A Comprehensive Review on Chemotaxonomic and Phytochemical Aspects of Homoisoflavonoids,as Rare Flavonoid Derivatives

Homoisoflavonoids (3-benzylidene-4-chromanones) are considered as an infrequent flavonoid class, possessing multi-beneficial bioactivities. The present study gives an overview on phytochemical aspects of homoisoflavonoids, including utilized plant species, parts, extracts, and separation techniques. Overall, these compounds have mainly been isolated and identified from bulbs and rhizomes of the plants belonging to Asparagaceae and Fabaceae families, particularly the genera of Ophiopogon, Dracaena, Scilla, Polygonatum, and Caesalpinia.     

Violence detection in videos using interest frame extraction and 3D convolutional neural network

Multimedia Tools and Applications - With the rapid development of detecting violent behaviors in surveillance cameras, requests on systems that automatically recognize violent events are expanded....     

Effect of fortification with asparagus powder on the qualitative properties of processed cheese

The qualitative properties of processed cheese (PC) fortified with different levels of asparagus powder (AP) (0.5%, 1% and 1.5% wt/wt) were evaluated during storage. AP decreased the pH and lipolysis indexes and increased the phenolic content, antioxidant activity and proteolysis of the processed cheeses. AP made the structure of the cheese more elastic, increased the rigidity and decreased the spreadability compared with the control sample, which corresponded to the results obtained using dynamic oscillatory rheometry. The results showed that AP as a rich source of bioactive components could be used for the fortification of processed cheeses.     

Maximizing learning without sacrificing the fun: Stealth assessment,adaptivity and learning supports in educational games

In this study, we investigated the validity of a stealth assessment of physics understanding in an educational game, as well as the effectiveness of different game-level delivery methods and various in-game supports on learning. Using a game called Physics Playground, we randomly assigned 263 ninth- to eleventh-grade students into four groups: adaptive, linear, free choice and no-treatment control. Each condition had access to the same in-game learning supports during gameplay. Results showed that: (a) the stealth assessment estimates of physics understanding were valid—significantly correlating with the external physics test scores; (b) there was no significant effect of game-level delivery method on students' learning; and (c) physics animations were the most effective (among eight supports tested) in predicting both learning outcome and in-game performance (e.g. number of game levels solved). We included student enjoyment, gender and ethnicity in our analyses as moderators to further investigate the research questions.     

Theoretical and experimental analyses of rheological,compatibility and mechanical properties of PVMQ/XNBR-g GMA/XNBR/GO ternary hybrid nanocomposites

Iranian Polymer Journal - Effects of graphene oxide (GO) on various properties of rubber hybrid nanocomposites based on PVMQ/XNBR-g-GMA/XNBR (phenyl-vinyl-methyl-polysiloxane/carboxylated nitrile...     

Design,Facile Synthesis and Characterization of Porphyrin-Zirconium-Ferrite@SiO2 Core-Shell and Catalytic Application in Cyclohexane Oxidation

Silicon - In this study, a new magnetic ZrFe2O4@SiO2-TCPP nanocatalyst with high efficiency was used for the oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanone (Ke) and cyclohexanol (Al). The mesoporous...     

Carbon nanotube based miniaturized electron gun and column assembly

We report on the application of silicon micromachining for the fabrication of miniaturized electron gun (MEG) assembly using vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. The proposed MEG consists of two main parts of electron gun and the accelerating column. While the electron gun consists of carbon nanotubes grown on a silicon substrate acting as an electron emission source, the accelerating column is made of micromachined silicon wafers with 5 μm thick membranes operating as objective lenses. These two wafers are placed together and sealed using a three-dimensional packaging technique. The simulation and experimental results show the evolution of a narrow electron beam by applying a proper voltage to the anodes and objective lens. The diverging and focusing of the beam can be controlled by applying the proper voltage on electrostatic lenses. This structure could be suitable for low energy SEM devices and surface physics applications.     

Synthesis and characterization of hydrophilic nanocomposite coating on glass substrate

Hydrophilic coatings based on 3‐glicidoxy propyl trimethoxy silane (GPTMS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were prepared with the incorporation of tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) and silica nanoparticle colloidal suspension by a sol–gel process. Characterization of the coatings has been performed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Attenuated Total Reflectance Infrared (ATR‐IR) techniques. Morphological properties were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The distribution of Si atoms in the hybrid system was obtained by Si mapping. The particle size in sol solution of the coating was measured by light scattering analyzer. Optical properties were characterized by using UV–vis spectrophotometer. The hydrophilicity of the coating was determined by contact angle measurements, and also the results have been confirmed by surface energy and water uptake investigations. The obtained results indicate that the surfactants affected the contact angles remarkably but did not change the transparency. It has been found that applying silica nano particles leads to coatings with different properties than those using TMOS, while siloxane contents were the same in these two set of coatings. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 5322–5329, 2006     

Estimation of the critical properties of compounds using volume-based thermodynamics

The importance, yet scarcity of the critical constants of thermally unstable fluids warrants the development of reliable methods for the estimation of these essential thermodynamic properties. A thorough investigation undertaken in this study on 1,589 compounds belonging to 83 chemical classes, indicated that the ratio of critical temperature to critical pressure of both low and high molecular weight compounds could be well expressed in terms of their volumetric properties. In addition, two new methodologies are presented for estimating V_c, as well as an indirect approach for prediction of T_c from surface tension data, altogether allowing the calculation of Z_c. Moreover, comparative studies are made with five group contribution methods. It is also demonstrated that by employing the Peng-Robinson EOS, and without prior knowledge of the critical properties, it is possible to calculate various thermophysical properties including P^sat., T_b, , ∆H^vap. , C_p, and even the T_c and P_c themselves.     

High strain electromechanical actuators based on electrodeposited polypyrrole doped with di-(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate

The low-voltage electromechanical actuation of polypyrrole (PPy) doped with di-(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (DEHS) has been investigated. The PPy-DEHS has been prepared both chemically (cast as films from solution) and by more conventional electrochemical polymerization. Very large strains of ∼30% were obtained during slow-scan redox cycling of the electrochemically prepared PPy-DEHS films. In constrast, PPy-DEHS films cast from solutions of the chemically polymerized polymer gave actuation strains of ∼2.5%. The polymerization method was also found to have a significant effect on the structure, conductivity and mechanical properties of the PPy-DEHS materials. The conductivity of the electrochemically polymerized PPy-DEHS was 75 S cm⁻¹, considerably higher than that found for the chemically derived polymer (7 S cm⁻¹). The structure of the PPy-DEHS was further elucidated from UV-vis, Raman and FT-IR spectral studies which indicated that the conjugation length of the PPy could be increased significantly by varying the polymerization method. Films obtained by casting chemically prepared PPy-DEHS showed higher modulus (2.3 GPa) than electropolymerized PPy-DEHS (0.6 GPa), but were more brittle. Both materials were electroactive in acetonitrile/water electrolyte. The higher actuation strain observed in the electrochemically prepared films was attributed to a more open molecular structure (as indicated by the lower modulus) allowing for easier ion diffusion and a higher conductivity allowing easier charge transfer.