Optimization of fluoride removal from brackish water by electrodialysis

The study showed that desired potable water can be easily obtained by electrodialysis from fluoride-rich brackish water. Studies have been performed to defluoridate brackish water containing 3000 ppm of total dissolved solids (TDS) and 3 ppm of fluoride using electrodialysis. The behaviour of water parameters (ion contents, TDS, pH, total hardness) with electrodialysis parameters (duration, flow rate, temperature, voltages) is followed. Optimal operational conditions for obtaining desired potable water have been proposed.     

Effect of blanching on the diffusion of glucose from potatoes

Glucose losses from potato slabs into the water during blanching at 60, 70, 80 and 90 °C were studied after 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 min. In general, an increase of temperature during the considered times produced a higher glucose loss. The apparent diffusion coefficients (D) for glucose losses from potatoes were calculated under the blanching conditions. The D-values were found to be in the range of 3 × 10^?10 to 8 × 10^?10 m² · s^?1 and could be related to temperature by an Arrhenius equation, having an activation energy of 29.1 kJ/mol. The results will allow the prediction of mean glucose concentration in potato tissues, and hence the overall losses incurred, after a given blanch treatment in this time and temperature range.     

Cobalt oxide polymorph growth on electrostatic self-assembled nanoparticle arrays for dually tunable nano-textures

We report on a method for surface nano-texturing on a plastic substrate. Nano-objects with a silica nanoparticle core and a textured cobalt oxide crown are created with selectable density on the plastic substrate. The resulting dual morphology is easily tuned over large areas, either by changing the parameters directing nanoparticle deposition through electrostatic self-arrangement for nano-object density control, or the parameter directing cobalt oxide deposition for shape control. The entire process takes place at room temperature, with no chemicals harmful to the plastic substrate. The ready modulation of the dual morphology is used to control the wettability properties of the plastic film, which is covered by nano-objects.     

Analyzing the nanoindentation response of carbon black filled elastomers

Carbon black (CB) filled elastomers are structurally complex materials that offer unique properties at different length scales. They have tremendous potential applications in a number of fields including the automotive and aerospace industries and for designing innovative smart materials such as artificial muscles but their applications remain limited primarily due to inadequate understanding of their unique mechanical properties. Here, using the Berkovich technique to probe the surface mechanical properties at different scales the nanoindentation response of a series of composites made by homogeneously dispersed CB nanoparticles inside a semicrystalline copolymer matrix has been explored. While the measured loading part of the force–displacement curves is well described by Meyer's empirical power relation, the inverted methodology (IM) approach to deal with the unloading part has been considered and its outcome has been compared with that obtained from the standard Oliver–Pharr's method. The results were consistent with the observed increase of hardness when the applied displacement decreases for all composite samples over a large range of CB volume fraction. Zhang and Xu's model is demonstrated to produce experimentally consistent explanation of this indentation size effect. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra also show composition gradients with depth up to 100 nm. Furthermore, the effect of CB content, surface features, and length scale-dependent deformation on the hardness–displacement behavior have been considered. These findings highlight the possibility of attaining a diverse set of mechanical properties by a better understanding of the nanoindentation response of CB filled elastomers which can be useful for material selection and design improvements in a number of practical applications.     

MHD mixed convection flow along a vertically heated sheet

Main objective of this frame work is to establish the modeling and simulation of mix convection flow along a vertically heated sheet filled with water. Two important mechanisms: magneto-hydrodynamics and porous medium are also considered within the restricted domain of the fluid flow. Temperature is controlled with the wall temperature and then mathematical model is constructed in the form of PDEs. To determine the similarity solution results are obtained via two different techniques. Numerically solutions are obtained with the help of shooting technique and then validate with the help of optimal homotopy analysis method (OHAM). Obtained analytical and numerical results are validated graphically. Effect of emerging parameters are plotted for velocity and temperature profiles. It is found that for mixed convection parameter $(\xi <0)\text{,}$ velocity profile depicts the increasing behavior for various values of power index m. However, for $\xi >0\text{,}$ velocity profile shows the decreasing behavior with respect the parameter m. Temperature distribution in the restricted domain depicts the decreasing behavior for both m and $\xi$.     

Single crystals and nonlinear process for outstanding vibration-powered electrical generators

This paper compares the performances of vibration-powered electrical generators using a piezoelectric ceramic and a piezoelectric single crystal associated to several power conditioning circuits. A new approach of the piezoelectric power conversion based on a nonlinear voltage processing is presented, leading to three novel high performance power conditioning interfaces. Theoretical predictions and experimental results show that the nonlinear processing technique may increase the power harvested by a factor of 8 compared to standard techniques. Moreover, it is shown that, for a given energy harvesting technique, generators using single crystals deliver 20 times more power than generators using piezoelectric ceramics.     

A compact energy harvesting multiband rectenna based on metamaterial complementary split ring resonator antenna and modified hybrid junction ring rectifier

This article presents an improved wireless energy harvesting multiband rectifying antenna. The proposed design is based on an original optimized bidirectional complimentary split ring resonator (CSRR) metamaterial multiband antenna and a modified hybrid junction ring rectifier with four rectifying branches. It harvests the ambient radiofrequency radiations at GSM, 1.8 GHz; UMTS, 2.1 GHz; WiFi, 2.45 GHz; and 4G‐2.6 GHz GSM bands. The created prototypes are printed on a 1.57‐mm‐thickness FR4 substrate and achieve the needed dimensional optimization in both antenna and rectifier. The CSRR antenna accomplished a maximum harvesting realized gain of 2.41, 2.26, 1.58, and 2.69 dB on the aforementioned frequency bands, respectively, 63.75% of antenna size reduction, and 23.62% rectifier size reduction regarding the conventional designs. The hybrid ring junction is used to independently match the subrectifiers at each frequency band. The realized rectenna has been accurately tested in both controlled and outdoor environments, achieving a 67.6% peak efficiency at 1.8 GHz frequency band for an input power level of 10 dBm. It powered up a digital batteryless watch in the outdoor experiment.     

Study of mixing in an axisymmetric coflowing liquid jet by coupling L.D.A. to an electrochemical method

Local and simultaneous velocity and concentration fluctuations were analysed in an axisymmetric jet of an aqueous electrolyte solution moving in a codirectional water stream. The determination of the convection velocity of the turbulent eddies as well as correlation between axial velocity and concentration fluctuations was made possible by coupling L.D.A. to an electrochemical technique. The influence of the ratio of the coflowing stream velocity to the jet exit velocity was investigated. The mean velocity and concentration profiles, the turbulence intensity, the integral length scales relative to axial velocity and concentration were also determined.     

Pain monitoring: A dynamic and context-sensitive system

The current paper presents an automatic and context sensitive system for the dynamic recognition of pain expression among the six basic facial expressions and neutral on acted and spontaneous sequences. A machine learning approach based on the Transferable Belief Model, successfully used previously to categorize the six basic facial expressions in static images [2], [61], is extended in the current paper for the automatic and dynamic recognition of pain expression from video sequences in a hospital context application. The originality of the proposed method is the use of the dynamic information for the recognition of pain expression and the combination of different sensors, permanent facial features behavior, transient features behavior, and the context of the study, using the same fusion model. Experimental results, on 2-alternative forced choices and, for the first time, on 8-alternative forced choices (i.e. pain expression is classified among seven other facial expressions), show good classification rates even in the case of spontaneous pain sequences. The mean classification rates on acted and spontaneous data reach 81.2% and 84.5% for the 2-alternative and 8-alternative forced choices, respectively. Moreover, the system performances compare favorably to the human observer rates (76%), and lead to the same doubt states in the case of blend expressions.