Endophytic Mycoflora of Indian Medicinal Plant, Terminalia arjuna and their Biological Activities

Studies were undertaken to isolate, identify and evaluate the biological activities of endophytic mycoflora of Indian medicinal plant, Terminalia arjuna. A total of 20 isolates of endophytic fungi were obtained from the leaves, twigs and bark tissues of the Terminalia arjuna. Out of 20, six isolates exhibited promising antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory activities when cultivated at shake flask level. The selected isolates were identified on the basis of morphology and ITS gene sequencing. Three isolates, designated as TA BA 1, TA L1 and TA L2 were identified as Aspergillus flavus whereas; the remaining three endophytic fungi were identified as Diaporthe arengae (TA TW2), Alternaria Sp. (TA TW1) and Lasiodiplodia theobromae (TA BA2). Aspergillus flavus was found as the predominant endophyte in leaves and bark tissues of the plant. The crude extract of the test isolates showed considerable antimicrobial activity against common human bacterial (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Salmonella abony and Bacillus subtilis) and fungal (Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Penicilium sp.) pathogens. The extract of Diaporthe arengae (TA TW2) significantly reduced the concentration of DPPH free radical as percent DPPH scavenging activity was found to be highest (69.56%) in comparison with other isolates. The % inhibition of hemolysis of RBCs was found to be highest (82.85%) with Diaporthe arengae (TA TW2) in comparison (83.26%) with standard drug (Ibuprofen). Among all, the extract of the Diaporthe arengae (TA TW2) showed excellent biological activities and hence was subjected to further characterization. The phytochemical investigation of the extract revealed the presence of terpenoids as the major phytoconstituents which was supported by TLC and UV spectroscopic studies. The results indicate that the isolated endophytes could be the valuable source of these bioactive molecules with diverse biological activities. The bioactivities may be attributed to the terpenoids present in the endophytic extract

Research needs in environmental and waste management in iron & steel industries

A large number of processing steps from ore handling to steel finishing involved in the manufacture of steel, consume substantial resources and lead to complex problems of environmental pollution with local as well as global impacts. Paper identifies various global and local environmental issues that steel industry presents before the mankind. Among the global issues, the large emissions of carbon dioxide from steel industry is a major cause of concern to environmentalists. The quantity of this green house gas constitutes a significantly large proportion of the global CO2 load and hence it contributes significantly in the global warming phenomenon. Some of the important methods have been briefly discussed to reduce these emissions through major energy conservation programmes and implementation of energy efficient processes. Among local issues are the problems of air, water and noise pollution along with the generation of large quantity of solid wastes. Under each area some of the programmes have been identified which could provide major research directions towards making the steel industry increasingly more environment friendly

Scaling law in target-hunting processes

We study the hunting process for a target, in which the hunter tracks the goal by smelling odors it emits. The odor intensity is supposed to decrease with the distance it diffuses. The Monte Carlo experiment is carried out on a 2-dimensional square lattice. Having no idea of the location of the target, the hunter determines its moves only by random attempts in each direction. By sorting the searching time in each simulation and introducing a variable $x$ to reflect the sequence of searching time, we obtain a curve with a wide plateau, indicating a most probable time of successfully finding out the target. The simulations reveal a scaling law for the searching time versus the distance to the position of the target. The scaling exponent depends on the sensitivity of the hunter. Our model may be a prototype in studying such the searching processes as various foods-foraging behavior of the wild animals.Comment: 7 figure

Cost Effectiveness for Solar Control Film for Residential Applications

For the existing housing, retrofitting single or double glazed clear glass window with solar films can be an effective measure to reduce their peak power demand, and large scale application of the same on national level can be an effective tool for demand side management. This paper analyses the field performance data of a solar control film, retrofitted in a Kuwait villa, for establishing its technical viability and cost effectiveness. The paper concludes that the solar film, besides enhancing the thermal comfort, reduced the peak cooling demand and the peak power demand by 6.7% and 4.7%, respectively, during the peak summer period

Implementation of Smart Operation Strategies for Air-Conditioning and Lighting Systems for Ministries Complex in the State of Kuwait

The smart operation strategies were implemented for Air-Conditioning (A/C) and lighting systems to reduce the national load at Ministries Complex (MC) in the state of Kuwait. The A/C system in MC is a district cooling system that comprises of 8 chillers with water-cooled condensers and four circuits of chilled water distribution with their independent pumps feeding to 184 air-handling units (AHUs), including 26 independent fresh air units. Total connected load of A/C systems is 8,867 kW, while fan motors of AHUs account for 2,390 kW. Lighting system in MC comprises mostly of energy efficient T12 fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lamps with a total connected load of 2,254 kW. Pre Closing Treatment (PCT) between 13:00 and 14:00 h, when the building was still occupied, was explored. Fresh-air AHUs were closed at 13:00 h instead of 14:30. Also, Time-of-Day Control (TDC) for AHUs and lighting systems along with the cooling production and cooling distribution systems was applied between 14:00 and 15:30 h, in line with the building occupancy for each building at MC. PCT and TDC schemes for chillers, AHUs and lighting systems were carried out through the Building Automation System (BAS). Implementation of the smart operation strategies for A/C and lighting systems was successful at MC. The temperature build up did not exceed 1°C during PCT scheme and the temperature did not exceed 28°C during TDC scheme. The savings in peak load demand were 610 kW between 13:00 and 14:00 h, 4,500 kW between 14:00 and 15:00 h, and 6,897 after 15:30 h. The reduction of 4,500 kW at 15:00 h is equivalent to $7.6 million towards constructing power plant and distribution network. Savings of 13,720 kWh in daily energy consumption was achieved due the implementation of the smart operation strategies. These savings led to a reduction of$1,500 per typical summer day of the MEW fuel bill and 8,918 kg/day of CO2 emissions. To make MC building more energy efficient, it is recommended to retrofit AHUs and secondary chilled water pumps with variable frequency drives (VFDs)

Implementation of Energy and Power Saving Scheme in The Avenues Mall

This paper presents the results on an energy audit and subsequent implementation of energy efficient operation and maintenance strategies between April 2008 and March 2009 in Phase 1 of the Avenues mall with total area of 170,000 m2. It has cooling production system with a capacity of 7200 RT and prior to energy audit, its peak power demand was close to 15 MW and annual energy consumption was 84000 MWh/y. Overall reductions of 9919 MWh/y in the annual energy consumption and 345 kW in peak power demand were achieved. The major contributors for the savings were time-of-day control for the air-handling units and lighting and optimization of chilled water flow. The project facilitated a benefit of 19838 KD/y to the Mabanee and company. More importantly, it achieved financial benefits to the Ministry of Electricity and Water of nearly 160,000 KD for reduction in power generation and transmission equipment cost and 372000 KD/y towards reduction in annual electricity subsidy in addition to an environmental benefit of reduction in CO2 emissions by 6940 t/y

Quantum mechanics in multiply connected spaces

This paper analyses quantum mechanics in multiply connected spaces. It is shown that the multiple connectedness of the configuration space of a physical system can determine the quantum nature of physical observables, such as the angular momentum. In particular, quantum mechanics in compactified Kaluza-Klein spaces is examined. These compactified spaces give rise to an additional angular momentum which can adopt half-integer values and, therefore, may be identified with the intrinsic spin of a quantum particle.Comment: Latex 15 page

Ultra-soft 100 nm Thick Zero Poisson’s Ratio Film with 60% Reversible Compressibility

About a 100 nm thick multilayer film of nanoparticle monolayers and polymer layers is shown to behave like cellular-foam with a modulus below 100 KPa. The 1.25 cm radius film adhered to a rigid surface can be compressed reversibly to 60% strain. The more than four orders of magnitude lower modulus compared to its constituents is explained by considering local bending in the (nano)cellular structure, similar to cork and wings of beetles. As the rigidity of the polymer backbone is increased in just four monolayers the modulus of the composite increases by over 70%. Electro-optical map of the strain distribution over the area of compression and increase in modulus with thickness indicates the films have zero Poisson’s ratio