Antifungal efficiency of corona pretreated polyester and polyamide fabrics loaded with Ag nanoparticles

This study discusses the possibility of using the corona (electric discharge at atmospheric pressure) treatment for fiber surface activation that can facilitate the loading of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) from colloids onto the polyester and polyamide fabrics and thus enhance their antifungal activity against Candida albicans. The laundering durability of achieved effects and the influence of dyeing of fabrics with disperse dyes on their antifungal efficiency were studied. The morphology of fibers loaded with Ag nanoparticles was characterized by SEM whereas X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used for the evaluation of surface chemical changes. Corona pretreated polyester and polyamide fabrics loaded with Ag nanoparticles showed better antifungal properties compared to untreated fabrics. The advantage of corona treated fabrics became even more prominent after washing test, particularly for polyester fabrics. Antifungal efficiency of polyester and polyamide fabrics loaded with Ag nanoparticles were almost unaffected by dyeing process.     

Design of Mobile Phones for Older Adults: An Empirical Analysis of Design Guidelines and Checklists for Feature Phones and Smartphones

Design guidelines and checklists are suggested as a useful tool in the development and evaluation of interface design of mobile phones for older adults. Given the intense evolution of mobile phone design, understanding how the design guidelines and checklists have taken into account the advances in mobile phone usability for older adults is important for their correct application and future development. Thus, this study explores the usability dimensions of mobile phone design for older adults and the related changes in terms of time and the type of device (feature phones vs. smartphones) based on an expert coding of the eight mobile phone design guidelines and checklists for older adults published between 2006 and 2014. The results of the expert coding show that design guidelines and checklists most frequently deal with visual and haptic issues (e.g., high contrast, button type, and button size), whilst they hardly ever address various elements of textual interface (e.g., ease of text entry, a button’s feedback, and font type). Over time, the design guidelines and checklists have become more complex in terms of the average number of included usability categories and dimensions. For smartphones, the guidelines, on average, put more emphasis on the screen, touchscreen, text, and exterior related issues, whereas the design guidelines for feature phones stress the usability of the keypad and menus. Besides revealing potential usability dimensions that could be further expanded in the guidelines, this study also highlights the need for research that would empirically validate the design guidelines and checklists in the future.     

Methyl methacrylate and acrylamide crosslinked macroporous copolymers

In this work the synthesis of a crosslinked macroporous copolymer was effected from methyl methacrylate and acrylamide. The synthesis process began with emulsion prepolymerization, followed by sol–gel copolymerization until a hard block was obtained. Determination of the properties of the obtained material was carried out by FTIR, mercury porosimetry, and SEM microscopy. The material was characterized by a porous structure with open pores. The macroporous copolymer obtained can be used for polymer–analog reactions and the transformation of amide and ester groups into acyl azide groups. It can be used as a hard inert support for the immobilization of enzymes, or other proteins, by condensation of acyl azide group on polymer with the free amino group from the base amino acid of enzyme/protein. For the immobilization of microorganisms it can be used by vacuum diffusion of microorganism suspension into the porous structure, without active group transformation reactions. With microorganisms in the polymer pores, microorganism colonies form within the copolymer by microbial fermentation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 387–395, 2004     

Predicting piezometric water level in dams via artificial neural networks

The safety control of dams is based on measurements of parameters of interest such as seepage flows, seepage water clarity, piezometric levels, water levels, pressures, deformations or movements, temperature variations, loading conditions, etc. Interpretation of these large sets of available data is very important for dam health monitoring and it is based on mathematical models. Modelling seepage through geological formations located near the dam site or dam bodies is a challenging task in dam engineering. The objective of this study is to develop a feedforward neural network (FNN) model to predict the piezometric water level in dams. An improved resilient propagation algorithm has been used to train the FNN. The measured data have been compared with the results of FNN models and multiple linear regression (MLR) models that have been widely used in analysis of the structural dam behaviour. The FNN and MLR models have been developed and tested using experimental data collected during 9 years. The results of this study show that FNN models can be a powerful and important tool which can be used to assess dams.     

Application of feedforward neural network in the study of dissociated gas flow along the porous wall

This paper concerns the use of feedforward neural networks (FNN) for predicting the nondimensional velocity of the gas that flows along a porous wall. The numerical solution of partial differential equations that govern the fluid flow is applied for training and testing the FNN. The equations were solved using finite differences method by writing a FORTRAN code. The Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm is used to train the neural network. The optimal FNN architecture was determined. The FNN predicted values are in accordance with the values obtained by the finite difference method (FDM). The performance of the neural network model was assessed through the correlation coefficient (r), mean absolute error (MAE) and mean square error (MSE). The respective values of r, MAE and MSE for the testing data are 0.9999, 0.0025 and 1.9998 · 10^?5.     

An adsorption-based mercury sensor with continuous readout

A novel readout procedure for a mercury sensor has been proposed. The sensor is based on the surface adsorption. Mercury vapor is adsorbed at the surface of a thin gold layer patterned into four meanders which are connected into a Wheatstone bridge configuration. Sensing is achieved by the resistivity change of the gold film during mercury adsorption. Direct output from the sensor is electric voltage. It takes an additional procedure to convert voltage to mercury concentration. This type of sensor is improved by introducing continuous readout procedure for the voltage–concentration conversion. By using this readout procedure it is possible to monitor mercury vapor concentration as a function of time. Readout is based on the Langmuir time–dependent adsorption theory. This paper illustrates a practical implementation of the new readout procedure.     

Comparative Analysis of Methods for Determination of Arsenic in Coal and Coal Ash

Abstract

In this paper the comparative analysis of different methods for the preparation and analysis of arsenic content in coal and coal ash have been presented. The suggested method is coal digestion method, i.e., coal ash digestion using the mixture of acids: nitric and sulphuric in presence of vanadium-pentoxide as catalyzer. The comparative analysis of different recording techniques (AAS-GH, AAS-GF and ICP-AES) has also been presented. For arsenic recording the suggested technique is AAS-GF technique. The obtained results show that the method of high precision, high sensitivity and high reproductivity has been obtained.     

New technique for effective dose estimation using Monte Carlo simulation for the patients undergoing radioiodine therapy

We presume that radioiodine capsule, used for therapy, stays in stomach for 15 min before the absorption starts when large amount of radioactivity needlessly expose a part of stomach and several surrounding organs. Investigations were performed at Institute of Pathophysiology and Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia. Eighty-seven patients were reviewed, age between 21 and 73. Patients were divided in 20 groups receiving average dose per group from 1813 MBq to 6105 MBq. We used Monte Carlo MCNP 4b code and gave the results only for administrated activity of 6105 MBq. Calculated results are given for imparted energy per transformation, dose equivalent and effective doses for different organs. The effective doses were between 9.17 nSv (for bone surface) to 122.4 mSv (for stomach). As the total dose is estimated to be 126.73 mSv it is obvious that the highest part is received by stomach.     

Challenges in using a probabilistic safety assessment in a risk informed process (illustrated using risk informed inservice inspection)

Many of the ongoing and expected uses of Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA)¹ create new challenges to ensuring that the resulting conclusions are valid. This paper provides a summary of some of these challenges. Work conducted by the authors on Risk-Informed Inservice Inspection (RI-ISI) is used to illustrate these challenges. Means to address all of the challenges are not provided in detail in this paper. Several earlier papers discuss how these challenges can be addressed. References are provided for the interested reader (Chapman JR et al. In: PSA '95, vol. 1, Seoul, 1995: 177–80; Chapman JR et al. In: ICONE-IV, New Orleans, 1996; Dimitrijevic VB et al. In: Croatian Nuclear Society International Conference, Opatija, 1996: 245–54; Dimitrijevic VB et al. In: Croatian Nuclear Society International Conference, Opatija, 1996: 255–62; Dimitrijevic VB. In: Yugoslav Nuclear Society Conference, Belgrade, 1996: 53–61; O'Regan PJ et al. In: PSA '95, Seoul, vol. 1, 1995: 403–5; O'Regan PJ. In: ICONE-IV, vol. 5, New Orleans, 1996: 277–80).