Coal mining in northeast India： an overview of environmental issues and treatment approaches

Northeast India has a good deposit of sub-bituminous tertiary coal. The northeast Indian coals have unusual physico-chemical characteristics such as high sulfur, volatile matter and vitrinite content, and low ash content. In addition, many environmental sensitive organic and mineral bound elements such as Fe, Mg, Bi, AI, V, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb, and Mn etc. remain enriched in these coals. Such characteristics are associated with more severe environmental impacts due to mining and its utilization in coal based industries. Environmental challenges include large scale landscape damage, soil erosion, loss of forest ecosystem and wildlife habitat, air, water and soil pollution. Several physical and chemical methods are reported in literature for the removal of mineral matter, total sulfur and different forms of sulfur from high sulfur coal in northeast India. This paper may help different researchers and stakeholders to understand current state of research in the field. Initiatives may be taken towards sustainable use of coal resources by adopting innovative clean technologies and by implementing effective control measures and regulatory policies.

Back to the Ecological Poetics： The Dialectics of Eros and Thanatos

In Civilization and its Discontent, Freud＇s ominous prophesy seemed to be relevant for that time, the 1930s and 1940s, when the calamity was almost nearing fulfillment in the guise of the world wars. His contention that the human beings would drive themselves to extinction could perhaps be read in that context too as at the end of the treatise he referred to it as ＂human drive for aggression and self destruction.＂ He cited and discussed the workings of the libido, the life force, the sustenance and the dominant spirit and the death drive, the agency of destruction. Located on the plane of contemporary social scene, the increasing nature of human occupation in the wilderness and the potent threat to wild life have already become a valid apprehension for the future of humanity and also the natural world. Much of theory and very little of praxis have in a very thinly balanced state, contributed towards a wearisome thought and a tentative strategy of survival for those who in a sustained and persistent manner have been advocating for renewed energy, regenerated spirit for living and irreversible strength with which life and society assert themselves. In this profound challenge of modernism and postmodernism posed, hugely to man, and the natural world, the question how or whether we contain the limit of human desire chiseled and rebuilt with, market and money becomes very crucial. Desire, like capital becomes autonomous beyond conscious human intervention and moves along the tidal wave of profit, utility and self centric pragmatism and loses itself in the dark hole of self extinction bringing cataclysmic threat for an overall tragedy. To revert this maybe the same norms need to be revoked, same ethics applied to the individual and the collective, and the same warning needs to be disseminated all around that man＇s undisputed authority over nature needs to be reread and relocated. Maybe this could be achieved along the thought and priority given to woman over man, reading the stringency of convention that ousted Eve from the garden of Nature and seeing nature as the mother who defines identity first and who is a care giver. On another level, it perhaps prioritizes less and less the sickening authority of money and media functioning as the superego propelling towards a delusional plane of meaning, achievement, and Nirvana. So, it＇s back to the ecological poetics and restoration of the mind, fantasy and imagination, and Nature.

X-Ray Radiation Sensing Properties of ZnS Thin Film:A Study on the Effect of Annealing

Chemically synthesized ZnS thin film is found to be a good x-ray radiation sensor. We report the effect of annealing on the x-ray radiation detection sensitivity of a ZnS thin film synthesized by a chemical bath deposition technique. The chemically synthesized ZnS films are annealed at 333, 363 and 393K for 1 h. Structural analyses show that the lattice defects in the films decrease with annealing. Further, the band gap is also found to decrease from 3.38 to 3.21 eV after annealing at 393K. Current-voltage characteristics of the films are studied under dark and x-ray irradiation conditions. Due to the decrease of lattice defects and band gap, the conductivity under dark conditions is found to increase from 2.06 × 10^-6 to 1.69 × 10^-5 S/em, while that under x-ray irradiation increases from 4.13 × 10^-5 to 5.28 ×10^-5 S/cm. On the other hand, the x-ray radiation detection sensitivity of the films is found to decrease with annealing. This decrease of detection sensitivity is attributed to the decrease of the band gap as well as some structural and surface morphological changes occurring after annealing.

Comprehensive Investigation to Analyze the Amino Acid Constituents of the Spent Silk Worm Pupae of Anthereaea assama

Spent silk worm pupae ofAntheraea assama were analyzed for its amino acid constituents and compared with the amino acid composition of fiber from A. assama, A. pyrni, and Bombyx mori. Amino acid percent was determined by UV Spectrophotometer at 570 nm. Infra Red spectra recorded the presence of different amino acids in the spent silk worm pupae powder which corroborate with the amino acids present in the fiber of different silk species.

Changing Wetland Environment Based on Water and Soil Quality Analysis of Selected Wetlands, Assam, India

Wetland environment of Assam is fast changing due to encroachments, dumping of solid and liquid wastes, excessive use of wetland water, over exploitation of wetland resources, overgrazing, over fishing, hunting, poaching, unscientific construction of engineering structures across and along the wetlands, unscientific land use in surrounding areas and various human interferences. On the other hand wetlands play an important role in charging ground water table, sinking of carbon, providing livelihood to thousands of people through fishing, collecting edible plants, agriculture, irrigation and commercial fisheries, besides enrich biodiversity and maintaining environmental quality of a region. The life of wetlands depends on the quantity and quality of water. Any change in water quality and quantity affect the biotic regime of the wetlands. Fish and other aquatic animals and plants found in all levels （floating, rooted, submergent and emergent etc.） are affected by the changes, which are taking place in wetland water. The present study concerns in understanding the environmental quality of the wetlands in Dimoria region of Kamrup （Metro） district, Assam based primarily on the water and soil quality of selected wetlands viz. Jiong, Parkhali, Bomani and Duani.

An Analysis of Wetland Degradation in the Dimoria Region of Assam, India

The wetlands of the Brahmaputra valley include lake-like natural water bodies locally known as ＇beel＇, and degenerated lakes, which are often called as swamps. The role of such wetlands in socio-economic condition of the people is significant from various angles. Apart from the wetlands act as the ideal habitats for feeding, nesting and breeding of a large variety of fishes, birds and other aquatic animals, these features maintain the environmental quality of the region. Present study has been conducted primarily in eight selected beels in the Dimoria region, which is located almost at the south-central part of the Brahmaputra valley. The water and soil samples from these wetlands had been collected using random sampling technique and analyzed to know about the nature of degradation of the wetlands. Once highly productive wetland waters now show very low DO, high BOD and COD, indicating dwindling productivity of fish and other aquatic resources. Higher value of pH in soils of most of the wetlands found probably due to the impact of industrial effluents and urban sewage and use of chemical fertilizers in the paddy field of the fringe areas, which again create toxic environment and ultimately reduces fish productivity.

Biodegradable Guar Gum Nanoparticles as Carrier for Tamoxifen Citrate in Treatment of Breast Cancer

We prepared, characterized and studied the biodistribution of tamoxifen citrate (TMX) loaded cross-linked guar gum (GG) nanoparticles (NPs). NPs were prepared via a single step emulsion process and particle size evaluated. The extent of tissue distribution and retention following oral administration of TMX loaded GG NPs and TMX tablet in female albino mice was analyzed over a period of 48 hours. Till 48 hours, the particles remained detectable in both mammary and ovary tissue (estrogen receptors). Uptake and retention of TMX from NPs and tablet in mammary gland and ovary tissue changed with time. Results showed that the uptake and retention of NPs was more in the mammary gland between 24 - 48 hours (11.2% at 24 h;4.65% at 48 h). As mammary gland is the target organ in breast cancer therapy, it may be concluded that the cross-linked GG NPs are capable of releasing the drug at the target and minimize the uptake and retention in non target tissue, the ovary (7.98% at 24 h;1.9% at 48 h). Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) with time were measured. No abnormal changes in the liver enzymes were observed. GG NPs under study can be used as a drug carrier system for treating cancer.

On A New Arithmetic Function

Here we explore some fundamental aspects of what may be termed as a new arithmetic function （defined notionally as theT function） together with its possible inverse （TI）, as it is not in frequent discussion among the number theorists.