Applications and Constraints of Plant Beneficial Microorganisms in Agriculture

At present time, chemical fertilizers are more in practice for crop production, which failed to upkeep soil and environment quality and affected the sustainability of the agricultural production system. Conversely, biofertilizers are ecosystem friendly, one of the best modern tools for agriculture, and are used to improve soil fertility and quality. Biofertilizers have now emerged as a highly potent alternative to inorganic fertilizers and offer an ecologically sound and economically attractive route for augmenting nutrient supply and increasing crop production. These include live cells of diverse genera of microorganisms and have the potential to fix atmospheric nitrogen and solubilize and mobilize plant nutrients from insoluble form through microbiological process. It has also the potential to diminish the gap between nutrient supply through fertilizers and nutrient removal by crops. Hence, biofertilizers can be a feasible option to the farmers to increase crop productivity and should find greater acceptance from the extension workers and commercial biofertilizer manufacturers

A CME Source Region Catalogue and their Associated Properties

The primary objective of this study is to connect the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) to their source regions, primarily creating a CME source region (CSR) catalogue, and secondly probing into the influence the source regions have on different statistical properties of CMEs. We create a source region catalogue for 3327 CMEs from 1998 to 2017, thus capturing the different phases of cycle 23 and 24. The identified source regions are segregated into 3 classes, Active Regions (ARs), Prominence Eruptions (PEs) and Active Prominences (APs), while the CMEs are segregated into slow and fast based on their average projected speeds. We find the contribution of these three source region types to the occurrences of slow and fast CMEs to be different in the above period. A study of the distribution of average speeds reveals different power-laws for CMEs originating from different sources, and the power-law is different during the different phases of cycles 23 and 24. A study of statistical latitudinal deflections showed equator-ward deflections, while the magnitude of deflections again bears an imprint of the source regions. An East-West asymmetry is also noted, particularly in the rising phase of cycle 23, with the presence of active longitudes for the CMEs, with a preference towards the Western part of the Sun. Our results show that different aspects of CME kinematics bear a strong imprint of the source regions they originate from, thus indicating the existence of different ejection and/or propagation mechanisms of these CMEs.Comment: 29 Pages, 18 Figures. Accepted in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (APJS

Investigation of charge carrier dynamics in Ti3C2Tx MXene for ultrafast photonics applications

The rapid advancement of nanomaterials has paved the way for various technological breakthroughs, and MXenes, in particular, have gained substantial attention due to their unique properties such as high conductivity, broad-spectrum absorption strength, and tunable band gap. This article presents the impact of the process parameters on the structural and optical properties of Ti3C2Tx MXene for application in ultrafast dynamics. XRD along with Raman spectroscopy studies, confirmed the synthesis of a single phase from their MAX phase Ti3AlC2. The complete etching of Al and increase in the interplanar distance is also observed on centrifugation at very high speed. The ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy used to understand the effect of centrifuge speed on the charge carrier dynamics and ultrafast spectrum of MXene displayed that the carrier lifetime is critically influenced by rotation per minute (rpm) e.g. faster decay lifetime at 10k rpm than 7k rpm. The electronic relaxation probed using the time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) technique exhibits an average decay time of 5.13 ns and 5.35 ns at the 7k and 10k rpm, respectively, which confirms that the optical properties of the MXene are strongly affected by the centrifuge speed. The synthesized MXene at 10k rpm typically suggests that radiative processes due to longer decay lifetime and experiences fewer nonradiative losses, resulting in enhanced luminescence properties.Comment: 21 pages , 6 figure

Dynamics of QCD Matter -- current status

In this article, there are 18 sections discussing various current topics in the field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions and related phenomena, which will serve as a snapshot of the current state of the art. Section 1 reviews experimental results of some recent light-flavored particle production data from ALICE collaboration. Other sections are mostly theoretical in nature. Very strong but transient magnetic field created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions could have important observational consequences. This has generated a lot of theoretical activity in the last decade. Sections 2, 7, 9, 10 and 11 deal with the effects of the magnetic field on the properties of the QCD matter. There are several unanswered questions about the QCD phase diagram. Sections 3, 11 and 18 discuss various aspects of the QCD phase diagram and phase transitions. Recent years have witnessed interesting developments in foundational aspects of hydrodynamics and their application to heavy-ion collisions. Sections 12, 15, 16 and 17 of this article probe some aspects of this exciting field. Transport coefficients together with their temperature- and density-dependence, are essential inputs in hydrodynamical calculations. Sections 5, 8 and 14 deal with calculation/estimation of various transport coefficients (shear and bulk viscosity, thermal conductivity, relaxation times, etc.) of quark matter and hadronic matter. Sections 4, 6 and 13 deals with interesting new developments in the field. Section 4 discusses color dipole gluon distribution function at small transverse momentum in the form of a series of Bells polynomials. Section 6 discusses the properties of Higgs boson in the quark gluon plasma using Higgs-quark interaction. Section 13 discusses modification of coalescence model to incorporate viscous corrections and application of this model.Comment: 109 pages, 49 captioned figures, compilation of the contributions as presented in the `Workshop on Dynamics of QCD Matter', 15th to 17th August 2019, NISER Bhubaneswar, India, published versio

Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Rigorous analysis of levels and trends in exposure to leading risk factors and quantification of their effect on human health are important to identify where public health is making progress and in which cases current efforts are inadequate. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a standardised and comprehensive assessment of the magnitude of risk factor exposure, relative risk, and attributable burden of disease. Methods: GBD 2019 estimated attributable mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years of life lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 87 risk factors and combinations of risk factors, at the global level, regionally, and for 204 countries and territories. GBD uses a hierarchical list of risk factors so that specific risk factors (eg, sodium intake), and related aggregates (eg, diet quality), are both evaluated. This method has six analytical steps. (1) We included 560 risk–outcome pairs that met criteria for convincing or probable evidence on the basis of research studies. 12 risk–outcome pairs included in GBD 2017 no longer met inclusion criteria and 47 risk–outcome pairs for risks already included in GBD 2017 were added based on new evidence. (2) Relative risks were estimated as a function of exposure based on published systematic reviews, 81 systematic reviews done for GBD 2019, and meta-regression. (3) Levels of exposure in each age-sex-location-year included in the study were estimated based on all available data sources using spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression method, or alternative methods. (4) We determined, from published trials or cohort studies, the level of exposure associated with minimum risk, called the theoretical minimum risk exposure level. (5) Attributable deaths, YLLs, YLDs, and DALYs were computed by multiplying population attributable fractions (PAFs) by the relevant outcome quantity for each age-sex-location-year. (6) PAFs and attributable burden for combinations of risk factors were estimated taking into account mediation of different risk factors through other risk factors. Across all six analytical steps, 30 652 distinct data sources were used in the analysis. Uncertainty in each step of the analysis was propagated into the final estimates of attributable burden. Exposure levels for dichotomous, polytomous, and continuous risk factors were summarised with use of the summary exposure value to facilitate comparisons over time, across location, and across risks. Because the entire time series from 1990 to 2019 has been re-estimated with use of consistent data and methods, these results supersede previously published GBD estimates of attributable burden. Findings: The largest declines in risk exposure from 2010 to 2019 were among a set of risks that are strongly linked to social and economic development, including household air pollution; unsafe water, sanitation, and handwashing; and child growth failure. Global declines also occurred for tobacco smoking and lead exposure. The largest increases in risk exposure were for ambient particulate matter pollution, drug use, high fasting plasma glucose, and high body-mass index. In 2019, the leading Level 2 risk factor globally for attributable deaths was high systolic blood pressure, which accounted for 10·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 9·51–12·1) deaths (19·2% [16·9–21·3] of all deaths in 2019), followed by tobacco (smoked, second-hand, and chewing), which accounted for 8·71 million (8·12–9·31) deaths (15·4% [14·6–16·2] of all deaths in 2019). The leading Level 2 risk factor for attributable DALYs globally in 2019 was child and maternal malnutrition, which largely affects health in the youngest age groups and accounted for 295 million (253–350) DALYs (11·6% [10·3–13·1] of all global DALYs that year). The risk factor burden varied considerably in 2019 between age groups and locations. Among children aged 0–9 years, the three leading detailed risk factors for attributable DALYs were all related to malnutrition. Iron deficiency was the leading risk factor for those aged 10–24 years, alcohol use for those aged 25–49 years, and high systolic blood pressure for those aged 50–74 years and 75 years and older. Interpretation: Overall, the record for reducing exposure to harmful risks over the past three decades is poor. Success with reducing smoking and lead exposure through regulatory policy might point the way for a stronger role for public policy on other risks in addition to continued efforts to provide information on risk factor harm to the general public

Global age-sex-specific fertility, mortality, healthy life expectancy (HALE), and population estimates in 204 countries and territories, 1950-2019 : a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Accurate and up-to-date assessment of demographic metrics is crucial for understanding a wide range of social, economic, and public health issues that affect populations worldwide. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 produced updated and comprehensive demographic assessments of the key indicators of fertility, mortality, migration, and population for 204 countries and territories and selected subnational locations from 1950 to 2019. Methods: 8078 country-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 938 surveys, 349 censuses, and 238 other sources were identified and used to estimate age-specific fertility. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) was used to generate age-specific fertility rates for 5-year age groups between ages 15 and 49 years. With extensions to age groups 10–14 and 50–54 years, the total fertility rate (TFR) was then aggregated using the estimated age-specific fertility between ages 10 and 54 years. 7417 sources were used for under-5 mortality estimation and 7355 for adult mortality. ST-GPR was used to synthesise data sources after correction for known biases. Adult mortality was measured as the probability of death between ages 15 and 60 years based on vital registration, sample registration, and sibling histories, and was also estimated using ST-GPR. HIV-free life tables were then estimated using estimates of under-5 and adult mortality rates using a relational model life table system created for GBD, which closely tracks observed age-specific mortality rates from complete vital registration when available. Independent estimates of HIV-specific mortality generated by an epidemiological analysis of HIV prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance and other sources were incorporated into the estimates in countries with large epidemics. Annual and single-year age estimates of net migration and population for each country and territory were generated using a Bayesian hierarchical cohort component model that analysed estimated age-specific fertility and mortality rates along with 1250 censuses and 747 population registry years. We classified location-years into seven categories on the basis of the natural rate of increase in population (calculated by subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate) and the net migration rate. We computed healthy life expectancy (HALE) using years lived with disability (YLDs) per capita, life tables, and standard demographic methods. Uncertainty was propagated throughout the demographic estimation process, including fertility, mortality, and population, with 1000 draw-level estimates produced for each metric. Findings: The global TFR decreased from 2·72 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2·66–2·79) in 2000 to 2·31 (2·17–2·46) in 2019. Global annual livebirths increased from 134·5 million (131·5–137·8) in 2000 to a peak of 139·6 million (133·0–146·9) in 2016. Global livebirths then declined to 135·3 million (127·2–144·1) in 2019. Of the 204 countries and territories included in this study, in 2019, 102 had a TFR lower than 2·1, which is considered a good approximation of replacement-level fertility. All countries in sub-Saharan Africa had TFRs above replacement level in 2019 and accounted for 27·1% (95% UI 26·4–27·8) of global livebirths. Global life expectancy at birth increased from 67·2 years (95% UI 66·8–67·6) in 2000 to 73·5 years (72·8–74·3) in 2019. The total number of deaths increased from 50·7 million (49·5–51·9) in 2000 to 56·5 million (53·7–59·2) in 2019. Under-5 deaths declined from 9·6 million (9·1–10·3) in 2000 to 5·0 million (4·3–6·0) in 2019. Global population increased by 25·7%, from 6·2 billion (6·0–6·3) in 2000 to 7·7 billion (7·5–8·0) in 2019. In 2019, 34 countries had negative natural rates of increase; in 17 of these, the population declined because immigration was not sufficient to counteract the negative rate of decline. Globally, HALE increased from 58·6 years (56·1–60·8) in 2000 to 63·5 years (60·8–66·1) in 2019. HALE increased in 202 of 204 countries and territories between 2000 and 2019

Mapping inequalities in exclusive breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries, 2000–2018

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)—giving infants only breast-milk for the first 6 months of life—is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are required for planning policy and interventions. Here we present a geospatial analysis of EBF prevalence estimates from 2000 to 2018 across 94 LMICs mapped to policy-relevant administrative units (for example, districts), quantify subnational inequalities and their changes over time, and estimate probabilities of meeting the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) of ≥70% EBF prevalence by 2030. While six LMICs are projected to meet the WHO GNT of ≥70% EBF prevalence at a national scale, only three are predicted to meet the target in all their district-level units by 2030