Design and energy absorption enhancement of vehicle hull under high dynamic loads

V-shape hulls are widely used in peacekeeping efforts such as demining vehicles in order to deflect the blast energy and reduce the effects of mine blast. Blast resistant design and energy absorption enhancement of V-shape plates were carried out using finite element analysis package ABAQUS. Various geometries of V-shape plates with and without interlayer of materials like Al-foams and honeycomb were employed to analyze their effects on the deformation of the plate and applied stresses and strains. The results obtained show that application of metallic foams leads to better response of the plate and consequently results in more energy dissipation, less dame to vehicle and enhances crew survivability.     

POLAROGRAPHIC CHARACTERIZATION OF AROMATIC STRUCTURES IN COAL LIQUID PRODUCTS

Reducible aromatic species in coal liquid products from five major processes (Synthoil, FMC COED, HRI H-Coal, PAMCO SRC, and Catalytic Inc. SRC) together with solvent elution chromatography fractions of a selected asphaltene has been evaluated. The half-wave potentials measurments are found to be consistant with other methods. The total polarographic reduction of measurement per average molecule for Synthoil solvent fractions, as measured by diffusion constant (i_d/C), increases in the following manner: gas oil → resin → asphaltene → carbene → carboid. The same trend was observed when color indices (I) and refractive indices (n₂₅) were individually studied.     

Mean-square stability of delay-differential equations with non-stationary random coefficients

The mean-square asymptotic stability of the equilibrium stale of a system of linear stochastic delay-differential equations with general non-stationary random coefficients is studied. The Lyapunov method of stability analysis is employed and several criteria for the mean-square stability of the equilibrium state of the system are established. A few examples are solved and the application of the method is discussed.     

Combined cerium oxide nanocapping and layer-by-layer coating of porous silicon containers for controlled drug release

Local drug release in close vicinity of solid tumors is a promising therapeutic approach in cancer therapy. Implantable drug delivery systems can be designed to achieve controlled and sustained drug release. In this study, ultrathin porous membranes of silicon wafer were employed as compatible drug reservoir models. An anticancer model drug, curcumin (CUR), was successfully loaded into porous silicon containers (8.94?±?0.72% w/w), and then, cerium oxide nanocapping was performed on the open pores for drug protection and release rate prolongation. Next, layer-by-layer surface coating of the drug container with anionic (alginate) and cationic (chitosan) polymers rendered pH-responsivity to the device. The drug release profile was studied using reflectometric interference Fourier transform spectroscopy at different pH conditions. It was determined that faster decomposition of the polymeric layers and subsequent CUR release occur in acidic buffer (pH 5.5) compared to a neutral buffer. Various characterization studies, including dynamic light scattering, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, contact angle measurement, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction revealed that our system has the required physicochemical properties to serve as a novel pH-sensitive drug delivery implant for cancer therapy.     

A comprehensive review of renewable energy resources for electricity generation in Australia

Recently, renewable energy resources and their impacts have sparked a heated debate to resolve the Australian energy crisis. There are many projects launched throughout the country to improve network security and reliability. This paper aims to review the current status of different renewable energy resources along with their impacts on society and the environment. Besides, it provides for the first time the statistics of the documents published in the field of renewable energy in Australia. The statistics include information such as the rate of papers published, possible journals for finding relative paper, types of documents published, top authors, and the most prevalent keywords in the field of renewable energy in Australia. It will focus on solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydropower technologies and will investigate the social and environmental impacts of these technologies.     

Significant progress in solution of nonlinear equations at displacement of structure and heat transfer extended surface by new AGM approach

In this paper, we aim to promote the capability of solving two complicated nonlinear differential equations: 1) Static analysis of the structure with variable cross section areas and materials with slope-deflection method; 2) the problem of one dimensional heat transfer with a logarithmic various surface A(x) and a logarithmic various heat generation G(x) with a simple and innovative approach entitled “Akbari-Ganji’s method” (AGM). Comparisons are made between AGM and numerical method, the results of which reveal that this method is very effective and simple and can be applied for other nonlinear problems. It is significant that there are some valuable advantages in this method and also most of the differential equations sets can be answered in this manner while in other methods there is no guarantee to obtain the good results up to now. Brief excellences of this method compared to other approaches are as follows: 1) Differential equations can be solved directly by this method; 2) without any dimensionless procedure, equation(s) can be solved; 3) it is not necessary to convert variables into new ones. According to the aforementioned assertions which are proved in this case study, the process of solving nonlinear equation(s) is very easy and convenient in comparison to other methods.     

A least-squares support vector machine approach to predict temperature drop accompanying a given pressure drop for the natural gas production and processing systems

Precise estimation of temperature variations throughout gas production systems can enhance designing the production amenities. Routine methods for determining the temperature profiles in gas production systems are based on the gas composition and flash calculations. However, if the gas compositions are not available, the gas production system can be modelled by employing a black-oil approach, which is also a method for calculating the oil/gas resources and for modelling the gas reservoir operation. Accordingly, for black-oil models and when the natural gas compositions are not accessible, applying robust predictive tools in this research is of high interest in natural production systems. The current study places emphasis on applying the predictive model based on the least- squares support vector machine (LSSVM) to estimate precisely the proper temperature drop associated with a given pressure drop throughout the natural gas production systems based on the black-oil approach to acquire an accurate result for the temperature drop of natural gas streams. Genetic algorithm was used to optimise hyper-parameters (γ and σ²) which are embedded in the LSSVM model. Using this method is simple and it accurately determines the temperature drop through the natural gas stream with minimum uncertainty.     

“Fe doped Ni–Co spinel protective coating on ferritic stainless steel for SOFC interconnect application”

In an attempt to reduce the oxidation and Cr evaporation rates, various protective coating layers with a nominal composition of NiCo_2−xFe_xO₄ (x = 0, 0.5, 1) were deposited on the SUS 430 ferritic stainless steel substrate, as interconnect for solid oxide fuel cell application, by sol-gel dip coating method. Then, the coated samples were soaked at 750 °C for 2.5 h in N₂ and subsequently for 2.5 h in air. Phase composition and microstructure of the coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, long-term isothermal oxidation experiment and area specific resistance (ASR) measurement were also carried out on the coated samples. Results showed that the addition of 1 mol of Fe into Ni–Co spinel (x = 1), led to a parabolic rate constant of 5.16 × 10⁻¹⁵(g² cm⁻⁴ s⁻¹) and an ASR of 17 mΩ cm².