X-ray CT in the detection of palm weevils

Early detection of the red palm weevils (RPW) is a major challenge in agriculture among all kinds of palm trees due to the nature of the insect and the difficulty to trace them through their life stages associated with the tree life. Many methods have been applied for the weevil detection such as X-ray diffraction techniques, fluoroscopy and ultrasound. On the other hand, the idea of tomography has been used for other purposes such as the determination of the age of the tree and for applied environmental studies. Such technology can also reveal the weevil in principle. In this study, we explore the use of X-ray CT for weevil detection with the Monte Carlo method. A model of the stem of a palm tree is developed for simulations. MCNPX is chosen to carry out the simulations for the radiography tally in the code. The tally records the 2D data of the X-ray beams irradiating the tree model. An iterative reconstruction method for cone beam CT is applied to obtain the 3D slices of the tree model. We are exploring the minimum number of projection angles and the detectability of the weevil. We shall also report the sensitivity of weevil detection using X-ray CT with a large set of simulations with different weevil sizes and tree diameters.     

Eigenvalues of a statistical mechanics matrix

We consider the problem of finding the spectrum of an n × n matrix which arises in the study of a certain model of long-range interactions in a one-dimensional statistical mechanics system. Our analysis exhibits a curious resemblance of the suitably normalized distribution of eigenvalues to the Marčenko–Pastur law in the limit n → ∞.     

Strongly orthogonal geminals: size-extensive and variational reference states

Properties and some applications of strongly orthogonal geminals (APSG) are reviewed emphasizing the motivations for their use and their shortcomings. An overview presents some techniques capable of improving the APSG function.     

Solubility of methane in octane + ethanol at temperatures from 303.15 K to 333.15 K and pressures up to 12.01 MPa

Solubility of methane in octane + ethanol was measured at temperatures ranging from 303.15 K to 333.15 K and pressures ranging from 2.60 MPa to 12.01 MPa. Experimental data were analyzed using the Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation of state with three types of mixing rules, and the estimated average deviation from the experimental solubility data was less than 3.5 %.     

Design of polyglycidol-containing microspheres for biomedical applications

The paper presents a short review on the synthesis, characterisation and selected medical applications of poly(styrene/α-tert-butoxy-ω-vinylbenzyl-polyglycidol) (P(S/PGL)) microspheres. The soap-free emulsion-polymerisation of styrene and α-tert-butoxy-ω-vinylbenzyl-polyglycidol macromonomer (PGL) in water yielded core-shell microspheres with a low particle-diameter dispersity (ratio of the weight average particle diameter and the number average particle diameter). The interfacial fraction of PGL units, estimated by XPS, was in the range of 0–42 mole % depending on the concentration of the macromonomer in the polymerisation feed. The studies of adsorption of model proteins showed that the surface fraction of adsorbed protein was significantly reduced when the PGL interfacial fraction was higher than 40 mole %. The P(S/PGL) particles with covalently immobilised proteins were used for the preparation of photonic crystal assemblies suitable for applications in optical biosensors and the medical diagnostic test for the detection of Helicobacter pylori antibodies in the blood serum.     

Synthesis and properties of new biotin compounds containing hexyltriethylene glycol chain

The synthesis of a new halogenide containing hexyltriethylene glycol chain functionalized with biotin is reported. The general possibility of this linker to use as the building block for biotinylated compounds syntheses is demonstrated. Two biotinylated esters with different properties for useful surface modification and as fluorescence probes for proteins marking were synthesized. The properties of mentioned compounds were investigated by using surface plazmon resonance ellypsometry and fluorescence spectroscopy.     

Nanoscale Broadband Viscoelastic Spectroscopy of Soft Materials Using Iterative Control

A novel approach to nanoscale broadband viscoelastic spectroscopy is presented. The proposed approach utilizes the recently developed modeling-free inversion-based iterative control (MIIC) technique to achieve accurate measurement of the material response to the applied excitation force over a broad frequency band. Scanning probe microscope (SPM) and nanoindenter have become enabling tools to quantitatively measure the mechanical properties of a wide variety of materials at nanoscale. Current nanomechanical measurement, however, is limited by the slow measurement speed: the nanomechanical measurement is slow and narrow-banded and thus not capable of measuring rate-dependent phenomena of materials. As a result, large measurement (temporal) errors are generated when material is undergoing dynamic evolution during the measurement. The low-speed operation of SPM is due to the inability of current approaches to (1) rapidly excite the broadband nanomechanical behavior of materials, and (2) compensate for the convolution of the hardware adverse effects with the material response during high-speed measurements. These adverse effects include the hysteresis of the piezo actuator (used to position the probe relative to the sample); the vibrational dynamics of the piezo actuator and the cantilever along with the related mechanical mounting; and the dynamics uncertainties caused by the probe variation and the operation condition. In the proposed approach, an input force signal with frequency characteristics of band-limited white-noise is utilized to rapidly excite the nanomechanical response of materials over a broad frequency range. The MIIC technique is used to compensate for the hardware adverse effects, thereby allowing the precise application of such an excitation force and measurement of the material response (to the applied force). The proposed approach is illustrated by implementing it to measure the frequency-dependent plane-strain modulus of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) over a broad frequency range extending over 3 orders of magnitude (~1 Hz to 4.5 kHz).     

Micromechanical analysis of damage in saturated quasi brittle materials

In this paper, we propose a micromechanical analysis of damage and related inelastic deformation in saturated porous quasi brittle materials. The materials are weakened by randomly distributed microcracks and saturated by interstitial fluid with drained and undrained conditions. The emphasis is put on the closed cracks under compression-dominated stresses. The material damage is related to the frictional sliding on crack surface and described by a local scalar variable. The effective properties of the materials are determined using a linear homogenization approach, based on the extension of Eshelby’s inclusion solution to penny shaped cracks. The inelastic behavior induced by microcracks is described in the framework of the irreversible thermodynamics. As an original contribution, the potential energy of the saturated materials weakened by closed frictional microcracks is determined and formulated as a sum of an elastic part and a plastic part, the latter entirely induced by frictional sliding of microcracks. The influence of fluid pressure is accounted for in the friction criterion through the concept of local effective stress at microcracks. We show that the Biot’s effective stress controls the evolution of total strain while the local Terzaghi’s effective stress controls the evolution of plastic strain. Further, the frictional sliding between crack lips generates volumetric dilatancy and reduction in fluid pressure. Applications of the proposed model to typical brittle rocks are presented with comparisons between numerical results and experimental data in both drained and undrained triaxial tests.