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The current study aims to explore the drilling characteristics of graphene-reinforced GF/epoxy nanocomposites via experimentation, validated by finite element analysis (FEA). Experiments involved drilling a [0/90]40s 10 mm thick laminate using 8 mm diameter uncoated and coated (TiN, TiAlN) solid carbide drills (2 flute, cone angle: 118°). Effects of coating, cutting speed, and feed rate on thrust force, torque, entry, and exit hole size were analysed. Uncoated drills exhibited the highest average thrust force (78.6 N) and torque (0.61 Nm) compared to TiAlN and TiN coated drills. TiAlN produced maximum average value of thrust force and torque of 48.4 N and 0.44 Nm, while TiN yielded maximum average value of thrust force and torque of 44.70 N and 0.35 Nm, respectively. Uncoated drills showed 27%-38% higher thrust force than TiAlN and 34%-48% higher than TiN under various cutting conditions. TiN coated drills exhibited the lowest thrust force and torque. Lower feed rates with higher spindle speeds reduced thrust force, minimising drilling-induced damage, offering valuable guidelines for high-quality drilling operations. The FEA predictions showed a maximum 10% error compared to experimental results for thrust force and torque under different drilling settings.

ABSTRACTPeste des petits ruminants(PPR) characterized by fever, sore mouth, conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and pneumonia, is an acute, highly contagious viral disease of sheep and goats. The role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in PPRV infection has not been explored to date. In this study, the transcriptome profiles of virulent Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) infected goat tissues – lung and spleen were analyzed to identify the role of lncRNAs in PPRV infection. A total of 13,928 lncRNA transcripts were identified, out of which 170 were known lncRNAs. Intergenic lncRNAs (7625) formed the major chunk of the novel lncRNA transcripts. Differential expression analysis revealed that 15 lncRNAs (11 downregulated and 4 upregulated) in the PPRV infected spleen samples and 16 lncRNAs (13 downregulated and 3 upregulated) in PPRV infected lung samples were differentially expressed as compared to control. The differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) possibly regulate various immunological processes related to natural killer cell activation, antigen processing and presentation, and B cell activity, by regulating the expression of mRNAs through the cis- or trans-regulatory mechanism. Functional enrichment analysis of differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) revealed enrichment of immune pathways and biological processes in concordance with the pathways in which correlated lncRNA-neighboring genes were enriched. The results suggest that a coordinated immune response is raised in both lung and spleen tissues of the goat through mRNA-lncRNA crosstalk.

The present study aims to investigate the performance of conventional uncoated and coated (TiN, TiAlN) solid carbide drill tools in drilling bi-directional graphene-reinforced (2 wt.%) glass fiber (GF)/epoxy polymer nanocomposite laminate with two distinct lamination schemes ([0/90]12Sand [0/90/±45]6S). Performance measures included thrust force, torque, tool flank wear, peak acoustic emission, root mean square (RMS) of acoustic energy, and average surface roughness. Moreover, the delamination that occurs beyond the critical value of thrust force (computed analytically) has also been addressed. Optimized drilling parameters were used for experimentation to minimize thrust force and torque simultaneously. Both TiN and TiAlN-coated carbide drills outperformed uncoated carbide drills for fewer holes (around 25 for TiN and about 40 for TiAlN), but their performance deteriorated with more holes due to coating chipping or peeling from the original tool material. The (0/90 ± 45)6Sgraphene-reinforced layup showed less tool wear, deterioration, and acoustic emission energy compared to the (0/90)12Sneat layup. TiAlN-coated drills exhibited the smallest wear on the flank face followed by TiN-coated and uncoated carbide drills. Moreover, the smoothest cut surface throughout the 300 holes drilled, averaging 1.5 µm to 1.8 µm in surface roughness, was observed with the TiAlN-coated drill. Therefore, the TiAlN-coated drill is recommended for drilling a larger number of holes due to its reduced tool wear, smoother cut surfaces, and better form accuracy with minimal delamination.

A closed tube loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay targeting omp25gene was performed for detection of Brucellasp in semen from infected bulls. The assay was achieved through the use of reaction master-mix for performing LAMP reactions. The reaction master-mix contained all reaction components at their optimized concentration including BstDNA polymerase and hydroxynaphthol blue (HNB) dye. The use of master-mix avoided opening of tubes after initial denaturation step required for adding BstDNA polymerase. The HNB dye allowed visual monitoring of positive and negative LAMP reactions through naked eyes and hence circumvented need of opening reaction tubes for electrophoretic analysis of LAMP products. The use of master-mix simultaneously minimized contamination of laboratories, saved time and simplified reaction set up. The assay was performed in a simple water bath making it cost-effective. It was found specific to Brucellaspp. only and could detect as few as 10 Brucellacolony forming units in experimentally contaminated semen and 10 fg DNA (nearly 3 genome copies of Brucella) in pure culture. This sensitivity was found equivalent to that of TaqMan probe- based real-time PCR and 10 times higher than conventional PCR. Overall, the optimized LAMP assay was rapid, simple in operation, result oriented, highly sensitive and inexpensive. This could be used as a diagnostic test for detection of Brucellain semen at breeding bull stations in developing countries where laboratories are generally poorly equipped.

In this study, complete nucleotide as well as derived amino acid sequence characterization of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) kappa-casein gene has been presented. Kappa-casein cDNA clones were identified and isolated from a buffalo lactating mammary gland cDNA library. Sequence analysis of kappa-casein cDNA revealed 850 nucleotides with an open reading frame (ORF) of 573 nucleotides, encoding mature peptide of 169 amino acids. The 5' untranslated region (UTR) comprised 71 nucleotides, while 3' UTR was of 206 nucleotides. A total of 11 nucleotide and seven amino acid changes were observed in, buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) as compared to cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries) and goat (Capra hircus). Among these nucleotide changes, eight were unique in buffalo as they were fully conserved in cattle, sheep and goat. Majority of the nucleotide changes and all the amino acid changes; 14 (Asp-Glu), 19(Asp/Ser-Asn), 96(Ala-Thr), 126(Ala-Val), 128(Ala/Gly-Val), 156(Ala/Pro-Val) and 168(Ala/Glu-Val) were limited to exon IV. Three glycosylation sites, Thr 131, Thr 133 and Thr 142 reported in cattle and goat kappa-casein gene were also conserved in buffalo, however, in sheep Thr 142 was replaced by Ala. Chymosin hydrolysis site, between amino acids Phe 105 and Met 106, important for rennet coagulation process, were found to be conserved across four bovid species. Buffalo kappa-casein with the presence of amino acids Thr 136 and Ala 148 seems to be an intermediate of "A" and "B" variants of cattle. Comparison with other livestock species revealed buffalo kappa-casein sharing maximum nucleotide (95.5%) and amino acid (92.6%) similarity with cattle, whereas with pig it showed least sequence similarity of 76.0% and 53.2%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on both nucleotide and amino acid sequence indicated buffalo kappa-casein grouping with cattle, while sheep and goat forming a separate cluster close to them. The non-ruminant species viz. camel, horse and pig were distantly placed, in separate lineages.