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This work focuses on the interaction of cellulose-based colloidal microgel dispersions with the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) at different concentrations. First, a Cellulose-P(NIPAAm-MAA)-based responsive microgel sample was prepared by a radical polymerization method using a one-pot process. The samples thus obtained were purified, characterized and used to study microgel-surfactant interactions. To this end, SDS solutions with different concentrations were prepared and the interactions of SDS in the premicellar and micelle regions with polymer microgel were investigated using different physicochemical techniques. Experiments were also performed at different temperatures to obtain the degree of binding of SDS to microgel in gel surfactant mixtures. Due to the temperature-sensitive properties of microgel, we observed significant changes in various properties of microgel-surfactant mixtures when the solution temperature changed. The overall results showed that various experimental variables, such as the polymer gel/surfactant ratio and temperature, affect the gel–surfactant interaction quantitatively and qualitatively. With increasing surfactant concentration, conductance, viscosity and absorbance values ​​increased, but a decrease in surface tension was observed. This is due to the adsorption of SDS at the air-water interface. The micellar activity of surfactants is enhanced by the addition of microgels. It was found that the strength and nature of the interaction depended not only on the gel/surfactant ratio, solvent type and test temperature, but also on the chemical structure of the surfactant used. Furthermore, the visual stability of the colloidal particles in the mixture of microgel and SDS was also noticeable over time.

Farmers’ efficiency in using pesticides depends on using recommended doses. The research was conducted to determine farmers’ efficiency in using selected pesticides for controlling rice pests and explore the contribution of selected characteristics of the farmers to their efficiency in using selected pesticides for controlling rice pests. Data were collected from randomly selected 252 Common Interest Group (CIG) Member rice farmers of three selected unions of three selected upazillas of Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh with the help of a pre-tested interview schedule during the period from 01 August 2022 to 30 November 2022. Findings revealed that 38.97% farmers were the efficient users of recommended doses and rest 61.03% farmers had lower to moderate efficiency in using pesticides for controlling rice pests. Based on descending order of Standardized Use Efficiency Index, ‘Gola 80 EC for killing rice bug’ ranked 1st followed by ‘Amistar Top 325 SC for controlling sheath blight disease’, and ‘Thiovit 80 WG for controlling leaf scald disease’. Regression analysis indicated that ‘knowledge on pesticides’, ‘rice farming experience’, ‘extension contacts’, ‘attitude towards use of pesticides’, ‘rice farming area’, and ‘pre-cautions for using pesticides’ of the farmers had significant positive contribution to their efficiency in using selected pesticides for controlling rice pests. Agricultural advisory service providing organizations should increasing contact with the farmers having lower farming experience, lower farming area to increase their knowledge for taking necessary pre-cautions and to form favourable attitude towards judicious and efficient use of pesticides.

Nowadays, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are playing important role in communicating agricultural information. In this connection, the government of Bangladesh established a number of Agricultural Information and Communication Centers (AICC) at the Union level to disseminate agricultural information. The purposes of the study were to determine the effectiveness of AICC for disseminating agricultural information and to explore the contribution of the selected characteristics of the AICC member farmers to the effectiveness of AICC. Data were collected from 90 randomly selected farmers of nine Upazillas of Faridpur district under Dhaka division. Face-to-face interview followed by pretested structured questionnaire was held with the selected farmers to gather data. The survey revealed that an overwhelming majority (80%) of the farmers perceived medium effectiveness of AICC, while 7.8% of them perceived low and 12.2% of them perceived high effectiveness of AICC for disseminating agricultural information. The effectiveness of AICC was influenced by the intensity of use of ICT, length of experience to use ICT and ICT using confidence. Therefore, responsible organizations such as Agriculture Information Service (AIS) with the help of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and other advisory service-providing organizations should take action to enhance the effectiveness of AICC. Vol. 9, No. 3, December 2022: 259-265

Soil salinity is the major limiting factor restricting plant growth and development. Little is known about the comparative and combined effects of gibberellic acid (GA3) seed priming and foliar application on maize under salt stress. The current study determined the impact of different concentrations of GA3 on morpho-physiological and photosynthetic attributes of maize seedlings under salinity stress treatments (no salinity and severe salinity-15 dSm-1). The GA3 treatments consisted of 1mM, 2mM, 3mM, 4mM and 5mM GA3 seed priming and exogenous application in salt condition. Salt stress particularly at 15 dSm-1 reduced the length of shoots and roots, fresh and dry weights, chlorophyll, lycopene, beta-carotine and carotenoid contents in maize plants. Nevertheless, the application of GA3 improved maize growth under salt stress. Compared with salt, the 2mM GA3 treatment (T4) recorded the highest increase in roots and shoots length, roots fresh and dry weights, shoots fresh and dry weights, chlorophyll content under salt stress compared to other concentrations. These results indicated that 2mM GA3 priming and exogenous application could be used as an effective tool for improving the maize growth and development in salt contaminated soils.

Aim: Uniform and rapid germination and growth is a major barrier to successful crop production of bitter gourd, a major summer vegetable of Bangladesh. Seed priming with different signaling molecules can efficiently confer this problem. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explore the potentiality of different signaling molecules such as salicylic acid (SA) and gibberelic acid (GA3) to increase germination and growth of bitter gourd. Place and Duration of the Study: The study was conducted in the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, from September-October, 2022. Methodology: The bitter gourd seeds were soaked in 1mM, 2mM and 3mM GA3, and 3mM, 6mM and 9mM SA solutions for 1 hour. The untreated seeds were used as control. Seeds were germinated in petri dishes and data on germination was collected. Then seedlings were transplanted to pot after 7 days to record growth parameters at 15th day of establishment. Results: The experiment's findings indicated that lower concentrations of SA and GA3 had a beneficial effect, however greater levels significantly reduced the bitter gourd's ability to germinate and develop in comparison to the control. Findings of the study showed priming concentrations of 3mM SA, 6mM SA, and 1mM GA3, markedly improved the germination percentage, shoot and root length, seedling vigour, and fresh and dry weight of the shoot and root, RWC of bitter gourd. Conclusion: Pretreatment with SA and GA3 was observed to be relatively more efficient in increasing germination of bitter gourd compared with control. Overall, this study suggests that bitter gourd seed priming 3mM SA, 6mM SA, and 1mM GA3 can improve germination and growth.

This research work focuses on the isolation and thermo-chemical modification of cellulose and its application as an adsorbent for the removal of organic pollutants. The used cellulose was collected from a locally available plant (Olive Europa) commonly called Zaitoon. The stem branches of Zaitoon were collected and then kept in water for 40–45 days at room temperature to extract the cellulose fibers. These cellulose fibers were then kept in the Soxhlet apparatus for washing in n-hexane for 72 h. The purified cellulose was divided into three parts: one part was subjected to thermal activation (TAC), the second was modified chemically (CMC) with Benzyl Chloride, while the last one remained un-functionalized (UFC). All the three forms of cellulose were characterized via FTIR and SEM, then utilized for the removal of Titan Yellow (TY) dye from aqueous media via adsorption process by varying the contact time, temperature, concentration of dye and type, and dose of adsorbent. The adsorption efficiencies of all adsorbents were compared under different experimental variables. Thermally activated cellulose showed the best results for the removal of TY compared with other materials. The calculated removal percentage of TY was found to be 97.69, 94.83, 94.83, and 98% under equilibrium conditions of contact time, temperature, adsorbent dose, and TY concentration. Similarly, the uptake capacities of TAC under optimal experimental conditions were found to be 19.56, 18.96, 18.52, and 18.75 mg/g. Thermodynamic studies of TAC, CMC, and UFC showed that the values of ΔG are negative, while those of ΔH and ΔS are positive in all cases and at all temperatures. This indicates that the TY elimination process is endothermic and spontaneous with an entropy-driven nature. The obtained results indicate that the as-fabricated low-cost biomaterials can effectively remove dyes from wastewater through physicochemical interactions. The removal process was influenced by the nature of the adsorbent and the operating variables.

Broussonetia papyrifera (B. papyrifera) is a tree producing allergenic pollen that grow at varied climatic conditions worldwide. The tree pollen disperse in the air causing allergies in susceptible humans. The study investigates climate change variable’s impact on B. papyrifera pollen’s composition, pollen metabolome, pollen allergenicity and their occurrence in the upcoming years. The tree pollens were collected in summer and spring from different regions in Pakistan. Pollens were subjected to morphological analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS), and immunoblotting. The tree future-growth invasion was predicted through MaxEnt modeling. Light microscopy and FTIR showed seasonal and regional differences in pollen-morphology and pollen-metabolome that correlated to weather conditions’ shift. LCMS analysis detected four allergenic lipids having a potential role in allergies. Pollen protein immunoblotting-studies identified putative 15 kDa novel allergen, and verified previously known 40 kDa, 33 kDa, and 10 kDa allergens. B. papyrifera MaxEnt modeling through ACCESS1­0 and CCSM4 under 2-greenhouse gas emissions scenarios {representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5} projected the tree invasion by the years 2050 and 2070. The study findings demonstrate that climatic variables differences affect B. papyrifera-pollen physiology. The study discovered allergenic lipids and a 15 kDa potential novel allergen in B. papyrifera-pollen protein extracts, and predicted the tree invasion in future. These results predict potential changes in B. papyrifera-pollen allergy risks in the future and provide a model system for studying pollen morphology, plant invasion, and associated allergies in response to climate changes for other species.

Salinity is a dominant obstacle to the proper germination of seeds, growth of seedlings, and, consequently, the production of crops. The priming of seeds with different treating agents can efficiently impart salinity tolerance. Kidney bean is a nutritious and popular vegetable crop in the world. Literature shows that salt stress negatively disturbs the germination and growth of kidney beans. In the present research, we investigated the potentiality of salicylic acid (SA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as priming and exogenous agents to alleviate the salinity-inhibited germination and growth of kidney beans. The seeds were pretreated with SA (1 mM and 2 mM) and H2O2 (0.1 mM and 0.15 mM) and soaked in normal tap water (hydro-priming) for 60 min. In addition, for the control experiment, untreated seeds were used. Finally, primed seeds were subjected to salt stress (150 mM NaCl). Our results exhibited that salt stress considerably lowered the percentage of germination (GP), germination index (GI), seed vigor index (SVI), shoot length (SL), root length (RL), shoot–root fresh and dry biomass, and plant growth. The results also exhibited that salt stress significantly decreased the relative water content (RWC) and photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll, carotenoids, lycopene, and beta-carotene contents. The SA- and H2O2- and hydro-priming stimulated the GP, GI, SL, RL, SVI, and seedling growth. Data also revealed that the supplementation of SA and H2O2 enhanced RWC and photosynthetic pigments. When compared to other treatments, pretreatment with 1 mM SA was determined to be comparatively more effective at imparting the salt tolerance of kidney beans. Overall, these results, via a heatmap and principal component analysis, uncovered that priming and exogenous applications of SA and H2O2 can improve salt tolerance and enhance germination and seedling characteristics of kidney beans.

Clean energy and a sustainable environment are grand challenges that the world is facing which can be addressed by converting solar energy into transportable and storable fuels (chemical fuel). The main scientific and technological challenges for efficient solar energy conversion, energy storage, and environmental applications are the stability, durability, and performance of low-cost functional materials. Among different nanomaterials, perovskite type LaFeO3 has been extensively investigated as a photocatalyst due to its abundance, high stability, compositional and structural flexibility, high electrocatalytic activity, efficient sunlight absorption, and tunable band gap and band edges. Hence, it is urgent to write a comprehensive review to highlight the trend, challenges, and prospects of LaFeO3 in the field of photocatalytic solar energy conversion and environment purification. This critical review summarizes the history and basic principles of photocatalysis. Further, it reviews in detail the LaFeO3, applications, shortcomings, and activity enhancement strategies including the design of nanostructures, elemental doping, and heterojunctions construction such as Type-I, Type-II, Z-Type, and uncommon heterojunctions. Besides, the optical and electronic properties, charge carriers separation, electron transport phenomenon and alignment of the band gaps in LaFeO3-based heterostructures are comprehensively discussed.

Sponge-like loose and porous SnO2 microspheres with rich oxygen vacancies were successfully fabricated for use in a gas sensor, which possessed extremely high response and high selectivity towards H2S gas.

Due to the serious energy and environmental issues, hydrogen generation via water splitting has been regarded as a green and promising alternative strategy to the use of fossil fuels.

Aim: Salinity is a major barrier to successful crop production. Seed priming and exogenous application of different signaling molecules can efficiently confer salinity tolerance. Wheat is a major cereal crop in the world and salinity drastically reduces the wheat seedling growth and yield. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explore the potentiality of different signaling molecules such as salicylic acid (SA) and H2O2 to alleviate the salinity-induced growth inhibition of wheat. Place and Duration of the Study: The study was conducted in the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, from September-October, 2021. Methodology: The wheat (cv. BARI-Gom 24) seeds were soaked in normal tap water (hydro-priming), 1 mM SA, 2 mM SA, 0.1 mM H2O2, and 0.15 mM H2O2 solutions for 30 minutes. The untreated seeds were used as control. Eventually, primed seeds were exposed to 150 mM NaCl in Petri dishes during germination. Primed and non-primed seedlings were grown for 15 days under 150 mM NaCl stress condition. Results: The result revealed that salt stress significantly reduced germination percentage (GP), germination index (GI), seed vigor index (SVI), shoot and root length. The results also exhibited that photosynthetic pigments, total chlorophyll, carotenoids, lycopene, and beta-carotene contents were significantly reduced by salt stress. Seed priming with SA and H2O2 and hydro-priming promoted the germination percentage, seedling growth (including shoot and root length), SVI, and photosynthetic pigments. Conclusion: Pretreatment with 1 mM SA and 0.1 mM H2O2 was observed to be relatively more efficient in conferring salinity tolerance of wheat compared with other treating conditions. Overall, this study suggests that wheat seed priming with SA and H2O2 and hydro-priming can improve salinity tolerance. Aim: Salinity is a major barrier to successful crop production. Seed priming and exogenous application of different signaling molecules can efficiently confer salinity tolerance. Wheat is a major cereal crop in the world and salinity drastically reduces the wheat seedling growth and yield. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explore the potentiality of different signaling molecules such as salicylic acid (SA) and H2O2 to alleviate the salinity-induced growth inhibition of wheat. Place and Duration of the Study: The study was conducted in the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, from September-October, 2021. Methodology: The wheat (cv. BARI-Gom 24) seeds were soaked in normal tap water (hydro-priming), 1 mM SA, 2 mM SA, 0.1 mM H2O2, and 0.15 mM H2O2 solutions for 30 minutes. The untreated seeds were used as control. Eventually, primed seeds were exposed to 150 mM NaCl in Petri dishes during germination. Primed and non-primed seedlings were grown for 15 days under 150 mM NaCl stress condition. Results: The result revealed that salt stress significantly reduced germination percentage (GP), germination index (GI), seed vigor index (SVI), shoot and root length. The results also exhibited that photosynthetic pigments, total chlorophyll, carotenoids, lycopene, and beta-carotene contents were significantly reduced by salt stress. Seed priming with SA and H2O2 and hydro-priming promoted the germination percentage, seedling growth (including shoot and root length), SVI, and photosynthetic pigments. Conclusion: Pretreatment with 1 mM SA and 0.1 mM H2O2 was observed to be relatively more efficient in conferring salinity tolerance of wheat compared with other treating conditions. Overall, this study suggests that wheat seed priming with SA and H2O2 and hydro-priming can improve salinity tolerance.

PurposeThis paper aims to design an adaptive nonlinear strategy capable of timely detection and reconstruction of faults in the attitude’s sensors of an autonomous aerial vehicle with greater accuracy concerning other conventional approaches in the literature.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed scheme integrates a baseline nonlinear controller with an improved radial basis function neural network (IRBFNN) to detect different kinds of anomalies and failures that may occur in the attitude’s sensors of an autonomous aerial vehicle. An integral sliding mode concept is used as auto-tune weight update law in the IRBFNN instead of conventional weight update laws to optimize its learning capability without computational complexities. The simulations results and stability analysis validate the promising contributions of the suggested methodology over the other conventional approaches.FindingsThe performance of the proposed control algorithm is compared with the conventional radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), multi-layer perceptron neural network (MLPNN) and high gain observer (HGO) for a quadrotor vehicle suffering from various kinds of faults, e.g. abrupt, incipient and intermittent. From the simulation results obtained, it is found that the proposed algorithm’s performance in faults detection and estimation is relatively better than the rest of the methodologies.Practical implicationsFor the improvement in the stability and safety of an autonomous aerial vehicle during flight operations, quick identification and reconstruction of attitude’s sensor faults and failures always play a crucial role. Efficient fault detection and estimation scheme are considered indispensable for an error-free and safe flight mission of an autonomous aerial vehicle.Originality/valueThe proposed scheme introduces RBFNN techniques to detect and estimate the quadrotor attitude’s sensor faults and failures efficiently. An integral sliding mode effect is used as the network’s backpropagation law to automatically modify its learning parameters accordingly, thereby speeding up the learning capabilities as compared to the conventional neural network backpropagation laws. Compared with the other investigated techniques, the proposed strategy achieve remarkable results in the detection and estimation of various faults.

The aim of the present study was focused on experimental analysis for medicinal use of Micromeria biflora Benth. The plant was collected and subjected to extraction and fractionation; the chloroform fraction resulted in the isolation of a new constituent salicylalazine, using preparative HPLC. The Chemical structure of salicylalazine was confirmed through NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Salicylalazine was evaluated (in vitro) against various biological targets such as urease, phosphodiesterase-1, tyrosinase, and anti-glycation studies. Furthermore, the binding orientation and interaction pattern of salicylalazine with crucial amino acid residues of the respective targets were used to explore the mechanism of enzymes inhibition. Results indicated that salicylalazine caused potent urease inhibition with an IC50 value of 12.4 ± 1.10 µM, in comparison of standard thiourea (IC50 = 21.0 ± 0.21 µM). The compound exhibited excellent inhibition potential against tyrosinase (89.4%), phosphodiesterase-1 (94.7%) compared to the standards kojic acid (86.3%) and EDTA (86.4%), respectively. Besides, salicylalazine possessed good anti-glycation activity with % inhibition of 86% and IC50 value of 248.7 ± 2.09 µM, compared to the standard Rutin (96%, IC50 value of 295 ± 3.14). Thus, it is concluded that salicylalazine, the active constituent Micromeria biflora Benth, exhibited remarkable in vitro inhibition of urease, phosphodiesterase-1, tyrosinase, and anti-glycation.

To understand the expected mode of action, the physicochemical study on the solution properties of medicinal compounds and their interaction with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), under varying experimental conditions, is of prime importance. The present research work illustrates the physicochemical study and interaction of certain medicinal compounds such as; Levofloxacin, Ciprofloxacin, and Ibuprofen with DNA. Density, viscosity and surface tension measurements have been performed in order to determine, in a systematic manner, the physicochemical, volumetric and thermodynamic properties of these compounds; and most of these parameters have shown different behavior with varying concentration of solution, temperature of the medium and chemical nature/structure of the compound. In addition, these drugs showed a spontaneous surface-active and association behavior in aqueous solutions. The flow behavior, surface properties, volumetric behavior and solute–solvent interaction of these drugs were prominently influenced by experimental variables and addition of DNA to their solutions. UV–Visible spectroscopy was also used to examine the interaction of these drugs with DNA in aqueous media in detail. Calculated values of binding constants (Kb) for all complexes of drug-DNA are positive, indicating a fruitful binding process. It is seen that a smaller Kb value reflects weaker binding of the drug with DNA and vise versa. Due to the difference in the chemical structure of drugs the values of binding constant are different for various drug-DNA complexes and follow the order Kb(Levofloxacin-DNA) > Kb(Ciprofloxacin-DNA) > Kb(Ibuprofen-DNA). On the basis of spectral changes and Kb it can be said that the binding of all these drugs with DNA may be of physicochemical nature and the dominating binding force be of hydrogen bonding between oxygen of drugs and hydrogen of DNA units and the drug having more oxygen atoms showed stronger binding ability. The data further suggest a limited possibility of chemical type attachment of these drugs with DNA.

The properties of nickel metal electrodeposited in presence of organic additives in various concentrations were studied with respect to current efficiency of the bath. Films were electrodeposited in various pH and temperatures and for different time in order to get high current efficiency and uniform deposit. Locally available salt of sulfate is preferably used as source of nickel. Sodium sulfate is used to improve the conductivity of the bath and it is found that the rate of deposition linearly increases with the increase in concentration of the sodium sulfate in the electrolytic bath. Nickel chloride is primarily added to the bath not only to increase the corrosion of the anode but also to enhance the uniformity of the deposited layer. Surface structure analyses were carried out using scanning electron microscopy. Elemental analyses are done by energy dispersive x-rays. Reasons for variation in properties and structural characteristics of metal deposit are discussed.

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), an electrochemical power generating technology, uses a precious metal Platinum (Pt) catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR), which is a major hindrance in its commercialization. Using a non-precious group metal (NPGM) instead of Pt will reduces the cost of PEMFCs. Herein MnO2 carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized by impregnating the transition metal in large surface carbonaceous material CNTs by hydrothermal synthesis techniques. To enhance the catalytic reaction and increase the volumetric current density, the sample was pyrolyzed at 800 0C temperature under nitrogen atmosphere. During pyrolysis, the nitrogen was also doped in the framework of carbonaceous materials. The materials were then treated with acid, removing the unreacted metals and adding oxygen functional group to the CNT framework due to which the activity of the catalyst is amplified. The catalysts have been characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Catalyst activity has been calculated by Rotating Disc Electrode (RDE) experiment. The resulting materials are stronger in experimental conditions in alkaline environment and have high electro catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV) depicts a current density of - 4.0 mA/cm2 and over potential of -0.3V vs. Standard Calomel Electrode (SCE) in 0.1M KOH electrolyte. Rotating Disk Electrode (RDE) was conducted at 400, 800, 1200, and 1600 rpm. The results of MnO2CNT show a desirable future aspect in fuel cell commercialization.

In this work, g-C3N4 based ternary composite (CeO2/CN/NH2-MIL-101(Fe)) has been fabricated via hydrothermal and wet-chemical methods. The composite showed superior photoactivities for H2O reduction to produce H2 and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) degradation. The amount of H2 evolved over the composite under visible and UV–visible irradiations is 147.4 µmol·g−1·h−1 and 556.2 µmol·g−1·h−1, respectively. Further, the photocatalyst degraded 87% of 2,4-DCP in 2 hrs under visible light irradiations. The improved photoactivities are accredited to the synergistic-effects caused by the proper band alignment with close interfacial contact of the three components that significantly promoted charge transfer and separation. The 2,4-DCP degradation over the composite is dominated by OH radical rather than h+ and O2 − as investigated by scavenger trapping experiments. This is further supported by the electron para-magnetic resonance (EPR) study. This work provides new directions for the development of g-C3N4 based highly efficient ternary composite materials for clean energy generation and pollution control.

The photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 for CO2 conversion is still inadequate by several shortfalls including the instability, insufficient solar light absorption and rapid charge carrier’s recombination rate. To solve these problems, herein, noble metals (Pt and Au) decorated Sr-incorporated g-C3N4 photocatalysts are fabricated via the simple calcination and photo-deposition methods. The Sr-incorporation remarkably reduced the g-C3N4 band gap from 2.7 to 2.54 eV, as evidenced by the UV–visible absorption spectra and the density functional theory results. The CO2 conversion performance of the catalysts was evaluated under visible light irradiation. The Pt/0.15Sr-CN sample produced 48.55 and 74.54 µmol h−1 g−1 of CH4 and CO, respectively. These amounts are far greater than that produced by the Au/0.15Sr-CN, 0.15Sr-CN, and CN samples. A high quantum efficiency of 2.92% is predicted for the Pt/0.15Sr-CN sample. Further, the stability of the photocatalyst is confirmed via the photocatalytic recyclable test. The improved CO2 conversion performance of the catalyst is accredited to the promoted light absorption and remarkably enhanced charge separation via the Sr-incorporated mid gap states and the localized surface plasmon resonance effect induced by noble metal nanoparticles. This work will provide a new approach for promoting the catalytic efficiency of g-C3N4 for efficient solar fuel production. Highlights: 1 Noble metals (Pt, Au) decorated Sr-incorporated g-C3N4 photocatalysts are fabricated via facile calcination and photo-deposition methods.2 The optical absorption and charge separation properties of the photocatalysts are remarkably improved and the Pt/0.15Sr-CN photocatalyst exhibited excellent activity for CO2 conversion.3 A quantum efficiency of 2.92% is predicted for CO2 reduction over the Pt/0.15Sr-CN photocatalyst at 420 nm wavelength, which is accredited to the improved optical absorption and enhanced charge separation via Sr-incorporation and the surface plasmon resonance effect of noble metal nanoparticles.

The design of bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions delivering excellent catalytic activity and stability is highly desirable, yet challenged. Herein, we report an amorphous RuO

Organic dyes with enduring colors which are malodorous are a significant source of environmental deterioration due to their virulent effects on aquatic life and lethal carcinogenic effects on living organisms. In this study, the adsorption of methyl green (MG), a cationic dye, was achieved by using ZIF-67, which has been deemed an effective adsorbent for the removal of contaminants from wastewater. The characterization of ZIF-67 was done by FTIR, XRD, and SEM analysis. The adsorption mechanism and characteristics were investigated with the help of control batch experiments and theoretical studies. The systematical kinetic studies and isotherms were sanctioned with a pseudo-second-order model and a Langmuir model (R2 = 0.9951), confirming the chemisorption and monolayer interaction process, respectively. The maximum removal capacities of ZIF-67 for MG was 96% at pH = 11 and T = 25 °C. DFT calculations were done to predict the active sites in MG by molecular electrostatic potential (MEP). Furthermore, both Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations were also used to study the adsorption mechanism.

Photocatalysis appears to be an appealing approach for environmental remediation including pollutants degradation in water, air, and/or soil, due to the utilization of renewable and sustainable source of energy, i.e., solar energy. However, their broad applications remain lagging due to the challenges in pollutant degradation efficiency, large-scale catalyst production, and stability. In recent decades, massive efforts have been devoted to advance the photocatalysis technology for improved environmental remediation. In this review, the latest progress in this aspect is overviewed, particularly, the strategies for improved light sensitivity, charge separation, and hybrid approaches. We also emphasized the low efficiency and poor stability issues with the current photocatalytic systems. Finally, we provided future suggestions to further enhance the photocatalyst performance and lower its large-scale production cost. This review aims to provide valuable insights into the fundamental science and technical engineering of photocatalysis in environmental remediation.

ICT policy is required to facilitate e-services to the citizens and to guide stakeholders of ICT to minimize the socio-economic barriers in ICT facilities. This study has examined the vision, objectives, strategic themes of the National Information and Communication Policy (NIP) 2018 of Bangladesh to find out whether this policy addresses ‘Digital Divide’ and encouraging digital inclusion of Bangladesh. In last decade, the government of Bangladesh has initiated massive digitization, still the question remains, are the citizens receiving the e-services at doorstep or it is creating digital divide. Bangladesh is an agricultural country and 62% of citizen live in rural areas. Furthermore, for receiving e-services it requires ICT accessibility, engagement, and skill, but most of the citizen do not have those perquisites. That is why, rapid digitization and e-services of the government has created the possibility of digital divide. This study has investigated the e-services accessibility for the citizen as committed in ICT policy 2018. For this study, author followed a qualitative method for primary data collection. Author has examined the NIP 2018 with relevant policy documents and finds the underlying gaps and issues, which have the threats of digital divide. Author has also conducted FGDs and Key Informant Interview (KII) to find out possible policy solution. The author has identified the issues, challenges, and gaps while analyzing the NIP 2018. Despite that, the author has proposed, if the NIP 2018 would implement with priority and dedication, the government of Bangladesh can minimize the threats of digital divide and bring the e-services to the doorstep of the citizen.

The objectives of this study was to assess the extent of problems faced by the farmers in catfish culture with randomly selected 120 catfish cultivars in Trishal upazila under Mymensingh district. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Based on the level of problem faced by the farmers in catfish culture they were divided into three groups; less problem, moderate problem and high problem and it was observed through survey that the majority (60 %) of the farmers faced moderate problem while 22.50% percent of the farmers faced low problem and 17.50% farmer faced high problem. Farmers’ problem face was influenced by their media contact for fish farming, training exposure, level of education and organizational participation. Farmers having higher media contact, higher training participation, higher educational level and higher organizational involvement faced lower problem in catfish culture. On the basis of Problem Faced Index (PFI) score calculated to rank the problems, it was observed that high price of feed ranked most severe problem followed by unavailability of quality feed, high price of vaccine and medicine and low production and lack of local market. The findings may contribute in formulating policies to reduce farmers’ problem in catfish culture. Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.8(2): 241-248, August 2021

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) is considered as the most prominent public organization in Bangladesh for disseminating agricultural information to the farmers. In this line, the objectives of this study were to determine the extent of effectiveness of DAE regarding their services for improving farming skill and to determine the factors affecting the effectiveness of DAE services. Data were collected from two villages of Nawabganj Upazila (sub-district) in Dinajpur district using structured interview schedule. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were done to explain the data. The findings revealed that majority (70.2 %) of the farmers think that the DAE services are moderately effective for improving farmer’s skill. Among the rest of the respondents, 7.7% and 22.1 % were commented as less and high effective category respectively. The inferential analysis revealed that farmers' education, organizational participation, cosmopoliteness and time spent in farming had positive and significant contribution with effectiveness of DAE services. This means that the initiative for higher these factors would increase the effectiveness of DAE services. The extension personnel, development practitioners and other researchers may be benefited from the findings. The policy makers should also consider these important factors to increase the effectiveness of DAE regarding agricultural advisory services.

The development of new tools that could meet the demand of sustainable energy production has attracted worldwide scientific attention. Over the past few decades, significant research efforts have been carried out to efficiently reduce water to H2 (green fuel) over semiconductor photocatalysts. Numerous semiconductor photocatalysts have been employed in photocatalysis for optimum H2 production. All the techniques were chosen based on their flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and ease of availability. Recently, polymeric carbon nitride (g-C3N4) received worldwide attention in visible light photocatalysis for energy and environmental applications due to its low price, robust nature, and superior thermal stability. Nevertheless, g-C3N4 (CN) exhibits shortfalls such as high charge carrier's recombination rate and weak reduction ability. To overcome these drawbacks, herein, for the first time we have fabricated B-TiO2/MIL-53(Fe)/CN ternary composite via hydrothermal and wet-chemical methods. The resultant B-TiO2/MIL53(Fe)/CN ternary composite shows drastically improved photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution compared to the bare CN, B-TiO2, and MIL53(Fe) components. The B-TiO2/MIL53(Fe)/CN ternary composite produced approximately 166.3 and 581.2 μmol h−1 g−1 of hydrogen under visible light and UV–visible light irradiations, respectively, with the assistance of co-catalyst Pt. Photo-luminescence (PL) and the fluorescence (FL) spectroscopy measurements reveal that the enhanced photoactivity is due to the greatly promoted charge carrier's separation and transfer at the interfacial contact of the well-aligned three-component systems. This work will promote the design and development of efficient photocatalyst based on CN for clean energy production and environmental purification.

It is highly desired to enhance charge separation and O2 adsorption of the pyropheophorbide-a (Ppa) to promote visible-light activity and stability. Herein, Ppa modified 001-facet-exposed TiO2 nanosheets (Ppa/001T) nanocomposites with different weight ratios were fabricated via the self-assembly approach by OH induced. Compared with the bare Ppa, the 8% amount optimized 8Ppa/001T sample displayed 41-fold enhanced activity for degradation of Ametryn (AME) under visible-light irradiation. The promoted photoactivities could be attributed to the accelerated charge carrier’s separation by coupling TiO2 as thermodynamic platform for accepting the photoelectrons with high energy from Ppa and the promoted O2 adsorption because of the residual fluoride on TiO2. As for this, a distinctive two radicals (•O2− and •OH) involved pathway of AME degradation is carried out, which is different from the radical pathway dominated by •O2− for the bare Ppa. This work is of utmost importance since it gives us detailed information regarding the charge carrier’s separation and the impact of the radical pathway that will pave a new approach toward the design of high activity visible-light driven photocatalysts.

This work reports the formation of a novel adsorbent, prepared by activating bentonite with cinnamic acid, which is highly efficient to remove dyes from wastewater. The adsorption efficiency of the cinnamic acid activated bentonite was compared with unmodified bentonite by removing methyl orange and rhodamine-B from polluted water. The characterization was performed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicated that acidic pH and low temperature were more suitable for the selected dyes adsorption. The analysis of the data was done by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms; the Freundlich isotherm showed more suitability for the equilibrium data. The data were further analyzed by pseudo-first and pseudo-second-order models to study adsorption kinetics. The results showed that methyl orange and rhodamine-B adsorption obeyed pseudo-order kinetics. The results obtained from this research suggested that acid activation of bentonite with cinnamic acid increased the surface area of the clay and hence enhanced its adsorption efficiency. The maximum adsorption efficiency for the removal of methyl orange and rhodamine-B was up to 99.3 mg g−1 and 44.7 mg g−1, respectively, at 25 °C. This research provides an economical modification technique of bentonite, which makes it cost-effective and a good adsorbent for wastewater treatment.

Wastewater from the textile industries contaminates the natural water and affects the aquatic environment, soil fertility and biological ecosystem through discharge of different hazardous effluents. Therefore, it is essential to remove such dissolved toxic materials from water by applying more efficient techniques. We performed a comparative study on the removal of rhodamine B (RhB) and Nile blue (NB) from water through a catalytic/photocatalytic approach while using a CuO–SiO2 based nanocomposite. The CuO–SiO2 nanocomposite was synthesized through a sol–gel process using copper nitrate dihydrate and tetraethylorthosilicate as CuO and SiO2 precursors, respectively, with ammonia solution as the precipitating agent. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized, for their structure, morphology, crystallinity, stability, surface area, pore size and pore volume, by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques. The CuO–SiO2 nanocomposite was used for potential environmental applications in the terms of its catalytic and photocatalytic activities toward the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and Nile blue (NB) dyes, in the presence and absence of light, while monitoring the degradation process of dyes by UV-Visible spectroscopy. The catalytic efficiency of the same composite was studied and discussed in terms of changes in the chemical structures of dyes and other experimental conditions, such as the presence and absence of light. Moreover, the composite showed 85% and 90% efficiency towards the removal of rhodamine B and Nile blue dyes respectively. Thus, the CuO–SiO2 nanocomposite showed better efficiency toward removal of Nile blue as compared to rhodamine B dye while keeping other experimental variables constant. This can be attributed to the structure–property relationships and compatibility of a catalyst with the molecular structures of dyes.

It is highly desired to enhance charge separation and O

Wastewater from the textile industries contaminates the natural water and affects the aquatic environment, soil fertility and biological ecosystem through discharge of different hazardous effluents. Therefore, it is essential to remove such dissolved toxic materials from water by applying more efficient techniques. We performed a comparative study on the removal of rhodamine B (RhB) and Nile blue (NB) from water through a catalytic/photocatalytic approach while using a CuO-SiO

The 2021-2022 flood is one of the most serious flood events in Malaysian history, with approximately 70,000 victims evacuated daily, 54 killed and total losses were up to MYR 6.1 billion. From this devastating event, we realized the lack of extreme precipitation and flood inundation information, which is a common problem in tropical regions. Therefore, we have developed Flood-Tropical framework to provide a rapid extreme precipitation information and flood inundation mapping by utilizing (1) a cloud-computing platform, the Google Earth Engine (GEE); (2) open-sources satellite images such as Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 optical; and (3) flood victim information. The preliminary results on the 2021-2022 Malaysia flood were satisfactory, as the accuracy of inundated floods was up to 70%. Overall, two precipitation peaks resulted 60000 to 70000 people mostly in Selangor and Pahang evacuated on 21 – 24 December 2021, and 10000 to 15000 people from southern Peninsular evacuated on 2 – 6 Jan 2022. Extreme daily precipitation of up to 230 mm/day was observed and resulted in an inundated area of 77.43 km² in Peninsular Malaysia. This framework can act as a useful tool for local authorities to visualize extreme precipitation and floods for rescue planning and flood management.

Due to their unique layered microstructure, the presence of various functional groups at the surface, earth abundance, and attractive electrical, optical, and thermal properties, MXenes are considered promising candidates for the solution of energy- and environmental-related problems. It is seen that the energy conversion and storage capacity of MXenes can be enhanced by changing the material dimensions, chemical composition, structure, and surface chemistry. Hence, it is also essential to understand how one can easily improve the structure–property relationship from an applied point of view. In the current review, we reviewed the fabrication, properties, and potential applications of MXenes. In addition, various properties of MXenes such as structural, optical, electrical, thermal, chemical, and mechanical have been discussed. Furthermore, the potential applications of MXenes in the areas of photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, nitrogen fixation, gas sensing, cancer therapy, and supercapacitors have also been outlooked. Based on the reported works, it could easily be observed that the properties and applications of MXenes can be further enhanced by applying various modification and functionalization approaches. This review also emphasizes the recent developments and future perspectives of MXenes-based composite materials, which will greatly help scientists working in the fields of academia and material science.