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Background: Children who develop obesity in the early years of their lives tend to remain so in their adolescence and adulthood and are at a higher risk of developing non-communicable diseases. Objectives: The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children attending a pediatric outpatient department (OPD) of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Kolkata and to identify the factors associated with overweight and obesity among them. Materials and Methods: An observational study, cross-sectional in design, was conducted among children aged 6–12 years attending a pediatric OPD of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Kolkata from October to December 2021. Data were collected from 223 participants using a predesigned, pretested, and structured schedule by face-to-face interviews with their guardians, spot observation, and anthropometric measurements. We summarized the data with the help of suitable descriptive statistics. Multivariable binary logistic regression was performed to find the factors associated with overweight to obese nutritional status. All statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS) version 25.0. Results: Out of 223 participants, 48% belonged to the age group of 6–8 years. The proportion of male-to-female children was nearly equal. About 22% of the study population were overweight to obese. The factors associated with overweight to obese nutritional status were less duration of outdoor play, frequent intake of processed meat, and the occasional intake of green leafy vegetables. Conclusion: A significant proportion of the children attending pediatric OPD were overweight to obese. Children must be motivated by parents and teachers for adequate physical activity and avoid consuming too much fast food.

La substituted M-type Barium hexaferrite, Ba(1−x)La(x)Fe12O19, (x = 0.25 and 0.30) were synthesized using ball milling followed by heat treatment at 1150˚C and 1300˚C and the influence of sintering temperature as well as La doping were presented. X-ray diffraction, FESEM, dielectric spectroscopy, and ferroelectric measurements were performed to study the structural, morphological, dielectric, and ferroelectric properties of the prepared samples. Rietveld refinement on the X-ray diffraction measurement reveals the formation of a phase magnetoplumbite structure of barium hexaferrite only for the samples sintered at 1300˚C. The secondary phase, along with the major magnetoplumbite structure, was observed for the sample sintered at 1150˚C. Hexagonal plate-like grains of different sizes were observed, and samples sintered at 1300˚C showed large-size grains. Porosity was observed to decrease with La doping. Impedance spectroscopy reveals that Maxwell-Wagner-type polarisation occurs with the relaxation of mobile charges having long-range hopping. However, the ferroelectric property was suppressed for samples sintered at 1300˚C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel glass system B2O3–SiO2–Bi2O3–TeO2–BaO–ZnO doped with Eu2O3 (x = 0–4 mol%) is fabricated through melt-quench technique and coded as BiTeEu-x. Density and refractive index measurements done on the glasses resulted in the increase up to 5.4377 gcm−3 and 1.99, respectively, for 4 mol% addition of Eu2O3. Vickers micro-indentation measurements done on synthesized glasses gave increasing microhardness values with Eu3+ doping due to higher bond strength of Eu–O bond compared to Te–O bond. The Phy-X/PSD simulation software utilized for obtaining radiation shielding parameters produced highest range of mass attenuation coefficient (63.878–0.036 cm2/g) and lowest range of half-value layer (0.002–3.551 cm) for the same glass proving its superiority in radiation attenuating capacity. This article addresses the theoretical analysis of photon buildup occurring inside the fabricated glasses in 0.015–15 MeV energy range with respect to different penetration depths. Neutron shielding ability of BiTeEu-4 glass was found to be impressive with fast neutron removal cross section (FNR) value of 0.10362 cm−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A polycrystalline nanostructured thin film of zinc cadmium sulfide was meticulously fabricated on a glass substrate using the thermal evaporation method physical vapor deposition within a vacuum chamber. Different doping concentrations were introduced by varying the cadmium (Cd) content, resulting in Zn1- x Cd x S films with Cd concentrations ranging from x = 0.00–0.20 wt %. The impact of Cd doping on the third-order nonlinear optical (TONLO) properties of these films was thoroughly studied using the Z -scan method, employing a diode-pumped solid-state continuous-wave laser. To gain insight into the structural characteristics, the Zn1- x Cd x S thin films underwent analysis through x-ray diffraction. Optical studies confirmed the tunability of the optical band gap (Eg) in the Zn1- x Cd x S films, ranging from 3.88 eV for undoped ZnS to 2.80 eV for the film fabricated with 20 wt. % of Cd-content. This significant reduction in 'Eg' renders the films highly suitable for use as absorbing layers in applications such as solar cells and optoelectronics. Surface morphology analysis, performed via field emission scanning electron microscopy, revealed noticeable alterations with increased Cd doping. Significantly, the doped films exhibited a substantial redshift in the band edge and an increase in transmittance within the visible and near-infrared regions. The investigation of TONLO properties, including the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β), nonlinear refractive index (n 2) and susceptibility χ (3), yielded values ranging from 3.15 × 10−3 to 8.16 × 10−3 (cm W−1), 1.65 × 10−8 to 7.45 x 10–8 (cm2 W−1), and 3.12 × 10−5 to 7.86 × 10−5 (esu), respectively. These results indicate the presence of self-defocusing nonlinearity in the films. Overall, the outcomes underscore the potential of Cd-doped ZnS nanostructures in modifying surface morphology and enhancing NLO characteristics. Zn1- x Cd x S thin films exhibit promise for applications in nonlinear optical devices, as evidenced by these encouraging findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, ferroelectric-photovoltaics have come under the spotlight as a potential class of materials for application in photovoltaic devices. However, the broad bandgap of these ferroelectric-photovoltaic materials causes them to have modest photocurrents. To overcome this challenge hexamanganites can be used as alternatives to achieve high photovoltaic efficiency as it has a small band gap. Here we present a stable, non-toxic, and cost-efficient hexamanganite RMnO3 [R = Y, Er, Yb] thin films prepared and optimized by spray pyrolysis technique. The formation of the single phase is confirmed by XRD analysis. Morphological studies show grains are uniform and closely packed and the grain size increases with the decrease in ionic radii of rare-earth ions. From the UV Visible spectroscopic study, narrow optical band gap is observed for the films. With a carrier concentration of around 10+14 cm−3, Hall measurements proved that the films are p-type semiconductors. The maximum photoresponse was exhibited in the visible region for YMnO3 and ErMnO3 films and in the near IR region for YbMnO3 films. This research illuminates the exploration of stable oxide semiconductors with a small band gap for the suitability in futuristic solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work gives an insight into the structural, thermal, and electrical analysis of novel nanocomposite solid polymer electrolyte films prepared using the solution casting technique by incorporating cobalt oxide nanoparticles into methyl cellulose‐magnesium acetate polymer electrolyte matrix. The impact of ceramic oxide on the complexation of the salt with the polymer chain is evident from FTIR analysis. The crystallinity of the electrolyte systems decreases upon the incorporation of nanofiller into the matrix. Electrochemical Impedance Analysis of the samples shows enhancement in the conductivity of the electrolytes. Nanocomposite electrolyte systems with 2 wt% (5.93 × 10−4 S/cm) and 3 wt% (5.77 × 10−4 S/cm) of cobalt oxide exhibit maximum room temperature ionic conductivity compared to other electrolyte systems. DSC thermogram reveals the creation of free volume in the matrix with the incorporation of the filler. A primary battery is fabricated using the nanocomposite electrolyte system with 3 wt% of the nanofiller, and its open circuit potential and discharge characteristics have been analyzed. Highlights: Novel nanocomposite SPEs with cobalt oxide were prepared via solution casting.FTIR and XRD studies revealed modification in the microstructure.Cobalt oxide incorporation enhanced ionic conductivity of SPE.A primary battery fabricated using the highest conducting SPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents a novel approach to agricultural disease diagnostics through the integration of Deep Learning (DL) techniques with Visual Question Answering (VQA) systems, specifically targeting the detection of wheat rust. Wheat rust is a pervasive and destructive disease that significantly impacts wheat production worldwide. Traditional diagnostic methods often require expert knowledge and time-consuming processes, making rapid and accurate detection challenging. We drafted a new, WheatRustDL2024 dataset (7998 images of healthy and infected leaves) specifically designed for VQA in the context of wheat rust detection and utilized it to retrieve the initial weights on the federated learning server. This dataset comprises high-resolution images of wheat plants, annotated with detailed questions and answers pertaining to the presence, type, and severity of rust infections. Our dataset also contains images collected from various sources and successfully highlights a wide range of conditions (different lighting, obstructions in the image, etc.) in which a wheat image may be taken, therefore making a generalized universally applicable model. The trained model was federated using Flower. Following extensive analysis, the chosen central model was ResNet. Our fine-tuned ResNet achieved an accuracy of 97.69% on the existing data. We also implemented the BLIP (Bootstrapping Language-Image Pre-training) methods that enable the model to understand complex visual and textual inputs, thereby improving the accuracy and relevance of the generated answers. The dual attention mechanism, combined with BLIP techniques, allows the model to simultaneously focus on relevant image regions and pertinent parts of the questions. We also created a custom dataset (WheatRustVQA) with our augmented dataset containing 1800 augmented images and their associated question-answer pairs. The model fetches an answer with an average BLEU score of 0.6235 on our testing partition of the dataset. This federated model is lightweight and can be seamlessly integrated into mobile phones, drones, etc. without any hardware requirement. Our results indicate that integrating deep learning with VQA for agricultural disease diagnostics not only accelerates the detection process but also reduces dependency on human experts, making it a valuable tool for farmers and agricultural professionals. This approach holds promise for broader applications in plant pathology and precision agriculture and can consequently address food security issues.

Scalable and low-cost synthesis of high-quality ferroic films is critical for the development of advanced electronic devices and sensors. Here, we employ solution-based spray pyrolysis to fabricate bismuth ferrite thin films on glass substrates and explore the impact of annealing conditions to attain functional thin films of superior quality and switchable polarization. Optimised thin films display polycrystalline nanostructured grains with the highest X-ray diffraction intensity along the (110) orientation and a mixed Fe2+/3+ valence suggesting the presence of oxygen vacancies. The optimized films show a complex ferroelectric domain microstructure and exhibit robust nanoscale polarization switching in the range of several volts. Domains are found to scale with the sizes of nanocrystalline grains, which points to the role of surface-energy-related mechanisms affecting the domain patterns. Our results demonstrate the potential of spray pyrolysis for the fabrication of high-quality ferroelectric thin films and provide new opportunities for the development of low-cost scalable advanced electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]