Modeling the role of government efforts in controlling extremism in a society

People having extreme idealogies affect the process in a region using fear of terror acts, money power, and the word of mouth communication network to change individuals to their way of thinking. This forces government to divert its limited financial resources for controlling extremism and thus affecting development. In this paper, therefore, a nonlinear mathematical model is proposed to study the dynamics of extremism governed by four dependent variables, namely, number of people in the general population having no extreme ideology, number of extreme ideologists, number of isolated ideologists (prisoners), and the cumulative density of government efforts and their interactions. The model is analyzed using the stability theory of differential equations and computer simulation. The analysis shows that if appropriate level of government efforts is applied on extremists, the spread of their ideology can be controlled in the general population. A numerical study of the model is also carried out to investigate the effects of certain parameters on the spread of extremism confirming the analytical results.Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and thermal evaluation of novel mono- and bis-adamantylated resorcinol-based phthalonitrile resins with enhanced solubility

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Phthalonitrile (PN) resins are high-temperature-resistant thermosetting polymers which find applications in military as well as aerospace owing to...     

Structural characterization of anthracene-picric acid eutectic system

The eutectic composition has been derived from phasediagram studies and the nature of eutectics has been established by thermal and spectral studies. Diffraction studies reveal the establishment of preferential ordering and the crystalline character of eutectics.     

Biofortification—A Frontier Novel Approach to Enrich Micronutrients in Field Crops to Encounter the Nutritional Security

Globally, many developing countries are facing silent epidemics of nutritional deficiencies in human beings and animals. The lack of diversity in diet, i.e., cereal-based crops deficient in mineral nutrients is an additional threat to nutritional quality. The present review accounts for the significance of biofortification as a process to enhance the productivity of crops and also an agricultural solution to address the issues of nutritional security. In this endeavor, different innovative and specific biofortification approaches have been discussed for nutrient enrichment of field crops including cereals, pulses, oilseeds and fodder crops. The agronomic approach increases the micronutrient density in crops with soil and foliar application of fertilizers including amendments. The biofortification through conventional breeding approach includes the selection of efficient genotypes, practicing crossing of plants with desirable nutritional traits without sacrificing agricultural and economic productivity. However, the transgenic/biotechnological approach involves the synthesis of transgenes for micronutrient re-translocation between tissues to enhance their bioavailability. Soil microorganisms enhance nutrient content in the rhizosphere through diverse mechanisms such as synthesis, mobilization, transformations and siderophore production which accumulate more minerals in plants. Different sources of micronutrients viz. mineral solutions, chelates and nanoparticles play a pivotal role in the process of biofortification as it regulates the absorption rates and mechanisms in plants. Apart from the quality parameters, biofortification also improved the crop yield to alleviate hidden hunger thus proving to be a sustainable and cost-effective approach. Thus, this review article conveys a message for researchers about the adequate potential of biofortification to increase crop productivity and nourish the crop with additional nutrient content to provide food security and nutritional quality to humans and livestock.     

Combinational Chemotherapy and Photothermal Therapy Using a Gold Nanorod Platform for Cancer Treatment

Multimodal approaches combined with various nanomaterials and advanced techniques have been developed for synergistic cancer treatment. Among various therapies, conventional chemotherapy (CHT) is a direct cancer treatment that can produce unintended side effects due to nonspecific action on both the tumor and normal cells; patient-friendly photothermal therapy (PTT) may be able to treat embedded tumors in vital regions with minimal invasion but does not guarantee complete removal of cancers. However, the combination of CHT-PTT may provide a promising tool for direct cancer treatment with minimal side effects. In this regard, nanostructured materials, such as gold nanorods with tuned size and surface characteristics, are key components designed to enhance the heating capacity and active or passive delivery of drugs to the tumor site. In this review, the pioneering work synergizing CHT and PTT is summarized, and the current state-of-the-art in the development of inorganic and organic nanocomposites for combinational therapy is described.     

Design and synthesis of highly stable poly(tetrafluoroethylene)-zirconium phosphate (PTFE-ZrP) ion-exchange membrane for vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB)

Vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is a promising technology for large-scale renewable energy storage. Design of ion-exchange membrane (IEM) with desired properties like low-cost, mechanically chemically stable, low vanadium ion permeability and high proton conductivity is one of the major challenges. Here, we report the design and synthesis of novel poly(tetrafluoroethylene)-zirconium phosphate (PTFE-ZrP) asymmetric IEM using a simple brush coating method. XRD results confirmed the presence of α-ZrP crystalline phase onto the top layer of the membrane. Excellent mechanical strength was observed with burst pressure of 3.22 × 10⁵ N m^?2. Oxidative stability of membrane in Fenton’s reagent was much better than Nafion-115. Vanadium ion (V⁴⁺) permeability of the membrane was more than three times lower than that of Nafion-115. Single-cell VRFB with PTFE-ZrP membrane showed ～80% energy efficiency below 30 mA cm^?2. Very high columbic efficiency ～100% of VRFB with PTFE-ZrP membrane confirmed little contamination of electrolyte due to cross-mixing.     

Photoluminescence properties of Gd:ZnO nano phosphor

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - Gd (0.1, 0.5, 1.0?mol%) doped ZnO nano phosphor, prepared by wet chemical method followed by sintering in air at 700?°C, was...     

A novel confocal optical pulse stretcher for laser pulses

We present an analytical and experimental study of a novel confocal optical pulse stretcher (COPS). The simple and passive pulse stretcher consists of two concave mirrors and a scraper beam-splitter and its optical configuration ensures a perfect spatial overlapping of laser pulses at the beam-splitter. The pulse stretcher is compact and suitable for laser pulses of large divergences. The confocal optical pulse stretcher is demonstrated on a pulsed copper vapour laser to convert a 40 ns (1/e² % points) pulse into a 55 ns with reduction of peak power by a factor of 1.375 without loss of pulse energy.