The influence of oxidative degradation on the preparation of chitosan nanoparticles

Chitosan nanoparticles were obtained via ionic crosslinking by using the sulfate ion. Chitosan molecular weight was varied by oxidative degradation of the chitosan β-glycoside bond, the molecular weight being indirectly monitored as the chitosan solution reduced viscosity at a fixed polymer concentration. The dependence between some physical properties of the resultant dispersions (turbidity, viscosity, zeta potential, and sedimentation column profile) and reduced viscosity was established. Atomic force microscopy images have shown the resultant particles formed to be clusters of chitosan nanoparticles with a diameter of ca. 70 nm, the interaction between these particles being characterized by FTIR spectroscopy as the result of sulfate bridging. At the end of the paper, the potential of these dispersions for the incorporation of anionic drugs via adsorption was evaluated using a model compound. The resultant dispersions were capable of adsorbing more than 25% of mass of chitosan, being the partition coefficient higher than 3,500.     

Electrokinetic lift force for a charged particle moving near a charged wall — a modified theory and experiment

We present the refined theory of the electrokinetic lift force for a charged particle moving at a charged wall at the distance much larger than the double layer thickness. The theory is based on the lubrication approximation for the solution of the Stokes equation for the flow around a long cylinder moving near a solid wall. The “thin double layer” approximation is used to solve the ionic balance and electro-osmotic flow equations. The electrokinetic lift force is then obtained by integration of the viscous stress tensor as well as the Maxwell stress tensor over the particle surface. The resulting lift force for the cylinder translating, rotating at the wall as well as for the stationary cylinder in the wall shear flow, is considered. Following this, we apply the Derjaguin approximation to transform the obtained results to the sphere–wall geometry and we compare our theoretical predictions with the measurements of the electrokinetic lift force performed in the “colloidal particle collider” apparatus for the latex particles suspended in the glycerol–water solutions. Our theoretical results for the electrokinetic lift force exceeds by several orders of magnitude one obtained from the previously developed theory and are in a good agreement with experimental findings.     

Identification of short-range nuclei with low atomic numbers

The problems of identification of slow nucleus with small atomic numbers in photographic emulsion are discussed. We proposed to measure the distance between track edge and track axis and to search the atomic numbers by minimizing the square differences between the theoretical and experimental values of these distances.     

Meso-mechanical constitutive model for ratchetting of particle-reinforced metal matrix composites

Based on the Eshelby equivalent inclusion theory and Mori-Tanaka averaging method, a meso-mechanical cyclic elasto-plastic constitutive model is proposed to predict the ratchetting of particle-reinforced metal matrix composites. In the proposed model, a Hill-typed incremental formulation is used to simulate the elasto-plastic responses of the composites during cyclic loading with assumptions of elastic particle, elasto-plastic metal matrix and perfect interfacial bond between metal matrix and particles. A new nonlinear kinematic hardening rule extended from the Ohno-Abdel-Karim model [M. Abdel-Karim, N. Ohno, Kinematic hardening model suitable for ratchetting with steady-state, Int. J. Plasticity 16 (2000) 225-240] is employed to describe the ratchetting of metal matrix which dominates the ratchetting of the composites. With further assumption of spherical particles, the proposed meso-mechanical cyclic constitutive model is verified by comparing the predicted uniaxial ratchetting of SiC_P/6061Al composites with corresponding experiments obtained at room temperature [G.Z. Kang, Uniaxial time-dependent ratchetting of SiC_P/6061Al alloy composites at room and high temperature, Comp. Sci. Tech. 66 (2006) 1418-1430]. In the meantime, the effects of different tangent operators employed in the numerical implementation of the proposed model, i.e., continuum (or elasto-plastic) tangent operator C^ep and algorithmic (or consistent) one C^alg, on the predicted ratchetting are also discussed. It is concluded that the proposed model predicts the uniaxial ratchetting of SiC_P/6061Al composites at room temperature reasonably.     

纳米稀土镧8-羟基喹啉间羟基苯甲酸/TiO2的红外及拉曼光谱研究

采用沉淀法/溶胶-凝胶复合方法制备了纳米稀土镧8-羟基喹啉间羟基苯甲酸/TiO2复合粒子。并应用红外和拉曼光谱对其进行了表征。红外光谱证明样品为稀土镧8-羟基喹啉间羟基苯甲酸/TiO2复合粒子。拉曼光谱证明其拉曼峰与文献报道的TiO2拉曼峰相比,部分峰位出现了蓝移,部分峰位出现了红移现象,从纳米粒子的表面结构及配合物层的压力出发对此现象进行了定性解释和讨论。     

Effects of combustible dust clouds on premixed flame extinction in normal- and micro-gravity

An experimental and numerical study was carried out on the effects of combustible solid particles on the extinction of atmospheric, strained, laminar premixed methane/air, and propane/air flames in normal- and micro-gravity. The study was conducted in the opposed-jet configuration in which single flames were stabilized either below or above the gas stagnation plane by counter-flowing a reacting mixture against ambient-temperature air. Spherical 50-μm glassy-carbon and 32-μm Lycopodium particles were injected from either the mixture or the air sides, and the flame extinction states were experimentally determined. The results provided insight into the effects of fuel type, gas-phase composition, strain rate, gravity, as well as particle type, number density, and injection orientation. The combustible particles could have a negative or positive effect on the gas-phase reactivity, depending on the prevailing strain rate and the orientation of injection. The effect of combustible particles on flame extinction was found to reverse when the orientation of the particle seeding is reversed. Experiments and simulations revealed that particle reactions that are not possible in upstream seeding become possible in downstream seeding due to differences in particle residence times and prevailing temperature fields. The effects of gravity on the particle–gas interactions were identified and explained. Gravity could notably modify the chemical response of reacting particles, which, in turn, affects the extinction behavior of the gas phase.     

Study of charged particles trajectories in free-fall electrostatic separators

The objective of this paper is to develop a mathematical model for computing the millimeter-sized particles trajectories in the free-fall electrostatic separator. The simulation involves the numerical solution of motion equations of the particles subjected to electric and gravitational forces. The air-drag force and the impact of the particles with the electrodes were also considered. The resolution algorithm is implemented as a MATLAB program that uses the results of electric field computation performed with COMSOL software. The model obtained is used to study the factors influencing the quality of the products recovered at the outlet of the separator.     

Toxicity of nano- and micro-sized ZnO particles in human lung epithelial cells

This is the first comprehensive study to evaluate the cytotoxicity, biochemical mechanisms of toxicity, and oxidative DNA damage caused by exposing human bronchoalveolar carcinoma-derived cells (A549) to 70 and 420 nm ZnO particles. Particles of either size significantly reduced cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner within a rather narrow dosage range. Particle mass-based dosimetry and particle-specific surface area-based dosimetry yielded two distinct patterns of cytotoxicity in both 70 and 420 nm ZnO particles. Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulted in intracellular oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, cell membrane leakage, and oxidative DNA damage. The protective effect of N-acetylcysteine on ZnO-induced cytotoxicity further implicated oxidative stress in the cytotoxicity. Free Zn²⁺ and metal impurities were not major contributors of ROS induction as indicated by limited free Zn²⁺ cytotoxicity, extent of Zn²⁺ dissociation in the cell culture medium, and inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry metal analysis. We conclude that (1) exposure to both sizes of ZnO particles leads to dose- and time-dependent cytotoxicity reflected in oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, cell membrane damage, and oxidative DNA damage, (2) ZnO particles exhibit a much steeper dose–response pattern unseen in other metal oxides, and (3) neither free Zn²⁺ nor metal impurity in the ZnO particle samples is the cause of cytotoxicity.     

Aerosol light absorption and its measurement: A review

Light absorption by aerosols contributes to solar radiative forcing through absorption of solar radiation and heating of the absorbing aerosol layer. Besides the direct radiative effect, the heating can evaporate clouds and change the atmospheric dynamics. Aerosol light absorption in the atmosphere is dominated by black carbon (BC) with additional, significant contributions from the still poorly understood brown carbon and from mineral dust. Sources of these absorbing aerosols include biomass burning and other combustion processes and dust entrainment.For particles much smaller than the wavelength of incident light, absorption is proportional to the particle volume and mass. Absorption can be calculated with Mie theory for spherical particles and with more complicated numerical methods for other particle shapes.The quantitative measurement of aerosol light absorption is still a challenge. Simple, commonly used filter measurements are prone to measurement artifacts due to particle concentration and modification of particle and filter morphology upon particle deposition, optical interaction of deposited particles and filter medium, and poor angular integration of light scattered by deposited particles. In situ methods measure particle absorption with the particles in their natural suspended state and therefore are not prone to effects related to particle deposition and concentration on filters. Photoacoustic and refractive index-based measurements rely on the heating of particles during light absorption, which, for power-modulated light sources, causes an acoustic signal and modulation of the refractive index in the air surrounding the particles that can be quantified with a microphone and an interferometer, respectively. These methods may suffer from some interference due to light-induced particle evaporation. Laser-induced incandescence also monitors particle heating upon absorption, but heats absorbing particles to much higher temperatures to quantify BC mass from the thermal radiation emitted by the heated particles. Extinction-minus-scattering techniques have limited sensitivity for measuring aerosol light absorption unless the very long absorption paths of cavity ring-down techniques are used. Systematic errors can be dominated by truncation errors in the scattering measurement for large particles or by subtraction errors for high single scattering albedo particles. Remote sensing techniques are essential for global monitoring of aerosol light absorption. While local column-integrated measurements of aerosol light absorption with sun and sky radiometers are routinely done, global satellite measurements are so far largely limited to determining a semi-quantitative UV absorption index.     

CFD-DEM simulation of the hole cleaning process in a deviated well drilling: The effects of particle shape

We investigate the effect of particle shape on the transportation mechanism in well-drilling using a three-dimensional model that couples computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the discrete element method (DEM). This numerical method allows us to incorporate the fluid–particle interactions (drag force, contact force, Saffman lift force, Magnus lift force, buoyancy force) using momentum exchange and the non-Newtonian behavior of the fluid. The interactions of particle−particle, particle−wall, and particle−drill pipe are taken into account with the Hertz–Mindlin model. We compare the transport of spheres with non-spherical particles (non-smooth sphere, disc, and cubic) constructed via the multi-sphere method for a range of fluid inlet velocities and drill pipe inclination angles. The simulations are carried out for laboratory-scale drilling configurations. Our results demonstrate good agreement with published experimental data. We evaluate the fluid–particle flow patterns, the particle velocities, and the particle concentration profiles. The results reveal that particle sphericity plays a major role in the fluid–solid interaction. The traditional assumption of an ideal spherical particle may cause inaccurate results.