A novel preform compaction method for fabricating high-performance Y–Ba–Cu–O single-grain bulk superconductor

A novel preform compaction method based on one new type of divisible mould was employed for fabricating single-grain YBCO bulk superconductor, which can complete the preform demoulding process through opening of the mould, rather than pushing the preform out in the regular mould. Thus it has natural superiority on eliminating macro-cracks, which has been proved by the sample surface morphology and the trapped field characterization. In addition, the divisible mould pressed sample exhibits higher levitation force and trapped field properties than the regular mould pressed samples, verifying the potentials of the divisible mould on improving the bulk performance. The optical micrograph results prove the superiority of the divisible mould on eliminating tiny cracks on sample surface. The processing facility and sample reliability brought by the divisible mould should also be emphasized, because the crushing and re-pressing of preform when it presents visible cracks can be omitted and the failed samples with surface cracks will no longer appear. Consequently, the experimental efficiency and stability are both enhanced.

Structural and Electrical Characteristics of FeTiVO6 Double Perovskite

In this paper, studies of structural as well as electrical characteristics of the double perovskite material FeTiVO6 (iron titanium vanadate), synthesized by a high-temperature mixed oxide reaction method have been discussed. The room temperature X-ray diffraction analysis confirms the formation of a single-phase orthorhombic structure without any secondary phase. All the electrical characteristics (i.e., dielectric, impedance, conductivity and modulus) of the sample, studied at various temperatures (25–300°C) and frequencies (1[Formula: see text]kHz–1[Formula: see text]MHz), provide many remarkable characteristics of the material. The dielectric parameters as a function of frequency explain the presence of different polarization mechanisms based on the Maxwell–Wagner double-layer model. Impedance analysis describes the grain (bulk) and grain boundary (bulk interior) effect on the material using the equivalent RQC-RC circuits. The presence of non-Debye type of relaxation behavior in the material is confirmed by the depressed semicircles of Nyquist plots. The conductivity study provides information about the CBH and OLPT type of conduction phenomenon. The temperature dependence of leakage current behavior follows the Ohmic (semiconductor) and space charge limited conduction mechanisms at a different range of applied fields. The occurrence of the room temperature hysteresis loop obtained from the PE loop tracer confirms the ferroelectric behavior of the studied compound.

Performance Analysis and Quality Evaluation of Wheat Storage in Horizontal Silo Bags

Wheat still suffers from the problem of traditional storage methods, limited storage capacity, and a high percentage of losses in terms of quantity and quality. Hermetic silo bags are economical and alternative technique to the traditional storage methods. Ten horizontal plastic silos with the capacity of 200 tons/silo were tested and evaluated for eight months of wheat storage. The evaluations included grain bulk temperature, CO2 concentration, fungal and microbial count, insect count, grain moisture content, 1000-grain weight, falling number, and protein content. The results showed that the stored wheat quality was maintained without any significant difference during the storage period in terms of 1000-grain weight, grain moisture content, and falling number, while there were slight changes in protein content and kernel hardness with a decrease of 5.5% and 4.6% at the end of the storage period. There were no statistically significant differences at the sampling location along the length of the storage silos, which confirms the homogeneity of the internal conditions of the examined silo. The grain bulk temperature inside the silos was always lower than the surrounding ambient air temperature. The higher concentration of carbon dioxide inside the silos during the storage period led to a decrease in fungal and microbial count and the presence of dead insects at the end of the storage period.

Intensification of the flow process of grain drying using two-sided infrared irradiation

The object of research is the process of infrared drying of grain of agricultural crops. In the process of processing seeds of cereals and oilseeds is a fairly large number of technological operations, among which one of the most important is drying. Maintaining the required grain moisture is a major factor influencing its shelf life and quality. Therefore, an urgent and important problem is the intensification of the process of drying seeds of cereals and oilseeds at low energy consumption. The process of infrared drying of grain has significant advantages over the most common convective drying due to the fact that no organic fuel is used. Infrared rays are characterized by high thermal action of products, so the demand for the use of infrared radiation in agricultural, food and processing industries for drying grain, bulk ingredients, thermal disinfection, etc. is growing. The principle of operation of the infrared method is that the moisture inside the grain absorbs infrared rays, due to which it is heated. In other words, energy is directly supplied to moisture, which is why we managed to achieve not only high efficiency but also high efficiency. To increase the efficiency of removing moisture from the grain by infrared irradiation, it is necessary to increase the area of contact of grains with infrared rays. Given the permeability of infrared rays and the layer of grain on the working body of the conveyor, it is possible to use several ways to increase the area of irradiation. The first method is to apply the vibration of the working body to mix the layers of grain, which contributes to a more uniform processing of products. The second method described in this paper is to use a larger number of emitters, which are located not only above the tray of the conveyor, but also below it. The tray must be made of infrared-permeable material.

Development of an Optoelectronic Plant for the Analysis and Sorting of Grain Products

The grain industry is an important branch of agriculture. It is directly related to the harvesting, transportation, storage and processing of grain. To ensure the high quality of grain bulk products, there are currently used various electrotechnological grain cleaning plants. The most modern and effective are optoelectronic grain sort-ers (photo separators). However, there are a number of technological and structural disadvantages that reduce the efficiency of separating the grain mass into fractions and the performance of photo separators. That is why the problem of increasing the efficiency of optoelectronic installations for sorting agricultural grain products is urgent. (Research purpose) The research purpose is in development of an electrotechnological optoelectronic installation with justification of the parameters and modes of its operation. (Materials and methods) The development of an optoelectronic system for sorting agricultural grain products was carried out in accordance with the theoretical laws of mechanics, electrical engineering and optics, as well as on the basis of the norms and requirements of GOST for grain products. Testing of the efficiency of this unit was carried out on the basis of a laboratory unit in the Kuban State Agrarian University. The reliability of the results is confirmed by the repeated repetition of the conducted studies and the reproducibility of the obtained results, the use of generally accepted methods, devices, and mathematical processing of experimental data. (Results and discussion) The article presents the technological scheme and technical characteristics of the optoelectronic installation for the analysis and sorting of agricultural grain products, and parameters and modes of its operation. The main elements of this installation are: feed conveyors and an electromagnetic drum that provide a piecebypiece supply of seeds to the analysis zone, an optical unit of cameras for obtaining a threedimensional image of seeds, an executive unit for the rejection of grain products (pneumatic ejectors). (Conclusions) An experimental study of the efficiency of the designed installation was carried out. This device can be used for sorting analysis of various grain products: wheat, corn, barley, rice, buckwheat. The results of the study showed the high efficiency of the developed optoelectronic plant for the separation of grain products into fractions (the separation accuracy reaches 98%). The article reveals the possibility of determining phytopathologies by means of color analysis of seed images.

Electrical conduction properties of the BZT–BST ceramics

0.5Ba([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]O3-0.5([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]TiO3 (BZT–BST) has been explored in recent times for potential applications in energy harvesting, electrocaloric and energy storage. To this end, energy harvesting/conversion and storage applications require an understanding of the conduction and loss mechanisms. The conduction mechanism in BZT–BST ceramics is studied using impedance spectroscopy (IS) at 0.1 Hz−3 MHz and 100−600[Formula: see text]C. Impedance study reveals the presence of two types of relaxation processes due to grain and grain boundary contributions. The relaxation time and dc conductivity activation energies are obtained as 1.12/1.3 eV and 1.05/1.2eV for bulk/grain boundary, respectively, and found that oxygen vacancies dominated electrical behavior. The relaxation mechanism follows non-Debye-type behavior. The high resistance of the grain (bulk) in the ferroelectric region does not contribute to the high losses; the losses probably result from the phase transition. Also, BZT–BST ceramics exhibit a negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTCR) behaviour. From a practical application point of view in the temperature regime of 25–65[Formula: see text]C, the loss’s contribution is low. The significant contributions of loss result from the response of phase-transition in this temperature range (25–65[Formula: see text]C).

Analysis of metabolites and metabolic pathways in three maize (Zea mays L.) varieties from the same origin using GC–MS

Metabolites of the Jinyu 88, Huanong 18, and Demeiya 9 maize varieties from the same origin were isolated and identified by GC–MS, and the specific metabolites and metabolic mechanisms of these three varieties of maize were preliminarily analysed and discussed. The metabolites were extracted with 80% methanol and derived with N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide. A total of 59 metabolites were identified. The specific metabolites of these three varieties of maize were identified. Four possible unknown-structure metabolites were hypothesized. The results showed that the specific metabolites of JY88 were only involved in fatty acid metabolism. The specific metabolites of HN18 were determined to be involved in fatty acid metabolism, glucose metabolism, and phytosterol metabolism. The specific metabolites of DM9 were observed to participate in glucose metabolism and fatty acid metabolism. The disease resistance of HN18 was higher than that of DM9, and its grain bulk density was higher than that of DM9. JY88 was determined to be significantly different from the other two varieties, and its appearance and disease resistance were worse than those of the other two varieties. The variety with the highest nutritional value was determined to be HN18, and the variety with the lowest nutritional value was JY88. This finding indicated that different maize varieties from the same origin had different metabolites and different metabolic mechanisms, which caused the three maize varieties to exhibit different characteristics and qualities.

COMPLEX FERTILIZERS WITH MICROELEMENTS AND FORMATION OF PRODUCTIVITY OF SPRING SOFT WHEAT

В статье представлены результаты исследований по влиянию различных видов комплексных удобрений с микроэлементами в хелатной форме на формирование урожайности яровой мягкой пшеницы сорта Архат при предпосевной обработке семян. Установлено, что только при использовании Гумостима прослеживается тенденция роста продуктивной кустистости. Выявлено, что обработка семян Цитовитом способствовала увеличению размеров колоса на 16,4 %. Отмечено, что прирост количества зерен при использовании Гумостима и Силипланта универсального составил 0,8-1,3 штуки, а наиболее озерненные колосья получены при применении Цитовита, прибавка к контролю составила 22,3 %. Применение комплексных микроэлементных удобрений способствовало улучшению технологических свойств зерна. Натура зерна при использовании ЭкоФуса, Гумостима и Цитовита увеличилась на 9-23 г/л. В годы исследований во всех вариантах опыта сформировалось высокостекловидное зерно, но значимых различий по вариантам по этому показателю качества не выявлено. В годы исследований применение ЭкоФуса, Гумостима и Силипланта универсального было равноценным по влиянию на накопление сырой клейковины, в этих вариантах прирост составил 1,2-3,8 % к контролю. Преимущество по этому показателю качества было за вариантом с обработкой семян Цитовитом, массовая доля сырой клейковины возросла на 5,6 % по сравнению с обработкой водой. По качеству клейковина во всех вариантах опыта в 2018 г. отвечала требованиям второй группы качества (ИДК 90-95единиц), а в 2019 г. она отвечала требованиям первой группы качества (ИДК 65-77 единиц). Однако, с увеличением количества сырой клейковины отмечено закономерное снижение ее упругих свойств. The article presents the results of studies on the influence of various types of complex fertilizers with microelements in chelate forms on the formation of the yield of spring soft wheat of the Arkhat variety during pre-sowing treatment of seeds. It was established that only when using Gumostim there is a tendency to increase productive tillering. It was revealed that treatment of seeds with Cytovit contributed to an increase in the size of the ear by 16.4 %. It was noted that the increase in the number of grains when using Gumostim and Multi-purpose Siliplant was 0.8-1.3 pieces, and the most grained ears were obtained using Cytovit, an increase to the control was 22.3 %. The use of complex micronutrient fertilizers contributed to the improvement of the technological properties of grain. The grain bulk density when using EcoFus, Gumostim and Cytovit increased by 9-23 g/l. During the years of research, a highly vitreous grain was formed in all variants of the experiment, but no significant differences for this quality indicator in the variants were revealed. In the years of research, the use of EcoFus, Gumostim, and Multi-purpose Siliplant was equivalent in effect on the accumulation of wet gluten; the increase was 1.2-3.8 % of the control in these variants. Seed treatment with Cytovit had advantage in this quality indicator. Mass fraction of wet gluten increased by 5.6 % compared with water treatment. In quality, gluten in all test variants in 2018 met the requirements of the second quality group (IDK 90-95 units), and in 2019 it met the requirements of the first quality group (IDK 65-77 units). However, with an increase in the amount of wet gluten, a natural decrease in its elastic properties was noted.