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Coal fired power plants are significant contributors to CO2 emissions and produce solid waste in the form of coal fly ash, posing severe environmental challenges. This study explores the application of dry-impregnated coal fly ash for CO2 capture from gas stream. The modification of coal fly ash was achieved using alkaline earth metal oxides, specifically CaO and MgO, to alter its physical and chemical properties. Characterization techniques like X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and BET (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller) analysis were employed for physio-chemical changes in the adsorbent. Breakthrough experiments were conducted using a laboratory-scale fixed packed-bed reactor to assess the influence of temperature and gas flow rate on CO2 adsorption. Among the synthesized sorbents, calcium oxide-impregnated ash showed the highest CO2 uptake capacity, achieving 9.41 mg/g at 30 °C and a flow rate of 20 L/hr under atmospheric pressure. Isotherm modeling indicated a heterogeneous adsorbent surface, with the data best fitting the Sips isotherm model. Furthermore, the adsorption data conformed well to the Yoon-Nelson and Thomas kinetic models, affirming their relevance in characterizing the adsorption process under varying conditions. This research emphasizes the potential of coal fly ash—an abundant, cost-free material—as an effective CO2 adsorbent, contributing to both CO2 mitigation and landfill waste reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In survey statistics, estimating and reducing population variation is crucial. These variations can occur in any sampling design, including stratified random sampling, where stratum weights may increase the variance of estimators. Calibration techniques, which use additional auxiliary information, can help mitigate this issue. This paper examines three calibration-based estimators—calibration variance, calibration ratio, and calibration exponential ratio estimators—within the framework of stratified random sampling. The study generates data from normal, gamma, and exponential distributions to test these estimators. Results demonstrate that the proposed calibration estimators offer more accurate estimates of population variance and outperform existing methods in estimating population variance under stratified random sampling, providing more accurate and reliable estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cholesteatoma is a common disease of the middle ear cleft associated with several complications, Surgery is the mainstay for the management of such a pathological condition, however, complications may occur including intracranial ones due to violation of middle cranial fossa dura. Anatomical variations have been reported and High-resolution CT scan is the major tool for detecting such variations. In this study, we aim to determine if there is a difference between tegmen height between both sides of patients with unilateral cholesteatoma. 21 patients were recruited for such study all underwent HRCT and the tegmen height was determined in two coronal planes, the first between the central point of the Henle spine and the tegmen, the other between the plane of both lateral canals and the roof of the middle ear. The tegmen height measurements showed that the affected side had significantly lower tegmen height Henle spine (6.30 ± 1.54 vs. 9.03 ± 1.34 (mm); p < 0.001) relative to the healthy side. Also, coronal plane measurement has shown statistical significance for tegmen height (2.98 ± 0.79 vs. 4.15 ± 0.76 (mm); p = 0.01) in comparison to the healthy side. The percentage of difference between both sides as regards tegmen height of Henle's spine and coronal measurement was 30.32% and 28.2%, respectively. A significant difference was found in tegmen height between healthy and diseased sides in patients with unilateral cholesteatoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing a straightforward hydrothermal methodology, we synthesized an electrode material, zinc strontium phosphate doped with nitrogen-induced graphene quantum dots (ZnSrPO4/N-GQDs). The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurements unveiled an impressive surface area of 138.025 m2/g, highlighting the material's favorable characteristics for energy storage applications. By elevating the electrolyte temperature to 80 °C during the electrochemical process, we achieved a substantial augmentation in specific capacity, culminating in an exceptional 1764 C/g at a 1.0 A/g current density. The asymmetric design of the ZnSrPO4/N-GQDs (80 °C)//Activated carbon (AC) configuration exhibited remarkable power and energy density, encompassing a broader potential window of 1.6 eV. This design delivered a power density of 1500 W/kg alongside an energy density of 56.68 Wh/kg, highlighting that it is suitable for advanced energy storage systems. Impressively, the material exhibited exceptional cyclic stability, retaining 94% of its initial capacity after enduring 10,000 charge–discharge cycles. Through comprehensive numerical analysis, we elucidated the capacitive and diffusive contributions within the asymmetric device. In its role as an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst, the ZnSrPO4/N-GQDs (80 °C) electrode demonstrated outstanding electrocatalytic properties displaying a Tafel slope of roughly 63 mV/decade and a minimal overpotential of 160 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm−2. This research serves as a significant advancement, providing a versatile platform for harnessing phosphate materials to optimize the performance of energy storage devices. It not only enhances the prospects for hybrid supercapacitors but also augments the Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER), thus holding immense promise for a wide array of energy-related applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A supercapattery is an advanced energy storage device with superior power and energy density compared to traditional supercapacitors and batteries. A facial and single-step hydrothermal method was adopted to synthesize the rGO/GQDs doped Fe-MOF nano-composites. The incorporation of the dopants into the host material was to improve the energy storage capacity and improve cyclic stability. The structural, morphological, and compositional analyses were conducted by employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Additionally, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurements were used to calculate the nanomaterial's surface area and pore size. Dunn's model was used to demonstrate the contributions of the capacitive and diffusive components of the asymmetric energy storage structure. Fe-MOF/rGO/GQDs have a higher specific capacity (1876 C/g) than pure Fe-MOF (705 C/g) at 1.0 A/g current density. The Fe-MOF/rGO/GQDs supercapattery retained 95% of its capacity after 5000 charging and discharging cycles to test the asymmetric device durability. The power and energy densities have been determined to be 1160 W/kg and 57 Wh/kg, respectively. Fe-MOF showed excellent electrocatalytic activity in the hydrogen evolution process (HER) with a declined Tafel slope of 47.27 mV/dec. The Fe-MOF/rGO/GQDs electrode exhibits the lowest overpotential of 278 mV at 10 mA cm−2 with a Tafel slope of roughly 49.2 mV dec−1 in its function as an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst. This research work provides a basis for improving the efficiency of energy storage technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces Dyck free groups that are geometric realizations of polygon cycles, the ratio of either two or three collinear points in the Desargues affine plane. A biproduct of this work is a concise presentation of Desargues affine planar cycles as a free group. In this paper, we include (1) the study of properties for the ratio of two and three points in a line in the Desargues affine plane. Also, we discuss the cases related to the "line-skew field" characteristic, when it is two and when it is different from two. (2) We have constructed the maps for ratio points-set for two and three points and have proved that these maps are bijections of the lines. (3) We observe that the set of ratio points (for two and for three points) with addition and multiplication of points forms a skew field and these skew fields are sub-skew fields of the "line-skew field" in a Desargues affine plane. (4) We also observe that every Dyck polygon cycle in the Desargues affine plane is the realization of a Dyck path cycle. (5) We prove that every Dyck polygon containing collinear ratio vertices has a free group presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal oxides have been extensively researched due to their exceptional electrical conductivity and superior specific capacitance, making them pivotal materials in the study of supercapattery devices. In this study, zinc oxide mixed with cobalt oxide with a 50/50 weight, and (ZnO–CoO) nanocomposite was synthesized using a hydrothermal technique. Moreover, the effect of iron (Fe) incorporation into the ZnO–CoO heterostructure was investigated. Characterization of the Fe/ZnO–CoO nanoparticles involved X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to analyze their crystallinity and phase composition. The impact of iron doping on the dielectric properties of ZnO–CoO is also evaluated. The high dielectric constant values were observed at low frequencies in pure ZnO–CoO. Moreover, tan δ has larger values at lower frequencies and smaller values at higher frequencies. The Fe/ZnO–CoO composite exhibited superior electrochemical performance, with a specific capacity of 653 Cg−1 compared to 487 C/g for the simple ZnO–CoO composite. In hybrid device, Fe/ZnO–CoO//AC, the composite electrode showed a specific capacity of 164 Cg−1 at 1.0 Ag−1. The device demonstrated an extraordinary energy density of 57 Wh kg−1 and an improved power density of 3600 W/kg. Notably, the device exhibited excellent capacity retention (CR) of 97% up to 5000 GCD cycles. The device is also show a high value of Coulombic efficiency of 96% after the stability measurement. These findings demonstrate the exceptional electrochemical performance and stability of Fe/ZnO–CoO nanocomposite and provide essential insights into their potential for use in future energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical utility of Ki-67 immunohistochemistry (IHC) in breast cancer (BC) is mainly limited to decide for the use of chemotherapy and estimate prognosis in patients with either Ki-67 index < 5% or > 30%; however, lacunae still exists pertaining to its analytical validity. Neutrophilia is common in cancer with accompanying lymphocytopenia. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) captures the intricate balance between pro-tumor neutrophilia and anti-tumor lymphocyte immunity. This study aimed to correlate cellular proliferation in breast cancer with NLR. Methods: An observational study was carried out including 73 cases of BC; pre-treatment NLR and Ki-67 grading were performed. NLR < 3 was considered low, while ≥ 3 was high. The Ki-67 expression was graded as low ≤ 5%, intermediate 6–29%, or high ≥ 30%. Various clinico-pathological variables were studied, and the association of categorical variables was analyzed using Pearson's chi-square test, and a p-value of < 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Ki-67 correlated significantly with modified Scarff-Bloom-Richardson (SBR) grade (p < 0.01), and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (p < 0.001). Correlation of NLR was not significant with SBR grade (p > 0.05) and molecular subtype (p > 0.05); however, NLR was found to be significantly correlated with TNM stage (p < 0.001) and Ki-67 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: NLR is fast emerging as a personalized theranostic marker in breast cancer. Instead of determining a generalized cut-off value, individual baseline NLR and its dynamics with disease progression will help manage patients better, obviating some of the drawbacks associated with Ki-67. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are classified as one-dimensional (1D) materials have attracted considerable interest in the scientific community due to their extraordinary electrical conductivity, enormous surface area, and chemical stability. Supercapattery, a device that combines the advantages of supercapacitors and batteries, has attained substantial interest due to its impressive power and energy densities. We have synthesized the binary FeCuS and FeCuS@CNTs nanocomposite through hydrothermal technique. Due to the synergistic effect, the efficiency of the electrode is improved with CNTs doping. The composite electrode FeCuS@CNTs showed an extraordinary specific capacity of 1217 Cg−1, exceeding the individual capacity values of iron sulfide (807 Cg−1) and copper sulfide (532 Cg−1). FeCuS@CNTs nanocomposite is used as the anode and activated carbon (AC) is used as the cathode in the fabrication of a supercapattery device. We achieved an extraordinary specific capacity of 342 Cg−1, surpassing previously reported values. The asymmetric device showed an extraordinary performance, with a power density (Pd) of 2352 W/Kg and an energy density (Ed) of 37 Wh/Kg. To check the cyclic stability, we evaluated the hybrid device for up to 1000 cycles, and it exhibited impressive capacity retention (CR) of 84% and Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 93%. Our results represent that FeCuS, with a 50:50 weight ratio and CNT doping, may be a better electrode material for asymmetric supercapacitor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to develop integrated management approaches for Pectinophora gossypiella, basic studies are crucial. The two-sex life table is the most important tool for describing the fitness and population parameters of both sexes (male and female) of an insect, while the traditional life table only explains the female sex of an insect. However, no study has reported on the biology of P. gossypiella using two-sex life table tools. Therefore, this study explains the rearing dynamics of P. gossypiella on a cotton seed-based artificial diet and a natural diet (mature cotton bolls). According to the results, the oviposition period of P. gossypiella was recorded to be longer on the artificial diet (9.07 ± 0.24) compared to the natural diet (7.40 ± 0.11). The total fecundity of P. gossypiella was greater on the artificial diet (125.94 ± 3.06) in comparison to the natural diet (60.37 ± 1.10). The population parameters, including intrinsic rate of increase, finite rate of increase, gross reproductive rate, and net reproductive rate of P. gossypiella were highest on the artificial diet in comparison to the natural diet. This study concluded that the cotton seed-based artificial diet was most suitable for the rearing of P. gossypiella. In the future, P. gossypiella may be studied in depth in light of the findings in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic and accurate polyp segmentation is significant for diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer. This is a challenging task due to the polyp's shape and size diversity. Recently, various deep convolutional neural networks have been developed for polyp segmentation. However, most state-of-the-art methods have suffered from a poor performance in the segmentation of smaller, flat, or noisy polyp objects. In the paper, we propose a novel Deep Context Attention Network (DCANet) for accurate polyp segmentation based on an encoder–decoder framework. ResNet34 is adopted as the encoder, and five functional modules are introduced to improve the performance. Specifically, the improved local context attention module (LCAM) and global context module (GCM) are exploited to efficiently extract the local multi-scale and global multi-receptive-field context information, respectively. Then, an enhanced feature fusion module (FFM) is devised to effectively select and aggregate context features through spatial-channel attention. Finally, equipped with elaborately designed multi-attention modules (MAM), new decoder and supervision blocks are developed to accurately predict polyp regions via powerful channel-spatial-channel attention. Extensive experiments are conducted on the Kvasir-SEG and EndoScene benchmark datasets. The results demonstrate that the proposed network achieves superior performance compared to other state-of-the-art models. The source code will be available at https://github.com/ZAKAUDD/DCANet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: According to American Heart Association standards, hypertension is classified into three stages based on blood pressure measurements: essential hypertension, stage 1 hypertension, and stage 2 hypertension. The global target is to reduce the prevalence of high blood pressure by 25% by the year 2025. Worldwide, the prevalence of high blood pressure among men and women aged 18 and above reported to be 24% and 20%, respectively. Aim: The aim of this study was to overall reduce high blood pressure of hypertensive patients to the recommended level of 140/90 mm of Hg through implementing a non-pharmacological and multi-component intervention based on Disease Control Priorities (3rd edition). Methods: A randomized controlled trial in which a multi-component intervention for lowering high blood pressure was tested. This was pilot-tested for its acceptance, appropriateness, and relevance, explored through an earlier formative research and desk review conducted from the available evidence. A total of 240 study participants were enrolled after obtaining informed consent. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of Health Services Academy and the trial was registered in clinicaltrials.gov number NCT04336631. SPSS software version 21 was used to enter and analyze the data. Results: High blood pressure of hypertensive patients in a hospital setting during 03 months yielded –23.9 mm Hg of systolic blood pressure reduction (95% confidence interval, p ≤ 0.005). A significant reduction was observed in intervention group after delivering the intervention. Compared to patients in the usual care group, improved health outcomes were achieved for diet control, reducing salt intake and increased physical exercise. In the intervention group, the mean blood pressure among male hypertensive patients was 145/90 mm Hg and in female hypertensive patients, the mean blood pressure was recorded as 140/100 mm Hg. Conclusion: High blood pressure was significantly reduced in hypertensive patients who adhered to a low salt diet, weight loss measures, and increased physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Dyck fundamental group presentation of arcwise-connected polygon cycles resulting from invariant transforms that preserve the ratio of collinear points in the Desargues affine plane. Here, a fundamental group is a collection of path-connected free groups on homotopic path cycles geometrically realized as arcwise-connected polygon cycles. For a J.H.C. Whitehead closure-finite weak (CW) topological space X, a path is a continuous map h : X × I → X over the unit interval I = [ 0 , 1 ] . The geometric realization of a path is an edge in a polygon cycle, which is a sequence of edges attached to each other with no end edge and no self-loops. The main results in this paper are (1) Every collection of arcwise-connected Dyck polygon cycles in the Desargues affine plane is a geometric realization of a collection path-connected homotopic path cycles (Theorem 10). (2) Every collection of arcwise-connected clusters of triangles in the Desargues affine plane is a geometric realization of a Dyck fundamental group (Theorem 11). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was performed to evaluate the impact of microplastics and heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni) on sediments, water, aquatic plants (Pistia stratiotes, Alternanthera philoxeroides, and Ipomoea carnea), and fish (Labeo rohita) samples collected from five different sites in the Bajwat wetlands in Sialkot, Pakistan. The concentrations of Pb, Cd, and Cr were above the permissible limits devised by WHO in all the ecosystem components (i.e. sediments, water, plants, and fish) at all sites. The maximum amount of microplastic particles (2317 microplastic particles per kg of sediments) was recorded at Site 1. The filaments were the most commonly found type of microplastics. Plants and fish samples also showed considerable concentration of metals. The multivariate statistical analysis revealed anthropogenic sources of elevated concentrations of metal elements which could cause adverse biological effects in the ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a recognised lack of women participating in engineering and STEM in most western countries. However, it is desirable for engineering cohorts to have a broad diversity. Hence, girls need to be encouraged into all engineering fields, but especially those traditionally dominated by men such as civil, mechanical and software engineering. A number of factors influence students' critical career decisions. In particular, teachers influence their students in a number of different ways, some overt and others subliminal, including influencing students' self-image and belief in capability. Students between the ages of 11–13 years often develop images of themselves that can exclude them from careers in technology related careers such as engineering. This study conducted structured interviews with 20 initial teacher education students and two of their lecturers. The interviews considered the students experiences in their own career selection, the reasons one may encourage someone to consider engineering, and the participants of engineering and engineering practice. Interpretation of interview transcriptions indicated that most final year teacher-education students held either limited or stereotypical views of engineering. Participants thought of engineers as mainly for men or "country-type" girls who were good at maths and science. Most recognised the practical nature of engineering, some the academic nature. There was little recognition of the social and empathetic characteristics required. These outcomes imply a gap in understanding that may cause teachers to rely on their gender prejudice, rather than the skills beneficial in the career when providing career advice to potential engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the ecological risk assessment of heavy metals and microplastics in Marala wetlands in Sialkot, Pakistan, samples of sediments, water, aquatic plants (Alternanthera philoxeroides, Typha latifolia, and Ipomoea carnea), and fish (Labeo rohita) were studied from five different locations. Pb, Cd, and Cr concentrations were above permissible limits devised by WHO in sediments and water at most of sites. High concentrations of Cd were recorded in water samples compared to sediments with maximum values recorded at Site-2 (52.08 ± 9.55 mg kg−1) and Site-5 (62.29 ± 10.12 mg kg−1). The maximum concentrations of Cr (7.23 ± 0.40 mg kg−1) and Pb (22.87 ± 0.83 mg kg−1) were found at Site-4 in water samples. The maximum abundance of microplastics (3047 pieces kg−1 of sediments) was at Site-1 with filaments in the highest proportion among the other types. Zn, Ni, and Cu remained generally low in concentrations in both sediments and waters. Plants showed accumulation of heavy metals, notably the amount of Cd (33.36 ± 0.26 mgkg−1) and Ni (163.3 ± 1.30 mgkg−1) absorbed by T. latifolia and A. philoxeroides, respectively were high. Also, photosynthetic pigments in plants seemed to be affected. However, estimated daily intake (EDI) and provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) calculations for the human population consuming fish from this wetland remained below the FAO/WHO limits. PCA analysis revealed the anthropogenic origin of metals that might be causing adverse effects on the biota which depend on this wetland for their food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supercapattery combines the properties of supercapacitors and batteries and has excellent energy and power densities. It has gotten much attention as compared to supercapacitors and batteries because of its high energy storage capability and stability. To design a supercapattery device, the strontium phosphate, copper phosphate, and their three composites with different weight ratios such as Sr0.75 Cu0.25 PO4, Sr0.5.0, Cu0.50PO4, and Sr0.25 Cu0.75 PO4 and named as S1, S2, and S3 were synthesized using a hydrothermal approach. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy to examine the structural characterization as well as the surface morphology of all the samples. More specific capacity was calculated for all the samples, and found that the specific capacity having its maximum value of 856 C/g at 2.0 A/g was attributed to S1 sample due to the overall effect of strontium with copper. The hybrid device S2 was also prepared using activated carbon which is considered a positive electrode, while S2 worked as a negative electrode. SrCuPo4 has an estimated power density of 793.92 W/Kg, the energy density is 31.4 Wh/Kg. A reliability measurement was performed on this real device for assessing stability, and after 1000 charging/discharging cycles, it was observed that 87 percent of the initial capacity was retained. Thus strontium copper phosphate can help us in the future for industrial applications of supercapattery for high energy density and power density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly stretchable and sensitive strain sensors are immensely desired for motion detection in human-like robots. Here, we report an extremely facile fabrication of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based ultrasensitive strain sensors. CNTs are coated on a flexible and stretchable commercial fabric using the spray-coating method. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirm that the CNTs are effectively embedded into fabric fiber frameworks where these act as conducting channels among the individual fibers. A strain sensor is fabricated using the CNTs coated fabric by simply stitching the copper wires along its two opposite edges. The strain is employed systematically and response of the sensor is recorded. The sensor shows an ultrasensitivity of 113,129% for an applied strain of 50% with a notable response and recovery time of 78 ms. The sensor also shows remarkable cycling stability for 5,000 stretching cycles. Moreover, the sensor is evaluated for rotational motion detection in robotics. The sensor with electrode length up to 10 cm can tolerate the rotational motion up to ~ 12,600° (~ 35 rotations), and delivers a stable response. The results show that the demonstrated sensor can act as e-skin for human-like robots where it can effectively monitor the robot motion particularly which involves large random and rotational movements.Graphical abstract: Highly stretchable and sensitive strain sensors are immensely desired for motion detection in human-like robots. Here, we report an extremely facile fabrication of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based ultrasensitive strain sensors. CNTs are coated on a flexible and stretchable commercial fabric using the spray-coating method. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirm that the CNTs are effectively embedded into fabric fiber frameworks where these act as conducting channels among the individual fibers. A strain sensor is fabricated using the CNTs coated fabric by simply stitching the copper wires along its two opposite edges. The strain is employed systematically and response of the sensor is recorded. The sensor shows an ultrasensitivity of 113,129% for an applied strain of 50% with a notable response and recovery time of 78 ms. The sensor also shows remarkable cycling stability for 5,000 stretching cycles. Moreover, the sensor is evaluated for rotational motion detection in robotics. The sensor with electrode length up to 10 cm can tolerate the rotational motion up to ~ 12,600° (~ 35 rotations), and delivers a stable response. The results show that the demonstrated sensor can act as e-skin for human-like robots where it can effectively monitor the robot motion particularly which involves large random and rotational movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change (rise in temperature, CO2 level, etc.) poses a serious threat to the agriculture sector. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and adopt new methods to cope with climate change. The army worm, Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a destructive pest of many crops including castor bean in tropical regions of the world. The insect's development, reproduction, food uptake, and body size on castor bean was assessed at five constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 °C). Green Lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) is an important general predator. The predation rate dependency on temperature is also a concern in scenarios of climate change. Therefore, we studied predation by C. carnea at similar constant temperatures on eggs (with hairs and without hairs) and first instar larvae of S. litura. Immature stages of S. litura complete their duration at 15 to 35 °C. Optimum survival of all immature stages ranged from 25 to 27 °C according to polynomial survival model. There was no egg laying by S. litura at 15, 30, and 35 °C but a maximum of eggs (5212 eggs/female) were laid at 25 °C. The larval instar's length did not follow temperature size rule, but pupal weight did. Only third and fourth instars of S. litura significantly increased their diet consumption at the warmest temperature (35 °C). The lower developmental threshold of all immature stages ranges from 10 to 11 °C, calculated by linear model. Non-linear mathematical models were used to calculate the upper developmental thresholds for larvae, pre-pupae, and pupae ranges which range from 39.3 to 43.0 °C. The predation rate of C. carnea increased with the increase in temperature from 15 to 35 °C, and more eggs without hairs, and first instar larvae of S. litura, were consumed than eggs with hairs. The suitability of castor bean as a host for mass rearing of S. litura is evident from our results at 25 °C. The study demonstrates the potential use of C. carnea to control S. litura on castor bean. We also discuss our results in context of the potential of castor bean as a trap crop for S. litura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reconstructed the natural history and temporal evolution of the most common childhood brain malignancy, medulloblastoma, by single-cell whole-genome sequencing (sc-WGS) of tumours representing its major molecular sub-classes and clinical risk groups. Favourable-risk disease sub-types assessed (MBWNT and infant desmoplastic/nodular MBSHH) typically comprised a single clone with no evidence of further evolution. In contrast, highest risk sub-classes (MYC-amplified MBGroup3 and TP53-mutated MBSHH) were most clonally diverse and displayed gradual evolutionary trajectories. Clinically adopted biomarkers (e.g. chromosome 6/17 aberrations; CTNNB1/TP53 mutations) were typically early-clonal/initiating events, exploitable as targets for early-disease detection; in analyses of spatially distinct tumour regions, a single biopsy was sufficient to assess their status. Importantly, sc-WGS revealed novel events which arise later and/or sub-clonally and more commonly display spatial diversity; their clinical significance and role in disease evolution post-diagnosis now require establishment. These findings reveal diverse modes of tumour initiation and evolution in the major medulloblastoma sub-classes, with pathogenic relevance and clinical potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite type Ba1−xSrxZr0.2Ti0.8O3 (with x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3) ceramics have been synthesized through conventional two-step solid-state reaction method. The structural characterization was done using an X-ray diffraction study. All the compositions reveal a single-phase cubic structure. The dielectric measurements were taken at various temperatures (100 to 300 K) and various frequencies (1 to 500 kHz) for all the prepared compositions. This study reveals that the Ba1−xSrxTi0.8Zr0.2O3 (with x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3) composition does not transform from normal ferroelectric to relaxor ferroelectric. The diffusivity enhances with increment in Sr concentration in the present composition range. It is observed that with enhancement in Sr content, the transition temperature decreases for all the studied compositions. The decrease in transition temperature may occur due to introducing a smaller ionic radius of Sr2+ at the site of a larger ionic radius of Ba2+. The morphological properties of all the samples are analyzed using scanning electron microscopy images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basmati is a premium quality rice, famous for its aroma, fine grain, and excellent cooking qualities. However, it is highly susceptible to bacterial leaf blight (BLB). To develop BLB resistant Basmati rice varieties, we transferred three (03) BLB resistance genes namely Xa4, xa5, Xa21 from a coarse yet BLB-resistant variety, IRBB57, developed by International Rice Research Institute into fine-quality rice variety, Super Basmati, through marker-assisted breeding. The background parent genome was recovered performing several backcrosses using Super Basmati as a recurrent parent to restore the bona fide Basmati character. The introgression of BLB resistance genes was followed by foreground selection using DNA-markers tightly linked with BLB resistance genes. The recovery of the Basmati parent genome (Background Selection) was determined using two different marker systems. Simple Sequence Repeats and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism. Several Super Basmati Introgressed (SBIL) lines with the individual as well as different BLB resistance gene combinations were developed. The stable representative SBILs from single, double, and triple gene combinations showing > 90% parent genome recovery were further studied for different attributes particularly to determine their degree of tolerance to the bacterial blight that was studied at two different locations—Philippines and Pakistan. We observed that SBILs carrying a combination of xa5 + Xa21 and Xa4 + xa5 + Xa21 conferred broad-scale resistance against both the highly virulent Pakistani and Philippines Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae strains. The marker-aided background selection coupled with stringent phenotypic selection as well as foreground selection using DNA markers tightly linked with grain quality ensured that SBILs possess the bona fide Basmati character. The performance of key agronomic traits in selected SBILs was comparable with the recurrent parent with no significant agronomic or yield penalty associated with incorporation of the resistance genes, confirming the linkage drag has been minimized. Therefore, in addition to sustaining Basmati rice yield against BLB, the SBILs developed in this study may represent a useful resource for transferring resistance to BLB-susceptible rice varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proteins are a vital component of cells that perform physiological functions to ensure smooth operations of bodily functions. Identification of a protein's function involves a detailed understanding of the structure of proteins. Stress proteins are essential mediators of several responses to cellular stress and are categorized based on their structural characteristics. These proteins are found to be conserved across many eukaryotic and prokaryotic linkages and demonstrate varied crucial functional activities inside a cell. The in-vivo, ex vivo, and in-vitro identification of stress proteins are a time-consuming and costly task. This study is aimed at the identification of stress protein sequences with the aid of mathematical modelling and machine learning methods to supplement the aforementioned wet lab methods. The model developed using Random Forest showed remarkable results with 91.1% accuracy while models based on neural network and support vector machine showed 87.7% and 47.0% accuracy, respectively. Based on evaluation results it was concluded that random-forest based classifier surpassed all other predictors and is suitable for use in practical applications for the identification of stress proteins. Live web server is available at http://biopred.org/stressprotiens, while the webserver code available is at https://github.com/abdullah5naveed/SRP_WebServer.git [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) lamellar materials based protective coatings demonstrate a highly durable barrier property for anticorrosion applications. However, inevitable inhomogeneity and free spaces in coating induce the permeation and diffusion of water and oxygen molecules which accelerates the corrosion rate while reduces the protection life. The combination of physical barrier of 2D lamellar material and water-consuming property of polymers is expected to show synergistic effect to solve this problem. Herein, we report the preparation of a novel graphene/supramolecular polymer material (PEI-PAA-GO) as coating, based on 2D-lamellar graphene oxide (GO) with branched poly (ethylene imine) (PEI)/poly (acrylic acid) (PAA). Optimal combination of graphene barrier effect with the water-consumption of the supramolecular polymer contribute to the exceptional corrosion resistance and endow the coating with impedance modulus up to 8.0 × 103 Ω cm2 during the water-consumption process, 4 folds higher than that of pure PEI/PAA coating. Water uptake ratio also decreases from ~25% to ~15%, which efficiently prevents the coating from swelling. The PEI/PAA supramolecular polymer imparts the coating with self-repairing ability and its high repairing efficiency of 143.75 Ω h−1 within 24 h further enhances its protective capability. The corrosion current decreases to 10–9 A cm−2 upon 360 h protection in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution, superior to other works. The PEI-PAA-GO with synergistic protection mechanism decreases the corrosion rate remarkably and exhibits exceptional performance for variety of anticorrosion practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful preparation of graphene in research laboratory has brought a revolutionary progress in almost all the research fields including physical, chemical and biological sciences owing to its unique structural, electrical, chemical and optical properties. Being the first 'two-dimensional (2D) material', it has introduced a new class of '2D materials'. Continuous theoretical and experimental investigations are being made to know more about graphene to take more benefits from it. The structural properties of graphene are the fundamental properties which affect all its other properties. Defects in graphene can be considered a robust tool to tune its structural and other characteristics. In this review, we have summarized the recent and significant studies on defects in graphene. We have discussed different types of defects, how these can intentionally be produced, their influence on different properties of graphene and applications of defective graphene. This review presents a comprehensive study on all about defects in graphene and provides the basic understandings and worthy knowledge to researchers and scientists of this era for future studies to achieve the diversity of graphene applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological models have been playing a vital role in different areas of biological sciences for the analysis of various contagious diseases. Transmissibility of virulent diseases is being portrayed in the literature through different compartments such as susceptible, infected, recovered (SIR), susceptible, infected, recovered, susceptible (SIRS) or susceptible, exposed, infected, recovered (SEIR), etc. The novelty in this endeavor is the addition of compartments of latency and treatment with vaccination, so the system is designated as susceptible, vaccinated, exposed, latent, infected, treatment, and recovered (SVELITR). The contact of a susceptible individual to an infective individual firstly makes the individual exposed, latent, and then completely infection carrier. Innovatively, the assumption that exposed, latent, and infected individuals enter the treatment compartment at different rates after a time lag is also deliberated through the existence of time delay. The rate of change and constant solutions of each compartment are studied with incorporation of a special case of proportional fractional derivative (PFD). In addition, existence and uniqueness of the system are also comprehensively elaborated. Moreover, novel dynamic assessment of the system is carried out in context with the fractional order index. Succinctly, the manuscript accomplishes cyclic epidemiological behavior of the infectious disease due to the delay in treatment of the infected individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA methylation plays a fundamental role in the control of gene expression and genome integrity. Although there are multiple tools that enable its detection from Nanopore sequencing, their accuracy remains largely unknown. Here, we present a systematic benchmarking of tools for the detection of CpG methylation from Nanopore sequencing using individual reads, control mixtures of methylated and unmethylated reads, and bisulfite sequencing. We found that tools have a tradeoff between false positives and false negatives and present a high dispersion with respect to the expected methylation frequency values. We described various strategies to improve the accuracy of these tools, including a consensus approach, METEORE (https://github.com/comprna/METEORE), based on the combination of the predictions from two or more tools that shows improved accuracy over individual tools. Snakemake pipelines are also provided for reproducibility and to enable the systematic application of our analyses to other datasets. Several existing algorithms predict the methylation of DNA using Nanopore sequencing signals, but it is unclear how they compare in performance. Here, the authors benchmark the performance of several such tools, and propose METEORE, a consensus tool that improves prediction accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate a new fourth-order integrable nonlinear equation. Firstly, by means of the efficient Hirota bilinear approach, we establish novel types of solutions which include breather, rogue, and three-wave solutions. Secondly, with the aid of Lie symmetry method, we report the invariance properties of the studied equation such as the group of transformations, commutator and adjoint representation tables. A differential substitution is found by nonlinear self-adjointness (NSA) and thereafter the associated conservation laws are established. We show some dynamical characteristics of the obtained solutions through via the 3-dimensional and contour graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are promising semiconductor photocatalysts driven under visible light owing to their lower bandgap value compared with other metal-oxide nanoparticles (NPs). Owing to the lower cost, IONPs have been combined with other NPs purposefully. In this study, ZnS was deposited on the three most common types of IONPs i.e., magnetite (Fe3O4), hematite (α-Fe2O3) and Goethite (α-FeOOH), targeting improvement in their photocatalytic response. Using a simplistic wet-chemical approach i.e., pseudo-successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (i.e., p-SILAR), resultant Fe3O4/ZnS, α-FeOOH/ZnS, and α-Fe2O3/ZnS nanocomposites were developed those exhibited higher photocatalytic efficiencies compared to corresponding IONPs. Rhodamine B (RhB) dye was used as a reference for comparative investigation of IONPs without and with ZnS deposition, which revealed that all IONPs were beneficiated with ZnS deposition, however, Fe3O4 responded the most by resulting ~ 3 times higher increase (from 19.3 to 66.5%) in the photocatalytic degradation of RhB. The final order of efficiency for nanocomposites remained as Fe3O4/ZnS > α-FeOOH/ZnS > α-Fe2O3/ZnS nanocomposites. Individual IONPs and their nanocomposites were explored using customary material characterization techniques and their photocatalytic performance was explained in accordance with the qualitative and quantitative statistics using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation of oil-water (OW) emulsions is investigated using a photocatalytic demulsification approach. Experiments were conducted using two types of photocatalysts, namely, ZnO and TiO2. The emulsion samples were prepared with oil to water ratios of 1:3, 1:1, and 3:1 and using nonionic surfactant Tween 20 as an emulsifier. The demulsification efficiency was determined using a direct time varying phase separation measurement, while dynamic light scattering (DLS) and microscope imaging (MI) were used to determine the change in emulsion droplets size. The investigation results showed that all the emulsions were destabilized and separated within 30–90 min with demulsification efficiency that ranged from 38 to 90%. On the other hand, untreated control samples remained stable with no phase separation for more than 24 h. For most of the studied experimental conditions, TiO2 nanoparticles gave better demulsification results than ZnO. Modeling of the batch demulsification kinetics for both systems agreed satisfactorily with the experimental measurements. This could allow its further extension towards design of continuous processes for potential implementation in treatment of industrial oily wastewaters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a theoretical study of 3D nanofluid flow with zero nanoparticles mass and constant heat fluxes conditions. An incompressible Newtonian nanoliquid saturates the permeable media describing the Darcy–Forchheimer (DF) relation. A bidirectional stretchable sheet has been considered to produce the three-dimensional flow. Appropriate variables are considered to change the PDEs into the ODEs. The obtained nonlinear framework is computed by the optimal homotopic technique. Outcomes of numerous emerging flow factors on concentration and the temperature of nanoparticles are explored. Heat transport rate and skin frictions have been tabulated and analyzed. The presented data reveal that temperature distribution is upgraded for larger estimations of Forchheimer number. Furthermore, the heat transport rate reduces when thermophoresis number enhances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to determine the role of guava fruit volatiles in attraction, oviposition and associated fitness parameters of the peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata Saunders, which is a key pest of guava and many other fruits. B. zonata female flies' attraction was observed in a Y-tube olfactometer using fruits of three locally grown guava varieties; Gola, Larkana Small Surahi (LSS) and Larkana Large Surahi (LLS). Female flies showed significantly higher levels of attraction to both un-infested and infested guava fruit odors compared to control (blank). In pairwise comparisons between different fruit varieties, females B. zonata showed significantly greater levels of attraction towards un-infested Gola compared to un-infested LSS, while in the case of the same variety, significantly higher number of flies were attracted to un-infested compared to infested fruit in all three tested varieties. In two-choice oviposition bioassays, B. zonata females made significantly more visits, greater numbers of ovipositions, spent a significantly longer time, and larger numbers of pupae and adults developed on Gola fruits compared to LSS fruits. However, in no-choice bioassays, females made more visits and spent a significantly greater amount of time on LSS compared to Gola and LLS. GC–MS analysis of guava headspace revealed presence of aliphatic and aromatic esters as a dominant group of compounds in both un-infested and fruit-fly-infested guava fruits, with a higher quantity mostly occurring in fruit-fly-infested fruits. Role of guava volatiles is discussed in an ecological context of attraction and oviposition behaviors of adult females and fitness of their offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to discuss and control the chaotic behaviour of an autonomous fractional biological oscillator. Indeed, the concept of fractional calculus is used to include memory in the modelling formulation. In addition, we take into account a new auxiliary parameter in order to keep away from dimensional mismatching. Further, we explore the chaotic attractors of the considered model through its corresponding phase-portraits. Additionally, the stability and equilibrium point of the system are studied and investigated. Next, we design a feedback control scheme for the purpose of chaos control and stabilization. Afterwards, we introduce an efficient active control method to achieve synchronization between two chaotic fractional biological oscillators. The efficiency of the proposed stabilizing and synchronizing controllers is verified via theoretical analysis as well as simulations and numerical experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly sensitive and extremely stretchable piezoresistive strain sensors have shown intense applications in wearable electronics. In this context, a comparative study of stretchable strain sensors based on hybrid layers of silver nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes spray coated on stretchable textile is presented in this manuscript. For this persistence, three stretchable and highly flexible electrodes are fabricated: first devoid of pre-strain, second with 25 × 25% multiaxial pre-strain, and third with 50 × 50% multiaxial pre-strain. Pre-strain technique was employed to improve the stretchability and resistance stability of the electrodes. Surface morphology and elemental composition of the as-prepared electrodes were analyzed via scanning electron microscope associated with energy-dispersive detector. The fabricated electrodes were used for the assembly of strain sensors. The sensing measurements revealed high sensitivity, significant stretchability, and fast response of the fabricated strain sensors. Cost-effective and extremely facile fabrication strategy as well as direct fabrication on textile substrates can be significant advancements in fabrication of strain sensors for practical applications in human motion detection and wearable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanofluids have the ability to flow smoothly in micro-cavities in addition with scattering of the nanoparticles. Because of the good convection between nanoparticles and the base fluid, nanofluids can achieve a good thermal conductivity. The main advantages of adding nanosize particles with base fluid are to improve the ability of storing heat, effective surface area, heat transmission, collisions and interaction among the nanoparticles. The main aim of this research work is to examine the steady and incompressible nanofluid flow between parallel rotating plates. Viscose and joule dissipation effects are taken into account. To our knowledge, impact of electrical MHD and Hall effect with Cattaneo–Christov heat flux on the squeezing 3-D flow nanofluid between parallel rotating plates are not examined yet. Heat in the form of Cattaneo–Christov heat flux is applied. We used similarity transformations to transform the primary equations to a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). These ODEs are then solved through the standard procedure of homotopy analysis technique. The skin friction and Nusselt number are numerically tabulated under the influence of some focused parameters. The effects produced by different parameters on the velocity (components) and temperature profiles are graphically depicted and explained in a bit detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compounds reducing tumor cell viability and disrupting DNA topoisomerase reactions have been widely used in anticancer drug development. Ellipticine (5,11-dimethyl-6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole) is a potent intercalating agent that interferes with nucleic acid processing through interaction with DNA topoisomerase II. Although ellipticine is a well-characterized compound, it is not a widely-accepted drug due to the adverse effects detected upon administration. We have previously reported two novel ellipticine derivatives, N-methyl-5-demethyl ellipticine (ET-1) and 2-methyl-N-methyl-5-demethyl ellipticinium iodide (ET-2) as potent compounds targeting DNA topoisomerase II. This study covers an extended synthesis, characterization, and activity data for five new salts of N-methyl 5-demetyl ellipticine (Z-1, Z-2, Z-4, Z-5 and Z-6) having several organic halides and their effects on human topoisomerase II enzymes. Moreover, combined in silico studies were conducted for better understanding of modes of action of studied molecules at the binding pocket of target. Our results showed that three of the derivatives (Z-1, Z-2, and Z-6) have considerable effect on the catalytic activity of human topoisomerase II implying the influence of alkyl groups added to the parental structure of ellipticine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1Hydrothermal synthesis of SrCuPO 4 and measurement step-up using three-electrode assembly Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. B Correction to: J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2022) 33:27002-27013 b https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-09363-7 In the original version of this article, there is an error in schematic diagram (Fig. [Extracted from the article]

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Wireless body area network (WBAN) is the emerging field in domain of healthcare to monitor vital signs of patients with the support of bio-medical sensors. The design of delay-aware and energy efficient routing protocol based on the traffic prioritization is the key research theme in WBAN. In addition, WBAN has challenging issues of packet loss, temperature rise, delay with retransmission of the lost packets due to which it does not extend the network life time and is not acceptable for life critical data. In this context, this paper proposes traffic priority based delay-aware and energy efficient path allocation routing protocol for wireless body area network (Tripe-EEC), which selects the optimal paths with high residual energy of nodes with minimum temperature rise. Specially, the design of Tripe-EEC routing protocol is mostly divided into four Folds. Firstly, the patient's data is classified into four classes that included normal data, data on-demand, Emergency data of low threshold readings and high threshold readings. These classifications assist in allocation of paths on the priority basis by removing conflicts along with support of an improved equation. Secondly, energy efficient and delay-aware path allocation algorithm is developed for normal data focusing on the selection of optimal and shortest paths with minimum temperature rise (hotspot). Thirdly, data on-demand algorithm is developed for on-demand traffic to transmit immediately to the medical doctor which is usually asked if any criticality or emergency situation happens with patient. Forth, criticalities (abnormal readings of vital signs i.e. low and high threshold values) detection algorithms are developed for measuring criticalities of vital signs and allocation of adaptive and energy efficient paths on the priority basis by removing conflict between them. Extensive simulations are performed in realistic medical environments for comparing performance of the proposed Tripe-EEC protocol with the state-of-the-art protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-aided optic disk (OD) detection and segmentation is at the heart of modern fundus image screening systems for early detection and diagnosis of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Algorithms that generalize well on fundus images with diseases, as well as screening images, are of utmost importance. This paper presents a method based on OD homogenization and subsequent contour estimation to address the challenges of OD detection in cases where either the OD boundary is discontinuous or very smooth, due to the presence of disease. This is achieved by local Laplacian filtering-based inpainting of the major vascular structure to complete the OD boundary and gradient-independent active contour estimation for unconstrained OD boundary detection. Experimental evaluation of the proposed method on three benchmark datasets and quantitative comparison with the best performing state-of-the-art methods in terms of four quantitative measures demonstrate its competitive performance and reliability for OD screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As magnetic cooling refrigerant, Ni–Mn–Sn Heusler alloys have gained significant potentials for a wide range of practical applications as compared with other expensive Ga-doped Ni–Mn based Heusler alloys, toxic As and P doped Mn-based alloys and rare-earth elements like Gd-based alloys. Consequently, an inclusive investigation on magnetostructural transition and magnetocaloric features of Ni43Mn47−xMoxSn10 alloys is carried out. The alloys are assembled through arc-melting technique and their X-ray diffraction analysis confirms their B2-type crystal structure at room temperature. As the Mo contents are increased, the magnetostructural transition temperature increases for a temperature range between Curie temperature of austenite and martensite phases. Obvious metamagnetic behavior and magnetic hysteresis are observed in isothermal magnetization curves, suggesting that the temperature and magnetic field can be used as robust tools for tuning the structural transformation in Heusler alloys. The noticeable magnetocaloric effect suggests that the prepared alloys can be an attractive choice for magnetic refrigeration applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refrigeration of electronic instruments, in view of environmental concern and energy security, is one of the main challenges of the new generation technology. The miniaturization of electronic devices has benefits, but in such situations, the heat dissipated per unit area rises in an uncontrolled manner. This can be done by either improving the characteristics of secondary and primary working liquids or by modifying the system. In this article, we present a comprehensive detail of unsteady 3D flow of Eyring-Powell nanofluid with convective heat and mass flux conditions. The effects of heat source-sink and nonlinear thermal radiations are considered in the Eyring-Powell nanofluid model. Additionally, chemical mechanism responsible for the mass transfer such as activation energy is accounted in the current relation. Moreover, suitable transformations are betrothed to obtain coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) from the system of highly nonlinear coupled partial differential equations and numerical solution of system of coupled ODEs is obtained by means of bvp4c scheme. Our findings demonstrate that heat flux at the wall declines by uplifting the chemical reaction rate constant. The concentration of Eyring-Powell nanofluid is directly affected by activation energy of chemical process, and a trend of thermophoretic force on magneto-nanofluid is qualitative, contradictory to that of Brownian motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polypyrrole/hematite magnetic composites are prepared by simple chemical oxidation method with different weight percentages of hematite (0–30 wt %) in polypyrrole (PPy) matrix during in situ polymerization of monomers. The as-synthesized composites are characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, vibrating sample magnetometry analysis and dielectric studies. Thermal stability is improved in all the prepared composites. Enhanced AC conductivity and thermal stability in PPy/10% of hematite composite is attributed to the homogeneous dispersion of incorporated hematite particles in PPy matrix, physiochemical interactions and development of interface regions between organic polymer structure and inorganic hematite particles. Interestingly, the organic conducting polymer matrix reinforcement with inorganic hematite dispersive particles is found to transform it from weak antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic in the range of 10 kOe with coercivity and saturation magnetization as a function of the inorganic phase loading percentage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Influence of natural and non-natural diets on the fitness and rearing of Pectinophora gossypiella Saunders" published in Scientific Reports. The correction addresses an incorrect affiliation for one of the authors, Montaser M. Hassan. The correct affiliations for Montaser M. Hassan are the Department of Entomology, Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, and the Department of Biology, College of Science, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia. The original article has been corrected. [Extracted from the article]

We present an extensive study of the magnetic properties of a novel La0.5Ba0.5MnO3 perovskite material prepared by the hydrothermal method. The explored sample was structurally studied by the x-ray diffraction (XRD) method which confirms the formation of a pure cubic phase of a perovskite structure with Pm3m space group. The magnetic properties were probed by employing temperature M (T) and external magnetic field M (μoH) dependence of magnetization measurements. A magnetic phase transition from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic phase occurs at 339 K in this sample. The maximum magnetic entropy change (ΔSMmax) took a value of 1.4 J kg− 1 K− 1 at the applied magnetic field of 4.0 T for the explored sample and has also been found to occur at Curie temperature (TC). This large entropy change might be instigated from the abrupt reduction of magnetization at TC. The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is maximum at TC as represented by M (μoH) isotherms. The relative cooling power (RCP) is 243.2 J kg− 1 at μoH = 4.0 T. Moreover, the critical properties near TC have been probed from magnetic data. The critical exponents δ, β, and γ with values 3.82, 0.42, and 1.2 are close to the values predicted by the 3D Ising model. Additionally, the authenticity of the critical exponents has been confirmed by the scaling equation of state and all data fall on two separate branches, one for T < TC and the other for T > TC, signifying that the critical exponents obtained in this work are accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]