Acidic Derivatives of Melamine as Template in Copolymerization of Aniline and Metanilic Acid

In this paper, new polymer composites were synthesized by template copolymerization of aniline and metanilic acid in the presence of prepared melamine triacetic acid and poly(melamine-co-citric acid) as polyacids and dopants. The properties of the poly(aniline-co-metanilic acid) composites were studied by Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, CV, and differential scanning calorimeter analysis. The four-point probe technique was used for evaluating the electrical conductivity of the composites. The scanning electron micrographs disclosed that the products had the morphology with agglomerated distorted spherical shapes with the average size of 40–50?nm. Also, the solubility of the composites had been improved notably in organic solvents.     

A quick method to fabricate large glass micromodel networks

Microsystem Technologies - The study of multi-phase fluid flow in microfluidic devices provides an opportunity for researchers to characterize effective factors and mechanisms in microscale. The...     

Lateral solutions for optimizing holding costs in job shops

Queuing networks present as beneficial models for a category of problems emerging in modern manufacturing systems. As the optimal control problem for queuing networks in familiar to be difficult, an important topic of research during the last two decades has been the growth of difficult estimations, and the use of these estimations to control optimal controls. Flexible moderations are an important class of such estimations that have received much consideration in recent years. The central objective of this paper is to determine the utilization of flexible moderations in solving a diversity of scheduling problems. In this paper, we investigate the role of flexible moderations in solving classic job shop problems. For the job shop problem with the objective of minimizing makespan, we build a schedule that is guaranteed to be within a consistent of the optimal. In other words, we examine the job shop scheduling problem with the aim of minimizing holding costs. Recent results show that for this objective, the job shop problem does not have a polynomial time estimation plan; consequently, in terms of approximability, this is a harder objective than the makespan. Our main result is an algorithm, based on regular relaxation that presents lateral optimal schedules.     

Impact of NBTI on performance of domino logic circuits in nano-scale CMOS

Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) in pMOS transistors has become a major reliability concern in the state-of-the art digital circuit design. This paper discusses the effects of NBTI on 32 nm technology high fan-in dynamic OR gate, which is widely used in high-performance circuits. The delay degradation and power dissipation of domino logic, as well as the Unity Noise Gain (UNG), are analyzed in the presence of NBTI degradation. We have shown the degradation in the output inverter pMOS transistor of the domino gate has a dominant impact on the delay in comparison with the keeper impact. Based on this analysis we have proposed that upsizing just the output inverter pMOS transistor can compensate for the NBTI degradation. Moreover, the impact of tuning the duty cycle of the clock has been investigated. It has been shown that although the keeper and the precharge transistors experience more NBTI degradation by increasing the low level in the clock signal, the total performance of the circuit will improve. We have also proposed an adaptive compensation technique based on Forward Body Biasing (FBB), to recover the performance of the aged circuit.     

An advanced method for determination of loss of coolant accident in nuclear power plants

A major objective in reactor design is to provide the capability to withstand a wide range of postulated events without exceeding specified safety limits. Assessment of the consequence of hypothetical loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in primary circuit is an essential element to address fulfilment of acceptance criteria. In addition, finding the position of rupture, one could manage accident in a right direction. In this work, the transient vibration signal from a pipe rupture is used to determine the position of LOCA. A finite element formulation (Galerkin Method) is implemented to include the effect of fluid-structure interaction (FSI). The coupled equations of fluid motion and pipe displacement are solved. The obtained results are in good agreement with published data.Fast Fourier transform (FFT) provides an alternate way of representing data. Instead of representing vibration signal amplitude as a function of time, the signal is represented by the amount of information, which is contained at different frequencies. The most of frequencies of structure and fluid coupled are presented in the FFT of structural response and through it the dominant frequency of excitation is obtained.Furthermore, the power spectral density (PSD), a measurement of energy at various frequencies is worked out. MATLAB software is used to convert signals from the time to frequency domain and to obtain PSD of signals.     

Scheduling unbalanced cellular manufacturing systems with lot splitting

Recently, a large number of studies have addressed lot splitting as a means to reduce flow times as well as improve due date performance. Furthermore, a number of studies have examined scheduling policies in cellular manufacturing systems. These studies have been conducted under a variety of experimental factors, shop structures and operational assumptions. This study examines scheduling cellular manufacturing systems in the presence of lot splitting. In addition, we utilize various scheduling policies to test formally the underlying principles of the synchronous manufacturing philosophy. This is accomplished by utilizing exhaustive and non-exhaustive scheduling heuristics simultaneously at bottleneck and non-bottleneck workcentres. The results indicate that, under certain conditions, performing additional set-ups before the bottleneck can improve due date performance without an adverse effect on average flow time. Furthermore, we show that incurring additional set-ups after the bottleneck does not improve due date performance and may deteriorate flow time performance. These results conflict with some of the tenets of the synchronous manufacturing philosophy.     

Supplier selection model with contingency planning for supplier failures

We consider the optimal allocation of demand across a set of suppliers given the risk of supplier failures. We assume items sourced are used in multiple facilities and can be purchased from multiple suppliers with different cost and reliability characteristics. Suppliers have production flexibility that allows them to deliver a contingency quantity in case other suppliers fail. Costs considered include supplier fixed costs and variable costs per unit, while failure to deliver to a demand point results in a particular financial loss. The model utilizes the decision tree approach to consider all the possible states of nature when one or more suppliers fail, as well as expand the traditional transportation problem. Unlike other supplier selection models, this model considers contingency planning in the decision process, minimizing the total network costs. This results in a base allocation to one or more of the available suppliers and a state of nature specific delivery contingency plan from the suppliers to each demand point. A numerical example, as well as sensitivity analysis, is presented to illustrate the model and provide insights.     

A proximity-aware load balancing in peer-to-peer-based volunteer computing systems

One of the main challenges in peer-to-peer-based volunteer computing systems is an efficient resource discovery algorithm. Load balancing is a part of resource discovery algorithm and aims to minimize the overall response time of the system. This paper introduces an analytical model based on distributed parallel queues to optimize the average response time of the system in a distributed manner. The proposed resource discovery algorithm consists of two phases. In the first phase, it selects peers in a load-balanced manner based on QoS constraints of request. In the second phase, a proximity-aware feature is applied to select the peer with minimum communication overhead among selected peers in the first phase. Two dispatching strategies are proposed for the load balancing based on stochastic analysis of routing in the distributed parallel queues. These policies adopt probabilistic and deterministic sequences to redirect requests to the capable peers in the system. Simulation results show that the proposed resource discovery algorithm improves the response time of user’s requests by a factor of 1.8 under a moderate load.     

Level–phase independent stationary distributions for GI/M/1-type Markov chains with infinitely-many phases

GI/M/1-type Markov chains are two-dimensional processes, with one dimension called the level and the other the phase. When such a chain is positive-recurrent and the phase space is finite, much is known about the properties of the stationary distribution. In particular, it is known how to derive the decay rate as the level variable approaches infinity. However, when the phase space is infinite, the properties are more complicated. A range of decay rates may be achievable and the transition structure at the boundary has a strong influence on the stationary distribution.