Analysis of ultrasound-assisted convective heating/cooling process: Development and application of a Nusselt equation

In this study, the convective heating/cooling process assisted by US irradiation is analyzed with the aims of developing a new convective heat transfer correlation. Heat transfer experiments were conducted with different copper machined geometries (cube, sphere and cylinder), fluid velocities (0.93–5.00 × 10⁻³ m/s), temperatures (5–60 °C), and US intensities (0–6913 W/m²) using water as heat transfer fluid. The Nusselt (Nu) equation was obtained by assuming an apparent Nu number in the US-assisted process, expressed as the sum of contributions of the forced convection and cavitation-acoustic streaming effects. The Nu equation was validated with two sets of experiments conducted with a mixture of ethylene glycol and water (1:1 V/V) or a CaCl₂ aqueous solution (30 g/L) as immersion media, achieving a satisfactory reproduction of experimental data, with mean relative deviations of 17.6 and 17.8%, respectively. In addition, a conduction model with source term and the proposed correlation were applied to the analysis of US-accelerated heating kinetics of dry-cured ham reported in literature. Results demonstrated that US improves heating of ham slices because of the increased heat transfer coefficients and the direct absorption of US power by the foodstuff.     

Ultrasound-assisted solution crystallization of fotagliptin benzoate: Process intensification and crystal product optimization

The ultrasound-assisted crystallization process has promising potentials for improving process efficiency and modifying crystalline product properties. In this work, the crystallization process of fotagliptin benzoate methanol solvate (FBMS) was investigated to improve powder properties and downstream desolvation/drying performance. The direct cooling/antisolvent crystallization process was conducted and then optimized with the assistance of ultrasonic irradiation and seeding strategy. Direct cooling/antisolvent crystallization and seeding crystallization processes resulted in needle-like crystals which are undesirable for downstream processing. In contrast, the ultrasound-assisted crystallization process produced rod-like crystals and reduced the crystal size to facilitate the desolvation of FBMS. The metastable zone width (MSZW), induction time, crystal size, morphology, and process yield were studied comprehensively. The results showed that both the seeding and ultrasound-assisted crystallization process (without seeds) can improve the process yield and the ultrasound could effectively reduce the crystal size, narrow the MSZW, and shorten the induction time. Through comparing the drying dynamics of the FBMS, the small rod-shaped crystals with a mean size of 9.6 μm produced by ultrasonic irradiation can be completely desolvated within 20 h, while the desolvation time of long needle crystals with an average size of about 157 μm obtained by direct cooling/antisolvent crystallization and seeding crystallization processes is more than 80 h. Thus the crystal size and morphology were found to be the key factors affecting the desolvation kinetics and the smaller size produced by using ultrasound can benefit the intensification of the drying process. Overall, the ultrasound-assisted crystallization showed a full improvement including crystal properties and process efficiency during the preparation of fotagliptin benzoate desolvated crystals.     

A family of minimax rates for density estimators in continuous time

In continuous time, rates of convergence of density estimators fluctuate with the nature of observed sample paths. In this paper, we give a family of rates reached by the kernel estimator and we show that these rates are minimax. Finally, we study applications of these results for specific classes of processes including the Gaussian ones     

Hodge numbers of nodal double octics

Let B be a surface of even degree d in P³ with nodes as the only singular points. In [1] Clemens proved that the topology of the small resolution of the double covering of P³ branched along B depends not only on the number of nodes but also on the so-called defect, a non-negative integer describing their configuration.

The aim of this note is to give an elementary proof of the Clemens. result and to present some geometric interpretation of defect.     

Multi-level lot sizing and job shop scheduling with compressible process times: A cutting plane approach

This paper proposes an integer linear programming formulation for a simultaneous lot sizing and scheduling problem in a job shop environment. Among others, one of our realistic assumptions is dealing with flexible machines which enable the production manager to change their working speeds. Then, a number of valid inequalities are developed based on problem structures. As the valid inequalities can help in reducing the non-optimal parts of the solution space, they are dealt with as some cutting planes. The proposed cutting planes are used to solve the problem in (i) cut-and-branch, and (ii) branch-and-cut approaches. The performance of each cutting plane is investigated with CPLEX 12.2 on a set of randomly-generated test data. Then, some performance criteria are identified and the proposed cutting planes are ranked by TOPSIS method.     

ELECTRO-OPTICAL DETERMINATION OF α-FeOOH PARTICLE SIZES

Electric light scattering method is used for revealing the presence of aggregates in very diluted aqueous α-FeOOH suspensions. Three theoretical models are used for the geometrical form of aggregates. The comparison between the electro-optical results -theoretical and experimental - shows that even in the most diluted suspensions exist aggregates with irregular form. Using the comparison between electron microscopy and electro-optical results the geometric shape of the aggregates is determined.     

Theory of third-harmonic generation using double half-Gaussian hollow beams and self-phase-matching

We first (to best of out knowledge) use the slowly varying envelope approximation (SVEA) to obtain the equation of third harmonic (TH) generated by focusing the double half-Gaussian hollow beams into an atomic medium. The two-dimension intensity distribution is achieved by simulating, and it is similar to that generated by the 0th order Bessel beams. In addition to the similarities between the experimental setups, we demonstrate the accuracy of the equation. Compared with that generated by the Bessel beams, the pattern of the TH intensity generated by the double half-Gaussian hollow beams has salient features.     

On the importance of behavioral operational research: The case of understanding and communicating about dynamic systems

We point out the need for Behavioral Operational Research (BOR) in advancing the practice of OR. So far, in OR behavioral phenomena have been acknowledged only in behavioral decision theory but behavioral issues are always present when supporting human problem solving by modeling. Behavioral effects can relate to the group interaction and communication when facilitating with OR models as well as to the possibility of procedural mistakes and cognitive biases. As an illustrative example we use well known system dynamics studies related to the understanding of accumulation. We show that one gets completely opposite results depending on the way the phenomenon is described and how the questions are phrased and graphs used. The results suggest that OR processes are highly sensitive to various behavioral effects. As a result, we need to pay attention to the way we communicate about models as they are being increasingly used in addressing important problems like climate change.     

Gammaspektren von Spaltproduktgemischen

Die Gammaspektren von Radionuklidgemischen, die als Folge der Folge der momentanen Spaltung von²³⁵ U mit thermischen Neutronen, ²³⁵U und ²³⁹ Pu mit Spaltneutronen und ²³⁸ U mit 14-MeV -Neutronen entstehen, wurden berechnet. Die Angaben über Zerfallsreihen, Spaltausbeuten, Halbwertszeiten und Nuklidgammaspektren für etwa 200 Radionuklide basieren vol allem auf einer Zusammenstellung von Davies. Es sind die Gammaspektren, die Gammaemissionsraten, die Expositionsdosisleistungen und die mittleren Energien für ein Alter der Spaltproduktgemische von einer Minute bis zu 100 Jahren angegeben.     

Controllable Goos-Hänchen shift in graphene triangular double barrier

We study the Goos-Hänchen (GH) shifts for Dirac fermions in graphene scattered by a triangular double barrier potential. The massless Dirac-like equation was used to describe the scattered fermions by such potential configuration. Our results show that the GH shifts is affected by the geometrical structure of the double barrier. In particular the GH shifts change sign at the transmission zero energies and exhibit enhanced peaks at each bound state associated with the double barrier when the incident angle is less than the critical angle associated with total reflection.