Multi-objective assembly permutation flow shop scheduling problem: a mathematical model and a meta-heuristic algorithm

This study is devoted to schedule a three-stage manufacturing system including machining, assembly and batch processing stages. The system is supposed to be capable of manufacturing a variation of products. At the first stage, the need for machining raw parts causes the manufacturer to deal with a flow shop scheduling problem. In the next stage, processed parts should be assembled together in order to form desired products. It is noteworthy that several operations are not allowed to be executed simultaneously on the same machine. Second stage should be considered as a single-assembly line or a single team of operators, and finally the manufacturing processing stage. The considered objectives are to minimize completion time of all products (makespan) and sum of the earliness and tardiness costs, simultaneously. First, the proposed scheduling problem is formulated into a mixed-integer mathematical model, and then owing to the NP-hardness of the concluded model a meta-heuristic approach is applied. A hybrid algorithm is modified to create a powerful method in searching the discrete solution space of this problem by taking advantage of superiorities of both Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization methods. Numerical experiments are designed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm.     

Montmorillonite K10: an effective catalyst for synthesis of 2-aminothiazoles

Research on Chemical Intermediates - An efficient one-pot synthesis of 2-aminothiazoles from methylcarbonyl and thiourea has been developed using montmorillonite-K10 as a catalyst at...     

Simultaneous Electrodeposition of Reduced Graphene Quantum Dots/Copper Oxide Nanocomposite on the Surface of Carbon Ceramic Electrode for the Electroanalysis of Adenine and Guanine

In this study, simultaneous deposition of copper oxide and electro-reduced graphene quantum dots (ErGQDs) on the surface of carbon ceramic electrode (CCE) was reported. The prepared ErGQDs-CuO/CCE was carefully characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical techniques in details. According to scan rate studies in hexacyanoferrate, a remarkable increase in the surface coverage in the presence of ErGQDs was achieved. According to square wave voltammetry results, limit of detection, linear range and sensitivity of the developed biosensor for the simultaneous measurement of Adenine (A) and Guanine (G) were obtained to be 0.041 and 0.111 μM, 0.1–13 μM and 0.25–23 μM, and 4.261 and 1.311 μA μM cm⁻² respectively.     

Nano TiO2 Modified Carbon‐ceramic Electrode and Its Application for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of NADH

The electrocatalytic oxidation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) was studied on nanoTiO₂ modified sol‐gel electrode, using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and differential pulse voltammetry as diagnostic techniques. It is demonstrated that TiO₂ nanoparticles on sol‐gel network catalyze the oxidation of NADH in the absence of any electron transfer mediators. Effect of various parameters such as pH, scan rate, TiO₂ percentage on the response of modified electrode was studied. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the surface morphology of the spots. A dynamic range between 0.5–50 μM with detection limit of 0.35 μM was obtained with DPV studies. This method was successfully used for determination of NADH in cucumber cotyledons samples. The electrode showed relatively good stability over more than 2 months.     

Facile synthesis of Fe3O4/MoS2 nanohybrid for solid phase extraction of Ag(I) and Pb(II): kinetic,isotherm and thermodynamic studies

Recently, MoS₂ with abundant electron density in its structure attracted more attention as an adsorbent for environmental remediation. However, hard manipulation of target solution owing to high dispersibility in aqueous media restricts its application as adsorbent. Preparation of Fe₃O₄/MoS₂ nanohybrid can solve this problem. Also, this nanohybrid improves adsorption capacities of target ions. In this work, Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, MoS₂ nanosheets and hybrid of these two were synthesised and then characterised by X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transforms infrared spectra, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area and vibrating sample magnetometer. Subsequently, adsorption of Ag(I) and Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution by these three adsorbents was examined in detail and compared with each other while the adsorption conditions including the pH value, contact time, dosage of sorbent, elution conditions and interfering ions have been optimised. According to obtained results, prepared nanohybrid showed enhanced adsorption capacities for both ions relative to naked Fe₃O₄ and MoS₂. The limits of detection for Ag(I) and Pb(II) were calculated as 0.49 µg L^?1 and 2.7 µg L^?1, respectively, and the relative standard deviation percentages (n = 5) for Ag(I) and Pb(II) were 2.8%, and 3.0%, respectively. Furthermore, the preconcentration factors were 300 and 75 for Ag(I) and Pb(II) ions, respectively. Moreover, kinetic studies showed that pseudo-second-order model can better describe target analytes adsorption properties by every three adsorbents. Regeneration of the adsorbents was performed with HCl/thiourea mixture.     

Peristaltic Wave Locomotion and Shape Morphing with a Millipede Inspired System

We present the mechanical model of a bio-inspired deformable system, modeled as a Timoshenko beam, which is coupled to a substrate by a system of distributed elements. The locomotion action is inspired by the coordinated motion of coupling elements that mimic the legs of millipedes and centipedes, whose leg-to-ground contact can be described as a peristaltic displacement wave. The multi-legged structure is crucial in providing redundancy and robustness in the interaction with unstructured environments and terrains. A Lagrangian approach is used to derive the governing equations of the system that couple locomotion and shape morphing. Features and limitations of the model are illustrated with numerical simulations.