Enhancement of drought-induced senescence by the reproductive sink in fertile lines of wheat and Sorghum

The leaf senescence pattern was examined in water-stressed male sterile and fertile lines of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and sorghum (Sorghum vulgare). The study was conducted at the seedling stage and during grain development. The loss of leaf area and chlorophyll content induced by water stress was similar in the male sterile and fertile lines of wheat at the seedling stage. At the grain filling stage, leaf senescence occurred at a faster rate in the fertile lines as compared to sterile lines of both wheat and sorghum. The study indicates that a reproductive sink accentuates drought-induced leaf senescence

Sorption of Water & Some Straight- & Branched-chain Aliphatic Alcohols by Casein

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Static dielectric response and Born effective charge of BN nanotubes from {\it ab initio} finite electric field calculations

{\it Ab initio} investigations of the full static dielectric response and Born effective charge of BN nanotubes (BN-NTs) have been performed for the first time using finite electric field method. It is found that the ionic contribution to the static dielectric response of BN-NTs is substantial and also that a pronounced chirality-dependent oscillation is superimposed on the otherwise linear relation between the longitudinal electric polarizability and the tube diameter ($D$), as for a thin dielectric cylinderical shell. In contrast, the transverse dielectric response of the BN-NTs resemble the behavior of a thin (non-ideal) conducting cylindrical shell of a diameter of $D+4$\AA$$, with a screening factor of 2 for the inner electric field. The medium principal component $Z_y^*$ of the Born effective charge corresponding to the transverse atomic displacement tangential to the BN-NT surface, has a pronounced $D$-dependence (but independent of chirality), while the large longitudinal component $Z_z^*$ exhibits a clear chirality dependence (but nearly $D$-independent), suggesting a powerful way to characterize the diameter and chirality of a BN-NT.Comment: submitted to PR

Noninvasive Embedding of Single Co Atoms in Ge(111)2x1 Surfaces

We report on a combined scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) based investigation of Co atoms on Ge(111)2x1 surfaces. When deposited on cold surfaces, individual Co atoms have a limited diffusivity on the atomically flat areas and apparently reside on top of the upper pi-bonded chain rows exclusively. Voltage-dependent STM imaging reveals a highly anisotropic electronic perturbation of the Ge surface surrounding these Co atoms and pronounced one-dimensional confinement along the pi-bonded chains. DFT calculations reveal that the individual Co atoms are in fact embedded in the Ge surface, where they occupy a quasi-stationary position within the big 7-member Ge ring in between the 3rd and 4th atomic Ge layer. The energy needed for the Co atoms to overcome the potential barrier for penetration in the Ge surface is provided by the kinetic energy resulting from the deposition process. DFT calculations further demonstrate that the embedded Co atoms form four covalent Co-Ge bonds, resulting in a Co4+ valence state and a 3d5 electronic configuration. Calculated STM images are in perfect agreement with the experimental atomic resolution STM images for the broad range of applied tunneling voltages.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, 3 table

‘My Work Never Ends’: Women’s Experiences of Balancing Unpaid Care Work and Paid Work through WEE Programming in India

This paper seeks to lay bare the contours and consequences of the relationship between paid work and unpaid care work for women in low-income households, in order to better understand the relationship between women’s participation in paid work and ‘economic empowerment’. It is also interested in analysing whether, and if so how, women (may) achieve a positive balance between their unpaid care work and paid work responsibilities such that their economic empowerment is optimised (women’s entry into paid work is enabled without deepening their time poverty or worrying about the quality of care received by their family), shared (across generations, so that other women/girls in the family are not left to bear the burden of care), and sustained (such that the quality of care provided to children improves as a result of their mother’s paid work). The paper seeks to do this by mapping the social organisation of care in low-income households across four sites in India, and assessing how women cope with their dual burdens. By focusing our analysis on two ‘women’s economic empowerment programmes’: the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Rajasthan and the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in Madhya Pradesh, we also seek to analyse how women’s economic empowerment policy and programming can generate a ‘double boon’: paid work that empowers women and provides more support for their unpaid care work responsibilities.International Development Research Centre (IDRC)UK Department for International DevelopmentHewlett Foundatio

From social machines to social protocols:Software engineering foundations for sociotechnical systems

The overarching vision of social machines is to facilitate social processes by having computers provide administrative support. We conceive of a social machine as a sociotechnical system (STS): a software-supported system in which autonomous principals such as humans and organizations interact to exchange information and services. Existing approaches for social machines emphasize the technical aspects and inadequately support the meanings of social processes, leaving them informally realized in human interactions. We posit that a fundamental rethinking is needed to incorporate accountability, essential for addressing the openness of the Web and the autonomy of its principals. We introduce Interaction-Oriented Software Engineering (IOSE) as a paradigm expressly suited to capturing the social basis of STSs. Motivated by promoting openness and autonomy, IOSE focuses not on implementation but on social protocols, specifying how social relationships, characterizing the accountability of the concerned parties, progress as they interact. Motivated by providing computational support, IOSE adopts the accountability representation to capture the meaning of a social machine’s states and transitions. We demonstrate IOSE via examples drawn from healthcare. We reinterpret the classical software engineering (SE) principles for the STS setting and show how IOSE is better suited than traditional software engineering for supporting social processes. The contribution of this paper is a new paradigm for STSs, evaluated via conceptual analysis

Co-creating “smart” sustainable food futures with urban food growers

The futuristic visions, infrastructures, and developments of smart cities continue to gather pace, with municipal authorities and businesses in the UK investing increasing amounts of resources into their manifestation. At the same time local communities continue to be hard hit by austerity, with more local services being affected by government cuts, with the North-East of England being particularly affected. In this paper we report on a case study that aimed to explore how the top-down, technocentric, and corporate visions of smart cities stand in contrast to the reality of grassroots communities who are dealing with the consequences of austerity. Our case study focuses on a community of urban food growers. We describe our speculative and participatory approach that we devised for co-designing “smart” urban food-growing futures from the bottom-up with local residents in a deprived neighbourhood of Newcastle upon Tyne, and reflect on how they elicited realities and future visions that stand as a counterpoint to the corporate visions of future cities

A comparison of physiological and yield characters in old and new wheat varieties

The Indian subcontinent has witnessed a spectacular improvement in yield of wheat during the past decade (Rao, 1978). This is reflected in the improvement of the average national yields as well as of those regions where wheat is grown as an irrigated crop (Sinha & Aggarwal, 1981). However, after the release of the double dwarf variety Kalyansona, only marginal improvement in yield has occurred in recent years. Despite this, the semi-dwarf character continues to be considered a major factor for improvement of wheat. Asana & Chattopadhyay (1970), Konar & Asana (1975), and Wattal & Asana (1976) observed no significant difference in yield between tall and semi-dwarf (medium tall) varieties in pot culture experiments where lodging was prevented and competition was partly reduced. They ascribed prevention from lodging and improvement in the ratio of grain to total above-ground dry matter as major advantages in the modern varieties. Somewhat similar conclusions have recently been drawn by Austin et al. (1980). However, a detailed comparison of various physiological and biochemical characters lias not been made to determine whether any advance has occurred in basic processes such as photosynthesis and nitrogen assimilation. The present study was an effort in this direction

Iodization status of common salt in districts of western Uttar Pradesh

Research Problem: What is the amount of iodine in common salt samples. Objective: To estimate theamountof iodine in common salt samples. Study Design: Population based cross - sectional study. Setting: Randomly selected six districts of western U.P. Sample: Two salt samples randomly collected from house holds of each block area of the district. Sample Size: 152 salt samples. Study Variables: Iodine content in salt samples. Statistical Analysis: By chi - square test. Result: Unsatisfactory level of iodine was found in 52% of the salt samples. Crystal salt samples were more poorly iodized (70.9%) than powder salt samples (41.2%). Recommendations: Strict enforcement of ban on the sale of non-iodised salt