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Wheat yield can be limited by many biotic and abiotic factors. Heat stress at the grain filling stage is a factor that reduces wheat production tremendously. The potential role of endophytic microorganisms in mitigating plant stress through various biomolecules like enzymes and growth hormones and also by improving plant nutrition has led to a more in-depth exploration of the plant microbiome for such functions. Hence, we devised this study to investigate the abundance and diversity of wheat seed endophytic bacteria (WSEB) from heat S (heat susceptible, GW322) and heat T (heat tolerant, HD3298 and HD3271) varieties by culturable and unculturable approaches. The results evidenced that the culturable diversity was higher in the heat S variety than in the heat T variety and Bacillus was found to be dominant among the 10 different bacterial genera identified. Though the WSEB population was higher in the heat S variety, a greater number of isolates from the heat T variety showed tolerance to higher temperatures (up to 55°C) along with PGP activities such as indole acetic acid (IAA) production and nutrient acquisition. Additionally, the metagenomic analysis of seed microbiota unveiled higher bacterial diversity, with a predominance of the phyla Proteobacteria covering >50% of OTUs, followed by Firmicutes and Actinobacteria. There were considerable variations in the abundance and diversity between heat sensitivity contrasting varieties, where notably more thermophilic bacterial OTUs were observed in the heat T samples, which could be attributed to conferring tolerance against heat stress. Furthermore, exploring the functional characteristics of culturable and unculturable microbiomes would provide more comprehensive information on improving plant growth and productivity for sustainable agriculture.

Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) have become a pivotal concern for the global community and spurred a wide spectrum of research for the development of new generation protective materials. Herein, a highly effective self-detoxifying filter consisting of in-situ immobilized Zirconium hydroxide [Zr(OH) 4 ] over woven activated carbon fabric [Zr(OH) 4 @W-ACF] is presented for the removal of CWAs. It was prepared to harness the synergistic effect of high surface area of W-ACF, leads to high dispersion of CWAs and high phosphilicity and reactivity of [Zr(OH) 4 ]. The synthesized materials were characterized by ATR-FTIR, EDX, SEM, TEM, XPS, TGA, and BET surface area analyzer. The kinetics of  in-situ degradation of CWAs over Zr(OH) 4 @W-ACF were studied and found to be following the first-order reaction kinetics. The rate constant was found to be 0.244 min −1 and 2.31 × 10 −2  min −1 for sarin and soman, respectively over Zr(OH) 4 @W-ACF. The potential practical applicability of this work was established by fabricating Zr(OH) 4 @W-ACF as reactive adsorbent layer for protective suit, and found to be meeting the specified criteria in terms of air permeability, tearing strength and nerve agent permeation as per TOP-08-2-501A:2013 and IS-17380:2020. The degradation products of CWAs were analyzed with NMR and GC–MS. The combined properties of dual functional textile with reactive material are expected to open up new exciting avenues in the field of CWAs protective clothing and thus find diverse application in defence and environmental sector.

The severe outbreak of respiratory coronavirus disease 2019 has increased the significant demand of respiratory mask and its use become ubiquitous worldwide to control this unprecedented respiratory pandemic. The performance of a respiratory mask depends on the efficiency of the filter layer which is mostly made of polypropylene melt blown non-woven (PP-MB-NW). So far, very limited characterization data are available for the PPE-MB-NW in terms to achieve desired particulate filtration efficiency (PFE) against 0.3 µm size, which are imperative in order to facilitate the right selection of PP-MB-NW fabric for the development of mask. In present study, eight different kinds of PP-MB-NW fabrics (Sample A–H) of varied structural morphology are chosen. The different PP-MB-NW were characterized for its pore size and distribution by mercury porosimeter and BET surface area analyzer was explored first time to understand the importance of blind pore in PFE. The PP-MB-NW samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy so as to know the surface morphology. The filtration efficiency, pressure drop and breathing resistance of various PP-MB-NW fabric samples are investigated in single and double layers combination against the particle size of 0.3, 0.5 and 1 µm. The samples which are having low pore dia, high solid fraction volume, and low air permeability has high filtration efficiency (> 90%) against 0.3 µm particle with high pressure drop (16.3–21.3 mm WC) and breathing resistance (1.42–1.92 mbar) when compared to rest of the samples. This study will pave the way for the judicial selection of right kind of filter layer i.e., PP-MB-NW fabric for the development of mask and it will be greatly helpful in manufacturing of mask in this present pandemic with desired PFE indicating considerable promise for defense against respiratory pandemic.

Here, different monoclonal antibodies (mAb1, mAb2 and mAb3) of Ebola virus were screened in a real-time and label-free manner using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to select an appropriate antibody for biosensor applications against a biological warfare agent. For this purpose, a gold SPR chip was modified with 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA), and modification was confirmed by FTIR-ATR and EIS. The 4-MBA-modified gold SPR chip was used for immobilization of the recombinant nucleoprotein of Ebola (EBOV-rNP), and the interactions of mAb1, mAb2 and mAb3 were then investigated to determine the best mAb based on the affinity constant (KD), expressed as equilibrium dissociation constant. KD values of 809 nM, 350 pM and 52 pM were found for the interaction of mAb1, mAb2 and mAb3 of Ebola with the immobilized EBOV-rNP, respectively, thus reflecting the high affinity of mAb3. This was confirmed by ELISA results. The thermodynamic parameters (ΔG, ΔH and ΔS) for the interaction between mAb3 and EBOV-rNP were also determined, which revealed that the interaction was spontaneous, endothermic and driven by entropy. The SPR limit of detection of EBOV-rNP with mAb3 was 0.5 pg ml−1, showing mAb3 to be the best high-affinity antibody in our study. This study has opened up new possibilities for SPR screening of different monoclonal antibodies of BWA through the convergence of materials science and optical techniques.

Community-forming traits (CFts) play an important role in the effective colonization of plant-growth-promoting bacterial communities that influence host plants positively by modulating their adaptive functions. In this study, by considering plant-growth-promoting traits (PGPts) and community-forming traits (CFts), three communities were constructed, viz. , SM1 (PGPts), SM2 (CFts), and SM3 (PGPts+CFts). Each category isolates were picked up on the basis of their catabolic diversity of different carbon sources. Results revealed a distinctive pattern in the colonization of the communities possessed with CF traits. It was observed that the community with CFts colonized inside the plant in groups or in large aggregations, whereas the community with only PGPts colonized as separate individual and small colonies inside the plant root and leaf. The effect of SM3 in the microcosm experiment was more significant than the uninoculated control by 22.12%, 27.19%, and 9.11% improvement in germination percentage, chlorophyll content, and plant biomass, respectively. The significant difference shown by the microbial community SM3 clearly demonstrates the integrated effect of CFts and PGPts on effective colonization vis-à-vis positive influence on the host plant. Further detailed characterization of the interaction will take this technology ahead in sustainable agriculture.

Plant genotype and agroecology influence the composition and functionality of seed endophytic bacterial communities. Taxonomic analysis of 123 wheat seeds endophytic bacteria classified these into 23 genera predominantly under Firmicutes followed by Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. Genus Bacillus was most abundant (30.7%) followed by Streptomyces (18.4%) with other representative genera such as Stenotrophomonas, Paenibacillus, Mixta, Enterobacter, Micrococcus, Pantoea, Alkalihalobacillus, Cortiobacterium, and more. Across agroecologies, the core microbiota of seeds consists of Bacillus, Streptomyces, Paenibacillus, and Stenotrophomonas, with maximum diversity and abundance observed in seeds of the North Western Plain Zone of India. Seed endophytic bacteria had PGP traits; nitrogen fixation (n = 101), production of IAA (n = 65), siderophores (n = 43), ammonia (n = 82) and solubilization of phosphate (n = 47), potassium (n = 37), and zinc (n = 8). The isolates produced HCN and hydrolytic enzymes and displayed antagonism against fungal pathogens. Overall, the information generated on wheat seeds' endophytic bacterial taxonomy and beneficial traits may pave the path for the development of novel bioinoculants. Key message Wheat seeds from various agro-ecologies of India harbor diverse endophytic bacteria. Firmicutes were dominant followed by Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. Genus Bacillus, Stenotrophomonas, Streptomyces, and Paenibacillus were core endophytic bacteria in different agro-ecologies. The endophytic bacterial strains were displaying diverse functional traits.

Triglyceride turned biodiesel is considered a promising and sustainable alternative for cleaner future energy demand due to its salient features, such as eco-friendly physicochemical characteristics. Lipid-enriched feedstock, like palm oil, is considered a prominent precursor for biodiesel synthesis. In the present research work, experimental work was carried out using a batch-type transesterification reactor for the conversion of palm oil into biodiesel using a homogenous KOH catalyst. In this study, an investigation was performed to establish the optimum ranking of experimental alternatives for biodiesel synthesis with the effective use of a novel hybrid Entropy-VIKOR approach. Additionally, the effect of transesterification reaction input parameters, i.e., catalyst loading, temperature of reaction, chemical interaction time, and methanol to lipid molar ratio, on output responses (yield, viscosity, and density) is analyzed using ANOVA with 3D surface plots and empirical relations. The major outcomes of experimental and numerical investigation revealed that optimum results (yield: 95.55%, viscosity: 4.3 cSt, and density: 879 kg/m 3 ) of palm biodiesel are obtained at KOH catalyst loading of 1% (w/w), temperature of 60 °C, chemical interaction time of 90 minutes and methanol to lipid molar ratio of 5:1. The resulting composition of palm oil-based biodiesel have physicochemical characteristics within specified international standards. Finally, the produced biodiesel at optimum input reaction parameters opens a new window in the commercial sector with high yield and quality for its application in energy generation.

This study models oxygen-transfer efficiency (OTE) in circular solid-jet aerators using a laboratory dataset of 320 observations collected under controlled conditions. Experiments varied jet count (1–8), opening area (49.24–124.03 mm²), jet length (170–470 mm), and discharge (1.05–3.04 l s⁻¹); dissolved oxygen was measured, and OTE was computed and standardized to 20 °C. Five regressors—Linear Regression (LR), M5P, Random Tree (RT), Reduced Error Pruning (REP) Tree, and Random Forest (RF)—were trained with a 70/30 train–test split and evaluated using CC, RMSE, MAE, NSE, and SI. Residual histograms with kernel-density overlays and an uncertainty summary (U95, bounds) indicated compact, slightly negative-centered errors for the tree-based models and broader, heavy-tailed errors for LR; a Taylor diagram and a Spearman heatmap supported these patterns. Among all models, RF achieved the highest test performance and the lowest errors, with results statistically superior to alternatives by paired t-tests on residuals (α = 0.05); the Spearman heatmap also showed the strongest concordance between RF predictions and observations, while a leave-one-input-out sensitivity analysis identified discharge (Q) as the dominant driver. Taken together, the results identify RF as the most accurate and generalizable predictor across the tested operating envelope, providing a practical basis for the design and optimization of aeration systems in water and wastewater treatment.

Technological advancements in the field of chemical threat have made it possible to create extremely dangerous chemical warfare agents (CWA). Hence, the effective protection of personnel is very important in a chemical warfare scenario amidst the current climate of terrorism awareness. In particular, body protection plays a substantial role in the chemical defence considering the urgency of situation in the nuclear, biological and chemical environment. Activated carbon spheres (ACS) based permeable chemical protective clothing (coverall) was developed for protection against CWA. The adsorbent material i.e, ACS used in this protective clothing provided higher adsorption capacity (1029 mg/g in terms of iodine) and low thermal burden (34 °C WBGT index) compared to earlier indigenously developed NBC suit. This article focuses on the extensive evaluation of chemical protective clothing against sulfur mustard (HD), a CWA. The results revealed that the developed protective clothing provided more than 24 h protection against HD. This chemical protective suit is light weight (< 2.75 kg for XL size). It also has higher air permeability (> 30 cm3/s/cm2) as well as less water vapour resistance (< 9.6 m2Pa/W). With continued innovations in materials and attention to key challenges it is expected that advanced, multifunction chemical protective suit will play a pivotal role in the CWA protection scenario.

The increasing cost of fuel oil forced the industry to search for alternate fuels, and biomass. In general, rice husks were considered an appropriate substitute for producing energy. Because, the use of rice husk offered lot of benefits such as reduction in emission of sulfur and other pollutants connected with the use of other fossil fuel, cheaper than coal (approx. 36%), and carbon neutral. Hence, in this paper, water, Fuel and Steam generation data of husk-based Boiler has been measured, numerically analyzed and plotted graphically. The results revealed that husk based thermal power plant has huge potential. Further, it is supposed that exploiting the renewable energy potential and utilizing agricultural waste will be useful to the country’s energy portfolio while adding numerous environmental and social benefits (reducing CO 2 emissions, improving air quality, and diminishing the unemployment rate).