Comprehensive study on AOD trends over the Indian subcontinent: a statistical approach

Aerosol optical depth (AOD) trend analysis has been carried out using various statistical techniques over Indian sub-regions. AOD data acquired from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard Terra and Aqua satellites from January 2003 to December 2015 have been utilized in the present study. Mann–Kendall test, Spearman partial rank correlation (SPRC) test, Pearson test, t-test, linear regression analysis, and Sen’s slope estimate are performed on 13 years of AOD data to observe the trend over different Indian sub-regions. AOD trend is found to be positive (0.0035–0.0154 per year) over different Indian sub-regions indicating the enhanced level of suspended particles over the Indian subcontinent. All six methods are evaluated for trend detection using both satellite data. Linear regression and Sen’s slope test provide good estimate of slope values to observe the magnitude of AOD change per year. Mann–Kendall test, SPRC test, and Pearson test support the trends results obtained from linear regression and Sen’s slope estimate. So, these tests are preferable for the trend analyses.     

Influence of reading format on reading activity under uniaxial whole body vibration

In a railway vehicle, the vibrations are transmitted to the passengers through the various interfaces such as floor, seat, backrest etc. These vibrations affect the passenger comfort as well as their performance to do any work such as reading, writing, typing etc. In the present work, effects of vibration magnitude, direction of vibration, postures and reading formats have been studied on the reading activity. Thirty healthy male subjects have performed reading task, one at a time. All subjects were exposed to uni-axial whole body vibration in 1–20 Hz frequency range at 0.5, 1 and 1.5 m/s² rms vibration magnitude. The experimental task involved reading a paragraph under the different 54 experimental conditions (three magnitude, three direction, two posture and three reading format). The task performance has been evaluated in terms of time taken by the subjects to read a given paragraph and also the subjective evaluation of perceived difficulty on Borg's CR 10 scale. Perceived difficulty and performance degradation in reading have been found to increase with the increase in vibration magnitude in each direction of vibration. The perceived difficulty and performance degradation in reading have been observed to be higher in the fore-&-aft direction in with-backrest posture. In vertical and lateral vibration, perceived difficulty and performance degradation have been higher in without-backrest posture compare to with-backrest posture. The perceived difficulty and performance degradation have been lower for the triple-column format.     

Graph-theoretic quantum system modelling for information/computation processing circuits

This paper introduces graph-theoretic quantum system modelling (GTQSM), which is facilitated by considering the fundamental unit of quantum computation and information, viz. a quantum bit or qubit as a basic building block. Unit directional vectors ‘ket 0’ and ‘ket 1’ constitute two distinct fundamental quantum across variable orthonormal basis vectors (for the Hilbert space) specifying the direction of propagation, as it were, of information (or computation data) while complementary fundamental quantum through (flow rate) variables specify probability parameters (or amplitudes) as surrogates for scalar quantum information measure (von Neumann entropy). Applications of GTQSM are presented for quantum information/computation processing circuits ranging from a simple qubit and superposition or product of two qubits through controlled NOT and Hadamard gate operations to a substantive case of 3-port, 5-stage circuit for quantum teleportation. An illustrative circuit for teleporting a qubit is modelled as a complex ‘system of systems’ resulting in four probable transfer function models. It has the potential of extending the applications of GTQSM further to systems at the higher end of complexity scale too. The key contribution of this paper lies in generalization or extension of the graph-theoretic system modelling framework, hitherto used for classical (mostly deterministic) systems, to quantum random systems. Further extension of the graph-theoretic system modelling framework to quantum field modelling is the subject of future work.     

Capacity management and routing policies for voice over IP traffic

This article addresses the problem of designing capacity management and routing mechanisms to support telephony over an IP network. For this service, we propose two distinct architectural models. The first relies on enhancements to the basic IP infrastructure to support integrated service transport and QoS routing. The second assumes that the IP network can support an overlay virtual private network with dedicated capacity for the VoIP service, thereby allowing standard capacity management and routing mechanisms from circuit-switched networks to be reused. We evaluate the performance of these two architectural models and their-associated policies via simulations using configuration and usage data derived from operational networks     

Recovery and reuse of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> photocatalyst from aqueous suspension using plant based coagulant - A green approach

Separation of TiO₂ from aqueous suspension is a major constraint in heterogeneous photocatalytic water treatment. As an alternative for existing less effective immobilization techniques, the application of plant based coagulant for the recovery and reuse of TiO₂ was investigated for the first time. Aqueous extract derived from seeds of Strychnos potatorum was found to be an effective coagulant for the sedimentation of TiO₂. Further, the potential for recovery and reuse of the sedimented photocatalysts TiO₂, was investigated by photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B and terephthalic acid tests. The photocatalytic degradation experiments with recovered catalyst obey pseudo first-order kinetics with enhanced photocatalytic activity than that of the pure TiO₂. The investigation of recovered catalysts with XRD, BET, SEM etc., suggests that there is no change in surface and morphological properties when compared with pure TiO₂ and the recovered catalysts are highly suitable for recycle and reuse.     

SYNTHESIS,PURIFICATION, AND DERIVATIVE CHEMISTRY OF DIHEXYL-N,N-DIETHYLCARBAMOYLMETHYLPHOSPHONATE

Recently developed commercial scale synthesis of solvent extraction grade dihexyl-N,N-diethylcarbamoylmethylphosphonate ( DHDECMP ) is described. Identification and removal of impurities are discussed. Several new substituted derivatives of DHDECMP and its analogues are reported     

A PCR-based method for the detection of Streptococcus agalactiae in milk

Bovine mastitis caused by Streptococcus agalactiae is mainly subclinical and therefore can be diagnosed only in the laboratory. We developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method for specific and sensitive detection of S. agalactiae in raw milk. The specificity of the PCR reaction is based on unique S. agalactiae DNA sequences within the 16S subunit of the rRNA genes. Two pairs of sequences were used as positive controls; general streptococci primers, which anneal to conserved areas within the 16S rRNA subunit gene, and primers, which anneal to sequences within bovine mitochondrial DNA. The method of detection includes selective enrichment of S. agalactiae in the milk sample, followed by DNA extraction using a rapid and simple procedure developed for this purpose, and specific PCR reaction with appropriate controls. The method enables the detection of one bacterium in 1 ml of raw milk. The method developed can be easily incorporated as part of routine screening of bulk milk collection tanks for early detection of infected cows in a herd.     

血清白蛋白-铜酞菁纳米粒子用于线粒体靶向光疗

铜酞菁是一类具有优异光物理性质和良好光热稳定性的染料,在印染、太阳能电池、传感器等领域中应用广泛。血清白蛋白作为血液中主要的转运蛋白,常用于小分子和药物的负载和运输。通过牛血清白蛋白（BSA）和铜酞菁类染料（LGS-CuPc）的自组装,构建了LGS-CuPc-BSA纳米粒子（LGS-CuPc-BSA NPs）,研究了其作为光动力和光热一体化试剂在光疗中的作用。在671 nm光照下（800 mW·cm^-2）,LGS-CuPc-BSA NPs活性氧产率达到23.3%,光热转换效率为36.8%。与LGS-CuPc比较,LGS-CuPc-BSA NPs光动力和光热治疗效果明显提升,且表现出较低的细胞毒性、良好的生物相容性以及在肿瘤细胞线粒体的定位能力,实现对肿瘤细胞的有效杀伤。     

Influence of alkali on pyrolysis of coals

Pyrolysis of several Indian coals of different rank in the presence of NaOH showed that the best yield of hydrogen was obtained from medium rank (C, 83.5%) Poniati-Girimint coal. With this coal, other alkalis (Ca(OH)₂, CaCO₃, Na₂CO₃) gave much less hydrogen, but significantly more methane in the product gas.     

Survival of very young children with medulloblastoma (primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the posterior fossa) treated with craniospinal irradiation

We have previously shown that the ligand-binding activity of type II Fc receptor for IgG (FcgammaRIIB) on guinea pig peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes is very low and dramatically increases after treatment of the cells with proteolytic enzymes. In the present study, we analyzed the mechanism of this augmentation. We found that the protease treatment failed to enhance the binding of monomeric IgG to FcgammaRIIB, increased the binding of small immune complexes (IC) prepared under antigen-excess conditions only modestly, but markedly enhanced the binding of large IC prepared under antibody-excess conditions. These results suggest that proteolysis increases the ligand-binding avidity but not the intrinsic affinity of FcgammaRIIB. Confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed that the mobility of FcgammaRIIB on the cell surface was increased after protease treatment. In addition, transfection experiments indicated that the effect of proteolysis on IC binding to CHO cells expressing guinea pig FcgammaRIIB was strongly dependent on the receptor density. Finally, we demonstrated that the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of FcgammaRIIB were not involved in the proteolysis-induced augmentation of IC binding. Together our results suggest that the mobility of FcgammaRIIB, which may be restricted due to the association of the ectodomain of the receptor with unknown membrane proteins, is enhanced by proteolysis, allowing the receptors to bind multivalent ligands more readily and hence with higher avidity.