Rubber-based substrates modified with carbon nanotubes inks to build flexible electrochemical sensors

The development of a solid-contact potentiometric sensor based on conducting rubbers using a carbon nanotubes ink is described here. Commercial rubbers are turned into conductive ones by a simple and versatile method, i.e. painting an aqueous dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes on the polymer surface. On this substrate, both the working ion-selective electrode and the reference electrode are built in order to form an integrated potentiometric cell. As a proof-of-principle, selective potassium electrodes are fully characterized giving comparable performances to conventional electrodes (sensitivity, selectivity, stability, linear range, limit of detection and reproducibility). As an application of the rubber-based electrodes, a bracelet was constructed to measure potassium levels in artificial sweat. Since rubbers are ubiquitous in our quotidian life, this approach offers great promise for the generation of chemical information through daily objects.     

Comfortable, flexible upholstery fire barriers on base of bast, wool and thermostable fibres

The paper presents elastic barrier materials developed at the INF which play a role of filling and fire barrier material at the same time in upholstery furniture, reducing the development and spread of fire on flammable materials. The presented results of flammability and biophysical tests confirm the comfort of products.The developed barrier materials use natural fibres (wool, flax FR) characterized by good air permeability, hygroscopicity, moisture transport, elimination of electrostatic charges and have effect on climate of interiors also when blended with thermostable fibres such as Polyacrylate. These flexible structures based on blend of natural fibres and thermostable fibres with at least two barrier effects i.e. durable resistance to fire, thermal insulation, control of electrostatic phenomena.     

Bi-criteria assembly line balancing by considering flexible operation times

This paper addresses a novel approach to deal with Flexible task Time Assembly Line Balancing Problem (FTALBP). In this regard, machines are considered in which operation time of each task can be between lower and upper bounds. These machines can compress the processing time of tasks, but this action may lead to higher cost due to cumulative wear, erosion, fatigue and so on. This cost is described in terms of task time via a linear function. Hence, a bi-criteria nonlinear integer programming model is developed which comprises two inconsistent objective functions: minimizing the cycle time and minimizing the machine total costs. In order to sustain these objectives concurrently, this paper applies the LP-metric method to make a combined dimensionless objective. Moreover, a genetic algorithm (GA) is presented to solve this NP-hard problem and design of experiments (DOE) method is hired to tune various parameters of our proposed algorithm. The computational results demonstrate the effectiveness of implemented procedures.     

Prediction of tractive response for flexible wheels with application to planetary rovers

Planetary rovers are typically developed for high-risk missions. Locomotion requires traction to provide forward thrust on the ground. In soft soils, traction is limited by the mechanical properties of the soil, therefore lack of traction and wheel slippage cause difficulties during the operation of the rover. A possible solution to increase the traction force is to increase the size of the wheel-ground contact area. Flexible wheels provide this due to the deformation of the loaded wheel and hence this decreases the ground pressure on the soil surface. This study focuses on development of an analytical model which is an extension to the Bekker theory to predict the tractive performance for a metal flexible wheel by using the geometric model of the wheel in deformation. We demonstrate that the new analytical model closely matches experimental results. Hence this model can be used in the design of robust and optimal traction control algorithms for planetary rovers and for the design and the optimisation of flexible wheels.     

Chemistry Aspects and Designing Strategies of Flexible Materials for High-Performance Flexible Lithium-Ion Batteries

In recent years, flexible and wearable electronics such as smart cards, smart fabrics, bio-sensors, soft robotics, and internet-linked electronics have impacted our lives. In order to meet the requirements of more flexible and adaptable paradigm shifts, wearable products may need to be seamlessly integrated. A great deal of effort has been made in the last two decades to develop flexible lithium-ion batteries (FLIBs). The selection of suitable flexible materials is important for the development of flexible electrolytes self-supported and supported electrodes. This review is focused on the critical discussion of the factors that evaluate the flexibility of the materials and their potential path toward achieving the FLIBs. Following this analysis, we present how to evaluate the flexibility of the battery materials and FLIBs. We describe the chemistry of carbon-based materials, covalent-organic frameworks (COFs), metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and MXene-based materials and their flexible cell design that represented excellent electrochemical performances during bending. Furthermore, the application of state-of-the-art solid polymer and solid electrolytes to accelerate the development of FLIBs is introduced. Analyzing the contributions and developments of different countries has also been highlighted in the past decade. In addition, the prospects and potential of flexible materials and their engineering are also discussed, providing the roadmap for further developments in this fast-evolving field of FLIB research.     

可变误差多面体法同时测定复方新诺明中二组分的含量

以可变误差多面体法处理多波长吸光光度数据同时测定了复方新诺明制剂模样和五个批号实际样品中磺胺甲恶唑（ＳＭＺ）,甲氧苯氨嘧啶（ＴＭＰ）的含量,１１份模拟样中ＳＭＺ、ＴＭＰ的回收率分别为９９．８％和１００．３％,复方新诺明片和注射液的测定结果与药典方法一致。     

Decay and nonexistence of global solutions of a quasilinear riser equation

We study qualitative properties of a quasilinear wave equation of fourth order that models the mechanical vibrations of a marine riser. Our analysis characterizes global and nonglobal solutions with respect to the norm of some Hilbert space, if energy is strictly less than the potential well depth. We employ invariant sets to show our results. In particular, we show that globality implies exponential decay to zero, and nonglobality is due to blow up. Both results are shown with respect to the norm of the solution in the Hilbert space. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new mixed integer programming formulation for facility layout design using flexible bays

This paper presents a mixed-integer programming formulation to find optimal solutions for the block layout problem with unequal departmental areas arranged in flexible bays. The nonlinear department area constraints are modeled in a continuous plane without using any surrogate constraints. The formulation is extensively tested on problems from the literature.     

A Petri net approach to the modelling and analysis of flexible manufacturing systems

In this paper we present an approach for modelling and analyzing flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) using Petri nets. In this approach, we first build a Petri net model (PNM) of the given FMS in a bottom-up fashion and then analyze important qualitative aspects of FMS behaviour such as existence/absence of deadlocks and buffer overflows. The basis for our approach is a theorem we state and prove for computing the invariants of the union of a finite number of Petri nets when the invariants of the individual nets are known. We illustrate our approach using two typical manufacturing systems: an automated transfer line and a simple FMS.A shorter version of this paper was presented at the 1st ORSA/TIMS Special Interest Conference on FMSs, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, August 1984.     

An integrated approach for scheduling health care activities in a hospital

To effectively utilise hospital beds, operating rooms (OR) and other treatment spaces, it is necessary to precisely plan patient admissions and treatments in advance. As patient treatment and recovery times are unequal and uncertain, this is not easy. In response, a sophisticated flexible job-shop scheduling (FJSS) model is introduced, whereby patients, beds, hospital wards and health care activities are respectively treated as jobs, single machines, parallel machines and operations. Our approach is novel because an entire hospital is describable and schedulable in one integrated approach. The scheduling model can be used to recompute timings after deviations, delays, postponements and cancellations. It also includes advanced conditions such as activity and machine setup times, transfer times between activities, blocking limitations and no wait conditions, timing and occupancy restrictions, buffering for robustness, fixed activities and sequences, release times and strict deadlines. To solve the FJSS problem, constructive algorithms and hybrid meta-heuristics have been developed. Our numerical testing shows that the proposed solution techniques are capable of solving problems of real world size. This outcome further highlights the value of the scheduling model and its potential for integration into actual hospital information systems.