A Comparative Study on the Effects of Microwave and High Electric Field Pretreatments on Drying Kinetics and Quality of Mushrooms

This research evaluated the effects of microwave and high-voltage pretreatments on convective freeze drying of mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) independently. The effect of the microwave (5 W/g for 5 min) and high electric field (HEF; 430 kV/m for 15 min) as pretreatments on enhancement of the drying rates during subsequent drying and the value addition due to the above pretreatments on the quality of the final dehydrated products were investigated. An exponential mathematical model was developed by fitting the drying kinetics to the Page equation to predict the effects of the pretreatments on the drying kinetics of the mushrooms. The parameters considered for the evaluation of product quality project included color, texture, shrinkage properties, and rehydration ratio of the dried mushrooms. The drying rate of HEF-pretreated mushrooms was found to be unaffected overall when compared to the control and the HEF pretreatment resulted in better quality product and less overall shrinkage. Freeze drying of the pretreated mushrooms was found to result in slower drying rate but better overall quality and rehydration ratio.     

Enhancement of photocatalytic activity by metal deposition: characterisation and photonic efficiency of Pt, Au and Pd deposited on TiO2 catalyst

Pt, Au and Pd deposited TiO2 have been prepared and characterised by surface analytical methods such as surface area, XRD, and scanning electron micrograph and photophysical characterisation by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the doped catalysts was ascertained by the photo-oxidation of leather dye, acid green 16 in aqueous solution illuminated with low-pressure mercury lamp ( approximately 254 nm). The effect of metal contents on the photocatalytic activity was investigated. The highest photonic efficiency was observed with metal deposition level of less than 1 wt%.     

All-solid-state cells based on solid electrolyte systems Cu1−xAgxI-Ag2O-Y, where x = 0.05-0.25; Y = MoO3, B2O3, SeO2, V2O5 and CrO3

All-solid-state cells of the configuration (−)Ag + SE//SE//I₂-phenothiazine + C(+) using the best conducting compositions of the solid electrolyte systems, namely, Cu_1−xAg_xI-Ag₂O-Y where x = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2 and 0.25, Y = MoO₃, B₂O₃, SeO₂, V₂O₅ and CrO₃, as the electrolytes were fabricated. Discharge, polarization and power characteristics of these cells were also evaluated. The open circuit voltage values of these cells were in the range 620-635 mV. The stability of these cells has been indicated by the constancy of their OCV over a period of 6 months. The polarization and discharge studies on these cells have shown that typical cells based on the electrolytes with Y = B₂O₃, SeO₂ and V₂O₅ would possess discharge capacities of 12.84, 3.76 and 5.05 mA h and specific energy of 6.55, 1.81 and 2.77 W h kg⁻¹, respectively. The solid electrolytes have good electrochemical stability and compatibility with the Ag/Phenothiazine-I₂ electrode couple thus offering their suitability of application in microwatt power sources.     

Optimization of Training and Scheduling in the Non-Coherent SIMO Multiple Access Channel

Channel state information (CSI) is important for achieving large rates in MIMO channels. However, in time-varying MIMO channels, there is a tradeoff between the time/energy spent acquiring channel state information (CSI) and the time/energy remaining for data transmission. This tradeoff is accentuated in the MIMO multiple access channel (MAC), since the number of channel vectors to be estimated increases with the number of users. Furthermore, the problem of acquiring CSI is tightly coupled with the problem of exploiting CSI through multiuser scheduling. This paper considers a block-fading MAC with coherence time T, n uncoordinated users-each with one transmit antenna and the same average power constraint, and a base station with M receive antennas and no a priori CSI. For this scenario, a training-based communication scheme is proposed and the training and multiuser-scheduling aspects of the scheme are jointly optimized. In the high-SNR regime, the sum capacity of the non-coherent SIMO MAC is characterized and used to establish the SNR-scaling-law optimality of the proposed scheme. In the low-SNR regime, the sum-rate of the proposed scheme is found to decay linearly with vanishing SNR when flash signaling is incorporated. Furthermore, this linear decay is shown to be order-optimal through comparison to the low-SNR sum capacity of the non-coherent SIMO MAC. A by product of these SNR-asymptotic analyses is the observation that non-trivial scheduling (i.e., scheduling a strict subset of trained users) is advantageous at low SNR, but not at high SNR. The sum-rate and per-user throughput are also explored in the large-n and large-M regimes. Non-coherent capacity, training, multiple access channel, multiuser scheduling, opportunistic scheduling.     

Pulsed laser deposition of anatase and rutile TiO2 thin films

The investigation deals with the preparation of both anatase and rutile thin films from a sintered rutile target of TiO₂ by pulsed laser ablation technique. Microstructural characterization of the sintered target was carried out using X-ray diffraction and AC impedance spectroscopy. Thin films of titania were deposited on (111) Si substrates at 673 K in the laser energy range 200-600 mJ/pulse at two different conditions: (i) deposition at 3.5 × 10^− 5 mbar of oxygen, and (ii) deposition at an oxygen partial pressure of 0.1 mbar. The influence of laser energy and oxygen addition on the film growth has been studied. X-ray diffraction analysis of the films indicated that the films are single phasic and nano crystalline. Titania films deposited in the energy range 200-600 mJ/pulse at a base pressure of 5 × 10^− 5 mbar are rutile with particle sizes in the range 5-10 nm, whereas the films formed at the oxygen partial pressure 0.1 mbar are anatase with particle sizes in the range 10-24 nm. In addition, at higher energies, a significant amount of particulates of titania are found on the surface of the films. The change in the microstructural features of the films as a function of laser energy and oxygen addition is discussed in relation with the interaction of the ablated species with the background gas.     

Internet of Things Enabled Energy Aware Metaheuristic Clustering for Real Time Disaster Management

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a major element of Internet of Things (IoT) networks which offer seamless sensing and wireless connectivity. Disaster management in smart cities can be considered as a safety critical application. Therefore, it becomes essential in ensuring network accessibility by improving the lifetime of IoT assisted WSN. Clustering and multihop routing are considered beneficial solutions to accomplish energy efficiency in IoT networks. This article designs an IoT enabled energy aware metaheuristic clustering with routing protocol for real time disaster management (EAMCR-RTDM). The proposed EAMCR-RTDM technique mainly intends to manage the energy utilization of nodes with the consideration of the features of the disaster region. To achieve this, EAMCR-RTDM technique primarily designs a yellow saddle goatfish based clustering (YSGF-C) technique to elect cluster heads (CHs) and organize clusters. In addition, enhanced cockroach swarm optimization (ECSO) based multihop routing (ECSO-MHR) approach was derived for optimal route selection. The YSGF-C and ECSO-MHR techniques compute fitness functions using different input variables for achieving improved energy efficiency and network lifetime. The design of YSGF-C and ECSO-MHR techniques for disaster management in IoT networks shows the novelty of the work. For examining the improved outcomes of the EAMCR-RTDM system, a wide range of simulations were performed and the extensive results are assessed in terms of different measures. The comparative outcomes highlighted the enhanced outcomes of the EAMCR-RTDM algorithm over the existing approaches.     

In-situ PMMA modified <Emphasis Type="Italic">p-</Emphasis>cresol resin-nylon 6 polymer blends and evaluation of their hydrophobic and dielectric properties

The synthesis of PMMA modified p-Cresol resin-nylon 6 blends by the in-situ polymer blending in various proportion is described. These new polymer blends has been characterized by FT-IR, DSC-TGA, SEM, and screened for the hydrophobic, mechanical and dielectric properties. The blended materials exhibit good thermal stability and increased hydrophobic nature. Compressive stress and the strain study show that the blends have improved mechanical property. The frequency dependent dielectric property of the blend has been lowered. Thus, PMMA modified p-Cresol resin-nylon 6 blends could be used as a potential material for the fabrication of electronic device application.     

Nonionic surfactants induced cloud point extraction of Polyhydroxyalkanoate from Cupriavidus necator

Polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesized by Cupriavidus necator DSM 428 was purified from the crude fermentation broth as such by performing nonionic surfactants (Triton X100, Triton X114 & Tergitol 6) induced cloud point extraction. Polyhydroxyalkanoate was extracted into the micelle-rich bottom phase (coacervate phase), while most of the cellular impurities partitioned into the aqueous phase. Cloud point temperatures and the extraction efficiency of different cloud point systems were studied at different pH value and in the presence of additives. Maximum extraction of biopolymer was achieved (recovery of 84.4%) with a purity of 92.49% at 3 pH with the addition of 0.1 M ammonium chloride in the mixed surfactant system at a reduced cloud point temperature of 33°C.     

Direct evidence for purely silver ion conduction in CuI-doped silver oxysalt superionic systems: Combined electrolysis and EDS studies

Maiden attempt has been made for the direct estimation of the contributions of silver and copper ions to the ionic conductivity in superionic solids obtained in CuI-doped silver oxysalt systems. The application of the combined electrolysis and EDS techniques towards qualitative and quantitative analyses of the mobile ionic species in solid electrolyte systems having more than one possible mobile ion is reported. These studies confirmed that these electrolyte materials are purely Ag⁺ conducting up to 50 mol% CuI in xCuI–(100 − x)[2Ag₂O–0.7V₂O₅–0.3B₂O₃] and xCuI–(100 − x)[Ag₂O–0.7MoO₃–0.3WO₃] systems and small fraction of t_Cu+ exists above 60 mol% CuI. These solid electrolyte materials exhibited a high ionic transport numbers (t_i) of >0.985 and the t_i increases when two glass formers are used.