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In India, the rising double burden of diseases and the low fiscal capacity of the government forces people to resort to hardship financing. This study aimed to examine the factors contributing to the reduction in hardship financing among inpatient households in India. The study relies on two rounds of National Sample Surveys with a sample of 34,478 households from the 71st round (2014) and 56,681 households from the 75th round (2018). We employed multivariable logistic regression and multivariate decomposition analyses to explore the factors associated with hardship financing in Indian households with hospitalized member(s) and assess the contributing factors to the reduction in hardship financing between 2014 and 2018. Notably, though hardship financing for inpatient households has decreased between 2014 and 2018, households with catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) had higher odds of hardship financing than those without CHE. While factors such as CHE, prolonged hospitalization, and private hospitals had impoverishing effects on hardship financing in 2014 and 2018, the decomposition model showed the potential of CHE (32%), length of hospitalization (32%), and private hospitals (24%) to slow down this negative impact over time. The findings showed the potential for further improvements in financial health protection for inpatient care over time, and underscore the need for continuing efforts to strengthen the implementation of public programs and schemes in India such as Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes conduction-controlled rewetting of a hot surface by employing the variational integral method. The physical model considers three distinct regions: a dry region ahead of a wet front, the sputtering region immediately behind the wet front, and a continuous film region further in the upstream direction. Three different models have been considered for the analysis. In all the cases, closed-form expressions have been obtained for the temperature distribution along the hot surface. The wet front velocity is found to depend on various parameters, namely, convective Biot number, boiling Biot number, sputtering length, and incipient boiling temperature. Compared to the convective Biot number, the boiling Biot number significantly affects the wet front velocity. It is found that neglecting the sputtering length reduces the wet front velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The phenomenon of rewetting finds application in several fields of industrial and scientific applications including the loss of coolant accidents in nuclear reactors. In order to analyze the phenomena of rewetting, usually a conduction controlled approach or hydrodynamic approach was considered. Because of complexity, most of the studies adopt a conduction controlled approach to analyze the phenomena of rewetting. In view of this, various analytical and semi-analytical techniques have been used to solve the conduction equation. Investigations have mostly considered different geometries, various convective boundary conditions for both the dry and wet surface, effect of heat generation, variable properties, coupling between conduction and convection as well as other variations of the problem. A comprehensive review of the available analytical models is presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many research projects have been undertaken by the researchers to address the global energy crisis, fossil fuel depletion, over-reliance on crude oil, improvement of performance and emission, and waste management issues, with promising and remarkable results. Exploration of alternate fuels is one of such outcomes. Alternative fuels are preferred because they are renewable in nature. They are also environmental friendly in use and cost-effective in production. They are attractive from waste management perspective. These fuels are intended to provide improved performance and lower emissions. They do not impact engine functionality. To maintain a balance between fuel production and consumption, countries must explore alternative sources. They can provide the best possible outcomes to resolve the energy security and environmental crises. This paper highlights the use of several alternative fuels as a diesel replacement in compression ignition engines, with a focus on plastic oil, which has recently received a lot of interest from researchers. It summarises the source, general properties, benefits, and demerits of five different diesel fuel substitutes: bioalcohols, biodiesel, green diesel, bio-oil, and plastic oil, with wide literature support. The major contribution of the review includes the extensive description of the research outcomes on the utilization of plastic oil in diesel engines undertaken by different investigators, along with some potential future scope for the improvement of the performance of the oil, which would give a direction to the prospective researchers. [Display omitted] • Show up the need of alternate liquid fuel in the global context. • Presents the source and production technique of alternate liquid fuels. • Summarise the response of these fuels in CI engine. • Identify the challenges of these fuels in engine application. • Suggest innovative strategies for improvement of engine efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The highlights of the study are as follows: • The study investigates emission levels and carbon productivity at firm level for an emerging economy, such as India. • The research determines optimal and actual trade-offs between emission and output at the firm level and suggests firm-specific policies for emission control. • The research concludes that improving the energy mix, higher R&D spending, and implementation of cap-and-trade policy can lead to better decoupling growth and sustainable development in India. Emission estimation and carbon productivity at the firm level for India's manufacturing sector are scanty. We fill this gap by estimating CO 2 emissions at the firm level and further determining the optimal and the actual trade-offs between emissions and output at the firm level. We use data from the center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) Prowess IQ, and MoEF&CC, Government of India. Between 1998 and 2019, growth in CO 2 emission and output is estimated to be 3 and 9%, respectively. This indicates a case of weak decoupling for the manufacturing sector where technology, export promotion strategies, environmental taxes, energy mix at the firm level, and cap-and-trade policy are the significant determinants of carbon productivity for the sample firms in India's manufacturing sector. We conclude that improving carbon productivity is necessary for better decoupling and R&D intensity to be complemented with R&D efficiency to gain carbon productivity for the manufacturing industry. These findings are crucial for better energy and climate policy for the Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning methods are widely used to implement intrusion detection models for detecting and classifying intrusions in a network or a system. However, many challenges arise since hackers continuously change the attacking patterns by discovering new system vulnerabilities. The degree of malicious attempts increases rapidly; as a result, conventional approaches fail to process voluminous data. So, a sophisticated detection approach with scalable solutions is required to tackle the problem. A deep learning model is proposed to address the intrusion classification problem effectively. The LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) and FCN (Fully Connected Network) deep learning approaches classify the benign and malicious connections on intrusion datasets. The objective is to classify multi-class attack patterns more accurately. The proposed deep learning model provides a better classification result in two-class and five-class problems. It achieves an accuracy of 98.52%, 98.94%, 99.03%, 99.36%, 100%, and 99.64% using KDDCup99, NSLKDD, GureKDD, KDDCorrected, Kyoto, NITRIDS dataset respectively. [Display omitted] • Conventional methods fail to process vast data resulted out of increased malicious attempts. • An effort was made to provide a detection approach that can tackle scalability. • Proposed deep learning addresses the intrusion classification problem effectively. • The proposed LSTM-FCN model performs well on imbalanced datasets for multiclass problems. • Attain improved accuracy on various datasets such as NSLKDD, GureKDD, Kyoto, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insolubility of membrane components in non-ionic detergents such as Triton X-100 at low temperature is a widely used biochemical criterion to identify, isolate and characterize membrane domains. In this work, we monitored the detergent insolubility of the serotonin1A receptor in CHO cell membranes and its modulation by membrane cholesterol. The serotonin1A receptor is an important member of the G-protein coupled receptor family. It is implicated in the generation and modulation of various cognitive, behavioral and developmental functions and serves as a drug target. Our results show that a significant fraction (∼ 28%) of the serotonin1A receptor resides in detergent-resistant membranes (DRMs). Interestingly, the fraction of the serotonin1A receptor in DRMs exhibits a reduction upon membrane cholesterol depletion. In addition, we show that contents of DRM markers such as flotillin-1, caveolin-1 and GM1 are altered in DRMs upon cholesterol depletion. These results assume significance since the function of the serotonin1A receptor has previously been shown to be affected by membrane lipids, specifically cholesterol. Our results are relevant in the context of membrane organization of the serotonin1A receptor in particular, and G-protein coupled receptors in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing energy consumption has been one of the major issues in the environmental and industrial economics in the context of global climate change. Recent literature has dealt with several methodological and application issues related to the technique of decomposing changes in industrial energy consumption. In this paper, we examine these issues in the context of another commonly adopted approach to decomposition of aggregate changes in energy intensity of Indian manufacturing industries. The industrial sector accounts for about 37 percent of the total final energy consumption in India. Of this the manufacturing sector consumes about 66 percent (2004-05). The manufacturing sector is one of the energy intensive industries among other industries in India. The scope of the study includes an empirical analysis of General Parametric Divisia Method. This paper follows the energy intensity approach rather the energy consumption approach. This method involves decomposition of the aggregate energy intensity index measured in terms of energy consumption per unit of output. The analysis also includes a comparison of the time series analysis versus the period-wise decomposition. The factors considered are changes in production structure and sectoral energy intensities. The results of the analysis confirm that the changes in sectoral energy intensity play a greater role in the variation in the total energy intensity of Indian Manufacturing compared to the changes in the production structure of the Industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Effect of nanoparticle concentration on various properties of PCM is studied. • Effect of nanoparticle concentration and fin number on PCM based heat sinks is studied. • Investigation of heat sink configurations such as unfinned, one finned, and three finned. • Study of evolution and propagation of melt front inside the heat sinks. • Estimating melt fraction and melting time for different heat sink configurations. This paper presents an experimental study to investigate the combined effect of nanoparticle concentration and fin number in phase change material (PCM) based heat sinks for thermal management system. Here, aluminum and paraffin wax are considered as heat sink (HS) material and PCM, respectively. Aluminum oxide is chosen as nanoparticle material in this study. Tests are conducted with different HS configurations (unfinned, one finned and three finned) and various nanoparticle concentrations (0, 2, 4 and 6 wt%) for q ″ = 2.0 kW/m2. The evolution and propagation of melt front inside the HS is studied through photographic observation. The highest value of operating time is found to be 6470 s for conventional pure PCM based three finned HS assembly. The maximum reduction in melting time is found to be 9 %, 13 % and 26 % for NePCM based unfinned, one finned and three finned heat sinks, respectively. Results indicate that NePCM with lower value of nanoparticle concentration is useful for the heat sinks with SPT value of 60 °C. The maximum enhancement ratio of 1.48 is obtained for unfinned HS filled with 2% nanoparticle concentration for SPT of 60 °C. The maximum value of enhancement ratio is found to be 1.35 and 1.32 for SPT of 65 °C and 70 °C, respectively for the conventional pure PCM based HS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a simple and direct method for the synthesis of diaryl ether under mild reaction conditions using an oxygen bridged bimetallic CuMoO4 nanocatalyst. The catalyst tolerated a wide range of substrates with various functional groups. The catalyst is efficient and recyclable. This methodology allowed easy access to nitrofen derivatives (herbicides) from unactivated 2,4-dichlorophenol, which are important for agriculture and pharmaceuticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-gel hydrolysis of para-nitrophenyl phosphate (p -NPP) to yellow colored para-nitrophenol was used to locate precisely the K. pneumoniae alkaline phosphatase (Kp-ALKP) on 7% native PAGE. Subsequent removal of the yellow-stained band and electroelution yielded a 54 kDa, Kp-ALKP with K m , V max and k cat values of (0.7 ± 0.02) mM, (80 ± 4.5) μmol min−1 and (39.2 ± 2.2) × 104 s−1 respectively for p -NPP. Kp-ALKP was optimally active at 70 °C and pH 7.2 that was activated by Mg2+, Ca2+, Co2+ and inhibited by EDTA, PO 4 , Pb2+, Cu2+ and Hg2+. The enzyme was trypsin resistant and retained 75% activity in presence of 10 mM PO 4 and 65% activity at 3 mM Hg2+ showing it's PO 4 3− irrepressibility and Hg2+-tolerance. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed increased structural stability of Kp -ALKP at 70 °C that accounts for it's optimal temperature. Zymography revealed that both DTT and β-mercaptoethanol induced activity loss accompanied by mobility retardation of Kp-ALKP on 7% native PAGE. These results and in Silico analysis shows that both DTT and βME reduce the C308–C358 disulfide bond, leading to an open conformation of the enzyme. However, Hg2+ had negligible effect on the in-gel mobility of Kp-ALKP indicating it's plausible non-covalent interaction with surface-accessible amino-acids without significant conformational change. For the first time our study reveals the zymography as an easy, inexpensive and convenient tool for quick purification, characterization and conformational analysis of K. pneumoniae alkaline phosphatase. [Display omitted] • Zymography used as a guide for purification, characterization and inhibition analysis of 54 kDa alkaline phosphatase from a Hg2+ tolerant K. pneumonia e. • Zymography reveal that thiohydroxyals reduce it's C308–C358 disulfide bond resulting in an open conformation and loss of activity. • Hg2+ inhibits the enzyme by binding to the surface-accessible metal binding motifs without changing it's conformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present experimental study reports the thermal performance of nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM) based thermal energy storage system for cooling of electronic components. The NePCM based heat sink (HS) cooling is a passive cooling technique that can eliminate the fan-based conventional cooling technique. A plate heater was used to impersonate the heat generated by microelectronics. Here, copper oxide (CuO), paraffin wax, and aluminum are considered as nanoparticle, phase change material (PCM), and HS material, respectively. Different HS configurations such as HS with no fin (HSNF), HS with rectangular plate fins (HSRPF), HS with square pin fins (HSSPF), and HS with circular pin fins (HSCPF) are studied for a fixed volume fraction of fin material. The performance of various HS configurations are analyzed for different nanoparticle concentration (∅=0.5–3.0), and heat flux values (q′′=1.5–3.0 kW/m2). For ∅= 3.0, thermal conductivity and viscosity of NePCM are found to increase by 150% and 100%, respectively. The HSSPF involving PCM/NePCM exhibits better thermal performance compared to other HS configurations. The maximum reduction in temperature is found to be 13 °C and 15 °C for HSSPF involving PCM and NePCM (∅= 0.5), respectively. The highest enhancement ratio of 5.0 is obtained for HSSPF at q ″= 2.0 kW/m2 for SPT of 65 °C. The addition of CuO nanoparticle beyond ∅=0.5 decreases the HS performance considerably. [Display omitted] • Copper oxide based NePCM is studied experimentally. • Thermal conductivity and latent heat are measured for thermal analysis. • Thermal conductivity and viscosity are increased by 150% and 100%, respectively. • Maximum 15 °C temperature reduction is observed for HSSPF with ∅= 0.5 NePCM. • An enhancement ratio of 5.0 is obtained for HSSPF at q ″= 2.0 kW/m−2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matrix-free room-temperature phosphorescent nanomaterials have received great attention because of their applications in information encryption, optoelectronics, fingerprinting, bioimaging, and sensing. Therefore, we report matrix-free room-temperature phosphorescent carbon dots via controlled growth techniques followed by hydrothermal treatment using pyromellitic acid and urea. Two forms of carbon dots have obtained in single reaction vessels, one in aggregated and the other in solution state. The aggregated state green-phosphorescence carbon dots (GP-CDs) showed fluorescence and phosphorescence emissions at 452 nm and 511 nm, respectively. However, the remaining liquid-state carbon dots (L -CDs) displayed fluorescence only. The result illustrated that an ordered and self-protective structure has formed in GP-CDs, and this type of order has not achieved in L -CDs. The compacted and more ordered structures stabilize and induce the efficient generation of a triplet state, which is responsible for a room-temperature phosphorescent generation. Further, GP-CDs have been applied in fingerprint detection and data authentication as they showed dual mode emissions. Interestingly, the L -CDs possess − 17 mV zeta potential and exhibited potential antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, the administration of antibiotics for the purpose of addressing bacterial infections has become increasingly challenging due to the increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistance exhibited by various strains of bacteria. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial species are rising due to the unavailability of novel antibiotics, leading to higher mortality rates. With these conditions, there is a need for alternatives in which phage therapy has made promising results. Phage-derived endolysins, phage cocktails, and bioengineered phages are effective and have antimicrobial properties against MDR and extensively drug-resistant strains. Despite these, it has been observed that phages can give antimicrobial activity to more than one bacterial species. Thus, phage cocktail against resistant strains provides broad spectrum treatment and magnitude of effectivity, which is many folds higher than antibiotics. Many commercially available endolysins such as Staphefekt SA.100, Exebacase (CF-301), and N-Rephasin®SAL200 are used in biofilm penetration and treating plant diseases. The role of CMP1 phage endolysin in transgenic tomato plants in preventing Clavibacter michiganensis infection and the effectiveness of phage in protecting Atlantic salmon from vibriosis have been reported. Furthermore, phage-derived endolysin therapy, such as TSPphg phage exogenous treatment, can aid in disrupting cell walls, leading to bacterial cell lysis. As animals in aquaculture and slaughterhouses are highly susceptible to bacterial infections, effective phage therapy instead of antibiotics can help treat poultry animals, preserve them, and facilitate disease-free trade. Using bioengineered phages and phage cocktails enhances the effectiveness by providing a broad spectrum of phages and target specificity. Research is currently being conducted on clinical trials to confirm the efficacy of engineered phages and phage cocktails in humans. Although obtaining commercial approval may be time-consuming, it will be beneficial in the postantibiotic era. This review provides an overview of the significance of phage therapy as a potential alternative to antibiotics in combating resistant bacterial strains and its application to various fields and emphasizes the importance of safeguarding and ensuring treatment efficacy., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This research presents an experimental investigation into the mechanical, thermal, and shape memory behavior of a thermos-responsive polyurethane (PU) reinforced with 0-1.0 wt % of MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) nanofiller. The PU/MXene nanocomposites were fabricated using sonication and injection molding route. The 0.5 wt % PU/MXene nanocomposite showed the optimum mechanical properties i.e. tensile modulus, tensile strength, and hardness value, which are improved by 22, 281, and 19 %, respectively, compared to pure PU. The improvement is observed in melting temperature (T m ), the heat of melting (h m ), crystallization temperature (T c ), and the heat of crystallization (h c ) results. The percentage of crystallinity revealed enhancements of 6 %, 18 %, 24 %, and 34 % for 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 wt % PU/MXene samples respectively compared to pure PU. The findings from the shape recovery experiments demonstrated that the inclusion of MXene has no impact on both the shape fixity and shape recovery performance. The PU/MXene nanocomposite with improved mechanical and thermal properties can find potential applications in robotics actuators, medical devices, sensors, etc., Competing Interests: None., (© 2024 The Authors.)

In the current study, a FEM-based representative volume element (RVE) technique is used to evaluate the elastic modulus of recycled high-density polyethylene (rHDPE) filled spherical-shaped shaped silicon carbide (SiC). In the ANSYS 2019, the material designer (MD) module is used to generate a 3D RVE of 500 × 500 × 500 μm cuboid, with randomly dispersed spherical SiC particles (i.e., 10, 15, 20, and 30% volume fractions) inside rHDPE. The Young's modulus values extracted from the RVE technique at various volume % are substantially nearer to experimental data than other micromechanical models. The tensile performance of the composite is simulated, and it was noted that the maximum equivalent stress of 4.1133 MPa for rHDPE/30% SiC composite, which is decreased to 13.8, 7.8 and 6.8% for rHDPE/10% SiC, rHDPE/15% SiC and rHDPE/20% SiC composite respectively. The results are astounding for immediate application in the relevant field of interest., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Background: Progress towards universal health coverage requires strengthening the country's health system. In developing countries, the increasing disease burden puts a lot of stress on scarce household finances. However, this burden is not the same for everyone. The economic burden varies across the disease groups and care levels. Government intervention is vital in formulating policies in addressing financial distress at the household level. In India, even when outpatient care forms a significant proportion of out-of-pocket expenditure, government schemes focus on reducing household expenditure on inpatient care alone. Thus, people resort to hardship financing practices like informal borrowing or selling of assets in the event of health shocks. In this context, the present study aims to identify the disease(s) that correlates with maximum hardship financing for outpatients and inpatients and to understand the change in hardship financing over time., Methods: We used two waves of National Sample Survey Organisation's data on social consumption on health- the 71 st and the 75 th rounds. Descriptive statistics are reported, and logistic regression is carried out to explain the adjusted impact of illness on hardship financing. Pooled logistic regression of the two rounds is estimated for inpatients and outpatients. Marginal effects are reported to study the changes in hardship financing over time., Results: The results suggest that cancer had the maximum likelihood of causing hardship financing in India for both inpatients (Odds ratio 2.41; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 2.03 - 2.86 (71 st round), 2.54; 95% CI: 2.21 - 2.93 (75 th round)) and outpatients (Odds ratio 6.11; 95% CI: 2.95 - 12.64 (71 st round), 3.07; 95% CI: 2.14 - 4.40 (75 th round)). In 2018, for outpatients, the hardship financing for health care needs was higher at public health facilities, compared to private health facilities (Odds ratio 0.72; 95% CI: 0.62 - 0.83 (75 th round). The marginal effects model of pooled cross-section analysis reveals that from 2014 to 2018, the hardship financing had decreased for inpatients (Odds ratio 0.747; 95% CI:0.80 - -0.70), whereas it had increased for outpatients (Odds ratio 0.0126; 95% CI: 0.01 - 0.02). Our results also show that the likelihood of resorting to hardship financing for illness among women was lesser than that of men., Conclusion: Government intervention is quintessential to decrease the hardship financing caused by cancer. The intra-household inequalities play an important role in explaining their hardship financing strategies. We suggest the need for more financial risk protection for outpatient care to address hardship financing., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Cu II catalyst is less efficient at room temperature for C-S cross-coupling. C-S cross-coupling by Cu II catalyst at room temperature is not reported; however, doping of copper with molybdenum metal has been realized here to be more efficient for C-S cross-coupling in comparison to general Cu II catalyst. The doped catalyst CuMoO 4 nanoparticle is found to be more efficient than copper. The catalyst works under mild conditions without any ligand at room temperature and is recyclable and effective for a wide range of thiols and haloarenes (ArI, ArBr, ArF) from milligram to gram scale. The copper-based bimetallic catalyst is developed and recognized for C-S cross-coupling of haloarenes with alkyl and aryl thiols., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)