Complete liquification time test coupled with solvent fractionation technique to detect adulteration of foreign fats in ghee

Complete liquification time (CLT) test (min:s) exploits the physical property of milk fat as the time required by solid fat to melt completely at a defined temperature. It has been used to detect adulteration of groundnut oil and goat body fat when added singly and in combination with ghee. The Complete liquification time test for samples containing a combination of adulterants was carried out before and after solvent fractionation. The results revealed that adulterants added individually could be detected at higher levels (15%, w/w, groundnut oil in cow ghee; and 10%, w/w, goat body fat in buffalo ghee), while fractionation reduced the detection limit to lowest level (10%, w/w) used in this study.     

Novel amorphous precursor densification to transparent Nd:Y2O3 Ceramics

A novel approach of neodymium ion doped yttrium oxide (Nd:Y₂O₃) amorphous precursor compaction and sintering is being reported for the first time. Precursor of 2 at.% Nd³⁺ doped Y₂O₃ was synthesized by gelation of sol of yttrium and neodymium nitrates with l-alanine at 80 °C for 16 h followed by gel combustion in microwave. A part of microwave precursor was heat treated at 700 °C for 5 h to give the partially crystalline Nd:Y₂O₃ amorphous precursor. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of partially crystalline amorphous precursor of Nd:Y₂O₃ gave 8.5% total weight loss indicating removal of maximum organics. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) showed broad peaks indicating incomplete crystallization of cubic Nd:Y₂O₃. Morphology was found to be close to spherical with particles in size range 17–19 nm by TEM. Another part of microwave precursor on calcination at 1000 °C for 3 h led to formation of fully crystalline Nd:Y₂O₃ with particles in size range of 35–85 nm. Both partially crystalline amorphous precursor and fully crystalline Nd:Y₂O₃ were compacted at 400 MPa by cold isostatic press and sintered at 1750 °C for 10 h under vacuum (10^?5 mbar). The partially crystalline Nd:Y₂O₃ amorphous precursor densified to 99% with 65% transmission at 2500 nm (0.5 mm thickness) compared to 96% densification with 34% transmission for fully crystalline Nd:Y₂O₃ without any sintering aids. Retention of cubic phase purity of Y₂O₃ was observed in both the ceramic pellets post sintering by XRD. Good grain fusion with grain growth to ≤2 μm was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) for partially crystalline Nd:Y₂O₃ amorphous precursor. Thus partially crystalline Nd:Y₂O₃ amorphous precursor nanopowders, with homogeneous close to spherical fine particles and high reactivity due to ionic mobility of amorphous phase, led to better densification.     

Significant physical attributes affecting quality of Indian black (CTC) tea

In this research work, an attempt was made to discriminate different grades of black crush-tear-curl (CTC) tea based upon their physical attributes such as color of brewed liquor, texture, size and shape of the tea granules obtained by machine vision technique. The principal component analysis (PCA) was applied over two types of data. First, tea samples with seven different quality grades but same mechanical grading and second, samples with same quality grade but nine different mechanical grades (Brokens, Fannings and Dust) were considered for analysis, respectively. The results of PCA showed that best discrimination (100%) in both types of data was given by color attributes only. Correlations among tea samples and physical attributes were determined. Based upon these results it may be concluded that color only attributes are the most significant and sufficient for quantification of tea quality whereas other physical attributes contribute so little to quality estimation that they may be ignored.     

A MODULAR-TYPE ATOMIC ABSORPTION INSTRUMENT WITH THE GRAPHITE FURNACE IN A GLOVE BOX FOR NUCLEAR APPLICATIONS

This article describes a glove box adaptation of an atomic absorption spectrometer with a graphite furnace as the atomization source. Unlike flame atomic absorption, in which the ground state atoms quickly diffuse out of the atom cell, graphite furnace atomic absorption, being a total consumption technique, offers the ability to de-solvate and atomize the entire sample solution in a more controlled environment. This significantly improves the sensitivity and provides superior detection limits with microliter sample volumes. An atomic absorption instrument was converted into separate modular units consisting of the source, atomizer, and detection system. In addition, these units were modified to enable their use in the glove box, allowing the analysis of nuclear samples. Proper optical alignment of the source, atomizer, and detector system was performed to allow the analysis of toxic samples.     

Development of a method employing reversed‐phase thin‐layer chromatography for establishing milk fat purity with respect to adulteration with vegetable oils

A systematic study was conducted using reversed‐phase thin‐layer chromatography wherein unsaponifiable matter of samples namely, pure cow and buffalo milk fats, vegetable oils (groundnut oil, soya bean oil and sunflower oil) and milk fats adulterated with vegetable oils (≥1%) were run along with the reference standards using two new solvent systems to detect adulteration in milk fat. The results of the study revealed that adulteration at even a 1% level could easily be detected using this rapid, reliable and reproducible method based on the presence of β‐sitosterol as a marker and some additional spots ascribable to their occurrence in vegetable oils only.     

Direct laser writing of micro-supercapacitors on hydrated graphite oxide films

Microscale supercapacitors provide an important complement to batteries in a variety of applications, including portable electronics. Although they can be manufactured using a number of printing and lithography techniques, continued improvements in cost, scalability and form factor are required to realize their full potential. Here, we demonstrate the scalable fabrication of a new type of all-carbon, monolithic supercapacitor by laser reduction and patterning of graphite oxide films. We pattern both in-plane and conventional electrodes consisting of reduced graphite oxide with micrometre resolution, between which graphite oxide serves as a solid electrolyte. The substantial amounts of trapped water in the graphite oxide makes it simultaneously a good ionic conductor and an electrical insulator, allowing it to serve as both an electrolyte and an electrode separator with ion transport characteristics similar to that observed for Nafion membranes. The resulting micro-supercapacitor devices show good cyclic stability, and energy storage capacities comparable to existing thin-film supercapacitors.     

Recent Developments in Integrated Solar Combined Cycle Power Plants

Global concern for depleting fossil fuel reserves have been compelling for evolving power generation options using renewable energy sources. The solar energy happens to be a potential source for running the power plants among renewable energy sources. Integrated Solar Combined Cycle(ISCC) power plants have gained popularity among the thermal power plants. Traditional ISCC power plants use Direct Steam Generation(DSG) approach. However, with the DSG method, the ISCC plant’s overall thermal efficiency does not increase significantly due to variations in the availability of solar energy. Thermal Energy Storage(TES) systems when integrated into the solar cycle can address such issues related to energy efficiency, process flexibility, reducing intermittency during non-solar hours. This review work focuses and discusses the developments in various components of the ISCC system including its major cycles and related parameters. The main focus is on CSP technologies, Heat Transfer Fluid(HTF), and Phase Change Material(PCM) used for thermal energy storage. Further, study includes heat enhancement methods with HTF and latent heat storage system. This study will be beneficial to the power plant professionals intending to modify the solar-based Combined Cycle Power Plant(CCPP) and to retrofit the existing Natural Gas Combined Cycle(NGCC) plant with the advanced solar cycle.     

CMODLB: an efficient load balancing approach in cloud computing environment

The Journal of Supercomputing - A hybrid of supervised (artificial neural network), unsupervised (clustering) machine learning, and soft computing (interval type 2 fuzzy logic system)-based load...     

Proton conducting polymer electrolyte: II poly ethylene oxide + NH4l system

A new proton conducting polymer electrolyte PEO + NH₄l system has been investigated. The solution-cast films of different stochiometric ratios have been prepared and characterized. Proton transport has been established using various experimental studies, namely optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, infrared, coulometry transient ionic current and electrical conductivity measurements at different temperatures and humidity. The maximum conductivity of the complexed material has been found to be 10^–5 S cm^–1. Both H⁺ ion and I^– anion movements are involved with respective transference numbers and mobilities ast _H+=0.74, ,t _l–=0.09, _H+=4.97 × 10^–6 cm² V^–1 s^–1 and _l–=7.65.     

Effectiveness of crypto-transcoding for H.264/AVC and HEVC video bit-streams

Multimedia Tools and Applications - To avoid delays arising from a need to decrypt a video prior to transcoding and then re-encrypt it afterwards, this paper assesses a selective encryption (SE)...