Manganese ferrite-polyaniline hybrid materials: Electrical and magnetic properties

Magnetic MnFe₂O₄ nanopowders were synthesized by an original solvothermal method in the absence and in the presence of tetra-n-butylammonium bromide (TBAB) and Tween 80 (TW) as surfactants. Manganese ferrite/polyaniline (PANI) hybrid materials were synthesized by in situ polymerization of aniline on the surface of MnFe₂O₄ using ammonium persulfate as oxidant. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of the two surfactants on the properties of the MnFe₂O₄ powders and of their composites with PANI. The specific surface area, the cumulative surface area of pores and the cumulative volume of pores are influenced by the nature of surfactant in case of MnFe₂O₄ powders and are higher by comparison to those of the MnFe₂O₄/PANI hybrid materials. The values of saturation magnetization in case of MnFe₂O₄ powders are higher than those of the hybrid materials and are not influenced by the surfactant nature. These features revealed that MnFe₂O₄ powders can be efficiently used as adsorbents for the purification of wastewaters. The values of the electrical conductivity of the composites exhibit a significant increase in comparison to the MnFe₂O₄ powders and depend on the surfactant nature. The highest value of electrical conductivity was achieved by the composite obtained using Tween 80 as surfactant (σ_DC = 54.5·10^?5S?m^?1) which was close to that of PANI (σ_DC = 61.2·10^?5 S?m^?1). The fact that the magnetic and electric properties of the synthesized MnFe₂O₄/PANI composites can be changed by design, demonstrate the high potential of these materials to be used in magneto-electric applications.     

On the uniqueness of some helical flows of a second grade fluid

Summary The uniqueness of some helical flows of a second grade fluid, between two infinite circular cylinders, is proved. Initially, the fluid is at rest and flow is produced by the motion of the cylinders. Finally, the special case of a flow in a circular cylinder is considered.     

Electrochemical mass transfer between an impinging jet and a rotating disk in a confined system

This paper presents the mass transfer results from an impinging liquid jet to a rotating disk. The mass transfer coefficients were measured using the electrochemical limiting diffusion current technique (ELDCT). Rotational Reynolds number (Re_r) in the range of 3.4 × 10⁴–1.2 × 10⁵, jet Reynolds number (Re_j) 1.7 × 10⁴–5.3 × 10⁴ and non-dimensional jet-to-disk spacing (H/d) 2–8 were taken into consideration as parameters. It was found that the jet impingement resulted in a substantial enhancement in the mass transfer compared to the case of the rotating disk without jet.     

Shortest path algorithms: A computational study with the C programming language

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the computational efficiency of algorithms for calculating shortest paths when they are correctly coded by using the C programming language. The eight algorithms that we selected for this experiment are the most efficient, either measured in terms of worst-case bounds or marked as such from previous computational studies; they include the redistributive heap algorithm. We suggest computer implementations that use the full power of C. In particular, the network representation and the various data structures used to keep the scan eligible list may be managed by using only additions and no multiplications, while it is not possible with FORTRAN. These capabilities, unique to C, yield several interesting conclusions: one may expect to speed up a shortest path algorithm by a factor of 20%; in some cases, this factor may reach 30%. Interestingly, the level of programming difficulty required to achieve these benefits is not greater than that required by implementations using arrays.     

Locational analysis for regionalization of Turkish Red Crescent blood services

After a series of earthquakes in 1999, Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) has engaged in a restructuring for all of its activities, including the blood services. Our study on the blood management system had been started as part of this initiative to restructure the blood services and improve both their effectiveness and efficiency. In the current system of TRC, not much consideration has been given to how the locational decisions affect the performance of blood centers, stations and mobile units. In recent years, however, there has been much discussion regarding the regionalization of the blood management system in Turkey. In this study, we develop several mathematical models to solve the location–allocation decision problems in regionalization of blood services. We report our computational results, obtained by using real data, for TRC blood services.     

On growth and dispersal of populations

In his unpublished MA thesis of 1921, the young Hotelling invented an ingenious model of population growth and diffusion. The contribution remained widely unknown until Waldo Tobler and Alan Wilson edited it as an article in 1978. Not even then did it trigger off any outburst of contributions. Meanwhile, in 1951, Skellam invented exactly the same model for non-human populations. Unlike in economics, it was a great success in ecology. In a recent contribution Skellam is named Father of Ecological Diffusion and more than a thousand articles on the subject are listed. There were many attempts at solving the equation, but none were quite successful. The Hotelling and Skellam models both assumed a given saturation population that nature could support. In 1985 the present author suggested that an explicit production function be introduced in the Hotelling model, as man produces his own means of subsistence. Moreover it was proposed that diffusion be related to spatial differences in per capita productivity, rather than to those in population density. The present contribution is a rejoinder. It is shown that the stationary solutions to the original Hotelling model are periodic and dip into negative populations, whereas this is avoided by the modified model suggested. It can thus be used to show how agglomerative structures may evolve.     

Prediction of software vulnerability based deep symbiotic genetic algorithms: Phenotyping of dominant-features

The detection of software vulnerabilities is considered a vital problem in the software security area for a long time. Nowadays, it is challenging to manage software security due to its increased complexity and diversity. So, vulnerability detection applications play a significant part in software development and maintenance. The ability of the forecasting techniques in vulnerability detection is still weak. Thus, one of the efficient defining features methods that have been used to determine the software vulnerabilities is the metaheuristic optimization methods. This paper proposes a novel software vulnerability prediction model based on using a deep learning method and SYMbiotic Genetic algorithm. We are first to apply Diploid Genetic algorithms with deep learning networks on software vulnerability prediction to the best of our knowledge. In this proposed method, a deep SYMbiotic-based genetic algorithm model (DNN-SYMbiotic GAs) is used by learning the phenotyping of dominant-features for software vulnerability prediction problems. The proposed method aimed at increasing the detection abilities of vulnerability patterns with vulnerable components in the software. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on several benchmark datasets; these datasets are taken from Drupal, Moodle, and PHPMyAdmin projects. The obtained results revealed that the proposed method (DNN-SYMbiotic GAs) enhanced vulnerability prediction, which reflects improving software quality prediction.

     

A new approach to predict ulcerative colitis activity through standard clinical–biological parameters using a robust neural network model

Neural Computing and Applications - Colonoscopy is the “gold” standard for evaluating disease activity in ulcerative colitis (UC). An important area of research is finding a...     

Heat transfer at spherical thin film solidification

Summary A mathematical model for the solidification process of a melted film coating a spherical particle plunged in an immobile fluid is presented. This model may be used in order to determine temperature distribution in the vicinity of the particle. The results obtained using a melted sulphur thin film cooled with air are consistent with the data available in literature.