Isolation and characterisation of collagen from the ribbon jellyfish (Chrysaora sp.)

Pepsin‐solubilised collagen from the ribbon jellyfish (Chrysaora sp., morphotype 1) umbrella (JPSC) was isolated and characterised. The yield of collagen varied (9–19%, based on ash‐free dry weight) depending on the amount of pepsin used. Type II collagen was the major component of extracted collagen. The peptide map of JPSC differed from that of standard collagen type II, which indicates their different primary structures. FTIR spectra of JPSC, however, did not differ significantly from those of type II collagen. The T_max of JPSC was 37.38 °C, which is higher than that of other marine collagens. Glycine was the main amino acid in JPSC (320 residues per 1000 residues), followed by glutamic acid, alanine, proline, aspartic acid and hydroxyproline. The isoelectric point of JPSC was 6.64. These results indicate that this jellyfish species has the potential to be a marine source of type II collagen that can be used in place of land‐based sources.     

Inverted organic photovoltaic device with a new electron transport layer

We demonstrate that there is a new solution-processed electron transport layer, lithium-doped zinc oxide (LZO), with high-performance inverted organic photovoltaic device. The device exhibits a fill factor of 68.58%, an open circuit voltage of 0.86 V, a short-circuit current density of −9.35 cm/mA² along with 5.49% power conversion efficiency. In addition, we studied the performance of blend ratio dependence on inverted organic photovoltaics. Our device also demonstrates a long stability shelf life over 4 weeks in air.     

Application of MIKE SHE modelling system to set up a detailed water balance computation

Estimation of total water balance is a substantial issue for watershed modelling in order to simulate the major components of the hydrological cycle to determine the stress of different anthropogenic activities on the available water resources within a catchment. In this context, the fully distributed physically based MIKE SHE modelling system was used to simulate the individual hydrological components of the total water balance for the Paya Indah Wetlands (PIW) watershed in the west of Peninsular Malaysia. Results reveal that the overall water balance is predominantly controlled by climate variables. Application of the model to the PIW watershed provides detailed estimation of the total water balance for a first‐order catchment in which actual evapotranspiration (ET) represents approximately 65 and 58%, while overland flow (OL) to the PIW lake system represents 12.38 and 12.3% of the total rainfall during the calibration and validation periods, respectively. The difference of the inflow and outflow was taken as storage in depth. Overall, the model gives a reasonable output of total error of less than 1% of the total rainfall, which in turn indicates that the interaction among components is satisfactorily sustained.     

Experimental study on conventional solar still integrated with inclined solar still under different water depth

This study primarily focuses on comparative experimental analysis on standalone conventional solar still (CSS), inclined solar still (ISS), and integrated conventional and inclined solar still (CSS‐ISS) for different parameters that affect the freshwater yield. For enhancing the freshwater yield only a few studies are available on still‐still integration. The present novel study provides a greater improvement in improving the freshwater yield by integrating ISS with CSS. This experimental work mainly concentrates on the importance of water depth (d _w) and mass flow rate of water ( m _w) in the solar still. Water depth inside the conventional still varied from 0.02 to 0.06 m whereas, water is constantly flown with a mass flow rate of 8.33 kg/hour in an ISS with baffles. The experimental result shows that the accumulated freshwater yield from CSS‐ISS, ISS, and CSS were 6.2, 5.04, and 4.24 kg, respectively. CSS‐ISS and ISS produced 46.23% and 18.87% higher productivity than the CSS. From the experimental investigation, it is also identified that the water temperature is significantly improved by 20% using integration as compared with CSS without integration under the same water depth of d _w = 0.02 m. The overall improvement in yield was higher in the case of CSS‐ISS. The deviations between experimental and theoretical values of yield from the conventional and modified solar still were in the range of ±7%.     

Conducting polymers inducing catalysis: Enhanced formic acid electro-oxidation at a Pt/polyaniline nanocatalyst

Research is moving rapidly to sustain convenient energy resources fulfilling the global climate legislations. Herein, a novel catalyst of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) dispersed onto polyaniline (PANi) is recommended for formic acid electro-oxidation (FAO); the fundamental anodic reaction in direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs). The catalyst's preparation scheme allows a sequential electrodeposition of fibril PANi and spherical PtNPs (ca. 65 nm in size) on a glassy carbon (GC) substrate and permits a precise control over the deposition sequence and loading. Interestingly, incorporation of PANi into the catalyst's ingredients can significantly (ca. 16 times) improve the catalytic activity of the catalyst towards FAO by shifting the mechanism towards the desirable dehydrogenation pathway and mitigating the undesirable poisoning dehydration pathway. The catalytic efficiency is tuned by manipulating the deposition order and loading of different catalyst's ingredients. Several techniques are employed to confirm the successful deposition of the catalyst and to evaluate its morphology, composition and crystal structure. While PtNPs are essential for FA adsorption, PANi improves the dispersion of PtNPs and mediates FAO to facilitate the charge transfer and mitigate CO poisoning. A promising catalytic stability is achieved in a long continuous (150 CVs) electrolysis experiment.     

Excited atomic coherent states

Abstract

The excited atomic coherent (EAC) states are introduced and some of their statistical properties are discussed. When the Holstein-Primakoff transformations are used then these states become intermediate states interpolating between Fock and displaced Fock states. A generation scheme is discussed. The quasi-probability distribution functions (QDF) for these states are investigated. The Pegg-Barnett phase distribution of these states is studied.     

Study on Properties of Hyper-duplex Stainless Steel 7A of ASTM A-890 (CD3MWN)

Hyper-duplex stainless steel castings of grade 7A of ASTM A-890 are comparatively new in duplex series, and their regular production has not yet been started like other super-duplex grades 5A and 6A. In view of this, a study has been undertaken to find out the properties of this grade under different experimental conditions. Tensile properties and hardness are found to be higher than other super-duplex grades; however, impact values at − 50 °C are lower than grade 6A. Pitting corrosion, critical pitting temperature and intergranular corrosion tests were carried out as per ASTM standard. Potentiodynamic polarization scan was carried out and compared with 6A. Deleterious phases were formed by holding samples for a shorter time at 1000 °C with a corresponding increase in hardness and drop in ferrite content. 475 °C embrittlement effect was studied and compared with other duplex grades. Re-dissolution of harmful precipitates was carried out at 550 °C by varying time to study any change in properties. Some of the properties of grade 7A were compared with wrought product of hyper-duplex grade, UNS S32707. Low-temperature impact values of hot-worked cast 7A test block were improved considerably in both longitudinal and transverse direction. Dry sliding wear resistance test was carried out as per ASTM standard, and values were found to be better than grade 6A.