Mueller matrix polarimetry of plasmon resonant silver nano-rods: biomedical prospects

Fundamental understanding of the light-matter interaction in the context of nano-particles is immensely bene- fited by the study of geometry dependent tunable Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) and has been demonstrated to have potential applications in various areas of science. The polarization characteristics of LSPR in addition to spectroscopic tuning can be suitably exploited in such systems as contrast enhancement mech- anisms and control parameters. Such polarization characteristics like diattenuation and retardance have been studied here using a novel combination of Muller-matrix polarimetry with the T-matrix matrix approach for silver nano-rods to show unprecedented control and sensitivity to local refractive index variations. The study carried out over various aspect ratios for a constant equal volume sphere radius shows the presence of longitu- dinal (dipolar and quadrupolar) and transverse (dipolar) resonances; arising due to differential contribution of polarizabilities in two directions. The overlap regions of these resonances and the resonances themselves exhibit enhanced retardance and diattenuation respectively. The spectral and amplitude tunability of these polarimetric parameters through the aspect ratios to span from the minimum to maximum ([0, 1] in the case of diattenuation and [0, {\pi}] in the case of retardance) presents a novel result that could be used to tailor systems for study of biological media. On the other hand, the high sensitivity of diattenuation dip (caused by equal contribution of polarizabilities) could be possibly used for medium characterization and bio-sensing or bio-imaging studies.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings of the Saratov Fall Meeting, 201

FLORAL EXTRACTS OF ALLAMANDA BLANCHETII AND ALLAMANDA CATHARTICA ARE COMPARATIVELY HIGHER RESOURCE OF ANTI-OXIDANTS AND POLYSACCHARIDES THAN LEAF AND STEM EXTRACTS

Objective: The present study undertakes a comparative analysis of the level of secondary metabolites present in the leaf, flower and stem of the two ornamental plants, Allamanda blanchetii and Allamanda cathartica.Methods: The two plant species, Allamanda blanchetii and Allamanda cathartica were collected, washed, shade dried in room temperature and powered in mechanical grinder. Phytochemicals were extracted from the power with methanol and double distilled water. The estimation of flavonoids, polyphenols, polysaccharide were done by standard methods and the anti-oxidant activity was measured by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) discoloration assay.Results: Our study reveals that the flower of both species contain highest amount of secondary metabolites in crude methanolic and aqueous extracts. In case of leaf, the methanolic extracts contain higher amount of polyphenol, flavonoid and anti-oxidant property in comparison to aqueous extracts, where as the aqueous extract contain higher amount of polysaccharide content than its counterpart. In stem, crude organic extract has higher amount of polyphenol and flavonoid and the aqueous extract has higher amount of polysaccharide and anti-oxidant property.Conclusion: The flower of Allamanda cathartica and Allamanda blanchetii has higher amount of flavonoids, polyphenols, polysaccharide and the floral extracts display comparatively higher anti-oxidant property

Impact of immigrants on the foreign trade of the UK

Much of the recent discussion on the impact of immigrants on the host economies relate to the costs they impose on the host country’s public finances and the labour market rather than their contribution to the growth of incomes, technology and trade. This paper analyses the contribution of immigrants into the UK to the exports of the country. The analysis suggests that immigrants make a significant contribution to the growth of exports of services from the UK. Exports of services account for more than a third of UK’s exports and the immigrants. The statistical analysis suggests that Whilst both the immigrants from the EU contribute to the growth of exports of services from the country the contribution of the immigrants from the Commonwealth is somewhat more than that of the EU immigrants mostly because of the recognised presence of the Commonwealth immigrants in professional and technical occupations in the services sector

Finance and growth: Evidence from South Asia

The article examines the empirical relationship between financial development and economic growth for five South Asian countries over the time period 1990–2015, using both panel model approach and time series analysis. We employ multiple proxies for financial development, namely, foreign direct investment, total debt service, gross domestic savings, domestic credit to private sector by banks, and domestic credit provided by financial sector to test the relationship. The panel model approach results indicate that there is an overall positive association between finance and growth for South Asia through the FDI and savings channels. The country-specific analyses suggest that the growth effects of financial channels are most pronounced in Sri Lanka, whereas, on the other hand, financial development plays no role in the Indian growth process in the short run. Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan lie somewhere in between this spectrum with every country exhibiting unique growth paths which highlights the heterogeneity of the region.N/

The Indian film industry in a changing international market

India has a longstanding reputation for its acclaimed film industry and continues to be by far the world’s largest producer of films. Nevertheless, domestic demand for films appears to be waning as in a number of developed countries with mature film industries. Hence, the econometric analysis in this paper is particularly timely as with demand for films in Indian cinemas falling it is important to identify those factors that make films appealing for Indian audiences. An original dataset is utilised that includes data on all Bollywood films released in India between 2011 and 2015. Account is taken of the potential endogeneity between variables through the use of the Generalised Method of Moments approach. Results are used to demonstrate how the Indian film market can continue to have a significant positive impact on the Indian economy. The discussion highlights appropriate film production company strategies and Government policy responses that should be considered to ensure the continued success of the Indian film industry both domestically and in an increasingly competitive international market

Unmasking noise transients masquerading as intermediate-mass black hole binaries

In the first three observation runs, ground-based gravitational wave (GW) detectors have observed close to 100 compact binary coalescence (CBC) events. The GW detection rates for CBCs are expected to increase with improvements in the sensitivity of the International Gravitational-Wave Observatory Network (IGWN). However, with improved sensitivity, non-Gaussian instrumental transients or ``glitches'' are expected to adversely affect GW searches and characterisation algorithms. The most detrimental effect is due to short-duration glitches, which mimic the morphology of short-duration GW transients, in particular Intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) binaries. They can be easily misidentified as astrophysical signals by current searches, and if included in astrophysical analyses, glitches mislabelled as IMBH binaries can affect IMBH population studies. In this work, we introduce a new similarity metric that quantifies the consistency of astrophysical parameters across the detector network and helps to distinguish between IMBH binaries and short-duration, loud glitches which mimic such binaries. We develop this method using a simulated set of IMBH binary signals and a collection of noise transients identified during the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Onset of glassiness in two-dimensional ring polymers: interplay of stiffness and crowding

The effect of ring stiffness and pressure on the glassy dynamics of a thermal assembly of two-dimensional ring polymers is investigated using extensive coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. In all cases, dynamical slowing down is observed with increasing pressure and thereby a phase space for equilibrium dynamics is identified in the plane of obtained monomer density and ring stiffness. When the rings are highly flexible, i.e. low ring stiffness, glassiness sets in via crowding of crumpled polymers which take a globular form. In contrast, at large ring stiffness, when the rings tend to have large asphericity under compaction, we observe the emergence of local domains having orientational ordering, at high pressures. Thus, our simulations highlight how varying the deformability of rings leads to contrasting mechanisms in driving the system towards the glassy regime.Comment: Supplementary Information added as ancillary documen

iDCR: Improved Dempster Combination Rule for Multisensor Fault Diagnosis

Data gathered from multiple sensors can be effectively fused for accurate monitoring of many engineering applications. In the last few years, one of the most sought after applications for multi sensor fusion has been fault diagnosis. Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence along with Dempsters Combination Rule is a very popular method for multi sensor fusion which can be successfully applied to fault diagnosis. But if the information obtained from the different sensors shows high conflict, the classical Dempsters Combination Rule may produce counter-intuitive result. To overcome this shortcoming, this paper proposes an improved combination rule for multi sensor data fusion. Numerical examples have been put forward to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Comparative analysis has also been carried out with existing methods to show the superiority of the proposed method in multi sensor fault diagnosis

INTEGRATED STUDIES ON WOODFORD SHALE NATURAL FRACTURE ATTRIBUTES, ORIGIN, AND THEIR RELATION TO HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

The Woodford Shale is a prolific hydrocarbon producing formation in Oklahoma. It is a silica and TOC rich, fractured reservoir and source rock. The natural fractures present within this formation, even though vital for fluid transport, have not been rigorously studied. This dissertation presents Woodford Shale fracture related studies from several different outcrop locations in Southern Oklahoma, covering the Criner Hills and the central and eastern Arbuckle Mountains. These areas have varying degrees of tilting and folding, ranging from almost flat beds to overturned beds. Addition of fold related fracture sets with progressive folding and tilting of beds (from one outcrop to the other) were visualized and documented. These observations gave a clear picture of the fracture sets that existed before folding and that developed during folding. The presence and absence of bitumen, silica, and calcite as fracture fill also serve as clues to fracture origin timing. These outcrops present opportunities for rigorous field measurements on fracture stratigraphic intensity variation, which helps in deciding the optimum landing spots for horizontal wells. Besides, relatively large surfaces on the quarry floor and quarry walls exposing the length, aperture, and height of relatively large fractures allowed quantification of these fracture parameters. These parameters then were used as inputs into a discrete fracture network model. This model, containing the discrete fractures and log-derived rock properties provided a complete static geomechanical model. This model was then used to simulate the stimulated rock volumes using field treatment parameters. The simulated geometries were matched with field microseismic geometries for three stages. Several simulations under different subsurface and treatment conditions explain the control of natural fractures on hydraulic fracture propagation and natural fracture reactivation