Transformability in post-earthquake houses:towards a more sustainable design approach in Iran

Earthquake is one of the most calamitous disasters in Iran. The hazards of earthquake are always catastrophic not only during the disaster time but also for a long time after the disaster. Since Iran has particular financial and time constraints, hurriedly made post-earthquake emergence shelters often fail in complying with the minimum needs of the occupants. Thereby, such shelters have always been either abandoned or transformed substantially. Since the initial designs are not thoroughly tailored as to address the future's transformational needs, such transformations need comprehensive replacements in terms of structure and construction. Regardless of the other issues that could be brought by these redundant works, they are always associated with an overwhelming waste of resources. In other words, the carbon-footprint of the buildings is often increased significantly only due to not so informed initial decisions by the designers. This study explored the difficulties of the post-disaster housing transformations in Lar city, Iran as a real-life case of study. This paper reports the needs and difficulties of people for transforming their post-earthquake houses. Due to the particular economic and socio-cultural conditions of Iran, the paper proposes to integrate “short-term” and “long-term” housing reconstruction models in order to help the victims have basic but transformable houses immediately after the disaster. In other words, the paper suggests that the potential transformation must be taken into account during very early design and construction stages. The paper contributes to design research and practice and opens new avenues towards more sustainable design with respect to post-earthquake housing projects

Spin order dependent skyrmion stabilization in MnFeCoGe hexagonal magnets

Topological magnetic skyrmions in centrosymmetric systems exhibit a higher degrees of freedom in their helicity, hence possess a great potential in the advanced spintronics including skyrmion based quantum computation. However, the centrosymmetric magnets also display non-topological trivial bubbles along with the topological skyrmions. Hence it is utmost priority to investigate the impact of different magnetic ground states and their underlying interactions on the stabilization of magnetic skyrmions in cetrosymmetric magnets. Here, we present a combined theoretical and experimental study on the role of non-collinear magnetic ground state on the skyrmion stabilization in a series of exchange frustrated non-collinear ferromagnetic system MnFe1-xCoxGe. With the help of neutron diffraction (ND) and Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM) studies, we show that hexagonal skyrmions lattice emerges as a stable field driven state only when the underlying magnetic ground state is collinear with easy-axis anisotropy. In contrast, non-topological type-II bubbles are found to be stable state in the case of non-collinear magnetic ordering with partial in-plane anisotropy. Furthermore, we also find that the skyrmions transform to the non-topological bubbles when the system undergoes a spin reorientation transition from the easy-axis to easy-cone ferromagnetic phase. Our results categorically establish the significant role of in-plane magnetic moment/anisotropy that hinders the stability of skyrmion both in the case of collinear and non-collinear magnets. Thus, the present study offers a wide range of opportunities to manipulate the stability of dipolar skyrmions by changing the intrinsic characteristics of the materials.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

CMFRI Marine Fisheries Policy Series No.18; Streamlining the Supply Chain of Marine Fish in Kerala: COVID-19 and Beyond

Streamlining the Supply Chain of Marine Fish in Kerala: COVID-19 and Beyon

Paradoxical Role of Prion Protein Aggregates in Redox-Iron Induced Toxicity

Imbalance of iron homeostasis has been reported in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob-disease (sCJD) affected human and scrapie infected animal brains, but the contribution of this phenotype to disease associated neurotoxicity is unclear.Using cell models of familial prion disorders, we demonstrate that exposure of cells expressing normal prion protein (PrP(C)) or mutant PrP forms to a source of redox-iron induces aggregation of PrP(C) and specific mutant PrP forms. Initially this response is cytoprotective, but becomes increasingly toxic with time due to accumulation of PrP-ferritin aggregates. Mutant PrP forms that do not aggregate are not cytoprotective, and cells show signs of acute toxicity. Intracellular PrP-ferritin aggregates induce the expression of LC3-II, indicating stimulation of autophagy in these cells. Similar observations are noted in sCJD and scrapie infected hamster brains, lending credence to these results. Furthermore, phagocytosis of PrP-ferritin aggregates by astrocytes is cytoprotective, while culture in astrocyte conditioned medium (CM) shows no measurable effect. Exposure to H(2)O(2), on the other hand, does not cause aggregation of PrP, and cells show acute toxicity that is alleviated by CM.These observations suggest that aggregation of PrP in response to redox-iron is cytoprotective. However, subsequent co-aggregation of PrP with ferritin induces intracellular toxicity unless the aggregates are degraded by autophagosomes or phagocytosed by adjacent scavenger cells. H(2)O(2), on the other hand, does not cause aggregation of PrP, and induces toxicity through extra-cellular free radicals. Together with previous observations demonstrating imbalance of iron homeostasis in prion disease affected brains, these observations provide insight into the mechanism of neurotoxicity by redox-iron, and the role of PrP in this process

Review—Role of Nanomaterials in Screenprinted Electrochemical Biosensors for Detection of Covid-19 and for Post-Covid Syndromes

Covid-19 still remains as global pandemic surging with different variants like alpha, beta, gamma, delta and most omicronin various countries resulted into SARS-CoV-2. An escalation in random testing for Covid-19 is considered as golden standard by World Health Organization (WHO) to control the spread of Corona virus. RT-PCR and nucleic acid hybridization strategies are the two highly sensitive outstanding tests used for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the DNA by the former and RNA/DNA by the later. Apart from the test for virus, antigen and antibodies other alternative hematological tests like CRP, Ferritine, IL-6, Blood Platelets and WBC and plasma became essential for the detection and management of Covid-19. Overcoming the limitations a rapid, efficient, low-cost and easy-to-implement test kits are in imperative need to meet the requirement. Electrochemical sensors are considered as potential, ultra-fast and point-of-care sensors used as self-testing kits. In this work, a meta review of various modified electrodes with different nanomaterials such as graphene, CNTs, and nano-dopants used as electrochemical sensors in association with testing various different parameters for detection of Covid-19. A detailed discussion on the merits and demerits of present testing patterns and scope of screen-printed electrochemical sensors modified with different nanomaterials and their advantages are presented

Tunable room temperature magnetic skyrmions in centrosymmetric kagome magnet Mn4Ga2Sn

Skyrmions are vortex-like magnetic textures typically observed in non-centrosymmetric systems, i.e. those with no centre of inversion. Here, using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy supported with micromagnetic simulations the authors report the observation of skyrmion lattices in the centrosymmetric kagome ferromagnet Mn4Ga2Sn, where a controlled switching between the topological skyrmions and non-topological type-II magnetic bubbles can be realized by manipulating the in-plane magnetic field at the optimal magnetic anisotropy

Effect of different irrigation regimens on smear layer removal in human root dentin an invitro study

Introduction: Aim of the study is to compare the efficacy of 5% NaOCl with 17% EDTA, 18% Etidronic Acid, 9% Etidronic Acid and 0.2% Chitosan as different protocols of irrigating solutions for smear layer removal using scanning electron microscope. Methodology: Forty extracted human teeth were collected and stored in saline. Single rooted teeth with complete, mature root apices without any anatomic variation having straight patent root canal extracted for periodontal cause, were included in the present study. Teeth where then divided into four groups with 10 teeth in each group. Access opening followed by Bio-mechanical Preparation was done and teeth were irrigated as follows (n=10 per group).Group 1: 5% NaOCl during instrumentation, 17% EDTA after instrumentation (3min),Group 2: 5% NaOCl during instrumentation, 9% Etidronic acid after instrumentation (5min),Group 3: 5% NaOCl during instrumentation, 18% Etidronic acid after instrumentation (3min),Group 4: 5% NaOCl during instrumentation, 0.2% Chitosan solution after instrumentation (5min).After the irrigation of specimens longitudinal sectioning of specimens was done and subsequently smear layer removal ability will be evaluated.Results: All irrigants tested, removed smear layer effectively form the apical third. EDTA (Group 1) showed comparatively better results than 9% Etidronic Acid (Group 2), 18% Etidronic Acid (Group 3) and 0.2% Chitosan (Group 4) at the apical third. Conclusion: There is no significant difference between 17% EDTA, 9% Etidronic Acid, 18% Etidronic Acid, and 0.2% Chitosan in the ability to remove smear layer