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A definite worldwide shift towards healthier and more nutrient-dense meals has emerged in the past couple of decades. There exists an emerging need for efficient preservation solutions that can effectively mitigate the perishable nature due to the increasing interest in healthy and fresh food products. An efficient method for lengthening the post-harvest lifespan of whole as well as chopped vegetables and fruits is packaging, which includes plastic films and coatings, however plastic packaging has the shortcoming of being a significant environmental threat in nearly every nation. Therefore, sustainable alternatives to traditional food packaging comprise films and/or coatings composed of bio polymers. However, compared to conventional plastic packaging, these biopolymers, which come from nature, have shortcomings such as essential physio-chemical and mechanical qualities. These flaws are fixed by strengthening biopolymers with nanomaterials, which also gives the resulting nanocomposites useful features including antioxidant and/or antibacterial activity. These advances in biopolymer-based nanocomposite can be made with the application of both inorganic (eg., zinc oxide, montmorillonite) and organic (such as nanocellulose fibrils) nanomaterials. This review article discusses the worth of biopolymer coating and films reinforced with nanocomposites to package whole and sliced fruits and vegetables to enhance their lifespan.

Abstract Plant food bioactives (PFBs) offer immense health benefits with a greater scope for treating various life‐threatening diseases and lifestyle disorders. Knowing their therapeutic potentials, a lot of research works are being carried out on formulating PFBs‐loaded nano delivery systems (NDSs) to enhance their bioefficacy. However, limited information are available on the interactions occurring at the nano‐bio interface. Therefore, studies on nano‐bio interactions are of immense importance towards designing/formulating effective NDSs for PFBs. Understanding the significance of nano‐bio interface of food bioactive‐loaded NDSs would help us to predict the formation of biocorona as well as the correlation between the nanoparticles and their surrounding environments that are influenced by the NDS's physicochemical properties. The physicochemical characteristics of NDSs like size, shape, and surface charge will decide their fate in the biological fluids and have been discussed in detail. As the bioactives‐loaded NDS enters the gastrointestinal tract, formation of biocorona including protein and enzyme corona at the nano‐bio interface will takes place. Subsequently, the fate of PFBs‐loaded NDSs influences the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) processes and thereby its bioavailability, bioefficacy, and biosafety. The current review focuses on understanding the journey of PBFs‐loaded NDSs, the nature of interactions happening at nano‐bio interface, and its pharmacokinetics properties. In addition, a specific case study approach on curcumin‐loaded NDSs, and its reported interactions at nano‐bio interface, including ADME mechanism are comprehensively presented.

Electrochemical water splitting is one of the most important method for energy conversion and storage. For this, the design and development of a low-cost robust electrocatalyst are highly desirable. In this study, Cobalt-based electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction was synthesized by thermal treatment of Cobalt-dehydroacetic acid (Co-DHA). The as-synthesized Co nanostructures and Co-DHA crystals were characterized with powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy thermo-gravimetric analysis, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The electrochemical O2 evolution study shows the overpotential (at 10 mV/cm−2) correspond to 294 mV vs reference hydrogen electrode (RHE) for K-300 (Co3O4@300), whereas K-500 (Co3O4@500) shows 170 mV vs RHE values in 1 M KOH solution, respectively. Similar trends have been observed for electrochemical O2 evolution studies in 0.5 M H2SO4, where K-300 and K-500 shows the overpotential (at 10mV/cm−2) of 234 mV vs RHE, and 199 mV vs RHE, respectively. The outcomes show better catalytic efficiency of K-500 as compared to K-300.

The present study aimed to investigate the attitude and empathy of youth towards physically disabled persons. This study followed a quantitative paradigm. The sample comprised of 100 participants (Male = 50; Female = 50) who were under the age range of 18–25 years. Purposive sampling was taken to gather the data. Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (ATDP) Scale and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire were administered on the participants. All the responses were entered on the SPSS software which was analysed through descriptive statistics, t-test, and Pearson's correlation. Findings of this study showed that both males and females had negative attitude towards physically disabled person. Furthermore, males and females were equally empathetic towards physically disabled person. Consequently, there were no gender differences in the attitude and empathy of youth towards physically disabled persons. Also, significant and positive correlation was seen between the two constructs, i.e., attitude and empathy. These results indicated a need of destigmatization about disability especially physical disability in the society.

In the present study, we have used biosynthesized Dy2O3 nanoparticles (Nps) for the selective detection of (Picric acid) PA. A simple and eco-friendly route to develop Dy2O3 nanoparticles (Nps) with the aid of clove bud extract as naturally available fuel was used. Biosynthesized and its counterpart, calcined sample c-Dy2O3 were characterized by UV–visible, FT-IR, XRD, TEM, XPS and TGA analysis. FT-IR results indicated the preliminary evidence of Dy–O bond in the synthesized Nps. XRD pattern confirmed that Dy2O3 has amorphous nature and its counterpart has typical cubic crystal structure. Toxicological profiling of Dy2O3 Nps was performed against bacteria and plants using bioassays. The experiments marked the absence of zone of inhibition against bacteria using Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram negative) which revealed the non-toxicity of Dy2O3 Nps. Seed germination assay divulged elevated biocompatibility of Dy2O3 Nps towards black gram seeds w.r.t. control at a concentration of Nps even at high concentration of 1000 ​ppm. The synthesized Nps demonstrated excellent sensitivity and selectivity towards picric acid with Limit of detection (LOD) of 43 ​± ​1.5 ​nM. The high value of Stern –Volmer constant (Ksv), 4.19 ​× ​104 ​M signifies the high selectivity of Dy2O3 Nps for PA. We believe that the biosynthesized Dy2O3 Nps will emerge as potential candidate for selective detection of trace amounts of nitro explosives in waste water.