Facile Hydrothermal Synthesis of Hierarchical Sodium P Zeolite as a Nonphosphate Detergent Builder

This study reports the preparation of hierarchical NaP zeolite with the aim of obtaining a non-phosphate detergent builder as an alternative for environmental remediation from eutrophication phenomenon. Hierarchically structured NaP zeolite was easily synthesized hydrothermally and under different syntheses conditions. Samples were characterized using several standard techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and N₂ adsorption–desorption analysis. Three powder detergents were prepared by mixing main components such as linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, sodium sulfate, sodium silicate, and sodium carbonate as well as different amounts of as-synthesized zeolite and sodium tripolyphosphate in the detergent formulation as potential detergency builders. Some different detergency tests as pH value, water insolubility, foam height, moisture content, alcohol insolubility, and surface tension measurement were carried out for all synthetic detergent samples and two commercial ones. The results demonstrated that the high cleaning performance of the powders was obtained as using eco-friendly zeolite builders in comparison with phosphate-based commercial and synthetic detergent samples.     

Synergistic Effect of PVDF-Coated PCL-TCP Scaffolds and Pulsed Electromagnetic Field on Osteogenesis

Bone exhibits piezoelectric properties. Thus, electrical stimulations such as pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) and stimuli-responsive piezoelectric properties of scaffolds have been investigated separately to evaluate their efficacy in supporting osteogenesis. However, current understanding of cells responding under the combined influence of PEMF and piezoelectric properties in scaffolds is still lacking. Therefore, in this study, we fabricated piezoelectric scaffolds by functionalization of polycaprolactone-tricalcium phosphate (PCL-TCP) films with a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) coating that is self-polarized by a modified breath-figure technique. The osteoinductive properties of these PVDF-coated PCL-TCP films on MC3T3-E1 cells were studied under the stimulation of PEMF. Piezoelectric and ferroelectric characterization demonstrated that scaffolds with piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃ = −1.2 pC/N were obtained at a powder dissolution temperature of 100 °C and coating relative humidity (RH) of 56%. DNA quantification showed that cell proliferation was significantly enhanced by PEMF as low as 0.6 mT and 50 Hz. Hydroxyapatite staining showed that cell mineralization was significantly enhanced by incorporation of PVDF coating. Gene expression study showed that the combination of PEMF and PVDF coating promoted late osteogenic gene expression marker most significantly. Collectively, our results suggest that the synergistic effects of PEMF and piezoelectric scaffolds on osteogenesis provide a promising alternative strategy for electrically augmented osteoinduction. The piezoelectric response of PVDF by PEMF, which could provide mechanical strain, is particularly interesting as it could deliver local mechanical stimulation to osteogenic cells using PEMF.     

Fuzzy decision support system for fertilizer

Fuzzy geographic information systems is a newly emerging field of computational intelligence. It combines fuzzy logic with spatial context. Most of the natural phenomena are fuzzy in nature. They show a degree of uncertainty or vagueness in their extent and attribute, which cannot be expressed by a crisp value. Agriculture is one of the fields of the spatial domain that needs to be described in fuzzy terms. Fertilizer is a key input for the agriculture sector. In this article, the spatial surfaces of fertilizers are developed for the wheat crop using a fuzzy decision support system. The algorithm of our system takes soil nutrients and cropping time as input, applies fuzzy logic on the input values, defuzzifies the fuzzy output to crisp value, and generates a fertilizer surface. The resultant output surface of fertilizer describes the amount of fertilizer needed to cultivate a specific crop in a specified area. The complexity of our algorithm is \(O(mnr)\) , where \(m\) is the height of the raster, \(n\) is the width of the raster, and \(r\) is the number of expert rules.     

New fatty acid derivatives from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Homaxinella</Emphasis> sp., a marine sponge

Fractionation of the MeOH extract of Homaxinella sp., a marine sponge, led to the isolation of a sodium salt of a new brominated FA (1), two new MG (2 and 4), and a new lysoPC (6). The geometry of the double bonds in 1 and 2 was defined by comparison of the NMR chemical shifts of the allylic carbons, nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy correlations of the allylic protons, and coupling constants of the vinylic protons with those reported. Evidence mainly from NMR and MS analyses established the planar structures of the compounds. Compounds 1, 2, 4, and 6 were evaluated for cytotoxicity against a panel of five human solid tumor cell lines. Only compound 1 showed moderate activity.     

PROCESS CONTROL PERSPECTIVE FOR PROCESS ANALYTICAL TECHNOLOGY: INTEGRATION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE INTO SEMICONDUCTOR AND PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES

FDA's Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiative provides an unprecedented opportunity for chemical engineers to play significant roles in the pharmaceutical industry. In this article, the authors provide their perspectives on (1) the need for chemical engineering principles in pharmaceutical development for a thorough process understanding; (2) applications of chemical engineering principles to meet the challenges from the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries; and (3) the integration of chemical engineering practice into the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries to achieve process understanding and the desired state of quality-by-design. A real-world case study from the semiconductor industry is presented to demonstrate how a classic chemical engineering concept, mixing homogeneity, can be implemented by inducing forced flow to ensure an excellent copper electrochemical plating process performance and to improve product quality substantially. Further, a case study of brake system design is discussed with the concept of Dr. Taguchi's robust engineering design to illustrate how quality-by-design can be achieved through appropriate experimental design, in conjunction with the discussion on the concept of quality-by-design in pharmaceuticals. Third, a case study of freeze-dried sodium ethacrynate is presented to demonstrate the vital importance of controlling the processing factors to achieve the desired product stability. Finally, the problems of the current pharmaceutical manufacturing mode, the opportunities and engineering challenges during implementation of PAT in the pharmaceutical industry, and the role of chemical engineering in implementation of PAT is discussed in detail.     

Dehydration of water/1-1-dimethylhydrazine mixtures by zeolite membranes

In this research, dehydration of water/1-1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) mixtures by zeolite NaA and hydroxy sodalite membranes has been investigated. Support of these membranes has been tubular mullites that have been made by extruding a mixture of about 67–75% kaolin clay and 33–25% distilled water using an extruder. Zeolite NaA and hydroxy sodalite membranes have been coated on the external surface of the porous supports by the hydrothermal synthesis.

UDMH/water mixtures have been separated at ambient temperature and pressure by pervaporation (PV) using these zeolite membranes. These membranes showed very high selectivity of water for all UDMH mixtures. For the UDMH/water mixtures, separation factor as high as 10 000 has been obtained for UDMH feed concentration of 2%. Total mass fluxes of 1.05–0.2 kg/(m² h) have been also obtained.     

Characterization of minocycline loaded chitosan/polyethylene glycol/glycerol blend films as antibacterial wound dressings

Wound care has been a challenging subject for medical teams and researchers. Bacterial infections are one of the most serious complications in injured skins that often affect healing process. Antibacterial wound dressings can be used to facilitate wound healing process. The purpose of this study is to fabricate chitosan (Chito)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) antibacterial wound dressing doped with minocycline, and to evaluate the influence of composition ratio on the blending properties of the films. To improve the mechanical properties of these films, we examined various amounts of glycerol as a plasticizer. Moreover, we investigated morphological and mechanical aspects, water uptake, degradation, water vapor transmission and wettability properties of the films prepared with various ratios of Chito/PEG/Gly. Assessment of mechanical properties revealed that film containing 80:20 ratio Chito/PEG with 40 PHR Gly content exhibits the highest ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break (9.74 MPa and 45.73% respectively). Furthermore, results demonstrated that upon increasing PEG and Gly contents, degradability and hydrophilicity of the films increased whereas water uptake decreased. Water vapor transmission rate of the films was close to the range of 530–1200 g/m²d, indicating that the as formed films are possible candidates for dressing low exudate wounds or burns. Minocycline loaded films exhibited a biphasic drug release profile and it was more effective on gram-positive bacteria than on gram-negative bacteria. The polymeric film with the highest amount of loaded drug (2%) exhibited insignificant cytotoxicity (88%) against normal fibroblast cell line.     

Approximating of conic sections by DP curves with endpoint interpolation

Conic sections have many applications in industrial design, however, they cannot be exactly represented in polynomial form. Hence approximating conic sections with polynomials is a challenging problem. In this paper, we use the monomial form of Delgado and Peña (DP) curves and present a matrix representation for them. Using the matrix form and the least squares method, we propose a simple and efficient algorithm for approximating conic sections by DP curves of arbitrary degree with endpoint interpolation. Finally, we test and compare the proposed algorithm on some numerical examples which validates and confirms efficiency of it.     

Robust design optimization of electro-thermal microactuator using probabilistic methods

Micromachining of microelectromechanical systems which is similar to other fabrication processes has inherent variation that leads to uncertain dimensional and material properties. Methods for optimization under uncertainty analysis can be used to reduce microdevice sensitivity to these uncertainties in order to create a more robust design, thereby increasing reliability and yield. In this paper, approaches for uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, and robust optimization of an electro-thermal microactuator are applied to take into account the influence of dimensional and material property uncertainties on microactuator tip deflection. These uncertainties include variation of thickness, length and width of cold and hot arms, gap, Young modulus and thermal expansion coefficient. A simple and efficient uncertainty analysis method is performed by creating second-order metamodel through Box-Behnken design and Monte Carlo simulation. Also, the influence of uncertainties has been examined using direct Monte Carlo Simulation method. The results show that the standard deviations of tip deflection generated by these uncertainty analysis methods are very close to each other. Simulation results of tip deflection have been validated by a comparison with experimental results in literature. The analysis is performed at multiple input voltages to estimate uncertainty bands around the deflection curve. Experimental data fall within 95 % confidence boundary obtained by simulation results. Also, the sensitivity analysis results demonstrate that microactuator performance has been affected more by thermal expansion coefficient and microactuator gap uncertainties. Finally, approaches for robust optimization to achieve the optimal designs for microactuator are used. The proposed robust microactuators are less sensitive to uncertainties. For this goal, two methods including Genetic Algorithm and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm are employed to find the robust designs for microactuator.