Biosorption of anionic dyes from aqueous solutions using a novel magnetic nanocomposite adsorbent based on rice husk ash

This study investigated the potential use of an agricultural waste, rice husk ash, for the removal of methyl orange. The adsorbent was prepared via a simple one-pot synthesis of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MIONs). The prepared magnetic nanocomposites were characterized using Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and vibrating sample magnetometer techniques. Bach adsorption experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of initial dye concentration, pH and contact time as well as MION content on adsorption capacity. The mechanism of dye adsorption was well fitted to a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Moreover, the equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model.     

Influence of temperature on the performance of gamma densitometer

The temperature plays an important role in performance of the gamma densitometer system and can lead to inaccurate results. In order to investigate the effects of temperature, we used our gamma densitometer that is composed of NaI(Tl) crystal, photomultiplier tube (PMT), high voltage (HV) power supply, single channel analyzer (SCA) and ¹³⁷Cs source. In this paper, we consider the effect of temperature on crystal-PMT, SCA, HV power supply separately and on performance of gamma densitometer itself. Then acquired data were corrected to compensate the temperature effects by proposed method which improves system accuracy up to three times.     

An electrochemical sensor based on 1-benzyl-4-ferrocenyl-1H-[1,2,3]-triazole/carbon nanotube; detection of D-penicillamine in the presence of tryptophan

A glassy carbon electrode modified with 1-benzyl-4-ferrocenyl-1H-[1,2,3]-triazole (BFT) and carbon nanotubes have been applied to the electrocatalytic oxidation of D-penicillamine (D-PA) which reduced the overpotential by about 470 mV with obviously increase the current response. Due to its strong electrocatalytic activity towards D-PA, the modified electrode can resolve the overlapped voltammetric waves of D-PA and tryptophan (TRP) into two well-defined voltammetric peaks with peak-to-peak separation in potentials of about 270 mV. This property allows to selective determination of D-PA in the presence of TRP. The transfer coefficient (a) for the electrocatalytic oxidation of D-PA and diffusion coefficient of this substance under the experimental conditions were also investigated. In phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 8.0, the oxidation current increased linearly with two concentration intervals of D-PA, one is 1.0 to 10.0 μM and, the other is 10.0 to 800.0 μM. The detection limit (3σ) obtained by square wave voltammetry (SWV) was 0.1 μM. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of D-PA, and TRP in real samples.     

Nanoparticles of organosilane-based nitrite ionic liquid immobilized on silica for the diazotization of aniline derivatives and subsequent synthesis of azo dyes

Imidazolium based nitrite ionic liquid containing trimethoxysilyl group was prepared from the reaction of N-methylimidazole and (3-chloropropyl) trimethoxysilane. This ionic liquid was immobilized on silica covalently to give nanoparticles with the imidazolium nitrite moiety remaining intact. The diazotization reaction was performed as a model reaction to examine the activity of these nanoparticles as a nitrosonium source. Excellent performance was exhibited in the diazotization reaction of various aniline derivatives in the presence of HCl under mild heterogeneous conditions (room temperature and short reaction time). In-situ coupling of diazonium salts to a range of tertiary anilines, phenols and naphthols afforded the requisite azo dyes in good yield, using standard experimental procedures.     

Query optimization mechanisms in the cloud environments: A systematic study

The goal of a query optimizer is to provide an optimal Query Execution Plan (QEP) by comparing alternative query plans. In a distributed database system over cloud environment, the relations required by a query plan may be stored at multiple sites. This leads to an exponential increase in the number of possible equivalent plan alternatives to find an optimal QEP. Although it is not computationally reasonable to explore exhaustively all possible plans in such large search space. Although query optimization mechanisms are important in the cloud environments, to the best of our knowledge, there exists no complete and systematic review on investigating these issues. Therefore, in this paper, four categories to study these mechanisms are considered which are search‐based, machine learning‐based, schema‐based, and security‐based mechanisms. Also, this paper represents the advantages and disadvantages of the selected query optimization techniques and investigates the metrics of their techniques. Finally, the important challenges of these techniques are reviewed to develop more efficient query optimization techniques in the future.     

The Interplay of Growth Mechanism and Properties of ZnO Nanostructures for Different Applications (Small 44/2023)

This review provides a background on the structure and properties of ZnO nanostructures. ZnO nanostructures are advantageous for many applications in sensing, photocatalysis, functional textiles, and cosmetic industries, which are described in this review. Previous work using UV Visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for ZnO nanorod growth analysis in-solution and on a substrate for determination of optical properties and morphology is discussed, as well as their results in determining the kinetics and growth mechanisms. From this literature review, it is understood that the synthesis process greatly affects nanostructures and properties; and hence, their applications. In addition, in this review, the mechanism of ZnO nanostructure growth is unveiled, and it is shown that by having greater control over their morphology and size through such mechanistic understanding, the above-mentioned applications can be affected. The contradictions and gaps in knowledge are summarized in order to highlight the variations in results, followed by suggestions for how to answer these gaps and future outlooks for ZnO nanostructure research.     

LBAA: A novel load balancing mechanism in cloud environments using ant colony optimization and artificial bee colony algorithms

Recently, cloud computing has been recognized as an effective paradigm for offering an on-demand platform, software services, and an efficient infrastructure to cloud clients. Due to the exponential growth of cloud tasks and the rapidly increasing number of cloud users, scheduling and balancing these tasks among involved heterogeneous virtual machines becomes an Non-deterministic Polynomial hard (NP-hard) optimization problem considering significant constraints, such as high rate of resource usage, low scheduling time, and low implementation cost. Therefore, various meta-heuristic algorithms have been widely used to tackle the issue. The current paper proposes a novel load balancing mechanism using the ant colony optimization and artificial bee colony algorithms, called LBAA, which aims to balance the load division among systems in data centers. The simulation outcomes confirm that our algorithm outperforms previous works regarding response time, imbalance degree, makespan, and resource utilization up to 25%, 15%, 12%, and 10%, respectively.     

Cellulose-reinforced bioglass composite as flexible bioactive bandage to enhance bone healing

Low mechanical strength of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and its lack of osseoconductivity in physiological media limit its application for bone tissue regeneration. To resolve these limitations, the densely packed cellulosic layers with thickness of ~50 μm impregnated by 58S bioglass (BG) nanoparticles was made-up (via the simple method of vacuum filtration) in this study. The developed fabrics showed uniform distribution of BG nanoparticles and effectively wrapped between CNF layers which caused sustained ion release into the SBF × 5 solution. The FTIR spectrum of the fabric after the SBF test was illustrated the presence of newly formed HA on the fabric. Also, no significant difference in the hydrophilicity of pure CNF and the developed fabric was presented by AFM results. Alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) and cytotoxicity evaluation were performed to investigate cell treatment of the fabric which indicated its superior osteogenic potential of developed fabric compared with pure CNF. The increase in osseoconductivity of the developed fabric caused better cell attachment thanks to the interconnected CNFs network. Effective integration of BG nanoparticles between CNF interlayers increased Young's modulus of the developed fabric by 50% that mitigated swelling and enhanced structural stability of CNFs in the SBF × 5 solution. Thus, developed fabric could be considered as an appropriate biomaterial such as a bandage around cracked bone before metallic implantation with good mechanical integrity of the layered constructs obtained as well as strength and swelling.     

Liquid Metal Actuator for Inducing Chaotic Advection

Chaotic advection plays an important role in microplatforms for a variety of applications. Currently used mechanisms for inducing chaotic advection in small scale, however, are limited by their complicated fabrication processes and relatively high power consumption. Here, a soft actuator is reported which utilizes a droplet of Galinstan liquid metal to induce harmonic Marangoni flow at the surface of liquid metal when activated by a sinusoidal signal. This liquid metal actuator has no rigid parts and employs continuous electrowetting effect to induce chaotic advection with exceptionally low power consumption. The theory behind the operation of this actuator is developed and validated via a series of experiments. The presented actuator can be readily integrated into other microfluidic components for a wide range of applications.