Assessment of heavy metals in the surrounding soils and their bioconcentrations in few plants near Kathajodi river, Odisha, India

The present study was carried out mainly concentrate on assessment of heavy metal in the surrounding soils and their bioconcentration in the different plants near Kathajodi River. Soil and plant samples were collected along the Kathajodi river, Odisha, India. It was found that the dominance of heavy metals follows a decreasing order. The metal concentrations measured in soil at all location generally decreased in the order; Fe > Mn > Ni> Pb> Cu> Zn> Cd. Highest heavy metal concentration in river bank soil Cd (0.72±0.05 mgkg-1); Ni (3.85±0.15 mgkg-1); Cu (1.66±0.15 mgkg-1); Zn (1.54±0.16 mgkg-1); Pb (4.11±0.14 mgkg-1); Fe (142.0±1.16 mgkg-1); Mn (37.30±1.16 mgkg-1) at different site . Among all the grass species I. laxum has the higher affinity for the accumulation of Cd (0.85±0.05) followed by Zn, Pb and Cu. This study indicates that bio concentration of heavy metals in the study area show preferential Cd uptake in the plants followed by Zn, Pb and it may lead to accumulates in the exposed plant part posing risk along the food chain. This calls for immediate action to be implemented to carry out necessary environment mitigation measures for the river as it can be attributed the discharge of untreated domestic waste and effluents in the river

Quantum state-dependent diffusion and multiplicative noise: a microscopic approach

The state-dependent diffusion, which concerns the Brownian motion of a particle in inhomogeneous media has been described phenomenologically in a number of ways. Based on a system-reservoir nonlinear coupling model we present a microscopic approach to quantum state-dependent diffusion and multiplicative noise in terms of a quantum Markovian Langevin description and an associated Fokker-Planck equation in position space in the overdamped limit. We examine the thermodynamic consistency and explore the possibility of observing a quantum current, a generic quantum effect, as a consequence of this state-dependent diffusion similar to one proposed by B\"{u}ttiker [Z. Phys. B {\bf 68}, 161 (1987)] in a classical context several years ago.Comment: To be published in Journal of Statistical Physics 28 pages, 3 figure

Dynamics of a metastable state nonlinearly coupled to a heat bath driven by an external noise

Based on a system-reservoir model, where the system is nonlinearly coupled to a heat bath and the heat bath is modulated by an external stationary Gaussian noise, we derive the generalized Langevin equation with space dependent friction and multiplicative noise and construct the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation, valid for short correlation time, with space dependent diffusion coefficient to study the escape rate from a metastable state in the moderate to large damping regime. By considering the dynamics in a model cubic potential we analyze the result numerically which are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction. It has been shown numerically that the enhancement of rate is possible by properly tuning the correlation time of the external noise.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, Revtex4. To appear in Physical Review

Axial Vector Coupling Constant in Chiral Colour Dielectric Model

The axial vector coupling constants of the $\beta$ decay processes of neutron and hyperon are calculated in SU(3) chiral colour dielectric model (CCDM). Using these axial coupling constants of neutron and hyperon, in CCDM we calculate the integrals of the spin dependent structure functions for proton and neutron. Our result is similar to the results obtained by MIT bag and Cloudy bag models.Comment: 9 pages, Latex file, no figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Probing liquid surface waves, liquid properties and liquid films with light diffraction

Surface waves on liquids act as a dynamical phase grating for incident light. In this article, we revisit the classical method of probing such waves (wavelengths of the order of mm) as well as inherent properties of liquids and liquid films on liquids, using optical diffraction. A combination of simulation and experiment is proposed to trace out the surface wave profiles in various situations (\emph{eg.} for one or more vertical, slightly immersed, electrically driven exciters). Subsequently, the surface tension and the spatial damping coefficient (related to viscosity) of a variety of liquids are measured carefully in order to gauge the efficiency of measuring liquid properties using this optical probe. The final set of results deal with liquid films where dispersion relations, surface and interface modes, interfacial tension and related issues are investigated in some detail, both theoretically and experimentally. On the whole, our observations and analyses seem to support the claim that this simple, low--cost apparatus is capable of providing a wealth of information on liquids and liquid surface waves in a non--destructive way.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, to appear in Measurement Science and Technology (IOP

Baryon magnetic moments in the QCD string approach

Magnetic moments of baryons composed of light and strange quarks are computed for the first time through the only parameter of the model -- string tension $\sigma$. Resulting theoretical values differ from the experimental ones typically by about 10%.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages; misprints are correcte

Langevin dynamics with dichotomous noise; direct simulation and applications

We consider the motion of a Brownian particle moving in a potential field and driven by dichotomous noise with exponential correlation. Traditionally, the analytic as well as the numerical treatments of the problem, in general, rely on Fokker-Planck description. We present a method for direct numerical simulation of dichotomous noise to solve the Langevin equation. The method is applied to calculate nonequilibrium fluctuation induced current in a symmetric periodic potential using asymmetric dichotomous noise and compared to Fokker-Planck-Master equation based algorithm for a range of parameter values. Our second application concerns the study of resonant activation over a fluctuating barrier.Comment: Accepted in Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experimen

Decuplet Baryon Structure from Lattice QCD

The electromagnetic properties of the SU(3)-flavor baryon decuplet are examined within a lattice simulation of quenched QCD. Electric charge radii, magnetic moments, and magnetic radii are extracted from the E0 and M1 form factors. Preliminary results for the E2 and M3 moments are presented giving the first model independent insight to the shape of the quark distribution in the baryon ground state. As in our octet baryon analysis, the lattice results give evidence of spin-dependent forces and mass effects in the electromagnetic properties. The quark charge distribution radii indicate these effects act in opposing directions. Some baryon dependence of the effective quark magnetic moments is seen. However, this dependence in decuplet baryons is more subtle than that for octet baryons. Of particular interest are the lattice predictions for the magnetic moments of $\Omega^-$ and $\Delta^{++}$ for which new recent experimental measurements are available. The lattice prediction of the $\Delta^{++}/p$ ratio appears larger than the experimental ratio, while the lattice prediction for the $\Omega^-/p$ magnetic moment ratio is in good agreement with the experimental ratio.Comment: RevTeX manuscript, 34 pages plus 21 figures (available upon request

Mycobacterium tuberculosis ClpP Proteases Are Co-transcribed but Exhibit Different Substrate Specificities

PMCID: PMC3613350This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

An African-specific haplotype in MRGPRX4 is associated with menthol cigarette smoking

In the U.S., more than 80% of African-American smokers use mentholated cigarettes, compared to less than 30% of Caucasian smokers. The reasons for these differences are not well understood. To determine if genetic variation contributes to mentholated cigarette smoking, we performed an exome-wide association analysis in a multiethnic population-based sample from Dallas, TX (N = 561). Findings were replicated in an independent cohort of African Americans from Washington, DC (N = 741). We identified a haplotype of MRGPRX4 (composed of rs7102322[G], encoding N245S, and rs61733596[G], T43T), that was associated with a 5-to-8 fold increase in the odds of menthol cigarette smoking. The variants are present solely in persons of African ancestry. Functional studies indicated that the variant G protein-coupled receptor encoded by MRGPRX4 displays reduced agonism in both arrestin-based and G protein-based assays, and alteration of agonism by menthol. These data indicate that genetic variation in MRGPRX4 contributes to inter-individual and inter-ethnic differences in the preference for mentholated cigarettes, and that the existence of genetic factors predisposing vulnerable populations to mentholated cigarette smoking can inform tobacco control and public health policies