Effects of fiber surface grafting by functionalized carbon nanotubes on the interfacial durability during cryogenic testing and conditioning of CFRP composites

Carbon fiber reinforced epoxy (CE) composite is ideal for a cryogenic fuel storage tank in space applications due to its unmatched specific strength and modulus. In this article, inter-laminar shear strength (ILSS) of carbon fiber/epoxy (CE) composite is shown to be considerably improved by engineering the interface with carboxyl functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube (FCNT) using electrophoretic deposition technique. FCNT deposited fibers from different bath concentrations (0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 g/L) were used to fabricate the laminates, which were then tested at room (30°C) and in-situ liquid nitrogen (LN) (−196°C) temperature as well as conditioning for different time durations (0.25, 0.5, 1, 6, and 12 h) followed by immediate RT testing to study the applicability of these engineered materials at the cryogenic environment. A maximum increment in ILSS was noticed at bath concentration of 0.5 g/L, which was ~21% and ~ 17% higher than neat composite at 30°C and − 196°C, respectively. Short-term LN conditioning was found to be detrimental due to developed cryogenic shock, which was further found to be compensated by cryogenic interfacial clamping upon long-term exposure.     

Design of a Variable Depth Axially Corrugated Horn Antenna at X-Band for Low Cross-Polarization Applications

Wireless Personal Communications - This paper presents a study of a class of iris localization algorithms in the presence of blurring. The effect of blurring is a serious problem in most image...     

Energy-Aware WBAN for Health Monitoring Using Critical Data Routing (CDR)

Wireless Personal Communications - Wireless body area network (WBAN) is the subfield of Wireless Sensor Network, employs in the area of monitoring the health of the patient. WBAN is also known as...     

An overview of optical flow-based approaches for motion segmentation

The goal of motion segmentation is to segregate a visual scene into independently moving objects. It is an indispensable pre-processing step for various tasks in computer vision and has evolved as an active and flourishing research area in the last few decades. In the sequences captured using a monocular camera, motion segmentation is typically performed by analyzing apparent motion of pixels in the image plane, i.e. the optical flow. Optical flow is generally contemplated as an appropriate representation of image motion. Numerous techniques for reliable flow estimation and subsequent advancements in their framework have been proposed in the last couple of decades and are outlined briefly in this work. The paper attempts to give a summary of diverse optical flow-based approaches used for robust segmentation of static or dynamic scenes containing rigidly moving objects and discusses in brief the shortcomings associated with them.     

Antibacterial,anticancer and antioxidant potential of silver nanoparticles engineered using Trigonella foenum‐graecum seed extract

In this study, the authors report a simple and eco‐friendly method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Trigonella foenum‐graecum (TFG) seed extract. They explored several parameters dictating the biosynthesis of TFG‐AgNPs such as reaction time, temperature, concentration of AgNO₃, and TFG extract amount. Physicochemical characterisation of TFG‐AgNPs was done on dynamic light scattering (DLS), field emission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The size determination studies using DLS revealed of TFG‐AgNPs size between 95 and 110 nm. The antibacterial activity was studied against Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The biosynthesised TFG‐AgNPs showed remarkable anticancer efficacy against skin cancer cell line, A431 and also exhibited significant antioxidant efficacy.Inspec keywords: antibacterial activity, cancer, biomedical materials, silver, nanofabrication, nanomedicine, nanoparticles, microorganisms, skin, cellular biophysics, biochemistry, light scattering, X‐ray chemical analysis, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra, particle sizeOther keywords: antibacterial potential, anticancer potential, antioxidant potential, silver nanoparticles, Trigonella foenum‐graecum seed extract, eco‐friendly method, biosynthesis, reaction time, AgNO₃ concentration, TFG extract amount, physicochemical characterisation, dynamic light scattering, field emission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, size determination, TFG‐AgNPs size, Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, skin cancer cell line A431, Ag     

Molecular dynamics simulations of matrix assisted laser desorption ionization: Matrix-analyte interactions

There is synergy between matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. To understand analyte ejection from the matrix, MD simulations have been employed. Prior calculations show that the ejected analyte molecules remain solvated by the matrix molecules in the ablated plume. In contrast, the experimental data show free analyte ions. The main idea of this work is that analyte molecule ejection may depend on the microscopic details of analyte interaction with the matrix. Intermolecular matrix-analyte interactions have been studied by focusing on 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB; matrix) and amino acids (AA; analyte) using Chemistry at HARvard Molecular Mechanics (CHARMM) force field. A series of AA molecules have been studied to analyze the DHB-AA interaction. A relative scale of AA molecule affinity towards DHB has been developed.     

Exploiting the bioactive properties of essential oils and their potential applications in food industry

Food Science and Biotechnology - Fruits are an abundant source of minerals and nutrients. High nutritional value and easy-to-consume property have increased its demand. In a way to fulfil this...     

Correction to: Energy-Aware WBAN for Health Monitoring Using Critical Data Routing (CDR)

Wireless Personal Communications - In the original article, the captions to Figs. 4 and 5 were incorrect and incomplete, respectively. They should read as follows.     

Development of non-leaching antibacterial coatings through quaternary ammonium salts of styrene based copolymers

Non-leaching antibacterial coatings through quaternary ammonium salts containing polymers were successfully produced in a facile way to provide infection resistant surfaces against multi drug resistant bacteria such as B. licheniformis. In order to do so, a series of random copolymers of styrene (S) and vinyl benzyl chloride (VBC) were synthesized by free radical polymerization technique and subsequently, VBC (V) was functionalized with N,N-dimethylhexadecylamine to introduce quaternary ammonium (QA) salts in the backbone of the copolymers. The copolymers showed an excellent film forming ability, thereby providing an ultrathin coating on various substrates such as metal (stainless steel), glass, polyethylene and polystyrene, as observed by SEM.The coatings were found to be uniform, non leachable in aqueous medium and exhibit good adhesion to various substrates. The antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of the non-leachable coating of random copolymers were screened against B. licheniformis. Among, the copolymer containing 75% quaternized VBC (75VSQA) having 16-C long alkyl chain was found to show maximum antibacterial and antibiofilm activity owing to an appropriate hydrophobic /hydrophilic balance. Their non-leachable antibacterial and antibiofim activity make these coatings suitable for many applications, e.g. marine paints, textile/hospital coatings etc.