Search results for: micro polar mixtures

Authors: B. Singh, A. Singh, R. C. Yadav

Abstract:

Utmost care of human related issues are essentially required for sustainable growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) of India, as these MSMEs are contributing enormously to socio-economic development of country. In this research, aspects related to human factors and functioning of MSMEs of India were studied. The investigation, based on a survey of 84 MSMEs of India cited that the enterprises are mostly employing unskilled labor whose wages are less with poor training. In spite of reported minor accidents, attention towards safety is poorly paid. To meet-out the production target, MSMEs generally employ over-time and payment towards this overtime is sometimes missing. Hence, honest and humanitarian attention for better human resources is needed to improve the performance and competitiveness of MSMEs of India.

Keywords: Human factors, Small and medium enterprises, Working culture.

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Authors: Jun Yu, Yat-Hei Lam, Boris Grinberg, Kevin Chai Tshun Chuan

Abstract:

This paper presents a 5-V to 30-V current-mode boost converter for powering the drive circuit of a micro-electro-mechanical sensor. The design of a transconductance amplifier and an integrated current sensing circuit are presented. In addition, essential building blocks for power-on protection such as a soft-start and clamp block and supply and clock ready block are discussed in details. The chip is fabricated in a 0.18-μm CMOS process. Measurement results show that the soft-start and clamp block can effectively limit the inrush current during startup and protect the boost converter from startup failure.

Keywords: Boost Converter, Current Sensing, Power-on protection, Step-up Converter, Soft-start.

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Authors: P. O. Angienda, D. J. Hill

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the factors affecting antimicrobial effectiveness of essential oils against food spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. The minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC) of the essential oils, were determined by turbidimetric technique using Biocreen C, analyzer. The effects of pH ranging from 7.3 to 5.5 in absence and presence of essential oils and/or NaCl on the lag time and mean generation time of the bacteria at 370C, were carried out and results were determined showed that, combination of low pH and essential oil at 370C had additive effects against the test micro-organisms. The combination of 1.2 % (w/v) of NaCl and clove essential oil at 0.0325% (v/v) was effective against E. coli. The use of concentrations less than MIC in combination with low pH and or NaCl has the potential of being used as an alternative to “traditional food preservatives".

Keywords: Antimicrobial, Bacteria, Bioscreen C, essential oil.

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Authors: S. Avdakovic, A. Lukac, A. Nuhanovic, M. Music

Abstract:

Renewable energy systems are becoming a topic of great interest and investment in the world. In recent years wind power generation has experienced a very fast development in the whole world. For planning and successful implementations of good wind power plant projects, wind potential measurements are required. In these projects, of great importance is the effective choice of the micro location for wind potential measurements, installation of the measurement station with the appropriate measuring equipment, its maintenance and analysis of the gained data on wind potential characteristics. In this paper, a wavelet transform has been applied to analyze the wind speed data in the context of insight in the characteristics of the wind and the selection of suitable locations that could be the subject of a wind farm construction. This approach shows that it can be a useful tool in investigation of wind potential.

Keywords: Wind potential, Wind speed data, Wavelettransform.

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Authors: Lars Silver, Björn Berggren, Andreas Fili

Abstract:

The financial crisis has decreased the opportunities of small businesses to acquire financing through conventional financial actors, such as commercial banks. This credit constraint is partly the reason for the emergence of new alternatives of financing, in addition to the spreading opportunities for communication and secure financial transfer through Internet. One of the most interesting venues for finance is termed “crowdfunding". As the term suggests crowdfunding is an appeal to prospective customers and investors to form a crowd that will finance projects that otherwise would find it hard to generate support through the most common financial actors. Crowdfunding is in this paper divided into different models; the threshold model, the microfinance model, the micro loan model and the equity model. All these models add to the financial possibilities of emerging entrepreneurs.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, crowdfunding, equity finance, bank finance.

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Authors: Wissam B. Fahed

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship has become an important and extensively researched concept in business studies. Research on foreign direct investment (FDI) has become widespread due to the growth of FDI and its importance in globalization. Most entrepreneurship studies examined the importance and influence of entrepreneurial orientation in a micro-level context. On the other hand, studies and research concerning FDI used statistical techniques to analyze the effect, determinants, and motives of FDI on a macroeconomic level, ignoring empirical studies on other noneconomic determinants. In order to bridge the gap between the theory and empirical evidence on FDI and the theory and research on entrepreneurship, this study examines the impact of entrepreneurship on inward foreign direct investment. The relationship between entrepreneurship and foreign direct investment is investigated through regression analysis of pooled time-series and cross-sectional data. The results suggest that entrepreneurship has a significant effect on FDI.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, foreign direct investment, globalization, economic freedom.

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Authors: J. E. Mendes, L.Abrunhosa, J. A. Teixeira, E. R. de Camargo, C. P. de Souza, J. D. C. Pessoa

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Among the many promising nanomaterials with antifungal properties, metal nanoparticles (silver nanoparticles) stand out due to their high chemical activity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) against Phomopsis sp. AgNPs were synthesized by silver nitrate reduction with sodium citrate and stabilized with ammonia. The synthesized AgNPs have further been characterized by UV/Visible spectroscopy, Biophysical techniques like Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The average diameter of the prepared silver colloidal nanoparticles was about 52 nm. Absolute inhibitions (100%) were observed on treated with a 270 and 540 µg ml^-1 concentration of AgNPs. The results from the study of the AgNPs antifungal effect are significant and suggest that the synthesized silver nanoparticles may have an advantage compared with conventional fungicides.

Keywords: Antifungal activity, Phomopsis sp., Seeds, Silver Nanoparticles, Soybean.

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Authors: Herti Utami, Sutijan, Roto, Wahyudi Budi Sediawan

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α-Pinene is the main component of the most turpentine oils. The hydration of α-pinene with acid catalysts leads to a complex mixture of monoterpenes. In order to obtain more valuable products, the α-pinene in the turpentine can be hydrated in dilute mineral acid solutions to produce α-terpineol. The design of separation processes requires information on phase equilibrium and related thermodynamic properties. This paper reports the results of study on liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) of system containing α- pinene + water and α-terpineol + water. Binary LLE for α-pinene + water system, and α-terpineol + water systems were determined by experiment at 301K and atmospheric pressure. The two component mixture was stirred for about 30min, then the mixture was left for about 2h for complete phase separation. The composition of both phases was analyzed by using a Gas Chromatograph. The experimental data were correlated by considering both NRTL and UNIQUAC activity coefficient models. The LLE data for the system of α-pinene + water and α-terpineol + water were correlated successfully by the NRTL model. The experimental data were not satisfactorily fitted by the UNIQUAC model. The NRTL model (α =0.3) correlates the LLE data for the system of α-pinene + water at 301K with RMSD of 0.0404%. And the NRTL model (α =0.61) at 301K with RMSD of 0.0058 %. The NRTL model (α =0.3) correlates the LLE data for the system of α- terpineol + water at 301K with RMSD of 0.1487% and the NRTL model (α =0.6) at 301K with RMSD of 0.0032%, between the experimental and calculated mole fractions.

Keywords: α-Pinene, α-Terpineol, Liquid-liquid Equilibrium, NRTL model, UNIQUAC model

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Authors: Ulugbek Azimov, Eiji Tomita, Nobuyuki Kawahara, Sharul Sham Dol

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The objective of this study is to investigate the combustion in a pilot-ignited supercharged dual-fuel engine, fueled with different types of gaseous fuels under various equivalence ratios. It is found that if certain operating conditions are maintained, conventional dual-fuel engine combustion mode can be transformed to the combustion mode with the two-stage heat release. This mode of combustion was called the PREMIER (PREmixed Mixture Ignition in the End-gas Region) combustion. During PREMIER combustion, initially, the combustion progresses as the premixed flame propagation and then, due to the mixture autoignition in the end-gas region, ahead of the propagating flame front, the transition occurs with the rapid increase in the heat release rate.

Keywords: Combustion, dual-fuel engine, end-gas autoignition, PREMIER.

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Authors: G. Momen, R. Jafari, M. Farzaneh

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Two different superhydrophobic surfaces were elaborated and their oil repellency behavior was evaluated using several liquid with different surface tension. A silicone rubber/SiO2 nanocomposite coated (A) on aluminum substrate by “spin-coating" and the sample B was an anodized aluminum surface covered by Teflon-like coating. A high static contact angle about ∼162° was measured for two prepared surfaces on which the water droplet rolloff. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the presence of micro/nanostructures for both sample A and B similar to that of lotus leaf. However the sample A presented significantly different behaviour of wettability against the low surface tension liquid. Sample A has been wetted totally by oil (dodecan) droplet while sample B showed oleophobic behaviour. Oleophobic property of Teflon like coating can be contributed to the presence of CF2 and CF3 functional group which was shown by XPS analysis.

Keywords: Oleophobic, Superhydrophobic, Aluminum surface, Nano-texture.

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Authors: Prem Singh, Jagdeep Singh

Abstract:

In an attempt to investigate the performance of single basin solar still for climate conditions of Ludhiana a single basin solar still was designed, fabricated and tested. The energy balance equations for various parts of the still are solved by Gauss-Seidel iteration method. Computer model was made and experimentally validated. The validated computer model was used to estimate the annual distillation yield and performance ratio of the still for Ludhiana. The Theoretical and experimental distillation yield were 4318.79 ml and 3850 ml respectively for the typical day. The predicted distillation yield was 12.5% higher than the experimental yield. The annual distillation yield per square metre aperture area and annual performance ratio for single basin solar still is 1095 litres and 0.43 respectively. The payback period for micro-stepped solar still is 2.5 years.

Keywords: Solar distillation, solar still, single basin, still.

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Authors: J. Y. Tan, L. C. Lum, M. G. Lee, S. Mansouri, K. Hapgood, X. D. Chen, M. W. Woo

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Folic acid (FA) is known to be an important supplement to prevent neural tube defect (NTD) in pregnant women. Similar to some commercial formulations, sodium bicarbonate solution is used as a solvent for FA. This work uses the antisolvent vapour precipitation (AVP), incorporating ethanol vapour as the convective drying medium in place of air to produce branch-like micro-structure FA particles. Interestingly, the dissolution rate of the resultant particle is 2-3 times better than the particle produce from conventional air drying due to the higher surface area of particles produced. The higher dissolution rate could possibly improve the delivery and absorption of FA in human body. This application could potentially be extended to other commercial products, particularly in less soluble drugs to improve its solubility.

Keywords: Absorption, antisolvent vapour precipitation, dissolution rate, folic acid.

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Authors: Masahiro Takahashi, Kosuke Harada, Shihomi Nakao, Mitsuhiro Higashihata, Hiroshi Ikenoue, Daisuke Nakamura, Tatsuo Okada

Abstract:

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the light emitting materials in ultraviolet (UV) region. In addition, ZnO nanostructures are also attracting increasing research interest as buildingblocks for UV optoelectronic applications. We have succeeded in synthesizing vertically-aligned ZnO nanostructures by laser interference patterning, which is catalyst-free and non-contact technique. In this study, vertically-aligned ZnO nanowall arrays were synthesized using two-beam interference. The maximum height and average thickness of the ZnO nanowalls were about 4.5µm and 200 nm, respectively.UV lasing from a piece of the ZnO nanowall was obtained under the third harmonic of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser excitation, and the estimated threshold power density for lasing was about 150 kW/cm². Furthermore, UV lasing from the vertically-aligned ZnO nanowall was also achieved. The results indicate that ZnO nanowalls can be applied to random laser.

Keywords: Zinc Oxide, nanowall, interference laser, UV lasing.

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Authors: Rachid El Aidani, Phuong Nguyen-Tri, Toan Vu-Khanh

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This study intends to show the influence of the hydrolytic degradation on the properties of the e-PTFE/NOMEX® membranes used in fire-protective clothing. The modification of water vapour permeability, morphology and chemical structure was examined by MOCON Permatran, electron microscopy scanning (SEM), and ATR-FTIR, respectively. A decrease in permeability to water vapour of the aged samples was observed following closure of transpiration pores. Analysis of fiber morphology indicates the appearance of defects at the fibers surface with the presence of micro cavities. ATR-FTIR analysis reveals the presence of a new absorption band attributed to carboxylic acid terminal groups generated during the amide bond hydrolysis.

Keywords: Hydrolytic ageing, moisture membrane; water vapor permeability, morphology.

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Authors: Yongseok Kwon, Woowon Jeong, Eunjin Cho, Sangkug Chung, Kyehan Rhee

Abstract:

Steady streaming flow fields induced by a 500 mm bubble oscillating at 12 kHz were measured using microscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV). The accuracy of velocity measurement using a micro PIV system was checked by comparing the measured velocity fields with the theoretical velocity profiles in fully developed laminar flow. The steady streaming flow velocities were measured in the sagittal plane of the bubble attached on the wall. Measured velocity fields showed upward jet flow with two symmetric counter-rotating vortices, and the maximum streaming velocity was about 12 mm/s, which was within the velocity ranges measured by other researchers. The measured streamlines were compared with the analytical solution, and they also showed a reasonable agreement.

Keywords: Oscillating bubble, Particle-Image-Velocimetry microstreaming.

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Authors: Olga V. Kharchenko

Abstract:

Applicability of a KTA crystal-based laser system with optical parametric oscillators (OPO) generation to lidar sounding of the atmosphere in the spectral range 3–4 µm is studied in this work. A technique based on differential absorption lidar (DIAL) method and differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) is developed for lidar sounding of trace atmospheric gases (TAG). The DIAL-DOAS technique is tested to estimate its efficiency for lidar sounding of atmospheric trace gases.

Keywords: Atmosphere, lidar sounding, DIAL, DOAS, trace gases, nonlinear crystal.

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Authors: Sharareh Sharifi

Abstract:

In this study, the crude extracts of Virgularia gustavina were examined as antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory agent. To assess inflammation, Xylene was applied to the ear of mice. The mice of the experimental group were fed with doses of 10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, and 40 mg/kg of lipid extract of chloroform and hexane as a separate group and then statistical analysis was performed on the results. Chloroform and hexane extracts of sea pen have strong anti-inflammatory effects even at low doses which is probably due to 54% arachidonic acid. Antibacterial and antifungal effects of hexane and chloroform extracts were measured with MIC and MBC methods and it is shown that chloroform extract has best activity against Staphylococcus aureus on 125 µg/ml doze in MIC method.

Keywords: Sea pen (Virgularia gustaviana), lipid extract, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial activity.

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Authors: Shiuh-Jer Huang, Shin-Ham Lee, Sheam-Chyun Lin

Abstract:

A two wheel inverted pendulum (TWIP) vehicle is built with two hub DC motors for motion control evaluation. Arduino Nano micro-processor is chosen as the control kernel for this electric test plant. Accelerometer and gyroscope sensors are built in to measure the tilt angle and angular velocity of the inverted pendulum vehicle. Since the TWIP has significantly hub motor dead zone and nonlinear system dynamics characteristics, the vehicle system is difficult to control by traditional model based controller. The intelligent model-free fuzzy sliding mode controller (FSMC) was employed as the main control algorithm. Then, intelligent controllers are designed for TWIP balance control, and two wheels synchronization control purposes.

Keywords: Balance control, synchronization control, two wheel inverted pendulum, TWIP.

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Authors: Elena B. Cherepetskaya, Vladimir A. Makarov, Dmitry V. Morozov, Ivan E. Sas

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Laboratory studies of the stress-strain behavior of rocks specimens were conducted by using acoustic emission and laser-ultrasonic diagnostics. The sensitivity of the techniques allowed changes in the internal structure of the specimens under uniaxial compressive load to be examined at micro- and macro scales. It was shown that microcracks appear in geologic materials when the stress level reaches about 50% of breaking strength. Also, the characteristic stress of the main crack formation was registered in the process of single-stage compression of rocks. On the base of laser-ultrasonic echoscopy, 2D visualization of the internal structure of rocky soil specimens was realized, and the microcracks arising during uniaxial compression were registered.

Keywords: Acoustic emission, geomaterial, laser ultrasound, uniaxial compression.

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Authors: Marco Raciti Castelli, Ernesto Benini

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This work presents a comparison between the Annual Energy Output (AEO) of two commercial vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) for a low-wind urban site: both a drag-driven and a liftdriven concepts are examined in order to be installed on top of the new Via dei Giustinelli building, Trieste (Italy). The power-curves, taken from the product specification sheets, have been matched to the wind characteristics of the selected installation site. The influence of rotor swept area and rated power on the performance of the two proposed wind turbines have been examined in detail, achieving a correlation between rotor swept area, electrical generator size and wind distribution, to be used as a guideline for the calculation of the AEO.

Keywords: Annual Energy Output, micro-generationtechnology, urban environment, Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine

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Authors: Alonggot Limcharoen Kaeochotchuangkul, Pathomporn Sawatchai

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This research aims to design and build a wet etching system, which is suitable for anisotropic wet etching, in order to reduce etching time, to reduce hillocks on the etched surface (to reduce roughness), and to create a 45-degree wall angle (micro-mirror). This study would start by designing a wet etching system. There are four main components in this system: an ultrasonic cleaning, a condenser, a motor and a substrate holder. After that, an ultrasonic machine was modified by applying a condenser to maintain the consistency of the solution concentration during the etching process and installing a motor for improving the roughness. This effect on the etch rate and the roughness showed that the etch rate increased and the roughness was reduced.

Keywords: Anisotropic wet etching, wet etching system, Hillocks, ultrasonic cleaning.

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Authors: O. Frolov, K. Kolacek, J. Schmidt, J. Straus, V. Prukner, A. Shukurov

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Many applications require surface modification and micro-structuring of polymers. For these purposes is mainly used ultraviolet (UV) radiation from excimer lamps or excimer lasers. However, these sources have a decided disadvantage - degrading the polymer deep inside due to relatively big radiation penetration depth which may exceed 100 μm. In contrast, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation is absorbed in a layer approximately 100 nm thick only. In this work, the radiation from a discharge-plasma EUV source (with wavelength 46.9 nm) based on a capillary discharge driver is focused with a spherical Si/Sc multilayer mirror for surface modification of PMMA sample or thin gold layer (thickness about 40 nm). It was found that the focused EUV laser beam is capable by one shot to ablate PMMA or layer of gold, even if the focus is significantly influenced by astigmatism.

Keywords: ablation, capillary discharge, EUV laser, surface modification

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Authors: Florin Leon, Silvia Curteanu

Abstract:

Developing complete mechanistic models for polymerization reactors is not easy, because complex reactions occur simultaneously; there is a large number of kinetic parameters involved and sometimes the chemical and physical phenomena for mixtures involving polymers are poorly understood. To overcome these difficulties, empirical models based on sampled data can be used instead, namely regression methods typical of machine learning field. They have the ability to learn the trends of a process without any knowledge about its particular physical and chemical laws. Therefore, they are useful for modeling complex processes, such as the free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate achieved in a batch bulk process. The goal is to generate accurate predictions of monomer conversion, numerical average molecular weight and gravimetrical average molecular weight. This process is associated with non-linear gel and glass effects. For this purpose, an adaptive sampling technique is presented, which can select more samples around the regions where the values have a higher variation. Several machine learning methods are used for the modeling and their performance is compared: support vector machines, k-nearest neighbor, k-nearest neighbor and random forest, as well as an original algorithm, large margin nearest neighbor regression. The suggested method provides very good results compared to the other well-known regression algorithms.

Keywords: Adaptive sampling, batch bulk methyl methacrylate polymerization, large margin nearest neighbor regression, machine learning.

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Authors: I. V. Kuzminov

Abstract:

The alternative hypothesis of the physics of gravitation is put forward in this paper. The hypothesis is constructed on the laws of classical physics. The process of expansion of the Universe explains the physics of gravity. The expansion of the Universe induces the resistance of gyroscopic forces of electron’s rotation. The second component of gravity forces is the resistance arising from the second derivative of linear expansion. This hypothesis does not reject the existing foundation of settlement, particularly as it is empirically constructed. The forces of gravitation and inertia share a common nature, which has been recognized before. The presented hypothesis does not criticize existing theories of gravitation; rather, it explores a separate theme. It is important to acknowledge that the expansion of the Universe exhibits isotropic characteristics. The proposed hypothesis provides a fundamental direction for further research. It is worth noting that this article does not aim to encompass all possible aspects of future investigations.

Keywords: Gyroscopic forces, the unity of the micro- and macrocosm, the expansion of the universe, the second derivative of expansion.

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Authors: Alpana Agarwal, Akhil Sharma

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This work presents a fully differential CMOS amplifier consisting of two self-biased gain boosted inverter stages, that provides an alternative to the power hungry operational amplifier. The self-biasing avoids the use of external biasing circuitry, thus reduces the die area, design efforts, and power consumption. In the present work, regulated cascode technique has been employed for gain boosting. The Miller compensation is also applied to enhance the phase margin. The circuit has been designed and simulated in 1.8 V 0.18 µm CMOS technology. The simulation results show a high DC gain of 100.7 dB, Unity-Gain Bandwidth of 107.8 MHz, and Phase Margin of 66.7^o with a power dissipation of 286 μW and makes it suitable candidate for the high resolution pipelined ADCs.

Keywords: CMOS amplifier, gain boosting, inverter-based amplifier, self-biased inverter.

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Authors: Khin Fai Chen, Jee-Hou Ho, Eng Hwa Yap

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An Acoustic Micro-Energy Harvester (AMEH) is developed to convert wasted acoustical energy into useful electrical energy. AMEH is mathematically modeled using Lumped Element Modelling (LEM) and Euler-Bernoulli beam (EBB) modelling. An experiment is designed to validate the mathematical model and assess the feasibility of AMEH. Comparison of theoretical and experimental data on critical parameter value such as Mm, Cms, dm and Ceb showed the variances are within 1% to 6%, which is reasonably acceptable. Then, AMEH undergoes bandwidth tuning for performance optimization. The AMEH successfully produces 0.9V/(m/s^2) and 1.79μW/(m^2/s^4) at 60Hz and 400kΩ resistive load which only show variances about 7% compared to theoretical data. At 1g and 60Hz resonance frequency, the averaged power output is about 2.2mW which fulfilled a range of wireless sensors and communication peripherals power requirements. Finally, the design for AMEH is assessed, validated and deemed as a feasible design.

Keywords: Piezoelectric, acoustic, energy harvester, thermoacoustic.

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Authors: S. Kapoor, R. Liu, X. J. Wu, M. X. Yao

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A group of Stellite alloys are studied in consideration of temperature effects on their hardness and wear resistance. The hardness test is conducted on a micro-hardness tester with a hot stage equipped that allows heating the specimen up to 650°C. The wear resistance of each alloy is evaluated using a pin-on-disc tribometer with a heating furnace built-in that provides the temperature capacity up to 450°C. The experimental results demonstrate that the hardness and wear resistance of Stellite alloys behave differently at room temperature and at high temperatures. The wear resistance of Stellite alloys at room temperature mainly depends on their carbon content and also influenced by the tungsten content in the alloys. However, at high temperatures the wear mechanisms of Stellite alloys become more complex, involving multiple factors. The relationships between chemical composition, microstructure, hardness and wear resistance of these alloys are studied, with focus on temperature effect on these relations.

Keywords: Stellite alloy, temperature, hardness, wear resistance

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Authors: F. Javier Benitez, Francisco J. Real, Juan Luis Acero, Francisco Casas

Abstract:

Three emerging contaminants (amitriptyline hydrochloride, methyl salicylate and 2-phenoxyethanol) frequently found in waste-waters were selected to be individually degraded in ultra-pure water by the combined advanced oxidation process constituted by UV radiation and chlorine. The influence of pH, initial chlorine concentration and nature of the contaminants was firstly explored. The trend for the reactivity of the selected compounds was deduced: amitriptyline hydrochloride > methyl salicylate > 2-phenoxyethanol. A later kinetic study was carried out and focused on the specific evaluation of the first-order rate constants and the determination of the partial contribution to the global reaction of the direct photochemical pathway and the radical pathway. A comparison between the rate constant values among photochemical experiments without and with the presence of Cl₂ reveals a clear increase in the oxidation efficiency of the combined process with respect to the photochemical reaction alone. In a second stage, the simultaneous oxidation of mixtures of the selected contaminants in several types of water (ultrapure water, surface water from a reservoir, and two secondary effluents) was also performed by the same combination UV/Cl₂ under more realistic operating conditions. The efficiency of this combined system UV/Cl₂ was compared to other oxidants such as the UV/S₂O₈^2- and UV/H₂O₂ AOPs. Results confirmed that the UV/Cl₂ system provides higher elimination efficiencies among the AOPs tested.

Keywords: Emerging contaminants, amitriptyline, methyl salicylate, 2-phenoxyethanol, chlorination, photolysis, rate constants, UV/chlorine advanced oxidation process.

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Authors: Janjira Triped, Wipada Sanongraj, Wipawee Khamwichit

Abstract:

The research work covered in this study includes the morphological structure and optical properties of TiO₂-coated silk fibroin (SF) filters at 2.5% wt. TiO₂/vol. PVA solution. SEM micrographs revealed the fibrous morphology of the TiO₂-coated SF filters. An average diameter of the SF fiber was estimated to be approximately 10µm. Also, it was confirmed that TiO₂ can be adhered more on SF filter surface at higher TiO₂ dosages. The activity of semiconductor materials was studied by UV-VIS spectrophotometer method. The spectral data recorded shows the strong cut off at 390 nm. The calculated band-gap energy was about 3.19 eV. The photocatalytic activity of the filter was tested for gaseous formaldehyde removal in a modeling room with the total volume of 2.66 m³. The highest removal efficiency (54.72 ± 1.75%) was obtained at the initial formaldehyde concentration of about 5.00 ± 0.50ppm.

Keywords: Photocatalytic oxidation process, Formaldehyde (HCHO), Silk fibroin (SF), Titanium dioxide (TiO2).

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Authors: Michael Netzer, Michael Seger, Mahesh Visvanathan, Bernhard Pfeifer, Gerald H. Lushington, Christian Baumgartner

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Lung cancer accounts for the most cancer related deaths for men as well as for women. The identification of cancer associated genes and the related pathways are essential to provide an important possibility in the prevention of many types of cancer. In this work two filter approaches, namely the information gain and the biomarker identifier (BMI) are used for the identification of different types of small-cell and non-small-cell lung cancer. A new method to determine the BMI thresholds is proposed to prioritize genes (i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary) using a k-means clustering approach. Sets of key genes were identified that can be found in several pathways. It turned out that the modified BMI is well suited for microarray data and therefore BMI is proposed as a powerful tool for the search for new and so far undiscovered genes related to cancer.

Keywords: lung cancer, micro arrays, data mining, feature selection.

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