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This study highlights the separation of hydrogen from H

This article aims to present historical rate of decoupling and based on that determine the scope for India to increase its mitigation beyond the NDC commitment. Empirical evidence on nature and rate of decoupling between energy related emission and economic growth for the period 1990–91 to 2012–13 in India is presented. In addition to estimating the magnitude of decoupling elasticity, decomposition analysis is also applied to understand how the four factors: activity growth, energy intensity change, structural change and fuel mix change, are driving the change in emission in India. Decoupling elasticity and Log Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) methods are used for decomposition. The results indicate presence of relative decoupling in India. The industrial sector leads among the four sectors -agriculture, industry, services and power generation in achieving this relative decoupling, mostly through improvement in energy efficiency and some structural changes. Results show that even in the business as usual scenario if India acts upon individual sector level mitigation potentials, it has the potential to raise mitigation ambition beyond current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) without adversely impacting economic growth. With continued high share of coal in the energy mix it is going to be difficult to achieve absolute decoupling.

Background: Thyroid nodules are quite common in the general population of India with increasing incidence of malignancy worldwide. Fine Needle Aspiration [FNA] has been the primary modality of pre-operative diagnosis of such lesions till date. But it has got its own share of fallacies and pit-falls. Cell-block [CB] can be done in the same sitting and it gives the advantage of architectural assessment with easy subjectivity to immuno-cytochemical [ICC] staining. Material and methods: FNA was done in all patients and CB was prepared by formalin method. ICC stains were used in cases with provisional diagnosis of malignancy and in all follicular neoplasm cases. SPSS v.20 was used for analysis. Sensitivity and specificity of cell block was calculated. Diagnostic correlation of both FNA and CB with respect to histopathological examination was done by using student t-test with confidence interval of 95%. Results: CB showed a correlation coefficient of 0.704 and a p value of 0.0001while FNA showed a correlation coefficient of .464 and a p-value of .001. So, CB showed a strong positive correlation and a high statistical significance. Cell block helped in diagnosing almost all the cases showing discordance in FNA except that of papillary carcinoma where the cellular yield was poor due to cystic degeneration. Sensitivity of cell block was 89.5% and Specificity was 96.9%. Conclusions: Cell block is definitely a good ancillary examination for thyroid nodular lesions in addition to FNA. It should be routinely performed in all thyroid cases as it improves the diagnostic yield and accuracy of cytological diagnosis.

In this study, for the first time, the small pore size (0.28 × 0.37 nm) Li–aluminosilicate zeolite membrane was synthesized for separation of CO2 from H2–CO2 and H2–CO2–N2–CO (simulated blast furnace gas) gas mixtures. Li–aluminosilicate membranes were prepared on porous clay alumina tubes by sonication mediated hydrothermal method using pre synthesized zeolite powders as seeds. The zeolite formation was confirmed by X-ray diffraction pattern and FESEM analysis. The scanning electron micrograph of the membrane, suggested the uniformity of the dense structure of the membrane. Single-gas and mixed-gas permeation experiments through membranes were carried out at 25 °C using H2, CO2 and N2 single-component gases and mixture of H2–CO2, H2–CO2–N2–CO for simulated blast furnace gas composition. Synthesized Li–aluminosilicate zeolite shows appreciable CO2 adsorption capacity at liquid nitrogen temperature compared with other reported zeolites. In case of single gas permeation, membrane shows usual pattern of permeation. For mixture gas, separation efficiency of Li–zeolite membrane increased abruptly compared to the other zeolite membranes. The maximum CO2–H2, CO2–N2 and CO2–CO separation selectivities were found to be 78, 8.7 and 67.3 respectively, with permeance of H2, CO2 and N2 2.21 × 10−7, 1.01 × 10−7 and 0.8 × 10−7 mol m−2 s−1 Pa−1 at 25 °C respectively.

Climate Change has an overwhelming health impact on all, especially on the women, constituting around 49. 58% of the global population. There is ample literary evidence in support of the claim that a changing climate has a differentiated impact on humanity and that it is not “gender neutral”. Climate driven food scarcity, poor air quality, rising temperature and extreme weather events (floods, droughts, heat waves etc. ), acute water shortage, increasing incidence of vector borne diseases make the situation all the more dreadful for women in particular. And this vulnerability gets even more critical because of various biological, political, social and cultural factors that historically contributed against women and their empowerment. Though women are reservoirs of indigenous knowledge about how to deal with the aftermath of climatic changes, yet they remain largely untapped. However the importance of gender based climate action plan was long absent in arena of international climate negotiation. It was only in COP7 (2001) where women’s involvement in climate action had first caught global attention and subsequently nodal international bodies are working on formulating programmes and appropriate policies for promoting gender balance. However, the progress on this has been limited in comparison to the magnitude of impacts of climatic changes on women’s health and hence much more needs to be done on the policy front so as to promote gender equity and women’s participation in various adaptation and mitigation policies.

This study evaluated a potential transition of India’s power sector to 100% wind and solar energy sources. Applying a macro-energy IDEEA (Indian Zero Carbon Energy Pathways) model to 32 regions and 114 locations of potential installation of wind energy and 60 locations of solar energy, we evaluated a 100% renewable power system in India as a concept. We considered 153 scenarios with varying sets of generating and balancing technologies to evaluate each intermittent energy source separately and their complementarity. Our analysis confirms the potential technical feasibility and long-term reliability of a 100% renewable system for India, even with solar and wind energy only. Such a dual energy source system can potentially deliver fivefold the annual demand of 2019. The robust, reliable supply can be achieved in the long term, as verified by 41 years of weather data. The required expansion of energy storage and the grid will depend on the wind and solar energy structure and the types of generating technologies. Solar energy mostly requires intraday balancing that can be achieved through storage or demand-side flexibility. Wind energy is more seasonal and spatially scattered, and benefits from the long-distance grid expansion for balancing. The complementarity of the two resources on a spatial scale reduces requirements for energy storage. The demand-side flexibility is the key in developing low-cost supply with minimum curtailments. This can be potentially achieved with the proposed two-level electricity market where electricity prices reflect variability of the supply. A modelled experiment with price signals demonstrates how balancing capacity depends on the price levels of guaranteed and flexible types of loads, and therefore, can be defined by the market.

In recent years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been collaborating with Indian institutions to organise outreach events. This essay draws on the perspective of participants, speakers and organisers of 17 in-person outreach events conducted across India in 2018 and 2020, to share insights and recommendations for future IPCC events in India and other developing country contexts. The formats analysed in this essay range from panel events with very large public audiences to more focused workshops, meetings and seminars. Target audiences covered both academic and non-academic audiences and included researchers, teachers, students, industry and NGOs. The events, while achieving their main objective of communicating the findings of IPCC reports, also provided a platform for open discussion of localised climate impacts and good practices in adaptation and mitigation. There are, however, notable challenges to public outreach in India, specifically in terms of attracting an adequate number of participants, experts’ availability, communicating to a diverse audience and translation into local languages. The biggest challenge faced by speakers was a lack of knowledge about the number of attendees and the composition of the audience prior to an event. It is our recommendation that future outreach events in India are designed to be interactive, tailored to the regional context and complemented by simplified communication materials. Speakers should be provided with audience information and background prior to the event, and greater reach into rural areas, including school children, could be achieved with material in local languages. Additionally, event organisers often require logistical and operational support to host outreach events.

The existence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in ambient air is an escalating concern worldwide because of their ability to cause cancer and induce permanent changes in the genetic material. Growing evidence implies that during early life-sensitive stages, the risk of progression of acute and chronic diseases depends on epigenetic changes initiated by the influence of environmental cues. Several reports deciphered the relationship between exposure to environmental chemicals and epigenetics, and have known toxicants that alter the epigenetic states. Amongst PAHs, benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) is accepted as a group 1 cancer-causing agent by the International Agency for the Research on Cancer (IARC). B[a]P is a well-studied pro-carcinogen that is metabolically activated by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)/cytochrome P450 pathway. Cytochrome P450 plays a pivotal role in the stimulation step, which is essential for DNA adduct formation. Accruing evidence suggests that epigenetic alterations assume a fundamental part in PAH-promoted carcinogenesis. This interaction between PAHs and epigenetic factors results in an altered profile of these marks, globally and locus-specific. Some of the epigenetic changes due to exposure to PAHs lead to increased disease susceptibility and progression. It is well understood that exposure to environmental carcinogens, such as PAH triggers disease pathways through changes in the genome. Several evidence reported due to the epigenome-wide association studies, that early life adverse environmental events may trigger widespread and persistent variations in transcriptional profiling. Moreover, these variations respond to DNA damage and/or a consequence of epigenetic modifications that need further investigation. Growing evidence has associated PAHs with epigenetic variations involving alterations in DNA methylation, histone modification, and micro RNA (miRNA) regulation. Epigenetic alterations to PAH exposure were related to chronic diseases, such as pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, endocrine disruptor, nervous system disorder, and cancer. This hormetic response gives a novel perception concerning the toxicity of PAHs and the biological reaction that may be a distinct reliance on exposure. This review sheds light on understanding the latest evidence about how PAHs can alter epigenetic patterns and human health. In conclusion, as several epigenetic change mechanisms remain unclear yet, further analyses derived from PAHs exposure must be performed to find new targets and disease biomarkers. In spite of the current limitations, numerous evidence supports the perception that epigenetics grips substantial potential for advancing our knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of environmental toxicants, also for predicting health-associated risks due to environmental circumstances exposure and individual susceptibility.

India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) aim to increase the share of non-fossil fuel, especially renewables, in power generation. But at the same time, it mentions that coal is likely to dominate the power generation in the short and medium term to meet the increase in demand and support the intermittency of renewable energy-based power generation. Thus, additional efforts to transform the thermal power generation to a more efficient and less emitting one in the near term by increasing the use of natural gas (a fossil fuel with a lower emission factor than coal) may be planned towards achieving India’s additional mitigation commitments. The paper presents the implications of a proposed increase in the share of natural gas in thermal power generation of India by looking into the trade-off between emission mitigation and energy security. Along with a Reference Scenario, three alternative emission scenarios are proposed to understand the likely impacts of increased penetration of natural gas in power generation on India’s projected emission profile up to 2050. Results suggest that higher mitigation potential can be achieved through fuel-switch in thermal generation and technological up-gradation to enhance energy use efficiency. The energy security due to the increased share of natural gas imports can be dealt with by diversifying import sources. Shifts can achieve this in the emphasis on long-term contracts.

Pore surface modification of zeolite membrane is a challenging area to combat the trade-off between the high flux and high selectivity of the gas separation membrane. Herein we report facile method of pore along with defects modification of NaX zeolite membrane by incorporating graphite amine (Ga) into the membrane structure. Permeation properties of different membranes were evaluated by single gas permeance of H2, CO2 and separation factors for mixed gas H2-CO2 with different mixture ratio. These studies were done at room temperature and 100–300 kPa feed pressure. The results show that Ga is not only active for defect removal of NaX membrane but also enhanced the formation of NaX zeolite from mother sol. In addition, presence of graphite amine into NaX zeolite membrane increase the permeance of H2 from 5.1 × 10−7 mol m−2 s−1 kPa−1 to 36.5 × 10−7 moll m−2 s−1 kPa−1 with increase of feed pressure 100–300 kPa feed pressure due to its hydrophobic properties and separation factor of H2-CO2 enhanced up to 31 for H2-CO2 mixture gas compared to literature reported value 6.5 for FAU membrane over 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane functionalized alumina. Herein for the first time we report that graphite amine catalyzes for the formation of NaX zeolite in addition to pore modification in zeolite membrane.

This article theoretically revisits the issue of how trade openness and inflation are interconnected in the light of conduct and optimal design of monetary policy. Central banks in open economies all over the world face a problematic dilemma when it comes to providing a nominal anchor to the economy in the sense that they have to choose between monetary targeting and inflation targeting. The experience has been varied worldwide with respect to these alternative policies in containing inflation. Different dimensions of openness like fully flexible exchange rate and capital mobility have also had significant impacts on the outcomes of policy changes. In this paper, we have constructed two theoretical open macro-economy models using the AD-AS framework under regressive expectations. The first model considers interest-rate targeting incorporating Taylor rule, whereas the second one deals with monetary targeting. The models show that alternate monetary policy rules do not change the basic results of different macroeconomic policies, although the underlying transmission mechanisms are quite different. JEL Codes: E12, E31, E43, E52, F41

Food-borne Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, exposure is one of the major concerns associated with a risk of cancer development. The aggregative environmental pollution has increased B[a]P contamination in grilled and barbecued meat, vegetables, oils, grain and cereals, fruits, smoked fish, and seafood leading to a high dietary intake in the worldwide human population. B[a]P activation through cytochrome P450 leads to generate active metabolites that directly react with DNA and form adducts causing mutations to initiate carcinogenesis. Moreover, B[a]P-dependent reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial damage cause apoptosis and induce autophagy, which results in the disruption of cellular homeostasis and neoplastic transformation. Further, B[a]P alters cell signals regulating proliferative and survival pathways that drive cancer cell migration and metastasis; however, the precise mechanisms underlying its carcinogenic properties remain yet to be thoroughly defined. The elevated levels of exposure of B[a]P result in the alteration of immune cell function and immunosuppression making suitable conditions for tumor development. This review presents the details of B[a]P occurrence in food, total daily intake of B[a]P, and the level of B[a]P associated with a cancer risk. In conclusion, we have focused on the role of B[a]P contamination in food for cancer risk and the possible molecular mechanism of cancer development, which could provide a way to reduce cancer incidence either by regulatory efforts or modifying food processed technology.

In this work, sodium aluminosilicate zeolite powder and membranes were synthesized by ultrasonic irradiation at room temperature using montmorillonite clay as precursor material. For comparison, same zeolite powder and membranes were synthesized at 100 °C also. The synthesized zeolites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR) spectral analysis, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). XRD and IR results showed that phase pure mainly LTA phase was formed after 15 days of aging at room temperature. By using the zeolite powders as seeds, membranes were synthesized on clay alumina support tubes at room temperature and also at 100 °C. In both the cases membranes were formed on support surface. The membrane thickness was found to be 15 μm. The performances of the membranes were evaluated by single gas as well as mixture gas permeation measurement for H2-CO2 and CO2-CH4 respectively. The H2–CO2 and CO2-CH4 separation selectivity for the mixture gas of the membrane was found to 16.2 and 20.9 at room temperature respectively. To the best of our knowledge, there is no report of synthesis of zeolite membrane at room temperature using clay as raw materials. For the first time we have reported the synthesis of alumino-silicate zeolite membrane on clay alumina support surface using clay as starting material by sonochemical method at room temperature.

India has been collaboratively hosting public dissemination events to communicate climate change science and knowledge using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports since 2007. All three special reports from Sixth Assessment cycle have been presented in multiple outreach events in various states of India. The primary aim has been to satisfy the growing appetite among various social groups for reliable scientific understanding of climate change and the solution space. The study includes insights from 18 physical outreach events conducted in India. The format ranged from very large public events with mixed stakeholder presence in the audience with presence of national/subnational policy makers; workshops, meetings and seminars with implementing sectors and investors, financial institutions, NGOs and a third category with knowledge generators, researchers, teachers and students. The follow up mass media and social media coverage have been a positive spin off. The events provided platform for open discussion on bottom-up local good practices, very localised impacts and connection to climate systems and reasons for concern and action. Feedback received is rich and rewarding. Face to face outreach events have enormous co benefits and trust building scope as side talks, coffee time talks, small side meetings, casual clarifications all help in providing space to participants for dispelling doubts, build long term research collaborations and they become ambassadors and adopters of IPCC science. Overall, the events were hugely successful, however many more such events, especially in local languages are needed to ensure messages of the IPCC reach the wider stakeholders.

As current action remains insufficient to meet the goals of the Paris agreement let alone to stabilize the climate, there is increasing hope that solutions related to demand, services and social aspects of climate change mitigation can close the gap. However, given these topics are not investigated by a single epistemic community, the literature base underpinning the associated research continues to be undefined. Here, we aim to delineate a plausible body of literature capturing a comprehensive spectrum of demand, services and social aspects of climate change mitigation. As method we use a novel double-stacked expert—machine learning research architecture and expert evaluation to develop a typology and map key messages relevant for climate change mitigation within this body of literature. First, relying on the official key words provided to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by governments (across 17 queries), and on specific investigations of domain experts (27 queries), we identify 121 165 non-unique and 99 065 unique academic publications covering issues relevant for demand-side mitigation. Second, we identify a literature typology with four key clusters: policy, housing, mobility, and food/consumption. Third, we systematically extract key content-based insights finding that the housing literature emphasizes social and collective action, whereas the food/consumption literatures highlight behavioral change, but insights also demonstrate the dynamic relationship between behavioral change and social norms. All clusters point to the possibility of improved public health as a result of demand-side solutions. The centrality of the policy cluster suggests that political actions are what bring the different specific approaches together. Fourth, by mapping the underlying epistemic communities we find that researchers are already highly interconnected, glued together by common interests in sustainability and energy demand. We conclude by outlining avenues for interdisciplinary collaboration, synthetic analysis, community building, and by suggesting next steps for evaluating this body of literature.

What did it mean to be a stranger in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England? How were other nations, cultures, and religions perceived? What happened when individuals moved between languages, countries, religions, and spaces? Keywords of Identity, Race, and Human Mobility analyses a selection of terms that were central to the conceptualisation of identity, race, migration, and transculturality in the early modern period. In many cases, the concepts and debates that they embody – or sometimes subsume – came to play crucial roles in the articulation of identity, rights, and power in subsequent periods. Together, the essays in this volume provide an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the development of these formative issues.

Many developing countries including Bangladesh and India will need fast growth through the next two decades in gross domestic product (GDP) to meet basic aspirations for decent living standards for their people. This will mean increased need for energy resources. However, global carbon emission limits put additional constraints on these fast-growing countries of this century adversely compared to their predecessors as latter had more unrestricted options to use fossil fuel. However, India’s energy-efficient economic growth path in industry sector, penetration of renewables in energy mix and alternative innovative agricultural practices in addition to dietary choice with low meat consumption are helping the country to maintain low per capita emissions. Bangladesh with unique positive social development is well positioned now to build energy infrastructure for faster economic growth. Power supply capacity that will grow by a factor of 3 now can leapfrog moving beyond gas to new cleaner fuels such as hydrogen and geothermal using its gas drilling and distribution infrastructure besides adding solar energy. The country has almost full untapped potential of energy efficiency improvements in energy demand sectors. International cooperation is necessary for such transitions and which can happen within Paris agreement and SDG framework.

On March 16, 2020, Kolkata, a megacity located in the eastern part of India announced partial lockdown due to COVID-19 crisis ahead of the India-wide lockdown pronouncement with effect from March 25, 2020. This study presents an analysis for multiple pollutants with special focus on NO2 and O3, based on data from different monitoring stations located across Kolkata city, for the period of 16 March- 17 May 2020. A comparison was done with the pre-lockdown period of 1st February – 15th March 2020. Most significant reduction was observed in the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (- 76.8%), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (- 69.5%), PM10 (- 64.6%) and PM2.5 (- 60.9%). A lower percentage reduction was found for CO, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ammonia (- 48.6%, - 41.7% and – 41.1% respectively). However, during partial lockdown, Lockdown Phase-1, Phase -2, and Phase -3 surface-level ozone (O3) has changed respectively by 31.72%, 31.13%, -14.28% and -14.05% ; which resulted in an overall increase of 8.17% in the entire study period. The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Kolkata which was poor or very poor in the past even during lockdown period it failed to attain the ‘good’ standard. This needs special attention in human health impact assessment and public health management. We recommend that for policy attention and education/awareness-building efforts additional attention needs to be drawn towards stickiness in O3 which have adverse human health and which went up during lockdown period compared to pre-lockdown period. We highlight some major policy implications of the observed trends to combat city air pollution along with climate co-benefits by shifting transport fuel and related infrastructure. These observations over several months provide a good database for any future air pollution control policy formulation and many more future research.

Background: Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is characterized by hamartomatous gastrointestinal polyposis, mucocutaneous pigmentation and cancer predisposition. The clinical features of PJS manifest in first two decades of life; however, neonatal presentation is uncommon. Case report: We present a five day old girl with PJS that presented with obstructive hamartomatous polyps in the sigmoid colon. At colostomy closure at six months, an incidental ovarian sex-cord tumor with annular tubules (SCTAT) was detected. It showed predominantly a solid pattern with limited tubule formation and was composed of lipid-rich cells. She had no hormonal symptoms. Conclusion: SCTAT can occur as young as six months of age in PJS, and may show histologic overlap with lipid-rich Sertoli cell tumors.

Macro-autophagy (herein referred to as autophagy) is considered a major degradation pathway for damaged organelles, aggregate-prone proteins, and pathogens. There is substantial evidence stating that dysfunctional autophagy is the cause of the manifestation of multifarious degenerative diseases and cancer. Xenobiotics (here, the known group I carcinogens), substances considered foreign to the human body, are associated with inciting multiple stresses such as the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, mitochondrial stress, and dysfunctional lysosome. Furthermore, autophagy exhibits a dichotomous role in cancer, although a detailed description of the modulation of autophagy by the known important carcinogens is provided only by a limited number of reports. The pro-tumorigenic role of carcinogen-induced autophagy/mitophagy has been explored which maintains homeostasis in cancer. On the contrary, the association of carcinogens with the induction of autophagic cell death has been reported. In addition, certain xenobiotics for protecting cells through dampening of necrosis, inflammation, and maintenance of genome integrity have been proposed. So far, only a few studies exploring the xenobiotic-associated autophagy modulation, both in vitro and in vivo, have been reported. The synergistic effect of environmental carcinogens in relation to autophagy has been explored, although quite little was discovered. Besides describing autophagy modulation by xenobiotics in the normal cells, there are reports illuminating how autophagy modulation could be utilized as an effective therapeutic approach for the impediment of carcinogenesis and to rescue cells from cytotoxicity. In addition, the application of chemopreventive compounds for autophagy modulation mitigating cellular toxicity and carcinogenesis have been described to achieve a safer and healthier human life.