Sea turtle research and conservation

Five species of sea turtles are known from the Indian Seas and all are today protected and are placed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which prohibits trade in turtle products places these species in Appendix I of the Convention. AUfive species have very wide distribution and there has been a traditional subsistence fishery for the green turtle Chelonia mydas along the Tuticorin Coast which has now been phased out. A new event in the recent past was the explosive development of an outlet for the olive ridley in the Calcutta-Howrah markets chiefly from the Orissa Coast, despite the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act. This happens mainly during the mating and mass nesting of this species along the Gahirmatha Coast of Orissa and the capture is mainly in the gillnet fishing operations. This has been reported in detail in Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series, No. 50 of this Institute. Incidental catch of turtles in fishing operations has been a matter of great concern and only an intensive extension programme can help to minimise the mortality from this source

MMB triazole analogs are potent NF-κB inhibitors and anti-cancer agents against both hematological and solid tumor cells

Triazole derivatives of melampomagnolide B (MMB) have been synthesized via click chemistry methodologies and screened against a panel of 60 human cancer cell lines. Several derivatives showed promising anti-cancer activity, affording growth inhibition (GI50) values in the nanomolar range (GI50 = 0.02–0.99 μM). Lead compound 7h exhibited EC50 values of 400 nM and 700 nM, respectively, against two AML clinical specimens. Compound 7h was significantly more potent than parthenolide as an inhibitor of p65 phosphorylation in both hematological and solid tumor cell lines, indicating its ability to inhibit the NF-κB pathway. In TMD-231 breast cancer cells, treatment with 7h reduced DNA binding activity of NF-κB through inhibition of IKK-β mediated p65 phosphorylation and caused elevation of basal IκBα levels through inhibition of constitutive IκBα turnover and NF-κB activation. Molecular docking and dynamic modeling studies indicated that 7h interacts with the kinase domain of the monomeric IKKβ subunit, leading to inhibition of IKKβ activation, and compromising phosphorylation of downstream targets of the NF-κB pathway; dynamic modeling studies show that this interaction also causes unwinding of the α-helix of the NEMO binding site on IKKβ. Molecular docking studies with 10, a water-soluble analog of 7h, demonstrate that this analog interacts with the dimerization/oligomerization domain of monomeric IKKβ and may inhibit oligomer formation and subsequent autophosphorylation. Sesquiterpene lactones 7h and 10 are considered ideal candidates for potential clinical development

Distribution of resonances for open quantum maps

We analyze simple models of classical chaotic open systems and of their quantizations (open quantum maps on the torus). Our models are similar to models recently studied in atomic and mesoscopic physics. They provide a numerical confirmation of the fractal Weyl law for the density of quantum resonances of such systems. The exponent in that law is related to the dimension of the classical repeller (or trapped set) of the system. In a simplified model, a rigorous argument gives the full resonance spectrum, which satisfies the fractal Weyl law. For this model, we can also compute a quantity characterizing the fluctuations of conductance through the system, namely the shot noise power: the value we obtain is close to the prediction of random matrix theory.Comment: 60 pages, no figures (numerical results are shown in other references

Industrial fisheries off Madras coast based on exploratory surveys during 1973-1980

At the Madras Research Centre of CMFRI, there existed data for areas (Fig. 1) south of 15°40'N Upto the latitude zone of I0°40'N off Velanganni in depths ranging from 10 to 130 m for a eight year period From 1973 to 1980. The results of analysis of these data are presented here with a view to providing information on and extending our knowledge about the spatial and seasonal distribution of various indusirially important fisheries as also their resource potential along the north Tamil Nadu-South Andhra Coast

The role of surface oxidation and Fe-Ni synergy in Fe-Ni-S catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation

Increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, resulting in climate change, have driven the motivation to achieve the effective and sustainable conversion of CO2 into useful chemicals and fuels. Taking inspiration from biological processes, synthetic iron–nickel-sulfides have been proposed as suitable catalysts for the hydrogenation of CO2. In order to experimentally validate this hypothesis, here we report violarite (Fe,Ni)3S4 as a cheap and economically viable catalyst for the hydrogenation of CO2 into formate under mild, alkaline conditions at 125 °C and 20 bar (CO2 : H2 = 1 : 1). Calcination of violarite at 200 °C resulted in excellent catalytic activity, far superior to that of Fe-only and Ni-only sulfides. We further report first principles simulations of the CO2 conversion on the partially oxidised (001) and (111) surfaces of stoichiometric violarite (FeNi2S4) and polydymite (Ni3S4) to rationalise the experimentally observed trends. We have obtained the thermodynamic and kinetic profiles for the reaction of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) on the catalyst surfaces via substitution and dissociation mechanisms. We report that the partially oxidised (111) surface of FeNi2S4 is the best catalyst in the series and that the dissociation mechanism is the most favourable. Our study reveals that the partial oxidation of the FeNi2S4 surface, as well as the synergy of the Fe and Ni ions, are important in the catalytic activity of the material for the effective hydrogenation of CO2 to formate

Solvent-free aerobic oxidation of alcohols using supported gold palladium nanoalloys prepared by a modified impregnation method

The synthesis of stable, supported, bimetallic nanoalloys with controlled size, morphology and composition is of great practical importance. Compared to their monometallic analogues, such materials exhibit remarkable enhancement in functional properties, which can be exploited in various fields including catalysis. Recently, we have reported a simple excess anion modification of the impregnation method to prepare supported gold–palladium catalysts which gives very good control over the particle sizes and the composition without using any stabilizer ligands in the preparation. Here, we report the results from a comparative study of using this modified impregnation catalyst for the solvent-free aerobic oxidation of alcohols in two different reactors: a glass stirred reactor and a micro packed bed reactor under batch and continuous mode respectively. These modified impregnation catalysts are exceptionally active and more importantly, when tested in a micro packed bed reactor under flow conditions, are observed to be stable for several days without any sign of deactivation in contrast to the same catalyst prepared by the sol immobilization method in the presence of stabilizer ligands which showed a 3–5% decrease in conversion over 10–12 h

Совершенствование системы мотивации и стимулирования труда работников на примере ПАО "Ростелеком"

Объект ВКР - система мотивации и стимулирования персонала. Цель ВКР – изучение особенностей системы мотивации и стимулирования труда работников ПАО "Ростелеком" ,анализ применяемых методов мотивации и стимулирования и разработка рекомендаций. В результате исследования был разработан ряд мероприятий по совершенствованию системы мотивации и стимулирования персоналом.Object of WKR is a system of motivation and incentives for staff. The purpose of WKR is to study the features of the system of motivation and motivation of the work of PAO "Rostelecom" employees, analyze the methods of motivation and incentives used and develop recommendations. As a result of the research, a number of measures were developed to improve the system of motivation and incentives for staff

Structural and electronic properties of Cu4O3 (paramelaconite): the role of native impurities

Hybrid density functional theory has been used to study the phase stability and formation of native point defects in Cu4O3. This intermediate copper oxide compound, also known as paramelaconite, was observed to be difficult to synthesize due to stabilization issues between mixed-valence Cu1+ and Cu2+ ions. The stability range of Cu4O3 was investigated and shown to be realized in an extremely narrow region of phase space, with Cu2O and CuO forming readily as competing impurity phases. The origin of p-type conductivity is confirmed to arise from specific intrinsic copper vacancies occurring on the 1+ site. Away from the outlined stability region, the dominant charge carriers become oxygen interstitials, impairing the conductivity by creating deep acceptor states in the electronic band gap region and driving the formation of alternative phases. This study further demonstrates the inadequacy of native defects as a source of n-type conductivity and complements existing experimental findings

Genome-wide association study identifies common variants associated with circulating vitamin E levels

In genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of common genetic variants associated with circulating alpha- and gamma-tocopherol concentrations in two adult cohorts comprising 5006 men of European descent, we observed three loci associated with alpha-tocopherol levels, two novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs2108622 on 19pter-p13.11 (P= 1.7 × 10−8) and rs11057830 on 12q24.31 (P= 2.0 × 10−8) and confirmed a previously reported locus marked by rs964184 on 11q23.3 (P= 2.7 × 10−10). The three SNPs have been reported to be associated with lipid metabolism and/or regulation. We replicated these findings in a combined meta-analysis with two independent samples, P= 7.8 × 10−12 (rs964184 on 11q23.3 near BUD13, ZNF259 and APOA1/C3/A4/A5), P= 1.4 × 10−10 (rs2108622 on 19pter-p13.11 near CYP4F2) and P= 8.2 × 10−9 (rs11057830 on 12q24.31 near SCARB1). Combined, these SNPs explain 1.7% of the residual variance in log alpha-tocopherol levels. In one of the two male GWAS cohorts (n= 992), no SNPs were significantly associated with gamma-tocopherol concentrations after including data from the replication sample for 71 independent SNPs with P< 1 × 10−4 identified

Multiple effects of toxins isolated from Crotalus durissus terrificus on the hepatitis C virus life cycle

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the main causes of liver disease and transplantation worldwide. Current therapy is expensive, presents additional side effects and viral resistance has been described. Therefore, studies for developing more efficient antivirals against HCV are needed. Compounds isolated from animal venoms have shown antiviral activity against some viruses such as Dengue virus, Yellow fever virus and Measles virus. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the complex crotoxin (CX) and its subunits crotapotin (CP) and phospholipase A2 (PLA2-CB) isolated from the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus on HCV life cycle. Huh 7.5 cells were infected with HCVcc JFH-1 strain in the presence or absence of these toxins and virus was titrated by focus formation units assay or by qPCR. Toxins were added to the cells at different time points depending on the stage of virus life cycle to be evaluated. The results showed that treatment with PLA2-CB inhibited HCV entry and replication but no effect on HCV release was observed. CX reduced virus entry and release but not replication. By treating cells with CP, an antiviral effect was observed on HCV release, the only stage inhibited by this compound. Our data demonstrated the multiple antiviral effects of toxins from animal venoms on HCV life cycle