Synthesis of Vanadium Pentoxide Nanoparticles as Catalysts for the Ozonation of Palm Oil

Vanadium pentoxide nanoparticles were synthesized using a solvo-thermal method and were characterized via X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The ozonation of palm oil was performed by using vanadium pentoxide nanoparticles as catalysts to synthesize ethyl malonate. This procedure presented several advantages, such as simple operation for a precise ozonation, excellent yield, short reaction times and reusability because of the recyclability of palm oil. Ethyl malonate was synthesized via the one-step ozonolysis of palm oil and was spectroscopically characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS).     

Automatic analysis of human posture equilibrium using empirical mode decomposition

The present study proposes a new approach for the assessment of the human balance control. This approach is based on the decomposition of the center of pressure displacement using empirical mode decomposition (EMD) that provides an effective time-frequency analysis of non-stationary signals. Twenty-eight healthy subjects performed quiet standing in four conditions—feet apart/together with respect to eyes open/closed—while recording the stabilometric signals in the anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions. The EMD method decomposes each stabilometric signal into several subsignals called intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Stabilogram-diffusion analysis technique is applied to generate the diffusion curve of each IMF signal. Each diffusion curve is modeled as a second-order system and provides representative features, such as the gain parameter. Analysis of the gain parameter shows the major effect of visual input and feet conditions on the strategy to control/stabilize the balance. Significant differences were found between young and elderly, and between women and men. In addition, the impact of feet position seems to be higher in ML direction than in AP direction.     

Optimization of culture conditions for biohydrogen production from sago wastewater by Enterobacter aerogenes using Response Surface Methodology

Sago wastewater (SWW) causes pollution to the environment due to its high organic content. Annually, about 2.5 million tons of SWW is produced in Malaysia. In this study, the potential of SWW as a substrate for biohydrogen production by Enterobacter aerogenes (E. aerogenes) was evaluated. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to find the optimum conditions. From preliminary optimization, it was found that the most significant factors were yeast extract, temperature, and inoculum size. According to Face Centered Central Composite Design (FCCCD), the maximum hydrogen concentration and yield were 630.67 μmol/L and 7.42 mmol H₂/mol glucose, respectively, which is obtained from the sample supplemented with 4.8 g/L yeast extract concentration, 5% inoculum, and incubated at the temperature of 31 °C. Cumulative hydrogen production curve fitted by the modified Gompertz equation suggested that H_max, R_max, and λ from this study were 15.10 mL, 2.18 mL/h, and 9.84 h, respectively.     

Research on the Effect of Pouring Temperature on Hot-Tear Susceptibility of A206 Alloy by Simulation

Cast alloys with wide solidification ranges are prone to hot tearing. This study deals with prediction of hot tearing location and its intensity by computer simulation. The simulation was performed at different pouring temperatures on A206 aluminum alloy. As superheat increases, the critical fraction solid time increases which means the alloy is more susceptible to hot tearing. These theoretical predictions are in complete accordance with experimental results.     

Influence of nitrogen doping on carbon nanotubes towards the structure,composition and oxygen reduction reaction

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs) as noble-metal free catalysts were synthesised via chemical vapour deposition using iron (II) phthalocyanine as a metal catalyst for growth of the nanotubes. The synthesis process was performed in one step in a tube furnace using different chemical precursors (aniline, diethylamine and ethylenediamine) as nitrogen sources. The NCNT samples were physically characterised using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Cyclic voltammetry measurements were conducted to investigate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and they showed that the electrocatalytic activities depend on the structural and morphological changes in the NCNTs. The results showed that NCNTs synthesised from ethylenediamine precursors exhibit an ORR scheme proceed via indirect four electron transfer process in acidic media, which implies that these NCNTs are a candidate for serving as the cathodic catalyst in PEMFCs. The highly active NCNTs possess unique characteristics, including a high concentration of surface defects with high pyridinic-N and pyridinic-N-oxides configurations that serve as active sites for ORR activity in acidic media.     

Enhancement of Strength–Ductility Balance of the Laser Melting Deposited 12CrNi2 Alloy Steel Via Multi-step Quenching Treatment

A ferrite–austenite 12CrNi2 alloy steel additively manufactured by laser melting deposition(LMD) was heat treated by direct quenching(DQ) and tempering inter-critical quenching(TIQ) at 800 ℃ for enhancing its strength–ductility balance. Both heat-treated alloy steels have the martensite–ferrite dual-phase(DP) microstructures. The volume fractions of martensite in the two treated alloy steels are nearly similar(～ 85 vol%), while the sizes of the prior austenitic grain for martensite are different. The martensite-dominated DP microstructure resulted in an obvious improvement in strength–ductility balance of the alloy steel. Compared with the DQ treatment, the multi-step TIQ treatment caused the strength–ductility balance of the alloy steel to be enhanced due to its higher total elongation. The better ductility of the TIQ-treated alloy steel can be attributed to the optimization of the microstructure. The preferred orientation of ferritic grain in the as-deposited alloy steel which was adverse to plastic deformation through dislocation slip was eliminated via the multi-step TIQ treatment. Moreover, the TIQ treatment promoted the formation of finer-grained martensite with larger areas of grain boundaries and twinning boundaries which resulted in the enhancement of the coordinated deformability of the martensite with the ferrite.     

Feasibility of recycled newspaper as cellulose source for regenerated cellulose membrane fabrication

An environmental friendly regenerated cellulose membrane (RCM) was successfully prepared via NaOH/urea aqueous solution system by utilizing recycled newspaper (RNP) as the cellulose source. The morphological and chemical structure of resulting membrane were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Results from FTIR and XRD verified that the transparent RCM possesses cellulose II structure. SEM observation revealed that the transparent RCM consist of homogeneous dense symmetric membrane structure and composed of a skin layer with mean roughness parameter R_a, obtained from AFM analysis of 29.53 nm. Pure water flux, water content, water contact angle, porosity, and pore size of the resulting membrane were also measured. This study promotes the potential of the cellulose‐based membrane obtained from low cost cellulose source for application in filtration and separation system. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42684.     

Influence of polymer morphology on the adsorption behaviors of molecularly imprinted polymer‐methacrylic acid functionalized β‐cyclodextrin

The influence of molecularly imprinted polymer‐methacrylic acid functionalized β‐cyclodextrin (MIP(MAA‐β‐CD)) morphology on the adsorption behavior studies towards benzylparaben (BzP) was explored. The effects of time, concentration, and temperature towards BzP uptake were extensively evaluated. The adsorption performance of MIP(MAA‐β‐CD) was compared with that on the molecularly imprinted polymer‐methacrylic acid (MIP(MAA)) synthesized without β‐CD. The MIP(MAA‐β‐CD) was synthesized to obtain a spherical and spongy‐porous texture with a broad pore size distribution. The MIP(MAA‐β‐CD) showed fast kinetic and the intra‐particle diffusion model demonstrated a three step (surface and pore) adsorption process. The Koble‐Corrigan isotherm was the most suitable model for data fitting, which indicated that MIP(MAA‐β‐CD) had homogeneous and heterogeneous surfaces. This finding clearly demonstrated that the large uptake and strong affinity of MIP(MAA‐β‐CD) did not only probably result from the monomer‐template interactions, but also due to the morphological MIP(MAA‐β‐CD) structure. In contrary to MIP(MAA‐β‐CD), MIP(MAA) synthesized with uniform morphology and narrow pore size distribution had lower adsorption capacities and its kinetic data fitted the pseudo‐second order diffusion model, indicating a two‐step (surface only) adsorption process. The MIP(MAA) adsorption process followed the Langmuir isotherm model referred to solely homogeneous uptake. The calculated thermodynamic parameters showed that the BzP uptake was exothermic, spontaneous, and physisorption process onto MIPs, which supported the results of kinetics and isotherm adsorption data. This study clearly revealed that the presence of β‐CD improved the morphology of synthesized MIP, and automatically enhanced the adsorption behavior of MIP. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42720.     

Horizontal bracing to enhance progressive collapse resistance of steel moment frames

In this paper, the effect of horizontal bracing on enhancing the resistance of steel moment frames against progressive collapse is investigated. Previously designed 6 bay by 3 bay 18‐story steel frame prototype building with 6 m bay span (namely, unbraced frame), which was susceptible to progressive collapse, is retrofitted by four types of horizontal bracing systems on the perimeter of the topmost story and analyzed using 3D nonlinear dynamic method. Six different cross‐sections for each bracing system type are considered, and the capacity curves for each model are obtained. Three column removal circumstances, namely, Edge Short Column, First Edge Long Column, and Edge Long Column are considered in this paper. The results imply that horizontal bracing would increase the resistance of moment frames against progressive collapse. However, one of the bracing types in which axial compressive force is created in braces is not appropriate for retrofitting.