Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad&nbsp;(IIT Palakkad or IIT PKD) is a public autonomous&nbsp;engineering&nbsp;and&nbsp;research&nbsp;institute located in&nbsp;Palakkad,&nbsp;Kerala. It was&nbsp;one of the five new&nbsp;IITs&nbsp;proposed in the&nbsp;2014 Union budget of India. The campus was inaugurated on 3 August 2015. The institute has 94 faculty, 978 students, and 63 non-teaching staffs.

IT Palakkad currently offers four-year Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) and two years MS programmes in 8 different engineering disciplines including&nbsp;Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical, Civil among others.

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IIT Palakkad

Application of probiotics in aquaculture helps to improve the survivability, growth and immunity of aquatic organism in sustainable aquaculture practices. This study was conducted to evaluate the probiotic potentiality of Streptomyces antibioticus EW1 and Bacillus cereus EW5 isolated from the digestive tract of earthworm (Eisenia fetida) and also determine their effects as probiotic in juvenile catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis). The bio safety assay confirmed that the isolates were not pathogenic to the host fish. These strains were able to survive in acidic as well as alkaline conditions, higher tolerance to bile salt as well as gastric juice and high surface hydrophobicity to solvents and displayed extracellular enzyme activity and moreover susceptibility to various antibiotics. Their antimicrobial activity was assessed against two fish pathogens: Aeromonas veronii (MN602971) and Steno-trophomonas maltophilia (MN602972). Among two isolates, the EW1 confirmed good antimicrobial activity against fish pathogens. The isolated bacterial strains were identified and established on the basis of their colony morphology, biochemical characteristics and 16S rRNA sequencing which revealed that the isolates exhibited 99 \% sequence homology with Streptomyces antibioticus EW1 (MH301104) and Bacillus cereus EW5 (MH301102). A 45-day feeding trial was conducted to examine the effect of probiotic inoculated fish diet for the freshwater catfish Heteropneustes fossilis. Among three isonitrogenous (30 \% CP) diets: RD (reference diet), T1 (diet with Streptomyces antibioticus) and T2 (diet with Bacillus cereus), fish fed T1 diet showed significantly higher growth, digestibility and higher values of crude protein and lipid than fishes reared with T2 and RD. The result of present study suggest that diet supplemented with Streptomyces antibioticus (T1) can be perform as safe probiotic and alternative protein source in the formulation of diet for H. fossilis.

World University root node

Department of Physics

AQUACULTURE REPORTS

Evaluation of the probiotic potential of Streptomyces antibioticus and Bacillus cereus on growth performance of freshwater catfish Heteropneustes fossilis

COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a pandemic. At the time of writing this (October 14, 2020), more than 38.4 million people have become affected, and 1.0 million people have died across the world. The death rate is undoubtedly correlated with the cytokine storm and other pathological pulmonary characteristics, as a result of which the lungs cannot provide sufficient oxygen to the body's vital organs. While diversified drugs have been tested as a first line therapy, the complexity of fatal cases has not been reduced so far, and the world is looking for a treatment to combat the virus. However, to date, and despite such promise, we have received very limited information about the potential of nanomedicine to fight against COVID-19 or as an adjunct therapy in the treatment regimen. Over the past two decades, various therapeutic strategies, including direct-acting antiviral drugs, immunomodulators, a few non-specific drugs (simple to complex), have been explored to treat Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), influenza, and sometimes the common flu, thus, correlating and developing specific drugs centric to COVID-19 is possible. This review article focuses on the pulmonary pathology caused by SARS-CoV-2 and other viral pathogens, highlighting possible nanomedicine therapeutic strategies that should be further tested immediately. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Biological Sciences and Engineering

Nano Today

Potential immuno-nanomedicine strategies to fight COVID-19 like pulmonary infections

In The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Zhu et al.1 report that intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) targets IL-1$\beta$+ neutrophils to exert anti-inflammatory effects in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a post-infectious inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19.

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Cell Reports Medicine

Unraveling the mechanisms of IVIG immunotherapy in MIS-C

In this study, we reveal the microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) behavior of the new electroless NiP-TiNi nanocomposite coating in simulated seawater using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique after different periods of incubation time (7, 10, 14, 21, 28 days) in a sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) medium. The biofilm formation and the corrosion products were characterized using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The EIS results revealed the carbon steel (CS)/NiP-TiNi and NiP-TiNi/SRB biofilm interfaces' characteristics after different incubation times in the SRB media. EIS measurements revealed that the NiP-TiNi nanocomposite coating's MIC resistances are superior relative to API X80 carbon steel and a TiNi-free NiP coating, with ∼93% of corrosion inhibition efficiency after 28 days of incubation. © 2021 The Author(s)

Arabian Journal of Chemistry

Microbiologically-influenced corrosion of the electroless-deposited NiP-TiNi–Coating

A modular synthetic platform for selective sensing and removal of Hg2+ was developed. This modular system possesses a unique feature to gradually increase the sensitivity even in competitive environments via increasing the number of Hg2+-coordinating units. This was made possible by synthesising a sequence-defined oligomer (SDO) with dithiocarbamate (DTC) as the Hg2+-coordinating unit in its backbone. Because it is a SDO, the Hg2+-coordinating unit was systematically increased to achieve a detection limit of 3 × 10-13 M, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the lowest reported. Any fluorophore can be synthetically attached via post-synthetic modification of the SDO to improve the efficiency of the sensor. Additionally, any functional group can be incorporated via custom synthesis of monomer to modulate the chemical property of the sensor. The same platform was shown as a removal system for Hg2+ with >95% removal efficiency via complexation and precipitation methods. © 2021 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Department of Chemistry

Polymer Chemistry

Sequence-defined oligomer as a modular platform for selective sub-picomolar detection and removal of Hg2+

The sudden outburst of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses a massive threat to global public health. Currently, no therapeutic drug or vaccine exists to treat COVID-19. Due to the time taking process of new drug development, drug repurposing might be the only viable solution to tackle COVID-19. RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) catalyzes SARS-CoV-2 RNA replication and hence, is an obvious target for antiviral drug design. Interestingly, several plant-derived polyphenols effectively inhibit the RdRp of other RNA viruses. More importantly, polyphenols have been used as dietary supplementations for a long time and played beneficial roles in immune homeostasis. We were curious to study the binding of polyphenols with SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and assess their potential to treat COVID-19. Herein, we made a library of polyphenols that have shown substantial therapeutic effects against various diseases. They were successfully docked in the catalytic pocket of RdRp. The investigation reveals that EGCG, theaflavin (TF1), theaflavin-3’-O-gallate (TF2a), theaflavin-3’-gallate (TF2b), theaflavin 3,3'-digallate (TF3), hesperidin, quercetagetin, and myricetin strongly bind to the active site of RdRp. Further, a 150-ns molecular dynamic simulation revealed that EGCG, TF2a, TF2b, TF3 result in highly stable bound conformations with RdRp. The binding free energy components calculated by the MM-PBSA also confirm the stability of the complexes. We also performed a detailed analysis of ADME prediction, toxicity prediction, and target analysis for their druggability. Overall, our results suggest that EGCG, TF2a, TF2b, TF3 can inhibit RdRp and represent an effective therapy for COVID-19. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics

Plant-derived natural polyphenols as potential antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 via RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) inhibition: an in-silico analysis

This work reports the catalytic activity of the trimetallic mixed-metal oxyhydroxide WFeCoO(OH) for the direct oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid (AA) without the use of concentrated HNO3. WFeCoO(OH) displayed a 40% conversion of cyclohexane and a 67% selectivity to AA under relatively milder conditions of temperature (90 °C) and pressure (1 atm). Experimental evidence confirmed the presence of acidic, basic, and redox sites on WFeCoO(OH). The detailed investigation revealed that doping W in the Co-FeO(OH) matrix increased the amount of surface lattice oxygen (OS-L) and caused a significant surge in acidity (5.1 mmol/g). The calculated deprotonation energy of WFeCoO(OH) was 1434 kJ/mol, and the trend in acidity was WCoO(OH) &lt; WFeCoO(OH) &lt; FeCoO(OH) ∼ CoO(OH). Energy calculations showed that WFeCoO(OH) had a high propensity to generate oxygen vacancies by the loss of either a water molecule or an oxygen atom (−132.2 or −140.9 kJ/mol, respectively). Basicity was generated due to the presence of conjugate pairs of the surface hydroxyl groups. The combined action of the trifunctional acidic, basic, and redox-active metal centers along with the oxygen vacancies was responsible for the enhanced catalytic performance. © 2021 American Chemical Society

ACS Catalysis

Direct Oxidation of Cyclohexane to Adipic Acid by a WFeCoO(OH) Catalyst: Role of Brønsted Acidity and Oxygen Vacancies

The folding–unfolding of a 16 residue polypeptide, a β–hairpin in B1 domain of protein G is investigated here to account for the factors assisting the extra stability of the polypeptide in the presence of an explicit solvent and even when a denaturant like urea is present in the medium. It is observed here that the backbone H–bond network well defines the folded state and is even capable of forming the folded state, but it is not the only criteria for making a stable β–hairpin fold. Factors such as the side chain H–bonds and the alignment of the certain hydrophobic group side chains play a prominent role in preserving the β–hairpin structure and thus providing an extra stability to the hairpin architecture. It is also affirmed that the mentioned hydrophobic groups side chain interactions are very crucial in holding the β–hairpin together and without which the hairpin collapses completely. We also confirm that the denaturant urea acts on the GB1–hairpin backbone H–bonds and in the presence of strong hydrophobic interactions with a consistent side chain H–bonding network, the denaturation being comparatively a slower process with respect to the protein devoid of the side chain interactions. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

An account on the factors determining the extra stability of the β–hairpin from B1 domain of protein G

This paper presents a geometric finite-time inner-outer loop control strategy for slung payload transportation using a quadrotor. The underactuated nature of the quadrotor in conjunction with the cable connection makes it impossible to simultaneously and arbitrarily track the load position, cable direction and the quadrotor’s attitude. By exploiting the differential flatness of the system dynamics, it is possible to arbitrarily control the load position, with the cable direction and quadrotor attitude remaining dependent on the trajectory and controller dynamics. A two-loop feedback control strategy is proposed comprising an inner-loop control law addressing quadrotor attitude tracking within finite time, and an outer-loop controller addressing the stabilization of the cable direction and position tracking of the payload trajectory. The control laws are expressed in a coordinate-free setting and are singularity-free. We include the effects of unmodeled dynamics on the load system and design an adaptive estimator to estimate and reject such uncertainties. The performance and robustness of the feedback laws is demonstrated through numerical simulations and experimental results. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

Department of Electrical Engineering

Nonlinear Dynamics

Geometric finite-time inner-outer loop trajectory tracking control strategy for quadrotor slung-load transportation

Automated event detection and classification are vital to power system monitoring. This article proposes a novel event detection and classification scheme based on wide area frequency measurement system (WAFMS). Raw frequency measurements obtained from WAFMS are used as the only input to the event detection and classification algorithm (EDCA). Wavelet-based signal pre-processing is used to denoise the data. Afterward, the rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) is estimated from the frequency measurements using the Kalman filter (KF). In the same step, phase angle difference (PAD) across different stations is estimated using WAFMS. Thus, the overall algorithm uses three features such as frequency, ROCOF and PAD to detect and classify events in the power system. In the first step, an event is detected based on standard deviation (SD) of estimated ROCOF and PAD. In the second step, four types of events are classified using wide area frequency measurements. The suggested algorithms have been validated with real WAFMS data from the Indian Power System, recent 9th August 2019 U.K. blackout data collected from the U.K. power system and 20th July 2017 oscillation event data obtained from ISO New England (ISO-NE) power system. As a promising tool for power system monitoring, the suggested scheme requires less input measurement for decision making and is having a low computational complexity, which is suitable for practical application.