Ni-doped Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 single crystal: a potential functional material for thermoelectricity, topological insulator, and optoelectronics

We report the growth of Ni-doped Bi0.5Sb1.35Ni0.15Te3 single crystal via the self-flux method. The crystalline nature of a grown single crystal was confirmed by the X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). Interestingly, the XRD pattern shows a sharp reflections of type of planes, revealing the growth of the crystal in c-direction. The grown single crystal was subjected for measurement of field dependence magnetization at 300 K and temperature-dependent magnetic moment. The electronic transport property of bulk single crystal was also carried out in a wide range of temperatures from 150 to 450 K. Reasonably large electrical conductivity sigma similar to 1584 S/cm at room temperature was observed which shows similar to 400% enhancement in sigma than the electrical conductivity of bare Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 single crystal (400 S/cm at 300 K). This enhanced electrical conductivity results to significant power factor similar to 1.68 x 10(- 3)W/m K(2)at 300K which is 163% larger than that of bare Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 single crystal (6.45 x 10(- 4)W/m K-2). Magnetic properties of a single crystal of Bi0.5Sb1.35Ni0.15Te3 reveal ferromagnetic behavior at 300 K. The photoluminescence (PL) behavior of Bi0.5Sb1.35Ni0.15Te3 single-crystal was also scrutinized. The PL spectra of Bi0.5Sb1.35Ni0.15Te3 single crystal shows the strong red emission peak in the visible region from 600 to 690 nm upon excitation at 375 nm wavelength, which corresponds to the optical bandgap of 2.1 eV

Investigation of Micro-indentation Hardness of Bi2Te3 Based Composite Thermoelectric Materials

We have successfully synthesized Bi0.5Sb1.7Te3+x (x = 0, 0.12, 0.14) composite thermoelectric materials via solid state reaction followed by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). The structural characterization of these materials carried out by X-ray diffraction reveals to be composite phase consisting of Bi2Te3-type phase with small amount of Te and Sb phase. The micro-hardness performed on samples Bi0.5Sb1.7Te3+x(x = 0, 0.12, 0.14) reveals the reduction of VHN with increasing Te concentration as compared to that of single phase state-of-the-art Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 thermoelectric materials

Exploring farmers’ communication pattern and satisfaction regarding the adoption of Agromet advisory services in semi-arid regions of southern India

Agriculture is significantly impacted by the variability in weather patterns, imposing substantial constraints on farmers’ ability to make informed tactical and strategic decisions regarding their crops. Seasonal climate projections have shown potential for informing agricultural decisions, but the actual adoption of climate information by farmers has been relatively slow and limited. The present study was conducted with the objective of investigating the characteristics of adopters, the communication network, and the level of farmer’s satisfaction concerning the adoption and continued use of Agromet Advisories Services (AAS). Two semi-arid districts, namely Kurnool and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, were purposively selected, wherein 280 farmers constituted the sampling frame. In this study, social network analysis (SNA) was conducted to examine the peer-to-peer communication patterns, while importance-performance analysis (IPA) was employed to evaluate farmer’s satisfaction, contributing to the continued adoption of AAS. The findings revealed that with regard to personality and communication characteristics, farmers were in the low category for their ability to cope with uncertainties and risk and even for their information-seeking behavior. Furthermore, the results showed farmers to be highly satisfied with the overall adoption of AAS. However, the IPA matrix revealed that among the nine attributes, the credibility of the forecasts needed refinement to promote sustained adoption. Excessive emphasis was placed on attributes such as the frequency of forecasts, which could be channeled into other initiatives. Peer-to-peer communication emerged as a crucial strategy in the adoption of AAS. Governments, non-governmental organizations, and extension functionaries should make a concerted effort to enhance the continued adoption of AAS by involving local stakeholders in sharing and participating in climate information production, forming farmer’s groups, and focusing on farmers’ literacy toward AAS

QTL Landscape for Oil Content in Brassica juncea: Analysis in Multiple Bi-Parental Populations in High and “0” Erucic Background

Increasing oil content in oilseed mustard (Brassica juncea) is a major breeding objective—more so, in the lines that have “0” erucic acid content (< 2% of the seed oil) as earlier studies have shown negative pleiotropic effect of erucic acid loci on the oil content, both in oilseed mustard and rapeseed. We report here QTL analysis of oil content in eight different mapping populations involving seven different parents—including a high oil content line J8 (~49%). The parental lines of the mapping populations contained wide variation in oil content and erucic acid content. The eight mapping populations were categorized into two sets—five populations with individuals segregating for erucic acid (SE populations) and the remaining three with zero erucic acid segregants (ZE populations). Meta-analysis of QTL mapped in individual SE populations identified nine significant C-QTL, with two of these merging most of the major oil QTL that colocalized with the erucic acid loci on the linkage groups A08 and B07. QTL analysis of oil content in ZE populations revealed a change in the landscape of the oil QTL compared to the SE populations, in terms of altered allelic effects and phenotypic variance explained by ZE QTL at the “common” QTL and observation of “novel” QTL in the ZE background. The important loci contributing to oil content variation, identified in the present study could be used in the breeding programmes for increasing the oil content in high erucic and “0” erucic backgrounds

Farmers’ preferences and agronomic evaluation of dynamic mixtures of rice and bean in Nepal

Field trials of rice and bean dynamic mixtures were carried out in low input and hill farming systems of Nepal from 2019 to 2021 to improve productivity and resilience. The rice trials were conducted in two locations (Jumla and Lamjung) and those on bean in Jumla, using a randomized complete block design with three replications. Dynamic mixtures were constructed from landraces, improved varieties and breeding lines for both crops. A total of 48 bean entries were used in Jumla, whereas 56 and 66 rice entries were used to make location-specific dynamic mixtures in Lamjung and Jumla, respectively. They were formed by mixing diverse varieties as a strategy to maintain a broad genetic base. Farmers (men and women) and technicians selected from the most complex mixture and the selections were added to the trials starting from second year. In rice, some mixtures and selections from the mixtures gave grain yield comparable to the improved check and higher than the local checks. In the case of bean, differences between entries were not significant but some of the selections received a high preference score. Overall, the dynamic mixtures appear as a reliable material for sustainable increase in yield in the low input and hill farming system of Nepal

Re-evaluating soil moisture-based drought criteria for rainfed crops in peninsular India

Background: Peninsular India, being completely under the influence of monsoonal climate, suffers crop yield variability due to rainfall distribution-induced soil moisture constraints. Timely and appropriate assessment of this rainfall and soil moisture-induced crop yield variability serves as a key for exemplary relief assistance. Per cent available soil moisture (PASM) is one among several drought declaration indices followed by stakeholders in India for declaration of drought, needs re-evaluation as the existing criteria in unable to capture the yield loss due to ineffective classification of PASM categories. This study attempts to revise the agricultural drought classes by PASM based on relationships established between yield of major rainfed crops of the study region and PASM.Methods: Analysis of yield variability due to PASM was carried out based on long term observations in experiments conducted at five dry farming locations (Akola, Parbhani, Kovilpatti, Ananthapuramu and Bengaluru) of peninsular India. The average yield for each category of PASM was calculated and tabulated for regression analysis. The PASM versus yield in each group was correlated and regression equations were developed if significant positive correlations were established.Results: The range of available soil moisture to obtain at least 50 percent of optimum yield in cereals (maize: 26 and finger millet: 52.9 PASM), pulses (pigeon pea: 37.2 PASM), oilseeds (soybean: 26.8 to 30.5, groundnut: 53.8 to 61.7 PASM) and commercial crops (cotton: 26.3 PASM) was 26–61 percent.Conclusion: The revised PASM-based drought classes (0–50 severe; 51–75 mild and 76–100 no drought) would help in drought declaration and precise identification of drought-hit areas for meaningful relief assistance. However, there is further investigation is needed to include a soil component for further fine-tuning of the criteria

Women and citizenship post-trafficking : the case of Nepal

The research for this paper was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council – ESRC Res-062-23-1490: ‘Post Trafficking in Nepal: Sexuality and Citizenship in Livelihood Strategies’. Diane Richardson would like to acknowledge the support provided by the award of a Leverhulme TrustMajor Research Fellowship, ‘Transforming Citizenship: Sexuality, Gender and Citizenship Struggles’ [award MRF-2012-106].This article analyses the relationship between gender, sexuality and citizenship embedded in models of citizenship in the Global South, specifically in South Asia, and the meanings associated with having - or not having - citizenship. It does this through an examination of women's access to citizenship in Nepal in the context of the construction of the emergent nation state in the 'new' Nepal 'post-conflict'. Our analysis explores gendered and sexualized constructions of citizenship in this context through a specific focus on women who have experienced trafficking, and are beginning to organize around rights to sustainable livelihoods and actively lobby for changes in citizenship rules which discriminate against women. Building from this, in the final section we consider important implications of this analysis of post-trafficking experiences for debates about gender, sexuality and citizenship more broadly.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A multi-targeted approach to suppress tumor-promoting inflammation

Cancers harbor significant genetic heterogeneity and patterns of relapse following many therapies are due to evolved resistance to treatment. While efforts have been made to combine targeted therapies, significant levels of toxicity have stymied efforts to effectively treat cancer with multi-drug combinations using currently approved therapeutics. We discuss the relationship between tumor-promoting inflammation and cancer as part of a larger effort to develop a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach aimed at a wide range of targets to address this heterogeneity. Specifically, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, cyclooxygenase-2, transcription factor nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase, protein kinase B, and CXC chemokines are reviewed as important antiinflammatory targets while curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, lycopene, and anthocyanins are reviewed as low-cost, low toxicity means by which these targets might all be reached simultaneously. Future translational work will need to assess the resulting synergies of rationally designed antiinflammatory mixtures (employing low-toxicity constituents), and then combine this with similar approaches targeting the most important pathways across the range of cancer hallmark phenotypes