Hans bethe, quantum mechanics, and the lamb shift

An elementary derivation of the Lamb Shift, as originally given by Hans Bethe, is attempted, with a short historical background on the evolution of QED since the beginning of the last century. The treatment is for a non-relativistic electron, in keeping with Bethe’s proverbial insight into the problem, which renders irrelevant the effect of the electron spin on the problem. The Kramer idea of renormalization is implemented through a simple subtraction of the self-energy of a free electron from that of the electron bound in a hydrogen atom. A N Mitra has had a long teaching service from 1955 to 1994 when he retired from Delhi University as INSA Einstein Professor of physics. He spent a year (1995) as visiting professor at NIAS (Bangalore). Since then he has been working as a free-lance writer-cum-researcher in physics, with periodic publications on scientific matters of current interests. Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.     

A qualitative study of the UK academic role: positive features,negative aspects and associated stressors in a mainly teaching-focused university

The literature demonstrates that stress in the working life of academics has increased over recent years. However, qualitative research on how academics cope with this is very scarce. Using online interviewing with thematic analysis, this paper examines how 31 academics in a post-92 predominantly teaching-focused UK university cope with the stressors of work. An innovation was to ask about both positive and negative experiences at work unlike most stress research which focuses only on negatives. Six themes emerged from the data; administrative loads, coping with stress at work, task preferences, the academic role, and positive and negative feelings around research/scholarship and thoughts around leaving academia. Increases in student numbers, being able to spend less time with students, heavy workloads, increasing administration, poor management, funding cuts and government initiatives threatening the future of education, obtaining research funding, and increasing insecurity of academic posts were all stressors. Positives identified included satisfaction gained from teaching students, support from colleagues, relative autonomy at work and the ability to manage their time more effectively were perceived as factors that can moderate some of the negative consequences of work stress. Overall, academics reported being happy at work because of the satisfaction gained from teaching and research.     

Block implementation of two-dimensional digital filters

A novel principle known as block transformation is developed for the block implementation of two-dimensional (2-D) digital filters. It employs the one-dimensional (1-D) block implementation concept forwarded by Burrus (7) as a basic tool. Using this block transformation principle three distinct forms of 2-D block equations are derived. The generalized nature of the approach presented here facilitates the straightforward extension of this technique to higher dimensional digital filters.     

State structures in digital filter configurations—I. conventional and nodal state structures

This paper presents a formal precedure for determining the state-space representations of any digital network consisting of adders, multipliers, and delays. Such representations are called state structures whenever the state variables are exclusively identified to the appropriately chosen internal node variables of the network. In general, the state structures corresponding to a given network are not unique. In Part I of the paper we present techniques of obtaining the various state structures where the associated state vectors have dimensions equal to the number of dynamic elements (in our case delays) in the network. In Part II we shall treat the subject of lowering the dimension of such state-space representations.     

Interaction ofLabeo rohita lectin (LRP) with mycobacterial surface oligosaccharide

A C-type mannose specific lectin (LRP) isolated from plasma of fresh water fishLabeo rohita showed 500 times higher specificity towards cell surface oligosaccharide (LAM) ofMycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Rv). Using biotinylated LRP, binding between lectin and LAM was demonstrated by ELISA and it was observed that even 3ng of oligosaccharides might be detected using only 1μg of biotinylated lectin.     

Interleukin-6 Perpetrator of the COVID-19 Cytokine Storm

COVID-19 has emerged as a global pandemic. It is mainly manifested as pneumonia which may deteriorate into severe respiratory failure. The major hallmark of the disease is the systemic inflammatory immune response characterized by Cytokine Storm (CS). CS is marked by elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines, mainly interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL-10, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ). Of these, IL-6 is found to be significantly associated with higher mortality. IL-6 is also a robust marker for predicting disease prognosis and deterioration of clinical profile. In this review, the pivotal role played by IL-6 in the immuno-pathology of COVID-19 has been illustrated. The role of IL-6 as a pleiotropic cytokine executing both pro and anti-inflammatory activities has been reviewed. ADAM 10, a metalloproteinase switches the anti-inflammatory pathway of IL-6 to pro inflammatory hence blocking the action of ADAM 10 could be a new therapeutic strategy to mitigate the proinflammatory action of IL-6. Furthermore, we explore the role of anti-IL6 agents, IL-6 receptor antibodies which were being used for autoimmune diseases but now are being repurposed for the therapy of COVID-19.