Design and Simulation of Microfluidic Passive Mixer With Geometric Variation

Microfluidic designs are advantageous and are extensively used in number of fields related to biomed ical and biochemical engineeri ng. The objective of this paper is to perform numerical simulations to optimize the design of microfluidic mixers in order to achieve optimum mixing. In the present study, fluid mixing in different type of micro channels has b een investigated. Numeric al si mulations are performed in order to understand the effect of channel geometry parameters on mixing p erformance. A two dimensional “ T shaped ” passive microfluidic mixer is restructured by employing the rectangular shaped obstacles in the chan nel to improve the mixing performance. The impact of proper placement of obstacles in the channel is demonstrated b y applying the leakage concept. It has been observed that, the channel design with non - leaky obstacles (i.e. without leaky barriers) has presented better mi xing performance in contrast to channel design with leaky obstacles (i.e. leaky barriers) and channe l design without obstacles. The mixing occurs by virtue of secondary flow and generation of vortices due to curling o f fluids in the channel o n account of t he presence of obstacles. This passive mixer has achieved complete mixing of fluids in few seconds o r some milliseconds , which is certainly acceptable to utilize in biological applications such as cell dynamics, drug scre ening , toxicological screening and others

A Review on COVID-19 Outbreak Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The research paper focuses on the evidence-based on a preliminary study conducted on how the COVID-19 outbreak might affect the evolution of business obligations to discharge the activities which could uplift society and marketing. Ironically, it is true that the pandemic has provided an excellent opportunity for corporations to redirect their focus points and to comprehend the newer dimension of customers’ ethical decision-making process. This outbreak has a significant impact on marketing and magnifies the approach towards the strategic marketing efforts drawn by firms as opposed to content marketing. We conclude the study by outlining a number of research issues and areas that have the potential to be productive

Advanced Microfluidic Mixing Device for the Study of Macromolecule Dynamics

[Abstract not available

Guided Nonlocal Patch Regularization and Efficient Filtering-Based Inversion for Multiband Fusion

In multiband fusion, an image with a high spatial and low spectral resolution is combined with an image with a low spatial but high spectral resolution to produce a single multiband image having high spatial and spectral resolutions. This comes up in remote sensing applications such as pansharpening~(MS+PAN), hyperspectral sharpening~(HS+PAN), and HS-MS fusion~(HS+MS). Remote sensing images are textured and have repetitive structures. Motivated by nonlocal patch-based methods for image restoration, we propose a convex regularizer that (i) takes into account long-distance correlations, (ii) penalizes patch variation, which is more effective than pixel variation for capturing texture information, and (iii) uses the higher spatial resolution image as a guide image for weight computation. We come up with an efficient ADMM algorithm for optimizing the regularizer along with a standard least-squares loss function derived from the imaging model. The novelty of our algorithm is that by expressing patch variation as filtering operations and by judiciously splitting the original variables and introducing latent variables, we are able to solve the ADMM subproblems efficiently using FFT-based convolution and soft-thresholding. As far as the reconstruction quality is concerned, our method is shown to outperform state-of-the-art variational and deep learning techniques.Comment: Accepted in IEEE Transactions on Computational Imagin

Improving RNN-Transducers with Acoustic LookAhead

RNN-Transducers (RNN-Ts) have gained widespread acceptance as an end-to-end model for speech to text conversion because of their high accuracy and streaming capabilities. A typical RNN-T independently encodes the input audio and the text context, and combines the two encodings by a thin joint network. While this architecture provides SOTA streaming accuracy, it also makes the model vulnerable to strong LM biasing which manifests as multi-step hallucination of text without acoustic evidence. In this paper we propose LookAhead that makes text representations more acoustically grounded by looking ahead into the future within the audio input. This technique yields a significant 5%-20% relative reduction in word error rate on both in-domain and out-of-domain evaluation sets.Comment: 5 pages, 1 fig, 7 tables, Proceedings of Interspeech 202

Osteopontin is a potential target gene in mouse mammary cancer chemoprevention by Se-methylselenocysteine

BACKGROUND: Se-methylselenocysteine (MSC) is a naturally occurring organoselenium compound that inhibits mammary tumorigenesis in laboratory animals and in cell culture models. Previously we have documented that MSC inhibits DNA synthesis, total protein kinase C and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 kinase activities, leading to prolonged S-phase arrest and elevation of growth-arrested DNA damage genes, followed by caspase activation and apoptosis in a synchronized TM6 mouse mammary tumor model. The aim of the present study was to examine the efficacy of MSC against TM6 mouse mammary hyperplastic outgrowth (TM6-HOG) and to determine in vivo targets of MSC in this model system. METHODS: Twenty mammary fat pads each from female Balb/c mice transplanted with TM6-HOG and fed with 0.1 ppm selenium and with 3 ppm selenium respectively, were evaluated at 4 and 12 weeks after transplantation for growth spread, proliferative index and caspase-3 activity. Thirteen mice transplanted with TM6-HOG in each selenium group were observed for tumor formation over 23 weeks. Tumors from mice in both groups were compared by cDNA array analysis and data were confirmed by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. To determine the effect of MSC on the expression of the novel target gene and on cell migration, experiments were performed in triplicate. RESULTS: A dietary dose of 3 ppm selenium significantly reduced the growth spread and induced caspase-3 activity in mammary fat pads in comparison with mice fed with the basal diet (0.1 ppm selenium). The extended administration (23 weeks) of 3 ppm selenium in the diet resulted in a tumor incidence of 77% in comparison with 100% tumor incidence in 0.1 ppm selenium-fed animals. The size of TM6 tumors in the supplemented group was smaller (mean 0.69 cm(2)) than in the mice fed with the basal diet (mean 0.93 cm(2)). cDNA array analysis showed a reduced expression of osteopontin (OPN) in mammary tumors of mice fed with the 3 ppm selenium diet in comparison with OPN expression in tumors arising in 0.1 ppm selenium-fed mice. A 24-hour treatment of TM6 cells with MSC significantly inhibited their migration and also reduced their OPN expression in comparison with untreated cells. CONCLUSIONS: OPN is a potential target gene in the inhibition of mammary tumorigenesis by selenium

Chemical Properties of Water Hyancinth Plant Ash

In ponds, water hyacinth expands rapidly and doubles in size in just two weeks. The significance of integrated and adaptable management strategies that take into account the ecological, economic, and social aspects of water hyacinth reduction is emphasized in this abstract. To successfully handle the water hyacinth issue and encourage the sustainable use of this problematic plant, cooperation among governments, communities, researchers, and environmental groups is essential. We can improve the quality of life for individuals impacted by the existence of water hyacinth by putting these measures into practice and working to restore the health of aquatic ecosystems. The dense mats of water hyacinth on the water's surface can block sunlight, reduce oxygen levels, and obstruct natural water movement, which can have a negative impact on native aquatic species and ecological balance. Additionally, its presence in water bodies can hinder fishing, transportation, and irrigation, which can result in losses for people who depend on these resources economically

Exploring the Impact of Resveratrol on Gynecological Cancer: Insights and Perspectives

Gynecological cancers, a group of malignancies affecting the female reproductive system, are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in women. Different types of gynecological cancers differ by distinct attributes, risk determinants, and therapeutic methodologies. So, depending on the type and stage of the cancer, a tailored combination of therapies is required for the treatment. However, it is shocking that the side effects of these therapeutic methods range from mild to severe. Hence, developing innovative therapeutic approaches to improve patient outcomes is imperative. Here's the juncture where the role of plant-derived compounds in curing gynecological cancers becomes evident. Various plant-derived compounds, including phytochemicals, polyphenols, alkaloids, and terpenoids for their cytotoxic, apoptotic, anti-angiogenic, and immunomodulatory properties, have been examined so far. Besides, certain phytocompounds can modulate hormonal-dependent gynecological cancers. Among the widely studied phytocompounds, RSV is the one that is extensively researched in vitro, in vivo and in-silico studies. In this context, this review article provides insights into the present-day knowledge about how RSV can potentially manage gynecological cancers. However, further research is needed to standardize their mode of action, optimal dosages, and potential interactions with conventional treatments. Rigorous clinical trials must validate their safety and efficacy profiles in different patient populations. As a result, a novel avenue for treating and preventing gynecological cancers could emerge by harnessing the multifaceted properties of phyto compounds, instilling new hope for patients and healthcare providers alike

Cornell-SEWA-WIEGO 2008 Dialogue - Ahmedabad and Delhi Compendium of Personal and Technical Notes

Food Security and Poverty, International Development, International Relations/Trade,