Akal University

About: Akal University is a education organization based out in Bathinda, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Chemistry & Doping. The organization has 64 authors who have published 82 publications receiving 375 citations.

Zinc toxicity in plants: a review.

Abstract: This review highlights the most recent updated information available about Zn phytotoxicity at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels, uptake mechanisms as well as excess Zn homeostasis in plants. Zinc (Zn) is a natural component of soil in terrestrial environments and is a vital element for plant growth, as it performs imperative functions in numerous metabolic pathways. However, potentially noxious levels of Zn in soils can result in various alterations in plants like reduced growth, photosynthetic and respiratory rate, imbalanced mineral nutrition and enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species. Zn enters into soils through various sources, such as weathering of rocks, forest fires, volcanoes, mining and smelting activities, manure, sewage sludge and phosphatic fertilizers. The rising alarm in environmental facet, as well as, the narrow gap between Zn essentiality and toxicity in plants has drawn the attention of the scientific community to its effects on plants and crucial role in agricultural sustainability. Hence, this review focuses on the most recent updates about various physiological and biochemical functions perturbed by high levels of Zn, its mechanisms of uptake and transport as well as molecular aspects of surplus Zn homeostasis in plants. Moreover, this review attempts to understand the mechanisms of Zn toxicity in plants and to present novel perspectives intended to drive future investigations on the topic. The findings will further throw light on various mechanisms adopted by plants to cope with Zn stress which will be of great significance to breeders for enhancing tolerance to Zn contamination.

Simulation of shielding parameters for TeO2-WO3-GeO2 glasses using FLUKA code

Abstract: This paper aimed to report the results on the investigation of photon attenuation parameters for TeO2-WO3-GeO2 glasses using FLUKA Monte Carlo code. In order to test the validity of the present code, the computational values of mass attenuation coefficients have been in confirmation with those of both previously published experimental data (MoO3-B2O3-Bi2O3) and XCOM database at various energies between 356 and 1330 keV. The relative deviation between FLUKA and experimental data is below 5.19% while the difference between the present code and XCOM database is found to be almost 2%. Therefore, the estimated results are in good agreement to each other and exhibited that FLUKA simulation is an alternative technique in determining the shielding performance of the present glass system. Additionally, mean free path and half-value layer results were calculated and it was concluded that among the selected glasses, TeWGe5 sample has superior shielding effectiveness.

Investigation ofthe gamma ray shielding parameters of (100-x)[0.5Li2O–0.1B2O3–0.4P2O5]-xTeO2 glasses using Geant4 and FLUKA codes

Abstract: In the present work, the radiation shielding proeprties of lithium borophosphtellurite glass system with the composition of (100-x) [0.5Li2O-0.1B2O3–0.4P2O5]-xTeO2 (x = 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mol%) were reported. The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) of the selected glass system (LiBPTe0, LiBPTe10, LiBPTe20, LiBPTe30 and LiBPTe40) was calculated at 356 keV, 662 keV, 1173 keV and 1330 keV photon energies by using Geant4 and FLUKA codes and the results were compared to the values obtained theoretically using WinXcom software. The correlation theory has been used to calculate the correlation coefficients (R2) between the results from WinXcom and the both simulations codes (Geant4 and FLUKA) for each sample. Moreover, some other radiation shielding parameters such as effective atomic number, photon transmission, mean free path and half value layer were calculated. The gamma photon transmission results showed that the transmission values of the 356 keV photons are lower than those of energies 662, 1173 and 1330 keV. At 356 keV, the transmission value for LiBPTe0 (at 6 cm thickness) is found to be 0.245 while at the same energy and thickness the transmission value is 0.088 for LiBPTe40. Out of all the glasses considered in present work, LiBPTe40 possesses the highest values of effective atomic number (Zeff). The Zeff values for the present glasses are 8.02, 9.55, 11.16, 12.85 and 14.64 for LiBPTe0, LiBPTe10, LiBPTe20, LiBPTe30 and LiBPTe40 respectively at 356 keV. The mass attenuation coefficient and effetive atomic number results showed that utilization 40% mol of TeO2 significantly improves the gamma ray shielding properties of the selected glass system. The shielding effectiveness of the selected samples was compared with other reference materials namely two radiation shielding glasses and four concretes used in different shielding purposes in terms of the mean free path (MFP) at 356 keV. The results revealed that the MFP of RS-253-G18 is lower than LiBPTe0sample. Moreover, the MFP of ordinary concrete is higher than the MFP of all glasses under examination, thus the investigated tellurite glasses have better attenuation features than the ordinary concrete.