Reducing the environmental impact of rice production in subtropical India by minimising reactive nitrogen loss.

The future of reactive nitrogen (N) for subtropical lowland rice to be characterised under diverse N-management to develop adequate sustainable practices. It is a challenge to increase the efficiency of N use in lowland rice, as N can be lost in various ways, e.g.

Soil quality assessment of lowland rice soil of eastern India: Implications of rice husk biochar application.

The role of biochar in improving the soil properties of problem soils is well known, but its long term impact on lowland rice soil is not well recognized. The soil quality indicators of biochar applied lowland rice soil are not widely reported. We developed soil quality index (SQI) of a biochar applied lowland rice soil based on 17 soil properties (indicators).

Active Case Finding for Tuberculosis through TOUCH Agents in Selected High TB Burden Wards of Kolkata, India: A Mixed Methods Study on Outcomes and Implementation Challenges.

Active case finding (ACF) for tuberculosis (TB) was implemented in 60 selected high TB burden wards of Kolkata, India. Community volunteers called TOUCH (Targeted Outreach for Upliftment of Community Health) agents (TAs) identified and referred presumptive TB patients (PTBPs) to health facilities for TB diagnosis and treatment. We aimed to describe the "care cascade" of PTBPs that were identified during July to December 2018 and to explore the reasons for attrition as perceived by TAs and PTBPs.

Metal(loid)s (As, Hg, Se, Pb and Cd) in paddy soil: Bioavailability and potential risk to human health.

Rice is one of the principal staple foods, essential for safeguarding the global food and nutritional security, but due to different natural and anthropogenic sources, it also acts as one of the biggest reservoirs of potentially toxic metal(loids) like As, Hg, Se, Pb and Cd. This review summarizes mobilization, translocation and speciation mechanism of these metal(loids) in soil-plant continuum as well as available cost-effective remediation measures and future research needs to eliminate the long-term risk to human health. High concentrations of these elements not only cause toxicity problems in plants, but also in animals that consume them and gradual deposition of these elements leads to the risk of bioaccumulation.

Water vapor flux in tropical lowland rice.

A field experiment was conducted at Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha, India in the dry seasons of 2015 and 2016 to assess the water vapor flux (FHO) and its relationship with other climatic variables. The FHO and climatic variables were measured by an eddy covariance system and a micrometeorological observatory. Daily mean FHO during the dry seasons of 2015 and 2016 were 0.

Greenhouse gas emissions and energy exchange in wet and dry season rice: eddy covariance-based approach.

Lowland tropical rice-rice system has a unique micrometrological characteristic that affects both energy component and net ecosystem energy. Periodic and seasonal variations of methane (CH), carbon dioxide (CO), and energy exchange from irrigated lowland rice-rice ecosystem were studied using open-path eddy covariance (EC) system during the dry (DS) and wet (WS) seasons in 2015. Concurrently, the manual chamber method was employed in nitrous oxide (NO) measurement efflux.

Characterization of microstructural changes due to prolonged thermal exposure of directionally solidified Ni-base super alloy CM 247LC using ultrasonic.

The high temperature strength of directionally solidified Ni-base super alloy CM 247LC strongly depends on the morphology, volume fraction, size and size distribution of γ' precipitate (NiAl) in the FCC γ matrix. The microstructure of the alloy is engineered to achieve the right combination of these parameters that provides the required high temperature strength and creep resistance. The alloy contains high volume fraction of coherent γ' precipitates having near cubic shape.