A Novel Algebraic Technique for the Construction of Strong Substitution Box

Magnetic induction applications mostly rely on resonance for inducing maximum magnetic fields to system loads and hence for each resonant frequency dedicated circuits are required. Unfortunately, the frequency responses of such inductive systems manifest several peaks (frequency splitting) when their coupling coefficients are equal to or larger than critical coupling. Such frequency responses with several peaks are detrimental when the objective is to transfer maximum energy. Frequency splitting between inductive coils have been seen to date as detrimental to wireless power transfer and inductive communication systems. In this paper it is demonstrated that frequency splitting is a welcome phenomenon with advantage in the design of inductive filter banks and multi-frequency inductive systems. The centre frequencies of the filter banks result from split bands of inductive systems. This phenomenon is applied in conjunction with an innovative recursive algorithm to design inductive filter banks. The filters straddle both sides of the resonant frequency position and can be resolved individually.     

The Plastome Sequences of Triticum sphaerococcum (ABD) and Triticum turgidum subsp. durum (AB) Exhibit Evolutionary Changes,Structural Characterization,Comparative Analysis,Phylogenomics and Time Divergence

The mechanism and course of Triticum plastome evolution is currently unknown; thus, it remains unclear how Triticum plastomes evolved during recent polyploidization. Here, we report the complete plastomes of two polyploid wheat species, Triticum sphaerococcum (AABBDD) and Triticum turgidum subsp. durum (AABB), and compare them with 19 available and complete Triticum plastomes to create the first map of genomic structural variation. Both T. sphaerococcum and T. turgidum subsp. durum plastomes were found to have a quadripartite structure, with plastome lengths of 134,531 bp and 134,015 bp, respectively. Furthermore, diploid (AA), tetraploid (AB, AG) and hexaploid (ABD, AGA^m) Triticum species plastomes displayed a conserved gene content and commonly harbored an identical set of annotated unique genes. Overall, there was a positive correlation between the number of repeats and plastome size. In all plastomes, the number of tandem repeats was higher than the number of palindromic and forward repeats. We constructed a Triticum phylogeny based on the complete plastomes and 42 shared genes from 71 plastomes. We estimated the divergence of Hordeum vulgare from wheat around 11.04–11.9 million years ago (mya) using a well-resolved plastome tree. Similarly, Sitopsis species diverged 2.8–2.9 mya before Triticum urartu (AA) and Triticum monococcum (AA). Aegilops speltoides was shown to be the maternal donor of polyploid wheat genomes and diverged ~0.2–0.9 mya. The phylogeny and divergence time estimates presented here can act as a reference framework for future studies of Triticum evolution.     

Prevalence of virulent Yersinia enterocolitica in bulk raw milk and retail cheese in northern-west of Iran

To determine the prevalence of virulent Yersinia enterocolitica, 554 samples consisting of 354 bulk raw milks and 200 traditional cheeses were collected from different parts of Eastern-Azerbaijan province, during a 23-month period from 2008 to 2010. The occurrence of virulent strains of Y. enterocolitica in samples enriched in peptone sorbitol bile broth (PSBB) was evaluated via the detection of attachment invasion locus (ail) gene by PCR. The viability of virulent Y. enterocolitica in the PCR-positive samples was tested using conventional culture method and the isolates were confirmed by the second-phase ail-PCR. According to the results, 8.66% of total samples including 7.62% of bulk raw milks and 10.5% of raw milk cheeses were found ail-positive by PCR method; subsequently Y. enterocolitica was isolated by the culture method and confirmed by the second phase ail-PCR in 2.88% of total samples including 2.26% of raw milks and 4% of cheese samples. It was concluded that, a sample enrichment followed by ail-PCR was more sensitive and robust to detect and distinguish the virulent strains of Y. enterocolitica compared to the conventional culture method.     

Zr‐Doped Indium Oxide (IZRO) Transparent Electrodes for Perovskite‐Based Tandem Solar Cells

Parasitic absorption in transparent electrodes is one of the main roadblocks to enabling power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) for perovskite‐based tandem solar cells beyond 30%. To reduce such losses and maximize light coupling, the broadband transparency of such electrodes should be improved, especially at the front of the device. Here, the excellent properties of Zr‐doped indium oxide (IZRO) transparent electrodes for such applications, with improved near‐infrared (NIR) response, compared to conventional tin‐doped indium oxide (ITO) electrodes, are shown. Optimized IZRO films feature a very high electron mobility (up to ≈77 cm² V^?1 s^?1), enabling highly infrared transparent films with a very low sheet resistance (≈18 Ω □^?1 for annealed 100 nm films). For devices, this translates in a parasitic absorption of only ≈5% for IZRO within the solar spectrum (250–2500 nm range), to be compared with ≈10% for commercial ITO. Fundamentally, it is found that the high conductivity of annealed IZRO films is directly linked to promoted crystallinity of the indium oxide (In₂O₃) films due to Zr‐doping. Overall, on a four‐terminal perovskite/silicon tandem device level, an absolute 3.5 mA cm^?2 short‐circuit current improvement in silicon bottom cells is obtained by replacing commercial ITO electrodes with IZRO, resulting in improving the PCE from 23.3% to 26.2%.     

Cathodic electrodeposition of Y(OH)3 and Y2O3 nanostructures from chloride bath. Part II: Effect of the bath temperature on the crystal structure,composition and morphology

Ultra-fine nanoparticles, mono-dispersed nanospheres and nanorods of Y(OH)₃ and Y₂O₃ were successfully prepared via electrodeposition from chloride bath at different temperatures of 10, 25, 40 and 80 °C followed by heat-treatments at 600 °C in dry air atmosphere. Thermal behavior of the hydroxide samples was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The structural and morphological characteristics of the products were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR, scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). Effects of bath temperature on the mechanism of base electrogeneration and deposit formation on the cathode surface were proposed and discussed. The results showed that the crystal structure, composition and morphology of the products are mainly affected by the temperature of electrodeposition bath.     

Significant improvement of semi-solid microstructure and mechanical properties of A356 alloy by ARB process

Accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process was used in this study as an effective method for manufacturing high-strength, finely-dispersed and highly-uniform A356 alloy. It was found that when the number of ARB cycles was increased, the uniformity of silicon particles in the aluminum matrix improved, the particles became finer and spheroider and therefore, the tensile strength (TS) and ductility of the samples improved. The microstructure of the manufactured A356 alloy after five ARB cycles indicated a totally modified structure such that it's TS and elongation values reached 269 MPa and 5.3% which were 2.6 and 2.5 times greater than those of the as-cast material, respectively. Also, the hardness value increased from 55.4 (for as-cast sample) to 100.2 HV (after the fifth cycle of ARB), and registered 81% increase.     

Enhanced dynamic credential generation scheme for protection of user identity in mobile-cloud computing

To improve the resource limitation of mobile devices, mobile users may utilize cloud-computational and storage services. Although the utilization of the cloud services improves the processing and storage capacity of mobile devices, the migration of confidential information on untrusted cloud raises security and privacy issues. Considering the security of mobile-cloud-computing subscribers’ information, a mechanism to authenticate legitimate mobile users in the cloud environment is sought. Usually, the mobile users are authenticated in the cloud environment through digital credential methods, such as password. Once the users’ credential information theft occurs, the adversary can use the hacked information for impersonating the mobile user later on. The alarming situation is that the mobile user is unaware about adversary’s malicious activities. In this paper, a light-weight security scheme is proposed for mobile user in cloud environment to protect the mobile user’s identity with dynamic credentials. The proposed scheme offloads the frequently occurring dynamic credential generation operations on a trusted entity to keep minimum processing burden on the mobile device. To enhance the security and reliability of the scheme, the credential information is updated frequently on the basis of mobile-cloud packets exchange. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is compared with the existing scheme on the basis of performance metrics i.e. turnaround time and energy consumption. The experimental results for the proposed scheme showed significant improvement in turnaround time and energy consumption as compared to the existing scheme.     

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Free Convection From a Horizontal Cylinder Located Above an Adiabatic Surface

Steady two-dimensional free convection heat transfer from an isothermal horizontal cylinder located above an adiabatic horizontal surface is studied experimentally and numerically. Experiments are carried out using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer for the ratios of cylinder spacing from the adiabatic surface to its diameter L/D = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 and the Rayleigh number range of 500 to 15,000. Also, a specifically developed computer code based on the finite-volume method, the SIMPLE algorithm, and nonorthogonal discretization grid system is used for the solution of the mass-, momentum-, and energy-governing equations for the Rayleigh numbers ranging from 100 to 100,000 and L/D ranging from 0.1 to 1.7. The effects of the Rayleigh number and spacing from the adiabatic surface on both local and average Nusselt numbers around the cylinder are investigated. A correlation based on the numerical data for the average Nusselt number of the cylinder as a function of Rayleigh number and L/D is presented in the aforementioned ranges.