Studies on the controlled rearing and ideal range of Environmental Conditions required for the mass production of selected marine copepods as Live-Feed for marine fish larvae

Studies on the controlled rearing and ideal range of Environmental Conditions required for the mass production of selected marine copepods as Live-Feed for marine fish larva

Deep bore well water level fluctuations in the Koyna region, India: the presence of a low order dynamical system in a seismically active environment

Water level fluctuations in deep bore wells in the vicinity of seismically active Koyna region in western India provides an opportunity to understand the causative mechanism underlying reservoir-triggered earthquakes. As the crustal porous rocks behave nonlinearly, their characteristics can be obtained by analysing water level fluctuations, which reflect an integrated response of the medium. A Fractal dimension is one such measure of nonlinear characteristics of porous rock as observed in water level data from the Koyna region. It is inferred in our study that a low nonlinear dynamical system with three variables can predict the water level fluctuations in bore wells

THE ACCUSED IS ENTERING THE COURTROOM: THE LIVE-TWEETING OF A MURDER TRIAL.

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThe use of social media is now widely accepted within journalism as an outlet for news information. Live tweeting of unfolding events is standard practice. In March 2014, Oscar Pistorius went on trial in the Gauteng High Court for murder. Hundreds of journalists present began live-tweeting coverage, an unprecedented combination of international interest, permission to use technology and access which resulted in massive streams of consciousness reports of events as they unfolded. Based on a corpus of Twitter feeds of twenty-four journalists covering the trial, this study analyses the content and strategies of these feeds in order to present an understanding of how microblogging is used as a live reporting tool. This study shows the development of standardised language and strategies in reporting on Twitter, concluding that journalists adopt a narrow range of approaches, with no significant variation in terms of gender, location, or medium. This is in contrast to earlier studies in the field (Awad, 2006, Hedman, 2015; Kothari, 2010; Lariscy, Avery, Sweetser, & Howes, 2009 Lasorsa, 2012; Lasorsa, Lewis, & Holton, 2011; Sigal, 1999, Vis, 2013).Peer reviewe

सक्रिय धातु आयनों के अनुकूलन द्वारा अंत:स्थलीय भूमिगत नमकीन जल में टाईगर झींगा (पेनियस मोनोडोन) के स्थाई पालौअ की संभावनाएं

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Effect of dietary zinc on the growth and metabolic enzyme activities of golden mahseer (Tor putitora) fry

The golden mahseer (Tor putitora) is an important and high valued sport and food fish of national and international importance. Therefore for promotion of golden mahseer, proper mineral supplementation in early developmental stages is very important. The present study evaluated the effects of dietary zinc on growth, survivaland physiological response of Tor putitora fry. One thousand eight hundred fry (avg.wt 54.35±3.09 mg) were randomly distributed into 6 treatment groups with triplicates each. Six iso-nitrogenous (40±0.02% to 41.44±0.01% crude protein) semi-purified diets were prepared with graded levels of dietary zinc. Zinc sulphate was added as the dietary zinc source to the basal diet. The results indicated that specific growth rate (SGR) was of value 2.52 ±0.23 gm of T. putitora fry which increased with dietary zinc levels up to a concentration of 40 mg Zn Kg-1 in diet. The zinc dependent metabolic enzymes and antioxidant enzymes was also observed to be highest in groups supplemented with 40 mg zinc/kg feed. The overall results of the present study suggest the efficacy of dietary zinc on growth, survival and physiological response of golden mahseer fry in order to garner the possibility of establishing the species to commercial aquaculture

Gonadal Assessment of Picnic Sea Bream Acanthopagrus berda (Forsskål 1775), a Potential Aquaculture Candidate for Indian Waters

Gonadal assessment of Acanthopagrus berda (Forsskål 1775), a commercially and recreationally important fish from Indian waters, was studied by collecting 250 fishes from the Korapuzha estuary, Calicut, Kerala using cast net during December 2015 to January 2016. External morphology of the gonads reveals that A. berda is bisexual (with ovo-testis) in nature with the ovarian lobe in the mid-dorsal region of the abdominal cavity and the testicular lobe as a band along the ventro-lateral wall with a major portion running along the extreme posterior region of the gonad. Males were dominant in lower length classes (17–23 cm) while females dominated in upper length classes (24–43 cm), confirming protandrous hermaphroditism in the species. Gonado-somatic index (GSI) was significantly higher (P<0.05) for the females. Males and transitional groups were showing almost similar GSI. External morphological and histological evaluation of the gonads of A. berda during the 2-month study revealed the presence of different developmental stages such as matured testis with oozing milt, an intermediate gonad structure with an anterior thin ovary-like structure and a posterior thick testis-like morphology indicating a transitional ovo-testis, maturing ovary and matured ovary. The simultaneous availability of milt oozing males and matured females from the wild indicates the opportunity for development of captive breeding, seed production and hatchery technology for this important commercial food fish

Nucleon decay matrix elements with the Wilson quark action: an update

We present preliminary results of a new lattice computation of hadronic matrix elements of baryon number violating operators which appear in the low-energy effective Lagrangian of (SUSY-)Grand Unified Theories. The contribution of irrelevant form factor which has caused an underestimate of the matrix elements in previous studies is subtracted in this calculation. Our results are 2$\sim$4 times larger than the most conservative values often employed in phenomenological analyses of nucleon decay with specific GUT models.Comment: LATTICE99(matrixelements), 3 pages, 2 figure

Evaluation of two mobile health apps in the context of smoking cessation: qualitative study of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) versus non-CBT-based digital solutions.

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) apps can offer users numerous benefits, representing a feasible and acceptable means of administering health interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is commonly used in the treatment of mental health conditions, where it has a strong evidence base, suggesting that it represents an effective method to elicit health behavior change. More importantly, CBT has proved to be effective in smoking cessation, in the context of smoking-related costs to the National Health Service (NHS) having been estimated to be as high as £2.6bn in 2015. Although the evidence base for computerized CBT in mental health is strong, there is limited literature on its use in smoking cessation. This, combined with the cost-effectiveness of mHealth interventions, advocates a need for research into the effectiveness of CBT-based smoking cessation apps. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was, first, to explore participants' perceptions of 2 mHealth apps, a CBT-based app, Quit Genius, and a non-CBT-based app, NHS Smokefree, over a variety of themes. Second, the study aimed to investigate the perceptions and health behavior of users of each app with respect to smoking cessation. METHODS: A qualitative short-term longitudinal study was conducted, using a sample of 29 smokers allocated to one of the 2 apps, Quit Genius or Smokefree. Each user underwent 2 one-to-one semistructured interviews, 1 week apart. Thematic analysis was carried out, and important themes were identified. Descriptive statistics regarding participants' perceptions and health behavior in relation to smoking cessation are also provided. RESULTS: The thematic analysis resulted in five higher themes and several subthemes. Participants were generally more positive about Quit Genius's features, as well as about its design and information engagement and quality. Quit Genius users reported increased motivation to quit smoking, as well as greater willingness to continue using their allocated app after 1 week. Moreover, these participants demonstrated preliminary changes in their smoking behavior, although this was in the context of our limited sample, not yet allowing for the finding to be generalizable. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the use of CBT in the context of mHealth apps as a feasible and potentially effective smoking cessation tool. mHealth apps must be well developed, preferably with an underlying behavioral change mechanism, to promote positive health behavior change. Digital CBT has the potential to become a powerful tool in overcoming current health care challenges. The present results should be replicated in a wider sample using the apps for a longer period so as to allow for generalizability. Further research is also needed to focus on the effect of greater personalization on behavioral change and on understanding the psychological barriers to the adoption of new mHealth solutions

Effect of vitamin C dietary supplementation on growth and survival of grey mullet, Mugil cephalus (linnaeus, 1758) fry

The present study was conducted to examine the effect of dietary supplementation of vitamin C on growth performance and survival of Mugil cephalus juveniles. Mullet juveniles of an average weight of 3.5 gm each were distributed into four treatment groups and were fed with one of the ten purified diets for 45 days. The growth performance and survival of the experimental animals were measured fortnightly. The experimental purified diets were formulated to contain with or without graded levels of vitamin C. The growth performance (absolute growth, percentage weight gain, SGR, PER, per day growth) were significantly higher in mullets fed with diet containing vitamin C supplementation than fed without vitamin supplementation. The vitamin had no significant effect on survival of the mullet juveniles and all the treatments were significantly similar to each other. These finding can be used for formulation of species specific feed for mullet fry for ensuring optimum growth

Comparative evaluation of real-time PCR and conventional RT-PCR during two year surveillance for Influenza and RSV among children with acute respiratory infections in Kolkata reveals distinct seasonality of infection

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) are one of the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in young children all over the world. Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial viruses (RSV) are the predominant etiology during seasonal epidemics and thus rapid and sensitive molecular tests for screening &amp; timely identification of epidemics are required. In this study we report comparison of real time PCR (Q-PCR) with conventional RT-PCR for parallel identification of Influenza A or B (Inf-A or -B) and RSV. A total of 1091 respiratory samples were examined from children with suspected ARTI during January 2007- December 2008. Of these 1091 samples, 275 (25.21%) were positive for either Influenza or RSV by Q-PCR compared to 262 (24%) positives by RT-PCR. Overall Inf-A, -B and RSV were detected in a total of 121 (11.075%), 59 (5.38%) and 95 (8.68%) samples respectively. In spite of overlapping clinical symptoms, RSV and Influenza showed distinct seasonal peaks. Inf-A positively and RSV, negatively correlated with rainfall and temperature. No distinct seasonality was observed in Inf-B infections. This is the first report of a systemic surveillance of respiratory viruses with seasonal correlation and prevalence rate from Eastern India. The two year comparative analysis also confirmed feasibility of using Q-PCR in developing countries, which will not only improve scope for prevention of epidemics but also provide crucial epidemiological data from the tropical regions