Shallow sea bottom farming: Multicrop system developed at Vizhinjam

Even though marilculture technology for various organisms like mussels, pearl oysters, lobsters and crabs has been developed during the last three decades by the CMFRI and several other institutions in India, there has been considerable practical difficulties for commercialising these programmes in Indian waters due to the rough weather conditions during the two monsoon periods as well as due to the nonavailability of adequate protected bays along the Indian coasts

Marine image pearls: Designed by man; created by nature

Over times immemorial, pearls have emerged as a symbol of perfec tion and of the highest spiritual ideals within most of the religions of the world. Pearls are also believed to possess certain physical properties that would prevent aging, ensure long life and also serve as an aphrodisiac

Management of pregnancy in patients with exstrophy-epispadias sequence: a case series and literature review

Exstrophy-epispadias sequence is an uncommon diagnosis in which surgical reconstruction has increased quality of life for these patients. As they are entering the reproductive phase of their life, consideration must be made for management of their pregnancies in the context of their genitourinary reconstruction. There have been few case reports of patients with cloacal exstrophy conceiving; therefore, information to guide management of their pregnancies is limited. Here we describe a patient with Omphalocele-Exstrophy-Imperforate Anus-Spinal defects (OEIS) and a patient with a history of bladder exstrophy both with spontaneous pregnancy managed by a multidisciplinary approach and primary cesarean delivery

Variations in biomass of the brown mussel Perna indica in recently settled areas along the south-west coast of India

Settlement of mussels on rocks in the coastal waters is an important event for mussel fishermen as well as farmers, since this determines the recruitment, species survival and availability of young ones (seeds) for mariculture. Considering the growing interest for mussel culture in Kerala, it has become a necessity to monitor and ascertain its seed availabilit

Spontaneous and stimulated emission tuning characteristics of a Josephson junction in a microcavity

We have investigated theoretically the tuning characteristics of a Josephson junction within a microcavity for one-photon spontaneous emission and for one-photon and two-photon stimulated emission. For spontaneous emission, we have established the linear relationship between the magnetic induction and the voltage needed to tune the system to emit at resonant frequencies. For stimulated emission, we have found an oscillatory dependence of the emission rate on the initial Cooper pair phase difference and the phase of the applied field. Under specific conditions, we have also calculated the values of the applied radiation amplitude for the first few emission maxima of the system and for the first five junction-cavity resonances for each process. Since the emission of photons can be controlled, it may be possible to use such a system to produce photons on demand. Such sources will have applications in the fields of quantum cryptography, communications and computation

Multi crop farming system as fish aggregating device to enhance marine production

The results of the studies during 1995 to 2000 March using different types of cages, spat collectors and other gadgets for farming pearl oysters and mussels at Vizhinjam showed that large aggregations of edible fishes, ornamental fishes, cephalopods and other marine organisms frequently appear in the farming areas in search of substratum, shelter, food and breeding purpose. It is also observed that this system acts as a sanctuary conserving these resources by providing them breeding habitat

A UK survey of current ENT practice in the assessment of nasal patency

Nasal obstruction is a common ENT complaint; however, decisions on its management are challenging, with high rates of dissatisfaction following surgery. This study investigated the practice of UK clinicians in the evaluation of nasal patency. Seventy-eight UK-based rhinologists were surveyed at the 2015 British Academic Conference in Otolaryngology. Clinical history and examination are almost universally used to evaluate nasal blockage. The most commonly used test was the nasal misting pattern (73 per cent), followed by peak nasal inspiratory flow (19 per cent). The Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 22 or 23 was utilised by 29 per cent of respondents. Sixty-three per cent of respondents reported that a lack of equipment was the principle reason for not using objective measures, followed by time constraints and a lack of correlation with symptom scores. British clinicians rely on clinical skills to evaluate nasal blockage. There is a desire for a simple, non-invasive device that objectively measures airflow for nasal breathing during physiological resting and correlates with subjective symptom scores

Shallow stratigraphic control on pockmark distribution in north temperate estuaries

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Marine Geology 329-331 (2012): 34-45, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2012.09.006.Pockmark fields occur throughout northern North American temperate estuaries despite the absence of extensive thermogenic hydrocarbon deposits typically associated with pockmarks. In such settings, the origins of the gas and triggering mechanism(s) responsible for pockmark formation are not obvious. Nor is it known why pockmarks proliferate in this region but do not occur south of the glacial terminus in eastern North America. This paper tests two hypotheses addressing these knowledge gaps: 1) the region's unique sea-level history provided a terrestrial deposit that sourced the gas responsible for pockmark formation; and 2) the region's physiography controls pockmarks distribution. This study integrates over 2500 km of high-resolution swath bathymetry, Chirp seismic reflection profiles and vibracore data acquired in three estuarine pockmark fields in the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy. Vibracores sampled a hydric paleosol lacking the organic-rich upper horizons, indicating that an organic-rich terrestrial deposit was eroded prior to pockmark formation. This observation suggests that the gas, which is presumably responsible for the formation of the pockmarks, originated in Holocene estuarine sediments (loss on ignition 3.5–10%), not terrestrial deposits that were subsequently drowned and buried by mud. The 7470 pockmarks identified in this study are non-randomly clustered. Pockmark size and distribution relate to Holocene sediment thickness (r2 = 0.60), basin morphology and glacial deposits. The irregular underlying topography that dictates Holocene sediment thickness may ultimately play a more important role in temperate estuarine pockmark distribution than drowned terrestrial deposits. These results give insight into the conditions necessary for pockmark formation in nearshore coastal environments.Graduate support for Brothers came from a Maine Economic Improvement Fund Dissertation Fellowship

Appraisal of the Marine Fisheries of Kerala

Kerala, the southwestern part of the peninsular India, has a narrow stretch of land with a long surf-beaten coast on the western side and a lush green mountain range on the eastern side. The coastline is 590 km long, which is almost one-tenth of the Indian coastline. Marine fishing, using artisanal tackles like boat-seines, shore-seines and Chinese dip nets, is an age-old tradition of the state. Mechanisation was started in late fifties by the Indo-Norwegian Project, at first in the Quilon area. The early sixties too saw an important technological development, namely the shift from cotton to nylon nets. By mid-sixties, individual entrepreneures entered the scene, paving way for a fast development of trawl fishery in the coastal waters. Commercial purse-seining started during late seventies, and the process of large-scale motorisation of country crafts began in early eighties

Spiral Density Waves in a Young Protoplanetary Disk

Gravitational forces are expected to excite spiral density waves in protoplanetary disks, disks of gas and dust orbiting young stars. However, previous observations that showed spiral structure were not able to probe disk midplanes, where most of the mass is concentrated and where planet formation takes place. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array we detected a pair of trailing symmetric spiral arms in the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star Elias 2-27. The arms extend to the disk outer regions and can be traced down to the midplane. These millimeter-wave observations also reveal an emission gap closer to the star than the spiral arms. We argue that the observed spirals trace shocks of spiral density waves in the midplane of this young disk.Comment: This is our own version of the manuscript, the definitive version was published in Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf8296) on September 30, 2016. Posted to the arxiv for non-commercial us