Polymer anion-selective membranes for electrolytic splitting of water. Part II: Enhancement of ionic conductivity and performance under conditions of alkaline water electrolysis

An attempt was made to increase the ionic conductivity of novel, heterogeneous, anion-selective membranes by increasing the porosity of their surface skin. This was based on the addition of a water-soluble component, namely poly(ethylene-ran-propylene glycol), to an inert polymer matrix, based on low-density polyethylene, while mixing it with the ion-exchange particles. A series of membranes was prepared, consisting of 66 wt% of anion-exchange phase represented by a styrene-divinyl benzene copolymer matrix with quaternary ammonium functional groups and an inert polymer matrix in a mixture with variable amounts of water-soluble component added. The membranes were subsequently tested with respect to their morphology, mechanical properties, apparent ion-exchange capacity, ionic conductivity, and performance under conditions of alkaline water electrolysis. When added in the appropriate amount, the addition of a water-soluble component was found to improve the electrochemical properties of the resulting membrane efficiently, while at the same time not reducing its mechanical properties to below a critical level.     

An extended graphical targeting technique for direct reuse/recycle in concentration and property-based resource conservation networks

Minimum flowrate targeting methods for resource conservation networks (RCNs) have been developed over the last decades. The existing methodologies still have certain drawbacks. Their design insights could be deepened and some steps should be more convenient for the users. A targeting tool called the material surplus composite curve (MSCC), which is an improvement of the surplus diagram for water and hydrogen networks is introduced. The approach is illustrated on several cases selected from the literature. Using this technique, it is possible to determine rigorous flowrate targets for different variants of the RCN problem.     

Cyclopentadienyl-Based Anticancer Drugs: Improvement of Cytotoxic Activity through Functionalisation of the π Ligand

Cytotoxic complexes containing molybdenum are widely studied as a potential substitution for commercially used drugs that often suffer from pronounced side effects and cellular resistance. Compounds of the type [(η⁵-Cp′)Mo(CO)₂(^N,NL)][BF₄], where Cp is cyclopentadienyl and ^N,NL is a bidentate ligand, are well known for their strong anticancer activity. It is a generally accepted paradigm that the nature of the coordinated ^N,NL ligand has a major impact on the cytotoxicity. In this study, a series of new functionalised Cp complexes of molybdenum was synthesised from derivatised fulvenes as π-ligand precursors. Indeed, the coordination sphere‘s modulation by various N,N-chelating ligands afforded species active toward leukemic cell line MOLT-4 with IC₅₀ values depending on the character of the N,N-chelator used. However, following study clearly showed that functionalisation of the Cp ring with an amine moiety considerably improved cytotoxicity. These results are of crucial importance for the future design of highly active cytotoxic drugs, as modification of cyclopentadienyl is believed to have a minor effect on biological activity.     

Dimensional analysis approach to dominant three-pole placement in delayed PID control loops

PID control loops with time delay are characterized by infinite number of poles but the pole assignment technique for adjusting the controller parameters can be applied to placing three poles only. The dominance of these poles is therefore an essential condition for this application. A novel approach to this problem involves applying dimensional analysis theory to obtain a generalized model of the control loop and then to perform a parameter tuning for its dimensionless representation. A one-row dimensional matrix results from the assumption of the usual dimensionless interpretation of both control error and actuating signals of the controller. Dimensionless similarity numbers of the so-called swingability and laggardness are introduced to specify the plant dynamics in the controller synthesis. A trio of numbers is assigned to become the dominant zeros of the characteristic quasi-polynomial of the control loop and the corresponding PID parameter adjustment is derived in the form of uniform formulae. The tuning of the proper damping and the real pole position ratios is provided by means of an IAE optimization technique. A dominance degree notion is introduced and an argument increment criterion is proposed to check the dominance of any of the pole placement cases. The quality of the disturbance rejection response is taken as the general criterion in the design of the time delay plant control.     

Carbon and nitrogen trade-offs in biomass energy production

This contribution provides an overview of carbon (CFs) and nitrogen footprints (NFs) concerning their measures and impacts on the ecosystem and human health. The adversarial relationship between them is illustrated by the three biomass energy production applications, which substitute fossil energy production applications: (i) domestic wood combustion where different fossil energy sources (natural gas, coal, and fuel oil) are supplemented, (ii) bioethanol production from corn grain via the dry-grind process, where petrol is supplemented, and (iii) rape methyl ester production from rape seed oil via catalytic trans-esterification, where diesel is supplemented. The life cycle assessment is applied to assess the CFs and NFs resulting from different energy production applications from ‘cradle-to-grave’ span. The results highlighted that all biomass-derived energy generations have lower CFs and higher NFs whilst, on the other hand, fossil energies have higher CFs and lower NFs.     

Numerical simulation of interaction between turbulent flow and a vibrating airfoil

The subject of this paper is the numerical simulation of the interaction of two-dimensional incompressible viscous flow and a vibrating airfoil. A solid elastically supported airfoil with two degrees of freedom, which can rotate around the elastic axis and oscillate in the vertical direction, is considered. The numerical simulation consists of the stabilized finite element treatment of the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach, the use of turbulence models and the solution of the system of ordinary differential equations describing the airfoil motion. The time dependent computational domain and a moving grid are taken into account with the aid of the Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations. High Reynolds numbers up to 10⁶ require to use a suitable stabilization of the finite element discretization and the application of a turbulence model. We apply the algebraic turbulence model, which was designed by Baldwin and Lomax and modified by Rostand. The developed technique was tested by the simulation of flow past a flat rigid plate and the computation of pressure distribution around a rotating airfoil with prescribed motion. Finally, the method was applied to the simulation of flow induced airfoil vibrations. This research was supported under the Grant No. IAA200760613 of the Grant Agency of Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The research of M. Feistauer was partly supported by the research project MSM 0021620839 financed by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic and the research of L. Dubcová was partly supported by the grant No. 48607 of the Grant Agency of the Charles University. The authors acknowledge the support of these institutions.