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Aramid Fibre Reinforced Plastic composites are difficult to be drilled due to anisotropic material properties. Currently, soft computing techniques are used as alternatives to conventional mathematical models, which is robust and can deal with inaccuracy and uncertainty. In this paper, drilling of Aramid Fibre Reinforced Plastics (AFRPs) was carried out using Taguchi L54 experimental layout. Drilling tool used in this experiment was solid carbide. The purpose of this study was to find optimum combination of drilling parameters to obtain minimum thrust and torque force to reduce the delamination. Also, this paper proposed a prediction model of Multilayer Perception Neural Network optimized by Genetic Algorithm (MLPNN-GA). Moreover, RSM technique was used to evaluate the influence of process parameters (spindle speed, feed rate, drill point angle and drill diameter on thrust force and torque. The prediction capability of both RSM and MLPNN-GA was compared with Response optimizer for thrust force and torque. The investigation demonstrated that drill point angle is the primary factor affecting thrust force and drill diameter influences the torque force on the drill bit. Overall, this study recommends the use of high speed and low feed combination and drill point angles of 90°–118° to reduce the delamination of the materials in the drilling of AFRP composites.

Hydrocarbon (HC) emissions from direct injection (DI) diesel engines are mainly due to fuel injected and mixed beyond the lean combustion limit during ignition delay and fuel effusing from the nozzle sac at low pressure. In the present paper, the concept has been developed to provide an elegant model to predict the HC emissions considering slow burning. Eight medium speed engines differing widely in bores, strokes, rated speeds, and power were studied for applying the model. The engines were naturally aspirated, turbocharged, or turbocharged with intercooling. The model has been validated by collecting data on HC emission, and pressures in the cylinder and in the fuel injection system from the experimental engines. New coefficients for the correlation of HC with operating parameters were obtained and these are different from the values published earlier, based on single-engine experiments.

Background Exosomes are nano-sized vesicles secreted by various cells into the intra and extracellular space and hence is an integral part of biological fluids including milk. In the last few decades, many research groups have proved the potential of milk exosomes as a sustainable, economical and non-immunogenic drug delivery and therapeutic agent against different pathological conditions. However, its anti-viral properties still remain to be unearthed. Methods Here, we have been able to isolate, purify and characterize the milk derived exosomes from Cow (CME) and Goat (GME) and further studied its antiviral properties against Dengue virus (DENV), Newcastle Disease Virus strain Komarov (NDV-K) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) using an in-vitro infection system. Results TEM, NTA and DLS analysis validated the appropriate size of the isolated cow and goat milk exosomes (30–150 nm). Real-time PCR and immunoblotting results confirmed the presence of several milk exosomal miRNAs and protein markers. Our findings suggest that GME significantly decreased the infectivity of DENV. In addition, we confirmed that GME significantly reduces DENV replication and reduced the secretion of mature virions. Furthermore, heat inactivation of GME did not show any inhibition on DENV infection, replication, and secretion of mature virions. RNase treatment of GME abrogates the anti-viral properties indicating direct role of exosomes in DENV inhibition. In addition GME inhibited the infectivity of NDV-K, but not HIV-1, suggesting that the GME mediated antiviral activity might be virus specific. Conclusion This study demonstrates the anti-viral properties of milk exosomes and opens new avenues for the development of exosome-based therapies to treat viral diseases. Graphical Abstract

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Solar energy is an alternative source of nonrenewable energy in Oman. Sultanate of Oman government showed initiation into utilization of solar energy for domestic applications. Conversion of solar radiation into useful heat is the simplest application of solar energy, in which it can be used for late evening cooking. In this context, present work highlighted the design and development of solar cooker for Oman climatic conditions. The current work signifies usage of solar cooker for late evening cooking using stearic acid and acetanilide as phase change materials (PCM). Solar cooker parts are developed in-house and connected to water heating system compounded with evacuated tubes solar collector and storage tank. The circumference of cooker unit is incorporated with spiral stainless steel heat exchanger and annulus area of the pot is filled with PCM material. PCM releases heat at late evening and effective cooking up to 7:30 PM is noticed. The experimental results indicated the cooker efficiency of 30% and collector efficiency of 60-65% during the study. Overall, experiments showed satisfactory performance on the developed cooker.