Gas–Liquid Slug Flow Studies in Microreactors:Effect of Nanoparticle Addition on Flow Pattern and Pressure Drop

Colloidal suspensions of nanoparticles (e.g., metals and oxides) have been considered as a promising working fluid in microreactors for achieving significant process intensification. Existing examples include their uses in microflow as catalysts for enhancing the reaction efficiency, or as additives to mix with the base fluid (i.e., to form the so-called nanofluids) for heat/mass transfer intensification. Thus, hydrodynamic characterization of such suspension flow in microreactors is of high importance for a rational design and operation of the system. In this work, experiments have been conducted to investigate the flow pattern and pressure drop characteristics under slug flow between N2 gas and colloidal suspensions in the presence of TiO2 or Al2O3 nanoparticles through polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) capillary microreactors. The base fluid consisted of water or its mixture with ethylene glycol. The slug flow pattern with nanoparticle addition was characterized by the presence of a lubricating liquid film around N2 bubbles, in contrast to the absence of liquid film in the case of N2-water slug flow. This shows that the addition of nanoparticles has changed the wall wetting property to be more hydrophilic. Furthermore, the measured pressure drop under N2-nanoparticle suspension slug flow is well described by the model of Kreutzer et al. (AIChE J 51(9):2428–2440, 2005) at the mixture Reynolds numbers ca. above 100 and is better predicted by the model of Warnier et al. (Microfluidics and Nanofluidics 8(1):33–45, 2010) at lower Reynolds numbers given a better consideration of the effect of film thickness and bubble velocity under such conditions in the latter model. Therefore, the employed nanoparticle suspension can be considered as a stable and pseudo single phase with proper fluid properties (e.g., viscosity and density) when it comes to the pressure drop estimation

Continuous Solid Particle Flow in Microreactors for Efficient Chemical Conversion

The incorporation of flowing nanoparticles or microparticles for use in catalysis as well as in the enhancement of mass transfer in microreactors opens a new avenue for chemical process intensification. In this work, the recent application of handling suspended solid particles in microreactors for carrying out efficient chemical conversions is reviewed, including the use of colloidal suspensions, Pickering emulsions, and catalyst slurries. Emphasis is laid on the effect of the presence of solid particles on the microflow characteristics, mass transfer property, and reaction enhancement, especially in multiphase fluid systems as the most frequently used one in microreactors. A future perspective regarding the potential application of such microreactor systems as well as challenges, especially related to stable flow operation and catalyst recycling, is further provided

Circular Convolution Filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC) System with Index Modulation

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation (OFDM-IM), which uses the subcarrier indices as a source of information, has attracted considerable interest recently. Motivated by the index modulation (IM) concept, we build a circular convolution filter bank multicarrier with index modulation (C-FBMC-IM) system in this paper. The advantages of the C-FBMC-IM system are investigated by comparing the interference power with the conventional C-FBMC system. As some subcarriers carry nothing but zeros, the minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalization bias power will be smaller comparing to the conventional C-FBMC system. As a result, our C-FBMC-IM system outperforms the conventional C-FBMC system. The simulation results demonstrate that both BER and spectral efficiency improvement can be achieved when we apply IM into the C-FBMC system

fMRI evidence that precision ophthalmic tints reduce cortical hyperactivation in migraine

Background: Certain patterns can induce perceptual illusions/distortions and visual discomfort in most people, headaches in patients with migraine, and seizures in patients with photosensitive epilepsy. Visual stimuli are common triggers for migraine attacks, possibly because of a hyperexcitability of the visual cortex shown in patients with migraine. Precision ophthalmic tints (POTs) are claimed to reduce perceptual distortions and visual discomfort and to prevent migraine headaches in some patients. We report an fMRI visual cortical activation study designed to investigate neurological mechanisms for the beneficial effects of POTs in migraine. Methods: Eleven migraineurs and 11 age- and sex-matched non-headache controls participated in the study using non-stressful and stressful striped patterns viewed through gray, POT, and control coloured lenses. Results: For all lenses, controls and migraineurs did not differ in their response to the non-stressful patterns. When the migraineurs wore gray lenses or control coloured lenses, the stressful pattern resulted in activation that was greater than in the controls. There was also an absence of the characteristic low-pass spatial frequency (SF) tuning in extrastriate visual areas. When POTs were worn, however, both cortical activation and SF tuning were normalized. Both when observing the stressful pattern and under more typical viewing conditions, the POTs reduced visual discomfort more than either of the other two lenses. Conclusion: The normalization of cortical activation and SF tuning in the migraineurs by POTs suggests a neurological basis for the therapeutic effect of these lenses in reducing visual cortical hyperactivation in migraine. </jats:p

Cosmology-independent Estimate of the Fraction of Baryon Mass in the IGM from Fast Radio Burst Observations

The excessive dispersion measure (DM) of fast radio bursts (FRBs) has been proposed to be a powerful tool to study intergalactic medium (IGM) and to perform cosmography. One issue is that the fraction of baryons in the IGM, f IGM, is not properly constrained. Here, we propose a method of estimating f IGM using a putative sample of FRBs with the measurements of both DM and luminosity distance d L. The latter can be obtained if the FRB is associated with a distance indicator (e.g., a gamma-ray burst or a gravitational-wave event), or the redshift z of the FRB is measured and d L at the corresponding z is available from other distance indicators (e.g., SNe Ia) at the same redshift. As d L/DM essentially does not depend on cosmological parameters, our method can determine f IGM independent of cosmological parameters. We parameterize f IGM as a function of redshift and model the DM contribution from a host galaxy as a function of star formation rate. Assuming f IGM has a mild evolution with redshift with a functional form and by means of Monte Carlo simulations, we show that an unbiased and cosmology-independent estimate of the present value of f IGM with a ~12% uncertainty can be obtained with 50 joint measurements of d L and DM. In addition, such a method can also lead to a measurement of the mean value of DM contributed from the local host galaxy

Positive-partial-transpose distinguishability for lattice-type maximally entangled states

We study the distinguishability of a particular type of maximally entangled states -- the "lattice states" using a new approach of semidefinite program. With this, we successfully construct all sets of four ququad-ququad orthogonal maximally entangled states that are locally indistinguishable and find some curious sets of six states having interesting property of distinguishability. Also, some of the problems arose from \cite{CosentinoR14} about the PPT-distinguishability of "lattice" maximally entangled states can be answered.Comment: It's rewritten. We deleted the original section II about PPT-distinguishability of three ququad-ququad MESs. Moreover, we have joined new section V which discuss PPT-distinguishability of lattice MESs for cases $t=3$ and $t=4$ . As a result, the sequence of the theorems in our article has been changed. And we revised the title of our articl

The Corelation Of Students’ Mathematics Learning Engagement On Their Academic Performance In Junior High School

In this study, 312 junior high school students are tested on their mathematics learning engagement and achievement. This research will also find out the connection between the students’ mathematics learning engagement with their mathematics academic performance. The results of this research show that junior high school students’ mathematics learning engagement is closely related to their mathematics academic performance in which cognitive engagement has the highest correlation and emotional engagement has the lowest correlation with students’ mathematics academic performance. The result also shows that when there is a higher mathematics academic achievement, the mathematics learning engagement will also be higher. This research also shows that gender factor doesn’t really affects the students’ mathematics learning engagement but their geographic factor does affect the learning engagement

Landau-Zener Tunnelling in a Nonlinear Three-level System

We present a comprehensive analysis of the Landau-Zener tunnelling of a nonlinear three-level system in a linearly sweeping external field. We find the presence of nonzero tunnelling probability in the adiabatic limit (i.e., very slowly sweeping field) even for the situation that the nonlinear term is very small and the energy levels keep the same topological structure as that of linear case. In particular, the tunnelling is irregular with showing an unresolved sensitivity on the sweeping rate. For the case of fast-sweeping fields, we derive an analytic expression for the tunnelling probability with stationary phase approximation and show that the nonlinearity can dramatically influence the tunnelling probability when the nonlinear "internal field" resonate with the external field. We also discuss the asymmetry of the tunnelling probability induced by the nonlinearity. Physics behind the above phenomena is revealed and possible application of our model to triple-well trapped Bose-Einstein condensate is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure