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The study highlights the importance of integrating organic resources, such as vermicompost and biofertilizers with inorganic fertilizers to sustain coconut yields and manage costs. The experimental trial was conducted from 2016 to 2020 in a 47-year-old East Coast Tall coconut garden at Coconut Research Station in South India. The research evaluated four nutrient management treatments viz., T1 (75% Recommended Dose of Fertilizer (RDF) + 25% N organic), T2 (50% RDF + 50% N organic), T3 (100% N organic) and a control (100% RDF). Intercrops included black pepper (Piper nigrum), banana (Musa acuminata) and cocoa (Theobroma cacao). Organic manure significantly improved soil physical properties, water retention and overall soil health. The T2 treatment achieved the highest yields for coconut, cocoa, banana and black pepper. The added soil health parameters supported to these findings, with T2 showing the highest fungal (15.27 × 103 cfu/g of soil) and bacterial populations (17.25 × 105 cfu/g of soil), along with a significant earthworm population (26/m2), indicating enhanced soil ecosystem health. Additionally, soil moisture content was highest under T3 (100% organic) across various depths, followed by T2, highlighting the critical role of organic matter in improving soil moisture conservation. The economic feasibility analysis, including a net present value (NPV), benefit/cost ratio (B/C ratio) and an internal rate of return (IRR), revealed T2 to be the most economically viable nutrient management strategy. This study highlights the economic benefits of intercropping coconuts using an integrated nutrient management (INM) approach, demonstrating its superiority over traditional monocropping practices.

This article proposes real-time speed tracking of two-link surface swimming robotic fish using a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) controller. Hydrodynamic modelling of robotic fish is done by virtue of Newtonian dynamics and Lighthill's kinematic model. However, this includes external unsteady reactive forces that cannot be modeled accurately due to the distributed nature of hydrodynamic behavior. Therefore, a novel data-assisted dynamic model and control method is proposed for the speed tracking of robotic fish. Initially, the cruise speed motion data are collected through experiments. The water-resistance coefficient is estimated using the least mean square fit, which is then adopted in the model. Subsequently, a closed-loop discrete-time DRL controller trained through a soft actor-critic (SAC) agent is implemented through simulations. SAC overcomes the brittleness problem encountered by other policy gradient approaches by encouraging the policy network for maximum exploration and not assigning a higher probability to any single part of actions. Due to this robustness in the policy learning, the convergence error becomes low in RL-SAC than RL-DDPG controller. The simulation results verify that the DRL-SAC control with data-assisted modelling substantially improves the speed tracking performance. Further, this controller is validated in real-time, and it is observed that the SAC-trained controller tracks the desired speed more accurately than the DDPG controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the green synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles using Phyllanthus niruri leaf extract was accomplished by the sol‐gel method. The structure and particle size of the synthesised TiO2 nanoparticles were characterised by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and the size was found to be 20 nm. The Fourier‐transform infrared spectra determined the existence of carboxyl and hydroxyl functional groups. The images from SEM analysis recommended a porous and heterogeneous surface. The methyl orange (MO) dye removal was examined using different parameters such as pH, time, dose, temperature and dye concentration. Maximum dye elimination percentage was achieved at pH 6.0 and 0.02 g as the optimum adsorbent dose. The kinetic analysis suggested that the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model finely defines adsorption dynamics. Langmuir adsorption isotherm studies revealed endothermic monolayer adsorption of the methyl Orange dye. The negative value of ∆G° and positive value of ∆H° showed the spontaneous and endothermic adsorption method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper accords an intelligent controller based 3-level SEPIC configuration for energy transformation in the solar PV system. An artificial intelligence based radial basis function network is engaged as a control algorithm for the maximum power extraction and the converter control can be done based on the duty cycle generated by the controller. In this system, a SEPIC topology is used for high voltage gain with reduced switching losses. In this paper, an RBFN controller based 3-level SEPIC topology is designed for 1.2kW solar PV system over the traditional P & O (Perturb & Observe) control method and the comparative result analysis is done though the simulation output for the corresponding input parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a Hybrid Adaptive Neurofuzzy Control technique for speed control of BLDC motor drives. The proposed controller is an integration of adaptive neurofuzzy, fuzzy PID and PD controllers. The objective is to utilize the best attribute of fuzzy PID and PD controllers, which exhibits a better response than the neurofuzzy controllers. The error back propagation learning algorithm (EBPA) is used to train the data to minimize learning error. To validate the performance of proposed controller, simulations are done in MATLAB and comparison is made with PI, PD and fuzzy PID controllers. In addition, the performance of proposed controller is benchmarked with other controllers reported in the literature. The results of the proposed controller are promising in terms of quick settling time, zero peak overshoot and zero steady state error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activated carbon was prepared from Citrus limettioides seed (CLSC), a novel waste material by chemical modification with sulfuric acid was applied for the adsorption Ni(II) from aqueous solutions. The effect of contact time, pH, adsorbent dose, initial metal ion concentration, and temperature were studied in batch experiments. According to the experimental results, the equilibrium time, optimum pH range, and adsorbent dosage were found to be 3 h, pH = 4.0-8.0 and 1 g L−1, respectively. In addition, raw Citrus limettioides seeds (CLS) were used as adsorbents at the same parameters. Ni(II) removal for CLSC and CLS were obtained 99.00% and 37.00% in turn. The equilibrium data agreed well with Langmuir model, which confirmed the monolayer coverage of Ni(II) ions onto CLS and CLSC. The Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity of the CLSC was found to be 36.06 mg g−1 which was significantly about 3.5 times greater than that of CLS (10.23 mg g−1) at 300 K. The kinetic data followed pseudo-second order model and intra-particle diffusion was not the sole rate-controlling factor. Surface morphology and structural analysis of CLSC prior to and after adsorption were characterized by SEM and EDX. The presence of hydroxyl, carboxylic, and sulfonic acid groups are confirmed by FTIR spectra. The adsorbents were also tested for the removal of Ni(II) from electroplating wastewater in connection with the reuse and selectivity of the adsorbents. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 34: 1384-1395, 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]