Rice straw,which is produced after the harvest of rice,is a major agricultural waste in the world.Rice straw has a high carbon/nitrogen ratio and is more resistant to microbial degradation than other straws because it...Rice straw,which is produced after the harvest of rice,is a major agricultural waste in the world.Rice straw has a high carbon/nitrogen ratio and is more resistant to microbial degradation than other straws because its main constituents are cellulose and hemicelluloses encrusted by lignin.When rice straw is burned,hazardous substances such as carbon dioxide,methane,carbon monoxide,and nitrogen monoxide are released into the air as smoke(less than 10μm-sized particles).The rise in the burning of rice straw has contributed to too many accidents and health issues in the general population residing in Haryana,Punjab,and Uttar Pradesh of India.These states are being urged by the National Green Tribunal to generate money instead of burning rice straw.Even though these lignocellulosic materials might be beneficial,not much has been carried out with them.This overview covers the properties of rice straw and husks,the numerous procedures used to create valuable products,and various applications that may be made for them.These include energy sources,environmental adsorbents,building supplies,and specialist commodities.展开更多
Background: A better understanding of the impact of Targeted Interventions (TI) services on Female Sex Worker (FSW) behaviours can help in informing and strengthening future TI efforts under National AIDS Control Prog...Background: A better understanding of the impact of Targeted Interventions (TI) services on Female Sex Worker (FSW) behaviours can help in informing and strengthening future TI efforts under National AIDS Control Programme (NACP). Methods: National Integrated Biological and Behavioural Survey (IBBS) 2014-15 has been analysed in the paper. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to understand factors affecting condom use. Propensity score matching (PSM) was done to understand the impact of the TI services on condom use at the last act and consistent condom use in the last three months among FSWs. Results: Younger FSWs aged 15 - 25 years were 1.4 times (95% CI: 1.04 - 1.77) more likely to use consistent condoms in the last three months compared to older over 45 years after controlling for other socio-economic and programme variables. The matched samples estimate ATET i.e. the average treatment effect on treated for consistent condom use in the last three months shows that a 6.0% (CI: 4.7 - 7.3) increase in consistent condom use in the last three months in the FSWs who received information on STI/HIV from peer educator and outreach worker. There is also a 6.0% (4.7 - 7.2) increase in condom use in the last act for FSWs who received the referral services at STI clinics, HIV testing, and detox centres. Conclusions: It is evident that the TI programme has a positive impact on behavior change among FSWs which can prove beneficial to curtail the spread of HIV to the partners and onward transmission to the general population.展开更多
In this paper, a comprehensive energy function is used to formulate the three most popular objective functions:Kapur's, Otsu and Tsalli's functions for performing effective multilevel color image thresholding....In this paper, a comprehensive energy function is used to formulate the three most popular objective functions:Kapur's, Otsu and Tsalli's functions for performing effective multilevel color image thresholding. These new energy based objective criterions are further combined with the proficient search capability of swarm based algorithms to improve the efficiency and robustness. The proposed multilevel thresholding approach accurately determines the optimal threshold values by using generated energy curve, and acutely distinguishes different objects within the multi-channel complex images. The performance evaluation indices and experiments on different test images illustrate that Kapur's entropy aided with differential evolution and bacterial foraging optimization algorithm generates the most accurate and visually pleasing segmented images.展开更多
This paper presents the processing of magnesium alloys and its composite through different stir casting technologies.Design and devel-opment of stir casting technology that is suitable for processing of magnesium allo...This paper presents the processing of magnesium alloys and its composite through different stir casting technologies.Design and devel-opment of stir casting technology that is suitable for processing of magnesium alloys has been done in this study.The low-cost stir casting processing of magnesium alloy and its composite with flux and without flux has been explained.The magnesium alloy and its composite have been fabricated by both the stir casting process.The micro structural characterization and mechanical properties of the developed composites has been evaluated.The optical emission spectroscopy of the developed alloy and factography of the developed alloy as well as composite was also examined.展开更多
Phytases belong to the class of phosphohydrolases that begin the step-wise hydrolysis of phosphates from phytates. Phytates are a derivative of myo-inositol, which is the primary storage form of organic phosphorus in ...Phytases belong to the class of phosphohydrolases that begin the step-wise hydrolysis of phosphates from phytates. Phytates are a derivative of myo-inositol, which is the primary storage form of organic phosphorus in plant cells. Phytase has been used globally to diminish phosphorus pollution and to enhance nutrition in monogastrics. In this review, the classification, sources, and diversity of microbial phytases, and their practical applications, as well as supplementation of the soil with transgenic and wild types of microbial strains, which can release phytase to enhance phosphorus availability for plant uptake and reduce the need for fertilizers, are discussed. The overexpressed microbial phytases in transgenic plants enhance the growth capacity of co-cultivated plants and can therefore be employed in agricultural and biotechnological practices, such as intercropping. The introduction of phytases into the soil for improved plant growth and enhanced crop yield can be accomplished without extra cost. A diverse group of photoautotrophic microalgae can synthesize phytase and will likely be useful in many human food and animal industries.展开更多
Colorectal cancer(CRC)affects 1 in 23 males and 1 in 25 females,making it the third most common cancer.With roughly 608000 deaths worldwide,CRC accounts for 8%of all cancer-related deaths,making it the second most com...Colorectal cancer(CRC)affects 1 in 23 males and 1 in 25 females,making it the third most common cancer.With roughly 608000 deaths worldwide,CRC accounts for 8%of all cancer-related deaths,making it the second most common cause of death due to cancer.Standard and conventional CRC treatments include surgical expurgation for resectable CRC and radiotherapy,chemotherapy,immunotherapy,and their combinational regimen for non-resectable CRC.Despite these tactics,nearly half of patients develop incurable recurring CRC.Cancer cells resist the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs in a variety of ways,including drug inactivation,drug influx and efflux modifications,and ATPbinding cassette transporter overexpression.These constraints necessitate the development of new target-specific therapeutic strategies.Emerging therapeutic approaches,such as targeted immune boosting therapies,non-coding RNA-based therapies,probiotics,natural products,oncolytic viral therapies,and biomarkerdriven therapies,have shown promising results in preclinical and clinical studies.We tethered the entire evolutionary trends in the development of CRC treatments in this review and discussed the potential of new therapies and how they might be used in conjunction with conventional treatments as well as their advantages and drawbacks as future medicines.展开更多
The labile organic carbon(C)and C-related enzymes are sensitive indicators capturing alterations of soil organic matter(SOM),even in a short-time scale.Although the effects of crop husbandry and land use change on the...The labile organic carbon(C)and C-related enzymes are sensitive indicators capturing alterations of soil organic matter(SOM),even in a short-time scale.Although the effects of crop husbandry and land use change on these attributes have been well studied,there is no consensus about how plant phenology may impact them.This study aimed to determine the short-term effect o f six distinct phenological stages(PS-1:full bloom;PS-2:fruit set;PS-3:pit hardening;PS-4:physiological maturity;PS-5:60 d after physiological maturity;and PS-6:fall)o f peach on the changes in soil organic carbon(SOC)fractions of different oxidizability,labile C pools,and C-cycle enzyme activities in soils,for two consecutive years(2015 and 2016)in the North-Western Himalayas(NWH).Peach rhizosphere soils were sampled at the topsoil(0-15 cm)and subsoil(16-30 cm)layers,along with rhizosphere soils from adjacent perennial grasses,which served as a control.Values for most of the assessed parameters,including very labile C,labile C,microbial biomass C,permanganate oxidizable C,dissolved organic C,mineralizable C,amylase activity,and carboxymethyl-cellulase activity,were significantly(P<0.05)higher at PS-3 than at other phenological stages of peach.Conversely,a sudden decline in these soil variables was recorded at PS-5,followed by a slight buildup at PS-6,particularly in the topsoil of the peach orchard.Short-term changes in organic C fractions of different oxidizability,influenced by peach phenological stage,significantly(P<0.05)affected C management index,C pool index,and lability index.Both the C management index and lability index showed their highest values at PS-3 and their lowest values at PS-5,clearly indicating short-term accretion and depletion of SOC,in tandem with the peach phenological events.Principal component analysis suggested that a composite of soil indicators,including microbial biomass C,dissolved organic C,amylase,and invertase,could help detect short-term changes in SOC content.It is concluded that peach phenological events had a major impact on the short-term variations of the studied soil variables,which could be attributed to changes in the above-and belowground plant residues,as well as the extent of nutrients and water acquisition.展开更多
Nowadays,it is concern for researchers that due to high recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers in tungsten trioxide(WO_(3)) nanoparticles,the future applications are limited in the field of photocatalysi...Nowadays,it is concern for researchers that due to high recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers in tungsten trioxide(WO_(3)) nanoparticles,the future applications are limited in the field of photocatalysis.Herein we attempt to synthesize tungsten trioxide nanoparticles with different doping concentrations of lanthanum i.e.2 wt%,4 wt%,6 wt% and 8 wt%.The synthesized samples were characterized by using various characterization techniques:X-ray diffraction(XRD),Raman spectroscopy,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR),photoluminescence spectra(PL),transmission electron microscopy(TEM),energy dispersive X-ray(EDX) and UV-Vis spectroscopy.WO_(3) retains its monoclinic structure even after doping which was confirmed by XRD analysis.FTIR helps to descry functional groups present in the samples.The size of nanoparticles was calculated by using TEM.EDX confirms the absence of any impurity in the synthesized samples.Raman spectroscopy confirms the presence of a large number of imperfections induced in the lattice of WO_(3).The rate of recombination was analyzed by photoluminescence(PL) spectroscopy and is minimum in 4 wt% doping of lanthanum.The optical bandgap was calculated using UV-Vis spectroscopy and becomes narrow along with the doping concentrations.Intriguingly,it is found that doping of La in WO_(3) has considerably ameliorate the photocatalytic activity by reducing rate of recombination due to the trapping of electrons by defects introduced in the lattice.Photocatalytic decolorization of Rhodamine B(RhB) dye was performed and the values of c/c_0 and rate constant(k) confirm that the 4 wt% doping shows maximum degradation efficiency.The kinetic study for photodegradation of Rhodamine B was done by using various kinetic models and results show that the reaction follows first order kinetics very well.Therefore,optimum doping of lanthanum increases the decolorization ability of WO_(3) towards RhB dye.展开更多
Objective Cyclooxygenase isoenzyme is known to be expressed in different regions of brain, and is mainly used for the treatment of pain and inflammation. Recently, it is proposed that cyclooxygenase isoenzyme may also...Objective Cyclooxygenase isoenzyme is known to be expressed in different regions of brain, and is mainly used for the treatment of pain and inflammation. Recently, it is proposed that cyclooxygenase isoenzyme may also play a key role in the pathophysiology of various brain-related disorders. The present study was aimed to explore the protective effect of cyclooxygenase inhibitors on stress by using an animal model of chronic stress. Methods The animals were forced to swim individually for a period of 6 min every day for 15 d. Then, the behavior （locomotor activity, anxiety and memory） and biochemical （lipid peroxidation, nitrite level, reduced glutathione, and catalase） alterations were assessed. Results Forced swimming for 15 d caused impaired locomotor activity, anxiety-like behavior and decreased percentage of memory retention, as compared to na？ve mice （without chronic fatigue treatment）. Biochemical analysis revealed significant increases in lipid peroxidation and nitrite level, while levels of reduced glutathione and catalase activity were both decreased. Chronic treatment with naproxen （14 mg/kg, i.p.）, rofecoxib （5 mg/kg, i.p.）, meloxicam （5 mg/kg, i.p.）, nimesulide （5 mg/kg, i.p.） and valdecoxib （10 mg/kg, i.p.） significantly attenuated these behavioral and biochemical （oxidative damage） alterations in chronic-stressed mice. Conclusion The cyclooxygenase inhibitors could be used in the management of chronic fatigue-like conditions.展开更多
AIM: Stress is recognized to precipitate anxiety and related psychological problems characterized by a wide range of biochemical and behavioral changes. The present study was carried out to investigate the protective ...AIM: Stress is recognized to precipitate anxiety and related psychological problems characterized by a wide range of biochemical and behavioral changes. The present study was carried out to investigate the protective effects of melatonin and buspirone, and their combination, against six hours immobilization stress-induced, anxiety-like behavioral and oxidative damage in mice. METHOD: Male Laca mice were pre-treated with melatonin(2.5, 5 mg·kg–1), buspirone(5, 10 mg·kg–1), and their combination for consecutive five days. On the 6th day, animals were immobilized for six hours, and thereafter various behavioral tests were performed followed by biochemical tests. RESULTS: Immobilization stress significantly impaired body weight, locomotor activity, and caused anxiety-like behavior, along with increased oxidative damage. Pretreatment with melatonin and buspirone significantly improved the loss in body weight and locomotor activity, attenuated anxiety-like behavior(in both the mirror chamber and plus maze performance tasks), further restored the levels of brain total proteins, and caused antioxidant-like effects, as evidenced by reduced lipid peroxidation, nitrite concentration, and restoration of reduced glutathione and catalase activity, as compared to control animals. In addition, combination of melatonin(2.5, 5 mg·kg–1) with buspirone(5 mg·kg–1) significantly potentiated their protective effects, as compared to their effects individually. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that melatonin potentiates the beneficial effect of buspirone against immobilization stress-induced, anxiety-like behavioral and oxidative damage in mice possibly by involving a serotonergic mechanism.展开更多
An internal failure mode for a soil-nailed system consists of failure at nail heads,slope facing,nail strength,along groutesoil interface and pullout failure.A better understanding of pullout of soil nail thus becomes...An internal failure mode for a soil-nailed system consists of failure at nail heads,slope facing,nail strength,along groutesoil interface and pullout failure.A better understanding of pullout of soil nail thus becomes important to assess the stability of a soil-nailed system.In the present study,an investigation into the pullout behaviour of soil nail with circular discs along the shaft has been carried out by a threedimensional finite element analysis using Abaqus/Explicit routine.A total of 67 simulations have been performed to accurately predict the pullout behaviour of soil nail.The soil nail under study has circular discs along its shaft varying in numbers from 1 to 4.The pullout of this soil nail in a pullout test box has been simulated with a constant overburden pressure of 20 kPa acting on the nail.The pullout load edisplacement characteristics,stresses around soil nail and failure mechanism during pullout are studied.Variations of dimensionless factors such as normalised pullout load factor and bearing capacity factor have been obtained with different combinations of parameters in terms of relative disc spacing ratio,anchorage length ratio,embedment ratio,diameter ratio and displacement ratio.From the results of analyses,it is found that nail with more circular discs requires higher pullout load.There are critical relative disc spacing ratio and diameter ratio which significantly affect the pullout behaviour of nail.展开更多
A finite element solution for the Navier-Stokes equations for steady flow under the porosity effects through a double branched two-dimensional section of a three-dimensional model of a canine aorta was obtained. The n...A finite element solution for the Navier-Stokes equations for steady flow under the porosity effects through a double branched two-dimensional section of a three-dimensional model of a canine aorta was obtained. The numerical solution involves transforming a physical coordinates to a curvilinear boundary fitted coordinate system.The steady flow,branch flow and shear stress under the porous effects were discussed in detail. The shear stress at the wall was calculated for Reynolds number of 1 000 with branch to main aortic flow rate ratio as a parameter. The results are compared with earlier works involving experimental data and it has been observed that our results are very close to the exact solutions.This work is in fact an improvement of the work of Sharma et al. (2001) in the sense that computational technique is economic and (Reynolds) number is large.展开更多
A neurological abnormality called autism spectrum disorder(ASD)affects how a person perceives and interacts with others,leading to social interaction and communication issues.Limited and recurring behavioural patterns...A neurological abnormality called autism spectrum disorder(ASD)affects how a person perceives and interacts with others,leading to social interaction and communication issues.Limited and recurring behavioural patterns are another feature of the illness.Multiple mutations throughout development are the source of the neurodevelopmental disorder autism.However,a well-established model and perfect treatment for this spectrum disease has not been discovered.The rising era of the clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats(CRISPR)-associated protein 9(Cas9)system can streamline the complexity underlying the pathogenesis of ASD.The CRISPR-Cas9 system is a powerful genetic engineering tool used to edit the genome at the targeted site in a precise manner.The major hurdle in studying ASD is the lack of appropriate animal models presenting the complex symptoms of ASD.Therefore,CRISPR-Cas9 is being used worldwide to mimic the ASD-like pathology in various systems like in vitro cell lines,in vitro 3D organoid models and in vivo animal models.Apart from being used in establishing ASD models,CRISPR-Cas9 can also be used to treat the complexities of ASD.The aim of this review was to summarize and critically analyse the CRISPRCas9-mediated discoveries in the field of ASD.展开更多
In this paper,a new design method for digital infinite impulse response(IIR)filters with nearly linear-phase response is presented using fractional derivative constraints(FDCs).In the proposed method,design problem of...In this paper,a new design method for digital infinite impulse response(IIR)filters with nearly linear-phase response is presented using fractional derivative constraints(FDCs).In the proposed method,design problem of an IIR frlter is constructed as the minimization of phase error between the desired and designed phase response of an allpass filter(APF)such that the designed lowpass filter(LPF)or highpass frlter(HPF)yields less passband(ep),and stopband errors(es)with optimal stopband attenuation(As).In order to have accurate passband(pb)response,FDCs are imposed on appropriate reference frequency,where the optimality of these FDCs are ensured by using a new greedy based sorting mechanism.The simulated results reflect the efficiency of the proposed method in term of improved passband response along with better transition width.However,small reduction in^is observed within the allowable limit,when compared to noin-fractional design approach,but the designed filter remains immune to wordlength(WL)effect.展开更多
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is caused by synaptic failure and the excessive accumulation of misfolded proteins especially Aβ and tau, and associated with memory loss and cognitive impairment. Treatment of AD mainly con...Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is caused by synaptic failure and the excessive accumulation of misfolded proteins especially Aβ and tau, and associated with memory loss and cognitive impairment. Treatment of AD mainly consists of symptomatic therapy and disease-modifying therapy (DMT). Several monotherapies including small molecules or antibodies have been evaluated through multiple clinical trials, but a very few have been approved by the USFDA to intervene the disease’s pathogenesis. Past research has shown multifactorial nature of AD, therefore, multi-target drugs were proposed to target different pathways at the same time, however, currently no rationally designed multi-target directed ligand (MTDL) has been clinically approved. Different combinations and bispecific antibodies are also under development. Novel approaches like stem cell-based therapies, microRNAs, peptides, ADCs and vaccines cast a new hope for AD treatment, however, a number of questions remained to be answered prior to their safe and effective clinical translation. This review explores the small molecules, MTDL, and antibodies (monospecific and bispecific) for the treatment of AD. Finally, future perspectives (stem cell therapy, PROTAC approaches, microRNAs, ADC, peptides and vaccines) are also discussed with regard to their clinical applications and feasibility.展开更多
This study presents the emission factor of gaseous pollutants （CO, CO2, and NOx） from on-road tailpipe measurement of 14 passenger cars of different types of fuel and vintage. The trolley equipped with stainless ste...This study presents the emission factor of gaseous pollutants （CO, CO2, and NOx） from on-road tailpipe measurement of 14 passenger cars of different types of fuel and vintage. The trolley equipped with stainless steel duct, vane probe velocity meter, flue gas analyzer, Nondispersive infra red （NDIR） C02 analyzer, temperature, and relative humidity （RH） sensors was connected to the vehicle using a towing system. Lower CO and higher NOx emissions were observed from new diesel cars （post 2010） compared to old cars （post 2005）, which implied that new technological advancement in diesel fueled passenger cars to reduce CO emission is a successful venture, however, the use of turbo charger in diesel cars to achieve high temperature combustion might have resulted in increased NOx emissions. Based on the measured emission factors （g/kg0, and fuel consumption （kg）, the average and 95% confidence interval （CI） bound estimates of CO, CO2, and NOx from four wheeler （4W） in Delhi for the year 2012 were 15.7 （1.4-37.1）, 6234 （386-12,252）, and 30.4 （0.0-103） Gg/year, respectively. The contribution of diesel, gasoline and compressed natural gas （CNG） to total CO, C02 and NOx emissions were 7：84：9, 50：48：2 and 58：41：1 respectively. The present work indicated that the age and the maintenance of vehicle both are important factors in emission assessment therefore, more systematic repetitive measurements coveting wide range of vehicles of different age groups, engine capacity, and maintenance level is needed for refining the emission factors with CI.展开更多
Himalaya and its foreland acted as a coupled system that responded to the climate variability and evolved as a thrust and fold belt.The river systems draining the Himalaya,the Ganga foreland act as an artery that help...Himalaya and its foreland acted as a coupled system that responded to the climate variability and evolved as a thrust and fold belt.The river systems draining the Himalaya,the Ganga foreland act as an artery that helps registering climate and tectonic signals into its geomorphology and sedimentary history.The paper discusses the late Quaternary landscape evolution of the mountain and its foreland and reviews the published literature in the context.展开更多
The underlying study investigates single valued neutrosophic entropy based adaptive sensitive frequency band selection for variational mode decomposition(VMD)for the purpose of identifying defective components in an a...The underlying study investigates single valued neutrosophic entropy based adaptive sensitive frequency band selection for variational mode decomposition(VMD)for the purpose of identifying defective components in an axial pump.The proposed methodology is applied in the following steps.First,VMD is applied for decomposing vibration signals into various frequency bands,called as modes.After computing energy of each VMD,the lower(minimum)and upper(maximum)bounds from these energy readings are extracted for defect conditions,such as outer race,inner race,worn piston,faulty cylinder and valve plate,and blocked hole of the piston.Thereafter,energy interval ranges are obtained and further converted into the form of single valued neutrosophic sets(SVNSs).Then,the proposed neutrosophic entropy measure is deployed for quantifying the non-linear connection between each bearing defect conditions and various frequency bands.The mode having maximum neutrosophic entropy value is designated to the“most sensitive”frequency band.Thereafter,envelope demodulation is applied to the most sensitive selected frequency band for finding defective components.The proposed neutrosophic entropy and VMD based methodology is effective in providing a better insight for selecting suitable frequency band for carrying out envelope demodulation in comparison to existing methods.展开更多
1-{4-[（2-hydroxy-benzylidene）amino]phenyl}ethanone functionalized silica gel was synthesized and used as a highly efficient, selective and reusable solid phase extractant for separation and preconcentration of trace...1-{4-[（2-hydroxy-benzylidene）amino]phenyl}ethanone functionalized silica gel was synthesized and used as a highly efficient, selective and reusable solid phase extractant for separation and preconcentration of trace amount of Zn（II） from environmental matrices. The adsorbent was characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FT-IR）, elemental analysis,~3C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, thermogravimetric analysis （TGA） and BET surface area analysis. The dependence of zinc extraction on various analytical parameters such as pH, type and amount of eluent, sample flow rate and interfering ions were investigated in detail. The material exhibited superior adsorption efficiency for Zn（II） with high metal loading capacity of 1.0 mmol/g under optimum conditions. After adsorption, the recovery （〉 98%） of metal ions was accomplished using 1.0 mol/L HNO3 as an eluent. The sorbent was also regenerated by microwave treatment in milder acidic environment （0.1 mol/L HNO3）. The lower detection limit and preconcentration factor of the present method were found out to be 0.04 ~tg/L and 312.5 respectively. The modified silica surface possessed excellent selectivity for the target analytes and the adsorption/desorption process remained effective for at least ten consecutive cycles. The optimized procedure was successfully implemented for the extraction of Zn（II） from mycorrhizal treated fly ash and pharmaceutical samples with reproducible results.展开更多
文摘Rice straw,which is produced after the harvest of rice,is a major agricultural waste in the world.Rice straw has a high carbon/nitrogen ratio and is more resistant to microbial degradation than other straws because its main constituents are cellulose and hemicelluloses encrusted by lignin.When rice straw is burned,hazardous substances such as carbon dioxide,methane,carbon monoxide,and nitrogen monoxide are released into the air as smoke(less than 10μm-sized particles).The rise in the burning of rice straw has contributed to too many accidents and health issues in the general population residing in Haryana,Punjab,and Uttar Pradesh of India.These states are being urged by the National Green Tribunal to generate money instead of burning rice straw.Even though these lignocellulosic materials might be beneficial,not much has been carried out with them.This overview covers the properties of rice straw and husks,the numerous procedures used to create valuable products,and various applications that may be made for them.These include energy sources,environmental adsorbents,building supplies,and specialist commodities.
文摘Background: A better understanding of the impact of Targeted Interventions (TI) services on Female Sex Worker (FSW) behaviours can help in informing and strengthening future TI efforts under National AIDS Control Programme (NACP). Methods: National Integrated Biological and Behavioural Survey (IBBS) 2014-15 has been analysed in the paper. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to understand factors affecting condom use. Propensity score matching (PSM) was done to understand the impact of the TI services on condom use at the last act and consistent condom use in the last three months among FSWs. Results: Younger FSWs aged 15 - 25 years were 1.4 times (95% CI: 1.04 - 1.77) more likely to use consistent condoms in the last three months compared to older over 45 years after controlling for other socio-economic and programme variables. The matched samples estimate ATET i.e. the average treatment effect on treated for consistent condom use in the last three months shows that a 6.0% (CI: 4.7 - 7.3) increase in consistent condom use in the last three months in the FSWs who received information on STI/HIV from peer educator and outreach worker. There is also a 6.0% (4.7 - 7.2) increase in condom use in the last act for FSWs who received the referral services at STI clinics, HIV testing, and detox centres. Conclusions: It is evident that the TI programme has a positive impact on behavior change among FSWs which can prove beneficial to curtail the spread of HIV to the partners and onward transmission to the general population.
文摘In this paper, a comprehensive energy function is used to formulate the three most popular objective functions:Kapur's, Otsu and Tsalli's functions for performing effective multilevel color image thresholding. These new energy based objective criterions are further combined with the proficient search capability of swarm based algorithms to improve the efficiency and robustness. The proposed multilevel thresholding approach accurately determines the optimal threshold values by using generated energy curve, and acutely distinguishes different objects within the multi-channel complex images. The performance evaluation indices and experiments on different test images illustrate that Kapur's entropy aided with differential evolution and bacterial foraging optimization algorithm generates the most accurate and visually pleasing segmented images.
基金sponsored by WB TEQIP-II funds received at KNIT Sultanpur UP,India.
文摘This paper presents the processing of magnesium alloys and its composite through different stir casting technologies.Design and devel-opment of stir casting technology that is suitable for processing of magnesium alloys has been done in this study.The low-cost stir casting processing of magnesium alloy and its composite with flux and without flux has been explained.The magnesium alloy and its composite have been fabricated by both the stir casting process.The micro structural characterization and mechanical properties of the developed composites has been evaluated.The optical emission spectroscopy of the developed alloy and factography of the developed alloy as well as composite was also examined.
文摘Phytases belong to the class of phosphohydrolases that begin the step-wise hydrolysis of phosphates from phytates. Phytates are a derivative of myo-inositol, which is the primary storage form of organic phosphorus in plant cells. Phytase has been used globally to diminish phosphorus pollution and to enhance nutrition in monogastrics. In this review, the classification, sources, and diversity of microbial phytases, and their practical applications, as well as supplementation of the soil with transgenic and wild types of microbial strains, which can release phytase to enhance phosphorus availability for plant uptake and reduce the need for fertilizers, are discussed. The overexpressed microbial phytases in transgenic plants enhance the growth capacity of co-cultivated plants and can therefore be employed in agricultural and biotechnological practices, such as intercropping. The introduction of phytases into the soil for improved plant growth and enhanced crop yield can be accomplished without extra cost. A diverse group of photoautotrophic microalgae can synthesize phytase and will likely be useful in many human food and animal industries.
文摘Colorectal cancer(CRC)affects 1 in 23 males and 1 in 25 females,making it the third most common cancer.With roughly 608000 deaths worldwide,CRC accounts for 8%of all cancer-related deaths,making it the second most common cause of death due to cancer.Standard and conventional CRC treatments include surgical expurgation for resectable CRC and radiotherapy,chemotherapy,immunotherapy,and their combinational regimen for non-resectable CRC.Despite these tactics,nearly half of patients develop incurable recurring CRC.Cancer cells resist the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs in a variety of ways,including drug inactivation,drug influx and efflux modifications,and ATPbinding cassette transporter overexpression.These constraints necessitate the development of new target-specific therapeutic strategies.Emerging therapeutic approaches,such as targeted immune boosting therapies,non-coding RNA-based therapies,probiotics,natural products,oncolytic viral therapies,and biomarkerdriven therapies,have shown promising results in preclinical and clinical studies.We tethered the entire evolutionary trends in the development of CRC treatments in this review and discussed the potential of new therapies and how they might be used in conjunction with conventional treatments as well as their advantages and drawbacks as future medicines.
文摘The labile organic carbon(C)and C-related enzymes are sensitive indicators capturing alterations of soil organic matter(SOM),even in a short-time scale.Although the effects of crop husbandry and land use change on these attributes have been well studied,there is no consensus about how plant phenology may impact them.This study aimed to determine the short-term effect o f six distinct phenological stages(PS-1:full bloom;PS-2:fruit set;PS-3:pit hardening;PS-4:physiological maturity;PS-5:60 d after physiological maturity;and PS-6:fall)o f peach on the changes in soil organic carbon(SOC)fractions of different oxidizability,labile C pools,and C-cycle enzyme activities in soils,for two consecutive years(2015 and 2016)in the North-Western Himalayas(NWH).Peach rhizosphere soils were sampled at the topsoil(0-15 cm)and subsoil(16-30 cm)layers,along with rhizosphere soils from adjacent perennial grasses,which served as a control.Values for most of the assessed parameters,including very labile C,labile C,microbial biomass C,permanganate oxidizable C,dissolved organic C,mineralizable C,amylase activity,and carboxymethyl-cellulase activity,were significantly(P<0.05)higher at PS-3 than at other phenological stages of peach.Conversely,a sudden decline in these soil variables was recorded at PS-5,followed by a slight buildup at PS-6,particularly in the topsoil of the peach orchard.Short-term changes in organic C fractions of different oxidizability,influenced by peach phenological stage,significantly(P<0.05)affected C management index,C pool index,and lability index.Both the C management index and lability index showed their highest values at PS-3 and their lowest values at PS-5,clearly indicating short-term accretion and depletion of SOC,in tandem with the peach phenological events.Principal component analysis suggested that a composite of soil indicators,including microbial biomass C,dissolved organic C,amylase,and invertase,could help detect short-term changes in SOC content.It is concluded that peach phenological events had a major impact on the short-term variations of the studied soil variables,which could be attributed to changes in the above-and belowground plant residues,as well as the extent of nutrients and water acquisition.
基金supported by the National Project Implementation Unit (NPIU),a unit of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD),Government of India,for the financial assistantship TEQIP-Ⅲ Project at Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology,Murthal,Haryana,the DST,India for sanctioning the DST-FIST project (SR/FST/PS-I/2012/32)。
文摘Nowadays,it is concern for researchers that due to high recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers in tungsten trioxide(WO_(3)) nanoparticles,the future applications are limited in the field of photocatalysis.Herein we attempt to synthesize tungsten trioxide nanoparticles with different doping concentrations of lanthanum i.e.2 wt%,4 wt%,6 wt% and 8 wt%.The synthesized samples were characterized by using various characterization techniques:X-ray diffraction(XRD),Raman spectroscopy,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR),photoluminescence spectra(PL),transmission electron microscopy(TEM),energy dispersive X-ray(EDX) and UV-Vis spectroscopy.WO_(3) retains its monoclinic structure even after doping which was confirmed by XRD analysis.FTIR helps to descry functional groups present in the samples.The size of nanoparticles was calculated by using TEM.EDX confirms the absence of any impurity in the synthesized samples.Raman spectroscopy confirms the presence of a large number of imperfections induced in the lattice of WO_(3).The rate of recombination was analyzed by photoluminescence(PL) spectroscopy and is minimum in 4 wt% doping of lanthanum.The optical bandgap was calculated using UV-Vis spectroscopy and becomes narrow along with the doping concentrations.Intriguingly,it is found that doping of La in WO_(3) has considerably ameliorate the photocatalytic activity by reducing rate of recombination due to the trapping of electrons by defects introduced in the lattice.Photocatalytic decolorization of Rhodamine B(RhB) dye was performed and the values of c/c_0 and rate constant(k) confirm that the 4 wt% doping shows maximum degradation efficiency.The kinetic study for photodegradation of Rhodamine B was done by using various kinetic models and results show that the reaction follows first order kinetics very well.Therefore,optimum doping of lanthanum increases the decolorization ability of WO_(3) towards RhB dye.
文摘Objective Cyclooxygenase isoenzyme is known to be expressed in different regions of brain, and is mainly used for the treatment of pain and inflammation. Recently, it is proposed that cyclooxygenase isoenzyme may also play a key role in the pathophysiology of various brain-related disorders. The present study was aimed to explore the protective effect of cyclooxygenase inhibitors on stress by using an animal model of chronic stress. Methods The animals were forced to swim individually for a period of 6 min every day for 15 d. Then, the behavior （locomotor activity, anxiety and memory） and biochemical （lipid peroxidation, nitrite level, reduced glutathione, and catalase） alterations were assessed. Results Forced swimming for 15 d caused impaired locomotor activity, anxiety-like behavior and decreased percentage of memory retention, as compared to na？ve mice （without chronic fatigue treatment）. Biochemical analysis revealed significant increases in lipid peroxidation and nitrite level, while levels of reduced glutathione and catalase activity were both decreased. Chronic treatment with naproxen （14 mg/kg, i.p.）, rofecoxib （5 mg/kg, i.p.）, meloxicam （5 mg/kg, i.p.）, nimesulide （5 mg/kg, i.p.） and valdecoxib （10 mg/kg, i.p.） significantly attenuated these behavioral and biochemical （oxidative damage） alterations in chronic-stressed mice. Conclusion The cyclooxygenase inhibitors could be used in the management of chronic fatigue-like conditions.
基金supported by CSIR,New Delhi,provided to Dr.Anil Kumar for carrying out this work
文摘AIM: Stress is recognized to precipitate anxiety and related psychological problems characterized by a wide range of biochemical and behavioral changes. The present study was carried out to investigate the protective effects of melatonin and buspirone, and their combination, against six hours immobilization stress-induced, anxiety-like behavioral and oxidative damage in mice. METHOD: Male Laca mice were pre-treated with melatonin(2.5, 5 mg·kg–1), buspirone(5, 10 mg·kg–1), and their combination for consecutive five days. On the 6th day, animals were immobilized for six hours, and thereafter various behavioral tests were performed followed by biochemical tests. RESULTS: Immobilization stress significantly impaired body weight, locomotor activity, and caused anxiety-like behavior, along with increased oxidative damage. Pretreatment with melatonin and buspirone significantly improved the loss in body weight and locomotor activity, attenuated anxiety-like behavior(in both the mirror chamber and plus maze performance tasks), further restored the levels of brain total proteins, and caused antioxidant-like effects, as evidenced by reduced lipid peroxidation, nitrite concentration, and restoration of reduced glutathione and catalase activity, as compared to control animals. In addition, combination of melatonin(2.5, 5 mg·kg–1) with buspirone(5 mg·kg–1) significantly potentiated their protective effects, as compared to their effects individually. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that melatonin potentiates the beneficial effect of buspirone against immobilization stress-induced, anxiety-like behavioral and oxidative damage in mice possibly by involving a serotonergic mechanism.
文摘An internal failure mode for a soil-nailed system consists of failure at nail heads,slope facing,nail strength,along groutesoil interface and pullout failure.A better understanding of pullout of soil nail thus becomes important to assess the stability of a soil-nailed system.In the present study,an investigation into the pullout behaviour of soil nail with circular discs along the shaft has been carried out by a threedimensional finite element analysis using Abaqus/Explicit routine.A total of 67 simulations have been performed to accurately predict the pullout behaviour of soil nail.The soil nail under study has circular discs along its shaft varying in numbers from 1 to 4.The pullout of this soil nail in a pullout test box has been simulated with a constant overburden pressure of 20 kPa acting on the nail.The pullout load edisplacement characteristics,stresses around soil nail and failure mechanism during pullout are studied.Variations of dimensionless factors such as normalised pullout load factor and bearing capacity factor have been obtained with different combinations of parameters in terms of relative disc spacing ratio,anchorage length ratio,embedment ratio,diameter ratio and displacement ratio.From the results of analyses,it is found that nail with more circular discs requires higher pullout load.There are critical relative disc spacing ratio and diameter ratio which significantly affect the pullout behaviour of nail.
文摘A finite element solution for the Navier-Stokes equations for steady flow under the porosity effects through a double branched two-dimensional section of a three-dimensional model of a canine aorta was obtained. The numerical solution involves transforming a physical coordinates to a curvilinear boundary fitted coordinate system.The steady flow,branch flow and shear stress under the porous effects were discussed in detail. The shear stress at the wall was calculated for Reynolds number of 1 000 with branch to main aortic flow rate ratio as a parameter. The results are compared with earlier works involving experimental data and it has been observed that our results are very close to the exact solutions.This work is in fact an improvement of the work of Sharma et al. (2001) in the sense that computational technique is economic and (Reynolds) number is large.
文摘A neurological abnormality called autism spectrum disorder(ASD)affects how a person perceives and interacts with others,leading to social interaction and communication issues.Limited and recurring behavioural patterns are another feature of the illness.Multiple mutations throughout development are the source of the neurodevelopmental disorder autism.However,a well-established model and perfect treatment for this spectrum disease has not been discovered.The rising era of the clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats(CRISPR)-associated protein 9(Cas9)system can streamline the complexity underlying the pathogenesis of ASD.The CRISPR-Cas9 system is a powerful genetic engineering tool used to edit the genome at the targeted site in a precise manner.The major hurdle in studying ASD is the lack of appropriate animal models presenting the complex symptoms of ASD.Therefore,CRISPR-Cas9 is being used worldwide to mimic the ASD-like pathology in various systems like in vitro cell lines,in vitro 3D organoid models and in vivo animal models.Apart from being used in establishing ASD models,CRISPR-Cas9 can also be used to treat the complexities of ASD.The aim of this review was to summarize and critically analyse the CRISPRCas9-mediated discoveries in the field of ASD.
文摘In this paper,a new design method for digital infinite impulse response(IIR)filters with nearly linear-phase response is presented using fractional derivative constraints(FDCs).In the proposed method,design problem of an IIR frlter is constructed as the minimization of phase error between the desired and designed phase response of an allpass filter(APF)such that the designed lowpass filter(LPF)or highpass frlter(HPF)yields less passband(ep),and stopband errors(es)with optimal stopband attenuation(As).In order to have accurate passband(pb)response,FDCs are imposed on appropriate reference frequency,where the optimality of these FDCs are ensured by using a new greedy based sorting mechanism.The simulated results reflect the efficiency of the proposed method in term of improved passband response along with better transition width.However,small reduction in^is observed within the allowable limit,when compared to noin-fractional design approach,but the designed filter remains immune to wordlength(WL)effect.
文摘Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is caused by synaptic failure and the excessive accumulation of misfolded proteins especially Aβ and tau, and associated with memory loss and cognitive impairment. Treatment of AD mainly consists of symptomatic therapy and disease-modifying therapy (DMT). Several monotherapies including small molecules or antibodies have been evaluated through multiple clinical trials, but a very few have been approved by the USFDA to intervene the disease’s pathogenesis. Past research has shown multifactorial nature of AD, therefore, multi-target drugs were proposed to target different pathways at the same time, however, currently no rationally designed multi-target directed ligand (MTDL) has been clinically approved. Different combinations and bispecific antibodies are also under development. Novel approaches like stem cell-based therapies, microRNAs, peptides, ADCs and vaccines cast a new hope for AD treatment, however, a number of questions remained to be answered prior to their safe and effective clinical translation. This review explores the small molecules, MTDL, and antibodies (monospecific and bispecific) for the treatment of AD. Finally, future perspectives (stem cell therapy, PROTAC approaches, microRNAs, ADC, peptides and vaccines) are also discussed with regard to their clinical applications and feasibility.
基金supported by the Department of Science and Technology(SR/FTP/ES-183/2010(G)),India under fast track scheme
文摘This study presents the emission factor of gaseous pollutants （CO, CO2, and NOx） from on-road tailpipe measurement of 14 passenger cars of different types of fuel and vintage. The trolley equipped with stainless steel duct, vane probe velocity meter, flue gas analyzer, Nondispersive infra red （NDIR） C02 analyzer, temperature, and relative humidity （RH） sensors was connected to the vehicle using a towing system. Lower CO and higher NOx emissions were observed from new diesel cars （post 2010） compared to old cars （post 2005）, which implied that new technological advancement in diesel fueled passenger cars to reduce CO emission is a successful venture, however, the use of turbo charger in diesel cars to achieve high temperature combustion might have resulted in increased NOx emissions. Based on the measured emission factors （g/kg0, and fuel consumption （kg）, the average and 95% confidence interval （CI） bound estimates of CO, CO2, and NOx from four wheeler （4W） in Delhi for the year 2012 were 15.7 （1.4-37.1）, 6234 （386-12,252）, and 30.4 （0.0-103） Gg/year, respectively. The contribution of diesel, gasoline and compressed natural gas （CNG） to total CO, C02 and NOx emissions were 7：84：9, 50：48：2 and 58：41：1 respectively. The present work indicated that the age and the maintenance of vehicle both are important factors in emission assessment therefore, more systematic repetitive measurements coveting wide range of vehicles of different age groups, engine capacity, and maintenance level is needed for refining the emission factors with CI.
文摘Himalaya and its foreland acted as a coupled system that responded to the climate variability and evolved as a thrust and fold belt.The river systems draining the Himalaya,the Ganga foreland act as an artery that helps registering climate and tectonic signals into its geomorphology and sedimentary history.The paper discusses the late Quaternary landscape evolution of the mountain and its foreland and reviews the published literature in the context.
基金co-supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.U1909217,U1709208)the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(No.LD21E050001)the Zhejiang Special Support Program for High-level Personnel Recruitment of China(No.2018R52034).
文摘The underlying study investigates single valued neutrosophic entropy based adaptive sensitive frequency band selection for variational mode decomposition(VMD)for the purpose of identifying defective components in an axial pump.The proposed methodology is applied in the following steps.First,VMD is applied for decomposing vibration signals into various frequency bands,called as modes.After computing energy of each VMD,the lower(minimum)and upper(maximum)bounds from these energy readings are extracted for defect conditions,such as outer race,inner race,worn piston,faulty cylinder and valve plate,and blocked hole of the piston.Thereafter,energy interval ranges are obtained and further converted into the form of single valued neutrosophic sets(SVNSs).Then,the proposed neutrosophic entropy measure is deployed for quantifying the non-linear connection between each bearing defect conditions and various frequency bands.The mode having maximum neutrosophic entropy value is designated to the“most sensitive”frequency band.Thereafter,envelope demodulation is applied to the most sensitive selected frequency band for finding defective components.The proposed neutrosophic entropy and VMD based methodology is effective in providing a better insight for selecting suitable frequency band for carrying out envelope demodulation in comparison to existing methods.
文摘1-{4-[（2-hydroxy-benzylidene）amino]phenyl}ethanone functionalized silica gel was synthesized and used as a highly efficient, selective and reusable solid phase extractant for separation and preconcentration of trace amount of Zn（II） from environmental matrices. The adsorbent was characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FT-IR）, elemental analysis,~3C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, thermogravimetric analysis （TGA） and BET surface area analysis. The dependence of zinc extraction on various analytical parameters such as pH, type and amount of eluent, sample flow rate and interfering ions were investigated in detail. The material exhibited superior adsorption efficiency for Zn（II） with high metal loading capacity of 1.0 mmol/g under optimum conditions. After adsorption, the recovery （〉 98%） of metal ions was accomplished using 1.0 mol/L HNO3 as an eluent. The sorbent was also regenerated by microwave treatment in milder acidic environment （0.1 mol/L HNO3）. The lower detection limit and preconcentration factor of the present method were found out to be 0.04 ~tg/L and 312.5 respectively. The modified silica surface possessed excellent selectivity for the target analytes and the adsorption/desorption process remained effective for at least ten consecutive cycles. The optimized procedure was successfully implemented for the extraction of Zn（II） from mycorrhizal treated fly ash and pharmaceutical samples with reproducible results.
