Instability due to Viscosity Stratification Downstream of a Centerline Injector

A common injector geometry upstream of a static mixer is the centerline injector. A flow instability can arise due to viscosity differences between the injected core‐flow and the outer co‐flow. This instability can adversely affect the effectiveness of the mixing operation. An experimental investigation of miscible viscosity‐stratified flow in a circular geometry was performed using Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The experimental results for the stable region agree with the analytical results. The unstable region exhibits different modes depending on the viscosity ratio, volume flux ratio, and Reynolds number. The modes include wavy core‐flow with fissures and wavy core‐flow with core breakup. The time‐averaged experiment velocity profiles for the unstable core indicate a broadening of the jet at the centerline, which is consistent with the LIF visualization.     

Characterization of in Vitro Transdermal Iontophoretic Delivery of Insulin

In-vitro studies were conducted to characterize the transdermal iontophoretic delivery of insulin, thus avoiding potential complications from various biological variations, which may be encountered during in-vivo studies. The proteolytic degradation of insulin in skin homogenates and degradation under the experimental conditions used was investigated. Appropriate adjuvants were incorporated to minimize the potential degradation problems of insulin. ¹²⁵I-Insulin was observed to penetrate into and accumulate in the skin during the iontophoresis period. It was then released gradually from this depot, as a mixture of intact and ¹²⁵-I labelled fragments, into the receptor medium. Drug desorption studies supported the theory of skin depot or reservoir formation. It was found that an electric field could be used to facilitate the desorption of drug from the depot. The post-application flux of insulin (or its fragments) from the skin depot formed during iontophoresis was monitored to study the factors affecting the iontophoretic delivery of insulin. Stripping and delipidization of the skin were noted to increase the skin permeation rate of insulin. The cumulative radioactivity permeated and accumulated in the skin was higher at pH 3.6 than at pH 7.4. The iontophoresis-facilitated transdermal delivery was observed to increase with increasing duration of current application and increasing donor concentration of insulin. Modulation of drug delivery by multiple applications was also found to be feasible.     

Detecting stable locality-aware predicates

In a large-scale locality-driven network such as in modular robotics and wireless sensor networks, knowing the state of a local area is sometimes necessary due to either interactions being local and driven by neighborhood proximity or the users being interested in the state of a certain region. We define locality-aware predicates (LAP) that aim at detecting a predicate within a specified area. We model the area of interest as the set of processes that are within a breadth-first search tree (BFST) of height k$k$ rooted at the initiator process. Although a locality-aware predicate specifies a predicate only within a local area, observing the area consistently requires considering the entire system in a consistent manner. This raises the challenge of making the complexities of the corresponding predicate detection algorithms scale-free, i.e., independent of the size of the system. Since all existing algorithms for getting a consistent view of the system require either a global snapshot of the entire system or vector clocks of the size of the system, a new solution is needed. We focus on stable LAP, which are those LAP that remain true once they become true. We propose a scale-free algorithm to detect stable LAP within a k$k$-height BFST. Our algorithm can detect both stable conjunctive LAP and stable relational LAP. In the process of designing our algorithm, we also propose the first distributed algorithm for building a BFST within an area of interest in a graph, and the first distributed algorithm for recording a consistent sub-cut within the area of interest. This paper demonstrates that LAPs are a natural fit for detecting distributed properties in large-scale distributed systems, and stable LAPs can be practically detected at low cost.     

An Experimental Study to Evaluate the Effect of Ambient Temperature during Manual Lifting and Design of Optimal Task Parameters

In the present study, the effect of lifting task parameters on the heart rate and oxygen uptake of workers during manual lifting tasks in different ambient conditions was evaluated. The experiments conducted in two different temperature conditions showed a significantly higher oxygen uptake and heart rate in colder conditions as compared to warmer conditions. Three other factors, namely, load, lifting frequency, and vertical distance were found to significant affect the responses. Various combinations of significant factors were used to calculate oxygen uptake and heart rate. These were then compared with the safe limits as per the maximum aerobic capacity of workers. Based on these comparisons, the safe combinations were identified that can be used to design lifting tasks in varied ambient conditions. The study further concluded that lifting tasks performed in winter should have different relaxation or fatigue allowances built into the cycle time of the task to compensate for higher exertion. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Synthesis of Biodiesel from Canola Oil Using Heterogeneous Base Catalyst

A series of alkali metal (Li, Na, K) promoted alkali earth oxides (CaO, BaO, MgO), as well as K₂CO₃ supported on alumina (Al₂O₃), were prepared and used as catalysts for transesterification of canola oil with methanol. Four catalysts such as K₂CO₃/Al₂O₃ and alkali metal (Li, Na, K) promoted BaO were effective for transesterification with >85 wt% of methyl esters. ICP-MS analysis revealed that leaching of barium in ester phase was too high (~1,000 ppm) when BaO based catalysts were used. As barium is highly toxic, these catalysts were not used further for transesterification of canola oil. Optimization of reaction conditions such as molar ratio of alcohol to oil (6:1–12:1), reaction temperature (40–60 °C) and catalyst loading (1–3 wt%) was performed for most efficient and environmentally friendly K₂CO₃/Al₂O₃ catalyst to maximize ester yield using response surface methodology (RSM). The RSM suggested that a molar ratio of alcohol to oil 11.48:1, a reaction temperature of 60 °C, and catalyst loading 3.16 wt% were optimum for the production of ester from canola oil. The predicted value of ester yield was 96.3 wt% in 2 h, which was in agreement with the experimental results within 1.28%.     

Occurrence of wax esters and 1-O-alkyl-2,3-diacylglycerols in goat epididymal sperm plasma membrane

Two unusual lipid classes were detected by thin-layer chromatography in the neutral lipids derived from goat cauda-epididymal sperm plasma membrane. The lipids were identified as wax esters and 1-O-alkyl-2,3-diacylglycerols based on chromatographic properties, identity of their hydrolysis products, and infrared/¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectral evidence. The membrane containedca. 3 and 5 μg/mg protein of wax esters and alkyldiacylglycerols, respectively. The relative proportions of wax esters and alkyldiacylglycerols in the total neutral lipids were 1.5% and 2.4%, respectively. The lipids contained fatty acids with chain lengths of C₁₄ to C₂₂. The major fatty acids of the wax esters were 14∶0, 16∶0, 16∶1ω7, 18∶0 and 18∶1ω9. The fatty acids in alkyldiacylglycerol were 16∶0, 18∶0, 22∶5ω3 and 22∶6ω3. Alkyldiacylglycerol was particularly rich in docosahexaenoic acid 22∶6ω3) representing 30% of the total fatty acids. The alcohols of wax ester were all saturated with C₂₀–C₂₉ carbon chains. The deacylated products derived from alkyldiacylglycerols were identified as hexadecyl, octadecyl and octadec-9′-enyl glycerol ethers.     

Dependence of coal liquefaction behaviour on coal characteristics. 6. Product distributions from coals treated in a continuous-flow reactor

Further experimentation with coals in a continuous-flow reactor system at 440 and 455°C confirms the significance of the previous classification of a set of coals by cluster analysis. The greatest yields of distillable products tend to be given by coals of high sulphur content in the middle of the range of the high-volatile bituminous rank classes. Yet the lowest yields of preasphaltene (toluene-insoluble material) tend to be given by coals of high rank and medium sulphur content. The group of low sulphur, low-rank coals (mostly Rocky Mountain province), in a solvent different from that used for the other groups, showed poor conversion and poor distillate yield at the higher temperature. It is concluded that this coal/solvent combination is particularly prone to retrogressive reactions, including coking.     

Fabrication and characterization of electrospun psyllium husk-based nanofibers for tissue regeneration

The present study reports for first time the blending of psyllium husk (PH) powder/gelatin (G) in the polymer-rich composition of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to make an electrospinnable solution. The composite was prepared in 3 different ratios viz., 100% (wt/wt) (PVA + PH), 75% + 25% (PVA + 75PH + 25G) (wt/wt) and 50% + 50% (PVA + 50PH + 50G) (wt/wt) in 6% PVA solution. Optimum electrospinning parameters were evaluated for all the prepared blends. The fabricated nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared, differential scanning calorimetry, porosity percentage, and fiber orientation using ImageJ software. A qualitative in vitro degradation study at room temperature is supported by SEM images. The cellular interactions were characterized by MTT assay of NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells for 2 and 4 days with an optimum cell growth of >50% by fourth day of culture and long-term cultivation of L929-RFP cells was observed for 10 days. The nanofibers were formed in the range of 49–600 nm. PVA + 75PH + 25G when cultured with L929-RFP cells exhibited highest fluorescence intensity and thus supported cellular proliferation significantly. Based on the results obtained from various analyses, we anticipate that fabricated psyllium-based nanofiber can be used as a promising candidate for wound healing and other biomedical applications.