Cropping in Arid Area Greenhouse

In hot, arid regions, yields are low and unstable, growing season limited to one. Greenhouses can stabilize and improve yields and extend seasons. But their adoption is impeded by the requirement of large amount of water for (evaporative) cooling. Arid Area Greenhouse (AAG) is being developed to reduce or eliminate this need by employing earth-tube-heat-exchanger (ETHE). A prototype AAG was installed in the year 2002 at village Kothara (ƒ� 23�X 14 N, ƒ� 68�X 45 E, at 21 m a.s.l.). AAG is of 20 X 6 X 3.5 m size. ETHE is buried 3m deep and coupled to AAG in closed-loop. ETHE provides 20 air changes per hour. There is provision of closable vents - two along the base of long sides and one along the ridge. A retractable shading curtain is provided over the roof. By now five rounds of cropping have been done. ETHE was able to heat the greenhouse from 9�X C to 22-23�X C in half hour in the cold winter nights. Static ventilation along with shading was effective for day time control till early March. Subsequently ETHE was operated. It limited the greenhouse temperature gain to just 2.5�X C. Yield of tomato was 1.5 to 2 times, water used 44% of that in open-field. Water used was mostly for plants, only a small part was for foggers which were some times needed as supplement. ETHE and natural ventilation hold promise as environmental control devices for greenhouses in hot arid regions.

Superconducting bolometers for millimeter and submillimeter wave astronomy

Bolometers are simple and robust incoherent continuum detectors which nevertheless can reach sensitivities close to the fundamental noise limit. This thesis describes the theory, design, fabrication and testing of the superconducting bolometers, developed in collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), Bonn and the Institute for Photonic Technology (IPHT), Jena, Germany. The voltage biased superconducting bolometer (VSB) offers various advantages over the traditional semiconducting bolometer; it is faster, more sensitive, has a higher dynamic range, allows complete microlithographic fabrication and can be multiplexed with Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs). The low noise SQUID amplifiers operate at bolometer temperatures and have very low power dissipation. The low impedance characteristics of VSBs and SQUIDs makes them less sensitive to microphonic pickup and it is possible to achieve very low noise equivalent power (NEP) levels. The fabrication of bolometers with integrated SQUIDs and the multiplexing electronics will allow the production of bolometer arrays with several hundred or more pixels. The superconducting thermistor, deposited on the low stress silicon nitride membrane, is a bilayer of gold-palladium and molybdenum and is designed for a transition temperature of 450 mK. Bolometers for the 1.2 mm atmospheric window were designed, built and tested. Different test arrays with seven bolometers were fabricated to study the properties of the thermistor and the silicon nitride membrane. The thermal conductance (G) of the bolometer is tuned by structuring the silicon nitride membrane into spider-like geometries. The bolometers are divided into three different categories, High-G, Medium-G and Low-G, depending on their thermal conductance. The silicon nitride membrane is continuous for the High-G and it is structured into a spider-like geometry for Medium-G and Low-G bolometers. The thermal conductance of Low-G bolometers is too low for operating with a 300 K background, because under this condition, the bolometer will be driven into the normal conducting state by the radiation alone. The thermal conductance of Medium-G bolometers is appropriate for the operation with a 300 K background and for the experimental purposes the silicon nitride membrane of the Medium-G bolometer is structured into 8-legs, 16-legs and 32-legs spider geometries. The incident radiation is absorbed by crossed dipoles made from gold-palladium (Au-Pd) alloy with a surface resistance of 10 Ohms. The base temperature of 300 mK is provided by a liquid 4He cryostat with integrated 3He stage. The time constant of the bolometer is derived by measuring the modulated signal of a blackbody using a lock-in amplifier. The noise is measured as a timeseries and analyzed using National Instruments’ LabVIEW package. A bolometer model has been developed to understand the physics of the bolometer. Using the COSMOS finite element analysis (FEA) package, the thermal conductance is obtained for the bolometers of different geometries. The ideal performance of the bolometer is derived from VSB theory and the results from the bolometer model are compared with experimental results. FEA simulations showed that the deposition of a gold (Au) ring around the absorbing area could increase the sensitivity of the bolometer. Therefore, a new Medium-G layout was fabricated, with a gold ring around the absorbing center patch of the silicon nitride membrane. For the Medium-G bolometer without the gold ring, the measured optical noise equivalent power (NEP) is 1.9 × 10−16 W/√Hz and the time constant is in the range between 0.2 and 0.38 ms. For the Medium-G bolometer with gold ring, the measured NEP is 1.7 × 10−16 W/√Hz and the time constant is in the range between 1.4 and 2 ms. The gold ring increases the heat capacity, and this is a way to increase the time constant of the bolometer. This will be useful for time domain multiplexed arrays. The performance of Medium-G bolometers is close to the 300 K background limit in the 1.2 mm atmospheric window

DLOREAN: Dynamic Location-aware Reconstruction of multiway Networks

This paper presents a method for learning time-varying higher-order interactions based on node observations, with application to short-term traffic forecasting based on traffic flow sensor measurements. We incorporate domain knowledge into the design of a new damped periodic kernel which lever- ages traffic flow patterns towards better structure learning. We introduce location-based regularization for learning models with desirable geographical properties (short-range or long-range interactions). We show using experiments on synthetic and real data, that our approach performs better than static methods for reconstruction of multiway interactions, as well as time-varying methods which recover only pair-wise interactions. Further, we show on real traffic data that our model is useful for short-term traffic forecasting, improving over state-of-the-art

A critical appraisal on Parpati Yoga in the context of Rasayogasagara

Parpati Yoga is a unique thin flake like preparation consisting of Parada (mercury), Gandhaka (Sulphur), other metals, minerals and herbal drugs. The therapeutic significance of Parpati Yoga is very high owing to its minimal dose, no unwanted taste and cost effectiveness. The unique preparatory procedures mentioned in Ayurvedic classics for Parpati Yoga is stated as per the indications. Rasayogasagara (19th century) is one of the authoritative books for Parpati yoga.  The present paper aims to compile all the available references of Parpati Yoga and to intricate the composition, different method of preparations, dose, indications and contribution of various texts regarding Parpati Yoga. All the references related to Parpati Yoga cited in Rasayogasagara additionally in other Rasa texts such as Rasa Ratna Samuchchya, Bhaishajya Ratnavali, Siddha Yoga Samgraha and Bharat Bhaishjya Ratnavali were screened by its ingredients, preparatory methods and indications. Maximum number of Parpati Yoga (Total 58) are found in Rasayogasagara and indicated for Grahani and other disorders too. This review makes clear idea about Parpati Yoga with its method of preparations

A LITERATURE REVIEW: THE ROLE OF KSHARA IN AYURVEDA

Ayurveda depends largely upon the medicinal plants for the therapy. Among the four Vedas - Rig-Veda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda - the Atharvaveda is considered to be one from which Ayurveda is derived and several medicinal plants are mentioned that can be used as a drugs. Kshara is the herbal extracts of plants, According to Sushruta, in Kshara Paka Vidhi Adhyaya has mentioned 23 drugs plants as: Mushkka, kutaj, Palash, Ashwakarna, Paribhadrak, Bhibitaka, Aragvadha, Tilwaka, Arka, Snuhi, Apamarga, Patla, Naktamal, Vrusha, Kadali, Chitraka, Putika, Asphota, Ashwamarak, Saptachanda, Agnimantha, Gunja, Koshataki from which Kshara can be prepared. Kshara can be a multiple combination of many herbs or may be from single herb. Kshara is useful in internal medicines in different formulation. i.e., Kshara Gutika (tablet), Vati, Ksharavleha, Kshara-Ghrita. Kshara is also useful in external application directly as Ksharapichu (gause-piece), Kshara Sutra, Ksharavarti. This alkaline preparation has many therapeutic usages and many surgical procedures. Ksharakarma is useful as the substitute of surgical instruments, because they can be used safely on the patients who are afraid of surgery. It has been proved to be effective in treating many disorders like Dushta Vrana (wounds), Bhagandara (Fistula-in-ano), Arsha (haemorrhoids), Charmakeela, Ashmari (Stone), Gulma Udara (ascites), Kushtha (leprosy), Rohini etc. External application of Kshara is indicated in children, weak persons and decrepit. Ksharakarma has been considered as a wealth and a strong weapon in Ayurvedic Pharmacopeia. In this paper we have described Preparation, classification, properties, Guna, Dosha, Indication, contra-indication, different formulae used in medicine, Matra, chemical composition and assessment.

The IncP-1 plasmid backbone adapts to different host bacterial species and evolves through homologous recombination

Plasmids are important members of the bacterial mobile gene pool, and are among the most important contributors to horizontal gene transfer between bacteria. They typically harbour a wide spectrum of host beneficial traits, such as antibiotic resistance, inserted into their backbones. Although these inserted elements have drawn considerable interest, evolutionary information about the plasmid backbones, which encode plasmid related traits, is sparse. Here we analyse 25 complete backbone genomes from the broad-host-range IncP-1 plasmid family. Phylogenetic analysis reveals seven clades, in which two plasmids that we isolated from a marine biofilm represent a novel clade. We also found that homologous recombination is a prominent feature of the plasmid backbone evolution. Analysis of genomic signatures indicates that the plasmids have adapted to different host bacterial species. Globally circulating IncP-1 plasmids hence contain mosaic structures of segments derived from several parental plasmids that have evolved in, and adapted to, different, phylogenetically very distant host bacterial species

The density, the cosmic microwave background and the proton-to-electron mass ratio in a cloud at redshift 0.9

Based on measurements with the Effelsberg 100-m telescope, a multi-line study of molecular species is presented toward the gravitational lens system PKS 1830–211, which is by far the best known target to study dense cool gas in absorption at intermediate redshift. Determining average radial velocities and performing Large Velocity Gradient radiative transfer calculations, the aims of this study are (1) to determine the density of the gas, (2) to constrain the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and (3) to evaluate the proton-to-electron mass ratio at redshift z ∼ 0.89. Analyzing data from six rotational HC_3N transitions (this includes the J = 7 ← 6 line, which is likely detected for the first time in the interstellar medium) we obtain n(H_2) ∼ 2600 cm^(−3) for the gas density of the south-western absorption component, assuming a background source covering factor, which is independent of frequency. With a possibly more realistic frequency dependence proportional to ν^(0.5) (the maximal exponent permitted by observational boundary conditions), n(H2) ∼ 1700 cm^(−3). Again toward the south-western source, excitation temperatures of molecular species with optically thin lines and higher rotational constants are, on average, consistent with the expected temperature of the cosmic microwave background, T^(CMB) = 5.14 K. However, individually, there is a surprisingly large scatter which far surpasses expected uncertainties. A comparison of CS J = 1 ← 0 and 4 ← 3 optical depths toward the weaker north-western absorption component results in T_(ex) = 11 K and a 1-σ error of 3 K. For the main component, a comparison of velocities determined from ten optically thin NH_3 inversion lines with those from five optically thin rotational transitions of HC_3N, observed at similar frequencies, constrains potential variations of the proton-to-electron mass ratio μ to Δμ/μ < 1.4 × 10^(−6) with 3-σ confidence. Also including optically thin rotational lines from other molecular species, it is emphasized that systematic errors are ΔV < 1 kms^(−1), corresponding to Δμ/μ < 1.0 × 10^(−6)