Role of Higher Education Institutions in Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development: A case study of Shivaji University, Maharashtra, India.

The ever increasing population and changing lifestyles are making the environmental problems more critical. Higher educational institutions can be the best solution to solve this situation. Higher education can play a crucial role in sustainable development of any nation. As environmental sustainability is becoming an increasingly important issue for the world, the role of higher educational institutions in relation to environmental sustainability is more prevalent. Universities are the apex bodies in higher education system and can provide environmental education through its curricular design, research and collaborative efforts with NGO’s working in those areas. They can provide trained manpower and knowledgeable expertise to solve critical environmental problems. They can also act as a good networking system and data collector. Shivaji University is one of the significant higher education institution located in heart of Western Ghats working with the same goal of environmental sustainability through various activities. The paper examines the efforts taken by higher education in environmental development in the areas of creating healthy environment and conservation of resources. Key words: Role of Higher education, Environmental protection, Universities, sustainable developmen

Synthesis of fluorescent carboxylic acid ligands for construction of monolayers on nanostructures

Abstract Two new long-chain carboxylic acids (1, 2) bearing strong fluorescent group pyrene as ligands for Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) have been synthesized. The multistep targeted synthesis is accomplished by use of Pyren-1-yl methylamine hydrochloride and employing simplified synthetic protocols. Compound 2 contains a chiral center purposely introduced along the atom chain in order to make it suitable for chiro-optical studies of the resulting SAMs

Synthesis of fluorescent long-chain thiols/disulfides as building-blocks for self-assembled monolayers preparation

Abstract New symmetrical disulfides together with the corresponding thiols bearing fluorescent end-groups have been synthesized as building-blocks for self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The synthesis has been accomplished starting from aromatic nitrogen heterocycles in three steps. The conversion of the tosylated intermediate into the final disulfide is accomplished by use of sodium hydrogen sulfide (NaSH). Both products (thiols and disulfides) were isolated and characterized

Integration and Implementation of High-Voltage Energy Storage Sub-system for a Parallel-Through-the-Road Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

With research showing an alarming rate of increase in global warming and thus causing dangerous instabilities in the weather, a strong push has been initiated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation being one of the top offenders in greenhouse gas emissions, has led the drive for improving the efficiency of the modern automobile. One of the current strategies for reducing the emissions produced by the transportation sector is hybrid vehicles powered from both a fuel such as gasoline, diesel, or hydrogen; and electricity. This merger has proven to be effective at decreasing harmful emissions including, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and nitrous oxides (NO x ), while also increasing the fuel economy. EcoCAR2 Plugging into the Future, is a three-year collegiate engineering competition established by the U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratories, General Motors, and challenges student teams to reduce environmental impact by reducing the overall fuel consumption and well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions of a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability. The first year of the competition focused on simulations and design analysis that would meet the required targets. The second year of the competition focused on designing the power-train for in-vehicle integration, followed by a refinement and optimization phase during the third year. The Purdue University EcoCAR team implemented a parallel-through-the-road plug-in hybrid electric vehicle architecture. This pairs an engine powering the front wheels of the vehicle with an electric motor powering the rear wheels. This arrangement gave the flexibility of being able to operate the vehicle in an all-electric mode, an all biodiesel mode, or a combination of both to create maximum power at optimum effciency. For this functionality, a 1.7 L CIDI engine running on Biodiesel B20 fuel, powers the front wheels, and a 103 kW Magna motor powers the rear wheels. In order to power the motor, a high-voltage Energy Storage System was designed and integrated into the vehicle. Simulations and analysis were performed on the high-voltage DC bus to measure the ripple and noise effect produced due to the integrated motor assembly. Similar analysis was performed on the low-voltage system to analyze the dependence of the low-voltage system on the high-voltage system. The electrical implementation focused on harnessing the high-voltage system that would power the vehicle to give an all-electric drive range of 30 miles. Combined with the biodiesel engine, the vehicle gave a driving range of 370 miles, with an installed 10 gallon fuel tank. Working on the high-voltage system calls for increased level of awareness and safety concern among the team members. To serve this purpose, a comprehensive set of protocols was developed. This covered all aspects from giving a basic understanding of the high-voltage system as a part of knowledge transfer to the team, member certifications to identify team members working on high-voltage, start-up and shut-down procedures, responsibilities, lock-out tag-out procedures, other general guidelines and personal protective equipment information. Following these protocols laid down the foundations for a safe and successful high-voltage work environment

RECENT ADVANCES IN ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF PYRIMIDINES: A REVIEW

Over the past era, development of small heterocycles as potential therapeutics has been a zone of major interest. A large number of pyrimidine derivatives are of considerable biological and chemical interest. Pyrimidine derivatives have shown numerous biological activities such as antimicrobial, antitubercular, anticancer, anticonvulsant, antidiabetic, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory. Being a heterocyclic compound, Pyrimidine finds its use for designing synthesis of newer biologically active structures, as its aromaticity makes it relatively stable, also reactive sites which allow for functionalization. Several amino derivatives of nitrogen-containing heterocycles such as pyrimidine, pyridine possess an antimicrobial activity. In this review, recent advancements in the antimicrobial activity of pyrimidine derivatives have been reported

Robotic Groundnut Sower

Robotics and automation does play a significant role in today’s world meeting future agricultural production needs. In the recent few years, a similar trend has begun to take place in agriculture, for example GPS- and vision-based monitoring and self-guided tractors and harvesters already being available commercially in markets. Most recently, farmers have already started to experiment with autonomous systems which automate operations such as thinning, and harvesting, pruning as well as mowing, spraying, and weed removal. This would be just the beginning of what a revolution will be in the way that agriculture is growing, tendering, and getting harvested. Our device would include android based application which would operate movement of device through Bluetooth module and operate excavating pistons which would dig hole and seeds would automatically fall into excavated hole. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.160412

Performance Evaluation of Energy Efficient Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

Reducing the energy utilization is an important element in the Wireless Sensor network (WSN). Many protocols have been designed for improving energy efficiency of the network. Clustering protocols have been proved to be one of the energy-efficient protocols in WSN. One of the basic and most popular protocols designed using the clustering approach is the LEACH (Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy).However, LEACH undergoes an issue of bad distribution of cluster heads, which is overcome by implementing a technique of selecting smart cluster head in LEACH known as SCHS (Smart Cluster Head Selection).Also another clustering protocol HEED (Hybrid Energy Efficient Distributed) which follows the principle of LEACH is considered for the study purpose. In this paper, a thorough analysis of three clustering protocols was carried out by keeping the network parameters same so as to conclude which protocol amongst the three utilizes the minimum energy and prolongs the network lifetime