Numerical Study of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Wall Subjected to Static Footing Loading

This study intends to examine the behavior of a GRS wall with static footing loading above it, while varying the positions of the footing. For the study of behavior of such complex structure, finite element modeling is handy and enables to look into the various stress/strain developed in the numerical model. In view of the above, a series of finite element (FEM) simulations using a software (Optum G2) is performed for the analysis of the GRS wall. The governing parameters, such as footing width (B), reinforcement length (L), offset distance (D), are evaluated and the effect of these factors on the ultimate bearing capacity (q) and settlement (s) of the footing is presented in this study. The results depict that the settlement of the footing substantially reduced in the range of 36% and its ultimate bearing capacity is increased to 42% more than the conventional retaining walls

A Survey on IOT based Real Time, Smart Adaptive Street Lighting System with Pollution Monitoring for Smart Cities

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a new interconnection of technology. It is being heralded as the next industrial revolution. It’s also praised for its ability to reduce waste and energy, by allowing us to better control our use of resources based on our actual needs. Currently, energy consumed by the street lights in metropolitan cities is extremely high and hence are less efficient. One of the major problems with the existing street lighting system is that all the street lights are controlled manually and therefore require huge manpower. Even if a street light stops working there is no way by which the authorities can know about the failure. Another growing concern in cities is the pollution. The purpose of this paper is to propose a solution which can be adopted in every city where all the street lights are connected to the central server via internet which can be monitored remotely and thus making it an energy efficient system. These street lights are adaptive meaning that they can change the intensity of light depending on the vehicular movement. They also send information about the pollution level in that locality. Thus IoT promises huge improvements in street lighting system

Modelling and enterprises-the past, the present and the future.

Industry has been practicing model-driven development in various flavours. In general it can be said that modelling and use of models have delivered on the promises of platform independence, enhanced productivity, and delivery certainty as regards development of software-intensive systems. Globalization market forces, increased regulatory compliance, ever-increasing penetration of internet, and rapid advance of technology are some of the key drivers leading to increased business dynamics. Increased number of factors impacting the decision and interdependency amongst the key drivers is leading to increased complexity in making business decisions. Also, enterprise software systems need to commensurately change to quickly support the business decisions. The paper presents synthesis of our experience over a decade and half in developing model-driven development technology and using it to deliver several business-critical software systems worldwide

Molecular characterization of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes using sequence tagged microsatellite site (STMS) markers

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) commonly also known as gram, Chana, Bengal gram and Garbanzo beans is the second most important pulse crop of the world mainly grown in arid and semi-arid regions. Assessment of genetic variability in the base population is the first step in any breeding programme for selection of genetically divergent parents and their use in the crop improvement programme. In the present investigation 20 genotypes of chickpea were characterized using a specific set of 15 numbers of Sequence tagged microsatellite site (STMS) markers. The number of alleles, allelic distribution and their frequency was estimated and found that the 36 alleles amplified with 15 STMS loci having an average of 2.4 alleles per locus. The number of alleles amplified varied from 1 to 4. The Polymorphic information content value ranged from 0 to 0.965 with an average of 0.373 indicated the considerable efficiency of markers for studying the polymorphism level. All primer showed higher polymorphism among the genotypes except two primers namely, TAA59 and GA105 which were monomorphic in nature. Genetic similarity based on UPGMA clustering the dendrogram grouped the 20 genotypes in three clusters, cluster I, II, III comprised of 2, 4, 14 genotypes, respectively. The maximum similarity was found between genotypes ICRISAT-4183 and ICRISAT- 7722 (0.972). The present study provided an insight of the inter-relationship among the genotypes and highlights the genetic distance by STMS markers. The genetic diversity revealed in this study could be exploited for selective breeding programme of chickpea improvement

In-Vitro androgenesis in papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Pusa Nanha

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is an economically important fruit crop of tropics and subtropics. It has high nutritional value, as well as medicinal and industrial applications. Papaya is a polygamous species with three sex types male, female, and hermaphrodite. Conventional methods of papaya breeding are time consuming and needs advent of anther culture which may be effective for shortening of breeding cycles. The present study on in vitro androgenesis in papaya cv. Pusa Nanha observed the highest embryo induction rate (8.0%) when anthers werecultured on agar medium with 0.1 mg/L BA and 0.1 mg/L NAA after incubation in liquid MS medium with 2.0% sucrose for 7 days at 35ºC. The high temperature (35ºC) was more suitable for embryo induction in papaya than slightly low temperature (25ºC). At these both temperatures longer incubation of anthers in water reduced embryo induction rate. Sugar starvation results were ambiguous. Shoots were also developed in the media when used in liquid form. The highest rooting (75.0%) was observed at 2.0 mg/L IBA. Increasing IBA concentration reduced rooting. All well rooted plants were hardened in hardening chamber and successfully transferred to field. The present findings indicated that anther culture can be efficiently contributed for the direct micro-propagation of papaya plants. This study would also be helpful to the researchers to develop more efficient anther culture protocols for further improvement of papaya through in vitro androgenesis

Phosphorylation of nucleoporin Tpr governs its differential localization and is required for its mitotic function

A major constituent of the nuclear basket region of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), nucleoporin Tpr, plays roles in regulating multiple important processes. We have previously established that Tpr is phosphorylated in both a MAP-kinase-dependent and MAP-kinase-independent manner, and that Tpr acts as both a substrate and as a scaffold for ERK2 (also known as MAPK1). Here, we report the identification of S2059 and S2094 as the major novel ERK-independent phosphorylation sites and T1677, S2020, S2023 and S2034 as additional ERK-independent phosphorylation sites found in the Tpr protein in vivo. Our results suggest that protein kinase A phosphorylates the S2094 residue and that the site is hyperphosphorylated during mitosis. Furthermore, we find that Tpr is phosphorylated at the S2059 residue by CDK1 and the phosphorylated form distinctly localizes with chromatin during telophase. Abrogation of S2059 phosphorylation abolishes the interaction of Tpr with Mad1, thus compromising the localization of both Mad1 and Mad2 proteins, resulting in cell cycle defects. The identification of novel phosphorylation sites on Tpr and the observations presented in this study allow better understanding of Tpr functions

Regulatory role of rpL3 in cell response to nucleolar stress induced by Act D in tumor cells lacking functional p53

Many chemotherapeutic drugs cause nucleolar stress and p53-independent pathways mediating the nucleolar stress response are emerging. Here, we demonstrate that ribosomal stress induced by Actinomycin D (Act D) is associated to the up-regulation of ribosomal protein L3 (rpL3) and its accumulation as ribosome-free form in lung and colon cancer cell lines devoid of p53. Free rpL3 regulates p21 expression at transcriptional and post-translational levels through a molecular mechanism involving extracellular-signal-regulated kinases1/2 (ERK1/2) and mouse double minute-2 homolog (MDM2). Our data reveal that rpL3 participates to cell response acting as a critical regulator of apoptosis and cell migration. It is noteworthy that silencing of rpL3 abolishes the cytotoxic effects of Act D suggesting that the loss of rpL3 makes chemotherapy drugs ineffective while rpL3 overexpression was associated to a strong increase of Act D-mediated inhibition of cell migration. Taking together our results show that the efficacy of Act D chemotherapy depends on rpL3 status revealing new specific targets involved in the molecular pathways activated by Act D in cancers lacking of p53. Hence, the development of treatments aimed at upregulating rpL3 may be beneficial for the treatment of these cancers

AN APPROACH TO ENHANCE THE SOLUBILITY OF RIFAPENTINE BY SOLID DISPERSION TECHNIQUE USING HYDROPHILIC CARRIERS

The aim of this present work was to improve the dissolution profile of Rifapentine (RPT) using solid dispersions technique with PVP K-30 or HPMC as the carrier, in different ratios of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5 by the kneading method and solvent evaporation method. For the purpose of comparison, another formulation was prepared by the method of physical mixture with the drug and carrier weight ratios of same. The prepared solid dispersions (SDs) were optimized on the basis of evaluation of Solubility, Drug Release rate and % drug content. Optimized formulation is than characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Particle size analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in order to ascertain any physicochemical interactions between the drug and carrier that could affect the dissolution profile of the drug. The dissolution studies were conducted for pure RPT and all the formulated solid dispersions. All the solid dispersions prepared by kneading method and solvent evaporation method showed an enhanced dissolution profile of Rifapentine, as compared to that of pure drug alone but among them all the solid dispersion prepared with PVP-K30 by solvent evaporation method in 1:3 ratio showed better enhancement of solubility and dissolution rate

An Educational Model of an Atomic Force Microscope

We have constructed an operational, educational model of an atomic force microscope which employs and highlights the fundamental concepts and principles involved in nanoscale microscopy. The probe, which holds the laser source and the cantilever tip, is mounted on a carriage which moves in the horizontal x-y plane. The translation in the x-direction is obtained using a screw system, while y-direction movement is governed by two sets of rack and pinion gear systems. Off-the-shelf optical rotary encoders provide horizontal position transduction while vertical deflection of the cantilever tip on the sample surface is achieved by a pen-laser-based dual photodetector system. The hardware and electronics required to build the entire device may be purchased for less than $1,000 making it ideal for K-12 teachers trying to demonstrate the fundamentals of nanoscience to their students. This project also includes an instruction manual for building the device which is available on the author’s website