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Realisation of delayed intention distributes the running cognitive resources of an individual from the ongoing task. Understanding this theoretical account in the complex task such as driving requires an understanding of how Prospective Memory influences driving behaviour. The present study is an attempt to investigate to what extent the PM contributes in driving behaviour. A sample of 145 licensed drivers (mean age 45 years) was recruited to complete the self-reported measures on prospective-retrospective components of memory and driving behaviour. The results indicated that PM failures overall contribute to errors in driving behaviour. The errors of slip are particularly related to prospective memory failure with explaining total 22.7% variance in driving errors.

The present study focuses on the catalytic, antibacterial and antibiofilm efficacy of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in an easy, rapid and eco-friendly pathway. Herein, we have synthesised AgNPs using an aqueous extract of P. juliflora leaf. The bioactive compounds present in the extract are responsible for the reduction of Ag+ to Ag0. The particle synthesis was first observed by visual color change and then characterized using UV–visible spectroscopy to confirm the formation of AgNPs. The synthesis conditions were then optimised using critical parameters such as reaction time, AgNO3 concentration, extract to AgNO3 ratio and temperature of the reaction. The hydrodynamic size of the AgNPs with Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was 55.24 nm, while, was in the range of 10–20 nm as determined through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Further, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies were conducted to discern the functional groups or compounds responsible for the reduction of silver nitrate as well as the capping of silver nanoparticles. Later, X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed crystalline nature of the biosynthesized AgNPs. To evaluate their antibacterial potential, AgNPs were assessed through disc-diffusion assay, which resulted in an appreciable dose-dependent activity. The antibacterial potential was investigated through disc-diffusion assay against E. coli and P. aeruginosa. The Congo red agar (CRA) plate assay successfully revealed the anti-biofilm activity against B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa. Further, the catalytic activity of synthesised AgNPs was assessed against azo dyes such a Methylene Blue (MB) and Congo Red (CR) that resulted in its effective degradation of toxic compounds in a short span of time. Further, AgNPs were assessed for their wound healing potential.

Nanomaterials are at the forefront of health research and development. Among different nanomaterials, nanoparticles are especially promising for cancer theranostics. However, despite great potential, the clinical translation of nano-based applications continues to face obstacles. A major hurdle to the localized eradication of tumors is the efficient targeting of nanomaterials to the desired tissues and cells. In particular, nanoparticle properties and the route of administration impact the efficacy of precision nanomedicine. This review focuses on nanoparticles that have been produced for the detection and treatment of cancer. Common and tissue-specific barriers that limit the accumulation of nanoparticles in malignant tumors are discussed. The in-depth discussion focuses on the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles and the surface modifications that achieve efficient accumulation at tumor sites. Furthermore, limitations of current strategies and open questions are presented. The review concludes with an outlook on future directions and the trajectories that will drive the field forward to advance nano-oncology in the clinic.

Spin gapless semiconducting (SGS) behaviour of polycrystalline CoFeMnSi (CFMS) Heusler alloy thin film was investigated through structural, magnetic, magnetotransport and electron-transport characterization. In this study, we have tailored the structural ordering in CFMS thin films (∼60 nm) grown at different substrate temperatures (TS) in 150°C to 550°C range on Si(100) substrates using pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. All the grown films were polycrystalline in nature, showing an enhancement in structural ordering with TS. Among all the samples, the film grown at 550°C showed an optimal structure with L21 ordering. The magnetic measurements revealed that saturation magnetization (Ms) of the sample decreased with the an increment in temperature with a value ∼3.42 μB/f.u. at 5K to 3.11 μB/f.u. at 300 K. The Curie temperature (TC) of the sample was estimated to be 778±13K. The longitudinal resistivity ( σ XX ) measurements clearly exhibited a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity, indicating the non-metallic behaviour of these CFMS films. The fitting of resistivity curve dig out contribution of electron-phonon scattering and defect scattering to resistivity. Fitting also suggest that holes are the majority charge carriers in optimized CFMS thin film which was further confirmed through positive slope of anomalous Hall resistivity (AHE) curve. The temperature-dependent anomalous Hall effect measurements have also been carried out to identify the different scattering mechanisms responsible for AHE. The results suggested that both the intrinsic as well as extrinsic factors contribute to the AHE of CFMS deposited film with non-zero contribution of phonon-related skew scattering. The carrier concentration (n) and mobility (μ) were found to be nearly temperature-independent, revealing typical SGS characteristics. At room temperature, the n and μ values were found to be 3.9±0.04 ×1021 cm-3 and 88.83±1.58 cm2/Vs, respectively. The value of anomalous Hall conductivity at 5K is found to be 53.79 S/cm. .

Synthesis of mono-crystalline Ga 2 O 3 Nanorods was done by sol-gel transformation of gallium(III) isopropoxide (Ga(OPr i ) 3 ). XRD studies were done to determine the planes and crystal structure of synthesized nanorods that showed the synthesis of β-Ga 2 O 3 (a) . TEM studies of synthesized Ga 2 O 3 confirmed the synthesis of monocrystalline β-Ga 2 O 3 nanorods. To study the effect of precursor chemistry and to determine role of precursor structures on the crystal structure, phase and morphology of the Ga 2 O 3 , a new modified precursor complex was synthesized. The reaction of Ga(OPr i ) 3 with N-phenylsalicylaldimine, [C 6 H 4 (OH)CH=N(C 6 H 5 )] in 1:1 M ratio yielded [{(H 5 C 6 )N = CH-C 6 H 4 O}Ga(OPr i ) 2 ]. The newly synthesized complex was characterized by elemental analyses, molecular weight measurement, FT-IR and NMR ( 1 H and 13 C) spectral studies. Spectral studies of the modified complex suggest the presence of bi-dentate mode of attachment of Schiff's base in the solution state. Sol-gel transformations of [{(H 5 C 6 )N = CH-C 6 H 4 O}Ga(OPr i ) 2 ] in organic medium, yielded γ-Ga 2 O 3 ( b ), as found by XRD studies. TEM image of the sample ( a ) revealed the formation of nano-rods of oxide with average diameter of ~100 nm whereas the TEM image of sample ( b ) showed presence of nano-sized particles of oxide with average particle size of 10 nm. Morphological and compositional studies of synthesized samples (a) and (b) were carried out using SEM and EDX. The method provides a possibility of large scale synthesis of dissimilar shaped and pure Ga 2 O 3 nanoparticles.

In this work, we have prepared BiOI/CNT composites by hydrothermal method and studied the impact of CNT and hydrothermal treatment conditions (temperature and time) simultaneously on phenomena such as crystallization. The samples were studied using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface areas), Scanning Electron Microscopy assisted with Energy Dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), UV–vis Diffuse Reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The different heat treatments applied and varied amount of CNT was found to have a profound effect on the structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties of the prepared composites. The distinguishable changes in the above-mentioned properties were clearly visible for the samples prepared at higher temperature and longer duration (150 °C, 6.30 h). Surprisingly, the presence of other phases of BiOI, such as Bi7O9I3, Bi4O5I2, Bi5O7I, also co-existed at the same time, although in low amount. Finally, for the study, the photocatalytic efficiency of the prepared samples was tested for phenol and RhB, as model pollutants, under visible light irradiation for 240 min and 120 min, respectively. The results revealed that the composites prepared at higher temperature with longer duration showed superior performance for the photodegradation of phenol and RhB. Additionally, the composites performed better than their respective reference samples in each case. Interestingly, the introduction of CNT promoted the crystallinity in the composites and promising results for the removal of phenol and RhB were achieved by the use of low power ordinary visible lamps.

Nusselt correlations originally developed for estimating heat transfer rates in heat exchangers poorly describe heat transfer in membrane distillation (MD) processes. In this work, we assess the impact of module design in bench-scale experiments, simplified treatment of heat transfer rates in MD models, and the effect of permeate flux on temperature polarization as sources of error in Nusselt correlation estimates of heat transfer rates. To test these effects, we systematically vary membrane structure, module sizes, temperatures, and Reynolds numbers to generate a large dataset (n = 240) of MD experiments. We apply this dataset to estimate the heat transfer rate for each unique membrane/module combination and compare our predictions to the classical Sieder-Tate Nusselt correlation (Nus-t). Our results show that heat transfer rates in small modules can be up to five times higher than predicted by Nus-t. The heat transfer rate decreases with increasing module size, with heat transfer in large modules adequately described by the Sieder-Tate correlation. We demonstrate that this high heat transfer rate in small modules is a result of an entrance effect, which increases fluid mixing over the membrane area. These results validate the use of Nu correlation in large membrane modules while highlighting issues with their application in small scale systems. This work also emphasizes the importance of bench-scale module design in materials evaluation and process characterization. Finally, it highlights the need for direct measurement techniques that better characterize interfacial processes in membrane systems with modeled driving forces.

Bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr) is a novel visible light photocatalyst and when combined with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNT), it could lead to low electron/hole recombination rates, thus enhancing its photocatalytic activity. In this work, hierarchal BiOBr and BiOBr/CNT composites were successfully synthesized via hydrothermal method. The samples prepared were characterized for structural, morphological and optical properties via XRD, SEM, TEM and DRS. The influence of carbon nanotubes on various properties of BiOBr were studied and correlated. The impact of synthesis parameters (time and temperature) on structural properties was also studied. The photocatalytic degradation of phenol as model pollutant was carried out under visible light source to determine its photocatalytic activity. It was found that the presence of CNTs induced a growth in the crystallite size of the particles, which somewhat lowered the photocatalytic activity. As the CNT content increased in the sample so does the activity, due to the CNTs' visible light absorption capacity. Furthermore, a crystal orientation changes (crystallographic plane of (003)) were induced by varying several parameters, which were found to be influencing the activity as well, while the formation of Bi6O6(OH)3(NO3)3·1.5H2O was also observed. Its presence enhanced the photocatalytic activity but induced an instability problem.

Reactions of Me 2 SiCl 2 in a 1:2 molar ratio with internally functionalized oximes in the presence of Et 3 N in anhydrous benzene afford compounds of the type [Me 2 Si{ON C(R)Ar} 2 ] {where R = Me, Ar = 2-C 5 H 4 N ( 1 ), 2-C 4 H 3 O ( 2 ), 2-C 4 H 3 S ( 3 ); R = H, Ar = 2-C 5 H 4 N ( 4 ), 2-C 4 H 3 O ( 5 ), 2-C 4 H 3 S ( 6 )}. Molecular weight measurements of all these derivatives in freezing benzene and the FAB mass spectral studies of 1 and 6 indicate that these complexes are monomeric. The 1 H and 13 C{ 1 H} NMR spectra suggest that the oximate moieties are monofunctional monodentate in solution. 29 Si{ 1 H} NMR signals appear in the region expected for tetra-coordinated dimethyl silicon atoms. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of [Me 2 Si{ON C(H)C 4 H 3 O-2} 2 ] ( 5 ) confirms the presence of a distorted tetrahedron as the immediate environment around silicon. Secondary weak β-donor bonding is also observed in the solid state, indicating that silicon is in the (4+2) coordination state. The TGA curve of [Me 2 Si{ON C(H)C 4 H 3 O-2} 2 ] shows the high thermal stability and volatile nature of the complex. A comparison of hydrolytic studies of a mixture of [Me 2 Si{ON C(CH 3 )C 4 H 3 O-2} 2 ] and Al(OPr i ) 3 in a 1:2 molar ratio with those of pure Al(OPr i ) 3 under similar conditions by the sol–gel technique suggests the formation of a silicon embedded amorphous powder 7 and γ-alumina 8 , respectively. The variation in specific surface area, total pore volume and pore size indicate formation of mesoporous materials.

Reactions of bis(N-phenylsalicylideneiminato)aluminium(III)di(mu-isopropoxo)di(isopro poxo) aluminium(III), [C6H4O{CH=N(C6H5)}](2)Al(mu-OPri)(2)Al(OPri)(2) (1) with simple and internally functionallized oximes in 1:1 and 1:2 molar ratios in refluxing anhydrous benzene yield binuclear complexes of the type, [C6H4O{CH=N(C6H5)}](2)Al(mu-OPri)(2)Al(ON=CRR')(OPri) and [C6H4O{CH=N(C6H5)}](2)Al(mu-OPri)(2)Al(ON-CRR')(2) [where R=R'=CH3; R=CH3, R=C4H3S-2, C4H3O-2 and C5H4N-2], respectively containing aluminium(III) atoms in six- and four-coordination sites. All these binuclear complexes are characterised by elemental analysis, molecular weight measurements and spectroscopy [IR and NMR(H-1, C-13 and Al-27)]. Reaction of bis(N-phenylsalicylideneiminato)(isopropoxo)aluminium(III) with 2-acetylthiophenyloxime in 1:1 molar ratio in refluxing anhydrous benzene, yields a novel heteroleptic compound, [C6H4O{CH=N(C6H5)}](2)Al{ON=C(CH3)C4H3S-2} (10). The crystal structure of [C6H4O {CH =N(C6H5)}](2)Al {ON =C(CH3)C4H3S-2} . CH2Cl2 shows five-coordination around the aluminium(III) atom.