Comparison study of chitosan,EDTA, eugenol and peppermint oil for antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials in chicken noodles and their effect on colour and oxidative stability at ambient temperature storage

The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of chitosan, EDTA, eugenol and peppermint essential oil and their effect on color and oxidative stability of chicken noodles stored at 35 ± 2 °C. Results indicated that among the four preservatives, eugenol treatment exhibited higher ABTS⁺ (2-2-azinobis-3ethylbenthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical cation activity (89.54%), DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazil) (51.30%) and superoxide anion scavenging activity (66.82%). Total polyphenol content was also higher in eugenol treated samples. The samples treated with eugenol and chitosan protect against an increase lightness (L-value) and decrease in redness (a) and yellowness (b) values during storage. However, pH value was highest in noodles with chitosan treatment while TBARS (2-thiobarbituric acid reacting substances) and FFA (Free fatty acids) contents were lowest in noodles with eugenol irrespective of storage periods. Eugenol treatment also showed positive impact on microbiological quality and sensory attributes. In conclusion, eugenol has more potential as a natural preservative to increase shelf-life of chicken noodles.     

Performance Enhancement for Wavy Fin Automotive Radiator Using Optimum PG Brine Based Nanofluids

In this study, optimum propylene glycol (PG) brine‐based nanofluids are being proposed as coolants for a wavy finned automotive radiator. Performance analysis is conducted and compared with conventional Ethylene Glycol (EG) brine and related nanofluids. A 25% PG brine has similar heat transfer characteristics to water at higher operating temperature ranges. The effects on radiator size, weight and cost, engine efficiency and fuel consumtion, and embodied energy saving and environmental impact are discussed as well. Compared to conventional coolant(EG water brine), for the same cooling capacity and radiator size, the coolant requirement and pumping power are reduced significantly by about 25% and 64%, respectively, whereas, for the same cooling capacity and mass flow rate, the radiator size and pumping power is reduced by 4.2% and 25.5%, respectively, with PG brine‐based Ag nanofluids.Furthermore, by using optimum PG brine‐based nanofluids, 3.5% of the embodied energy may be saved, which may yield reductions in radiator cost, engine fuel consumption and environmental costs.     

Experimental study on thermal performance of optimum PG brine as a radiator coolant

The present study deals with the experimental impact of an alternative heat transfer fluids for overall performance improvement for radiators. Water and water mixed with anti‐freezing agents such as ethylene glycol (EG) and propylene glycol (PG) are the traditional coolants for an automotive radiator. Comparison of experimental and numerical analysis of optimum brine solution, that is 25% of propylene glycol and water as coolant for the rectangular fin radiator, has been well discussed. A closed loop test rig was designed, and fabricated with a wind tunnel section to achieve uniform velocity at the test section of the rectangular radiator and was tested for performance. Experimental runs were conducted at varying operating temperatures which included the runs for water, and an optimum propylene glycol brine solutions at 70 °C and 80 °C with various flow rates. Results show the energy performance of an optimum brine solution was nearly similar to that of water at high temperatures. The Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient, and heat transfer rate for an optimum propylene glycol brine is nearly the same as water at 80 °C with a maximum deviation of 15%, 5.7%, and 6.6%, respectively, for theoretical and experimental result comparisons. Air side and coolant side pressure drops had a maximum deviation of 3.66% and 6.6%, respectively. Air and coolant exit temperatures had a deviation of 5% and 3.5%, respectively, with an air frontal velocity of 4.6 m/s in a rectangular fin radiator for an optimum brine solution used as coolant for the automotive radiator. The optimum propylene glycol brine may be environmentally beneficial.     

Conjugate Heat Transfer Analysis for a Finite Thickness Cylinder in a Hypersonic Flow

Prediction of surface heating rates is of prime importance for the hypersonic flow regime. Experimental and conventional computational efforts overlook the heat transfer phenomenon in the solid due to the rigid assumptions involved in the solution methodologies. In order to address this fact, conjugate heat transfer (CHT) studies are carried out using various coupling techniques to examine their implementation abilities. Three types of solution methodologies are adopted, namely, decoupled, strongly coupled, and loosely coupled analysis. This study is also focused on looking into the effect of a hypersonic flow field on wall heat flux for a finite thickness insulating cylinder at moderately large time scales. Increase in wall temperature and decrease in surface heat flux have been noticed using strong and loose coupling techniques with an increase in simulation time. Decoupled fluid and solid domain analysis is found to be useful for typical shock tunnel test durations (～1 ms) while investigations with loose coupling techniques are advisable for time scales corresponding to flight testing (～1 s). Efforts are also made to reason the discrimination in prediction of stagnation point heat flux using conventional computational and experimental analysis.     

Performance assessment of a solar still using blackened surface and thermocol insulation

Fluoride contaminated drinking water is a severe problem in many parts of the world because of fluoride-related health hazards, which are considered to be a major environmental problem today. The present work is aimed at utilizing solar energy for removal of fluoride from drinking water by using a “solar still”. Also tests have been conducted with the “solar still” to find out hourly output rate and “still efficiencies” with various test matrixes. It is observed that the distillate from “solar still” showed a fluoride reduction of 92–96%. Further, the efficiency of “solar still” got increased by 11% when capacity of water in the solar basin was raised from 10 to 20 L. Upon suitable modification of the solar basin with appropriate base liner and insulation, this efficiency of the “solar still” is found to be further increased by 6% with a 20 L basin capacity.     

Diurnal and environmental characterization of solar photovoltaic panels using a PC-AT add on plug in card

This article describes the development of an instrumentation system for characterizing photovoltaic panels. It uses an add on card (which contains DAC, ADC and digital input/output ports) in conjunction with a PC-AT. The panels in a field are selected in succession through a set of relays actuated by the digital output port. The selected panel is loaded in discreet steps by a transistor loading circuit which is activated by the digital to analog convertor to trace the most significant portion of the I-V curve. The data shows that the power output is invariably lower than that specified by the manufacturer. The reasons for drop in output have been analyzed. It is shown that these effects can be represented by the curvature of I-V characteristic at the maximum power point (OP). The loss of power due to accumulation of dust and the increase in temperature of the panels can be significant.     

Copper molybdenum sulfide: A novel pseudocapacitive electrode material for electrochemical energy storage device

The ever-growing demand for energy storage devices necessitates the development of novel energy storage materials with high performance. In this work, copper molybdenum sulfide (Cu₂MoS₄) nanostructures were prepared via a one-pot hydrothermal method and examined as an advanced electrode material for supercapacitor. Physico-chemical characterizations such as X-ray diffraction, laser Raman, field emission scanning electron microscope with elemental mapping, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses revealed the formation of I-phase Cu₂MoS₄. Electrochemical analysis using cyclic voltammetry (CV), charge-discharge (CD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) showed the pseudocapacitive nature of charge-storage via ion intercalation/de-intercalation occurring in the Cu₂MoS₄ electrode. The Cu₂MoS₄ electrode delivered a specific capacitance of 127 F g^?1 obtained from the CD measured using a constant current density of 1.5 mA cm^?2. Further, Cu₂MoS₄ symmetric supercapacitor (SSC) device delivered a specific capacitance of 28.25 F g^?1 at a current density of 0.25 mA cm^?2 with excellent rate capability. The device acquired high energy and power density of 3.92 Wh kg^?1 and 1250 W kg^?1, respectively. The Nyquist and Bode analysis further confirmed the pseudocapacitive nature of Cu₂MoS₄ electrodes. The experimental results indicate the potential application of Cu₂MoS₄ nanostructures as a novel electrode material for energy storage devices.     

Efficient Beamformer for Low Mobility Indoor Communication Using Sparse Adaptive Algorithm

Wireless Personal Communications - The proposed beamforming model exploits the underlying sparseness of the adaptive filter as impulse response of wireless channel shows some extent of sparse...     

Rail-to-rail split-output SET tolerant digital gates

Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing - Electronic circuits operating in the radiation intensive environment like space, are subject to a barrage of cosmic particles like neutrons,...     

Effect of Aluminum Filler on Friction and Wear Characteristics of Glass Epoxy Composites

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the dry sliding friction and wear characteristics of woven glass epoxy composites filled with Al particulates sliding against steel using a pin-on-disc tribometer. The glass fiber weight fraction was kept constant at 60 wt% and Al wt% varied as 0, 5, 10, and 15%. The composite was fabricated by a hand lay-up technique followed by light compression molding. Friction and wear behavior under dry sliding condition are presented as a function of sliding speed varying between 1–5 m/s and normal load ranging between 10–40 N. Friction characteristics of composites depend strongly on a combination of filler content, sliding speed and load. Wear loss increases with both sliding speed and load. Incorporation of a smaller amount of Al filler reduces wear loss compared to un-filled glass epoxy composites. An attempt has also been made to observe the distribution of fiber and Al particles in the composite, and to correlate the wear behavior using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observations.