Metamaterial absorber based on circular ring structure with and without copper lines

This paper presents the analysis of circular ring metamaterial absorber with the existing of copper lines. The structure is designed using lossy FR4 substrate with thin copper layers. The circular ring shape with copper lines is printed on the top surface of FR4 substrate, while at the bottom surface is printed with full copper ground plane. Parametric study is done to investigate the effect of copper lines on the resonance frequency. From the simulation, the circular ring metamaterial absorber with vertical copper lines can resonates at lower frequency, but this structure is polarized sensitive. This drawback can be improved by adding horizontal copper lines together with the vertical copper lines. The circular ring structure with vertical and horizontal copper lines is not only polarization insensitive, but it can works at wide operating angle of incident waves.     

Study of ion beam induced mixing in Sn/Si system using electrical resistivity measurements

The ion-beam mixing of Sn thin film evaporated on silicon has been investigated by continuously measuring the electrical resistivity of the sample during irradiation by Kr ions. The resistivity results exhibit a tendency toward a saturation process and allow the determination of the critical dose corresponding to the total mixing condition. The variation of the volume fraction of intermixed atoms as a function of the ion dose has been deduced and compared with a semiempirical formula to explain the observed mixing kinetics. A linear dependence of the volume fraction of the intermixed atoms on the fluence is observed, which is a signature of recoil type mixing.     

Syntheses and polymerizations of some vinyl monomers containing nitro- or fluorophthalimides

4-Nitro-N-vinylphthalimide ( 4 ) was synthesized by two different procedures. Compound 4 was not polymerizable or copolymerizable by AIBN. Poly(N-vinylphthalimide) ( 17 ) was prepared and partially nitrated at 10–25°C. N,N′-(1,2-Ethanediyl)bis(4-nitrophthalimide) ( 15 ) and N,N′-(1,3-propanediyl)bis(4-nitrophthalimide) ( 16 ) were prepared by the condensation of the corresponding diamine with phthalic anhydride followed by nitration of the condensation products. 4-Nitrophthalic anhydride was prepared by the hydrolysis of 15 . Four styrene-substituted phthalimide monomers were synthesized. These include N-(4-vinylphenyl)phthalimide ( 25a ), N-(4-vinylphenyl)-3-fluorophthalimide ( 25b ), N-(4-vinylphenyl)-3-nitrophthalimide ( 25c ), and N-(4-vinylphenyl)-4-nitrophthalimide ( 25d ). Monomers 25a and 25b were polymerized by freeradical initiator (AIBN), whereas monomers 25c and 25d were not polymerizable or copolymerizable by AIBN due to a strong inhibitive effect exerted by the nitrophthalimide group. Monomers 25c and 25d were cationically polymerized (BF₃·OEt₂). Monomer 25b and styrene were copolymerized and their reactivity ratios were r₁ = 1.7 and r₂ = 0.55, respectively. The prepared polymers are useful as backbone polymers for grafting living anionic polymers.     

Photoluminescence properties of thenardite activated with Eu

Na₂SO₄:Eu phosphors were prepared by heating pure natural thenardite with EuF₃ at 900 °C for 20 min in air. The photoluminescence (PL) and excitation spectra of as-prepared and γ-ray-irradiated phosphors were observed at 300 K. The PL spectrum under 394 nm excitation consisted of strong narrow bands with peaks at 579, 592, 616, 652, 697 and 741 nm, assigned to the ⁵D₀→⁷F_J (J=0, 1, 2, …, 5) transitions, respectively, within Eu³⁺. The PL spectrum under 340 nm excitation consisted of a broad Eu²⁺ band with a peak at 435 nm. The excitation spectrum obtained by monitoring the violet luminescence consisted of a weak band with a peak at approximately 261 nm and a broad Eu²⁺ band with a peak at approximately 338 nm. The relative efficiency of the violet luminescence of the γ-ray-irradiated phosphor at the exposure of 46 kGy increased up to 3.0 times that of the unirradiated phosphor. The enhancement of violet luminescence by γ-ray irradiation was ascribed to the conversion of Eu³⁺ to Eu²⁺ in Na₂SO₄.     

Application of Euler Neural Networks with Soft Computing Paradigm to Solve Nonlinear Problems Arising in Heat Transfer

In this study, a novel application of neurocomputing technique is presented for solving nonlinear heat transfer and natural convection porous fin problems arising in almost all areas of engineering and technology, especially in mechanical engineering. The mathematical models of the problems are exploited by the intelligent strength of Euler polynomials based Euler neural networks (ENN’s), optimized with a generalized normal distribution optimization (GNDO) algorithm and Interior point algorithm (IPA). In this scheme, ENN’s based differential equation models are constructed in an unsupervised manner, in which the neurons are trained by GNDO as an effective global search technique and IPA, which enhances the local search convergence. Moreover, a temperature distribution of heat transfer and natural convection porous fin are investigated by using an ENN-GNDO-IPA algorithm under the influence of variations in specific heat, thermal conductivity, internal heat generation, and heat transfer rate, respectively. A large number of executions are performed on the proposed technique for different cases to determine the reliability and effectiveness through various performance indicators including Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), error in Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (ENSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and Thiel’s inequality coefficient (TIC). Extensive graphical and statistical analysis shows the dominance of the proposed algorithm with state-of-the-art algorithms and numerical solver RK-4.     

Mechanism of base-catalyzed autooxidation of corticosteroids containing 20-keto-21-hydroxyl side chain

Corticosteroids and related compounds containing the 20-keto-21-hydroxyl side chain such as betamethasone, betamethasone 9,11-epoxide, dexamethasone, and dexamethasone 9,11-epoxide have been found to undergo facile autooxidation on the 1,3-dihydroxyacetone side chain of their D-rings under strong alkaline conditions to yield five main degradants (17-formyloxy-17-acid, 17-acid, 21-aldehyde, 20-hydroxy-21-acid, and 17-ketone). The rate of the autooxidation was correlated with the strength and concentration of the base used in the reaction. A novel mechanism for the observed autooxidation is proposed, in which the facile oxidation of the presumed enolate (resulting from the carbanion at the 21-position) by molecular oxygen is the key step. The proposed autooxidation mechanism, supported by LC-MS isotope experiments using ¹⁸O₂ as the oxidant, can satisfactorily explain the oxidative degradation patterns observed for corticosteroids containing the 20-keto-21-hydroxyl side chain.     

Influence of maleic anhydride grafted ethylene propylene diene monomer (MAH-g-EPDM) on the properties of EPDM nanocomposites reinforced by halloysite nanotubes

Ethylene propylene diene monomer grafted with maleic ahydride (MAH-g-EPDM) was prepared by peroxide-initiated melt grafting of MAH onto EPDM using a HAAKE internal mixer at 180 °C and 60 rpm for 5 min. The effect of MAH-g-EPDM compatibilizer on the interactions, and tensile and morphological properties of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) filled EPDM nanocomposites was investigated. The tensile properties of the nanocomposites were influenced by two major factors. The hydrogen bonding between MAH-g-EPDM and HNTs, which was confirmed by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), as well as the formation of EPDM-rich and HNT-rich areas, are the dominant effects on the tensile strength of the nanocomposites at low and high HNT loading, respectively. It was found that the cure time (t₉₀), maximum torque (M_H) and minimum torque (M_L) of the compatibilized nanocomposites were increased after adding MAH-g-EPDM. The reinforcement mechanism of the compatibilized and un-compatibilized EPDM/HNT nanocomposites was also investigated based on morphological observations of the nanocomposites.     

Robust stability analysis of static neural network with S-type distributed delays

In this paper, we investigate local robust stability of static neural network (SNN) with S-type distributed delays. We derive some new sufficient conditions for local robust stability of equilibrium points and estimate attracting domains of equilibrium points except isolated equilibrium points. Our results not only show local robust stability of equilibrium points but also allow much broader application for static neural network with or without delays. It is shown that our results are new and improve corresponding results existing in the previous literature.     

Exponential stability preservation in semi-discretisations of BAM networks with nonlinear impulses

This paper demonstrates the reliability of a discrete-time analogue in preserving the exponential convergence of a bidirectional associative memory (BAM) network that is subject to nonlinear impulses. The analogue derived from a semi-discretisation technique with the value of the time-step fixed is treated as a discrete-time dynamical system while its exponential convergence towards an equilibrium state is studied. Thereby, a family of sufficiency conditions governing the network parameters and the impulse magnitude and frequency is obtained for the convergence. As special cases, one can obtain from our results, those corresponding to the non-impulsive discrete-time BAM networks and also those corresponding to continuous-time (impulsive and non-impulsive) systems. A relation between the Lyapunov exponent of the non-impulsive system and that of the impulsive system involving the size of the impulses and the inter-impulse intervals is obtained.