There are numerous studies reported on the usage of the sapindus emarginatus (SE) fruit in cancer and other treatments in the past few years. In this study, crude SE fruit extract was prepared and it was further used to synthesis gold nanoparticles (Au Nps). The synthesized Au Nps were left embedded in the SE fruit extract. The Au Nps embedded in the SE fruit extract (SE-Au Nps) were characterized using UV-Visiable Spectroscopy, Centrifugal Particle Size analyzer (CPS), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). MTT assay was carried out for both SE fruit extract and SE-Au Nps on MCF7 breast cancer cell line and thus compared. The UV-Visible Absorbance for the SE-Au Nps was obtained at 543 nm. The centrifugal particle size analysis of the Au Nps embedded in SE fruit extract showed the size of the nanoparticles to be widely varying with higher fraction of particles between the size ranges of 15 to 20 nm. The morphology of the Au Nps embedded in SE fruit extract was observed using SEM. The presence of Au Nps in SE fruit extract was confirmed using FTIR. The results of the MTT assay on MCF7 breast cancer cell line proved that the % cell viability was less for SE-Au Nps than that of the SE fruit extract alone. Thus, the antiproliferative activity of the SE fruit extract was significantly enhanced by embedding it with Au Nps and it can be effectively used in therapeutic applications after further studies.

The provision of infrastructure and related services in developing Asia via public–private partnership (PPP) increased rapidly during the late 1990s. Theoretical arguments support the potential economic benefits of PPPs, but empirical evidence is thin. This paper develops a framework identifying channels through which economic gains can be derived from PPP arrangement. The framework helps derive an empirically tractable specification that examines how PPPs affect the aggregate economy. Empirical results suggest that increasing the ratio of PPP investment to GDP improves access to and quality of infrastructure services, and economic growth will potentially be higher. But this optimism is conditional, especially on the region’s efforts to further upgrade its technical and institutional capacity to handle complex PPP contracts.

Many questions of control theory are well studied for systems which satisfy to the relative degree definition. If this definition is fulfilled then there exists linear state-space transform reducing system to a very convenient canonical form where zero dynamics is a part of system’s equations. Algorithms of such reduction are well-known. However, there exist systems which don’t satisfy this definition. Such systems are the subject of investigation in the presented paper. To investigate their properties here we suggest to consider an analogue of the classical relative degree definition – the so-called column-wise relative degree. It turned out that this definition is satisfied in some cases when classical relative degree doesn’t exist. We introduce this notion here, investigate it properties and suggest algorithm for reducing systems to the column-wise relative degree compliant form if possible. It is possible to show that systems with column-wise relative degree also can be reduced to a convenient canonical form by a linear state-space transformation. Some problems arise from the fact that some systems which do not have relative degree can be reduced to a form with it using linear inputs or outputs transform. Here we show that this is an interesting mathematical problem, which can be solved with the help of properties of relative degree, formulated and proved in this paper.

Synthesis of macro-mesoporous Titania (Titanium dioxide-TiO₂) nanospheres was successfully achieved using a modified template-free methodology to incorporate macroporous channels into a mesoporous TiO₂ framework to form mixed macro-mesoporous TiO₂ spheres (MMPT), which were doped with carbon dots (C-dots) to form improved nanocomposites (C-dots@MMPT). Elemental composition, surface bonding and optical properties of these nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-VIS). Evaluation of photocatalytic activity for each (C-Dots@MMPT) sample was performed via degrading the Methylene Blue (MB) dye compared with bare samples (MMPT) under visible light irradiation using 300 Watt halogen lamp.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s president Mr. Jin Liqun shares with JIPD Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Gu Qingyang, his passion for infrastructure finance, as he reflects upon his goal of steering an environmentally friend and corruption-free AIIB toward building social-impacting infrastructure across Asia.
From governmental departments to international financial institutes, Mr. Jin Liqun has undertaken almost every essential role in finance. With his vast experience across the private and public sectors, particularly in multilateral development banks, Mr. Jin Liqun currently serves as Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)’s first President since its founding in 2016, following a stint as Secretary-General of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat created to establish the bank. Beginning from his two decades of governmental experience at the Chinese Ministry of Finance, rising from the rank of Deputy Director General to Vice Minister, Mr. Jin was then called to serve as Vice President, and then Ranking Vice President, of the Asian Development Bank, and later as Alternate Executive Director for China at the World Bank and at the Global Environment Facility. Mr. Jin had also served as Chairman of China International Capital Corporation Ltd., China’s first joint-venture investment bank, in addition to serving as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation and as Chairman of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds.

Afforestation is a main tool for preventing desertification and soil erosion in arid and semiarid regions of Iran. Large-scale afforestation, however, has poorly understood consequences for the future ecosystems in the term of ecosystems protection. The objective of the present study is to identify changes in soil properties following different intervals of planting of Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven) in semiarid afforestation of Iran (Chitgar Forest Park, Tehran). For this purpose, sand, silt and clay ratios, bulk density, soil moisture, pH, electrical conductivity, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, total soil N, and total carbon was measured. Our study highlighted the potential of the invasive trees by A. altissima, to alter soil properties along chronosequence. Almost all soil quality attributes showed a declining trend with stand age. A continuous decline in soil quality indicated that the present land management may not be sustainable. Therefore, an improved management practice is imperative to sustain soil quality and maintain long-term productivity of plantation forests. Thinning activity will be required to reduce the number of trees competing for the same nutrients especially in a older stand to protect forest soils.