Characterization of Water/Sucrose Laurate/n-Propanol/Allylbenzene Microemulsions

Water/n-propanol/sucrose laurate/allylbenzene micellar systems were formulated and applied in the isomerization of allylbenzene in the presence of heterogenized derivatives of some platinum group catalysts. The ratio (w/w) of n-propanol/surfactant studied herewith was 2/1. Temperature insensitive microemulsions were found. The microemulsions were characterized by the volumetric parameters, density, excess volume, ultrasonic velocity, and isentropic compressibility. The densities increase with increases in the water volume fraction. Excess volumes of the microemulsions decrease for water volume fractions below 0.2, level off for water volume fractions between 0.2 and 0.6 then increase for water volume fractions above 0.6. Excess volumes of the studied micellar systems increase with temperature. Isentropic compressibilities increase with temperature for water volume fractions below 0.8 and decrease for water volume fractions above 0.8. Structural transitions from water-in-oil to bicontinuous to oil-in-water occur along the microemulsion phase. The particle hydrodynamic diameter of the oil-in-water microemulsions at the 0.95 water volume fraction was found to decrease with temperature.     

Computational micromechanical analysis of the representative volume element of bituminous composite materials

Micromechanical computational modeling is used in this study to determine the smallest domain, or Representative Volume Element (RVE), that can be used to characterize the effective properties of composite materials such as Asphalt Concrete (AC). Computational Finite Element (FE) micromechanical modeling was coupled with digital image analysis of surface scans of AC specimens. Three mixtures with varying Nominal Maximum Aggregate Size (NMAS) of 4.75 mm, 12.5 mm, and 25 mm, were prepared for digital image analysis and computational micromechanical modeling. The effects of window size and phase modulus mismatch on the apparent viscoelastic response of the composite were numerically examined. A good agreement was observed in the RVE size predictions based on micromechanical computational modeling and image analysis. Micromechanical results indicated that a degradation in the matrix stiffness increases the corresponding RVE size. Statistical homogeneity was observed for window sizes equal to two to three times the NMAS. A model was presented for relating the degree of statistical homogeneity associated with each window size for materials with varying inclusion dimensions.     

Schedulable garbage collection in CLI virtual execution system

Virtual software execution environment, known as Virtual Machine (VM), has been gaining popularity through Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and Common Language Infrastructure (CLI). Given their advantages in portability, productivity, and safety, etc., applying VM to real-time embedded systems can leverage production cost, fast time-to-market, and software integrity. However, this approach can only become practical once the VM operations and application tasks are made schedulable jointly. In this paper, we present a schedulable garbage collection algorithm applicable on real-time applications in CLI virtual machine environment. To facilitate the scheduling of real-time applications and garbage collection operations, we make the pause time due to garbage collection controllable, and the invocation of garbage collection predictable. To demonstrate the approach, a prototype for a schedulable garbage collection has been implemented in CLI execution environment. The garbage collection is carried out by a concurrent thread while meeting a targeted pause time and satisfying the memory requests of applications. A cost model of garbage collection is established based on measured WCET such that the execution time and overhead of garbage collection operations can be predicted. Finally, we illustrate a joint scheduling algorithm to meet the time and memory constraints of real-time systems.     

Highly Efficient Fluorescent Interstrand Photo‐crosslinking of DNA Duplexes Labeled with 5‐Fluoro‐4‐thio‐2′‐O‐methyluridine

The formation of a fluorescent photoadduct between 5‐fluoro‐4‐thiouridine ( ^FS U ), in the sequence context 5′‐A ^FS U A‐3′ and incorporated into a synthetic oligonucleotide either at its 3′‐ or 5′‐end, and one of the thymines of the TAT motif in a complementary target DNA strand led to photo‐crosslinking of the two strands for several oligonucleotide constructs. Enzymatic digestion, MS, UV, and fluorescence spectral analyses of the interstrand crosslinked oligonucleotides revealed the identity of the thymidine that participates in the photo‐crosslinking reaction as well as the diastereomeric structures of the crosslinks. The proposed pathways of interstrand photo‐crosslinking are supported by experiments with isotopically labeled oligonucleotide constructs and visualized by means of molecular dynamics simulations.     

A Financial,Environmental and Social Evaluation of Domestic Water Management Options in the West Bank,Palestine

Water is one of the most valuable natural resources in the West Bank, Palestine. Due to its limited availability, it is a resource that needs particular protection. Although agriculture consumes most of the water (70%) in the West Bank, the domestic water supply is strategically not less important. It is the aim of this study to evaluate domestic water management options suitable for Palestinian conditions that contribute to achieving water sufficiency in the domestic water use in the house of tomorrow. A number of options were evaluated economically, environmentally and socially using the concept of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Results of the study showed that by introducing a combination of domestic water management options, a substantial decrease in the water consumption of more than 50% can be achieved, thereby reducing the pressure on the scarce water resources. The annual environmental impact of the in-house water use can be reduced in the range of 8%, when using low-flow shower head to 38% when using rainwater harvesting systems. Some of the options (faucet aerators, low-flow shower heads and dual flush toilets) were found to be financially attractive with a pay back period of less than their expected lives, others (rainwater harvesting, graywater reuse and dry toilets) were found to be financially unattractive because of the high investment. In the social context, it was found that introducing such options can improve the quality of life of those not having enough water. There is already a popular willingness to take part in water conservation in the domestic sector in the West Bank. The strongest driving force for using water conservation measures is the awareness that water is a scarce resource. It was concluded that, theoretically, the house of tomorrow can be largely independent in terms of water and sanitation. Education and awareness campaigns in the context of water management with a focus on non-traditional options are key to achieve such a house.     

Direct Numerical Determination of the Asymptotic Cyclic Behavior of Pseudoelastic Shape Memory Structures

The design of shape memory alloys (SMAs) structures against fatigue requires the computation of the stabilized mechanical state. The classical computation method, based on a plasticity-like algorithm, requires a step-by-step calculation, leading to prohibitive computation time to reach this stabilized state. To overcome this issue, we propose to extend the direct cyclic method (DCM), for elastoplastic structures, for use with the Zaki-Moumni (ZM) model for SMAs. DCM is a large time increment method in which a periodicity condition is enforced on the state variables. Comparison with the classical incremental approach shows considerable reduction in computation time.     

Simulation of DNA damage clustering after proton irradiation using an adapted DBSCAN algorithm

In this work the “Density Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise” (DBSCAN) algorithm was adapted to early stage DNA damage clustering calculations. The resulting algorithm takes into account the distribution of energy deposit induced by ionising particles and a damage probability function that depends on the total energy deposit amount. Proton track simulations were carried out in small micrometric volumes representing small DNA containments. The algorithm was used to determine the damage concentration clusters and thus to deduce the DSB/SSB ratios created by protons between 500 keV and 50 MeV. The obtained results are compared to other calculations and to available experimental data of fibroblast and plasmid cells irradiations, both extracted from literature.     

An efficient short-term energy management system for a microgrid with renewable power generation and electric vehicles

Neural Computing and Applications - According to statistical reports, thermal power plants have long played a critical role in supplying electricity using fossil fuels. However, due to the high...     

TiO2/Si nanowires hybrid system for efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic dye

Herein, titanium dioxide (TiO₂)-coated vertically aligned silicon nanowires (SiNWs/TiO₂) were fabricated and evaluated for photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes. Aligned SiNWs arrays were prepared by facile metal-assisted chemical-etching process with varying the etching time that was followed by TiO₂ nanoparticles coating using sputtering technique. The TiO₂ film crystallized in pure anatase phase with an average crystalline size of 50 nm, as was elucidated with X-ray diffraction studies. SEM analysis showed nanowires with varying lengths from 2.5 to 13.5 µm and confirmed the homogenous surface decoration with TiO₂. The homogeneous distribution of TiO₂ nanoparticles on nanowires was co-evidenced with Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Raman spectra analysis. The developed SiNWs/TiO₂ was exploited for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue; the role of hydrogen peroxide was also elucidated. The highest photocatalytic efficiency of 96% was achieved for SiNWs/TiO₂ with optimum nanowire length of 3.5 μm. The developed photocatalyst was found to be almost stable even after 190 days (~?5 months) and could be used as reusable and easily removable photocatalysts. The current study highlighted the SiNWs/TiO₂/H₂O₂ system as excellent candidate for water remediation applications.