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To investigate the association between urodynamic findings and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) before and after surgical treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP).Seventy-four patients with stage II or more anterior POP associated with LUTS and eligible for surgical repair of POP were included in this prospective study. All cases had clinical evaluation and urodynamic testing (UDS) before and 6 months after surgical repair of POP.Mean age was 45 ± 9 years. Mean BMI was 28 ± 6 kg/mPatients had significant improvement in LUTS after POP surgery with or without an anti-incontinence procedure. Detrusor underactivity was associated with persistence of voiding LUTS. Meanwhile, preoperative DO and post-void residual urine volume were of limited prognostic value.

This work addresses manufacture, testing and simulation of foot valve lever (FVL) for monoblock pump industry, using a cost-effective casting design process. The impact of different types of sands, such as air-set, dry and sodium silicate as well as gating designs, namely H-, U- and O-type, were studied with respect to surface roughness and porosity. The mold pattern was produced using additive manufacturing (AM) technology. Both experimental and numerical investigations were performed on the temperature distribution of molten metal at random locations for the different gating configurations or designs, considering mold filling and solidification. It was evident from the experimental investigation that contribution of air-set sand and O-type gating architecture showed limited consistency effects. Importantly, gating architecture was the most influential parameter to determine all specified quality outcomes, independent of sand mold. An order of O

Ionic liquids (ILs) are environmentally friendly compounds and their gemini types exhibit high thermal stabilities and high surface and interfacial activity. The main objective of this work is to prepare, characterize and investigate the demulsification efficiency of two gemini pyridinium surfactant ILs. They were prepared by the introduction of long chain decanoyl chloride to aminopyridine followed by quaternization with two dichloro spacers containing different ethylene oxide units (DCDE and TEGDC) to form MEGPy and TEGPy ILs, respectively. The structure properties of the prepared demulsifiers were investigated using different spectral tools including 1HNMR and 13CNMR and DLS. Also, their solubility and surface activity were investigated to confirm their ability to reduce surface tension (ST) and interfacial tension (IFT). Gemini pyridinium IL with triethylene oxide spacer (TEGP) showed higher ability to reduce both ST and IFT than that with mono ethylene oxide spacer (MEGP). Thanks to the ability of both TEGPy and MEGPy surfactant IL to reduce ST and IFT, they were applied successfully as demulsifiers for W/O emulsions with different water percentages. Demulsification study indicated that both TEGPy and MEGPy were able to demusify W/O emulsions with high performance which reached to 100% at low concentrations (250 ppm) for some compositions with higher activity to TEGP IL than MEGPy surfactant.

New crosslinked Poly(ionic liquids), PILs, cryogels based on 2-acrylamido- 2-methylpropane sulfonic acid, AMPS, were prepared and copolymerized with acrylic acid, acrylamide or 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate in the presence of triethanolamine. The crosslinking copolymerization of AMPS were carried in the presence of water at cooling temperature in the presence of amoniumpersulfate, N,N, N′, N′ tetramethylethylenediamine and N , N ′-methylenebisacrylamide as radical initiator, activator and crosslinker, respectively. The chemical structures, surface morphologies of the PILs cryogels were investigated. The PILs cryogels showed high thermal stability and interconnected pores. The cryogels achieved high adsorption capacity as 1228 mg·g −1 for removal of MB from aqueous solution during contact times ranged from 5 to 10 min. New mechanism for chemisorption of MB with the active centers of PIL cryogels is proposed and elucidated.

© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.124117

Zinc oxide and sulfur/fluorine doped ZnO with nanosphere structure are synthesized by facile low cost solid state route. The synthesized material was characterized using XRD (X-ray diffraction), FE-SEM (Field emission scanning electron microscopy), photoluminescence spectroscopy and electrical conductive gas sensor measurements. FE-SEM images are showing spherical aggregated particle morphology, in the case of Fluorine doped ZnO showing flaky pastry shapes and sulphur doped ZnO shows particle with aggregated morphology. DRS and absorbance spectra is utilized to calculate the band gap values of the respective sample. The as prepared materials shows efficient activity towards methylene blue dye degradation and in future it could be utilized in improved photo catalytic and dye sensitized solar cell applications.

The present work aims to reduce the water surface tension using dispersed organophilic clay minerals to increase the adsorption water pollutants (organic and inorganic) into the clay galleries. Therefore, sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT) was functionalized with amphphiles based on crosslinked nanogel polymers of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm), sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonate (Na-AMPS), acrylamide (AAm) and acrylamidopropyl)trimethylammonium chloride solution (APTAC) using surfactant free technique. The chemical interactions between nanogels and Na-MMT and their chemical structure were confirmed by FTIR analysis. The intercalation and exfoliation of Na-MMT were confirmed by wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The morphology of Na-MMT nanogel composites was investigated by TEM analysis. The adsorption capacities of the prepared Na-MMT nanogels for methylene blue dye, cobalt and nickel cations from water were investigated. The data indicated that the Na-MMT nanogels reduced the surface tension of water and efficiently remove dye and metal ions from water.

A novel ion-selective PVC membrane sensor for cerium(III) ions based on [4-(4′-nitrobenzyl)-1-phenyl-3,5-pyrazolidinedion)] (NBPP) as a new ionophore has been prepared and studied. This electrode has a wide linear dynamic range from 10−1 to 2.5 × 10−6 mol l−1 with a Nernstian slope of 19.5 ± 0.2 mV decade−1 and low detection limit of 1.6 × 10−6 mol l−1. It has a fast response time (