Respiratory viral infections are a major cause of public health concern worldwide. With the appearance of COVID-19 in 2019, the whole world has experienced severe and long-term complications associated with these infections. These respiratory viruses, their types and sub types are prevalent throughout the year and at varied seasons, and our body continues to fight against these pathogens through innate and adaptive immune responses. Facing multiple viral pathogens with a varied constitution of antigenic epitopes, the infected person generates a number of cytokines and also different paratopic induced antibodies, creating an immunological chaos. To understand this, the present study was undertaken. The antibodies against five major respiratory viruses, commonly reported in India, were targeted viz; SARS-CoV-2, rhinovirus, influenza virus, parainfluenza, and respiratory syncytial virus. An ELISA assay for the detection of all these viruses was made. It was observed that in most cases, there was a presence of antibodies against respiratory viruses (more than 3 respiratory viruses). When the overall status was checked, it was observed that the presence of IgG for Parainfluenza A virus was present in maximum study subjects (92.30 to 100%), along with IgG for SARS-CoV-2 (50–76.92%). We may thus assume that co-infection by multiple viruses may trigger the risk of multiple antibodies and an immunological chaos. Comorbidities that exist in the patients can also enhance the additional stress on the immune cells, with a possibility of B-cells losing their specificity to generate epitope specific antibodies.
Hydrochar is a low-cost carbon precursor for water treatment, but its adsorption performance depends on both texture and surface chemistry. This work evaluates whether a nitric acid (HNO3) post-treatment can direct physically activated hydrochar adsorbents toward a target contaminant class. An industrially produced hydrochar was activated at 800 °C for 2 h under N2, CO2, or steam, then treated with 70% HNO3. Adsorption was evaluated using methylene blue as a representative cationic dye and phenol as a representative aromatic micropollutant. The post-treatment altered surface chemistry rather than texture: total acidic groups increased by 86 to 123% and basic groups decreased by 56 to 66%, lowering the point of zero charge to 4.5–5.3, while Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas were largely preserved (largest reduction of 14%, most changes below 5%). These changes had opposing consequences for the two adsorbates: methylene blue capacity increased by up to 135%, reaching 264 mg·g−1 for the post-treated steam-activated hydrochar, whereas phenol capacity decreased by up to 58% from a maximum of 167 mg·g−1 for the same steam-activated char before post-treatment. The HNO3 post-treatment is therefore selective rather than universally beneficial as it valorizes hydrochar adsorbents for cationic contaminants while reducing their affinity for neutral aromatics.
Restoration of tidal freshwater forest is required according to European legislation for biodiversity conservation and compensation for human impact on estuaries. A large-scale project was set up to compensate for channel deepening at the port of Hamburg, the third largest port in Europe. The relief was modelled to allow tidal dynamics, and 2680 willows (genus Salix) were planted for a tidal freshwater forest in autumn 2022. Six characteristic Salix species were planted in different habitats at the restoration site. After one year, 75% of the individuals were established, whereas S. viminalis showed the highest establishment percentage (85.7), followed by S. rubens (72.6), S. triandra (70.7), S. alba (60.3), S. purpurea (51.3), and S. fragilis (37.7). The species diversity in the different habitats (stream valley meadow, reed stands, wet sinks, bar ground, in small bays, at tidal creeks) was preserved. The species differed in growth parameters and planting habitats: Salix alba and S. purpurea showed drought damage, but S. alba responded with resprouting; S. alba was least affected, whereas S. viminalis was most affected by browsing but similarly responded with strong resprouting. Salix triandra showed browsing damage but did resprout less. Salix fragilis and S. rubens behaved intermediary. The study demonstrates the initial establishment success of the Salix species one year after plantation with important implications for initial restoration management of tidal freshwater forest in European estuaries.
Worldwide generation of crop residues exceeds four billion tonnes per year, much of which is openly burnt or landfilled, with consequences for air quality, greenhouse-gas emissions, and soil organic matter. Thermochemical conversion of these residues to biochar offers a valorisation route with the potential to contribute simultaneously to water and soil remediation and to durable carbon storage. This structured narrative review consolidates progress on agricultural waste derived biochar (AWDB) reported between 2020 and 2026. Slow pyrolysis, fast pyrolysis, microwave-assisted pyrolysis, and hydrothermal carbonisation are compared in terms of operating conditions, yield, and product attributes. Activation routes (steam, CO2, KOH, ZnCl2, H3PO4) and post-synthetic modifications (heteroatom doping, metal impregnation, magnetic functionalisation) are evaluated against porosity, surface chemistry, and adsorbate selectivity. Applications span heavy-metal, dye, antibiotic, and CO2 removal, together with soil amendment and carbon sequestration. Persistent limitations are identified, including over-reliance on equilibrium capacities, inconsistent test protocols, sparse multicomponent data and incomplete life-cycle accounting. The distinction between biochar, activated biochar, and biochar-derived activated carbon is applied consistently, and the safety profile of the material—residual pyrolysis organics, potentially toxic elements, release of impregnated metals, and management of pollutant-loaded spent adsorbent—is treated as integral to the assessment. Priorities are proposed for standardised evaluation, mechanism-guided synthesis, data-driven design, and techno-economic assessment.
The temperature rise in lightweight, high-efficiency traction motors for new energy vehicles (NEVs) directly affects their operating efficiency, reliability, and service life. In this study, a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) for NEVs was selected as the research object, and three distributed cooling channel configurations, namely spiral, tree-shaped, and circumferential channels, were comparatively investigated using conjugate fluid–thermal simulations. The effects of cooling-channel configuration and coolant flow rate on the motor temperature and flow characteristics were analyzed. Under the rated operating condition with a total coolant flow rate of 10 L/min, the maximum motor temperatures of the spiral, tree-shaped, and circumferential configurations were 98.2 °C, 97.2 °C, and 99.6 °C, respectively. The tree-shaped cooling channel, therefore, exhibited the best thermal performance and the smallest maximum inlet-to-outlet static gauge-pressure difference among the three configurations. Based on the thermal constraints and the variation in this defined pressure metric, recommended coolant flow rates of 12 L/min and 22 L/min were selected for the peak-speed and peak-torque operating conditions, respectively.
