Analysis of the diffusion layer thickness, equivalent circuit and conductance behaviour for reversible electron transfer processes in linear sweep voltammetry

The parametric dependence of the diffusion layer thickness upon electrode potential and scan rate has been derived for reversible electron transfer processes in linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) using a simple analytical expression for the dimensionless current function. The quantitative variation of the conductance with potential and scan rate has been illustrated and the equivalent circuit pertaining to LSV has been proposed. Several earlier results pertaining to potential step experiments, thin layer voltammetry, surface bound LSV, radial flow at micro-ring electrodes, etc. are shown to arise from the general expression for the current function obtained here, thus indicating an isomorphism among various potential perturbation techniques.     

High‐Performance Nanocomposites of Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose and Graphene Oxide

High‐performance nanocomposites of NaCMC with GO are produced by solution casting. FESEM images reveal a good homogeneous dispersion of GO in the NaCMC matrix. The composite formation is facilitated by H‐bonding interaction between GO and NaCMC. T_g of the composites increases with increasing GO concentration. The storage modulus (G′) exhibits a maximum 174% increase over NaCMC at 1 wt% GO. The mechanical properties of the composites exhibit highest increase of tensile stress and Young's modulus of 188 ± 4% and 154 ± 11%, respectively, for 1 wt% GO. Analysis of Young's modulus (E_y) data using the Halpin‐Tsai equation suggests that the E_y data are close to the unidirectional orientation at >0.5 wt% GO, indicating more efficient load transfer at these compositions.

     

An agent-based framework for collaborative negotiation in the global manufacturing supply chain network

This paper applies the multi-agent system paradigm to collaborative negotiation in a global manufacturing supply chain network. Multi-agent computational environments are suitable for dealing with a broad class of coordination and negotiation issues involving multiple autonomous or semiautonomous problem solving agents. An agent-based multi-contract negotiation system is proposed for global manufacturing supply chain coordination. Also reported is a case study of mobile phone global manufacturing supply chain management.     

Detection of Malicious Profiles and Protecting Users in Online Social Networks

Wireless Personal Communications - Everyone today actively uses online social networks to get in touch with their friends, for career opportunities, and business also. Some of the most popular...     

A wavelet based multiresolution algorithm for rotation invariant feature extraction

The present work aims at proposing a new wavelet representation formula for rotation invariant feature extraction. The algorithm is a multilevel representation formula involving no wavelet decomposition in standard sense. Using the radial symmetry property, that comes inherently in the new representation formula, we generate the feature vectors that are shown to be rotation invariant. We show that, using a hybrid data mining technique, the algorithm can be used for rotation invariant content based image retrieval (CBIR). The proposed rotation invariant retrieval algorithm, suitable for both texture and nontexture images, avoids missing any relevant images but may retrieve some other images which are not very relevant. We show that the higher precision can however be achieved by pruning out irrelevant images.     

Production and evaluation of vildagliptin-loaded poly(dl-lactide) and poly(dl-lactide-glycolide) micro-/nanoparticles: Response surface methodology approach

A laboratory scale spray dryer was used to encapsulate vildagliptin (VLG), an antihyperglycemic drug, into different polymers such as poly(dl-lactide) (PDLA), poly(dl-lactide-glycolide)-50:50 (PLGA 50:50), and poly(dl-lactide-glycolide)-75:25 (PLGA 75:25). Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to evaluate the effects of process and formulation factors on the encapsulation efficiency (EE). The physicochemical properties of the drug-loaded micro-/nanoparticles, mainly the drug loading (DL), particle size distribution, surface morphology, drug–polymer compatibility, and release rate were investigated. % EE of drug-loaded micro-/nanoparticles were in the range of 57.10% to 76.44%. PLGA50:50 micro-/nanoparticles showed highest EE as compared to PDLA and PLGA75:25 micro-/nanoparticles. The mean particle size of the micro-/nanoparticles containing PLGA 50:50, PLGA 75:25, and PDLA polymers were 428?nm, 640?nm, and 1.22 µm, respectively. Surface morphology study revealed smooth, spherical and nonporous surface structures of the micro-/nanoparticles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies confirmed the drug–polymer compatibility. Powder X-ray diffraction analysis of micro-/nanoparticles revealed that VLG was present in the amorphous form within the micro-/nanoparticles formulations. In vitro release study demonstrated that VLG is slowly released from micro-/nanoparticles for 12?h and the drug release rate was influenced by type and viscosity of polymers used. This work suggests that PDLA, PLGA 50:50, and PLGA75:25 polymers are able to sustain the VLG release rates from micro-/nanoparticles.     

Indigenous design and development of a micro-pulse lidar for atmospheric studies

A sophisticated micro-pulse lidar (MPL) has been designed and developed for the study of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and clouds. The developed MPL uses a low energy pico-second pulsed Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. The conventional receiver optic is used along with a photomultiplier tube in single photon detection mode. Stanford Research Systems' multi-channel scalar (MCS) is used with a personal computer for data acquisition. Due to the short laser pulse and a fast MCS, a spatial resolution of 0.75 m has been achieved. The control circuit has been designed to sense telescope cover status (open or closed) to avoid any mistakes in dark count and background data acquisition. The complete control software and Graphical User Interface (GUI) has been developed in Visual Basic. The lidar system has been tested both for its functionality to detect the variation in ABL and cloud height and also for its capability to acquire continuous night-time data without user interaction. In this article the design details and some preliminary results are discussed.     

Synthesis of Dihydrodiol Metabolites of Naphtho[8,1,2- GHI ]Chrysene and Dibenzo[ C,MNO ]Chrysene

Syntheses of naphtho[8,1,2- ghi ]chrysene (naphtho[1,2- e ]pyrene, N[ e ]P) 1 , dibenzo[ c,mno ]chrysene (naphtho[1,2- a ]pyrene, N[ a ]P) 2 and their dihydrodiol metabolites are described. The hydrocarbons N[ e ]P 1 and N[ a ]P 2 and their fjord region dihydrodiols 12 and 19 were synthesized using a Suzuki cross-coupling reaction followed by the appropriate manipulation of the functional groups. The K-region cis dihydrodiols of N[ e ]P-4,5-diol 20 , N[ a ]P-4,5-diol 23 , N[ a ]P-7,8-diol 24 were obtained by OsO 4 oxidation. The cis diols thus obtained were first converted to the corresponding quinones with pyridinium chlorochromate and, finally, to the desired trans dihydrodiols 22 , 27 , and 28 by NaBH 4 reduction. The mixture of trans N[ a ]P-4,5- and 7,8-dihydrodiols was separated by high-performance liquid chromatography.