Silver/titania nanocomposite-modified photoelectrodes for photoelectrocatalytic methanol oxidation

Silver deposited titania (Ag/TiO₂) nanocomposite thin films were fabricated by the simple sonochemical deposition of Ag on preformed aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposited TiO₂ thin films. The photelectrocatalytic performance of a newly fabricated Ag/TiO₂-modified photoelectrode was studied for methanol oxidation under simulated solar AM 1.5G irradiation (100 mW/cm²). The Ag/TiO₂-modified photoelectrode showed a photocurrent density of 1 mA/cm², which is four times that of an unmodified TiO₂ photoelectrode. The modification of Ag on the TiO₂ surface significantly enhanced the photoelectrocatalytic performance by improving the interfacial charge transfer processes, which minimized the charge recombination. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation studies revealed that methanol could be easily adsorbed onto the Ag surfaces of Ag/TiO₂ via a partial electron transfer from Ag to methanol. The newly fabricated Ag/TiO₂-modified photoelectrode could be a promising candidate for photoelectrochemical applications.     

Well-being analysis of GSU transformer insulation incorporating the impact on power generation using fuzzy logic

With the prevailing power scenario, every watt-second of electrical energy has its own merit in satisfying the consumer demand. At the state of such a stringent energy demanding era, failure of a power generation equipment compounds the energy constraints which will not only result in a huge loss of generation but also have an impact on capital revenue. The unexpected failure of generator step-up (GSU) transformer is especially a major disturbance in the power system operation and leads to unscheduled outages with power delivery problems. The time lag in bringing back the equipment in service after rectification or replacement may increase the criticality as the process involves mobilization of spares and maintenance professionals. Hot atmosphere existing in the vicinity of thermal power stations running round-the-clock with more than 100% plant load factor (PLF) increases the thermal stress of the electrical insulation which leads to premature failure of windings, bushings, core laminations, etc. The healthy state of the GSU transformer has to be ensured to minimize the loss of power generation. As the predication related to failure of a GSU transformer is associated with some uncertainties, a fuzzy approach is employed in this paper along with actual field data and case studies for the well-being analysis of GSU transformer.     

Effect of Enzymatic Hydrolysis on the Antioxidant Activity of Red and Green Seaweeds and Characterization of the Active Extracts

In the present study, the effect of enzymatic hydrolysis on the antioxidant activity of three red seaweeds (Chondria cornuta, Chondria dasyphylla, and Murrayella periclados) and two green seaweeds (Cladophora sp. and Ulva lactuca) from the Kuwait coast were evaluated. The seaweeds were hydrolyzed with five carbohydrases and three proteases, and the resulting extracts were tested for antioxidant activity. The total phenolic content and yield of the extracts varied greatly depending upon the species and enzyme used for hydrolysis. Of the 40 enzymatic extracts screened for antioxidant activity, the Viscozyme and Alcalase extracts of M. periclados, Neutrase and Ultraflo extracts of Cladophora sp., and Neutrase extracts of C. cornuta had high antioxidant activity compared to other enzymatic extracts in various in vitro assays. Fractionation of the extracts revealed that the radical scavenging and reducing power of the extracts were mainly due to phenolic fractions. In contrast, the iron-chelating ability was mainly due to protein fractions. The level of prevention of lipid oxidation in the liposome model system varied for different fractions of extracts and did not correlate with total phenolic content and other antioxidant properties. The results of the study show that, by hydrolyzing seaweeds with specific enzymes, customized seaweed extracts with specific bioactivity could be obtained.     

Fabrication of Smart Tantalum Carbide MXene Quantum Dots with Intrinsic Immunomodulatory Properties for Treatment of Allograft Vasculopathy

MXene nanomaterials have sparked significant interest among interdisciplinary researchers to tackle today's medical challenges. In particular, colloidal MXene quantum dots (MQDs) offer the high specific surface area and compositional flexibility of MXene while providing improvements to aqueous stability and material–cell interactions. The current study for the first time reports the development and application of immunoengineered tantalum-carbide (Ta₄C₃T_x) MQDs for in vivo treatment of transplant vasculopathy. This report comes at a critical juncture in the field as poor long-term safety of other MXene compositions challenge the eventual clinical translatability of these materials. Using rational design and synthesis strategies, the Ta₄C₃T_x MQDs leverage the intrinsic anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic properties of tantalum to provide a novel nanoplatform for biomedical engineering. In particular, these MQDs are synthesized with high efficiency and purity using a facile hydrofluoric acid-free protocol and are enriched with different bioactive functional groups and stable surface TaO₂ and Ta₂O₅. Furthermore, MQDs are spontaneously uptaken into antigen-presenting endothelial cells and alter surface receptor expression to reduce their activation of allogeneic T-lymphocytes. Finally, when applied in vivo, Ta₄C₃T_x MQDs ameliorate the cellular and structural changes of early allograft vasculopathy. These findings highlight the robust potential of tailored Ta₄C₃T_x MQDs for future applications in medicine.     

Effect of Cobalt Doping on the Structural,Microstructure and Microwave Dielectric Properties of MgTiO3 Ceramics Prepared by Semi Alkoxide Precursor Method

We report a systematic investigation on crystal structure, microstructure, and microwave dielectric properties of (Mg_1?xCo_x)TiO₃ (x = 0–0.07) ceramics prepared by semialkoxide precursor method. All the as‐made samples exhibit an ilmenite structure with an incredible reduction in sintering temperature from 1350°C to 1200°C. Lattice parameter increases with increasing Co content due to the larger ionic radius of Co²⁺ as compared to Mg²⁺. The relative density, dielectric constant, and Q × f₀ values increase with increasing Co up to 0.05 and decreases for x > 0.05. This is attributed to local lattice distortion, maximum relative density, and uniform grain growth. Q × f₀ values were enhanced from 126 THz for x = 0 to a maximum value 170 THz for x = 0.05. A best combination of microwave dielectric properties (ε_r ~ 17.03, Q × f₀ ~ 170 THz @ 9.4 GHz and τ_f of ?40 ppm/°C) was obtained for (Mg_0.95Co_0.05)TiO₃ ceramic sintered at 1200°C for 3 h. The observed results reveal (Mg_0.95Co_0.05)TiO₃ ceramic as one of the promising dielectric materials for low‐loss and millimeter‐microwave applications.     

A mutual exclusion algorithm with optimally bounded bypasses

Peterson's algorithm [G.L. Peterson, Myths about the mutual exclusion problem, Inform. Process. Lett. 12 (3) (1981) 115-116] for mutual exclusion has been widely studied for its elegance and simplicity. In Peterson's algorithm, each process has to cross n−1 stages to access the shared resource irrespective of the contention for the shared resource at that time, and allows unbounded bypasses. In [K. Block, T.-K. Woo, A more efficient generalization of Peterson's mutual exclusion algorithm, Inform. Process. Lett. 35 (1990) 219-222], Block and Woo proposed a modified algorithm that transforms the number stages to be crossed from fixed n−1 to t, where 1?t?n, and bounds the number of possible bypasses by n(n−1)/2. This paper proposes a simple modification that reduces the bound on the number of possible bypasses to optimal n−1.     

Multimodal of Ear and Face Biometric Recognition Using Adaptive Approach Runge–Kutta Threshold segmentation and Classifier with Score Level Fusion

Wireless Personal Communications - A multimodal biometric system uses more than one biometric methods of an individual to mitigate some of the drawbacks of a unimodal biometric system and improve...     

A fully automated hybrid methodology using Cuckoo‐based fuzzy clustering technique for magnetic resonance brain image segmentation

This article aims at developing an automated hybrid algorithm using Cuckoo Based Search (CBS) and interval type‐2 fuzzy based clustering, so as to exhibit efficient magnetic resonance (MR) brain image segmentation. An automatic MR brain image segmentation facilitates and enables a radiologist to have a brief review and easy analysis of complicated tumor regions of imprecise gray level regions with minimal user interface. The tumor region having severe intensity variations and suffering from poor boundaries are to be detected by the proposed hybrid technique that could ease the process of clinical diagnosis and this tends to be the core subject of this article. The ability of the proposed technique is compared using standard comparison parameters such as mean squared error, peak signal to noise ratio, computational time, Dice Overlap Index, and Jaccard T animoto C oefficient Index. The proposed CBS combined with interval type‐2 fuzzy based clustering produces a sensitivity of 0.7143 and specificity of 0.9375, which are far better than the conventional techniques such as kernel based, entropy based, graph‐cut based, and self‐organizing maps based clustering. Appreciable segmentation results of tumor region that enhances clinical diagnosis is made available through this article and two of the radiologists who have hands on experience in the field of radiology have extended their support in validating the efficiency of the proposed methodology and have given their consent in utilizing the proposed methodology in the processes of clinical oncology.     

Antiviral agent based on the non-structural protein targeting the maturation process of HIV-1: expression and susceptibility of chimeric Vpr as a substrate for cleavage by HIV-1 protease

The processing of precursor proteins (Gag and Gag-pol) by theviral protease is absolutely required in order to generate infectiousparticles. This prompted us to consider novel strategies thattarget viral maturation. Towards this end, we have engineeredan HIV-1 virion associated protein, Vpr, to contain proteasecleavage signal sequences from Gag and Gag-pol precursor proteins.We previously reported that virus particles derived from HIV-1proviral DNA, encoding chimeric Vpr, showed a lack of infectivity,depending on the fusion partner. As an extension of that work,the potential of chimeric Vpr as a substrate for HIV-1 proteasewas tested utilizing an epitope-based assay. Chimeric Vpr moleculeswere modified such that the Flag epitope is removed followingcleavage, thus allowing us to determine the efficiency of proteasecleavage. Following incubation with the protease, the resultantproducts were analyzed by radioimmunoprecipitation using antibodiesdirected against the Flag epitope. Densitometric analysis ofthe autoradiograms showed processing to be both rapid and specific.Further, the analysis of virus particles containing chimericVpr by immunoblot showed reactivities to antibodies againstthe Flag epitope similar to the data observed in vitro. Theseresults suggest that the pseudosubstrate approach may provideanother avenue for developing antiviral agents.