Time-resolved time-dependent photo-acoustic spectroscopy of NO2 in a high frequency multi-resonant cavity

The paper reports the pulsed laser-based time-resolved time-dependent Photo-acoustic (PA) spectroscopy of NO₂ gas in a specially designed multi mode-Resonant PA Cell which is made of Stainless Steel and has a “Q” value of the order of 79. Furthermore the designed cell allows us to excite some of the longitudinal, radial and azimuthal resonance modes of the photo-acoustic signals simultaneously in a very efficient manner. The presence of many newly excited modes occur at 7050 Hz, 10350 Hz and 14650 Hz frequencies is observed for the first time in NO₂ at room temperature. These results are obtained by employing second harmonics i.e. λ=532 nm pulses from Q-switched Nd:YAG laser having 7 ns pulse duration. Some of the new acoustic spectrum lines at higher frequencies are recorded between 0.5–10 ms data acquisition time, which also extends the frequency monitoring range of our system. The study also highlights some of the important aspects such as the decaying behavior of some of these resonant acoustic spectrum lines occur on the expense of others as well as the saturation behavior of some other modes in the NO₂ gas sample. The estimated low level detection limit of NO₂ buffered in air is of the order of 17.9 ppbV.     

Dosimetric evaluation of an indigenously developed 10 MeV industrial electron beam irradiator

The high dose rate electron beams are increasingly being used for radiation processing of various products worldwide. A comprehensive dosimetric evaluation of an in-house developed 10 MeV industrial electron beam irradiator was carried out in static as well as in dynamic mode of irradiations. Radiochromic B3 film and graphite calorimeter were used for dosimetric measurements. The dose rate from the electron beam was also calculated using the empirical relation prescribed in the ASTM report E2232-02. The measured electron beam profile indicates the dose rate variation within 8% in the irradiated product boxes. The most probable energy determined from the depth dose distribution in PMMA, Al and water was found in agreement with the intended energy of the electron beam. Measured dose rate using radiochromic film and graphite calorimeter were found in good agreement with each other and also found comparable with the theoretically estimated dose rates. Experimentally measured dose rates were considered for the trial irradiation of medical and industrial products. Dosimetric data obtained through this study confirms the suitability of the irradiator for routine radiation processing of various products.     

Effect of Indium and Antimony Doping on SnS Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells

Single crystals of pure SnS, indium （In） and antimony （Sb） doped SnS are grown by the direct vapor transport technique. Two doping concentrations of 5 at. % and 15 at. % are employed for both In and Sb dopants. In total, five samples are studied, i.e., pure SnS, 5at.% In-doped SnS, 15at.% In-doped SnS, 5at.% Sb-doped SnS and 15at.% Sb-doped SnS single crystals. The energy dispersive analysis of x-ray （EDAX） and x-ray diffraction （XRD） analysis show that all the five as-grown single crystal samples possess near perfect stoichiometry and orthorhombic structure, respectively. The doping of In and Sb in SnS is established from the EDAX data and from the shift in the peak positions in XRD. Photoeleetroehemical （PEC） solar cells are fabricated by using the as- grown single crystal samples along with iodine/iodide electrolytes. Mott-Schottky plots for different compositions of iodine/iodide electrolytes show that O. 025 M 12 ＋ 1 M Nal＋2 M Na2 S04 ＋0.5 M 1-12 S04 will be the most suitable electrolyte. Study of efficiency （η） and fill factor for different intensities of illuminations at room temperature is carried out for the five samples. The In-doped SnS single crystals show better PEC efficiency than the undoped and Sl〉doped SnS single crystals.     

Effective thermal conductivity of granulated two-phase systems at interstitial air pressures

Considering the htermal conduction through molecular collisions an expression for the effective thermal conductivityλ _e of loose and granular two-phase materials at different interstitial air pressure has been derived. The dependence ofλ _e on pore and particle sizes, characteristic pressure and radiative heat transfer is also discussed. Calculated values ofλ _e of glass beads and loose building materials are compared with reported results.     

Bounds on the effective thermal conductivity of two-phase systems

The weighted geometric mean of resistors considered for determining the effective thermal conductivityK _E of two-phase systems has been optimised. Solutions of the equations lead to a useful set of bounds. When compared with other bounds the present bounds give the better results in estimating the upper and lower values of the effective thermal conductivity of a two-phase system.     

A cost effective 100 Gbps hybrid MDM–OCDMA–FSO transmission system under atmospheric turbulences

FSO or free space optics is a familiar name used in a wide array of applications in the area of telecommunications. Due to its features of low maintenance cost and deployment time, most of the applications consider FSO as the alternative solution for appropriately replacing fiber optics. In this work, we have designed 100 Gbps FSO system by combining mode division multiplexing (MDM) and optical code multiple access scheme (OCDMA). Ten channels, each carrying 10 Gbps data, are transported over 8 km FSO link by using MDM of two Laguerre Gaussian modes and random diagonal codes. Moreover, the performance of proposed MDM–OCDMA–FSO system is also investigated under atmospheric turbulences.     

Studies on Biologically Potent Tetraazamacrocyclic Complexes of Bivalent Tin

Fourteen- to eighteen-membered tetraamide macrocyclic ligands N 4 L 1 -N 4 L 4 have been prepared by the condensation of 1,2-diaminoethane or 1,3-diaminopropane with malonic or succinic acid in the presence of condensing reagents dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and 4-dimethylaminopyridine. On reduction, these macrocyclic ligands give a new series of tetraazamacrocycles MacL 1 -MacL 4 which form complexes with tin(II) chloride. The ligands and their complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, molecular weight determinations, infrared and 1 H NMR spectral studies. The hexacoordinated state for tin has been confirmed by spectral studies. An octahedral geometry for these complexes has been proposed as the binding sites are the nitrogen atoms of the macrocycles. On the basis of the chemical composition the representation of the complexes as [Sn(MacL n )Cl 2 ] (n = 1-4) has been established. The ligands and their complexes also have been screened for their antifungal and antibacterial activities and the findings have been reported and explained.     

Liquid crystals alignment with PbS nanosculptured thin films

Lead sulphide (PbS) nano-sculptured thin films (nSTFs) are prepared for the first time using glancing angle deposition technique by physical vapour deposition process. An anisotropic morphology is obtained, which provides an orientational effect. Due to this anisotropic nature of PbS nSTF an attempt has been made to check its effect on the alignment of nematic liquid crystals (LCs). Two different LC devices were fabricated, that is, anti-parallel aligned or electrically-controlled birefringence and hybrid twisted nematic. It is noticed that in both types of devices, good alignment is obtained with high extinction and contrast. A significant effect of these alignments on the electro-optic properties of the LC is reported such as the threshold voltage, response time and contrast ratio.     

Small Ubiquitin-Like Modifier Protein 3 Enhances the Solubilization of Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 in <Emphasis Type="Italic">E. coli</Emphasis>

Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) fusion technology is widely used in the production of heterologous proteins from prokaryotic system to aid in protein solubilization and refolding. Due to an extensive clinical application of human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (hBMP2) in bone augmentation, total RNA was isolated from human gingival tissue and mature gene was amplified through RT-PCR, cloned (pET21a), sequence analyzed, and submitted to GenBank (Accession no. KF250425). To obtain soluble expression, SUMO3 was tagged at the N-terminus of hBMP2 gene (pET21a/SUMO3-hBMP2), transferred in BL21 codon+, and ~?40% soluble expression was obtained on induction with IPTG. The dimerized hBMP2 was confirmed with Western blot, native PAGE analysis, and purified by fast protein liquid chromatography with 0.5 M NaCl elution. The cleavage of SUMO3 tag from hBMP2 converted it to an insoluble form. Computational 3D structural analysis of the SUMO3-hBMP2 was performed and optimized by molecular dynamic simulation. Protein-protein interaction of SUMO3-hBMP2 with BMP2 receptor was carried out using HADDOCK and inferred stable interaction. The alkaline phosphatase assay of SUMO3-hBMP2 on C2C12 cells showed maximum 200-ng/ml dose-dependent activity. We conclude that SUMO3-tagged hBMP2 is more suited for generation of soluble form of the protein and addition of SUMO3 tag does not affect the functional activity of hBMP2.