Temperature dependent steady and dynamic oscillatory shear rheological characteristics of Indian cow milk (Desi) ghee

Rheological characteristics of Desi ghee were investigated at 18, 24, 30 and 36 °C. The steady shear properties were evaluated by varying the shear rate from 0.01 to 100 s -1 and the dynamic shear properties were studied by varying strain and frequency sweep from 0.01 to 100% and 0.1 to 100 rad s -1 , respectively. At the four selected temperatures, the ghee samples displayed non-Newtonian shear thinning behavior with flow behavior index ( n ) ranging from 0.224 to 0.911. As the shear rate increased from 0 to 100 s -1 , the values of dynamic viscosity decreased from 54 to 8.14, 20.01 to 1.05, 1.33 to 0.295, and 3.02 to 0.0025 Pa s at 18, 24, 30 and 36 °C, respectively. Out of four rheological models (Power-law or Ostwald-de Waele, Herschel-Bulkley, Casson, and Bingham model) fitted to the shear rate and stress data, the Ostwald model was found to be superior in predicting the shear rate-stress data at 18 °C, whereas Ostwald-de Waele and Herschel-Bulkley models predicted all the data points over the temperature range of 24-30 °C, as observed by the values of coefficient of determination ( R 2 ), standard deviation ( SD ), and relative deviation percentage ( R d ). The value of activation energy ( E A ), as calculated from Arrhenius type equation, was found to be 1.98 × 10 6 kJ mol -1 over the entire temperature range. The study also revealed that the magnitudes of dynamic shear viscosity ( η *) were higher than those of the steady shear viscosity ( η ) at the four temperatures, indicating that the Cox-Merz rule was not applicable to the ghee samples.

Smartphone-based System for water quality analysis

Design and development of reverse osmosis (RO) plant status monitoring system for early fault prediction and predictive maintenance

Phase transformations and numerical modelling in simulated HAZ of nanostructured P91B steel for high temperature applications

Porous Silicon Based Bragg-Grating Resonator for Refractive Index Biosensor

In this work, we have evaluated the biosensing capability of the porous silicon (PSi) based sidewall Bragg-grating resonator. The approximation of the quasi-TE mode full vector for the eigenmode calculation is performed using a full vector mode solver. The transmission spectra of the device are evaluated using the transfer matrix method. We have observed a shift in the resonant band for a change in the refractive index of biomaterial in the upper cladding region. The theoretical value of the bulk sensitivity is calculated to be 387.48 nm/RIU. The device is suitable for biosensing application due to its ability of interacting signal with the infiltrated analytes in the PSi waveguide core.

Molecular analysis of influenza A H1N1pdm09 virus circulating in Madhya Pradesh, India in the year 2017

Influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 emerged as a major public health problem in 2009. The virus has evolved since then and has acquired several mutations that are epidemiologically important. Viral hemagglutinin (HA) protein is crucial determinant for virus entry, antigenicity, and virulence. The information regarding amino acid substitutions in HA protein of viruses circulating in India during 2017 is lacking. We sequenced HA gene of Influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 detected in Central India and compared the amino acid sequences with present vaccine component and contemporary Influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 sequences. We observed 7 amino acid changes of which two (T508A and I510T) were novel to Central Indian strain. Further, the substitution of Aspartate by Glycine at 222, which is known to have clinical implications, was detected in sequences from western India. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the circulating virus belonged to clade 6B.1. The appreciable acquired mutations by the virus are not important antigenically and the present vaccine provides effective protection. On the other hand, the amino acid substitutions may play important role in epidemiology; we suggest rigorous molecular monitoring and documentation for timely interventions.

Electrochemical treatment of sugar industry wastewater: process optimization by response surface methodology

Preparation of Drug Eluting Natural Composite Scaffold Using Response Surface Methodology and Artificial Neural Network Approach

Silk fibroin/xanthan composite was investigated as a suitable biomedical material for controlled drug delivery, and blending ratios of silk fibroin and xanthan were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) approach. A non-linear ANN model was developed to predict the effect of blending ratios, percentage swelling and porosity of composite material on cumulative percentage release. The efficiency of RSM was assessed against ANN and it was found that ANN is better in optimizing and modeling studies for the fabrication of the composite material. In-vitro release studies of the loaded drug chloramphenicol showed that the optimum composite scaffold was able to minimize burst release of drug and was followed by controlled release for 5 days. Mechanistic study of release revealed that the drug release process is diffusion controlled. Moreover, during tissue engineering application, investigation of release pattern of incorporated bioactive agent is beneficial to predict, control and monitor cellular response of growing tissues. This work also presented a novel insight into usage of various drug release model to predict material properties. Based on the goodness of fit of the model, Korsmeyer-Peppas was found to agree well with experimental drug release profile, which indicated that the fabricated material has swellable nature. The chloramphenicol (CHL) loaded scaffold showed better efficacy against gram positive and gram negative bacteria. CHL loaded SFX55 (50:50) scaffold shows promising biocomposite for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications.

Effect of dietary Sargassum wightii and its fucoidan-rich extract on growth, immunity, disease resistance and antimicrobial peptide gene expression in Labeo rohita

Effect of using SiC powder-added dielectric media during electro-discharge machining of Inconel 718 superalloys