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ABSTRACTThe present research investigated the effectiveness of cumin and black cumin extracts as natural antioxidants in uncooked chicken nuggets stored at refrigeration temperature (4°C) for 12 days and compared the results with a control treatment. Seven treatments were formulated, including a control group (Tc), T1 (0.5% cumin), T2 (1% cumin), T3 (1.5% cumin), T4 (0.5% black cumin), T5 (1% black cumin), and T6 (1.5% black cumin). The product was evaluated for several physicochemical parameters on days 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 of storage. The data was analyzed using a two-way factorial design under a completely randomized (CRD) design. Results showed that both treatments and storage significantly impacted all physicochemical properties, including DPPH, TPC, pH, POV, and TBARS (p 0.05). Sensory evaluation showed that T3 (1.5% cumin) was the most pleasant and preferred treatment. Conclusively, both cumin and black cumin have good antioxidant properties and can be used as natural antioxidants to increase the shelf life of food products.

Abstract This study explores the optimization of iron electrocoagulation for treating laundry greywater, which accounts for up to 38% of domestic greywater. Characterized by high concentrations of surfactants, detergents, and suspended solids, laundry greywater presents complex challenges for treatment processes, posing significant environmental and health risks. Utilizing response surface methodology (RSM), this research developed a second-order polynomial regression model focused on key operational parameters such as the area-to-volume ratio (A/V), current density, electrolysis time, and settling time. Optimal treatment conditions were identified: an A/V ratio of 30 m2/m3, a current density of 10 mA/cm2, an electrolysis duration of 50 min, and a settlement period of 12 h. Under these conditions, exceptional treatment outcomes were achieved, with turbidity removal reaching 94.26% and COD removal at 99.64%. The model exhibited high effectiveness for turbidity removal, with an R2 value of 94.16%, and moderate effectiveness for COD removal, with an R2 value of 75.90%. The interaction between the A/V ratio and electrolysis time particularly underscored their critical role in electrocoagulation system design. Moreover, these results highlight the potential for optimizing electrocoagulation parameters to adapt to daily fluctuations in greywater production and meet specific household reuse needs, such as toilet flushing. This tailored approach aims to maximize contaminant separation and coagulant efficiency, balance energy use and operational costs, and contribute to sustainable water management.

This study aims to evaluate the Physio-chemical characteristics of Pab sandstone of the Cretaceous age for its value added uses and industrial applications. For this purpose, sandstone samples (n = 25) were collected from Southern Pab Range in Kirthar fold belt for petrography and chemical analysis. Petrography shows that the sandstone is mainly composed of coarse to fine, sub rounded to angular, and moderately sorted quartz. Chemical analysis shows that the mean content of SiO2 is about 93.57% and Al2O3 is only about 1.65% suggesting the dominance of quartz. On the other hand, the mean concentration of Fe2O3, Na2O and K2O, CaO and MgO are found to be 1.54%, 0.11% and 0.05%, 2.26% and 0.45% respectively while SO3 content is found to be 0.02% as an average. Chemical analysis and petrography suggest that Pab sandstone is suitable for the production of glass products such as Egyptian glass, glass fiber, soda lime silica container glass, and Roman glass as it contains more than 90% silica. The silica content can further enhanced up to 99% by the removal of impurities (CaO and Fe2O3), making it suitable for foundries, ceramics, and silica gel. Beneficiation is required for the production of other types of glass, as well as for other industrial applications.

Abstract Photodetectors (PDs) play a crucial role in imaging, sensing, communication systems, etc. Graphene (Gr), a leading two-dimensional material, has demonstrated significant potential for photodetection in recent years. However, its relatively weak interaction with light poses challenges for practical applications. The integration of silicon (Si) and perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) has opened new avenues for Gr in the realm of next-generation optoelectronics. This review provides a comprehensive investigation of Gr/Si Schottky junction PDs and Gr/PQD hybrid PDs as well as their heterostructures. The operating principles, design, fabrication, optimization strategies, and typical applications of these devices are studied and summarized. Through these discussions, we aim to illuminate the current challenges and offer insights into future directions in this rapidly evolving field.

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using an environmentally benign biogenic approach employing an extract of kernels of Nigella Sativa (kalonji). The presence of primary and secondary metabolites in Nigella Sativa extract acted as the capping and reducing agent. The as-synthesized ZnO NPs were characterized using various advanced techniques i.e., UV, SEM, XRD, EDS, TGA, DSC, and FTIR spectra. UV characterization of ZnO NPs revealed a peak within the 350-400 cm−1 range, confirming their successful formation. XRD spectra revealed that the particles possess a nano-rods and platelets structure, with an average size of 65 nm. XRD analysis revealed that the particles possess a size of 65 nm with a nano-rods and platelets structure. FTIR spectra of the ZnO NPs exhibited a peak at a wavenumber range of 500–600 cm−1. The newly fabricated ZnO NPs were utilized in a pyrolysis reaction for the production of high-yield bio-oil, resulting in a maximum yield of 65.6 % at 350 °C. The spectra of the bio-oil display distinct peaks at 1340 cm−1, 2923.6 cm−1, and 1617 cm−1, which suggest the existence of phenolic and carbonyl chemicals. After incubating for 24 h under UV light, they also demonstrated significant catalytic degradation of methylene blue dye. The highest degradation was recorded to be an average of 71 % in 60 min of UV exposure. Taken together, ZnO NPs developed by eco-benign methods have the potential to be implemented as a novel catalytic system in the production of bio-oil as well as the remediation of dye-harboring industrial wastewater.

Abstract The core objective of this article is to explore the viability of uncovered interest parity and to reconnoiter major determinants of domestic interest rates of the Pakistan and China economies. It is imperative to study the interest rate parity that assistances to comprehend that exactly how exchange rate and domestic interest rate influence foreign interest rate of two economies in emerging trends in international trade. The World Development Indicators is main source of data gathering, and it ranges from 1980 to 2023 for the analysis of both models. This study considers two models, Engle–Granger causality has been applied in Model 1, to analyze the uncovered interest parity, and findings indicate that the exchange rate of each country has no effect on the interest rate of the other country. However, Model 2 investigates the main determinants of domestic interest rate and their long-run associations for Pakistan and China. To capture the long-run association, ARDL estimation technique has been deployed, and findings show the long-run relations and co-integration among the policy variables of both countries. In Pakistan, consumer price index and exchange rate hold positive linking with the domestic interest rate; however, output level is adversely correlated. The error correction term is 91%, confirming the rapidity of equilibrium adjustment when a shock occurs. Regarding the Chinese economy, consumer price index and exchange rate have a negative impact on China domestic interest rate. The results of the error correction model indicate an 80% speed of convergence in the long run. This study suggests that improvement in productivity and exchange rate may assist both economies to experience steady exchange rate and interest rate.

AbstractThe demand for protein has increased over last few years. Plant-based proteins are appreciated to meet the increasing demand of proteins than animal protein with the growing population worldwide. Pulses are one of the good sources of protein. Chickpea is one of the oldest and most cultivated legume crops consumed as source of protein. Chickpeas can be classified into two types named as ‘kabuli’ and ‘desi’ on the basis of their physical parameters. They are recognized as a valuable dietary protein source due to their sufficient biological value, and protein bioavailability. Chickpeas contain a variety of bioactive compounds, including isoflavones and phenolic acid. Generally, chickpea and pulses serve as viable options for functional and nutritional proteins. Chickpea proteins are considered as the best alternative to animal proteins with high amino acid profile and cost effectiveness. They are significant in academic and food business domains. Chickpea protein isolates are commonly identified as having a minimum protein content of 90% on a dry weight basis. They offer excellent functional and therapeutic potential in mitigating various health ailments. Chickpea protein is also used in production of value-added products in various food industries including baking industries, meat industry, infant formula and nutraceutical industries. This review explores the production, nutritional composition, health perspectives and industrial applications of chickpea protein.

The performance of electric bikes has increased with their increased use commercially and it has led to a corresponding increase in the charge and discharge rates for the batteries, and associated battery temperatures. Unfortunately, the cooling mechanisms for these electric bikes have not been able to keep up, with most organizations not implementing any cooling aside from passive ambient air cooling. This has led to a general decrease in battery life and charge capacity for these electric bikes. The proposed research has focused on the development of a novel electric bike cooling system under the practical industrial and environmental framework. It is cheap, effective, and simple to manufacture. Contemporary papers related to the topic have been studied, and the most feasible have been shortlisted to 4 distinct cooling plate designs, 3 Radiator Designs and 5 motor cooling jacket designs, which have been modeled in CAD software and then analyzed through use of CFD software. For the cooling plate design 1 had the lowest cooling capability, design 2 showed a 53.3% increase in total heat transfer from plate to coolant, design 3 showed a 107.52% increase, and design 4 showed a 183.03% increase relative to design 1. For the radiator, design number 2 has been recommended due to optimal cooling and temperature drop of coolant, within the dimensional and space constraints on the electric bike. For the motor cooling jacket, design number 5 was deemed to be the most feasible due to the high heat extraction from motor and good temperature uniformity of contact surface. Their respective advantages and disadvantages are discussed, and the most effective one of them all has been proposed for use. Further potential improvements to its design have also been recommended along with Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) integration for harvesting waste heat to produce energy.

Grammar error correction systems are pivotal in the field of natural language processing (NLP), with a primary focus on identifying and correcting the grammatical integrity of written text. This is crucial for both language learning and formal communication. Recently, neural machine translation (NMT) has emerged as a promising approach in high demand. However, this approach faces significant challenges, particularly the scarcity of training data and the complexity of grammar error correction (GEC), especially for low-resource languages such as Indonesian. To address these challenges, we propose InSpelPoS, a confusion method that combines two synthetic data generation methods: the Inverted Spellchecker and Patterns+POS. Furthermore, we introduce an adapted seq2seq framework equipped with a dynamic decoding method and state-of-the-art Transformer-based neural language models to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of GEC. The dynamic decoding method is capable of navigating the complexities of GEC and correcting a wide range of errors, including contextual and grammatical errors. The proposed model leverages the contextual information of words and sentences to generate a corrected output. To assess the effectiveness of our proposed framework, we conducted experiments using synthetic data and compared its performance with existing GEC systems. The results demonstrate a significant improvement in the accuracy of Indonesian GEC compared to existing methods.

Drought stress poses a significant threat to Brassica napus (L.), impacting its growth, yield, and profitability. This study investigates the effects of foliar application of individual and interactive pharmaceutical (Paracetamol; 0 and 250 mg L−1) and amino acid (0 and 4 ml/L) on the growth, physiology, and yield of B. napus under drought stress. Seedlings were subjected to varying levels of drought stress (100% field capacity (FC; control) and 50% FC). Sole amino acid application significantly improved chlorophyll content, proline content, and relative water contents, as well as the activities of antioxidative enzymes (such as superoxide dismutase and catalase) while potentially decreased malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide contents under drought stress conditions. Pearson correlation analysis revealed strong positive correlations between these parameters and seed yield (R2 = 0.8–1), indicating their potential to enhance seed yield. On the contrary, sole application of paracetamol exhibited toxic effects on seedling growth and physiological aspects of B. napus. Furthermore, the combined application of paracetamol and amino acids disrupted physio-biochemical functions, leading to reduced yield. Overall, sole application of amino acids proves to be more effective in ameliorating the negative effects of drought on B. napus.

Abstract Due to their amorphous‐like ultralow lattice thermal conductivity both below and above the superionic phase transition, crystalline Cu‐ and Ag‐based superionic argyrodites have garnered widespread attention as promising thermoelectric materials. However, despite their intriguing properties, quantifying their lattice thermal conductivities and a comprehensive understanding of the microscopic dynamics that drive these extraordinary properties are still lacking. Here, an integrated experimental and theoretical approach is adopted to reveal the presence of Cu‐dominated low‐energy optical phonons in the Cu‐based argyrodite Cu7PS6. These phonons yield strong acoustic‐optical phonon scattering through avoided crossing, enabling ultralow lattice thermal conductivity. The Unified Theory of thermal transport is employed to analyze heat conduction and successfully reproduce the experimental amorphous‐like ultralow lattice thermal conductivities, ranging from 0.43 to 0.58 W m−1 K−1, in the temperature range of 100–400 K. The study reveals that the amorphous‐like ultralow thermal conductivity of Cu7PS6 stems from a significantly dominant wave‐like conduction mechanism. Moreover, the simulations elucidate the wave‐like thermal transport mainly results from the contribution of Cu‐associated low‐energy overlapping optical phonons. This study highlights the crucial role of low‐energy and overlapping optical modes in facilitating amorphous‐like ultralow thermal transport, providing a thorough understanding of the underlying complex dynamics of argyrodites.

Microemulsions (μEs) are particularly suitable systems for the efficient delivery of anticancer drugs due to their thermodynamic stability, structural flexibility, and patient-friendly chemotherapies. Moreover, μE formulations can efficiently encapsulate the anticancer drugs and deliver them to the desired location. Herein, three new Tween-60-based µE formulations were developed to enhance the dissolution profile of anticancer methotrexate (MTX). For this, μE formulations using an appropriate ratio of castor oil (∼9%), water (∼11%), and Tween-60 (∼40%) were used, while ethanol, 2-propanol, and 1-butanol were selected as co-surfactants for each formulation, respectively. Preliminarily, the phase compatibility of the μE ingredients, the average μE region, and the structural transformation in the microstructure of μE were delineated by mapping the pseudoternary phase diagram, as well as electrical conductivity, viscosity, and optical microscopic measurements. The size distribution profile of the as-formulated μEs analyzed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed the fine monomodal assembly of MTX-μE nanodroplets (∼65 nm), which remained stable over a half year of storage. FTIR analysis showed good compatibility of MTX with μE ingredients with no apparent chemical interaction, while fluorescence measurements endorsed the acquisition of MTX in nonpolar microenvironments. Furthermore, an enhanced dissolution rate (>98% ± 1.5%, p ≤ 0.001) and superior bioavailability of the lyophilized non-aggregated methotrexate nanoparticles (MTX-NPs) were achieved, making them a suitable formulation for oral administration.

The increasing use of Global Positioning System (GPS)-based autonomous drones in various civilian and military applications has raised concerns about malicious or unintentionally harmful activities that can be carried through them. It is necessary to detect these intruding drones within protected areas and prevent their unauthorized access by denying them entry. We propose a framework that combines the detection of intruding drones using an L-band radar and then counters by transmitting fake GPS coordinates toward the drones, effectively redirecting them. This article explains the setup required to add to an existing monostatic radar that provides two-dimensional information, i.e., range and azimuth information, to enable the proposed setup to get the elevation angle of the drone. We propose a linear array design using digital receive-only beamforming techniques in the elevation domain to compute the elevation angle in addition to the range, velocity, and azimuth information being provided by the monostatic radar to get complete information about the intruding drone. The simulation of drone detection is followed by an examination of the impact of transmitting fabricated GPS coordinates to the drone. Experimental verification has been conducted to validate both the digital beamforming algorithm and the spoofing technique. This approach blocks the reception of actual GPS signals in the drone and replaces the drone's GPS coordinates with alternative, desired coordinates. The proposed framework can be used to prevent unauthorized drone intrusions in the protected area.

AC microgrids are a contemporary adaptation of traditional power distribution networks, propelled by the rapid integration of renewable energy resources. Yet, their dynamic operational nature poses distinct protection & control challenges. This paper introduces a protection approach for AC microgrids utilizing the Particle Filter Algorithm (PFA). The method involves initial measurement and state estimation of current and voltage signals at the designated bus using PFA. Then, the dual index is computed via PFA encompasses 1). per-phase particle residuals (PPPR), which are derived as an index for fault detection and classification, essentially capturing the difference among estimated & measured current. 2). also, a second index is generated named fifth and seventh root means square (RMS) harmonics distortion (F&SRHD) from the estimated current signals, computed by slight modification in conventional total harmonic distortion. Variances in any of the PPPRs and F&SRHD more than the threshold level indicate the fault within the AC microgrids. Fault localization is accomplished by analyzing the directional patterns of non-fundamental components of 3-phase active energy (3-pRE). Rigorous MATLAB/Simulink 2022b simulations authenticate the efficacy of the presented strategy. Both the high-impedance faults (HIF) and low-impedance solid faults (LISF) are successfully detected across radial and meshed scenarios, with 99% accuracy.

GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) has superior features of wide band gap, high electron mobility and very high electric field strength due to its material advantages. By using the GaN HEMT, switching frequency can be enhanced up to megahertz with extremely high efficiency. Unfortunately, GaN HEMTs accomplished by undesirable switching oscillations and voltage spikes due to extremely fast switching frequencies with very high ${dv}/{dt}$ , ${di}/{dt}$ and parasitic parameters. In this paper, RLC equivalent circuit models are developed for turn on and turn off conditions, including all parasitic components. In addition, the relative effect of each parasitic parameter is analyzed and estimated. Moreover, simple mathematical model is developed for theoretical analysis of switching oscillation phenomenon and, for guidance of snubber or damping circuit design. To validate these simple equivalent circuit models, both circuit simulation and experimental measurements are employed.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are now considered a new class of ionic liquid analogs that have been generously used in various fields. Herein, vanadium phosphorus oxide (VPO) catalysts are synthesized in combination with a deep eutectic solvent containing rare earth metal (rE-DES), and their catalytic performance in n-butane selective oxidation to produce maleic anhydride (MA) is evaluated. The rE-DES is produced from the interaction of choline chloride (ChCl) and rare earth metal salts (Cerium, Europium, Lanthanum, and Samarium metal salt) (ChCl:rE = 1:0.5–1:3) under mild conditions. It was found that DESs served as structural modifiers and electronic promoters during VPO synthesis. It regulated the chemical state of the catalyst surface, such as the vanadium valence state, acid-base properties, and ratios of V4+/V5+, Lat–O/Sur–O and P/V. Various characterization techniques, such as FT-IR, DSC, XRD, SEM, EDS, TEM, Raman, TGA, NH3-TPD, and XPS, were used to examine its physical and chemical characteristics. These characteristics were correlated with the catalytic performance. The VPO catalyst modified by rE-DES showed a significant enhancement of n-butane conversion and MA selectivity while suppressing the selectivity of CO and CO2 as well as the CO/CO2 ratio compared to the unpromoted VPO catalyst. Especially for Ce-DES-VPO, it increased the n-butane conversion and MA mass yield up to approximately 11% and 10%, respectively. In addition, we evaluated the catalytic performance under different activation atmospheres.

Background: Feed additives that increase nutrient availability in feeds have gained a lot of interest. Aim: An experiment was conducted to determine whether amylase, protease and their combined supplementation affected broiler performance. Methods: Two hundred eighty (280) broiler chicks were selected and distributed randomly into 28 replicate pens with four treatment groups and seven replicates under Completely Randomized Design (CRD). A total of four diets were developed, having 0, 100g, 100g and 100+100g of control (AP0), amylase (A1), protease (P1) and amylase + protease (AP1)/ton of feed, respectively. Four replicates of each treatment were fed each diet. Each diet was randomly allotted to each group. Ad-libitum feeding was provided to the birds. The feeding program had starter and finisher diets. Upon completion of the experiment, three birds from each pen were slaughtered to analyze the carcass characteristics and organ weight. Results: Differences were insignificant between 100g/ton of amylase supplementation and FI, BWG, or FCR (P>0.05). Supplementation with 100g/ton of protease did not significantly affect FI, BWG, and FCR (P>0.05). Similarly, 100+100g/ton of amylase + protease addition had no significant effect on FI, BWG, and FCR (P>0.05). None of the treatments significantly affected carcass weight, abdominal fat percentage, dressing percentage, drumstick, wings, breast and thigh weights (P>0.05). In addition, there were no significant effects (P>0.05) on the weight of the heart, liver, gizzard, and spleen. Conclusion: In conclusion, amylase, protease, and their combined supplementation at a rate of 100g/ton of feed did not influence BWG, FI, FCR, carcass characteristics, or organ weight. [Open Vet J 2023; 13(11.000): 1425-1435]

The electrochemical performance of in-house developed, spark plasma-sintered, Aluminum metal–matrix composites (MMCs) was evaluated using different electrochemical techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectra were used to characterize the nanocomposites along with FE-SEM and EDS for morphological, structural, and elemental analysis, respectively. The highest charge transfer resistance (Rct), lowest corrosion current density, lowest electrochemical potential noise (EPN), and electrochemical current noise (ECN) were observed for GO-reinforced Al-MMC. The addition of honeycomb-like structure in the Al matrix assisted in blocking the diffusion of Cl− or SO4−2. However, poor wettability in between Al matrix and Al2O3 reinforcement resulted in the formation of porous interface regions, leading to a degradation in the corrosion resistance of the composite. Post-corrosion surface analysis by optical profilometer indicated that, unlike its counterparts, the lowest surface roughness (Ra) was provided by GO-reinforced MMC.

The rapid design of advanced materials depends on synthesis parameters and design. A wide range of materials can be synthesized using precursor reactions based on chelated gel and organic polymeric gel pathways. The desire to develop high-performance lithium-ion rechargeable batteries has motivated decades of research on the synthesis of battery active material particles with precise control of composition, phase-purity, and morphology. Among the most common methods reported in the literature to prepare precursors for lithium-ion battery active materials, sol-gel is characterized by simplicity, homogeneous mixing, and tuning of the particle shape. The chelate gel and organic polymeric gel precursor-based sol-gel method is efficient to promote desirable reaction conditions. Both precursor routes are commonly used to synthesize lithium-ion battery cathode active materials from raw materials such as inorganic salts in aqueous solutions or organic solvents. The purpose of this review is to discuss synthesis procedure and summarize the progress that has been made in producing crystalline particles of tunable and complex morphologies by sol-gel synthesis that can be used as active materials for lithium-ion batteries.

Load balancing to alleviate network congestion remains a critical challenge in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). During route and response scheduling, road side units (RSUs) risk being overloaded beyond their calculated capacity. Despite recent advancements like RSU-based load transfer, NP-Hard hierarchical geography routing, RSU-based medium access control (MAC) schemes, simplified clustering, and network activity control, a significant gap persists in employing a load-balancing server for effective traffic management. We propose a server-based network congestion handling mechanism (SBNC) in VANETs to bridge this gap. Our approach clusters RSUs within specified ranges and incorporates dedicated load balancing and network scheduler RSUs to manage route selection and request–response scheduling, thereby balancing RSU loads. We introduce three key algorithms: optimal placement of dedicated RSUs, a scheduling policy for packets/data/requests/responses, and a congestion control algorithm for load balancing. Using the VanetMobiSim library of Network Simulator-2 (NS-2), we evaluate our approach based on residual energy consumption, end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio (PDR), and control packet overhead. Results indicate substantial improvements in load balancing through our proposed server-based approach.

Power electronics are used more frequently to raise awareness of power quality which must be considered when designing modern power systems for effective operation and continuous power supply to various load centers. Otherwise, it will be hazardous for residential and commercial customers, reducing the production of their work due to faults and equipment damage. Electronic technology known as Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) may improve power stability to make the electric power system efficient. Oscillation damping in the Power system is still a big concern for operating a safe and dependable power system. The static synchronous compressor (STATCOM) is connected to assist power networks with poor power quality and voltage regulation. Although there are several uses, voltage stability is the most frequently used. An average model of the D-STATCOM control approach is presented in this work to improve the transmission of power quality flow and voltage stability in electric power systems. An increase in system voltage stability, reactive power flow control for different loads, and dynamic response of STATCOM are the primary goals of this research work.

Microemulsions (μEs) are more effective than conventional formulations for ophthalmic use due to their optical transparency, thermodynamic stability, structural flexibility and higher bioavailability. In addition, μE formulations can increase the water solubility of the drug and improve drug absorption in the eye. Herein, we report the development of three new biocompatible μE formulations containing an antihypertensive drug brinzolamide (BZD) and their evaluation for topical ocular administration. For this, Formulations A, B and C were optimized using an appropriate ratio of isopropyl myristate (IPM) as oil phase, water as aqueous phase and 2-propanol as co-surfactant, while Tween-80, Tween-20 and Tween-60 were selected as surfactant for each formulation, respectively. Preliminary, pseudoternary phase diagrams were delineated and then electrical conductivity and optical microscopy were used to establish optimal formulation for each μE to upheld the appropriate amount of BZD, i.e., 2.0 wt%, 2.0 wt%, and 1.0 wt% in formulation A, B and C, respectively. Dynamic light scattering demonstrated very fine monomodal assembly of BZD-μE nanodroplets (∼50 nm), while FTIR analysis showed effective encapsulation of BZD into hydrophobic microenvironment with no observable chemical interaction between BZD and μE excipients, which was further verified by the peak-to-peak concomitant measurement of fluorescence. Further, in-vitro release of BZD-μE showed enhanced and persistent topical ocular administration (>99%) within 10 h demonstrating the appropriate formulation for topical instillation.

Nanoscale Science and Technology (NST) is a rapidly evolving field with profound implications for various industries and our everyday lives. However, misconceptions among learners can hinder their ability to grasp the fundamental concepts of NST, thereby impeding their potential contributions to this advancing domain. Concept maps (CM) and conceptual change texts (CCT) are graphical and written representations of knowledge that enable learners to visualize relationships between concepts and assess the coherence of their understanding. In this pursuit, we engage with the concept of rehabilitation for misconceptions, viewing the learning process as a transformative journey akin to cognitive rehabilitation. Through this CM-CCT constructivist approach, learners are encouraged to engage in critical reflection, self-questioning, and peer discussions, which facilitate the identification of misconceptions. Moreover, CM-CCT provide a structured framework for presenting accurate information about NST, offering a clear depiction of the hierarchical and interconnected nature of nanoscale phenomena. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of CM-CCT in correcting the misconceptions of undergraduate university students regarding nanotechnology and the taxonomy of nonmaterial. Prior to the implementation of the CM-CCT, an assessment of pre-existing knowledge of the students was performed through the structure of the observed learning outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy. A quasi-experimental research design was carried out. A total of 70 undergraduate university students, divided into two intact groups, were cross-examined for the study. Further, before and after the instructional tools, an achievement test based on nanotechnology and classification of nonmaterial was conducted, covering all six cognitive domains of the Bloom taxonomy of educational objectives. Data analysis revealed that the instructional tools based on constructivist approach had a statistically significant impact on students for elimination of their misconceptions about nanotechnology, nano science and classification of nonmaterial.

ABSTRACTThe present study was designed to explore the nutraceutical potential of orange peel, malted barley, and fenugreek-based value-added/functional health mix. Purposely, orange peel and fenugreek powder have been combined to germinated barley flour with different ratio . The composite flour was subjected to a nutritional and antioxidant assay. The nutritional analysis revealed that orange peel and malted barley are good sources of protein, fiber, fat, potassium (K), and calcium (Ca). Afterward, the health mix-based functional drink was developed and subjected to physicochemical, functional, and sensory evaluation. The TPC (Total phenolic content), DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) activity, FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) was found to be increased with the addition of peel flour at various concentrations. The drink (30% peel flour, 60% barley flour and 10% fenugreek flour) is among the other treatments. Sensory scores of formulated value-added drinks decreased with the progression of storage time.

ABSTRACTWhey and sugarcane juice contain many functional components like immunoglobulins and antioxidants, which are very beneficial for human health. Pakistan is the world’s 4th and 5th largest producer of milk and sugarcane, but we are still importing dairy products and sugar from foreign countries. Using whey and sugarcane juice to make value-added functional drinks can enhance its consumption and ultimately be exported to foreign markets. In this research, sugarcane juice was incorporated in whey in five different Blends; 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50%. The product was subjected to different physicochemical analyses at 0-day, 7-day, 14 days, 21 days and 28 days of storage. Results were analyzed through two-way factorial under CRD, which indicated that there was a highly significant effect (p .05). Moreover, the interaction effect (Blends*storage days) was non-significant (p > .05) on all the test parameters. However, the individual effect of days and Blends on other physiochemical tests; pH, acidity (%), sedimentation (%), viscosity (c.p), and antioxidants (µg/mL) was highly significant (p .05) effect of storage (days). Apart from that, the sensory analysis indicated that all the parameters were affected by both Blends and storage (days) with a highly significant effect (p

This research endeavors to advance energy efficiency (EE) within heterogeneous networks (HetNets) through a comprehensive approach. Initially, we establish a foundational framework by implementing a two-tier network architecture based on Poisson process distribution from stochastic geometry. Through this deployment, we develop a tailored EE model, meticulously analyzing the implications of random base station and user distributions on energy efficiency. We formulate joint base station and user densities that are optimized for EE while adhering to stringent quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. Subsequently, we introduce a novel dynamically distributed opportunistic sleep strategy (D-DOSS) to optimize EE. This strategy strategically clusters base stations throughout the network and dynamically adjusts their sleep patterns based on real-time traffic load thresholds. Employing Monte Carlo simulations with MATLAB, we rigorously evaluate the efficacy of the D-DOSS approach, quantifying improvements in critical QoS parameters, such as coverage probability, energy utilization efficiency (EUE), success probability, and data throughput. In conclusion, our research represents a significant step toward optimizing EE in HetNets, simultaneously addressing network architecture optimization and proposing an innovative sleep management strategy, offering practical solutions to maximize energy efficiency in future wireless networks.

The current study investigates the effects of a digital growth mindset on the motivation and success of chemistry students. The approach involves the use of technological tools that encourage students to face challenges and keep trying even when things become difficult. Students can achieve milestones by following this fruitful methodology. This study utilized a mixed-method design of an ordered–explanatory type, as identified in one of the categories of mixed-method approaches. The quantitative aspects of the research project were conducted using a matching-only pre-test–post-test control-group design. This was conducted because the study was carried out on secondary school students in Lahore, Pakistan, and the population included students up to the tenth grade. Only the experimental group participated in digital growth mindset activities. The control group was taught using traditional methods. The qualitative aspect of the study involved conducting focus group discussions with students in the experimental group. The results showed a significant improvement in motivation and chemistry achievement among the students in the experimental group, as evidenced by the higher mean scores from the pre-tests and the post-tests compared to the control group. The present research findings reveal that digital growth mindset interventions, when appropriately incorporated into chemistry curricula, possess the capacity to not only improve student engagement and subsequent performance but also to provide educators with valuable insights into instructional practices that are worth implementing in the digital era.

The electronic, optical, structural, elastic, and mechanical properties of cubic Strontium Hafnium Oxide SrHfO3 under variable stress conditions were examined using the Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA) method. Density functional theory was employed to determine the influence of stress on the electronic properties of the oxide perovskite, resulting in changes in the electronic band gap 3.206–2.834 eV, partial density of states, and total density of states. Significant variations in various optical properties, including absorption, conductivity, reflectivity, as well as the real and imaginary components of the dielectric function, were observed. The differences were noted in the loss function and refractive index. The elastic properties revealed a linear increase in elastic constants such as C11 and C12, while C44 showed a declining trend. Likewise, an increase in mechanical properties, including Young's modulus, bulk modulus, and shear modulus, was found. Furthermore, variations were discovered in the Frantsevich ratio, Anisotropy, Poisson's ratio, and Pugh's ratio. These findings provided valuable intuitions into the properties of cubic SrHfO3, with potential implications for the development of semiconducting devices, thermal coatings, and dielectrics.

Shape memory and self-healing polymer nanocomposites have attracted considerable attention due to their modifiable properties and promising applications. The incorporation of nanomaterials (polypyrrole, carboxyl methyl cellulose, carbon nanotubes, titania nanotubes, graphene, graphene oxide, mesoporous silica) into these polymers has significantly enhanced their performance, opening up new avenues for diverse applications. The self-healing capability in polymer nanocomposites depends on several factors, including heat, quadruple hydrogen bonding, π–π stacking, Diels–Alder reactions, and metal–ligand coordination, which collectively govern the interactions within the composite materials. Among possible interactions, only quadruple hydrogen bonding between composite constituents has been shown to be effective in facilitating self-healing at approximately room temperature. Conversely, thermo-responsive self-healing and shape memory polymer nanocomposites require elevated temperatures to initiate the healing and recovery processes. Thermo-responsive (TRSMPs), light-actuated, magnetically actuated, and Electrically actuated Shape Memory Polymer Nanocomposite are discussed. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the different types of interactions involved in SMP and SHP nanocomposites and examines their behavior at both room temperature and elevated temperature conditions, along with their biomedical applications. Among many applications of SMPs, special attention has been given to biomedical (drug delivery, orthodontics, tissue engineering, orthopedics, endovascular surgery), aerospace (hinges, space deployable structures, morphing aircrafts), textile (breathable fabrics, reinforced fabrics, self-healing electromagnetic interference shielding fabrics), sensor, electrical (triboelectric nanogenerators, information energy storage devices), electronic, paint and self-healing coating, and construction material (polymer cement composites) applications.

This paper shows the stagnant point flow of Powell-Eyring hybrid nanofluids due to a stretching sheet. The Xue and Yamada-Ota based on hybrid nanoliquid have been subjected to a comparison study that has been scrutinized. The suspension of two nanoparticles AA 7072 and AA 7075 with base fluid Ethylene glycol ( EG ) is studied through hybrid nanoliquid. With the implementation of the noteworthy suitable alteration, the system of equations in terms of ODEs is established. The bvp4c technique is then applied to obtain the numerical solution of reduced ODEs. The significance of physical quantities over thermal, velocity, force friction, and heat transport are elaborated in tabular form and also in graphical form. During this analysis, the Xue model produced less heat transport as compared to the Yamada-Ota hybrid nanofluid. The result shows that the Xue model produces less heat gradient equated to the Yamada-Ota model. The velocity profile is enhanced and the thermal profile has decayed with the larger value of the fluid parameter.

The vision system of humanoid robots is one of the essential components that allow them to do complex activities. This has led to numerous studies on artificial gaze stabilization, many of which are based on biological vision system reflexes. The gaze stabilization solution includes image capture and processing, inverse kinematics, and feedback control to achieve the desired gaze behavior. Generally, the multi-solution problem of finding the desired gaze direction and the inverse kinematics problem of finding the desired joints are solved by using cost functions and numerical solvers. This results in disadvantages that include long processing time, uncertain number of iterations, and risk of numerical instability. In this work, an alternative algebraic method is introduced by exploiting the cascading structure of the neck and eye. By using direct equations instead of numerical solving, the multi-solution and inverse kinematics problems are solved utilizing the geometrical structure and the proposed virtual configurations. Moreover, a sliding mode controller is designed to move the neck-eye joints to their desired positions. The developed scheme is simulated in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. Results for various scenarios show that the system can effectively gaze at different stationary and moving targets, showing human-like gaze behavior. In terms of timing, the desired gaze direction is quickly achieved and stabilized, whereas the neck-eye system dynamics stay longer. For one of the simulation cases presented, it took 0.3 seconds to achieve the desired gaze direction for the dynamics of more than 1 second.

Remote sensing images (RSIs) contain important information, such as airports, ports, and ships. By extracting RSI features and learning the mapping relationship between image features and text semantic features, the interpretation and description of RSI content can be realized, which has a wide range of application value in military and civil fields, such as national defense security, land monitoring, urban planning, and disaster mitigation. Aiming at the complex background of RSIs and the lack of interpretability of existing target detection models, and the problems in feature extraction between different network structures, different layers, and the accuracy of target classification, we propose an object detection and interpretation model based on gradient-weighted class activation mapping and reinforcement learning. First, ResNet is used as the main backbone network to extract the features of RSIs and generate feature graphs. Then, we add the global average pooling layer to obtain the corresponding feature weight vector of the feature graph. The weighted vectors are superimposed to output class activation maps. The reinforcement learning method is used to optimize the generated region generation network. At the same time, we improve the reward function of reinforcement learning to improve the effectiveness of the region generation network. Finally, network dissecting analysis is used to obtain the interpretable semantic concept in the model. Through experiments, the average accuracy is more than 85%. Experimental results in the public RSI description dataset show that the proposed method has high detection accuracy and good description performance for RSIs in complex environments.

The current review has been carried out to extract the oil from different plant seed sources, and its food application and bioavailability against various disorders. Plant seeds oil is considered a valuable ingredient in developing functional foods for human welfare. Nowadays, the trend has been changed, the people Worldwide prefer to consume plant-based oil by skipping animal-based fat because animal fat contains high trans fatty acids. However, different plants seed including soybean, palm, sesame, sunflower, safflower, linseed, grape, camelina, chia, garden cress, English walnut & hemp, eucommia ulmoides oliver, avocado, pomegranate, pumpkin, sweet cherry, kangar, sacha inchi, pistachio and cottonseeds are being used to produce the oil. Plant oil is being used in the development of different food products because it contains health beneficial fatty acids. Previous studies proved that PUFAs play an important role in human health against different disorders.

The current review has been considered to extract the bioactive compounds from different fruits and vegetable waste using novel extraction techniques. Among all horticultural crops, fruits and vegetables are the most consumed. Due to a rising population and changing dietary patterns, the production and processing of horticultural commodities, particularly fruits and vegetables, has expanded dramatically in order to meet rising demand. Food waste is the by-product of numerous industrial, agricultural, domestic, and food operations sector that is steadily increasing as these activities rise. Seeds, skin, rind, and pomace make up the majority of the waste, which is rich in bioactive substances such as carotenoids, polyphenols, dietary fibers, vitamins, enzymes, and oils. Waste can be used to make a variety of vital bioactive components, which is an important step toward long-term development. For the extraction of bioactive compounds, various extraction technologies are being used, including supercritical fluid extraction, subcritical water extraction, enzyme assisted extraction, ultrasound and microwave assisted extraction. The sustainable extracts attained using different technologies are valuable in the formation of functional food. Conclusively, new technologies manage waste in a meaningful way that is collected from fruits and vegetables. However, these bioactive compounds that are attained from wastes are valuable in the formation of food products.

This review explores the nutritional and pharmacological aspects of banana, as well as their prospective applications in the food and pharmaceutical sectors. Banana is a widely consumed staple food in several countries and is popular for its pharmacological, nutritional and bioactive profile. Banana is ranked as the fifth most cultivated agricultural crop in terms of global trade. It is consumed in both raw and processed form. Banana comprises an immense amount of bioactive compounds including phytosterols, carotenoids, phenols, and biogenic amines that have a very effective role in health-promoting phenomena. Several bioactive compounds show antioxidant activities to reduce the disease risk. Banana has very effective pharmacological activities like anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic. Banana has unique health-promoting aspects as well as used in the development of many food products like bread, pasta, confectionaries, and gluten-free products.

The current review has measured the effect of kafirins in the development of functional foods and its valuable function against different diseases. Kafirins are usually a protein that is mostly present in sorghum. Chemically, kafirin is divided into different categories including α-kafirin, β-kafirin, and γ-kafirin. Kafirins that are formed in sorghum endosperm and then transferred into the lumen of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. The different functional food products are being developed by using kafirins in the form of sorghum flour. These products play a valuable role in human beings. Previous studies suggested that kafirins have pharmacological properties that are an aid in reducing CVD, hyperglycemia and inflammation. The kafirins are present in sorghum flour that protects humans from Celiac Syndrome. The aim of study was to extract kafirin from sorghum and add into different products for the purpose of reduce the risk of diseases especially celiac disease. Conclusively, food products prepared by using sorghum-kafirin is played a valuable role in human health.

Electrical load forecasting plays a vital role in the operation and planning of power plants for the utility companies and policy makers to design stable and reliable energy infrastructure. Load forecasting is categorized in long-term, mid-term and short-term. Among them, short term load forecasting that monitors weekly, daily, hourly and even sub-hourly operations is gaining a lot of attention which saves time and cost while satisfying consumers’ needs without interruption. Different models such as conventional, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and hybrid models have been developed to investigate short-term load forecasting. However, these models suffers various issues such as low speed convergence (conventional), high complexity (AI) and so on. Consequently, this work proposes a hybrid method using Prophet and Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) models to overcome the above limitations in an effort to predict accurate load. The Prophet model utilize linear as well as non-linear data to predict original load data but still some of the residuals are left which are regarded as non-linear data. Here, these residuals (non-linear data) are trained by employing LSTM, and finally both the forecasted data from Prophet and LSTM are trained by Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) to further enhance prediction accuracy. Elia Grid real time quarter hour based electrical load data from 2014 to 2021 has been utilized to verify working performance of proposed hybrid technique by computing Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and Mean Average Error (MAE). Results substantiate that proposed hybrid models outperforms the standalone models of Autoregressive Integrated Moving average (ARIMA), LSTM and Prophet model on the basis of reduced errors with least computation time.

The distributed generation (DG) integration into the power system is growing rapidly. Therefore, the power system experiencing low inertia and damping because DG possesses no or low inertia causes severe stability issues. Consequently, the virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control technique is proposed to suppress the various stability issues in distributed power generation systems. This paper presents an in-depth literature review on VSG, along with a discussion on numerous modified and improved control techniques for VSG. Additionally, a detailed discussion is carried out on VSG stability and its applications. Furthermore, critical issues in VSG and future research directions are discussed in the end.

The flow of fluid over a spinning disk has a broad scope of numerous applications. It is employed in various things, including medical equipment, the braking system of cars, gas turbines, plastic films, and glass production. As a result of these applications, we considered the phenomena of Darcy Forchheimer's three-dimensional flow on TiO2−Fe3O4 nanoparticles suspended in based CMC-water fluid. The influence of thermal radiation and convective conditions is studied. Moreover, the Buongiorno model is utilized to compute the Brownian motion and the thermophoretic effect. To generate the non-dimensionalized governing equations, suitable alterations are put into use. These equations are then utilized with Matlab BVP4c. Graphs are used to analyze the behavior of velocity distributions, and thermal and concentration profiles at different parameter values. In addition, the solutions to the flow problem have been analyzed in terms of several other physical variables on velocity, temperature, concentration, drag force, heat, and mass transfer. According to the findings, it is clear that an escalates in the value of the rotation parameter leads to an increase in the radial velocity and axial velocity. In contrast, an opposite pattern is followed in the Forchheimer number. Finally, some engineering quantities are evaluated numerically and presented in tabular forms.

Testicular Leydig cells (LCs) are the primary known source of testosterone, which is necessary for maintaining spermatogenesis and male fertility. However, the isolation, identification, and functional analysis of testosterone in duck LCs are still ambiguous. The aim of the present study was to establish a feasible method for isolating highly purified primary duck LCs. The highly purified primary duck LCs were isolated from the fresh testes of 2-month-old ducks via the digestion of collagenase IV and Percoll density gradient centrifugation; hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining, ELISA, and radioimmunoassay were performed. Results revealed that the LCs were prominently noticeable in the testicular interstitium of 2-month-old ducks as compared to 6-month-old and 1-year-old ducks. Furthermore, IHC demonstrated that the cultured LCs occupied 90% area of the petri dish and highly expressed 3β-HSD 24 h after culture (hac) as compared to 48 and 72 hac. Additionally, ELISA and radioimmunoassay indicate that the testosterone level in cellular supernatant was highly expressed in 24 and 48 hac, whereas the testosterone level gradually decreased in 72 and 96 hac, indicating the primary duck LCs secrete testosterone at an early stage. Based on the above results, the present study has effectively developed a technique for isolating highly purified primary duck LCs and identified its biological function in synthesizing testosterone.

A solid-solution cathode of LiCoPO4-LiNiPO4 was investigated as a potential candidate for use with the Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) anode in Li-ion batteries. A pre-synthesized nickel–cobalt hydroxide precursor is mixed with lithium and phosphate sources by wet ball milling, which results in the final product, LiNiyCo1−yPO4 (LNCP) by subsequent heat treatment. Crystal structure and morphology of the product were analyzed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Its XRD patterns show that LNCP is primarily a single-phase compound and has olivine-type XRD patterns similar to its parent compounds, LiCoPO4 and LiNiPO4. Synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) analysis, however, indicates that Ni doping in LiCoPO4 is unfavorable because Ni2+ is not actively involved in the electrochemical reaction. Consequently, it reduces the charge storage capability of the LNCP cathode. Additionally, ex situ XRD analysis of cycled electrodes confirms the formation of the electrochemically inactive rock salt-type NiO phase. The discharge capacity of the LNCP cathode is entirely associated with the Co3+/Co2+ redox couple. The electrochemical evaluation demonstrated that the LNCP cathode paired with the LTO anode produced a 3.12 V battery with an energy density of 184 Wh kg−1 based on the cathode mass.

Abstract We present a compact multi-modal and multi-scale retinal imaging instrument with an angiographic functional extension for clinical use. The system integrates scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) imaging modalities and provides multi-scale fields of view. For high resolution, and high lateral resolution in particular, cellular imaging correction of aberrations by adaptive optics (AO) is employed. The entire instrument has a compact design and the scanning head is mounted on motorized translation stages that enable 3D self-alignment with respect to the subject’s eye by tracking the pupil position. Retinal tracking, based on the information provided by SLO, is incorporated in the instrument to compensate for retinal motion during OCT imaging. The imaging capabilities of the multi-modal and multi-scale instrument were tested by imaging healthy volunteers and patients.

Key points spGpx1 contains two conserved Cys residues (Cys36 and Cys82), which may form a disulfide bond upon oxidation and the reduction of this disulfide bond is most likely to be mediated by Trx in vivo. Fungal GPxs and TPxs evolved from a common ancestor.

With the advent of state-of-art technologies, the Telecare Medicine Information System (TMIS) now offers fast and convenient healthcare services to patients at their doorsteps. However, this architecture engenders new risks and challenges to patients' and the server's confidentiality, integrity and security. In order to avoid any resource abuse and malicious attack, employing an authentication scheme is widely considered as the most effective approach for the TMIS to verify the legitimacy of patients and the server. Therefore, several authentication protocols have been proposed to this end. Very recently, Chaudhry et al. identified that there are vulnerabilities of impersonation attacks in Islam et al.'s scheme. Therefore, they introduced an improved protocol to mitigate those security flaws. Later, Qiu et al. proved that these schemes are vulnerable to the man-in-the-middle, impersonation and offline password guessing attacks. Thus, they introduced an improved scheme based on the fuzzy verifier techniques, which overcome all the security flaws of Chaudhry et al.'s scheme. However, there are still some security flaws in Qiu et al.'s protocol. In this article, we prove that Qiu et al.'s protocol has an incorrect notion of perfect user anonymity and is vulnerable to user impersonation attacks. Therefore, we introduce an improved protocol for authentication, which reduces all the security flaws of Qiu et al.'s protocol. We also make a comparison of our protocol with related protocols, which shows that our introduced protocol is more secure and efficient than previous protocols.

This research paper presents a study on the preparation and characterization of nano graphite materials (NGMs) from lemon and orange peel powder using the pyrolysis method. The NGMs were analyzed using X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for structural and compositional properties. The XRD analysis confirmed the crystalline nature of the NGMs, while the FTIR analysis provided information about the functional groups present in the materials. Our results suggest that NGMs fabricated from lemon and orange peel powder have potential for applications in various fields, including energy storage and catalysis.

Abstract Background The subcontinent is famous for its variety of seasonal foods cooked in vegetable seed cooking oils at elevated heating. Oils are often of poor quality that effect to consumer health. The work, therefore, planned to examine the effects of heat on the quality of mixed canola cooking oils (MCCOs). MCCOs were analyzed by preparing volatile fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and for physiochemical properties. Results A major change was observed in the FAs composition of various MCCOs as coded K-1 to K-5. MCCOs were found rich in unsaturated 9-octadecanoic acid (oleic acid C18:1) and 9, 12-octadecadienoic acid (linoleic acid C18:2) along saturated octadecanoic acid (stearic acid C18:0). Results reveals that canola oil samples are mixed in the range of 4–30% with other vegetable oils and animal fats. The quality of canola cooking oils further reduced after heating to 100 °C, 200 °C and 350 °C, respectively. Quality parameters of MCCOs were significantly altered after heating and found as color (510–520 nm to 570–600 nm), mass 220–237 g to 210–225 g, volume 250 mL to 239 mL, pH (6.76–6.89), specific gravity (0.87–0.92), refractive index (1.471–1.475), saponification value (SV) (0.7–2.5), un-saponifiable matter (2.4–9.8%) and acid value (AV) (1.20–5.0 mg KOH). Conclusion Heating of oils at elevated temperature have shown a significant effect on pH, specific gravity and un-saponifiable matter (p-value

Heterojunctions have proven to be effective catalysts for removing organic pollutants and heavy metals from wastewater. The following study is also about the formation of 2D heterojunction tellurium-doped zinc oxide composite with sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride (Te-ZnO@S-g-C3N4) by adopting a low-cost, simple, and ecofriendly coprecipitation technique. Thiourea was calcined to prepare S-g-C3N4 using the thermal degradation method. The characterization of synthesized photocatalysts was carried out by using SEM-EDX, FTIR, and XRD. The results obtained showed that the incorporation of tellurium caused an alteration in the wurtzite structure of ZnO. SEM-EDX analysis validated the purity of the synthesized samples due to the absence of any additional peaks. The decrease in the bandgap was also noted by the formation of composites. Using methylene blue as a reference dye, the UV-vis spectrophotometer was utilized to calculate the absorbance for photocatalytic degradation behavior. As a result of tellurium doping into the ZnO lattice, photocatalytic oxidation/reduction was improved, according to the results. 3Te-ZnO NPs showed the best degradation rate among dopant series, while an excellent overall degradation rate was noted by fabricated composite 3Te-ZnO@40S-g-C3N4. The best doped ZnO and composites were also used as sorbents for the abstraction of heavy metal (Cr(VI)) from water via adsorption. A definite rise in the removal efficiency percentage of chromium ions was observed by using these sorbents. The overall photo degradation rate and adsorption behavior noted were in ZnO

Meat processing represents an inevitable part of meat and meat products preparation for human consumption. Both thermal and non-thermal processing techniques, both commercial and domestic, are able to induce chemical and muscle’s proteins modification which can have implication on oxidative and sensory meat characteristics. Consumers’ necessity for minimally processed foods has paved a successful way to unprecedented exploration into various novel non-thermal food processing techniques. Processing of meat can have serious implications on its nutritional profile and digestibility of meat proteins in the digestive system. A plethora of food processing techniques can potentially induce alterations in the protein structure, palatability, bioavailability and digestibility via various phenomena predominantly denaturation and Maillard reaction. Apart from these, sensory attributes such as color, crispness, hardness, and total acceptance get adversely affected during various thermal treatments in meat. A major incentive in the adoption of non-thermal food processing is its energy efficiency. Considering this, several non-thermal processing techniques have been developed for evading the effects of conventional thermal treatments on food materials with respect to Maillard reactions, color changes, and off-flavor development. Few significant non-thermal processing techniques, such as microwave heating, comminution, and enzyme addition can positively affect protein digestibility as well as enhance the value of the final product. Furthermore, ultrasound, irradiation, high-pressure processing, and pulsed electric fields are other pivotal non-thermal food processing technologies in meat and meat-related products. The present review examines how different thermal and non-thermal processing techniques, such as sous-vide, microwave, stewing, roasting, boiling, frying, grilling, and steam cooking, affect meat proteins, chemical composition, oxidation, and sensory profile.

A hybrid resonant three-level converter comprised of dual transformers is proposed in this paper, which is suitable for the application of distributed photovoltaic power accessing the medium voltage dc distribution network. The proposed converter can be obtained by adding a control circuit into the traditional neutral point clamped (NPC) three-level (TL) circuit, achieving the basic TL circuit operating with a fixed duty cycle. Pulse width modulation (PWM) is adopted for the control circuit to realize zero current switchings for the basic TL circuit, which delivers most of the power, under full load range. As a result, the switching loss of the converter can be significantly reduced. The influences of the turn ratio of the second transformer and resonant capacitance on the switch current, the peak value of resonant voltage, and the value of the resonant inductance value are discussed in detail, and the parameters design principles are put forward. Finally, a prototype is built to verify the performance of the proposed converter.

This research utilizes a hybrid technology through resonant line-level control phase-shifted full-bridge (HR-LLC-PSFB) dc–dc converter. In this research, a line level control (LLC) auxiliary circuit is used to achieve zero-current soft-switching turned-off operation of a controlled switch. The zero-voltage soft-switching turned-on operation is achieved by using the transformers’ magnetic branch energy and the energy reflected by the output filter inductor. The effective turn’s ratio of the isolating transformers is used to reduce the inverter circuit’s voltage stresses. The effect of voltage overshoots and freewheeling circulating current in rectifying branches is improved by implementing an energy recovery circuit with an output filter. A closed loop coordination proportional integral derivative (PID) controller is proposed to generate the pulse width modulation (PWM) control signal to transmit smooth power by controlling output voltage and current values. The droop constant current charging (CCC) and reduced constant current charging (RCCC) technique is proposed for the charging process. Simulations performed in MATLAB and results substantiate the proposed work superiority in comparison to other topologies.