Numerical investigation of particle separation in Y-shaped bifurcating microchannels

In this study the Zweifach-Fung effect is investigated in a Y-shaped bifurcation when the clearance between the rigid spherical particle and the walls is small ...     

Bearing Fault Diagnosis Using Refined Composite Generalized Multiscale Dispersion Entropy-Based Skewness and Variance and Multiclass FCM-ANFIS

Bearing vibration signals typically have nonlinear components due to their interaction and coupling effects, friction, damping, and nonlinear stiffness. Bearing faults affect the signal complexity at various scales. Hence, measuring signal complexity at different scales is helpful to diagnosis of bearing faults. Numerous studies have investigated multiscale algorithms; nevertheless, multiscale algorithms using the first moment lose important complexity data. Accordingly, generalized multiscale algorithms have been recently introduced. The present research examined the use of refined composite generalized multiscale dispersion entropy (RCGMDispEn) based on the second moment (variance) and third moment (skewness) along with refined composite multiscale dispersion entropy (RCMDispEn) in bearing fault diagnosis. Moreover, multiclass FCM-ANFIS, which is a combination of adaptive network-based fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS), was developed to improve the efficiency of rotating machinery fault classification. According to the results, it is recommended that generalized multiscale algorithms based on variance and skewness be examined for diagnosis, along with multiscale algorithms, and be used to achieve an improvement in the results. The simultaneous usage of the multiscale algorithm and generalized multiscale algorithms improved the results in all three real datasets used in this study.     

Biodegradation of Alprazolam in Pharmaceutical Wastewater Using Mesoporous Nanoparticles-Adhered Pseudomonas stutzeri

The release of pharmaceutical wastewaters in the environment is of great concern due to the presence of persistent organic pollutants with toxic effects on environment and human health. Treatment of these wastewaters with microorganisms has gained increasing attention, as they can efficiently biodegrade and remove contaminants from the aqueous environments. In this respect, bacterial immobilization with inorganic nanoparticles provides a number of advantages, in terms of ease of processing, increased concentration of the pollutant in proximity of the cell surface, and long-term reusability. In the present study, MCM-41 mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) were immobilized on a selected bacterial strain to remove alprazolam, a persistent pharmaceutical compound, from contaminated water. First, biodegrading microorganisms were collected from pharmaceutical wastewater, and Pseudomonas stutzeri was isolated as a bacterial strain showing high ability to tolerate and consume alprazolam as the only source for carbon and energy. Then, the ability of MSN-adhered Pseudomonas stutzeri bacteria was assessed to biodegrade alprazolam using quantitative HPLC analysis. The results indicated that after 20 days in optimum conditions, MSN-adhered bacterial cells achieved 96% biodegradation efficiency in comparison to the 87% biodegradation ability of Pseudomonas stutzeri freely suspended cells. Kinetic study showed that the degradation process obeys a first order reaction. In addition, the kinetic constants for the MSN-adhered bacteria were higher than those of the bacteria alone.     

Lower-semicontinuity result for the two-scale convergence

Let (m, n) ∈ ℕ², Ω an open bounded domain in ℝ^m , Y = [0, 1]^m ; u^ε in (L²(Ω))ⁿ which is two-scale converges to some u in (L²(Ω × Y))ⁿ . Let φ: Ω × ℝ^m × ℝⁿ → ℝ such that: φ(x, ·, ·) is continuous a.e. x ∈ Ω φ(·, y, z) is measurable for all (y, z) in ℝ^m × ℝⁿ , φ(x, ·, z) is 1-periodic in y, φ(x, y, ·) is convex in z. Assume that there exist a constant C₁ > 0 and a function C₂ ∈ L²(Ω) such that

     

MEH-PPV/Alq_3-based bulk heterojunction photodetector

In this paper, we present the effect of varied illumination levels on the electrical properties of the organic blend bulk heterojuction （BHJ） photodiode. To prepare the BHJ blend, poly（2-methoxy-5（2P-ethylhexyloxy） phenyleneviny- lene （MEH-PPV） and aluminum-tris-（8-hydroxyquinoline） （Alq3） are used as donor and acceptor materials, respectively. In order to fabricate the photodiode, a 40-nm thick film of poly（3, 4-ethylendioxytbiophene）：poly（styrensulfonate） （PE- DOT：PSS） is primarily deposited on a cleaned ITO coated glass substrate by spin coating technique. The organic photo- sensitive blend is later spun coated on the PEDOT：PSS layer, followed by the lithium fluoride （LiF） and aluminium （A1） thin films deposition by thermal evaporation. The optical properties of the MEH-PPV：Alq3 blend thin films are investigated using photoluminescence （PL） and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The photodiode shows good photo-current response as a function of variable illumination levels. The responsivity value - 8 mA/W at 3 V is found and the ratio of photo-current to dark current （lph/IDark） is found to be 1.24.     

Kinetics of MTO-catalyzed olefin epoxidation in ambient temperature ionic liquids: UV/Vis and 2H NMR study

The kinetics of oxygen-atom transfer from the peroxo complexes of methyltrioxorhenium (MTO) to alkenes in ionic liquids have been investigated. Noncatalytic conversions of alkenes to epoxide were monitored by UV/Vis at 360 nm, where the monoperoxorhenium (mpRe) and diperoxorhenium (dpRe) complexes absorb. Water- and peroxide-free dpRe was prepared in situ by the reaction of MTO and urea hydrogen peroxide (UHP) in dry THF. The observed biexponential time profiles in conjunction with kinetic modeling allow the assignment of the fast step to the reaction of olefin with dpRe (k4) and the slow step to the analogous reaction with mpRe (k3). In most of the tudied ionic liquids, k4 approximately 5 x k3. 2H NMR experiments conducted with [D3]dpRe under non-steady-state conditions confirm the speciation of the catalytic system in ionic liquids and assert the validity of the UV/Vis kinetics. Deuteriated alkenes were used to study the catalytic epoxidation and dihydroxylation of alkenes by 2H NMR spectroscopy. The values of k4 for alpha-methylstyrene in several ionic liquids exceed what is observed in acetonitrile by an order of magnitude. While the rate of olefin epoxidation is unaffected by the nature of the ionic liquid cation, a discernible kinetic effect is observed with coordinating anions such as nitrate.