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In this paper, we have utilized additive manufacturing for the development of a robotic arm at a low cost. The robotic arms available in the market are often very expensive and not customizable. Small industries cannot afford the setup and customization cost of robotics. However, by using 3D printing, one can develop complex products with their own customizations.3D printing offers a cost-effective solution for producing these arms in comparison to traditional methods. This enables small industries to automate their processes and increase efficiency, ultimately leading to higher productivity and growth in their business. The aim of this paper is to present our development of a 6 DOF robotic arm and the methodology we followed for its creation. The robotic arm we developed in this paper can be programmed to perform a wide range of tasks and can also be controlled using artificial intelligence techniques.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a pruritic inflammatory skin condition with increasing global prevalence, almost affecting 15% to 30% of children and 5% of adults. AD results due to a complex interaction between the impaired skin barrier function, allergens, and immunological cells. Topical corticosteroids or calcineurin inhibitors in the form of creams or ointments are the mainstay of therapy, but they have low skin penetration and skin barrier repair efficiency. Objective: The above limitations of conventional dosage forms have motivated the development of nanoformulations of drugs for improved penetration and deposition in the skin for better management of AD. Methods: Databases, such as Pubmed, Elsevier, and Google Scholar, were reviewed for the investigations or reviews published related to the title. Results: The present review discusses the advantages of nanoformulations for the management of AD. Further, it also discusses the various types of topically investigated nanoformulations, i.e., polymeric nanoparticles, inorganic nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, liposomes, ethosomes, transfersomes, cubosomes, and nanoemulsion for the management of atopic dermatitis. In addition, it also discusses advancements in nanoformulations, such as nanofibres, nanosponges, micelles, and nanoformulations embedded textiles development for the management of AD. Conclusion: The nanoformulations of drugs can be a better alternative for the topical management of AD with enhanced skin penetration and deposition of drugs with reduced systemic side effects and better patient compliance.

Hydrogen sulfide is an important acid rain precursor and this led us to investigate the kinetics of its oxidation in aqueous phase by atmospheric oxygen. The kinetics was followed by measuring the depletion of oxygen in a reactor. The reaction was studied under pseudo order conditions with [H2S] in excess. The kinetics followed the rate law: -d[O2]/dt = k[S][O2]t (A) Where [S] represents the total concentration of hydrogen sulfide, [O2]t is the concentration of oxygen at time t and k is the second order rate constant. The equilibria (B - C) govern the dissolution of H2S; the sulfide ion in water forms different species: H2S K1 HS- + H+ (B) HS- K2 S2- + H+ (C) Where K1 and K2 are first and second dissociation constants of H2S. Although, H2S is present as undissociated H2S, HS- and S2- ions, nature of [H+ ] dependence of reaction rate required only HS- to be reactive and dominant. The rate law (A) on including [H+ ] dependence became Equation (D). -d[O2]/dt = k1K1[H+ ][S][O2]t / ([H+ ] 2 + K1[H+ ] + K1K2) (D) Our results indicate anthropogenic VOCs such as acetanilide, benzene, ethanol, aniline, toluene, benzamide, o-xylene, m-xylene, p-xylene and anisole to have no significant effect on the reaction rate and any observed small effect is within the uncertainty of the rate measurements.

Insects as pests destroy annually an estimated 18–20% of the crop production worldwide. Caterpillars, the larval stage of moths, are the major pests of agricultural products owing to their voracious feeding habits. In the past few decades, the potent methods of insect control, such as insecticides and Bt toxins, have been constrained as a result of health hazards, environmental issues, and development of resistance, after their prolonged application. Thus, there is need to find alternative options to improve plant protection strategies. Recently, RNA interference (RNAi), the post-transcriptional gene-silencing mechanism, has emerged as one of such a novel, sustainable, and environment friendly approaches for insect management and crop protection. RNAi technology relies on selection of a vital insect pest target gene and its expression as a double stranded RNA or stem-loop RNA molecule, which is recognized by the host RNAi machinery and processed into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) or microRNAs (miRNAs). The siRNA/miRNA along with the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) binds to the complimentary mRNA and induce gene silencing at post-transcriptional level. With effective target-gene selection and transgenic plants expressing these precursor RNA molecules, insect pests of various crops have been efficiently managed. In this chapter, we discuss the basic mechanism of RNAi and its application in controlling lepidopteran pests of important crop plants.

Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm, is an economically important insect owing to the billion-dollar sericulture industry. It is dominant amongst the other silkworm species due to its short generation time, larger progeny size and good quality of silk fibres suitable for silk production. However, B. mori is susceptible to attack by various pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses leading to larval mortality and causing enormous economic loss to the sericulture industry. In the past decade, microRNAs (miRNAs), a group of small non-coding RNAs that function at the post-transcriptional level, have been involved in fine-tuning many biological processes, including host-pathogen interaction. Recent studies have revealed the hitherto unknown layer of host-pathogen interaction through miRNAs in many insect species. Upon infection with the virus, the insect host produces various miRNAs that manipulate gene expression of the virus, while the virus produces several miRNAs using the host small RNA machinery to surpass the host defence mechanism and successfully infect the host. This miRNA-mediated cross-talk is a subject of study to understand better the virus infection mechanism in B. mori. The present chapter highlights various B. mori as well as pathogen-encoded miRNAs involved in host-pathogen interaction. A detailed understanding of miRNAs functioning in B. mori-pathogen interactions would undoubtedly help us design effective strategies to combat pathogen attacks on the insect population.

The mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori, apart from its well-known economic importance, has also emerged as an insect model to study host-pathogen interactions. The major concern for silkworm cultivation and the sericulture industry is the attack by various types of pathogens mainly including viruses, fungi, bacteria and protozoa. Successful infection requires specific arsenals to counter the host immune response. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are one of the potential arsenals which are encoded by viruses and effectively used during host-pathogen interactions. MiRNAs are short noncoding 19-25 nucleotides long endogenous RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of protein-coding genes in a sequence-specific manner. Most of the higher eukaryotes encode miRNAs and utilize them in the regulation of important cellular pathways. In silkworm, promising functions of miRNAs have been characterized in development, metamorphosis, immunity, and host-pathogen interactions. The viral miRNA-mediated fine-tuning of the viral, as well as cellular genes, is beneficial for making a cellular environment favorable for the virus proliferation. Baculovirus and cypovirus, which infect silkworm have been shown to encode miRNAs and their functions are implicated in controlling the expression of both viral and host genes. In the present review, the author discusses the diverse functions of viral-encoded miRNAs in evasion of the host immune responses and reshaping of the silkworm cellular environment for replication. Besides, a basic overview of miRNA biogenesis and mechanism of action is also provided. Our increasing understanding of the role of viral miRNAs in silkworm-virus interactions would not only assist us to get insights into the intricate pathways but also provide tools to deal with dreaded pathogens.

Introduction :Urethral stricture diseases have been treated with numerous approaches. Though open urethroplasty is considered a one-time solution [1], The direct visual internal urethrotomy (DVIU) is still considered an alternative approach in the stepladder of treatment [2,3]. Here we report our experience at a tertiary care hospital with DVIU in a homogeneous series of patients with bulbar urethral stricture who underwent strict follow-up and present a multivariable analysis of the results to identify signicant predictors of treatment failure. We wish to offer new insights into DVIU. Materials and method: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent internal urethrotomy. Patients who underwent DVIU for untreated bulbar urethral strictures with minimum follow-up of 12 months were included. Patients with traumatic stricture and stricture length >4 cm were excluded.The primary outcome was treatment failure. Multivariable Cox regression analyses by Stata v.12.0 were used to test the association between predictors:- Stricture etiology, stenosis length, preoperative maximum ow [pQmax]) and treatment failure. Results: 215 patients were included. Median follow-up was 35 months. At 5-yr follow-up the failure-free survival rate was 54.4%. On multivariable analysis pQmax was the only signicant predictor of treatment failure. Conclusions: DVIU success rate for untreated bulbar urethral strictures was signicantly associated with preoperative maximum ow rate. The patients with a pre- operative maximum ow lesser than 6 ml/s have a low probability of success and may be considered for alternative treatments such as open urethroplasty, especially when affected by long urethral strictures.

In this paper FEA simulations are carried out for axis-symmetric deep drawing of usibore 1500 boron steel to examine effect of friction coefficient on the product quality. Usibore 1500 steel has extensively been used in manufacturing automobile body parts. Mechanical properties of usibore 1500 steel have been taken from published literature. Thickness distribution, VonMises stress and FLD curves have been studied for analysing the effect of friction. Thickness variation is one of the easy ways to check the quality of product. The results show that as coefficient of friction coefficient lowers, thickness distribution and quality of product improve. Moreover Von-Mises stresses also get reduced at lower friction. Also improved FLD curve obtained at lower friction value that indicates formability improvement.

A series of sulpha/substituted derivatives of phenyl azo-1,2-diazole have been synthesized and tested as an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial activity in mature albino rats hind paw by taking Diclofenac sodium as standard. N1-(4-hydroxy benzoyl)-3-methyl-5-phenyl-4(N-4-chlorophenylazo)-1,2-diazole is synthesized by a two-step process. In the first step, synthesis of N1-4-chlorophenyl hydrazono-1-methyl-3-phenyl propane-1,3-dione by the reciprocal action of 1-methyl-5-phenylpropane-1,3-dione and diazonium salt solution of phenyl-chloride interacts with 4-hydroxybenzoic acid hydrazide to form the final compound. These diazoles, the heterocyclic compounds which contained electron withdrawing groups, were screened for analgesic activity by acetic acid induced writing method, and for anti-inflammatory activity carried on carrageenan-induced paw edema. The synthesized substituted Chlorophenylazo-1,2-diazole nucleus exhibited significant anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory activity, muscle relaxing and moderate activity in anti-proliferative studies.

Aerodynamically designed machine parts are of very complicated shape and are used in automobile and aerospace industries. These parts are produced by forming process. The tendency of defects in formed part, viz. excessive thinning, wrinkling, and earing, makes the process complicated and is depended on many governing parameters. Holding forces, punch speed, and friction coefficient are the important process parameters, whereas die corner radius, clearance, punch nose radius, and blank thickness are important machine parameters. The present research work is focused to investigate the influence of process parameters in square cup. CATIA was used for modelling, and HyperWorks software was used for simulation, meshing, and parametric analysis. The investigation of the extent of process parameters’ influence was estimated by Taguchi and ANOVA methods. Further, it is concluded that in a thin square cup made of 1 mm sheet thickness, friction coefficient dominates the process and it is the most influential parameter.

Shrinkage porosity is common defect found at casting junctions. Slowly, cooling of molten metal causes hot spot area generation at the junction that is the cause of defect such as shrinkage porosity. Location of riser above the junction may be the one design change for minimization of defects. The hot spot area size and its extent depend on geometrical complexity like thickness, fillet radii, and the angle between walls. Alternatively, junction modification is one of the optimum solutions to minimize such hot areas before solidification. Pro Engineering was used for modeling and through STL, files format data exchange to AutoCAST. Taguchi and ANOVA methods were employed to evaluate the influence of parameters on hot spot area in casting junctions. Area of hot spot was selected as the response variable. It is concluded that upper thickness makes the maximum contribution, and lower thickness, radius, and angle followed upper thickness.

Crop improvement is essentially required to provide food security and better nutrition globally for human beings. Plant breeders are utilizing both conventional and modern breeding techniques to increase crop production and quality. Though in the genome-sequencing era, marker-assisted selection-based breeding reduced timespan required for developing new plant variety from ~ 25 to ~ 7 years. But plant breeders are still looking for appropriate molecular method to quickly and precisely improve specific traits in plants. Recently discovered genome editing methods have revolutionized available technology for crop improvements. Genome editing is a tool of genetic engineering, which using engineered nucleases edits DNA of an organism. In editing, DNA is inserted, deleted, or replaced in the genome using engineered or designer nucleases. These nucleases create site-specific double-strand breaks (DSBs) at precise locations in the genome. The induced DSBs are repaired through more frequent nonhomologous end joining or less frequent homologous recombination, resulting in targeted mutations. The most common used engineered nucleases include meganucleases, zinc-finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9). Targeted genome editing is the emerging technology that has wide applications in targeted gene mutation, creating chromosome rearrangement, gene function, SNP determination, and evolutionary studies in different organisms including plants, animals, and insects. Therefore, genome editing technology is a very prevailing technique that can be used toward fulfilling the demand of increasing food supply. Additionally, it is also a very effective technique in improving the nutritional value of crops, producing pest-resistant, abiotic stress-resistant, herbicide-resistant, and disease-free crops. In this chapter, we will broadly discuss the principles of the different techniques of genome editing and their applications in crop improvements.

This paper analyses the policy of reservation for lower castes in India. This policy is similar to that of affirmative action in the United States. The paper provides a brief overview of the caste system and discusses the types of groups that are eligible for reservation, based on data from government reports. The stance of this paper is that affirmative action has not benefited the lower castes due to contextual factors like low school enrolment and completion rates, and high dropout and failure rates. Also, continuous addition of more and more castes to the fold of reserved categories has diluted the positive impact of the reservation policy. This paper suggests that under-representation of any social group in educational institutions should be assessed with reference to sub-populations of secondary school completers and argues that, unlike Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Other Backward Castes are not markedly under-represented. Hence, the 27% quota declared by the government recently is not justified. The...

Constituencies are de jure apportionment of space for the purpose of electing representatives of people living in the territorial limits of a democratic state. The elected representatives represent not only the people but also their respective segments of territory, the constituencies. These two — the land and the people — and the prevailing law of the country provide the basis for constituency boundaries and their delimitation. The laws concerning constituencies can have two dimensions. The first is related to the laws of enfranchisement as to who among the population have the right to vote. This gives the total number of electors and the number of representatives to be elected. The other aspect of constituencies is the actual drawing of boundaries and enclosing people within the constituency framework. This is indeed a sensitive issue for several reasons. First, a lack of understanding of the human geography of the area can divide up people who may in effect lose their representation or voice in the legislature. Second, the division of space into constituencies can be so organised that it may carve out either a safe support base for a party or a candidate, or create a combination of societal forces which are opposed to a particular party or candidate. This task should be assigned to impartial and non-partisan persons. Thirdly, a new boundary can change the pattern of electoral representation in the legislature. The degree of involvement of those who are largely to benefit from it varies from country to country according to its electoral laws. It varies from the largely neutral British case through slight party involvement in New Zealand to the total party involvement in the USA (Gudgin, G. & Taylor, P.J. (1979) Seats, votes and the spatial organisation of elections (p. 11), Pion Ltd, London). In South Asia, it varies from Sri Lanka where the Delimitation Commission consists purely of persons who are entirely out of politics, to India where the Delimitation Commission comprising of three persons (two of whom have generally been judges of the Supreme Court and State High Courts, and the third member has been the Chief Election Commissioner, ex-officio) associates in its deliberations nine politicians of different political shades in each state. Of these, four belong to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian parliament) and five to the Vidhan Sabhas (lower house of state legislatures) (Chandidas, R. (1971) Electoral system and political development. In: L.M. Singhvi et al., Elections and electoral reforms in India (p. 114). Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, New Delhi). But the Commission's verdict is final and can not be challenged even in the Supreme Court. In spite of the involvement of politicians, there have however been no or little reports of gerrymandering in India because of the constitutional safeguards. Nevertheless, it is also a fact that no study of the actual delimitation of constituency boundaries and its effect on electoral outcome and the geography of representation in India could be carried out due to the secrecy and non-availability of delimitation commissions' reports on the actual considerations for delimitation of constituency boundaries. Even though concepts of democracy, representative institutions, limitations on the arbitrary powers of the rulers, and the rule of law were practised in ancient India, and some of the representatives bodies like Gram Sanghas, Gram Sabha or Panchayats have survived up to now (Kashyap, S.C. (1994) Our constitution (p. 7), National Book Trust of India, New Delhi), the experience of electoral participation in a representative democracy in this country is hardly one century old. In fact, the twentieth century in India could be termed as the century of transformation from being subject of a British colony with no right to elect their own government to the largest democracy in the world. The electoral experience of India can be divided into two parts: selective enfranchisement in the colonial period and universal adult enfranchisement in independent India.

Biodiesel, or alkyl ester, is an alternative renewable, biodegradable, and non-toxic diesel fuel produced by the catalytic transesterification of vegetable oil. Here we characterize a system for continuous transesterification of vegetable oil using five continuous stirring tank reactors (5CSTRs). We tested residence times of 16–43min, stirring speeds of 200–800rpm, a catalyst concentration (KOH) of 0.25–1 wt% of oil (in gram), different total flow rates of the oil and MeOH, and on the production performance of the 5 stage continuous reactor for transesterification of vegetable oil. Using a molar ratio of oil:methanol of 1:7 and a reaction temperature of 65 °C, we show that a high stirring speed increased the reaction rate, but an excessive stir speed decreased the reaction rate and conversion to biodiesel. Furthermore, a higher catalyst percentage significantly increased the reaction rate and production capacity. A catalyst percentage of 1 wt% of oil gave the best conversion; 99.04 ± 0.05%. The resulting biodiesel esters were characterized for their physical and fuel properties including density, viscosity, iodine volume, acid volume, cloud point, pure point, gross heat of combustion, and volatility. The purity and conversion of the biodiesel was analyzed by HPLC.

The reductiou of Cd(II) has been carried out polarographically in the aqueous solution of DL-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)alanine(DOPA). The stability constants were determined for the simple Cd–DOPA system first, and then mixed-ligand complexes of cadmium with DOPA and dicarboxylic acids (oxalic and malic) have been studied. The stability constants of mixed-ligand complexes have been evaluated by the method of Schaap and McMasters. With these data the statistical and electrostatic effects have also been considered.

An extended method of Schaap and McMasters has been applied for the study of mixed-ligand complexes of Cadmium(II) with N-(2-hydroxyethyl) ethylenediamine (heda) and some amino acids polarographically at DME. The reduction of mixed-ligand complex at DME has been found to be reversible, and diffusion controlled at temp (30±0.5)°C and μ=1.0 M(KNO3). The formation of MXY, MXY2, and MX2Y has been used to discuss the non-existence of MX3 complexes, where X has been used for heda and Y for amino acids. The values of stability constants β01, β02, β03, β11, β12, and β21 are 3.90, 6.80, 8.94, 8.85, 11.00, and 12.13 for Cd–heda–isoleucinate system, 4.30, 7.70, 9.80, 9.36, 11.75, and 12.42 for Cd–heda–glycinate system, 3.95, 6.81, 8.90, 8.35, 10.99, and 12.12 for Cd–heda–valinate system, 4.10, 7.10, 9.08, 9.02, 11.20, and 12.18 for Cd–heda–serinate system, 4.48, 8.02, 10.33, 9.55, 12.00, and 12.59 for Cd–heda–glutamate system, 4.24, 7.54, 9.54, 9.26, 11.62, and 12.33 for Cd–heda–alaninate system and 4.06, 7.06, 9.02...

The mixed-ligand complexes of cadmium with 2,2′-bipyridyl and dicarboxylic acids (tartaric, succinic, maleic, malonic, and malic) were studied polarographically in the 50% dioxane medium. The stability constants of simple systems were calculated by Deford and Hume method, and the values of stability constants of mixed-ligand complexes have been determined by the method of Schaap and McMasters. The overall stability constants have been evaluated with the help of Leden’s graphical extrapolation method and the values of β11, β12 and β21 are (5.24, 5.80, and 8.19) for Cd-bpy-tartarate system (5.62, 6.15, and 8.34) for Cd-bpy-succinate system (5.48, 6.10, and 8.32) for Cd-bpy-maleate system (5.57, 6.15, and 8.37) for Cd-bpy-malonate system, and (5.57, 6.15, and 8.34) for Cd-bpy-malate system.

Department of Chemistry, University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211 002 Manuscript received 25 January 1980, revised 9 July 1981, accepted 30 October 1981 The kinetics of Ag(l) catalysed oxidation of glycine by ceric perchlorate in perchloric acid solution are reported. The reaction follows first-order kinetics with respect to each Ce(IV), glycine and perchloric acid. The reaction rate is found to be accelerated by Ag(I). Formic acid and ammonia are found to be reaction products. A suitable mechanism involving formation of a transient complex [glycine-Ce(IV)] has been proposed.