Investigating rice straw-based solid acid catalyst to hydrolyze cellulosic materials for biohydrogen production using Enterobacter aerogenes

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - The main goal is to investigate the effect of catalytic hydrolysis using sulfonated activated carbon compared to enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic...     

Oxidation Behavior and Electrical Properties of De-siliconized AISI 430 Alloy with Mn1.5Co1.5O4 Coating for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Interconnect

Oxidation of Metals - The effect of de-siliconization on the oxidation behavior of AISI 430 stainless steel used for solid oxide fuel cell interconnect application was investigated....     

Thermosensitive biotinylated hydroxypropyl cellulose-based polymer micelles as a nano-carrier for cancer-targeted drug delivery

In this article, we report the synthesis of a novel amphiphilic hydroxypropyl cellulose-based polymer (HPC-PEG-Chol) that contained poly (ethylene glycol) and cholesterol-containing moieties with specific degrees of substitution. The resulting polymer was subsequently converted to a biotin conjugate (HPC-PEG-Chol-biotin), to develop a new potential cancer-targeted drug delivery system. The biotin conjugate was used to prepare micelles via the dialysis method. The polymeric micelles in aqueous solution presented a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of 39.8 ^oC. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) values of the polymeric micelles at 25 and 45 °C were evaluated to be about 0.32 and 0. 25 g/L, respectively. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses of the micelles revealed the spherical shapes of the micelles, with 84 nm mean diameters that increased with the increase of the temperature above LCST. The hydrophobic anticancer drug paclitaxel (PTX) was loaded in the micelles and the in vitro release behaviors of PTX were investigated at different temperatures. The release profile of PTX from the polymeric micelles revealed a thermosensitivity, since its release rate was higher at 41 °C than at 37 °C. Fluorescent microscopy analyses confirm that the PTX-loaded HPC-PEG-Chol-biotin is superior in cellular uptake, with very strong adsorption to both HeLa and MDA-MB-231 cancer cell lines. MTT assay in normal cells indicated that HPC-PEG-Chol-biotin micelles have great potential to be safely used in tumor-targeting chemotherapy.     

Dynamic Optimization and Non‐linear Model Predictive Control to Achieve Targeted Particle Morphologies

An event‐driven approach based on dynamic optimization and nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) is investigated together with inline Raman spectroscopy for process monitoring and control. The benefits and challenges in polymerization and morphology monitoring are presented, and an overview of the used mechanistic models and the details of the dynamic optimization and NMPC approach to achieve the relevant process objectives are provided. Finally, the implementation of the approach is discussed, and results from experiments in lab and pilot‐plant reactors are presented.     

A robust green traffic-based routing problem for perishable products distribution

Nowadays, transportation and logistics are considered as the drivers of economic development in the countries due to their impacts on the main variables of the country's economy such as production, employment, price, and the cost of living. Statistics indicate that fuel consumption constructs a major part of transportation costs, where its optimization leads to the creation of an energy-efficient and sustainable transportation system. On the other hand, vehicles' traffic is also one of the main criteria affecting the travel time of vehicles between demand nodes in a supply chain, increasing fuel consumption, and, consequently, damaging effects of greenhouse gasses. In this paper, a novel robust mixed-integer linear programming model is developed for a green vehicle routing problem with intermediate depots considering different urban traffic conditions, fuel consumption, time windows of services, and uncertain demand for perishable products. To validate and solve the suggested model, CPLEX solver of GAMS software is employed as an exact method. Finally, a case study problem is investigated to evaluate the applicability of the proposed model and determine the optimal managerial insights and policies in the real-world conditions using sensitivity analyses. Moreover, a novel robustness threshold comparison is conducted to find the optimal level of budget assignment.     

Biopolyamide hybrid composites for high performance applications

This study focuses on the performance characteristics of wood/short carbon fiber hybrid biopolyamide11 (PA11) composites. The composites were produced by melt‐compounding of the fibers with the polyamide via extrusion and injection molding. The results showed that mechanical properties, such as tensile and flexural strength and modulus of the wood fiber composites were significantly higher than the PA11 and hybridization with carbon fiber further enhanced the performance properties, as well as the thermal resistance of the composites. Compared to wood fiber composites (30% wood fiber), hybridization with carbon fiber (10% wood fiber and 20% carbon fiber) increased the tensile and flexural modulus by 168% and 142%, respectively. Izod impact strength of the hybrid composites exhibited a good improvement compared to wood fiber composites. Thermal properties and resistance to water absorption of the composites were improved by hybridization with carbon fiber. In overall, the study indicated that the developed hybrid composites are promising candidates for high performance applications, where high stiffness and thermal resistance are required. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43595.     

Electrodeposition modeling and optimization to improve thin film patterning with orchestrated structure evolution

Orchestrated structure evolution is an alternative nanomanufacturing approach that combines the advantages of top-down patterning and bottom-up self-organizing growth. It relies upon tool-directed patterning to create 'seed' locations on a surface from which a subsequent deposition process produces the final, merged film. Despite its demonstrated ability to reduce patterning time by orders of magnitude, our prior reliance on mass transfer limited deposition and square seed arrays resulted in extraneous film growth along pattern edges, thereby limiting the pattern quality of the final film. Here, quality improvements are demonstrated by modeling and tuning the growth mechanism of the deposition step to include charge transfer effects. In addition, a seed positioning optimization technique derived from simulated annealing is introduced as a method for relocating the seeds to minimize film overgrowth at the pattern edges. These improvements enable OSE to maintain geometric quality while substantially reducing the time and cost compared to traditional direct-write manufacturing methods.