Shear Strength Behaviour of Clay Reinforced with Treated Coir Fibres

The effect of treated coir fibres on the shear strength behaviour of clay is presented in this study. A series of consolidated undrained test were performed on soil reinforced with untreated, sodium hydroxide treated and carbon tetrachloride treated fibres. The coir fibre content was varied from 0.4% to 1.6%. The results indicated that the deviator stress at failure of the clay and clay with untreated coir fibres can be increased by treatment with carbon tetrachloride and sodium hydroxide. A significant increase was also observed in shear strength parameters of clay reinforced with coir fibres at different percentages. The two parameter dependent hyperbolic models were used for predicting the experimental results. The back predicted stressstrain curve at dierent fibre percentage was found to compare well with the experimental results. The clay reinforced with untreated/treated coir fibres has shown improved strength behaviour, it can be used for short term stability problems

Study of polyembryony and development of molecular markers for identification of zygotic and nucellar seedlings in Khasi mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco)

The objective of this work was to evaluate the occurrence of polyembryonic seedlings and other morphological parameters in Khasi mandarin during three harvest years and to identify zygotic (sexual) seedlings from nucellar (asexual) ones grown under in-vitro conditions using molecular markers. Embryos from 27 polyembryonic and 7 monoembryonic seeds of Khasi mandarin were grown in-vitro. DNA from seedlings and mother parent was analyzed using 16 ISSR and 5 RAPD primers, of which 4 ISSR and a set of 3 RAPD primers were effective to identify zygotic or nucellar origin of the seedlings. In-vitro culture enables maximum embryos of each seed to grow, favouring the origin of seedlings to be identified as zygotic. Among 69 tested individuals, 37 zygotic and 32 nucellar seedlings were recognized. In polyembryonic and monoembryonic seeds, 59.6% and 42.8% of the seedlings, respectively, have the sexual origin. Morphological characteristics of seeds and the seedlings generated varied significantly and were not correlated with polyembryony except for the clutch size and the number of branches. Polyembryonic seeds in the cultivar are high, ranging from 50.0%, 55.5% to 83.3% over three harvest years with more clutch size and the possibility of obtaining zygotic plants from them is high. In polyembryonic seeds not all zygotic seedlings were produced by small embryos located at the micropyle. Identification of zygotic seedlings by ISSR and RAPD markers in Khasi mandarin cultivar is efficient and reliable at an early developmental stage

Effect of temperature and time on paramagnetic resonance of Mn<SUP>2+</SUP> in NaCl single crystal

Exchange of intensities among various spectra of Mn2+ in NaCl single crystal, corresponding to Mn+2 ion associated with various point defects, is described as a function of temperature and time. The variation of line width with temperature is discussed. The fine structure parameter D for a particular spectrum is measured with temperature and is shown to behave like D=D0 (1+bT+cT2). Thermal formation of new complexes and their lifetimes are discussed. A new short-lived complex is found and a model for the same is suggested

Investigation of complete and incomplete fusion in 7^{7}Li+124^{124}Sn reaction around Coulomb barrier energies

The complete and incomplete fusion cross sections for $^{7}$Li+$^{124}$Sn reaction were measured using online and offline characteristic $\gamma$-ray detection techniques. The complete fusion (CF) cross sections at energies above the Coulomb barrier were found to be suppressed by $\sim$ 26 \% compared to the coupled channel calculations. This suppression observed in complete fusion cross sections is found to be commensurate with the measured total incomplete fusion (ICF) cross sections. There is a distinct feature observed in the ICF cross sections, i.e., $\textit{t}$-capture is found to be dominant than $\alpha$-capture at all the measured energies. A simultaneous explanation of complete, incomplete and total fusion (TF) data was also obtained from the calculations based on Continuum Discretized Coupled Channel method with short range imaginary potentials. The cross section ratios of CF/TF and ICF/TF obtained from the data as well as the calculations showed the dominance of ICF at below barrier energies and CF at above barrier energies.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Iron meteorite fall at Bhuka village, Barmer District, Rajasthan

This article does not have an abstract

Suboptimal chlorine treatment of drinking water leads to selection of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The present study was undertaken to investigate the spectrum of bacteria present in the River Gomti water before and after chlorination for drinking purposes. We observed that the strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that survived chlorination on three out of seven occasions were resistant to almost all the antibiotics tested. The chlorine-resistant bacteria had mucoid colonies and grew better at 24° C. All attempts to isolate the plasmid responsible for chlorine resistance were unsuccessful. Laboratory experiments using different strains of the P. aeruginosa in distilled water showed that only the resistant strain survived chlorine treatment at a dose of ≤500 μ g/L. Similar results were obtained when water collected from seven different sites on the River Gomti was treated with graded doses of chlorine. At the higher dose of chlorine, all the bacteria died in 30 min, whereas with lower doses all the bacteria survived. The present study underscores the importance of measuring water chlorine concentrations to assure they are sufficiently high to remove pathogenic bacteria from drinking water. To our knowledge, this is the first report in the literature of the selection of multidrug-resistant bacteria by suboptimal chlorine treatment of water

Six senses while considering hydatid cyst as a differential for a swelling at nape of the neck: a case report

While cervical swellings usually are located in anterior midline like thyroglossal cyst, thyroid swellings, or in antero-lateral aspect of neck like cold abscess, branchial cyst, lymphangioma, cervical lymphadenopathy etc. Nape of the neck swelling is even less common with differentials including lipoma, sebaceous cyst, lymphangioma, etc. Hydatid cyst (HC) is often missed as a differential resulting in intraoperative surprises. This case report might change the mind of the readers to keep HC in back of their minds while approaching a case of swelling of the neck. Here we report a case of 15 years’ female who presented with swelling of nape of neck which on evaluation was inclining towards lipoma/epidermal cyst. With an intention for surgical exploration and excision, the patient was taken for operation, where we discovered it to be HC and the same was later confirmed by histopathology as well. Because of its rare presentation the primary diagnosis of HC is often missed out in spite of having sensitive cytology and imaging modalities. Hence, by reporting this case we intend to emphasize six facts a clinician, a radiologist and also a pathologist must consider while keeping primary HC at an unusual site as a differential diagnosis.