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The inlet valve closing (IVC) timing plays a crucial role in engine combustion, which impacts engine performance and emissions. This study attempts to measure the potential to use n-butanol (Bu) and its blends with the neat diesel in a common rail direct injection (CRDI) engine. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is carried out to estimate the performance, combustion, and exhaust emission characteristics of n-butanol–diesel blends (0%–30% by volume) for variable valve timings. An experimental study is carried out using standard valve timing and blends to validate the CFD model (ESE AVL FIRE). After validation, the CFD model is employed to study the effect of variable valve timings for different n-butanol–diesel blends. Extended coherent flame model-3 zone (ECFM-3Z) is implemented to conduct combustion analysis, and the kappa–zeta–f (k–ζ–f) model is employed for turbulence modeling. The inlet valve closing (IVC) time is varied (advanced and retarded) from standard conditions, and optimized valve timing is obtained. Advancing IVC time leads to lower cylinder pressure during compression due to reduced trapped air mass. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) is increased by 4.5%, 6%, and 8% for Bu10, Bu20, and Bu30, respectively, compared to Bu0. Based on BTE, optimum injection timings are obtained at 12° before the top dead center (BTDC) for Bu0 and 15° BTDC for Bu10, Bu20, and Bu30. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions increase due to complete combustion. Due to IVC timing, further carbon monoxide and soot formation decreased with blends and had an insignificant effect.

The inlet valve closing (IVC) timing plays a crucial role in engine combustion, which impacts engine performance and emissions. This study attempts to measure the potential to use n-butanol (Bu) and its blends with the neat diesel in a common rail direct injection (CRDI) engine. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is carried out to estimate the performance, combustion, and exhaust emission characteristics of n-butanol-diesel blends (0%-30% by volume) for variable valve timings. An experimental study is carried out using standard valve timing and blends to validate the CFD model (ESE AVL FIRE). After validation, the CFD model is employed to study the effect of variable valve timings for different n-butanol-diesel blends. Extended coherent flame model-3 zone (ECFM-3Z) is implemented to conduct combustion analysis, and the kappa-zeta-f (k-ζ -- f) model is employed for turbulence modeling. The inlet valve closing (IVC) time is varied (advanced and retarded) from standard conditions, and optimized valve timing is obtained. Advancing IVC time leads to lower cylinder pressure during compression due to reduced trapped air mass. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) is increased by 4.5%, 6%, and 8% for Bu10, Bu20, and Bu30, respectively, compared to Bu0. Based on BTE, optimum injection timings are obtained at 12° before the top dead center (BTDC) for Bu0 and 15° BTDC for Bu10, Bu20, and Bu30. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions increase due to complete combustion. Due to IVC timing, further carbon monoxide and soot formation decreased with blends and had an insignificant effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular solids' acoustic properties, such as dispersion, direction dependence, and phase velocities, are inherently coupled to the dominant deformation modes in their ligaments. Understanding and exploiting this coupling can improve the design process of applications utilizing cellular solids' acoustic properties. This work aims to provide insights into this coupling using finite element simulations. In particular, this work investigates the effect of the two main deformation mechanisms observed in cellular materials, i.e. bending and stretching, on the dispersive and direction dependent characteristics of 2D elastic waves traversing them. Two related honeycomb-based lattices are used in this work, namely a bending dominated lattice and a stretching dominated lattice. Results show that asymmetric waves in the bending dominated lattice are more direction dependent and less dispersive than in the stretching dominated lattice, whereas symmetric waves are generally independent of direction and dispersive in both bending and stretching dominated lattices. In addition, results show that phase velocities of symmetric and asymmetric waves scale linearly with relative density in the bending dominated lattice and nonlinearly with relative density in the stretching dominated lattice. Moreover, maximum phase velocities in the stretching dominated lattice are observed to be higher than in the bending dominated lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exosomes are lipid-bilayered vesicles, originating from early endosomes that capture cellular proteins and genetic materials to form multi-vesicular bodies. These exosomes are secreted into extracellular fluids such as cerebrospinal fluid, blood, urine, and cell culture supernatants. They play a key role in intercellular communication by carrying active molecules like lipids, cytokines, growth factors, metabolites, proteins, and RNAs. Recently, the potential of exosomal delivery for therapeutic purposes has been explored due to their low immunogenicity, nano-scale size, and ability to cross cellular barriers. This review comprehensively examines the biogenesis of exosomes, their isolation techniques, and their diverse applications in theranostics. We delve into the mechanisms and methods for loading exosomes with mRNA, miRNA, proteins, and drugs, highlighting their transformative role in delivering therapeutic payloads. Additionally, the utility of exosomes in stem cell therapy is discussed, showcasing their potential in regenerative medicine. Insights into exosome cargo using pre- or post-loading techniques are critical for exosome theranostics. We review exosome databases such as ExoCarta, Expedia, and ExoBCD, which document exosome cargo. From these databases, we identified 25 proteins common to both exosomes and P-bodies, known for mutations in the COSMIC database. Exosome databases do not integrate with mutation analysis programs; hence, we performed mutation analysis using additional databases. Accounting for the mutation status of parental cells and exosomal cargo is crucial in exosome theranostics. This review provides a comprehensive report on exosome databases, proteins common to exosomes and P-bodies, and their mutation analysis, along with the latest studies on exosome-engineered theranostics., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Herein, we have reported a red-emitting 4-methyl coumarin fused barbituric acid azo dye (4-MCBA) synthesized by conventional method. Density functional theory (DFT) studies of tautomer compounds were done using (B3LYP) with a basis set of 6-31G(d,p). NLO analysis has shown that tautomer has mean first-order hyperpolarisabilities (β) value of 1.8188 × 10 -30  esu and 1.0470 × 10 -30  esu for azo and hydrazone forms, respectively, which is approximately nine and five times greater than the magnitude of urea. 4-MCBA exhibited two absorption peaks in the range of 290-317 and 379-394 nm, and emission spectra were observed at 536 nm. CV study demonstrated that the modified 4-MCBA/MGC electrode exhibited excellent electrochemical sensitivity towards the detection of catechol and the detection limit is 9.39 μM under optimum conditions. The 4-MCBA employed as a fluorescent probe for the visualisation of LFPs on various surfaces exhibited Level-I to level-II LFPs, with low background interference., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Facile access to some novel biologically relevant dihydrotriazolopyrimidine carboxylic acid-derived amide analogues using NMI/SO 2 Cl 2 , and aromatic and aliphatic primary and secondary amines, is reported herein. The role of N -methylimidazole (NMI) as the base and sulfuryl chloride (SO 2 Cl 2 ) as the coupling reagent has been effectively realized in accessing these molecules in good to excellent yields. The feasibility of the developed protocol has also been extended to the gram-scale synthesis of N -benzylbenzamide in a 75% yield from benzoic acid and benzyl amine. The newly synthesized compounds were tested via in vitro anti-inflammatory and anti-tubercular activity studies. The compounds 6aa and 6be were found to be the most active anti-inflammatory agents, whereas 6cb and 6ch were found to exhibit promising anti-tubercular potency when compared to other synthesized molecules. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies revealed the importance of the presence of electron-donating functionalities in enhancing the anti-inflammatory potential of the newly synthesized molecules. However, the presence of electron-withdrawing substituents was found to be significant for improving their anti-tubercular potency.

In this work, we developed a series of novel 5-[3-(4-chlorophenyl)-substituted-1,3-dimethylpyrimidine-2,4,6(1 H ,3 H ,5 H )-trione derivatives 4(a-e) via a one-pot multicomponent reaction. The structures of the compounds were confirmed using analytical and spectroscopic techniques. Also, the synthesized compounds were screened for their anti-diabetic activity, cytotoxicity and in silico studies. The activity results suggested that the compound 4e exhibited least IC 50 values of 0.055 ± 0.002 µM, 0.050 ± 0.002 µM and 0.009 ± 0.001 µM for α-amylase, α-glucosidase and cytotoxicity respectively. Further, in silico molecular docking results revealed that all the obtained compounds effectively interacted with exo-β-D-glucosaminidase and P38 MAP kinase proteins with good binding energies. In that, 4e compound established the least binding energy of -9.6 and -9.1 kcal/mol, respectively. Moreover, our synthesized compounds were subjected to ADME studies, which suggested that all the synthesized compounds obeyed all five rules with good bioavailability and were suitable as drug leads against anti-diabetic and anticancer treatment.