Fractional weighted nuclear norm based two dimensional linear discriminant features for cucumber leaf disease recognition

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The quality and quantity of agricultural products are significantly affected by plant diseases. The plant diseases could be mitigated if identified at an early...     

Common Mode Voltage Reduction Using 3D-SVPWM for 3-level CI-NPC Inverter with Hybrid Energy System

This paper elucidates Common Mode Voltage (CMV) reduction in transformerless 3-phase 3-level Coupled Inductor Neutral Point (CI-NPC) Clamped Inverter with Hybrid Energy System. The three dimensional Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (3D-SVPWM) with Nearest State Vector (NSV) is implemented to reduce the CMV by proper selection of medium, large and small vectors in 3D cubic space region. This NSV scheme in addition to CMV reduction, reduces the capacitor voltage balancing issues and minimizes switching losses. The proposed control provides full utilization of dc link voltage with reduced harmonics. This 3-level CI-NPC inverter is energized by hybrid energy source which includes photovoltaic system and wind energy system. The results obtained for the proposed scheme through simulation and experimental setup is compared with the conventional 2D-SVPWM and 3D-SVPWM scheme. From the compared results it is evident that the proposed scheme reduces CMV to a larger extent than 2D and 3D-SVPWM control. The simulation and experimental results are verified using matlab-simulink and FPGA-Spartan-6 controller respectively.     

TiO2 nanoparticle embedded nitrogen doped electrospun helical carbon nanofiber-carbon nanotube hybrid anode for lithium-ion batteries

TiO₂ nanoparticles decorated nitrogen (N) doped helical carbon nanofiber (CNF)-carbon nanotube (CNT) hybrid material is prepared by low-cost electrospinning technique followed by hydrothermal method. Morphological investigations establish helical structure of CNFs with hierarchical growth of CNTs around CNFs. The hybrid material shows a high specific surface area of 295.17 m² g^?1 with nanoporous structure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies establish Ti–O–C/Ti–C bond mediated charge transfer channel between TiO₂ nanoparticles and carbon structures with the success of N doping in CNFs. The electrospun hybrid material delivered high reversible charge capacities of 316 mAh g^?1 (100th cycle) and 244 mAh g^?1 (100th cycle) at a current density of 75 mA g^?1 and 186 mA g^?1 respectively. The charge capacities obtained for different applied current densities are higher than the conventional graphitic microporous microbeads anode. Results indicate that the hybrid material reported here shows high performance compare to graphite for LIBs.     

Opportunistic Routing Protocol Based EPO–BES in MANET for Optimal Path Selection

Wireless Personal Communications - Despite its various benefits, the Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) has a number of obstacles due to its mobility, unstable topology, energy efficiency, and other...     

Electrospun MgO/Nylon 6 Hybrid Nanofibers for Protective Clothing

Nano-Micro Letters - Magnesia (MgO) nanoparticles were produced from magnesite ore (MgCO3) using ball mill. The crystalline size, morphology and specific SSA were characterized by X-ray diffraction...     

Fabrication and characterizations of PCDTBT: PC71BM bulk heterojunction solar cell using air brush coating method

Organic solar cells have been significantly attracted due to the need to develop an inexpensive clean and sustainable renewable energy source. We report on the fabrication of poly [N-9″-hepta-decanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole)]/[6, 6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester blend active layer using airbrush spray-coating method in mixed solvents. Optical absorption of the active layers was analyzed using UV–visible spectral studies in the wavelength range from 300 to 800 nm. The surface morphology of the active layers deposited with different parameters (spraying time and substrate-nozzle distance) was examined using atomic force microscopy. The current density–voltage (J–V) characteristics of photovoltaic cells were measured under the illumination of simulated solar light with 100 mW cm^?2 (AM 1.5G) by an Oriel 1000 W solar simulator. The power conversion efficiency of the solar cell is more than 5 %.     

Synthesis of Bisindolylmethanes and Their Cytotoxicity Properties

Polymer supported dichlorophosphate (PEG-OPOCl₂) is an efficient green catalyst for the electrophilic substitution reaction of indole with aromatic aldehydes, in neat condition, to afford an excellent yield of bis(indolyl) methanes with short reaction time, at room temperature. The synthesized compounds and their anti-cancer activity are evaluated.     

Ultrafine-grained pure Ti recycled by equal channel angular pressing with high strength and good ductility

Machining chips of commercially pure Ti (ASTM grade 2) were consolidated into full density by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) with an average grain size as low as 0.8 μm, yield strength up to 650 MPa, and ductility of ～16%. Effect of recycling condition on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated in terms of ECAP temperature, number of passes and chemical composition. Using electron backscatter diffraction it is evident that continuous dynamic recrystallization (however, which is purely a phenomenological terminology) plays a significant role in grain (with misorientation ≥15°) formation, whilst benefitting from high stacking fault energy, this continuous conversion of subgrain (<15°) into grain can be essentially considered as an extended recovery with a substantial presence of low angle grain boundaries in the recycled Ti. The Hall–Petch relationship is adapted to explain the strengthening of the recycled Ti. Additionally, using scanning electron microscopy fractography, the ductility was analyzed by a modified Griffith criterion. Last, superior energy efficiency of ECAP reduces environmental impact when comparing to conventional melting/casting. ECAP develops an innovative solid-state process for improving the recycling value of waste Ti.