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In this current energy crisis era, piezoelectric and triboelectric effects are emerging as promising technologies for energy harvesting. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and its copolymers are well-known piezoelectric materials with high piezoelectric coefficients, which are widely used in flexible electronic devices. PVDF is also greatly utilized in the preparation of triboelectric layer due to its higher electronegative nature amongst common polymers. On the other hand, zinc oxide (ZnO) has been widely studied to investigate its multifunctional properties, including piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity and antibacterial activity. This versatile material can be prepared, using low cost and environmentally friendly routes, in various morphologies. Various research has already been performed to capture the synergistic effects of reinforcing ZnO within the PVDF polymeric matrix. This work first describes the basic principles of piezoelectric and triboelectric effects. Thereafter, the piezoelectric and triboelectric performances of PVDF and ZnO-based materials are briefly depicted based on their structures. Finally, the challenges and future scope associated with the mechanical energy harvesting from such materials are highlighted.

Air quality is directly associated with the health of society. So, it becomes essential to forecast air pollution, which assumes an imperative part in air pollution warnings and control. A time-series simulation approach was adapted for the forecasting of monthly mean ambient air pollutants (PM2.5, O3, NO2) concentration and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) at an urban traffic site (Mathura Road, CSIR-CRRI) in New Delhi, India. Satellite-based aerosol loading (AOD550) retrieved from the Terra MODIS (Collection 6) enhanced Deep Blue (DB) algorithm was used for further analysis. The analysis considered the average monthly mean concentration of air pollutants and AOD between 2012-2017 and, simulates the concentrations of PM2.5, O3, NO2, and AOD for the same period and then forecasts air quality for the years 2020-2023. The forecasted results were validated with 24 months of in-situ and satellite data from 2018-to and 2019. In the year 2020, observed and simulated results are in lower agreement due to the shutdown of anthropogenic activities to combat pandemic situations. Otherwise, modeled and forecasted results are in good harmony with the in-situ and satellite observations. The results also signify that the time series Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) modeling approach can be an effective and simple tool for air pollution simulation and future forecast. The results are evocative concerning the forecast of near future aerosol loading information and will also be profound to address the problems.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the Deformable Image Registration (DIR) software of Mirada® and Velocity® using quantitative measures as per the recommendation based on Task Group TG- 132. Materials and Methods: Task Group 132 has provided geometric and anatomic virtual phantoms for quality assurance which were imported and contoured on the reference image, followed by DIR and then the contours were propagated on all the CT/CBCT data sets with different offsets and orientation of geometric and anatomic virtual phantom using Mirada and Velocity. Analysis was performed using the Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC), Mean Distance to Agreement (MDA), Housdorff (HD) and Target Registration Error (TRE). The results were compared to find the difference in significance using a Paired t-test with a significance level set at 5%. Results: The obtained statistical result is listed below, considering the Geometric phantom, with regards to DSC, Mean and SD values obtained for Mirada and Velocity is 0.955 ± 0.348 and 0.965 ± 0.418 respectively with the p-value coming at 0.013 indicating a significant difference. Considering MDA, a significant difference of p-value of 0.001 was found between Mirada and Velocity with the former having 0.668 ± 0.684 compared to 0.381 ± 0.424 of the latter. For HD, Mirada obtained a mean value of 3.464 ± 2.091 in comparison with 2.202 ± 1.215 of Velocity. As for TRE, three fiducials within the phantom were considered and Mirada had a mean value of 1.037 mm while Velocity had 1.338 mm. While analyzing the Anatomic phantom, DSC values for Mirada and Velocity were 0.946 ± 0.031 and 0.944 ± 0.313 respectively indicating no significance. Likewise, no significance was found considering MDA (Mirada: 0.435 ± 0.235, Velocity: 0.449 ± 0.242). Regarding HD, Mirada obtained 4.216 mm while Velocity had 4.233 mm showing exceptional compliance. The mean value of TRE for three fiducials was found to be less than 1 mm it's also found significant difference. Conclusion: This study highlights the strengths and differences between Mirada and Velocity in DIR for adaptive radiotherapy. While both software applications excel in DSC, MDA and HD, the observed difference in TRE indicates a potential advantage of Mirada in achieving better image registration, especially in landmark-based registration scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterosis were estimated using ten lines and three testers and their thirty F1 combinations, crossed in line × tester fashion which were evaluated for four seasons for important quality traits viz., lycopene, ascorbic acid, titrable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS) and pericarp thickness. Some of the parents having good potentiality for generating superior F1 combinations for most of the quality characters under study have been identified. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated significantly higher amount of differences among genotypes for all the five characters studied. In this study, among crosses, the cross NDTVR60 × Floradade exhibited positive desirable heterosis over best parent for lycopene (60.22%) and Selection7 × Floradade (25.12%) for ascorbic acid. The cross NDTVR60 × Floradade showed the highest positive heterosis over best parent for titrable acidity (31.37%) whereas cross CO3 × Azad T5 (30.65%) exhibited the significantly highest positive heterosis over best parent for TSS and cross combination DT2 × Azad T5 (56.82%) exhibited positive heterobeltiosis for pericarp thickness.

Abstract We report the electrocatalytic activity of nanosized Co2Fe‐layered double hydroxide (LDH) on nitrogen doped graphene (NG) hybrid materials toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER). An enhanced activity trend was observed with increase in amount of LDH in the hybrid. The highest activity in terms of onset potential (1.48 V), Ej=10 (1.54 V), and Tafel slope (61 mV/dec) was observed for 75 wt% LDH, which is better than pristine LDH and the state of art RuO2. The origin of activity enhancement in the hybrids was correlated with different electrochemical parameters and physical properties of the constituents. In earlier reports, generally the decrease in charge transfer resistance (RCT) at the electrode electrolyte interface was correlated with increase in OER activity. However, in case of LDH‐NG hybrids, a completely opposite trend was observed. The TGA and XRD results showed that higher amount of LDH loading inhibits the NG stacking. The hydrophilic property of LDH, uniform distribution of LDH on NG without agglomeration, and inhibition of NG stacking were proposed to be the reason behind the observed trend in activity.