Modification of PES/PU membrane by supercritical CO2 to enhance CO2/CH4 selectivity: Fabrication and correlation approach using RSM

Integrally skinned asymmetric gas separation membranes of polyethersulfone (PES)/polyurethane (PU) blend were prepared using supercritical CO₂ (SC-CO₂) as a nonsolvent for the polymer solution. The membrane consisted of a dense and a porous layer, which were conjoined to separate CO₂ from CH₄. The FTIR, DSC, tensile and SEM tests were performed to study and characterize the membranes. The results revealed that an increase in SC-CO₂ temperature causes an increment in permeance and a decrease in membrane selectivity. Furthermore, by raising the pressure, both permeance and selectivity increased. The modified membrane with SC-CO₂ had much higher selectivity, about 5.5 times superior to the non-modified membrane. This higher selectivity performance compared to previous works was obtained by taking the advantages of both using partial miscible blend polymer due to the strong polar–polar interaction between PU PES and SC-CO₂ to fabricate the membrane. The response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to find the relationships between several explanatory variables and CO₂ and CH₄ permeance and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity as responses. Finally, the results were validated with the experimental data, which the model results were in good agreement with the available experimental data.     

Chitin-Derived AVR-48 Prevents Experimental Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD) and BPD-Associated Pulmonary Hypertension in Newborn Mice

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common complication of prematurity and a key contributor to the large health care burden associated with prematurity, longer hospital stays, higher hospital costs, and frequent re-hospitalizations of affected patients through the first year of life and increased resource utilization throughout childhood. This disease is associated with abnormal pulmonary function that may lead to BPD-associated pulmonary hypertension (PH), a major contributor to neonatal mortality and morbidity. In the absence of any definitive treatment options, this life-threatening disease is associated with high resource utilization during and after neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay. The goal of this study was to test the safety and efficacy of a small molecule derivative of chitin, AVR-48, as prophylactic therapy for preventing experimental BPD in a mouse model. Two doses of AVR-48 were delivered either intranasally (0.11 mg/kg), intraperitoneally (10 mg/kg), or intravenously (IV) (10 mg/kg) to newborn mouse pups on postnatal day (P)2 and P4. The outcomes were assessed by measuring total inflammatory cells in the broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF), chord length, septal thickness, and radial alveolar counts of the alveoli, Fulton’s Index (for PH), cell proliferation and cell death by immunostaining, and markers of inflammation by Western blotting and ELISA. The bioavailability and safety of the drug were assessed by pharmacokinetic and toxicity studies in both neonatal mice and rat pups (P3-P5). Following AVR-48 treatment, alveolar simplification was improved, as evident from chord length, septal thickness, and radial alveolar counts; total inflammatory cells were decreased in the BALF; Fulton’s Index was decreased and lung inflammation and cell death were decreased, while angiogenesis and cell proliferation were increased. AVR-48 was found to be safe and the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) in rat pups was determined to be 100 mg/kg when delivered via IV dosing with a 20-fold safety margin. With no reported toxicity and with a shorter half-life, AVR-48 is able to reverse the worsening cardiopulmonary phenotype of experimental BPD and BPD-PH, compared to controls, thus positioning it as a future drug candidate.     

Effect of Sand Columns on the Undrained Load Response of Soft Clays

When sand columns are used as vertical drains in soil improvement schemes, the possible reinforcing role that these columns can play in regards to improving the bearing capacity is usually neglected in design. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the degree of improvement in the mechanical properties of soft clays in practical applications involving the use of sand drains or sand columns in clayey soils. For this purpose, 32 isotropically consolidated undrained triaxial tests were performed on normally consolidated kaolin specimens. The parameters that were varied were the diameter of the sand columns, the height of the columns, the type of columns (geotextile encased versus nonencased), and the effective confining pressure. Test results indicated that sand columns improved the undrained strength significantly even for area replacement ratios that were less than 18%. The increase in undrained strength was accompanied by a decrease in pore pressure generation during shear and an increase in Young’s modulus. The drained shear strength parameters were found to be relatively unaffected by the sand column reinforcement, except for fully penetrating columns with high area replacement ratios.     

Thermal decomposition of polystyrene

Kinetic studies on the decomposition of polystyrene samples with molecular weights ranging from 900 to 1.8 × 10⁶ have been carried out making use of the differential thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric techniques. Changes in molecular weight distributions with decomposition, at different temperatures or times, have been studied by gel permeation chromatography. This technique was likewise used to carry out component splitting of the undecomposed polymer samples. These components have been shown to break down statistically primarily by a process of random scissions yielding lower molecular weight products. The major portion of the observed weight loss, by the volatilization of small chain segments, is attributed to a rapid and complete depolymerization of chains. These interpretations are based on changes in polydispersity occurring during the decompositions. Similar components, decomposing in a different manner but under identical operating conditions, are suspected of being different stereoregular forms of the polymer. The order of reaction as computed from the method of Freeman and Carroll has been found to be zero for random scissions and one for the process of depolymerization. The activation energy computed by the method of Coats and Redfern was found to increase with molecular weight reaching a maximum value in the 10⁵ molecular weight range.     

Rational synthesis of p-type zinc oxide nanowire arrays using simple chemical vapor deposition

We report, for the first time, the synthesis of the high-quality p-type ZnO NWs using a simple chemical vapor deposition method, where phosphorus pentoxide has been used as the dopant source. Single-crystal phosphorus doped ZnO NWs have their growth axis along the 001 direction and form perfect vertical arrays on a-sapphire. P-type doping was confirmed by photoluminescence measurements at various temperatures and by studying the electrical transport in single NWs field-effect transistors. Comparisons of the low-temperature PL of unintentionally doped ZnO (n-type), as-grown phosphorus-doped ZnO, and annealed phosphorus-doped ZnO NWs show clear differences related to the presence of intragap donor and acceptor states. The electrical transport measurements of phosphorus-doped NW FETs indicate a transition from n-type to p-type conduction upon annealing at high temperature, in good agreement with the PL results. The synthesis of p-type ZnO NWs enables novel complementary ZnO NW devices and opens up enormous opportunities for nanoscale electronics, optoelectronics, and medicines.     

Ion dynamics in plasma sheath under the effect of E×B and collisional forces

Using the fluid model, we investigated the velocity, kinetic energy and the density distribution of the ions in collisional and collisionless magnetized plasma sheath. Considering an external magnetic field, the ion movement under the effect of magnetic, electric and collisional forces has been analyzed numerically. The nonexistence of fluctuations in ions kinetic energy in collisionless strong magnetized plasma sheath and increasing the ions velocity in depth direction due to the collisions in some positions in the sheath are shown. The fluctuations of ion velocity in weak magnetized plasma sheath are shown too when ions enter the sheath with oblique incident angle.     

Determination of zearalenone in corn flour and a cheese snack product using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

The presence of the mycotoxin zearalenone in corn flour and a cheese snack derived from this was determined. Thirty-eight samples (corn flour and cheese snacks) of different brands were analysed for zearalenone using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Zearalenone was detected in corn flour and cheese snack samples with average content of 0.377 ppm (maximum, 0.889 ppm) and 0.832 ppm (maximum, 1.471 ppm) respectively. The recovery from spiked corn flour and cheese snack samples ranged from 70-87%. The method had a limit of detection of 0.01 µg ml^-1. The linearity of method was determined (y = 5.88 x + 0.25, r² = 0.9999), and optimum assay range was 0.05-30 µg ml^-1. The occurrence of zearalenone in the maize product confirms the need to assess the exposure of the Iranian population to this mycotoxin.     

In situ gel forming systems of poloxamer 407 and hydroxypropyl cellulose or hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose mixtures for controlled delivery of vancomycin

Poloxamers are a family of triblock copolymers consisting of two hydrophilic blocks of polyoxyethylene separated by a hydrophobic block of polyoxypropylene, which form micelles at low concentrations and form clear thermally reversible gels at high concentrations. The objective of this study was to develop an in situ gel forming drug delivery system for vancomycin using the minimum possible ratio of poloxamer 407 (P407). Decreasing the concentration of poloxamer could reduce the risk of hypertriglyceridemia induction. Different additives were added to the poloxamer formulations. It was observed that among different additives, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) can decrease poloxamer concentration required to form in situ gelation from 18 to 10%. The dynamic viscoelastic properties of the samples were determined. Both the storage modulus and the loss modulus of the samples increased abruptly as the temperature passed a certain point. The gelling temperature was in the order of P407 : HPC (10 : 10 w/w) < P407 : HPMC (10 : 10 w/w) < P407 : HPMC (15 : 5 w/w) < P407 : HPC (15 : 5 w/w). Drug release rate could be controlled by changing the type and ratio of additives as well as the amount of drug loaded. It can be concluded that combining P407 and cellulose derivatives could be a promising strategy for preparation of thermally reversible in situ gel forming delivery systems with low poloxamer concentration. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Retraction Note to: Computer-aided prediction of the Al2O3 nanoparticles’ effects on tensile strength and percentage of water absorption of concrete specimens

Neural Computing and Applications - The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article.     

Extended approach by using best–worst method on the basis of importance–necessity concept and its application

Applied Intelligence - In recent years, several concepts such as fuzzy sets, Z-numbers, and D-numbers have been proposed to handle real-world decision-making problems. Despite the desirable...