Jamia Millia Islamia

ABSTRACT This study applies the Water Poverty Index (WPI) framework to evaluate seasonal variations in water poverty across eight tehsils of Leh district, using five components: resources, access, capacity, use, and environment, using primary and secondary data. To calculate WPI, scores were assigned to each component and then aggregated. Initially, equal weights were assigned to each component, followed by an alternative weighting. The findings indicate distinct seasonal variations in water poverty across the study area. The overall WPI score increases from 52.90 in winter to 70.85 in summer. Component-wise analysis shows that resource access, capacity, and use components decline sharply during winter, while the environment component remains stable across seasons. In summer, Sumoor and Leh experienced medium water poverty, while other tehsils showed low levels of water scarcity. However, in the winter, Leh experienced severe water poverty, and the other tehsils exhibit high levels of water scarcity, with Saspol consistently maintaining low water poverty in both seasons. Further, the study shows that the resource component is the dominant determinant of water poverty during summer, whereas the resource, capacity, and environment components significantly control winter water scarcity. The present study provides useful insights for effective water management in high-priority areas.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) perturb hormonal homeostasis, dysregulating multiple biological pathways and subsequently resulting in adverse health outcomes, including impaired reproductive function. Bisphenols represent an important subclass of EDCs with widespread use in polycarbonate plastics, thermal paper formulations, epoxy resins, and various everyday consumer products. Bisphenol A (BPA) was the first bisphenol to be synthesized, with extensive industrial applications. However, the concerns over its potential health risks, most notably reproductive dysfunction, prompted the development and introduction of several structurally related BPA analogues. That said, studies on the potential hormonal effects of these BPA analogues remain limited. Therefore, strengthening the evidence base on their reproductive safety evaluation remains an essential priority for ensuring their safe application, and this study contributes to that broader objective. The study aimed to explore the potential endocrine-disrupting activity of two commonly used BPA analogues, bisphenol F (BPF) and bisphenol S (BPS), on reproductive hormone signalling, contributing to ongoing safety assessment efforts. The molecular interactions of these analogues with the estrogen receptor-α (ERα) and estrogen receptor-β (ERβ) were analyzed through structural binding characterization employing the induced fit docking (IFD) approach using the Schrödinger 2019 suite. The overall results revealed that the two indicated BPA analogues were placed successfully in the ligand-binding pockets of ERα and ERβ. Their binding pattern and molecular interactions showed certain similarities; however, they did not fully replicate the amino acid residue environment of the native ligands of ERα and ERβ, estradiol. Notably, the binding energy estimations revealed that BPF and BPS showed substantially lower values than those calculated for native ligands of ERα and ERβ. In summary, this study suggests that BPF and BPS exhibit lower predicted binding affinity toward ERα and ERβ under the applied molecular docking conditions. However, these computational findings do not establish receptor activation, endocrine potency, or safety outcomes, and the potential involvement of other reproductive signalling pathways warrants further investigation.

In the quest for advanced resistive memory devices, the rational design of π-conjugated small molecules is increasingly recognized as an effective approach to achieving high-performance, non-volatile data storage. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of a series of D-A-D' and D-π-A-π-D' type molecules featuring dibenzothiophene sulfone as the central acceptor, marking its debut application in organic resistive memory device applications. The molecules were unsymmetrically functionalized through the incorporation of different donor units such as tert- butylphenyl, triphenylamine, and methoxyphenyl units. Furthermore, the incorporation of acetylene bridges enhanced π-conjugation and facilitated intramolecular charge transfer. Photophysical and electrochemical studies revealed intramolecular charge-transfer characteristics and band gap values in the range of 3.0-3.8eV. All fabricated devices displayed non-volatile binary WORM memory behavior with ON/OFF ratios up to 104, low threshold voltages as low as -1.52V, and substantial stability over 100 cycles with retention time of 4000s. Notably, asymmetric compounds containing triphenylamine donor exhibited superior memory performance. Density functional theory studies further validated the proposed charge transfer and charge trapping mechanism. These results establish dibenzothiophene sulfone-based donor-acceptor systems as promising candidates for next-generation organic memory technologies.