Toxic effect of systemic administration of low doses of the plasticizer di-(2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate [DEHP] in rats

A spreadsheet model of a circle breathing system and a 70-kg anaesthetised 'standard man' has been used to simulate the first 20 min of low-flow anaesthesia with halothane, enflurane, isoflurane, sevoflurane and desflurane in oxygen. It is shown that, with the fresh-gas flow set initially equal to the total ventilation and the fresh-gas partial pressure to 3 MAC, the end-expired partial pressure can be raised to 1 MAC in 1 min with desflurane and sevoflurane, 1.5 min with isoflurane, 2.5 min with enflurane and 4 min with halothane. Sequences of lower fresh-gas flow and partial pressure settings are given for then maintaining 1 MAC end-expired partial pressure, with a minimum usage of anaesthetic, e.g. 13 ml of liquid desflurane in 20 min (of which only 33% is taken up by the patient) if the minimum acceptable flow is 11.min-1, or 8 ml (with 57% in the patient) if the minimum is 250 ml.min-1.     

Luminomagnetic Nd3+ doped fluorapatite coated Fe3O4 nanostructures for biomedical applications

Luminomagnetic nanostructured Nd³⁺ doped fluorapatite (FAP) coated Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were produced by hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that the prepared nanoparticles contain both FAP and Fe₃O₄ phases. Electron microscope analysis shows the formation of nanoparticles of Fe₃O₄ encased in rod shaped FAP nanoparticles of average length 40 nm. Magnetic measurements confirm the room temperature superparamagnetic nature of the nanoparticles with saturation magnetization value up to 7.8 emu/g. The prepared nanoparticles display strong near infrared (NIR) emission at 1060 nm under 800 nm excitation. Cell viability studies for 72 hour demonstrate the survival rate of over 84% with 500 μg/mL concentration indicating the good cytocompatibility of the prepared materials. The present Nd³⁺ doped FAP coated Fe₃O₄ nanostructure provides an excellent multifunctional platform for diagnostics and therapeutic applications.     

Enhanced electron harvesting in next generation solar cells by employing TiO2 nanoparticles prepared through hydrolysis catalytic process

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized through solvothermal route by changing the rate of hydrolysis in the catalytic process. In order to change the hydrolysis rate, the concentration of acetic acid, as additive, was varied as 2 M, 3 M and 4 M. The synthesized NPs were examined by various physico-chemical characterization techniques. The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis of the NPs reveals only the anatase phase of TiO_2. The spherical shaped morphology of the NPs was observed in the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) analysis. The optical behaviour such as absorption, bandgap, diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) emission of the NPs were studied. The material's nature and behaviors were scrutinized and they were employed as photoanode in dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and as electron transport layer (ETL) in carbon-based perovskite solar cell (C-PSC). The charge transfer at the interface of the devices was studied with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The fabricated DSSC and C-PSC show highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.1% and 10.6%, respectively. The highest current collection was detected in C-PSC and the results are discussed in detail.     

Deposition and characterization of earth abundant CuZnS ternary thin films by vacuum spray pyrolysis and fabrication of p-CZS/n-AZO heterojunction solar cells

We report fabrication of solar cell device <ITO/AZO/i-ZnO/CZS/Al> with Copper Zinc Sulfide (CZS) thin films as absorber layer. CZS thin films prepared using chemical spray pyrolysis technique at a pressure of 10⁻³ mbar at different substrate temperatures. Structural, morphological, optical, compositional and electrical properties of as prepared films are investigated. Structural analysis shows crystalline nature with mixed phase containing CuS-ZnS binary composite. Atomic Force Microscopy analysis shows the average particle size of 88 nm. Value of work function obtained from ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy is 4.58 eV. The band gap of the as-prepared films varies from 1.62 to 2.06 eV. Hall effect measurement proves the p-type nature for all the deposited films. Samples deposited at 350°C shows carrier concentration of 10²¹ cm⁻³ and electrical conductivity of 526 S cm⁻¹. Solar cell device structure of <ITO/AZO/i-ZnO/CZS/Al> has been fabricated using the CZS sample deposited at 350°C. The cell parameters obtained are V_oc = 0.505 V, I_sc = 4.97 mA/cm², FF = 64.28% and η = 1.6 ± 0.05%.     

Localization of isotropic and anisotropic wireless sensor networks in 2D and 3D fields

Telecommunication Systems - Internet of Things (IoT) has changed the way people live by transforming everything into smart systems. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) forms an important part of IoT....     

High glass-transition polyurethane-carbon black electro-active shape memory nanocomposite for aerospace systems

Carbon black conductive filler material, 2–40% by weight was added to specially designed polyurethane polymer to prepare shape memory polymer nanocomposites. The synthesised polyurethane (PU) has exhibited a high glass transition temperature of 85°C compared to the reported values in published literatures. The polymer was characterised for its chemical, electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. The stiffness, load-bearing capacity and electrical conductivity were observed to improve with increased carbon loading. It was found to be capable of responding to thermal as well as electrical stimuli. The shape recovery efficiency was found to be 94% for thermal and 98% for electrical stimuli which is among the highest for PU reported so far.

This review was submitted as part of the 2019 Materials Literature Review Prize of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining run by the Editorial Board of MST. Sponsorship of the prize by TWI Ltd is gratefully acknowledged.     

Optimal Confidential Mechanisms in Smart City Healthcare

Smart City Healthcare (SHC²) system is applied in monitoring the patient at home while it is also expected to react to their needs in a timely manner. The system also concedes the freedom of a patient. IoT is a part of this system and it helps in providing care to the patients. IoT-based healthcare devices are trustworthy since it almost certainly recognizes the potential intensifications at very early stage and alerts the patients and medical experts to such an extent that they are provided with immediate care. Existing methodologies exhibit few shortcomings in terms of computational complexity, cost and data security. Hence, the current research article examines SHC² security through Light Weight Cipher (LWC) with Optimal S-Box model in PRESENT cipher. This procedure aims at changing the sub bytes in which a single function is connected with several bytes’ information to upgrade the security level through Swam optimization. The key contribution of this research article is the development of a secure healthcare model for smart city using SHC² security via LWC and Optimal S-Box models. The study used a nonlinear layer and single 4-bit S box for round configuration after verifying SHC² information, constrained by Mutual Authentication (MA). The security challenges, in healthcare information systems, emphasize the need for a methodology that immovably concretes the establishments. The methodology should act practically, be an effective healthcare framework that depends on solidarity and adapts to the developing threats. Healthcare service providers integrated the IoT applications and medical services to offer individuals, a seamless technology-supported healthcare service. The proposed SHC² was implemented to demonstrate its security levels in terms of time and access policies. The model was tested under different parameters such as encryption time, decryption time, access time and response time in minimum range. Then, the level of the model and throughput were analyzed by maximum value i.e., 50 Mbps/sec and 95.56% for PRESENT-Authorization cipher to achieve smart city security. The proposed model achieved better results than the existing methodologies.     

Effect of growth temperature on the morphology control and optical behavior of monolayer MoS2 on SiO2 substrate

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a promising method for producing high-quality two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides...