Growth,characterizations, and the structural elucidation of diethyl-2-(3-oxoiso-1,3-dihydrobenzofuran-1-ylidene)malonate crystalline specimen for dielectric and electronic filters,thermal, optical,mechanical, and biomedical applications using conventional experimental and theoretical practices

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - The single crystals of diethyl-2-(3-oxoiso-1,3-dihydrobenzofuran-1-ylidene) malonate (D23DYM) were grown successfully and efficiently by the...     

Investigation of in vitro permeability and in vivo pharmacokinetic behavior of bare and functionalized MCM-41 and MCM-48 mesoporous silica nanoparticles: a burst and controlled drug release system for raloxifene

In the present work, MCM-41 and MCM-48 type of nanoparticles were successfully engineered. Effect of nanosize and amine functionalization on drug release, in vitro intestinal absorption and in vivo pharmacokinetic behavior was investigated in a comprehensive manner. The tailor-made bare and surface decorated MCM-41 and MCM-48 were synthesized and evaluated for their mesoporous skeleton, pore size, particle size, surface area, zeta potential, etc. by nitrogen sorption, DLS, TEM, etc. Incorporation of raloxifene (RLF) was affirmed using optimized immersion-solvent evaporation technique and its success confirmed by DSC, IR, and XRD analysis. TGA analysis revealed higher %grafting of amine groups on the exterior and larger RLF encapsulation into mesoporous derivate. The detailed in vitro release study revealed SGF to be the most compatible media for RLF showing an initial burst release from pristine nanoparticles and a delayed release from surface coated nanoparticles. Furthermore, release kinetics model data demonstrated Weibull and Higuchi as the best fit models for bare and amine-functionalized nanoparticles respectively. Moreover, an in vitro permeability study on Caco-2 cell line revealed higher absorption by engineered nanoparticle as compared to pure RLF and its marketed formulation. The supremacy in the in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters of RLF-41 and RLF-48 was demonstrated with 3.33 and 3.50 times enhancement in the bioavailability of RLF with respect to RLF suspension. To sum up, the results obtained were superior and promising for synthesized nanoparticles and more precisely for MCM-48 amongst them.     

A pilot level approach to remove anionic species from industrial effluents using a novel carbonate-steam pyrolysed activated charcoal system

In our laboratory, we synthesized a novel surface tailored activated charcoal in removing nitrite species from fertilizer industrial effluents. A customized high temperature carbonate-steam activation technique was adopted to develop the sodium carbonate impregnated activated charcoal (SCIAC). The surface properties of the material were determined using SEM, TG and X-RD techniques. Batch adsorption experiments were performed for optimizing various conditions such as solution pH, contact time, temperature and adsorbent dose for maximizing the nitrite adsorption onto SCIAC. Considerably, a very high nitrite adsorption percentage of 83.8 was obtained for an initial nitrite concentration of 5.0?mg/L at pH 3.0. Among the various equilibrium and kinetic models, Freundlich and pseudo-second-order expressions, respectively, were well enough to explain the adsorption processes. In general, it may conclude that the change in surface characteristics of the adsorbent material after the pyrolysis process is highly favorable for effective removal of nitrite ions from aqueous systems. Adsorption capacity of SCIAC was 27.03?mg/g and studies revealed that the material was feasible in removing nitrite from industrial effluents.     

Verifying verified code

Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering - A recent case study from AWS by Chong et al. proposes an effective methodology for Bounded Model Checking in industry. In this paper, we report on...     

A comparison of the determination of macromolecular orientation in polypropylene by attenuated total-reflection fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction

Attenuated total reflection-infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy and wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD) were used to determine the macromolecular orientation of a series of six uniaxially oriented polypropylene sheets with elongations of 0% to 500%. The orientation functions were expressed as fractions of chains oriented along the machine, trasverse, and normal directions in the sheets. Good agreement was found between the orientation functions for the two techniques. Sources of potential difference between the two techniques were discussed. The ATR-IR technique is surface sensitive to a depth of about 5 or 10 μm into the surface while the WAXD technique is bulk sensitive. The ATR-IR technique is sensitive to both the crystalline and noncrystalline material while the XRD technique is sensitive only to the crystalline material.     

Epoxy-based anticorrosive coating developed with modified poly(<Emphasis Type="Italic">o</Emphasis>-anisidine) and depolymerized product of PET waste

Poly(o-anisidine) (POA) is used as a modifier in an epoxy system to enhance its anticorrosive properties. The modification of POA is done by aminosilane to introduce amine functionality on the surface. Through this functionality, it becomes part of the coating backbone during curing of an epoxy-polyaminoamide system. The concentration of poly(o-anisidine) has been varied as 1, 3, and 5 wt%. Depolymerized product of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) obtained from aminolysis of PET with ethylamine has amine functionality. Depolymerized product is added at concentrations of only 1 and 3 wt%. The same concentration is used with 5 wt% of silane-modified POA. The synthesized POA and silane-modified POA (Si-POA) have been characterized by FTIR, UV–Visible, and XRD analysis. The coating is characterized by mechanical properties and it is observed that pencil hardness and scratch hardness of the coating were enhanced to 6H and 3.5 kg from 2H and 2.5 kg of a plain epoxy system. The anticorrosive properties of Si-POA are better as compared to plain POA, but the addition of depolymerized product is unable to improve the anticorrosive performance of the coating. In EIS study, it is observed that 5% Si-POA system shows the highest impedance > 10 G (Ω) and it has a tendency to retain anticorrosive performance for longer duration.     

Laser-machined piezoelectric cantilevers for mechanical energy harvesting

In this study, we report results on a piezoelectric- material-based mechanical energy-harvesting device that was fabricated by combining laser machining with microelectronics packaging technology. It was found that the laser-machining process did not have significant effect on the electrical properties of piezoelectric material. The fabricated device was tested in the low-frequency regime of 50 to 1000 Hz at constant force of 8 g (where g = 9.8 m/s(2)). The device was found to generate continuous power of 1.13 microW at 870 Hz across a 288.5 kOmega load with a power density of 301.3 microW/cm(3).     

Subcortical cognitive impairment in dialysis patients

Given the high burden of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in dialysis patients, we hypothesized that cognitive testing would reveal subtle abnormalities in subcortical brain function, a measure frequently associated with cerebrovascular disease. Detailed neurocognitive testing was performed in 25 hemodialysis patients. All patients had Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores >24 and had no history of cerebrovascular disease. Where appropriate, scores were normalized for age, gender, and education. One-sample t tests were used to compare differences in cognitive function between dialysis patients and normative data. The mean age was 57 years, and the mean MMSE was 27.5. Fourteen subjects (56%) were females, and 15 white (60%). Results of the North American Adult Reading Test, a measure of verbal intelligence, were comparable with the general population. Similarly, measures of cortical function, namely retention and recognition scores from the Word List Learning subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III, were preserved when compared with normative data where reference = 10. Significant deficits were seen on tests assessing subcortical function: scores (mean+/-standard deviation) for block design, and symbol coding subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III were 7.0+/-1.7 and 7.7+/-3.1, respectively (p<0.001 for both comparisons with normative data). Similarly, adjusted scores on the trails A and B tests were 40.5+/-8.3 and 41.8+/-11.3, respectively (p<0.001 for both comparisons with normative data where reference= 50). These results suggest that, despite relatively normal MMSE scores, mild cognitive impairment may be prevalent in hemodialysis patients. The pattern of cognitive dysfunction is primarily subcortical in nature.     

Indian black rice: A brewing raw material with novel functionality

Indian black rice (Chakhao Poireiton) is a pigmented variety, rich in anthocyanins and other phytonutrients. With growing interest in the use of local raw materials in brewing, it was of interest to develop protocols for malting and brewing with Chakhao Poireiton to see whether the antioxidant capacity of anthocyanins could be delivered into finished beer. Protocols for brewing with 100% malted rice were developed and the performance of Indian black rice compared with that of an Italian white rice cultivar suited to brewing. The apparent fermentabilities of rice worts were 69.5% (black) and 67.3% (white), yielding beers of 3.28 and 3.19% ABV respectively. Black rice worts were deficient in free amino nitrogen (83.5 mg/L relative to 137 mg/L for white rice) and would need nitrogen supplementation to avoid issues with fermentation, e.g. elevated diacetyl. Black rice beer had an orange-red hue as a result of extraction of anthocyanin pigments (2.84 mg/L). The oxidative stability of 100% rice beers was measured using electron spin resonance spectroscopy and both samples were found to be unusually stable. Interestingly, when rice beers were blended with a control barley malt derived lager in varying proportions (10, 25, 50%), the oxidative stability was improved, relative to the control lager, particularly so in the case of black rice beer, which contained an antioxidant capacity over and above that of the white rice beer. Future studies are required to determine whether the noted oxidative stability of 100% rice malt beers results in a more flavour-stable beer. © 2019 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling     

Photoelectrochemical analysis of band gap modulated TiO2 for photocatalytic water splitting

In this study the photocatalysis efficiency of titania (TiO₂) is increased by conjugating it with folic acid (FA) molecules through a silane linker (APTMS) layer. Electrochemical testing demonstrated higher negative open circuit potential (OCP) in surface engineered TiO₂ as compared to TiO₂ indicating higher Schottky barrier leading to suppressed electron–hole pair recombination. The photocurrent density under no bias conditions demonstrated 55% increase in modified titania due to lower band gap and suppressed electron hole pair recombination. The mechanism behind higher photocatalytic properties of surface engineered TiO₂ was derived using density functional theory (DFT).