Optimal control of a vector borne disease with horizontal transmission

The paper presents the optimal control applied to a vector borne disease with direct transmission in host population. First, we show the existence of the control problem and then use both analytical and numerical techniques to investigate that there are cost effective control efforts for prevention of direct and indirect transmission of disease. In order to do this three control functions are used, one for vector-reduction strategies and the other two for personal (human) protection and blood screening, respectively. We completely characterize the optimal control and compute the numerical solution of the optimality system using an iterative method.     

Approximate conservation laws of nonlinear perturbed heat and wave equations

We construct approximate conservation laws for non-variational nonlinear perturbed (1+1) heat and wave equations by utilizing the partial Lagrangian approach. These perturbed nonlinear heat and wave equations arise in a number of important applications which are reviewed. Approximate symmetries of these have been obtained in the literature. Approximate partial Noether operators associated with a partial Lagrangian of the underlying perturbed heat and wave equations are derived herein. These approximate partial Noether operators are then used via the approximate version of the partial Noether theorem in the construction of approximate conservation laws of the underlying perturbed heat and wave equations.     

How changes in cell mechanical properties induce cancerous behavior

Tumor growth and metastasis are ultimately mechanical processes involving cell migration and uncontrolled division. Using a 3D discrete model of cells, we show that increased compliance as observed for cancer cells causes them to grow at a much faster rate compared to surrounding healthy cells. We also show how changes in intercellular binding influence tumor malignancy and metastatic potential. These findings suggest that changes in the mechanical properties of cancer cells is the proximate cause of uncontrolled division and migration and various biochemical factors drive cancer progression via this mechanism.     

Efficient catalytic effect of CuO nanostructures on the degradation of organic dyes

An efficient catalytic effect of petals and flowers like CuO nanostructures (NSs) on the degradation of two organic dyes, methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RB) were investigated. The highest degradation of 95% in CuO petals and 72% in flowers for MB is observed in 24 h. For RB, the degradation was 85% and 80% in petals and flowers, respectively for 5 h. It was observed that CuO petals appeared to be more active than flowers for degradation of both dyes associated to high specific surface area. The petals and flower like CuO NSs were synthesized using the chemical bath method at 90 °C. The grown CuO NSs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD).     

Facile synthesis of zirconia supported nanomaterials for efficient photocatalytic applications

The recent study enlightens the synthesis and characterization of zirconia (ZrO₂), Fe-doped ZrO₂ (Fe@ZrO₂), and Ni-doped ZrO₂ (Ni@ZrO₂) catalysts having new-fangled morphology with tuned band gap as photocatalysts for degradation of textile wastewater dyes methylene blue (MB), malachite green (MG), and their mixtures. SEM imaging of Fe@ZrO₂ and Ni@ZrO₂ is interestingly varied from ZrO₂ as well as doping of transition metals greatly affects the morphology of composites. The optimization study depicts that the pH, time (min) and catalyst amount (g) have a direct relation with degradation efficiency, while the dye concentration (mg/L) has an indirect relation as well. The photocatalytic studies depict that the degradation of MB and MG follows oxidation pathway via hydroxyl radicals (OH^•) and holes. Reusability of catalysts corresponds to a little decrease in degradation efficiency in the first two cycles and decreases to about ∼10% (Ni@ZrO₂) and ∼12% (Fe@ZrO₂) in next three cycles.     

Heteroatom ternary-doped porous carbons derived from poly (cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4-aminophenylether) microspheres as electrodes for supercapacitors

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Polyphosphazenes (PPNs) are considered an ideal class of inorganic–organic hybrid materials with structural stability inherited from inorganic...     

On the construction of some bioconjugate networks and their structural modeling via irregularity topological indices

The European Physical Journal E - In this article, we experimentally investigate the nonlinear behaviour of a viscoplastic film flow down an inclined plane. We focus on the nonlinear instabilities...