Seminars

Peptides are functional modules of protein macromolecules that can be displayed apart from the whole protein to create biofunctional surfaces and interfaces or can be re-assembled in new ways to create synthetic mimics of protein structures. Each of these routes are being employed to gain new insight into protein folding and to develop new functional biomolecular materials.

Abstract Supercritical fluids offer a considerable promise as a processing media for the formation of microparticles of drugs and pharmaceutical excipients. There are two main reasons for using this technique. Firstly the selective solvating power of supercritical fluids makes it possible to separate a particular component from a multi-component mixture. Secondly the favourable mass transfer properties and high solubility of solvent in supercritical fluid make the formation of the microparticles rapid and efficient.

Aerosols released from anthropogenic sources are of considerable concern in the context of radiative forcing and public health. These sources are generally characterized by mass emission factors. However both from optical and health effect point of view it is important to assess the number loading factors in the far field domains. The process of coagulation of the nanoparticles formed near the sources coupled with inevitable atmospheric dispersion are the fundamental mechanisms of transformation of aerosols as they spread over far field regions.

Abstract: Cyanobacteria are a group of photosynthetic prokaryotes that inhabit in diverse ecosystems with simple oxygen (O2) evolving mechanism similar to that in higher plants. They are believed to be responsible for the creation of oxygenic atmosphere on earth and are credited with 20-30% of the global photosynthesis currently. Cyanobacteria use light energy from the sunlight to fix atmospheric CO2 and convert it into energy rich sugar molecules for their growth development and metabolic process. Cyanothece sp.

Bio-nanoparticle (e.g. nanoparticles viruses proteins nanoparticle-protein conjugates) research aided by the expanding multibillion dollar bio-pharma industry has seen an exponential growth in the last decade. This talk will be an attempt to integrate the fundamentals of mechanical chemical and bio-engineering to understand bio-nanoparticle behavior in liquid and aerosol phases.

Abstract : Quantitative structure-property relations have been developed in two systems that connect molecular structure and chain morphology to bulk properties such as switchability and rheological behavior. Chain conformation of Side-Group Liquid Crystalline Polymers (SGLCPs) block copolymers in which the order of the LC mesogen couples with the flexible backbone has been investigated. Distinct chemistries and coupling are examined that induce the formation of unusually large morphologies displaying spontaneous anisotropy and restructuring across a narrow temperature window.

Abstract: Improving the energy-efficiency of the molecular separation is key to reduce the carbon footprint of the chemical and the petrochemical industries. Membranes operating with high separation selectivities can cut down the cost of the thermally driven separation processes such as distillation by up to 10-fold.1 2 Moreover chemically and thermally stable high-throughput membranes are expected to open new avenues for the process intensification and a wide-scale decentralized operation.

Abstract: Interactions between surfactants and the resultant ordering of surfactant assemblies can be tuned by the appropriate choice of head- and tailgroups. Detailed studies of the ordering of monolayers of long-chain n-alkanoic and n-alkanol monolayers at the water-vapor interface have demonstrated that rigid-rod all-trans ordering of the tail groups is maintained upon replacing the alcohol with a carboxylic acid headgroup.

Abstract: Consciousness is being conscious of something. We do not need to reify it and some of the philosophical problems that arise when we do so are not real problems. The processes involved in being conscious of the world are more likely to be distributed than to depend on just one region of the brain. Regarding consciousness as a process or processes does not commit us to epiphenomenalism. Processes can have causal efficacy.

ABSTRACT: We consider various examples to show that metamaterials (artificial nanostructured media) present a unified platform to control all three states of light at the nanoscale: coherent states that occur in a laser thermal states as in blackbody radiation and quantum states (for example single photons). The electrical engineer is often concerned with controlling the coherent state of light (as in a laser) a mechanical engineer might be more interested in controlling radiation from thermal fluctuations while a physicist looks for ways to manipulate the non-classical properties of light.