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The Lobos sit during a timeout in a game earlier this season. (Courtesy UNM Athletics)

When you lose by 23 points, odds are good no lineup had much success.

So scouring the stats to find what lineup worked and what lineup up didnt work might not exactly be a task worthy of much time or effort.

But after Paul Weir said over the past week both after the Utah State loss last Friday in Lubbock and after Wednesdays win at Dixie State that shortening the lineup and starting to find those mixes of players and chemistry among his players was a priority, I found some things from Saturdays game a bit confusing.

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Please understand, I dont pretend to have better answers than coaches on player rotations as they are in practices and sometimes players play or dont play not based on what we see in games, but discipline, grades, family or health matters, etc. We dont always know why rotations are what that are, so I usually waste little time or energy thinking about it.

But since the topic was basically brought up by Weir himself, I find it curious that on Wednesday night in a win at Dixie State it seemed as though the Lobos stumbled onto a lineup combination that worked well together, then didnt put it on the floor once against a UNLV team it couldnt score much on at all.

What did they have to lose?

The details

Wednesday, only one Lobos roster combination had a point differential better than plus-2. That means the entire game, against a Division I newcomer that is currently ranked No. 328 by KenPom.com, UNM only had one lineup combination that thrived on both the defensive end and the offensive end of the court.

LINEUP: PG Isaiah Marin, PG Isaiah Marin, G Saquan Singleton, G Javonte Johnson, F Rod Brown, C Valdir ManuelTIME PLAYED: 5 minutes, 38 seconds SCORE: 16-2 (plus-14)

All other combinations in the game were no better than a plus-2 and most were negative in a game the Lobos won by nine.

So, on Saturday, I expected to see that lineup get another look. Instead, those five players werent on the floor together once. They all played, just not together.

I dont get it.

(NOTE: Score differential is how a game determines who wins and who loses. Thats sort of important, so tracking score differential for lineups is a fairly important statistic that doesnt get talked about enough)

So, what lineup did work best on Saturday for UNM, at least in terms of score differential? Three had a plus-2 differential. Thats it. Thats the best any group UNM had did in the game.[5-3 / 3:09] PG Jeremiah Francis, G Javonte Johnson, G Makuach Maluach, F Emmanuel Kuac, C Bayron Matos

[2-0 / 1:33] PG Isaiah Marin, G Javonte Johnson, G Makuach Maluach, F Emmanuel Kuac, C Bayron Matos

[2-0 / 1:20] PG Nolan Dorsey, G Kurt Wegscheider, G Javonte Johnson, F Valdir Manuel, C Bayron Matos

Even the starting lineup isnt finding much success or even from one game to the next finding time on the court together.

UNMs starting five on Saturday was PG Isaiah Marin, G Saquan Singleton, G Makuach Maluach, F Rod Brown and C Bayron Matos.

That same combination of five players on Wednesday played for a grand total of 7 second together.

Saturday, that starting five played 7 minutes, 28 seconds together. They were outscored by UNLV 14-4, meaning the Lobos starting lineup had a minus-10 on Saturday and, frankly, it could have been worse when you consider that group had a miserable 0.38 points per possession.

For those not used to PPP numbers, 0.38 is bad. UNM averages 70 possessions per game. 0.38 points per possession stretched out over an average game would mean the Lobos would score just under 27 points.

Heres the game story I filed after Saturdays game:

Seven consecutive losses in conference play isnt exactly something that happens that often with the Lobo basketball program.

In fact, its never happened before in the Mountain West era for UNM (1999-2000 season to the present). An 0-3 start in the 2006-07 season was the previous worst.

This season represents the worst start record wise to a conference season since the 1957-58 Lobos under Bob Sweeney went 0-14 in good old Mountain States Athletic Conference.

As for longest conference losing streaks at any point of a season (not just to start a conference season), heres the list going back to that same season.

Worst Lobo conference losing streaks since 1957-58

(losses, season, coach, final conference record)

14 1957-58 (Bob Sweeney) 0-14 MSAC13 1958-59 (Bob Sweeney) 1-13 MSAC8 2014-15 (Craig Neal) 7-11 MWC7 1970-71 (Bob King) 4-10 WAC7 1961-62 (Bob Sweeney) 3-11 MSAC

Through Saturdays games, UNMs strength of schedule in league play is ranked No. 1 according to KenPom.com with the four opponents Boise State, Utah State, Nevada and one of two games played with UNLV having a combined league record of 21-5 and having four of the top six national rankings in the league.

Utah State (11-3 overall, 8-0 MWC) KenPom 48Boise State (12-1 overall, 8-0 MWC) KenPom 57 Nevada (9-5 overall, 4-3 MWC) KenPom 109 UNLV (3-6 overall, 1-2 MWC) KenPom 126

New Mexico, meanwhile, hasnt helped itself by any stretch of the imagination. But even a good Lobos team would find this opening stretch of league games challenging.

And the somewhat good news is that while 21-5 is the record of MWC opponents the Lobos have faced so far, the combined record of opponents in the next five league game is 4-14, including 0-and-8 San Jose State, who the Lobos host starting Thursday in St. George, Utah, at Dixie State University.

So, at least theres that.

Weve got to be the more aggressive team. Saquan Singleton, Lobos junior guard who took a game-high nine free throw attempts (he made seven) on Saturday, constantly attacking the rim but oddly not having a single shot attempt from the field.

In UNMs seven Mountain West games, there have been six starters (in five of those games) who didnt score a point. That is the most so far in the Mountain West.

Obviously that will happen every now and then, but clearly it isnt ideal when one of your starting five doesnt chip in at all in the scoring column. And when it keeps happening, well

Here is a list of number of times a starter didnt score in a game this season in Mountain West play:

New Mexico: 6 (7 games)Fresno State: 5 (7 games)San Jose State: 5 (8 games)Nevada: 3 (7 games)San Diego State: 2 (6 games)UNLV: 2 (3 games)Air Force: 1 (7 games)Colorado State: 1 (8 games)Boise State: 0 (8 games)Utah State: 0 (8 games)Wyoming: 0 (4 games)

Since this is my column, I get to sneak things in like the pre-game entertainment I was lucky enough to have in my home on Saturday.

Virtual flamenco class for the 11-year-old means virtual flamenco class for the 1-year-old, too.

I hope the National Institute of Flamenco doesnt start billing us for two students after I post this.

UNMs starting point guard position in the past six games (3 starts apiece for Jeremiah Francis and Isaiah Marin) has hit 1-of-31 shots (0-for-14 on 2-point attempts and 1-for-17 on 3-point attempts).

For Saturday, it was an 0-for-3 shooting game for Isaiah Marin, who got his third start after a career-high 13 points off the bench in Wednesdays win over Dixie State. Hes now 0-for-12 shooting with no free throw attempts in three games as a starter and 6-for-11 to go along with 3-of-4 at the line in his past three games coming off the bench.

Weve at least got good backup point guard play, I felt, over the course of the year. Our starting point guard margin, we were giving up a lot but our backup point guards were able to come in and at least solidify some minutes, said Lobos coach P
aul Weir. So, when you look overall at the 40 minutes, like okay, maybe their starting point guard outplayed ours, but our backup point guard outplay theirs. You know what? Lets just kind of keep working on it.

The issue tonight was the starting and the back up I mean (UNLV) backup point guard Nick Blake came in and outplayed us, too. So when youre kind of getting beat at both spots, it is a lot to come back from and weve got to find a way to either start to give other players some opportunities in there or just put them in some different positions.

Who needs Sam Merrill?

Utah State improved to 8-0 in Mountain West play, sweeping the San Diego State Aztecs on Thursday (57-45) and Saturday (64-59). Saturdays win was on a national CBS broadcast and the Aggies are establishing themselves as one of two clear title favorites along with Boise State (sorry Colorado State and San Diego State).

What a world we live in where the top of the Mountain West is the Utah State Aggies and Boise State Broncos while the New Mexico Lobos are winless, UNLV is regularly a rung or two lower than the level its fans believe, and SDSU is now just 3-3.

There were four games in the Mountain West on Saturday, one coming on Sunday

SATURDAYUtah State 64, San Diego State 59 UNLV 77, New Mexico 54 Air Force 72, Wyoming 69 Colorado State 88, San Jose State 61

SUNDAY Fresno State at Nevada, 1 PT/2 MT (CBS Sports Network)

Mountain West standings through Saturday:8-0 Boise State8-0 Utah State7-1 Colorado State4-3 Nevada3-3 San Diego State3-4 Fresno State2-5 Air Force1-4 Wyoming1-2 UNLV0-7 New Mexico0-8 San Jose State

Things arent off to a great start for UNM with the schools four days and four games in Las Vegas:

FRIDAY: UNLV womens basketball handed the Lobos their first loss of the season, 78-60

SATURDAY: UNLVs mens team beat UNM 77-54 SUNDAY: Game 2 of the womens series tips off at 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT (TheMW.com/Watch)MONDAY: Game 2 of the mens series tips at 6:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. MT on FS1

Here are the Lobos plus/minus stats from Saturdays game with minutes played in parenthesis:

+6 Emmanual Kuac (8:25)+3 Javonte Johnson (16:56)+1 Kurt Wegscheider (4:37)-2 Nolan Dorsey (6:59)-9 Valdir Manuel (24:35)-11 Isaiah Marin (16:43)-14 Jeremiah Francis (21:57)-15 Bayron Matos (22:19)-21 Makuach Maluach (30:16)-26 Rod Brown (21:55)-27 Saquan Singleton (25:18)

For those of you who like a digital version of stats from Saturdays game, here you go: UNLV 77, New Mexico 54

And for the more traditional, .pdf stat sheet, here you go: UNLV 77, New Mexico 54

UNLV has won five in a row against the Lobos, the longest stretch since winning seven in a row from March 2, 2002 through March 11, 2004 a stretch that spanned the final season under former Lobos coach Fran Fraschilla and the first two seasons under Ritchie McKay.

The series is 63 games deep (UNLV leads 38-25). The seven game streak mentioned in the paragraph above is the longest win streak in the series for the Rebels.

UNMs longest win streak against UNLV was four in a row from Jan. 7, 1978, through Feb. 23, 1979.

The Lobos had three shot clock violations in Saturdays game.

The Guesses went 3-1 on Saturday and Im now at 18-18-1 on the season.

With my daughters coin flip picks going just 1-3 on the day, shes now 17-19-1, which means for the first time this season IM BEATING HER!

Yes, the college hoops writer who is an AP Top 25 voter, on the Julius Erving Award selection committee, has in the past been on the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Board of Directors and makes a living off this whole college basketball thing is happy that, for the first time this season, he has a better record than his coin flipping daughter!

Sorry, not sorry.

Take that, #TeamCoin!

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Emptying the Notebook: What happened to the Lobos finding chemistry? - Albuquerque Journal

For nearly a century the firm of Teal & Mackrill in the port city of Hull in northeast England has made paints for special applications, like fishing trawlers and factory floors. It produces marine paint, for example, with ingredients to prevent barnacles from encrusting hulls.

Now in a little-noticed consequence of the new Brexit trade deal, the company is facing real concerns about its future. Geoff Mackrill, the third member of his family to helm the company, said that growing British regulatory burdens on chemicals may mean that eventually he wont be able to obtain some of the additives that make his paints distinctive.

The worry is that some of those materials that we use, he said, may become unavailable because of those costs.

It is a concern that is spread across Britains 33 billion (or about $45 billion) a year chemical industry.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, when he announced the trade deal on Dec. 24, said Britain would now be free to set our own standards, to innovate in the way that we want. Business people like Mr. Mackrill were relieved that Britain had avoided a chaotic exit and that goods made in Britain could continue to cross over to Europe free of tariffs.

But some companies, notably in the chemical industry, are finding that business has become more complex rather than easier. The European Unions elaborate and burdensome regulations may no longer apply inside Britain, but they remain a fact of life for British firms like Mr. Mackrills that wish to continue selling their goods in Europe.

Adding to the burden, the British government is creating its own demanding set of chemical regulations, a mirror of the E.U. laws. An industry group said the cost to chemical businesses of recreating the European regulations, which requires extensive documentation, could reach as much as 1 billion, potentially a major burden on small firms and those with thin earnings margins.

The regulatory changes, plus the fact that chemicals can have long supply chains, have led some businesses to rethink their activities in Britain.

Before Brexit, Aston Chemicals, a firm based in Aylesbury, about 50 miles northwest of London, imported chemicals from around the globe, performed the necessary paperwork, paid any import duty, and then dispatched them by the truckload to European makers of moisturizers or dandruff shampoos.

Using Britain as a hub worked incredibly well, said Dani Loughran, the companys managing director. But after Brexit, it doesnt.

Trucks in Britain bound for Europe now face lengthy customs procedures at the border. And while British-made goods can still enter the European Union duty free, thats not the case for goods that originated elsewhere.

So, an importer like Aston Chemicals needs to pay tariffs on products made in the United States or Asia, and then again when it distributes them to the European Union, effectively doubling the rates, Ms. Loughran said.

Consequently, the company will now instead supply Europe from a base in Poland, a member of the European Union. It has cut its British warehouse staff from three to one.

These new obstacles arent just a drag for the chemical industry.

I think everyone who has been using the U.K. as a distribution center for Europe is going to be affected in the same way, Ms. Loughran said. They are going to find it very difficult from now on.

The shift will leave Ms. Loughrans British arm mainly catering to the local market but even that prospect has a regulatory cloud hanging over it.

She is accustomed to working with the European Unions chemical regulation system known as REACH, which has a reputation for strictness. Companies are required to submit lengthy files on each chemical substance that they supply inside the European Union, detailing its properties and uses as well as the potential risks and hazards, to the European Chemical Agency, based in Helsinki. Ms. Loughran said REACH was a headache, which we dreaded and cursed, but at least it covered the whole trading bloc including Britain.

But the chemical industry had hoped that, after Brexit, Britain and the European Union would continue sharing data filed under REACH, but that language did not make it into Decembers deal.

Companies now face the prospect of making voluminous and largely duplicate filings on the chemicals they want to sell in Britain with a newly created British agency, UK REACH. The fees charged and the work required in reconstructing data on product safety and other matters, which is expected to take several years, could eventually add up to 1 billion, according to estimates from the Chemical Industries Association, a British trade body.

A company cant simply cut and paste statements and files that have been previously lodged with the European regulator because, in many cases, the filings are full of commercially sensitive intellectual property belonging to other firms.

Stephen Elliott, the industry groups chief executive, said chemical firms operating in Britain could be forced to replicate almost word for word the submissions they have already made to the European regulator.

That is a pointless use of resource, he said.

Mr. Elliott said that the industry continued to lobby the government to agree to accept the filings it has already made under REACH, but said that at this point such an outcome looked like a tall order because of the governments aversion to relying on European regulation.

Executives say it makes little sense for chemical companies to incur similar regulatory costs to those of the European Union to sell products in Britain, whose economy is around one-seventh the size of that of the European Union. Industry executives also doubt that the British chemical agency will have sufficient staff and resources to measure up to its European counterpart, which employs around 600 people.

The combination of Brexit and UK REACH regulations isnt very helpful when companies are considering where to site new investment, said Paul Hodges, chairman of New Normal Consulting, a firm that focuses on chemicals. In other words, new investment may go elsewhere.

A souring of the chemical industry on Britain would be a blow to the post-Brexit economy. Chemicals may not be as visible as some other industries, but these substances are integral to a wide range of products, including cars and shampoo. It is a major business in Britain that accounts for a hefty 9 percent of exports, with almost 60 percent going to the European Union, and employs about 94,000 people, according to government statistics.

One worry is that firms will decide that supplying some chemicals that earn low profit margins or sell in small quantities, like the ingredients Mr. Mackrill buys for his paints, is no longer worthwhile. So far the leaders of the industry are taking a wait-and-see approach, though they look askance at new red tape and costs in Britain.

BASF, the German chemical giant, which sells around 1,200 substances in Britain, estimates that UK REACH could cost the company 70 million.

If the costs of bringing products to the U.K. market rise to make them uneconomic, we are not going to do it and make a loss, said Geoff Mackey, director of communications and sustainability at BASF in Britain.

Smaller British companies, though, are more likely to feel the impact. If they want to continue to be serious players, they need to sell to Europe and stay in line with European regulation, they say.

Mr. Mackrill has already felt obligated to set up a company in the Netherlands to comply with the rules of the European Union, where he sends around 10 percent of his products. He also has up to two people working full time on the regulatory implications of Brexit, a drain on the resources of a firm with 70 employees.

Mr. Mackrill, who is now executive chairman of his company, seems confident that a company that has been around since the early 20th century can navigate the Brexit shoals, but he says others may judge that the easiest course is to
move their operations to the giant market next door.

Some of the manufacturers will probably look at it and go, Why dont we manufacture that in Europe?, Mr. Mackrill said. Thats not good for U.K. PLC, he said, meaning British business.

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For Britain's Chemical Industry, Brexits Red Tape Is Just Beginning - The New York Times

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who directs the universitys Micro/Nano Engineering Laboratory and its Solid-State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion Center, was arrested on 14 January for allegedly failing to report his ties to the Chinese government and grant fraud. Gang Chen has been charged with wire fraud, as well as not filing a report on his foreign bank account in China and making a false statement in a tax return, which together carries a jail sentence of up to 30 years and $750,000 in fines.

Chen worked at MIT for about 20 years and his research has received more than $19 million (14 million) in funding from federal agencies since 2003, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Chen, a naturalised US citizen who was born in China, has also apparently held contracts with the Chinese government since 2012, including acting as an overseas expert, serving as a member of at least two Chinese talent programmes which aim to recruit science and technology experts from western universities and research institutes to work for China and serving as an expert with the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Overall, Chen has allegedly received about $29 million of foreign funding, including $19 million from the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in China, since 2013. In addition, the DOJ says he filled several advisory roles for the Chinese government and entities in China from at least 2017 to 2019.

Furthermore, Chen applied for and obtained a grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to finance part of his research at MIT, and allegedly failed to disclose these ongoing affiliations to the agency, as he was required.

In a letter to the MIT community on the day of Chens arrest, the universitys president, Rafael Reif, called him a widely respected scholar, teacher and member of our faculty. For those who know Chen, Reif said, the news is surprising, deeply distressing and hard to understand.

MIT also issued a statement saying it was deeply distressed by Chens arrest. MIT believes the integrity of research is a fundamental responsibility, and we take seriously concerns about improper influence in US research, the university said. Prof. Chen is a long-serving and highly respected member of the research community, which makes the governments allegations against him all the more distressing, MIT continued. We are not able to offer any further information related to the governments complaint at this time.

Meanwhile, Yi Rao a Chinese neurobiologist who is currently at Peking University but studied in the US and held various positions at US universities before returning to China more than a decade ago has written to Reif and MIT chancellor Maria Zuber to protest Chens arrest. He called the action nothing but thinly veiled racism, and warned that if MIT doesnt support Chen then the university will be implicated in one of the worst cases of academic racism in the 21st century. Rao went on say that such associations with China are very normal in academia, and that Chens connection with the SUSTech was known to both Reif and Zuber.

Further, he called the charge that Chen did not disclose his associations with Chinese entities on his DOE grant application ridiculous, suggesting that none of them were related to the particular research in the research proposal.

The matter goes beyond MIT. Researchers at US institutions with ties to China are increasingly being targeted, not only by the DOJ but also by the State Department and the universities themselves. Last year, the head of Harvard Universitys chemistry department, Charles Lieber, was arrested over his undisclosed ties to the Chinese governments Thousand Talents programme. The Wuhan University of Technology in China apparently paid him a monthly salary of $50,000, on top of living expenses of approximately $158,000, and also awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab there.

Read the original:
MIT nanotechnologist arrested for hiding his ties to China - Chemistry World

The Denver Nuggets have thrived during Michael Porter Jr.'s extended Covid-19 absence. With Porter ... [+] potentially returning this week, questions loom about his reintegration into the rotation, beginning with whether he'll start or come off the bench.

After the Denver Nuggets completed their most successful playoff run since 2009 last year by reaching the Western Conference Finals, ambitions were sky high coming into the current season.

Head coach Michael Malone didnt hedge in summing up the teams expectations prior to Denvers regular season opener. Obviously our goal...we haven't attained our goal yet. That's to win a championship, he explained, and from the coaching staff to the players to management, the message was clear from all corners of the Nuggets organization: They believe themselves a genuine title contender, and their goal is nothing short of a ring.

But with Denver getting off to their worst start in six years, the disappointment set in quickly as they managed to win just one of their first five games. Even for a team expecting a few bumps on the road following a significant offseason roster shakeup, getting that deep in the hole so quickly fell far below the expectations of an aspiring title contender.

Making matters worse, the Nuggets talented rising star sophomore Michael Porter Jr. who had just gotten the nod as Denvers starting small forward had to begin a seven-day quarantine after playing only the first four games of the season due to the NBAs health and safety protocols.

And that inauspicious development marked just the beginning of a still-unfolding situation which progressed from the announcement of a second quarantine of at least 10 days to be added to the initial seven-day period, to Malones eventual confirmation last Tuesday prior to Denvers game at the Brooklyn Nets that Porter has in fact contracted COIVID-19.

While Porter has been sidelined, Malone has mostly wanted to sideline discussion of his return as well, though he acknowledged following yesterdays practice that he could be back as early as this week.

Ill be honest, I havent spent a lot of time thinking about that, Malone said when asked about reintroducing Porter back into Denvers rotation. I think the earliest hell be able to get back is as we head out on that nine-day, five-game road trip. The hope is that he may be able to join us as we leave for Phoenix. But that is not a definite. Well have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Denver has in large part righted the ship since their rocky start despite Porters untimely absence, most recently beating the Golden State Warriors at home at Ball Arena to even their record at .500 with their sixth win. In a season when head coach Michael Malone has beaten the drum at nearly every opportunity that the Nuggets need to play well for the full 48 minutes and cant take quarters off, it was one of their most complete wins, and one that helps solidify a growing sense that Denver is a team which has finally found its footing.

From the seasons opening tip-off, the Nuggets faced two major challenges to getting on track. First, the replacement of free agent departees and former key rotation players Jerami Grant, Mason Plumlee and Torrey Craig with seven new draft and free agency additions represented Denvers biggest roster shakeup in years after several seasons of having one of the leagues highest player continuity rates.

The other, and arguably even more critical factor Denver would need to adapt to was the insertion of Porter into the starting lineup. The was a precarious move by Malone on a number of fronts, beginning before the season even started with the insistence by last seasons starting small forward Will Barton III that he is a starter in this league raising doubts as to whether he would accept a role coming off the bench.

Porter getting sidelined after four games did carry the somewhat convenient side effect of bumping the question of roles to the back burner by allowing Barton to resume his starting position (for now). But the absence also comes at great opportunity cost to the Nuggets, as making progress on solving one of the most critical puzzles the team faces this season how to more fully and smoothly integrate Porter into the starting lineup alongside Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic must be put on hold until his return.

One of the biggest keys to the Nuggets finding their footing after those early struggles was the bench unit where nearly all of Denvers new player minutes are concentrated finally establishing cohesion, chemistry and a defensive identity. According to NBA.com, that reserve unit has been seventh in the league in net rating at plus-4.1 through the month of January, an impressive and dramatic upswing from a December in which they were 24th with a minus-4.3 net rating.

Denver Nuggets 2020-21 Starters and Bench Net Rating Games 1-4 vs Games 5-12.

The chart above shows the difference between the first four games in which Michael Porter Jr. played and the most recent eight games where he did not.

It should be emphasized at this point that the numbers in the chart are not presented to suggest that the Nuggets have played better recently because Porter has been missing games. For one thing correlation doesnt necessarily imply causation, for another were dealing with very small samples, and for one more still Porter was in the starting lineup and not part of the more-problematic reserve unit early on.

And well beyond those factors, there are truckloads of more reasons Denver struggled early, from JaMychal Green missing the beginning of the season to several players playing poorly to a drastically shortened training camp and preseason depriving the team of time to integrate their new players. There are many good reasons to think that the Nuggets would have found their way to bouncing back from their poor start had Porter continued playing as well. And on the flip side of that, while there are certainly questions especially on the defensive end about the impact of Porters return, there

But with all of those disclaimers duly noted, the improvements shown in the chart are in fact descriptive of what has happened so far, and a clear indication of just how much f a turnaround Denver made after those first few games, a success which both the starting lineup and the bench have managed to achieve in Porters absence.

Which raises the question: Now that the Nuggets have established some functional, effective combinations in both their bench and starting units, what will be the impact of Michael Porter Jr.s return to the rotation, and more to the point, will Malone re-insert him into the starting lineup, or try to integrate him with the reserves?

In a vacuum, the coaching staffs preference might be to hang a do not disturb sign on both the current starting five and bench rotation, as each unit has found a way to thrive in recent games.

The old-school, well-established five-man starting group of Jokic, Murray, Barton, Gary Harris and Paul Millsap (with the exception of Harris missing the last two games) which played the bulk of last season has settled into functioning like the well-oiled machine they can be at their most optimal. And while both Harris and Barton have faced shooting struggles (they are in the 46th and 33rd percentiles, respectively, in effective field goal percentage for their positions according to Cleaning the Glass), the prospect of re-introducing Porter into that mix carries the potential risk of disrupting that smooth-functioning chemistry.

Likewise, with the bench unit having just overcome its early woes to have reached a high-functioning level of play in recent games, disturbing what might be a somewhat delicate balance by plugging Porter into the reserve rotation could derail at least some of the progress they have made, especially on the defensive end where Porters weaknesses tend to be concentrated.

But obviously Michael Malone obviously can not and should not avoid playing Porter. As one of Denvers top thr
ee most talented players, one with All-Star if not All-NBA upside and arguably the Nuggets best hope for becoming the legitimate third prong of a big three carrying the team through playoff runs, a more fully-optimized and integrated Porter is intrinsic and indispensable to both short- and long-term success for the team.

As to whether Malone plans to insert Porter with the starters or bench, the coach has not yet tipped his hand.

Well figure Michael Porter out when hes cleared and ready to come back, Malone said following yesterdays practice. And well feel, How are we playing, how is our unit going? And well make the appropriate decision at that time.

Easing Porter back in through the bench rotation seems like the most plausible outcome at this point, and if thats the case his impact on their defensive effectiveness will be the key factor to watch for.

But whether its to the bench or the starting five, Porters return, challenging as it may be, will be extremely welcome to a team that still struggles with getting consistent production from most players no named Jokic, and is facing the rigors of an upcoming five-game road trip where a deep bench will be critical to reducing playing time and fatigue, and his scoring and rebounding production will be badly needed.

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Denver Nuggets Finding Chemistry In Michael Porter Jr.s Covid-19 Absence, But What Happens When He Returns? - Forbes

Commentary

The Boston Celtics put together their worst performance of the season on Sunday, falling 105-75 to the New York Knicks as Kemba Walker made his season debut.

Here are five takeaways from a game the Celtics would probably prefer to forget.

One element of Walkers return that probably merits some attention is his chemistry with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Last season, Walker slid into a tertiary role during the postseason, but he never appeared to be moving well and his role made a lot of sense.

Now Walker looks healthy and told reporters after the game hes pain-free. When the rust falls away (he committed five of Bostons 17 turnovers), he will shoulder a major role in the Celtics offense again he started last years All-Star game and was an All-NBA selection two years ago. That offense will a big boost for a Celtics team that has missed Gordon Haywards production.

The Celtics have thrived with the ball in Jaylen Browns hands. Per Cleaning the Glass, Browns usage rate has been 28.2 percent so far this season a career-high by a significant amount. Trusted with more, Brown has done more: 25.8 points with shooting splits of 53.7/41.9/80.

Clearly, the Celtics need to keep the ball in Browns hands, and Walker doesnt foresee any issues.

None. None at all, Walker said. He just has to keep on being super aggressive, and thats it. With me, Im going to be out there and Im going to do my part. Im going to play hard, Im going to shoot my open shots. Hes killing it. I dont want him to think just because Im back he cant keep killing it, because he can. Thats what Im here for. Im here to continue to encourage him just to be great, which hes been all year. I just want to try to add onto it. Thats it.

Walker went down hard in the third quarter after taking a shot to the ribs, and he briefly went back to the locker room. After assuring Brad Stevens he was fine (and that he wasnt lying), Walker still didnt return to the floor due to his 20-minute limit.

After the game, Walker said he wasnt certain how long he would have restrictions, but he felt great.

Im going to be honest, I hope its over next game, he said. But Im sure its going to be for a few games. Im just getting back. We just want to see how my knee reacts after these games and stuff like that. Itll ramp up though. Ill get there. Its no rush. I already took my time coming back and Im going to keep taking my time until Im full go.

You can start with the counting stats for the Celtics and run nearly the entire way down the line. The Celtics shot 29.8 percent from the floor, 15.2 percent from three, and 62.1 percent from the free-throw line. Two players scored in double figures, one of whom Marcus Smart had 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting. They turned the ball over 17 times and gave up 10 offensive rebounds. The Knicks outscored the Celtics 48-32 in the paint and 38-25 from the bench.

Dig a little deeper, and the numbers are even worse. Per Sean Grande of 98.5, Bostons 29.8 percent performance was its in 17 years. The 37-point deficit Boston achieved in the fourth quarter, meanwhile, was its largest at TD Garden since the Celtics 53-point loss to Detroit in 2003.

They just played way harder than us, Daniel Theis said. They really whipped our ass from the first minute. Throwing the ball all over the place, we had so many turnovers, we couldnt hit a shot. So were going to look at film, but then its just moving on. Youre going to have nights like this, but hopefully its just one night or two in the whole season. We can live with it if we learn from it, and go next game, and just play way harder, play our way again.

The Celtics could use Jayson Tatum and Rob Williams against the Philadelphia 76ers, but Stevens doesnt know whether either will be available yet. Based on their quarantine schedules, Wednesday is the earliest both could potentially return.

Thatll all be dependent on how the next few days go, Stevens said. Everybodys got their own different testing protocols they have to go through and the timeline that they have to be on. So I dont know what to expect for Wednesday night. Well just play it by ear and go with the information we get every morning.

However, the Celtics might not even have to travel by Wednesday. The Sixers game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday was postponed, as Philly was forced to quarantine due to contact tracing. Per Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice, the Sixers have no positive tests to report, but they played the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, who played Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves on Wednesday. Towns recently tested positive for COVID.

An afternoon tip with two players missing due to COVID against a lottery team in mid-January is a recipe for a trap game. Add in the new element of Walker, as well as New Yorks recent struggles, and Sundays result isnt surprising.

None of that excuses the loss, of course, and the Celtics didnt ask for excuses. The point is just that Sundays game while ugly and presumably embarrassing for the Celtics probably doesnt warrant panic.

We got beat by a team that was better than us today, Stevens said. Thats the beautiful part about basketball. Youre good if you play good in that 48 minutes. Thats it, thats all that matters in a given game.

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5 takeaways as the Knicks crush the Celtics, including Kemba Walkers chemistry with Jaylen Brown - Boston.com

A new chemical probe glows in the presence of a bacterial enzyme that contributes to antibiotic resistance. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin

In the perpetual arms races between bacteria and human-made antibiotics, there is a new tool to give human medicine the edge, in part by revealing bacterial weaknesses and potentially by leading to more targeted or new treatments for bacterial infections.

A research team led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin has developed chemical probes to help identify an enzyme, produced by some types of E. coli and pneumococcal bacteria, known to break down several common types of antibiotics, making these bacteria dangerously resistant to treatment.

In response to antibiotic treatment, bacteria have evolved various mechanisms to resist that treatment, and one of those is to make enzymes that basically chew up the antibiotics before they can do their job, said Emily Que, assistant professor of chemistry and one of the leading researchers on the team. The type of tool we developed gives us critical information that could keep us one step ahead of deadly bacteria.

In a paper published online on May 26, 2021, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers zeroed in on the threat posed by the bacterial enzyme called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM). They set out to create a molecule that glows when it comes into contact with the NDM enzyme. When these chemical probes are added to a test tube, they bind to the enzyme and glow. Such a tool could be used to alert doctors to what kind of bacterial threat is affecting their patients and tell them which antibiotics to use.

NDM breaks down antibiotics in the penicillin, cephalosporin and carbapenem classes, which are some of the safest and most effective treatments for bacterial infections. Other classes of antibiotics exist, but they may carry more side effects, have more drug interactions and may be less available in some parts of the world.

In addition to indicating the presence of the NDM enzyme, the florescent chemical probe developed by Que and Walt Fast, a professor of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, may help find a different way to combat these resistant bacteria. One treatment option that doctors use with resistant bacteria is to combine common antibiotics and an inhibitor. Although there is no known clinically effective inhibitor for NDM-producing bacteria, Ques probe could help find one.

Once the probe has bound to the enzyme and begun to glow, if an effective inhibitor is introduced, it will knock the probe loose and the glow would stop. This allows scientists to test a high volume of potential drugs very quicklyresearch Que and Fast hope to continue in the future.

This allows us to work towards developing therapies and eventually understanding evolutionary characteristics of such proteins, said Radhika Mehta, a recent UT Austin doctoral graduate and lead author on the paper. Mehta is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Merchant Lab at the University of California, Berkeley.

The study also examined a process called nutritional immunity, which comes from the human bodys production of proteins in response to an infection. The proteins snatch up all the available metals in the body, such as the zinc required to make NDM, rendering the bacteria more susceptible to attack.

The evolution of this bacteria since its discovery in 2008 indicates that not only is it developing antibiotic resistance, its attempting to combat this natural human immune process. Thats particularly scary, Que said.

Ques probe can also be used to study nutritional immunity and NDM because it will glow only in the presence of the zinc needed to form the enzyme.

Reference: Visualizing the Dynamic Metalation State of New Delhi Metallo--lactamase-1 in Bacteria Using a Reversible Fluorescent Probe by Radhika Mehta, Dann D. Rivera, David J. Reilley, Dominique Tan, Pei W. Thomas, Abigail Hinojosa, Alesha C. Stewart, Zishuo Cheng, Caitlyn A. Thomas, Michael W. Crowder, Anastassia N. Alexandrova, Walter Fast and Emily L. Que, 26 May 2021, Journal of the American Chemical Society.DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c00290

Radhika Mehta, Dann D. Rivera, Dominique Tan, Pei W. Thomas, Abigail Hinojosa, Alesha C. Stewart and Walter Fast of The University of Texas at Austin; David J. Reilley and Anastassia N. Alexandrova of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Zishuo Cheng, Caitlyn A. Thomas and Michael W. Crowder of Miami University also contributed to the research. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Robert A. Welch Foundation.

Continue reading here:
A Glowing New Weapon in the Fight Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria - SciTechDaily

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Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalals papped PHOTOS prove their chemistry is 10 on 10; Take a look

As only a few days for Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalals wedding, here are a few pictures of them clicked by the paparazzi which prove they share a great bond with each other.

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Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan is all set to tie the knot with his childhood sweetheart Natasha Dalal on January 24 at Alibaug. They are going to have an intimate wedding ceremony in presence of their family members and closed friends. In 2018, on Karan Johars chat show, Varun admitted to be dating Natasha for the first time. He told in a statement, "I am dating her and we are a couple. I plan to marry her." Time and again Varun and Natasha have proved that they are one of the most-loved couples in Bollywood. However, now a close source to the Dhawans has revealed to use that their wedding is going to be a five days affair. A day before leaving for Alibaug, the Coolie No 1 actors family will visit bride-to-be Natasha Dalals Juhu residence with jewellery, gifts, sweets and a red-coloured saree or lehenga-choli, along with a red chunni. This ceremony is known as chunni chadana, in which the chunni will be placed over the head of the bride-to-be by her to-be mother-in-law. As the D-day of the lovebirds is almost knocking at the door, here are a few pictures of them clicked by the paparazzi which prove their 10/10 chemistry. Check out the pictures below:

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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Varun and Natasha look stunning in most of the pictures. Earlier, during an interview with a magazine, Varuns ladylove Natasha had revealed that they started dating just before she went abroad for studies.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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They both believed in each other. On Kareena Kapoors radio show, Varun revealed that Natasha had rejected him 3-4 times but he kept pursuing her without giving up. And now years later they are going to take their relations to a next level.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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Varun Dhawan refrained from speaking about his relationship with Natasha Dalal for the longest time.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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Natasha can be of seen accompanying the love of her life Varun on different occasions. They look absolutely perfect together.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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Earlier, in an interview with Filmfare, Varun said, She has known my parents since ages. Shes been attending functions with my parents before also but it wasnt photographed then. Shes my rock, shes my anchor. Shes the stabilising factor in my life. Its pretty much like family.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

Read more:
Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalals papped PHOTOS prove their chemistry is 10 on 10; Take a look - PINKVILLA

It seems Abhishek Nigam and Yesha Rughani are not only raising eyebrows with their chemistry on screen. The young actors who are paired opposite each other in 'Hero Gayab Mode On' also extend that chemistry off screen on the shooting sets. Says Abhishek, "The chemistry that we share on sets is certainly special and I couldnt be happier to have her as my co-star. The scenes that we have shot till date are mostly comic or romantic and we feel audiences like our jodi. I like her friendly, gentle and sweet nature."And it seems the admiration is mutual as Yesha too finds Abhishek "caring". She adds, "Abhishek and I are really comfortable with each other. It has been wonderful working with him right from the first day we met during the mock shoot. We instantly built a connection, which is still growing as we continue to spend more time together. I really appreciate his knowledge and dedication. He always does everything with a smile. This is something that I truly like and appreciate about him. We are busy making memories during shoot and he is really caring towards his co-actors. We have done several scenes together especially wearing harness and he has always ensured my safety and is protective towards me which is really heartwarming.While Abhishek is caring towards Yesha, he also admits to playing some of the biggest pranks on her. "I play pranks on Yesha the most but she too does that in return. She has ended up shouting at the top of her voice, it is real fun troubling and teasing her," laughs Abhishek recalling a prank she pulled on him on Diwali. "She burst crackers in front of my door and I was so scared for sometime."

See original here:
Abhishek Nigam confesses he shares special chemistry with Yesha Rughani - Times of India

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the periodic table of elements and how it relates chemical properties to an elements position in the table. Its predictive applications and its ability to teach us some of the principles behind chemical transformations are far-reaching and cannot be overestimated.

At the same time, chemical reactivity is much more nuanced than might be gleaned by looking at the rows and periods of Mendeleevs venerable classification. For example, carbon participates in an overwhelmingly diverse set of chemical transformations, yet relatively little can be concluded about carbons context-dependent reactivity by looking at the periodic table alone. So what is the most appropriate means to classify organic transformations?

The prevailing approach, prescribed by most textbooks, centres on functional groups. This method builds on sameness and categorises reactions based on the expected reactivity of atoms in particular environments. But this classification is not optimally conducive to predicting reaction outcomes and establishing the mechanism by which they proceed. While modern theoretical methods based on quantum mechanics are demonstrably appropriate at suggesting detailed ab initio explanations to countless molecular-level phenomena, there might be benefits to a simple structure-driven formalism that builds on reactivitys foundation: the driving force that is needed to run energetically uphill steps. Securing an appropriate match between the driving force and the reactive intermediate that needs to be created or channelled in a particular direction is what chemical reactivity is all about.1

At first, the driving force concept appears straightforward: favoured processes either minimise enthalpy or maximise entropy (or both). But the driving force is anything but an easy concept to understand. Try asking a colleague about how many types of driving forces they know. It is not a simple question. The usual suspects might include strain release, formation of strong bonds and the like, but the answer will be dwarfed by the overwhelming number of documented chemical transformations and their reasons to exist. Even if we had an exhaustive list of all driving forces imaginable, their actual utility would be limited. This is because, in order to benefit from a driving force, one first needs to cross a kinetic barrier. This is why, despite its universal appeal, driving force remains one of the most intangible and abstract concepts in chemistry. While the notion of the driving force is being used and misused all the time, it is not always possible to apply this concept to address chemistry challenges in a logical way.

Try asking a colleague about how many types of driving forces they know

What could help to rationalise chemical reactivity would be to categorise the known driving forces and uphill steps for comparative purposes. One particular embodiment of this way of thinking does exist. In electrochemistry, standard electrode potentials help to find productive combinations of reductants and oxidants based on thermodynamic arguments from electrochemical half-reactions. These numerical values show how easy or difficult it is for a given species to undergo electron transfer. While the experimentally measured and tabulated values for electrode potentials are useful, they are limited to electron transfer processes that involve charged intermediates on electrode surfaces. What if instead of electrode potential, we consider the broader concept of chemical potential and apply it to mechanism-driven organic chemistry? This sounds appealing but, in practice, chemical potential has not been meaningful for practitioners of organic chemistry because it is not apparent how to apply it in rationalising reactivity.

The prevailing approach, prescribed by most textbooks, centres on functional groups. But this classification is not optimally conducive to predicting reaction outcomes and establishing the mechanism by which they proceed. While modern theoretical methods based on quantum mechanics can suggest detailed ab initio explanations to countless molecular-level phenomena, there might be benefits to a simple structure-driven formalism that builds on reactivitys foundation: the driving force that is needed to run energetically uphill steps. Securing an appropriate match between the driving force and the reactive intermediate that needs to be created is what chemical reactivity is all about.1

At first, the driving force concept appears straightforward: favoured processes either minimise enthalpy or maximise entropy (or both). But the driving force is anything but an easy concept to understand. Try asking a colleague about how many types of driving forces they know. The usual suspects might include strain release, formation of strong bonds and the like, but the answer will be dwarfed by the overwhelming number of documented chemical transformations and their reasons to exist. Even if we had an exhaustive list of all driving forces imaginable, their actual utility would be limited. This is because, in order to benefit from a driving force, one first needs to cross a kinetic barrier.

What could help to rationalise chemical reactivity would be to categorise the known driving forces and uphill steps for comparative purposes. One particular embodiment of this way of thinking already exists. In electrochemistry, standard electrode potentials help to find productive combinations of reductants and oxidants based on thermodynamic arguments from electrochemical half-reactions. These numerical values show how easy or difficult it is for a given species to undergo electron transfer. While the experimentally measured and tabulated values for electrode potentials are useful, they are limited to electron transfer processes that involve charged intermediates on electrode surfaces. What if instead of electrode potential, we consider the broader concept of chemical potential and apply it to mechanism-driven organic chemistry? This sounds appealing but, in practice, chemical potential has not been meaningful for practitioners of organic chemistry because it is not apparent how to rationalise reactivity using this concept.

What is lacking is a classification of available driving forces and their matches with appropriate uphill steps. A particularly attractive proposition would be to find new and previously underappreciated correspondence between endergonic and exergonic elementary reactions. I propose that we consider each endergonic or exergonic step as a synthetic half-reaction (SHR), similar to electrochemical half-reactions. SHRs can then be linked if they have matching higher-energy states, corresponding to ionic and radical intermediates or out-of-equilibrium conformations that help drive reactions. This builds on a reasonable assumption that the energetic benefits of the driving force must operate in the area of the molecule where chemical heavy lifting causes a chemical transformation. I refer to such instances as spatioenergetic matches.2

It stands to reason that only some matches between synthetic half-reactions would be productive or interesting. While many of these combinations might correspond to already established processes, I suspect that there will be instances that have not received prior attention and experimental verification. The possibility to find new reactions by understanding how half-reactions can be spatioenergetically matched with one other is an enticing proposition. On a pedagogical level, this way of thinking might encourage new ideas and expand students horizons away from the driving force usual suspects.

There is presently no way to comprehensively evaluate productive combinations of driving forces and their cognate uphill steps. Indeed, search engines such as Reaxys and SciFinder do not offer an opportunity to evaluate higher energy states. I propose creating a continually expanding knowledge base of SHRs. The time is right for the emergence of a system that will allow intuitive understanding of the relationships
between reactive intermediates and other high energy states. This knowledge base should stand as a worthy complement to the periodic table of elements.

While the half-reaction idea should be intuitively clear to any organic chemist, there is presently no way to comprehensively evaluate productive combinations of driving forces and their cognate uphill steps. Indeed, search engines such as Reaxys and SciFinder do not offer an opportunity to evaluate higher energy states. I propose creating a continually expanding knowledge base of SHRs. The time is right for the emergence of a system that will allow understanding of the relationships between reactive intermediates and other high energy states. This knowledge base should stand as a worthy complement to the periodic table of elements.

Read the original post:
Space, energy and synthetic half-reactions | Opinion - Chemistry World

By analysing samples to verify countries declarations of nuclear material, Urska Repinc, an Analytical Chemist, contributes to the IAEAs mission to verify the peaceful use of nuclear material an activity known as nuclear safeguards.

I feel privileged to work at the IAEA, and I have a strong sense of responsibility for the results we report. This position allows me to use my knowledge, skills and abilities in a challenging way, says Repinc.

Repinc works in the IAEA Office of Safeguards Analytical Laboratories, which comprises two laboratories: the Nuclear Material Laboratory (NML) and the Environmental Sample Laboratory (ESL). Both laboratories analyse samples collected by IAEA inspectors in the field. The NML, where she works, analyses uranium and plutonium samples to verify nuclear material declarations, while the ESL mainly analyses cotton swipe samples to verify the absence of undeclared nuclear material.

Urska supports the work in almost all of the laboratory areas in NML, and she assists the other analysts in the treatment and measurement of nuclear material samples, said Steven Balsley, Director of the Office of Safeguards Analytical Services, IAEA. The NML is a center of excellence for the treatment, chemical processing, and measurement of nuclear material samples.

Hailing from the town of Idrija, Slovenia, Repinc studied radiochemistry at the Jozef Stefan Institute (JSI), in the capital Ljubljana. It was there that Repinc began her work on uranium analysis.

The way she undertook training and her research work from the very start, we realized she was a very talented analytical chemist and determined to achieve the best results, said Milena Horvat, Repincs former senior colleague and current Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences at JSI.

Following advice from her colleagues in Ljubljana, Repinc visited Austria for technical training on the analysis of uranium at the IAEA before joining the European Commissions Joint Research Centre in Karlsruhe, Germany, for post-doctoral research. Using uranium again, Repinc investigated the elements ability to aid research for cancer therapy treatments.

Working with radioactive isotopes became more complicated, however, when Repinc started a family. As a radiologically exposed worker, health and safety regulations require the reporting of a pregnancy immediately. The reactions of some disappointed her, perceiving pregnancy as a potential career-stopper.

I believe family is important. It should not be considered a disadvantage to pause your career for family reasons, said Repinc. In science, its often challenging to be at the top level while meeting familial commitments.

To overcome this challenge, Repinc looked for a position that allowed her to meet both commitments: family and career. Her qualifications and experience proved ideally-suited for her position at the IAEA. Twelve years after her first visit to the laboratories, Repinc returned this time as a member of the Safeguards team. As a hard-working and talented professional, Repinc managed to find the right chemistry between family and career.

The Agency has established fellowships and training programmes to increase the participation of women and youth in nuclear science. Such opportunities include the Safeguards Traineeship, and the new Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme which recently awarded fellowships to 100 female students from around the world. These efforts also support the Agencys commitment to achieve gender parity 50 percent women and 50 percent men at all levels of professional and higher categories by 2025.

Read more about the IAEAs focus on gender equality.

Originally posted here:
Finding the Right Chemistry: Balancing Family and Nuclear Safeguards - International Atomic Energy Agency

It has been nearly a month since the Nets pulled off the megadeal for James Harden, but the team still hasnt been able to fully realize its Big 3.

From injuries to quarantine to personal leave, Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have averaged just over a start per week together. They havent played together since an impressive Feb. 2 win over the Clippers, but the trio hopes to be reunited Saturday, when Durant is expected to make his return to Golden State.

The terrific trio have looked good on the court together (theyre 4-1 as starters), but the Nets are waiting for the day when they look truly great like the superteam they bargained for.

[Harden] is in a much better shape than when he got here; hell probably get in better condition as the season goes, as well, coach Steve Nash said. Its funny. [Its been] four weeks already, Kevin and Kai and James have played 5 games, if you include the Raptors game, together.

So its kind of astonishing to have him for a month and theyve only played five [starts] together, or 5 games. So lots of time [left], but weve got to get going here and get all three of them on the court and our complete roster going, and try to build and continually improve even if its small margins, small improvements. If we keep getting better, weve got a chance to be a special team.

The Nets agreed to the Harden deal Jan. 13, and he debuted three days later. But at that point Irving was still out following a personal leave and the ensuing quarantine.

Then they lost Durant to his second contact-tracing incident of the season, which forced another weeklong quarantine. Hes expected back when the Nets tip off a five-game Western swing with his return to the Bay Area for Saturdays game.

He gives the team confidence. Hes obviously one of the best players in the history of the game, but for our team, he gives us confidence. The guys look to him, Nash said. Whether he has the ball in his hands or doesnt, hes an important part of what were trying to do.

The Nets are 3-0 with the Big 3 starting along with Joe Harris and DeAndre Jordan. Theyre 1-0 with the trio starting with Harris and stretch-5 Jeff Green, and 0-1 using a big lineup with both Jordan and Green.

They suffered a disjointed loss to the Raptors when Durant was scratched before tipoff for contact tracing, then logged 19 minutes and finally was yanked off the court when the person he had been in contact with tested positive for COVID-19.

The Big 3 have logged 164:38 together over six games, with the Nets a plus-18 in that stretch. But theyve lived up to their billing as fourth-quarter closers.

The Nets are a stellar plus-24 in the 41 minutes Durant, Harden and Irving have logged together over five games. Their net rating is 28.9, and their offensive rating is 148.2, the best of any trio that has played at least 40 minutes together.

Still, they can get better as Harden not only gets in better shape, but also gets more aggressive both in communicating defensively and asserting himself while Durant and Irving are on court.

Thats my job. I have to do a better job of just communicating and maybe watching more film, communicating more on where guys should be, just using my voice more so guys can be in their spots, Harden said. So, as one of the leaders of this team, Ive got to do a better job communicating: And I will be.

Harden had a couple of animated talks with Jordan during Tuesdays loss in Detroit, and the center responded with a double-double in Wednesdays win over the Pacers at Barclays Center. When Harden harnesses the same aggression playing with Durant and Irving as he does on the second unit, itll unlock the Big 3s potential.

Ultimately, we want to get to a place where all three are playing basketball together offensively instead of taking turns. In theory, he should be just as aggressive when theyre in the lineup, Nash said. An aggressive James is the way we want him to play.

This trip offers the Nets and the rest of the NBA a chance to see that.

Thats going to help us on the floor, being able to just build that chemistry with guys, Jordan said. And obviously once we get Kevin back from his timeout, well incorporate. This road trip will be good for us.

Read more here:
Nets hoping Big 3 finally will get chance to build chemistry - New York Post

In a league where every movement is tracked and every statistic is measured, chemistry remains the rare, unquantifiable variable that dictates NBA wins and losses.

The intrigue: Fostering NBA chemistry has become increasingly difficult now that players change teams so often. But nothing has ever impacted chemistry-building quite like the pandemic. The question is: has it helped or hurt?

Consider this: Due to the short offseason, rookie Anthony Edwards made his NBA debut just 33 days after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Timberwolves.

The bottom line: So, amid the strangest season of their lives, have NBA teams come together or drifted apart? The truth is, we'll never know.

I reached out to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to get his take on NBA chemistry and how it has been affected by the pandemic.

How important is chemistry in the modern NBA?

How do you think the pandemic has impacted chemistry this season?

What do the Mavericks do to foster chemistry? Has that been impacted?

Is basketball chemistry similar to chemistry in any workplace?

More here:
How the COVID-19 pandemic has affected NBA team chemistry - Axios

To keep her high school students engaged, Stephanie Marshall has relied on eye-catching science experiments.

WOODLAND, Wash. Remember how tough chemistry class can be? Its extra challenging for some students trying to master the concepts from a distance.

But a teacher at Woodland High School has found a formula for success. Stephanie Marshall has found a way to make the difficult subject easier to understand and a whole lot more engaging. She said to try to keep her high school students engaged, shes relied on visually captivating science experiments.

My go-to is always, Can I light something on fire today, and thats what I go for," said Marshall. "Or, something that changes color. Those are my two big ones.

She tries to do interesting experiments in her labs, which typically have small groups of students logging in online.

Naturally, I know whats going to happen but my students never know, is it gonna be a big flame? Is the flame going to go out? What are we going to see? Marshall explained.

She reinforces concepts the class as a whole is working on and uses the opportunity to meet with small groups of students during lab to check for understanding and get students curious.

These visuals give me buy-in. I say, Hey come look at this cool thing. Im doing something super awesome in this class,' Marshall said.

I boiled every lab I could think of down to its basics. Making observations, can they tell me why something happened? Can they tell me whats happening? she said.

For her 10th grade students, the visual component is helpful. We spoke with three students, all of which said distance learning has been a struggle.

These labs have made it a lot more fun to do the distance learning, especially the ones with the fire and stuff, said Derek Fechtner, a 10th grade student at Woodland High School.

Its really made distance learning a great experience, Addison Holler said. Like Fechtner, she is also in 10th grade.

Fellow sophomore, Raeann Perry said the labs have been crucial to her success.

Without those videos with the labs and everything, I would be totally lost because Im a visual learner, said Perry.

This visual application of concepts is really paying off for some students and for Marshall.

Its been difficult to say the least, but also rewarding, Marshall said.

See more here:
Can I light something on fire today?: Woodland chemistry teacher captivates students during distance learning - KGW.com

This is probably a lesbian clich, but we played in the same soccer team, Rainer said. The two were teammates and friends for nearly three years before they began dating in the week leading up to Sinnenbergs graduation.

We found ourselves lingering, Sinnenberg said. When we would be hanging out with a group, we would stay and talk I remember standing in the Morgan staircase for an hour talking to Tyler.

Before their relationship with each other, neither Sinnenberg nor Rainer had ever dated another woman before. As they were navigating the formation of a new relationship, they were also navigating an unexplored facet of their identities.

Were obviously both gay, Sinnenberg laughed. So it was like, Oh, yeah, this is what its supposed to be like, you know what I mean?

Everything is more intense, Rainer agreed. Like more passion, more love, more fear, more all of this. All of the things are amplified.

At the same time, the fact that neither were public about their sexuality yet added a dimension of anxiety to their burgeoning relationship. Our Williams soccer community is some of the most loving, respectful, caring, open-minded humans that exist, Rainer said. But I think theres first-time fear and anxieties.

I think we had built it up, Sinnenberg agreed. It didnt end up being an issue. We used to go on dates to Northampton, so we could hold hands.

After Sinnenberg graduated, she moved to New York. While she originally planned to spend a year in South Africa, she ultimately decided to live and work closer to Rainer, who joined her the following year, after her own graduation. They separated for another year when Sinnenberg headed to Philadelphia, Pa. for medical school before Rainer joined her again.

Despite multiple periods of being long-distance, the two said they were simply happy to be together. We were basically not explicitly dating but in a romantic relationship over Skype, Sinnenberg said. It was definitely very emotional; it definitely felt like it was a relationship. So then, for it to go back to distance, I think probably felt kind of natural to us. It was sort of the way in which we had known each other.

When Sinnenberg proposed to Rainer, gay marriage had not yet been legalized nationwide. We kind of went into getting married thinking that we werent going to be able to make it legal on a federal level, Sinnenberg said.

But a month later, the Supreme Courts ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage across the country. We actually had friends who got married the weekend after it was legalized, Sinnenberg said. That was a pretty emotional time.

Rainer and Sinnenberg themselves were married in the Catskills, N.Y. Though they chose not to return to Williamstown for their wedding, as many other alums did, the College still has a strong presence in their lives. The home we live in currently is from Williams alums, Rainer said.

And our grill is from Williams alums, Sinnenberg added.

Read more:
The chemistry department: Alum couples reflect on College romance and beyond - The Williams record

Chemical techniques in India can be traced back all the way to the Indus valley or Harappan civilisation (3rd millennium BCE). Following Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944), the eminent Indian chemist of the last century and a historian of chemistry, five stages in its development in India can be recognised. They are: (i) the pre-Vedic stage upto 1500 BCE, including the Harappan period, (ii) the Vedic and the Ayurvedic period upto 700 CE, (iii) the transitional period from 700 CE to 1100 CE, (iv) the Tantric period from 700 CE to 1300 CE, and (v) the Iatro-Chemical period from 1300 CE to 1600 CE. The dates cannot be considered definitive.

Metallurgy was intimately linked with chemistry in India. We will discuss Indian metallurgy and metal-working in a later article, focussing our attention on chemical techniques for now. Pre-Harappan Indians were acquainted with the art of making baked or burnt clay pottery as well as painting the same with two or more colours. This implies the construction of open and closed kilns. The pottery of the Harappan culture consisted of mainly wheel-made ware, turned in various shapes, sizes and colours out of the well-levigated alluvium of the Indus.

The colour and other characteristics of the wares depended upon the composition of the clay used and techniques of firing under either oxidising or reducing conditions. The Harappans also experimented with various mortars and cements made of burnt limestone, gypsum and mica, among other components. Finely crushed quartz, once fired, produced faience, a synthetic material; it was then coated with silica (perhaps fused with soda), to which copper oxide was added to give it a shiny turquoise glaze. Faience was then shaped into various ornaments and figurines.

Addition of iron oxide, manganese oxide, etc., resulted in different colours. The Harappan artisans must have had an intimate knowledge of the processing and properties of several naturally occurring chemical substances. The craftsmen were highly skilled in the art of shaping and polishing the precious and semi-precious stones used for the production of beads. In the second stage, Rigveda (earlier than 1500 BCE) mentions many fermented drinks and methods of fermentation, apart from various metals. Soma juice from the stems of the soma plant was highly extolled and considered a divine drink. Madhu and suraa (brewed from barley grain) also find mention.

Curd or fermented milk was an important food item. Cloths were mainly made of wool and the garments were often dyed red, purple or brown. Obviously, the Vedic Indians were acquainted with the art of dyeing with certain natural vegetable colouring matters. A type of pottery, now known as Painted Grey Ware, is associated with the Vedic period. This ceramic is a thin gray deluxe ware, mostly wheel-made, well-burnt, glossy and copiously painted. Later, Northern Black Polished Ware also came into being in the eastern part of the Gangetic plains. Also, plenty of iron objects of the later period have been found throughout India.

Glass beads dating back to the 10th century BCE have been discovered. In the succeeding centuries, the glass industry gained momentum and there were notable feats of excellence, as evidenced by the archeological finds in over 30 sites spread over India. The sites include Taxila in present Pakistan, Hastinapur, Ahichchhatra and Kopia in Uttar Pradesh, Nalanda in Bihar, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Nasik and Nevasa in Maharashtra, Brahmagiri in Karnataka, and Arikamedu in Puducherry. The glass objects include beads of different colours, including gold foil ones, glass vessels in green and blue colours, flasks of agate-banded type, bangles, ear-reels, eye-beads, etc.

There is no doubt that the glassmakers were skilful in controlling the temperature of fusion, moulding, annealing, blotching and gold foiling. The chemical composition of a typical glass specimen from Kopia is as follows: silica 66.6%, alumina 7%, alkalies (Na2O) 21.7%, ferric oxide 1.6%, lime 2.4%, manganese oxide .07%, and traces of titania and magnesia. Kautilyas Arthashaastra (3rd or 4th century BCE), a well-known text of governance and administration, has a lot of information on prevailing chemical practices. Apart from mines and minerals, it discusses the details of precious stones (pearl, ruby, beryl, etc.), and also of the preparation of fermented juices (sugarcane, jaggery, honey, jambu, jackfruit, mango, etc.) and oil extraction.

It also has classifications such as sour fruit juices, liquids, spices, vegetables, etc., based on their chemical practices. The earliest versions of the two great Ayurveda classics, Charaka Samhitaa and Sushruta Samhitaa, may date back to a few centuries before the common era. They give accounts of several minerals, metals, metallic compounds, salts and fermented beverages. More importantly, they discuss the preparation of various alkalis (kshaara). Alkalis are of three types: mild (mridu), caustic (teekshna) and average (madhyama).

They are prepared from some 25 plants that are mentioned in Sushruta Samhitaa. Hot alkaline solutions were used for treating thin sheets of metals like iron, gold or silver before incorporation into drugs. Caustic alkalis were also used for treating surgical instruments. Varahamihiras Brihat-samhitaa (6th century CE) gives detailed information on the preparation of various perfumes and cosmetics. It also gives recipes for the preparation of glutinous material to be applied on the roofs and walls of buildings.

M S Sriram (sriram.physics@gmail.com)Theoretical Physicist & President,Prof. K.V. Sarma Research Foundation

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Chemistry in ancient India, from Harappan to Ayurvedic period - The New Indian Express

SportsPulse: Our NFL insiders Jarrett Bell and Mike Jones discuss the 'travesty' it would be for Eric Bieniemy to not get a head coaching gig and where the NFL is consistently failing at providing equitable opportunities for the league's highest level positions. USA TODAY

Eric Bieniemyhas been the Kansas City Chiefs' offensive coordinator for the past three seasons. During that brief span, he's twice helped head coach Andy Reid oversee the NFL's top-ranked unit and twice been part of a Super Bowl participant.

But barring an unforeseen turn of events, Bieniemy will retain his current post going into the 2021 season after another head coach hiring cycle came and went. Bieniemy interviewed for all seven league openings last month withoutanother team choosing him for its top job.

"I learned a long time ago to learn how to persevere through adversity," Bieniemy said Tuesday during the lead-up to Super Bowl 55.

"But the beauty of it is, it's not so much that I have to persevere because that's gonna take care of itself it's making sure that whatever is taking place with Eric Bieniemyisn't becoming a distraction in us pursuing our dreams and our goals."

Eric Bieniemy has been a member of the Chiefs coaching staff since 2013.(Photo: Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports)

Bieniemy and Reid indicated they haven't had the opportunity to cull feedback onwhy no job was forthcoming to Bieniemy, who said he'll think about that after the Chiefs face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

"I'll handle Eric Bieniemy's business on Monday," he said, "sometime Monday evening or even Tuesday ... to start worrying about what I need to be concerned with with me moving forward as far as (how) the interviewing process went."

Asked by USA TODAY Sports whether finding the right head coaching job is at least as important as getting any opportunity to move up the ladder, Bieniemy replied:"It's always about getting the right job. And you gotta understand sometimes the job and the person have to connect.

"The only thing I can do is be my most authentic self, that's who I am, OK?I can only be me. Some team has to want me. On top of that, there has to be some kind of collaboration, making sure the chemistry is a fit. So for whatever reason, that chemistry has not been a fit, there has not been that opportunity to connect. But that's OK."

He underscored how much he loves working for Kansas City owner Clark Hunt, general manager Brett Veach and Reid.

"I'm excited about the opportunity that has been presented to me," Bieniemy said.

He added, despite blistering criticism the NFL has taken for its lack of Black head coaches there are three after the Houston Texans' newly hired David Culley joined Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin and Miami's Brian Flores that candidates don't want to be recognized primarily for their skin color but want to be hired on merit.

"I did not ask to be the poster boy of this particular situation that I have experienced," said Bieniemy, who was also passed over during the 2020 hiring cycle.

"At the end of the day, the only thing that you want to do is be recognized for all the things that you have accomplished. And, for whatever reason, that has not happened. And that's OK."

JARRETT BELL: Chiefs' Reid, Bieniemy take players' input for exotic plays

BIENIEMY IS READY TO BE A HEAD COACH: Which NFL team will finally take him? (Dec. 30)

Kansas City players were supportive of Bieniemy.

"He gives me every single tool that is needed," said quarterback Patrick Mahomes, "helps me go out there and be comfortable in the pocket and be able to get us to the right play and the right read. That comes straight from him it's film study, and his study of the opponent's defense."

Mahomes said there's been "no difference" in Bieniemy's approach or any note of despondencein the meeting rooms.

"He always preaches control what you can control," said the Super Bowl 54 MVP. "That's how he's been. Obviously you know he's disappointed he doesn't get the opportunity to become a head coach after this season."

Running back Le'Veon Bell likes what he's seen in his few months playing for Bieniemy.

"His focus is really impressive," said Bell, who's played for three head coaches during his NFL career, while praising Bieniemy's intensity.

"I know for a fact just being around EB ... he's definitely a head coach."

Reid still believes it will all work out for Bieniemy, saying:"Whoever gets him, whenever they get him, will be very, very lucky."

***

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Chiefs' Eric Bieniemy on being passed over for NFL head coaching position: The chemistry must be a fit - USA TODAY

Chemical manufacturers frequently use toxic solvents such as alcohols and benzene to make products like pharmaceuticals and plastics. Researchers are examining a previously overlooked and misunderstood phenomenon in the chemical reactions used to make these products. This discovery brings a new fundamental understanding of catalytic chemistry and a steppingstone to practical applications that could someday make chemical manufacturing less wasteful and more environmentally sound.

The study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researcher David Flaherty, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities researcher Matthew Neurock and Virginia Tech researcher Ayman Karim is published in the journal Science.

Matthew Neurock, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Combining solvents and metal nanoparticles accelerates many chemical reactions and helps maximize yield and profit margins for the chemical industry. However, many solvents are toxic and difficult to safely dispose, the researchers said. Water works, too, but it is not nearly as efficient or reliable as organic solvents. The reason for the difference was thought to be the limited solubility of some reactants in water. However, multiple irregularities in experimental data have led the team to realize the reasons for these differences were not fully understood.

To better understand the process, the team ran experiments to analyze the reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide one set using water, another with methanol, and others with water and methanol mixtures. All experiments used palladium nanoparticles.

In experiments with methanol, we observed spontaneous decomposition of the solvent that leaves an organic residue, or scum, on the surface of the nanoparticles, said Flaherty, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Illinois. In some cases, the scumlike residue clings to the nanoparticles and increases reaction rates and the amount of hydrogen peroxide formed instead of hampering the reaction. This observation made us wonder how it could be helping.

Pranjali Priyadarshini, a former Illinois graduate student.

The team found that the residue, or surface redox mediator, oxygen-containing species, including a key component hydroxymethyl. It accumulates on the palladium nanoparticles surface and opens new chemical reaction pathways, the study reports.

Ashwin Chemburkar, a graduate student at Minnesota.

Once formed, the residue becomes part of the catalytic cycle and is likely responsible for some of the different efficiencies among solvents reported over the past 40 years of work on this reaction, Flaherty said. Our work provides strong evidence that these surface redox mediators form in alcohol solvents and that they may explain many past mysteries for this chemistry.

Vineet Maliekkal, a graduate student at Minnesota.

By working with multiple types of experiments and computational simulations, the team learned that these redox mediators effectively transfer both protons and electrons to reactants, whereas reactions in pure water transfer protons easily, but not electrons. These mediators also alter the nanoparticles surface in a way that lowers the energy barrier to be overcome for proton and electron transfer, the study reports.

Stuart Winikoff, a postdoctoral researcher at Minnesota.

We show that the alcohol solvents as well as organic additives can react to form metal-bound surface mediators that act much in the same way that the enzymatic cofactors in our bodies do in catalyzing oxidation and reduction reactions, Neurock said.

Additionally, this work may have implications for reducing the amounts of solvent used and waste generated in the chemical industry.

Yubing Lu, a Virginia Tech graduate student.

Our research suggests that for some situations, chemical producers could form the surface redox mediators by adding small amounts of an additive to pure water instead of pumping thousands of gallons of organic solvents through these reactors, Flaherty said.

The Energy and Biosciences Institute through the EBI-Shell program and the National Science Foundation supported this research.

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University of Illinois: Mysterious organic scum boosts chemical reaction efficiency, may reduce chemical waste - India Education Diary

In what experts have called an unexpected discovery, chemists have found that a simple organic molecule catalyses a classic cross coupling a reaction type that has long been the domain of transition metal catalysts, in particular palladium.

The Suzuki reaction is one of several cross coupling reactions developed in the 1970s that joins up two benzene fragments forming a new carboncarbon bond. Cross couplings are so robust and experimentally simple that more than 60% of carboncarbon bonds in medicinal chemistry labs are now made with this reaction.

But almost all cross coupling reactions require a metal catalyst, with the overwhelming majority using palladium an expensive and often toxic material. In the decades since its discovery, chemists have found cheaper and more benign catalysts, based on nickel or iron for example, but they can rarely compete with palladiums versatility.

Now chemists in China, led by Hai-Zhu Yu from Anhui University and Hua-Jian Xu from Hefei University of Technology, have found a simple diamine that could rival palladium when it comes to connecting arenes in a Suzuki-type transformation.

Unlike many other organocatalysed carboncarbon bond formations, the reaction uses the same starting materials as a traditional cross coupling aryl halide and arylboronic acid, hundreds of which are commercially available. Its scope seems to be very comparable to many of the Suzuki reactions that have been reported before, says Christian Malapit, an organic chemist at the University of Utah, US. Replacing the traditional Suzuki coupling step in the synthesis of the fungicide boscalid, the acne medication adapalene and the hepatitis C drug ledipasvir with their reaction, the team consistently achieved higher yields than other published methods.

This reaction would be advantageous in situations where the presence of trace metal in products is problematic, such as in pharmaceutical products, explains Shauna Paradine, an organic chemist at the University of Rochester, US. Having a soluble amine catalyst could be useful in flow chemistry setups, which often struggle with insoluble transition metals, Malapit adds.

The main downside is the high temperatures and higher loadings of the catalyst comparable palladium-catalysed couplings can often be run with ppm levels of palladium although higher loadings are less problematic with organocatalysts, Paradine says. For most couplings, the team used a catalyst loading of 5mol%. Some more stubborn substrates required as much as 30mol% catalyst, while a 50g scale-up reaction ran with only 0.5mol%.

Malapit notes that the team went to great lengths to show that it is really the amine doing the catalytic work, not traces of a metal. [There are] notable examples in the field where unusual catalytic reactivity turned out to be too good to be true, Paradine point out.

What exactly makes the amine catalyst so unique still remains a bit of a mystery. Computational studies show that the mechanism certainly is very different from palladium catalysed transformations. If theres a more definitive proof of the activation step, this could be useful not only in Suzuki reactions but in any reaction that takes advantage of organoboron reagents as the coupling partner, says Malapit.

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Amine might end palladium's reign over classic cross coupling reaction - Chemistry World

Invisible India Gate due to Smog at Raj Path on November 08, 2020.

During winters, cities along the Indo-Gangetic Plains turn into hazy gas chambers year on year with little to no visibility. Interestingly, the visibility in these north Indian cities drops much lower even with similar and sometimes even lesser pollution compared to other parts of the world. The reason behind this has been a longstanding puzzle for scientists.

Now, a team of researchers from IIT Madras have attempted to solve this mystery. The lead author of this study, Dr Sachin S Gunthe, says that the research started with a fundamental question: If overall PM2.5 mass burden over Delhi is much lower than polluted megacity Beijing, then why is visibility reduction still a major problem in Delhi?

For the first time, they have tried to demystify the chemical compositions of winter haze to better understand this problem. And Chloride-rich particles were shown to be the reason behind the reduced visibility in cities like Delhi.

Chloride, the culprit

As the results indicated that the presence of chloride in particulate matter is the primary culprit that impacts visibility, the research took a bold new step towards solving the long-standing mystery behind extremely low visibility in northern cities. The findings indicated a persistent presence of high chloride in Delhi, while it was episodically high chloride in Chennai.

With the results from the first couple of days, it was very clear to us that Delhi is different; because generally for a polluted urban region like Delhi, one would expect sulfate to be the highest inorganic fraction of particulate matter; however, we found chloride to be the highest inorganic fraction of particulate matter, explains the co-author of the study Prof. R. Ravikrishna from IIT Madras.

Plastic burning to blame

The study states that a key ingredient for dampening visibility is the presence of Hydrochloric Acid (HCl), which is emitted through plastic burning and a few industrial processes. Moreover, the HCl concentration is also mixed with ammonia, which is also emitted in great amounts over the region. Together, they act as a deadly combo, causing around 50% of the reduced visibility, says the study.

Given that we find plastic burning as a potential cause of the reduced visibility, we hope these findings will help policymakers to efficiently enforce and implement policies that are already in place towards regulating open burning of plastic contained-waste and other potential chlorine sources, hopes Dr Gunthe.

The researchers claim that this is the first time that plastic burning has been linked to visibility and climate. Burning of plastic waste emits toxic fumes that are hazardous for human health. Now, the present study adds one more reason to tackle this menace posing risk to the lives of city residents. The poor visibility over the national capital region leads to financial burden and loss of human lives as it hampers the air and surface transport and results in deadly mishaps.

Chemical composition of pollution

None of the previous scientific studies has focused on the detailed chemistry of haze and fog formation over the Indo-Gangetic Plain, as per the official statement from IIT Madras. The current study sheds light on the precise role of PM2.5 in the chemistry of fog formation. Particulate matter or PM2.5particles of diameter less than 2.5 micrometreis regarded as a major pollutant in the National Capital Region.

The team deployed round the clock, state-of-the-art instruments to measure the chemical composition and important properties of PM2.5, along with relative humidity and temperature, in Delhi and Chennai. Furthermore, they used chemical models to process the observations and find answers.

Scientifically, our job is half done. Plastic-contained waste burning can emit highly toxic chemicals called dioxins, which can accumulate in the food chain causing severe problems with reproduction and the immune system. We further need to investigate in this direction. Enhancement in the fundamental science of air pollution should be given importance as much as technology development to tackle pollution, concludes Dr Gunthe.

The study has been conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, along with researchers from Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Germany, Harvard University, USA, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and Manchester University, UK.

The study was published in the journal Nature GeoScience this week and can be accessed here.

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Blinding Plastic: In a First, IIT Madras Decodes Chemistry Behind Low Visibility in Delhi | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather Channel |...

A frame of a video released by the Rochester Police Department on YouTube. Rochester Police/YouTube/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

A frame of a video released by the Rochester Police Department on YouTube.

New York state lawmakers have introduced legislation that bans law enforcement officers from using chemical irritants on minors.

It was a quick response to Rochester Police pepper-spraying a handcuffed 9-year-old girl as officers were responding to a call of a family disturbance last week. Video of the girl's encounter with police was released by city officials, sparking protests in the city Monday evening.

City officials have "removed three officers from patrol duties" that were involved in the incident, according to the Rochester Police Department. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the encounter "disturbing and heartbreaking."

Braving freezing temperatures hovering in the 20s Monday afternoon, a crowd of roughly 100 demonstrators gathered outside a police precinct not far from where the incident took place.

"Keep your cuffs off our kids" and "Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe!" the crowd chanted.

A spokesperson with the Rochester Police told NPR on Tuesday no protest-related arrests were made.

The demonstrations, though smaller, were reminiscent of protests last summer when people took to the streets to demand justice for Daniel Prude, a Black man with a history of mental illness who died of asphyxiation after an encounter with Rochester Police.

Prude died in March, but circumstances surrounding his death were not made public until months later, leading to allegations of a cover-up. Several members of the Rochester Police Department were either terminated or resigned in connection with the Prude tragedy.

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren late Monday ordered the suspension of officers involved in the pepper spray encounter. Interim Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan responded by suspending one officer while two others were placed on administrative leave, until an internal investigation has been completed.

"Unfortunately, state law and union contract prevents me from taking more immediate and serious action," Warren said in a separate statement Monday.

According to city officials, Rochester has a "Persons in Crisis" program, designed to have mental health professionals respond to mental health calls. However, the mayor said the new program which launched only a few weeks ago wasn't triggered in this case because of the way the emergency call came into dispatch.

It came in as a family distress call, not as a mental health emergency and officers determined the girl was possibly a danger to herself and others only after arriving on the scene, according to city officials.

Bill introduced in New York State Senate

The action to remove the officers from patrol duties was announced as New York lawmakers were holding a virtual press conference unveiling new legislation. It would amend current state law to prohibit the use of chemicals, including "oleoresin capsicum, pepper spray and tear gas" against minors under any circumstance.

"We can at least make sure that no child will ever again be treated like this: threatened with violence and sprayed in the face with chemical irritants," State Sen. Samra Brouk, a Democrat who represents Rochester, said Monday.

Brouk said the bill is a single "step" for a community that has been through "so much trauma in the last six months," referring to the Prude incident.

"At a time when this young girl was in the middle of a crisis, away from her parents, instead of being comforted, spoken to as a child, she was treated violently and pepper-sprayed in the face," Brouk said during a video conference Monday.

Fellow Democrat Demond Meeks, a New York Assemblyman also representing Rochester, said during the press conference that the legislation "simply scratches the surface," adding that police are not given adequate de-escalation training.

"It hurt me to my heart to see that adults can treat a child in such a manner," Meeks said referring to the child, who has not been named by police. "She was treated as less-than, and that's totally unacceptable."

Cuomo agreed, tweeting that the incident is further evidence that in many areas in New York and across the United States, the relationship between police and the communities they serve "is clearly not working."

"As a human, this incident is disturbing and as a father it's heartbreakingthis isn't how the police should treat anyone, let alone a 9-year-old girl," the Democratic governor said in a statement.

"Across New York and around the country, the relationship between police and the communities they serve is clearly not working, which is why we launched a statewide effort to bring everyone to the table and make real, lasting reform."

Cuomo added that the city of Rochester "needs to reckon with a real police accountability problem."

Police responded to a call about "family trouble"

A frame from a Rochester Police Department body-camera video shows a girl in handcuffs in the back of a police cruiser. Rochester Police-YouTube/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

A frame from a Rochester Police Department body-camera video shows a girl in handcuffs in the back of a police cruiser.

"I'm not making any excuses for what transpired," Rochester Executive Deputy Chief Andre Anderson said at a Sunday press conference, held the same day police released two officer-worn body camera videos from the incident.

"From what was observed, it didn't appear as if she was resisting the officer," Anderson said. "She was trying not to be restrained to go to the hospital."

Officials said the girl wanted to kill herself and her mother, and officers on the scene attempted to restrain the child. Anderson said the child "thrashed around" at one point causing an officer's body camera to fall to the ground.

The officer-worn camera footage, which features disturbing language and images, shows officers trying to restrain the girl as she falls in the snow. And as officers put handcuffs on her she screams repeatedly: "I want my dad!"

As police attempt to get the girl inside of a patrol car, she begs officers to get the snow off of her and tells them her arm is hurting.

At one point, an officer tells her: "You're acting like a child."

"I am a child!" she screams back.

The girl, who by this point is sitting in the back of the patrol car with her legs outside on the ground, refuses officers' commands to sit back and move fully inside the vehicle.

As this is playing out, an officer, seeming exasperated by the girl's refusal to obey commands, tells colleagues to "just spray her at this point."

A few seconds later, the girl screams as she is hit with pepper spray and then begs officers to wipe her eyes. It isn't clear which officer sprayed the eye irritant.

The police video ends with one officer exclaiming, "Unbelievable."

NPR's Liz Baker in Rochester contributed reporting.

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After Police Pepper Spray 9-year-old, Bill Tries To Ban Its Use On Children - NPR