Deciphering the imperative role of ruthenium in enhancing the performance of Ni/Nd2O3.Gd2O3 in glycerol dry reforming

Glycerol dry reforming (GDR) turns glycerol and CO2 into valuable syngas. The present work aims to decipher the imperative role of Ru metal in enhancing the performance of Ni/Nd2O3.Gd2O3 in GDR. The unpromoted 15%Ni/Nd2O3.Gd2O3 and promoted 3%Ru-Ni/Nd2O3.Gd2O3 catalysts are synthesized via the ultrasonic-assisted impregnation method while XRD, FESEM-EDX, H2-TPR and CO2-TPD analyses are used to characterize the catalysts. In this study, the influence of reaction variables such as temperature and the CO2 to glycerol ratio (CGR) was investigated. In accordance with XRD and FESEM-EDX analyses, the promoted catalyst exhibited a more refined morphology and more uniform Ni dispersion than the unpromoted catalyst. From the reaction study, the promoted 3%Ru-15%Ni/Nd2O3.Gd2O3 gives higher glycerol conversion (91%), H2 yield (65%) and CO yield (80%) at a reaction temperature of 800 °C and CGR of 1. This is due to the higher number of available active sites as well as the excellent diffusion of Ni metal across the surface of the catalyst. However, as Ni metal is susceptible to carbon formation and is easily sintered, the production of carbon is unavoidable for the catalysts. The XRD and TPO analyses shown that the addition of Ru reduces the amount of carbon that accumulates on the site of the catalyst, which in turn reduces the rate of deactivation

Syngas production from glycerol dry reforming using Nd2RuO5 perovskite catalysts

Currently, fossil fuels as the global energy sources have become a liability due to the emission of greenhouse gases that causes global temperature elevated and climate changes to happen more frequently. As a result, glycerol dry reforming (GDR) has been a research priority, owing to its reforming capabilities in turning greenhouse gases (CO2) and biodiesel byproducts (glycerol) into syngas. The choice of catalysts is critical for increasing the efficiency of the syngas production process. Hence, this paper studies the application of Nd2RuO5 perovskite catalysts on the dry reforming of glycerol. Before characterization, the catalysts were prepared by using the Pechini Sol-Gel method. GDR reactions were conducted using a fixed-bed reactor at operating conditions; 873 – 1173 K and CO2 to Glycerol ratio (CGR) at 1:1. Based on XRD finding, the dominant phase belongs to Nd2RuO5, a pseudo double perovskite. The reduction profile from TPR showed a lowered reduction temperature which belongs to Ru that reduced into Ru0. The images of perovskite showed a well dispersed and smooth surface, and no agglomeration occurred on the pore sites. From the catalytic evaluation on the effect of temperature, the best temperature was observed at 1073 K, giving the highest glycerol conversion at 69%, whereas for H2, CO yields 20.8% and 13.8%, respectively. Intense carbon formation has been detected at post XRD analysis which later confirmed to be a filamentous type, that oxidized at low oxidation temperature from 400 – 500 K

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Study for microstrip patch antenna for 5g networks

—In this paper, a microstrip patch antenna is proposed to be implemented for 5G broadband wireless communication. The single element antenna was designed to operate in the Priority 1 spectrum 3.5 GHz band set by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). The antenna was built on a Rogers RT5880 substrate with a dimension of 44.1 mm x 35.1 mm x 1.57 mm, which has a dielectric constant () of 2.2 and loss tangent () of 0.0009. The simulated performances of the antenna achieved a return loss of 26.347 dB at 3.5 GHz, bandwidth of 641.2 MHz ranging from 3.282 GHz to 3.910 GHz, and a gain with value of 3.68 dBi. The fabricated antenna was measured using Virtual Network Analyzer (VNA) for real world measurement, and the return loss at 3.5 GHz exhibits a value of 12.146 dB. The error was identified and simulated in CST-MWS software, and preventive measures have been listed

Whole genome resequencing data and grain quality traits of the rice cultivar Mahsuri and its blast disease resistant mutant line, Mahsuri Mutant

In Malaysia, rice mutant varieties that are genetically altered to confer resistance against blast disease have been substantially developed through mutational breeding program. However, due to the limited accessible information on the mutant lines, mutant gene variants corresponding to the disease resistance and other useful agronomic traits are yet to be exploited. Here, we conducted whole genome re-sequencing of blast resistance with kernel elongation traits in mutant line, Mahsuri Mutant (87,639,446 bp raw reads), and its parental line, Mahsuri (85,156,783 bp raw reads) using Illumina Novaseq 6000 sequencing platform with 30x sequencing coverage. The generated genome sequences are aimed to facilitate the discovery of causal mutation and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to the intended traits. The identified SNPs can be further employed to develop allele-specific SNP molecular markers to locate the mutant gene regions. The NGS data obtained (FASTQ format) of the parental and mutant lines have been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database under sequence read archive (SRA) xwith accession numbers SRR24388814 (Mahsuri) and SRR22952097 (Mahsuri Mutant) respectively

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background: Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods: This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was coprioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low-middle-income countries. Results: In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of 'single-use' consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low-middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion: This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high- and low-middle-income countries