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Increased global consumption of water, wastewater discharges and municipal solid waste creation have had negative environmental consequences. Sustainable strategies for wastewater treatment including bioremediation approaches are investigated for the treatment of wastewater. The advantages of using microalgae for this purpose are twofold: one, they significantly remove/recycle the nutrients and secondly, generate useful biomass which can subsequently be used for biofuel production. Increased global warming, depletion of fossil fuels resources has highlighted the importance of microalgae as potential sources for biomass generation. The current study investigates the use of immobilised microalgae (Desmodesmus subspicatus) as an alternative approach for wastewater treatment and to avoid the loss of biomass. This study explains the efficiency of an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) tank, wetland tank, and immobilised algal cells in nutrient uptake, carbon compounds utilisation, metals, and biological organisms' removal from sewage wastewater. The study also focuses on the use of algal biomass for lipid production. Results showed that maximum significant nitrogen and phosphorus uptake was observed after immobilised cells treatment (84% and 86% respectively). Maximum carbon compounds utilisation in the form of alkalinity, carbonates, bicarbonates, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) was calculated at day 12 (58%, 59%, 62%, 87% and 52% respectively). Results showed that maximum reduction in metal ions and biological organism of sewage wastewater were attained after treating with immobilised cells. At effluent of sewage water, algal cell production was 13.57 × 106 cells/ml using sewage water as media, and lipid content was 20.31%. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic analysis of lipid revealed that they had compounds that play important role in biofuel production. Immobilised D. subspicatus can be efficiently utilised to simultaneously treat sewage wastewater as well as in the production of biofuel by using algal biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using the aqueous extract of root of Angilica glauca Edgew. UV-vis and FT-IR spectroscopies, X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy technique were employed to structurally and morphologically characterize the green synthesized silver nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were found to be spherical in shape with an average size of ∼21 nm. The extract was found to be rich in phenolic and flavonoid contents. Both the extract and the extract-loaded silver nanoparticles inhibited the growth of both Pseudomonas aeruginosa (inhibition zone 13.0 ± 1.6 and 4.0 ± 0.9 mm, respectively) and Escherichia coli (inhibition zone 12.0 ± 1.1 and 3.0 ± 0.6 mm, respectively) at 9.0 µg/mL. The antioxidant potential of the extract (IC50 = 30.79 ± 3.2 µg/mL) was determined via DPPH radical scavenging assay. These nanoparticles are concluded to possess antibacterial potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flower like zinc oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized and the effects of their aqueous suspensions at 200–1000 mg/L on seed germination and seedlings of Triticum aestivum have been investigated. When treated with suspensions of zinc oxide nanoparticles at concentrations of 200–1000 mg/L, germination was reduced to 45% and photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids) were also depressed. Enzymatic and non-enzymatic plant defense mechanisms were adversely affected at the maximum concentration. Abnormalities in the concentrations of proline, malondialdehyde, phenols and flavonoids were observed in the roots and shoots of plant due to the zinc oxide nanoparticles at different concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History tells us much about how a war was fought and won. However, it does not offer us the complete picture inasmuch as it is largely silent about the loser in a conflict and those sympathetic to the cause. This phenomenon in historiography can be noticed in the events of 1857 in the history of India. It was a war of independence but it was seen by most historians merely as a “Sepoy mutiny”. It was a war fought by the common people, men and women, soldiers and chieftains alike under the banner of the last Mughal Emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar (reigned 1837–1857). The British branded this widespread uprising as a rebellion against the legal authority and set in motion a reign of terror after they regained power. Women of the Mughal royal family were particularly targeted by the British soldiers and they experienced untold humiliation. Nevertheless, most account of this struggle for freedom have failed to stress or even record the sufferings of the womenfolk including those of the royal family. Similarly, British historians of the events have been reluctant to take note of eyewitness accounts of the harshness of the returning troops. The present study is an attempt to fill this gap in scholarship about an important revolution. Based on contemporary Urdu, Persian, and English sources (noteworthy publications, personal letters, eyewitness accounts, newspaper reports, and biographical references), the study focuses on the sufferings of the women, which were the worst part of this human tragedy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]