Search

This paper presents here a novel electrical sensor for detecting alcohol concentration in the exhale of an individual. We highlight fabrication of the sensor followed by subsequent assemblage into a handheld unit. The prototype yields a remarkable sensitivity along with a linear range of ~ 250–800 ppm. Additionally, we demonstrate the implementation of it in the helmet of a biker—which is further validated by in situ results related to monitoring exhale activity of few subjects. Through proper tuning with the ignition control system, the prototype can act as a protective gear for drunken drivers. Once the concentration of alcohol is sensed above a permissible level, the ignition system can be momentarily stopped; thereby averting plausible accidents. We believe that this sensor can be upgraded to more advanced protocol via a little tweaking with Internet of Things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-treatment of biomass is a necessary step for delignification as well as an unavoidable step in the journey of biomass to biofuel. Apart from delignification, defragmentation and partial depolymerization of biomass are two other additional useful steps in the overall process of pre-treatment. Ultimately these three steps together make the downstream enzymatic hydrolysis process more effective in producing optimum total reducing sugar. Several different pre-treatment technologies are available to delignify various types of biomasses with each of them being unique concerning specific advantages and disadvantages, characteristics of its own. However, different pre-treatment methods, in combination, have been found beneficial with higher delignification efficiency in comparison to a single pre-treatment method, implemented on its own. Apart from physical pre-treatment procedures like milling, grinding, steam explosion, etc., pre-treatment methods can be divided, roughly, into three groups: biological pre-treatment, physical pre-treatment and chemical pre-treatment. Chemical pre-treatments always arrest significantly higher attention due to their effectiveness and minimum treatment time required. In this review, a thorough discussion of various chemical and biological pre-treatment technologies, along with their efficacy and effective outcomes, have been discussed in order to understand their impacts on bioenergy industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to prepare a copper-coated rubber surface using cold spray technology with improved virucidal and antimicrobial properties to fight against highly transmissible viruses and bacteria. A successful cold spray coating was produced using irregular-shaped pure Cu powder on an escalator handrail rubber. The powder particles and the deposited coatings (single and double pass) were characterized in terms of particle morphology and size distribution, coating surface and coat/substrate cross-section properties. The bonding between powder and rubber surfaces was purely mechanical interlocking. The Cu powder penetration depth within the rubber surface increases with a number of depositions pass. The virucidal properties of the coated surface were tested utilizing surrogates for SARS-CoV-2: HCoV-229E, a seasonal human coronavirus, and baculovirus, a high-titer enveloped insect cell virus. A double-pass coated surface showed significant baculovirus inactivation relative to a bare rubber control surface after 2-h (approximately 1.7-log) and 4-h (approximately 6.2-log), while a 4-h exposure reduced HCoV-229E titer to below the limit of detection. A similar microbial test was performed using E. coli, showing a 4-log microbial reduction after 2-h exposure relative to the bare rubber. These promising results open a new application for cold spray in the health sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the outstanding mechanical properties of graphene nanoplates (GNP), it has been considered an ideal reinforcing agent for the production of a metal-matrix composite (MMC). In this study, 1.0 wt.% graphene-reinforced Aluminum 6061 MMC particles have been synthesized using the high-energy mechanical alloying (HE-MA) method to be deployed as feedstock in cold spray additive manufacturing. The synthesized MMC particles were spray coated on AZ80 magnesium substrate. The coating microstructure, coating-substrate interface evolution, and particle-particle bonding mechanism were studied. The novel HE-MA composite particles deposited coating exhibits greater deformability, thanks to crystal-level grain refinement, thereby improving interface mechanical interlocking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inorganic CuI thin films were grown using e-beam evaporation to substitute expensive organic hole transporting layer (HTL) material used in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). CuI powder was e-beam evaporated at 25 W for 5 and 10 min to yield 100 nm film on glass substrate and 200 nm film on perovskite layer, respectively. X-ray diffraction pattern of CuI thin film showed a single peak at 26.04°, corresponding to (111) plane of crystalline gamma (γ) phase. Scanning electron microscopy imaging revealed the nanostructured thin film. A bandgap of 3.1 eV was calculated by absorption curves of CuI thin film. The deposited CuI thin film on glass substrate showed a transmittance of 75% in the visible region. X-ray and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy data revealed that the films were slightly Cu deficient and p-type nature, respectively. PSC with a device architecture of glass/ITO/c-TiO2/m-TiO2/CH3NH3SnI3/CuI/Au was fabricated. CuI thin film is a promising alternative HTL for organic material in the improvement of PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deterioration of metallic and non-metallic structures and monuments is largely controlled by their surrounding environment. The Taj Mahal, a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) world heritage situated in Agra of India built in seventeenth century using white marbles, is famous for its aesthetic look. Gradual yellowing and blackening of the monument are matter of great concern, and if not controlled, the heritage structure may lose its glaze and beauty. Extensive studies available on deteriorating effect of the monument miss a vital point related to the pollutants coming from severely polluted River Yamuna which flows very close to the Taj Mahal. To ascertain the possible effects of the pollutants carbon steel, copper and zinc samples were exposed for four years at the premise of Taj Mahal. The surface characterization of the exposed metals with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction reveals the formation of respective sulphides of the studied metals. The findings suggest that the hydrogen sulphide from the polluted Yamuna River had damaging effect. The wind rose diagram developed at site of exposure further supports the above findings. The corrosion rate of copper was found to be 2.46 µm/year. This observation as well as identification of corrosion products formed on the metal surface (strong peaks of copper sulphide) provided strong evidences that the hydrogen sulphide evolved from the polluted river accelerated the deterioration of the metal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enormous growth in the consumption of plastic grocery bags and their non-biodegradability nature has become a serious cause of waste generation. In the context of the disposal of plastic, pyrolysis is a promising technique that addresses the energy crisis issue too. Therefore, in this work, pyrolysis kinetics and thermodynamic parameters of plastic grocery bags were investigated using different iso-conversional methods (Starink, Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose, Ozawa–Wall–Flynn, and Friedman methods) based on thermogravimetric analysis data at multiple heating rates (10, 20, 30, and 40 K/min). The pyrolysis of plastic grocery bags followed a single-step degradation process. The average activation energy values were found to be 133.21, 133.80, 139.12, and 192.08 kJ/mol from Starink, Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose, Ozawa–Wall–Flynn, and Friedman methods, respectively. The average values of the pre-exponential factor (using Kissinger's equation) varied in between 7.14 × 108 and 1.47 × 1013 min−1. From the generalized master plot, it has been observed that the one-dimensional diffusion model is the most suitable one to describe the pyrolysis process. The trends of the thermodynamic parameters reveal the ease of reaction of the plastic grocery bag, as well as it is approaching the thermodynamic equilibrium state during the pyrolysis process. This investigation on the pyrolysis kinetics and thermodynamic parameters would be a reference in designing and scaling the reactor for the treatment of plastic grocery bags. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding the semantically accurate answer is one of the key challenges in advanced searching. In contrast to keyword-based searching, the meaning of a question or query is important here and answers are ranked according to relevance. It is very natural that there is almost no common word between the question sentence and the answer sentence. In this paper, an approach is described to find out the semantically relevant answers in the Bengali dataset. In the first part of the algorithm, a set of statistical parameters like frequency, index, part-of-speech (POS) is matched between a question and the probable answers. In the second phase, entropy and similarity are calculated in different modules. Finally, a sense score is generated to rank the answers. The algorithm is tested on a repository containing a total of 275,000 sentences. This Bengali repository is a product of Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) project sponsored by Govt. of India and provided by the Language Research Unit of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. The shallow parser, developed by the LTRC group of IIIT Hyderabad is used for POS tagging. The actual answer is ranked as 1st in 82.3% cases. The actual answer is ranked within 1st to 5th in 90.0% cases. The accuracy of the system is coming as 97.32% and precision of the system is coming as 98.14% using confusion matrix. The challenges and pitfalls of the work are reported at last in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the progression of martensite tempering as a function of tempering parameter has been investigated using instrumented nanoindentation. Three distinct stages of tempering related to the carbon segregation, carbide nucleation, and Ostwald ripening were identified. During the second tempering stage, the nanohardness achieves a plateau which is attributed to the change of carbide morphology, dissolution of intra-lath carbides, and growth of inter-lath and block boundary carbides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a volatile liquid detector by engaging metal oxide sensor, which is further assisted by an Arduino kit to develop a prototype of alcohol detection. We have used ethanol as the main volatile liquid to design the prototype. To verify the most selective nature of the metal oxide sensor towards alcohol, we have compared with Methanol, Isopropyl alcohol, Acetone and Ammonia along with Ethanol. The proposed sensing device has been found to be highly sensitive towards ethanol with an excellent linearity closing to unity. With a working domain of ~ 230–800 ppm, the probe renders good degree of reproducibility. Through a little up scaling, the proposed device can be used as a transducer to reduce the speed of a running car when the exhale of driver exceeds dangerous concentration of alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passive continental margins are tectonically inactive, but a few of them including the East India Passive Margin (EIPM) show evidences for post-breakup deformations. This unusual process prompted us to investigate the post-rift deformations on EIPM and adjacent deep-water region for understanding the possible mechanisms. Seismic reflection images of the Bay of Bengal reveal a post-rift deformation with a manifestation of extensional faults in Krishna–Godavari (K–G) basin and on flanks of the 85°E Ridge. In K–G basin, one of the rift-related faults reactivated during the Early Miocene time (~16 Ma), while on flanks of the 85°E Ridge new normal faults originated at about 6.8 Ma. From detailed analysis of fault throws, it is observed that the fault in K–G basin recorded a cumulative throw of about 900 m between the basement and Early Miocene horizon (~16 Ma), later the fault was reactivated at 6.8 Ma and continued the activity progressively until 0.3 Ma before cessation. The fault system on the margin spatially extends for about 300 km between offshore extensions of the Pranahita–Godavari graben and Nagavali–Vamshadhara shear zone. The faults on 85°E Ridge, initiated at 6.8 Ma and continued until 0.8 Ma, have cumulative throws of about 60 and 110 m on western and eastern flanks of the ridge, respectively. Back-stripping analysis of the fault from the K–G basin discloses two distinct phases of subsidence history: (i) during the first phase (120–23 Ma) the basement subsided at a rate of 46–18 m/Myr due to thermal cooling of the lithosphere, (ii) during the second phase (23 Ma–Present) rapid subsidence rate (69.56 m/Myr) of basement is noticed as a consequence of deposition of copious amounts of Bengal Fan sediments. The thick sedimentary strata exerted vertical load on underlying heterogeneous crust that led to build excessive internal stress and release through weak zones (lying at intersecting planes of heterogeneous crustal blocks). The stress, thus released through fault planes has caused the deformation of crust as well as overlying sedimentary strata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use change is a prominent feature of the Anthropocene. Transitions between natural and human-managed ecosystems affect biogeochemical cycles in many ways, but soil processes are among the least understood. We used a global meta-analysis (62 studies, 1670 paired comparisons) to examine effects of land conversion on soil–atmosphere fluxes of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from upland soils, and determine soil and environmental factors driving these effects. Conversion from a natural ecosystem to any anthropogenic land use increased soil CH4 and N2O fluxes by 234 kg CO2-equivalents ha−1 y−1, on average. Reversion of managed ecosystems to that resembling natural ecosystems did not fully reverse those effects, even after 80 years. In general, neither the type of ecosystem converted, nor the type of subsequent anthropogenic land use, affected the magnitude of increase in soil emissions. Land-use changes in wetter ecosystems resulted in greater increases in CH4 fluxes, but reduced N2O fluxes. An interacting suite of soil variables influenced CH4 and N2O fluxes, with availability of inorganic nitrogen (that is, extractable ammonium and nitrate), pH, total carbon, and microclimate being strong mediators of effects of land-use change. In addition, time after a change in land use emerged as a critical factor explaining the effects of land-use change—with increased emissions of both greenhouse gases diminishing rapidly after conversion. Further research is needed to elucidate complex biotic and abiotic mechanisms that drive land-use change effects on soil greenhouse gas emissions, but particularly during this initial disturbance when emissions are greatest relative to native vegetation. Efforts to mitigate emissions will be severely hampered by this gap in knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sone River megafan in the Marginal Alluvial Plain (MAP) in the southern parts of the Ganga Basin (India) holds potential aquifer systems within a hydrogeologically poor region with limited groundwater potential. The work investigates the hydrostratigraphy and hydrogeological characteristics, including the yield potential and hydraulic parameters of the aquifer systems in the megafan, by analyzing borehole lithologs (n = 78), drill-cut sediment (n = 5), depth to water level (n = 112) and pumping test data (n = 19). The aquifer materials comprise oxidized and brownish-yellow fine to very coarse sand and gravels (mean size range 0.21-1.34 mm), constituting ~10-90% of the sedimentary column within the depth of 250 m below ground level (bgl). Two aquifer systems are delineated within the depth, marked by a middle clay layer lying at 87-139 m bgl. The phreatic aquifer within the top aquitard depicts shallow water levels, which varied between 0.6 and 12.0 m bgl. The discharge in the tube wells tapping the second aquifer system varies between ~46 and 250 m3/h. The transmissivity values were estimated up to 23,696 m2/d (generally 5,000-10,000 m2/d). The storativity values (range 2.6 × 10−9 to 5.0 × 10−3) indicate a confined state of groundwater in the aquifer system. The hydraulic conductivity values of 21-369 and 31-196 m/d, as estimated by a grain-size based empirical method, suggest high groundwater potential of both the first and second aquifer systems, respectively. The groundwater source availability in the megafan is supported by copious supply of source water where the palaeochannels act as conduits of recharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrosion behaviour of 3003 grade of aluminum alloy is investigated by exposing its samples under different climatic and pollution zones of India namely Jamshedpur, New Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Kolkata, Chennai and Palampur. Results indicate that pollutants in the atmosphere, especially PM, considerably affect the corrosion rate. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and direct current anodic polarization studies indicate the formation of very protective film on specimens exposed to cleaner environments. Raman spectroscopy and XRD studies of the passive films formed on exposed samples help to explain the variation in corrosion rate of the metal in different climatic conditions. The deposition of fine particulates on the exposed surface of the samples are observed to act as a reservoir of corroding species by absorbing corrosive gases, moisture and anion and cation species resulting in the formation of corrosion cells. The mechanism for the breakdown of passive film resulting in accelerated rate of corrosion of the alloy exposed to polluted environments is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rose rosette virus (RRV) was characterized as a new member of the virus genus Emaravirus, having a seven single-stranded negative-sense RNA genome. In this communication, partial RdRp gene of RRV has been characterized from infected roses through reverse transcription-PCR using RRV specific primers. The virus was detected in all twenty symptomatic plants tested from the north-eastern region of India and the partial RdRp genes of two isolates were sequenced. Electron microscopy showed the presence of double membrane bodies in all the infected leaf tissues. The three dimensional structure of the RdRp gene of the two isolates was predicted through homology modelling. The partial putative protein of the Siliguri and Siliguri2 isolates of RRV contained a signature motif B (Q GNLNMISS) of the Bunyaviridae-RdRp domain. Phylogenetic analysis of these two RRV isolates showed 95-98% sequence identity with other RRV isolates previously described worldwide. After 75 years since the first report, RRV is being reported as an emerging disease of garden roses in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focused on single and multiple dissimilar joints between DP980 and high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) galvanized steels. The tensile properties of the dissimilar joint between the strong DP980 and the relatively soft HSLA reflected only the properties of HSLA with plastic deformation, and final fracture took place entirely in HSLA. The fatigue properties of the dissimilar joints were more intriguing, with the strong DP980 outperforming at high stress amplitude and the ductile HSLA outperforming at low stress amplitude. For different load amplitudes, fatigue failure occurred in different materials and at different locations. The fatigue strength of DP980 was more negatively impaired by weld defects than that of HSLA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third-order nonlinear dynamical systems with attractors (one with no fixed point and the other with a stable fixed point) are conjugately coupled. It is observed that the combined system gives rise to nontrivial fixed points, and the corresponding long-time dynamics leads to amplitude death. On the other hand, if the coupled system starts from the neighborhood of these generated fixed points, there exists a very novel path to the generation of oscillations. Such a phenomenon is called rhythmogenesis. The characterization of such dynamics is done with the help of bifurcation diagrams and Lyapunov exponents. Another important outcome is an observed bifurcation with respect to the initial condition variation. This last phenomenon may be attributed to the fact that usual route to chaos is absent in the uncoupled system. In the second part of our paper, we have constructed the electronic circuit pertaining to the coupled system, collected the data via NI 6009 DAC, and have shown the existence of the amplitude death experimentally. The case of rhythmogenesis is done similarly, which only requires an extra circuit to fix the initial condition, and was devised in our earlier paper. It has been used to construct a new circuit to detect rhythmogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)vIII is the most common EGFR mutant found in glioblastoma (GBM). EGFRvIII does not bind ligand, is highly oncogenic and is usually coexpressed with EGFR wild type (EGFRwt). EGFRvIII activates Met, and Met contributes to EGFRvIII-mediated oncogenicity and resistance to treatment. Here, we report that addition of EGF results in a rapid loss of EGFRvIII-driven Met phosphorylation in glioma cells. Met is associated with EGFRvIII in a physical complex. Addition of EGF results in a dissociation of the EGFRvIII-Met complex with a concomitant loss of Met phosphorylation. Consistent with the abrogation of Met activation, addition of EGF results in the inhibition of EGFRvIII-mediated resistance to chemotherapy. Thus, our study suggests that ligand in the milieu of EGFRvIII-expressing GBM cells is likely to influence the EGFRvIII-Met interaction and resistance to treatment, and highlights a novel antagonistic interaction between EGFRwt and EGFRvIII in glioma cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EGFRvIII is a key oncogene in glioblastoma (GBM). EGFRvIII results from an in-frame deletion in the extracellular domain of EGFR, does not bind ligand and is thought to be constitutively active. Although EGFRvIII dimerization is known to activate EGFRvIII, the factors that drive EGFRvIII dimerization and activation are not well understood. Here we present a new model of EGFRvIII activation and propose that oncogenic activation of EGFRvIII in glioma cells is driven by co-expressed activated EGFR wild type (EGFRwt). Increasing EGFRwt leads to a striking increase in EGFRvIII tyrosine phosphorylation and activation while silencing EGFRwt inhibits EGFRvIII activation. Both the dimerization arm and the kinase activity of EGFRwt are required for EGFRvIII activation. EGFRwt activates EGFRvIII by facilitating EGFRvIII dimerization. We have previously identified HB-EGF, a ligand for EGFRwt, as a gene induced specifically by EGFRvIII. In this study, we show that HB-EGF is induced by EGFRvIII only when EGFRwt is present. Remarkably, altering HB-EGF recapitulates the effect of EGFRwt on EGFRvIII activation. Thus, increasing HB-EGF leads to a striking increase in EGFRvIII tyrosine phosphorylation while silencing HB-EGF attenuates EGFRvIII phosphorylation, suggesting that an EGFRvIII-HB-EGF-EGFRwt feed-forward loop regulates EGFRvIII activation. Silencing EGFRwt or HB-EGF leads to a striking inhibition of EGFRvIII-induced tumorigenicity, while increasing EGFRwt or HB-EGF levels resulted in accelerated EGFRvIII-mediated oncogenicity in an orthotopic mouse model. Furthermore, we demonstrate the existence of this loop in human GBM. Thus, our data demonstrate that oncogenic activation of EGFRvIII in GBM is likely maintained by a continuous EGFRwt-EGFRvIII-HB-EGF loop, potentially an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Felsic tuff beds with some presumed sedimentary components were reported from the Owk Shale (Kurnool Group; bearing Neoproterozoic fossils) in the upper part of the sedimentary succession in the Cuddapah basin in India by Saha and Tripathy (2012a). Our optical and SEM petrographic study of three thin sections, however, indicates that the parent samples are sandy mudstones with variable amounts of a felsic volcaniclastic component. New highquality U-Pb (SHRIMP and LA-MC-ICPMS) ages of 133 detrital zircon grains from a sample show that one grain is ca. 1880 Ma, one grain is ca. 3300 Ma, and the ages of the remaining 131 grains fall between 2690 Ma and 2429 Ma, the population averaging 2522 ± 36 Ma. The data indicate that the zircons are detrital grains derived from the ca. 2.5 Ga granitic/gneissic/greenstone basement of the Dharwar cratons that also host minor older Archean enclaves. The single 1880 Ma grain could have come from a ca. 1.9 Ga LIP. In the absence of any younger magmatic zircon, the absolute age of the Owk Shale remains elusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the study was to use micro-autoradiography to investigate the lung cell types responsible for 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) uptake in murine models of acute lung injury (ALI).Procedures: C57/BL6 mice were studied in three groups: controls, ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), and endotoxin. VILI was produced by high tidal volumes and zero end-expiratory pressure and endotoxin ALI, by intranasal administration. Following FDG injection, the lungs were processed and exposed to autoradiographic emulsion. Grain density over cells was used to quantify FDG uptake.Results: Neutrophils, macrophages, and type 2 epithelial cells presented higher grain densities during VILI and endotoxin ALI than controls. Remarkably, cell grain density in specific cell types was dependent on the injury mechanism. Whereas macrophages showed high grain densities during endotoxin ALI, similar to those exhibited by neutrophils, type 2 epithelial cells demonstrated the second highest grain density (with neutrophils as the highest) during VILI.Conclusions: In murine models of VILI and endotoxin ALI, FDG uptake occurs not only in neutrophils but also in macrophages and type 2 epithelial cells. FDG uptake by individual cell types depends on the mechanism underlying ALI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical analysis has been made on the contribution of CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, CHCl, CHBr, CCl, CHCCl, HCFCs, halons, WMO (World Meteorological Organization) minor constituents, CH, NO and water vapour to the variation of total column ozone (TCO) concentration at the station in Srinagar (34°N, 74.8°E), India from 1992 to 2003. With the implementation of Montreal Protocol, though the concentrations of CFC-11, CFC-113, CHCl, CHBr, CCl and CHCCl had decreased, the concentrations of CFC-12, HCFCs, halons, WMO minor constituents, CH, NO and water vapour had increased, as a result of which TCO had risen from 1992 to 2003 at the above station. The nature of yearly variations of concentrations of the above ozone depleting substances and GHGs as well as ozone has been presented. Possible explanations for build-up of TCO have also been offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A soluble-lead redox flow battery with corrugated-graphite sheet and reticulated-vitreous carbon as positive and negative current collectors is assembled and performance tested. In the cell, electrolyte comprising of 1·5 M lead (II) methanesulfonate and 0·9 M methanesulfonic acid with sodium salt of lignosulfonic acid as additive is circulated through the reaction chamber at a flow rate of 50 ml min. During the charge cycle, pure lead (Pb) and lead dioxide (PbO) from the soluble lead (II) species are electrodeposited onto the surface of the negative and positive current collectors, respectively. Both the electrodeposited materials are characterized by XRD, XPS and SEM. Phase purity of synthesized lead (II) methanesulfonate is unequivocally established by single crystal X-ray diffraction followed by profile refinements using high resolution powder data. During the discharge cycle, electrodeposited Pb and PbO are dissolved back into the electrolyte. Since lead ions are produced during oxidation and reduction at the negative and positive plates, respectively there is no risk of crossover during discharge cycle, preventing the possibility of lowering the overall efficiency of the cell. As the cell employs a common electrolyte, the need of employing a membrane is averted. It has been possible to achieve a capacity value of 114 mAh g at a load current-density of 20 mA cm with the cell at a faradaic efficiency of 95%. The cell is tested for 200 cycles with little loss in its capacity and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper indium disulfide (CuInS) thin films were deposited on the glass substrate by the locally made spray pyrolysis deposition system. The films were characterized by using energy dispersive analytical X-ray (EDAX) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometry. The XRD pattern indicated that the prepared CuInS thin films are chalcopyrite structure. Lattice parameters and FWHM values were verified by the standard values of JCPDS 270159 file. The EDAX analysis indicated the stoichiometric ratio of 1.14:1:1.88 (CIS-2) thin films. The SEM analysis showed that the average grain size of the film was 100-800 nm and that of XRD data indicate the values of 30-50 nm. The high absorption co-efficient and 1.48 eV band gap of the films indicate that the films are useful as an absorber for photovoltaic application in the solar cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical analysis made on the long-term monthly, seasonal, yearly variation and annual cycle of total column ozone (TCO) concentration at New Delhi (29°N, 77°E), India and Halley Bay (76°S, 27°W), a British Antarctic Service Station reveals more decline in yearly mean ozone concentration at Halley Bay than at New Delhi from 1979 to 2005. The nature of variations of monthly mean TCO during the months of August and September was the most identical with that of yearly mean ozone values at New Delhi and Halley Bay, respectively, for the same period. Annual cycles of TCO over these stations are completely different for the above period. The effect of O depletion on night airglow emission of OH(8, 3) line at New Delhi and Halley Bay has been studied. Calculations based on chemical kinetics show that the airglow intensity of OH(8, 3) has also been affected due to the depletion of O concentration. The yearly variations and annual cycle of intensities of OH(8, 3) line for the above two stations are depicted and compared. It has been shown that the rate of decrease of intensity of OH(8, 3) line was comparatively more at Halley Bay due to dramatic decrease of Antarctic O concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the nature of annual cycles of tropospheric ozone, cloud occurrences, NO, rainfall, SO, SPM, CO, non-methane hydrocarbon and surface solar radiation for the period October 2004 to June 2009 over Alipore (22.52°N, 88.33°E), India. Annual cycle of low-level cloud occurrences depicts that the low-level cloud over Alipore had been noticed to occur for many days and nights, particularly from June to September. The low-level cloud occurrences were found in winter months and post-monsoon period. The effect of cloud occurrences on tropospheric ozone concentration has been critically analysed and explained. It has been observed that the concentration of ozone is oscillatory with cloud occurrences and has a slight linear decreasing trend with the increase of cloud occurrences and vice versa. The concentration of tropospheric ozone attained higher value at moderate cloud occurrences and comparatively lower value at both of the lower and higher cloud occurrences. The related possible chemical and physical explanation for role of cloud occurrences on tropospheric ozone has been offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium wilt is one of the most important diseases of eggplant and the cause of major crop losses. The present work was undertaken to evaluate the possibility of using antagonistic bacteria isolated from eggplant rhizosphere as biocontrol agents to reduce the incidence of wilt caused by Fusarium solani. Out of 141 isolates, two strains AI01 and AI03 which showed maximum antagonistic activity during initial screening against F. solani were selected. The strains were identified as Bacillus subtilis based on physiological and biochemical characters and analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence. Antagonistic activity was further tested against ten important fungal pathogens in vitro, which revealed that both strains inhibited these phytopathogens to a desirable extent. Scanning electron microscope observations disclosed the presence of deformity and lysis of fungal mycelia at the zone of pathogen/antagonistic bacteria interaction. Robust swarming motility was exhibited by strain AI01 in dual culture plates, which limited fungal growth. Studies on antifungal metabolites secreted by the bacteria confirmed the presence of siderophore and several hydrolytic enzymes like chitinase, protease, lipase and amylase. AI01 and AI03 were also capable of producing indole acetic acid (IAA), a plant growth-promoting trait, but exhibited no deleterious effects like production of hydrogen cyanide, cellulase and pectinase. AI01 possesses higher ability for biofilm formation on the wells of microtitre plate. Both bacterial isolates showed significant reduction of wilt incidence in eggplant seedlings pretreated with them under greenhouse conditions. Disease incidence was reduced upto 72% when the soil was sterilized before treatment. Treatment in unsterilized soil was less efficacious. Since both B. subtilis strains exhibited several traits beneficial to the host and showed promising results when applied as bioinoculants, they may be used to develop new, safer and effective formulations as an alternative to chemical fungicides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Andaman-Nicobar (A-N) Islands region has attracted many geo-scientists because of its unique location and complex geotectonic settings. The recent occurrence of tsunamis due to the megathrust tsunamigenic north Sumatra earthquake (Mw 9.3) with a series of aftershocks in the A-N region caused severe damage to the coastal regions of India and Indonesia. Several pieces of evidence suggest that the occurrence of earthquakes in the A-N region is related to its complex geodynamical processes. In this study, it has been inferred that deep-seated structural heterogeneities related to dehydration of the subducting Indian plate beneath the Island could have induced the process of brittle failure through crustal weakening to contribute immensely to the coastal hazard in the region. The present study based on 3-D P-wave tomography of the entire rupture zone of the A-N region using the aftershocks of the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake (Mw 9.3) clearly demonstrates the role of crustal heterogeneity in seismogenesis and in causing the strong shakings and tsunamis. The nature and extent of the imaged crustal heterogeneity beneath the A-N region may have facilitated the degree of damage and extent of coastal hazards in the region. The 3-D velocity heterogeneities reflect asperities that manifest what type of seismogenic layers exist beneath the region to dictate the size of earthquakes and thereby they help to assess the extent of earthquake vulnerability in the coastal regions. The inference of this study may be used as one of the potential inputs for assessment of seismic vulnerability to the region, which may be considered for evolving earthquake hazard mitigation model for the coastal areas of the Andaman-Nicobar Islands region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plackett–Burman experimental design was applied for screening significant variables influencing the yield of alkylation of p-chlorophenol with methylcyclohexanol in the presence of sulfuric acid. Analyses of the results revealed that temperature, molar ratio of p-chlorophenol to methylcyclohexanol, and amount of sulfuric acid were the main effective variables. The influence of individual effects of these variables and their interactions on experimental response were analyzed by applying fractional factorial design. Finally, a mathematical model was developed to predict the yield of alkylation of p-chlorophenol with methylcyclohexanol in the presence of sulfuric acid under any reaction condition. The experimental yields showed good agreement with the predicted yields calculated by the mathematical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable interest in understanding how inflammatory responses influence cell proliferation and cancer. In this study, we show that the receptor-interacting protein (RIP1), a critical mediator of inflammation and stress-induced NF-κB activation, regulates the expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) derived from RIP1 knockout mice express very high levels of the EGFR. Reconstitution of RIP1−/− MEFs with RIP1 results in a lowering of EGFR levels. RIP1 influences EGFR at the mRNA level by regulating the EGFR promoter. Expression of RIP1 inhibits the EGFR promoter. RIP1 downregulates EGFR expression by interfering with the function of Sp1, which is a key activator of EGFR transcription. RIP1 suppresses Sp1 activity and overexpression of Sp1 reverses RIP1-mediated repression of the EGFR promoter. RIP1 is present both in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus. RIP1 coimmunoprecipitates with Sp1 in vivo and binds directly to Sp1 in vitro. A RIP1 mutant lacking the death domain fails to suppress Sp1 activity and the EGFR promoter, suggesting a critical role for the RIP1 death domain in EGFR regulation. Thus, our study identifies a new link between inflammatory and growth factor signaling pathways mediated by RIP1 and provides insight into the mechanism used by RIP1 to regulate EGFR levels.Cell Death and Differentiation (2008) 15, 344–353; doi:10.1038/sj.cdd.4402268; published online 16 November 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No abstract available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the active fluidization of polymer networks through molecular motors. Evaluation on the viscoelastic behavior of polymer chains; Measurement on the stress relaxation time of the polymer solution; Effects of myosin to molecular motor reacting to actin filaments.

Void fraction and pressure drop correlations play an important role in predicting the performance of natural circulation loops. Hence an assessment of the commonly used and often cited correlations for pressure drop and void fraction has been carried out with data from natural circulation loops. This assessment considered 33 void fraction correlations and 14 pressure drop correlations. The void fraction correlations were initially tested against the various limiting conditions. Only 14 correlations were found to satisfy at least two limiting conditions (i.e., at x = 0; α = 0 and at x = 1; α = 1) and were assessed against the data. This assessment showed that the Chexal et al. (1996) correlation is better than all the others considered. The assessment of pressure drop correlations were carried out with the Chexal et al. (1996) correlation for void fraction and Saha-Zuber model for the onset of subcooled boiling. This assessment showed that most correlations give predictions close to each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth and development of 100 term SFD infants divided into 3 groups with body weight of 1·5 kg or less (I), 1·51-1·75 kg (II), 1·76-2·25 kg (III) and 100 AFD term infants was determined longitudinally. Group I and II infants remained smaller and had delayed milestones of development throughout the 1st year of life, with limited catch up only in body weight in the first 3 months. Their milk intake was low (132 ml/kg). Group III infants, who had comparatively better growth parameters at birth, showed effective catch up growth in all the parameters to reach the level of those of AFD infants within 3-10 months by increased consumption of milk (186 ml/kg). Their milestones of development were at par with that of AFD infants who consumed 160 ml of milk/kg/day in the first 2-4 months. The low consumption of milk by group I and II infants with severe intrauterine malnutrition is possibly related to the reduced appetite geared to a small body size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven mutants of Aspergillus ochraceus unable to produce lysine have been selected by treating conidia of the wild type with N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), at pH 6.4. Complementation analysis revealed that MNNG had caused a mutation at a single locus. Growth studies indicated the growth requirement for lysine in the mutants. Lysine-requiring mutants were further characterized by measurement of colony extension rate at various lysine concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To estimate the availability of residual fixed NH-N to crops and its participation in the general nitrogen cycle, a field experiment without N fertilization was conducted with maize as the test crop planted at two densities. The experiments were carried out on the layout of a previous experiment, where the maize was cropped with identical densities but was fertilized with five different N treatments. Irrespective of planting density, the residual fixec NH-N and KOBr-extractable N content in soil decreased with increase in the period of crop growth. N uptake by the plant was significantly higher in plot with the high- than the low-density planting. Availability of residual fixed NH-N to the crop is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]