Inactivation efficacy of plasma-activated water: influence of plasma treatment time,exposure time and bacterial species

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of plasma treatment time, bacterial exposure time to PAW and bacterial species on the inactivation efficacy of plasma-activated water (PAW), with additional investigation of the inactivation mechanisms of PAW. Six bacterial species, including Listeria innocua, Staphyloccus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Shewanella putrefaciens and Aeromonas hydrophila were selected as the representative bacteria. The initial bacterial concentration was around 7 log CFU ml⁻¹ after mixing with PAW, and the inactivation efficacy was measured after different exposure times during the 4 °C storage. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the bacteria after PAW treatment were carried out to inspect the cell structure damage, and physicochemical properties of PAW, including pH, conductivity and long-living reactive species of H₂O₂, , and , were examined. The results showed that the inactivation efficacy of PAW was positively correlated with plasma treatment time and bacterial exposure time, and for the species examined in this study, the Gram-negative species were more sensitive to PAW than the Gram-positive species. Cell structure damage, including shrinkage, distortion, or holes, was observed after PAW treatment. The pH of PAW was acidified to 2.5–2.9, and conductivity was significantly increased to 518.0 μs cm⁻¹. and H₂O₂ were reduced during the 48 h storage, while an increased concentration was observed for . This study demonstrated that the processing parameters of plasma treatment time, exposure time and characteristics of bacteria can significantly affect the inactivation efficacy of PAW.     

Design of energy-efficient precoders in MIMO cognitive two-way relay network

This paper addresses the energy efficiency (EE) maximization problem for a multi-input multi-output cognitive two-way relay network. The secondary system, comprises of a two-way amplify-and-forward (AF) relay and two transceivers, co-exists with the licensed primary user (PU). The secondary transceivers communicate through the two-way AF relay. We jointly design the precoders for the secondary transceivers and the AF relay with the aim to maximize the EE while satisfying the transmit power constraints at the secondary transceivers and the relay, quality-of-service constraints at the secondary transceivers, and interference constraints at the PU. The resulting maximization problem is a non-convex fractional programming problem with three unknown precoder matrices. This problem is first simplified and converted into a vector valued problem using singular value decomposition. Further, the tools of iterative optimization scheme and the fractional programming theory are employed to solve the simplified problem. The computational complexity and convergence behaviour of the proposed solution are analysed. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design in terms of the achievable EE and the probability of feasibility.

     

Sorption of ruthenium by dipropylmethyl-2-(N,N-diisobutyl) acetamidoammonium iodide impregnated Amberlite XAD-4 resin from nitric acid medium

Dipropylmethyl-2-(N,N-diisobutyl)acetamidoammonium iodide has been impregnated on Amberlite XAD-4 resin and investigated for sorption of Ru from nitric acid medium. Equilibrium sorption data for Ru uptake were represented well by the Langmuir isotherm equation (R² = 0.98) compared to Freundlich isotherm equation (R² = 0.86). The maximum monolayer coverage (Q₀) value of 6.25 mg/g as obtained from Langmuir isotherm was close to the experimental value (5.63 mg/g). The heterogeneity parameter (1/n) = 0.37 obtained from the slope of Freundlich isotherm indicates slight heterogeneity in sorption process. Aqueous solutions of 5% ammonia or 10% sodium hydroxide were found suitable for desorption. The method can be applied for separation of Ru from acidic waste solutions.     

Adhesive forces significantly affect elastic modulus determination of soft polymeric materials in nanoindentation

The present study investigated the effects of adhesion on the elastic modulus determined from nanoindentation curves for soft polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers with five different crosslink concentrations. Indentation load-displacement curves were obtained for samples of all concentrations at four different peak loads. All load-displacement curves were nearly linear, resulting in load independent contact stiffnesses (p < 0.003) for the range of loads tested. As a result, elastic modulus calculated from nanoindentation curves with the Hertz contact model exhibited significant differences (p < 0.004) both at different peak loads for a single PDMS concentration and between different PDMS concentrations at a single peak load (p < 0.001). The differences for different peak loads were attributed to the presence of substantial adhesive forces at the tip-sample interface. By taking these adhesive interactions into account with the Johnson, Kendall, Roberts (JKR) contact model, the differences in elastic modulus at different peak loads could be reconciled. Significant differences (p < 0.001) in moduli between different PDMS concentrations were still present. The results highlight the importance of considering adhesive forces in nanoindentation analyses of low modulus polymeric materials.     

A Comparative Study of Methods of Clock Ensemble Development

An ensemble of clocks is the first step towards the realization of a timescale. A timescale is the estimate of phase and frequency of the “perfect” clock derived from the phase and frequency of the clocks which participate in the ensemble. Three methods of clock ensembling viz. a Kalman filter based formulation, a multi-scale ensemble timescale based on minimizing the ADEV and an ensemble using artificial neural networks have been discussed in this paper and a comparative study has been performed.     

Processing blackcurrants dramatically reduces the content and does not enhance the urinary yield of anthocyanins in human subjects

Blackcurrant (BC) fruits are a rich source of biologically active anthocyanins but little is known of the anthocyanin content of commonly consumed BC products or how processing affects the absorption. We report that whereas fresh and frozen whole BC were a rich source of anthocyanins, containing 897 and 642 mg (100 g FW)⁻¹ of total anthocyanins the levels in all other products were substantially lower (0.05–10.3% of the levels in fresh fruit). Further, when the absorption and excretion of BC was assessed in volunteers consuming a portion (100 g) of frozen whole BC (642 mg total anthocyanins) and, 300 g of a BC drink made by diluting concentrated syrup (33.6 mg total anthocyanins), only small quantities of BC anthocyanins were excreted in urine (fruit, 0.053 ± 0.022%; drink, 0.036 ± 0.043%; mean percent urinary yield ± SD) and they were not detected in plasma. These data indicate that fresh and frozen BC, but not processed products, are rich sources of anthocyanins but, regardless of the food source, these anthocyanins are poorly bioavailable.     

A Review of Wind-Resource-Assessment Technology

Generation of electrical energy from wind can be economically achieved only where a significant wind resource exists. Because of the cubic relationship between wind velocity and output energy, sites with small percentage differences in average wind speeds can have substantial differences in available energy. Therefore, accurate and thorough monitoring of wind resource at potential sites is a critical factor in the siting of wind turbines. An accurately measured wind-speed frequency spectrum at a site is another important factor. For assessment of the wind-power potential of a site, most investigators have used simple wind-speed distributions that are parametrized solely by the arithmetic mean of the wind speed. Assessment of power output of a wind turbine will be accurate if the wind speeds measured at the hub height (30–50 m) of a wind turbine-generator are known. However, the existing wind data available at most of the meteorological stations worldwide is measured at a height of 10 or 20 m above the ground. Therefore, wind speeds measured at anemometer heights are extrapolated to the hub height of the wind turbine. Many investigators have proposed simple expressions for height extrapolation of wind speeds. This paper reviews wind-speed prediction and forecasting, and development of techniques for accurate assessment of wind-power potential. Also, the need of wind-resource assessment and the techniques and methods used for it are highlighted.     

Low-profile patch antennas for biomedical and wireless applications

Printed microstrip-fed antennas based on a slotted radiating patch are proposed herein. First, a basic rectangular antenna without any slots was designed, being suitable for wideband applications and showing impedance bandwidth of 2714 MHz for \(S_{11} < -10\) dB. Next, dual-band operation for worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX, from 3.11 to 3.97 GHz) and wireless local-area network (WLAN, 4.97–5.71 GHz) was obtained by including slots only on the left side of the basic design. Then, using a structure with slots on the right side of the radiating patch, WLAN operation was obtained in the frequency range of 2.865–2.096 GHz. The fourth antenna, with slots on both sides of the patch, was characterized and realized for biomedical applications at 2.45 GHz (\(S_{11} <-10\) dB). The proposed antennas can be realized with small ground plane size and total antenna area of only \(27.5 \times 21\,\hbox {mm}^{2}\). This reduction in total antenna area is achieved by using a truncated patch. All the simulations were carried out using Empire XCcel. The designs were characterized based on their radiation pattern, return loss, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), gain, and current distribution. The simulated and measured results show good compatibility.