Catalytic efficiency of some novel nanostructured heterogeneous solid catalysts in pyrolysis of HDPE

In the present study, the catalytic conversion of high density polyethylene (HDPE) to useful products has been investigated in the presence of BaTiO₃ based catalysts in a micro steel reactor at 350 °C and 30 min reaction time. The catalysts, including BaTiO₃, Pb/BaTiO₃, Co/BaTiO₃ and Pb–Co/BaTiO₃ were prepared in the laboratory by reactive calcination method and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-rays (EDX), Surface Area Analyzer (SAA) and X-rays Diffractometry (XRD). The product yields (over all yields and yields of liquid, gas and coke/residue) as a function of individual catalyst concentration was studied. The result indicated a promising effect of the catalysts used on conversion to liquid products and their composition in term of carbon range (C₆ – >C₃₀) & hydrocarbon group types (paraffin's, olefins, naphthenics, and aromatics). Among the catalysts used, Pb–Co/BaTiO₃ gave the maximum yield of liquid products (86%) when used in 1 wt % loading. The same catalyst gave the average yield (20–25%) of different range hydrocarbons i.e. C₆–C₁₂, C₁₃–C₁₆, C₁₇–C₂₀ and C₂₀–C₃₀. Inversely, the un-doped BaTiO_3, favored the formation of C₆–C₁₂ and C₁₃–C₁₆ range hydrocarbons, whereas Pb doped BaTiO₃ and Co doped BaTiO₃ enhanced the yield of C₁₃–C₁₆, and C₂₀–C₃₀ range hydrocarbons. Regarding the hydrocarbon group types, all catalysts significantly increased the formation of paraffins and reduced olefins and naphthenes.     

Endophytic Fungi Produce Gibberellins and Indoleacetic Acid and Promotes Host-Plant Growth during Stress

We isolated and examined two endophytic fungi for their potential to secrete phytohormones viz. gibberellins (GAs) and indoleacetic acid (IAA) and mitigate abiotic stresses like salinity and drought. The endophytic fungi Phoma glomerata LWL2 and Penicillium sp. LWL3 significantly promoted the shoot and allied growth attributes of GAs-deficient dwarf mutant Waito-C and Dongjin-beyo rice. Analysis of the pure cultures of these endophytic fungi showed biologically active GAs (GA₁, GA₃, GA₄ and GA₇) in various quantities. The cultures of P. glomerata and Penicillium sp. also contained IAA. The culture application and endophytic-association with host-cucumber plants significantly increased the plant biomass and related growth parameters under sodium chloride and polyethylene glycol induced salinity and drought stress as compared to control plants. The endophytic symbiosis resulted in significantly higher assimilation of essential nutrients like potassium, calcium and magnesium as compared to control plants during salinity stress. Endophytic-association reduced the sodium toxicity and promoted the host-benefit ratio in cucumber plants as compared to non-inoculated control plants. The symbiotic-association mitigated stress by compromising the activities of reduced glutathione, catalase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase. Under stress conditions, the endophyte-infection significantly modulated stress through down-regulated abscisic acid, altered jasmonic acid, and elevated salicylic acid contents as compared to control. In conclusion, the two endophytes significantly reprogrammed the growth of host plants during stress conditions.     

A unified classifier for robust face recognition based on combining multiple subspace algorithms

Face recognition being the fastest growing biometric technology has expanded manifold in the last few years. Various new algorithms and commercial systems have been proposed and developed. However, none of the proposed or developed algorithm is a complete solution because it may work very well on one set of images with say illumination changes but may not work properly on another set of image variations like expression variations. This study is motivated by the fact that any single classifier cannot claim to show generally better performance against all facial image variations. To overcome this shortcoming and achieve generality, combining several classifiers using various strategies has been studied extensively also incorporating the question of suitability of any classifier for this task. The study is based on the outcome of a comprehensive comparative analysis conducted on a combination of six subspace extraction algorithms and four distance metrics on three facial databases. The analysis leads to the selection of the most suitable classifiers which performs better on one task or the other. These classifiers are then combined together onto an ensemble classifier by two different strategies of weighted sum and re-ranking. The results of the ensemble classifier show that these strategies can be effectively used to construct a single classifier that can successfully handle varying facial image conditions of illumination, aging and facial expressions.     

Fabrication of Non‐enzymatic Electrochemical Glucose Sensor Based on Pd−Mn Alloy Nanoparticles Supported on Reduced Graphene Oxide

Mixed metals alloy nanoparticles supported on carbon nanomaterial are the most attractive candidates for the fabrication of non‐enzymatic electrochemical sensor with enhanced electrochemical performance. In this study, palladium‐manganese alloy nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide (Pd?Mn/rGO) are prepared by a simple reduction protocol. Further, a novel enzyme‐free glucose sensing platform is established based on Pd?Mn/rGO. The successful fabrication of Pd?Mn alloy nanoparticles and their attachment at rGO are thoroughly characterized by various microscopic and spectroscopic techniques such as XRD, Raman, TEM and XPS. The electrochemical activity and sensing features of designed material towards glucose detection are explored by amperometric measurments in 0.1 M NaOH at the working voltage of ?0.1 V. Thanks to the newly designed Pd?Mn/rGO nanohybrid for their superior electrorochemical activity towards glucose comprising the admirable sensing features in terms of targeted selectivity, senstivity, two linear parts and good stability. The enhanced electrochemical efficacy of Pd?Mn/rGO electrocatalyst may be credited to the abundant elecrocatalytic active sites formed during the Pd?Mn alloying and the electron transport ability of rGO that augment the electron shuttling phenomenon between the electrode material and targeted analyte.     

Effect of microstructure on fracture in age hardenable Al alloys

ABSTRACT

In the present study, the fracture behaviour of AA6016 alloy was investigated during bending deformation. Wrap-bend tests were conducted and the material was subjected to different bend angles to study crack propagation. The average grain size of the as-received material is approximately 45?μm. The aspect ratio of the grains was changed from 0.53 to 0.40 during bending. The presence of deformation bands was observed during bending in both tensile and compressive regions of the sample. No orientation correlation was observed between the deformation band and its corresponding parent grain. The Schmid factor inside the deformation bands was higher than that of the parent grain, which indicates that the deformation bands accommodate strain during bending. The crystallographic texture evolved significantly during bending deformation. The strength of cube texture component decreases with increasing bend angle and new texture components formed during bending. These new texture components favour either single slip or duplex slip. A mixture of intra-granular and inter-granular fracture occurs during bending. It is observed that inter-granular crack propagation is predominantly favoured along high-angle boundaries, and grain boundary de-cohesion occurs in regions where the misorientation angle is greater than 40°. The formation of deformation-induced coincidence lattice site (CSL) boundaries is also observed during bending and it is shown that the volume fraction of CSL boundaries of Σ3 type increases with increasing bend angle. The current study shows that the formation of deformation-induced CSL boundaries of Σ3 type in AA6016 alloy can improve its inherent resistance to crack propagation during bending.     

Integrating ultra-wideband and free space optical communication for realizing a secure and high-throughput body area network architecture based on optical code division multiple access

Optical Review - Nodes in a body area network (BAN) are miniature wearable or implantable battery-powered wireless sensors which continuously transmit real-time vital physiological data of a...     

Single mode fiber-free space optic based hybrid $$32\times 2~\text{Gbps}$$ WDM-PON architecture employing optical frequency comb source and polarization multiplexing

Optical Review - In this paper, we propose a cost-efficient single mode fiber-free space optics (SMF-FSO) based hybrid $$32 \times 2~\text{Gbps}$$ wavelength division multiplexed passive optical...     

Hydromagnetic Carreau Nanoliquid in Frames of Dissipation and Activation Energy

The novel characteristics of magnetic field and entropy generation in mixed convective flow of Carreau fluid towards a stretched surface are investigated.Buongiornio nanoliquid model consists of thermophoresis and Brownian movement aspects is opted for analysis.Energy expression is modeled subject to thermal radiation and viscous dissipation phenomenon.Concentration by zero mass flux condition is implemented.Consideration of chemical reaction and activation energy characterizes the mass transfer mechanism.Total entropy generation rate and Bejan number is formulated.The utilization of transformation variables reduces the PDEs into non-linear ODEs.The obtained nonlinear complex problems are computed numerically through Shooting scheme.The impact of involved variables like local Weissenberg number,magnetic parameter,thermal radiation parameter,Brownian motion parameter,thermophoresis parameter,buoyancy ratio parameter,mixed convection parameter,Prandtl parameter,Eckert number,Schmidt number,non-dimensional activation energy parameter,chemical reaction parameter,Brinkman number,dimensionless concentration ratio variable,diffusive variable and dimensionless temperature ratio variable on velocity,temperature,nanoparticles concentration,entropy generation,Bejan number,surface drag force and heat transfer rate are examined through graphs and tables.     

Thermo-bioconvection transport of nanofluid over an inclined stretching cylinder with Cattaneo–Christov double-diffusion

In this paper, Newtonian nanofluid flow is observed under the effects of the magnetic field, activation energy and motile microorganisms over an inclined stretchable cylinder. The magnificent aspects of nanoliquid are demonstrated by enduring the Brownian motion and thermophoresis diffusion features.Nonlinear higher order partial differential equations are transformed into first-order ordinary differential equations with suitable similarity variables. The attained sets of governing equations are then cracked by bvp4 c procedure in MATLAB mathematical software. The numerical and graphical outcomes of controlling parameters such as Prandtl number, mixed convection, activation energy, thermophoresis,Brownian parameter, Biot number, Lewis number, Peclet number and motile concentration parameter against the velocity, temperature, volumetric concentration and motile concentration of nanoparticles of the fluid are discussed. The velocity is enhanced with the growth valuation in mixed convection and decay by rising variation of buoyancy ratio parameter, magnetic parameter and bio-convective Rayleigh parameter. The evolution in motile microorganisms is due to the increasing values of microorganisms Biot number. The presented data can be helpful in enhancement of manufacturing processes, biomolecules, extrusion systems applications and energy production improvement.     

Application of capillary immunoelectrophoresis revealed an age‐ and gender‐dependent regulated expression of PrPC in liver

The cellular prion protein (PrPC) is a glycoprotein, anchored to the plasma membrane and abundantly expressed in the central nervous system. The expression of PrPC in the peripheral tissues is low and only little information is available on its functions in the nonneuronal tissues. The antioxidant function of PrPC during the activation of hepatic stellate cells has already been reported. Therefore, the aim of the study was to expand our knowledge on the functions of PrPC by detailed characterization of its expressional profile in the liver. In a combined strategy by using capillary immunoelectrophoresis and standard techniques, we have shown a sexually dimorphic expression of PrPC in mice and human liver tissues. Further, we showed a significant age‐dependent upregulation of PrPC expression in the liver of 14‐ and 9‐month‐old mice as compared to 3 months of age. Therefore, this study may provide new insights into the gender‐specific role of PrPC in the liver, which may further be linked to its protective role against oxidative stress during aging. In addition, the current study also shows an application of immunoelectrophoresis with a low coefficient of variation to analyze the miniscule amount of PrPC in the mouse liver tissue.