Binders for jute-reinforced unsaturated polyester resin

Reinforcement of polyester resin with jute cloth under constant load is studied, The pretreatment of jute cloth with tetrahydrofuran and the effect of binding properties of poly(vinyl acetate) and acrylic acid and their effect on the impact, tensile, and water absorptions of jute cloth polyester composites are reported and their chemical reactions are discussed.     

Effect of fuel type on structural and physicochemical properties of solution combustion synthesized CoCr2O4 ceramic pigment nanoparticles

Due to importance and wide applications, CoCr₂O₄ ceramic pigment nanoparticles were synthesized via low-temperature solution combustion route by different fuels including ethylenediamine/oxalic acid, ethylenediamine/citric acid, oxalic acid/citric acid and ethylenediamine/oxalic acid/citric acid. Physicochemical properties of the synthesized samples were determined by different techniques such as fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and color/optical properties were evaluated based on CIELAB system by spectrophotometer. Moreover, thermodynamic considerations of combustion reactions for CoCr₂O₄ nanopigments formation in terms of calculated adiabatic flame temperature and enthalpy of combustion reaction were studied. The Comparison of results and data showed that cobalt chromite pigment nanoparticles synthesized by using ethylenediamine/citric acid and ethylenediamine/oxalic acid/citric acid fuels exhibited higher purity, smaller crystallite size and lower degree agglomeration.     

Two-parameter TSCSP method for solving complex symmetric system of linear equations

We introduce a two-parameter version of the two-step scale-splitting iteration method, called TTSCSP, for solving a broad class of complex symmetric system of linear equations. We present some conditions for the convergence of the method. An upper bound for the spectral radius of the method is presented and optimal parameters which minimize this bound are given. Inexact version of the TTSCSP iteration method (ITTSCSP) is also presented. Some numerical experiments are reported to verify the effectiveness of the TTSCSP iteration method and the numerical results are compared with those of the TSCSP, the SCSP and the PMHSS iteration methods. Numerical comparison of the ITTSCSP method with the inexact version of TSCSP, SCSP and PMHSS are presented. We also compare the numerical results of the BiCGSTAB method in conjunction with the TTSCSP and the ILU preconditioners.     

Corrosion Resistance Enhancement of AZ91D Magnesium Alloy by Electroless Ni-Co-P Coating and Ni-Co-P-SiO2 Nanocomposite

Electroless Ni-Co-P coating and Ni-Co-P-SiO₂ nanocomposites were successfully applied on AZ91D magnesium alloy via environmentally friendly cerium-lanthanum-permanganate treatment and their properties were compared with traditionally binary Ni-P coating. The prepared coatings were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Moreover, the corrosion behavior of the coatings in 3.5 wt.% NaCl was evaluated by two electrochemical methods. It is found that the Ni-Co-P coating possesses more uniform and compact structure and better corrosion protection characteristics in comparison with the Ni-P coating. The plating rate of Ni-Co-P bath is relatively lower than the Ni-P bath, but it significantly increases after addition of SiO₂ nanoparticles more probably due to adsorption of silica nanoparticles on alloy surface. The corrosion resistance of Ni-Co-P-SiO₂ composite coatings was superior with respect to Ni-P and Ni-Co-P coatings due to formation of thick and compact coating with tortuous grain boundaries.     

Harmony search optimization algorithm for a novel transportation problem in a consolidation network

This article presents a new harmony search optimization algorithm to solve a novel integer programming model developed for a consolidation network. In this network, a set of vehicles is used to transport goods from suppliers to their corresponding customers via two transportation systems: direct shipment and milk run logistics. The objective of this problem is to minimize the total shipping cost in the network, so it tries to reduce the number of required vehicles using an efficient vehicle routing strategy in the solution approach. Solving several numerical examples confirms that the proposed solution approach based on the harmony search algorithm performs much better than CPLEX in reducing both the shipping cost in the network and computational time requirement, especially for realistic size problem instances.     

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) using commercially available unglazed ceramic wares: Low-cost ceramic separators suitable for scale-up

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of commercially available unglazed wall ceramic (UGWC) and unglazed floor ceramic (UGFC) separators with different thickness and porosity on the performance of dual-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs). These MFCs were operated under continuous condition using domestic wastewater. The UGWC-based MFC produced higher maximum power density (321 mW/m² with a thickness of 9 mm) than UGFC-based MFC (106.89 mW/m² with a thickness of 3 mm) due to lower internal resistance. Power generation using both types of separators was lower than that of obtained using the Nafion 117 membrane as control (602 mW/m²). The maximum average coulombic efficiencies (CE) of the UGWC-based MFCs (with thickness levels of 6 and 9 mm) were 58% and 68%, respectively, which was more than that of UGFC-based MFCs and also control MFC (53%). Voltammetric analysis revealed that the maximum peak current of 6 mA was obtained for UGWC-based MFC which was in the order of control MFC (5.9 mA). The UGWC separators exhibited smaller ohmic and diffusion resistances of 57, 65 and 87 Ω in MFCs at the thickness levels of 3, 6 and 9 mm, respectively, compared to the UGFC separators with that of 164.27 and 366.23 Ω in MFCs at the thickness levels of 3 and 6 mm, respectively. UGWC separators because of their low production cost, high mechanical strength and increased output power density of the MFC proved to be a suitable alternative to replace with a costly polymeric membrane such as Nafion 117.     

Novel ternary g-C3N4/Fe3O4/MnWO4 nanocomposites: Synthesis,characterization, and visible-light photocatalytic performance for environmental purposes

The g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄/MnWO₄ nanocomposites were prepared by a refluxing-calcination procedure. Visible-light-induced photocatalytic experiments showed that the g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄/MnWO₄ (10%) nanocomposite has excellent ability to degrade a range of contaminants including rhodamine B, methylene blue, methyl orange, and fuchsine, which is about 7, 10, 25, and 31 times of the g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst, respectively. Reactive species trapping experiments revealed that superoxide anion radicals play major role in the photodegradation reaction of rhodamine B (RhB). After the treatment process, the utilized photocatalyst was magnetically recovered and reused with negligible loss in the photocatalytic activity, which is vital in the photocatalytic processes. Finally, a mechanism was proposed for the enhanced interfacial carrier separation and transfer and the improved photocatalytic performance.     

On the solution of the fuzzy Sylvester matrix equation

In this paper, we consider the fuzzy Sylvester matrix equation AX+XB=C,AX+XB=C, where A ? \mathbbR^{n ×n}A\in {\mathbb{R}}^{n \times n} and B ? \mathbbR^{m ×m}B\in {\mathbb{R}}^{m \times m} are crisp M-matrices, C is an n×mn\times m fuzzy matrix and X is unknown. We first transform this system to an (mn)×(mn)(mn)\times (mn) fuzzy system of linear equations. Then, we investigate the existence and uniqueness of a fuzzy solution to this system. We use the accelerated over-relaxation method to compute an approximate solution to this system. Some numerical experiments are given to illustrate the theoretical results.     

Investigation of the antibacterial activity and efflux pump inhibitory effect of co-loaded piperine and gentamicin nanoliposomes in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Objective: Antibiotic resistance has stimulated the research for developing novel strategies that can prevent bacterial growth. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), regarded as one of the most serious antibiotic-resistant bacteria which has been conventionally recognized as a nosocomial pathogen.

Materials and methods: Nanoliposomal formulations of piperine and gentamicin were prepared by dehydration-rehydration (DRV) method and characterized for size, zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency. Antibactericidal activities of liposomal and free forms were evaluated against MRSA ATCC 43300 by the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI). The time-kill studies were carried out to evaluate the potency of antibacterial agents. The effect of piperine on bacterial efflux pumps was also investigated.

Results: MIC values of gentamicin and piperine were 32 and 100?µg/mL, respectively. Synergetic effects were observed by the combination of gentamicin and piperine and FICI was determined to be 0.5. Following incorporation of gentamicin into liposomal gentamicin and liposomal combination, the MIC values were reduced 16- and 32-fold, respectively. MBC values of gentamicin reduced 4 and 8 times following incorporation into gentamicin and combination liposomes, respectively. In comparison with vancomycin, liposomal combination was more effective in bacterial inhibition and killing. Liposomal combination was the most effective preparations in time-kill study. Our findings indicated that liposomal piperine was able to inhibit the efflux pump sufficiently.

Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that liposomal combination is a powerful nano-antibacterial agent to eradicate MRSA infection. This dual-loaded formulation was an effective approach for eradication of MRSA.     

Effect of process conditions on Fischer–Tropsch synthesis product selectivity over an industrial iron-based catalyst in slurry reactor

The authors present the application of the statistical model in CO hydrogenation to CH₄, C₂-C₄ and C₅₊ over industrial iron-based catalyst (100 Fe/5 Cu/4.2 K/25 SiO₂) in a 1-L stirred tank slurry reactor. The effect of different reaction conditions, including temperatures (T = 493, 513 and 533 K), pressures (P = 0.8, 1.5, 2.25, and 2.5 MPa), synthesis gas feed molar ratios (H₂/CO = 0.67 and 2), and gas space velocity (GSV) from 0.52 to 23.5 Ndm³/g-Fe/h on selectivity investigated via a statistical models. The proposed selectivity model is very useful in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries and can be used for interpretation of experimental data, comparison of performance of different reactor conditions, and reactor modeling and simulation studies. Furthermore, interaction between operating parameters such as pressure, temperature, H₂/CO, and GSV was investigated in selectivity models. A CUBIC polynomial was successfully fitted to the experimental data. It was concluded that C₅₊ selectivity shifts to higher with increasing total pressure (H₂/CO) ratio and decreasing temperature. Decreased H₂/CO ratio and temperature and increasing in the reactor pressure cause CH₄ formation decrease. Temperature and pressure fluctuations vary product distribution. As it is observed, the insignificant term in C₂-C₄ selectivity is pressure. With the models obtained from regression we can reach to the optimum condition for favorite products such as C₂-C₄ or C₅₊. So that optimization must be done to illustrate the optimum conditions. It was obtained that the maximum amount of C₅₊ and C₂-C₄ and minimum amount of methane achieved in T = 528.97 K, P = 1.23 bar, H₂/CO = 2, and GSV = 23.49 Ndm³/g-Fe/h.