Surfactant-aided impregnation of MnF2 into CNT fabrics as cathode material with high electrochemical performance for lithium ion batteries

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd MnF2 infiltrated-CNT fabrics was prepared by surfactant-aided impregnation of MnSiF6 precursors in acid-treated CNT fabric followed by annealing MnSiF6-loaded CNT fabric. The structural and morphological characterizations by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the formation of MnF2 nanoparticles (average size: 20–30 nm) within CNT fabric structure. Galvanostatic charge-discharge tests of CNT-MnF2 nanocomposite fabrics showed excellent electrochemical performance and good cycle stability between 0.4 and 4.0 V vs Li/Li+. A specific capacity of 388 mAh/g was measured at 0.1C for CNT-MnF2 fabric with 70% MnF2 loading after 100 cycles. Stable cyclability and good rate performance were obtained at high charge-discharge cycling rates. MnF2 loading largely affect the performance of MnF2 infiltrated-CNT fabrics cathodes when lower than 70% MnF2 loaded-CNT fabrics were prepared. It can be concluded that nano-sized active materials infiltrated inside conductive carbon matrix in optimized content can lead to rapid kinetics and stable performance for flexible metal fluoride-based cathode materials.This work was funded by a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund under its National Priorities Research Program award number NPRP7-567-2-216 . Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Qatar National Research Fund . The authors are thankful to Prof Gleb Yushin from Georgia Institute of Technology for his collaboration in this subject

Studying HLA class I polymorphism in brain tumour patients

The present study aimed at shed light on the association between HLA-class I antigens (A, B and Cw) and brain tumours (meningioma and glioma) in the basis of their individual frequencies or two-locus association A total of 52 brain tumour patients were enrolled in this study, with an age range of 7-68 years. The patients were divided into two clinical groups; meningioma (20 cases) and glioma (22 cases), while the remaining 10 cases represented other types of brain tumour. Control samples included 47 Iraqi Arab apparently healthy blood volunteers, with an age range of 15-50 year. Three HLA antigens showed a significant increased frequency in total patients as compared to controls. They were B13 (34.6 vs. 6.5%), B40 (15.4 vs. 2.2%) and Cw3 (15.4 vs. 2.2%). In contrast, B5 was significantly decreased (15.4 vs. 34.8%). In meningioma patients, only B13 was significantly increased (35.0 vs. 6.5%), while in glioma patients, B13 (36.4 vs. 6.5%) and Cw5 (36.4 vs. 2.2%) were significantly increased. Variations between patients and controls have been also encountered for the observed and expected HLA-two locus associations (B13-Cw3, B13-Cw5 and B40-Cw5)

Rancang Bangun Aplikasi Game Puzzle Berbasis Android Menggunakan Algoritma Decision Tree

The development of games today is very rapid and has become part of the lifestyle. A puzzle game is an application that can be used to hone thinking and memory skills where users have to find a way out and collect special items that have been provided at every level of the game . The player must collect all the white orb in each level to get the key to move to the next level but the player will be confronted by the constraints on how to find the key and retrieve it . The game is designed using decision tree and game algorithms designed using Game Maker Studio that is applied to Android devices

Effects of a moving membrane on the wake behavior of a circular cylinder

The aim of this paper is to investigate a novel technique to control the flow around a circular cylinder. This technique consists of putting a moving membrane stuck to the cylinder. The commercial software Ansys fluent 16.0 is used. The motion of the moving membrane is governed by a user-defined function. The numerical simulation is performed for the Reynolds number equal to Re=150. By changing the frequency of the oscillating membrane from f=0.1Hz to f=6.0Hz, we found that the drag coefficient is significantly affected and its curve shows a beat phenomenon for f around 4.5 Hz.Papers presented to the 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Costa de Sol, Spain on 11-13 July 2016

The effects of the internal and the external factors affecting artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in e-innovation technology projects in the UAE? Applying both innovation and technology acceptance theories

This study has examined factors, such as technology and employee influence on artificial intelligence (AI) adoption of e-innovative projects in the United Arab Emirates. The present study revealed the success or failure of e-innovation adoption in the public sector of the UAE and hinted at potential e-innovative projects to consider essential factors before adopting it. The study's sample covered the government sector, and the data collection method was a survey questionnaire with a sample size of 1037 responses made up of government employees. This paper was mainly built upon the diffusion of innovation and technology acceptance theories. The analysis findings showed that technology (an external factor) significantly and positively contributed to adopting AI e-innovation technology. Further analysis revealed that employee (internal factor) proxies directly influenced the adoption of AI e-innovation technology. Overall, internal and external factors contributed to adopting e-innovation technology in the United Arab Emirates. For future directions, additional factors related to the market should be considered to explore their contribution

Relationship between biomarkers of muscle damage and redox status in response to a weightlifting training session: effect of time-of-day

The aims of the present study were to: (1) investigate the effect of a weightlifting training session and time-of-day (TOD) upon biological parameters (i.e., oral temperature, hematological, C-reactive protein (CRP), and oxidative stress) and (2) assess their possible link with muscle damage responses. Nine weightlifters (21 ± 0.5 years) performed, in a randomized order, three Olympic-Weightlifting sessions (i.e., at 08:00, 14:00, and 18:00). Blood samples were collected at rest, 3 min and 48 h after each training session. Between pre- and post-training session, ANOVA showed significant increases in oxidative stress markers at the three TODs (p < 0.01) and significant increases for creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) only at 08:00 and 18:00 (p < 0.05). At rest, the results showed a significant diurnal variation for the majority of the selected parameters except for malondialdehyde (MDA), total bilirubin, and CRP with higher values observed at 18:00 (p < 0.05). After the training session, given the higher rate of increase during the morning session, these diurnal variations persisted for temperature and WBC (p < 0.01) and were suppressed for CK, LDH, uric acid (UA), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase. The main significant correlations (p < 0.001) were observed between: (1) CK and MDA (r = 0.6) and CK and UA (r = 0.66 and r = 0.82) during the morning and evening training sessions; (2) CK and CRP only during the morning session (r = 0.5); and (3) CRP and WBC during the three training sessions (r = 0.8). In conclusion, the present findings: (1) confirm that the muscle damage responses could be induced by a high level of oxidative stress and (2) suggest to avoid scheduling training sessions in the morning given the higher muscle damage, inflammatory, and oxidative responses at this TOD

ANTAGONISTIC EFFECT OF MUSK ON ORGANISMS DIFFERENT TYPES

Objective: This study aims to The research aimed at a comparative study the effect of natural and synthetic musk compared to creams that have an anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effect on the growth of Candida albicans that causes vaginal diseases in women, as well as the growth of the bacteria strains include Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, which would be more effective in inhibiting the growth of these microbes and Achieve the recommendation of the Prophet Muhammad for women to treat the vagina with natural musk, find alternatives to synthetic antibiotics, and reduce their negative effects on human health. Methods: This study investigates the antagonistic effect of Anti fungal and bacterial Cream and different natural type {Musk (N. M), Black Musk (B. M)} and chemical Musk {white Musk (W. M), cream Musk (M. C) } on some microorganisms. The types of yeast Candida albicans HVS and the bacteria strains include Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, were tested by means of disk diffusion, Results: Results indicated that Musk has inhibitory effects on the growth of study microorganisms Musk contains active substances similar to antibiotic, alkaloids and volatile oils present in them as they have the ability to stop the growth of many microorganisms. The effect of natural musk was higher than the effect synthetic musk, And the microbes were the most sensitive to musk is Bacillus subtilis. As for anti-microbial creams, the effect of the anti-bacterial cream was more effective in their suppression compared to all kinds of musk unlike the anti-fungal cream which gave a negative result. Conclusion: This study showed that the different concentrations of natural musk have an effective role in inhibiting some of the microbes of this vaginal pathogen, and it has given a positive opposite result to these microbes, and therefore it can be used as a natural antibiotic that reduces side effects on females and the environment

Factors affecting the water retaining characteristics of lime and cement mortars in the freshly-mixed state

Desorptivity, the parameter which quantifies water retaining ability, has been determined for freshly-mixed natural hydraulic lime and cement mortars using a modified American Petroleum Institute pressure cell. The results show how greatly this ability depends on hydraulicity. Mix composition is also highly significant: smaller proportion of sand, larger grain size of sand and higher proportion of mix water all decrease the water retaining ability. In practice water is abstracted due to the capillary pressure of the masonry unit and the results presented are discussed in terms of typical capillary pressures exerted by clay facing brick. Changes in desorptivity also occur with elapsed time from mixing. The most hydraulic mortars become less water retaining for about 90 min after mixing and then, gradually more water retaining