Factors Affecting the Productivity of Coffee in Gulmi and Arghakhanchi Districts of Nepal

Coffee is one of the major potential cash crops with lucrative export value grown in mid-hills of Nepal. Nepalese coffee production has suffered long by low productivity. Research was conducted from February to May, 2019 to analyze the factors affecting the productivity of coffee in Arghakhanchi and Gulmi districts of Nepal. These two districts were, purposively selected for this study taking account of comparative advantage and past studies recommendations for coffee sector. Altogether, 100 coffee growing households 50 from each, Arghakhanchi and Gulmi, were sampled by using multistage sampling technique. A pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the primary information while secondary information was collected reviewing the relevant publications. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model was used to determine the factors affecting the productivity of coffee. The study revealed that the number of active family members involved in coffee production (0.000), adoption of income diversification through intercropping (0.005), training (0.072) and technical assistance (0.021) had positive and significant effect on coffee productivity. Encouraging the household to have coffee production as their primary occupation, providing technical assistance on rational land utilization and intercropping and strengthening the skill and knowledge of farmers through trainings could significantly support in increasing the productivity of coffee

Relation between geometric phases of entangled bi-partite systems and their subsystems

This paper focuses on the geometric phase of entangled states of bi-partite systems under bi-local unitary evolution. We investigate the relation between the geometric phase of the system and those of the subsystems. It is shown that (1) the geometric phase of cyclic entangled states with non-degenerate eigenvalues can always be decomposed into a sum of weighted non-modular pure state phases pertaining to the separable components of the Schmidt decomposition, though the same cannot be said in the non-cyclic case, and (2) the geometric phase of the mixed state of one subsystem is generally different from that of the entangled state even by keeping the other subsystem fixed, but the two phases are the same when the evolution operator satisfies conditions where each component in the Schmidt decomposition is parallel transported

A multidisciplinary approach to optimising the virtual management of haemophilia: a roundtable meeting of UK experts

The necessity of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach in haemophilia care is well recognised globally, with international guidelines advocating this. Prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, virtual MDT haemophilia care was gaining support worldwide. However, the pandemic necessitated the rapid implementation of innovative virtual solutions to ensure continued access to multidisciplinary care. A multidisciplinary panel of healthcare professionals who specialise in haemophilia care in the United Kingdom gathered to discuss the following: the current landscape of haemophilia MDT care and best practices, the benefits, challenges, and opportunities for virtual MDT care, managing bleeds remotely, virtual paediatric care, and the future of virtual MDT care. The consensus was that virtual MDT care is widely used, however formats vary depending on the healthcare setting, available resources, MDT preferences, and local policy. Advisors agreed that virtual MDT care has several benefits, such as improved convenience/choice for their patients and wider patient reach. However, many patient-specific and logistical challenges exist. Hybrid care models may provide an opportunity to overcome these challenges. The decision on how bleeds are managed (virtually versus face-to-face) depends on provider preference, the patient-provider relationship, and the patient’s disease severity, history, and ability to self-manage. As such, this should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Virtual tracking tools cannot be solely relied upon for MDT decision making as patient accuracy cannot be ascertained. The MDT composition for paediatric care should be tailored to the patients’ and their parents’/caregivers’ needs. Lastly, hybridised care will likely be adopted for future haemophilia management and will facilitate the advancement of MDT car

Simultaneous High-performance Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS-MS) Analysis of Cyanide and Thiocyanate from Swine Plasma

An analytical procedure for the simultaneous determination of cyanide and thiocyanate in swine plasma was developed and validated. Cyanide and thiocyanate were simultaneously analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in negative ionization mode after rapid and simple sample preparation. Isotopically labeled internal standards, Na13C15N and NaS13C15N, were mixed with swine plasma (spiked and nonspiked), proteins were precipitated with acetone, the samples were centrifuged, and the supernatant was removed and dried. The dried samples were reconstituted in 10 mM ammonium formate. Cyanide was reacted with naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde and taurine to form N-substituted 1-cyano[f]benzoisoindole, while thiocyanate was chemically modified with monobromobimane to form an SCN-bimane product. The method produced dynamic ranges of 0.1–50 and 0.2–50 μM for cyanide and thiocyanate, respectively, with limits of detection of 10 nM for cyanide and 50 nM for thiocyanate. For quality control standards, the precision, as measured by percent relative standard deviation, was below 8 %, and the accuracy was within ±10 % of the nominal concentration. Following validation, the analytical procedure successfully detected cyanide and thiocyanate simultaneously from the plasma of cyanide-exposed swine

Evaluation of the performance of microprocessor-based colorimeter

Colorimetric estimations have an important role in quantitative studies. An inexpensive and portable microprocessor-based colorimeter developed by the authors is described in this paper. The colorimeter uses a light emitting diode as the light source; a pinphotodiode as the detector and an 8085A microprocessor. Blood urea, glucose, total protein, albumin and bilirubin from patient blood samples were analysed with the instrument and results obtained were compared with assays of the same blood using a Spectronic 21. A good correlation was found between the results from the two instruments

Iron meteorite fall at Bhuka village, Barmer District, Rajasthan

This article does not have an abstract

How does an interacting many-body system tunnel through a potential barrier to open space?

The tunneling process in a many-body system is a phenomenon which lies at the very heart of quantum mechanics. It appears in nature in the form of alpha-decay, fusion and fission in nuclear physics, photoassociation and photodissociation in biology and chemistry. A detailed theoretical description of the decay process in these systems is a very cumbersome problem, either because of very complicated or even unknown interparticle interactions or due to a large number of constitutent particles. In this work, we theoretically study the phenomenon of quantum many-body tunneling in a more transparent and controllable physical system, in an ultracold atomic gas. We analyze a full, numerically exact many-body solution of the Schr\"odinger equation of a one-dimensional system with repulsive interactions tunneling to open space. We show how the emitted particles dissociate or fragment from the trapped and coherent source of bosons: the overall many-particle decay process is a quantum interference of single-particle tunneling processes emerging from sources with different particle numbers taking place simultaneously. The close relation to atom lasers and ionization processes allows us to unveil the great relevance of many-body correlations between the emitted and trapped fractions of the wavefunction in the respective processes.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures (7 pages, 2 figures supplementary information

Resident-Led Physical Wellness Initiative Linked to Less Burnout for Emergency Physicians during COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant toll on societal, physical, and psychological health. Emergency physicians (EPs) are susceptible to burnout under ordinary circumstances and may be particularly vulnerable during the pandemic. To reduce pandemic-related burnout, we implemented a residency-led physical wellness initiative and evaluated the effect on burnout among EPs. Methods: In the spring of 2020, we invited all resident and attending EPs in our department to participate in a four-week physical wellness initiative as part of a prospective study. After completing or opting out of this wellness initiative, EPs responded to an online survey comprised of five sections: demographics, participation, opinion on wellness initiative, opinion on the impact of COVID-19, and the Maslach Burnout Index (MBI-HSS). We stratified respondents by initiative participation, described the characteristics of each group, and then compared the perceived impact of COVID-19 and the MBI-HSS results between the two groups. Results: Out of 110 eligible participants, 57 EPs completed the survey (51.8%). Thirty-five respondents completed the wellness initiative. Few (37.1%) documented their progress, though most worked with accountability partners (85.7%). Most enrollees enjoyed participation (Likert Score 3.2-5, CI 2.9-3.5) and would participate again (3.3, CI 3.0-3.6). The reported effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental wellbeing was lower for participants, although this was not significant (2.1, CI 1.5-2.1 vs 2.4, CI 2.0-2.7, p=0.312). On the MBI-HSS, participants had a lower emotional exhaustion score (1.4, 95% CI 0.9-1.8) than non-participants (2.2, 95%CI 1.8-2.6, p=0.005). Conclusion: Participation in a residency-led, physical wellness initiative was linked to lower emotional exhaustion for EPs during the COVID-19 pandemic