Effect of Varying Amount of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG-600) and 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane on the Properties of Chitosan based Reverse Osmosis Membranes

Chitosan and polyethylene glycol (PEG-600) membranes were synthesized and crosslinked with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The main purpose of this research work is to synthesize RO membranes which can be used to provide desalinated water for drinking, industrial and agricultural purposes. Hydrogen bonding between chitosan and PEG was confirmed by displacement of the hydroxyl absorption peak at 3237 cm⁻¹ in pure chitosan to lower values in crosslinked membranes by using FTIR. Dynamic mechanical analysis revealed that PEG lowers Tg of the modified membranes vs. pure chitosan from 128.5 °C in control to 120 °C in CS-PEG5. SEM results highlighted porous and anisotropic structure of crosslinked membranes. As the amount of PEG was increased, hydrophilicity of membranes was increased and water absorption increased up to a maximum of 67.34%. Permeation data showed that flux and salt rejection value of the modified membranes was increased up to a maximum of 80% and 40.4%, respectively. Modified films have antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli as compared to control membranes.     

Recent developments in catalyst synthesis using DBD plasma for reforming applications

The catalyst has a significant role in gas processing applications such as reforming technologies for H₂ and syngas production. The stable catalyst is requisite for any industrial catalysis application to make it commercially viable. Several methods are employed to synthesize the catalysts. However, there is still a challenge to achieve a controlled morphology and pure catalyst which majorly influences the catalytic activity in reforming applications. The conventional methods are expansive, and the removal of the impurities are major challenges. Nevertheless, it is not straightforward to achieve the desired structure and stability. Therefore, significant interest has been developed on the advanced techniques to take control of the physicochemical properties of the catalyst through non-thermal plasma (NTP) techniques. In this review, the systematic evolution of the catalyst synthesis using NTP technique is elucidated. The emerging DBD plasma to synthesized and effective surface treatment is reviewed. DBD plasma synthesized catalyst performance in reforming application for H₂ and syngas production is summarised. Furthermore, the status of DBD plasma for catalyst synthesis and proposed future avenues to design environmentally suitable and cost-effective synthesis techniques are discussed.     

Optimum structural modelling for tall buildings

It is a common practice to model multi‐storey tall buildings as frame structures where the loads for structural design are supported by beams and columns. Intrinsically, the structural strength provided by the walls and slabs are neglected. As the building height increases, the effect of lateral loads on multi‐storey structures increases considerably. The consideration of walls and slabs in addition to the frame structure modelling shall theoretically lead to improved lateral stiffness. Thus, a more economic structural design of multi‐storey buildings can be achieved. In this research, modelling and structural analysis of a 61‐storey building have been performed to investigate the effect of considering the walls, slabs and wall openings in addition to frame structure modelling. Sophisticated finite element approach has been adopted to configure the models, and various analyses have been performed. Parameters, such as maximum roof displacement and natural frequencies, are chosen to evaluate the structural performance. It has been observed that the consideration of slabs alone with the frame modelling may have negligible improvement on structural performance. However, when the slabs are combined with walls in addition to frame modelling, significant improvement in structural performance can be achieved. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Popularity prediction of movies: from statistical modeling to machine learning techniques

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Film industries all over the world are producing several hundred movies rapidly and grabbing the attraction of people of all ages. Every movie producer is of...     

A new nonparametric double exponentially weighted moving average control chart

There are many practical situations where the underlying distribution of the quality characteristic either deviates from normality or it is unknown. In such cases, practitioners often make use of the nonparametric control charts. In this paper, a new nonparametric double exponentially weighted moving average control chart on the basis of the signed-rank statistic is proposed for monitoring the process location. Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to obtain the run length characteristics of the proposed chart. The performance comparison of the proposed chart with the existing parametric and nonparametric control charts is made by using various performance metrics of the run length distribution. The comparison showed the superiority of the suggested chart over its existing parametric and nonparametric counterparts. An illustrative example for the practical implementation of the proposed chart is also provided by using the industrial data set.     

Designing Stimuli-Responsive Upconversion Nanoparticles that Exploit the Tumor Microenvironment

Tailoring personalized cancer nanomedicines demands detailed understanding of the tumor microenvironment. In recent years, smart upconversion nanoparticles with the ability to exploit the unique characteristics of the tumor microenvironment for precise targeting have been designed. To activate upconversion nanoparticles, various bio-physicochemical characteristics of the tumor microenvironment, namely, acidic pH, redox reactants, and hypoxia, are exploited. Stimuli-responsive upconversion nanoparticles also utilize the excessive presence of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), riboflavin, and Zn²⁺ in tumors. An overview of the design of stimulus-responsive upconversion nanoparticles that precisely target and respond to tumors via targeting the tumor microenvironment and intracellular signals is provided. Detailed understanding of the tumor microenvironment and the personalized design of upconversion nanoparticles will result in more effective clinical translation.     

Immobilization of DNA on nano-hydroxyapatite and their interaction with carbon nanotubes

Here we present a preliminary study on the interaction of bio-molecules (deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and nano-hydroxyapatite (HA)) with multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Initially, nano-size hydroxyapatite was interacted with functionalized carbon nanotubes (FCNTs, HFCNTs) and then 100 base pair (bp) DNA was immobilized (DHFCNTs). Well-known acid treatment was used to functionalize the MWCNTs. The characteristic vibrational and stretching modes of hydroxyl and carbonyl group were observed at 3401, 1632 and 1708 cm^?1, validating fucntionalization. The existence of ³¹P and ¹H signals were measured by the solid state NMR spectroscopy for HA, HFCNTs and DHFCNTs which revealed the chemical interaction between HA powder and FCNTs. Appearance of an N 1s peak in the photoelectron spectra indicated the covalent attachment. Band deterioration is observed from slab gel-electrophoresis studies. Electrophoretic time study indicated that 20 min is required to run the DNA in column.     

Development of chemically interesterified healthy coconut oil blends

Edible vegetable oil blends, such as coconut:linseed; coconut:safflower; coconut:sunflower; coconut:rice‐bran oils; in the ratio of 70:30 and 60:40 v/v and pure coconut oil (CNO) were interesterified using sodium methoxide 0.5% and subsequently refined to prepare nutritionally superior flowable CNO blends which remained liquid even at sub‐zero temperatures. The slip melting point of chemically interesterified fats could not be determined as they are liquified just after removing from freezing chamber in comparison with the slip melting point of 21.5–26.5 °C for their uninteresterified counterparts. These interesterified fats were liquid and flowable at 6 °C for more than 4 h in a cooling chamber and their solidification temperature ranged between ?2.0 and ?5.5 °C. Free fatty acids showed an increasing trend from 0.35% to 2.0% resulting in decrease in triglycerides After refining these oil blends showed values similar to their controls. However, iodine value of interesterified and uninteresterified oils were close to each other. Differential scanning calorimetry showed the onset of crystallisation at lower temperatures and lower solid fat content for interesterified fats. A nutritionally superior combination of CNO blend which is flowable at low temperature could be prepared.     

Synthesis,characterization and thermal dissociation of 2‐butoxyethanol‐blocked diisocyanates and their use in the synthesis of isocyanate‐terminated prepolymers

A series of blocked diisocyanates has been synthesized from toluene diisocyante (TDI), isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), 4,4′‐diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and 2‐butoxyethanol. The synthesis of blocked diisocyanate adducts was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared, ¹H NMR, electron impact mass spectrometry and nitrogen analysis. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and carbon dioxide evolution were used to determine the minimum de‐blocking temperatures. De‐blocking temperatures determined by these three techniques were found to be in the order DSC > TGA > CO₂ evolution. The effect of different metal catalysts on thermal de‐blocking reaction of the blocked diisocyanates was studied, using the carbon dioxide evolution method. It was found that iron(III) oxide has the maximum catalytic activity on de‐blocking. The solubility of the blocked diisocyanate adducts was determined in different solvents. The study revealed that at 30 °C blocked IPDI and HDI adducts show better solubility than adducts based on TDI and MDI. Isocyanate‐terminated prepolymers of blocked diisocyanates and hydroxyl‐terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) were prepared. The storage stability and gelation times of the prepolymers were studied. Results showed that all the diisocyanate‐HTPB compositions are stable at 50 °C for more than three months. However, aliphatic diisocyanate‐HTPB compositions require greater gelation time than aromatic diisocyanate‐HTPB compositions at their respective de‐blocking temperatures. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry