Magnetocaloric Properties of the Perovskite GdCuO3: Monte Carlo Simulation

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - This work aims to examine the magnetocaloric properties of the Perovskite GdCuO3, such as the total magnetization, the susceptibility, and the...     

Neighborhood min distance descriptor for kinship verification

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The verification of parental and family relationships based on the facial appearance of subjects is a recent topic that attracted the attention of the computer...     

Admissibility and stabilization of singular continuous 2D systems described by Roesser model

Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing - The paper considers first, the admissibility conditions for continuous 2D systems represented by Roesser model by dealing with non-strict LMIs....     

Ferroelectric solid solution Li1 − xTa1 − xWxO3 as potential photocatalysts in microbial fuel cells: Effect of the W content

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are bio-electrochemical systems that can directly convert the chemical energy contained in an effluent into bioelectricity by the action of microorganisms. The performance of these devices is heavily impacted by the choice of the material that forms the cathode. This work focuses on the assessment of ferroelectric and photocatalytic materials as a new class of non-precious catalysts for MFC cathode construction. A series of cathodes based on mixed oxide solid solution of LiTaO₃ with WO₃ formulated as Li_1-xTa_1-xW_xO₃ (x=0, 0.10, 0.20 and 0.25), were prepared and investigated in MFCs. The catalyst phases were synthesized, identified and characterized by DRX, PSD, MET and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The cathodes were tested as photoelectrocatalysts in the presence and in the absence of visible light in devices fed with industrial wastewater. The results revealed that the catalytic activity of the cathodes strongly depends on the ratio of substitution of W⁶⁺ in the LiTaO₃ matrix. The maximum power densities generated by the MFC working with this series of cathodes increased from 60.45 mW·m^-3 for x=0.00 (LiTaO₃) to 107.2 mW·m^-3 for x=0.10, showing that insertion of W⁶⁺ in the tantalate matrix can improve the photocatalytic activity of this material. Moreover, MFCs operating under optimal conditions were capable of reducing the load of chemical oxygen demand by 79% (COD_initial=1030 mg·L^-1).     

New vehicle sequencing algorithms with vehicular infrastructure integration for an isolated intersection

Traffic congestion at intersections is one of the main issues to be addressed by today??s traffic management schemes. Countless efforts have been made directed toward efficiently improving the traffic situation at intersections. In this paper, we present a new traffic control strategy for an isolated intersection, in which there are no more traffic lights. Instead, vehicles embedded with In-Vehicle Information Systems communicate with the center Infrastructure to obtain their access time to the intersection. We mainly focus on the vehicle sequencing algorithms with the analysis of received information. A Branch and Bound algorithm and a heuristic are proposed to evacuate the approaching vehicles as soon as possible. Structural properties of the problem are carefully investigated to simplify the search procedure of an optimal passing sequence. Computational experiments and simulations in evacuation time, average waiting time and average queue size demonstrate the performance gain obtained when using the proposed schemes.     

Optimization of the thermoelectric figure of merit in the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) transform a heat flow into electricity. Thermoelectric materials are being investigated for electricity production from waste heat (co-generation) and natural heat sources. For temperatures below 200 °C, the best commercially available inorganic semiconductors are bismuth telluride (Bi(2)Te(3))-based alloys, which possess a figure of merit ZT close to one. Most of the recently discovered thermoelectric materials with ZT>2 exhibit one common property, namely their low lattice thermal conductivities. Nevertheless, a high ZT value is not enough to create a viable technology platform for energy harvesting. To generate electricity from large volumes of warm fluids, heat exchangers must be functionalized with TEGs. This requires thermoelectric materials that are readily synthesized, air stable, environmentally friendly and solution processable to create patterns on large areas. Here we show that conducting polymers might be capable of meeting these demands. The accurate control of the oxidation level in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) combined with its low intrinsic thermal conductivity (λ=0.37 W m(-1) K(-1)) yields a ZT=0.25 at room temperature that approaches the values required for efficient devices.     

Flow behavior in a corotating twin‐screw extruder of pure polymers and blends: Characterization by fluorescence monitoring technique

The objective of this work was to investigate the flow behavior of pure polymers and blends, especially miscible polymer/polymer systems, in a corotating twin‐screw extruder (TSE) using an online fluorescence monitoring device. An immiscible blend was also studied for the sake of comparison. The fluorescence signal was obtained by using synthesized fluorescence tracers added to the melt at very low concentrations. These tracers consisted of two styrene‐maleic anhydride copolymers (SMA) labeled with anthracene. The investigated blends were SMA8 (8 wt % of MA in SMA)/polystyrene (PS), SMA14 (14 wt % of MA in SMA)/styrene acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN), and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/ethyl acrylate‐methyl methacrylate copolymer (PMMAEA). The residence time distribution (RTD), the mean residence time (t ), the dimensionless variance (σ_θ²), the Peclet number (Pe) and the fluorescence peak intensity distribution of pure polymers and binary polymer systems were investigated and interpreted in terms of polymers rheological properties. It was observed that polymers presenting higher viscosity or higher pressure showed longer residence time. A difference in behavior was also observed for the RTD of miscible and immiscible blends. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

A fundamental study of chitosan/PEO electrospinning

A highly deacetylated (97.5%) chitosan in 50% acetic acid was electrospun at moderate temperatures (25-70 °C) in the presence of a low content of polyethylene oxide (10 wt% PEO) to beadless nanofibers of 60-80 nm in diameter. A systematic quantitative analysis of the solution properties such as surface tension, conductivity, viscosity and acid concentration was conducted in order to shed light on the electrospinnability of this polysaccharide. Rheological properties of chitosan and PEO solutions were studied in order to explain how PEO improves the electrospinnability of chitosan. Positive charges on the chitosan molecule and its chain stiffness were considered as the main limiting factors for electrospinability of neat chitosan as compared to PEO, since surface tension and viscosity of the respective solutions were similar. Various blends of chitosan and PEO solutions with different component ratios were prepared (for 4 wt% total polymer content). A significant positive deviation from the additivity rule in the zero shear viscosity of chitosan/PEO blends was observed and believed to be a proof for strong hydrogen bonding between chitosan and PEO chains, making their blends electrospinnable. The impact of temperature and blend composition on the morphology and diameter of electrospun fibers was also investigated. Electrospinning at moderate temperatures (40-70 °C) helped to obtain beadless nanofibers with higher chitosan content. Additionally, it was found that higher chitosan content in the precursor blends led to thinner nanofibers. Increasing chitosan/PEO ratio from 50/50 to 90/10 led to a diameter reduction from 123 to 63 nm. Producing defect free nanofibrous mats from the electrospinning process and with high chitosan content is particularly promising for antibacterial film packaging and filtration applications.     

Concentration solar dryer water-to-air heat exchanger: Modeling and parametric studies

In this paper we present a modeling and parametric studies of a water-to-air heat exchanger. This exchanger is formed of a fan blowing the air to be heated through a battery of smooth tubes where the hot water—coming from solar concentrators—circulates. The heated air is injected into a thermal room to dry the clay bricks.In the first part, we study the most used models in the estimation of the heat transfer and air flow pressure drop across a tube bundle, and subsequently calculate the required transmitted power to the air.In the second part, we focus on the parametric study of the influence of the different geometric parameters of the exchanger on the heat flow rate, the air outlet temperature, the pressure drop and the requested transferred power to the air. The considered parameters are: The water heat flow rate, the heat exchanger compactness, the rows arrangement, the tube diameter, the transverse pitch, the total number of tubes, the number of rows and the air velocity.Simulations have shown that the heat exchanger performance could be improved essentially throughout the design and manufacturing process by modifying the different geometrical parameters and filling certain conditions.