Effect of polyethylenimine addition and washing on stability and electrophoretic deposition of Co3O4 nanoparticles

In this work, the parameters of cobalt oxide suspension such as conductivity, zeta potential, particle size, stability, and finally the electrophoretic behavior of particles in the absence and presence of polyethylenimine (PEI) in acetone medium were investigated. Also, the effects of washing on the stability and electrophoretic deposition of Co₃O₄ were studied. Characterization of the obtained layer by optical microscopy revealed that there was no deposition in the suspension without PEI, while a uniform layer was formed in the presence of PEI additive. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results confirmed the uniformity of layer obtained in acetone using PEI additive. Moreover, SEM results demonstrated that more porous microstructures were obtained at longer deposition durations. The difference in the porosity of the layers, as indicated by the SEM micrographs, is attributed to increase in the deposition time.     

Effect of fuel type on structural and physicochemical properties of solution combustion synthesized CoCr2O4 ceramic pigment nanoparticles

Due to importance and wide applications, CoCr₂O₄ ceramic pigment nanoparticles were synthesized via low-temperature solution combustion route by different fuels including ethylenediamine/oxalic acid, ethylenediamine/citric acid, oxalic acid/citric acid and ethylenediamine/oxalic acid/citric acid. Physicochemical properties of the synthesized samples were determined by different techniques such as fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and color/optical properties were evaluated based on CIELAB system by spectrophotometer. Moreover, thermodynamic considerations of combustion reactions for CoCr₂O₄ nanopigments formation in terms of calculated adiabatic flame temperature and enthalpy of combustion reaction were studied. The Comparison of results and data showed that cobalt chromite pigment nanoparticles synthesized by using ethylenediamine/citric acid and ethylenediamine/oxalic acid/citric acid fuels exhibited higher purity, smaller crystallite size and lower degree agglomeration.     

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.     

Design and implementation of an adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller for drug delivery in treatment of vascular cancer tumours and its optimisation using genetic algorithm tool

In this paper, the side effects of drug therapy in the process of cancer treatment are reduced by designing two optimal non‐linear controllers. The related gains of the designed controllers are optimised using genetic algorithm and simultaneously are adapted by employing the Fuzzy scheduling method. The cancer dynamic model is extracted with five differential equations, including normal cells, endothelial cells, cancer cells, and the amount of two chemotherapy and anti‐angiogenic drugs left in the body as the engaged state variables, while double drug injection is considered as the corresponding controlling signals of the mentioned state space. This treatment aims to reduce the tumour cells by providing a timely schedule for drug dosage. In chemotherapy, not only the cancer cells are killed but also other healthy cells will be destroyed, so the rate of drug injection is highly significant. It is shown that the simultaneous application of chemotherapy and anti‐angiogenic therapy is more efficient than single chemotherapy. Two different non‐linear controllers are employed and their performances are compared. Simulation results and comparison studies show that not only adding the anti‐angiogenic reduce the side effects of chemotherapy but also the proposed robust controller of sliding mode provides a faster and stronger treatment in the presence of patient parametric uncertainties in an optimal way. As a result of the proposed closed‐loop drug treatment, the tumour cells rapidly decrease to zero, while the normal cells remain healthy simultaneously. Also, the injection rate of the chemotherapy drug is very low after a short time and converges to zero.     

Investigation on minimum quantity lubricant-MQL grinding of 100Cr6 hardened steel using different abrasive and coolant–lubricant types

Large quantities of coolant–lubricants are still widely used in the metal working industry, generating high consumption and discard costs and impacting the environment. Alternatives to current practices are getting more serious consideration in response to environmental and operational cost pressures. In the grinding process, promising alternatives to conventional dry and fluid coolant applications are minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) or near dry grinding process. Despite several researches, there have been a few investigations about the influence of different types of coolant–lubricants and grinding wheels on the process results. The current study aims to show the effects of the above parameters on grinding performance such as grinding forces and surface quality. The tests have been performed in presence of fluid, air jet and eleven types of coolant–lubricants, as well as, in dry condition. The grinding wheels employed in this study were vitrified bond corundum, resin bond corundum and vitrified bond SG wheels. The results indicate that SG wheels and MQL oils have potential for the development of the MQL process in comparison to vitrified and resin bond corundums and water miscible oils. Also, the lowest thermal damages, material side flow on the ground surface and wheel loading were generated by using the SG grinding wheel in MQL grinding process.     

Using computer simulation techniques to design a tellurium-123 target for <Superscript>123</Superscript>I production

The production of ¹²³I from ¹²³Te by the ^l23Te(p, n)¹²³I reaction at various target enrichments (99.9, 91, 85.4, and 70.1%) was simulated using ALICE and SRIM programs. The ¹²³I production feasibility by the above reaction was evaluated. The calculations give more accurate results for proton beam energy of less than 30 MeV. The cross sections of all tellurium reactions with proton were calculated at 0–30 MeV proton beam energy with ALICE program, and the yield of ¹²³I was calculated by analytical methods. Our prediction for ¹²³I production via bombardment of ¹²³Te (99.9%) with a proton beam energy of 5–15 MeV is about 7.2 mCi μA⁻¹ h⁻¹. Published in Russian in Radiokhimiya, 2008, Vol. 50, No. 5, pp. 460–463. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Inventory lot-sizing with supplier selection using hybrid intelligent algorithm

In supply chain management (SCM), multi-product and multi-period models are usually used to select the suppliers. In the real world of SCM, however, there are normally several echelons which need to be integrated into inventory management. This paper presents a hybrid intelligent algorithm, based on the push SCM, which uses a fuzzy neural network and a genetic algorithm to forecast the rate of demand, determine the material planning and select the optimal supplier. We test the proposed algorithm in a case study conducted in Iran.     

POLAROGRAPHIC CHARACTERIZATION OF AROMATIC STRUCTURES IN COAL LIQUID PRODUCTS

Reducible aromatic species in coal liquid products from five major processes (Synthoil, FMC COED, HRI H-Coal, PAMCO SRC, and Catalytic Inc. SRC) together with solvent elution chromatography fractions of a selected asphaltene has been evaluated. The half-wave potentials measurments are found to be consistant with other methods. The total polarographic reduction of measurement per average molecule for Synthoil solvent fractions, as measured by diffusion constant (i_d/C), increases in the following manner: gas oil → resin → asphaltene → carbene → carboid. The same trend was observed when color indices (I) and refractive indices (n₂₅) were individually studied.     

Enzymatic Evidence for a Revised Congocidine Biosynthetic Pathway

Naturally produced pyrrolamides, such as congocidine, are nonribosomal peptides that bind to the minor groove of DNA. Efforts to delineate the biosynthetic machinery responsible for their assembly have mainly employed genetic methods, and the enzymes responsible for their biosynthesis remain largely uncharacterized. We report the biochemical characterization of four proteins involved in congocidine formation: the adenylation‐thiolation (A–T) di‐domain Cgc18(1–610), its MbtH‐like partner SAMR0548, the AMP‐binding enzyme Cgc3*, and the T domain Cgc19. We assayed the ATP‐dependent activation of various commercially available and chemically synthesized compounds with Cgc18(1–610) and Cgc3*. We report the revised substrate specificities of Cgc18(1–610) and Cgc3*, and loading of 4‐acetamidopyrrole‐2‐carboxylic acid onto Cgc19. Based on these biochemical studies, we suggest a revised congocidine biosynthetic pathway.     

Probing effects of alternately‐embedded phenoxy phenyl lateral groups on properties of novel aromatic poly(ether‐urea)s

A new class of alternate aromatic poly(ether‐urea)s having bulky phenoxy phenyl lateral groups was prepared by the reaction of 2,2′‐bis[(p‐phenoxy phenyl)]‐4,4′‐diaminodiphenyl ether (PPAPE) with two diisocyanates, isophorone diisocyanate and 2,4‐tolylene diisocyanate. The limited viscosity values as well as M _n and M _w values of the resulting polymers were determined. The resulting poly(ether‐urea)s could be easily cast into optically‐transparent, flexible, and light color films. The cut‐off wavelength values and the percentage of transmittance at 800 nm were found to be at about 415 nm and 85%, respectively. PPAPE‐derived poly(ether‐urea)s showed a low‐crystallinity and had excellent solubility in polar organic solvents. T_onset, T_g, T_d5%, and T_d10% values of the PPAPE‐derived polymers measured from their DSC and TGA thermograms were up to 270, 280, 315, and 340°C, respectively. Surface morphology of the resulted poly(ether‐urea)s were also evaluated by their scanning electron microscopy images. Excellent organo‐solubility, satisfactory film quality, moderate T_g values, and good thermal stability make this class of poly (ether‐urea)s promising high‐performance polymeric materials. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010