Stimuli-responsive, smart, or intelligent polymers are materials that significantly change their physical or chemical properties when there is a small change in the surrounding environment due to either internal or external stimuli. In the last two decades or so, there has been tremendous growth in the strategies to develop various types of stimuli-responsive polymer (SRP) materials/systems that are suitable for various fields, including biomedical, material science, nanotechnology, biotechnology, surface and colloid sciences, biochemistry, and the environmental field. The wide acceptability of SRPs is due to their availability in different architectural forms such as scaffolds, aggregates, hydrogels, pickering emulsions, core-shell particles, nanogels, micelles, membranes, capsules, and layer-by-layer films. The present review focuses on different types of SRPs, such as physical, chemical, and biological, and various important applications, including controlled drug delivery (CDD), stabilization of colloidal dispersion, diagnostics (sensors and imaging), tissue engineering, regenerative medicines, and actuators. The applications of SRPs have immense potential in various fields, and the author hopes these polymers will add a new field of applications through new concepts.

Humic substances are used in agriculture as promoters of plant growth, especially of the root system. The objective of the work was to evaluate the effect of the application of different doses of fulvic acid on the growth and productivity of American lettuce, Raider Plus cultivar. The experimental design used was entirely randomized, with five treatments of fulvic acid 0, 1, 2, 4, 8 mL·L^-1 and four repetitions, applied at the time of transplanting. Two experiments were conducted simultaneously: one in the greenhouse, where fresh and dry mass of the aboveground and root parts, length and volume of the roots were evaluated; and the other in the field, where, at the end of the cycle, fresh and dry mass of the aboveground parts, number of leaves, stem length and average head circumference were evaluated. The application of different doses of fulvic acid promoted the growth of lettuce plants, especially the root system. The emission of roots, with predominance, of those of smaller diameter, was found in the higher concentrations of fulvic acid. The number of leaves and the average circumference of the head expressed responses in the concentrations of fulvic acid.

The problem of the synthesis of new type nanomaterials in the form of nano-coatings with sub-nanometric heterogeneity has been formulated. It has been presented an analysis of influences of physical vapor deposition in ultrahigh vacuum on the process of intermixing a film with a substrate, including the results, which has been obtained under the formation of transition metal – silicon interface. The generalization of the obtained experimental results develops an approach to the development of new nano-coatings with low-dimensional heterogeneity. The principles of constructing such low-dimensional nano-coatings, their properties and possible applications are considered. 

Attempts were made in the present study to design and develop skeletally modified ether linked tetraglycidyl epoxy resin (TGBAPSB), which is subsequently reinforced with different weight percentages of amine functionalized mullite fiber (F-MF). The F-MF was synthesized by reacting mullite fiber with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) as coupling agent and the F-MF structure was confirmed by FT-IR. TGBAPSB reinforced with F-MF formulation was cured with 4,4’-diamino diphenyl methane (DDM) to obtain nanocomposite. The surface morphology of TGBAPSB-F-MF epoxy nanocomposites was investigated by XRD, SEM and AFM studies. From the study, it follows that these nanocomposite materials offer enhancement in mechanical, thermal, thermo-mechanical, dielectric properties compared to neat (TGBAPSB) epoxy matrix. Hence we recommend these nanocomposites for a possible use in advanced engineering applications that require both toughness and stiffness.

With the improvement of people's living standards, water heaters almost into the various households. In the energy-saving emission reduction has become the trend of the times today, saving energy and reducing carbon emissions is the most fashionable way of life. Air source heat pump water heaters are increasingly being used in people's lives. It is well known that it has many advantages, safety, energy saving, comfort, environmental protection, but there are some factors that affect its development and promotion. This paper mainly discusses the development history of air source heat pump technology at home and abroad, working principle, working flow, turbo technology at present stage, efficient heat exchange, and the research status of air source heat pump technology, such as new type refrigerant and dual frequency compression frequency conversion, then it discusses the application of air source heat pump technology, has the advantage, and finally discusses its application and the existence of two major problems and suggestions for improvement.