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In the quest for early cancer diagnosis, early identification and treatment are paramount. Recently, ctDNA detection has emerged as a viable avenue for early screening of cancer. The examination of ctDNA in fluid biopsies has gained substantial attention in tumor diagnosis and therapy. Both the scientific community and industry are actively exploring this field. However, developing cost-effective, portable, and real-time ctDNA measurement methods using conventional gene detection equipment poses a significant challenge. This challenge has led to the exploration of alternative approaches. Electrochemical biosensors, distinguished by their heightened sensitivity, remarkable specificity, affordability, and excellent portability, have emerged as a promising avenue for ctDNA detection. This review is dedicated to the specific focus on ctDNA detection, highlighting recent advancements in this evolving detection technology. We aimed to reference previous studies related to ctDNA-targeted cancer detection using electrochemical biosensors to advocate the utilization of electrochemical biosensors in healthcare diagnostics. Further research is imperative for the effective integration of ctDNA analysis into point-of-care cancer testing. Innovative approaches utilizing multiple markers need to be explored to advance this technology and make substantial contributions to societal well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this day and age of micro machining, the most well-known non-conventional machining technology is known as electro-discharge machining, or EDM. It can quickly produce complicated 2D and 3D designs on challenging materials while preserving excellent feature quality. The micro-sized hole is crucial for components used in the biomedical, electronics, optical, and aerospace industries since they cannot be produced using the conventional machining method. As documented in the literature, it is challenging to machine nanocomposites using different standard and non-traditional machining techniques because of its better anisotropic, heterogeneous structure, and increased mechanical characteristics. This work emphasises the precise micromachining on the nanocomposites based on three different factors: feasibility of EDM process for non conductive matrix based material. Second, the correlation between process parameters and output parameters taking place during machining. Next, about the optimization techniques for Surface topography, tool wear ratio, rate of removal of material, and microstructures of EDM-machined parts and its effect on energy consumption and environmental effect. Finally, taking into consideration the gaps found in the available literature, a conclusion and some suggestion for further research have been suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the demand side micro-grid had a lot of challenges, most of them being the uninterrupted power supply. The effective energy management of residential structures concerning diverse and often conflicting objectives is one of the most challenging problems associated with hybrid renewable energy sources (HREs) generation, an energy storage system (ESS), and electric vehicles (EV). Therefore, an intelligent home energy management system (HEM) is essential with consumers who can change their load according to their comfort with demand response program schemes (DRP). The key contribution is as follows: (1) Home energy management (HEM) through optimal scheduling of home appliances to reduce energy consumption costs with DRP. (2) The net present cost of the HREs has been minimized for the smart HEM appliances. (3) The techno-economic feasibility and optimal energy management analysis of household loads have been analyzed. Grid and without a grid-connected mode of operation of HEM is analyzed. The HOMER, an energy management tool, is used to solve energy management based on RES and ESS in this study. The HEM has considered DRP and RES to reduce the net present cost (NPC) by 21.95% and 5.71%, with grid and without grid-connected, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flexural and impact response of completely biodegradable natural composites, specifically bamboo and pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) reinforced composites, is investigated using a combination of experimental and simulation techniques. The flexural strength and bending modulus are determined through 3-point bending tests while varying the weight fraction of the selected natural fibers from 5 to 15%. The impact of alkaline treatment at different percentages of 2 to 10% on the same properties such as flexural strength and bending modulus is also investigated. Subsequently, simulation techniques are employed to determine the behavior of the natural composite materials under bending loads. Finite element models are utilized to analyze the normal, and shear stresses in the composite structures. The research findings unveiled that incorporating a 10% weight fraction of bamboo fiber along with an 8% NaOH treatment led to the most significant enhancement in flexural strength, showcasing a notable advancement of 111.02%. Within the PALF fiber reinforced composite, employing 2% NaOH treated PALF fiber at a 15% weight fraction yielded an impressive improvement of 125.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dyonic field-effective Lagrangian in the Abelian projection of quantum chromodynamics has been constructed using an Abelian Higgs model with confinement and dual superconductivity. It has been shown that Abelian dyons are formed by the non-Abelian dyons in the process of Abelianization. Euclidean space–time's partition function has also been calculated using this approach. It has been further demonstrated that massive scalar mode controls the rate of condensation of the perturbation vacuum surrounding a colored source and other massive vector mode controls the colored flux's penetration length, both for dyonically condensed vacuum state. The boundary condition between type I and type II superconductors is determined. Furthermore, it has been shown that superconductivity becomes the actual confinement method brought out by the dyonic condensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials for aero-engine and structural applications require the appropriate design of alloying elements that could exhibit better properties even at elevated temperatures. High entropy alloys (HEAs) have sparked worldwide attention to develop novel alloys composed of equiatomic quinary elements (Ni–Ti–Al–Li–Si) to develop lightweight material, viz. mechanical alloying (MA) technique. MA technique is applied to synthesize the newly designed composition HEA (ball-milling process carried out at 0, 1, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 h). The developed alloy is subjected to various characterizations such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, differential scanning calorimeter, and thermogravimetric analysis. The alloy confirms the face-centered cubic crystal structure with lattice parameter a = 3.5 A° at 50 h of ball milling, and elemental mapping confirms the presence of all elements. HEA in a ball-milled state confirms the nano-crystallite size of 11.5 nm with a percent lattice strain equal to 0.6089. Thermal studies clearly show the developed alloy is stable without any phase transformation. The 50 h of ball milled Ni–Ti–Al–Li–Si alloy powder is subjected to hot compaction at 850 °C for 1 h duration. The developed alloy was tested for density examination, which resulted in an average value of 3.5 ± 0.06 g/cm3, which is in good agreement with a theoretical density of 3.7 g/cm3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, dissimilar metals of AA 6082 and AA 7075 are joined using Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) process with ER4043 filler wire. The welding conditions and their range are identified for producing quality welding characteristics. Taguchi based techniques are adopted for design of experimentation and analyzing factors involved in welding characteristics. L-9 Orthogonal Array (OA) was used for Design of Experiments (DOE). Welding current, filler diameter and root gaps are selected as input parameters. The welded structure defects were inspected with X-ray radiography images as well as macrostructures. The response factors such as Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS), % of elongation, hardness and impact strength were considered and evaluated by conducting mechanical tests. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is conducted to study the influence of parameters on responses. The tensile strength of sample 5 is increased by 53.37% when compared with the sample 6 due to the lower heat input rates. The welding speed (68%) has most influence parameter followed by welding current (14%) and filler diameter (14%). The dissimilar combination of aforementioned joints have wide range of application including aerospace, defense, and military sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work aims to analyze the deformation and stresses of lap joints made of sisal fiber-reinforced composite joined with epoxy adhesive under a transverse load. Finite element models were created with varying numbers of layers in the adherent (two, four), and the response of each layer was identified in terms of deformations, normal stresses, and shear stresses. Additionally, the lap joint was modeled with Buckminster fullerene reinforcement, and the composite was prepared with sisal fiber composite and epoxy adhesive (S/E), sisal fiber-reinforced composite with Buckminster fullerene mixed epoxy adhesive composite (S/FMA), and sisal fiber reinforced with fullerene mixed epoxy and fullerene mixed epoxy adhesive (S/F/F/E). Comparative studies were performed to investigate the effectiveness of fullerene on the adhesive and the adherent by studying the deformations and stresses generated on each layer. The addition of fullerene to the adhesive and sisal fiber-reinforced composite reduced transverse deformation by 27.4%. Adding two more layers to the lap joint without increasing the total laminate thickness reduces stress in both the pure epoxy adhesive and fullerene mixed adhesive. This research is useful for designing lap joints reinforced with natural fibers and nano-reinforcements, while considering the influence of the number of layers in an adherend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, temperature profiles and residual stresses were measured experimentally for validating the predicted temperature gradients and thermal stresses developed in dissimilar gas tungsten arc weldments of AA 6082 and AA 7075. The temperature dependent thermo-mechanical properties were considered along with convective and radiation boundary conditions during analysis. SOLID 90 and SOLID 185 elements are chosen for analysis in this research. The predicted thermal fields and stresses were validated experimentally using Infra-Red (IR) Thermography and X-Ray diffraction techniques. The peak temperature is recorded in pass-3 when compared to remaining passes and the lower temperature was recorded near the AA7075 heat affected zone. The predicted thermal fields from finite element analysis are in accordance with measured thermal fields using IR thermography with the deviation of 7.5% only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the ecosphere, plants interact with environmental biotic and abiotic partners, where unbalanced interactions can induce unfavourable stress conditions. Abiotic factors (temperature, water, and salt) are primarily required for plants healthy survival, and any change in their availability is reflected as a stress signal. In certain cases, the presence of infectious pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and insects can also create stress conditions in plants, leading to the emergence of disease or deficiency symptoms. While these symptoms are often typical of abiotic or biotic stress, however, there are instances where they can intensify under specific conditions. Here, we primarily summarize the viral interactions with plants during abiotic stress to understand how these associations are linked together during viral pathogenesis. Secondly, focus is given to the beneficial effects of root-associated symbiotic bacteria in fulfilling the basic needs of plants during normal as well as abiotic stress conditions. The modulations of plant functional proteins, and their occurrence/cross-talk, with pathogen (virus) and symbiont (bacteria) molecules are also discussed. Furthermore, we have highlighted the biochemical and systematic adaptations that develop in plants due to bacterial symbiosis to encounter stress hallmarks. Lastly, directions are provided towards exploring potential rhizospheric bacteria to maintain plant-microbes ecosystem and manage abiotic stress in plants to achieve better trait health in the horticulture crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigo is a widely used dye in various industries, such as textile, cosmetics, and food. However, traditional methods of indigo extraction and processing are associated with environmental and economic challenges. Fermentative production of indigo using microbial strains has emerged as a promising alternative that offers sustainability and cost-effectiveness. This review article provides a critical overview of microbial diversity, metabolic pathways, fermentation strategies, and genetic engineering approaches for fermentative indigo production. The advantages and limitations of different indigo production systems and a critique of the current understanding of indigo biosynthesis are discussed. Finally, the potential application of indigo in other sectors is also discussed. Overall, fermentative production of indigo offers a sustainable and bio-based alternative to synthetic methods and has the potential to contribute to the development of sustainable and circular biomanufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of the number of passes during friction stir processing on the structure and properties of the surface layers of aluminum alloy 5083 is investigated. The alloy is processed by the FSP method with one, two and four passes, after which the tensile strength, the elongation under static tension, the impact energy during dynamic bending and the microhardness are determined. After a single-pass FSP, a significant increase in the elongation of the material is observed. However, with increase in the number of passes, its plasticity decreases slightly, remaining above the initial value. It is shown that after FSP, the microhardness of the alloy increases, and the tensile strength and the impact energy decrease, and these changes become more significant with increase in the number of passes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nodal explants of Holarrhena pubescens, an important medicinal tree, were cultured on Murashige and Skoog's medium (MS) containing 15 µM BA (control) alone and on medium supplemented with different concentrations (0, 1, 5, 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/L) of heavy metals such as NiCl2, CoCl2, As2O3 and CrO3 to study their toxic effect. After 28 days of treatments, the nodal segments were harvested to assess the average number of shoots per explants, average shoot length, malondialdehyde content, proline content, conessine accumulation and antioxidant enzymatic activity. Among all the metals tried, best morphogenic response was achieved at 5 mg/L CrO3 where 80% culture differentiated an average of 3.21 ± 0.08 shoots per explant having 0.95 ± 0.018 cm average shoot length. Highest concentration (200 mg/L) of all the heavy metals proved lethal for morphogenesis. Maximum inhibition in average shoot number and average shoot length was observed in nodal explants treated with 25 mg/L As2O3 where an average of 0.49 ± 0.047 shoots having an average shoot length of 0.3 ± 0.02 cm. Contrarily, addition of heavy metals in culture medium proved strong elicitors, exhibiting significant enhancement in the biosynthesis of conessine, an important bioactive compound. HPLC analysis of the crude extract of in vitro grown untreated nodal cultures revealed an average of 117.06 ± 2.59 µg/g d. w. of conessine, whereas those treated with 100 mg/L of CoCl2 accounted for 297.1 ± 7.76 µg/g d. w. (an increase of 156% over control). Among the heavy metals tried, CoCl2 proved to be the best for conessine enhancement which was in the order of CoCl2 > Cr2O3 > NiCl2 > As2O3 in the nodal explants. Concomitantly, MDA content, the antioxidant enzymes activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GR) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) were also observed to be differentially expressed with the increase in the heavy metals concentration from 1 to 200 mg/L. Free proline, too, increased up to 3.5-fold over control. The results obtained during the present investigation revealed that the overall response of the nodal explants in terms of morphogenesis, conessine content and antioxidant enzyme activities was metal specific as well as dose dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trajectory generation for biped robots is very complex due to the challenge posed by real-world uneven terrain. To address this complexity, this paper proposes a data-driven Gait model that can handle continuously changing conditions. Data-driven approaches are used to incorporate the joint relationships. Therefore, the deep learning methods are employed to develop seven different data-driven models, namely DNN, LSTM, GRU, BiLSTM, BiGRU, LSTM+GRU, and BiLSTM+BiGRU. The dataset used for training the Gait model consists of walking data from 10 able subjects on continuously changing inclines and speeds. The objective function incorporates the standard error from the inter-subject mean trajectory to guide the Gait model to not accurately follow the high variance points in the gait cycle, which helps in providing a smooth and continuous gait cycle. The results show that the proposed Gait models outperform the traditional finite state machine (FSM) and Basis models in terms of mean and maximum error summary statistics. In particular, the LSTM+GRU-based Gait model provides the best performance compared to other data-driven models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knee abnormality is a vital issue that can be diagnosed utilizing a sEMG signal to detect muscle abnormalities. Manually analyzing EMG data is time-consuming and requires skilled doctors. Hence, this paper aims to provide an automated system for the diagnosis of knee abnormality. Here, sEMG signal acquired from four different lower limbs muscles of 22 volunteers with three activities: walking, sitting, and standing, of which 11 seem healthy, and the rest were diagnosed clinically with knee abnormality. Noises are present during the sEMG signal recording, so a multi-step classification approach is proposed here. At first, wavelet denoising was implemented to denoise the sEMG signals. Further, the overlapping windowing method with a window size of 256 ms along with an overlapping of 25% was utilized to minimize the computational complexity. Afterward, a hybrid convolutional neural network with long short-term memory (Conv-LSTM) model is used for screening abnormal subjects. In this hybrid approach, a convolutional neural network (CNN) is used for temporal learning, while long short-term memory (LSTM) is for sequence learning. The results exhibit that the proposed wavelet-based denoising followed by Conv-LSTM model is the most precise and convenient model used for the detection of knee abnormality using sEMG signals so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial infection is a major crisis of 21st era and the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens cause significant health problems. We developed, green chemistry-based silver nanoparticles (G-Ag NPs) using Citrus pseudolimon fruit peel extract. G-Ag NPs has a spherical shape in the range of ~ 40 nm with a surface charge of − 31 Mv. This nano-bioagent is an eco-friendly tool to combat menace of MDR. Biochemical tests prove that G-Ag NPs are compatible with human red blood cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. There have been many reports on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles, but this study suggests a green technique for making non-cytotoxic, non-hemolytic organometallic silver nanoparticles with a high therapeutic index for possible use in the medical field. On the same line, G-Ag NPs are very effective against Mycobacterium sp. and MDR strains including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from patient samples. Based on it, we filed a patent to Indian Patent Office (reference no. 202111048797) which can revolutionize the prevention of biomedical device borne infections in hospital pre/post-operated cases. This work could be further explored in future by in vivo experimentation with mice model to direct its possible clinical utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optics means a general area of physics that covers a broad range of topics relevant to the study of light. Optics has subfields they are quantum optics, geometrical optics, and physical optics. Photonics refers to a subset of the optics discipline. The simplicity, high efficiency, reliability, transparency, and robust feature of PID controllers were few factors behind the reasons for its acceptance and more popularity for control in processing industries globally. All the conventional techniques for PID controller design and tuning offer early workable values for reaching favorable performances. The manual tuning of the PID controller variables becomes a difficult role that needs comprehensive knowledge and expertise in that field. Certain meta-heuristic techniques are explored to design PID controllers with the main aims of attaining minimum overshoot in lesser settling time and steady state response. For accomplishing enhanced robustness, minimization of disturbance elimination, operating, and physical restraints are treated as multi-optics functions. Therefore, this article presents a modified honey badger optimization (MoHBO) algorithm-based parameter tuning of the PID controller for optics and photonics. The tuning of the PID controller with constraints on the relative delay margin was considered an optimum disturbance rejection issue and summarized the tuning process. The presented MoHBO algorithm is derived by the inclusion of oppositional based learning (OBL) with standard HBO algorithm. In addition, the MoHBO algorithm is tested using the Magnetic Levitation System (MLS) and Phase Locked Loop system (PLL) to assure the enhanced robust nature of the PID controller. A wide ranging comparison study with other metaheuristic optimization algorithms demonstrates the better performance of the MoHBO algorithm over recent algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human lower limb activity recognition (HLLAR) has grown in popularity over the last decade mainly because to its applications in the identification and control of neuromuscular disorders, security, robotics, and prosthetics. Surface electromyography (sEMG) sensors provide various advantages over other wearable or visual sensors for HLLAR applications, including quick response, pervasiveness, no medical monitoring, and negligible infection. Recognizing lower limb activity from sEMG signals is also challenging owing to the noise in the sEMG signal. Pre- processing of sEMG signals is extremely desirable before the classification because they allow a more consistent and precise evaluation in the above applications. This article provides a segment-by-segment overview of: (1) Techniques for eliminating artifacts from sEMG signals from the lower limb. (2) A survey of existing datasets of lower limb sEMG. (3) A concise description of the various techniques for processing and classifying sEMG data for various applications involving lower limb activity. Finally, an open discussion is presented, which may result in the identification of a variety of future research possibilities for human lower limb activity recognition. Therefore, it is possible to anticipate that the framework presented in this study can aid in the advancement of sEMG-based recognition of human lower limb activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent trends, artificial intelligence (AI) is used for the creation of complex automated control systems. Still, researchers are trying to make a completely autonomous system that resembles human beings. Researchers working in AI think that there is a strong connection present between the learning pattern of human and AI. They have analyzed that machine learning (ML) algorithms can effectively make self-learning systems. ML algorithms are a sub-field of AI in which reinforcement learning (RL) is the only available methodology that resembles the learning mechanism of the human brain. Therefore, RL must take a key role in the creation of autonomous robotic systems. In recent years, RL has been applied on many platforms of the robotic systems like an air-based, under-water, land-based, etc., and got a lot of success in solving complex tasks. In this paper, a brief overview of the application of reinforcement algorithms in robotic science is presented. This survey offered a comprehensive review based on segments as (1) development of RL (2) types of RL algorithm like; Actor-Critic, DeepRL, multi-agent RL and Human-centered algorithm (3) various applications of RL in robotics based on their usage platforms such as land-based, water-based and air-based, (4) RL algorithms/mechanism used in robotic applications. Finally, an open discussion is provided that potentially raises a range of future research directions in robotics. The objective of this survey is to present a guidance point for future research in a more meaningful direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In FSW, tool pin profile has a significant contribution on mechanical and microstructural properties of metallic joints. In the present work, various pin profiles such as conical, pedal, cylindrical with thread, triangular, square and pentagonal pins are used to join the AA2024 plates. Mechanical and microstructural characterization is done for welded plates using different pin profile tools. The mechanical properties such as percentage elongation, ultimate tensile strength (UTS), microhardness and impact strength are significantly improved, when plates are joined using square pin profile. The obtained joint efficiency is 78% using square pin profile tool. The percentage elongation, UTS and impact energy of joint made by square pin tool are measured as 15%, 362 MPa and 5.7 Joule, respectively, which are higher than the values obtained using other pin profiles. EBSD analysis was performed to know the microstructural changes, which are a cause of mechanical properties alteration. Analysis reveals that stirred zone exhibits the recrystallized fine grains with equiaxed structure, which is a result of dynamic recrystallization and heating during plastic deformation of the zone. Large fraction of HAGB is also observed in stirred zone, which is a cause of improved mechanical properties of the joint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to evaluate the influence of latent heat effect during phase change in a three-dimensional finite element numerical simulation of arc welding. A mathematical model is developed to incorporate the effect of latent heat of phase transformation using enthalpy formulation. The accuracy of the developed model was initially validated using available results in the literature and found consistent prediction. The validated numerical model is used to predict the temperature distribution, weld width, depth of penetration, melting efficiency with and without incorporating the effect of latent heat of fusion, solidification vaporization. The results obtained from a developed model incorporating the latent heat effect are in good agreement with the experimentally measured values, whereas a considerable deviation is observed between the predicted values and experimental values without considering the effect of latent heat. It is found that without considering the latent heat effect in the model, the mean error is 14%, 24.6%, 22% and 29.6% for peak temperatures, weld width, depth of penetration and melting efficiency respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the effect of latent heat of fusion, solidification, and vaporization is significant for analysis involving phase change and must be accounted for during numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many authors have reported poor prognostic value of anti-D antibody titer in the setting of Hemolytic Disease of Fetus and Newborn (HDFN). According to literature, HDFN cases with IgG1 and IgG3 have more severity compared to IgG2 and IgG4.Therefore, we planned this study to evaluate the prevalence and prognostic value of IgG subtypes in the setting of Rh HDFN. This was a retrospective study performed at a tertiary care center in north India from October 2015 to November 2017. Women with anti-D antibody were included in the study and categorized on the basis of presence of specific IgG subtype. "DAT IgG1/IgG3 ID" card (BIO-RAD) was used for determining the subclass of IgG. Various clinical, laboratory & interventional parameters were used to categorize fetal outcome in severe and non-severe cases. Perinatal outcome was then compared between women with different IgG subclass profile. Subclass distribution among 80 alloimmunized women was 26.2% for IgG1, 15% for IgG3, 46.2% for IgG1 + IgG3 and the rest had neither IgG1 nor IgG3. Severity of HDFN was significantly higher when IgG1 &/or IgG3 were present alone or in combination, compared to cases with absence of IgG1 or IgG3 (p value < 0.05). Risk of severe HDFN was significantly higher in the presence of IgG1 &/or IgG3 and the severity was highest when both IgG1 and IgG3 were present. We recommend that IgG subclass determination should be included in a multi—parameter protocol for more accurate prediction HDFN severity to ensure timely referral and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linked Open Data cloud is being conceived and published to improve the usability and performance of various applications including Recommender System. While most of the existing works incorporate semantic web information into recommendation system by exploiting content based method, we introduced a collaborative filtering based semantic dual probabilistic matrix factorization approach. We have used semantic item features, generated in an unsupervised manner and incorporated them into user-item preference matrix for recommendation by co-factoring two matrices. To mitigate the difficulty of high dimensionality, sparsity and possible noise in the semantic item-property matrix, Singular Value Decomposition was used as an unsupervised preprocessing step. To evaluate our new approach, RMSE are compared with 10 state-of-art algorithms especially Probabilistic Matrix Factorization which our method is based on, Precision is also compared between our method and PMF. Although similar dual matrix factorization approaches exist but most of them deal with very small item property matrix with abundant entries while our approach introduced a high dimensional and sparse item property matrix through an unsupervised automatic way which also alleviate the efforts to create those item property matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main conclusion : Pyrroloquinazoline alkaloids are medicinally important compounds, determined by HPLC from cell cultures of Adhatoda vasica . The maximum production of vasicinone (12-fold) and vasicine (8.3-fold) was enhanced by stimulating the anthranilate synthase activity via feeding of tryptophan and sorbitol. The decoction of Adhatoda vasica leaves is used for the treatment of throat irritations, inflammations and recommended as expectorant. The plant species contains pyrroloquinazoline alkaloids and has been reported to demonstrate various biological activities. To investigate the effect of elicitors to increase the production of alkaloids, five groups (auxins and cytokinins, biotic elicitors, polysaccharides, amino acids and salts) of elicitors were evaluated. Maximum production of vasicinone (72.74 ± 0.74 mg/g DW; 12-fold) and vasicine (99.44 ± 0.28 mg/g DW; 8.3-fold) was enhanced by feeding of tryptophan and sorbitol at 50 mM concentration in cell cultures. Fourteen free amino acids were estimated from the elicited cells. Sorbitol stimulated up to a maximum accumulation of serine (8.2-fold). The maximal anthranilate synthase (AS) activity (7.5 ± 0.47 pkat/mg protein; 2.9-fold) was induced by salicylic acid and sorbitol. Anthranilate synthase functions as rate-limiting factor for the biosynthesis of pyrroloquinazoline alkaloids. Our results support the widespread use of tryptophan and sorbitol as elicitors to raise the production of vasicinone, vasicine, 2-acetyl benzyl amine and other pyrroloquinazoline alkaloids in cell cultures of A. vasica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flavonoids are the largest group of phenolic compounds isolated from a wide range of higher plants. These compounds work as antimicrobials, anti-insect agents and protect plants from other types of biotic and abiotic stresses. Various researchers have suggested that flavonoids possessed antioxidant, antineoplastic and cytotoxic activities. The main objective of this study was to test dichloromethane fraction of resinous exudate of Heliotropium subulatum for their antioxidant, antineoplastic and cytotoxic activities, as well as to search new antioxidant and antineoplastic agents for pharmaceutical formulations. Five flavonoids were isolated from resinous exudate of this plant species and screened for their in vitro and in vivo antioxidant models (DPPH radical scavenging, reducing power, superoxide anion scavenging, metal chelating scavenging systems, catalase and lipid peroxidation), antineoplastic (Sarcoma 180), and cytotoxic (Chinese hamster V79 cells) activities. Tricetin demonstrated maximum antioxidant activity against both in vitro and in vivo experimental systems while galangin exhibited maximum inhibition (78.35%) at a dose of 10 µg/kg/day against Sarcoma 180. Similarly, it was found that galangin also showed highest activity (21.1 ± 0.15%) at a concentration of 70 µg/ml to Chinese hamster V79 cells. The observed results suggest that tricetin has a potential to scavenge free radicals in both in vitro and in vivo models while the galangin could be considered as antitumor and cytotoxic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the genetic diversity of Pennisetum purpureum utilizing single-nucleotide polymorphism, microsatellite, and insertion-deletion markers from Pennisetum glaucum to determine cross-species transferability. It states 66 percent of markers showed successful cross-amplification and among 99 accessions, 108 alleles were identified. It provides an expanded set of microsatellite biomarkers which are transferable between the two species and can be used to evaluate genetic diversity.

Paddy is a staple crop and being grown in major parts of India, but similarly it is facing some major challenges like abiotic stresses (drought, salinity, etc.) by which its productivity is greatly affected. De-husked seeds of 21 cultivars of indica rice were cultured onto MS medium for screening of their micropropagation capabilities. All the selected cultivars are being cultivated by farmers of Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan states of India, these cultivars bear good quality of grain and high yield. Similarly, both states are facing the problem of drought so; we selected these cultivars for the micropropagation and transformation studies. The induction of callus and regeneration in these selected cultivars were achieved on MS culture medium with supplementation of various growth regulators. Maximum callus induction and regeneration frequency were observed in Sambha mahsuri at the concentration of 3.0 mg L of 2,4-D and BAP (5.0 mg L) while the moderate response achieved in other cultivars of rice. Sambha mahsuri showed promising results in terms of callus induction frequency, and regeneration potentialities of embryogenic callus so, there is need to develop a rice cultivars that could thrive under drought condition if the country is to sustain rice production. Finally, regenerated plantlets were successfully transferred to natural conditions (in pots) after acclimatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terpenoids constitute the largest class of natural products and many interesting products are extensively applied in the industrial sector as flavors, fragrances, spices and are also used in perfumery and cosmetics. Many terpenoids have biological activities and also used for medical purposes. In higher plants, the conventional acetate-mevalonic acid pathway operates mainly in the cytosol and mitochondria and synthesizes sterols, sesquiterpenes and ubiquinones mainly. In the plastid, the non-mevalonic acid pathway takes place and synthesizes hemi-, mono-, sesqui-, and diterpenes along with carotenoids and phytol tail of chlorophyll. In this review paper, recent developments in the biosynthesis of terpenoids, indepth description of terpene synthases and their phylogenetic analysis, regulation of terpene biosynthesis as well as updates of terpenes which have entered in the clinical studies are reviewed thoroughly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congestive heart failure (CHF) affects more than 5 million people in the United States and is one of the most common reasons for recurrent hospitalizations. Since the majority of admissions related to CHF are secondary to progressively worsening congestion, many clinicians are quick to initiate aggressive diuresis once early signs of impending heart failure develop. These signs are based in large measure on patient-reported symptoms. Unfortunately, recent trials have shown that traditional ambulatory monitoring of heart failure using patient symptoms or body weight do not reduce episodes of decompensated heart failure requiring hospitalization. This has led to great interest in developing monitoring systems that can detect impending episodes of CHF even prior to the development of symptoms. Some of the these systems utilize existing implantable cardioverter defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices to monitor electrophysiologic parameters including the presence of ventricular arrhythmias, heart rate variability and even transthoracic impedances. Other more recent developments have focused on more invasive hemodynamic monitoring systems that can measure pressures in the right ventricle, pulmonary arteries and the left atrium. The data on the utility of such systems is limited but encouraging. While none of these systems are currently FDA approved, they have been applied in a number of clinical trials. This paper highlights the currently available monitoring systems for heart failure and reviews the evidence supporting its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel ammonium derivatives were synthesized and examined for their antimicrobial efficacy. Comparison of antimicrobial spectrum revealed that compounds 9, 11, 16 and 23 had strong potential against pathogens in vitro. Cytotoxicity results showed compound 9 to be least toxic, it is non-toxic to A549 and U87 cells in MTT assay and exhibits marginal toxicity (15-20%) to human erythrocytes at a concentration of 1000 μg/ml as compared to 100% lysis of cells by 31.25 μg/ml of the standard drug amphotericin B. This compound has MIC values in the range of 1.95-31.25 μg/disc in DDA against different pathogens and may considered to be an important lead antimicrobial molecule for further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic and dielectric properties of the double perovskite compounds of the type RCuTiO ( RCTO, where R=Y, La, Pr and Nd) has been studied. YCuTiO (YCTO) crystallizes in a hexagonal unit cell, whereas the other three compounds form into orthorhombic structure. All four compounds show paramagnetic behavior down to 5 K. The dielectric studies show moderate dielectric constant ( ε′) and very small dielectric loss (tan δ) for YCTO. The orthorhombic members of RCTO compounds exhibit moderate values of ε′ and tan δ. The dielectric properties are presented and discussed here in the light of the influence of structure and rare-earth ions on the physical properties of RCTO compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the issue of workforce restructuring between production and non-production workers in the Indian manufacturing sector in the light of the economic reforms adopted since the year 1991. The new policy regime has facilitated restructuring of industries and enterprises, which has led to workforce restructuring between skilled and unskilled workers. The nature of the job of non-production workers is such that these workers may largely be categorised as skilled workers. The ratio of non-production workers to production workers (NP/P) has been used as an indicator of skill intensity in the Indian manufacturing industry. Using the ASI data from 1973-74 to 2005-06, the study has found that, on an average, the relative employment of these two categories of workers (NP/P) has changed in favour of non-production workers during the post-reform period. Such a skill-biased restructuring of the workforce may be the consequence of an important corporate strategy besides other exogenous factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An apoplastic barrier consisting of callose and lipid layers in the perisperm–endosperm (PE) envelope is known to restrict inward and outward transport of solutes in cucurbit seeds. The present work examines permeability properties of the barrier using cucumber seed as a model system. Osmometrically determined osmotic potential of the apoplastic fluid was used as a basis for osmotic studies aimed at examining solute exclusion from the apoplastic barrier in the PE envelope. The assessment of apoplastic permeability involved measuring the amount of anionic and cationic organic dyes diffused into agarose gel discs through the PE envelope. Ionic/non-ionic solutes including polyethylene glycols having Stokes radii ≤ 0.6 nm showed considerable permeation through the apoplastic barrier in the PE envelope as indicated by greater seed thickness/breadth ratios. Permeances of dyes across the PE envelope were in the order: 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP) > 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) ~ methyl orange ~ methylene blue > Eosin Y ≫ Janus green ~ crystal violet ~ Evans Blue. Permeation time0.5 for DCPIP and TTC was 9.71 and 9.96 h, respectively. Dyes having Stokes radii < 0.5 nm showed significant inward as well as outward diffusion across the PE envelope in contrast to restricted diffusion of dyes having Stokes radii > 0.5 nm. Size exclusion limit for apoplastic barrier in cucumber PE envelope was resolved to be about 0.5 nm by dye permeation and around 0.8 nm by osmotic studies. Dye permeances depended primarily on particle size as described by a quadratic polynomial function rather than on charge or log D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterizing the dyonically condensed vacuum by the presence of two massive modes (one determining how fast the perturbative vacuum around a colour source reaches the condensation and the other giving the penetration length of colored flux), it has been shown that due to the dynamical breaking of magnetic symmetry the vacuum of RCD acquires the properties similar to those of relativistic superconductor. Originally present global SU(2) symmetry in RCD has been broken to U(1) reducing the four dimensional action to two dimensional one by using an Ansatz which incorporates a non-trivial coordinate dependent phase between the components of SU(2) doublet. Analyzing the behaviour of dyons around RCD string, the solutions of classical field equations have been obtained and it has been shown that magnetic constituent of dyonic current is zero at centre of the string and also at the points far away from the string. The conditions for this current to be maximum at a transverse distance from the string have also been obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of gravitating dyons and dyonic black holes in SU(2) and SU(5) theories has been undertaken and it has been shown that gravitating fundamental dyonic solutions and dyonic black holes are stable in both the cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general mechanism for Ru(III) catalysed oxidation of L(+) arabinose (Ara) and D(+) galactose (Gal) in aqueous alkaline medium is proposed. The most reactive species of the catalyst was found to be [RuCl3(OH)2H2O]2-. The reactions exhibit pseudo-first order kinetics with respect to Ru(III) and are first order with respect to lower [IO4-] and OH-, but tend towards zeroth order to both higher [IO4-] and [OH-]. The reactions are zero order with respect to each aldoses. Positive effect of Cl- on the rate of reaction is also evident in the oxidation of both reducing sugars. A mechanism, involving the interaction of the reactive species of Ru(III) and [IO4-] leading to the formation of a complex, which in the rate determining step decomposes into another complex with the release of Cl- ion, is proposed and the rate law is derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed germination in Hygrophila auriculata (Schumach.) Haines was found to be under phytochrome control. Exogenous indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) application at concentrations greater than 1×10 M inhibited germination in the dark, as well as in the light. Red light-induced radicle growth, prior to radicle protrusion through seed coverings and measured as an angle formed by the radicle with the seed axis, was found to be inhibited by IAA. Delay in application of IAA to red light-irradiated seeds resulted in a gradual increase in percent germination, which probably corresponded to the time-course of Pfr action. It is suggested that exogenously applied IAA probably reimposes dormancy in red light-induced seeds of Hygrophila auriculata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nine cases of renal dysplasia encountered in a review of necropsy material are described. All these cases had associated major and minor malformations of other systems. Three out of four cases identifying with 'prune belly' syndrome had lower urinary tract obstruction. Three cases fulfilled the criteria of Meckel's syndrome. Three of these six cases, in addition, showed overlapping features with other syndromes. Three cases of unilateral dysplasia with contralateral agenesis had associated anomalies not conforming to any definite combination. We suggest that the association of malformations of developmentally unrelated systems may be random, not sharing any feature except being incompatible with life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kinetics of iridium(III)-catalysed oxidation of 1,2-ethanediol and 1,4-butanediol by N-bromoacetamide (NBA) in HClO in the presence of [Hg(OAc)] as a scavenger for Br have been investigated. The reactions are zero-order with respect to both diols, and first-order in NBA at low NBA concentrations, tending to zero order at high concentrations. The order in Ir decreases from unity to zero at high iridium(III) concentrations. A positive effect on the oxidation rate is observed for [H] and [Hg] whereas a negative effect is observed for acetamide and [Cl]. Ionic strength does not influence the oxidation rate. (HOBr) is postulated as the oxidizing species. A mechanism consistent with the observed kinetic data is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kinetics of oxidation of three aldoses (glucose, mannose and galactose) by N-bromoacetamide (NBA) in the presence of an alkaline solution of RuO as catalyst and Hg(OAc) as co-catalyst and as a scavenger for bromide have been investigated. The main products of the oxidation are the corresponding aldonic acids. The reaction is zero order with respect to aldose and OH. First order dependence of the reaction on both NBA and RuO at low concentrations shifts to zero order at higher concentrations. Addition of acetamide decreases the reaction rate, while addition of Hg(OAc) has the opposite effect. No significant effect of ionic strength was observed. OBr is postulated as the reactive oxidising species and a mechanism involving co-catalysis by RuO and Hg is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kinetics of Ru catalysed oxidation of erythritol (1,2,3,4-tetrahydroxybutane) and dulcitol (1,2,3,4,5,6-hexahydroxyhexane) by N-bromoacetamide (NBA) in HClO in the presence of Hg(OAc) as a scavenger for Br have been investigated. The reactions are zeroth order with respect to both alcohols, and first order at low concentration of NBA tending to zero order at high NBA concentrations. The oxidation rate is directly proportional to [Ru] and a positive effect on the rate is observed for [H] and [Cl] whereas a negative effect is observed for acetamide and ionic strength. DO and Hg(OAc) do not influence the oxidation rate; (HOBr) is postulated as the oxidising species. A suitable mechanism consistent with the observed kinetic data is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data citation and the derivation of semantic constructs directly from datasets have now both found their place in scientific communication. The social challenge facing us is to maintain the value of traditional narrative publications and their relationship to the datasets they report upon while at the same time developing appropriate metrics for citation of data and data constructs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]