Introduction

The Journal of Supercomputing -     

Estimation of Desired Motion Intention and compliance control for upper limb assist exoskeleton

International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems - In this paper, we have addressed two issues for upper limb assist exoskeleton. 1) Estimation of Desired Motion Intention (DMI); 2) Robust...     

A crossover‐UNIQUAC model for critical and noncritical LLE calculations

A new model, named the crossover‐UNIQUAC model, has been proposed based on the crossover procedure for predicting constant‐pressure liquid–liquid equilibria (LLE). In this manner, critical fluctuations were incorporated into the classical UNIQUAC equation. Coexistence curves were estimated for systems having a diverse range of asymmetries. These systems included the LLE of five different mixtures, composed of nitrobenzene with one of the members of the alkane homologous family (either pentane, octane, decane, dodecane, or tetradecane), as well as an extra system having a different chemical nature, namely the mixture of n‐perfluorohexane and hexane, to further check the validity of the proposed approach. Using these nonideal mixtures, the validity of the new model was investigated within wide ranges, covering near‐critical to regions falling far away from the critical point. The graphical trends, as well as the quantitative comparison with experimental data indicated the good agreement of the proposed model results with the experimental data. A maximum AARD% value of 3.97% was obtained in calculating molar compositions by the proposed model for such challenging systems covering noncritical, as well as critical regions. In addition, to show the strength of the proposed crossover approach to describe properties other than LLE, molar heat capacities were investigated for the system of nitrobenzene + dodecane. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3094–3103, 2015     

Antimicrobial protection of cotton and cotton/polyester fabrics by radiation and thermal treatments. I. Effect of ZnO formulation on the mechanical and dyeing properties

Cotton and cotton/polyester fabrics were treated against microbial attack by applying a formulation based essentially on ZnO under high‐energy radiation and thermal curing. To achieve the homogeneity and the reactivity of the treating formulation, a binder (Impron MTP) and a dispersing agent (Setamol WS) were used with ZnO. The antimicrobial property of the fabrics was evaluated, in terms of mechanical properties, by a soil burial test. Moreover, the effect of antimicrobial finishing on the dyeing properties in terms of color strength was investigated. It was found that the best composition that affords the best antimicrobial protection to cotton fabrics contains 2% ZnO, 2% binder, and 1% dispersing agents. For the cotton/polyester blend, the best results were achieved at the same conditions except the ZnO was 1%. It was found that the treatment under the effect of electron‐beam irradiation is better than that of gamma irradiation and thermal curing. The results showed that when the finishing process was carried out before dyeing with a reactive dye, it affects the color strength rather than performing the finishing after the dyeing process. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 1129–1137, 2003     

Removal of Ce(IV) and Nd(III) from Acidic Solution Using Polyacrylonitrile-Encapsulated Lithium Titanium Vanadate as an Efficient Adsorbent

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - In the present study, polyacrylonitrile was grafted onto lithium titanium vanadate (LTV) to form a lithium titanium...     

1,3,5‐Triazino Peptide Derivatives: Synthesis,Characterization, and Preliminary Antileishmanial Activity

A library of short di‐, tri‐, and tetra‐peptides with an s‐triazine moiety at the N terminus and either an amide or ethyl ester C terminus was prepared in solution and on the solid phase. The two remaining positions of the s‐triazine moiety were substituted with methoxy, morpholino, or piperidino groups. All the synthesized peptide derivatives were analyzed by HPLC and fully characterized by IR spectroscopy, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and mass spectrometry (MALDI TOF/TOF). A preliminary study of the antileishmanial activity of the 1,3,5‐triazinyl peptide derivatives revealed that four dipeptide amide derivatives showed higher antipromastigote or antiamastigote activity than the reference standard drug miltefosine with no significance acute toxicity.     

Activated polymers. II: Synthesis and exchange reactions of biologically active poly(8-acryloxyquinoline)

The monomer 8-acryloxyquinoline (8-AQ) was prepared through the reaction of 8-hydroxyquinoline with either acryloyl chloride or acrylic acid in the presence of triethylamine or N,N-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, respectively . The resulting monomer was polymerized by free radical polymerization using dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent and 2,2^'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator. The reactions of the resulting polymers with hydroxyl and amino compounds have been studied. The polymers were characterized by IR and ¹HNMR spectroscopy. Some of the synthesized polymers were tested for their antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi. Generally, all the polymers were effective against the tested microorganisms, but their growth-inhibition effects varied.     

Polymerization kinetics of indene, methyl methacrylate and acrylonitrile and characterization of their terpolymer

The free radical terpolymerization of indene (In), methyl methacrylate (MMA) and acrylonitrile (AN) has been investigated. The rate of polymerization of all the binary systems involved has been measured dilatometrically for the homogeneous polymerization. The reactivity ratios of the three binary systems were calculated and were found to be equal to 0.031 and 0.397 for In/AN copolymers and 0.02 and 3.82 for In/MMA copolymers and finally 0.152 and 1.20 for AN/MMA copolymers. The rate of terpolymerization in bulk has been measured as well as the relationship between the monomer mixture composition and the obtained terpolymer in order to construct the compositional triangle. Also the effect of initiator concentration on the rate of terpolymerization was investigated. The activation energy of terpolymerization was determined. The terpolymers were characterized by spectral and thermo-gravimetric analyses. The data indicates that polyindene improves the thermal stability of the prepared terpolymers.     

Redox shuttles for safer lithium-ion batteries

Overcharge protection is not only critical for preventing the thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries during operation, but also important for automatic capacity balancing during battery manufacturing and repair. A redox shuttle is an electrolyte additive that can be used as intrinsic overcharge protection mechanism to enhance the safety characteristics of lithium-ion batteries. The advances on stable redox shuttles are briefly reviewed. Fundamental studies for designing stable redox shuttles are also discussed.