The combustion behavior of epoxy-based multifunctional electrolytes

Multifunctional or structural electrolytes are characterized by ionic conductivity high enough to be used in the electrochemical devices and mechanical performance suitable for the structural applications. Preliminary insights are provided into the combustion behavior of structural bi-continuous electrolytes based on bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA), synthesized using the techniques of reaction induced phase separation and emulsion templating. The effect of the composition of the structural electrolytes and external heat flux on the behavior of the formulations were studied using a cone calorimeter with gases formed during testing analyzed using FTIR. The composition of the formulations investigated was changed by varying the type and amount of the ion conductive part of the bi-continuous electrolyte. Two ionic liquids, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (EMIM-TFSI) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIM-BF₄), as well as a deep eutectic solvent (DES) based on ethylene glycol and choline chloride, were used. The results obtained confirm that time to ignition, heat release rate (HRR), total mass loss, as well as the composition of the gases released during tests depend on the composition of the formulations. Addition of liquid electrolyte is found to reduce the time to ignition by up to 10% and the burning time by between 28% and 60% with the added benefit of reducing the HRR by at least 34%. Gaseous products such as CO₂, CO, H₂O, CH₄, C₂H₂, N₂O, NO, and HCN were detected for all formulations with the gases SO₂, NH₃, HCl, C₂H₄, and NH₃ found to be for certain formulations only.     

Reviewing the transport domain: an evolutionary bibliometrics and network analysis

Tracing the trajectory of scientific fields has been recognized by informaticians, nonetheless, little effort has been dedicated to understanding the evolution of the fast-moving research field of transport, quantitatively and qualitatively. This paper identifies intellectual turning points and emerging trends in the area of transport. Using bibliometric methods, co-keyword networks, journal co-citation networks, highly cited categories, and country and institute networks are detected, visualized and discussed. To conduct this analysis, all publications (35,712) in 23 top journals in the field of transport are extracted from the Institute for Scientific Information (Web of Science). The output of this article could be a valuable source for academics and practitioners working in the field of transport planning and those who work in the areas having a strong relationship with transport issues including mathematicians, economics, operation research, management and geography.     

A generalized model to predict minimum particle transport velocities in multiphase air–water horizontal pipes

A new model is proposed to predict minimum flow rates required to constantly move particles in both intermittent and stratified flow regimes. The new model consists of a single‐phase flow model along with an appropriate length scale to be extended to multiphase flow regime. A comparison of the new model with experimental data in a multiphase air–water flow shows that the new model is able to predict minimum flow rates well for a wide range of operating conditions. The new model can capture the effects of particle size, particle concentration, and pipe size as confirmed by experimental data. A comparison of the new model with previously proposed models in the literature shows that the new model improves critical velocity predictions significantly. Moreover, the new model is the only model that takes into account the effect of particle concentration and can predict critical velocity in both intermittent and stratified flow regimes. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2634–2646, 2015     

Designing “Dual Personality” IEEE 1149.1 Compliant Multi-Chip Modules

The IEEE 1149.1 Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan ArchitectureStandard can be used at many different levels in the integration hierarchy of a product. However there is one level where using the standard poses some difficulty. Multi-Chip Modules (MCM) belong to this level. This paper explores the problemand proposes a set of solutions for various classes of MCMs.     

Modeling of mold filling process for powder injection molding

The mold filling process has been modeled for the injection molding of different polymer-based binders and powder-polymer mixtures. It is essentially a two dimensional non-Newtonian fluid flow analysis in a non-isothermal environment. A complete analysis is accomplished by combining a finite element method and control volume technique to describe an increment of flow front movement, whereas a finite difference method is used to solve the energy equation to characterize the temperature distribution. Numerical results are compared to exact solutions for a circular ring cavity using a power law fluid model under an isothermal condition. Comparison of computed results against published data for a simple circular disk shows good agreement between the two analysis methods. After making selected comparison studies, it is demonstrated that the filling process in Powder Injection Modeling with different combination of powder-polymer mixtures is markedly dependent on specific combinations of powder; and polymer based binders. Computed flow front results for a rectangular cavity also compared favorably against the data for a power law fluid model under non-isothermal conditions.     

Energy consumption in the residential sector: a study on critical factors

In recent years, lots of efforts have been devoted to the identification of the factors influencing residential energy consumption. Many factors affect energy consumption at the same time, leading to the lack of precision when identifying which factors are significant. This paper reports the results of performing factor analysis for examining the factors affecting residential energy consumption. Data gathered through interviews and surveys with the residents and of housing units in Tehran (capital of Iran) are used for this purpose. The database applied comprises 56 predictors, for 2087 observations. Thirteen latent factors related to households’ energy consumption were shown by the data. Finally, a regression model was employed in order to recognise the most important factors. The amount of electricity and natural gas consumption was used as the dependent variable in the regression model. The results obtained can help prioritise efforts for modifying parameters in order to reduce the energy consumption in the residential sector.     

Nonionic surfactant based thymoquinone loaded nanoproniosomal formulation: in vitro physicochemical evaluation and in vivo hepatoprotective efficacy

Context: The present study was carried out to formulate thymoquinone proniosomal formulation (TQP) and evaluate their efficacy in methotrexate (Mtx) induced hepatotoxicity in rats.

Objective: The objective of the study was to explore a new therapeutic approach focusing on hepatoprotective activity using thymoquinone proniosomal formulation.

Material and methods: TQP was formulated using span60, cholesterol and phospholipid by film hydration technique. The animals were divided into six groups with five animals each receiving different treatments for 7?days. On the 8th day, rats were anesthetized with ether, blood samples were withdrawn, livers were dissected out for biochemical tests and histopathological examinations.

Results and discussion: The size of vesicle was found to be in the nanometric range with higher entrapment efficiency. The high entrapment efficiency is probably due to the lipophilic character of TQ. The morphological structure showed the outline and core of the well-identified spherical vesicle, and also displaying the retention of sealed vesicular structure. The release of TQ from developed formulation was found to be significantly higher compared to control. Mtx treated rats showed significant elevation in ALT, AST, ALP and TBARs, whereas, TQP treated group showed significant reduction.

Conclusion: The developed formulation (TQP) significantly inhibited the elevated levels of serum marker enzymes and showed improved histopathological deformities.     

Enhancing ebXML Registries to Make them OWL Aware

ebXML is a standard from OASIS and UN/CEFACT which specifies an infrastructure to facilitate electronic business. In this paper, we address how ebXML registry semantics support can be further enhanced to make it OWL aware. OWL constructs are represented through ebXML registry information model constructs, and stored procedures are defined in the ebXML registry for processing the OWL semantics. These predefined stored queries provide the necessary means to exploit the enhanced semantics stored in the registry. In this way, an application program does not have to be aware of the details of how this semantics support is achieved in ebXML registry, and does not have to contain additional code to process this semantics.We believe that this approach is quite powerful to associate semantics with registry objects: it becomes possible to retrieve knowledge through queries, the enhancements to the registry are generic and also the registry specification is kept intact. The capabilities provided move the semantics support beyond what is currently available in ebXML registries and it does so by using a standard ontology language.To be able to demonstrate the benefits of the enhancements, we also show how the resulting semantics can be made use of in Web service discovery and composition.Recommended by: Athman Bouguettaya and Boualem BenatallahThis work is supported in part by the European Commission, Project No: IST-1-002104-STP SATINE and the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBÍTAK), Project No: EEEAG 104E013 and is realized as a proposal to OASIS ebXML Semantic Content Management subcommittee which is working on possible semantic extensions to the registry.