Persistent Monitoring by Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Bernstein Polynomials

Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications - A framework for monitoring a target modeled as Dubins car using multiple UAVs is proposed. The UAVs are subject to minimum and maximum speed,...     

Optimization of Transducer Location for Novel Non-Intrusive Methodologies of Diagnosis in Diesel Engines

The health monitoring has been studied to ensure integrity of design of engine structure by detection, quantification, and prediction of damages. Early detection of faults may allow the downtime of maintenance to be rescheduled, thus preventing sudden shutdown of machines. In cylinder pressure developed, vibrations and noise emissions data provide a rich source of information about condition of engines. Monitoring of vibrations and noise emissions are novel non-intrusive methodologies for which positioning of various transducers are important issue. The presented work shows applicability of these diagnosis methodologies adopted in case of diesel engines. The effects of changing various fuel injection parameters was analyzed. Scope of using non-intrusive technique has been analyzed by changing locations of microphone. Novelty of this worklies in exploring signal processing methods for various locations around the engine test set up. Various frequency ranges of contributing noise and vibration sources were identified. Time-Frequency analysis showed the onset of various cyclic. Based on the identification of various frequency bands, it is possible to device suitable filters in order to extract more information.     

Experimental investigation on heat transfer behavior of the novel ternary eutectic PCM embedded with MWCNT for thermal energy storage systems

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, the variation of thermophysical properties such as the thermal conductivity, thermal energy storage capacity, viscosity, and phase...     

Computational Design of Novel Allosteric Inhibitors for Plasmodium falciparum DegP

The serine protease, DegP exhibits proteolytic and chaperone activities, essential for cellular protein quality control and normal cell development in eukaryotes. The P. falciparum DegP is essential for the parasite survival and required to combat the oscillating thermal stress conditions during the infection, protein quality checks and protein homeostasis in the extra-cytoplasmic compartments, thereby establishing it as a potential target for drug development against malaria. Previous studies have shown that diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) and the peptide SPMFKGV inhibit E. coli DegP protease activity. To identify novel potential inhibitors specific to PfDegP allosteric and the catalytic binding sites, we performed a high throughput in silico screening using Malaria Box, Pathogen Box, Maybridge library, ChEMBL library and the library of FDA approved compounds. The screening helped identify five best binders that showed high affinity to PfDegP allosteric (T0873, T2823, T2801, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, CD00811) and the catalytic binding site (T0078L, T1524, T2328, BTB11534 and 552691). Further, molecular dynamics simulation analysis revealed {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, BTB11534 as the best hits forming a stable complex. WaterMap and electrostatic complementarity were used to evaluate the novel bio-isosteric chemotypes of {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, that led to the identification of 231 chemotypes that exhibited better binding affinity. Further analysis of the top 5 chemotypes, based on better binding affinity, revealed that the addition of electron donors like nitrogen and sulphur to the side chains of butanoate group are more favoured than the backbone of butanoate group. In a nutshell, the present study helps identify novel, potent and Plasmodium specific inhibitors, using high throughput in silico screening and bio-isosteric replacement, which may be experimentally validated.     

An efficient method for the synthesis of quinoxaline derivatives catalyzed by titanium silicate-1

Research on Chemical Intermediates - A series of quinoxaline derivatives were efficiently synthesized by convenient and simple procedure in excellent yields using 1 wt.% of titanium silicate (TS-1)...     

Analysis of anharmonic and thermoelastic properties of non-centrosymmetric crystals

In the present paper an analytical potential form is used for overlap repulsive energy, derived by Harrison from quantum mechanical considerations, along with the composite effect of three-body forces and intersublattice displacement. The short-range overlap parameters in Harrison's potential form have direct correlation with the valence state energies for outermost electrons. The potential model is applied to calculate the third and fourth order elastic constants, first and second pressure derivatives of second order elastic constants, Grüneisen parameter and its volume dependence, Anderson parameter, and thermal expansion coefficient for three non-centrosymmetric crystals, viz. CaF₂, SrF₂ and BaF₂. The calculated values of various physical quantities are found to be in good agreement with experimental data.The authors are grateful to Dr. Mansour Khalef, the Head of Physics Department, TNRC, Tajura (Tripoli) for the facilities and encouragements.     

Inverse and saturation theorems for linear combination of modified Baskakov operators

In this paper, we consider linear combinations of modified Baskakov operators. By use of several lemmas, we obtain the inverse theorem (Theorem 1.1) and the saturation (Theorem 1.2) for those linear combinations.     

On c‐Bhaskar Rao designs with block size 4

Several new families of c‐Bhaskar Rao designs with block size 4 are constructed. The necessary conditions for the existence of a c‐BRD (υ,4,λ) are that: (1)λ_min=?λ/3 ≤ c ≤ λ and (2a) c≡λ (mod 2), if υ > 4 or (2b) c≡ λ (mod 4), if υ = 4 or (2c) c≠ λ ? 2, if υ = 5. It is proved that these conditions are necessary, and are sufficient for most pairs of c and λ; in particular, they are sufficient whenever λ?c ≠ 2 for c > 0 and whenever c ? λ_min≠ 2 for c < 0. For c < 0, the necessary conditions are sufficient for υ> 101; for the classic Bhaskar Rao designs, i.e., c = 0, we show the necessary conditions are sufficient with the possible exception of 0‐BRD (υ,4,2)'s for υ≡ 4 (mod 6). © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 10: 361–386, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/jcd.10009     

Activity of microemulsion-based nanoparticles at the human bio-nano interface: concentration-dependent effects on thrombosis and hemolysis in whole blood

Background: Although microemulsion-based nanoparticles (MEs) may be useful for drug delivery or scavenging, these benefits must be balanced against potential nanotoxicological effects in biological tissue (bio-nano interface). We investigated the actions of assembled MEs and their individual components at the bio-nano interface of thrombosis and hemolysis in human blood. Methods: Oil-in-water MEs were synthesized using ethylbutyrate, sodium caprylate, and pluronic F-68 (ME4) or F-127 (ME6) in 0.9% NaCl_w/v. The effects of MEs or components on thrombosis were determined using thrombo-elastography, platelet contractile force, clot elastic modulus, and platelet counting. For hemolysis, ME or components were incubated with erythrocytes, centrifuged, and washed for measurement of free hemoglobin by spectroscopy. Results and conclusions: The mean particle diameters (polydispersity index) for ME6 and ME4 were 23.6 ± 2.5 nm (0.362) and 14.0 ± 1.0 nm (0.008), respectively. MEs (0, 0.03, 0.3, 3 mM) markedly reduced the thromboelastograph maximal amplitude in a concentration-dependent manner (49.0 ± 4.2, 39.0 ± 5.6, 15.0 ± 8.7, 3.8 ± 1.3 mm, respectively), an effect highly correlated (r2 = 0.94) with similar changes caused by pluronic surfactants (48.7 ± 10.9, 30.7 ± 15.8, 20.0 ± 11.3, 2.0 ± 0.5) alone. Neither oil nor sodium caprylate alone affected the thromboelastograph. The clot contractile force was reduced by ME (27.3 ± 11.1–6.7 ± 3.4 kdynes/cm², P = 0.02, n = 5) whereas the platelet population not affected (175 ± 28–182 ± 23 10⁶/ml, P = 0.12, n = 6). This data suggests that MEs reduced platelet activity due to associated pluronic surfactants, but caused minimal changes in protein function necessary for coagulation. Although pharmacological concentrations of sodium caprylate caused hemolysis (EC₅₀ = 213 mM), MEs and pluronic surfactants did not disrupt erythrocytes. Knowledge of nanoparticle activity and potential associated nanotoxicity at this bio-nano interface enables rational ME design for in vivo applications.