Antibiofilm,anti cancer and ecotoxicity properties of collagen based ZnO nanoparticles

The use of natural biopolymers in the synthesis of nanomaterials can have a low cost and eco-friendly approach. ZnO nanoparticles synthesized through biological method has been reported to have biomedical applications to control pathogenic microbes as it is cost effective compared to commonly used physical and chemical methods. In this work we would like to report the “bioinspired” synthesis of ZnO nanopowders (ZnO-NPs) using type 1 collagen. Collagen based ZnO NPs (Cl-ZnO NPs) were bio-physically characterized by UV–vis Spectroscopy, XRD, FTIR, HR-TEM, EDX and Zeta potential analysis. HR-TEM recorded the presence of hexagonal wurtzite structure of Cl-ZnO NPs with particle size ranged between 20–50?nm. Further, Cl-ZnO NPs exhibited antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against Gram positive Streptococcus mutans, Gram negative Proteus vulgaris and fungi Candida albicans at 75?μg/ml. Moreover, the cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that the Cl-ZnO NPs was not toxic to murine (RAW 264.7) macrophage cells up to 75?μg/ml. However, it exhibited cytotoxicity against human liver cancer (HepG2) cells at 75?μg/ml. The HepG2 cell viability was significantly reduced at 75?μg/ml. In addition, the ecotoxicity of Cl-ZnO NPs on the freshwater micro crustacean Daphnia longicephala showed no mortality up to 250?μg/ml. The current study clearly demonstrated that the Cl-ZnO NPs had greater potential for antimicrobial and anticancer activities.     

Modelling of Chevron electrothermal actuator and its performance analysis

Microsystem Technologies - In this work, a Chevron electrothermal actuator is designed and its analytical model is developed. Chevron actuator works on the principle of Joules heating effect and...     

Growth of hydroxyapatite on physiologically clotted fibrin capped gold nanoparticles

The growth of hydroxyapatite (HAp) on physiologically clotted fibrin (PCF)-gold nanoparticles is presented for the first time by employing a wet precipitation method. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed the characteristic functionalities of PCF and HAp in the PCF-Au-HAp nanocomposite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images have shown cuboidal nanostructures having a size in the range of 70-300?nm of HAp, whereas 2-50?nm sized particles were visualized in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) studies have confirmed the presence of HAp. These results show that gold nanoparticles with PCF acted as a matrix for the growth of HAp, and that PCF-Au-HAp nanocomposite is expected to have better osteoinductive properties.     

Evaluation of Microstructural Features of HVOF Sprayed Ni–20Al Coatings

The present study evaluates the microstructural features of high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) sprayed Ni–20Al coatings with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as fuel. The Ni–20Al coatings are commonly used for bond coat applications and as high temperature oxidation resistant coating. The quality of the deposited coating has been evaluated in terms of porosity, oxide content, surface roughness, micro-hardness, composition and morphology (surface and cross-sectional). The results indicate that, it is possible to develop dense Ni–20Al coatings with low oxide and porosity content along with high surface roughness using HVOF technology. Importantly, HVOF sprayed Ni–20Al coatings show better quality as compared to air plasma spray and can be used as an alternative to VPS in terms of quality to cost ratio for bond coat applications.     

Effect of modified atmosphere packaging on structural and physical changes in buffalo meat

The effect of modified atmosphere packaging of buffalo meat on the structural parameters viz., fibre diameter, sarcomere length and myofibrillar fragmentation index and physical parameters viz., pH, drip loss and colour scores were studied. The buffalo meat was packed under aerobic, vacuum and modified atmosphere (80% oxygen+20% carbon dioxide) and stored at 4±1°C upto 21 days. The results obtained revealed that vacuum-packed buffalo meat had the lowest fibre diameter and myofibrillar fragmentation index and the highest sarcomere length, vacuum thus appears to enhance ageing. Buffalo meat packed in modified atmosphere had a low drip loss and a desirable colour. The modified atmosphere packed and vacuum-packed buffalo meat was acceptable for upto 14 days at 4±1°C.     

Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines Model to Predict Fracture Characteristics of High Strength and Ultra High Strength Concrete Beams

This paper presents Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) model to predict the fracture characteristics of high strength and ultra high strength concrete beams. Fracture characteristics include fracture energy (GF), critical stress intensity factor (KIC) and critical crack tip opening displacement (CTODc). This paper also presents the details of development of MARS model to predict failure load (Pmax) of high strength concrete (HSC) and ultra high strength concrete (UHSC) beam specimens. Characterization of mix and testing of beams of high strength and ultra strength concrete have been described. Methodologies for evaluation of fracture energy, critical stress intensity factor and critical crack tip opening displacement have been outlined. MARS model has been developed by establishing a relationship between a set of predicators and dependent variables. MARS is based on a divide and conquers strategy partitioning the training data sets into separate regions; each gets its own regression line. Four MARS models have been developed by using MATLAB software for training and prediction of fracture parameters and failure load.MARS has been trained with about 70% of the total 87 data sets and tested with about 30% of the total data sets. It is observed from the studies that the predicted values of Pmax, GF, KIC and CTODC are in good agreement with those of the experimental values.     

Determination of Curcuminoids and Their Degradation Products in Turmeric (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Curcuma longa</Emphasis>) Rhizome Herbal Products by Non-aqueous Capillary Electrophoresis with Photodiode Array Detection

Non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) method was optimised for simultaneous determination of major bioactive curcuminoids (CCD) viz., curcumin (CC), desmethoxycurcumin (DC) and bisdesmethoxycurcumin (BC), and some of the degradation products viz., vanillin (VN), vanillic acid (VA), ferulic acid (FA) and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (HB) in turmeric milk and herbal products. Separation was achieved using non-aqueous background electrolyte (NA-BGE), consisting of a mixture of sodium tetraborate, sodium hydroxide, methanol and 1-propanol in a single run by capillary electrophoresis (CE). In the present study, a novel ultrasonication-assisted phase separation method (US-PS) was used for extracting the analytes in turmeric milk and the extract was directly injected into the capillary without any pretreatment. High-performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method for the separation of the analytes was also evaluated on pre-coated silica gel plate. Two different high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) conditions were reported in the literature for the separation of above-mentioned target compounds. The proposed method NACE is simple, fast, convenient and economical.     

Remote diagnosis design for a PLC-based automated system: 2-evaluation of factors affecting remote diagnosis performance

Troubleshooting performance in fault diagnosis tasks is commonly studied in various industrial applications. Several experiments were performed in previous studies to understand the ability of process interfaces to assist troubleshooters in local fault diagnosis while considering the effect of interface, nature of the failure, and the expertise of the troubleshooter. Although several remote diagnosis architectures have been proposed and standards have been developed for levels of remote diagnosis, the extent to which the design of a remote diagnosis architecture can assist a troubleshooter in diagnosis and the factors affecting remote troubleshooting performance have not been frequently addressed. The objective of this paper is to understand the factors that impact remote troubleshooting performance, including remote diagnosis architecture, type of failure, level of expertise of the remote troubleshooter, and skill level of the local operator. Experiments were performed in which troubleshooters used three levels of remote diagnosis architectures to diagnose different types of failures in a programmable logic controller-based discrete automated assembly system while working with local engineer and novice operators. The results suggest that for diagnosis of failures related to measured or monitored system variables by remote expert troubleshooters, remote troubleshooting performance improved with the increase in the levels of the remote diagnosis architectures. In contrast, in diagnosis of these failures by novice troubleshooters, no significant difference was observed between the three architectures in terms of remote troubleshooting performance, and the novice troubleshooters experienced problems with managing the increased information available. The experts exhibited better information gathering capabilities in that they spent more time per information source and made fewer transitions between information sources while diagnosing failures. Failures unrelated to monitored system parameters resulted in significantly reduced remote troubleshooting performance with all three architectures in comparison to the failures related to monitored system parameters for both expert and novice troubleshooters. The difference in terms of overall remote troubleshooting performance between engineer and novice operators was not found to be significant.