Television, Gender, and Labor in the Global City

Situated within a critical, feminist approach to development communication, this study examines the role of television advertising among unskilled female factory laborers in Bangalore, India. Ethnographic fieldwork spanning the summers of 1997 and 2000 showed that factory labor awards the female worker a degree of autonomy and purchasing power in the short term, but denies her long-term empowerment because her labor is fragmented and made dispensable by the very nature of capitalist discipline. Through a discussion of gender, labor, and television in the global city, the analysis concludes that participatory communication and further ethnographic analyses are essential for long-lasting policy and social action.     

An intelligent hybrid approach for hepatitis disease diagnosis: Combining enhanced k‐means clustering and improved ensemble learning

In real world, the automatic detection of liver disease is a challenging problem among medical practitioners. The intent of this work is to propose an intelligent hybrid approach for the diagnosis of hepatitis disease. The diagnosis is performed with the combination of k‐means clustering and improved ensemble‐driven learning. To avoid clinical experience and to reduce the evaluation time, ensemble learning is deployed, which constructs a set of hypotheses by using multiple learners to solve a liver disease problem. The performance analysis of the proposed integrated hybrid system is compared in terms of accuracy, true positive rate, precision, f‐measure, kappa statistic, mean absolute error, and root mean squared error. Simulation results showed that the enhanced k‐means clustering and improved ensemble learning with enhanced adaptive boosting, bagged decision tree, and J48 decision tree‐based intelligent hybrid approach achieved better prediction outcomes than other existing individual and integrated methods.     

Functionalized Reduced Graphene Oxide as a Versatile Tool for Cancer Therapy

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in human history with extremely poor prognosis. Although many traditional therapeutic modalities—such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy—have proved to be successful in inhibiting the growth of tumor cells, their side effects may vastly limited the actual benefits and patient acceptance. In this context, a nanomedicine approach for cancer therapy using functionalized nanomaterial has been gaining ground recently. Considering the ability to carry various anticancer drugs and to act as a photothermal agent, the use of carbon-based nanomaterials for cancer therapy has advanced rapidly. Within those nanomaterials, reduced graphene oxide (rGO), a graphene family 2D carbon nanomaterial, emerged as a good candidate for cancer photothermal therapy due to its excellent photothermal conversion in the near infrared range, large specific surface area for drug loading, as well as functional groups for functionalization with molecules such as photosensitizers, siRNA, ligands, etc. By unique design, multifunctional nanosystems could be designed based on rGO, which are endowed with promising temperature/pH-dependent drug/gene delivery abilities for multimodal cancer therapy. This could be further augmented by additional advantages offered by functionalized rGO, such as high biocompatibility, targeted delivery, and enhanced photothermal effects. Herewith, we first provide an overview of the most effective reducing agents for rGO synthesis via chemical reduction. This was followed by in-depth review of application of functionalized rGO in different cancer treatment modalities such as chemotherapy, photothermal therapy and/or photodynamic therapy, gene therapy, chemotherapy/phototherapy, and photothermal/immunotherapy.     

Physico-Mechanical Properties of Nano Silica-Filled Epoxy-Based Mono and Hybrid Composites for Structural Applications

Silicon - This research article describes the results of nano-silica (nSiO2) filled epoxy (Ep) mono composites with different contents (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 3, and 5 wt.%) and carbon...     

Formation of Zinc–Antimony-Based Spinel Phases

Formation of spinel phases in ZnO–Sb₂O₃and ZnO–Sb₂O₃–Bi₂O₃systems is studied by the use of X-ray diffraction. The formation of nonstoichiometric Zn_2.33Sb_0.67O₄phase is observed in both the systems at ∼900°C. However, in these systems, at higher temperatures ( T ≥ 1100°C), formation of the inverse spinel phase Zn₇Sb₂O₁₂is observed. The study has been extended to understand the effect of CrO₃doping on the stability of the different spinel phases in the previously mentioned systems. Interestingly, in both the systems, samples doped with CrO₃, displayed the presence of Zn_2.33Sb_0.67O₄phase <1200°C, indicating the stabilization of the spinel phase by CrO₃.     

Separation of mixtures and distribution of a liquid on a structured packing in a large-scale model of a distillation column

A large-scale experimental setup is designed to study the hydrodynamic parameters and the mass-transfer efficiency in a countercurrent flow of mixtures of Freon R21 and Freon R114 on structured packings in a column 0.9 m in diameter. The study deals with the local and integral parameters of separation of the mixture, the degrees of nonuniformity of the flow rates and concentration distributions of the liquid and vapor phases over a cross section and on the column wall, and the pressure difference while varying the number of packing layers and their rotation angle. The mass-transfer processes while independently varying the liquid and vapor flow rates over wide ranges are also investigated. Experimental data are presented to illustrate the effect of the operating parameters on the height of an equivalent theoretical plate, the relative pressure difference, and the distributions of the local parameters of the flows.     

Ozone: An Advanced Oxidation Technology for Starch Modification

ABSTRACT

Ozone processing is one of the encouraging non-thermal and bio-friendly techniques in the food processing sector. The applicability of ozone technology in food industry is increasing due to its antimicrobial action and modification of functional properties of the foods. The structural modifications of starches have major applications in the food and bakery industry for producing products with increased shelf life, improved texture, and retention of moisture content. The positive response of ozonation in carboxyl and carbonyl group alters the viscosity of starch molecules. Rheological characteristics like low viscosity even at an increased concentration, desirable binding properties, and film-forming ability have increased its use in the food processing industry. The influence of ozonation in the physicochemical properties is mainly retrogradation and cross-linking of amylose and amylopectin molecules and enzymatic modifications. Ozonation cause change in crystallinity, viscosity, expansion ratio, and gelatinization temperatures. Finally, ozonation induces many possible changes in native starches for the effective utilization in the processing sectors. In this review, starch modifications utilizing ozone and various research achievements and scientific reports focusing on the effect of ozonation in terms of physical, chemical, and thermal properties of native starches and on the possible modifications have been summarized and discussed. In conclusion, ozone is a green technology that can be effectively used as an alternative oxidation technique for starch modification.     

Electrophysiological assessment of primary cortical neurons genetically engineered using iron oxide nanoparticles

The development of safe technologies to genetically modify neurons is of great interest in regenerative neurology,for both translational and basic science applications.Such approaches have conventionally been heavily reliant on viral transduction methods,which have safety and production limitations.Magnetofection (magnet-assisted gene transfer using iron oxide nanoparticles as vectors) has emerged as a highly promising non-viral alternative for safe and reproducible genetic modification of neurons.Despite the high potential of this technology,there is an important gap in our knowledge of the safety of this approach,namely,whether it alters neuronal function in adverse ways,such as by altering neuronal excitability and signaling.We have investigated the effects of magnetofection in primary cortical neurons by examining neuronal excitability using the whole cell patch clamp technique.We found no evidence that magnetofection alters the voltage-dependent sodium and potassium ionic currents that underpin excitability.Our study provides important new data supporting magnetofection as a safe technology for bioengineering of neuronal cell populations.     

Effect of thickness of platinum catalyst clusters on response of SnO2 thin film sensor for LPG

This paper reports the sensing response characteristics of rf-sputtered SnO₂ thin films (90 nm thick) loaded with platinum catalyst cluster of varying thickness (2-20 nm) for LPG detection. The enhanced response (5 × 10³) was obtained for 200 ppm LPG with the presence of 10 nm thin and uniformly distributed Pt catalyst clusters on the surface of SnO₂ thin film at a relatively low operating temperature (220 °C). The high response for LPG is shown to be primarily due to the enhanced catalytic activity for adsorbed oxygen on the surface of SnO₂ thin film besides the spill over mechanism at elevated temperature.     

Investigation on the Effect of ECAP Routes on the Wear Behavior of AA2014

ECAP is an effective process to improve the mechanical strength and wear resistance along with mechanical and microstructural properties. AA2014 solutionized at 495 °C and aged at 195 °C was subjected to Equal Channel Angular Pressed (ECAP) through route A and B_c at room temperature. It was well proved that the mechanical strength increased due to ECAP in AA2014. In order to investigate their wear behavior after ECAP, dry sliding wear tests were conducted using vacuum tribometer at nominal loads of 10N and 30N with constant speed of 2 m/s for sliding distance of 2000 m. The co-efficient of friction and loss in volume were decreased after ECAP both in route A and B_c. The dominant wear mechanisms observed were adhesive, delamination and stick slip process. In addition to these wear mechanisms, abrasive wear also appeared along with transfer of iron particles from the counter surface to the AA2014 pin. Presence of black powder and oxide formation were observed using EDAX analysis on wear debris. Routes A and B_c showed similar wear mechanisms and characteristics which were better than in unECAPed specimens.