Membrane Paradigm and Horizon Thermodynamics in Lanczos-Lovelock gravity

We study the membrane paradigm for horizons in Lanczos-Lovelock models of gravity in arbitrary D dimensions and find compact expressions for the pressure p and viscosity coefficients \eta and \zeta of the membrane fluid. We show that the membrane pressure is intimately connected with the Noether charge entropy S_Wald of the horizon when we consider a specific m-th order Lanczos-Lovelock model, through the relation pA/T=(D-2m)/(D-2)S_Wald, where T is the temperature and A is the area of the horizon. Similarly, the viscosity coefficients are expressible in terms of entropy and quasi-local energy associated with the horizons. The bulk and shear viscosity coefficients are found to obey the relation \zeta=-2(D-3)/(D-2)\eta.Comment: v1: 13 pages, no figure. (v2): refs added, typos corrected, new subsection added on the ratio \eta/s. (v3): some clarification added, typos corrected, to appear in JHE

An investigation into the influence of viscosity on gear churning losses by considering the effective immersion depth

We present an experimental investigation into the influence of oil viscosity on gear churning losses in splash-lubricated transmission systems. The inertia rundown method was used to perform tests on a single gear within a cylindrical housing with several oils of different viscosities at several immersion depths. A complex and nonmonotonic relationship between churning torque and viscosity was observed that was highly influenced by the rotational speed, with higher viscosity oils resulting in lower churning torque at higher speeds in some cases. This was attributed to a reduction in effective immersion depth due to oil being centrifugally distributed around the casing by the rotating gear, an effect that was observed to be more pronounced with higher viscosity oils. An effective immersion depth parameter, dependent on the rotational speed of the gear and the lubricant viscosity, was defined to account for this phenomenon. Gear churning losses could be better predicted using an existing empirical model when this parameter was used instead of the nominal immersion depth as is usually done

Gravitational memory for uniformly accelerated observers

Recently, Hawking, Perry and Strominger described a physical process that implants supertranslational hair on a Schwarzschild black hole by an infalling matter shock wave without spherical symmetry. Using the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs-type symmetries of the Rindler horizon, we present an analogous process that implants supertranslational hair on a Rindler horizon by a matter shock wave without planar symmetry, and we investigate the corresponding memory effect on the Rindler family of uniformly linearly accelerated observers. We assume each observer to remain linearly uniformly accelerated through the wave, in the sense of the curved spacetime generalization of the Letaw-Frenet equations. Starting with a family of observers who follow the orbits of a single boost Killing vector before the wave, we find that after the wave has passed, each observer still follows the orbit of a boost Killing vector but this boost differs from trajectory to trajectory, and the trajectory dependence carries a memory of the planar inhomogeneity of the wave. We anticipate this classical memory phenomenon to have a counterpart in Rindler space quantum field theory

Synthesis and Pharmacological Evaluation of Pyrazoline and Pyrimidine Analogs of Combretastatin-A4 as Anticancer, Anti-inflammatory and Antioxidant Agents

A library of 3,5-diaryl-1-carbothioamide-pyrazoline (5a–j), N1-phenyl sulfonyl pyrazoline (6a–e) and pyrimidine (7a) analogs of combretastatin-A4 were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity. Results of in vitro assay against human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) showed several compounds endowed with significant cytotoxicity compared to the adriamycin, a standard anticancer drug. Among the compounds synthesized, 7a was found to possess significant antiproliferative activity (GI50 < 0.1 µM) against the MCF-7 cell line as good as adriamycin (GI50 < 0.1 µM) whereas, compounds 6c, 5j and 5g also displayed good cytotoxicity (GI50 = 25.3–42.6 µM). Besides this, most active compound 7a was also evaluated against human myeloid leukemia cell line K562 and the remarkable result was obtained with GI50 < 0.1 µM, comparable to that of adriamycin (GI50 < 0.1 µM). In addition, all the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity. The percent inhibition studies revealed that most of the compounds were found to possess substantial anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

The enrichment of an alkaliphilic biofilm consortia capable of the anaerobic degradation of isosaccharinic acid from cellulosic materials incubated within an anthropogenic, hyperalkaline environment.

Anthropogenic hyper-alkaline sites provide an environment that is analogous to proposed cementitious geological disposal facilities (GDF) for radioactive waste. Under anoxic, alkaline conditions cellulosic wastes will hydrolyse to a range of cellulose degradation products (CDP) dominated by isosaccharinic acids (ISA). In order to investigate the potential for microbial activity in a cementitious GDF, cellulose samples were incubated in the alkaline (∼pH 12), anaerobic zone of a lime kiln waste site. Following retrieval, these samples had undergone partial alkaline hydrolysis and were colonised by a Clostridia dominated biofilm community, where hydrogenotrophic, alkaliphilic methanogens were also present. When these samples were used to establish an alkaline CDP fed microcosm, the community shifted away from Clostridia, methanogens became undetectable and a flocculate community dominated by Alishewanella sp. established. These flocs were composed of bacteria embedded in polysaccharides and protein stabilised by extracellular DNA. This community was able to degrade all forms of ISA with >60% of the carbon flow being channelled into extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) production. This study demonstrated that alkaliphilic microbial communities can degrade the CDP associated with some radioactive waste disposal concepts at pH 11. These communities divert significant amounts of degradable carbon to EPS formation, suggesting that EPS has a central role in the protection of these communities from hyper-alkaline conditions

Development of late leaf spot and rust tolerant genotypes from TMV 2 and JL 24 by marker assisted backcross breeding in groundnut

Foliar diseases like late leaf spot (LLS) and rust cause severe loss in the quantity and quality of the yield in groundnut. Development of foliar disease resistant genotypes, especially from the varieties that are already under commercial cultivation, but are susceptible to LLS and rust, is a promising approach in resistance breeding. The QTL and markers identified to be linked to LLS and rust resistance would hasten the selection scheme in the breeding program. TMV 2 and JL 24 released during 1940 and 1978, respectively for cultivation are still popular, except for their disease susceptibility. They were crossed to LLS and rust resistant genotypes like GPBD 4 (a released variety), ICGV 86699 (interspecific derivative), ICGV 99005 (interspecific derivative) and a second cycle derivative involving synthetic tetraploids. The F1s were selected based on the allele type at LLS and rust resistance-linked markers. Three cycles of backcrossing was attempted, and a few homozygous plants were identified from the BC3F2 from JL 24 x GPBD 4, JL 24 x ICGV 86699 and JL 24 x ICGV 99005. Selected BC3F3 families were highly resistant to LLS and rust, and they carried resistant allele at linked markers like IPAHM103 and GM2301. These lines were on par with the recurrent parent (JL 24) for test weight, SMK and yield. The background genome recovery in a selected family (JG_BC3FL18) of JL24 x GPBD 4 was up to 86.6% when checked with 30 polymorphic transposable element (TE) based markers. Currently, BC3F4 lines are being evaluated in larger plots for productivity and disease resistance

Treatment of synthetic textile wastewater containing dye mixtures with microcosms

The aim was to assess the ability of microcosms (laboratory-scale shallow ponds) as a post polishing stage for the remediation of artificial textile wastewater comprising two commercial dyes (basic red 46 (BR46) and reactive blue 198 (RB198)) as a mixture. The objectives were to evaluate the impact of Lemna minor L. (common duckweed) on the water quality outflows; the elimination of dye mixtures, organic matter, and nutrients; and the impact of synthetic textile wastewater comprising dye mixtures on the L. minor plant growth. Three mixtures were prepared providing a total dye concentration of 10 mg/l. Findings showed that the planted simulated ponds possess a significant (p &lt; 0.05) potential for improving the outflow characteristics and eliminate dyes, ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N), and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) in all mixtures compared with the corresponding unplanted ponds. The removal of mixed dyes in planted ponds was mainly due to phyto-transformation and adsorption of BR46 with complete aromatic amine mineralisation. For ponds containing 2 mg/l of RB198 and 8 mg/l of BR46, removals were around 53%, which was significantly higher than those for other mixtures: 5 mg/l of RB198 and 5 mg/l of BR46 and 8 mg/l of RB198 and 2 mg/l of BR46 achieved only 41 and 26% removals, respectively. Dye mixtures stopped the growth of L. minor, and the presence of artificial wastewater reduced their development

Solution-processed Cd-substituted CZTS nanocrystals for sensitized liquid junction solar cells

The Earth-abundant kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) exhibits outstanding structural, optical, and electronic properties for a wide range of optoelectronic applications. However, the efficiency of CZTS thin-film solar cells is limited due to range of factors, including electronic disorder, secondary phases, and the presence of anti-site defects, which is key factor limiting the Voc. The complete substitution of Zn lattice sites in CZTS nanocrystals (NCs) with Cd atoms offers a promising approach to overcome several of these intrinsic limitations. Herein, we investigate the effects of substitution of Cd2+ into Zn2+ lattice sites in CZTS NCs through a facile solution-based method. The structural, morphological, optoelectronic, and power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the NCs synthesized have been systematically characterized using various experimental techniques, and the results are corroborated by first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The successful substitution of Zn by Cd is demonstrated to induce a structural transformation from the kesterite phase to the stannite phase, which results in the bandgap reducing from 1.51 eV (kesterite) to 1.1 eV (stannite), which is closer to the optimum bandgap value for outdoor photovoltaic applications. Furthermore, the PCE of the novel Cd-substituted liquid junction solar cell underwent a four-fold increase, reaching 1.1%. These results highlight the importance of substitutional doping strategies in optimizing existing CZTS-based materials to achieve improved device characteristics

Condensation of an ideal gas with intermediate statistics on the horizon

We consider a boson gas on the stretched horizon of the Schwartzschild and Kerr black holes. It is shown that the gas is in a Bose-Einstein condensed state with the Hawking temperature $T_c=T_H$ if the particle number of the system be equal to the number of quantum bits of space-time N \simeq {A}/{{\l_{p}}^{2}}. Entropy of the gas is proportional to the area of the horizon $(A)$ by construction. For a more realistic model of quantum degrees of freedom on the horizon, we should presumably consider interacting bosons (gravitons). An ideal gas with intermediate statistics could be considered as an effective theory for interacting bosons. This analysis shows that we may obtain a correct entropy just by a suitable choice of parameter in the intermediate statistics.Comment: 12 pages, added new sections related to an ideal gas with intermediate statistic