Analysis of the fringes visibility generated by a lateral cyclic shear interferometer in the retrieval of the three-dimensional surface information of an object

We report the evaluation of the topography of an object with projected fringes generated with a lateral cyclic shear interferometer (CSI) and we then compare the topography recovery obtained with the proposed method with the one obtained from a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). We also study how the fringes visibility along the z axis affects the retrieval. Finally, we discuss the advantages and drawbacks of this profilometry system.     

Van der Waals SnSe2(1−x)S2x Alloys: Composition‐Dependent Bowing Coefficient and Electron–Phonon Interaction

The design of advanced functional materials with customized properties often requires the use of an alloy. This approach has been used for decades, but only recently to create van der Waals (vdW) alloys for applications in electronics, optoelectronics, and thermoelectrics. A route to engineering their physical properties is by mixing isoelectronic elements, as done for the SnSe_2(1?x)S_2x alloy. Here, by experiment and first‐principles modeling, it is shown that the value of x can be adjusted over a wide range, indicating good miscibility of the SnS₂ and SnSe₂ compounds. The x‐dependence of the indirect bandgap energy from E_ind = 1.20 eV for SnSe₂ to E_ind = 2.14 eV for SnS₂, corresponds to a large bowing coefficient b ≈ 1 eV, arising from volume deformation and charge exchange effects due to the different sizes and orbital energies of the S‐ and Se‐atoms. This also causes composition‐dependent phonon energy modes, electron–phonon interaction, and temperature dependence of E_ind. The alloys are exfoliable into thin layers with properties that depend on the composition, but only weakly on the layer thickness. This work shows that the electronic and vibrational properties of the SnSe_2(1?x)S_2x alloy and its thin layers provide a versatile platform for development and exploitation.     

BDN-GWMNN: Internet of Things (IoT) Enabled Secure Smart City Applications

Nowadays, next-generation networks such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and 6G are played a vital role in providing an intelligent environment. The development of technologies helps to create smart city applications like the healthcare system, smart industry, and smart water plan, etc. Any user accesses the developed applications; at the time, security, privacy, and confidentiality arechallenging to manage. So, this paper introduces the blockchain-defined networks with a grey wolf optimized modular neural network approach for managing the smart environment security. During this process, construction, translation, and application layers are created, in which user authenticated based blocks are designed to handle the security and privacy property. Then the optimized neural network is applied to maintain the latency and computational resource utilization in IoT enabled smart applications. Then the efficiency of the system is evaluated using simulation results, in which system ensures low latency, high security (99.12%) compared to the multi-layer perceptron, and deep learning networks.

     

Optimizing Membranes for Osmotic Power Generation

The design of ion-selective membranes is the key towards efficient reverse electrodialysis-based osmotic power conversion. The tradeoff between ion selectivity (output voltage) and ion permeability (output current) in existing porous membranes, however, limits the upgradation of power generation efficiency for practical applications. Thus, we provide the simple guidelines based on fundamentals of ion transport in nanofluidics for promoting osmotic power conversion. In addition, we discuss strategies for optimizing membrane performance through analysis of various material parameters in membrane design, such as pore size, surface charge, pore density, membrane thickness, ion pathway, pore order, and ionic diode effect. Lastly, a perspective on the future directions of membrane design to further maximize the efficiency of osmotic power conversion is outlined.     

Emission of electrons from the ground and first excited states of self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dot structures

Capacitance- and conductance-voltage studies have been carried out on Schottky barrier structures containing a sheet of self-organized InAs quantum dots. The dots are formed in GaAs n-type matrices after the deposition of four monolayers of InAs. Quasi-static analysis of capacitance-voltage measurements indicates that there are at least two filled electron levels in the quantum dots, located 60 and 140 meV below the GaAs conduction band edge. The conductance of the structure depends on the balance between measurement frequency and the thermionic emission rate of carriers from the quantum dots. An investigation of the temperature-dependent conductance at different frequencies as a function of the reverse bias allows us to study separately the electron emission rates from the ground and first excited levels in the quantum dots. We estimate that the electron escape times from both levels of the quantum dots become comparable at room temperature and equal to about 100 ps.     

Study of the bromide oxidation by bromate in zwitterionic micellar solutions

The redox reaction Br⁻ + BrO₃⁻ has been studied in aqueous zwitterionic micellar solutions of N‐tetradecyl‐N, N‐dimethyl‐3‐ammonio‐1‐propanesulfonate, SB3‐14, and N‐hexadecyl‐N,N‐dimethyl‐3‐ammonio‐1‐propanesulfonate, SB3‐16. A simple expression for the observed rate constant, k_obs, based on the pseudophase model, could explain the influences of changes in the surfactant concentration on k_obs. The kinetic effect of added NaClO₄ on the reaction rate in SB3‐14 micellar solutions has also been studied. They were rationalized by considering the binding of the perchlorate anions to the sulfobetaine micelles and their competition with the reactive bromide ions for the micellar surface. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 32: 388–394, 2000     

A Simple HPLC/DAD Method Validation for the Quantification of Malondialdehyde in Rodent’s Brain

In the present study, a HPLC/DAD method was set up to allow for the determination and quantification of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the brain of rodents (rats). Chromatographic separation was achieved on Supelcosil LC-18 (3 μm) SUPELCO Column 3.3 cm × 4.6 mm and Supelco Column Saver 0.5 μm filter by using a mobile phase acetonitrile (A) and phosphate buffer (20 mM, pH = 6) (B). Isocratic elution was 14% for (A) and 86% for (B). The injection volume (loop mode) was 100 μL with an analysis time of 1.5 min. Flow rate was set at 1 mL/min. The eluted compound was detected at 532 nm by a DAD detector by keeping the column oven at room temperature. The results indicated that the method has good linearity in the range of 0.2–20 μg/g. Both intra- and inter-day precision, expressed as RSD, were ≤15% and the accuracies ranged between ±15%. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), stability, and robustness were evaluated and satisfied the validation criteria. The method was successfully applied in a study of chronic toxicology following different treatment regimens with haloperidol and metformin.     

Simultaneous measurement of proline and related compounds in oak leaves by high-performance ligand-exchange chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for environmental stress studies

A mass spectrometer was coupled to high-performance ligand-exchange liquid chromatography (HPLEC) for simultaneous analysis of stress associated solutes such as proline, hydroxyproline, methylproline, glycine betaine and trigonelline extracted from leaves of drought stressed oaks and an internal standard namely N-acetylproline. Methanol/chloroform/water extracts were analyzed using an Aminex HPX-87C column and specifically quantified by the positive ion mode of an electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) in single ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The recovery of N-acetyl proline added to oak leaf extracts ranged from 85.2 to 122.1% for an intra-day study. Standard calibration curves showed good linearity in the measured range from 0.3125 to 10 μmol L⁻¹ with the lowest correlation coefficient of 0.99961 for trigonelline. The advantages of this alternative procedure, compared to previously published methods using fluorescence or amperometric detections, are the simultaneous and direct detection of osmoprotectants in a single chromatographic run, a minimal sample preparation, a good specificity and reduced limits of quantification, ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 μmol L⁻¹. Fifty-six days of water deficit exposure resulted in increased foliar free proline levels (2.4-fold, P < 0.001, 155 μmol g⁻¹ FW) and glycine betaine contents (2.5-fold, P < 0.05, 175 μmol g⁻¹ FW) of drought stressed oak compared to control.     

Effects of ethylene glycol addition on the aggregation and micellar growth of gemini surfactants

Micellization of three didodecyl dicationic dibromide gemini surfactants with different methylene spacer lengths, 12-s-12,2Br- where s = 3-5 methylene groups, has been investigated in water-ethylene glycol, EG, mixtures with weight percentages of EG up to 50%. Subsequently, effects of the addition of the organic solvent on the micellar growth of these surfactants and on the surfactant concentration range where sphere-to-rod transitions occur were studied by means of steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence quenching and spectroscopic measurements. Results show that an increase in the weight percentage of ethylene glycol added to aqueous 12-s-12,2Br- (s = 3-5) micellar solutions causes the sphere-to-rod transition to occur at higher surfactant concentrations than in pure water. The diminution in the average aggregation number, N(agg), when wt % EG increases, provoked by the decrease in the interfacial Gibbs energy contribution to DeltaG degrees M, is the main factor responsible for this observation. The decrease in N(agg) is accompanied by a decrease in the ionic interactions and the extra packing contribution to the deformation of the surfactants tails, making formation of cylindrical micelles less favorable. Besides, an increase in the solvent content and polarity of the interfacial region does not favor formation of direct ion pairs, decreasing the tendency of micelles to grow.