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Thermal power stations are now considered as the foremost global concern as these are responsible to produce detrimental effects on the environment. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impact so proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse. In this study, the perception of certain(60)farmers in 5 villages of Kolaghat block of Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India are recorded and analyzed on the basis of their knowledge and views about thermal power, environment and about their individual enterprises. There are 10 independent variables-ages (x1), education (x2), family Member (x3), income (x4), homestead land (x5), total Land (x6), land under Boroj (x7), input cost (x8), and livestock number (x9), distance of villages from Kolaghat thermal power plant (x10) and 1 dependable variables- 1) perceived impacts of Kolaghat thermal power plant on betel vine(y2). From this empirical study, it has been found to be concluded that the common perception among the betel growers is that the Kolaghat thermal power plant produces huge amount of flu ash which reduces their level of income on betel vine. Thick layer of fly ash reduces the quality of leaves and bronzing occurred which affect production. It affects betel vine borojes. It is found from the result that villages which are nearly placed at Kolaghat thermal power plant side are mostly affected.

Pulses are important component of diet in Indian, mainly for being one of the leading cheap and reliable sources of protein. The emphasis of the Government has, accordingly, been on increasing production of pulses through area expansion and adoption of improved technology. Equally important is the marketing of the pulses, particularly in an objective condition created by the introduction of reforms in the marketing sector, conspicuous by an existing demand-supply gap in pulses. Marketing can also help inducing an element of incentive to farmer through participation in processing and distribution of pulses through direct marketing, or cooperative marketing to get higher share in the consumer’s price. The study has been carried out in two developed block namely Chakdah and Haringhata of Nadia district in West Bengal. The two villages out of twenty-seven gram panchayat were purposively selected for the present study. The multistage purposive and random sample techniques were the key to contrast sampling design in the present study. The statistical tools like mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation, coefficient of variation, coefficient of correlation, multiple regression, step down multiple regression and path analysis. The study also responded to the inquiry as to where and how much the crop marketed this will be much rewarding and beneficiary to the common farmer. The determinants like yield (kg/bigha), farmer’s attitude towards Pulse crop cultivation and gross return (Rs/ Bigha) are decisively characterizing the marketed surplus of pulse crop.

In this paper, we have obtained the traveling wave solution for generalized Fisher equation and Lotka–Volterra (L-V) model with diffusion using hyperbolic function method. The Painleve’ analysis has been used to check both of the system’s integrability. Obtained solutions have also been plotted to represent their spatio-temporal dependence. The three dimensional plot shows a monotonic profile of the solutions.

Thermal power stations are now considered as the foremost global concern as these are responsible to produce detrimental effects on the environment. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impact so proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse. In this study, the perception of certain(60) farmers in 5 villages of Kolaghat block of Purba Medinipur,West Bengal, India are recorded and analyzed on the basis of their knowledge and views about thermal power, environment and about their individual enterprises. There are 10 independent variables-ages (x1), education (x2), family Member (x3), income (x4), homestead land (x5), total Land (x6), land under Boroj (x7), input cost (x8), and livestock number (x9), distance of villages from Kolaghat thermal power plant (x10) and 1 dependable variables- 1) perceived impacts of Kolaghat thermal power plant on human health(y1).It has been found that toxic elements and fly ash from Kolaghat thermal power plant have several consequences upon local environment, human, agriculture and livestock. It has also revealed that Kolaghat thermal power plant hampers the social ecology of the local areas. The study has further suggested several recommendations to cope with adverse environmental and ecological condition.

Beneficial properties of shade trees of tea plantations other than their medicinal properties have been extensively studied. This research was initiated to explore the properties of some shade trees with special emphasis on their antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Leaves from shade tree like Dalbergia sissoo (DS), Cassia siamea (CS), Derris robusta (DR), Leucaena leucocephala (LL), Acacia lenticularis (AL) and Melia azedarach (MA) were used for the study. Characterization of shade tree leaves by determination of moisture, crude fibre and ash content and tests of non polar – polar solvent extracts for steroid, tannins, cardiac glycosides and coumarin, free radical scavenging, ferric reducing power, NO scavenging activities, quantification of Flavonoids and antibacterial activity were conducted. The average moisture, crude fibre and ash percentage of shade tree plants were found to be 62.95, 11.28 and 1.86 respectively. Methanol, ethanol, acetone and ethyl acetate respectively proved to be the most potent solvent for various phytochemical extractions as it gave positive results for tests like tannin, steroid, cardiac glycosides and coumarin. AL (91.46%), DR (92.69%), LL (94.32%) and MA (93.34%) leaf extracts showed a high level of DPPH scavenging activity in their water extracts. In DS (88.11%) and CS (83.23%) maximum DPPH scavenging activity was observed in Diethyl ether and Methanol extracts respectively. Acetone extracts were more active than the water extracts in exhibiting ferric reducing power and NO scavenging activity. Summation of the quantity revealed that DS showed maximum presence of flavonoids and acetone as most potential for isolation of flavonoids. The decreasing order of summative antibacterial activity was recorded in DS, followed by CS, DR, AL, MA and LL. Chloroform showed the highest summative inhibition zone followed by ethanol, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, acetone, water, hexane, benzene and methanol. The antioxidant and antibacterial potential of shade trees were established.

Tea as a refreshing beverage is consumed socially and habitually. Tea contains several bioactive compounds. The present research work has been designed to work on characterization of tea and tea infusion collected from major tea growing regions of India as climate influences aroma and taste of tea. CTC-tea and Orthodox-tea (O-tea) samples were collected from different tea growing regions of India. In both the type of tea samples maximum and minimum percentage of moisture were recorded in Nilgiri and Dooars tea. Amount of Crude fibres in manufactured CTC-tea was more than O-tea. Ash content of CTC-tea and O-tea ranged between 1.308%-1.66% and 0.233-0.315% respectively. The pH of infusions was found to be acidic. Optical density of O-tea infusions was found to be less than CTC-tea infusions. Insoluble and soluble matter in tea infusions was extremely variable. Theaflavin of tea infusions prepared from CTC-tea were more than that of O-tea of the same region. Thearubigins was recorded more in all CTC-tea samples over O-tea except for the sample manufactured at Nilgiri. Caffeine content was high in CTC-tea samples of Nilgiri, Terai and Shillong whereas for Assam and Dooars it was high in O-tea. Free radical scavenging activity was more in CTC-tea than O-tea of the same region. O-tea showed better antibacterial activity than CTC-tea.

Waste is a ceaselessly developing issue at worldwide and territorial just as at neighborhood levels. Due to vigorous globalization and product proliferation in recent years, more waste has been produced by the soaring manufacturing activities. The social ecology of waste recycling implies the structural, functional and managerial intervention of waste generation process. The present study takes a look into the approach, process and impact of ongoing waste management process, followed by the both kalyani and jalpaiguri municipalities. A set of agro-ecological, socio-economic and techno managerial factors have been developed by selecting two sets of operating variables. 21 independent variables and one dependent variable i.e. waste reduction methods (y4) were selected for the research. Total one fifty respondents, seventy five from each municipal area have been selected by systematic random sampling. A basket of multivariate analytic techniques have been carried out to isolate and interpret the variables. Throughout the study it has been observed that in terms of variable behavior and responses there has been stark differences between jalapaiguri and kalyani where as some few variables like income, impact of waste management and recycling on water and micro flora and fauna have recorded the distinct contribution, for jalpaiguri volume of waste generation from household, water consumption per day have gone in the determinant way. But in both municipal areas perception of environmental impact of waste management have recorded equal contribution. So it can be said that improper waste management leads to ecological damage and waste reduction methods will reduce waste generation, improper waste disposal and save our environment and ecology.

Technology socialization process has operationally been defined as the interactive summation of all possible responses to a technology application process in terms of adoption, rejection, discontinuance and reinvention. Here, this interactive summation is measured against a set of standard practices applied in pulse enterprises and the level of socialization as measured against a “recommended technology”. The following specific objectives are set to intervene the present study. Those are, to generate basic information on socialization of pulse crop in the study area to identify and standardize the variables, dependent and independent, impacting on both socialization of pulse crop in the study area, to elucidate inter and intra level interaction between dependent variables i.e. Socialization with those of selected socio economic and ecological variables, to delineate the micro level policy based on the empirical result on effective socialization process. The study has been carried out in two developed block namely Chakdah and Haringhata of Nadia District in West Bengal. The multistage purposive and random sample techniques were the key to contrast sampling design in the present study. The following variables, gross return, area under pulse cultivation, training received, yield, farmer’s attitude towards pulse cultivation have been found generating significant functional impacts on the predicted character, technology Socialization. The statistical tools like mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation, coefficient of variation, coefficient of correlation, multiple regression, step down multiple regression and path analysis. The study also responded to the inquiry as to where and how the classical crop production process can be replaced with pulse crop and whereas this replacement will be much rewarding and beneficiary to the common farmer. The determinants like gross return, area under pulse crop, training received, productivity of pulse crop and farmer’s attitude are decisively characterizing the socialization process of pulse crop.

Waste is a ceaselessly developing issue at worldwide and territorial just as at neighborhood levels. Due to vigorous globalization and product proliferation in recent years, more waste has been produced by the soaring manufacturing activities. The social ecology of waste recycling implies the structural, functional and managerial intervention of waste generation process. The specific objective of the research was to isolate and identify the system variables characterizing and the management of waste recycling process and to estimate intra and inter level of interaction amongst and between the variables for respective, inductive and interactive contribution. The present study takes a look into the approach, process and impact of ongoing waste management process, followed by the both Kalyani and Jalpaiguri municipalities. A set of agro-ecological, socio-economic and techno managerial factors have been developed by selecting two sets of operating variables. 21 independent variables and one dependent variable i.e. knowledge of waste recycling (y2) were selected for the research. Total one fifty respondents, seventy five from each municipal area have been selected by systematic random sampling. A basket of multivariate analytic techniques have been carried out to isolate and interpret the variables. Throughout the study it has been observed that in terms of variable behavior and responses there has been stark differences between Jalapaiguri and Kalyani where as some few variables like education, impact of waste management and recycling on health, water and micro flora and fauna have recorded the distinct contribution, for Jalpaiguri expenditure, volume of waste generation from household, impact of waste management on soil have gone in the determinant way. But in both municipal areas perception of environmental impact of waste management have recorded equal contribution. So it can be said that improper waste management leads to ecological damage and knowledge of waste recycling will reduce improper waste disposal and save our environment and ecology.

In last couple of decades organisations are looking for solutions to reduce carbon emissions across their supply chains primarily due to stringent carbon policies. The two most familiar carbon policies are (i) Carbon tax/cost policy and (ii) Carbon cap-and-trade policy. In this paper a two-echelon supply chain have been optimised under these two policies under random demand. Comparisons of these two policies have been discussed, and a possible hybridisation of these two policies has also been presented. It has been assumed that the demand is random in nature. Two different Mixed Integer Non Linear Programming (MINLP) models have been developed and solved under the consideration of two different carbon policies. These models will help organisations to determine optimal order quantity, reorder point and number of shipments under most widely known carbon policies, severally. Sensitivity analyses have revealed that organisations can reduce total expected emissions and total expected cost by operational adjustments under both the carbon policies. It has been shown here that while optimising the total supply chain cost under the two different policies the decision variables and total emissions remain same. The advantages and disadvantages of both the policies have been discussed here and the potential benefits of a hybrid policy have also been presented.

Waste is a ceaselessly developing issue at worldwide and territorial just as at neighborhood levels. Due to vigorous globalization and product proliferation in recent years, more waste has been produced by the soaring manufacturing activities. The social ecology of waste recycling implies the structural, functional and managerial intervention of waste generation process. The specific objective of the research was to isolate and identify the system variables characterizing and the management of waste recycling process and to estimate intra and inter level of interaction amongst and between the variables for respective, inductive and interactive contribution. The present study takes a look into the approach, process and impact of ongoing waste management process, followed by the both kalyani and jalpaiguri municipalities. A set of agro-ecological, socio-economic and techno managerial factors have been developed by selecting two sets of operating variables: Independent Variables: Age(x1), Education(x2), Family member(x3), Total cost of energy(x4), Household land(x5), Income(x6), Expenditure of family(x7), Volume of waste generation per household(x8), Water consumption per day(x9), Total bio diversity(x10), Impact of waste management on health(x11), Impact of waste management on agriculture(x12), Impact of waste management on livestock(x13), Impact of waste management on water(x14), Impact of waste management on soil(x15), Impact of waste management on micro flora and fauna(x16), Exposure to media(x17),Training received(x18), Participation on waste recycling programmer (x19), Perception on environmental impact of waste management(x20), Waste management at household level with value addition by percentage (x21a), Waste management at household level with value addition by percentage (x21b). Dependent variables: Volume of waste used for different purposes (y1). The following independent variables have come out with stark contribution on this consequent variable. Result suggested that in terms of variable, behavior and responses there have been stark differences between jalapaiguri and kalyani municipal areas. In kalyani, some few variables like perception of environmental impact on waste management, waste management at household level with value addition by percentage, impact of waste management on agriculture have recorded the distinct contribution on volume of waste used for different purposes and in jalpaiguri total household land, volume of waste generation from household, water consumption per day have gone in the determinant way. So, in kalyani and jalpaiguri municipal areas these variables have maximum influence on the dependent variable. Household wastes mostly are bio degradable in nature. It can be converted to organic manure which has a great nutritional value for plants and if these bio wastes can be converted into organic manure then amount of waste will be reduced. Not only bio waste but we can use non bio degradable wastes for energy production also.

Background Metabolomics of Camellia japonica leaf has been studied to identify the terpenoids present in it and their interrelations regarding biosynthesis as most of their pathways are closely situated. Camellia japonica is famous for its anti-inflammatory activity in the field of medicines and ethno-botany. In this research, we intended to study the metabolomics of Camellia japonica leaf by using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy technique. Results A total of twenty-nine anti-inflammatory compounds, occupying 83.96% of total area, came out in the result. Most of the metabolites are terpenoids leading with triterpenoids like squalene, lupeol, and vitamin E. In this study, the candidate molecules responsible for anti-inflammatory activity were spotted out in the leaf extract and biosynthetic relation or interactions between those components were also established. Conclusion Finding novel anticancer and anti-inflammatory medicinal compounds like lupeol in a large amount in Camellia japonica leaf is the most remarkable outcome of this gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analysis. Developing probable pathway for biosynthesis of methyl commate B is also noteworthy.

PurposeStrict carbon-cap policy is one of the basic policies proposed by the regulatory bodies to reduce the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether it is beneficial for a company to invest in green technology or not under the strict carbon-cap policy and for that a two echelon supply chain model is developed. This paper gives insight about judicious decision about investment on green technology.Design/methodology/approachMathematical modeling approach has been adopted to understand the effect of investment on green technology. All the cost and emissions parameters have been derived and the total cost (TC) and total emission equations have been formulated mathematically. Two constrained mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems have been formulated and solved considering with or without green investment. Further, supply chain cost is optimized without carbon constraint to understand the effect of carbon constraint.FindingsThe investment in green technology can reduce the total supply chain cost. The study reveals that handling different parameters optimally can reduce both cost and emissions.Originality/valueThis paper tries to assess the effectiveness of green investment on technology under strict carbon-cap policy on a supply chain and, thereby, added value to the existing work. It examines the role played by various parameters under strict carbon-cap policy to draw insights, which will be beneficial for the academic community and managers.

BACKGROUND Medical Council of India has mandated the CISP (Curriculum Implementation Support Program) training of every medical faculty. However, due to time constraints and limited sessions of CISP programs, there is a section of faculties which has been trained only in the basic or the revised basic course but yet to be trained in the CISP workshop as well as there are faculties who have been trained in CISP after a long gap of MCI basic/revised basic course workshop (BCW/RBCW). In view of these variedly distributed faculty programs, this study was conducted with an intent to document the perceptions of medical faculties regarding these programs by analysing their views and challenges faced in implementation of CBME to search a novel solution to improve the scheduling and proforma of faculty development programs. METHODS A pre validated questionnaire consisting of components of CISP and BCW/RBCW was emailed to the teaching faculties of IQ City Medical College via google forms. Consenting faculties responded. Their results were analysed by inbuilt google statistics and was cross verified with SPSS 20.0. RESULTS The results show that among those who participated in the study, 28.2% faculties with CISP training are better suited to implement the new curriculum having a better knowledge and perception of CBME. Those faculties who have been trained only in 43.6% BCW/RBCW lack uniformity in knowledge and perception about CBME and there are ambiguities in their perceptions about CBME with mixed results. The substantial number of faculties not trained in any of the teachers training (28.2%) program completely lacked the perception about the modern modalities of teaching learning as well as competency based curriculum and its implementational techniques. CONCLUSIONS In view of the above results, a new combined (3 day) program may be suggested combining the content of both RBCW and CISP programs for training of new medical faculties.

Identification of human activity considering social interactions and group dynamics non-intrusively has been one of the fundamental problems and a challenging area of research. In real life, it is required for designing human-centric applications like assisted living, health care, and creating a smart home environment. As human beings spend 90% of time indoors, such a system will be helpful to monitor the behavioral anomalies of the inhabitants. Existing approaches have used intrusive or invasive methods like camera or wearable devices. In this work, we present a device-free, non-invasive, and non-intrusive sensing framework called HumanSense using an array of heterogeneous sensor grid for human activity monitoring. The sensor grids, comprising the ultrasonic and sound sensors, have been deployed for collective sensing combining a person’s physical activity and verbal interaction information. The proposed system senses a stream of events when the occupant(s) perform different physical activities categorized as atomic and group activities like sitting, standing, and walking. Simultaneously, it also tracks person-person verbal interactions such as monologue and discussion. Both information are then integrated into a single framework to understand the overall behavioral scenario of the indoor environment. The experimental results have shown that HumanSense can detect different activities with accuracy more than 90% and also improves overall identification accuracy compared to existing works. Our developed system can be further evolved into ready-to-deploy smart sensing panels which can be effective for human activity monitoring in an indoor environment.

Anastomotic leak (AL) is a major morbid complication after colorectal surgery. There are only few articles to find the predictors of leak after colorectal anastomoses that have been published in the literature. The aim of this study is to identify different predictors for colorectal AL in Indian set up. Historical data were collected from the hospital record of patients from June 2005 to April 2014. In prospective period, from May 2014 to February 2016, colorectal surgery patients were recruited to collect the data. Various preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors for AL were analyzed using Student’s t test and Chi square test. The p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant for all results. The AL rate was 9.1%. The predictors for AL were comorbidities like cerebrovascular accident (CVA) (p

Gate controllable electronic trap detection method has been demonstrated by regulating the gate potential of MIS devices. This method is based on shift of capacitance voltage (CV) curve as well as flatband voltage (VFB) measure in less than 10 micro-seconds due to injection or ejection of electrons through the metal gate. Using this method, an electronic trap energy distribution was measured in the HfO2 dielectric film and it confirms a maximum number of traps (Delta_NT) of 1.7x1012 cm-2 corresponding to an energy level (Delta_EIL) of 0.45 eV above silicon conduction band (Si-ECB). In comparison, ZrO2-based MIS devices showed a broader distribution of electronic traps throughout the band gap. However, HfO2 contained more than 60% traps in deep level compared to 50% in ZrO2, which establishes the effects of material variation., Comment: Electronic traps, metal insulator semiconductor (MIS), energy level (EIL), silicon conduction band (Si ECB)

Combining atomically thin layers of van der Waals (vdW) materials in a chosen vertical sequence is an emerging route to create devices with desired functionalities. While this method aims to exploi...

A field experiment was conducted at Agriculture Farm of Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan to study the effect of micronutrients and growth regulators on chilli during rabi 2015–16 and 2016–17. Five levels each of different micronutrients (Control, 0.1% ZnSO4, 0.2% ZnSO4, 0.1% H3BO4 and 0.2% H3BO4) and growth regulators (Control, 0.5 ppm 28-Homobrassinolide, 1 ppm 28-Homobrasinolide, 10 ppm Putrescine, 20 ppm Putrescine) were used for foliar application to chilli plants. Growth parameters such as plant height, dry matter accumulation and number of branchesplant−1 as well as physiological parameters such as leaf area index and crop growth rate were recorded during both the years. The experimental finding revealed that application of micronutrients such as Zinc (ZnSO4) and Boron (H3BO4) as well as growth regulators (28-Homobrassinolide and Putrescine) improved both growth and physiological parameters of chilli. Among the micronutrients, the highest value of the growth parameters such as plant height, dry matter accumulation, number of branches plant−1 and physiological parameters such as LAI and CGR were recorded from the application of 0.2% ZnSO4 followed by 0.1% ZnSO4 and 0.2% H3BO4; whereas, among the growth regulators highest value of these parameters were recorded from the application of 0.5ppm of 28-Homobrassinolide followed by 1 ppm of 28-Homobrassinolide. Application of 0.2% ZnSO4 also recorded highest number of fruits plant−1 and fruit yield plant−1. Highest values of these yield attributes were also recorded from the application of the growth regulator 28-Homobrassinolide (0.5 ppm).

Twisted van der Waals heterostructures provide a new platform for studying strongly correlated quantum phases. The interlayer coupling in these heterostructures is sensitive to the twist angle (θ) and key to controllably tuning several interesting properties. Here, we demonstrate the systematic evolution of the interlayer coupling strength with twist angle in bilayer MoS2 using a combination of Raman spectroscopy and classical simulations. At zero doping, we observe a monotonic increase in the separation between the A1g and E2g1 mode frequencies as θ decreases from 10°→ 1°, and the separation approaches that of a bilayer at small twist angles. Furthermore, using doping dependent Raman spectroscopy, we reveal the θ dependent softening and broadening of the A1g mode, whereas the E2g1 mode remains unaffected. Using first principles based simulations, we demonstrate large (weak) electron-phonon coupling for the A1g (E2g1) mode, which explains the experimentally observed trends. Our study provides a non-destructive way to characterize the twist angle and the interlayer coupling and establishes the manipulation of phonons in twisted bilayer MoS2 (twistnonics).

Syntheses of DTT fused 30[Formula: see text] heptaphyrin and 34[Formula: see text] octaphyrins are reported. The inclusion of fused group in the precursor itself allowed easy syntheses of these macrocycles. Fusion makes the macrocycles planar thus allowing strong [Formula: see text] electronic conjugation. Both 30[Formula: see text] heptaphyrin and 34[Formula: see text] octaphyrins are aromatic in freebase and protonated forms as revealed by large [Formula: see text] values in 1H NMR spectrum and sharp-intense Soret like bands in UV-vis spectrum. Interestingly one of the DTT ring undergoes fliping upon protonation in 34[Formula: see text] doubly fused octaphyrin. Such a large ring fliping is unprecedented in the literature. Single crystal X-ray analysis confirms planar nature of 34[Formula: see text] octaphyrins. Furthermore, the structure reveals two type of hydrogen bonding interactions: (a) CH[Formula: see text] (thiophene) and (b) CH[Formula: see text] (mesityl) leading to self assambled dimer separated by a distance of ∼3.0Å.

Two 1,2-diphenyl-1,2-dithienylethene-embedded hexaphyrins 6 and 8 containing 30π and 28π electrons, respectively, in conjugation exhibit nonaromatic characteristics. Compound 6 shows an unusual bond length equalization in its electronic structure. However, on protonation, 6 exhibits Huckel aromatic characteristics while 8 shows Mobius aromatic characteristics. The changes in aromaticity are accompanied by change in conformation from a figure-eight/twisted structure to an open extended structure.

Mechanical forces are relevant for many biological processes, from wound healing or tumour formation to cell migration and differentiation. Cytoskeletal actin is largely responsible for responding to forces and transmitting them in cells, while also maintaining cell shape and integrity. Here, we describe a novel approach to employ a FRET-based DNA force sensor in vitro and in cellulo for non-invasive optical monitoring of intracellular mechanical forces. We use fluorescence lifetime imaging to determine the FRET efficiency of the sensor, which makes the measurement robust against intensity variations. We demonstrate the applicability of the sensor by monitoring cross-linking activity in in vitro actin networks by bulk rheology and confocal microscopy. We further demonstrate that the sensor readily attaches to stress fibers in living cells which opens up the possibility of live-cell force measurements.

Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) is one of the important factors for neonatal mortality. Early identification and necessary intervention of these newborns is crucial to increase their chances of survival and reduce long-term disabilities. However, in low- and middle-income countries a large portion of pregnant women are unaware of their accurate gestational age (GA) due to the limited availability of ultrasonography. The purpose of our study was to build an alternative tool to identify SGA.A institutional-based, prospective observational study was conducted from August-2018 to February-2020, with 1451 live singleton-newborns of 30-40 weeks of gestation. Ultrasonography was used to evaluate accurate GA in early pregnancy and a reference chart for the Asian population, constructed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Fetal Growth Studies was used to classify newborns as SGA. Neonatal anthropometry was measured within 48 hours of birth. Receiver operating characteristic curves were developed to identify the best cut-off point for each anthropometric parameter and the area under the curve (AUC) was estimated to assess the overall precision.Prevalence of SGA was 34.3%. The AUC was 0.888 for head circumference (HC), 0.890 for chest circumference (CC), and 0.865 for mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC). The optimal cut-offs to classify SGA were ≤32.45 cm for HC, ≤29.75 cm for CC and ≤8.55 cm for MUAC with sensitivities of 85.9%, 86.9% and 85.4%, specificities of 75.5%, 85.1% and 72.1%, positive predictive values of 0.64, 0.75 and 0.61 and negative predictive values of 0.91, 0.93 and 0.90 respectively.All three anthropometric measurements could be used to identify SGA but, overall CC is the best.

Over the last decade, RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) has revolutionized the field of transcriptomics due to its sheer advantage over previous technologies for studying gene expression. Even the domain of stem cell bioinformatics has benefited from these advancements. It has helped look deeper into how the process of pluripotency is maintained by stem cells and how it may be exploited for application in regenerative medicine. However, as it is still an evolving technology, there is no single accepted protocol for RNA-Seq data analysis. From a wide array of tools and/or algorithms available for the purpose, researchers tend to develop a pipeline that is best suited for their sample, experimental design, and computational power. In this tutorial, we describe a pipeline based on open-source tools to analyze RNA-Seq data from naïve and primed state human pluripotent stem cell samples. Precisely, we show how RNA-Seq data can be downloaded from databases, processed, and used to identify differentially expressed genes and construct a co-expression network. Further, we also show how the list of interesting genes obtained from differential expression testing or co-expression network be analyzed to gain biological insights.

Moire superlattices of two-dimensional (2D) materials oriented at low twist angles generate a large-scale interference pattern leading to strong interlayer coupling, which influences the band structure and introduces flatbands. Conventional electronic transport measurements have shown the effects of flatband physics, manifesting as correlated insulating states and emergent superconductivity. In this study, we probe the electronic states in a trinary hybrid of graphene and twisted bilayer (tbl) MoS2. Graphene acts as a sensing layer, which captures the electronic effects of the underlying substrate, and we observe certain anomalies in the electronic characteristics of graphene only in the presence of an underlying 58.5 $$^\circ$$ tbl MoS2, at low temperatures. Interestingly, graphene on tbl MoS2, with twist angle near 0 $$^\circ$$ or on natural bilayer MoS2, does not show any anomalies. Density functional theory calculations show several distinguishable peaks in the density of states at the conduction band edge of twisted MoS2 near 60 $$^\circ$$ . We speculate that the anomaly appears due to fermi level pinning of graphene owing to a large density of states in the flatbands of twisted bilayer MoS2. An analysis of the energetics in the graphene-MoS2 hybrid quantitatively agree with theoretical predictions.

Ghosh A, Majumder S, Saha S, Sarkar S, Bhattacharya M. 2021. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry profiling, and evaluation of antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Albizia spp. Nusantara Bioscience 13: 177-184. Plant resources have been utilized for human welfare since ancient times. Most of the pharmaceutical industry relies on bioactive molecules from plant resources. This research was carried out to investigate the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of Albizia spp. DPPH assay was conducted to investigate the antioxidant activity and well diffusion test by pour plate method was followed for antibacterial assay. Antioxidant activity confirmed that the leaf extracts with chemical contents having solubility in polar solvents showed high free radical scavenging activity. The free radical scavenging activities of bark extracts were lower than the leaf extracts. Leaf extracts of Albizia procera showed the highest scavenging activity (94.77% or 100.66 µg AE/ ml); followed by Albizia odoratissima (93.52% or 99.23µg AE/ ml); Albizia lebbeck (91.68% or 97.13 µg AE/ ml) and Albizia chinensis (89.91% or 95.11 µg AE/ ml). GC-MS analysis of leaf and bark extracts revealed that 15 compounds had been reported to have antioxidant activities such as beta-amyrin, phytol, squalene, vitamin E and 31 compounds had been reported to have antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activity. The antibacterial activities of leaf and bark extracts of four Albizia species showed that leaf extracts of Albizia spp. showed better antibacterial activity compared to bark samples which were compatible with the results found from GC-MS analysis.

Abstract This research work was designed to attempt and propose the first report on production and biochemical characterization of fermented tea flower petal decoction or simply tea petal wine. The tea petal decoction and brewer’s yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae were co-cultured for fermentation. Antioxidant activity and chromatographic separation of potential candidates were assessed. Primary investigations for qualitative characters on this fermented broth revealed the presence of steroids, tannin, flavonoids, phenol, cardiac glycosides, coumarin, caffeine etc. Our manufactured fermented broth showed high free radical scavenging activity after 2 months of aging. High DPPH scavenging activities were also observed in solvent fractions of acetone, ethanol and methanol. The antioxidant activity, alcohol percentage and other qualities were seen to be gradually increased during aging. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed the presence of 44 compounds including many potential antioxidant molecules and other bioactive agents. Hopefully, presence of alcohol with medicinally active compounds and antioxidant activity will make it as acceptable as a good wine and tea flower as economically functional. Graphical abstract

Ghosh A, Majumder S, Saha S, Chakraborty S, Bhattacharya M. 2021. Leaves and bark of Albizia shade trees in tea plantation show both insect attractant and pesticidal properties: a GC-MS based investigation. Asian J Agric 5: 84-89. Tea is the major plantation crop of sub-Himalayan region. The bushes are grown under a partial canopy cover of leguminous plants to protect them from scorching sun rays. The shade plants are primarily beneficial but attract several pests. Metabolites present in four Albizia trees were detected by GC-MS, and insect attracting and/or repelling phytochemicals were pointed out. A total of thirty-two compounds exhibiting semiochemical properties were detected. 15.84%, 2.52%, 2.61% of semiochemicals are exclusively present in leaves of Albizia odoratissima, Albizia chinensis, and Albizia procera. While in bark 10.73% and 13.35% semiochemicals were exclusively present in Albizia odoratissima and Albizia lebbeck. A total of nine semiochemicals are exclusively present in AO, out of which seven semiochemicals viz., caryophyllene, epoxide; longiborneol; longifolene; methyl linolenate; methyl linoleate; methyl cis-jasmonate; tonalid are present in leaf and five semiochemicals viz. longiborneol; methyl cis-jasmonate; camphor; isopropyl myristate; tonalid are present in bark. A total of five semiochemicals viz. alpha-santalol; bisabolol oxide A; gamma-Sitosterol; glycidyl oleate (as oleic acid); oleoyl chloride (as oleic acid) are found exclusively in the bark of Albizia lebbeck. There were only three semiochemicals that were exclusively found in the leaf of AC, these were 2-decen-1-ol; cyclohexanol, 5-methyl-2-(1-methyl ethyl); acetophenone. In the leaf of AP, a total of five semiochemicals were found to be exclusive, these being dehydro-beta-ionone; oleamide; beta-amyrin; isopropyl linoleate; stigmasterol. GC-MS analysis explored metabolites from shade trees like caryophyllene, epoxide; beta-amyrin; 1, 8-cineol etc. which serve as both attractant and pesticidal components while compounds like longiborneol; longifolene; linalyl acetate, etc. are exclusively pest attractants and compounds like isopropyl myristate are exclusive pest repellants. This cumulative property of shade trees can be utilized to trap insect pests and destroy them with pesticidal activity. Isolation of these metabolites from shade trees, and their utilization as semiochemical/pheromone trap and green pesticides, will control pests by eco-friendly measures along with reducing the production cost.

The health and economic burden of colitis is increasing globally. Understanding the role of host genetics and metagenomics is essential to establish the molecular basis of colitis pathogenesis. In the present study, we have used a common composite dose of DSS to compare the differential disease severity response in C57BL/6 (Th1 biased) and BALB/c (Th2 biased) mice with zero mortality rates. We employed multi-omics approaches and developed a newer vector analysis approach to understand the molecular basis of the disease pathogenesis. In the current report, comparative transcriptomics, metabonomics, and metagenomics analyses revealed that the Th1 background of C57BL/6 induced intense inflammatory responses throughout the treatment period. On the contrary, the Th2 background of BALB/c resisted severe inflammatory responses by modulating the host’s inflammatory, metabolic, and gut microbial profile. The multi-omics approach also helped us discover some unique metabolic and microbial markers associated with the disease severity. These biomarkers could be used in diagnostics.

Diet maintains health by regulating host metabolism and immunity. The results revealed the consequence of starch-, unsaturated fat-, and saturated fat-rich diets on differentially immune-biased mice C57BL/6 and BALB/c. Time-course of various diets on differentially immune-biased mice revealed that starch-rich and unsaturated fat-rich diets reduced insulin resistance (IR) and visceral adiposity in BALB/c mice while a saturated fat-rich diet enhanced both parameters. In C57BL/6 mice, a fat-rich diet enhanced IR with time while visceral adiposity remained unchanged. Eight weeks' consumption of saturated fat-rich diet induced highest visceral adiposity in C57BL/6 mice, while the same diet resulted in the maximum IR in BALB/c mice. The current report presented a detailed metabolomic analysis of diets and evaluated differential index of each treatment for each mouse strain using a vector analysis of the multivariate linear discriminant data. The outcome identified metabolites that affected lipid and glucose metabolism to establish the inter-strain physiological differences.

Virtual power plants (VPPs) are becoming critical parts of energy systems to increase renewable energy integration and to reduce the cost of electricity. To maximize the benefits to customers and VPP owners, the consumers' engagement is important for adding flexibility to the electricity load of the VPP. In this paper, the impact of customer contributions into a VPP energy management system through gamification is studied. To this aim, the contribution of customers within a realistic VPP of 67 dwellings in Western Australia is modelled. This model is included in a robust optimized procedure to maximize the profit of a VPP owner over a year. In this platform the uncertainties associated with renewable energy generation and market electricity are considered to find the optimum solution for the worst case scenario of uncertainties. The simulation results show that the gamified customer involvement has positive impacts on increasing the profit of the VPP.

The number of synchronous generators is anticipated to be reduced in the future power systems. Factors such as favorable government policies and market's preference are driving enormous deployment of renewables, while there is very little interest in replacing coal fired power stations by the same type of power generators. These have culminated in the increased deployment of asynchronous generators in power systems. While these types of generators are environmentally friendly, they perform poorly in maintaining power system strength. This paper investigates the impact of photovoltaic (PV) generator on fault level as an indicator of system strength of a network. Various technological options for system strength improvement are discussed. It shows that system fault level can be supported by independent control of synchronous condenser's voltage and reactive power control. The paper also formulates an analytical control approach and demonstrates its suitability on a modified 35-bus utility system.

In this paper, a hybrid power system is designed based on a game theory approach consisting of different components like wind turbines, PV panels and batteries in grid-connected mode. Nowadays, as energy problems and atmospheric pollution are increasing rapidly, green energy production is playing a vital contribution. The Game Theory-based approach Nash equilibrium has been used to achieve desired objective functions and to perform analysis to reach towards the goals. Game theoretical models of the noncooperative and cooperative game are considered, and wind turbines, PV panels and batteries are taken as players and the life-cycle income is chosen as payoffs. To obtain Nash equilibriums, a multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm has been developed in MATLAB. The sensitivity analysis is performed to validate the stability of Nash equilibriums for the price of electricity and discount rates. In the end, the outcomes of the proposed model are compared with recent research work to check the feasibility and validate the results.

This paper proposes a democratic current sharing controller for Modular Multi-parallel Rectifiers (MMR) system operating in Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM). A generalised small-signal AC model for n-number of parallel units is derived. Also, State-Space equations and transfer functions for the system are provided in this paper. A cascaded loops controller for the parallel units is utilised to ensure that the rectifiers' currents are balanced equally. A 60 kW system is modelled in MATLAB/Simulink to verify the proposed controller.