Experimental study of the influence of glass cover cooling using evaporative cooling process on the thermal performance of single basin solar still

Acute shortage of drinking water has been on the rise owing to increasing population as well as shortage of drinkable water. Generation of potable water using passive solar stills is among the simplest and easier devices which make use of solar heat energy. However, the output of solar still is generally low owing to greater heat loss and needs improvement. In this paper, an experimental analysis is carried out to determine the performance of passive solar still with glass cover cooling using cold water generated using passive evaporative cooling process. The cold water required for cooling the glass cover is obtained using evaporative cooling process in the water tank which is wound with wet cotton cloth wick. The cold water thus obtained is sprayed onto the top surface of glass cover. The experiment is carried out in the outdoor conditions of Dubai from 10:00h to 14:00h and the temperature recordings of basin plate, glass cover, basin water, ambient air and cooling water are noted for every 30 minutes. The results reveal that the average increase in condensation heat transfer coefficient is found to be about 20.8% higher in the presence of glass cover cooling and the distillate output is found to increase by about 3.32 times. The average still efficiency is found to be relatively higher in the presence of cooling which is about 7.3% higher in the presence of cooling. The cold water temperature generated through evaporative cooling process is about 20.4% lower as compared to ambient temperature. Thus, the cooling of glass cover using cold water obtained through evaporative cooling process is found to be effective in enhancing the thermal performance of single basin solar still system

Studies on Potassium Fractions in Central and Southern Dry Zones of Coconut Growing Areas of Hassan District of Karnataka, India

The experiment was conducted in an order to get an insight about the potassium (K) fractions in Central and Southern dry zone of coconut growing areas of Hassan district, Karnataka during 2022-23. The soil samples from surface (0-30 cm) and sub-surface (30-60 cm) were collected from the soils of selected coconut gardens of Central and Southern dry zones of Hassan district for the study. Results revealed that the average water soluble K, hot water soluble K, exchangeable K, non-exchangeable K, lattice K and total K in surface soils of coconut gardens of Central dry zone of Hassan district registered was 2.76, 9.25, 54.65, 555.35, 5896.00 and 6509.00 mg kg-1, respectively. Whereas the above potassium fractions in sub-surface soil recorded were 2.67, 7.70, 47.36, 699.66, 7282.00 and 8032.00 mg kg-1, respectively. The various forms of potassium in surface soils of Southern dry zone revealed that water soluble K, hot water-soluble K, exchangeable K, non-exchangeable K, lattice K and total K was 2.87, 8.85, 53.51, 546.61, 5603.00 and 6206.00 mg kg-1, respectively. Whereas the above potassium fractions in sub-surface soil recorded were 2.21, 7.20, 45.21, 709.20, 7431.00 and 8188.00 mg kg-1, respectively. The trend of decrease in water soluble K and exchangeable K from surface to sub-surface layers was noticed in soils of Central and Southern dry zone whereas non-exchangeable K, lattice K and total K exhibited an increasing trend with depth. The contribution of each form of potassium to total potassium was in the order of water soluble < hot water-soluble K< exchangeable < non-exchangeable < lattice K. Knowledge of different forms of potassium in soil together with their distribution has greater relevance in assessing the long-term K supplying power of soil to coconut palm and is important in formulating a sound fertilizer program for a given set of soil

Optical nonlinearity of D-A-π-D and D-A-π-A type of new chalcones for potential applications in optical limiting and density functional theory studies

Two new chalcones namely, (2E)-1-(3-fluoro-4-methoxyphenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl) prop-2-en-1-one and (2E)-3-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(3-fluoro-4-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one were synthesized and grown as single crystals by slow evaporation technique in methanol. The FTIR spectrum recorded confirms the presence of functional groups in these materials. The molecular conformation of the compounds was achieved by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. The thermal stability of the crystals was determined from TGA/DSC curve. The third order optical nonlinearity of the chalcone compounds in DMF solution has been carried out using an Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm as the source of excitation. The nonlinear optical response was characterized by measuring the intensity dependent refractive index n2 of the medium using Z-scan technique. It is seen that the molecules exhibit a negative (defocusing) nonlinearity and large nonlinear refractive index of the order of −1.8 × 10−11 esu. The third-order nonlinearity of the studied chalcones is dominated by nonlinear refraction, which leads to strong optical limiting of laser. The result reveals that these two new chalcone molecules would be a promising material for optical limiting applications. In addition, the optimized molecular geometry, vibrational frequencies in gas, and the Molecular Electrostatic Potential (MEP) surface parameters of the two molecules were calculated using DFT/B3LYP method with 6–311++G(d,p) basis set in ground state. All the theoretical calculations were found in good agreement with experimental data

Integrated Analysis of Cancer Tissue and Vitreous Humor from Retinoblastoma Eyes Reveals Unique Tumor-Specific Metabolic and Cellular Pathways in Advanced and Non-Advanced Tumors

Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a pediatric intraocular malignancy that is proposed to originate from maturing cone cell precursors in the developing retina. The molecular mechanisms underlying the biological and clinical behaviors are important to understand in order to improve the management of advanced-stage tumors. While the genetic causes of Rb are known, an integrated understanding of the gene expression and metabolic processes in tumors of human eyes is deficient. By integrating transcriptomic profiling from tumor tissues and metabolomics from tumorous eye vitreous humor samples (with healthy, age-matched pediatric retinae and vitreous samples as controls), we uncover unique functional associations between genes and metabolites. We found distinct gene expression patterns between clinically advanced and non-advanced Rb. Global metabolomic analysis of the vitreous humor of the same Rb eyes revealed distinctly altered metabolites, indicating how tumor metabolism has diverged from healthy pediatric retina. Several key enzymes that are related to cellular energy production, such as hexokinase 1, were found to be reduced in a manner corresponding to altered metabolites; notably, a reduction in pyruvate levels. Similarly, E2F2 was the most significantly elevated E2F family member in our cohort that is part of the cell cycle regulatory circuit. Ectopic expression of the wild-type RB1 gene in the Rb-null Y79 and WERI-Rb1 cells rescued hexokinase 1 expression, while E2F2 levels were repressed. In an additional set of Rb tumor samples and pediatric healthy controls, we further validated differences in the expression of HK1 and E2F2. Through an integrated omics analysis of the transcriptomics and metabolomics of Rb, we uncovered a significantly altered tumor-specific metabolic circuit that reduces its dependence on glycolytic pathways and is governed by Rb1 and HK1

Depleted hexokinase1 and lack of AMPKa activation favor OXPHOS-dependent energetics in retinoblastoma tumors

Lack of retinoblastoma (Rb) protein causes aggressive intraocular retinal tumors in children. Recently, Rb tumors have been shown to have a distinctly altered metabolic phenotype, such as reduced expression of glycolytic pathway proteins alongside altered pyruvate and fatty acid levels. In this study, we demonstrate that loss of hexokinase 1(HK1) in tumor cells rewires their metabolism allowing enhanced oxidative phosphorylation-dependent energy production. We show that rescuing HK1 or retinoblastoma protein 1 (RB1) in these Rb cells reduced cancer hallmarks such as proliferation, invasion, and spheroid formation and increased their sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs. Induction of HK1 was accompanied by a metabolic shift of the cells to glycolysis and a reduction in mitochondrial mass. Cytoplasmic HK1 bound Liver Kinase B1 and phosphorylated AMP-activated kinase-a (AMPKa Thr172), thereby reducing mitochondria-dependent energy production. We validated these findings in tumor samples from Rb patients compared to age-matched healthy retinae. HK1 or RB1 expression in Rb-/- cells led to a reduction in their respiratory capacity and glycolytic proton flux. HK1 overexpression reduced tumor burden in an intraocular tumor xenograft model. AMPKa activation by AICAR also enhanced the tumoricidal effects of the chemotherapeutic drug topotecan in vivo. Therefore, enhancing HK1 or AMPKa activity can reprogram cancer metabolism and sensitize Rb tumors to lower doses of existing treatments, a potential therapeutic modality for Rb

3rd National Conference on Image Processing, Computing, Communication, Networking and Data Analytics

This volume contains contributed articles presented in the conference NCICCNDA 2018, organized by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, GSSS Institute of Engineering and Technology for Women, Mysore, Karnataka (India) on 28th April 2018