Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in Pakistan: Cointegration and Granger causality

The paper is an effort to fill the gap in the energy literature with a comprehensive country study of Pakistan. We investigate the relationship between CO₂ emissions, energy consumption, economic growth and trade openness in Pakistan over the period of 1971–2009. Bounds test for cointegration and Granger causality approach are employed for the empirical analysis. The result suggests that there exists a long-run relationship among the variables and the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is supported. The significant existence of EKC shows the country's effort to condense CO₂ emissions and indicates certain achievement of controlling environmental degradation in Pakistan. Furthermore, we find a one-way causal relationship running from economic growth to CO₂ emissions. Energy consumption increases CO₂ emissions both in the short and long runs. Trade openness reduces CO₂ emissions in the long run but it is insignificant in the short run. In addition, the change of CO₂ emissions from short run to the long span of time is corrected by about 10% yearly.     

Electron-transfer studies with a new flavin adenine dinucleotide dependent glucose dehydrogenase and osmium polymers of different redox potentials

A new extracellular flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent glucose dehydrogenase from Glomerella cingulata (GcGDH) was electrochemically studied as a recognition element in glucose biosensors. The redox enzyme was recombinantly produced in Pichia pastoris and homogeneously purified, and its glucose-oxidizing properties on spectrographic graphite electrodes were investigated. Six different Os polymers, the redox potentials of which ranged in a broad potential window between +15 and +489 mV versus the normal hydrogen electrode (NHE), were used to immobilize and "wire" GcGDH to the spectrographic graphite electrode's surface. The GcGDH/Os polymer modified electrodes were evaluated by chronoamperometry using flow injection analysis. The current response was investigated using a stepwisely increased applied potential. It was observed that the ratio of GcGDH/Os polymer and the overall loading of the enzyme electrode significantly affect the performance of the enzyme electrode for glucose oxidation. The best-suited Os polymer [Os(4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine)(2)(PVI)Cl](+) had a potential of +309 mV versus NHE, and the optimum GcGDH/Os polymer ratio was 1:2 yielding a maximum current density of 493 μA·cm(-2) at a 30 mM glucose concentration.     

Fire retardancy of sol–gel derived titania wood-inorganic composites

Sol–gel technology was applied in tailoring novel wood-made-inorganic composites with improved thermal and fire properties. In practice, composites materials were prepared by impregnating pine sapwood wood with nano-scaled precursor solutions derived from titanium(IV) isopropoxide followed by a thermal curing process. Thermal and fire properties were evaluated by thermal analysis and cone calorimetry, whereas flammability was specified by oxygen index (LOI) and UL 94 test. Peak heat release rates were moderately reduced indicating fire retardance potential in terms of flame spread attributed to the appropriate protection layer action of the titania-based depositions. LOI (oxygen index) values of these composites were increased up to 38 vol.% in comparison to 23 vol.% for untreated wood. The flame retardancy performance depends on the fire scenario and is strongly influenced by wood loading and crack-free deposition of the titania layers inside the composite.     

Unsteady natural convection within a differentially heated enclosure of sinusoidal corrugated side walls

Numerically investigation of natural convection within a differentially heated modified square enclosure with sinusoidally corrugated side walls has been performed for different values of Rayleigh number. The fluid inside the enclosure considered is air and is quiescent, initially. The top and bottom surfaces are flat and considered as adiabatic. Results reveal three main stages: an initial stage, a transitory or oscillatory stage and a steady stage for the development of natural convection flow inside the corrugated cavity. The numerical scheme is based on the finite element method adapted to triangular non-uniform mesh element by a non-linear parametric solution algorithm. Investigation has been performed for the Rayleigh number, Ra ranging from 10⁵ to 10⁸ with variation of corrugation amplitude and frequency. Constant physical properties for the fluid medium have been assumed except for the density where Boussinesq’s approximation has been considered. Results have been presented in terms of the isotherms, streamlines, temperature plots, average Nusselt numbers, traveling waves and thermal boundary layer thickness plots, temperature and velocity profiles. The effects of sudden differential heating and its consequent transient behavior on fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics have been observed for the range of governing parameters. The present results show that the transient phenomena are greatly influenced by the variation of the Rayleigh number with corrugation amplitude and frequency.     

Measurements of 222Rn activity concentration in domestic water sources in Penang, northern peninsular Malaysia

Measurements of (222)Rn activity concentration were carried out in 39 samples collected from the domestic and drinking water sources used in the island and mainland of Penang, northern peninsular, Malaysia. The measured activity concentrations ranged from 7.49 to 26.25 Bq l(-1), 0.49 to 9.72 Bq l(-1) and 0.58 to 2.54 Bq l(-1) in the raw, treated and bottled water samples collected, respectively. This indicated relatively high radon concentrations compared with that from other parts of the world, which still falls below the WHO recommended treatment level of 100 Bq l(-1). From this data, the age-dependent associated committed effective doses due to the ingestion of (222)Rn as a consequence of direct consumption of drinking water were calculated. The committed effective doses from (222)Rn resulting from 1 y's consumption of these water were estimated to range from 0.003 to 0.048, 0.001 to 0.018 and 0.002 to 0.023 mSv y(-1), for age groups 0-1, 2-16 and >16 y, respectively.     

Effect of surfactant treatment on thermal stability and mechanical properties of CNT/polybenzoxazine nanocomposites

The mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties of polybenzoxazine nanocomposites containing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) functionalized with surfactant are studied. The results are specifically compared with the corresponding properties of epoxy-based nanocomposites. The CNTs bring about significant improvements in flexural strength, flexural modulus, storage modulus and glass transition temperature, T_g, of CNT/polybenzoxazine nanocomposites at the expense of impact fracture toughness. The surfactant treatment has a beneficial effect on the improvement of these properties, except the impact toughness, through enhanced CNT dispersion and interfacial interaction. The former four properties are in general higher for the CNT/polybenzoxazine nanocomposites than the epoxy counterparts, and vice versa for the impact toughness. The addition of CNTs has an ameliorating effect of lowering the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of polybenzoxazine nanocomposites in both the regions below and above T_g, whereas the reverse is true for the epoxy nanocomposites. This observation has a particular implication of exploiting the CNT/polybenzoxazine nanocomposites in applications requiring low shrinkage and accurate dimensional control.     

Vertically grown multiwalled carbon nanotube anode and nickel silicide integrated high performance microsized (1.25 μL) microbial fuel cell

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are an environmentally friendly method for water purification and self-sustained electricity generation using microorganisms. Microsized MFCs can also be a useful power source for lab-on-a-chip and similar integrated devices. We fabricated a 1.25 μL microsized MFC containing an anode of vertically aligned, forest type multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a nickel silicide (NiSi) contact area that produced 197 mA/m(2) of current density and 392 mW/m(3) of power density. The MWCNTs increased the anode surface-to-volume ratio, which improved the ability of the microorganisms to couple and transfer electrons to the anode. The use of nickel silicide also helped to boost the output current by providing a low resistance contact area to more efficiently shuttle electrons from the anode out of the device.     

High-Performance UV-Visible-NIR Broad Spectral Photodetectors Based on One-Dimensional In(2)Te(3) Nanostructures

For the first time, high quality In(2)Te(3) nanowires were synthesized via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The synthesized In(2)Te(3) nanowires are single crystals grown along the [132] direction with a uniform diameter of around 150 nm and an average length of tens of micrometers. Further, two kinds of photodetectors made by 1D In(2)Te(3) nanostructures synthesized by CVD and solvothermal (ST) methods respectively were fabricated. To our best knowledge, this is the first time photoresponse properties of In(2)Te(3) nanowire have been studied. The CVD grown nanowire device shows better performance than the ST device, which demonstrates a fast, reversible, and stable photoresponse and also a broad light detection range from 350 nm to 1090 nm, covering the UV-visible-NIR region. The excellent performance of the In(2)Te(3) nanowire photodetectors will enable significant advancements of the next-generation photodetection and photosensing applications.     

A comparison of TiO2 nanoparticles and nanotubes for catalytic gas phase destruction of H2S gas at high temperatures

Reduction of H2S gas over Sulphur doped TiO2 nanoparticles and TiO2 nanotubes was studied in this work. Fixed bed catalytic system was used for the catalytic reduction of H2S gas at a high temperature of 450 degrees C under laboratory conditions. 99.97% reduction was achieved using S-doped TiO2. 2.89% Sulphur was adsorbed on S-doped TiO2 nanoparticles in the form of Ti(SO4)2, while 95.6% reduction was achieved in case of TiO2 nanotubes and the sulphur adsorption was 2.67%. The XRD, SEM, and EDX techniques were carried out to characterize the nanoparticles and nanotubes, while gas reduction analysis was carried out using GC-MS for gas samples.     

Effect of deflocculants on hardness and densification of YSZ–Al2O3 (whiskers & particulates) composites

In the present study effect of deflocculants like P-Aminobenzoic Acid (PABA) and Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) on densification and hardness of 3 mol.% Yttria-stabilized ZrO₂ (abridged as YSZ) + Al₂O₃ (whiskers or particulates) composite have been studied. Maximum hardness & density were achieved at 1 wt% of CTAB or PABA, while further addition (5, 10 and 15 wt%) had no significant affect on the aforementioned properties. It was also observed that alumina addition in form of particulates only improved the density while its addition in form of whiskers significantly increased the hardness of YSZ + alumina composite. The maximum hardness achieved was more than 14 GPa in case of sample containing alumina in form of whiskers.