Tunnelling Characteristics of Stone-Wales Defects in Monolayers of Sn and Group-V Elements

Topological defects in ultrathin layers are often formed during synthesis and processing, thereby, strongly influencing their electronic properties . In this paper, we investigate the role of Stone-Wales (SW) defects in modifying the electronic properties of the monolayers of Sn and group-V elements. The calculated results find the electronic properties of stanene (monolayer of Sn atoms) to be strongly dependent on the concentration of SW-defects e.g., defective stanene has nearly zero band gap (~ 0.03 eV) for the defect concentration of 2.2 x 10^13 cm^-2 which opens up to 0.2 eV for the defect concentration of 3.7 x 10^13 cm^-2. In contrast, SW-defects appear to induce conduction states in the semiconducting monolayers of group-V elements. These conduction states act as channels for electron tunnelling, and the calculated tunnelling characteristics show the highest differential conductance for the negative bias with the asymmetric current-voltage characteristics. On the other hand, the highest differential conductance was found for the positive bias in stanene. Simulated STM topographical images of stanene and group-V monolayers show distinctly different features in terms of their cross-sectional views and distance-height profiles which can serve as fingerprints to identify the topological defects in the monolayers of group-IV and group-V elements in experiments.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Kinetic and sequence-structure-function analysis of known LinA variants with different hexachlorocyclohexane isomers

BACKGROUND Here we report specific activities of all seven naturally occurring LinA variants towards three different isomers, α, γ and δ, of a priority persistent pollutant, hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH). Sequence-structure-function differences contributing to the differences in their stereospecificity for α-, γ-, and δ-HCH and enantiospecificity for (+)- and (-)-α -HCH are also discussed. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Enzyme kinetic studies were performed with purified LinA variants. Models of LinA2(B90A) A110T, A111C, A110T/A111C and LinA1(B90A) were constructed using the FoldX computer algorithm. Turnover rates (min(-1)) showed that the LinAs exhibited differential substrate affinity amongst the four HCH isomers tested. α-HCH was found to be the most preferred substrate by all LinA's, followed by the γ and then δ isomer. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE The kinetic observations suggest that LinA-γ1-7 is the best variant for developing an enzyme-based bioremediation technology for HCH. The majority of the sequence variation in the various linA genes that have been isolated is not neutral, but alters the enantio- and stereoselectivity of the encoded proteins.This work was supported by the Indo-Australian Biotechnology Fund from the Department of Education Science and Technology (DEST), Australia and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India

Impact of Climate Change on the Hydrology of Mahanadi River Basin

The increasing rate of global surface temperature is going to have significant impact on local hydrological regimes and thus on water resources, this leads to the assessment of water resources potential resulting from the climate change impacts. Main parameters that are closely related to the climate change are temperature, precipitation and runoff. Therefore, there is a growing need for an integrated analysis that can quantify the impacts of climate change on various aspects of water resources. The present work intends to determine climate change impact on the hydrological processes in the Mahanadi River Basin through:(1) Statistical analysis of historical and future climate trends, (2) use of General Circulation Models (GCM) for simulating the response of climate variables globally, accounting for the effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, (3) use of statistical downscaling technique to model the hydrology variables (e.g., precipitation) at a smaller scale based on large scale GCM outputs, (4) use of hydrological modelling for assessment of global climate change impacts. Statistical trend analysis has been done using Mann Kendall Test and Sen’s Slope Estimator to find out the magnitude of the trend for the historical and future records. Statistical downscaling model has been used to predict the future precipitation and temperature time series from the year 2011 to 2099 by using HadCM3 coupled model. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Multiple Linear Regression analysis has been used to predict the future runoff from the precipitation and temperature

Digital education and children with disabilities

School education for children with disabilities (CWD) has always been in the doldrums in India. As per the Census 2011 (MHA, 2011), only 61 percent of the total number of CWDs between the age group of 5-19 years are going to school. Recent studies (Swabhiman 2020) have also suggested a large and increasing dropout rate of students with disabilities due to the inaccessible digital learning landscape (PTI, 2020). The situation has worsened with the spread of COVID because regular classes have abruptly shifted to digital modes and have sharply increased difficulties for CWDs, their parents and teachers. The pandemic has created unanticipated reliance on digital education- a relatively new and uncharted territory for these children

A cross-sectional study on quality of life among acne vulgaris patients

Background: In India, prevalence data from dermatology clinic in a teaching hospital in Varanasi reported acne in 50.6% of boys and 38.13% of girls in the age group 12-17 years. Though it is considered to be merely a cosmetic problem, it is associated with considerable psychological impairment which is comparable with certain chronic diseases. Acne patients are prone to low self-esteem, low self-confidence and social dysfunction which may lead to anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsiveness and sometimes suicidal ideation. Acne affects the functional abilities of individuals and patients have higher rate of unemployment when compared to those without acne. Acne also may have negative impact on personal relationships, sports activities and employment opportunities in teens and young adults. The management of acne must take into account the impact of acne on the patient’s quality of life. So the present study was carried out to determine the impact of acne and its clinical severity on quality of life among patients of different grades of acne patients in various age groups.Methods: The current cross sectional study was conducted in Patients diagnosed as acne vulgaris attending OPD of PCMS and RC Bhopal (India) in department of dermatology for a period of 2 year. (November 2012 – October 2014). 300 patients attending the Dermatology OPD with diagnosis of acne vulgaris were taken for the study. Patients aged 16 -35 years were included in our study. A detailed history was taken after obtaining consent from all the participants of study. Cardiff Acne disability index (CADI) and Dermatology life quality index (DLQI) were administered on patients to determine the impact of acne vulgaris on quality of life (QOL). Data was analyzed to compare the quality of life indices (CADI and DLQI) for duration and severity of acne.Results: Mean age of study population was 20.69 years. There was a male preponderance with ratio of 1.04:1 (M:F). According to this study 49% of patients had acne vulgaris for less than 1year. In present study maximum number 63.7% of patients presented with lesions over face followed by 14.7% of patients having lesions over face and back. According to DLQI scores of acne showed no effect in 4.3% of the patients, small effect in 26.3% of the patients, moderate effect in 38.7% of patients, very large effect in 29% of patients and extremely large effects on 1.7% of patients. According to CADI scores of acne showed low effect in 31.3% of the patients, majority had medium effect in 56.7% of patients and high effect was seen on 12 % of patients.Conclusions: Overall our study showed that quality of life is significantly impaired in patients of severe acne vulgaris. Use of these simple QOL measures as a part of integral clinical strategy will improve the outcome

Evaluation of new genotypes of brinjal (Solacanum melongena L.) under tarai condition of Uttarakhand

In order to assess the performance of some new genotypes of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) under tarai condition of Uttarakhand, an investigation was carried out at Vegetable Research Centre, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, during autumn-winter cropping season of 2012-13. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with 4 replications and 9 treatments viz. PB-300, PB-301, PB-302, PB-303, PB-304, PB-305, Kashi Tarun, Punjab Sadabahar and Pant Samrat. To have comparative study, growth characters, per cent fruit infested by fruit borer, fruit yield and finally economics were also worked out. The findings revealed that none of the new genotypes in this study could supersede the local checks in respect to yield related attributes, per cent infested fruit by borer and economics. Amongst 6 genotypes and 3 commercial cultivars, variety Kashi Tarun proved the best with respect to fruit yield (490.73 q/ha) and B:C (2.43). It is also less infested by fruit borer. The per cent infested fruit by borer was 7.16 %. Variety pant samrat and pant bahar were also considered promising with 385.70 and 369.33 q/ha marketable fruit yield