A secure and improved multi server authentication protocol using fuzzy commitment

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The advancement in communication and computation technologies has paved a way for connecting large number of heterogeneous devices to offer specified services....     

Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) dyeing of cellulose acetate: An opportunity for a “greener” circular textile economy

This article compares the dyeing of cellulose diacetate (cellulose-based) and polyester fabrics using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) and aqueous media. The benefits of dyeing in SC-CO₂ were clearly demonstrated in laboratory-based and pilot-scale studies in terms of increased colour strength, uniformity, fastness and the absence of auxiliaries such as dispersing agents or surfactants. In addition, the “super-levelling” nature of the SC-CO₂ medium was demonstrated in the reprocessing of polyester “waste textile” and the re-use of the “locked-in waste” colourant. The SC-CO₂ processing medium can be utilised to accurately colour “multiple life” polyester and cellulose acetate uniformly and to creatively tie-dye polyester and cellulose acetate fabrics. Through SC-CO₂ fluid technology, we can envisage a viable waterless circular manufacturing and recycling/remanufacturing framework for the predominantly polyester global fibre market coupled to the sustainably sourced, biodegradable cellulose diacetate as a replacement for cotton. The key technical and commercial advantages being the use of a single solvent dye class for both polyester and the cellulose diacetate, saving on energy costs, integrated simpler processing, reduced water usage and associated efficient recycling. Further, repositioning the cellulosic fibre industry towards using sustainable forests is attractive in terms of improved land, water and environmental management.     

Mathematical modelling of mass transfer in the concentration polarisation layer of flat‐sheet membranes during clarification of pomegranate juice

Evaluation of membrane clarification of pomegranate juice showed that a cake layer is created at the beginning of the process. This evaluation was used as the basis for modelling the solute concentration in the concentration polarisation layer to control the fouling of the membrane. The model of changes in concentration as a function of time and distance (in its dimensionless form) was solved numerically using the Forward‐Time/Central‐Space (FTCS) method. Programming was performed using MATLAB software, and the predicted concentration on the membrane surface was compared with experimental data; the prediction fit well with the experimental data. The model showed that the solute concentration increased as distance to the membrane surface decreased, time increased, transmembrane pressure increased and velocity decreased. Also, the model matched the experimental data in that it showed the cake layer to be created in the early stages of the membrane clarification process.     

Estimation of SiC JFET temperature during short-circuit operations

This paper presents results showing the robustness of different SiC JFET transistors from SiCED in current limitation regime or short-circuit operation. Crystal temperature during failure was estimated after different electrical characterizations and using appropriate models of saturation current which is used as a thermal indicator. This work shows the exceptional robustness of SiC JFET transistors in current limitation mode compared to Si devices (MOSFETS and IGBTs).     

Targeted design of polyaniline-graphene oxide,barium-strontium titanate,hard-soft ferrite,and polyester multi-phase nanocomposite for highly efficient microwave absorption

The current paper focuses on synthesizing a high-efficiency microwave absorber via incorporating the nanofillers of graphene oxide-polyaniline (GO-PANI), barium-strontium titanate (BST), and soft-hard ferrite within the polyester matrix. The nanocomposite magnets of (Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Fe₁₂O₁₉)_1-x hard/(CoFe₂O₄)_x soft (x = 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) were prepared using sol-gel auto-combustion method. The GO-PANI and BST were successfully synthesized by in situ polymerization and improved polymerization, respectively. The phase structure, chemical structure, morphology, and microwave absorption properties of the synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM), vector network analyzer (VNA) techniques, respectively. The results showed that the synergistic effects of the combination of dielectric (BST), conductive (GO-PANI), and magnetic materials (hard-soft ferrites) provided the reflection loss values of less than ?20 dB (>99% absorption) in the X-band region. The minimum reflection loss of ?35 dB (>99.99% absorption) was obtained by the optimal formulation including (Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Fe₁₂O₁₉)_0.2 (CoFe₂O₄)_0.8, and the weight ratio of 1: 2 for both BST/soft-hard ferrite and hard-soft ferrite + BST/GO-PANI with the thickness of 1 mm. According to the results, the thickness factor plays a key role in improving the impedance matching. Consequently, the proposed nanocomposite can be employed as a novel kind of microwave absorbers with good impendence matching and high absorption.     

Enhanced EDCA with Deterministic Transmission Collision Resolution for Real-Time Communication in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

The collision prevention system is one of most important research issues on vehicle safety technology. Sending worming messages within the right time and reliable transmission will get prevention of a possible vehicle accident. The communication standards of vehicular networks (VANET) are unable to guarantee the delivery of critical messages within tight deadlines. Indeed, the transmission collisions are handled with probabilistic manner that can reduce the transmission latency; however, it is inept to predict an upper bound value of this delay to verify the deadline. In this paper, we propose a medium access protocol that ensures the delivery of critical messages within a deadline. It is a hard real-time system with delay constant guarantee. We are focusing on improving the EDCA medium access protocol to prioritize critical messages and to get access to the transmission channel within a predictable communication delay. We create a new enhanced access protocol that is compatible with the IEEE 802.11p VANET standards and adapted to real-time communication requirements related to the vehicle collision avoidance problem.     

LaCrO3/CuFe2O4 Composite-Coated Crofer 22 APU Stainless Steel Interconnect of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - Rapidly rising contact resistance and cathode Cr poisoning are the major problems associated with unavoidable chromia scale growth on ferritic stainless...     

Improving GPS Receivers Positioning in Weak Signal Environments Based on Fuzzy SSMF-FFT and Fuzzy Kalman Filter

With the advent of global positioning system (GPS) and the increasing expansion of technology, improving GPS receivers positioning has attracted great attention. When the signal received by these receivers is weak, receiver functioning becomes impaired. Due to the existing noise and the presence of Doppler shift in weak signal conditions, the signal acquisition section becomes problematic and in weak signal conditions or phase lock loop (PLL), the tracking section design of noise conditions gets difficult. In case of a lock loss on the signal, the user will not be able to calculate the Doppler frequency and the system will diverge. Therefore, a robust algorithm for the GPS receiver PLL is very vital. In this paper, the squared segmented matched filter-fast Fourier transform algorithm is used to improve the acquisition of weak GPS signals with an average SNR of 15 dB. By using the matched filter, the SNR is maximized and the code phase estimation will be more accurately. Also, the use of a segmented filter before the FFT reduces the number of FFT points and therefore, the computational complexity is reduced. To calculate the number of batches and obtain the best acquisition output, in the proposed algorithm, the system becomes fuzzy. In tracking section, fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) with the PLL based on fuzzy Kalman filter (FKF) is used to reinforce it against weak signal environments. The FRFT is used for estimating frequency and acceleration, and a third-order FKF is used for designing the PLL. As a result of these changes, the RMSE of positioning is improved more than 35%.

     

Synthetic Co-Attractants of the Aggregation Pheromone of the Date Palm Root Borer <Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryctes agamemnon</Emphasis>

Laboratory and field investigations to identify and evaluate plant co-attractants of the aggregation pheromone of the date palm pest Oryctes agamemnon are reported. Volatiles emitted by freshly cut palm core and palm core with feeding males, were collected, analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and evaluated in olfactometers alone or combined with synthetic pheromone. A collection of palm odor without male effluvia was attractive alone and enhanced attraction to synthetic pheromone in an olfactometer similar to that to a collection of palm odor emitted with feeding males and containing natural pheromone. Behavioral responses to collections of palm volatiles were correlated to the amount of volatiles material in them. Enhancement of the attractiveness of the pheromone was not correlated to chemicals specific to beetle feeding. The chemicals common to the active collections extracts were benzoate esters, mostly ethyl benzoate, anisole derivatives and sesquiterpenes. Blends of the most abundant components of the extracts were evaluated for enhancement of the attractiveness of pheromone (1 μg) in olfactometers at 1 or 10 μg doses. The mixtures were further evaluated by field trapping in Tunisia at 3–10 mg/day using reference (6 mg/day) or experimental pheromone formulations. A mixture of ethyl benzoate, 4-methylanisole and farnesol (1:1:1 w/w at 6.5 mg/day) enhanced captures in pheromone baited traps in 2014 and 2015 and this mixture was as active as the natural palm bait. The practical prospect of the result for the management for O. agamemnon, and other palm beetles is discussed.     

Carbon nanotubes-graft-polyglycerol: Biocompatible hybrid materials for nanomedicine

New biocompatible and water soluble hybrid materials containing multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as core and hyperbranched polyglycerol (PG) as shell were synthesized successfully. In this work, pristine MWCNTs were opened and functionalized through treatment with acid and polyglycerol was covalently grafted onto their surface by the “grafting from” approach based on in-situ ring-opening polymerization of glycidol. Some short-term In vitro cytotoxicity and hemocompatibility tests were conducted on HT1080 cell line (human Fibrosarcoma), because this epithelial cell line can be one of the first route of entry of the exogenous materials to the vascular system and therefore subsequent interactions with the whole body, in order to investigate their potential application in nanomedicine and to understand the limitation and capability of these material as nanoexcipients in biological systems.