In recent years, nanosponges (NS) have gained tremendous impetus in drug delivery through nanotechnology. Nanosponges are capable of providing solutions for several formulation related problems. Through this review, scientists working in the field of nanotechnology can have an insight into the techniques of preparation, characterization and applications of NS. Owing to their small size and porous nature they can bind poorly-soluble drugs within their matrix and improve their bioavailability. They can be crafted for targeting drugs to specific sites, prevent drug and protein degradation and prolong drug release in a controlled manner. This review attempts to elaborate different schemes of synthesis of NS and their characterization. Factors affecting drug loading and release have been enumerated. Due to their advantages, NS have not only been explored for their pharmaceutical applications but also have large popularity in allied sciences, especially in water purification.

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THE POSSIBILITY STUDY OF BRIQUETTING AGRICULTURAL WASTES FOR ALTERNATIVE ENERGY. Globally energy crisis is known as a new era's biggest problem. The use of agricultural wastes into the form of briquettes are the best alternative option of renewable energy sources. This paper studies the possibility of utilizing agricultural wastes into briquetting production with high calorific value. Major wastes were sugarcane bagasse, coffee husk, wheat straw, peanut shells, rice husks, paddy straw, corn stalks, sunflower stalk, soybean husk, coir pitch, jute sticks, caster seed shells, mustard stalks, cotton stalks and tobacco wastes for energy in the form of briquettes biomass. Observations were taken from Department of Bioenergy, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), India of different raw materials and briquettes of those raw materials. Results show that there were very satisfactory results after evaluation. In general, calorific value briquettes is higher than those of raw materials. Raw materials of agricultural wastes and forest residual wastes ranged from 1,200-3,000 Kcal/Kg and its calorific values are significantly higher in briquettes than raw materials. Raw material of rice husk produces 3,000 Kcal/kg and briquettes of rice husk produces 3200 Kcal/kg. Likewise differences were observed in all types of agricultural wastes. The input and output ratio ware observed as cost-effective and profitable in all parameters for the farmers. Briquetting production is the emerging, ecofriendly, cost effective and profitable technology for the use of agricultural residues. It may help farmers to improve its socio-economic status and proper reuses of agricultural wastes.

Mining activity causes a huge amount of land degradation by altering the land use pattern of the area. It is extremely difficult to restore and reclaim this degraded land because of the unfavourable Physico-Chemical conditions for plant growth. The purpose of the present study was the monitoring of land use and land cover, diversity and species composition of Gevra Opencast (OC) Mine of Korba Coalfield, Chhattisgarh and assessment of restoration success over the period of time. A phytosociological survey has been accompanied and a random quadrate sampling method was adopted for vegetation analysis and the change in vegetation cover was observed using Arc GIS software. The finding show that the area comprises 48 tree species with the Shannon-wiener index (H¢), Concentration of Dominance (D) (Simpson’s index) Species Evenness (E) and species richness (R) were 2.72, 0.127, 0.70 and 6.38 respectively. A comparative analysis of land use and land cover based on data from 2001 and 2021 reveals that the degradation of agricultural land is caused by increased mining activities while similar efforts were made to restore the mine soil dump areas. NDVI value of the study site helps in monitoring the vegetation cover over a period which can be used as a monitoring tool for maintaining restoration success.

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