Oil pollution significantly impacts the environment and has become a chronic issue for marine and freshwater ecosystems. However, developing a sponge-like material capable of effectively absorbing and retaining oil on the surface is a promising approach. The sponge, potentially reused repeatedly, significantly reduces the impact of oil spills. In this study, a hydrophobic graphite-based microporous elastomeric sponge is fabricated using a sugar-templating approach. The surface morphology of t...

Marketing communications are one of the major strategies of any company to succeed in the competitive atmosphere. These strategies are used to inform, persuade and remind the customers about the existence of the brand in the market (Lane Keller, 2001). Not only offline retailers, but online retailers are also equally concerned regarding their effectiveness of marketing communications. The effectiveness of their marketing communications is reflected in acquisitions of new customers and more re...

Cr (VI), a highly toxic and mobile contaminant, slowly infiltrates the environment and poses severe ecological threats even at trace concentrations. Reducing the form of Cr (VI) to Cr (III) can substantially mitigate its threat. Constructed Wetland-Microbial fuel cell (CW-MFC) is an emerging nature-based technology integrating the principle of natural wetlands with bio-electrochemical processes. CW-MFC provides dual benefits: treating wastewater while generating electricity. Despite these ben...

A series of benzilimidazole-based donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) blue fluorophores, functionalized at the N1 position of the imidazole ring are designed and synthesized. In solution, solid, and thin-film matrices, the luminophores exhibit deep blue emission with a good quantum yield (∼70%) with excellent thermal stability and show excellent intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) with a large Stokes’ shift (∼8000 cm−1). Due to the excellent fluorescence characteristics in the solid phase, these synthe...

Concrete interfaces between aggregates and cement paste are critical zones for crack initiation and propagation. At nanoscale, the interface between Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH) and silica is crucial as its cracking significantly affects the structural performance. In this study, classical Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to examine the crack growth mechanisms in notched specimens under Mode-I loading. The effect of notch size and its orientation on the fracture behaviour of...

Concrete is a quasi-brittle material characterized by limited tensile strength and toughness, making it prone to cracking under different loading conditions. Its fracture behavior is heavily influenced by factors such as aggregate size and type, water-cement ratio, curing practices, and the incorporation of fibers. This research investigates the impact of polypropylene fibers on concrete’s fracture performance using Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring. The study aims to correlate AE parameters—...

This paper explores the themes of visibility and invisibility in Zeina Abirached’s graphic memoirs, A Game for Swallows and I Remember Beirut, focusing on the experiences of war-torn Lebanese communities marginalized both politically and socio-economically. Through monochromatic imagery and a fragmented narrative structure, Abirached’s works make visible the silent, everyday anxieties of individuals navigating conflict zones, portraying the psychological weight of survival in constrained spac...

Establishment of Center of Excellence (CoE) in mining is a body that provides leadership, best practices, research, support, training of trainers and skill training for mining sector/s. It is a group with a shared area of focus and subject matter expertise that they use to support others, usually by providing insights, training and research. The concept of a center of excellence is to build out key processes, establish a methodology and develop expertise across the enterprise and is typically...

Microplastics (MPs) are emerging contaminants that pose significant risks to human health andtheenvironment. Personal care products such as facial scrubs, toothpaste, and cosmetics often containmicrobeads usually composed of polyethylene and polypropylene, contributing to environmental pollution. These MPs enter water bodies through wastewater discharge, leading to bioaccumulationinaquatic organisms and potential ingestion by humans. Identifying microplastics in personal careproducts is cruci...

In wastewater from the textile industry, there are many substances like the ones found in dyes, metals, and organics that are very harmful and the conventional treatment methods that are being used in the industry, cannot get rid of them. But it's different with the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), particularly sulfate radical-based (SR-AOPs), they are very good at removing these hazardous pollutants. This article focuses on the study of Fe/Mn-biochar as a catalyst in persulfate (PS) for ...

Photonic upconversion materials convert low-energy photons into high-energy photons. The success of these UC materials in their respective fields of application like biomedicines, solar cells, photocatalysis etc., is critically dependent on the intensities of the corresponding upconversion luminescence (UCL), considerable research has been devoted to generate brighter UC materials with a purpose to understand the fundamental basis or mechanism of the enhanced UCL intensity The most widely acc...

Carbon Nanotube (CNT) based polymer composites are the next generation materials paving their pathway for various scientific and technological applications. Owing to CNT’s extraordinary mechanical strength, high electrical and thermal parameters, large surface area, and unique optical properties, CNT polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) are being employed recently in automotive, aerospace, energy sector, sporting goods and biomedical usages. The employment of novel PNC material begins with fabricati...

Rare earth elements (REE), comprise of 15 stable elements of the lanthanide series together with yttrium (Y) and scandium (Sc), have been considered as critical raw materials for wide ranges of modern technological applications in different sectors such as electronics, chemical, energy, automotive, and defence industries. However, REE deposits are very limited and only a few commercial deposits are currently being extracted worldwide. Due to the economic importance of REEs and their limited s...

Supramolecular polymers (SPs), emerging as non-covalent analogs of traditional covalent polymers, consist of small molecular monomers interconnected through directional and reversible non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonding and metal-ligand coordination.¹ These interactions give rise to one-dimensional molecular aggregates with dynamic and stimuli-responsive properties. The strategic design of monomers plays a pivotal role in promoting efficient supramolecular polymerization by st...

This study examines the impact of weather factors on free space optics (FSO) transmission performance using OptiSystem21 models. The study investigated lasers working at 650 nm, 910 nm, and 1550 nm wavelengths in various settings, viewing levels, data speeds, and link distances. This work assessed the data transit quality using key parameters such as the Q-factor and the bit error rate (BER). Our findings underlined the importance of fog, a frequent meteorological condition that disrupts free...

Neuromarketing is a market research method that utilizes the measurement of neurological and physiological signals to comprehend customers' decisions, motivations, and preferences. These decisions may lead to societal consequences, thus necessitating careful examination. Moreover, little is known about how the experts utilized Neuromarketing to assist governments and businesses during the pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to uncover how neuromarketing as a strategic tool assisted both bran...

COVID-19 is one of the most contagious diseases in the 21st century. This paper examines different computer-aided screening techniques for COVID-19 detection from chest X-ray images. In this study, hybrid methods employing transfer learning, fusion of deep features and/or handcrafted features with shallow machine learning classifiers are used for COVID-19 detection. Eight pre-trained convolutional neural network (CNN) models such as AlexNet, MobileNetV2, DenseNet201, InceptionV3, ResNet50, Ef...

This study investigates the configuration of supporting ribs for spaceborne foldable solid reflector antennas, with a particular focus on their natural frequency of vibration. Supporting ribs play a crucial role in these aspects by ensuring that the antenna maintains its intended shape during deployment and in orbit. However, dynamic forces, including launch vibrations and in-orbit disturbances, can excite the natural frequencies of the antenna structure, leading to potential deformation or f...

Gli1 is a downstream transcriptional factor of Sonic hedgehog pathway in mammalians, and has been recognized as a proliferative indicator of carcinogenesis. However, its actual role in patient prognosis and cancer stemness in oral cancer remains unclear. Therefore, we carried out an analysis to understand the association between Gli1 expression and clinical prognosis in oral cancer patients. Expression of GLI1 was found to be significantly higher in oral cancer patient tissues compared to mat...