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Banksy strikes again with Valentine's Day graffiti

The graffiti shows a young girl in a headscarf, stencilled onto the side of a house in the Barton Hill area of Bristol with black and white paint.She holds a catapult in one hand with the other hand behind her, as though she has just launched a projectile. At the end of the catapult's trajectory is a bright red shape like a blood splatter, made of red plastic leaves and flowers.




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Record spike in COVID-19 cases, 37 deaths in 24 hrs

While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 6,039, as many as 515 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. The total number of cases include 71 foreign nationals.





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What do countries look like after easing lockdowns

Italy, Spain, Portugal and India are among the countries easing coronavirus restrictions.Social distancing, mask wearing are the new norms as these countries continue to battle the virus pandemic, but are venturing out of their homes after extended periods of staying at home.




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Mumbai to build Wuhan-like 1000-bed Covid-19 hospital

The hospital, in the commercial hub of Bandra-Kurla Complex, will serve as an isolation facility for non-critical COVID-19 patients.Expected to be ready in a fortnight, the new makeshift facility can be scaled up to 5,000 beds, if needed.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will run the hospital that will have, among other things, oxygen facilities and pathological laboratories.Sohini Das reports.




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'Completely surprised to see him do a character like that so beautiful...

'Completely surprised to see him do a character like that so beautiful...




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Displaying hidden elements like `<head>` using CSS

By default, only the html and the body element (plus its children) of a web page are actually rendered. All information within the head element might be parsed and used by the browser, but most of the time it doesn’t get displayed. If you want to, you can use CSS to display these ‘hidden’ elements.




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Do not anticipate worst case situation like developed countries in India, says Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan




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Spike in Covid cases continues in Karnataka, tally 794




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RIL's first rights issue in 3 decades likely to open on May 22




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3 northeast states hike duty on liquor by 25pc




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Hollywood's best mother-daughter look-alikes

It is mother's day today, and what better day to take a look at some of Hollywood's most stunning mommy-daughter duos, who look exactly alike. Not only did these daughters win the gene lottery, but have grown up to look just like their mothers. We have drawn up a list of our favourite duos who take the phrase 'like mother like daughter' to the next level.




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COVID-19 pandemic is likely to reduce investment in construction related projects : KPMG

COVID-19 pandemic is likely to reduce investment in construction related projects in the range of 13 to 30% which will have significant impact on Gros




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College educators likely to be paid 50% less




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Diesel costlier by Rs 2/L as Goa hikes VAT, eyes revenue of Rs 78 crore

After increasing the value added tax (VAT) on petrol in April, the state government on Saturday hiked VAT on diesel to 22%, pushing the fuel’s price up by Rs 2.05 per litre.




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No fee hike in Maharashtra schools for academic year 2020-21: State Education Dept




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MSMEs likely to start functioning from Monday

Several micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) in Coimbatore Corporation limits are expected to start operations on Monday. “The order issu




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SS Karthikeya walks out of his next venture

SS Karthikeya walks out of his next venture




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College educators likely to be paid 50% less

College educators likely to be paid 50% less




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JNU: Students likely to return from June 25

JNU: Students likely to return from June 25




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Maharashtra: Congress announces 2nd candidate, contest likely for council polls

Maharashtra: Congress announces 2nd candidate, contest likely for council polls




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SAD's Bikram Majithia slams Punjab govt over hike in power tarrif




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Punjab Commission Agents Association to be on strike till April 20




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11 test positive in Chandigarh, highest single-day spike




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Punjab sees 105 more Covid-19 cases in highest single-day spike




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In steepest spike, Punjab sees 331 new coron cases; total 1,102




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Hike paddy MSP, incentive bonus to check stubble burning: Punjab CM to PM




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Credai reports 40-50% hike in cement, steel prices; alleges cartelisation

The association has written a letter to Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri seeking his intervention in the matter




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Stimulus package likely next week; Guaranteed higher working capital limit for MSME on cards

Centre plans to raise the total borrowings to ₹12 lakh crore this fiscal




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Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers records 35 per cent hike in sale of ‘Suphala’ fertilisers

A PIB press statement said that Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers Ltd (RCF) has registered a hike of 35.47 per cent in the sale of fertilisers und




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Why flights are unlikely to resume any time soon

'Indian aviation cannot resume without at least three major airports being functional. If Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata are shut, there is little chance that airlines will start flying even if the government gives the go-ahead.'




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This Mother’s Day, doctors share what it’s like to help other women become mothers










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Crystal structure of the NS3-like helicase from Alongshan virus

Alongshan virus (ALSV) is an emerging human pathogen that was identified in China and rapidly spread to the European continent in 2019, raising concerns about public health. ALSV belongs to the distinct Jingmenvirus group within the Flaviviridae family with segmented RNA genomes. While segments 2 and 4 of the ALSV genome encode the VP1–VP3 proteins of unknown origin, segments 1 and 3 encode the NS2b–NS3 and NS5 proteins, which are related to Flavivirus nonstructural proteins, suggesting an evolutionary link between segmented and unsegmented viruses within the Flaviviridae family. Here, the enzymatic activity of the ALSV NS3-like helicase (NS3-Hel) was characterized and its crystal structure was determined to 2.9 Å resolution. ALSV NS3-Hel exhibits an ATPase activity that is comparable to those measured for Flavivirus NS3 helicases. The structure of ALSV NS3-Hel exhibits an overall fold similar to those of Flavivirus NS3 helicases. Despite the limited amino-acid sequence identity between ALSV NS3-Hel and Flavivirus NS3 helicases, structural features at the ATPase active site and the RNA-binding groove remain conserved in ALSV NS3-Hel. These findings provide a structural framework for drug design and suggest the possibility of developing a broad-spectrum antiviral drug against both Flavivirus and Jingmenvirus.




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New zeolite-like RUB-5 and its related hydrous layer silicate RUB-6 structurally characterized by electron microscopy

This study made use of a recently developed combination of advanced methods to reveal the atomic structure of a disordered nanocrystalline zeolite using exit wave reconstruction, automated diffraction tomography, disorder modelling and diffraction pattern simulation. By applying these methods, it was possible to determine the so far unknown structures of the hydrous layer silicate RUB-6 and the related zeolite-like material RUB-5. The structures of RUB-5 and RUB-6 contain the same dense layer-like building units (LLBUs). In the case of RUB-5, these building units are interconnected via additional SiO4/2 tetrahedra, giving rise to a framework structure with a 2D pore system consisting of intersecting 8-ring channels. In contrast, RUB-6 contains these LLBUs as separate silicate layers terminated by silanol/sil­oxy groups. Both RUB-6 and RUB-5 show stacking disorder with intergrowths of different polymorphs. The unique structure of RUB-6, together with the possibility for an interlayer expansion reaction to form RUB-5, make it a promising candidate for interlayer expansion with various metal sources to include catalytically active reaction centres.




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X-ray structure of the direct electron transfer-type FAD glucose dehydrogenase catalytic subunit complexed with a hitchhiker protein

The bacterial flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent glucose dehydrogenase complex derived from Burkholderia cepacia (BcGDH) is a representative molecule of direct electron transfer-type FAD-dependent dehydrogenase complexes. In this study, the X-ray structure of BcGDHγα, the catalytic subunit (α-subunit) of BcGDH complexed with a hitchhiker protein (γ-subunit), was determined. The most prominent feature of this enzyme is the presence of the 3Fe–4S cluster, which is located at the surface of the catalytic subunit and functions in intramolecular and intermolecular electron transfer from FAD to the electron-transfer subunit. The structure of the complex revealed that these two molecules are connected through disulfide bonds and hydrophobic interactions, and that the formation of disulfide bonds is required to stabilize the catalytic subunit. The structure of the complex revealed the putative position of the electron-transfer subunit. A comparison of the structures of BcGDHγα and membrane-bound fumarate reductases suggested that the whole BcGDH complex, which also includes the membrane-bound β-subunit containing three heme c moieties, may form a similar overall structure to fumarate reductases, thus accomplishing effective electron transfer.




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Crystallography at the nanoscale: planar defects in ZnO nanospikes

The examination of anisotropic nanostructures, such as wires, platelets or spikes, inside a transmission electron microscope is normally performed only in plan view. However, intrinsic defects such as growth twin interfaces could occasionally be concealed from direct observation for geometric reasons, leading to superposition. This article presents the shadow-focused ion-beam technique to prepare multiple electron-beam-transparent cross-section specimens of ZnO nanospikes, via a procedure which could be readily extended to other anisotropic structures. In contrast with plan-view data of the same nanospikes, here the viewing direction allows the examination of defects without superposition. By this method, the coexistence of two twin configurations inside the wurtzite-type structure is observed, namely [2 {overline 1} {overline 1} 0]^{ m W}/(0 1 {overline 1} 1) and [2 {overline 1} {overline 1} 0]^{ m W}/(0 1 {overline 1} 3), which were not identified during the plan-view observations owing to superposition of the domains. The defect arrangement could be the result of coalescence twinning of crystalline nuclei formed on the partially molten Zn substrate during the flame-transport synthesis. Three-dimensional defect models of the twin interface structures have been derived and are correlated with the plan-view investigations by simulation.




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Significant texture improvement in single-crystalline-like materials on low-cost flexible metal foils through growth of silver thin films

Single-crystalline-like thin films composed of crystallographically aligned grains are a new prototype of 2D materials developed recently for low-cost and high-performance flexible electronics as well as second-generation high-temperature superconductors. In this work, significant texture improvement in single-crystalline-like materials is achieved through growth of a 330 nm-thick silver layer.




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Mergers of dense stellar remnants are likely trigger for many supernovae

The results show mergers of two dense stellar remnants are the likely cause of many of the supernovae that have been used to measure the accelerated expansion of the universe.

The post Mergers of dense stellar remnants are likely trigger for many supernovae appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.




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Six orbiting planets sets record for Sun-like stars say Kepler, Smithsonian astronmers

Last week, the Kepler team and CfA astronomers announced the discovery of a system of six transiting planets around one Sun-like star. The previous record holder for the number of transiting planets was three.

The post Six orbiting planets sets record for Sun-like stars say Kepler, Smithsonian astronmers appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.




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Luminosity of extreme galaxy most likely driven by star formation

Astronomers are piecing together the reasons for these huge energy outputs, while sorting out why our own galaxy is so modest. The two primary suspects are bursts of star formation that produce many hot young stars, and processes associated with accretion of material onto a supermassive black hole at a galaxy's nucleus.

The post Luminosity of extreme galaxy most likely driven by star formation appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.





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From Star Wars to science fact: Tatooine-like planet discovered

Although cold and gaseous rather than a desert world, the newfound planet Kepler-16b is still the closest astronomers have come to discovering Luke Skywalker's home world of Tatooine.

The post From Star Wars to science fact: Tatooine-like planet discovered appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.




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Sea turtle “hitchhikers” ID’d in survey

For three years—2001, 2002 and 2008—on Teopa Beach in Jalisco, Mexico, researchers examined the shell, neck and flippers of female turtles that had come out onto the beach to nest, collecting and carefully documenting all the organisms—known as epibionts—they found.

The post Sea turtle “hitchhikers” ID’d in survey appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.




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Two Earth-sized planets discovered orbiting a distant Sun-like star

Astronomers using NASA's Kepler mission have detected two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star. This discovery marks a milestone in the hunt for alien worlds, since it brings scientists one step closer to their ultimate goal of finding a twin Earth.

The post Two Earth-sized planets discovered orbiting a distant Sun-like star appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.