Diode behavior of electrophoretically deposited polyaniline on TiO2 nanoparticulate thin film electrode

An inorganic/organic hetrostructure diode was constructed by the electrophoretic deposition of the p-type polyaniline (PANI) on an n-type titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticulate thin film. The bonding and internalization of PANI to TiO2 nanoparticulate thin film were confirmed by the morphological, structural and optical studies of electrophoretically deposited PANI/TIO2 nanoparticulate thin film. The increased size of TiO2 nanoparticles indicated the well penetration of PANI molecules into the pores of mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticulate thin film. The XPS studies of PANI/TiO2 heterostructure exhibited the surface bonding and interaction between PANI molecules and TiO2 nanoparticles. The current-voltage (I-V) characterization of PANI/TiO2 heterostructure was carried out in the forward and the reverse bias at the applied voltage ranges from -1 V to +1 V with a scan rate of 2 mV/s. The constructed Pt/PANI/TiO2 heterostructure device established diodic behavior with non-linear nature of I-V curves.     

Synthesis and characterization of polyaniline/MCM-41 nanocomposites and their photocatalytic activity

The novel organic-inorganic nanocomposites were synthesized via in-situ polymerization of polyaniline (PANI) with mesoporous silica (MCM-41) for methylene blue (MB) dye degradation under visible light. The synthesized PANI/MCM-41 nanocomposites were characterized through Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and UV-visible studies. The structural and optical properties confirmed the interaction between PANI and MCM-41. The photocatalytic experiments showed that the MB dye was efficiently degraded by approximately 70% under light irradiation over the surface of the PANI/MCM-41 nanocomposites. The degradation might occur due to the efficient charge separation of the e(-)-h+ pairs at the interface of PANI and MCM-41 in the excited state under light irradiation.     

Mechanical Alloying and Spark Plasma Sintering of Higher Manganese Silicides for Thermoelectric Applications

The present challenges in the energy crisis require finding new ways to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. Thermoelectrics can help reduce fuel consumption by producing electricity from waste heat. The higher manganese silicides (HMS) have shown promise in this field as inexpensive, nontoxic, and highly stable p-type thermoelectric materials. One of the production techniques for HMS is mechanical alloying by ball milling. In this research the effect of the ball-milling duration and speed on the phases produced was studied. Mn and Si powders were milled at speeds of 200 RPM to 800 RPM for 1 h to 7 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of the samples prepared using mechanical alloying show deterioration into the MnSi phase. The sample that underwent 5 h of milling at 800 RPM showed the greatest amount of HMS phase and was subsequently spark plasma sintered. The sample showed insufficient thermoelectric properties (ZT ≈ 0.1 at 450°C), compared with either solid-state reaction samples showing ZT ≈ 0.4 or cast samples showing ZT ≈ 0.63 at 450°C. The reduced ZT values of the mechanically alloyed and spark-plasma-sintered samples were attributed to the high relative amount of MnSi phase. The correlation between the relative amount of MnSi and the transport properties is described in detail.     

A Pilot Study of the Photoprotective Effects of Strawberry-Based Cosmetic Formulations on Human Dermal Fibroblasts

Strawberry polyphenols have been extensively studied over the last two decades for their beneficial properties. Recently, their possible use in ameliorating skin conditions has also been proposed; however, their role in preventing UVA-induced damage in cosmetic formulation has not yet been investigated. Skin is constantly exposed to several environmental stressors, such as UVA radiation, that induce oxidative stress, inflammation and cell death via the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In the present study, we assessed the potential photoprotective capacity of different strawberry-based formulations, enriched with nanoparticles of Coenzyme Q₁₀ and with sun protection factor 10 (SPF10), in human dermal fibroblasts (HuDe) exposed to UVA radiation. We confirmed that strawberries are a very rich source of polyphenols, anthocyanins and vitamins, and possess high total antioxidant capacity. We also showed that strawberry extracts (25 μg/mL–1 mg/mL) exert a noticeable photoprotection in HuDe, increasing cell viability in a dose-dependent way, and that these effects are potentiated by the presence of CoQ_10red (100 μg/mL). We have demonstrated for the first time that the topical use of strawberry extract may provide good photoprotection, even if more in-depth studies are strongly encouraged in order to evaluate the cellular and molecular effects of strawberry protection.     

Development of kevlar‐supported novel polypropylene membranes: Effect of the concentration of the nucleating agent on the properties and performance

Novel membranes were fabricated with woven Kevlar fabric sandwiched between two isotactic polypropylene layers and with various concentrations of adipic acid as the nucleating agent (NA). A thermally induced phase‐separation dip‐coating method was adopted to generate and control the microporosity in the developed membranes. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to directly observe and confirm the morphologies and micropores in the fabricated membranes. We observed that with an increase in the concentration of the NA in the fabricated membranes, both the pore density and pore size decreased. The average pore sizes were observed to be 1.686, 0.925, 0.372 μm, respectively, for 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 pphr concentrations of the NA, respectively. The flux characteristics of the prepared membranes were also tested at various pressures with water, methanol, ethanol, and isopropyl alcohol as solvents in a custom‐made filtration cell. The results obtained indicate the dependence of the flux on the type of solvent, pressure, and membrane. The flux for the solvents was observed to decrease with increasing concentrations of NA in the prepared membranes and was attributed to the decrease in the pore density and pore size. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 2821–2831, 2013     

Markovian approach using several Gibbs energy for remote sensing images segmentation

The high resolution multispectral imagery needs to be segmented into regions that can be easily interpreted and which correspond roughly to the “ground truth”. In this paper, we segment multispectral images MSG2, provided by meteorological satellite “Meteosat Second Generation 2”, by using an approach based on support vector Markov model witch takes into account both the spectral and the spatial information. A multi-variable Gaussian distribution is used in image processing and the Gibbs energy is used to describe the process of labeling. There are several forms of Gibbs energy. We test the best known of them and evaluate the different results using the Borsotti function which is known to be more appropriate with our visual perception.     

The effect of attention training on a behavioral test of contamination fears in individuals with subclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

In the current study, we evaluated the effectiveness of attention training in individuals with subclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms. We hypothesized that after completing attention training, participants would be more likely to complete steps in a hierarchy approaching their feared contaminant compared with participants in the control condition. Participants completed a probe detection task by identifying letters replacing one member of a pair of words (neutral or contamination related). We trained attention by building a contingency between the location of the contamination-related word in the active condition and not in the control condition. Participants in the active group showed a significant reduction in attention bias for threat and completed significantly more steps when approaching their feared objects compared with participants in the control group. Our results suggest that attention disengagement training may facilitate approaching feared objects in individuals with obsessive-compulsive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of cost and treatment efficiency of solar assisted advance oxidation processes for textile dye bath effluent

The study investigated the efficiency and cost effectiveness of solar-assisted photochemical processes in comparison with advance oxidation processes (AOPs) for the textile effluents treatment. Efficiency of UV irradiation alone for one hour in removing color was almost double in comparison to solar radiation alone for effluents of different dye concentrations (E1>E2>E3). For coupled UV/H₂O₂ process, there was higher color removal efficiency obtained for effluent E₃ (85%) as compared to E₂ (70%) and E₁ (57%), while E1 showed higher COD removal efficiency (70%) as compared to E₂ (50%) and E₃ (62%). However, the efficiency of solar/H₂O₂ for COD removal was comparable to UV/H₂O₂, i.e., E₂ (57%) and E₃ (53%). In the case of UV and solar-assisted photo-Fenton processes, removal efficiency of the UV process was further increased as approached to almost 90% removal for E₁; on the other hand, the solar-assisted process efficiency remained the same. The relative efficiencies of AOPs were found to be in the order of UV assisted photo-Fenton process>UV/H₂O₂>UV alone. Although, solar-assisted Fenton treatments were relatively low and slow but without any energy consumption in comparison to high energy consumption of UV. Among the UV processes, UV assisted photo-Fenton treatment appeared to have better color removal efficiency with energy requirements of 5 kWh/m³, 8 kWh/m³ and 3 kWh/m³ for E₁, E₂ and E₃, respectively.     

Crying threshold and intensity in major depressive disorder.

Clinical lore suggests that depression is associated with frequent and intense crying. To test these postulations empirically, a standardized cry-evoking stimulus was presented to depressed and nondepressed participants, and their likelihood of crying and the magnitude of crying-related changes in their emotion experience, behavior, and autonomic physiology were compared. Unexpectedly, crying was no more likely in depressed than in nondepressed participants. Within the nondepressed group, participants who cried exhibited increases in the report and display of sadness and had greater cardiac and electrodermal activation than did participants who did not cry. There was less evidence of this crying-related emotional activation within the depressed group. The lack of emotional activation among clinically depressed participants who cried provides a tantalizing clue concerning how emotions are dysregulated in this disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)