Luminescent Materials in Lighting, Display, Solar Cell, Sensing, and Biomedical Applications

This chapter comprises a broader extent of the luminescence phenomenon with the mechanism involved therein as well as applications. Typically, the up and down conversion and downshifting behavior of the optical materials have been elucidated in brief. The fundamental understanding of these optical materials has been described by using schematic representations. It is well documented that the rare earth-based optical materials are known for their luminescent enrichment due to availability of the ladder-like energy levels. These energy levels can be utilized for the excitation of the luminescent materials by using a suitable excitation source. In the process of development of luminescent materials, choice of host matrices and dopant ions is very crucial. Strong correlation of these optical materials has been shown with the current scenario of our society and daily life. In view of the ongoing research, nanophosphor, glasses, and quantum dots with size- and shape-dependent optical behavior have been given in detail. The involved mechanism and the energy transfer phenomenon have been well elucidated by schematic and figures for the evident explanation to the readers. Our emphasis is to elucidate these optical materials in the development of innovative multifunctional applications such as lighting, display, sensing, LEDs, solar cell, and biological applications

Antibacterial Evaluation of Plant Extracts: an insight into Phytomedicine

This study was carried out to evaluate the antibacterial activity of petroleum ether, methanol and aqueous extract of the two plant Ocimum sanctum and pepper nigrum extract using agar well diffusion and broth dilution method against gram-positive bacterial strains (B. firmus, B. megaterium and B. cereus) and gram-negative bacterial strains (Escherichia coli, Enterobacter sp. and Klebsiella pneumoniae). The results indicate that petroleum ether extract compare to methanol and aqueous extract of O. sanctum and P. nigrum exhibited significant antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 0.13 to 0.21x 10-4 mg/well concentration. Moreover, gram-negative bacteria were less susceptible against petroleum ether, methanol and aqueous extract of O. sanctum and P. nigrum and their MIC ranging from 0.13 to 0.21x 10-2. The most susceptible organism to the organic extracts from both studied plants was B. firmus and the most resistant organism was Enterobacter sp. The result obtained with B. cereus and K. pneumoniae were particularly interesting, since it was inhibited by antibiotic ampicillin used and susceptibility was observed with the individual extracts, where higher antibacterial activity with petroleum ether and aqueous extracts of O. sanctum and P. nigrum respectively.  The presence of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, tannins, saponin, triterpenoids, steroids and glycosides in the extracts of these plants supports their traditional uses as medicinal plants for the treatment of various ailments. The present study reveals potential use of these plants for developing new antibacterial herbal drugs against pathogenic microorganisms

Antibacterial Evaluation of Plant Extracts: an insight into Phytomedicine

This study was carried out to evaluate the antibacterial activity of petroleum ether, methanol and aqueous extract of the two plant Ocimum sanctum and pepper nigrum extract using agar well diffusion and broth dilution method against gram-positive bacterial strains (B. firmus, B. megaterium and B. cereus) and gram-negative bacterial strains (Escherichia coli, Enterobacter sp. and Klebsiella pneumoniae). The results indicate that petroleum ether extract compare to methanol and aqueous extract of O. sanctum and P. nigrum exhibited significant antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 0.13 to 0.21x 10-4 mg/well concentration. Moreover, gram-negative bacteria were less susceptible against petroleum ether, methanol and aqueous extract of O. sanctum and P. nigrum and their MIC ranging from 0.13 to 0.21x 10-2. The most susceptible organism to the organic extracts from both studied plants was B. firmus and the most resistant organism was Enterobacter sp. The result obtained with B. cereus and K. pneumoniae were particularly interesting, since it was inhibited by antibiotic ampicillin used and susceptibility was observed with the individual extracts, where higher antibacterial activity with petroleum ether and aqueous extracts of O. sanctum and P. nigrum respectively.  The presence of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, tannins, saponin, triterpenoids, steroids and glycosides in the extracts of these plants supports their traditional uses as medicinal plants for the treatment of various ailments. The present study reveals potential use of these plants for developing new antibacterial herbal drugs against pathogenic microorganisms

Event-triggered control for LPV modeling of DC-DC boost converter

This study presents the event-triggered control (ETC) for linear parameter varying (LPV) model of boost converters. We examine the nonlinear dynamics of boost converters in the LPV framework. The proposed controller is duty-ratio-dependent and provides better performance while requiring less computation. Using the parameter-dependent Lyapunov function (PDLF), we demonstrate the stablity analysis of the proposed approach. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the inter-event time is lower bound by a positive constant, which indicates Zeno behavior free performance. In comparison to earlier time-invariant synthesis techniques, the LPV formulation offers for increased robustness and performance properties. Simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method

The United States COVID-19 Forecast Hub dataset

Academic researchers, government agencies, industry groups, and individuals have produced forecasts at an unprecedented scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. To leverage these forecasts, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with an academic research lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create the US COVID-19 Forecast Hub. Launched in April 2020, the Forecast Hub is a dataset with point and probabilistic forecasts of incident cases, incident hospitalizations, incident deaths, and cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 at county, state, and national, levels in the United States. Included forecasts represent a variety of modeling approaches, data sources, and assumptions regarding the spread of COVID-19. The goal of this dataset is to establish a standardized and comparable set of short-term forecasts from modeling teams. These data can be used to develop ensemble models, communicate forecasts to the public, create visualizations, compare models, and inform policies regarding COVID-19 mitigation. These open-source data are available via download from GitHub, through an online API, and through R packages

Advancements in 3D Printing Materials for Diverse Industries: A Review and Future Prospects

3D printing has brought significant changes in many industries. It helps to create products with impressive strength and versatility. This paper aims to investigate and evaluate the different types of materials used in 3D printing, evaluating the advantages, disadvantages, and applications of different materials. It majorly focuses on thermoplastic, metal-based materials, and hybrid and composite materials. This paper also provides the current and future scenarios of 3D printing. This review covers all valuable insights into a large spectrum of different types of materials used in 3D printing and provides a small glance at these transforming industries. As the study expands the development of innovative materials and printing techniques will surely come to the surface and will expand the possibilities of 3D printing applications in the future