Showing papers by "Thapar University published in 2013"
TL;DR: The present review sheds light on benefits of bacterial biominerals over traditional agents and also the issues that lie in the path of successful commercialization of the technology of microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation from lab to field scale.
Abstract: Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP) is a naturally occurring biological process in which microbes produce inorganic materials as part of their basic metabolic activities. This technology has been widely explored and promising with potential in various technical applications. In the present review, the detailed mechanism of production of calcium carbonate biominerals via ureolytic bacteria has been discussed along with role of bacteria and the sectors where these biominerals are being used. The review discusses the applications of bacterially produced carbonate biominerals for improving the durability of buildings, remediation of environment (water and soil), sequestration of atmospheric CO2, filler material in rubbers and plastics etc. The study also sheds light on benefits of bacterial biominerals over traditional agents and also the issues that lie in the path of successful commercialization of the technology of Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation from lab to field scale.
458 citations
TL;DR: This paper provides the taxonomy of various clustering and routing techniques in WSNs based upon metrics such as power management, energy management, network lifetime, optimal cluster head selection, multihop data transmission etc.
430 citations
TL;DR: An extensive systematic literature review of software clones in general and software clone detection in particular calls for an increased awareness of the potential benefits of software clone management, and identifies the need to develop semantic and model clone detection techniques.
Abstract: Context Reusing software by means of copy and paste is a frequent activity in software development. The duplicated code is known as a software clone and the activity is known as code cloning. Software clones may lead to bug propagation and serious maintenance problems. Objective This study reports an extensive systematic literature review of software clones in general and software clone detection in particular. Method We used the standard systematic literature review method based on a comprehensive set of 213 articles from a total of 2039 articles published in 11 leading journals and 37 premier conferences and workshops. Results Existing literature about software clones is classified broadly into different categories. The importance of semantic clone detection and model based clone detection led to different classifications. Empirical evaluation of clone detection tools/techniques is presented. Clone management, its benefits and cross cutting nature is reported. Number of studies pertaining to nine different types of clones is reported. Thirteen intermediate representations and 24 match detection techniques are reported. Conclusion We call for an increased awareness of the potential benefits of software clone management, and identify the need to develop semantic and model clone detection techniques. Recommendations are given for future research.
366 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of bacteria Bacillus sp. on the durability properties and remediation of cracks in cementitious structures were studied, and the results clearly showed microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation can be applied for various building materials for remediation and enhancement of durability.
269 citations
TL;DR: An overview of the published literature on the use of coal bottom ash in concrete can be found in this article, where the authors present an overview of concrete properties such as workability, bleeding and setting times.
Abstract: Coal bottom ash (CBA) is formed in coal furnaces. It is made from agglomerated ash particles that are too large to be carried in the flue gases and fall through open grates to an ash hopper at the bottom of the furnace. Bottom ash is mainly comprised of fused coarser ash particles. These particles are quite porous and look like volcanic lava. Bottom ash forms up to 25% of the total ash while the fly ash forms the remaining 75%. One of the most common uses for bottom ash is as structural fill. Published literature shown that there is a strongly possibility of coal bottom ash being used as substitute/replacement of fine aggregate (sand). Its use in concrete becomes more significant and important in view of the fact that sources of natural sand as fine aggregates are getting depleted gradually, and it is of prime importance that substitute of sand be explored. This paper presents an overview of the published literature on the use of coal bottom ash in concrete. Effect of coal bottom ash on the properties of concrete such as workability, bleeding, setting times, compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, shrinkage, and durability are presented.
218 citations
TL;DR: Five ureolytic bacterial isolates capable of inducing calcium carbonate precipitation were isolated from calcareous soils on the basis of production of urease, carbonic anhydrase, extrapolymeric substances, and biofilm to evaluate the technology of MICCP.
Abstract: Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP) is a naturally occurring biological process that has various applications in remediation and restoration of a range of building materials. In the present investigation, five ureolytic bacterial isolates capable of inducing calcium carbonate precipitation were isolated from calcareous soils on the basis of production of urease, carbonic anhydrase, extrapolymeric substances, and biofilm. Bacterial isolates were identified as Bacillus megaterium, B. cereus, B. thuringiensis, B. subtilis, and Lysinibacillus fusiformis based on 16S rRNA analysis. The calcium carbonate polymorphs produced by various bacterial isolates were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, X ray diffraction, and Fourier transmission infra red spectroscopy. A strainspecific precipitation of calcium carbonate forms was observed from different bacterial isolates. Based on the type of polymorph precipitated, the technology of MICCP can be applied for remediation of various building materials.
179 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an attempt has been made to model the four response variables, i.e., machining rate, surface roughness, dimensional deviation and wire wear ratio in WEDM process using response surface methodology.
Abstract: This paper presents an investigation on WEDM of pure titanium (grade-2). An attempt has been made to model the four response variables, i.e., machining rate, surface roughness, dimensional deviation and wire wear ratio in WEDM process using response surface methodology. The experimental plan is based on Box–Behnken design. The six parameters, i.e., pulse on time, pulse off time, peak current, spark gap voltage, wire feed and wire tension have been varied to investigate their effect on output responses. These responses have been optimized using multiresponse optimization through desirability. The ANOVA has been applied to identify the significance of developed model. The test results confirm the validity and adequacy of the developed RSM model. Finally, the optimum parametric setting has been designed for the optimization of process.
170 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an efficient gain-flattened L-band optical amplifier is demonstrated using a hybrid configuration with a distributed Raman amplifier (DRA) and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for 160 × 10-Gb/s dense wavelength division multiplexed system at 25 GHz interval.
Abstract: An efficient gain-flattened L-band optical amplifier is demonstrated using a hybrid configuration with a distributed Raman amplifier (DRA) and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for 160 × 10-Gb/s dense wavelength division multiplexed system at 25-GHz interval. With an input signal power of 3 mW, a flat gain of >; 10 dB is obtained across the frequency range from 187 to 190.975 THz with a gain variation of ; 8.9 dBm) ever reported for a DRA-EDFA hybrid optical amplifier at reduced channel spacing.
136 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an experimental program was carried out to study the properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) made with coal bottom ash and the results indicated that SCC mixes developed 28-day compressive strength between 25.8 and 35.2 MPa.
133 citations
23 Dec 2013
TL;DR: Data modeling and query syntax of relational and some classes of NoSQL databases have been explained with the help of an case study of a news website like Slashdot.
Abstract: Relational databases are providing storage for several decades now. However for today's interactive web and mobile applications the importance of flexibility and scalability in data model can not be over-stated. The term NoSQL broadly covers all non-relational databases that provide schema-less and scalable model. NoSQL databases which are also termed as Internetage databases are currently being used by Google, Amazon, Facebook and many other major organizations operating in the era of Web 2.0. Different classes of NoSQL databases namely key-value pair, document, column-oriented and graph databases enable programmers to model the data closer to the format as used in their application. In this paper, data modeling and query syntax of relational and some classes of NoSQL databases have been explained with the help of an case study of a news website like Slashdot.
125 citations
TL;DR: A series of novel coumarin-benzimidazole hybrids, 3-(1H-benzo-2-yl)-7-(substituted amino)-2H-chromen- 2-one derivatives of biological interest displayed appreciable anticancer activities against leukemia, colon cancer and breast cancer cell lines.
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of crystal structure, surface area, surface charge, zeta potential (ζ), and metal loading on the photocatalytic activity of as-prepared sodium titanate nanotube (TNT) and titania nanorod (TNR) was demonstrated.
TL;DR: In this article, the role of hard ceramic reinforced particles on the tribological behavior of aluminum metal matrix composites consisting of single (SRP) and dual reinforced particles (DRP) is studied at different temperatures.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used Borosarcina pasteurii to improve the compressive strength of concrete by improving its pore structure and thereby enhancing the life of concrete structures.
TL;DR: This study demonstrates the feasibility of producing selenium-biofortified edible mushrooms using seenium-rich agricultural by-products as growth substrates and the proposed approach can be used to evaluate whether se lenium-contaminated plant waste materials harvested from high-selenium areas may be usedto produce selenum-biotic mushrooms based on the concentration, bioaccessibility and speciation of Selenium in the mushrooms.
TL;DR: A numerical scheme based on weighted average differential quadrature method is proposed to solve time dependent Burgers' equation with appropriate initial and boundary conditions and found that the proposed numerical scheme produce accurate results and quite easy to implement.
TL;DR: In this paper, the results of an experimental work carried out to evaluate the improvement in machined surface properties of die steels machined using powder mixed electric discharge machining (PMEDM) process were reported.
Abstract: The present study reports the results of an experimental work carried out to evaluate the improvement in machined surface properties of die steels machined using powder mixed electric discharge machining (PMEDM) process. Two surface responses, surface finish and microhardness were analyzed for changes when machined with Si, W and graphite powders mixed in dielectric fluid. The machined surfaces were subsequently analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) to study the element migration from powder, dielectric and the tool. The powder mixed with dielectric and its concentration, current and pulse on time were identified as the significant factors affecting surface finish. Brass electrode and tungsten powder resulted in good surface finish. Amongst the dielectrics used, kerosene provided a better cooling effect whereas EDM oil resulted in better surface finish. The microhardness of the machined surface was also affected by powder and its concentration, current, pulse on time and electrode material. W-Cu electrode and W powder resulted in a higher microhardness. The SEM and EDS analysis showed significant migration of material from the suspended powder, electrode and dielectric to the machined surface.
TL;DR: The present study results showed that PCR amplification of genes involved in taxol biosynthesis is an efficient and reliable method for prescreening taxol-producing fungi.
Abstract: Different endophytic fungi isolated from Himalayan Yew plants were tested for their ability to produce taxol. The BAPT gene (C-13 phenylpropanoid side chain-CoA acetyl transferase) involved in the taxol biosynthetic pathway was used as a molecular marker to screen taxol-producing endophytic fungi. Taxol extracted from fungal strain TBPJ-B was identified by HPLC and MS analysis. Strain TBPJ-B was identified as Fusarium redolens based on the morphology and internal transcribed spacer region of nrDNA analysis. HPLC quantification of fungal taxol showed that F. redolens was capable of producing 66 μg/l of taxol in fermentation broth. The antitumour activity of the fungal taxol was tested by potato disc tumor induction assay using Agrobacterium tumefaciens as the tumor induction agent. The present study results showed that PCR amplification of genes involved in taxol biosynthesis is an efficient and reliable method for prescreening taxol-producing fungi. We are reporting for the first time the production of taxol by F. redolens from Taxus baccata L. subsp. wallichiana (Zucc.) Pilger. This study offers important information and a new source for the production of the important anticancer drug taxol by endophytic fungus fermentation.
TL;DR: In this article, a pseudo-first-order kinetic model was applied to evaluate the kinetic parameters for the transesterification of waste cotton seed oil with methanol, and a first-order rate constant (k) and activation energy (Ea) were found to be 0.10 min−1 and 43 kJ mol−1, respectively.
Abstract: Zinc-doped (0.25–7 wt %) calcium oxide (Zn/CaO) has been prepared in nanocrystalline form by a simple wet chemical method followed by calcination up to 950 °C. The structural analysis has been investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), whereas the surface morphology and average particle size of Zn/CaO were determined by scanning electron and transmission electron microscopic studies, respectively. The catalytic activity of the prepared Zn/CaO toward the transesterification of cotton seed oil with methanol was found to be a function of its calcination temperature, crystallite size, and basic strength. A pseudo-first-order kinetic model was applied to evaluate the kinetic parameters for the transesterification of waste cotton seed oil with methanol, and a first-order rate constant (k) and activation energy (Ea) were found to be 0.10 min–1 and 43 kJ mol–1, respectively. The catalyst, Zn/CaO, was amenable to recovery and recycling for at least five consecutive reaction cycles. The Koros–Nowak criterion t...
01 Dec 2013
TL;DR: A new agent learning–based clustering and routing in VANETs is proposed and the results obtained show that the proposed scheme is effective in performing fast clustered and converges quickly to the final solution.
Abstract: Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is an emerging technology which can be used in various applications such as intelligent transport technology, safety applications, etc. But one of the major issues in VANETs is how to cluster the vehicles on the road for efficient operations such as routing, mobility management and generating safety alarms. Clustering of vehicles has been widely used for routing and data dissemination in VANETs. But due to the high mobility of the vehicles/nodes on the road, it is quite difficult to find the exact route in VANETs. Keeping in view of the above issue, in this paper, we propose a new agent learning---based clustering and routing in VANETs. Agents learn from the environment in which they are deployed, and accordingly, their action performed is rewarded or penalized with certain values. Each agent performs its task in collaboration with the other agents, i.e. agents communicate with each other in collaborative manner for information sharing. The deployed agents estimate the mobility of the vehicles, and based upon their learning, clustering of vehicles is performed. An Agent Learning---based Algorithm for Clustering is proposed. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using extensive simulation with respect to the various metrics such as message transmission ratio, percentage of connectivity, node participation, cluster head duration, and connectivity preservation ratio. The results obtained show that the proposed scheme is effective in performing fast clustering and converges quickly to the final solution.
TL;DR: A new authentication scheme is presented that provides a robust anonymous two-factor authentication for consumer roaming service in GLOMONETs and is analyzed whether it withstands various attacks.
Abstract: As a mechanism to secure access to a global mobility network (GLOMONET), authentication for consumer roaming service is an essential technology. Moreover, as mobile consumers are getting concerned about how much information network providers gather about them, privacy preservation is a serious concern these days. In this paper, a new authentication scheme is presented that provides a robust anonymous two-factor authentication for consumer roaming service in GLOMONETs. Detailed operational phases of the proposed scheme are provided. Security analysis is provided to confirm that the proposed scheme provides anonymity, authentication, and perfect forward secrecy. In addition, the proposed scheme is analyzed whether it withstands various attacks.
TL;DR: It is clear that surface treatment of building materials by B. megaterium SS3 is very effective and eco friendly way of biodeposition of coherent carbonates that enhances the durability ofBuilding materials.
Abstract: Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation is a biomineralization process that has various applications in remediation and restoration of range of building materials. In the present study, calcifying bacteria, Bacillus megaterium SS3 isolated from calcareous soil was applied as biosealant to enhance the durability of low energy, green building materials (soil-cement blocks). This bacterial isolate produced high amounts of urease, carbonic anhydrase, extra polymeric substances and biofilm. The calcium carbonate polymorphs produced by B. megaterium SS3 were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transmission infra red spectroscopy. These results suggested that calcite is the most predominant carbonate formed by this bacteria followed by vaterite. Application of B. megaterium SS3 as biogenic surface treatment led to 40 % decrease in water absorption, 31 % decrease in porosity and 18 % increase in compressive strength of low energy building materials. From the present investigation, it is clear that surface treatment of building materials by B. megaterium SS3 is very effective and eco friendly way of biodeposition of coherent carbonates that enhances the durability of building materials.
TL;DR: In this paper, the performance of EDFA, RAMAN and SOA amplifiers was compared on the basis of transmission distance and dispersion with and without nonlinearities in 10Gbps WDM systems at 16, 32 and 64 channels.
TL;DR: In this paper, calcium ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized by conventional sol-gel method and were characterised by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, Vibrating sample magnetometer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscope.
TL;DR: A new model to handle four major issues of fuzzy time series forecasting, viz., determination of effective length of intervals, handling of fuzzy logical relationships (FLRs), determination of weight for each FLR, and defuzzification of fuzzified time series values is presented.
TL;DR: A novel bacterial foraging based hyper-heuristic resource scheduling algorithm has been designed to effectively schedule the jobs on available resources in a Grid environment by minimizing cost and makespan of user applications submitted to the Grid.
TL;DR: In this paper, the similarity reductions and exact solutions are derived by determining the complete sets of point symmetries of these equations, and some exact analytic solutions are considered by the power series method.
Abstract: In this paper, variable coefficients Kawahara equation (VCKE) and variable coefficients modified Kawahara equation (VCMKE), which arise in modeling of various physical phenomena, are studied by Lie group analysis. The similarity reductions and exact solutions are derived by determining the complete sets of point symmetries of these equations. Moreover, some exact analytic solutions are considered by the power series method. Further, a generalized -expansion method is applied to VCKE and VCMKE for constructing some new exact solutions. As a result, hyperbolic function solutions, trigonometric function solutions and some rational function solutions with parameters are furnished. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
TL;DR: In this paper, the non-linear flexural and dynamic response of CNT reinforced laminated composite plates using fast converging finite double Chebyshev polynomials is analyzed.
Abstract: The paper presents the non-linear flexural and dynamic response of CNT reinforced laminated composite plates using fast converging finite double Chebyshev polynomials. Halpin–Tsai model is used for evaluating the properties of matrix by dispersing CNT in it. Thereafter, CNT reinforced polymer matrix is treated as new matrix and then reinforced with E-Glass fiber in an orthotropic manner. Mathematical formulation of the laminated plate is based on first order shear deformation theory and von-Karman non-linear kinematics. Houbolt time marching scheme and quadratic extrapolation techniques are used for temporal discretization and linearization, respectively. The effects of CNT % and its aspect ratio on the non-linear flexural and dynamic response of the laminated composite plates are presented.
TL;DR: In this article, the treatment of textile printing dye-bath effluent (DBE) has been performed by electro-coagulation (EC) method using aluminum (Al) electrode in a batch mode.
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of Tb-doping and size of synthesized nanowires on structural, electrical, magnetic, dielectric, and magnetodielectric properties have been investigated.
Abstract: Nanoscale, multifunctional, multiferroic materials possess strong magnetoelectric coupling (ME), open exciting multitudinous ways for designing future nanoelectronic and spintronic device applications. Bulk nanowires (100 nm), pure, and Tb-doped BiFeO3 multiferroic nanowires (20 nm) have been synthesized by colloidal dispersion template-assisted technique. The effects of Tb-doping and size of synthesized nanowires on structural, electrical, magnetic, dielectric, and magnetodielectric properties have been investigated. X-ray diffraction study reveals that doping of Tb in BiFeO3 nanowires leads to structural transformation from rhombohedral to orthorhombic. X-ray photoemission analysis confirms the +3 oxidation state of Fe and high purity of samples. Bulk nanowires exhibit antiferromagnetic characteristics, whereas the Tb-doped BiFeO3 nanowires show ferromagnetic character. Moreover, with increase in Tb concentration, the saturation magnetization increases. Temperature-dependent magnetization study suggests their size-dependent ferro and ferri-magnetic behavior. Polarization versus electric field (P–E) study reveals that pure BiFeO3 nanowires possess elliptical loop; however, doping of Tb results in rectangular loop— portentous good ferroelectric properties. All synthesized samples exhibit frequency-dependent dielectric constant which decreases with increase in frequency and remains fairly constant at higher frequencies. Leakage current density decreases with increase in Tb concentration, and has been found to be three orders of magnitude less than those of bulk BiFeO3 nanowires. The ME coupling in synthesized nanowires was estimated by measuring magnetodielectric. A very high value of ME, 7.2 %, has been found for 15 % Tb-doped BiFeO3 nanowires. In this communication, we, for the first time, report new cue on size-dependent Tb-doped BiFeO3 nanowires, which may be further used to explore its technological device applications.