Search Results (4)

NOx pollution is one of the greatest air quality issues that urban areas face today, particularly within the European Union (EU), yet currently this pollutant is only controlled through the homologation process. There is currently no periodic technical inspection (PTI) process for NOx emissions within the EU, leaving a weakness in the legislation that is currently allowing high polluters to negatively impact air quality. Work needs to be performed to incorporate a simple, quick, inexpensive, and representative test to accurately identify these high emitters within the on-road vehicle fleet. This paper investigates options for the incorporation of a NOx test into the EU PTI test procedures. In a trial constituting over 600 vehicles, a 3DATX parSYNC was used to measure the NOx emissions over a series of short test types. These are an idle test, two types of high idle test (a constant high idle and a rapid high idle), and an on-road driving dynamic acceleration test. The repeatability of all three test types was good. The NOx concentrations have strong correlations to the mass emissions for each test type, with the use of mean concentrations being deemed more representative than the use of maximum concentrations. The mean results across the tested fleet are calculated and used to define pass/fail thresholds for different vehicle types. The findings of this work show that multiple test methods have the potential to characterize NOx emissions from a vehicle, but in order to catch high emitters on a PTI test, the unloaded idle and high idle test types are not suitable substitutes for a dynamic acceleration test, particularly for petrol vehicles. Full article

The recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China, has led to millions of infections and the death of approximately one million people. No targeted therapeutics are currently available, and only a few efficient treatment options are accessible. Many researchers are investigating active compounds from natural plant sources that may inhibit COVID-19 proliferation. Flavonoids are generally present in our diet, as well as traditional medicines and are effective against various diseases. Thus, here, we reviewed the potential of flavonoids against crucial proteins involved in the coronavirus infectious cycle. The fundamentals of coronaviruses, the structures of SARS-CoV-2, and the mechanism of its entry into the host’s body have also been discussed. In silico studies have been successfully employed to study the interaction of flavonoids against COVID-19 M^pro, spike protein PL^pro, and other interactive sites for its possible inhibition. Recent studies showed that many flavonoids such as hesperidin, amentoflavone, rutin, diosmin, apiin, and many other flavonoids have a higher affinity with M^pro and lower binding energy than currently used drugs such as hydroxylchloroquine, nelfinavir, ritonavir, and lopinavir. Thus, these compounds can be developed as specific therapeutic agents against COVID-19, but need further in vitro and in vivo studies to validate these compounds and pave the way for drug discovery. Full article

This essay examines the issue of Guru Nanak’s inclusion in the mid-to-late seventeenth-century devotional text prepared by the Dadu-panthi savant, Raghavdas, the Bhakt-māl or Garland of Devotees. This text follows by some decades the similarly titled Bhakt-māl of Nabha Das. However, while Nabha Das excludes Guru Nanak, Raghavdas’ Bhakt-māl embraces him and includes a much more diverse seventeenth- and pre-seventeenth-century saintly clientele that was particular to both northern and southern India. The essay is one of the first to examine this text in Sikh studies and tease out the reasons which may have prompted Raghavdas to include Guru Nanak. In the process, it attempts to understand early non-Sikh bhakti views of the Sikh Gurus while also providing fresh looks at Sikh numbers in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and at the diverse and multi-ideological environment of northern India from the early 1600s onward. It also suggests Raghavadas’ familiarity with the poetry of his near contemporary ideologue, the great Sikh scholar Bhai Gurdas Bhalla. Full article

This essay offers in-depth analysis of Guru Nanak’s works, collectively known as the Bābar-vāņī (“arrow-like utterances concerning Babur”), in the context of the memoirs of the first Mughal emperor Babur (1483–1530). It extends the number of works in the collection from a ‘fixed’ assemblage of ‘four’ to ‘nine,’ making it an open collection that dynamically responds to the specific questions raised by historians about Guru Nanak’s encounter with Babur. The resulting framework provides us with a fresh analytical gaze into the critical events related to Babur’s invasions of India and helps the novel readings of Guru Nanak’s verses shine through. It also examines how Guru Nanak’s voice of resistance was interpreted in the narratives produced by later generations. Departing from traditional views, the essay ends with a new understanding of the impact of the Bābar-vāṇī on the evolving Sikh conceptions of the relationship between spiritual and political powers. Full article