Application of artificial neural networks for formulation and modeling of dye adsorption onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes

In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) has been developed to predict the adsorption amount of dye (methylene blue) onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Batch experiments have been carried out to obtain experimental data. Important parameters in the adsorption system such as initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, temperature, pH and contact time have been used as the inputs of the network, while the output is the final concentration of dye in aqueous solution after adsorption. The neural network structure has been optimized by testing various training algorithms and different number of neurons in a hidden layer. An empirical equation for determination of final dye concentration in aqueous solutions after adsorption has been developed by using the weights of the optimized network. The results of the optimized ANN have been compared with conventional models in equilibrium and kinetic fields. According to error analysis and determination coefficient, the ANN was found to be the most appropriate model to describe this adsorption process. Sensitivity analysis showed that initial dye concentration, pH and contact time are the most effective parameters in this process. The influence percentages of these parameters on the output were 28, 24 and 24 %, respectively.     

Excess Molar Enthalpies of Monoethanolamine (MEA) + Primary Alkan-1-ols (C3–C6) and their Fitting with Wilson,NRTL and UNIQUAC Models at 298.15 K

Journal of Solution Chemistry - Excess molar enthalpies, $${H}_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$$ of binary mixtures of monoethanolamine (MEA) with propan-1-ol, butan-1-ol, pentan-1-ol and hexan-1-ol were...     

Determination of trace elements in blood samples of patients affected by multiple sclerosis from Iran by neutron activation analysis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system for unknown reasons and causes several damages to human body by demyelinating the nerve cells. One of the possible cause of this disease is the abnormality levels of some trace elements such as Br, Fe, Rb, Sb, As, and Zn in human body. This study attempts to measure the levels of four trace elements of Br, Fe, Rb, and Zn in the patients?? blood samples and compare them with control samples from healthy individuals. It should be noted that the objectives set out partly met. According to the obtained results, the differences between the levels of Br, Fe, and Rb in patients?? blood samples and control was not significant (P?>?0.05). However, the average level of Zn between samples and controls showed a significant difference (P?<?0.05). Therefore the lower level of Zn in blood is likely to be a major cause of MS emergence. Furthermore, by using the concentration level of Zn as indicator, it was revealed that the risk of MS infection rises as the number of pregnancies increase.     

Thermographic examination of prick test reactions with local anesthetic

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The objective of this work was to examine the thermal conductivity of a stable nano-antifreeze containing cetyltrimethylammonium bromide coated cerium...     

Positive Harmonic Functions of Transformed Random Walks

Potential Analysis - In this paper, we will study the behavior of the space of positive harmonic functions associated with the random walk on a discrete group under the change of probability...     

Solving multi-objective optimization formulation for fleet planning in a railway industry

In this paper, we propose a novel three-objective mathematical model and a solution procedure for optimizing fleet planning for rail-cars in a railway industry. These objectives are to: (1) minimize the sum of the cost related to service quality, (2) maximize profit calculated as the difference between revenues generated by serving customer demand and the combined costs of rail-car ownership and rail-car movement and, (3) minimize the sum of the rail-car fleet sizing, simultaneously. The Pareto optimal set is depicted and used for a trade-off analysis. A number of numerical examples are given to illustrate the presented model and solution methodology.     

An efficient tandem aldol condensation-thia-Michael addition process

An efficient synthesis of β-aryl-β-mercapto ketones is achieved via a tandem aldol condensation-thia-Michael addition process using an aqueous medium and diethylamine. Addition of different thiols to α,β-unsaturated ketones, formed in situ from the condensation of acetophenone derivatives with aldehydes, led to a rapid and high yielding synthesis of the products under very mild conditions using no expensive additive or catalyst. Products which precipitated spontaneously in the reaction mixtures were separated by simple filtration and purified by recrystallization.     

A novel approach for considering layout problem in cellular manufacturing systems with alternative processing routings and subcontracting approach

In this paper a new integrated approach is presented for designing cellular manufacturing system and its inter- and intra-cell layouts. Various production factors such as part demands, alternative processing routings, operation sequences, processing times, capacity of machines, etc. are incorporated in the problem in order to extend its applicability. To increase the accuracy of the inter- and intra-cell layout design, the material handling cost is calculated in terms of the actual position of machines within the cells and regarding the dimensions of the machines and aisle distances. Also, a subcontracting approach is proposed to determine the production volume of parts within the CF and layout design process regarding the production, material handling and outsourcing costs and under demand and machine capacity constraints. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that addresses all these design features simultaneously. As the proposed problem is NP-hard, an efficient GA is employed to solve it. Finally, numerical examples adopted from the literature are used to verify the proposed approach.