Physicochemical characterization of acrylamide/bisacrylamide hydrogels and their application for the conservation of easel paintings

Acrylamide chemical gels have been synthesized to obtain systems with mechanic and hydrophilic properties suitable for the cleaning of works of art. The gel characteristics were tailored by changing the polymer percentage present in the final hydrogel formulation from 2 to 10% w/w. Two different hydrogels have been selected in this interval for an in depth characterization (i.e., S 4% w/w and H 6% w/w). Water retention properties of the gels along with the free water index have been determined by the combination of standard dehydration tests and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements. The gels' structure has been determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The water retention capacity of hydrogel, H, was also determined. Cleaning tests on easel painting replicas, performed with both hydrogels loaded with an aqueous detergent system, showed good results in the removal of a widely used synthetic adhesive and hence offered these gels as a real alternative to the widely applied physical gel methodology with the advantage of being a residue-free technique. A preliminary SAXS investigation confirms the persistence of the detergent system nanostructure inside the hydrogel.     

A method of developing wavelength encoded all-optical S–R flip-flop by the uses of semiconductor optical amplifier based Mach–Zenhder interferometer and phase conjugation system

A scheme for a high-speed wavelength encoded all-optical S–R flip-flop (or a digital memory cell for storing of optical bits) based on wavelength conversion (MZI) in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and phase conjugation system (PCS) is proposed. The switching action of semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) does not give too high operational speed because of electrical pumping power. But optical phase conjugation mechanism gives us ultrahigh operational speed. So, joint use of them gives rise to a more high speed system comparatively to only SOA based switches. Here two logic states of the whole system is encoded by two wavelengths as well as frequencies, since the information in the bit is unaffected throughout the communication not having regard to the loss of light energy due to reflection, refraction polarization, etc.     

Experimental implementation of a self-tuning control system for decentralised velocity feedback

Simulations have previously shown that, for broadband excitation, adjusting the gain of a local velocity feedback loop to maximise their absorbed power also tends to minimise the kinetic energy of the structure under control. This paper describes an experimental implementation of multiple velocity feedback loops on a flat panel, whose gains can be controlled automatically by an algorithm that maximises their local absorbed power. Taking care to remove excessive phase shift in the control loop allows a stable feedback gain that is high enough to experimentally demonstrate the transition in control action between optimum damping and pinning of the structure. A simple search algorithm is then used to adapt the feedback gains of two control loops to maximise their local absorbed powers, thus demonstrating self-tuning. By measuring the power absorbed by each of these loops and also estimation of the kinetic energy of the plate from velocity measurements for a wide range of the two feedback gains, it is shown that not only does the adaptive algorithm converge to a set of feedback gains that maximise total power absorbed by the two feedback loops, but also that this set of feedback gains is very close to those that minimise the measured kinetic energy of the panel.     

Numerical investigation of turbulent free jet flows issuing from rectangular nozzles: the influence of small aspect ratio

In this research, the fluid and thermal characteristics of a rectangular turbulent jet flow is studied numerically. The results of three-dimensional jet issued from a rectangular nozzle are presented. A numerical method employing control volume approach with collocated grid arrangement was employed. Velocity and pressure fields are coupled with SIMPLEC algorithm. The turbulent stresses are approximated using k–e{\varepsilon} model with two different inlet conditions. The velocity and temperature fields are presented and the rates of their decay at the jet centerline are noted. The velocity vectors of the main flow and the secondary flow are illustrated. Also, effect of aspect ratio on mixing in rectangular cross-section jets is considered. The aspect ratios that were considered for this work were 1:1 to 1:4. The results showed that the jet entrains more with smaller AR. Special attention has been drawn to the influence of the Reynolds number (based on hydraulic diameter) as well as the inflow conditions on the evolution of the rectangular jet. An influence on the jet evolution is found for smaller Re, but the jet is close to a converged state for higher Reynolds numbers. The inflow conditions have considerable influence on the jet characteristics.     

Modification of Cross-Linked Rubber Particles by Free Radical Polymerization

The synthesis of polystyrene chains covalently bound to the surface of cross-linked rubber particles from recycled tires (ground tire rubber, GTR) was investigated via free radical polymerization in situ by using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) and dibenzoyl peroxide (BPO) as initiators. Indeed, the graft polymerization provides a significant route to modify the physical and chemical properties of these particles allowing to improve their compatibility with other polymers. Polymerization reactions were carried out in bulk by changing the styrene/GTR ratio as well as the amount of free radical initiator. Appreciable amounts of polystyrene (PS) were grafted on GTR when BPO was used as confirmed by particle characterizations.     

On using mesh-based and mesh-free methods in problems defined by Eringen’s non-local integral model: issues and remedies

With the recent success of nonlocal theories in modeling of engineering problems involving small intrinsic length scales, such as modeling of crack propagation, this paper addresses issues pertaining to cost-ineffectiveness of Eringen’s integral model. The cost effectiveness of the computation may be considered as a twofold issue; one pertaining to the non-local model and another pertaining to the numerical tool. First of all, we shall show that during the solution of problems with Eringen’s non-local integral model, there is no need to consider the integral model for the whole computational domain. In fact, the problems may be solved by just using the integral model close to the boundaries, i.e. a boundary layer effect, or around the points with singularities. In this paper we propose a partitioning strategy to remarkably reduce the computational cost. This may be considered as a gateway for solving some types of two-scale problems, e.g. those with macro/micro and nano scales, in which the small scale effects are localized just at parts of the domain. To demonstrate the efficiency of the numerical tools, we examine the performance of the finite element method (FEM), the element free Galerkin method (EFG) and the finite point method (FPM). This paves the way for using mesh-free methods in the solution of problems with non-local integral models. Examples with smooth and non-smooth solutions are considered for examining the efficiency of the methods. It will be shown that, by considering the boundary layer effect, the FEM and FPM will be efficient enough for being used in problems defined by Eringen’s non-local integral model.

     

Hypergroups and polygroups in diffeology

Abstract

We introduce diffeological algebraic hyperstructures such as diffeological hypergroups and diffeological polygroups, which are generalizations of diffeological groups. After providing some examples of these notions, we investigate the relationships between diffeological hypergroups and diffeological groups. It is proved that there is an equivalence of categories between subductions over diffeological groups and diffeological complete hypergroups. We finally show how every diffeological polygroup is a subpolygroup of a diffeological poly-monoid of hyper-diffeomorphisms.

Communicated by J. L. Gomez Pardo     

Dynamic behavior investigation of capillary rising at various dominant forces using free energy lattice Boltzmann method

Meccanica - A Free Energy Lattice Boltzmann Method has been developed to characterize dominant forces and regimes involved in the capillary rise imbibition process. The comparison of the capillary...     

Supersymmetry and the ladder operator technique in quantum mechanics: The radial Schrödinger equation

Using the ladder operator technique, a construction of the supersymmetric Hamiltonian is proposed. We show that the accidental degeneracies associated with the Coulomb and isotropic oscillator problems may be attributed to the existence of a supersymmetry of the Hamiltonians.