Glauconites occurring within the Ukra Member of Kutch Basin have remained unexplored in terms of their economic significance. The present study aimed to present a detailed physicochemical characterization of glauconite occurring in the siliciclastic rocks of Guneri and Umarsar area of the Kutch district, Gujarat, India to explore their economic potential. The study involved an integrated petrographical, mineralogical, and geochemical investigation of glauconitic rocks to highlight the occurrence, nature, and maturity of glauconite. The characterization was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) combined with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Petrographic and bulk XRD analysis revealed that the glauconite occurs as green pellets constituting ~30 and 40% of the glauconitic sandstone and shale, respectively. Whole-rock analysis showed that the value of K2O varies considerably from 3.93 wt.% (sandstone) to 5.63 wt.% (shale). Mineral chemistry indicated the distinctive chemical composition of glauconite pellets containing 7.4–8.4 wt.% of K2O. The parameters, such as the distance between the (001) and (020) peaks and the large K2O content (~8 wt.%) of the glauconite fraction reflect an evolved to highly evolved stage of maturation. The morphological and spectral signatures further support the high degree of maturation in glauconites. Trace-element analysis implied that the glauconitic sandstone and shale contain elements such as Zn, Mn, Cu, Co, Mo, and Ni, which serve as essential micronutrients for plants. These data sets collectively constitute part of a preliminary study which is prerequisite to beneficiation, but further evaluation of its potential as a potash fertilizer also is needed.

We present photometric and spectroscopic studies of two type IIP SNe (SN 2008in and SN 2020jfo), to infer their physical parameters. These SNe exploded in the same host galaxy, M 61 (NGC 4303), at different epochs. SN 2008in was a normal Type IIP event with plateau length of ∼ 100 d and MV= –16.4 ± 0.4 mag, whereas SN 2020jfo was a short plateau (∼60 d) event with MV= –17.4 ± 0.4 mag. Hydrodynamical modeling on these events using the MESA+STELLA framework suggests that the progenitors of both the objects were Red Super Giant (RSG) stars with mass , but with different evolutionary history and environment.

Gravitational waves from coalescing neutron stars encode information about nuclear matter at extreme densities, inaccessible by laboratory experiments. The late inspiral is influenced by the presence of tides, which depend on the neutron star equation of state. Neutron star mergers are expected to often produce rapidly rotating remnant neutron stars that emit gravitational waves. These will provide clues to the extremely hot post-merger environment. This signature of nuclear matter in gravitational waves contains most information in the 2–4 kHz frequency band, which is outside of the most sensitive band of current detectors. We present the design concept and science case for a Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory (NEMO): a gravitational-wave interferometer optimised to study nuclear physics with merging neutron stars. The concept uses high-circulating laser power, quantum squeezing, and a detector topology specifically designed to achieve the high-frequency sensitivity necessary to probe nuclear matter using gravitational waves. Above 1 kHz, the proposed strain sensitivity is comparable to full third-generation detectors at a fraction of the cost. Such sensitivity changes expected event rates for detection of post-merger remnants from approximately one per few decades with two A+ detectors to a few per year and potentially allow for the first gravitational-wave observations of supernovae, isolated neutron stars, and other exotica.

Using the data obtained from Kepler satellite, we have analyzed an F-type ultra-fast rotator KIC 6791060. We derive a rotational period of 0.34365±0.00004 d. Multiple periodicity with a period separation of ~0.00016 d was detected, which appears to be a result of the relative velocity between the multiple spot-groups in different stellar latitudes due to the surface differential rotation. Modeling of the surface inhomogeneities using the light curve of 3899 epochs shows the evidence of single active longitude region. The active longitude is found to drift along the longitude at a rate similar to the detected period separation of the F-type star. The surface coverage of cool spots is found to be in the range of ~0.07–0.44%. The low value of the spottedness can be interpreted probably due to the thinner convection zone on the F-type star.

We report on the effect of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium's (INICC) multidimensional approach for the reduction of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in adult patients hospitalized in 21 intensive-care units (ICUs), from 14 hospitals in 10 Indian cities. A quasi-experimental study was conducted, which was divided into baseline and intervention periods. During baseline, prospective surveillance of VAP was performed applying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Healthcare Safety Network definitions and INICC methods. During intervention, our approach in each ICU included a bundle of interventions, education, outcome and process surveillance, and feedback of VAP rates and performance. Crude stratified rates were calculated, and by using random-effects Poisson regression to allow for clustering by ICU, the incidence rate ratio for each time period compared with the 3-month baseline was determined. The VAP rate was 17·43/1000 mechanical ventilator days during baseline, and 10·81 for intervention, showing a 38% VAP rate reduction (relative risk 0·62, 95% confidence interval 0·5–0·78, P = 0·0001).

UBVRI photometry and low resolution optical spectroscopy of the type IIb SN 2011dh in M51 are presented, covering the first year after the explosion. The peak absolute magnitude in V-band of −17.12±0.18 mag indicates SN 2011dh to be a normal bright type IIb event. The peak quasi-bolometric luminosity indicates that ~ 0.06 M⊙ of 56Ni was synthesized in the explosion. The He I lines were detected in the spectra much before the maximum light in B-band. The nebular spectra of SN 2011dh show a box shaped emission in the red wing of [OI] 6300, 6363 line due to Hα emission excited because of shock-wave interaction. The analysis of the nebular spectra indicates a progenitor with a main sequence mass of 10-15 M⊙.

The UBVRI photometric follow-up of SN 2011fu has been initiated a few days after the explosion, shows a rise followed by steep decay in all bands and shares properties very similar to that seen in case of SN 1993J, with a possible detection of the adiabatic cooling phase at very early epochs. The spectral modeling performed with SYNOW suggests that the early-phase line velocities for H and Fe ii features were ~ 16000 km s−1 and ~ 14000 km s−1, respectively. Studies of rare class of type IIb SNe are important to understand the evolution of the possible progenitors of core-collapse SNe in more details.

UBVRI photometry and medium resolution spectroscopy of two Type Ia supernovae, SN 2009an and SN 2009ig, are presented. Their Δm15(B) indicate these two SNe marginally deviate from “normal” Type Ia events. Spectroscopically, both SNe belong to the low velocity gradient group. The estimated mass of 56Ni ejected is almost a factor of two different for these two objects, with the estimates being ~0.4M⊙ for SN 2009an and ~0.8 M⊙ for SN 2009ig.

PLANET, the Probing Lensing Anomaly NETwork, is an international team conducting observations of on-going gravitational microlensing events from five sites in the southern hemisphere. Our primary goal is to detect or to put constraints on sub-stellar companions of M dwarfs from the galactic disk. We report the current status and discuss the future prospects. A 2 m robotic telescope at Dome C which would benefit from continuous coverage and dream like seeing (median of 0.27 arcsec) is currently the best option for a ground based aggressive search for Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone.

Due to their extremely small luminosity compared to the stars they orbit, planets outside our own Solar System are extraordinarily difficult to detect directly in optical light. Careful photometric monitoring of distant stars, however, can reveal the presence of exoplanets via the microlensing or eclipsing effects they induce. The international PLANET collaboration is performing such monitoring using a cadre of semi-dedicated telescopes around the world. Their results constrain the number of gas giants orbiting 1–7 AU from the most typical stars in the Galaxy. Upgrades in the program are opening regions of “exoplanet discovery space” – toward smaller masses and larger orbital radii – that are inaccessible to the Doppler velocity technique.

We review the current status and future prospects of the PLANET collaboration, an international team of astronomers performing high-precision photometric monitoring of microlensing events. Our photometric precision and sampling is characterised and the suitability of the database for variable star studies is discussed. Preliminary results on K-giant stability are presented.

A newly-formed microlensing monitoring network, the PLANET collaboration, is briefly described.

The quartz-sillimanite-garnet rocks of the Precambrian khondalite assemblage of Orissa consist dominantly of SiO2 + Al2O3 + Fe2O3 + FeO (average c. 95%) with Fe2O3 > FeO. An average analysis (H2O and CO2 free) also shows MgO, CaO and Na2O having 1·0, 0·5 and 0·4%, respectively. Compared with average crustal abundances, enrichment is shown in SiO2, Al2O3 and Fetot and depletion shown in MgO, CaO, Na2O and P2O5 with that for CaO being more than an order of magnitude and that for Na2O being a factor of >7. On an SiO2–Al2O3–Fetot plot a clearly defined field, elongate nearly parallel to the SiO2–Al2O3 sideline, is similar to that for deeply weathered soil profiles in Brazil. This correspondence also extends to enrichment, stability or depletion, compared to crustal averages, for Ce, Co, Cu, Ga, La, Ni, Nb, Th, U, Y, Zn and Zr, but not for Ba, Cr and Rb. In addition comparison of the proportions and ratios of alkalis and alkaline earths in average khondalite and in a weathering profile over a granodiorite, considered to be typical of the weathering of continents, shows remarkable similarities.

The major and trace element data are consistent with the khondalites being granulite facies—upper amphibolite facies metamorphic equivalents of a deeply weathered soil profile. Associated quartzites and calc-silicate granulites are interpreted as having been silcretes and calcretes, respectively. This interpretation implies (1) the previous existence of a large stable cratonic mass on which the soil profile formed, (2) climatic conditions suitable for the development of such a profile, (3) topography, drainage systems and groundwater movement in Precambrian times similar to those of present day peneplane regions, (4) the presence of free oxygen in the atmosphere, (5) rapid covering (e.g. by products of volcanism) to preclude mass wasting, (6) a Precambrian stratigraphy in the crystalline rocks of the Eastern Ghats region similar to that of South India, and (7) orogenesis that involved tectonic repetition of lithological units and a mechanism for taking products of surface weathering down to granulite facies P–T conditions and subsequently elevating them.

Psychiatric manifestations were studied in 72 amputees in the post-operative period. All were right handed. Besides phantom limb phenomena, which were observed in nearly four-fifths of the cases and are described in another paper, nearly two-thirds had psychiatric symptoms in the form of depression (45 patients), anxiety (38), crying spells (38), insomnia (34), loss of appetite (23), suicidal ideas (21) and psychotic behaviour (2). Right arm amputees had phantom phenomena and insomnia significantly more often than left.

Nearly one-fifth of the cases were diagnosed as having psychotic depressive reactions, two-fifths as having depressive neurosis and two, both with right upper limb amputations, as schizophrenic.

Phantom limb phenomena during the post-operative period were studied in 72 amputees. All were right handed. Phantom limb was present in 86.1 per cent of the cases, significantly more commonly following amputation of the right arm. Nearly half of the phantoms developed within the first 24 hours and another quarter in the next 24 hours, appearing earlier in lower limb amputees. Movements in the phantom were felt by three-quarters of the cases, an incidence unaffected by site or side of amputation. Telescopy was present in nearly two-thirds and phantom limb pain in over two-thirds, significantly more commonly in the upper limb amputees but uninfluenced by the side of amputation. Thirty-one of the patients dreamed that their limbs were intact.