Spaces of rational curves in complete intersections

We prove that the space of smooth rational curves of degree $e$ in a general complete intersection of multidegree $(d_1, ..., d_m)$ in \PP^n is irreducible of the expected dimension if $\sum_{i=1}^m d_i <\frac{2n}{3}$ and $n$ is large enough. This generalizes the results of Harris, Roth and Starr \cite{hrs}, and is achieved by proving that the space of conics passing through any point of a general complete intersection has constant dimension if $\sum_{i=1}^m d_i$ is small compared to $n$

From the Individual to the Historical: a Commentary on Amitav Ghosh as a Writer of Historical Fiction with Reference to the Glass Palace

Amitav Ghosh is widely known as a historical novelist in Indian Writing in English. He recreates the colonial past of the subcontinent from the colonized point of view. However, he is not one who merely recreates history. He is appreciated for writing history with life. He narrates the story of an individual who often turns out to be the representative of a community and its untold history. The Glass Palace is one such novel that recreates the history of the colonial past of India and Burma. The focus is mainly on the life of Rajkumar who is an Indian orphan struggling to survive in Burma after being unfortunately transported to the country by accident. This paper is an analysis of Ghosh's novel, The Glass Palace in order to show how the author recreates a lively history by narrating the life story of his protagonist

Hadron energy response of the Iron Calorimeter detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory

The results of a Monte Carlo simulation study of the hadron energy response for the magnetized Iron CALorimeter detector, ICAL, proposed to be located at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is presented. Using a GEANT4 modeling of the detector ICAL, interactions of atmospheric neutrinos with target nuclei are simulated. The detector response to hadrons propagating through it is investigated using the hadron hit multiplicity in the active detector elements. The detector response to charged pions of fixed energy is studied first, followed by the average response to the hadrons produced in atmospheric neutrino interactions using events simulated with the NUANCE event generator. The shape of the hit distribution is observed to fit the Vavilov distribution, which reduces to a Gaussian at high energies. In terms of the parameters of this distribution, we present the hadron energy resolution as a function of hadron energy, and the calibration of hadron energy as a function of the hit multiplicity. The energy resolution for hadrons is found to be in the range 85% (for 1GeV) -- 36% (for 15 GeV).Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures (24 eps files

Development of bioconjugated nano-molecules against targeted microbial pathogens for enhanced bactericidal activity

The study reports development of bio-conjugated nano-molecules (BCM's) for enhanced antibacterial activity against targeted pathogens of global concern. The conjugation was achieved with biomolecular interaction of silver clusters with 3-Dichloro-5, 6-dicyano-1, 4-benzoquinone (DDQ) which was purified and characterized with TLC which displayed prominent band at R-f 0.5 and HPLC analysis displayed chromatographic peak eluting at (t(R)) 6-8 min. The LC-MS analysis displayed single major peak at t(R) = 4.610 corresponding to molecular ion peak at m/z = 227.19. The developed BCM molecule was determined with UV-Visible spectroscopy which displayed the absorbance peaks of conjugated molecules with shoulder peak observed and morphological characteristics were well defined with TEM analysis which showed cluster formation. The size ranged from 20 to 80 nm in size with majority of the BCM displaying spherical in size. The process of bio-conjugation was further studied with FTIR analysis which corresponded with different vibrational stretches owing to the presence of amide, carbonyl alkynes, nitriles and carboxylic acid groups. The presence of functional moieties was also studied using H-1 and C-13 NMR spectra. The crystalline characteristics was confirmed with XRD analysis which displayed Bragg's intensities along with additional peaks occurring at 2 theta angle corresponds to (111), (200), (220), (311) face centric cube of silver planes. The antibacterial activity of BCM's was profound against all the test pathogen which was validated and compared with standard antibiotics. Among the test pathogens, highest activity was conferred against Staphylococcus epidermidis (MTCC 435) with 29 mm. The minimal inhibition concentration of BCM's was in the range of 0.97-3.12 mu g/ml. The results of MIC were in accordance with well diffusion assay indicating the Gram + ve test pathogen Staphylococcus epidermidis to be the most sensitive. In addition, the broth dilution assay resulted in decrease in the optical density measured at 600 nm against the increase in the concentration of BCM's. The outcome of the present investigation revealed the role of bio-conjugation chemistry to increase fold activity against pathogens which can act as alternative tool to combat drug resistant menace across the globe