Optical properties and characterization of zinc nitride nanoneedles prepared from ball-milled Zn powders

Zinc nitride nanoneedles (ZNNs) with diameters at stem and tip parts as 200-300 nm and 30-70 nm respectively have been prepared by the nitridation of ball-milled zinc powders at 600 °C for 120 min under NH₃ gas environment. The structural, compositional and morphological characterizations of the product were conducted by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. From transmission spectrum data, an indirect band gap of 2.72 eV has been calculated for ZNNs whereas photoluminescence studies exhibited a strong UV excitonic mission band at 395 nm as well as two weak defect related blue emissions at 453 and 465 nm. A vapor-solid (VS) process based growth mechanism for the formation of ZNNs has also been discussed briefly.     

High-Throughput Sequencing Reveals Novel microRNAs Involved in the Continuous Flowering Trait of Longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.)

A major determinant of fruit production in longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) is the difficulty of blossoming. In this study, high-throughput microRNA sequencing (miRNA-Seq) was carried out to compare differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) and their target genes between a continuous flowering cultivar ‘Sijimi’ (SJ), and a unique cultivar ‘Lidongben’ (LD), which blossoms only once in the season. Over the course of our study, 1662 known miRNAs and 235 novel miRNAs were identified and 13,334 genes were predicted to be the target of 1868 miRNAs. One conserved miRNA and 29 new novel miRNAs were identified as differently expressed; among them, 16 were upregulated and 14 were downregulated. Through the KEGG pathway and cluster analysis of DEmiRNA target genes, three critical regulatory pathways, plant–pathogen interaction, plant hormone signal transduction, and photosynthesis-antenna protein, were discovered to be strongly associated with the continuous flowering trait of the SJ. The integrated correlation analysis of DEmiRNAs and their target mRNAs revealed fourteen important flowering-related genes, including COP1-like, Casein kinase II, and TCP20. These fourteen flowering-related genes were targeted by five miRNAs, which were novel-miR137, novel-miR76, novel-miR101, novel-miR37, and csi-miR3954, suggesting these miRNAs might play vital regulatory roles in flower regulation in longan. Furthermore, novel-miR137 was cloned based on small RNA sequencing data analysis. The pSAK277-miR137 transgenic Arabidopsis plants showed delayed flowering phenotypes. This study provides new insight into molecular regulation mechanisms of longan flowering.     

BSLPSDN: Base station location privacy via software-defined networking (SDN) in wireless sensor networks

Base station's location privacy in a wireless sensor network (WSN) is critical for information security and operational availability of the network. A key part of securing the base station from potential compromise is to secure the information about its physical location. This paper proposes a technique called base station location privacy via software-defined networking (SDN) in wireless sensor networks (BSLPSDN). The inspiration comes from the architecture of SDN, where the control plane is separated from the data plane, and where control plane decides the policy for the data plane. BSLPSDN uses three categories of nodes, namely, a main controller to instruct the overall operations, a dedicated node to buffer and forward data, and lastly, a common node to sense and forward the packet. We employ three kinds of nodes to collaborate and achieve stealth for the base station and thus protecting it against the traffic-analysis attacks. Different traits of the WSN including energy status and traffic density can actively be monitored by BSLPSDN, which positively affects the energy goals, expected life of the network, load on common nodes, and the possibility of creating diversion in the wake of an attack on the base station. We incorporated multiple experiments to analyze and evaluate the performance of our proposed algorithm. We use single controller with multiple sensor nodes and multiple controllers with multiple sensor nodes to show the level of anonymity of BS. Experiments show that providing BS anonymity via multiple controllers is the best method both in terms of energy and privacy.     

Location of a membrane-bound carbonic anhydrase isoenzyme (CA IV) in the human male reproductive tract

We studied the location of a membrane-bound carbonic anhydrase (CA IV) in the human male reproductive tract using a specific antiserum to human CA IV in conjunction with immunoblotting, immunoperoxidase, and immunofluorescence techniques. The microvilli and apical plasma membrane of the epithelial cells and the subepithelial smooth muscle layer of the epididymis, ductus deferens, and ampulla of the ductus deferens showed specific staining for CA IV. The epithelial cells of the prostate and seminal vesicle failed to stain for CA IV, however, whereas the subepithelial smooth muscle layer showed positive staining. No specific staining for CA II was seen in the epithelium of the epididymal duct or the proximal ductus deferens. The presence of CA IV in the epididymis was confirmed by immunoblotting, which revealed 35 KD and 33 KD polypeptides. The results show that the microvilli and the apical plasma membrane of the lining epithelium of the epididymal duct, ductus deferens, and ampulla of the ductus deferens contain the membrane-bound carbonic anhydrase isoenzyme IV. The presence of the enzyme in the epithelium of the epididymis and ductus deferens is probably linked to the acidification of the epididymal fluid that prevents premature sperm activation. Its physiological role in the smooth muscle cells remains to be elucidated.     

Maximization of heat transfer density from a vertical array of flat tubes in cross flow under fixed pressure drop using constructal design

The density of heat transfer rate from a vertical array of flat tubes in cross flow is maximized under fixed pressure drop using constructal design. With the constructal design, the tube arrangement is found such that the heat currents from the tubes to the coolant flow easily. The constraint in the present constructal design is the volume where the tubes are arranged inside it. The two degrees of freedom available inside the volume are the tube‐to‐tube spacing and the length of the flat part of the tubes (tube flatness). The tubes are heated with constant surface temperature. The equations of continuity, momentums, and energy for steady, two‐dimensional, and laminar forced convection are solved by means of a finite‐volume method. The ranges of the present study are Bejan number (dimensionless pressure drop) (10³ ≤ Be ≤ 10⁵) and tube flatness (dimensionless length of the tube flat part) (0 ≤ F ≤ 0.8). The coolant used is air with Prandtl number (Pr = 0.72). The results reveal that the maximum heat transfer density decreases when the tube flatness decreases at constant Bejan number. At constant tube flatness, the heat transfer density increases as the dimensionless pressure drop (Bejan number) increases. Also, the optimal tube‐to‐tube spacing is constant, irrespective of the tube flatness at constant Bejan number.     

Traffic Queuing Management in the Internet of Things: An Optimized RED Algorithm Based Approach

Congestion control is one of the main obstacles in cyberspace traffic. Overcrowding in internet traffic may cause several problems; such as high packet hold-up, high packet dropping, and low packet output. In the course of data transmission for various applications in the Internet of things, such problems are usually generated relative to the input. To tackle such problems, this paper presents an analytical model using an optimized Random Early Detection (RED) algorithm-based approach for internet traffic management. The validity of the proposed model is checked through extensive simulation-based experiments. An analysis is observed for different functions on internet traffic. Four performance metrics are taken into consideration, namely, the possibility of packet loss, throughput, mean queue length and mean queue delay. Three sets of experiments are observed with varying simulation results. The experiments are thoroughly analyzed and the best packet dropping operation with minimum packet loss is identified using the proposed model.     

Protected Fair Secret Sharing Based Bivariate Asymmetric Polynomials in Satellite Network

Verifiable secret sharing mainly solves the cheating behavior between malicious participants and the ground control center in the satellite network. The verification stage can verify the effectiveness of secret shares issued by the ground control center to each participant and verify the effectiveness of secret shares shown by participants. We use a lot of difficult assumptions based on mathematical problems in the verification stage, such as solving the difficult problem of the discrete logarithm, large integer prime factorization, and so on. Compared with other verifiable secret sharing schemes designed for difficult problems under the same security, the verifiable secret sharing scheme based on the Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) system has the advantages of less computational overhead and shorter key. At present, the binary polynomial is a single secret scheme and cannot provide effective verification. Therefore, based on a Protected Verifiable Synchronous Multi Secret Sharing (PVS-MSS) scheme, this paper is designed based on bivariate asymmetric polynomials. The advanced verifiable attribute is introduced into the Protected Secret Sharing (PSS) scheme. This paper extends the protected synchronous multi-secret sharing scheme based on bivariate polynomial design. The ECC system constructs the security channel between the ground control center and participants and constructs the verification algorithm. Through the verification algorithm, any participant can verify the consistency and effectiveness of the secret shadow and secret share received from other participants or presented by the secret distribution center. Therefore, no additional key agreement protocol is required; participants do not need to negotiate the session key for encryption; the secret share polynomial can generate the session key between participants and speed up the secret reconstruction process. The verification stage has lower computational complexity than the verifiable scheme constructed by Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) and other encryption methods. Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT) is used to update the secret shadow. The secret shadow does not need to be updated with the change of the scheme shared secret, and the public value update efficiency is higher. Reduce the complexity of sharing secret updates in a synchronous multi-secret sharing scheme.     

Effect of antifoam agents on bubble characteristics in bubble columns based on acoustic sound measurements

In this paper, the effect of antifoam agents on bubble characteristics in bubble columns is studied. Specifically, the bubble characteristics of air in tap water are compared to those of air in 5% and 10% antifoam solutions. Bubble characteristics such as gas holdup, bubble diameter, bubble-size distribution, and damping ratio were investigated at various superficial gas velocities. These properties were deduced from the acoustic sound measurement. The study revealed that the addition of antifoam chemicals reduces the overall gas holdup and increases the average bubble diameter. The bubble-size distribution in tap water is found to be homogeneous while in antifoam solutions to be heterogeneous. It is also found that at low gas velocities the damping ratio for antifoam solutions is higher than that for tap water, while at high gas velocities the damping ratio is not affected. The results affirm that acoustic probes are excellent measuring tools over classical tools at moderate gas velocities.     

Polypropylene/multiwall carbon nanotubes nanocomposites: Nanoindentation,dynamic mechanical,and electrical properties

Polypropylene (PP)/Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) nanocomposites were fabricated via melt compounding that utilizes a corotating twin‐screw extruder. Two commercially available MWCNTs, Baytubes C150P and C70P, were incorporated into PP matrix at concentration of 3 wt %. The nanocomposites samples were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), nanoindentation test, and picoammeter. It was found that both MWCNTs types were well distributed and dispersed in the PP matrix and no agglomeration of MWCNTs was observed. The DMA analysis results showed that the incorporation of MWCNTs enhanced the storage modulus and thermal stability of the PP matrix. Whereas, nanoindentation creep results showed that the creep rate and displacement of the PP/MWCNTs nanocomposites was lower than the neat PP, in which C70P < C150P < PP. The reduction of creep rate and creep displacement was associated to the improvement of creep resistance. There were also improvements on hardness and stiffness of the nanocomposites. Additionally, the electrical resistivity of the neat PP decreased with the incorporation of MWCNTs. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45293.     

Removal and recovery of zirconium from its aqueous solution by Candida tropicalis

Removal and recovery of zirconium from dilute aqueous solutions by Candida tropicalis used as biosorbent, was studied by performing biosorption-desorption tests. This biosorbent was selected after screening a range of microbial species. The process was found to be highly dependent on initial pH and concentration of metal solution. At optimized experimental parameters, the maximum zirconium biosorption capacity of C. tropicalis was 179 mg Zr g(-1) dry weight of biosorbent. The adsorption distribution coefficient value of 3968 ml g(-1) was obtained for zirconium biosorption by C. tropicalis. Different theoretical thermodynamic models governing the adsorption behavior of zirconium were also tested. Zirconium biosorption was found to closely follow the Langmuir model. At low biomass concentrations it was found to follow pseudo-first-order kinetics. However when higher biomass concentrations were used kinetics was changed to pseudo-second-order. The zirconium bound to the biomass was stripped out (60.2% at S/L of 1.0 g of zirconium loaded biomass/l of eluent) using sodium bicarbonate and the biomass could be used for multiple sorption-desorption cycles.