The Oil from Mentha rotundifolia as Green Inhibitor of Carbon Steel Corrosion in Hydrochloric Acid

The corrosion inhibition potentials of Mentha rotundifolia oil on carbon steel in 1 M HCl was studied at different concentrations via gravimetric, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization techniques. Polarization curves reveal that Mentha rotundifolia oil is a mixed-type inhibitor. Changes in impedance parameters (charge transfer resistance R_t, and double-layer capacitance C_dl) were indicative of adsorption of Mentha rotundifolia on the metal surface, leading to the formation of a protective film. The effect of the temperature on the corrosion behavior with addition of the optimal concentration of Mentha rotundifolia oil was studied in the temperature range 308 and 338 K. Adsorption of oil on the carbon steel surface is found to obey the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Attempts to explain the inhibitory action were carried out using density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level. Quantum chemical parameters most relevant to its potential action as corrosion inhibitor such as E_HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital energy), E_LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy), energy gap (ΔE), and Mulliken charges have been calculated and discussed. The theoretical results were found to be consistent with the experimental data.     

On a Hybrid Preamble/Soft-Output Demapper Approach for Time Synchronization for IEEE 802.15.6 Narrowband WBAN

In this paper,we present a maximum likelihood(ML) based time synchronization algorithm for Wireless Body Area Networks(WBAN).The proposed technique takes advantage of soft information retrieved from the soft demapper for the time delay estimation.This algorithm has a low complexity and is adapted to the frame structure specified by the IEEE 802.15.6standard[1]for the narrowband systems.Simulation results have shown good performance which approach the theoretical mean square error limit bound represented by the Cramer Rao Bound(CRB).     

WRE‐OLSR,a new scheme for enhancing the lifetime within ad hoc and wireless sensor networks

Within ad hoc and wireless sensor networks, communications are accomplished in dynamic environments with a random movement of mobile devices. Thus, routing protocols over these networks are an important concern to offer efficient network scalability, manage topology information, and prolong the network lifetime. Optimized link state routing (OLSR) is one of those routing protocols implemented in ad hoc and wireless sensor networks. Because of its proactive technique, routes between two nodes are established in a very short time, but it can spend a lot of resources for selecting the multipoint relays (MPRs: nodes responsible for routing data) and exchanging topology control information. Thus, nodes playing for a long time a role of MPR within networks implementing such protocol can rapidly exhaust their batteries, which create route failures and affect the network lifetime. Our main approach relies on analyzing this concern by introducing a new criterion that implements a combination between the residual energy of a node and its reachability in order to determine the optimal number of MPRs and sustain the network lifetime. Simulations performed illustrate obviously that our approach is more significant compared with the basic heuristic used by original OLSR to compute the MPR set of a node.     

Endothelial Cells Activated by Extracellular Histones Promote Foxp3+ Suppressive Treg Cells In Vitro

Histones are widely recognized as pro-inflammatory mediators upon their release from the nucleus into the extracellular space. However, their impact on endothelial cell immunogenicity is unknown. Endothelial cells, Human Microvascular Endothelial cells 1 (HMEC1), have been exposed to recombinant histones in order to study their effect on the endothelial phenotype. We then studied the differentiation of CD4⁺-T lymphocytes subpopulations after three days of interaction with endothelial cells in vitro and observed that histone-treated endothelial cells differentiate a suppressive FoxP3⁺ T regulator subpopulation that expressed Human Leucocyte Antigen DR (HLA-DR) and Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte-Associated protein 4 (CTLA4). Toll-Like Receptor 4 (TLR4) inhibition significantly decreased the expansion of these Treg cells. Moreover, blockade of Interleukin (IL)-6 and Intercellular Adhesion Molecule (ICAM)-1 in cocultures significantly decreased the expansion of Tregs, suggesting an IL-6 and ICAM-1 dependent pathway. Thus, beyond their inflammatory effects, extracellular histones may induce an increase of immunosuppressive Treg population via their action on endothelial cells. Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact on immunosuppression of an increase of peripheral suppressive Treg via endothelial cell activation by histones in vivo.     

New Computational Model Based on Finite Element Method to Quantify Damage Evolution Due to External Sulfate Attack on Self‐Compacting Concretes

Abstract: This work combines experimental and numerical investigations to study the mechanical degradation of self‐compacting concrete under accelerated aging conditions. Four different experimental treatments are tested among them constant immersion and immersion‐drying protocols allow an efficient external sulfate attack of the material. Significant damage is observed due to interfacial ettringite. A predictive analysis is then adopted to quantify the relationship between ettringite growth and mechanical damage evolution during aging. Typical 3D microstructures representing the cement paste‐aggregate structures are generated using Monte Carlo scheme. These images are converted into a finite element model to predict the mechanical performance under different criteria of damage kinetics. The effect of ettringite is then associated to the development of an interphase of lower mechanical properties. Our results show that the observed time evolution of Young's modulus is best described by a linear increase of the interphase content. Our model results indicate also that the interphase regions grow at maximum stress regions rather than exclusively at interfaces. Finally, constant immersion predicts a rate of damage growth five times lower than that of immersion‐drying protocol.     

Structural and luminescence properties of pure and Al-doped ZnO nanopowders

Pure and Al doped zinc oxide nanopowders have been synthesized by sol-gel route. This is a simple and inexpensive method permitting to obtain a very small grain size powders. Zinc acetate dehydrate was first dissolved in a mixture of 2-methoxyethanol and mono-ethanolamine (MEA) solution, were used as a solvent and stabilizer respectively and doped with a quantity of aluminum nitrate, varying from 0 to 10 mol%. The obtained gel is then calcinated in air at 500 °C. The samples are characterized by XRD, SEM and photoluminescence (PL) studies. The XRD results indicate that pure and Al-doped ZnO powders are solid solutions crystallizing in pure würtzite structure, and consisted of a mixture of nanoparticles with grain size between 23 and 36 nm. The grain size decreases strongly with increasing Al concentration and reaches its lowest value at 5 mol% Al. The PL spectra show that the most important establishment is that the powders show luminescence peaks from green to ultraviolet light, and thus can be used to manufacture transmitters using these emissions. The peaks connected to the blue luminescence are the most intense, and they are generated by transitions involving (Zn_i). The SEM images show a formation of pebbles with sizes decreasing with Al concentration and a morphology evaluating, qualitatively, from pebbles without cavities to highly porous ones.     

The effect of cohesive forces on the fluidization of aeratable powders

The effects of cohesive forces of van der Waals type in the fluidization/defluidization of aeratable type A powders in the Geldart classification are numerically investigated. The effects of friction and particle‐size distribution (PSD) on some design‐significant parameters, such as minimum fluidization and bubbling velocities, are also investigated. For these types of particles, cohesive forces are observed as necessary to fully exhibit the role friction plays in commonly observed phenomena, such as pressure overshoot and hysteresis around minimum fluidization. This study also shows that a full‐experimental PSD consisting of a dozen particle sizes may be sufficiently represented by a few particle diameters. Reducing the number of particle types may benefit the continuum approach, which is based on the kinetic theory of granular flow, by reducing computational expense, while still maintaining the accuracy of the predictions. Published 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J 60: 473–484, 2014     

A new look at the measurement of cementitious paste setting by Vicat test

The Vicat test is a standard test for measuring the setting times of cement paste and mortar. The physical background of the test is based on the resistance of a paste to dynamic penetration by a rod with a certain weight and shape (shear strain). The information obtained (initial and final set time) is very useful to compare cement setting properties. This study shows that it is possible to obtain more fundamental information about the setting property kinetics with only one modification of the testing procedure.The apparent mass of the static full immersed needle is measured.Due to the deformation of the cement paste at rest, the needle apparent mass varies with time. We show that the variation of the stress mobilized at the plate surface is related to the increase of yield stress during the setting period. The results of these experiments are discussed and compared with the traditional Vicat test for cement paste.     

Meso-scale structures of bidisperse mixtures of particles fluidized by a gas

Flow characteristics of bidisperse mixtures of particles fluidized by a gas predicted by the mixture based kinetic theory of [Garzó et al., 2007a] and [Garzó et al., 2007b] and the species based kinetic theory model of Iddir and Arastoopour (2005) are compared. Simulations were carried out in two- and three-dimensional periodic domains. Direct comparison of the meso-scale gas-particle flow structures, and the domain-averaged slip velocities and meso-scale stresses reveals that both mixture and species based kinetic theory models manifest similar predictions for all the size ratios examined in this study. A detailed analysis is presented in which we demonstrate when the species based theory of Iddir and Arastoopour (2005) will reduce to a mathematical form similar to the mixture framework of [Garzó et al., 2007a] and [Garzó et al., 2007b]. We also find that the flow characteristics obtained for bidisperse mixtures are very similar to those obtained for monodisperse systems having the same Sauter mean diameter for the cases examined; however, the domain-averaged properties of monodisperse and bidisperse gas-particle flows do demonstrate quantitative differences. The use of filtered two-fluid models that average over meso-scale flow structures has already been described in the literature; it is clear from the present study that such filtered models are needed for coarse-grid simulations of polydisperse systems as well.