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In recent times, wearable electronics, real-time sensing devices and point-of-care device applications have seen a surge in demand. This demand inherently calls for a more economic and reliable method of mass production. One such robust technique is screen printing that offers advantages in terms of being versatile, economical and easy to use. This technique has been proclaimed to be the best amongst the other additive manufacturing techniques by many research groups. This can be solely attributed to its simple equipment design, requiring a paste for printing purpose, a meshwork for housing the design and a squeegee to carry out printing through an up-and-down motion. This subsequently calls for optimising the parameters such as ink rheology, pore size of the mesh, proper choice of mesh design and motion of the squeeze in order to fabricate electrodes for desired purpose. Due to this technique’s immense potential to open up broad inroads in the domain of flexible electronics, whose concept has radically redefined the perception towards the field of electronics, a review article encompassing an elaborate description on the science and other quintessential parameters involved in this mass printing technique would prove to be extremely useful. In this purview, the review article is compartmentalised into sections encompassing discussion on the manufacturing of different kinds of inks for screen printing applications, substrates used, electrode design and pre-treatment procedures. Graphical abstract

High-temperature phase change materials (PCMs) with good energy storage density and thermal conductivity are needed to utilize solar thermal energy effectively to meet industrial thermal energy demands. Composite PCMs containing a material of higher thermal conductivity and an inorganic high-temperature PCM can be explored to meet these requirements. Accordingly, a high-temperature, composite inorganic PCM (ZnO-NaNO 3 ) with enhanced thermophysical properties was prepared, and its energy storage potential was investigated experimentally. A maximum thermal conductivity enhancement of 22.7% was achieved at 200 °C for 2 wt% ZnO-NaNO 3 nanocomposite. The increase in thermal conductivity at higher temperatures may be attributed to the formation of ordered sodium nitrate layers on the nanoparticle surfaces. The increase in surface area and surface energy due to the addition of ZnO nanoparticles increased the specific heat of the nanocomposite in both the solid and liquid phases (43.5% in the liquid phase for 2 wt% ZnO-NaNO 3 ). Thus, the addition of ZnO nanoparticles to NaNO 3 increased its energy storage capacity. The addition of ZnO nanoparticles to NaNO 3 did not affect the onset, peak or endset temperature during melting and freezing. Moreover, 2 wt% ZnO-NaNO 3 exhibited cyclic stability even after 500 cycles and thus has potential as an energy storage medium.

The current study explores the safety of Rasasindura (RS) , an Ayurvedic herbo-metallic preparation containing mercury, and its therapeutic potential against oligospermia. Based on global concerns due to the toxicity of mercury, this study was designed to evaluate the toxicology and pharmacology of RS . Wistar rats were administered therapeutic and high doses of RS intragastrically for the in vivo toxicology study. The toxicity tests showed no significant changes in the major functions of organs, hematological and biochemical functions except mild hyperactivity in a few animals in the high dose group. The study’s histopathological and biochemical analyses revealed no significant morphological or functional abnormalities in the brain, liver, kidneys, or testes of rats administered with high doses of RS , indicating normal neuronal and organ function. Additionally, biochemical and hematological evaluations showed no adverse effects, suggesting RS does not impair metabolic activities at the tested doses. A therapeutic study was carried out in oligospermia-induced Swiss Albino mice. RS caused a significant increase in sperm motility and count and reduced sperm abnormalities in mice treated with lead acetate-induced oligospermia. The elevated levels of the genes Catsper and Calpain revealed that the formulation activates the calcium channels which contribute to an increase in sperm count. Further, microarray studies revealed potential anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and immunomodulatory activities of RS . However, RS treatment also resulted in gene expression linked to possible toxic effects. Purified mercury-containing Ayurvedic preparations are safe at therapeutic concentrations if administered using a suitable vehicle; this is of great significance in reducing toxicity and enhancing efficacy, though higher concentrations could cause toxic effects mainly neurological, and hence the use of such potent metal-based medications are advised to be prescribed under medical supervision. To conclude, Rasasindura appears to be non-toxic at therapeutic doses and has shown promise the in treatment of oligospermia. Further studies could explore additional therapeutic effects and associated mechanisms for other disorders.

The evacuation path from inside a building to safe point outside becomes highly unpredictable due to changes in the local geometry or presence of obstacles during a disaster like a fire. During emergencies, Evacuees need appropriate information and hence prediction of an unobstructed path, as it emerges, needs to be computed well. Understanding the exits with its allowable people flow rate; the type - door or alternative exit such as windows, balconies, etc.; and its role as a node in the graph network is important to ensure safe and timely evacuation from a building. The study here evaluates how obstacles present in the evacuation route affect the removal of the last person. These obstacles, such as furniture, decrease the flow rate at which evacuees can escape. A subspace model is proposed for geometric spaces or carpet areas containing obstacles and is used to compute the shortest obstacle-free paths. The occupancy is considered within the subspaces containing obstacles. The proposed method clearly shows that a graph-based path generation using a subspace model improves the computation time, can be dynamically adapted, and can be scalable across geometric spaces. The results clearly show the impact of the obstacles, with a 2× to 6× rise when compared to obstacle-free scenarios.

Water quality monitoring of reservoirs is currently a significant challenge in the tropical regions of the world due to limited monitoring stations and hydrological data. Remote sensing techniques have proven to be a powerful tool for continuous real-time monitoring and assessment of tropical reservoirs water quality. Although many studies have detected chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations as a proxy to represent nutrient contamination, using Sentinel 2 for eutrophic or hypereutrophic inland water bodies, mainly reservoirs, minimal efforts have been made for oligotrophic and mesotrophic reservoirs. The present study aimed to develop a modeling framework to map and estimate spatio-temporal variability of Chl-a levels and associated water spread using the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) and Maximum Chlorophyll Index (MCI). Moreover, the impact of land use/land cover type of the contributing watershed in the oligo-mesotrophic reservoir, Bhadra (tropical reservoir), for 2018 and 2019 using Sentinel 2 satellite data was analyzed. The results show that the water spread area was higher in the post-monsoon months and lower in the summer months. This was further validated by the correlation with reservoir storage, which showed a strong relationship ( R 2 = 0.97, 2018; R 2 = 0.93, 2019). The estimated Chl-a spread was higher in the winter season, because the reservoir catchment was dominated by deciduous forest, producing a large amount of leaf litter in tropical regions, which leads to an increase in the level of Chl-a. It was found that Chl-a spread in the reservoir, specifically at the inlet sources and near agricultural land practices (western parts of the Bhadra reservoir). Based on the findings of this study, the MCI spectral index derived from Sentinel 2 data can be used to accurately map the spread of Chl-a in diverse water bodies, thereby offering a robust scientific basis for effective reservoir management.

In this work, ZnO nanoparticles were used to improve the thermal performance of Therminol 55 oil. The addition of ZnO nanoparticles to Therminol 55 increased the thermal conductivity and viscosity by 6% and 43.9% respectively at room temperature (27 °C) at a nanoparticle concentration of 2 vol.%. The thermal conductivity-temperature relation of ZnO-Therminol 55 nanofluids was biphasic. Thermal conductivity enhancement was observed at lower temperatures (10% enhancement at 10 °C; ϕ = 2 vol. %) as well as at higher temperatures (18.3% enhancement at 100 °C; ϕ = 2 vol. %), which were attributed to the layering of Therminol 55 molecules over ZnO nanoparticles’ surface (at lower temperatures) and Brownian motion of nanoparticles (at higher temperatures) respectively. The relative viscosity of ZnO-Therminol 55 nanofluids also decreased with increasing temperature (μr = 1.44 @ T = 27 °C; μr ~ 1 @ T = 140 °C). The heat transfer performance of ZnO-Therminol 55 nanofluids was tested under constant temperature boundary conditions. About 154% and 203% enhancements in overall heat transfer coefficient and test fluid side heat transfer coefficient were observed for 2 vol. % ZnO-Therminol 55 nanofluid compared to pure Therminol 55 due to the improved thermal conductivity, natural convection currents resulting from Brownian motion and particle migration. ZnO-Therminol 55 nanofluids depicting improved thermal properties at higher temperatures can be potentially used as heat transfer fluids above 100 °C, when the thermal resistance in the heat transfer fluid is rate-controlling.

The incorporation of conductive nanoparticles into thermal energy storage media is one of the strategies to increase their thermal conductivity. This work unravels the impact of the addition of CuO nanoparticles on the thermal properties of solar salt, a high-temperature thermal energy storage material. The resultant CuO enhanced solar salt (CuOeSS) exhibited a maximum thermal conductivity improvement of 14.4 % at 40 °C when the concentration of CuO nanoparticles was 1 wt%. The prevalence of CuO nanoparticles as isolated aggregates resulted in a moderate thermal conductivity enhancement. The CuO nanoparticles greatly influenced α-KNO3 to β-KNO3 transition and reduced the expected positive influence on thermal conductivity at temperatures above 120 °C. The solid-phase specific heat was enhanced by 22.7 % for 2 wt% CuOeSS. Our results demonstrate the interplay between the different roles played by CuO nanoparticles, namely the thermal conductivity enhancement at lower temperatures and influencing the α-KNO3 to β-KNO3 transition at higher temperatures. The CuOeSS with 0.5 wt% CuO, which showed enhancement in both thermal conductivity and energy storage capacity, is a suitable energy storage material for applications in the temperature range of 100–245 °C.

AbstractScreen printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) are widely used in the field of electrochemical sensors, especially in the areas of food, water, environmental quality, and healthcare applications. In this context, microband SPCEs were fabricated on Whatman paper, overhead projection (OHP) sheet and cotton textile substrates for the development of cost-effective electrochemical biosensors. The fabricated electrodes were subjected to three consecutive processes such as thermal, electrochemical and oxygen plasma treatment. Surface morphologies of SPCEs after each treatment stage were observed using scanning electron microscope for process standardization. Electrochemical performances of the fabricated SPCEs were analyzed using cyclic voltammetry. SPCEs on OHP substrate exhibited a single electron transfer rate at ΔEp of 57 mV and ipa/ipc = 1 (n = 3) with significant repeatability and reproducibility compared to SPCEs on paper and textile substrates. The role of activation of edge plane pyrolytic graphite of SPCEs in achieving the reversible reaction with single electron transfer characteristics has been analysed and reported. The effectiveness of the activated SPCEs on the OHP substrate was tested by detecting 1 mM of uric acid and ascorbic acid with KCl as an electrolyte.Graphic abstract

Increasing stress due to diminishing freshwater resources around the world has put the world on the brink of extreme water scarcity. Moreover, the declining water quality in the available inland water resources can be attributed to various contaminations of these bodies. In recent decades, nutrient contamination has emerged as a major threat to water quality, and hence, there is need to assess and identify its potential causes. Hence, there is a need to understand the source of these nutrient contaminations in water bodies. This study addresses the extent of such contamination, through Chl-a detection on the water body using Sentinel 2A/B data, and relates it with the land use/land cover in its contributing watershed. It is hypothesized that the intensification of land use patterns—primarily agricultural and urban land uses around the inland water bodies—is potential contributors to this increasing nutrient contamination. To assess this, the paper observes the prevalent land use patterns around four inland water bodies with varied nutrient concentration—from very high to almost negligible values, across South and Southeast Asia. The study concludes that water bodies surrounded by natural land uses are almost free of contamination in comparison with those surrounded by anthropogenic land uses. It also highlights that with increased runoff from anthropogenic land uses, there is an increase in nutrient flow, thereby exponentially causing a drop in water quality in proportion to the size of the water body.

Barak valley is a region in north east part of India where the practice of shifting cultivation is quite prevalent. Population growth coupled with the geographic isolation of the area have led to an increased pressure on land and a consequent decline in forest cover. The decrease of forests observed is spatially distributed and dependent on neighborhood rules. Hence, we look towards modelling the land use change to understand the land use changes and the factors affecting them. In this paper, we modify an agent-based land use model for modelling shifting cultivation to determine how various policy changes at a larger scale might affect the shifting cultivation practice in the region at the micro level. We explore scenarios like drastic population increase and availability of irrigation infrastructure in the area. Through the scenario analysis we explore how policies play a role in agriculture patterns and influence land use patterns.