Enhanced energy storage properties of Ba0.4Sr0.6TiO3 lead-free ceramics with Bi2O3-B2O3-SiO2 glass addition

In this study, we present an effective strategy to enhance the energy storage properties of Ba_0.4Sr_0.6TiO₃ (BST) lead-free ceramics by the addition of Bi₂O₃-B₂O₃-SiO₂ (BBS) glass, which were prepared by the conventional solid state sintering method. The phase structure, microstructure and energy storage properties were investigated in detail. It can be found that the Ba_0.4Sr_0.6TiO₃-x wt%(Bi₂O₃-B₂O₃-SiO₂) (BST- x wt%BBS, 0 ≤ x ≤ 12) ceramics possess large maximum polarization (P_max), low remanent polarization (P_r) and slim polarization electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops. The breakdown strength (BDS), recoverable energy storage density (W_rec) and energy storage efficiency (η) are enhanced obviously with the addition of BBS glass. The BST-9 wt%BBS ceramic is found to exhibit excellent energy storage properties with a W_rec of 1.98 J/cm³ and a η of 90.57% at 279 kV/cm. These results indicate that the BST-x wt%BBS ceramics might be good candidates for high energy storage applications.     

Biochemical changes in groundnut pods due to infestation of bruchid Caryedon serratus (Olivier) under stored conditions

A study on the “Biochemical changes in groundnut pods due to infestation of bruchid, Caryedon serratus (Olivier) under stored conditions” was conducted at Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, SVPUA&T, Meerut during August 2018 to February 2019. Results of the study showed that there was significant increase in weight loss of the groundnut pods (test varieties) with the increase in storage period i.e. 30, 90, and 150 DAS (days after storage). This significant increase in weight loss was due to infestation of groundnut bruchid. In addition to the weight loss, distinct differences in the biochemical components such as sugars, proteins, tannins, phenols were found in between infested and uninfested groundnut pods. A significant reduction in sugars, tannins, phenol whereas increase in protein content was noticed with the increase in the storage period i.e. 30, 90 and 150 DAS. Correlation studies relating weight loss and biochemical components from different groundnut varieties (resistant and susceptible) due to bruchid infestation were also worked out in the study. Pod sugar and pod protein content showed significant positive correlation with weight loss (positive effect on the development of the bruchid). While, pod tannins and pod phenols content showed significant negative correlation with weight loss (exerted a negative effect on the development of the bruchid).     

两种多层穿梭车系统的性能比较分析

物流配送中心订单响应速度的加快,对订单拣选系统提出了更高的要求。多层穿梭车系统因其柔性强、效率高等特点,近年来得到了广泛应用。多层穿梭车系统具有两种形式--基于转载车和基于环形输送线,二者均可实现货物的快速拣选,但在系统吞吐量和订单完成周期方面存在差异,致使企业决策者难以进行系统选择。基于上述原因,本文比较两种多层穿梭车系统的性能差异。建立两个系统的开环排队网络模型,然后求解系统吞吐量、订单完成周期,通过仿真验证了排队论模型的准确性,通过试验对两种系统的性能进行对比分析。结果表明,系统吞吐量与层数、巷道数相关,层数越多,巷道数越少,转载车系统相对于环线系统优势越显著;订单完成周期与层数、订单到达率相关,层数越多,订单到达率越低,转载车系统相对于环线系统越具优势。     

Iron mediated cathodic electrosynthesis of hausmannite nanoparticles

A novel synthetic route has been proposed to prepare hausmannite nanoparticles. The synthetic route comprises an iron mediated constant current cathodic electrodeposition of manganite and heat treatment of the latter to obtain hausmannite. The obtained nanostructures have been characterized using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) and Fourier transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR). The role of iron in the formation of manganite precursor has been studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). A formation mechanism based on iron mediated formation of Mn³⁺ and subsequent cathodic reduction of the disproportionated products has been proposed accordingly. The prepared nanoparticles exhibited specific capacitance of 143 F g⁻¹ in 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ solution. The retained specific capacity was 87% after 2000 cycles.     

Using provenance to efficiently improve metadata searching performance in storage systems

In cloud storage systems, more than 50% of requests are metadata operations, and thus the file system metadata search performance has become increasingly important to different users. With the rapid growth of storage system scales in volume, traditional full-size index trees cannot offer high-performance metadata search due to hierarchical indexing bottleneck. In order to alleviate the long latency and improve the quality-of-service (QoS) in cloud storage service, we proposed a novel provenance based metadata-search system, called PROMES. The metadata search in PROMES is split into three phases: (i) leveraging correlation-aware metadata index tree to identify several files as seeds, most of which can satisfy the query requests, (ii) using the seeds to find the remaining query results via relationship graph search, (iii) continuing to refine and rerank the whole search results, and sending the final results to users. PROMES has the salient features of high query accuracy and low latency, due to files’ tight and lightweight indexing in relationship graph coming from provenance’s analysis. Compared with state-of-the-art metadata searching schemes, PROMES demonstrates its efficiency and efficacy in terms of query accuracy and response latency.     

Nanostructured lipid carriers based nanogel for meloxicam delivery: mechanistic,in-vivo and stability evaluation

Aim: Our investigation was aimed to investigate the potential suitability of meloxicam-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (MLX-NLC) gel for topical application.

Main methods: MLX-NLC gel was prepared and in vivo skin penetration ability of the NLC gel was evaluated using confocal laser scanning microscopy. We studied the effect of MLX-NLC gel on the changes in lipid profile of skin to get an insight into its skin penetration enhancement mechanism. Acetic acid induced writhing test was performed to evaluate the analgesic effect. Drug concentration-time profile of MLX in rat plasma and skin after topical and oral treatment with MLX-NLC gel and oral MLX-solution, respectively, was observed. MLX-NLC gel was subjected to primary skin irritation test, sub-acute dermal toxicity study. Storage stability of MLX-NLC gel was also assessed for 90 days.

Key findings: NLC gel was effective in permeating Rhodamine 123 to deeper layers of rat skin. Changes in skin lipid prolife were observed in the rat skin on treatment with MLX-NLC gel and the results supported skin lipid extraction as a possible penetration enhancement mechanism. MLX-NLC gel demonstrated sustained pain inhibitory effect. Pharmacokinetics study established that topical application of MLX-NLC gel had the potential to avoid systemic uptake and hence the risk of systemic adverse effects. MLX-NLC gel demonstrated good skin tolerability and biosafety. Excellent physical stability of nanogel was observed at 4?±?2?°C.

Significance: The study revealed that NLC gel is a promising carrier system for the topical application of MLX without side effects.     

Development of New Product: Rambutan Pulpy Juice

This study aimed to know the effect of adding pulp in rambutan fruit juice on the characteristics of rambutan juice during storage. Research using the CRD, the treatment were kind of pulp (mandarin and rambutan) and pulp concentration (5%, 7.5%, and 10%). The results showed that the addition of pulp significantly affect the characteristics of rambutan juice (pH, vitamin C, total acid) during storage. Pulpy juice with the most prefered was addition of rambutan pulp as much as 7.5% (w/v) and the addition of citrus pulp as much as 7.5% (w/v) with the score of 3-4 (moderate like - like).     

The influence of different water types and brewing durations on the colloidal properties of green tea infusion

Green tea infusions were prepared with three different water types: distilled water, commercial mineral water and CaCl₂ added distilled water (at 20 mg L^?1). The impact of different water type on the colloidal particle parameters, namely size, polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta potential, was examined within 24 h. Our results indicate that distilled water green tea infusion (DWT) brewed at 80 °C for 5 min contained the smallest particles (242.17 ± 11.78 nm) as examined by dynamic light scattering (DLS). Moreover, DWT showed smaller size increase during the 24 h storage than that of mineral water tea and CaCl₂ added water tea infusion. The morphology characteristics of green tea infusion particles were visualised by transmission electron microscope (TEM) which revealed that green tea infusion particles had heteromorphic shapes. Our results suggest that mineral composition of water impacts the colloidal size and stability of green tea infusion. Additionally, DLS and TEM could be useful tools to provide colloidal information which is important to understand quality characteristics of green tea infusion during processing and storage.     

Changes in the physical properties of honey powder during storage

Honey powders produced by spray drying with the addition of Arabic gum and sodium caseinate were characterised in terms of the influence of storage time on the following physical properties: particle size, moisture content, water activity, bulk density, flowability and hygroscopicity. The storage affected those properties; after 12 weeks of storage, particle size decreased (except Arabic gum powder treated as a control sample), moisture content and water activity increased, hygroscopicity decreased. Changes in bulk density, particle size and moisture content caused the rise of Hausner ratio value; however, the powders were still characterised by a very good flow properties and low cohesiveness. The colour of reconstituted powders was also affected by storage; in most of samples, the darkening, reduction in redness and yellowness were observed. Colour parameters were the most stable in powders obtained with the addition of 2% w/w of sodium caseinate.