A Novel Self-Organizing Approach to Automatic Traffic Light Management System for Road Traffic Network

Wireless Personal Communications - Traffic network is basically a “network of networks” consisting of mainly two types of networks: road network and a travel network. Due to drastic...     

Biodegradation of gelatin–g-poly(ethyl acrylate) copolymers

Gelatin-g-poly(ethyl acrylate) copolymers were prepared in an aqueous medium, using K₂S₂O₈ initiator. The composition of the graft copolymers was dependent upon temperature and duration of the reaction. The number of grafting sites was small and molecular weight of the grafted poly(ethyl acrylate) branches was high. Three copolymer samples with grafting efficiencies of 33.3%, 61.0%, and 84.0%, were tested for their microbial susceptibility in a synthetic medium employing a mixed inoculum of Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Serratia marcescens and the percent weight losses were 12%, 10.1%, and 6.0%, respectively, after 6 weeks of incubation. The extent of degradation seems to decrease with increasing grafting efficiency. There was initial rapid weight loss accompanied by the exponential increase in bacterial population and pH of the culture medium during the first week. The nitrogen analysis also showed the utilization of the polymer. A parallel set of experiments, carried out by employing the samples as the only source of both carbon and nitrogen, showed a marginal but definite increase in the utilization of the polymer.     

Chemical composition and nutritional characteristics of some hull less and hulled barley cultivars grown in India

Three hull less and nine hulled barley cultivars were grown during 1995-96 at Research Farm, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India and were used for chemical analysis such as nutritional and antinutritional parameters. Dolma, a hull less barley cultivar had higher contents of protein, fat, starch, in vitro digestibility of protein and starch, in vitro availability of Ca, Fe and Zn. Hulled cultivar BH-331 showed higher values of phytic acid (925 mg/100 g), polyphenols (625 mg/100 g) and amylase inhibitor activity (169 AIU) which might have contributed towards poor in vitro digestibility of Ca, Fe and Zn. Phytic acid and polyphenols manifested significantly negative correlation with in vitro availability of Ca, Fe and Zn and protein digestibility. Whereas amylase inhibitor activity showed significant and negative correlation (-0.992) only with starch digestibility.     

Plant‐mediated synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles and their applications

Nanobiotechnology deals with the synthesis of nanostructures using living organisms. Among the use of living organisms for nanoparticle synthesis, plants have found application particularly in metal nanoparticle synthesis. Use of plants for synthesis of nanoparticles could be advantageous over other environmentally benign biological processes as this eliminates the elaborate process of maintaining cell cultures. Biosynthetic processes for nanoparticles would be more useful if nanoparticles were produced extracellularly using plants or their extracts and in a controlled manner according to their size, dispersity and shape. Plant use can also be suitably scaled up for large‐scale synthesis of nanoparticles. In view of this, we have reviewed here the use of plants or their extracts in the synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles for various human applications. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Pulsed laser action in Tm,Ho:LuLiF/sub 4/ and Tm,Ho:YLiF/sub 4/ crystals using a novel quasi-end-pumping technique

A number of good quality thulium and holmium-codoped LuLiF/sub 4/ and YLiF/sub 4/ single crystals were successfully grown by the Czochralski crystal growth method under a CF/sub 4/ atmosphere. Using a novel diode-pumped, quasi-end-pump scheme incorporating two lens ducts, pulsed laser action is achieved in 5%Tm, 0.5% Ho:LuLiF/sub 4/ and 5%Tm, 0.5% Ho:YLiF/sub 4/ crystals, at various pulse repetition frequencies and temperatures. At 10 Hz and at an operating temperature of 273 K, slope efficiencies (optical to optical efficiencies) with respect to the incident pump energies of 12.9% (9.2%) and 7.4% (5.2%) were demonstrated in the grown Tm, Ho:LuLiF/sub 4/ and Tm, Ho:YLiF/sub 4/ crystals, respectively. Free running laser output energies in excess of 30 mJ (LuLiF/sub 4/) and 17 mJ (YLF) were measured.     

Performance study of horizontal branch in building drainage system

Self-siphonage of traps of sanitary appliances caused by full-bore water discharge affects the performance of horizontal branches in building drainage sustems. Relationships have been established correlating flow, diameter and slope of branch pipes connected to main drainage stack for permissible loss of water seal with recourse to an experimental investigation in the laboratory on a range of wash-basins, as is usual in office buildings, with a view to developing a performance oriented design procedure. A measure has also been suggested to control development of negative pressure caused by self-siphonage.     

Al-doped zinc oxide nanocomposites with enhanced thermoelectric properties

ZnO is a promising high figure-of-merit (ZT) thermoelectric material for power harvesting from heat due to its high melting point, high electrical conductivity σ, and Seebeck coefficient α, but its practical use is limited by a high lattice thermal conductivity κ(L). Here, we report Al-containing ZnO nanocomposites with up to a factor of 20 lower κ(L) than non-nanostructured ZnO, while retaining bulklike α and σ. We show that enhanced phonon scattering promoted by Al-induced grain refinement and ZnAl(2)O(4) nanoprecipitates presages ultralow κ ～ 2 Wm( -1) K(-1) at 1000 K. The high α～ -300 μV K(-1) and high σ ～ 1-10(4) Ω(-1 )m(-1) result from an offsetting of the nanostructuring-induced mobility decrease by high, and nondegenerate, carrier concentrations obtained via excitation from shallow Al donor states. The resultant ZT ～ 0.44 at 1000 K is 50% higher than that for the best non-nanostructured counterpart material at the same temperature and holds promise for engineering advanced oxide-based high-ZT thermoelectrics for applications.     

Lipid production by Lipomyces starkeyi using sap squeezed from felled old oil palm trunks

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Synthesis of Triphenylethylene-Naphthalimide Conjugates as topoisomerase-IIα inhibitor and HSA binder

A series of triphenylethylene-naphthalimide (TPE-naph) conjugates was synthesized by a molecular hybridization technique, and their anticancer activity was evaluated in vitro on 60 human cancer cell lines through their cytotoxicity. The ratios of E and Z isomers were determined on the basis of HPLC methodology and NMR spectroscopy. The structure-activity relationship for anticancer activity was deduced on the basis of the nature and bulkiness of the amine attached to the C-4 position of the naphthalene ring. Experimental and molecular modeling studies of the most active TPE-naph conjugate bearing a morpholinyl group showed that it was able to inhibit topoisomerase-II (TOPO-II) as a possible intracellular target. Moreover, the transportation behavior of TPE-naph conjugate towards human serum albumin (HSA) indicated efficient binding affinity. The steady-state and time-dependent fluorescent results suggested that this conjugate quenched HSA significantly through static as well as dynamic quenching. Thus, this report discloses the scope of triphenylethylene-naphthalimide (TPE-naph) conjugates as efficient anticancer agents.