Phase content and dielectrical properties of sintered BaSrTiO ceramics prepared by a high temperature hydrothermal technique

Ba_xSr_1−xTiO₃ ceramic powders with varying barium content were prepared by a high temperature hydrothermal technique and sintered at 1300 °C for 1–8 h. Their dielectrical, phase and structural properties were investigated. It was computed from the XRD spectra that the samples with a small amount of strontium, no more than 10% of the initial Ba:Sr share, had a single phase structure with x = 0.77–0.79 and Curie point T_c = 37–53 °C. Samples with a higher initial Sr ratio developed a two-phase structure and two Curie points. T_c(x) dependence showed that all the experimental data followed a linear trend and were close to the values obtained from the conventional solid state technique, while the dielectric constant was almost one order of magnitude smaller.     

Characterization of membrane-bound lipase from a thermophilic Rhizopus oryzae isolated from palm oil mill effluent

The characteristics of the membrane-bound lipase from a thermophilic Rhizopus oryzae were studied. The pH and temperature optima for lipase activity were at 7.0 and 37°C, respectively. The enzyme was stable and acidic conditions, retaining more than 80% of its initial activity at pH 4.0 after 30 min incubation. It was stable up to 50°C with 70% of initial activity retained after 3 h incubation. The enzyme is 1,3 specific and exhibits substrate preference. Monoacid triglyceride substrates were hydrolyzed better than methyl esters, polyoxysorbitan and sorbitan substrates.     

Oxidation of etched Zn foil for the formation of ZnO nanostructure

Oxidation of Zn foil at temperatures of 100-400 °C was carried out in air to produce ZnO with various nanostructures. The final morphology of the oxidised Zn foil is largely dependent on the oxidation temperatures. At less than 300 °C, spherical oxide grains are seen. At 400 °C, 50 nm thick, porous nanosheets were formed after 30 min of oxidation. In portions of the samples, nanorods can be seen with diameters <10 nm and lengths reaching 1 μm. The nanosheets were formed in accordance to a vapour-solid mechanism whereas the nanorods were formed by diffusion of Zn through a certain path leading to the rod structure. At 450 °C, the nanorods became much more uniform. Oxidation at 500 °C resulted in ZnO nanorods. The rods are also blunt with smaller rods seen to branch out from the main rod. The luminescence properties of the ZnO were investigated as a function of the morphology of the oxide. Both green and blue emissions are seen for the samples with nanosheets whereas the nanorods ZnO has mostly green emission.     

An investigation of the kinetics of CO2 uptake by a synthetic calcium based sorbent

This study examines the kinetics of carbonation by CO₂ at temperatures of ca. 750 °C of a synthetic sorbent composed of 15 wt% mayenite (Ca₁₂Al₁₄O₃₃) and CaO, designated HA-85-850, and draws comparisons with the carbonation of a calcined limestone. In-situ XRD has verified the inertness of mayenite, which neither interacts with the active CaO nor does it significantly alter the CaO carbonation–calcination equilibrium. An overlapping grain model was developed to predict the rate and extent of carbonation of HA-85-850 and limestone. In the model, the initial microstructure of the sorbent was defined by a discretised grain size distribution, assuming spherical grains. The initial input to the model – the size distribution of grains – was a fitted parameter, which was in good agreement with measurements made with mercury porosimetry and by the analysis of SEM images of sectioned particles. It was found that the randomly overlapping spherical grain assumption offered great simplicity to the model, despite its approximation to the actual porous structure within a particle. The model was able to predict the performance of the materials well and, particularly, was able to account for changes in rate and extent of reaction as the structure evolved after various numbers of cycles of calcination and carbonation.     

Direct formation of gold nanoparticles on substrates using a novel ZnO sacrificial templated-growth hydrothermal approach and their properties in organic memory device

This study describes a novel fabrication technique to grow gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) directly on seeded ZnO sacrificial template/polymethylsilsesquioxanes (PMSSQ)/Si using low-temperature hydrothermal reaction at 80°C for 4 h. The effect of non-annealing and various annealing temperatures, 200°C, 300°C, and 400°C, of the ZnO-seeded template on AuNP size and distribution was systematically studied. Another PMMSQ layer was spin-coated on AuNPs to study the memory properties of organic insulator-embedded AuNPs. Well-distributed and controllable AuNP sizes were successfully grown directly on the substrate, as observed using a field emission scanning electron microscope followed by an elemental analysis study. A phase analysis study confirmed that the ZnO sacrificial template was eliminated during the hydrothermal reaction. The AuNP formation mechanism using this hydrothermal reaction approach was proposed. In this study, the AuNPs were charge-trapped sites and showed excellent memory effects when embedded in PMSSQ. Optimum memory properties of PMMSQ-embedded AuNPs were obtained for AuNPs synthesized on a seeded ZnO template annealed at 300°C, with 54 electrons trapped per AuNP and excellent current–voltage response between an erased and programmed device.     

Performance of a Hybrid Receiver in the Downlink Multicell CDMA System

In this paper, we propose a novel low-complexity receiver, namely, a hybrid receiver (HR) for the downlink of a multicell code-division multiple-access (CDMA) system with a transmit delay diversity transmission scheme. The proposed receiver is designed by combining the merits of the decorrelating receiver (DR) and the conventional receiver (CR). Unlike most multiuser receivers, HR operates with the same information as CR. For a target performance metric (e.g., bit error probability (BEP)=10^-2), the reduced-complexity HR significantly outperforms CR, DR, and minimum mean-square error (MMSE) receiver with estimated channel information. We also compare the performance of the reduced-complexity HR with a reduced-complexity MMSE receiver, which slightly outperforms the former at a price of higher complexity     

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) Seed and its Potential Food Applications: A Review

Kenaf belongs to the family Malvaceae noted for their economic and horticultural importance. Kenaf seed is a valuable component of kenaf plant. For several years, it has been primarily used as a cordage crop and secondarily as a livestock feed. The potential for using kenaf seeds as a source of food‐based products has not been fully exploited. Consumers are becoming more interested in naturally healthy plant‐based food products. Kenaf seed, the future crop with a rich source of essential nutrients and an excellent source of phytocompounds, might serve suitable roles in the production of value‐added plant‐based foods. At present kenaf seed and its value‐added components have not been effectively utilized for both their nutritional and functional properties as either ingredient or major constituent of food products. This review focuses on the possible food applications of kenaf seed and its value‐added components based on their nutritional composition and functional properties available in literature, with the purpose of providing an overview on the possible food applications of this underutilized seed. The review focuses on a brief introduction on kenaf plant, nutritional function, lipids and proteins composition and food applications of the seed. The review elaborately discusses the seed in terms of; bioactive components, antioxidants enrichment of wheat bread, antimicrobial agents, as edible flour, as edible oil and a source of protein in food system. The review closes with discussion on other possible food applications of kenaf seed. The need for food scientists and technologists to exploit this natural agricultural product as a value‐added food ingredient is of great significance and is emphasized.     

Synthesis of fatty esters by polyethylene glycol-modified lipase

Monomethoxypolyethylene glycols (PEG) of molecular masses 1900 and 5000 were activated using p-nitrophenyl chloroformate to form PEG–nitrophenyl carbonates (activated PEG) with high yield (96–98%). The activated PEG was covalently attached to Candida rugosa lipase. Increasing the molar ratio of activated PEG to the enzyme increased the degree of lipase modification. These modified lipases exhibited specific ester synthesis activities on organic solvents compared with native lipase. The degree of activity enhancement depended on the size of activated PEG used and the degree of modification of the enzyme. Maximal activity was attained after exhaustive of modification. The effects of different solvents, reaction temperature, and fatty acids on the esterification activity and the stability of the modified enzyme were investigated. The optimum esterification temperature (40° C) and preference of fatty acids as acyl donors of the modified lipase were very similar to those of the native enzyme. The modified lipase exhibited higher activity non-polar solvents than in polar solvents, and showed higher temperature, solvent and storage stability then the native lipase.