Nanosized polypyrrole affected by surfactant agitation for emulsion polymerization

Nanosized conductive polypyrrole (PPy) powders were prepared using emulsion polymerization with aid of high speed agitation. Different agitation speeds from 650 to 24,000 rpm were used with different anionic, cationic, and non-ionic surfactants. Then, the effects of the agitation speed and surfactant species were examined in terms of their physical and electrical properties of conductivity and powder size. Prepared PPy nanopowders exhibited high conductivity values of 10 S/cm regions, when sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) were used. The powder dispersion of the resultant PPy was also observed to be dependent on the agitation speed and surfactant type. The morphology shown by SEM and TEM revealed that the anionic SDBS surfactant could effectively disperse into nanosized aggregates of the PPy. The results showed that the combination of the anionic surfactants and high agitation in the emulsion polymerization could produce nanosized PPy powders with higher conductivity.     

Effect of indium concentration on morphology and optical properties of In-doped ZnO nanostructures

In-doped ZnO nanostructures with different indium concentrations were grown using a thermal evaporation method. The In-doped ZnO nanostructures with a low concentration of indium exhibited a javelin shape, while the In-doped ZnO nanostructures with a high concentration of indium showed a flake shape. In addition, undoped ZnO nanojavelins were grown under the same conditions, but the sizes of these undoped ZnO nanojavelins were larger than the In-doped ZnO nanojavelins. It was shown that the In³⁺ cations played a crucial role in controlling the size. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy clearly showed hexagonal structures for all of the products. However, the Raman results demonstrated that the In-doped ZnO nanoflakes had a lower crystalline quality than the In-doped ZnO nanojavelins. Furthermore, photoluminescence (PL) measurements confirmed the Raman results. Moreover, the PL results demonstrated a larger band-gap for the In-doped ZnO nanostructures in comparison to the undoped ZnO.     

Discrete element modeling of the transient heat transfer and toner fusing process in the Xerographic printing of coated papers

In this study, a computer model based on discrete element method is employed to simulate the unsteady state heat transfer from the fuser roll to the toner and coating layer during the Xerography printing of coated papers. The model coating layers consisted of randomly arranged spherical pigment and latex particles with commercially relevant size distributions. Effects of coating characteristics, toner size, multiple toner layers, toner melting energy, toner thermal conductivity, coating layer thermal conductivity, and fuser roll temperature and pressure were investigated. Iso-thermal contours of fusing time were generated to demonstrate the relative importance of different fusing conditions and toner properties. Simulation results showed that temperature variation highly depended on the toner size, toner melting energy and the fuser roll temperature. Moreover, simultaneous coupling of the compressive stress and heat transfer indicated that the pressure exerted by the fuser roll did not significantly affect the rate of heat transfer.     

Analysis of antibiotic resistance patterns and detection of mecA gene in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from packaged hamburger

Presence of Staphylococcus aureus, antibiotic resistance pattern and PCR detection of mecA gene in isolated strains were investigated in total of 256 packaged hamburgers in Iran-Tehran. For this purpose we used standard disk-diffusion method and sensitive and specific PCR technique, respectively. Results showed that 25% of samples were positive for S. aureus. Resistance to meticillin, erythromycin, penicillin G, cefazolin, ciprofloxasin, vacomycin and amoxiclave was determined 89%, 20.3%, 18.7%, 15.6%, 14%, 26.6% and 12.5%, respectively. According to the obtained results from PCR analysis of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), mecA gene was present in 100% of the resistant isolates, 0% of intermediate-resistance isolates and 25% of susceptible isolates. The results obtained from PCR detection of mecA gene showed high correlation with standard disk diffusion test.     

Head-to-Head Comparison of Fibroblast Activation Protein Inhibitors (FAPI) Radiotracers versus [18F]F-FDG in Oncology: A Systematic Review

Several recent studies comparing radiolabeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitors (FAPI) and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose ([¹⁸F]F-FDG) as positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers in oncology have been published. The aim of this systematic review is to perform an updated evidence-based summary about the comparison of these PET radiotracers in oncology to better address further research in this setting. Studies or subsets of studies comparing radiolabeled FAPI and [¹⁸F]F-FDG as PET radiotracers in oncology were eligible for inclusion in this systematic review. A systematic literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE and Cochrane library databases was performed until August 2021. Literature data about the comparison of [¹⁸F]F-FDG and radiolabeled FAPI are rapidly increasing. Overall, taking into account radiotracer uptake and tumor-to-background uptake ratio, compared to [¹⁸F]F-FDG PET, an equal or higher detection of primary tumors and/or metastatic lesions was usually demonstrated by using radiolabeled FAPI PET. In particular, the cancer entities with better detection rate of tumor lesions by using radiolabeled FAPI PET, compared to [¹⁸F]F-FDG PET, were gastrointestinal tumors, liver tumors, breast cancer and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Further comparison studies are needed to better evaluate the best field of application of radiolabeled FAPI PET.     

Numerical study of different gas–solid flow regimes effects on hydrodynamics and heat transfer performance of a fluidized bed reactor

In this study, a two‐?uid Eulerian–Eulerian model has been carried out applying the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF) to study the hydrodynamics and heat transfer behavior of a fluidized bed reactor simultaneously. The effects of different gas–solid flow regimes on the operating conditions and heat transfer rate between the hot air and two types of low and high‐density inert particles are investigated in a fluidized bed dryer. Different gas–solid flow regimes for wood and glass particles of groups A, B, and D of Geldart's classification are simulated to introduce the most optimal flow regime in terms of heat transfer rate and operating costs. The compromise between the heating rate, the height required for the reactor, and the ratio of the final mass to the initial mass of solid particles, which specifies the need for a cyclone separator showed that the bubbling regime of Geldart B powder for low‐density particles and the turbulent regime of Geldart D powder or bubbling regime of Geldart B powder for high‐density particles are the optimal operating conditions and flow regimes. Furthermore, it was concluded that the convective heat transfer is the dominant mechanism, which increases with increasing the air velocity and decreasing the particle diameter in each group.     

A cost-effective approach to generate accurate correlations via analyzing a minimum number of data points; Case study on the convection heat transfer problem

It is very common in the heat transfer area to analyze and design heat equipment using the past available heat correlations. Basically, demanding higher-accuracy correlations enforces the heat laboratories to test and collect larger banks of laboratory data. However, this conversely affects the laboratory cost. Therefore, it becomes challenging to create new approaches that let the correlation developers use smaller experimental datasets and provide correlations with sufficient accuracies. To surmount this challenge, the present work develops a new approach that benefits from the computational fluid dynamics method as a reliable and cheap tool and adequately enriches the original, insufficient dataset. Then, suitable enhanced correlations are developed using the new enriched experimental-numerical-based dataset. In parallel, the artificial neural network (ANN) is used to enrich the original insufficient dataset separately. Using this experimental-ANN-based dataset, it provides a totally ANN-based correlation. It is shown that the results of enhanced correlations are as accurate as those of the ANN-based correlation. However, the point is that the use of the present approach is about 100 times faster than using the ANN. The typical forced convection heat transfer through a pipe is examined here to show the capabilities of the current approach.     

Numerical simulation of the wall shear stress distribution in a carotid artery bifurcation

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - The effect of stenosis for a carotid artery bifurcation with elastic and rigid walls is investigated numerically. In the present study, the blood flow...     

Parrot Beak-Inspired Metamaterials with Friction and Interlocking Mechanisms 3D/4D Printed in Micro and Macro Scales for Supreme Energy Absorption/Dissipation

Energy absorption and dissipation features of mechanical metamaterials have widespread applications in everyday life, ranging from absorbing shock impacts to mechanical vibrations. This article proposes novel bioinspired friction-based mechanical metamaterials with a zero Poisson's ratio behavior inspired from parrot's beaks and manufactured additively. The mechanical performances of the corresponding metamaterials are studied at both macro and micro scales by experiments and finite element analysis (FEA). An excellent agreement is observed between the FEA and both microscopic and macroscopic scale experiments, showing the accuracy of the developed digital tool. Performances are compared to traditional triangular lattice metamaterials. Both experimental tests and FEA results demonstrate the following advantages: 1) absorbing and dissipating energy per unit of mass (SEA) at large compressive strains without global buckling; 2) bistable deformation patterns including friction-based and interlocking mechanisms; 3) reversible deformation patterns after unloading; 4) shape recovery behavior after a heating–cooling process; and 5) the higher elastic modulus of micro metamaterials compared with their macro counterparts. This is the first demonstration of a bioinspired friction-based design of 3D-printed mechanical metamaterials that feature absorbing/dissipating energy, stability, and reversibility properties to cater to a wide range of sustainable meta-cylinders in micro and macro scales.     

Discovery of Potent Inhibitors of Cyclin-Dependent Kinases 7 and 9: Design,Synthesis, Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis and Biological Evaluation

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) 7 and 9 are deregulated in various types of human cancer and are thus viewed as therapeutic targets. Accordingly, small-molecule inhibitors of both CDKs are highly sought-after. Capitalising on our previous discovery of CDKI-73, a potent CDK9 inhibitor, medicinal chemistry optimisation was pursued. A number of N-pyridinylpyrimidin-2-amines were rationally designed, chemically synthesised and biologically assessed. Among them, N-(6-(4-cyclopentylpiperazin-1-yl)pyridin-3-yl)-4-(imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidin-3-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine was found to be one of the most potent inhibitors of CDKs 7 and 9 as well as the most effective anti-proliferative agent towards multiple human cancer cell lines. The cellular mode of action of this compound was investigated in MV4-11 acute myeloid leukaemia cells, revealing that the compound dampened the kinase activity of cellular CDKs 7 and 9, arrested the cell cycle at sub-G1 phase and induced apoptosis.