Tungsten oxide/graphene hybrid materials are attractive semiconductors for energy‐related applications. Herein, we report an asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC, HRG//m‐WO3 ASC), fabricated from ...monoclinic tungsten oxide (m‐WO3) nanoplates as a negative electrode and highly reduced graphene oxide (HRG) as a positive electrode material. The supercapacitor performance of the prepared electrodes was evaluated in an aqueous electrolyte (1 m H2SO4) using three‐ and two‐electrode systems. The HRG//m‐WO3 ASC exhibits a maximum specific capacitance of 389 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1, with an associated high energy density of 93 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 500 W kg−1 in a wide 1.6 V operating potential window. In addition, the HRG//m‐WO3 ASC displays long‐term cycling stability, maintaining 92 % of the original specific capacitance after 5000 galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles. The m‐WO3 nanoplates were prepared hydrothermally while HRG was synthesized by a modified Hummers method.
Two dimensional nanomaterials: An asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC, HRG//m‐WO3 ASC) fabricated from tungsten oxide (m‐WO3) nanoplates as a negative electrode and highly reduced graphene oxide (HRG) as a positive electrode material attains specific capacitance of 389 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1, with an associated high energy density of 93 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 500 W kg−1 in a wide 1.6 V operating potential window. In addition, the HRG//m‐WO3 ASC displays long‐term cycling‐stability, maintaining around 92 % of the original specific capacitance after 5000 galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles.
With the advancement in tissue engineering, researchers are working hard on new techniques to fabricate more advanced scaffolds from biocompatible polymers with enhanced porosity, appropriate ...mechanical strength, diverse shapes and sizes for potential applications in biomedical field in general and tissue engineering in particular. These techniques include electrospinning, solution blow spinning, centrifugal spinning, particulate leaching (salt leaching), freeze-drying, lithography, self-assembly, phase separation, gas foaming, melt molding, 3-D printing, fiber mesh and solvent casting. In this article we have summarized the scaffold’s fabrication techniques from biocompatible polymers that are reported so far, the recent advances in these techniques, characterization of the physicochemical properties of scaffolds and their potential applications in the biomedical field and tissue engineering. The article will help both newcomers and experts working in the biomedical implant fabrication to not only find their desired information in one document but also understand the fabrication techniques and the parameters that control the success of biocompatible polymeric scaffolds. Furthermore, a static analysis of the work published in all forms on the most innovative techniques is also presented. The data is taken from Scopus, restricting the search to biomedical fields and tissue engineering.
Chalcones are secondary metabolites belonging to the flavonoid (C
-C
-C
system) family that are ubiquitous in edible and medicinal plants, and they are bioprecursors of plant flavonoids. Chalcones ...and their natural derivatives are important intermediates of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway. Plants containing chalcones have been used in traditional medicines since antiquity. Chalcones are basically α,β-unsaturated ketones that exert great diversity in pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral, antitubercular, antiplasmodial, antileishmanial, immunosuppressive, anti-inflammatory, and so on. This review provides an insight into the chemistry, biosynthesis, and occurrence of chalcones from natural sources, particularly dietary and medicinal plants. Furthermore, the pharmacological, pharmacokinetics, and toxicological aspects of naturally occurring chalcone derivatives are also discussed herein. In view of having tremendous pharmacological potential, chalcone scaffolds/chalcone derivatives and bioflavonoids after subtle chemical modification could serve as a reliable platform for natural products-based drug discovery toward promising drug lead molecules/drug candidates.
The usage of dietary supplement (DS) such as vitamins, minerals, and fish oil has expanded, but there is limited data on their use by sub-populations such as university students. The study was aimed ...to investigate the prevalence of DS use among Bangladeshi university students and its associated factors. A cross-sectional survey of 390 students was conducted from two public universities from Barishal Division in Bangladesh using a structured questionnaire with 72 questions divided into five sections: sociodemographic, knowledge, opinions, and attitudes, types of DS, reasons and sources for using DS, and adverse reactions after taking DS. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were utilized to estimate the results. Among all the students, 15.6% students were using DS where only 7.7% of them used DS according to physicians' recommendation. Additionally, students used DS for general health and well-being, weight gaining and as a source of energy for physical and sporting activities, etc. The use of DS was significantly associated with female sex (AOR = 5.44, 95% CI: 2.18-13.52), greater than or equal to25 years age (AOR = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.01-0.67), underweight (AOR = 5.86, 95% CI: 1.95-17.62), having major illness (AOR = 6.99, 95% CI: 1.98-24.70) and good knowledge of DS (AOR = 2.64, 95% CI: 1.23-5.64). This study provides new findings on DS use and its correlates in Bangladeshi students which may be used by the policymakers to improve DS usage among students. Adaptation of an appropriate program is recommended to educate students on proper and safer ways of using DS.
PurposeThe study aims to investigate the barriers in implementing social distancing at the workplace as an aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic period.Design/methodology/approachStudy design consists ...of a review of literature, data collection and analysis. It encompasses identification, verification and analysis of the relationships among the barriers. Data have been collected from a panel of experts on matrix-type questionnaires from workplaces. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) augmented with “Matrice d' Impacts Croise's Multiplication Appliquée a UN Classement (Cross Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification)” (MICMAC) for structural analysis.FindingsThe literature has identified twenty major barriers to implementing social distancing at the workplace. The research findings reveal/show that the barrier “matter of disrespect” occupies the bottom level in the ISM model. Therefore, it is the most critical barrier; whereas, employees with disabilities and “herding culture” are crucial as they occupy the next lowest level, therefore, are crucial. Moreover, there are ten barriers positioned in the middle of the model having moderate-severe effects, and seven falls on the top level of the model having relatively less severe effects. Results of MICMAC affirm and avow the results of ISM.Research limitations/implicationsThe study will have profound theoretical and practical implications for stakeholders since it provides lot of new useful and valuable information, gives relational insights and determines priorities subject to usual limitations of survey research.Originality/valueIt is an original attempt to make some sense of practicability of social distancing for stakeholders including policymakers, frontline health workers and public at large.
Hospital wastewater (HWW) is one of the largest sources of pharmaceutical release. The present paper proposes the sustainable and controllable hospital wastewater treatment method based on the ...photo-Fenton process using MnO
2
and moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) treatment followed by ozonation process. The method has satisfactory removal rates of Ibuprofen and Ofloxacin˃90%. Evaluation of the optimum operational parameters such as hydraulic retention time (HRT), mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS), ozone consumption (OC), time of ozone exposure (TOE), manganese oxide (MnO
2
) concentration (MOC) was carried out. It was established that the optimal performance occurred at following conditions - HRT (16-20 hours), MLSS (2500-3500 mg/L), OC (7-9 L/hrs), TOE (4-10 min) and MOC (1.9-2.7 mg/L). It is proposed for practical application to control the HWW in two stages. The first stage includes preliminary tests for evaluation of optimum MOC. The second stage is based on continuous evaluation of HRT and TOE using analytical modelling functions.
In addressing issues related to electromagnetic interference, the demand for ferrite materials with exceptional magnetic and dielectric properties has escalated recently. In this research, sol-gel ...auto combustion technique prepared Nickel zinc ferrites substituted with cerium, denoted as Ni 0.5 Zn 0.5 Ce 0.02 Fe 1.98 O 4 .X-ray diffraction (XRD), Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), and Field Emissions Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) were used to investigate the structure, magnetic properties, and morphology of Cerium doped N i Z n Nano ferrites, respectively. The magnetic and dielectric properties of the sample was examined within a frequency range of 2.5–5.5 GHz. Sample exhibits low permittivity (2.2), high permeability (1.4), low dielectric (0.35) and magnetic loss tangent (-0.5) and highest saturation magnetization measuring 30.28 emu/g. A Novel Double-band, 4x4 MIMO window grill-modeled antennas operating on 3.5 GHz and 4.8 GHz frequency bands for 5G smartphones is designed using the CST microwave studio suite. The performance of window grilled 4x4 MIMO antenna model with Cerium doped N i Z n nano ferrites as substrate, is investigated and found the return loss of -35 and -32 dB, with the bandwidth of 200MHz, gain (1.89 & 4.38dBi), envelope correlation coefficient (0.00185), channel capacity loss (0.2bps/Hz), and interterminal isolation of (22& 19dB).The results show that the antenna size is reduced with improved bandwidth, higher isolation and better diversity gain performance using Cerium doped N i Z n nano ferrite substrate compared to conventional dielectric substrates.
Due to the revolution of Internet of Things (IoT), the amount of data generation has been redoubling, leading to higher latency and network traffic. This has resulted in delays in services and ...increased energy consumption of cloud servers. Fog computing tackles the issues associated with long geographical distance between end-users and cloud servers by extending service provision closer to the network edge, reducing latency and makespan, and optimizing energy consumption during workload execution. Instead of offloading all tasks to the cloud, delay-sensitive tasks are executed at fog nodes, while others are offloaded to the cloud. However, the resources at the fog layer are limited, posing a challenge for task scheduling in fog computing, particularly as a multi-objective optimization problem. Meta-heuristic algorithms have been potent to find an optimal solution for such problems within a reasonable amount of time. The Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) is a relatively new meta-heuristic algorithm that has received significant attention from researchers due to its impressive optimization characteristics. However, being an exploitation-oriented technique, it falls into local optima due to a lack of generating new solutions over time. Limited exploration capabilities also compromise the diversity of the solution space and prolong convergence time. Therefore, in this study, an enhanced Ripple-induced Whale Optimization Algorithm (RWOA) is proposed, utilizing ripple effects to schedule independent tasks in fog computing. It aims to minimize makespan and energy consumption while maximizing throughput in a fog-cloud infrastructure by improving poor solutions through substantial changes. Extensive simulations are performed to assess the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The proposed RWOA outperformed TCaS, HFSGA, MGWO, and WOAmM on two workload datasets: Random and NASA Ames iPSC. The statistical significance of the results is validated by the Friedman test and Wilcoxon Signed-rank test.
The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) has created great global distress. This variant of concern shows multiple sublineages, importantly B.1.1.529.1 (BA.1), BA.1 + R346K ...(BA.1.1), and B.1.1.529.2 (BA.2), each with unique properties. However, little is known about this new variant, specifically its sub-variants. A narrative review was conducted to summarise the latest findings on transmissibility, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and efficacy of current vaccines and treatments. Omicron has shown two times higher transmission rates than Delta and above ten times more infectious than other variants over a similar period. With more than 30 mutations in the spike protein's receptor-binding domain, there is reduced detection by conventional RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests. Moreover, the two-dose vaccine effectiveness against Delta and Omicron variants was found to be approximately 21%, suggesting an urgent need for a booster dose to prevent the possibility of breakthrough infections. However, the current vaccines remain highly efficacious against severe disease, hospitalisation, and mortality. Japanese preliminary lab data elucidated that the Omicron sublineage BA.2 shows a higher illness severity than BA.1. To date, the clinical management of Omicron remains unchanged, except for monoclonal antibodies. Thus far, only Bebtelovimab could sufficiently treat all three sub-variants of Omicron. Further studies are warranted to understand the complexity of Omicron and its sub-variants. Such research is necessary to improve the management and prevention of Omicron infection.
Corrosion sensing is essential to monitor and safeguard the materials’ health and control the maintenance cost of corrosion-prone materials used in various industries. The petroleum industry is a ...major sufferer of corrosion costs among various industries due to pipelines and downhole applications. This review article encompasses an overview of various technologies used in early detection stages for more reliable corrosion sensing and warnings. This review provides a summary of corrosion types, corrosion causing chemical species, different destructive and non-destructive technologies used in monitoring corrosion and a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art of various electrochemical techniques used for surface and downhole corrosion monitoring. Finally, the existing challenges for corrosion monitoring in surface and downhole conditions and prospects are discussed.
PDF
