Diversity indices of selected macrobenthos in Karanja Creek (District-Raigad), Maharashtra, west coast of India

The diversity indices can be used as a good measure for studying the effect of industrial pollution because industrial wastes and sewage almost always reduce the diversity of natural systems into which they are discharged. A measurement of diversity often provides a better index of pollution than a direct measurement of pollutants. The assessment of macrobenthos diversity with respect to diversity indices reflects the marine population and habitat disturbance, and also serves as an important indicator of environmental conditions. The present study was designed to investigate the diversity indices of selected macrobenthos at two ecologically distinct locations on the Karanja creek (District - Raigad), Maharashtra, west coast of India. Results on various diversity indices like Index of Frequency (F) or Importance Probability (Pi), Index of Dominance (c), Rarity Index (R), Shannon's Index of General Diversity (H¹) Margaf’s Richness Index (R sub(1)) and Evenness Index (e) did not vary significantly. This demonstrates that at present, Karanja creek harbours varied forms of macrobenthic community showing no effect of human disturbance, but in future, measures must be taken for the protection and conservation of macrobenthic community of the creek

Effect Of Annealing On Structure, Morphology, Electrical And Optical Properties Of Nanocrystalline TiO2 Thin Films

Semi-transparent and highly conducting nanostructured titanium oxide thin films have been prepared by sol-gel method. Thin films of TiO2 deposited on glass substrates using spin coating technique and the effect of annealing temperature (400 - 700 °C) on structural, microstructural, electrical and optical properties were studied. The X-ray diffraction and Atomic force microscopy measurements confirmed that the films grown by this technique have good crystalline tetragonal mixed anatase and rutile phase structure and homogeneous surface. The study also reveals that the rms value of thin film roughness increases from 7 to 19 nm. HRTEM image of TiO2 thin film (annealed at 700 °C) shows that a grain of about 50 - 60 nm in size is really aggregate of many small crystallites of around 10 - 15 nm. Electron diffraction pattern shows that the TiO2 films exhibited tetragonal structure. The surface morphology (SEM) of the TiO2 film showed that the nanoparticles are fine with an average grain size of about 50 - 60 nm. The optical band gap slightly decreases from 3.26 - 3.24 eV and the dc electrical conductivity was found in the range of 10-6 to 10-5(Ω·cm)-1 when the annealing temperature is changed from 400 to 700 °C. It is observed that TiO2 thin film annealed at 700 °C after deposition provide a smooth and flat texture suited for optoelectronic applications. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/967

Fabrication of polyaniline/TiO2 nanocomposite ammonia vapor sensor

Polyaniline/Titanium dioxide (PANi/TiO2) nanocomposite was fabricated from PANi, prepared by oxidative chemical polymerization and TiO2, synthesized by sol gel method. The PANi/TiO2 thin film sensors were prepared by spin coating technique. PANi/TiO2 nanocomposites were characterized by XRD and SEM. The cross sensitivity of thin film sensor indicate that the sensor exhibit selectivity to ammonia (NH3). The gas sensing measurements were carried out for different concentrations of NH3. The gas sensing study revealed that the response value increases with increasing concentration of NH3. Moreover, as concentration of NH3 increases, the response time decreases while recovery time increases, which can be attributed to the varying adsorption and desorption rates of an ambient gas with increasing concentration. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/2791

Fabrication of polyaniline/TiO2 nanocomposite ammonia vapor sensor

Polyaniline/Titanium dioxide (PANi/TiO2) nanocomposite was fabricated from PANi, prepared by oxidative chemical polymerization and TiO2, synthesized by sol gel method. The PANi/TiO2 thin film sensors were prepared by spin coating technique. PANi/TiO2 nanocomposites were characterized by XRD and SEM. The cross sensitivity of thin film sensor indicate that the sensor exhibit selectivity to ammonia (NH3). The gas sensing measurements were carried out for different concentrations of NH3. The gas sensing study revealed that the response value increases with increasing concentration of NH3. Moreover, as concentration of NH3 increases, the response time decreases while recovery time increases, which can be attributed to the varying adsorption and desorption rates of an ambient gas with increasing concentration. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/2791

The geopolitical economy of Thailand’s marine plasticpollution crisis

Currently approximately 9 million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans annually. This is a majortransboundary problem on a global scale that threatens marine wildlife, coastal ecologies, human health andlivelihoods. Our concern in this paper is with the environmental governance of marine plastic pollution thatemanates from Thailand, the sixth biggest contributor globally. By zooming in on land-based polluters inThailand, we highlight both the systemic nature of the marine plastic problem and the relative impunity withwhich drivers of transboundary environmental harm function at all levels of governance. Drawing from 19 inter-views conducted with actors from the public, private and non-profit sectors, we examine three stages of theproblem: production, consumption and waste management. We found that three major barriers preventThailand’s government, private sector and citizens from engaging in the sort collective action needed to reducemarine plastic pollution. They are: (i) insufficient incentives to enact political change; (ii) scalar disconnects inwaste management; and (iii) inadequate public and private sector ownership over plastic waste reduction. Asthe state alone cannot change corporate and consumer behaviour, we argue that multi-stakeholder efforts acrossorganisational scales of governance and administrative boundaries are needed to address the barrier

Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050

Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US$, 2020 US$ per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted US$per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached$8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or $1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total,$40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that $54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this,$13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. $12.3 billion was newly committed and$1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. $3.1 billion (22.4$2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only $714.4 million (7.7$1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Modeling and Optimization of CMOS Compatible Various ZnO/SiO2/Si Multilayer Structure for SAW Devices Using FEM

This article presents a design, modeling and optimization of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) resonator with CMOS compatible piezoelectric crystal material and characterized for wireless 915 MHz ISM frequency band. Simulation study for the realization of SAW resonator based on CMOS compatible piezoelectric thin film of Zinc oxide (ZnO) on passivated silicon (SiO2/Si) substrate is performed. The SAW properties of ZnO film on SiO2/Si were analyzed with three composite structures as (IDT)/ZnO/SiO2/Si, ZnO/(IDT)/ZnO/SiO2/Si, and ZnO/(IDT)/SiO2/Si using COMSOL Multiphysics Software. The properties of ZnO/(IDT)/SiO2/Si structure revealed good SAW properties such as maximum coupling coefficient and acoustic velocity compared to other structures. The effects of piezoelectric Zinc oxide (ZnO) layer, interdigital transducer (IDT) materials, and SiO2 thin film thickness on the evolution of the phase velocity and electromechanical coupling coefficient (K2) were studied by employing a finite element method. The design and simulations of multilayered SAW structure carried out for 915 MHz and ZnO/(IDT)/SiO2/Si structure provide excellent overall performance

ECO-BRICK TECHNOLOGY

 In building construction brick is one of the major ingredients in the material used for construction. In the process of brick making, it has to be burn in kiln which introduced to evolve the CO2 gas in major quantity. This CO2 gas pollutes the environment. So the solution on this disadvantage of the burnt clay bricks is replacing the bricks with another material i.e. bricks made from waste plastic bottles. Today we need cost effective and environment friendly material which not pollute the environment. Therefore We can use the waste plastic bottles for making an affordable house. This project report consist of use of plastic waste bottle in construction as a brick which the bottles are filled with mixture of sand and soil with proportion of 40%-60% in three layers and tamp each layer with tamping rod by 25 blows and use as a brick in construction. Therefore, there were two types of experiments were used to evaluate the properties plastic bottle filled with sand and soil which are Compression test, temperature test in indoor and outdoor and humidity. The compression test conducts on 1000 ml, 600ml and 300 ml bottle. As a result all the bottles are achieving the strength over the permissible limit required for burn clay brick. The comparison of indoor and outdoor wall temperature, air Humidity between the plastic bottle green house and normal brick house has indicate that plastic bottle has recorded highest reading for outdoor wall temperature with 36°C and indoor temperature is 27°C . From these result it can be concluded that plastic bottle house have a potential to us this material in construction