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Nickel–cobalt hydroxide thin films were synthesized using the chemical bath deposition method, and the effect of thermal annealing (373–673 K) on their physicochemical and electrochemical characteristics was explored. The X-ray diffraction study showed a cubic crystalline structure of NiCo 2 O 4 electrode formed above annealing temperature of 573 K. Field emission scanning electron spectroscopy (FE-SEM) study revealed that after annealing, NiCo 2 O 4 electrode showed urchin-like microspheres morphology with superhydrophilic nature. The electrode annealed at 573 K exhibited outstanding electrochemical performance with a specific capacitance of 470 F g −1 at 0.4 A g −1 current density. Over 2000 cycles, electrode demonstrated capacitive retention of 75.55%. Finally, NiCo 2 O 4 and Fe 2 O 3 thin films were used to construct the asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) device. The ASC device manifested energy density of 40 Wh kg −1 at power density of 1.66 kW kg −1 and 82% retention after 2000 CV cycles. Graphical Abstract

Nickel-cobalt hydroxide thin films were synthesized using the chemical bath deposition method, and the effect of thermal annealing (373-673 K) on their physicochemical and electrochemical characteristics was explored. The X-ray diffraction study showed a cubic crystalline structure of NiCo.sub.2O.sub.4 electrode formed above annealing temperature of 573 K. Field emission scanning electron spectroscopy (FE-SEM) study revealed that after annealing, NiCo.sub.2O.sub.4 electrode showed urchin-like microspheres morphology with superhydrophilic nature. The electrode annealed at 573 K exhibited outstanding electrochemical performance with a specific capacitance of 470 F g.sup.-1 at 0.4 A g.sup.-1 current density. Over 2000 cycles, electrode demonstrated capacitive retention of 75.55%. Finally, NiCo.sub.2O.sub.4 and Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 thin films were used to construct the asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) device. The ASC device manifested energy density of 40 Wh kg.sup.-1 at power density of 1.66 kW kg.sup.-1 and 82% retention after 2000 CV cycles.

The utilization of solar energy is an essential aspect in order to sustain in the energy crisis situation. Semiconductor based photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells are used for it. Herein, a binder free approach was employed for the synthesis of CdSe thin films on stainless steel substrate and effect of post annealing (350–500 K) on physicochemical as well as photoelectrochemical properties were investigated. The characterization showed that CdSe thin films crystallized in cubic crystal structure with spherical granular morphology with optical band gap of 1.76 eV. The effect of post annealing on CdSe thin films is further tested by examining their PEC properties. Thin film CdSe electrode annealed at temperature 400 K showed highest fill factor ( FF ) and efficiency ( η ) of 0.32 and 1.54%, respectively. In addition, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) study showed superior charge transfer properties.

The spinel ferrites are versatile group of metal oxides with good photoelectrochemical and unique magnetic properties, as well as low cost, biocompatible and huge abundance. The magnetic as well as photoelectrochemical properties have been extensively examined. Herein, we have synthesized zinc ferrite (ZnFe 2 O 4 ) thin films on nickel foam via spray pyrolysis method at substrate temperatures of 300, 400, and 500 °C. The physicochemical properties of ZnFe 2 O 4 films were investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Electrochemical properties oxygen evolution reaction and supercapacitive performance of ZnFe 2 O 4 thin films were investigated through linear sweep voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The ZnFe 2 O 4 thin film synthesized at 400 °C exhibited an overpotential of 319 mV at a current density of 50 mA/cm 2 with a Tafel slope of 115 mV/dec. Furthermore, it also showed a specific capacitance of 335 F/g at 1 mA/cm 2 current density in 1 M KOH electrolyte.

Large area X-ray propositional counter (LAXPC) instrument on AstroSat is aimed at providing high time resolution X-ray observations in 3–80 keV energy band with moderate energy resolution. To achieve large collecting area, a cluster of three co-aligned identical LAXPC detectors, is used to realize an effective area in access of ∼ 6000 cm 2 at 15 keV. The large detection volume of the LAXPC detectors, filled with xenon gas at ∼ 2 atmosphere pressure, results in detection efficiency greater than 50%, above 30 keV. In this article, we present salient features of the LAXPC detectors, their testing and characterization in the laboratory prior to launch and calibration in the orbit. Some preliminary results on timing and spectral characteristics of a few X-ray binaries and other type of sources, are briefly discussed to demonstrate that the LAXPC instrument is performing as planned in the orbit.

Gingivo-buccal oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC-GB), an anatomical and clinical subtype of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), is prevalent in regions where tobacco-chewing is common. Exome sequencing ( n =50) and recurrence testing ( n =60) reveals that some significantly and frequently altered genes are specific to OSCC-GB ( USP9X , MLL4 , ARID2 , UNC13C and TRPM3 ), while some others are shared with HNSCC (for example, TP53 , FAT1 , CASP8 , HRAS and NOTCH1 ). We also find new genes with recurrent amplifications (for example, DROSHA , YAP1 ) or homozygous deletions (for example, DDX3X ) in OSCC-GB. We find a high proportion of C>G transversions among tobacco users with high numbers of mutations. Many pathways that are enriched for genomic alterations are specific to OSCC-GB. Our work reveals molecular subtypes with distinctive mutational profiles such as patients predominantly harbouring mutations in CASP8 with or without mutations in FAT1. Mean duration of disease-free survival is significantly elevated in some molecular subgroups. These findings open new avenues for biological characterization and exploration of therapies. Gingivo-buccal oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC-GB) is the leading cancer among males in India. Here, the authors carry out exome sequencing and recurrence testing in patients with OSCC-GB and highlight genes and biological pathways associated with the disease.

The seasonal snow cover and permanent ice in form of Himalayan glaciers provide fresh water to many perineal rivers of Himalayas. The melt water from seasonal snow and glaciers, especially during of 15 March to 15 June acts as important source of water for drinking, hydropower and irrigation requirements of many areas in North India. This work has highlights the use of C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from RISAT-1, Sentinel-1A and 1B satellites and ALOS-PALSAR-2 PolInSAR data for snow cover and glacier dynamics study for parts of North West Himalaya. Glacier velocity was derived using InSAR based method using 6 day temporal interval images from Sentinel-1 satellites and 14 day interval for PALSAR-2 satellite. High coherence was obtained for main glacier in both the data sets, which resulted accurate line of site (LOS) glacier velocity estimates for test glaciers. These InSAR data glacier velocity results are obtained after a gap of 21 years. Glacier facies was estimated using multi-temporal SAR image composition based classification. All these maps were verified by extensive ground surveys done at these sites during 2014–2017. The time series data of C-band SAR in VV/VH polarisation was also used to map snow cover in test basins of Bhagirathi and Beas River. The VV/VH data clearly shows difference between dry and wet snow, thus helping in improved snow cover mapping using SAR data. This study will help in refining algorithms to be used for such studies using upcoming NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) mission.

The flood early warning for any country is very important due to possible saving of human life, minimizing economic losses and devising mitigation strategies. The present work highlights the experimental flood early warning study in parts of Beas Basin, India for the monsoon season of 2015. The entire flood early warning was done in three parts. In first part, rainfall forecast for every three days in double nested Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) domain (9 km for outer domain and 3 km for inner domain) was done for North Western Himalaya NWH using National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecasting System (GFS) 0.25 degree data as initialization state. Rainfall forecast was validated using Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) data, the simulation accuracy of WRF in rainfall prediction above 100 mm is about 60%. Rainfall induced flood event of August 05–08, 2015 in Sone River (tributary of Beas River) Basin, near Dharampur, Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh caused very high damages. This event was picked three days in advance by WRF model based rainfall forecast. In second part, mean rainfall at sub-basin scale for hydrological model (HEC-HMS) was estimated from forecasted rainfall at every three hours in netcdf format using python script and flood hydrographs were generated. In third part, flood inundation map was generated using Hydrodynamic (HD) model (MIKE 11) with flood hydrographs as boundary condition to see the probable areas of inundation.

Application of satellite remote sensing in generating various geophysical parameters of land surface has gained tremendous importance in many branches of science and applied research. Out of all geophysical parameters of land surface derived from satellite remote sensing, the land surface temperature (LST) is of prime importance. LST acts as a governing parameter in water and energy exchange between land and atmosphere. It is an essential input to all the numerical weather prediction models, most of the process-based hydrological models and even in irrigation water management activities. Many algorithms for space-based LST retrieval and operational products of LST are available nowadays. However, these products are generally coarser in spatial and/or temporal resolutions. In the sector of irrigation water management, higher spatial resolution of all the geophysical products is prerequisites. Hence, in the present study, LST has been retrieved using two popular algorithms viz. radiative transfer theory (RTT) equation-based method and split-window (SW) algorithm. LST of Mula irrigation project command area has been retrieved using twenty images of Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) and Operation Land Imager (OLI) for entire Rabi/Winter season. Atmospheric parameters needed for the LST retrieval have been derived using online atmospheric correction tool. The land surface emissivity has been estimated using NDVI threshold technique. The standard daily LST product of MODIS has been used to cross-validate the LST retrieved from both the algorithms. LST retrieved using SW algorithm shows higher correlation coefficient with MODIS LST in entire command area and in agricultural land as well (0.938 and 0.925, respectively) compared to that of LST output of RTT method (0.902 and 0.894, respectively). The relative comparison of the LST products derived from RTT and SW algorithms showed that there is an average difference of ±3 °K between these two products. However, the difference is very small (−0.8 to 0.5°K) in case of agricultural area in the command. The higher correlation coefficient values between retrieved LST using both the algorithms and MODIS LST products hints toward the higher accuracy of derived LST at higher spatial resolution. These high spatial resolution LST products can further be used for irrigation water management.