Search Results (10)

Vitamins are crucial micro-nutrients for overall well-being, making continuous monitoring essential. There are demands to provide an alternative detection, especially using a portable detection or a point-of-care-testing (POCT) device. One promising approach is employing an in situ electro-polymerised MIP (eMIP), which offers a straightforward polymerisation technique on screen-printed electrodes (SPEs). Here, we report a review based on three databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) from 2014 to 2024 using medical subject heading (MeSH) terms “electrochemical polymerisation” OR “electropolymerisation” crossed with the terms “molecularly imprinted polymer” AND “vitamin A” OR “vitamin D” OR “vitamin E” OR “vitamin K” OR “fat soluble vitamin” OR “vitamin B” OR “vitamin C” OR “water soluble vitamin”. The resulting 12 articles covered the detection of vitamins in ascorbic acid, riboflavin, cholecalciferol, calcifediol, and menadione using monomers of catechol (CAT), 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT), o-aminophenol (oAP), o-phenylenediamine (oPD), pyrrole, p-aminophenol (pAP), p-phenylenediamine (pPD), or resorcinol (RES), using common bare electrodes including graphite rod electrode (GRE), glassy carbon electrode (GCE), gold electrode (GE), and screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE). The most common electrochemical detections were differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The imprinting factor (IF) of the eMIP-modified electrodes were from 1.6 to 21.0, whereas the cross-reactivity was from 0.0% to 29.9%. Several types of food and biological samples were tested, such as supplement tablets, poultry and pharmaceutical drugs, soft drinks, beverages, milk, infant formula, human and calf serum, and human plasma. However, more discoveries and development of detection methods needs to be performed, especially for the vitamins that have not been studied yet. This will allow the improvement in the application of eMIPs on portable-based detection and POCT devices. Full article

This paper presents a numerical study investigating the coupled effects of periodic incoming wake and pulsating jets on the film cooling efficiency of a flat wall. The sweeping frequency of the wake is maintained at a constant 10 Hz, while the blowing ratio (M) varies from 0.3 to 1. By adjusting the initial position of the rod, different phase lags are generated to assess the interaction between the incoming wake and the pulsating jet concerning film cooling efficiency. The results reveal that coupling the wake-affected surface with the low-blowing-ratio phase of the pulsating jet can effectively enhance film cooling efficiency at lower blowing ratios. Conversely, at higher blowing ratios, aligning the low-pressure phase of the pulsating jet at the film hole with the high-blowing-ratio jet pulsation results in an improved film cooling effect. Notably, when the phase lag (ψ) is set to zero, the cooling efficiency of the pulsating film reaches its maximum across all blowing ratios, indicating an optimal coupling strategy. Full article

One test rig comprising two blades and dual under-platform dampers (UPDs) was built to enhance the understanding of the dynamic response behavior of blades with dual UPDs. A turnbuckle was applied to enable the smooth and uninterrupted linear adjustment of the normal load on the dual UPDs. Non-contact vibration-response measurements were achieved through eddy-current displacement sensors. Contact excitation was employed using an electromagnetic exciter to determine the magnitude of the excitation load, which was measured using a force sensor mounted on the excitation rod. A feedback system was established to maintain a constant magnitude of the excitation force throughout the excitation process. The chosen experimental variables include the normal load, the amplitude of the excitation force, the effective contact area, and the position of the damper action. The frequency response function of the blade under various experimental parameters was obtained through frequency sweeping under sinusoidal excitation. The influence of each parameter on the dynamic characteristics of blades was studied. The results demonstrate that the double-layer damping system offers distinct advantages over its single-layer counterpart. The upper damping has a wider frequency-adjustment range and a lower resonance amplitude and takes a larger share of the damping efficiency. Full article

This paper focuses on the dynamic internal flow in the integrated aggressive intermediate turbine duct (AITD) with different HPT wake numbers, using CFX Solver with dynamic Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS), the shear stress transmission κ-ω turbulence model (SST) and the γ-θ transition model. The HPT wakes are simulated using sweeping rods, with the number of rods ranging from 14 to 56 and a reduced frequency of 1.07. The increasing wake number reduces the radial pressure gradient in the integrated AITD, and then decelerates the radial migration and dissipation of wake vortices, so that some residual wakes can reach the integrated low-pressure turbine guide vane (LPT-GV) to enhance the suppression of flow separation to a certain extent. On the other hand, the increase in wake number can also weaken the skewness and stretching of the wake, thereby increasing the duration of flow separation suppression. When there are too many wakes, the mixing between adjacent wakes accelerates the dispersion of wake vortices, leading to increased total pressure loss and an enhanced turbulence intensity. This enhanced turbulence intensity promotes bypass transition on the suction surface of the LPT-GV in advance, thereby completely eliminating flow separation on the LPT-GV in the entire spatiotemporal domain, which is beneficial for reducing separation loss, but also increasing turbulent viscous loss. When N ≤ 28, the gross loss of the integrated AITD studied in this paper reaches a minimum value (around 0.22), as the benefits brought by the wake suppression of flow separation can offset the wake dissipation loss and the turbulent viscous loss caused by the wake-induced transition. Considering that wake loss is inherently present, using sweeping wakes to inhibit the flow separation on the integrated LPT-GV can bring certain aerodynamic benefits when the wake number is less than 28. Full article

Herein, hydrothermal fabrication of CdO-g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst for a substantially better photocatalytic recital in water splitting is presented. The XRD analysis confirms the cubic phase of CdO-g-C₃N₄, whereas FTIR and UV-VIS studies revealed the presence of respective groups and a median band gap energy (2.55 eV) of the photocatalyst, respectively, which further enhanced its photo-electrochemical (PEC) properties. The SEM displays the oblong structures of g-C₃N₄ sheets and nano rod-like morphology of CdO and CdO-g-C₃N₄, respectively. The HR-TEM exhibits morphology & orientation of the grains and substantiates the polycrystal-line nature of CdO-g-C₃N₄ nanocomposite. The photocatalytic water-splitting concert is evaluated by PEC experiments under 1 SUN visible light irradiation. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), chronoamperometry (CA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) comprehend the CdO-g-C₃N₄ as a hydrogen evolution photocatalyst. A photocurrent density beyond ≥5 mA/cm² is recorded from CdO-g-C₃N₄, which is 5–6 folds greater than pure CdO and g-C₃N₄. The efficient separation and transfer of charges allocated to CdO-g-C₃N₄ and fabricating heterojunctions between g-C₃N₄ and CdO suppresses the unfavorable electron-hole pairs recombination process. Thus, it recesses charge transfer resistance, augmenting enhanced photocatalytic performance under 1 SUN irradiation. Full article

A dynamic simulation was launched to research the influence of high-pressure turbine (HPT) rotor wake passing frequency on the flow mechanism in an integrated aggressive interturbine duct (AITD). Sweeping rods were adopted to replace the HPT rotors to decouple the influence of its wake from those of other secondary flows. The diameter of the rods (d/s, nondimensionalized by the pitch (s) of the integrated struts at midspan) was 0.10, and their reduced frequency (f) ranged from 0.49 to 1.61. The k–ω SST turbulence model and γ–θ transition model were adopted for the turbulence closure. A 6.3-million-node structured grid was used to meet the grid dependency. Along with increasing f, the intensified circumferential motion of the wake (1) enhances the wake vortex stretching and exhaustion near the hub; (2) promotes the radial inclination of wakes and elongates and narrows the wake vortex band, resulting in increased spacing between the adjacent wake vortices and the weakened vortex interaction. In the high-f cases, the enhanced turbulence intensity in the interval between the adjacent wakes could suppress the separation bubble on LPT-GV in advance, but the elongated and narrowed wake vortices resulted in a substantial reduction in the radial extent and duration of their suppression on the separation bubble. Therefore, the influence of f on the integrated AITD and its parts was bidirectional, and adjusting the sweeping frequency to balance its positive and negative effects could minimize the total loss in the integrated AITD. Full article

The interturbine transition duct (ITD), located between the high-pressure (HP) and low-pressure (LP) turbines of aeroengines, tends to be designed as an aggressive ITD integrated with wide-chord struts to meet the requirements of civil aeroengines for high bypass ratios and thrust–weight ratios. This paper presents a detailed unsteady numerical investigation of the effects of the HP rotor trailing-edge radius on the unsteady flow characteristics in the integrated aggressive interturbine transition duct (AITD), including the transport and dissipation of HP rotor wakes, the control mechanism of HP rotor wakes on flow separation and the influence of wake parameters. A sweeping rod, with a nondimensional diameter ranging from d/s = 0.056~0.143 (based on the pitch (s) of wide-chord struts at the midspan) and a reduced frequency ($f$) of 1.07, is used to simulate the HP rotor wake to decouple its influence from other secondary flows. Using the k-ω SST turbulence model and gamma–theta transition model, a structured grid with 6.3 million nodes can achieve similar global results. The wake in the lower part of the AITD channel dissipates rapidly because of the stretching between its own circumferential motion and the radial upward secondary flow, especially for a small d/s. Only the residual wake in the upper part can reach wide-chord struts in the case with large d/s. A sweeping rod with a large d/s can reduce the radial pressure gradient in the AITD, inhibit the internal secondary flow to a certain extent, reduce the dissipation rate of the wake, enhance its suppression effect on flow separation on a wide-chord strut, and decrease the flow loss. However, the wake can also enhance the passage vortex due to the increasing circumferential pressure gradient in the wide-chord strut channel, resulting in increasing blade profile loss. In the scope of this study, the aerodynamic gain of the wake is still not enough to compensate for its loss increment (including its own dissipation loss). Therefore, selecting a small trailing-edge radius of the HP rotor is conducive to improving the aerodynamic performance of the integrated AITD. Full article

Just as the sense of touch complements vision in various species, several robots could benefit from advanced tactile sensors, in particular when operating under poor visibility. A prominent tactile sense organ, frequently serving as a natural paragon for developing tactile sensors, is the vibrissae of, e.g., rats. Within this study, we present a vibrissa-inspired sensor concept for 3D object scanning and reconstruction to be exemplarily used in mobile robots. The setup consists of a highly flexible rod attached to a 3D force-torque transducer (measuring device). The scanning process is realized by translationally shifting the base of the rod relative to the object. Consequently, the rod sweeps over the object’s surface, undergoing large bending deflections. Then, the support reactions at the base of the rod are evaluated for contact localization. Presenting a method of theoretically generating these support reactions, we provide an important basis for future parameter studies. During scanning, lateral slip of the rod is not actively prevented, in contrast to literature. In this way, we demonstrate the suitability of the sensor for passively dragging it on a mobile robot. Experimental scanning sweeps using an artificial vibrissa (steel wire) of length 50 mm and a glass sphere as a test object with a diameter of 60 mm verify the theoretical results and serve as a proof of concept. Full article

The aim of this work was to monitor the corrosion rate of the Mg₇₂Zn₂₄Ca₄ and Zn₈₇Mg₉Ca₄ alloys. The purity of the alloying elements was 99.9%. The melt process was carried out in an induction furnace. The melting process took place under the cover of an inert gas (argon). The copper form was flooded by liquid alloy. Then, in order to obtain ribbons, the cast alloy, in rod shape, was re-melted on the melt spinning machine. The corrosion resistance of both alloys has been determined on the basis of the following experiments: measurements of the evolution of OCP (open circuit potential), LSV (linear sweep voltamperometry) and EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy). All corrosion tests were carried out in Ringer’s solution at 37 °C and pH 7.2. The corrosion tests have revealed that the zinc alloy, Zn₈₇Mg₉Ca_4, exhibits significantly higher corrosion resistance in the Ringer solution compared to the magnesium alloy, Mg₇₂Zn₂₄Ca₄. Moreover, it has been shown that the cathodic reaction proceeds faster on the surface of ribbons. EIS measurements show that the dissolution of Mg alloy proceeds with two steps: transfer of Mg²⁺ ions to the Ringer solution and then the formation of the corrosion products, which are deposited on the surface of magnesium alloy. It has been revealed, too, that for both bulk materials, diffusion of chloride ions through the corrosion product’s layer takes place. Full article

Airfoil selection procedure, wind tunnel testing and an implementation of 6-DOF model on flying wing micro aerial vehicle (FWMAV) has been proposed in this research. The selection procedure of airfoil has been developed by considering parameters related to aerodynamic efficiency and flight stability. Airfoil aerodynamic parameters have been calculated using a potential flow solver for ten candidate airfoils. Eppler-387 proved to be the most efficient reflexed airfoil and therefore was selected for fabrication and further flight testing of vehicle. Elevon control surfaces have been designed and evaluated for longitudinal and lateral control. The vehicle was fabricated using hot wire machine with EPP styrofoam of density 50 Kg/ ${\mathrm{m}}^3$ . Static aerodynamic coefficients were evaluated using wind tunnel tests conducted at cruise velocity of 20 m/s for varying angles of attack. Rate derivatives and elevon control derivatives have also been calculated. Equations of motion for FWMAV have been written in a body axis system yielding a 6-DOF model. It was found during flight tests that vehicle conducted coordinated turns with no appreciable adverse yaw. Since FWMAV was not designed with a vertical stabilizer and rudder control surface, directional stability was therefore augmented through winglets and high wing leading edge sweep. Major problems encountered during flight tests were related to left rolling tendency. The left roll tendency was found inherent to clockwise rotating propeller as ‘P’ factor, gyroscopic precession, torque effect and spiraling slipstream. To achieve successful flights, many actions were required including removal of excessive play from elevon control rods, active actuation of control surfaces, enhanced launch speed during take off, and increased throttle control during initial phase of flight. FWMAV flew many successful stable flights in which intended mission profile was accomplished, thereby validating the proposed airfoil selection procedure, modeling technique and proposed design. Full article