Coconut (Cocos nucifera)-based farming system: a viable land use option for small and marginal farmers in coastal Odisha

An investigation was carried out during 2012-2013 in Puri district of Odisha to study the composition, structure and role of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) based farming in 15 different holding sizes, i.e. 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 acre. The experiment was laid out in randomised block design with three replications. The smaller holdings were found close to houses as homegardens and comparatively larger holdings were found little away from the houses. The composition was found very diverse consisting of perennial trees, annual crops and seasonal crops. The coconut based agroforestry systems of various sizes are playing important role for the household which include productive role, protective and ameliorative role, recreational and educational role as well as developmental role giving various kinds of tangible and intangible benefits. As the natural forest cover is less in coastal Odisha, a substantial quantity of fuel wood was found to be derived from homegarden and the contribution of fuel wood production increased with increase of holding size up to 1.2 acre. The net return varied from Rupees 5 617 to Rupees 32 850/annum showing the income level increased with increase in holding size, while the economics was calculated on acre basis, the net income ranged from Rupees 56 167 to Rupees 21 900 indicating decreasing trend towards higher holding sizes. In terms of market orientation, the smaller unit sizes were found more subsistence and less commercial than bigger holding sizes and vice versa. The coconut based agroforestry system of size 0.8 acre (perennials-coconut, siris, rain tree, eucalyptus, acacia, areca nut, mango, sissoo, teak, jackfruit, bamboo, guava, pomegranate, papaya, drumstick, bael, citrus, banana, curry leaf ; seasonals-pine apple, yam, arrowroot, turmeric, ginger, brinjal, okra, bitter gourd, ridge gourd, chilli, greens, cowpea, tomato, cauliflower, pumpkin; mushroom-paddy straw/oyster; fish- rohu, silver crap, grass crap; cattle, buffalo, goat, poultry, duck) was found to be the best among the holding sizes studied with regard to viability of landuse

Pemphigus autoimmunity: Hypotheses and realities

The goal of contemporary research in pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus is to achieve and maintain clinical remission without corticosteroids. Recent advances of knowledge on pemphigus autoimmunity scrutinize old dogmas, resolve controversies, and open novel perspectives for treatment. Elucidation of intimate mechanisms of keratinocyte detachment and death in pemphigus has challenged the monopathogenic explanation of disease immunopathology. Over 50 organ-specific and non-organ-specific antigens can be targeted by pemphigus autoimmunity, including desmosomal cadherins and other adhesion molecules, PERP cholinergic and other cell membrane (CM) receptors, and mitochondrial proteins. The initial insult is sustained by the autoantibodies to the cell membrane receptor antigens triggering the intracellular signaling by Src, epidermal growth factor receptor kinase, protein kinases A and C, phospholipase C, mTOR, p38 MAPK, JNK, other tyrosine kinases, and calmodulin that cause basal cell shrinkage and ripping desmosomes off the CM. Autoantibodies synergize with effectors of apoptotic and oncotic pathways, serine proteases, and inflammatory cytokines to overcome the natural resistance and activate the cell death program in keratinocytes. The process of keratinocyte shrinkage/detachment and death via apoptosis/oncosis has been termed apoptolysis to emphasize that it is triggered by the same signal effectors and mediated by the same cell death enzymes. The natural course of pemphigus has improved due to a substantial progress in developing of the steroid-sparing therapies combining the immunosuppressive and direct anti-acantholytic effects. Further elucidation of the molecular mechanisms mediating immune dysregulation and apoptolysis in pemphigus should improve our understanding of disease pathogenesis and facilitate development of steroid-free treatment of patients

The desmosome and pemphigus

Desmosomes are patch-like intercellular adhering junctions (“maculae adherentes”), which, in concert with the related adherens junctions, provide the mechanical strength to intercellular adhesion. Therefore, it is not surprising that desmosomes are abundant in tissues subjected to significant mechanical stress such as stratified epithelia and myocardium. Desmosomal adhesion is based on the Ca2+-dependent, homo- and heterophilic transinteraction of cadherin-type adhesion molecules. Desmosomal cadherins are anchored to the intermediate filament cytoskeleton by adaptor proteins of the armadillo and plakin families. Desmosomes are dynamic structures subjected to regulation and are therefore targets of signalling pathways, which control their molecular composition and adhesive properties. Moreover, evidence is emerging that desmosomal components themselves take part in outside-in signalling under physiologic and pathologic conditions. Disturbed desmosomal adhesion contributes to the pathogenesis of a number of diseases such as pemphigus, which is caused by autoantibodies against desmosomal cadherins. Beside pemphigus, desmosome-associated diseases are caused by other mechanisms such as genetic defects or bacterial toxins. Because most of these diseases affect the skin, desmosomes are interesting not only for cell biologists who are inspired by their complex structure and molecular composition, but also for clinical physicians who are confronted with patients suffering from severe blistering skin diseases such as pemphigus. To develop disease-specific therapeutic approaches, more insights into the molecular composition and regulation of desmosomes are required

Assessment of Growth Rate and Instability of Groundnut Production in Odisha, India: A Statistical Modelling Approach

Oilseeds in Odisha has a major contribution in increasing the income of farmers which is due to their greater economic value. The important oilseed crops grown in Odisha are groundnut, mustard, sunflower, sesamum and castor. Groundnut shares 34% of total area under oilseeds in Odisha and 64% of total production of oilseeds in the state. The present makes an attempt   to explore the best fit model on area, productivity and production of groundnut in Odisha and use the selected best fit model to estimate the growth rate of the variables. The instability of area, productivity and production of groundnut in Odisha is also studied with help of coefficient of variation. Data from 1970-71 to 2019-20 have been used to estimate the growth rate and instability by dividing the whole period of study in two periods - pre-liberalisation period (1970-71 to 1995-96) which is referred as period I and post-liberalisation (1996-97 to 2019-20) which is referred as period II. Models considered in the analysis are linear model, logarithmic model, quadratic model, compound model and power model. Durbin-Watson test, Shapiro-wilk’s test and park’s test are used for testing error assumption. By testing the significance of parametric coefficient, residual diagnostics and the model fit statistics, the best fit model for the variable have been selected. Using the best fit model, the growth rate of area, productivity and production of groundnut in Odisha has been estimated. The measure of instability of area, productivity and production of groundnut is given by Coefficient of Variation. The study reveals that different models have been found to be the best fit for different variables in different periods. The study of growth rate using the best fit model reveals that area and production of groundnut decrease in post-liberalisation period than pre-liberalisation period. The growth rate of productivity of groundnut increases in post-liberalisation period as compared to pre-liberalisation period. The situation is reverse with respect to instability. The study comes with the conclusion that as compared to pre-liberalisation period, the productivity performance of groundnut in Odisha has enhanced in post-liberalisation period. The poor performance in area under groundnut results in poor performance in production of groundnut during post-liberalisation period as compared to pre-liberalisation period. The appropriate model building technique helps in depicting a proper scenario of groundnut production in the state of Odisha

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF MIMO SYSTEM FOR UWB COMMUNICATION

ABSTRACT Multiple transmit and receive antennas are used MIMO system. The system creates parallel MIMO subchannels to transmit independent streams of data under the appropriate channel conditions. Similarly, Ultrawideband (UWB) communication has attracted great interest for various applications in recent days. Spatially multiplexed (SM) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems gains the spectral efficiency as well as high data rates without consuming additional power, bandwidth or time slots. In this paper, we extend the concept of MIMO to UWB systems. The correlated channel for such purpose is considered and the performance has been analyzed for spatial multiplexing SM-UWB-MIMO system which is required for estimation. The system performance substantially degrades in the presence of high values of spatial correlation. To avoid the degradation of such system, it has been designed for virtual UWB-MIMO Time Reversal (TR) system, so that it is not affected by the transmit correlation. Another novel method to reduce the effect of correlation has been chosen by taking the Eigen value of the channel matrix for the computation of the system performance. The result shows its performance