Electrical and optical properties of fluorine-doped CdO films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

The CdO:F samples have been deposited onto microscope glass substrates at 250 °C by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. With the incorporation of fluorine into CdO, the direct optical transition has shifted towards the shorter wavelengths, and the transparency of the material has increased at a given wavelength above the fundamental absorption edge. The shift in the absorption edge is explained by means of the Moss–Burstein effect, which is also supported with the results of the current–voltage characteristics. Here, a correlation has been established between the band broadening and the increase in conductivity due to the increase in carrier density.     

Thermodynamic analysis of solar photovoltaic cell systems

The thermodynamic characteristics of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells are investigated from a perspective based on exergy. A new efficiency is developed that is useful in studying PV performance and possible improvements. Exergy analysis is applied to a PV system and its components, and exergy flows, losses and efficiencies are evaluated. Energy efficiency is seen to vary between 7% and 12% during the day. In contrast, exergy efficiencies, which incorporate the second law of thermodynamics and account for solar irradiation exergy values, are lower for electricity generation using the considered PV system, ranging from 2% to 8%. Values of “fill factors” are determined for the system and observed to be similar to values of exergy efficiency.     

THE RELATION BETWEEN WETTING EFFICIENCY AND LIQUID HOLDUP IN PACKED COLUMNS

Liquid holdup and wetting efficiency in packed columns were determined using a tracer method. A new model was developed considering axial dispersion, and analysis was made using the moment technique. The saturated solution of KG was used as an inert tracer and total liquid holdups were determined in the first part of experiments. As an adsorbable tracer, dioxane was utilized in the second part of the work and wetting efficiencies were obtained. Adsorption equilibrium constant was determined by the experiments conducted in a liquid full bed. A model proposed between liquid holdup and wetting efficiency gave good agreement with the experimental results. Axial dispersion effects were also taken into account during the work. It was also shown that axial dispersion of liquid phase should be considered especially in the small scale trickle bed reactors. @KEYWORDS:Packed beds,Wetting efficiency,Liquid holdup,Tracer method,Moment technique,Trickle bed reactors.     

Dissolution kinetics of ulexite in acetic acid solutions

Ulexite is an important boron mineral used for the production of boron compounds. The aims of this study are to examine the dissolution kinetics of ulexite in acetic acid solutions, and to present an alternative process to produce boric acid. In order to investigate the dissolution kinetics of ulexite in acetic acid solutions, the concentration of solution, reaction temperature, solid-to-liquid ratio, and particle size were selected as experimental parameters. It was determined that the dissolution rate of ulexite increased with increasing solution concentration and temperature and decreasing particle size and solid-to-liquid ratio. The activation energy of the process was found to be 55.8 kJ/mol.     

Synthesis of C60-Furfural Adduct

Diels-Alder cycloaddition of furfural to C₆₀ in toluene has been realised. UV-VIS, FTIR and ¹H-NMR investigations suggest that the conjugated structure of furfural was changed into a non-conjugated structure in the product.     

Static and incremental dynamic approaches for multi-objective bitmap join indexes selection in data warehouses

The Journal of Supercomputing - Data warehouses are very large databases and play key role in intelligent decision making in enterprises. The bitmap join indexes selection problem is crucial in the...     

Estimating oxygen consumption from heart rate using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system and analytical approaches

In new approaches based on adaptive neuro-fuzzy systems (ANFIS) and analytical method, heart rate (HR) measurements were used to estimate oxygen consumption (VO₂). Thirty-five participants performed Meyer and Flenghi's step-test (eight of which performed regeneration release work), during which heart rate and oxygen consumption were measured. Two individualized models and a General ANFIS model that does not require individual calibration were developed. Results indicated the superior precision achieved with individualized ANFIS modelling (RMSE = 1.0 and 2.8 ml/kg min in laboratory and field, respectively). The analytical model outperformed the traditional linear calibration and Flex-HR methods with field data. The General ANFIS model's estimates of VO₂ were not significantly different from actual field VO₂ measurements (RMSE = 3.5 ml/kg min). With its ease of use and low implementation cost, the General ANFIS model shows potential to replace any of the traditional individualized methods for VO₂ estimation from HR data collected in the field.     

Design of a Commercial Hybrid VTOL UAV System

For the last four decades Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) have been extensively used for military operations that include tracking, surveillance, active engagement with weapons and airborne data acquisition. UAVs are also in demand commercially due to their advantages in comparison to manned vehicles. These advantages include lower manufacturing and operating costs, flexibility in configuration depending on customer request and not risking the pilot on demanding missions. Even though civilian UAVs currently constitute 3 % of the UAV market, it is estimated that their numbers will reach up to 10 % of the UAV market within the next 5 years. Most of the civilian UAV applications require UAVs that are capable of doing a wide range of different and complementary operations within a composite mission. These operations include taking off and landing from limited runway space, while traversing the operation region in considerable cruise speed for mobile tracking applications. This is in addition to being able traverse in low cruise speeds or being able to hover for stationary measurement and tracking. All of these complementary and but different operational capabilities point to a hybrid unmanned vehicle concept, namely the Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) UAVs. In addition, the desired UAV system needs to be cost-efficient while providing easy payload conversion for different civilian applications. In this paper, we review the preliminary design process of such a capable civilian UAV system, namely the TURAC VTOL UAV. TURAC UAV is aimed to have both vertical take-off and landing and Conventional Take-off and Landing (CTOL) capability. TURAC interchangeable payload pod and detachable wing (with potential different size variants) provides capability to perform different mission types, including long endurance and high cruise speed operations. In addition, the TURAC concept is to have two different variants. The TURAC A variant is an eco-friendly and low-noise fully electrical platform which includes 2 tilt electric motors in the front, and a fixed electric motor and ducted fan in the rear, where as the TURAC B variant is envisioned to use high energy density fuel cells for extended hovering time. In this paper, we provide the TURAC UAV’s iterative design and trade-off studies which also include detailed aerodynamic and structural configuration analysis. For the aerodynamic analysis, an in-house software including graphical user interface has been developed to calculate the aerodynamic forces and moments by using the Vortex Lattice Method (VLM). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies are performed to determine the aerodynamic effects for various configurations For structural analysis, a Finite Element Model (FEM) of the TURAC has been prepared and its modal analysis is carried out. Maximum displacements and maximal principal stresses are calculated and used for streamlining a weight efficient fuselage design. Prototypes have been built to show success of the design at both hover and forward flight regime. In this paper, we also provide the flight management and autopilot architecture of the TURAC. The testing of the controller performance has been initiated with the prototype of TURAC. Current work focuses on the building of the full fight test prototype of the TURAC UAV and aerodynamic modeling of the transition flight.