Influence of Helium-Neon Laser Irradiation on Seed Germination In Vitro and Physico-Biochemical Characters in Seedlings of Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) var. Mattu Gulla

In the present study, the seeds of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) var. Mattu Gulla were irradiated with single exposure of He–Ne laser at different doses of 5–40 J cm^?2 and germinated aseptically. Thirty day old seedlings were harvested and the germination, growth, physiological and biochemical parameters were estimated and compared with un‐irradiated control seedlings. A significant enhancement in growth characters were noted with respect to length, fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots. In addition, chlorophyll (a and b), carotenoid content, anthocyanin and amylases (α and β) activities were found to be altered. Significant alterations in percentage of seed germination (P < 0.001) and time to 50% germination (P < 0.001) were observed in the irradiated seeds compared with the un‐irradiated controls. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that low dose (5–30 J cm^?2) of He–Ne laser irradiation enhanced the germination process and altered growth, by positively influencing physiological and biochemical parameters of the brinjal seedlings compared with un‐irradiated control under in vitro conditions.     

Sulfated titania catalyzed water mediated efficient synthesis of dicoumarols—a green approach

An efficient, mild, and environmental friendly method has been developed for the synthesis of dicoumarols in water over Lewis and Bronsted acid catalyst sulfated titania (TiO₂/SO₄²⁻). The method involves the condensation of various aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes with 4-hydroxycoumarin. It affords the corresponding product in high yield with short reaction times employing a very low loading of catalyst. The catalyst was reused several times without significant change in activity.     

Transverse Relaxation of Scalar Coupled Protons in Magnetic Resonance of Non-Deuterated Proteins

The transverse relaxation rates R ₂ = 1/T ₂ of protons can be determined by spin-echo sequences with multiple refocusing pulses using moderate radio-frequency field strengths and properly chosen inter-pulse delays so as to suppress echo modulations due to homonuclear scalar couplings. Combination with 2D heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy (HSQC) allows one to measure R ₂ of arbitrary protons attached to nitrogen-15 or carbon-13 nuclei. Decays of six amide protons in the protein Ubiquitin that is nitrogen-15 enriched (but not deuterated) were measured at different temperatures.     

On the Sobolev boundedness results of the product of pseudo-differential operators involving a couple of fractional Hankel transforms

This article is concerned with the study of pseudo-differential operators associated with fractional Hankel transform. The product of two fractional pseudo-differential operators is defined and investigated its basic properties on some function space. It is shown that the pseudo-differential operators and their products are bounded in Sobolev type spaces. Particular cases are discussed.     

Nuclear structure calculations using momentum-dependent delta interactions (MDD)

The ground-state properties of a nucleus have been investigated using momentum- and density-dependent δ-interactions. Unlike the Skyrme type of interaction, the two-body interaction used has terms dependent on the fourth power of the relative momenta. The role of these new terms has been investigated by using the density-matrix expansion technique of Negele and Vautherin. The interaction has been used to calculate, amongst other phenomena, the ion-ion interaction potential and the nucleon-nucleus optical potential. The improvements obtained using such an interaction over the Skyrme II type of interactions (which have small odd state components) are discussed in detail. It is shown that the effective mass, $\text{m}{}^1$, is larger in magnitude than obtained by using the Skyrme II type of interaction. It has been suggested that such interactions could be more appropriate than the Skyrme type of interactions in physical situations where large momentum transfers are involved.     

Inversion and structure formulae for a generalized Laplace transform

, D_v(.) , .     

The layer disorders defect in coir fiber under thermal and chemical treatment

Natural coir fibers, subjectd to thermal treatments in the range of 0°C to 200°C and alkali treatment with 5% to 30% concentration w/w, have been used in the present investigation to determine the interlayer variability of the cellulose planes (020), (110) and (1$ \bar 1 $ \bar 1 0). Among the equatorial reflections (110), (1$ \bar 1 $ \bar 1 0) and (020), the extent of variability is found to be more with the proportion of such affected planes less for (020) reflection in the native cellulose at lower temperature while at higher temperature (110) and (1$ \bar 1 $ \bar 1 0) become more affected by variability defect. (110) and (1$ \bar 1 $ \bar 1 0) planes are more affected also with alkali treatment.     

Thermal and oxidative stability assessment of synergistic blends of sunflower and sesame oils tailored for nutritionally stable composition of omega fatty acids

The thermal stability of ω-6 fatty acid-rich oils is a bewildering problem. The synergistic blends of sunflower (SO) (50–80%) and sesame oil (SEO) (20–50%) were optimized for improved thermal stability, better retention of antioxidants, and balanced ratio of ω-fatty acids (ω-6 and 9). The oil blends were thermally oxidized by Rancimat (temperature 100, 110, 120, and 130 °C; airflow rate 20 L h⁻¹) for estimating the induction period (IP) and kinetic rate constant (k) of lipid oxidation. The oils were exhaustively characterized for thermal stability by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry. The temperature-dependent kinetics of lipid oxidation was described using Arrhenius equation (lnk vs. 1/T) and activated complex theory (lnk/T vs. 1/T). The calculated kinetic parameters, viz. activation energies, activation enthalpies, and entropies varied from 90.80 to 99.17, 87.58 to 95.94, − 33.28 to − 4.78 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹, respectively (R²> 0.90, p < 0.05). The optimized blend (OB) consisted of 50.8 and 49.2% of SO and SEO, respectively, and showed the highest synergism (115%) and IP (100 °C) than SO (13.2 vs. 6.1 h). This could be attributed to lignans (6304 vs. 5289 mg kg⁻¹)-induced thermal stability and effective retention of tocopherols (270 vs. 197 mg kg⁻¹). OB possesses balanced composition of ω-fatty acids (ω-9, 34.5 vs. 28.7%; ω-6, 49 vs. 52%) and superior thermal stability (onset temperature, 387 vs. 212 °C; oil induction time, 21.6 vs. 15.7 min) than SO. It could be recommended over SO for culinary applications while ensuing thermal stability and nutritional benefits.

     

Ultrafast Relaxation Processes of Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles in the Presence of Au Nanoparticles

Considering the importance of conjugated polymer nanoparticles, major emphasis has been given for designing and understanding the energy transfer and charge transfer processes of organic‐inorganic hybrids for light harvesting applications. In the present study, we have designed an aqueous solution‐based light harvesting system using conjugated polymer nanoparticles (poly[2‐methoxy‐5‐(2‐ethylhexyloxy)‐1,4‐phenylenevinylene], MEH‐PPV) and Au nanoparticles. The change in photo‐induced processes in the presence of metal nanoparticles are studied by steady‐state absorption, time‐resolved emission, time‐resolved fluorescence up‐conversion, ultrafast anisotropy and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Global and target analysis of transient absorption data validate the creation of a collective delocalized state in polymer nanoparticles, and the time scale for excitation energy funnelling from S₁ state to low lying collective delocalized state (CL_s) is 18 ps. Then, the electron transfer from the CL_s state to Au NP occurs with a time constant of 150 ps. The 815 ps long lived charge transfer (CT) state signifies the charge transfer from the CL_s state of polymer nanoparticles to Au NP. Such basic understanding of relaxation processes in hybrid systems is very important for designing inorganic‐organic hybrid light‐harvesting systems.     

Flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting third grade fluid past an infinite plate with partial slip

The effects of partial slip on the steady flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting, incompressible, third grade fluid past a horizontal plate subject to uniform suction and blowing is investigated. Two distinct heat transfer problems are studied. In the first case, the plate is assumed to be at a higher temperature than the fluid; and in the second case, the plate is assumed to be insulated. The momentum equation is characterized by a highly nonlinear boundary value problem in which the order of the differential equation exceeds the number of available boundary conditions. Numerical solutions for the governing nonlinear equations are obtained over the entire range of physical parameters. The effects of slip, magnetic parameter, non-Newtonian fluid characteristics on the velocity and temperature fields are discussed in detail and shown graphically. It is interesting to find that the velocity and the thermal boundary layers decrease with an increase in the slip, and as the slip increases to infinity, the flow behaves as though it were inviscid.