Immense Applications Research Articles

In Situ Microwave Sensors and Switching Circuit for Oil Slick Thickness Measurement

The measurement of oil slick thickness, although at an early stage, has immense applications in determining the extent and quantity of crude oil accidentally discharged in oceans. In this work, we present the design, development and measurement of sensors and switching circuit that were integrated to form a novel microwave oil spill sensor for the determination of oil slick thickness. We used four ultra-wideband polydimethylsiloxane encapsulated antenna-sensors in a cuboid configuration connected to a customised RF switching circuit comprising of two single pole double throw (SPDT) switches. Each of the SPDT switches were connected to two antennas and a port of the vector network analyser (VNA). We developed an android application on a smartphone to select each of the antenna-sensors for the oil slick thickness measurements. The four antenna-sensors operated in the radiating near-field regions. Crude oil has lower density compared to salted seawater, therefore, it floats on the surface. This enabled the four-sensor antenna array to establish the oil thickness using radio frequency. The simulated and measured transmission coefficients showed the capability of the oil slick measurement sensor and switching circuit to determine the oil slick thickness using a novel contact-based in situ microwave approach.

Chemical composition of phenylpropanoid rich chemotypes of Ocimum basilicum L. and their antimicrobial activities

Ocimum basilicum L., is most popular fragrant herb renowned for its immense application. However, a plethora of studies revealed terpenoids and phenylpropanoids as marker chemicals with known identities. We herein report two unique chemotypes developed in CSIR-CIMAP for their compositional variability and biological activities. Essential oils obtained from aerial parts of both the chemotypes were analyzed in capillary gas chromatography and mass spectrometry systems on 5% diphenyl- and cyclodextrin coated fused silica columns. The statistical analysis was carried out to validate the phytochemical data of consecutive years and also to calculate the variability. The phenylpropanoids dominated the volatile fractions of chemotype II (72.5–77.5%) in comparison to chemotype I (29.8–40.0%) essential oil. In the contrary, sesquiterpenoids (16.4–17.4%) and monoterpenoids (33.5–43.9%) contributed oil composition of chemotype I in diverse proportions. The presence of single images of R-(+)-camphor and R-(-)-linalool were established in both the oils analyzed on a ethyl substituted cyclodextrin-based column. Essential oils were tested for biological activities against C. albicans, S. aureus, and E. coli. meta-Eugenol, the marker compound isolated from chemotype I showed best inhibition against C. albicans. In conclusion, meta-eugenol-rich chemotype I with high essential oil yield (0.1–0.8%) was identified as an alternative source for meta-eugenol.

Thermal decomposition of a reacting chemical in a stepped rectangular channel with multiple obstacles

This study was considered realizing the immense application in petroleum, chemical and fuel industry of the conjugate effect of heat transfer and chemical reaction on the laminar fluid flow through a channel with several obstacles. Numerical simulation was conducted using the finite element method with the aid of COMSOL multi-physics software to relate the fluid flow pattern, heat and mass transfer, and the reaction rate to the modification of shape, number, and arrangement of the impediments alongside the change of spacing ratio, the initial velocity of fluid and temperature of the obstacles. The results of this investigation point out a number of interesting phenomenon such as circular objects cause most prominent decomposition of water and the decomposition is found to be oppositely symmetrical to spacing ratio. However, the rise of temperature amplify the decomposition process where the increase in initial velocity influences contrarily. Moreover, increasing the spacing ratio of the obstacles reduced thermal decomposition of the fluid.

Visible-light-driven TiO2@N-Au nanorobot penetrating the vitreous

For ophthalmology, there remain many uncertainties and challenges for traditional passive diffusion-based drug intervention. One of the major hurdles is the limited penetration caused by the complex vitreous bodies and biological macromolecules within. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that a novel TiO2@N-Au nanowire (NW) motor/locomotive robot actuated by wireless natural visible light can autonomously and efficiently penetrate into the vitreous body via photoelectrophoresis mechanism. With the efficient propulsion, and the nanoscale size of the NW motor matching the voids of the vitreous network, noninvasive advancing deep into the vitreous body and overcoming the inhomogeneous non-Newtonian fluid (shear thinning and viscoelastic) barriers are allowed. We envision the active visible-light-powered TiO2@N-Au NW motor holds immense application prospects for deep eye diseases and wireless bioelectronics.

Green extraction of lutein from marigold flower petals, process optimization and its potential to improve the oxidative stability of sunflower oil

Marigold flower petals are considered the richest source of lutein which possesses immense applications in the food and health sector. The study was undertaken to improve the stability of sunflower oil by enriching it with lutein extracted from marigold flower petals using safe and green technology. The extraction of lutein was optimized using Box-Behnken design by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) employing sunflower oil as a solvent. The impact of three independent variables i.e., ultrasonic intensity, solid to solvent ratio, and extraction time were evaluated on the amount of lutein extracted and its antioxidant activity. Highest amount of lutein (21.23 mg/g) was extracted by employing ultrasonic intensity of 70 W/m2, extraction time of 12.5 min, and solid to solvent ratio of 15.75%. FT-IR spectra of lutein extracted by ultrasound and conventional extraction show similar peaks depicting that ultrasound does not have any impact on the functionality of lutein. Sunflower oil incorporated with lutein at 1000 PPM and the synthetic antioxidant (TBHQ) showed good oxidative stability than oil with 500 PPM lutein and no lutein during accelerated storage for a month. The oxidative stability was shown by different oil samples in the following order: TBHQ = 1000PPM lutein˃500PPM lutein ˃control oil. It was concluded that the ultrasound technique extracts lutein efficiently from marigold flowers and this lutein was effective in improving the oxidative stability of sunflower oil under accelerated storage conditions.

Systemic and single cell level responses to 1 nm size biomaterials demonstrate distinct biological effects revealed by multi-omics atlas

Although ultra-small nanoclusters (USNCs, < 2 nm) have immense application capabilities in biomedicine, the investigation on body-wide organ responses towards USNCs is scant. Here, applying a novel strategy of single-cell mass cytometry combined with Nano Genome Atlas of multi-tissues, we systematically evaluate the interactions between the host and calcium phosphate (CaP) USNCs at the organism level. Combining single-cell mass cytometry, and magnetic luminex assay results, we identify dynamic immune responses to CaP USNCs at the single cell resolution. The innate immune is initially activated and followed by adaptive immune activation, as evidenced by dynamic immune cells proportions. Furthermore, using Nano Genome Atlas of multi-tissues, we uncover CaP USNCs induce stronger activation of the immune responses in the cartilage and subchondral bone among the five local tissues while promote metabolic activities in the liver and kidney. Moreover, based on the immunological response profiles, histological evaluation of major organs and local tissue, and a body-wide transcriptomics, we demonstrate that CaP USNCs are not more hazardous than the Food and Drug Administration-approved CaP nanoparticles after 14 days of injection. Our findings provide valuable information on the future clinical applications of USNCs and introduce an innovative strategy to decipher the whole body response to implants.

Supramolecular Thixotropic Ionogel Electrolyte for Sodium Batteries.

Owing to the potential of sodium as an alternative to lithium as charge carrier, increasing attention has been focused on the development of high-performance electrolytes for Na batteries in recent years. In this regard, gel-type electrolytes, which combine the outstanding ionic conductivity of liquid electrolytes and the safety of solid electrolytes, demonstrate immense application prospects. However, most gel electrolytes not only need a number of specific techniques for molding, but also typically suffer from breakage, leading to a short service life and severe safety issues. In this study, a supramolecular thixotropic ionogel electrolyte is proposed to address these problems. This thixotropic electrolyte is formed by the supramolecular self-assembly of D-gluconic acetal-based gelator (B8) in an ionic liquid solution of a Na salt, which exhibits moldability, a high ionic conductivity, and a rapid self-healing property. The ionogel electrolyte is chemically stable to Na and exhibits a good Na+ transference number. In addition, the self-assembly mechanism of B8 and thixotropic mechanism of ionogel are investigated. The safe, low-cost and multifunctional ionogel electrolyte developed herein supports the development of future high-performance Na batteries.

Color-tunable luminescence and temperature sensing in Ce3+/Tb3+ co-doped transparent oxyfluoride glass-ceramics containing Na1.5Y2.5F9 nanocrystals

Transparent glass-ceramics (GCs) containing Na1.5Y2.5F9 nanocrystals doped with Ce3+/Tb3+ were synthesized by melt-quenching approach. The nanocrystal structure was determined by X-ray diffraction, and its distribution and morphology were observed by transmission electron microscope. Luminous characteristics, energy transfer, and temperature sensing performance were investigated. Under 312 nm light excitation, the Ce3+/Tb3+ co-doped Na1.5Y2.5F9 GCs exhibited a blue emission (Ce3+: 424 nm) and sensitized a green emission (Tb3+: 546 nm). The emission color can be adjusted from blue (0.1643, 0.0826) to green (0.2891, 0.5243) via adding Tb3+ ions. The energy transfer efficiencies from Ce3+ to Tb3+ can reach 33.3%. The temperature sensitivity of sample Na1.5Y2.5F9: 0.5Ce3+, 0.1 Tb3+ and sample Na1.5Y2.5F9: 0.5Ce3+, 1.0 Tb3+ were compared. Based on the fluorescence intensity ratio of the Ce3+ and Tb3+ emission, the absolute sensitivity, relative sensitivity, temperature resolution, and thermal repeatability were estimated to be 0.768% K−1, 0.603% K−1, 0.049 K, and 0.993, respectively. The results indicate that Na1.5Y2.5F9: Ce3+, Tb3+ GCs have immense application prospects for multicolor displays and temperature sensors.

The complete chloroplast genome of Ananas comosus var. erectifolius (L.B. Smith) Coppens & Leal

Ananas comosus var. erectifolius (L.B. Smith) Coppens & Leal, a tropical plant from Bromeliaceae family, has immense applications, especially for fiber production of excellent quality. The lack of available chloroplast (cp) genome information limits its breeding and application. Here, we assembled its complete cp genome using Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology. The cp genome size is 159,983 bp, with 37.4% GC content, including a large single copy region (LSC) of 87,787 bp, a small single copy region (SSC) of 18,606 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 26,795 bp. It encodes 89 protein-coding, 38 tRNA and 8 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that A. comosus var. erectifolius was close to Ananas comosus. The complete cp genome sequences could provide valuable information for variety breeding and genetic analysis of agronomic and economic traits in A. comosus var. erectifolius.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning (Literature: Review and Metrics)

Nowadays the ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’ research phenomena is exponentially growing due to its immense applications in all disciplines. That is why all the business corporates are in development of AI products and services in a bigger way. The humanoid robot Sophia, supply chain logistics drones, the Amazon voice recognition Alexa, and Tesla’s self-driving cars are some of the AI and its sister technological footprints in our life. Hollywood movies also witnessed the inevitable role of AI and its solicitations in human life. Hence, to provide quality of life to human beings as well as quality of service in professional life, there need to be more AI innovative solutions. As the concept is contemporary, the study comes under exploratory study however, data have been collected from online databases including Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO and Google Scholar. The aim of this research paper is to give an overview of AI and its sister technologies of Machine Learning and Deep Learning. Through an in-depth literature review, the manuscript explored many business applications of these technologies. The study revealed that AI, ML and DL applications are exponentially growing in many sectors including banking, insurance, healthcare, e-commerce, social media networking and transportation to name a few. Moreover, the authors also provided VOSviewer’s functionality for displaying bibliometric maps on AI, ML and DL literature analysis. This shows the importance of the phenomenon, authors, countries, journals and year of publications.

Screening and characterization of lipase producing bacteria isolated from the gut of a lepidopteran larvae, Samia ricini

• Rhodamine B screening identified twenty-eight lipolytic gut bacterial isolates. • Majority of lipolytic bacteria belonged to the genus Bacillus and Pseudomonas. • Isolates ERI011 and ERI080 from the foregut had the highest lipase activity. • S. ricini could be a resource for prospecting lipolytic microbes for use in biotechnology. Lipolytic enzymes are an important group of hydrolases that have found immense industrial application in biotechnology. In this study, the ability of gut bacteria isolated from the gut of the Eri silkworm, Samia ricini, to produce lipolytic enzymes was evaluated through qualitative and quantitative assays. The results of lipase screening showed that 28 isolates had lipolytic activity. The results of 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing indicated that the genus Bacillus comprised majority of the lipolytic bacterial isolates (71%) followed by Pseudomonas (15%); whilst Acinetobacter, Enterobacter and Enterococcus comprised 11%. Lipolytic activity was found in bacteria isolates identified from all the three gut compartments of S. ricini larvae with significant activity from isolates extracted from the foregut and midgut. The lipolytic index among the bacterial isolates ranged between 0.63 and 2.81 on Rhodamine B medium, and all isolates exhibited significant lipolytic activity with p -nitrophenyl butyrate (PNPB) with specific activity ranging from 0.52 to 0.82 μmol/min/mg. The effect of pH and temperature showed that lipase activity was optimum at 37 °C and pH 7–9. A phylogenetic relationship of lipase producing gut bacteria indicated high cluster stability for isolates from different stages (>50%) suggesting that the isolates persist across developmental stages of the host. The Eri silkworm is reared for its silk and the knowledge of its gut bacteria with the ability to produce lipases lies in the significance as far as boosting production of this insect via development of probiotics to enhance commercial Eri rearing. In addition, this insect may be a good resource for profiling novel lipolytic microbes for commercial production of lipases as lipases from microbial origin have assumed a great deal of importance as industrial enzymes due to their potential for use in biotechnology.

The Design of Formulation of Triangulation Network Model Using Simulate Environment for Co-Operative Communication in WSN using Matlab

Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) gained universal attention now a day owing to This innovative is sensing technology to incorporate an immense number sensor nodes or motes set up in an area of perceive any continuously are fluctuating physical to phenomena. These tiny sensor nodes sense and process the sensed data and transfer this information to a base station or sink via radio frequency (RF) channel. The small size of these sensors is an advantage as it can be easily embedded within any device or in any environment. This feature has attracted the use of WSNs in immense applications especially in monitoring and tracking; the most prominent being the surveillance applications. But this type of tiny sizes of sensors to nodes restricts to resourcing capabilities. Usually to WSNs are install to application area to the human intervention of quite risk and difficult. The sense information might to need to taking the critical decisions to emergency applications. So maintaining the connectivity of the network is of utmost importance. The efficient use of the available resources to the maximum extend is a necessity to prolong the network lifetime. Most of research the area of WSNs has concentrate on energy efficiency where the design of energy efficient routing protocols plays a major role. The triangulations rules were applied for 20, 50 and 100 nodes demonstration for WSNs integrated with co-operative communications.

Overview of Formulation of Triangulation Network Model Using Simulate Environment for Co-Operative Communication in WSN Using Matlab

Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) gained universal attention now a day owing to This innovative is sensing technology to incorporate an immense number sensor nodes or motes set up in an area of perceive any continuously are fluctuating physical to phenomena. These tiny sensor nodes sense and process the sensed data and transfer this information to a base station or sink via radio frequency (RF) channel. The small size of these sensors is an advantage as it can be easily embedded within any device or in any environment. This feature has attracted the use of WSNs in immense applications especially in monitoring and tracking; the most prominent being the surveillance applications. But this type of tiny sizes of sensors to nodes restricts to resourcing capabilities. Usually to WSNs are install to application area to the human intervention of quite risk and difficult. The sense information might to need to taking the critical decisions to emergency applications. So maintaining the connectivity of the network is of utmost importance. The efficient use of the available resources to the maximum extend is a necessity to prolong the network lifetime. Most of research the area of WSNs has concentrate on energy efficiency where the design of energy efficient routing protocols plays a major role. The triangulations rules were applied for 20, 50 and 100 nodes demonstration for WSNs integrated with co-operative communications.

Photonic crystal fiber supporting 394 orbital angular momentum modes with flat dispersion, low nonlinear coefficient, and high mode quality

A photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with an SSK2 dense crown glass ring is designed and analyzed. After optimization of the radius of the central air hole and thickness of the annular region, 394 orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes in the range of 1.48 to 1.62 μm can be transmitted stably. The effective refractive index, effective index difference, dispersion, effective mode area, nonlinear coefficient, numerical aperture (NA), mode quality, and confinement loss are analyzed numerically by the finite element method. The results show that the effective index difference of all the OAM modes is greater than 1 × 10 − 4 and they can propagate stably in the PCF. Besides, the fiber shows flat dispersion with a minimum variation of 8.55 ps / ( km · nm ) , very small nonlinear coefficient of less than 0.232 W − 1 · km − 1, as well as high mode quality bigger than 94.57%. This high-performance PCF has immense application potential in optical fiber communication.

A Gyroscope Nanogenerator with Frequency Up-Conversion Effect for Fitness and Energy Harvesting.

Converting the mechanical energy of human motion into electricity is considered an ideal energy supply solution for portable electronics. However, low-frequency human movement limits conversion efficiency of conventional energy harvesting devices, which is difficult to provide sustainable power for portable electronic devices. Herein, a fitness gyroscope nanogenerator (fg-NG) based on a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and electromagnetic generator (EMG) is developed that can convert low-frequency wrist motion into high-frequency rotation by using the frequency up-conversion effect of the gyroscope. Remarkably, the fg-NG can reach a rotational speed of over 8000rpm by hand, increasing the frequency by more than 280 times. The fg-NG can continuously and stably output a current of 17mA and a voltage of 70V at frequency of 220-230Hz. The fg-NG is demonstrated to consistently power a hygrothermograph, smart bracelet, and mobile phone. Also, it can be applicated to a self-powered intelligent training system, showing its immense application potential in portable electronics and wireless Internet of Things devices.

Employing Food and Industrial Microbiology to Accelerate Sustainable Development Goals

Microbes have been employed by humans since ancient times for brewing and fermenting purposes. The knowledge about the potential of microbes has increased tremendously over the past century, wherein it has acted as a savior of human populace by providing antibiotics and vaccines. Microbial biotechnology has expanded ever since and found immense application in the areas of food and industrial processes. Enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, organic acids, alcohols, genetically modified crops and single cell proteins are only few of the vast array of products that have been provided by microbes. Chemical production of these products is not only expensive, but also generates toxic waste by-products which are dumped into the environment. Due to excessive waste generation, pollution and unaccountability towards the environment, we are currently facing a crisis, because of which our renewable resources are endangered, and the environment is deteriorating. To address these issues, microbiologists have been conforming and contributing towards the development of environmentally safe, sustainable and economical production of energy and food alternatives, so that sustainable development goals can be achieved. This review highlights the developments in the field of food and industrial microbiology and their contribution to production of sustainable alternatives.

Hydrogen economy and storage by nanoporous microalgae diatom: Special emphasis on designing photobioreactors

Storing multiple energy forms from microalgae is not only facile but also lowers the cost of culturing the microalgae. Among many microalgae, diatoms are microscopic glass menageries which are responsible for converting stored lipids and biomass into hydrogen, besides fixing 25% of global CO2. Besides this their silica frustules are also nature's naturally available bionanomaterials which have immense applications in nanotechnology for hydrogen production and other energy storage. The diatom frustules get hybridized with various chemical and biological components to generate or store hydrogen in various fuel cells. In laboratory these live diatoms can be allowed to culture in various designed solar panel photobioreactors better known as diatom solar panels for high and low value-added products essentially biofuel and fucoxanthin. The present review thus discusses about possible scope and approaches to produce hydrogen from live diatom and as well as from its biomass in specially designed photobioreactors. This truly has economic aspects of hydrogen production from diatoms in comparison to other microalgae which needs to be explored for its wide applications due to its robustness and abundance occurrence.

“Effect of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles On Compressive strength and Flexural strength of Dental Composites Using Taguchi Method”

Abstract: Several composite materials are being used in biomedical and dental field with their immense applications to repair and transform various organs in human body. Recent advances suggest that Hydroxyapatite is one of the most reliable and widely used inorganic composite in dentistry. Desirable applications of Hydroxyapatite are achieved by utilizing variety of hydroxyapatite and their composites. This study was conducted to evaluate the compressive &amp; flexural strength. Cylindrical specimens (n=9) for compressive strength &amp; rectangular shaped specimens (n=9) for flexural strength were made according to manufacturer’s recommendations. Dental composite is using quartz, silica, and alumina glass as filler for a long time. Taguchi optimization technique keeps the experimentation within limit giving valid product in the calculating of compressive and flexural strength optimization. The goal of the work is to detect the best combination of composite materials. Keywords: Hydroxyapatite, Compressive Strength, Flexural Strength, Taguchi’s optimization method.

Design and Development of Unibody Quadcopter Structure Using Optimization and Additive Manufacturing Techniques

Quadcopters represent rotary wing configuration of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with immense application potential in industrial and strategic contexts. Tradeoff between flight endurance and payload capacity renders design optimization of UAVs a critical activity with substantial impact on the application possibilities. Among the structural parts of a typical Quadcopter, the central body frame constitutes major portion of the total weight. The present study aims at reduction of the frame weight while conforming with structural integrity requirements, through an integrated approach involving topology optimization, part consolidation and design for additive manufacturing (DFAM). Commercial UAV designs consist of multiple parts and fastening elements that necessitate considerable time and effort for assembly. This study reengineers the frame as a monocoque structure with desirable outcomes of weight reduction and less assembly time. The reengineered Quadcopter structure is manufactured through Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and characterized with reference to structural, vibrational and fatigue characteristics. Concomitant application of modal analysis, computational fluid dynamics and wind tunnel testing reveals close match between theoretical estimates and experimental results. Assembly and field trials of the monocoque Quadcopter structure affirm betterment of operational superiority and endurance vis-a-vis commercial UAV designs.

An insight into microscopy and analytical techniques for morphological, structural, chemical, and thermal characterization of cellulose.

Cellulose obtained from plants is a bio-polysaccharide and the most abundant organic polymer on earth that has immense household and industrial applications. Hence, the characterization of cellulose is important for determining its appropriate applications. In this article, we review the characterization of cellulose morphology, surface topography using microscopic techniques including optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Other physicochemical characteristics like crystallinity, chemical composition, and thermal properties are studied using techniques including X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis. This review may contribute to the development of using cellulose as a low-cost raw material with anticipated physicochemical properties. HIGHLIGHTS: Morphology and surface topography of cellulose structure is characterized using microscopy techniques including optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Analytical techniques used for physicochemical characterization of cellulose include X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis.