Spray dryer processed graphene oxide/reduced graphene oxide for high-performance supercapacitor

This study deals with the utility of mini spray dryer process to improve the dispersibility, of graphene oxide(GO) and its application for high-performance supercapacitor. Initially, the neutral solution of GO was obtained using the modified Hummer's method. After this, the prepared GO solution was processed by mini spray dryer to obtain a more purified, lighter, and dispersed form of GO which is named as spray dryer processed GO (SPGO). The SPGO thus obtained showed excellent dispersibility behavior with various solvents, which is not found in case of conventional oven drying. Furthermore, utility of SPGO and its reduced form (r-SPGO) for supercapacitor applications have been investigated. Results obtained from the cyclic voltammetry(CV) analysis, impedance, and charge-discharge behavior of supercapacitor fabricated using r-SPGO shows enhanced features. Therefore, the simple spray dried GO and its reduced form, that is, r-SPGO can be utilized as a potential candidate for the supercapacitor application. Herein, as synthesized SPGO exhibited the specific capacitance of 12.07 and 37.6 F/g with PVA-H₃PO₄ and 1 mol/L H₃PO₄, respectively, at a scan rate of 5 mV/s. On the other hand, reduced form of SPGO, that is, r-SPGO showed the specific capacitance of 27.16 and 230 F/g with PVA-H₃PO₄ and 1 mol/L H₃PO₄, respectively.     

Mechanophysical Cues in Extracellular Matrix Regulation of Cell Behavior

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a macromolecular network that can provide biochemical and structural support for cell adhesion and formation. It regulates cell behavior by influencing biochemical and physical cues. It is a dynamic structure whose components are modified, degraded, or deposited during connective tissue development, giving tissues strength and structural integrity. The physical properties of the natural ECM environment control the design of naturally or synthetically derived biomaterials to guide cell function in tissue engineering. Tissue engineering is an important field that explores physical cues of the ECM to produce new viable tissue for medical applications, such as in organ transplant and organ recovery. Understanding how the ECM exerts physical effects on cell behavior, when cells are seeded in synthetic ECM scaffolds, is of utmost importance. Herein we review recent findings in this area that report on cell behaviors in a variety of ECMs with different physical properties, i.e., topology, geometry, dimensionality, stiffness, and tension.     

Effect of ionic content,solid content,degree of neutralization,and chain extension on aqueous polyurethane dispersions prepared by prepolymer method

There are many variables in the preparation of aqueous polyurethane (PU) dispersions. Carboxylic acid content, solid content, degree of pre/postneutralization of the carboxylic acids, and chain extension all impact dispersion particle size, viscosity, pH, molecular weights, and glass transition temperature. This study evaluated the impact of these variables on a given PU dispersion formulation prepared from isophorone diisocyanate, an aliphatic polyester polyol, dimethylol propionic acid, and hexamethylene diamine with triethyl amine as the neutralizing base and N‐methyl pyrrolidone as the cosolvent. Changes in carboxylic acid content, degree of preneutralization, and chain extension were found to have the expected impacts on dispersions properties. Increased ionic content in the dispersion step led to lower particle size and higher viscosity, increased chain extension with its concurrent increase in molecular improved subsequent film properties. Surprising results were obtained by varying the amount of postneutralization and from increased solids content at the time of dispersion. Unexpectedly, both of these variations led to much higher dispersion viscosities and particle size in solution. To have these changes take place, it is theorized that there is a major change in solution morphology caused by these modifications. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 98: 2514–2520, 2005     

Resource contention in shared-memory multiprocessors: A parameterized performance degradation model

A standard metric conventionally employed to compare the performance of different multiprocessor systems is speedup. Although providing a measure of the improvement in execution speed achievable on a system, this metric does not yield any insight into the factors responsible for limiting the potential improvement in speed. This paper studies the performance degradation in shared-memory multiprocessors as a result of contention for shared-memory resources. A replicate workload framework with a flexible mechanism for workload specification is proposed for measuring performance. Two normalized performance metrics—efficiency and overhead factor—are introduced to quantify the factors limiting performance and facilitate comparison across architectures. Finally, the proposed model is employed to measure and compare the performance of three contemporary shared-memory systems, with special emphasis on the newly released BBN Butterfly-II (TC2000), currently undergoing Beta test.     

Purification and some properties of a xylanase from Aspergillus sydowii MG49

Aspergillus sydowii MG49 produces a 30-kDa exosplitting xylobiohydrolase during growth on xylan. A specific chemical modification and substrate protection analysis of purified xylanase provided evidence that tryptophan and carboxy and amino groups are present at the catalytic site of this enzyme. Thermal inactivation of the xylanase occurs because of irreversible polymolecular aggregation, which is slower in the presence of glycerol.     

Channel management in microcell/macrocell cellular radio systems

In this paper, we study spectrum management in a two-tier microcell/macrocell cellular system. Two issues are studied: micro-macro cell selection and frequency spectrum partitioning between microcells and macrocells. To keep the handoff rate in a two-tier cellular system at an acceptable level, low mobility users (with speed υ0 ) should undergo handoffs at microcell boundaries, and high mobility users (with speed υ>V₀) should undergo handoffs at macrocell boundaries. The mobile determines user mobility from microcell sojourn times and uses it for channel assignment at call origination and handoff. The probability of erroneous assignment of a mobile to a microcell or macrocell is shown to be significantly lower than previous approaches. We investigate the optimal velocity threshold, V₀, and propose that it may be dynamically adjusted according to traffic load. Finally, we propose a systematic way for finding an optimal partition of frequency spectrum between microcells and macrocells. This partitioning is based on the traffic load and velocity distribution of mobiles in the system     

Flow of granules through cylindrical hopper

The gravity flow characteristics of pharmaceutically important granules were studied in a cylindrical hopper with attachable orifice disk at the bottom. Results indicate that materials property and orifice diameter play key role in determining mass flow rate while keeping environmental condition (temperature) at fixed range. A new dimensionally analyzed equation was developed to predict gravity flow of pharmaceutically important granules. The developed correlation agreed well with the experimental data. Calcium gluconate and lactose were used for preparing granules. Generally, glidant/lubricant materials are added to pharmaceutical granules during tablet manufacturing process, in order to improve physical property of granular material. Hence, the effect of glidant/lubricant on mass flow of granules through hopper was also studied. Magnesium stearate (1.5%) was added as glidant before granulation.     

Grafting of vinyl monomers onto silk fibers: Trivalent-manganese-initiated graft copolymerization of acrylamide onto silk fibers

Graft copolymerization of acrylamide (AM) onto silk fibers, using Mn(III)–sulphate as initiator, has been investigated, in aqueous sulphuric acid in the temperature range of 30–55°C. Grafting reaction has been studied by varying the concentration of monomer, Mn(III), sulphuric acid, temperature, and also with the modified silk. The graft yield increases significantly with increase of monomer concentrations to the extent of 0.85M, after which the rate falls. With increase in Mn(III) concentration and H⁺ ion concentration the graft yield increases, but after an optimum concentration a depression in the graft yield is noticed. The rate of the reaction is temperature-dependent; with increase of temperature the graft-on increases. Among the solvent composition studied a solvent/water mixture containing 10% of the solvent seems to constitute the most favorable medium for grafting, and a further increase of solvent composition decreases the graft yield. The effect of various additives such as transition metal salts, aromatic and heterocyclic amines on grafting reaction has been studied. A suitable mechanism for grafting has been proposed. Finally physical characterization such as thermal analysis (TGA) of the grafted samples has been carried out in order to ensure grafting and to study the change in the properties of the fibers.     

Mesh-Mon: A multi-radio mesh monitoring and management system

Mesh networks are a potential solution for providing communication infrastructure in an emergency. They can be rapidly deployed by first responders in the wake of a major disaster to augment an existing wireless or wired network. We imagine a mesh node with multiple radios embedded in each emergency vehicle arriving at the site to form the backbone of a mobile wireless mesh. The ability of such a mesh network to monitor itself, diagnose faults and anticipate problems are essential features for its sustainable operation. Typical SNMP-based centralized solutions introduce a single point of failure and are unsuitable for managing such a network. Mesh-Mon is a decentralized monitoring and management system designed for such a mobile, rapidly deployed, unplanned mesh network and works independently of the underlying mesh routing protocol. Mesh-Mon nodes are designed to actively cooperate and use localized algorithms to predict, detect, diagnose and resolve network problems in a scalable manner. Mesh-Mon is independent of the underlying routing protocol and can operate even if the mesh routing protocol completely fails. One novel aspect of our approach is that we employ mobile users of the mesh, running software called Mesh-Mon-Ami, to ferry management packets between physically-disconnected partitions in a delay-tolerant-network manner. The main contributions of this paper are the design, implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive monitoring and management architecture that helps a network administrator proactively identify, diagnose and resolve a range of issues that can occur in a dynamic mesh network. In experiments on Dart-Mesh, our 16-node indoor mesh testbed, we found Mesh-Mon to be effective in quickly diagnosing and resolving a variety of problems with high accuracy, without adding significant management overhead.