Graft Copolymerization of Acrylamide onto Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) Fiber

Grafting of acrylamide (AAm) onto oil palm empty fruits bunch fiber using hydrogen peroxide as initiator and methyl acrylate as comonomer was investigated. The amount of comonomer needed to make grafting of acrylamide possible was determined. The percentage of poly(acrylamide) and the comonomer in the final graft copolymer was estimated by elemental analysis. Results obtained indicated that methyl acrylate facilitated the incorporation of acrylamide monomer onto OPEFB. The reactivity ratios for both monomers were determined by using Fineman–Ross plot. The effects of reaction temperature and period as well as amount of the initiator, solvent, monomer and comonomer on the percentage of grafting at fixed amount of comonomer (11 mmol) were studied. Maximum percentage of grafting was achieved when the amount of initiator and solvent 3.98×10⁻³ mol and 50 mL respectively. The optimum reaction temperature was 50 ^○C and the reaction period was 90 min. Highest percentage of grafting was 232% when 25.6 mmol of acrylamide was used under these optimum conditions. The presence of functional group in the grafted polymer is characterized by infrared spectroscopy and the surface morphology is observed by scanning electron microscopy. Thermoanalytic investigation on OPEFB and OPEFB-g-PAAM were carried out to evaluate the thermal stability and respective activation energy of the materials.     

Sr2+–Mg2+-Doped SiAlON Ceramics

In the present work, multi-cation-doped (Sr²⁺–Mg²⁺) SiAlON ceramics were investigated. MgO and SrO were used in 100:0 and 50:50 molar ratios. The mixture was sintered at 1800° and 1830°C for 1 h in a gas pressure-sintering furnace. The results showed that sintered samples were composed of mainly α- and β-SiAlON phases and small amounts of some Sr-containing phases and SiAlON polytypes. According to Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns, Mg is incorporated into the α-SiAlON structure. However, the incorporation of Sr is limited.     

Catalytic combustion over platinum group catalysts: fuel-lean versus fuel-rich operation

Performance data are presented for methane oxidation on alumina-supported Pd, Pt, and Rh catalysts under both fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions. Catalyst activity was measured in a micro-scale isothermal reactor at temperatures between 300 and 800 °C. Non-isothermal (near adiabatic) temperature and reaction data were obtained in a full-length (non-differential) sub-scale reactor operating at high pressure (0.9 MPa) and constant inlet temperature, simulating actual reactor operation in catalytic combustion applications.

Under fuel-lean conditions, Pd catalyst was the most active, although deactivation occurred above 650 °C, with reactivation upon cooling. Rh catalyst also deactivated above 750 °C, but did not reactivate. Pt catalyst was active above 600 °C. Fuel-lean reaction products were CO₂ and H₂O for all three catalysts.

The same catalysts tested under fuel-rich conditions demonstrated much higher activity. In addition, a ‘lightoff’ temperature was found (between 450 and 600 °C), where a stepwise increase in reaction rate was observed. Following ‘lightoff’ partial oxidation products (CO, H₂) appeared in the mixture, and their concentration increased with increasing temperature. All three catalysts exhibited this behavior.

High-pressure (0.9 MPa) sub-scale reactor and combustor data are shown, demonstrating the benefits of fuel-rich operation over the catalyst for ultra-low emissions combustion.     

Off-line optimization and control for real time integration of a three-phase hydrogenation catalytic reactor

In order to develop and test the integration procedure, in this paper a real time process integration involving the optimization and control of the process is presented, in this case, with the two-layer approach. The used optimization algorithms were Levenberg–Marquardt and SQP that solve a non-linear least square problem subject to bounds on the variables. The two-layer approach is a hierarchical control structure where an optimization layer calculates the set points and manipulated variables to the advanced controller, which is based on the dynamic matrix control with constraints (QDMC). The non-isothermal dynamic model of the three-phase slurry catalytic reactor with appropriate solution procedure was utilized in this work (Vasco de Toledo, E. C., Santana, P. L., Maciel, M. R. W., & Maciel Filho, R. (2001). Dynamic modeling of a three-phase catalytic slurry reactor. Chemical Engineering Science, 56, 6055–6061). The model consists on mass and heat balance equations for the catalyst particles as well as for the bulk phases of gas and liquid. The model was used to describe the dynamic behavior of hydrogenation reaction of o-cresol to obtain 2-methil-cyclohexanol, in the presence of a catalyst Ni/SiO₂.     

Characterization and preparation of new multiwall carbon nanotube/conducting polymer composites by in situ polymerization

Composites based on poly(diphenyl amine) (PDPA) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were prepared by chemical oxidative polymerization through two different approaches: in situ polymerization and intimate mixing. In in situ polymerization, DPA was polymerized in the presence of dispersed MWNTs in sulfuric acid medium for different molar composition ratios of MWNT and DPA. Intimate mixing of synthesized PDPA with MWNT was also used for the preparation of PDPA/MWNT composites. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the diameter of the tubular structure for the composite was 10–20 nm higher than the diameter of pure MWNT. Scanning electron microscopy provided evidence for the differences in the morphology between the MWNTs and the composites. Raman and Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X‐ray diffraction, and UV–visible spectroscopy were used to characterize the composites and reveal the differences in the molecular level interactions between the components in the composites. The Raman and FTIR spectral results revealed doping‐type molecular interactions and coordinate covalent‐type interactions between MWNT and PDPA in the composite prepared by in situ polymerization and intimate mixing, respectively. The backbone structure of PDPA in the composite decomposed at a higher temperature (>340°C) than the pristine PDPA (～300°C). This behavior also favored the molecular level interactions between MWNT and PDPA in the composite. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 3721–3729, 2006     

Fuzzy triangulation signature for detection of change in human emotion from face video image sequence

The present article proposes a geometry-based fuzzy relational technique for capturing gradual change in human emotion over time available from relevant face image sequences. As associated features, we make use of fuzzy membership arising out of five triangle signatures such as - (i) Fuzzy Isosceles Triangle Signature (FIS), (ii) Fuzzy Right Triangle Signature (FRS), (iii) Fuzzy Right Isosceles Triangle Signature (FIRS), (iv) Fuzzy Equilateral Triangle Signature (FES), and (v) Other Fuzzy Triangles Signature (OFS) to achieve the task of appropriate classification of facial transition from neutrality to one among the six expressions viz. anger (AN), disgust (DI), fear (FE), happiness (HA), sadness (SA) and surprise (SU). The effectiveness of the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) classifier is tested and validated through 10 fold cross-validation method on three benchmark image sequence datasets namely Extended Cohn-Kanade (CK+), M&M Initiative (MMI), and Multimedia Understanding Group (MUG). Experimental outcomes are found to have achieved accuracy to the tune of 98.47%, 93.56%, and 99.25% on CK+, MMI, and MUG respectively vindicating the effectiveness by exhibiting the superiority of our proposed technique in comparison to other state-of-the-art methods in this regard.

     

Thermal deformation analysis of tabbed solar cells using solder alloy and conductive film

Finite element analysis (FEA) has been carried out with the aim of understanding the thermal deformation characteristics of two solar cell configurations. One of the solar cell models is tabbed by lead-free solder, the other model by Conductive film (CF). A high temperature soldering process could weaken the bond and reduce the reliability of the cells because of the residual stress caused by the different thermal expansion coefficients of the materials. Moreover, solar irradiation generates temperature distribution across the surface of the solar cell, and the development of solar cells made of thinner crystalline silicon wafers will lead to the reduction in manufacturing costs. In this study, Finite element analysis (FEA) of the manufacturing process has been carried out using both solder and CF bonding. Three temperature cycles were applied to analyze different environmental operating conditions and understand how thermal cycles affect the residual stress during actual service conditions. This investigation provides a comparison of thermal deformations between solder and CF bonded solar cells in order to understand which offers substantial reliability in the long term. Also this study explores the effects of various thicknesses of the silicon wafer on the residual stress and deformation of the solar cells.     

云环境下基于本体的用户行为分析引擎研究

针对当前大型互联网站提升用户体验的需求,本研究创造性地提出基于本体的用户行为分析引擎的思想,它通过上下文感知技术,实时获取用户访问页面时的上下文信息(以下也称为动态行为),基于本体对用户行为建模,建立基于规则的上下文推理算法,对监测到的动态用户行为进行实时推理,及时反馈结果信息给用户。实验表明:本研究理论上独辟蹊径,设计实现上结合了云存储技术,能够一定程度改善用户体验效果。     

Resilience-aware design of interconnected supply chain networks with application to water-energy nexus

The effects of natural disasters, pandemic-induced lockdowns, and other disruptions often cascade across networks. In this work, we use minimum cost of resilience (MCOR) and operation-based resilience metrics to quantify network performance against single-connectivity failures and identify critical connections in interconnected networks. MCOR corresponds to the minimum additional infrastructure investment that is required to achieve a certain level of resilience. To guarantee MCOR, we incorporate the metrics in a multi-scenario mixed-integer linear program (MILP) that accounts for resilience in the design phase of interconnected networks. The goal is to obtain optimal generation and transportation capacities with flexible operation under all single-connectivity disruption scenarios. We demonstrate the applicability of our resilience-aware framework on a water-energy nexus (WEN) example focusing on grass-root design and retrofitting. We further apply the framework to analyze a regional WEN and observe that it is possible to achieve “full” resilience in the expense of additional regional investments.     

Surface Modification of Ready-to-Use Hollow Fiber Ultrafiltration Modules for Oil/Water Separation

Reusing wastewater from oil-related industries is becoming increasingly important, especially in water-stressed oil-producing countries. Before oily wastewater can be discharged or reused, it must be properly treated, e.g., by membrane-based processes like ultrafiltration. A major issue of the applied membranes is their high fouling propensity. This paper reports on mitigating fouling inside ready-to-use ultrafiltration hollow-fiber modules used in a polishing step in oil/water separation. For this purpose, in-situ polyzwitterionic hydrogel coating was applied. The membrane performance was tested with oil nano-emulsions using a mini-plant system. The main factors influencing fouling were systematically investigated using statistical design of experiments.