Synthesis and characterisation of polyamideimides from bis(4-trimellitimidophenyl)sulfone

Several polyamideimides have been synthesised by the interaction of a number of aromatic diamines with an imidedicarboxylic acid. Since these polymers incorporated a preformed imide group, they did not pose the common problems encountered in imidisation of polyamic acids. They were synthesised by low temperature (<5°C) polycondensation, in 75–92% yields and had viscosities in the range 0.18–0.39 dl/g. They were characterised by IR spectra, elemental analysis, X-ray and thermal methods, and possessed very high solubility in polar aprotic solvents.     

Multiple myeloma after cardiac transplantation: an unusual form of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder

Published reports of posttransplant myeloma are extremely uncommon (three cases); to the best of our knowledge there have been no reported cases in cardiac transplant recipients. We are also unaware of any report of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome studies in posttransplant myeloma. We report here the case of a 48-year-old man who developed multiple myeloma 1.5 years after cardiac transplantation. The results of a serum analysis were consistent with past EBV infection. Biopsy of a skull lesion showed a monomorphous population of malignant immature plasma cells that showed monotypic cytoplasmic staining with antibodies to lambda light chains. A monoclonal immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Both EBER-1 in situ hybridization and EBNA-1 PCR were negative for the EBV genome. Cyclosporin withdrawal was followed by transient clinical and biological improvement, but the tumor later progressed and eventually stabilized in response to treatment with dexamethasone alone. This case illustrates that posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLPDs) encompass not only EBV-positive but also EBV-negative cases and not only lymphomas but also myelomas.     

Advancements and Challenges in Potassium Ion Batteries: A Comprehensive Review

Demand for energy in day to day life is increasing exponentially. However, existing energy storage technologies like lithium ion batteries cannot stand alone to fulfill future needs. In this regard, potassium ion batteries (KIBs) that utilize K ions in their charge storage mechanism have attracted considerable attention due to their unique properties and are therefore established as one of the future battery systems of interest among the scientific community. Nevertheless, the development and identification of appropriate electrode materials is very essential for practical applications. This review features the current development in KIBs electrode and electrolyte materials, the present challenges facing this technology (in the commercial aspect), and future aspects to develop fully functional KIBs. The potassium storage mechanisms, evolution of the KIBs, and the advantages and disadvantages of each category of materials are included. Additionally, various approaches to enhance the electrochemical performances of KIBs are also discussed. This review is not only an amalgamation of different viewpoints in literature, but also contains concise perspectives and strategies. Moreover, the potential emergence of a novel class of K‐based dual ion batteries is also analyzed for the first time.     

Insider attack mitigation in a smart metering infrastructure using reputation score and blockchain technology

International Journal of Information Security - The increasing use of smart metering infrastructure invites security threats through trusted insiders in spite of the devices’ authentication...     

Hybrid Random Number Generation Architecture for Mobile Registration Controller: A Reconfigurable Hardware Realization

Mobile phones have become one of the mostly used gadgets in the world. The number of devices being used has been increasing tremendously and the concern for signal connectivity has been growing everyday. In this work, a mobile phone location registration model has been proposed using a hybrid random number generator (HRNG). Traffic of the cellular devices during the successive location registration with base station can be managed by incorporating a HRNG which produces different delays in different mobile phones. This HRNG was designed using ring oscillator, PLL and cellular automata. The developed HRNG was utilized to create non-overlapping pulses on Cyclone II FPGA EP2C20F484C7 which depict a part of mobile registration controller hardware. The proposed scheme utilized 1616 combinational functions and 1003 registers with a total power dissipation of 69.96 mW. The HRNG was analyzed with restart, entropy and NIST randomness analyses. The capability of mobile registration architecture was analyzed with correlation and random distribution analyses.

     

Sustainability trends in the process industries: A text mining-based analysis

Sustainability is widely recognized as one of the most important challenges facing the world today. Companies publish sustainability reports that present their efforts and achievements in meeting sustainability goals and targets. In this paper, text mining is used to identify sustainability trends and practices in the process industries. Four main sectors of the industry are studied: oil/petrochemicals, bulk/specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products. Our study reveals that the top sustainability focuses of the four sectors are very similar: health and safety, human rights, reducing GHG, conserving energy/energy efficiency, and community investment. Sector-specific sustainability issues have also been identified, for example oil spill prevention in the oil/petrochemicals sector and access to medicine in the pharmaceuticals sector. Environment is identified to be the predominant sustainability aspect in the process industries. The text mining methodology, results, and findings are detailed in the paper.     

Studies in Estolides,Part III : Plasticizer for Polyvinyl Chloride

Acetoxy butyl esters prepared from estolides (derived from castor oil fatty acids) were evaluated as plasticizers for poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) resin. They showed limited compatibility. They were useful as secondary plasticizers for PVC along with dioctyl phthalate plasticizer. The properties of the plasticized stocks were generally comparable to the ones obtained by incorporating 12-acetoxy butyl oleate, the commercial secondary plasticizer. Among the estolides derivatives tried, the acetoxy butyl ester obtained from estolides of acid value 83 showed better performance. 1For parts I and II in the series ,see Refference 3 and 4     

Wave propagation in a generalized thermoelastic solid cylinder of arbitrary cross-section immersed in a fluid

The wave propagation in a generalized thermoelastic solid cylinder of arbitrary cross-section immersed in a fluid is discussed in this paper. The solid medium is assumed to be linear, isotropic, temperature rate-dependent thermoelastic and the fluid medium is assumed to be inviscid. By imposing the continuity conditions on the interface between solid and fluid mediums, the frequency equation corresponding to the problem is obtained using the Fourier expansion collocation method. To compare the model with the existing literature, the results of a generalized thermoelastic solid cylinder without fluid are obtained and they show very good agreement. Also graphs and tables for various values of the material parameters are furnished.