Erbium doped LaF3 nanoparticles incorporated in silicondioxide thin films for active integrated optical applications

We report on the low-cost processing of erbium doped lanthanum trifluoride (LaF3:Er) nanoparticles dispersed in silicondioxide (SiO2) films prepared through the sol-gel method. The influence of particle concentration and annealing temperature on the optical properties and its implications on scattering in the visible wavelength range will be discussed. Uniform, crackfree and low loss films have been obtained by spincoating multiple layers followed by several annealing steps. The lanthanum trifluoride host shields the erbium from the OH-groups present in the silicondioxide, resulting in a higher excited state lifetime of the erbium due to the reduced OH-quenching

Assessment of oceanic tuna and allied fish resources of the Indian exclusive economic zone based on exploratory surveys

The present paper overview the results of survey on marine resources of the Indian EEZ including tuna and eillied fish species, their distribution, catch rates, seasonality, assessment of stocks etc. supplemented by the chartered vessels' data. The paper also presents the trends in the tuna fishing and future survey programme of the Fishery Survey of India

Criminal Identification Based on Androgenic Hair Pattern Using KNN-Clustering Method

This paper is implemented in order to identify the criminals in forensics based on the androgenic hair pattern of the criminal particularly in Low-resolution images. The Proposed paper is more dependable than the existing forensic techniques to identify criminals. The paper is implemented in five stages; in the first stage the input images and the database images are obtained after which the database images are trained through the algorithm to get the trained images. In the second stage pre-processing of the images is done in order to convert the image to grey scale and remove noise using thresholding method. The Third stage the image is passed through a Gabor filter to detect the edges in the image, this is followed by the Fourth phase where KNN clustering method is used to obtain the region of interest followed by the application of the bilateral filter in order to enhance the image. In the final stage the indifferent value calculated from the input image is matched with all the indifferent values of the trained images to identify the criminal

Prediction of Shot Start Pressure for Rifled Gun System

Determination of short start pressure (SSP) for gun system has always been of paramount interest for gun designers. In this paper, a generalised model has been developed for theoretical prediction of SSP for rifled gun system using dimensional analysis approach. For this, parameters affecting the SSP of the gun like rifling dimensions, driving band dimensions, material properties of driving band, projectile mass and diameter are taken into consideration. For a particular case of large caliber rifled gun system, the model is established using linear relations among dimensionless groups of parameters. The model has been validated by data available from the open literature

Turbulence-induced droplet grouping and augmented rain formation in cumulus clouds

This paper provides the first observational analysis of how droplet separation is impacted by the flinging action of microscale vortices in turbulent clouds over a select radii range and how they vary over cloud cores and along the peripheral edges. It is premised that this mechanism initiates droplet separation within a cloud volume soon after condensational growth, largely in the cloud core, and operates until the cloud droplet radii exceed 20–30 µm when this effect fades rapidly. New observations are presented showing how microscale vortices also impact the settling rates of droplets over a critical size range (6–18 µm) causing them to sediment faster than in still air affecting swept volumes and thereby impacting the rain initiation and formation. Large-scale atmospheric models ignore these microscale effects linked to rapid droplet growth during the early stages of cloud conversion. Previous studies on droplet spatial organization along the cloud edges and inside the deep core have shown that homogeneous Poisson statistics, indicative of the presence of a vigorous in-cloud mixing process at small scales obtained, in contrast to an inhomogeneous distribution along the edges. In this paper, it is established that this marked core region, homogeneity can be linked to microscale vortical activity which flings cloud droplets in the range of 6–18 µm outward. The typical radius of the droplet trajectories or the droplet flung radii around the vortices correlates with the interparticle distance strongly. The correlation starts to diminish as one proceeds from the central core to the cloud fringes because of the added entrainment of cloud-free air. These first results imply that droplet growth in the core is first augmented with this small-scale interaction prior to other more large-scale processes involving entrainment mixing. This first study, combining these amplified velocities are included in a Weather Research and Forecasting- LES case study. Not only are significant differences observed in the cloud morphology when compared to a baseline case, but the ‘enhanced’ case also shows early commencement of rainfall along with intense precipitation activity compared to the ‘standard’ baseline case. It is also shown that the modelled equilibrium raindrop spectrum agrees better with observations when the enhanced droplet sedimentation rates mediated by microscale vortices are included in the calculations compared to the case where only still-air terminal velocities are used

Synthesis of photoactivable Pt(IV) prodrug loaded on NaYF4 based upconversion nanoparticles functionalized with 2-deoxy-D-glucose and its evaluation for targeted cancer therapy

21-30Nano-formulation based on Tm, Yb doped NaYF4 upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) functionalized with 2-deoxy-D-glucose have been synthesized to load the photoactivable Pt(IV) prodrug, cis-[PtI2(NH3)2(OCOCH2CH2COOH)2]. The Pt(IV) prodrug has been synthesized by oxidation of cis-[PtI2(NH3)2] to [PtI2(OH)2(NH3)2] and its further treatment with succinic anhydride. It is loaded through ester bond formation between the carboxyl groups of Pt(IV) prodrug with hydroxyl groups of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) coated on UCNPs. The cytotoxicity of formulation after exposing to 385 nm UV light and in absence of light is evaluated against MCF-7 cell lines by MTT assay. The results have revealed enhanced cytotoxicity of UV exposed nano-formulation. Additionally, the clonogenic assay has exhibited the decrease in plating efficiency as inferred from decreased surviving fraction around 20% only for UV activated formulation as compared to formulation in dark, as well as merely Pt(IV) prodrug. These results are indicative that more internalization of the formulation inside the cancer cells was achieved due to the presence of 2-DG rendering more efficiency to kill cancer cells