Finding an exact solution for a realistic interacting quantum many-body problem is often challenging. There are only a few problems where an exact solution can be found, usually in a narrow parameter space. Here, we propose a spin- 12 Heisenberg model on a square lattice with spatial anisotropy and bond depletion for the nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions but not for the next-nearest-neighbor interactions. This model has an exact and unique dimer ground state at J2/J1 = 12 ; a dimer state is a product state of spin singlets on dimers (here, staggered nearest-neighbor bonds). We examine this model by employing the bond-operator mean-field theory and exact diagonalization. These analytical and numerical methods precisely affirm the correctness of the dimer ground state at the exact point (J2/J1 = 12). As one moves away from the exact point, the dimer order melts and vanishes when the spin gap becomes zero. The mean-field theory with harmonic approximation indicates that the dimer order persists for -0.35 <= J2/J1 <= 1.35. However, in nonharmonic approximation, the upper critical point lowers by 0.28 to 1.07, but the lower critical point remains intact. The exact diagonalization results suggest that the latter approximation fares better. The model reveals N & eacute;el order below the lower critical point and stripe magnetic order above the upper critical point. It has a topologically equivalent model on a honeycomb lattice where the nearest-neighbor interactions are still spatial anisotropic, but the bond depletion shifts into the isotropic next-neighbor interactions. Moreover, these models can also be generalized in the three dimensions.

Expanding populations, intensive agriculture, climate change, water pollution and depleting natural water resources are the main drivers of water scarcity in India. Improvisations in wastewater treatment processes for the degradation of pollutants by cost-effective means are critical to ensure safe wastewater discharge and its reuse. While advancements in technology and science have provided alternatives to the traditional activated sludge process; owing to lack of infrastructure, funding and awareness; the majority of wastewaters being discharged remain untreated. Depletion of groundwater and its pollution threatens human well-being, food production, aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem balance and climate change. Previous urban planning programs such as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission laid the foundation for today’s water infrastructure and policies for water management. Dedicated ministries and programs execute wastewater treatment and discharge, river and lake rejuvenation, groundwater management and wastewater reuse. This review highlights the existing scenario of wastewater treatment with respect to its discharge and reuse in India. Technocratic involvement of limited stakeholders in the management of the multifaceted issue of water management will further require collaborations and collective action with public and private partners for a robust ecosystem and climate-resistant water management. Key considerations in wastewater treatment, groundwater management, existing knowledge gaps, and policies for water management in India are discussed.

In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to beneficiate lignite usingBurkholderiasp. GR 8-02,Bacillussp. XQW, and mixed consortium. The experiments showed thatBacillussp. XQW could remove 18.18-37.50% of total sulfur followed by mixed consortium (18.18-29.17%) andBurkholdriasp. GR 8-02 (9.09%-29.17%). There was also a concomitant decrease in the content of mineral matter as revealed in decrease of ash yields from 10.02 to 29.12% byBacillussp. XQW followed by 11.74-29.10% byBurkholderiasp. GR8-02 and 9.93-29.30% by mixed consortium. During the biotreatment of lignite, a reduction in the volatile matter and oxygen was also observed. Study through Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), petrography, and chemistry of lignite samples provided more insights into the changes in the calorific values as well as the chemical attributes of the lignite after bacterial treatment. The study revealed an increase in the Gross calorific value (6417-7234 cal/g) and Net calorific value (6522-7190 cal/g) of the lignite following the bacterial treatment. Thus, bacterial treatment of the lignite samples proved to be an effective tool for the upgradation of lignite.

Coal is an important energy resource and many deposits contain a significant quantity of organic sulfur compounds. Combustion of coal releases SO2, CO2 and other gases into atmosphere and causes negative impact on the environment. Biodesulphurization of dibenzothiophene could be a prominent method for the removal of sulfur from coal. Here we successfully employed bacterial strains to degrade dibenzothiophene, and characterized through chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Strains of Ralstonia sp., Pseudoxanthomons sp. and Rhodococcus sp. were used in the present investigation. Only Rhodococcus sp. converted dibenzothiophene (DBT) into 2-hydroxy biphenyl (2-HBP) and was able to additionally break the C-S bond without disturbing heterocyclic structure of DBT ring. This is also complemented by blue color of Gibb's assay which is indicative of DBT conversion into 2-HBP while brown color indicates complete consumption of DBT by bacteria. After two days of bacterial treatment, there was no further removal of DBT. DBT conversion into 2-HBP was monitored through HPLC during six days of experiment. Thus Rhodococcus sp. could be a proficient candidate for biodesulphurization of dibenzothiophene and eventually for biodesulphurizing organic sulfur rich coal with an eco-friendly and energy economical process. Though it is encouraging technique for desulphurization however more studies on coal are still required to support the industrial scale biodesulfurization.

Considering the nutritive values, millets offer alternate resilient crops in existing cropping systems to widen food baskets to ensure the multiple securities like food, nutrition, fodder, fibre, health, livelihood and cleaner and safer environments. Commercializations of the products have extended for other millet too. Though millet food product is known for nutrition, its awareness among consumers is scanty especially on nutritional and thera-peutic values. Thus, implementations of efficient supportive strategies and policies sensitized entrepreneurs should be on priority.

Existentialism is a key literary theory of twentieth century. Albert Camus occupies a very prominent place among twentieth century writers. He is considered as the greatest exponent of the literary theory termed as existentialism. He gave a very vehement expression to the existential characteristics like alienation, detachment, anxiety, choice, freedom, responsibility etc. in his literary outputs. He gave to the existential literature such masterpieces as The Stranger (1942), The Plague (1947), The Fall (1956) and A Happy Death (1971). Camus in his masterpiece The Stranger gave to the literary world a character named Meursault, who is considered as probably the greatest existential character till date. The objective of this research paper is to study Meursault in the light of existential theory and establish him as an epitome of an existential hero.

A method for waste management and valorization of waste activated sludge (WAS) was developed using co-digestion. Biogas and methane production were used as indicators of efficiency for analyzing biochemical methane potential (BMP) of co-digestion of waste activated sludge with three agricultural wastes (i) wheat straw, (ii) rice straw, and (iii) soybean straw. Results infer that co-digestion system of waste activated sludge with wheat straw or rice straw or soybean straw gave higher cumulative specific methane production of 223, 218, and 197 ml/g VS, which produced 2.57, 2.52, and 2.27 times higher methane yield compared to the mono-digestion of WAS respectively. In addition, the use of rumen as inoculum was found to enhance biogas and methane production. The kinetic analysis further confirmed that the inclusion of agricultural straws could abbreviate the lag phase and increase the degradation of the substrates, which in turn enhances methane production potential.

Dermatophytosis is a frequently encountered dermatological problem in domestic and pet animals which negatively affects animal health and production. This study investigated the prevalence of dermatophytosis in different animals and carried antifungal susceptibility testing in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. A total of 157 clinical samples were collected from the animals irrespective of sex and age during a time period of 3 years from December 2016 to December 2019. Direct microscopy, fungal culture, isolation, identification, and antifungal susceptibility testing were carried out. Direct microscopy and in vitro culture were equally efficient in diagnosis of dermatophytosis. The prevalence of dermatophytes ranged between 45 and 53.3% and Trichophyton mentagrophytes was the most abundant species (38%) followed by Microsporum canis (21.5%). All the species observed were isolated from goats and dogs except T. tonsurans and M. nanum, respectively. All the isolated dermatophytes were urease test positive except T. rubrum and T. verrucosum. The hair perforation test was negative for M. audouinii, along with T. rubrum and T. verrucosum, whereas only M. canis was positive for rice grain test. Only T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum, T. verrucosum, and T. tonsurans were able to show optimum growth at 37 °C. Maximum inhibition of fungal growth was exhibited by clotrimazole and least by fluconazole.

Numerous management strategies are implemented for the improvement in urban air quality worldwide, including control at tailpipe emissions. Control at the source is one of the best practices for pollution control, but this approach needs very stringent enforcement, public support, and monitoring for implementation. Besides, scientific processes-based technology to remove the pollutants from the ambient environment is also one of the approaches to improve air quality; however, high efficiency of such devices is one of the major challenges for the researchers. The present article is an attempt to review the state-of-the-art literature on such science-based technologies used to remove the pollutants from the ambient environment. The article highlighted the issues of high spatiotemporal variations in air pollution level in urban areas and methodologies available for the removal of pollutants. The efficiency of developed prototypes/devices using these processes is also compared worldwide. The technologies are available for particulate matter, and/or for gaseous pollutants. The air purification devices are designed and developed using scientific principles of bio-filtration, ionization, phytoremediation, photo-catalytic, and physical filtration. Based on the literature, it is found that ionization and physical filtration can remove particulate matter in the range of 61–95% and ~ 70%, respectively, while phytoremediation can remove in the range of 24–40%. The phytoremediation can remove NOx in the range of 10–15%. The efficiency of devices varies as pollution load and particle size distribution pattern varies. It is suggested that such control devices would be very useful in the reduction in air pollution at the hot spot area having high spatiotemporal variations.

We investigated the impact of renal impairment (RI) on the outcome in multiple myeloma (MM) patients following induction and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Among 349 patients who received a first ASCT for MM, 86 (24.6%) had RI at diagnosis, defined as estimation of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <40 mL/min/1.73 m2 according to the modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD) formula. Post induction reversal of renal function occurred in 68 (79%) patients including complete renal response in 37.2%. Two hundred and fifty-one patients had received novel agents for induction; posttransplant complete response (CR) rates were 71.4% for patients with renal impairment (RI) versus 67.2% in those without RI, p = 0.23. The quality of stem cell collection and days to engraftment were similar except that patients with RI required higher transfusion numbers of packed red cells (p < 0.002) and platelets (p < 0.007). The median overall survival (OS) was 96 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 72.80–119.20) for patients with eGFR ≥40 mL/min, n = 195) versus 62 months (95% CI 28.7–95.3) for 56 patients with RI (eGFR <40 mL/min), p = 0.15. The 5-year OS was 64.6% versus 54.4%, respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 52 months (95% CI 36.3–67.7) for patients with eGFR ≥40 mL/min versus “not reached” for those with eGFR <40 mL/min p = 0.87; and the 5-year PFS was 48.1% versus 51%, respectively. We conclude that induction with novel agents results in reversal of renal dysfunction in the majority of patients. Consolidation with Hemopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) overcomes the adverse impact of RI on survival.

In this present research work, structural and mechanical properties of ABO3 type perovskite and their lattice constants have studied. This work corresponds to the extensive survey and keen interest of the literatures. This would helpful to understand the structral properties and some other physical parameters of ABO3 type perovskite. Experimental approach, computer data, statistical approach would also very helpful in order to understand structural and mechanical properties of ABO3 type perovskites. The theoretical approach used empirical relations and thus resolves the difference in results obtained by other approaches and can fix the actual value of the observation. In the theoretical approach, the empirical methods are basically used to predict the structural parameters and lattice constants of solids.

Segmentation is a technique to break the image into parts. But to get better segmentation there is a condition that image must be free from noise. To get image free from noise denoising model is used which remove the noise by producing the required pixel and also correct the incorrect pixel. Here image taken is an X-ray image, In this paper, the 3x3 matrix window is taken. In this window average of the pixel value is calculated. This algorithm rechecks the best fitness value of each pixel and makes appropriate changes. But due to Recovery, it needs some enhancement. So to get enhanced image enhancement technique is applied to enhance the image as an original image. Then the segmentation is applied to get a segmented image. The performance of the proposed model has been estimated under various experiments. The results are found improved for all of the dataset images on the basis of PSNR (peak signal to noise ratio) and SSIM (structural similarity) based parameters.

We look into the quantum phase diagram of a spin-1 2 antiferromagnet on the square lattice with degenerate Shastry-Sutherland ground states, for which only a schematic phase diagram is known so far. Many exotic phases were proposed in the schematic phase diagram by the use of exact diagonalization on very small system sizes. In our present work, an important extension of this antiferromagnet is introduced and investigated in the thermodynamic limit using triplon mean-field theory. Remarkably, this antiferromagnet shows a stable plaquette spin-gapped phase like the original Shastry-Sutherland antiferromagnet, although both of these antiferromagnets differ in the Hamiltonian construction and ground state degeneracy. We propose a sublattice columnar dimer phase which is stabilized by the second and third neighbor antiferromagnetic Heisenberg exchange interactions. There are also some commensurate and incommensurate magnetically ordered phases, and other spin-gapped phases which find their places in the quantum phase diagram. Mean-field results suggest that there is always a level-crossing phase transition between two spin-gapped phases, whereas in other situations, either a level-crossing or a continuous phase transition happens.

Charge controller is the most important part of a Solar Photovoltaic Home Lighting System (SPVHLS) which controls the charging ofbattery from photovoltaic (PV) module and discharging of battery through load. This paper analyzes testresults of fourteen charge controllers (CC) available in India according to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) specification. The different parameters of charge controllers to be tested arebattery high voltage disconnect (HVD), low voltage disconnect(LVD), load reconnect voltage (LRV), short circuit protection etc. It is found that seven charge controllers meet the technical specifications of MNRE. There is also a study of different features and properties of the chargecontrollers. Finally a brief discussion on selection appropriate charge controller for Solar Photovoltaic Home Lighting System (SPVHLS) and further improvement of charge controller is presented.

BACKGROUND:Multiple myeloma (MM) is a B-cell malignancy characterized by the accumulation of clonal population of plasma cells in the bone marrow (BM). A variety of angiogenic factors, proteases, reactive oxygen species and inflammatory cytokines induce the formation of an extensive and suitable BM microenvironment. Previous studies have established the importance of angiogenic factors, inflammatory molecules and oxidative stress in MM but their interplay and effect on each other are not being taken together.METHODS:Circulatory levels of VEGF, angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), IL-6 and TNF-α along with the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were investigated in 112 subjects including 62 MM patients and 50 healthy controls. Inter-stage analysis was done to evaluate the association of these molecules with the severity of disease. Pearson correlation was determined to find interrelationship, if any, between these molecules.RESULTS:We have observed elevated levels of VEGF, Ang-2, IL-6, TNF-α and decreased activity of SOD, GPx in MM patients in comparison to controls. All these molecules also showed a trend with the severity of disease. We have found strong association between these factors upon their correlation and regression analysis.CONCLUSION:This study is a step toward understanding the indepth contribution of angiogenesis, inflammation and oxidative stress together in making BM microenvironment suitable for growth, survival and proliferation of malignant plasma cells in MM.

This paper deals with the preparation and characterization of CuO-SnO2 thin films prepared by sequential electron beam evaporation technique. The results obtained were outstanding in terms of sensitivity of these films towards detection of hydrogen sulfide gas, proving that CuO is a good promoter of hydrogen gas sensitivity of SnO2. The resistance of the thin films showed a decreasing trend indicating rupture of pn junctions while the I-V characteristics of these films were linear in nature showing that the contacts are ohmic. The best sensitivity values were obtained for film temperature of 160 degrees C. These films hold promise for use in industrial sector where the hydrogen sulfide gas is widely used.

The three most common sites of intestinal involvement in Chron’s disease are ileal, ileocolic and colonic. Therefore for effective therapy, dosage forms should be targeted to the ileum and colon simultaneously. The objectives of the present study are to develop and evaluate matrix tablets of 5-Aminosalicylic acid for targeted delivery to the ileum and colon, which would be capable of releasing drug over a period of 12-18 hours of time. Matrix tablets are formulated in two steps. The core tablets containing the drug are developed with different polymers like Pectin, Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) K4M, HPMC K15M and HPMC K100M, by wet granulation. Thereafter, the core tablets were compression coated with four different polymers namely, Eudragit S100, Shellac, HPMC E15 LV and HPMC K4M. The coated and uncoated tablets were evaluated by physical parameter testing and in-vitro dissolution studies. All the tablets passed the physical parameter testing. The in-vitro dissolution studies revealed that three formulations F4C4, F2C4 and F4C3 were well able to satisfy the objectives of the study.

A range of perovskites including the substituted and promoted perovskite type catalytic materials have been designed and synthesized using various techniques. In this work we have studied the catalytic activities of a praseodymium substituted La 0.8 Pr 0.2 MnO 3 and La 0.7 K 0.1 Pr 0.2 MnO 3 based perovskites synthesized by coprecipitation, which is further improved by incorporation of alkali metals like potassium (K). Potassium substituted La 0.7 K 0.1 Pr 0.2 MnO 3 perovskite shows good catalytic activity for soot/carbon oxidation probably promotional effect of potassium. The La 0.7 K 0.1 Pr 0.2 MnO 3 showing T initial at 300°C and T final at 510°C, which is almost 110°C lower than the noncatalyzed reaction. The synergetic effects of Pr incorporation in perovskite and presence of a small amount of potassium appears to be responsible for the high soot oxidation activity of these perovskite type materials. The La 0.7 K 0.1 Pr 0.2 MnO 3 type catalyst can also be synthesized directly on commercially available diesel particulate filters (DPF). Suitability of perovskite type catalysts for flow-through type DPF and their improved stability with low sulfur diesel add to their potential for their application in regeneration of DPF. These studies should actually pave the way towards practical application of this class of catalysts in the field of diesel exhaust emission control.