Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial Heterogeneity of Temporal Shifts in Extreme Precipitation across India

When analyzing trends and patterns of extreme precipitation, one can easily generalize the shifts caused by external climate forcings and map a single temporal shift of annual precipitation. However, the complexity of a changing environment evidences spatially distributed shifts particularly those of extreme precipitation which are essential in planning and designing enterprises and, ultimately, in managing infrastructure across scales. The goal of this study is to characterize the spatial heterogeneity of shifts in the increasing pace of extreme events over India. The study has a two-part hypothesis: (1) the number of grid cells with significant trends in annual precipitation (P), extreme precipitation (R95) and very extreme precipitation (R99) will reflect the extent of geophysically vulnerable areas subject to increasing or decreasing annual precipitation and (2) the dispersion of cells with significant shifting points (which has occurred at different historical periods) will evidence the heterogeneity of the changes in P, R95 and R99 regimes. To test this hypothesis, we used the Mann-Kendall and Pettitt’s tests to estimate the significance of the increasing and decreasing trends and shifting points, respectively, in P, R95 and R99 from 1901-2015 for mainland India. digitalcommons.unl. edu Published in Journal of Climate Change, Vol. 5, No. 1 (2019), pp. 19-31. doi:10.3233/JCC190003 Submitted August 20, 2018; revised and accepted November 15, 2018 Khan et al . in Journal of Cl imate Change 5 (2019) 2 Based on a gridded dataset of 0.25° resolution, results showed significant temporal trends for spatially averaged R95 and R99, whereas non-significant inclining temporal trend was found for P. Trend analyses applied to the precipitation gridded product of the Indian Meteorological Department revealed statistically significant trends for almost 38%, 36% and 31% of India’s territory for P, R95 and R99, respectively. Further, the magnitude of these trends proved higher for R95 (i.e., 0.42 mm year-1) compared with R99 (i.e., 0.31 mm year-1), supporting the idea of an increasing liability for flash floods. Results also showed that most of the temporal shifts in the time series of P, R95 and R99 occurred between 1941-1980, at 34%, 31% and 22% of the grids, respectively. In addition, the opposite trends before and after the inflection point were found for locations showing significant temporal shifts in R95 and R99.
Formulation and in vitro Evaluation of Spherical Crystal Agglomerates of Ebastine by Quasi Emulsion Solvent Diffusion Method

Ebastine (EBS) is a poorly water-soluble antihistaminic drug; it belongs to the class II group according to the biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS). The aim of the present work was to enhance the solubility, dissolution rate and micromeritic properties of the drug, by formulating it as spherical crystal agglomerates by Quasi Emulsion Solvent Diffusion (QESD) method. Spherical crystal agglomerates (SCAs) were prepared in presence of three solvents dichloromethane (DCM), water and chloroform as a good solvent, poor solvent and bridging solvent respectively. Agglomeration of EBS involved the use of some hydrophilic polymers like polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG 4000), polyvinyl pyrrolidine K30 (PVP K30), D-? -tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) and ? cyclodextrin. The pure drug (EBS) and its agglomerates with and without polymers were characterized for their drug content, percentage yield, solubility, in vitro drug release study and micromeritic property as well as by optical microscope, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), FTIR spectroscopic studies, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The results of this work showed that there was a marketed enhancement in the solubility with improvement in dissolution rate, physiochemical properties, decrease in crystallinity and alteration in the crystal habit of the drug especially in presence of polymers. The best results were obtained with formula prepared by the combination of PEG 4000 and ? cyclodextrin in the agglomeration process of (EBS).
Strides towards the Realization of Cure for Cartilage Defects and Osteoarthritis: The Limitation and Regulatory Challenges

Despite remarkable mechanical durability and strength, hyaline cartilage has very limited capacity for self-repair when injured and over time, may degenerate to osteoarthritis. We evaluated the most significant mile stones attained, in the pursuit of cure for cartilage defects and osteoarthritis. The basic treatment options include: Natural or physical therapy, medications, nutritional supplements, nutriceuticals and chondroprotective agents. Next are repairs and replacements, which include surgical procedures: Debridement/chondroplasty, microfracturing, mosaicplasty, periosteum transplantation, osteochondral autografting and allografting, high tibial osteotomy and total knee arthroplasty. But, current trend has shifted from repair, replacement, to most recently regeneration. Regenerations include the cell and gene therapies. While cell therapy involves the use of cells isolated from different tissues to cause regeneration of cartilage; gene therapy involves the selection of appropriate gene and optimal vector to incorporate cDNA. There has been much positivity reported with big animal models, which has led to several ongoing clinical trials. Translations of these findings hold high promises, though not without inherent regulatory hurdles. Considering the initial success rates, there are increasing hopes of realizing these treatments from bench to bedsides. Significant improvements in the treatment of cartilage degenerations and osteoarthritis have been made so far, but no gold standard delineated.
Estimation of growth and exopolysaccharide production by two soil cyanobacteria, Scytonema tolypothrichoides and Tolypothrix bouteillei as determined by cultivation in irradiance and temperature crossed gradients

Two filamentous cyanobacteria of the genera Scytonema and Tolypothrix were reported to be effective for stabilizing soil in arid areas due to the production of significant amounts of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS). These EPS may also have applications in the biotechnology industry. Therefore, two cyanobacterial species, Scytonema tolypothrichoides and Tolypothrix bouteillei were examined using crossed gradients of temperature (8–40°C) and irradiance (3–21 W m−2) to identify their temperature and irradiance optima for maximum biomass and EPS production. According to their reported temperature requirements, both strains were considered mesophilic. The optimum growth range of temperature in S. tolypothrichoides (27 to 34°C) was higher than T. bouteillei (22–32°C). The optimum irradiance range for growth of S. tolypothrichoides (9–13 W m−2) was slightly lower than T. bouteillei (7–18 W m−2). Maximum EPS production by S. tolypothrichoides occurred at similar temperatures (28–34°C) as T. bouteillei (27–34°C), both slightly higher than for maximum growth. The optimum irradiance range for EPS production was comparable to that for growth in S. tolypotrichoides (8–13 W m−2), and slightly lower in T. bouteillei (7–17 W m−2). The Redundancy Analysis confirmed that temperature was the most important controlling factor and protocols for field applications or for mass cultivation can now be developed.
EFFECT ON NOSOCOMIAL SEPSIS OF TOPICAL OIL APPLICATION, SKIN CONDITION, AND CARE PRACTICE DEVICE USAGE IN PRETERM NEONATES: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Bhavya Kukreja1, Ajay Kumar2, Labani Satyanarayana3 From 1Senior Resident, Department of Paediatrics, 2Director Professor, Department of Neonatology, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, 3Scientist G, Department of Health Research, National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (ICMR), Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India Correspondence to: Dr. Ajay Kumar, Head, Department of Neonatology, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi 110002, India. E-mail: ajayneonatology@gmail.com Received 12 October 2018 Initial Review 14 November 2018 Accepted 25 November 2018
The Effects of Epoxidized Acrylated Castor Oil (EACO) on Soft Poly (vinyl chloride) Films as a Main Plasticizer

Abstract In this work, an environmentally friendly type plasticizer was introduced. The synthesis consisted of two steps. In the first step, castor oil (CO) was acrylated and then the acrylated castor oil (ACO) was epoxidized with the presence of formic acid and hydrogen peroxide in the second step. The epoxidized acrylated castor oil (EACO) was characterized by FTIR and 1H-NMR techniques. The EACO was used as a main plasticizer to obtain plasticized PVC materials and compared with DOP. The results showed that EACO improved polyvinyl-chloride (PVC) plasticization performance and reduced Tg from 81.06°C to 1.40°C. Plasticized PVC materials with EACO showed similar mechanical properties and better thermal stability than DOP. EACO had better volatility stabilities, migration and solvent extraction in PVC than DOP. EACO can be used to replace DOP to prepare soft films.
Chemical Composition of Gas-Phase Positive Ions during Laboratory Simulations of Titan’s Haze Formation

The organic haze in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan affects the moon’s atmospheric and surface properties. Ions are known to play an important role in haze formation chemistry; however, the role of ions in laboratory simulations of haze formation is poorly characterized. Here, we use a high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer with an atmospheric pressure interface to chemically characterize the ambient gas-phase cations formed as haze is produced by the far ultraviolet photolysis of CH4 in N2. These experiments show that the chemical composition of the cations is complex. High molecular weight ions up to m/z 400 are observed, with organic nitrogen ions, including ions with multiple nitrogen atoms, accounting for the majority of the identified ion peaks. Many of the ions identified in this work have been observed in Titan’s upper atmosphere by the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer. While the chemistry in this study is likely more representative of Titan’s lower atmosphere than of its .
A SALESPERSON-CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP PERSPECTIVE OF SALESFORCE ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

In this competitive environment, as the companies are producing similar products, the only thing that can differentiate one company from other company is the behaviour of salespeople. Salesforce ethical behaviour has been found to have an immense impact on customer’s trust, satisfaction and commitmentwith the salesperson, influencing salesperson-customer relationship. As the profitability of sales organizations depend on the successful relationship between salespeople and customers, efforts are being made by sales organizations to encourage salespeople to behave ethically and address the concern of customers with due responsibility. This paper makes an attempt to analyse the impact of salesforce ethical behaviour on salesforce-customer relationship and suggests ways to improve it. The paper is based on review of studies.
Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of Single Crystalline CoTe2 Nanosheets with Tunable Thickness and Electronic Properties

Two-dimensional (2D) metallic transition metal dichalcogenides (MTMDs) have recently drawn increasing interest for fundamental studies and potential applications in catalysis, charge density wave (CDW), interconnections, spin-torque devices, as well superconductors. Despite some initial efforts, the thickness-tunable synthesis of atomically thin MTMDs remains a considerable challenge. Here we report controlled synthesis of 2D cobalt telluride (CoTe2) nanosheets with tunable thickness using an atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) approach and investigate their thickness-dependent electronic properties. The resulting nanosheets show a well-faceted hexagonal or triangular geometry with a lateral dimension up to ∼200 μm. Systematic studies of growth at varying growth temperatures or flow rates demonstrate that nanosheets thickness is readily tunable from over 30 nm down to 3.1 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution scanning transmission elect.
Urea and rGO Additives to Iodine/Triiodide Electrolyte for Higher Efficiency Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

xii Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Overview . 1 Solar Photovoltaic Cells . 2 DSSC Overview . 4 DSSC Substrate Characteristics . 5 Metal Oxide Electrodes . 6 Photosensitizers (Dyes) for DSSCs . 7 Counter Electrodes (Cathode) . 10 DSSC Electrolytes . 11 Advantages and Disadvantages of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells . 16 Advantages . 17 Disadvantages . 17 Previous Work . 18 Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Liquid Electrolytes . 18 Iodide/Triiodide Electrolyte Additives . 22 Motivations . 23
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF ANGIOTENSIN RECEPTOR BLOCKERS - IRBESARTAN AND TELMISARTAN

Objective: Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are effective hypertensive drugs. Reduction in risk of lung cancer with ARBs was proven in clinical studies. Telmisartan and irbesartan are the second-generation ARBs. This study screens the anticancer activity of these two drugs in a dose-dependent manner using A549 cell line.Methods: Different concentrations of irbesartan and telmisartan were treated on A549 cells and the anticancer activity was evaluated through methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] cytotoxicity assay. The dot plot of the cytotoxicity results was used to extrapolate the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values. Microscopic changes in the cells post-treatment with these drugs were also recorded at ideal concentrations.Results: A reduction in cell viability was noted in A549 cells with increasing concentration of the drug. The IC50 values for irbesartan and telmisartan were 31.1 μg and 15.6 μg, respectively. Microscopic observation of the cells shows more rounded and deformed dead cells on telmisartan- and irbesartan-treated cells when compared with the untreated control.Conclusion: The results confirm the anticancer activity of both the drugs with telmisartan being more efficient. The anticancer activity could probably be due to the role of irbesartan and telmisartan in inhibiting mitogen-activated protein kinase cell survival pathway and local angiogenesis.
Molecular design and synthesis of new dithiocarbazate complexes; crystal structure, bioactivities and nano studies

The syntheses of a new set of metal complexes MoO2L′(CH3OH), VOL′(CH3O)(CH3OH), , , SnL′Cl2 and SnL′I2 with a new ligand (L = (2,2′(disulfanediylbis((ethylthio)methylene)bis(hydrazin-2-yl-1-ylidene)bis(methanylylidene)) diphenol; L′ = S-ethyl-3-(2-hydroxyphenyl)methylenedithiocarbazate are described along with characterization by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, spectroscopic (IR, 1H- and 13C-NMR) and TGA techniques. The crystal structures of compounds were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and compared to powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns of the nano complexes obtained using ultrasonic methods. The PXRD results indicate that the compounds synthesized by ultrasonic methods have high crystallinity. The compounds were evaluated in an in vitro cytotoxicity study with two human cancer cell lines. The results of this study revealed that all complexes exhibit good cytotoxic activity when compared to the clinical drug, cisplatin. Interaction of the samples with human serum albumin (HSA) was investigated using fluorescence spectrophotometric methods and the Stern–Volmer quenching constant (KSV) and free energy changes (ΔG) were calculated at 298 K. The fluorescence quenching method is used to determine the number of binding sites (n) and association constants (Ka) at the same temperatures.
Structure and dynamics of water confined in nanoporous carbon

We study the structure and dynamics of water confined in a nanoporous graphitic carbon structure using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The carbon structure is generated by a reactive MD simulation of oxidation of a silicon carbide nanoparticle. We embed water molecules in the nanopores and study structural and dynamical properties of nanoconfined water as a function of temperature. MD simulation results indicate the presence of high-density water (HDW) and low-density water (LDW). Radial distribution functions (RDF) and spatial density functions (SDF) indicate that the second solvation shell of the HDW is broken. We calculate the self-diffusion coefficient of confined water molecules as a function of temperature and find a significant decrease in the diffusion of water molecules around T = 190K. The cage correlation function c(t) of confined water molecules at T = 200K exhibits stretched exponential decay, c(t) = exp(-(t/τ)β), with β = 0.43, which matches exactly with the theoretical prediction β = 3/7 . Furthermore, the self-intermediate scattering function at T = 200 K indicates differences in small-scale and large-scale dynamics of water molecules.
A novel poly(arylene ether nitrile) ultrafiltration membrane for water purification and its antifouling property with in situ-generated SiO2 nanoparticles

In this work, poly(arylene ether nitrile) (PEN) was utilized to fabricate a separation membrane to remove dye molecules and oil/water emulsions for the very first time. Specifically, 15 wt% polyethylene glycol ( M w = 800 Da) was added to the casting solution as a pore-forming agent to enhance the flux. In situ-generated SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were utilized to improve the membrane surface hydrophilicity by the hydrolyzation of tetraethyl orthosilicate under weak acid conditions. However, the surface hydrophilicity improvement was not significant. It may be because the strong mechanical strength of PEN caused most of the SiO2 NPs to be buried within the polymer matrix or SiO2 NPs were lost by dissolution in the acidic water bath. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were performed to study the membrane surface chemical features. Scanning electron microscopy images were obtained to observe the membrane cross-section morphology.
Selective Gas Permeation in Mixed Matrix Membranes Accelerated by Hollow Ionic Covalent Organic Polymers

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) have gained great attention for the efficient CO2 removal from raw nature gas or biogas (CO2/CH4 separation) and flue gas (CO2/N2 separation). Nevertheless, the development of high-performance MMMs for industrial applications is largely limited by the lack of suitable porous fillers. Herein, a novel ionic covalent organic polymer (ICOP-1) consisting of gas selective pores and hollow cavities is facilely fabricated using a metal triflate catalyzed condensation reaction. Considering its unique structural properties, ICOP-1 is explored as a novel filler to enhance the gas separation properties of polysulfone (PSf) membranes. Defect-free MMMs are successfully prepared owing to the high polymer–filler affinity originating from the organic nature of these two phases. Besides, the large cavities and size-selective pores of ICOP-1 lead to a simultaneous increase in membrane CO2 permeability and CO2/CH4, CO2/N2 selectivities. With the addition of only 0.5 wt % of ICOP-1 fillers, the a.
Development of biodegradable starch nanocrystals/gum Arabic hydrogels for controlled drug delivery and cancer therapy

The study involves preparing starch nanocrystals by acid hydrolysis of starch and to produce a new chemical crosslinking starch nanocrystals/gum Arabic blend in the presence of potassium persulfate (K2S2O8) as an initiator. The new materials were characterized and its potential utilization in controlled drug delivery and cancer therapy were investigated. Crosslinked starch nanocrystals/gum Arabic blends were loaded with hydroxyurea drug. The properties of starch nanocrystal was characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The starch nanocrystal /gum Arabic blends were analyzed in vitro drug release studies by using UV–vis spectroscopy. The swelling test and MTT assay were also investigated. The drug release and the swelling test were monitored at pH7.4 and pH4. XRD result showed that starch nanocrystal was the crystalline A-type. Starch nanocrystal showed a high degree of crystallinity compared with the native starch. The experimental results proved that starch nanocrystal/gum Arabic/hydroxyurea blends reduced the swell ability of blends which lead to slow release of hydroxyurea, and the rate of hydroxyurea release was significantly higher at pH7.4 than pH4, at constant incubation time. The swelling ratio and drug release were decreased by using starch nanocrystal/hydroxyurea while the swelling ratio and drug release using starch nanocrystal/gum Arabic/hydroxyurea blend were lowest. The results of vitro cytotoxicity study showed that the 100 μg ml−1 hydroxyurea concentration killed ∼39% colorectal cancer cells while ∼27% of cells were killed by using starch nanocrystal/gum Arabic/hydroxyurea blends at the same concentration for 24 h of incubation. It was concluded that the hydroxyurea loaded starch nanocrystal/gum Arabic blend enhanced the controlled drug release system thereby, revealing a novelsvehicle for cancer therapy.
Observability and synchronization of dynamical networks: a numerical study

Fundamental properties and classic methods of control theory, such as the computation of the observability matrix of a dynamical system or the stability analysis by Lyapunov direct method, faces serious numerical and scalability issues before high-dimensional systems. This led to a renewed interest in literature under the context of large and complex network systems. In this work, we focus on the observability and synchronization properties of dynamical networks—that is, interconnected systems where each node is modeled as an individual dynamical system. For instance, the traditional problem of sensor (actuator) placement in a network can be assessed as an observability (controllability) problem: the choice of the optimal subset of nodes under which a given observability (controllability) metric of the network is maximized. The contributions of this work in the context of observability of network systems are twofold: we review several proposed metric to quantify in a gradual manner the observability of dynamical and network systems; and, noticing a lack of validation in most works, we develop a Bayesian filtering framework, based on particle filtering, for application as a benchmark in observability studies. As shown, the particle filtering can also be used as a means to investigate the interplay between nodal dynamics and the network topology. Numerical results shows the effectiveness of this framework as performance metric for observability in network systems. On the other hand, in the context of synchronization, we investigate the theoretical sufficient conditions for phase synchronization between two interconnected “bridge oscillators” from different clusters of Kuramoto oscillators. In contrast to most graph-theoretical methods in literature, we take a reductionist approach that does not rely on full information of the adjacency matrix—which might be useful since this information is unavailable in some applications. The derived theoretical conditions are compared to numerical simulations. Finally, a brief insight for observability quantification in network systems is suggested in the conclusion.