Design,development and testing of an improved multipurpose solar energy device

This paper reports the design, development and testing of an improved multipurpose solar energy device. The novel feature of the device is that it can be used as a solar water heater and solar still simultaneously and, when required, as a solar cabinet dryer by incorporating minor changes.     

An improved solar cooker

An improved hot box type solar cooker (SC-2) has been designed, developed and tested. It is an improvement on the solar cooker SC-1 earlier developed at the institute. The cooking chamber has properly been optimized for cooking the food for a family of five persons. A rubber gasket has been provided at the boundary of the openable door to prevent the leakage of hot air, thus increasing the pressure in the cooking chamber. Different cooking trials like boiling, roasting and baking were successfully conducted and the cooker was found useful from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., even during a winter month. The efficiency of the cooker was found to be 41.2 per cent.     

Covalent immobilization of ascorbate oxidase onto polycarbonate strip for l-ascorbic acid detection

Herein, a simple and rapid method is described for detection of l-ascorbic acid by ascorbate oxidase immobilized onto polycarbonate strip pre-activated by 1-fluoro-2-nitro-4-azidobenzene in photochemical reaction. Covalent attachment of ascorbate oxidase was confirmed by XPS studies. The immobilized-ascorbate oxidase shows higher pH, thermal and storage stability in comparison to free enzyme.     

Adsorption and aggregation of Fe(III)-hydroxy complexes during the photodegradation of phenol using the iron-added-TiO(2) combined system

The behavior of Fe(III) aquacomplexes in TiO(2) suspensions in the degradation of phenol has been investigated. The most active Fe(OH)(2+) species adsorbed on the surface of TiO(2) retards the conversion of Fe(OH)(2+) into oligomers and therefore increases the percentage of Fe(OH)(2+) with irradiation time, with a consequent enhancement in the catalytic cycle of Fe(III)/Fe(II) and excited charge traps by Fe(III) in the iron-TiO(2) system. The influence of iron addition on TiO(2) was obtained when the regeneration of [Fe(OH)(2+)] remained continuous with irradiation time. In an optimum TiO(2) suspension (0.5g/L) with the addition of 0.1mM Fe(III), the measured k(obs) values for phenol degradation were enhanced for the higher adsorption of Fe(OH)(2+) on the reactive surface of TiO(2) at a specified irradiation time.     

Caffeine and ryanodine may act on the plasma membrane of the circular muscle at the flexure region in the guinea-pig colon

The actions of caffeine and ryanodine on the spontaneous rhythmic activities in the guinea-pig colon were studied by mechanical tension recording. Caffeine reduced the amplitude of the spontaneous rhythmic activity at low concentration (0.3 mM-1 mM). At high concentration (3-10 mM), it induced a phasic transient contraction. The spontaneous rhythmic activity and a phasic contraction induced by caffeine, were blocked by verapamil (3 microM) or by removal of external Ca2+. Ryanodine affected neither resting tension nor frequency of spontaneous activity at 1 microM. However in the circular muscle strips pretreated with ryanodine, a sustained contraction was initiated after the removal of caffeine (10 mM). Continuous Ca2+ influx was necessary for spontaneous rhythmic activities and a phasic transient contraction, because it was abolished completely by the removal of external Ca2+, Verapamil (3 microM), a voltage gated L-type Ca2+ channels blocker, inhibited the spontaneous rhythmic activities and also inhibited phasic transit contraction followed by a sustained contraction induced by 10 mM caffeine. Our results suggest that caffeine may produce a sustained contraction by activating verapamil sensitive Ca2+ channel. In the muscle pretreated with both caffeine and ryanodine, continuous Ca2+ influx may occur also through verapamil sensitive pathway.     

Untersuchungen über die Entstehung von Kohlenwasserstoffen in erhitzten gesättigten Fettsäuren und Fettsäureestern

Studies on the Formation of Hydrocarbons in Fatty Acids and Fatty Acid Esters on Heating The investigations on the volatile compounds of the unsaponifiable matter and the steam distillate of heated saturated fatty acids have shown that on heating in the presence of air, along with other substances, hydrocarbons having a chain length 1 to 2 C atoms shorter than the corresponding fatty acids are formed. The splitting proceeds so slowly in the case of esters that even after 4 hrs of heating at 160°C no reaction products could be detected. By heating palmitic acid under the same conditions, except that vacuum was employed, no perceptible quantities of hydrocarbons were found.