Surface‐functionalised hybrid nanoparticles for targeted treatment of cancer

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the great advancement in understanding the pharmacology and biology of cancer, it still signifies one of the most serious human‐health related problems. The current treatments for cancer may include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, but these procedures have several limitations. Current studies have shown that nanoparticles (NPs) can be used as a novel strategy for cancer treatment. Developing nanosystems that allow lower doses of therapeutic agents, as well as their selective release in tumour cells, may resolve the challenges of targeted cancer therapy. In this review, the authors discuss the role of the size, shape, and surface modifications of NPs in cancer treatment. They also address the challenges associated with cancer therapies based on NPs. The overall purpose of this review is to summarise the recent developments in designing different hybrid NPs with promising therapeutic properties for different types of cancer.Inspec keywords: tumours, reviews, patient treatment, nanomedicine, surgery, radiation therapy, cellular biophysics, nanobiotechnology, nanoparticles, cancerOther keywords: current treatments, cancer treatment, targeted cancer therapy, cancer therapies, surface‐functionalised hybrid nanoparticles, targeted treatment, serious human‐health related problems     

Variation in accumulation of heavy metals in different verities of sunflower seed oil with the aid of multivariate technique

In this work, three heavy metals (HMs) cadmium, lead, and zinc were determined in 16 newly breaded varieties of sunflower seed oil, using atomic absorption spectrometry, prior to use of microwave-assisted acid digestion method (MWD). The accuracy of the proposed method was studied by standard addition method and values obtained by conventional wet acid digestion methods (CAM) on same samples. The detection limit obtained from the standard addition curve was 0.327, 3.38, 10.0 ng/ml for Cd, Pb, and Zn, respectively, with high percentage recoveries. Multivariate statistical techniques (cluster and principal component analysis) were applied to modeling classes of different varieties of sunflower seed oils grown in same agricultural plot, on the basis of the analytical data of HMs. The results obtained providing sufficient information on tolerable limit of all three HMs by different varieties of sunflower oil to grow safely.     

Minimizing total tardiness for the machine scheduling and worker assignment problems in identical parallel machines using genetic algorithms

The concept of parallel machines has been widely used in manufacturing. This article proposes a genetic algorithm (GA) approach to minimize total tardiness of a set of tasks for identical parallel machines and worker assignment to machines. A spreadsheet-based GA approach is presented to solve the problem. A domain-independent general purpose GA is used, which is an add-in to the spreadsheet software. The paper demonstrates an adaptation of the proprietary GA software to the problem of minimizing total tardiness for the worker assignment scheduling problem for identical parallel machine models. Two 100 I/P/n/m/W problems taken from Hu (Int J Adv Manuf Technol 23:383–388, 2004, Int J Adv Manuf Technol 29:165–169, 2006) for a similar study are simulated. The performance of GA is superior to SES-A/LMC approach used by Hu and very close to the Exhaustive search procedure. It is shown that the spreadsheet GA implementation makes it very easy to adapt the problem for any set of objective measures without changing the actual model. Empirical analysis has been carried out to study the effect of GA parameters, namely, crossover rate, mutation rate, and the population size.     

Physical and tribological properties of PTFE micropowder-filled EPDM rubber

The physical and tribological properties of ethylene-propylene-diene-rubber (EPDM) filled with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) micropowders, i.e. MP1100 and MP1200 having chemically similar but distinctive microstructural morphology have been investigated. EPDM-PTFE micropowder blends filled with MP1200 having a solid granular structure, showed poor tensile strength and elongation at break but significantly improved tribological properties. It attained both the lowest steady-state friction coefficient and specific wear rate. However, EPDM-PTFE blends containing a fine agglomerated PTFE micropowder of MP1100 showed enhanced physical properties. Its increasing tensile strength and elongation at break with PTFE micropowder loading compared to MP1200-filled EPDM blend was essentially due to its characteristic morphology, which enhanced its dispersion and compatibility with EPDM. It showed specific wear rate similar to MP1200-filled EPDM but resulted in high friction coefficient. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the PTFE micropowders and the corresponding PTFE micropowder-filled EPDM blends suggest that agglomerates morphology, dispersion and interfacial compatibility with EPDM are the key factors influencing physical and tribological properties of these compounds.     

Temporal carbon intensity analysis: renewable versus fossil fuel dominated electricity systems

In order to overcome the negative effects of climate change and ensure a global low-carbon future, decarbonizing the electricity sector has been recognized as an important focus area. Internationally, policymakers use average carbon intensity (in gCO₂-e/kWh) in calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the electricity system. However, average carbon intensity is a single rate and a fixed quantity; thus, it does not provide any information about the time-varying nature of carbon intensity. The focus of this paper is to show the usefulness of time-varying carbon intensity estimation, which can provide detailed insights into GHG emissions, and help in identifying potential emission cut opportunities from the electricity sector in order to lessen atmospheric pollution. Time-varying carbon intensity estimation (i) reveals temporal variability of carbon intensity, (ii) explores the interplay between generations and emissions, (iii) identifies peak carbon-intensive hours, and (iv) provides evidence for designing appropriate demand-side management strategies with respect to GHG emission reduction.     

Thermal performance of an MHD radiative Oldroyd‐B nanofluid by utilizing generalized models for heat and mass fluxes in the presence of bioconvective gyrotactic microorganisms and variable thermal conductivity

The current paper analyzes the thermal and concentration attributes with the temperature‐dependent mass diffusion coefficient and thermal conductivity for the flow of an Oldroyd‐B nanoliquid over a stretchable configuration using the Buongiorno model under the application of boundary layers. The mechanisms of heat and mass transport are modeled by using the revised definitions of heat and mass fluxes. Mathematical expressions for the conservation laws are transformed into ordinary differential expressions by making the appropriate changes. The resulting complexly structured expressions are handled via an optimal homotopy procedure. The impact of influential variables on the desired solutions is plotted, tabulated, and discussed in detail. Comparative analysis of the thermal wall flux coefficient, concentration flux coefficient, density magnitude of the motile microorganisms, and reduced dimensionless stresses with already published research as a limiting case of this exploration is presented for the validity of the proposed scheme, and an excellent agreement is observed, which confirms the reliability of the homotopic solution.     

Wheat Allergy and Intolerence; Recent Updates and Perspectives

The current review paper highlights the complicacies associated with communities relying on wheat as their dietary staple. Although, wheat is an important source of nutrients but is also linked with allergenic responses in genetically susceptible subjects. The wheat proteins especially α-amylase inhibitors, ω-5 gliadins, prolamins, nonprolamin, glucoprotein, and profilins are of significance importance. The allergenic responses are further categorized into IgE-mediated and non-IgE-mediated reactions. Conjugation and degranulation of the IgEs with the allergens results in release of several mediators. In contrary, non-IgE-mediated wheat allergy depends on immune complexes formed by food and food antibodies and cell-mediated immunity. As results, different diseases tend to occur on the completion of these reactions, i.e., celiac disease, baker's asthma, diarrhea, atopic dermatitis, and urticaria. This instant paper highlighted the concept of food allergy with special reference to wheat. The models are developed that are included in this paper showing the wheat allergen, their possible routes, impact on human health, and indeed possible remedies. The paper would provide the basic information for the researchers, common man, and allied stakeholders to cater the issue in details. However, the issue needs the attention of the researchers as there is a need to clarify the issues of wheat allergy and wheat intolerance.     

A systematic review of current and emergent manipulator control approaches

Pressing demands of productivity and accuracy in today’s robotic applications have highlighted an urge to replace classical control strategies with their modern control counterparts. This recent trend is further justified by the fact that the robotic manipulators have complex nonlinear dynamic structure with uncertain parameters. Highlighting the authors’ research achievements in the domain of manipulator design and control, this paper presents a systematic and comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art control techniques that find enormous potential in controlling manipulators to execute cutting-edge applications. In particular, three kinds of strategies, i.e., intelligent proportional-integral-derivative (PID) scheme, robust control and adaptation based approaches, are reviewed. Future trend in the subject area is commented. Open-source simulators to facilitate controller design are also tabulated. With a comprehensive list of references, it is anticipated that the review will act as a first-hand reference for researchers, engineers and industrial-interns to realize the control laws for multi-degree of freedom (DOF) manipulators.     

Review of materials and manufacturing options for large area flexible dye solar cells

This review covers the current state of the art related to up-scaling and commercialization of dye solar cells (DSC). The cost analysis of the different components and manufacturing of DSC gives an estimate on the overall production costs. Moreover, it provides an insight in which areas improvement is needed in order to reach significant cost reductions. As a result of the cost analysis, transferring the technology to flexible substrates and employment of simple roll-to-roll production methods were found the key issues. The focus of this work was set accordingly. In this work, appropriate materials along with their unique fabrication processes and different design methods are investigated highlighting their advantages and limitations. The basic goal is to identify the best materials and preparation techniques suitable for an ideal roll-to-roll process of flexible dye solar module fabrication as well as the areas where further development is still needed.