Investigation for Bioactive Compounds of Berberis Lyceum Royle and Justicia Adhatoda L.

In order to explore the medicinal values of plant species like Berberis lyceum and Justicia adhatoda, a study was conducted to analyze roots, leaves and fruits of both plant species for identification of various organic compounds. Chemical analysis as well as identification of organic compounds by chromatographic techniques were carried out. Results indicates that both plant species contained Proteins, Sugars, Lipids, Vitamin C, Sodium, Calcium, Sulphur, Iron, and Zinc.Whereas the alkaloids like Palmatine, Berberine, Vasicine and Vasicinone were also found in leaves and roots of these plant species. However, it was observed that roots of both plant species contained higher concentrations of these chemical compounds as compared to fruits and leaves except sugar and vitamin C those were high in fruits. Furthermore presence of such bioactive compounds in Berberis lyceum and Justicia adhatoda indicated their importance in the form of local medicines. This experiment will help to increase the importance of new raw material found in these plant species and their demand in the market will be increased in the future. The extract of roots and fruits of these plant species are being used against various infections and diseases in rural population of subcontinent since many centuries

A User-Centric QoS-Aware Multi-Path Service Provisioning in Mobile Edge Computing

Recent development in modern wireless applications and services, such as augmented reality, image processing, and network gaming requires persistent computing on average commercial wireless devices to perform complex tasks with low latency. The traditional cloud systems are unable to meet those requirements solely. In the said perspective, Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) serves as a proxy between the things (devices) and the cloud, pushing the computations at the edge of the network. The MEC provides an effective solution to fulfill the demands of low-latency applications and services by executing most of the tasks within the proximity of users. The main challenge, however, is that too many simultaneous service requests created by wireless access produce severe interference, resulting in a decreased rate of data transmission. In this paper, we made an attempt to overcome the aforesaid limitation by proposing a user-centric QoS-aware multi-path service provisioning approach. A densely deployed base station MEC environment has overlapping coverage regions. We exploit such regions to distribute the service requests in a way that avoid hotspots and bottlenecks. Our approach is adaptive and can tune to different parameters based on service requirements. We performed several experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach and compared it with the traditional Greedy approach. The results revealed that our approach improves the network state by 26.95% and average waiting time by 35.56% as compared to the Greedy approach. In addition, the QoS violations were also reduced by the fraction of 16

Analytical solutions for two atoms in a harmonic trap: p-wave interactions

We derive analytical solutions for the system of two ultracold spin-polarized fermions interacting in p wave and confined in an axially symmetric harmonic trap. To this end we utilize p-wave pseudopotential with an energy-dependent scattering volume. This allows to describe the scattering in tight trapping potentials in the presence of scattering resonances. We verify predictions of the pseudopotential treatment for some model interaction potential, obtaining an excellent agreement with exact energy levels. Then we turn to the experimentally relevant case of neutral atom interactions in the vicinity of a p-wave Feshbach resonance. In the framework of the multichannel quantum-defect theory we derive relatively simple formula for an energy-dependent scattering volume, and later we apply it to investigate the energy spectrum of trapped atoms close to the p-wave Feshbach resonance.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Advancing dielectric and ferroelectric properties of piezoelectric polymers by combining graphene and ferroelectric ceramic additives for energy storage applications

Published: 28 August 2018To address the limitations of piezoelectric polymers which have a low dielectric constant andto improve their dielectric and ferroelectric efficiency for energy storage applications, we designed and characterized a new hybrid composite that contains polyvinylidene fluoride as a dielectric polymer matrix combined with graphene platelets as a conductive and barium titanite as ceramic ferroelectric fillers. Different graphene/barium titanate/polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposite films were synthesized by changing the concentration of graphene and barium titanate to explore the impact of each component and their potential synergetic effect on dielectric and ferroelectric properties of the composite. Results showed that with an increase in the barium titanate fraction, dielectric efficiency ofthe nanocomposite was improved. Among all synthesized nanocomposite films, graphene/barium titanate/polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposite in the weight ratio of 0.15:0.5:1 exhibited thehighest dielectric constant of 199 at 40 Hz, i.e., 15 fold greater than that of neat polyvinylidene fluoride film at the same frequency, and possessed a low loss tangent of 0.6. However, AC conductivity and ferroelectric properties of graphene/barium titanate/polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposite films were enhanced with an increase in the graphene weight fraction. Graphene/barium titanate/polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposite films with a weight ratio of 0.2:0.1:1 possessed a high AC conductivity of 1.2 × 10-4 S/m at 40 Hz. While remanent polarization, coercive field, and loop area of the same sample were 0.9 μC/cm², 9.78 kV/cm, and 24.5 μC/cm²·V, respectively. Our results showed that a combination of graphene and ferroelectric ceramic additives are an excellent approach to significantly advance the performance of dielectric and ferroelectric properties of piezoelectric polymers for broad applications including energy storage.Saira Ishaq, Farah Kanwal, Shahid Atiq, Mahmoud Moussa, Umar Azhar, Muhammad Imran and Dusan Losi

Dielectric and impedance spectroscopic studies of three phase graphene/titania/poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposite films

Flexible dielectric polymer composites with high dielectric permittivity and low dielectric loss have many applications in different areas of electronic industry. In this paper, we propose synthesis of flexible dielectric materials with efficient dielectric properties. We increased dielectric efficiency of poly(vinyl alcohol) by reinforcement of conducting graphene and rutile titania fillers in different weight fractions. The superiority of this method is that synthesized three phase graphene/titania/poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposite films have high dielectric permittivity, low dielectric loss and are flexible. Our results show that graphene/titania/poly(vinyl alcohol) with weight/weight fraction of 3:20:100 bears dielectric permittivity of 330 at 20 Hz that is about 36 times larger than that of neat PVA at same frequency. At this frequency above mentioned graphene/titania/poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposite has loss tangent of 4.39 acceptable for dielectrics in embedded capacitors and AC conductivity of 1.6 × 10⁻⁶ Sm⁻¹ that is much greater than that of neat PVA i.e; 6.5 × 10⁻⁹ Sm⁻¹. Complex impedance spectroscopy, complex electric modulus and Cole-Cole plots of synthesized graphene/titania/poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposite films further confirm its better capacitive performance.Saira Ishaq, Farah Kanwal Shahid Atiq, Mahmoud Moussa, Umar Azhar, Iffrah Gul, Dusan Losi

Integrating depression care within NCD provision in Bangladesh and Pakistan : a qualitative study

Background Co-morbidity of depression with other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worsens clinical outcomes for both conditions. Low- and middle-income countries need to strengthen mechanisms for detection and management of co-morbid depression within NCDs. The Behavioural Activation for Comorbid Depression in Non-communicable Disease (BEACON) study explored the acceptability and feasibility of integrating a brief depression intervention (behavioural activation, BA) into NCD services in healthcare facilities in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Methods Face-to-face qualitative interviews were conducted with 43 patients and 18 health workers attending or working in NCD centres in four healthcare facilities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and with three policy makers in each country. The interviews addressed four research questions (1) how NCD care is delivered, (2) how NCD patients experience distress, (3) how depression care is integrated within NCD provision, and (4) the challenges and opportunities for integrating a brief depression intervention into usual NCD care. The data were analysed using framework analysis, organised by capability, opportunity and motivation factors, cross-synthesised across countries and participant groups. Results Patients and health workers described NCD centres as crowded and time pressured, with waiting times as long as five hours, and consultation times as short as five minutes; resulting in some patient frustration. They did not perceive direct links between their distress and their NCD conditions, instead describing worries about family and finance including affordability of NCD services. Health worker and policy maker accounts suggested these NCD centres lacked preparedness for treating depression in the absence of specific guidelines, standard screening tools, recording systems or training. Barriers and drivers to integrating a brief depression intervention reflected capability, opportunity and motivation factors for all participant groups. While generally valuing the purpose, significant challenges included the busy hospital environment, skill deficits and different conceptions of depression. Conclusions Given current resource constraints and priorities, integrating a brief psychological intervention at these NCD centres appears premature. An opportune first step calls for responding to patients’ expressed concerns on service gaps in provisioning steady and affordable NCD care. Acknowledging differences of conceptions of depression and strengthening psychologically informed NCD care will in turn be required before the introduction of a specific psychological intervention such as BA