Performance of wheat cultivars at varying fertility levels under system of wheat intensification and conventional method of wheat production system

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2009-10 at Ranchi, Jharkhand to evaluate the performance of wheat cultivars at varying fertility levels under system of wheat intensification and conventional method of cultivation. The morpho-physiological analysis of growth and yield in wheat revealed that system of wheatintensification manifested higher total tillers m-2, leaf area index, dry matter accumulation, crop growth rate, number of spikes m-2, grains per spike and 1000-grain weight resulting in higher grain and straw yield over conventional method of cultivation. The net return and benefit: cost ratio as well as the nutrient uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash was also recorded significantly higher under system of wheat intensification. Higher fertility level of 120 kg N ha-1, 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 and 40 kg K2O ha-1 also significantly improved the plant height, total tillers m-2, leaf area index, dry matter accumulation, crop growth rate, number of spikes m-2, grains per spike, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, straw yield, net return, benefit: cost ratio and nutrient uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. Among the wheat cultivars, K 9107 manifested significant improvement in growth attributes at all the growth stages resulting in significantly higher yield attributes, grain yield, straw yield, net return, benefit: cost ratio and nutrient uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash than Birsa Gehu 3, HUW 468 and K 0307. Thus it can be concluded that the wheat variety K 9107 fertilized with 120 kg N ha-1, 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 and 40 kg K2O ha-1 under System of Wheat Intensification may able to boost up the wheat productivity under irrigated ecosystem of Chhotanagpur plateau region, India

Distorted Wave Method Calculation of Positron Impact Excitation of 21s State of Helium Atom

We have calculated the differential and integral cross-section for positron-helium scattering for the excitation of 11S to 21S state at impact energy range of 22-200eV using a distorted wave method. The results are compared with the available experimental and theoretical results. It is observed that at higher energies present results are in good agreement with other theoretical results

DIFFERENTIAL CROSS SECTIONS FOR ELASTIC ELECTRON SCATTERING BY A CALCIUM ATOM AT LOW ENERGY RANGE.

In this study the distorted wave method was applied in calculation of the differential cross sections (DCS) for elastic scattering of electron by a calcium atom at electron impact energies of 10, 15, 20, and 40 eV. At lower incident energies, 10, 15, and 20 eV the present DCS results are not in good agreement with other theoretical and experimental results. However, at 40 eV the present DCS results are in good agreement with other theoretical and experimental results. Key words: Cross-sections, distortion potential, distorted wave, static potential and spherical harmonics. DOI: 10.7176/APTA/83-09 Publication date: September 29th 202

IoT Enabled Smart Fertilization and Irrigation Aid for Agricultural Purposes

Soil is of great importance to agriculture, especially the moisture and nutrients in the soil are the essential ingredients for growing plants and crops. Therefore, benefits and importance of a soil moisture and nutrient monitoring system in modern agriculture and gardening is undeniable. It can also be an interesting feature of an intelligent home or smart agriculture system using the internet of things (IoT) technology. This paper presents an IoT application in Arduino platform aiming to monitor the change in soil moisture and Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K) (NPK) value for an indoor plant using moisture sensors and optical transducers. Other functionalities and important features of this prototype include online data display infographic as user feedback, level-based nutrient classification for enabling proper type of fertilizer selection, hardware and e-mail notification of moisture and nutrients' easily accessible and user-friendly smartphone app

Tribological and corrosion behaviors of warm- and hot-rolled Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloys in simulated body fluid conditions

Development of submicrocrystalline structure in biomedical alloy such as Ti-13Nb-13Zr (in wt%) through warm-rolling process has been found to enhance mechanical properties compared to conventional thermomechanical processing routes including hot-rolling process. The present study investigated the tribological and corrosion behaviors of warm-rolled (WR) and hot-rolled Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloys which have not been studied to date. Both tribological and corrosion experiments were carried out in simulated body fluid conditions (Hank's solution at 37 degrees C) based on the fact that the investigated alloys would be used in a human body as orthopedic implants. The WR Ti-13Nb-13Zr demonstrated a submicrocrystalline structure that provided a significant enhancement in hardness, strength, and corrosion resistance. Meanwhile, there was no notable difference in wear resistance between the WR and hot-rolled samples despite the different microstructure and hardness. The present study confirmed the enormous potential of WR Ti-13Nb-13Zr with not only great mechanical properties but also high corrosion resistance in the simulated body fluid.111Ysciescopu

Understanding the evolution of catalytically active multi-metal sites in a bifunctional high-entropy alloy electrocatalyst for zinc–air battery application

Zinc–air batteries are known for high theoretical energy density and environmental friendliness. The successful commercial utilization of rechargeable zinc–air batteries is limited by unstable electrochemical interfaces and sluggish kinetics with poor round-trip efficiency. In this study, we report a nanocrystalline high entropy alloy (HEA) comprising Cu–Co–Mn–Ni–Fe (CCMNF) prepared by casting-cum-cryomilling method. This multi-component HEA embodies multiple catalytically active sites with diverse functionalities, thus enhancing the electrochemical redox reactions, e.g., oxygen reduction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The bifunctional electrocatalytic performance of this HEA is comparable to that of standard catalysts, RuO2 and Pt/C, as evidenced by low overpotential requirements towards OER and ORR. The HEA was tested for use in the air electrode catalyst in the zinc–air battery, where it performed stable oxygen electrocatalysis that was durable over 1045 charging–discharging cycles for ∼90 hours of continuous operation. The microstructural analysis of HEA at different time scales (0, 24, 87 h) during the zinc–air battery operation suggested a dynamic participation of multiple metal active sites on the catalyst surface. Detailed studies revealed that despite leaching in harsh alkaline operation conditions, the synergistic electronic interactions between the component metal sites sustained good electrocatalytic performance and promoted oxygen electrocatalysis through the modification of electronic and chemical properties

High-Entropy Alloys as Catalysts for the CO2 and CO Reduction Reactions: Experimental Realization

Conversion of carbon dioxide into selective hydrocarbon using a stable catalyst remains a holy grail in the catalysis community. The high overpotential, stability, and selectivity in the use of a single-metal-based catalyst still remain a challenge. In current work, instead of using pure noble metals (Ag, Au, and Pt) as the catalyst, a nanocrystalline high-entropy alloy (HEA: AuAgPtPdCu) has been used for the conversion of CO2 into gaseous hydrocarbons. Utilizing an approach of multimetallic HEA, a faradic efficiency of about 100% toward gaseous products is obtained at a low applied potential (−0.3 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode). The reason behind the catalytic activity and selectivity of the high-entropy alloy (HEA) toward CO2 electroreduction was established through first-principles-based density functional theory (DFT) by comparing it with the pristine Cu(111) surface. This is attributed to the reversal in adsorption trends for two out of the total eight intermediates—*OCH3 and *O on Cu(111) and HEA surfaces

Immersed boundary-finite element model of fluid-structure interaction in the aortic root

It has long been recognized that aortic root elasticity helps to ensure efficient aortic valve closure, but our understanding of the functional importance of the elasticity and geometry of the aortic root continues to evolve as increasingly detailed in vivo imaging data become available. Herein, we describe fluid-structure interaction models of the aortic root, including the aortic valve leaflets, the sinuses of Valsalva, the aortic annulus, and the sinotubular junction, that employ a version of Peskin's immersed boundary (IB) method with a finite element (FE) description of the structural elasticity. We develop both an idealized model of the root with three-fold symmetry of the aortic sinuses and valve leaflets, and a more realistic model that accounts for the differences in the sizes of the left, right, and noncoronary sinuses and corresponding valve cusps. As in earlier work, we use fiber-based models of the valve leaflets, but this study extends earlier IB models of the aortic root by employing incompressible hyperelastic models of the mechanics of the sinuses and ascending aorta using a constitutive law fit to experimental data from human aortic root tissue. In vivo pressure loading is accounted for by a backwards displacement method that determines the unloaded configurations of the root models. Our models yield realistic cardiac output at physiological pressures, with low transvalvular pressure differences during forward flow, minimal regurgitation during valve closure, and realistic pressure loads when the valve is closed during diastole. Further, results from high-resolution computations demonstrate that IB models of the aortic valve are able to produce essentially grid-converged dynamics at practical grid spacings for the high-Reynolds number flows of the aortic root

Investigation of the ferromagnetic transition in the correlated 4d perovskites SrRu1−x_{1-x}Rhx_xO3_3

The solid-solution SrRu$_{1-x}$Rh$_x$O$_3$ ($0\le x \le1$) is a variable-electron-configuration system forming in the nearly-cubic-perovskite basis, ranging from the ferromagnetic 4$d^4$ to the enhanced paramagnetic 4$d^5$. Polycrystalline single-phase samples were obtained over the whole composition range by a high-pressure-heating technique, followed by measurements of magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat, thermopower, and electrical resistivity. The ferromagnetic order in long range is gradually suppressed by the Rh substitution and vanishes at $x \sim 0.6$. The electronic term of specific-heat shows unusual behavior near the critical Rh concentration; the feature does not match even qualitatively with what was reported for the related perovskites (Sr,Ca)RuO$_3$. Furthermore, another anomaly in the specific heat was observed at $x \sim 0.9$.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR

Baryon asymmetry from leptogenesis with four zero neutrino Yukawa textures

The generation of the right amount of baryon asymmetry $\eta$ of the Universe from supersymmetric leptogenesis is studied within the type-I seesaw framework with three heavy singlet Majorana neutrinos $N_i\,\,(i = 1,2,3)$ and their superpartners. We assume the occurrence of four zeroes in the neutrino Yukawa coupling matrix $Y_\nu$, taken to be $\mu\tau$ symmetric, in the weak basis where $N_i$ (with real masses $M_i>0$) and the charged leptons $l_\alpha\,\, (\alpha = e,\mu,\tau)$ are mass diagonal. The quadrant of the single nontrivial phase, allowed in the corresponding light neutrino mass matrix $m_\nu$, gets fixed and additional constraints ensue from the requirement of matching $\eta$ with its observed value. Special attention is paid to flavor effects in the washout of the lepton asymmetry. We also comment on the role of small departures from high scale $\mu\tau$ symmetry due to RG evolution.Comment: 35 pages, no figure, Published Versio