Microwave Synthesis, Characterization and Perspectives of Wood Pencil-Derived Carbon

More than 14 billion pencils are manufactured and used globally every year. On average, a pencil is discarded after 60% of its original length has been depleted. In the present work we propose a simple and affordable way of converting this non-neglectable amount of waste into added value carbon product. In particular, we demonstrate the microwave synthesis of carbon from the wood pencil with and without chemical activation. This could be a process stage before the final recycling of the expensive graphite core. In the latter case, irradiation of the wood pencil in a domestic microwave oven heats up the pencil’s graphite core, thus inducing carbonization of its wood casing. The carbonized product consists of amorphous carbon nanosheets having relatively low surface area. However, if the wood pencil is soaked in 50% KOH aqueous solution prior to microwave irradiation, a significantly higher surface area of carbon is obtained, consisting of irregular-shaped porous particles. Consequently, the obtained carbon can easily decolorize a methylene blue aqueous solution, can be used to make pocket warmers or gunpowder, and lastly, serves as an excellent adsorbent towards Cr(VI) removal from water, showing a maximum adsorption capacity of 70–75 mg/g within 24 h at 23 °C, pH = 3.

Static and dynamic formant scaling conveys body size and aggression

When producing intimidating aggressive vocalizations, humans and other animals often extend their vocal tracts to lower their voice resonance frequencies (formants) and thus sound big. Is acoustic size exaggeration more effective when the vocal tract is extended before, or during, the vocalization, and how do listeners interpret within-call changes in apparent vocal tract length? We compared perceptual effects of static and dynamic formant scaling in aggressive human speech and nonverbal vocalizations. Acoustic manipulations corresponded to elongating or shortening the vocal tract either around (Experiment 1) or from (Experiment 2) its resting position. Gradual formant scaling that preserved average frequencies conveyed the impression of smaller size and greater aggression, regardless of the direction of change. Vocal tract shortening from the original length conveyed smaller size and less aggression, whereas vocal tract elongation conveyed larger size and more aggression, and these effects were stronger for static than for dynamic scaling. Listeners familiarized with the speaker's natural voice were less often ‘fooled’ by formant manipulations when judging speaker size, but paid more attention to formants when judging aggressive intent. Thus, within-call vocal tract scaling conveys emotion, but a better way to sound large and intimidating is to keep the vocal tract consistently extended.

Preparation and Evaluation of Conductive Polymeric Composite from Metals Alloys and Graphene to Be Future Flexible Antenna Device

Every year hundreds of serious accidents and catastrophic are accompanied by mining sector services as disaster, flooding, and demolition. To reduce the severity of the results such as high death numbers, lost communication inner and out mining, we have to find an easy way to improve communication means during that problems. In this paper, we reach out to fabricate durable, flexible, and wearable chaps, in addition to an easier carrier with highly efficient receiving and sending a signal at 2.4 GHz broad wide band. By doping a bunch of unique conductive metals (silver, copper, and gallium indium alloy) assembled on Graphene, its integration inside Polydimethylsiloxane to be future applicable antenna. Furthermore, we studied the physical and electric properties of a composite including Electrochemical Impedance properties (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and its thermal stability chip (DSC), as well as, using Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques to clarify the surface morphology of fabricated materials. In addition to various measurements had been carried out such as Ultraviolet-visible, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy, and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to reinforce and elucidate the solid-state of ions inside fabricated Antenna. On the other hand, throughout stress-strain for the stretchability of fabricated is expanded to 30% of its original length, in addition to thermal stability reached to 485°C compared to pure PDMS substrate, with enhancing electric conductivity of composite ship.

Stress-strain numerical simulation for a microprofile subjected to orthogonal impact under constrained loading conditions

The present paper aims to describe shape changes in a microroughness model developed for the working surfaces of parts at degrees of deformation commensurate with the height of the original microprofile; to establish how the degree of microprofile upsetting affects its shape under constrained loading conditions; as well as to estimate the stress state of the microprofile by stress intensity. A numerical model describing the surface microprofile of parts was calculated using the ANSYS Workbench environment. Lead, tin, aluminum, and copper were used as microprofile materials. In addition, microprofile upsetting was computer simulated under constrained loading conditions. The valley bottom was found to rise at a 10–20% microprofile upsetting by 0.213–0.275 mm relative to the original profile height, depending on its material. The relative length of the smoothed microprofile section amounted to 0.786–0.925 mm of its original length. The base angle of the deformed microprofile reached 570 and 800 for copper and lead models, respectively. The depth of valleys ranged from 1.4 mm (23% of the original profile height) for lead models and from 1.8 mm (30% of the original profile height) for copper models. In the case of maximum microprofile upsetting, an increase in the yield strength of microrough material from 10 to 60 MPa contributed to a reduction in the base angle of the deformed microprofile, as well as relative length and the vertical rise of microprofile valleys at their highest point. No interlocking of lateral microprofile surfaces was observed. At a 50% upsetting, the stress state of the microprofile exceeded its ultimate strength by 4–8 times. The shape changes simulated for the microprofile from plastic metallic materials are described. The performed numerical simulation correlates well with the experimental results obtained for lead microprofile models. It is worth noting that the complete smoothing of the microprofile is likely to occur through the rise of valleys and the approaching of its lateral surfaces. The study results can be used for designing and manufacturing valve gate assemblies.

Design and Experiment of the Buckwheat Hill-Drop Planter Hole Forming Device

The hole forming device is an important element of the buckwheat hill-drop planter, and its design level directly affects the seeding quality of the hill-drop planter. A hole forming device with a duckbill structure is widely used in hill-drop planters for wheat, cotton, peanuts, etc. According to the requirements of buckwheat seeding operations, this study designs the components of the duckbill hole forming device. It is determined that the duckbill upper jaw length is 65 mm, the duckbills number is 10, the pressure plate on the spring side length is 90 mm, the duckbill opening size is 8.79 mm, and the duckbill effective opening time is 0.1 s. Through co-simulation analysis of discrete element software EDEM (DEM-Solutions, Edinburgh, United Kingdom) and multi-body dynamics software RecurDyn (FunctionBay, Inc., Seongnam-si, South Korea), it is measured that when the pressure plate on the spring side is directly below the rotation axis of the dibber wheel, the spring compression is 33.3 mm, the pressure on the pressure plate is 95–102.6 N, and the contact time of a single duckbill with the soil is 0.2 s at a speed of 40 r/min. Based on the results of the design and simulation analysis, the large end diameter, small end diameter, original length and wire diameter of the duckbill spring are 36 mm, 26 mm, 60 mm, and 1.8 mm, respectively. An experimental bench for the seeding wheel of a buckwheat hill-drop planter was built, and three wire diameter duckbill springs of 1.6 mm, 1.8 mm and 2.0 mm were tested to verify the simulation and calculation results. The experimental results show that the optimal wire diameter of the duckbill spring is 1.8 mm. Finally, a single factor experiment of the dibber wheel rotation speed was carried out. The experimental results show that when the rotation speed of the dibber wheel is 40–65 r/min, the seeding qualification rate, seeding void hole rate and seeding damage rate of the buckwheat hill-drop planter are ≥85.3%, 0, and <0.3%, respectively. This study provides a basis and reference for the hole forming device design of a buckwheat hill-drop planter.

Removal of the Northern Paleo-Teton Range along the Yellowstone Hotspot Track

Classically held mechanisms for removing mountain topography (e.g., erosion and gravitational collapse) require 10-100 Myr or more to completely remove tectonically generated relief. Here, we propose that mountain ranges can be completely and rapidly (&lt;2 Myr) removed by a migrating hotspot. In western North America, multiple mountain ranges, including the Teton Range, terminate at the boundary with the relatively low relief track of the Yellowstone hotspot. This abrupt transition leads to a previously untested hypothesis that preexisting mountainous topography along the track has been erased. We integrate thermochronologic data collected from the footwall of the Teton fault with flexural-kinematic modeling and length-displacement scaling to show that the paleo-Teton fault and associated Teton Range was much longer (min. original length 190-210 km) than the present topographic expression of the range front (~65 km) and extended across the modern-day Yellowstone hotspot track. These analyses also indicate that the majority of fault displacement (min. 11.4-12.6 km) and the associated footwall mountain range growth had accumulated prior to Yellowstone encroachment at ~2 Ma, leading us to interpret that eastward migration of the Yellowstone hotspot relative to stable North America led to removal of the paleo-Teton mountain topography via posteruptive collapse of the range following multiple supercaldera (VEI 8) eruptions from 2.0 Ma to 600 ka and/or an isostatic collapse response, similar to ranges north of the Snake River plain. While this extremely rapid removal of mountain ranges and adjoining basins is probably relatively infrequent in the geologic record, it has important implications for continental physiography and topography over very short time spans.

Combining Electrospinning and Electrode Printing for the Fabrication of Stretchable Organic Electrochemical Transistors

Stretchable conductors and organic electrochemical transistors (OECT) were fabricated from PEDOT:Tos (poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):iron tosylate) nanofibers. The devices were prepared by a combination of electrospinning and electrode printing followed by vapor phase polymerization (VPP). The impact of both the processing time and the composition of three electrospinning mixtures on the electrospun fiber mats was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy and cyclic voltammetry. Fibrillar mats prepared from the different mixtures maintained their electrical properties and could be stretched up to 140% of their original length. Stretchable OECTs were fabricated by printing silver drain and source electrodes directly on the conductive spun fibers. The fabricated devices showed transistor behavior up to ∼50% strain.

Proposed method for scale drawing calculating depending on the line detector and length detector

A scale drawing is a significant tool in many fields such as geography, mathematics, and astronomy research as it has a variety of applications, including Google maps. A new way to benefit from the scale drawing in soccer image is presented in this paper. When the distance of the camera is uncertain, the scale drawing can be used to determine the relationship between the ball and players to estimate the ball size and determine the zooms in and out. The scale drawing and factor are used in architecture and image processing. After calculating the scale factor, the length of every part or line in the image can be computed by multiplying the original length by the scale factor. The research findings indicated that the proposed work was successful in computing the scale drawing in two ways, namely, line detector and length detector, with approximate results to the desired results

Active Coolant Control Onto Thermal Behaviors of Precision Ball Screw Unit

Being a critical factor affecting the motion accuracy of precision machine tools, structural thermal elongation of precision ball screw unit is generally caused by the comprehensive influence from heat generations of screw-nut pair / bearings and time-varying ambient temperature. To resist 2 thermal disturbances above to guarantee precisely the original length of screw shaft, an active coolant control strategy is proposed in this paper. This strategy is based on an empirical model: For the slender and long tubular structure of screw shaft, the screw shaft temperature is approximately equal to its recirculating coolant temperature. The reason is that the intensive forced coolant convection is capable of eliminating screw shaft temperature rises caused by friction heat generations and ambient air convections. Based on this premise, screw coolant temperature can be consistently controlled by an active strategy, further to correct the thermal elongation of screw shaft. It can be experimentally verified that the thermal variations of machine positioning accuracy caused by the active coolant control strategy are not more than 10µm, which are lower than traditional strategy. Besides, based on detected structural temperatures of precision ball screw unit, the empirical model above is further proved to be reliable by FE simulation method.

Numerical and Experimental Assessment of a Novel Anchored for Intramedullary Telescopic Nails Used in Osteogenesis Imperfecta Fractures

Osteogenesis Imperfecta (IO) is a bone disease mainly characterized by the low bone density that produces common fractures in children around 0–7 years. The use of metal implants is a typical treatment of this disease. The intramedullary telescopic nail (ITN) was inspired by the progressive growth in the long bones such as the femur or humerus during children’s aging. This work shows an experimental assessment of the ITN’s, focusing on their fixation; the proposed improvements in the design of the intramedullary nail studied include the separation of the element into two parts for telescopic enlargement, minimal invasive fixation through the distal anchorage, and the double auto-drilled end for fixation on the distal and proximal section of the bone. The samples were manufactured in 316 L steel and mounted on specialized jaws to replicate the implants’ boundary conditions. The experimental test was repeated three times to report the intramedullary telescopic nail’s behavior at three lengths. The results show that the device supports only 79.06 N when not at extension length. However, if the device is extended 150% it will support 46.87 N which suggests that intramedullary telescopic nails can only increase by 25% of their original length before they fail.