Synthesis and characterization of superoleophobic fumed alumina nanocomposite coated via the sol-gel process onto ceramic-based hollow fibre membrane for oil-water separation

Oily wastewater treatment is a global challenge due to the substantial amount of effluent resulted from many industrial and domestic activities. To overcome the challenge of using existing treatment approach and fouling, superoleophobic coatings were fabricated. In this study, a superoleophobic membrane surface was obtained using the sol-gel technique with perfluorooctanoate (PFO), poly (diallyl dimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC), and nanoparticles as complex-polymer nanocomposites. The effects of coating cycles on the surface structure, chemical properties, surface chemistry, and oleophobicity of the surface were examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and oil contact angle measurement. The results showed that the coated layer successfully adhered to the substrate surface. However, the chemical stability with respect to oil contact angle (OCA) revealed a decline at pH 7 and pH 9 and maintained stability at pH 3. Besides, oil flux at 63.0 L/m². h was achieved for PDADMAC-Al₂O₃/44 wt% PFO and the highest separation efficiency of 98% was obtained. Furthermore, the oil rejection decreases as the oil concentration increases from 1 to 3 g/L. OCA of 155° was obtained after 5 coating cycles. Apart from mitigating substrate fouling, the superoleophobic and superhydrophilic coating can be applied to a ceramic-based hollow fibre membrane and efficiently used for the separation of oil from oily wastewater.     

Influence of the stoichiometry,microstructure, and metallization method on the dielectric properties of 0.94 Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-0.06 BaTiO3

The morphotropic composition of the lead-free solid solution between Na_0.5Bi_0.5TiO₃ and BaTiO₃ (0.94 Na_0.5Bi_0.5TiO₃-0.06 BaTiO₃ or NBT-6BT) is of particular interest for the next generation of high-temperature capacitors but remains plagued by the diversity of dielectric properties reported in the literature. In order to explain the apparent inconsistencies among the reported dielectric properties of NBT-6BT, we examine the influence of stoichiometry, phase separation, and metallization method. We show that the nominal stoichiometry has a crucial effect, since increasing the nominal Na/Bi ratio increases conductivity and dielectric losses (tan δ). It also increases the real part of the permittivity (ε’) and the frequency dispersion of both ε’ and tan δ, thereby altering the shape of the evolution with temperature of the dielectric properties. Moreover it increases the depolarization temperature (T_d) and decreases the temperature of maximum permittivity (T_m). Phase separation also occurs during the synthesis of NBT-6BT as Na evaporation leads to the formation of secondary Ba-containing phases. We report that these phases can have a positive impact on the dielectric properties: a moderate volume fraction (2.5 to 3.0%) and average grain surface (0.9 to 3.0 µm²) of these secondary Ba-containing phases increase the relative permittivity, decrease the dielectric losses, and increase the insulation resistance. We also show that the metallization method impacts the dielectric properties and therefore may contribute to the differences between various reports. The dielectric properties of NBT-6BT samples are measured during successive heating/cooling cycles and reveal that the permittivity value is lower during the first heating when silver paste, even cured, is used. These three components contribute to explaining the diversity of the reported dielectric properties of NBT-6BT.     

Prediction of mode I fracture toughness of rock using linear multiple regression and gene expression programming

Prediction of mode I fracture toughness (K_IC) of rock is of significant importance in rock engineering analyses. In this study, linear multiple regression (LMR) and gene expression programming (GEP) methods were used to provide a reliable relationship to determine mode I fracture toughness of rock. The presented model was developed based on 60 datasets taken from the previous literature. To predict fracture parameters, three mechanical parameters of rock mass including uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), and elastic modulus (E) have been selected as the input parameters. A cluster of data was collected and divided into two random groups of training and testing datasets. Then, different statistical linear and artificial intelligence based nonlinear analyses were conducted on the training data to provide a reliable prediction model of K_IC. These two predictive methods were then evaluated based on the testing data. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed models for predicting the mode I fracture toughness of rock, various statistical indices including coefficient of determination (R²), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE) were utilized herein. In the case of testing datasets, the values of R², RMSE, and MAE for the GEP model were 0.87, 0.188, and 0.156, respectively, while they were 0.74, 0.473, and 0.223, respectively, for the LMR model. The results indicated that the selected GEP model delivered superior performance with a higher R² value and lower errors.     

Fabrication,permeation, and corrosion stability measurements of silica membranes for HI decomposition in the thermochemical iodine–sulfur process

In this study, a corrosion-stable silica membrane was developed to be used in H₂ purification during the hydrogen iodide decomposition (2HI → H₂ + I₂), which is a new application of the silica membranes. From a practical perspective, the membrane separation length was enlarged up to 400 mm and one end of the membrane tubes was closed to avoid any thermal variation along the membrane length and sealing issues. The silica membranes consisted of a three-layer structure comprising a porous α-Al₂O₃ ceramic support, an intermediate layer, and a top silica layer. The intermediate layer was composed of γ-Al₂O₃ or silica, and the top silica layer that is H₂ selective was prepared via counter-diffusion chemical vapor deposition of a hexyltrimethoxysilane.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of 400-mm-long closed-end silica membranes supported on Si-formed α-Al₂O₃ tubes produced via chemical vapor deposition method. A 400-mm-long closed-end membrane using a Si-formed α-Al₂O₃ tube exhibited a higher H₂/SF₆ selectivity of 1240 but lower H₂ permeance of 1.4 × 10⁻⁷ mol Pa⁻¹ m⁻² s⁻¹ with compared with the membrane using a γ-Al₂O₃-formed α-Al₂O₃ tube (907 and 5.6 × 10⁻⁷ mol Pa⁻¹ m⁻² s⁻¹, respectively). The membrane using the Si-formed α-Al₂O₃ tube was more stable in corrosive HI gas than a membrane with a γ-Al₂O₃-formed α-Al₂O₃ tube after 300 h of stability tests. In conclusion, the developed silica membranes using the Si-formed α-Al₂O₃ tubes seem suitable for membrane reactors that produce H₂ on large scale using HI decomposition in the thermochemical iodine–sulfur process.     

Gradient-based recursive parameter estimation for a periodically nonuniformly sampled-data Hammerstein–Wiener system based on the key-term separation

The identification of the Hammerstein–Wiener (H-W) systems based on the nonuniform input–output dataset remains a challenging problem. This article studies the identification problem of a periodically nonuniformly sampled-data H-W system. In addition, the product terms of the parameters in the H-W system are inevitable. In order to solve the problem, the key-term separation is applied and two algorithms are proposed. One is the key-term-based forgetting factor stochastic gradient (KT-FFSG) algorithm based on the gradient search. The other is the key-term-based hierarchical forgetting factor stochastic gradient (KT-HFFSG) algorithm. Compared with the KT-FFSG algorithm, the KT-HFFSG algorithm gives more accurate estimates. The simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithms are effective.     

泥鳅多糖的研究进展

近年来随着泥鳅养殖及产业化的快速发展, 泥鳅资源的开发和高值化利用已成为研究热点。泥鳅是一种含有丰富优质蛋白、脂肪酸以及微量元素的营养健康食品, 具备多种保健功能和药用价值, 其中泥鳅多糖是从泥鳅中提取得到的一种游离中性多糖, 具有耐缺氧、抗肿瘤、抗氧化、调节免疫、降血糖、抗炎等功能。本文主要综述了泥鳅多糖的制备方法、分离提纯方法、结构表征、生物活性、精深加工等方面的研究进展,旨在为泥鳅多糖的高值化利用提供一些理论基础, 为泥鳅产业链的快速发展提供新的发展方向。     

A mixed phase lanthanum vanadate in situ induced by graphene oxide/graphite carbon nitride for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen generation

A mixed phase LaVO₄ with high dispersion was in situ induced and implanted in graphene oxide-graphite carbon nitride composite. The obtained nanocomposite (GO–C₃N₄–LaVO₄) showed high and stable photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution, which significantly benefited from the improved charge separation and light absorption in the special composite photocatalyst as evidenced by UV–vis spectra, fluorescence spectrum, photocurrent response and electrochemical impedance. The fabrication strategy of mixed phase LaVO₄ in the GO-C₃N₄ provides a new idea for constructing cheap and active organic-inorganic semiconductor photocatalysts for hydrogen generation.     

Acoustic damping flexible polyurethane foams: Effect of isocyanate index and water content on the soundproofing

High-efficiency sound absorbing flexible polyurethane foams (FPUFs) are manufactured using nonpolar polyester resin, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, and other reagents by one-shot bulk polymerization. In this study, the impact of the isocyanate index (90, 100, and 110) and water content (2.5 and 5%) on the microphase separation and soundproofing behavior of FPUFs are examined using atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, optical microscope, and an impedance tube device. The results reveal that the increase of the isocyanate index and water content leads to the increase of the cell size, cell size distribution, open-cell content, cell wall roughness, and microphase separation. Also, maximum sound absorption coefficient (α) reaches to 0.98 and the average of α in the frequency range of 1500–4000 Hz increases from 0.7 to 0.87 by increasing the water content from 2.5 to 5% and isocyanate index from 90 to 110; therefore, acoustic damping performance enhances up to 26.24% due to the synergic effects of microphase separation on the viscose media formation, open-cell content, cell wall roughness, cell size, and cell size distribution. In conclusion, FPUFs with an optimal amount of microphase separation and drainage flow can be a promising candidate for sound insulating materials. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47363.     

一种新的多渐消因子容积卡尔曼滤波

将强跟踪思想引入容积卡尔曼滤波（cubature Kalman filter，CKF），建立强跟踪CKF能有效克服CKF在模型不确定、状态突变等情况下，滤波性能下降的问题。通过分析现有多渐消因子计算方法，发现它们均只利用了协方差矩阵的对角线元素，并没有考虑各个状态之间的相关性，不能充分发挥多渐消因子的优势。为此，本文提出渐消因子矩阵，基于正交原理推导渐消因子矩阵的求解方法，提出多渐消因子强跟踪CKF算法。多渐消因子强跟踪CKF算法突破了传统多渐消因子为向量的限制，也不再要求渐消因子取值要大于1。仿真验证了算法具有更好的滤波精度何鲁棒性，能更好的满足工程应用的要求。     

Preparative Protein Crystallization

Preparative protein crystallization can possibly replace one or more chromatographic steps in downstream processing. The development of such crystallization processes is demanding: first, promising principal crystallization conditions must be identified; second, details about the process must be defined; and third, the crystals have to be separated from the mother liquor without putting harm of their crystalline integrity. State‐of‐the‐art about these three steps is developing fast by (i) employing new screening methods which are based on fundamental understanding of the interaction of the protein molecules, (ii) application of existing concepts of technical bulk crystallization of small molecules to preparative protein crystallization, and (iii) making available specific gentle separation machinery.