Multifunctional HDPE/Cu biocidal nanocomposites for MEX additive manufactured parts: Perspectives for the defense industry

In this study, we investigated the performance improvement caused by the addition of copper(Cu)nanoparticles to high-density polyethylene(HDPE) matrix material. Composite materials, with filler percentages of 0.0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, and 10.0 wt% were synthesized through the material extrusion(MEX)3D printing technique. The synthesized nanocomposite filaments were utilized for the manufacturing of specimens suitable for the experimental procedure that followed. Hence, we were able to systematically investigate their tensile, flexural, impact, and microhardness properties through various mechanical tests that were conducted according to the corresponding standards. Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy was used to investigate the electrical/dielectric properties of the composites. Moreover, by employing means of Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) we were also able to further investigate their vibrational, structural, and thermal properties. Concomitantly, means of scanning electron microscopy(SEM), as well as atomic force microscopy(AFM), were used for the examination of the morphological and structural characteristics of the synthesized specimens, while energy-dispersive Xray spectroscopy(EDS) was also performed in order to receive a more detailed picture on the structural characteristics of the various synthesized composites. The corresponding nanomaterials were also assessed for their antibacterial properties regarding Staphylococcus aureus(S. aureus) and Escherichia coli(E. coli) with the assistance of a method named screening agar well diffusion. The results showed that the mechanical properties of HDPE benefited from the utilization of Cu as a filler, as they showed a notable improvement. The specimen of HDPE/Cu 4.0 wt% was the one that presented the highest levels of reinforcement in four out of the seven tested mechanical properties(for example, it exhibited a 36.7%improvement in the flexural strength, compared to the pure matrix). At the same time, the nanocomposites were efficient against the S. aureus bacterium and less efficient against the E. coli bacterium.The use of such multi-functional, robust nanocomposites in MEX 3D printing is positively impacting applications in various fields, most notably in the defense and security sectors. The latter becomes increasingly important if one takes into account that most firearms encompass various polymeric parts that require robustness and improved mechanical properties, while at the same time keeping the risk of spreading various infectious microorganisms at a bare minimum.

Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis for Social Multimedia:A Hybrid Computational Framework

People utilize microblogs and other social media platforms to express their thoughts and feelings regarding current events,public products and the latest affairs.People share their thoughts and feelings about various topics,including products,news,blogs,etc.In user reviews and tweets,sentiment analysis is used to discover opinions and feelings.Sentiment polarity is a term used to describe how sentiment is represented.Positive,neutral and negative are all examples of it.This area is still in its infancy and needs several critical upgrades.Slang and hidden emotions can detract from the accuracy of traditional techniques.Existing methods only evaluate the polarity strength of the sentiment words when dividing them into positive and negative categories.Some existing strategies are domain-specific.The proposed model incorporates aspect extraction,association rule mining and the deep learning technique Bidirectional EncoderRepresentations from Transformers(BERT).Aspects are extracted using Part of Speech Tagger and association rulemining is used to associate aspects with opinion words.Later,classification was performed using BER.The proposed approach attained an average of 89.45%accuracy,88.45%precision and 85.98%recall on different datasets of products and Twitter.The results showed that the proposed technique achieved better than state-of-the-art sentiment analysis techniques.

A Novel γ-Alumina Supported Fe-Mo Bimetallic Catalyst for Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction

In reverse water gas shift （RWGS） reaction COa is converted to CO which in turn can be used to pro- duce beneficial chemicals such as methanol. In the present study, Mo/AlaO3, Fe/AlaO3 and Fe-Mo/Al2O3 catalysts were synthesised using impregnation method. The structures of catalysts were studied using X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller （BET） method, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer （ICP-AES）, temperature programmed reduction （H2-TPR）, CO chemisorption, energy dispersive X-ray （EDX） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM） techniques. Kinetic properties of all catalysts were investigated in a batch re- actor for RWGS reaction. The results indicated that Mo existence in structure of Fe-Mo/AlzO3 catalyst enhances its activity as compared to Fe/AlaO3. This enhancement is probably due to better Fe dispersion and smaller particle size of Fe species. Stability test of Fe-Mo/AlzO3 catalyst was carried out in a fixed bed reactor and a high CO yield for 60 h of time on stream was demonstrated. Fez（MoO4）3 phase was found in the structures of fresh and used catalysts. TPR results also indicate that Fez（MoO4）3 phase has low reducibility, therefore the Fe2（MoO4）3 phase significantly inhibits the reduction of the remaining Fe oxides in the catalyst, resulted in high stability of Fe-Mo/Al2O3 catalyst. Overall, this study introduces Fe-Mo/Al2O3 as a novel catalyst with high CO yield, almost no by-products and fairly stable for RWGS reaction.

Preparation and characterization of iron-ore-imbedded silicone rubber materials for radiation protection

Iron-ore-imbedded silicone rubber materials were produced for radiation shielding. Samples were tested against a Co-60 gamma source, which is widely used in nuclear technology and medicine. Decreasing the particle size of iron ore resulted in better gamma radiation protection owing to more homogenous distribution. In addition, the materials had flexible properties up to the addition of 60 wt% iron ore content. Further, 0.5 mm Pb E gamma protection was provided by using 2.06-mm-thick SDT-60 as the Co-60 source. Iron ore–silicone rubber composites are candidate materials for lead-free flexible radiation protection systems owing to their relatively inexpensive and easy production.

NONLINEAR DYNAMICS MODFLING OF MECHANICAL PERIODICITY OF END DIASTOLIC VOLUME OF LEFT VENTRICLE

The cardiovascular system with a lumped parameter model is treated, in which the Starling model is used to simulate left ventricle and the four-element Burattini & Gnudi model is used in the description of arterial system. Moreover, the feedback action of arterial pressure on cardiac cycle is taken into account. The phenomenon of mechanical periodicity (MP) of end diastolic volume (EDV) of left ventricle is successfully simulated by solving a series of one-dimensional discrete nonlinear dynamical equations. The effects of cardiovascular parameters on MP is also discussed.

Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis of Chemosymbiotic Solemyidae and Thyasiridae

In order to invade and adapt to deep-sea environments, shallow-water organisms have to acquire tolerance to high hydrostatic pressure, low water temperature, toxic methane and hydrogen sulfide, and feeding strategies not relying on photosynthetic products. Our previous study showed that the “evolutionary stepping stone hypothe-sis”, which assumes that organic falls can act as stepping-stones to connect shallow sea with deep sea, was supported in Mytilidae. However, it is not known whether other bivalves constituting chemosynthetic communities experienced the same evolutionary process or different processes from mytilid mussels. Therefore, here, we performed phylogenetic analyses by sequencing the nuclear 18S rRNA and mitochondrial COI genes of solemyid and thyasirid bivalves. In Solemyidae, the two genera Solemya and Acharax formed each clade, the latter of which was divided into three subgroups. The Solemya clade and one of the Acharax subgroups diverged in the order of shallow-sea residents, whale-bone residents, and deep-sea vent/seep residents, which supported the “evolutionary stepping stone hypothesis”. Furthermore, in Thyasiridae, the two genera Thyasira and Maorithyas formed a paraphyletic group and the other genera, Adontorhina, Axinopsis, Axinulus, Leptaxinus, and Mendicula, formed a clade. The “evolu-tionary stepping stone hypothesis” was not seemingly supported in the other lineages of Solemyidae and Thyasiridae.

Modeling the Impact of Land-Use Change on Water Budget of Gaza Strip

Gaza has a water crisis and faces serious challenges for the future sustainability of its water resources. Land-use change has an expected effect on water budget of the Gaza Strip. Three different land cover scenarios;the and cover of 2007, land cover of 2020, and full urbanization land cover were simulated independently using The Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool which work under the umbrella of GIS. In general, the simulation results indicate that land-cover changes will significantly alter the hydrologic response of Gaza region. Percolation is expected to decrease in all options as urban areas are expanded where as the simulated surface runoff reflected a relative departure from the first scenario comparing with other scenarios. In the baseline scenario (2007), the simulated surface runoff and percolation represent 12% and 41% respectively from the water budget components of the Gaza Strip. In year 2020, these values were expected by the simulation results to be 20% and 27% respectively. A unique linear relationship between the relative change in urban area and the corresponding relative change in surface water has been investigated from the simulation results. The analysis of the three urbanization scenarios can give decision makers better understand for the future situation and assist them to advance towards achieving sustainable development planning for water resources system in the Gaza Strip.

Mining Maximal Frequent Patterns in a Unidirectional FP-tree

Because mining complete set of frequent patterns from dense database could be impractical, an interesting alternative has been proposed recently. Instead of mining the complete set of frequent patterns, the new model only finds out the maximal frequent patterns, which can generate all frequent patterns. FP-growth algorithm is one of the most efficient frequent-pattern mining methods published so far. However, because FP-tree and conditional FP-trees must be two-way traversable, a great deal memory is needed in process of mining. This paper proposes an efficient algorithm Unid_FP-Max for mining maximal frequent patterns based on unidirectional FP-tree. Because of generation method of unidirectional FP-tree and conditional unidirectional FP-trees, the algorithm reduces the space consumption to the fullest extent. With the development of two techniques: single path pruning and header table pruning which can cut down many conditional unidirectional FP-trees generated recursively in mining process, Unid_FP-Max further lowers the expense of time and space.

Improvement of sintering,nonlinear electrical,and dielectric properties of ZnO-based varistors doped with TiO2

The effects of TiO2 on sintering and nonlinear electrical properties of（98.5-x）ZnO–0.5MnO2–0.5Co2O3-0.5Bi2O3–xTiO2（x = 0.3,0.5,0.7,0.9 mol%） ceramic varistors prepared by the ceramic technique are investigated in this work.The optimum sintering temperature of the prepared samples is deduced by determining the firing shrinkage and water absorption percentages.The optimum sintering temperature is found to be 1200℃,at which each of the samples shows a maximum firing shrinkage and minimum water absorption.Also minimum water absorption appears in a sample of x = 0.9 mol%.Higher sintering temperature and longer sintering time give rise to a reduction in bulk density due to the increased amount of porosity between the large grains of ZnO resulting from the rapid grain growth induced by the liquid phase sintering.The crystal size of ZnO decreases with increasing TiO2 doping.The addition of TiO2 improves the nonlinear coefficient and attains its maximum value at x = 0.7 mol% of TiO2,further addition negatively affects it.A decrease in capacitance consequently in the dielectric constant is recorded with increasing the frequency in a range of 30 kHz–200 kHz.The temperature and composition dependences of the dielectric constant and AC conductivity are also studied.The increase of temperature raises the dielectric constant because it increases ionic response to the field at any particular frequency.

PARAMETRIC STUDY OF TISSUE OPTICAL CLEARING BY LOCALIZED MECHANICAL COMPRESSION USING COMBINED FINITE ELEMENT AND MONTE CARLO SIMULATION

Tissue Optical Clearing Devices(TOCDs)have been shown to increase light transmission through mechanically compressed regions of naturally turbid biological tissues.We hypothesize that zones of high compressive strain induced by TOCD pins produce localized water displacement and reversible changes in tissue optical properties.In this paper,we demonstrate a novel combined mechanical finite element model and optical Monte Carlo model which simulates TOCD pin compression of an ex vivo porcine skin sample and modified spatial photon fluence distributions within the tissue.Results of this simulation qualitatively suggest that light transmission through the skin can be significantly affected by changes in compressed tissue geometry as well as concurrent changes in tissue optical properties.The development of a comprehensive multi-domain model of TOCD application to tissues such as skin could ultimately be used as a framework for optimizing future design of TOCDs.

Mathematical Analysis of Unsteady MHD Blood Flow through Parallel Plate Channel with Heat Source

In the present study, a mathematical model of unsteady blood flow through parallel plate channel under the action of an applied constant transverse magnetic field is proposed. The model is subjected to heat source. Analytical expressions are obtained by choosing the axial velocity;temperature distribution and the normal velocity of the blood depend on y and t only to convert the system of partial differential equations into system of ordinary differential equations under the conditions defined in our model. The model has been analyzed to find the effects of various parameters such as, Hartmann number, heat source parameter and Prandtl number on the axial velocity, temperature distribution and the normal velocity. The numerical solutions of axial velocity, temperature distributions and normal velocity are shown graphically for better understanding of the problem. Hence, the present mathematical model gives a simple form of axial velocity, temperature distribution and normal velocity of the blood flow so that it will help not only people working in the field of Physiological fluid dynamics but also to the medical practitioners.

Evolution and Prospect of Dakar Drinking Water Consumption

In Dakar, there has been a considerable deficit in the drinking water supply for more than a decade. The distribution is poorly controlled in this region. And yet, there is no lack of supply sources or solutions. With a drinking water deficit of 300,000 m3/d to fill, the State of Senegal proposed two (02) options: firstly, the construction of a second Plan at Keur Momar Sarr on the Guiers Lake with a capacity of 75,000 m3/d coupled with a third pipeline between Keur Momar Sarr and Thiès (KMS3);secondly, the construction of a seawater desalination Plant with a capacity of 75,000 m3/d. In this article, we studied the evolution of the drinking water consumption and the statistical data relating to population growth, which is the key element in the drinking water consumption evolution in Dakar. We were able to extract the equations from the trend curves that made it possible to predict a population growth. The results obtained with the equations and the curves show that the real needs for drinking water in Dakar are proportional to population growth.

Dispersal Ability and Genetic Structure in Mytilid Mussels of Whale-Fall Communities

Since organic falls are ephemeral and distributed sporadically, organisms in organic-fall communities must acquire high dispersal ability to migrate from one organic fall to another. However, the dispersal ability of obligate organic-fall organisms has not been investigated thoroughly and the stability of the genetic structure of their communities is unknown. In this study, in order to elucidate the dispersal ability and genetic structure in the organic-fall communities, we carried out population genetic analyses based on sequences of mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 in two mytilid mussels.?Adipicola pacifica was obtained from whale and cow bones artificially settled in Japanese waters off Cape Noma (CN) and in the Nansei-Shoto Trench (NS) and Sagami Bay (SB), and Benthomodiolus geikotsucola from natural whale bones in the Torishima Seamount (TS);both species are symbiotic with chemoautotrophic bacteria. Genetic differentiation (Fst) indicated almost no annual change in genetic structure between 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007 collections of A. pacificafrom CN (depth 225 - 229 m), although the 2010 collection had somewhat different genetic structure from the others. Similarly, there was not significant genetic differentiation between 1993 and 2005 collections of B.geikotsucola from TS (depth 4020 m). The Fst and gene bidirectional mean rate of gene flow (Nm) indicated high gene flow and no significant genetic differentiation between A. pacifica specimens collected from CN, NS, and SB. The results suggest that the genetic structure is stable and A. pacifica has high dispersal ability. The mismatch distribution suggests that A. pacificaexpanded their distribution from SB to NS via CN, as expansion time (τ = 2ut) decreased from SB to CN and NS.

Critical Exponents of Quark Matter

I investigate the ferromagnetic phase transition inside strong quark matter (SQM) with one gluon exchange interaction between strong quarks. I use a variational method and the Landau-Fermi liquid theory and obtain the thermodynamics quantities of SQM. In the low temperature limit, the equation of state (EOS) and critical exponents for the second-order phase transition (ferromagnetic phase transition) in SQM are analytically calculated. The results are in agreement with the Ginzberg-Landau theory.

Dust Plasma Effect on the Etching Process of Si[100] by Ultra Low Frequency RF Plasma

Dust-plasma interactions play vital roles in numerous observed phenomena in the space environment, their scope in the industrial laboratory has grown rapidly in recent times to include such diverse areas as materials processing, microelectronics, lighting and nuclear fusion. The etching processes of Si wafer has been studied using Ultra low frequency RF plasma (ULFP) at (1 KHz) by two different techniques namely: ion etching using inert gas only (e.g., argon gas), and ion chemical etching using an active gas (beside the inert gas) such as oxygen. In the case of large dust particle, the dust might act as a floating body in the plasma collecting equal fluxes of electrons and ions. The velocity of the ions flux out from the mesh (cathode) and cause ion sputtering for the sample (Si-Wafer) measured, moreover the rate coefficient for collection of electrons and ions by dust (K) is calculated here, the presence of dust, however, may itself cause loss process. As the plasma density increases, the etching rate increases and the volumetric rate of loss of electron and ions due to dust particle increases (K). A comparison between the volumetric rate of loss (K) due to ion chemical etching (75% Ar/25% O2) and ion etching (Pure Ar) has been carried out.

Modelling of Phase Change Heat Transfer System for Micro-channel and Chaos Simulation

The dynamic properties for the micro-channel phase change heat transfer system are studied by theoretical method combined with experiment. Liquid-vapour interface dynamic systems are obtained by introducing disjoining pressure produced by three phase molecular interactions and Lie algebra analysis. Experiments for 0.6 mm×2 mm rectangular micro-channel are carried out to obtain the pressure time serials. Power spectrum density analysis for these serials shows that the system is in chaotic state if the frequency is above 7.39 Hz. The result indicates that the high heat transfer performance of the micro channel phase change system may relate to the characteristics of chaos, The chaos attractor is drawn by the simulation of the obtained differential dynamic system under the conditions of our experiment.

Examination of Polymeric Azomethine Compounds and Their Transition Metal Complexes by Using XRF and XRD Technique

In this study,the electronic transition properties and structural analysis of the metal complexes(Ni(Ⅱ),Co(Ⅱ),Cu(Ⅱ)and Mn(Ⅱ))of three different polymer ligands were performed by using XRF and X-ray diffraction(XRD)techniques,respectively.The structural analysis of the polymers and their complexes were performed by XRD technique and some of the polymers were found to be in the face-centred cubic(fcc)structure.In addition,the values of the present K X-ray intensity ratios are significantly greater than the values reported in literature.

The Influence of Zn²⁺Ions Substitution on the Microstructure and Transport Properties of Mn-Zn Nanoferrites

The effect of Zn2+ ions on the microstructure and electrical properties of Mn1-xZnxFe2O4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5 in steps of 0.1) through a solid state reaction has been investigated. The structural properties have been investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The XRD analysis confirms that all samples are in a single-phase cubic spinel structure. The experimental lattice parameter (aexp) was decreased with increasing Zn2+ ions substitution due to the smaller ionic radius of zinc content. The crystallite size (t) of samples was estimated by Scherrer’s formula and found in the range (90 - 115 nm). Dc electrical resistivity and Seebeck voltage coefficients were measured as a function of temperature using the two probe methods. The temperature variation of resistivity exhibits two breaks, each break referring to a change in the activation energy. The Curie temperature estimated from dc resistivity measurement decreases with increasing Zn2+ ions. Seebeck voltage coefficient measurements reveal n-type conduction for all samples.

Selective Smoothed Finite Element Method

The paper examines three selective schemes for the smoothed finite element method （SFEM） which was formulated by incorporating a cell-wise strain smoothing operation into the standard compatible finite element method （FEM）. These selective SFEM schemes were formulated based on three selective integration FEM schemes with similar properties found between the number of smoothing cells in the SFEM and the number of Gaussian integration points in the FEM. Both scheme 1 and scheme 2 are free of nearly incompressible locking, but scheme 2 is more general and gives better results than scheme 1. In addition, scheme 2 can be applied to anisotropic and nonlinear situations, while scheme 1 can only be applied to isotropic and linear situations. Scheme 3 is free of shear locking. This scheme can be applied to plate and shell problems. Results of the numerical study show that the selective SFEM schemes give more accurate results than the FEM schemes.

Cyber risk at the edge:current and future trends on cyber risk analytics and artificial intelligence in the industrial internet of things and industry 4.0 supply chains

Digital technologies have changed the way supply chain operations are structured.In this article,we conduct systematic syntheses of literature on the impact of new technologies on supply chains and the related cyber risks.A taxonomic/cladistic approach is used for the evaluations of progress in the area of supply chain integration in the Industrial Internet of Things and Industry 4.0,with a specific focus on the mitigation of cyber risks.An analytical framework is presented,based on a critical assessment with respect to issues related to new types of cyber risk and the integration of supply chains with new technologies.This paper identifies a dynamic and self-adapting supply chain system supported with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning(AI/ML)and real-time intelligence for predictive cyber risk analytics.The system is integrated into a cognition engine that enables predictive cyber risk analytics with real-time intelligence from IoT networks at the edge.This enhances capacities and assist in the creation of a comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and threats that arise when edge computing nodes are deployed,and when AI/ML technologies are migrated to the periphery of IoT networks.