Technical Efficiency in North-Western Himalayan Region: A Study of Himachal Pradesh Agriculture

The technical efficiency of Himachal farmers, studied using the frontier production function, has been found to vary widely across cereal crops in the state. It has been found that the average yield of all the major cereal crops is below the national average, except the maize crop, which has been found in surplus in the state. Maize → wheat and paddy → wheat have been noted as the major crop rotations being followed in the study area. The analysis of cross sectional data has revealed inefficiency in terms of inputs application. The mean technical efficiencies have revealed that a considerable portion of frontier output is left untapped, it is 35-42 per cent in maize, 44-50 per cent in paddy and 61-67 per cent in wheat. The ratio of marginal value productivity (MVP) and marginal factor cost (MFC) has been found to be more than one in case of 50 per cent inputs for all the crops. However, the female labour for most of the crops has values less than one and with negative signs as most of the work (agricultural operations) in the hills is being performed by women. The results have indicated that there is a scope to increase the returns from wheat production by using more farmyard manure, chemical fertilizers, male labour, female labour and bullock labour in zone I. Similarly, in the case of maize (local) in zone I, the yield could be increased by increasing the use of more of farmyard manure, chemical fertilizers, male labour and seeds. The analysis has also revealed that a majority of the farmers operate at low level of efficiency due to practising of traditional cultivation methods. It is felt that there is a need to educate females in resource management, preferably through female extension workers.Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Design of Domestic Helix Vertical Axis Wind Turbine to Extract Energy from Exhaust Fans

The application of wind energy in power generation is increasing day by day. Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) are considered more efficient than vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) but with urbanization and limited access to wind in cities, VAWT may offer greater advantages, as HAWT are generally used in wind farms as large wind turbines. In many high altitude regions, average wind velocity is around 5-8ms-1 which can be utilized for electricity production, but in cities, that are at lower altitudes and are congested, the kinetic energy of exhaust fans can be used for electricity production. This paper describes the design of VAWT that can be used to generate electricity at domestic level using the energy from exhaust fans. Keywords: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT); Wind Energy; Design model; Innovation

Response of Strawberry plant (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) to inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and Trichoderma viride

The present paper represents the positive role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi as biofertilizers in strawberry. Experiments were carried out to assess the effectiveness of Trichoderma viride and AM fungi (Glomus mosseae and Acaulospora laevis) alone or in combination, on the growth and biomass production of strawberry. After 120 days, dual inoculation of A. laevis + T. viride showed maximum increase in plant height (30.5±0.3), fresh shoot weight (10.16±0.20), dry shoot weight (2.82±0.02), fresh root weight (6.70±0.10), total chlorophyll (0.841±0.05) and phosphorus content in root (1.13±0.02) as compared to control. However root colonization and AM spore number were maximum in G. mosseae + A. lavies (90.76±1.32) and in G. mosseae (211.16±2.56) respectively as compared to uninoculated plants. Triple inoculation of G. mosseae + A. laevis + T. viride (12.33± 057) was effective in increasing the leaf area

Design and Develop of Sea Wave Power Plant

The energy of sea waves can be absorbed by wave energy converters in a variety of manners, but in every case the transferred power is highly fluctuating in several time-scales, especially the wave-to-wave or the wave group time-scales. In most devices developed or considered so far, the final product is electrical energy to be supplied to a grid. This paper discusses the use of sea wave energy with the help of oscillating column. The mechanism converts the wave energy in to electrical power by converting the oscillating motion of waves in to rotary motion. Using compression ring we can store the power produced by the impact. This stored energy can be utilized in other strokes. The sea, which covers three quarters of the world’s surface, has been little utilized to meet the peoples’ energy needs. Keywords: Wave Energy, Oscillating Column, Floating Column, Wave Spectrum, Pelton Turbine

Technical Efficiency in North-Western Himalayan Region: A Study of Himachal Pradesh Agriculture

The technical efficiency of Himachal farmers, studied using the frontier production function, has been found to vary widely across cereal crops in the state. It has been found that the average yield of all the major cereal crops is below the national average, except the maize crop, which has been found in surplus in the state. Maize → wheat and paddy → wheat have been noted as the major crop rotations being followed in the study area. The analysis of cross sectional data has revealed inefficiency in terms of inputs application. The mean technical efficiencies have revealed that a considerable portion of frontier output is left untapped, it is 35-42 per cent in maize, 44-50 per cent in paddy and 61-67 per cent in wheat. The ratio of marginal value productivity (MVP) and marginal factor cost (MFC) has been found to be more than one in case of 50 per cent inputs for all the crops. However, the female labour for most of the crops has values less than one and with negative signs as most of the work (agricultural operations) in the hills is being performed by women. The results have indicated that there is a scope to increase the returns from wheat production by using more farmyard manure, chemical fertilizers, male labour, female labour and bullock labour in zone I. Similarly, in the case of maize (local) in zone I, the yield could be increased by increasing the use of more of farmyard manure, chemical fertilizers, male labour and seeds. The analysis has also revealed that a majority of the farmers operate at low level of efficiency due to practising of traditional cultivation methods. It is felt that there is a need to educate females in resource management, preferably through female extension workers

Analysis of Blockade in Charge Transport Across Polymeric Heterojunctions as a Function of Thermal Annealing: A Different Perspective

A blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5diyl) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C-61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) is popularly used as an active medium in polymeric solar devices. According to the most recent understanding, the blend is a three-phase system contrary to its earlier understanding of two-phase bicontinuous network. We have synthesized a P3HT-PCBM based layered heterostructure system by spin coating and thermal vacuum evaporations. Current density (J) was measured as a function of applied electric field (E) across the system bound between two metal electrodes. J-E relations were analyzed into the backdrop of space charge limited current model and Schottky model. The later was used to predict dc-dielectric constants from the linear slopes of ln (J) versus E (1/2). The curves were not monotonously linear, but observe a knee-bend separating into two linear segments for each curve. Thermal annealing from 40A degrees C to 80A degrees C was used as an activation tool for driving changes in the internal morphology via inter-diffusion of polymers and current measurements were performed at room temperature after each annealing. At the last stage of annealing the two linear slopes were highly distinct. The presence of sharp knee-bend results in approximately 20 times jump in dielectric constant as a function of electric field. Such high jumps in dielectric constant illustrate the potential for switching applications and charge storage. The high dielectric constants can be understood in terms of space charge polarization due to isolated domains which hindrance to charge transport. The high dielectric constants were confirmed by another experiment of capacitance measurements of a different set of similar samples. A study of thermal evolution of internal morphology was also carried out using x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques to correlate the morphological changes with the transport properties

genomeNLP - Leveraging Natural Language Processing: A step-by-step guide to decipher the grammar of genetic code

<ul> <li>Fix a bug where passing a config to train did not override output URL</li> <li>Raise a warning when local and remote sources clash</li> <li>Fix a bug where automated download does not work for cross validation</li> </ul>If you use this software, please cite it as below

Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Analysis of Modern Cattle ('Bos indicus') Molars from the Central Narmada Valley, India

The carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of tooth enamel is connected to the diet and environment in which it develops. Enamel is invariably preserved for a long time and hence provides the best material for chemical analysis. Teeth are known to reflect a record of dietary and environmental changes taking place during their growth. This paper presents the results of intra-tooth oxygen and carbon isotope values (δ18O,δ13C) of first, second and third molars obtained from five modern cattle collected from two locations: Dhansi and Hathnora from the Central Narmada Valley, India. The specimens chosen for this study are individuals presumed to have died naturally and/or disposed of by local farmers. The isotopic analysis of tooth enamel is broadly indicative of a C3 diet with values of δ13C (enamel bioapatite) ranging from –6.4‰ VPDB to –27.31‰ VPDB with an average of –16.68‰ VPDB. The δ18O values measured in the enamel samples range between of 1.76‰ to 25.15‰ with a mean value of 22.17‰ VSMOW. These present day dental enamel values of modern cattle were compared against the published enamel isotope values of Bos namadicus, that occupied this region during the Pleistocene era, in order to understand the possible shift in diet and environment and their inter-relationship between the modern and the Pleistocene Era. The fossil sample produced enriched values of carbon isotopes compared to the modern taxa, indicating a C4 rich diet, while the diet of the modern cattle is extensively dominated by C3 type vegetation. We also observed an enriched oxygen isotope values for the fossil sample compared to the modern samples, indicating a possible effect of diagenesis and/or a shift in the temperature and rainfall