To what extent do circular economics principles apply in rural planning in India?

This dissertation provides an in-depth examination of the applicability of circular economy principles within the realm of rural planning in India. The circular economy, characterized by its focus on waste minimization, resource efficiency, and the creation of closed-loop systems, has gained prominence as a sustainable economic model. However, its adaptation to rural settings poses unique challenges and opportunities, shaped by the distinctive socio-economic and environmental contexts prevalent in India's rural areas. The primary objective of the study is to analyse the extent to which circular economy principles are integrated into rural planning practices in India. By exploring the potential benefits and challenges associated with the adoption of circular economy principles, it seeks to provide valuable insights into rural development strategies. These insights are particularly pertinent in the Indian context, where rural areas constitute a significant portion of the population and play a crucial role in the nation's economic and environmental landscape. To achieve this objective, the study incorporates inductive approaches and methodologies. It commences with a comprehensive literature review then analysing two case studies in the same setting against the set fame work. These regions are further compared to draw conclusion based on the current scenarios and policies, giving insights to reality and identifying the niche which could be worked on. This foundational phase sets the stage for understanding the core concepts, potential advantages, and key challenges associated with the circular economy model. In conclusion, this dissertation aspires to contribute significantly to the body of knowledge surrounding circular economy practices in rural planning, with a specific focus on the Indian context. Its findings aim to serve as a valuable resource for policymakers, planners, researchers, and stakeholders involved in rural development efforts. Ultimately, the study endeavours to build on the guidance and insights that foster sustainable rural development practices in India, aligning with the principles of the circular economy

Disordered Haldane-Shastry model

The Haldane-Shastry model is one of the most studied interacting spin systems. The Yangian symmetry makes it exactly solvable, and the model has semionic excitations. We introduce disorder into the Haldane-Shastry model by allowing the spins to sit at random positions on the unit circle and study the properties of the eigenstates. At weak disorder, the spectrum is similar to the spectrum of the clean Haldane-Shastry model. At strong disorder, the long-range interactions in the model do not decay as a simple power law. The eigenstates in the middle of the spectrum follow a volume law, but the coefficient is small, and the entropy is hence much less than for an ergodic system. In addition, the energy level spacing statistics is neither Poissonian nor of the Wigner-Dyson type. The behavior at strong disorder hence serves as an example of a non-ergodic phase, which is not of the many-body localized kind, in a model with long-range interactions and SU(2) symmetry.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR

The Effect of 3-week’s Yoga therapy program on clinical outcomes in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Background: Parkinson's disease, according to the WHO, has a variety of non-motor side effects in addition to its motor symptoms (cognitive impairment, mental health disorders, pain, and other sensory disturbances). The progression of these symptoms and their implications affects functioning and quality of life greatly, resulting in high rates of impairment and care demands, as well as stress and strain on caregivers. Material & Methods: A total of 31 PD patients were included in this investigation. The Integrated Approach of Yoga Therapy was applied to all patients who met the inclusion criteria (IAYT). Parameters were taken twice, once on the day of admission and other when they were leaving the residence on completion of the program. Data was evaluated using a pre-test and post-test design. Dependent Variable: Pulse rate, Respiratory rate, Systolic Blood Pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure, Breath Holding time and BMI. Results: A total of 31 subjects participated in the study 31 subjects completed the study. After 21 days of integrated Yoga therapy program, it showed that significant reduction in (P< 0.05) in Systolic and diastolic Blood pressure, respiratory rate and significant improvement is seen in breath holding time (BHT), but there were no changes in BMI (P> 0.05). Conclusion: The three-week yoga programmed was able to dramatically enhance clinical results in Parkinson's disease and self-reported medication reduction without aggravating symptoms

Characterizing and prognosticating chronic lymphocytic leukemia in the elderly: prospective evaluation on 455 patients treated in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Median age at diagnosis of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is \u3e 70 years. However, the majority of clinical trials do not reflect the demographics of CLL patients treated in the community. We examined treatment patterns, outcomes, and disease-related mortality in patients ≥ 75 years with CLL (E-CLL) in a real-world setting. METHODS: The Connect® CLL registry is a multicenter, prospective observational cohort study, which enrolled 1494 adult patients between 2010-2014, at 199 US sites. Patients with CLL were enrolled within 2 months of initiating first line of therapy (LOT1) or a subsequent LOT (LOT ≥ 2). Kaplan-Meier methods were used to evaluate overall survival. CLL- and infection-related mortality were assessed using cumulative incidence functions (CIF) and cause-specific hazards. Logistic regression was used to develop a classification model. RESULTS: A total of 455 E-CLL patients were enrolled; 259 were enrolled in LOT1 and 196 in LOT ≥ 2. E-CLL patients were more likely to receive rituximab monotherapy (19.3 vs. 8.6%; p \u3c 0.0001) and chemotherapy-alone regimens (p \u3c 0.0001) than younger patients. Overall and complete responses were lower in E-CLL patients than younger patients when given similar regimens. With a median follow-up of 3 years, CLL-related deaths were higher in E-CLL patients than younger patients in LOT1 (12.6 vs. 5.1% p = 0.0005) and LOT ≥ 2 (31.3 vs. 21.5%; p = 0.0277). Infection-related deaths were also higher in E-CLL patients than younger patients in LOT1 (7.4 vs. 2.7%; p = 0.0033) and in LOT ≥ 2 (16.2 vs. 11.2%; p = 0.0786). A prognostic score for E-CLL patients was developed: time from diagnosis to treatment \u3c 3 months, enrollment therapy other than bendamustine/rituximab, and anemia, identified patients at higher risk of inferior survival. Furthermore, higher-risk patients experienced an increased risk of CLL- or infection-related death (30.6 vs 10.3%; p = 0.0006). CONCLUSION: CLL- and infection-related mortality are higher in CLL patients aged ≥ 75 years than younger patients, underscoring the urgent need for alternative treatment strategies for these understudied patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The Connect CLL registry was registered at clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01081015 on March 4, 2010

Charge Delocalization in Self-Assembled Mixed-Valence Aromatic Cation Radicals

The spontaneous assembly of aromatic cation radicals (D+•) with their neutral counterpart (D) affords dimer cation radicals (D2+•). The intermolecular dimeric cation radicals are readily characterized by the appearance of an intervalence charge-resonance transition in the NIR region of their electronic spectra and by ESR spectroscopy. The X-ray crystal structure analysis and DFT calculations of a representative dimer cation radical (i.e., the octamethylbiphenylene dimer cation radical) have established that a hole (or single positive charge) is completely delocalized over both aromatic moieties. The energetics and the geometrical considerations for the formation of dimer cation radicals is deliberated with the aid of a series of cyclophane-like bichromophoric donors with drastically varied interplanar angles between the cofacially arranged aryl moieties. X-ray crystallography of a number of mixed-valence cation radicals derived from monochromophoric benzenoid donors established that they generally assemble in 1D stacks in the solid state. However, the use of polychromophoric intervalence cation radicals, where a single charge is effectively delocalized among all of the chromophores, can lead to higher-order assemblies with potential applications in long-range charge transport. As a proof of concept, we show that a single charge in the cation radical of a triptycene derivative is evenly distributed on all three benzenoid rings and this triptycene cation radical forms a 2D electronically coupled assembly, as established by X-ray crystallography

Rebooting life: engineering non-natural nucleic acids, proteins and metabolites in microorganisms

The surging demand of value-added products has steered the transition of laboratory microbes to microbial cell factories (MCFs) for facilitating production of large quantities of important native and non-native biomolecules. This shift has been possible through rewiring and optimizing different biosynthetic pathways in microbes by exercising frameworks of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology principles. Advances in genome and metabolic engineering have provided a fillip to create novel biomolecules and produce non-natural molecules with multitude of applications. To this end, numerous MCFs have been developed and employed for production of non-natural nucleic acids, proteins and different metabolites to meet various therapeutic, biotechnological and industrial applications. The present review describes recent advances in production of non-natural amino acids, nucleic acids, biofuel candidates and platform chemicals

Bulk transport paths through defects in floating zone and Al flux grown SmB6

We investigate the roles of disorder on low-temperature transport in SmB6 crystals grown by both the Al flux and floating zone methods. We used the inverted resistance method with Corbino geometry to investigate whether low-temperature variations in the standard resistance plateau arise from a surface or a bulk channel in floating zone samples. The results show significant sample-dependent residual bulk conduction, in contrast to smaller amounts of residual bulk conduction previously observed in Al flux grown samples with Sm vacancies. We consider hopping in an activated impurity band as a possible source for the observed bulk conduction, but it is unlikely that the large residual bulk conduction seen in floating zone samples is solely due to Sm vacancies. We therefore propose that one-dimensional defects, or dislocations, contribute as well. Using chemical etching, we find evidence for dislocations in both flux and floating zone samples, with higher dislocation density in floating zone samples than in Al flux grown samples. In addition to the possibility of transport through one dimensional dislocations, we also discuss our results in the context of recent theoretical models of SmB6

Pre-emptive Innovation Infrastructure for Medical Emergencies: Accelerating Healthcare Innovation in the Wake of a Global Pandemic

Healthcare innovation is impeded by high costs, the need for diverse skillsets, and complex regulatory processes. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps in the current framework, especially those lying at the boundary between cutting-edge academic research and industry-scale manufacturing and production. While many resource-rich geographies were equipped with the required expertise to solve challenges posed by the pandemic, mechanisms to unite the appropriate institutions and scale up, fund, and mobilize solutions at a time-scale relevant to the emergency were lacking. We characterize the orthogonal spatial and temporal axes that dictate innovation. Improving on their limitations, we propose a “pre-emptive innovation infrastructure” incorporating in-house hospital innovation teams, consortia-based assembly of expertise, and novel funding mechanisms to combat future emergencies. By leveraging the strengths of academic, medical, government, and industrial institutions, this framework could improve ongoing innovation and supercharge the infrastructure for healthcare emergencies

Operating at the individual level: A review of literature and a research agenda to support needs-forward models of transport resource allocation

Transportation equity is defined as the fair distribution of transportation system outcomes, costs, benefits, and services to individuals or communities. For transportation investments, plans, and projects to advance equitable outcomes, proactive equitable allocation mechanisms are necessary. Proactive equitable allocation mechanisms in transportation refer to the mathematical methods that distribute transportation system outcomes across individuals, particularly disadvantaged individuals, who are expected to benefit from the potential intervention. While existing conceptual and empirical equity literature establishes the need for proactive equity-driven transportation interventions, literature reviews on equity-focused mathematical approaches to allocate transportation system resources are limited. To this end, this literature review draws from the transportation engineering and operations research literature that focuses on the design of proactive or speculative mathematical methods through simulation and optimization to allocate transportation system outcomes in an equitable way. Through categorizing the literature based on the mathematical method first, followed by the application, we find a variety of conceptual and mathematical definitions of equity applied to an array of modes, applications, and scales of intervention. We also review the research that incorporates individual disadvantage status in determining the optimal allocation of transportation outcomes and find that many examples define broad categories of disadvantage across population groups, rather than mathematically model the behavior and needs of disadvantaged individuals. These findings are critical in laying out future research directions in equitable allocation methods that authentically center the positionalities of disadvantaged individuals, while also balancing other important transportation system objectives and public engagement strategies

Study of pressure induced structural phase transition and elastic properties of lanthanum pnictides

We evolve an effective interatomic interaction potential with long range Coulomb interactions, Hafemeister and Flygare type short range overlap repulsion extended up to second neighbor ions and van der Waals interaction to discuss the pressure dependent first order phase transition, mechanical, elastic, and thermodynamical properties of NaCl-type (B1) to CsCl-type (B2) structure in lanthanum pnictides (LaY, Y  =  N, P, As, Sb, and Bi). Both charge transfer interactions and covalency effect apart from long range Coulomb are important in revealing the high-pressure structural phase transition, associated volume collapse, elastic and thermodynamical properties. By analyzing the aggregate elastic constants pressure (temperature) dependence, the rare earth lanthanum pnictides are mechanically stiffened as a consequence of bond compression and bond strengthening attributed to mechanical work hardening, thermally softening arose due to bond expansion and bond weakening due to lattice vibrations, brittle (ductile) nature at zero (increased) pressure and temperature dependent brittleness from room temperature to high temperatures. To our knowledge these are the first quantitative theoretical prediction of the pressure and temperature dependence of elastic and thermodynamical properties explicitly the mechanical stiffening, thermally softening, and brittle (ductile) nature of rare earth LaY (Y  =  N, P, As, Sb and Bi) pnictides and still awaits experimental confirmations