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The last decade has seen a strong increase of research into flows in fractured porous media, mainly related to subsurface processes but also in materials science and biological applications, as connected fractures can totally dominate flow patterns. Due to the fractures’ characteristics as approximately planar discontinuities with an extreme size-to-width ratio, they challenge standard macroscale mathematical and numerical modeling of flow based on averaging. Thus, over the last decades, various, and also fundamentally different, modeling approaches have been developed. This paper reviews common conceptual models and discretization approaches for flow in fractured porous media, with an emphasis on the dominating effects the fractures have on flow processes. In this context, the paper discusses the tight connection between physical and mathematical modeling and simulation approaches. Extensions and research challenges related to transport, multi-phase flow and fluid-solid interaction are also commented on.

Polysaccharides are essential macromolecules which almost exist in all living forms, and have important biological functions, they are getting more attention because they exhibit a wide range of biological and pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumour, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticoagulant, antidiabetic, antiviral, and hypoglycemia activities, making them one of the most promising candidates in biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Polysaccharides can be obtained from many different sources, such as plants, microorganisms, algae, and animals. Due to their physicochemical properties, they are susceptible to physical and chemical modifications leading to enhanced properties, which is the basic concept for their diverse applications in biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. In this review, we will give insight into the most recent updated applications of polysaccharides and their potentialities as alternatives for traditional and conventional therapies. Challenges and limitations for polysaccharides in pharmaceutical utilities are discussed as well.

Hydrogels are three-dimensional cross-linked stable network insoluble in water, which gives them a remarkable capacity to absorb both water and biological fluids. Hydrogel has been synthesized from natural or synthetic polymers and/or monomers, which have made tremendous advancements in many different applications. Composite hydrogel is a type of hydrogel prepared by grafting hydrophilic groups, such as hydroxyl (–OH), carboxylic acid (–COOH), imide (–CONH), sulfonic acid (–SO3H), amine (–NH2), and amide (–CONH2), into the polymer chain’s backbone and adding some additives such as kaolin, zeolite, or even different types of nanoparticles. Whereas the polymeric composite hydrogels exhibit stimuli for different properties such as pH, temperature, or light, which may affect swelling, mechanical properties, and self-healing, which in turn play vital roles in different areas. Hence, numerous efforts have been made to synthesize polymer-based composited hydrogels via physical or chemical crosslinking techniques to enhance their physiochemical, biological, and many other properties. Many researchers are currently paying attention to hydrogels and their applications, including wastewater treatment and purification, medical and biomedical applications, agricultural applications, and many other industrial applications. The aim of this review is to summarize the classification of composite hydrogels based on their chemical and physical crosslinking techniques, in addition to the different polymers and additives used to prepare composite hydrogels. Furthermore, the impact of hydrogel on health and the environment has been discussed. Other significant issues were also presented, including the challenges that face hydrogel production and application, which have been discussed.

Solvents are important in most industrial and domestic applications. The impact of solvent losses and emissions drives efforts to minimise them or to avoid them completely. Since the 1990s, this has become a major focus of green chemistry, giving rise to the idea of the ‘green’ solvent. This concept has generated a substantial chemical literature and has led to the development of so-called neoteric solvents. A critical overview of published material establishes that few new materials have yet found widespread use as solvents. The search for less-impacting solvents is inefficient if carried out without due regard, even at the research stage, to the particular circumstances under which solvents are to be used on the industrial scale. Wider sustainability questions, particularly the use of non-fossil sources of organic carbon in solvent manufacture, are more important than intrinsic ‘greenness’. While solvency is universal, a universal solvent, an alkahest, is an unattainable ideal.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarms represent a transformative advancement in aerial robotics, leveraging collaborative autonomy to enhance operational capabilities. This paper provides a comprehensive exploration of UAV swarm infrastructure, recent research advancements, and diverse applications. Key areas such as coordinated path planning, task assignment, formation control, and security considerations are examined, highlighting how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are integrated to improve decision-making and adaptability. Applications span civilian sectors, including entertainment, infrastructure inspection, and delivery services, as well as military applications in surveillance, combat support, and logistics. The paper addresses technical challenges, regulatory constraints, and ethical considerations, while outlining future directions focused on scalability, robustness, and societal integration. This review consolidates the evolving landscape of UAV swarms, identifying critical challenges and guiding future research endeavors.

Proteases are important industrial biocatalysts that constitute the largest group of enzymes acting as proteinases, peptidases, and amidases with a broad range of industrial applications. In this review, particular attention has been given to comprehensively scrutinize the proteases. After the succinct introduction, classification of proteases as exopeptidases (amino and carboxy proteases) and endopeptidases (serine, aspartic, cysteine, and metalloproteases), sources of alkaline, acidic and neutral protease like animal, plant and microbial sources along with the multi-industrial applications have been dissertated. Now a day’s, mostly proteases, which are present in the market, are produced from microbial sources because of the fast production rate and the limited requirement of cultivation. In addition to this, a critique on the applications of proteases in food, detergent, leather, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, silk degumming, silver recovery, chemical industry, and wastewater treatment industries is also concisely addressed. Finally, protein engineering and immobilization strategies to improve the catalytic properties of protease are thoroughly vetted. The quest for novel sources of protease enzyme has been encouraged to fulfill their ever-increasing demands for industrial exploitation. Graphic Abstract

Hydrogels retain substantial quantities of both water and nutrients within their three dimensional polymeric network. As such they have the ability to modify the local micro-environment of seeds/seedlings to enhance their growth outcomes. In terms of both safety and sustainability, the use of natural biopolymer based hydrogels is more advantageous. The network structure of hydrogels is typically formed by physical interaction and/or chemical crosslinking between polymer chains. The nature, strength and extent of crosslinking can be tailored to customize gel properties (such as mechanical strength, porosity and swelling behaviour) to suit a given type of application. This review highlights the use of hydrogels in agriculture where they (i) provide drought resistance to crops, (ii) act as reservoirs for critical nutrients, (iii) function as seed coating agents and (iv) improve transplantation success rate. The biodegradability and environmental compatibility of hydrogels for a range of applications in the farming sector is also discussed. Finally, the challenges of modifying hydrogels to suit specific agricultural applications are elaborated including issues that need to be overcome to exploit the full potential of these novel soft materials in sustainable farming practices of the future.

Recently, the advantages of biopolymers over conventional plastic polymers are unprecedented, provided that they are used in situations in which they raise the functionality and generate extra benefits for human life. Therefore, biopolymers have received much attention because they play an important place in day-to-day life for their specific tunable characteristics, making them attractive in a wide range of applications. Biopolymers can produce materials with tunable properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, renewability, inexpensiveness, availability, which are critically important for designing materials for use in biomedical applications. In addition to these properties, smart biopolymers could be prepared by changing the polymer components, which would create more target oriented applications. Therefore, this review interprets how biopolymers and their various forms can be potentially used in biomedical applications, including drug delivery, infections, tissue engineering, wound healings, and other as wells. Special emphasis will be provided on the applications of biopolymers in the field of drug delivery, tissue engineering, infections, and wound healing, which indicate the advancement and employment of the various biopolymers in recent biomedical applications.

A stricter definition of a deep eutectic solvent (DES) is urgent, so that it may become a sound basis for further developments in this field. This communication aims at contributing to deepening the understanding of eutectic and deep eutectic mixtures concerning their definition, thermodynamic nature and modelling. The glut of literature on DES applications should be followed by a similar effort to address the fundamental questions on their nature. This hopefully would contribute to correct some widespread misconceptions, and help to establish a stringent definition of what a DES is. DES are eutectic mixtures for which the eutectic point temperature should be lower to that of an ideal liquid mixture. To identify and characterize them, their phase diagrams should be known, in order to compare the real temperature depression to that predicted if ideality is assumed, and to define composition ranges for which they are in the liquid state at operating temperatures. It is also shown that hydrogen bonding between the DES components should not be used to define or characterize a DES, since this would describe many ideal mixtures. The future of deep eutectic solvents is quite promising, and we expect that this work will contribute to the efficient design and selection of the best DES for a given application, and to model properties and phase equilibria without which the process design is impractical.

Hydrogels are a kind of three dimensional polymeric network system which has a significant amount of water imbibing capacity despite being soluble in it. Because of the potential applications of hydrogels in different fields such as biomedical, pharmaceutical, personal care products, biosensors, and cosmetics, it has become a very popular area of research in recent decades. Hydrogels, prepared from synthetic polymers and petrochemicals are not ecofriendly. For preparing biodegradable hydrogels, most available plant polysaccharides like starch are utilized. In its structure, starch has a large number of hydroxyl groups that aid in hydrogel networking. For their easy availability and applications, starch-based hydrogels (SHs) have gained huge attention. Moreover, SHs are non-toxic, biocompatible, and cheap. For these reasons, SHs can be an alternative to synthetic hydrogels. The main focus of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of the structure and characteristics of starch, preparation, and characterization of SHs. This review also addresses several potential multidimensional applications of SHs and shows some future aspects in accordance.Graphic abstract