Search

This paper presents a novel approach to enhance microgrid resilience through the application of robust Model Predictive Control (RMPC). The primary objective is to minimize overall cost during prolonged main grid outages by optimizing resource allocation. The proposed methodology encompasses two essential phases: grid connected operation and resilient operation. In the former, optimal unit commitments, energy storage schedules, and adjustable loads are determined to inform the subsequent resilient operation phase. During resilient operation, the microgrid's capacity to fulfill local load demands amidst main grid disruptions is evaluated. A crucial element of this approach is the mitigation of uncertainties through robust optimization techniques, thereby guaranteeing the solution's resilience in the face of variations in load, non-dispatchable generation, and the timing of main grid interruptions. The resulting refined solution strikes a delicate equilibrium between economic efficiency and resilience, thereby facilitating seamless islanding with minimal disruptions. Through numerical simulations conducted within a test microgrid, this approach's effectiveness is validated, highlighting its potential to bolster microgrid resilience by strategically optimizing resource allocation, particularly in critical scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present scenario, with the rise in the transportation sector, there is a requirement for a sustainable approach to reducing greenhouse gas as well as fossil carbon emissions that will mitigate several environmental problems associated with the utilization of fossil-based fuels. This fossil fuel has a devastating effect on human health as well as deteriorating environmental conditions. The demand for a sustainable approach to waste management has led to the development of renewable biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels. Waste management is a critical point in addressing waste generation issues, and in the meantime, biomass valorization is one of the critical aspects in the context of a circular bioeconomy. Biomass is considered the best alternative source for bioenergy production through the application of biorefinery that can generate varied bio-products from a single source in a short processing time. The effective execution of the waste-to-energy core principle will result in a zero-waste discharge plan, which is a crucial step toward the long-term development of bioenergy. This paper focused on various sustainable approaches that will mitigate global waste generation and fossil carbon emissions as well as show economic feasibility for global energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil contains crucial macro and micronutrients for plant growth and development. However, to enhance soil fertility; growers apply fertilizers for "re-filling" the supply of nutrients to the soil so that they can continue to cultivate crops. Inorganic fertilizers do not release according to demand; they dissolve easily and release nitrogen faster than the plants can utilize them. Also due to the poor mobility of zinc, plants are in a need of a constant supply of zinc, for excellent growth and development. There are three main sources of nitrogen: urea, ammonium, and nitrate. Urea fertilizers although have a direct impact on plants it does not release according to demand. With the use of nanotechnology, nano-sized particles are produced and synthesized. Urea nano fertilizer and Zinc oxide nanoparticles are the widespread nanoparticles. The current review deals with the importance of nano forms of nitrogen and zinc as essential growth macro and microelements for plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical MRI scanning serves an essential part in the diagnostic procedure of several severe disorders including brain cancers and the following medication procedures of a patient. Because the brain is a fragile, intricate, and crucial part of the human body, it is one of the most common causes of death among cancer patients. However, a good and prompt treatment may save lives to a certain degree. Hence, in this publication, an effective brain tumor identification framework is suggested using a Deformable model of Fuzzy C-Mean clustering (DMFCM), Adaptive Cluster with Super Pixel Segmentation (ACSP), and Gray Wolf Optimization with Adaptive Clustering with Super pixel Segmentation (GWO_ACSP) and are mainly tested on CANCER IMAGE ACHRCHIEVE (CIA) which is a database containing High Grade and Low-Grade astrocytoma tumor images and also with BRATS 2015. The evaluation matrices were computed in which the proposed Gray Wolf Optimization-based ACSP (GWO_ACSP) gives a better answer for brain tumor segmentation with an accuracy of 0.99% than other models like RG, PFCM, SLPSO, MRG. The computational complexity ad memory utilization using these algorithms shows a remarkable lower value compared to other prominent methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present context, the utility of mathematical modeling approaches in water management is increasing exponentially. These models are being used to manage the complex nature of water contamination and further in providing the quantitative forecasts. The larger application of these models is in managing of polluted water where it is difficult to get the exact information regarding the contamination. The present study aims to explore the water management process and how it can be managed through the mathematical models. Even, the study will explore the expansion of quantitative models to addresses the challenges to water management and redefine the shape of future research towards water management. Further, the study will emphasis on re-thinking on the water utility and further, about the re-utilization for various applications which ultimately help the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using stabilized finite-element-based in-house solver, a diamond cylinder of unity mass ratio is allowed to vibrate freely in cross-stream direction at a fixed Reynolds number of 100. The reduced speed (U*) is varied between 1 and 17 and the blockage is 5%. Under similar flow conditions, the maximum displacement of the diamond oscillator in the present study is 98.4% times closer to displacement of an oscillator with circular cross-section. The oscillator is in the state of 'infinite lock-in' and has high amplitude oscillations for all U* ≥ 2.5. The structure is mostly exposed to periodic fluid loading except at U* = 2, where it is quasi-periodic. The cylinder wake is asymmetric on the 'humped' region of the response curve. The work transfer is positive for in-phase lift and displacement signals while it is negative for the out-of-phase situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the mechanical and tribological sliding wear tests are performed and the effect of varying load, sliding velocity for random-discontinuous glass fiber reinforced polypropylene was investigated. The tensile tests of GFRP material are performed for 2mm sheet thickness in uniaxial loading conditions. The sliding wear test was performed on the pin-on-disc apparatus for the load from 10 N to 50 N at an interval of 10 N and sliding velocity from 1m/s to 5m/s at an interval of 1m/s. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to interpret the surface wear effects for considered conditions. The coefficient of friction (COF) was increased as the normal load is increased, but for 40 N load sudden drop in COF was observed. In varying velocities, the graph showed nonlinear conditions for COF values. The wear rate for both conditions was also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this brief, we have studied the Impact of trap charges on the small-signal RF response of Single Metal Gate Junctionless Accumulation Mode Nanowire FET (SMG-JAM-NWFET) and Dual Metal Gate Junctionless Accumulation Mode Nanowire FET (DMG-JAM-NWFET) for their immunity against the trap induced charges, which are precisely characterized by the measuring the aberration Scattering (S) parameters like S11, S12, S21 and S22. Aberration in other parameters like drain characteristics, capacitances and cut-off frequency has also been studied deeply. It is so found that the DMG-JAM-NWFET poses much higher immunity against the trap charges as compared to the conventional SMG-JAM-NWFET in terms of much lower change in the aforesaid parameters. It is so because of the impact ionization effect, the resistance to trap charges in DMG-JAM-NWFET is much higher than SMG-JAM-NWFET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the spread of pathogens like SARS-CoV-2, the urge for ergonomic disinfection techniques regained momentum. Ozone is a proven oxidizing agent that leaves no harmful residue after oxidation. Due to its green and cost-effective attributes, it is widely used for various industrial and domestic treatment/disinfection applications. In this paper, three mainstream Ozone generation methods i.e. (i) electrochemical method, (ii) ultraviolet ray method, and (iii) plasma discharge method are reviewed. The first step in Ozone generation involves the decomposition of molecular Oxygen into atomic Oxygen that requires the energy of certain intensity. This requirement of energy is fulfilled using Platinum coated PbO2 electrode, UV ray lamps with a certain range of wavelengths, and secondary streamers in plasma arc, respectively. In addition to the generation methods, various application of Ozone in wastewater treatment, fish-farming, food, and dairy industry, and odor treatment has also been reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is currently the leading cause of mortality. There are a variety of medicines available to treat cancer, but none has been shown to be fully safe and effective. The toxicity of medicines is the most serious issue in cancer treatment. Plants and plant-derived bioactive molecules, on the other hand, have been shown to be safe and effective in the treatment of cancer. Cancer has traditionally been treated with phytochemicals found in fruits, vegetables, herbs, and plant extracts. Several herbal drugs have been shown to have potent anticancer properties. Their low bioavailability, solubility, and stability, on the other hand, have severely limited their usage. The herbal medicine can be incorporated into nanolipolomal vesicles to solve these issues. Researchers have utilized herbal medication loaded nanoliposomes for the treatment and management of a range of malignancies in the last several decades. For the treatment of cancer, a variety of liposomal formulations are already available, with many more in the works. The tumor microenvironment, bioactive phytochemicals targeting mechanism to tumor tissue, background of nanoliposome, and possible therapeutic uses of various bioactive phytochemicals loaded nanoliposome in cancer therapy are all discussed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nanotechnology is most eminent field of research due to cost effective and various applications. In present paper, Bi2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by microwave modified chemical route method with NaOH as the surfactant. Therefore, synthesized and calcined samples were examined by using various techniques such as XRD, FTIR and FESEM. The XRD results reveals that the particles are crystalline in nature and sized in nanometer scale i.e., the crystallite size of sample are 18nm and the nature of crystalline changes from α-Bi2O3 to γ-Bi2O3 at 6000C. The FTIR spectrum of various samples calcined at different temperature for fixed duration has been analyzed and IR peaks were observed at 529-542 cm−1 corresponds to Bi-O bond while the vibrations at 3363∼3414 cm−1 corresponds to O–H stretching. The FTIR spectrum shows absorption band at 840 cm−1 which is attributed to Bi-O-Bi bond. FESEM images reveals that the as synthesized nanoparticles are truncated spherical in shape and are highly polycrystalline in nature. The nanotechnology is most eminent field of research due to cost effective and various applications. In present paper, Bi2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by microwave modified chemical route method with NaOH as the surfactant. Therefore, synthesized and calcined samples were examined by using various techniques such as XRD, FTIR and FESEM. The XRD results reveals that the particles are crystalline in nature and sized in nanometer scale i.e., the crystallite size of sample are 18nm and the nature of crystalline changes from α-Bi2O3 to γ-Bi2O3 at 6000C. The FTIR spectrum of various samples calcined at different temperature for fixed duration has been analyzed and IR peaks were observed at 529-542 cm−1 corresponds to Bi-O bond while the vibrations at 3363∼3414 cm−1 corresponds to O–H stretching. The FTIR spectrum shows absorption band at 840 cm−1 which is attributed to Bi-O-Bi bond. FESEM images reveals that the as synthesized nanoparticles are truncated spherical in shape and are highly polycrystalline in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the agriculture field, the production yield is often less than the farmer's expected value because a few parts of the crops are damaged by pests and insects. Chemical pesticides have wide applications in the agriculture field. Through the agricultural run-off, these pesticides contaminate the water sources. So, there is a need for highly efficient La-doped ZnO photocatalytic material for pesticide degradation. Photocatalytic material was synthesized via a hydrothermal route. Zn (NO)3.6H2O and La (NO3)3.6HM2O was used as zinc and lanthanum precursor in ethanol. Surface Morphology and dopant composition were analyzed by SEM-EDX images which confirmed the hybrid of the metal doping process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorpyrifos insecticide is one of the most extensively used organophosphorus pesticides due to its low cost and excellent performance in controlling pests in agriculture fields and gardens. The presence of pesticides in the aquatic environment produces a slew of issues for both humans and ecosystems. The purpose of this research is to assess the photocatalytic detoxification of chlorpyrifos in wastewater utilizing g-C₃N₄/GO nanoparticles. The g-C₃N₄/GO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by using calcinations and hydrothermal methods. Additionally, the photocatalytic detoxification of chlorpyrifos was examined by optimizing several parameters such as catalyst type, irradiation period, catalyst concentrations, and pH. The photocatalytic efficiency of g-C₃N₄/GO nanoparticles was determined by using a UV–visible spectrophotometer. According to the findings of this study, the photo detoxification effectiveness of chlorpyrifos pesticides rises with increasing illumination time, and detoxification of chlorpyrifos by using a photo-catalyst was strongly influenced by the operational parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most important element of forensic science is detecting and identifying trace compounds from complicated mediums. Drugs, poisons, explosives, DNA, GSR, fire accelerants, and other compounds are examples of these trace evidences. Forensic science is an emerging area that requires efficient and constructive analytical procedures, and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) can be quite useful in on-going research. On account of its stability, robustness, specificity, cost value, longer storage, and shelf life, this method has a wide spectrum of uses in a variety of disciplines, such as the food manufacturing industry, environmental study, and drug delivery system development, in making of biosensors, sample pre-treatment, and separation/extraction. Major focus is on the impacts of this approach in this review, such as detection, extraction, and instrumentation. It is intended to highlight the importance of MIPs in the area of forensic science ensuring the effective fulfilment of the growing obligations of criminal investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An affordable solid state reaction technique was used to make pure and Ni doped ZnS nanoparticles. FTIR, UV–Vis, XRD and SEM were used to characterise the products' functional, Structural and morphological properties. The polycrystalline nature of the nanoparticles with cubic crystal structure was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. FTIR spectroscopy was used to analyse the functional group linked with a molecule's vibration. The photocatalytic activity results showed that Ni doping increased ZnS's photocatalytic activity. As a result, Ni-ZnS could be employed as a photocatalyst to degrade the environmental contaminant Methyl red dye. Among nanocomposites, ZnS have the highest photoactivity. To optimise the photodegradation process of dyes, the influence of sample pH and ZnS dosage were changed. With a concentration of 50 mg/l, Efficient degradation was obtained for Methyl red. In samples with a pH of 6-10, the ZnS indicates the stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micromixers are important devices based on mechanical microparts used to mix fluids, which work in chemical, pharmaceutical, analytical and biochemical analysis. Fluid mixing at the microscale is a critical stage in microfluidic systems. The flow and mixing behavior of fluid changes significantly when the length size is scaled down to the order of microns because of the dominance of the viscous forces over the inertial forces at the macroscale level. Mixing at the microscale is based on the diffusion mass transport phenomenon, which can take a long time and require an extensive microchannel length to achieve the outcome. The current study investigates flow characteristics and mixing behavior of a standard serpentine, vortex serpentine micromixer having two and four non-aligned inlets with Newtonian fluid water. In micromixer, inlet passage is tangentially oriented to the main microchannel at the one end. Some mathematical equations listed under mathematical modeling are used to calculate mixing performance in terms of the mixing index. The results were found to be related to a simple serpentine mixer. Vortex flow is generated by a vortex serpentine mixer having two and four inlet channels to improve mixing. The vortex mixer having two non-aligned inlet passages has the great blending performance of the three cases due to the highest mixing index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central objective of this article is to present a focused and simplified review regarding utilization of different in-organic host materials, their composition, with regard to various applications of white light emitting diodes (w-LEDs). Extremely outstanding and flexible properties of inorganic host materials are of utmost importance for the research community in the present times. Through this compact review we aim to provide a platform to new researchers regarding key developments in w-LEDs. A firsthand information and in-principle, the application part by considering various host materials is summarized. The applications of w-LEDs with respect to different host materials like nitride/oxy-nitrides, aluminates, sulphides phosphor and silicates are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study deals with the buckling phenomenon modeling in a dome-shaped dielectric elastomeric (DE) actuator used in different aerodynamic and fluid power system applications. The DE actuator is a circular membrane type of actuator, which shows a large out-of-plane axial-symmetric deformation with an electrically induced loading condition. A classical continuum mechanics-based analytical model is developed to predict the electrically induced buckling deformation in the actuator. A detailed parametric study has been performed to see the influence of standard Neo-Hookean and Mooney-Rivlin types of potential energies on the geometrical and physical parameters. The findings show that the present model successfully links the sensitivity of different potential energies concerning the actuator's initial dome height and radius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study reports an amended static force model for a pneumatic muscle actuator (PMA) used in different aerodynamic and fluid power system applications. The PMA is a fluid actuator, made of a polymeric bladder enclosed in a braided mesh sleeve. A physics-based static model is developed to predict the deformation response of the actuator for different applied pressure. The significant losses, like braid-to-braid friction, non-cylindrical ends, and bladder hyperelasticity effect, have been considered to enhance the model's practical feasibility. However, a combined effect of all these losses in the PMA was ignored in the literature. The findings of the derived model agree well with existing experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 has become a global concern as it has ended the lives of lakhs of people. The study done by. Lin proposed the results of an analysis of a theoretical computational model of epidemiology taking into account the crucial components such as response of an individual behavior, measures taken by government, rapid transmission and emigration of fever virus to a huge extent of human population. Simple model framework has been used by them to examine the requirements of essential elements.Problem: We claim the perfect validation of the assumptions stated for the purpose of modeling and its analysis, however, the analytical solution of the presented model is not discussed. And thus have a poor potential to make computational estimates.Methodology adopted: We have tried to present and validate the mathematical/analytic solution of the developed model, considering their assumptions.Conclusion: We have reached to the outcome that the work presented by Q. Lin should be demonstrated adequately with a cautionary advice of not to consider the results and analysis of such numerical models.The current study proposed the results of an analysis of a theoretical computational model of epidemiology taking into account the crucial components such as response of an individual behavior, measures taken by government, rapid transmission and emigration of fever virus to a huge extent of human population. Simple model framework has been used by them to examine the requirements of essential elements. We claim the perfect validation of the assumptions stated for the purpose of modeling and its analysis, however, the analytical solution of the presented model is not discussed. The decision point of this work is to adequately demonstrate along with the cautionary advice of not to use the outcomes and analysis of such numerical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diamond properties should be easily compared to other wide band-gap semiconductor materials as diamond possesses unique properties. Diamond's thermal conductivity of 22 W/cm K which is greater than many other materials. Effective electronic device operation could be easily obtained by single crystal diamond films as they promise better efficiency as compared to polycrystalline diamond, as it does not contain many grain boundaries, defects and stacking faults. Polycrystalline diamond films also have high demand in mechanical applications like cutting tools, polishing and grinding of optics etc. Diamond films could be easily grown with Chemical Vapour Deposition techniques (CVD) such as like plasma jet. Boron is present in higher concentration in thin films prepared with MWCVD, especially in (111)-oriented films making it holes carrying semiconductor where boron is the charge acceptor. For achieving superconductivity, it's important for realizing concentration of carriers effectively high enough for inducing the insulator-to-metal transition. Diamond based devices for reducing the temperature of the devices' dissipating heat is discussed here. Heat conducting substrate composed of diamond situated in the cooling device should be prepared in the thermal contact with heat dissipating devices which will spread out heat flows over a relatively large area during the operation. (Bi0.25Sb0.75)2Te3 based thermoelectric cooling material must be kept in close with the heat-conducting substrate which will pump heat on the application of electrical power into a second heat-conducting substrate which would be connected to the heat sink. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study is to introduce the notion of ∗−reverse derivation and thereby extend it to generalized ∗−reverse derivation. Moreover, we characterize ∗−reverse derivations and generalized ∗−reverse derivations that act as ∗−centralizing on specific subsets of semiprime rings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous techniques are available in literature for finding the multiple roots of nonlinear equations. These techniques are categorized by the their order, informational efficiency and efficiency index. Another important criterion for comparing the techniques is to study their complex dynamics using the graphical tool, namely basins of attraction. In this paper, we consider several techniques of order three and characterize their basins of attraction by applying them on different polynomials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electromagnetic crimping is a high-speed forming method used to join dissimilar metals without physical contact or the formation of metallic bond. In this paper, a non-coupled finite element model is developed using ANSYS Maxwell and ANSYS Explicit Dynamics. Electromagnetic crimping of Cu-SS304 joint with the inner steel tube having an outer threaded surface is modelled. The deformation of the tubes, stress and strain etc. are analysed. Experiments are done to validate the numerical results. Both the discharge energy and pitch of the thread can be increased to enhance the outer tube deformation. This will result in stronger interference fit joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High strength-to-weight ratio, high temperature stability, and bio-compatibility makes Ti6Al4V alloy an interesting choice for aerospace, automobile, chemical, and bio-medical industries. In spite of the several attractive properties, the application of the alloy is restricted in sliding interfaces. As a result, many studies, involving surface modifications of the alloy or the tribo-pair in general have surfaced for improvement in tribological properties. The details of tribological behavior of un-modified Ti6Al4V alloy in various operating and environmental conditions, can act as an initial data for the future researches aimed at improving its tribological properties. Thus, the present review is an attempt to put together the studies conducted to evaluate the sliding wear behavior of Ti6Al4V in both dry and lubricated condition at the room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents investigated results from Finite Element (FE) linear static analyses of the solid riveted metallic lap joints with and without corrugated plate edges. The main objective is to study the impact of corrugated edge of single rowed riveted single shear metallic lap joint on edge failure occurrences such as edge wrinkling, edge shear out, and edge split. A solid riveted lap joint is simplest and mostly used permanent joint type in the aerospace industries. During any aircraft development, a detailed analysis of every design parameter of all the riveted joints is a significant part in reporting riveted joint strengths and weights. There are many studies reported on importance of design parameters of solid riveted metallic lap joints. However, the impact of edge margin's geometrical shape on the edge failure modes in the riveted metallic lap joints were very rarely carried out. Hence, the influence of edge margin's geometrical shape on stress distribution along the edge margin direction was not reported in the literature. As an initial part of this paper, the geometrical shape of the edge margins has been optimized to corrugated shapes in order to reduce the normal stresses along the edge margin directions. The next part of the study describes FE investigation of three varieties of solid riveted single shear metallic lap single rowed joints. Investigated samples are of 2024-T3 aluminum alloy, manufactured from a thickness of 2mm sheet and the solid rivet NAS1097AD6-7 made of 2117-T4 aluminum alloy. Metallic lap joints with one, two and four rivets in a single row cases are investigated. FE linear static analyses have been performed with edge margin of 1.5D and 2D on straight and corrugated shapes by keeping all other design parameters of the joint as constant. An average possible weight reduction per joint due to introduction of corrugated edge margins over straight edges has also been reported. Reduction in normal stresses along the corrugated edge margins compare to straight edge margins are presented as the main outcome of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presently, lead filled steel casks are used worldwide for transportation of radioactive materials as Type B package. The disadvantage of lead as shielding material is because of having low boiling point and high thermal expansion, which causes problem during fire and melted lead come out from the containment breach. In recent years research on thick walled metallic cask for transportation is under progress. Hence, preliminary design and development of Ductile Cast Iron (DCI) cask is carried out for the next generation of transport cask. Furthermore, in lead filled cask, lead also acts as impact absorber and absorbs 60-70% impact energy. However, in DCI cask, most of the impact energy is transferred to the containment. Therefore, shock absorber is essential in these casks to maintain the structural integrity of the containment to meet the regulatory requirements. The regulatory standards require that the containment design shall be certified for transportation shall have to maintain structural integrity under hypothetical accident conditions such as 9 m drop on unyielding target. Numerical analysis of casks with shock absorbers during accident is highly non-linear due to impact, rebound, material and geometrical non-linearity and has convergence issue during solution procedure. The possibility of using uniform porous Al-foam shock absorber is investigated in detail. There is no reported work available in the literature incorporating impact, rebound, material and geometrical non-linearity for DCI cask with impact absorber. Finite Element based numerical analysis has been carried out to observe the effectiveness of shock absorber during 9 m drop. Various parameters like impact stress, strain, kinetic energy, and absorbed energy of Al foam during impact have been analyzed and discussed in detail. It is found from the numerical analysis that Al-Foam based shock absorber are well suitable for heavy cask. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims at the development and characterization of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles as a carrier for various anti-cancerous drugs viz. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), Doxorubicin (DOX) and Daunorubicin (DNR). ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by standard precipitation method. The measurement of optical band gap using UV-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) analysis reveals the lowering of ZnO band gap after the drug loading. Crystallite size of free and drug loaded ZnO nanoparticles were determined using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The crystallite size of ZnO nanoparticles increases after the drug loading. Both the techniques confirm the adsorption of drug molecules on ZnO surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of pure Aluminum (Al) possessing exceptional mechanical and physical properties is restricted in the anticipated application due to their poor tribological performances. To enhance the tribological properties of Al, present work endeavors to provide a solution by developing oxide enriched recast layer with very smoothsurface through Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM). To achieve this objective,a fraction factorial table is developed by considering three levels of parameters of EDM (i) pulse on time (ii) peak current and (iii) spark on voltage.For each condition of fraction factorial tables, oxygen percentage (quantifying oxide layer formation) using Energy disperse x-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) and the surface roughness from atomic force microscope (AFM) is determined. Using these valuescontribution of parameters of EDM is determined by calculated least square values for three different cases (i) Case 1: considering only the percentage of oxygen, (ii) Case 2: considering only roughness values, and (iii) Case 3: considering 0.5 weight factor for Cases 1 and 2. From the determined contribution of each parameter, oxygen percentage and roughness values, the optimumoperating condition of EDM for achieving most favorable tribological condition is identified. Finally, to validate the finding tribological experiments are performed on a block-on-disk tribometer for the selected three blocks and compared with pure Al. The obtained values of wear loss and friction coefficient value of all four blocks are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excitonic study of semiconductors is highly benefitted by the fast computers and numerical techniques. This effect can be better visualized by taking in to account the effect of irreducible polarization in case of electron hole interaction. Optically active excitonic states encountered when perturbed frequencies are of lower than electronic band gap. BSE(Bethe-Salpeter equation) provides the quite good results in case of semiconductors while describing the dielectric properties excluding the dynamical effects. As four point reducible polarizability is a frequency dependent term and frequently used to define excitation as two particle many body problem which further can be expanded in transition space using Hamltonian. Solution of BSE infers the information regarding the strength of electron hole interaction and why semiconducting materials are optically responsive and frequency dependent. Coulombic interaction of exciton is screened by the other electrons present in the materials. In the bulk of material excitonic problem can be resolved through MW (Mott- Wannier) equation which resembles the hydrogen like Schrodinger equation. Weak dielectric screening is responsible for large binding energy of electron. The screening effect of heterostructure environment effectively controls the exciton binding energy and radius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Fluid Film Bearings (FFBs) operating in hydrodynamic boundary regime can provide moderate load carrying capacity, negligible wear and friction. However in extreme operating conditions i.e. at high load and low speed, asperities of journal and bearing surfaces come in contact with each other resulting in high wear and friction. During the contact of the asperities, the temperature of the lubricant increases due to frictional heating, resulting in reduction of the viscosity of lubricant. Variation of lubricant viscosity results in low load carrying capacity of the FFB and therefore resulting in detoriation of FFB performance. In the present work it is hypothesized that, by adding multi-functional Multi Wall Carbon Nano-Tubes (MWCNT) (having high thermal conductivity and anti-friction properties) as nano-additive in the base mineral oil, the aforementioned problems can be overcome. To validate the proposed hypothesis, five different samples of lubricant is considered: Sample 1: Base oil, Sample 2: Base oil +0.05% MWCNT, Sample 3: Base oil +0.05% MWCNT +0.5%surfactant, Sample 4: Base oil +0.1% MWCNT +0.5% surfactant, and Sample 5: Base oil +0.15% MWCNT +0.5%surfactant. To evaluate the performance of the developed lubricants, experiments were performed on the reduced scale conformal block on disc test setup. The experimental condition and dimension of the block and disc were decide for the Sommerfeld number equal to 0.0025, which indicates mixed lubrication regime. The performance of lubricant is evaluated by measuring the frictional force and temperature rise of the lubricant during the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium (Ti) alloy Ti-6Al-4V (Ti64), possesses a inimitable combination of mechanical, physical and corrosion properties, which makes them desirable for applications like aerospace, automobile, chemical and energy industries devices etc. However this alloy of Ti exhibits poor tribological (friction and wear) properties, which limits their full fledged implementation. However, the tribological behavior of T164 can be enhanced by providing a coating or a protective layer on it, which posses superior tribological properties. It is hypothesized that by a layer of alumina on the can be deposited on the surface of Ti64, by sliding them in dry-ambient condition using Pin On Disk (POD) machine. To validate the hypothesis, experiments were performed for different normal loading conditions of 13.7N, 68.7N and 109.9N at sliding speed of 0.01m/s and for a sliding distance of 1000m. The tribological performance of the experiments, were evaluated by measuring Coefficient of Friction (COF) and weight loss values. To understand the tribological mechanism and behaviour, In-situ analysis was performed on the pin using (i) Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to understand the wear morphology, and (ii) Energy Dispersive Analysis of X Ray (EDAX) to estimate the deposition of alumina on surface of the pins. Based on the obtained results, the most favorable experimenting condition required for deposition of alumina over Ti64 will be identified. Finally, experiment on POD will be repeated for the selected experimenting condition and will be continued for the worst tribological condition. The obtained COF and wear values after performing the experiment will be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A passive harmonic radio frequency (RF) tag on the pipe with added sensing capabilities is proposed in this paper. Radio frequency identification (RFID) based tagging has already emerged as a potential solution for chemical sensing, location detection, animal tagging, etc. Harmonic transponders are already quite popular compared to conventional RFIDs due to their improved signal to noise ratio (SNR). However, the operating frequency, transmitted power and tag efficiency become critical issues for underground RFIDs. In this paper, a comprehensive on-tag sensing, power budget and frequency analyses is performed for buried harmonic tag design. Accurate tracking of infrastructure burial depth is proposed to reduce the probability of failure of underground pipelines. Burial depth is estimated using phase information of received signals at different frequencies calculated using genetic algorithm (GA) based optimization for post processing. Suitable frequency range is determined for a variety of soil with different moisture content for small tag-antenna size. Different types of harmonic tags such as 1) Schottky diode, 2) Non-linear Transmission Line (NLTL) were compared for underground applications. In this study, the power, frequency and tag design have been optimized to achieve small antenna size, minimum signal loss and simple reader circuit for underground detection at up to 5 feet depth in different soil medium and moisture contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have considered here the relaxation properties of three dimensional lattice model of an electron glass. We have modeled the kinetics of site-occupation numbers as Ising spins by Kawasaki Dynamics. The master equation governing the dynamics is approximated by making mean field approximation. We have calculated the eigenvalues and localization characteristics of the linear dynamical matrix. The behavior of the eigenvalues at different temperatures is used to detect the presence of a possible dynamical transition. We have also calculated eigenvalues of inverse susceptibility matrix and its behavior with temperature is used as additional input to analyze the slow dynamics and aging. Due to localized states having long lifetime the dynamics of the system slows down with decreasing temperature. We found the gap exponent of density of states of Hartree energy to be close to δ≈d-1 as predicted by Efros and Shklovskii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, the effects of cake thickness and time on the efficiency of brown stock washer of the paper mill are studied by using mathematical model of pulp washing for the species of sodium and lignin ions. The mechanism of the diffusion- dispersion washing of the bed of the pulp fibers is mathematically modeled by the basic material balance and adsorption isotherm is used to describe the equilibrium between the concentration of the solute in the liquor and concentration of the solute on the fibers. To study the parametric effect, numerical solutions of the axial domain of the system governed by partial differential equations (transport and isotherm equations) for different boundary conditions are obtained by the “pdepe” solver in MATLAB source code. The effects of both the parameters are shown by three dimensional graphical representation as well as concentration profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphor is one of the most promising oxide-based red phosphors. It is being studied since long time because of its efficient luminescence under ultraviolet (UV) and cathode-ray excitation. Y2O3: Eu3+ show luminescent properties and emits red light at a wavelength of 611 nm and was found to be suitable for many display devices. The present study focuses on the preparation, characterization and structural properties of Eu+3 doped Y2O3 nanoparticles obtained by co-precipitation method. The synthesized particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV visible spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Photoluminescence. All the powders were well crystallized spherical particles with average crystallite size of 85nm. An optimum concentration of 5 mol% Eu3+ doping exhibited maximum optical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]