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The sustainability challenges posed by conventional cotton production have led to the introduction of “better cotton”, which is an eco-innovation that encompasses production practices aimed at ensuring sustainability of environment and farming communities. However, the adoption of this eco-innovative sustainable alternative has been stagnant. Therefore, this research investigated the factors influencing the adoption of this eco-innovation based on a primary survey with 302 farmers in the major cotton belt of Pakistan. To ensure disaggregated analyses, these sustainable practices were divided into three stages: land preparation and sowing, production, and picking and post-harvest. The multivariate probit analysis was used to assess the determinants of the adoption of the set of practices, accounting for the concurrent adoption. The findings revealed that farmers’ participation in training programs on better cotton was a common factor for higher adoption of sustainable practices across all production stages, highlighting the need for training of non-adopters to improve this eco-innovation adoption. Information access and risk perception had positive effect while credit access had a negative effect on the adoption of sustainable practices. In conclusion, wider promotion of sustainable “better cotton” practices requires institutional support for organizing training programs, providing credit facilities, and delivering information of technologies.

Water pollution by synthetic dyes and other organic contaminants is a serious issue of the present days for both mankind and scientists. From the past few years, much attention has been given to the graphene oxide nanocomposites due to their greater ability to adsorb and degrade the industrial pollutants and greater suitability to the environment. In the present research, polymeric graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites such as GO/polyaniline (PAN), GO/polypyrrole (PPy) and GO/polystyrene (PS) were utilized as promising adsorbents for removal of actacid orange RL (AO-RL) dye. Characterization of synthesized nanocomposites was done by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Higher adsorption rates were achieved at pH values 2, 6 and 3 for all three nanocomposite GO/PAN, GO/PPy, and GO/PSty. Maximum removal 39.54, 44.76 and 21.43 mg/g were achieved, respectively when optimum adsorbent dose of 0.01 g was used at 35 °C. The maximum adsorption of 39.65, 43.99, and 21.10 mg/g for all three nanocomposites were obtained at the equilibrium contact time of 60 min. For GO/PAN and GO/PPy the maximum adsorption rates were attained when 150 mg/L of initial dye concentration was used and for GO/PSty nanocomposite the maximum removal 54.34 mg/g was obtained when 100 mg/L of initial dye concentration was used. Obtained results showed that removal of AO-RL dye was best fit by the pseudo 2nd order kinetic model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm with R2 values 0.99, 0.997, and 0.986, respectively. Negative values of enthalpy variation: −40.95,-62.95 and −55.52 kJ/mol, respectively, show the spontaneity and exothermic nature of the reaction. So, results indicated that the synthesized polymeric GO nanocomposites have a good perspective for the treatment of wastewater.

Pd-containing catalysts are highly promising in catalytic reactions, and their activity severely dependent on the dispersion extent of Pd nanoparticles (Pd NPs) . However, the regulation of Pd NPs size and dispersion degree are now pretty much the agendas. Here we report a facile solid-state fabrication strategy (SSFS) to promote Pd NPs dispersion in the nano environment of as made mesoporous silica KIT-6 (AK) by taking advantage of three critical factors, namely (i) the confined spaces where Pd precursor locate during fabrication, (ii) the interaction between Pd and supports, and (iii) the 3-dimentional (3D) structure of AK. First, AK presents 3D confined spaces between silica walls and template P123. Second, both silica walls and template P123 in AK offer interaction with Pd precursor. Third, the 3D structure provides more easy access for Pd insertion than linear channels structure without any pore blockage. The characterization results revealed that AK give better dispersion with smaller size of (3.9 nm) Pd than its counterpart (16 nm) prepared from template-free KIT-6 (CK). Moreover, the synthesized catalysts exhibit excellent activity and stability in catalytic conversion of p-nitrophenol (p-NP) and Methylene blue (MB). For a typical PdAK-1.0 catalyst, the complete conversion of P-NP and MB was achieved in less than 10 min with a reaction rate constant (k) of 0.3106 and 0.345 min−1, respectively. It is superior to that on PdCK-1.0 prepared from template free KIT-6 and several reported catalysts. Furthermore, the PdAK-1.0 catalyst presents pretty good stability in catalytic reduction and is apparently better than PdCK-1.0.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the potential of rooftop rainwater harvesting (R-RWH) and its physio- and socioeconomic effects on the peoples in two catchments (Salghara and Malach) of the Rawal watershed, Pakistan. A questionnaire-based analysis was used not only to gather the required design parameters (roof area, household size, water usage) but also to investigate the physio- and socioeconomic effects. Results revealed that the highest rainfall change is found from January to March and June to September but the lowest was observed in November–December near the Salghara region. In the Malach region, the positive rainfall is measured in February and June but the negative is found in May, July, and August. The survey analysis showed that 77 m3 minimum roof area is required and suitable material to implement the R-RWH for a 6-family size. 121 m3 and 76 m3 annual average water yield is recorded for Salghara and Malach catchments, respectively. A storage tank capacity of 13 m3 and 32.5 m3 is observed for Salghara and Malach, respectively. This difference in capacity is found due to the length of the dry periods. The low-cost rainwater harvesting system is proposed between 600 and 400 USD per household. Furthermore, it was noticed that people do believe rooftop RWH can positively impact both their economic and health conditions, particularly for women as they spend most of their time struggling to fetch water. It is concluded that rooftop RWH has great potential as an alternative household water source in the Rawal watershed catchment regions.

The agriculture sector in Pakistan is confronted with massive floods and other climate-induced disasters. Resultantly, the farmers are compelled to adopt several risk-management activities to cope with these risks. Therefore, the study aims to explore the risk management tools and their association with farmers’ risk perception, risk-averse attitude, and other socio-economic factors. We collected data from 200 respondents from two districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study employed a multivariate probit model to investigate the association among dependent variables (risk management tools) and explanatory variables. Findings indicated that floods and heavy rains were not the sources of risk for most of the large farmers. The majority of small farmers were risk-averse. The multivariate probit model results exposed that farmers' age, their risk perception about the heavy rains, and the size of landholding were positively associated with the adoption of assets depletion as a risk management tool. Farmers’ age, education, off-farm income, and farmers’ risk-averse attitude were positive, while the farming experience was negatively associated with consumption reduction. Moreover, farming experience, risk perception about the floods and heavy rains, and risk-averse attitude are positively associated with the adoption of diversification. Farmers in the study area were vulnerable, and they were relying on traditional tools of risk management. Hence, the government is suggested extending agricultural credit and crop insurance facilities to these farmers.

The erosion failure of oil transmission lines is mainly caused by the migration of quartz, sand, silt and clay into the processing units. Apart from the solid particles, the fluid viscosity also impacts the erosion-related failure of the processing units. The role of sand carrier viscosity in wear damage to pipelines, however, is not well understood. In this study, the wear performance of carbon steel coupons in polymer-sand-water slurry was investigated by varying the slurry viscosity from 1 to 19 cP. The water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol was used to modify the viscosity of the carrier fluid. At a fluid velocity of 6 m/s, the Reynolds number decreased from 165,000 to 8684 with a rise in viscosity from 1 to 19 cP. Similarly, at 10 m/s, the Reynolds number decreased from 330,000 to 17,368 for a similar change in the fluid viscosity. Each coupon was exposed to the fluid stream for 10 hours. Universal scanning probe microscopy (USPM) revealed more rough topology at lower viscosities and relatively smoother topology at higher viscosities. The erosion rate decreased from 6.31 ± 0.41 to 1.27 ± 0.16 mm/year and microhardness from 102 VHN to 98.2 VHN with a rise in viscosity from 1 to 19 cP. The USPM method revealed slightly higher erosion rates as compared to the weight loss method.

This paper focusses on the synthesis of cobalt vanadate (CoVO4) nanoparticles (NPs) by precipitation method. This was further augmented by assistance from microwave. Nanotechnology has been a wonderful tool with the promising application in different fields of life. The CoVO4 NPs synthesized by microwave assisted precipitation method was characterized by advanced techniques such as X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) techniques. Rhodamine B (RhB) dye was used to evaluate the photo catalytic activity (PCA) of NPs by degradation of dye. The conditions were optimized for maximum degradation of dye. The NPs were in the nano flowers form and the size was ≤100 nm. The results regarding degradation of RhB was through PCA were promising; 83% dye was degraded at pH 10, reaction time 160 min and catalyst dose 1 g. It may conclude that the synthesized NPs could further be employed for possible treatment of industrial effluents particularly textile industry.

In the present investigation, ZnO, CuO and Fe2O3 were prepared via green route and utilized for the sequestration of DGY (Direct Golden Yellow) dye. Affecting variables i.e., temperature, contact time, adsorbent dose and pH were optimized for maximum sequestration of dye from aqueous medium. The pH 2, adsorbent dose 0.1 g/50 mL dye solution, temperature 30 °C and 50 mg/L dye initial concentration were best levels for efficient dye adsorption and equilibrium was attained in 30 min reaction time. The dye sequestration on to ZnO, CuO and Fe2O3 was an exothermic process. Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherms explained well the dye adsorption onto nanoadsorbents and dye adsorption followed pseudo first order kinetic model. Effect of electrolytes and heavy metal ions was also investigated and both affected the adsorption process significantly. In the presences of surfactant/detergent, the removal of dye was reduced and 0.5 N NaOH efficiently desorbed the dye from nanoadsorbents. Findings depicted that the nanoadsorbents are effectual for the sequestration of DGY dye, which can be employed for the remediation of textile effluents.

Full potential linearized augmented plan wave (FP-LAPW) method based on density functional theory (DFT) is employed to investigate the structural, optoelectronic, elastic and magnetic properties of cubic XAlO3 (X = Nd, Gd) perovskites. The optimized unit cells have been used to expose the thermodynamic stability in the ferromagnetic ground state, which is further verified in terms of enthalpy of formation (ΔHf) and cohesive energy. The spin polarized band structure and density of states illustrate that NdAlO3 perovskite has a half metallic character, and GdAlO3 has a semiconductor nature. The bulk modulus, elastic constants, Poisson's ratio, shear modulus, anisotropy and Young's modulus are also determined. The calculated magnetic moments of cubic NdAlO3 and GdAlO3are 3 μB and 7 μB, respectively and the magnetization is largely originated from Nd and Gd atoms. Furthermore, the optical parameters like reflectivity, optical conductivity, dielectric constants, absorption coefficient and refractive index are also investigated. The results suggest that these compounds could be promising materials for spintronic and optoelectronic devices.

Palladium based catalysts are highly attractive for catalytic reactions. However, the catalytic activity is dependent on the dispersion and size of Pd nanoparticles (NPs). Herein, an efficient strategy is developed to regulate the size and dispersion of Pd NPs in nanoconfined spaces provided by Santa Barbara Amorphous-15 (SBA-15) occluded with template. The Pd precursor is introduced to the confined spaces between the template and silica walls in as-synthesized SBA-15 (AS) by grinding. Subsequent reduction allow template removal and precursor conversion to Pd0 in single step and avoids aggregation that take place in calcined SBA-15 (CS). Our results show that up to 1.0 wt% of Pd can be well dispersed in confined spaces of AS (denoted as 1.0PdAS), while sever aggregation take place from CS with the same Pd loading (denoted as1.0PdCS). We also demonstrated that 1.0PdAS is highly efficient for catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol (P-NP) and Methylene blue (MB) with rate constant of 0.4924 and 0.626 min−1, respectively, which is superior than 1.0PdCS attributed to well dispersed and smaller size (3 nm) Pd NPs. Furthermore, no change in the rate constant of P-NP (0.4924 min−1) and MB (0.626 min−1) after regeneration presents good stability of 1.0PdAS in catalytic reactions.

This study explicates the preparation of ethyl acetate (EtOAc) via esterification of acetic acid and ethanol over bronsted acid ionic liquid (1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate, [BMIM]HSO4) as catalyst. The ideal homogeneous (IH) and non-ideal homogeneous (NIH) models were applied to describe reaction kinetics and the model parameters were obtained by data fitting, where NIH model showed higher accuracy and confirmed the higher catalytic efficiency of [BMIM]HSO4 than Amberlyst 15. A novel reactive distillation (RD) flow-sheet for EtOAc production using [BMIM]HSO4 was designed and performed by Aspen Plus, in which the obtained reaction kinetic equations were formulated in the setting module of RADFRAC block. The optimal conditions of catalyst dosage, plate number, feed position, feed molar ratio, liquid holdup and reflux ratio for RD process were obtained by taking the EtOAc concentration in product stream as objective function and was found with maximum content of 90.44 wt.% with less than 3 % deviation. Keeping the high yield and simple mechanization, this approach can provide a feasible RD process design for EtOAc production using [BMIM]HSO4 as high-activity catalyst and can be envisaged as an alternative route for the industrial production of EtOAc.

Electronic, optical and magnetic properties of perovskite oxides PrXO3(X = V, Cr) are calculated by first-principle calculations. The calculations of electronic band structure and density of states...

This study reports the photocatalytic oxidative degradation of hydrocarbon pollutants present in refinery wastewater under UV light using Fe2 O3 , MnO2 , TiO2 , and ZnO as catalysts. Among the catalysts, TiO2 exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation activity, that is, 92, 98.8, 91.5, and 93% conversion for benzene, toluene, phenol, and naphthalene, respectively, in the model refinery wastewater under the optimum reaction conditions of pH 3, 30°C, 90-min reaction time, and 100 mg/L catalyst dose. The photocatalytic degradation of a real refinery wastewater sample containing 69.23% aliphatics, 25.36% aromatics, 3.2% oxygenates, and 2.21% naphthenic hydrocarbons under the optimum conditions revealed a net decrease in chemical oxygen demand (93.2%), that is, from 970 mg/L to 65 mg/L. GC-MS analysis of the reaction products confirmed that using UV/TiO2 system, complete photodegradation of the parent hydrocarbons occurred, but some oxygenated byproducts were also observed. This study provides useful reference information for the treatment of wastewater from oil refineries to cope with the increasing environmental issues. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Benzene, toluene, phenol and naphthalene were successfully degraded by UV/TiO2 system, under 30°C, 1 hr, pH 3 and 100 mg catalyst. Photocatalytic oxidation of Refinery wastewater (Attock Oil refinery, Pakistan), UV/ TiO2 system resulted in 93.92% COD removal. GC-MS analysis shows complete removal of parent hydrocarbons from refinery wastewater, leaving only traces of oxygenated hydrocarbons as oxidation byproducts.

A nanocomposite electrode, obtained by combining two high performance perovskite materials, such as lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite, La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ (LSCF) and gadolinium doped ceria, Ce0.85Gd0.15O1.5 (GDC), were investigated as a promising cathode for moderate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The synthesized material has good conductivity and catalytic performance. The purpose of this synthesis was to prepare a stable and highly performing nanocomposite cathode material. In this research work, LSCF and GDC were separately synthesized by co-precipitation and solid-state reaction method to gain a homogeneous perovskite phase. Varying concentrations of LSCF–GDC composite with GDC (10 wt.%, 20 wt.% and 30 wt.%) were synthesized followed by calcination at 600 °C to remove water content and to achieve an adequate porous structure for oxygen absorption and desorption. These fabricated LSCF, GDC, and the nanocomposite specimens were characterized for microstructure, particle size etc. via. X-ray diffraction method (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the laser particle size analyzer. This procedural approach helps to expand new methods for generating bi-functional duel nano-sized perovskites with great performance and stability which can be utilized for advancement of renewable energy sectors especially for rechargeable fuel batteries.

Textile sector is one of the major industries responsible for water pollution and the remediation of dyes is necessary to safe guard the water resources. Adsorption using nanoadsorbents have been emerged as one of viable techniques to eliminate the dyes from wastewater. Iron oxide was prepared via green route using Fan palm (F.P), Dombeya wallichii (D.W) and Pyrus comminis (P.C) as a reducing, capping and stabilizing agents. The adsorption of anionic dye using nanoadsorbents was studied and pH, adsorbent dose, contact time, temperature and concentration of dye were optimized. The maximum dye adsorption was achieved at pH 3, 0.01 g/50 mL adsorbent dose, 200 mg/L initial concentration at 65 °C. Thermodynamic study revealed that the adsorption on to nanoadsorbents was an endothermic process. Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order fitted well to the dye adsorption data. The presence of detergents and surfactants affected the dye adsorption on to nanoadsorbents. Efficient desorption was attained using 0.5 N sodium hydroxide. Results revealed that iron oxide prepared via green route is an efficient adsorbent for the removal of anionic dye and could possibly be used for the remediation of textile effluents.

The present framework explores the climatic variability and impact of El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on precipitation over 11 meteorological stations of the Jhelum River catchment (JRC) over a...

With the growing pace of internet usage, there is a vast variety of diverse individual opinions and thoughts avail-able online. Consumer reviews can act as a feedback and as well as a pool of ideas for which they can be of immense importance to any business. With the growth and popularity of opinion-rich resources such as online review sites and personal blogs, people now can and do, actively use information technology to seek out and un-derstand the opinions of others to decide whether to buy a product or not. Social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and e-commerce websites such as eBay, Amazon, etc. are being widely used to communicate viewpoints effectively. Assigning a positive or a negative sentiment to these reviews can help companies understand their users and also help users to make better decisions. Sentiment analysis being a challenging task can be tackled using supervised machine learning techniques or through unsupervised lexicon based approaches if labelled data is unavailable. In this study, we show that in absence of labelled product reviews of a particular website, labelled product reviews from a different website can be effectively used to train the supervised techniques to achieve a comparable performance to the unsupervised lexicon based approaches. This approach also benefits by covering all of the product reviews which the lexicon based approaches fail to do so. We deduce this by comparing five su-pervised approached and three lexicon based approaches on iPhone 5s reviews gathered from Amazon, Facebook, and Reevoo blog. Furthermore, we also found that unigram features combined with bigram features give the best results, and the effect of varying the training data size on the performance of ML classifiers in some cases was significant whereas in other cases it did not have any effect. Our results also suggest that reviews from Amazon are easiest to classify, followed by reviews from Reevo, and Facebook reviews are the hardest to classify.

To investigate the water-deficit tolerance, 45 cotton genotypes were grown under normal irrigation and water-deficit conditions for 2 years. Genotype × treatment × year interaction was determined f...

Runoff generated from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) mainly originates in the massifs of the Hindukush–Karakoram–Himalaya (HKH) region of Pakistan. Water supply in early spring depends upon the snow accumulation in the winter and the subsequent temperature. Seasonal temperature variations corroborate the contemporary dynamics of snow and glaciers. Recently, there has been increasing evidence of accelerated warming in high mountain areas, termed as elevation-dependent warming (EDW). We have identified trends, analyzed inconsistencies, and calculated changes in the maximum, minimum, mean and diurnal temperature range (Tmax,Tmin,Tmean, and DTR) at 20 weather stations during four-time series: 1961–2013 (first), 1971–2013 (second), 1981–2013 (third), and 1991–2013 (fourth). We employed the Mann–Kendall test to determine the existence of a trend and Sen’s method for the estimation of prevailing trends, whereas homogeneity analysis was applied before trend identification using three different tests. This study revealed that the largest and smallest magnitudes of trends appeared in the winter and summer, respectively, particularly during the fourth data series.Tmaxrevealed robust warming at ten stations, most remarkably at Gupis, Khunjrab, and Naltar at rates of 0.29, 0.36, and 0.43 °C/decade, respectively, during the fourth series. We observed thatTminexhibits a mixed pattern of warming and cooling during the second and third series, but cooling becomes stronger during the fourth series, exhibiting significant trends at twelve stations. Khunjrab and Naltar showed steady warming during the fourth series (spring), at rates of 0.26 and 0.13 °C/decade in terms ofTmean. The observed decreases in DTR appeared stronger in the fourth series during the summer. These findings tend to partially support the notion of EDW but validate the dominance of cooling spatially and temporally.

We investigate the Half-metallic ferromagnetism and optical behaviors of XBeO3 (X = Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba) using full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave method. The structural and thermodynamic stabilities are elucidated in terms of the calculated tolerance factor and enthalpy of formation, respectively. The room temperature (RT) ferromagnetism is shown by computing the Curie temperature and spin polarization. The strong hybridization between p-states of alkaline earth metals and 2p-states of oxygen near the Fermi level results total magnetic moment of 2μB. The ferromagnetism occurs due to holes those result in the exchange interactions between the p-states of alkaline earth metals and oxygen. The potential optical applications are also suggested by computing the dielectric constant and refraction.

Magnesium-based perovskites are being investigated for their electronic, mechanical, and thermoelectric properties using density functional theory and Boltzmann transport theory. The structural, thermodynamic, and mechanical stabilities of MgSiO3, MgGeO3 and MgSnO3 are confirmed by tolerance factor (0.93–1.0 the stability range for cubic structure), enthalpy of formation, and Born mechanical stability criteria, respectively. The ductile nature of studied materials has been explored by Pugh’s (B/G > 1.75) and Poisson (υ > 0.26) ratios. The studied compounds are indirect bandgap semiconductors having band gap range 2.5 eV to 0.7 eV and, correspondingly, their thermoelectric properties are modified. The small values of σ/κ ratio and large values ZT (0.57, 0.66, and 0.67) at room temperature make them suitable for thermoelectric applications.

In this study, we employed the density functional theory (DFT) approach using WIEN2k code to study the magnetic and optical behaviors of PbCrO 3 and PbFeO 3 perovskites in both cubic and tetragonal phases. We determined the stability of the ferromagnetic state in terms of the enthalpy of formation, the half-metallic behavior, and spin polarization. The origin and nature of the ferromagnetic state were attributed to John–Teller distortion and a super-exchange mechanism. Comparisons of the calculated crystal field, John–Teller distortion, and exchange energies indicated the stability of the ferromagnetic nature. Due to strong hybridization, the magnetic moment was reduced at the Cr/Fe sites but generated at the nonmagnetic sites. The optical characteristics were explained by in-depth analyses of the polarization, plasmonic resonance, transparency, and other features in terms of the computed parameters.

A facile, green, cost effective, and template or surfactant free strategy via a two-step route i.e. UV irradiation followed by dissolution-growth for the controlled synthesis of Mn-Co composite nanorings at room temperature was proposed. The nanorings structures and the process were systematically studied via TEM, HRTEM, EDX and XRD. Bir-MnO2 nanosheets first formed through the direct photolysis of KMnO4 under UV light irradiation. This was followed by a dissolution-growth process via the dissolution of Bir-MnO2 nanosheets by the generated H+ from the redox reaction between the added Co(NO3)2 and residual KMnO4, as well as the accompanied formation of CoOOH, and Mn-Co composite nanorings. It was found that a balance between the dissolution and growth rate was needed. Suitable pH, KMnO4 presence and the starting nanosheets like Bir-MnO2 were the key factors for the formation of nanorings. The obtained Mn-Co nanorings/TiO2 showed enhanced efficiency for the catalytic oxidation of HCHO. Based on the above understandings, it is believed that the developed dissolution-growth method can be adopted for the designing and preparation of other Mn-Co composite nanostructures which can be further applied for environmental pollution remediation. Keywords: KMnO4 irradiation, Template free green synthesis, MnO2 nanoring, Co3O4, Structural characterization

This work reports the synthesis of a N-doped acicular hollow porous carbon/carbon-nanotubes (N-AHPC@H-CNTs) using acicular CaCO3 as a green template and activating agent coupled with Fe Co catalyst, polydopamine and melamine as carbon and nitrogen precursors respectively. The prepared materials were applied for CO2 capture. N-AHPC@H-CNTs were characterized by SEM, TEM, PXRD, XPS, and BET techniques, which revealed their high SSA (SBET, 561 m2·g−1), microporous surface area (351.9 m2·g−1), N content (11.60 wt%) having a ratio of Pyrrolic-N (56.63%) and a great mass of ultramicropores (d

The electronic, optical and thermoelectric properties of SnZrO3 and SnHfO3 for renewable energy applications have been studied within the framework of density functional and Boltzmann transport theories. The structural, thermodynamic and mechanical stability in the cubic phase has been confirmed by tolerance factor, formation energy and Born mechanical stability criteria. The ductile strength has been checked by Poisson and Pugh's ratios critical limits. The optical properties have been elucidated by dispersion, absorption, reflection, optical conductivity and loss factor per unit length. The thermoelectric performance has been explored by the Wiedemann-Franz law, Seebeck coefficient and power factor by classical theory based BoltzTrap code.

Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) play a significant role in science and technology because of their unique size, shape, properties and broad range of potential applications. This review focuses on the various approaches employed for the synthesis, modification and functionalization of nanostructured Au. The potential catalytic applications and their enhancement upon modification of Au nanostructures have also been discussed in detail. The present analysis also offers brief summaries of the major Au nanomaterials synthetic procedures, such as hydrothermal, solvothermal, sol-gel, direct oxidation, chemical vapor deposition, sonochemical deposition, electrochemical deposition, microwave and laser pyrolysis. Among the various strategies used for improving the catalytic performance of nanostructured Au, the modification and functionalization of nanostructured Au produced better results. Therefore, various synthesis, modification and functionalization methods employed for better catalytic outcomes of nanostructured Au have been summarized in this review.

This research applies an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) to empirically investigate consumers&rsquo, intentions in Pakistan to purchase energy-efficient appliances (EEAs). Most developing countries face energy crises. As a result, many countries consider EEAs to be part of the solution to energy-related problems and teach sustainable consumption behavior to consumers. Previous studies have neglected developing countries in this context, yet developing markets have great potential for EEA adoption. To understand EEA adoption, we incorporated such variables as warm glow benefits, utilitarian environmental benefits, normative beliefs, and moral obligations as antecedents to TPB variables. The moderating effect of eco-literacy between attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), and purchase intention toward EEAs are also examined. Data was gathered through a survey questionnaire from 673 Pakistani consumers to empirically test the proposed hypotheses. The results reveal that utilitarian environmental benefits and warm glow benefits significantly influence attitudes toward EEAs. The findings also show a positive effect of normative beliefs on subjective norms. The interaction effect of eco-literacy positively influences the relationship between attitude and purchase intention, with similar results for subjective norms and purchase intention. However, no significant moderating effect of eco-literacy is found between PBC and purchase intention. Furthermore, we performed multi-group analysis to explore significant group differences by utilizing socio-demographic variables such as gender, age, education, and income. The results show significant group differences, with females&rsquo, purchasing behavior, younger consumers, and educated consumers being more readily influenced. Finally, insights for policymakers, suggestions and future directions are discussed.

Tannic acid (TA) is a hydrolysable polyphenol with established antioxidant and antibacterial activity along with its tendency to bind both organic and inorganic ions/molecules. In the present study, the sequestration performance of TA pillared bentonite for various aflatoxins (AFs) including AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 from aqueous solutions and simulated poultry gastrointestinal model solution was studied via adsorption. The adsorbents were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption study and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The reaction conditions including pH, agitation time, initial toxin concentration and temperature were systematically optimized. The Langmuir adsorption capacity of the adsorbent reached to 86, 71, 74 and 149 mg/g for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 respectively. Adsorption kinetics and thermodynamic studies showed rapid AFs uptake and the exothermicity of the adsorption reaction respectively. Simultaneous removal of AFs by BTA3 revealed their independent and uninterrupted adsorption and the adsorption mechanism of AFs over BTA3 was elaborated with the help of XPS results. The outstanding AFs sequestering capability of BTA3 in aqueous solution and simulated poultry gastrointestinal model can be envisioned of great promise for the remediation of AFs and other hazardous pollutants from food and poultry industrial products.

In contrast to widespread glacier retreat evidenced globally, glaciers in the Karakoram region have exhibited positive mass balances and general glacier stability over the past decade. Snow and glacier meltwater from the Karakoram and the western Himalayas, which supplies the Indus River Basin, provide an essential source of water to more than 215 million people, either directly, as potable water, or indirectly, through hydroelectric generation and irrigation for crops. This study focuses on water resources in the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) which combines the ranges of the Hindukush, Karakoram and Himalaya (HKH). Specifically, we focus on the Gilgit River Basin (GRB) to inform more sustainable water use policy at the sub-basin scale. We employ two degree-day approaches, the Spatial Processes in Hydrology (SPHY) and Snowmelt Runoff Model (SRM), to simulate runoff in the GRB during 2001&ndash, 2012. The performance of SRM was poor during July and August, the period when glacier melt contribution typically dominates runoff. Consequently, SPHY outperformed SRM, likely attributable to SPHY&rsquo, s ability to discriminate between glacier, snow, and rainfall contributions to runoff during the ablation period. The average simulated runoff revealed the prevalent snowmelt contribution as 62%, followed by the glacier melt 28% and rainfall 10% in GRB. We also assessed the potential impact of climate change on future water resources, based on two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). We estimate that summer flows are projected to increase by between 5.6% and 19.8% due to increased temperatures of between 0.7 and 2.6 &deg, C over the period 2039&ndash, 2070. If realized, increased summer flows in the region could prove beneficial for a range of sectors, but only over the short to medium term and if not associated with extreme events. Long-term projections indicate declining water resources in the region in terms of snow and glacier melt.

In the present paper, the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of ${\mathrm{NdCo}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{x}$ ($x\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}0$, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) compounds was investigated by magnetization measurements. The temperature-dependent high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction study shows a magnetostructural transition from the paramagnetic cubic phase to the ferromagnetic tetragonal phase below their Curie temperatures. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis shows the absence of thermal hysteresis, indicating the second-order nature of the magnetostructural phase transition in these compounds. The maximum values of magnetic entropy change ($\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{S}_{M}$) and wide operating temperature (OT) are obtained under a field change of 5 T, which are 7.33 ${\mathrm{Jkg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{K}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, 6.45 ${\mathrm{Jkg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{K}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, 5.71 ${\mathrm{Jkg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{K}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, 4.70 ${\mathrm{Jkg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{K}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ and 78 K, 82 K, 85 K, 92 K for $x$ = 0, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6, respectively. The corresponding values of relative cooling power (RCP) are 529.96 ${\mathrm{Jkg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, 497.25 ${\mathrm{Jkg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, 470.55 ${\mathrm{Jkg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, and 428.31 ${\mathrm{Jkg}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. The observed wide OT range and large RCP values are comparable with Gd, ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{5}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{2}{\mathrm{Si}}_{2}$, and some rare-earth-based giant magnetocaloric materials, making this series of compounds suitable for magnetic refrigeration.

The electronic, magnetic and optical properties of Ni-doped CdSe diluted magnetic semiconductors have been explored by density functional theory-based FPLAPW method as incorporated in the Wien2k code. The band structure and density of states analysis for up spin channel and down spin channel illustrate half-metallic ferromagnetic behaviour. The calculated values of the band gap in an insulating channel (down spin channel) increases from 0.4 to 0.8 eV with increasing the doping concentration of Ni from 6.25 to 25%. The magnetic moment of Ni decreases and magnetic moment on nonmagnetic side increases, which shows the strong pd-hybridization. Furthermore, the optical properties are characterized in terms of dielectric constants, refractive index, extinction coefficient, absorption coefficient and optical loss factor. The static values of the dielectric constant and refractive index are consistent with each other.

Prioritizing software requirements is important and difficult task during requirements management phase of requirements engineering. To ensure timely delivery of project, software developers have to prioritize functional requirements. The importance of prioritization increases when size of requirements is big. Software for large enterprises like the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are more likely to be developed by a team of software developers where large size requirements are distributed in parallel team members. However, requirements are dependent on each other, therefore development of pre-requisite requirements must be carefully timed and should be implemented first. Therefore, assigning importance and priority to some requirements over others is necessary so that requirements can be available on time to developers. This paper proposes a prioritization approach for functional requirements on the basis of their importance during implementation. The design of research method consists of Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) technique based on spanning trees. Through spanning trees, dependent requirements were linked in hierarchical structure and then AHP were applied. As a result of prioritization, requirements were distributed in such a way that dependency among requirements of developers were kept minimum as much as possible so that waiting time of requirements for their pre-requisite were reduced. With reduced effect of dependency in requirements of parallel developers, timely delivery of software projects can be assured.

Al bronze are the choice of material for relatively high wear applications besides appreciable mechanical and corrosion properties. In present work, the effect of different heat treatment processes on tribological characteristics of Ni-Al bronze (CuAl10Ni5Fe4, UNS C63000) has been studied. The hot rolled bar of 30 mm diameter was subjected to annealing, quenching and aging processes separately, consequently their effect on microstructure was studied and co-related with tribological characteristics. The formation and nucleation of various phases due to the thermal treatments were observed using optical microscopy. The wear behavior was studied using ball on disk arrangement with 100Cr6 ball and Ni-Al Bronze samples as disk. The characteristics and mechanism of wear track was studied using scanning electron microscope. It was observed that the water quenched sample followed by aging at 300°C exhibited best tribological characteristics.

Al-Si eutectic cast alloys are widely used in aeronautical and automobile industries where significantly high strength, toughness and wear resistance are required. This class of cast alloys exhibit relatively low corrosion resistance in brine environments. The mechanical properties of the alloy system mainly depend upon the shape of Si rich eutectic phase, which mainly has acicular geometry. In present research, the effect of modified microstructure of 12 wt. % Si-Al alloy on corrosion behavior was studied. The needle like Si rich eutectic phase was modified to disperse spherical structure using rare earth metal halides. The corrosion rate and pitting behavior of modified and unmodified alloy were evaluated in 3.5% NaCl solution by general corrosion for calculated time. It was observed that the corrosion rate and pitting tendency of modified alloy had been appreciably reduced as compare to unmodified alloy. The improvement of corrosion properties were the attributes of changed morphology and distribution of Si rich eutectic phase.

This work reports the preparation of novel porous inorganic polymer microspheres using a suspension dispersion solidification (SDS) method. The porous microspheres exhibit good sphericity with an approximate diameter of 100 μm. With the addition of a foaming agent, the BET surface area of the microspheres increased from 79.80 m2/g to 100.99 m2/g with a corresponding decrease in the pore diameter of up to 7 nm. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out to study the effects of time, dosage, pH, initial concentration and temperature on the measured adsorption capacities. Because of their small particle size and large surface area, the porous inorganic polymer microspheres exhibited outstanding adsorption capacities (629.21 mg/g) for Pb2+with high adsorption rates. Kinetic and isothermal studies revealed that the adsorption data fit well to pseudo-second kinetic, Langmuir and D-R (Dubinin-Redushckevich) models, indicating that both chemical and physical adsorptions, as well as monolayer formation, are occurring in the adsorption process. An investigation of thePb2+distributionof the adsorbent after use revealed thatPb2+diffused into the center of the microspheres, suggesting that low diffusion resistance by the adsorbent and maximum use of the adsorption active sites provide the high adsorption capacity. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. The used adsorbents could be easily regenerated using an EDTA-2Na solution to give a regeneration ratio of 51% after desorption. The cost-effectiveness, ease of synthesis, and high efficiency of this approach suggest it can be effectively applied for the removal of Pb2+ or other heavy metals on an industrial level.

Recent advances in hardware technology have led to the development of low cost, power efficient and more feature rich devices that are amongst the most critical parts of communication networks. These devices or sensors can now sense data with more accuracy, process it by themselves and send it to the neighboring node or the sink node. However, robust and reliable security mechanisms are not yet properly implemented on these sensors due to their limited energy and computation power. Sensors also play a very important role in eHealthcare systems where ubiquitous patient monitoring is performed. As data is generated from the sensor nodes, reliable, secure and attack-resistant data acquisition and transmission is important for an efficient eHealthcare systems. This survey focuses on security issues of sensors data acquisition and transmission protocols, describing their main security features and comparing them in the context of a secure eHealthcare system. A taxonomy of open issues and future challenges is also discussed with respect to specific security metrics described in the paper.

This work reports a facile calcination-soak approach for the large-scale growth of Co-Mn composite shell over the cores of copper mesh and foam resulting in Co-Mn@CuO nanowires. In the synthesis of Co-Mn@CuO core/shell structure, CuO nanowires were first formed on copper mesh through a facile calcination, followed by Co-Mn compounds (MnO2 and CoOOH or Co(OH)3) soaking to form a coat on the outer surface of CuO nanowires attributed to the redox reaction between MnO4− and Co2+, which were calcined in air to get the final Co-Mn oxide. The thickness of the Co-Mn oxide shell over CuO nanowire could be easily tuned by soaking duration. The prepared Co-Mn@CuO nanowires were applied as monolithic catalysts in plasma-catalytic oxidation of toluene and decomposition of ozone. The catalytic performance was enhanced to ~88% at 1.0 A and ~95% at 1.5 A with the filling of Co-Mn@CuO core/shell structure as monolith catalyst, which could be attributed to the synergistic effect of plasma and catalytic effect. Using Co-Mn@CuO, 95% ozone conversion was achieved at room temperature credited to the presence of mixed-valent manganese ions in the catalyst. Keywords: VOCs, Non-thermal plasma, Ozone, Monolith, Catalytic oxidation

Electronic, optical and thermo-electric properties of two quaternary chalcogenides SnGa2GeX6 (X = S, Se) have been studied by using density functional theory. Modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential (mBJ-GGA) was used to calculate the band gaps of these compounds. Both compounds show pseudo direct band gap of 1.74 and 1.24 eV for SnGa2GeS6 and SnGa2GeSe6, respectively. The band gap decreases when replacing the X cations from S to Se. The optical properties such as dielectric function, energy loss function, extension coefficient, refractive index, and reflectivity of these compounds are discussed in details. The thermo-electric properties are studied using Boltzmann statistics through BoltzTrap code. High absorption peaks and figure of merits (ZT) for both compounds reveal that they are good candidates for the optoelectronics and thermo-electric devices.

Pnictogen-based Zintl compounds have fascinating properties. Nowadays these compounds have gained exceptional interest in thermoelectric and optoelectronic fields. Therefore, in this work the structural, electronic and optical properties of SrZn2Pn2 (Pn=N, P, As, Sb, Bi) compounds were studied using state-of-the-art density functional theory. The optimised lattice parameters (ɑ, c, c/ɑ and bond lengths) are consistent with the experimental results. The bulk moduli and c/a showed a decrease when changing the Pnictogen (Pn) anion from N to Bi in SrZn2Pn2 (Pn=N, P, As, Sb, Bi). The modified Becke-Johnson potential is used for band structure calculations. All compounds show semiconducting behaviour except SrZn2Bi2, which is metallic. Pn-p, Zn-d and Sr-d play an important role in defining the electronic structure of the compounds. The optical conductivity and absorption coefficient strength are high in visible and ultraviolet regions. These band structures and optical properties clearly show that SrZn2Pn2 compounds are potential candidates in the fields of optoelectronic and photonic devices.

A novel mechano-chemical strategy using dopamine to modify UiO-66(Zr) by N-coordination was proposed to enhance its competitive adsorption for acetaldehyde, chlorobenzene/H2O, both thermodynamically and kinetically. The newly synthesized material was characterized by SEM, EDX, XPS, PXRD, FT-IR, TGA/DTG and BET techniques. Results showed that N was successfully grafted into UiO-66(Zr) frameworks through coordination interaction with Zr-O clusters resulting in M-UiO-66(Zr-N3.0). The obtained M-UiO-66(Zr-N3.0) exhibited a significant increase in adsorption of chlorobenzene (4.94 mmol/g) and acetaldehyde (9.42 mmol/g) compared to parent UiO-66(Zr) and UiO-66(Zr)-NH2. The H2O adsorption uptake of M-UiO-66(Zr-N3.0) decreased by 20% that of UiO-66(Zr) and 47% of UiO-66(Zr)-NH2 indicating higher hydrophobicity of the modified material. Kinetic performance indicated that diffusivity of chlorobenzene on M-UiO-66(Zr-N3.0) was about 7.8 and 40 times higher than that of the parent UiO-66(Zr) and UiO-66(Zr)-NH2 respectively and 15.4 times higher than that of H2O on itself. Based on the results, the current N-modification strategy can be deemed as an efficient way to improve MOFs competitive adsorption towards VOCs under humid conditions and it might play active role in industries involving adsorbent applications.

Nanotechnology and nanomaterials have various applications in everyday life due to their versatile properties. Researchers are unswervingly working on the method development for the synthesis of NPs. Under the existing state of environmental pollution, the eco-friendly methods are preferred. Bio-inspired synthesis of NPs is considered highly efficient since it is cost effective, eco-benign and one-pot procedure. The other advantages may include less reaction time, ambient conditions and less energy requirements. Different types of bio-inspired NPs have been efficaciously prepared for applications in diverse fields. This article emphases on the bio-inspired synthesis and applications of Au NPs owing to their catalytic and bioactivities. The bio-inspired synthesis includes plant extract, algae, fungi and biomolecules, which finished Au NPs at nano-scale (2.5–100 nm) and different shapes. Moreover, the Au showed promising catalytic, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antidiabetic, anticoagulant, anthelmintic and sensing activities. The effect of reaction conditions in bio-inspired synthesis of Au is discussed along with the structure, sizes, applications and future prospects of Au NPs in different field.

In this study, we report the structural, electronic and optical behavior of Zn3X2 (X = N, P, As) compounds by using highly accurate all electrons full potential linearized augmented plane wave method within the density functional theory. The lattice parameters of cubic Zn3N2 (space group I a 3 ¯ ), Zn3P2 and Zn3As2 (space group Pn-3m) and tetragonal Zn3P2 and Zn3As2 (space group P42/nmc) are found in accordance to the experimentally measured values. Zn3N2 is direct bandgap semiconductor. Further, it is found that Zn3P2 and Zn3As2 are metallic in cubic, while semiconducting in the tetragonal symmetry. The optical properties like real and imaginary part of dielectric function, refractive indices, extinction coefficient, optical conductivity, absorption coefficient and reflectivity of these compounds are also calculated. The direct bandgap nature of the compounds shows their optical activity in the near infrared, visible and low frequency ultraviolet energy. Therefore, these materials are useful for the optoelectronic applications.

Polythiophene (PTh) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) nanocomposites with different ratio of GNPs (10–50 wt.%) were prepared by oxidative chemical polymerization technique and applied for the photocatalytic degradation of bromo phenol blue (BPB) and pathogen control. The as-prepared nanomaterials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX), UV–Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The PTh-GNPs(50) achieved the highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency for BPB (94.1%) which was more than three times higher than that of the pristine PTh (31.3%). The enhanced photocatalytic activity of PTh-GNPs was attributed to the improved charge-transport and longer recombination time of e−/h+ pairs from PTh NPs to GNPs. Interestingly, PTh-GNPs(50) proved as a potent inhibitor against E.coli and S.aureus reported 18 mm zone of inhibition as compared to that of the control PTh (showing 9 mm and 5 mm zones of inhibition for the two strains, respectively) at 2000 µg/mL. These results make PTh-GNPs(50) nanocomposites a potential candidate for BPB removal and bacterial growth inhibition.

In the present work, the optical, electronic and thermoelectric (TE) characteristics of NaTaO3 are investigated with implementation of pressure ranging 0 to 140 GPa.The calculations were done in the framework of density functional theory (DFT) within Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation (PBE-GGA) scheme implemented within WIEN2K package. The semiconducting Eg behavior of NaTaO3compound has been revealed at all applied pressures. Results indicated that the value of Eg increments from 2.29 eV (0 GPa) to 2.82 eV (140 GPa), however, the characteristics of Eg transformed to direct from indirect with the increment in pressure. The optical characteristics are also explored in the form of dielectric constants, reflectivity (R (ω)) and absorption coefficient (α (ω)). Moreover, the TE characteristics are also investigated. TE and optical features disclosed that NaTaO3 is a good candidate for optical and TE devices.

The optical, band structure (BS) and thermoelectric (TE) characteristics of of cubic BaZrO3 perovskite are examined under a pressure range of 0−21 GPa, through Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation (PBEsol-GGA) scheme in the framework of density functional theory (DFT). The calculated BS and density of states (DOS) revealed the semiconducting behavior of BaZrO3at all applied pressures. However, the nature of the Eg is changed from indirect to direct as the pressure elevated from 0 to 21 GPa. Furthermore, the optical characteristics like reflectivity R(ω), absorption coefficient α(ω), dielectric constant e(ω), refractive index n(ω), extinction coefficient k(ω) and optical conductivity σ(ω) are also studied under various pressures. Finally, the TE featurse in terms of electric conductivity (σ), thermal conductivity (K), Seebeck coefficient (S) and power factor (PF) are calculated using the BoltzTraP code. The results of optical and TE properties revealed the possible use of BaZrO3 material for TE and optical applications.

The electronic, thermoelectric and optical properties of cubic PbTiO3 perovskite's oxides have been investigated under the variation of pressures within the frame work of DFT by using PBEsol-GGA as exchange correlation functional. Band structures show that PbTiO3 is a semiconductor with indirect band gap upto 40 GPa, while the band gap becomes direct at 80 GPa and decreases from 1.99 to 1.5 eV. In order to understand the optical response of PbTiO3, dielectric function (with real and imaginary part) have studied along with the optical conductivity, absorption coefficient, extinction coefficient, reflectivity and refractive index upto 16 eV. It was observed that static dielectric constant decreases with the decrease in energy band gap. Finally, the response of material with respect to temperature at different pressures has been studied by thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, power factor, Seebeck coefficient and figure of merits by using Boltz-TraP code. Results indicate that PbTiO3is a potential candidate for optoelectronic and renewable energy devices.

Pt-containing catalysts are considered promising for diverse catalytic reactions, and their activity strongly depends on the dispersion degree of Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs). In this study, we report an ultrasound assisted impregnation (UAI) strategy to promote Pt NPs dispersion in the nanoconfined spaces of as-prepared ZSM-5 derived micro-/mesoporous silica (MMZ) occluded with template. The precursor of Pt is successfully inserted into the nanoconfined spaces inherent in as-prepared MMZ (between the silica walls and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) template). The Pt NPs formed in the confined spaces were of smaller size than those generated through traditional ZSM-5 without confined spaces. Further calculations based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images indicates that the size of 1 wt% Pt per gram of MMZ (denoted as 1 wt%Pt/MMZ) is 3.8 nm, which is lower than that in 1 wt%Pt/ZSM-5. Experimental results demonstrated that well dispersive Pt NPs in 1 wt%Pt/MMZ catalyst led to the complete reduction of para nitrophenol (P-NP) and methylene blue (MB) with reaction rate constant (K) of 0.321 and 0.512 min−1, respectively, which are obviously higher than those of 1 wt%Pt/ZSM-5 and other reported Pt-based catalysts. 1 wt%Pt/MMZ catalyst exhibited good stability and recyclability than 1 wt%Pt/ZSM-5, and hence can be deemed of potential value for practical applications of wastewater treatment on industrial level.

The first principles calculation is implemented to predict the phase stability, optical activities and magneto-electronic characteristics of cubic MAlO3 (M = Ce, Pr) perovskites. The optimized structural parameters authenticate the stability of the ferromagnetic state, and also it is confirmed by enthalpy of formation (ΔHf). Stability of MAlO3 compounds is verified with the help of tolerance factor ( τ ) in the cubic phase. The density of states (DOS) and spin polarized band structure (BS) elucidate the ferromagnetic half metallic (HM) type of MAlO3 compounds, with Ce/Pr-f states play a major role. The calculated value of magnetic moment increases from cubic CeAlO3 (1 μB) to PrAlO3 (2 μB), and Ce and Pr atoms enormously contribute in magnetization. Moreover, various optical parameters such adsorption coefficient, dielectric constants, reflectivity, optical conductivity and refractive indexare also studied. The outcomes recommend that these perovskites might be suitable candidates for optical and spintronic devices.

FP-LAPW method is used to determine the electronic, optical, and thermoelectric characteristics of the SrZrO3. The band structure (BS) plot reveals indirect (Γ-M) energy gap for 0 GPa and 10 GPa. However, at 30 GPA, it converted to direct band gap. The total and partial density of states (PDOS) described the contribution of each atom in the material. The optical characteristics such as complex dielectric function, extinction and absorption coefficients, refractive index, and reflectivity are studied under pressure. The highest absorption peaks are originated due to the direct optical transition O-2p states to the Zr-4d orbitals. Moreover, thermoelectric properties are also investigated with respect to temperature. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity rises with the upsurge in pressure upto 40 GPa and highest value of ZT is 0.73. The simulated outcomes disclose that SrZrO3is a promising applicant for thermoelectric and optelctronic devices.