Optical Toffoli and Feynman reversible gates designing using DNA transmission lines

Optical gates based on switchable material have become a focus of investigation. The present study designs an optical gate that uses DNA transmission lines and developed for Feynman and Toffoli reversible gates. It is shown that the implementation of a transmission line such as Ag/DNA/Ag produces a structure with high-quality switching. The switching characteristics of DNA were considered when designing the basic transmission line. The “On” mode is assumed for DNA with low conductivity. As conductivity increases, the line switches to the “Off” mode. A conceptual design is proposed in the present study for Feynman and Toffoli reversible gates for an optical regime at 300 THz based on DNA switching. A conceptual model is developed with an Ag/DNA/Ag transmission line controlled by changing the DNA bias. This transmission line provides a “Yes” gate, which is necessary for a reversible gate. The full wave time domain method was used to model the optical gates. The current work discusses how a DNA memristor can be used to design a compact reversible gate having a simple structure and high switching quality for use in optical systems.     

Hydroelastic analysis of water impact of flexible asymmetric wedge with an oblique speed

Current paper deals with hydroelastic impact of asymmetric and symmetric wedge sections with oblique speed into calm water. It is aimed to provide a better insight regarding fluid–structure interaction of the wedge sections of a high-speed craft into water in more realistic condition, in the presence of heel angle and oblique speeds. The defined problem is numerically investigated by coupled Finite Volume Method and Finite Element Method under two-way approach consideration. Accuracy of the proposed model is assessed in different steps. The results of current method are compared against previous experimental, numerical and theoretical methods and good agreement is displayed in these comparisons. Subsequently, the method is used in order to examine the fluid and structure behavior during the elastic impact of the wedge into water. Accordingly, four different physical situations are simulated. In the first part, symmetric impact with no oblique speed is simulated. The results of this part show fluctuations in vertical force and pressure of the midpoint during the impact time. Also, the relation of deadrise with deflection and pressure is observed in this part. In the second part, heel angle is also taken into consideration. It is concluded that the pressure and deflections at the right side of the wedge reduce, but these parameters increase at the left side. Moreover, it is observed that, the pressure at the midpoint of the left side of the wedge with deadrise angle of 10°, becomes negative, when the wall of the flexible wedge reaches its largest deflection. It is also observed that, the pressure at left side of the wedge with deadrise angle of 20°, reaches zero. Such behavior does not occur for the wedges of 30° and 45° deadrise angles. In the third part of simulations, oblique water entry of a flexible wedge of 20° deadrise angle is simulated, and no heel angle is considered. Harmonic behavior is observed for the vertical force, horizontal force, pressure of the midpoint and its deflection. First peaks of all of these variables are larger than the second peak. The obtained results lead us to conclude that an increase in oblique speed yields larger deflection and pressure at the right side. Meanwhile, no significant effect is observed for the left side of the wedge. Also, larger oblique speed is found to yield larger forces and angular moment. Final part of simulations involves the oblique water entry of a flexible wedge of 5° heel angle. Comparison of the results in the final part with that of third part, show that heel angle affects the pressure and deflection at both sides of the wedge. It is also observed that pressure and deflections of the left side increase, while those of right side increase. It is also seen that, similar as in the case of no heel angle, an increase in oblique speed leads to an increase of pressure and deflection at the starboard. It also leads to an increase in frequency of the vibration at right side.     

Mechanisms of antioxidant action: Formation of antioxidant adducts with rubbers through sulphur by a mechanochemical procedure

It is shown that antioxidants containing a thiol group can be mechanochemically reacted with both natural rubber (NR) and styrene-butadiene-rubber (SBR). Oxygen inhibits the reaction and the optimum temperature is in the region of 70°C. Increase in the antioxidant concentration in the rubber leads to increasing levels of adduct formation. Evidence is presented to show that although a substantial part of the adduct is formed during mechanochemical treatment, about 20% of the total binding occurs during the vulcanisation reaction.     

Nanocomposite particles with core-shell morphology II. An investigation into the affecting parameters on preparation of Fe3O4-poly (butyl acrylate-styrene) particles via miniemulsion polymerization

The encapsulation of inorganic particles with polymers is desirable for many applications in order to improve the stability of the encapsulated products and disperse ability in different media. Colloidal particles with magnetic properties have become increasingly important both technologically and for fundamental studies. This is due to their tunable anisotropic. In the absence of an applied magnetic field, the particles have isotropic sphere dispersion, whereas in an external magnetic field the particles form anisotropic structures. Here, latexes containing nanocomposite particles of styrene-butyl acrylate/Fe₃O₄ with core-shell structure were prepared through miniemulsion polymerization technique. Magnetic composite nanospheres with high magnetic content were synthesized through miniemulsion polymerization using a new process based on a three-steps preparation route including two miniemulsion processes: (1) preparing a dispersion of oleic acid coated magnetite particles in water; (2) mixing of modified magnetite particles with styrene/butyl acrylate in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), sorbitane mono oleate (Span 80), hexadecane (HD) and (3) miniemulsification of the modified Fe₃O₄ into the monomer droplets to reach to complete encapsulation. Subsequent polymerization generated magnetic nanocomposite spheres. Hence, the copolymerization reaction was performed on the surface of such particles in order to obtain core-shell morphology for these nanoparticles, which were characterized by several techniques such as TEM, SEM, DLS, TGA, VSM and FT-IR. The magnetic copolymer particles with diameter of 120-170 nm were obtained. The effect of several parameters such as magnetite, surfactants and hydrophobe amounts on the stability, particle size and magnetization were investigated and also optimized.     

Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Determination of Pregabalin in Human Plasma Using Derivatization Method

A gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method for the determination of pregabalin in human plasma is described. The procedure involves precipitation of protein, liquid–liquid extraction with ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, and derivatization with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide in the presence of N-hydroxysuccinimide as additive. Separation was attained on HP column (30 m × 0. 25 mm ID, 0.25 μm) coupled with mass spectrometric detector using electron impact selected ion monitoring. The assay showed an excellent linearity in the concentration range of 0.36–10 μg mL^?1 with correlation coefficient (r²) values of 0.999. The intra- and inter-day assay variations for three different concentration levels were less than 10%. The limit of quantification was detected at 0.36 μg mL^?1. The method is highly specific, precise, accurate, and reproducible and could also be applied for the determination of pregabalin in human plasma.     

Enhanced Catalytic Performance of Quasi-HKUST-1 for the Tandem Imine Formation

Copper-based metal-organic framework (Cu₃(BTC)₂(H₂O)₃]_n⋅nH₂OMeOH (HKUST-1) has been subjected to thermolysis under air atmosphere at different temperatures ranging from 100 to 300 °C. This treatment produces the partial removal of ligands, the generation of structural defects and additional porosity in a controlled way. The resulting defective materials denoted according to the literature as quasi-MOFs, were subsequently employed as heterogeneous catalysts in the one pot synthesis of N-benzylideneaniline from aniline and benzyl alcohol in open air as terminal oxidant at 70 °C under base- and dehydrating agent-free conditions. The Q-HKUST catalysts calcined at 240 °C (QH-240) was the most efficient in the series, promoting imine synthesis. Data from Knoevenagel condensation of malononitrile shows that in QH-240 the distances of Cu ions in HKUST-1 cavities are preserved, increasing the Knoevenagel activity, but a strong rearrangement takes place at 300 °C or above. The unsaturated copper active sites with simultaneous presence of micro- and mesopores in QH-240 are responsible for this excellent catalytic performance. The effective parameters on catalytic activity of QH-240 including deligandation temperature, the amount of catalyst, the ratio of reactants, and reaction temperature as well as the stability and recyclability of the catalyst were also investigated. The possible mechanism used by QH-240 follows alcohol aerobic oxidation and subsequent anaerobic condensation of aldehyde intermediate with aniline.     

Gröbner bases for solving ΔQ-equations in water distribution networks

The analysis of water distribution network is of great interest to hydraulic engineers. Although the water distribution network has been extensively studied for the last decades, there are still many unsolved problems awaiting clarification. In this paper, an algorithm is presented that describes a computationally efficient technique for water distribution networks based on Gröbner basis method. Gröbner basis algorithm provides the exact algorithmic solutions for solving the system of equations. However, Gröbner algorithm works only for polynomials and moreover for a large scale network, it takes a long CPU time. Hence, we present two other algorithms that work for non-polynomials and large scale problems. Three examples are presented to show the effectiveness of Gröbner basis method compared with Hardy Cross method, linear theory and Gradient method.     

An efficient method to set up a Lanczos based preconditioner for discrete ill-posed problems

Rezghi and Hosseini [M. Rezghi, S.M. Hosseini, Lanczos based preconditioner for discrete ill-posed problems, Computing 88 (2010) 79–96] presented a Lanczos based preconditioner for discrete ill-posed problems. Their preconditioner is constructed by using few steps (e.g., k) of the Lanczos bidiagonalization and corresponding computed singular values and right Lanczos vectors. In this article, we propose an efficient method to set up such preconditioner. Some numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the method.     

Effect of water phase change on temperature distribution in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

A two dimensional, two-phase non-isothermal electrochemical-transport using a fully coupled numerical model is developed to investigate heat transfer and water phase change effects on temperature distribution in a PEM fuel cell. The multiphase mixture is used formulation for the two phase transport process and developed model is treated as a single domain. This process leads to a single set of conservation equations consisting of continuity, momentum, species, potential and energy for all regions of cell. The results indicate that heat release due to condensation of water vapor affects the temperature distribution. When the relative humidity of the cathode is low, phase change would have a small effect on the maximum temperature that appears at the cell inlet, but it has higher effect on temperature variation further down stream towards the exit of cathode channel and its GDL. Under full-humidity conditions, the cell temperature at all regions of cell increases due to the phase change that starts to appear at the inlet, but the maximum effect of phase change occurs further up stream in cathode channel and its GDL. Also, vapor-phase diffusion which provides a new mechanism for heat removal from the cell, affects the cell temperature distribution.