Thermal stability of indium-tin-oxide/n-GaAs Schottky diodes

The thermal degradation of ITO Schottky contacts on GaAs has been studied. The rectifying contacts show rapid degradation with heating and could have serious implications for optoelectronic devices that operate at elevated temperatures.<>     

Electro-optical characteristics of indium tin oxide (ITO) films: effect of thermal annealing

The effect of thermal annealing on the electrical and optical characteristics of ITO films prepared by reactive sputtering and thermal evaporation have been studied. The effect of the thermal annealing is to improve the conductivity and the optical transmission in the shorter wavelength region. The conductivity of the films increases with annealing temperature, this behaviour is associated with grain growth in the film.     

On the bounded-real and positive-real conditions for affine nonlinear state-delayed systems and applications to stability

In this paper, bounded-real conditions for affine nonlinear state-delayed systems are derived using the concept of dissipativeness. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the system to be dissipative and to have finite L₂-gain also referred to as the bounded-real condition are given. The implications on the stability of the system and feedback interconnections of such systems are also considered. Finally, an equivalent of the positive-real lemma is derived and its implications on stability of the system and feedback interconnections of such systems are similarly discussed.     

Tribological Performance of UHMWPE/GNPs Nanocomposite Coatings for Solid Lubrication in Bearing Applications

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/ graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) nanocomposite coatings were developed to reduce friction and wear in the absence of liquid lubrication. UHMWPE nanocomposite powders with different loadings (0.25, 1, and 2 wt.%) of GNPs were prepared and electrostatic spraying technique was then used to deposit the nanocomposite powders on aluminum alloy to form a thin coating. Friction and wear tests were conducted on the coatings against a flat-end pin, made of hardened tool steel to determine the best loading of GNPs. That was further tested to investigate the effect of sliding speed and contact pressure on its tribological properties and to establish coating operating limits. Results showed that UHMWPE nanocomposite coating reinforced with 1 wt.% GNPs showed the best tribological performance. It reduced wear rate by about 51% as compared to the pristine UHMWPE coating. The coating sustained a maximum sliding speed of 1 m/s at a contact pressure of 4 MPa equivalent to a pressure and velocity (PV) value of 4 MPa.m/s.     

Physicochemical,mineralogy,and thermo-kinetic characterisation of newly discovered Nigerian coals under pyrolysis and combustion conditions

In this study,the physicochemical,microstructural,mineralogical,thermal,and kinetic properties of three newly discovered coals from Akunza (AKZ),Ome (OME),and S...     

Decentralized Backstepping Control of a Quadrotor with Tilted-rotor under Wind Gusts

International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems - Conventional unmanned aerial vehicles, quadrotor have a plethora of applications for civilian and military purposes. Quadrotors as the...     

Insight into kinetics and thermodynamics properties of multicomponent lead(II), cadmium(II) and manganese(II) adsorption onto Dijah-Monkin bentonite clay

Multicomponent adsorption of lead(II), cadmium(II) and manganese(II) by Nigerian Dijah-Monkin bentonite clay was investigated. The clay samples were characterized for elemental composition, cation exchange capacity and textural properties. Natural bentonite exhibits cation exchange capacity of 47.7?meq/100?g and specific surface area of 23.5?m²/g. Manganese(II) displays higher values of rate constant than lead(II) in multimetals adsorption. However, lead(II) is favorably adsorbed onto bentonite adsorbents at different concentrations studied. The multimetals adsorption onto bentonite clay samples is site selective and site specific. The pseudo-second-order kinetics model gave a better fit to the adsorption data, suggesting ion exchange and/or complex formation. The adsorption mechanism could be described by intraparticle diffusion with some restriction of metals diffusion due to film or boundary layer. Also, the multicomponent adsorption is endothermic and becomes more spontaneous as temperature increased from 303 to 338?K. Nigerian bentonite clay in its natural form is a promising adsorbent for multimetals removal in aqueous solution.     

Grey and black optical solitary waves,and modulation instability analysis to the perturbed nonlinear Schrödinger equation with Kerr law nonlinearity

This paper addresses the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with Kerr law nonlinearity and perturbation terms in optical fibre. A class of grey and black optical solitary wave solutions of this equation are retrieved by adopting an appropriate solitary wave ansatz solution. These types of solitary waves play a vital role in understanding various physical phenomena in nonlinear systems. This lead to a constraint condition on the solitary wave parameters which must hold for the solitary waves to exist. Moreover, the modulation instability (MI) analysis of the model is studied by employing the concept of linear-stability analysis (LSA) and the MI gain spectrum is got. Physical interpretations of the acquired results are demonstrated. It is hoped that the results reported in this paper can enrich the nonlinear dynamical behaviours of the equation.     

Iterative computational approach to the solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman-Isaacs equation in nonlinear optimal control

In this paper, iterative or successive approximation methods for the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman-Isaacs equations (HJBIEs) arising in both deterministic and stochastic optimal control for affine nonlinear systems are developed. Convergence of the methods are established under fairly mild assumptions, and examples are solved to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods. However, the results presented in the paper are preliminary, and do not yet imply in anyway that the solutions computed will be stabilizing. More improvements and experimentation will be required before a satisfactory algorithm is developed.