Effect of Graphene Addition on Polycaprolactone Scaffolds Fabricated Using Melt-Electrowriting

Melt-electrowriting (MEW) is an emerging method that combines electrospinning and extrusion printing, allowing the fabrication of micron-scale structures suitable for tissue engineering. Compared to other additive fabrication methods, melt-electro written structures can offer more appropriate substrates for cell culture due to filament size and mechanical characteristics of the fabricated scaffolds. In this study, polycaprolactone (PCL)/graphene composites were investigated for fabrication of micron-size scaffolds through MEW. It was demonstrated that the addition of graphene can considerably improve the processability of PCL to fabricate micron-scale scaffolds with enhanced resolution. The tensile strength of the scaffold prepared from PCL/graphene composite (with only 0.5 wt.% graphene) was proved significantly (by more than 270%), better than that of the pristine PCL scaffold. Furthermore, graphene was demonstrated to be a suitable material for tailoring the degradation process to avoid undesirable bulk degradation, rapid mass loss and damage to the internal matrix of the polymer. The findings of this study offer a promising route for the fabrication of high-resolution scaffolds with micron-scale resolution for tissue engineering.

Climate Fiction, Climate Theory: Decolonising Imaginations of Global Futures

The international politics of climate change invokes the imagination of various potential global futures, ranging from techno-optimist visions of ecological modernisation to apocalyptic nightmares of climate chaos. This article argues that most dominant framings of the future in climate policy imaginaries tend to be depoliticised and linear visions of universal, homogenous time, with little spatio-temporal or ecological plurality. This article aims to convince IR scholars of climate politics that Africanfuturist climate fiction novels can contribute to the decolonisation of climate politics through radically different socio-climatic imaginaries to those that dominate mainstream imaginations of climate futures. The Africanfuturist climate fiction novels of authors such as Nnedi Okorafor, Lauren Beukes and Doris Lessing imagine different spaces, temporalities, ecologies and politics. Reading them as climate theory, they offer the possibility of a more decolonised climate politics, in which issues of land and climate justice, loss and damage, extractive political economies and the racialised and gendered violence of capitalism are central.

IoT Based Surveillance System Using DNN Model

Localization, Visibility, Proximity, Detection, Recognition has always been a challenge for surveillance system. These challenges can be felt in the industries where surveillance systems are used like armed forces, technical-agriculture and other such fields. Most of the Smart system available are just for the surveillance of Human intervention but there is a need for a system which can be used for animals as well because with the outburst of human population and symbiotic relationship with wild animals results in life loss and damage to agriculture. In this paper we are designing to overcome these above-mentioned challenges for human and animal-based surveillance system in real time application. The system setup is done on a Raspberry pi integrated with deep-learning models which performs the classification of objects on the frames, then the classified objects is given to a face detection model for further processing. The detected face is relayed to the back-end for feature mapping with the saved log files with containing features of familiar face IDs. Four models were tested for face detection out of which the DNN model performed the best giving an accuracy of 94.88%.The system is also able to send alerts to the admin if any threat is detected with the help of a communication module. Keywords: Deep learning, Raspberry Pi, OpenCV, Image Processing, YOLO, Face Recognition

Mechanical Performances of Isolated Cuticles Along Tomato Fruit Growth and Ripening

The cuticle is the most external layer that protects fruits from the environment and constitutes the first shield against physical impacts. The preservation of its mechanical integrity is essential to avoid the access to epidermal cell walls and to prevent mass loss and damage that affect the commercial quality of fruits. The rheology of the cuticle is also very important to respond to the size modification along fruit growth and to regulate the diffusion of molecules from and toward the atmosphere. The mechanical performance of cuticles is regulated by the amount and assembly of its components (mainly cutin, polysaccharides, and waxes). In tomato fruit cuticles, phenolics, a minor cuticle component, have been found to have a strong influence on their mechanical behavior. To fully characterize the biomechanics of tomato fruit cuticle, transient creep, uniaxial tests, and multi strain dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements have been carried out. Two well-differentiated stages have been identified. At early stages of growth, characterized by a low phenolic content, the cuticle displays a soft elastic behavior. Upon increased phenolic accumulation during ripening, a progressive stiffening is observed. The increment of viscoelasticity in ripe fruit cuticles has also been associated with the presence of these compounds. The transition from the soft elastic to the more rigid viscoelastic regime can be explained by the cooperative association of phenolics with both the cutin and the polysaccharide fractions.

Climate Change Action – What are the gaps in capacity building which is making implementation fail ?

In the recently concluded Conference of Parties (COP26) Glasgow, UK Summit 2021 the key issues focused on the 1.5 degrees Paris Agreement implementation, NDCs updating by countries, adaptation, lack of financial machinery uniformly amidst countries, mitigation and loss and damage, science based targets and nature based targets. Another mentioning was on mobilization and capacity building, which is the main attribute for climate change action failing in implementation. As per the UNFCCC capacity building portal, priority areas by activities for capacity building to channelize for getting tangible and actionable implementation at base level and to forefront include the following pointers as notings to know, upscale, upgrade and implement