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Source apportionment studies are expected to provide relative contribution of different sources responsible for deteriorated air quality in an urban area, so that the agency responsible for urban air quality management can adopt prioritized source-specific control measures. Robust assessment of source contributions in a typical urban land-use pattern is the prime step for development of effective emission control strategies. This necessitates a critical review of the PM2.5 source apportionment studies conducted in different urban land uses and delineation of the dominant sources along with its contribution to reveal the diversifications among the peculiar land use classifications even within the same city. The present study reviewed the source apportionment studies carried out at 37 locations from seven Indian cities and categorized the sources contribution on seasonal (winters and summers) average basis for residential, commercial, industrial, kerbside, and mixed locations. The findings of the review studies inferred considerable variations in the source’s contribution to air pollution with land use change. For example, during winter, domestic/biomass emission was reported as a significant source in residential (34%), commercial (26%), mixed (46%), industrial (31%), and road side (27%) locations in Delhi city in North India. However, vehicle (57%) was found to be the dominant source in residential area whose contribution increased up to 76% at road side location in Bangalore City in South India. It is also observed that source contributions vary in different seasons depending upon the activity levels. More or less similar observation was found in other cities selected for this study. The variations in source apportionment findings for a particular city might be attributed to heterogeneity of sources/major activity areas, nonuniform adoption of methodology. The study emphasizes on the need for the development of urban air quality management plan based on the land use specific source apportionment studies.

The emergence of COVID-19 put pressure on the Governments of most of the countries in the world to enforce nationwide lockdown (restriction of all non-essential activities) to curtail the spread of infection. The nationwide lockdown created an adverse impact on the economies around the world and altered the day-to-day life of people. The restrictions on pollution generating activities during the lockdown period resulted in an overall improvement of the air quality throughout the world including India. This study evaluated the impact on air quality in 46 cities throughout India and the findings indicate that on average, PM 2.5 and NO x , concentrations reduced by about 34% and 60%, respectively at different locations in India. PM 2.5 concentrations reduced by about 23%, 16%, 32%, and 28% in small, medium, large and megacities, respectively. However, the reduction in NO x concentrations was dissimilar to PM 2.5 in these cities. The findings further suggested that the impact of lockdown on air quality was not homogenous across the country and was probably due to varying background contributions. The average concentrations of PM 2.5 and NO x at background stations were found higher in large and mega cities than the smaller cities. The PM 2.5 concentrations at background stations were higher in North India in comparison to other parts of India.

Numerous management strategies are implemented for the improvement in urban air quality worldwide, including control at tailpipe emissions. Control at the source is one of the best practices for pollution control, but this approach needs very stringent enforcement, public support, and monitoring for implementation. Besides, scientific processes-based technology to remove the pollutants from the ambient environment is also one of the approaches to improve air quality; however, high efficiency of such devices is one of the major challenges for the researchers. The present article is an attempt to review the state-of-the-art literature on such science-based technologies used to remove the pollutants from the ambient environment. The article highlighted the issues of high spatiotemporal variations in air pollution level in urban areas and methodologies available for the removal of pollutants. The efficiency of developed prototypes/devices using these processes is also compared worldwide. The technologies are available for particulate matter, and/or for gaseous pollutants. The air purification devices are designed and developed using scientific principles of bio-filtration, ionization, phytoremediation, photo-catalytic, and physical filtration. Based on the literature, it is found that ionization and physical filtration can remove particulate matter in the range of 61–95% and ~ 70%, respectively, while phytoremediation can remove in the range of 24–40%. The phytoremediation can remove NOx in the range of 10–15%. The efficiency of devices varies as pollution load and particle size distribution pattern varies. It is suggested that such control devices would be very useful in the reduction in air pollution at the hot spot area having high spatiotemporal variations.Graphic abstract

Background Pullulanases are the significant industrial group in the 13 glycosyl hydrolases category, known as the [alpha]-amylases family. There are very few reports on pullulanase from fungal sources. Based on the above research gap, the present study was undertaken to explore the endophytic fungi for their pullulanase-producing capabilities. Results A total of 126 endophytes were isolated from Tradescantia pallida, Zea mays, and Trifolium alexandrinum. Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Ganoderma species recovered highest from the stem of Tradescantia palida. Fusarium was dominant in the stem and leaf of Zea mays. Penicillium, Aspergillus, Ganoderma, Cladosporium, Fusarium, and Alternaria were recovered from the Trifolium alexandrium. The Shannon index in Tradescantia pallida was highest in leaves while in Zea mays and Trifolium alexandrinum, it is highest in the stem. The Simpson's index is highest in the case of Zea mays stem and root. Species richness was indicated by Menhinick's index, and it was found that this value was highest in the roots of Trifolium alexandrinum. As per our knowledge, no comparative data is available on the endophytic diversity of the above plants taken for the study. Out of 126 endophytes, only 2.38% produced pullulanase while 7.94% produced amylase. The recovery of pullulanase-producing endophytic fungi was very less. But the importance of pullulanase is high as compared to amylase because it has both [alpha]-1,6 and [alpha]-1,4 hydrolyzing ability. Therefore, the most promising isolates were identified by ITS sequence analysis. Based on spore chain morphology, isolates BHU-25 and BHU-30 were identified as Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus species, respectively. This is the first report of pullulanase from endophytic Aspergillus and Penicillium. Conclusion Endophytes Aspergillus sp. and Penicillium sp. produce pullulanase enzyme. This is the first report of pullulanase from endophytic Aspergillus and Penicillium.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to outline the importance and benefits an organisation can achieve through supply chain integration. These benefits are primarily in the area of achieving superior customer service and operating with lower working capital.Design methodology approach - A three level framework for achieving the integration has been proposed which is in the form of structural integration, process integration and performance integration. The paper also describes in detail the factors influencing an organisations working capital needs and how this integration mechanism allows the organisation to exercise control over these factors. The framework has been described in the form of a case study in a paints company.Findings - The research findings reveal that most of the Indian organisations have aligned their supply chain objectives with their business objectives. They are now on course for aligning their processes and management focus. Enhanced levels of competitiveness would require Indian organisations to manage the three-dimensional alignment of achieving the agenda set by the business strategy.Research limitations implications - Further research work should focus on assessing the current level of supply chain integration. It is essential that structure and strategy should be aligned to achieve the business objective of providing superior customer service at the lowest cost.Practical implications - This paper provides a detailed study to help supply chain managers improve supply chain efficiency through reengineering. Dramatic improvements have been achieved with the improvement of service levels (OTIF) by more than 20 per cent across all regions. Planning orientation and organisational integration resulted in process optimisation across the supply chain.Originality value - The benefits of re-engineering have increased company's commitment to the integration of the Supply Chain Organisation and it is driving further business improvement initiatives through this organisation. This framework can also be used as a guiding source to carry out organisational transformation process.

This report uses a model that considers the effect of both factor and output prices on marketed surplus. To derive input demand and output supply elasticities, the normalized quadratic profit function and demand equations were estimated jointly with the seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) estimation technique using farm level panel data. The data confirm the theoretical framework. The derived price elasticities of input demand, output supply, and marketed surplus have been simulated to examine alternative price policies for securing different levels of marketed surplus. At the observed price structure, the marketed surplus of wheat will increase almost equal to population growth, but in case of paddy it will grow at a very low rate. The study further reveals that besides price adjustment, technological improvement and non-price factors are also of critical importance for increasing output supply and, hence, marketed surplus.

This paper deals with total quality management (TQM) with an emphasis on developing suitable strategies for improving quality and productivity in manufacturing systems. In recent years, TQM has been seen as an important strategy for achieving success in business both in terms of quality and productivity. However, there seem to be no clear strategic framework and guide-lines for implementing TQM in manufacturing in the light of available advanced production concepts and technologies. A review of previous implementation approaches of TQM in practice has been presented in order to gain further insights into the implementation aspects of TQM. The main objective of this paper is to present a general framework for the development of TQM in manufacturing organizations considering the recent developments in production concepts and technologies and competitiveness among firms to utilize quality as a competitive weapon.

In a Just-in-Time (JIT) environment, ideally there would be no need for safety stocks. However, in practice, supply-side and demandside uncertainties cannot be completely eliminated. Safety stocks would still be needed - particularly during the transition to JIT. Reviews the various methods for computing safety stocks. For each method, examines the relationship between safety stocks and lot sizes. The analysis indicates that the commonly used methods do not take into account the reduction in lot sizes that is characteristic of JIT. Such methods, therefore, are inappropriate for use in the JIT context.