Manganese ferrite-polyaniline hybrid materials: Electrical and magnetic properties

Magnetic MnFe₂O₄ nanopowders were synthesized by an original solvothermal method in the absence and in the presence of tetra-n-butylammonium bromide (TBAB) and Tween 80 (TW) as surfactants. Manganese ferrite/polyaniline (PANI) hybrid materials were synthesized by in situ polymerization of aniline on the surface of MnFe₂O₄ using ammonium persulfate as oxidant. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of the two surfactants on the properties of the MnFe₂O₄ powders and of their composites with PANI. The specific surface area, the cumulative surface area of pores and the cumulative volume of pores are influenced by the nature of surfactant in case of MnFe₂O₄ powders and are higher by comparison to those of the MnFe₂O₄/PANI hybrid materials. The values of saturation magnetization in case of MnFe₂O₄ powders are higher than those of the hybrid materials and are not influenced by the surfactant nature. These features revealed that MnFe₂O₄ powders can be efficiently used as adsorbents for the purification of wastewaters. The values of the electrical conductivity of the composites exhibit a significant increase in comparison to the MnFe₂O₄ powders and depend on the surfactant nature. The highest value of electrical conductivity was achieved by the composite obtained using Tween 80 as surfactant (σ_DC = 54.5·10^?5S?m^?1) which was close to that of PANI (σ_DC = 61.2·10^?5 S?m^?1). The fact that the magnetic and electric properties of the synthesized MnFe₂O₄/PANI composites can be changed by design, demonstrate the high potential of these materials to be used in magneto-electric applications.     

Analytical model of displacement amplification and stiffness optimization for a class of flexure-based compliant mechanisms

The paper formulates an analytical method for displacement and stiffness calculations of planar compliant mechanisms with single-axis flexure hinges. The procedure is based on the strain energy and Castigliano’s displacement theorem and produces closed-form equations that incorporate the compliances characterizing any analytically-defined hinge, together with the other geometric and material properties of the compliant mechanism. Displacement amplification, input stiffness and output stiffness calculations can simply be performed for any serial compliant mechanism. The class of amplifying compliant mechanisms that contain symmetric corner-filleted or circular flexure hinges is specifically addressed here. A parametric study of the mechanism performance is performed, based on the mathematical model, and an optimization procedure is proposed, based on Lagrange’s multipliers and Kuhn-Tucker conditions, which identifies the design vector that maximizes the performance of these flexure-based compliant mechanisms. Independent finite element simulation confirms the analytical model predictions.     

Rapid analysis of polymer homologues and additives with SFE/SFC-MS coupling

A rapid and easy analysis method for polymers is presented. The method involves sample preparation by SFE, separation of the extracted compounds by SFC and simultaneous quantitative detection by FID, as well as identification of unknowns by MS. The applications illustrate how structural research work and routine polymer analysis can be done with this time saving method.     

Representation and uniformization of algebraic transductions

This paper explores different means of representation for algebraic transductions, i.e., word relations realized by pushdown transducers. The relevance of this work lies more in its point of view rather than any particular result. We are aiming at giving specific techniques for obtaining, or perhaps explaining, decompositions of algebraic (and incidentally, rational) relations, relying solely on their “machine” definition rather than some complex algebraic apparatus. From this point of view, we are hoping to have demystified the heavy formalism employed in the present literature. Some of the novelties of our work are: the use of “stack languages” and “embeddings,” which eliminate the need of arbitrary context-free languages in our characterizations, the study of uniformizations for algebraic transductions and the use of the so-called stack transductions for exposing the anatomy of pushdown transducers.This work was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada grants R220259 and OGP0041630.     

State complexity of unique rational operations

For each basic language operation we define its “unique” counterpart as being the operation that results in a language whose words can be obtained uniquely through the given operation. These unique operations can arguably be viewed as combined basic operations, placing this work in the popular area of state complexity of combined operations on regular languages. We study the state complexity of unique rational operations and we provide upper bounds and empirical results meant to cast light into this matter. Equally important, we hope to have provided a generic methodology for estimating their state complexity.     

Detecting palindromes,patterns and borders in regular languages

Given a language L and a non-deterministic finite automaton M, we consider whether we can determine efficiently (in the size of M) if M accepts at least one word in L, or infinitely many words. Given that M accepts at least one word in L, we consider how long a shortest word can be. The languages L that we examine include the palindromes, the non-palindromes, the k-powers, the non-k-powers, the powers, the non-powers (also called primitive words), the words matching a general pattern, the bordered words, and the unbordered words.     

Note: Bending compliances of generalized symmetric notch flexure hinges

The bending compliances of generalized notch flexure hinges with transverse or transverse-and-axial symmetry are studied in two particular reference frames. For an end-point reference frame, the cross compliance and the rotary compliance are proportional. When the reference frame is placed at the flexure's midpoint, the cross compliance is zero. The translatory and rotary compliances of only half the flexure hinge are sufficient to calculate the overall compliances of a transverse-symmetry flexure configuration. Similarly, the overall bending compliances of a flexure hinge with transverse-and-axial symmetry require prior calculation of the translatory and rotary compliances of a quarter flexure solely.     

Intuitionistic fuzzy system for fingerprints authentication

Using a fuzzy logic control system, we propose in this paper an optimized method to reduce the points number to be used in order to identify a person using fuzzy fingerprints. Two fingerprints are similar if n out of N points from the skin are identical. We discuss a criteria to choose these points. Our method compares two matching sets and selects the optimal set from these, using a fuzzy reasoning system based on intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. The advantage of our method with respect to the classical existing methods consists in a smaller number of calculations.     

Molecularly imprinted poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐acrylic acid) matrix with sclareol

There are presented results regarding a new set of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) based on acrylonitrile:acrylic acid (AN:AA) copolymer matrix. As template, it was used sclareol, an important anticancer bioactive compound, never used before for molecular imprinting. An emerging and insufficient studied MIP preparation method, namely the phase inversion, was used to prepare 0.8 mm spherical sclareol MIPs (S‐MIPs). Three AN:AA copolymers, having the initial monomer ratios 90:10, 80:20, and 70:30, were synthesized by radical copolymerization in emulsion, without emulsifier. After that, each copolymer was dissolved in the presence of the template (sclareol) in dimethylformamide. The imprinting and the morphology of these new materials were analyzed by rheology, elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, batch rebinding tests, and Scatchard analysis. The conclusion was that the AN:AA‐80:20 matrix proved to be the optimized solution between high rigidity (given by the AN segments) and high affinity for the template (given by AA segments), the average imprinting factor for this system being 2.67. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:1484–1494, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers