Blue Light-Induced Coupling of N-Hydroxy Sulfonamides: An Efficient and Green Approach to Symmetrical Thiosulfonates

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - A highly efficient green protocol has been proposed for the synthesis of symmetrical S-aryl arenesulfonothioates by irradiation of N-hydroxy arenesulfonamides...     

New Insights on Modern Age Coins by Calibration-Free Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Method and Chemometric Approaches

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy - The elemental composition of one- and two-rupee coins issued in different years by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was investigated using laser-induced breakdown...     

Computational Design of Novel Allosteric Inhibitors for Plasmodium falciparum DegP

The serine protease, DegP exhibits proteolytic and chaperone activities, essential for cellular protein quality control and normal cell development in eukaryotes. The P. falciparum DegP is essential for the parasite survival and required to combat the oscillating thermal stress conditions during the infection, protein quality checks and protein homeostasis in the extra-cytoplasmic compartments, thereby establishing it as a potential target for drug development against malaria. Previous studies have shown that diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) and the peptide SPMFKGV inhibit E. coli DegP protease activity. To identify novel potential inhibitors specific to PfDegP allosteric and the catalytic binding sites, we performed a high throughput in silico screening using Malaria Box, Pathogen Box, Maybridge library, ChEMBL library and the library of FDA approved compounds. The screening helped identify five best binders that showed high affinity to PfDegP allosteric (T0873, T2823, T2801, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, CD00811) and the catalytic binding site (T0078L, T1524, T2328, BTB11534 and 552691). Further, molecular dynamics simulation analysis revealed {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, BTB11534 as the best hits forming a stable complex. WaterMap and electrostatic complementarity were used to evaluate the novel bio-isosteric chemotypes of {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, that led to the identification of 231 chemotypes that exhibited better binding affinity. Further analysis of the top 5 chemotypes, based on better binding affinity, revealed that the addition of electron donors like nitrogen and sulphur to the side chains of butanoate group are more favoured than the backbone of butanoate group. In a nutshell, the present study helps identify novel, potent and Plasmodium specific inhibitors, using high throughput in silico screening and bio-isosteric replacement, which may be experimentally validated.     

Estimation of growth rate in unidirectionally solidified multicrystalline silicon by the growth-induced striation method

Multicrystalline silicon was grown by unidirectional solidification method using the accelerated crucible rotation technique. The application of the accelerated crucible rotation technique in unidirectional solidification method induced growth striations across the axial direction of the grown crystal. This striation pattern was observed from carbon concentration distribution, obtained by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The generated striation pattern was found to be weak and discontinuous. Some striations were absent, probably due to back melting, caused during each crucible rotation. From the growth striations and applied time period in crucible rotation, the growth rate was estimated by using Fourier transformation analysis.     

Investigating laser rapid manufacturing for Inconel-625 components

This paper presents an investigation of laser rapid manufacturing (LRM) for Inconel-625 components. LRM is an upcoming rapid manufacturing technology, it is similar to laser cladding at process level with different end applications. In general, laser-cladding technique is used to deposit materials on the substrate either to improve the surface properties or to refurbish the worn out parts, while LRM is capable of near-net shaping the components by layer-by-layer deposition of the material directly from CAD model. In the present study, a high-power continuous wave (CW) CO₂ laser system, integrated with a co-axial powder-feeding system and a three-axis workstation were used. The effect of processing parameters during LRM of Inconel-625 was studied and the optimum set of parameters for the maximum deposition rate was established employing Orthogonal L9 array of Taguchi technique. Results indicated that the powder feed rate and the scan speed contributed about 56% and 26%, respectively to the deposition rate, while the influence of laser power was limited to 10% only. Fabricated components were subjected to non-destructive testing (like—ultrasonic testing, dye-penetrant testing), tensile testing, impact testing, metallographic examinations and micro-hardness measurement. The test results revealed defect-free material deposition with improved mechanical strength without sacrificing the ductility.     

N = 4 Supersymmetric (Dyonic) Hypermultiplets in String Theory

In four-dimensional N = 4 supersymmetric gauge theory, we obtain an exact metric on the moduli space of quantum vacua and analyze the spectra of BPS states in weak as well as in strong coupling regions. Identifying the hypermultiplet of the dyonic state as a string stretched between D₃-brane probe and a 7-brane, we demonstrate that the two hypermultiplets, which become massless at two singularities in supersymmetric theory, correspond to open strings beginning on the D₃-brane and ending on the respective 7-brane.     

L-shell/subshell ionization of Au,Pb and Bi by low energy proton impact

Proton induced X-ray emission has been used to measureL-subshell and total ionization cross-sections of Au, Pb and Bi in the energy range of 200–350 keV. The ionization cross-sections have been extracted using the X-ray spectra and other quantities like fluorescence yields, transition probabilities, relative widths and Coster-Krönig fraction etc. involved in the process. The results have been compared with the cross-sections measured before and discussed in the light of known theories regarding the ion-atom collisions.     

Evaluation of the drag force by integrating the energy dissipation rate in stokes flow for 2D domains using the FEM

The total drag force on the surface of a body, which is the sum of the form drag and the skin friction drag in a 2D domain, is numerically evaluated by integrating the energy dissipation rate in the whole domain for an incompressible Stokes fluid. The finite element method is used to calculate both the energy dissipation rate in the whole domain as well as the drag on the boundary of the body. The evaluation of the drag and the energy dissipation rate are post-processing operations which are carried out after the velocity field and the pressure field for the flow over a particular profile have been obtained. The results obtained for the flow over three different but constant area profiles—a circle, an ellipse and a cross-section of a prolate spheroid—with uniform inlet velocity are presented and it is shown that the total drag force times the velocity is equal to the total energy dissipation rate in the entire finite flow domain. Hence, by calculating the energy dissipation rate in the domain with unit velocity specified at the far-field boundary enclosing the domain, the drag force on the boundary of the body can be obtained.