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BACKGROUND The recent rise in the incidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in a densely populated city of eastern India (“mixing vessel” of people of varied socio-economic and immune status) prompted this study. Applying saliva on fingers for enumerating bank notes is a common practice in the Indian subcontinent. Paper notes may be a potential source of “horizontal” transmission of this virus, especially if there are cuts/bruises on the oral mucous membrane or skin. AIM To investigate whether paper currencies could be a plausible mode of horizontal transmission of HBV infection. METHODS Polymerase chain reactions (PCR) followed by nucleotide sequencing was done for the detection of HBV. Hepatitis B virus surface antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(HBsAg ELISA) was performed on all HBV deoxyribonucleic acid-positive samples to check the detectability of the virus. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was carried out for visual confirmation of HBV particles in ultracentrifuged/immunoprecipitated samples from currency paper washings. RESULTS HBV-specific PCRs on pellets obtained after ultracentrifugation/ immunoprecipitation of the currency paper washings detected potentially intact/viable HBV (genotype D2) in 7.14% of samples (n = 70). AFM gave the visual confirmation of HBV particles in ultracentrifuged/immunoprecipitated samples from currency paper washings. However, HBV isolates from the currency notes could not be detected by HBsAg ELISA. CONCLUSION It is a common practice in the Indian subcontinent to count paper currencies by applying saliva on fingertips. Paper notes may be a potential source of “horizontal” transmission of this virus, especially if there are cuts/bruises on the oral mucous membrane or skin, but it was practically not possible to demonstrate experimentally such transmission. Detection of potentially intact/viable and “occult” HBV from currency poses potential risk of silent transmission of this virus among the general population.

An enormously low loss symmetrical hybrid decagonal porous core spiral photonic crystal fiber (SH-PCF) has been proposed for terahertz (THz) wave guiding. The modal characteristics of the fiber and its mathematical analysis have been numerically completed using a full-vector finite element method (FEM). Simulation results show an ultra-low material loss of 0.0167 cm−1 and large effective area 1.95×106 µm2 which is 91.6 % of bulk absorption material loss at controlling frequency f=1.0 THz with a core porosity 42 %. Additionally, proposed structure establishes the comparatively higher core power fraction maintaining lower scattering loss about 1.8×10−15 dB/cm at the same operating frequency. It promises the aforementioned advantages for efficient THz wave propagation.

Estimating rock-mechanical, petrophysical properties and pre-production stress state is essential for effective reservoir planning, development, and optimal exploitation. This paper attempts to construct a comprehensive one-dimensional mechanical earth model (1D MEM) of the Mandapeta gas reservoir of Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, India. The methodology comprises a detailed stepwise process from processing and analysis of raw log data, calibration of log-derived dynamic properties with static ones using regression models developed from tested core samples, and final rock mechanical property estimation. Pore pressure profiles have been estimated and calibrated with the Repeat formation tester (RFT) data for every thirty-five wells. Overburden and horizontal stresses have also been evaluated and calibrated using data from the Leak-off Tests (LOT) or Extended Leak-off Tests (XLOT). A menu-driven program is developed using PYTHON code for visualization and on-time revision of 1D MEM. The resulting comprehensive 1D MEM predicts and establishes the rock-mechanical properties, pore pressure, and in-situ stress values of the basin. Besides its use in planning future wells, development of the field, and yielding insight into the various well challenges, it can also be used to develop a 3D MEM of the reservoir.

Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) based ozone therapy is an attractive non-thermal, additive-free and environment-friendly alternative to traditional food processing technologies. Its practical application is dependent on economical ozone generation and optimum ozone dosage. This study investigates the one-time and periodic application of a compact (48 cu. cm), lightweight (55 g), low power, low temperature, DBD ozone generator for treatment of spoilage inocula prepared from combinations of spoiled green beans, grape tomatoes, lettuce and strawberries. A one-time exposure of 126–136 ppm of average ozone concentration produced by the DBD generator over 3 min and 15 min resulted in at least 1 and 4 log reduction, respectively, in microbial colonies present in the spoilage inocula. Daily exposure of 128.7 ppm average ozone concentration over 3 min under similar conditions showed that inhibition through periodic exposure can successfully inhibit the growth of both bacteria and mold species with at least 5 log reduction of microbial colonies. Visual inspection of whole fruits and vegetables with similar 3-min daily exposure showed the potential of ozone therapy to at least double the shelf-life of food products. For the daily exposures, energy required by the DBD ozone generator was calculated as 0.39 $$\pm $$ ± 0.06 kJ/day.

Gingival Fibromatosis is the overgrowth of the gingiva characterized by an expansion and accumulation of the connective tissue with the rarely presence of an increased number of cells. It is hereditary or is induced as a side effect of systemic drugs. As an inherited disorder, Gingival Fibromatosis may be part of a genetic syndrome or it may be isolated, in which case it is referred to as hereditary gingival fibromatosis. Some of the cases of Hereditary Gingival Fibromatosis associated with dental abnormalities like Amelogenesis Imperfecta. It is a general term for a number of conditions that affect enamel formation and/or calcification. The purpose of this article is to report manifesting syndrome characterized by Gingival Fibromatosis associated with dental abnormalities, including generalized thin hypoplastic Amelogenesis Imperfecta, intrapulpal calcifications, delay of tooth eruption, pericoronal radiolucencies in unerupted teeth, dental agenesis and root dilacerations.

This paper investigates the generalized Zakharov–Kuznetsov (GZK) equation and generalized modified Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation in the presence of external periodic forcing term together with damping. An approximate analytical solution is obtained by employing the direct assumption technique. The framework staged here reveals number of beautiful wave features such as positive amplitude soliton, rare effective soliton, periodic rational soliton, kink type soliton, etc. Moreover, two new parameters along with a control function is introduced to extend the study of traveling wave solution and to create new types of solitary wave solution that are depicted from a numerical standpoint. It is noticed that the generalized wave solution for GZK in presence of external periodic forcing with a damping, positive potential soliton may transform into a rare effective soliton due to an increase in the nonlinearity of the system.

This study was performed to investigate feasibility of employing enhanced gravity separator for beneficiation of pyritic limestone. Limestone sample primarily constituted of calcite, dolomite, quar...

In this paper, a novel partial type-b crystalline core with more compact cladding in hexagonal packing photonic crystal fiber (CC-PCF)-based optical sensor has been proposed for sensing different blood components. This fiber has investigated in terahertz (THz) region from 1.5 to 3.50 THz, intending to superior relative sensitivity with low confinement loss (CL). Circular air holes have been employed in the formation of the partial type-b crystalline core in a symmetric manner. A significant relative sensitivity response of 80.93%, 80.56%, 80.13%, 79.91%, and 79.39% are achieved for the targeted analytes such as RBCs, hemoglobin, WBCs, plasma, and water at frequency ${f} = 1.5$ THz. In X-polarization mode, a negligible CL of $1.23\times 10^{-11}$ dB/m, $8.63\times 10^{-12}$ dB/m, $4.93\times 10^{-12}$ dB/m, $2.93\times 10^{-12}$ dB/m, and $1.13\times 10^{-12}$ dB/m are also gained, respectively, for same analytes and at same THz frequency. Moreover, effective area ( A eff), V-Parameter ( $V_{\mathrm{ eff}}$ ), dispersion ( $\beta _{2}$ ), spot size ( $W_{\mathrm{ eff}}$ ), and beam divergence ( $\theta $ ) have been determined over the investigated region. The improved outcomes are anticipated that the proposed CC-PCF sensor will be opened a new epoch in biomedical sensing purposes.

An extremely low loss circle-based star shape photonic crystal fiber (CS-PCF) has been proposed for terahertz (THz) spectrum. A dielectric material TOPAS has been used for constructing the proposed model. Some important parameters for the proposed waveguide have been investigated a wide THz spectrum ranging from 0.5 to 2.50 THz. The simulation result exhibits an extremely-low material loss of 0.01607 cm−1 and a large effective area of 1.386 × 106 μ m2 at 1.0 THz frequency with 55% core porosity. In addition, the proposed structure establishes comparatively higher core power fraction maintaining lower scattering loss about 1.235 × 10−15 dB/cm and 91.97% of bulk absorption material loss at the same operating frequency. From the above results, it is anticipated that proposed CS-PCF model of the THz waveguide will make the conventional communication very effective over the current designs.

In this paper, a novel microstructure quasi-photonic crystal fiber design is proposed. Aimed at a high relative sensitivity, it is targeted for chemical sensing applications in the terahertz regime. A rigorous full-vector finite element method-based numerical investigation has been applied by employing an anisotropic perfectly matched layer for optimizing key parameters. Improved relative sensitivity responses of 78.8%, 77.8%, and 69.7% are achieved for targeted analytes ethanol, benzene, and water, respectively, at the operating frequency of ${f} =1.3$ THz. Moreover, confinement loss, effective area, power fraction, and numerical aperture are analyzed from 0.8 to 2.0 THz.

Studies were undertaken to produce reactive pozzolana i.e. metakaolin from four kaolinitic clays collected from different sources in India. This paper reports an investigation on the effect...

In an effort to synthesize a library of bioactive molecules, we present an efficient synthesis of fused-thiazole derivatives of natural products and approved drugs by using an environmentally usable solvent, acetic acid, and without any external reagent. Cholestenone, ethisterone, progesterone, and nootkatone-derived epoxyketones have been utilized to synthesize 50 novel compounds. The plausible mechanism of the reaction has been determined by theoretical calculation using M06-2X/6-31+G(d,p). These novel molecules have been tested against cancer cell lines and pathogenic bacterial strains. Several ethisterone-based fused-thiazole compounds are found to be potent growth inhibitors of cancer cell lines at submicromolar concentrations.

Microorganism cells movement in the fluid is universal and affects many ecological and biological processes, including infection, reproduction, and marine life ecosystem. There are many biological and medical applications that require an understanding of the transport process in nanofluids containing a suspension of microorganism. The present problem deals with the bioconvection of Casson nanofluid containing a suspension of motile gyrotactic microorganisms over an inclined stretching sheet in the presence of thermal radiation, viscous dissipation, and chemical reaction and magnetic field. At the surface, the influence of the thermosolutal Marangoni convection and suction/injection impact are considered. The governing equations are solved numerically by using fourth-order Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg method with shooting technique. The impact of the major pertinent parameters on the velocity, temperature, nanoparticles concentration, and density of the motile microorganism is illustrated graphically. Finally, the correlations of various crucial parameters on skin friction, local Nusselt number, Sherwood number, and local motile microorganism density number are displayed through the graphs and tables.

The world is going through the scourge of COVID-19 pandemic since last several months. The pandemic appears to be less severe in highly Dengue endemic countries. Furthermore, COVID-19 in two elderly patients (with no evidence of Dengue virus (DV) infection) elicited antibodies that gave false-positive results in DV serological tests. We anticipated that SARS-CoV-2 and DV share antigenic similarity and performed molecular docking studies. Our computational modelling studies predicted that human anti-DV antibodies can indeed, bind to RBD of SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. Some of these interactions can also potentially intercept human ACE2 receptor binding to RBM. Our computational analysis showed that m396 Ab (against SARS-CoV-1) did not dock with RBM of SARS-CoV-2, a fact already proven experimentally. This confirmed reliability and robustness of our approach. So, immunological memory to DV in endemic countries is thwarting COVID-19. Available Dengue vaccines can be repurposed against SARS-CoV-2 in DV non-endemic countries until approved vaccines/ antivirals become available against COVID-19. Based on the observations that COVID-19 and Dengue severity maps do not tend to overlap and the fact that serological cross-reactivity has been reported for COVID-19 antibodies with Dengue antigen (s), together with results from our computational studies, it is imperative that serology-based diagnosis should be complemented with NAT/virus antigen detection-based tests for definitive diagnosis of either disease in regions where both of these viruses are now co-existent. Furthermore, we still do not know whether antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 will hinder/ameliorate DV infections by binding to DV particles and reduce dengue incidences in the future or, augment DV infection and severity by means of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE).

Plasma actuators have been extensively studied for flow control applications over the past two and a half decades. While these studies have been traditionally focused on characterizing their performances as flow control devices, the performance of plasma actuators under adverse conditions such as dew or light rain remains to be less explored. This paper seeks to study the effects of water adhesion from droplets directly sprayed on to a plasma actuator using thrust recovery as the performance metric. It was found in all tests that wet actuators quickly recover plasma glow, before gradually regaining performance comparable to the dry actuator. The measured thrust for the wet actuator after 5 s of operation recovered by 46% and 42% of the thrust of the dry actuator for 50.0–62.5 g m−2 and 125–150 g m−2 of sprayed water droplets, respectively. At 22.5 kVpp and 14 kHz, the highest thrust recovery was recorded at 84% of that of the dry actuator after 80 s of operation. For 17.5 kVpp and 14 kHz the wet thrust recovered by 79%, while for 22.5 kVpp and 10 kHz the wet thrust recovered by 68% of their dry counterpart in 80 s. For 17.5 kVpp and 14 kHz, the thrust almost fully recovered in comparison to the dry actuator after about 290 s of operation. These results indicate that both applied voltage and operating frequency plays a critical role in the performance recovery while the latter may have a stronger influence. Performance recovery for a wet serpentine shaped plasma actuator is also included for general applicability. The power data in all cases show that wet actuators consume more power which with time gradually approach the dry actuator power data. This is because during the initial stages of operation, the rolling mean current of the wet actuator is higher than the dry actuator even though the ionization spikes of dry actuator is stronger.

The study seeks to examine the Random Walk Hypothesis (RWH) and market efficiency of the selected stock market indices particularly London Stock Exchange, EuroStoxx 50, Nihon Keizai Shimbum (NIKKI), Shanghai Composite Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange. Daily closing index value is considered and transformed into logarithm return. Various tests like serial independence test, unit root test and multiple variance tests are applied. It is observed that the null hypotheses (presence of random walks) of the daily returns of the indices are rejected and in few cases are accepted based on various test statistics. JEL Classification: G00, G01, G02

Association of human settlements with river is a historical phenomenon; their imprints upon present-day human organizations are quite visible. The shifting of river channels sometimes creates tremendous locational hazards to the human settlements, for instance shifting of Hooghly River course resulted in the obliteration of old and emergence of new settlements. The present work is a modest attempt to investigate the morphodynamic effect of Hooghly River on a historical Chakdaha settlement. The erstwhile ‘Chakradaha’ an agro-based rural settlement came to exist as ‘Chakdaha’ town sometimes in the nineteenth century; presently, it is located in Nadia district of West Bengal, India. The ever-changing meandering course of Hooghly River in Bengal basin made a gigantic interference in the formation and deformation of settlement boundary of Chakdaha. Due to the westward shifting, remains of Hooghly River can be seen in the present form of paleo-channels which were active river beds during fifteenth to seventeenth century. The natural levees were formed simultaneously. Such levees were withstanding in early time as highlands; now the same exist as linear human settlements, namely Noada-Durgapur, Malichaghar, Raninagar, Gangaprasadpur, Doardanga, Poradanga, etc., in Nadia district. Besides, these also mark the west boundary of Chakdaha town in some places.

This work describes disposable plasma generators made from metallized paper. The fabricated plasma generators with layered and patterned sheets of paper provide a simple and flexible format for dielectric barrier discharge to create atmospheric plasma without an applied vacuum. The porosity of paper allows gas to permeate its bulk volume and fuel plasma, while plasma-induced forced convection cools the substrate. When electrically driven with oscillating peak-to-peak potentials of ±1 to ±10 kV, the paper-based devices produced both volume and surface plasmas capable of killing microbes. The plasma sanitizers deactivated greater than 99% of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and greater than 99.9% of Escherichia coli cells with 30 s of noncontact treatment. Characterization of plasma generated from the sanitizers revealed a detectable level of UV-C (1.9 nW⋅cm−2⋅nm−1), modest surface temperature (60 °C with 60 s of activation), and a high level of ozone (13 ppm with 60 s of activation). These results deliver insights into the mechanisms and suitability of paper-based substrates for active antimicrobial sanitization with scalable, flexible sheets. In addition, this work shows how paper-based generators are conformable to curved surfaces, appropriate for kirigami-like “stretchy” structures, compatible with user interfaces, and suitable for sanitization of microbes aerosolized onto a surface. In general, these disposable plasma generators represent progress toward biodegradable devices based on flexible renewable materials, which may impact the future design of protective garments, skin-like sensors for robots or prosthetics, and user interfaces in contaminated environments.

The present study seeks to examine the mutual fund performance of the open-ended selected equity schemes of UTI based on multi-index measures as well as conditional multi-index measure. It is observed from the analysis that multi-index measure is able to capture the beta and alpha effects on market adjusted basis and the estimated coefficients is a better representative as compared to the single index measure. When time lagged (lagged at 1 month, 2 months, quarterly and yearly) multi-index measures are applied then the estimated coefficients (alpha & beta) which are market adjusted and time adjusted look more representative than the multi-index measure (without lagged effect). Finally, when we extended the time lagged multi-index measure on a conditional way (conditional on public information variables) then we observe that conditional multi-index lagged measure provides much more representative results in all respects as compared to the all measures after conditioning public information effects.

The scalability and efficiency of numerical methods on parallel computer architectures is of prime importance as we march towards exascale computing. Classical methods like finite difference schemes and finite volume methods have inherent roadblocks in their mathematical construction to achieve good scalability. These methods are popularly used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for fluid flow simulations. The discontinuous Galerkin family of methods for solving continuum partial differential equations has shown promise in realizing parallel efficiency and scalability when approaching petascale computations. In this paper an explicit modal discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method utilizing Implicit Large Eddy Simulation (ILES) is proposed for unsteady turbulent flow simulations involving the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. A study of the method was performed for the Taylor-Green vortex case at a Reynolds number ranging from 100 to 1600. The polynomial order P = 2 (third order accurate) was found to closely match the Direct Navier-Stokes (DNS) results for all Reynolds numbers tested outside of Re = 1600, which had a normalized RMS error of 3.43 × 10−4 in the dissipation rate for a 603 element mesh. The scalability and performance study of the method was then conducted for a Reynolds number of 1600 for polynomials orders from P = 2 to P = 6. The highest order polynomial that was tested (P = 6) was found to have the most efficient scalability using both the MPI and OpenMP implementations.

No doubt, Jensen measure is path breaking in the field of investment performance, particularly in stock selection. A large number of Indian researchers have evaluated stock-selection performance of mutual fund managers by using the traditional measure of Jensen and have reported a mixed result. If we think differently, then we can see that the conditional measure provides better performance when compared with the traditional Jensen measure. In India, the performance evaluation of mutual fund based on conditional measure is scanty, while other developed economies have extensively examined the conditional performance and depicted superior results. Therefore, this study makes an attempt to evaluate stock-selection performance of open-ended equity mutual fund managers based on the conditional model and makes a comparison between the traditional model (unconditional) and the conditional model. The finding of the present study is remarkable. After the inclusion of the available public information in the conditional model, the significant stock-selection performance is increased and the alpha values in all cases are improved when compared with the unconditional model. Finally, the statistical test implies that there is significant difference between the two measures in respect of stock-selection performance.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

A 69-year-old male, ex-serviceman from the defense research organization, reported to the dental outpatient department of a tertiary care center, with the chief complaint of inability in wearing of the lower dentures. General and systemic examinations were noncontributory. Intraoral examination revealed a firm, tender, pedunculated fibrotic growth measuring 3 cm × 2 cm located inferiorly and buccally to a titanium dental implant on the right aspect of the edentulous mandible, which was excised under local anesthesia, and guided bone regeneration was performed. The soft tissue overgrowth was subjected to flow cytometric analysis.

Ozone is a well-known disinfecting agent that is used as an alternative for chlorine in many applications, including water decontamination. However, the utility of ozone in water decontamination is limited by high electrical power consumption and expensive, bulky equipment associated with ozone generation. This study investigates the effectiveness of a lightweight, compact surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) reactor as an ozone generator to inactivate Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in an open water system. Experimental details are provided for ozone generation technique, mixing method, ozone concentrations in air and water, and input energy required to produce adequate ozone concentrations for bacterial inactivation in a contaminated, open water system. Specifically, an active plasma module (APM) reactor system of size 48 cubic centimeters, weighing 55 grams, with a maximum ozone yield of 68.6 g/KWh was used in atmospheric conditions as the source of ozone along with an air pump and a diffusion stone for mixing the ozone in water. Over 4-log reduction in P. aeruginosa concentration was achieved in 4 minutes with 0.1 mg/L ozone concentration in an open water system using 8.8 ± 1.48 J input energy. Also, over 5-log reduction in MRSA concentration was achieved in 2 minutes with 0.04 mg/L ozone concentration in an open water system using 4.4 ± 0.74 J input energy.

LZW data compression algorithm maintains n distinct codes in dictionary for n distinct patterns in input string. Consequently, to decode a code, the decompressor unnecessarily searches over a set of n codes. We have presented a universal pattern encoding and decoding technique called MSED (Mother Saraswati Encoding and Decoding) in this work. MSED uses logical implication as a powerful tool to encode and decode patterns. We have proved that encoding patterns with logical implication achieve two improvements: (i) reduced memory requirement of LZW and (ii) reduced required number of searches in order to decode any code during decompression. In MSED technique, dictionary of the LZW compressor consists of an ordered pair of distinct patterns as (Pk, Pm) and code for Pk. Code of Pm is unambiguously determined from code of Pk using logical implication and complement operation. LZW decompressor dictionary has extra 2-bit information called recent to indicate the most recently entered pattern Pk or Pm. Hence, only \(\frac{n}{2}\) codes to maintain for n patterns in dictionary. Thus, memory is saved and decompressor searches at most \(\frac{n}{2}\) codes in order to decode any code.