosity and storage modulus of the SPA/SC/Cr³⁺ system were increased and the dependence of the storage modulus on frequency became weaker. The yield stress of the SPA/SC/Cr³⁺ system was higher than that of the corresponding SPA/SC system. The thermochemical stability increased with increasing relaxation time. The SPA/SC/Cr³⁺ semi‐interpenetrating network exhibited the lowest viscosity loss in electrolyte media; therefore this system may be a potential candidate for enhanced oil recovery applications. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Bioaugmentation of floating treatment wetlands for the remediation of textile effluent

This pilot study evaluated the effects of bacterial augmentation on the efficiency of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) to remediate textile wastewater. Two wetland plants, Phragmites australis and Typha domingensis, were used to develop FTWs, which were then augmented with a bacterial consortium of three strains (Acinetobacter junii, Pseudomonas indoloxydans, and Rhodococcus sp.). Results showed that both plant species removed colour, organic matter, toxicity, and heavy metals from textile wastewater and their removal efficiency was further enhanced by augmentation with bacteria. The maximum removal efficiencies of colour, COD and BOD after an 8‐day period were 97, 87 and 92%, respectively, by FTWs carrying P. australis inoculated with the bacterial consortium. Furthermore, the same combination showed 87–99% reduction of heavy metals in the textile wastewater as well. These results indicate that FTWs can be used for the treatment of textile effluent and their working efficiency can be improved by plant‐bacterial synergism.     

Generalized linear model based monitoring methods for high-yield processes

Emerge in technology brought well-organized manufacturing systems to produce high-quality items. Therefore, monitoring and control of products have become a challenging task for quality inspectors. From these highly efficient processes, produced items are mostly zero-defect and modeled based on zero-inflated distributions. The zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) and zero-inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) distributions are the most common distributions, used to model the high-yield and rare health-related processes. Therefore, data-based control charts under ZIP and ZINB distributions (i.e., Y-ZIP and Y-ZINB) are proposed for the monitoring of high-quality processes. Usually, with the defect counts, few covariates are also measured in the process, and the generalized linear model based on the ZIP and ZINB distributions are used to estimate their parameters. In this study, we have designed monitoring structures (i.e., PR-ZIP and PR-ZINB) based on the ZIP and ZINB regression models which will provide the monitoring of defect counts by accounting the single covariate. Further, proposed model-based charts are compared with the existing data-based charts. The simulation study is designed to access the performance of monitoring methods in terms of run length properties and a case study on the number of flight delays between Atlanta and Orlando during 2012–2014 is also provided to highlight the importance of the stated research.