Microwave-assisted urea-modified sorghum biomass for Cr (III) elimination from aqueous solutions

The present study concentrated on the use of an agro-waste biodegradable sorghum biomass in its simple and modified forms for the binding of Cr (III) ions. A relatively new method of modification was adopted using urea under microwave irradiation. FTIR analysis showed the presence of oxygen and nitrogen bearing functional groups in unmodified (UMS) and modified (MS) sorghum biomass. The appearance of new bands and shifts in the peaks confirmed the modification. The influence of different process parameters such as the adsorbent dose, solution pH, contact time, agitation speed and initial metal ion concentration was studied thoroughly to evaluate optimum conditions for adsorption. Maximum adsorption for Cr (III) ions occurred at pH 5.0–6.0 using UMS and MS. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models in a non-linear fashion were used to explain the phenomenon. Maximum adsorption capacity was 7.03 and 16.36 mg of Cr (III) per gram of UMS and MS, respectively. Adsorption mechanism was explored by pseudo-first- and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, and it was found that the process followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. Thermodynamic study indicated the process favorability. The study concluded that urea modification under microwave irradiation produces a non-toxic and more effective adsorbent for Cr (III) remediation by inducing new nitrogen bearing functional groups to sorghum biomass.     

Al2O3/Yttria‐Stabilized Zirconia Hollow‐Fiber Membrane Incorporated with Iron Oxide for Pb(II) Removal

Removal by absorptive ceramic membranes can simultaneously absorb and separate metal ions from water. Alumina/yttria‐stabilized zirconia (Al₂O₃/YSZ) hollow‐fiber membranes, fabricated using phase inversion and sintering process, were deposited with iron oxide by an in‐situ hydrothermal process. The results showed that α‐Fe₂O₃ was produced and incorporated across the membranes. A reduction in flux was recorded with the deposition of α‐Fe₂O_3. However, it improved the adsorption capacity for heavy metal adsorption. The adsorption‐separation test demonstrated that the optimized membrane is able to completely remove Pb(II) ions after two hours.     

Metal Drain Double-Gate Tunnel Field Effect Transistor with Underlap: Design and Simulation

Silicon - In this paper, we propose and simulate a novel double gate tunnel field effect transistor (DG-TFET) employing a metallic drain and a gate-drain underlap. The use of a metallic drain and...     

Technical Relevance of Polymer/Cement/Carbon Nanotube Composite: Opportunities and Challenges

The polymer/cement/carbon nanotube composites are known for piezoelectric properties in intelligent structures. Polymers are also used to fulfill deficiencies in carbon nanotube/cement mortars. High-impact polystyrene has replaced sand to enhanced properties like energy consumption, waste disposal, and environmental pollution. Spray-applied fire-resistive material in engineered cementitious composite may overcome drawbacks of conventional brittle composite. Carbon nanotube is used as nanofillers in ordinary Portland cement due to superior mechanical properties. Cementitious polymer/carbon nanotube composite has potential to determine heat-dependent and self-sensing capacity of composites. Smart properties of composites are measured using conductivity measurement. Polymers are also used for making better carbon nanotube dispersion.     

Influence and comparison of emerging techniques of yarn manufacturing on physical–mechanical properties of polyester-/cotton-blended yarns and their woven fabrics

Abstract

In this study, the physical–mechanical properties of ring spun, ring compact, rotor and air-vortex yarns were investigated. The study was carried with yarn having linear densities of 24.4 tex and 36.7 tex, which were then converted to woven fabrics. The ring spun yarns have higher values of strength but also with higher strength irregularities. Extra-ordinarily low hairiness was observed in air-vortex yarns due to its unique yarn formation technique. The deviation rate (DR) of yarns have correlation with the mass spectrogram of respective yarns obtained from USTER Tester 5. Rotor and air-vortex yarns exhibited higher coefficient of friction. The woven fabrics made from ring spun yarns exhibited higher tensile and tear strength with higher elongation at break. The fabrics made from air-vortex yarns have very good pilling grade due to less protruding fibres on their surface and good structural integrity.     

One-step synthesis of the 3D flower-like heterostructure MoS2/CuS nanohybrid for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

In this work, a facile one-step hydrothermal method was developed to fabricate three types different of nanomaterials: the two-dimension (2D) of MoS₂ nanosheets; 3D spherical CuS nanoparticles; and 3D flower-like heterostructure of MoS₂/CuS nanohybrid, respectively. The as-synthesized MoS₂, CuS and MoS₂/CuS were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) etc. The morphology of the MoS₂/CuS nanohybrid is different from the MoS₂ nanosheets and CuS nanoparticles. The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity of MoS₂ nanosheets, CuS nanoparticles and MoS₂/CuS nanohybrid, were investigated by the Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV) and Tafel slope. The HER activity of MoS₂/CuS nanohybrid is better than those of MoS₂ nanosheets and CuS nanoparticles, which can be attributed to the good electron-transport ability of CuS and the strong reduction ability of hydrogen ions by MoS₂. Thus, MoS₂/CuS nanohybrid exhibited excellent activity for HER with a small onset potential of 0.15 V, a low Tafel slope of 63 mV dec^?1, and relatively good stability. However, the MoS₂ nanosheets and CuS nanoparticles respectively shows a bigger onset potential of 0.25 V and 0.35 V, a higher Tafel slope of 165 and 185 mV dec^?1. This 3D flower-like heterostructure of MoS₂/CuS nanohybrid catalyst exhibits great potential for renewable energy applications.     

Pd nanoparticles immobilized on magnetic carbon dots@Fe3O4 nanocubes as a synergistic catalyst for hydrogen generation

In this work, a cube-like Pd/carbon dots@Fe₃O₄ (Pd/C-dots@Fe₃O₄) hybrid material has been successfully prepared through a facile ultrasonic assisted chemical reduction method, and used as a highly efficient catalyst for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of NaBH₄ in alkaline media. It is found that the small Pd nanoparticles (NPs) are uniform and well dispersed on the surface of C-dots@Fe₃O₄ nanocubes (NCs). Benefiting from the advantages of the unique cube-like structure, the super conductivity of carbon dots (C-dots) and the synergistic effect between Pd NPs and C-dots@Fe₃O₄ support, Pd/C-dots@Fe₃O₄ NCs exhibits the highest catalytic performance among all the as-prepared samples. The possible reaction mechanism is discussed. Furthermore, the effects of reaction temperature, NaBH₄ concentration and NaOH concentration on the catalytic activity of Pd/C-dots@Fe₃O₄ NCs are studied. Besides, the magnetic properties of Pd/C-dots@Fe₃O₄ NCs can achieve effective momentum transfer with the assistance of the external magnetic field, and a higher catalytic activity is observed for Pd/C-dots@Fe₃O₄ NCs in self-stirring mode than in magnetic-stirring mode. This novel catalyst also exhibits good stability and can be easily separated by a magnet, showing great potential for renewable energy applications.     

A comprehensive survey of network coding in vehicular ad-hoc networks

Network coding is a data processing technique in which the flow of digital data is optimized in a network by transmitting a composite of two or more messages to make the network more robust. Network coding has been used in traditional and emerging wireless networks to overcome the communications issues of these networks. It also plays an important role in the area of vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) to meet the challenges like high mobility, rapidly changing topology, and intermittent connectivity. VANETs consist of network of vehicles in which they communicate with each other to ensure road safety, free flow of traffic, and ease of journey for the passengers. It is now considered to be the most valuable concept for improving efficiency and safety of future transportation. However, this field has a lot of challenges to deal with. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of network coding schemes in VANETs. We have classified different applications like content distribution, multimedia streaming, cooperative downloading, data dissemination, and summarized other key areas of VANETs in which network coding schemes are implemented. This research work will provide a clear understanding to the readers about how network coding is implemented in these schemes in VANETs to improve performance, reduce delay, and make the network more efficient.     

Automated detection of exudates and macula for grading of diabetic macular edema

Medical systems based on state of the art image processing and pattern recognition techniques are very common now a day. These systems are of prime interest to provide basic health care facilities to patients and support to doctors. Diabetic macular edema is one of the retinal abnormalities in which diabetic patient suffers from severe vision loss due to affected macula. It affects the central vision of the person and causes total blindness in severe cases. In this article, we propose an intelligent system for detection and grading of macular edema to assist the ophthalmologists in early and automated detection of the disease. The proposed system consists of a novel method for accurate detection of macula using a detailed feature set and Gaussian mixtures model based classifier. We also present a new hybrid classifier as an ensemble of Gaussian mixture model and support vector machine for improved exudate detection even in the presence of other bright lesions which eventually leads to reliable classification of input retinal image in different stages of macular edema. The statistical analysis and comparative evaluation of proposed system with existing methods are performed on publicly available standard retinal image databases. The proposed system has achieved average value of 97.3%, 95.9% and 96.8% for sensitivity, specificity and accuracy respectively on both databases.