Studies on yield,extracted leaf protein and deproteinised extract of winged bean grown as a biennial crop

The possible use of the long vegetative growing period of the winged bean, when grown as a biennial crop, as a source of extractable leaf protein was investigated in this study. The dry top yield of the crop during this period increased curvilinearly with time and followed the logistic growth law. A linear decrease with age was noted for the total and protein nitrogen extractability of this crop whereas the nitrogen percentage in dry matter of leaves and the extractable leaf protein yield gave a quadratic response. Unfractionated and heat fractionated proteins extracted from the leaves contained 61.9–85.3% protein, 4.6–12.8% fat, 0.2–4.6% ash, 0.5–2.7% crude fibre and 34.2–43.7 mg 100 g^?1 β-carotene on moisture free basis. The deproteinised juice, left after protein extraction, was also found to be ideally suited as a microbial growth medium for protein rich biomass production.     

Physicochemical properties,resistant starch content and enzymatic digestibility of unripe banana,edible canna,taro flours and their rice noodle products

Unripe banana, edible canna and taro flours, which have been reported to contain significant amounts of fibre, were investigated for their physicochemical properties, resistant starch (RS) content and in vitro starch digestibility, and compared with commercial high‐fibre‐modified starches from corn and tapioca. Differential scanning calorimetry showed a single endothermic peak located around 70–83 °C for the samples except the modified starches, which exhibited no transition enthalpy. The samples showed different pasting behaviours in the Rapid Visco‐Analyser (RVA) ranging from full to restricted swelling. The RS content varied from 1–26 g per 100 g dry sample, and the estimated glycaemic indices (GIs) of the samples were from 67% to 99%. Generally, samples with high RS were low in GI values. The starches produced acceptable rice noodles but with reduced rate of starch digestion and GI. The effects of the unripe banana, edible canna and taro flours on starch digestibility were either comparable or better than the commercial modified starches. These flours can substitute commercial modified starches to lower GIs of noodles and identical foods.     

Fabrication and characterization of flexible piezoelectric composites with natural rubber matrix

Abstract

This work aims to fabricate and characterize flexible piezoelectric composites with natural rubber (NR) matrix. Different amounts of Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.65Ti_0.35O₃ (PMNT) powders were added in NR matrices. Porosity, tensile strength and percent elongation at break of composites tended to decrease with increasing PMNT content. The dielectric constant of the NR materials was found to be 3.5. It was raised up to 4.2, 5.0, 4.5, 4.8 and 5.1 when 60, 80, 100, 120 and 150 phr PMNT powders were added. However, dielectric loss of NR materials did not change with PMNT additions. Among this composite system, the NR/100PMNT composite showed the best piezoelectric properties, which its output voltage, piezoelectric coefficient (d₃₃) and piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g₃₃) values were equal to 1.61 V, 2.1?×?10^?4 pC/N and 5.4?×?10^?6 V?m/N, respectively. This composition composite is a promising material suitable for further improvement to be used as piezoelectric generators in energy harvesting applications.     

'Plate-like-coral' polymer particles with dendritic structure and porous channels: Effective delivery of anti-cancer drugs

'Plate-like-coral' shaped polymer capsule (PC-PLCDB) with dendritic network structure and porous channels has been synthesized and used for therapeutic purposes. First di-block copolymer [(PEG)-b-(L-AspA)_n] has been synthesized from PEG (polyethylene glycol) and aspartic acid (AspA). Then the biocompatible PC-PLCDB has been achieved by homogeneous mixing of [(PEG)-b-(L-AspA)_n] and poly-N-isopropyl acrylamide (PNIPAM) followed by reprecipitation. Only H-bonding is responsible for the foundation of self-assembly of the polymer chains and to form PC-PLCDB. A huge extent of loading anticancer drug, for example, doxorubicin (DOX) in PC-PLCDB is possible. in vitro study has been performed to check the therapeutic efficacy of PC-PLCAD-DOX formulation on chronic myeloid leukemia cells (K562). The IC₅₀ has been calculated to be 0.405 (±0.014) ng μg⁻¹ of the formulation. PC-PLCAD-DOX inhibits 80% of the cancer cell only by 1.0 μg mL⁻¹ of the formulation. This study reveals that the PC-PLCAD could be a promising candidate for therapeutic applications.     

Influence of fly ash cenospheres on performance of coir fiber‐reinforced recycled high‐density polyethylene biocomposites

Recycled high‐density polyethylene (RHDPE)/coir fiber (CF)‐reinforced biocomposites were fabricated using melt blending technique in a twin‐screw extruder and the test specimens were prepared in an automatic injection molding machine. Variation in mechanical properties, crystallization behavior, water absorption, and thermal stability with the addition of fly ash cenospheres (FACS) in RHDPE/CF composites were investigated. It was observed that the tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and hardness properties of RHDPE increase with an increase in fiber loading from 10 to 30 wt %. Composites prepared using 30 wt % CF and 1 wt % MA‐g‐HDPE exhibited optimum mechanical performance with an increase in tensile modulus to 217%, flexural strength to 30%, flexural modulus to 97%, and hardness to 27% when compared with the RHDPE matrix. Addition of FACS results in a significant increase in the flexural modulus and hardness of the RHDPE/CF composites. Dynamic mechanical analysis tests of the RHDPE/CF/FACS biocomposites in presence of MA‐g‐HDPE revealed an increase in storage (E′) and loss (E″) modulus with reduction in damping factor (tan δ), confirming a strong influence between the fiber/FACS and MA‐g‐HDPE in the RHDPE matrix. Differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis thermograms also showed improved thermal properties in the composites when compared with RHDPE matrix. The main motivation of this study was to prepare a value added and low‐cost composite material with optimum properties from consumer and industrial wastes as matrix and filler. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42237.     

Nanocomposites from Polycaprolactone (PCL)/Soy Protein Isolate (SPI) Blend with Organoclay

New biobased, ecofriendly nanocomposites were prepared from polycaprolactone (PCL)/soy protein isolate (SPI) blend (80/20 wt/wt) with organically modified clay, by melt compounding. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that an intercalated nanocomposite was formed and the silicate layers of the clay were uniformly dispersed at a nanometer scale in matrix polymer. There was great enhancement of both tensile and dynamic mechanical properties in the nanocomposite. A rheological study revealed that the nanocomposite exhibits strong shear-thinning behavior in the melted state, and a percolated network of clay particles was formed in the melted state.     

Formation of lamellar M23C6 on and near twin boundaries in austenitic stainless steels

Thin foil electron microscopy studies were made on the precipitation of lamellar M₂₃C₆ during aging at 973 K and 1073 K in water-quenched specimens of two austenitic stainless steels. After the precipitation on incoherent twin boundaries M₂₃C₆ formed on coherent twin boundaries and in the regions adjacent to incoherent twin boundaries. These precipitates showed lamellar morphology and were aligned in a specific manner with respect to the twin boundaries. Such lamellar precipitates were absent in the specimens which were isothermally treated at 1073 K after being transferred from the solution treatment temperature. The lamellar morphology of M₂₃C₆ is suggested to be developed by the influence of residual specific stress field around twin boundaries resulted from quenching.     

A Survey on Sketch Based Content Creation: from the Desktop to Virtual and Augmented Reality

Sketching is one of the most natural ways for representing any object pictorially. It is however, challenging to convert sketches to 3D content that is suitable for various applications like movies, games and computer aided design. With the advent of more accessible Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies, sketching can potentially become a more powerful yet easy-to-use modality for content creation. In this state-of-the-art report, we aim to present a comprehensive overview of techniques related to sketch based content creation, both on the desktop and in VR/AR. We discuss various basic concepts related to static and dynamic content creation using sketches. We provide a structured review of various aspects of content creation including model generation, coloring and texturing, and finally animation. We try to motivate the advantages that VR/AR based sketching techniques and systems can offer into making sketch based content creation a more accessible and powerful mode of expression. We also discuss and highlight various unsolved challenges that current sketch based techniques face with the goal of encouraging future research in the domain.     

Numerical analysis of fiber composite-steel plate upgraded beam–column sub-assemblages under cyclic loading

In the present study, exterior beam–column sub-assemblage from a regular RC building has been considered. Extremely poor gravity load designed (GLD) beam–column sub-assemblage was upgraded by combinely using FRP and steel plate. Three different upgradation schemes have been proposed. Nonlinear finite element (FE) program has been employed for analysing both existing and upgraded sub-assemblages under cyclic loading. Concrete parts of the FE models were modelled using quadratic brick – and steel plates were modelled using tetrahedral – solid elements. All the FRPs were modelled as 9-noded iso-parametric multi-layered shell elements with embedded unidirectional reinforcement to represent the anisotropic material property. Contact elements and bond properties were suitably incorporated. It has been found out that the results obtained from the numerical analysis are well corroborated with those of experimental results. Further, a detailed parametric study has been carried out on type, extent and amount of flexural strengthening, and number of wrapping to identify the scopes of improvement on the proposed upgradation schemes.