A green chemistry approach for synthesizing biocompatible gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are a fascinating class of nanomaterial that can be used for a wide range of biomedical applications, including bio-imaging, lateral flow assays, environmental detection and purification, data storage, drug delivery, biomarkers, catalysis, chemical sensors, and DNA detection. Biological synthesis of nanoparticles appears to be simple, cost-effective, non-toxic, and easy to use for controlling size, shape, and stability, which is unlike the chemically synthesized nanoparticles. The aim of this study was to synthesize homogeneous AuNPs using pharmaceutically important Ganoderma spp. We developed a simple, non-toxic, and green method for water-soluble AuNP synthesis by treating gold (III) chloride trihydrate (HAuCl₄) with a hot aqueous extract of the Ganoderma spp. mycelia. The formation of biologically synthesized AuNPs (bio-AuNPs) was characterized by ultraviolet (UV)-visible absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, the biocompatibility of as-prepared AuNPs was evaluated using a series of assays, such as cell viability, lactate dehydrogenase leakage, and reactive oxygen species generation (ROS) in human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231). The color change of the solution from yellow to reddish pink and strong surface plasmon resonance were observed at 520 nm using UV-visible spectroscopy, and that indicated the formation of AuNPs. DLS analysis revealed the size distribution of AuNPs in liquid solution, and the average size of AuNPs was 20 nm. The size and morphology of AuNPs were investigated using TEM. The biocompatibility effect of as-prepared AuNPs was investigated in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells by using various concentrations of AuNPs (10 to 100 μM) for 24 h. Our findings suggest that AuNPs are non-cytotoxic and biocompatible. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to describe the synthesis of monodispersed, biocompatible, and soluble AuNPs with an average size of 20 nm using Ganoderma spp. This study opens up new possibilities of using an inexpensive and non-toxic mushroom extract as a reducing and stabilizing agent for the synthesis of size-controlled, large-scale, biocompatible, and monodispersed AuNPs, which may have future diagnostic and therapeutic applications.     

Optimization techniques for machining operations: a retrospective research based on various mathematical models

Simulated annealing, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization techniques have been used for exploring optimal machining parameters for single pass turning operation, multi-pass turning operation, and surface grinding operation. The behavior of optimization techniques are studied based on various mathematical models. The objective functions of the various mathematical models are distinctly different from each other. The most affecting machining parameters are considered as cutting speed, feed, and depth of cut. Physical constraints are speed, feed, depth of cut, power limitation, surface roughness, temperature, and cutting force.     

Integration of fuzzy logic with response surface methodology for thrust force and surface roughness modeling of drilling on titanium alloy

In recent years, a lot of extensive research work has been carried out in drilling operations for achieving better hole quality. Drilling operation is one of the machining processes, and it widely used in aeronautical and automotive industries for assembling the parts. The surface roughness is one of the significant factors in drilling operation because the poor surface finish will affect the material condition during the assembly. The spindle speed and feed rate are the important factors to affect the surface finish. In addition, the detailed analysis of the thrust force is also to be investigated for characterizing the cutting process. However, for examining the machining characteristics more trial runs are required, and it increases the time and cost of the experiment. In this paper, the integration of fuzzy logic (FL) with response surface methodology (RSM) has been introduced to reduce the cost and the time consumption for investigation. The low, middle, and upper levels of spindle speed with low and upper levels of feed rate combinations were examined on cutting force and surface finish through the experimental setup with the systematic manner. The FL model for thrust force and surface finish were obtained from the collected experimental data. The FL model has developed another two combinations of data without experimentation through universal partitioning. The results show that the predicted FL values are within the range of experimental value. Therefore, the FL model values were selected for further investigation with RSM. The result of FL-RSM model values are also within the range of experimental value. The proposed FL-RSM model and FL model are validated with experimental results. Finally, the validated results show that hybrid FL-RSM produces the effective output than the FL model.     

In Vitro Study of Hydroxyapatite Coatings on Fibrin Functionalized/Pristine Graphene Oxide for Bone Grafting

Fibrin functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) and graphene oxide (GO) were used as nucleation sites for the growth of hydroxyapatite (HA). The growth of HA on GO/FGO was done by wet precipitation method, and they were characterized for their physicochemical properties. Cytotoxicity was confirmed by reactive oxygen species assay and cell viability assay; alkaline phosphatase assay, alizarin red test, and protein expression studies showed that FGHA was an excellent composite for osteoblast cell growth and maturation. Alamar blue assay was used to study the enzymatically degraded cytocompatibility of enzymatically degraded components. Results proved that FGHA might be tried as an osteoinductive material, in orthopedic defects.     

Collaboration of Trusted Node and QoS Based Energy Multi Path Routing Protocol for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

In the recent past information transmission through the vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) playing a vital role due to increase in accident statistics. There are numerous networking and VANET protocols helpful to control the trust while transmitting the data from source to destination nodes in traffic environment. In spite of many existing protocols for analyzing the trust in the network, the challenge of routing overhead, high energy consumption and malicious attacks issues still continue in the communication. This research introduces the trust collaboration nodes and Quality of Service (QoS) with energy multipath routing protocol for transmitting the information through VANET. Initially, the trusted nodes have been collected for analyzing the neighbouring nodes and the information are transmitted using the proposed QoS based energy efficient multipath routing protocol. During this transmission, the multi path protocol eliminates the intermediate attacks effectively when compared with the other existing protocols. The Proposed protocol maintains the QoS while routing the information from source to destination and further the efficiency has been analyzed through simulation experiments and Montgomery multiplier based Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) will be used in future for better security and privacy.     

Selective interference alignment and neutralization in coordinated multipoint using multiuser MIMO

In wireless communication, the concept of coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission is more attractive, and it transpired the notion based on interference management techniques. Interference alignment (IA) and interference neutralization (IN) methods can substantially align and neutralize the interference signals. The existing work in the CoMP transmission using multiuser multi-input and multi-output (MU-MIMO) had long-held problems such as specific limit of intercell (ICI) and cochannel interference (CCI) cancelation that contain low performance in cell-edge users. The proposed framework of the transmission signal in selective interference alignment and neutralization (SIAN) CoMP MU-MIMO system transmits multiple data streams in multipath by using downlink coordination between base stations and receiver side. This work contributes the individual perspectives to implement the IA and IN to align and cancel the interfered signals at the receiver side. Once the perspectives mentioned above are executed, zero-forcing (ZF) and rechanneling filter are applied on the receiver side to eliminate residual ICI. In addition, spectral efficiency significantly improves the achievable data rate and enhances the performance of cell-edge users and reduces the CCI at the receiver side. Furthermore, the antenna configuration signals are decoded to get the exact version of interference-free signals with null path loss of signal transmission. The effectiveness of the proposed framework analyzes and verifies the numerical evaluation of the achievable degree of freedom. Finally, the simulation demonstrates the comparison of the proposed CoMP scheme with MIMO ZF and non-CoMP schemes, which significantly improve the performance of spectral efficiency for cell-edge users.     

Recent Progress in Synthesis and Application of Biomass-Based Hybrid Electrodes for Rechargeable Batteries

The rapid growth in electronic and portable devices demands safe, durable, light weight, low cost, high energy, and power density electrode materials for rechargeable batteries. In this context, biomass-based materials and their hybrids are extensively used for energy generation research, which is primarily due to their properties such as large specific surface area, fast ion/electron kinetics, restricted volume expansion, and restrained shuttle effect. In this review, the key advancements in the preparation of biomass derived porous carbons using different synthesis strategies and their modifications with species such as heteroatoms, metal oxides, metal sulfides, silicon, and other carbon forms are discussed. The electrochemical performances of these materials and the ion storage mechanisms in different batteries including lithium-ion, lithium–sulfur, sodium-ion, and potassium-ion batteries are discussed. Special attention will be paid to the challenges in using porous biomass-derived carbons and the current strategies employed for maximizing the specific capacity and lifetime for battery applications. Finally, the drawbacks in current technology and endeavors for the future research and development in the field to catapult the performances of the biomass derived materials in order to equip them to meet the demands of commercialization are highlighted.     

Covariance matrix adapted evolution strategy algorithm-based solution to dynamic economic dispatch problems

This article presents a covariance matrix adapted evolution strategy (CMAES) algorithm to solve dynamic economic dispatch (DED) problems. The DED is an extension of the conventional economic dispatch problem, in which optimal settings of generator units are determined with a predicted load demand over a period of time. In this article, the applicability and validity of the CMAES algorithm is demonstrated on three DED test systems with a sequential decomposition approach. The results obtained using the CMAES algorithm are compared with results obtained using the real-coded genetic algorithm, the Nelder–Mead simplex method, and other methods from the literature. To compare the performance of the various algorithms, statistical measures like best, mean, worst, standard deviation, and mean computation time over 20 independent runs are taken. The effect of population size on the performance of the CMAES algorithm is also investigated. The simulation experiments reveal that the CMAES algorithm performs better in terms of fuel cost and solution consistency. Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions are applied to the solutions obtained using the CMAES algorithm to verify optimality. It is found that the obtained results satisfy the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions and confirm optimality.     

Facile synthesis of electrospun C@NiO/Ni nanofibers as an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is considered to be one of the most important electrochemical reactions from both fundamental and application perspective to produce hydrogen. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon (C)@NiO/Ni nanofibers were fabricated via simple electrospinning method. The as-prepared C@NiO/Ni nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectra. The SEM and TEM analyses revealed that NiO/Ni nanoparticles distributed on the PAN based carbon nanofibers. EDS, XPS and XRD results confirm the presence of the nanoparticles. The catalytic activity and durability of C@NiO/Ni nanofibers containing different weight ratio of Ni salt content (2%, 3%, & 4%) were examined for HER in 1 M KOH solution. It has been observed that C@NiO/Ni nanofibers containing Ni content (4%) showed the highest catalytic activity. It indicates that the catalytic activity of electrocatalyst can be enhanced by increasing the effective active sites. Noteworthy to mention here that the nanofibers catalyst reached a current density of 60 mA/cm². The as-prepared catalyst showed remarkable stability up to 22 h and retained 99% of its initial activity even after 16 h of reaction.     

An Update on Potential Perspectives of Glucosinolates on Protection against Microbial Pathogens and Endocrine Dysfunctions in Humans

Glucosinolates are the major bioactive secondary metabolites found in the Brassicaceae family and studied extensively in biosynthetic and application perspectives. Because of their potential applications in the welfare of plants (protection against plant pathogens) and human life (prevention of cancer and other diseases), these compounds attracted much interest in the scientific community. In this review, we presented updates on glucosinolate derivatives in protection against microbial pathogens and endocrine related diseases in human. Further, the mechanism of action of glucosinolate derivatives and the strategies to improve their efficiency through modern approaches were discussed. Finally, the genetic enrichment of their contents in plant systems has also been discussed.