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Nowadays, silver nanoparticle (AgNP)-embedded nanocomposite hydrogels are very attractive soft materials for biomedical applications. In this investigation, AgNPs were incorporated into ionic double network (IDN) hydrogels by in-situ reduction of AgNO3 using citric acid in the fully swollen hydrogels. The IDN hydrogels were pH-responsive multifunctional double network consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol)-borax as the first network and P(AM-co-NaAA) as the second network. The nanocomposite hydrogels were characterized by FTIR, XRD and TEM analyses. FTIR analysis revealed the successful incorporation of silver particles because of the observation of coordination of Ag + ions with the carboxylate (–COO−) group of NaAA component present in the hydrogels. The characteristic presence of face-centered crystalline silver nanoparticles into the hydrogels was observed in X-ray diffractogram. The diameters of such AgNPs were observed to be in the range of 10–40 nm by TEM. These Ag-IDN nanocomposite hydrogels were further characterized for their swelling behavior and swelling kinetics as well as antibacterial property. The incorporation of AgNPs into the polymer network led to decrease of the swelling capacity of the hydrogels. The swelling characteristic constant (K) of the nanocomposite hydrogels was less than that of the virgin IDN hydrogels. Such Ag-IDN nanocomposite hydrogels exhibited antibacterial activity toward gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. However, among the four nanocomposite hydrogels studied in this investigation, Ag-IDN-2 exhibited the best growth inhibition of Bacillus subtills (Gram + ve) whereas Ag-IDN-3 for Escherichia coli (Gram –ve) microorganisms. Such Ag-IDN nanocomposite hydrogels may find potential biomedical applications.

Objective This study was planned to evaluate the genetic diversity in the admixed and Teli (a Hindu caste) populations of Maharashtra, India using 20 autosomal Short Tandem Repeat (STR) genetic markers. We further investigated the genetic relatedness of the studied populations with other Indian populations. Results The studied populations showed a wide range of observed heterozygosity viz. 0.690 to 0.918 for the admixed population and 0.696 to 0.942 for the Teli population. This might be due to the multi-directional gene flow. The admixed and Teli populations also showed a high degree polymorphism which ranged from 0.652 to 0.903 and 0.644 to 0.902, respectively. Their combined value of matching probability for all the studied loci was 4.29 × 10–25 and 5.01 × 10–24, respectively. The results of Neighbor-Joining tree and Principal Component Analysis showed that the studied populations clustered with the general populations of Jharkhand, UttarPradesh, Rajasthan and Central Indian States, as well as with the specific populations of Maharashtra (Konkanastha Brahmins) and Tamil Nadu (Kurmans). Overall, the obtained data showed a high degree of forensic efficacy and would be useful for forensic applications as well as genealogical studies.

Additional file 3: Table S3. Fst pairwise genetic distances between the Teli population of Maharashtra and the compared populations with their corresponding p-value.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Allele frequencies and forensic parameters for the 20 autosomal STR loci in the Teli population of Maharashtra, India (n=69).

Strong and stretchable double network (DN) hydrogels are reported here which are consisting of first network of PVA-borax double strand and crosslinked P(AM-co-HEMA) as the second network. The first network is formed due to PVA-borax complexation in which the second network of AM and HEMA was embedded by in-situ polymerization. These DN hydrogels are having high degree of equilibrium swelling and mechanical properties. The swelling behavior of the hydrogels increased with AM content and decreased with HEMA content because of more hydrophilic nature of AM unit than HEMA unit in DN hydrogels. The tensile strengths of such hydrogels were observed to be 363.0 kPa, 183.4 kPa and 36.3 kPa respectively for the 20 wt%, 40 wt% and 60 wt% water content in the DN hydrogels (having 100% AM content in the second network). On the other hand, the tensile strength of the control single network crosslinked polyacrylamide (CPAM) hydrogels (no double network) was observed to be 280.9. kPa for 20 wt% and 112.6 kPa for 40 wt% water content in the hydrogel. Therefore, about 30% and 62% improvement of mechanical properties is observed in these cases due to DN hydrogels. High tensile strength of the DN hydrogels may be attributed to the reinforcing influence of PVA-borax complex onto the P(AM-co-HEMA) network. Such a DN hydrogel is observed to be 13 times of the stretchable cycle of its double length. The mechanical properties of the DN hydrogels varies not only with the composition of second network of P(AM-co-HEMA) but also by the influence of H-bonding. Optimum mechanical properties are observed at the composition of AM/HEMA 30/70 to 75/25 in the DN hydrogels. The influence of H-bonding is more prominent in case of lower water content in the hydrogels than that of the hydrogels having more water content.

This paper describes the electromagnetic design, simulation and fabrication of microwave absorber composite based on non woven carbon film and frequency selective surfaces. The filler ingredients i.e. the non woven carbon films were used in conjunction with the glass fabrics and epoxy for the fabrication of proposed absorber. The constituent electromagnetic properties i.e. dielectric constant and loss tangent of carbon films and glass fibers reinforced plastics have been measured and used in the electromagnetic simulation and optimization of absorber composite. Furthermore the optimized configuration have been used for composite fabrication and tested for its electromagnetic absorption. Experimental results shows minimum 10 dB reflection loss (90% electromagnetic absorption) in the entire 8.20-12.40 GHz frequency region. The fabricated composite shows potential application for radar cross section reduction in various strategic applications.

We report here the first ever global study on genetic polymorphism using a Verifiler Plus

We report here the first ever global study on genetic polymorphism using a Verifiler PlusTM autosomal STR multiplex system. The study evaluated genetic characteristics of 23 autosomal STRs in 200 unrelated residents of Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, India. Allele frequencies and forensic parameters are reported. Population comparison analysis was also performed using NJ tree and PCA plot. Penta E marker showed highest power of discrimination (0.938) among all 23 studied markers. The study also presents the first ever global forensic assessment in Indian population on D6S1043 marker (PD 0.937). The results demonstrated that all the 23 markers were highly polymorphic and the Verifiler PlusTM kit is suitable for forensic purposes in Indian population.

In this paper a monolithic radar absorbing composite based on the fabric based multilayer laminates have been designed and fabricated. The multilayer laminate consists of the glass and carbon based fabrics along with lossy dielectric fillers in the epoxy medium. The individual laminates have been fabricated using vaccum bagging technology and their constitutive electromagnetic properties e.g. dielectric constant and loss tangent have been evaluated using the quasi optical free space measurement system (QOFMS) in the W band (75–110 GHz) frequency region. Based on the simulated results, optimized monolithic configuration of individual laminates have been fabricated and tested for the electromagnetic absorption using QOFMS. The experimental result shows minimum 10 dB reflection loss (90% electromagnetic absorption) across the entire frequency region. The fabricated structure shows potential applications for the radar cross section reduction for the stealth applications.