Thickness dependent properties of nickel oxide thin films deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering

Nickel oxide thin films of various thicknesses were grown on glass substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique in a pure oxygen atmosphere with sputtering power of 150 W and substrate temperature of 523 K. Crystalline properties of NiO films as a function of film thickness were investigated using X-ray diffraction. XRD analysis revealed that (200) is the preferred orientation and the orientation of the films changed from (200) to (220) at film thickness of 350 nm. The maximum optical transmittance of 60% and band gap of 3.82 eV was observed at the film thickness of 350 nm. The lowest electrical resistivity of 5.1 Ω cm was observed at a film thickness of 350 nm, thereafter resistivity increases with film thickness.     

Novel thermally stable poly(vinyl chloride) composites for sulfate removal

The adsorptive and catalytic characteristics of waste-reclaimed adsorbent (WR), which is a calcined mixture of bottom-ash and dredged-soil, was investigated for its application to treating BTEX contamination. BTEX adsorption in WR was 54%, 64%, 62%, and 65%, respectively, for a 72 h reaction time. Moreover, the catalytic characteristics of WR were observed when three types of oxidation systems (i.e., H(2)O(2), persulfate (PS), and H(2)O(2)/Fe(III)/oxalate) were tested, and these catalytic roles of WR could be due to iron oxide on its surface. In PS/WR system, large amounts of metal ions from WR were released because of large drops of solution pH, and the surface area of WR was also greatly reduced. Moreover, the BTEX that was removed per consumed oxidant (ΔC(rem)/ΔOx) increased with increasing PS. In H(2)O(2)/Fe(III)/oxalate with WR system, the highest BTEX degradation rate constants (k(deg)) were calculated as 0.338, 0.365, 0.500 and 0.716 h(-1), respectively, when 500 mM of H(2)O(2) was used, and the sorbed BTEX on the surface of WR was also degraded, which suggests the regeneration of WR. Therefore, the oxidant-injected permeable reactive barrier filled in WR could be an alternative to treating BTEX with both adsorption and catalytic degradation.     

Isolation of a free radical‐scavenging antioxidant from water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forsk)

Ipomoea aquatica Forsk, a green leafy vegetable that is a rich source of vitamins and amino acids with many health benefits, has been explored for the isolation and identification of its bioactive compounds. Activity‐guided repeated fractionation of a methanol extract on a silica gel column followed by an XAD column yielded a compound that exhibited antioxidant activity with an EC₅₀ value of 83 ± 1.02 µg ml^?1 reaction mixture. It also showed very strong lipid peroxidation‐inhibitory activity in a liposome model system with an EC₅₀ value of 72.2 ± 0.9 µg ml^?1. However, it showed negligible metal‐chelating activity. Based on UV, 2D nuclear magnetic resonance and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry studies, the compound was tentatively identified to be 7‐O‐β‐D ‐glucopyranosyl‐dihydroquercetin‐3‐O‐α‐D ‐glucopyranoside. This is the first report on the antioxidant properties of I aquatica leaf extracts. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Yield, composition and rheological characteristics of cheddar cheese made with high pressure processed milk

High Pressure (HP) treatment of milk prior to cheese-making was shown to increase the yield of cheese due to increased protein and moisture retention in cheese. Cheeses were made with raw milk or milk treated with high temperature short-time (HTST) pasteurization, and HP treatments at two levels (483 and 676 MPa) at 10 °C, 483 MPa HP at 30 °C, and 483 MPa HP at 40 °C. Cheese yield, total solids, protein, fat and salt contents were evaluated, and fat and protein recovery indices were calculated. Cheeses from HP treatments of 676 MPa at 10 °C and 483 MPa at 30 °C exhibited wet yields of 11.40% and 11.54%, respectively. Protein recovery was 79.9% for HP treatment of 676 MPa at 10 °C. The use of slightly higher pressurization temperatures increased moisture retention in cheese. Visco-elasticity of cheeses was determined by dynamic oscillatory testing and a creep-recovery test. Rheological parameters such as loss (G″) and storage (G′) moduli were dependent on oscillation frequency. At high (173 rad/s) and low (2.75 rad/s) angular frequencies, cheeses made from milk treated at 483 MPa at 10 °C behaved more solid-like than other treatments. Creep tests indicated that cheeses from milk treated with 483 MPa HP at 10 °C showed the smallest instantaneous compliance (J_o), confirming the more solid-like behavior of cheese from the 483 MPa at 10 °C treatment compared to the behavior of cheeses from other treatments. Cheeses made with pasteurized milk were more deformable, exhibited less solid-like behavior than cheeses made with HP treated milk, as shown by the J_o value. With more research into bacteriological implications, HP treatment of raw milk can augment Cheddar cheese yield with better curd formation properties.     

Effect of high hydrostatic pressure and whey proteins on the disruption of casein micelle isolates

High hydrostatic pressure disruption of casein micelle isolates was studied by analytical ultracentrifugation and transmission electron microscopy. Casein micelles were isolated from skim milk and subjected to combinations of thermal treatment (85 degrees C, 20 min) and high hydrostatic pressure (up to 676 MPa) with and without whey protein added. High hydrostatic pressure promoted extensive disruption of the casein micelles in the 250 to 310 MPa pressure range. At pressures greater than 310 MPa no further disruption was observed. The addition of whey protein to casein micelle isolates protected the micelles from high hydrostatic pressure induced disruption only when the mix was thermally processed before pressure treatment. The more whey protein was added (up to 5 g/l) the more the protection against high hydrostatic pressure induced micelle disruption was observed in thermally treated samples subjected to 310 MPa.     

Split variable-length input Huffman code with application to test data compression for embedded cores in SOCs

In this article, a run length encoding-based test data compression technique has been addressed. The scheme performs Huffman coding on different parts of the test data file separately. It has been observed that up to a 6% improvement in compression ratio and a 29% improvement in test application time can be achieved sacrificing only about 6.5% of the decoder area. We have compared our results with the other contemporary works reported in the literature. It has been observed that for most of the cases, our scheme produces a better compression ratio and that the area requirements are much less.     

Sesamol Treatment Reduces Plasma Cholesterol and Triacylglycerol Levels in Mouse Models of Acute and Chronic Hyperlipidemia

The active constituents of Sesamum indicum, sesamin and sesamolin, have already been explored for hypolipidemic action. In this study we have explored the anti-dyslipidemic activity of another active component and metabolite of sesamolin (sesamol), by using acute models of hyperlipidemia viz., a fat tolerance test, a tyloxapol-induced hyperlipidemia model and a chronic model of hyperlipidemia viz., a high-fat diet-induced hyperlipidemia model in Swiss albino mice. Sesamol (100 and 200 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.05) decreased triacylglycerol absorption in the fat tolerance test by showing a dose-dependent decrease in triacylglycerol levels. The hypolipidemic effect of sesamol at 200 mg/kg was equivalent to 10 mg/kg of orlistat. In the tyloxapol-induced hyperlipidemia model, Sesamol at 200 mg/kg reversed the elevated levels of cholesterol and triacylglycerol compared with the tyloxapol group at 12 and 24 h, which indicates its probable effect on cholesterol synthesis. Chronic hyperlipidemia in mice was produced by feeding a high-diet, a mixture of cholesterol (2 % w/w), cholic acid (1 % w/w) and coconut oil 30 % (v/w) with standard powdered standard animal chow (up to 100 g). Niacin (100 mg/kg) and sesamol (100 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the elevated body weight compared with the high fat diet control group. Elevated levels of cholesterol and triacylglycerol were significantly (P < 0.05) reversed by the sesamol (50 and 100 mg/kg), implying that it might reduce the absorption and increase the excretion of cholesterol as well.     

Rural energy consumption patterns with multiple objectives

The problem of designing a rural energy centre and thus obtain the emerging energy consumption patterns with multiple objectives, can be viewed as matching the various energy sources to cater fully to the energy needs of a wide variety of tasks such as cooking, lighting, ploughing, pumping water for irrigation, rural transport, etc. This, in fact, should satisfy several economic, technical as well as social objectives or goals. In order to arrive at a satisfactory solution, this has to be viewed as a multi-objective optimization problem. This communication develops a mathematical model for optimum energy planning in a rural environment. Goal programming approach is used in evolving a satisfactory solution to the above problem. The model developed is applied in the case of a typical South Indian village situated in a semi-arid region especially with respect to the major domestic energy needs of cooking and lighting. Results from the computer-simulated model are given.     

Effect of cross-sectional warping of anisotropic sandwich laminates due to dynamic loads using a refined theory and C° finite elements

An attempt has been made to study the effect of cross-sectional warping in the symmetrically laminated anisotropic composite sandwich plates for transient loads. A higher-order shear deformation theory (HOST) is used in conjunction with the simple displacement based C° finite element method (FEM). As is well-known, the classical first-order theories hitherto considered were inadequate to describe the propagation of waves in the highly orthotropic sandwich laminates. The present theory, which is more accurate than the Reissner-Mindlin theory, is applied herein, for the evaluation of plate response to different types of dynamic loads. An explicit central difference scheme is employed for the integration of dynamic equations of equilibrium with a diagonalized mass matrix obtained by a special procedure applicable to quadrilateral isoparametric elements. The numerical results of the present investigation have been compared with the first-order shear deformation theory (FOST) and the differences between HOST and FOST are examined. The results presented here should be useful in obtaining better correlation between theory and experiment, and to numerical analysts in verifying their results.