Studies on DNA barcoding of sacred plant - Ficus religiosa L.

In the present investigation, DNA barcoding were made for the sacred trees of Main (Big) Temples in Cuddalore district, namely Ficus religiosa, to document their reliable identification, discrimination, similarities and evolutionary trend among them and with their related taxa for future use.  DNA isolation from leaf samples of present study species was carried out by using a modified CTAB method and good isolation was got for the species studied. Gradient PCR amplification was performed for the isolated DNA using matK gene and the primers matK472F & matK1248R.  The amplification success was 90-95%. PCR amplification was tested with 1 % agarose gel electrophoresis using ethidium bromide and the products were confirmed.  The PCR products were sent to Xcelris Labs Ltd. Sydney House, Premchand Nagar Road, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380054, India, for DNA sequencing and sequences were got for the species with the success rate of 95 %.  Pairwise sequence alignments were made with BLAST and multiple sequence alignments are made with ClustalW, and based on the sequence alignments, dentrograms were constructed using software Mega 5 and Neighbor joining method to study the phylogenetic aspects of the species studied and with their related taxa

Achieving Deep Cuts in the Carbon Intensity of U.S. Automobile Transportation by 2050: Complementary Roles for Electricity and Biofuels

Passenger cars in the United States (U.S.) rely primarily on petroleum-derived fuels and contribute the majority of U.S. transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Electricity and biofuels are two promising alternatives for reducing both the carbon intensity of automotive transportation and U.S. reliance on imported oil. However, as standalone solutions, the biofuels option is limited by land availability and the electricity option is limited by market adoption rates and technical challenges. This paper explores potential GHG emissions reductions attainable in the United States through 2050 with a county-level scenario analysis that combines ambitious plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) adoption rates with scale-up of cellulosic ethanol production. With PHEVs achieving a 58% share of the passenger car fleet by 2050, phasing out most corn ethanol and limiting cellulosic ethanol feedstocks to sustainably produced crop residues and dedicated crops, we project that the United States could supply the liquid fuels needed for the automobile fleet with an average blend of 80% ethanol (by volume) and 20% gasoline. If electricity for PHEV charging could be supplied by a combination of renewables and natural-gas combined-cycle power plants, the carbon intensity of automotive transport would be 79 g CO2e per vehicle-kilometer traveled, a 71% reduction relative to 2013

Evaluation of coolant concentration on the machiniability of carbon steel during end milling

In machining, cutting tools are used to remove unwanted material from the surface of a workpiece. This operation will transform the mechanical energy into thermal energy, generating heat at a small location. The generated heat transferred into the workpiece, the removed material, the environment and also the tool. This directly affects the tool life, the cutting performance and the quality of the products especially the surface finish. The cutting fluid is used to act as the coolant to reduce the generated heat and as lubricant to reduce the friction during the cutting process. This study explores the influence of coolant concentration on tool life, surface roughness of the product and the cutting force during end milling of mild steel S50C. High Speed Steel end mill of 4 flutes was used at various cutting conditions in the investigation. A design of experiment was planned, whereby the coolant concentration with cutting speed and feed being the factors and tool life, surface roughness and cutting forces were treated as responses. Mathematical models on the above responses were established based on the experimental results. The results of this experiment show that coolant concentration significantly affects the tool life at certain milling condition especially lower cutting speed and lower feed. At higher feed or cutting speed conditions, the coolant concentration or the coolant itself does not have any impact on the tool life. Coolant concentration does not directly affects the surface roughness but its’ reaction with feed does influence the results. The influence of coolant concentration on cutting force is not significant in this experimentation