Patenting of life-saving drugs has created a global health crisis where human life has become a commercial commodity.

Millions of people—mostly in developing countries—lack access to life-saving drugs. Righting this imbalance is among the most important challenges of global public health of this century, argues Akansha Mehta. There is scant evidence to prove that frameworks for intellectual property rights and patent protection have benefited research, development and innovation in developing countries. When the laws of trade and commerce override the human right to life-saving medicines, how can society protect public health from unbridled private markets

Numerical solution of time dependent nonlinear partial differential equations using a novel block method coupled with compact finite difference schemes.

[EN]In this paper, we have developed a novel three step second derivative block method and coupled it with fourth order standard compact finite difference schemes for solving time dependent nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) of physical relevance. Two well-known problems viz. the FitzHugh–Nagumo equation and the Burgers’ equation have been considered as test problems to check the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Firstly, we developed a novel block scheme and discussed its characteristics for solving initial-value systems, such as the one resulting from the discretization of the spatial derivatives that appear in the PDEs. Although many time integration techniques already exist to solve discretized PDEs, our goal is to develop a numerical scheme keeping in mind saving computational time while maintaining good accuracy. The proposed block scheme has been proved to be -stable and consistent. The method performs well for solving the stiff case of the FitzHugh–Nagumo equation, as well as for solving the Burgers equation at different values of viscosity and time. The numerical experiments reveal that the developed numerical scheme is computationally efficient

Development of carp fish culture practice under different stocking densities in mid hills of Uttarakhand, India

The present study was undertaken in order to standardise the stocking density values of carps fishes for sustainable fisheries development in mid hills and enhancing the fish production. The paper deals with growth performance of 3 exotic fish species in low stocking density i.e. 3 fish/m3 over high stocking density of 5 fish/m3 and 10 fish/m3 in the control pond. The net production was 12.6% higher with stocking density of 3 fish/m3. Among the both tested density, the combination of 30: 40: 30 was superior (45.6%) in terms of growth and production in comparison to the other combinations and control. In present study, the highest production as 57.13kg/100m2 (5713 kg/ha.) was achieved in the stocking ratio of 30:40:30 with stocking density of 3 fish/m3. It is 4.7% higher of the combination of 40:30:30 and 4% higher than the combination of 30: 30: 40. It is 12.6% higher than the stocking density of 5 fish/m3 and 48.5% higher than the stocking density of 10 fish /m3. The growth pattern reflected the slow growth during the winter months, reflected the direct negative effect of water temperature on the growth. The production level of existing practice of the farmers may be enhanced up to 1.5 times with proper stocking density i.e. 3 fish/m3 and perfect species combination i.e. 30: 40: 30 for silver carp, grass carp and common carp respectively

The Intimacy of Occupation: Care and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the University

In March 2019, a group of Black and POC students at Goldsmiths College, University of London, occupied a key administrative and historically symbolic building on campus to protest institutional racism. Calling themselves Goldsmiths Anti-racism Action (GARA), the occupiers wrote a 12-point manifesto that detailed what the institution had to do to change its exclusionary white institutional culture, labor practices, curriculum, and pedagogy. This photo essay, collaboratively produced by two students and two faculty members involved with GARA, documents care and intimacy as the praxis of the antiracist occupation. Through the images we share, we point to the intimacy of occupation and to the politicality of intimacy as care, particularly in struggles for racial justice

Upcycling of Pharmaceutical Glass into Highly Porous Ceramics: From Foams to Membranes

The present COVID-19 emergency has dramatically increased the demand for pharmaceutical containers, especially vials. End-of-life containers, however, cannot be easily recycled in the manufacturing of new articles. This paper presents some strategies for upcycling of pharmaceutical glass into various porous ceramics. Suspensions of a fine glass powder (70 vol%) are used as a starting material. Highly uniform cellular structures may be easily prepared by vigorous mechanical stirring of partially gelified suspensions with added surfactant, followed by drying and firing at 550–650 °C. Stabilization of the cellular structures at temperatures as low as the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the used glass is facilitated by thermal decomposition of the gel phase, instead of viscous flow sintering of glass. This finding enabled the preparation of glass membranes (∼78 vol% open porosity), by direct firing of hardened suspensions, avoiding any surfactant addition and mechanical stirring. The powders obtained by crushing of hardened suspensions, even in unfired state, may be used as a low-cost sorbent for dye removal

Upcycling waste derived glass into high-performance photocatalytic scaffolds by alkali activation and direct ink writing

Novel and eco-friendly solutions are extensively needed for wastewater treatment. This work capitalizes on the combination of waste vitrification and additive manufacturing to produce an efficient photocatalyst for the specific purpose. Fine powders of waste-derived glass, containing Fe3O4 inclusions, by simple suspension (for a solid loading of 65 wt %) in alkaline solution (5 M NaOH), were transformed into pastes for direct ink writing. 3D-printed reticulated scaffolds were stabilized by the progressive hardening of a zeolite-like gel, formed by glass/solution interaction, at nearly room temperature. The printed scaffolds were successfully tested for the removal of methylene blue, realized by combining the high sorption capacity of the gel with the catalytic activity of magnetite inclusions, under UV light. A complete degradation of methylene blue is achieved by 90 min exposure, comparing favorably with other reported photocatalytic materials, requiring from 60 to 360 min. The photocatalytic activity was tested for several cycles, with no significant degradation. In other words, a waste-derived material can be reused for multiple times, to remediate wastewaters, with evident benefits on waste minimization

Investigation of Zn2TiO4 as fluorescence quenching probe for sensing of metal ions

In the present work, rutile-free Zn2TiO4 has been synthesized by the solid-state method using TiO2 as hydrated titania and ZnO of 1:2 molar ratio. The reaction mixture was calcined at different temperature ranges, 550 °C to 950 °C. The rutile-free, cubic spinel-type Zn2TiO4 powders were obtained at 950 °C and confirmed by Raman, FI-IR spectroscopy, and XRD results. SEM images showed that the particles are irregular micron-sized and highly aggregated. From the diffuse reflectance spectral studies, the optical bandgap of the calcined products was calculated and it was found to be in the range of 3.25 to 3.79 eV. An attempt was made to examine the metal ion sensing properties of the prepared Zn2TiO4, by monitoring their photoluminescence intensity via quenching effects upon adding various metal ions. The sensing abilities were also evaluated using the standard Stern–Volmer quenching model. The results showed that Zn2TiO4 possesses high sensitivity toward iron ions

Electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries

In recent years, the primary power sources for portable electronic devices are lithium ion batteries. However, they suffer from many of the limitations for their use in electric means of transportation and other high level applications. This mini-review discusses the recent trends in electrode materials for Li-ion batteries. Elemental doping and coatings have modified many of the commonly used electrode materials, which are used either as anode or cathode materials. This has led to the high diffusivity of Li ions, ionic mobility and conductivity apart from specific capacity. Many of the newly reported electrode materials have been found to deliver a better performance, which has been analyzed by many parameters such as cyclic stability, specific capacity, specific energy and charge/discharge rate. Hence, the current scenario of electrode materials of Li-ion batteries can be highly promising in enhancing the battery performance making it more efficient than before. This can reduce the dependence on fossil fuels such as for example, coal for electricity production. Keywords: Li-ion, Battery, Cathode, Anode, Electrod