The correlations between structural and optical properties of magnetite nanoparticles synthesised from natural iron sand

The correlations between structural and optical properties of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles were analyzed by using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. The magnetite was synthesised from the iron sand using NaOH, HCl, and NaCl as a solvent. From the quantitative analysis of XRD spectra, the crystallite size (D), strain ($\epsilon$), stress ($\sigma$), energy deformation (u), porosity, and specific surface area were determined. The Kramers Kronig (K–K) relations was applied to the FTIR spectra to determine the optical properties: refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k), the complex dielectric function ($\mathit{\epsilon }$), and the energy loss function (Im(-1/ε)). The uniform strain was produced from the NaOH and HCl as the solvent. The magnetite had higher porosity with NaCl as a solvent and was directly proportional to the optical phonon vibration. We found a perfect correlation; when the difference between two optical phonon increases, the crystallite size decreases, and the strain will be uniform.     

Characterisation and catalytic properties of MCM-41 and Pd/MCM-41 materials

Pure silica MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieve material was synthesised and characterised by in situ synchrotron XRD, TEM, TGA/DTA and DRIFTS techniques. In situ energy dispersive XRD (EDXRD) confirmed the exact nature of the pore diameter of MCM-41 and the change in crystal structure on calcination. The IR band at 1057 cm^-1 of as-synthesised MCM-41 was shifted by 14 cm^-1 on heating to 673 K due to increased condensation of silanol groups to form Si-O-Si bridges. Calcined MCM-41 materials were used to support Pd, and the catalytic activities for 1-hexene and benzene selective hydrogenation were investigated. The Pd/MCM-41 catalyst showed high activity in hydrogenation of 1-hexene at an inlet reaction temperature of 298 K, but did not show any activity in hydrogenation for benzene. TEM results for the reduced Pd/MCM-41 catalysts revealed that the average Pd particle size was around 2-2.5 nm and these particles were located in the pores of MCM-41 and showed good distribution. TPR measurements showed that about 70% of palladium oxide (PdO) loading in the calcined catalysts was reduced at sub-ambient temperature. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Earthquake onset detection using spectro-ratio on multi-threshold time–frequency sub-band

Automatic onset detection and picking algorithm has been proposed by applying the spectro-ratio on time–frequency sub-band. The proposed algorithm does not need any parameter settings as it will work on data generated by either short or very broad band seismometers. Our algorithm is applied on local events from Cairo region recorded by three stations of the Egyptian National Seismic Network (ENSN). Maximum standard deviation is observed to be 0.113 s of the corresponding manual picks made by analysts.     

Design of Scale Model Mechanism in Low Speed Wind Tunnel

Motion control can be considered as the synergistic collaboration of mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science and information technology to apply a controlled force to achieve useful motion in fluid or soiled electromechanical systems. With the development of computer, electronics, and automatic control theory, motion control comes to a new stage. Great applications are based on the characteristics, stemming from advantages of electronics and modern control technology achievements, having a v...     

A tool for multiobjective evolutionary algorithms

This paper introduces a software tool based on illustrative applications for the development, analysis and application of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms. The multiobjective evolutionary algorithms tool (MOEAT) written in C# using a variety of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) offers a powerful environment for various kinds of optimization tasks. It has many useful features such as visualizing of the progress and the results of optimization in a dynamic or static mode, and decision variable settings. The performance measurements of well-known multiobjective evolutionary algorithms in MOEAT are done using benchmark problems. In addition, two case studies from engineering domain are presented.     

Inverse random under sampling for class imbalance problem and its application to multi-label classification

In this paper, a novel inverse random under sampling (IRUS) method is proposed for the class imbalance problem. The main idea is to severely under sample the majority class thus creating a large number of distinct training sets. For each training set we then find a decision boundary which separates the minority class from the majority class. By combining the multiple designs through fusion, we construct a composite boundary between the majority class and the minority class. The proposed methodology is applied on 22 UCI data sets and experimental results indicate a significant increase in performance when compared with many existing class-imbalance learning methods. We also present promising results for multi-label classification, a challenging research problem in many modern applications such as music, text and image categorization.     

Effect of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes on the Mechanical Properties of Natural Rubber

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were used to prepare natural rubber (NR) nanocomposites. Our first efforts to achieve nanostructures in MWNTs/NR nanocomposites were formed by incorporating carbon nanotubes in a polymer solution and subsequently evaporating the solvent. Using this technique, nanotubes can be dispersed homogeneously in the NR matrix in an attempt to increase the mechanical properties of these nanocomposites. The properties of the nanocomposites such as tensile strength, tensile modulus, elongation at break and hardness were studied. Mechanical test results show an increase in the initial modulus for up to 12 times in relation to pure NR. In addition to mechanical testing, the dispersion state of the MWNTs into NR studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) in order to understand the morphology of the resulting system     

Re-estimation of absolute gamma ray intensities of ^56Mn using k0-standardization

The thermal neutron capture gamma ray facility at Pakistan Research Reactor （PARR-1） is being used for the re-estimation of various properties like capture cross-sections, resonance integral, absolute gamma intensities, etc. of different isotopes. The data for gamma ray transitions from the capture of thermal neutrons by ^55Mn are not in good agreement specifically below 2 MeV. So there is a need to re-estimate its intensities with better accuracy. Analytical grade MnCl2 powder and high purity Mn metal pieces were used in this study. Standard ^152Eu and ^60Co radioactive sources as well as thermal neutron capture γ-rays in chlorine were chosen for efficiency calibration. The k0 standardization technique was applied for these measurements to eliminate systematic errors in efficiencies. Chlorine also acted as a comparator in k0-factor calculations. The results have been tabulated for the main gamma rays from ^56Mn in the low as well as in the medium energy regions. The absolute intensities are in good agreement with most of the reported values.     

The Corrosion and Wear Performance of Microcrystalline WC-10Co-4Cr and Near-Nanocrystalline WC-17Co High Velocity Oxy-Fuel Sprayed Coatings on Steel Substrate

The study of near-nanocrystalline cermet composite coating was performed by depositing near-nanocrystalline WC-17Co powder using the high velocity oxy-fuel spraying technique. The WC-17Co powder consists of a core with an engineered near-nano-scale WC dispersion with a mean grain size 427 nm. The powder particle contains 6 wt pct of the ductile phase Co matrix mixed into the core to ensure that the reinforcing ceramic phase WC material is discontinuous to limit debridement during wear, while the remainder of the binding phase (11 wt pct) is applied as a coating on the powder particle to improve the ductility. The tribological properties of the coating, in terms of corrosion resistance, microhardness, and sliding abrasive wear, were studied and compared with those of an industrially standard microcrystalline WC-10Co-4Cr coating with a WC mean grain size 3 μm. Results indicated that the WC-17Co coating had superior wear and corrosion resistance compared to the WC-10Co-4Cr coating. The engineered WC-17Co powder with a duplex Co layer had prevented significant decarburization of the WC dispersion in the coating, thereby reducing the intersplat microporosity necessary for initiating microgalvanic cells. The improved wear resistance was attributed to the higher hardness value of the near-nanocrystalline WC-17Co coating.     

On the prediction of the roundness error in BTA deep hole machining based on the stochastic description of the cutting tool motion

This paper presents a methodology of predicting the maximum possible out-of-roundness of the hole produced, in BTA deep hole machining, as a function of certain machining parameters. Based on the solutions of the stochastic differential equations representing the machine tool-workpiece system in BTA deep hole machining, and the true cutting tool motion, an index describing the upper bound of the roundness error is defined. A parametric analysis of the out-of-roundness index is carried out. This analysis points out that at a low length-to-diameter ratio of the cutting tool, the axial force is the predominant factor causing the tool-tip deviation from the ideal motion, and that the radial and tangential forces are the major causes for the tool tip deviation at high length-to-diameter ratio of the cutting tool. The experimental measurement of out-of-roundness of the specimens under different machining conditions shows that the roundness error obtained lies within the zone described by the theoretical prediction.