Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

About: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is a(n) education organization based out in Guwahati, Assam, India. It is known for research contribution in the topic(s): Catalysis & Heat transfer. The organization has 6933 authors who have published 17102 publication(s) receiving 257351 citation(s).

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

Abstract: In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation, it is imperative to target by gene knockout or RNA interference more than one autophagy-related protein. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways implying that not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.

Production of first and second generation biofuels: A comprehensive review

Abstract: Sustainable economic and industrial growth requires safe, sustainable resources of energy. For the future re-arrangement of a sustainable economy to biological raw materials, completely new approaches in research and development, production, and economy are necessary. The ‘first-generation’ biofuels appear unsustainable because of the potential stress that their production places on food commodities. For organic chemicals and materials these needs to follow a biorefinery model under environmentally sustainable conditions. Where these operate at present, their product range is largely limited to simple materials (i.e. cellulose, ethanol, and biofuels). Second generation biorefineries need to build on the need for sustainable chemical products through modern and proven green chemical technologies such as bioprocessing including pyrolysis, Fisher Tropsch, and other catalytic processes in order to make more complex molecules and materials on which a future sustainable society will be based. This review focus on cost effective technologies and the processes to convert biomass into useful liquid biofuels and bioproducts, with particular focus on some biorefinery concepts based on different feedstocks aiming at the integral utilization of these feedstocks for the production of value added chemicals.

Heat transfer augmentation in a two-sided lid-driven differentially heated square cavity utilizing nanofluids

Abstract: The behaviour of nanofluids is investigated numerically inside a two-sided lid-driven differentially heated square cavity to gain insight into convective recirculation and flow processes induced by a nanofluid. A model is developed to analyze the behaviour of nanofluids taking into account the solid volume fraction χ. The transport equations are solved numerically with finite volume approach using SIMPLE algorithm. Comparisons with previously published work on the basis of special cases are performed and found to be in excellent agreement. The left and the right moving walls are maintained at different constant temperatures while the upper and the bottom walls are thermally insulated. Three case were considered depending on the direction of the moving walls. Governing parameters were 0.01 < Ri < 100 but due to space constraints only the results for 0.1 < Ri < 10 are presented. It is found that both the Richardson number and the direction of the moving walls affect the fluid flow and heat transfer in the cavity. Copper–Water nanofluid is used with Pr = 6.2 and solid volume fraction χ is varied as 0.0%, 8%, 16% and 20%. Detailed results are presented for flow pattern and heat transfer curves.

Dynamic analysis of flexible manipulators, a literature review

Abstract: In this paper a survey of the literature related to dynamic analyses of flexible robotic manipulators has been carried out. Both link and joint flexibility are considered in this work and an effort has been made to critically examine the methods used in these analyses, their advantages and shortcomings and possible extension of these methods to be applied to a general class of problems. Papers are classified according to modeling, control and experimental studies. In case of modeling they are subdivided according to the method of analysis and number of links involved in the analysis. An effort has been made to include the works of a huge variety of researchers working in this field and a total of 433 papers created in the years 1974–2005 have been reviewed in this work.