The parameters evaluation and optimization of polycrystalline diamond micro-electrodischarge machining assisted by electrode tool vibration

The objective of this research is to evaluate and optimize machining parameter of tool electrode vibration on micro-electric discharge machining of polycrystalline diamond. The machining parameters evaluated are charge voltage, capacitance, and vibration of the tool electrode. An orthogonal array, signal-to-noise ratio, and analysis of variance are employed to analyze the effect of these machining parameters. The results show that by application of vibration on tool electrode in machining of polycrystalline diamond, it has significant effect up to 66.48% in increasing material removal rate without increasing surface roughness and tool electrode wear. Using Taguchi method for design of experiment, other significant effects on surface quality and tool electrode wear are also investigated. The results also show that surface roughness is mostly affected by the amount of capacitance (52.24%), and the tool electrode wear is also affected by the amount of capacitance (92.82%).     

Pulsed field gradient NMR study of surface diffusion in mesoporous adsorbents

Surface diffusion of n-heptane in two mesoporous adsorbents with different morphologies of the pore network, namely Vycor random porous glass and porous silicon with linear pores, have been studied using pulsed field gradient NMR. The experimentally obtained diffusivities revealed increasing mobility of guest molecules with increasing surface coverage, indicating heterogeneity of the surface properties. The diffusion studies at different temperatures have further confirmed this hypothesis. The activation energies for surface diffusion turned out to be a function of surface coverage. The experimental results obtained are analyzed using a model of surface diffusion taking account of a distribution of the transition rates.     

Controllability of the Second-Order Nonlinear Differential Equations with Non-instantaneous Impulses

The objective of this paper is to establish the sufficient condition for the controllability of a control problem represented by second-order nonlinear differential equation with non-instantaneous impulses in a Hilbert space X. The results are obtained using the strongly continuous cosine family of linear operators and Banach fixed point method. Also, we study the controllability of the nonlocal as well as integro-differential systems. Finally, a few examples are provided to illustrate the applications of the obtained abstract results.     

Active inductance simulation with grounded condensers

A technique is presented for grounding the condensers of active RC networks, which requires an additional difference amplifier stage per capacitor grounded. A generalized grounded capacitor (GC) circuit is derived for simulating a grounded inductance and it is shown that the GC-versions of the circuits proposed by Prestcott, Rao–Venkateswaran, and Berndt–Dutta Roy form special cases of this circuit. A critical investigation is made of the sensitivity performances and the frequency limitations introduced by the operational amplifiers (OA's).     

Anti‐biofilm and anti‐virulence effects of silica oxide nanoparticle–conjugation of lectin purified from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectin is purified and nanoparticle‐conjugated in an attempt to inhibit biofilm formation. Thirteen (23.6%) P. aeruginosa isolates are obtained from chicken meat samples, of which 30.8% are biofilm producers and 69.2% are lectin producers. Lectin is purified 36.8‐fold to final specific activity of 506.9 U/mg. Four nanoparticle types are prepared via laser ablation: platinum (Pt), gold (Au), silica oxide (SiO₂), and tin oxide (SnO₂). The four types are characterised, and pulse feeding is used to conjugate the lectin and nanoparticles. Pt, Au, SiO_2, and SnO₂ nanoparticles inhibit biofilm formation, especially SiO₂ nanoparticles, which have higher effectiveness when conjugated with purified lectin. SiO₂‐conjugated lectin significantly (p < 0.05) inhibits biofilm formation more effectively than control and other nanoparticle‐conjugated lectins. Au‐, Pt nanoparticle‐, and SnO₂‐conjugated lectins inhibit biofilm significantly compared with control (p < 0.05), and rhlR gene expression is decreased in the presence of SiO₂‐conjugated lectin. Furthermore, lectin and Pt, Au, SiO₂ and SnO₂ nanoparticles separately, and their conjugated lectins, are effective biofilm inhibitors. Of these, SiO₂‐conjugated lectin was most significant as an anti‐biofilm. Moreover, virulence factors regulon and RhlR were reduced by SiO₂‐conjugated lectin, indicating that this conjugation may also decrease the virulence of P. aeruginosa.     

界面聚合法合成苯胺与邻甲氧基苯胺的樟脑磺酸掺杂共聚物及其表征

采用界面聚合法在樟脑磺酸存在的状态下合成了聚苯胺、聚邻甲氧基苯胺以及苯胺与邻甲氧基苯胺的共聚物.利用红外光谱,紫外可见吸收光谱,电子扫描微电镜,X-射线粉末衍射,循环伏安,电导率测试等手段对聚合物进行了表征,初步探讨了单体配比对共聚物形貌、结构及性能的影响.结果表明,界面聚合法合成的上述各聚合物均呈现微米级颗粒状分布,颗粒直径大多在100nm以内;共聚后聚合物的结晶性能下降;循环伏安及电导率测试结果表明,随着聚合物主链中邻甲氧基苯胺结构单元的增加,聚合物的电化学活性及电导率呈下降趋势.     

Numerical investigation of smoke contamination in atrium upper balconies at different down stand depths

Smoke contamination in upper balconies of shopping mall atriums presents a significant hazard to occupants by affecting evacuation and risking lives. Past research investigated the effects of varying balcony breadth, fire compartment opening width and fire size on smoke contamination. However, effects of varying the down stand depth at the fire compartment opening on smoke contamination have not been investigated. The down stand structure is widely used in shopping malls shops to display the trade names. This research investigates the effect of down stand depth on smoke contamination occurrence and severity in atrium upper balconies by varying the down stand depth together with the previously investigated parameters by utilizing Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS), a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. Results demonstrated that the extent of smoke contamination increased with increased down stand depth. CFD simulation results showed that as down stand depth increased, from no down stand to 0.1 m in 1/10 scaled model, smoke severity increased by up to 40%. An empirical correlation was also developed to predetermine the smoke contamination height by relating the above mentioned variables in a single correlation.     

A simulation of the comminution process of homogenized lithium-ion battery models

The simulation of the comminution process of a lithium-ion battery model and evaluation of the performance of three cylindrical battery models derived from previous studies were achieved in the present study. The finite element method (FEM) was used along with dynamic simulation procedures. The models were classified based on the battery material model parameters used in the analysis, namely type A, B, and C models. The battery material models of type A and C were unable to provide results that were consistent with real-world circumstances. In contrast, the type B model gives a realistic battery dynamic reaction. Additional testing on the type B model was performed in terms of battery shard size, fracture energy, comminution pressures, element displacement, battery element velocity, and device capacity calculation. The simulation results revealed that the type B model in this study is capable of properly predicting the dynamic response of the battery, notably when compared to the other two models. The study in the present research could be used in the future to identify the proper cutting tool geometry, estimate the size of the comminution product, and play an important role in the design and optimization of the comminution machine.

     

Thermodynamic analysis of reheat cycle steam power plants

In this study, a thermodynamic analysis of a Rankine cycle reheat steam power plant is conducted, in terms of the first law of thermodynamic analysis (i.e. energy analysis) and the second law analysis (i.e. exergy analysis), using a spreadsheet calculation technique. The energy and exergy efficiencies are studied as 120 cases for different system parameters such as boiler temperature, boiler pressure, mass fraction ratio and work output. The temperature and pressure values are selected in the range between 400 and 590°C, and 10 and 15 MPa, being consistent with the actual values. The calculated energy and exergy efficiencies are compared with the actual data and the literature work, and good agreement is found. The possibilities to further improve the plant efficiency and hence reduce the inefficiencies are identified and exploited. The results show how exergy analysis can help to make optimum design decisions in a logical manner. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive Pull�CPush Based Event Tracking in Wireless Sensor Actor Networks

Wireless sensor networks have attracted significant interest for various scientific, military, and e-health applications. Recently a new class of sensor networks ??sensor/actor networks?? has been introducing new research challenges due to the unique coordination requirements among sensors and actors. In sensor/actor networks, actors are the nodes that have the capability to move in the field, equipped with powerful devices and can respond to the events of interest. With this capability, autonomous operation of the network is possible without a centralized controlling mechanism. This, however, requires the network to apply cooperative mechanism to decide when and how monitoring is done to track the event and how the event will be responded. In this regard, little work has been done in terms of co-existing Push and Pull data flows in the network. In this paper, we propose an Adaptive Pull?CPush (APP) based Event Tracking approach that allows sensor-to-actor communication as well as actors coordination in response to the events occurred. APP proposes two models of sensors organization: region-based organization (RAPP) and neighbor-based organization (NAPP) to alert nodes in the vicinity of reported event. APP exploits the mobility of actor nodes to form dynamic responsibility clusters, thus ensuring an event specific response to emergencies. Routing in APP is based on Routing by Adaptive Targeting (RAT), which is a delay-constrained geographical routing protocol. Simulation results reveal significant performance improvement in terms of response time and energy conservation.