Phytochemical profile and toxicity of thyme-derived (Thymus vulgaris) essential oil against the exotic rugose spiraling whitefly (Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin) infesting coconut

Microwave-assisted heat extraction of thyme (Thymus vulgaris) yielded 1.64 per cent w/v of yellow to amber coloured and less viscous oil with a peculiar aroma. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of 20 compounds, out of which thymol (51.94%), p-cymene (14.5%), γ-terpinene (10.09%), linalool (3.48%), and endo-borneol (3.95%) were the major compounds. Eggs, second instar nymphs and pupae of rugose spiraling whitefly (RSW) were subjected to contact toxicity assessment by complete immersion (dip method) in various concentrations of thyme oil. The results showed that essential oils at 0.35 per cent concentration exhibited 100 per cent mortality in the second instar nymphs. Thyme oil (0.5%) inhibited egg hatching and adult emergence to the tune of 100 per cent when the eggs and pupal stages were treated. Probit analysis indicated that the median lethal concentration (LC50) of thyme oil to eggs, second instar nymph sand pupal stages were 0.19, 0.13 and 0.21 per cent, respectively. Thyme oil proved to be an excellent toxicant to different developmental life stages of RSW; hence it can be successfully incorporated into the integrated pest management (IPM) programme for whitefly management in the coconut ecosystem

Some results on the distance r-b-coloring in graphs

Given a positive integer r, two vertices u, v ∈ V (G) are r- independent if d(u, v) > r. A partition of V (G) into r-independent sets is called a distance r-coloring. A study of distance r-coloring and distance r-b-coloring concepts are studied in this paper.Publisher's Versio

IN VITRO ANTICANCER POTENTIAL OF STATIN FROM ASPERGILLUS TAMARII GRD119

Objectives: Fungi have been largely targeted for their biopotential mainly in pharmaceutical industry. Recently, there has been an increase in screening of biopharmaceuticals from microorganisms so as to eliminate side-effects and chemical damages from non-natural sources.Methods: In the present study, Aspergillus tamarii GRD119 (JX110981) was screened for the production of statin by conducting bioassays against Candida and filamentous fungi.Results: Based on the results obtained showing effective inhibition potential against Candida spp and A. fumigatus, further analysis of purification of statin by several chromatographic analyses such as column chromatography, TLC, HPTLC and HPLC was conducted. The extracted statin shows strong cytotoxic activity against HEP G2 cell line.Conclusions: These results designate the fungal strain and the statin produced can serve as candidates for potential genetic transformation and further structural analysis respectively.Keywords: Aspergillus tamarii, chromatography, purification, statin, cytotoxicity

Nanoparticles Enhanced Phase Change Material (NPCM) as Heat Storage in Solar Still Application for Productivity Enhancement

Whereas other researchers used various active and passive techniques to improve the productivity of solar still, this paper uses nanoparticles impregnated in phase change material (NPCM) for productivity enhancement. The solar still is fabricated individually with phase change material (PCM) and NPCM and analyzed both experimentally and theoretically. It is found that the solar still with PCM yielded 1.96 kg/0.5m2 whereas the solar still with NPCM yielded 2.64 kg/0.5m2. There was 35% improvement in productivity observed in solar still with NPCM as against solar still with PCM. The experimental results were validated with the predicted results and the discrepancy was found to be ±10%. Hence it is concluded that NPCM has better potential than PCM for solar still application

Unique Locomotive Wheelchair Robot Mechanism using Gesture and Android

Wheelchairs are used by the people who cannot walk due to physical illness, injury or other disability. Elderly peoples are unable to walk, we need to take care of these peoples every days .so, elderly people to maneuver a mechanical wheelchair, which many of them normally use for locomotion. Hence there is a need for designing a wheelchair that is intelligent and provides easy transportation for the physically challenged peoples and elderly peoples. In this context, an attempt has been made to propose a thought controlled wheelchair, which uses the captured signals from the user’s action and processes it to control the wheelchair. The signals which are captured and translated into movement commands by the microcontroller which in turn move the wheelchair

Annual Thermodynamic Analysis of Solar Power with Steam Injection Gas Turbine (STIG) Cycle for Indian Conditions

AbstractSolar thermal energy is now being widely utilized to meet the world's energy demand due to its huge potential. Power generation from solar is varying and high cost of solar thermal energy systems that makes sense only in regions with high solar insolation. In order to overcome these practical issues, low cost solar hybrid steam injection gas turbine (STIG) cycle is adapted. Both gas turbine exhaust stream and solar heat are used for steam generation, and then it is injected into the combustor. The steam injection reduces NOX and CO2 emission in addition to increased power output and plant efficiency compared to the simple cycle. It offers a path for high conversion efficiency without the requirement of operating at high temperature and high pressure in the solar components. The objective of the proposed work is to investigate a conversion method for solar radiation that offers potentially high conversion efficiency and for increased competitiveness against fossil fuels. The annual performance of the cycle for sites in India with local climatic conditions such as ambient temperature, relative humidity and availability of direct normal irradiance to the solar concentrators under two modes of constant and variable power is presented in this paper. The results reveal that the solar to electricity efficiency of solar hybrid STIG plant with a simple Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) is similar to existing solar thermal technologies and higher solar share is obtained. The study also reveals that the annual CO2 emission is similar to combined cycle plants and lower than gas turbine technologies

Method validation and monitoring of emamectin benzoate in mature banana fruit with peel and pulp through Liquid chromatography-Mass spectrometry/ Mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

Emamectin benzoate has been frequently used in the banana ecosystem to combat the damage of pseudostem weevil. Therefore, the present study was conducted to validate the method, to assess harvest time residues and monitor emamectin benzoate residues in mature banana peel and pulp samples through LC-MS/MS. The validated method was used to determine emamectin benzoate residue in market banana samples. The study used Waters Alliance LC and Acquity TQD with an electrospray ionization interface in the positive ion mode. An isocratic flow of 0.1% formic acid (HCOOH) in water and 0.1% HCOOH in acetonitrile (CH3CN) was utilised for separation. CH3CN was utilised to extract emamectin benzoate residue from the samples, and a dispersive solid-phase extraction technique was used for subsequent cleanup. Linearity tests were performed with standard solutions containing 0.01 to 0.1 g mL-1, with three replicates for each concentration. For mature banana peel & pulp and mature banana pulp matrices, satisfactory recoveries of 79.85 to 95.09% and 89.20 to 100.94%, respectively and high precision relative standard deviations of 0.56 to 2.34% and 2.33 to 6.88%, respectively were obtained. For mature banana (peel and pulp, pulp alone) fruits, the lower detection and quantification limits were (0.003, 0.008), and (0.002, 0.007). The validated approach was utilised to analyse mature banana fruit samples obtained from emamectin benzoate treated fields and banana samples purchased from the local market.  Results showed satisfactory validation of parameters like linearity, the limit of detection and quantification, and recovery for determining emamectin benzoate residues in banana fruit

Tetra­kis(4-amino­pyridine-κN 1)dichlorido­copper(II) monohydrate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [CuCl2(C5H6N2)4]·H2O, contains two crystallographically independent complex mol­ecules and two water mol­ecules. The CuII ion in each mol­ecule is six-coordinated in an elongated octa­hedral geometry, with the equatorial plane defined by four pyridine N atoms of four amino­pyridine ligands and the axial positions occupied by two Cl atoms. In the crystal structure, mol­ecules are linked into a three-dimensional framework by C—H⋯Cl, O—H⋯Cl, N—H⋯O, N—H⋯Cl and N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds and C/N—H⋯π inter­actions involving the pyridine rings

Sexual Transmission of XMRV: A Potential Infection Route

Although XMRV dissemination in humans is a matter of debate, the prostate of select patients seem to harbor XMRV, which raises questions about its potential route of transmission. We established a model of infection in rhesus macaques inoculated with XMRV. In spite of the intravenous inoculation, all infected macaques exhibited readily detectable XMRV signal in the reproductive tract of all 4 males and 1 female during both acute and chronic infection stages. XMRV showed explosive growth in the acini of prostate during acute but not chronic infection. In seminal vesicles, epididymis, and testes, XMRV protein production was detected throughout infection in interstitial or epithelial cells. In the female monkey, epithelial cells in the cervix and vagina were also positive for XMRV gag. The ready detection of XMRV in the reproductive tract of male and female macaques infected intravenously suggests the potential for sexual transmission for XMRV