Dielectric relaxation in pure and irradiated TGSP crystals

Low frequency dielectric measurements in triglycine sulpho-phosphate (TGSP) and gamma-irradiated TGSP crystals were carried out around the ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition. The dispersion found in the ferroelectric phase cannot be explained only by a Debye equation with a single relaxation time. The ratio of the Curie constants in the para- and ferroelectric phase (C-p/C-f) for the irradiated TGSP samples show that the crystal is partially clamped. The deviations from the typical single relaxation behaviour are more pronounced in irradiated samples clearly indicating the contribution of defects in addition to the impurities to the dynamics of the syste

Antiferroelectric ADP doping in ferroelectric TGS crystals

Crystal growth, morphology, hysteresis and dielectric measurements on 20 mol% ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP)doped triglycine sulphate (TGS) crystals are reported. Crystals grew with morphology similar to phosphoric acid-doped TGS (TGSP). Inhomogeneous incorporation of dopants gives rise to a distribution in coercive fields in the different growth sectors. The incorporated dopant hinders polarization switching, which results in the increase in coercive field. No internal bias field is created by the dopant and the phase transition observed is similar to pure TGSP. The Curie point shifts to a lower temperature with increasing dopant concentration in the growth sectors. Significant changes in the activation energies of annealed specimen were identified.Universidade do Minho. Instituto de Materiais(IMAT)

Application of blockchain and smart contracts in autonomous vehicle supply chains:An experimental design

With the rise of digital sustainable business models in the Autonomous Vehicles (AV) industry, the traditional automakers are undergoing a major restructuring in their key performance areas and associated supply chains processes. Focusing on an innovative AV design (AD) concept, this paper investigates how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain-based Smart Contracts can enhance sustainable supply chain operations. A novel design element, Margin Indicator (MI), is developed to obtain reliable predictive analytics results from the mainstream machine learning algorithms. The proposed approach supports a robust control of costs and energy, while maintaining a high level of transparency in managing decentralized AV supply chain processes, monetary impacts, and environmental sustainability. Testing the developed concept through a preliminary case study, we observed a reduction in energy wastage and hidden financial transactions by 12.48% and 11.58%, respectively. Supported by the rapid advancement in the blockchain and AI technologies, the developed framework is expected to improve product traceability, transaction transparency, and sustainable economic growth for the AV supply chains

Socio-economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dairy farm households in West Bengal state

India is one of the leading economies that have been stuck hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the stringent measures were put in place to combat it. Among several sectors, dairy sector is the most affected as dairy products are highly perishable and rely on time-sensitive supply chains. Though studies are available on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dairy sector, there are no studies on COVID-infected dairy farm households. The present study was an attempt to assess the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on infected and uninfected dairy farm households in West Bengal. The study covered pre-lockdown, lockdown (both 1st and 2nd wave) and post-lockdown phases of COVID-19 pandemic. The primary data was collected from 150 dairy farm households (COVID-19 infected-75 and uninfected-75) in Murshidabad and Nadia districts of West Bengal. Dairy Economic Performance Index consisting of number of milch animals, milk yield, marketed milk, milk procurement price, concentrate price and veterinary cost was developed using principal component analysis. In order to make infected and uninfected groups statistically comparable, propensity score matching technique was employed. The index values were compared between matched infected and uninfected groups over different phases of COVID-19 pandemic. Dairy households incurred significant economic losses during the lockdown and post-lockdown periods due to increase in cost of concentrates, decline in the number of milch animals and drop in milk procurement prices. Dairy households faced constraints in procuring dry fodder, concentrate feed and in accessing veterinary care. COVID-19 infected dairy farm households had a greater socio-economic hurdle than that of uninfected households

Modification of the dielectric properties of TGS crystal grown under the influence of DC electric field with different strengths

TGS crystals grown under two different dc electric field strengths exhibit modified ferroelectric properties. The modifications show a dependence on the field strength applied during crystal growth. Prominent modifications were observed on crystals grown at high fields (80 kV/cm) than in crystals grown under lower dc electric fields (10 kV/cm). The modified ferroelectric properties stem from the domain structures influenced by the applied field. The domains on the low field grown crystals are more elongated and appear as thin strips. In the case of high dc field grown crystals, some of the domains are tilted under the influence of the field, resulting in the misalignment of the major axis of the domains with respect to the c-axis. The domain structure modifications under the influence of fields lead to an increase in the relaxation times. Reduced dielectric permittivity and spontaneous polarization also illustrate the effect created by the field.FCT -Fuel Cell Technologies Program(POCTI/33657/FIS/2000)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Atomic force microscope studies on domain dynamics in phosphate substituted triglycine sulfate single crystals: Evidence for the domain boundary motion towards negative region and holes formation at the domain boundary

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1: Regular Papers and Short Notes and Review Papers37116177-6182JAPN

Nonsporulating Clinical Isolate Identified as Petromyces alliaceus (Anamorph Aspergillus alliaceus) by Morphological and Sequence-Based Methods▿

Concerted morphological and sequencing-based strategies revealed the identity of a nonsporulating clinical isolate as Petromyces alliaceus (anamorph Aspergillus alliaceus). This rare Aspergillus sp. was recovered as the etiological agent of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and had reduced in vitro susceptibilities to amphotericin B and caspofungin, which correlated with clinical failure of therapy

Sustainable Model for Public Health Emergency Operations Centers for Global Settings

Capacity to receive, verify, analyze, assess, and investigate public health events is essential for epidemic intelligence. Public health Emergency Operations Centers (PHEOCs) can be epidemic intelligence hubs by 1) having the capacity to receive, analyze, and visualize multiple data streams, including surveillance and 2) maintaining a trained workforce that can analyze and interpret data from real-time emerging events. Such PHEOCs could be physically located within a ministry of health epidemiology, surveillance, or equivalent department rather than exist as a stand-alone space and serve as operational hubs during nonoutbreak times but in emergencies can scale up according to the traditional Incident Command System structure

Patterns of Susceptibility of Aspergillus Isolates Recovered from Patients Enrolled in the Transplant-Associated Infection Surveillance Network▿

We analyzed antifungal susceptibilities of 274 clinical Aspergillus isolates from transplant recipients with proven or probable invasive aspergillosis collected as part of the Transplant-Associated Infection Surveillance Network (TRANSNET) and examined the relationship between MIC and mortality at 6 or 12 weeks. Antifungal susceptibility testing was performed by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M38-A2 broth dilution method for amphotericin B (AMB), itraconazole (ITR), voriconazole (VOR), posaconazole (POS), and ravuconazole (RAV). The isolate collection included 181 Aspergillus fumigatus, 28 Aspergillus niger, 27 Aspergillus flavus, 22 Aspergillus terreus, seven Aspergillus versicolor, five Aspergillus calidoustus, and two Aspergillus nidulans isolates and two isolates identified as Aspergillus spp. Triazole susceptibilities were ≤4 μg/ml for most isolates (POS, 97.6%; ITR, 96.3%; VOR, 95.9%; RAV, 93.5%). The triazoles were not active against the five A. calidoustus isolates, for which MICs were ≥4 μg/ml. AMB inhibited 93.3% of isolates at an MIC of ≤1 μg/ml. The exception was A. terreus, for which 15 (68%) of 22 isolates had MICs of >1 μg/ml. One of 181 isolates of A. fumigatus showed resistance (MIC ≥ 4 μg/ml) to two of three azoles tested. Although there appeared to be a correlation of higher VOR MICs with increased mortality at 6 weeks, the relationship was not statistically significant (R2 = 0.61; P = 0.065). Significant relationships of in vitro MIC to all-cause mortality at 6 and 12 weeks for VOR or AMB were not found