Department of History

Ashoka University is a private university located in Sonipat, Haryana, India, focusing on liberal arts and sciences. It was established in 2014.&nbsp;It is guided by an academic council of academics and scholars from around the world. The council sets the university&#39;s academic standard, advising on matters of curriculum, faculty hiring and research.&nbsp;

Ashoka University offers a full-time 3 (+ 1) year undergraduate programme. The University comprises of&nbsp;2500 plus students, with a mix of both national and international students.&nbsp; &nbsp;

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Ashoka University

Department of Biology

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Fulltext

The Lancet Global Health

Decolonising gender in India

The importance of spin state and spin coupling in gas binding selectivity in MOFs has been uncovered using periodic DFT calculations. The electron-transfer mechanism adopted by gaseous O2 leads to its strongly spin-state-dependent binding, unlike the case for N2 and H2. O2/N2-selective adsorption/desorption processes have high commercial value, and this work offers a new strategy for such selective control.The coordinatively unsaturated chromium(II)-based Cr3[(Cr4Cl)3(BTT)8]2 (Cr−BTT; BTT3−=1,3,5-benzenetristetrazolate) metal–organic framework (MOF) has been shown to exhibit exceptional selectivity towards adsorption of O2 over N2/H2. Using periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we attempted to decipher the origin of this puzzling selectivity. By computing and analyzing the magnetic exchange coupling, binding energies, the partial density of states (pDOS), and adsorption isotherms for the pristine and gas-bound MOFs [(Cr4(X)4Cl)3(BTT)8]3− (X=O2, N2, and H2), we unequivocally established the role of spin states and spin coupling in controlling the gas selectivity. The computed geometries and gas adsorption isotherms are consistent with the earlier experiments. The binding of O2 to the MOF follows an electron-transfer mechanism resulting in a CrIII superoxo species (O2.−) with a very strong antiferromagnetic coupling between the two centers, whereas N2/H2 are found to weakly interact with the metal center and hence only slightly perturb the associated coupling constants. Although the gas-bound and unbound MOFs have an S=0 ground state (GS), the nature of spin the configurations and the associated magnetic exchanges are dramatically different. The binding energy and the number of oxygen molecules that can favorably bind to the Cr center were found to vary with respect to the spin state, with a significant energy margin (47.6 kJ mol−1). This study offers a hitherto unknown strategy of using spin state/spin couplings to control gas adsorption selectivity in MOFs.

Department of Chemistry

Chemistry - A European Journal

The Decisive Role of Spin States and Spin Coupling in Dictating Selective O2 Adsorption in Chromium(II) Metal–Organic Frameworks**

Sacred groves are widely recognised for their religious, cultural, and ecological value. They are an intrinsic part of traditional and indigenous practices of forest governance. However, the contemporary sacred forest system is not an autonomous world. Its sociopolitical landscape is not confined only to the village either. Based on extensive fieldwork in Jharkhand, this paper argues that sacred groves have evolved to be dynamic spaces of multilevel institutional interactions and contestations. Their conservation is contingent on the intersectional dynamics of indigenous, state, and institutional processes. Classical approaches of sacrality of the nature and forms of forest worship need to be combined with the concerns of the local environment, democracy, gender, caste, conservation, and culture.&nbsp;

Department of Environmental Studies

Economic and Political Weekly

Governing Sacred Groves Religion, State, and Institutions in Indigenous Jharkhand

In this paper we examine the gender matching effects in learning outcomes by studying the sorting behaviour of teachers and students by gender across private and public schools.We develop a theoretical framework behind the selection mechanism process which is grounded in the economic framework of systematic gender norms. Using contextual gender norms that are relevant to a developing country context, our theoretical model of matching behaviour predicts that the relative gain in learning outcomes is higher for female students under female teachers. We find support for our theoretical predictions when we test them using Young Lives Survey (YLS) data collected from Andhra Pradesh. © 2021 University of Venice

Department of Economics

Research in Economics

Identity and learning: A study on the effect of student-teacher gender matching on learning outcomes

Local ecological knowledge provides novel, detailed and context-specific information about human and non-human use of marine ecosystems, therefore incorporating this knowledge into marine conservation planning is crucial. Participatory mapping offers an opportunity to include local knowledge in spatial planning for natural resource management. However, local knowledge presents certain challenges in the form of data inconsistencies, fuzziness and inability to disaggregate different types and formats of knowledge. Using the case of fisheries in southern Maharashtra state, India, I demonstrate how local ecological knowledge may be used to improve the understanding of data-poor fisheries. In the context of fisheries that are globally recognised as lacking management, I examine how local ecological and spatial knowledge about species and fishing practices can be used to fill fine-scale management gaps that do not account for context-specific habitat use. I also explore how fishers'spatial knowledge is intertwined with other forms of local knowledge. The participatory mapping exercise demonstrates that although fishing communities do not profess to be interested in threatened marine species conservation, their spatial and customary fishing practices potentially align with conservation goals. Clear synergies between livelihoods and marine conservation emerge when using local ecological knowledge along with participatory mapping. This research demonstrates that successful fisheries management and marine conservation planning is possible using existing social, cultural practices, translated through geographic tools.

Marine Policy

Incorporating local ecological knowledge aids participatory mapping for marine conservation and customary fishing management

Other Publications

Chaos

Chaotic dynamics of small-sized charged Yukawa dust clusters

Genome sequence analysis of Entamoeba species revealed various classes of transposable elements. While E. histolytica and E. dispar are rich in non-long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons, E. invadens contains predominantly DNA transposons. Non-LTR retrotransposons of E. histolytica constitute three families of long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs), and their short, nonautonomous partners, SINEs. They occupy ~ 11% of the genome. The EhLINE1/EhSINE1 family is the most abundant and best studied. EhLINE1 is 4.8 kb, with two ORFs that encode functions needed for retrotransposition. ORF1 codes for the nucleic acid-binding protein, and ORF2 has domains for reverse transcriptase (RT) and endonuclease (EN). Most copies of EhLINEs lack complete ORFs. ORF1p is expressed constitutively, but ORF2p is not detected. Retrotransposition could be demonstrated upon ectopic over expression of ORF2p, showing that retrotransposition machinery is functional. The newly retrotransposed sequences showed a high degree of recombination. In transcriptomic analysis, RNA-Seq reads were mapped to individual EhLINE1 copies. Although full-length copies were transcribed, no full-length 4.8 kb transcripts were seen. Rather, sense transcripts mapped to ORF1, RT and EN domains. Intriguingly, there was strong antisense transcription almost exclusively from the RT domain. These unique features of EhLINE1 could serve to attenuate retrotransposition in E. histolytica. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Molecular Genetics and Genomics

The non-LTR retrotransposons of Entamoeba histolytica: genomic organization and biology

Female-female nonsexual interference competition is a major fitness determinant of biased sex ratio groups with high female density. What strategies can females use to overcome the negative impact of this competition? To answer this question we used flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) where competing females from female-biased groups were already known to suppress each other's fecundity by secreting toxic quinones from their stink glands, indicating a unique chemical-driven interference competition. Surprisingly, increasing resources did not alleviate these fitness costs. Females also did not disperse more from the site of interference competition. Hence, the competition was influenced by neither the total resource availability nor the lack of opportunity to avoid chemical interference. Instead, protein sequestered via scavenging of nutrient-rich carcasses relaxed female competition by increasing fecundity and reducing the quinone content. Finally, stink gland components themselves triggered carcass scavenging and increased fecundity, indicating the possibility of a novel chemical-driven feedback loop to reduce the competition. In the present work we provide the rare analyses where multiple competing hypotheses were jointly tested to establish carcass scavenging as an important potential strategy to overcome the fitness costs of intra-sexual female interference competition.

American Naturalist

Carcass Scavenging Relaxes Chemical-Driven Female Interference Competition in Flour Beetles

Until recently, it was assumed that insects lack immune memory since they do not have vertebrate-like specialized memory cells. Therefore, their most well studied evolutionary response against pathogens was increased basal immunity. However, growing evidence suggests that many insects also exhibit a form of immune memory (immune priming), where prior exposure to a low dose of infection confers protection against subsequent infection by the same pathogen that acts both within and across generations. Most strikingly, they can rapidly evolve as a highly parallel and mutually exclusive strategy from basal immunity, under different selective conditions and with divergent evolutionary trade-offs. However, the relative importance of priming as an optimal immune strategy also has contradictions, primarily because supporting mechanisms are still unclear. In this review, we adopt a comparative approach to highlight several emerging evolutionary, ecological and mechanistic features of priming vs basal immune responses that warrant immediate attention for future research.