Enrichment,in vitro,and quantification study of antidiabetic compounds from neglected weed Mimosa pudica using supercritical CO2 and CO2-Soxhlet

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using carbon dioxide (CO₂) and liquid CO₂ using Soxhlet (CO₂-Soxhlet) extraction were employed to extract three (3) antidiabetic compounds viz. stigmasterol, quercetin, and avicularin from Mimosa pudica. Various extraction parameters were studied. Extracts were analyzed pharmacologically, qualitatively and quantitatively to ascertain enrichment levels. All three antidiabetic compounds were effectively enriched under optimized conditions of temperature 60°C, pressure 40 MPa, co-solvent ratio 30%, and CO₂ flow rate of 5 ml min^?1. SFE was found to be the better method for enrichment of the antidiabetic compounds than the CO₂-Soxhlet method. Extraction conditions were seen to affect the enrichment of desired compounds.     

基于简易微波方法制备高性能MoS2/石墨烯纳米复合材料用于高效析氢反应（英文）

用于析氢反应(HER)的低成本、高效能催化剂对于推进基于清洁氢气的能源工业非常重要.二维二硫化钼(MoS2)具有显著的催化性能,因而已被人们广泛深入研究.然而,大多数现有的合成方法耗时、复杂且效率较低.本文通过超快(60秒)微波引发的方法生产MoS2/石墨烯催化剂.石墨烯的高比表面积和导电性为MoS2纳米片的生长提供了有利的导电网络和快速电荷转移动力.文中制备的MoS2/石墨烯纳米复合材料在酸性介质中对HER表现出优异的电催化活性,具有62 mV的低起始电位,高阴极电流和43.3mV/dec的Tafel斜率.除了优异的催化活性外, MoS2/石墨烯还具有较长的循环稳定性,在250 mV的过电位下阴极电流密度高达1000 mA cm^-2.此外, MoS2/石墨烯催化剂在30–120°C范围内具有出色的HER活性和36.51 kJ mol^-1的低活化能,提供了潜在的大批量生产和制备的机会.     

Influence of ferrite-martensite microstructural morphology on tensile properties of dual-phase steel

The influence of ferrite-martensite microstructural morphology, volume fraction of martensite, epitaxial ferrite on the tensile behaviour of dual-phase steels, was studied. It was observed that increasing the martensite content and its aspect ratio raised tensile strength and ductility. Epitaxial ferrite in rolled material strongly reduced the strength and improved the ductility, suggesting that substructure strengthening of material, as well as increased stress transfer to the hard phase, contribute to the strength of thermo-mechanically processed material. Mettallographic analysis of deformed samples revealed that void nucleation occurs predominantly along the ferrite-martensite interface. The void density in the necked region increased towards the fracture surface in all samples and was higher for samples which exhibited localized necking.     

Momentum in nonlinear optics

Abstract

Although it is well known that light carries momentum and exerts a pressure on objects, a conservation of momentum principle is apparently rarely used in optics. In nonlinear optics light waves interact and may exchange both energy and momentum. We demonstrate that a conservation of momentum principle holds in these cases and in fact its use is widespread but generally unrecognized in the standard mathematical methods. In both the cases of linear basis waves interacting nonlinearly, e.g. coupled-wave theory and frequency mixing, and fully nonlinear waves, we demonstrate that a governing Hamiltonian is related to momentum. Action principles are used to discuss the generality of these results.     

High aspect ratio gold nanopillars on microelectrodes for neural interfaces

Microelectrode arrays (MEA) have become an established tool in applied and fundamental research. Low impedance at the interface between tissue and conducting electrodes is of utmost importance for the electrical recording or stimulation of electrophysiological active cells such as cardiac myocytes and neurons. A common way to improve this interface is to increase the electrochemically active surface area of the electrode. In this paper the fabrication of microelectrodes covered with very high aspect ratio (AR > 100) gold nanopillars is presented and electrode biocompatibility is investigated using cell culture experiments. The nanopillar electrodes show decreased impedance over the entire scanned frequency range of 1 Hz–100 kHz and an impedance improvement of up to 89.5 at 1 kHz depending on nanopillar height. Neurons adhere well to the substrate and electrodes and signals with amplitudes up to ten times higher than with conventional gold electrodes were recorded in cell culture experiments.     

Fuzzy decision support system for fertilizer

Fuzzy geographic information systems is a newly emerging field of computational intelligence. It combines fuzzy logic with spatial context. Most of the natural phenomena are fuzzy in nature. They show a degree of uncertainty or vagueness in their extent and attribute, which cannot be expressed by a crisp value. Agriculture is one of the fields of the spatial domain that needs to be described in fuzzy terms. Fertilizer is a key input for the agriculture sector. In this article, the spatial surfaces of fertilizers are developed for the wheat crop using a fuzzy decision support system. The algorithm of our system takes soil nutrients and cropping time as input, applies fuzzy logic on the input values, defuzzifies the fuzzy output to crisp value, and generates a fertilizer surface. The resultant output surface of fertilizer describes the amount of fertilizer needed to cultivate a specific crop in a specified area. The complexity of our algorithm is \(O(mnr)\) , where \(m\) is the height of the raster, \(n\) is the width of the raster, and \(r\) is the number of expert rules.     

Ontology based E-learning framework: A personalized,adaptive and context aware model

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Enhancing the degree of learner productivity, one of the major challenges in E-Learning systems, may be catered through effective personalization, adaptivity and...     

Parallel query execution over encrypted data in database-as-a-service (DaaS)

The Journal of Supercomputing - The main challenge in database-as-a-service is the security and privacy of data because service providers are not usually considered as trustworthy. So, the data...     

Numerical solution of 2D and 3D elliptic-type interface models with regular interfaces

Engineering with Computers - In the current paper, two numerical methods are proposed for the numerical solution of two- and three-dimensional elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) with...     

Privacy Preserving Geo-Linkage in the Big Urban Data Era

Big data technologies and a range of Government open data initiatives provide the basis for discovering new insights into cities; how they are planned, how they managed and the day-to-day challenges they face in health, transport and changing population profiles. The Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN – www.aurin.org.au) project is one example of such a big data initiative that is currently running across Australia. AURIN provides a single gateway providing online (live) programmatic access to over 2000 data sets from over 70 major and typically definitive data-driven organizations across federal and State government, across industry and across academia. However whilst open (public) data is useful to bring data-driven intelligence to cities, more often than not, it is the data that is not-publicly accessible that is essential to understand city challenges and needs. Such sensitive (unit-level) data has unique requirements on access and usage to meet the privacy and confidentiality demands of the associated organizations. In this paper we highlight a novel geo-privacy supporting solution implemented as part of the AURIN project that provides seamless and secure access to individual (unit-level) data from the Department of Health in Victoria. We illustrate this solution across a range of typical city challenges in localized contexts around Melbourne. We show how unit level data can be combined with other data in a privacy-protecting manner. Unlike other secure data access and usage solutions that have been developed/deployed, the AURIN solution allows any researcher to access and use the data in a manner that meets all of the associated privacy and confidentiality concerns, without obliging them to obtain ethical approval or any other hurdles that are normally put in place on access to and use of sensitive data. This provides a paradigm shift in secure access to sensitive data with geospatial content.