Optical, microstructural and electrical studies on sol gel derived TiO2 thin films

TiO2 thin films have many interesting optical, physical, electrical and chemical properties that offer many applications in different fields of science and technology. The sol-gel spin coating technique has immense advantageous; such as low cost, usage of very simple equipment and relatively easy process control method. The optical, structural, microstructural and electrical properties have been analyzed through four point probe, XRD, SEM, high resolution electron microscopy, AFM and UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer. This paper is a research article about the sol-gel spin coated TiO2 thin film. The results will focus on the preparation and coating of TiO2 thin films on glass substrate at different annealing temperatures

Review of morphological, optical and structural characteristics of TiO2 thin film prepared by sol gel spin-coating technique

Optical, structural and morphological properties of titanium dioxide (TiO2) deposited by spin coating method have been reviewed in the current work. Sol–gel spin coating is a cost effective and versatile technique due to intellectual properties like simple instruments, easy preparation technique, and less time consuming. In this method, compound in the form of metal oxides is liquefied in a specific liquid in order to bring it back as a solid in a skillful manner. Study of metal oxide thin films have valuable applications in numerous semiconductor devices such as optoelectronics devices and solar energy converters etc. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis has been used for studying TiO2 thin films and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis has been applied for morphological investigation and to prove the nanosized structure. Optical and structural properties have been studied as a function of the annealing temperatures. XRD analysis reveals that the films crystallize in orthorhombic brookite phase. Moreover, UV-visible has been used to investigate the optical properties of material. XRD characterization indicates that crystalline structure of TiO2 thin films improves with increasing annealing temperatures which confirms the anatase form of TiO2 thin film. Optical band gap is significantly dependent on the annealing temperatures. The refractive index may increases with increase of crystallite size. The TiO2 film annealed at 400 °C shows high refractive index 2.52 at a wavelength of 335 nm. Moreover, optical band gapes of thin film vary approximately from 3.3 to 3.46 eV which show strong relation with annealing temperature

Impact of Capital Structure on the Profitability in the Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing Industries of Pakistan

The aim of this paper is to observe the connection between the capital structure and profitability and in fastidious, to measures their significance in manufacturing and non manufacturing industries of Pakistan. The paper adopts a quantitative data of different manufacturing and non manufacturing organizations in Pakistan. The financial statements were analyzed of manufacturing and non manufacturing organizations of Pakistan for the period of 2008-2013. The study reveals that there is a strong negative relationship between the profitability and debt in manufacturing industry and in the Non -manufacturing industry, there is a strong positive relationship between profitability and debt. The population of this study is Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing industry of Pakistan and units of analysis are D.G Cement factory and AGTL from Manufacturing industry and, HBL & Bank Al-Falah from Non-Manufacturing industry. In this paper descriptive statistics were used to interpret the data. It is proved that manufacturing industry has found a strong negative regression between debts and profit and the non- manufacturing has found a strong positive regression between debt and profit. Keywords: Total debt; capital structure; profitability, performance; Return on Equity; Return on investment; Earning Per share and Price to Earnings Ratio, leverage

Green Synthesis of Nickel Oxide Nanoparticles using Populus ciliata Leaves Extract and their Potential Antibacterial Applications

Green synthesis of nanoparticles has received a lot of attention from scientists globally because it is eco-friendly, relatively rapid, and a cost-effective  method. This work presents a method for the green synthesis of nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO-NPs) using leaf extracts of Populus ciliata as a reducing  and stabilising agent. The synthesised NiO-NPs were characterised by ultravioletvisible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder  X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the synthesised NiO-NPs shapes varied, were  highly crystalline, and had a face-centred cubic geometry. The calculated crystallite size of the synthesised nanoparticles was 44 nm. Moreover, the  antibacterial activity of the synthesised NiO-NPs was also conducted against Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis) and Gram-  negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae). Bacillus subtillus showed a maximum inhibition zone of 28.1±1.6 mm, whereas Klebsiella  pneumonia showed a minimum inhibition zone of 9.2±0.5 mm. It was also found that the antibacterial activity increased with an increase in the  concentration of NiO-NPs

Maximum Power Extraction from a Standalone Photo Voltaic System via Neuro-Adaptive Arbitrary Order Sliding Mode Control Strategy with High Gain Differentiation

In this work, a photovoltaic (PV) system integrated with a non-inverting DC-DC buck-boost converter to extract maximum power under varying environmental conditions such as irradiance and temperature is considered. In order to extract maximum power (via maximum power transfer theorem), a robust nonlinear arbitrary order sliding mode-based control is designed for tracking the desired reference, which is generated via feed forward neural networks (FFNN). The proposed control law utilizes some states of the system, which are estimated via the use of a high gain differentiator and a famous flatness property of nonlinear systems. This synthetic control strategy is named neuroadaptive arbitrary order sliding mode control (NAAOSMC). The overall closed-loop stability is discussed in detail and simulations are carried out in Simulink environment of MATLAB to endorse effectiveness of the developed synthetic control strategy. Finally, comparison of the developed controller with the backstepping controller is done, which ensures the performance in terms of maximum power extraction, steady-state error and more robustness against sudden variations in atmospheric conditions

Significance of Targeting RNA Polymerase I in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) is a much-overlooked cancer with a mortality rate that has increased throughout recent years, as stated by the American Cancer Society [1]. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 8,000 adults being diagnosed with IHCC every year, with a five-year survival rate of 9% [2]. Chemotherapy options for the treatment of IHCC include systemic chemotherapy such as gemcitabine, capecitabine, and oxaliplatin. These medications carry a wide array of adverse factors that may warrant discontinuation due to the detriment to the well-being of the patient. Additionally, a broad field of therapy that may also be used, even throughout many other types of cancers, is aimed to arm the immune system, such as targeted therapy as well as immunotherapy. Even with the consideration of these options, we cannot say that our issue has been solved. If the cancer is diagnosed at an early stage and treated adequately, the five-year survival rate is still at 24% [2], which will still result in the mortality of majority of the individuals with IHCC. Therefore, the discovery of new potential molecular targets is required which could be used in rationale designing of the prevention and treatment strategies against advanced IHCC. The ribosome biogenesis process is dysregulated in most cancer cells because of the high demand of protein synthesis. However, the role of ribosome biogenesis components was the least studied in cancer settings. From our extensive research in various systems, we found that POLR1A (RPA194), a catalytic subunit of RNA polymerase I, is significantly overexpressed (

Impact of Ethical Leadership on Organizational Commitment and Organizational Citizenship Behavior with Mediating role of Intrinsic Motivation

Ethical leadership in the field of organizational behavior and management has emerged as a significant area of interest in the recent leadership literature. There are, however, few studies that empirically examine the impact of ethical leadership through mediation processes on organizational engagement and citizenship actions. We have built a conceptual model to check whether ethical leadership effects the Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and commitment of organizational citizenship through the mediation of intrinsic motivation. For data collection, sample size of 340 was determined through item response theory. Data was collected through self-administrated questionnaire from different commercial banks located in geographical premises of Lahore, Pakistan. SPSS and AMOS software were used to carry out the analysis, structural equation modeling technique was applied to test the direct and indirect relationships. The results indicated that ethical leadership has a positive effect on the association of organizational commitment and citizenship behaviour within organizations. In fact, intrinsic motivation mediates between the relationship of ethical leadership and the conduct of organizational citizenship. Nevertheless, results also show that in the banking sector there is no mediating effect of intrinsic motivation between ethical leadership and organizational citizenship behaviour. Limitations have been discussed, as have future guidelines. Keywords: Ethical leadership, Organizational commitment, Organizational citizenship behavior, Intrinsic motivation, Banking sector, Pakistan   JEL Classification: M19 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.984

Effect of Salinity Stress on Physiological Changes in Winter and Spring Wheat

Salinity is a leading threat to crop growth throughout the world. Salt stress induces altered physiological processes and several inhibitory effects on the growth of cereals, including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). In this study, we determined the effects of salinity on five spring and five winter wheat genotypes seedlings. We evaluated the salt stress on root and shoot growth attributes, i.e., root length (RL), shoot length (SL), the relative growth rate of root length (RGR-RL), and shoot length (RGR-SL). The ionic content of the leaves was also measured. Physiological traits were also assessed, including stomatal conductance (gs), chlorophyll content index (CCI), and light-adapted leaf chlorophyll fluorescence, i.e., the quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv′/Fm′) and instantaneous chlorophyll fluorescence (Ft). Physiological and growth performance under salt stress (0, 100, and 200 mol/L) were explored at the seedling stage. The analysis showed that spring wheat accumulated low Na+ and high K+ in leaf blades compared with winter wheat. Among the genotypes, Sakha 8, S-24, W4909, and W4910 performed better and had improved physiological attributes (gs, Fv′/Fm′, and Ft) and seedling growth traits (RL, SL, RGR-SL, and RGR-RL), which were strongly linked with proper Na+ and K+ discrimination in leaves and the CCI in leaves. The identified genotypes could represent valuable resources for genetic improvement programs to provide a greater understanding of plant tolerance to salt stress.Salinity is a leading threat to crop growth throughout the world. Salt stress induces altered physiological processes and several inhibitory effects on the growth of cereals, including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). In this study, we determined the effects of salinity on five spring and five winter wheat genotypes seedlings. We evaluated the salt stress on root and shoot growth attributes, i.e., root length (RL), shoot length (SL), the relative growth rate of root length (RGR-RL), and shoot length (RGR-SL). The ionic content of the leaves was also measured. Physiological traits were also assessed, including stomatal conductance (gs), chlorophyll content index (CCI), and light-adapted leaf chlorophyll fluorescence, i.e., the quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv′ /Fm′ ) and instantaneous chlorophyll fluorescence (Ft). Physiological and growth performance under salt stress (0, 100, and 200 mol/L) were explored at the seedling stage. The analysis showed that spring wheat accumulated low Na+ and high K+ in leaf blades compared with winter wheat. Among the genotypes, Sakha 8, S-24, W4909, and W4910 performed better and had improved physiological attributes (gs, Fv′ /Fm′, and Ft) and seedling growth traits (RL, SL, RGR-SL, and RGR-RL), which were strongly linked with proper Na+ and K+ discrimination in leaves and the CCI in leaves. The identified genotypes could represent valuable resources for genetic improvement programs to provide a greater understanding of plant tolerance to salt stress

Alleviation of drought stress through foliar application of thiamine in two varieties of pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Drought stress poorly impacts many morphological and physio-biochemical processes in plants. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) plants are highly nutritious crops destined for human consumption; however, their productivity is threatened under drought stress. Thiamine (vitamin B1) is well-known essential micronutrient, acting as a cofactor in key metabolic processes. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the protective effect of foliar application of thiamine (0, 250, and 500 ppm) on two varieties of pea plants under drought stress. Here, we conducted the pot experiment at the Government College Women University, Faisalabad, to investigate the physio-biochemical and morphological traits of two pea varieties (sarsabz and metior) grown under drought stress and thiamine treatment. Drought stress was applied to plants after germination period of 1 month. Results showed that root fresh and dry weight, shoot fresh and dry weight, number of pods, leaf area, total soluble sugars, total phenolics, total protein contents, catalase, peroxidase, and mineral ions were reduced against drought stress. However, the application of thiamine (both 250 and 500 ppm) overcome the stress and also enhances these parameters, and significantly increases the antioxidant activities (catalase and peroxidase). Moreover, the performance of sarsabz was better under control and drought stress conditions than metior variety. In conclusion, the exogenous application of thiamine enabled the plants to withstand drought stress conditions by regulating several physiological and biochemical mechanisms. In agriculture, it is a great latent to alleviate the antagonistic impact of drought stress on crops through the foliar application of thiamine