Enhanced production of xylanase from locally isolated fungal strain using agro-industrial residues under solid-state fermentation

This study is related to the isolation of fungal strain for xylanase production using agro-industrial residues. Forty fungal strains with xylanolytic potential were isolated by using xylan agar plates and quantitatively screened in solid-state fermentation. Of all the tested isolates, the strain showing highest ability to produce xylanase was assigned the code Aspergillus niger LCBT-14. For the enhanced production of the enzyme, five different fermentation media were evaluated. Out of all media, M4 containing wheat bran gave maximum enzyme production. Effect of different variables including incubation time, temperature, pH, carbon and nitrogen sources has been investigated. The optimum enzyme production was obtained after 72 h at 30°C and pH 4. Glucose as a carbon source while ammonium sulphate and yeast extract as nitrogen sources gave maximum xylanase production (946 U/mL/min). This study was successful in producing xylanase by A. niger LCBT-14 economically by utilising cheap indigenous substrate.     

Dye and its removal from aqueous solution by adsorption: A review

In this review article the authors presented up to-date development on the application of adsorption in the removal of dyes from aqueous solution. This review article provides extensive literature information about dyes, its classification and toxicity, various treatment methods, and dye adsorption characteristics by various adsorbents. One of the objectives of this review article is to organise the scattered available information on various aspects on a wide range of potentially effective adsorbents in the removal of dyes. Therefore, an extensive list of various adsorbents such as natural materials, waste materials from industry, agricultural by-products, and biomass based activated carbon in the removal of various dyes has been compiled here. Dye bearing waste treatment by adsorption using low cost alternative adsorbent is a demanding area as it has double benefits i.e. water treatment and waste management. Further, activated carbon from biomass has the advantage of offering an effected low cost replacement for non-renewable coal based granular activated carbon provided that they have similar or better adsorption on efficiency. The effectiveness of various adsorbents under different physico-chemical process parameters and their comparative adsorption capacity towards dye adsorption has also been presented. This review paper also includes the affective adsorption factors of dye such as solution pH, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, and temperature. The applicability of various adsorption kinetic models and isotherm models for dye removal by wide range of adsorbents is also reported here. Conclusions have been drawn from the literature reviewed and few suggestions for future research are proposed.     

In vitro studies of carbon fiber microbiosensor for dopamine neurotransmitter supported by copper-graphene oxide composite

A composite was prepared from copper and graphene oxide (Cu-GO) by in-situ chemical reduction of a mixture containing GO and Cu(II) ions with potassium borohydride. The morphology and structure of the composite were confirmed by various physicochemical techniques. The materials were used in a tyrosinase-based microbiosensor where the enzyme is immobilized in a biocompatible matrix consisting of poly(ortho-phenylene diamine) and Cu-GO. The composite was deposited on the surface of an 8-μm thick carbon fiber microelectrode. The role of each component in the sensing layer was systematically investigated with respect to the analytical performance of the system. In its optimal configuration, the biosensor demonstrated (a) a sensitivity of 6.1?±?3 nA mM^-1 dopamine (DA), (b) a linear response to DA (with a Michaelis-Menten constant of 0.29?±?0.03 mM), (c) good selectivity over ascorbic acid and uric acid, and (d) a high blocking capacity (112.2?±?2 mM) for ascorbic acid.

Some best approximation results in locally convex spaces

In this note we obtain generalization of well known results of carbone and Conti, Sehgal and Singh and Tanimoto concerning the existence of best approximation and simultaneous best approximation of continuous funcitons from the set up of a normed space to the case of a Hausdorff locally convex space.     

Three-step iterations for nonlinear accretive operator equations

In this paper, we suggest and analyze a three-step iterative scheme for solving nonlinear strongly accretive operator equation Tx=f without continuous condition in a uniformly smooth Banach space. Our results include the Ishikawa, Mann and Noor iterations as special cases. The results presented in this paper improve and extend almost all the current results in the more general setting.     

Generalized set-valued mixed nonlinear quasi variational inequalities

In this paper we introduce and study a number of new classes of quasi variational inequalities. Using essentially the projection technique and its variant forms we prove that the generalized set-valued mixed quasivariational inequalities are equivalent to the fixed point problem and the Wiener-Hopf equations (normal maps). This equivalence enables us to suggest a number of iterative algorithms for solving the generalized variational inequalities. As a special case of the generalized set-valued mixed quasi variational inequalities, we obtain a class of quasi variational inequalities studied by Siddiqi, Husain and Kazmi [35], but there are several inaccuracies in their formulation of the problem, the statement and the proofs of their results. We have removed these inaccuracies. The correct formulation of their results can be obtained as special cases from our main results.     

Inexact proximal point method for general variational inequalities

In this paper, we suggest and analyze a new inexact proximal point method for solving general variational inequalities, which can be considered as an implicit predictor-corrector method. An easily measurable error term is proposed with further relaxed error bound and an optimal step length is obtained by maximizing the profit-function and is dependent on the previous points. Our results include several known and new techniques for solving variational inequalities and related optimization problems. Results obtained in this paper can be viewed as an important improvement and refinement of the previously known results. Preliminary numerical experiments are included to illustrate the advantage and efficiency of the proposed method.     

Strong convergence of the modified hybrid steepest-descent methods for general variational inequalities

In this paper, we consider the general variational inequality GVI(F, g, C), whereF andg are mappings from a Hilbert space into itself andC is the fixed point set of a nonexpansive mapping. We suggest and analyze a new modified hybrid steepest-descent method of type methodu _n+1=(1?α+θ _n+1)Tu _n +αu _n ?θ _n+1 g (Tu _n )?λ _n+1 μF(Tu _n ),n≥0. for solving the general variational inequalities. The sequencex _n is shown to converge in norm to the solutions of the general variational inequality GVI(F, g, C) under some mild conditions. Application to constrained generalized pseudo-inverse is included. Results proved in the paper can be viewed as an refinement and improvement of previously known results.     

Well-posed variational inequalities

In this paper, we introduce the concept of well-posedness for general variational inequalities and obtain some results under pseudomonotonicity. It is well known that monotonicity implies pseudomonotonicity, but the converse is not true. In this respect, our results represent an improvement and refinement of the previous known results. Since the general variational inequalities include (quasi) variational inequalities and complementarity problems as special cases, results obtained in this paper continue to hold for these problems.