Design and Fabrication of Nanomaterials for Efficient Solar to Chemical Energy Conversion

Solar energy is a large, exploitable, renewable resource where it can supply the earth with enough energy in one hour, equivalent to the mankind’s total energy consumption in a year. Nanomaterials, for semiconductor material, used as a photocatalyst to convert sunlight into chemical fuel (hydrogen) via photoelectrochemical water splitting process, has been considered as the Holy Grail to a carbon free hydrogen economy. Conversion of sunlight into hydrogen is a promising, clean and sustainable way of generating hydrogen. In this research project we have designed, synthesised, characterised and tested new materials for which can generate hydrogen from water using solar energy. Due to the lack of suitable p-type semiconductor materials, this work has focused on synthesising and developing new, stable, visible light active photocathodes for solar hydrogen generation. In pursuit of this stable photocathode, we have synthesised stable visible light active LaFeO₃ which has shown some promise as a future candidate p-type photocathode. This was produced by cheap, novel and scalable spray pyrolysis technique which has resulted in current densities of 0.16 mA cm⁻² at 0.26 V vs RHE and shown stability over 21 hours. Subsequently, this led to hydrogen generation of 0.18 μmol cm⁻². Furthermore, LaFeO₃-Ag and LaFeO₃-Ni were fabricated by spin coating silver and nickel nanoparticles on to the spray pyrolysed LaFeO₃, to enhance photocurrent density for enhance hydrogen generation via solar water splitting. This led to over double the amount of hydrogen being produced. Similarly, TaFeO₄ was fabricated by sol-gel method which yielded 0.091 μmol g⁻¹ of hydrogen. Future work is required on TaFeO₄ to fabricate electrode form of the material so its band structure many be determined. This may be done by microwave assisted annealing.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Ground Water Management in Alluvial Areas

Alluvial formations are important sources of abundant and dependable ground water supplies. Because of large saturated thickness and high well yields, these formations have been extensively exploited for large-scale supplies of water for industrial, irrigation and urban use. Intensive use of ground water from these formations has led to several problems. Such is the case in Punjab also. Despite the fact that Punjab occupies only 1.57% geographical area of India, it contributes more than 50 % grain in the central grain pool. More than 83% of land in Punjab is under agriculture as compared to 40.38% of national average. The cropping pattern of wheat and paddy rotation has led to manifold increase in irrigation water demand. Injudicious surface water irrigation policies, indiscriminate / excessive ground water pumpage due to free electricity coupled with irrational irrigation and agricultural practices have led to situation wherein fresh ground water resources of the state have depleted at an alarming rate in most parts of the state. On the other hand, the south-western parts of Punjab are facing severe water logging problems. Thus the state has to have a twin pronged strategy to manage its ground water resources – 1) to arrest the declining trend of ground water and 2) to combat water logging. Punjab is occupied by Quaternary alluvial deposits of Indus river basin. In major part of the state, ground water levels are in the range of 10 to 20 meters. However around major cities like Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar and Sangrur, water levels are 20 to 40 meters deep. The long-term water level fluctuation data indicates that water levels in major parts of the state have declined drastically. As per the ground water assessment carried out, net dynamic ground water resources of Punjab State are 21.443 MCM (Million Cubic meters), whereas net draft is 31.162 MCM, leading to ground water deficit of 9.719 MCM. The stage of ground water development for the State as a whole is 145% and the State falls under “over- exploited†Category. Apart from several water management strategies, like better irrigation and on-farm management practices, change in cropping pattern, banning early plantation of paddy etc., the main emphasis in this paper has been laid on the utilization of non-committed surplus monsoon rainfall runoff. As per the Master Plan for artificial recharge to ground water prepared for Punjab state, about 1200 MCM of water is available from surplus monsoon runoff. By adopting rain water harvesting and artificial recharge to ground water by utilizing this water, the negative impact on the ground water regime can be checked, to quite an extent. Central Ground Water Board has taken up several pilot demonstrative artificial recharge projects in Punjab that can be replicated in other parts of the state too. Some of these projects have also been discussed in this paper

Implications of mobile application in m-learning: Challenges & Opportunity

Mobiles applications aggressively becoming a part of our daily life since its capability  in portable computing it spread in everyone’s hand , trend is not only limited to basic functions like call, chat or text but also in for various mercantile services as m-Commerce. Mobile banking, shopping, and social networking are examples of few.Education Industry has been observing fastest growth by digitizing its various academic function through enterprise ICT applications like Educational ERPs. Many other extension like virtual class room, video conferencing, m-learning adding more value to teaching-learning process.There is need to study the challenges & opportunity of this current trends of portable application with respect to e-learning as well as its significance on stakeholders like student, faculty in teaching learning process.Descriptive research methodology is considered for proposed study, random sampling technique will be imposed for choosing the right sample, and data interpretation will be carried out using statistical tool like SPSS, to derive at conclusion & findings

A STUDY OF THE FACTORS WHICH AFFECTS THE CONSUMER ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR IN KOLHAPUR CITY

Ecommerce is a growing phenomenon in worldwide. It has number of applications and there are different models of ecommerce like B2B, B2C, and C2C etc. Online shopping is a part of ecommerce. Current survey shows that there is a large amount of growth in online shopping. Online shopping is global phenomenon rather than a local. While consumer goes for online shopping it is affected by number of factors. These factors are classified as internal factors and external factors. For the current research study researcher has undertaken personal characteristics as internal factor and external environment, website quality, product quality and logistics services quality as the external factors.Â

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE NORMALIZED CRAR CHANGES FOR PSU AND PRIVATE BANKS IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

One of the most important ratios denoting the capital sufficiency of a bank to absorb unexpected losses arising out of risks undertaken in the course of business is the CRAR (Capital to Risks Assets Ratio). There is certainly an interplay of the CRAR with the Capital infused into a bank and the NPAs (Non-Performing Assets) of a bank. Further, nationalized banks and private banks differ in the management of risks/assets and the availability and infusion of capital. The general perception of the private banks being better at all these aspects (CRAR, NPA and Capital) is much supported by the analysis performed in this paper. However, the 95% confidence interval for the CRAR change over a period of 5 years from 2008-09 to 2012-13 denotes that the changes in CRAR are not significantly different for the nationalized and private banks. This paper uses data published by RBI and computes normalized deltas (rCRAR), (rNPA) and (rCapital) for the two categories of PSU and private banks, and performs visual and statistical analysis to put forward the earlier mentioned proposition

Improving Customer Relationship Management Using Data Mining Technique in Direct To Home (DTH) Television Sector

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) refers to the tools that help organization to maintain customer relationships in a structured way. Data Mining is the process that uses a variety of data analysis techniques to generate new rules & patterns and describe the relationships in data that may be used to make accurate forecast for future. It can help to select the right persons on who to be focus .Customer satisfaction plays an important role in any organization to improve the CRM. The purpose of this paper is to maintain personal and profitable relationship between DTH (Direct To Home) television providers and customers forever by using segmentation, classification and clustering technique of data mining .This study is going to find out valued DTH customers and offering them some extra packages as well as It focuses on some value added services, like to develop pack on hourly basis, to avoid unnecessary channels cost, to improve customer service and satisfaction, and to offer channels according to customer requirements in affordable price

A study of different scenarios of fetal middle cerebral artery peak systolic velocity in an Indian population

Fetal Middle Cerebral Artery Peak Systolic Velocity (MCA-PSV) is being increasingly used for non-invasively diagnosing fetal anemias irrespective of their cause. A study was therefore undertaken to find out what different scenarios can be encountered in the local obstetric population. Doppler ultrasound measurements of fetal MCA-PSV were done in 1200 pregnant women who were referred for antenatal ultrasound between 12 - 40 weeks of gestation. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS software version 12. The different scenarios encountered in this study were then compiled and are presented here. With increasing gestational age, the value of MCA-PSV was seen to increase correspondingly in all normal fetuses. This correlation between the two was thus positive and was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). Abnormally raised values of MCA-PSV were seen in fetuses with severe anemia due to ABO-Rh Isoimmunization which left untreated, ultimately resulted in fetal hydrops. Almost similar and normal values were seen in separate as well as conjoint healthy twins. Abnormally elevated values were seen in twins with discordant growths. Fetal MCA-PSV is very useful to confirm the presence or absence of fetal anemia irrespective of underlying cause in singleton as well as twin pregnancies. For complete assessment, it is essential that the specialist is thoroughly aware of the different scenarios that can be encountered while using this non-invasive method.Keywords: Fetal Anemia; Middle cerebral artery; Non-invasive DopplerInternet Journal of Medical Update 2012 July;7(2):14-1

Dielectric study of Syzygium cumini Lin. at 9.85 GHz frequency.

The values of dielectric constant ( ), dielectric loss (), relaxation time (ï´p), conductivity (ï³p) and moisture content of pulverized Syzygium cumini Lin. were measured for different packing densities at 9.85 GHz  microwave frequency and different temperature  (20ï‚°c, 35ï‚°c and 50ï‚°c).  Experimental results on powders of different packing fractions (ï¤r) were used to obtain transformation to 100% solid bulk using correlation formulae of Landau- Lifshitz-Looyenga and Bottcher.  There is fair agreement between the calculated values of dielectric parameters and the values obtained experimentally for solid bulk.  This shows cohesion in the particles of spicy products under investigation

Extraction, Characterization, and Molecular Weight Determination of Senna tora

The objective of the present work was extraction of polysaccharide from Senna tora L. seed and its characterization as a pharmaceutical excipient. Polysaccharide extraction was based on mechanical separation of the endosperm of seeds of Senna tora, water dissolution, centrifugation, and precipitation with acetone. Standard procedures were used to study the viscosity, micromeritic properties, and microbial bioburden. Accelerated stability study was carried out on isolated polysaccharide for six months at 40°C/75 RH as per ICH guidelines. The gum obtained from S. tora seeds was an amorphous free flowing odourless powder with dull brown colour (yield = 35% w/w). The bulk density, tapped density, and angle of repose data reveal that S. tora gum possesses good flow property. The intrinsic viscosity obtained was 1.568 dL/g. The average molecular weight of purified S. tora gum was found to be 198 kDa by intrinsic viscosity method. The results indicated that viscosity of gum solution increases with increase in temperature. FTIR study revealed the absence of degradation or decomposition of polysaccharide at accelerated stability conditions for six months. It has been concluded that extracted polysaccharide can be used as pharmaceutical excipient in terms of flow behavior, microbial properties, and stability