The celestial mechanics of Newton

Newton’s law of universal gravitation laid the physical foundation of celestial mechanics. This article reviews the steps towards the law of gravitation, and highlights some applications to celestial mechanics found in Newton’sPrincipia. His research interests cover all types of cosmic explosions and their remnants.     

Resisting English: Excavating English Ideologies of Young Boys through Chutkule at an Indian Orphanage

The prevailing scholarship on Indians’ beliefs about English has, with few exceptions, largely failed to capture ideological resistance. Given the supremacy of English within the hierarchically ordered and unequal linguistic landscape in India, this study intervenes within this limited area of research. This investigation excavates ideologies of resistance to English through chutkule, a humorous folk genre, narrated by young boys at an anathashram (orphanage) in suburban New Delhi. The theoretical lens of language ideology is employed to unpack latent issues of resistance and erasure within the chutkule, and emergent ideological tensions are interpreted in the context of educational equity. In addition to locating beliefs about language in a previously unresearched genre, this study adds to the limited scholarship on Indians’ ideological resistance to English. Further, because these notions are mined through the boys’ chutkule at the anathashram, this investigation illuminates previously neglected discourses from India’s socioeconomic margins.     

Lipid peroxide levels and antioxidant status in alcoholic liver disease

The present study was conducted to evaluate some of the components of antioxidant defense system and oxidative damage in 20 male patients of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). The results were compared with 20 healthy male smokers and 20 healthy male non-smokers volunteers. Patients were subjected to detailed clinical examination and laboratory investigations. Blood samples were collected for estimating reduced glutathione (GSH), total thiols (T-SH) malondialdehyde (MDA), transaminases (AST, ALT), glutathione-S-transferease (GST) and gammaglutamyl transferase (GGT). Serum aspartate amino transferase (AST)/alanine amino transferase (ALT) ratio was significantly (p<0.01) reduced in ALD patients as compared to the controls. However, the core of utility of MDA and GST was found to be significantly (p<0.01) increased in ALD patients compared to controls. There was a significant negative correlation of MDA with both GSH and TSH. Plasma GGT levels were significantly (p<0.01) increased in alcoholics and the enzyme showed a significant positive correlation with MDA. These results give enough evidence of increased oxidative stress and compromised antioxidant defense system in patients with ALD.     

Chemical research of Sir Prafulla Chandra Rây

The above account reveals the versatility of Prafulla Chandra’s research activities. Most importantly, he initiated chemical research in modern India and was successful in developing the first research school of chemistry that in time spread far and wide. In his obituary notice,Nature (July 15, 1944) wrote “it was by the enthusiasm for research with which he inspired his students that he will best be remembered”.     

Self-Reporting and Test Discrepancy: Evidence from a National Literacy Survey in Bangladesh

This paper aims to explore the discrepancy between self-reported and test-based literacy estimates in Bangladesh. It uses the Education Watch national literacy survey data of 2002, during which the literacy status of a nationally representative sample was identified using the two methods referred to above. The findings revealed that the literacy rate generated through a literacy test was significantly lower than that found when the self-report method was used. The level of discrepancy varied from one population group to another, indicating that literacy assessment using the self-report method cannot be equally appropriate for all population groups. Those with a few years of schooling were at a particular risk of over-estimating their status. The paper makes a case for a written literacy assessment rather than an oral evaluation.     

Self-Reporting and Test Discrepancy: Evidence from a National Literacy Survey in Bangladesh

This paper aims to explore the discrepancy between self-reported and test-based literacy estimates in Bangladesh. It uses the Education Watch national literacy survey data of 2002, during which the literacy status of a nationally representative sample was identified using the two methods referred to above. The findings revealed that the literacy rate generated through a literacy test was significantly lower than that found when the self-report method was used. The level of discrepancy varied from one population group to another, indicating that literacy assessment using the self-report method cannot be equally appropriate for all population groups. Those with a few years of schooling were at a particular risk of over-estimating their status. The paper makes a case for a written literacy assessment rather than an oral evaluation.     

An integrated approach to biology

Zoology, being a basic bioscience, is essential for a better understanding of applied biological disciplines. A sound background in zoology can often be the key to success in modern day cutting-edge biological research. Students of zoology have many more interesting questions to ask now than ever before. Precisely when did humans take to clothing? How is losing body hair actually correlated to body louse speciation? What is so unique about a schistosome that enables it to parasitize two very different host species, to have a free living stage and show a broad range of host specificity in one life cycle? Genomics has already helped us to get the molecular expression profiles of many organisms. But to understand how all the information obtained at the molecular level fits into the scheme of things, we need a sound foundation in zoology. It is all the more fun studying zoology now with so many interesting questions to ask and ideas to explore.     

Children’s access to pre‐school education in Bangladesh

Using the Education Watch household survey database, this paper explores children’s access to pre‐school education in Bangladesh. Participation in pre‐school education has been increasing in Bangladesh at the rate of 0.6% per year and the net enrolment rate was found to be 13.4% in 2005. Enrolment of over‐aged children in pre‐school education made the gross enrolment ratio as high as 30.5%. However, over half of the four to five year olds at school were actually enrolled in primary school and not in pre‐school. Moreover, 71% of the four‐ to five‐year group were out of school. Only a third of the four‐ to five‐year‐old children enrolled in schools had the opportunity to attend the English‐medium kindergartens or NGO‐run non‐formal schools, both of which provide better quality pre‐school education. Urban children, especially those with educated parents and from more privileged socio‐economic backgrounds, were more likely to have access to pre‐school education. The lack of a common pre‐school curriculum seems to have created further inequity among children at this very early age. An educational policy targeting poor and socially disadvantaged children with support from both the state and current pre‐school providers is urgently needed to provide four‐ to five‐year‐old children appropriate education for their needs.     

Integrated application of some compatible biocontrol agents along with mustard oil seed cake and furadan on Meloidogyne incognita infecting tomato plants

INTRODUCTION Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum, Mill.), an important vegetable crop is heavily attacked by root knot nematode, Meloidogyne spp. For the manage-ment of root knot nematodes although chemical nematicides were used till 1982, due to their high cost, toxic effect on beneficial soil borne microorganism and carcinogenic effect on human beings alternative approaches are practiced mainly through eco-friendly means like biological control agents, organic amendments, etc. (Singh and …     

Multiple Myeloma: A Case of Atypical Presentation on Protein Electrophoresis

Multiple myeloma is a group of B-cell disorders resulting in the secretion of a specific and unique monoclonal immunoglobulin (M-protein). Protein electrophoresis is advised whenever multiple myeloma is suspected. The monoclonal protein migrates as a single entity in the electric field and is detected by the non-specific protein stain as a more intensely stained band superimposed on the usual protein pattern. The M-protein usually migrates in the gamma or beta region of the normal protein pattern; very rarely it may appear in the α2 or even in α1 region. Here we have given an atypical case presentation where the patient with multiple myeloma presented with two M-spike one each in α2 and β-globulin region on agarose gel protein electrophoresis with hypoglobulinemia but with reversed A:G ratio.