Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) glazing is a potential electrically actuated switchable adaptive glazing for low energy building application as it become transparent in the presence of ...alternating current (AC) power supply and become translucent/opaque without power supply. Optical properties and protection factor for a particular type of PDLC glazing was investigated in this work. Using UV–vis–NIR (1050) spectrophotometer spectral transmittance of this glazing was measured for its both states. PDLC on state needs 20V AC power supply to offer 41% transmission while without any supply this glazing becomes 23% transparent. In the switch off state LC particles offer forward scattering which makes this glazing translucent with high 82.6% haze. Solar factor for PDLC transparent and translucent state was found to be 0.53 and 0.39 respectively. Glazing protection factors were calculated using spectral transmittance data. Switchable transparency and switchable solar factor makes this glazing suitable to match adaptability of building occupants.
•Solar, luminous, UV transmittance of a PDLC glazing was measured.•Protection factors of PDLC glazing was calculated from spectral transmittance.•PDLC transparent and translucent state offered two different solar factors.
Peat has been widely used as a low cost adsorbent to remove a variety of materials including organic compounds and heavy metals from water. Various functional groups in lignin allow such compounds to ...bind on active sites of peat. The adsorption of Cu
2+ and Ni
2+ from aqueous solutions on Irish peat moss was studied both as a pure ion and from their binary mixtures under both equilibrium and dynamic conditions in the concentration range of 5–100
mg/L. The pH of the solutions containing either Cu
2+ or Ni
2+ was varied over a range of 2–8. The adsorption of Cu
2+ and Ni
+2 on peat was found to be pH dependent. The adsorption data could be fitted to a two-site Langmuir adsorption isotherm and the maximum adsorption capacity of peat was determined to be 17.6
mg/g for Cu
2+ and 14.5
mg/g for Ni
2+ at 298
K when the initial concentration for both Cu
2+ and Ni
2+ was 100
mg/L, and the pH of the solution was 4.0 and 4.5, respectively. Column studies were conducted to generate breakthrough data for both pure component and binary mixtures of copper and nickel. Desorption experiments showed that 2
mM EDTA solution could be used to remove all of the adsorbed copper and nickel from the bed.
•Carbon black-ethylene glycol (CB-EG) nanofluids were investigated.•Extinction coefficient increased linearly with CB concentration within 450–820 nm.•An enhancement of overall photo-thermal ...efficiency of 27.43% was obtained.•Local photo-thermal efficiency improves with concentration and depth of fluid.
Direct absorption solar collector (DASC) is a promising method of harvesting solar energy. Present work considers carbon black-ethylene glycol (CB-EG) based nanofluids as the working fluids for DASC applications. Nanofluids were synthesized by the two-step method. Various studies carried out in this work include long time homogeneity, energy absorption characteristic and transient temperature profiles as functions of fluid thickness, light exposure time and concentration of the nanoparticles. Improved absorption characteristics, compared with those of the base fluid, towards incident irradiance were observed in all cases. About 27.90% increment in overall photo-thermal conversion efficiency over that of the ethylene glycol (EG) alone is observed for the case of 15 ppm carbon black (CB) concentration with an exposure time of 1200 s. Measured data show increasing trends in local photo-thermal efficiency with the thickness of the liquid layer as well as with the concentration of the suspended nanoparticles. These studies confirm that CB-EG based nanofluids can be used as potential working fluids for DASCs.
Lightweight and conformable electroactive actuators stimulated by low electric fields are required for emerging responsive technologies. In this work, we demonstrate that selectively swollen triblock ...copolymers yield electroactive nanostructured polymers (ENPs) that exhibit excellent displacement (>200% areal strain) under an applied electric field (see figure). Such ENPs possess properties that can be broadly tailored and represent a viable avenue to designer organic actuators for advanced engineering, biomimetic, and biomedical applications.
An experiment of 35d duration was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation (1g/kg) of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), yeast protein concentrate (YPC) and YPC-pellets on ...production performance of heat stressed broilers (Cobb 400, n = 128). Ambient temperature was constantly maintained at 32-34°C. At 21d, all the birds were orally challenged with Salmonella enteritidis (10×10⁷ colony forming units/ml) and the numbers of total Salmonella were enumerated in excreta at periodic intervals. Dietary supplementation of YPC and YPC pellets improved body weight at 21 and 35d of age (P=0.001) and FCR in 35d (P=0.001). Salmonella numbers decreased in the pooled digesta and excreta due to dietary supplementation of yeast and YPC additives (P<0.05) particularly in the YPC-pellets group. E. coli numbers in digesta also decreased in the treated groups (P=0.011). Humoral immune response against Newcastle disease was improved by dietary supplementation of YPC and YPC-pellets at 14d (P=0.028), 28d (P=0.001) and 35d (P=0.001). The effect of dietary yeast supplementation on humoral immune response was evidenced on 35d of age. Severity of panting was comparatively less when the YPC additives were supplemented in diet and this was corroborated by a lower serum CO₂ concentration (P=0.019) in the YPC and YPC-pellets groups at 21d of age as compared with the control. Supplementation of YPC and YPC-pellets increased serum T3 level (P=0.001) at 21d and decreased serum cortisol at 21 and 35d vis-à-vis the control group (P=0.001). Yeast supplementation was also as effective as the YPC additives in reducing serum cortisol level. Villus height increased by supplementation of YPC-pellets as compared with the other dietary groups (P=0.008) although the implication of this increment was not discernible in terms of production performances. Although, converting the yeast protein concentrates into YPC-pellets did not offer any substantial advantage in terms of enhancing production performance of the heat stressed broilers, it may be concluded that YPC additives may effectively sustain the production performance in heat stressed broilers than the conventional yeasts probably by modulation of the levels of circulatory thyroid hormones and cortisol.
Multimaterial fabrication such as joining of steel and aluminum is currently prominent in a variety of industries. Friction stir welding is a novel solid-state welding process that causes good joint ...strength between steel and aluminum. However, the phenomenon contributing significant strength at the interface is not yet clear. In the present study, the interface of the friction stir lap-welded aluminum and coated steel sheet having joint strength maximum (71.4 pct of steel base metal) and minimum, respectively, under two parameter combinations,
i.e.
, 1000 rpm 50 mm min
−1
and 500 rpm 100 mm min
−1
, was exclusively characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), concentration profile, and elemental mapping by electron-probe microanalysis. A TEM-assisted EDS study identifies the morphologies of large size Al
13
Fe
4
and small size Fe
3
Al-type intermetallic compounds at the interface. The diffusion-induced intermetallic growth (thickness) measured from a backscattered image and concentration profile agreed well with the numerically calculated one. The growth of these two phases at 1000 rpm 50 mm min
−1
is attributed to the slower cooling rate (~3.5 K/s) with higher diffusion time (44 seconds) along the interface in comparison to the same for 500 rpm 100 mm min
−1
with faster cooling rate (~10 K/s) and less diffusion time (13.6 seconds). The formation of thermodynamically stable and hard intermetallic phase Al
13
Fe
4
at 1000 rpm and travel speed 50 mm min
−1
in amounts higher than 500 rpm and a travel speed of 100 mm min
−1
results in better joint strength,
i.e.
, 71.4 pct, of the steel base metal.
The rapid clearance of circulating nanoparticles from the blood stream coupled with their high uptake by liver and spleen has thus far been overcome by reducing the particle size, and by making the ...particle surface hydrophilic with poloxamers and poloxamines. We have prepared hydrogel nanoparticles of polyvinylpyrrolidone of a size less than 100 nm diameter with precise size distribution. Since the inner cores of these particles are also hydrophilic, these particles are capable of encapsulating water-soluble compounds. Biodistribution of these particles shows practically negligible (<1%) uptake by the macrophages in liver and spleen, and ∼5–10% of these particles remain in circulation even 8 h after i.v. injection. Increasing the surface hydrophobicity as well as particle size can increase the RES uptake of these particles. Because of longer residence in blood, the hydrogel nanoparticles have potential therapeutic applications particularly in cancer: the water-soluble cytotoxic agents encapsulated in these particles can be targeted to tumors while minimizing the likelihood of toxicity to reticuloendothelial system (RES).
The concept of sustainable livelihood security has wider generic meaning pertaining to sustainable development to ensure ecologically secure, economically efficient, socially equitable and ...sufficiency in infrastructure in the society. Dairying provides sufficient income to the farming community of West Bengal. Therefore, sustainability of dairy-based livelihood in the districts of West Bengal was assessed to find out necessary interventions to be required to ensure sustainable livelihood security of dairy farmers. An exclusively district level Dairy-based Sustainable Livelihood Security Index was developed underline the principle of Human Development Index of United Nations Development Programme by using 17 indicators divided into four sub-indices i.e. Ecological Security index, Economic Efficiency Index, Infrastructural Sufficiency Index and Social Equity Index. The overall mean value of Dairy-based Sustainable Livelihood Security Index was found to be 0.38 with a range from 0.12 (Purulia district) to 0.59 (Darjeeling district), indicated the sustainability status was low. In case of sub indices, Infrastructural Sufficiency Index (0.49) and Ecological Security Index (0.45) were stronger indices than other two indices, Economic Efficiency Index (0.32) and Social Equity Index (0.29) which signified the very lower level sustainability. Districts were categorized for better interpretation into four based on overall Sustainable Livelihood Security Index score as very low (less than 0.3), low (0.3–0.54), medium (0.55–0.70) and high (greater than 0.70). Districts namely Maldah, Uttar Dinajpur, Purulia were having very lower level sustainability in dairy-based livelihood. But, it was moderately sustainable in the districts of Darjeeling, Nadia and Hooghly. Hence, Dairy-based Sustainable Livelihood Security Index (SLSI) is not only highlighting the state of sustainability of dairy-based livelihood but also emphasized the area where necessary policy matters to be intervened for improvement of livelihood of dairy farmers.
•An exclusively Dairy-based Sustainable Livelihood Security Index (D-SLSI) developed.•The overall sustainability status of dairy-based livelihood in West Bengal was low.•Majority of the districts (12 out of 18) were having lower level of sustainability.•Infrastructure Sufficiency and Ecologically Security were the stronger indices.•Strongest correlation between D-SLSI and economic efficiency of dairy production.
Liquid–liquid two-phase flow patterns in a serpentine glass microchannel have been studied using a camera with very high shutter speed. The phase system is equilibrated water−succinic acid−n-butanol ...system. Observed flow patterns have been classified into seven different types: slug flow, slug and droplet flow, droplet flow, unstable annular flow, annular flow, annular dispersed flow, and fully dispersed flow. Two different ways of introducing the aqueous and organic phases into the microchannel have been studied. Flow regime maps are presented and discussed. Voronoi diagrams of the flow regime maps are also presented.
The paper presents the spatio-temporal variation of chemical compositions (organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and water-soluble inorganic ionic components (WSIC)) of particulate matter (PM
...10
) over three locations (Delhi, Varanasi, and Kolkata) of Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP) of India for the year 2011. The observational sites are chosen to represent the characteristics of upper (Delhi), middle (Varanasi), and lower (Kolkata) IGP regions as converse to earlier single-station observation. Average mass concentration of PM
10
was observed higher in the middle IGP (Varanasi 206.2 ± 77.4 μg m
−3
) as compared to upper IGP (Delhi 202.3 ± 74.3 μg m
−3
) and lower IGP (Kolkata 171.5 ± 38.5 μg m
−3
). Large variation in OC values from 23.57 μg m
−3
(Delhi) to 12.74 μg m
−3
(Kolkata) indicating role of formation of secondary aerosols, whereas EC have not shown much variation with maximum concentration over Delhi (10.07 μg m
−3
) and minimum over Varanasi (7.72 μg m
−3
). As expected, a strong seasonal variation was observed in the mass concentration of PM
10
as well as in its chemical composition over the three locations. Principal component analysis (PCA) identifies the contribution of secondary aerosol, biomass burning, fossil fuel combustion, vehicular emission, and sea salt to PM
10
mass concentration at the observational sites of IGP, India. Backward trajectory analysis indicated the influence of continental type aerosols being transported from the Bay of Bengal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and surrounding areas to IGP region.
