An Implementation of Bouchouev's Method for a Short Time Calibration of Option Pricing Models

We analyse the Bouchouev integral equation for the deterministic volatility function in the Black–Scholes option pricing model. We areable to reduce Bouchouev's original triple integral equation to a single integral equation and describe its numerical solution. Moreover we show empirically that the most complex term in the equation may often be safely ignored for the purposes of numerical calculations. We present a selection of numerical examples indicating the range of time values for which we would expect the equation to be valid.     

Experimental investigation on the production of biogas from waste food

The production of biogas has been a substantial target to be utilized globally, especially in the agricultural sector. Most organic waste that is being produced from other forms of renewable energy systems is mainly used to reduce greenhouse emission (GHG), which as well reduces the daily consumption of fossil fuels. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has been studied widely in recent years where its implementation in the industry has seen a mitigating impact on greenhouse gases. Unrestricted discharge of the big amount of waste food (WF) has become the main effect of severe environmental pollution worldwide. Among the various treatment methods, anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste food allows its valorization and the biogas produced can be used as biofuel enhancing the gas supply. In this study, a mechanical pre-treatment with Hollander beater has been applied to break down the particle size of waste food in the way to increase feedstock specific surface areas in other to enhance biogas production. Following, the pre-treatment of waste food during 30 min beating time, the biogas yield achieved a value of about 610.33 ml/gTS. Accordingly, a response surface methodology (RSM) can be used to critically evaluate the effects of process parameter (beating time and temperature) to the output response (biogas production). Pre-treated waste food by Hollander beater at beating time of 30 min enhances biogas production by 80%. An optimum biogas yield was achieved with pre-treatment of waste food at a beating time of 30 min.     

Global weak solutions to a spatio-temporal fractional Landau–Lifshitz–Bloch equation

The present paper deals with global existence of weak solutions of a time-space fractional Landau–Lifshitz–Bloch equation involving the weak Caputo derivative and a fractional Laplacian. We use Faedo–Galerkin method with some commutator estimates in order to prove global existence of weak solutions for the model. The uniqueness is also discussed in a special one dimensional case.     

New approach to identify the initial condition in degenerate hyperbolic equation

This paper deals with the determination of an initial condition in degenerate hyperbolic equation from final observations. With the aim of reducing the execution time, this inverse problem is solved using an approach based on double regularization: a Tikhonov’s regularization and regularization in equation by viscose-elasticity. So, we obtain a sequence of weak solutions of degenerate linear viscose-elastic problems. Firstly, we prove the existence and uniqueness of each term of this sequence. Secondly, we prove the convergence of this sequence to the weak solution of the initial problem. Also we present some numerical experiments to show the performance of this approach.     

Modelling and simulation of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell with serpentine bipolar plate using MATLAB

This report presents experimental results derived from a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell with a serpentine flow plate design. The investigation seeks to explore the effects of some parameters like cell operational temperature, humidification and atmospheric pressure on the general performance and efficiency of PEM fuel cell using MATLAB. A number of codes were written to generate the polarization curve for a single stack and five (5) cell stack fuel cell at various operating conditions. Detailed information of hydrogen and oxygen consumption and the effect they have on the fuel cell performance were critically analysed. The investigation concluded that the open circuit voltage generated was less than the theoretical voltage predicted in the literature. It was also noticed that an increase in current or current density reduced the voltage derived from the fuel cell stack. The experiment also clearly confirmed that when more current is being drawn from the fuel cell, more water will also be generated at the cathode section of the cell hence the need for an effective water management to improve the performance of the fuel cell. Other parameters like the stack efficiency and power density were also analysed using the experimental results obtained.     

Purification process for cod liver oil polyunsaturated fatty acids

The polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20∶5n−3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22∶6n−3), which have several pharmaceutical properties, have been purified from cod liver oil. The process consisted of four main steps: (i) saponification of the oil, (ii) use of urea inclusion adducts method to obtain PUFA, (iii) PUFA methylation, and (iv) argentation silica gel column chromatography of the methylated PUFA. Argentation silica gel chromatography yielded highly pure DHA in the process (100% purity, 64% yiild). For EPA, the recovery in the combined process was 29.6%, and the final purity was 90.6%, owing to the simultaneous elution of other polyunsaturated fatty esters. The recovery in the urea inclusion method was strongly enhanced by application of orbital agitation during the crystallization process, in which EPA yield increased from 60–70% without agitation to 90–97% at 800 rpm; stearidonic acid (18∶4n−3) yield ranged from 60–75% without agitation to 87–95% at 800 rpm, and DHA yield varied from 53–73% without agitation to 85–99% at 800 rpm     

Development of Bi-polar plate design of PEM fuel cell using CFD techniques

This paper reviews the common existing designs of flow plates of fuel cells and suggests modifications to some of them to help reduce the pressure drop in the flow channels. Pressure drop is one of the factors that influence the overall performance of the cell both directly and indirectly through interaction with other factors including water management in the cell.The work uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to examine different design and study the effect of varying the flow rate (i.e. velocity) on the pressure drop for each of the designs modelled. Again, the designs are optimized by changing different parameters using ANSYS CFX. Results showing the effects of the modifications on pressure drop in the various plates are presented in this paper.From the study of the various designs, a conclusion was drawn that a modification of fuel cell designs in existence using a system similar to the diesel injection system design approach reduced the pressure drop in the fuel cell as shown by the simulation results.This reduction in pressure drop will contribute to the improvement of performance but it must be stressed that other factors also contribute to the overall performance of the cell and reduction in pressure drop alone is not a guarantee of better performance of a certain fuel cell design.     

Developments of electric cars and fuel cell hydrogen electric cars

The world continues to strive in the search for clean power sources to run the millions of different vehicles on the road on daily basis as they are the main contributors to toxic emissions releases from internal combustion engines to the atmosphere. These toxic emissions contribute to climate change and air pollution and impact negatively on people's health. Fuel cell devices are gradually replacing the internal combustion engines in the transport industry. Some notable challenges of the PEMFC technology are discussed in this paper. High costs, low durability and hydrogen storage problems are some of the major obstacles being examined in this investigation.The paper explores the latest advances in electric cars technology and their design specifications. The study also compares the characteristics and the technologies of the three types of electric cars now available in the market.     

Shaped-Beam Circularly Polarized Antenna Array of Linear Elements for Satellite and SAR Applications

Wireless Personal Communications - A circularly polarized planar antenna array consisting of linearly polarized elements is proposed for satellite and synthetic aperture radar applications. The...     

Behaviour of the complex dielectric function and energy loss spectrum of copper in the [110] direction in the energy range 2 < ħω ⩽ 4 Rydberg

The complex wave vector- and frequency-dependent dielectric function, (q,) = ₁ (q,) + ₂ (q,), for copper is calculated using realistic band energies and wave functions. The Bloch states _bk (r) are obtained from the modified augmented plane wave method (MAPW) with the Chodorow potential. Results are presented for the principal direction ofq, [110]. About 70 bands and 60 plane waves at 10k-points in the 1/48th of the Brillouin zone are considered. An additional peak was found at the energy loss spectrum of copper whose centre is situated near 2.1 Rydberg, its centre moves gradually to the high energy side with increasing |q|. According to our knowledge, it is the first time this result has been calculated theoretically or even measured experimentally in the [110] direction for copper.