Environment-Friendly Synergistic Abiotic Stress for Enhancing the Yield of Lipids from Oleaginous Yeasts

The microbial lipids isolated from oleaginous yeasts are a potential alternative to tree borne oils. There is a need to optimize and enhance the production of lipid by various stress approaches. In the present study, yeasts are subjected to physico-chemical stresses, and growth, as well as lipid concentration at different time intervals are monitored. It is found that the nanoparticles (NP) such as Ag-NP and Zn-NP have an inhibitory effect on yeast growth. Most yeast strains show an increase in growth and lipid accumulation when ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate) ([EMIM][OAc]) and table salt (NaCl) stress are applied. Lipid is chemically characterized using gas chromatography furnished with flame ionization detector (GC-FID), GC/MS, and NMR techniques. It contains a higher percentage of saturated fatty acids (SFA: 74.3%), monounsaturated fatty acids (19.1%) with low amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids (1.9%). The thermo-stability study reveals that the lipid have higher volatility (380–410 °C) as closely compared with coconut oil, and much lower with respect to the winged bean oil (430–470 °C). The melting point of the lipids (37 °C) is determined through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The DSC and physico-chemical properties are supported that the yeast lipids may use as a cocoa-butter substitute. Production of lipid under NaCl stress (200 × 10⁻³ m ) is more than 60.4% higher as compared to the control. However, the combined stress effect of NaCl (200 × 10⁻³ m ) and 15 × 10⁻³ m of [EMIM][OAc] results in more than 96.4% yield of lipid. The exchange of inorganic and organic ions in combined treatment forces the microbial cells to accumulate more amounts of lipid, which may form a lipid-emulsion layer to protect the cell from osmosis. It is interestingly observed that the stress cells shift the flux to accumulate a significantly improved percentage of SFA, which could be provided better protection cover due to its expanded structure, less reactive characteristics, and completely insoluble nature in ionic-aqueous solvent. Practical applications: Oleaginous yeast is multiplied in a very limited space, and easily scalable for sustainable production of lipid to meet its commercial demand. This novel approach for enhancing the yield of lipid with the application of synergistic stress in between NaCl and the green solvent (ionic liquid) is being reported for the first time. This lipid has potential alternative applications as cocoa-butter.     

Diffusion-based microalloying of aluminium alloys by powder metallurgy and reaction sintering

A diffusion-based technique of microalloying aluminium powder metallurgy products was examined to expand the range of feasible alloying additions. Thermodynamic calculations and diffusion rates for several elements suggested that tin and silver were the most promising; these elements were successfully alloyed into AA 2014 on both a macroscopic and a microscopic scale. The final microstructures were examined using X-ray diffraction, X-ray mapping and energy-dispersive electron probe microanalysis. Silver additions were homogeneous throughout the alloy microstructure, whereas tin was concentrated in intergranular regions only. The results suggested that the technique was viable for a variety of microalloying elements. Also, the extent of alloying was predicted reasonably well using a mathematical mass balance model.     

Effect of Grain Size on the Weldability of Cast Alloy 718

Electron beam welding was conducted on cast alloy 718 with varying grain sizes obtained using Microcast (MX™) and conventional cast (CC) techniques. The average value per section of Total Crack Length (Av. TCL) was measured on each cross section and used to represent the material's weldability. It was found for the first time that the grain size had a reduced effect on the weldability of cast alloys, relative to that reported in the literature for wrought alloys; i.e., increased grain size in the range of 90-3000 microns resulted in improved weldability. This was determined to be related to the probability of welds intersecting grain boundaries and causing grain boundary microfissuring. The conclusion from the experimental analysis is corroborated by the use of a Weibull-type analysis to evaluate the probability of a weld microfissure occurring relative to the grain size. As grain size increases, the probability of the weld intersecting the grains is reduced, and thus, the likelihood of microfissuring is reduced. With regard to a single crystal, there are no grain boundaries intercepting the weld (probability = 0), and thus, microfissuring related to constitutional liquation of primary carbides, or segregation of species to grain boundaries would not occur.     

All Slot-Die Coated Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells with PCE 11%

Slot-die (SD) coating is used to fabricate fully solution processed organic solar cells (OSCs) based on a blend of high performance donor polymer (PTB7-Th) and a non-fullerene acceptor (IEICO-4F) for stable devices over extended periods of operation. The optimization of a sequential deposition process of transport and active layers, under ambient conditions, enable high efficiency slot-die coated solar cells with remarkable power conversion efficiencies (PCE) > 11.0% to bridge the gap between lab-to-fab. Fully slot-die coated inverted OSCs are demonstrated with efficiencies reaching 11% along with 1 cm² devices, proving the scalability and reproducibility of the proposed technique. Further, replacing the evaporated Ag electrode with solution processed Ag nanowire (AgNW) electrodes shows the highest light utilization efficiency of 5.26% for semi-transparent OSC with a PCE of 9.07% and average visible transmission of 58%.     

Extra-relativistic effects and the Chandrasekhar limit

We endeavor to take into account the extra-relativistic effects in the mass-energy relation due to Einstein. We consider a modified mass-energy relation and consequently find a strict bound on the Chandrasekhar limit for a white dwarf star. We find that the said limit gets modified to a certain extent, and we have been able to find the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star.     

Kinetics of precipitation in Al-1 wt% Mn alloy

Precipitation kinetics in high purity Al-10 wt% Mn alloy has been investigated during the early stages of isothermal annealing between 823 and 698 K by resistivity measurements. Aged specimens were also examined by transmission electron microscopy. The precipitation kinetics can be represented by an Avrami type equation with the time exponentn=2/3 during the early stages of annealing. This can be attributed to the nucleation and growth of fiat needle-like precipitates on dislocations. The precipitates were Al₆ Mn at 773 K and the metastable G₂ -phase at 773 K. After prolonged annealing times at 848 K, isometric plates of Al₆Mn were also observed and the value ofn was found to be 1.0. However, at 698 K after longer annealing times, isometric needles of Al₁₂Mn, G-phase were observed along with flat needles of G₂ precipitate. At 698 K, the value ofn tends to decrease with time from 0.67 to 0.59.     

Storage of surface flows through groundwater recharge

The Ganga basin in India has a serious problem of water availability. The basin, which is only one twelfth of the United States in area, has a population greater than the totalus population, and is increasing at a rate of 2·5% per annum. About 77% of the population is engaged in agriculture which is totally dependent on irrigation, as almost 85% of the rainfall comes down in 2–3 monsoon months. Surface storage possibility is extremely limited, but groundwater recharge appears feasible, since sedimentary alluvial formations extend to depths of thousands of metres. Three alternative schemes of groundwater recharge have been proposed. One involves pumping heavily along perennial rivers prior to the monsoon so as to lower the water-table and promote induced groundwater recharge. The second proposes a similar approach along nonperennial rivers. The third involves irrigation during the monsoon with groundwater lowered adequately in the non-monsoon period so that enough induced groundwater recharge takes place to provide adequate supplies for non-monsoon months. A simulation-optimization model has been developed to study the surface flow-groundwater interaction and has been applied to study comparative cost effectiveness of the three alternate approaches. Sensitivity analysis has also been carried out. It is shown that the third scheme is the most attractive.     

A family of ISI-free polynomial pulses

A family of ISI free polynomial pulses that can have an asymptotic decay rate of t/sup -k/ for any integer value of k has been proposed. The proposed family provides flexibility in designing bandlimited pulses in accordance with the desired application, even after the roll-off factor /spl alpha/ has been chosen. Pulses obtained from this family have been found to be better than the currently known good pulses.     

Elimination of current non-uniformity in carbon nanotube field emitters

Activation of abnormal emitting sites in Carbon Nano Tube (CNT) field emitters and their elimination is reported. CVD grown, patterned CNT was used as cathode for field emission studies. We encountered the problem of current non-uniformity in CNT cathode. This non-uniformity was attributed to abnormally active emitting sites during voltage ramp-up. The sudden increase in current resulted in region of positive slope in F–N curve, which can’t be explained by conventional F–N theory. Also the grown CNTs can be a mixture of metallic and semi conducting nature, which may cause deviation from the conventional F–N theory. We could eliminate abnormally active sites by electric field treatment, thereby increasing current uniformity and stability. The work is underway to understand the deviation in FN curve at high fields.