Surface plasmon resonance based fiber optic sensor utilizing indium oxide

A highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based fiber optic sensor with indium oxide (In₂O₃) layer coated on the core of the optical fiber is presented and theoretically analyzed. The sensitivity of the SPR based fiber optic sensor has been evaluated numerically. It is shown that the proposed SPR based fiber optic sensor with In₂O₃ layer possesses high sensitivity in the near infrared region of spectrum, which needs attention to many environmental and security applications and offers more accurate and highly reproducible measurements. In addition, the sensitivity of the SPR based fiber optic sensor decreases with the increase in the thickness of In₂O₃ layer. With sensitivity as high as 4600 nm/RIU, the 170 nm thick In₂O₃ layer based fiber optic SPR sensor demonstrates better performance.     

Transient analysis of diffusive chemical reactive species for couple stress fluid flow over vertical cylinder

The unsteady natural convective couple stress fluid flow over a semi-infinite vertical cylinder is analyzed for the homogeneous first-order chemical reaction effect. The couple stress fluid flow model introduces the length dependent effect based on the material constant and dynamic viscosity. Also, it introduces the biharmonic operator in the Navier-Stokes equations, which is absent in the case of Newtonian fluids. The solution to the time-dependent non-linear and coupled governing equations is carried out with an unconditionally stable Crank-Nicolson type of numerical schemes. Numerical results for the transient flow variables, the average wall shear stress, the Nusselt number, and the Sherwood number are shown graphically for both generative and destructive reactions. The time to reach the temporal maximum increases as the reaction constant K increases. The average values of the wall shear stress and the heat transfer rate decrease as K increases, while increase with the increase in the Sherwood number.     

n-Dimensional array languages and description of crystal Symmetry—II

In this paper the array models are generalized ton-dimensions and these are seen to preserve a natural hierarchy among different families corresponding to a partial ordering induced inn-tuples of integers. Then-dimensional array models are closed under union, concatenation (in all directions), Kleene closure (in all directions) and ε-free general homo-morphlsm. Symmetry operations such as translation, reflection about co-ordinate planes, rotation through angles π/2 and π about the co-ordinate axes, inversion about the origin and conjugation are examined. Three-dimensional matrix models are used to generate space groups of three-dimensional crystallography. Certain regular solids such as the cube, the tetrahedron, the octohedron, prisms and pyramids are generated using the array models to describe the growth of crystals.     

An electrostatic charge state selector for ion-atom collisions: Design, spectral line-shapes and performance

An electrostatic charge state selector has been constructed for charge transfer studies in ion atom collisions. Its design and performance have been discussed illustrating with examples of some data taken using heavy ion beams from the pelletron accelerator. Expressions for the determination of charge state fractions from the observed charge spectrum in voltage scanning mode of operation and also the line shapes have been discussed analytically in detail.     

Radiation stability of some thermally stable inorganic ion exchangers

Effect of various doses of gamma radiation on the ion-exchange capacity, distribution coefficient values, elution behaviour, pH titration and infrared spectra of some thermally stable inorganic ion exchangers has been studied systematically. No change has been observed in the ion-exchange capacity, elution behaviour and the infrared spectra of the materials irradiated up to a total dose of 3·10⁸ rad, while, a change has been observed in their pH-titration and distribution behaviour.     

Cyclic Peptides for the Treatment of Cancers: A Review

Cyclic peptides have been widely reported to have therapeutic abilities in the treatment of cancer. This has been proven through in vitro and in vivo studies against breast, lung, liver, colon, and prostate cancers, among others. The multitude of data available in the literature supports the potential of cyclic peptides as anticancer agents. This review summarizes the findings from previously reported studies and discusses the different cyclic peptide compounds, the sources, and their modes of action as anticancer agents. The prospects and future of cyclic peptides will also be described to give an overview on the direction of cyclic peptide development for clinical applications.     

In Silico Molecular Docking Analysis of Karanjin against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases as a Potential Natural Lead Molecule for New Drug Design,Development and Therapy

Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are neurodegenerative disorders that have emerged as among the serious health problems of the 21st century. The medications currently available to treat AD and PD have limited efficacy and are associated with side effects. Natural products are one of the most vital and conservative sources of medicines for treating neurological problems. Karanjin is a furanoflavonoid, isolated mainly from Pongamia pinnata with several medicinal plants, and has been reported for numerous health benefits. However, the effect of karanjin on AD and PD has not yet been systematically investigated. To evaluate the neuroprotective effect of karanjin, extensive in silico studies starting with molecular docking against five putative targets for AD and four targets for PD were conducted. The findings were compared with three standard drugs using Auto Dock 4.1 and Molegro Virtual Docker software. Additionally, the physiochemical properties (Lipinski rule of five), drug-likeness and parameters including absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and toxicity (ADMET) profiles of karanjin were also studied. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed with two selective karanjin docking complexes to analyze the dynamic behaviors and binding free energy at 100 ns time scale. In addition, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) and density-functional theory (DFT) were also investigated from computational quantum mechanism perspectives using the Avogadro-ORCA 1.2.0 platform. Karanjin complies with all five of Lipinski’s drug-likeness rules with suitable ADMET profiles for therapeutic use. The docking scores (kcal/mol) showed comparatively higher potency against AD and PD associated targets than currently used standard drugs. Overall, the potential binding affinity from molecular docking, static thermodynamics feature from MD-simulation and other multiparametric drug-ability profiles suggest that karanjin could be considered as a suitable therapeutic lead for AD and PD treatment. Furthermore, the present results were strongly correlated with the earlier study on karanjin in an Alzheimer’s animal model. However, necessary in vivo studies, clinical trials, bioavailability, permeability and safe dose administration, etc. must be required to use karanjin as a potential drug against AD and PD treatment, where the in silico results are more helpful to accelerate the drug development.     

Mass Spectra of Heavy and Light Mesons Using Asymptotic Iteration Method

The non-relativistic radial Schr¨odinger equation is analytically solved using asymptotic iteration method within the framework of a general interaction potential whose special cases are the Cornell and Cornell plus harmonic potentials. The energy eigenvalues expression is derived in three dimensional space, which is further used to calculate the mass spectra of ˉcc,ˉbb,ˉbc, cˉs, bˉs and b ˉq mesons. The obtained results of this work are in good agreement with experimental and other relativistic results and also improved in comparison with other non-relativistic recent studies.