Experimental investigations for assessing the influence of fly ash on the flow through porous media in Darcy regime.

Hydraulic conductivity plays a vital role in the studies encompassing explorations on flow and porous media. The study investigates the compaction characteristics of a river sand (Beas, Sutlej, and Ghaggar rivers) and fly ash mix in different proportions and evaluates four empirical equations for estimating hydraulic conductivity. Experiments show that an increase in the fly ash content results in a decrease in the maximum dry density (MDD) and an increase in the corresponding optimum moisture content (OMC) of sand-fly ash samples.

Tuning the surface using palladium based metallosurfactant for hydrogen evolution reaction.

Synthesis of a novel electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly demanding for renewable energy production. This research reports the design and development of novel palladium based metallosurfactant (PdCPC(I)) that belongs to the unique class of inorganic-organic hybrid with striking structural features that are explored for the first time in the HER. The formation of the micelle, molecular orientation and surface characteristics of the metallosurfactant are calculated by conductivity and contact angle measurements.

Investigating affordable cobalt based metallosurfactant as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction.

The implementation of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is an essential requirement of a stable electrocatalyst that competes for the performance of noble metals (Pt, Pd), especially in acidic conditions. This research reports the design and development of affordable cobalt (Co) based metallosurfactant (CoCPC(I)) which performs under acidic medium (0.5 N HSO) for HER.

Proposed solution for dorsal internal carotid artery aneurysms: Suggestion of a novel new clip design.

Dorsal internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysms are notorious for their high morbidity and mortality. They have an extremely fragile wall and have a high chance of rupture and clip slippage during the intraoperative and postoperative period. Strategies proposed to mitigate these problems encompass including part of the normal ICA wall in addition to neck of aneurysm in clip blades, as well as the use of encircling materials (silicon, cellulose, Weck's clip) over a clip.

"Soft that molds the hard:" Geometric morphometry of lateral atlantoaxial joints focusing on the role of cartilage in changing the contour of bony articular surfaces.

Purpose: The existing literature on lateral atlantoaxial joints is predominantly on bony facets and is unable to explain various C1-2 motions observed. Geometric morphometry of facets would help us in understanding the role of cartilages in C1-2 biomechanics/kinematics.

Objective: Anthropometric measurements (bone and cartilage) of the atlantoaxial joint and to assess the role of cartilages in joint biomechanics.

Applications of bauxite residue: A mini-review.

Bauxite residue is the waste generated during alumina production by Bayer's process. The amount of bauxite residue (40-50 wt%) generated depends on the quality of bauxite ore used for the processing. High alkalinity and high caustic content in bauxite residue causes environmental risk for fertile soil and ground water contamination.

Household air pollution from various types of rural kitchens and its exposure assessment.

Exposure to household air pollutants has become a leading environmental health risk in developing countries. Considering this, real-time temporal variation in fine particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations were measured in various types of rural household kitchens. Observed average concentrations of PM, CO, percent relative humidity (%RH) and temperature (T) in five different kitchen types were 549.

Band Gap Engineering with Ultralarge Biaxial Strains in Suspended Monolayer MoS2.

We demonstrate the continuous and reversible tuning of the optical band gap of suspended monolayer MoS2 membranes by as much as 500 meV by applying very large biaxial strains. By using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to grow crystals that are highly impermeable to gas, we are able to apply a pressure difference across suspended membranes to induce biaxial strains. We observe the effect of strain on the energy and intensity of the peaks in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum and find a linear tuning rate of the optical band gap of 99 meV/%.

Choline Chloride Assisted Synthesis of N and Metal Codoped TiO2 and their Photocatalytic Activity under Visible Light.

A few nanocrystalline N,metal codoped TiO2 (metal = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) have been synthesized by a simple sol-gel method using choline chloride which is biodegradable, low cost, nontoxic ionic salt both as a structure directing agent and source of nitrogen. The prepared samples were well characterized by XRD, HRTEM, FTIR, DRS, EDX, XPS and BET techniques. The photocatalytic activity of all synthesized N, metal codoped TiO2 has been carried out for the degradation of Reactive Black 5 dye under visible light irradiation and among them, N, Fe codoped TiO2 was found to be the best for the degradation of Reactive Black 5 dye.

Anomalous behavior of visible light active TiO2 for the photocatalytic degradation of different Reactive dyes.

Nanocrystalline undoped, N-doped, N and metal codoped titania with different particle size, surface area, anatase phase content, crystallinity, band gap and zeta potential were synthesized by the sol-gel method. The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized TiO2 powders were compared by employing four different Reactive dyes. The order of photocatalytic activity observed for Reactive Red 198 dye (RR 198) was undoped = N,Cu codoped = N-doped > N,Fe codoped TiO2, Reactive Blue 4 dye (RB 4) was N,Cu codoped > N,Fe codoped > N-doped > undoped TiO2, Reactive Black 5 dye (RB 5) was N,Cu codoped* > undoped > N-doped > N,Fe codoped TiO2 and negligible degradation was observed for Reactive Orange 16 dye (RO 16).

A Review of Computational Intelligence Methods for Eukaryotic Promoter Prediction.

In past decades, prediction of genes in DNA sequences has attracted the attention of many researchers but due to its complex structure it is extremely intricate to correctly locate its position. A large number of regulatory regions are present in DNA that helps in transcription of a gene. Promoter is one such region and to find its location is a challenging problem.

High throughput screening using acoustic droplet ejection to combine protein crystals and chemical libraries on crystallization plates at high density.

We describe a high throughput method for screening up to 1728 distinct chemicals with protein crystals on a single microplate. Acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) was used to co-position 2.5nL of protein, precipitant, and chemicals on a MiTeGen in situ-1 crystallization plate™ for screening by co-crystallization or soaking.

Computational Investigations on the Effects of Gurney Flap on Airfoil Aerodynamics.

The present study comprises steady state, two-dimensional computational investigations performed on NACA 0012 airfoil to analyze the effect of Gurney flap (GF) on airfoil aerodynamics using k-ε RNG turbulence model of FLUENT. Airfoil with GF is analyzed for six different heights from 0.5% to 4% of the chord length, seven positions from 0% to 20% of the chord length from the trailing edge, and seven mounting angles from 30° to 120° with the chord.

Synthesis of new thiobarbituric acid derived spiroheterobicyclic compounds and their antimicrobial activity.

A series pf novel (7S, 11R)-substituted diphenyl-2,4,8,10-tetraazaspiro [5.5] undecane-3-thio-1,5,9-triones 4a-j and (7S,11R)-substituted diphenyl-2,4,8,10-tetraazaspiro[5.5] undecane-3-thio-1,5 dione, 9-thiones 5a-j were prepared using substituted aldehydes and urea/thiourea in the presence of thiobarbituric acid under solvent free, thermal and microwave conditions catalyzed by ecofriendly K-10 clay.

A comparative analysis of soft computing techniques for gene prediction.

The rapid growth of genomic sequence data for both human and nonhuman species has made analyzing these sequences, especially predicting genes in them, very important and is currently the focus of many research efforts. Beside its scientific interest in the molecular biology and genomics community, gene prediction is of considerable importance in human health and medicine. A variety of gene prediction techniques have been developed for eukaryotes over the past few years.