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National-level hockey player, friend shot dead in Punjab




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People queue up for milk in Amritsar, say they support COVID-19 lockdown




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Decision on extending curfew beyond April 14 depends on situation: Punjab CM




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No decision yet on extending the curfew beyond April 14: Punjab CM




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People hopeful amid COVID-19 crisis, says PU research survey




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No money received from Centre to fight Covid-19: Punjab CM




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After 1,750-km odyssey, Sikh pilgrims reach Punjab




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Punjab extends parole period beyond 16 weeks




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Hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr admitted to hospital in critical condition




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A tailor’s long journey from Jaipur to Farrukhabad to be with family

The sudden lockdown announcement, an uncertain future, concern for family pushed him to walk to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh hundreds of kilometres away




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Turkey reports 50 new COVID-19 deaths as it prepares to return to normal life

Total fatalities stand at 3,739, while infections number 137,115. According to figures posted on Twitter by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, 89,480 patients have recovered.




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Eye hospitals in Kolkata resume surgeries

Services are crawling back to normal at eye hospitals across the city that had been forced to suspend emergency surgeries and outpatient (OPD) services since the lockdown started. While some have resumed elective surgeries in a restricted way following screening of patients, others are on the way to reviving OPD services even as they continue telephone consultations and online advice.




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Covid-19 may force auto cos into more automation on shop-floor: EY report

There will be several changes to existing working norms and guidelines that organisations will need to abide by in order to ensure safety at the workplace, says the report




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Beyond simple small-angle X-ray scattering: developments in online complementary techniques and sample environments

Possibilities in auxiliary technique combinations with small- and wide-angle X ray scattering are described, as well as more complicated sample environments used in X-ray and neutron scattering.





















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Crystal structure and mol­ecular Hirshfeld surface analysis of acenaphthene derivatives obeying the chlorine–methyl exchange rule

Instances of crystal structures that remain isomorphous in spite of some minor changes in their respective mol­ecules, such as change in a substituent atom/group, can provide insights into the factors that govern crystal packing. In this context, an accurate description of the crystal structures of an isomorphous pair that differ from each other only by a chlorine–methyl substituent, viz. 5''-(2-chloro­benzyl­idene)-4'-(2-chloro­phen­yl)-1'-methyl­dispiro­[acenaphthene-1,2'-pyrrolidine-3',3''-piperidine]-2,4''-dione, C34H28Cl2N2O2, (I), and its analogue 1'-methyl-5''-(2-methyl­benzyl­idene)-4'-(2-methyl­phen­yl)di­spiro­[acenaphthene-1,2'-pyrrolidine-3',3''-piperidine]-2,4''-dione, C36H34N2O2, (II), is presented. While there are two C—H⋯O weak inter­molecular inter­actions present in both (I) and (II), the change of substituent from chlorine to methyl has given rise to an additional weak C—H⋯O inter­molecular inter­action that is relatively stronger than the other two. However, the presence of the stronger C—H⋯O inter­action in (II) has not disrupted the validity of the chloro-methyl exchange rule. Details of the crystal structures and Hirshfeld analyses of the two compounds are presented.




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checkCIF validation ALERTS: what they mean and how to respond

Authors of a paper that includes a new crystal-structure determination are expected to not only report the structural results of inter­est and their inter­pretation, but are also expected to archive in computer-readable CIF format the experimental data on which the crystal-structure analysis is based. Additionally, an IUCr/checkCIF validation report will be required for the review of a submitted paper. Such a validation report, automatically created from the deposited CIF file, lists as ALERTS not only potential errors or unusual findings, but also suggestions for improvement along with inter­esting information on the structure at hand. Major ALERTS for issues are expected to have been acted on already before the submission for publication or discussed in the associated paper and/or commented on in the CIF file. In addition, referees, readers and users of the data should be able to make their own judgment and inter­pretation of the underlying experimental data or perform their own calculations with the archived data. All the above is consistent with the FAIR (findable, accessible, inter­operable, and reusable) initiative [Helliwell (2019). Struct. Dyn. 6, 05430]. Validation can also be helpful for less experienced authors in pointing to and avoiding of crystal-structure determination and inter­pretation pitfalls. The IUCr web-based checkCIF server provides such a validation report, based on data uploaded in CIF format. Alternatively, a locally installable checkCIF version is available to be used iteratively during the structure-determination process. ALERTS come mostly as short single-line messages. There is also a short explanation of the ALERTS available through the IUCr web server or with the locally installed PLATON/checkCIF version. This paper provides additional background information on the checkCIF procedure and additional details for a number of ALERTS along with options for how to act on them.




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Structure of the archaeal chemotaxis protein CheY in a domain-swapped dimeric conformation

Archaea are motile by the rotation of the archaellum. The archaellum switches between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and movement along a chemical gradient is possible by modulation of the switching frequency. This modulation involves the response regulator CheY and the archaellum adaptor protein CheF. In this study, two new crystal forms and protein structures of CheY are reported. In both crystal forms, CheY is arranged in a domain-swapped conformation. CheF, the protein bridging the chemotaxis signal transduction system and the motility apparatus, was recombinantly expressed, purified and subjected to X-ray data collection.




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Appalachian Trail survey aims hidden cameras at large predators

Describing his project of counting bears, bobcats and other predatory mammals along the Appalachian Trail, National Zoological Park wildlife ecologist William McShea looks to American literature for a comparison.

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Native bees prove resilient in competition with invasive African honey bees

The spread of Africanized honey bees across Central America has had a much smaller impact on native tropical bee species than scientists previously predicted...

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Drugged spiders’ web spinning may hold keys to understanding animal behavior

“Spinning under the influence” is one way to describe recent activities in the Costa Rican laboratory of Smithsonian scientist William Eberhard. An entomologist at the Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Institute, Eberhard recently carried out a series of experiments in which he observed the web-building behavior of dozens of spiders under the influence of drugs—specifically, a chemical injected into their bodies by parasitic wasps.

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Census reveals 1,200 howler monkeys living on Barro Colorado Island

Long before dawn on a recent morning, Katie Milton and a group of stalwart volunteers, each armed with flashlight and compass, spread out into the jungle to take up positions at 35 listening stations marked on maps of the island.

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Net survey: For quarter century, scientists have been counting creatures traveling Chesapeake Bay tributary

More than 25 years ago, researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's Fish and Invertebrate Ecology Lab began taking weekley surveys of the species that make their way in and out of Muddy Creek.

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NASA’s new eye on the sun delivers stunning images

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is a major partner in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, which is a group of four telescopes on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory that photograph the sun in 10 different wavelength bands, or colors, once every 10 seconds.

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Turkey’s trip to table: Domesticating North America’s largest fowl

The turkey has become synonymous with Thanksgiving in the United States. But when exactly where turkeys first domesticated? And where? Bruce Smith, senior archeologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has the answers.

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Zoo lion cub named “Aslan” by actors Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes

National Zoo lion keeper Rebecca Stites, at right in photo, was joined by Georgie Henley, at left in photo, and Skandar Keynes, actors in the […]

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Gulf of Mexico survey will benchmark diversity of ocean floor

Funded by BP through the Florida Institute of Oceanography, the scientists will make the 10-day trip aboard the institute’s 115-foot research vessel. The divers, scientists and photographers will document hard bottoms of Florida, from the Keys to the Panhandle, to gain a better understanding of these sponge- and coral-dominated communities

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Alarming number of fledgling, suburban catbirds fall prey to domestic cats, study finds

Smithsonian scientists report fledgling catbirds in suburban habitats are at their most vulnerable stage of life, with almost 80 percent killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Almost half of the deaths were connected to domestic cats.

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New comet may be visible to the naked eye in 2013

Astronomers have discovered a new comet that they expect will be visible to the naked eye in early 2013.A preliminary orbit computed by the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., shows that the comet will come within about 30 million miles of the sun in early 2013, about the same distance as Mercury. The comet will pose no danger to Earth.

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It’s no sweat for salt marsh sparrows to beat the heat if they have a larger bill

A team of scientists have found that because of this, high summer temperatures have been a strong influence in determining bill size in some birds, particularly species of sparrows that favor salt marshes.

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Ability to raft with flotsam and use non-reef habitats helps tropical fish journey to new places, study finds

Depending on where the fish disperse from, the use of ‘stepping stones', flotsam or simply being an adult can help in the journey to find a new home.

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Infrared survey reveals fewer near-Earth asteroids than previously thought

New observations by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought.

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Complete evolutionary tree of the Hawaiian honeycreepers traced by Smithsonian scientists, collaborators

Smithsonian scientists and collaborators have determined the evolutionary family tree for one of the most strikingly diverse and endangered bird families in the world, the Hawaiian honeycreepers.

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