Selection of green carrier solvent for the effective creation of bio-inspired liquid formulation and anti-fungal potency evaluation.

Existing pesticide formulation solvents generate volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are combustible, and are classed as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), meaning they are detrimental to users and phytotoxic to crops. Green solvents are required in formulations due to regulations, health, and environmental concerns. In emulsifiable concentration (EC) formulations, the "green chemistry" movement has led to the use of less harmful solvents. After a detailed and comparative fungal growth inhibition assessment, the least harmful carrier solvent among four regularly used organic solvents [dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), dimethylformamide (DMF), aromatic hydrocarbon (C9), and methyl oleate] was chosen in this study. We employed methyl oleate (cis-9-Octadecenoic acid methyl ester) as a bio-based green reserver (60%) to create effective bioinspired EC formulations (30%) of Pongamia pinnata L extract utilising emulsifier blends (10 percent) based on the known toxicity order (DMF > DMSO > C9 > methyl oleate). EC1 outperformed the other thirteen formulations (EC1-EC13) in terms of emulsion stability, cold test, accelerated storage stability, flash point, and other metrics, proving its suitability for commercial production. Using four therapeutically appropriate concentrations of agricultural usage, in-vitro fungicidal effects against Alternaria solani and Phytophthora spp. were examined.A. solani (EC50 = 0.08 percent) showed the greatest growth suppression (87.4 percent) at the maximum dosage (1 percent), followed by Phytophthora sp. (71.1 percent) (EC50 = 0.49 percent). The study proved its utility in the production of environmentally acceptable green solvent-based herbal formulations as a long-term crop protection alternative to harmful chemical pesticides.

Encapsulation, release and insecticidal activity of Pongamia pinnata (L.) seed oil.

Pongamia pinnata (L.) seed oil is effective for its insecticidal and larvicidal activities. However, its low aqueous solubility, high photosensitivity, and high volatility restrict its application for the control of agricultural pests. Encapsulation can be an effective technique to overcome such hindrances. Therefore, P. pinnata oil (PO) was extracted from its seeds and analyzed for karanjin content (3.18%) by GC-MS/MS as the marker compound. Micro-encapsulation (MC) of PO was prepared by interfacial polymerization between isocyanates and polyamine and tested for insecticidal and larvicidal activities. Bioassay of the developed formulations was tested in-vitro against 2nd instar larvae of Bombyx mori (Bivoltine hybrid) and in-vivo insecticidal bio-efficacy was tested against aubergine aphid (Aphis gossypii G.) and whitefly (Bemisia tabaci G.). Various properties of micro-capsules viz., stability, size, oil content and release kinetics were examined. Average diameter of capsules (1 µm) with Zeta potential (-16 mV) was indicated by the Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) instrument. Existence of PO in the microcapsules was confirmed by an optical microscopic study. Spectroscopic analysis revealed 87.4% of PO was encapsulated in polyurea shell. The shelf-life (T 10 ), half-life (T 50 ), and expiry-life (T 90 ) of polyurea coated capsules were 11.4, 75.3 and 250.0 h, respectively. Polyurea coated PO capsule formulation showed evidence of in-vitro toxicity against 2nd instar larvae of B. mori (LC 50 = 1.1%; LC 90 = 5.9%). The PO formulation also exhibited 67.0-71.8% and 62.4-74.8% control of aphid and whitefly population in aubergine at 4.0% dose following 7-14 days after application. The study unveiled its significance in developing controlled release herbal formulations of P. pinnata as an alternative to harmful conventional synthetic insecticides for crop protection.

Impact of Water Regimes and Amendments on Inorganic Arsenic Exposure to Rice.

Rice-based diet faces an important public health concern due to arsenic (As) accumulation in rice grain, which is toxic to humans. Rice crops are prone to assimilate As due to continuously flooded cultivation. In this study, the objective was to determine how water regimes (flooded and aerobic) in rice cultivation impact total As and inorganic As speciation in rice on the basis of a field-scale trial in the post-monsoon season. Iron and silicon with NPK/organic manure were amended in each regime. We hypothesised that aerobic practice receiving amendments would reduce As uptake in rice grain with a subsequent decrease in accumulation of inorganic As species relative to flooded conditions (control). Continuously flooded conditions enhanced soil As availability by 32% compared to aerobic conditions. Under aerobic conditions, total As concentrations in rice decreased by 62% compared to flooded conditions. Speciation analyses revealed that aerobic conditions significantly reduced (p < 0.05) arsenite (68%) and arsenate (61%) accumulation in rice grains. Iron and silicon exhibited significant impact on reducing arsenate and arsenite uptake in rice, respectively. The study indicates that aerobic rice cultivation with minimum use of irrigation water can lead to lower risk of inorganic As exposure to rice relative to flooded practice.

Modelling and comparative dynamic analysis due to demagnetization of a torque controlled permanent magnet synchronous motor drive for energy-efficient electric vehicle.

In this paper modelling and comparative dynamic analysis of a field oriented controlled permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) torque drive employing a hysteresis current controller and a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) operated current controller is presented. To illustrate the proposed concept in this torque controlled drive, torque and mutual flux linkages are applied as external inputs and speed of the machine is kept fixed. Moreover the magnitude of torque angle as well as stator current reference is controlled through the proposed machine dynamics. In fact a computation based on demagnetization of direct axis current to achieve the flux weakening in this proposed drive for current compensation is also introduced. To achieve the faster computation and accuracy Euler's integration technique is used to solve the proposed complex dynamics of the permanent magnet synchronous machine. In a hysteresis current, controllers with a large hysteresis band current ripple and the torque pulsations are prominent at higher carrier frequency of the inverter. Additionally, a relationship with the magnitude of torque pulsations, PWM carrier frequency and the hysteresis window size is also achieved through various case-studies. Furthermore, the presence of current ripple and the pulsations generate some noise as well as vibration in a typical electric propulsion system. Afterwards a PWM current controller with identical operating conditions is proposed for such reduction of torque pulsation as well as ripples in the current waveform. Finally various feasible results are presented through MATLAB simulation and necessary hardware implementation to justify the comparative assessment of the proposed controllers for dynamic performance analysis in energy-efficient electric vehicles.

Ferromagnetic Quantum Critical Point Avoided by the Appearance of Another Magnetic Phase in LaCrGe_{3} under Pressure.

The temperature-pressure phase diagram of the ferromagnet LaCrGe_{3} is determined for the first time from a combination of magnetization, muon-spin-rotation, and electrical resistivity measurements. The ferromagnetic phase is suppressed near 2.1 GPa, but quantum criticality is avoided by the appearance of a magnetic phase, likely modulated, AFM_{Q}. Our density functional theory total energy calculations suggest a near degeneracy of antiferromagnetic states with small magnetic wave vectors Q allowing for the potential of an ordering wave vector evolving from Q=0 to finite Q, as expected from the most recent theories on ferromagnetic quantum criticality. Our findings show that LaCrGe_{3} is a very simple example to study this scenario of avoided ferromagnetic quantum criticality and will inspire further study on this material and other itinerant ferromagnets.

Persistence of napropamide in/on tea under North-East Indian climatic condition.

Napropamide is an amide group of herbicide, used as pre-emergence herbicide controlling in broad leaved weeds of tea, ground nut, citrus, etc. Napropamide 45 SC (Devrinol) was applied on tea bushes twice @ 1.125 and 2.250 g a.i./ha along with untreated control. After following the standard extraction process, the residue of napropamide in made tea and soil cropped with tea was analyzed by HPLC. Napropamide was rapidly dissipated in soil following the first-order kinetics with half-lives in the range of 12.54-27.87 days. The residue in made tea found to be below detectable limit on 7th day samples.