Synthesis,structure and electrochemical properties of the cationic complex tris-(imidazolidine-1,10-phenanthroline)iron(II)

The complex [Fe^II(Imz-phen)₃](PF₆)₂, (Imz-phen = imidazolidine-[4,5-f]-1,10-phenanthroline) has been prepared and characterized using X-ray diffraction, UV–vis and IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, fast atomic bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry, and cyclic voltammetry. Its crystal lattice includes acetonitrile (π–π bound to phenanthroline), methanol, and water molecules. Scanning continuously between 1000 mV and 1650 mV in CH₃CN, a modified electrode that includes the iron (II) complex is obtained; after the 25th continuous cycle a stable film is formed that is electrocatalytically active in the reduction of sulfur oxoanions. When the electrocatalytic properties are evaluated in ethanol/water solution, the current achieved from the electroreduction of these sulfur species is linearly dependent on the respective concentrations, suggesting potential application in sulfite determination.     

Mass transfer kinetics and mathematical modelling of the osmotic dehydration of orange‐fleshed honeydew melon in corn syrup and sucrose solutions

A simple mathematical model to predict dehydration and impregnation process during osmotic dehydration of orange‐fleshed honeydew in sucrose and corn syrup solutions was proposed. Results showed low dispersion and a good fitting capability for WL and SG kinetics. Diffusivity values for WL ranged from 0.96 × 10^?10 to 2.22 × 10^?10 and 1.04 × 10^?10 to 3.10 × 10^?10 m² s^?1 in corn syrup and sucrose solutions, respectively. For SG, the obtained range was 0.72 × 10^?10 to 2.35 × 10^?10 and 0.71 × 10^?10 to 2.46 × 10^?10 m² s^?1 in corn syrup and sucrose solutions, respectively. The half‐life of dehydration rates (t_1/2) was from 30.9 to 71.2 min and from 19.4 to 57.5 min in corn syrup and sucrose solutions, respectively. Diffusivities values obtained according to the proposed model were close to the ones observed from diffusive model; t_1/2 was a promising criterion for the process time definition.     

Antioxidant potential of single-variety red wines aged in the barrel and in the bottle

Wine constitutes a dynamic system in continuous evolution, in which numerous reactions involving polymerization and condensation take place between its phenolic compounds during the ageing process, which undoubtedly affect its structure and, very probably, its antioxidant effect. This study set out to evaluate the effect of ageing on the antioxidant potential of wine. A group of 162 wines were studied, of varying ages, which had undergone different ageing processes, both in the barrel and in the bottle, and which were prepared from different grape varieties and vintages. Total antioxidant capacity (ABTS, DPPH, DMPD, ORAC and FRAP), scavenger activity (HRSA and SRSA) and the biomarkers of oxidative stress (DNA-damage and ABAP-LP) were all analysed. The assay methods showed different behaviours for the same wines, thus the young wines presented higher indices for ABTS, DPPH and DMPD, whereas those that were aged showed higher indices for ABAP-LP and ORAC. Finally, the antioxidant potential of the wines in the study appeared not to be influenced by other factors, such as microoxygenation or grape variety.     

Evolution of number concentration of nano- particles undergoing Brownian coagulation in the transition regime

Evolution of number concentration of nanoparticles undergoing Brownian coagulation in the transition regime is studied theoretically and numerically.The results show that the curves of particle size distribution move toward the area with large particle diameters, the curve peak becomes lower and the range that particle diameters cover becomes wider as time elapses.In the process of coagulation the particles with small diameter disappear gradually and the particle size distribution remains a log-normal distribution.The change rate of the particle size distribution is more appreciable at the initial stage than that at the final stage.The initial Knudsen number has a significant effect on the coagulation rate which increases with decreasing the initial Knudsen number.The larger the initial geometric standard deviation is, the smaller the curve peak is, and the wider the area that curves cover is.The initial geometric standard deviation has a significant effect on the particle size distribution which can remain a self-preserving state when the initial geometric standard deviation is smaller than 2.With the increase of the diversity of initial particle size, the particle size distribution does not obey the log-normal distribution any more as time elapses.     

Multi-mode of vortex-induced vibration of a flexible circular cylinder

The vortex-induced vibration of a flexible circular cylinder is investigated at a constant Reynolds number of 1 000.The finite-volume method on moving meshes is applied for the fluid flow, and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is used to model the dynamic response of a flexible cylinder.The relationship between the reduced velocity and the amplitude response agrees well with the experimental results.Moreover, five different vibrating modes appear in the simulation.From the comparisons of their vortex structures, the strength of the wake flow is related to the exciting vibrating mode and different vortex patterns arise for different vibrating modes.Only 2P pattern appears in the first vibrating mode while 2S-2P patterns occur in the other vibrating modes if monitoring at different sections along the length of the cylinder.The vibration of the flexible cylinder can also greatly alter the three-dimensionality in the wake, which needs further studies in our future work, especially in the transition region for the Reynolds number from 170 to 300.     

Study of a new method for power system transients classification based on wavelet entropy and neural network

The detection and classification of transient signals are widely applied in many fields of power system. The study of transient signal detection and classification is a sustaining focus of researchers as well as a difficult issue. There are still many problems needed to be solved in this area. Based on the wavelet transform (WT), the idea of entropy and weight coefficient is introduced, and the wavelet energy entropy (WEE) and wavelet entropy weight (WEW) are defined in this paper. The distribution picture of WEE and WEW along with scales are presented for the first time. PSCAD/EMTDC models for six types of transients, namely breaker switching, capacitor switching, short circuit fault, primary arc, lightning disturbance and lightning strike fault, are constructed. With WEE and WEW, the eigenvectors for the six transients are established and a model which uses the eigenvectors as the input of the BP (back-propagation) neural network is set up to realize the classification of these transients. The simulation has been executed based on a 500 kV transmission line model in China and the results show that feature extraction based on WEE and WEW can effectively discover the useful local features. With the help of neural network classifier, it has effective classifying result. This method is applicable in the power system.     

Calculation of weighting factors of static security indices used in contingency ranking of power systems based on fuzzy logic and analytical hierarchy process

Contingency screening and ranking is one of the most important issues for security assessment in the field of power system operation. The objective of contingency ranking is to quickly and accurately select a short list of critical contingencies from a large list of potential contingencies and rank them according to their severity. Then suitable preventive actions can be implemented considering these contingencies that are likely to affect the power system performance. In this paper a novel approach is presented for contingency ranking based on static security assessment. This method employs weighted performance index with the application of fuzzy logic based analytical hierarchy process in order to select appropriate weighting factors to be imposed. The proposed method is applied to IEEE 30 bus system and the results are presented.     

Performance evaluation of power system stabilizers based on Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm

This paper proposes a method of optimally tuning the parameters of power system stabilizers (PSSs) for a multi-machine power system using Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL). PBIL is a technique that combines aspects of GAs and competitive learning-based on Artificial Neural Network. The main features of PBIL are that it is simple, transparent, and robust with respect to problem representation. PBIL has no crossover operator, but works with a probability vector (PV). The probability vector is used to create better individuals through learning. Simulation results based on small and large disturbances show that overall, PBIL-PSS gives better performances than GA-PSS over the range of operating conditions considered.