Magnetic field enhanced press-filtration

The proposed hybrid process represents a new application of a magnetic field which directly influences a classical press filtration. The new technology offers high potential in the field of magnetic pigment production and iron oxide processing as well as bio-separation with functionalized magnetic particles. Especially in the field of fine-scale particulate product systems high specific cake resistances result in slow cake building and dewatering kinetics, which leads to economic inefficiency.Experimental and theoretical investigations show that the magnetic field has strong influence on cake building. Two major effects were observed: (I) In inhomogeneous magnetic fields magnetic particles experience a magnetic force counter directed to the pressure force, that results in slow down of cake formation; (II) Interparticle magnetic forces lead to structured cake formation.This gives on one hand the possibility to uncouple fluid and magnetic particle motion to force a cake built-up in designated location of the filter chamber. The result is a big increase of the overall filtrate mass flow and therefore an improvement of filtration kinetics. On the other hand due to the particle's magnetization including the formation of an attracting north and south-pole chainlike agglomerates can be observed. This leads to a “structured” cake building and therefore higher permeability.This work will show the effect of a superposed magnetic field on press filtration of ferromagnetic iron oxide particles (Fe₃O₄) in a lab-scale filter press.     

FLAG: a flexible layout generator for analog MOS transistors

This paper describes a flexible MOS transistor layout generator which draws optimal layouts whatever the W and L dimensions. The drawing methodology is based on the use of small elementary parts, called bricks, which are placed side by side inside a user-specified boundary. The generated transistors may allow diffusion merging along whichever sides the user wishes and may have a global rectilinear shape. The internal structure of these cells may also be chosen by the designer so that it is well suited to his application. Transistors developed using this generator have been tested, and have been used to build a simple operational amplifier.     

System architecture for semantic annotation and adaptation in content sharing environments

This paper describes a system architecture, which enables the automatic semantic annotation and adaptation of multimedia content in context-aware content sharing environments. The discussed architecture is the result of research done in the EU FP6 IST INTERMEDIA project. Generating a common vision on user-centric multimedia services in shared content environments to provide users with content personalized to their user preferences and usage environment is one of the objectives of the project. The work presented in this paper describes how media formats with their related metadata are automatically annotated and dynamically adapted. Based on the architecture, a full-featured demonstrator is built.     

Optical modelling of a layered photovoltaic device with a polyfluorene derivative/fullerene as the active layer

Here we report on optical modelling of organic photovoltaic devices having a layered geometry, with polyfluorene-copolymer as the active material and C₆₀ as the acceptor. Thin film theory in a matrix formalism enables analysis of the impact of reflection and interference on the optical electric field. The model allows us to predict an optimal C₆₀ thickness where concern has been taken for light being both polychromatic and distributed according to solar irradiation. Fundamental for light–matter interaction is the dielectric function. We have extracted it for two variants of a new polyfluorene copolymer, PFDTBT, from UV via visible to the nearest infrared, using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). n is found to be relatively high with a max-value above 2.1. The process of spin coating induces anisotropy in the polymer film.     

Cytotoxic effects of extract of Acmella oleraceae (Jambú) in Rhipicephalus microplus females ticks

The present study analyzed the effects of different concentrations of the hexane extract of A. oleraceae (HEAO) (Jambú) on the germ cells of semi‐engorged Rhipicephalus microplus female ticks, through a morpho‐histological study, evaluating the effectiveness of the extract in the genesis of the individuals. To perform this analysis, 100 semi‐engorged females were divided into five groups with 20 individuals each: groups I and II, respectively constituted by distilled water control and 50% ethanol + 1% DMSO, and groups III, IV, and V constituted by treatment with HEAO in the concentrations of 12.5, 25.0 and 50.0 mg/mL, respectively. All the ticks were immersed in the different concentrations of the extract or in distilled water for 5 minutes, dried and conditioned in BOD incubator for 7 days. The individuals of the treatment groups revealed the action of this extract showing alterations in the germ cells of the females from the different groups when compared with those from the groups I and II (control groups). These alterations were mainly related to the size and shape of the oocytes; number of yolk granules; presence, number, size and location of vacuoles in the cytoplasm of all the germ cells; and the presence of nuclear alterations in these cells as well. Thus, it was demonstrated that the concentrations of HEAO affected the germ cells of R. microplus ticks. The effects of the extract are similar to those caused by renowned and efficient chemical products used to control these ticks. Microsc. Res. Tech. 79:744–753, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Populationsbilanzmodellierung mit einem Mehrphasen‐CFD‐Code und vergleichende Visualisierung

The Euler‐Euler multiphase approach multiphaseEulerFoam is extended by implementation of several population balance models to describe the variation of the dispersed phase bubble size. The different models are compared with each other and with experimental data. A new approach is developed, which allows, in addition to the representation of the bubble size, an accurate visualization of the bubble shape based on the Eötvös and Reynolds number as well as position probability and number of bubbles and therefore simplifies the comparison between simulation and experiment.