An arbitrary Lagrangian‐Eulerian framework with exact mass conservation for the numerical simulation of 2D rising bubble problem

An arbitrary Lagrangian‐Eulerian framework, which combines the advantages of both Lagrangian and Eulerian methods, is presented to solve incompressible multiphase flow problems. The incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations are discretized using the side‐centered unstructured finite volume method, where the velocity vector components are defined at the midpoint of each cell face, while the pressure term is defined at element centroids. The pressure field is treated to be discontinuous across the interface with the discontinuous treatment of density and viscosity. The surface tension term at the interface is treated as a force tangent to the interface and computed with several different approaches including the use of Legendre polynomials. In addition, the several different discretizations of interface kinematic boundary conditions are investigated. For the application of the interface kinematic boundary condition, a special attention is given to satisfy both local and global discrete geometric conservation law to conserve the total mass of both species at machine precision. The mesh vertices are deformed by solving the linear elasticity equations due to the normal displacement of interface. The resulting algebraic equations are solved in a fully coupled manner, and a one‐level restricted additive Schwarz preconditioner with a block‐incomplete factorization within each partitioned subdomain is used for the resulting fully coupled system. The method is validated by simulating the classical benchmark problem of a single rising bubble in a viscous fluid due to buoyancy. The results of numerical simulations are found out to be in an excellent agreement with the earlier results in the literature. The mass of the bubble is conserved, and discontinuous pressure field is obtained to avoid errors due to the incompressibility condition in the vicinity of the interface, where the density and viscosity jumps occur.     

Biomechanical Strain Exacerbates Inflammation on a Progeria‐on‐a‐Chip Model

Organ‐on‐a‐chip platforms seek to recapitulate the complex microenvironment of human organs using miniaturized microfluidic devices. Besides modeling healthy organs, these devices have been used to model diseases, yielding new insights into pathophysiology. Hutchinson‐Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a premature aging disease showing accelerated vascular aging, leading to the death of patients due to cardiovascular diseases. HGPS targets primarily vascular cells, which reside in mechanically active tissues. Here, a progeria‐on‐a‐chip model is developed and the effects of biomechanical strain are examined in the context of vascular aging and disease. Physiological strain induces a contractile phenotype in primary smooth muscle cells (SMCs), while a pathological strain induces a hypertensive phenotype similar to that of angiotensin II treatment. Interestingly, SMCs derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells of HGPS donors (HGPS iPS‐SMCs), but not from healthy donors, show an exacerbated inflammatory response to strain. In particular, increased levels of inflammation markers as well as DNA damage are observed. Pharmacological intervention reverses the strain‐induced damage by shifting gene expression profile away from inflammation. The progeria‐on‐a‐chip is a relevant platform to study biomechanics in vascular biology, particularly in the setting of vascular disease and aging, while simultaneously facilitating the discovery of new drugs and/or therapeutic targets.     

Electro-optical properties,decomposition pathways and the hydrostatic pressure-dependent behaviours of a double-cation hydrogen storage material of $$\hbox {Al}_{3}\hbox {Li}_{4}(\hbox {BH}_{4})_{13}$$

Electro-optical properties, the decomposition pathways and the pressure-dependent behaviours of \(\hbox {Al}_{3}\hbox {Li}_{4}(\hbox {BH}_{4})_{13}\) have been investigated using a first-principle plane-wave pseudopotential method. \(\hbox {Al}_{3}\hbox {Li}_{4}(\hbox {BH}_{4})_{13}\) is a kind of double-cation borohydride, consisting of distorted tetrahedral anions \([\hbox {Al}(\hbox {BH}_{4})_{4}]^{-}\) and cations \([\hbox {Li}_{4}(\hbox {BH}_{4})]^{3+}\), which obeys the stability criteria of decomposition reactions. Herein, two possible decomposition reactions of the compound are proposed, which release 18 hydrogen molecules (about 12.03 wt%) in the first reaction and 24 hydrogen molecules (about 16.04 wt%) in the second reaction. On increasing the pressure on the structure, the lattice parameter, the volume of unit cell, the quasiparticle band gap and also enthalpy of the system decrease nearly monotonically; therefore, the acceptor levels gradually get filled and the Fermi level shifts upward. Results of computational investigations of the structural, electronic and thermodynamic parameters and their pressure-dependent behaviours indicate that \(\hbox {Al}_{3}\hbox {Li}_{4}(\hbox {BH}_{4})_{13}\) has intriguing properties. Therefore, it would be a very promising material for hydrogen storage technology.     

Effect of pulse potential on alkaline water electrolysis performance

In this study, the effect of pulse potential on alkaline water electrolysis energy consumption is investigated. A specially designed electrical circuit is used to observe the effect of different duty cycles and frequency values on water electrolysis energy consumption in different concentration values of alkaline solution. The results show that using pulse potential enhances the mass transport of oxygen and hydrogen bubbles due to the pumping effect. This provides less contact with oxygen bubbles to improve corrosion resistance of anode electrodes. Moreover, decreasing mass transfer losses on the electrode surface resulted in a 20–25% lower energy consumption to produce 1 mol of hydrogen in the cell. The optimum frequency for 10% and 50% duty cycle and 10% and 15% concentration are investigated. For 10% duty cycle, the optimum frequency is specified around 140–200 kHz and for 50% duty cycle, it is around 380–400 kHz for all concentration values.     

Effects of natural antioxidants in the improvement of corn oil quality: olive leaf vs. lemon balm

Commercially available corn oil was enriched in polyphenols by adding olive leaf and lemon balm extracts, respectively. First, dried and ground plants were extracted through homogeniser‐assisted extraction. Then, the dried extracts were partially dissolved into the corn oil by means of solid–liquid extraction method. Total phenolic content increased 9.5 and 2.5 times over the pure corn oil. The antioxidant activities of enriched oil by olive leaf and lemon balm extracts have been found almost 14 and 6 times higher than that of untreated oil, respectively. Olive leaf extract enhanced the quality better than lemon balm extract with respect to carotenoid (TCC) and chlorophyll contents. Addition of 0.12–0.15% natural antioxidants gave rise to increase in the stability of the oil (≈18%).     

A new MILP model proposal in feed formulation and using a hybrid-linear binary PSO (H-LBP) approach for alternative solutions

Large-scale feed factories may have multiple production and storage facilities. Any production facility uses its own available raw materials while performing feed formulation. However, ensuring a reasonable cost is achieved, and the desired quality criteria are met, may require obtaining a certain amount of raw material from other facilities. Selecting a specific amount of raw materials among many raw materials in different facilities requires many combinations to be tried out. Providing solutions, especially when there is a large amount of the raw material, may be costly and take more time. A new mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model that specifies the type of material and the amount of the material to be selected from external facilities has been proposed in this study. When deterministic methods like MILP are used, only one solution result is obtained. However, when the decision-maker would like to see alternative results, solution constraints can be mitigated and a solution provided within the same or similar time. A new method named hybrid-linear binary PSO (H-LBP) has been proposed in this study for the problems that the decision-maker had limited time for and for which the solution results were required in a shorter time. Continuous particle swarm optimization, which works as a hybrid with linear programming, has been used in this method. The new model proposed in this study was tested on the mixed feeds for sheep, cattle and rabbit species by using both MILP and the proposed H-LBP methods. Raw materials determined by the model were added to the mixture, and the cost in each of the three species was observed to go down. In addition, different alternative solutions at reasonable cost and similar quality were presented to the producer/decision-maker in a shorter time.

     

Reconstitution of the dynamics of an urban building stock

What are the patterns and influences on the lifespan of the building stock? This paper presents (1) the reconstitution of an urban building stock composed of more than 60 000 buildings, (2) the analysis of the development of this stock over a period of 180 years (constructions and demolitions), and (3) the analysis of building mortality patterns and reasons for demolition resulting from historic decisions and regimes. A method to reconstitute the stock from different data sources is presented. The mortality models take into account not only the present demolition rates and the age distribution of the ‘survivors' but also the disappeared buildings. The main results are new insights into the lifespan behaviour of buildings according to their period of construction (cohorts) as well as the reasons for demolition. The demolitions do not show specific explanation patterns, but changing influences of the construction activities over time. The average demolition age of all buildings in Zurich, Switzerland, decreased from over 200 years to fewer than 70 years. A total of 18 000 buildings have been demolished over the 180-year period. The presented methods and results can be integrated in multidimensional geographical information systems (GIS) as comprehensive planning, scenario and regulatory tools.     

Fabrication of self-functionalized polymeric surfaces and their application in electrochemical acetaminophen detection

Conducting polymer coatings have offered functionalized surfaces having good electrical, mechanical, and physical properties. In this work, electrochemical preparation and characterization of polypyrrole/polypyrrole-3-carboxylic acid (PPy/PPa) copolymer onto single-use pencil graphite electrodes (PGEs) were described and detailed. Then, the application of these electrodes was demonstrated for the detection a commonly used analgesic, acetaminophen (AC) (paracetamol). Copolymer was deposited onto PGEs using cyclic voltammetry (CV) between +0.0 V and +1.0 V versus Ag/AgCl. Experimental conditions such as the effect of monomer ratios (3:1–6:1) and cyclic scans (1 cycle to 10 cycles) on electropolymerization were examined. Coated surfaces were characterized with CV and scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical response of the electrode in AC at various pH values was evaluated. Then, AC detection was performed based on the oxidation signal of the drug at about +0.55 V versus Ag/AgCl using differential pulse voltammetry in buffer and body fluid (serum).