Disruption to the Skills Ecosystem of India in the Wake of the New Normal Emerging Post ‘COVID-19’

Every new scenario that has unfolded in the canvas of time has brought with it,an impetusforsociety’s progress. In this perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic, (believed to be caused by an organismof 65-125 nm) has dramatically churned the times we are into today. Businesses, Economies and systems worldwide are undergoing unprecedented dynamic changes towards ‘Adaptability’ and adoption of newer models that could increase their pace of recovery in the wake of the new normal. The Skills ecosystem in India has been no different. Ever since the inception of the Skill India movement in the early 2015, this system has evolved into a vibrant integrated mission encompassing both Academic and vocational skill training courses.In this article we present to you what has been trending in the world of IT/ITeS skills and how the new normal is expected to emerge and progress from here

Effect of Graded Levels of Condensed Tannin (CT) from \u3cem\u3eMimosa pudica\u3c/em\u3e on \u3cem\u3ein-Vitro\u3c/em\u3e Methane Production

Livestock in the country are primarily being fed on fibrous feed resulted in high enteric methane (CH4) emission along with low nutrients availability to host animal. Rumen methano genesis is necessary for the host system as this process ensure the removal of fermentative H2 through the reduction of CO2 into CH4. At the same time this process is wasteful because the emission also represents a loss of dietary energy (6-12% of gross energy intake) apart from contributing to global warming. Worldwide livestock contribute around 90-95 Tg methane to the pool with a contribution of 12-13% from the Indian livestock. Various nutritional and other approaches have been attempted with highly variable success rate in the country and elsewhere for the enteric methane amelioration. The cost of the item used for the mitigation purpose, adaptation of ruminal microbes and toxicity to either host animal or inhabiting microbes are few important criteria for an economic, sustainable and effective amelioration approach (Malik et al. 2015). Herbal materials are being used by the peoples since ages; however, their anti-methanogenic effect is recently established. The anti-methanogenic effect of different herbal materials mainly lies in their secondary metabolites which are highly effective even at very low concentration (Bhatta et al., 2014). Keeping these facts in view, a study was carried to ascertain the effect of varying levels of CT on in vitro total gas and methane production

Effect of Selected Tanniniferous Leaves on \u3cem\u3ein Vivo\u3c/em\u3e Enteric Methane Emission in Sheep

Concentration of methane is continuously increasing in atmosphere and now almost 155% (IPCC, 2007) more than that recorded during pre-industrial era. Livestock production is a major sector accountable for high methane emission into atmospheric pool. World’s livestock is contributing around 15% of total atmospheric methane on annual basis feeds (Moss et al., 2000). Additionally, methane emission from ruminants leads to a loss of 2 to 15% of the dietary energy (Holter and Young, 1992). Due to these two crucial issues, researchers are working tirelessly to find a suitable and effective way for enteric methane amelioration accompanied with minimal inputs. So far numerous interventions have been tried with variable results, but due to one or another reason the search for effective strategy is on the priority of animal scientist. One of the possible approaches for enteric methane amelioration may be the use of plant secondary metabolites which are being traditionally used by the people since ages. Under the ICAR sponsored outreach project on Estimation of methane emission under different feeding systems and development of mitigation strategies more than 1700 feed, herbs and grasses samples were screened through in vitro gas production technique at different participating centres and finally selected few plant & herbs for evaluating the secondary metabolites on in vivo enteric methane emission. Three selected tanniniferous leaves were evaluated for their effect on enteric methane emission and feed fermentability in adult sheep

Oxidation mechanism in metal nanoclusters: Zn nanoclusters to ZnO hollow nanoclusters

Zn nanoclusters (NCs) are deposited by Low-energy cluster beam deposition technique. The mechanism of oxidation is studied by analysing their compositional and morphological evolution over a long span of time (three years) due to exposure to ambient atmosphere. It is concluded that the mechanism proceeds in two steps. In the first step, the shell of ZnO forms over Zn NCs rapidly up to certain limiting thickness: with in few days -- depending upon the size -- Zn NCs are converted to Zn-ZnO (core-shell), Zn-void-ZnO, or hollow ZnO type NCs. Bigger than ~15 nm become Zn-ZnO (core-shell) type: among them, NCs above ~25 nm could able to retain their initial geometrical shapes (namely triangular, hexagonal, rectangular and rhombohedral), but ~25 to 15 nm size NCs become irregular or distorted geometrical shapes. NCs between ~15 to 5 nm become Zn-void-ZnO type, and smaller than ~5 nm become ZnO hollow sphere type i.e. ZnO hollow NCs. In the second step, all Zn-void-ZnO and Zn-ZnO (core-shell) structures are converted to hollow ZnO NCs in a slow and gradual process, and the mechanism of conversion proceeds through expansion in size by incorporating ZnO monomers inside the shell. The observed oxidation behaviour of NCs is compared with theory of Cabrera - Mott on low-temperature oxidation of metal.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Assessment of Adenosine Deaminase Level and the Utility of Polymerase Chain Reaction in Diagnosis of Tuberculous Pleural Effusion

Background: Extrapulmonary tuberculosis is one of the major causes of exudative pleural effusion. The paucibacillary nature of effusion suggests the need of markers and methodologies for accurate diagnosis and prognosis of tuberculosis as well as to differentiate it from other non-tubercular causes of pleural effusion. Objectives: This study was focused to evaluate the utility of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in detection of tuberculosis antigen and to assess the level of Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) in tubercular pleural effusion (TPE) and contrast it with other causes. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study where 100 samples of pleural effusion suspected to be tuberculosis were analyzed by PCR for the detection of IS6110 segment of DNA. The level of ADA was then determined and compared in both PCR positive and negative samples. The cut-off value of ADA was >40 U/L for TPE. Student t test was applied to compare the means with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Results: Out of 100 samples analyzed, 45% were positive for TPE and remaining 55% were non-tuberculosis pleural effusion as detected by PCR. The level of ADA was above cut-off (>40 U/L) in 43% TPE samples whereas all the non-tuberculosis effusion had ADA <40 U/L (p<0.001). Conclusion: The ADA level was significantly higher in TPE than in non-tuberculosis cases, and PCR was able to detect suspected cases of tuberculosis effusion in almost half of the cases. This finding suggests the diagnostic utility of combined use of ADA and PCR in diagnosis of TPE.  J-GMC-N | Volume 11 | Issue 01 | January-June 2018, Page: 5-

Multifrequency Photo-polarimetric WEBT Observation Campaign on the Blazar S5 0716+714: Source Microvariability and Search for Characteristic Timescales

Here we report on the results of the WEBT photo-polarimetric campaign targeting the blazar S5~0716+71, organized in March 2014 to monitor the source simultaneously in BVRI and near IR filters. The campaign resulted in an unprecedented dataset spanning $\sim 110$\,h of nearly continuous, multi-band observations, including two sets of densely sampled polarimetric data mainly in R filter. During the campaign, the source displayed pronounced variability with peak-to-peak variations of about $30\%$ and "bluer-when-brighter" spectral evolution, consisting of a day-timescale modulation with superimposed hourlong microflares characterized by $\sim 0.1$\,mag flux changes. We performed an in-depth search for quasi-periodicities in the source light curve; hints for the presence of oscillations on timescales of $\sim 3$\,h and $\sim 5$\,h do not represent highly significant departures from a pure red-noise power spectrum. We observed that, at a certain configuration of the optical polarization angle relative to the positional angle of the innermost radio jet in the source, changes in the polarization degree led the total flux variability by about 2\,h; meanwhile, when the relative configuration of the polarization and jet angles altered, no such lag could be noted. The microflaring events, when analyzed as separate pulse emission components, were found to be characterized by a very high polarization degree ($> 30\%$) and polarization angles which differed substantially from the polarization angle of the underlying background component, or from the radio jet positional angle. We discuss the results in the general context of blazar emission and energy dissipation models.Comment: 16 pages, 17 Figures; ApJ accepte

Multifrequency monitoring of the blazar 0716+714 during the GASP-WEBT-AGILE campaign of 2007

Since the CGRO operation in 1991-2000, one of the primary unresolved questions about the blazar gamma-ray emission has been its possible correlation with the low-energy (in particular optical) emission. To help answer this problem, the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) consortium has organized the GLAST-AGILE Support Program (GASP) to provide the optical-to-radio monitoring data to be compared with the gamma-ray detections by the AGILE and GLAST satellites. This new WEBT project started in early September 2007, just before a strong gamma-ray detection of 0716+714 by AGILE. We present the GASP-WEBT optical and radio light curves of this blazar obtained in July-November 2007, about various AGILE pointings at the source. We construct NIR-to-UV spectral energy distributions (SEDs), by assembling GASP-WEBT data together with UV data from the Swift ToO observations of late October. We observe a contemporaneous optical-radio outburst, which is a rare and interesting phenomenon in blazars. The shape of the SEDs during the outburst appears peculiarly wavy because of an optical excess and a UV drop-and-rise. The optical light curve is well sampled during the AGILE pointings, showing prominent and sharp flares. A future cross-correlation analysis of the optical and AGILE data will shed light on the expected relationship between these flares and the gamma-ray events.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to be published in A&A (Letters); revised to match the final version (changes in Fig. 5 and related text