Arun Joshi: A Literary Artist of Existential Writing

Existentialism, a very important literary movement of the twentieth century, occupies a very important place in the world literature. The major proponents of this theory are Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and others.  The key features associated with the existential literature are the depiction of sense of alienation, detachment, loneliness, aloofness, anxiety among the denizens of the modern world. Although, to begin with it was a European phenomenon, it soon spread to other parts of the world and impacted the writers all over the world. India also came under its influence. Many Indian writers exhibited existential traits in their works. Arun Joshi was the most prominent of them. His works, especially all novels, very beautifully incorporates existential elements. The present paper intends to study and exhibit the existential traits in the novels of Arun Joshi

Nanocolumnar Crystalline Vanadium Oxide-Molybdenum Oxide Antireflective Smart Thin Films with Superior Nanomechanical Properties

Vanadium oxide-molybdenum oxide (VO-MO) thin (21-475 nm) films were grown on quartz and silicon substrates by pulsed RF magnetron sputtering technique by altering the RF power from 100 to 600 W. Crystalline VO-MO thin films showed the mixed phases of vanadium oxides e.g., V2O5, V2O3 and VO2 along with MoO3. Reversible or smart transition was found to occur just above the room temperature i.e., at similar to 45-50 degrees C. The VO-MO films deposited on quartz showed a gradual decrease in transmittance with increase in film thickness. But, the VO-MO films on silicon exhibited reflectance that was significantly lower than that of the substrate. Further, the effect of low temperature (i.e., 100 degrees C) vacuum (10(-5) mbar) annealing on optical properties e.g., solar absorptance, transmittance and reflectance as well as the optical constants e.g., optical band gap, refractive index and extinction coefficient were studied. Sheet resistance, oxidation state and nanomechanical properties e.g., nanohardness and elastic modulus of the VO-MO thin films were also investigated in as-deposited condition as well as after the vacuum annealing treatment. Finally, the combination of the nanoindentation technique and the finite element modeling (FEM) was employed to investigate yield stress and von Mises stress distribution of the VO-MO thin films

Tribology and in-vitro biological characterization of samaria doped ceria stabilized zirconia ceramics

Samaria doped ceria stabilized zirconia (SmCSZ) ceramic discs were prepared through powder metallurgy technique and sintered in an air atmosphere. Near full dense sintered discs were tested using a pin on disk wear testing machine to evaluate tribological properties. The Low-Temperature Degradation (LTD) behaviour of SmCSZ was assessed using a hydrothermal aging study. The bioactivity was studied through a simulated body fluid immersion test, and the cytotoxic behaviour was evaluated by culturing osteoblast-like (MG63) cells on the surface of samples. It was observed that SmCSZ samples shown better tribological properties compared to undoped ceria stabilized zirconia (CSZ). The accelerated aging revealed no monoclinic phase transformation (no degradation) in SmCSZ even after 200 h of study, indicating its high resistance to LTD. The chemical treatment of samples with 5 M H3PO4 solution enhanced the bioactivity, and the cell culture study showed that the cells are metabolically active and proliferating on the surface of SmCSZ

In vitro cellular response and hydrothermal aging of two-step sintered Nb2O5 doped ceria stabilized zirconia ceramics

Niobia (1 mol. %) doped Ceria Stabilized Zirconia (NbCSZ) powders were synthesized using a co-precipitation method. The synthesized powders were uniaxially compacted and sintered in air. The two-step sintering method was adopted to sinter the samples, and the sintering schedule was optimized based on density, grain size, the phase present, and the hardness of the sintered sample. It was observed that the two-step sintering method effectively suppressed the grain growth of NbCSZ samples and helped in achieving a finer grain size of 1.57 μm along with the hardness of 1195 HV10 and optimum fracture toughness value 6.20 MPa m1/2. The Low-Temperature Degradation (LTD) behavior of the sintered samples was estimated through an accelerated hydrothermal aging test, which revealed that the samples are highly resistant to LTD and shown no phase change even after 150 h of study. Moreover, the cytocompatibility of the NbCSZ was tested by culturing MG63 cells on the samples for 7 days. The NbCSZ was found to be highly biocompatible as evident from cell viability and metabolic activity assay