Linear and non-linear regression analysis for the sorption kinetics of Rhodamine dye from aqueous solution using Chitosan-Jackfruit nanocomposite

This paper presents experimental results such as the adsorbate-adsorbent chemical properties and chemical interaction as well as adsorption conditions. The experimental results were fitted to batch kinetic studies to obtain the characteristic parameters of each model. According to the evaluation using the Kinetic equation, the maximum sorption capacity at dye concentration was 19.6 (mg g-1), pH 11.6 (mg g-1) and temperature 24.2 (mg g-1) Rhodamine dye were investigated. For all of the systems studied, the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order model provided the best correlation of the kinetic experimental data. The results revealed that with increasing temperature and decreasing pH, ionic strength, and adsorbate concentration, dye removal efficiency has increased. Chitosan-Jackfruit nanocomposite could remove 90.2% dye from the solution containing 40 mg/L dye at 100 min. The results indicated that dye removal followed pseudo-second-order kinetic (R2>0.99). According to the findings, Chitosan-Jackfruit nanocomposites an effective adsorbent for direct dye removal from wastewater

Green Synthesis and Characterization of Antibacterial Studies by Iron Oxide Nanoparticles using Carica papaya Leaf Extract

In present years, the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) has established excessive potential in biological applications due to their non-toxic role in biological systems, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Ongoing research efforts focused on IONPs in the expansion of novel technologies as they can be synthesized with surface modification. Here we have studied the antibacterial effects of IONPs which were synthesized effectively through a green synthesis route by using leaf extract of the Carica papaya plant. The formation of IONPs was confirmed by the color change. The crystallinity of IONPs was determined by XRD and the morphology by using SEM, which showed spherical particles of well-dispersed size. The absorption peak was determined by UV–vis spectroscopy at 390 nm. Average particle size distribution was obtained at 56 nm using PSA.  FL spectroscopy indicated the higher emission wavelength by redshift at 641.6 nm. TGA showed that the IONPs are thermally stable up to 200⁰C with no decomposition. The outcome would pave a way for utilizing IONPs for better biomedical application

Synthesis of Iron Oxide Magnetic Nanoparticles: Characterization and its Biomedical Application

In the present time, Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (IOMNPs) have paid considerable attention due to their exclusive applications in terms of surface-to-volume ratio, superparamagnetism, high surface area, biosensor, bio-separation, catalysis, and biomedicine. Our goal was to synthesis iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles by chemical route technique. The preparation method had a very large effect on the size, shape, and surface chemistry of the magnetic nanoparticles including their applications. The iron chloride solution was prepared by mixing deionized water with iron chloride tetrahydrate. The synthesized powder was characterized by XRD, UV-vis, SEM, FT-IR, DLS, FL, and TGA techniques. Moreover, antibacterial activity was evaluated using the synthesized IOMNPs against Escherichia coli (A), Pseudomonas (B), Enterobacter (C), Staphylococcus aureus (D), and Bacillus subtilis (E) in the concentration of 0.1 mg and 0.5 mg. The results showed that Bacillus subtilis possess a higher antibacterial activity at the concentration of 0.5 mg comparing the other bacterial species. The outcome of this work would contribute to the present understanding of the biomedical application with the obtained size, shape, and synthesized method

Smart Cities: Towards a New Citizenship Regime? A Discourse Analysis of the British Smart City Standard

Growing practice interest in smart cities has led to calls for a less technology-oriented and more citizen-centric approach. In response, this articles investigates the citizenship mode promulgated by the smart city standard of the British Standards Institution. The analysis uses the concept of citizenship regime and a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods to discern key discursive frames defining the smart city and the particular citizenship dimensions brought into play. The results confirm an explicit citizenship rationale guiding the smart city (standard), although this displays some substantive shortcomings and contradictions. The article concludes with recommendations for both further theory and practice development

Calibrating a chief complaint list for low resource settings: a methodologic case study

Background: The chief or presenting complaint is the reason for seeking health care, often in the patient’s own words. In limited resource settings, a diagnosis-based approach to quantifying burden of disease is not possible, partly due to limited availability of an established lexicon or coding system. Our group worked with colleagues from the African Federation of Emergency Medicine building on the existing literature to create a pilot symptom list representing an attempt to standardize undifferentiated chief complaints in emergency and acute care settings. An ideal list for any setting is one that strikes a balance between ease of use and length, while covering the vast majority of diseases with enough detail to permit epidemiologic surveillance and make informed decisions about resource needs. // Methods: This study was incorporated as a part of a larger prospective observational study on human immunodeficiency virus testing in Emergency Departments in South Africa. The pilot symptom list was used for chief complaint coding in three Emergency Departments. Data was collected on 3357 patients using paper case report forms. Chief complaint terms were reviewed by two study team members to determine the frequency of concordance between the coded chief complaint term and the selected symptom(s) from the pilot symptom list. // Results: Overall, 3537 patients’ chief complaints were reviewed, of which 640 were identified as ‘potential mismatches.’ When considering the 191 confirmed mismatches (29.8%), the Delphi process identified 6 (3.1%) false mismatches and 185 (96.9%) true mismatches. Significant chief-complaint clustering was identified with 9 sets of complaints frequently selected together for the same patient. “Pain” was used 2076 times for 58.7% of all patients. A combination of user feedback and expert-panel modified Delphi analysis of mismatched complaints and clustered complaints resulted in several substantial changes to the pilot symptom list. // Conclusions: This study presented a systematic methodology for calibrating a chief complaint list for the local context. Our revised list removed/reworded symptoms that frequently clustered together or were misinterpreted by health professionals. Recommendations for additions, modifications, and/or deletions from the pilot chief complaint list we believe will improve the functionality of the list in low resource environments

Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles from Ashyranthus aspera Extract for Antimicrobial Activity Studies

Development of biologically inspired experimental processes for the synthesis of nanoparticles is evolving into an important branch of nanotechnology. Plant-mediated synthesis of nanomaterials has been increasingly gaining popularity due to its eco-friendly nature and cost-effectiveness. In the present study, we were synthesized silver (Ag) nanoparticles using aqueous extracts of fresh leaves of Ashyranthus aspera medicinal plants as bio-reducing agents. UV-Vis spectrometer used to monitor the reduction of Ag ions and the formation of AgNPs in the medium. UV-Vis spectra and visual observation showed that the color of the fresh leaf extracts of Ashyranthus aspera turned into grayish-brown respectively, after treatment with Ag precursors. XRD and SEM have been used to investigate the morphology of prepared AgNPs. The peaks in the XRD pattern are associated with that of the Face-Centered-Cubic (FCC) form of metallic silver. TGA/DTA results associated with weight loss and exothermic reaction due to the desorption of chemisorbed water. FTIR was performed to identify the functional groups which form a layer covering AgNPs and stabilize the AgNPs in the medium. Moreover, silver nanoparticles using aqueous leaf extracts of Ashyranthus aspera were separately tested for their antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria ( Staphylococcus aureus ) and Gram-negative bacteria ( Enterobacter ). The results showed that the bacterial growth was inhibited by the extracts containing AgNPs Nanoparticles. The biosynthesized nanoparticle was prepared from Ashyranthus aspera leaf extracts exhibits potential applications as broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents

Notes on Black Hole Fluctuations and Backreaction

In these notes we prepare the ground for a systematic investigation into the issues of black hole fluctuations and backreaction by discussing the formulation of the problem, commenting on possible advantages and shortcomings of existing works, and introducing our own approach via a stochastic semiclassical theory of gravity based on the Einstein-Langevin equation and the fluctuation-dissipation relation for a self-consistent description of metric fluctuations and dissipative dynamics of the black hole with backreaction of its Hawking radiance

B806: Performance Evaluations of Potato Clones and Varieties in the Northeastern States 1984

Cooperative potato clone and variety trials were conducted at 32 locations to determine field performance of selected clones and varieties grown under soil, climatic, and cultural management common to the potato growing areas of 12 cooperating states and the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. A few locations also evaluated storage and processing behavior of selected clones and varieties. These tests are contributions to Regional Project NE107 entitled, Breeding and Evaluation of New Potato Clones for the Northeast. The primary objective of this project is to determine clone performance and stability over a wide range of soil, climate, and cultural conditions.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1117/thumbnail.jp

He Scores Through a Screen: Mediating Masculinities Through Hockey Video Games

Hockey video games highlight the ways in which the video game medium shapes and conditions the experience of producing and/or performing the sport “in real life.” Indeed, the accumulation of advanced statistics in and through the constant evaluation, measurement, and surveillance which are inherent to video games—and increasingly seen as foundational for sport—reveals important contradictions not only in the way the embodied sport is played and understood, but also in terms of the proofs of masculinity upon which the sport is built. It then becomes clear that the building of masculinity and the empowerment of the character become one and the same. The ludic function reinforces the cultural imperative and vice versa. Thus, our chapter prizes apart the conflation of masculinity with hockey while showing the ways that video game studies can contribute to existing disciplines