Decolorization of textile dye effluent by genetically improved bacterial strains

Synthetic dyes are released into the environment from textile industrial effluents. The discharge of this colored wastewater into rivers and lakes leads to a reduction in sunlight penetration in natural water bodies, which, in turn, decreases both photosynthetic activity and dissolved oxygen concentration and is toxic to living beings. Bacterial isolates are optimized for growth and biomass production before using them for decolorizing dye effluent. The bacterial isolates Bacillus sp. 1 and Bacillus sp. 2 were employed at different percentages by volume with standard nutrient concentration. Of these bacterial isolates Bacillus sp. 2 recorded maximum color reduction. The pH and electrical conductivity (EC) were reduced in the decolorized effluent, and a reduction in biologic oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, and total dissolved solids (TDS) were also observed.     

Pressure and volume dependence of thelo-to phonons in InAs

The pressure dependence of thelo-to phonons in InAs has been investigated by Raman scattering using the diamond anvil cell. Indium arsenide transforms, presumably to the rock-salt structure at 70±1 kbar. The mode Grüneisen parameters for thelo-to phonons are γ _lo =0.99±0.03, γ _to =1.2±0.03 respectively. The effective charge,e* _T , for InAs decreases slightly with pressure and this trend is in accordance with the behaviour of other III–V zinc blende structured semiconductors: The structural phase transition is discussed in the light of theoretical calculations for phase stability of III–V compounds, as well as recent high pressure x-ray diffraction studies.     

Study of MILD combustion using LES and advanced analysis tools

A cylindrical confined combustor operating under MILD condition is investigated using LES. The combustion and its interaction with turbulence are modeled using two reactor based models, PaSR and EDC. Results show that the Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR) model yields improved estimation for mean temperature and species mole fractions compared to Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC). LES data are analysed using advanced post-processing methods such as the chemical Tangential Stretching Rate (TSR), balance analysis and local Principle Component (PCA) analysis. TSR can identify chemical explosive (ignition-like) and contractive (burnt) regions. With the balance analysis of the convective, diffusive and reactive terms in temperature equation, regions with substantial heat release coming from ignition or flame are identified. The local PCA analysis classifies the whole domain into clusters (regions with specific features) and provides the leading species in each cluster. The three analyses correlate well with one another and it is observed that the most chemically active region locates upstream (in the near-field). Also, both autoignition and flame-like structures play equally important roles in MILD combustion.     

Energy relaxation method for chemical non‐equilibrium flow computations

In this paper, an algorithm for chemical non‐equilibrium hypersonic flow is developed based on the concept of energy relaxation method (ERM). The new system of equations obtained are studied using finite volume method with Harten–Lax–van Leer scheme for contact (HLLC). The original HLLC method is modified here to account for additional species and split energy equations. Higher order spatial accuracy is achieved using MUSCL reconstruction of the flow variables with van Albada limiter. The thermal equilibrium is considered for the analysis and the species data are generated using polynomial correlations. The single temperature model of Dunn and Kang is used for chemical relaxation. The computed results for a flow field over a hemispherical cylinder at Mach number of 16.34 obtained using the present solver are found to be promising and computationally (25%) more efficient. The present solver captures physically correct solution as the entropy conditions are satisfied automatically during the computations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrochemical evidence for asialoglycoprotein receptor – mediated hepatocyte adhesion and proliferation in three dimensional tissue engineering scaffolds

Asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) is one of the recognition motifs on the surface of hepatocytes, which promote their adhesion to extracellular matrix in liver tissue and appropriate artificial surfaces. ASGPR-mediated adhesion is expected to minimize trans-differentiation of hepatocytes in vitro that is generally observed in integrin-mediated adhesion. The aim of the present study is to verify the role of ASGPR in hepatocyte adhesion and proliferation in scaffolds for hepatic tissue engineering. Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM) is emerging as a suitable non-invasive analytical tool due to its high sensitivity and capability to correlate the morphology and activity of live cells. HepG2 cells and rat primary hepatocytes cultured in Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/Gelatin hydrogel scaffolds with and without galactose (a ligand for ASGPR) modification are studied using SECM. Systematic investigation of live cells cultured for different durations in scaffolds of different compositions (9:1 and 8:2 PVA:Gelatin with and without galactose) reveals significant improvement in cell–cell communication and proliferation on galactose incorporated scaffolds, thereby demonstrating the positive influence of ASGPR-mediated adhesion. In this work, we have also developed a methodology to quantify the respiratory activity and intracellular redox activity of live cells cultured in porous tissue engineering scaffolds. Using this methodology, SECM results are compared with routine cell culture assays viz., MTS ((1-Oxyl-2,2,5,5,-tetramethyl-Δ3-pyrroline-3-methyl) Methanethiosulfonate) and Albumin assays to demonstrate the better sensitivity of SECM. In addition, the present study demonstrates SECM as a reliable and sensitive tool to monitor the activity of live cells cultured in scaffolds for tissue engineering, which could be used on a routine basis.     

Detection of cancerous cervical cells using physical adhesion of fluorescent silica particles and centripetal force

Here we describe a non-traditional method to identify cancerous human cervical epithelial cells in a culture dish based on physical adhesion between silica beads and cells. It is a simple optical fluorescence-based technique which detects the relative difference in the amount of fluorescent silica beads physically adherent to surfaces of cancerous and normal cervical cells. The method utilizes the centripetal force gradient that occurs in a rotating culture dish. Due to the variation in the balance between adhesion and centripetal forces, cancerous and normal cells demonstrate clearly distinctive distributions of the fluorescent particles adherent to the cell surface over the culture dish. The method demonstrates higher adhesion of silica particles to normal cells compared to cancerous cells. The difference in adhesion was initially observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM data were used to design the parameters of the rotational dish experiment. The optical method that we describe is much faster and technically simpler than AFM. This work provides proof of the concept that physical interactions can be used to accurately discriminate normal and cancer cells.     

Generalized Langevin dynamics of a nanoparticle using a finite element approach: thermostating with correlated noise

A direct numerical simulation (DNS) procedure is employed to study the thermal motion of a nanoparticle in an incompressible Newtonian stationary fluid medium with the generalized Langevin approach. We consider both the Markovian (white noise) and non-Markovian (Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise and Mittag-Leffler noise) processes. Initial locations of the particle are at various distances from the bounding wall to delineate wall effects. At thermal equilibrium, the numerical results are validated by comparing the calculated translational and rotational temperatures of the particle with those obtained from the equipartition theorem. The nature of the hydrodynamic interactions is verified by comparing the velocity autocorrelation functions and mean square displacements with analytical results. Numerical predictions of wall interactions with the particle in terms of mean square displacements are compared with analytical results. In the non-Markovian Langevin approach, an appropriate choice of colored noise is required to satisfy the power-law decay in the velocity autocorrelation function at long times. The results obtained by using non-Markovian Mittag-Leffler noise simultaneously satisfy the equipartition theorem and the long-time behavior of the hydrodynamic correlations for a range of memory correlation times. The Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process does not provide the appropriate hydrodynamic correlations. Comparing our DNS results to the solution of an one-dimensional generalized Langevin equation, it is observed that where the thermostat adheres to the equipartition theorem, the characteristic memory time in the noise is consistent with the inherent time scale of the memory kernel. The performance of the thermostat with respect to equilibrium and dynamic properties for various noise schemes is discussed.     

Pd-induced ordering of 2D Pt nanoarrays on phosphonated calix[4]arenes stabilised graphenes

p-Phosphonic acid calix[4]arenes render high stability to exfoliated graphenes in water. These calix[4]arenes modified graphenes can be used as highly effective substrates to nucleate ultra-small Pd nanoparticles, which in turn serve as galvanic reaction templates for the generation of high density 2D arrays of Pt nanoparticles.     

Solvent and hydrogen confinement in molecular capsules-Hirshfeld surface and molecular simulation analysis

Hirshfeld surface analysis of the 'ordered' inner phase of the molecular capsule complex, [(chloroform)(6)@C-n-butylpyrogallol[4]arene)(6)], provides insight into the intermolecular contacts and orientation of the solvent molecules. Molecular simulations show that adding two or three hydrogen molecules to the six solvent molecules is energetically favoured, and this correlates with NMR studies.