Thiourea-treated graphene aerogel as a highly selective gas sensor for sensing of trace level of ammonia

As a result of this study, a new and simple method was proposed for the fabrication of an ultra sensitive, robust and reversible ammonia gas sensor. The sensing mechanism was based upon the change in electrical resistance of a graphene aerogel as a result of sensor exposing to ammonia. Three-dimensional graphene hydrogel was first synthesized via hydrothermal method in the absence or presence of various amounts of thiourea. The obtained material was heated to obtain aerogel and then it was used as ammonia gas sensor. The materials obtained were characterized using different techniques such as Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thiourea-treated graphene aerogel was more porous (389 m² g⁻¹) and thermally unstable and exhibited higher sensitivity, shorter response time and better selectivity toward ammonia gas, compared to the aerogel produced in the absence of thiourea. Thiourea amount, involved in the hydrogel synthesis step, was found to be highly effective factor in the sensing properties of finally obtained aerogel. The sensor response time to ammonia was short (100 s) and completely reversible (recovery time of about 500 s) in ambient temperature. The sensor response to ammonia was linear between 0.02 and 85 ppm and its detection limit was found to be 10 ppb (3S/N).     

Hopf Bifurcation and Hunting Behavior in a Rail Wheelset with Flange Contact

An analytical investigation of Hopf bifurcation and hunting behavior of a rail wheelset with nonlinear primary yaw dampers and wheel-rail contact forces is presented. This study is intended to complement earlier studies by True et al., where they investigated the nonlinearities stemming from creep-creep force saturation and nonlinear contacts between a realistic wheel and rail profile. The results indicate that the nonlinearities in the primary suspension and flange contact contribute significantly to the hunting behavior. Both the critical speed and the nature of bifurcation are affected by the nonlinear elements. Further, the results show that in some cases, the critical hunting speed from the nonlinear analysis is less than the critical speed from a linear analysis. This indicates that a linear analysis could predict operational speeds that in actuality include hunting.     

Ultra-compact two-dimensional plasmonic nano-ring antenna array for sensing applications

In this paper, a novel optical nanoantenna based on two-dimensional plasmonic nano-ring antenna array is proposed, investigated numerically and compared with a nano-disk antenna array. The results show that the nano-ring structure has resonances similar to the resonances of nano-disk structure but in higher wavelengths. These resonances are tunable by varying the structural parameters of the ring. The optical properties of the proposed structure are investigated in the context of designing a plasmonic refractive index sensor. The nano-ring antenna array sensor has large sensitivity in comparison to the conventional nano-disk antenna arrays. The special feature of the presented structure and the device concepts introduced in this work are applicable in realization of various integrated components and could play an important role in development of plasmonic sensors.     

Half-metallic ferromagnetism in the zincblende TiTe

The first-principle calculations based on spin-polarized density functional theory were performed to investigate the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of TiTe compound. The results showed that the ground state phase of TiTe is a non-magnetic NiAs structure and the zincblende (ZB) TiTe structure becomes stable at −5.2 GPa. It was predicted that the ZB structure is a half-metal ferromagnet with a magnetic moment of per formula unit for the equilibrium lattice parameter. The minority- spin and spin-flip gaps were calculated equal to 2.84 eV and 0.2 eV, respectively. In addition, the reasons for appearance of half-metallicity and magnetism in the ZB TiTe were discussed. It was noted that the half-metallicity characteristic exists within a wide range of lattice constant which makes the ZB TiTe an interesting material in the field of spintronics.     

Fibril formation of lysozyme upon interaction with sodium dodecyl sulfate at pH 9.2

Fibril formation seems to be a general property of all proteins. Its occurrence in hen or human lysozyme depends on certain conditions, namely acidic pHs or the presence of some additives. This paper studies the interaction of lysozyme with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) at pH 9.2, using UV-visible spectrophotometry, circular dichroism (CD) spectropolarimetry, electron microscopy (EM) and chemometry. Based on observations such as the strange increase in absorbance at 650nm (pH 9.2) and the presence of intermediates, it is assumed that lysozyme fibrils have been formed at pH 9.2 in the presence of SDS as an anionic surfactant. Thioflavin T emission fluorescence and an EM image confirmed this assumption. beta-cyclodextrin was then used as a turbidity inhibitor to establish its effect on the distribution of intermediates that participate in fibril formation.     

Modeling of a MED-TVC desalination system by considering the effects of nanoparticles: energetic and exergetic analysis

In this study, the energetic and exergetic analysis of a multi-effect desalination system with a thermal vapor compression desalination system has been numerically evaluated. For this purpose, the mass, energy, and exergy balance equations for the thermo-compressor, first effect as well as middle effects, and condenser have been developed. The effects of motive steam pressure and number of effects on yield, gained output ratio (GOR), performance ratio (PR) and irreversibility have been examined. Nanoparticles were used to improve the heat transfer properties at different stages. The highest rate of exergy destruction with 61.67% is concerned with thermo-compressor, owing to the large difference between the motive steam pressure and the entrained steam. The lowest exergy losses rate among the various components was 4.89% for the condenser, due to the fact that much of the final distillate steam entrained the thermo-compressor. As the number of effects increased from 1 to 7, the yield, GOR as well as PR, improved by approximately 590% and the irreversibility reduced by 1.88%. As the motive steam pressure increased from 400 to 1290 kPa, the yield decreased by 25.45% while the GOR and PR improved by 12.62 and 14.8%, respectively. From the second law viewpoint, irreversibility intensified by 16.11% which in turn diminished the second efficiency by 3.17%.

     

Cryptanalysis and improvement of a chaotic map-based key agreement protocol using Chebyshev sequence membership testing

Recently, Gong et al. (Nonlinear Dyn, doi:10.1007/s11071-012-0628-3, 2012) proposed a chaotic map-based key agreement protocol without using smart cards. They claimed that the protocol is secure against password-guessing attacks. However, we show that Gong et al.’s protocol is vulnerable to partition attacks, whereby the adversary can guess the correct password off-line. We also demonstrate that the protocol suffers from a a stolen-verifier attack along with password change pitfalls. Thereafter, we proposed an chaotic map-based key agreement protocol without using smart cards to conquer the mentioned weaknesses. The security analysis of the proposed protocol shows that it is suitable for the applications with higher security requirement.     

Nonlinear dynamic analysis of a V-shaped microcantilever of an atomic force microscope

This paper is devoted to investigate the nonlinear behaviors of a V-shaped microcantilever of an atomic force microscope (AFM) operating in its two major modes: amplitude modulation and frequency modulation. The nonlinear behavior of the AFM is due to the nonlinear nature of the AFM tip–sample interaction caused by the Van der Waals attraction/repulsion force. Considering the V-shaped microcantilever as a flexible continuous system, the resonant frequencies, mode shapes, governing nonlinear partial and ordinary differential equations (PDE and ODE) of motion, boundary conditions, frequency and time responses, potential function and phase-plane of the system are obtained analytically. The governing PDE is determined by employing the Hamilton principle. Subsequently, the Galerkin method is utilized to gain the governing nonlinear ODE. Afterward, the resulting ODE is analytically solved by means of some perturbation techniques including the method of multiple scales and the Lindsted–Poincare method. In addition, the effects of different parameters including geometrical one on the frequency response of the system are assessed.     

Aggregation and Supramolecular Membrane Interactions that Influence Anion Transport in Tryptophan‐Containing Synthetic Peptides

Self‐assembly is a desired property in supramolecular chemistry, but extensive aggregation may be counterproductive. Rigid systems typically have better organization, but are inherently less dynamic. This work shows that ion transport by amphiphilic heptapeptides (synthetic anion transporters or SATs) is affected by aggregation of the monomers in the bulk aqueous phase to which they are added and within the bilayer. Ion transport was assessed for all compounds by assay of Cl^? release from liposomes. The mechanism of ion transport was confirmed by planar bilayer conductance studies for two compounds at opposite ends of the efficacy scale. Dynamic light scattering, the Langmuir trough, transmission electron microscopy, ion release from liposomes, and planar bilayer conductance studies were used to assess the importance of self‐assembly versus aggregation in ion transport. Generally, greater aggregation was has an adverse effect on the transport, although at least dimerization is required for amphiphilic heptapeptides to readily transport Cl^?. Anion transport in these systems was found to be sensitive to changes in the C‐terminal portion of the (Gly)₃Pro(Gly)₃ sequence. Moreover, a significant difference in transport efficacy was apparent when L ‐Trp was replaced by D ‐Trp in the same position.     

Nonlinear modeling and experimental characterization of hydraulic dampers: effects of shim stack and orifice parameters on damper performance

A nonlinear model of monotube hydraulic dampers is presented with an emphasis on the shim stack properties and their effects on the overall damper performance. There has been no published detailed analysis of the effects of shim stack design in a hydraulic damper to date. Other damper models have used simplifying assumptions for the shim stack deflection and effects of the shim stack have not been completely studied. Various parameters affecting the nonlinear characteristics of monotube dampers such as the hysteresis region are studied. The model presented in this paper can be used for design purposes and helps in developing controllable valvings based on shim stacks. It can also be used to design controllable bypasses in hydraulic dampers. The mathematical model is validated by comparison against experimental test results carried out on an OHLINS CCJ 23/8 monotube damper, in CVeSS test facilities.