Biomimetic synthesis and anticancer activity of Eurycoma longifolia branch extract‐mediated silver nanoparticles

In the present study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesised by adding 1 mM Ag nitrate solution to different concentrations (1%, 2.5%, 5%) of branch extracts of Eurycoma longifolia, a well known medicinal plant in South–East Asian countries. Characterisation of AgNPs was carried out using techniques such as ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry, X‐ray diffractrometry, Fourier transform infrared–attenuated total reflection spectroscopy (FTIR–ATR), scanning electron microscopy. XRD analysis revealed face centre cubic structure of AgNPs and FTIR–ATR showed that primary and secondary amide groups in combination with the protein molecules present in the branch extract were responsible for the reduction and stabilisation of AgNPs. Furthermore, antioxidant [2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl and 2,2′‐Azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzthiazoline‐6‐sulphonic acid)], antimicrobial and anticancer activities of AgNPs were investigated. The highest bactericidal activity of these biogenic AgNPs was found against Escherichia coli with zone inhibition of 11 mm. AgNPs exhibited significant anticancer activity against human glioma cells (DBTRG and U87) and human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF‐7 and MDA‐MB‐231) with IC₅₀ values of 33, 42, 60 and 38 µg/ml.Inspec keywords: biomimetics, cancer, antibacterial activity, nanoparticles, silver, microorganisms, cellular biophysics, biomedical materials, nanomedicine, nanofabrication, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra, attenuated total reflection, ultraviolet spectra, visible spectra, proteins, molecular biophysics, biochemistryOther keywords: Biomimetic synthesis, anticancer activity, Eurycoma longifolia branch extract‐mediated silver nanoparticles, nitrate solution, medicinal plant, ultraviolet‐visible spectrophotometry, X‐ray diffractometry, Fourier transform infrared‐attenuated total reflection spectroscopy, FTIR‐ATR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, XRD, face centre cubic structure, primary amide groups, secondary amide groups, protein molecules, antioxidant, 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl, 2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzthiazoline‐6‐sulphonic acid), antimicrobial activity, bactericidal activity, biogenic silver nanoparticles, Escherichia coli, zone inhibition, DBTRG human glioma cells, U87 human glioma cells, MCF‐7 human breast adenocarcinoma cells, MDA‐MB‐231 human breast adenocarcinoma cells, Ag     

A real time marking inspection scheme for semiconductor industries

The deformation and densification behaviour of sintered hypo-eutectoid steel ring preforms with carbon contents of 0.35% and 0.65%, under cold axial deformations, have been studied in order to understand the influence of various forming parameters such as flow stress and percentage axial height reduction on the densification process. Four different conditions of material deformations, namely, pure upsetting, deformation constrained along radial inward direction, deformation constrained along radially outward direction and, finally, deformation of material and pores constrained along both inward and outward radial directions have been applied during the axial cold forming tests. Results of the investigations have established that highest densification rate is achieved in rings subjected to the most severe flow constraint of fully restrained radial flow, at comparatively lower levels of axial deformations. Both carbon content and initial sintered ring geometry are also found to influence the deformation as well as densification rates during the cold forming process. Ring preforms of lower initial geometry, namely, 6:3:2 exhibit better densification rates irrespective of the mode of flow, but require lesser flow stress values, compared to those of initial geometry of 6:3:4. The densification process is observed to follow an almost linear trend in the case of fully constrained axial deformation, whereas, under less severe flow constraints, the same is observed to follow second or third order polynomials.     

Development of a personified face emotion recognition technique using fitness function

In this article, two subjects, one South East Asian (SEA) and the other Japanese, are considered for face emotion recognition using a genetic algorithm (GA). The parameters relating the face emotions in each case are entirely different. All six universally accepted emotions and one neutral are considered for each subject. Eyes and lips are usually considered as the features for recognizing emotions. This paper has two parts. The first part investigates a set of image processing methods suitable for recognizing face emotion. The acquired images have gone through a few preprocessing methods such as gray-scale, histogram equalization, and filtering. The edge detection has to be sufficiently successful even when the light intensity is uneven. So, to overcome this problem, the histogram-equalized image has been split into two regions of interest (ROI): the eye and lip regions. The two regions have been applied with the same preprocessing methods, but with different threshold values. It was found that the Sobel edge detection method performed very well in segmenting the image. Three feature extraction methods are considered, and their respective performances are compared. The method which is fastest in extracting eye features is adopted. The second part of the paper discusses the way to recognize emotions from eye features alone. Observation of various emotions of the two subjects lead to an unique eye characteristic, that is, the eye exhibits ellipses of different parameters in each emotion. The GA is adopted to optimize the ellipse characteristics of the eye features in each emotion based on an ellipse-based fitness function. This has shown successful emotion classifications, and a comparison is made on the emotions of each subject.     

Exploiting pyrolysis protocols on BTDA-TDI/MDI (P84) polyimide/nanocrystalline cellulose carbon membrane for gas separations

Tubular carbon membranes were fabricated by the blending of BTDA-TDI/MDI (P84) polyimide with nanocrystalline cellulose in a controlled pyrolysis process, specifically the pyrolysis environment (He, Ar, and N₂) and the thermal soak time (30–120 min). The carbon membrane layer on a tubular support is converted to carbon matrix at 800 °C with a heating rate of 3 °C min⁻¹. The effects of these controlled pyrolysis conditions on the gas permeation properties have been investigated. The results revealed that the pyrolysis under Ar gas environment at 120 min of thermal soak time have the best gas permeation performance with the highest CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 68.2 ± 3.3 and CO₂ permeance of 213.6 ± 2.2 GPU. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 46901.     

One Shot of the Hydrothermal Route for the Synthesis of Zeolite LTA Using Kaolin

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - The zeolite LTA (Z-LTA) was successfully produced from the synthesis of kaolin and well-crystallized using a hydrothermal method....