C. N. R. Rao and the Growth of Solid State and Materials Chemistry as a Central Domain of Research

In celebrating Professor C. N. R. Rao's 80th birthday, this article recalls his singular contributions to solid state and materials chemistry for about sixty years. In so doing, the article also traces the growth of the field as a central domain of research in chemical sciences from its early origins in Europe. Although Rao's major work lies in solid state and materials chemistry - a field which he started and nurtured in India while its importance was being recognized internationally - his contributions to other areas of chemistry (and physics), viz., molecular spectroscopy, phase transitions, fullerenes, graphene, nanomaterials and multiferroics are equally significant. Illustrative examples of his work devoted to rare earth and transition metal oxides, defects and nonstoichiometry, metal-insulator transitions, investigation of crystal and electronic structures of a variety of solids by means of electron microscopies and photoelectron spectroscopy, superconducting cuprates, magnetoresistive manganites, multiferroic metal oxides of various structures and, last but not the least, development of new strategies for chemical synthesis of a wide variety of solids including nanomaterials and framework solids in different dimensionalities, are highlighted. The article also captures his exemplary role as a science teacher, science educationist and institution builder in post-Independence India.

Cross-linked Chitosan/Thermoplastic Starch Reinforced with Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Using Maleate Esters as Coupling Agent: Mechanical, Tribological and Thermal Characteristics

Bio-nanocomposites have been developed using cross-linked chitosan and cross-linked thermoplastic starch along with acid functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNT). The nanocomposites developed were characterized for mechanical, wear, and thermal properties. The results revealed that the nanocomposites exhibited enhanced mechanical properties. The composites containing 3% f-MWCNT showed maximum compression strength. Tribological studies revealed that, with the addition of small amount of f-MWCNTs the slide wear loss reduced up to 25%. SEM analysis of the nanocomposites showed predominantly brittle fractured surface. Thermal analysis showed that the incorporation of f-MWCNTs has improved the thermal stability for the nanocomposites.

High Value of Proton Relaxivity Achieved by Graphene Oxide-Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticle Composite: A Potential Contrast Agent in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

This work investigates the potential of graphene oxide-cobalt ferrite nanoparticle (GO-CoFe2O4) composite as image contrast enhancing material in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In the preset work, GO-CoFe2O4 composites were produced by a two-step synthesis process. In the first step, graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized, and in the second step CoFe2O4 nanoparticles were synthesized in a reaction mixture containing GO to yield graphene GO-CoFe2O4 composite. Proton relaxivity value obtained from the composite was 361 mM(-1)s(-1). This value of proton relaxivity is higher than a majority of reported relaxivity values obtained using several ferrite based contrast agents.

Medieval pulse of great earthquakes in the central Himalaya: Viewing past activities on the frontal thrust

The Himalaya has experienced three great earthquakes during the last century1934 Nepal-Bihar, 1950 Upper Assam, and arguably the 1905 Kangra. Focus here is on the central Himalayan segment between the 1905 and the 1934 ruptures, where previous studies have identified a great earthquake between thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Historical data suggest damaging earthquakes in A.D. 1255, 1344, 1505, 1803, and 1833, although their sources and magnitudes remain debated. We present new evidence for a great earthquake from a trench across the base of a 13m high scarp near Ramnagar at the Himalayan Frontal Thrust. The section exposed four south verging fault strands and a backthrust offsetting a broad spectrum of lithounits, including colluvial deposits. Age data suggest that the last great earthquake in the central Himalaya most likely occurred between A.D. 1259 and 1433. While evidence for this rupture is unmistakable, the stratigraphic clues imply an earlier event, which can most tentatively be placed between A.D. 1050 and 1250. The postulated existence of this earlier event, however, requires further validation. If the two-earthquake scenario is realistic, then the successive ruptures may have occurred in close intervals and were sourced on adjacent segments that overlapped at the trench site. Rupture(s) identified in the trench closely correlate with two damaging earthquakes of 1255 and 1344 reported from Nepal. The present study suggests that the frontal thrust in central Himalaya may have remained seismically inactive during the last similar to 700years. Considering this long elapsed time, a great earthquake may be due in the region.

Pluronic copolymer encapsulated SCR7 as a potential anticancer agent

Nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) inside cells can be selectively inhibited by 5,6-bis-(benzylideneamino)-2-mercaptopyrimidin-4-ol (SCR7) which possesses anticancer properties. The hydrophobicity of SCR7 decreases its bioavailability which is a major setback in the utilization of this compound as a therapeutic agent. In order to circumvent the drawback of SCR7, we prepared a polymer encapsulated form of SCR7. The physical interaction of SCR7 and Pluronic (R) copolymer is evident from different analytical techniques. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the drug formulations is established using the MTT assay.

Geomorphology reveals active decollement geometry in the central Himalayan seismic gap

The similar to 700-km-long ``central seismic gap'' is the most prominent segment of the Himalayan front not to have ruptured in a major earthquake during the last 200-500 yr. This prolonged seismic quiescence has led to the proposition that this region, with a population >10 million, is overdue for a great earthquake. Despite the region's recognized seismic risk, the geometry of faults likely to host large earthquakes remains poorly understood. Here, we place new constraints on the spatial distribution of rock uplift within the western similar to 400 km of the central seismic gap using topographic and river profile analyses together with basinwide erosion rate estimates from cosmogenic Be-10. The data sets show a distinctive physiographic transition at the base of the high Himalaya in the state of Uttarakhand, India, characterized by abrupt strike-normal increases in channel steepness and a tenfold increase in erosion rates. When combined with previously published geophysical imaging and seismicity data sets, we interpret the observed spatial distribution of erosion rates and channel steepness to reflect the landscape response to spatially variable rock uplift due to a structurally coherent ramp-flat system of the Main Himalayan Thrust. Although it remains unresolved whether the kinematics of the Main Himalayan Thrust ramp involve an emergent fault or duplex, the landscape and erosion rate patterns suggest that the decollement beneath the state of Uttarakhand provides a sufficiently large and coherent fault segment capable of hosting a great earthquake.

Hydrological importance of sacred forest fragments in Central Western Ghats of India

Sacred groves are patches of forests of special spiritual significance to humans, offering also a diverse range of ecological and environmental services. We have attempted here to understand the local hydrological dynamics of a sacred forest, in terms of the benefits the village community derive, in central Western Ghats region of India. A comparative assessment has been made between two small watersheds in terms of their landscape structure (woody species composition) with soil water properties and availability of water in the respective downstream villages. The result shows that, sacred site with more primeval vegetation has close association with soil moisture in comparison to non-sacred site during dry spell of the year. The higher soil moisture ensures year long availability of water in the downstream village of the sacred site which facilitates farming of commercial crops with higher economic returns to the farmers, unlike the farmers in the other village where they face water crisis during the lean season. The study emphasizes the need for conservation endeavour on sacred groves highlighting its potential for water conservation at local and regional levels.

Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning for Traffic Signal Control

Optimal control of traffic lights at junctions or traffic signal control (TSC) is essential for reducing the average delay experienced by the road users amidst the rapid increase in the usage of vehicles. In this paper, we formulate the TSC problem as a discounted cost Markov decision process (MDP) and apply multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) algorithms to obtain dynamic TSC policies. We model each traffic signal junction as an independent agent. An agent decides the signal duration of its phases in a round-robin (RR) manner using multi-agent Q-learning with either is an element of-greedy or UCB 3] based exploration strategies. It updates its Q-factors based on the cost feedback signal received from its neighbouring agents. This feedback signal can be easily constructed and is shown to be effective in minimizing the average delay of the vehicles in the network. We show through simulations over VISSIM that our algorithms perform significantly better than both the standard fixed signal timing (FST) algorithm and the saturation balancing (SAT) algorithm 15] over two real road networks.

Accurate Indoor Positioning of Firefighters using Dual Foot-mounted Inertial Sensors and Inter-agent Ranging

A real-time cooperative localization system, utilizing dual foot-mounted low-cost inertial sensors and RF-based inter-agent ranging, has been developed. Scenario-based tests have been performed, using fully-equipped firefighters mimicking a search operation in a partly smoke-filled environment, to evaluate the performance of the TOR (Tactical lOcatoR) system. The performed tests included realistic firefighter movements and inter-agent distances, factors that are crucial in order to provide realistic evaluations of the expected performance in real-world operations. The tests indicate that the TOR system may be able to provide a position accuracy of approximately two to three meters during realistic firefighter operations, with only two smoke diving firefighters and one supervising firefighter within range.

Draft genome of a commonly misdiagnosed multidrug resistant pathogen Candida auris

Background: Candida auris is a multidrug resistant, emerging agent of fungemia in humans. Its actual global distribution remains obscure as the current commercial methods of clinical diagnosis misidentify it as C. haemulonii. Here we report the first draft genome of C. auris to explore the genomic basis of virulence and unique differences that could be employed for differential diagnosis. Results: More than 99.5 % of the C. auris genomic reads did not align to the current whole (or draft) genome sequences of Candida albicans, Candida lusitaniae, Candida glabrata and Saccharomyces cerevisiae; thereby indicating its divergence from the active Candida clade. The genome spans around 12.49 Mb with 8527 predicted genes. Functional annotation revealed that among the sequenced Candida species, it is closest to the hemiascomycete species Clavispora lusitaniae. Comparison with the well-studied species Candida albicans showed that it shares significant virulence attributes with other pathogenic Candida species such as oligopeptide transporters, mannosyl transfersases, secreted proteases and genes involved in biofilm formation. We also identified a plethora of transporters belonging to the ABC and major facilitator superfamily along with known MDR transcription factors which explained its high tolerance to antifungal drugs. Conclusions: Our study emphasizes an urgent need for accurate fungal screening methods such as PCR and electrophoretic karyotyping to ensure proper management of fungemia. Our work highlights the potential genetic mechanisms involved in virulence and pathogenicity of an important emerging human pathogen namely C. auris. Owing to its diversity at the genomic scale; we expect the genome sequence to be a useful resource to map species specific differences that will help develop accurate diagnostic markers and better drug targets.

Emergent Intelligence Based QoS Routing in MANET

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are self-organized, infrastructureless, decentralized wireless networks consist of a group of heterogeneous mobile devices. Due to the inherent characteristics of MANE -Ts, such as frequent change of topology, nodes mobility, resource scarcity, lack of central control, etc., makes QoS routing is the hardest task. QoS routing is the task of routing data packets from source to destination depending upon the QoS resource constraints, such as bandwidth, delay, packet loss rate, cost, etc. In this paper, we proposed a novel scheme of providing QoS routing in MANETs by using Emergent Intelligence (El). The El is a group intelligence, which is derived from the periodical interaction among a group of agents and nodes. We logically divide MANET into clusters by centrally located static agent, and in each cluster a mobile agent is deployed. The mobile agent interacts with the nodes, neighboring mobile agents and static agent for collection of QoS resource information, negotiations, finding secure and reliable nodes and finding an optimal QoS path from source to destination. Simulation and analytical results show that the effectiveness of the scheme. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.ore/licenscs/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs

Copper oxide nanoparticles: an antidermatophytic agent for Trichophyton spp.

Copper oxide (CuO) is one of the most important transition metal oxides due to its unique properties. It is used in various technological applications such as high critical temperature, superconductors, gas sensors, in photoconductive applications and so on. Recently, it has been used as an antimicrobial agent against various pathogenic bacteria. In the present investigation, we studied the structural and antidermatophytic properties of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by a precipitation technique. Copper sulfate was used as a precursor and sodium hydroxide as a reducing agent. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed flower-shaped CuO NPs and X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern showed the crystalline nature of CuO NPs. These NPs were evaluated against two prevalent species of dermatophytes, i.e. Trichophyton rubrum and T. mentagrophytes by using the broth microdilution technique. Further, the NPs activity was also compared with synthetic sertaconazole. Although better antidermatophytic activity was exhibited with sertaconazole as compared to NPs, being synthetic, sertaconazole may not be preferred, as it shows different adverse effects. Trichophyton mentagrophytes is more susceptible to NPs than T. rubrum. A phylogenetic approach was applied for predicting differences in susceptibility of pathogens.

MnFe2O4-Fe3O4 core-shell nanoparticles as a potential contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging

In recent years, magnetic core-shell nanoparticles have received widespread attention due to their unique properties that can be used for various applications. We introduce here a magnetic core-shell nanoparticle system for potential application as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MnFe2O4-Fe3O4 core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized by the wet-chemical synthesis method. Detailed structural and compositional charaterization confirmed the formation of a core-shell microstructure for the nanoparticles. Magnetic charaterization revealed the superparamagnetic nature of the as-synthesized core-shell nanoparticles. Average size and saturation magnetization values obtained for the as-synthesized core-shell nanoparticle were 12.5 nm and 69.34 emu g(-1) respectively. The transverse relaxivity value of the water protons obtained in the presence of the core-shell nanoparticles was 184.1 mM(-1) s(-1). To investigate the effect of the core-shell geometry towards enhancing the relaxivity value, transverse relaxivity values were also obtained in the presence of separately synthesized single phase Fe3O4 and MnFe2O4 nanoparticles. Average size and saturation magnetization values for the as-synthesized Fe3O4 nanoparticles were 12 nm and 65.8 emu g(-1) respectively. Average size and saturation magnetization values for the MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were 9 nm and 61.5 emu g(-1) respectively. The transverse relaxivity value obtained in the presence of single phase Fe3O4 and MnFe2O4 nanoparticles was 96.6 and 83.2 mM(-1) s(-1) respectively. All the nanoparticles (core-shell and single phase) were coated with chitosan by a surfactant exchange reaction before determining the relaxivity values. For similar nanoparticle sizes and saturation magnetization values, the highest value of the transverse relaxivity in the case of core-shell nanoparticles clearly illustrated that the difference in the magnetic nature of the core and shell phases in the core-shell nanoparticles creates greater magnetic inhomogeneity in the surrounding medium yielding a high value for proton relaxivity. The MnFe2O4-Fe3O4 core-shell nanoparticles exhibited extremely low toxicity towards the MCF-7 cell line. Taken together, this opens up new avenues for the use of core-shell nanoparticles in MRI.

The cis-Diammineplatinum(II) Complex of Curcumin: A Dual Action DNA Crosslinking and Photochemotherapeutic Agent

Pt(cur)(NH3)(2)](NO3) (1), a curcumin-bound cis-diammineplatinum(II) complex, nicknamed Platicur, as a novel photoactivated chemotherapeutic agent releases photoactive curcumin and an active platinum(II) species upon irradiation with visible light. The hydrolytic instability of free curcumin reduces upon binding to platinum(II). Interactions of 1 with 5'-GMP and ct-DNA indicated formation of platinum-bound DNA adducts upon exposure to visible light (lambda = 400-700 nm). It showed apoptotic photocytotoxicity in cancer cells (IC50 approximate to 15 mu M), thus forming (OH)-O-center dot, while remaining passive in the darkness (IC50 > 200 mu M). A comet assay and platinum estimation suggest Pt-DNA crosslink formation. The fluorescence microscopic images showed cytosolic localization of curcumin, thus implying possibility of dual action as a chemo-and phototherapeutic agent.

Ultrafine graphene oxide-CoFe2O4 nanoparticle composite as T-1 and T-2 contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging

Graphene oxide-CoFe2O4 nanoparticle composites were synthesized using a two step synthesis method in which graphene oxide was initially synthesized followed by precipitation of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in a reaction mixture containing graphene oxide. Samples were extracted from the reaction mixture at different times at 80 degrees C. All the extracted samples contained CoFe2O4 nanoparticles formed over the graphene oxide. It was observed that the increase in the reflux time significantly increased the saturation magnetization value for the superparamagnetic nanoparticles in the composite. It was also noticed that the size of the nanoparticles increased with increase in the reflux time. Transverse relaxivity of the water protons increased monotonically with increase in the reflux time. Whereas, the longitudinal relaxivity value initially increased and then decreased with the reflux time. Graphene oxide-CoFe2O4 nanoparticle composites also exhibit biocompatibility towards the MCF-7 cell line.