Appraising the accuracy of GIS-based Multi-criteria decision making technique for delineation of Groundwater potential zones

Increased demand of water in different sectors and restriction of water resources, necessitate the planning of groundwater recharge. In this study, groundwater potential zone are delineated by combining remote sensing, geographical information system (GIS) and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques in the Durg district, Chhattisgarh. Groundwater potential zones prepared using various thematic layers viz. geology, slope, land-use, lineament, drainage, soil, and rainfall. The thematic layers and their features were assigned suitable weights on the Saaty’s scale according to their relative significance for ground water occurrence. The assigned weights of the layers and their features were normalized by using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and eigenvector method finally; the selected thematic maps were integrated using weighted linear combination method to create the final ground water potential zone map. Each criterion/factor was assigned an appropriate weight based on Saaty’s 9 point scale and the weights were normalized through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The process was integrated in the GIS environment to produce the groundwater potential prediction map of the study area. The groundwater potential map of the Durg district was found to be 75 % and 56 % accurate for seven and four factors respectively. The ground water potential zone map was finally validated using the groundwater depth data from 16 pumping wells respectively in the study area.     

Evaluation of biomass and thermal energy utilization efficiency of oilseed Brassica (Brassica juncea) under altered microenvironments

Changes in within-canopy microenvironments may significantly influence the physiological response pattern of the crop eventually influencing biomass, seed yield and their heat utilization behavior. Therefore, energy use efficiency in oilseed crop Brassica juncea was evaluated to have better understanding of impact of microenvironments on plant characteristics. Linear and non-linear regression analysis showed significant and positive response of Brassica towards time variable leaf area index (LAI), dry biomass accumulation and their heat utilization efficiencies. Linear and third order polynomial regression models indicated 81 and 94% variation in LAI and dry biomass production respectively as a function of time (t) while about 85-93% variation in thermal energy use efficiency (THUE) was observed which might be due to differential thermal heat accumulation at its various phenological stages. Its quantification was done with second order regression equations using accumulated thermal heat (TI) (R² = 0.93∗∗) and solar energy (PTI) (R² = 0.85∗∗). THUE was predicted as 0.1616 × LAI - 0.0294; R² = 0.74∗∗ using TI and 0.0179 × LAI - 0.0044; R² = 0.75∗∗ using PTI and 0.0378 + 0.0012 × (DM) -3E-07 × (DM)²; R² = 0.97∗∗ using TI and 0.0042 + 0.0001 × (DM)−3E-08 × (DM)²; R² = 0.96∗∗ using PTI. The significant changes in seed yield heat use efficiency of the order 80-87% were attributed to differential thermal energy utilization capacities. We conclude that the prediction models developed from this study could be used in predicting energy use efficiency in other related species of oilseed Brassica.     

Surface‐Confined Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization from Sacrificial Mesoporous Silica Nanospheres for Preparing Mesoporous Polymer/Carbon Nanospheres with Faithful Shape Replication: Functional Mesoporous Materials

A facile approach for the preparation of mesoporous polymer nanospheres (MPN) and mesoporous carbon nanospheres (MCN) with complete shape retention based on surface‐confined atom transfer radical polymerization of various methacrylate monomers from in situ generated initiator‐modified hard silica nanospheres template is developed. This approach yields mesoporous silica‐polymer hybrid nanospheres (MSPN) with mesopores that are uniformly filled with covalently attached well‐defined poly(methacrylate)s. The silica frameworks are subsequently etched, resulting in MPN. Pyrolysis of MSPN and subsequent removal of silica template resulted in the production of MCN. They retain the size, shape, and mesoporous ordering of the silica template nanospheres. Gel permeation chromatography analysis of the silica free polymers reveals that they have controlled molecular weights and low polydispersities (PDIs). Kinetics studies reveal that the molecular weight of the grafted polymer increases linearly with time, maintaining low PDIs, indicating the living nature of the polymerization. The mesoporous polymer material is found to have low dielectric constant, which paves the way for their use as low‐dielectric constant materials in microelectronics. This approach allows fabrication of functional MPN using functional comonomers, which are successfully used for the synthesis of “clickable” mesoporous polymer nanospheres, removal of ionic contaminates through anion exchange, and glucose sensing.     

Engineering Route for Stretchable, 3D Microarchitectures of Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for Biomedical Applications

Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors have attracted significant research interest for the development of a broad range of flexible electronic applications, including wearable sensors, soft logical circuits, and long-term implanted neuromodulators. Conventionally, these materials are grown on standard silicon substrates, and then transferred onto soft polymers using mechanical stamping processes. This technique can retain the excellent electrical properties of wide bandgap materials after transfer and enables flexibility; however, most devices are constrained by 2D configurations that exhibit limited mechanical stretchability and morphologies compared with 3D biological systems. Herein, a stamping-free micromachining process is presented to realize, for the first time, 3D flexible and stretchable wide bandgap electronics. The approach applies photolithography on both sides of free-standing nanomembranes, which enables the formation of flexible architectures directly on standard silicon wafers to tailor the optical transparency and mechanical properties of the material. Subsequent detachment of the flexible devices from the support substrate and controlled mechanical buckling transforms the 2D precursors of wide band gap semiconductors into complex 3D mesoscale structures. The ability to fabricate wide band gap materials with 3D architectures that offer device-level stretchability combined with their multi-modal sensing capability will greatly facilitate the establishment of advanced 3D bio-electronics interfaces.