In-situ functionalization of cotton fabrics with polydopamine and silver nanoparticles for multifunctional applications

This study presents a sustainable approach to enhance cotton fabrics with multifunctional properties by in-situ functionalization using polydopamine (PDA) coating followed by the deposition of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) through a self-reduction process. Polydopamine was chosen for its excellent adhesive and reductive properties, facilitating the uniform attachment of silver nanoparticles on the fabric surface. The functionalized fabrics were thoroughly characterized using FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, SEM, EDS, TGA, contact angle measurements, and XRD, confirming the successful integration of PDA and AgNPs. The modified cotton fabrics demonstrated 100% antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and achieved a water contact angle of approximately 131°, indicating enhanced hydrophobicity. Thermal stability was also improved, with a 15% increase in ash content at 600 °C. This dual-functional coating approach provides an effective means to develop antibacterial, water-resistant, and thermally more stable textile materials, offering potential applications in protective clothing, and other functional fabric domains

Enhanced crystallinity through melt annealing of thermoplastic polyurethanes

This study evaluated the influence of melt annealing on thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) synthesized via reactive extrusion, aiming to enhance TPU melt crystallization behavior. The melt annealing process involved reprocessing the polymer in a twin-screw extruder, leveraging a novel approach to manipulating crystallization behavior by optimizing melt annealing conditions to activate microphase separation. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis indicated increased nucleation density and a shift in peak crystallization temperature to higher values during cooling. Phase morphology was examined using scanning electron microscopy, while gel permeation chromatography was utilized to assess molecular weight changes. X-ray diffraction provided insights into TPU microstructural modifications, and mechanical properties were evaluated via tensile tests. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy was employed to analyze annealing-induced changes in the hard segment structure and interpolymer bonding. The findings demonstrated that annealing enhances mechanical properties, promotes microphase separation, and increases the energy available for movement and realignment of hard segments, thereby improving TPU's thermal stability. Precise control of annealing temperature was critical to prevent adverse effects on polymer morphology or molecular weight reduction. Annealing at 210°C yielded the highest degree of crystallinity, optimizing mechanical properties and thermal stability

A switched full duplex MIMO architecture with digital linear and nonlinear cancellation

Enabling full duplex (FD) in MIMO systems is challenging due to increased hardware complexity and increased training overhead required for canceling not only self-interference (SI) but also cross-link-interference (CLI) signals, considering both linear and nonlinear effects on each stream. In this paper, we propose switched FD MIMO (FD-SW-MIMO) architecture as a low-complexity, low-overhead solution, which enables stream-based nonlinear estimation to be performed independently from channel estimation, so that those nonlinear reference signals are fed to linear SI and CLI cancellation stages. For improved performance at high transmit power levels, the Random Fourier Features - Least Mean Squares (RFF-LMS) algorithm is employed on the residual SI and CLI signals per stream. Our experiments conducted on a software-defined radio based 2x2 FD MIMO test setup reveal that the proposed FD-SW-MIMO architecture can provide up to 12 dB enhancement over linear only digital cancellation. The proposed architecture requires only minor hardware modification(s), avoiding active analog cancellation circuitry and extra Tx/Rx chains. Requiring the same training overhead as linear only cancellation, FD-SW-MIMO architecture can quadruple the rate of HD SISO for low to moderate transmit power levels, and for high transmit power levels, the HD SISO rate is tripled due to slightly increased overhead

Potential of gallium oxide as a radiation hard technology

Gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is an emerging and promising candidate for high-power and radiation-rich environments, such as space, thanks to its ultra-wide bandgap (~ 4.9 eV) and high critical electrical field (~ 8 MV/cm). Radiation in space, such as protons, alpha particles and heavy ions, can cause serious damage to electronic devices and even lead to permanent damage. However, assessing these devices' reliability and radiation hardness in space-like environments is often expensive and complex. In the present work, we utilize a technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulation-based framework that uses the concept of non-ionizing energy loss (NIEL) to evaluate the displacement damage in electronic devices under particle irradiation. To assess the radiation tolerance of Ga2O3 diodes, first, a TCAD model for Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes (SBD) is developed and calibrated/benchmarked to an experimental device, followed by irradiation simulations. The results show that Ga2O3 SBD can withstand a 5 MeV proton fluence of ~ 1015 cm−2 with no change in the forward current voltage (IV) characteristics. This value is significantly higher than that of 4H-SiC (~5 × 1013 cm−2) and Si (~1 × 1012) SBDs with the same ideal breakdown voltage - VBR (1600 V), demonstrating the potential of Ga2O3 as a radiation-hard technology

Testing the distinction between sadism and psychopathy: a metanalysis

The relationships among the Dark Triad (DT) traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—are well-established in psychological literature. However, with the inclusion of everyday sadism in the proposed Dark Tetrad, it is important to determine whether sadism adds significant explanatory power beyond psychopathy, especially given its high correlation. In this study, we examined whether sadism contributed unique variance over psychopathy in studies where both traits were assessed. A review of PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect yielded 185 studies meeting our inclusion criteria, comprising 104,452 participants. We analyzed sample characteristics, including type, size, gender distribution, age, and key correlates such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, the Big Five, and Honesty-Humility. Our results indicate a substantial overlap between sadism and psychopathy, with both traits being strongly related to the other DT traits and showing no correlation with Openness. These findings highlight the need for future research to account for this overlap when interpreting the relationships between sadism, psychopathy, and related psychological constructs

Enhancement in the performance of a vanadium-manganese redox flow battery using electrospun carbon metal-based electrode catalysts

This study investigates the performance of both a vanadium/manganese redox flow battery (V/Mn RFB) and an all-vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), employing carbon metal fabrics (CMFs) prepared through electrospinning followed by carbonization. Noteworthy advancements are observed in both systems upon coupling CMFs with thermally treated graphite felt (GF) electrodes. Nearly doubled peak power density and 50 % higher capacity utilization over 150 charge/discharge cycles at 75 mA cm−2 are achieved for the V/Mn RFB with the incorporation of CMFs alongside graphite felt as catalysts. The VRFB demonstrates notable enhancements too, achieving approximately 200 cycles at a current density of 80 mA cm−2, with high efficiencies (85 %) and electrolyte utilization (79 %) when CMFs are used in combination with graphite felts. These advancements may facilitate pilot-scale testing and integration of the V/Mn RFB for the employment in the renewable energy storage sector and grid-balancing studies

Role of catalyst layer composition in the degradation of low platinum-loaded proton exchange membrane fuel cell cathodes: an experimental analysis

This study investigates the impact of catalyst layer (CL) composition on the performance and durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) are manufactured using six different cathode CLs (CCLs) by varying the platinum (Pt)-loading, Pt-to-carbon weight percentages (Pt/C wt.%), mass fraction of bare carbon particles, carbon support material, and CL thicknesses. Each MEA is subjected to comprehensive electrochemical characterization procedures followed by one of the two different accelerated stress tests (ASTs) to analyze the impacts of Pt-dissolution and carbon corrosion degradation mechanisms separately. Experimental results show that the Pt/C wt.% and CL thickness have a dominant role in the rate of Pt-dissolution. While the addition of bare carbon particles decreases the rate of Pt-dissolution degradation, lower Pt/C wt.% causes higher performance loss. The carbon corrosion degradation is more pronounced in high Pt-loaded CLs since Pt particles catalyze the carbon oxidation reaction, whereas for constant Pt-loaded CLs, higher Pt utilization leads to increased degradation and CCL thinning, as observed through post-mortem scanning electron microscopy (SEM). No significant relation is found between the carbon corrosion rate and the CL thickness

Characterization of nearly self-orthogonal Quasi-twisted codes and related quantum codes

Quasi-twisted codes are used here as the classical ingredients in the so-called Construction X for quantum error-control codes. The construction utilizes nearly self-orthogonal codes to design quantum stabilizer codes. We expand the choices of the inner product to also cover the symplectic and trace-symplectic inner products, in addition to the original Hermitian one. A refined lower bound on the minimum distance of the resulting quantum codes is established and illustrated. We report numerous record breaking quantum codes from our randomized search for inclusion in the updated online database

Foam-based antibacterial hydrogel composed of carboxymethyl cellulose/polyvinyl alcohol/cerium oxide nanoparticles for potential wound dressing

Foam-based wound dressing materials produced by dispersing gas phases in a polymeric material are soft, adapt to the body shape, and allow the absorption of wound exudate due to their porous structure. Most of these formulations are based on synthetic substances such as polyurethane. However, biopolymers have entered the field as a new player thanks to their biocompatible and sustainable nature. Incorporating biopolymers in formulations is gaining interest in scientific literature, and we extend this approach by adding antibacterial cerium oxide nanoparticles to biopolymer formulation. We introduce a novel biopolymer composite of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs), namely PVA-CMC@CeO2. This mixture was first foamed and then cross-linked with sodium tetraborate solution, followed by a freeze-thaw process. After the novel material's spectroscopic, structural, and morphological characterization, we investigated its swelling, drug-delivery, antibacterial, and biodegradability properties PVA-CMC@CeO2 dressing effectively inhibits Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) growth and delivers the antibiotic drug silver sulfadiazine for up to 6 h. The antibacterial properties, good swelling, and drug release profile of the blend material show promising potential in wound care applications