68 research outputs found
Utilization of wetland ecosystem through fish-crop diversification for enhanced productivity and economic stability for fish-farm community of Indian sub-continent
This paper deals with a number of case studies that were undertaken during the last 8- 10 years in utilizing divergent ĂŠTalĂâ wetland ecosystems (deep, semi-deep, temporary in a range of agro-ecological zones like NAZ, OAZ and Coastal Zone of the region) for the development of integrated management programmes using a range of approaches. These included (i) system approach (excavation & renovation, methodological approach), (ii) management (fish-crop management, inter & post-harvest care & processing, marketing), (iii) integrated natural resource management utilizing organic as well inorganic sources, and (iv) low-cost fish-feeds, based on fish-crop diversification. This paper also deals with some endangered indigenous fish species. The unique approach of watershed plans (bherri system), which were formulated for upright production systems, was economically successful. Economic indicators reveal there were comparative advantages of mixed farming systems compared to monoculture, exhibiting less than 2.5 fold gains even for resource poor fish farming families.Fishery management, Resource management
Magnetic Response in a Zigzag Carbon Nanotube
Magnetic response of interacting electrons in a zigzag carbon nanotube
threaded by a magnetic flux is investigated within a Hartree-Fock mean field
approach. Following the description of energy spectra for both non-interacting
and interacting cases we analyze the behavior of persistent current in
individual branches of a nanotube. Our present investigation leads to a
possibility of getting a filling-dependent metal-insulator transition in a
zigzag carbon nanotube.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figure
Evaluation of 19 autoimmune disease-associated loci with rheumatoid arthritis in a Colombian population: Evidence for replication and gene-gene interaction
Objective. Recent studies have identified several common genes associated with multiple autoimmune diseases that support the hypothesis of the presence of shared or general autoimmunity genes. However, most of this work has been performed in populations of white origin. The main objectives of this study are to replicate the genotype-phenotype correlation between 19 such variants and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to evaluate gene-gene interactions between these genes in individuals from an ethnically homogenous nonwhite Colombian population. Methods. Nineteen single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from 16 genes/loci were genotyped in 353 RA cases and 368 controls. For each SNP, allelic and genotype-based association tests were applied to evaluate genotype-phenotype correlation. Permutation-based tests were used to validate the statistical significance. Gene-gene interactions were assessed by logistic regression. Results. We replicated the genetic association with rs13277113 (p = 0.0009, OR 1.46) and rs2736340 (p = 0.0001, OR 1.63) from C8orf13-BLK (8p23.1, associated with RA and systemic lupus erythematosus), and rs763361 (p = 0.03) from CD226 (18q22.3, associated with multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes) in the Colombian population. The population-attributable risks were estimated as 27%, 34%, and 16% for rs13277113, rs2736340, and rs763361, respectively. We also detected evidence for gene-gene interaction between SNP in MMEL1 (rs3890745) and C80rf13-BLK (rs13277113; p = 0.0002). Conclusion. Our results demonstrate that the IL2/IL21 region, C8orf13-BLK, and CD226 influence RA in Colombians, and RA shares some of the pathogenic mechanisms associated with other autoimmune diseases. The Journal of Rheumatology Copyright © 2011. All rights reserved
Binding of Nucleobases with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
We have calculated the binding energy of various nucleobases (guanine (G),
adenine (A), thymine (T) and cytosine (C)) with (5,5) single-walled carbon
nanotubes (SWNTs) using ab-initio Hartre-Fock method (HF) together with force
field calculations. The gas phase binding energies follow the sequence G A
T C. We show that main contribution to binding energy comes from
van-der Wall (vdW) interaction between nanotube and nucleobases. We compare
these results with the interaction of nucleobases with graphene. We show that
the binding energy of bases with SWNTs is much lower than the graphene but the
sequence remains same. When we include the effect of solvation energy
(Poisson-Boltzman (PB) solver at HF level), the binding energy follow the
sequence G T A C , which explains the experiment\cite{zheng}
that oligonucleotides made of thymine bases are more effective in dispersing
the SWNT in aqueous solution as compared to poly (A) and poly (C). We also
demonstrate experimentally that there is differential binding affinity of
nucleobases with the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by directly
measuring the binding strength using isothermal titration (micro) calorimetry.
The binding sequence of the nucleobases varies as thymine (T) adenine (A)
cytosine (C), in agreement with our calculation.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Sulfonated Styrene-(ethylene-co-butylene)-styrene/Montmorillonite Clay Nanocomposites: Synthesis, Morphology, and Properties
Sulfonated styrene-(ethylene-butylene)-styrene triblock copolymer (SSEBS) was synthesized by reaction of acetyl sulfate with SEBS. SSESB-clay nanocomposites were then prepared from hydrophilic Na-montmorillonite (MT) and organically (quaternary amine) modified hydrophobic nanoclay (OMT) at very low loading. SEBS did not show improvement in properties with MT-based nanocomposites. On sulfonation (3 and 6 weight%) of SEBS, hydrophilic MT clay-based nanocomposites exhibited better mechanical, dynamic mechanical, and thermal properties, and also controlled waterâmethanol mixture uptake and permeation and AC resistance. Microstructure determined by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy due to better dispersion of MT nanoclay particles and interaction of MT with SSEBS matrix was responsible for this effect. The resulting nanocomposites have potential as proton transfer membranes for Fuel Cell applications
Collapsing shear-free perfect fluid spheres with heat flow
A global view is given upon the study of collapsing shear-free perfect fluid
spheres with heat flow. We apply a compact formalism, which simplifies the
isotropy condition and the condition for conformal flatness. This formalism
also presents the simplest possible version of the main junction condition,
demonstrated explicitly for conformally flat and geodesic solutions. It gives
the right functions to disentangle this condition into well known differential
equations like those of Abel, Riccati, Bernoulli and the linear one. It yields
an alternative derivation of the general solution with functionally dependent
metric components. We bring together the results for static and time- dependent
models to describe six generating functions of the general solution to the
isotropy equation. Their common features and relations between them are
elucidated. A general formula for separable solutions is given, incorporating
collapse to a black hole or to a naked singularity.Comment: 26 page
Flexural behavior of general laminated composite and sandwich plates using a secant function based shear deformation theory
A two warehouse deterministic inventory model for deteriorating items with a linear trend in time dependent demand over finite time horizon by Elitist Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm
This paper deals with a deterministic inventory model developed for deteriorating items having two separate storage facilities (owned and rented warehouses) due to limited capacity of the existing storage (owned warehouse) with linear time dependent demand (increasing) over a fixed finite time horizon. The model is formulated with infinite replenishment and the successive replenishment cycle lengths are in arithmetic progression. Partially backlogged shortages are allowed. The stocks of rented warehouse (RW) are transported to the owned warehouse (OW) in continuous release pattern. For this purpose, the model is formulated as a constrained non-linear mixed integer programming problem. For solving the problem, an advanced genetic algorithm (GA) has been developed. This advanced GA is based on ranking selection, elitism, whole arithmetic crossover and non-uniform mutation dependent on the age of the population. Our objective is to determine the optimal replenishment number, lot-size of two-warehouses (OW and RW) by maximizing the profit function. The model is illustrated with four numerical examples and sensitivity analyses of the optimal solution are performed with respect to different parameters
Inferred Functions of "Novel" Genes Identified in Fibroblasts Chondroinduced by Demineralized Bone
Preparation of coreâshell latex from coâpolymer of styreneâbutyl acrylateâmethyl methacrylate and their paint properties
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