The nonlinear refractive index and the nonlinear absorption coefficient of unmodified and functional poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA films were studied before and after the addition of the filler by the z-scan technique, using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at two wavelengths: 532 nm and 1064 nm, and at three input energies (13, 33 and 53) mJ. Both linear and nonlinear refractive indices and absorption coefficients of polymer films were studied by using UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The results show that the creation of functional PMMA from unmodified PMMA will increase the nonlinear optical properties in the functional PMMA/copper matrix more than in the unmodified PMMA/copper matrix. Hence, the functional PMMA appears promising as a useful third

Selective recovery of atropine from Datura innoxia seeds was studied. Applying pertraction in a rotating film contactor (RFC) the alkaloid was successfully recovered from native aqueous extracts obtained from the plant seeds. Decane as a liquid membrane and sulfuric acid as a stripping agent were used. Pertraction from native liquid extracts provided also a good atropine refinement, since the most of co-extracted from the plant species remained in the feed or membrane solution. Solid–liquid extraction of atropine from Datura innoxia seeds was coupled with RF-pertraction in order to purify simultaneously the extract obtained from the plant. Applying the integrated process, proposed in this study, a product containing 92.6% atropine was

The effective surface area of drug particle is increased by a reduction in the particle size. Since dissolution takes place at the surface of the solute, the larger the surface area, the further rapid is the rate of drug dissolution. Ketoprofen     is class II type drug according to (Biopharmaceutics Classification System BCS) with low solubility and high permeability. The aim of this investigation was to increase the solubility and hence the dissolution rate by the preparation of ketoprofen     nanosuspension using solvent evaporation method. Materials like PVP K30, poloxamer 188, HPMC E5, HPMC E15, HPMC E50, Tween 80 were used as stabilizers in perpetration of differ

Sludge from stone-cutting (SSC) factories and stone mines cannot be used as decorative stones, stone powder, etc. These substances are left in the environment and cause environmental problems. This study aim is to produce artificial stone composite (ASC) using sludge from stone cutting factories, cement, unsaturated resin, water, silicon carbide nanoparticles (SiC-NPs), and nano-graphene oxide (NGO) as fillers. Nano graphene oxide has a hydrophobic plate structure that water is not absorbed due to the lack of surface tension on these plates. NGO has a significant effect on the properties of artificial stone due to its high specific surface area and low density in the composite. Its uniform distribution in ASC is very low due to its hydropho

The convergence speed is the most important feature of Back-Propagation (BP) algorithm. A lot of improvements were proposed to this algorithm since its presentation, in order to speed up the convergence phase. In this paper, a new modified BP algorithm called Speeding up Back-Propagation Learning (SUBPL) algorithm is proposed and compared to the standard BP. Different data sets were implemented and experimented to verify the improvement in SUBPL.

Data centric techniques, like data aggregation via modified algorithm based on fuzzy clustering algorithm with voronoi diagram which is called modified Voronoi Fuzzy Clustering Algorithm (VFCA) is presented in this paper. In the modified algorithm, the sensed area divided into number of voronoi cells by applying voronoi diagram, these cells are clustered by a fuzzy C-means method (FCM) to reduce the transmission distance. Then an appropriate cluster head (CH) for each cluster is elected. Three parameters are used for this election process, the energy, distance between CH and its neighbor sensors and packet loss values. Furthermore, data aggregation is employed in each CH to reduce the amount of data transmission which le

A Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm 2 (SPEA 2) approach for solving the multi-objective Environmental / Economic Power Dispatch (EEPD) problem is presented in this paper. In the past fuel cost consumption minimization was the aim (a single objective function) of economic power dispatch problem. Since the clean air act amendments have been applied to reduce SO2 and NOX emissions from power plants, the utilities change their strategies in order to reduce pollution and atmospheric emission as well, adding emission minimization as other objective function made economic power dispatch (EPD) a multi-objective problem having conflicting objectives. SPEA2 is the improved version of SPEA with better fitness assignment, density estimation, an

The present study involves experimental analysis of the modified Closed Wet Cooling Tower (CWCT) based on first and second law of thermodynamics, to gain a deeper knowledge in this important field of engineering in Iraq. For this purpose, a prototype of CWCT optimized by added packing under a heat exchanger was designed, manufactured and tested for cooling capacity of 9 kW. Experiments are conducted to explore the effects of various operational and conformational parameters on the towers thermal performance. In the test section, spray water temperature and both dry bulb temperature and relative humidity of air measured at intermediate points of the heat exchanger and packing. Exergy of water and air were calculated by applying the exergy

This paper develops a fuzzy multi-objective model for solving aggregate production planning problems that contain multiple products and multiple periods in uncertain environments. We seek to minimize total production cost and total labor cost. We adopted a new method that utilizes a Zimmermans approach to determine the tolerance and aspiration levels. The actual performance of an industrial company was used to prove the feasibility of the proposed model. The proposed model shows that the method is useful, generalizable, and can be applied to APP problems with other parameters.