Some ordered fixed point results and the property (P)

In 2010, Kadelburg et al. ([7]) by providing an example showed that a contraction in an ordered metric space is not necessarily a contraction (in the classical sense). Thus fixed point results in ordered metric spaces are generalizations of ones in metric spaces in a sense. In this paper, we give some ordered fixed point results for convex contractions and special mappings which satisfy some contraction conditions. Also, we give some results concerning the property (P).     

Concentrations and chiral signatures of polychlorinated biphenyls in outdoor and indoor air and soil in a major U.K. conurbation

Concentrations and chiral signatures of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in outdoor air (using polyurethane foam (PUF)--disk passive samplers) and surface soil samples taken at approximately monthly intervals over 1 year at 10 locations on a rural-urban transect across the West Midlands of the U.K. In both air and soil, concentrations clearly decrease with increasing distance from the city center, supporting the existence of an urban "pulse", that indicate the West Midlands conurbation to be a source of PCBs to the wider environment. Concentrations of PCBs in outdoor air samples in this study are well below those reported previously for indoor air in the West Midlands. This, combined with comparison of chiral signatures in outdoor air and soil with those in samples of indoor air taken in the West Midlands, suggest strongly that the principal contemporary source of PCBs in this conurbation is ventilation of indoor air and not volatilization from soil. Future reductions in PCB concentrations in outdoor air and ultimately human exposure appear best achieved by action to remove remaining sources of PCBs from existing structures.     

Intrinsically Conductive Polymers for Striated Cardiac Muscle Repair

One of the most important features of striated cardiac muscle is the excitability that turns on the excitation-contraction coupling cycle, resulting in the heart blood pumping function. The function of the heart pump may be impaired by events such as myocardial infarction, the consequence of coronary artery thrombosis due to blood clots or plaques. This results in the death of billions of cardiomyocytes, the formation of scar tissue, and consequently impaired contractility. A whole heart transplant remains the gold standard so far and the current pharmacological approaches tend to stop further myocardium deterioration, but this is not a long-term solution. Electrically conductive, scaffold-based cardiac tissue engineering provides a promising solution to repair the injured myocardium. The non-conductive component of the scaffold provides a biocompatible microenvironment to the cultured cells while the conductive component improves intercellular coupling as well as electrical signal propagation through the scar tissue when implanted at the infarcted site. The in vivo electrical coupling of the cells leads to a better regeneration of the infarcted myocardium, reducing arrhythmias, QRS/QT intervals, and scar size and promoting cardiac cell maturation. This review presents the emerging applications of intrinsically conductive polymers in cardiac tissue engineering to repair post-ischemic myocardial insult.     

Effect of Elevated Temperatures on Mechanical Performance of Normal and Lightweight Concretes Reinforced with Carbon Nanotubes

An experimental program was developed to evaluate the effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) inclusion on elevated temperature properties of normal weight concrete (NWC) and lightweight concrete (LWC). The mechanical performance was assessed by conducting material property tests namely compressive strength (f’_c,_T), tensile strength (f’_t,T), mass loss (M_T), elastic modulus (E_T), compressive toughness (T_c) and stress–strain response under unstressed and residual conditions in the range of 23°C to 800°C. The mechanical properties were measured by heating 100?×?200 mm cylindrical specimens to 200°C, 400°C, 600°C and 800°C at a heating rate of 5°C/min. Results show that the inclusion MWCNTs in cementitious matrices enhanced the fire endurance. The relative retention of mechanical strength and mass of concretes modified with MWCNTs was higher. The stress–strain response of specimens modified with MWCNTs was more ductile. Microstructural study of cyrofractured samples evidenced the homogenous dispersion of nano-reinforcements in host matrix. Furthermore, the data obtained from high temperature material property tests was utilized to develop mathematical relationships for expressing mechanical properties of modified mixes as a function of temperature.     

SEPAR: A New Lightweight Hybrid Encryption Algorithm with a Novel Design Approach for IoT

Wireless Personal Communications - This paper presents a new hybrid encryption algorithm with 16-bit block size and a 128-bit initialization vector, referred to as SEPAR, and it is suitable for IoT...     

Minimum‐weight design of high‐rise structures subjected to flexural vibration at a desired natural frequency

In this paper, a parametric approach for design of high‐rise structures subjected to flexural vibration is proposed. The optimization problem is formed based on a preselected value for the fundamental natural frequency, and it is formulated for minimum structural weight. In a two‐step approach, first, an alternative formulation aimed at maximizing structural stiffness that in turn maximizes structure's fundamental frequency is introduced. Then, optimized results are used in obtaining a closed‐form solution of the actual problem. Because the resulting equations are rather complicated, approximate forms are developed in order to simplify the design process. In all relations, contributions from shear forces to lateral displacement are assumed to be negligible; hence, bending resistance is the only design variable, and its optimal value is computable using simple relations. Two numerical examples are presented in order to illustrate the efficiency of this method in practice.     

Synthesis and investigation of desalinating,antibacterial, and mechanical properties of tetraethylorthosilicate crosslinked chitosan/polyethylene glycol (PEG-300) membranes for reverse osmosis

Solution casting method was used to synthesize chitosan (CS)-based membranes for reverse osmosis (RO) using PEG-300 and tetraethylorthosilicate as a crosslinker. Their salt rejection (%) and permeate flux (mL/h.m²) was measured by using lab scale RO plant. FTIR spectroscopy reveals interactions between CS and PEG by shifting of  OH peak from 3237 cm⁻¹ to lower wavenumber in modified membranes. SEM results showed pores in modified membranes while pure CS membranes had uniform nonporous and dense microstructure. DMA results demonstrated that the addition of PEG lowers the T_g value up to 6.5%. Water content of membranes increases up to 82.63% as the amount of PEG increases owing to its hydrophilic nature. The bacterial killing ability showed that the modified membranes possess good antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli in comparison to the control film. The permeation results revealed that salt rejection and flux of the modified membranes increased up 60% and 86.36 mL/h.m², respectively. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48870.     

Experimental study of the formation of natural gas hydrates in the presence of NaCl and KCl

In this work, the conditions for the formation of natural gas hydrate in pure water as well as in the presence of two electrolytic inhibitors of NaCl and KCl were investigated at different concentrations using the isochoric method. This study has been conducted on natural gas source field (Pazanan2 region) and due to the uniqueness of this gas, it may be considered significant. In order to estimate the conditions for the formation of natural gas hydrate in the presence of pure water, hydrate equations have been used. Experiments were carried out at the different temperatures and pressures.