Some Aspects of Intra- and Inter-Molecular Reactions of Siliconium Ions in the Vapor Phase

Intramolecular rearrangement processes in the mass spectra of trimethylsilyl derivatives of hydroxy steroids are discussed in terms of the reaction of a siliconium center and a heteroatom. The reaction is shown to be stereospecific. The reactivity of siliconium cations also results in the occurrence of intermolecular reactions under electron impact ionization conditions. Tetramethylsilane is used as a precursor for the production of siliconium ions and examples of chemical ionization mass spectra employing this reagent are shown.     

A tin-containing liquid crystalline polymer with two glass temperatures

A tin-containing liquid crystalline side group polymer was synthesized and characterized. Two glass transitions were detected by calorimetric investigations. The X-ray pattern corresponds to a smectic C order of the side groups and a disordered isotropic main chain. Dielectric measurements show two relaxation ranges which are influenced by the glass transitions and a fast local process. The low frequency mechanism can be related to the reorientation of the side groups and the higher glass transition temperature. The second is connected with the α-relaxation of the main chain and freezes in at lower temperatures.     

Dynamic analysis and regulation of the flexible pipe conveying fluid with a hard-magnetic soft segment

Applied Mathematics and Mechanics - The recently developed hard-magnetic soft (HMS) materials can play a significant role in the actuation and control of medical devices, soft robots, flexible...     

Computational-Based Approach for Predicting Porosity of Electrospun Nanofiber Mats Using Response Surface Methodology and Artificial Neural Network Methods

Comparative studies between response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods to find the effects of electrospinning parameters on the porosity of nanofiber mats is described. The four important electrospinning parameters studied included solution concentration (wt.%), applied voltage (kV), spinning distance (cm) and volume flow rate (mL/h). It was found that the applied voltage and solution concentration are the two critical parameters affecting the porosity of the nanofiber mats. The two approaches were compared for their modeling and optimization capabilities with the modeling capability of RSM showing superiority over ANN, having comparatively lower values of errors. The mean relative error for the RSM and ANN models were 1.97% and 2.62% and the root mean square errors (RMSE) were 1.50 and 1.95, respectively. The superiority of the RSM-based approach is due to its high prediction accuracy and the ability to compute the combined effects of the electrospinning factors on the porosity of the nanofiber mats.     

Effect of polymer and ion concentration on mechanical and drug release behavior of gellan hydrogels using factorial design

Developing optimized hydrogel products requires an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms that drive hydrogel tunability. Here, we performed a full 4 × 4 factorial design study investigating the impact of gellan, a naturally derived polysaccharide (1%, 2%, 3%, or 4% w/v) and CaCl₂ concentration (1, 3, 7, or 10 mM) on the viscoelastic, swelling, and drug release behavior of gellan hydrogels containing a model drug, vancomycin. These concentrations were chosen to specifically provide insight into gellan hydrogel behavior for formulations utilizing polymer and salt concentrations expanding beyond those commonly reported by previous studies exploring gellan. With increasing gellan and CaCl₂ concentration, the hydrogel storage moduli (0.1–100 kPa) followed a power-law relationship and on average these hydrogels had higher liquid absorption capability and greater total drug release over 6 days. We suggest that the effects of gellan and CaCl₂ concentration and their interactions on hydrogel properties can be explained by various phenomena that lead to increased swelling and increased resistance to network expansion.     

The FDTD simulation for the performance of dispersive cloak devices

In this paper, we defined the scattering energy intensity based on the Poynting vector to quantitatively study the cloak effect of electromagnetic waves in the time domain. The influences of the effective working frequency bands of four kinds of electromagnetic cloak materials, incidence angle of electromagnetic waves and the number of approximately cloak layers on the cloak effect are studied. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to use the time domain method to quantitatively study the effective working frequency band and the scattering energy intensity of cloak materials.     

Direct calculation of time varying Aharonov-Bohm effect

The Aharonov-Bohm effect (ABE) for steady magnetic fields is a well known phenomenon. However, if the current in the infinite solenoid that creates the magnetic field is time-dependent, that is in the presence of both magnetic and electric fields, there is no agreement whether the effect would be present. In this note, we try to investigate time varying ABE by a direct calculation in a set-up with a weak time dependent magnetic field. We find that the electric field arising out of the time-varying magnetic field in the path of the electrons does not enter the action integral but only changes the path of the electron from the source to the slits and then on to the detector. We find a frequency dependent AB phase shift. At low frequencies the result smoothly approaches the one for a constant field as the frequency tends towards zero. On the other hand, for high frequencies such that the AB-phase induced in the path of the wave packet oscillates rapidly, the net effect will be very small which is borne out by our results.     

Effect of permanent magnet configuration on discharge characteristics in cylindrical Hall thrusters

Magnetic field design is important in cylindrical Hall thrusters and using permanent magnets to generate magnetic field is very promising in the future. In two typical permanent magnet configurations (i.e., ring and cylindrical configurations) of cylindrical Hall thrusters, discharge characteristics are compared in this paper through the experiments and simulations. The study shows that the cylindrical configuration can bring about higher thruster performance in the same working condition. The reason is that the potential drop of the cylindrical configuration is mainly concentrated in the channel, which is beneficial for the electrons to obtain energy to promote the ionization of the propellant. However, the voltage regulation range of the cylindrical configuration is lower because the anode is more easily overheated.     

Optimization of cadmium adsorption from aqueous solutions by functionalized graphene and the reversible magnetic recovery of the adsorbent using response surface methodology

Novel functionalized graphene adsorbent was prepared and characterized using different techniques. The prepared adsorbent was applied for the removal of cadmium ions from aqueous solution. A response surface methodology was used to evaluate the simple and combined effects of the various parameters, including adsorbent dosage, pH, and initial concentration. Under the optimal conditions, the cadmium removal performance of 70% was achieved. A good agreement between experimental and predicted data in this study was observed. The experimental results revealed of cadmium adsorption with high linearity follow Langmuir isotherm model with maximum adsorption capacity of 502 mg g^?1, and the adsorption data fitted well into pseudo‐second order model. Thermodynamic studies showed that adsorption process has exothermic and spontaneous nature. The recommended optimum conditions are: cadmium concentration of 970 mg L^?1, adsorbent dosage of 1 g L^?1, pH of 6.18, and T = 25 °C. The magnetic recovery of the adsorbent was performed using a magnetic surfactant to form a noncovalent magnetic functionalized graphene. After magnetic recovery of the adsorbent both components (adsorbent and magnetic surfactant) were recycled by tuning the surface charges through changing the pH of the solution. Desorption behavior studied using HNO₃ solution indicated that the adsorbent had the potential for reusability.     

Enhanced mechanical properties of unidirectional basalt fiber/epoxy composites using silane-modified Na+-montmorillonite nanoclay

This study explores the effects of 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (3-GPTS) modified Na-montmorillonite (Na-Mt) nanoclay addition on mechanical response of unidirectional basalt fiber (UD-BF)/epoxy composite laminates under tensile, flexural and compressive loadings. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) data confirmed the reaction mechanism between the silane compound and Mt. It was demonstrated that addition of 5 wt % 3-GPTS/Mt resulted in 28%, 11% and 35% increase in flexural, tensile and compressive strengths. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) clarified the improvement in the adhesion between the basalt fibers and matrix in the case of Mt-enhanced epoxy specimens. Also, a theoretical route based on a Euler-Bernoulli beam-based approach was employed to estimate the compressive properties of the composites. The results demonstrated good agreement between theoretical and experimental approaches. Totally, the results of the study show that matrix modification is an effective strategy to improve the mechanical behavior of fibrous composites.