Effect of nanoclay on fatigue life of hot mix asphalt

The aim of this research is to investigate effect of two types of nanoclay additives, namely Cloisite 15-A and Cloisite 30-B, on fatigue life of asphalt mixes. Indirect tensile-resilient modulus and four-pointed beam fatigue tests were employed for this purpose. Results of both tests indicated that nanoclay additives improve fatigue life at 25°C but they have negative impact on it at 5°C. Moreover, Cloisite 15-A was found more effective at both temperatures regarding fatigue life.     

Imidazolium-based Alkylsulfate Ionic Liquids and Removal of Sulfur Content From Model of Gasoline

Two ionic liquids, butyl-methyl-imidazolium octylsulfate, [BMIM][OCSO₄], and ethyl-methyl-imidazolium ethylsulfate, [EMIM][EtSO₄], were demonstrated to be effective for the removal of aromatic sulfur compounds such as benzothiophene and thiophene from model of gasoline. Organic compounds with higher aromatic π-electron density were favorably adsorbed by using ionic liquids. It was shown that the extractive ability of the alkylsulfate IL_s was dominated by the structure and size of cation and anion. The cation and anion structure and size of ionic liquids are important factors affecting the absorption capacity for aromatic compounds. It is found that [BMIM][OCSO₄] has the best effect on the selective removal of sulfur compounds from gasoline. Sulfur extractive selectivity for specified IL followed the order BT>T>3-MT>2-MT.     

Optimization of zinc‐nickel film electrodeposition for better corrosion resistant characteristics

Corrosion is one of the main causes of structural deterioration in offshore and marine structures. One way to mitigate the effect of corrosion is with Zn‐Ni electroplated coatings. An experimental design and optimization procedures for Zn‐Ni alloy electroplating was an explored. This study analyzed a five‐variable experimental plan comprised of four steps: (1) a two‐level fractional factorial design (FFD); (2) a response surface design the steepest ascent analysis; (3) a central composite design (CCD); and (4) a corrosion behaviour test to optimize the factors in Zn‐Ni deposition. The critical plating variables in step 1 were zinc/nickel molar concentration ratio, current density, citrate concentrations, plating temperature, and plating time, used to determine their influence on the polarization resistance and corrosion resistance. In steps 2 and 3 the significant variables were studied using the steepest ascent method and the central composite design (CCD) to find the most optimal conditions for zinc‐nickel electroplating. These conditions were found to be a Zn/Ni molar concentration ratio of 0.66, a plating temperature of 28 °C, an electroplating current density of 60 mA/cm², an electroplating time of 13 min, and a citrate concentration of 0.062 mol/L. The corrosion behaviour test of step 4 showed that the films with a higher intensity of the γ‐NiZn₃, γ‐Ni₂Zn₁₁, and γ‐Ni₃Zn₂₂ phases exhibited better corrosion resistance.     

Microchannel heat transfer and dispersion of nanoparticles in slip flow regime with constant heat flux

If the hydrodynamic diameter of a channel is comparable with the mean free path of the gas molecules moving inside the channel, the fluid can no longer be considered to be in thermodynamic equilibrium and a variety of non-continuum or rarefaction effects can occur. To avoid enormous complexity and extensive numerical cost encountered in modeling of nonlinear Boltzmann equations, the Navier–Stokes equations can be solved considering the concepts of slip flow regime and applying slip velocity boundary conditions at the solid walls.     

Stress Driven Discovery of Natural Products From Actinobacteria with Anti-Oxidant and Cytotoxic Activities Including Docking and ADMET Properties

Elicitation through abiotic stress, including chemical elicitors like heavy metals, is a new technique for drug discovery. In this research, the effect of heavy metals on actinobacteria Streptomyces sp. SH-1312 for secondary metabolite production, with strong pharmacological activity, along with pharmacokinetics profile, was firstly investigated. The optimum metal stress conditions consisted of actinobacteria strain Streptomyces sp. SH-1312 with addition of mix metals (Co²⁺ + Zn²⁺) ions at 0.5 mM in Gause’s medium. Under these conditions, the stress metabolite anhydromevalonolactone (MVL) was produced, which was absent in the normal culture of strain and other metals combinations. Furthermore, the stress metabolite was also evaluated for its anti-oxidant and cytotoxic activities. The compound exhibited remarkable anti-oxidant activities, recording the IC₅₀ value of 19.65 ± 5.7 µg/mL in DPPH, IC₅₀ of 15.49 ± 4.8 against NO free radicals, the IC₅₀ value of 19.65 ± 5.22 µg/mL against scavenging ability, and IC₅₀ value of 19.38 ± 7.11 µg/mL for iron chelation capacity and the cytotoxic activities against PC3 cell lines were recorded with IC₅₀ values of 35.81 ± 4.2 µg/mL after 24 h, 23.29 ± 3.8 µg/mL at 48 h, and 16.25 ± 6.5 µg/mL after 72 h. Further mechanistic studies have revealed that the compound MVL has shown its pharmacological efficacy by upregulation of P53 and BAX while downregulation of BCL-2 expression, indicating that MVL is following apoptosis in varying degrees. To better understand the pharmacological properties of MVL, in this work, the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) were also evaluated. During ADMET predictions, MVL has displayed a safer profile in case of hepatotoxicity, cytochrome inhibition and also displayed as non-cardiotoxic. The compound MVL showed good binding energy in the molecular docking studies, and the results revealed that MVL bind in the active region of the target protein of P53 and BAX. This work triumphantly announced a prodigious effect of heavy metals on actinobacteria with fringe benefits as a key tool of MVL production with a strong pharmacological and pharmacokinetic profile.     

On the pitting corrosion of tin in aqueous solutions

Four independent techniques were employed to prove that Sn undergoes pitting corrosion. The first was based on the measurement of the variation of the open circuit potential of the Sn electrode in aerated Cl^? solutions of various concentrations. Steady-state potentials were attained slowly and erratically from negative values, and were more positive the higher the dilution. Sn electrodes prepassivated in CrO₄^2? solutions responded readily to additions of Cl^? ion. The potentials developed were more noble than those measured in presence of the passivator alone, and changed to positive values with the increase of the concentration of the pitting corrosion agent. Attack was under cathodic control.Galvanostatic polarization of the Sri electrode was carried out in 0.005 to 0.1M NaOH, in the presence of various additions of Cl^?. Above a certain Cl^? content, contingent upon the alkali concentration, the aggressive anion prevented the evolution of Oa on the electrode, and oscillations in the E?t curves were recorded. Competitive adsorption of Cl^? and OH^? is assumed to occur, which affected both the quantity of electricity, Q_p, consumed along the oxide formation steps, and the rate of potential increase, dE/dt, following oxidation. Plots of the two variables as a function of the Cl^? ion concentration exhibited a definite break at the value characteristic for the initiation of pitting attack. Potentiodynamic polarization showed that the pitting corrosion potential progressively shifts towards negative values as the concentration of the aggressive agent in solution was increased. The pitting corrosion currents resulting from the addition of Cl^? to Sn electrodes prepassivated in CrO₄^2? solutions were measured. The dependence of the maximum currents on solution composition is explained on the basis of competitive adsorption.     

Persistent Fibroadipogenic Progenitor Expansion Following Transient DUX4 Expression Provokes a Profibrotic State in a Mouse Model for FSHD

FSHD is caused by loss of silencing of the DUX4 gene, but the DUX4 protein has not yet been directly detected immunohistologically in affected muscle, raising the possibility that DUX4 expression may occur at time points prior to obtaining adult biopsies for analysis, with consequent perturbations of muscle being responsible for disease progression. To test the extent to which muscle can regenerate following DUX4-mediated degeneration, we employed an animal model with reversible DUX4 expression, the iDUX4pA;HSA mouse. We find that muscle histology does recover substantially after DUX4 expression is switched off, with the extent of recovery correlating inversely with the duration of prior DUX4 expression. However, despite fairly normal muscle histology, and recovery of most cytological parameters, the fibroadipogenic progenitor compartment, which is significantly elevated during bouts of fiber-specific DUX4 expression, does not return to basal levels, even many weeks after a single burst of DUX4 expression. We find that muscle that has recovered from a DUX4 burst acquires a propensity for severe fibrosis, which can be revealed by subsequent cardiotoxin injuries. These results suggest that a past history of DUX4 expression leads to maintained pro-fibrotic alterations in the cellular physiology of muscle, with potential implications for therapeutic approaches.     

Use of adaptive RLS, LMS, and NLMS algorithms for nonlinearity modeling in a modified laser interferometer

Laser heterodyne interferometer is one kind of nano-metrology systems which has been widely used in industry for high-accuracy displacement measurements. The accuracy of the nano-metrology systems based on the laser heterodyne interferometers can be effectively limited by the periodic nonlinearity. In this paper, we present the nonlinearity modeling of the nano-metrology interferometric system using some adaptive filters. The adaptive algorithms consist of the least mean squares (LMS), normalized least mean squares (NLMS), and recursive least squares (RLS). It is shown that the RLS algorithm can obtain optimal modeling parameters of nonlinearity.     

Improved and selective platinum recovery from spent alpha-alumina supported catalysts using pretreated anionic ion exchange resin

Improved and selective recovery of platinum from a spent dehydrogenation platinum alpha-alumina supported catalyst using a strong basic ion exchange resin is reported. Platinum and other precious metal group (PMG) complexes are leached using concentrated hydrochloric acid along with about 0.20 vol.% nitric acid as an oxidizing agent from de-coked and crushed spent catalyst. Effects of hydrochloric acid concentration, time, and temperature in leaching stage are investigated. The strong basic anionic resin is treated by sodium hydroxide solution to replace chloride anion by hydroxyl group ion. The supernatant of the leaching process is passed through a fixed column of hydroxylated strong base anionic resin. The treated resin on which the platinum complex is adsorbed is dried and burned in an oxidizing atmosphere at 750-800 degrees C. The recovered gray metallic powder is mainly platinum. Results compared with those obtained from untreated anionic resin show that adsorption of platinum complexes onto the treated anionic resin is more selective and the yield of separation is considerably improved. The breakthrough curves of the pretreated anion exchanger and that of untreated exchange resin reveals that the capacity of the hyroxilated resin is decreased by about 14%. These breakthrough curves can be used for calculation of height of a practical exchange plate (HPEP) for design purposes.