An overview of advances in biomass gasification

Biomass gasification is a widely used thermochemical process for obtaining products with more value and potential applications than the raw material itself. Cutting-edge, innovative and economical gasification techniques with high efficiencies are a prerequisite for the development of this technology. This paper delivers an assessment on the fundamentals such as feedstock types, the impact of different operating parameters, tar formation and cracking, and modelling approaches for biomass gasification. Furthermore, the authors comparatively discuss various conventional mechanisms for gasification as well as recent advances in biomass gasification. Unique gasifiers along with multi-generation strategies are discussed as a means to promote this technology into alternative applications, which require higher flexibility and greater efficiency. A strategy to improve the feasibility and sustainability of biomass gasification is via technological advancement and the minimization of socio-environmental effects. This paper sheds light on diverse areas of biomass gasification as a potentially sustainable and environmentally friendly technology

Post-translational modifications of thromboxane receptor G-protein alpha q complex in hypoxic PPHN

Introduction: Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is associated with an elevated thromboxane to prostacyclin ratio, pulmonary artery (PA) hyperreactivity and hypersensitivity. Thromboxane receptor (TP), coupling with G-protein Gαq causes pulmonary vasoconstriction; whereas prostacyclin receptor (IP), coupling with Gαs, causes vasodilation and TP phosphorylation via adenylyl cyclase (AC)-cAMP-protein kinase A (PKA), desensitizes TP. Both TP phosphorylation and Gαq palmitoylation play major roles in regulation of signaling through the TP-Gαq complex. We hypothesized that increased Gαq palmitoylation and decreased AC activity could cause hypoxic TP hyperresponsiveness. We studied the impact of hypoxia on selected post-translational modifications of the receptor-G-protein complex, determining TP vasoconstriction: Gαq palmitoylation, TP phosphorylation and upstream AC activity. Methods: Force responses to thromboxane mimetic U46619, palmitoylation inhibition by 2-bromopalmitate (2-BP) and AC activation (forskolin) were studied by myography in hypoxic PPHN and control newborn swine pulmonary artery. Ca2+ mobilization was studied by fluorescent calcium indicators fura-2AM in pulmonary myocytes (PASMC), and fluo-4NW in HEK293 cells. Effects of hypoxia on Gαq palmitoylation were studied by metabolic labeling. Gαq cysteines and TP serines were mutated to determine sites of post-translational modifications. Protein expression and receptor-G-protein coupling were studied by Western blot and co-immunoprecipitation. PKA activity was assayed; and AC activity quantified. Results: Hypoxia increases Gαq palmitoylation, without increasing total palmitate uptake. Palmitoylation inhibition decreases U46619-stimulated force generation as well as Ca2+ mobilization in PPHN PA rings and hypoxic PASMC. Mutation of palmitoylable cysteine and palmitoylation inhibition proportionately decrease U46619-mediated Ca2+ mobilization in HEK293 cells. TP serine phosphorylation is decreased by hypoxia due to decreased PKA activity; this causes TP hypersensitivity and hyper-reactivity. Serine 324 of TPα is the target of PKA-mediated desensitization. AC activator-induced relaxation is reduced in PPHN PA. Basal and receptor-stimulated AC activity are decreased in hypoxic PASMC. Decreased AC activity is not due to decreased AC expression, ATP availability nor increased Gαi activation. Conclusion: Increased Gαq palmitoylation plays a role in TPα hyper-responsiveness in hypoxic PPHN. Hypoxia also reduces responses to agents acting through AC, unleashing TP-mediated vasoconstriction. Reactivation of pulmonary AC might be useful therapeutically to promote vasodilation and TP desensitization.October 201

Decoding the Enigma: Benchmarking Humans and AIs on the Many Facets of Working Memory

Working memory (WM), a fundamental cognitive process facilitating the temporary storage, integration, manipulation, and retrieval of information, plays a vital role in reasoning and decision-making tasks. Robust benchmark datasets that capture the multifaceted nature of WM are crucial for the effective development and evaluation of AI WM models. Here, we introduce a comprehensive Working Memory (WorM) benchmark dataset for this purpose. WorM comprises 10 tasks and a total of 1 million trials, assessing 4 functionalities, 3 domains, and 11 behavioral and neural characteristics of WM. We jointly trained and tested state-of-the-art recurrent neural networks and transformers on all these tasks. We also include human behavioral benchmarks as an upper bound for comparison. Our results suggest that AI models replicate some characteristics of WM in the brain, most notably primacy and recency effects, and neural clusters and correlates specialized for different domains and functionalities of WM. In the experiments, we also reveal some limitations in existing models to approximate human behavior. This dataset serves as a valuable resource for communities in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and AI, offering a standardized framework to compare and enhance WM models, investigate WM's neural underpinnings, and develop WM models with human-like capabilities. Our source code and data are available at https://github.com/ZhangLab-DeepNeuroCogLab/WorM

Assessing the Immediate Effect of Covid-19 Lockdown on Air Quality: A Case Study of Delhi, India

In India, a nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 has been implemented on 25 March 2020. The lockdown restrictions on more than 1.3 billion people have brought exceptional changes in the air quality all over the country. This study aims to analyze the levels of three major pollutants: particulate matter sized 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and 10 μm (PM10), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) before and during the lockdown in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities. The data for PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 concentrations are derived from 38 ground stations dispersed within the city. The spatial interpolation maps of pollutants for two times are generated using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) model. The results indicate decreasing levels of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 concentrations in the city by 93%, 83%, and 70% from 25 February 2020 to 21 April 2020 respectively. It is found that one month before the lockdown the levels of air pollution in Delhi were critical and much higher than the guideline values set by the World Health Organization. The levels of air pollution became historically low after the lockdown. Considering the critically degraded air quality for decades and higher morbidity and mortality rate due to unhealthy air in Delhi, the improvement in air quality due to lockdown may result as a boon for the better health of the city’s population

Ballistic Impact on Glass/Epoxy Composite Laminates

Glass/epoxy composite laminates are subjected to impact loading and the energy absorbing capacity of the laminates is studied. In the present study, laminates with four different orientations and thickness values are considered. Analytical study is carried out based on energy method and results are compared with FE results obtained from Abaqus/Explicit software. Results obtained from the analytical methods are showing good agreement with the FE results. It is found that cross-ply laminates are most efficient in ballistic resistance when compared with the laminates of other orientations. It is also noticed that the energy absorbing capacity is decreasing with increase in velocity of the projectile for a given lay-up and thickness value.Defence Science Journal, Vol. 64, No. 4, July 2014, pp. 393-399, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.3882

Successful management of an Rh alloimmunised twin gestation pregnancy with multiple atypical antibodies with severe fetal anemia

Rhesus-D alloimmunization is characterized by production of antibodies as a result of immune response generated in an individual due to exposure to alloantibodies from different individual. Here we are reporting a case of successful obstetric and perinatal outcome of twin pregnancy with Rh-incompatibility along with other atypical antibodies leading to fetal and neonatal anemia in both the twins. Antenatal management consisted of serial obstetric Doppler to look for Middle cerebral artery blood flow and Peak systolic velocity to detect fetal anemia followed by Intra Uterine transfusion of packed red cells through umbilical vein to treat the same for both the twins. In the presence of multiple atypical antibodies in the maternal serum no compatible blood was available for transfusion for either the mother or the neonates after delivery so NICU management consisted initially of transfusion of intravenous immunoglobulin’s along with steroids to prevent auto and alloantibody reactions but in view of dropping hemoglobin in both twins least incompatible blood was given to both the twins

Maternal and foetal outcome in term patients with previous one lower segment cesarean section

Background: In modern day obstetric practice we encounter increasing number of patients with history of caesarean section because of rise in primary caesarean due to changing trends in their indications. There is increasing fear and anxiety by obstetricians for managing these cases from medico legal point of view. Present study was done to look at the feto-maternal outcome and for   appropriate mode of delivery and overall  to conduct the proper management of patients with previous one  lower segment caesarean section so as to achieve the goal of healthy mother and baby at the end of pregnancy.Methods: This is a Retrospective observational study carried out at G S Medical College and KEM Hospital, Parel Mumbai 12 Maharashtra India from January 2015 to December 2015. All patients enrolled in study were with H/O previous lower segment caesarean section. Classical CS, inverted T incision other medical complications were excluded. Patients were evaluated thoroughly by history and examination and mode of delivery was decided. Informed consent was taken of the patients who were fit for VBAC ie Vaginal Birth after caesarean section. Antenatal, intrapartum and post-partum records were evaluated. Women who were given trial of VBAC, progressed into labour spontaneously. Labour was constantly supervised by competent staff and meticulously monitored by CTG.Results: All the patients were counselled throughout their ANC period for VBAC Out of 7680 confinements 588 patients with previous one LSCS were encountered and among these patients 311 consented for vaginal birth and 277 underwent elective LSCS. From the 311 patients who consented for VBAC 165 delivered successfully 146 required Emergency LSCS. In VBAC group, 8 patients required foceps and in 2 patients required vaccum .There were 42 patients who underwent emergency LSCS for scar tenderness from which 10 patients had scar dehiscence and one patient had rupture uterus.Conclusions: Successful vaginal delivery in patients with history of previous caesarean is associated with better outcomes than emergency caesarean section and hence proper counseling in ANC period and selection of patients for trial of VBAC is necessary, especially in underdeveloped nations where limited resources and facilities of feto-maternal monitoring are available

Reason from Context with Self-supervised Learning

Self-supervised learning (SSL) learns to capture discriminative visual features useful for knowledge transfers. To better accommodate the object-centric nature of current downstream tasks such as object recognition and detection, various methods have been proposed to suppress contextual biases or disentangle objects from contexts. Nevertheless, these methods may prove inadequate in situations where object identity needs to be reasoned from associated context, such as recognizing or inferring tiny or obscured objects. As an initial effort in the SSL literature, we investigate whether and how contextual associations can be enhanced for visual reasoning within SSL regimes, by (a) proposing a new Self-supervised method with external memories for Context Reasoning (SeCo), and (b) introducing two new downstream tasks, lift-the-flap and object priming, addressing the problems of "what" and "where" in context reasoning. In both tasks, SeCo outperformed all state-of-the-art (SOTA) SSL methods by a significant margin. Our network analysis revealed that the proposed external memory in SeCo learns to store prior contextual knowledge, facilitating target identity inference in the lift-the-flap task. Moreover, we conducted psychophysics experiments and introduced a Human benchmark in Object Priming dataset (HOP). Our results demonstrate that SeCo exhibits human-like behaviors

COMPARATIVE PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF ETHNOBOTANICALLY IMPORTANT MEDICINAL PARASITIC HERB: ALECTRA CHITRAKUTENSIS

Objective: Alectra chitrakutensis (M. A. Rau) R. Prasad & R. D. Dixit is a critically endangered and ethnobotanically very important plant. Official drug i.e. dried rhizome of the plant has been reported to be used for treatment of leprosy, tuberculosis, paralysis, oedematous swelling, fevers, intestinal worms and constipation. Besides having high medicinal properties, detail studies on chemical constituents present in the rhizome of this particular species have not been done so far. Thus, in present study efforts were made for evaluation of phytochemical as well as physicochemical analysis of the rhizome collected from six different places of the Chitrakoot region of Madhya Pradesh (M. P.) and Uttar Pradesh (U. P.).Methods: Phytochemical analysis of the rhizome was carried out as per standard protocol given in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (API). Separation and qualitative phytochemical screening were done by using an advance technique of High-performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC).Results: The study revealed the presence of alkaloids, steroids, triterpenoids, flavonoids, glycosides, carbohydrates, starch, saponin, tannins, etc. in the rhizome of the plants, and the study confirmed the chemotaxonomic resemblance among all the collected plant materials.Conclusion: Comparative study of six rhizome samples of A. Chitrakutensis provides authenticity for establishing Pharmacopoeial standardization of drug and evidence of the study proves the chemotaxonomic similarities of official drug.Keywords: Alectra chitrakutensis, Endangered plant, Quality control, Physicochemical, Phytochemical analysis, HPTL