Experimental investigation on the heat and water transfer enhancement in a membrane-based air-to-air humidifier at insulation condition

In the present study, a membrane-based air-to-air planar humidifier (MAPH) with baffle-blocked flow channels and a common MAPH are fabricated, tested and compared. These MAPHs are well thermal insulated from their surroundings. Polyoxymethylene (POM) plates with some unique properties such as large tensile and flexural strength, high chemical resistance and high stiffness are used to create channels at dry and humid sides of MAPHs. The obtained findings revealed that the higher heat and water transfer rates and smaller dew point approach temperature (DPAT) in entire tested flow rates occurs in baffle-blocked MAPH. To evaluate the MAPH performance with considering the pressure drop, a dimensionless parameter, performance evaluation criteria (PEC), is introduced. At flow rates less than 1 m³/h, PEC is less than 1, indicating a decline in MAPH performance with considering the pressure drop. In baffle-blocked MAPH using water trap in the inlet of dry side leads to the performance deterioration. Additionally, the increased relative humidity (RH) of humid side inlet causes an increase in DPAT, consequently, the performance deterioration.     

冷低压分离器油相系统铵盐垢下腐蚀风险的模拟预测

为探究某加氢装置高压换热器管束腐蚀泄漏原因，利用Aspen Plus工艺模拟软件计算了冷低压分离器油相（简称冷低分油）中水质量分数分别为1%,2%,3%时，冷低分油系统的露点温度、氯化铵结晶温度、氯化铵潮解点温度和相对湿度。结果表明：相较于经验的露点温度预测方法，通过引入潮解点、划分系统“湿环境”温度范围判断氯化铵垢下腐蚀风险区域的方法与实际腐蚀案例更为切合；在3种油相含水条件下，换热器管束存在氯化铵垢下腐蚀的“湿环境”温度范围分别为：50~103 ℃,50~161 ℃,50~176 ℃；随着油相中含水量的提高，“湿环境”腐蚀区域逐渐向高温部位迁移，预计铵盐导致的垢下腐蚀将会愈加严重。     

A Highly Sensitive,Reversible, and Bidirectional Humidity Actuator by Calcium Carbonate Ionic Oligomers Incorporated Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride)

Sensitivity and multi-directional motivation are major two factors for developing optimized humidity-response materials, which are promising for sensing, energy production, etc. Organic functional groups are commonly used as the water sensitive units through hydrogen bond interactions with water molecules in actuators. The multi-coordination ability of inorganic ions implies that the inorganic ionic compounds are potentially superior water sensitive units. However, the particle forms of inorganic ionic compounds produced by classical nucleation limit the number of exposed ions to interact with water. Recent progress on the inorganic ionic oligomers has broken through the limitation of classical nucleation, and realized the molecular-scaled incorporation of inorganic ionic compounds into an organic matrix. Here, the incorporation of hydrophilic calcium carbonate ionic oligomers into hydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is demonstrated. The ultra-small calcium carbonate oligomers within a PVDF film endow it with an ultra-sensitive, reversible, and bidirectional response. The motivation ability is superior to other bidirectional humidity-actuators at present, which realizes self-motivation on an ice surface, converting the chemical potential energy of the humidity gradient from ice to kinetic energy.     

High performance H2 sensor based on rGO-wrapped SnO2–Pd porous hollow spheres

Hydrogen (H₂) sensors based on metal oxide semiconductors (MOS) are promising for many applications such as a rocket propellant, industrial gas and the safety of storage. However, poor selectivity at low analyte concentrations, and independent response on high humidity limit the practical applications. Herein, we designed rGO-wrapped SnO₂–Pd porous hollow spheres composite (SnO₂–Pd@rGO) for high performance H₂ sensor. The porous hollow structure was from the carbon sphere template. The rGO wrapping was via self-assembly of GO on SnO₂-based spheres with subsequent thermal reduction in H₂ ambient. This sensor exhibited excellently selective H₂ sensing performances at 390 °C, linear response over a broad concentration range (0.1–1000 ppm) with recovery time of only 3 s, a high response of ～8 to 0.1 ppm H₂ in a minute, and acceptable stability under high humidity conditions (e. g. 80%). The calculated detection limit of 16.5 ppb opened up the possibility of trace H₂ monitoring. Furthermore, this sensor demonstrated certain response to H₂ at the minimum concentration of 50 ppm at 130 °C. These performances mainly benefited from the special hollow porous structure with abundant heterojunctions, the catalysis of the doped-PdO_x, the relative hydrophobic surface from rGO, and the deoxygenation after H₂ reduction.     

Formation of Uniform Water Microdroplets on Wrinkled Graphene for Ultrafast Humidity Sensing

Portable humidity sensors with ultrafast responses fabricated in wearable devices have promising application prospects in disease diagnostics, health status monitoring, and personal healthcare data collecting. However, prolonged exposures to high‐humidity environments usually cause device degradation or failure due to excessive water adsorbed on the sensor surface. In the present work, a graphene film based humidity sensor with a hydrophobic surface and uniformly distributed ring‐like wrinkles is designed and fabricated that exhibits excellent performance in breath sensing. The wrinkled morphology of the graphene sensor is able to effectively prevent the aggregation of water microdroplets and thus maximize the evaporation rate. The as‐fabricated sensor responds to and recovers from humidity in 12.5 ms, the fastest response of humidity sensors reported so far, yet in a very stable manner. The sensor is fabricated into a mask and successfully applied to monitoring sudden changes in respiratory rate and depth, such as breathing disorder or arrest, as well as subtle changes in humidity level caused by talking, cough and skin evaporation. The sensor can potentially enable long‐term daily monitoring of breath and skin evaporation with its ultrafast response and high sensitivity, as well as excellent stability in high‐humidity environments.     

Sustainability assessment of Iranian petrochemical companies in stock exchange: A data envelopment analysis-based approach

The assessment of efficiency is always of particular importance according to different indicators from different perspectives. There are various techniques for evaluating petrochemical companies, among which the data envelopment analysis technique is one of the best techniques that can be used to calculate the relative efficiency of a set of decision-making units with network structures. In the present paper, seven petrochemical companies listed in the Iranian stock exchange were analysed. These companies were evaluated in terms of financial performance and sustainable development, and their relative efficiency was calculated during 2015–2016. According to the obtained results, only Marun Petrochemical Co. was found to be efficient in all areas and years. The results also showed that four companies were efficient in financial terms over the period under study. In the general conclusion regarding the companies' performance, Marun was ranked first, Jam was ranked second, and Zagros was ranked third.     

基于双树复小波的无参考立体图像质量评价

随着3D技术的不断发展，立体图像的使用领域越来越广泛，同时人们对图像的清晰度要求越来越高，因此，立体图像的质量评价成为关注点，基于此，提出了一种基于双树复小波变换的立体图像质量评价算法。使用双树复小波变换对立体图像的左、右视图进行处理，生成纹理结构图像，且根据最小能量误差的原理，获取左右视图的视差图；对纹理结构图像和视差图提取非对称广义高斯分布模型的参数、梯度幅值、相对梯度方向方差和奇异值曲线与坐标轴的面积等特征；使用AdaBoosting BP神经网络，进行训练和预测立体图像的质量得分。在LIVE立体图像数据库上的实验结果表明，新方法预测得分与主观得分有较好的一致性，获得了比较好的实验结果。     

Humidity-Induced Simultaneous Visible and Fluorescence Photonic Patterns Enabled by Integration of Covalent Bonds and Ionic Crosslinks

Stimuli-responsive photonic crystals (PCs) have been extensively studied due to their potential in fabrication of anti-counterfeiting devices and information storage. In this work, using Ca²⁺ ionic crosslinker, a cholesteric liquid crystalline network (CLCN) based PC able to simultaneously present visible and fluorescence pattern by moisture treatment is designed and prepared. The circularly polarized light from helical structure of CLCN makes the reflected pattern distinguishable under different circular polarizer, implying the unique advantage of this novel coating as anti-counterfeiting devices. More importantly, due to the thermochromic property of the liquid crystal monomers, permanent pattern is achievable by chemically crosslinking specific region at different temperature. By integrating chemically crosslinking and physically ionic crosslinking, a permanent pattern and a dynamic humidity responsive pattern can be incorporated in a single device, indicating the great potential of this novel photonic coating in information storage.     

A Pyropheophorbide Analogue Containing a Fused Methoxy Cyclohexenone Ring System Shows Promising Cancer-Imaging Ability

Herein we report the synthesis, photophysical properties, positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy of methyl 3-(1′-m-iodobenzyloxy)ethyl-3-devinyl-verdin 4 (with or without the ¹²⁴I isotope). The PET imaging ability and ex vivo biodistribution of [¹²⁴I] 4 were compared with the well-studied methyl [3-(¹²⁴1′-m-iodobenzyloxy)ethyl]-3-devinyl-pyropheophorbide-a methyl ester (PET-ONCO or [¹²⁴I] 2 ) and [¹⁸F]fluorodeoxyglucose ([¹⁸F]FDG) in BALB/c mice bearing colon-26 tumors. Whole-body PET images of [¹²⁴I] 4 containing a fused methoxy cyclohexenone ring system showed excellent tumor contrast with time (72>48>24 h post-injection). Ex vivo biodistribution results indicate that relative to the current clinical standard [¹⁸F]FDG and [¹²⁴I] 2 in 2 % ethanol formulation, [¹²⁴I] 4 , at the same radioactive dose (25 μCi per mouse), showed higher tumor uptake at 24 h post-injection and longer tumor retention. In biological environments, compound 4 showed lower fluorescence and lower singlet oxygen yield than 2 , which is possibly due to higher aggregation caused by the presence of a fused cyclohexenone ring system, resulting in limited in vitro/in vivo PDT efficacy. Therefore, the chlorophyll-a analogue [¹²⁴I] 4 provides easy access to a novel PET imaging agent (with no skin phototoxicity) to image cancer types—brain, renal carcinomas, pancreas—in which [¹⁸F]FDG shows limitations.