Bells and Whistles on Fertilizers: Molecular Hands to Hang Nanoporous Foliar Fertilizer Reservoirs

Porous materials are highly explored platforms for fertilizer delivery. Among porous materials, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are an important class of coordination polymers in which metal ions and organic electron donors as linkers are assembled to form crystalline structures with stable nanoporosity. Selected amino acids were inherently found to have the capacity to hold the leaf cuticle. Hence, MOF synthesis was attempted in the presence of amino acids, which can act as surface terminators and can assist as hands to hold to the leaf for a controlled nutrient supply. By serendipity, the amino acids were found to act as modulators, resulting in well-stabilized porous MOF structures with iron metal nodes, which are often noted to be unstable. Thus, the composite, i.e., (MOF@aa) MOF modulated with amino acids, has efficient nutrient-feeding ability through the foliar route when compared to the control

Emission and energy analysis of self-sufficient biomass power plant to achieve near net zero CO₂ emission

The use of biomass to fuel power plants is considered by many to be a carbon neutral solution to carbon dioxide emissions. One objection to this method of power generation is the gasoline or diesel spent in the transportation and feedstock production, which is a major contributor to carbon emission. In addition, costs associated with the transportation of the biomass fuels are also a major limiting. This work investigates the use of a hybrid farming facility as a means of distributed generation combined. A model that incorporates a small scale biomass power facility located within a farming facility is examined. By locating the power facility at the center of the facility and having the biomass crop fields surrounding the power plant, transportation costs for power generation are greatly reduced. In addition, the use of electric powered farm equipment for sowing seeds, harvesting, and fertilizer application reduces fossil fuel consumption to near zero. Powering these vehicles with the electrical energy from the power plant on site allows for a self-sufficient agricultural facility with near zero emissions. --Abstract, page iii

Plant Metabolomics: Current Initiatives and Future Prospects

Plant metabolomics is a rapidly advancing field of plant sciences and systems biology. It involves comprehensive analyses of small molecules (metabolites) in plant tissues and cells. These metabolites include a wide range of compounds, such as sugars, amino acids, organic acids, secondary metabolites (e.g., alkaloids and flavonoids), lipids, and more. Metabolomics allows an understanding of the functional roles of specific metabolites in plants' physiology, development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. It can lead to the identification of metabolites linked with specific traits or functions. Plant metabolic networks and pathways can be better understood with the help of metabolomics. Researchers can determine how plants react to environmental cues or genetic modifications by examining how metabolite profiles change under various crop stages. Metabolomics plays a major role in crop improvement and biotechnology. Integrating metabolomics data with other omics data (genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics) provides a more comprehensive perspective of plant biology. This systems biology approach enables researchers to understand the complex interactions within organisms

Comparing the functional analysis of I-gel with Baska mask in laparascopic surgeries: an observational study

Background: More than 40% of general anaesthetics are managed with supraglottic airway devices. First generation SADs act as airway conduits whereas second generation devices have safety designs like integrated bite block, gastric drainage channel and act as airway conduit for endotracheal intubation. Supraglottic airway devices are getting accepted by many anaesthetists during laparascopic surgeries.Methods: Authors did a study, comparing the functional analysis of I- gel with Baska mask during laparascopic surgeries with controlled ventilation. The study was conducted on sixty patients of either sex scheduled for short duration laparascopic surgeries (30kg/m2), and ASA physical status III and IV patients were excluded from the study. patients were induced with fentanyl 2µg/ kg, propofol 2-2.5mg/kg and neuromuscular paralysis facilitated with atracurium 0.5mg/kg. Anaesthesia was maintained with oxygen, air (fio2 40%) with isoflurane1.5-2%. Ease of insertion was evaluated using 4-points scale. Score 1 means easy insertion to score 4 denotes impossible to insert. Oropharyngeal seal pressure was measured after five minutes of placement. FGF 5L/min was used after closing the APL valve at 70cm h2o, recording the pressure at which pressue is plateaued. Presence of sore throat, dysphagia and dysphonia were examined 2hrs and 24hrs post operatively.Results: The insertion time was shorter for I-gel (12.3±3.8secs) than Baska mask (20.1±8.1secs). Oropharyngeal leak pressure was significantly higher for Baska mask (24-32cmh20). Oropharyngeal airway morbidity was not significantly different between two groups. So, it has been decided that both airways are suitable for laparascopic surgeries, but I-gel was quicker to insert, but Baska mask gave good airway seal.Conclusions: In this study, authors have noticed that Baska mask will give good airway seal when compared with I-gel. But I-gel was quicker to insert than Baskamask. The main problem of the study was that it was not blinded

ESTABLISHING EMPIRICAL RELATION TO PREDICT TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE OF VORTEX TUBE USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

Vortex tube is a device that produces cold and hot air simultaneously from the source of compressed air. In this work an attempt has been made to investigate the effect of three controllable input variables namely diameter of the orifices, diameter of the nozzles and inlet pressure over the temperature difference in the cold side as output using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Experiments are conducted using central composite design with three factors at three levels. The influence of vital parameters and interaction among these are investigated using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The proposed mathematical model in this study has proven to fit and in line with experimental values with a 95% confidence interval. It is found that the inlet pressure and diameter of nozzle are significant factors that affect the performance of vortex tube

Effect of post weld heat treatment on tensile properties and microstructure characteristics of friction stir welded armour grade AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy

AbstractThis paper reports the effects of post weld heat treatments, namely artificial ageing and solution treatment followed by artificial ageing, on microstructure and mechanical properties of 12 mm thick friction stir welded joints of precipitation hardenable high strength armour grade AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy. The tensile properties, such as yield strength, tensile strength, elongation and notch tensile strength, are evaluated and correlated with the microhardness and microstructural features. The scanning electron microscope is used to characterie the fracture surfaces. The solution treatment followed by ageing heat treatment cycle is found to be marginally beneficial in improving the tensile properties of friction stir welds of AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy

On some toxinological aspects of the starfish Stellaster equestris (Retzius, 1805)

Whole-body extracts in methanol were obtained from the starfish Stellaster equestris. The crude toxin was fractionated stepwise using diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) cellulose column chromatography. The crude toxin was lethal to male albino mice at a dose of 1.00 mL (containing 531.0 µg/mL protein) when injected intraperitoneally (IP) but the toxicity was abolished in all cases except one upon fractionation. The crude toxin and all the adsorbed fractions exhibited potent hemolytic activity on chicken, goat and human blood. However, group B human erythrocytes were resistant to lysis by all fractions and group O by most of the fractions. Paw edema in mice was caused by the crude toxin and all fractions. Pheniramine maleate and piroxicam blocked the toxicity when administered earlier than, or along with, the crude or fractionated toxins but not when administered after the envenomation. Pretreatment with either of these drugs also blocked edema formation

In vitro microbiological evaluation of 1,1'-(5,5'-(1,4-phenylene)bis(3-aryl-1H-pyrazole-5,1-(4H,5H)-diyl))diethanones, novel bisacetylated pyrazoles

Novel 1,1'-(5,5'-(1,4-phenylene)bis(3-aryl-1H-pyrazole-5,1-(4H,5H)-diyl))diethanones 7-12 were tested for their antimicrobial activity by disc diffusion and twofold serial dilution method against the tested bacterial and fungal strains. Compounds 7 against Micrococcus luteus, 8 against β-Heamolytic streptococcus, M. luteus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Microsporum gypseum, 9 against Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella flexneri, Vibreo cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aspergillus flavus, Mucor indicus, 10 against Salmonella typhii, S. flexneri, M. gypseum, 11 against K. pneumonia, M. gypseum, 12 against K. pneumonia, and M. gypseum show superior zone of inhibitions and exhibited excellent antibacterial and antifungal activities at a MIC value of 6.25 μg/mL. Moreover, all the tested compounds 7-12 revealed promising antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and INH-resistant M. tuberculosis. Compounds 8 against M. tuberculosis and 11 against INH-resistant M. tuberculosis exhibited the percentage of reduction in RLU at 89 and 85%, respectively

Nonlocal initial value problems for implicit differential equations with Hilfer–Hadamard fractional derivative

In this paper, the Schaefer's fixed-point theorem is used to investigate the existence of solutions to nonlocal initial value problems for implicit differential equations with Hilfer–Hadamard fractional derivative. Then the Ulam stability result is obtained by using Banach contraction principle. An example is given to illustrate the applications of the main result

A General Study on Langevin Equations of Arbitrary Order

In this paper, the broad study depends on Langevin differential equations (LDE) of arbitrary order.The fractional order is in terms of ψ-Hilfer fractional operator. This work reveals the dynamicalbehaviour such as existence, uniqueness and stability solutions for LDE involving ψ-Hilfer fractionalerivative (HFD). Thus the fractional LDE with boundary condition, impulsive effect and nonlocalconditions are taken in account to prove the result