Analytical Modeling of Short-Channel Fully-Depleted Triple Work Function Metal Gate (TWFMG) SOI MESFET

Silicon - In this paper, a new structure: triple work function metal gate SOI MESFET, intended for integration into the deep-submicron CMOS technology, is proposed. The gate of the device consists...     

Experimental determination of gas holdup and volumetric mass transfer coefficient in a jet bubbling reactor

The hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics of a lab-scale jet bubbling reactor(JBR) including the gas holdup, volumetric mass transfer coefficient and specific interfacial area were assessed experimentally investigating the influence of temperature, p H and superficial gas velocity. The reactor diameter and height were 11 and 30 cm,respectively. It was equipped with a single sparger, operating at atmospheric pressure, 20 and 40℃, and two p H values of 3 and 6. The height of the liquid was 23 cm, while the superficial gas velocity changed within 0.010–0.040 m·s~(-1) range. Experiments were conducted with pure oxygen as the gas phase and saturated lime solution as the liquid phase. The liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient was determined under unsteady-state oxygen absorption in a saturated lime solution. The gas holdup was calculated based on the liquid height change, while the specific interfacial area was obtained by a physical method based on the bubble size distribution(BSD) in different superficial gas velocities. The results indicated that at the same temperature but different p H, the gas holdup variation was negligible, while the liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient at the p H value of 6 was higher than that at the p H = 3. At a constant p H but different temperatures, the gas holdup and the liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficients at 40℃ were higher than that of the same at 20℃. A reasonable and appropriate estimation of the liquid-side volumetric mass transfer coefficient(kla) in a pilot-scale JBR was provided which can be applied to the design and scale-up of JBRs.     

Perpetual effect of laser surface texturing on tribological properties of Ti3SiC2/GNP composite—A fretting wear study

Tribological properties of Ti₃SiC₂ ceramic and Ti₃SiC₂/GNP composite were investigated using fretting sliding against Si₃N₄ ball counter body at a load of 50 N for a sliding distance of 900 m, under non-textured lubricated (NTL), textured lubricated (TL) condition, and textured lubricated high temperature (TLHT). This paper presents the influence of laser surface texturing (LST) on Ti₃SiC₂ and its graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) reinforced composite established through spark plasma sintering (SPS), tested under fretting wear conditions. The coefficient of friction and wear rate of Ti₃SiC₂ and its graphene nanoplatelets reinforced composites were incontrovertibly enhanced with laser surface texturing as compared to non-textured Ti₃SiC₂ and its GNP composite. The TL surface of Ti₃SiC₂ composite reinforced with 15% GNP showed the lowest COF and wear rate. Almost negligible changes were observed for TLHT tests. The LST proved to an efficient technique for enhancing the friction and wear properties of Ti₃SiC₂ and Ti₃SiC₂/GNP composite.     

A potential trackable bone filler: Preparation and characterization

This study reported the synthesis of fluorescent hydroxyapatite/alginate/carbon quantum dots (HA/Alg/CQDs) nanocomposites via the co-precipitation technique. The N-doped CQDs as a new class of fluorescent materials were prepared by the citric acid pyrolysis method, with an average size around 4 nm. Physical, chemical, and optical properties of the synthesized nanocomposites were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV–visible spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, respectively. The PL spectroscopy data verified the favorable in vitro luminescent emission of the HA/Alg/CQDs nanocomposites in comparison with HA/Alg and HA samples. The XRD patterns of the prepared samples confirmed the formation of crystalline HA in all composites, possessing a Ca/P ratio around 1.5 as obtained by EDX elemental analysis. The FESEM analysis exhibited HA nanoplates that homogeneously distributed throughout the alginate matrix. Therefore, the synthesized nanocomposites could be regarded as potential trackable drug carriers for hard tissue engineering applications.     

Fundamental parameters affecting electrospinning of PAN nanofibers as uniaxially aligned fibers

Electrospinning with a collector consisting of two pieces of electrically conductive substrates separated by a gap has been used to prepare uniaxially aligned PAN nanofibers. Solution of 15 wt % of PAN/DMF was used tentatively for electrospinning. The effects of width of the gap and applied voltage on degree of alignment were investigated using image‐processing technique by Fourier power spectrum method. The electrospinning conditions that gave the best alignment of nanofibers for 10–15 wt % solution concentrations were experimentally obtained. Bundles like multifilament yarns of uniaxially aligned nanofibers were prepared using a new simple method. After‐treatments of these bundles were carried out in boiling water under tension. A comparison was made between the crystallinity and mechanical behavior of posttreated and untreated bundles. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 4350–4357, 2006     

Temporal Hydrologic Alterations Coupled with Climate Variability and Drought for Transboundary River Basins

Climate change (CC) and drought episode impacts linked with anthropogenic pressure have become an increasing concern for policy makers and water resources managers. The current research presents a comprehensive methodology but simple approach for predicting the annual streamflow alteration based on drought indices and hydrological alteration indicators. This has been achieved depending on the evaluation of drought severity and CC impacts during the human intervention periods to separate the influence of climatic abnormality and measure the hydrologic deviations as a result of streamflow regulation configurations. As a representative case study, the Lesser Zab River Basin in northern Iraq has been chosen. In order to analyse the natural flow regime, 34 hydrological years of streamflow (1931–1965) prior to the main dam construction were assessed. The Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) method has been applied to quantify the hydrological alterations of various flow characteristics. In addition, an easy approach for hydrological drought prediction in relatively small basins grounded on meteorological parameters during the early months of the hydrological year has been presented. The prediction was accomplished by implementing the one-dimensional drought examination and the reconnaissance drought index (RDI) for evaluating the severity of meteorological drought. The proposed methodology is founded on linear regression relations connecting the RDI of 3, 6, and 12 months and the streamflow drought index (SDI). The results are critical for circumstances where an early exploration of meteorological drought is obtainable. Outcomes assist water resources managers, engineers, policy makers and decision-makers responsible for mitigating the effects of CC.     

Effect of Extraordinary Large Floods on at-site Flood Frequency

The peak flow of extraordinary large floods that occur during a period of systematic record is a controversial problem for flood frequency analysis (FFA) using traditional methods. The present study suggests that such floods be treated as historic flood data even though their historical period is unknown. In this paper, the extraordinary large flood peak was first identified using statistical outlier tests and normal probability plots. FFA was then applied with and without the extraordinary large floods. In this step, two goodness-of-fit tests including mean absolute relative deviation and mean squared relative deviation were used to identify the best-fit probability distributions. Next, the generalized extreme value (GEV), three-parameter lognormal (LN3), log-Pearson type III (LP3), and Wakeby (WAK) probability distributions were used to incorporate and adjust the extraordinary large floods with other systematic data. Finally, procedures with and without historical adjustment were compared for the extraordinary large floods in terms of goodness-of-fit and flood return-period quantiles. The results of this comparison indicate that historical adjustment from an operational perspective was more viable than without adjustment procedure. Furthermore, the results without adjustment were unreasonable (subject to over- and under-estimation) and produced physically unrealistic estimates that were not compatible with the study area. The proposed approach substantially improved the probability estimation of rare floods for efficient design of hydraulic structures, risk analysis, and floodplain management.     

Assessment of Sustainability in Water Supply-Demand Considering Uncertainties

Water is a vital resource for life on earth; hence its maintenance is very important. Different regions especially in arid and semi-arid areas are facing population growth and subsequent increase in the domestic, industrial and agricultural activities. Planning of water systems in order to be ready for future development conditions needs further studies on the estimation of the sustainable levels of demands based on the sustainable levels of supplies. In this study a threefold approach for estimating sustainability level of supply and demand in Ahachay river basin in northwestern part of Iran as a case study is taken. In the first method, the internal flows and the origins and final uses of the total resources for each subsystem are estimated and planning for sustainability use index is determined by calculating the available water. Second method introduced a simulation model which is utilized to estimate reliability, resiliency, vulnerability and maximum deficit for a river basin to determine a group sustainability index. In the third method, for evaluating the movement toward sustainability, an index is developed. This index includes parameters that are the difference between supply and demand, percentage of the satisfied demand, productivity of water resources and an indicator for evaluating the reduction of aquifer storage. Finally these methods are compared and a hybrid index combining the indices is developed. An uncertainty analysis is also performed to investigate the random nature of variables in estimating water balance and quantifying the water sustainability. This hybrid index can be used for evaluating the planning scenarios and for maintaining and improving the sustainable state of supply-demand for the region.     

A polar-based guided multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to search for optimal solutions interested by decision-makers in a logistics network design problem

In practical multi-objective optimization problems, respective decision-makers might be interested in some optimal solutions that have objective values closer to their specified values. Guided multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (guided MOEAs) have been significantly used to guide their evolutionary search direction toward these optimal solutions using by decision makers. However, most guided MOEAs need to be iteratively and interactively evaluated and then guided by decision-makers through re-formulating or re-weighting objectives, and it might negatively affect the algorithms performance. In this paper, a novel guided MOEA that uses a dynamic polar-based region around a particular point in objective space is proposed. Based on the region, new selection operations are designed such that the algorithm can guide the evolutionary search toward optimal solutions that are close to the particular point in objective space without the iterative and interactive efforts. The proposed guided MOEA is tested on the multi-criteria decision-making problem of flexible logistics network design with different desired points. Experimental results show that the proposed guided MOEA outperforms two most effective guided and non-guided MOEAs, R-NSGA-II and NSGA-II.     

Probing the state of absorbed water by diffusion technique

The diffusion coefficient of water, D_wm, across homogeneous cellulose acetate membranes of graded porosity ε (water content) are measured. At high values of porosity, D_wm varies monotonously as ε is varied. At a certain porosity ε_c, however, there is a sudden change in D_wm; and thereafter the change becomes linear again, but with a different slope. Diffusion coefficients are interpreted, through the Stokes-Einstein relation, in terms of the overall microscopic viscosities η_wm of the membrane matrix. The values of η_wm are then correlated with the equivalent pore size r of the membranes. It is discovered that the sudden change in D_wm (or η_wm) at ε_c correlates with similar changes in other properties such as hydraulic permeability and selectivity of the membrane. All these observations are then attributed to the water structure inside the membranes.