Voltammetric determination of citric acid and quinine hydrochloride using polypyrrole–pentacyanonitrosylferrate/platinum electrode

Cyclic voltammetry was used to investigate the electrochemical behavior of citric acid (CA) and quinine hydrochloride (QH) at a polypyrrole-pentacyanoferrate/Platinum (PPY–PCNFe/Pt) electrode in aqueous medium. The analytical plots obtained were found to be linear in the concentration range between 1.0 and 9.0 mM for both the analyte solutions. The detection limits (3δ) were found to be 1.17 × 10^?4 M and 1.08 × 10^?5 M for CA and QH analyte solutions, respectively. It was further observed that the diffusion of ionic species into and out of the polymeric film made the PPY–PCNFe/Pt electrode highly electroactive thereby enabling it to efficiently detect the analyte solutions having concentration as low as 1 mM.     

Assessing Mobile Technology Usage for Knowledge Dissemination among Farmers in Punjab

Agriculture-based precise and accurate information needs to be disseminated promptly to farmers so that better decisions such as managing farm fields, making continuous and scientific changes in their production systems and grabbing advantage of market opportunities can be made. In this paper, mobile technology is assessed for the agriculture information dissemination system. A survey has been conducted to find out potential technology, related to the use of the Internet and mobile among farmers in the state of Punjab in India, to deliver agriculture-related information to them. Results show that agricultural information system needs to be developed based on the mass communication technology such as mobile systems. It is also noted that localization and native language of farmers are the concerns to be incorporated into the systems. It has been focused that the use of soft-computing techniques in conjunction with communication networks, for inferring the decision regarding best practices for agricultural activities, is helpful in the development of these systems.     

Prospects of inedible plant oil-driven bio-lubricants for tribological characteristics – a review

ABSTRACT

Fossil fuel resource is on the draining stage which leads to an increment in the cost of the petroleum products. Nowadays, research is focused on the development of environmental friendly lubricants which are derivatives of renewable sources. Inedible plant oil-driven bio-lubricants are environmentally friendly because they are non-hazardous, biodegradable, as well as there is no emission of toxic gases. This study involves the characterisations, advantages, as well as utilisation of inedible plant oil-driven bio-lubricants as an alternative for tribological applications. This report presents the status about the global lubricant market as well as potential outlook. Inedible plant oil-driven bio-lubricants bear high viscosity, high lubricity, and high viscosity index which can enhance the equipment service life and has the ability to carry high load and results in minimum amount of metal traces during combustion.     

Design and development of enhanced bandwidth multi‐frequency slotted antenna for 4G‐LTE/WiMAX/WLAN and S/C/X‐band applications

A multi‐frequency rectangular slot antenna for 4G‐LTE/WiMAX/WLAN and S/C/X‐bands applications is presented. The proposed antenna is comprised of rectangular slot, a pair of E‐shaped stubs, and an inverted T‐shaped stub and excited using staircase feed line. These employed structures help to achieve multiband resonance at four different frequency bands. The proposed multiband slot antenna is simulated, fabricated and tested experimentally. The experimental results show that the antenna resonates at 2.24, 4.2, 5.25, and 9.3 GHz with impedance bandwidth of 640 MHz (2.17‐2.82 GHz) covering WiMAX (802.16e), Space to Earth communications, 4G‐LTE, IEEE 802.11b/g WLAN systems defined for S‐band applications. Also the proposed antenna exhibits bandwidth of 280 MHz (4.1‐4.38 GHz) for Aeronautical and Radio navigation applications, 80 MHz (4.2‐4.28 GHz) for uncoordinated indoor systems,1060 MHz (5.04‐6.1 GHz) for the IEEE 802.11a WLAN system defined for C‐band applications and 2380 MHz (7.9‐10.28 GHz) defined for X‐band applications. Further, the radiation patterns for the designed antenna are measured in anechoic chamber and are found to agree well with simulated results.     

Linearization of Photonic Link Based on Phase-Controlled Dual Drive Dual-Parallel Mach–Zehnder Modulator

Wireless Personal Communications - Wireless sensor network will be the dominating field in the future era. Right now it goes from the transformation phase. It unfolds its capacity and sort out its...     

Verification of some building materials as gamma-ray shields

The shielding properties for gamma rays of a few low Z materials were investigated. The values of the mass attenuation coefficient, equivalent atomic number, effective atomic number, exposure buildup factor and energy absorption buildup factor were calculated and used to estimate the shielding effectiveness of the samples under investigation. It has been observed that the shielding effectiveness of a sample is directly related to its effective atomic number. The shielding character of any sample is a function of the incident photon energy. Good shielding behaviour has been verified in soil samples in the photon energy region of 0.015-0.30 MeV and of dolomite in 3-15 MeV. The results have been shown graphically with more useful conclusions.     

Tribological behavior of pongamia oil-based biodiesel blended lubricant at different loads

Around the globe there is a demand for the development of bio-based lubricants that are biodegradable, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly. This paper outlines the friction and wear characteristics of pongamia biodiesel contaminated bio-lubricant using a pin-on-disc tribometer. To formulate the bio-lubricants, pongamia oil-based biodiesel was blended in ratios of 5, 10, and 20% by volume with the base lubricant SAE 20W40. The tribological characteristics of these blends were carried out at 2.5 m/s sliding velocity and the loads applied were 50, 100, and 150 N. Experimental results showed that the lubrication regime present during the test was boundary lubrication, while the main wear mechanism was adhesive wear. During testing, the least wear was found with the addition of 5 and 10% pongamia oil-based biodiesel, and above this level of contamination the wear rate increased considerably. The addition of 5 and 10% pongamia oil-based biodiesel with the base lubricant represents a very good lubricant additive which reduced the friction and wear rate during the test. It has been concluded that both PBO 5 and PBO 10 can act as an alternative lubricant to increase mechanical efficiency at 2.5 m/s sliding velocity and contribute to the reduction of dependence on petroleum-based products.     

Nanocomposite Hydrogel Materials for Defective Cartilage Repair and Its Mechanical Tribological Behavior—A Review

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a regressive ailment that affects a large population of patients. The most common symptoms of OA in humans are cartilage abnormalities. Hydrogels are excellent candidates for cartilage regeneration and are widely accepted as implants. In the past few decades, numerous types of hydrogels have been synthesized to repair cartilage defects. This study highlights recent advances in hydrogel development for the treatment of cartilage defects. In addition, the detailed progression of tailored nanocomposite hydrogels is summarized, and emphasis has been placed on the mechanical properties, especially the tribological behavior of the developed nanocomposite hydrogels.