Free Part Research Articles

A canon with a free style part embedded in a strict style one

A canon with a free style part embedded in a strict style one

Effect of Sputtered Pressure on Au Nanoparticles Formation Decorated ZnO Nanowire Arrays

Abstract The hybrids nanostructure of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) decorated on zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) was developed through sequential hydrothermal process and magnetron sputtering. The ZnO NWs grown on silicon wafer substrate via hydrothermal method at 90 °C using zinc acetate and hexamethylenetramine. Subsequently, the Au NPS were sputtering on to the ZnO NWs surfaces at 5-20 mTorr sputtering pressure. The morphology of the Au NPs grown on ZnO NW arrays was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicated that size and distribution of the Au NPs on ZnO NWs strongly depended on the sputtering pressure due to the mean free part and rate of gas phase collisions. The current work will be useful to develop high order hybrid nanostructure for nanosensor devices

Macroanatomic, light and scanning electron microscopic structure of the pecten oculi in northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita).

Eyes are the most primarily required sensory organs during the migration of migratory birds and Northern Bald Ibises (Geronticus eremita) are known to make long migrations. This study examined for the first time the structure of pecten oculi in northern bald ibises by using macroscopic anatomy as well as light and electron microscopic methods. In the study 20 eye globes from 10 adult bald ibises were used. The pecten was of pleated type. As in most bird species, it was located on the optic nerve head and projects into the vitreous from the optic nerve head. The wider basal part was observed to attached to retina and its free apical part was found in camera vitrea bulbi embedded in corpus vitreum. The pecten had 13-14 accordion like pleats lying between the basal and apical parts. In addition to arterial and venous vessels, numerous capillary vessels as well as melanocytes were observed within each pleat. The bridge binding the pleats at the apical part showed a stronger pigmentation compared to other parts of the pecten. The results of the study indicated that the general morphology of pecten oculi in northern bald ibises which is a migratory bird species were similar to that in other diurnal bird species.

Degrees of compression and inertia for free-abelian times free groups

We introduce the concepts of degree of inertia, diG(H), and degree of compression, dcG(H), of a finitely generated subgroup H of a given group G. For the case of direct products of free-abelian and free groups, we compute the degree of compression and give an upper bound for the degree of inertia. Imposing some technical assumptions to the supremum involved in the definition of degree of inertia, we introduce the notion called restricted degree of inertia, diG′(H), and, again for the case Zm×Fn, we provide an explicit formula relating it to the restricted degree of inertia of its projection to the free part, diFn′(Hπ).

Comparison between two coating techniques of glass fiber posts treated with hydrogen peroxide 35% on its stability in root canals after cementing using resin cement (In vitro comparative study)

Aim of the Study: This research aims to compare two techniques of coating glass fiber posts to define the best technique that achieves the higher tensile resistance after cementing with dual-cure resin cement into prepared human teeth root canals. Materials and Methods: The sample of this research consisted of 20 extracted human lower premolars which their crowns were cut horizontally 2 mm above the cementoenamel junction, then the root canals were treated endodontically with suitable instruments and divided into 2 groups according to techniques used in coating the glass fiber posts luted into them: Group A: 10 fiber posts were coated with silane before cementing. Group B: 10 fiber posts were coated with unfilled resin before cementing. Each specimen was secured in a universal tensile-test machine. An increasing tensile force was applied on the free part of the fiber post vertically at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min along with the long axis of the tooth until adhesive failure occurred. Results: The results of the tensile test indicated that there is no statistically significant differences in the average tensile resistance between A and B groups. Conclusions: There was no significant difference in stability strength between the technique of using silane and the technique of using unfilled resin to coat the glass fiber post before cementing with resin cement.

Electromechanical Assessment and Induced Temperature Measurement of Carbon Fiber Tows under Tensile Condition

The paper presents an investigation and analysis of the electromechanical and thermal characteristics of the carbon fiber alone as single tow and embedded in host materials such as polymer e.g., acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) using 3D printing. While carbon fibers can partially reinforce the structure, they can act as sensors to monitor the structural health of the host material. The piezo-resistive behavior was examined without any pretreatment of the carbon fiber under tensile test in both cases. Special focus on the filaments clamping types and their effects was observed. An auxetic behavior was exhibited; otherwise, the free part shows elastic and yielding ranges with break point at high resistance. An induced temperature of the carbon fiber was measured during the tensile test to show low variation. The carbon fiber can provide strength contribution to the host material depending on the percentage of filling the material in 3D printing. The relative variation of the electrical resistance increases by 400% while embedded in the host material, but decreases as the tows filament density increases from 1 to 12 K.

Robust preconditioning for coupled Stokes–Darcy problems with the Darcy problem in primal form

The coupled Darcy–Stokes problem is widely used for modeling fluid transport in physical systems consisting of a porous part and a free part. In this work we consider preconditioners for monolithic solution algorithms of the coupled Darcy–Stokes problem, where the Darcy problem is in primal form. We employ the operator preconditioning framework and utilize a fractional solver at the interface between the problems to obtain order optimal schemes that are robust with respect to the material parameters, i.e. the permeability, viscosity and Beavers–Joseph–Saffman condition. Our approach is similar to that of Holter et al. (2020), but since the Darcy problem is in primal form, expressing mass conservation at the interface involves the normal derivative, which introduces some mathematical challenges. These challenges will be specifically addressed in this paper, in particular we will employ fractional Laplacians at the interface. Numerical experiments illustrating the performance are provided. The preconditioner is posed in non-standard Sobolev spaces which may be perceived as an obstacle for its use in applications. However, we detail the implementational aspects and show that the preconditioner is quite feasible to realize in practice.

<p><strong><em>Bulbophyllum lingii</em></strong><strong>, a new species (Malaxideae, Epidedroideae, Orchidaceae) from Hainan, China</strong></p>

A new species, Bulbophyllum lingii (Orchidaceae: Epidedroideae: Malaxideae) from Hainan, China, is described and illustrated. Detailed morphological comparisons indicate that B. lingii is similar to B. catenarium, but differs in having oblong petals, lip margins from base of side-lobes to lip tip recurved, adaxial surface of top part glabrous, stigma with a rather distinct basal callus, foot with about 1/3 free part. The conservation status of B. lingii is assessed and taxonomic notes are provided.

The (theta, wheel)-free graphs Part IV: Induced paths and cycles

A hole in a graph is a chordless cycle of length at least 4. A theta is a graph formed by three internally vertex-disjoint paths of length at least 2 between the same pair of distinct vertices. A wheel is a graph formed by a hole and a node that has at least 3 neighbors in the hole. In this series of papers we study the class of graphs that do not contain as an induced subgraph a theta nor a wheel. In Part II of the series we prove a decomposition theorem for this class, that uses clique cutsets and 2-joins. In this paper we use this decomposition theorem to solve several problems related to finding induced paths and cycles in our class.

Superiority of Cellulose Non-Solvent Chemical Modification over Solvent-Involving Treatment: Application in Polymer Composite (part II).

The following article debates on the properties of cellulose-filled ethylene-norbornene copolymer (EN) composites. Natural fibers employed in this study have been modified via two different approaches: solvent-involving (S) and newly developed non-solvent (NS). The second type of the treatment is fully eco-friendly and was carried out in the planetary mill without incorporation of any additional, waste-generating substances. Composite samples have been investigated with the use of spectroscopic methods (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), static mechanical analysis, and surface-free energy measurements. It has been proved that the possible filler-polymer matrix interaction changes may occur due to the performed modifications. The highest reinforcement was evidenced for the composite sample filled with cellulose treated via a NS approach—TS = (34 ± 2) MPa, Eb = (380 ± 20)%. Additionally, a surface free energy polar part exhibited a significant increase for the same type of modification. Consequently, this could indicate easier wetting of the material which may contribute to the degradation process enhancement. Successfully developed cellulose-filled ethylene-norbornene copolymer composite compromises the rules of green chemistry and sustainable development by taking an advantage of renewable natural resources. This bio-inspired material may become an eco-friendly alternative for commonly used polymer blends.

Multi‐parameter reflection waveform inversion for acoustic transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis

ABSTRACTFull waveform inversion in transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis provides an opportunity to better match the data at the near and far offsets. However, multi‐parameter full waveform inversion, in general, suffers from serious cycle‐skipping and trade‐off problems. Reflection waveform inversion can help us recover a background model by projecting the residuals of the reflected wavefield along the reflection wavepath. Thus, we extend reflection waveform inversion to acoustic transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis utilizing the proper parameterization for reduced parameter trade‐off. From a radiation patterns analysis, an acoustic transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis is better described by a combination of the normal‐moveout velocity and the anisotropic parameters η and δ for reflection waveform inversion applications. We design a three‐stage inversion strategy to construct the optimal resulting model. In the first stage, we only invert for the background by matching the simulated reflected wavefield from the perturbations of and δ with the observed reflected wavefield. In the second stage, the background and η are optimized simultaneously and the far‐offset reflected wavefield mainly contribute to their updates. We perform Born modelling to compute the reflected wavefield for the two stages of reflection waveform inversion. In the third stage, we perform full waveform inversion for the acoustic transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis to delineate the high‐wavenumber structures. For this stage, the medium is described by a combination of the horizontal velocity , η and ε instead of , η and δ. The acoustic multi‐parameter full waveform inversion utilizes the diving waves to improve the background as well as utilizes reflection for high‐resolution information. Finally, we test our inversion algorithm on the modified Sigsbee 2A model (a salt free part) and a two‐dimensional line from a three‐dimensional ocean bottom cable dataset. The results demonstrate that the proposed reflection waveform inversion approach can recover the background model for acoustic transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis starting from an isotropic model. This recovered background model can mitigate the cycle skipping of full waveform inversion and help the inversion recover higher resolution structures.

Numerical simulation of wall shear stress downstream of a headcut

Headcut erosion is a very common process occurring at the head of rills, crop furrows and ephemeral gullies. A numerical model of the headcut flow was built to study the wall shear stress characteristics downstream of the scour hole, which is very important in headcut erosion prediction models. The calculated nappe parameters are very close to experimental data and/or equation results. The calculated flow field, velocity centreline of the free jet part and the locations of the maximum velocity in the scour hole are also close to the experimental data. It was found that the upstream flow rate and downstream water level can affect both the maximum value and the distribution of the wall shear stress. Taking into account the affecting factors and referencing the form of the existing relations on the maximum wall shear stress caused by the impinging jet, the relation of the maximum wall shear stress occurring downstream of the headcut is obtained. The wall shear stress distribution can be described by exponential functions. The new prediction equation of the maximum wall shear stress can be used in existing headcut erosion prediction models for calculating equilibrium scour hole depth or scour hole deepening rate.

Cost-Savings and Patient Experience with a Pharmacy-Led Medicare Part D Consultation Service.

There are many Medicare Part D plans, making it difficult for patients to choose the optimal plan. The decision to remain on current Medicare plans is reinforced by patient inertia and uncertainty associated with plan-switching decisions. By helping patients identify more cost-effective plans, pharmacists and pharmacy personnel have the ability to inform plan-switching decisions resulting in lower out-of-pocket (OOP) costs. This study evaluates 1) patient experience with a pharmacy Medicare Part D consultation service and 2) potential out-of-pocket savings based on a patient's best plan for 2019 compared to continuation of a patient's 2018 Medicare Part D plan. This study was a retrospective descriptive analysis and took place at a single, independently owned community pharmacy. Patients received free individual consultations with a pharmacist that included a medication review and information on all available Part D plans. Patients were selected to receive the service using pharmacy software to identify potential inefficiencies in current Part D plans. Data on satisfaction and perceived pharmacist role in providing Medicare Part D information were collected via an in-person survey administered at the pharmacy. Potential out-of-pocket cost savings were determined using cost information provided for patient specific medication regimens entered into Medicare.gov, the online platform for Medicare Part D plan information. Of the 318 patients identified, 79 used the consultation service. Out of 79 patients who used the service in fall of 2017, 44 completed the survey for a response rate of 56%.Patients generally reported good experiences with the service. Open-ended responses revealed patients utilize a variety of helpers for plan information and decisions. A subset of 14 patients were identified as having clear plan-switching decisions and were included in the cost-savings analysis. Patients using a free Medicare Part D plan consultation were satisfied with the service, suggesting that helpers were an important resource n their plan-selection process. Using the pharmacist-led Part D consultation may result in decreases in out-of-pocket cost savings due to identification of optimal Medicare Part D plans.

Homology and homotopy complexity in negative curvature

A classical theorem of Gromov states that the Betti numbers, i.e. the size of the free part of the homology groups, of negatively curved manifolds are bounded by the volume. We prove an analog of this theorem for the torsion part of the homology in all dimensions d \neq 3 . Thus the total homology is controlled by the volume. This applies in particular to the classical case of hyperbolic manifolds. In dimension 3 the size of torsion homology cannot be bounded in terms of the volume. As a byproduct, in dimension d \geq 4 we give a fairly precise estimate for the number of negatively curved manifolds of finite volume, up to homotopy, and in dimension d \geq 4 up to homeomorphism. These results are based on an effective simplicial thick-thin decomposition which is of independent interest.

Thermal behavior of complex model with the cellulose II and amorphous chain

To investigate the thermal behavior of complex model with amorphous region and crystallization region of cellulose II, the structures and properties of cellulose II, amorphous chain and their combined models were studied by molecular dynamics simulation. The results showed that the amorphous chain is more susceptible to temperature than the cellulose II. It can form anti-parallel structure similar to cellulose II at high temperature. In the complex model, one end of the amorphous chain is fixed to form hydrogen bonds with the cellulose II, and the other end is not. At 300[Formula: see text]K, the free part of amorphous chain is approximately perpendicular to the axial direction of the cellulose II. When the temperature increases, the free part of amorphous chain adheres to the surface of cellulose II. The free part of amorphous chain did not form hydrogen bond with the cellulose II. The formation of amorphous chain and surface of the cellulose II is a zipper process at 450[Formula: see text]K. Furthermore, water molecules penetrate into the inter-space of the amorphous and crystalline regions. The probability of hydrogen bonds between water molecules and the complex model was less than 8.21% which explains why cellulose is insoluble in water. These conclusions provide a guiding significance for the dissolution mechanism of cellulose.

Improving Spectrum Efficiency of Cell-Edge Devices by Incentive Architecture Applications With Dynamic Charging

The gap between the peak-hour Internet and the average level is increasing, which inevitably creates a type of temporary cellular weak coverage when there is a surge in data traffic demand, where any cell-edge device will have a low spectrum efficiency (SE). In this article, we propose a novel incentive architecture based on the dynamic radio frequency charging technology to improve the SE and use the Stackelberg game theory to formulate the problem. In such a model, a small base station (SBS) acts as the leader to offer a desired partition of the resource block obtained by a cell-edge device, while some small energy providers (SEPs) and small virtual access points (SVAPs) that are selected from user equipment act as the followers to make their decisions, respectively, to compete for the free part of such a resource block. Following the potential game rules, all the SEPs compete for a specific free resource part allocated by the SBS, and then, all the SVAPs compete for another nonoverlapping part allocated by the SBS on the basis of the results of the SEPs' potential game. Although our incentive architecture formally has three game stages, it is essentially a two-level Stackelberg game, which is analyzed by using a backward induction method. The theoretical analysis proves the convergence of the above-mentioned game models, and the simulation results demonstrate that the proposed incentive architecture can improve the SE for each cell-edge device.

Tensile properties of a hybrid bonded/bolted joint: Parameter study

Analysis on hybrid bonded/bolted (HBB) joint is difficult due to its complex failure mechanism influenced by multiple design parameters. The effect of design parameters on HBB joint mechanical performances has not been systematically investigated. In this paper, a detailed finite element model (FEM) of a composite-steel single-lap HBB joint was established and verified by experimental results. Based on the validated model, ten major design parameters of the joint related to assembly relationship, joint geometry and material property were discussed. And the effect of design parameters on the joint tensile performances, including strength, stiffness and energy absorption, was investigated and compared comprehensively by the methods of uniform design and multiple linear regression analysis. The results indicate that increasing values of all the discussed design parameters except for bolt pre-torque, free part length ratio S/D and adhesive modulus show positive effect on tensile performances of HBB joint. Using high strength adhesive with low modulus is a key method to improve initial damage load and bonding strength of the joint. High strength bolt can effectively improve bolt hole bearing strength and energy absorption capacity of the joint. Larger width ratio W/D is effective to improve tensile stiffness of hybrid joint with single bolt.

An adapted LC-MS/MS method for the determination of free plasma concentration of cefoperazone in children: Age-dependent protein binding

Antimicrobial activity of cefoperazone, a high protein bound cephalosporin, depends on its unbound concentration. However, the protein binding data of cefoperazone in children is limited, making it challenging to optimize antimicrobial therapy in pediatric clinical practice. Furthermore, a validated method to measure the free part in children is unavailable with the small volume of samples that can be obtained. Therefore, in the present study, we developed and validated an LC-MS/MS method for the determination of free cefoperazone in children. In this study, 70 μL of plasma was used to prepare the ultrafiltrate (only containing the free drug). Chromatographic separation of the analyte was achieved on a C18 column using gradient elution with a mobile phase of acetonitrile and water (0.1% formic acid). Negative electrospray ionisation in the multiple reaction monitoring mode was applied for the detection of cefoperazone and ceftiofur (internal standard). The calibration curve was prepared in the range of 5–5000 ng/mL with excellent linearity. For each level of quality control samples, the intra- and inter-day precision (CV) was below 9.0%, and the accuracy ranged from 91.5% to 105.0%. The matrix effect was less than 11.7%, and the recovery was between 92.9% and 95.9% of cefoperazone. The validated method has been successfully applied to the determination of free plasma concentration of cefoperazone in pediatric patients. The results of the unbound fraction showed considerable individual variability (range: 8.1–48.0%). The correlation analysis showed that age and albumin had significant effects on the protein binding of cefoperazone.

<p><strong><em>Gastrodia gunatillekeorum </em></strong><strong>(Gastrodieae, Epidendroideae, Orchidaceae), a new species from a lowland rainforest of Sri Lanka</strong></p>

Gastrodia gunatillekeorum, a new species in the family Orchidaceae, is described and illustrated from a tropical lowland rainforests of Sri Lanka. It is morphologically close to G. spatulata which is endemic to Indonesia owing to the white flower front with yellowish-orange colour on the inner wall of perianth tube and free part of perianth tube reflexed backwards. However, these two species can be very well differentiated on the basis of spathulate to linear petals which are shorter than sepals, fused only at the base and present inside the perianth tube; labellum elongate-elliptic and column broadest in the middle part in G. spatulata, whereas petals as long as sepals with apical 1/3rd part free (rest fused with sepals) and reflexed backwards, labellum rhomboid in shape, column broadest towards the apex in G. gunatillekeorum. Taxonomic account, line drawing, color photographs and conservation assessment are provided for the new species.

Thermal Behavior of Green Cellulose-Filled Thermoplastic Elastomer Polymer Blends.

A recently developed cellulose hybrid chemical treatment consists of two steps: solvent exchange (with ethanol or hexane) and chemical grafting of maleic anhydride (MA) on the surface of fibers. It induces a significant decrease in cellulose moisture content and causes some changes in the thermal resistance of analyzed blend samples, as well as surface properties. The thermal characteristics of ethylene-norbornene copolymer (TOPAS) blends filled with hybrid chemically modified cellulose fibers (UFC100) have been widely described on the basis of differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. Higher thermal stability is observed for the materials filled with the fibers which were dried before any of the treatments carried out. Dried cellulose filled samples start to degrade at approximately 330 °C while undried UFC100 specimens begin to degrade around 320 °C. Interestingly, the most elevated thermal resistance was detected for samples filled with cellulose altered only with solvents (both ethanol and hexane). In order to support the supposed thermal resistance trends of prepared blend materials, apparent activation energies assigned to cellulose degradation (EA1) and polymer matrix decomposition (EA2) have been calculated and presented in the article. It may be evidenced that apparent activation energies assigned to the first decomposition step are higher in case of the systems filled with UFC100 dried prior to the modification process. Moreover, the results have been enriched using surface free energy analysis of the polymer blends. The surface free energy polar part (Ep) raises considering samples filled with not dried UFC100. On the other hand, when cellulose fibers are dried prior to the modification process, then the blend sample’s dispersive part of surface free energy is increased with respect to that containing unmodified fiber. As polymer blend Ep exhibits higher values reflecting enhanced material degradation potential, the cellulose fibers employment leads to more eco-friendly production and responsible waste management. This is in accordance with the rules of sustainable development.