Shock–shock interaction structures and a newly discovered dynamic instability in granular streams resulting from such interactions are presented. Shock waves are generated by placing two similar triangular wedges in a gravity-driven granular stream. When the shock waves interact, grains collapse near the centre region of the wedges and a slow-moving concentrated diamond-shaped streak of grains is formed that grows as the inclination of the channel is increased. The diamond streak, under certain geometric conditions, is found to become unstable and start oscillating in the direction transverse to the mainstream. When the wedges are placed too close to each other, the granular flux of the incoming stream is unable to pass through the small gap, resulting in the formation of a single bow shock enveloping both the wedges. Experiments are performed for a wide range of flow speeds, wedge angles and wedge separations to investigate the interaction zone. We discuss a possible mechanism for the formation of the central streak and the associated dynamic instability observed for specific physical parameters.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are well known for biomedical applications. The particle size, morphology, surface area, and functionalization are the key parameters that affect their bioactivity properties. Inline to this, the superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared via chemical coprecipitation method with an average particle size of 6 ± 3 nm. The particles were surface-functionalized with chitosan and in-house prepared reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to obtain chitosan-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (C-Fe3O4) and rGO-Fe3O4 nanocomposites (G-Fe3O4), respectively. Upon functionalization, the physicochemical properties of the materials were characterized thoroughly using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer, Raman Spectroscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis. Furthermore, they have subjected to cytotoxicity assay, agar two-fold broth dilution test, and disc diffusion assay experiments for the determination of cytotoxicity and antibacterial activities. The effect of surface functionalization on their bioactivity was investigated thoroughly. The surface functionalization with chitosan and rGO has enhanced the bioactivity of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles.

Chemically modified polymer coatings have been synthesized using a blend of soft polymeric material polydimethylsiloxane (h-PDMS) incorporated with stiff polymer epoxy resin (EP) and was cross-linked using silane compatibilizer 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). A comparative analysis has been carried out between neat epoxy coating (N-EP) and epoxy–hydroxy-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (EP-hPD) blends to study the influence of blending ratio on various properties to cater marine applications. An increase of 144.4% in the Young’s modulus (E) and 37.5% increment in adhesion strength at 30 wt% h-PDMS content was observed as compared with N-EP. The water contact angle results demonstrated a substantial increase in contact angle from 52.3° to 90.1° at 30 wt% h-PDMS content as compared to N-EP. Taber abrasion results revealed a decrease in weight loss (mg/1000 cycles) by 24.1 and 17.7% at 10 and 30 wt% loading of h-PDMS in comparison to N-EP. The surface roughness of N-EP and 30 wt% EP-hPD blend were found to be 33.4 nm and 41.4 nm, respectively. To determine the applicability of the developed blend coatings obligatory tests such as field immersion study and chemical resistance evaluation were conducted, and optimum performance was manifested by EP-hPD blend at an EP:h-PDMS ratio of 70:30.

A four-element wide-band octagonal ring-shaped antenna is proposed for human interface device and S-band applications. The isolation structure comprises a parasitic element and a T-shaped structure. The antenna has −10 dB impedance bandwidth 63% (2.1–4.0 GHz) with miniaturized dimension of 54.98 mm × 76 mm. The multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna gain is 2.83 dBi at the 2.4 GHz resonant frequency. The designed MIMO has envelop correlation coefficient of 0.026 in the 2:1 VSWR band. The −10 dB total active reflection coefficient bandwidth of 1.2 GHz has been achieved in the entire frequency band, and has MEG value of ≤−3 dB. The specific absorption rate has found below the safety limit near the human head, palm and wrist.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are increasingly being used to measure developmental progress among and within countries. Achieving the health-related SDGs remains a primary concern of many developing countries. This study measured the progress in selected health-related indicators of SDGs in the states of India by social and economic groups, and predicted their likely progress by 2030. The health indicators analysed included health outcomes, nutrition, health care utilization and determinants of health. Data from the Census of India, Sample Registration System (SRS), National Family and Health Surveys (NFHSs) and National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) were used in the analysis. Annual rate of progress (ARP) and the required rate of progress (RRP) were computed for selected indicators over the period 2005–06 to 2015–16. A Composite Index of Health (CIH) was used to understand the state of health of populations. The ARP was higher than the RRP in maternal care and reduction of under-five mortality, while ARP was lower than the RRP in undernutrition and sanitation. The ARP for health-related indicators showed a mixed pattern across religion and caste groups. The ARP for medical assistance at birth and immunization was highest among Scheduled Castes and that for reduction of under-five mortality was highest among Scheduled Tribes. The CIH was lowest in Uttar Pradesh (0.26) and highest in Goa (0.81). The association between the CIH and the Human Development Index (HDI) was significant, suggesting interlinkage between health and development. Notable improvements were observed in maternal and child health and maternal health care utilization across social groups in India over the period 2005–06 to 2015–16, and if the trends continue the country can achieve the SDG target in maternal health by 2030. However, progress in nutrition and other health indicators has been slow and uneven.

The solar active region (AR) 12192 was one of the most flare productive region of solar cycle 24, which produced many X-class flares; the most energetic being an X3.1 flare on October 24, 2014 at 21:10 UT. Customarily, such events are believed to be triggered by magnetic reconnection in coronal magnetic fields. Here we use the vector magnetograms from solar photosphere, obtained from Heliospheric Magnetic Imager (HMI) to investigate the magnetic field topology prior to the X3.1 event, and ascertain the conditions that might have caused the flare. To infer the coronal magnetic field, a novel non-force-free field (NFFF) extrapolation technique of the photospheric field is used, which suitably mimics the Lorentz forces present in the photospheric plasma. We also highlight the presence of magnetic null points and quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) in the magnetic field topology, which are preferred sites for magnetic reconnections and discuss the probable reconnection scenarios.

Objectives: Zika virus (ZikaV) is currently one of the most important emerging viruses in the world which has caused outbreaks and epidemics and has also been associated with severe clinical manifestations and congenital malformations. Traditional approaches to combat the ZikaV outbreak are not effective for detection and control. The aim of this study is to propose a cloud-based system to prevent and control the spread of Zika virus disease using integration of mobile phones and Internet of Things (IoT).

Methods: A Naive Bayesian Network (NBN) is used to diagnose the possibly infected users, and Google Maps Web service is used to provide the geographic positioning system (GPS)-based risk assessment to prevent the outbreak. It is used to represent each ZikaV infected user, mosquito-dense sites, and breeding sites on the Google map that helps the government healthcare authorities to control such risk-prone areas effectively and efficiently.

Results: The performance and accuracy of the proposed system are evaluated using dataset for 2 million users. Our system provides high accuracy for initial diagnosis of different users according to their symptoms and appropriate GPS-based risk assessment.

Conclusions: The cloud-based proposed system contributed to the accurate NBN-based classification of infected users and accurate identification of risk-prone areas using Google Maps.

Aiming to develop new artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for malaria, antimalarial effect of a new series of pyrrolidine-acridine hybrid in combination with artemisinin derivatives was investigated. Synthesis, antimalarial and cytotoxic evaluation of a series of hybrid of 2-(3-(substitutedbenzyl)pyrrolidin-1-yl)alkanamines and acridine were performed and mode of action of the lead compound was investigated. In vivo pharmacodynamic properties (parasite clearance time, parasite reduction ratio, dose and regimen determination) against multidrug resistant (MDR) rodent malaria parasite and toxicological parameters (median lethal dose, liver function test, kidney function test) were also investigated. 6-Chloro-N-(4-(3-(3,4-dimethoxybenzyl)pyrrolidin-1-yl)butyl)-2-methoxyacridin-9-amine (15c) has shown a dose dependent haem bio-mineralization inhibition and was found to be the most effective and safe compound against MDR malaria parasite in Swiss mice model. It displayed best antimalarial potential with artemether (AM) in vitro as well as in vivo. The combination also showed favourable pharmacodynamic properties and therapeutic response in mice with established MDR malaria infection and all mice were cured at the determined doses. The combination did not show toxicity at the doses administered to the Swiss mice. Taken together, our findings suggest that compound 15c is a potential partner with AM for the ACT and could be explored for further development.

Radio-echo sounding techniques are very useful for fast profiling of seasonal snowpack. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is used widely for various cryospheric applications, such as snow/glacier depth estimation, snow layer identification and snow water equivalent assessment. The dielectric constant of snow is an important input parameter for the acquisition and interpretation of GPR data from the snowpack. In this study, snow dielectric constant was measured along with physical properties of snow using a snow fork operating at 1 GHz frequency. Experiments were conducted at field observatories of the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment located in different Himalayan ranges: Patseo (Greater Himalayan range), Dhundhi and Solang (Pir Panjal range). Interseasonal spatial and temporal variations in snow dielectric constant and associated snowpack properties were analysed for five winter seasons (2010-14). The mean seasonal snow dielectric constant is higher at Dhundhi (1.82 ±0.02) than at Patseo (1.69 ±0.02). The measured snow dielectric constant was used to derive snow density and liquid-water content (LWC). A better correlation between snow dielectric constant and LWC is observed for high-density snow (>300kgm-3; R2 = 0.95) than for low-density snow (<200kgm-3; R2 = 0.73). Snow-fork-derived snow density was in good agreement with manually measured values. The snow dielectric constant database generated during this study can be used as a reference for various field applications of GPR in snow-related studies.