The Role of Electric Field and Ultrasonication in the Deposition and Alignment of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks Using Dielectrophoresis

The effects of electric field and ultrasonication on the deposition and alignment of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) across a 10 μm electrode gap have been studied. It was found that a frequency of ~1 MHz of the applied field yields the largest current independent of the magnitude of the voltage or the ultrasonication time of the sample. Increasing the ultrasonication time of a SWCNT solution changes the I-V characteristics of the deposited nanotubes from linear to nonlinear for all the voltages and frequencies of the applied field. Even in the absence of an electric field, SWCNTs bridged the electrode gap up to a critical sonication time which depends on the concentration of nanotubes in the solution

Normal parameter reduction algorithm in soft set based on hybrid binary particle swarm and biogeography optimizer

© 2019, Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature. Existing classification techniques that are proposed previously for eliminating data inconsistency could not achieve an efficient parameter reduction in soft set theory, which effects on the obtained decisions. Meanwhile, the computational cost made during combination generation process of soft sets could cause machine infinite state, which is known as nondeterministic polynomial time. The contributions of this study are mainly focused on minimizing choices costs through adjusting the original classifications by decision partition order and enhancing the probability of searching domain space using a developed Markov chain model. Furthermore, this study introduces an efficient soft set reduction-based binary particle swarm optimized by biogeography-based optimizer (SSR-BPSO-BBO) algorithm that generates an accurate decision for optimal and sub-optimal choices. The results show that the decision partition order technique is performing better in parameter reduction up to 50%, while other algorithms could not obtain high reduction rates in some scenarios. In terms of accuracy, the proposed SSR-BPSO-BBO algorithm outperforms the other optimization algorithms in achieving high accuracy percentage of a given soft dataset. On the other hand, the proposed Markov chain model could significantly represent the robustness of our parameter reduction technique in obtaining the optimal decision and minimizing the search domain.Published versio

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Not AvailableThe changes in SH group during various processing operations of milkfish such as icced storage, frozen storage , salting (wetand dry salting ), drying, steaming, retorting and frying were studied. During iced storage except for the initial few days SH group decreased from 85.10 to 70.8 mmole.g dry matters in 21 days . Frozen storage was carried out at two temperatures viz.,-35 degree C was less than that stored at -18 degree C during 3 months study.During salting the extent of reduction in SH group was more in wet salted fish compared to that of dry salted fish. on further drying of the salted fish SH group decreased continuously. Drying at constant temperature (60 degree C) for different length of time also reduced the SH group from 76.1 to 16.8 mole.g dry matter within 24 h. SH group reduced to a great extent during retorting compared to other heat treatments such as steaming and frying.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableBacterial wilt incited by Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum (Rps) race 4 biovar 3 is a serious threat to ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) cultivation throughout the ginger growing tracts and warrants effective remedial measures since most of the strategies failed at field level implementation. After a series of experiments, calcium chloride was found to be effective against Rps both in vitro and in planta and its prophylactic effect has been successfully demonstrated under field conditions. CaCl2 at a concentration of > 2% significantly inhibited Rps under in vitro conditions. Calcium is an important nutritional element imparts a major role in plant disease resistance, and numerous studies have demonstrated the mitigating effect of calcium for disease management. CaCl2 being inhibitory to Rps, the mechanism of inhibition by CaCl2 against Rps was elucidated by a series of in vitro assays including swarming motility and biofilm formation. Direct inhibition was also studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The minimum bactericidal concentration and minimum inhibitory concentration were found to be around 3% while the EC 90 value was found to be 2.25%. The SEM analysis revealed the destruction of cell structure by making perforations on the cell surface. CaCl2 at the targeted concentrations inhibited biofilm formation as well as swarming motility of Rps. These findings suggest that CaCl2 exhibits strong antibacterial activity against Rps and has the potential to be used as an effective bactericide for Rps in managing bacterial wilt in ginger.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableIn the present study, the administration of peroxidised PUFA was found to aggravate the isoproterenol-induced myocardial infraction in rats, which was evident from the increased level protein and enhanced the release of marker enzymes in the serum of rats given PUFA and isoproterenol. It was also observed that oxidized PUFA in the diet resulted in higher levels of peroxidation and lower levels of antiperoxidative enzymes.Not Availabl

Enhanced relaxor behavior and high energy storage efficiency in niobium substituted (Ba0.85Ca0.15)(Zr0.1Ti0.9)O3 ceramics

The microstructure, dielectric properties, relaxor behavior, and energy storage efficiency of un-substituted and niobium (Nb) substituted (Ba _0.85 Ca _0.15 )(Zr _0.1 Ti _0.9 ) _1-x Nb _x O _3 (for x = 0, 0.02 and 0.05) samples prepared by the solid-state reaction method has been studied in detail. All the samples exhibited perovskite structure with no trace of impurity. Composition-dependent phase transition was also observed on the addition of Niobium. At room temperature, the co-existence of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases is observed in the unsubstituted samples. As the composition changes from x = 0.02 to x = 0.05, a structural change from tetragonal to cubic is observed. A remarkable reduction in grain size, from 90 μ m (for x = 0) to 1.21 μ m for (x = 0.05), is observed with the addition of Niobium. This result suggests that Niobium acts as a grain growth inhibiter in barium calcium zirconium titanate (BCZT) ceramics. The effect of Niobium on transition temperature is studied from the temperature-dependent dielectric permittivity graph. It was clear that the transition temperature shifted to a lower temperature region, and for x = 0.05, at a very low temperature (−23 °C/250 K) the tetragonal to cubic transition was observed. At x = 0.05, the temperature-dependent dielectric permittivity showed a broadened curve, indicating a diffuse phase transition. The diffuse phase transition in Nb substituted samples is explained by Uchino and Nomura modified Curie Weiss law. Moreover, the observations on temperature-dependent dielectric permittivity measurements at various frequencies suggest that the substitution of Nb ^5+ induces relaxor behavior. The energy storage efficiency of unsubstituted and Nb substituted samples was calculated from the polarization versus electric field graph. A high storage efficiency of 84% was obtained for the Nb substituted sample (x = 0.05) at 12 kV cm ^−1 . Enhanced relaxor behavior and increased storage efficiency were observed in (Ba _0.85 Ca _0.15 )(Zr _0.1 Ti _0.9 ) _1-x Nb _x O _3 at x = 0.05. Thus we suggest that these are promising materials for energy storage applications