Static Headspace GC/MS Method for Determination of Methanol and Ethanol Contents,as the Degradation Markers of Solid Insulation Systems of Power Transformers

Methanol in insulating oil has been proposed as a new marker for condition assessment of the solid insulation system of power transformers. In the current work, as a first step of using the new marker, an analytical static headspace gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method has been developed, optimized, and validated to measure methanol and ethanol contents in the insulating mineral oil. The analyzing setup consists of a 6890 N gas chromatograph equipped with a 5973 network mass spectrometer (MS) in the absence of a costly headspace autosampler, and the chromatography separation was performed on a 60 m × 320 µm × 0.5 µm VF-WAXms GC column. Calibration curves have been provided using several concentrations of the alcohols, and also limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), and relative standard deviation percentage (RSD%) have been determined.     

Laguerre Wavelet Approach for a Two-Dimensional Time–Space Fractional Schrödinger Equation

This article is devoted to the determination of numerical solutions for the two-dimensional time–spacefractional Schrödinger equation. To do this, the unknown parameters are obtained using the Laguerre wavelet approach. We discretize the problem by using this technique. Then, we solve the discretized nonlinear problem by means of a collocation method. The method was proven to give very accurate results. The given numerical examples support this claim.     

Static and Ultrasonic‐assisted Aging Effects on the Synthesis of Analcime Zeolite

The synthesis of zeolite ANA under static hydrothermal conditions was performed accompanied by an additional static and ultrasonic‐assisted aging of the reaction mixture prior to crystallization. The aging process was compared with stirring‐assisted aging, microwave‐assisted aging and syntheses without any aging. The influence of aging time on the crystallization time of zeolite ANA was investigated. The static and ultrasonic‐assisted aging can shorten the crystallization time of the ANA phase. Moreover, ultrasonic‐assisted aging leads to altered morphologies of the particles. The products were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).     

Combination of steepest descent and BFGS methods for nonconvex nonsmooth optimization

In this paper, a method is developed for solving nonsmooth nonconvex minimization problems. This method extends the classical BFGS framework. First, we generalize the Wolfe conditions for locally Lipschitz functions and prove that this generalization is well defined. Then, a line search algorithm is presented to find a step length satisfying the generalized Wolfe conditions. Next, the Goldstein e-subgradient is approximated by an iterative method and a descent direction is computed using a positive definite matrix. This matrix is updated using the BFGS method. Finally, a minimization algorithm based on the BFGS method is described. The algorithm is implemented in MATLAB and numerical results using it are reported.     

Isomorphous Substitution of Iron and Nickel into Analcime Zeolite

Studies on the effects of iron and nickel incorporation into the hydrothermal synthesis of ANA zeolite were carried out. The presented work reveals that pure Fe‐Al analcime is synthesized by using starting composition with a higher iron(III) content than reported in previous publications. Furthermore, the iron(III) and nickel(II) contents play important roles in the framework of the synthesized zeolite. XRD, FT‐IR spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV/Vis spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption and SEM were used to characterize the synthesized zeolites. These investigations showed that loading of iron and nickel ions in ANA zeolite changes the pore size and morphology of analcime zeolite.     

Electrodeposition of TiO2–RuO2–IrO2 coating on titanium substrate

TiO₂, RuO₂, and IrO₂ transition metal oxides have many applications in the field of applied electrochemistry. In this work, the mixed solid solutions of TiO₂–RuO₂–IrO₂ coatings have been electrodeposited from aqueous–unaqueous baths.     

An Effective Nonsmooth Optimization Algorithm for Locally Lipschitz Functions

To construct an effective minimization algorithm for locally Lipschitz functions, we show how to compute a descent direction satisfying Armijo’s condition. We present a finitely terminating algorithm to construct an approximating set for the Goldstein subdifferential leading to the desired descent direction. Using this direction, we propose a minimization algorithm for locally Lipschitz functions and prove its convergence. Finally, we implement our algorithm with matrix laboratory (MATLAB) codes and report our testing results. The comparative numerical results attest to the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Synthesis of Aluminum‐Rich Analcime Using an Ethylene Diamine Derivative as Template

The hydrothermal synthesis of analcime (ANA) with N,N′‐dibenzyl‐N,N,N′,N′‐tetramethylethylenediamine (DBTMED) as template was systematically studied. The various parameters that affect the crystallization of analcime, such as temperature, time, Al source, and Si/Al ratio were investigated. Systematic variations of these parameters revealed that ANA was obtained from the reaction mixture with the optimized ratios of SiO₂/Al₂O₃ = 5–9.5 in presence of DBTMED, whereas template‐free clear solution methods require SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratio of greater than 25. When experiments were conducted at 130 and 150 °C for 4 days, a mixture of analcime and zeolite P was present in the samples, and a pure analcime sample could be obtained with heating in the temperature range 160–180 °C. When microwave and conventional heating were used, analcime could be obtained after 2 days. The obtained products were characterized by XRD, SEM, and IR spectroscopy.