In this work, mesoporous silica SBA-15 was prepared and functionalized with amine groups (i.e., NH2) to form NH2/SBA-15. The curcumin (CUR) was encapsulated into the surface and pore of NH2/SBA-15 to create CUR@NH2/SBA-15 as an efficient carrier in drug delivery systems (DDSs). The three samples (i.e., SBA-15, NH2/SBA-15, and CUR@NH2/SBA-15) were characterized. The study investigated the effect of the carrier dose, initial CUR concentration, pH, and contact time on the CUR loading efficiency (DLE%) via adsorption. The best DLE% for the SBA-15 and NH2/SBA-15 were found to be 45% and 89.7%, respectively. The Langmuir isotherm had a greater correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.998 for SBA-15. A pseudo-secondorder kinetic model seemed to fit well

Electrochemical corrosion of hydroxyapatite (HAP) coated performance depends on various parameters like applied potential, time, thickness and sintering temperature. Thus, the optimum parameters required for the development of stable HAP coatings was found by using electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique. This study discusses the results obtained from open circuit potential-time measurements (OCP-time), potentiodynamic polarisation and immersion tests for all alloy samples done under varying experimental conditions, so that the optimum coating parameters can be established. The ageing studies of the coated samples were carried out by immersing them in Ringer’s solution for a period of 30 days indicates the importance of stable HAP c

This study was undertaken to diagnose routine settling problems within a third-party oil and gas companies’ Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG) regeneration system. Two primary issues were identified including; a) low particle size (<40 μm) resulting in poor settlement within high viscosity MEG solution and b) exposure to hydrocarbon condensate causing modification of particle surface properties through oil-wetting of the particle surface. Analysis of oil-wetted quartz and iron carbonate (FeCO₃) settlement behavior found a greater tendency to remain suspended in the solution and be removed in the rich MEG effluent stream or to strongly float and accumulate at the liquid-vapor interface in comparison to naturally water-wetted particles. As su

The present work presents design and implementation of an automated two-axis solar tracking system using local materials with minimum cost, light weight and reliable structure. The tracking system consists of two parts, mechanical units (fixed and moving parts) and control units (four LDR sensors and Arduino UNO microcontroller to control two DC servomotors). The tracking system was fitted and assembled together with a parabolic trough solar concentrator (PTSC) system to move it according to information come from the sensors so as to keep the PTSC always perpendicular to sun rays. The experimental tests have been done on the PTSC system to investigate its thermal performance in two cases, with tracking system (case 1) and without trackin

The enhancement of the thermal and thermo-hydraulic performance of a semi-circular solar air collector (SCSAC) is numerically investigated using porous semi-circular obstacles made of metal foam with and without longitudinal porous Y-shaped fins. Two 10 and 40 PPI porous material samples are examined. Three-dimensional models are built to simulate the performance of SCSAC: model (I) with clear air passage; model (II) with only metal foam obstacles, and model (III) with metal foam obstacles as well as porous Y-fins. COMSOL Multiphysics software version 6.2 based on finite element methodology is employed. A conjugate heat transfer with a (k-ε) turbulence model is selected to simulate both heat transfer and fluid flow across the entir

Biodiesel can be prepared from various types of vegetable oils or animal fats with the aid of a catalyst.
Calcium oxide (CaO) is one of the prospective heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel synthesis. Modification
of CaO by impregnation on silica (SiO2) can improve the performance of CaO as catalyst. Egg shells and rice
husks as biomass waste can be used as raw materials for the preparation of the silica modified CaO catalyst.
The present study was directed to synthesize and characterize CaO impregnated SiO2 catalyst from biomass
waste and apply it as catalyst in biodiesel synthesis. The catalyst was synthesized by wet impregnation
method and characterized by x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, nitr

A numerical investigation has been performed to study the effect of eccentricity on unsteady state, laminar aiding mixed convection in a horizontal concentric and eccentric cylindrical annulus. The outer cylinder was kept at a constant temperature
while the inner cylinder was heated with constant heat flux. The study involved numerical solution of transient momentum (Navier-Stokes) and energy equation using finite difference method (FDM), where the body fitted coordinate system (BFC) was
used to generate the grid mesh for computational plane. The governing equations were transformed to the vorticity-stream function formula as for momentum equations and to the temperature and stream function for energy equation.
A computer progra

Buckling and free vibration analysis of laminated rectangular plates with uniform and non uniform distributed in-plane compressive loadings along two opposite edges is performed using the Ritz method. Classical laminated plate theory is adopted. The static component of the applied in- plane loading are assumed to vary according to uniform, parabolic or linear distributions. Initially, the plate membrane problem is solved using the Ritz method; subsequently, using Hamilton’s variational principle, linear homogeneous algebraic equations in terms of unknown are generated, the set of linear algebraic equations can be solved as an Eigen-value problem. Buckling loads for laminated plates with different combinations of bounda

This paper shows the characteristics of temperature and adsorbed (water vapor) mass rate distribution in the adsorber unit which is the key part to any adsorption refrigeration system. The temperature profiles of adsorption/desorption phases (Dynamic Sorption) are measured experimentally under the operating conditions of 90oC hot water temperature, 30oC cooling water temperature, 35oC adsorption temperature and cycle time of 40 min. Based on the temperature profiles, The mass transfer equations for the annulus adsorbent bed are solved to obtain the distribution of adsorption velocity and adsorbate concentration using non-equilibrium
model. The relation between the adsorption velocity with time is investigated during the process of ads

Objectives: To assess the feasibility and accuracy of a new prototype robotic implant system for the placement of zygomatic implants in edentulous maxillary models. Methods: The study was carried out on eight plastic models. Cone beam computed tomographs were captured for each model to plan the positions of zygomatic implants. The hand-eye calibration technique was used to register the dynamic navigation system to the robotic spaces. A total of 16 zygomatic implants were placed, equally distributed between the anterior and the posterior parts of the zygoma. The placement of the implants (ZYGAN®, Southern Implants) was carried out using an active six-jointed robotic arm (UR3e, Universal Robots) guided by the dynamic navigation coordinate tr