Elemental analysis of limestone by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Limestone samples from Assuit Governrate in Upper Egypt were subjected to elemental analysis by instrumental neutron activation analysis and X-ray fluorescence techniques. The samples were properly prepared together with their standards and simultaneously irradiated in a neutron flux of the order 7 × 1011 n/cm² s using TRIGA research reactor at Mainz. After activation the samples were subjected to γ-ray spectrometry using a high purity germanium detection system and computerized multichannel analyzer. Nineteen elements: Na, Ca, Mn, Fe, Sc, Cr, Co, Zn, Sn, La, Ce, Nd, Eu, Sm, Yb, Lu, Hf, Th and U were analyzed. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry have been also used. The presence of any elements in higher or lower levels in certain limestone samples is contingent on the occurrence of its bearing minerals, nature of parent sediments and depositional environments of these sediments. The major elements in the samples were also observed to be among the elements that had high enrichment factors in the study of suspended dust particulate within and around cement industries. This confirms cement as the major contributor to the airborne particulate matter in the environs.     

Elemental analysis of soils from Toshki by using instrumental neutron activation analysis techniques

Instrumental neutron activation analysis has allowed performing a complete characterization of the chemical composition of thirty soil samples soil samples from ten locations collected from the Toshki area in Upper Egypt. The samples were irradiated with thermal neutrons at the Mainz TRIGA research reactor. Gamma-ray spectra were recorded using a high efficiency HPGe detector to determine the contents of major, minor and trace elements in these samples. As a result of the analysis, altogether 32 elements were identified qualitatively and quantitatively. These elements are: Al, As, Ba, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Ga, Hf, K, La, Lu, Mg, Mn, Na, Nb, Nd, Rb, Sc, Sm, Sn, Ta, Ti, Th, U, V, Yb, Zn and Zr. In several cases, X-ray fluorescence analysis was used for comparison. The results obtained for U and Th were compared with data reported in literature.     

Residual stresses in turned AISI 4340 steel

The residual-stress distribution in the surface region of workpieces of annealed AISI 4340 steel that is turned under unlubricated conditions is determined using a deflection etching technique. The absolute value of the residual stresses at the machined surface are low and increase with an increase in depth beneath the machined surface to a maximum. They then decrease with a further increase in depth eventually becoming vanishingly small. Peak residual stresses are tensile at cutting speeds of 0.5 and 1.0 ms⁻¹ and are compressive at a cutting speed of 1.5 ms⁻¹ for all feed rates and depths of cut. Peak residual stresses and depth of the stressed region increase with an increase in feed rate and depth of cut, but decrease with an increase in cutting speed. The results of this investigation can be interpreted in terms of the variation of tool forces with cutting conditions.     

On the flow of an electrically conducting fluid and heat transfer along a plane wall with periodic suction

The purpose of this paper is to consider the behaviour of a three-dimensional laminar boundary layer flow of an incompressible, electrically conducting Newtonian fluid past a plane wall in the presence of a transverse suction velocity distribution applied at the wall. The components of the wall shear stress and heat transfer, using the method of perturbation, are obtained. The variations of these quantities with the Prandtl number and a magnetic parameter are also investigated.

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Sommario Scopo di questo lavoro é di studiare il comportamento di un flusso di stato-limite laminare tridimensionale e di un flusso newtoniano incompressibile elettroconduttore lungo una parete piana in presenza di una distribuzione di velocità trasversale di aspirazione applicata alla parete. Si determinano le componenti di tensione tangenziale sulla parete e la trasmissione di calore usando un metodo perturbativo. Si studiano anche le variazioni di queste quntità con il numero di Prandtl e con il parametro magnetico.

     

Homotopy simulation of nanofluid dynamics from a non-linearly stretching isothermal permeable sheet with transpiration

In this article we derive semi-analytical/numerical solutions for transport phenomena (momentum, heat and mass transfer) in a nanofluid regime adjacent to a nonlinearly porous stretching sheet by means of the Homotopy analysis method (HAM). The governing equations are reduced to a nonlinear, coupled, non-similar, ordinary differential equation system via appropriate similarity transformations. This system is solved under physically realistic boundary conditions to compute stream function, velocity, temperature and concentration function distributions. The results of the present study are compared with numerical quadrature solutions employing a shooting technique with excellent correlation. Furthermore the current HAM solutions demonstrate very good correlation with the non-transpiring finite element solutions of Rana and Bhargava (Commun. Nonlinear Sci. Numer. Simul. 17:212–226, 2012). The influence of stretching parameter, transpiration (wall suction/injection) Prandtl number, Brownian motion parameter, thermophoresis parameter and Lewis number on velocity, temperature and concentration functions is illustrated graphically. Transpiration is shown to exert a substantial influence on flow characteristics. Applications of the study include industrial nanotechnological fabrication processes.     

An off-line NMPC strategy for continuous-time nonlinear systems using an extended modal series method

This paper presents a new off-line nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) approach for continuous-time affine-input nonlinear systems. In this approach, the NMPC-related nonlinear two-point boundary value problem derived from the Pontryagin’s maximum principle is solved by the extended modal series method. The resulting suboptimal control law explicitly depends on the initial conditions and is updated by replacing the initial conditions with the new state measurements in future sampling instants. Therefore, there is no need to repeat the recursive online optimization process in each sampling instant. Since the applicability of NMPC is generally restricted by computational burden of the online optimization, we propose an NMPC scheme, which not only reduces the online computational burden significantly, but also can be applied to fast dynamic systems with short prediction horizons. An efficient algorithm is presented which approximates the order of the modal series such that feasibility of the optimization problem is guaranteed. Closed-loop stability of the proposed NMPC approach is shown using the off-line terminal region calculations suggested in quasi-infinite horizon NMPC scheme. The applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach are illustrated by two numerical examples.     

Di­chloro­bis­(tri­methyl­ene­thio­urea‐κS)antimony(III) chloride

In the title compound, [SbCl₂(C₄H₈N₂S)₂]Cl, the coordination around the Sb atom can be described as distorted pseudo‐octahedral. Both rings of the tri­methyl­ene­thio­urea ligands [alternatively 3,4,5,6‐tetrahydropyrimidine‐2(1H)‐thione] adopt an envel­ope conformation. The mol­ecules are connected into dimers in the ab plane by two intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The dimers are arranged into infinite one‐dimensional chains along the a axis as a result of the Cl^? ions forming intermolecular hydrogen bonds with three NH groups.     

Preparation of iron oxide nanocrystals by surfactant-free or oleic acid-assisted thermal decomposition of a Fe(III) alkoxide

A new non-hydrolytic, alkoxide-based route was developed to synthesize iron oxide nanocrystals. Surfactant-free thermal decomposition of the iron 2-methoxy-ethoxide precursors results in the formation of uniform iron oxide nanocrystals with an average size of 5.6 nm. Transmission electron microscope study shows that the nanocrystals are protected against aggregation by a repulsive surface layer, probably originating from the alkoxy-alkoxide ligands. Addition of oleic acid resulted in monodisperse nanocrystals with an average size of 4 nm. Mössbauer analysis confirmed that the nanocrystals mainly consisted of maghemite. Analysis of the magnetic hysteresis loop measurements and the zero field and field cooled measurements displayed an excellent fit to established theories for single-domain superparamagnetic nanocrystals and the size of the magnetic domains correlated well to the crystallite size obtained from transmission electron microscope.     

Enhanced electrochemical performance of LSCF cathode through selection of optimum fabrication parameters

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of three key fabrication parameters (thickness, solid content, and sintering temperature) on the...