Comparison of Different Mass Spectrometry Workflows for the Proteomic Analysis of Tear Fluid

The tear film is a multi-layer fluid that covers the corneal and conjunctival epithelia of the eye and provides lubrication, nutrients, and protection from the outside environment. Tear fluid contains a high concentration of proteins and has thus been recognized as a potential source of biomarkers for ocular disorders due to its proximity to disease sites on the ocular surface and the non-invasive nature of its collection. This is particularly true in the case of dry eye disease, which directly impacts the tear film and its components. Proteomic analysis of tear fluid is challenging mainly due to the wide dynamic range of proteins and the small sample volumes. However, recent advancements in mass spectrometry have revolutionized the field of proteomics enabling unprecedented depth, speed, and accuracy, even with small sample volumes. In this study using the Orbitrap Fusion Tribrid mass spectrometer, we compared four different mass spectrometry workflows for the proteomic analysis of tear fluid collected via Schirmer strips. We were able to establish a method of in-strip protein digestion that identified >3000 proteins in human tear samples from 11 healthy subjects. Our method offers a significant improvement in the number of proteins identified compared to previously reported methods without pooling samples.     

Unique Physico-chemical Properties of Sal (Shorea robusta) Starch

Starch from sal seeds cake was isolated, bleached and purified. Scanning electron microscopy of the starch showed round to oval shaped granules of the size 3.5 to 12.3 μm. The starch has more nitrogen, phosphorus, lipids, amylose and water binding capacity in comparison to the other starches of forest origin. Despite its low and seemingly restricted swelling, the sal starch is much more soluble at any particular degree of swelling. Paste viscosity curve showed no drop in viscosity after full gelatinisation had taken place, i. e. the paste is stable on continued cooking.     

Thermal dispersion effect on MHD flow of dusty gas and dust particles through hexagonal channel

In the field of dynamics for a dusty fluid, the volume of the dust particles and flow behaviour of particles in different conditions is very important in engineering problems such as atmospheric fallout, nuclear reactor, powder technology, performance of solid fuel rocket nozzles, air craft icing and so many others. An analysis is presented in this paper to study the effects of thermal dispersion and Viscous dissipation on unsteady flow of a viscous incompressible dusty gas through a hexagonal channel of uniform cross section under the influence of magnetic field and time dependent pressure gradient. The results show the change in velocity profile of gas and particles in the presence of magnetic field with time, thermal dispersion and volume fraction φ.     

Evidence of low-symmetry phases in pressure-dependent Raman spectroscopic study of BaTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript>

In the earlier pressure-dependent Raman spectroscopic studies, it has been reported that BaTiO₃ undergoes a tetragonal to cubic phase transition above ~ 2 GPa, whereas pressure-dependent X-ray absorption, X-ray diffuse scattering studies and pair distribution function studies have reported the presence of a low-symmetry rhombohedral phase above ~ 2.3 GPa. In this report, we present our pressure-dependent Raman spectroscopic studies on polycrystalline BaTiO₃ which shows that it first undergoes a transition from tetragonal to orthorhombic/rhombohedral phase above ~ 2.6 GPa and then finally goes to the cubic phase above 8.4 GPa. Pressure-dependent synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SXRD) studies have also been carried out that provided rate of change of volume as a function of pressure resulting in bulk modulus of 215 ± 9 GPa.     

Secure Key Agreement with Rekeying Using FLSO Routing Protocol in Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless Personal Communications - A challenge in wireless sensor network (WSN) is to design an energy efficient and secure network protocol because sensors are the wireless device with limited...     

Impulse Pressure Assisted Diffusion Bonding of Low Carbon Steel Using Silver Interlayer

In the present study, impulse pressure assisted diffusion bonding of low carbon steel was carried out using silver interlayer. To study the influence of input process parameters namely bonding temperature (T), maximum pulse pressure (P), and number of pulses (N), experiments of diffusion bonding were conducted according to the Taguchi L9 orthogonal array. To reveal the typical bond interface characteristics, selected samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The EDS analysis revealed a diffusion affected zone at the interface due to the diffusion of silver and iron across the interface. Lap joints were developed to measure the shear strength of the diffusion bonds. The optimum level of bonding temperature, maximum pulse pressure and number of pulses (875 °C, 10 MPa and 10 pulses) were identified. The ANOVA results indicated that bonding temperature had the highest statistical effect of 66.37% on shear strength followed by number of pulses and maximum pulse pressure. The fracture surface of the lap joints was also examined by FESEM and X-ray diffraction analysis.     

Land surface deformation parameter estimation using persistent scatterer interferometry approach in an underground metal mining environment

Persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) is a major advancement in radar interferometry for detecting and monitoring land deformation. PSI is the most advanced class of differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) techniques. The technique conquers the main drawbacks of the conventional DInSAR technique by identifying radar targets having stable backscattering characteristics in time. These targets are termed as persistent scatterers (PSs). The higher the number of PSs for a study area the higher the accuracy of the results will be, which is most common for deformation analysis in urban areas. However, for non-urban or highly de-correlated areas, PSs density collapses significantly, which needs to increase for optimal results. For this purpose, partially coherent/distributed scatterers (DSs) are being exploited in addition to the PSs. The field surface of this study is one of the copper-rich mining belts in India, which consists of two major underground metal mines. Scatterer characterziation of the field surface under study suggests that most of the scatterers are DSs and very few scatterers under the influence of the mining zone are PSs. In addition to this, a preliminary investigation of deformation characteristics of the field surface under study reveals that the spatial extent of deformation is small/localized along with slow and non-linear deformation. Keeping in view scatterer and deformation characteristics of the field surface under study, in this research paper, a Quasi-Persistent Scatterer based PSI approach has been applied using high-resolution TerraSAR-X interferometric data stack (10 images) to generate deformation time series and deformation velocity. Furthermore, results obtained from the applied PSI approach and ground-based observations (using GNSS) have shown good agreement with each other, in the order of ?5.20?mm/year (LOS) and ?5.38?mm/year (subsiding), respectively.     

Three-tier neural model for service provisioning over collaborative flying ad hoc networks

Neural Computing and Applications - Collaboration among different ad hoc networks allows the formation of efficient guided networks. One of the such collaborative networks is formed between aerial...     

Effects of Post-Weld Heat Treatment on the Microstructure and Toughness of Flash Butt Welded High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - Effect of post-weld heat treatment on the weld microstructure, texture, and its correlation to the toughness of flash butt welded joints were...