Decision Making in Optimizing a Product of a Small Scale Industry: A Bayesian Analysis Approach

This paper intends to find Expected monetary value (EMV), Expected opportunity loss (EOL) and conditional profit of the main product (Mukta) of a small scale industry–“ORGAMAN” situated at Jorhat District of Assam. To meet the above specific objectives, the method of Bayesian Analysis has been adopted. The data used in this endeavor is secondary in nature, collected by direct personal investigation. As per prior information, the target of the industry is to produce a minimum of 50 MT (low production) of product and a maximum of 350 MT (high production) of the same per month. The prior analysis reveals that the expected monetary value and expected opportunity loss are optimum against high production. Based on both the prior analysis and posterior analysis, it is observed that the profit for the product of the industry is maximum against high production of 350 MT per month. Although, the profit based on posterior analysis is slightly high, it seems that the additional amount of money has to be spend to collect additional information for posterior analysis

Elyyal oleate synthesis by Porcine pancreatic lypase in organic solvent

The Porcine pancreatic lipase catalysed esterification of oleic acid with ethanol was studied in 10 different solvents with constant initial water content in the reaction mixture. The initial rates of the esterification reaction were attempted to correlate with such solvent properties as hydrophobicity (log P), water solubility (Sw), dielectric constant, electron pair acceptance and donation index (expressed as EN T + DNN), polarisability etc. While significantly good linear correlations with log P and log Sw were obtained, the correlations with the other properties were found to be inferior. The kinetics of the reactions was found to conform to the so-called Ping-Pong-Bi-Bi model with ethanol inhibition effect and the estimated model parameters exhibited statistically significant correlation with log P consistent to its correlation with the initial rate. Assuming that organic solvents do not interfere with the lipase–substrate binding process nor with the catalytic mechanism, the contribution of substrate–solvent interactions to enzyme kinetics was accounted for by replacing the substrate concentrations of the intrinsic kinetic equations by thermodynamic activities. The values of the corrected intrinsic parameters (Km, ksp) and the maximal rate (Vmax) were found to be nearly equal for all the medi

Electric and magnetic polarizabilities of hexagonal Ln2CuTiO6 (Ln=Y, Dy, Ho, Er and Yb)

We investigated the rare-earth transition metal oxide series, Ln2CuTiO6 (Ln=Y, Dy, Ho, Er and Yb), crystallizing in the hexagonal structure with non-centrosymmetric P63cm space group for possible occurrences of multiferroic properties. Our results show that while these compounds, except Ln=Y, exhibit a low temperature antiferromagnetic transition due to the ordering of the rare-earth moments, the expected ferroelectric transition is frustrated by the large size difference between Cu and Ti at the B-site. Interestingly, this leads these compounds to attain a rare and unique combination of desirable paraelectric properties with high dielectric constants, low losses and weak temperature and frequency dependencies. First-principles calculations establish these exceptional properties result from a combination of two effects. A significant difference in the MO5 polyhedral sizes for M = Cu and M = Ti suppress the expected co-operative tilt pattern of these polyhedra, required for the ferroelectric transition, leading to relatively large values of the dielectric constant for every compound investigated in this series. Additionally, it is shown that the majority contribution to the dielectric constant arises from intermediate-frequency polar vibrational modes, making it relatively stable against any temperature variation. Changes in the temperature stability of the dielectric constant amongst different members of this series are shown to arise from changes in relative contributions from soft polar modes.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B (21 pages, 2 Table, 8 Figures

People and plant: Learning with Adi community on ethnomedicinal practices and conservation in Arunachal Pradesh, India

74-82Local plant species have been in use in variety of ethnomedicinal practices from the time immemorial among the people of various communities for treating various human diseases. This paper reports about the plant species used by Adi community in curing various human diseases and ailments. A study was conducted during 2008-2009 and further refined in succeeding years with the 12 purposively selected traditional knowledge holders (TKHs) of Adi tribe of East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Data were collected using combined approaches of personal interview, participant observations and transect walks. It was observed that with Shannon-Weaver diversity index 2.73, there were 39 local plant species belonging to 25 plant families and used as ethnomedicinal practices by the TKHs. Most of the species (17) were used by Adi TKHs with their green leaf parts followed by root and fruits (5 each) to develop ethnomedicinal formulations. Out of these, several species namely Leucas aspera (Willd.) Link.; Plumeria rubra L.; Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don; Solanum torvum Swartz; Solanum khasianum C.B. Clarke; Oroxylum indicum (L.) Benth.ex Kurze; and Tinospora cordifolia (Thunb.) Miers) were found in use by Adis against asthma, bronchitis, cough, sinusitis, diabetes, malaria, typhoid and jaundice. The Adi TKHs maintain a rich cultural ethics, govern by their own world-view in continuing ethnomedicinal practices, and harvesting the species from various land use systems with the aim to sustain biodiversity and associated practices. The key findings indicated that, plant species used as ethnomedicines for some of the diseases and ailments by the Adi TKHs, can be undertaken for the long-term trial to find some natural remedies against few human diseases, including search of immune enhancer against COVID-19, provided TKHs of Adi community are partnered in ethically and culturally appropriate manner.&nbsp

Transnational strategy on the sustainable management and responsible use of non-native trees in the Alpine Space

Abstract Non-native tree species – defined as those species intentionally or unintentionally introduced by humans – have long been a part of the Alpine Space, providing numerous benefits, but also posing a potential threat to native biodiversity and related ecosystem services. Compared to the urban space where non-native trees comprise most tree species, the number of non-native trees in forests and plantations is relatively low. To evaluate potential risks and benefits of non-native trees in the Alpine Space, a transnational strategy for the responsible use and management of non-native trees is needed. The goals of the strategy are to tailor management practices for a sustainable and responsible use or admixture of non-native trees, to reduce the risks connected with the invasive potential of some non-native tree species, to help forests and urban areas to adapt to climate change, and to improve coordination and cooperation regarding best practices between different regions of the Alpine Space. A proposal was developed in a four-step process including expert-based assessment, stakeholder mapping, an extensive data review, and a public consultation. For implementing the strategy fully, strong collaboration among diverse stakeholders is anticipated and robust governance and an adequate long-term and fair funding scheme is needed