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In the summer of 2021, we held a community workshop at the International Congress of Arabidopsis Research (ICAR) aimed at early career researchers and focused on values-based lab leadership. Here, we elaborate on ideas emerging from the workshop that we hope will allow current and future group leaders to reflect on and adjust to the rapidly evolving nature of the academic scientific enterprise.

Nitrogen (N) is an essential but generally limiting nutrient for biological systems. Development of the Haber-Bosch industrial process for ammonia synthesis helped to relieve N limitation of agricultural production, fueling the Green Revolution and reducing hunger. However, the massive use of industrial N fertilizer has doubled the N moving through the global N cycle with dramatic environmental consequences that threaten planetary health. Thus, there is an urgent need to reduce losses of reactive N from agriculture, while ensuring sufficient N inputs for food security. Here we review current knowledge related to N use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture and identify research opportunities in the areas of agronomy, plant breeding, biological N fixation (BNF), soil N cycling, and modeling to achieve responsible, sustainable use of N in agriculture. Amongst these opportunities, improved agricultural practices that synchronize crop N demand with soil N availability are low-hanging fruit. Crop breeding that targets root and shoot physiological processes will likely increase N uptake and utilization of soil N, while breeding for BNF effectiveness in legumes will enhance overall system NUE. Likewise, engineering of novel N-fixing symbioses in non-legumes could reduce the need for chemical fertilizers in agroecosystems but is a much longer-term goal. The use of simulation modeling to conceptualize the complex, interwoven processes that affect agroecosystem NUE, along with multi-objective optimization, will also accelerate NUE gains.

Owing to its inherent advantages like low‐energy consumption, low‐fouling propensity, and high recovering ability over high‐pressure‐driven membrane processes, the future of membrane technology is shifting toward forward osmosis (FO). However, the utility of FO in challenging areas is hindered by the lack of suitable FO membranes. Here, the development of innovative FO membranes by depositing weakly magnetic and positively charged FeOxCly nanoparticles on a negatively charged nylon membrane (FeOx‐Nyl) is reported. Remarkably, the FeOx‐Nyl membrane possesses outstanding stability in an aqueous medium and survived in both acidic (pH = 3.3) and basic (pH = 12.2) solutions. Upon varying the loading amount of FeOxCly, the water flux of the FeOx‐Nyl membrane varies from 27.8 to 61.3 LMH (from 5 to 30 mg). Due to its hydrophilic nature, the FeOx‐Nyl membrane exhibits excellent flux recovery rates (FRR), up to ≈70%. The outstanding robustness and high flux of FeOx‐Nyl are exploited in challenging applications like recovering reactive chemical wastes and dehydration of acetic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic philosophy of two-stage blast interrupter is combination of self-blast and puffer-interrupter principles. Gas circuit breaker (GCB) with two-stage blast interrupter has two gas chambers. High gas pressure in one chamber generates by using arc energy and in other chamber, by mechanical compression. In such type of breakers, interruption becomes quite difficult at low currents and hence optimization of gas chambers design is essential. In view of above, a numerical program has been developed to calculate SF6 gas pressure-rise in various interrupter volumes and gas flow rates across different passages of interrupter w.r.t. time. To validate model developed in the study, an experimental set-up is established and measured transient gas pressure-rise generated during 420 kV GCB operation. The effect of speed-time characteristics, stroke length and piston diameter on performance parameters of 420 kV GCB model is analyzed. Further, to understand gas flow pattern across insulated nozzle during GCB operation, authors developed a CFX model. By using this numerical model, effect of nozzle profile, gas flow passage areas and profile of gas discharge vents on transient gas pressure and Mach number distribution across inter-electrode gap and gas flow rates through various outlets has been discussed in detail in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]