Temperature Responsive Solution Partition of Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide)‐Coated Mesoporous Silica Nanospheres

A series of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide)‐coated mesoporous silica nanoparticle materials (PNiPAm‐MSNs) has been synthesized by a surface‐initiated living radical polymerization with a reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) reaction. The structure and the degree of polymerization of the PNiPAm‐MSNs has been characterized by a variety of techniques, including nitrogen sorption analysis, ²⁹Si and ¹³C solid‐state NMR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and powder X‐ray diffraction (XRD). The thermally induced changes of the surface properties of these polymer‐coated core–shell nanoparticles have been determined by examining their partition activities in a biphasic solution (water/toluene) at different temperatures.     

Synthesis of semi interpenetrating network hydrogel [(GrA‐Psy)‐cl‐Poly (AA)] and its application for efficient removal of malachite green from aqueous solution

In the present study, the synthesis of novel semi‐interpenetrating network (Semi‐IPN) hydrogel based on gum rosin alcohol‐psyllium (GrA‐Psy) has been reported. (Gum rosin alcohol‐psyllium)‐crosslinked‐poly(acrylic acid) [termed as (GrA‐Psy)‐cl‐poly (AA)] was synthesized using potassium persulphate (KPS) as an initiator and N, N^′? methylene‐bis‐acrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker by free radical graft co‐polymerization technique. The prepared semi‐IPN was characterized using FTIR, XRD, and FE‐SEM. Further, the synthesized hydrogel was evaluated for the removal of malachite green (MG) dye from aqueous solution. Dye adsorption data was analyzed through various isotherm and kinetic models. Thermodynamic parameters and reusability of the synthesized adsorbent were also assessed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:1416–1427 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Molecular interactions of pesticides at the soil-water interface

High-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy combined with saturation-transfer double difference (STDD) NMR can be used to analyze the molecular-level interactions of pesticides and whole soils occurring at the soil-water interface. Here 1H HR-MAS STDD NMR has been applied to some common pesticides (trifluralin, acifluorfen, and (4-nitro-3-(trifluoromethyl) phenol) and a pesticide degradation product (1-naphthol). Results indicate that dipolar interactions, H-bonding, hydrophobic associations, and potentially pi-pi interactions are the predominant sorption mechanisms for these molecules at the soil-aqueous interface. It is evident that the physical and chemical characteristics of soil are highly influential in determining the mechanisms of pesticide sorption, as they significantly affect soil conformation. In particular, different binding mechanisms were observed for 1-naphthol in soil swollen using a buffer versus D2O, indicating that the K(oc) alone may not be enough to accurately predict the behavior of a molecule in a real soil environment. Preliminary kinetic-based studies suggest that both the swelling solvent and soil moisture content significantly influence the sequestration of trifluralin. These studies demonstrate that HR-MAS and STDD NMR are powerful and versatile tools which can be applied to expand our knowledge of the mechanistic interactions of agrochemicals at the molecular level.     

Physicochemical characterization of alkali treated fractions from corncob and wheat straw and the production of nanofibres

Raw cereal materials (CM) (corncob and wheat straw) were alkaline treated to produce insoluble fibrous residues (IF) and soluble fibrous residues (SF). Physicochemical properties of each portion were evaluated. CM contained high amounts of dietary fibre (DF; 49.87–68.65%), while IF and SF mainly contained insoluble and soluble DF, respectively. CM and IF contained essential minerals (calcium, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus) while SF was free from heavy metals. CM and IF also exhibited DPPH radical scavenging ability (54.25 to 77.24%), good emulsification ability (3.73–5.29%) and emulsion stability (75.00–86.94%), mineral binding capacity (calcium, copper, iron, zinc), water holding capacity (2.82–6.01 g_water/g_sample) and oil holding capacity (2.61–4.00 g_oil/g_sample). IF and SF could be potentially developed into new functional food materials. The successful production of SF into nanofibres by electrospinning showed potential applications as delivery systems for bioactive and functional ingredients.     

Non-blind Arnold scrambled hybrid image watermarking in YCbCr color space

Microsystem Technologies - Due to fast technological development, human beings generally depend upon computer and other digital equipments in different areas of concern/applications. Therefore,...     

Poly(vinyl alcohol) foams reinforced with carbon nanotubes for stapedial annular ligament applications

This study aims to develop carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) foams as a possible material for stapedial annular ligament (SAL) application. As-grown (AG) and purified CNTs are used as reinforcing fillers for PVA foams. Uniaxial and cyclic compression tests reveal that specific modulus and energy dissipation behavior improve after reinforcing foam with CNTs. A relatively higher improvement in specific modulus is recorded for purified CNTs as they tend to produce stiffer cell walls. Thermogravimetric analysis shows thermal stability improves after addition of CNTs in PVA foams. The 50 wt % degradation temperature is higher for PVA_AG foam in comparison to neat PVA foam. Under dynamic loading storage, modulus is found to be higher for CNT doped foams with higher relative improvement with purified CNTs than AG CNTs. It is shown that reinforcing PVA foams with purified CNTs is a feasible strategy to improve their average mechanical properties and microstructure for SAL application. While the specific elastic modulus of neat PVA foam found to be in range of 0.05–0.06 MPa gcc⁻¹ with almost zero porosity. The addition of CNTs provides a wide range of specific elastic modulus 0.1–1.3 MPa gcc⁻¹ with an average pores size of about 300 μm. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48736.     

Structurally Diverse Histone Deacetylase Photoreactive Probes: Design,Synthesis, and Photolabeling Studies in Live Cells and Tissue

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity is modulated in vivo by post-translational modifications and formation of multiprotein complexes. Novel chemical tools to study how these factors affect engagement of HDAC isoforms by HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) in cells and tissues are needed. In this study, a synthetic strategy to access chemically diverse photoreactive probes (PRPs) was developed and used to prepare seven novel HDAC PRPs 9 – 15 . The class I HDAC isoform engagement by PRPs was determined in biochemical assays and photolabeling experiments in live SET-2, HepG2, HuH7, and HEK293T cell lines and in mouse liver tissue. Unlike the HDAC protein abundance and biochemical activity against recombinant HDACs, the chemotype of the PRPs and the type of cells were key in defining the engagement of HDAC isoforms in live cells. Our findings suggest that engagement of HDAC isoforms by HDACi in vivo may be substantially modulated in a cell- and tissue-type-dependent manner.     

A Unified Decision-Making Technique for Analysing Treatments inPandemicContext

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a global humanitarian disaster that has never been seen before. Medical experts, on the other hand, are undecided on the most valuable treatments of therapy because people ill with this infection exhibit a wide range of illness indications at different phases of infection. Further, this project aims to undertake an experimental investigation to determine which treatments for COVID-19 disease is the most effective and preferable. The research analysis is based on vast data gathered from professionals and research journals, making this study a comprehensive reference. To solve this challenging task, the researchers used the HF AHP-TOPSIS Methodology, which is a well-known and highly effective Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique. The technique assesses the many treatment options identified through various research papers and guidelines proposed by various countries, based on the recommendations of medical practitioners and professionals. The review process begins with a ranking of different treatments based on their effectiveness using the HF-AHP approach and then evaluates the results in five different hospitals chosen by the authors as alternatives. We also perform robustness analysis to validate the conclusions of our analysis. As a result, we obtained highly corroborative results that can be used as a reference. The results suggest that convalescent plasma has the greatest rank and priority in terms of effectiveness and demand, implying that convalescent plasma is the most effective treatment for SARS-CoV-2 in our opinion. Peepli also has the lowest priority in the estimation.