Promising Strategy For Improvement Research Articles

Nutrient use efficiency indices as influenced by nutrient management practices under cotton-green gram intercropping system in vertisols

A field study was conducted during 2021-22 at the Research field of All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA), Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, (Dr. PDKV) Akola, Maharashtra (India), on an ongoing long-term experiment initiated in 1987-88 under cotton + green gram (1:1) intercropping system in Vertisols. The eight treatments comprised of a control, sole use of organics and chemical fertilizers, and integration of organics with chemical fertilizers to partially substitute Nitrogen (N). The results after 35th cycle revealed that the uptake of N, Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K) was significantly higher in Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) treatments, particularly the treatments T6 and T7 where 50 percent N was substituted by either gliricidia or Farm Yard Manure (FYM). Further, the various parameters of nutrient use efficiency of N, P, and K were also found to be significantly higher in INM treatments followed by T2 (100% RDF). Therefore, the present investigation concludes that under the cotton + green gram intercropping system in Vertisols, INM that involves conjoint use of different nutrient sources appears to be a promising strategy for improvement in fertilizer use efficiency as a whole including Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE).

Cathode Design for Aqueous Rechargeable Multivalent Ion Batteries: Challenges and Opportunities

AbstractWith the rapid growth in energy consumption, renewable energy is a promising solution. However, renewable energy (e.g., wind, solar, and tidal) is discontinuous and irregular by nature, which poses new challenges to the new generation of large‐scale energy storage devices. Rechargeable batteries using aqueous electrolyte and multivalent ion charge are considered more suitable candidates compared to lithium‐ion and lead‐acid batteries, owing to their low cost, ease of manufacture, good safety, and environmentally benign characteristics. However, some substantial challenges hinder the development of aqueous rechargeable multivalent ion batteries (AMVIBs), including the narrow stable electrochemical window of water (≈1.23 V), sluggish ion diffusion kinetics, and stability issues of electrode materials. To address these challenges, a range of encouraging strategies has been developed in recent years, in the aspects of electrolyte optimization, material structure engineering and theoretical investigations. To inspire new research directions, this review focuses on the latest advances in cathode materials for aqueous batteries based on the multivalent ions (Zn2+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Al3+), their common challenges, and promising strategies for improvement. In addition, further suggestions for development directions and a comparison of the different AMVIBs are covered.

Combining ability for the improvement of vegetable soybean

AbstractOne use of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] as food is as a vegetable, also known as edamame, in which the green pods with seeds fully developed are harvested, cooked briefly, and consumed. Few efforts have been devoted to developing new soybean cultivars with high agronomic performance and characteristics suitable for human consumption. In the present research, crosses between six soybean lines were performed in a diallel scheme without reciprocals to determine the combining ability and the type of gene action that controls the inheritance of development and yield component traits for edamame production. The results showed the existence of variability among the evaluated genotypes and indicated that the progenies presented superior performance in comparison to the parental lines for important traits. The cultivar BRS267 and the inbred line USP‐13‐19‐007 had consistently high estimates of general combining ability for pod and seed size, indicating their potential as parents in breeding for edamame. Most progenies had positive specific combining ability for pod and seed size, showing that generating novel genotypic combinations through new crossings is a promising strategy for improvement. Additive effects played a major role in the inheritance for maturity traits and for pod size, seed size, and yield; both additive and non‐additive effects were important. The magnitude and significance of the correlations indicated that it is possible to improve vegetable soybean traits without affecting grain yield.

Improving downtown in a mid-sized legacy city: examining responses to potential downtown improvements in Flint, Michigan

While many researchers have examined strategies for revitalizing downtowns, few have done so in small or mid-sized legacy cities. This article adds to the literature by examining 1263 survey responses to statements about potential improvements to the downtown area of Flint, Michigan (USA). Descriptive statistics were used to identify perceptions of the most promising strategies for improvement. Those strategies were further analyzed using regression methods, to determine which characteristics of participants influenced responses. We found that while there are many improvements that might encourage people to come downtown – such as reducing crime, having more to do, making parking easier, and having suitable housing – some traditional improvements advocated by planners (involving proximity, walkability, and bikeability) were not desired. Additionally, we found that responses appeared to be influenced by age, residency status, and perception of downtown, but not by education level, frequency of visiting, or whether or not one currently works downtown.

TiO2 Nanotubes in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells: Critical Factors for the Conversion Efficiency

Particle vs tube: The present paper systematically investigates a range of fundamental geometrical and structural features of TiO(2) nanotube layers and their effect on the dye-sensitized solar cell conversion efficiency, to deduce the most promising strategies for improvement. It is found that the performance of the cells strongly depends on the morphology and crystalline structure of the nanotubes.