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The aim of this research work was to investigate the impact of various process parameters on the particle size of Febuxostat (FEB) nanocrystals using response surface methodology. The continuous microchannel nanoprecipitation technique was employed to produce FEB nanoparticles with poloxamer 407 as the polymer. Initially, a Plackett-Burman design was conducted to identify the key variables that significantly influenced the nanoprecipitation process using microfluidic techniques. The independent variables considered were solvent flow rate (X1, ml h−1), solvent-to-antisolvent ratio (X2), microchannel length (X3, cm), drug concentration (X4, mg ml−1) and polymer-to-drug ratio (X5), while the dependent variable was the particle size (Y1, nm) of the nanocrystals. Among these variables, microchannel length (X3), drug concentration (X4) and polymer-to-drug ratio (X5) showed significant influence on the particle size of nanocrystals (P < 0.001). The minimum particle size observed was 303.5 ± 2.33 nm, with a polydispersity index value of 0.159 ± 0.03, achieved at a solvent-to-antisolvent ratio of 1:2, a polymer-to-drug ratio of 1:1, a microchannel length of 50 cm and a solvent flow rate of 50 ml h−1. Subsequently, a Box-Behnken design was applied to the variables identified as significant in the Plackett-Burman design, focusing on the particle size. The results indicated that microchannel length, polymer-to-drug ratio and drug concentration had a considerable impact on the particle size of FEB. Overall, the microfluidic nanoprecipitation technique demonstrated great potential as an effective technology for reducing the size of drug crystals to the nanoscale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marriage is a social institution that maintains the basic structure of a society. However, when this basic structure gets shaken by different knowledge systems encountered by the society during its course of history, a conflicting situation develops. This paper attempts to understand the nature of the marriage system of the Kom tribe of Manipur, who, of late, have been faced with a situation when conflicting wisdoms, namely, traditional, Christianity, and modern logicorational scientific knowledge, come into play with almost equal emphasis. With the advent of Christianity and modern lifestyle, the Kom people have been increasingly exposed to complex and conflicting developments arising from direct encounters between custom-oriented pre-Christian (traditional) and Christian systems, and taking a liberal outlook toward marriage as an influence of modernity. This article makes an attempt to throw light on how society deals with the marriage system with all the changes revealed by it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of more environmentally friendly nanoparticles as a catalyst for various fields is the focus of present research. As a part of our ongoing research, we have developed an environmentally friendly approach for reduction of nitroarenes, and for the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from wastewater through biogenically synthesized palladium nanoparticles grafted on banana leaves extract-modified graphitic carbon nitride [PdNPs@g-C3N4-BLE] as a nanocatalyst. The synthesized nanocatalyst showed enhanced activity, greater stability and good selectivity in the reduction of various nitroarenes with the good to excellent yield in a short period of time under mild reaction conditions. Additionally, a remarkable recyclability without any significant loss of catalytic activity demonstrates nanocatalyst's heterogeneous nature. The PdNPs@g-C3N4-BLE nanocatalyst can easily hydrogenate an organic contaminant like 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) of ~ 99% conversion in 1.16 min (70 s) with fast pseudo-first order kinetics. In addition, PdNPs@g-C3N4-BLE nanocatalyst acts as an adsorbent and exhibited effective removal of a highly toxic, environmentally pervasive PFAS from wastewater through simple sorption method. An environmentally friendly approach for reduction of nitroarenes, and for the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from wastewater was developed through biogenically synthesized palladium nanoparticles grafted on banana leaves extract-modified graphitic carbon nitride [PdNPs@g-C3N4-BLE] as a nanocatalyst. Further, the nanocatalyst showed enhanced activity, greater stability, and good selectivity in the reduction of various nitroarenes with the good to excellent yield under mild reaction conditions. In addition, PdNPs@g-C3N4-BLE nanocatalyst acts as an adsorbent and exhibited effective removal of a highly toxic, environmentally pervasive PFAS from wastewater through simple sorption method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall aircraft noise is significantly minimized using curved light weighted sandwich shells as an airframe element. However, there is a lack of studies on how the curvature can influence vibro-acoustic characteristics. To the best of our knowledge, this paper presents an analytical solution that predicts the vibro-acoustic characteristics of simply supported light-weighted sandwich shells with various curved profiles for the first time. Natural frequencies, displacement and velocity responses, sound pressure level (SPL), sound transmission loss (STL), and radiation efficiency are the critical parameters when analyzing vibro-acoustic characteristics of any structure and are presented in this paper. The generalized kinematic equations are established for the sandwich shells, and the governing differential equations are derived using Hamilton's principle. The solutions are obtained using Navier's method, and the vibration response is determined by solving the first five unknown mode coefficients. The Rayleigh Integral is used to extract the acoustic responses and is validated. In addition, the effect of face sheet to core thickness ratio (h f ∕ h c) of curved sandwich shells on vibro-acoustic characteristics is critically examined and presented. It is found that introducing the positive curvature to the sandwich shell reduces the bending moment, thus improves improving the vibro-acoustic characteristics in the lower frequency range. An increase in the (h f ∕ h c) enhances the shell's vibro-acoustic characteristics until a threshold value (h f ∕ h c = 0. 5) , beyond which the mass contribution deteriorates the characteristics. For a hyperbolic paraboloid shell (h f ∕ h c > 0. 5) , this effect was observed at a lower-frequency value of 425 Hz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric vehicles (EVs) are replacing conventional vehicles in the automobile industry. An energy storage device (battery) plays a major role in providing a power supply to the vehicle. Due to automotive constraints, the power supply should be highly efficient and have low current and voltage ripple. The design of 12V-60V DC-DC Super-lift Luo Converter (SLLC) is proposed in this paper, with an emphasis on electric vehicle (EV) applications. The conventional boost converter (12V-60V) is modelled and analysed in Matlab Simulink and the output voltage ripple is calculated. A three-stage SLLC is then designed and modelled in Matlab Simulink. The voltage output is analysed for each stage and the ripple voltage is recalculated. The comparison of voltage ripple between the CBC and SLLC shows that, the output ripple gets reduced by using the proposed SLLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet of Things-based smart healthcare systems have gained attention in recent years for improving healthcare services and reducing data management costs. However, there is a requirement for improving the smart healthcare system in terms of speed, accuracy, and cost. An intelligent and secure edge-computing framework with wearable devices and sensors is proposed for cardiac arrhythmia detection and acute stroke prediction. Latency reduction is highly essential in real-time continuous assessment, and classification accuracy has to be improved for acute stroke prediction. In this paper, preprocessing and deep learning-based assessment is performed in the edge-computing layer, and decisions are communicated instantly to the individuals. In this work, acute stroke prediction is performed by a deep learning model using heart rate variability features and physiological data. Classification accuracy is improved in this approach when compared to other machine learning approaches. Cloud servers are utilized for storing the healthcare data of individuals for further analysis. Analyzed data from these servers are shared with hospitals, healthcare centers, family members, and physicians. The proposed edge computing with wearable sensors approach outperforms existing smart healthcare-based approaches in terms of execution speed, latency time, and power consumption. The deep learning method combined with DWT performs better than other similar approaches in the assessment of cardiac arrhythmia and acute stroke prediction. The proposed classifier achieves a sensitivity of 99.4%, specificity of 99.1%, and accuracy of 99.3% when compared with other similar approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents high-performance computing efforts with FPGA for the accelerated pulsar/transient search for the square kilometre array (SKA). Case studies are presented from within SKA and pathfinder telescopes highlighting future opportunities. It reviews the scenario that has shifted from offline processing of the radio telescope data to digitizing several hundreds/thousands of antenna outputs over huge bandwidths, forming several hundreds of beams, and processing the data in the SKA real-time pulsar search pipelines. A brief account of the different architectures of the accelerators, primarily, the new generation field programmable gate array-based accelerators, showing their critical roles to achieve high-performance computing and in handling the enormous data volume problems of the SKA is presented here. It also presents power-performance efficiency of this emerging technology and presents potential future scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing development of decentralized computer systems that interact extensively has increased the criticality of confronting cyberattackers, hackers, and terrorists. With the development of cloud computing and its widespread use, as well as its dispersed and decentralized character, a unique security measure is required to safeguard this architecture. By monitoring, validating, and managing settings, records, internet traffic, usage data, as well as the operations of specific activities, firewalls can distinguish between normal and unexpected behaviours, thus adding additional network security to cloud computing systems. The location of network security mechanisms in cloud computing environment and also the methods employed in such methods are the two primary aspects where many studies have concentrated their efforts. The objective of such studies is to reveal as many incursions as feasible and to improve the pace and correctness of sensing while minimizing false alarms. Nevertheless, these methods have a large computing burden, a poor degree of precision, and a large time consumption. We propose an accurate and complete approach for detecting and preventing assaults in cloud computing environment via the use of a machine learning techniques both supervised and un-supervised. The operational findings demonstrate that the suggested approach substantially increases attack detection, network security correctness, dependability, and accessibility in cloud computing environment, while drastically reducing false alarms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are using biodiesel in compression ignition engines because it is more environmentally friendly and can be used as a good alternative to diesel. There is a new technology called nanoparticles that can change the way a fuel works. Because waste cooking has a lot of oil in it, it can make biodiesel. To make biodiesel, transesterification was used to turn nonedible oil from waste cooking oil into biodiesel that could be used. Nanoparticles made of titanium oxide were studied by using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, as well as energy dispersive X-ray analysis, among other things. TiO2 nanoparticles are spread out in different amounts in the biodiesel blend. The dosage levels range from 25, 50, 75, and 100 ppm. Tests on how titanium nanoparticles in a waste cooking oil biodiesel blend affect a diesel engine's performance and how it emits were conducted in this study too. At a steady speed, the engine was used when there was a lot of work to do. Tests show that the WCOME 20 TiO2 100 ppm blend worked well. With the increase in the concentration of nanoparticles, there is an increase in brake thermal efficiency and at the same time, there is a decrease in BSFC. It is also less harmful to the environment than other blends, except for NOx, which does no't change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is one of the leading cereal crops that consumed over half of the world’s population. The number of grains per panicle is the main trait to decide grain yield potential of rice. Rice germplasm have rich diversity for panicle related trait. Hence, a study was undertaken to screen 77 diverse rice germplasm for grain number per panicle and its contributing traits. Mahalanobis’ D2 analysis was performed to study genetic diversity among the germplasm. Eight clusters were formed and cluster IV was found to be the largest cluster with 37 genotypes. Cluster V had 20 genotypes with the highest cluster mean value of 298 for the number of grains per panicle. Grain yield per plant and the number of spikelets per panicle were found to be the biggest contributor for total divergence. QTL linked markers were screened in diverse rice germplasm. Among the six QTLs screened, five QTLs were significantly associated with grain number per panicle and its relevant traits. For grain number per panicle the QTLs, Gn1a (0.1058), qGN 4.1 (0.117) and NGP 4 (0.062) recorded high R2 values. Among the markers, Gn1a indel 3 (GN1a), NKSSR 04-19 (q GN 4.1), RM 6314 (NGP 4) and RM1183 (NOG 1) were identified as the most informative markers for utilization in marker assisted breeding programme. From this study, genotypes viz., Kallukar, CO52, IET 29504, IET 29506, RP-5594-97-5-1, MTU1360, ADT 54 possess high mean value for grain number per panicle and grain yield, linked with functional markers could be used as a donor in marker assisted breeding programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work determines the noise characterization of Indium Arsenide (InAs) based Metal Oxide Semiconductor High Electron Mobility Transistor (MOSHEMTs) with different gate dielectrics for high-frequency applications. The physical TCAD simulator tool is used to characterize the noise performance of the device architecture using different dielectrics. Here, the effective oxide thickness (EOT) is fixed at 1.5 nm and the noise parameters are analyzed for each dielectric. The proposed device with Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) as gate dielectric achieved a high cut-off frequency (fT) of 730 GHz and frequency of maximum oscillation (fmax) of 840 GHz at a drain-source voltage of Vds = 0.5 V. Moreover, double gate MOSHEMTs with Al2O3 gate dielectric material has the minimum noise figure (NFmin) of 1.5 dB observed at Vgs = 0.6 V and Vds = 0.5 V. The low noise level output over a wide bandwidth and high-frequency efficiency obtained has increased the feasibility of the device to be used in broadband applications in the design of lower noise amplifiers (LNA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big data analytics examines large amounts of data to uncover hidden patterns, correlations and other insights. It is possible to analyze the data and get answers immediately with today's technology. Sentimental Analysis is used to analyze opinions of the individual or group related to a business, product or service. Sentimental analytics is often driven by an algorithm along with voice inflection to identify the feelings of people regarding the topic. Also, the amount stress in the customer's voice and how fast they are speaking. In social media, the difficulties faced by the analyst is language most of the people doesn't use the proper format (like how r u, gud mrg etc.,). To overcome such situation sentimental analytics device uses the Natural Language Processor (NLP). Another difficulty is if a word that actually carries the positive meaning but due to sarcastic manner could easily be misinterpreted. The paper mainly focuses on analysis of the text of the individual's emotions like joy, surprise, anger, disgust, positive and negative in social media and offers the result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to synthesize an Aloe vera -lignin-based electrospun air filter with an antimicrobial finish to improve filtration efficiency for particulate matters, gaseous pollutants, and pathogenic microorganisms. The synthesized material was characterized by SEM and FTIR. The electrospun layer was combined with non-woven polypropylene fabrics coated with the tested antimicrobial finish on the interior and exterior fabrics, along with activated carbon cloth to form hybrid masks. The filtration efficiency of the electrospun air filter and the hybrid mask was evaluated using Cigarette secondhand smoke which showed significant performance compared to the tested commercial masks with about 95-99% for micron size particles (1 µm, 2.5 µm, 5 µm, 10 µm), 95-99.9% for particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM10), and 82-98% for various gaseous pollutants (HCHO, TVOC, CO2). It was evaluated that the bio-based electrospun air filter showed significant performance compared to tested commercial masks and can efficiently be used as an alternative filter media that can alleviate air contamination and simultaneously preserve good breathability. Thus, this study can be regarded as a promising solution for air filtration following ecofriendly, green, and sustainable development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The usage of natural fibers has increased recently. They are used to replace synthetic fiber products in aircraft and automobile industries. In this study, natural fibers of bidirectional banyan mat and ramie fabrics are used for reinforcement, and the matrix is an epoxy resin to fabricate composite laminates by traditional hand layup technique at atmospheric temperature mode. Five different sequences of reinforcements are as follows to quantify the effect of thermal stability and mechanical behavior of silane-treated and untreated hybrid composites. The results revealed that silane-treated fabric composite laminates were given enhanced mechanical properties of 7% tensile, 11% flexural, and 9% impact strength compared with untreated fabric composite, and at the same time when the increasing of ramie fabric was given the positive influence of 41% improved tensile strength of 40.7 MPa, 49% improved in flexural strength of 38.9 MPa and negative influence in 57% lower impact strength in sample E and positive value in sample A 21.12 J impact energy absorbed in the hybrid composite. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed the thermal stability of the hybrid composite. In sample A, the thermal stability is more than in other samples, and 410°C is required to reduce the mass loss of 25%. The working mass condition of the hybrid composite is up to 3.25 g after it moves to degrade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibration and acoustic characteristics of metal matrix composite - (MMC) of aluminium Silicon carbide is compared with aluminium in lower frequencies. The free and forced vibration responses of different percentage of silicon carbide are examined for different percentage of buckling temperature under uniform and non uniform temperature distribution. The results show that temperature field at higher % of buckling temperature influences the acoustic response significantly. Also it is noticed that uniform temperature field, (T(x) = Tmax) and Increase and decrease temperature fields modelled by heating at the middle of the panel (T (x) = T m a x [ 1 − a b s (1 − 2 x L) 2 ] )) temperature field affects the response significantly. Further, it is noticed in all the aspects high % of silicon carbide contributes in high stiffness and there by reduces noises at low frequencies even under different temperature field. Also from the results obtained in lower frequencies, it is found that nearly 5 to 15 dB of noise is reduced for high stiffness associated mixture of silicon carbide reinforcement in aluminium matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the free and forced vibration characteristics of a hybrid honeycomb core sandwich structure consisting of a top and bottom FG-CNT reinforced polymer composite face sheet in a thermal environment. Different thermal fields like the uniform, linear and nonlinear temperature fields in the thermal environment along the thickness direction are considered to study the dynamic characteristics of the hybrid honeycomb core sandwich structure. The mathematical model is developed using Hamilton's principle along with the third-order shear deformation theory. Five unknown modal coefficients are found using the modal superposition principle to calculate the forced vibration response. From the free and forced vibration results, it is observed that the FG-V Λ grading pattern face sheets with lower cell size honeycomb core and with higher cell wall thickness honeycomb core show better vibration characteristics. It is noticed that the sandwich structure with honeycomb core and FG-V Λ CNT reinforced polymer composite face has a higher critical buckling temperature in the thermal environment. Furthermore, for different percentages of critical buckling temperature, the natural frequencies and vibrating patterns for uniform, linear and nonlinear temperature fields are the same for the sandwich structure with UD, FG-V Λ and FG- Λ V CNT reinforced polymer composite faces. In addition, the resonant peak of the sandwich structure with FG-V Λ CNT reinforced polymer composite face in nonlinear temperature field shifts more toward the right, while that of the uniform temperature field shifts more toward the left in the velocity response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides raises concerns about environmental pollution, health hazards and the destruction of biotic groups that support plant growth. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) thrive in the rhizosphere of plants are the auspicious alternative for these chemicals. PGPR plays a critical role in plant growth and development, along with biocontrol activities. Methods: In this present study, two effective microbes, Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Bacillus subtilis were chosen and their ability to produce Indole Acetic acid (IAA) was determined. Optimization of IAA production was carried out in different cultural conditions. Further, in-vitro studies were carried out to analyze the effect of these bacteria on the growth of Vigna radiata. Result: Our investigations showed that both organisms have the potential to produce IAA under standard conditions. IAA production is maximum when using Bradyrhizobium japonicum with the supplement of Carboxymethyl cellulose and yeast extract as C and N source, respectively. L-Tryptophan concentration has a positive effect on production. Further, the application of bacterial cultures has shown more significant improvement in plant growth in terms of root and shoot length and weight of crop material. The current findings recommend that Bradyrhizobium japonicum can be a suitable organism for application as a plant growth promoter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies concluded that air quality has improved due to the enforcement of lockdown in the wake of COVID-19. However, they mostly concentrated on the changes during the lockdown period, and the studies considering the consequences of de-escalation of lockdown are inadequate. Therefore, we investigated the changes in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during the pre-lockdown, strict lockdown, unlocking, and post-lockdown scenarios. In addition, we assessed the influence of meteorology, mobility, air mass transport, and biomass burning on PM2.5 using Google's mobility data, back trajectory model, and satellite-based fire incident data. Average PM2.5 concentrations in Ghaziabad, Noida, and Faridabad decreased by 60.70%, 63.27%, and 60.40%, respectively, during the lockdown. When compared with the preceding year (2019), the reductions during the shutdown period (25 March–31 May) were within the range of 36.34–44.55%. However, considering the entire year, this reduction in PM2.5 is momentary, and a steady increase in traffic density and industrial operations within cities during post-lockdown reflects a potent recovery of aerosol level, during which the average mass of PM2.5 three- to four-folds higher than the lockdown period. Back trajectories and fire activity results showed that biomass burning in the nearby states (Haryana and Punjab) influence aerosol load. We conclude that a partial lockdown in the event of a sudden surge in pollution would be a beneficial approach. However, reducing fossil fuel consumption and switching to more environmentally friendly energy sources, developing green transport networks, and circumventing biomass burning are efficient ways to improve air quality in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This present investigation focused on novel p-type bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3)/n-type tin sulfide (SnS2) heterostructure photocatalyst has been favorably attained via a facile two-step process followed by co-precipitation approach for enhances the photocatalytic activity through the degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) organic dyes under visible-light illumination. Structural, optical, and photocatalytic behavior of the prepared BiFeO3 and BiFeO3/SnS2 photocatalysts are carefully explored. The photocatalytic efficiency of BiFeO3/SnS2 nanocatalyst was calculated to be 83%, 78% for MB and RhB, respectively, within 120 min illumination whereas the pure BiFeO3 nanoparticle was 58% and 56% for MB and RhB. This prominent enhancement of visible light photocatalytic activity can be ascribed to the separation as well as the transfer of photogenerated charge carriers, successful exploitation of visible light absorption and donates the enlarged number of photocatalytic active sites by the formation of BiFeO3/SnS2 p-n heterojunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantity of energy consumers in the country is extensive in the current quick-moving situation; the whole car industry puts a significant part in energy utilization. Biofuels have lured consideration among other alternative fuels as indicated by their natural element and synthetic creation.In this test, the aluminum nanoparticles are prepared by three various proportions (50, 100 and 150 ppm) being used in the base engine. To introduced thermal barrier coated engine in piston top face and the desired thickness is 500 μm with the assistance ofmethods using plasma spray and coated with PSZ material. A diesel engine is tested with 100% Borassus flabellifer, 20% Borassus flabellifer +75% mineral fuel +5% content of water and 20% Borassus flabellifer+75% mineral fuel+5% content of water + Al2O3 (50 ppm), 20% Borassus flabellifer +75% mineral fuel +5% content of water + Al2O3 (100 ppm) and 20% Borassus flabellifer+75% mineral fuel+5% content of water + Al2O3 (150 ppm),. The blend BFNP 150 shows an higher in break thermal efficiency by 5.12% when correlated with diesel fuel. The hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and opacity of the blend BFNP150 decreased by 22.42%, 31.98%, and 25.12% compared with the diesel fuel. Oxides of nitrogen are increased by 11.24% in the BFNP 150 blends when compared to basefuel.To use the biofuel, the oxides of nitrogen are increased to reduce the NOx the water content is adopted into the fuel with the surfactant's help. Most of the research the Span 80 and Tween 80 was used as surfactant due to the high HLB value, and stability of the emission is withstanding for long times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, most of the products are used in the electrical and electronics field, and copper alloy is playing a significant role such as Springs for relay contacts and switchgear, Rotor bars, and Busbars. In this work, the copper alloys consider as base alloy, and the reinforced factor of silicon nitride (Si3N4) is processed of reinforcement as 3 wt. %, 6 wt. %, 9 wt. %, 12 wt. % Si3N4 through powder metallurgy performance. The ball mill process is used for this work to obtain an enhanced homogeneous mixture of both base material as well as reinforced particles. Using a hydraulic press, the blended powders are compacted with applying 3 kN and 10 min period for obtained good strength of green compact specimens. Further, the green compacted specimens are sintered, and the sintered billets are machined in the conventional lathes with different cutting speeds 50 m/min, 100 m/min, and 150 m/min; feed rate of 0.1 mm/rev (fixed); and depth of cut of 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, 1 mm, 1.2 mm, 1.4 mm, and 1.6 mm. Cutting speed and depth of cut to find the composites' cutting force is ingenious. A wear test also can be conducted to find the wear resistance of the reinforced particles of the copper alloy material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, a defined bacterial-fungal consortiums PS-PAAT was developed to increase the production of the oxidoreductive enzymes for the effective and faster degradation of stable azo dyes. Aerobic batch degradation of azo dyes by both suspended growing cells and immobilized microbial consortiums were also investigated in this study. Interesting, the activity of the MnP and laccase were significantly higher for immobilized consortium than for free suspended cells, while azoreductase activity was found to be lower in immobilized consortium than the free cells. The reusability and stability of the immobilized consortium were successfully evaluated for the five repeated-batch decolorization experiments. Under the optimized conditions (pH-6, temperature 30°C, glucose 2 g L–1, sodium nitrate 1.5 g L–1, HBT 0.1 mM) the immobilized microbial consortium able to degrade more than 90% of selected azo dyes (150 mg L–1) at 150 h of incubation in the cycle 1. After five repeated batch cycles, the decolorization rate of the free cells decreased by nearly 30%–50%, while immobilized cells still retained 80%–95% of their original activity. A developed immobilized consortium PS-PAAT completely decolorized Ponceau and Naphthol Blue Black under the static condition with an average decolorization rate of 7,500 and 9,375 μg h–1, respectively; which is much faster than that of the free suspended cells. Further, the biodegradation was also monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis. Additionally, the study was also conducted to identify the intermediates formed during the degradation of azo dyes and their possible molecular metabolic pathways were proposed according to the results of metabolites identification and related literature. The results of toxicity studies suggest that this consortium may effectively be used for complete detoxification of dye and has potential environmental implications in cleaning up azo dy es containing effluents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafine NiAl2O4 nanoparticles were prepared by simple one-pot chemical precipitation route. The precursor materials used were nickel nitrate hexahydrate and aluminum nitrate nonahydrate (as the basic materials) and sodium hydroxide (as a precipitator material). In a typical experiment, aqueous nitrate solutions were added drop wise to the alkaline solution in a magnetic stirrer under stirring. The resultant dark green colored precipitate was washed with water/ethyl alcohol (1:1 v/v) and dried. Finally, the sample was heat treated at 800 °C for 3 h in order to get the phase pure product. The prepared NiAl2O4 nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, FTIR, particle size analysis, SEM and UV. The band gap energy (Eg) of NiAl2O4 was found to be 3.05 eV. The photocatalytic degradation of malachite green and methylene blue over NiAl2O4 under visible light was carried out and the obtained results were discussed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residual stresses are responsible for most of the failure of weldments in nuclear industry and the temperature distribution is the key measure to predict these residual stresses. The residual stresses are produced due to the non-uniform heating and cooling of the material and thus generating inhomogeneous plastic deformation in the components during the welding process. The Plasma arc welded 2 mm thick Ti-6Al-4V plate is taken for the study to predict the weld bead geometry, temperature distribution and residual stresses. The temperature distribution is predicted through the transient thermal analysis in ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) using Three-Dimensional Conical Heat Source Model & Dhinakaran's model and the simulated results are validated against the experimental outcomes. The temperature-dependent material properties with the temperature range varying from the room temperature to the melt pool temperature are considered for transient thermal analysis. The radiation heat transfer becomes predominant at high-temperature regimes; hence the radiation effects are imposed into the convective heat transfer coefficient. The weld bead geometry, temperature distribution and the residual stresses are predicted at various regimes of the plate. It is observed that the theoretical values obtained from the FEM Simulation are good in agreement with the experimental values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Itemset mining is a popular extension to the frequent pattern mining problem in data mining. Finding infrequent patterns, however, has gained its importance due to proven utility in the areas of web mining, bioinformatics and others. High utility mining refines the problem focus to identifying business-relevant transaction patterns that take purchase quantities and monetary considerations into account, like unit price and cost, typically to identify patterns of profit potential. High utility infrequent itemset mining unveils rare cases of highly profitable itemsets. This paper proposes a customized Ant colony algorithm for the efficient discovery of high utility infrequent itemsets. The mining performance of proposed algorithm is analyzed on four real time datasets namely chess, food mart, mushroom and retail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical and experimental investigation on free and forced vibration of honeycomb core sandwich structure using the equivalent two-dimensional (2D) model is presented. Initially, a three-dimensional (3D) honeycomb core sandwich structure is converted to a 2D panel with equivalent properties obtained based on the honeycomb plate theory. Following this, the 2D panel is modelled using a layered structural shell element to obtain the vibration response using commercial element software. An experiment on harmonic analysis is carried out on the honeycomb core sandwich structure. The results obtained based on numerical results of free- and forced-vibration responses match well with experimental results. Further, from the forced-vibration response of both experimental and numerical results, it is noticed that the second mode is not observed. This can be attributed to the excitation location corresponding to the nodal point of the second mode and this is verified with the mode shape obtained based on numerical and experimental analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ one pot synthesis of coumarin based dithiocarbamates have been studied under conventional and microwave methods. Syntheses of coumarin based dithiocarbamates have been optimized using NaOH, K3PO4 as a base in conventional method whereas K3PO4 has given good yields in less time. The syntheses of dithiocarbamates have been carried out under microwave conditions using K3PO4 as base. The generality of microwave method has been demonstrated by synthesizing a variety of substituents in excellent yields, having short reaction time with good purity compared to those under classical conditions. All the products have been characterized by their IR, GC-MS, 1H and 13C NMR spectral data. Except 2h, 2k, 2l, all these compounds have complete DNA cleavage activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widely distributed in nature, coumarins are one of the more common and well-known representatives of a flavonoid class. Nevertheless, they exhibit a strong and broad variety of biological activities. In the present research study, we describe a series of naphthalene and quinoline, furan and thiophene derivatives fused with a coumarin scaffold. The compounds have been interpreted by IR, GCMS, and NMR spectral studies and evaluated in vitro for their antimicrobial activities against four different pathogenic bacterial strains such as E. coli, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumonia, S. aureus and S. faecalis and fungal strains such as A. flavus, A. fumigatus and B. albicans. The coumarins fused with thiophene ring exhibit promising anti-microbial properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design of energy efficient routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a great challenge for researchers. Recently, WSNs have gained lot of popularity and many energy efficient routing solutions are proposed. Most of the existing routing protocols focus on cluster head election and ignoring other important aspects of routing such cluster formation, data aggregation, etc. This research article presents a hybrid cluster head election for WSN based on firefly and harmony search algorithms. The contributions of the proposed protocols are (1) two level cluster head election strategy. In the first stage harmony search algorithm is used to determine initial set of energy efficient cluster head nodes that are sufficiently separated from on another by certain optimal distance. Then tentatively elected cluster head nodes are refined by firefly algorithm by considering the parameters such as node density, cluster compactness and energy to be consumed. Sometimes nature inspired optimization techniques may end up in early convergence and to avoid such problems, cluster head election scheme is divided at two levels. (2) a refined cluster formation strategy is designed where a normal node has privilege of joining to cluster head node either based on distance based metric or based on residual energy of cluster heads. This process of cluster formation helps in reduced energy consumption. The presented protocol is compared with some of the well-known clustering protocols such as LEACH, LEACH-C, EOICHD, and simple firefly based routing protocol based on the evaluation metrics such as number of alive nodes, energy consumption of network, number of packets received by Base Station, First Node Dead, Half Node Dead and Last Node Dead. Implementation is carried out using Network Simulator (NS 2.34) and results show that proposed hybrid cluster head election scheme outperforms the mentioned routing protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friction and wear studies enable the investigation of material interaction between two sliding surfaces in contact. In the present investigation, the coefficient of friction and the wear resistance of AISI 316 L parts were studied under self-mating, dry sliding conditions using a pin-on-disc type configuration. The experiments were conducted at vacuum based high temperature pin-on-disc tribometer. The 4mm diameter pin and 180mm diameter disc were subjected to varying sliding velocities (0.5, 0.75 and 1.5m/s) and were operated in 200, 400, 500 and 580 °C temperature at 600 Torr vacuum. The variation of specific wear rates with sliding velocities and different environmental conditions was studied. The morphology of sliding/rubbed surfaces was observed using Scanning Electron Microscope. In summary, it was found that a severe to mild wear transition occurred in sliding under operating conditions. Increased wear rates have been observed for 500 and 580 °C with increasing sliding velocity. Adhesive wear has been found to be predominant at 500 and 580 °C where as de-lamination has been observed at ambient temperature, 200 and 400 °C in vacuum. The present paper also carried out the numerical analysis of the vibration behavior of AISI 316 L under thermal environment. Results revealed that at high temperature vibrational amplitude and natural frequency is significantly reduced. This can be attributed to the reduction in stiffness of the material at elevated temperatures. This high amplitude vibration during service can lead to high wear rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays automotive industries altered their core on the custom-made result. They are making medium and small batch production by covering an increasing offer, that the sheet metal forming dies are cost-effective manufacturability. Replete polymers undertake capabilities to fulfil such vital parts in the boundary of prototype tools manufacturing or in the small set production of sheet metal components. For sheet metal forming this paper declares investigations distribute tool designing and tribological form of using some materials like polymeric materials. Two polymer composites i.e. friction and wear on sheet metal simulated materials have been investigated, strip, drawing test testability is discussed and presented using the linear wear distance relation W1/s measured with the new testing method to anticipate lifetime of polymeric stamping dies using sheet materials with structured surfaces. A meaningful improvement in wear and friction performance of polymer or polymer composite has been observed and abstract model for rough wear and friction of polymer blend is given. Sheet metal counter material combination has been developed, based on the after effect accomplished by measurement of wear and friction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the studies carried out on bending and free vibration behavior of truss core sandwich panel filled with foam typically used in aerospace applications. Equivalent stiffness properties for foam-filled truss core sandwich panel are derived by idealizing 3D foam-filled sandwich panel to an equivalent 2D orthotropic thick plate continuum. The accuracy of the derived elastic property is ensured by the numerical comparison of free vibration response of 3D and its equivalent 2D finite element model. The derived stiffness constants were used in closed form solution to evaluate the maximum deflection of the continuum. The results show that the free vibration and static behavior of the sandwich panel can be enhanced in due consideration to the space constraint by filling foam in the empty space of core. The results also reveal that triangular core foam-filled sandwich panel deflects less compared to other cores. From the free vibration analysis, effect of filling foam is effective in cellular and trapezoidal core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author established the general solution and generalized Ulam--Hyers--Rassias stability of n-dimensional additive functional equation ... in generalized 2-normed space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breeding maize for drought tolerance necessitates the knowledge on tolerant genotypes, molecular basis of drought tolerance mechanism, action, and expression pattern of genes. Studying the expression pattern and gene action of candidate genes during drought stress in the hybrids will help in choosing target genes for drought tolerance breeding. In the present investigation, a set of five hybrids and their seven parents with a variable level of tolerance to drought stress was selected to study the magnitude and the direction of 52 drought-responsive candidate genes distributed across various biological functions, viz., stomatal regulation, root development, detoxification, hormone signaling, photosynthesis, and sugar metabolism. The tolerant parents, HKI1105 and CML425, and their hybrid, ADWLH2, were physiologically active under drought stress, since vital parameters viz., chlorophyll, root length and relative water content, were on par with the respective well-watered control. All the genes were up-regulated in ADWLH2, many were down-regulated in HM8 and HM9, and most were down-regulated in PMH1 and PMH3 in the shoots and roots. The nature of the gene action was controlled by the parental combination rather than the parent per se. The differentially expressed genes in all five hybrids explained a mostly non-additive gene action over additivity, which was skewed toward any of the parental lines. Tissue-specific gene action was also noticed in many of the genes. The non-additive gene action is driven by genetic diversity, allele polymorphism, events during gene regulation, and small RNAs under the stress condition. Differential regulation and cross-talk of genes controlling various biological functions explained the basis of drought tolerance in subtropical maize hybrids. The nature of the gene action and the direction of the expression play crucial roles in designing introgression and hybrid breeding programmes to breed drought tolerant maize hybrids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing LTrP method shows the relationship between the reference pixel and its neighbor’s, based on the four directional code that are computed using the first-order derivatives in both vertical and horizontal directions. It is apparent that the performance of LTrP can be improved by differentiating the edges in more than four directions. This observation has motivated us to propose a nine direction code referred to as Local Multi Code Pattern (LMCP). LMCP extracts supplementary directional information as compared with LTrP. The performance analysis of the aforementioned techniques were done with the help of ORL, Yale, Jaffee databases and also the recital analysis on the same significantly improves the recognition rate of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sandwich panel which has a design involving acoustic comfort is always denser and larger in size than the design involving mechanical strength. The respective short come can be solved by exploring the impact of core geometry on sound transmission characteristics of sandwich panels. In this aspect, the present work focuses on the study of influence of core geometry on sound transmission characteristics of sandwich panels which are commonly used as aircraft structures. Numerical investigation has been carried out based on a 2D model with equivalent elastic properties. The present study has found that, for a honeycomb core sandwich panel in due consideration to space constraint, better sound transmission characteristics can be achieved with lower core height. It is observed that, for a honeycomb core sandwich panel, one can select cell size as the parameter to reduce the weight with out affecting the sound transmission loss. Triangular core sandwich panel can be used for low frequency application due to its increased transmission loss. In foam core sandwich panel, it is noticed that the effect of face sheet material on sound transmission loss is significant and this can be controlled by varying the density of foam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author established the general solution and generalized Ulam-Hyers-Rassias stability of n-dimensional additive functional equation in generalized 2-normed space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]