Biodegradation and corrosion behavior of manganese oxidizer Bacillus cereus ACE4 in diesel transporting pipeline

The degradation problem of petroleum products arises since hydrocarbon acts as an excellent food source for a wide variety of microorganisms. Microbial activity leads to unacceptable level of turbidity, corrosion of pipeline and souring of stored product. The present study emphasizes the role of Bacillus cereus ACE4 on degradation of diesel and its influence on corrosion of API 5LX steel. A demonstrating bacterial strain ACE4 was isolated from corrosion products and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that it has more than 99% similarity with B. cereus. The biodegradation and corrosion studies revealed that B. cereus degraded the aliphatic protons and aromatic protons in diesel and is capable of oxidizing ferrous/manganese into oxides. This is the first report that discloses the involvement of manganese oxidizer B. cereus ACE4 on biodegradation of diesel and its influence on corrosion in a tropical country pipeline.     

A new fluoride mediated synthesis of mesoporous silica and their usefulness in controlled delivery of duloxetine hydrochloride a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor

A new type of mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) was synthesized in fluoride media via sol–gel technique using TritonX 100 and Tween-20. The surface area and pore volume of the MSN particles were modified by varying the concentration of Tween-20. The prepared MSN nanoparticles with large surface area and pore volume (T-2, T-3) were selected to accommodate the model drug duloxetine hydrochloride (DX) for evaluation of their drug-loading and release abilities. Calcined and DX loaded nanoparticles were characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller technique (BET), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and UV-diffuse reflectance (UV-DRS). In vitro release studies proved that the particle displays an initial burst release followed by sustained release for up to 140 h. From the studies it is evident that the synthesized particle may be useful as a carrier for sustained release of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).     

Experimental investigation of injection timing on the performance and exhaust emissions of a rubber seed oil blend fuel in constant speed diesel engine

An experimental study is conducted to evaluate the use of rubber seed oil with diesel at a proportion of 20% by volume (RSO20) in a constant speed (1500?rpm) direct injected four-stroke air-cooled single-cylinder compression ignition engine at different injection timings (24°, 27°, 30°, 33° bTDC (before top dead centre)). A series of tests were conducted at various engine load conditions at the rated power of 5.9?kW. The injection pressure was maintained at 200?bar. As a result of investigations, at the full load condition, the brake thermal efficiency of RSO20 at 30° bTDC is high compared with other injection timings and brake energy fuel consumption is increased when advancing injection timing. There is a significant reduction in unburned hydrocarbon emission and carbon monoxide emission, and the oxides of nitrogen emission (NO_x) is increased when advancing the injection timing.     

An Effective Approach on Attaining Enhanced Silicon Solar Cell Performance Through Sputter Deposited Perovskite Thin Films

Silicon - Antireflection coatings (ARCs) have become one of the key techniques for mass production of Si solar cells. They are generally performed by vacuum processes such as thermal evaporation,...     

Effective Suppression of Conducted Electro Magnetic Interference in DC-DC Boost Converter Using Field Programmable Gate Array Based Chaotic Pulse Width Modulation Switching

Abstract—In recent years, electro-magnetic interference on DC-DC converters is seen as serious problem as it limits the capability of the DC-DC converter. It is popular to use analog circuits to suppress electro-magnetic interference; however, a cheap analog circuit suffers from numerous drawbacks, including inaccurate pulse generation, carrier frequency limitation, and degraded performance due to aging. Conversely, high-performance digital circuits are capable of providing accurate pulses compared to analog circuits. In this article, a field-programmable gate array is used to generate accurate chaotic pulse-width modulation pulses for DC-DC converters. A spread spectrum technique based on randomized carrier frequency modulation with fixed duty ratio is proposed for gating pulse generation, implemented using a field-programmable gate array for electro-magnetic interference suppression. A hardware prototype is built in the laboratory for the proposed method and tested. The performance of the proposed method estimated through simulation study is validated via experimental results.     

DWAM — A WAM model extension for disjunctive logic programming

Answering queries in disjunctive logic programming requires the use of ancestry-resolution. The resulting complication makes it difficult to implement a Prolog-type query answering procedure for disjunctive logic programs. However, SLO-resolution provides a mechanism which is similar to SLD-resolution and hence offers a solution to this problem. The Warren Abstract Machine has been a very effective model for implementing Prolog. In this paper, we extend the WAM model of Prolog and adapt it for DISLOG — a language for disjunctive logic programming. We describe the extensions and additional instructions needed to make WAM viable for modeling and executing DISLOG. The extension is made in such a way that the original architecture is not disturbed and a Prolog program will execute as efficiently as it does in the original WAM.This work was done while the author was at the University of Kentucky.     

Urinary tract injuries during obstetric intervention

A retrospective case record review of obstetric urinary tract injury in the Grampian region from 1976 to 1993 identified 16 cases of bladder injury (0.1 per 1000 deliveries, 1.4 per 1000 caesarean sections and four cases of ureteric injury (0.03 per 1000 deliveries, 0.27 per 1000 caesarean sections). Diagnosis of bladder injury was immediate, but of ureteric injury often delayed. Although the injury rates are lower than previously reported and previously reported risk factors not confirmed, this audit has resulted in guidelines for junior staff, compliance with which will be monitored, and every case of urinary tract injury will be reviewed.     

Effect of modified MWCNT on the properties of PPO/LCP blend

In this work we have coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with SiC by solgel process and these modified MWCNTs are dispersed in PPO/LCP blend. The dispersion of these modified MWCNTs are analyzed by FESEM and found to be improved compared to pure MWCNTs. Thermal and mechanical properties of the modified MWCNTs added nanocomposites are higher than that of the pure MWCNTs added nanocomposites. PPO/LCP forms an incompatible blend while addition of unmodified and modified MWCNTs improves the compatibility between the blend partners.     

HYDROSOL DEPOSITION IN GRANULAR BEDS—AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Experiments were conducted to study the deposition of particles from suspensions flowing through packed beds. The experimental data obtained include both the initial and transient state particle collection. The initial collection efficiencies were compared with predictions based on existing theories. Agreement between experiments and predictions was generally good except for the case when significant repulsive force barrier exists between filter grains and particles. The transient state data obtained under the presence of unfavorable surface interactions show a steady decline in collection efficiency with time, which cannot be reconciled with any existing theories.     

High speed nano-optical encoder using photonic crystal ring resonator

Photonic Network Communications - In this present work, photonic crystal based ultra-high-speed encoder is proposed for optical computing applications. The designed logic device contains dual...