Prediction of optimum process parameters to achieve eco-friendly desizing of organic cotton fabrics with indigenously produced alpha-amylase and their enzyme kinetics

An attempt has been made to study the desizing of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) starch-based organic cotton fabric using alpha-amylase enzyme with various process parameters such as enzyme concentration, temperature and reaction time. These process variables are selected based on the Box–Behnken design of experiment and the output of experiment resulted in weight loss of the fabric and their results are optimized with minimum error. The test results are analyzed using Design-Expert software 8.0 to predict the optimum process parameters to achieve the required desizing efficiency and their results are compared with actual trials. The alpha-amylase enzyme kinetics are studied at various concentrations, temperatures and reaction times to optimize the desizing process parameters. The performance of desizing was assessed by an iodine test and FTIR results to confirm the degradation of PVA starch in the desized organic cotton fabrics.     

Hydrothermally synthesized ZnO and Z-rGO nanorods: Effect of post-annealing temperature and rGO incorporation on hydrogen sensing

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In this work, hydrogen-sensing characteristics of zinc oxide nanorods and reduced graphene oxide-incorporated zinc oxide nanorods are...     

Cryptosporidium parvum--propagation of oocyst in neonatal calves

A retrospective analysis of treatment of 8 children aged 5 to 13 years with intracranial germ cell tumors (3 germinomas, 5 nongerminomatous cell tumors) is reported. All patients were initially operated. Five of them underwent total or incomplete removal of the tumor. After surgery 2 children received radiotherapy alone (1 germinome, 1 nongerminomatous germ cell tumors) and 5 (2 germinomas, 3 nongerminomatous germ cell tumors) combined radio- and chemotherapy. One patient (choriocarcinoma) didn't receive any adjuvant treatment after total tumor removal. All 3 children with germinomas show complete remission for 29, 40 and 93 months. Of 5 patients with nongerminomatous germ cell tumors in 2 the duration of remission was 22 and 53 months and 3 relapsed 4, 12 and 24 months after treatment. The data presented demonstrate that the treatment results of intracranial germ cell tumors in children depend on histologic type of the tumor. Thus, precise tumor type determination is most important for choosing optimally adequate treatment approach.     

220 GHz Zenith Atmospheric Transparency at IAO, Hanle

We present 220 GHz (1.36 mm) measurements of zenith optical depth obtained to characterise the Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle (Ladakh, India) during the period from late December 1999 to early May 2000 and early October 2000 to September 2001. The data were sampled at an interval of 10 minutes. We describe the automated 220 GHz tipping radiometer used, its basic principle, operation, data acquisition method and data reduction scheme in detail. The 220 GHz opacity is found to be less than 0.06 for a significant fraction (40%) of the time during the winter months, indicating that Hanle is one of the good observing sites for submillimeter-wave astronomy. We make a preliminary correlation with the precipitable water vapour derived from surface relative humidity and air temperature measurements made during the same period with a weather station installed at the site. We also compare the Hanle site with other high-altitude sites like Mauna Kea and Atacama desert.