Kodaikanal Digitized White-light Data Archive (1921-2011): Analysis of various solar cycle features

Long-term sunspot observations are key to understand and predict the solar activities and its effects on the space weather.Consistent observations which are crucial for long-term variations studies,are generally not available due to upgradation/modifications of observatories over the course of time. We present the data for a period of 90 years acquired from persistent observation at the Kodaikanal observatory in India. We use an advanced semi-automated algorithm to detect the sunspots form each calibrated white-light image. Area, longitude and latitude of each of the detected sunspots are derived. Implementation of a semi-automated method is very necessary in such studies as it minimizes the human bias in the detection procedure. Daily, monthly and yearly sunspot area variations obtained from the Kodaikanal, compared well with the Greenwich sunspot area data. We find an exponentially decaying distribution for the individual sunspot area for each of the solar cycles. Analyzing the histograms of the latitudinal distribution of the detected sunspots, we find Gaussian distributions, in both the hemispheres, with the centers at $\sim$15$^{\circ}$ latitude. The height of the Gaussian distributions are different for the two hemispheres for a particular cycle. Using our data, we show clear presence of Waldmeier effect which correlates the rise time with the cycle amplitude. Using the wavelet analysis, we explored different periodicities of different time scales present in the sunspot area times series.Comment: Accepted for Publication in A&

The problem of court congestion : evidence from Indian lower courts

This paper explores the problem of court congestion in Indian lower courts. We use several measures to capture court congestion. These include: caseloads per capita and per judge, the number of cases older than a year per capita and per judge, and congestion rates calculated as the ratio of cases older than a year to cases disposed. We conclude that the Indian state judiciaries differ with respect to the nature and the level of congestion. We can also identify the reasons why some judiciaries are more congested than others. The results show that the large number of judges per capita is negatively related to congestion rates, while judgeship vacancies have a positive effect on caseloads per judge. Court productivity captured by the clearance rates has a significant and negative effect on both caseloads and congestion rates and seems to be crucial for the effectiveness of congestion-reduction programs. Finally, judiciaries with lower litigation rates display a relatively better performance with respect to current caseloads, but are not efficient in addressing the ?real? backlogs of cases pending for more than a year.Diese Arbeit untersucht das Problem der Überlastung an indischen Gerichten. Dabei verwenden wir verschiedene Indikatoren gerichtlicher Überlastung, z.B. die Gerichtsfälle pro Kopf und pro Richter, die Anzahl mehr als ein Jahr alter Gerichtsfälle pro Kopf und pro Richter, und Überlastungsraten aus dem Verhältnis von Fällen die älter als ein Jahr sind und abgeschlossenen Fällen. Wir folgern, dass die staatlichen Gerichte in Indien unterschiedliche Überlastungsarten und ?niveaus aufweisen. Ebenso legen wir die Gründe dar, warum manche Gerichte überlasteter sind als andere. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine große Richterzahl negativ mit den Überlastungsraten korreliert ist, während offene Stellen für das Richteramt einen positiven Effekt auf die Gerichtsfälle pro Richter ausüben. Die gerichtliche Produktivität, welche anhand von Bearbeitungsraten dargestellt wird, hat eine bedeutende negative Auswirkung sowohl auf die Anzahl an Gerichtsfällen, als auch auf die Überlastungsraten. Darüber hinaus scheint sie ausschlaggebend für die Wirksamkeit von Programmen zur Überlastungsverringerung zu sein. Schließlich weisen Richter mit niedrigen Prozessraten eine vergleichsweise bessere Leistung bezüglich aktueller Gerichtsfälle auf, sind jedoch weniger effizient, wenn es darum geht, die tatsächlichen Rückstände von Fällen die älter als ein Jahr alt sind aufzuarbeiten

The problem of court congestion : Evidence from Indian lower courts

This paper explores the problem of court congestion in Indian lower courts. We use several measures to capture court congestion. These include: caseloads per capita and per judge, the number of cases older than a year per capita and per judge, and congestion rates calculated as the ratio of cases older than a year to cases disposed. We conclude that the Indian state judiciaries differ with respect to the nature and the level of congestion. We can also identify the reasons why some judiciaries are more congested than others. The results show that the large number of judges per capita is negatively related to congestion rates, while judgeship vacancies have a positive effect on caseloads per judge. Court productivity captured by the clearance rates has a significant and negative effect on both caseloads and congestion rates and seems to be crucial for the effectiveness of congestion-reduction programs. Finally, judiciaries with lower litigation rates display a relatively better performance with respect to current caseloads, but are not efficient in addressing the “real” backlogs of cases pending for more than a year

Resonant enhancement of ultracold photoassociation rate by electric field induced anisotropic interaction

We study the effects of a static electric field on the photoassociation of a heteronuclear atom-pair into a polar molecule. The interaction of permanent dipole moment with a static electric field largely affects the ground state continuum wave function of the atom-pair at short separations where photoassociation transitions occur according to Franck-Condon principle. Electric field induced anisotropic interaction between two heteronuclear ground state atoms leads to scattering resonances at some specific electric fields. Near such resonances the amplitude of scattering wave function at short separation increases by several orders of magnitude. As a result, photoaasociation rate is enhanced by several orders of magnitude near the resonances. We discuss in detail electric field modified atom-atom scattering properties and resonances. We calculate photoassociation rate that shows giant enhancement due to electric field tunable anisotropic resonances. We present selected results among which particularly important are the excitations of higher rotational levels in ultracold photoassociation due to electric field tunable resonances.Comment: 14 pages,9 figure

The Prospective Role of Plant Products in Radiotherapy of Cancer: A Current Overview

Treatment of cancer often requires exposure to radiation, which has several limitations involving non-specific toxicity toward normal cells, reducing the efficacy of treatment. Efforts are going on to find chemical compounds which would effectively offer protection to the normal tissues after radiation exposure during radiotherapy of cancer. In this regard, plant-derived compounds might serve as “leads” to design ideal radioprotectors/radiosensitizers. This article reviews some of the recent findings on prospective medicinal plants, phytochemicals, and their analogs, based on both in vitro and in vivo tumor models especially focused with relevance to cancer radiotherapy. Also, pertinent discussion has been presented on the molecular mechanism of apoptotic death in relation to the oxidative stress in cancer cells induced by some of these plant samples and their active constituents

Synthesis of benzothiazolopyrazoloisonicotinohydrazide derivatives and their nitro regioisomers for antitubercular activity

The history of incessant struggle and the current global burden associated with emerging infectious disease especially tuberculosis, guided us to define the scope of this research project, and to identify research gaps in synthesizing some heterocyclic compounds for anti-tubercular activity. In this research project, we have synthesized a series of novel heterocyclic (benzothiazoles) compounds viz N'-((1-(7-chloro-6-fluorobenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-3-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl) methylene)isonicotinohydrazide 12a-c their 5-nitro 15a-c and 4-nitro 18a-c derivatives, by a series of reactions of their respective synthons. The completion of reaction and the purity of the synthesized compounds have been established by chromatographic analysis. All the newly synthesized compounds satisfactorily show acceptable analysis for their anticipated structures, which have been confirmed based on physicochemical and spectral data. These newly synthesized compounds have been primarily evaluated for their in vitro anti-tubercular activity by Ziehl-Neelsen stain method. Compounds 15a, 15b, 15c, 18b and 18c have shown 100% inhibition at 25 mg/ mL and MIC values of around 45 nM against M. tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294). Cytotoxicity on THP-1 cell line shows that all the tested compounds are safe.

Synthesis of benzothiazolopyrazoloisonicotinohydrazide derivatives and their nitro regioisomers for antitubercular activity

1388-1399The history of incessant struggle and the current global burden associated with emerging infectious disease especially tuberculosis, guided us to define the scope of this research project, and to identify research gaps in synthesizing some heterocyclic compounds for anti-tubercular activity. In this research project, we have synthesized a series of novel heterocyclic (benzothiazoles) compounds viz N'-((1-(7-chloro-6-fluorobenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-3-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl) methylene)isonicotinohydrazide 12a-c their 5-nitro 15a-c and 4-nitro 18a-c derivatives, by a series of reactions of their respective synthons. The completion of reaction and the purity of the synthesized compounds have been established by chromatographic analysis. All the newly synthesized compounds satisfactorily show acceptable analysis for their anticipated structures, which have been confirmed based on physicochemical and spectral data. These newly synthesized compounds have been primarily evaluated for their in vitro anti-tubercular activity by Ziehl-Neelsen stain method. Compounds 15a, 15b, 15c, 18b and 18c have shown 100% inhibition at 25 mg/ mL and MIC values of around 45 nM against M. tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294). Cytotoxicity on THP-1 cell line shows that all the tested compounds are safe