Late Quaternary drainage disorganization, and migration and extinction of the Vedic Saraswati

Several lines of geological evidence confirm the existence of a high-energy fluvial regime in western Rajasthan during the Late Quaternary period. Geomorphic description of the extinct river system matches well with the Saraswati River described so vividly in the Rig Veda. The Vedic river which presumably flowed parallel to the Aravalli Mountains during its initial stages, migrated westward during neotectonic uplift of the Aravalli Mountains. The neotectonic movements, which brought about the down-sagging of the northern part of Aravalli Mountains also forced the Yamuna River to swap its original course to flow across the flattened 'mountain'. The river presumably pirated the Saraswati waters while it drifted eastward to join the Ganges

Development of a Quality Control Method and Guidelines for Hot Mix Asphalt Using Recycled Concrete Aggregate

Each year, about 122 million tons of aggregates, a major structural component of pavement, are used in asphaltic mixtures in pavement construction. At the same time, aging U.S. infrastructure produces around 200 million tons of demolition waste each year, half of which is concrete debris. Therefore, introducing recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) as hot mix asphalt (HMA) aggregate could not only relieve the disposal pressure but also result in considerable reductions in cost, energy usage, and greenhouse gas emissions in the paving industry. A limited number of studies regarding the use of RCA to substitute virgin aggregate in HMA (RCA-HMA) exist. More importantly, the findings reveal discrepant or even contradictory results, regarding the effects of RCA on almost all the volumetrics and performance indicators of RCA-HMA. Because RCA is different from virgin aggregate, as RCA particles are at least partially covered by a residual cement mortar (RCM) layer, the attached RCM in RCAs from different concrete sources could significantly differ in terms of content, porosity, and distribution on the RCA surface. This study aims to determine the characteristics of RCA and RCM, such as RCM content, specific gravity, and absorption, and to evaluate their effects on the volumetrics and performance indicators of RCA-HMA. This research evaluates the variation in the properties of RCA and RCM obtained from different sources and their effects on RCA-HMA’s performance. The research revealed the properties of RCA from different sources vary significantly. It is insufficient to predict the volumetrics and performance of RCA-HMA using only the information of RCA, such as RCA replacement rate and gradation. Information pertaining to the RCM’s properties, such as the RCM content, specific gravity, and absorption, is critical for the prediction of the RCA-HMA properties, including optimum binder content (OBC), voids in mineral aggregate (VMA), voids filled with asphalt (VFA), resistance to permanent deformation, and moisture damage susceptibility. The results of this investigation can help to ensure reliable performance of RCA-HMA in practice by controlling the properties of RCM in the RCA

Salinity tolerance of cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) genotypes during germination

A laboratory experiment was conducted to identify cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) genotypes tolerant to salt at germination stage. Four salinity levels having electrical conductivity of 2.61 (control), 5.17 (low), S.10 (medium) and 12.15 (high) dSm-1 were tested. There is an increase in the suppression of seed germination with increase in salinity in all the genotypes tested. The genotype UC-20S showed maximum salt tolerance, followed by UC-209 and UC-2IS. &nbsp

Salinity tolerance of cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) genotypes during germination

A laboratory experiment was conducted to identify cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) genotypes tolerant to salt at germination stage. Four salinity levels having electrical conductivity of 2.61 (control), 5.17 (low), S.10 (medium) and 12.15 (high) dSm-1 were tested. There is an increase in the suppression of seed germination with increase in salinity in all the genotypes tested. The genotype UC-20S showed maximum salt tolerance, followed by UC-209 and UC-2IS. &nbsp

Fusion Nuclear Data activities at FNL, IPR

This paper briefly describes the current fusion nuclear data activities at Fusion Neutronics Laboratory, Institute for Plasma Research. It consist of infrastructure development for the cross-section measurements of structural materials with an accelerator based 14 MeV neutron generator and theoretical study of the cross-section using advanced nuclear reaction modular codes EMPIRE and TALYS. It will also cover the proposed surrogate experiment to measure 55Fe (n, p) 55Mn using BARC-TIFR Pelletron facility at Mumbai

Genetic diversity in pearl millet inbred restorers for agro-morphological and grain quality traits

Genetic diversity was assessed in 60 pearl millet inbred restorers for 10 agro-morphological and six seed quality traits. High range of variation was observed and trait contribution to genetic diversity depicted that panicle length contributed the maximum (19.04 %) followed by panicle girth (18.76 %). Based on the clustering pattern, a total of 09 clusters were obtained of which Cluster II was the largest and comprised of 39 inbreds followed by cluster III with 10. Cluster mean depicted that cluster I, III and IX comprised of potential lines having a desirable mean performance for the traits studied. Cluster distance was also high among these aforesaid clusters thus suggesting their use in hybrid development as well as in recombination breeding for generating better inbreds in pearl millet

Experimental analysis and mathematical modelling of ginger using different solar drying systems

237-242Fruits and vegetables are perishable; they don’t have a shelf life. They contain so much water that their logistic become difficult. Drying is both heat and mass exchange energy activity, mainly utilized as a food preservation technique. Fresh collected ginger has effectively dried from starting moisture content of 86% wet basis (w.b.) to the safe storage moisture content of 13% - 14% (w.b.) in Open Sun Drying (OSD) and hot air oven solar dryers. It has been found that the hot air dryer of the glass-to-glass module took less time (8hrs) as compared to the hot air dryer of an opaque module (10hrs) and Open Sun Drying (OSD) (14hrs). The drying behavior of ginger slices have been analyzed using various mathematical models. Page model has explained the drying behavior of ginger precisely with maximum values of coefficient of determinationi.e.,0.996, 0.997, and 0.994for hot air dryer of glass-to-glass module, opaque module, and OSD respectively, and has minimum reduced chi-square, mean bias error, and root mean square error

Influence of vermicompost and sulphur on growth and yield of garlic (Allium sativum L.) under semi arid climate

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2010–2011 to find out the suitable dose of vermicompost (VC) and sulphur (S) to obtain high yield and net returns in garlic (Allium sativum). Sixteen treatment combinations with four levels of VC (control, 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 t ha-1) and four levels of S (control, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha-1) were evaluated. Application of 7.5 t ha-1 VC and 90 kg ha-1 S individually produced maximum plant height, number of leaves per plant, chlorophyll content in leaves, fresh weight of leaves, neck thickness, number of cloves per bulb, weight of bulb, bulb diameter and bulb yield, whereas, the combined application of 5.0 t ha-1 VC along with 60 kg ha-1 S was found to be significantly superior with respect to weight of bulb (34.55 g), bulb yield (199.18 q ha-1) and net returns of garlic. &nbsp

Magnetic Proximity induced efficient charge-to-spin conversion in large area PtSe2_{2}/Ni80_{80}Fe20_{20} heterostructures

As a topological Dirac semimetal with controllable spin-orbit coupling and conductivity, PtSe$_2$, a transition-metal dichalcogenide, is a promising material for several applications from optoelectric to sensors. However, its potential for spintronics applications is yet to be explored. In this work, we demonstrate that PtSe$_{2}$/Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ heterostructure can generate a large damping-like current-induced spin-orbit torques (SOT), despite the absence of spin-splitting in bulk PtSe$_{2}$. The efficiency of charge-to-spin conversion is found to be $(-0.1 \pm 0.02)$~nm$^{-1}$ in PtSe$_{2}$/Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$, which is three times that of the control sample, Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$/Pt. Our band structure calculations show that the SOT due to the PtSe$_2$ arises from an unexpectedly large spin splitting in the interfacial region of PtSe$_2$ introduced by the proximity magnetic field of the Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ layer. Our results open up the possibilities of using large-area PtSe$_{2}$ for energy-efficient nanoscale devices by utilizing the proximity-induced SOT.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Drought effects on yield and its components in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.)

Effects of drought on yield and yield components were investigated during the spring season 2000-2001 by growing 14 Indian mustard genotypes under irrigated and rain-fed conditions at Bharatpur and Jobner. A disease and pest management schedule was followed when required. The drought susceptibility index (DSI) for seed yield and component characteristics was calculated to characterize the relative tolerance of genotypes. Plant height, primary branches, secondary branches per plant, 1000-seed weight and seed yield were reduced under rain-fed conditions. The top five genotypes at 13haratpur that showed tolerance to moisture stress for seed yield, as indicated by their lowest DSI, were, in descending order PSR-20, PRO-97024, JMMWR-941, IS-1787 and PCR-7, whereas at Jobner these were JMMWR-941, RC-1446, PSR-20, RH-819 and 'Varuna'. Of these, PSR-20 and JMMWR-941 were among the top six at both locations. These genotypes also showed relatively low DSI for one or more characteristics, such as primary branches per plant, secondary branches per plant, harvest index and seed : husk ratio. Genotypes with the lowest DSI, particularly for seed yield at both locations, would serve as useful donors in the breeding programme for improving the drought tolerance of existing Indian mustard cultivars