Preparation of activated carbon from tamarind seeds and Methylene blue (MB) removal

In this study, thedye treatment which is methylene blue (MB)  as water pollutants was ascertained with the activated carbon that prepared from the tamarind seed(Tamarindusindica). The conditions used to prepare activated carbon, (TSC) were activated using phosphoric acid as an activating agent at temperature 500 oC for four hours. These conditions may be attributed to enhance the surface area and pores development of TSC. Single point BET surface area (SBET) analysis gave the surface area of TSC was and FESEM analysis showed that the pores development and formation were mostly in circle and oval pattern. The best conditions for TSC sample to adsorb MB effectively were at 50 mL of MB with concentration 120 ppm at temperature, 323 K by using 0.04 g of TSC. The maximum adsorption capacity for MB dye solution was 102.77 mg g-1Keywords: Tamarind seed; dyes; methylene blue; adsorption; phosphoric acid

Design and Fabrication of n-ISFET using Si3N4 as a Sensing Membrane for pH Measurement

This project is about the development of n-type ISFET using silicon nitride (Si3N4) as a sensing membrane for pH measurement in biomedical applications. The theory, design, and fabrication methods, along with the experimental results are presented in this report. The gate of the ISFET is replaced by the Si3N4 sensing membrane layer that has been deposited using PECVD system to cover the gate area. Both exposed membrane of ISFET and reference electrode were immersed in pH buffer solution to measured electrical IDVD (drain current-drain voltage) and IDVG (drain current-gate voltage) characteristic in order to identify the ISFET behavior. The best pH sensitivity achieved from the experimental testing is 40.35 mV/pH

Breakdown strength of transformer oil filled with carbon nanotubes under various gap distances

No Abstract. Keywords: transformer; mineral oil; CNT; breakdown voltage; Weibull

Syntheses of azomethine-thiophene monomers for potential application in energy storage devices

Newly design thiophene monomers containing azomethine base moieties for the preparation of side chain liquid crystalline polymers were successfully synthesized. The proposed monomers are conducting in nature, making it as potential material for energy storage devices. The compounds were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The presence of azomethine groups found at 1617 cm -1 in FTIR, NMR confirms singlet peaks at δ~9.5 ppm and TGA data shows thermal cleavage occurred at 166.6 - 269.93°C. The n-type properties combined with the inherently weak emission and high thermal stability thus make the polythiophenoazomethine suitable candidates for hole and electron transporting materials

Approximating the relationship among the degree of the reaction forces and the nodes on footprint during a stance phase

AbstractThis study examined the foot biomechanics that are utilized when foot is in contact with the ground during a stance phase. The purpose of the study was to investigate the normalized ground reaction forces that impacted certain sections and points on the footprint, and to identify patterns in the degrees to which these forces occurred. Foot was modeled in such a manner that a vertex represented a bone and an edge represented a joint, and a graph that depicted the foot was created. Twelve nodes were marked on the footprint and these were linked together to create a gait path. By fusing the graph and the gait path and by manipulating the mathematical models, a profile for an ideal bipedal walking locomotion was developed. A male subject performed bipedal walking through a force plate system in order to obtain the profile that reflected actual bipedal walking. The actual and the proposed profiles were compared and there were significant similarities between the two profiles, with both exhibiting an double-bump pattern. It is therefore viable that the approximation techniques proposed in this work may provide an alternative means over the application of a force plate system to generate a profile for bipedal walking. However, the accuracy and reliability of the results yielded from this technique need further investigation

Development of porous PCL-based microcarrier

Polycaprolactone (PCL) has been used for cell cultivation due to its biocompatibility. However, fabrication of porous PCL microcarrier was an obstacle and study of its biodegradability is also limited. In the present study, PCL-based porous microcarrier was fabricated with different parameters by using emulsion evaporation method. From the study, at 20% camphene concentration, optimum pore size was generated which was at 11.738 μm. During the fabrication of the microcarrier, most of the parameters showed effect on the size of the microcarrier. Under the biodegradability test, it showed that the porous structure of the microcarrier enhance the degradation rate of the microcarrier. Throughout the study, all the parameters tested for the fabrication of microcarrier showed effect on it and the porous structure improve the degradation rate of PCL microcarrier

Cancer detection using an electronic nose: A preliminary study on detection and discrimination of cancerous cells

Lack of effective tools to diagnose lung cancer at an early stage has caused high mortality in cancer patients especially in lung cancer patients. Electronic nose (E-Nose) technology is believed to offer non-invasive, rapid and reliable analytic approach by measuring the odour released from cancer to assist medical diagnosis. In this work, using a commercial E-nose (Cyranose-320), we aimed to detect the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by different types of cancerous cells. The lung cancer cell (A549) and breast cancer cell (MCF-7) were used for this study. Both cells were cultured using Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) with 10% of Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) and incubated for three days. The static headspace of cell cultures and blank medium were directly sniffed by Cyranose-320. The preliminary results from this study showed that, the E-nose is able to detect and distinguish the presence of VOCs in cancerous cells with accuracy of 100% using LDA. To this end, the VOCs emitted from cancerous cells can potentially used as biomarker

Effect of extraction procedure on the yield and biological activities of hydroxychavicol from Piper betle L. leaves

Piper betle Linn is one of the most common ethnomedicinal plants with its extract being popularly used in the modern product to enhance functionality. However, extraction methods always lead to differences in biological activities. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of the extraction methods on the yield and biological activities of hydroxychavicol from P. betle L. extracts and to determine the correlation between the hydroxychavicol content and biological activities of P. betle L. extracts such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer properties. The purity of the hydroxychavicol and its concentration (quantitative) in the crude extracts were also evaluated using a reverse-phase HPLC while GC–MS was employed to determine other components (qualitative). The results showed that only certain extraction procedures gave high yields of hydroxychavicol as well as remarkable biological activities. The chloroform extract following boiling with water (M2) gave the highest percentage of hydroxychavicol content based on the HPLC analysis. M2 and pure hydroxychavicol actively inhibited all the five cancer cell lines studied except A549. M2 showed more effective inhibition activity against MCF 7 with an IC50 of 1.74 ug/mL. M2 extract also showed strong antibacterial activity against all the bacteria strains as well as a strong antifungal activity against Candida albicans. There was, however, a weak correlation between the hydroxychavicol content and the biological activities of P. betle L. extracts. In conclusion, extraction procedures greatly affect the yield and biological activities of hydroxychavicol from P. betle L. The designation of a single compound such as hydroxychavicol as a bioactive chemical marker compound in the P. betle L. extracts, however, is not enough to determine the biological activities of the extract

EPIdemiology of Surgery-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (EPIS-AKI) : Study protocol for a multicentre, observational trial

More than 300 million surgical procedures are performed each year. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after major surgery and is associated with adverse short-term and long-term outcomes. However, there is a large variation in the incidence of reported AKI rates. The establishment of an accurate epidemiology of surgery-associated AKI is important for healthcare policy, quality initiatives, clinical trials, as well as for improving guidelines. The objective of the Epidemiology of Surgery-associated Acute Kidney Injury (EPIS-AKI) trial is to prospectively evaluate the epidemiology of AKI after major surgery using the latest Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) consensus definition of AKI. EPIS-AKI is an international prospective, observational, multicentre cohort study including 10 000 patients undergoing major surgery who are subsequently admitted to the ICU or a similar high dependency unit. The primary endpoint is the incidence of AKI within 72 hours after surgery according to the KDIGO criteria. Secondary endpoints include use of renal replacement therapy (RRT), mortality during ICU and hospital stay, length of ICU and hospital stay and major adverse kidney events (combined endpoint consisting of persistent renal dysfunction, RRT and mortality) at day 90. Further, we will evaluate preoperative and intraoperative risk factors affecting the incidence of postoperative AKI. In an add-on analysis, we will assess urinary biomarkers for early detection of AKI. EPIS-AKI has been approved by the leading Ethics Committee of the Medical Council North Rhine-Westphalia, of the Westphalian Wilhelms-University Münster and the corresponding Ethics Committee at each participating site. Results will be disseminated widely and published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at conferences and used to design further AKI-related trials. Trial registration number NCT04165369

Supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) as a contactor for selective absorption of CO2/O2 by aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA)

Application of membrane contactors in a combination of monoethanolamine as a solvent system for post-combustion CO2 capture has been extensively studied in the last decades. Due to the better performance to capture CO2 at low concentration, the potentialities of novel technology of supported ionic liquids membranes (SILMs) for absorption process in gas-liquid membrane contactor system are currently being explored to improve and compliment previous technology. In this study, a modified hydrophobic gas-liquid membrane contactor system was prepared using Liqui-Cel® parallel flow module as a membrane support and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis (trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide [emim] [NTf2] ionic liquid as a supporting phase. Under moderate operating conditions, parallel flow mode and use of monoethanolamine (MEA) as an absorbent, the effects of absorbent temperature and gas velocity on the CO2 absorption efficiency and CO2/O2 selectivity were determined using this modified module. Further investigation to compare the performances of blank and modified membrane module was implemented at different temperatures (303–348 K) and gas velocities (4.63 × 10−6 to 3.70 × 10−5 m s−1). Results revealed that efficiency of the CO2 absorption process of the modified module is almost doubled with an average selectivity factor of CO2/O2 around 5 times compared to blank contactor system. Thus, this modified membrane contactor system had shown a great potential for further used in the real industrial CO2 capture and beneficial to bottleneck the issue of MEA oxidation that usually occurred in previous gas-liquid membrane contactor system