Electron Beam Irradiation to Recrosslink Devulcanized Sulfur Cured Rubber Blended Polypropylene

This study aims to investigate the effect electron beam (EB) irradiation on the polypropylene/devulcanized sulfur cured rubber (PP‐DVC) compound. The PP‐DVC compounds were compounded using twin‐screw extruder and then compression molded into required shapes before irradiation begins. The gel content of all irradiated PP‐DVC compounds gradually increased with higher irradiation dose indicated that the presence of DVC plays an important role in crosslinking enhancement. The mechanical properties of PP‐DVC compounds were observed marginally higher at low irradiation dosages (≤50 kGy). However, higher irradiation dosages up to 200 kGy cause adverse effect to the PP‐DVC compounds. In addition, the application of low irradiation dosage could enhance the dispersion of DVC particles at 20 phr composition in PP matrix. This also found that the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation where the DVC particles dispersed better in PP matrix compared to that of nonirradiated samples. Further increment in irradiation dosages up to 200 kGy reduced the crystallinity caused by chain scissoring process could rupture the crystalline structure in PP matrix. It was also found that the wavenumber of the C? H and CH₂ groups for irradiated samples reduced at high irradiation dosages due to the formation of carbonyl group. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:1017–1027, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Modelling peptide nanotubes for artificial ion channels

We investigate the van der Waals interaction of D,L-Ala cyclopeptide nanotubes and various ions, ion-water clusters and C(60) fullerenes, using the Lennard-Jones potential and a continuum approach which assumes that the atoms are smeared over the peptide nanotube providing an average atomic density. Our results predict that Li(+), Na(+), Rb(+) and Cl(-) ions and ion-water clusters are accepted into peptide nanotubes of 8.5 ? internal diameter whereas the C(60) molecule is rejected. The model indicates that the C(60) molecule is accepted into peptide nanotubes of 13 ? internal diameter, suggesting that the interaction energy depends on the size of the molecule and the internal diameter of the peptide nanotube. This result may be useful for the design of peptide nanotubes for drug delivery applications. Further, we also find that the ions prefer a position inside the peptide ring where the energy is minimum. In contrast, Li(+)-water clusters prefer to be in the space between each peptide ring.     

Protein Extraction and Identification by Gel Electrophoresis and Mass Spectrometry from Edible bird’s Nest Samples

Edible bird’s nest (EBN) is a delicacy rich in protein and carbohydrate from the salivary secretion of swiftlets. There are limited studies on the protein profile of EBN, mainly due to its complexity in chemical composition and diversity of species, as well as the capacity of analytical techniques. The protein extraction methods, namely, ultrasonic and detergent (Triton X-100 and SDS)-assisted methods, as well as Tris–HCl buffer solubilization were used to compare the protein profiles of EBNs harvested from two locations (Batu Pahat and Kota Tinggi) in Malaysia. Ultrasonic assisted extraction produced the highest protein content because EBN contains mostly water-soluble protein. The electrophoretic gels revealed that EBNs from Batu Pahat (17–150 kDa) exhibited more protein bands than those samples from Kota Tinggi (25–154 kDa). The difference could be explained by the variance in the geographical origin of EBNs. Additional protein bands (25, 27, and 92 kDa) were detected for the detergent-assisted methods. These could be poorly water-soluble membrane proteins that were released after cell lysis by detergents. The mass spectra revealed that acidic mammalian chitinase precursor is the most abundant protein. The other proteins include trypsinogen, inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H2 precursor, tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 5 precursor, and phospholipase A2-like. There are also collagen and co-enzyme Q-binding proteins which are important for skin complexion in line with the traditional belief of Chinese community. The protein extraction methods could produce good quality of proteins for affirmative confirmation using gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometric identification.     

Biding strategy of vehicle parking for participating in energy and spinning reserve markets

In this paper a model for suggesting a smart parking that involves a set of electric cars is presented to auction the management ability and correct parking planning in reserve spinning market, secondary energy market and grid. Parking interest under various scenarios is analyzed and its effective results are presented by a valid model. Besides, particle swarm optimization algorithm is used for calculating maximum benefit.     

IPv6 Protocol Analyzer

With the emerging of next generation Intemet protocol (IPv6), it is expected to replace the current version of Internet protocol (IPv4) that will be exhausted in the near future. Besides providing adequate address space, some other new features are included into the new 128 bits of IP such as IP auto configuration, quality of service, simple routing capability, security, mobility and multicasting. The current protocol analyzer will not be able to handle IPv6 packets. This paper will focus on developing protocol analyzer that decodes IPv6 packet. IPv6 protocol analyzer is an application module,which is able to decode the IPv6 packet and provide detail breakdown of the construction of the packet. It has to understand the detail construction of the IPv6, and provide a high level abstraction of bits and bytes of the IPv6 packet.Thus it increases network administrators' understanding of a network protocol,helps he/she in solving protocol related problem in a IPv6 network environment.     

Fuzzy feature representation for white blood cell differential counting in acute leukemia diagnosis

International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems - A fuzzy feature representation for white blood cell differential counting is proposed to diagnose types of acute leukemia. The accuracy of...     

The use of Jacobi polynomials in the numerical solution of coupled system of fractional differential equations

In this paper, we study shifted Jacobi polynomials and develop a simple but highly accurate scheme for the numerical solution of coupled system of fractional differential equations. We derive some operational matrices of integration and differentiation of fractional order. By the application of these matrices we provide a theoretical treatment to approximate the solutions of the corresponding system. We use Matlab to perform necessary operations. The applicability of the technique is shown with some examples and the results are displayed graphically.     

Numerical investigation of heat and mass transfer flow under the influence of silicon carbide by means of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition vertical reactor

The effect of characteristics flow (contour of velocity), mass transfer (Sherwood number) and heat transfer (Nu number) on the growth rate of silicon carbide by means of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition vertical reactor is investigated. The species transport and thermal fluid transport with chemical reaction are taken into account. The steady-state laminar fluid flow and gas flow having ideal behavior are considered. A mixture of silane and propane (2% molar) as main reactant gases and hydrogen (96% molar) as propellant gas are injected into the reactor. Four different diameters of shower head, three different substrate rotation speeds and five different temperatures of the substrate are used. The finite volume method is employed to solve the problem. The governing equations are solved by upwind differencing scheme. The assumption of speed–pressure coupling leads to use of semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations to solve the governing equation. It is found that the deposition rate reduces with the shower head diameter and value of substrate temperature and enhances with rotational speed of the substrate. Furthermore, the best shower head diameter to achieve maximum rate of deposition is 1 mm. At the end, a comparison as a limiting case of the considered problem with the existing studies is made. Comparing the results of this experiment with prior studies has shown acceptable consistency.