Mukesh Kumar

When heat waves hit the Western United States, the risk of wildfires quickly rises. The prolonged heat dries out vegetation, but that's only part of the cause – heat waves also play other roles in spreading wildfires.

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(MERCED, CALIF.) When heat waves hit the Western United States, the risk of wildfires quickly rises.

Author(s) Mr. Mukesh Kumar G Dr. Raj ratan Dr. Geeta Bhardwaj Dr. Mamta Verma Country India Abstract

A new study found that 42% all the area burned by Western fires had occurred during or right after a heat wave.

Author(s) Mr. Vikram Singh Deora Mr. Kumarasamy AP Dr. Mamta Verma Mr. Mukesh Kumar.G Country India Abstract

Quad was revived in 2017 during Trump 1.0 as a regional security dialogue among the US, Australia, Japan, and India, aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific.

This article is authored by Mukesh Kumar, researcher, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.

In many production and agricultural surveys, obtaining accurate auxiliary information at the initial stage of sampling is often expensive or infeasible. Stratified double sampling offers a practical and cost-effective solution by selecting a large first-phase sample to collect inexpensive auxiliary data, followed by a smaller second-phase sample to observe the main study variable. In this study, a new estimator and a family of improved estimators for the population mean are proposed under a stratified double sampling framework. The proposed class includes modified ratio, product, regression, and exponential-type estimators that efficiently utilize first-phase auxiliary information, stratum-specific characteristics, and optimally determined weights. Analytical expressions for bias and mean squared error (MSE) are derived up to the first-order approximation, and the optimal constants are obtained by minimizing the MSE. Theoretical and empirical results demonstrate that the proposed estimators achieve lower MSE and higher percentage relative efficiency (PRE) compared to several existing estimators. A practical application is illustrated in agricultural yield estimation, where satellite-based vegetation indices are used as auxiliary information in the first phase, while crop-cutting experiments are conducted on a smaller subsample. This approach substantially reduces survey cost while improving the precision and timeliness of production estimates.

The green synthesis of aluminium nanoparticles (Al-NPs) via aqueous extract of Terminalia chebula was used to evaluate the structural, biological and sensing applications of the synthesized nanoparticles. Nanoparticle development was confirmed by UV–Visible spectroscopy, showing a typical absorption peak at 300 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) identified key biomolecules involved in reduction and stabilization, including polysaccharides (C–O–C at 1044 cm− 1), proteins/peptides (amide I band at 1660 cm− 1) and phenolic compounds (O–H bending at 1328 cm− 1), with additional bands indicating the presence of alkenes and aromatic groups. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed irregular, spherical, leaf-like aggregates measuring 30 to 80 nm, while Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) established elemental proportion consistent with aluminium oxide, with Carbon, oxygen and aluminium present at 51.9%, 23.9% and 24.5% by weight, respectively. The biological activity of Al-NPs was demonstrated through dose-dependent antiproliferative effects against A549 lung carcinoma cells with an IC₅₀ value of 72.04 µg/mL, assessed via 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, Biogenic Al-NPs treated cells demonstrated orange-to-red fluorescence, indicates the presence of condensed and fragmented nuclei using Acridine Orange and Ethidium Bromide (AO/EB) assay, indicating apoptosis. The antibacterial efficacy of the biogenic Al-NPs was evaluated using Resazurin Based Microplate assay. The nanoparticles exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 1250, 625, 312, and 312 µg/mL and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of 2500, 1250, 312, and 625 µg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella ebony, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively, demonstrating enhanced activity against Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, the Al-NPs exhibited sensitive optical glucose sensing, with UV–Visible spectra showing a linear decrease in plasmonic absorption at 300 nm over glucose concentrations of 1–22 mM. These results highlight the potential of T. chebula mediated Al-NPs as multifunctional nanomaterials for biomedical and biosensing applications.