Investigation the impact of additives on the displacement of the onset point of asphaltene precipitation using interfacial tension measurement

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of additives on the displacement of the onset point of asphaltene precipitation in crude oil using the interfacial tension measurement method, based on the examined oil has been taken from Iran reservoirs. The experimental results suggest that the addition of surfactants of dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) and coconut diethanolamide (CDEA) to the oil has triggered the onset of asphaltene precipitation. These findings imply that CDEA has a more effective role in preventing asphaltene precipitation. Also, it was observed that increasing the concentration of the surfactants has led to obtaining greater results. Finally, critical micelle concentration was calculated to be 5000 and 4700 ppm in the cases of CDEA and DBSA, respectively.     

Polymer Encapsulants Incorporating Light‐Guiding Architectures to Increase Optical Energy Conversion in Solar Cells

The fabrication of a new type of solar cell encapsulation architecture comprising a periodic array of step‐index waveguides is reported. The materials are fabricated through patterning with light in a photoreactive binary blend of crosslinking acrylate and urethane, wherein phase separation induces the spontaneous, directed formation of broadband, cylindrical waveguides. This microstructured material efficiently collects and transmits optical energy over a wide range of entry angles. Silicon solar cells comprising this encapsulation architecture show greater total external quantum efficiencies and enhanced wide‐angle light capture and conversion. This is a rapid, straightforward, and scalable approach to process light‐collecting structures, whereby significant increases in cell performance may be achieved.     

Entrepreneurial cognition and socially situated approach: a systematic and bibliometric analysis

Research on entrepreneurial cognition (EC) has evolved in recent years, and the aim of this contribution is to offer a clear, systematic, and bibliometric review of EC as a field of study from a more dynamic perspective, building on Socially Situated Cognition theory (SSC). Based on a data set that covers 18 years of research, from 1998 to 2016, the present study analyzes all of the 151 papers available in the Web of Science Core Collection and 15 editorials, book chapters, and books directly referring to entrepreneurial cognition. Building on our results, we divided EC studies into two stages, namely the “emerging” (1998–2007) and the “mature” (2008–2016). In addition, with this study we suggest three main topics that should be investigated in future researches: entrepreneurial action should be considered endogenous in the entrepreneurship process and the studies in the field of embodied and distributed cognition should be expanded.     

Rethinking SME default prediction: a systematic literature review and future perspectives

Scientometrics - Over the last dozen years, the topic of small and medium enterprise (SME) default prediction has developed into a relevant research domain that has grown for important reasons...     

Entropy and Compression: A Simple Proof of an Inequality of Khinchin-Ornstein-Shields

Problems of Information Transmission - This paper concerns the folklore statement that “entropy is a lower bound for compression.” More precisely, we derive from the entropy theorem a...     

Advanced Bioresponsive Multitasking Hydrogels in the New Era of Biomedicine

Advanced forms of hydrogels have many inherently desirable properties and can be designed with different structures and functions. In particular, bioresponsive multifunctional hydrogels can carry out sophisticated biological functions. These include in situ single-cell approaches, capturing, analysis, and release of living cells, biomimetics of cell, tissue, and tumor-specific niches. They can allow in vivo cell manipulation and act as novel drug delivery systems, allowing diagnostic, therapeutic, vaccination, and immunotherapy methods. In the present review of multitasking hydrogels, new approaches and devices classified into point-of-care testing (POCT), microarrays, single-cell/rare cell approaches, artificial membranes, biomimetic modeling systems, nanodoctors, and microneedle patches are summarized. The potentials and application of each format are critically discussed, and some limitations are highlighted. Finally, how hydrogels can enable an “all-in-one platform” to play a key role in cancer therapy, regenerative medicine, and the treatment of inflammatory, degenerative, genetic, and metabolic diseases is being looked forward to.     

Instant message summarization with Emoji unicode characterset support

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Summarization techniques have traditionally achieved good performance results when summarizing sentences and documents. However, their application to instant...     

Theoretical Prediction of an Antimony-Silicon Monolayer $$(\hbox {penta-Sb}_{2}\hbox {Si})$$: Band Gap Engineering by Strain Effect

In this paper, using a first principles calculation, a two-dimensional structure of silicon-antimony named penta-Sb\(_{2}\)Si is predicted. The structural, kinetic, and thermal stabilities of the predicted monolayer are confirmed by the cohesive energy calculation, phonon dispersion analysis, and first principles molecular dynamic simulation, respectively. The electronic properties investigation shows that the pentagonal Sb\(_{2}\)Si monolayer is a semiconductor with an indirect band gap of about 1.53 eV (2.1 eV) from GGA-PBE (PBE0 hybrid functional) calculations which can be effectively engineered by employing external biaxial compressive and tensile strain. Furthermore, the optical characteristics calculation indicates that the predicted monolayer has considerable optical absorption and reflectivity in the ultraviolet region. The results suggest that a Sb\(_{2}\)Si monolayer has very good potential applications in new nano-optoelectronic devices.     

The off‐grid frequency selective millimeter wave channel estimation

Broadband millimeter wave (mmW) systems are a promising pioneer of cellular communication for next generation which is utilizing the hybrid baseband/analog beamforming structures along with the miniature massive antenna arrays at both sides of the communication link. mmW channel with an available unlicensed spread spectrum is frequency selective because the signal bandwidth can be larger than the coherence bandwidth. Due to the sparse nature of mmW channel, extracting compressive sensing model of the system is preferable. In fact, exploiting the sparse structure will lead to the reduction of the computational complexity, because there is a reduction in the channel training length compared with the conventional methods such as least square estimation. Most of the prior works have considered on‐grid quantized departure/arrival angles in the input/output antennas to obtain a sparse virtual channel model. However, the sparse angles in the physical channel model are continuous where this continuity indicates a mismatch between the physical angles and the on‐grid angles. Such a mismatch will contribute to unwanted components in the virtual channel model. Given these extra components, the conventional compressive sensing tools are unable to recover the channel. In this paper, we propose two solutions for overcoming the problem caused by off‐grid angle selection. The first is based on the vector shaping, and the second one is based on the sparse total least square concepts. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed methods both could obtain an adequate channel recovery and are preferable regarding computational complexity concerning the newly developed surrogate method.     

Hybrid nanocomposite membranes of sulfonated poly(ethersulfone)/1,1-carbonyl diimidazole/1-(3-aminopropyl)-silane/silica for direct methanol fuel cells

Composite membranes of sulfonated poly(ethersulfone)/1,1-carbonyl diimidazole/1-(3-aminopropyl)-silane/silica (SPES/CDI/AS/SiO₂) with silica of various contents (3, 5 and 8 wt%) were prepared as electrolytes for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Comparison was made with pure SPES and SPES/SiO₂. The properties of the composite membranes were studied by FTIR, TGA, XRD, water and methanol uptake, proton conductivity. SPES/CDI/AS/SiO₂ membranes were also characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which showed good adhesion between the modified sulfonic acid (-SO3H) groups of SPES and silica because of cross-linking with covalent bond formation and reduced cavities in the composites. This effect played an important role in reducing water uptake, methanol uptake and methanol permeability of the SPES/CDI/AS/SiO₂ composites. The water and methanol uptake and also methanol permeability of the SPES/CDI/AS/SiO₂ composite membrane with 8% SiO₂ were found in the order 3.58%, 2.48% and 1.91×10^?7 (cm²s^?1), lower than those of SPES and Nafion 117. In SPES membrane of 16.94% level of sulfonation, the proton conductivity was 0.0135 s/cm at 25 °C, which approached that of Nafion 117 under the same conditions. Also, the proton conductivity of the SPES/CDI/AS/SiO₂ 8% membrane was 0.0186 s/cm, which was higher than that of SPES at room temperature. The preparation of SPES/SiO₂ composites in the presence of AS and CDI, led to 63%, 56% and 64% reduction of water uptake, methanol uptake and methanol permeability, respectively without a sharp drop in proton conductivity of the composite membranes which featured a good balance between high proton conductivity, water and methanol uptake of SPES/CDI/AS/SiO₂ membranes.