Adrenal cortical response to administration of chlorpromazine in rats

The Science of Nature -     

Improving the dynamic response of frequency and power in a wind integrated power system by optimal design of compensated superconducting magnetic energy storage

The frequency deviation and power fluctuation need to be controlled in a wind-integrated power system (WIPS) for keeping the balance between system power generation and demand, which support the quality and stability of overall power system. The present paper addresses this problem while concerning the integration of intermittent wind power and load disturbance into the WIPS. With this intent, it proposes the compensated superconducting magnetic energy storage (CSMES) system with proportional integral derivative (PID) controller for improving the frequency and power deviation profile. A novel swarm intelligence-based artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is used for optimal design of PID-CSMES system. Robustness of the proposed ABC-based PID-CSMES control strategy is tested in WIPS under various disturbance patterns of load and wind power. To demonstrate the improved dynamic response, their simulation results are compared with particle swarm optimization-based PID-CSMES, PID with SMES, and only PID controller technique. The performance indices and transient response characteristics of frequency and power deviation are used to evaluate and compare the accuracy and efficiency of each controller. Stability of various system configurations is analyzed using eigenvalue location. Comparing the results of different controller in WIPS indicates a substantial improvement in the dynamic response of system frequency and power deviations by utilizing the proposed control strategy.     

Geochemical fractionation of trace elements in sediments of Hugli River (Ganges) and Sundarban wetland (West Bengal, India)

A sequential extraction procedure was carried out to determinate the concentrations of 11 elements (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) in different geochemical phases of sediments collected along the Hugli (Ganges) River Estuary and in the Sundarban mangrove wetland, eastern coastal part of India. The chemical speciation of elements was determined using the three-step sequential extraction procedure described by the European Community Bureau of Reference. Total metal concentration was determined using a microwave-assisted acid digestion procedure. Metal concentrations were near the background level except for As for which a moderate pollution can be hypothesized. The mobility order of the metals was: Cd?>?Mn?>?Cu?>?Zn?>?As?>?Co?>?Pb?>?Ni?>?Fe?>?Cr?>?Al. The highest percentage of Cd (>60%) was found in the most labile phase. Residual fraction was prevailing for Fe, Cr and Al, while Pb was mainly associated with the reducible fraction. Data were compared with Sediment Quality Guidelines to estimate the relationship between element concentrations and adverse biological effects on benthic community, finding the possibility of some toxic effects due to the presence of As in the entire studied area and Cd, only in Calcutta.     

Characterization of fluoride-tolerant halophilic Bacillus flexus NM25 (HQ875778) isolated from fluoride-affected soil in Birbhum District, West Bengal, India

A new Gram-positive, nonpigmented, rod-shaped fluoride-tolerant bacterial strain, NM25, was isolated from waterlogged muddy field soil collected from the fluoride endemic area of Rampurhat II block (average fluoride in water, 4.7 mg/l, and in soil, 1.5 mg/kg) in Birbhum District, West Bengal, India. The study was undertaken to characterize the fluoride-tolerant bacterial isolate, to determine its role in bioaccumulation of fluoride, and to analyze the water and soil quality of the bacterial environment. The isolate was positive for catalase, lipase, urease, protease, oxidase, and H₂S production, but negative for indole production, nitrate reduction, and Vogues–Proskauer test. The organisms were sensitive to recommended doses of ofloxacin, kanamycin, rifampicin, levofloxacin, vancomycin, gatifloxacin, gentamicin, doxycycline, streptomycin, and nalidixic acid but resistant to ampicillin. Based on the phenotypic characteristics, 16S rRNA gene sequence, and phylogenetic analysis, the bacterial isolate NM25 was identified as Bacillus flexus. The G+C content of the 16S rDNA was 53.14 mol%. This strain tolerated up to 20 % (w/v) NaCl in nutrient agar medium and was grown at the pH range 4–12. It reduced fluoride concentration up to 67.45 % and tolerated more than 1,500 ppm of fluoride in brain–heart infusion agar medium.     

Design and analysis of artificial bee-colony-based MPPT algorithm for DFIG-based wind energy conversion systems

In this article, the proposed maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method is designed by taking rotor speed as an optimization problem, which is solved by artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm to generate the maximum power output. The main advantage of this algorithm is that its optimal solution is independent of the initial positions and requirement of lesser number of control parameters, which leads to simple and robust MPPT algorithm than other algorithm. Furthermore, the hill climb search and particle swarm optimization-based MPPT algorithm are also discussed and the results obtained by these are compared to verify the effectiveness of proposed algorithm. Simulations for MPPT control along with doubly fed induction-generator-based wind energy conversion system is carried out in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Three statistical methods are used to evaluate the accuracy of each MPPT algorithm. All results are analyzed and compared under randomly selected wind as well as real wind speed configuration. Comparison of both numerical and simulation results under two different varying wind speed conditions strongly suggest that the proposed ABC-based MPPT algorithm is superior than other two MPPT algorithms.     

Microplastic pollution,a threat to marine ecosystem and human health: a short review

Human populations are using oceans as their household dustbins, and microplastic is one of the components which are not only polluting shorelines but also freshwater bodies globally. Microplastics are generally referred to particles with a size lower than 5 mm. These microplastics are tiny plastic granules and used as scrubbers in cosmetics, hand cleansers, air-blasting. These contaminants are omnipresent within almost all marine environments at present. The durability of plastics makes it highly resistant to degradation and through indiscriminate disposal they enter in the aquatic environment. Today, it is an issue of increasing scientific concern because these microparticles due to their small size are easily accessible to a wide range of aquatic organisms and ultimately transferred along food web. The chronic biological effects in marine organisms results due to accumulation of microplastics in their cells and tissues. The potential hazardous effects on humans by alternate ingestion of microparticles can cause alteration in chromosomes which lead to infertility, obesity, and cancer. Because of the recent threat of microplastics to marine biota as well as on human health, it is important to control excessive use of plastic additives and to introduce certain legislations and policies to regulate the sources of plastic litter. By setup various plastic recycling process or promoting plastic awareness programmes through different social and information media, we will be able to clean our sea dustbin in future.     

Assessment of heavy metals in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Averrhoa bilimbi</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">A. carambola</Emphasis> fruit samples at two developmental stages

Though the fruits of Averrhoa bilimbi and A. carambola are economically and medicinally important, they remain underutilized. The present study reports heavy metal quantitation in the fruit samples of A. bilimbi and A. carambola (Oxalidaceae), collected at two stages of maturity. Heavy metals are known to interfere with the functioning of vital cellular components. Although toxic, some elements are considered essential for human health, in trace quantities. Heavy metals such as Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Pb, and Cd were analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The samples under investigation included, A. bilimbi unripe (BU) and ripe (BR), A. carambola sour unripe (CSU) and ripe (CSR), and A. carambola sweet unripe (CTU) and ripe (CTR). Heavy metal analysis showed that relatively higher level of heavy metals was present in BR samples compared to the rest of the samples. The highest amount of As and Se were recorded in BU samples while Mn content was highest in CSU samples and Co in CSR. Least amounts of Cr, Zn, Se, Cd, and Pb were noted in CTU while, Mn, Cu, and As were least in CTR. Thus, the sweet types of A. carambola (CTU, CTR) had comparatively lower heavy metal content. There appears to be no reason for concern since different fruit samples of Averrhoa studied presently showed the presence of various heavy metals in trace quantities.     

Effect of phosphogypsum amendment on soil physico-chemical properties, microbial load and enzyme activities

Phosphogypsum (PG) is produced as a solid waste from phosphatic fertilizer plants. The waste slurry is disposed off in settling ponds or in heaps. This solid waste is now increasingly being used as a calcium supplement in agriculture. This study reports the effectof PG amendmenton soil physico chemical properties, bacterial and fungal count and activities of soil enzymes such as invertase, cellulase and amylase over an incubation period of 28 days. The highest mean percent carbon loss (55.98%) was recorded in 15% PG amended soil followed by (55.28%) in 10% PG amended soil and the minimum (1.68%) in control soil. The highest number of bacterial colonies (47.4 CFU g(-1) soil), fungal count (17.8 CFU g(-1) soil), highest amylase activity (38.4 microg g(-1) soil hr(-1)) and cellulase activity (38.37 microg g(-1) soil hr(-1)) were recorded in 10% amended soil. Statistically significant difference (p<0.05) has been recorded in the activities of amylase and cellulase over the period of incubation irrespective of amendments. Considering the bacterial and fungal growth and the activities of the three soil enzymes in the control and amended sets, it appears that 10% PG amendment is optimal for microbial growth and soil enzyme activities.