Silk‐Pectin Hydrogel with Superior Mechanical Properties,Biodegradability, and Biocompatibility

A new method is developed to prepare silk hydrogels and silk‐pectin hydrogels via dialysis against methanol to obtain hydrogels with high concentrations of silk fibroin. The relationship between the mechanical and biological properties and the structure of the silk‐pectin hydrogels is subsequently evaluated. The present results suggest that pectin associates with silk molecules when the silk concentration exceeds 15 wt%, suggesting that a silk concentration of over 15 wt% is critical to construct interacting silk‐pectin networks. The silk‐pectin hydrogel reported here is composed of a heterogeneous network, which is different from fiber‐reinforced, interpenetrated networks and double‐network hydrogels, as well as high‐stiffness hydrogels (elastic modulus of 4.7 ± 0.9 MPa, elastic stress limit of 3.9 ± 0.1 MPa, and elastic strain limit of 48.4 ± 0.5%) with regard to biocompatibility and biodegradability.     

A detailed insight into the optimization of plate and frame heat exchanger design by comparing old and new generation metaheuristics algorithms

The voluminous utilization and application of plate and frame heat exchangers (PFHE) in many industries has accelerated the consumer and designer both to optimize exchanger total cost. Over the last few years, several old and new generation algorithms were employed and exploited to optimize PFHE cost. This study explores the application and performance of three new-generation algorithms Big Bang-Big Crunch (BBBC), Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), and Water Evaporation Optimization (WEO) in designing optimally PFHE. Besides, this study also compares the performance of three well-established old generations algorithms namely genetic algorithm (genetics and natural selection), particle swarm optimization (animals behaviour), and differential evolution (population-based) with the above three new algorithms in the optimization of PFHE.Seven design factors are chosen for PFHE optimization: exchanger length on hot and cold sides, height and thickness of fin, length of the fin-strip, fin frequency, and the number of hot side layers. The applicability of the suggested algorithms is assessed using a case study based on published research. Though DE performs the best in this study of design optimization concerning total cost and computational time, the three new-generation meta-heuristic algorithms BBBC, GWO, and WEO also provide the novel scope of application in heat exchanger design optimization and successfully finding the cost of the heat exchanger. According to this study, capital costs increase by 19.5% for BBBC, 24% for GWO, and 7.6% for GWO, but operational costs fall by 9.5% for BBBC and GWO when compared to the best performing algorithm (DE). On the other hand, WEO shows an increase of 32.6% in operational costs. Aside from that, a full analysis of the computing time for each algorithm is also provided. The DE has the quickest run time of 0.09 ?s, while the PSO takes the longest at 33.97 ?s. The rest of the algorithms have nearly identical values. As a result, a good comparison is established in this study, offering an excellent platform for designers and customers to make selections. Additionally, the three new generations algorithms mentioned here were not used earlier for optimization of PFHE and the comparative study illustrates that each of them possesses eat potential for cost optimization and also solving other complex problems.     

Thermal performance of stable SiO2 nanofluids and regression correlations to estimate their thermophysical properties

The present work investigates the best mix ratio of Glycerol in Water as a medium to prepare a stable nanofluid. Increasing the proportion of glycerol enhances the aqueous mix's dynamic viscosity and improves the prepared nanofluid's stability. The thermal conductivity and viscosity of the Glycerol and Water mixtures determination were undertaken at various Glycerol ratios. The best percentage of glycerol in the mixture is found to have the least amount of thermal conductivity loss and the optimum viscosity gain. Silica (SiO₂) nanofluid of 0.25%, 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% weight concentrations was prepared with this optimal mixture of Glycerol and Water. The stability of these SiO₂ nanofluids is evaluated by determining the zeta potential at different time intervals. The nanofluids prepared were observed to be stable for one month. The thermal conductivity and viscosity of the nanofluids are measured between the temperature limits of 30°–70°C. A peak increment of 32.1%and 46.3% in thermal conductivity and viscosity is observed. Furthermore, when the percentage enhancement ratio (PER) and Mouromtseff ratio of these nanofluids is examined, it is observed that they have more excellent thermal performance at higher temperatures. Regression correlations are developed to estimate the thermal conductivity and viscosity of the prepared nanofluids with a maximum deviation of 9%.     

Determination of soil porosity by a simple and novel technique of fusing thoron diffusion experiment and modeling

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - In this study, the thoron diffusion characteristic in soil is used as a tool to measure the porosity of the soil. The feasibility is demonstrated...     

Atomistic De-novo Inhibitor Generation-Guided Drug Repurposing for SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein with Free-Energy Validation by Well-Tempered Metadynamics

Computational drug design is increasingly becoming important with new and unforeseen diseases like COVID-19. In this study, we present a new computational de novo drug design and repurposing method and applied it to find plausible drug candidates for the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Our study comprises three steps: atom-by-atom generation of new molecules around a receptor, structural similarity mapping to existing approved and investigational drugs, and validation of their binding strengths to the viral spike proteins based on rigorous all-atom, explicit-water well-tempered metadynamics free energy calculations. By choosing the receptor binding domain of the viral spike protein, we showed that some of our new molecules and some of the repurposable drugs have stronger binding to RBD than hACE2. To validate our approach, we also calculated the free energy of hACE2 and RBD, and found it to be in an excellent agreement with experiments. These pool of drugs will allow strategic repurposing against COVID-19 for a particular prevailing conditions.     

Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy on Au nanoparticles assembled using lauryl amine (LAM) and octadecane thiol (ODT)

In this report, we demonstrate scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy on thin films of lauryl amine (LAM) and octadecane thiol (ODT) protected gold nanoparticles. We show that the zero current in the I-V curves (measure of Coulomb blockade (CB) of the nanoparticles) depends on the properties of the spacer molecule. In both the cases the gap voltage and the tunneling current at which the images are obtained are quite different which is further confirmed from the fitting performed based on the orthodox theory. The values for the capacitance and charging energy obtained from the fitting for ODT capped particles are comparable to the values obtained using spherical capacitor model. In contrast, values of these parameters were found to differ for LAM capped nanoparticles. While imaging, ODT capped nanoparticles were observed to drag along the scan direction leading to ordering of particles. Images of LAM capped gold nanoparticles show local ordering in self-assembly of particles although no evidence of large scale ordering in spatial Fourier transform was seen. These observations suggest that nanoparticles with larger CB would be imaged nonevasively in contrast to small CB systems for which tip induced effects will be dominant. In both the systems the current was found to rise faster than theoretical curves based on the orthodox theory suggesting that mechanism of charge transfer in this case may involve field emission rather than tunneling through a rectangular barrier. An attempt has been made to explain charge transfer based on Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) plots of the I-V curves.     

Synthesis of N-substituted-2-aminobenzothiazoles using nano copper oxide as a recyclable catalyst under ligand-free conditions in reusable PEG-400 medium

A simple and practical method for the synthesis of N-substituted-2-aminobenzothiazoles via a crosscoupling reaction of 2-iodo anilines with isothiocyanates is envisaged using nano copper oxide as a recyclable catalyst and Cs2CO3as a base in PEG-400,as a bio-degradable,reusable,inexpensive and nontoxic reaction medium,under ligand-free conditions.The present tandem process underlines environmental acceptability to access a wide range of N-substituted-2-aminobenzothiazoles in good to excellent yields.     

Synthesis of spirooxindolocarbamates based on Betti reaction: antibacterial,antifungal and antioxidant activities

Molecular Diversity - A series of new spirooxindolocarbamates 4a–l and 6a–d were synthesized by using the Betti reaction. All the target compounds were well characterized by IR, NMR and...