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Soft gamma ray irradiation is done on Silver nano colloids prepared using Pepper Nigrum as reducing and stabilizing agent. Change in surface morphology and the structure of the colloid is obtained from Transmission Electron Microscope images and Selected area Electron Diffractogram. Morphology of the gamma irradiated sample is devoid of nano particle clusters and the Selected Area Electron Diffraction pattern confirms the crystal nature as face centered cubic structure of nano silver. UV–visible spectroscopic analysis gives the absorption peaks in the green region. Gamma irradiation results in the reduction in peak intensity without any change in wavelength. A statistical approach is done on treating the gamma irradiated colloidal sample with the as prepared silver nano colloid for measuring the area of affecting fungal infection on a potato-agar medium. It is found that the fungal growth is declined rapidly with the introduction of gamma irradiated silver nano colloid than the as prepared colloid.

Indoor lighting, incorporated with visual and circadian needs, is the upcoming goal of lighting designers. In tropical and subtropical regions, where more daylight is available, daylight harvesting is a prime source of ambient lighting indoors. This paper aims to study various cases of lighting ambience to investigate the circadian lighting capability in terms of the circadian stimulus (CS) of the system under consideration. The instances considered are simulation studies in an open office plan and real-time experimentations in a test workbench and a faculty cabin. Daylight integration was undertaken through controlled venetian blinds, tunable sources and a commercially available human-centric lighting system. The result and analysis show the influence of spectrally tunable light sources on CS rather than fixed light sources. Due to the varying CCT of tunable LED luminaire, circadian stimulation for an occupant can be easily incorporated without crossing the limits of vertical and horizontal illuminance, which may lead to visual discomfort. The findings from this study reveal that daylight–artificial light integration scheme with controlled shading and spectrally tunable source provides the optimal solution for glare-free, energy-effective and circadian entrainment, i.e. human-centric lighting (HCL). With the help of simulations, pre-evaluation will aid the lighting engineers in making a better choice among the various lighting-controlled schemes to implement HCL in indoor office spaces.

Spectroscopic characterization of (2R)-2-acetamido-N-benzyl-3-methoxy propanamide was carried out. Experimental results of FT-IR and FT Raman were compared to the computational results obtained using DFT calculations. The complete vibrational assignment for wavenumbers were done using PED. Energy gap using HOMO-LUMO was obtained. Low electrophilicity index value of the title compound predicts its biologically active nature. The reactive sites were predicted using MEP plot. Stabilization energies and donor–acceptor interactions were studied using NBO analysis. Molecular docking studies was carried out to establish the potential of the chemical to act as an antineuropathic pain drug. The protein–ligand interactions for 2ILK protein with the title compound explains its ability to act as an antineuropathic pain drug.

Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram negative coccobacilli present abundantly in nature, in soil and water. Acinetobacter baumannii is considered as a major cause of nosocomial infections affecting mainly ICU patients and other hospitalised patients. Both intrinsic and acquired antibiotic resistance of A. baumannii account for a significant cause of outbreaks. Significant levels of morbidity and mortality have been reported with outbreaks and common infections include ventilator associated pneumonia and bacteraemia. A.baumannii is also a common cause of bloodstream infections in the intensive care setting. Multiple virulence factors are required for the pathogenesis of infections by Gram negative bacteria including A. baumannii. Possession of specialized virulence genes enables pathogens to infect hosts efficiently. Virulence factors of A. baumannii were less identified compared to other Gram negative bacteria. Hence this study was done to identify the major virulence factor genes from the clinical isolates of multidrug resistant A. baumannii from a tertiary care hospital. A preliminary study was done to determine the prevalence of Acinetobacter infections in the region and then the isolates were subjected to determine the antibiotic sensitivity and to various molecular typing. Various clinical specimens like blood, urine, abscess, vaginal swab were analyzed and 15% of the isolates was confirmed and identified as to be resistant to carbapenems. A molecular typing was done to identify the genes conferring virulence factors. Presence of different genes like Bap, Omp A, EpsA, ptk, AdeG were screened from the isolates. : , , ,

Acinetobacter spp., is an emerging opportunistic nosocomial Gram negative bacterial pathogen with increasing prevalence in particular the species Acinetobacter baumannii. It infects the most vulnerable immunocompromised hospitalized patients who are critically ill. Significant levels of morbidity and mortality have been reported with outbreaks and the carbapenem hydrolyzing beta lactamases that includes MBLs and oxacillinases are recognized as important contributors of carbapenem resistance in Acinetobacter spp., Enzymatic degradation of drugs, target modifications, multidrug efflux pumps and permeability defects are some of the important resistance mechanisms present in A. baumannii. Accumulation of various resistance mechanisms made treatment of A. baumannii infection very difficult. The major objective of the study was to identify the pattern of antibiotic resistance and its regional prevalence. Hence this study was aimed and conducted to isolate, identify and distinguish the antibiogram of A. baumannii from clinical specimens and to study a molecular level identification of resistance mechanisms of the isolates from a tertiary care hospital. Various clinical specimens like blood, urine, abscess, vaginal swab were analyzed and evaluated for the presence of Acinetobacter. Four members of Acinetobacter species; A junii, A lowffii, A ursingii and A baumannii, were isolated from clinical specimens. A. baumannii was the predominant species and 15% of the A. baumannii isolates were confirmed to be resistant to carbapenems. A molecular typing was done to identify the genes conferring antibiotic resistance and five major genes were identified in the isolates. The predominant genes present in the isolates wereOXA-58, OXA-23 and GIM. Presence of IMP & VIM were also identified. ,

Background: The lighting researchers are keenly looking for the huge benefits of the internet of things on an open platform which provides the cost gains in addition to other environmental benefits. Connected systems interact with the software and analyse real-time building conditions, and feed information into the building controls network. Methods: This paper presents a wireless networked system for lighting control in buildings which connect the power of the Internet of Things. After analysing the ZigBee network on QualNet v7.4, a Digi Mesh network was set up using XBee modules using the XBee Configuration and Test Utility [XCTU] Software v6.3.11. The ThingSpeak cloud platform along with MATLAB 2017b provides the necessary cloud support to enable this network to communicate over the internet. The results indicate that the XBee S2C module functioning in the API mode when flashed with the DigiMesh firmware offers the best option for forming a self-healing mesh network. An aggregator node acts as an information sink and collects the sensor data from all the sensor nodes and passes it on to the cloud via the Raspberry gateway. Results: The algorithm on the cloud can read this sensor data and compute the necessary Pulse Width Modulation [PWM] signals required to control the brightness of a dimmable LED luminaire. The system also takes into consideration the zone-wise occupancy in the room while computing the PWM values to be sent to the luminaires. Conclusion: The use of the concept of open platform sensors and actuators is the significance of the work.

Enterococci are Gram positive cocci which are common residence of gastro intestinal tracts of humans and animals. But they are capable of causing severe infections, most often in hospitalised patients. Enterococci are important nosocomial pathogens and their intrinsic property of antibiotic resistance makes treatment difficult. Against this clinical significance, a study was conducted on the prevalence of vancomycin resistant enterococcal infections and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns at Sunrise Institute of Medical Sciences, a tertiary care hospital in Kochi, Kerala state. Various clinical specimens like blood, urine, abscess, vaginal swab etc. were microbiologically screened for the presence of antibiotic resistant Enterococci. The common phenotyping methods and genotyping protocols were used to identify the species for the study. The vancomycin resistant strains were typed genotypically by using 16S rDNA sequencing and the isolates were speciated to be E. faecium. A molecular screening of the isolates was also done for the presence of various virulence factor coding genes and for the genes which confer antibiotic resistance. The findings of the study revealed that 89.1 % isolated strains were multidrug resistant and a total of 4 antibiotic resistance genes were detected. Among the isolates the vancomycin resistance genes vanA, vanB; tetracycline resistance genes tetA and macrolide resistance gene ermA were screened. The presence of genes coding for various virulence factors were also detected among the isolates. However, we present an overview of antibiotic resistance pattern and virulence factors present in enterococci and we strongly believe that these results will surely help to design a new disinfection regime and antibiotic stewardship to control the incidence of infection.

Enterococci are ubiquitous pathogens commonly present in gut microbiota in humans/animals that can able to form biofilms which leads to increased antimicrobial resistance. As the treatment of drug resistant Enterococci associated infections is difficult to treat and the mortality rate is rapidly increasing among clinical settings. The present study is aimed to investigate the antimicrobial resistance pattern, virulence genes activation and biofilm forming ability of Enterococcus species isolated from hospital wards in Kerala, India. From January 2018 to March 2019, we collected 100 samples and detected 93 Enterococci isolates which were confirmed by Gram staining and biochemical assay tests. Ability of the isolates to produce biofilms were also studied. In total of 93 enterococci strains, Enterococcus faecalis (85%) was observed as predominant species. Many isolates exhibited multidrug resistance; in particular, 91.30 % isolates of E. faecium and E. faecalis were resistant to five antibiotics. Notably, E. faecalis (88.6%) is more resistant against vancomycin than E. faecium. And, we detected 11virulence genes and 15 antibiotic resistance genes in the tested isolates. E. faecium had exhibit higher level of biofilm formation than E. faecalis. This is the first report to exhibit hospital wards (ICU wards) as reservoir for multidrug resistant enterococci with potential of virulence and biofilm formation. It may ease to transmit the organism from environments into humans. This study provides some useful data about enterococci and suggesting that a regular maintenance of aseptic condition and patients surveillance is needed to control the pathogenesis of Enterococci from hospitals.

Buildings consume tremendous energy for the improvement of living and working conditions. Control of daylight-artificial light has the potential to improve energy performance and occupant comfort in buildings. This research proposes an intelligent generalized ensemble learning technique to develop a novel control strategy for Venetian-blind positioning (up-down movement with static slat angle of 45°) of different window orientations. The proposed model helps to maintain occupant comfort and energy saving in a commercial building. The performance of the ensemble learning approach compared against Gaussian process regression, support vector regression and artificial neural network using conventional statistical indicators. Finally, the proposed data-driven model implemented in a real-time Labview-myRIO platform for the experimental validation. The data-driven model is compared with the baseline model and with the uncontrolled blind condition in terms of daylight glare, and energy consumption of lighting and air-conditioning system in the building. The data-driven model is derived using two years of data collected from a fuzzy-based daylight-artificial light integrated scheme. The blind position providing reduced energy consumption and daylight glare along with setpoint illuminance and temperature are validated. A high dynamic range image with EVALGLARE software used to verify the visual comfort based on daylight glare probability. While evaluating the overall energy savings, the ensemble learning model consumes 17% less power than the uncontrolled system and 15% less power than the baseline system. Here, though we are not controlling the air-conditioning system, the experimental validation confirmed that the air-conditioning system significantly reduces its energy consumption.

Automated lighting can achieve significant energy savings. A daylight-artificial light integrated system with the camera as the sensor and wireless sensor actuator networked (WSAN) system is presented here. The workplane luminance, the window luminance, and the discomfort glare position of the user are extracted from the image of the workspace captured by the camera. The findings of this paper are the usage of the camera as luminance meter and how this information is used in the control of LED dimming based on consumer comfort. A novel camera-based fuzzy controller for window blind, considering visual, and thermal comfort, is designed, based on the parameters extracted from the image, to optimize the illuminance and uniformity for a test space. The control system integrates luminaire and window blind control. The model-based design approach provides visual and thermal comfort for the consumer without compromising on energy consumption. The real time implementation of the shading and lighting integrated model, with daylight adaptation and the wireless networked sensor-actuation system is shown in this paper. The performance of the wireless networked lighting scheme is analyzed, by evaluating the energy consumption of the nodes in idle, transmit, and receive mode.

An occupancy sensor is going to be an integral part of smart buildings for energy efficiency as well as for providing human-centric lighting. This paper presents a low-cost image-based alternative for conventional occupancy sensors using deep learning. The developed system works as a standalone unit and can integrate with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting control schemes. Here, a Raspberry Pi 3B + is utilized as the hub for occupancy detection. Single-shot multi-box detection (SSD) is used as the primary architecture and is compared with you only look once (YOLO), the test results are computed for several test rooms, and an evaluation of the practical requirements in terms of camera and images captured for accurate detections is measured based on positives obtained. Here, a low-cost system is designed which avoids the use of multiple sensors and is most suitable for offices and libraries, and classrooms.

Droop control is a conventional method for seamless integration of multiple power sources to feed a power grid. It is a decentralised power flow control mechanism which doesn't involve any communication links between the controllers which feed energy. Droop control mechanism has poor voltage regulation despite its advantage of decentralised control. This is because the droop characteristics of connected systems that feed energy to the grid are different. This paper proposes an advanced multi droop characteristics mechanism which involves selection of droop characteristics based on the tolerance band of the voltage. If the DC bus voltage of the microgrid falls below a particular tolerance band level, the intelligent controller shifts the droop characteristics to a new droop characteristics that makes the system to work within the standard voltage levels. To avoid jerks and transients in the bus voltage due to the shift in droop characteristics in real time, a voltage level-based hysteresis is used. The proposed control strategy is simulated and verified using MATLAB Simulink. Results are discussed towards the end of the paper.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of gestational exposure to low doses of bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol S (BPS), and bisphenol F (BPF) on pregnancy outcomes and offspring development. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were orally dosed with vehicle, 5 μg/kg body weight (BW)/day of BPA, BPS and BPF, or 1 μg/kg BW/day of BPF on gestational days 6–21. Pregnancy and gestational outcomes, including number of abortions and stillbirths, were monitored. Male and female offspring were subjected to morphometry at birth, followed by pre- and post-weaning body weights, post-weaning food and water intakes, and adult organ weights. Ovarian follicular counts were also obtained from adult female offspring. We observed spontaneous abortions in over 80% of dams exposed to 5 μg/kg of BPF. BPA exposure increased Graafian follicles in female offspring, while BPS and BPF exposure decreased the number of corpora lutea, suggesting reduced ovulation rates. Moreover, BPA exposure increased male kidney and prostate gland weights, BPF decreased epididymal adipose tissue weights, and BPS had modest effects on male abdominal adipose tissue weights. Prenatal BPS exposure reduced anogenital distance (AGD) in male offspring, suggesting possible feminization, whereas both BPS and BPA induced oxidative stress in the testes. These results indicate that prenatal exposure to BPF affects pregnancy outcomes, BPS alters male AGD, and all three bisphenols alter certain organ weights in male offspring and ovarian function in female offspring. Altogether, it appears that prenatal exposure to BPA or its analogues can induce reproductive toxicity even at low doses.

Energy efficiency strategies based on daylight-artificial light integration have grown exponentially in recent years. Taking into account the dynamics to be considered for control and the dependence on natural and occupancy factors, it is better to use a test workbench prior to setting up the final control scheme. This work describes a climate model based test workbench for the real time testing of the control of luminaires and window blinds in a daylight-artificial light integrated scheme. The established climate model based control scheme suitable for the optimum integration of visual comfort, thermal comfort, and energy consumption can be tested for any ecological conditions. The input irradiance from a BF5 sensor, the internal temperature from a Micro DAQ logger, the occupancy and photo sensors associated with the luminaire all provide input data for the test workbench. A fuzzy logic based motorized window blind controller and look-up table based dimming of LED luminaires are used to set the required illuminance with reduced load on the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. The anticipated synergetic effects of the test workbench have been validated using real time climate data. The test work bench is established on a Labview platform and developed as a standalone system using myRIO.

The Mass Stopping Power (MSP) of relativistic electrons in chitosan loaded with TiO2 of different proportions has been measured by recording the spectrum of internal conversion electrons. The internal conversion electrons of energies 614 keV from Cs137, 942 keV and 1016 keV from Bi207 source are allowed to pass through chitosan-TiO2 alloy and transmitted electrons are detected with a Si (Li) detector coupled to an 8 K multichannel analyzer. By knowing the energies of incident electrons and transmitted electrons, the energy loss and the MSP are determined. Thus measured MSP values of the alloys are compared with the values calculated using Braggs additivity rule. The disagreement between theory and experiment is found to increases with increasing TiO2 concentration in chitosan, indicating the influence of chemical environment in the properties of such polymeric membrane.

Thin films of Vanadyl 2, 11, 20, 29, Tetra Tert-Butyl 2,3 Naphthalocyanines [VTTBNc] are prepared by means of Vacuum evaporation technique. The effect of thickness and substrate heating on electrical, optical, structural and surface morphological characteristics of the thin films are studied by means of various characterization techniques like DC electrical conductivity, UV–visible absorption spectra, X-ray Diffractogram (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Electrical conductivity studies of thin film samples show an exponential variation with a negative temperature coefficient of resistance. Transport property like density of states near Fermi level decreases and hopping distance increase with the increase in thickness and substrate temperature.

Nature photonics 14(6), 391 - 397 (2020). doi:10.1038/s41566-020-0607-z, The European XFEL is a hard X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) based on a high-electron-energy superconducting linear accelerator. The superconducting technology allows for the acceleration of many electron bunches within one radio-frequency pulse of the accelerating voltage and, in turn, for the generation of a large number of hard X-ray pulses. We report on the performance of the European XFEL accelerator with up to 5,000 electron bunches per second and demonstrating a full energy of 17.5 GeV. Feedback mechanisms enable stabilization of the electron beam delivery at the FEL undulator in space and time. The measured FEL gain curve at 9.3 keV is in good agreement with predictions for saturated FEL radiation. Hard X-ray lasing was achieved between 7 keV and 14 keV with pulse energies of up to 2.0 mJ. Using the high repetition rate, an FEL beam with 6 W average power was created., Published by Nature Publ. Group, London [u.a.]

Ever since the time electricity was used for day to today purposes mankind has searched for more efficient and possibly everlasting sources of energy. This search has yielded the vast field of renewable energy as a viable solution. Among the newly explored field of renewable energy there exist an option whose potential has not yet been fully tapped, namely piezo electric generation.In times when supply of energy is unavailable or in cases of sudden blackouts, in addition to day to day use of energy, the security of a consumer is also affected. Even the most efficient inverters or batteries will run out after a certain amount of time. This brings about a need to de velop a smart and efficient security system that determines threat and operates only when needed.The development of such intelligent systems is now possible due to the concept of soft computing which involves fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks and concepts of machine learning.

Improvement of bumper system is crucial in the automotive industry. The main objectives are to increase the performance of the bumper and also to find a solution to reduce the cost of the bumper thereby facilitating the reduction of production cost. The cost of bumper is high owing to the amount of material used and various processes involved .The new design considers on reducing the amount of material use and adding improved hydraulics instead of normal bumper to give cushioning effect and also assures safety in low speed collision. The new design also improves the ability to absorb more impact load and increase the protection of the front car component. The methodology employed was the study of the front bumper system, design and fabrication. The suitable material that can be used as the bumper in terms of economical but still maintaining the toughness is Plastic-Polycarbonate (Molded) which is not expensive compared to the best material from the analysis of E-Glass Fiber, Plastic-Nylon Type 6/6 and Plastic ABS (Molded). The suitable material to be used for making beam is AISI E52100 Steel. Rearrangement of the mounting positions gives a different effect on the ability to withstand the impact force.

Background: Identifying malignant cells in effusion fluid is vital in staging and management of cancers. Differentiating reactive mesothelial cells from malignant cells in effusion fluid is a challenging task and there is an ongoing need for simpler and cost effective tool to aid the diagnosis. Micronucleus is an additional smaller nucleus in the cytoplasm, formed by chromosomes or chromosomal fragments formed during cell division. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the significance of micronucleated cell in effusion fluids to distinguish adenocarcinomatous from reactive mesothelial effusions. Materials and Methods: Thirty cases of unequivocal malignant effusion fluids and 30 benign cases with reactive mesothelial cells as control were studied. Number of microucleated cells present per1000 well-preserved cells in Leishman-stained smears were counted. Results: Mean (±SD) micronucleated score in malignant and benign effusions were 15.77 ± 9.78 and 1.87 ± 1.78, respectively. The median scores were 13 and 2, respectively. Mann–Whitney test showed that this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). This study revealed that there was a significant difference in micronucleus scoring between benign and malignant effusions. Conclusions: Micronucleus score can be used as an additional biomarker in the interpretation of routinely stained cytosmears.