Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles by petals extract of Rosa indica L., its formulation as nail paint and evaluation of antifungal activity against fungi causing onychomycosis

Aim: The authors report the biological synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO‐NPs) from the petals extract of Rosa indica L. (rose). Its efficacy was evaluated against two dermatophytes: namely: Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Microsporum canis which cause onychomycosis. The activity of antibiotics against the tested dermatophytes was enhanced, when evaluated in combination with ZnO‐NPs. Methods and results: The synthesised ZnO‐NPs were preliminary detected by using ultraviolet UV visible spectroscopy, which showed specific absorbance. The ZnO‐NPs were further characterised by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X‐ray diffraction and Zetasizer. Moreover, nanoparticles containing nail paint (nanopaint) was formulated and its antifungal activity was also assessed against T. mentagrophytes and M. canis. ZnO‐NPs and formulated nanopaint containing ZnO‐NPs, both showed significant antifungal activity. The maximum activity was noted against M. canis and lesser against T. mentagrophytes. Minimum inhibitory concentration of ZnO‐NPs was also determined against the dermatophytes causing onychomycosis infection. Conclusion: ZnO‐NPs can be utilised as a potential antifungal agent for the treatment of onychomycosis after more experimental trials.Inspec keywords: diseases, zinc compounds, nanoparticles, nanofabrication, antibacterial activity, microorganisms, nanomedicine, ultraviolet spectra, visible spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectra, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, biomedical materials, patient treatmentOther keywords: zinc oxide nanoparticle biosynthesis, Rosa indica L petals extract, nail paint, antifungal activity evaluation, dermatophyte, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum canis, antibiotics activity, ultraviolet‐visible spectroscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, zetasizer, antifungal agent, onychomycosis treatment     

Identifying factors causing cost overrun of the construction projects in India

Delay and cost overrun are common phenomena in projects worldwide. However, these are especially severe in developing countries. In India as per MOSPI report, 235 projects out of 410 were severely affected cost overrun due to certain factors. A short questionnaire was conducted with 15 prominent factors responsible for cost overrun and forwarded to 190 constructional professionals across India. Total 85 responses were received and it was analyzed using various statistical tools such as analysis of variance (ANOVA) and factor analysis tool using SPSS. In this study, top three factors affecting cost overruns were identified such as price escalation of raw material, delay in planned activity and lack of co-ordination between construction parties which could be significantly responsible for cost overnun of construction project in India. Factor analysis method was also carried out to group the factors into three components of overall questionnaire. These components, such as client control component, project management component, and contractor control component, would be useful to the various parties involved in the construction activities. This paper also provides suggestive frameworks which have been framed after discussing with large number of construction professionals or expert.     

Development of real-time reference evapotranspiration at the regional scale using satellite-based observations

Real-time data of reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) at different space-time scales are essential to regional agricultural drought assessment, water accounting at the watershed to basin scale, and provide irrigation advisory to farmers. Here, we present a data-fusion approach that integrates satellite-based insolation product (8 km) from an Indian geostationary satellite (Kalpana-1) sensor (VHRR; Very High Resolution Radiometer) and high-resolution (~ 5 km) short-range weather forecast into an FAO56 model based on the classical Penman–Monteith (P-M) formulation. Five year (2009–2013) mean monthly estimates from the daily ET₀ product over the Indian landmass were found to vary between 10 and 350 mm. It increased from January to May (70–350 mm), followed by a decrease to reach the lowest in November (10–140 mm), thus typically showing unimodal distribution. The comparison of daily space-based and station-based estimates (at six ground stations) produced a root mean square deviation (RMSD) ranging from 21% to 38% for 977 paired data sets with the correlation coefficient (r) varying from 0.32 to 0.82. The error was reduced from 25% to 10% with an increase in ‘r’ from 0.43 to 0.98 for daily to 10 day summation period. Spatial grid-to-grid comparison of monthly ET₀ estimates with Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) potential evapotranspiration (PET) showed RMSD within a range of 1.4–18.4% for most of the months, except for two. Further ET₀ analysis over normal and drought years showed that it could be used for comprehensive drought assessment with other existing indicators.     

Segregation and intermixing in polydisperse liquid–solid fluidized beds: A multifluid model validation study

Multifluid model (MFM) simulations have been carried out on liquid–solid fluidized beds (LSFB) consisting of binary and higher-order polydisperse particle mixtures. The role of particle–particle interactions was found to be as crucial as the drag force under laminar and homogenous LSFB flow regimes. The commonly used particle–particle closure models are designed for turbulent and heterogeneous gas–solid flow regimes and thus exhibit limited to no success when implemented for LSFB operating under laminar and homogenous conditions. A need is perceived to carry out direct numerical simulations of liquid–solid flows and extract data from them to develop rational closure terms to account for the physics of LSFB. Finally, a recommendation flow regime map signifying the performance of the MFM has been proposed. This map will act as a potential guideline to identify whether or not the bed expansion characteristics of a given polydisperse LSFB can be correctly simulated using MFM closures tested.     

Synthesis of visible light-active nanostructured TiOx (x < 2) photocatalysts in a flame aerosol reactor

Titanium dioxide is a wide band gap (3.2 eV) semiconductor which is photo-active when irradiated with UV light. For wider scale use of TiO₂ as a photocatalyst, its activity needs to be extended to the visible light region (constituting 45% of total incident solar energy). A diffusion flame aerosol reactor (FLAR) with an oxygen lean environment in the particle formation zone has been used to synthesize oxygen deficient titanium suboxide (TiO_x with x < 2) nanoparticles. Using a standard-based electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) technique, the non-stoichiometry (x in TiO_x) in the flame synthesized particles has been quantified with high accuracy (uncertainty less than 3%). Under an oxygen lean environment in the particle formation zone, the non-stoichiometry in the TiO_x particles is a function of the flame temperature. The value of x in the flame synthesized TiO_x nanoparticles is in the range of 1.88 < x < 1.94. Diffuse reflectance spectra confirmed that the oxygen deficient TiO_x particles absorbed visible light. Visible light activity of the TiO_x particles is demonstrated by photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange solution under visible light illumination.     

Analysis of different configurations of flat plate water collectors connected in series

This paper presents the analytical study of flat plate collector based on the computer‐based thermal models considering two different cases, case A (fully covered by glass) and case B (fully covered by photovoltaic (PV) module). These models are developed based on energy balance equations. An analytical expression for characteristic equation for photovoltaic–thermal flat plate collector has been derived as a function of design and climatic parameters. This paper shows the detailed analysis of energy, exergy and electrical energy by varying the number of collectors by considering four weather conditions (A, B, C and D type) for five different cities (New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Srinagar and Jodhpur) of India. It is observed that the collectors fully covered by PV module combine the production of hot water in addition to electricity generation and it is beneficial in terms of exergy, thermal energy and electrical energy gain. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Incidence and genetic variability of Listeria species from three milk processing plants

The presence of Listeria in three milk processing environments as a potential source of milk contamination was assessed. Swab samples (n = 210) taken from milk processing plants were examined. Sample sites included the milk processing equipment, besides areas handling raw and pasteurized milk. The USDA Listeria-selective enrichment procedure was used to process the samples. Forty one (19.52%) Listeria isolates were recovered. The isolates were further subjected to biochemical and genotypic characterization. Out of 41 isolates, 16 (7.62%) were confirmed as Listeria monocytogenes, 2 (0.95%) as L. ivanovii, 19 (9.05%) as L. innocua. 1 (0.48%) as L. seeligeri and 3 (1.43%) as L. grayi. All the L. monocytogenes isolates were positive for the hlyA gene. PCR based serotyping revealed all L. monocytogenes to be of 1/2a, 1/2c, 3a and 3c serovar group. AscI and ApaI restriction analysis yielded four PFGE clusters for 16 L. monocytogenes isolates obtained from raw milk collector, milk silos, buttermilk mixer, cheese and other milk product processor. No predominant PFGE cluster was observed among these L. monocytogenes isolates. The main sources of L. monocytogenes were found to be raw milk collector and milk silos. In the present study L. monocytogenes was isolated from milk and milk products processing plants which could cross-contaminate the processed products and may possess a potential threat to public health.     

Exploring Blockchain and Smart Contract Technology for Reliable and Secure Land Registration and Record Management

The most significant issue in the government registry department is the duplicate registry of land in the current scenario. These kinds of problems are increasing day by day by day, which necessitates the advancement of the existing registry process system. It is a manual process that a typical stamp-based or newly not secure online process (only a few places). Use of a manual process, there are many issues in the duplicate registry of a particular land. The final registry, where the landlord has a stamp paper copy and sale deed or a specific number of the property. One receipt copy at the land registry department for their record. Blockchain has emerged as a new technology to resolve or handle the above-said issue of the current system, a distributed ledger that is a timestamp and immutable. Being immutable, forgeries related to the particular land during the registry are not allowed. This concept provides trust and consensus among all entities in the network or system. In this paper, we propose a framework for automated maintains a record of registry papers. This framework will also resolve the most effort to loan clearance operations and provide transparency in government e-governance. The system handled by the blockchain network, instead of existing typical manual processor online registry record maintain the process, it includes: An authentication scheme at multiple levels to make the blockchain-based framework secure, a quick verification for all the stack holders (bank, registry department, buyer, and seller), and apply Smart Contract to automate check the loan process as government norms and facilitate buyer and seller selling and purchase. The obtained consequences are examined against the latest approaches to indicate the supremacy of the proposed framework and provide transparent, accountable, incoherent data with the different government departments.

     

Risk Based Analysis for Contamination Event Selection and Optimal Sensor Placement for Intermittent Water Distribution Network Security

Water distribution networks are vulnerable to various contamination events that may be accidental or purposeful. Sensors are required for online monitoring of water quality to safeguard human health. Since sensors are costly, their numbers must be limited that makes sensor locations crucial in the water monitoring system. This paper aims at location of sensors in intermittent water distribution system which are more prone to accidental contamination due to contaminants ingress into the pipe lines because of low pressures during non supply hours. Considering deployment of limited number of sensors, the novelty of the paper is to propose a methodology for selection of contamination events with associated risk to be used in design of sensor network. Integrated risk assessment model is used to identify risk prone areas that may lead to possible contamination events. A Genetic Algorithm based methodology is suggested for optimal location of water quality sensors to maximize the detection likelihood of the contamination events within the acceptable time from the risk prone areas to improve network security. A comparison of sensor network design is made by considering contamination events occurring with: (i) equal probability at all the nodes; (ii) equal probability at risk prone nodes; and (iii) probability of occurrences based on quantified risk, to show that identification of risk prone areas and selection of contamination events results in reduction of computational work and more sensible placement of sensors.