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The growing demand for nano-sized and efficient semiconductors leading to a technological revolution in quantum technology has unleashed into the development of new types of compound semiconductors of nano-scale. However, the physical phenomena limiting their efficiency requires more study into the charge transportation phenomena. The study of instabilities like drift instability and modulation instability of the waves excited in a semiconductor plasma due to various force field configurations with the inclusion of quantum effects has gained recent attention, as the solid-state plasma in a semiconductor satisfies the condition for quantum plasma. The different types of instabilities, its mechanism, and effect in a semiconductor quantum plasma, have been studied in detail and presented in this article. Most of the works that has been carried out to study the instabilities have used the quantum hydrodynamic (QHD) model. The important quantum effects that are highlighted in most of the work includes the Bohm potential, exchange potential, and Fermi degenerate pressure in the nano-sized quantum semiconductors. This review work may be relevant to all who wants to have an insight on various instabilities in semiconductor quantum plasma.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a complex disease which is characterized by the deposition of fats in the hepatocytes. Further, it progresses to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The increasing prevalence of NAFLD urges to find the non-invasive predictive biomarkers. In this study, we sought to determine increased BMP8B levels as predictors for the progression of NAFLD. In the present cross-sectional study, circulatory BMP8B levels were measured in healthy controls (n = 56), NAFL patients (n = 72) and NASH patients (n = 77) by using an ELISA kit. Human hepatic BMP8B mRNA expression was measured in the liver tissue of control and NASH patients. In addition, BMP8B expression was confirmed by immunohistochemistry analysis. Furthermore, hepatic BMP8B mRNA expression was measured in wild type (WT) mice, WT mice fed with choline deficient high fat diet (WT+CDHF), iNOS (inducible nitric oxide synthase) knockout (iNOS-/-) mice, iNOS-/- fed with CDHF diet (iNOS-/-+CDHF). Increased circulatory BMP8B levels and BMP8B mRNA expression in hepatic tissue were significantly higher in NASH patients as compared with the control subjects. BMP8B expression was increased parallel to the fibrosis score in the hepatic tissues of NASH patients. It was observed that increased BMP8B levels have shown a significant positive correlation between aspartate aminotransferase (r = 0.31, p = 0.005), alanine aminotransferase (r = 0.23, p = 0.045), APRI (r = 0.30, p = 0.009), and Fib-4 score (r = 0.25, p = 0.036) in NASH patients. BMP8B has maintained a significant association with NASH and shown high sensitivity (92.91%) and specificity (92.73%) in NASH patients. Furthermore, increased BMP8B mRNA expression levels were observed in iNOS-/-+CDHF mice. Our study findings confirmed that BMP8B increases with the severity of the disease and BMP8B shows potential as a non-invasive predictive biomarker to identify NAFLD progression. However, future studies should investigate circulatory BMP8B levels in a large number of patients and also its impact on liver during NAFLD progression.

Glasses having the stoichiometry ratio [(70-x) B 2 O 3 –10Na 2 O–20ZnO–xNiO] where 0.0 ≤ x < 0.3 mol% were synthesized using a melt quenching technique. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique confirmed the non-crystalline properties of the glasses. Surface morphology and elemental analysis were done by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) spectra. The glass density ranged from 2.539 to 2.597 gcm −3 and the physical characteristics such as ion concentration, inter-ionic distance, average boron-boron distance, oxygen packing density, polaron radius, and field strength were calculated and interpreted. The deconvolution spectra of Fourier Transfer Infra-Red (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy resulted in BO 3 unit to BO 4 unit conversion as the NiO concentration increased. The UV–Visible spectroscopy showed absorption peaks near 425 nm and 800 nm corresponding to 3 A 2g (F) →  3 T 1g (P)) and ( 3 A 2g (F) →  1 E g ( 3 F)) transitions respectively. The direct bandgap decreased from 4.00 to 3.76 eV, but the indirect bandgap increased from 3.00 to 3.12 eV. The Urbach energy of glasses decreased from 0.56 to 0.35 with an increase in NiO concentration showing the compactness of the glass network. Furthermore, optical characteristics were determined, including the refractive index, dielectric constant, metallization criterion, electronic oxide ion polarizability, optical basicity, and numerical aperture. Photoluminescence spectra exhibit strong green and cyan emission due to d-d transitions of Ni 2+ . The CIE Chromaticity coordinates confirm that the observed green light emission from BZNNi glasses are suitable candidates for optoelectronic applications.

Barium bismuth borate sodium (BBBNDy) glasses doped with Dy 2 O 3 (0–0.8 mol%, x = 0.2 mol%) were prepared via the melt quenching approach and examined under gamma irradiation. XRD confirmed the amorphous nature, while density measurements (4.3387–4.4743 g/cm 3 ) revealed composition and irradiation-dependent variations. FTIR and Raman studies indicated Dy 2 O 3 -induced network modification through BO 3 /BO 4 and BiO 3 /BiO 6 units, with minimal structural degradation under irradiation. Optical studies revealed tunable band gaps and low Urbach energies (0.1752–0.2266 eV) reflecting good structural order. Photoluminescence spectra exhibited a strong yellow emission at 575 nm ( 4 F 9/2  →  6 H 13/2 ), with optimal intensity for BBBNDy3 glass. Gamma irradiation induced PL quenching at 575 nm, with intensity reduced by to 66.6% at 5 kGy and 87.2% at 15 kGy; still, Dy 3+ emission remains detectable. These results highlight the dual role of Dy 3+ ions as structural stabilisers and efficient luminescent activators, identifying BBBNDy3 glasses as a strong candidate for photonic devices operating in radiation environments.

The influence of the spin quantum forces along with other quantum parameters, including the Bohmian force, spin quantum force, exchange–correlation potential, and quantum statistical pressure of the quantized degenerate species were considered to examine the excitation of comparatively low frequency electrostatic lower hybrid waves (LHWs) and upper hybrid waves (UHWs) driven by an electron beam in a magnetized semiconductor plasma. The investigation is done using the quantum hydrodynamic framework. The influence of the spin quantum force, electron beam temperature, beam streaming speed, and propagation angle on the growth and phase speed of LHWs and UHWs have been analysed. Each of the parameters affects the instability, the growth rate, and the resonant values. One of the notable outcomes is the effect of temperature on the instability. The resonance value of the maximal growth rate is affected due to the different parameters. The inclusion of the spin quantum force shifts the growth rate in both LHWs and UHWs. Graphical abstract

Four hundred seventy Rhizoctonia solani isolates from different leguminous hosts originating from 16 agro-ecological regions of India covering 21 states and 72 districts were collected. The disease incidence caused by R. solani varied from 6.8 to 22.2 % in the areas surveyed. Deccan plateau and central highlands, hot sub-humid ecoregion followed by northern plain and central highlands and hot semi-arid ecoregion showed the highest disease incidence. R. solani isolates were highly variable in growth diameter, number, size and pattern of sclerotia formation as well as hyphal width. The isolates obtained from aerial part of the infected plants showing web blight symptoms produced sclerotia of 1–2 mm in size whereas, the isolates obtained from infected root of the plants showing wet root rot symptoms produced microsclerotia (<1 mm). Majority of R. solani isolates showed <8 μm hyphal diameter. Based on morphological characters the isolates were categorized into 49 groups. Seven anastomosis groups (AGs) were identified among the populations of R. solani associated with the pulse crops. The frequency (25.6 %) of AG3 was the highest followed by AG2–3 (20.9 %) and AG5 (17.4 %). The cropping sequence of rice/sorghum/wheat-chickpea/mungbean/urdbean/cowpea/ricebean influenced the dominance of AG1 (16.3 %). Phylogenetic analysis utilizing ITS-5.8S rDNA gene sequences indicated high level of genetic similarity among isolates representing different AGs, crops and regions. ITS groups did not correspond to the morphological characters. The sequence data from this article has been deposited with NCBI data libraries with JF701707 to JF701795 accession numbers.

The torsional Alfvén wave is highly regarded as the carrier of the energy from the photosphere to the corona in the solar atmosphere. This paper presents a comprehensive linear analysis of the wave behavior and energy transfer within an open, twisted, divergent magnetic flux tube configuration, considering the impact of wave guide structure on the propagation of these waves using the magneto-hydrodynamic approach. The study shows that waves with frequencies between 0.001 Hz and 1 Hz can effectively penetrate the transition region, with the most efficient energy transfer occurring in the 0.1 Hz to 1 Hz frequency range. The research findings suggest that waves with certain intermediate frequencies are able to transmit energy to the coronal region of the Sun, contributing to its active heating.

A novel series of Fe 3+ doped mixed alkali zirconia-borate glasses with the composition 60B 2 O 3 –25Na 2 O–10Li 2 O–(5 − x)ZrO 2 –xFe 2 O 3 (x = 0–1 mol%) were synthesized using the melt-quenching technique. The novelty of this work lies in combining the structural modifications with enhanced optical properties and orange-red luminescence in Fe 3+ doped mixed alkali zirconia-borate glasses for warm photonic applications. X-ray diffraction confirmed the non-crystalline nature of glass, while SEM images and EDS spectra were utilised for morphological and elemental analysis. The density of the glasses decreased from 2.4197 to 2.4168 g cm −3 before gradually increasing to 2.4324 g cm −3 . FTIR and Raman spectral studies showed the formation of non-bridging orthoborate units from pentaborate and di-pentaborate units. The optical absorption band at 450 nm is associated with the Fe 3+ transition 6 A 1g ( 6 S) → 4 A 1g ( 4 G); 4 E g ( 4 G). The decrease in direct bandgap from 3.90 to 3.10 eV and indirect bandgap from 3.44 to 2.77 eV, along with an increase in Urbach energy from 0.245 to 0.273 eV, indicates the disorder in structure. An increase in refractive index leads to an increase in third-order susceptibility and nonlinear refractive index. The photoluminescence spectra exhibited orange-red emission at ( 4 T 2g ( 4 G) → 6 A 1g ( 6 S)) with 550 nm, 560 nm and 570 nm excitation wavelengths. The CIE chromaticity and CCT values show that Fe 3+ doped glasses are suitable for warm-emitting orange-red photonic applications.

A new, easy and green method is utilized for producing silver decorated graphene for its application in sensors and supercapacitors. The biomass-derived silver decorated graphene (AgGr) samples are prepared using an APCVD reactor with varying the process temperature from 600 to 800 °C. The as-synthesized AgGr samples were then characterized by AFM, SEM, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The interlayer spacing and I D /I G ratio of the AgGr samples varied from 3.6 to 3.7 Å and 0.87 to 1.52, respectively, as the process temperature was raised from 600 to 800 °C. The SEM image shows the distribution of the flower-like structure of Ag flakes in the graphene sheet for the AgGr-800 sample. Also, the greater number of active sites on the surface of AgGr-800 and the presence of a higher number of defects makes it least useful for p-nitrophenol sensing due to the excess opening of the CV curve but has a maximum capacitance of 93.5 Fg −1 in 1 M H 2 SO 4 . AgGr-600 showed extremely good sensing of p-nitrophenol than the other AgGr samples. Therefore this novel technique can be utilized for the large scale manufacture of various metal decorated graphene samples for their application in different fields.

Silicon nanowire (SiNW) hybrid solar cell has been fabricated using PEDOT:PSS and rGO-PEDOT:PSS as the organic hole transport layer. The electrical characterization of the as-fabricated solar cell was done by both dark and photo J–V characteristic curves. Vertically aligned arrays of SiNWs have been synthesized by following the electroless metal-assisted chemical etching method, as confirmed by both the scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy images. The structural properties of SiNWs, PEDOT:PSS and rGO-PEDOT:PSS were characterized with the help of X-ray diffraction and Raman characterization techniques. The bandgap of PEDOT:PSS comes out to be 1.77 eV as obtained from the UV–visible and photoluminescence spectra. In addition, the bandgap of PEDOT:PSS was 1.76 eV and for reduced graphene oxide (rGO) it was 0.04 eV, as obtained from the cyclic voltammetry curve. rGO-PEDOT:PSS heterojunction showed excellent J–V characteristic property in the dark and under the illumination of 1 sun. Hence the incorporation of rGO in PEDOT:PSS can improve the photovoltaic properties by increasing the conductivity of the hole transport layer, making a good interface between organic–inorganic heterojunction as well as by reducing the recombination of electron–hole pairs.