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Plant nutrition is crucial in crop productivity and providing food security to the ever-expanding population. Application of chemical/biological fertilizers and pesticides are the mainstays for any agricultural economy. However, there are unintended consequences of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The environment and ecological balance are adversely affected by their usage. Biofertilizers and biopesticides counter some undesired environmental effects of chemical fertilizers/pesticides; despite some drawbacks associated with their use. The recent developments in nanotechnology offer promise toward sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture involves addressing the concerns about agriculture as well as the environment. This review briefs about important nanomaterials used in agriculture as nanofertilizers, nanopesticides, and a combination called nanobiofertilizers. Both nanofertilizers and nanopesticides enable slow and sustained release besides their eco-friendly nature. They can be tailored to the specific needs of to crop. Nanofertilizers also offer greater stress tolerance and, therefore, are of considerable value in the era of climate change. Furthermore, nanofertilizers/nanopesticides are applied in minute amounts, reducing transportation costs associated and thus positively affecting the economy. Their uses extend beyond such as if nanoparticles (NPs) are used at high concentrations; they affect plant pathogens adversely. Polymer-based biodegradable nanofertilizers and nanopesticides offer various benefits. There is also a dark side to the use of nanomaterials in agriculture. Nanotechnology often involves the use of metal/metal oxide nanoparticles, which might get access to human bodies leading to their accumulation through bio-magnification. Although their effects on human health are not known, NPs may reach toxic concentrations in soil and runoff into rivers, and other water bodies with their removal to become a huge economic burden. Nevertheless, a risk-benefit analysis of nanoformulations must be ensured before their application in sustainable agriculture.

The current agricultural sector is not only in its most vulnerable state but is also becoming a threat to our environment due to expanding population and growing food demands along with worsening climatic conditions. In addition, numerous agrochemicals presently being used as fertilizers and pesticides have low efficiency and high toxicity. However, the rapid growth of nanotechnology has shown great promise to tackle these issues replacing conventional agriculture industries. Since the last decade, nanomaterials especially metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) have been attractive for improving agricultural outcomes due to their large surface area, higher chemical/thermal stability and tunable unique physicochemical characteristics. Further, to achieve sustainability, researchers have been extensively working on ecological and cost-effective biological approaches to synthesize MONPs. Hereby, we have elaborated on recent successful biosynthesis methods using various plants/microbes. Furthermore, we have elucidated different mechanisms for the interaction of MONPs with plants, including their uptake/translocation/internalization, photosynthesis, antioxidant activity, and gene alteration, which could revolutionize crop productivity/yield through increased nutrient amount, photosynthesis rate, antioxidative enzyme level, and gene upregulations. Besides, we have briefly discussed about functionalization of MONPs and their application in agricultural-waste-management. We have further illuminated recent developments of various MONPs (Fe

Tea is not only the most popular beverage in the world but also producing a large quantity untreated wastes product every year. In particular, the tea gardens of eastern Sub-Himalayan region cumulatively produce 15 million kg of crush, tear, curl (CTC)-factory tea waste (FTW) every year, which primarily includes discarded tea leaves, leaf fibers, buds and tender stems of tea plants. Beside that ~ 80% population of Indian subcontinent consume CTC tea regularly at their homes, tea stalls, market, cafe etc. and the waste produced from it, is called CTC domestic tea waste (DTW). Thus, not only factory tea waste but also a large quantity of domestic CTC tea waste (DTW) is exposed into the environment regularly. In present study, an attempt has been made for primary screening of the compounds in both the CTC-tea wastes. It has been shown that FTW sample contains greater amount of non-metal elements such as sulfur, calcium, phosphorus and metal elements like potassium and iron compared to DTW sample. Abundance of aromatic compounds has been seen to be higher in FTWs whereas, DTW primarily contains aliphatic compounds. Using Orbitrap-HRLCMS analysis allowed to make accurate predictions about the molecular structures of the likely organic chemicals found in tea trash. Thus, various bioactive organic compounds, micronutrients and trace elements from tea waste were found.

Metal–thiolate complexes have been the focus of research for several years because of their unique photophysical properties and their use as a precursor for synthesizing various well-defined metal nanoclusters.

In general, weather forecasting is done with the use of enormously complicated physical science models that use a variety of environmental circumstances over a long period of time. Because of the annoyances of the climatic framework, these criteria are frequently fragile, causing the models to produce inaccurate forecasts. The models are mostly run on multiple hubs in a massive High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment that uses a lot of energy. In this research, we offer a climate expectation approach that uses historical data from various climate stations to create basic AI models that may provide meaningful forecasts for specific climatic conditions in the not-too-distant future within a given time frame. In this paper, we offer a climate expectation approach that uses historical data from several climate stations to create basic AI models that can anticipate certain climatic conditions in the not-too-distant future within a given time frame. Overall research performed into two stages; in first stage Principle component Analysis has been used to extract the irrelevant attributes from the datasets. In second stage five different machines learning algorithm used to predict temperature condition for midterm span & finally four performance indicators along with training time used to identify the best fitted model. From the result analysis it is seen that PCA based AdaBoost model is the fittest model with acquired the best outcome of R2, RMSE, MAE & MSE are 0.992, 0.539, 0.398 & 0.209 respectively. Beside of this present model also outperformed than the other state of art model proposed for midterm weather forecasting purpose. Keyword : Weather Forecasting, PCA, Machine learning, Performance indicator

In the present study, the inhibitory effect of propylthiouracil (PTU) on bovine liver catalase (BLC) activity was studied in the presence of curcumin (CUR). The results suggest that the PTU-induced decrease in BLC activity was caused by a change in conformation of BLC with reduced α-helical content and decrease in zeta potential. Nevertheless, temperature-dependent activation of CUR protects the activity of BLC by restoring the secondary conformation and zeta potential of BLC. CUR inhibited the time-induced reduction in BLC activity and the protection was increased with increasing concentrations of CUR and found to be significant even from 1:0.1 molar ratios. The enzyme kinetics confirmed the high catalytic efficiency of BLC in presence of CUR than PTU. The protective role of CUR was due to the formation of a more stabilized complex as demonstrated by molecular docking, and fourier-transform infrared study. Isothermal titration calorimetric study supports for a favourable reaction between BLC and PTU or CUR due to the negative ΔH, and positive TΔS. Although the number of binding sites for PTU and CUR was found to be 10 and 7, respectively, the binding affinity between CUR and BLC is approximately 3.72 fold stronger than BLC-PTU complex. The increased melting temperature of BLC was noticed in presence of CUR suggesting the protective potential of CUR towards biomolecules. Indeed, this is the first biophysical study to describe the molecular mechanism of PTU-induced reduction in BLC activity and alleviation by CUR with detail kinetics. Thus, CUR can be further extended to other antioxidant enzymes or compromised biomolecules for therapeutic interventions.

In this article, the power gating (PG) technique is analyzed using nano-electro-mechanical switches (NEMS), FinFETs, and nanowire field-effect transistors (NWFETs). We have used detailed circuit level simulations using well-calibrated models to obtain the conditions for net energy saving with thermal effects. We demonstrate that for a benchmark 17-stage buffer chain circuit, the NEMS PG will be superior to sub-10-nm FinFETs and NWFETs-based gating when the $ {T}_{ \text{on}}/ {T}_{ \text{off}}$ ratio is less than 0.1 at room temperature. The ratio increases as temperature increases. Circuit simulations show that the energy gain ( $ {T}_{\text {on}}/ {T}_{ \text{off}} = {10}^{-{4}}$ ) due to NEMS gating increases by 3.6 times with reference to NWFETs and 7.3 times as compared to FinFETs-based gating when the temperature increases from 30 °C to 80 °C. NWFETs require a longer breakeven cycle for PG to become more energy-efficient than FinFETs due to its better gate control over the channel.

In this article, for the first time, we present the improvement in efficiency in a low-voltage dc–dc boost converter for the energy-harvesting applications using the experimentally demonstrated sub-50-mV nano electro-mechanical switch (NEMS). As per the measurement results, the sub-50-mV NEMS having a small air gap of only 100 nm exhibits very low hysteresis ( $\text{V}\cdot \mu \text{m}$ ). This study explores a discontinuous-conduction mode (DCM) boost converter with specifications suitable for energy-harvesting applications using the NEMS-based design. The results are compared with the corresponding design using the MOSFET switches in 0.18- $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS technology. This work illustrates that the NEMS-based DCM boost converter design has an improvement in the efficiency of around 30% at a switching frequency of 10 kHz over CMOS for the same ON-state resistance. This is because the proposed fabricated NEMS has extreme low pull-in voltage (50 mV) and low parasitic capacitances (~3.3 fF/ $\mu \text{m}$ ).

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to identify the cross-functional factors and their impact after exploratory factor analysis (EFA), especially in B2B context and constructing a model to interpret and quantify the influences (sales performance score) specifically to the IT/ITES companies.Design/methodology/approachGetting answer for a corporate that where its current stand in the industry is important for the strategy making, especially for the sales team. Few academic researches charted direction toward cross-functional sales factors, but getting answer whether we can quantify that sales performance and identify what is the numeric benchmark value, is difficult. For the companies to understand the need to focus on which cross-functional factors and when, is also difficult.FindingsAfter 1,079+ literature study, concluded with the 25 antecedents strongly used in previous studies and 8 more on after focused group study, pilot study and discussion with the industry leaders, 35 questions addressing 33 indicators collected in 10 months duration from 310 sales professionals, 90+ IT companies. Three samples were removed as outliers using “Mahalanobis Distance Test” for multivariate analysis, dropped two variables by “Missing value Not at Random” (MNAR). Final 15 determinants of cross-functional sales performance indicators forming four best factors with very high reliability after EFA to form a future formative model and sales performance score.Research limitations/implications(1) In this study no moderator and mediator effect are analyzed. (2) This study is the precursor to the final model construction. (3) Business down due to recession, global pandemic, terrorism, earthquake, war etc. are not considered during this analysis and study. Only the cross-functional reasons for natural business down have been considered and analyzed. (4) Exact “Sales Performance Score (SPS)” should be calculated after model forming, adjusting and confirmatory factor analysis.Practical implications(1) The major implication of this study would be for IT/ITES companies. It will be very easy for them to quantify the sales performance and measure that scientifically. (2) There will be a way to measure, predict and take measurable actions in case sales performance of the company downfalls. (3) Also the impact will be known to the top management of the company well in advance so that they can make the proper strategy. This will be very useful in current situation when measuring business outcome and make strategy well in advance is of any company's utmost priority.Originality/valueFocusing on these identified factors companies can improve its sales performance. The authors contribute in creating a statistical model and computing a sales performance score, based on the final factor loading values, would be unique and unprecedented to measure the current industry performance by quantifying its standard or benchmark value for better strategic support toward the achievement of targets.

In this article, we demonstrate a double-clamped nano-electromechanical switch (NEMS) with low stand-by power as an effective solution to the leakage issues in scaled CMOS-based power gating (PG) in logic circuits. The proposed NEMS structure is achieved to have a low pull-in (~1.2 V), low hysteresis ( ${T}_{\text{ON}}/{T}_{\text{OFF}} as compared to the sub 10-nm CMOS based PG.

Energy is the driving force for automation, modernization and economic development where the uninterrupted energy supply is one of the major challenges in the modern world. To ensure that energy supply, the world highly depends on the fossil fuels that made the environment vulnerable inducing pollution in it. Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems are very potent to address the environmental issues fostering sustainable development, while being able to provide a secured and uninterrupted power supply at the same time. Renewable energy resources are using widely as sources of energy, but the unreliable and low-density technique of energy storage remains a major challenge. At present, thermal energy storage systems are being used widely because of the greater energy storage densities compared to similar other techniques. This paper overviews the current energy scenarios, environmental impact and the global prospects as well as challenges of LHTES. A review of the technologies can provide a base for strategic energy policy for the next generation of sustainable energy policies and helps policymakers to frame strategies aiming for clean technology and sustainable development. LHTES-based systems are found to be the one of the most suitable technologies for energy storage systems.

This brief presents a fabricated and characterized 3-terminal (3T) nanoelectromechanical switch (NEMS) featuring for the first time a sub-50-mV pull-in voltage operation without body biasing. The proposed NEMS demonstrates a low hysteresis ( ${V}/{ {\mu } {\text {m}}}$ and a sub-50-mV swing providing an ultralow active power consumption.

Compartment syndrome is caused by increased pressure within fascial compartment. We present a unique case of a thigh compartment syndrome that occurred after overnight catheter delivered Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) thrombolysis of an acutely thrombosis femoral-to above knee popliteal artery Propaten® PTFE (WL Gore & Associates, Flagstaff, AZ) bypass graft. The condition was treated by emergency fasciotomy and the patient recovered uneventfully.

Sodium tungstate reacted with tetramethyl- and tetrabutyl-phosphonium bromide in presence of hydrochloric acid to afford two new phosphonium hexatungstate compounds ((CH3)4P)2W6O19, 1, and ((CH3CH2CH2CH2)4P)2W6O19, 2, respectively. Under similar conditions, sodium tungstate reacted with methyltriphenyl-, allyltriphenyl-, butyltriphenyl- and benzyltriphenyl-phosphonium bromides to yield four new phosphonium hexatungstate compounds (CH3Ph3P)2W6O19, 3, (CH2CHCH2Ph3P)2W6O19, 4, (CH3CH2CH2CH2Ph3P)2W6O19, 5, and (C6H5CH2Ph3P)2W6O19, 6, respectively. All six compounds appeared to be stable in air, and were structurally characterized by a combination of FTIR, elemental analyses, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. The steric effect of the phosphonium cation was investigated and found to cause no significant change on the average bond distances of the hexatungstate anion. The crystal structure analyses of these compounds showed that hexatungstate anions were isolated and the distance between the anions increases with increase in the bulkiness of the surrounding phosphonium cations. Moreover, thermal stability and heat absorption of all six compounds were evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

It is estimated that all fossil fuels will be depleted by 2060 if we continue to use them at the present rate. Therefore, there is an unmet need for an alternative source of energy with high calorific value. In this regard, hydrogen is considered the best alternative renewable fuel that could be used in practical conditions. Accordingly, researchers are looking for an ideal hydrogen storage system under ambient conditions for feasible applications. In many respects, carbon-based sorbents have emerged as the best possible hydrogen storage media. These carbon-based sorbents are cost-effective, eco-friendly, and readily available. In this Review, the present status of carbon-based materials in promoting solid-state hydrogen storage technologies at the operating temperature and pressure was reported. Experimental studies have shown that some carbon-based materials such as mesoporous graphene and doped carbon nanotubes may have hydrogen storage uptake of 3-7 wt %, while some theoretical studies have predicted up to 13.79 wt % of hydrogen uptake at ambient conditions. Also, it was found that different methods used for carbon materials synthesis played a vital role in hydrogen storage performance. Eventually, this Review will be helpful to the scientific community for finding the competent material and methodology to investigate the existing hydrogen uptake issues at operating conditions.

Infrared thermal imaging has acquired remarkable acceptance in the agricultural field for numerous applications ranging from irrigation scheduling, crop yield estimation, plant disease detection, fruit maturity evaluation, bruise detection to nursery monitoring. This paper presents a practical application of thermal imaging for irrigation scheduling of horticulture plants under different irrigation treatments. Four similar hibiscus potted plants were considered under different water conditions (slight, mild, moderate, and severe water stress). The thermal images were obtained from different canopy zones (front view, top view, left side view, right side view, and front angle view) using a ground-based hand-held thermal camera. The main objectives of the present study include (i) finding the effect of different irrigation treatments on potted plants and a corresponding change in their thermal signature, (ii) finding a relation between plant-based variables and soil-based variables, and to further develop a threshold value for irrigation scheduling (iii) to compare and simplify the calculation of the temperature of the canopy (Tc) and water stress indices namely crop water stress index (CWSI) and stomatal conductance index (Ig) using various reference and non-reference thresholding techniques and to improve their diagnostic accuracy. We can establish quantitative relationships between plant and soil-based parameters. The relationship between temperature of canopy (Tc) and temperature of soil (Ts) pair is best suited to find the plant under water stress. The threshold value pair (Tc and Ts) for the plants under study are 29.5°C (Tc) and 28°C (Ts) for plant A, 29.5°C (Tc) and 27.5°C (Ts) for plant B, 29.5°C (Tc) and 27°C (Ts) for plant C, and 29.5°C (Tc) and 26.5°C (Ts) for plant D. The most suitable method in terms of applicability and scalability, is histogram gradient thresholding (HG) method to determine Tc accurately. The critical m (for standard deviation envelope thresholding SDE method) and ratio of pixel change (RPC) (for HG method) value estimated can be considered an important indicator of water stress in the plants. Among different approaches to compute water stress indices, simplified and HG methods have minimum root mean square error (RMSE) for plants A, B, C, and D compared to statistical and SDE methods.

Kinesin family motors are microtubule (MT)-stimulated ATPases known best as transporters of cellular cargoes through the cytoplasm, regulators of MT dynamics, organizers of the mitotic spindle, and for insuring equal division of DNA during mitosis. Several kinesins have also been shown to regulate transcription by interacting with transcriptional cofactors and regulators, nuclear receptors, or with specific promotor elements on DNA. We previously showed that an LxxLL nuclear receptor box motif in the kinesin-2 family motor KIF17 mediates binding to the orphan nuclear receptor estrogen related receptor alpha (ERR1) and is responsible for the suppression of ERR1-dependent transcription by KIF17. Analysis of all kinesin family proteins revealed that multiple kinesins contain this LxxLL motif, raising the question as to whether additional kinesin motors contribute to the regulation of ERR1. In this study, we interrogate the effects of multiple kinesins with LxxLL motifs on ERR1-mediated transcription. We demonstrate that the kinesin-3 family motor KIF1B contains two LxxLL motifs, one of which binds to ERR1. In addition, we show that expression of a KIF1B fragment containing this LxxLL motif inhibits ERR1-dependent transcription by regulating nuclear entry of ERR1. We also provide evidence that the effects of expressing the KIF1B-LxxLL fragment on ERR1 activity are mediated by a mechanism distinct from that of KIF17. Since LxxLL domains are found in many kinesins, our data suggest an expanded role for kinesins in nuclear receptor mediated transcriptional regulation.

Ferrocene, since its discovery in 1951, has been extensively exploited as a redox probe in a variety of processes ranging from solution chemistry, medicinal chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, surface chemistry to solid-state molecular electronic and spintronic circuit elements to unravel electrochemical charge-transfer dynamics. Ferrocene represents an extremely chemically and thermally stable, and highly reproducible redox probe that undergoes reversible one-electron oxidation and reduction occurring at the interfaces of electrode/ferrocene solution in response to applied anodic and cathodic potentials, respectively. It has been almost 70 years after its discovery and has become one of the most widely studied and model organometallic compounds not only for probing electrochemical charge-transfer process but also as molecular building blocks for the synthesis of chiral organometallic catalysts, potential drug candidates, polymeric compounds, electrochemical sensors, to name a few. Ferrocene and its derivatives have been a breakthrough in many aspects due to its versatile reactivity, fascinating chemical structures, unconventional metal-ligand coordination, and the magic number of electrons (18 e-). The present review discusses the recent progress made towards ferrocene-containing molecular systems exploited for redox reactions, surface attachment, spin-dependent electrochemical process to probe spin polarization, photo-electrochemistry, and integration into prototype molecular electronic devices. Overall, the present reviews demonstrate a piece of collective information about the recent advancements made towards the ferrocene and its derivatives that have been utilized as iconic redox markers.

In this paper, effect of mass flow rate and inlet temperature on the thermal performance of a packed bed latent heat thermal energy storage has been numerically investigated. As the Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF), hot air is selected. Pure silicon is chosen as the PCM (Phase Change Material). The thermal performance has been evaluated on the basis of the following parameters: total heat transferred (Qcharging), TES charging rate (p), TES density (q), TES rate density (w). The values of these parameters have been calculated and compared for four different mass flow rates (0.08 Kg/s, 0.1 Kg/s, 0.12 Kg/s, 0.15 Kg/s) and four different inlet temperatures (1800 K, 1900 K, 2000 K, 2100 K) of the HTF for a charging period of 500 s. The simulations reveal a 0.54% increase per 1% increase in HTF mass flow rate and 15.6% increase per 1% increase in HTF inlet temperature in values of all the parameters after the charging period. A conclusion can be drawn that the HTF inlet temperature has more impact on the performance of packed bed latent heat thermal energy storage than HTF mass flow rate.

A predictive analysis of step-quantum well (SQW) active region (AR) for quantum cascade detectors (QCDs) has been performed. Different active well designs using SQW are presented and investigated for QCD performance improvement. A coupled quantum well design is taken for the analysis where the active well is made of SQW. Electron energies and corresponding wavefunctions are calculated by solving the time-independent Schrodinger equation using finite difference method. Different non-radiative scattering rates are calculated, and further, the escape probability of photoexcited carriers from the active well is predicted. The effect of step-barrier width on the oscillator strength of optical transition in the SQW has been investigated. The effect of step-barrier width on the non-radiative transition rates in the active well as well as escape probability from the active well has been further investigated. It is observed that SQW ARs provide higher escape probability by reducing non-radiative scattering rates of photoexcited carriers back into the active well; therefore, improved responsivity performance can be achieved. The escape probability has been analyzed for different operating temperatures. It is also observed that by using SQW as the AR, a higher barrier thickness can be achieved without degrading the responsivity performance significantly. A higher barrier thickness gives higher thermal resistance, hence higher detectivity performance.