Investigation of Microstructures,Mechanical Properties of AZ91E Hybrid Composite Reinforced with Silicon Carbide and Fly Ash

Silicon - In this study, the stir casting processing technique was used to produce the AZ91E hybrid composite reinforced with Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Fly ash (FA) particles in different weight...     

Emission constrained power system planning: a pinch analysis based study of Indian electricity sector

In the light of rising electricity demands and a need to curb carbon dioxide emissions, this article investigates the problem of power system planning with emission targeting. A pinch analysis based approach is utilised here. The key aspect of this study is investigating the parameters that decide the priority of one type of power plant over another. For this, a quantity called prioritised cost, a trade off between cost incurred and emission from a new power plant is identified. In addition to cost and emission factor of a power plant, a third parameter, the present state of the system, also plays a significant role in deciding a power plant’s prioritised cost. The analysis done proves that new power plants can be added to the system in the order of their prioritised cost. This methodology is applied to Indian power sector as a case study. Two different problems, involving minimisation of investment and annualised cost, are considered. It is observed that renewables are slightly more favoured when the objective is to minimise overall cost and not just the capital investment. In both cases, the energy mix is still dominated by coal-based power generation. The share of renewables was seen to increase with more stringent emission targets when the objective was to minimise overall cost.     

Comprehensive mutagenesis on yeast cytosine deaminase yields improvements in 5-fluorocytosine toxicity in HT1080 cells

Improved prodrug-activating enzymes have the potential to increase the therapeutic efficacy of gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT). Yeast cytosine deaminase (yCD) is commonly used to convert the prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) to the chemotherapeutic 5-fluorouracil for GDEPT. Mutagenesis studies on yCD aimed at improving its application in GDEPT have been limited to subsets of residues or have sought to improve a single property of the enzyme. We performed comprehensive site-saturation mutagenesis (CSM) on yCD designed to create all 2,983 possible unique protein mutants with a single amino acid substitution. We identified active variants through Escherichia coli genetic complementation and screened these mutants, and combinations thereof, for increased ability to sensitize E. coli and HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells to 5-FC. Several mutants identified in this study showed increased sensitization ability for both E. coli and HT1080 cells indicating that CSM is an effective directed evolution tool for identifying unexpectedly beneficial mutations.     

Development of non-enzymatic ZnO nanocomposite-based optical sensor for l-lactate detection in tomato samples

l -lactate is a conjugate base of α-hydroxy acid, a key organic chemical in food processing, fermentation, biology and chemical industries. We are reporting for the first time a facile and rapid non-enzymatic nanosensor for l -lactate detection in tomato-based products using 3-aminophenylboronic acid (3-APBA)-added zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs). 3-APBA-functionalised ZnO NPs have a selective and stable SPR intensity change at pH 5.5 to 7.5 and forms a reversible ester with bound l -lactate revealing the wavelength shift from λ = 300 nm to 288 nm in UV-VIS absorption spectrometry. In the spiked (2.5–20 mm ) samples of tomato puree, absorption peak increased as per l -lactate addition with the lower detection limit of 3.98 mm . l -lactate binds with a trigonal form of 3-boronate, thereby generating the tetrahedral complex. ZnO NPs stabilise the tetragonal complex. Nanosensor validated with standard HPLC. This method is useful for l -lactate detection and alternates to conventional techniques.     

Pluronic lecithin organogel of 5-aminosalicylic acid for wound healing

5-Aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) is an aminosalicylate anti-inflammatory drug, which is also known as mesalazine or mesalamine. Currently employed in treating inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, inflamed anus or rectum, and maintain remission in Crohn's disease. Evidence from the researchers highlighted its significant re-epithelization in allergic asthma, aphthous, and gastric ulcerative conditions. The objective of the study was to formulate the pluronic lecithin organogel (PLO) containing 5-ASA and evaluate its wound-healing ability in a full thickness excision wound rat model. The data obtained from in silico docking studies revealed 5-ASA is having an affinity towards the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) specifically towards beta1. Among various formulations prepared (F1 to F8), F1, and F6 have shown a maximum in vitro drug release with optimum pH and viscosity. From MTT assay it was found that selected PLO formulations showed no toxicity and enhanced cell proliferation in HaCaT cell lines. In vivo wound-healing studies in albino Wistar rats has revealed that PLO accelerates wound closure and reepithelization to the statistically significant level on day 3 (p?相似文献   

Annealing effects on the optical and morphological properties of ZnO nanorods on AZO substrate by using aqueous solution method at low temperature

Vertically aligned ZnO nanorods (NRs) on aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) substrates were fabricated by a single-step aqueous solution method at low temperature. In order to optimize optical quality, the effects of annealing on optical and structural properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectroscopy. We found that the annealing temperature strongly affects both the near-band-edge (NBE) and visible (defect-related) emissions. The best characteristics have been obtained by employing annealing at 400°C in air for 2 h, bringing about a sharp and intense NBE emission. The defect-related recombinations were also suppressed effectively. However, the enhancement decreases with higher annealing temperature and prolonged annealing. PL study indicates that the NBE emission is dominated by radiative recombination associated with hydrogen donors. Thus, the enhancement of NBE is due to the activation of radiative recombinations associated with hydrogen donors. On the other hand, the reduction of visible emission is mainly attributed to the annihilation of OH groups. Our results provide insight to comprehend annealing effects and an effective way to improve optical properties of low-temperature-grown ZnO NRs for future facile device applications.     

3D and simplified pseudo-2D modeling of single cell of a high temperature solid oxide fuel cell to be used for online control strategies

In the current study, a single cell of a planar SOFC is firstly modeled in 3D using commercial SOFC module of ANSYS Fluent and the results are validated against the experimental investigations in the literature. Many researchers have used ANSYS Fluent for simulating solid oxide fuel cells. However, there is a huge gap in the literature on explaining the detailed procedure that should be followed in order to use this software effectively. A thorough step-by-step approach is presented to provide a deep insight into the software. Thereafter, a simplified quasi-2D method with infinitely shorter computational time is developed and the results are compared with the 3D model. It is found that the reduced model is capable of being utilized as an alternate method for both online diagnosis and designing active control strategies.