Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Vibrational Circular Dichroism Assisted Elucidation of the Solution-State Supramolecular Speciation in Racemic and Enantiopure Ketoprofen

The molecular structure and solution-state molecular interactions in the popular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, ketoprofen, are extensively studied with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the chemical behavior of its solution state and its connection to its nucleation pathway and crystallization outcome. Using as reference solid-state X-ray structures of enantiomeric and racemic forms of ketoprofen, a set of self-assembly models underpinned by density functional theory calculations has been considered for the analysis of spectroscopic data, infrared (IR) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), obtained for solutions of the samples as a function of composition and solvent. From our results it can be concluded that, contrary to the general belief for generic carboxylic acids, there are no cyclic dimeric structures of ketoprofen present in solution, but rather linear arrays made up of two (in high polar or diluted media) or more units (in low polar or low dilution media). This observation is in line with the idea that the weak contacts (other than H-bonding) would hold the key to molecular self-assembly, in agreement with recent studies on other aromatic carboxylic acids.

COVID-19 Testing: Perceived Barriers Among the Urban Slum Dwellers of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Background: Urban slum dwellers are unduly affected by COVID-19, and low testing rates among them are worsening their situation. This study aimed to explore the perceived barriers to COVID-19 testing in the slums, which is crucial to its surveillance, tracking, and allocating resources to combat the pandemic. Methods: A quantitative study with a cross-sectional design was conducted among 149 urban slum dwellers (≥11 years of age), who had previously experienced COVID-19 like symptoms. They were identified from an existing slum cohort at Bauniabadh, Dhaka. Information related to their testing status and perceived barriers was acquired by a telephone survey from October to November 2020. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 34.4±15.6 years, and 58.4% of them were female. Fever (79.2%) and cough (74.5%) were the most common symptoms mentioned. Only 6.7% of the respondents had undergone COVID-19 testing. Fast relief (within 1-3 days) from symptoms (87.6%) was the most prevailing barrier to testing, seen across all age and education groups. Negative advocacy regarding the testing from family and friends (46.7%), participants uncertainty about the guidelines, site, cost, and schedule of testing (15.3%), and a general belief that ‘COVID-19 is not a disease of slum people instead, it is an affliction of the rich folk’ (20.4%), were the other cited barriers. Conclusions: The COVID-19 testing rate remained very low among the urban slum dwellers. To remove the barriers to testing, tailored behavioral change communication and augmenting the resources for testing are necessary to curb the spread in the slums.

Towards harmonization of DNA metabarcoding for monitoring marine macrobenthos: the effect of technical replicates and pooled DNA extractions on species detection

DNA-based monitoring methods are potentially faster and cheaper compared to traditional morphological benthic identification. DNA metabarcoding involves various methodological choices which can introduce bias leading to a different outcome in biodiversity patterns. Therefore, it is important to harmonize DNA metabarcoding protocols to allow comparison across studies and this requires a good understanding of the effect of methodological choices on diversity estimates. This study investigated the impact of DNA and PCR replicates on the detection of macrobenthos species in locations with high, medium and low diversity. Our results show that two to three DNA replicates were needed in locations with a high and medium diversity to detect at least 80% of the species found in the six DNA replicates, while three to four replicates were needed in the location with low diversity. In contrast to general belief, larger body size or higher abundance of the species in a sample did not increase its detection prevalence among DNA replicates. However, rare species were less consistently detected across all DNA replicates of the location with high diversity compared to locations with less diversity. Our results further show that pooling of DNA replicates did not significantly alter diversity patterns, although a small number of rare species was lost. Finally, our results confirm high variation in species detection between PCR replicates, especially for the detection of rare species. These results contribute to create reliable, time and cost efficient metabarcoding protocols for the characterization of macrobenthos.

THE RELIGION OF NO RELIGION: JUNG’S PSYCHOLOGY IN THE HISTORY OF ZEN BUDDHISM IN THE 20TH CENTURY

In the 1930s, Zen Buddhism was hardly known outside Japan. By the 1960s, it had become by far the most popular form of Buddhism in Europe and the United States. Its popularity was born from the general belief that Zen responded to the psychological and religious needs of the individual without incurring the criticisms customarily levelled against religion. Zen was imagined as a practical spirituality that accepted all religions and religious symbols as expressions of a universal psychological truth. Zen was not itself a religion, but a ‘super-religion’ that had understood the inner mechanics of the psyche’s natural religion-making function. Three authors in particular, namely D. T. Suzuki, Friedrich Spiegelberg and Alan Watts, were pivotal in the formation of this narrative. Using Jung’s psychological model as their conceptual basis, they promoted a vision of Zen Buddhism that laid the foundations for the ‘Zen Boom’ of the 1950s and 60s. This article will examine the pivotal role played by Jung’s psychology in the formation of this narrative. KEYWORDS Zen Buddhism, D. T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, Friedrich Spiegelberg, The Religion of no Religion.

The Othering of Older People in Disability Policies

Disability policies in Sweden rest on the idea that all humans have equal value and a goal of policies has been to enable persons with disabilities to be able to live like other members of society, but older people do not seem to be included as part of this goal. The presentation concerns the Swedish support system’s legal discourse, and investigates the rationale for excluding people over the age of 65 from services that younger people with disabilities may obtain. Data consists of government texts and court decisions under the Severe Disability Act about services for people over the age of 65. It was found that little in the legal discourse concerns the needs and rights of older people, and the general belief is that the Severe Disability Act is primarily intended for children, young people, and adults of working age. The legal discourse contained a type of “residual ageism” that was justified through the indirect construction of older people as different. Othering of older people was present in assumptions about differences in categorizations (people with disabilities vs older people with support needs), needs (active age vs not active age), and comparisons (with people without disabilities of the same age vs with others receiving eldercare). The presentation outlines potential changes of these policies.

An account of low level wind shear over Chennai airport - Part II : Turbulence and eddy dissipation

In-flight reports on Low Level Wind Shear (LLWS) received from aircrafts are used to issue wind shear alerts for all subsequent landing aircrafts as per standing guidelines of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). In this paper, winds reported by aircrafts at 1000 and 1800 ft. are used to validate the wind estimated from DWR measured radial wind data employing standard algorithms. Turbulence indices and parameters have been computed independently using conventional (RS/RW) upper air data, aircraft measured winds and DWR estimated winds and compared these with wind shear induced turbulence reported by aircrews. Mean power law (wind escalation law) profiles in the boundary layer have been arrived at for unstable and stable atmospheric conditions. Three dimensional shear (3DS) upto 600 m a.g.l. has been worked out from DWR measured radial velocity data and compared with wind shear computed from RS/RW and aircraft measured winds and DWR estimated winds. It is found that 3DS values of more than 16 * 10-3 s-1 predict well the occurrence of moderate turbulence. Contrary to the general belief that wind shear is a short lived phenomenon which may last for a few minutes only, it has been observed that incidences of LLWS and induced moderate turbulence lasting more than 10 hrs are not at all uncommon over Chennai aircraft.

An account of low level wind shear over Chennai airport - Part I : Observation and forecasting aspects

Low level wind shear (LLWS) is an aviation hazard. LLWS cases reported by the air crews over Chennai airport from 1987 to 2007 (barring 1992 and 1993 during which period no report is readily available for analysis) have been analysed threadbare. The most favourable time / period of occurrence of LLWS have been documented which has prophylactic value to issue LLWS alert in current weather reports. Richardson number and turbulence index (TI) have been computed for the reported cases of LLWS and the efficacies of these thermodynamical indices have been documented. There were cases of active moderate / severe LLWS cases lasting even beyond 10 hrs duration in contrary to the general belief that LLWS is a short lived phenomenon. The urgency / necessity of having a sizeable LLWS database to devise a suitable warning strategy have been highlighted.

Is summer becoming more uncomfortable at Indian cities?

The recent decades have witnessed significant increase in temperatures both on global and regional scale. Some specific locations in India like Orissa and Andhra Pradesh have experienced unusually heat wave conditions resulting in increase in heat stress associated illnesses and mortality. There is a general belief that cities have become more uncomfortable during summer, particularly in the recent years. The present study is an attempt to examine the trend in discomfort over the Indian cities measured by an index (Thermo-Hygrometric Index: THI). Results show that in general there is an increasing trend in the discomfort from the last 10 days of April to June over most of the Indian cities. Further, frequency and maximum length of continuous periods exceeding abnormal discomfort values over a number of stations are steadily increasing particularly during May and June.

Educational Finance in Pre-Covid and Covid-19 Era in Nigeria: What has changed and Way Forward

For few decades, education has been receiving financial attention from the government and other concerned personnel in the society owing to the general belief that education is the key that opens great door of sustainable development to any country of the world; it is the major tool for individual, national, socio-economic development, poverty eradication and it should be adequately financed to have desired results. Unfortunately education is still underfunded in Nigeria despite enormous resources invested in it in form of allocations yearly. This has over the years exposed the educational sector of Nigeria to drastic ruin as a result of mismanagement of allocated resources and other functional financial fraudulent acts in the sector. Few years back the world experienced global economic meltdown (recession) which also led the Nigerian education sector to struggle with meeting its financial obligations and while the nation was witnessing this, the unexpected outbreak of coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic occurred forcing the sector to experience extremely lack of finance to keep the sector moving. To justify this insinuations this paper reviewed the financing of the educational system in pre-covid and covid-19 era in Nigeria; what has changed over the years, the challenges associated with the changes and the way forward in form of recommendations.

Validation of the General and Personal Belief in a Just World scales in Iran and Their Relations to Perceived Threat of Kin Favoritism

People possess a pre-conscious need to believe in the existence of justice in the world. This belief in a just world (BJW) is usually measured with self-report scales. Dalbert et al. (1987) and Dalbert (1999) have developed the general belief in a just world (GBJW) and personal belief in a just world (PBJW) scales as psychometrically robust measures of just-world beliefs. We conducted three studies to demonstrate the validity of the Persian versions of belief in a just world scales and the importance of distinguishing between GBJW and PBJW. First, we confirmed the factor structure. reliability, convergent validity (self-esteem, life satisfaction, and religiosity), and divergent validity (big five personalityfactors and dark triad traits) of GBJW and PBJW using Iranian participants (N1 = 454). Second, the associations of GBJW and PBJW with perceived threat of unjust behavior directed to self or others were assessed using two scenario-based studies (N2 = 81, N3 = 71) in the context of kin favoritism. While GBJW negatively predicted perceived threat of kin favoritism directed to others, PBJW was a negative predictor of perceived threat of kin favoritism directed to self. Consistent with theoretical assumptions, perceived likelihood of punishment mediated these associations. In addition to providing further evidence for the differentiation between GBJW and PBJW, the findings of Study 2 and 3 also support the idea of an optimistic bias towards self by showing that people perceived less threat of kin favoritism when others, rather than themselves, were potential victims of injustice.