Exploiting Local Algal Diversity for Bio-Diesel Production

Algae is proven potential resources for eco-friendly bio-diesel production. But research efforts are still required for worthwhile results. The present study aims to utilize locally available algae biomass resources for bio-diesel production. The samples were collected from the air, water depositories and soil within the Institute campus. Further purification, culture, morphological identification, preservation, lipid extraction, transesterification and bio-diesel properties estimation were also conducted. In the first set of experiment, water strains were collected, isolated up to the molecular level and utilized for vitrification protocol development. The isolated Oocystis sp. and Anabaena sp. confirm an improvement in survival percentage over conventional encapsulation-vitrification method. The viability concentration was also enhanced further by the addition of 2-mercaptoethanol and glutathione. The developed methodology further used for the preservation of collected and isolated cells during the study. Further, the study compared the pre-treatment strategies for improvement in overall lipid extraction rate. Comparison were done for dry vs. wet, with cell disruption vs. without cell disruption and conventional Soxhlet method vs. Folch’s methods. Results show that the combination of dried algal biomass with the Folch’s method yields more than 27% lipid which was comparatively higher than the traditional Soxhlet methodology i.e. 15%. The mixed population includes Chlorella, Anabaena, Euglena, Oocystis and Sphaerocystis species. Fatty acids present in lipid consist majorly of the C-18 molecule i.e. linolenic acid (C18:3), linoleic acid (C18:2) and oleic acid (C18:1). The other varieties of comparatively short carbon chain fatty acids were also observed which were considered to give the best fuel properties. Therefore, this local algal mixed diversity was found to be suitable for biofuel as well as various other fatty acids production. Similarly, dominant airborne species throughout the year in this locality were found to be Scenedesmus sp., Chlorella sp., Pteromonas, Sphaerocystis sp., Oocystis sp., Oedogonium sp., Anabaena, Pseudanabaena sp., Gloeocapsa sp., Microcystis sp., Naviculoid Diatoms, Mastogloia, Striatella sp., Euglena sp., Phacus sp. and two unidentified species. Availability of algae was found to be maximum during post monsoon and minimum in rainy season. Lipid estimation and FAME analysis were conducted by spectrofluorometry, CHNS, FTIR, GC-MS. Basic bio-diesel properties were also performed to know the suitability of extracted oil as raw material for bio-diesel production. Further, probable sugars, acids and alcohol were also estimated from methanol layer after lipid extraction. As varieties of algae were found in the month of October, therefore, overall lipid content and other functional groups were also found higher in the analysis. Summarizing, the obtained airborne algal oil fraction was suitable to use as bio-diesel. As the airborne algae were also oleaginous, hence these could not be considered as contamination during large scale open culture system. In the further experiments, bio-diesel and other co-products were produced using soil algal biomass. All the three layers during lipid extraction i.e. chloroform:methanol:residual layers were considered for this study. The dominant species include Chlorella, Euglena, Oocystis, Anabaena, Pseudomonas and one unreported species. Bottom chloroform layer consists of lipid which was transesterified and analyzed by GC-MS for the presence of FAME and phytol. Phytol is hydrolyzed component of chlorophyll molecule and precursor of vitamin E, and K. HPLC of methanol layer shows the presence of various carbohydrates, acids and other commercially valuable components. Therefore, methanol layer could be further purified and utilize as the source of carbohydrates and other useful chemicals. The cell debris was physically activated to use it as bio-char. Comparative characterization of raw algae, residual algae and algae biochar by proximate, elemental, TGA, FTIR, XRD, SEM-EDX were done. The results show that volatile matter was depleted after lipid extraction but fixed carbon increases. Peaks of FTIR study identified many chloroalkanes repeat in all the three states which were consistent with EDX analysis. EDX shows the presence of high amount of carbon, oxygen along with few inorganic substitutes like chlorine, calcium, etc. SEM and XRD pattern reveals the surface morphology of raw, residue and bio-char of algae. The residual algae are much crystalline in comparison to other two states which may be due to the extraction of intracellular components. Hence raw and residual algal biomass could not be utilized directly as the adsorbent. The further physical treatment creates the pores in crystalline surface hence could be used as the adsorbent. Organic and inorganic materials present in algal biomass shows that it can also be utilized as fertilizer for agricultural purpose. Further, methylene blue dye adsorption study was also conducted to know the suitability of biochar as the adsorbent. More than 90% of the dye was absorbed after the interval of one hour. In summary, the algae are very valuable biomass, and wise utilization could provide various value added products for human benefit

Is Screening of TORCH Worthwhile in Women with Bad Obstetric History: An Observation from Eastern Nepal

This pilot case-control study at a tertiary-care hospital over a four-month period was aimed at evaluating the possible usefulness of screening of TORCH (Toxoplasma gondii, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus, and Herpes simplex virus) in females with bad obstetric history. The study included 12 women with bad obstetric history and a similar number of matched controls with previous normal pregnancies. A serological evaluation of TORCH infections was carried out by detecting IgG and IgM antibodies against these infections by ELISA test-kit. Statistical analysis was not done to compare the results relating to the two groups due to a small number of cases and controls included in the study. Ten (83.3%) of the 12 cases with bad obstetric history and two (16.7%) of the 12 healthy controls were serologically positive at least for one of the TORCH agents. The seropositivity rate in women with bad obstetric history was quite high compared to that in the normal healthy controls. The results suggest that a previous history of pregnancy wastage and the serological evaluation of TORCH infections during current pregnancy must be considered while managing cases with bad obstetric history

Data-Driven Hyperparameter Optimized Extreme Gradient Boosting Machine Learning Model for Solar Radiation Forecasting

The uncertainty of the non-conventional sources especially solar energy caused due to spatio- temporal factors like temperature, pressure, relative humidity etc. is continuously disrupting the productivity and reliability of an integrated power system which motivates the researcher or energy industry for strategic forecasting solutions to enhance the proper scheduling and control of solar generation power plants. Several studies have been carried out; but still the objective of achieving accurate forecasting dependent on the spatio- temporal features is not achieved. To address this critical forecasting issue in this research article a hyper parametric tuning of the Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) machine learning model has been carried out using two met heuristic algorithms: Moth Flame Optimiza- tion (MFO) and Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO). The dataset comprises five years of metrological at- tributes collected from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for analysis. The validation of the proposed model has been done based on the five statistical errors: Max Error (ME), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Coefficient of Determination (R2), Mean Square Error (MSE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The regressive assessment of all three models has confirmed that the XGB-MFO model out- performed the others as showing the highest R2 score of 0.9337, 0.9011, 0.8744 and lowest RMSE values of 76.29 W·m−2, 41.90W·m−2 and 95.94W·m−2 for Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), Diffuse Horizon- tal Irradiance (DHI) and Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) respectively which ensures the proposed model implementation for the prediction and production of solar power

Testing Tool: Offensive Server Side Security Analyser

The main purpose of making this tool is that administrators are not aware of many recent attacks like Symlink attack, obfuscated back dooring etc. So, our tool will effectively help them in finding the vulnerabilities.We have planned to design a server side penetration application that will effectively analyse all loopholes and help the server side administrator to secure his server. Ideally, this tool will work on local host and will operate through web browser. This tool will be able to test vulnerabilities in any server hosted on windows or any flavour of Linux

Increasing rates of cesarean section, an upcoming public health problem: an audit of cesarean section in a tertiary care center of North India based on Robson classification

Background: Increasing rates of cesarean section during last three decades has become a cause of alarm since and a need for ongoing studies. Objective of present study was to investigate cesarean section rates as per modified Robsons Criteria and to determine area of concern which requires maximum focus to decrease overall caesarean rateMethods: This cross sectional study was conducted over a period of one year (From January 2016 to December 2016) in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow.Results: Total number of deliveries for one year was 8526. Out of them, 4275 (50.1%) were vaginal and 4251 (49.9%) were abdominal. Overall maximum caesarean section rate was contributed by group 5 of modified Robsons criteria i.e. previous section, singleton, cephalic, ≥37 weeks (17.7%).Conclusions: Robson 10 group classification provides easy way in collecting information about Cesarean section rate which obtains good insight into certain birth groups. It is important that efforts to reduce the overall CS rate should focus on reducing the primary CS rate (group 1 and 2) and on increasing vaginal birth after CS (group 5). The caesarean rate is commonest in group 5 that is previous section (17.7%)

The epidemiological and neurological risk factors of Japanese encephalitis virus in the population of Assam, Northeast India

Japanese encephalitis is one of the world's most common public health issues, particularly it is prevalent in the north-eastern Indian states of Assam. This study aimed to find out the risk factors linked to clinical and epidemiological characteristics. A total of 245 cases were found as PCR-positive in Assam. The most common clinical symptoms were fever (87%), seizure (65%), altered sensorium (60%), cold with shivering (74%), vomiting (68%), throat irritation (31%), cough (67%), chest pain (10%), joint pain (18%), mouth ulcer (18%), diarrhea (29%), pain in the abdomen (42.9%), runny nose (64%), redness in eyes (78%), jaundice (25%), and blood in the sputum (25%).   Further, the neurological symptoms included vision problems (66.5%), hearing difficulties (55 %), neck stiffness (62%), limb numbness (65%), dizziness (77%), headaches (75.5%), speaking difficulties (63%), hydrophobia (47%), and abnormal behavior (66%). The epidemiological risk factors included contact with pigs (57%), bats (21%), cattle (32%), and rates (66%). In addition, 24.5% of patients observed the death of animals/birds. The protection measure included window screening, sleeping under a mosquito net, and use of insect repellent while sleeping in open compounds (29%) and floods (63%) are considered important risk factors. JE-positive cases include daily habits like working in agriculture fields (28%), in standing water (16%), swimming in nearby lakes (24%), traveling outside their village (40%), and wearing shirts while working in the field (20%), storing water in open containers in or outside the house (62%). These were the epidemiological factors that affected the abundance of the potential mosquito vectors of the JE infection

Testing Tool: Offensive Server Side Security Analyser

The main purpose of making this tool is that administrators are not aware of many recent attacks like Symlink attack, obfuscated back dooring etc. So, our tool will effectively help them in finding the vulnerabilities.We have planned to design a server side penetration application that will effectively analyse all loopholes and help the server side administrator to secure his server. Ideally, this tool will work on local host and will operate through web browser. This tool will be able to test vulnerabilities in any server hosted on windows or any flavour of Linux

CLASSY VII Ly\alpha\ Profiles: The Structure and Kinematics of Neutral Gas and Implications for LyC Escape in Reionization-Era Analogs

Lyman-alpha line profiles are a powerful probe of ISM structure, outflow speed, and Lyman continuum escape fraction. In this paper, we present the Ly$\alpha$ line profiles of the COS Legacy Archive Spectroscopic SurveY, a sample rich in spectroscopic analogs of reionization-era galaxies. A large fraction of the spectra show a complex profile, consisting of a double-peaked Ly$\alpha$ emission profile in the bottom of a damped, Ly$\alpha$ absorption trough. Such profiles reveal an inhomogeneous interstellar medium (ISM). We successfully fit the damped Ly$\alpha$ absorption (DLA) and the Ly$\alpha$ emission profiles separately, but with complementary covering factors, a surprising result because this approach requires no Ly$\alpha$ exchange between high-$N_\mathrm{HI}$ and low-$N_\mathrm{HI}$ paths. The combined distribution of column densities is qualitatively similar to the bimodal distributions observed in numerical simulations. We find an inverse relation between Ly$\alpha$ peak separation and the [O III]/[O II] flux ratio, confirming that the covering fraction of Lyman-continuum-thin sightlines increases as the Ly$\alpha$ peak separation decreases. We combine measurements of Ly$\alpha$ peak separation and Ly$\alpha$ red peak asymmetry in a diagnostic diagram which identifies six Lyman continuum leakers in the CLASSY sample. We find a strong correlation between the Ly$\alpha$ trough velocity and the outflow velocity measured from interstellar absorption lines. We argue that greater vignetting of the blueshifted Ly$\alpha$ peak, relative to the redshifted peak, is the source of the well-known discrepancy between shell-model parameters and directly measured outflow properties. The CLASSY sample illustrates how scattering of Ly$\alpha$ photons outside the spectroscopic aperture reshapes Ly$\alpha$ profiles as the distances to these compact starbursts span a large range.Comment: 40 pages, 19 figures, 5 tables, submitted to ApJ, comments welcom

Analysis of crack growth rate along a vibrating cantilever beam

Utilizing accelerometer, estimations of variables V, B, F, and D were watched for a vibrating cantilever bar. Information were recorded for frequencies 60 Hz, 80 Hz, 100 Hz, and 120 Hz at different altering length 400 mm, 350 mm also, 300 mm. Considering, break development rate as an extra variable, a scientific model was created utilizing dimensional investigation and computed estimations of G were plotted to watch break development rate along the shaft for diverse settling length. Plots were contrasted and dissected with discover the impact of progress of altering length at each recurrence for assurance of split development rate along shaft from free end to altered end.

Cystic breast lymphangioma in adult female: An unusual presentation

Cystic lymphangiomas are rare benign tumor of the breast in adults. They are usually located in head and neck, axilla, and mediastinum. They are most commonly diagnosed in young children. Nearly 90% are apparent by the age of 2 years. Here, we reporting a case of 20-year-old female presented with gradually increasing painless swelling in the upper outer quadrant of her left breast for 1½ years. Mammography of the breast showed multiple irregular hypoechoic lesions associated with irregular duct dilatation. Lumpectomy was performed and diagnosed as cystic lymphangioma. Complete excision is the treatment of choice