Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye by NiFe<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript> nanoparticles under visible irradiation: effect of varying the synthesis temperature

Nanoparticles of nickel ferrites (NiFe₂O₄) were synthesized at different temperature of synthesis (25, 50 and 80 °C) through the chemical co-precipitation method. The synthesized powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction for crystallite size and lattice parameter calculation. It reveals the presence of cubic spinel structure of ferrites with crystallite size between 29 and 41 nm. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed uniform distribution of ferrite particles with some agglomeration. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed absorption bonds, which were assigned to the vibration of tetrahedral and octahedral complexes. Raman spectroscopy is used to verify that we have synthesized ferrite spinels and determines their phonon modes. The thermal decomposition of the NiFe₂O₄ was investigated by TGA/DTA. The optical study UV–visible is used to calculate the band gap energy. Magnetic measurements of the samples were carried out by means of vibrating sample magnetometer and these studies reveal that the formed nickel ferrite exhibits ferromagnetic behavior. Photoluminescence showed three bands of luminescence located at 420, 440 and 535 nm. The photocatalytic properties of nickel ferrite (NiFe₂O₄) nanoparticles were evaluated by studying the photodecomposition of methyl orange as organic pollutant models and showed a good photocatalytic activity.     

Arghel Extract: a Promising Green Corrosion Inhibitor

Protection of Metals and Physical Chemistry of Surfaces - The corrosion of copper in an aqueous 0.5 M H2SO4 has been studied under the effect of Arghel plant extracts using potentiodynamic...     

Shear Strength of Fiber-Reinforced Sands

Soil reinforcement using discrete randomly distributed fibers has been widely investigated over the last 30 years. Several models were suggested to estimate the improvement brought by fibers to the shear strength of soils. The objectives of this paper are to (1) supplement the data available in the literature on the behavior of fiber-reinforced sands; (2) study the effect of several parameters which are known to affect the shear strength of fiber-reinforced sands; and (3) investigate the effectiveness of current models in predicting the improvement in shear strength of fiber-reinforced sand. An extensive direct shear testing program was implemented using coarse and fine sands tested with three types of fibers. Results indicate the existence of a fiber-grain scale effect which is not catered for in current prediction models. A comparison between measured and predicted shear strengths indicates that the energy dissipation model is effective in predicting the shear strength of fiber-reinforced specimens in reference to the tests conducted in this study. On the other hand, the effectiveness of the predictions of the discrete model is affected by the parameters of the model, which may depend on the test setup and the procedure used for mixing the fibers.     

Combined microwave and enzymatic treatments for ��-lactoglobulin and bovine whey proteins and their effect on the IgE immunoreactivity

Effect of combined microwave (MW) and enzymatic hydrolysis on the human immunoglobulin E (IgE)-binding properties of ??-lactoglobulin (??-lg) and other whey proteins (WP) was investigated. Separated ??-lg and full whey protein isolate (WPI) were hydrolyzed with trypsin, chymotrypsin, mixture of trypsin/chymotrypsin, and pepsin at three microwave power levels: 50?W during 1 and 5?min, 100 and 200?W during 1 and 3?min. The immunoreactivity of the obtained hydrolysates resulting from combined microwave protease treatment was assessed using sera of young patients allergic to bovine whey proteins. The application of microwave treatment at 200?W enhances the hydrolysis of ??-lg by pepsin in 3?min and decreases significantly its immunoreactivity. The extensive hydrolysis of the microwave-treated ??-lg and WPI with trypsin, chymotrypsin, and the mixture of trypsin with chymotrypsin did not have an impact on the IgE binding of the products obtained in all the studied conditions.     

Distributed Simulation and Middleware for Networked UAS

As a result of the advances in solid state, electronics, sensor, wireless communication technologies, as well as evolutions in the material science and manufacturing technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have become more accessible by civilian entities, industry, as well as academia. There is a high level of market driven standardisation in the electronics and mechanical components used on UAVs. However, the implemented software of a UAS does not exhibit the same level of standardisation and compartmentalisation. This is a major bottleneck limiting software maintenance, and software reuse across multiple UAS programs. This paper addresses the software development processes adapted by the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) in major UAS projects. The presented process model promotes software reuse without sacrificing the reliability and safety of the networked UAS with particular emphasis on the role of distributed simulation and middleware in the development and maintenance processes.     

Copper activated LiF nanorods as TLD material for high exposures of gamma-rays

Lithium fluoride (LiF) doped with proper activators is a highly sensitive phosphor commonly used for radiation dosimetry using thermoluminescence (TL) technique. Nanorods of this material activated with Cu, Mg and P as single dopants are synthesized in our laboratory and exposed to gamma-rays for their thermoluminescence (TL) properties. The induced TL glow curves of the Cu, Mg and P doped samples are similar with a single peak at 410 K. Copper doped sample is found to be the most sensitive sample with TL intensity around 65, 7 and 8 times of those of LiF:Mg, LiF:P and LiF:Mg,Cu,P, respectively, indicating that Cu is the luminescence center in the host of LiF nanorods, while Mg and P act as TL quencher particularly when used as codopants. These observations on the nanostructured form of LiF doped with these activators are entirely different from those of the widely studied LiF:Mg,Cu,P and LiF:Mg,Ti single crystals. The nanorods of LiF:Cu might be used for heavy doses measurement as they are sensitive to gamma-rays and have a linear TL response curve in a long span of exposures.     

Time-domain surface impedances of lossless Debye media

In a previous paper, a surface impedance formalism was given. Its application to interfaces modelling between homogeneous and frequency dependent media, was of great interest in the finite difference timedomain (fdtd) codes. In this paper, an extension of the method to dispersive media is presented. Applying this formalism to lossless Debye medium, the analytical expressions of the time- domain surface impedances are given. The implementation in a fdtd code permits then a numerical verification of the results in relation to the Fresnel method.     

Rigorous comparison of parabolically tapered and conventional multimode-interference-based 3-dB power splitters in InGaAsP/InP waveguides

Design issues such as optical transmission, interference mechanisms, the splitting ratio, the polarization dependence, and the fabrication tolerances of a compact parabolically tapered multimode-interference (MMI)-based 3-dB power splitter on an InP-based deeply etched ridge waveguide, by use of the finite-element-based beam-propagation method, are presented. The benefits and drawbacks of the use of the tapered structure, in comparison with an untapered MMI-based 3-dB splitter, have also been investigated.     

Effect of various steps of purification on ash content and ash constitution of cellulose. I. Cellulose prepared from cotton linters

The effect of the various steps of purification on the ash content and ash constitution of cellulose prepared from cotton linters has been examined. After each step of purification, samples were analysed for total ash, SiO₂, Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Cu and Mn. Two methods of bleaching were investigated. The first involves double treatment of cellulose with sodium hypochlorite solution, and the second one treatment with hypochlorite followed by another treatment with sodium chlorite solution. The second method has a better effect in diminishing the ash content.