Digital Photo Frame

With the advancement in semiconductor technology, scope for development of embedded systems has increased manifolds. New processors with improved computing capabilities and low power consumption have further accelerated the developments in embedded domain. Consumers are looking for affordable multimedia devices with high performance and durability making embedded developers to think creatively and use all resources at hand to meet the desired user specifications. This is one such attempt by designing a digital photo frame with 5 inch LCD display intended to display high quality BMP images. Small Size and low cost of development can prove to be very useful in the success of the device as a day to day consumer electronics product. Powerful computing capabilities of ARM processor when duly utilised can produce very elegant results

Temperature Gradient Effect on Solid-Liqid Interface Properties of Al-Cu Alloy: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Aluminum-copper (Al-Cu) alloys are widely used in the aerospace industry due to their favorable strength-to-weight ratio, good fatigue resistance, and corrosion resistance. These properties make Al-Cu alloys an excellent choice for aircraft structural components that require high strength and low weight. Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, has emerged as a promising processing method for Al-Cu alloys in aerospace manufacturing. AM enables the production of lightweight optimized geometries difficult to manufacture through conventional subtractive methods. AM also reduces material waste by only depositing material where needed in the part geometry. The rapid solidification conditions in AM processes motivate further study of solid-liquid interface properties in Al-Cu alloys. This work examines the solid-liquid interface using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and the capillary fluctuation method (CFM). CFM facilitates quantitatively determining key interfacial characteristics like stiffness, energy, and anisotropy. Simulations were performed under both equilibrium conditions and applied thermal gradients to replicate AM processes. Applying a thermal gradient across the interface led to an augmentation in stiffness and interfacial free energy while preserving the constancy of anisotropic characteristics. This phenomenon was theoretically elucidated by employing a Taylor expansion of the interfacial free energy function. The equations representing the relationships are: for energy and for stiffness, where G represents the thermal gradient. The present study involved simulations on Al-Cu alloys containing varying concentrations of copper, specifically 2%, 3.58%, and 5.065% Cu. These simulations were conducted at different temperatures, 905K, 888K, and 874K, respectively. A total of eight unique interface orientations were investigated. The obtained results were consistent with the proposed theoretical relationships, thereby confirming the presence of anisotropy independent of the gradient and the validity of the first-order Taylor expansion. This study provides fundamental insights into interfacial phenomena during Al-Cu alloy solidification, which can help optimize AM processes by reducing defects. The calculated parameters have significant implications for larger scale computational models of AM by improving accuracy compared to experiments when incorporating non-equilibrium conditions

Formulation of SrO-MBCUS Agglomerates for Esterification and Transesterification of High FFA Vegetable Oil

Musa Balbisiana Colla Underground Stem (MBCUS) catalyst was treated thermally mixing with 5:1 w/w of Strontium Oxide (SrO) and the dynamic sites were reformed. The MBCUS-SrO showed sharper crystalline phases as evidence from XRD and TEM analysis. The composition and morphology were characterized from BET, SEM, EDX thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and XRF analysis. The optimization process for biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas L oil (JCO) having high percentage of free fatty acids was carried out using orthogonal arrays adopting the Taguchi method. The linear equation was obtained from the analysis and subsequent biodiesel production (96% FAME) was taken away from the JCO under optimal reaction conditions. The biodiesel so prepared had identical characteristics to that with MBCUS alone, but at a lower temperature (200˚C) and internal vapour pressure. Metal leaching was much lower while reusability of the catalyst was enhanced. It was also confirmed that the particle size has little impact upon the conversion efficacy, but the basic active sites are more important.

Arsenic in Surface Waters: A Report from River Ganga and its Tributary Jamania at Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

An investigation has been carried out to examine the arsenic pollution status of River Ganga & its tributary Jamania during pre-monsoon period of  2017 at Bhagalpur, Bihar (India). Altogether 17 water samples from different sampling sites along with their geo co-ordinates have been investigated for the value of arsenic using FTK test as well as spectrophotometer method. Throughout the study, arsenic value ranged from 10.69 ppb to 55.92 ppb. Out of the 17 water samples, the values of arsenic in 13 samples were from 20ppb to 54.1ppb. The concentration levels of arsenic in all the 17 river water samples and 2 public water supply samples (source: river water) in the present study were found above from the permissible limit of WHO (2008) and BIS (2004-2005) standards for drinking which is 10 ppb (part per billion)

Biochemical variability of eggplant peel among Indian cultivars

The vegetable production comes with a considerable amount of putrescible biowastes. Nowadays, biowaste production and its underutilizationis perceived as the primary concerns, due to the economic and environmental expenses associated with its disposal. Eggplant peel is discarded sometimes as a biowaste that leads to the substantial losses of organic substances which often have very high levels of crucial bioactive compounds. Here, we determined the biochemical composition of the eggplant peel of the important Indian eggplant cultivars. A high percentage of dry matter content, as well as high fruit phenolics, were determined in the eggplant peel. Interestingly a robust negative correlation was determined between the peel chlorogenic acid content and ascorbic acid content. Overall, this study highlights the biochemical composition of eggplant peel and this information can be targeted on the potential usage of eggplant peel as a natural component for industrial product formulation

Biochemical variability of eggplant peel among Indian cultivars

634-637The vegetable production comes with a considerable amount of putrescible biowastes. Nowadays, biowaste production and its underutilizationis perceived as the primary concerns, due to the economic and environmental expenses associated with its disposal. Eggplant peel is discarded sometimes as a biowaste that leads to the substantial losses of organic substances which often have very high levels of crucial bioactive compounds. Here, we determined the biochemical composition of the eggplant peel of the important Indian eggplant cultivars. A high percentage of dry matter content, as well as high fruit phenolics, were determined in the eggplant peel. Interestingly a robust negative correlation was determined between the peel chlorogenic acid content and ascorbic acid content. Overall, this study highlights the biochemical composition of eggplant peel and this information can be targeted on the potential usage of eggplant peel as a natural component for industrial product formulation

Biosorption Potential of Alkali Pretreated Fungal Biomass for the Removal and Detoxification of Lead Metal Ions

636-639Nowadays biosorption technology is primarily used as a potent tool for solving the environmental pollution, as compared to conventional methods because of its low cost, and environmental safety. It is not associated with secondary pollutions during its operation. The present study is based on checking the capacity of live and pretreated biomass of Aspergillus species for the biosorption of lead metal ions. Among the five species tested, the best results were obtained for A. niger. While the minimum and maximum removals of lead metal ion by live A. niger biomass were 3.84 and 16.42 mg/g at 2 mM and 9 mM concentration respectively, it was increased to 31.25 and 48.44 mg/g respectively at same base concentration for pretreated biomass. Overall, it was observed that pretreated alkali biomass of test fungal species is a potent biosorbent for the metal ions

4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate Dioxygenase (HPPD)-Inhibiting Herbicides: Past, Present, and Future

The 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)-inhibiting herbicides are primarily used for weed control in corn, barley, oat, rice, sorghum, sugarcane, and wheat production fields in the United States. The objectives of this review were to summarize (1) the history of HPPD-inhibitor and their use in the United States, (2) HPPD-inhibitor resistant weeds, their mechanism of resistance, and management, (3) interaction of HPPD-inhibitor with other herbicides, and (4) the future of HPPD-inhibitor-resistant crops. As of 2022, three broadleaf weeds (Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, and wild radish) have evolved resistance to the HPPD-inhibitor. The predominance of metabolic resistance to HPPD-inhibitor was found in aforementioned three weed species. Management of HPPD-inhibitor-resistant weeds can be accomplished using alternate herbicides such as glyphosate, glufosinate, 2,4-D, or dicamba; however, metabolic resistance poses a serious challenge, as the weeds may be cross-resistant to other herbicide sites of action, leading to limited herbicide options. The HPPD-inhibitor is commonly applied with photosystem II (PS II)-inhibitor to increase efficacy and weed control spectrum. The synergism with HPPD-inhibitor arises from depletion of plastoquinones, which allows increased binding of PS II-inhibitor to the D1 protein. New HPPD-inhibitor from azole carboxamides class is in development and expected to be available in the near future. The HPPD-inhibitor-resistant crops have been developed through overexpression of a resistant bacterial HPPD enzyme in plants and the overexpression of transgenes for HPPD and a microbial gene that enhances the production of HPPD substrate. Isoxaflutole-resistant soybean is commercially available, and it is expected that soybean resistant to other HPPD-inhibitor such as mesotrione, stacked with resistance to other herbicides, will be available in the near future