Modelling of one-dimensional heterogeneous catalytic steam methane reforming over various catalysts in an adiabatic packed bed reactor

Kinetic data relevant to steam methane reforming (SMR) are often applied to catalysts and conditions for which they have not been derived. In this work, kinetic rates for the two SMR and water gas shift reactions were derived for 12 commonly used reforming catalysts based on conversion data obtained from the literature. Subsequently, these rates were tested in dynamic operation, steady-state, and equilibrium using a 1-D reactor model developed in-house with gPROMS model builder. Modelling outputs were further validated independently at equilibrium using the software chemical equilibrium with applications (CEA), and the literature. The effect of variables such as temperature, pressure, steam to carbon ratio (S/C), and gas mass flux (G_s) on the performance of the SMR process was then studied in terms of fuel and steam conversion (%), H₂ purity (%), H₂ yield (wt. % of CH₄) and selectivity of the carbon-based products. A comparative study was then performed for the 12 catalysts. Some catalysts showed better activity owing to their fast kinetics when they are tested in mild industrial conditions, while others performed better in more severe industrial conditions, substantiating that the choice of a catalyst ought to depend on the operating conditions.     

Evaluating real-life performance of the state-of-the-art in facial expression recognition using a novel YouTube-based datasets

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Facial expression recognition (FER) is one of the most active areas of research in computer science, due to its importance in a large number of application...     

Continuum Separation of Nanoscale Phase in Thermal Aging Fe-Cr Alloys: Phase-Field Simulation and Experiment

JOM - The separation of Cr-enriched α′ phase in Fe-(25–45) at.% Cr alloys is studied from the metastable region to the unstable region. The three-dimensional phase-field...     

Adomian decomposition solution for propulsion of dissipative magnetic Jeffrey biofluid in a ciliated channel containing a porous medium with forced convection heat transfer

Physiological transport phenomena often feature ciliated internal walls. Heat, momentum, and multispecies mass transfer may arise and additionally non‐Newtonian biofluid characteristics are common in smaller vessels. Blood (containing hemoglobin) or other physiological fluids containing ionic constituents in the human body respond to magnetic body forces when subjected to external (extracorporeal) magnetic fields. Inspired by such applications, in the present work we have considered the forced convective flow of an electrically conducting viscoelastic physiological fluid through a ciliated channel under the action of a transverse magnetic field. The presence of deposits (fats, cholesterol, etc.) in the channel is mimicked with a Darcy porous medium drag force model. The effect of energy loss is simulated via the inclusion of viscous dissipation in the energy conservation (heat) equation. The velocity, temperature, and pressure distribution are computed in the form of infinite series constructed by Adomian decomposition method and numerically evaluated in a symbolic software (Mathematica). The influence of Hartmann number (magnetic parameter), Jeffrey first and second viscoelastic parameters, permeability parameter (modified Darcy number), and Brinkman number (viscous heating parameter) on velocity, temperature, pressure gradient, and bolus dynamics is visualized graphically.     

Improvement and Application of a P-Wave Measurement System for Laboratory Specimens of Sand and Gravel

A compression (P-) wave velocity measurement system was improved to evaluate vertical small strain Young's modulus of sand and gravel specimens. The wave was generated using a multi-layered piezoelectric actuator attached to the top cap of a triaxial cell specimen and received with two piezoelectrical accelerometers at two different positions on the specimen's side. This system includes use of a peak to peak travel time based on excitation records that were triggered by single pulse or sinusoidal wave and stacked for 128 times. The vertical Young's moduli (E_d) obtained by using this dynamic measurement were then compared with the statically measured vertical Young's moduli (E_s) that were evaluated by conducting small unloading/reloading cycles on the same specimen. Two series of tests using medium and large size specimens, respectively, were conducted on three kinds of material namely Toyoura sand (D₅₀=0.23 mm), sieved Chiba gravel (D₅₀=3 mm) and original Chiba gravel (D₅₀=6 mm). No significant effect of specimen size was observed on E_s and E_d of Toyoura sand. E_d was found larger than E_s in all three types of materials while the difference between the two was not the same. Combined effects of the dry density and the wavelength in the dynamic measurement were then discussed.     

Process interoperability in healthcare systems with dynamic semantic web services

Healthcare systems are very complex due to extreme heterogeneity in their data and processes. Researchers and practitioner need to make systems interoperable and integrate for the benefit of all the stakeholders including hospitals, clinicians, medical support staff, and patients. The broader goal of interoperability can only be achieved when standards are practiced.Two different healthcare systems can earn HL7 conformance and compliance but at the same time can be incompatible for interoperability because of varying implementation of HL7 interaction model. This is mainly because workflows in healthcare systems are very complex. Interoperability on one hand requires flexible mechanism for the mapping of business processes to a standard, HL7 in our example. On the other hand it requires deeper understanding of the standard interaction model and gaps created by their incompatible implementations. In this paper we propose a novel technique of dynamically creating semantic web services as overlay on top of the existing services. We used Web Service Modeling Framework as an underlying architecture for HL7 process artifacts implementation as semantic web services. These semantic services are mapped to our proposed interaction ontology. Integrated reasoning mechanism provides necessary execution semantics for more effective and seamless end-to-end communication.The prototype we tested on different processes from the laboratory domain at a local diagnostic laboratory with uninterrupted process flow. The scenario of Result Query Placer interaction flow and its associated process artifacts are executed for the proof of concept.The proposed solution complements the existing data interoperability in HL7 and leads to semantic process interoperability. The achievement of semantic interoperability results in timely delivery of healthcare services to patients saving precious lives.     

Surface Plasmonic‐Assisted Photocatalysis and Optoelectronic Devices with Noble Metal Nanocrystals: Design,Synthesis, and Applications

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of noble metals is known to improve the efficiency of various processes and devices. The photocatalytic process is the production of fuels and storage of solar photons in chemical bonds without imposing harmful threats to the environment. Photovoltaics are other devices utilizing solar energy for electrical energy. Similarly, other optoelectronic devices like photodetectors absorb photons and convert it into charges via electron–hole dissociation processes. In contrast, light‐emitting optoelectronic devices work based on the phenomenon of charge recombination to produce light. All these devices, however, have efficiency limitations, which impede the application of novel functional materials in these devices. A more direct approach is the utilization of noble metals and their complexes, which significantly enhance the efficiencies of these devices by SPR. This article highlights recent works and applications of noble metals by SPR‐enhanced photocatalysis for hydrogen evolution from water, CO₂ conversion into useful compounds, and oxidation of hazardous pollutants. In addition, the plasmon‐enhancement of optoelectronic devices is summarized. Several possible mechanisms that have been previously reported in the literature are discussed in this work, with particular emphasis on different features of these mechanisms involving devices that are not highlighted and therefore need more attention.     

A Semiautomatic Experience-Based Tool for Solving Product Innovation Problem

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we present the idea of Smart Innovation Engineering (SIE) System and its implementation methodology. The SIE system is semiautomatic system that helps in carrying the process of product innovation. It collects the experiential knowledge from the formal decisional events. This experiential knowledge is collected from the group of similar products having some common functions and features. The SIE system behaves like a group of experts in its domain as it collects, captures, and stores the experiential knowledge from similar products as well as reuses this experiential knowledge that ultimately enhances the innovation process of manufactured goods. Moreover, with SIE in hand, entrepreneurs and manufacturing organizations will be able to take proper, enhanced decisions and most importantly at appropriate time. The system gains expertise each time a decision is taken and stored in the form of set of experience that can be used in future for similar queries. Implementation of the SIE system using Set of Experience Knowledge Structure and Decisional DNA for case study suggests that the SIE system is capable of capturing and reusing the innovation-related experiences of the manufactured products. The case study confirmed that the SIE system can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and manufacturing organizations for efficient decision making in the product innovation process.     

MDVA-GAN: multi-domain visual attribution generative adversarial networks

Neural Computing and Applications - Some pixels of an input image have thick information and give insights about a particular category during classification decisions. Visualization of these pixels...