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Soil microbial communities are important drivers of biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, organic matter decomposition, soil organic carbon, and Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs: CO2, N2O, and CH4) and are influenced by crop and soil management practices. The knowledge on the impact of conservation agriculture (CA) on soil bacterial diversity, nutrient availability, and GHG emissions in semi-arid regions under rainfed conditions is vital to develop sustainable agricultural practices, but such information has not been systemically documented. Hence, studies were conducted for 10 years in rainfed pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.)—castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) cropping system under semi-arid conditions to assess the effects of tillage and crop residue levels on the soil bacterial diversity, enzyme activity (Dehydrogenase, urease, acid phosphatase, and alkaline phosphatase), GHG emissions, and soil available nutrients (Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). Sequencing of soil DNA through Illumina HiSeq-based 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing technology has revealed that bacterial community responded to both tillage and residue levels. The relative abundance of Actinobacteria in terms of Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTUs) at phyla, class as well as genera level was higher in CA (NTR1: No Tillage + 10 cm anchored residue and NTR2 NT + 30 cm anchored residue) over CT (conventional tillage without crop residues). CA resulted in higher enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, urease, acid phosphatase, and alkaline phosphatase) and reduction in GHG emissions over CT. CA recorded 34% higher and 3% lower OC, as compared to CT, and CTR1, respectively. CA recorded 10, 34, and 26% higher available nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium over CT and CTR1, respectively. NTR1 recorded 25 and 38% lower N2O emissions as compared to CTR1 and CTR2, respectively. Whereas only NT recorded 12% higher N2O emissions as compared to CT. Overall, the results of the study indicate that CA improves the relative abundance of soil bacterial communities, nutrient availability, and enzyme activities, and may help to contribute to the mitigation of climate change, and sustainability in rainfed areas.

In the present study, the performance of the nano engineered blended concrete was evaluated for the durability performance by conducting Rapid Chloride Penetration test, water absorption and sorptivity which represent the measure of water penetration through the matrix when exposed to aggressive agents present in the environment. All the formulated mixes of blended concrete bearing vetrified tiles powder, silica fume and fly ash with and without nano reinforcement were tested and analysed at 28, 56 and 91 day curing periods. The dosage rate of the Carbon Nano Tubes varied from 0.01% to 0.1% by weight of the binder. From the analysed results, the mix with 0.05% of the Carbon Nano Tubes present by weight of the cementitious materials exhibited noticeably less water absorption value of less than 3%, less sorptivity value and very less I value obtained from the Rapid Chloride penetration test. The SEM-EDS analysis was carried out to determine the morphology of the matrix and the intensities of the crystalline phases formed, was determined by XRD analysis. From the analysis carried out, it was observed that the mix with 0.05% of the addition of Carbon Nano Tubes serves to be the optimum mix. The same mix has also proven to be highly durable which can be implemented as a engineering concrete to be used in harsh environments.

Soil erosion is one of the major environmental problems in northeast India, and identifying areas prone to severe erosion loss is therefore very crucial for sustainable management of different land uses. Tuirial river basin, where shifting cultivation is a major land use, is prone to severe soil erosion and land degradation, linked to its fragile geo-morpho-pedological characteristics. Though several models are available to estimate soil erosion the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is more appropriate and practical model that can be applied at a local or regional level. The objective of the study was to estimate annual soil loss in the upper Tuirial river basin by using RUSLE where various parameters such as rainfall erosivity factor (R), soil erodibility factor (K), slope length (L), slope steepness factor (S), crop management factor (C) and practice management factor (P) were taken into consideration. Land use land cover (LULC) derived from Satellite data of Sentinel 2A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were integrated into the model. Our results revealed that the river basin has an average annual soil loss of 115.4 Mg ha−1 yr−1, and annual sediments loss to the tune of 6.161 million Mg yr−1 from the basin. About one-fourth (24.78%) of the total basin could be classed as very high to very severe soil erosion prone area that need immediate conservation measures. Besides, the erosional activities were perceived directly proportional with the slope values in the basin. However, regardless of the rugged mountainous terrain of the basin, the unscientific practice of shifting cultivation, associated with high intensity of rainfall is the principal cause of soil erosion. The results of the study is expected to contribute to adaptation of appropriate soil and water conservation measures in the basin area, and similar studies may also be extended to other unexplored areas for proper watershed management in state of Mizoram.

In the present study, the control mix (M 30 grade), optimum blended concrete mix containing cement, vetrified tiles powder, silica fume and fly ash and blended concrete mix reinforced with Multi Walled Carbon Nano Tubes were considered and investigated the resistance offered by them against the sulphate attack. The specimens of the respective mixes were immersed in 10% Na2SO4 for a period of 180 days. The optimum blended mix obtained from the previous study contains 60% cement, 7% silica fume, 25% vetrified tiles powder and 8% fly ash. The reinforced blended mixes were developed by incorporating well dispersed Multi Walled Carbon Nano Tubes in the dosage percentages of 0.01%, 0.02%, 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.1% by weight of binder content. The resistance offered by the mixes against the sulfate attack was evaluated in terms of visual investigation, loss in weight, compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity test. Mass loss was observed to vary between 0.3% and 0.7% for the blended specimens and less than 0.2% for the nano engineered blended concrete specimens at 180 days of immersion period when compared to the control mix. The microstructural investigation was carried out using SEM-EDX and XRD to determine the morphology and the formation of the crystalline phases of the matrix after immersion in the solution. From the study carried out it was observed that the reinforced blended mix containing 0.05% of the carbon nano tubes have outperformed all other mixes by exhibiting the highest resistance to the sulfate attack in terms loss of mass, compressive strength and the quality of the concrete. The mix have shown the highest compressive strength value of about 54 MPa at the end of the immersion period which is about 23% higher than the control mix. It can be concluded that the concrete developed not only reduce the carbon foot print on the environment but also contribute towards the high resistance against the sulfate attack.

Abstract Adsorption of copper using groundnut seed cake power, sesame seed cake powder and coconut cake powders as bioadsorbents was optimized at a pH of 5, temperature of 40 °C, initial metal concentration of 10 mg/L, contact time of 30 min and adsorbent dosage 0.75 g for groundnut seed cake powder and 1.0 g of sesame seed cake powder and coconut cake powder. From the results of kinetic studies, it was concluded that the adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. Langmuir adsorption isotherm fit perfect for the adsorption of Cu(II) using the three adsorbents. Maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 4.24 mg/g. Artificial neural network modeling which was adopted for the predication of adsorption of Cu(II) using groundnut seed cake powder, sesame seed cake powder and coconut cake powder was carried out by using back-propagation algorithm. Correlation plot drawn for the experimental and ANN predicted values showed a strong correlation coefficient of 0.989, indicating that the network trained fit apt for the prediction of adsorption process.

This paper deals with the study of dimple type RF MEMS capacitive shunt switch using different meandering techniques for high isolation and low actuation voltage. The novelty of the proposed RF MEMS switch is it incorporates the meanders and dimples, which help to reduce the actuation voltage. The proposed switch structure is optimized, designed, and simulated with FEM analysis such as electromechanical and electromagnetic by using COMSOL and HFSS tools respectively. The best performance of the switch is observed by varying different parameters such as beam material, beam thickness, dielectric thickness, and airgap. The proposed switch with different meandering techniques attains the pull-in voltage in the range of 10.3-46 V, particularly the three uniform meander technique has low actuation voltage of 10.3 V. The RF performance of the device is particularly tuned in the range of 26.5-40 GHz frequency range and it is analyzed for all types of meanders. Among them, the non-uniform single meander has attained the best isolation of -54.13 dB at 40 GHz in the off state. The insertion and return losses of the device are -0.514 dB and -17.35 dB over 1-40 GHz frequency in on state.

Movable suspended microstructures are common features of sensors and devices in the field of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS). This paper addresses the study of approach to model the capacitance for the crab-type meander-based RF MEMS shunt switch with etching holes on the beam. The presented paper evaluates the parallel-plate capacitance and fringing-field capacitance caused by the etching holes on the beam and introduces empirical formulae. From the literature study, an accurate empirical formula is presented. The capacitance involves a parallel plate and a fringing field. The parallel-plate capacitance term is proposed by the authors of this work; the fringing-field capacitance term is adopted from previous work. The proposed accurate empirical capacitance formulae are derived by curve fitting the simulated values through the commercially available FEM solver. The two existing benchmark models of fringing-field capacitance are used to modify the perforated MEMS switch to obtain the proposed formula. With the existing models and presented formula, the capacitances are computed for a wide range of dimensions; the simulated results of the presented formula are validated with the calculated results. The deviation of the presented formula has an error estimation of ±0.1%. The variation of the capacitance with different deictic thicknesses and errors is estimated and analyzed for the presented formula. The Mejis model is found to be satisfactory for a lower air gap and a 1-μm-thick beam. The Yang's model is sufficient for a higher air gap and a large number of etching holes. The proposed formulae are good for the ligament efficiency μ ≤ 0.5, with thickness >1 μm, and the deviation of error estimation is within ±5%.

This paper illustrates the design, modeling, and analysis of bridge type structure based capacitive RF MEMS switch with different beam thickness and materials. We have used Ashby's approach to select the best materials in each and every level which helped to improve the overall performance of the switch in terms of mechanical, electrical, and RF properties. Silicon Nitride thin film (εr = 7.8) is used as a dielectric material. The beam structure stiffness is analyzed with different materials, such as gold, titanium, and platinum, within these materials gold with high thermal conductivity and Euler-Young's modulus of 77 GPa is offering the best performance. Incorporation of meanders and perforations to the membrane helped to reduce the pull-in voltage. The proposed switch is offering very low pull-in voltage of 1.9 V. The deflection of beam thickness is tabulated for the three materials among them the 2 ţm thickness is best beam thickness for the switch for X-band applications. The switch offers best return loss (S11) of -21.36 dB, insertion loss (S12) of -0.147 dB, and isolation (S21) of -52.04 dB at 8GHz. The switch presented in this paper is preferable in X-band applications.

In this paper, we have designed, simulated, fabricated, and characterized a clamped-clamped micro mechanical structure-based shunt capacitive RF MEMS switch. The clamped-clamped micromechanical structure is micromachined using a gold metal thickness of 500 nm. AlN is used as a dielectric material, and it is deposited using the dc sputtering PVD process. In the MEMS technology, particularly in devices fabrication, releasing the membrane is a difficult task, and here, we have presented a novel wet process to release the membrane. Primarily, the S1813 sacrificial layer is etched by using the piranha solution and cleaned with the IPA solution. Critical point drying is done after fabrication to reduce the stiction effect on the switch. Overall, the switch requires the pull-in voltage of 5.5 V for 1.8-μm displacement. In the process of optimization, primarily, the switch is designed and simulated using finite-element method tools. The reliability of the capacitive RF MEMS switches depends on the stiction problem caused by dielectric charging, and the proposed capacitive switch dielectric charging behavior is characterized using the CV curve method.

High nitrogen stainless steel (HNS) is a nickel free austenitic stainless steel that is used as a structural component in defence applications for manufacturing battle tanks as a replacement of the existing armour grade steel owing to its low cost, excellent mechanical properties and better corrosion resistance. Conventional fusion welding causes problems like nitrogen desorption, solidification cracking in weld zone, liquation cracking in heat affected zone, nitrogen induced porosity and poor mechanical properties. The above problems can be overcome by proper selection and procedure of joining process. In the present work, an attempt has been made to correlate the microstructural changes with mechanical properties of fusion and solid state welds of high nitrogen steel. Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), electron beam welding (EBW) and friction stir welding (FSW) processes were used in the present work. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction were used to characterize microstructural changes. Hardness, tensile and bend tests were performed to evaluate the mechanical properties of welds. The results of the present investigation established that fully austenitic dendritic structure was found in welds of SMAW. Reverted austenite pools in the martensite matrix in weld zone and unmixed zones near the fusion boundary were observed in GTA welds. Discontinuous ferrite network in austenite matrix was observed in electron beam welds. Fine recrystallized austenite grain structure was observed in the nugget zone of friction stir welds. Improved mechanical properties are obtained in friction stir welds when compared to fusion welds. This is attributed to the refined microstructure consisting of equiaxed and homogenous austenite grains.