In the current overview paper, particulate emissions from the combustion of agricultural residues are discussed. The influence of operating parameters and fuel quality was investigated. Studies on the mass concentration, number concentration and size distribution of particles emitted from agricultural waste fired boiler are presented. Mass concentrations of particles in the flue gas from small scale combustion appliances reported in the literature to be in the range of 8 - 2095 mg/Nm3, while particle number concentrations in the range of 7.0 x 10-2 to 1.8 x 108 particles/cm3. The dominating chemical compositions of the particle emissions were Ca followed by K, Mn and Mg. Organic Carbon (OC), Elemental carbon (EC), Elemental emission, Poly-cyclic Aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and emission of different size particles (PM?0.1 to PM10) were also reported. Combustion temperature is the most important factor in determining PAH composition.

In the past few years, an increasing number of stimuli responsive thin polymer films and intelligent hydrogels have been reported in the literature for various biomedical applications, including drug delivery, tissue engineering and wound healing. The thermo-sensitive approach can be advantageous for some specific applications as it does not require organic solvents, co-polymerization agents, or an externally applied trigger for gelation. The conformation as well as change in physical properties of polymer brushes and polymer hydrogel can be influenced by the environmental stimuli, such as solvent composition, temperature, pH and electric fields. This review focuses on the recent advances of these stimuli responsive molecular thin film and stimuli responsive polymeric gels with unique properties and utilities. We also discuss some conflicting behaviors shown by polymer grafted membrane and polymer gel surfaces, synthesized by using same monomers. Major properties of stimuli responsive thin polymer films, and on their potential application in the field of nano-optics, ultrasensitive spectroscopies and other biomedical applications including drug delivery are also outlined.