Fabrication and characterization of polymer thermo-optic switch based on mmi coupler

The 2 × 2 polymer thermo-optic switch based on MMI coupler is realized. This device is fabricated using standard fabrication techniques such as coating, photolithography, and dry etching. A crosstalk level of −36.2 dB is achieved at cross and bar states. A power consumption of 1.85 mW is applied to change the state of the switch from the cross to the bar state. A switching time of less than 0.7 ms is traced to change a state of the realized switch.     

On Legendre polynomial approximation with the VIM or HAM for numerical treatment of nonlinear fractional differential equations

The variational iteration method and the homotopy analysis method, as alternative methods, have been widely used to handle linear and nonlinear models. The main property of the methods is their flexibility and ability to solve nonlinear equations accurately and conveniently. This paper deals with the numerical solutions of nonlinear fractional differential equations, where the fractional derivatives are considered in Caputo sense. The main aim is to introduce efficient algorithms of variational iteration and homotopy analysis methods that can be simply used to deal with nonlinear fractional differential equations. In these algorithms, Legendre polynomials are effectively implemented to achieve better approximation for the nonhomogeneous and nonlinear terms that leads to facilitate the computational work. The proposed algorithms are capable of reducing the size of calculations, improving the accuracy and easily overcome the difficulty arising in calculating complicated integrals. Numerical examples are examined to show the efficiency of the algorithms.     

In vivo lipid diffusion coefficient measurements in rat bone marrow

The diffusion coefficient of lipids, D_l, within bone marrow, fat deposits and metabolically active intracellular lipids in vivo will depend on several factors including the precise chemical composition of the lipid distribution (chain lengths, degree of unsaturation, etc.) as well as the temperature. As such, D_l may ultimately prove of value in assessing abnormal fatty acid distributions linked to diseases such as cystic fibrosis, diabetes and coronary heart disease. A sensitive temperature dependence of D_l may also prove of value for MR-guided thermal therapies for bone tumors or disease within other fatty tissues like the breast. Measuring diffusion coefficients of high molecular weight lipids in vivo is, however, technically difficult for a number of reasons. For instance, due to the much lower diffusion coefficients compared to water, much higher b factors than those used for central nervous system applications are needed. In addition, the pulse sequence design must incorporate, as much as possible, immunity to motion, susceptibility and chemical shift effects present whenever body imaging is performed. In this work, high b-factor line scan diffusion imaging sequences were designed, implemented and tested for D_l measurement using a 4.7-T horizontal bore animal scanner. The gradient set available allowed for b factors as high as 0.03 μs/nm² (30,000 s/mm²) at echo times as short as 42 ms. The methods were used to measure lipid diffusion coefficients within the marrow of rat paws in vivo, yielding lipid diffusion coefficients approximately two orders of magnitude smaller than typical tissue water diffusion coefficients. Phantom experiments that demonstrate the sensitivity of lipid diffusion coefficients to chain length and temperature were also performed.     

Degradation of dissolved diazinon pesticide in water using the high frequency of ultrasound wave

This article aims to apply the ultrasound technique in the field of clean technology to protect environment. The principle of sonochemistry is conducted here to degrade pesticides in simulated industrial wastewater resulted from a factory manufacturing pesticides namely diazinon. Diazinon pesticide selected in this study for degradation under high frequency ultrasound wave. Three different initial concentrations of diazinon (800, 1200, and 1800 ppm), at different solution volumes were investigated in to degrade dissolved diazinon in water. Ultrasound device with 1.7 MHz, and 0.044 cm diameter, was used to study the degradation process.

It is found that as the concentration of diazinon increased, the degradation is also increasing, and when the solution volume increases, the ability to degraded pesticides decreases. The experimental results showed an optimum condition achieved for degradation of diazinon at 1200 ppm as initial concentration and 50 ml solution volume. Kinetic modeling applied for the obtained results showed that the degradation of diazinon by high ultrasound frequency wave followed a pseudo-first-order model with apparent rate constant of around of 0.01 s⁻¹.     

Effect of pulegone and pulegone oxide on the corrosion of steel in 1?M HCl

The inhibitive action of pulegone and pulegone oxide toward acid corrosion of steel in molar hydrochloric acid was studied by weight loss measurements, potentiodynamic polarization, and impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods. The pulegone is extracted starting from oil of Pennyroyal Mint (Mentha pulegium). The natural compound was found to delay the corrosion rate. The pulegone oxide is prepared by oxidation of pulegone. The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with the inhibitor content to attain 81 and 75% at 5 g dm⁻³ for pulegone and pulegone oxide. The increase in temperature leads to an increase in the inhibition efficiency of the natural compared.     

On the strong field dependence and nonlinear response to gadolinium contrast agent of proton transverse relaxation rates in dairy cream

Dairy cream, as a suspension of lipid droplets in water, is a potentially useful magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) phantom material and an interesting material for studying fundamental relaxation mechanisms. Here we report a strong increase in the transverse relaxation rates with field strength for both the water and lipid protons in dairy cream. Also, studies at 4.7 T reveal a nonlinear response of transverse relaxation rates with increasing concentration of a common gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agent, including an initial decrease of water relaxation rates as measured with Hahn spin echoes at the lower Gd concentrations. The results are treated within the framework of a model in which the magnetic susceptibility difference between the lipid droplets and the aqueous phase plays the prominent role for transverse relaxation. Second-order polynomial fits of the water proton transverse relaxation rate dependence on field strength and on Gd concentration at 4.7 T provided experimental parameters from which model parameters are extracted and compared with expectations available from the literature.     

Gas–liquid pressure drop in vertical internally wavy 90° bend

Experiments of air water two-phase flow pressure drop in vertical internally wavy 90° bend have been carried out. The tested bends are flexible and made of stainless steel with inner diameter of 50 mm and various curvature radiuses of 200, 300, 400 and 500 mm. The experiments were performed under the following conditions of two-phase parameters; mass flux from 350 to 750 kg/m² s. Gas quality from 1% to 50% and system pressure from 4 to 7.5 bar. The results demonstrate that the effect of the above-mentioned parameters is very significant at high ranges of mass flow quality. Due to the increasing of two-phase flow resistance, energy dissipations, friction losses and interaction of the two-phases in the vertical internally wavy 90° bend the total pressure drops are perceptible about 2–5 times grater than that in smooth bends. Based on the mass and energy balance as well as the presented experimental results, new empirical correlation has been developed to calculate the two-phase pressure drop and hence the two-phase friction factor of the tested bends. The correlation includes the relevant primary parameter, fit the data well, and is sufficiency accurate for engineering purposes.     

Variational iteration method for solving the space‐ and time‐fractional KdV equation

This paper presents numerical solutions for the space‐ and time‐fractional Korteweg–de Vries equation (KdV for short) using the variational iteration method. The space‐ and time‐fractional derivatives are described in the Caputo sense. In this method, general Lagrange multipliers are introduced to construct correction functionals for the problems. The multipliers in the functionals can be identified optimally via variational theory. The iteration method, which produces the solutions in terms of convergent series with easily computable components, requiring no linearization or small perturbation. The numerical results show that the approach is easy to implement and accurate when applied to space‐ and time‐fractional KdV equations. The method introduces a promising tool for solving many space–time fractional partial differential equations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2007     

Hydrogel‐Forming and Dissolving Microneedles for Enhanced Delivery of Photosensitizers and Precursors

We present “one‐step application” dissolving and hydrogel‐forming microneedle arrays (MN) for enhanced delivery of photosensitizers/precursors. MN (280 μm) prepared from 20% w/w poly(methylvinylether/maelic acid) and cross‐linked with glycerol by esterification to form hydrogels upon skin insertion, or allowed to dissolve rapidly in skin, were combined with patches containing 19 mg cm^?2 of 5‐aminolevulinic acid (ALA) or meso‐tetra (N‐methyl‐4‐pyridyl) porphine tetra tosylate (TMP) for drug delivery. Both MN types were mechanically robust, with compression forces of 20.0 N only causing height reductions of 14%. Application forces as low as 8.0 N per array allowed >95% of the MN in each array type to penetrate excised porcine skin, with the MN penetrating to approximately 220 μm. MN significantly enhanced transdermal delivery of ALA and TMP in vitro, with the hydrogel‐forming system comparable with the dissolving system for ALA delivery (approximately 3000 nmol cm^?2 over 6 h), but superior for delivery of the much larger TMP molecule (approximately 14 nmol cm^?2 over 24 h, compared to 0.15 nmol cm^?2). As this technology clearly has potential in enhanced photodynamic therapy of neoplastic skin lesions, we are currently planning animal studies, to be followed by preliminary human evaluations. GMP manufacturing scale‐up is ongoing.     

Thermodynamic studies of interaction between cetylpyridinium bromide and lysozyme by means of calorimetric titrations

In this study, we have investigated the micellization characteristics of n-cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB) and lysozyme–CPB system using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) technique. The ITC operates in a stepwise addition mode, providing an excellent method of determination of critical micelle concentration (CMC) and enthalpy of demicellization (and hence micellization). The micellization characteristics of CPB have been investigated by microcalorimetric technique at 25, 30, 35, and 40 °C in a buffer solution of Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and pH of 7.3. A scheme to describe lysozyme–CPB interaction has also been proposed on the basis of ITC technique in a buffer solution of Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane at 30 °C, pH of 7.3, 0 mM NaCl, and 1 mM NaCl. The enthalpy changes associated with micelle dissociation were temperature and lysozyme concentration dependent, indicating the importance of hydrophobic interactions. The ΔG _mic was found to be negative, implying that, micellization, as expected, occurs spontaneously once the CMC has been reached. The values of ΔG _mic were found to become more negative with increasing temperature (in case of micellization of CPB) and with increasing the lysozyme concentration (in the case of lysozyme–CPB). The ΔS _mic was also found to decrease with increasing temperature in both cases. The presence of NaCl (1 mM) in the solutions decreased the CMC of CPB.