Properties of modified polyacrylonitrile membranes prepared by copolymerization with hydrophilic monomers for water–ethanol mixture separation

A new kind of terpolymer membrane was employed to separate a permselective water–alcohol mixture. This membrane was prepared via the copolymerization of acrylonitrile, sodium salt styrene sulfonic acid (SStSA), and hydroxyethyl methacrylate in dimethylsulfoxide with azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. The reaction mechanism, resultant structure, and polymer composition were confirmed by IR and elemental analysis. The effects of the feed composition on the polymer composition, mechanical properties, thermal properties, and degree of swelling were investigated. It was found that water permeated through the membrane preferentially in a water/alcohol system. The flux increased with the increase of SStSA, but the separation factor decreased drastically with higher SStSA. For a 50 wt % water–ethanol mixture, a flux of 0.65 kg/m² h and a separation factor of 212 were obtained at 30°C when the membrane containing the highest SStSA content was used. The capacities of the metal ions absorbed by the membranes were investigated in the study. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 244–250, 2003     

Biodegradation of catechol by Pseudomonas fluorescens isolated from petroleum‐impacted soil

Bioremediation strategies have been applied to clean up petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) impacted sites. Introducing PHC degrading microorganisms (bioaugmentation) and enhancing the in‐situ nutrients availability (biostimulation) are widely used strategies. These strategies can be combined to lead to a better bioremediation performance. In this work, Pseudomonas fluorescens was isolated from a PHC impacted site. Through a 2³ factorial design plan, the effect of various combinations of nitrate, sulphate, and phosphate ions on the PHC bioremediation performance by P. fluorescens was investigated using catechol, an essential metabolic intermediate of BTEX degradation, as the sole carbon source. The maximum specific catechol degradation rate was chosen as the response to evaluate the catechol bioremediation performance. The ANOVA results indicated that the presence of nitrate ions alone lowered the maximum specific catechol degradation rate, which can be explained by the accumulation of nitrites and ammonia during the denitrification process by P. fluorescens. It was noted that dosing sulphate ions alone did not affect the bioremediation performance, which indicates P. fluorescens can grow in a sulphur‐limited environment. In contrast, the presence of sulphate and nitrate ions together can lead to a higher specific catechol degradation rate. This may be caused by the presence of sulphate that can suppress the production of nitrites. The importance of phosphate ions on catechol biodegradation was investigated. The absence of phosphate led to incomplete biodegradation. Introducing phosphate ions can accelerate catechol degradation, which can be explained by the secretion of organic acids.     

Annular ring slot antenna design with reconfigurable polarization

A microstrip‐fed conventional annular ring slot (ARS) antenna with linear polarization (LP) is initially studied. To generate two orthogonal degenerate modes for circular polarization (CP) radiations, two identical meandering perturbation slots (MPS) are symmetrically loaded into the ARS. By further incorporating a PIN diode switch across each MPS, the proposed antenna can switch between left‐hand CP (LHCP), right‐hand CP (RHCP), and LP. All three polarizations have shown good impedance bandwidth and broad CP bandwidth that can satisfy the wireless local area network (WLAN) 2.4‐GHz operating band (2400–2480 MHz). Furthermore, desirable gains of 1.8–2.0 dBi and 2.40–2.84 dBic are also exhibited at LP and LHCP/RHCP, respectively. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 26:110–120, 2016.     

Do organizational citizenship behaviors lead to information system success?: Testing the mediation effects of integration climate and project management

We adapted a model in organizational theory to determine whether organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) of system implementation teams influenced that organization's integration climate and improved their project management, resulting in successful system implementation. Surveys were elicited from 254 system users in various business organizations that had implemented large-scale IS in the previous year; the analysis of their responses provided support for our model, suggesting that the OCB of the implementation team created a higher level of integration climate and more effective project management, and that these in turn influenced information system success. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed and limitations are identified.     

Fast patterning microstructures using inkjet printing conformal masks

The presented paper describes a novel process using inkjet printing to pattern a conformal (built-on) mask onto photoresist for further microstructure formation. The advantages of using the inkjet printing conformal mask include no Cr photomask required, suitable for non-planar substrate, scalable for large area, and extreme low cost. The ink is ejected from the inkjet print-head controlled by the inkjet system. A CAD pattern from the designer can use this process to place the pattern ink onto the photoresist substrate. A conformal mask (made of ink) was directly built-on the photoresist substrate. The dried ink thickness has to be more than 1.8 μm thick as UV absorber. Following UV exposure, development, and ink removal, the designed microstructure patterns can be realized in photoresist such as microchannels and micro-columns.     

Dynamic Multiple Swarms in Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization

A multiple-swarm multiobjective particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, named dynamic multiple swarms in multiobjective PSO, is proposed in which the number of swarms is adaptively adjusted throughout the search process via the proposed dynamic swarm strategy. The strategy allocates an appropriate number of swarms as required to support convergence and diversity criteria among the swarms. Additional novel designs include a PSO updating mechanism to better manage the communication within a swarm and among swarms and an objective space compression and expansion strategy to progressively exploit the objective space during the search process. Comparative study shows that the performance of the proposed algorithm is competitive in comparison to the selected algorithms on standard benchmark problems. In particular, when dealing with test problems with multiple local Pareto fronts, the proposed algorithm is much less computationally demanding. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the proposed algorithm is insensitive to most of the user-specified design parameters.     

2010 IEEE CIS Awards [Society News]

Including: Neural Networks Pioneer Vladimir Vapnik, NEC Research, Inc., USA. Fuzzy Systems Pioneer Hideo Tanaka, Hiroshima International University, JAPAN. Evolutionary Computation Pioneer David E. Goldberg, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA and John Grefenstette, George Mason University, USA. Meritorious Services James M. Keller, University of Missouri, USA. IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems Outstanding Paper, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation Outstanding Paper, Outstanding Chapter, Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation. Also past CIS Neural Networks Pioneer Awardees, Fuzzy Systems Pioneer Awardees, Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Awardees and Meritorious Service Awardees.     

Redox and pH Dual Responsive Polymer Based Nanoparticles for In Vivo Drug Delivery

Responsive nanomaterials have emerged as promising candidates as drug delivery vehicles in order to address biomedical diseases such as cancer. In this work, polymer‐based responsive nanoparticles prepared by a supramolecular approach are loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) for the cancer therapy. The nanoparticles contain disulfide bonds within the polymer network, allowing the release of the DOX payload in a reducing environment within the endoplasm of cancer cells. In addition, the loaded drug can also be released under acidic environment. In vitro anticancer studies using redox and pH dual responsive nanoparticles show excellent performance in inducing cell death and apoptosis. Zebrafish larvae treated with DOX‐loaded nanoparticles exhibit an improved viability as compared with the cases treated with free DOX by the end of a 3 d treatment. Confocal imaging is utilized to provide the daily assessment of tumor size on zebrafish larva models treated with DOX‐loaded nanoparticles, presenting sustainable reduction of tumor. This work demonstrates the development of functional nanoparticles with dual responsive properties for both in vitro and in vivo drug delivery in the cancer therapy.