Protection of bamboo surfaces by CNSL based coatings

145-149<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:" calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:="" "dejavu="" sans";mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;="" mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#00000a;mso-ansi-language:en-us;="" mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">Surface coatings based on CNSL were prepared from formaldehyde, styrene, hexamine and epichlorohydrin for the protection of bamboo surfaces. CNSL based coatings were applied on bamboo and the performance of these coatings was evaluated by accelerated and chemical resistance tests. It was observed that these coatings can be used for the protection of bamboo from corrosive environments.</span

Reducing the Loss of Built Heritage in Areas of Tourist Interest

Like the fruits of those seeds sown centuries ago, buildings and places are now an essential part of our cultural heritage. When their golden Age long has passed, they risk abandonment, because maintenance costs are often prohibitive, or they risk being completely transformed. So tourism could provide an important contribution to sustaining their maintenance. Tourism is an essential resource for the promotion of cultural sites and for keeping them alive. Traditional and modern technology should be employed whether for a single building or a whole village or even a small island. On the other hand, increasing exploitation of such sites may reveal itself to be a double edged sword. By attracting an uncontrolled number of visitors this could result in a more rapid decline of the resource. Some places have been radically transformed to accommodate ever increasing numbers of tourists, with detrimental results. Rather than being enriched by the authenticity of the site, mass tourism is liable to damage the authenticity that it seeks. Sometimes the final result is less authentic and the traditional spirit of the place destroyed, sacrificed to a need to comply to standard “hit and run” tourist destinations. The paper wants to present one of the many Italian cases where the need to deal with an ever growing tourist pressure has reached such a high level that intervention now becomes urgent: the small Isola Superiore of Stresa, named Fishermens’ Island located in the centre of Lago Maggiore (Italy). Some suggestions are here reported in an attempt to reduce the loss of cultural heritage in the small island as well as in other similar situation

Stable Physically Adsorbed Coating of Poly�Vinyl Alcohol for the Separation of Basic Proteins1.

In aqueous capillary electrophoresis, the electroosmotic flow can be strongly suppressed by coat�ing the inner surface of the capillary. In the present work hydrophilic coating of 4% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as been used for the analysis of basic proteins. The coating is simple and easy to obtain. The separation of ribonuclease and α�chymotrypsin has been uniquely done with other three basic proteins (lysozyme, cyto� chrome�c and trypsin) using a buffer 11.60 mM sodium acetate and 18.40 mM acetic acid at pH 4.5 in addi�tion to positive power supply of 20 kV at 25°C. Detection was performed using UV detector at 230 nm. The proposed PVA coated capillary provides reproducible separation of five basic proteins within 10 min with RSD values for mobility bellow 1.4% (n = 6) for all the five basic proteins. The stability of coated capillary has been checked up to 40 runs. The viscosity measurement for 4% PVA have been studied and scanning elec�tron microscope (SEM) images obtained to make it compatible with future micro�chip applications

Folklore Medicinal Claims from Kani Tribes of Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, South India

The ethnic people have their own culture, customs, religion and medical lores gained from their ancestors. The Kani tribal community settled in the forests of Agasthiyamalai of Western Ghats in Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu and some places of Kerala also have their own culture and medical lores. Residing inside the forest areas, they depend on natural resources for their food, wellness products and livelihood practices. Each tribal settlement has one or two experts called as Moopans who are well versed in the folk practice of medicine using herbs and animal products. Medico ethno botanical survey conducted by the authors of this paper recorded several claims of which 29 are scrutinized as important. A brief account of the folklore information on native medical lore recorded from the Kani tribes explained in this paper

Determination of Biogenic Amines in Lake Water by Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography with Fluorescence Detection after Derivatization with Fluorescamine1.

A simple and rapid method has been developed for the determination of biogenic amines in lake water using micellar electrokinetic chromatography with fluorescence detection. Separation of fluorescam�ine derivatized biogenic amines was accomplished by using borate buffer of pH 9.5 containing 40 mM of sodium dodecyl sulphate. The method has been optimized with respect to fluorescamine concentration, reaction pH, reaction time, separation voltage and injection time. Detection was performed by using UG�11 excitation filter and 495 nm emission filter. The proposed method for histamine, tyramine and dopamine allowed their separation within 2 min with detection limits in nM range. The interday and intraday reproduc� ibility of peak areas were less than 6.5%. Recovery of spiked samples was 95.76–116.31%

A REVIEW OF SOFT COMPUTING TECHNIQUES IN MATERIALS ENGINEERING IJARET © I A E M E

ABSTRACT Within the last three decades, a solid and real amount of research efforts has been directed at the application of soft computing (SC) techniques in engineering. This paper provides a systematic review of the literature originating from these efforts which focus on materials engineering (ME) particularly sheet metals. The primary aim is to provide background information, motivation for application and an exposition to the methodologies employed in the development of soft computing technologies in engineering. Our review shows that all the works on the application of SC to sheet metal have reported excellent, good, positive or at least encouraging results. Our appraisal of the literature suggest that the interface between material engineering and intellectual systems engineering techniques, such as soft computing, is still blur. The need to formalize the computational and intelligent system engineering methodology used in sheet material, therefore, arises. We also provide a brief exposition to our on-going efforts in this direction. Although our study focuses on materials engineering in particular, we think that our findings applies to other areas of engineering as well

Synthesis and characterization of Poly (N- Isopropylacrylamide) ZnO nanocomposites for textile applications

High performance polymers exhibiting multifunctional characteristics can be achieved by the introduction of inorganic nanoparticles like ZnO(Zinc oxide) into the functional polymers. In the present work a copolymer epoxy poly (dimethylacrylamide) was synthesized to disperse the ZnO nanoparticles. The aim of the work is to develop a new method/process/material for the dispersion of nanoparticles and evaluation of the performance of these composites. FT-IR studies of the polymer adsorbed ZnO nanoparticles confirmed that the polymer molecules chain were anchored on the surface of the ZnO nanoparticles. The improved interfacial interaction between the particles and polymer enhanced the thermal properties of the composites. The results also show that the newly prepared polymer composite matrix uniformly has the ability to disperse the ZnO nanoparticles well as evidenced by SEM analysis, and the particles almost remain in their original shape and size even after incorporation into the polymer matrix. Nevertheless, it was also found by dynamic light scattering analysis that the mean particle size of the dispersion was increased with increasing ZnO content. The results were consistent with SEM observations. The value of zeta potential results, show how the Poly (N–isopropylacryl amide (PNIPAM) can adsorb onto the ZnO nanoparticles and impart – ve charge to the surface of the nanoparticles.Department of Science and Technology (DST), India and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal

Immunosensor for breast cancer CD44 biomarker detection based on exfoliated graphene quantum dots integrated gold nanoparticles

Breast cancer is a fatal disease caused by the abnormal development of cells in the breast, which forms tumors, and whose progression results in metastatic behavior. In this study, we present a novel electrochemical immunosensor based on graphene quantum dots decorated gold nanoparticles (GQDs-GNPs) for the early detection of breast cancer antigen Cluster of Differentiation-44 (CD44). The GQDs have been synthesized through electrochemical exfoliation of waste dry cell batteries and a simple chemical process was employed for the synthesis of GQDs-GNPs nanocomposite. It has been characterized for its electrochemical properties. The immunosensor was created utilizing GQDs-GNPs nanocomposite cross-linked via EDC/NHS coupling procedure to immobilize anti-CD44 antibodies. The resultant electrode surface was characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV), and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). TEM analysis revealed an average spherical GQD size of 3 nm and a GNP size of 15 nm. In phosphate buffer saline (PBS), the immunosensor had a low detection limit of 1.17 fg/mL. The findings suggest that the generated GQDs-GNPs nanocomposite exhibits favorable properties for usage as a successful nanomaterial in biosensing and other applications. According to these findings, our newly built immunosensor has a lot of potential to be a valuable alternative diagnostic tool for identifying various cancer biomarkers, particularly CD44 that exist in biological materials. The results indicate that the synthesized GQDs-GNPs nanocomposite possesses desirable properties for use as an effective nanomaterial in biosensing and other applications

Protective and risk factors associated with substance use coping among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) experienced high levels of stress and mental health consequences associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have contributed to unhealthy coping behaviors, such as substance use coping (SUC). This study aimed to understand the extent of and predictors of SUC. Methods: The sample consisted of 263 HCWs in North Central Florida. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses investigated whether moral injury and other work risk factors, protective factors, and clinically relevant symptoms (i.e., work exhaustion, interpersonal disengagement, depression, anxiety, and/or PTSD) were associated with likelihood of SUC. Results: Clinically relevant levels of interpersonal disengagement and anxiety increased the likelihood of SUC. Mediational analyses found that interpersonal disengagement and anxiety explained 54.3% of the relationship between Self Moral Injury and SUC and explained 80.4% of the relationship between professional fulfillment and SUC. Conclusion: Healthcare supervisors should be aware that providers who are experiencing moral injury and less professional fulfillment may be experiencing significant interpersonal disengagement and anxiety, which could lead to SUC. Future studies should examine the effects of implementing targeted prevention and treatment interventions, along with longitudinal outcomes related to SUC behaviors