Removal of Congo Red from Aqueous Solution by Waste Banana Pith

The ability of waste banana pith to remove Congo red from aqueous solution was investigated. Various parameters such as initial dye concentration, contact time, adsorbent dosage and pH effect were studied. The adsorption rate constant was found to be 1 X 10.1 min'} at 50 mg I-I dye concentration. Above 92% removal was observed in the pH range 2-11. The removal of dye by banana pith is mostly due to chemisorption

Effect of functionalization of polymeric nanoparticles incorporated with whole attenuated rabies virus antigen on sustained release and efficacy

Nanovaccines introduced a new dimension to prevent or cure diseases in an efficient and sustained manner. Various polymers have been used for the drug delivery to increase the therapeutic value with minimal side effects. Thus the present study incorporates both nanotechnology and polymers for the drug delivery. Poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) was incorporated with the rabies whole attenuated viral antigen using double emulsion (W/O/W) method and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Chitosan-PEG nanoparticles incorporated with the rabies whole attenuated virus antigen (CS-PEG NP-RV Ag.) were prepared using Ionic Gelation method. The CS-PEG NP-RV Ag. was surface modified with biocompatible polymers such as Acacia, Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA), Casein, Ovalbumin and Starch by Ionic Gelation method. The morphology was confirmed by SEM and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The surface modification was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Zeta potential. The size distribution of CS-PEG-RV Ag. and surface modified CS-PEG-RV Ag. by respective biocompatible polymers was assessed by Zetasizer. Release profile of both stabilized nanoparticles was carried out by modified centrifugal ultrafiltration method which showed the sustained release pattern of the Rabies Ag. Immune stimulation under in-vitro condition was studied using rosette assay and phagocytosis assay. In-vitro toxicity using human blood and genotoxicity using human blood DNA was also studied to assess the toxicity of the nanoformulations. The results of these studies infer that PLGA-b-PEG nanoparticles, CS-PEG and surface modified CS-PEG nanoparticles may be an efficient nanocarrier for the RV Ag. to elicit immune response sustainably with negligible toxic effect to the human system

LINKING PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT FOR UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING WITH CIVIC ENGAGEMENT THROUGH TEACHING AND LEARNING

Students and facilitators in an undergraduate engineering degree program at Taylor’s University demonstrate how they link professional conduct to the learning in a civic engagement activity. This paper provides insight into reflection about learning and teaching that undertook in the process and how the authors improved our instructional strategies. With a conceptualized civic engagement activity on health, safety and environment aspects (HSE), a teaching and learning activity is discussed on its implementation. The service activities are undertaken with organizations in various underserved domains of community in Malaysia. Students reflect on their experience in these settings with organizational members and community. They organize their reflection to demonstrate how they link professional conduct required for HSE. Findings from student reflections analysed using thematic analysis related to a number of themes in the way students interpreted their learning of HSE with civic engagement. However, the limitations of study provide insight into developing civic engagement as a meaningful exercise for understanding HSE as a driven commitment through participation for engineering students

Cancer cells adapt FAM134B/BiP mediated ER-phagy to survive hypoxic stress

In the tumor microenvironment, cancer cells experience hypoxia resulting in the accumulation of misfolded/unfolded proteins largely in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Consequently, ER proteotoxicity elicits unfolded protein response (UPR) as an adaptive mechanism to resolve ER stress. In addition to canonical UPR, proteotoxicity also stimulates the selective, autophagy-dependent, removal of discrete ER domains loaded with misfolded proteins to further alleviate ER stress. These mechanisms can favor cancer cell growth, metastasis, and long-term survival. Our investigations reveal that during hypoxia-induced ER stress, the ER-phagy receptor FAM134B targets damaged portions of ER into autophagosomes to restore ER homeostasis in cancer cells. Loss of FAM134B in breast cancer cells results in increased ER stress and reduced cell proliferation. Mechanistically, upon sensing hypoxia-induced proteotoxic stress, the ER chaperone BiP forms a complex with FAM134B and promotes ER-phagy. To prove the translational implication of our mechanistic findings, we identified vitexin as a pharmacological agent that disrupts FAM134B-BiP complex, inhibits ER-phagy, and potently suppresses breast cancer progression in vivo

Generating Random Logic Programs Using Constraint Programming

Testing algorithms across a wide range of problem instances is crucial to ensure the validity of any claim about one algorithm's superiority over another. However, when it comes to inference algorithms for probabilistic logic programs, experimental evaluations are limited to only a few programs. Existing methods to generate random logic programs are limited to propositional programs and often impose stringent syntactic restrictions. We present a novel approach to generating random logic programs and random probabilistic logic programs using constraint programming, introducing a new constraint to control the independence structure of the underlying probability distribution. We also provide a combinatorial argument for the correctness of the model, show how the model scales with parameter values, and use the model to compare probabilistic inference algorithms across a range of synthetic problems. Our model allows inference algorithm developers to evaluate and compare the algorithms across a wide range of instances, providing a detailed picture of their (comparative) strengths and weaknesses.Comment: This is an extended version of the paper published in CP 202

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Measurement of χ c1 and χ c2 production with s√ = 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for the χ c1 and χ c2 charmonium states are measured in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using 4.5 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The χ c states are reconstructed through the radiative decay χ c → J/ψγ (with J/ψ → μ + μ −) where photons are reconstructed from γ → e + e − conversions. The production rate of the χ c2 state relative to the χ c1 state is measured for prompt and non-prompt χ c as a function of J/ψ transverse momentum. The prompt χ c cross-sections are combined with existing measurements of prompt J/ψ production to derive the fraction of prompt J/ψ produced in feed-down from χ c decays. The fractions of χ c1 and χ c2 produced in b-hadron decays are also measured

Evidence for the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to tau leptons with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for H → τ τ decays are presented, based on the full set of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during 2011 and 2012. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 4.5 fb−1 and 20.3 fb−1 at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV respectively. All combinations of leptonic (τ → `νν¯ with ` = e, µ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν) tau decays are considered. An excess of events over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (3.4) standard deviations. This excess provides evidence for the direct coupling of the recently discovered Higgs boson to fermions. The measured signal strength, normalised to the Standard Model expectation, of µ = 1.43 +0.43 −0.37 is consistent with the predicted Yukawa coupling strength in the Standard Model