Closed form expressions to find the far‐field patterns of an equilateral triangular dielectric resonator antenna for various higher order modes

In this work, an equilateral triangular dielectric resonator antenna (ETDRA) is modeled as a source free dielectric cavity, bounded by perfect magnetic conductor to investigate its radiation characteristics for various ${\mathit{TM}}_{\mathit{mnp}}^{\mathit{z}}$ modes. Closed form compact expressions are provided to compute the far‐zone radiation patterns for different ${\mathit{TM}}_{\mathit{mnp}}^{\mathit{z}}$ modes. Radiated power, quality factor, gain, efficiency, bandwidth, etc. are also investigated. Theoretical far‐field radiation patterns are compared with simulated (HFSS) data for first five modes that is, TM₁₀₁,TM₁₁₁,TM₂₀₁,TM₂₁₁ and TM₃₀₁ modes. Theoretical far‐field patterns are also verified with measured data (our own experimental data and data available, as found in the open literature) for TM₁₀₁,TM₂₀₁ and TM₂₁₁ modes. It is found that three modes out of first five modes produce a peak in the broad‐side direction. From this investigation, it is also found that different ETDRAs having a fixed value of aspect ratio (side length/height) produce almost same radiated powers, Q‐factor, bandwidth, efficiency, etc. for a fixed value of relative permittivity.     

Review of Some Factors Influencing Jute Fiber Quality

Different factors that influence the production of quality jute fibers are presented. These include the soil, retting, and jute genotype. Several soil quality parameters influence fiber quality. Different aspects of retting, right from quality and quantity of retting water, microorganisms with balanced pectinolytic and xylanase activities with minimal or low cellulase activities, largely determine fiber quality. Efficient pectinolytic bacteria as well as fungi could be used in retting process. Future research needed in this respect has been expressed.     

Co-production of power and urea from coal with CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> capture: performance assessment

Coal-based power plants are largest emitter of CO₂ as a single sector. To use fossil fuels (including coal), CO₂ capture and storage is a visible option. But large energy requirement for this process and risk associated with storage of CO₂ demand alternative solutions including recycling of captured CO₂. In this paper, a co-production of power and urea is proposed using coal with captured CO₂. Detailed ASPEN Plus^® model is developed for this plant. As shift reaction for producing H₂ has significant effect on output parameters, analysis is done for two different values of shift reaction, i.e., 90 and 95 % conversion. Plant consumes substantial auxiliary power (~19 % for the base case). Auxiliary power becomes a minimum for about 25 % captured CO₂ utilization for 95 % shift conversion. An economy factor is also defined to estimate the economic advantage of utilizing captured CO₂. Results show that economic advantage is obtained for CO₂ utilization beyond ~5 % for 95 % water gas shift reaction and it is beyond ~10 % for a 90 % shift reaction.     

Phenolic,apparent antioxidant and nutritional composition of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) seeds

Quinoa, a gluten-free pseudocereal, has a nutrient and phytochemical profile which may benefit health. Our aim was to investigate the variability in the phenolic and apparent antioxidant content of different quinoa varieties to identify a variety with a high phytochemical content to use in a quinoa-enriched bread. The results showed that free phenolics contributed most (50–83%) to total phenolic content compared with conjugated or bound forms. Apparent antioxidant activities measured by FRAP, ABTS+• and DPPH of free, conjugated and bound extracts were broadly similar, except for free antioxidants when determined by FRAP, which were higher. Phenolic content was positively correlated with FRAP and ABTS+• apparent antioxidant activity. Quinoa samples had a high protein content (13.5 g/100 g dry weight), with a well-balanced amino acid profile. Incorporation of quinoa into baked products such as bread is proposed as a way to deliver this healthy whole-grain cereal into the diet.     

Health benefits of whole grain: effects on dietary carbohydrate quality,the gut microbiome,and consequences of processing

Grains are important sources of carbohydrates in global dietary patterns. The majority of these carbohydrates, especially in refined-grain products, are digestible. Most carbohydrate digestion takes place in the small intestine where monosaccharides (predominantly glucose) are absorbed, delivering energy to the body. However, a considerable part of the carbohydrates, especially in whole grains, is indigestible dietary fibers. These impact gut motility and transit and are useful substrates for the gut microbiota affecting its composition and quality. For the most part, the profile of digestible and indigestible carbohydrates and their complexity determine the nutritional quality of carbohydrates. Whole grains are more complex than refined grains and are promoted as part of a healthy and sustainable diet mainly because the contribution of indigestible carbohydrates, and their co-passenger nutrients, is significantly higher. Higher consumption of whole grain is recommended because it is associated with lower incidence of, and mortality from, CVD, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. This may be due in part to effects on the gut microbiota. Although processing of cereals during milling and food manufacturing is necessary to make them edible, it also offers the opportunity to still further improve the nutritional quality of whole-grain flours and foods made from them. Changing the composition and availability of grain carbohydrates and phytochemicals during processing may positively affect the gut microbiota and improve health.     

Comparison of an automated most-probable-number technique with traditional plating methods for estimating populations of total aerobes, coliforms, and Escherichia coli associated with freshly processed broiler chickens

An instrument (TEMPO) has been developed to automate the most-probable-number (MPN) technique and reduce the effort required to estimate some bacterial populations. We compared the automated MPN technique with traditional microbiological plating methods and Petrifilm methods for estimating the total viable count of aerobic microorganisms (TVC), total coliforms (CC), and Escherichia coli populations (EC) on freshly processed broiler chicken carcasses (postchill whole carcass rinse [WCR] samples) and cumulative drip-line samples from a commercial broiler processing facility. Overall, 120 broiler carcasses, 36 prechill drip-line samples, and 40 postchill drip-line samples were collected over 5 days (representing five individual flocks) and analyzed by the automated MPN and direct agar plating and Petrifilm methods. The TVC correlation coefficient between the automated MPN and traditional methods was very high (0.972) for the prechill drip samples, which had mean log-transformed values of 3.09 and 3.02, respectively. The TVC correlation coefficient was lower (0.710) for the postchill WCR samples, which had lower mean log values of 1.53 and 1.31, respectively. Correlations between the methods for the prechill CC and EC samples were 0.812 and 0.880, respectively. The estimated number of total aerobes was generally greater than the total number of coliforms or E. coli recovered for all sample types (P < 2e?1?). Significantly more bacteria were recovered from the prechill samples than from the postchill WCR or cumulative drip samples (P < 9.5e?12 and P < 2e?1?, respectively). When samples below the limit of detection were excluded, 92.1% of the total responses were within a single log difference between the traditional plating or Petrifilm methods and the automated MPN method.     

Graphene based materials: Past, present and future

Graphene, a two dimensional monoatomic thick building block of a carbon allotrope, has emerged as an exotic material of the 21st century, and received world-wide attention due to its exceptional charge transport, thermal, optical, and mechanical properties. Graphene and its derivatives are being studied in nearly every field of science and engineering. Recent progress has shown that the graphene-based materials can have a profound impact on electronic and optoelectronic devices, chemical sensors, nanocomposites and energy storage. The aim of this review article is to provide a comprehensive scientific progress of graphene to date and evaluate its future perspective. Various synthesis processes of single layer graphene, graphene nanoribbons, chemically derived graphene, and graphene-based polymer and nano particle composites are reviewed. Their structural, thermal, optical, and electrical properties were also discussed along with their potential applications. The article concludes with a brief discussion on the impact of graphene and related materials on the environment, its toxicological effects and its future prospects in this rapidly emerging field.     

Effect of coagulant addition on the sedimentation of a surfactant-containing washing solution used for phenanthrene-contaminated soil

The coagulation of soil particles from a soil-washing solution containing the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 (TX100) was investigated using various coagulants, such as chitosan (CS), polyacrylamide (PAA), and polyaluminum chloride (PAC). Soil contaminated with phenanthrene (PHE) was washed with aqueous TX100 solutions at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 20 g/L. The effectiveness of CS (5 mg/L) as a coagulant in the system was compared with PAA (50mg/L) and PAC (50 mg/L), and the results indicated that the system with CS exhibited a more effective separation of soil than those with PAA and PAC. The removal efficiency of PHE (R _j =81.7%) and the selective separation factor (SSF=14.2) at 10 g/L TX100 were the highest for the system with CS (5 mg/L), indicating that the selection of CS as a coagulant in surfactant-mediated soil washing markedly improved both PHE removal and soil separation.     

Novel design strategy of multiplier-less low-pass finite impulse response filter using self-organizing random immigrants genetic algorithm

Intelligent optimization techniques are playing a very vital role in solving a wide variety of problems of engineering and technology of late. In order to meet the challenges from various perspectives, researchers are always in favor of applying those approaches to get rid of numerous practical difficulties of concern. Digital signal processing, more specifically the design of digital filters in particular, has been immensely motivated and beneficiated by means of this amalgamation. In this communication, we have incorporated a recently proposed genetic optimization method, named as self-organizing random immigrants genetic algorithm, in multiplier-free finite impulse response filter (FIR) design algorithm. Our study has focused on the selection of optimum settlement of filter coefficients through the utilization of this population-based technique which results in power of two distribution of impulse response over a binary search space. The performance of our designed filter has been thoroughly analyzed by a number of design parameters of interest and compared with other state-of-the-art multiplier-less FIR models. It has been observed that the proposed approach outperforms the other designs by a considerably large margin in those areas of signal processing where the reduction in hardware cost is the biggest challenge.