Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory activity, and phytochemical constituents of ficus (Ficus amplissima Smith) bark

In the present investigation, phenolics (36.6 g gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g extract), tannin (21.6 g GAE/100 g extract), and flavonoid content (67.5 g rutin equivalents/100 g extract) were found to be highest in acetone extract. Ficus (Ficus amplissima) acetone extract showed maximum antioxidant activity in phosphomolybdenum (958.8 mg ascorbic acid equivalents/g extract), DPPH (1.6 μg/mL), ferric reducing antioxidant power (2,993 mmol Fe (II)/g extract), and metal chelating (39.7 mg EDTA equivalents/g extract) assays. In anti-inflammatory study, 400 mg/kg acetone extract showed maximum reduction in the paw volume compare to indomethacin. GC-MS analysis indicated that bark contain rich source of non-polar compounds like Lup-20(29)-en-3-yl acetate (33.04%). Hence, Ficus can be valuable source for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and seemed to be applicable in medicine.     

An optimization study for preventing silica gelation and improving filtration effectiveness during pH reduction of high concentration silica solutions

The steam generation processes at the steam-assisted gravity drainage facilities result in huge quantities of wastewater streams, which are characterized by high pH and high silica levels. These concentrated streams need to be neutralized before their disposal via down-hole injection. The neutralization of these high-pH brines results in the formation of a gel-like substance, which makes it difficult to filter the amorphous silica gel. The wastewater used in this study was synthetically prepared using sodium metasilicate to mimic high-concentration silica solutions. Our experiments did not show any advantage of a two-step pH-neutralization process over the single-step process for suppressing silica gelation. A systematic experimental campaign was undertaken to investigate the effects of SiO₂ concentration, NaCl:SiO₂ ratio, and pH on the residual silica concentration, percent silica removal, filtration rate, and filtration effectiveness. For NaCl:SiO₂ ratios higher than 4.5, silica precipitation during pH reduction did not lead to the formation of gel or sol. The response surface methodology (RSM), based on the Doehlert design of experiments, was implemented to optimize the responses and provide high efficacy with fewer experiments. The results from the analysis of variance (ANOVA) analyses of the experimental data were used to evaluate the significance of each term in the quadratic model. 3D response surfaces and 2D contour plots were generated for determining the optimal ranges of independent factors for achieving the maximum silica removal, the highest filtration rate, the best filtration effectiveness, and the minimum residual silica concentration. An optimum operating region was established from the RSM analysis and overlay plot.     

Analysis of Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Silicon Incorporated Diamond like Carbon Nanocomposite Coating

Silicon - The Silicon (Si) contained diamond like carbon (DLC) nanocomposite were prepared by using thermal chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique by varying the acetylene (C2H2) flowrates. The...