Mosquito-larvicidal efficacy of gold nanoparticles synthesized from the seaweed,Turbinaria ornata (Turner) J.Agardh 1848

Malaria is considered a dreadful mosquito-borne infectious disease of human beings caused and spread by biting of the female mosquito Anopheles stephensi infected with a parasitic protozoan Plasmodium falciparum. Continuous application of chemicals/synthetic insecticides for vector control causes various problems such as resistant mechanism of mosquito, toxicity to nontarget aquatic organisms and disturbance to the microbial community of the soil. Currently, green synthesized nanoparticles are being employed in various biological processes including insect and pest control. The present investigation focused on the mosquito-larvicidal property of Turbinaria ornata-mediated gold nanoparticles (To-AuNPs) and its boiled aqueous extract (To-AE) against the malarial vector A. stephensi. The recorded lethal concentration (LC₅₀ and LC₉₀) values (µg/ml) of To-AE and To-AuNPs against fourth instar larvae of A. stephensi were 37.77 and 159.55 and 12.79 and 78.70, respectively. The To-AuNPs were characterized through UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), zeta potential and dynamic light scattering (DLS) method. The presently synthesized gold nanoparticles through the single-step, eco-friendly method is a potentially effective mosquitocidal agent.     

Synthesis of CeO2 nanorods with improved photocatalytic activity: comparison between precipitation and hydrothermal process

The main purpose of this article is to examine the surface free cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanostructures prepared by different methods. CeO₂ nanoparticles and nanorods were prepared by two different methods including precipitation and hydrothermal process. In precipitation process the nanoparticles were prepared at room temperature, while in hydrothermal process nanorods were prepared at high temperature. X-ray and electron diffraction analysis show the presence of CeO₂. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirms the presence of CeO₂ in both nanostructures. From BET, the specific surface area of nanorods (110 m²g^?1) is found to be higher than nanoparticles (52 m²g^?1). Also, the effect of morphology on their photodegradation of azo dye acid orange 7 (AO7) under UV–Visible light has been successfully investigated. The results show that the CeO₂ nanorods synthesized by hydrothermal method have high surface area and exhibit improved performance in the photocatalytic activity.     

Engineering and environmental evaluation of spent coffee grounds stabilized with industrial by-products as a road subgrade material

Current construction technology increasingly seeks the sustainable usage of waste by-products as a resource material. This paper evaluates the viability of utilizing spent coffee grounds (CG), a highly organic beverage waste, to be stabilized as a road subgrade material. The additives used in this research incorporates industrial by-products such as fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast-furnace slag (S) as well as traditional binders such as portland cement (PC) and hydrated lime (L). CG collected from a coffee roaster were mixed with controlled additive content ratios by mass to assess the effects of these common engineering stabilizers towards the load-bearing capacity of CG. The additive contents of FA and S were 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 % whereas the PC and L additive contents were 3 and 5 % by dry unit weight. Modified proctor compaction tests, 7-days unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests, and California bearing ratio (CBR) tests were carried out to determine the optimum moisture content and bearing strength of the different mixes produced. It found that as the proportion of additives in the specimen increased, the optimum moisture content of the additive-stabilized CG specimens subsequently decreased. Regardless of the type of stabilizers used, the UCS strength increases were found to be nominal. FA and S mixes above the 20 % additive contents satisfied the requirements for subgrade materials; however, the low PC and L contents were insufficient to meet subgrade requirements. The research findings indicate that instead of being disposed of into landfills, stabilized CG has the potential to be used as a subgrade material. Such a sustainability driven approach for reuse of CG will have the potential to divert CG from landfills and at the same time utilize CG as a viable construction material.     

Differential phosphoprotein mapping in cancer cells using protein microarrays produced from 2-D liquid fractionation

A combination of protein microarrays and two-dimensional liquid-phase separation of proteins has been used for global profiling of the phosphoproteome in human breast cancer cells. This method has been applied to study changes in phosphorylation profile resulting from treatment of the cancer cells with PD173074, a known receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. The proteins separated by 2-D liquid-phase separation were arrayed on epoxy-coated glass slides and first screened for phosphorylation using fluorescent Pro-Q Diamond stain. The candidate proteins were then identified using MALDI/ESI MS/MS analysis. Further, validation was achieved by immunoblot analysis using anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies. A dynamic range of approximately 100 was achieved on the microarray when beta-casein was used as a standard protein for obtaining quantitative data. Importantly, the power of this method lies in its ability to identify a large group of proteins in a single experiment that are coregulated in their posttranslational modifications, upon treatment with the inhibitor. Since proteins are known to form interacting circuits that eventually lead to various signaling events, detection of such global phosphorylation profiles might enable delineation of functional pathways that play an important role during cancer initiation and progression.     

Self assembly of Co doped CeO2 microspheres from nanocubes by hydrothermal method and their photodegradation activity on AO7

We successfully synthesized self assembled Co doped CeO₂ microspheres from nanocubes via surfactant free hydrothermal technique. The surface shapes of CeO₂ nanoparticles have been controlled and optimized by adjusting the molar concentration and pH value of the precursor. The structural properties of the prepared nanocubes have been investigated using electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction. High resolution transmission electron microscopy studies show that the co doped CeO₂ nanocubes are in polycrystalline nature with highly porous structure. The photo catalytic activity of Co-doped CeO₂ nanocubes under UV–Visible light was examined by degradation of azodyes acid orange 7 (AO7) in aqueous solution. The improved photocatalytic activity was attributed to the better adsorption ability and unique 4f electron configuration of CeO₂.     

Non-convex economic dispatch with heuristic load patterns, valve point loading effect, prohibited operating zones, ramp-rate limits and spinning reserve constraints using harmony search algorithm

This paper attempts to investigate the applicability of harmony search algorithm (HSA) to solve extremely challenging non-convex economic load dispatch problem with valve point loading effect, prohibited operating zones, ramp-rate limits, spinning reserve constrains and transmission losses involving variations of consumer load patterns. The performance of the proposed approach HSA has been tested successfully on the standard 6-bus, IEEE-14 bus and IEEE-30 bus system with several heuristic load patterns. The results of this study reveals that the proposed approach is able to find appreciable economical load dispatch solutions than those of improved fast evolutionary program and particle swarm optimization. Besides this, the transmission line losses are also considerably reduced and the computation time is reasonably even and less when compared to other methods.     

Investigating the Effect of WC on the Hardness and Wear Behaviour of Surface Modified AA 6063

The objective of this work is to reinforce Tungsten Carbide (WC) onto the surface of AA 6063 aluminium alloy using Gas Tungsten Arc (GTA) as heat source and investigate the hardness and wear properties. Based on number of trials, optimum GTA heat source parameters are finalized with reference to the proper fusion of base metal. It is found that the hardness is reduced after the application of heat. After the reinforcement of WC, the hardness returns back to the base metal value. In order to further to improve the properties, the reinforced alloy is heat Treated. The Microhardness of the reinforced and aged AA 6063 is increased by 50% with respect to base metal. The wear resistance of the reinforced surface is improved by 52% with respect to base metal. Characterization techniques like SEM, EDX and XRD are done and the presence of WC is confirmed.     

A novel and efficient classifier using spiking neural network

The Journal of Supercomputing - Classification plays a crucial role in big data, especially in e-commerce operations. Deep learning (DL) research has become a new means to provide a better solution...