Dry Fruit Horticulture and Production Patterns in Highland Ecosystems: A Case of Almond and Walnut Cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir, India

Jammu and Kashmir state is located in north-western part of India. The region shows predominantly mountainous topography with an average elevation of more than 5700 meters above sea level. With fragile climatic regime and interconnected physiographic characteristics, the region forms a typical case of the highland ecosystem. This highland nature of the state forms the suitable characteristics for the cultivation of different agricultural products especially saffron, dry fruits, apple and basmati rice. Over the years, both dry and fresh fruits have emerged as the important contributors to the state economy and the government has come up with various schemes and programmes for the development and growth of the fruit industry. Jammu and Kashmir besides attaining prominence in fresh fruit cultivation have also emerged as a favourite destination for the cultivation of dry fruits especially almonds and walnuts. These crops occupy a significant place and are an important contributor to the state economy as the bulk of their production is exported not only to different parts of India but the world over. The present study is an attempt to study the growth patterns in the dry fruit industry of the state especially almond and walnut. Keywords: Horticulture, Production, Temperate climate, Dry Fruits, Floods, Precipitation.  

Impact of Indian Demonetization on Working and Non-Working Married Women: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

The sudden announcement of demonetization in India caused an immediate financial crisis that cascaded throughout the whole country and consequently caused suffering in the lives of many people, one such group being married women. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore and understand how married women were impacted by the demonetization policy. A total of 20 working and non-working women were selected from New Delhi and a qualitative research design based on interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed. The present study identified three themes (i.e., problems due to demonetization, coping with demonetization, and diverse experiences associated with hidden money) and ten subthemes in which it was evident that both working and non-working women were impacted by the demonetization policy. Participants were able to develop different coping strategies to deal with the crisis. Surprisingly, contrary to our expectations, none of the participants received any negative treatment from their husbands after knowing their hidden savings

On Characterizations of Exponential Distribution through Order Statistics and Record Values with Random Shifts

Distributional relations of the form Y d= X +T where X, Y, and T are record values or order statistics and the random translator T is independent from X are considered. Characterizations of the exponential distribution when the ordered random variables are non-neighboring are proved. Corollaries for Pareto and power function distributions are also derived

Pengolahan Bod, Cod, Tss Dan Ph Pada Limbah Industri MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) Menggunakan Teknologi Advanced Oxidation Processes (O3/h2o2 Dan Fenton)

Limbah industri MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) umumnya memiliki kandungan senyawa organik yang tinggi dan dapat mencemari lingkungan sekitar apabila tidak dilakukan pengolahan terlebih dahulu. Pengoksidasian secara kimia menggunakan teknologi Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) dapat dijadikan sebagai pengolahan limbah industri MSG. Penelitian ini dilakukan menggunakan teknologi AOPs kombinasi O3/H2O2 dan Fenton (Fe/H2O2) dengan tujuan untuk menganalisis hasil serta effisiensi pengolahan pada parameter BOD, COD, TSS dan pH. Penelitian dilakukan dalam skala laboratorium dengan memvariasikan banyaknya H2O2 pada kombinasi O3/H2O2 dan variasi Fe pada proses Fenton, selama waktu proses 240 menit. Hasil penelitian menunujukkan bahwa efisiensi COD dan TSS terbaik masing-masing yaitu sebesar 48,59% terjadi pada proses Fenton dan 99,14% terjadi pada proses kombinasi O3/H2O2 serta pH mencapai 3,85 pada proses Fenton. Sedangkan nilai BOD mengalami peningkatan setelah melalui proses AOPs ini. Namun jika dilihat dari rasio BOD/COD maka setelah proses AOPs terjadi peningkatan rasio BOD/COD dari 0,042 menjadi rata-rata 0,160 pada kombinasi O3/H2O2dan 0,125 pada proses Fenton serta terjadi penguraian senyawa glukosa menjadi senyawa yang lebih sederhana dengan uji FTIR. Hal ini menandakan bahwa kemampuan biodegradibilitas limbah MSG meningkat. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa pengolahan limbah industri MSG menggunakan teknlogi AOPs kombinasi O3/H2O2 dan Fenton bekerja cukup efektif

Distal radius fractures: a prospective study of the clinical and radiological outcomes in surgically managed patients

Background: Objective of the research was to evaluate radiological and functional outcome in fractures of the distal radius treated by various surgical methods.Methods: 89 patients with distal radius fractures were randomly divided into three groups according to a computer-generated table of randomization. 40 patients were managed by K wire fixation. 22 patients were managed by external fixator. 27 patients were managed by volar plating technique. Anatomical restoration was evaluated by posterior-anterior and lateral radiographs obtained preoperatively and at 09 months of follow up to evaluate radial height (RH), radial inclination (RI) and volar tilt (VT). Functional outcome was evaluated using Mayo scoring system.Results: According to Mayo score, in K-wire group 72.5% (n=29) patients had excellent to good outcome, 17.5% (n=7) had fair outcome while as 10% (n=4) patients had poor outcome. In external fixator group 72.7% (n=16) patients had excellent to good outcome while as 27.3% (n=6) had fair outcome. In volar plating group 81.5% (n=22) patients had excellent to good outcome while as 18.5% (n=5) had fair outcome.Conclusions: In our study we found that volar locked plating provides advantage in dorsally or volarly displaced intra-articular fractures with excellent to good radiological outcome. However, in type B (partial intra-articular fractures) fractures, volar locking compression plate (LCP) and external fixator provide almost equivocal results. Percutaneous pinning can be recommended for extra-articular or simple intra-articular fracture patterns, with a loss of volar and/or RI but without significant radial shortening

Maintenance and Modelling Strategies of Biomedical Equipment’s in Hospitals: A Review

This article analyzes recent developments in the derivation of bio-medical equipment’s maintenance management strategies, and proposes chary points to consider and affeer to perform during their operation. Medical technology is by now an integral part of health care according to consisting general accepted standards. Purchase and operation thereby represent an important economic position and both are subject of everyday optimization attempts. For this purpose by now exists a huge number of tools which conduce more likely to a complexness of the problem by a comprehensive implementation. In the future, we envision that new paradigms will be structured to overcome the present strategies, and in the longer term, provide an alternative source for maintenance and management of medical devices at hospitals. Keywords: Biomedical equipment’s, Hospitals, Maintenance, Medical Devices, Medical Technolog

Nonthermal acceleration radiation of atoms near a black hole in presence of dark energy

We investigate how dark energy affects atom-field interaction. To this end, we consider acceleration radiation of a freely falling atom close to a Schwarzschild black hole (BH) in the presence of dark energy characterized by a positive cosmological constant $\Lambda$. The resulting spacetime is endowed with a BH and a cosmological (or de Sitter) horizon. Our consideration is a \textit{nonextremal} $(1+1)$-dimensional geometry with horizons far apart, giving rise to a flat Minkowski-like region in between the two horizons. Assuming a scalar ($\text{spin}-0$) field in a Boulware-like vacuum state, and by using a basic quantum optics approach, we numerically achieve excitation probabilities for the atom to detect a photon as it falls toward the BH horizon. It turns out that the nature of the emitted radiation deeply drives its origin from the magnitude of $\Lambda$. In particular, radiation emission is enhanced due to dilation of the BH horizon by dark energy. Also, we report an oscillatory nonthermal spectrum in the presence of $\Lambda$, and these oscillations, in a varying degree, also depend on BH mass and atomic excitation frequency. We conjecture that such a hoedown may be a natural consequence of a constrained motion due to the bifurcate Killing horizon of the given spacetime. The situation is akin to the Parikh-Wilzcek tunneling approach to Hawking radiation where the presence of extra contributions to the Boltzmann factor deforms the thermality of flux. It apparently hints at field satisfying a modified energy-momentum dispersion relation within classical regime of general relativity arising as an effective low energy consequence of an underlying quantum gravity theory. Our findings may signal new ways of conceiving the subtleties surrounding the physics of dark energy.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Surface sterilization method for reducing microbial contamination of field grown strawberry explants intended for in vitro culture

An effective disinfection method for strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cv. Senga Sengana micropropagation using runner tips and nodal segments as explants was developed. The explants were surface sterilized with different sterilants for different durations. The present studies on the effect of different regimes of sterilization revealed that maximum aseptic cultures were obtained from both explants runner tips and nodal segments when treated with 1.5% sodium hypochlorite for 20 min plus ethyl alcohol 70% for 30 s, but the surviving percentage was less because this treatment resulted in necrosis and tissue injury of explants. However, mercuric chloride (0.1%) for 4 min resulted in less percentage of aseptic cultures but gave highest percentage of surviving explants as most of researchers have found that a single sterilant is more effective than the combination. Surface sterilization with mercuric chloride (0.1%) for 4 min was the optimum duration which resulted in highest percentage of explant survival.Keywords: In vitro, senga sengana, strawberry, sterilizationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(39), pp. 5749-575

Effect of Modified Atmosphere Packaging on Maintenance of Quality in Apple

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on the quality of 'Red Delicious' and 'Golden Delicious' apples. Freshly harvested fruits were wiped clean and (25 μm thick) with varying number of perforations and stored in cardboard boxes at ambient temperature. 'Golden Delicious' showed higher incidence of bitter pit as compared to 'Red Delicious' apples. MAP proved effective in controlling the bitter pit disorder and in maintenance of quality. The least incidence of bitter pit in 'Golden Delicious' was recorded with T4 (30 x 2 mm perforation) and T3 (20 x 2 mm) treatment in 'Red Delicious' apples. However, MAP retained more freshness in 'Golden Delicious' than in 'Red Delicious'