Pd‐Ag/α‐Al2O3 Catalyst Deactivation in Acetylene Selective Hydrogenation Process

The selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene over Pd‐Ag/α‐Al₂O₃ catalysts prepared by different impregnation/reduction methods was studied. The best catalytic performance was achieved with the sample prepared by sequential impregnation. A kinetic model based on first order in acetylene and 0.5th order in hydrogen for the main reaction and second‐order independent decay law for catalyst deactivation was used to fit the conversion time data and to obtain quantitative assessment of catalyst performances. Fair fits were observed from which the reaction and deactivation rate constants were evaluated. Coke deposition amounts showed a good correlation with catalyst deactivation rate constants, indicating that coke formation should be the main cause of catalyst deactivation.     

Effect of the variations of clinker composition on the poroelastic properties of hardened class G cement paste

The effect of the variations of clinker composition on the poroelastic properties of class G oil-well cement pastes is studied using a multiscale homogenization model. The model has been calibrated in a previous work based on the results of a laboratory study. Various compositions of class G cements from literature are used in a hydration model to evaluate the volume fractions of the microstructure constituents of hardened cement paste. The poroelastic parameters such as drained bulk modulus, Biot coefficient, and Skempton coefficient are evaluated using the homogenization model. The results show that the variations in chemical composition of class G cements have no important effect on the variations of the poroelastic properties.     

On the performance and fairness of dynamic channel allocation in wireless mesh networks

Channel assignment in multichannel multiradio wireless mesh networks is a powerful resource management tool to exploit available multiple channels. Channels can be allocated either statically on the basis of long‐term steady state behavior of traffic or dynamically according to actual traffic demands. It is a common belief that dynamic schemes provide better performance; however, these two broad classes of channel allocation schemes have not been compared in detail. In this paper, we quantify the achievable performance gain and fairness improvement through an optimal dynamic channel allocation scheme. We develop optimal algorithms for a dynamic and three static schemes using mixed integer linear programming and compare them in the context of QoS provisioning, where network performance is measured in terms of acceptance rate of QoS sensitive traffic demands. Our extensive simulations show that static schemes should optimize channel allocation for long‐term traffic pattern and maintain max–min fairness to achieve acceptable performances. Although the dynamic and max–min fair static schemes accomplish the same fairness, the dynamic channel allocation outperforms the static scheme about 10% in most cases. In heavily overloaded regimes, especially when network resources are scarce, both have comparable performances, and the max–min fair scheme is preferred because it incurs less overhead. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new practical interference mitigation scheme for interference cognitive radio networks

In this paper, a new practical dirty paper coding scheme and its extension is proposed for interference mitigation of a single TV broadcast station in uplink and downlink of a cognitive radio network using both a single secondary user (SU) and multiple SU scenarios. In the single SU scenario, which is called interference cognitive radio channel, derived simulation results show that the transmission rate of the SU archives the capacity of an AWGN channel with the cost of a 2.5 dB extra signal‐to‐noise ratio. In the sequel, the proposed scheme is extended to a multiple SU scenario using direct sequence spread spectrum technique in both uplink and downlink considering a TV band. Derived simulation results show that the number of supportable SUs in our proposed scheme increases to a fully loaded scenario of the same multiuser direct sequence spread spectrum system. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-order harmonic generation by carbon nanotubes in bichromatic laser field

The generation of high-order harmonics from a single walled carbon nanotube interacting with a bichromatic laser field is investigated. We study the nonlinear motion of π electrons in metallic carbon nanotubes ((9,0) zigzag and (10,10) armchair) driven by intense laser fields and the induced current spectrum has been analyzed. The effect of variation intensity of the applied laser fields on electron current density and high-order harmonic generation is investigated. Numerical calculations show that with application of the bichromatic laser field both odd and even harmonics are generated.     

Microfiltration of Emulsified Oil Wastewater

Hydrophilic polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) membranes were employed for emulsified oil wastewater treatment. The best operating conditions for optimum flux of water, which penetrates through the membrane and rejection (prevention of oil droplets from passing though the membrane) were obtained. Concentration and pH effects on flux and rejection were determined. Increase of weight concentration caused flux decline due to the formation of a thick layer on the membrane surface. However increasing the concentration increased rejection. The pH effects were complex. By increasing the acidity of the feed, rejection was reduced.     

Multifunctional imaging of endogenous contrast by simultaneous nonlinear and optical coherence microscopy of thick tissues

A variety of high resolution optical microscopy techniques have been developed in recent years for basic and clinical studies of biological systems. We demonstrate a trimodal microscope combining optical coherence microscopy (OCM) with two forms of nonlinear microscopy, namely two-photon excited fluorescence (2PF) and second harmonic generation (SHG), for imaging turbid media. OCM combines the advantages of confocal detection and coherence gating for structural imaging in highly scattering tissues. Nonlinear microscopy enables the detection of biochemical species, such as elastin, NAD(P)H, and collagen. While 2PF arises from nonlinear excitation of fluorescent species, SHG is a form of nonlinear scattering observed in materials that lack a center of inversion symmetry, such as type I collagen. Characterization of the microscope showed nearly diffraction-limited spatial resolution in all modalities. Images were obtained in fish scales and excised human skin samples. The primary endogenous sources of contrast in the dermis were due to elastin autofluorescence and collagen SHG. Multimodal microscopy allows the simultaneous visualization of structural and functional information of biological systems.     

Measurement of Critical Current Density in Bulk Superconductors Based on Small Point Contact Characterization

A new approach to measure the critical current density of bulk superconductors is presented in this paper. In the proposed technique, the characterization uses a pulsed current which passes through a small point contact at the middle of the bulk and distributes uniformly, while the other contact is a copper ring around the bulk. By increasing the pulsed current above a threshold current, a normal zone appears and develops into a semi-oblate spheroid forming around the contact point. By analyzing its size and shape, and electromagnetic fundamentals, the voltage–current relationship in the normal zone is obtainable. In addition, experimental works have been performed and the results are in agreement with the theoretical analysis. In this characterization method, the obtained voltage–current relationship and the acquired experimental results lead to the critical current density measurement in the bulk superconductor pellet.     

The effect of nisin and garlic (Allium sativum L.) essential oil separately and in combination on the growth of Listeria monocytogenes

In the present study, the anti-listerial activity of the nisin and garlic (Allium sativum L.) essential oils (GO) alone and in combination was investigated at different temperatures (20 and 30 °C), pH (6.8, 5.6 and 4.8) and NaCl concentrations (0, 0.5, 2.5 and 4.5 g/100 mL). Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against Listeria monocytogenes were assessed for the nisin and essential oil. Furthermore, for combinations of the antimicrobials, the Differences in Population (DP) method were used to determine their effect. Both essential oil and nisin possessed considerable antimicrobial effects on the microorganism. The MICs for nisin and GO were 12.5 IU/mL and 100 μg/mL, respectively. Regardless of NaCl concentration and temperature, the anti-listerial activity of both GO and nisin was strongly influenced by pH. Moreover, at the same temperature, and regardless of pH value, the growth of the organism was also affected by increasing NaCl concentration. In combination, the DP was related strongly to the agent’s concentration and media pH. Meanwhile, among all combined systems, the effect of the combination (EC) of nisin with GO at 30 °C, pH 5.6 and 0 g/100 mL NaCl, showed significant anti-listerial activity (P ≤ 0.05).