Polymer ferroelectret based on polypropylene foam: Piezoelectric properties improvement using post‐processing thermomechanical treatment

In this work, the effect of post‐processing parameters (time, temperature, and pressure) on the morphology as well as mechanical and piezoelectric properties of foamed polypropylene (PP) films were studied. Two different post‐processing methods, based on the saturation of a foamed film with supercritical nitrogen (N₂), were used to obtain an optimized eye‐like cellular structure with a high cell aspect ratio (AR). The results showed that, when the PP‐foamed films were exposed to a gradual temperature and pressure increase, an appropriate cellular structure with high AR value (about 6.6) was obtained. This structure led to a high quasi‐static piezoelectric d₃₃ coefficient of 800 pC/N (45% higher than for untreated ones) indicating the importance of the post‐processing treatment on the piezoelectric behavior of these films. On the other hand, when the treatment was performed in steps, cell morphology changed from an eye‐like to a less elongated shape, resulting in lower d₃₃ values. The tensile characterization showed that higher cell aspect ratio led to lower Young's modulus, which is suitable to achieve higher piezoelectric properties. Finally, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was used as a simple method to correlate mechanical and piezoelectric properties of cellular PP. This was done via the ratio of the storage moduli in the longitudinal and transverse directions, which is directly related to film anisotropy (AR value) and thus to the piezoelectric behavior. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44577.     

Image analysis by Meixner moments and a digital filter

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this paper, we propose a new method for the rapid calculation of Meixner’s discrete orthogonal moments and its inverses. In this method, we have used...     

FDTD and improved PSO methods of coupling for identification and localization of buried objects using GPR B-scan response

We discuss the identification and localization of a buried object using B-scan response of a ground penetration radar (GPR). We use the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) and an Improved Particle Swarm Optimization (IPSO) methods association as an inverse problem. The A-scan response of the soil without the presence of any object is used in this inverse problem to estimate the physical characteristics of this soil. Then, we included these parameters into the inverse problem to characterize a cylindrical buried object from its GPR B-scan response. This response is simulated using the FDTD method. Several simulated cases of cylindrical object were tested with different radius, electrical conductivity, and depth. The proposed method allowed us to locate and identify buried objects (plastic and metal) at different depths.     

Aerial image processing and object recognition

The processing of images representing natural scenes requires substantial elaboration at all levels: preprocessing, segmentation, recognition, and interpretation. These steps unmistakably influence the result quality of a vision system, so it must be endowed with some capabilities. We present here the vision problem in terms of internal organization and information management. The object is represented on a scale of categories and the task of the recognition algorithms is to find the most detailed category according to information extracted from the image. All tasks operate on one level. On this principle, we propose a model for the internal representation of a vision system, which tries to generalize the recognition of objects using categorization and cooperation.     

Energy and exergy evaluation of an integrated solar heat pipe wall system for space heating

In this paper, an integrated solar heat pipe wall space heating system, employing double glazed heat pipe evacuated tube solar collector and forced convective heat transfer condenser, is introduced. Thermal performance of the heat pipe solar collector is studied and a numerical model is developed to investigate the thermal efficiency of the system, the inlet and outlet air temperatures and heat pipe temperature. Furthermore, the system performance is evaluated based on exergy efficiency. In order to verify the precision of the developed model, the numerical results are compared with experimental data. Parametric sensitivity for design features and material associated with the heat pipe, collector cover and insulation is evaluated to provide a combination with higher thermal performance. Simulation results show that applying a solar collector with more than 30 heat pipes is not efficient. The rate of increasing in temperature of air becomes negligible after 30 heat pipes and the trend of the thermal efficiency is descending with increasing heat pipes. The results also indicate that at a cold winter day of January, the proposed system with a 20 heat pipe collector shows maximum energy and exergy efficiency of 56.8% and 7.2%, which can afford warm air up to 30°C. At the end, the capability of the proposed system to meet the heating demand of a building is investigated. It is concluded that the best method to reach a higher thermal covered area is to apply parallel collectors.     

Effect of Chitosan Physical Form on Its Antibacterial Activity Against Pathogenic Bacteria

The antibacterial activity of chitosan (CS) nanospheres, in comparison with other physical forms, was investigated against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus, which are 2 foodborne harmful pathogens. Results showed that the antibacterial efficacy of CS nanospheres: (1) was superior to that displayed by CS in powder and solution form; (2) was higher against S. aureus than against Salmonella Typhimurium; and (3) was dependent on the temperature and pH of the medium depending on the strain. For S. Typhimurium, a higher activity was displayed at 37 °C, in which 99.9% of the population was eradicated independently of the pH, followed by 20 °C and 7 °C, in which acidic pH conditions favored a higher susceptibility of bacteria to the effect of CS. On the contrary, S. aureus was less susceptible to the pH and temperature conditions of the medium, and no statistical difference in the antibacterial effect was observed for pH 5.8 and 8.0 at 20 °C and 37 °C. However, at 7 °C a slightly higher activity was displayed at pH 5.8 than at 8.0.     

Heterogenous Clinical Landscape in a Consanguineous Malonic Aciduria Family

Malonic aciduria is an extremely rare inborn error of metabolism due to malonyl-CoA decarboxylase deficiency. This enzyme is encoded by the MLYCD (Malonyl-CoA Decarboxylase) gene, and the disease has an autosomal recessive inheritance. Malonic aciduria is characterized by systemic clinical involvement, including neurologic and digestive symptoms, metabolic acidosis, hypoglycemia, failure to thrive, seizures, developmental delay, and cardiomyopathy. We describe here two index cases belonging to the same family that, despite an identical genotype, present very different clinical pictures. The first case is a boy with neonatal metabolic symptoms, abnormal brain MRI, and dilated cardiomyopathy. The second case, the cousin of the first patient in a consanguineous family, showed later symptoms, mainly with developmental delay. Both patients showed high levels of malonylcarnitine on acylcarnitine profiles and malonic acid on urinary organic acid chromatographies. The same homozygous pathogenic variant was identified, c.346C > T; p. (Gln116*). We also provide a comprehensive literature review of reported cases. A review of the literature yielded 52 cases described since 1984. The most common signs were developmental delay and cardiomyopathy. Increased levels of malonic acid and malonylcarnitine were constant. Presentations ranged from neonatal death to patients surviving past adolescence. These two cases and reported patients in the literature highlight the inter- and intrafamilial variability of malonic aciduria.     

The bond of near-surface mounted reinforcement to low-strength concrete

This paper focuses on the bond between near-surface mounted (NSM) reinforcement and low-strength concrete. In order to investigate this, eight beams made of low-strength concrete were made. The compressive strength of this concrete varied from 14.22?MPa to 16.83?MPa. These beams were then tensioned under monotonic loading until failure. The test setups differed in terms of their groove size and the type of reinforcement (a rod and plate of carbon fiber reinforced polymer, prestressing steel). Based on the achieved results and analysis, it was found that the NSM method can be applied to low-strength concrete. Furthermore, the application of a NSM reinforcement rod and plate, made of the carbon fiber reinforced polymer, and prestressing steel showed a satisfactory bond strength when compared to low-strength concrete. However, the carbon plates performed better in terms of failure load and rate use than the rods made of carbon and the prestressing steel. Moreover, the results showed that the increase of groove size for the near-surface mounted reinforcement made of prestressing steel did not have an effect on the failure mode. In addition, a significant increase of the failure load was observed for the prestressing steel. Finally, the effect of concrete strength was analyzed and compared with the results found in literature.