Physico-chemical Analysis of Ground Water Quality of Kalavad Taluka of Jamnagar District(Gujarat)

Physicochemical analysis of ground water samples were collected from different places of Kalavad taluka of Jamnagar district (India). These Fifteen samples of water samples from different places were analyzed for their physicochemical characteristics. All the samples were collected from the different places. People used water for drinking and irrigation purpose these water samples from fifteen different places of Kalavad, were analyzed for their physicochemical characteristics. Laboratory tests were performed for analysis as Temperature Calcium, Magnesium, hardness, pH; Chloride, Alkalinity, TDS, sulphate, phosphate and nitrate were studied. The usefulness of these parameters in predicting ground water quality characteristics were discussed. Thus an attempt has been made to find the quality of ground water in and around Kalavad suitable for drinking purposes after proper purification

Laser-Based Imaging of Novel Charge Density Wave and Superconducting Materials

The following thesis presents experimental study of two crystalline materials which show correlated electron phases. The first material 1T-TaS2 is a two-dimensional van-der-Waals material. This family of materials have been of intense research interest since the discovery of mechanical exfoliation technique, which allows for fabrication of atomically thin flakes of high crystal quality. Subsequent development in dry-transfer techniques have created the capacity to vertically stack these flakes to get desired heterostructures. Bulk crystals of 1T-TaS2 had been previously studied and were known to undergo multiple charge density waves (CDW) transitions as a function of temperature. In ultra-thin flakes of 1T-TaS2 the temperature hysteresis of Nearly-Commensurate (NC) to Commensurate (C) phase transition has been shown to widen and host states of intermediate resistivity. While such measurements provide global information, a spatially resolved study would answer the question of distribution of the NC-C phases in these states. Such a study would help to identify further differences between these intermediate states and also answer questions relevant for device miniaturization.In order to achieve this, we propose a vertical heterostructure geometry of the following order h-BN/1T-TaS2/WSe2/Gr. This geometry utilizes the high photocurrent extraction efficiency of such devices to map the phase of 1T-TaS2 in the overlap region. A scanning laser microscopy system is used to map the photocurrent response of these devices with diffraction limited resolution. We compare the spatial maps obtained for such devices with relatively thick and thin 1T-TaS2 flakes as they undergo the NC-C phase transitions. Further motivation to study this material is for its potential use in electronic devices. Various methods have been shown to alter the phase of the material over a wide temperature range. Applied electric _eld has been previously shown to control the CDW state of the ultra-thin flakes by driving the material from the NC to C or C to NC state in a unidirectional manner. We are able to reproduce this control and additionally able to achieve bi-directional driving at a constant temperature. Spatial photocurrent maps of such control provide additional information which is modeled phenomenologically by a free energy analysis. The second class of materials we study are high pressure Hydrides which are known to have the highest superconducting TC. Metallic hydrogen was first proposed to be a room temperature superconductor by Ashcroft in 1968, but the high pressure requirement to fabricate such material still remains beyond practical limit. Alternatively it was suggested that hydrogen dense compounds could harbor high-temperature superconductivity at more achievable pressures . H3S and LaH10 are two such materials that show superconductivity at 203K and 250K respectively. While it is possible to measure electrical resistivity of these samples, it is difficult to measure other properties of superconductivity like the Meissner effect as the samples are held at high pressures under diamond anvils. Optical measurements that consider the presence of diamond in the beam path over the possibility of exploring the nature of superconductivity in these exotic samples. Previous measurements exploring the reflectivity of H3S superconducting samples in the near-infrared regime show a dip in the 400-650meV energy range. This matches with theoretical predictions that assign this depression of reflectance to strong scattering from bosonic excitations. We aim to use this result to spatially map the superconductivity in these samples using our laser scanning setup with laser wavelength of 2300nm. In this thesis we report the initial data taken on a H3S sample

Digital citizen science for ethical surveillance of physical activity among youth: mobile ecological momentary assessments vs. retrospective recall

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor of mortality globally. Hence, understanding the physical activity (PA) patterns of youth is essential to manage and mitigate non-communicable diseases. As digital citizen science approaches utilizing citizen-owned smartphones to ethically obtain PA big data can transform PA surveillance, this study aims to understand the frequency of PA reported by youth using smartphone-deployed retrospective validated surveys compared to prospective time-triggered mobile ecological momentary assessments (mEMAs). Using a digital citizen science methodology, this study recruited youth citizen scientists (N = 808) in 2018 (August 31- December 31) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Youth citizen scientists (age 13 to 21) reported their PA using prospective mEMAs and retrospective surveys over an eight-day period. A significant difference was found in reporting the frequency of PA retrospectively vs. prospectively via mEMAs (p < 0.000). Ethnicity, parental education, and strength training were associated with prospective PA frequency; however, no associations were significant with retrospective PA frequency. With access to ubiquitous digital devices growing worldwide, and youth having particularly high digital literacy, digital citizen science for the ethical surveillance of PA using mEMAs presents a promising approach for the management and prevention of non-communicable diseases among youth

Examining Negative Effects of Cell-Phone Towers on Humans and Wildlife

In this research we examine how omnipresence of cell phone towers has impacted human and wildlife. We begin with discussing how these cell phone towers release Radiofrequency (RF) waves, followed by highlighting dangers of these waves to humans and wildlife. We examine how RF waves has potentially played a huge role in causing cancer and other harmful diseases to humans and putting many kinds of animal species on the brink of extinction. Furthermore, we discuss the latest 5G technology innovation – how it resulted in the creation of more cell phone towers and portray the issues created by it. The research concludes with ethical arguments on attitude of cell phone towers companies, who are apparently focusing more on revenue earning than accepting the fact that cell towers are bringing serious medical problems to people, and affecting many wildlife negatively

EVALUATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF FENUGREEK (TRIGONELLA FOENUM-GRAECUM) EXTRACTS

Objective: The present investigation was performed to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of Trigonella foenum-graecum leaves extracts and to elucidate the presence of phytochemicals responsible for its biological activity.Methods: The plant extracts were prepared by sequential cold maceration method by using four solvents viz., hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol and distilled water. Antimicrobial activity of extracts was carried out by agar well diffusion method against four bacteria and five fungi. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of different extracts was determined using the broth dilution method. Thin layer chromatography (TLC), TLC bioautography and phytochemicals analysis were also performed.Results: The antibacterial activity of T. foenum-graecum leaves extracts was found maximum on Serratia marcescens with a zone of inhibition (ZOI) of 12.33±0.57 mm by aqueous extract followed by inhibition of Bacillus cereus (ZOI = 11.50±0.50 mm) by the methanol extract. The range of MIC of different extracts recorded was 6.25 to 25 mg/ml. Results of the antifungal activity showed that methanol extract showed a maximum zone of inhibition against Trichoderma viridae (ZOI = 14.5±0.5 mm) followed by ethyl acetate extract (ZOI = 12.0±1.0 mm). The MIC value for methanol extract against T. viridae was 6.25 mg/ml. The result of TLC bioautography revealed that compounds eluted at Rf 0.58 and Rf 0.67 exhibited strong while compounds eluted at Rf 0.31 and Rf 0.37 showed moderate antibacterial activity against S. marcescens. Phytochemicals analysis indicated that methanol and aqueous extracts contain more phytochemicals as compared to hexane and ethyl acetate extracts.Conclusion: The results obtained in this study clearly indicate that T. foenum-graecum leaves extracts to have a significant potential to be used as an antimicrobial agent due to the presence of different phytochemicals.Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, Phytochemicals analysis, TLC bioautography, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Trigonella foenum-graecumÂ

Concentration of Fluoride in Groundwater and its Distrubution

Abstract: The paper deals with the result of analysis of fluoride and other water quality parameters of groundwater and its distribution in view of distance from coastal areas towards interior areas. The findings reveal the fact the concentration of fluoride comes from the coastal area towords the central area. The concentration of natural fluoride in ground water is not uniform in these areas. The fluoride variation is due to many factors such as source of water, the ecological formation of the area, the amount of the rain fall the quantity of water lost by evaporation, other parameters such as pH, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium and chloride which are enhancing fluoride toxicity

Development of UAV as a Platform for Current and Future Dynamic Soaring Research

We address the ongoing development of a dynamic soaring (DS) capable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform optimized for minimal power consumption. This project has been funded by the Embry-Riddle Office of Undergraduate Research through the Ignite program. Dynamic soaring is a bio-inspired flight maneuver in which energy is extracted from the wind shear layer by flying through regions of varying wind speed. The objective of our project is to design an autonomous dynamic soaring flight controller and perform DS with a real-world UAV. Development of this project can be divided into three sub-categories: (1) the UAV platform, (2) flight simulations, and (3) the flight controller. The UAV platform is an FMS Fox Aerobatic Glider, a high aspect-ratio glider with a nose-mounted engine. A flight control system has been crafted to allow us to integrate our DS autopilot. In previous works we have created a 6-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) flight simulation environment in MATLAB and Simulink to develop and test DS flight controllers. The simulator can be adapted to integrate our current UAV by building a variable-fidelity aerodynamic model using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Finally, we are developing a robust reinforcement-learning (RL) trained artificial intelligence (AI) that will optimize the path of the UAV to minimize power consumption. RL is performed in the simulator and the AI will be deployed on the UAV when complete. This presentation will discuss current progress as well as address challenges we face in the completion of our goals