Miranda House, University of Delhi

About: Miranda House, University of Delhi is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Thin film & Pulsed laser deposition. The organization has 114 authors who have published 432 publications receiving 5921 citations.

Gender and Power Women’s Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in India

Abstract: In a patriarchal society like India women remain more vulnerable towards human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). In order to control HIV among women the powerlessness of women needs to be understood in the broader sociocultural context. It is hypothesized that due to less knowledge and their socio-economic status women are refrained from exercising reproductive and sexual rights and thus remain powerless. Such powerlessness could significantly increase womens vulnerability towards HIV. The study was carried out in Karnataka and West Bengal India and 200 HIV-positive women were selected as the sample for the study. It was found that a majority of women lacked awareness regarding rights relating to reproductive and sexual life and faced forceful and violent sex within their marital life. Powerless existence indeed made females vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Even after HIV their condition of vulnerability continued as in a large number of the cases they remained powerless and submissive and only a few respondents could exercise their reproductive rights. Those who realized and exercised their agency were able to do so due to self-realization through the influence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and counselling. In a majority of cases respondents social role had hardly undergone any change and many respondents performed more of a sacrificing role and also neglected their own health.

Ionic Liquids: Synthesis and Applications in Catalysis

Abstract: Ionic liquids have emerged as an environmentally friendly alternative to the volatile organic solvents. Being designer solvents, they can be modulated to suit the reaction conditions, therefore earning the name “task specific ionic liquids.” Though primarily used as solvents, they are now finding applications in various fields like catalysis, electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and material science to mention a few. The present review is aimed at exploring the applications of ionic liquids in catalysis as acid, base, and organocatalysts and as soluble supports for catalysts.

Carbon monoxide (CO) optical gas sensor based on ZnO thin films

Abstract: Optical gas sensors provide an alternative over the conventional conductometric gas sensors Carbon monoxide (CO) gas is generally regarded as one of the most dangerous air pollutants, hence, a room temperature operated CO gas sensor using ZnO sensing film deposited on Au coated prisms has been developed using an indigenously developed surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurement setup This system is found to be highly sensitive with very fast response towards a wide concentration range (05–100 ppm) of CO gas at room temperature and hence pave way for commercial application of an efficient optical CO gas sensor

SnO2 thin film sensor with enhanced response for NO2 gas at lower temperatures

Abstract: Semiconducting SnO2 thin films having higher value of electrical conductivity have been deposited using RF sputtering technique in the reactive gas environment (30% O2 + 70% Ar) using a metallic tin (Sn) target for detection of oxidizing NO2 gas. The effect of growth pressure (12–18 mTorr) on the surface morphology and structural property of SnO2 film was studied using Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) respectively. Film deposited at 16 mTorr sputtering pressure was porous with rough microstructure and exhibits high sensor response (∼2.9 × 104) towards 50 ppm NO2 gas at a comparatively low operating temperature (∼100 °C). The sensor response was found to increase linearly from 1.31 × 102 to 2.9 × 104 while the response time decrease from 12.4 to 1.6 min with increase in the concentration of NO2 gas from 1 to 50 ppm. The reaction kinetics of target NO2 gas on the surface of SnO2 thin film at the Sn sites play important role in enhancing the response characteristics at lower operating temperature (∼100 °C). The results obtained in the present study are encouraging for realization of SnO2 thin film based sensor for efficient detection of NO2 gas with low power consumption.