Model Finds Optimal Fiber Optic Network Connections 10,000 Times More Quickly

 Designing fiber optic networks involves finding the most efficient way to connect phones and computers that are in different places, a costly and time-consuming process. Now researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a model that can find optimal connections 10,000 times more quickly, using less computing power to solve the problem. Read more on ScienceDaily.

Tech Turns Junk Plastics Into Diesel

Normally, potato chip bags, beer rings, gooey food wrappers and other plastics that cannot be recycled go directly to the dump. But improvements on an existing technology could divert billions of tons of "end-of-life" plastics from landfills and turn them into gas to run cars and trucks. Read more on Discovery News.

Integrate MATLAB Code Into InfoSphere Streams

This article by Dr. Buğra Gedik describes how to execute MATLAB functions from within InfoSphere Streams applications. MATLAB is a scientific computing language and platform. The strong support for matrix manipulation and large collection of mathematical modeling libraries make MATLAB a popular implementation choice for various analytic assets.

New Measurement Into Biological Polymer Networks

The development of a new measurement technology under a research project funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation is probing the structure of composite and biological materials. Read more on Science Daily.

Caught in the Act: A Black Hole Scuttles a Star

A black hole 3.8 billion light-years from Earth is shown in this artist's representation tearing apart a star that drifted within its gravitational pull. This scenario is part of a new explanation for one of the brightest events ever recorded by astronomers. After consuming the star the black hole released a high-energy beam of gamma rays and x-rays, according to Joshua Bloom of the University of California, Berkeley, and his associates. Read more on SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

Curb Soot and Smog to Keep Earth Cool, Says UN

Sharply reducing emissions of soot and smog could play a critical role in preventing Earth from overheating, according to a UN report released on Tuesday.

Curbing these pollutants could also boost global food output and save millions of lives lost to heart and lung disease, said the report from the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Read more on Discovery News.

Two New Elements Join Periodic Table

Two new elements are being added to the periodic table after they were discovered through a collaboration between U.S. and Russian scientists, a top U.S. chemistry expert said Friday.

The elements are the first to be added since copernicium in 2009. They have not yet been named, but are known for now as 114 and 116. Read more on Discovery News. 

PID Controller Tuning

A proportional–integral–derivative controller (PID controller) is a generic control loop feedback mechanism widely used in industrial control systems. A PID controller calculates an "error" value as the difference between a measured process variable and a desired setpoint. The controller attempts to minimize the error by adjusting the process control inputs.

The PID controller algorithm involves three separate constant parameters, and is accordingly sometimes called three-term control: the proportional, the integral and derivative values, denoted P, I, and D. Heuristically, these values can be interpreted in terms of time: P depends on the present error, I on the accumulation of past errors, and D is a prediction of future errors, based on current rate of change. A framework for the PID parameter optimization, with stability guarantees, is proposed in “A refinement procedure for PID controller tuning”, has been published in Computer & Chemical Engineering.

Carbon Nanotube (CNT) Based Composites

Since their discovery in 1991, carbon nanotubes have generated huge activity in most areas of science and engineering due to their unprecedented physical and chemical properties. No previous material has displayed the combination of superlative mechanical, thermal and electronic properties attributed to them. These properties make nanotubes ideal, not only for a wide range of applications but as a test bed for fundamental science.

CNTs are considered to be the most promising candidates as ideal reinforcing fillers in high strength, light weight polymer nanocomposites due to their low density, high aspect ratio and exceptional mechanical properties (such as extremely high moduli and stiffness).

I have recently read an article on CNT based composites entitled “The thermal and mechanical properties of a polyurethane/multi-walled carbonnanotube composite”, published in Carbon. The thermal and mechanical properties of a polyurethane/multi-walled carbon nanotube composite were characterized by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and tensile testing.

Genetic Algorithms (GAs)

Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are adaptive heuristic search algorithm premised on the evolutionary ideas of natural selection and genetic. The basic concept of GAs is designed to simulate processes in natural system necessary for evolution. Genetic algorithms were formally introduced in the United States in the 1970s by John Holland at University of Michigan.

Genetic algorithms are one of the best ways to solve a problem for which little is known. They are a very general algorithm and so will work well in any search space. All you need to know is what you need the solution to be able to do well, and a genetic algorithm will be able to create a high quality solution. Genetic algorithms use the principles of selection and evolution to produce several solutions to a given problem.

Genetic algorithms tend to thrive in an environment in which there is a very large set of candidate solutions and in which the search space is uneven and has many hills and valleys. True, genetic algorithms will do well in any environment, but they will be greatly outclassed by more situation specific algorithms in the simpler search spaces. Therefore you must keep in mind that genetic algorithms are not always the best choice. Sometimes they can take quite a while to run and are therefore not always feasible for real time use. They are, however, one of the most powerful methods with which to (relatively) quickly create high quality solutions to a problem. Now, before we start, I'm going to provide you with some key terms so that this article makes sense.

Carbon Nanotubes and Chemical Vapor Deposition Processes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than any other material. These cylindrical carbon molecules have novel properties, making them potentially useful in many applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics, and other fields of materials science, as well as potential uses in architectural fields. They may also have applications in the construction of body armor. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient thermal conductors. Nanotubes are categorized as single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs).

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the most promising methods for CNT synthesis. CVD is a chemical process used to produce high-purity, high-performance solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. In a typical CVD process, the wafer (substrate) is exposed to one or more volatile precursors, which react and/or decompose on the substrate surface to produce the desired deposit. Frequently, volatile by-products are also produced, which are removed by gas flow through the reaction chamber.

Micro-fabrication processes widely use CVD to deposit materials in various forms, including: mono-crystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous, and epitaxial. These materials include: silicon, carbon fiber, carbon nanofibers, filaments, carbon nanotubes, SiO₂, silicon-germanium, tungsten, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, titanium nitride, and various high-k dielectrics.

Material Characterization Techniques: High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)

HPLC is a chromatographic technique that can separate a mixture of compounds and is used in biochemistry and analytical chemistry to identify, quantify and purify the individual components of the mixture. HPLC typically utilizes different types of stationary phases, a pump that moves the mobile phase(s) and analyte through the column, and a detector to provide a characteristic retention time for the analyte. Analyte retention time varies depending on the strength of its interactions with the stationary phase, the ratio/composition of solvent(s) used, and the flow rate of the mobile phase.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC)

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an electrochemical conversion device that produces electricity directly from oxidizing a fuel. Fuel cells are characterized by their electrolyte material; the SOFC has a solid oxide or ceramic, electrolyte. Advantages of this class of fuel cells include high efficiency, long-term stability, fuel flexibility, low emissions, and relatively low cost. The largest disadvantage is the high operating temperature which results in longer start-up times and mechanical and chemical compatibility issues.

A comprehensive review on fuel cell modeling, simulation and control has been represented on “Mathematical Modeling, Steady-Stateand Dynamic Behavior, and Control of Fuel Cells: A Review” published on I&E Chemistry Research.

Carbon Nanotube Composites

Carbon nanofibers and nanotubes are promising to revolutionize several fields in material science and are a major component of nanotechnology. Further market development will depend on material availability at reasonable prices. Nanotubes have a wide range of unexplored potential applications in various technological areas such as aerospace, energy, automobile, medicine, or chemical industry, in which they can be used as gas adsorbents, templates, actuators, composite reinforcements, catalyst supports, probes, chemical sensors, nanopipes, nano-reactors etc. Since the discovery of CNTs, they have been the focus of frontier research. It has opened vast areas of research which also include nanoscale reinforcements in composites in order to improve their mechanical, thermal and even electrical properties.

I read an article entitled "Carbon nanotube based composites - A review" published in Journal of Minerals & Charaterization & Engineering recently that has focused on recent research on carbon nanotube composites. The interfacial bonding properties, mechanical performance, electrical percolation of nanotube/polymer and ceramic are also reviewed.

Suspension Polymerization

Suspension polymerization is a polymerization process that uses mechanical agitation to mix the monomer or mixture of monomers in a liquid phase such as water, polymerizing the monomer droplets while they are dispersed by continuous agitation. This process is used in the production of most PVC, a widely used plastic, as well as Sodium polyacrylate, a superabsorbent polymer used in disposable diapers.

"An Updated Review on Suspension Polymerization", published in I&EC research is aimed at providing a sound basis for the theoretical background required to build an effective model for the particle size distribution (PSD) in suspension polymerization.