Salt-assisted vapor-liquid-solid growth of one-dimensional van der Waals materials

We have combined the benefits of two catalytic growth phenomena to form nanostructures of transition metal trichalcogenides (TMTs), materials that are challenging to grow in a nanostructured form by conventional techniques, as required to exploit their exotic physics. Our growth strategy combines the benefits of vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth in controlling dimension and growth location, and salt-assisted growth for fast growth at moderate temperatures. This salt-assisted VLS growth is enabled through use of a catalyst that includes Au and an alkali metal halide. We demonstrate high yields of NbS3 1D nanostructures with sub-ten nanometer diameter, tens of micrometers length, and distinct 1D morphologies consisting of nanowires and nanoribbons with [010] and [100] growth orientations, respectively. We present strategies to control the growth location, size, and morphology. We extend the growth method to synthesize other TMTs, NbSe3 and TiS3, as nanowires. Finally, we discuss the growth mechanism based on the relationships we measure between the materials characteristics (growth orientation, morphology and dimensions) and the growth conditions (catalyst volume and growth time). Our study introduces opportunities to expand the library of emerging 1D vdW materials and their heterostructures with controllable nanoscale dimensions.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Modification of Physicochemical Properties of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient by Pharmaceutical Co-Crystals

The oral drug delivery is widely used and accepted routes of administration, but it fails to provide the therapeutic effectiveness of drugs due to low solubility, poor compression and oral bioavailability. Crystal engineering is the branch where the modification of API is of great importance. Co-crystallization of API using a co-former is a hopeful and emerging approach to improve the performance of pharmaceuticals, such as micromeritic properties, solubility, dissolution profile, pharmacokinetics and stability. Pharmaceutical co-crystals are multicomponent systems in which one component is an active pharmaceutical ingredient and the others are pharmaceutically acceptable ingredients that are of GRAS category. In multidrug co-crystals one drug acts as API and other drug acts as coformer. This chapter illustrates the guidance for more efficient design and manufacture of pharmaceutical co-crystals with the desired physicochemical properties and applications

Year-round growth potential and moisture stress tolerance of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum L.) under fragile hill ecosystems of the Eastern Himalayas (India)

IntroductionUnder a changing climate, the fragile ecosystems of the Eastern Himalayas (EH) are persistently challenged by prolonged dry spells and erratic rainfall. Identification of suitable high-yielding crops with higher moisture stress tolerance and adaptability is paramount for the region. Although the region received a good amount of rainfall in the rainy season, the winter months, viz., November to March, rarely received any rain. Even within the rainy season, there are several intermittent drought spells that hinder crop productivity.MethodsThe present study has used field and microcosm experiments to assess the year-round cultivation potential and extent of moisture stress tolerance in the lesser-known buckwheat crop of the region.Results and discussionSowing of buckwheat from mid-September to mid-December produced better grain yield, the highest being when sowing in October (9.83 q ha−1) and the crop was found suitable to grow all through the year for higher green biomass (12.6–38.4 q ha−1). The moisture stress tolerance of buckwheat was significantly enhanced by increased total root length and root surface area by 12.4 and 34.7%, respectively. Increased photo-protective carotenoids, chlorophyll b, and favorable stomatal attributes with substantial epicuticular wax have significantly improved the moisture stress tolerance of Buckwheat. In addition, leaf proline was found 25.4% higher and total soluble protein, reducing sugar, and cell membrane stability were found 29.2, 38.1, and 36.5% lower compared to the control, respectively. A significantly lower rate of water loss (25.6%) with its stomatal and non-stomatal adaptations and versatile pollen structural traits under moisture stress over control, make the buckwheat crop potentially more stress tolerant and economical crop for EH of India

BLOOM: A 176B-Parameter Open-Access Multilingual Language Model

Large language models (LLMs) have been shown to be able to perform new tasks based on a few demonstrations or natural language instructions. While these capabilities have led to widespread adoption, most LLMs are developed by resource-rich organizations and are frequently kept from the public. As a step towards democratizing this powerful technology, we present BLOOM, a 176B-parameter open-access language model designed and built thanks to a collaboration of hundreds of researchers. BLOOM is a decoder-only Transformer language model that was trained on the ROOTS corpus, a dataset comprising hundreds of sources in 46 natural and 13 programming languages (59 in total). We find that BLOOM achieves competitive performance on a wide variety of benchmarks, with stronger results after undergoing multitask prompted finetuning. To facilitate future research and applications using LLMs, we publicly release our models and code under the Responsible AI License

Modified technique in Freyer's prostatectomy to achieve hemostasis

This study is an attempt to develop a technique by which complete hemostasis can be achieved on table by giving traction to the Foley's catheter thereby compressing the venous plexus and the avulsed prostatic arteries at the bladder neck by the inflated balloon. A total of 170 cases of BPH were operated by Freyer's Suprapubic Trans-vesicle prostatectomy. In the technique, bladder mucosa is reposited below the balloon and the balloon is inflated to 60 ml of normal saline. The balloon is kept at the bladder neck and traction is applied to the catheter. Traction is maintained by strapping the catheter to the thigh of the patient with sticking plaster for 24–48 h. The average blood loss was 18.9 ml which proves that the Foley's balloon pressure traction method at the bladder neck is effective in achieving hemostasis in patients undergoing open prostatectomy

Data_Sheet_1_Year-round growth potential and moisture stress tolerance of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum L.) under fragile hill ecosystems of the Eastern Himalayas (India).docx

IntroductionUnder a changing climate, the fragile ecosystems of the Eastern Himalayas (EH) are persistently challenged by prolonged dry spells and erratic rainfall. Identification of suitable high-yielding crops with higher moisture stress tolerance and adaptability is paramount for the region. Although the region received a good amount of rainfall in the rainy season, the winter months, viz., November to March, rarely received any rain. Even within the rainy season, there are several intermittent drought spells that hinder crop productivity.MethodsThe present study has used field and microcosm experiments to assess the year-round cultivation potential and extent of moisture stress tolerance in the lesser-known buckwheat crop of the region.Results and discussionSowing of buckwheat from mid-September to mid-December produced better grain yield, the highest being when sowing in October (9.83 q ha−1) and the crop was found suitable to grow all through the year for higher green biomass (12.6–38.4 q ha−1). The moisture stress tolerance of buckwheat was significantly enhanced by increased total root length and root surface area by 12.4 and 34.7%, respectively. Increased photo-protective carotenoids, chlorophyll b, and favorable stomatal attributes with substantial epicuticular wax have significantly improved the moisture stress tolerance of Buckwheat. In addition, leaf proline was found 25.4% higher and total soluble protein, reducing sugar, and cell membrane stability were found 29.2, 38.1, and 36.5% lower compared to the control, respectively. A significantly lower rate of water loss (25.6%) with its stomatal and non-stomatal adaptations and versatile pollen structural traits under moisture stress over control, make the buckwheat crop potentially more stress tolerant and economical crop for EH of India.</p

BLOOM: A 176B-Parameter Open-Access Multilingual Language Model

Large language models (LLMs) have been shown to be able to perform new tasks based on a few demonstrations or natural language instructions. While these capabilities have led to widespread adoption, most LLMs are developed by resource-rich organizations and are frequently kept from the public. As a step towards democratizing this powerful technology, we present BLOOM, a 176B-parameter open-access language model designed and built thanks to a collaboration of hundreds of researchers. BLOOM is a decoder-only Transformer language model that was trained on the ROOTS corpus, a dataset comprising hundreds of sources in 46 natural and 13 programming languages (59 in total). We find that BLOOM achieves competitive performance on a wide variety of benchmarks, with stronger results after undergoing multitask prompted finetuning. To facilitate future research and applications using LLMs, we publicly release our models and code under the Responsible AI License