The vane method and kinetic modeling: shear rheology of nanofibrillated cellulose suspensions

We conduct rheological characterization of nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) suspensions, a highly non-Newtonian complex fluid, at several concentrations. Special care is taken to cope with the prevalent problems of time scale issues, wall depletion and confinement effects. We do this by combining the wide-gap vane geometry, extremely long measurement times, and modeling. We take into account the wide-gap related stress heterogeneity by extending upon mainstream methods and apply a gap correction. Furthermore, we rationalize the experimental data through a simple viscous structural model. With these tools we find that, owing to the small size of the particles subjected to Brownian motion, the NFC suspensions exhibit a critical shear rate, where the flow curve experiences a turning point. This makes the steady state of these suspensions at low shear rates non-unique. To optimize various mixing and pumping applications, such history dependent tendency of NFC suspensions to shear band needs to be taken into account.     

Hölder regularity for parabolic De Giorgi classes in metric measure spaces

We give a proof for the Hölder continuity of functions in the parabolic De Giorgi classes in metric measure spaces. We assume the measure to be doubling, to support a weak (1, p)-Poincaré inequality and to satisfy the annular decay property.     

H?lder continuity for Trudinger’s equation in measure spaces

We complete the study of the regularity for Trudinger’s equation by proving that weak solutions are H?lder continuous also in the singular case. The setting is that of a measure space with a doubling non-trivial Borel measure supporting a Poincaré inequality. The proof uses the Harnack inequality and intrinsic scaling.     

Improved properties of sulfonated octaphenyl polyhedral silsequioxane cross-link with highly sulfonated polyphenylsulfone as proton exchange membrane

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - This study explored the concept of improving the properties of the cross-linked membrane using a 1.5-nm closed cage octaphenyl polyhedral silsesquioxane...     

The effect of wall depletion on the rheology of microfibrillated cellulose water suspensions by optical coherence tomography

Rheology of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) water suspensions was characterized with a rotational rheometer, augmented with optical coherence tomography (OCT). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time the behavior of MFC in the rheometer gap was characterized by this real-time imaging method. Two concentrations, 0.5 and 1 wt% were used, the latter also with 10^?3 and 10^?2 M NaCl. The aim was to follow the structure of the suspensions in a rotational rheometer during the measurements and observe wall depletion and other factors that can interfere with the rheological results. The stepped flow measurements were performed using a transparent cylindrical measuring system and combining the optical information to rheological parameters. OCT allows imaging in radial direction from the outer geometry boundary to the inner geometry boundary making both the shear rate profile and the structure of the suspension visible through the rheometer gap. Yield stress and maximum wall stress were determined by start-up of steady shear and logarithmic stress ramp methods and they both reflected in the stepped flow measurements. Above yield stress, floc size was inversely proportional to shear rate. Below the yield stress, flocs adhered to each other and the observed apparent constant shear stress was controlled by flow in the depleted boundary layer. With higher ionic strength (10^?2 M NaCl), the combination of yield stress and wall depletion favored the formation of vertical, cylindrical, rotating floc structures (rollers) coupled with a thicker water layer originating at the suspension—inner cylinder boundary at low shear rates.     

Boundedness of the gradient for a doubly nonlinear parabolic equation

We prove the local boundedness of the gradient for positive solutions to a doubly nonlinear parabolic equation in the case when the standard Lebesgue measure has been replaced by a doubling measure which supports a weak Poincaré inequality.     

Intracerebroventricular antisense knockdown of Gα<Subscript>i2</Subscript> results in ciliary stasis and ventricular dilatation in the rat

Background  

In the CNS, the heterotrimeric G protein Gα_i2 is a minor Gα subunit with restricted localization in the ventricular regions including the ependymal cilia. The localization of Gα_i2 is conserved in cilia of different tissues, suggesting a particular role in ciliary function. Although studies with Gα_i2-knockout mice have provided information on the role of this Gα subunit in peripheral tissues, its role in the CNS is largely unknown. We used intracerebroventricular (icv) antisense administration to clarify the physiological role of Gα_i2 in the ventricular system.     

Polyaniline decorated graphene oxide on sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) membrane for direct methanol fuel cells application

In direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC), methanol crossover is a major issue which has reduced the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) for energy generation. In this study, graphene oxide (GO) and conductive polyaniline decorated GO (PANI-GO) were used as additives in fabrication of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) nanocomposite PEM membrane to reduce methanol crossover. PANI-GO was synthesized by in situ polymerization method and the formation of PANI coated GO nanostructures was confirmed by surface morphology and crystallinity analysis. The membrane morphology and topography analysis confirmed that GO and PANI-GO were well dispersed on the surface of SPEEK membrane. 0.1 wt% PANI-GO modified SPEEK nanocomposite membrane exhibited the highest water uptake and ion exchange capacity of 40% and 1.74 meq g^?1, respectively. The oxidative stability of the nanocomposite membranes also improved. Lower methanol permeability of 4.33 × 10^?7 cm^?2S^?1 was noticed for 0.1 wt% PANI-GO modified SPEEK membrane. PANI-GO modified SPEEK membrane enhanced the proton conductivity, which was due to the existence of acidic and hydrophilic group present in PANI and GO. PANI-GO modified SPEEK membrane held higher selectivity of 1.94 × 10⁴ S cm^?3 s^?1. Overall, these studies revealed that PANI-GO modified SPEEK membrane is a potential material for DMFC applications.     

Sensitivity and Distance Based Performance Analysis for Batteryless Tags with Transmit Beamforming and Ambient Backscattering

Ambient backscatter is a new green technology for Internet of Things(IoT)that utilizes surrounding wireless signals to enable batteryless devices to communicate with other devices.The battery-free devices first harvest energy from ambient wireless signals and then backscatter the signals for communications.Clearly,sensitivity and distance are two important parameters for system performance.However,most existing studies on ambient backscatter communication systems do not consider the impact of the sensitivity of the energy-harvesting nodes and the distances between these devices.In this paper,we first provide a literature review for ambient communication technology and then take sensitivity and distance as two key parameters and investigate the sensitivity and distance based performance for ambient backscatter communication systems.Specifically,we establish the mathematical model based on distances between transceivers and backscattering nodes,extract a parameter that can differentiate the direct path and the backscattering path,evaluate the effects of transmit beamforming,design an energy detector for the reader,and analyze the outage probability of energy harvesting at the tag and the bit error rate(BER)at the reader.Simulations are then provided to corroborate the proposed studies.