Electrical properties of dye‐doped colour tunable organic light emitting diode

In this work, we report on the electrical properties of dye‐doped colour tunable organic light‐emitting diode (OLED). The device structure is glass substrate/indium tin oxide/N,N′‐di(naphthalen‐1‐yl)‐N,N′‐diphenyl‐benzidine (NPB) 30 nm/Alq₃:DCM 50 nm/Aluminum (Al) 150 nm where NPB is the hole transport layer. Alq₃:DCM is the emitting layer which made of tris(8‐hydroxyquinoline) aluminium (Alq₃) doped with 4‐(Dicyanomethylene)‐2‐methyl‐6‐(4‐dimethyl‐aminostyryl)‐4H‐pyran (DCM) organic dye. The influence of doping concentration has been investigated by current density–voltage measurement, luminance intensity–voltage characteristic, electroluminescence (EL) and impedance spectroscopy, respectively. The EL spectrum exhibits the shifted of peak position from green to red region. The threshold voltage of the device decreased at the low DCM doping concentration (1 wt.%), in contrast, when the increase in the doping concentrations then the threshold voltage will be increased. The highest luminance intensity and lowest turn‐on voltage of OLED can be observed at doping concentration about of 1 wt.% of DCM. The impedance characteristics of the dye‐doped OLED can be modelled by simply adopting the conventional equivalent circuit with the simple combination of resistors and capacitors network. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering     

Role of the Basal Ganglia in Category Learning: How Do Patients With Parkinson's Disease Learn?

The purpose of the present study was to gain a deeper understanding of the role of the basal ganglia in learning and memory by examining learning strategies among patients with basal ganglia dysfunction. Using a probabilistic category learning task (the "weather prediction" task) previously shown to be sensitive to basal ganglia function, the authors examined patterns of performance during learning and used mathematical models to capture different learning strategies. Results showed that patients with Parkinson's disease exhibit different patterns of strategy use. Specifically, most controls initially used a simple, but suboptimal, strategy that focused on single-cue-outcome associations; eventually, however, most controls adopted a more complex, optimal learning strategy, integrating single-cue associations to predict outcomes for multiple-cue stimuli. In contrast, the majority of individuals with Parkinson's disease continued to rely on simple single-cue learning strategies throughout the experiment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physicochemical properties of amphotericin B liposomes prepared by reverse-phase evaporation method

The physicochemical properties of phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol liposomes containing amphotericin B and prepared by reverse-phase evaporation method were studied. Uniformly dispersed liposomal suspensions were obtained by employing 3:1 ratio (by volume) of diethyl ether to normal saline, 5 min sonication time at 7°C, and evaporation of diethyl ether at 25°C. Microscopic examination showed that the prepared liposomes were spheroids with unilamellar, oligolamellar, or multilamellar structure. The liposomes containing amphotericin B 2.0 mol% of total lipid led to the highest percentage of drug entrapment. Liposomes with maximum entrapment efficiency were obtained from using 250 µmol of total lipid. The liposomal amphotericin B possessing the highest drug entrapment efficiency (approximately 95%) with particle size range of 1307-1451 nm was the one composed of 1:1 molar ratio of phosphatidylcholine to cholesterol.     

Improved performance and stability of direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFCs) with porous polypyrrole support

Journal of Porous Materials - This work focused on the development of a method to fabricate a multilayer macro/mesoporous polypyrrole (PPPr) support to provide a high surface area for catalyst...     

Antioxidant Enzymatic Activities and Gene Expression Associated with Heat Tolerance in the Stems and Roots of Two Cucurbit Species (“Cucurbita maxima” and “Cucurbita moschata”) and Their Interspecific Inbred Line “Maxchata”

The elucidation of heat tolerance mechanisms is required to combat the challenges of global warming. This study aimed to determine the antioxidant enzyme responses to heat stress, at the enzymatic activity and gene expression levels, and to investigate the antioxidative alterations associated with heat tolerance in the stems and roots of squashes using three genotypes differing in heat tolerance. Plants of heat-tolerant “C. moschata”, thermolabile “C. maxima” and moderately heat-tolerant interspecific inbred line “Maxchata” genotypes were exposed to moderate (37 °C) and severe (42 °C) heat shocks. “C. moschata” exhibited comparatively little oxidative damage, with the lowest hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), superoxide (O₂⁻) and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents in the roots compared to stems, followed by “Maxchata”. The enzyme activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) were found to be increased with heat stress in tolerant genotypes. The significant inductions of FeSOD, MnSOD, APX2, CAT1 and CAT3 isoforms in tolerant genotypes suggested their participation in heat tolerance. The differential isoform patterns of SOD, APX and CAT between stems and roots also indicated their tissue specificity. Furthermore, despite the sequence similarity of the studied antioxidant genes among “C. maxima” and “Maxchata”, most of these genes were highly induced under heat stress in “Maxchata”, which contributed to its heat tolerance. This phenomenon also indicated the involvement of other unknown genetic and/or epigenetic factors in controlling the expression of these antioxidant genes in squashes, which demands further exploration.     

Comparison of performances of pulsed and conventional fluidised-bed dryers

Consumption of energy, outlet moisture content and quality of the dried commodity are important parameters of paddy-dryer performance. The fluidised-bed paddy-dryer has been commercialised for several years and in this paper, paddy drying by pulsed and conventional fluidised-bed dryers are compared. Experimental results have shown that the variation of moisture content at the exits of both dryer types in test runs was very small. Heat utilisation was more effective when such dryers were used to dry paddy at moisture contents above 24% dry basis and up to 50% of the thermal energy was saved by recycling 70–80% of the air. Paddy qualities i.e. head-rice yield and colour of the dried white rice were similar with both dryers and almost the same as the original undried values, or slightly higher in the case of head-rice yield, depending upon the drying conditions. Below 28% dry basis, it is recommended that inlet-air temperature should be lower than 145 °C in order to maintain white colour. The cooked rice obtained from paddy dried at a temperature of 145 °C was harder than naturally dried control samples. A mathematical model based on energy and mass balance predicted values in good agreement with experimental results for both the pulsed and conventional fluidised-bed dryers. Calculated thermal and electrical energy consumptions indicated that the pulsed flow dryer was more economical than the conventional dryer.     

Natural volatile treatments increase free‐radical scavenging capacity of strawberries and blackberries

Free‐radical scavenging capacities of strawberries and blackberries treated with methyl jasmonate (MJ), allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), essential oil of Melaleuca alternifolia (tea‐tree oil or TTO), and ethanol (EtOH) were investigated. All of these natural volatiles tested reduced the severity of decay in both strawberries and blackberries during storage at 10 °C as compared to the control. Most of these compounds enhanced antioxidant capacity and free‐radical scavenging capacity, except the AITC treatment. The MJ treatment for strawberries and blackberries had the highest antioxidant capacity, expressed as oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values, after 7 days of storage. Moreover, the MJ treatment promoted the antioxidant capacity in strawberries and blackberries as measured by the radical 2,2‐di (4‐tert‐octylphenyl) ‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and the radical cation 2,2′‐azinobis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS^?+) scavenging activity in both 7 and 14 days after storage. The MJ treatment also increased scavenging capacities on the superoxide radical (O₂^??), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), hydroxyl radical (^?OH), and singlet oxygen (¹O₂) in strawberries and blackberries. Treatment with TTO or EtOH enhanced most of these free‐radical scavenging capacities, except for H₂O₂ in strawberries, and for O₂^?? and ¹O₂ in blackberries. These results indicated that all of the natural volatile compounds tested in this study, except AITC, promoted the antioxidant capacity and scavenging capacity of most major free radicals and, thus, helped to improve the physiology of berry fruits and enhanced their resistance to decay. While AITC was also very effective in reducing decay, its effect on free‐radical scavenging capacity was inconsistent, suggesting that additional mechanisms may be involved in its inhibition of fungal growth. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Improved photocatalytic activity of surface charge functionalized ZnO nanoparticles using aniline

Functionalization of aniline molecules on zinc oxide(ZnO)nanoparticles is reported using a simple impregnation technique.Functionalized ZnO samples were systematically characterized based on mor-phology,surface and optical properties,and photocatalytic performance towards methyl orange(MO).Aniline functionalization increased the surface charge of the modified ZnO.Compared to pristine ZnO,the aniline-functionalized ZnO yielded faster photodegradation of MO,degrading 98.29％ of MO in 60 min and superoxide radicals were the major species during the MO photodegradation reaction.These results indi-cate that the improvement of photocatalytic degradation could be attributed to opposite charge-induced surface adsorption.Hence,protonated amine as a positively charged molecule was expected to increase the surface adsorption of MO(as an anionic dye)on ZnO nanoparticles surfaces,thereby increasing their photocatalvtic degradation performance.