Total dissolved solids removal by electrochemical ion exchange (EIX) process

In the present investigation, synthetic wastewater was prepared by the addition of required amount of salts into deionized water. Their performance, on removal of Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻, PO₄³⁻, Ca²⁺, Fe²⁺ and Mg²⁺ in laboratory scale plate and frame type electrochemical ion exchange (EIX) cells, were evaluated under varying operating conditions. Ruthenium dioxide coated titanium plates (RuO₂/Ti) were used as anode and stainless steel plates as cathode in all the four different EIX cells used in the present investigation. All the four EIX cells were run for a maximum of 7 h. Almost complete removal of all the above ionic solids were observed within 4.5-7 h under one or more test conditions.     

In-cylinder fluid flow,turbulence and spray models—A review

This article is a literature review of use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes to model the in-cylinder fluid flow, turbulence and spray characteristics. This study is based on the reports of about 60 scientists, who published their results between 1978 and 2008. Most of the scientists and researchers used CFD codes to analyze the models under simulation conditions and compared these simulated results with experimental results. Some scientists reported that different engines exhibit different behaviors with similar fuel sprays and Re-Normalized Group (RNG) k-? model is the best applicable turbulence model for engine simulation. The KIVA code is widely used for model development in academia due to the availability of the source. However, its capability for resolving complex geometries is limited. On the other hand, other commercial CFD codes such as STAR-CD, FIRE, VECTIS and FLUENT are frequently used by the industry due to their superior mesh generation interfaces and because of their available user support. Some scientists combined STAR-CD and KIVA code for the engine simulations but they concluded that, it would be preferable to implement the advanced submodels directly into one commercial code for engine simulations.     

Nrf2 Activation Attenuates Acrylamide-Induced Neuropathy in Mice

Acrylamide is a well characterized neurotoxicant known to cause neuropathy and encephalopathy in humans and experimental animals. To investigate the role of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in acrylamide-induced neuropathy, male C57Bl/6JJcl adult mice were exposed to acrylamide at 0, 200 or 300 ppm in drinking water and co-administered with subcutaneous injections of sulforaphane, a known activator of the Nrf2 signaling pathway at 0 or 25 mg/kg body weight daily for 4 weeks. Assessments for neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, oxidative stress as well as messenger RNA-expression analysis for Nrf2-antioxidant and pro-inflammatory cytokine genes were conducted. Relative to mice exposed only to acrylamide, co-administration of sulforaphane protected against acrylamide-induced neurotoxic effects such as increase in landing foot spread or decrease in density of noradrenergic axons as well as hepatic necrosis and hemorrhage. Moreover, co-administration of sulforaphane enhanced acrylamide-induced mRNA upregulation of Nrf2 and its downstream antioxidant proteins and suppressed acrylamide-induced mRNA upregulation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the cerebral cortex. The results demonstrate that activation of the Nrf2 signaling pathway by co-treatment of sulforaphane provides protection against acrylamide-induced neurotoxicity through suppression of oxidative stress and inflammation. Nrf2 remains an important target for the strategic prevention of acrylamide-induced neurotoxicity.     

Electromagnetic and thermal analysis of high-Tc superconductor in application of current limiting devices

Superconducting fault current limiters (SCFCL) offer an attractive way to limit short-circuit currents in power systems. Analysis into electromagnetic and thermal behaviors of superconductor material is crucial in order to develop a novel design concept of a fault current limiter. A new scheme, which can treat electromagnetic field of the type-II superconductor under transient temperature field, is proposed. In this analysis, one of the critical state models, the Bean model was employed to determine the current distribution in the superconductors and effect of magnetic flux flow was also taken into account. Numerical results indicate that the flux flow strongly affects the stability against the quench in Bi-2212 material. High-T_c superconductor material (Bi-2212) was chosen for the current limiting application. In order to investigate characteristics of the current-quenched Bi-2212 bulk, a 2-dimensional heat transfer equation was numerically solved using the finite element simulation. Heat distributions among the superconductor bars were also simulated and by comparing both the experimental and simulated results, it was found that non-uniformities in a current density or a temperature may exist in the quenching of bulk Bi-2212 superconductor.     

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Imidazopyridine–Oxindole Conjugates as Microtubule‐Targeting Agents

A library of imidazopyridine–oxindole conjugates was synthesised and investigated for anticancer activity against various human cancer cell lines. Some of the tested compounds, such as 10 a , 10 e , 10 f , and 10 k , exhibited promising antiproliferative activity with GI₅₀ values ranging from 0.17 to 9.31 μM . Flow cytometric analysis showed that MCF‐7 cells treated by these compounds arrested in the G₂/M phase of the cell cycle in a concentration‐dependent manner. More particularly, compound 10 f displayed a remarkable inhibitory effect on tubulin polymerisation. All the compounds depolarised mitochondrial membrane potential and caused apoptosis. These results are further supported by the decreased phosphorylation of Akt at Ser473. Studies on embryonic development revealed that the lead compounds 10 f and 10 k caused delay in the development of zebra fish embryos. Docking of compound 10 f with tubulin protein suggested that the imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridine moiety occupies the colchicine binding site of tubulin.     

Fuzzy logic based forwarder selection for efficient data dissemination in VANETs

Wireless Networks - A Vehicular Ad hoc Network is a model of mobile Ad hoc network for running vehicles in which vehicles can communicate with wireless communication devices within a confined...     

Machine Learning-Based Pruning Technique for Low Power Approximate Computing

Approximate Computing is a low power achieving technique that offers an additional degree of freedom to design digital circuits. Pruning is one of the types of approximate circuit design technique which removes logic gates or wires in the circuit to reduce power consumption with minimal insertion of error. In this work, a novel machine learning (ML) -based pruning technique is introduced to design digital circuits. The machine-learning algorithm of the random forest decision tree is used to prune nodes selectively based on their input pattern. In addition, an error compensation value is added to the original output to reduce an error rate. Experimental results proved the efficiency of the proposed technique in terms of area, power and error rate. Compared to conventional pruning, proposed ML pruning achieves 32% and 26% of the area and delay reductions in 8*8 multiplier implementation. Low power image processing algorithms are essential in various applications like image compression and enhancement algorithms. For real-time evaluation, proposed ML optimized pruning is applied in discrete cosine transform (DCT). It is a basic element of image and video processing applications. Experimental results on benchmark images show that proposed pruning achieves a very good peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) value with a considerable amount of energy savings compared to other methods.     

Retrieval of meteorological parameters from ROSA on-board Megha Tropiques satellite: evaluation with COSMIC GPS RO,ERA-Interim and radiosonde data

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), in collaboration with Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France, launched radio occultation sounder for atmosphere (ROSA) on-board Megha Tropiques (MT) satellite. In this article, the retrieval of atmospheric parameters from ROSA and its evaluation with a network of in situ (radiosonde), similar satellite (Constellation Observational System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) GPS RO), and re-analysis (ERA-Interim) data sets are presented. The refractivity is retrieved from the bending angle as a function of impact parameter, and pressure and temperature profiles are derived from the profiles of refractivity. The algorithm has been successfully applied to COSMIC data. We have applied and validated this algorithm for the first time to ROSAon board MT. The algorithm retrieves the refractivity and pressure information from surface to 40 km whereas temperature profiles are restricted between 10 and 40 km. The ROSA algorithm refractivity, pressure, and temperature profiles compare well with independent data sets mentioned above. The mean fractional difference between ROSA and COSMIC, ERA-Interim and radiosonde refractivity and the temperature is found to be 0.1% with a standard deviation of 0.5%. It is shown that the algorithm derives the atmospheric parameters with good accuracies from the ROSA instrument and provides the atmospheric community new data from GPS RO at the verge of existing COSMIC GPS RO and in between upcoming GPS RO missions.     

Selective hydrogenation of o-chloronitrobenzene over palladium supported nanotubular titanium dioxide derived catalysts

Titania derived nanotubes were synthesized by treating P-25 Degussa TiO₂ with a concentrated (18 M) KOH solution. Ageing the material in KOH solution for 2 days resulted in formation of tubular titania and Raman analysis revealed that the material has a titanate structure. The synthesized material was used as a catalyst support for the hydrogenation of ortho-chloronitrobenzene (o-CNB) with Pd as the active phase. The vapour-phase hydrogenation of o-CNB was carried out in ethanol at 523 K and atmospheric pressure over a Pd/TiO₂ derived nanotube catalyst (Pd/TiO₂-M). Pd/TiO₂-M gave complete conversion (100%) of o-CNB with the selectivity to ortho-chloroaniline (o-CAN) of 86%. The stability of the Pd/TiO₂-M catalyst was tested over 5 h during which time the conversion slowly dropped to 80% (selectivity 93%) due to catalyst poisoning. TPR analysis revealed the existence of a strong palladium-support interaction and this was found to be crucial to the overall activity of the catalyst.