The influence of phosphate on the hydration of cement minerals studied by DTA and TG

A thermal analysis study of the effect of phosphate, in the concentration range 0.7–4.5%, on the hydration reaction of 3 CaO · SiO₂(C₃S) is reported. The results are compared with strength development of phosphate cement reported by Nurse.     

A facile synthesis of novel 1,4-benzoxazepin-2-one derivatives

An efficient and simple synthesis of 1,4-benzoxazepin-2-one derivatives has been achieved via the reaction of isoquinoline, activated acetylenes, and 1-(6-hydroxy-2-isopropenyl-1-benzofuran-yl)-1-ethanone in water without using any catalyst. This one-pot reaction occurs in high yields under mild conditions.     

Phytochemical and cytotoxic investigations of Curcuma mangga rhizomes

Investigations on the cytotoxic effects of the crude methanol and fractionated extracts (hexane, ethyl acetate) C. mangga against six human cancer cell lines, namely the hormone-dependent breast cell line (MCF-7), nasopharyngeal epidermoid cell line (KB), lung cell line (A549), cervical cell line (Ca Ski), colon cell lines (HCT 116 and HT-29), and one non-cancer human fibroblast cell line (MRC-5) were conducted using an in-vitro neutral red cytotoxicity assay. The crude methanol and fractionated extracts (hexane and ethyl acetate) displayed good cytotoxic effects against MCF-7, KB, A549, Ca Ski and HT-29 cell lines, but exerted no damage on the MRC-5 line. Chemical investigation from the hexane and ethyl acetate fractions resulted in the isolation of seven pure compounds, namely (E)-labda-8(17),12-dien-15,16-dial (1), (E)-15,16-bisnor-labda-8(17),11-dien-13-on (2), zerumin A (3), β-sitosterol, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bis-demethoxycurcumin. Compounds 1 and 3 exhibited high cytotoxic effects against all six selected cancer cell lines, while compounds 2 showed no anti-proliferative activity on the tested cell lines. Compound 1 also demonstrated strong cytotoxicity against the normal cell line MRC-5. This paper reports for the first time the cytotoxic activities of C. mangga extracts on KB, A549, Ca Ski, HT-29 and MRC-5, and the occurrence of compound 2 and 3 in C. mangga.     

Fuzzy linear programming with vague objective coefficients in an uncertain environment

In this paper, a new fuzzy linear programming (FLP)-based methodology using a specific membership function named modified logistic membership function is proposed. The modified logistic membership function is first formulated and its flexibility established by an analytical approach. This membership function is tested for its useful performance through an illustrative example by employing FLP. The developed methodology of FLP has provided confidence in applying to real-life industrial production planning problem. This approach of solving industrial production planning problem can provide feedback to the decision maker, implementer and analyst. In such cases, this approach can be called interactive FLP. There is a possibility to design the self-organizing of the fuzzy system for the product mix selection problem in order to find a satisfactory solution. The decision maker, analyst and implementer can incorporate their knowledge and experience to obtain the best outcome.     

Oxide-assisted growth of silicon nanowires by carbothermal evaporation

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have successfully been synthesized by carbothermal evaporation method. By ramping-up the furnace system at 20 °C min⁻¹ to 1100 °C for 6 h, the vertically aligned coexist with crooked SiNWs were achieved on the silicon substrate located at 12 cm from source material. The processing parameters such as temperature, heating rate, duration, substrate position and location are very important to produce SiNWs. Morphology and chemical composition of deposited products were investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The existence of small sphere silicon oxide capped nanowires suggested that the formation of SiNWs was governed by oxide-assisted growth (OAG) mechanism.     

In situ Raman spectroscopy of H2 interaction with WO3 films

It is well known that WO(3) interacts efficiently with H(2) gas in the presence of noble metals (such as Pd, Pt and Au) at elevated temperatures, changing its optical behaviors; and that its crystallinity plays an important role in these interactions. For the first time, we investigated the in situ Raman spectra changes of WO(3) films of different crystal phases, while incorporating Pd catalysts, at elevated temperatures in the presence of H(2). The Pd/WO(3) films were prepared using RF sputtering and subsequently annealed at 300, 400 and 500 °C in air in order to alter the dominant crystal phase. The films were then characterized using SEM, XRD, XPS, and both UV-VIS and Raman spectroscopy. In order to fundamentally study the process, the measurements were conducted when films were interacting with 1% H(2) in synthetic air at elevated sample temperatures (20, 60, 100 and 140 °C). We suggest that the changes of Raman spectra under such conditions to be mainly a function of the crystal phase, transforming from monoclinic to a mix phase of monoclinic and orthorhombic achieved via increasing the annealing temperature. The as-deposited sample consistently shows similar Raman spectra responses at different operating conditions upon H(2) exposure. However, increasing the annealing temperature to 500 °C tunes the optimum H(2) response operating temperature to 60 °C.     

Tualang honey protects keratinocytes from ultraviolet radiation-induced inflammation and DNA damage(†)

Malaysian tualang honey possesses strong antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory properties. Here, we evaluated the effect of tualang honey on early biomarkers of photocarcinogenesis employing PAM212 mouse keratinocyte cell line. Keratinocytes were treated with tualang honey (1.0%, v/v) before a single UVB (150 mJ cm^?2) irradiation. We found that the treatment of tualang honey inhibited UVB‐induced DNA damage, and enhanced repair of UVB‐mediated formation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and 8‐oxo‐7,8‐dihydro‐2′‐deoxyguanosine. Treatment of tualang honey inhibited UVB‐induced nuclear translocation of NF‐κB and degradation of IκBα in murine keratinocyte cell line. The treatment of tualang honey also inhibited UVB‐induced inflammatory cytokines and inducible nitric oxide synthase protein expression. Furthermore, the treatment of tualang honey inhibited UVB‐induced COX‐2 expression and PGE2 production. Taken together, we provide evidence that the treatment of tualang honey to keratinocytes affords substantial protection from the adverse effects of UVB radiation via modulation in early biomarkers of photocarcinogenesis and provide suggestion for its photochemopreventive potential.     

Decision making in industrial production planning using fuzzy linear programming

Any modern industrial manufacturing unit inevitably faces problemsof vagueness in various aspects such as raw material availability,human resource availability, processing capability and constraintsand limitations imposed by the marketing department. Such acomplex problem of vagueness and uncertainty can be handledby the theory of fuzzy logic. In this paper, a new fuzzy logicbased methodology using a S-curve membership function is usedto solve a fuzzy mix product selection problem in industrialengineering. Profits and satisfaction levels have been computedusing a fuzzy linear programming approach. Since there are severaldecisions to be taken, a performance measure has been definedto identify the decision that achieves a high level of profitwith a high degree of satisfaction.     

Performance and comparison of fiber vibration sensing using SAC-OCDMA with direct decoding techniques

Intensity modulated fiber vibrations sensing using Khazani Syed (KS) and Modified Quadratic Congruence Code (MQC) code for quasi distributed vibration measurement have been evaluated. The systems employed Spectral Direct (SD) Decoding for Spectral Amplitude Coding-Optical Code Division Multiple Access (SAC-OCDMA). SAC-OCDMA is adopted because of its enormous impact in dealing with Multiple Access Interference (MAI). The setup was carried out for three sensor points in three consecutive measurements. The performance of the sensing system with the KS and MQC codes were compared at the same weight and number of code sequence. It was observed that the applied vibration frequencies were obtained at the receivers and the signal employing MQC are received at slightly better power than KS code. However, KS code setup employed less number of components and therefore, reduce the cost and complexity of achieving quasi-distributed vibration sensing.     

A new technique of real-time monitoring of fiber optic cable networks transmission

A new technique of fiber-break detecting and monitoring in optical communication network systems is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The subsystem, namely fiber-break monitoring system is designed to be simpler, significantly less expensive and yet gives an appropriate measurement to the distance break in place of the optical time domain reflectometer. This new approach has a bright prospect to be utilized in existing optical communication network systems. The proposed technique gives a minimal insertion loss of 1.7 dB and measurement accuracy of 0.285 km.