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Abstract Electrolysis of D2O may be used as a portable neutron source with numerous applications without the complexity of huge reactor operations. Herein, we report reproducible fast neutron generation by electrolysis of D2O using palladium cathode and platinum anode, which was detected with diamond detector, gas filled 3He detectors after thermalisation with high density polythene, as well as novel epoxy resin and CR-39 detectors. Notably, a highly reproducible neutron generation at electrochemical surfaces of palladium electrode was observed and signature transmutation via Pd (d, n) Ag was corroborated. This was further explained using a theoretical model based on second order quantum perturbation theory.

Summary: Protein-coated microbubbles have become one of the emerging platforms in biomedical research as theranostic agents. In recent years, microbubbles have been extensively used as ultrasound contrast agents and carriers of molecular cargoes, pertaining to which several studies have focused on tuning the properties of these bubbles to achieve a higher degree of biocompatibility and extended stability. Synthesis of microbubbles has so far been traditionally carried out with pre-heated proteins like bovine serum albumin (BSA) as shell coatings, owing to the ease in making BSA crosslinked structures through disulfide bridge formation. We, however, have performed experiments to demonstrate that air core microbubbles formed with native BSA are more stable compared with those formed using denatured BSA. The experimental observations have been supported with analytical modeling and computational studies, which offer insights into the effect of BSA conformation in stabilizing the microbubbles shells and prolonging their lifetimes.

The 3GPP has standardized the 5G New Radio (NR) sidelink (SL) technology that enables direct device-to-device communications. SL will be key in realizing several high-speed, low-latency vehicle-to-everything (V2X) applications, such as automated driving. To meet these applications’ high data rate requirements, operating SL at mmWave and sub-THz frequencies will be essential. However, the current SL design primarily caters to sub-6 GHz frequencies and does not consider the directionality of transmissions at high frequencies. For Mode 2 of SL, where SL UEs perform sensing-based autonomous resource selection, this results in hidden node interference due to the transmit (Tx) UE’s inability to sense transmissions not aligned with the primary direction of communication. We propose paired transmission and sensing of sidelink control information (SCI), whereby SL Tx UEs transmit and receive SCI in an additional paired direction directly opposite to the primary direction. This helps eliminate hidden node interference while reducing the number of exposed nodes. Simulations in NR V2X highway deployments show that the paired scheme improves the average packet reception ratio (PRR) by 27% over the state-of-the-art at the highest traffic loads. We also propose enhanced transmit power control strategies to minimize interference between concurrent SL transmissions. This enables better resource reuse and further improves performance, with our combined solution achieving at least 95% average PRR in all scenarios. Finally, we present a stochastic geometry-based analytical model for a single-lane highway V2X network and validate it against simulation results. Our model provides insights into the reliability and capacity of high-frequency SL networks.

The circadian clock is an internal mechanism that controls various physiological processes, such as the sleep-wake cycle, but its precise regulation is challenging. Here, the authors develop a visible light-responsive inhibitor of casein kinase I which controls the period and phase of cellular and tissue circadian rhythms in a reversible manner.

Abstract Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is an infrastructure-less, self-motivated, arbitrary, self-configuring, rapidly changing, multi-hop network that is self-possessing wireless bandwidth-conscious links without centrally managed router support. In such a network, wireless media is easy to snoop. It is firm to the surety to access any node, easier to insertion of bad elements or attackers for malicious activities in the network. Therefore, security issues become one of the significant considerations for such kind of networks. The deployment of an effective intrusion detection system is important in order to provide protection against various attacks. In this paper, a Digitally Signed Secure Acknowledgement Method (DSSAM) with the use of the RSA digital signature has been proposed and simulated. Three different parameters are considered, namely secure acknowledgment, node authentication, and packet authentication for study. This article observes the DSSAM performance and compares it with two existing standard methods, namely Watchdog and 2-ACK under standard Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) routing environment. In the end, it is noticed that the rate of detection of malicious behaviour is better in the case of the proposed method. However, associated overheads are high. A trade-off between performance and overhead has been considered.

Abstract Selective Area van der Waals Epitaxy (SAVWE) of III-Nitride device has been proposed recently by our group as an enabling solution for h-BN-based device transfer. By using a patterned dielectric mask with openings slightly larger than device sizes, pick-and-place of discrete LEDs onto flexible substrates was achieved. A more detailed study is needed to understand the effect of this selective area growth on material quality, device performance and device transfer. Here we present a study performed on two types of LEDs (those grown on h-BN on patterned and unpatterned sapphire) from the epitaxial growth to device performance and thermal dissipation measurements before and after transfer. Millimeter-size LEDs were transferred to aluminum tape and to silicon substrates by van der Waals liquid capillary bonding. It is shown that patterned samples lead to a better material quality as well as improved electrical and optical device performances. In addition, patterned structures allowed for a much better transfer yield to silicon substrates than unpatterned structures. We demonstrate that SAVWE, combined with either transfer processes to soft or rigid substrates, offers an efficient, robust and low-cost heterogenous integration capability of large-size devices to silicon for photonic and electronic applications.

Abstract One of the major applications of the Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) is in the healthcare system. Deploying HetNet in healthcare systems enables patients, physicians, and other stakeholders to communicate easily with each other. Due to the large growth in the network’s subscribers, the security of the stored health data became one of the major concerns because unauthorized access to this data may lead to very serious complications, and unreliable transmission of data may lead to fatal risks to the patient’s life. Therefore, taking data integrity into consideration, user authentication has become one of the main factors. However, significant research work has been performed at HetNet’s physical layer to secure communication, but the result of this leads to an increase in hardware components. The increasing hardware components not only costs money but also power consumption. Therefore, this paper presents an alternate way of securing communication in HetNet at the network layer. However, resolving security problems at the network layer increases computational complexity. Nevertheless, earlier, some encryption techniques like identity-based encryption (IBE), symmetric key encryption (SKE), and public-key encryption (PKE) have been utilized for securing data. Due to their own disadvantages, this paper utilizes an attribute-based encryption (ABE) authentication scheme for securing health data in medical applications. With the help of this method, access to the intruders is denied which results in reduced communication overhead. This authentication scheme helps protect the essential information against attacks by the intruders. It includes a third party server that helps to authenticate and store patient’s information. The whole security technique has been written in the form of HLPSL (high-level protocol specification language) codes, and the results are then validated with the help of AVISPA (automated validation of Internet security protocols and applications) tool.

Brassica juncea L. is a significant member of the Brassicaceae family, also known as Indian mustard. Water is a limiting factor in the successful production of this crop. Here, we tested the effect of water shortage in B. juncea plants supplemented with or without the application of silicon and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in total 8 different treatments compared under open filed conditions using a randomised complete block design (RCBD). The treatments under control conditions were control (C, T1); C+Silicon (Si, T2); C+My (Mycorrhiza; T3); and C+Si+My (T4). In contrast, treatments under stress conditions were S (Stress; T5); S+Si (T6); S+My (T7) and S+Si+My (T8), respectively. In total, we evaluated 16 traits, including plant response to stress by evaluating peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activity. The fresh weight (g) increased only 7.47 percent with mycorrhiza (C+My) and 22.39 percent with silicon (C+Si) but increased 291.08 percent with both mycorrhiza and silicon (C+Si+My). Using mycorrhiza (S+My) or silicon (S+Si) alone produced a significant increase of 53.16 percent and 55.84 percent in fresh weight, respectively, while using both mycorrhiza and silicon (S+Si+My) together produced a dramatic increase of 380.71 percent under stress conditions. Superoxidase dismutase concentration (Ug-1 FW) was found to be increased by 29.48 percent, 6.71 percent, and 22.63 percent after applying C+My, C+Si and C+Si+My, but treatment under stress revealed some contrasting trends, with an increase of 11.21 percent and 19.77 percent for S+My, S+Si+My, but a decrease of 13.15 percent for S+Si. Finally, in the presence of stress, carotenoid content (mg/g FW) increased by 58.06 percent, 54.83 percent, 183.87 percent with C+My, and 23.81 percent with S+My and S+Si+My, but decreased by 22.22 percent with S+Si. Silicon application proved to be more effective than AMF treatment with Rhizophagus irregularis, and the best results were obtained with the combination of Si and AMF. This work will help to suggest the measures to overcome the water stress in B. juncea.

East Indian Sandalwood (Santalum album L.) is highly valued for its heartwood and its oil. There have been no efforts to comparative study of high and low oil yielding genetically identical sandalwood trees grown in similar climatic condition. Thus we intend to study a genome wide transcriptome analysis to identify the corresponding genes involved in high oil biosynthesis in S. album. In this study, 15 years old S. album (SaSHc and SaSLc) genotypes were targeted for analysis to understand the contribution of genetic background on high oil biosynthesis in S. album. A total of 28,959187 and 25,598869 raw PE reads were generated by the Illumina sequencing. 2.12 million and 1.811 million coding sequences were obtained in respective accessions. Based on the GO terms, functional classification of the CDS 21262, & 18113 were assigned into 26 functional groups of three GO categories; (4,168; 3,641) for biological process (5,758;4,971) cellular component and (5,108;4,441) for molecular functions. Total 41,900 and 36,571 genes were functionally annotated and KEGG pathways of the DEGs resulted 213 metabolic pathways. In this, 14 pathways were involved in secondary metabolites biosynthesis pathway in S. album. Among 237 cytochrome families, nine groups of cytochromes were participated in high oil biosynthesis. 16,665 differentially expressed genes were commonly detected in both the accessions (SaHc and SaSLc). The results showed that 784 genes were upregulated and 339 genes were downregulated in SaHc whilst 635 upregulated 299 downregulated in SaSLc S. album. RNA-Seq results were further validated by quantitative RT-PCR. Maximum Blast hits were found to be against Vitis vinifera. From this study, we have identified additional number of cytochrome family in high oil yielding sandalwood accessions (SaHc). The accessibility of a RNA-Seq for high oil yielding sandalwood accessions will have broader associations for the conservation and selection of superior elite samples/populations for further genetic improvement program.

Abstract Background Wood identification is extremely important in the modern forest industry. Teak (Tectona grandis L. family verbanaceae), Black Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia L. family Fabaceae), and Ben Teak (Lagerstroemia lanceolata L. family Lytheraceae) are significant economic timber species in tropical countries. T. grandis is one of the most expensive hardwoods. It occurs naturally in India, Myanmar, Thailand, Java, and Laos in South Asia. L. lanceolata a strong associate of T. grandis occurs in deciduous forest-adjoining states of Karnataka such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state in India. D. latifolia distributed in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The selected valuable timbers threatened illegal logging and deforestation. It is challenging for non-taxonomist to accurately recognize and identify the timber species based on the conventional methods. DNA barcoding technologies and large-scale screening of DNA variation in trees can be done routinely and much faster with higher taxonomic resolution than morphological determination methods. In this study, we selected two plastid-specific ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (rbcL), maturase K (matK), and one nuclear-specific trnH-ITS (intergenic spacer region)-conserved barcoding marker to compare species inter- and intradetailed discrimination. The aim of this study was to develop an accurate species and their provenance identification to support conservation efforts of three selected species viz T. grandis, D. latifolia, and L. lanceolata in Karnataka, India. Results Among the three selected markers, only two markers (rbcL and trnH-ITS) were having potential to amplify and discriminate the intra- and interspecific regions of selected timbers and would have been used to get barcodes for each species. Additionally, rbcL (90–96%) has a higher discrimination dominance over trnH-ITS (80–86%). From the barcoding results, it was found that the T. grandis and D. latifolia samples that belong to the Institute of Wood Science and Technology Bangalore are genetically more related to Dharwad than Hassan region in Karnataka. Conclusion The present study provided a database in which DNA sequences from unknown samples could be matched as well as required sequences from which other timbers or plant species could be identified. The use of inbuilt unique properties of DNA database within a timber would serve as an important molecular element in forensic forestry to support the determination of identifying the species and their adulterants.

Protein kinases are responsible for healthy cellular processes and signalling pathways, and their dysfunction is the basis of many pathologies. There are numerous small molecule inhibitors of protein kinases that systemically regulate dysfunctional signalling processes. However, attaining selectivity in kinase inhibition within the complex human kinome is still a challenge that inspires unconventional approaches. One of those approaches is photopharmacology, which uses light-controlled bioactive molecules to selectively activate drugs only at the intended space and time, thereby avoiding side effects outside of the irradiated area. Still, in the context of kinase inhibition, photopharmacology has thus far been rather unsuccessful in providing light-controlled drugs. Here, we present the discovery and optimisation of a photoswitchable inhibitor of casein kinase 1δ (CK1δ), important for the control of cell differentiation, circadian rhythm, DNA repair, apoptosis, and numerous other signalling processes. Varying the position at which the light-responsive azobenzene moiety has been introduced into a known CK1δ inhibitor, LH846, revealed the preferred regioisomer for efficient photo-modulation of inhibitory activity, but the photoswitchable inhibitor suffered from sub-optimal (photo)chemical properties. Replacement of the bis-phenyl azobenzene group with the arylazopyrazole moiety yielded a superior photoswitch with very high photostationary state distributions, increased solubility and a 10-fold difference in activity between irradiated and thermally adapted samples. The reasons behind those findings are explored with molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. Results described here show how the evaluation of privileged molecular architecture, followed by the optimisation of the photoswitchable unit, is a valuable strategy for the challenging design of the photoswitchable kinase inhibitors.

Background: Generally, neuropsychiatric patients share different symptoms across nosological categories, such as, amongst other, psychological distress, mood alterations, anxiety, and self-regulation disturbances.ReAttach is a novel psychological intervention with its key elements being external affect and arousal regulation, stimulation of multiple sensory processing, conceptualization, affective mentalization, and associative memory processing. ReAttach has been hypothesized to be effective in reducing symptom severity in different psychiatric conditions. Given the limited information currently available, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of main ReAttach elements called “Wiring Affect with ReAttach” (W.A.R.A.) on negative affect (N.A.), and to compare it with “Distraction,” another well-established affect-regulating strategy. Methods: We used a single-blind, randomized controlled crossover equivalence design to compare the efficacy on N.A. regulation of W.A.R.A. versus Distraction in 101 patients with different neuropsychiatric disorders. Results: The results showed a significant difference (p < 0.001) in response to W.A.R.A. vs. Distraction, with W.A.R.A. being significantly more effective in regulating N.A., with a large effect size (dRMpooled = 2.38) and a high probability (95%) of success. Limitations: The heterogeneity of the study population makes generalization and clear recommendations for specific patient groups difficult. The Numeric Rating Scale might have prevented detection of increased N.A. when the baseline scores were high. More in-depth research is needed to explore the W.A.R.A. technique and the extent of confounding variables such as the placebo effect. Conclusions: The findings suggest that W.A.R.A. may be an effective, accessible, and brief intervention reducing negative affect. Although premature, these first results are encouraging.

Mammalian circadian rhythms are generated by a transcription-based feedback loop in which CLOCK:BMAL1 drives transcription of its repressors (PER1/2, CRY1/2), which ultimately interact with CLOCK:BMAL1 to close the feedback loop with ~24 hr periodicity. Here we pinpoint a key difference between CRY1 and CRY2 that underlies their differential strengths as transcriptional repressors. Both cryptochromes bind the BMAL1 transactivation domain similarly to sequester it from coactivators and repress CLOCK:BMAL1 activity. However, we find that CRY1 is recruited with much higher affinity to the PAS domain core of CLOCK:BMAL1, allowing it to serve as a stronger repressor that lengthens circadian period. We discovered a dynamic serine-rich loop adjacent to the secondary pocket in the photolyase homology region (PHR) domain that regulates differential binding of cryptochromes to the PAS domain core of CLOCK:BMAL1. Notably, binding of the co-repressor PER2 remodels the serine loop of CRY2, making it more CRY1-like and enhancing its affinity for CLOCK:BMAL1.

Reliable p-doped hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) could enable wide bandgap optoelectronic devices such as deep ultra-violet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs), solar blind photodiodes and neutron detectors. We report the study of Mg in h-BN layers as well as Mg h-BN/AlGaN heterostructures. Mg incorporation in h-BN was studied under different biscyclopentadienyl-magnesium (Cp2Mg) molar flow rates. 2θ-ω x-ray diffraction scans clearly evidence a single peak, corresponding to the (002) reflection plane of h-BN with a full-width half maximum increasing with Mg incorporation in h-BN. For a large range of Cp2Mg molar flow rates, the surface of Mg doped h-BN layers exhibited characteristic pleats, confirming that Mg doped h-BN remains layered. Secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis showed Mg incorporation, up to 4 × 1018 /cm3 in h-BN. Electrical conductivity of Mg h-BN increased with increased Mg-doping. Heterostructures of Mg h-BN grown on n-type Al rich AlGaN (58% Al content) were made with the intent of forming a p-n heterojunction. The I-V characteristics revealed rectifying behavior for temperatures from 123 to 423 K. Under ultraviolet illumination, photocurrent was generated, as is typical for p-n diodes. C-V measurements evidence a built-in potential of 3.89 V. These encouraging results can indicate p-type behavior, opening a pathway for a new class of wide bandgap p-type layers.

About two-thirds of the vital genes in the Drosophila genome are involved in eye development, making the fly eye an excellent genetic system to study cellular function and development, neurodevelopment/degeneration, and complex diseases such as cancer and diabetes. We developed a novel computational method, implemented as Flynotyper software (http://flynotyper.sourceforge.net), to quantitatively assess the morphological defects in the Drosophila eye resulting from genetic alterations affecting basic cellular and developmental processes. Flynotyper utilizes a series of image processing operations to automatically detect the fly eye and the individual ommatidium, and calculates a phenotypic score as a measure of the disorderliness of ommatidial arrangement in the fly eye. As a proof of principle, we tested our method by analyzing the defects due to eye-specific knockdown of Drosophila orthologs of 12 neurodevelopmental genes to accurately document differential sensitivities of these genes to dosage alteration. We also evaluated eye images from six independent studies assessing the effect of overexpression of repeats, candidates from peptide library screens, and modifiers of neurotoxicity and developmental processes on eye morphology, and show strong concordance with the original assessment. We further demonstrate the utility of this method by analyzing 16 modifiers of sine oculis obtained from two genome-wide deficiency screens of Drosophila and accurately quantifying the effect of its enhancers and suppressors during eye development. Our method will complement existing assays for eye phenotypes, and increase the accuracy of studies that use fly eyes for functional evaluation of genes and genetic interactions.

Protein structural biology came a long way since the determination of the first three-dimensional structure of myoglobin about six decades ago. Across this period, X-ray crystallography was the most important experimental method for gaining atomic-resolution insight into protein structures. However, as the role of dynamics gained importance in the function of proteins, the limitations of X-ray crystallography in not being able to capture dynamics came to the forefront. Computational methods proved to be immensely successful in understanding protein dynamics in solution, and they continue to improve in terms of both the scale and the types of systems that can be studied. In this review, we briefly discuss the limitations of X-ray crystallography in studying protein dynamics, and then provide an overview of different computational methods that are instrumental in understanding the dynamics of proteins and biomacromolecular complexes.

Proteins in thermophilic organisms remain stable and function optimally at high temperatures. Owing to their important applicability in many industrial processes, such thermostable proteins have been studied extensively, and several structural factors attributed to their enhanced stability. How these factors render the emergent property of thermostability to proteins, even in situations where no significant changes occur in their three-dimensional structures in comparison to their mesophilic counter-parts, has remained an intriguing question. In this study we treat Lipase A from Bacillus subtilis and its six thermostable mutants in a unified manner and address the problem with a combined complex network-based analysis and molecular dynamic studies to find commonality in their properties. The Protein Contact Networks (PCN) of the wild-type and six mutant Lipase A structures developed at a mesoscopic scale were analyzed at global network and local node (residue) level using network parameters and community structure analysis. The comparative PCN analysis of all proteins pointed towards important role of specific residues in the enhanced thermostability. Network analysis results were corroborated with finer-scale molecular dynamics simulations at both room and high temperatures. Our results show that this combined approach at two scales can uncover small but important changes in the local conformations that add up to stabilize the protein structure in thermostable mutants, even when overall conformation differences among them are negligible. Our analysis not only supports the experimentally determined stabilizing factors, but also unveils the important role of contacts, distributed throughout the protein, that lead to thermostability. We propose that this combined mesoscopic-network and fine-grained molecular dynamics approach is a convenient and useful scheme not only to study allosteric changes leading to protein stability in the face of negligible over-all conformational changes due to mutations, but also in other molecular networks where change in function does not accompany significant change in the network structure.