Environmental Impacts of Mining on Bundelkhand Region of Uttar Pradesh, India

Surface mining creates more pollution in comparison to underground mining. This paper highlights the impact of mining on air, water and human health in and around the mining areas of Jhansi, Bundelkhand region, India. The possibility of leaching contaminants from the ore material kept in the open ground or from the wastages or degraded ore material produced during the mining processes may contaminate the groundwater in the study area. The mining activity comprising drilling, blasting, loading of waste, transport of overburden and crushing of ore is having considerable impacts on the air environment and well being of living organism. Mining either by opencast or by underground methods damages the water regime and thus causes a reduction in the overall availability of water in and around the mining areas. This study showed that the ground water and surface water was alkaline in nature. Mineral handling, mineral preparation and associated activities mainly contribute RSPM and SPM to the surrounding environment. The minimum and maximum value of RSPM and SPM was 173.1 mg m-3 to 212 mg m-3 and 462.4 mg m-3 to 521.3 mg m-3 respectively. High levels of suspended particulate matter increase respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis and asthma causing health hazards to the exposed population. Metals like Cd, Mn, Pb, Cu, Fe and Si concentrations were found to the above permissible limit at some places in different seasons and may cause health hazards in existing environment

Regulation of Mih1/Cdc25 by protein phosphatase 2A and casein kinase 1

The Cdc25 phosphatase promotes entry into mitosis by removing cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) inhibitory phosphorylation. Previous work suggested that Cdc25 is activated by Cdk1 in a positive feedback loop promoting entry into mitosis; however, it has remained unclear how the feedback loop is initiated. To learn more about the mechanisms that regulate entry into mitosis, we have characterized the function and regulation of Mih1, the budding yeast homologue of Cdc25. We found that Mih1 is hyperphosphorylated early in the cell cycle and is dephosphorylated as cells enter mitosis. Casein kinase 1 is responsible for most of the hyperphosphorylation of Mih1, whereas protein phosphatase 2A associated with Cdc55 dephosphorylates Mih1. Cdk1 appears to directly phosphorylate Mih1 and is required for initiation of Mih1 dephosphorylation as cells enter mitosis. Collectively, these observations suggest that Mih1 regulation is achieved by a balance of opposing kinase and phosphatase activities. Because casein kinase 1 is associated with sites of polar growth, it may regulate Mih1 as part of a signaling mechanism that links successful completion of growth-related events to cell cycle progression

Assessment of environmental impacts by mining activities: A case study from Jhansi open cast mining site - Uttar Pradesh, India

Mining and its allied activities have taken big strikes during the last century contributing significant infrastructure development and raising the living standards of mankind. However, they have also brought in their wake, degeneration and degradation of natural resources, pollution, health risk and socio-ecological instabilities. Bundelkhand region, occupying almost 71818km2 in the central planes of India, is known for its rich deposits of pyrophyllite, moram, salt peter, granite, diasporas, sand, etc. Currently, there are around 325 active mining sites in Jhansi district alone. Deforestation, dust generation, water, air and noise pollution and resource depletion are common hazards associated with opencast mining widely prevalent in this region. The present paper attempts to reveal the base line environmental quality and socio-economic setting in and around such mining sites with special reference to the effects on the air, water, changes of land use pattern and occupational health effects of mine workers etc. It also attempts to provide a framework for management strategies to improve the environmental conditions in the mining sites and its adjoining environments

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation in an Interactive Engineering Game

In this paper, we study intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation in players playing an electrical engineering gaming environment. We used UNTANGLED, a highly interactive game to conduct this study. This game is developed to solve complex mapping problem from electrical engineering using human intuitions. Our goal is to find whether there are differences in the ways anonymous players solved electrical engineering puzzles in an electronic gaming environment when motivated to play competitively, as compared to self-regulated play. For our experiments, we used puzzles from four games from UNTANGLED. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was calculated on participants’ scores, type of plays, number of plays, and time spent playing, as both self-regulated and competitive players. We also examined difference between the type of moves used by the competitive and self-regulated players. Our results support the theory of motivation as being internally embedded in learners. The results also demonstrate that a self-regulated learner does not require motivation to improve one’s performance

Superconductivity in the SU(N) Anderson Lattice at U=\infty

We present a mean-field study of superconductivity in a generalized N-channel cubic Anderson lattice at U=\infty taking into account the effect of a nearest-neighbor attraction J. The condition U=\infty is implemented within the slave-boson formalism considering the slave bosons to be condensed. We consider the $f$-level occupancy ranging from the mixed valence regime to the Kondo limit and study the dependence of the critical temperature on the various model parameters for each of three possible Cooper pairing symmetries (extended s, d-wave and p-wave pairing) and find interesting crossovers. It is found that the d- and p- wave order parameters have, in general, very similar critical temperatures. The extended s-wave pairing seems to be relatively more stable for electronic densities per channel close to one and for large values of the superconducting interaction J.Comment: Seven Figures; one appendix. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Effect of Nano Nitrogen and Nano Zinc on the Growth and Yield of Sweetcorn

Aim: To study the effect of nano nitrogen and nano zinc on the growth and yield of sweetcorn (variety KSP-5389) in Inceptisol of Odisha. Experimental design: The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with three replications and eight treatments. The treatments details were T1-Absolute control, T2- RDF (Recommended dose of N: P2O5: K2O :: 80: 40: 40), T3- RDF + Zn @ 5 kg ha-1 , T4- 50 % N + N foliar spray ( Vegetative Stage), T5- 50% N + N foliar spray ( Vegetative Stage + Tasselling), T6- 50% N + N foliar spray ( Vegetative Stage + Tasselling) + Zn foliar spray (Silking stage), T7- 50% N + N foliar spray ( Vegetative Stage + Tasselling) + Zn foliar spray (Silking+Milking), T8- N spray ( Veg+ Tasselling ) + Zn spray (Silking+ Dough). P & K was common to all treatment except control. Place and duration of study:  A field experiment was conducted during Rabi season, February 2022 at khujimahal, Chandaka, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar Odisha. Results: The results showed that highest biological yield (1685 kgha-1) was found in the application of (50% N with two foliar sprays of nano N at vegetative and tasselling stage and two foliar spray of nano Zn @4ml L-1 at silking and milking stage). Whereas lowest cobyield (691 kg ha-1) was observed in absolute control. Compare with recommended dose of fertilizer with Zn, the application of 50% N with Nano N and Nano Zn as double foliar spray, the yield was increased by 41% whereas 26% yield increase by single foliar application of nano Zn. Conclusion: Highest harvest index HI was found in the application of 50% N with two foliar sprays of nano N at vegetative and tasselling stage and two sprays of nano Zn @4 ml L-1 at silking and milking stage and lowest in control. Application of 50% N with two foliar sprays of nano N at vegetative and tasselling stage and two spray of nano Zn @4ml l-1 at silking and dough stage (T8) helps in increasing the yield of sweet corn as well as nutrient concentration and nutrient uptake followed by T7 (50 % N + N foliar spray at vegetative stage @ 4ml l-1 + Zn spray at Silking and Milking stage)

Comparative study of NiO/CuO/Ag doped graphene based materials for reduction of nitroaromatic compounds and degradation of dye with statistical study

Abstract In the present work, the Nickel oxide (rGO–NiO), Silver (rGO–Ag), Copper oxide (rGO–CuO) doped Graphene Oxide are reported for catalytic reactions. A comparative study for catalytic activities of these materials are performed with nitroaromatic compound 4-nitroaniline and the results are statistically studied by using univariate analysis of variance and Post Hoc Test through Statistical Package for Social Sciences and it is observed that CuO doped Graphene material is showing better catalytic activity in minimum time. So, further research has been focused on the catalytic acitivity of rGO–CuO only and it is found that it is efficient in reducing other nitro compounds also such as Picric acid and Nitrobenzene. Dye degradation of Methylene blue is also performed using CuO decorated Graphene material and significant changes were observed using UV spectroscopy. The characterization of rGO–CuO is done with Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Powder X-ray Diffraction, Thermogravimetric Analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope and Transmission Electron Microscopy

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Omicron variant and psychological distress among frontline nurses in a major COVID-19 center: Implications for supporting psychological well-being

Background: Coronavirus outbreak severely affected the psychological health of frontline health-care workers, including nurses. Nurses relatively face many more psychological problems compared to other health-care workers. This study aimed to assess nurses' fear, stress, and anxiety status during the Omicron, a new variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, outbreak in India. Materials and Methods: This questionnaire survey included 350 frontline nurses working at a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India. The information was collected using the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, Impact of Event Scale-Revised, and Fear of COVID-19 Scale. Nurses working in the hospital since COVID-19 outbreak were included in the study. Appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to compute the results. Results: Nurses hospitalized after contracting an infection (odds ratio [OR] – 3.492, 95% confidence interval – 1.644–9.442, P < 0.002) and attended training on COVID-19 (OR – 2.644, 95% CI – 1.191–5.870, P < 0.017) reported high distress than their counterparts. Likewise, nurses hospitalized after contracting an infection (β = 3.862, P < 0.001 vs. β = 2.179, P < 0.001) and have no training exposure on COVID-19 management and care (β = 2.536, P = 0.001 vs. β = 0.670, P = 0.039) reported higher fear and anxiety, respectively. Likewise, married participants (β = 1.438, P < 0.036) who lost their friends and colleagues in the pandemic (β = 0.986, P = 0.020) reported being more frightened and anxious. Conclusions: Participants reported experiencing psychological burdens, especially nurses hospitalized after contracting an infection and who lost their friends and colleagues to COVID-19. High psychological distress may be a potential indicator of future psychiatric morbidity. Authors recommend a variant-specific training to improve nurses' mental health to combat the pandemic