Groundwater Marketing in Nalanda District of Bihar State: A Socio-economic Appraisal

The cost and marketing of groundwater have been assessed in the Nalanda district, which is one of the most agriculturally advanced districts of the Bihar state. For the study, 60 farmers have been randomly selected from the district. It has been found that small and marginal farms use their tubewells mainly for hiring, whereas, large and medium farms use them mainly for their own purposes during the main crop seasons, i.e. kharif and rabi. The average installation cost on a tubewell has been found highest on large size of holdings (Rs 33,130), followed by medium (Rs 27,240), small (Rs 23,850), and marginal (Rs 19,610) holdings. The capital budgeting techniques, viz. net present value (NPV), benefit-cost ratio (B:C ratio) and internal rate of return (IRR) have been used for evaluating the investment on tubewells. The NPV has been found positive (Rs 1440) and B:C ratio more than one (1.05:1). The IRR has been estimated to be more than the capital cost (10.95%). But, the tubewells have failed to generate income flow equal to the investment by marginal farms. Farm size-wise analysis has revealed that the owner-seller farms category predominates in the water market in the study area. The participation in water market has been found to decline with increase in the size of farms. Financial analysis has revealed that the installation of tubewells is financially viable on large and medium farms but not on small and marginal farms. However, with the development of water market in the area, adoption of modern technologies in crop production and cultivation of cash crops would make the installation of tubewells on marginal and small size of farms financially viable.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Folk medicinal uses of the plants of Bijnor district (U.P.), India

Present paper deals with the survey of folk medicinal plant and its medicinal uses of Bisnor district (U.P.), India

Studies on Thin Films of Antimony Vacuum Evaporated from a Knudsen-Type Source

A Knudsen-type evaporation source was used for the deposition of thin films of antimony to study their growth and microstructure under different rates of evaporation and substrate temperatures when vacuum evaporated onto air-cleaved KC1, mica, amorphous carbon and doped KCl substrates. The crystallisation of these films on exposure to an electron beam of moderate intensity inside the electron microscope was studied, and the orientations of the crystallised films wrt the substrate were established. It has been concluded that antimony films prepared by this source compare well with those prepared by other sources of vacuum evaporation

Evaluation of stress intensity factor of multiple inclined cracks under biaxial loading

A finite rectangular plate of unit thickness with two inclined cracks (parallel and non parallel) under biaxial mixed mode condition are modelled using finite element method. The finite element method is used for determination of stress intensity factors by ANYSIS software. Effects of crack inclination angle on stress intensity factors for two parallel and non parallel cracks are investigated. The significant effects of different crack inclination parameters on stress intensity factors are seen for lower and upper crack in two inclined crack.The present method is validated by comparing the results from available experimental data obtained by photo elastic method in same condition

Comparison of biocrude oil production from self-settling and non-settling microalgae biomass produced in the Qatari desert environment

The present study investigated the growth, harvesting, biocrude conversion, and recycling of the HTL aqueous phase for one self-settling (i.e., Chlorocystis sp.) and another non-settling (i.e., Picochlorum sp.) marine microalgae. Both the strains were grown simultaneously in 2 identical 25,000-L raceway ponds in the Qatari desert. The cell size of Picochlorum sp. was small (2–3 µm), and its biomass was harvested using a centrifuge. Cells of Chlorocystis sp. (6–9 µm) formed flocs that settled spontaneously in a sedimentation chamber. Harvested biomass of these two strains was then converted to biocrude oil, using a 500-mL Parr reactor. The biocrude yield of Picochlorum sp. and Chlorocystis sp. was 39.6 ± 1.15% and 34.8 ± 1.65%, respectively. The energy content of the biocrude oil was 32.78 and 33.38 MJ/kg for Chlorocystis sp. and Picochlorum sp., respectively. Both the strains were capable of efficiently utilizing more than 95% nitrogen of the HTL aqueous phase. Although lower biocrude yield was obtained from Chlorocystis sp., compared to Picochlorum sp., harvesting of Chlorocystis sp. would require much lower energy compared to Picochlorum sp. Therefore, a self-settling microalgae (e.g., Chlorocystis sp.) could potentially be a better candidate, over non-settling microalgae, for producing biofuel feedstock.Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF, a member of Qatar Foundation) for providing the funding (under Grant NPRP8-646-2-272) for this study. The authors appreciate the assistance of Ms. Noora (from ESE labs) and Dr. Ahmed (from CLU) for GC?MS and CHN analyses, respectively.Scopu

Evaluation of stress intensity factor of multiple inclined cracks under biaxial loading

A finite rectangular plate of unit thickness with two inclined cracks (parallel and non parallel) under biaxial mixed mode condition are modelled using finite element method. The finite element method is used for determination of stress intensity factors by ANYSIS software. Effects of crack inclination angle on stress intensity factors for two parallel and non parallel cracks are investigated. The significant effects of different crack inclination parameters on stress intensity factors are seen for lower and upper crack in two inclined crack. The present method is validated by comparing the results from available experimental data obtained by photo elastic method in same condition

Drug standardization through pharmacognostic approaches and estimation of anticancer potential of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) using prostate-cancer cell lines : an in-vitro study

Cancer is the major challenge across world and the adenocarcinoma of prostate malignancy is the second most prevalent male cancer. Various medicinal plants are used for the treatment and management of various cancers. Matricaria chamomilla L., is one of the extensively used Unani medicament for the treatment of various type of diseases. In the current study we evaluated most of the parameters prescribed for drug standardization using pharmacognostic approaches. The 2,2 Diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) method was utilized for the analysis of antioxidant activity in the flower extracts of M. chamomilla. Moreover, we analyzed the antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of M. chamomilla (Gul-e Babuna) through in-vitro method. DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazl-hydrate) method was utilized for the analysis of antioxidant activity in the flower extracts of M. chamomilla. CFU and wound healing assay were performed to determine the anti-cancer activity. The results demonstrated that various extracts of M. chamomilla fulfilled most of the parameters of drug standardization and contained good antioxidant and anticancer activities. The ethyl acetate showed higher anticancer activity followed by aqueous, hydroalcoholic, petroleum benzene and methanol by CFU method. Also, the wound healing assay demonstrated that ethyl acetate extract has more significant effect followed by methanol and petroleum benzene extract on prostate cancer cell line (C4-2). The current study concluded that the extract of M. chamomilla flowers could act as good source of natural anti-cancer compounds.CCRUM, New Delhi; Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India; SERB research grant; Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the National Research Foundation (NRF).https://www.jcancer.orgam2024Medical OncologySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein

Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO-Virgo Run O3b

We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC-2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: A generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for subthreshold gravitational-wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each GRB. Finally, we constrain the population of low-luminosity short GRBs using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of binary black hole coalescences confidently observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include the effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that have already been identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total source-frame mass M > 70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz emitted gravitational-wave frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place a conservative upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0 < e ≤ 0.3 at 16.9 Gpc−3 yr−1 at the 90% confidence level