Ethyl 1-(2-cyanoethyl)-3,5-dimethyl-1H-indole-2-carboxylate

The title compound, C16H18N2O2, is an important precursor in the synthesis of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrazinoindoles, which show excellent antihistamine, antihypertensive and central nervous system depressant properties. The carbethoxy group attached to C2 and the planar cyanoethyl group attached to N1 make dihedral angles of 11.0(4) and 75.0(3)degrees, respectively, with the mean plane of the indole ring, The C-C=N chain is linear with a bond angle of 179.3 (4)degrees.

Impact of African orography and the Indian summer monsoon on the low-level Somali jet

The low-level jet (LLJ) over the Indian region, which is most prominent during the monsoon (June-September) season, has been studied with a general circulation model (GCM). The role of African orography in modulating this jet is the focus of this article. The presence o African orography intensifies the cross-equatorial flow. Contrary to previous modelling Studies we find that cross-equatorial flow occurs even in the absence of African orography, though this flow is muc weaker even when the Indian monsoon rainfall is high. However, the location of the meridional jet near the equator in the Somali region is linked to the Indian monsoon rainfall rather than to the land-sea contrast over Somalia. Also, the presence of African orography, and not the strength of the Indian monsoon, controls the vertical extent of the equatorial meridional wind. In an aqua-planet simulation, the cross-equatorial flow occurs about 30 to the west of the rainfall maximum. Thus, the longitudinal location of the equatorial Somali jet depends upon the occurrence of monsoon heating, but the vertical structure of the jet is on account of the western boundary current in the atmosphere due to the East African highlands under the influence of monsoonal heat source.

Swarm intelligence-based solver for parameter estimation of laboratory through-diffusion transport of contaminants

Theoretical approaches are of fundamental importance to predict the potential impact of waste disposal facilities on ground water contamination. Appropriate design parameters are generally estimated be fitting theoretical models to data gathered from field monitoring or laboratory experiments. Transient through-diffusion tests are generally conducted in the laboratory to estimate the mass transport parameters of the proposed barrier material. Thes parameters are usually estimated either by approximate eye-fitting calibration or by combining the solution of the direct problem with any available gradient-based techniques. In this work, an automated, gradient-free solver is developed to estimate the mass transport parameters of a transient through-diffusion model. The proposed inverse model uses a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm that is based on the social behavior of animals searching for food sources. The finite difference numerical solution of the forward model is integrated with the PSO algorithm to solve the inverse problem of parameter estimation. The working principle of the new solver is demonstrated and mass transport parameters are estimated from laboratory through-diffusion experimental data. An inverse model based on the standard gradient-based technique is formulated to compare with the proposed solver. A detailed comparative study is carried out between conventional methods and the proposed solver. The present automated technique is found to be very efficient and robust. The mass transport parameters are obtained with great precision.

Energy use in Indian household sector - An actor-oriented approach

Over the years, significant changes have taken place with regard to the type as well the quantity of energy used in Indian households. Many factors have contributed in bringing these changes. These include availability of energy, security of supplies, efficiency of use, cost of device, price of energy carriers, ease of use, and external factors like technological development, introduction of subsidies, and environmental considerations. The present paper presents the pattern of energy consumption in the household sector and analyses the causalities underlying the present usage patterns. It identifies specific (groups of) actors, study their specific situations, analyse the constraints and discusses opportunities for improvement. This can be referred to ``actor-oriented'' analysis in which we understand how various actors of the energy system are making the system work, and what incentives and constraints each of these actors is experiencing. It analyses actor linkages and their impact on the fuel choice mechanism. The study shows that the role of actors in household fuel choice is significant and depends on the level of factors - micro, meso and macro. It is recommended that the development interventions should include actor-oriented tools in energy planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The analysis is based on the data from the national sample survey (NSS), India. This approach provides a spatial viewpoint which permits a clear assessment of the energy carrier choice by the households and the influence of various actors. The scope of the paper is motivated and limited by suggesting and formulating a powerful analytical technique to analyse the problem involving the role of actors in the Indian household sector.

Demographic history of India and mtDNA-sequence diversity

The demographic history of India was examined by comparing mtDNA sequences obtained from members of three culturally divergent Indian subpopulations (endogamous caste groups). While an inferred tree revealed some clustering according to caste affiliation, there was no clear separation into three genetically distinct groups along caste lines. Comparison of pairwise nucleotide difference distributions, however, did indicate a difference in growth patterns between two of the castes. The Brahmin population appears to have undergone either a rapid expansion or steady growth. The low-ranking Mukri caste, however, may have either maintained a roughly constant population size or undergone multiple bottlenecks during that period. Comparison of the Indian sequences to those obtained from other populations, using a tree, revealed that the Indian sequences, along with ah other non-African samples, form a starlike cluster. This cluster may represent a major expansion, possibly originating in southern Asia, taking place at some point after modern humans initially left Africa.

Exact complex-wave reconstruction in digital holography

We address the problem of exact complex-wave reconstruction in digital holography. We show that, by confining the object-wave modulation to one quadrant of the frequency domain, and by maintaining a reference-wave intensity higher than that of the object, one can achieve exact complex-wave reconstruction in the absence of noise. A feature of the proposed technique is that the zero-order artifact, which is commonly encountered in hologram reconstruction, can be completely suppressed in the absence of noise. The technique is noniterative and nonlinear. We also establish a connection between the reconstruction technique and homomorphic signal processing, which enables an interpretation of the technique from the perspective of deconvolution. Another key contribution of this paper is a direct link between the reconstruction technique and the two-dimensional Hilbert transform formalism proposed by Hahn. We show that this connection leads to explicit Hilbert transform relations between the magnitude and phase of the complex wave encoded in the hologram. We also provide results on simulated as well as experimental data to validate the accuracy of the reconstruction technique. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America

X-ray structure of a galactose-specific lectin from Spatholobous parviflorous

A galactose-specific seed lectin from Spatholobous parviflorus (SPL) has been purified, crystallized and its X-ray structure solved. It is the first lectin purified and crystallized from the genus Spatholobus (family: Fabaceae). The crystals belong to the space group P1, with a = 60.792 angstrom, b = 60.998 angstrom, c = 78.179 angstrom, alpha = 78.68 degrees, beta = 88.62 degrees, gamma = 104.32 degrees. The data were collected at 2.04 angstrom resolution under cryocondition, on a MAR image-plate detector system, mounted on a rotating anode X-ray generator. The coordinates of Dolichos biflorus lectin (1lu1) were successfully used for the structure solution by molecular replacement method. The primary structure of the SPL was not known earlier and it was unambiguously visible in the electron density. S. parviflorus lectin is a hetero-dimeric-tetramer with two alpha and two beta chains of 251 and 239 residues respectively. SPL has two metal ions, Ca(2+) and Mn(2+), bound to a loop region of each chain. The SPL monomers are in jelly roll form. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fast-Decodable MIDO Codes With Large Coding Gain

In this paper, a new method is proposed to obtain full-diversity, rate-2 (rate of two complex symbols per channel use) space-time block codes (STBCs) that are full-rate for multiple input double output (MIDO) systems. Using this method, rate-2 STBCs for 4 x 2, 6 x 2, 8 x 2, and 12 x 2 systems are constructed and these STBCs are fast ML-decodable, have large coding gains, and STBC-schemes consisting of these STBCs have a non-vanishing determinant (NVD) so that they are DMT-optimal for their respective MIDO systems. It is also shown that the Srinath-Rajan code for the 4 x 2 system, which has the lowest ML-decoding complexity among known rate-2 STBCs for the 4x2 MIDO system with a large coding gain for 4-/16-QAM, has the same algebraic structure as the STBC constructed in this paper for the 4 x 2 system. This also settles in positive a previous conjecture that the STBC-scheme that is based on the Srinath-Rajan code has the NVD property and hence is DMT-optimal for the 4 x 2 system.

Structural, thermal and quantum chemical studies of p-coumaric and caffeic acids

Two hydroxycinnamic acids viz., p-coumaric, and caffeic acids have been extracted and purified from Parthenium hysterophorus, subsequently characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, NMR, single crystal X-ray crystallography. The optimized structures of these acids were calculated in terms of density functional theory by Gaussian 09. The validation of experimental and theoretically obtained data for structural parameters such as bond lengths and bond angles has have been carried out to analyze the statistical significance by curve fitting analysis and the values of correlation coefficient found to be 0.985, 0.992, and 0.984, 0.975 in p-coumaric, and caffeic acids, respectively. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies show the eventual charge transfer interaction within the molecule. Thermal studies were also carried out by thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermogravimetric analysis (DTA), and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.