Comparative Study on Bactericidal Effect of Silver Nanoparticles, Synthesized Using Green Technology, in Combination with Antibiotics on Salmonella Typhi

In this work bactericidal study of silver nanoparticles was taken up in combination with two standard antibiotics, ampicillin and gentamycin, for Salmonella Typhi. The antibacterial activities of antibiotics were increased in the presence of AgNPs against test strains. The higher enhancing effect was observed for ampicillin in comparison to gentamicin against test strains. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized elctrolytically using silver wire of 99% purity as anode and carbon rod wrapped with LDPE as cathode. Silver nitrate [of Merck] of 0.01N is used as an electrolyte. Here tea extract is added as capping and mild reducing agent. The polyphenols theaflavins and thearubigins, present in tea perform the role of stabilizing or capping agents due to their bulky and steric nature. A brown coloured colloidal solution of silver nanoparticles is obtained. The as-synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, TEM and UV-Vis spectroscopy.

Biosynthesis of Flower-Shaped CuO Nanostructures and Their Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activities

Copper oxide nanoflowers(CuO-NFs)have been synthesized through a novel green route using Tulsi leaves-extracted eugenol(4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol)as reducing agent.Characterizations results reveal the growth of crystalline singlephase CuO-NFs with monoclinic structure.The prepared CuO-NFs can effectively degrade methylene blue with 90%efficiency.They also show strong barrier against E.coli(27±2 mm)at the concentration of 100μg mL−1,while at the concentration of 25μg mL−1 weak barrier has been found against all examined bacterial organisms.The results provide important evidence that CuO-NFs have sustainable performance in methylene blue degradation as well as bacterial organisms.

Numerical investigation of dynamic interaction with projectile and harmonic behaviour for T-finned machine gun barrels

Machine gun barrels differ from their rifle counterparts in terms of profile.To support high rates of sustained fire,machine gun barrels are made thicker in order to dissipate more heat and maintain their flexural rigidity and thus accuracy,but on other hand they also contribute in weight addition to weapon.This investigation deals with comparison between a conventional machine gun barrel and an improved innovative design having T-fins,both having same weight and chambered in 5.56×45 NATO ammunition,to compare their structural and harmonic characteristics which were parameterized by factors such as modal spectrum,directional deformation at muzzle ends during a single shot fire and harmonic behaviour at corresponding range of exciting frequencies.The solid models of both the barrels having same weight,were created using Solidworks.The continuous input data functions were generated by MATLAB using the field tested discreet data points.The generated velocity-distance functions were converted into time dependent functions using integration algorithms to calculate transient parameters such as time steps,excitation frequency range,angle of rotation of projectile and its angular velocity.The dynamic condition simulated the varying nature of forces due to eccentricity in projectile and this data was fed to a time step study using ANSYS transient structural work bench followed by modal and harmonic analysis.The results showed a significant reduction in muzzle end deformation which thus proved that the T-finned barrel,although had same weight as that of the conventional one,but had better structural and harmonic characteristics,and hence it would inherit better firing accuracy.

Synthesis and characterization of copper foams through a powder metallurgy route using a compressible and lubricant space-holder material

In the present work,a compressible and lubricating space-holder material commonly known as "acrawax" was used to process Cu foams with various pore sizes and various porosities.The foams were processed without using binders to avoid contamination of their metal matrices.The lubricant space-holder material was found to facilitate more uniform flow and distribution of metal powder around the surface of the space holder.In addition,the use of acrawax as a space-holder material yielded considerably dense cell walls,which are an essential prerequisite for better material properties.The foams processed with a smaller-sized space holder were found to exhibit better electrical and mechanical properties than those processed with a coarser-sized space holder.The isotropic pore shape,uniform pore distribution throughout the metal matrix,and uniform cell wall thickness were found to enhance the properties pertaining to fine-pore foam samples.The processed foams exhibit properties similar to those of the foams processed through the lost-carbonate sintering process.

An alternative form of energy density demonstrating the severe strain-stiffening in thin spherical and cylindrical shells

The present article investigates an elastic instability phenomenon for internally pressurized spherical thin balloons and thin cylindrical tubes composed of incompressible hyperelastic material.A mathematical model is formulated by proposing a new strain energy density function.In the family of limited elastic materials,many material models exhibit strain-stiffening.However,they fail to predict severe strainstiffening in a moderate range of deformations in the stress-strain relations.The proposed energy function contains three material parameters and shows substantially improved stain stiffening properties than the limited elastic material models.The model is further applied to explore the elastic instability phenomenon in spherical and cylindrical shells.The findings are compared with other existing models and validated with experimental results.The model shows better agreement with experimental results and exhibits a substantial strain-stiffening effect than the current models.

Depicting the role of gas–solid interactions on the hydrodynamics of converging pneumatic riser

The understanding of the flow characteristics and effect of gas–solid interactions in pneumatic risers is fundamental to investigate to ensure effective design cost-effective operation.Thus,to understand the effect of gas–solid interactions on the hydrodynamics of newly proposed conversing risers,this study mainly focused on predicting pressure drop in the dilute phase pneumatic conveying system.The experiments were conducted in a converging riser having a convergence angle of 0.2693°.Various solid particles such as sago,black mustard,and alumina have been considered to study the effect of particle sizes and density on the pressure drop.The experimental outcomes indicate that the total pressure drop increases with an increase in the solid density and gas mass flow rate.Moreover,smaller particle sizes are also increased the pressure drop.An empirical correlation is developed for the prediction of total pressure dropΔPTin converging pneumatic riser via dimensional analysis.All dependent variables such as particle and air density,drag force,acceleration due to gravity,the mass flow rate of air and particle,the diameter of particle and converging riser,the height of converging riser were considered to develop the empirical correlation.The established relationship is tested,and experimental data have been fitted for its validation.The estimated relative error of less than 0.05 proved the significance of the developed correlation.Hence,it can be stated that the established relationship is useful in studying the effects of various parameters on the pressure drop across the length of the conversing riser.

Constitutive modeling of particle reinforced rubber-like materials

The present study is focused on the constitutive modeling for the mechanical behavior of rubber reinforced with filler particles.A filler-dependent energy density function is proposed with all the continuum mechanics-based necessities of an effective hyperelastic material model.The proposed invariant-based energy function comprises a single set of material parameters for a material subjected to several modes of loading conditions.The model solution agrees well with existing experimental results.Later,the effect of varying concentrations of filler particles in the rubber matrix is also studied.

Modeling tropical river runoff: A time dependent approach

Forecasting of rainfall and subsequent river runoff is important for many operational problems and applications related to hydrology. Modeling river runoff often requires rigorous mathematical analysis of vast historical data to arrive at reasonable conclusions. In this paper we have applied the stochastic method to characterize and predict river runoffofthe perennial Kulfo River in southem Ethiopia. The time series analysis based auto regressive integrated moving average （ARIMA） approach is applied to mean monthly runoff data with 10 and 20 years spans. The varying length of the input runoff data is shown to influence the forecasting efficiency of the stochastic process. Preprocessing of the runoff time series data indicated that the data do not follow a seasonal pattern. Our forecasts were made using parsimonious non seasonal ARIMA models and the results were compared to actual 10-year and 20-year mean monthly runoff data of the Kulfo River. Our results indicate that river runoff forecasts based upon the 10-year data are more accurate and efficient than the model based on the 20-year time series.

Biochemical and Thermal Analysis of Spirulina Biomass through FTIR, TGA, CHN

Spirulina is a sort of algae that grows in both fresh and seawater.It is considered the Earth’s most nutritionally dense food.Certain claims about Spirulina’s beneficial health properties are attributed to the relatively high protein content of the cells.Spirulina’s lipid,fatty acid profile,and biochemical composition have received little attention.The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and decomposition of spirulina biomass at various temperatures.In the present investigation,Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy,thermogravimetric analysis,and elemental analysis were used to study spirulina biomass biochemical characteristics.The optimal content of spirulina protein,lipid,and the amino acid was identified and reported.In this study,the various frequency ranges corresponding to functional groups are evaluated and reported.Spirulina FT-IR spectra were recorded and reported at different frequency ranges from 3870–3448 cm−1 to 695–545 cm−1.FTIR studies for spirulina biomass affirmed the occurrence of–OH,–COOH,NH,C–H,and C=O groups.Protein(3453 and 1645 cm−1)and carbohydrate(1032 and 1033 cm−1)were the main components with distinct IR spectra fingerprint characteristics.Results indicate that Spirulina sp.biomass is viable green energy and the biggest protein source.The mechanism underlying the high rate of protein accumulation of spirulina may aid in not only elucidating the biochemistry but also in modifying the chemical composition and strain selection for the production of specific chemicals and products.

Antioxidant Potential Some Medicinal Plants of Central India

Cellular damage or oxidative injury arising from free radicals or reactive oxygen species (ROS) now appears the fun-damental mechanism underlying a number of human neurodegenerative disorder, diabetes, inflammation, viral infec-tions, autoimmune pathologies and digestive system disorders. Free radicals are generated through normal metabolism of drugs, environmental chemicals and other xenobiotics as well as endogenous chemicals, especially stress hormones (adrenalin and noradrenalin). Accumulated evidence suggests that ROS can be scavenged through chemoprevention utilizing natural antioxidant compounds present in foods and medicinal plants. In this review, research on the antioxi-dant potential of some medicinal plants of origin of Central India is considered.

Propagation of Acoustic Wave inside the Carbon Nanotube: Comparative Study with Other Hexagonal Material

Carbon nanotube is a novel and more explored material. In this paper, ultrasonic acoustic velocity of the carbon nanotube has been calculated along unique axis at room temperature. For the evaluations of ultrasonic properties, second and third-order elastic constants have been computed from Lennard-Jones interaction potential. Attenuation of ultrasonic waves due to phonon-phonon interaction is predominant over thermoelastic loss. Carbon nanotube shows the unique behavior with the chiral number. Chiral number not only affect the band gap and tube radius of the carbon nanotube but also affect the mechanical properties like stiffness, bulk modulus, shear modulus of the tube. The peculiar behavior is obtained at 55°. Due to their least thermal relaxation time and highest Debye average velocity. Results are also compared with other hexagonal metallic materials which present in periods and group of the periodic table. They show the optimum behavior with other hexagonal materials.

Use of Decision Theory to Predict Dust Storms over New Delhi, India

The north and northwest parts of India experience dust/sandstorms during the pre-monsoon season (April to May). We studied dust storms occurring over New Delhi, India (2001 to 2012) to develop a probabilistic forecast method. A probabilistic forecast method is discussed in this paper as a decision making tool that can be used to meet the needs of the users. The application of decision theory to forecast an event is that the end user of the forecast takes a decision for action on the basis of each forecast. This study stems from an elementary decision theory based on three interlocking procedures to follow viz. 1) identification of meteorological parameters responsible for dust storms, 2) determining the impact of each meteorological parameter in the initiation of a dust storm and 3) finally using the first two steps an action is recommended. Among the meteorological parameters, temperature, wind speed, pressure, number of sunny hours and evaporation had a positive impact on dust storm occurrence as compared to other variables selected. Using the concept of utility, which is an integral part of decision theory, a decision matrix is constructed. This decision matrix contains the threshold value above which a dust storm has occurred followed by each state of weather and the course of action. Thus, in this paper, a different concept of forecasting is discussed and optional rules for decision making based on the availability of a limited amount of meteorological data are presented. This forecast is of the very short range (0 - 3 hours) based on the meteorological conditions just prior to the occurrence of a dust event. We validated our findings with the OMI Aerosol index obtained from AERONET.

Effect of Hot Carrier on Amplitude Modulation and Demodulation of Gaussian High Power Helicon Wave in Homogeneous Longitudinally Magnetized Strain Dependent Dielectric Material

In the present communication, the hydrodynamic model is used to investigate the amplitude modulation as well as demodulation of an electromagnetic wave of high power helicon pump wave into another helicon wave in strain dependent dielectric material incorporating carrier heating (CH) effects. The consideration of CH in modulation and demodulation is prime importance for the adding of new dimension in analysis of amplification of acoustic helicon wave. By using the dispersion relation, threshold pump electric filed and growth rate of unstable mode from the modulation and demodulation of the high power helicon wave well above from the threshold value will be discussed in the present analysis. The numerical analysis is applied to a strain dependent dielectric material, BaTiO3 at room temperature and irradiated with high power helicon wave of frequency 1.78 × 1014 Hz. This material is very sensitive to the pump intensities, therefore during studies, Gaussian shape of the helicon pump wave is considered during the propagation in stain dependent dielectric material and opto-acoustic wave in the form of Gaussian profile (ω0,κ0) is induced longitudinally along the crystallographic plane of BaTiO3. Its variation is caused by the available magnetic field (ωc), interaction length (z) and pulsed duration of interaction (τ). From the analysis of numerical results, the incorporation of CH effect can effectively modify the magnitude of modulation or demodulation of the amplitude of high power helicon laser wave through diffusion process. Not only the amplitude modulation and demodulation of the wave, the diffusion of the CH effectively modifies the growth rate of unstable mode of frequency in BaTiO3. The propagation of the threshold electric field shows the sinusoidal or complete Gaussian profile, whereas this profile is found to be completely lost in growth of unstable mode. It has also been seen that the growth rate is observed to be of the order of 108 - 1010 s-1 but from diffusion of carrier heating, and that its order is enhanced from 1010 - 1012 s-1 with the variation of the magnetized frequency from 1 to 2.5 × 1014 Hz.

Metaheuristics Algorithm for Tuning of PID Controller of Mobile Robot System

Robots in the medical industry are becoming more common in daily life because of various advantages such as quick response,less human interference,high dependability,improved hygiene,and reduced aging effects.That is why,in recent years,robotic aid has emerged as a blossoming solution to many challenges in the medical industry.In this manuscript,meta-heuristics(MH)algorithms,specifically the Firefly Algorithm(FF)and Genetic Algorithm(GA),are applied to tune PID controller constraints such as Proportional gain Kp Integral gain Ki and Derivative gain Kd.The controller is used to control Mobile Robot System(MRS)at the required set point.The FF arrangements are made based on various pre-analysis.A detailed simulation study indicates that the proposed PID controller tuned with Firefly Algorithm(FF-PID)for MRSis beneficial and suitable to achieve desired closed-loop system response.The FF is touted as providing an easy,reliable,and efficient tuning technique for PID controllers.The most suitable ideal performance is accomplished with FF-PID,according to the display in the time response.Further,the observed response is compared to those received by applying GA and conventional off-line tuning techniques.The comparison of all tuning methods exhibits supremacy of FF-PID tuning of the given nonlinear Mobile Robot System than GA-PID tuning and conventional controller.

A Two-Dimensional Mathematical Model to Analyze Thermal Variations in Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue Region of Human Limb during Surgical Wound Healing

During wound healing, the metabolic activity associated with each phase must occur in the proper sequence, at a specific time, and continue for a specific duration at an optimal intensity. Any disturbance in appropriate thermal environment may complicate the wound healing process and may give rise to wound infection. In the presented paper a transient state two-dimensional mathematical model has been developed to analyse thermal variations in skin and subcutaneous tissue (SST) region of human limb. Due to circular shape of human limb, model has been developed in polar coordinates. The domain of the study consists of two types of tissues: abnormal tissues and normal tissues. The post surgery peripheral tissue of human limb during healing time is considered as abnormal tissues. The effect of variable density of blood vessels in dermal layer of both tissues on the physical and physiological parameters is incorporated in the model. The effect of healing on physiological parameters of abnormal tissue is incorporated by considering the physiological parameters to be function of time “t”. The effect of different climatic conditions is considered in the model. Taking into account the variable core temperature due to anatomy of arteries and variable physiological parameters in dermal layer of peripheral region, the well known Pennes’ bio heat equation is used to analyse the time-dependent temperature distribution of both normal and abnormal tissues. Comparison between temperature profiles of both normal and abnormal tissue has been done using finite element approach with bilinear shape functions in polar coordinates. A computer program in MATLAB has been developed to simulate the results.

Effect of Dust and Shadow on Performance of Solar Photovoltaic Modules: Experimental Analysis

This study presents an experimental performance of a solar photovoltaic module under clean,dust,and shadow conditions.It is found that there is a significant decrease in electrical power produced(40%in the case of dust panels and 80%in the case of shadow panels)and a decrease in efficiency of around 6%in the case with dust and 9%in the case with the shadow,as compared to the clean panel.From the results,it is clear that there is a substantial effect of a partial shadow than dust on the performance of the solar panel.This is due to the more obstruction of the sunlight by the shadowed area compared to the dust.The dust being finer particles for the given local experimental condition did not influence the panel than the shadow.The main outcome of this study is that the shadowing effect may cause more harm to the PV module than dust for the given experimental conditions.However,Further long-term studies on the effect of dust and shadow are needed to understand the effect on performance degradation and module life.

Latent Heat Prediction of Nano Enhanced Phase Change Material by ANN Method

Thermal characteristics of phase change material(PCM)are important in design and utilization of thermal energy storage or other applications.PCMs have great latent heat but suffer from low thermal conductivity.Then,in recent years,nano particles have been added to PCM to improve their thermophysical properties such as thermal conductivity.Effect of this nano particles on thermophysical properties of PCM has been a question and many experimental and numerical studies have been done to investigate them.Artificial intelligence-based approach can be a good candidate to predict thermophysical properties of nano enhance PCM(NEPCM).Then,in this study an artificial neural network(ANN)has been developed to predict the latent heat of the NEPCM.A comprehensive literature search was conducted to acquire thermal characteristics data from various NEPCM to train and test this artificial neural network model.Twenty different types of Nano particle and paraffin based PCMs were used in ANN development.The most important properties which are used as the input for the developed ANN model are NP size,density of NP,latent heat of PCM,density of PCM,concentration and latent heat of NEPCM in the range of 1-60 nm,100-8960 kg/m^(3),89.69-311 kJ/kg,760 to 1520 kg/m^(3),0.02-20 wt%and 60.72-338.6 kJ/kg,respectively.The output variable was latent heat of NEPCM.The result indicates that the ANN model can be applied to predict the latent heat of nano enhanced PCM satisfactory.The correlation coefficient of the created model was 0.97.This result shows ability of ANN to predict the latent heat of NEPCM.

Effect of Base Width and Stiffness of the Structure on Period of Vibration of RC Framed Buildings in Seismic Analysis

Fundamental natural period of vibration T of the building is an important parameter for evaluation of seismic base shear. Empirical equations given in the Indian seismic code for the calculation of the fundamental period of a framed structure, primarily as a function of height, do not consider the effect of stiffness of the structure, base dimensions of the structure, number of panels in both the directions, amount of infill and properties of the infill. The fundamental period can be evaluated using simplified expressions found in codes, which are based on earthquake recordings in existing buildings, laboratory tests, numerical or analytical computations. These technical codes provide expressions which depend on basic parameters such as building height or number of stories. Building periods predicted by these expressions are widely used in practice although it has been observed that there is scope for further improvement in these equations since the height alone is inadequate to explain period variability. It is also known that the period of a RC frame structure differs depending on whether the longitudinal or transverse direction of the structure is considered. The aim of this study is to find the effects of building base width in both the directions, stiffness of the structure etc. and to predict the fundamental period of vibration of reinforced concrete buildings with moment resisting frames (MRF). A few examples of dynamic analysis are presented in this study to show the effect of base dimensions and stiffness of the structure in calculating the time period of the structure. And it is recommended to be incorporated in the formula for evaluating the natural period of vibration of structures.

Analysis of DVFS Techniques for Improving the GPU Energy Efficiency

Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS) techniques are used to improve energy efficiency of GPUs. Literature survey and thorough analysis of various schemes on DVFS techniques during the last decade are presented in this paper. Detailed analysis of the schemes is included with respect to comparison of various DVFS techniques over the years. To endow with knowledge of various power management techniques that utilize DVFS during the last decade is the main objective of this paper. During the study, we find that DVFS not only work solely but also in coordination with other power optimization techniques like load balancing and task mapping where performance and energy efficiency are affected by varying the platform and benchmark. Thorough analysis of various schemes on DVFS techniques is presented in this paper such that further research in the field of DVFS can be enhanced.