Effect of ferroelectric polarization on piezo/photocatalysis in Ag nanoparticles loaded 0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3–0.5Ba(Zr0.1Ti0.9)O3 composites towards the degradation of organic pollutants

A 0.5(Ba_0.7Ca_0.3)TiO₃–0.5Ba(Zr_0.1Ti_0.9)O₃ (BCT-BZT) ceramic was studied for photocatalysis and piezocatalysis effects using dye degradation (methylene blue, rhodamine B, and methyl orange) and bacterial (Escherichia coli) disinfection from aqueous solution. To examine the effect of ferroelectric polarization, BCT-BZT powder was poled using the corona poling technique. Same time, BCT-BZT was converted into Ag/BCT-BZT composites as Ag induced surface plasmon resonance effect during photocatalysis. Piezocatalysis performance was assessed for dyes mineralization under ultrasonication. There was a significant impact of silver nanoparticles on the photo/piezocatalysis performance of BCT-BZT. Similarly, electric poling has also played a positive role in improving the photo/piezocatalysis in view of various dye degradation. These samples also showed effective antibacterial performance.     

Analysis and price prediction of cryptocurrencies for historical and live data using ensemble-based neural networks

Knowledge and Information Systems - The popularity of cryptocurrencies has been on the rise with the emergence of blockchain technologies. There have been enormous investments in the cryptocurrency...     

Encoding scheme for data storage and retrieval on DNA computers

There has been exponential growth in the amount of data being generated on a daily basis. Such a huge amount of data creates a need for efficient data storage techniques. Due to the limitations of existing storage media, new storage solutions have always been of interest. There have been recent developments in order to efficiently use synthetic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) for information storage. DNA storage has attracted researchers because of its extremely high data storage density, about 1 exabyte/mm³ and long life under easily achievable conditions. This work presents an encoding scheme for DNA‐based data storage system with controllable redundancy and reliability, the authors have also talked about the feasibility of the proposed method. The authors have also analysed the proposed algorithm for time and space complexity. The proposed encoding scheme tries to minimise the bases per letter ratio while controlling the redundancy. They have experimented with three different types of data with a value of redundancy as 0.75. In the randomised simulation setup, it was observed that the proposed algorithm was able to correctly retrieve the stored data in our experiments about 94% of the time. In the situation, where redundancy was increased to 1, the authors were able to retrieve all the information correctly in the proposed experiments.Inspec keywords: DNA, computational complexity, digital storage, storage media, biocomputingOther keywords: encoding scheme, DNA computers, exponential growth, storage media, synthetic deoxyribonucleic acid, information storage, extremely high data storage density, DNA‐based data storage system, controllable redundancy, stored data     

Comparison of fuel characteristics of green (renewable) diesel with biodiesel obtainable from algal oil and vegetable oil

To fulfill the need of renewable, sustainable, and cleaner form of fuel, scientists are attracted toward biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil or green (renewable) diesel. Biodiesel is generally obtained from vegetable oil by the process of transesterification while green diesel is obtained by hydrogenation. However, chemically both are completely different and thus their physical properties are highly affected. In present work, authors have compared the important properties of Pongamia biodiesel, algal biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil. It is observed that both the biofuels may be blended for use in diesel engines as this will complement their fuel characteristics.     

Symmetry complementarity-guided design of anthrax toxin inhibitors based on β-cyclodextrin: Synthesis and relative activities of face-selective functionalized polycationic clusters

Three new series of potential anthrax toxin inhibitors based on the β‐cyclodextrin (βCD) scaffold were developed by exploiting face‐selective Cu^I‐catalyzed azide–alkyne 1,3‐cycloadditions, amine–isothiocyanate coupling, and allyl group hydroboration–oxidation/hydroxy → amine replacement reactions. The molecular design follows the “symmetry–complementarity” concept between homogeneously functionalized polycationic βCD derivatives and protective antigen (PA), a component of anthrax toxin known to form C₇‐symmetric pores on the cell membrane used by lethal and edema factors to gain access to the cytosol. The synthesis and antitoxin activity of a collection of βCD derivatives differing in the number, arrangement, and face location of the cationic elements are reported herein. These results set the basis for a structure–activity relationship development program of new candidates to combat the anthrax threat.