Jadavpur University

About: Jadavpur University is a(n) education organization based out in Kolkata, India. It is known for research contribution in the topic(s): Population & Schiff base. The organization has 10856 authors who have published 27678 publication(s) receiving 422069 citation(s). The organization is also known as: JU & Jadabpur University.

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.

Differential Evolution: A Survey of the State-of-the-Art

Abstract: Differential evolution (DE) is arguably one of the most powerful stochastic real-parameter optimization algorithms in current use. DE operates through similar computational steps as employed by a standard evolutionary algorithm (EA). However, unlike traditional EAs, the DE-variants perturb the current-generation population members with the scaled differences of randomly selected and distinct population members. Therefore, no separate probability distribution has to be used for generating the offspring. Since its inception in 1995, DE has drawn the attention of many researchers all over the world resulting in a lot of variants of the basic algorithm with improved performance. This paper presents a detailed review of the basic concepts of DE and a survey of its major variants, its application to multiobjective, constrained, large scale, and uncertain optimization problems, and the theoretical studies conducted on DE so far. Also, it provides an overview of the significant engineering applications that have benefited from the powerful nature of DE.

Evolutionary programming techniques for economic load dispatch

Abstract: Evolutionary programming has emerged as a useful optimization tool for handling nonlinear programming problems. Various modifications to the basic method have been proposed with a view to enhance speed and robustness and these have been applied successfully on some benchmark mathematical problems. But few applications have been reported on real-world problems such as economic load dispatch (ELD). The performance of evolutionary programs on ELD problems is examined and presented in this paper in two parts. In Part I, modifications to the basic technique are proposed, where adaptation is based on scaled cost. In Part II, evolutionary programs are developed with adaptation based on an empirical learning rate. Absolute, as well as relative, performance of the algorithms are investigated on ELD problems of different size and complexity having nonconvex cost curves where conventional gradient-based methods are inapplicable.

Differential Evolution Using a Neighborhood-Based Mutation Operator

Abstract: Differential evolution (DE) is well known as a simple and efficient scheme for global optimization over continuous spaces. It has reportedly outperformed a few evolutionary algorithms (EAs) and other search heuristics like the particle swarm optimization (PSO) when tested over both benchmark and real-world problems. DE, however, is not completely free from the problems of slow and/or premature convergence. This paper describes a family of improved variants of the DE/target-to-best/1/bin scheme, which utilizes the concept of the neighborhood of each population member. The idea of small neighborhoods, defined over the index-graph of parameter vectors, draws inspiration from the community of the PSO algorithms. The proposed schemes balance the exploration and exploitation abilities of DE without imposing serious additional burdens in terms of function evaluations. They are shown to be statistically significantly better than or at least comparable to several existing DE variants as well as a few other significant evolutionary computing techniques over a test suite of 24 benchmark functions. The paper also investigates the applications of the new DE variants to two real-life problems concerning parameter estimation for frequency modulated sound waves and spread spectrum radar poly-phase code design.

Use of activated carbons prepared from sawdust and rice-husk for adsorption of acid dyes: a case study of Acid Yellow 36

Abstract: Activated carbons, prepared from low-cost mahogany sawdust and rice husk have been utilized as the adsorbents for the removal of acid dyes from aqueous solution. An acid dye, Acid Yellow 36 has been used as the adsorbate. Results show that a pH value of 3 is favourable for the adsorption of acid dye. The isothermal data could be well described by the Langmuir and Freundlich equations. Kinetic parameters of adsorption such as the Langergren pseudo-first-order constant and the intraparticle diffusion rate constant were determined. For the present adsorption process, intraparticle diffusion of dye molecule within the particle has been identified to be rate limiting. The adsorption capacities of sawdust carbon (SDC) and rice husk carbon (RHC) were found to be 183.8 mg and 86.9 mg per g of the adsorbent respectively. The results indicate that SDC and RHC could be employed as low-cost alternatives to commercial activated carbon in wastewater treatment for the removal of acid dyes.