Statistical Approach for Optimization of Physiochemical Requirements on Alkaline Protease Production from Bacillus licheniformis NCIM 2042

The optimization of physiochemical parameters for alkaline protease production using Bacillus licheniformis NCIM 2042 were carried out by Plackett-Burman design and response surface methodology (RSM). The model was validated experimentally and the maximum protease production was found 315.28 U using optimum culture conditions. The protease was purified using ammonium sulphate (60%) precipitation technique. The HPLC analysis of dialyzed sample showed that the retention time is 1.84 min with 73.5% purity. This enzyme retained more than 92% of its initial activity after preincubation for 30 min at 37°C in the presence of 25% v/v DMSO, methanol, ethanol, ACN, 2-propanol, benzene, toluene, and hexane. In addition, partially purified enzyme showed remarkable stability for 60 min at room temperature, in the presence of anionic detergent (Tween-80 and Triton X-100), surfactant (SDS), bleaching agent (sodium perborate and hydrogen peroxide), and anti-redeposition agents (Na2CMC, Na2CO3). Purified enzyme containing 10% w/v PEG 4000 showed better thermal, surfactant, and local detergent stability

MAXIMIZATION OF COOLING EFFECTIVENESS OF TURBINE BLADE SURFACES USING DIFFERENT ARRANGEMENT OF COOLING HOLES AND VARIOUS BLOWING RATIOS

In gas turbines, the operating temperature of the primary fluid is very high. In order to lessen the damage of turbine blades due to severe working temperature, film cooling holes are commonly implemented during designing of turbine blades. Film cooling effectiveness has been studied numerically to determine the arrangement of cooling holes and optimum blowing ratio. In this study, three dimensional standard Reynold’s Average Navier Stokes (RANS) shear stress transport turbulence model have been used for the simulation purpose. Three different shapes of cooling holes have been considered to find out optimum shape of the hole geometry. The blowing ratios equal to 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 and the free stream Reynolds number based on the free stream velocity and hydraulic diameter of the mainstream channel as 15316have been taken for the present study. 3D domain has been used in order to capture recirculation zone near the wall. Effectiveness obtained for fan-shaped hole at M = 0.8 and 1 is maximum compared to conventional hole shapes. Film cooling effectiveness is highest near the hole region which decreases further downstream of cooling holes due to coolant and mainstream intermixing. The simulation results show that best effective blade surface cooling is achieved for fan-shaped staggered row at blowing ratio equal to 1.0

Fuzzy Modeling to Evaluate the Effect of Temperature on Batch Transesterification of Jatropha Curcas for Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel is an alternative source of fuel that can be synthesized from edible, non-edible and waste oils through transesterification. Firstly Transesterification reaction of Jatropha Curcas oil with butanol in the ratio of 1:25 investigated by using of sodium hydroxide catalyst with mixing intensity of 250 rpm in isothermal batch reactor. Secondly the fuzzy model of the temperature is developed. Performance was evaluated by comparing fuzzy model with the batch kinetic data. Fuzzy models were developed using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS

Optimization of Substitution Matrix for Sequence Alignment of Major Capsid Proteins of Human Herpes Simplex Virus

Protein sequence alignment has become an informative tool in modern molecular biology research. A number of substitution matrices have been readily available for sequence alignments, but it is challenging task to compute optimal matrices for alignment accuracy. Here, we used the parameter optimization procedure to select the optimal Q of substitution matrices for major viral capsid protein of human herpes simplex virus. Results predict that Blosum matrix is most accurate on alignment benchmarks, and Blosum 60 provides the optimal Q in all substitution matrices. PAM 200 matrices results slightly below than Blosum 60, while VTML matrices are intermediate of PAM and VT matrices under dynamic programming

Assessment of aquatic ecological health: A comparative study between cistern-made and ‘Natural’ earthen-made waterbody

Ecological health of two waterbodies i.e., cistern-made and ‘natural’ earthen-made waterbody was compared in the present study based on temporal variations of physicochemical and biological parameters. Number of physicochemical parameters [transparency, temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), total hardness (TH), total alkalinity (TA), biochemical oxygen demands (BOD), nitrate, phosphate and chlorophyll a (Chl a)], and biological parameters, e.g., zooplankton community and aquatic macrophytes were studied seasonally. Zooplankton communitiy comprised six arthropods and two rotifers. SIMPER analysis depicted that Moina sp., Daphnia sp., and Cyclops sp. were dominant species in cistern pond while Cyclops sp., Daphnia sp., Keratella sp. and Brachionus sp. were dominant in earthen natural pond. Abundance of species was highest in summer followed by post-rainy and winter in both the ponds while maximum abundance of zooplankton was recorded in summer. Species richness peaked in winter in natural pond, while in cistern pond species richness and diversity raised in summer. Multivariate analyses depicted significant temporal variation in zooplankton species in both the conditions. RELATE analysis revealed that temporal variation in species distribution and zooplankton community was significantly correlated with environmental parameters. Moreover, biological-environmental best matching (BIO-ENV) analyses indicated that water temperature, pH, TH and BOD (for cistern pond) and water temperature, EC and TSS (for earthen natural pond) were the main driving forces for temporal variations in species distribution and zooplankton community. Additionally, correlation analysis depicted that Moina sp., Daphnia sp., Diaptomus sp., Cyclops sp., Cypris sp., Bosmina sp., and species abundance was positively (significant) correlated with transparency, water temperature, and Chl a in natural pond. On the other hand, correlation analysis depicted that zooplankton species, species abundance, evenness and diversity were positively correlated with water temperature, DO, BOD and Chl a in cistern pond. Moreover, abundance of aquatic macrophytes were limited in three basic groups, namely free floating [(Lemna sp. (Major), Lemna sp. (Minor), Azolla sp., Pistia sp. and Eichhornia sp.], rooted submerged [Hydrilla sp., Ceratophyllum sp.] and rooted emerged [Nymphaes sp. and Ipomoea sp.]. Further, trophic state index (TSI) value revealed that both the ponds are hyper-eutrophic (‘natural’ waterbody > cistern waterbody) with a strong temporal variations. Therefore, these data could be used as water quality community-based bio-assessment tool as well as basis of water quality management plans to monitor the pollution level or conservation of aquatic ecology

Are population size and diverse climatic conditions the driving factors for next COVID-19 pandemic epicenter in India?

Although a nationwide lockdown was imposed in India amid COVID-19 outbreak since March 24, 2020, the COVID-19 infection is increasing day-by-day. Till June 10, 2021 India has recorded 29,182,072 COVID cases and 359,695 deaths. A number of factors help to influence COVID-19 transmission rate and prevalence. Accordingly, the present study intended to integrate the climatic parameters, namely ambient air temperature (AT) and relative humidity (H) with population mass (PM) to determine their influence for rapid transmission of COVID-19 in India. The sensibility of AT, H and PM parameters on COVID-19 transmission was investigated based on receiver operating characteristics (ROC) classification model. The results depicted that AT and H models have very low sensibility (i.e., lower area under curve value 0.26 and 0.37, respectively compared with AUC value 0.5) to induce virus transmission and discrimination between infected people and healthy ones. Contrarily, PM model is highly sensitive (AUC value is 0.912, greater than AUC value 0.5) towards COVID-19 transmission and discrimination between infected people and healthy ones and approximate population of 2.25 million must impose like social distancing, personal hygiene, etc. as strategic management policy. Therefore, it is predicted, India could be the next epicenter of COVID-19 outbreak because of its over population

Optimization of physicochemical parameters for phenol biodegradation by Candida tropicalis PHB5 using Taguchi Methodology

The Taguchi orthogonal array (OA) design of experiments methodology, a quality optimization tool, was used to improve the phenol biodegradation potential of the yeast Candida tropicalis PHB5. At three levels, an OA was selected to analyze the effects of the different physicochemical process factors. Experiments were undertaken to confirm the effectiveness of this method and the main factors affecting the growth of C. tropicalis on phenol and its subsequent degradation were found, together with the optimal factor levels. Predicted results showed that biomass yield could be increased from 1,051.96 to 2,495.74 mg/l and the subsequent amount of phenol degraded could be increased from 879.42 to 2,386.43 mg/l. Based on Taguchi methodology, an overall enhancement of growth by 137.24% and phenol degradation by 171.49% could be attained. Validation experiments showed that the growth and phenol biodegradation was significantly improved by up to 132.4% and 165.64%, respectively