ABC transporters Cdr1p, Cdr2p and Cdr3p of a human pathogen Candida albicans are general phospholipid translocators

We have used fluorescent 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl (NBD)-tagged phospholipid analogues, NBD-PE (phosphatidylethanolamine), NBD-PC (phosphatidylcholine) and NBD-PS (phosphatidylserine), to demonstrate that Cdr1p and its other homologues, Cdr2p and Cdr3p, belonging to the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily behave as general phospholipid translocators. Interestingly, CDR1 and CDR2, whose overexpression leads to azole resistance in C. albicans, elicit in-to-out transbilayer phospholipid movement, while CDR3, which is not involved in drug resistance, carries out-to-in translocation of phospholipids between the two monolayers of plasma membrane. Cdr1p, Cdr2p and Cdr3p could be further distinguished on the basis of their sensitivities to different inhibitors. For example, the in-to-out activity associated with Cdr1p and Cdr2p is energy-dependent and sensitive to sulphydryl blocking agents such as N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) and cytoskeleton disrupting agent cytochalasin E, while Cdr3p-associated out-to-in activity is energy-dependent but insensitive to NEM and cytochalasin E. We found that certain drugs, such as fluconazole, cycloheximide and miconazole, to which Cdr1p confers resistance could also affect in-to-out transbilayer movement of NBD-PE, while the same drugs had no effect on Cdr3p-mediated out-to-in translocation of NBD-PE. The ineffectiveness of these drugs to affect Cdr3p mediated out-to-in phospholipid translocation further confirms the inherent difference in the directionality of phospholipid translocation between these pumps. Notwithstanding the role of some of the Cdrps in drug resistance, this study clearly demonstrates that these ABC transporters of C. albicans are phospholipid translocators and this function could represent one of the physiological functions of such large family of proteins.     

Dual Band Resonance in Tetragonal BaTiO3/NBR Composites for Microwave Absorption Applications

Tetragonal BaTiO₃ bulk samples are prepared using the solid‐state route in conjunction with intermediate high‐temperature annealing steps. The (002) and (200) X‐ray diffraction peaks near 2?~45° and 310, 520, and 720 cm^?1 characteristic vibrational modes in Raman spectroscopic measurements confirm the tetragonal crystallographic structure of BaTIO₃ bulk samples. The 1100°C annealed BaTiO₃ sample showed optimal tetragonality ~1.016 and the same is used for BaTiO₃–acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) composites at different BaTiO₃ loading fractions in parts per hundred (PHR). These BaTiO₃/NBR composite systems exhibit dual band microwave resonance, widening the operating window for microwave absorption applications. Eighty PHR BaTiO₃/NBR composite exhibits microwave reflection losses (RL) at 9.5 and 16.5 GHz with ~?9 and ~?18 dB reflection losses, respectively. The onset of dual band is attributed to the ferroelectric‐induced dipolar relaxation at 9.5 GHz and its second‐order resonance at 16.5 GHz in such composite systems.     

Bulk heterojunction formation with induced concentration gradient from a bilayer structure of P3HT:CdSe/ZnS quantum dots using inter-diffusion process for developing high efficiency solar cell

Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells consisting of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as donor and cadmium selenide/zinc sulphide (CdSe/ZnS) core shell quantum dots (QDs) as acceptor have been developed. Starting from the bilayer of P3HT/QD structure a BHJ is induced using the process of thermal inter-diffusion. The absorption measurements on the bilayer structure show that the absorption coefficient increases and the absorption spectrum becomes broader in the annealed device. Also, the photoluminescence of the annealed device is found to decrease by an order of magnitude showing a significant transfer of electrons to the QDs. With this approach and under broadband white light with an irradiance of 8.19 mW/cm², we have been able to achieve a power conversion efficiency of 5.1% and fill factor 0.45 for this solar cell.     

ANFIS modeling of biodiesels' physical and engine characteristics: A review

 Population increase has resulted in an increase in the worldwide demand for alternative fuels due to depleting resources. There is a periodic increase in concern about the engine performance, pollutant emissions, and their predictions, from an engine using biodiesels. The use of intelligent algorithms in modeling and forecasting alternative fuels characteristics and their performance in engines are critically reviewed in this study. The paper aims at demonstrating with artificial intelligence methodologies the main conclusions of the recent research done for the above topic from 2012 to 2020. This article attempted to demonstrate an exploratory examination of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) soft computing technique used for the exact measurement and analysis of engine performance, emissions of exhaust engines when biodiesel is used as an alternative fuel. Additionally, the yield of biodiesel and their different characteristics predicted using ANFIS are also reviewed. Integration of particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithm (GA), and response surface methodology (RSM), either for comparison or optimization with ANFIS is presented. The summary of all studies is provided in tabular form. For the demonstration purpose, the ANFIS studies predicting different biodiesel and engine characters are provided with illustrative figures. The ANFIS prediction related to biodiesel used engine and biodiesel self-characteristics is found to be excellent. The ANFIS accuracy reported is better than the artificial neural network (ANN) accuracy. A minimum of 0.9 R² value is generally obtained which is around 5% greater than the ANN modeling results reported. However, the ANFIS predictions are much more fitter than the RSM predictions. The integration of ANFIS-PSO and ANFIS-GA provided much more optimized results.