Groundwater contaminant source identification using swarm intelligence-based simulation optimization models.

In this study, a linked simulation optimization (SO) model is presented for identification of groundwater contaminant sources. The SO model consists of two steps namely, simulation and optimization. The simulation step entails developing a groundwater contaminant transport model in which the advection-dispersion-reaction equation (ADRE) is solved for predicting the concentration of the contaminant.

Doppler weather radars as a game changer in desert locust swarm tracking.

Desert locusts, notorious for their ruinous impact on agriculture, threaten over 20% of Earth's landmass, prompting billions in losses and global food scarcity concerns. With billions of these locusts invading agrarian lands, this is no longer a thing of the past. Recent invasions, such as those in India, where losses reached US$ 3 billion in 2019-20 alone, underscore the urgency of action.

Revealing exchange bias in spin compensated systems for spintronics applications.

Antiferromagnetic materials offer potential for spintronic applications due to their resilience to magnetic field perturbations and lack of stray fields. Achieving exchange bias in these materials is crucial for certain applications; however, discovering such materials remains challenging due to their compensated spin structure. The quest for antiferromagnetic materials with exchange bias became a reality through our experimental study and theoretical simulation on and .

pH-responsive supramolecular switch of a rationally designed dipyrroethene-based chromophore.

Herein, we present a strategy to access a novel class of pH-responsive, dual-state emissive (DSE), highly fluorescent pyrrole-based chromophores diformylation of dipyrroethenes (DPE) followed by condensation with various aniline derivatives. The DPE-based chromophores exhibit a large Stokes shift and maintain good fluorescence quantum yields. Remarkably, these chromophores demonstrate reversible colourimetric changes and a fluorometric 'on-off-on' switch in response to pH variations.

Design and development of Vaginal wall mimicking Poly (ε-caprolactone) based nanofibrous prosthetic mesh for pelvic organ prolapse: Evaluation of biocompatibility and antibacterial ability.

Mechanical non-conformance of conventionally used transvaginal non-degradable meshes has led to complications like organ perforation, dyspareunia caused by mesh stiffness, and stress shielding. In this study, we have solved the dire need of mimicking the mechanical properties of vaginal wall by designing and developing a soft and elastic mesh made of polycaprolactone (PCL), citric acid modified polyethylene glycol (PEGC) and zinc oxide (ZnO) prepared through electrospinning and is tested in-vitro and in-vivo. Mesh containing 90:10:0.

Triazine-Functionalized Nitrogen-Rich Covalent Organic Framework as an Electrode Material for Aqueous Symmetric Supercapacitor.

Covalent triazine frameworks, with their ordered pores and crystalline structure that exhibit heteroatom impacts, demonstrate outstanding chemical stability, making them designable for charge storage applications. In this study, the triazine-based covalent organic frameworks (TPT@BDA-COF) was synthesized using 4',4''',4'''''-(1,3,5-Triazine-2,4,6-triyl) tris (([1,1'-biphenyl]-4-amine)) (TPT) and 4,4'-Oxydibenzaldehyde (BDA) following polycondensation process. Interestingly, these resulted in the fabrication of a well-connected, orderly porous crystalline structure, redox-active moiety, and significantly high doping atomic percentages of N (~13.

Cooling Performance of TiO-Based Radiative Cooling Coating in Tropical Conditions.

The cooling power of radiative cooling (RC) coatings depends not only on the radiative properties of the coating but also on environmental variables. In tropical environments, the cooling performance of RC coatings deteriorates due to high humidity and high solar radiation. Previous studies focused on developing high solar-reflective coatings to achieve subambient cooling in tropical environments.

Theta-Gamma Decoupling - A neurophysiological marker of impaired reward processing in Parkinson's disease.

Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) exhibit altered reward processing, reflected by a decreased amplitude of an event-related potential (ERP) marker called reward positivity (RewP). Most studies have used RewP to investigate reward behavior due to the high temporal resolution of EEG and its high sensitivity. However, traditional single-electrode ERP analyses often overlook the intricate dynamics of non-phase-locked oscillatory activity and the complex interactions within these neural oscillatory patterns.

Response of South Asia PM pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health.

Countries in South Asia are suffering severe PM pollution with rapid economic development, impacting human health and the environment. Whilst much attention has been given to understanding the contribution of primary emissions, the contribution of agriculture to PM concentrations, especially from agricultural ammonia (NH) emissions, remains less explored. Using an advanced regional atmospheric chemistry and transport modelling system (WRF-EMEP) with a new estimate of anthropogenic NH emissions inputs, we estimate the influence of agricultural NH emissions on surface PM in South Asia and evaluate the health impacts and the economic losses attributable to PM in 2018.

Competing elastic and viscous gradients determine directional cell migration.

Cell migration regulates central life processes including embryonic development, tissue regeneration, and tumor invasion. To establish the direction of migration, cells follow exogenous cues. Durotaxis, the directed cell migration towards elastic stiffness gradients, is the classical example of mechanical taxis.

Accelerated Continuous Flow Depolymerization of Poly(Methyl Methacrylate).

A continuous flow setup comprising an inline dialysis unit for immediate monomer removal is used for the depolymerization of poly(methyl methacrylate) (pMMA), synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The approach used allows one to carry out solution depolymerizations at much higher polymer content compared to batch processes while maintaining high depolymerization conversions. pMMA is efficiently depolymerized in the flow reactor, yielding up to 68% monomer recovery under catalyst-free reaction conditions at 160 °C, starting from a 1 molar repeat unit concentration, which is a 20-fold improvement compared to previous batch studies.

Effects of adaptation to crowded larval environment on the evolution of sperm competitive ability in males of .

Two of the most important environmental factors that affect the sperm competitive ability in males are the availability of resources and the socio-sexual environment. Numerous studies have investigated the individual effects of these factors, but their combined effect on the evolution of sperm competitive ability remains untested. A crowded larval environment is unique because it simultaneously affects the fitness of the organism through both resource availability and the socio-sexual environment.

Antibiotic amoxicillin degradation by electrochemical oxidation process: effects of process parameters and degradation pathway at environmentally relevant concentrations.

Amoxicillin (AMX) is a common antibiotic used in both human and veterinary medicine in order to both cure and avoid bacterial infections. Traces of AMX have been found in ground and surface water, urban effluents, water, and wastewater treatment facilities due to its widespread use. The level of hazard and disposal of this class of micropollutants is the reason for concern.

Importin α inhibitors act against the differentiated stages of apicomplexan parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii.

Background: Nuclear import, dependent on the transporter importin α (IMPα), is a drug target for apicomplexan parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii. Indeed, a panel of small molecule inhibit interactions between IMPα and nuclear localization signals (NLSs) in vitro and the growth of rapidly dividing stages (P. falciparum blood stages and T.

Interplay of geometry and mechanics in epithelial wound healing.

Wound healing is a complex biological process critical for maintaining an organism's structural integrity and tissue repair following an infection or injury. Recent studies have unveiled the mechanisms involving the coordination of biochemical and mechanical responses in the tissue in wound healing. In this article, we focus on the healing property of an epithelial tissue as a material while the effects of biological mechanisms such as cell proliferation, tissue intercalation, cellular migration, cell crawling, and filopodia protrusion is minimal.

Heterogeneity-provoked pulse generation in coupled excitable elements.

Pulse generation in a spatially extended system is studied numerically. Using an array of coupled excitable oscillators, pulse generation is achieved by introducing a parametric heterogeneity between the two partitions of the array. The profile of the propagating pulses can be regulated using the parameter mismatch between these two partitions.

P-type doping in edge-enriched MoS nanostructures RF-generated nitrogen plasma.

In this work, we report an intuitive magnetron sputtering technique for the synthesis of vertically aligned MoS (v-MS) nanostructures. The morphology and orientation of the as-synthesized nanostructures can be modified by altering the parameters of the sputtering process. This work emphasizes the versatility of magnetron sputtering to synthesize edge-enriched vertically aligned 2D nanostructures.

Carbon Quantum Dots Based Nanocomposite for Selective Mercury Detection.

The emergence of 2D carbon-based materials has a profound impact on various research areas, such as biosciences, electronics, optics, environmental protection, and monitoring. Mercury, a highly toxic pollutant, can cause severe health complications such as neural toxicity, insomnia, cognitive dysfunction, muscle atrophy, peripheral vision impairment, and emotional instability. A suitable 2D nanostructural interface is required to effectively monitor mercury levels in the environment.

Directed Cell Growth of C2C12 Cells on ECM Free Bioprinted Nano/Micro Scaffolds.

Skeletal muscle cell growth impairment can result in severe health issues, such as reduced mobility, metabolic problems, and cardiovascular issues, which can significantly impact an individual's overall health and lifestyle. To address this issue, it is essential to adopt a multi-faceted approach. Conventional 2D cell culture methods fail to replicate the critical features of in vivo micro/nanoarchitecture, which is crucial for the growth of skeletal muscle cells.

Chromosome hitchhiking: a potential strategy adopted by the selfish yeast plasmids to ensure symmetric inheritance during cell division.

The 2-micron plasmid residing within the host budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae nucleus serves as a model system for understanding the mechanism of segregation and stable maintenance of circular endogenously present extrachromosomal DNA in eukaryotic cells. The plasmid is maintained at a high average copy number (40-60 copies per yeast cell) through generations despite there is no apparent benefit to the host. Notably, the segregation mechanism of 2-micron plasmid shares significant similarities with those of bacterial low-copy-number plasmids and episomal forms of viral genomes in mammalian cells.

π-HuB: the proteomic navigator of the human body.

The human body contains trillions of cells, classified into specific cell types, with diverse morphologies and functions. In addition, cells of the same type can assume different states within an individual's body during their lifetime. Understanding the complexities of the proteome in the context of a human organism and its many potential states is a necessary requirement to understanding human biology, but these complexities can neither be predicted from the genome, nor have they been systematically measurable with available technologies.

Thermodynamically inconsistent extreme precipitation sensitivities across continents driven by cloud-radiative effects.

Extreme precipitation events are projected to intensify with global warming, threatening ecosystems and amplifying flood risks. However, observation-based estimates of extreme precipitation-temperature (EP-T) sensitivities show systematic spatio-temporal variability, with predominantly negative sensitivities across warmer regions. Here, we attribute this variability to confounding cloud radiative effects, which cool surfaces during rainfall, introducing covariation between rainfall and temperature beyond temperature's effect on atmospheric moisture-holding capacity.

Palladium-Catalyzed -Selective Arylation of 1-Naphthamide.

Remote C4-H functionalization of -naphthoic acids is highly challenging due to the presence of proximally more accessible C-H bonds at the C2 and C8 positions. Herein, we report the first palladium-catalyzed direct C4 arylation of 1-naphthamides with high regioselectivity and excellent functional group compatibility. Diverse aryl couples were found to be compatible with C4 arylation.