A Subaltern Study on Dalit Women, Sangati: Culture of Silence

Dalit males are at the bottom of the pyramidical caste system in Indian culture, while Dalit women are allocated a place much below. Because they are at the bottom of the social hierarchy, Dalit women are often mistreated and exploited by Dalit men and higher castes. The women of the lower castes are well aware of the helpless situation in which they find themselves. In Bama's book Sangati: Events, Dalit girls and women are described as constantly remaining mute while being humiliated and reduced to the status of non-human beings. These silences are much more significant to them than words, and they use them as a weapon against all kinds of negativity until they reach adulthood. This essay builds on Bama's Sangati: Events by looking at Dalit women's situation and the manner in which they absorb, maintain, and combat the culture of silence

Wave packet dynamics in monolayer MoS2_2 with and without a magnetic field

We study the dynamics of electrons in monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS$_2$), in the absence as well as presence of a transverse magnetic field. Considering the initial electronic wave function to be a Gaussian wave packet, we calculate the time dependent expectation value of position and velocity operators. In the absence of the magnetic field, the time dependent average values of position and velocity show damped oscillations dependent on the width of the wave packet. In the presence of a transverse magnetic field, the wave packet amplitude shows oscillatory behaviour over short timescales associated with classical cyclotron orbit, followed by the phenomena of spontaneous collapse and revival over larger timescales. We relate the timescales of these effects and our results can be useful for the interpretation of experiments with trapped ions.Comment: 8pages, 3 figures. typos corrected and improved presentatio

Stopping the SARS-CoV-2 surge in the USA-CDC recommendations and ground realities

As of May 10, 2020, the United States of America (USA) has 1,367,079 cases of SARS CoV-2 and 80,773 deaths associated with the disease. New York alone has more than 333,000 cases and nearly 21,271 deaths. As we are trying to reopen our economies, the biggest risk we face is a surge in the immediate cases of new infections. The second wave of infection in the fall has also been predicted. As per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest data set, among the dead from SARS COV-2 in the USA, 80% were 65 years or older. Despite lower percentages of people living in nursing homes and the fact that they represented only 11% of total cases of SARS CoV-2 cases, the maximum death rate has been seen there. A staggering 27,700 people died in long-term facilities in the USA as per the database by the New York Times. These deaths accounted for one-third of the deaths related to SARS CoV-2, making it the most intensively hurt group of al. lThe ground reality is that unfortunately, even now, most of these facilities do not have enough tests that can stop the outbreak. We suggest special targeting of residents of long-term care facilities, and the HCPs involved in these facilities to stop the spread of SARS CoV-2. Extreme measures including the highest testing numbers should be allocated to these facilities and rigorous Infection control measures should be undertaken so that the SARS-CoV-2 virus does not enter and infect the patients in these facilities and if it does, it is limited to the facility

An Intelligent Reconnaissance Framework for Homeland Security

The cross border terrorism and internal terrorist attacks are critical issues for any country to deal with. In India, such types of incidents that breach homeland security are increasing now a day. Tracking and combating such incidents depends only on the radio communications and manual operations of security agencies. These security agencies face various challenges to get the real-time location of the targeted vehicles, their direction of fleeing, etc. This paper proposes a novel application for automatic tracking of suspicious vehicles in real-time. The proposed application tracks the vehicle based on their registration number, type, colour and RFID tag. The proposed approach for vehicle recognition based on image processing achieves 92.45 per cent accuracy. The RFID-based vehicle identification technique achieves 100 per cent accuracy. This paper also proposes an approach for vehicle classification. The average classification accuracy obtained by the proposed approach is 93.3 per cent. An integrated framework for tracking of any vehicle at the request of security agencies is also proposed. Security agencies can track any vehicles in a specific time period by using the user interface of the application

Effect of head decapitation and planting density on quality seed production of sprouting broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica L.)

A study was carried out to evaluate the effect of head decapitation and planting density on plant growth, seed yield and quality of sprouting broccoli, Brassica oleracea var. italica L. using cultivar ‘Green Head’. The twenty treatments comprised of combinations of four head decapitation methods viz., D1 (decapitation of primary head at appearance and harvesting seeds from secondary heads), D2 (decapitation of primary head at marketable stage and harvesting seeds from secondary heads), D3 (removal of secondary heads at appearance and harvesting seeds primary head) and ‘D4’ (No decapitation- control) and five planting densities viz., S1 (60x60 cm), S2 (60x45 cm), S3(45x45 cm), S4 (60x30 cm), and S5 (45x30 cm). Decapitation of primary head at appearance and harvesting seeds from secondary heads (D1) and planting density S3 (45x45 cm) independently as well as in combination gave highest seed yield per plot and per hectare. This combination was also found comparable to other combinations for other characters like days to 50% flowering, days to seed harvesting, plant height at harvesting (cm), number of branches per plant, number of siliqua per plant, siliqua length (cm), number of seeds per siliqua and seed quality parameters. Therefore, it is suggested that decapitation of primary head at appearance and harvesting seeds from secondary heads (D1) in combination with plant spacing of 45x45 cm i.e. D1S3 can be recommended for commercial seed production of sprouting broccoli

Evaluation of surface roughness of enamel after various bonding and clean-up procedures on enamel bonded with three different bonding agents : an in-vitro study

The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the enamel surface roughness before bonding and after debonding, to find correlation between the adhesive remnant index and its effect on enamel surface roughness and to evaluate which clean-up method is most efficient to provide a smoother enamel surface. 135 premolars were divided into 3 groups containing 45 premolars in each group. Group I was bonded by using moisture insensitive primer, Group II by using conventional orthodontic adhesive and Group III by using self-etching primer. Each group was divided into 3 sub-groups on the basis of type of clean-up method applied i,e scaling followed by polishing, tungsten carbide bur and Sof-Lex disc. Enamel surface roughness was measured and compared before bonding and after clean-up. Evaluation of pre bonding and post clean-up enamel surface roughness (Ra value) with the t test showed that Post clean-up Ra values were greater than Pre bonding Ra values in all the groups except in teeth bonded with self-etching primer cleaned with Sof-Lex disc. Reliability of ARI score taken at different time interval tested with Kruskal Wallis test suggested that all the readings were reliable. No clean-up procedure was able to restore the enamel to its original smoothness. Self-etching primer and Sof-Lex disc clean-up method combination restored the enamel surface roughness (Ra value) closest to its pre-treatment value

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF DOXORUBICIN ANCHORED PLGA NANOPARTICLES AGAINST BREAST CANCER

The objective of this work was to design and develop Poly (D, L-Lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) of Doxorubicin for the effective treatment of breast cancer. The nanoparticles (NPs) were optimized by applying a Box-Behnken design (BBD) using Design-Expert® Software and prepared using the double emulsification and precipitation method. Three independent factors such as PLGA 50:50 (A), PVA (B), stirring speed (C) were considered. Three dependent responses included entrapment efficiency (Response 1), particle size (Response 2) and Doxorubicin release at 10th hour (Response 3). ATR and DSC studies indicated compatibility between the drug and polymer. The morphological studies performed by SEM showed uniform and spherical shaped discrete particles with smooth surface and in a size range of 282.6 nm. X-ray diffraction was performed to confirm the crystalline nature of the drug after encapsulation. The NPs exhibited a zeta potential of 21.6 mV. In vitro release studies showed a drug release up to 10 hrs. The release kinetics study indicated first order kinetics while the release mechanism followed Higuchi model. The cell viability was found to be more than 80% after incubation with the DOX NPs for 24 h up to a concentration of 80 μg/ml. The DOX NPs treated MCF-7 displayed intrinsic cell damage and cell shrinkage as compared to the control group. It may be concluded from the present investigation that PLGA NPs bearing doxorubicin can effectively treat the breast cance

Current Status and Future Perspective on Enzyme Involving in Biocontrol of Plant Pathogen

Plant diseases must be controlled to maintain the quality and quantity of food produced by farmers worldwide. Various strategies exist to prevent, reduce, or manage plant diseases. Agronomic and horticultural methods depend on chemical fertilisers and insecticides. These agricultural inputs have contributed significantly to recent gains in crop output and quality. Microbial enzymes help bacteria multiply in a specific habitat by acting as biocatalysts for biochemical processes. It has long been recognised that rhizosphere microorganisms may boost plant development and suppress phytopathogens. Rhizosphere microorganisms may help plants fight phytopathogens in numerous ways. Excreting lytic enzymes is one of the acknowledged biocontrol methods for preventing phytopathogens from surviving in the rhizosphere. To combat phytopathogens, rhizosphere microbes create chitinases, cellulases, proteases, and glucanases. Biological management may soon replace fungicides, say UBC researchers. New molecular approaches are now available to study antagonist-pathogen interactions, rhizosphere antagonist ecology, and biocontrol agent efficacy. Because agro-ecosystems are dynamic structures with numerous factors affecting disease and crop productivity, alternative IPM strategies to manage crop diseases are useful in various environments. Diverse crop systems need IPM management options other than biological control to successfully prevent disease development and yield loss