Potential of the system of rice intensification for systemic improvement in rice production and water use: the case of Andhra Pradesh, India

As opportunities to enhance the irrigation base for raising food production in the country are dwindling, India needs a more concerted effort to increase the efficiency and productivity of its irrigation systems. This study, based on an analysis of experience from the state of Andhra Pradesh, addresses the potential of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to contribute to systemic corrections in present paddy cultivation, both with regard to agronomic productivity and irrigation water use efficiency. This study points to the considerable increase in rice productivity and farmer incomes, which is being achieved in Andhra Pradesh with substantial reduction in irrigation water application, labor, and seed costs through utilization of SRI methods. Potential public savings on water and power costs could be drawn upon not only for promoting SRI but also to effect systemic corrections in the irrigation sector, to mutual advantage

Prevalence and Pattern of Consanguineous Marriages Among Different Communities in Mangalore

Introduction: Consanguineous marriages are a common practice in the Middle East, Asian and African populations. Many studies have stated an association between first cousin marriages and the incidence of autosomal recessive diseases and congenital malformations. High frequency of consanguinity is reported by researchers among South India. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and type of consanguineous marriages among the different communities of Mangalore. Methods: This study was conducted on 1164 married women in Mangalore to investigate the prevalence and type of consanguineous marriages. All the women were interviewed personally using a structured questionnaire. Family pedigree was constructed to study the type of consanguineous marriages. Data analysis was done by SPSS Win 13.0. Results: A low percentage of consanguinity (6.53%) was observed with a mean inbreeding coefficient of 0.0339. Frequency of consanguinity between religions was highly significant. Of these the most frequent were first cousin marriages (43.42%). Within Hindu religion the highest rate of consanguinity was among the Billavas (47.62%) of which the most frequent were distant relative marriages (75%) followed by second cousin marriages (57.14%). There was no significant difference in the frequency distribution of the types of consanguinity between the religions and also between the different groups among Hindus. Conclusion: The frequency of consanguinity was found to be low in Mangalore. The findings contradict with the earlier reports of high prevalence of consanguineous marriages in South India. Increased female education, increased socio-economic status and decrease in parental decisions in marriages may be the reasons

Cavity optomechanics with arrays of thick dielectric membranes

Optomechanical arrays made of structured flexible dielectrics are a promising system for exploring quantum and many-body optomechanical phenomena. We generalize investigations of the optomechanical properties of periodic arrays of one-dimensional scatterers in optical resonators to the case of vibrating membranes whose thickness is not necessarily small with respect to the optical wavelength of interest. The array optical transmission spectrum and its optomechanical coupling with a linear Fabry-Perot cavity field are investigated both analytically and numerically.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Hybrid cavity mechanics with doped systems

We investigate the dynamics of a mechanical resonator in which is embedded an ensemble of two-level systems interacting with an optical cavity field. We show that this hybrid approach to optomechanics allows for enhanced effective interactions between the mechanics and the cavity field, leading for instance to ground state cooling of the mechanics, even in regimes, like the unresolved sideband regime, in which standard radiation pressure cooling would be inefficient.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Analisis Strategi Pemasaran Gasifier Mini pada Konsumen IKM/ UMKM di Kabupaten Sleman dengan Metode SWOT Analysis

Gasifikasi batubara adalah teknologi konversi yang digunakan untuk mengubah batubara menjadi bahan bakar gas yang diproses dalam satu alat yang di sebut Gasifier. Alat ini menghasilkan pembakaran dengan emisi rendah, abu dan tar terkendali, karena sistem pembakaran melalui proses gasifikasi sehingga ramah lingkungan. Gasmin relatif lebih aman dari potensi tabung meletus karena tekanangas sangat rendah. Tujuan penelitian di Puslitbang tekMIRA untuk mengetahui strategi pemasaran dan posisi perusahaan. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode SWOT Analysis. Sumber data diperoleh dari data primer dan data sekunder serta menggunakan pendekatan metode kualitatif dan kuantitatif, untuk mengetahui posisi perusahaan dan menyusun strategi pemasaran mengenai produk gasifiermini meliputi strategi kekuatan dan kelemahan (Internal), peluang dan ancaman (Eksternal) untuk mengantisipasi ancaman dari produk serupa. Berdasarkan analisa data yang dilakukan, posisi perusahaan berada pada sel 5 growth strategy merupakan pertumbuhan perusahaan itu sendiri menurut diagram matrik dan menempati kuadran I dengan strategi agresif merupakan posisi yang meguntungkan perusahaan dalam peluang dan kekuatan menurut diagram kartesius

Minimum agitation speed for solid suspension and mixing time in a torispherical -bottomed pharmaceutical stirred tank under different baffling conditions

The minimum agitation speed, NS, required to just suspend solid particles dispersed in water was experimentally determined in this work for a glass-lined type of mixing tank provided with a torispherical bottom and agitated with a retreat-blade impeller under different baffling configurations. Ns for the same tank but equipped with a different agitation system, namely an axial impeller, was also experimentally determined for the purpose of comparing of performances of the two systems. The effect of impeller off- bottom clearance and the vessel\u27s liquid level on the minimum agitation speed were also experimentally studied. Njs, was experimentally determined using Zwietering\u27s method, requiring that the solids do not rest on the tank bottom for more than 1-2 seconds. The value of Nis was found to depend strongly on the type of baffling, and was highest in the unbaffled tank and with solid particles 1501.1m in size and lowest in the partially baffled system. The mixing time, θ95, required to disperse a tracer in the liquid to achieve a 95% homogeneity level was also experimentally determined in the same system for the partially baffled and fully baffled configurations. A colorimetric method coupled with image processing was used to determine the mixing time

Identification and characterisation of chloramine decaying proteins and control of impact in chloraminated systems

Chloramine is the second most popular disinfectant behind chlorine used in water distribution systems. The main advantages of using chloramine over chlorine are; it provides a longer lasting disinfectant residual and forms a less amount of the regulated halogenated disinfection by-products. However, at times, microbial chloramine decay can overwhelm stability and is identified as one of the serious problems that needs addressing. One of the mechanisms of microbial chloramine decay is by production of soluble microbial products (SMP), which substantially affects the chloramine decay. The SMP are usually composed of proteins, polysaccharides, humic acids, fulvic acids, nucleic acids, enzymes and structural compounds, but it was suspected that the chloramine decaying SMP could be protein(s) due to the catalytic effect that was noted in the samples. It was noted in soluble form in water after the onset of nitrification in a chloraminated system. When the SMP was filtered out of the water and was run on the SDS page to identify the compound 25 different proteins were seen with weaker signals. Therefore, the identity of chloramine decaying soluble microbial products (SMP), which microbes produce them and how to control them are not known. If SMP was produced by nitrifiers and since nitrifiers could be inhibited by higher organic carbon levels when changing dissolved organic carbon (DOC) level in the water, it could alter the production of chloramine decaying SMP. Therefore, batch rechloramination tests were conducted for reactor sets with variable DOC levels to understand their effect on the impact of SMP. The results revealed as the highest production of SMP had been stimulated with low DOC level (0-1mg-C.L-1) compared to other DOC levels (2-3, 4-5 and 7-8 mg-C.L-1). To recognize microbial community variations with the impression of identifying CDP producing micro-organisms, microbial community analysis was also carried out in the same reactor sets. Significant differences in bacterial types against DOC variations could not be detected. However, some of the bacterial types such as Micobacterium, AOB, Bradyrhizobium sp., Methylobacterium and family Sphingomonadaceae recognized in this study are known to produce extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). My early work has identified that SMP are proteins; hence, named as chloramine decaying proteins (CDP). In Relation to the context of these experiments, the proteins consisting within EPS can be considered as CDP. Questioning if nitrifiers always produce CDP, two nitrified reactors - one with chloramine (chloraminated reactor) and the other with ammonia (ammoniated reactor) - were operated using nutrient added Milli-Q water as the feed water in a way nitrification occurs within the reactor. MilliQ was selected since it produced the highest concentration of CDP. It was expected that CDP could be easily separated amongst 25 previously found proteins. Therefore, nitrified bulk water and biofilm samples from both reactors were subjected to protein separation (2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) and protein identification (mass spectrometry-MS). Furthermore, bacterial community variations on ammoniated and chloraminated reactors were characterised by sequencing of 16S RNA. The batch rechloramination results obtained from the reactors for the first time established the production of CDP as a microbial response to chloramine stress. The bacterial community characterisations on each of the reactors did not show major differences in identified bacterial strains. However, the EPS producing bacterial strains (AOB, Bradyrhizobium sp. and family Sphingomonadaceae) identified in chloraminated reactors were suspected to be responsible for CDP production. Chloraminated and ammoniated bulk water samples were not resulting in enough concentrations, therefore, for comparison of protein spots and MS analysis, the biofilm samples (which are believed to have more CDP) were analysed. The major proteins detected were ammonia monooxygenase subunit A and putative porin related to Nitrosomonas sp. and Bradyrhizobium sp., respectively. However, their relation to CDP has to be further investigated. Conclusively, every aspect of this study is directing towards discovering a better control mechanism for the microbial/ CDP induced accelerated chloramine decay. Silver is a known inhibitor for several micro-organisms. Therefore, experiments were conducted to reveal the optimum dose of silver on inactivating nitrifying microbes and CDP for controlling the fast decay of chloramine. Interestingly, 2 μg-Ag.L-1 silver (which is far lower than the recommended level- 0.1 mg-Ag.L-1) was found to be effective for improving chloramine residuals in tested bulk waters. This study concludes by further emphasising the need for extensive study/research in further identification of CDP and bacteria communities responsible for chloramine decay in chloraminated drinking water distribution systems

A Qualitative Case Study of the Barriers faced by Bancassurance Managers due to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Bancassurance is an expanding, significant, yet a highly understudied area. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had a critical impact on many industries, including bancassurance, which is defined as a collaborative format to sell insurance products through partnering banks. In the light of this context, this research study identifies and explores the barriers faced by bancassurance managers amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Following a qualitative approach, a case study strategy has been used to explore the barriers faced by bancassurance managers in the context of Diriya[1] life insurance company. The findings were bracketed under two main themes, namely, a) increased pressure to achieve sales targets from both insurance company and the partnering bank and b) the work-life imbalance caused by the additional workload during the Covid-19 pandemic. The first theme explored the pressure and consequences faced by the bancassurance managers through the insurance company and the partnering bank, while the second theme explored agent-manager engagement, shouldering additional workload and the unique burdens faced by the married, female bancassurance managers. As Covid-19 is an ongoing phenomenon, this study contributes in terms of advancing literature by making knowledge more explicit, in addition to policy formulation and application. Finally, the novelty of this study would be a foundation for further research conducted on barriers faced by bancassurance managers in managing agents amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.  Keywords: Bancassurance, Covid-19, Qualitative, Case Stud