Showing papers by "Government College published in 2020"

ACC-deaminase producing plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and biochar mitigate adverse effects of drought stress on maize growth

Abstract: Availability of good quality irrigation water is a big challenge in arid and semi arid regions of the world. Drought stress results in poor plant growth and low yield; however, the rhizobacteria, capable of producing 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC)-deaminase are likely to improve crop growth and productivity under drought stress. Similarly, biochar could also ameliorate the negative impacts of drought stress. Therefore, this pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the role of ACC-deaminase producing plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) alone and in combinations with timber-waste biochar in improving maize growth under drought stress. The ACC-deaminase producing rhizobacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter cloacae, Achromobacter xylosoxidans and Leclercia adecarboxylata were studied along with two rates (0.75 and 1.50% of the soil weight) of biochar under three moisture levels i.e., normal moisture, mild drought stress and severe drought stress. The E. cloacae in conjunction with higher rate of biochar produced a significant improvement i.e., up to 60, 73, 43, 69, 76 and 42% respectively, in grain yield plant-1, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll and carotenoids contents of maize as compared to the control under mild drought stress. Similarly, A. xylosoxidans with higher rate of biochar also enhanced grain yield plant-1, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll and carotenoids contents of maize up to 200, 213, 113, 152, 148 and 284%, respectively over control under severe drought stress. In conclusion, combination of ACC-deaminase containing PGPR, A. xylosoxidans and biochar (0.75%) proved an effective technique to improve maize growth and productivity under drought stress.

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using phyllanthus emblica fruit extract for antimicrobial application

Abstract: Biological synthesis of metal nanoparticles is one of the effortless, cost - effective, environmental - friendly methods and scale down the handling of toxic chemicals. The silver nanoparticles were triumphantly synthesized from the silver nitrate solution through a greener route using Indian gooseberry (phyllanthus emblica) fruit extract and the prepared particles are of well-balanced shape and size. The stabilization and the bio-reduction of silver nanoparticles were described by adopting UV–vis spectrometry interprets the surface plasmon resonance peak at 449 nm. The functional groups of phyllanthus emblica fruit extract and the silver nanoparticles were diagnosed by using Fourier transform Infrared spectrum (FTIR). The crystalline nature of face-centered cubic (FCC) was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the crystalline size ranges between 19 nm to 45 nm with an average size 30 nm. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) witnessed the hexagonal shape of silver nanoparticles and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDX) assured the well-established fabrication of nanocrystalline silver element. The synthesized nanoparticle exhibits significant antibacterial effects and very clear zone of inhibition against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus bacterias.

The recent challenges of highly contagious COVID-19, causing respiratory infections: Symptoms, diagnosis, transmission, possible vaccines, animal models, and immunotherapy.

Abstract: COVID-19 is highly contagious pathogenic viral infection initiated from Wuhan seafood wholesale market of China on December 2019 and spread rapidly around the whole world due to onward transmission. This recent outbreak of novel coronavirus (CoV) was believed to be originated from bats and causing respiratory infections such as common cold, dry cough, fever, headache, dyspnea, pneumonia, and finally Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in humans. For this widespread zoonotic virus, human-to-human transmission has resulted in nearly 83 lakh cases in 213 countries and territories with 4,50,686 deaths as on 19 June 2020. This review presents a report on the origin, transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, possible vaccines, animal models, and immunotherapy for this novel virus and will provide ample references for the researchers toward the ongoing development of therapeutic agents and vaccines and also preventing the spread of this disease.

Nutraceuticals in Neurological Disorders.

Abstract: Neurological diseases are one of the major healthcare issues worldwide Posed lifestyle changes are associated with drastically increased risk of chronic illness and diseases, posing a substantial healthcare and financial burden to society globally Researchers aim to provide fine treatment for ailing disorders with minimal exposed side effects In recent decades, several studies on functional foods have been initiated to obtain foods that have fewer side effects and increased therapeutic activity Hence, an attempt has been made to unravel several extraction techniques to acquire essential bioactive compounds or phytochemicals from therapeutically active food products This has led to the conception of the term functional foods being meddled with other similar terms like "pharmafoods," "medifoods", "vitafoods", or "medicinal foods" With a dire need to adhere towards healthy options, the demand of nutraceuticals is widely increasing to combat neurological interventions An association between food habits and the individual lifestyle with neurodegeneration has been manifested, thereby proposing the role of nutraceuticals as prophylactic treatment for neurological interventions The current review covers some of the major neurological disorders and nutraceutical therapy in the prevention of disease

Evaluation of groundwater quality and human health risks from fluoride and nitrate in semi-arid region of northern India

Abstract: Groundwater quality in the alluvial plains of Punjab has special significance and needs great attention since it is the foremost source of drinking, irrigation and industrial uses. The present research work emphasizes the integrated hydrogeochemical and chemometric statistical approaches to appraise the geochemical processes and source apportionment of the groundwater in the alluvial plains of Jalandhar district, Punjab, India. The human health risk assessment was also performed to quantify the potential non-carcinogenic impacts of nitrate and fluoride on human health through ingestion of groundwater. For this purpose, 41 groundwater samples were collected from different groundwater abstraction units and analysed for pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, total alkalinity and major ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, HCO3−, CO32−, SO42−, NO3−, F−, Cl− and PO43−) using standard protocols. Drinking water quality index and Revelle index showed that groundwater samples fall under poor to unfit water class and salinization along the south-western portion of the study region shows poor water quality. The results of the hazard index (HIingestion) show 68% and 46.34% of the groundwater samples have HI > 1 for children and adults. The non-carcinogenic health risk assessment of nitrate (NO3−) and fluoride (F−) on the local population indicated that the children are more vulnerable through direct ingestion of drinking water than adults. Piper diagram and saturation index reveal that Ca2+–Mg2+–HCO3− is the dominant hydrochemical facies and oversaturated with calcite, dolomite and aragonite minerals in the groundwater. Gibbs diagrams, chloro-alkaline indices and scatter plots show that the hydrochemistry of the groundwater is mainly governed by aquifer material interaction such as weathering of silicate, carbonate rock, halite dissolution and cation exchange process. Chemometric statistical techniques revealed that the source identification of parameters such as Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, HCO3−, CO3− and F− is originated from geogenic factors, whereas NO3−, SO42−, Cl− and PO43− are from the anthropogenic origin. Therefore, urgent and efficient measures must be taken to combat groundwater pollution and reduce human health risk in the study area.

Biocompatible Carbon Quantum Dots Derived from Sugarcane Industrial Wastes for Effective Nonlinear Optical Behavior and Antimicrobial Activity Applications.

Abstract: In this work, the green synthesis of highly fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with an efficient quantum yield of 17.98% using sugarcane bagasse pulp as the precursor was conducted by a hydrothermal technique. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that the CQDs were competently monodispersed with the particle size ranging between 0.75 and 2.75 nm. The structural properties of CQDs were investigated using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses. The UV-visible spectrum showed two absorption peaks due to the aromatic C=C transitions of π-π* and C=O transitions of n-π*. The fluorescence spectrum of CQDs displayed a strong blue emission. However, the first-ever of its kind, sugarcane industrial solid waste carbon quantum dots caused significant orders to obey the enhancement of the third-order nonlinearity (χ(3)) when compared with other carbon dots (CDs). The calculated nonlinear optical (NLO) parameters such as n 2, β, and χ(3) were 1.012 × 10-8 cm2/W, 2.513 × 10-4, and 3.939 × 10-7 esu, respectively. The figures of merit were evaluated to be W = 6.6661 and T = 0.0132, which greatly fulfilled the optical switching conditions. Besides, the antibacterial activities of CQDs were screened against aquatic Gram-positive (Benthesicymus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio cholerae, and Escherichia coli) microbial organisms. Our findings, however, indicate that synergistic sugarcane industrial waste CQDs are promising materials for the functioning of NLO devices, bioimaging, and pharmaceutical applications.

A robust image encryption scheme using chaotic tent map and cellular automata

Abstract: This paper suggests a unique image encryption scheme based on key-based block ciphering followed by shuffling of ciphered bytes with variable-sized blocks, which makes this scheme substantially robust compared to other contemporary schemes available. Another distinguishing feature of this scheme is the usage of variable-sized key streams for consecutive blocks. Based on the elementary cellular automata with chaotic tent map, distinct key streams are used to cipher individual blocks. In the subsequent step, the bytes of the ciphered block so obtained are further shuffled to make the scheme more diffused. The block size varies with the varying key stream, which is again dependent on the preceding key stream as well as the plain image. It needs to be mentioned that the size of the first block and the key stream are generated from a 64-byte secret key and the plain image. Values of correlation and the number of pixel change rate between the original and the encrypted images are 0.000479 and 99.620901, respectively. Both of the above results along with other relevant experimental results strongly establish the robustness of the proposed scheme.

International tourism, social distribution, and environmental Kuznets curve: evidence from a panel of G-7 countries

Abstract: The study examined the long-run and causal relationship between international tourism receipts (ITR), social distribution, FDI inflows, and carbon (CO2) emissions to verify the different alternative and plausible hypotheses, i.e., environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, "pollution haven" hypothesis (PHH), and "resource efficiency" (REF) hypothesis, in a panel of Group of Seven (G-7) countries for the period of 1995-2015. The study employed panel random effect (RE) regression and panel causality test for robust inferences. The results show that ITR and FDI inflows increase CO2 emissions to verify PHH while government education expenditures (GEE) decrease CO2 emissions to substantiate the REF hypothesis across countries. The results validate the inverted U-shaped EKC relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth (EG) with the turning point of US$30,900. In addition, GEE increase ITR while healthcare expenditures (HEXP) decrease ITR, which partially supported the REF hypothesis in a panel of countries. The impact of income inequality (INEQ) on ITR is positive at current time period while at later stages INEQ declines ITR that supported an inverted U-shaped relationship between them. The causality estimates confirm the bidirectional relationship between ITR and EG, while there is unidirectional casualty running from (i) ITR, EG, FDI inflows, and GEE to CO2 emissions, (ii) FDI inflows to ITR, (iii) GEE to EG, (iv) EG to social expenditures, (v) income inequality to health expenditures, (vi) social expenditures (SEXP) to ITR, and (vii) INEQ to ITR. There is no causal relationship found between ITR and EG during the study time period. The findings endorse the need for efficient resource spending, sustainable tourism (STR), and rational income distribution to improve environmental sustainability agenda in a panel of G-7 countries.

Comparative study of hybrid nanofluids in microchannel slip flow induced by electroosmosis and peristalsis

Abstract: In this paper, a mathematical model is developed to investigate the electroosmotic flow of hybrid nanoliquids (containing dissimilar nanoparticles) through an asymmetric microchannel which moves sinusoidally with constant wave velocity under an axial electrical field. The effects of Joule heating are included. Maxwell and Brinkmann correlations are employed for nanoliquid thermal conductivity and viscosity. To study the performance of hybrid nanofluids, a selection of nanofluids is examined with water as the base fluid which is doped with titania, alumina or copper metallic nanoparticles. The boundary conditions include velocity slip and thermal slip at the microchannel walls. The Debye–Huckel linearization is employed. Numerical computations for velocity, pressure gradient and temperature fields are executed in the MATLAB bvp4c routine. The influence of selected physical parameters on the flow characteristics, pumping characteristics, and temperature distribution are computed. Pressure gradient is elevated with stronger buoyancy, i.e., higher thermal Grashof number and also electroosmosis parameter, whereas it is suppressed with greater velocity slip and thermal slip parameters. Axial flow is strongly accelerated with increasing Joule heating parameter and velocity slip. Periodic behavior is observed for axial pressure gradient for all three metallic nanoparticles due to the sinusoidal nature of the pumping. With increasing Brinkman number (dissipation parameter), the axial pressure gradient is decreased for alumina (Al2O3). The temperature is strongly increased with greater Joule heating parameter across the microchannel width for Cu–water nanoliquid. The temperature is increased for (Al2O3)–water nanofluid in the left microchannel half space with increasing thermal Grashof number, whereas it is decreased in the right half space. The temperatures are enhanced for titania (TiO2)–water nanoliquid in the left half space with greater velocity slip parameter, whereas they are diminished in the right half space. The present analysis is relevant to bio-inspired electrokinetic nanofluid micropump designs and emerging nanomedicine technologies.

Chitosan overlaid Fe3O4/rGO nanocomposite for targeted drug delivery, imaging, and biomedical applications.

Abstract: A hybrid and straightforward nanosystem that can be used simultaneously for cancer-targeted fluorescence imaging and targeted drug delivery in vitro was reported in this study. A chitosan (CS) polymer coated with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and implanted with Fe3O4 nanoparticles was fabricated. The fundamental physicochemical properties were confirmed via FT-IR, XRD, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, XPS, and VSM analysis. The in vivo toxicity study in zebrafish showed that the nanocomposite was not toxic. The in vitro drug loading amount was 0.448 mg/mL-1 for doxorubicin, an anticancer therapeutic, in the rGO/Fe3O4/CS nanocomposite. Furthermore, the pH-regulated release was observed using folic acid. Cellular uptake and multimodal imaging revealed the benefit of the folic acid-conjugated nanocomposite as a drug carrier, which remarkably improves the doxorubicin accumulation inside the cancer cells over-express folate receptors. The rGO/Fe3O4/CS nanocomposite showed enhanced antibiofilm and antioxidant properties compared to other materials. This study's outcomes support the use of the nanocomposite in targeted chemotherapy and the potential applications in the polymer, cosmetic, biomedical, and food industries.

Dynamic linkages between poverty, inequality, crime, and social expenditures in a panel of 16 countries: two-step GMM estimates

Abstract: The study examines the relationship between growth–inequality–poverty (GIP) triangle and crime rate under the premises of inverted U-shaped Kuznets curve and pro-poor growth scenario in a panel of 16 diversified countries, over a period of 1990–2014. The study employed panel Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator for robust inferences. The results show that there is (i) no/flat relationship between per capita income and crime rate; (ii) U-shaped relationship between poverty headcount and per capita income and (iii) inverted U-shaped relationship between income inequality and economic growth in a panel of selected countries. Income inequality and unemployment rate increases crime rate while trade openness supports to decrease crime rate. Crime rate substantially increases income inequality while health expenditures decrease poverty headcount ratio. Per capita income is influenced by high poverty incidence, whereas health expenditures and trade factor both amplify per capita income across countries. The results of pro-poor growth analysis show that though the crime rate decreases in the years 2000–2004 and 2010–2014, while the growth phase was anti-poor due to unequal distribution of income. Pro-poor education and health trickle down to the lower income strata group for the years 2010–2014, as education and health reforms considerably reduce crime rate during the time period.

Medicinal chemistry of oxazines as promising agents in drug discovery

Abstract: Oxazines have brought much synthetic interest due to their extensive biological activities. These are the important category of heterocycles, which may be formally derived from benzene and its reduction products by convenient substitution of carbon (and hydrogen) atoms by nitrogen and oxygen. In the last few decades, oxazine derivatives have documented as worthy synthetic intermediates and also blessed with notable sedative, analgesic, anticonvulsant, antipyretic, antimicrobial, antitubercular, antimalarial, antioxidant, and anticancer activities. Nowadays, it is important to develop new classes of compounds with more effective mechanisms due to drug resistance activity in which the ability of drug to effectively treat disease can be reduced. The aim of the article is to collect and make a more generalized review on the synthesis of oxazine derivatives and their pharmaceutical and biological activities. We hope this review will provide ample references for the researchers concerned with azines in generally and oxazines in particular.

A novel entropy and divergence measures with multi-criteria service quality assessment using interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy TODIM method

Abstract: Interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IVIFSs) are proven to be the fastest growing research area and are more flexible way to handle the uncertainty. Information measures play vital role in the study of uncertain information; therefore, number of new interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy divergence and entropy measures have been proposed in the literature and applied for different purposes. Recently, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods with IVIFSs have broadly studied by researchers and practitioners in various fields. In this paper, firstly surveys of IVIF-divergence and entropy measures are conducted and then demonstrated some counter-intuitive cases. Then, novel divergence and entropy measures are originated for IVIFSs to avoid the shortcomings of previous measures. Later on, systematic reviews of Portuguese for Interactive Multi-criteria Decision Making (TODIM) method are presented with recent fuzzy developments. Based on classical TODIM method, a new approach for MCDM is introduced under IVIF environment which considers the bounded rationality of decision makers. In the present method, the proposed entropy measure is utilized to compute the weight vector of the criteria, and the proposed divergence measure is applied in the calculation of dominance degrees. To illustrate the effectiveness of the present approach, a decision-making problem of vehicle insurance companies is presented where the evaluation values of the alternatives are given in terms of IVIF numbers. Comparison with some existing methods shows the applicability and consistency of the present method.

Does corporate social responsibility commitment and participation predict environmental and social performance

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment and CSR participation on both social performance and environmental performance. The current study examines the influence of CSR commitment on CSR participation. This study also tested the mediating effect of CSR participation in the connection between CSR commitment and social performance as well as between CSR commitment and environmental performance. Data were collected from 324 managers of hotels and tourism units. Statistical techniques such as correlation, regression and AMOS 7.0 software were used for data analysis. Results reveal that CSR commitment positively predicts CSR participation. CSR participation significantly predicts the social performance and environmental performance. The direct link of CSR commitment with social performance and environmental performance is positive and significant. The findings also reveal that CSR participation mediates the relationship between both CSR commitment and social performance and CSR commitment and environmental performance links.