Evaluation of Anti-cancer and Anti-proliferative Activity of Medicinal Plant Extracts (Saffron, Green Tea, Clove, Fenugreek) on Toll Like Receptors Pathway

Ajmal, Sidra,Shafqat, Mahwish,Ajmal, Laiba,Younas, Hooria,Tasadduq, Raazia,Mahmood, Nasir The Korean Society of Pharmacognosy 2022 Natural Product Sciences Vol.28 No.3

Despite considerable efforts, cancer remains an aggressive killer worldwide. Chemotherapeutic drugs that are currently in use lead to destructive side effects and have not succeeded in fulfilling expectations. For centuries, medicinal plants are used for treating various diseases and are also known to have anticancer activity. The main aim of this research was to evaluate antiproliferative activity of saffron, clove, fenugreek, and green tea on Vero and MDA-MB-231 cell lines and to subsequently analyze the effect of these extracts on IRAK-4, TAK1, IKK-alpha, IKK-beta, NF-Kappa B, IRF3, IRF7 genes in Toll Like Receptors (TLRs) pathway. Antiproliferative assay was done by Neutral Red Dye uptake assay. Methanolic extract of green tea was found to be most effective against both cell lines as IC₅₀ was achieved at least concentration of the extract. For molecular studies, MDAMB-231 cells were sensitized with methanolic extract of green tea at same IC₅₀, and RT-PCR was performed to determine the relative expression of genes. Expression of IRAK-4, TAK1, IKK-beta, NF-Kappa B, IRF3 genes was down regulated and IRF7 and IKKalpha was upregulated. Green tea has a potential cytotoxic effect on both cell lines which was demonstrated by its effect on the expression of (TLRs) pathway genes.

Exploiting Color Spaces for the Task of Foreground Detection

Ajmal Shahbaz,Kang-Hyun Jo 제어로봇시스템학회 2017 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2017 No.10

Experimental Investigation on FACA and FACACRETE – An Innovative Building Material

Ajmal Muhammed,Palanisamy Thangaraju 대한토목학회 2019 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.23 No.11

Recently, many studies are put forward by researchers to utilize waste materials like fly ash, GGBS, etc. in the construction industry due to the problems arise in the disposal of these materials. A novel study on incorporating the FACA (fly ash artificial coarse aggregate) in concrete is illustrated in this paper by comparing fly ash artificial coarse aggregate concrete (FACACRETE) with normal concrete. Different mixtures of geo-polymers were prepared using different molarities of NaOH solution and varying alkaline solution to fly ash ratio. These mixtures were cast to form a hard mass and cured. It is then pulverized in to fly ash artificial coarse aggregates (FACA). The properties of FACA were determined and are compared with conventional coarse aggregates. From the experiment, it is found that the FACA is a lightweight aggregate. It can be used for wearing as well as non–wearing surfaces as per IS: 383 – 2016. It is found that 8MA1 (8 Molar NaOH solution and 0.4 is the alkaline solution to fly ash ratio) is economical and can be used for further research as NaOH needed is less. This mix (8MA1) of FACA is used to prepare fly ash artificial coarse aggregate concrete (FACACRETE). The mechanical properties of both normal concrete and FACACRETE are compared and the results suggest that the compressive, splitting tensile, flexural strengths and the stress–strain relationship of FACACRETE is comparable with conventional concrete of same grade as per IS 456. The compressive toughness and compressive index of the FACACRETE is found to be more than the conventional concrete. The failure pattern of FACACRETE is associated with multiple cracking and that of normal concrete is localized failure. On considering the experimental investigations conducted here, it is found that the FACA can be used to replace conventional coarse aggregate in concrete.

Runoff Estimation Using the NRCS Slope-Adjusted Curve Number in Mountainous Watersheds

Ajmal, Muhammad,Waseem, Muhammad,Ahn, Jae-Hyun,Kim, Tae-Woong American Society of Civil Engineers 2016 Journal of irrigation and drainage engineering Vol.142 No.4

<P>In mountainous watersheds, rainfall generates runoff quickly because of the decreased depression storage, high downslope flow velocity, and smaller chance for rainwater infiltration. In order to obtain precise event-based runoff estimations in mountainous watersheds, a slope-adjusted curve number (CNII) with a smaller initial abstraction ratio () is indispensable in the standard natural resources conservation service (NRCS) curve number (CN) model. Using measured rainfall-runoff data from 39 mountainous watersheds in South Korea, this study investigated two existing CNII approaches and suggested a new approach that was accompanied by a lower value. The new CNII equation was calibrated with 1,402 measured rainfall-runoff events from 31 watersheds and validated with 377 rainfall-runoff events from the remaining eight watersheds. Most of the runoff events, used for both calibration and validation, were underestimated using a CN without a slope-adjusting factor. By considering the combined effect of the proposed CNII and setting equal to 0.01, the performance measures based on the root mean squares error (in mm), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency, and coefficient of determination were significantly improved from averages of 27.10, 0.64, and 0.75 to 18.69, 0.82, and 0.87, respectively, as compared to the standard NRCS model. The proposed modification exhibited superior results compared to the two existing CNII approaches. Findings from this study support the adjustment of both the CN and in the NRCS model to increase its runoff prediction capabilities.</P>

Finite element analysis based fatigue life evaluation approach for railway bridges: a study in Indian scenario

Ajmal, P.C. Hisham,Mohammed, Althaf Techno-Press 2018 Structural monitoring and maintenance Vol.5 No.4

Fatigue is a principal failure mode for steel structures, and it is still less understood than any other modes of failure. Fatigue life estimation of metal bridges is a major issue for making cost effective decisions on the rehabilitation or replacement of existing infrastructure. The fatigue design procedures given by the standard codes are either empirical or based on nominal stress approach. Since the fatigue life estimation through field measurements is difficult and costly, more researches are needed to develop promising techniques in the fatigue analysis of bridges through Finite Element Analysis (FEA). This paper aims to develop a methodology for the Fatigue life estimation of railway steel bridge using FEA. The guidelines of IIW-1823-07 were used in the development of the methodology. The Finite Element (FE) package ANSYS and the programming software MATLAB were used to implement this methodology on an Indian Railway Standard (IRS) welded plate girder bridge. The results obtained were compared with results from published literature and found satisfactory.

Effect of crushed waste glass as partial replacement of natural fine aggregate on performance of high strength cement concrete

Ajmal, Paktiawal,Mehtab, Alam Techno-Press 2022 Advances in materials research Vol.11 No.4

Disposal of industrial waste in cities where municipal authorities permitting higher floor area ratio coupled with increasing living standards, a lot of demolition waste is being generated. Its disposal is a challenge particularly in megacities where no landfills are available. The ever-increasing cost of building construction materials also necessitates consuming demolition wastes in a useful manner to save fresh natural raw materials. In the present work, the crushed waste glass is used in high-strength concrete as a partial replacement of fine aggregate. The control concrete of grade M60 was proportioned following BIS 10262-2009. The crushed waste glass has been used as a partial replacement with varying percentages of 10, 20, 30, and 40% by weight of fine aggregate. Experimental tests were carried on the fresh and hardened state of the concrete. The effect of crushed waste glass on the workability of the concrete has been investigated. Non-destructive tests, acid attack tests, compressive strength, split tensile strength, and X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out for the control concrete and concrete containing crushed waste glass after 7, 28, and 270 days of normal curing. The results show that for the same w/c ratio, the workability of concrete increases with increasing replaced crushed waste glass content. However, the decrease in compressive strength of the concrete after 28 days of normal curing and further after 28 days of acid attacks, up to 30% replacement level of fine aggregate by the crushed waste glass is insignificant.

A Comparative Study of Foreground Detection using Gaussian Mixture Models- Novice to Novel

Ajmal Shahbaz,Laksono Kurnianggoro,Kang-Hyun Jo 제어로봇시스템학회 2016 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2016 No.10

Foreground detection is the classical computer vision task of segmenting out motion information from a particular scene. Foreground detection using Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) is the famous choice. Since first time proposed, many researchers tried to improve GMM. This paper focuses on the comparative evaluation of three most famous improvements in the algorithm. The improved methods are compared both qualitatively and quantitatively using standard datasets available online.

Extraordinarily high conductivity of flexible adhesive films by hybrids of silver nanoparticle–nanowires

Ajmal, C Muhammed,Menamparambath, Mini Mol,Choi, Hyouk Ryeol,Baik, Seunghyun IOP 2016 Nanotechnology Vol.27 No.22

<P>Highly conductive flexible adhesive (CFA) film was developed using micro-sized silver flakes (primary fillers), hybrids of silver nanoparticle–nanowires (secondary fillers) and nitrile butadiene rubber. The hybrids of silver nanoparticle–nanowires were synthesized by decorating silver nanowires with silver nanoparticle clusters using bifunctional cysteamine as a linker. The dispersion in ethanol was excellent for several months. Silver nanowires constructed electrical networks between the micro-scale silver flakes. The low-temperature surface sintering of silver nanoparticles enabled effective joining of silver nanowires to silver flakes. The hybrids of silver nanoparticle–nanowires provided a greater maximum conductivity (54 390 S cm<SUP>−1</SUP>) than pure silver nanowires, pure multiwalled carbon nanotubes, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes decorated with silver nanoparticles in nitrile butadiene rubber matrix. The resistance change was smallest upon bending when the hybrids of silver nanoparticle–nanowires were employed. The adhesion of the film on polyethylene terephthalate substrate was excellent. Light emitting diodes were successfully wired to the CFA circuit patterned by the screen printing method for application demonstration.</P>

Soil moisture dynamics with hydro-climatological parameters at different soil depths

Ajmal, Muhammad,Waseem, Muhammad,Ahmad, Waqas,Kim, Tae-Woong Springer-Verlag 2016 Environmental Earth Sciences Vol.75 No.2

<P>The soil-water interaction is crucial for effective hydrological processes determination. The soil moisture (SM) is an important parameter to provide priori information for the interactions imparting and affecting the energy fluxes response for such kind of processes. This work investigated the effects of climatic, geophysical and hydrological parameters on SM at 9 stations within Utah State, USA, for daily data recorded between 2010 and 2012 at 5 different soil depths (approximately 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 cm). A high correlation was found for soil temperature, evapotranspiration (ET), and surface temperature, respectively, in most of the stations at either alpha = 5 % or 1 %. All stations exhibited a downward trend in SM for the top three soil depths, whereas, for other depths some stations depicted an upward trend. From time series analysis, it was found that surface average temperature, ET and soil temperature varied on seasonal basis with maximum in June and minimum in January of each year. In addition, SM availability in the top 5 cm of soil depth showed more significance for having strong correlation with hydroclimatic variables and were essential in interpreting many hydrological processes. From analyses at shallow soil depths (5 and 10 cm), the spatial SM variability across the stations was consistent during winter and spring whereas inconsistent during summer and autumn. In addition, the SM exhibited a temporal cyclic variability for almost all stations.</P>

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output challenges and opportunities: A survey

Ajmal Mahnoor,Siddiqa Ayesha,Jeong Bomi,Seo Junho,Kim Dongkyun 한국통신학회 2024 ICT Express Vol.10 No.1

Cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) system is a state-of-the-art emerging technology targeted towards beyond fifth-generation (B5G) and sixth-generation (6G) communication networks. This network pertains to a dense deployment of access points (APs) dispersed over a large geographical area to serve a small number of users at the same frequency and time resources. The CF-mMIMO architecture offers resilient connectivity, interference management, power efficiency, high throughput, and macrodiversity. Moreover, this communication technique eliminates cell boundaries and facilitates the users by introducing overlapping regions, thus providing consistent quality of service (QoS) throughout the region. However, the complexity of CF-mMIMO systems increases considerably when numerous APs are dispersed over a large geographical area. Therefore, several studies have been carried out to determine the optimal solution with minimum complexity of the CF-mMIMO system. Herein, a thorough investigation of the literature on the CF-mMIMO system is presented, considering all aspects from architecture to applications. The study provides a detailed survey of CF-mMIMO architecture, fronthaul, and backhaul, as well as the challenges associated with them; deployment methodologies and challenges for practical implementation of CF-mMIMO systems are also discussed. Furthermore, we reviewed the impact of transmitter and receiver antennae on the capacity of CF-mMIMO enabled with millimeter wave (mmWave). The numerical findings indicate that the higher degree of freedom required for spatial multiplexing allows multiantenna users to surpass single-antenna users in terms of capacity. This study holds significance owing to the thorough examination of the CF-mMIMO system model, channel estimation, scalability problems, working algorithms, communication protocol, deep learning-based solutions, linkage to B5G and 6G, and key challenges. Moreover, this study presents a detailed discussion and research survey on the system model, deployment issues, deep learning, and potential applications of the CF-mMIMO system.