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The manuscript reports the synthesis of Dy3+ incorporated lithium magnesium borate glass by melt quenching technique. FTIR study revealed the presence of both BO3 as well as tetrahedral BO4 units through their characteristic frequencies. Photoluminescence (PL) study of unirradiated samples confirmed the presence of Dy dopant in the '+3' oxidation states from the characteristic emissions at 482, 578, 666 and 716 nm corresponding to 4F9/2 → 6H15/2, 4F9/2 → 6H13/2 and 4F9/2 → 6H11/2, 4F9/2 → 6H9/2 transitions, respectively. Thermal neutron and gamma irradiated PL emission and lifetime characteristics were discussed in details based on the different defect centers. Thermal neutron irradiated TL study showed that the material has a broad and single dosimetry glow peak at about 450 K which showed high fading due to low temperature peak. TL based neutron sensitivity of LMB: Dy3+ was found to be about 37.4 times less than that of standard TLD-100 (LiF: Mg, Ti) powder. The net TL response from about 3 to 83 mSv of neutron dose was found to be linear (Adj. R2 = 0.9994) which is one of the most desirable properties for dosimetry applications. In addition, the TL trap parameters were evaluated using both deconvolution of TL glow curve and peak shape method as suggested by Chen which were found to be matching with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes mellitus (DM) represents a significant global health crisis, with its prevalence and complications posing substantial challenges, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like India. The relationship between chronic hyperglycemia, impaired immune response, and increased susceptibility to infections, especially surgical site infections (SSIs), is well-documented. SSIs, defined as infections occurring within 30 days post-surgery or up to one year if an implant is involved, can range from superficial to deep-seated organ infections, leading to prolonged hospital stays, increased morbidity and mortality, and substantial financial burdens on healthcare systems. This study investigates the impact of perioperative glycemic control on the incidence and severity of SSIs among Indian surgical patients. It aims to elucidate the relationship between preoperative and postoperative glycemic levels and the risk of SSIs, the correlation between the degree of hyperglycemia and SSI severity, and the predominant bacterial pathogens involved, including their antibiotic susceptibility profiles. Emerging evidence indicates that maintaining optimal glycemic control during the perioperative period is crucial for reducing the risk of SSIs. The study's findings are expected to fill the existing knowledge gap, providing valuable data to inform clinical guidelines and enhance the quality of care for surgical patients with diabetes in India. This research underscores the necessity for a multidisciplinary approach to glycemic management, involving surgeons, anesthesiologists, endocrinologists, and nursing staff, to achieve improved surgical outcomes and mitigate complications associated with hyperglycemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the percentage of renewable energy source within the energy production mix has expanded, it is become gradually difficult to determine the appropriate values for controller gains and model parameters. Controlling system frequency of interconnected power system during sudden load disturbance requires careful consideration of the controller gain values and small signal stability model parameters. This study proposes an innovative methodology for ascertaining controller gain values and model parameters for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in load frequency control (LFC) applications. Proposed method uses the root locus (RL) approach to find the suitable controller gain values and model parameters for PEVs. This paper offers a thorough mathematical description of the proposed RL approach. Routh approximation method is used for reduced-order modelling (ROM), which comprises thermal and PEV systems, to reduce complexity of higher-order system while designing controllers. Fractional-order proportional-integral-derivative controller (FO-PID) is proposed, and its parameters are adjusted using particle swarm optimization (PSO) tool. To validate the efficacy of suggested method, a comprehensive comparison of time response parameters and performance indices (PI) is carefully carried out. Also, the various PEVs state of charge (SOC) levels is investigated, and effects of these levels are studied in LFC with robustness analysis of controller. The proposed method for determining gain value is highly reliable and efficient, outperforming existing methodologies in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interplanetary File system (IPFS) provides data communication using plaintext over distributed and decentralized systems. Up till now, the security of data has mostly been established using keys. To facilitate classified data communication within a Closed User Group (CUG), services of IPFS private swarm are required to render additional content encryption. Currently, there is no inherent security built into IPFS. This paper presents an application DMaya on IPFS to provide keyless encryption on IPFS based on the Quasigroup-based Secret Sharing Scheme (QSS). IPFS is used as a storage medium, irrespective of the nature of data. Data security in decentralized mode with IPFS is provided with DMaya. The classified data of all types (i.e. video data, audio data, text data, and image data) when subjected to DMaya application, are fragmented into smaller fragments then processed by the probabilistic Quasigroup-based Secret Sharing (QSS) Scheme. DMaya keyless encryption generates the metadata tag file at the source node. The recipient node within the same private IPFS swarm, on receipt of metadata tag file reconstructs the original data with DMaya application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacosides are dammarane-type triterpenoidal saponins in Bacopa monnieri and have various pharmacological applications. All the bacosides are diversified from two isomers, i.e., jujubogenin and pseudojujubogenin. The biosynthetic pathway of bacoside is not well elucidated. In the present study, we characterized a UDP-glycosyltransferase, UGT79A18, involved in the glycosylation of pseudojujubogenin. UGT79A18 shows higher expression in response to 5 h of wounding, and 3 h of MeJA treatment. The recombinant UGT79A18 shows in vitro activity against a wide range of flavonoids and triterpenes and has a substrate preference for protopanaxadiol, a dammarane-type triterpene. Secondary metabolite analysis of overexpression and knockdown lines of UGT79A18 in B. monnieri identify bacopasaponin D, bacopaside II, bacopaside N2 and pseudojujubogenin glucosyl rhamnoside as the major bacosides that were differentially accumulated. In the overexpression lines of UGT79A18, we found 1.7-fold enhanced bacopaside II, 8-fold enhanced bacopasaponin D, 3-fold enhanced pseudojujubogenin glucosyl rhamnoside, and 1.6-fold enhanced bacopaside N2 content in comparison with vector control plant, whereas in the knockdown lines of UGT79A18, we found 1.4-fold reduction in bacopaside II content, 3-fold reduction in the bacopasaponin D content, 2-fold reduction in the pseudojujubogenin glucosyl rhamnoside content, and 1.5-fold reduction in bacopaside N2 content in comparison with vector control. These results suggest that UGT79A18 is a significant UDP glycosyltransferase involved in glycosylating pseudojujubogenin and enhancing the pseudojujubogenin-derived bacosides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the physical phenomena responsible for radiation damage of the materials used in nuclear reactors, and thus study their operation life and/or efficiency, it is required to simulate the conditions by exposing the materials to energetic ions. Ceria (CeO2) has been proposed as one of the inert matrices for the transmutation of minor actinides in the futuristic inert matrix fuel (IMF) concept. The inert matrix should also contain burnable poison to compensate for the initial reactivity of fuel. In this context, gadolinium (Gd) is an excellent burnable poison with a high neutron absorption cross-section. In view of this, Gd2O3–CeO2 nano-powders were synthesized and sintered at 800 °C and 1300 °C to obtain different grain sizes and morphologies. FESEM and TEM were carried out to study the grain size of pristine pellets. The sintered pellets were irradiated with 80-MeV Ag ions (electronic energy loss (Se) regime) at room temperature to emulate the effect of fission fragments. For analysis of the effect of grain size on the irradiation-induced structural degradation at different fluences, GIXRD and Raman spectroscopy were performed. Significantly large damage has been observed for the smaller grain-sized samples (sintered at 800 °C) as compared to the large grain-sized sample (sintered at 1300 °C). Neither of the samples amorphized under the present experimental conditions as indicated by the presence of the Raman-active T2g mode (centred at 462 cm−1) and all the XRD peaks of fluorite cubic structure up to the highest fluence employed (1 × 1014 ions cm−2). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results demonstrate that Ce4+ to Ce3+ and vacancy-related isolated clusters are the main defects produced in the systems. The radiation tolerance behaviour of the samples is understood with the help of thermal spike simulation, which indicates higher transient lattice temperatures with longer duration in the smaller grain-sized sample upon irradiation. Gd-doped ceria thus possesses good radiation stability in the Se regime, indicating its potential for application in IMFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response of swift heavy ion (100 MeV I9+) irradiation, the irradiation‐induced disordering in nonstoichiometric pyrochlore composition (Nd1.8Zr2.2O7.1) was compared to that of stoichiometric composition Nd2Zr2O7. Both compositions were prepared through auto gel‐combustion followed by sintering under the identical conditions. Systematic analysis of the compositions before and after irradiation was performed with X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and plane‐view high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. Irradiation caused pyrochlore to amorphous phase transformation was observed in both compositions except the slower rate of amorphization in Nd1.8Zr2.2O7.1. The amorphization was achieved as a consequence of isolated disordered track overlapping at higher ion fluence with the estimated track diameter 2.73 ± 0.05 and 3.46 ± 0.30 nm for Nd1.8Zr2.2O7.1 and Nd2Zr2O7, respectively, employing the framework of single‐ion impact model to XRD results. HRTEM micrographs also revealed the less prevalence of irradiation‐induced amorphization in Nd1.8Zr2.2O7.1 with the observed irradiation‐induced modified track region composed of defect‐rich pyrochlore structure, anion‐deficient fluorite structure, and amorphous domains; with the diameter of 3.0 ± 1.0 nm and 5.0 ± 1.0 nm in Nd1.8Zr2.2O7.1 and Nd2Zr2O7, respectively. The preexisting anion‐deficient fluorite structure in Nd1.8Zr2.2O7.1 helps in its epitaxial growth as recovered structure from melted ion track during irradiation‐induced rapid cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]