Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

In this paper, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to solve the Unit Commitment (UC) Problem. Unit commitment problem was formulated with consideration of up & down time, startup cost (Hot & Cold start), and production cost. Unit commitment schedule as well as economic dispatch is obtained to obtain total cost of generation. Problem specific operators are used in the algorithm to improve the quality of the solution obtained and increase the convergence speed of problem. Performance of the GA is tested on 2 IEEE test systems, one of 5 units, 14 bus and another of 7 units, 56 bus respectively over the scheduling period of 24 hours. Results give an insight in the superiority of GA to other methods for solving UC problem.

Introduction. Chapter 1: Introduction to mental ray. What Is mental ray? Why Use mental ray? The Structure of mental ray. mental ray Integration. Command-Line Rendering and the Stand-Alone Renderer. mental ray Shaders and Shader Libraries. Indirect Illumination. Chapter 2: Rendering Algorithms. Introduction to Synthetic Lighting. Rendering under the Hood. mental ray Rendering Algorithms. Scanline Rendering in Depth. Raytrace Rendering in Depth. Hardware Rendering. Chapter 3: mental ray Output. mental ray Data Types. The Frame Buffer. Frame Buffer Options. mental ray Cameras. Output Statements. Chapter 4: Camera Fundamentals. Camera Basics and Aspect Ratios. Camera Lenses. Host Application Settings. Chapter 5: Quality Control. Sampling and Filtering in Host Applications. Raytrace Acceleration. Diagnostic and BSP Fine-Tuning. Chapter 6: Lights and Soft Shadows. mental ray Lights. Area Lights. Host Application Settings. Light Profiles. Chapter 7: Shadow Algorithms. Shadow Algorithms. Raytrace Shadows. Depth-Based Shadows. Stand-Alone and Host Settings. Chapter 8: Motion Blur. mental ray Motion Blur. Motion-Blur Options. Motion-Blur Render Algorithms. Host Settings. Chapter 9: The Fundamentals of Light and Shading Models. The Fundamentals of Light. Light Transport and Shading Models. mental ray Shaders. Chapter 10: mental ray Shaders and Shader Trees. Installing Custom Shaders. DGS and Dielectric Shading Models. Glossy Reflection and Refraction Shaders. Brushed Metals with the Glossy and Anisotropic Shaders. The Architectural (mia) Material. Chapter 11: mental ray Textures and Projections. Texture Space and Projections. mental ray Bump Mapping. mental ray Projection and Remapping Shaders. Host Application Settings. Memory Mapping, Pyramid Images, and Image Filtering. Chapter 12: Indirect Illumination. mental ray Indirect Illumination. Photon Shaders and Photon-Casting Lights. Indirect Illumination Options and Fine-Tuning. Participating Media (PM) Effects. Chapter 13: Final Gather and Ambient Occlusion. Final Gather Fundamentals. Final Gather Options and Techniques. Advanced Final Gather Techniques. Ambient Occlusion. Chapter 14: Subsurface Scattering. Advanced Shading Models. Nonphysical Subsurface Scattering. An Advanced Shader Tree. Physical Subsurface Scattering. Appendix: About the Companion CD. Index.

Antibiotic resistance, and, in a broader perspective, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), continues to evolve and spread beyond all boundaries. As a result, infectious diseases have become more challenging or even impossible to treat, leading to an increase in morbidity and mortality. Despite the failure of conventional, traditional antimicrobial therapy, in the past two decades, no novel class of antibiotics has been introduced. Consequently, several novel alternative strategies to combat these (multi-) drug-resistant infectious microorganisms have been identified. The purpose of this review is to gather and consider the strategies that are being applied or proposed as potential alternatives to traditional antibiotics. These strategies include combination therapy, techniques that target the enzymes or proteins responsible for antimicrobial resistance, resistant bacteria, drug delivery systems, physicochemical methods, and unconventional techniques, including the CRISPR-Cas system. These alternative strategies may have the potential to change the treatment of multi-drug-resistant pathogens in human clinical settings.

Aloe vera ( lú huì) is well known for its considerable medicinal properties. This plant is one of the richest natural sources of health for human beings coming. The chemistry of the plant has revealed the presence of more than 200 different biologically active substances. Many biological properties associated with Aloe species are contributed by inner gel of the leaves. Most research has been centralized on the biological activities of the various species of Aloe, which include antibacterial and antimicrobial activities of the nonvolatile constituents of the leaf gel. Aloe species are widely distributed in the African and the eastern European continents, and are spread almost throughout the world. The genus Aloe has more than 400 species but few, such as A. vera, Aloe ferox, and Aloe arborescens, are globally used for trade. A. vera has various medicinal properties such as antitumor, antiarthritic, antirheumatoid, anticancer, and antidiabetic properties. In addition, A. vera has also been promoted for constipation, gastrointestinal disorders, and for immune system deficiencies. However, not much convincing information is available on properties of the gel. The present review focuses on the detailed composition of Aloe gel, its various phytocomponents having various biological properties that help to improve health and prevent disease conditions.

Modern power system analysis , Modern power system analysis , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

The brain is a delicate organ, and evolution built very efficient ways to protect it. Unfortunately, the same mechanisms that protect it against intrusive chemicals can also frustrate therapeutic interventions. Many existing pharmaceuticals are rendered ineffective in the treatment of cerebral diseases due to our inability to effectively deliver and sustain them within the brain. General methods that can enhance drug delivery to the brain are, therefore, of great interest. Despite aggressive research, patients suffering from fatal and/or debilitating central nervous system (CNS) diseases, such as brain tumors, HIV encephalopathy, epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases and neurodegenerative disorders, far outnumber those dying of all types of systemic cancer or heart disease. The clinical failure of much potentially effective therapeutics is often not due to a lack of drug potency but rather to shortcomings in the method by which the drug is delivered. Treating CNS diseases is particularly challenging because a variety of formidable obstacles often impede drug delivery to the brain and spinal cord. By localizing drugs at their desired site of action one can reduce toxicity and increase treatment efficiency. In response to the insufficiency in conventional delivery mechanisms, aggressive research efforts have recently focused on the development of new strategies to more effectively deliver drug molecules to the CNS. This review intends to detail the recent advances in the field of brain-targeting, rational drug design approach and drug delivery to CNS. To illustrate the complexity of the problems that have to be overcome for successful brain targeting, a brief intercellular characterization of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is also included.

g-C 3 N 4 : a sustainable game-changer in photocatalysis. This work explores synthesis, properties, mechanisms, and applications, addresses challenges, and charts future trends.

The application of plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) at field scale has been hindered by an inadequate understanding of the mechanisms that enhance plant growth, rhizosphere incompetence and the inability of bacterial strains to thrive in different soil types and environmental conditions. Actinobacteria with their sporulation, nutrient cycling, root colonization, bio-control and other plant-growth-promoting activities could be potential field bio-inoculants. We report the isolation of five rhizospheric and two root endophytic actinobacteria from Triticum aestivum (wheat) plants. The cultures exhibited plant-growth-promoting activities, namely phosphate solubilization (1916 mg l(-1)), phytase (0.68 U ml(-1)), chitinase (6.2 U ml(-1)), indole-3-acetic acid (136.5 mg l(-1)) and siderophore (47.4 mg l(-1)) production, as well as utilizing all the rhizospheric sugars under test. Malate (50-55 mmol l(-1)) was estimated in the culture supernatant of the highest phosphate solublizer, Streptomyces mhcr0816. The mechanism of malate overproduction was studied by gene expression and assays of key glyoxalate cycle enzymes - isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH), isocitrate lyase (ICL) and malate synthase (MS). The significant increase in gene expression (ICL fourfold, MS sixfold) and enzyme activity (ICL fourfold, MS tenfold) of ICL and MS during stationary phase resulted in malate production as indicated by lowered pH (2.9) and HPLC analysis (retention time 13.1 min). Similarly, the secondary metabolites for chitinase-independent biocontrol activity of Streptomyces mhcr0817, as identified by GC-MS and (1)H-NMR spectra, were isoforms of pyrrole derivatives. The inoculation of actinobacterial isolate mhce0811 in T. aestivum (wheat) significantly improved plant growth, biomass (33%) and mineral (Fe, Mn, P) content in non-axenic conditions. Thus the actinobacterial isolates reported here were efficient PGPR possessing significant antifungal activity and may have potential field applications.

The purpose of this review is to provide an insight into the different aspects of pH-sensitive liposomes. The review consists of 6 parts: the first introduces different types of medications made in liposomal drug delivery to overcome several drawbacks; the second elaborates the development of pH-sensitive liposomes; the third explains diverse mechanisms associated with the endocytosis and the cytosolic delivery of the drugs through pH-sensitive liposomes; the fourth describes the role and importance of pH-sensitive lipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) and research carried on it; the fifth explains successful strategies used so far using the mechanism of pH sensitivity for fusogenic activity; the final part is a compilation of research that has played a significant role in emphasizing the success of pH-sensitive liposomes as an efficient drug delivery system in the treatment of malignant tumours. pH-Sensitive liposomes have been extensively studied in recent years as an amicable alternative to conventional liposomes in effectively targeting and accumulating anti-cancer drugs in tumours. This research suggests that pH-sensitive liposomes are more efficient in delivering anti-cancer drugs than conventional and long-circulating liposomes due to their fusogenic property. Research focused on the clinical and therapeutic side of pH-sensitive liposomes would enable their commercial utility in cancer treatment.

This Roadmap article on digital holography provides an overview of a vast array of research activities in the field of digital holography. The paper consists of a series of 25 sections from the prominent experts in digital holography presenting various aspects of the field on sensing, 3D imaging and displays, virtual and augmented reality, microscopy, cell identification, tomography, label-free live cell imaging, and other applications. Each section represents the vision of its author to describe the significant progress, potential impact, important developments, and challenging issues in the field of digital holography.

Purpose Previous research showed that there are some barriers which hinder the implementation of total quality management (TQM) in organizations. But no study has been undertaken to understand the interaction among these barriers and to develop a hierarchy of TQM barriers model. There is an urgent need to analyze the behavior of these barriers so that TQM may be successfully implemented. This paper therefore, aims to understand the mutual interaction of these barriers and identify the “driving barriers” (i.e. which influence the other barriers) and the “dependent barriers” (i.e. which are influenced by others). Design/methodology/approach In this paper, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) based approach has been utilized to understand the mutual influences among the barriers of TQM. Findings In the present research work, 12 TQM barriers are identified through the literature review and expert opinion. The research shows that there exist two groups of barriers, one having high driving power and low dependency requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance (such as lack of top‐management commitment, lack of coordination between departments) and the other having high dependence and low driving power and are resultant effects (such as high turnover at management level, lack of continuous improvement culture, employees' resistance to change). Practical implications The adoption of such an ISM‐based model on TQM barriers in service organizations would help managers, decision makers, and practitioners of TQM in better understanding of these barriers and to focus on major barriers while implementing TQM in their organizations. Originality/value Presentation of TQM barriers in the form of an ISM‐based model and the categorization into driver and dependent clusters is a new effort in the area of TQM.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on everyday functioning, considerable measures being taken to reduce the spread of the virus. Schools and social avenues have been placed on prolonged lockdowns, with people continuing to maintain physical distance. Adolescents and young people have had to endure significant stress alongside dealing with developmental characteristics. Amidst all of this, studies report an increase in gaming addiction and internet use with detrimental impact on psychosocial well-being. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of lockdown on internet use in adolescents, comparing their habits from before the pandemic. Furthermore, this research aimed to investigate the relationship between gaming addiction, internet use and COVID-19 worries. Adolescents from several countries (e.g., India, Malaysia, Mexico and the UK) completed online questionnaires, shared via social media and youth networks. These measures included questions on internet, social media, gaming, depression, loneliness, escapism and COVID-19. Results show that adolescents generally have increased their use of social media sites and streaming services. Further, those who scored highly on gaming addiction, compulsive internet use and social media use also reported high scores of depression, loneliness, escapism, poor sleep quality and anxiety related to the pandemic. Our findings indicate that, regardless of country of residence, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant effect on adolescent internet use and psychosocial well-being. The need to address pandemic related distress to reduce the effect of maladaptive coping strategies is highlighted

A facile route has been developed to synthesise and isolate sulphur doped fluorescent carbon dots for the first time. Such carbogenic quantum dots exhibit a wide band gap of 4.43 eV with a high open circuit voltage (VOC) of 617 mV along with a fill factor (FF) as high as 37%, using phenyl-C60-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as the electron transporting layer. Besides the wide band gap, which is useful in the fabrication of solar cells, sulphur modified carbon dots also exhibit a high fluorescence quantum yield of 11.8% without any additional surface passivation, producing a unique fluorescent probe for further applications. In addition, the particles have a strong tendency to interact with the surface of gold nanoparticles and produce a thin fluorescent layer over their surfaces. Moreover, as they are completely biocompatible in nature, the highly fluorescent S-doped carbon dots have a strong potential for use in bioimaging applications. Interestingly, owing to the presence of oxygen and sulphur functionality, the highly negatively charged particles can easily bind with positively charged DNA–PEI complexes, simply by mixing them, and after interaction with DNA, bright blue fluorescence has been observed under an excitation wavelength of 405 nm .

Vitiligo is a multifactorial polygenic disorder with a complex pathogenesis, linked with both genetic and non-genetic factors. The precise modus operandi for vitiligo pathogenesis has remained elusive. Theories regarding loss of melanocytes are based on autoimmune, cytotoxic, oxidant-antioxidant and neural mechanisms. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) in excess have been documented in active vitiligo skin. Numerous proteins in addition to tyrosinase are affected. It is possible that oxidative stress is one among the main principal causes of vitiligo. However, there also exists ample evidence for altered immunological processes in vitiligo, particularly in chronic and progressive conditions. Both innate and adaptive arms of the immune system appear to be involved as a primary event or as a secondary promotive consequence. There is speculation on the interplay, if any, between ROS and the immune system in the pathogenesis of vitiligo. The article focuses on the scientific evidences linking oxidative stress and immune system to vitiligo pathogenesis giving credence to a convergent terminal pathway of oxidative stress-autoimmunity-mediated melanocyte loss.

Many drugs are not being effectively and efficiently delivered using conventional drug delivery approach to brain or central nervous system (CNS) due to its complexity. The brain and the central nervous system both have limited accessibility to blood compartment due to a number of barriers. Many advanced and effective approaches to brain delivery of drugs have emerged in recent years. Intranasal drug delivery is one of the focused delivery options for brain targeting, as the brain and nose compartments are connected to each other via the olfactory route and via peripheral circulation. Realization of nose to brain transport and the therapeutic viability of this route can be traced from the ancient times and has been investigated for rapid and effective transport in the last two decades. Various models have been designed and studied by scientists to establish the qualitative and quantitative transport through nasal mucosa to brain. The development of nasal drug products for brain targeting is still faced with enormous challenges. A better understanding in terms of properties of the drug candidate, nose to brain transport mechanism, and transport to and within the brain is of utmost importance. This review will discuss some pertinent issues to be considered and challenges to brain targeted intranasal drug delivery. A few marketed and investigational drug formulations will also be discussed.

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and quality performance in Indian service companies. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data was collected using a self‐administered instrument that was distributed to 600 Indian service companies. Of the 600 instrument e‐mailed, 172 usable instrument were returned, yielding a response rate of 28.6 per cent. A stratified sampling procedure was utilized to obtain the minimum sample size of 600 from the four chosen service industries (i.e. Healthcare, Banking, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and Hospitality). The data was analyzed using factor, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analyses. Findings – The findings revealed that TQM practices were found to be partially correlated with quality performance of the Indian service companies. It was also found that quality culture was perceived as the dominant TQM practice in quality performance. The other practices such as quality systems, training and education, teamwork, and benchmarking showed a positive relationship with quality performance. Research limitations/implications – The research paper was limited by including only four industries in the selection of service companies in India, making this a possibly biased selection and it may not be adequate to generalize the results for the entire Indian service companies. Originality/value – The study has contributed to the TQM literature with a better understanding of the 17 TQM practices and their association with a company's quality performance that will provide valuable knowledge to top‐management of service companies, to refine their current TQM practices and subsequently improve quality performance.

An attempt has been made to develop water quality index (WQI), using six water quality parameters pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, electrical conductivity, nitrate nitrogen and total coliform measured at three different stations along the Sabarmati river basin from the year 2005 to 2008. Rating scale is developed based on the tolerance limits of inland waters and health point of view. Weighted arithmetic water quality index method was used to find WQI along the stretch of the river basin. It was observed from this study that the impact of human activity and sewage disposal in the river was severe on most of the parameters. The station located in highly urban area showed the worst water quality followed by the station located in moderately urban area and lastly station located in a moderately rural area. It was observed that the main cause of deterioration in water quality was due to the high anthropogenic activities, illegal discharge of sewage and industrial effluent, lack of proper sanitation, unprotected river sites and urban runoff.

We are not able to deal with a mammoth text corpus without summarizing them into a relatively small subset. A computational tool is extremely needed to understand such a gigantic pool of text. Probabilistic Topic Modeling discovers and explains the enormous collection of documents by reducing them in a topical subspace. In this work, we study the background and advancement of topic modeling techniques. We first introduce the preliminaries of the topic modeling techniques and review its extensions and variations, such as topic modeling over various domains, hierarchical topic modeling, word embedded topic models, and topic models in multilingual perspectives. Besides, the research work for topic modeling in a distributed environment, topic visualization approaches also have been explored. We also covered the implementation and evaluation techniques for topic models in brief. Comparison matrices have been shown over the experimental results of the various categories of topic modeling. Diverse technical challenges and future directions have been discussed.

Natural Fiber (NF) becomes a vital part of the various industries such as textile, automotive, packaging, construction, etc. nowadays. This is a review of the chemical composition and mechanical properties of a wide variety of NFs including abaca fiber, bagasse fiber, bamboo fiber, banana fiber, coconut fiber, coir fiber, cotton fiber, flax fiber, hemp fiber, jute fiber, pineapple fiber, ramie fiber and sisal fiber. The chemical properties include cellulose, lignin, hemicellulose, pectin, wax, moisture, ash and microfibrillar angle. The physical properties include tensile strength (TS) and elastic modulus (E) and density (ρ). This paper discovers the significant ranges of chemical properties: cellulose, lignin, hemicellulose, pectin, wax, moisture, ash and microfibrillar angle and mechanical properties: tensile strength, elastic modulus and density.

The effect of NaCl on the endogenous levels of diamine, putrescine and polyamines, spermidine and spermine, was studied in the shoot system of salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive lines of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars during three growth stages. Salt stress increased the levels of diamine and polyamine in varying degrees among nine rice cultivars investigated. Salt tolerant AU1, Co43, and CSC1 were effective in maintaining high concentrations of spermidine and spermine, while the content of putrescine was not significantly altered in all the growth stages when plants were exposed to salinity. The salt sensitivity in rice was associated with excessive accumulation of putrescine and with low levels of spermidine and spermine in the shoot system of salt-sensitive cultivars Co36, CSC2, GR3, IR20, TKM4, and TKM9 under saline condition. One of the possible mechanisms of saline resistance was observed to be due to the highly increased polyamines against the low increase in diamines. Alternatively, the salt sensitivity could be due to high increase of diamines and an incapacity to maintain high levels of polyamines.