To meet the rapidly growing demand for materials made from renewable resources, biopolymers like starch can be used to modify it into performance polymers. Such modifications are needed to add functionalities that are not there in native starch. An important method is to attach chains of functional polymers to the starch backbone by graft copolymerization. The most usual method to synthesize such a composite material is by free radical add-on polymerization with vinyl monomers. In our laboratory, acrylic acid has been the monomer of choice since composite polymers of starch with side chains of polyacrylic acid are a promising candidate to replace a spectrum of performance polymers from petrochemicals.

The most relevant side reaction of such graft copolymerization systems is the formation of homopolymer polyacrylic acid. A high selectivity of the grafting reaction is therefore wanted. The monomer acrylic acid is water-soluble which presents a greater challenge in this respect than water-insoluble monomers. The mechanisms behind this effect will be explained and some methods to improve on the graft selectivity will be discussed. Most promising is a method where not all monomer is added at the start but in portions over certain time intervals. Experimental data show that both important result parameters, grafting percentage (18 -> 28%) and graft selectivity (20 -> 31%), are improved. The method may need further refinement, also to make it applicable for use in a larger scale continuous reactor, but the principle breakthrough towards better graft selectivity is clearly demonstrated.

Structural simulation has become a common task in engineering practice due its advantages, namely cost reduction and unlimited testing prior to manufacturing. On the one hand, over the last years personal computers have become powerful enough to run complex simulations. On the other hand, industry has seen an increase in automation, where repetitive tasks done by humans, in the past, are gradually being replaced by robotic systems. Those robotic systems usually involve a robotic manipulator, a gripper, and a control system. This article presents a gripper with a novel two-finger design, for which a design methodology was applied using the Finite Element Method (FEM). The gripper model was subjected both to static and time-varying loadings and static and fatigue analysis were performed. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology was evaluated, and it can be concluded that the mechanical behavior of the gripper can be significantly improved through the application of the methodology. It is found that the genetic algorithm is the one that shows better feasibility and results in significant improvement on the mechanical behavior of the studied part. In the future, further work can be done on evaluating the methodology for other engineering parts, with other geometric parameters, or for the same part, but with different values of the parameters (different model size). Future work can also address the manufacturing and testing of the developed two-finger robotic gripper.

In this study, we produced butyric acid (C4) using different bacterial strains (Clostridium beijerinckii, C. acetobutylicum, C. oryzae, and C. kainantoi) belonging to the Clostridium group and acetate as a carbon source. All the strains produced significant amounts of C4, but C. beijerinckii produced 1.54 g/L of C4, which is almost equivalent to the production (1.63 g/L) capacity of C. kluyveri. Further experiments were performed using diluted raw cheese whey (CW) by inoculating mixed bacterial cultures containing Clostridia, Bacillus, and Desulfobacteraceae groups. Clostridium kluyveri was also added to the mixed culture to stimulate the caproic acid (C6) production. Mixed bacterial culture produced 13.97 g/L, 10.83 g/L and 6.81 g/L of C6 when incubated with two times, five times and ten times diluted CW, respectively, within a 20-day incubation period. Compared with our previous study, the C6 production was higher and faster. These results indicated the dilution ratio of CW is an important factor in facilitating C6 production, and higher amounts of fatty acids are produced with the mixed culture than that of a single culture, i.e., C. kluyveri. Results have depicted the potentiality of employing the bio-augmentation strategy for the valorization of bioresources into valuable products like butyric acid and caproic acid.

Secondary metabolites of plants are of major interest for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food applications. The extraction methods for these compounds must be optimized to have the best possible yield without altering the effectiveness of the targeted compounds. In this paper, we examine the methods of extraction of plant compounds, especially those applied to plants of the Lamiaceae family, renowned for their aromatic and medicinal roles. To do so, we consulted databases specialized in patent documentation, using appropriate keywords with the help of International Patent Classification (IPC) codes. Our results present the analysis of the 138 relevant documents selected. The first patent relating to our field of study was granted in the United States in 1998. It concerned a process for obtaining antioxidants from plant materials. While the year 2020 saw the registration of the largest number of these documents (15). Most of the documents identified (66) were filed in China. The French company Naturex, which specializes in plant-based products, is the number one depositor in the field of plant extraction. The relevant patents selected describe processes using various extraction methods and agents, most of which are valid for many plants, while some focus on genera of Lamiaceae, such as Lavandula, Rabdosia, Salvia, or Clerodendranthus

This study emphasizes the significance of beam-column joints (BCJs) within reinforced concrete (RC) structures and investigates their performance when subjected to seismic forces. Accurately predicting the load-carrying capacity of exterior BCJs under seismic loading poses a significant challenge. The development of a reliable and user-friendly predictive model is of paramount importance for facilitating cost-effective and safe design practices for RC structures. To address this requirement, we propose an artificial intelligence (AI)-based model that utilizes gene expression programming (GEP) to accurately predict the load-carrying capacity of exterior BCJs under monotonic loading conditions. The model is developed using GEP and utilizes a database of 128 joint load-carrying capacity results of exterior BCJs obtained from a validated finite element (FE) model using ABAQUS, which considers the effects of material and geometric factors, which have often been overlooked in prior studies. These factors encompass multiple aspects, including the beam and column dimensions, concrete material properties, longitudinal reinforcements in beams and columns, and axial loads applied to the columns. This study also compared the results of the proposed GEP model with the numerical data obtained from the validated FE model, demonstrating good accuracy and reliability. The proposed model has the potential to improve the accuracy and reliability of joint load-carrying capacity predictions, thereby aiding the design of safe and cost-effective RC structures.

In the present study, thin films consisting of quadrilateral nanoplates of CuO on the surface of a Cu plate were successfully synthesized in a two-dimensional micro space by the hydrothermal oxidation of a Cu plate using aqueous (NH₄)₂S₂O₈ solution as the oxidizer. Selective crystal growth was clearly observed in the two-dimensional micro space formed between the Al₂O₃ and the Cu plates, and a highly crystalline CuO quadrilateral nanoplate thin film was formed on the surface of the Cu plate that faced the Al₂O₃ plate. Similar experiments were performed by replacing the Al₂O₃ plate by Cu, Ti, or SUS316L plates as the substrate, to investigate the effect of the substrate facing the Cu plate. Using different substrates resulted in significant differences in the morphology of the CuO thin film on the Cu plate facing the substrate. In the past, parameters such as, the addition of structure directing agents or surfactants, varying the composition and concentration of reaction solutions, and changing the reaction temperature have been the principal methods used for controlling the structure of ceramic thin films at the nanoscale. The present study demonstrates that the use of a two-dimensional micro space can be extremely effective in controlling the nanostructure of thin films.

Unbalanced loads are extremely prevalent in the real systems, and they create power quality issues for the UPS system. To address this problem, this work provides an optimal voltage control scheme for a three-phase inverter using the linear matrix inequality method. In addition, the purpose of this controller is to provide a well-balanced three-phase sinusoidal voltage regardless of the imbalance of the loads. This symmetrical component-based controller features two paralleled voltage controls, such as a positive sequence to regulate output signals and a negative sequence to get rid of unbalanced voltages. Along with that, the optimization problem is formulated such that the convergence rate is maximized as a way to obtain the output voltage as swiftly as possible. PSIM is used to carry out the simulation, and MATLAB is utilized to assist in determining the optimal control gain for the state feedback and integral control of each sequence. The control algorithm is then deployed utilizing an in-house designed control board together with TMS320F28335 digital signal processor. To determine the efficacy of the proposed control, simulation and experiment results are compared to those of an optimal controller without a negative sequence.

An efficient one-pot green synthesis of 2-alkylidene/arylidene derivatives was reported from active methylene compounds and 4-chlorobenzaldehyde in the presence of 10 mol% of boric acid in ethanol under conventional conditions. All derivatives are obtained in good to excellent yield. The structures of synthesized compounds were confirmed from their FTIR, ¹H-NMR, and Mass Spectroscopy. The importance of these compounds is predicted from their SAR study.

Over the last three decades, Tehsil Mardan has gone through an incredible expansion of the built-up layer. This study explored the land use land cover changes of Tehsil Mardan from 1990 to 2021 along with population dynamics by applying geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques. Landsat satellite images for the years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2010, 2015, and 2021 were used for land use land cover classification. Maximum likelihood Supervised algorithm and confusion matrix were applied for classification and accuracy assessment respectively. Classification results outlined that there is a substantial increase in the built-up layer from 37 km² to 188 km² and a significant decrease in bare land class from 437 km² to 252 km² from 1990 to 2021. The classification processes overall accuracy was 87.42% to 98.30%, and Kappa Coefficient was from 0.82 to 0.97. Population dynamics were also studied in the present study and found that the total population of tehsil Mardan was 502435, 864017, 1,403,002 in 1981, 1998, and 2017 respectively, which was further forecasted based on historical trends till 2027. Statistical analysis found a strong positive correlation (0.98) between built-up and population and a significant negative correlation (-0.91) between population and bare land. Based on the findings of this study, policymakers should be able to better plan future land use and associated possibilities while keeping environmental threats and opportunities in mind.

Daily forecast of soil temperature in arid region (e.g., Egypt) is important for monitoring agricultural activity. In this study, a high-resolution regional climate model (RegCM4) was used to forecast the daily soil temperature of depth 40 cm (hereafter ST40). The RegCM4 was downscaled by the Global Forecast System (GFS of one degree horizontal resolution) to 25 km grid spacing. Because the ST40 is sensitive to different initial conditions of the soil moisture and temperature, four experiments were conducted and grouped to two cases. The first case considered the comparison between initialing the RegCM4 from bare soil and from the global satellite soil moisture product (ESACCI). On the other hand, the second case examined the influence of initializing the soil temperature from the Century reanalysis product (Century) versus initializing from zero values. The results showed that initializing the RegCM4 with the ESACCI has a notable impact on the simulated ST40 with respect to the bare soil. Furthermore, when the RegCM4 is initialized with the Century product, the simulated ST40 is improved in the sense that the ST40 trend becomes smoother than when the RegCM4 is initialized with zero values. Such behavior is indicated as the difference the Century and zero values decreases with the forecast time. In conclusion, it can be recommended that the RegCM4 can be initialized by the ESACCI satellite soil moisture and Century reanalysis soil temperature products to ensure a reliable forecast of the ST40