In two previous papers, we calculated the dielectrophoresis (DEP) force and corresponding trajectories of high- and low-conductance 200-µm 2D spheres in a square 1x1mm chamber with plane-versus-pointed, plane-versus-plane and pointed-versus-pointed electrode configurations by applying the law of maximum entropy production (LMEP) to the system. Here, we complete these considerations for configurations with four-pointed electrodes centered on the chamber edges. The four electrodes were operated in either object-shift mode (two adjacent electrodes opposite the other two adjacent electrodes), DEP mode (one electrode versus the other three electrodes), or field-cage mode (two electrodes on opposite edges versus the two electrodes on the other two opposite edges). As in previous work, we have assumed DC properties for the object and the external media for simplicity. Nevertheless, every possible polarization ratio of the two media can be modeled this way. The trajectories of the spherical centers and the corresponding DEP forces were calculated from the gradients of the system’s total energy dissipation, described by numerically-derived conductance fields. In each of the three drive modes, very high attractive and repulsive forces were found in front of pointed electrodes for the high and low-conductance spheres, respectively. The conductance fields predict bifurcation points, watersheds, and trajectories with multiple endpoints. The high and low-conductance spheres usually follow similar trajectories, albeit with reversed orientations. In DEP drive mode, the four-point electrode chamber provides a similar area for DEP measurements as the classical plane-versus-pointed electrode chamber.

Abstract Aims: In recent years, electro kinetic (EK) remediation has become more popular as a novel method for removing chromium contamination from soil. This approach, however, is ineffective since it uses both cationic and anionic forms of chromium. In this work, a membrane –based technique was employed to increase the efficiency of the electro kinetic removal of chromium. Methods: Chromium removal from polluted sludge was studied in four bench-scale experiments, two of which used distilled water (EK-1, EK2 & Membrane) and two of which used acetic acid as a catholyte (EK-3, EK4 &Membrane). Results: The pH, total chromium, and fractionation of chromium in the sludge were measured after remediation. In the EK-1, EK-2 & Membrane and EK-3, EK-4 & Membrane trials, the average removal efficiency of total chromium was 47.6%, 58.6%, and 74.4%, 79.6%, respectively. Conclusion: In contrast to the electro kinetic remediation strategy, which left approximately 80% of the sludge neutral or alkaline after treatment, the use of the membrane created acidic soil conditions throughout the sludge. For example, the high field intensity used in the membrane tests may have helped to facilitate chromium desorption, dissolution and separation from the sludge, as well as enhance chromium mobility. The findings show that the membrane can improve the effectiveness of chromium removal from sludge when utilized in the EK remediation process.

Removal of hexavalent chromium had attracted much more attention as it was a hazardous contaminant. Electrochemical reduction technology was applied to removal chromium (VI) from wastewater. The mechanism and parameters affect the reduction process were investigated. The results showed that the reduction efficiency was significantly affected by the concentration of H2SO4, current density and reaction temperature. And the reduction efficiency was up to 86.45% at concentration of H2SO4 of 100g/L, reaction temperature of 70 ℃, current density at 50 A/m2, reaction time at 180 min and stirring rate of 500 rpm. The reduction process of chromium (VI) was followed pseudo-first-order equation, and the reduction rate could be expressed as Kobs = k [H2SO4]1• [j] 4•exp-4170/RT.

This study evaluated eight herbal and fruit teas to produce kombucha beverages. Besides, the effect of initial sucrose concentration (10, 40, and 70% w/v) on kombucha fermentation from tea extracts was investigated. Kinetic characterization and modeling of kombucha fermentation were also performed. Results showed that kombucha beverages' characteristics and chemical content changed according to tea type and initial sucrose concentration. It was determined that as initial sucrose concentration increased, the consumed substrate concentration increased. The highest total biomass values were determined when green tea and pomegranate tea were supplemented with 70 g/L sucrose. The highest total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were achieved with green tea samples. The total acidity and phenolic substance concentration increased as fermentation progressed in general. The kinetic parameters including maximum consumption rate, sugar utilization, yield, biomass yield, maximum biomass, total acidity, phenolic production rate, and the phenolic result were computed depending on changing substrate concentration. Concerning kinetic modeling, proposed models (Logistic and Luedeking-Piret models) estimated satisfactorily experimental substrate consumption and total acidity values. Besides, total acidity was associated with the substrate consumption.

In power systems there are complex transformer structures, whose accurate analysis is not possible using the techniques available today. This paper presents a systematic data driven analysis method for coupled inductors of arbitrary complexity. The method first establishes a winding matrix N mapping the windings to the limbs of the transformer. A permeance matrix P is created from the reluctance network of the magnetic core. A generalized inductance matrix L mapping currents in the transformer windings to the induced voltages is generated based on the winding (N) and permeance (P) matrices. The inductance matrix representation of a coupled inductor is then transformed to an admittance matrix, which can be integrated to the nodal analysis of the electrical circuit surrounding the coupled inductor. The method presented is validated by simulations with real transformer structures using electromagnetic transient program (EMTP/ATP).

In this paper, a range-gated lidar system utilizing an LN crystal as the electro-optical switch and a SCMOS (Scientific Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) imaging device is designed. To achieve range-gated, we utilize two polarizers and a LN (LiNbO3) crystal to form an electro-optical switch. The optical switch is realized by applying a pulse voltage at both ends of the crystal due to the crystal's conoscopic interference effect and electro-optical effect. The advantage of this system is that low-bandwidth detectors such as CMOS and CCD (Charge-coupled Device) can be used to replace conventional high-bandwidth detectors such as ICCD (Intensified Charge Coupled Device), and time it has better imaging performance under specific conditions at the same. However, after using an electro-optical crystal as an optical switch, a new inhomogeneity error will be introduced due to the conscopic interference effect of the electro-optical crystal, resulting in range error of the lidar system. To reduce the influence of inhomogeneity error on the system, this paper analyzes the sources of inhomogeneity error caused by the electro-optical crystal and gives the crystal inhomo-geneity mathematical expression. A compensation method is proposed based on the above inho-mogeneity mathematical expression. An experimental lidar system is constructed in this paper to verify the validity of the compensation method. The experimental results of the range-gated lidar system show that in a specific field of view (2.6mrad), the lidar system has a good imaging per-formance, its ranging standard deviation is 3.86cm and further decreased to 2.86cm after com-pensation, which verifies the accuracy of the compensation method.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), C7F15COOH, has been widely employed over the past fifty years, causing an environmental problem due to its dispersion and low biodegradability. Furthermore, the high stability of this molecule, conferred by the high strength of the C-F bond makes it very difficult to remove. In this work, electrochemical techniques are applied for PFOA degradation in view to study the influence of the cathode on defluorination. For this purpose, boron doped diamond (BDD), Pt, Zr and stainless steel have been tested as cathodes working with BDD anode at low electrolyte concentration (3.5 mM) to degrade PFOA at 100 mg/L. Among these cathodic materials, Pt improves the defluorination reaction. The electro-degradation of a PFOA molecule starts by a direct exchange of one electron at the anode and then follows a complex mechanism involving reaction with hydroxyl radicals and adsorbed hydrogen on the cathode. It is assumed that Pt acts as an electrocatalyst, enhancing PFOA defluorination by the reduction reaction of perfluorinated carbonyl intermediates on the cathode. The defluorinated intermediates are then more easily oxidized by HO• radicals. Hence, high mineralization (xTOC: 76.1%) and defluorination degrees (xF-: 58.6%) were reached with Pt working at current density j = 7.9 mA/cm2. This BDD-Pt system reaches a higher efficiency in terms of defluorination for a given electrical charge than previous works reported in literature. Influence of the electrolyte composition and initial pH are also explored.

The permeability of the oral or nasal mucosa is higher than that of the skin. Mucosa permeability depends mainly on the thickness and keratinization degree of the tissues. Their permeability barrier is conditioned by the presence of certain lipids. This work has the main aim of reinforcing the barrier effect of oral mucosa with a series of formulations. Sixty-three initial formulations were evaluated for transmembrane water loss, with 16 formulations selected to test on sublingual mucosa. In vitro release tests of caffeine, ibuprofen, dexamethasone and ivermectin were carried out on porcine skin, mucosa and modified mucosa in order to compare the effectiveness of the formulations. A similar permeation profile was obtained in the different membranes: caffeine > ibuprofen ~ dexamethasone > ivermectin. The most efficient formulation was a liposomal formulation composed of lipids that are present in the skin stratum corneum. Impermeability provided by this formulation was really notable mainly for the low molecular weight compounds, decreasing their permeability coefficient between 40-80%. The reinforcement of the barrier function of mucosa provides a reduction or prevention of the permeation of different actives such as viruses, contaminants, toxins, etc.

Three typhoons (Rammasun, Kalmaegi, and Sarika) travelled through the deployed stations in the northern South China Sea from 2014–2016. During the passage of typhoons, strong winds and vigorous currents resulted in horizontal displacement of buoy over 2000 m, vertical displacement of ropes on buoys as much as 200 m. The rectification can correct the warm anomaly to cool anomaly of temperature. These movements lead to biases of raw data, with temperature bias as much as 4°C, salinity as much as 0.05 psu, velocity bias as much as 0.4 m/s. The crosscheck of current velocity from different instruments shows that the bias of overlapping velocity and correlation coefficient after depth rectification obviously enhances. The observation shows that temperature cools 1.5 °C, and 0.1 psu saltier in maximum, the near-inertial current increases to 0.4 m/s in the upper layer. The inertial kinetic energy propagates downward with the upward phase, and the maximum depth can reach over 2000 m.

Thin-film lithium niobate has gained significant attention in photonics due to its broad optical transparency, high refractive index, nonlinear coefficient, and substantial electro-optic coefficient. It holds great promise for developing electro-optic modulators with low loss, a compact size, and wide bandwidth. This study focuses on a meticulous investigation utilizing microwave photonics to establish a high-performance electro-optic modulator. Specifically, we analyze the optical mode field distribution and traveling wave electrode structure of lithium niobate thin-film materials. The proposed modulator achieves an impressive half-wave voltage-length product of 1.69 V·cm, a negligible metal loss of 0.01 dB/cm, and a substantial 3dB electro-optic bandwidth of 50 GHz. This research successfully realizes low-loss, high-efficiency LNOI electro-optical modulators, providing a strong foundation for large-scale integrated optoelectronic systems.

This study aims at investigating the catalytic performance of Pd, Pd/Pt, and Pd/Au nanocatalysts toward the 2-propanol electro-oxidation reaction (2POR) in an alkaline medium. The catalyst components (Pd, Pt, and Au) were sequentially electrodeposited onto a glassy carbon (GC) electrode surface and further characterized using electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry (CV)) and materials (Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX)) characterization methods. The Pd/Au/GC catalyst showed the highest catalytic activity in terms of the highest oxidation current (0.386 mA) and the highest stability in terms of the highest obtained current after 1800 s of continuous electrolysis. This behaviour was attributed to the enhancement in the charge transfer kinetics where the Pd/Au/GC catalysts acquired the lowest charge transfer resistance (Rct, 1.85 kΩ) during the 2POR.

This work involves results of research on short-term and long-term DC-drifts in electro-optical modulators based on annealed proton exchange waveguides in LiNbO3 crystals after wafer pre-annealing. The relaxation time of the DC-drift of the operating point for a short-term drift is minutes, and for a long-term drift, hours and days. DC-drift was measured by applying bias voltage and changing crystal temperature. Obtained results shows significant impact on stability of operating point in EO-modulators after treatment of defective structure of the near-surface layer of a LiNbO3 crystal. Treatment of the disturbed near-surface layer of a LiNbO3 crystal results in twice reduction of short-term DC-drift and increase of operation stability of electro-optical modulators during long-term measurement of temperature by activation energy calculation.

Metal/metal composites represent a particular class of materials showing innovative mechanical and electrical properties. Conventionally, such materials are produced by severely plastically deforming two ductile phases via rolling or extruding, swaging, and wire drawing. This study presents the feasibility of producing metal/metal composites via a capacitive discharge-assisted sintering process named electro-sinter-forging. Two different metal/metal composites with CP-Ti/AlSi10Mg ratios (20/80 and 80/20 %vol) are evaluated, and the effects of the starting compositions on the microstructural and compositional properties of the materials are presented. Bi-phasic metal/metal composites constituted by isolated α-Ti and AlSi10Mg domains with a microhardness of 113 ± 13 HV_0.025 for the Ti20-AlSi and 244 ± 35 HV_0.025 for the Ti80-AlSi are produced. The effect of the applied current is crucial to obtain high theoretical density, but too high currents may result in Ti dissolution in the Ti80-AlSi composite. Massive phase transformations due to the formation of AlTiSi based intermetallic compounds are observed through thermal analysis and confirmed by morphological and compositional observation. Finally, a possible explanation for the mechanisms regulating densification is proposed accounting for current and pressure synergistic effects.

A unified electro-gravity (UEG) theory, which has been successfully used for modeling an elementary particle, is applied in this paper to model gravitation in spiral galaxies. The new UEG model would explain the "flat rotation curves'' commonly observed in the spiral galaxies, without need for any hypothetical dark matter. The UEG theory is implemented in a somewhat different manner for a spiral galaxy, as compared to the simple application of the UEG theory to an elementary particle. This is because the spiral galaxy, unlike the elementary particle, is not spherically symmetric. The UEG constant $\gamma$, required in the new model to support the galaxies' flat rotation speeds, is estimated using measured data from a galaxy survey, as well as for a selected galaxy for illustration. The estimates are compared with the $\gamma$ derived from the UEG model of an elementary particle. The UEG model for the galaxy is shown to explain the empirical Tully-Fisher Relationship (TFR), is consistent with the Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND), and is also independently supported by measured trends of galaxy thickness with surface brightness and rotation speed. The UEG theory may similarly be extended to emulate the hypothetical dark matter in galaxy clusters as well as in cosmology.

In this study one of the most innovative sintering techniques up to date was evaluated: Electro-Sinter-Forging (ESF). Despite it has been proved to be effective in densifying several different metallic materials and composites, bearing steels such as 100Cr6 have never been processed so far. Pre-alloyed Astaloy CrM powders have been ad-mixed with either graphite or graphene and then processed by ESF to produce a 100Cr6 equivalent composition. Porosity has been evaluated by optical microscopy and compared to that one of 100Cr6 commercial samples. Mechanical properties such as hardness and transverse rupture strength were tested on samples produced by employing different process parameters and then submitted to different treatments (machining, heat treatment). The experimental characterization highlighted that porosity is the factor mostly affecting mechanical resistance of the samples, correlating linearly to the transverse rupture strength. Hardness on the other side does not correlate to the mechanical resistance because process related cracking has a higher effect on the final properties. Promising results were obtained that give room to the sinterability by ESF of materials difficult to sinter by conventional press and sinter techniques.

We demonstrate high quality (intrinsic Q factor ~2.8×106) racetrack microresonators fabricated on lithium niobate (LN) thin film with a free spectral range (FSR) of ~86.38 pm. By integrating microelectrodes alongside the two straight arms of the racetrack resonator, the resonance wavelength around the 1550 nm can be red shifted by 92 pm when the electric voltage is raised from -100 V to 100 V. The microresonators of the tuning range spanning over a full FSR is fabricated using photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching (photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching, PLACE).

In 1895, Korteweg and de Vries (KdV), derived their celebrated equation describing the motion of waves of long wavelength in shallow water. In doing so they made a number of quite reasonable assumptions, incompressibility of the water and irrotational fluid. The resulting equation, the celebrated KdV equation, has been shown to be a very reasonable description of real water waves. However there are other phenomena which have an impact on the shape of the wave, that of vorticity and viscosity. This paper examines how a constant vorticity affects the shape of waves in electrohydrodynamics. For constant vorticity, the vertical component of the velocity obeys a Laplace equation and also has the usual lower boundary condition. In making the vertical component of the velocity take central stage, the Burns condition can be thus bypassed.

Kinetic estimation of glomerular filtration rate (KeGFR) proved its utility in predicting acute kidney injury (AKI) in both adults and children. Our objective is to assess the clinical utility of KeGFR in predicting AKI severity and progression to acute kidney disease (AKD) in patients already diagnosed with AKI and to examine major adverse kidney events at 30 days (MAKE30). We retrospectively calculated the KeGFR in the first 24 hours of identified AKI (KeGFR1) and in the 24 hours prior to AKD (KeGFR2) in all admitted children under 18 years old. The cohort consisted of 803 patients with AKI. We proposed a new classification of KeGFR stages, from 1 to 5, and assessed the predictive value of KeGFR stages for AKD development and MAKE30. AKI severity was associated with lower KeGFRs. KeGFR1 and KeGFR2 predicted AKD with AUC values between 0.777 and 0.841 respectively, p<0.001. KeGFR2 had the best performance in predicting MAKE30 (AUC of 0.819) with a sensitivity of 66.67% and specificity 87.7%. KeGFR1 stage 3, 4 and 5 increased the risk of AKD by 3.07, 6.56 and 28.07 times respectively while KeGFR2 stage 2, 3, 4 and 5 increased the risk of AKD 2.79, 3.58, 32.75 and 80.14 times fold. Stage 5 KeGFR1 and KeGFR2 stages 3, 4 and 5 increased the risk of MAKE30 by 7.77, 4.23. 5.89 and 69.42 times in the adjusted models. KeGFR proved to be a useful tool in AKI settings. KeGFR dynamics can predict AKI severity, duration and outcomes.

Sewage sludge was utilized into biochar using the slow pyrolysis method. The biochar was then being used for ammonium removal. The sewage sludge biochar was produced at temperature of 550°C, 600°C, 650°C, 700°C and 750°C. A few characterization tests were carried out to study about the physical and chemical properties of the biochar. For instance, moisture and ash content analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, pH Zero Point Charge, biochar yield and SEM. As the pyrolysis temperature increased, the moisture content of SSB decreased while the ash content increased. The FTIR spectra of sewage sludge biochar showed that there were various organic functional groups on the surface of the biochar which were responsible for ammonium adsorption. Furthermore, through pH Zero Point Charge analysis, pH 7.0 was the most optimum pH for the adsorption test of ammonium. The optimum adsorbent dosage was 0.01g while optimum contact time was 150 minutes. Furthermore, 1.2ppm was the most optimum concentration for adsorption process. Based on the result of the characterization tests, SSB700 was the most effective biochar for ammonium adsorption. Based on the result of kinetic and isotherm analysis, the adsorption of ammonium ions usign sewage sludge biochar was a monolayer chemisorption process.

Electrospinning polymer fibers for is a well-understood process, primarily resulting in random mats or single strands. More recent systems and methods have allowed for the production of nanofiber yarns (NFY) for ease of use in textiles. This paper presents a method of NFY manufacture using a simplified dry electrospinning system to produce self-assembling functional NFY capable of conducting electrical charge. The polymer is a mixture of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), polyvinyl acrylate (PVA) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). When treated with Ethylene Glycol (EG) to enhance conductivity, fibers touching the collector plate align to the applied electrostatic field and grow, twisting together as additional nanofiber polymer is added by the jet. The longer the electrospinning continues, the longer and more uniformly twisted the NFY becomes. This process has the added benefit of reducing the electric field required for NFY production from >2.43 kV cm-1 to 1.875 kV cm-1.

Proper management of water is a challenge for every individual but especially for companies. Nowadays also legislation obliges companies to clean the wastewater before being discharged into municipal public sewer especially if they use some chemicals or oily elements in their production process. Construction of the wastewater cleaner depends directly on the way of pollution, the amount of contaminated water and the energy demand of the cleaning process. The paper deals with the construction of the wastewater cleaner, which is based on the technology of electro-flotation for the treatment of water contaminated with disperse colorants. The experimental work as well as the modelling using the statistical methods proved the suitability of the chosen technology. Also, each colour combination requires a specific time period for the water treatment. The authors determined the time interval for cleaning the wastewater that was polluted with yellow colour to 33 minutes. Finally, the wastewater cleaner that is based on the electro-flotation technology was included in the company’s reverse logistics system.

A single water pollution by dyes is a huge environmental problem; there is a necessity to produce new decolorization methods that are effective, cost-attractive, and suitable in industrial use. Magnetic chitosan polymers offer the advantage of easy separation from the dye solution. In this work, a Chitosan-Fe polymer was synthesized, characterized, and tested for removal of the azo dye Direct Red 83:1 from water. The polymer was characterized in terms of surface morphology (SEM), elemental analysis (EA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), infrared spectrophotometry (IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and density functional theory (DFT). The reported results hint that 1 g and pH 7.0 were the best conditions to carry out both kinetic and isotherm models. To understand the adsorption behavior of Direct Red 83:1 onto the polymers, adsorption rate and maximum adsorption capacity were calculated using kinetic tests and isotherm curves respectively. The kinetic data and mechanism of the adsorption process were analyzed by three models and the equilibrium data by three adsorption isotherms. The results indicated that the adsorption process follows a pseudo-second-order kinetics (R2= 0.999) and fits the Temkin isotherm (R2= 0.946), indicating that the adsorption occurred on heterogeneous surfaces. The newly synthesized Chitosan-Fe polymer exhibited good adsorption properties and easy separation of cleaned water.

The kinetic analysis of octogen coating with a polyurethane base containing hydroxyl-terminated polybutadi-ene (HTPB) was investigated using infrared spectroscopy. The coating process involved a solvent method, where octogen and liquid polyurethane were mixed, the solvent was evaporated, and curing took place at an elevated temperature. The ratio of HTPB to diisocyanate was equimolar. Initially, the curing process occurred in the solvent system, followed by further curing in the bulk system. The kinetic analysis was performed using a modified diffusion-autocatalytic model, which includes non-catalytic, autocatalytic, and diffusion compo-nents. This model was compared with others during the bulk reaction and proved to be effective in correcting errors, particularly in the gel time region. Thermodynamic parameters were evaluated using the Arrhenius and Eyring equations. The reaction rate was initially controlled by chemical reactivity, but after the gel time, diffusion became the controlling factor. In the HTPB-TDI system, both the non-catalytic and autocatalytic parts decreased with increasing temperature, while diffusivity increased. It is worth noting that diffusivity is temperature-dependent. Different diisocyanates, namely toluene diisocyanate (TDI), isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI), were studied, revealing that HMDI exhibited higher reactivi-ty than TDI and IPDI. The catalyst effect on reaction rate HTPB-TDI system is investigated. Catalysts adding (0.1%) to HTPB-TDI system is really decrease their activation energy by efectivity DBTL>FeAA>TPB. Catalyst not change their diffusivity.

In this research, the adsorption of gallium onto natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) and two mesoporous activated carbons was compared and evaluated. The clinoptilolite was treated with HCl (HCPL) while mesoporous activated carbons (MCSG60A and MCO1) were synthesized by replica method, using sucrose as carbon precursor and silica gel as template. These carbonacenous materials showed large pore sizes and mesoporous surface, as well as a suitable surface chemistry for cation adsorption, which promotes a high negative charge density. On the other hand, zeolites have narrower pore sizes, which hinders the material diffusion inside the particle; however, its strength is their ion exchange capacity. Regarding the gallium kinetic studies, it is described by Pseudo-second order model for both sorts of adsorbents. MCO1 is the best carbonaceous adsorbent studied, with a capacity of 4.58 mg/g. As for zeolites, between the two zeolites studied, HCPL showed the best results, with a gallium adsorption capacity of 3.1 mg/g. The gallium adsorption mechanism onto MCO1 material is based on physisorption while HCPL is mainly retained due to an ion-exchange process. Regarding Giles classification, MCO1 isotherm described an H-4 pattern of high affinity, characteristic of multilayer adsorption. Double-Langmuir model fits properly these experimental results. In the case of zeolites, HCPL adsorption isotherm followed an L-2 pattern, typical of monolayer adsorption, being the Sips model the one which better describes the adsorption of gallium onto the zeolite.

Biorefineries convert biomasses in bioproducts and they contribute to transition to the circular economy. In this way it will be avoiding the penalty associated with generating a lot of waste. The first step in the obtention chain of bioproducts consists of the high value added products extraction. The following steps are aimed at the utilisation of all by-products or waste generated. The kinetic anaerobic digestion of these residues are evaluated in this research to produce biogas/methane. Pepper waste have been employed in batch and semi-continuous anaerobic digestion assays trying the optimization of the yields adding, as catalysts, absorbent nanoparticles and/or using strategies of pretreatment.

Curcumin has restrained clinical applications due to poor bioavailability. This study aimed to synthesize cockle shell-derived calcium carbonate (aragonite) nanoparticles (CSCaCO3NP) for delivery of curcumin and to evaluate its kinetic release in vitro. CSCaCO3NP was synthesized and conjugated with curcumin (Cur-CSCaCO3NP) using a simple top down approach and characterized for its physicochemical properties as a potential curcumin carrier. In vitro release profile was assessed using dialysis bag membrane method. The release data were fitted to Korsmeyer-Peppas, Zero order and Higuchi models to evaluate the mechanism of release pattern. A spherical shaped CSCaCO3NP with a surface area of 14.48±0.1 m2/g, average mean diameter size of 21.38±2.7 nm and a zeta potential of -18.7 mV was synthesized which has a high loading content and encapsulation efficiency. The FT-IR and XRD revealed less observable changes on the peaks after conjugation. In vitro kinetic release profile demonstrated sustained release and best fitted to the Higuchi equation model. The results of this study showed the capacity of the synthesized CSCaCO3NP to encapsulate curcumin efficiently with a stable release in vitro. This could give an insight and supportive ideas on the potentials of CSCaCO3NP for curcumin delivery. Therefore, CSCaCO3NP holds future prospects in preclinical framework to enhance curcumin efficacy for oral therapeutic applications.

A detailed analysis of the dehydrogenation mechanism and reversibility of LiBH₄ doped by active Al* derived from AlH₃ was performed by thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), mass spectral analysis (MS), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results show that the dehydrogenation of LiBH₄/Al* is a five-step reaction: (1) LiBH₄ + Al → LiH + AlB₂ + “Li-Al-B-H” + B₂H₆ + H₂; (2) the decomposition of "Li-Al-B-H" compounds liberating H₂; (3) 2LiBH₄ + Al → 2LiH + AlB₂ + 3H₂; (4) LiBH₄ → LiH + B + 3/2H₂; (5) LiH + Al → LiAl + 1/2H₂. And the reversibility of LiBH₄/Al* composite is based on equation as follows: LiH + LiAl + AlB₂ + 7/2H₂ ↔ 2LiBH₄ + 2Al. The extent of dehydrogenation reaction between LiBH₄ and Al* greatly depends on the precipitation and growth of reaction products (LiH, AlB₂ and LiAl, etc.) on the surface of Al*. A passivation shell of Al* formed by these products is the kinetic barrier to the dehydrogenation of LiBH₄/Al* composite.

Optimal conditions for maximum efficacy of photoinitiated polymerization are theoretically presented. Analytic formulas are shown for the crosslink time, crosslink depth and efficacy function. The roles of photoinitiator (PI) concentration, diffusion depth and light intensity on the polymerization spatial and temporal profiles, for both uniform and non-uniform cases, are presented. For optimal efficacy, a strategy via controlled PI concentration is proposed, where re-supply of PI in high light intensity may achieve a combined-efficacy similar to low light intensity, but has a much faster procedure. A new criterion of efficacy based on the polymerization (crosslink) [strength] and [depth] is introduced. Experimental data are analyzed for the role of PI concentration and light intensity on the gelation time and efficacy.

Innovations in drug delivery systems are crucial for enhancing therapeutic efficiency. Our research presents a novel approach based on Electro-fluid dynamic atomization (EFDA) to fabricate core-shell monophasic particles (CSMp) from sodium alginate blends of varying molecular weights. This study explores the morphological characteristics of these particles in relation to material properties and process conditions, highlighting their potential in drug delivery applications. A key aspect of our work is the development of a mathematical model that simulates the release kinetics of small molecules, specifically sodium diclofenac. By assessing the diffusion properties of different molecules and gel formulations through transport and rheological models, we have created a predictive tool for evaluating the efficiency of these particles in drug delivery. Our findings underscore two critical independent parameters for optimizing drug release: the external shell thickness and the diffusivity ratios within the dual layers. This allows for precise control over the timing and intensity of the release profile. The study advances our understanding of EFDA in the fabrication of CSMp and offers promising avenues for enhancing drug delivery systems by tailoring release profiles through particle characteristic manipulation.

An approximation-free and fully quantum optic formalism for parametric processes is presented. Phase-dependent gain coefficients and related phase-pulling effects are identified for quantum Rayleigh emission and the electro-optic conversion of photons providing parametric amplification in small scale integration of photonic devices. These mechanisms can be manipulated to deliver, simultaneously, sub-Poissonian distributions of photons as well as phase-dependent amplification in the same optical quadrature of a signal field.

The author’s opinion is that the negative energy solutions of the Dirac equation mean that a particle can be of negative kinetic energy (NKE) besides positive kinetic energy (PKE). We think that NKE particles are dark ones and NKE matter is dark matter. In our previous works, the dark matter theory of the NKE version and the dark energy theory that matched dark matter theory were put forth. In this work, we investigate the topics related to the metamorphosis of objects between PKE and NKE. We first evaluate the collosions between a PKE and a NKE particles. A scenario of accelerating PKE particles is raised. We put forth the cosmic dark radiation background and gravity potential background. In the universe, negative energy is predominating. In the observable universe, substances constitute stable PKE systems. The total energy of every such system is negative. We propose a mechanism that NKE substances combine into stable PKE systems. Macroscopically, NKE objects can constitute stable PKE astrophysical systems by means of gravity between them. Microscopically, NKE particles can combine into stable PKE systems by means of attractive interactions between them, say, Coulomb attraction. Currently, people think that there are four ingrediants in the universe: photons \Omega_R0, matter \Omega_M0, dark matter \Omega_DM, and dark energy \Omega_\lambda0. We analyze the order of the appearance of the four ingredients and conclude that qualitatively, their proportions should be \Omega_\lambda0 > \Omega_DM > \Omega_M0 > \Omega_R0.

Up to now, Schrödinger equation, Klein-Gordon equation (KGE) and Dirac equation are believed the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics. Schrödinger equation has a defect that there is no NKE solutions. Dirac equation has positive kinetic energy (PKE) and negative kinetic energy (NKE) branches. Both branches should have low momentum, or nonrelativistic, approximations: one is Schrödinger equation and the other is NKE Schrödinger equation. KGE has two problems: it is an equation of second time derivative, and calculated density is not definitely positive. To overcome the problems, it should be revised as PKE and NKE decoupled KGEs. The fundamental equations of quantum mechanics after the modification have at least two merits. They are of unitary in that everyone contains the first time derivative and are symmetric with respect to PKE and NKE. This reflects the symmetry of the PKE and NKE matters, as well as matter and dark matter, of our universe. The problems of one-dimensional step potentials are resolved by means of the modified fundamental equations for a nonrelativistic particle.

In this study, we have focused on studying the heterogenous degradation kinetics of regarding the decomposition of emergency contraceptive agent levonorgestrel (LNG), which is a second-generation synthetic progestogen that is the active component of the racemic mixture of norgestrel. The degradation processes of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) were compared with the ones obtained from model system containing the API along with the excipients that are found in a commercialized pharmaceutical formulation in a mass ratio of 1:1 (LNGMIX), in order to observe if the excipients have a stabilizing or destabilizing effect for the degradation of this progestogen. To achieve this, the following investigational methods were used: FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy and thermal analysis (TG/DTG/DSC analysis). For the kinetic analysis the data obtained from two main decomposition processes observed on the DTG curves were used and processed with a preliminary method, namely ASTM E698 and two isoconversional methods: Friedman and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa. The isoconversional study revealed that the decomposition mechanism of both LNG and LNGMIX are complex, and the excipients have a stabilizing effect over decomposition of API in tablet.

Gold- and MnO₂- nanozymes are well-known for their enzyme-like activity. In this regard, initially, gold- and MnO₂- nanozymes were synthesized by simple and green methods. Afterward, the kinetic studies were performed using the Michaelis–Menten model for both gold- and MnO₂- nanozymes. The kinetic parameters including K_m and V_max were calculated via the construction of the linear plot of Lineweaver–Burk for both nanozymes. The results showed a V_max and K_m of 185 nM sec^-1 and 47 nM sec^-1 for the gold- and MnO₂- nanozymes, in order. The ratio of V_max(gold)/V_max(MnO₂) was found to be about 4.0 which pointed that the catalytic efficiency of gold-nanozymes is 4.0-fold higher than the catalytic efficiency of MnO₂- nanozymes. The K_m value was found to be 0.72 mM and 1.6 mM for the as-prepared gold- and MnO₂- nanozymes, respectively, and the K_m of MnO₂-nanozymes is 2.2-fold higher than that of gold nanozymes. Since the Km shows the affinity of substrate for binding to nanozyme active nodes (lower K_m=higher affinity), it is consultable that the substrate affinity toward MnO₂-nanozymes is 2.2-fold lower than that of the gold-nanozymes. Considering the above results, the as-prepared gold nanozymes are very stronger peroxidase-like mimics than the metal oxide MnO₂-nanozymes.

The extremely high rotation of some SMBHs is the origin of their relativistic rotational energy that results in their relativistic mass. Relativistic mass creates their relativistic gravity which is a partial answer to the missing dark matter.

Rehabilitation following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with hamstring graft allows the patient to regain his functional capacities and to support him in the resumption of sports activities. Rehabilitation also aims to minimize the risk of recurrence, which is why it ensures that the patient's muscular capacities develop properly until they return to sport. Isokinetics helps strengthen and assess the strength of muscle groups in the thigh, but controversy exists as to its use by resistance to the open kinetic chain knee extension that would cause the transplant to distend. The objective of this study is to determine the influence of isokinetic muscle strengthening on the possible laxity of the anterior cruciate ligament and to be able to determine risk factors. The study relates to a population having benefited from anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with hamstring graft from 3 to 6 months after surgery. Two groups are differentiated, one group exposed to isokinetism during rehabilitation, the other group, named unexposed, undergoes rehabilitation without the use of isokinetism. An anterior knee laxity test is performed 6 months postoperatively using the GNRB® machine for all subjects according to the same protocol. The test results were statistically analyzed to determine a relative risk of transplant distension for each group in the study. Comparison of the results of each group by univariate analysis did not reveal any significant result. Multivariate analysis showed interactions in the two strata of the study. It was argued that the use of isokinetics seems to have no effect on the risk of developing distension for the majority of subjects in the exposed group. A tendency towards transplant protection was perceived for each variable except the age under 25 years (RRa = 1.07). The use of isokinetics does not appear to be a cause of transplant distension in patients undergoing an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction when this method is introduced 3 months postoperatively.

The physics of the human brain has two components – basic physics common to all mammals and the physics of thinking inherent only in man. The development of the mental component of the structural and functional organization of the brain in phylogeny was associated with the chiral factor of the external environment, and in ontogenesis - with the social factor. The sensitivity of the brain to these factors was based on the single-connected nature of its aqueous basis, the mechanism of electromagnetic induction, and the features of the thermodynamics of the brain in a state of night sleep. In order to unify the description of the mechanism of electromagnetic processes in the brain, the concept of a quasiphoton has been introduced, combining all forms of excitation of electronic and molecular-cellular structures of the brain. Equivalent schemes of vibrational contours of neural network elements and macrostructures of the brain are proposed. Estimates of the kinetic parameters (activation energy, velocity) of the physical processes underlying the energy-information exchange of the brain with the external environment are made. Mechanisms of operative (physical) and permanent (chemical) memory of the brain, including a model of nonlocal quantum correlations, are discussed.

The kinetics and efficacy profiles of photoinitiated polymerization are theoretically presented. For the same dose, lower light intensity achieves a higher steady-state-efficacy (SSE) in type-I; in contrast, type-II has an equal SSE. Higher light intensity has a faster rising efficacy, due to faster depletion of photoinitiator (PS) concentration. However, type-II process is also affected by the available oxygen. Higher light intensity produces more efficient singlet oxygen, resulting a higher transient efficacy, in which all intensities reach the same SSE when oxygen is completely depleted. With external oxygen, type-II efficacy increases with time, otherwise, it is governed only by the light dose, i.e., same dose achieves same efficacy. Moreover, type-II has an efficacy follows Bunsen Roscoe law (BRL), whereas type-I follows non-BRL. The measured type-I efficacy and gelation profile are analyzed by our analytic formulas. Schematics of the photocrosslinking stage defined by the availability of oxygen is developed, where both type-I and –II coexist until the oxygen is depleted. The overall efficacy may be enhanced by resupply of PS or oxygen during the light exposure. The roles of light dose and PS concentration on the efficacy of photoinitiated polymerization should be are governed a new concept of a volume efficacy (Ve), defined by the product of the crosslink (or gelation) depth (CD) and local [efficacy].

A marine fibrinolytic compound FGFC1 enhancing fibrinolysis was obtained involving in enzymatic kinetic parameters of reciprocal activation system with single chain urokinase type plasminogen activator and plasminogen. FGFC1, a kind of bisindole alkaloid from a metabolite of rare marine fungi Starchbotrys longispora FG216, modulated enzymatic kinetic parameters including fibrinolytic reaction rate and fibrin degradation characteristics. The enzymatic kinetics of fibrinolysis was described based on enzymatic reaction of chromogenic-substrate associated with p-nitroaniline (p-NA). While single chain urokinase-type plasminogen activator (pro-uPA) actived plasminogen, K_cat and k_cat/k_m increased significantly with increase of FGFC1 concentration. Moreover, K_cat and k_cat/k_m exhibited 26.5-fold and 22.8-fold enhanced activity at the concentration of 40 μg•mL⁻¹ of FGFC1, respectively. The results suggested that FGFC1 improved significantly the maximum catalytic efficiency and the total catalytic activity of fibrinolysis base on the reciprocal activation of pro-uPA and plasminogen. K_m increased with increasing FGFC1 concentration, which indicated that FGFC1 decreased slightly the affinity activity of pro-uPA and plasminogen versus enzyme substrate. The marine bisindole alkaloid FGFC1 enhanced fibrinolysis which was taken on enzymatic kinetic characteristics.

Lightning strike can cause a considerable damage in aircraft parts made from semiconducting materials such as Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRPs). Therefore, in recent years, the lightning strike phenomenon has attracted the interest of the academic community and the aircraft industry. Until now, the problem has been addressed mainly experimentally, while the reported numerical works are very limited. In the present work, a coupled electro-thermal FE model has been developed using the ANSYS commercial FE code to simulate the lightning strike damage in unidirectional CFRP laminates due to the Joule heat flux phenomenon. The model is based on the SOLID69 thermoelectric element and applies a non-linear, time-transient analysis. The main input to the model is the thermal-electrical properties of the composite material which vary with temperature. Using the model, a parametric study on the effect of mesh density and peak intensity on the thermal damage has been performed. Three electrical lightning strikes of low (10 kA), medium (30 kA) and high peak intensity (40 kA) have been applied according to the SAE ARP 5412 standard. The electro-thermal model has been validated against a numerical model from the literature. The numerical results reveal that the increase of peak intensity leads to the increase of the area and penetration depth of matrix thermal damage (pyrolysis) as well as to the increase of the area of fiber damage (deterioration and ablation). Through progressive damage modeling, the residual tensile strength of the CFRP plate after being subjected to lightning strike of different peak intensity has been predicted. Lightning strike initial damage has been simulated by translating the thermal field into degradation of elastic properties of the lamina. The results show an increase in the accumulated matrix damage and a decrease of tensile strength due to the initial lightning strike damage. For the maximum peak intensity of 40 kA, a decrease in tensile strength of 4.8% has been predicted

Molybdenum tailings powder (MTs) is an industrial waste that contains more than 85% contents of SiO2, Al2O3, CaO, and Fe2O3. Therefore, MTs has the potential pozzolanic activity and can be used as a mineral admixture in cementitious materials. In order to understand the influence of MTs as an admixture on the cement hydration process, the hydration heat and hydration kinetics of the composite cementitious materials (CCMs) were investigated by an isothermal calorimeter and the Krstulovic-Dabic model. Furthermore, the influences of fly ash (FA), slag (SL) and MTs on hydration heat at the same content were compared and analyzed. Results show that proper amount of MTs can promote the hydration of CCMs. When the content of MTs is not more than 15%, the second exothermic peak of CCMs appears earlier and the peak heat release increases. However, when the content of MTs exceeds 15%, the second exothermic peak of CCMs is delayed and the peak heat release decreases. The cumulative heat release of CCMs gradually decreases with an increasing content of MTs. When the replacement of MTs, FA, and SL is 15% respectively, the addition of MTs enhances the second exothermic peak of CCMs compared to FA and SL. The final heat release of MTs is higher than that of FA, but lower than that of SL. The hydration process of CCMs undergoes three stages: nucleation and crystal growth (NG), interactions at phase boundaries (I), and diffusion (D). The incorporation of MTs shortens the NG stage and I stage.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to 1) analyze the disruption of intracardiac flow by flow components and kinetic energy (KE) parameters in single ventricle physiology patients and compare with controls; 2) investigate left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in terms of 4D flow parameters in repaired Fontan (rFontan) group; 3) compare intracardiac flow parameters in morphologic LV and RV rFontan patient groups. Methods: Twenty-five rFontan patients (age: 10±3, M/F: 15/10) and fourteen controls (age: 10±2, M/F: 8/6) were prospectively recruited. All underwent cine and 4D flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) on 3.0T scanner. Cardiac function and inter-ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony were analyzed using cine images. From 4D flow CMR, ventricular flow components were assessed: direct flow, retained inflow, delayed ejection flow and residual volume. Global and regional blood flow KE parameters, normalized to end-diastolic volume (EDV) were analyzed for functional single ventricle (FSV). Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction was assessed on echocardiography guidelines. Results: In comparison of rFontan vs. controls, median FSV residual volume (28% vs. 23%, P= 0.034) were higher in rFontan; median FSV direct flow (32% vs. 40%, P=0.005) and delayed ejection flow (17% vs. 24%, P=0.024) were lower in rFontan. FSV KEiEDV parameters were all lower in rFontan (all P<0.05). No significant differences were observed for flow components and KE parameters between patients with and without inter-ventricular dyssynchrony. FSV direct flow (AUC=0.76, Sensitivity=86%, Specificity=70%) was an independent predictor of LV diastolic dysfunction. Residual volume and E-wave KEiEDV were significantly different between morphologic RV and morphologic LV patient group. Conclusions: The changed flow pattern and decreased KE may be hemodynamic disturbances and impaired ventricular filling in rFontan patients. Reduced direct flow is associated with LV diastolic dysfunction. Morphologic right ventricular subgroup is worse than morphologic left ventricular group in terms of the intracardiac hemodynamics.

In this work, an novel flow-electric field coupling configuration for enhanced Zn-Cd cementation was designed and utilized. A series of tests were conducted to explore the optimization of Zn-Cd cementation process and its mechanism.Firstly, the various characterisations of the cadmium sponge at different locations in the device were compared and it was concluded that the purity of the cadmium sponge was optimal from the anode surface. The generation and stripping of cadmium sponge was revealed for the first time by cross-sectional electron microscopy. The four stages of the apparent reaction in the system were analysed in relation to the pH, cadmium concentration and cadmium sponge flaking at each flow rate. It was proved that the separation of cadmium sponge mainly occurred in the third phase. Secondly, by comparing the morphology and specific surface area of cadmium sheep at different flow rates, the optimum flow field velocity was identified as 30 ml/s. Six flow field configurations were compared and preferred. The results demonstrate that the LCAH modulation results in a more sparse structure of the cadmium sponge, which is more easily exfoliated from the zinc anode surface by fluid impact. This was considered to be the most beneficial flow field configuration for improving the cadmium cementation rate and reducing the cost of the reaction. Further, the reaction steps of the system were analysed. The diffusion process under different flow field configurations was confirmed by calculations to follow first order kinetics. The diffusion coefficient of LACH proved to be the highest in the comparative tests and this result was also supported by the apparent experimental results.

Purpose:To explore (theoretically) the key parameters and their influence on the time profiles of photosensitizer (riboflavin), free radicals, singlet oxygen, oxygen and the efficacy of corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL)in both type-I and oxygen-mediated type-II mechanisms, specially the role of oxygen and the initiator regeneration. Methodology:Coupled kinetic equations are derived and numerically solved under the quasi-steady state condition for the 2-pathway mechanisms of CXL. The key parameters explored include (bI, V, Q', K, K',Q,P) and their influence on the time profiles of photosensitizer (riboflavin, C), radicals (R), singlet oxygen(S), oxygen (X) and efficacy (E), parameters of (K,K',Q) define the relative strength of type-I and type-II process. The oxygen depletion profile, X(t), and the associated singlet oxygen, S(t), depend on the parameters of V, Q' and the initial value of oxygen. The coupling strength given by (bI) governs almost all profiles, where b is an effective absorption parameter and I is the UV light intensity.Results:Our numerical method for CXL dynamic profiles demonstrated the following important features: (i) Type-I and type-II coexit in CXL, in the presence of oxygen. However, there is no type-II when oxygen is depleted or in a condition without oxygen. (ii) Type-I with bimolecular termination, the radical R(t) is a function of [K'(bIgC)]^0.5, leading to the steady-state efficacy given by a scaling law of 1/(bI)^0.5, in contract to that of type-II which is almost independent to the light intensity. (iii) The depletion rate (2 to 5 minutes) of X(t) is much faster than that of C(t) (10 to 20 minutes), (iv) Thepure type-II profile, has a transition point from straight line to saturating curve and matches the depletion point of singlet oxygen S(t). (v) Improved CXL efficacy of type-I and type-II may be achieved by external supply of photoinitiator (riboflavin) and oxygen, respectively.

High quantities of wastewater produced from producing natural gas and oil from the aquifer, which called produced water. The produced water was comprised of dissolved solids, suspended solids, emulsified oil, and organic and inorganic compounds. That should be treated it's before disposal because it causes harm to the environment. This study takes the produced water from the southern Iraqi oilfield drilling company to adsorption by the Cane papyrus as natural and low-cost adsorbent. The analysis completed by using Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, EDX spectra and Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) for Cane papyrus. Investigating the effect of many parameters such as adsorbent dosage, temperature, solution pH, mixer speed and contact time. The Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Harkins-Henderson isotherm models were tested, the results were 0.998,0.966, 0.931 and 0.966 respectively. The Langmuir model was more suitable described the adsorption process than the other models. The kinetics results were, 0.984 for Pseudo-first-order, 0.938 for Pseudo-second order is, 0.979 for Intra particle diffusion study and 0.912 for the Elovich model, the Pseudo-first-order kinetic equation best described the kinetics of the reaction. The thermodynamics study effect temperature changes on the thermodynamic parameters such as standard free energy change (∆G°), standard enthalpy change (∆H°) and standard entropy change (∆S°). The experimental data obtained demonstrated that Cane papyrus is a suitable adsorbent for removing oil from produced water.

The antioxidant potential (capacity and activity) of aqueous fullerene dispersions (AFD) of non-functionalized C₆₀, C₇₀, and Gd@C₈₂ endofullerene (in micromolar concentration range) was estimated based on chemiluminescence measurements of the model of luminol and generation of organic radicals by 2,2’-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (ABAP). The antioxidant capacity was estimated by the TRAP method, from the concentration of half-suppression, and from the suppression area in the initial period. All three approaches agree and show that the antioxidant capacity of AFDs increased in the row Gd@C₈₂ < C₇₀ < C₆₀. Mathematical modeling of the long-term kinetics data was used for antioxidant activity estimation. The effect of C₆₀ and C₇₀ is found to be quenching of the excited product of luminol with ABAP-generated radical and not an actual antioxidant effect; quenching constants differ insignificantly. Apart from quenching with a similar constant, the AFD of Gd@C₈₂ exhibits actual antioxidant action. The antioxidant activity in Gd@C₈₂ is 300-fold higher than quenching constants.

Lignocellulosic fibers are widely applied as composite reinforcement due to their properties. The thermal degradation behavior determines the maximum temperature in which the fiber can be applied without significant mass loss. It is possible to determine these temperatures using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TG). In particular, when curves are obtained at different heating rates, kinetic parameters can be determined and more detailed characteristics of the material are obtained. However, every curve obtained at a distinct heating rate demands material, cost, and time. Methods to predict thermogravimetric curves can be very useful in the materials science field and in this sense mathematical approaches are powerful tools if well employed. For this reason, in the present study, curaua TG curves were obtained at three different heating rates (5, 10, 20, and 40 °C.min-1) and Vyazovkin kinetic parameters were obtained. After, the experimental curves were fitted using an artificial neural network (ANN) approach followed by a Surface Response Methodology (SRM). Curves at any heating rate between the minimum and maximum experimental heating rates were obtained with high reliability. Finally, Vyazovkin kinetic parameters were tested again with the new curves showing similar kinetic parameters from the experimental ones. In conclusion, due to the capability to learn from the own data, ANN combined with SRM seems to be an excellent alternative to predict TG curves that do not test experimentally, opening the range of applications.

The use of low-intensity ultrasound has gotten surprising consideration over the last decade as a method for enhancing the catalytic activity of the enzyme. Ultrasounds have the potential to significantly influence the activity of the enzymatic processes, provided that the energy input is not too high to inactivate the enzyme. By providing the variation in parameters, various physical and chemical effects can be attained that can enhance the enzymatic reaction. Ultrasonic reactors are known for their application in bioprocesses. However, the potential of their applications is still limited broadly due to the lack of proper information about their operational and performance parameters. In this review, the detailed information about ultrasonic reactors is provided by defining the different types of reactors, number and position of ultrasonic transducers. Also, it includes the mechanism of intensification and influence of ultrasonic parameters (intensity, duty cycle and frequency) and enzymatic factors (enzyme concentration, temperature and pH) on the catalytic activity of enzyme during ultrasound treatment.

Finding the proper entropy functional associated with the inelastic Boltzmann equation for a granular gas is a yet unsolved challenge. The original H-theorem hypotheses do not fit here and the H-functional presents some additional measure problems that are solved by the Kullback–Leibler divergence (KLD) of a reference velocity distribution function from the actual distribution. The right choice of the reference distribution in the KLD is crucial for the latter to qualify or not as a Lyapunov functional, the “homogeneous cooling state” (HCS) distribution of the freely cooling system being a potential candidate. Due to the lack of a formal proof, the aim of this work is to support this conjecture aided by molecular dynamics simulations of inelastic hard disks and spheres in a wide range of values for the coefficient of restitution (α). Our results reject the Maxwellian distribution as a possible reference, whereas reinforce the HCS one. Moreover, the KLD is used to measure the amount of information lost on using the former rather than the latter, and reveals a nonmonotonic dependence with α. Additionally, a Maxwell-demon-like velocity-inversion experiment highlights the microscopic irreversibility of the granular gas dynamics.

Significance: Electrophile signaling is coming into focus as a bona fide cell signaling mechanism. The electrophilic regulation occurs typically through a sensing event (i.e., labeling of a protein) and a signaling event (the labeling event having an effect of the proteins activity, association, etc.). Recent advances: Herein, we focus on the first step of this process, electrophile sensing. Electrophile sensing is typically a deceptively simple reaction between the thiol of a protein-cysteine, of which there are around 200,000 in the human proteome, and a Michael acceptor, of which there are numerous flavors, including enals and enones. Recent data overall paint a picture that despite being a simple chemical reaction, electrophile sensing is a discerning process, showing labeling preferences that are often not in line with reactivity of the electrophile. Critical issues: With a view to trying to decide what brings about highly electrophile-reactive protein-cysteines, and how reactive these sensors may be, we discuss aspects of the thermodynamics and kinetics of covalent/non-covalent binding. Data made available by several laboratories indicate that it is likely that specific proteins exhibit highly stereo- and chemoselective electrophile sensing, which we take as good evidence for recognition between the electrophile and the protein prior to forming a covalent bond. Future directions: We propose experiments that could help us gain a better and more quantitative understanding of the mechanisms through which sensing comes about. We further extoll the importance of performing more detailed experiments on labeling and trying to standardize the way we assess protein-specific electrophile sensing.We propose experiments that could help us gain a better and more quantitative understanding of the mechanisms through which sensing comes about. We further extoll the importance of performing more detailed experiments on labeling and trying to standardize the way we assess protein-specific electrophile sensing.

Evaluating new, promising organic molecules to make next-generation organic optoelectronic devices necessitates the evaluation of charge carrier transport performance through the semi-conducting medium. In this work, we utilize quantum chemical calculations (QCC) and kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations to predict the zero-field hole mobilities of ~100 morphologies of the benchmark polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene), with varying simulation volume, structural order, and chain-length polydispersity. Morphologies with monodisperse chains were generated previously using an optimized molecular dynamics force-field and represent a spectrum of nanostructured order. We discover that a combined consideration of backbone clustering and system-wide disorder arising from side-chain conformations are correlated with hole mobility. Furthermore, we show that strongly interconnected thiophene backbones are required for efficient charge transport. This definitively shows the role "tie-chains" play in enabling mobile charges in P3HT. By marrying QCC and KMC over multiple length- and time-scales, we demonstrate that it is now possible to routinely probe the relationship between molecular nanostructure and device performance.

Since the requirements in terms of power of the electronic applications range wide, the developed Energy Harvesting (EH) systems limit their availability to the less power demanding applications. However, this paper focuses on increasing the energy levels collected in the EH system so that it can be included in more demanding applications in terms of power. Therefore, an electronic system capable of grouping many single harvesting channels into one single system is analyzed in this paper. This multi-harvester electronic system is able to manage efficiently the energy collected by multiple vibratory transducers. The paper includes a comparison of its performance against some of the State-of-the-Art EH energy management circuits that interface the transducers. The method employed to demonstrate the intrinsic efficiency of each of the electronic circuits tested was based on experimental tests, where the average power transferred from several identical and simultaneous electric sources to a single storage element was measured. It was found out that only one energy management circuit was able to increase the transferred energy in a linear way while new input electric sources were added.

An optical frequency comb (OFC) generator based on an electro-optic Talbot laser and cross-phase modulation (XPM) in a high nonlinear fiber (HNLF) is designed and demonstrated. The Talbot laser is an electro-optic frequency shifting loop to produce repetition rate multiplied pulses, and these pulses working as a pump signal induce XPM process in the HNLF to modulate the phase of a probe signal. At the output of the HNLF, OFCs with a multiplied line-spacing can be generated. The effects of the pump power and the HNLF length on the performance of the generated OFCs are theoretically analyzed. In the experiments, the line-spacing of the generated OFCs is respectively multiplied to be 10 GHz, 15 GHz and 20 GHz with a factor of 2, 3 and 4. The center of the OFCs is tuned in a 4-nm range by adjusting the wavelength of the probe signal.

Electro-optic modulator (EOM) is one of the key devices of high-speed optical fiber communication system and ultra-wideband microwave photonic system. Silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) integration platform combines the advantages of silicon photonics and organic materials, providing a high electro-optic effect and compact structure for photonic integrated devices. In this paper we present a SOH integrated EOM with comprehensive investigation of EOM structure design, silicon waveguide fabrication with Slot structure, on-chip poling of organic electro-optic material, and characterization of EO modulation response. The SOH integrated EOM is measured with 3dB-bandwidth of over 50 GHz and half-wave voltage length product of 0.26 V·cm. Furthermore, we demonstrate a microwave photonics phase shifter by using the fabricated SOH integrated dual parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator. The phase shift range of 410 degree is completed from 8 GHz to 26 GHz with a power consumption of less than 38 mW.

Null-flux Electro-dynamic suspension (EDS) system promises to be one of the feasible high-speed maglev systems above 600 km/h. On account of its greater current-carrying capacity, superconducting magnet can provide super-magnetomotive force that is required for null-flux EDS system and cannot be provided by electromagnets and permanent magnets. There is already a relatively mature high-speed maglev technology with low temperature superconducting (LTS) magnets as the core, which works in the liquid helium temperature region (T≤4.2 K). 2-Generation high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet winded by REBa2Cu3O7−δ (REBCO, RE=rare earth) tapes works above 20 K region and do not need to count on liquid helium which is rare on earth. This paper designed HTS no-insulation closed-loop coils applied for EDS system and energized with persistent current switch. The coils can work at persistent current model and has premier thermal quench self-protection. Besides, a full size double-pancake module was designed and manufactured in this paper, and it was tested in liquid nitrogen. The double-pancake module’s critical current is about 54 A and it is capable of working at persistent current model, whose average decay rate measured in 12 hours is 0.58%/day.

Reversed Flow Gas Chromatography (R.F.G.C.) was employed to assess the impact of genetic modification on Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains during the process of alcoholic fermentation, utilizing fig syrup. Multiple fermentations were carried out at various temperatures to evaluate the influence of genetic modifications on yeast strain efficiency. The study involved a wild-type yeast strain, W303, as a control, and two genetically modified strains, W_M4_533 and W_M4_558, sharing the same genetic background as the wild type. Notably, the genetic modifications in the Msn4p transcription factor involved the substitution of serine residues with alanine at positions 533 and 558, resulting in the development of psychrophilic or ethanol-resistant strains. Utilizing the R.F.G.C. method enabled the differentiation of the duration of alcoholic fermentation phases, providing insights correlated to the yeast cell life cycle. The values of rate constants (k) for each phase, conducted with both wild-type and genetically modified cells using RFGC, aligned with existing literature. Additionally, the calculation of activation energies for distinct phases revealed lower values for genetically modified strains compared to wild-type strains. This decrease in activation energies suggests enhanced efficiency in the alcoholic fermentation process for the genetically modified strains.

Currently, conventional spark-ignition engines face challenges in meeting the ever-growing demands of customers and increasingly stringent regulations regarding pollutant emissions. A combination of innovative strategies and carbon-neutral fuels is deemed necessary in order to further reduce fuel consumption and minimize engine emissions. The present work aims to assess the performance of combustion strategies using low-carbon content fuel, such as methanol M100, ignited by a plasma-assisted igniter (PAI) under ultra-lean conditions. The experimental campaign is conducted on a single-cylinder research engine at different engine speeds and low loads, moving up to the engine lean stable limits. To determine the benefits brought by the proposed strategy, referred to as M100-PAI, the obtained outcomes are compared with the ones obtained using market gasoline E5 ignited by the PAI system and conventional spark. The synergy between M100 (methanol) and Plasma Assisted Ignition (PAI) in internal combustion engines yielded notable benefits. This combination significantly improved combustion stability if compared to the other combinations tested, by extending the lean stable limit to λ=2.0, reducing cycle-to-cycle variability, and facilitating faster flame front acceleration, resulting in enhanced homogeneity. These enhancements, obtained with the combination M100-PAI, contributed to higher fuel efficiency showing a 10% efficiency gain over the combination E5-gasoline spark ignition.

This review provides a systematic analysis of the literature data on the electrodeposition of composite coatings using plating baths based on a new generation of room-temperature ionic liquids, known as deep eutectic solvents (DESs). Such systems offer several advantages over traditionally used aqueous electrolytes and organic solvent-based electrolytes. The colloidal-chemical properties of suspension and colloidal electrolytes for composite deposition are thoroughly examined. New theories describing the kinetics of co-deposition of composite layers are characterized. The kinetics and mechanism of electrochemical deposition processes of composite coatings with metallic matrices are discussed. Case studies regarding the electrodeposition of composite coatings based on electrodeposited copper, silver, zinc, tin, nickel, cobalt, and chromium from DES-assisted electroplating baths are described and systematized. The main prospective directions for further research in the discussed scientific area are highlighted.

Colombia is the world's leading producer of mild washed arabica coffee and produces 12.6 million bags of green coffee, but at the same time 784,000 tons of waste biomass are dumped in open fields, of which only 5% is recovered or used. The objective of this project was to evaluate the production of platform chemicals from these coffee wastes. To achieve this, biomass characterization was carried out using proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and structural analysis. Hydrothermal valorization was carried out at a temperature range of 120-180 °C (LHW) and 180-260 °C (HTC) for one hour, the platform chemicals obtained were quantified by HPLC-IR, monitored by pH and conductivity, and the solid fraction was characterized by monitoring the functional groups in IR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. Hydrolysis processes were obtained from 150 °C, production of platform chemicals from 180 °C and maximum concentration at 180 °C-4h, over 200 °C degradation of the products in the liquid fraction starts to take place. Homogeneous basic and acid catalysts were used to improve the yields of the reaction. The kinetics of the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic structures to sugars were also analyzed and described, and reaction orders of 1 (LHW), 3 (HTC) and their respective reaction rate equations were reported.

Numerical simulations of standard situations in the transition region from gas kinetics to fluid dynamics at small Mach numbers indicate a clear dependence of the simulation results on the underlying kinetic model (here: nonlinear and linearized Boltzmann collision operator vs. BGK relaxation model). We develop an improved mathematical framework (trace theory) to explain these differences. In particular we reveal certain deficiencies for the classical BKG system as well as for the standard Navier Stokes approach.

Diagnosing cervical foraminal stenosis with intermittent arm radiculopathy is chal-lenging due to discrepancies between MRI findings and symptoms. This can be attributed to the fact that MRI images are often obtained in a relaxed supine position. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of the Dynamic MRI Compression System (DMRICS) and to assess possible changes in cervical foramina, with both quantitative measurements and qualitative grading systems, with MRI during a simulated Spurling test. Ten patients (5 women and 5 men, ages 29-45) with previously confirmed cervical foraminal stenosis underwent MRI scans using DMRICS. MRIs were acquired in both relaxed and provoked states. A radiologist assessed 30 foramina (C4-C7) on the symptomatic side in both patient positions. Quantitative and qualitative measures were performed including the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and the Park and Kim grading systems. The provoked state induced concordant neck and arm pain in 9 of 10 patients. Significant shifts in Park and Kim fo-raminal gradings were noted: 13 of 27 Park gradings and 9 of 27 Kim gradings escalated post-provocation. No quantitative changes were observed. This pilot study indicates that the DMRICS device has potential to improve diagnostic accuracy for cervical radicu-lopathy, demonstrating induced cervical foraminal changes during a simulated Spurling test while performing MRI.

Today, buildings are increasingly designed with transparent materials, with glass paneling being especially popular as an installation material for its architectural allure. However, its major drawback is admitting impractical amounts of sunlight to interior spaces. Office buildings with excessive sunlight in indoor areas result in worker inefficiency. This article studied kinetic façades as means to providing suitable sunlight for interior spaces integrated with a triple identity of DNA structure, photosynthetic behavior, and the twist used, which was divided into generation and evaluation. The generating phase first used an evolutionary engine to produce potential strip patterns. The kinetic façade was subsequently evaluated by Climate Studio software to validate daylight admission in an indoor space with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) version 4.1 criteria. To analyze the kinetic façade system, the building envelope was divided into four types: glass panels, static façades, kinetic façade (version 1, rotating movement), and kinetic façades (version 2, twisting movement). In addition, for kinetic façades, degrees of simulation for versions 1 and 2 were 20, 50, 80, and 100 degrees, in order to ascertain potential for both façades to the same degree. Comparing all façades receiving the daylight factor (DF) into the space from more or less sunlight resulted in the decreasing order of potential as follows: entirely glass façade, kinetic façade version 2, kinetic façade version 1, and static façade. By receiving daylight factor (DF), the façade filtered appropriate amounts of daylight into the working space moderately and beneficially. Daylight simulation results indicated that the newly designed kinetic façade (version 2) had more potential than other building envelope types in terms of filtering beneficial daylight in indoor areas. This article also experimented with the kinetic façade prototype in an actual situation to test conditional environmental potential. The kinetic façade (version 2) was explored in the building envelope with varied adaptability in order to provide sunlight and for private-to-public, public-to-private, or semi-public working areas.

We consider a Mean Field Games model where the dynamics of the agents is given by a controlled Langevin equation and the cost is quadratic. A change of variables, introduced in [13], transforms the Mean Field Games system into a system of two coupled kinetic Fokker-Planck equations. We prove an existence result for the latter system, obtaining consequently existence of a solution for the Mean Field Games system.

The oral administration of (R)-3-hydroxybutyl-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate, allows inducing a beneficial level of blood ketone bodies without the adverse effects due to the adhesion to a ketogenic diet. Several studies documented the therapeutic effectiveness of the (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate in treating neurodegenerative diseases as well as its boosting activity of athletic and cognitive performances during prolonged physical exercises. Further studies considering this ketone body ester for therapy of other pathologies are also underway. In the present work, we describe the synthesis of (R)-3-hydroxybutyl-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate through the enantioselective transesterification of racemic ethyl 3-hydroxybutyrate with (R)-1,3-butanediol catalyzed by immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (CAL-B). The enantiopure (R)-1,3-butanediol was in turn obtained from the kinetic resolution of the racemate by CAL-B catalyzed acetylation with vinyl acetate. The economy of the synthetic procedure has been improved by recycling the unreacted (S) enantiomers of the ethyl 3-hydroxybutyrate and 1,3-buatnediol after stereochemical inversion achieved by tosylation and SN2 with ammonium acetate. The overall procedure allows to incorporate up to 70% of the starting racemic reagents into the final product.

After 40 years of the discovery of metallocene catalysts, there are still several aspects that remain unresolved, especially when the “conventional” alkylaluminum activators are not used. Herein, we systematically investigate the synthesis of PE via three different zirconocene catalysts, with different alkyl substituents, activated via different organoboron compounds. The polymerization behavior, as well as the properties of the materials, are evaluated. The results demonstrate that the highest catalytic activity is shown by Bis(cyclopentadienyl)dimethylzirconium activated by trityl tetra(pentafluorophenyl)borate. Also finding that toluene is the optimum solvent for these systems and at these reaction conditions. Moreover, to validate our experimental results, a comprehensive mathematical model is developed on the basis of thermodynamic and kinetic principles. The concentration of ethylene transferred to the solvent phase (toluene) in a liquid-vapor equilibrium (LVE) system is estimated based on the Duhem’s theorem. Arrhenius expressions for the kinetic rate constants of a proposed kinetic mechanism are estimated by a kinetic model, in which the rate of polymerization is fitted by a least-square optimization procedure and the molecular weight averages by the method of moments. The simulations of the coordination polymerization suggest the presence of two types of active sites, principally at low temperatures, and the reactivation of the deactivated sites via a boron-based activator. However, the effect of the temperature on the reactivation step is no clear; a deeper understanding via designed experiments is required.

GbtXyl43A, a β-xylosidase that is isolated from Geobacillus thermoleovorans IT-08 and grouped in GH43 family. The substitution of 121Asp residue with Asn in GbtXyl43A caused decrease the enzyme activity. The aim of this study, determine the kinetic characteristics of wild-type GbtXyl43A and D121N variant using Vmax, KM, kcat, and kcat/KM. These parameters indicated catalytic mechanism of GbtXyl43A and its derivative. All of them were produced in Escherichia coli BL21 star. The purification of wild-type GbtXyl43A using affinity chromatography, but D121N variant also required anion-exchange chromatography. The specific activity of wild-type GbtXyl43A and D121N variant were 0.471 U mg-1 in purity level 55,44 and 0.012 U mg-1 in purity level 2,407, respectively. Both enzymes had same molecular weight, ~58 kDa. The kinetic parameters of wild-type GbtXyl43A were KM: 2.845 mM, kcat: 0.033 s-1, Vmax: 0.0033 mM min-1and kcat/KM: 0.0115 s-1mM-1. Furthermore, the KM, kcat, Vmax, and kcat/KM values of D121N variant were 4.565 mM, 1.01 × 10-4 mM min-1, 0.140 × 10-4 s-1, and 0.0307 s-1mM-1, respectively. The KM value of the D121N variant was higher than its wild type and showed the affinity of D121N variant was lower than GbtXyl43A

Keywords: Geobacillus thermocatenolatus; lipases; ethanolysis; ionic liquids; kinetic resolution; mandelic acid.

4-component relativistic atomic and molecular calculations are typically performed within the no-pair approximation where negative-energy solutions are discarded, hence the symmetry between electronic and positronic solutions is not considered. These states are however needed in QED calculations, where furthermore charge conjugation symmetry becomes an issue. In this work we shall discuss the realization of charge conjugation symmetry of the Dirac equation in a central field within the finite basis approximation. Three schemes for basis set construction are considered: restricted, inverse and dual kinetic balance. We find that charge conjugation symmetry can be realized within the restricted and inverse kinetic balance prescriptions, but only with a special form of basis functions that does not obey the right boundary conditions of the radial wavefunctions. The dual kinetic balance prescription is on the other hand compatible with charge conjugation symmetry without restricting the form of the radial basis functions. However, since charge conjugation relates solutions of opposite value of the quantum number κ, this requires the use of basis sets chosen according to total angular momentum j rather than orbital angular momentum ` . As a special case, we consider the free-particle Dirac equation, where the solutions of opposite sign of energy are related by charge conjugation symmetry. We note that there is additional symmetry in those solutions of the same value of κ come in pairs of opposite energy.

Various optically active 2-hydroxyamide derivatives are produced based on the kinetic resolution of racemic 2-hydroxyamides with a diphenylacetyl component and (R)-benzotetramisole [(R)-BTM], a chiral acyl-transfer catalyst, via asymmetric esterification and acylation. It was revealed that a tertiary amide can be used with this novel protocol to achieve high selectivity [22 examples; s-value reaching over 250]. The resulting chiral compounds could be transformed into other useful structures while maintaining their chirality.

In this paper, we pursue and investigate the solutions for fractional kinetic equations, involving Bessel-Struve function by means of their Sumudu transforms. In the process, one Important special case is then revealed, and analyzed. The results obtained in terms of Bessel-Struve function are rather general in nature and can easily construct various known and new fractional kinetic equations.

Recently, representation formulae and monotonicity properties of generalized k-Bessel functions, Wk v,c., were established and studied by SR Mondal [24]. In this paper, we pursue and investigate some of their image formulae. We then extract solutions for fractional kinetic equations, involving Wk v,c, by means of their Sumudu transforms. In the process, Important special cases are then revealed, and analyzed.

Process simulation represents an important tool for plant design and optimisation, either applied to well established or to newly developed processes. Suitable thermodynamic packages should be selected in order to properly describe the behaviour of reactors and unit operations and to precisely define phase equilibria. Moreover, a detailed and representative kinetic scheme should be available to predict correctly the dependence of the process on its main variables. This review points out some models and methods for kinetic analysis specifically applied to the simulation of catalytic processes, as a basis for process design and optimisation. Attention is paid also to microkinetic modelling and to the methods based on first principles, to elucidate mechanisms and calculate thermodynamic and kinetic parameters. Different case histories support the discussion. At first, we have selected two basic examples from the industrial chemistry practice, e.g. ammonia and methanol synthesis, which may be described through a relatively simple reaction pathway. Then, a more complex reaction network is deeply discussed to define the conversion of bioethanol into syngas/hydrogen or into building blocks, such as ethylene.

In the present work the problem of the attenuation of longitudinal sound oscillations in a conducting medium are considered. The proposed approach is based on the dynamic interaction of electron gas with the lattice vibrations. This interaction is manifested in the modification of kinetic equation for electrons. The process is accompanied by generation of an electric field.

Dynamic behavior of coaxial axisymmetric planar cracks in the transversely isotropic magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) material in transient in-plane magneto-electro-mechanical loading is studied. Magneto-electrically impermeable as well as permeable cracks are assumed for crack surface. In the first step, considering prismatic and radial dynamic dislocations, electric and magnetic jumps are obtained through Laplace and Hankel transforms. These solutions are utilized to derive singular integral equations in the Laplace domain for the axisymmetric penny-shaped and annular cracks. Derived Cauchy singular type integral equations are solved to obtain the density of dislocation on the crack surfaces. Dislocation densities are utilized in computation of the dynamic stress intensity factors, electric displacement and magnetic induction in the vicinity tips of crack tips. Finally, some numerical case studies of a single and multiple cracks are presented. The effect of system parameters on the results is then discussed.

This study conducted experiments to optimize the electro-dewatering of sludge using a dynamic model calculation method and the Wild Horse optimizer. Specifically, we explored two factors that might influence dewatering: the composition of the electrode materials and the strength of the electrical field. Compared to other electrodes commonly used in electro-dewatering—such as RuO2/Ir2O3-Ti, graphite, Ir2O3/Ta2O5-Ti, and Ti—the Electro-kinetic Geosynthetics (EKG) electrode exhibited superior performance. This was determined by considering both energy consumption and model establishment. Our findings also identified electric-field strength as a crucial factor determining the final moisture content. As the electrical intensity increased, the dewatering effect improved, aligning with our model calculations. However, we observed a steep increase in energy consumption per kilogram of filtrate when the electric-field strength exceeded a certain threshold. To optimize the energy consumption of the dehydration process, we constructed a multi-factor model. The simulation results from this model confirmed that electric-field intensity is the primary factor affecting dehydration. It was established that 10 V/cm is a critical threshold for the process.

The global increase in population, the phenomenon of climate change, the issue of water pollution and contamination, and the inadequate management of water resources all exert heightened strain on freshwater reserves. The potential utilization of the interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG) system, which utilizes photothermal conversion to generate heat on material surfaces for wastewater purification and desalination purposes, has been successfully demonstrated. Textile materials based ISSG devices, including (woven, nonwoven and knitting) fabrics and electrospinning membranes, exhibit distinct properties such as rough surface texture, high porosity, significant surface area, exceptional flexibility, and robust mechanical strength. These characteristics, combined with their affordability, accessibility, and economic viability for widespread implementation, make them extremely attractive for applications in SSG. In this review, a comprehensive analysis of emerging concepts, advancements and applications of textile materials (woven, nonwoven, and knitting) fabrics and electro-spun membranes in the ISSG for wastewater purification and desalination is highlighted. We also emphasize significant obstacles and potential prospects in both theoretical investigations and real-world implementations, aiming to contribute to future advancements in the domain of textile based materials interfacial evaporation in wastewater purification and desalination. Furthermore, the drawbacks and the challenges of ISSG systems are also highlighted.

Contrapose the highly integrated, multiple types of faults and complex working conditions of aircraft Electro Hydrostatic Actuator (EHA), to effectively identify its typical faults, we propose a fault diagnosis method based on the fusion convolutional neural networks (FCNN). First, the aircraft EHA fault data is encoded by GADF to obtain the fault feature images. Then we build an FCNN model that integrates the 1DCNN and 2DCNN, where the original 1D fault data is the input of the 1DCNN model, and the feature images obtained by GADF transformation are used as the input of 2DCNN. Multiple convolution and pooling operations are performed on each of these inputs to extract the features, next these feature vectors are spliced in the convergence layer, and the fully connected layers and the Softmax layers are finally used to attain the classification of aircraft EHA faults. Furthermore, the multi-strategy hybrid particle swarm optimization (MSPSO) algorithm is applied to optimize the FCNN to obtain a better combination of FCNN hyperparameters; MSPSO incorporates various strategies, including an initialization strategy based on homogenization and randomization, and an adaptive inertia weighting strategy, etc. The experimental result indicates that the FCNN model optimized by MSPSO achieves an accuracy of 96.86% for identifying typical faults of the aircraft EHA, respectively higher than the 1DCNN and the 2DCNN about 16.5% and 5.7%. Additionally, the FCNN model improved by MSPSO has a higher accuracy rate when compared to PSO.

We report the effect of doping Cd1-xZnxS/ZnS core/shell quantum dot (CSQDs) in nematic liquid crystal p-methoxybenzylidene p-decylaniline (MBDA) at 0.05 wt/wt%, 0.1 wt/wt%, 0.15 wt/wt%, 0.2 wt/wt%, 0.25 wt/wt% and 0.3 wt/wt% concentrations of CSQDs in MBDA. Dielectric parameters with and without bias with respect to frequency has been investigated. The change in electro - optical parameters with temperature has also been demonstrated. The increase in the mean dielectric permittivity has been found due to large dipole moment of CSQDs which impose stronger interactions with the liquid crystal molecules. The dielectric anisotropy changes sign on doping CSQDs in MBDA liquid crystal. It was concluded that the CSQDs doping noticeably increases the dielectric permittivity of nematic MBDA in the presence of electric field. The doping of CSQDs in nematic MBDA liquid crystal reduces the ion screening effect effectively. This phenomenon is attributed to the competition between the generated ionic impurities during assembling process and the ion trapping effect of the CSQDs. The rotational viscosity of nematic liquid crystal decreases with increasing concentration of the CSQDs with faster response time observed for 0.05 wt/wt% concentration. The birefringence of the doped system increases with the inclusion of CSQDs in MBDA. These results find application in the field of display devices, phase shifters, industries and projectors.

A rigorous model for the electron is presented by generalizing the Coulomb's Law or Gauss's Law of electrostatics, using a unified theory of electricity and gravity. The permittivity of the free-space is allowed to be variable, dependent on the energy density associated with the electric field at a given location, employing generalized concepts of gravity and mass/energy density. The electric field becomes a non-linear function of the source charge, where concept of the energy density needs to be properly defined. Stable solutions are derived for a spherically symmetric, surface-charge distribution of an elementary charge. This is implemented by assuming that the gravitational field and its equivalent permittivity function is proportional to the energy density, as a simple first-order approximation, with the constant of proportionality referred to as the Unifield Electro-Gravity (UEG) constant. The stable solution with the lowest mass/energy is assumed to represent a ``static'' electron without any spin. Further, assuming that the mass/energy of a static electron is half of the total mass/energy of an electron including its spin contribution, the required UEG constant is estimated. More fundamentally, the lowest stable mass of a static elementary charged particle, its associated classical radius, and the UEG constant are related to each other by a dimensionless constant, independent of any specific value of the charge or mass of the particle. This dimensionless constant is numerologically found to be closely related to the the fine structure constant. This possible origin of the fine structure constant is further strengthened by applying the proposed theory to successfully model the Casimir effect, from which approximately the same above relationship between the UEG constant, electron's mass and classical radius, and the fine structure constant, emerges.

Micro-technology has played a substantial role in bioscience, biomedical and biotechnological research due to its core advantages in modern science and engineering. It has created unique development in various sectors of bio-research and upsurges the efficacy of research at the molecular level in recent years. Microfluidic technology makes it possible to manipulate sample volumes at the micro- and nano-level (called nanofluidics) with terrific control outside in vivo cellular microenvironment, enabling the reduction of discrepancies between in vivo and in vitro environments as well as reducing reaction time and cost. In this review, we discuss various effective integrations of microfluidic technologies into biotechnology and its paradigmatic significance in bio-research, supporting mechanical and chemical in vitro cellular micro-environment. Specific innovations relating to the application of microfluidics to advance microbial life, solitary and co-cultures along with a multiple-type cell culturing, cellular communications, cellular interactions and population dynamics are discussed.

Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O nanoparticle (NP) were employed as electron transport layers (ETLs) with varying thicknesses to investigate their influence on the efficiency of the top-emission quantum dot light-emitting diodes (TE-QLEDs) fabricated inside the bank. An increase in the thickness of the Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O NP ETL led to a decrease in the concentration of oxygen vacancies, reducing the conductivity of the Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O and resulting in lower current density in the TE-QLEDs. The decrease in conductivity of Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O NP ETL was confirmed through electron-only device (EOD) characterization. Furthermore, it was noted that when the thickness of Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O NP ETL was 30 nm, the concentration of hydroxyl species reached its minimum. By minimizing the presence of hydroxyl species, exciton quenching at the quantum dot (QD) and Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O NP ETL interface was minimized, enhancing charge balance within the QD, significantly improving the efficiency of QLED. We successfully demonstrated that TE-QLED with a 30 nm-thick Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O NP ETL exhibits outstanding performance, achieving a maximum current efficiency of 91.92 cd/A and a maximum external quantum efficiency of 21.66%. These results suggest that Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O NP ETL, when tailored to an appropriate thickness, can serve as an ETL for TE-QLEDs, effectively suppressing exciton quenching and enhancing the charge balance in the TE-QLEDs.

During HVDC earth return operation systems, a high magnitude current will be injected into soil through earth electrode, the potential on the surface would change widely and produce unfavorable effects on the AC systems around. This paper presents an effective finite element method (FEM) coupling electric field with thermal field to evaluate the electrical field induced by the injected DC current. Firstly, owe to the characteristic of FEM, this method can consider arbitrary soil and earth electrode structure. Secondly, by setting the electrical and thermal parameters of soil as a function of temperature at the same time, the dynamic coupling process of electric field and thermal field is simulated accurately. Thirdly, to deal with the singular point in FEM subdivision and the huge computation in traditional three-dimensional FEM, the FEM coupling 2-D earth electrode with 3-D soil based on "shell" theory is introduced. Finally, based on the suggested method, the effect of abnormal resistance region (ARR) near DC earth electrode on electric field distribution is analyzed.

In the presence of aquatic plants in streams, a variety of flow structures have been reported. Re-sults of earlier investigations indicated that the hydrodynamic features of flows in rivers, and streams are influenced by a wide range of submerged and non-submerged vegetation. In the pre-sent study, eight experiment runs were conducted in two artificial pools built in a laboratory flume to assess the flow structures across vegetation cover. The slopes for entrance and exit sec-tions of these two pools are of 5 and 10 degrees, respectively. A patch of artificial grass covered the entire pool area over the gravel bed. The effect of stream flow velocity was investigated by considering two aspect ratios of 2 and 2.7. Also, distributions of flow velocity, Reynolds normal and shear stresses, turbulence intensities, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), and higher-order mo-ments of velocity fluctuations have been investigated. By means of quadrant analysis, it is found that the skewness coefficients of velocity profiles are significant parameters to evaluate. Based on skewness values for the bursting processes, along the pool entrance section with a smaller slope, the contribution of sweep motion occurs in a more restricted zone above the canopy, and this im-plies that the ejection motion occurs in a pool entrance section with a higher slope. Immediately above the vegetation canopy, the dominant process is the sweep motion of bursting events. Whereas, at the upstream boundary of the vegetation patch, an outward motion with slightly pos-itive value occurs; and around the downstream boundary of the vegetation patch, the isotropic turbulence appears at the boundary of the vegetation and gravel bed. Over the vegetation canopy in the pool, less mixing eddies result in lower Reynolds shear stress values, and thus the turbulent flow becomes weak with lower turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Because of the shallow flow in an artificial channel with an aspect ratio less than five and the availability of vertical non-zero ve-locity components, secondary currents become stronger in the channel. Consequently, there is a divergence from a linear dispersion of Reynolds shear stress.

Kinetic modeling is an essential tool in systems biology research, enabling the quantitative analysis of biological systems and predicting their behavior. However, the development of kinetic models is a complex and time-consuming process. In this article, we propose a novel approach called KinModGPT, which generates kinetic models directly from natural language text. KinModGPT employs GPT-3 as a natural language interpreter and Tellurium as an SBML generator. We demonstrate the effectiveness of KinModGPT in creating SBML models from complex natural language descriptions of biochemical reactions. KinModGPT successfully generates valid SBML models from a range of natural language model descriptions of metabolic pathways, protein-protein interaction networks, and heat shock response. This article demonstrates the potential of KinModGPT in kinetic modeling automation.

Hasselmann and coauthors proposed the discrete interaction approximation (DIA) as the best tool replacing the nonlinear evolution term in a numerical wind-wave model. Much later, Polnikov and Farina radically improved the original DIA by means of location all the interacting four wave vectors, used in the DIA configuration, exactly at the nodes of the numerical frequency-angular grid. This provides nearly two-times enhancing the speed of numerical calculation for the nonlinear evolution term in a wind-wave model. For this reason, the proposed version of the DIA was called as the fast DIA (FDIA). In this paper we demonstrate all details of the FDIA concept for several frequency-angular numerical grids of high resolution, with the aim of active implementation the FDIA in modern versions of world-wide used wind-wave models.

Detailed kinetics for a 3-wavelength photopolymerization confinement (PC) system is presented for both numerical solutions and analytic formulas. The dynamic profiles are simulated for oxygen, free radical, and conversion for various situations of: blue-light only, 2-light (red and UV), and 3-light (red, blue, UV). An effective PC requires two conditions: (i) a strong N-inhibition for uncured regime with a low conversion (triggered by the UV-light); and (ii) a weak S-inhibition (oxygen-induced) for high conversion under the blue-light or blue and red-light initiation. Good PC candidates are governed by collective factors of: (i) the double ratio of light-intensity and initiator-concentration, (ii) monomers rate-constant; and (iii) effective absorption constants at specific wavelength and initiators. A new reverse feature for the role of N-inhibition on the blue-conversion is found. Higher oxygen concentration leads to a lower conversion, which could be enhanced by reducing the S-inhibition via a red or blue-light pre-irradiation, having a pre-irradiation time TP=200 s for red-light only, and reduced to 150 s, when both red and blue-light. System under UV-only leads a conversion lower than that of blue-only. However, conversion could be improved by the dual-light (blue and UV), and further enhanced by the pre-irradiation of red-light. The two competing factors, N-inhibition and S-inhibition, could be independently and selectively tailored to achieve: (a) high conversion of blue-light (without UV-light), enhanced by red-light pre-irradiation for minimal S-inhibition; and (b) efficient PC initiated by UV-light produced N-inhibition for reduced confinement thickness and for high print speed.

The kinetics and modeling of dual-wavelength controlled photopolymerization confinement (PC) are presented and measured data are analyzed by analytic formulas and numerical data. The UV-light initiated inhibition effect is strongly monomer-dependent and different monomers have different C=C bond rate constants and conversion efficacy. Without the UV-light, for a given blue-light intensity, higher initiator concentration (C₁₀) and rate constant (k’) lead to higher conversion, as also predicted by analytic formulas, in which the total conversion rate (R_T) is an increasing function of k’R, which is proportional to k[gB₁C₁]^0.5. However, the coupling factor b₁ plays a different role that higher b₁ leads to higher conversion only in the transient regime; whereas higher b₁ leads lower steady-state conversion. For a fixed initiator concentration C₁₀, higher inhibitor concentration (C₂₀) leads to lower conversion due to stronger inhibition effect. However, same conversion reduction was found for the same H-factor of H₀ = [b₁C₁₀ - b₂C₂₀]. Conversion of blue-only are much higher than that of UV-only and UV-blue combined, in which high C₂₀ results a strong reduction of blue-only-conversion, such that the UV-light serves as the turn-off (trigger) mechanism for the purpose of spatial confirmation within the overlap area of UV and blue light. For example, UV-light controlled methacrylate conversion of a glycidyl dimethacrylate resin formulated with a tertiary amine co-initiator, and butyl nitrite, subject to a continuous exposure of a blue light, but an on-off exposure of a UV-light. Finally, we developed a theoretical new finding for the criterion of a good material/candidate governed by a double ratio of light-intensity and concentration, [I₂₀C₂₀.]/[I₁₀C₁₀].

In this study, a Traveling-Wave Mach-Zehnder intensity Modulator (TW-MZM) was designed and optimized for six different electro-optical (EO) crystals: Lithium Niobate (LNB), Potassium Niobate (KNB), Lithium Titanate (LTO), Beta Barium Borate (BBO), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), and Indium phosphide (InP). The performance of each EO crystal, including optical and radio frequency (RF) loss, applied voltage, and modulation bandwidth, was estimated and compared. The results suggested that, in theory, KNB, LTO, BBO, and CdTe have the potential to outperform LNB. However, it should be noted that the loss associated with KNB and LTO is comparable to that of LNB. The findings demonstrated that BBO and CdTe exhibit a modulation bandwidth exceeding 100 GHz and demonstrate the lowest loss among the considered crystals based on the assumed geometry.

Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) have great potential in renewable energy production technologies. BES can generate electricity via Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) or use the electric current for the synthesis of valuable commodities in Microbial Electrolysis Cells (MECs). The number of various reactor configurations and operational protocols increasing rapidly although, the industrial scale operation is still facing difficulties. This article reviews the recent BES related to literature, with special attention to electrosynthesis and the most promising reactor configurations. We also attempted to clarify the numerous definitions proposed for BESs. The main components of BES are highlighted. Although the comparison of the various fermentation systems is we collected useful and generally applicable operational parameters to be used for comparative studies. A brief overview to link the appropriate microbes to the optimal reactor design is given.

γδT have functions of innate and adaptive immunity, with the potential to induce durable responses while being well-tolerated, with limited adverse effects, making it attractive as a tool for immunotherapy. γδT faces challenges as a frontline tool in clinical oncology, with limited response rates due to difficulties in reaching tumor sites with consistent cytotoxic activity and strength. Modulated Electro-hyperthermia (mEHT) is a loco-regional treatment, whereby energy-transmission from an electromagnetic field selectively targets the plasma membrane of tumor cells, inducing apoptosis and activating immune cells. We hypothesized that mEHT could enhance therapeutic effects by drawing γδT to tumor cells, while also rendering tumor cells to be more susceptible to cytotoxic effects. In this study, NOD/SCID mice harboring subcutaneous human HepG2 tumors were treated with intravenous injections of γδT after mEHT treatment. This method increased infiltration of γδT into the tumor site, significantly inhibiting tumor growth as compared to monotherapy with either modality. These data suggest that γδT could mediate a potent anti-tumor effect when combined with mEHT, and provide a strong rationale for combining these modalities in clinical application for cancer treatment.

During mechanical ventilation, a disparity between flow, pressure or volume demands of the patient and the assistance delivered by the mechanical ventilator often occurs. Asynchrony effect and ventilator performance are frequently studied from ICU datasets or using commercially available lung simulators and test lungs. This paper introduces an alternative approach of simulating and evaluating patient-ventilator interactions with high fidelity using the electro-mechanical lung simulator xPULM™ under selected conditions. The xPULM™ approximates respiratory activities of a patient during alternating phases of spontaneous breathing and apnoea intervals while connected to a mechanical ventilator. Focusing on different triggering events, volume assist-controlled (V/A-C) and pressure support ventilation (PSV) modes were chosen to test patient-ventilator interactions. In V/A-C mode a double-triggering was detected every third breathing cycle leading to an asynchrony index of 16.67%, being classified as severe. This asynchrony causes a major increase of Peak Inspiratory Pressure PIP = 12.80 ± 1.39 cmH2O and Peak Expiratory Flow PEF = -18.33 ± 1.13 L/min when compared to synchronous phases of the breathing simulation. Additionally, events of premature cycling were observed during PSV mode. In this mode, the peak delivered volume during simulated spontaneous breathing phases almost doubles compared to apnoea phases. The presented approach demonstrates the possibility of simulating and evaluating disparities in fundamental ventilation characteristics caused by double-triggering and premature cycling under V/A-C and PSV ventilation modes. Various dynamic clinical situations can be approximated and could help to identify undesired patient-ventilation interactions in the future. Rapidly manufactured ventilator systems could also be tested using this approach.

Reemergence of deep Neural Networks (CNNs) has lead to high-performance supervised learning algorithms for the Electro-Optical (EO) domain classification and detection problems. This success is possible because generating huge labeled datasets has become possible using modern crowdsourcing labeling platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk that recruit ordinary people to label data. Unlike the EO domain, labeling the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) domain data can be a lot more challenging and for various reasons using crowdsourcing platforms is not feasible for labeling the SAR domain data. As a result, training deep networks using supervised learning is more challenging in the SAR domain. In the paper,we present a new framework to train a deep neural network for classifying Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images by eliminating the need for huge labeled dataset. Our idea is based on transferring knowledge from a related EO domain problem, where labeled data is easy to obtain. We transfer knowledge from the EO domain through learning a shared invariant cross-domain embedding space that is also discriminative for classification. To this end, we train two deep encoders that are coupled through their last year to map data points from the EO and the SAR domains to the shared embedding space such that the distance between the distributions of the two domains is minimized in the latent embedding space. We use the Sliced Wasserstein Distance (SWD) to measure and minimize the distance between these two distributions and use a limited number of SAR label data points to match the distributions class-conditionally. As a result of this training procedure, a classifier trained from the embedding space to the label space using mostly the EO data would generalize well on the SAR domain. We provide theoretical analysis to demonstrate why our approach is effective and validate our algorithm on the problem of ship classification in the SAR domain by comparing against several other learning competing approaches.

For many years, the programmable positioners have been widely applied in structures of modern electro-pneumatic final control elements. The positioner consists of an electro-pneumatic transducer, embedded controller and measuring instrumentation. Electro-pneumatic transducers that are used in positioners are characterized by a relatively short mean time-to-failure. The practical and economical method of a reasonable prolongation of this time is proposed in this paper. It is principally based on assessment and minimizing the effort of the embedded controller. For this purpose, were introduced: the control value variability, mean-time and the cumulative controller's effort. The diminishing of controller effort has significant practical repercussions, because it reduces the intensity of mechanical wear of the final control element components. On the other hand, the reduction of the cumulative effort is important in the context of process economy due to limitation of the consumption of energy of compressed air supplying the final control element. Therefore, the minimization of introduced effort factors has an impact on increasing the functional safety and economics of the controlled process. As a result of the performed simulations, the recommendations regarding the selection of the structure and tuning of positioner controller were elaborated. The simulations were performed in the Matlab-Simulink environment with the use of the liquid level control system in which a phenomenological model of a final control element was deployed. It has been proven that under appropriate conditions, it is possible to extend significantly the lifetime of the final control element and simultaneously enhance the control quality factors.

Currently, most plastic waste stems from packaging materials, with a large proportion of this waste either discarded or used to derive fuel. Accordingly, there is growing interest in the use of pyrolysis in the context of chemically recycling non-recyclable (i.e., via mechanical means) plastic waste into petrochemical feedstock. The aim of this study is to use kinetic analyses to elucidate the pyrolytic properties of solid recovered fuel (SRF) produced using two types of reactors, namely, fixed bed and fluidized bed reactors. From the kinetic analysis, the activation energy corresponding to the rate of pyrolysis reaction conversion was obtained. In conclusion, we found that the pyrolysis occurs more vigorously in fluidized bed reactors compared to fixed bed reactors.

Date palm trees generate large amounts of various types of waste, including leaf sheath fibers which can be used as a low-cost, precursor for production of biochar including activated carbon (AC) that can be employed for adsorption of contaminants. In the current study, activated carbon was made from leaf sheath fibers of date palm (LSDPFAC) by use of chemical activation with K2CO3, combined with microwave irradiation, characterized and evaluated for its adsorptive capacity of lead ions (Pb2+). The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, Langmuir surface area, total pore volume and average pore diameter of LSDPFAC were 560.20 m2/g, 744.31 m2/g, 0.29 cm3/g and 2.47 nm respectively. When the initial concentrations of Pb2+ were increased from 1 to 10 mg/L, Pb2+ adsorption increased from 0.97 to 8.76 mg/g, dry mass (dm) while the percent of Pb2+ removed decreased from 96.70 to 87.60%. The greatest removal of Pb2+ occurred at pH 13 with adsorption capacity of 9.15 mg/g, dm. Results of isotherm and kinetic studies demonstrated that adsorption of Pb2+ onto LSDPFAC was best described by the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second order (PSO) models. Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity, Qm was 14.10 mg/g. Thermodynamic parameters of H°, S°, G° and Ea were 6.39 kJ/mol, 0.12 kJ/mol.K, -31.28 kJ/mol and 15.90 kJ/mol, respectively, which demonstrated that adsorption of Pb2+ by LSDPFAC was endothermic, spontaneous and governed by physisorption.

Biomass gasification acquired great interest over the past decades as an effective and trustable technology to produce energy and fuels with net-zero carbon emissions. Moreover, using biomass waste as feedstock enables to recycle organic wastes and to fit the circular economy goals thus reducing the environmental impacts of waste management. Even if many studies have been already carried on, this kind of process must still be investigated and optimized with the final aim to develop industrial plants for different applications, from the hydrogen production to net-negative emission strategies. Modeling and developing of process simulations became an important tool to investigate the chemical and physical behavior of the plant, allowing to make a first raw optimization of the process and to define heat and material balances of the plant as well as to define optimal geometrical parameters with cost and time effective approaches. The present review paper focuses on the main literature models developed until now to describe biomass gasification process, and in particular on kinetic models, thermodynamic models, and computational fluid dynamic models. The aim of this study is to point out the strengths and the weakness of those models, comparing them and indicating in which situation is better to use an approach instead of another. Moreover, theoretical shortcut models and software simulations, not explicitly addressed by prior reviews, are taken into account. For researchers and designers this review provides a detailed methodology characterization as a guide to develop innovative study or project.

Background: Depending on the phase of the menstrual cycle the athlete is in, some kinetic, physiological and fatigue variables will show differences. The aim of this study is to analyze whether there are changes in these variables over the course of the menstrual cycle. Methods: Eight regular female runners and triathletes performed a maximal treadmill test, as well as a submaximal test (6’ stages at 50%, 60% and 80% of maximal aerobic speed) in each of the phases of the menstrual cycle: bleeding phase (day 2.4 ± 0.7), follicular phase (day 10.4 ± 2.2) and luteal phase (day 21.8 ± 2.1). Running dynamics were measured (using RunScribe) at the end of each test, as were lactate concentration, heart rate and fatigue (evaluated on a scale of 0 to 5). Results: Higher shock (G) values were recorded in the bleeding phase and higher vertical spring stiffness (kN/m) in the follicular phase. The phase of the menstrual cycle had a significant effect on average and peak heart rate, which was significantly higher in the follicular phase. Conclusions: Higher vertical spring stiffness was observed in the follicular phase, as well as higher peak and average heart rate.

The anaerobic digestion (AD) of rumen residues and wheat straw in different proportions of inoculum (66.67, 50, 33.33 %V/V) to substrate and their co-digestion potential have been exhaustively studied in this research. It explores variation of feedstock characteristics such as biodegradability and methane potential during AD and anaerobic co-digestion (ACoD) of rumen residues (RR) with wheat straw (WS), under mesophilic conditions. Comparative performance was made with a organic load rate of 18 gVS/L (with 2:1, 1:1 and 1:2 g/g VS of inoculum to substrate). Among different kinetic models studied (modified Gompertz model, transfer model and logistic function), the AD and ACoD of substrates showed better fit to Gompertz model (R2: 0.977–0.997) indicating variation in lag phase and methane production rate depending on the substrate characteristics. During AD, the methane yield improved as the inoculum ratio increased, however, there was no significant difference in ACoD yield from RR to WS for the inoculum to substrate ratios studied, due to the synergistic effect as a result. of greater biodegradability and optimal conditions (such as the C/N ratio). A comparison of methane generation means indicated that maximum methane production can be achieved by mixing rumen residue (75 %) and wheat straw (25 %) with a C/N ratio of (38.15).

Global differences in changes in the numbers of population-adjusted daily test-positive cases (NPDP) and deaths (NPDD) by COVID-19 were analyzed for 49 countries, including developed and developing countries. The changes as a proportion of national population were compared, adjusting by the beginning of test-positive cases increase (BPI) or deaths increase (BDI). Remarkable regional differences of more than 100 fold in NPDP and NPDD were observed. The trajectories of NPDD after BDI increased exponentially within 20 days in most countries. Machine learning analysis suggested that NPDD on 30 days after BDI was the highest in developed Western countries (1180 persons per hundred million), followed by countries in the Middle East (128), Latin America (97), and Asia (7). Furthermore, in Western countries with positive rates of the PCR test of less than 7.0%, the increase in NPDP was slowing-down two weeks after BPI, and subsequent NPDD was only 15% compared with those with higher positive rates, which suggested that the situation of testing might have affected the velocity of COVID-19 spread. The causes behind remarkable differences between regions possibly include genetic factors of inhabitants because distributions of the race and of the observed infection increasing rates were in good agreement globally.

In this study, differences in the kinetics of thermal-supported hydrolytic degradation of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) sample wet spinning fibres due to material variance in the initial molecular and supramolecular structure were analysed. The investigation was carried out at the microstructural and molecular levels by using readily available methods such as scanning electron microscopy, mass erosion measurement and estimation of intrinsic viscosity. The results show a varying degree of influence of the initial structure on the degradation rate of studied PLA fibres. The experiment shows that hydrolytic degradation at a temperature close to the cold crystallization temperature on a macroscopic level is definitely more rapid for the amorphous material, while on a molecular scale it is similar to a semi-crystalline material. Further, for the adopted degradation temperature of 90 °C, a marginal influence of pH of the degradation medium on the degradation kinetics was also demonstrated