Technical Efficiency in Agricultural Production and Its Determinants : An Exploratory Study at the District Level

Given the importance of agriculture to the well being of a large percentage of Indias population, it becomes important to study how improvements can be made in the productivity of this sector. This study attempts to estimate the technical efficiency a measure of how well inputs are being used towards producing output of about 250 Indian districts in 1990-91. It employs the stochastic frontier function methodology. The results indicate that (i) the land elasticity is the highest followed by fertilizer; (ii) the mean efficiency of raising agricultural output is 79 per cent and therefore there is a scope for increasing output by 21 per cent without additional resources; (iii) states such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan have the largest number of districts with below average TE and they stand to gain the most from policy interventions towards improving technical efficiency. The results further indicate that health, education, and infrastructure are powerful drivers of efficiency at the district level and the relative importance of the determinants of efficiency across districts depends greatly on environmental factors, such as agro-climatic zones, technological factors, and crop mix. The results highlight the need for developing policy strategies at a more localized level.agriculture, technical efficiency, stochastic frontier function, India

Giant dipole resonance with exact treatment of thermal fluctuations

The shape fluctuations due to thermal effects in the giant dipole resonance (GDR) observables are calculated using the exact free energies evaluated at fixed spin and temperature. The results obtained are compared with Landau theory calculations done by parameterizing the free energy. The Landau theory is found to be insufficient when the shell effects are dominating.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Combined spectral and spatial processing of ERTS imagery data

A procedure for extracting a set of textural features for ERTS-1 MSS data is presented. The textural features were combined with a set of spectral features and were used to develop a classification algorithm for identifying the land use categories of blocks of digital MSS data. The classification algorithm was derived from a training set of 314 blocks and tested on a set of 310 blocks. The overall accuracy of the classifier was found to be 83.5% on seven land use categories

Crop classification using airborne radar and LANDSAT data

Airborne radar data acquired with a 13.3 GHz scatterometer over a test-site near Colby, Kansas were used to investigate the statistical properties of the scattering coefficient of three types of vegetation cover and of bare soil. A statistical model for radar data was developed that incorporates signal-fading and natural within-field variabilities. Estimates of the within-field and between-field coefficients of variation were obtained for each cover-type and compared with similar quantities derived from LANDSAT images of the same fields. The classification accuracy provided by LANDSAT alone, radar alone, and both sensors combined was investigated. The results indicate that the addition of radar to LANDSAT improves the classification accuracy by about 10; percentage-points when the classification is performed on a pixel basis and by about 15 points when performed on a field-average basis

Ethnomedicinal Survey of Medicinal Plants Used for the Treatment of Diabetes and Jaundice Among the Villagers of Sivagangai District, Tamilnadu

The present study revealed that totally 12 and 10 modes of treatment were followed by the rural people of Sivagangai district to cure diabetes and jaundice respectively. The rural people of the study area were used 17 plants for diabetes and 12 for jaundice. Among them, 6 plants viz., Azadirachta indica, Carum nothum, Cynodon dactylon, Lablab purpureus, Momordica charantia and Phyllanthus amarus were used to cure both diabetes and jaundice. The plants were used either separately or in combination with other plants. These ethnomedicinal data may provide a base to start the search the new compounds related to phytochemistry, pharmacology and pharmacognosy. Attention should also be made on proper exploitation and utilization of these medicinal plants

The Mediating Effect of Perceived Speed on Usage of Mobile Banking Technology of Customers in Chennai

This paper is aimed at examining the association among the variables Intention to use and Actual use of Mobile Banking Technology and to analyse the mediating effect of perceived speed towards the Actual usage of Mobile Banking. Literature survey paves the way for Perceived speed, as a relevant driver in determining the Intention to use Mobile Banking Technology and there by it leads to the Actual usage of Mobile Banking Technology by the customers of Chennai. In this Paper, data is retrieved from users of Mobile Banking in Chennai. Internet based, and direct survey-based questionnaires were collected from 350 respondents, from it 300 responses were fit for statistical analysis. The results from the study has emphasized that perceived speed is partially mediating the association among Intention to use and Actual usage of Mobile banking in Chennai. The Technology Acceptance Model(TAM) is used to predict the Intention to use and usage of Information Technology in this study. The adroitness of usage of Mobile Banking technology depends on the expectations of the users to be gratified by reaching out the channels to amplify the customer service. The perceived speed proves to be escalated to increase the level of service. As it magnifies the frequency of usage of Mobile Banking Technology. Keywords: Adoption, Customer expectations, Intention to use, Mobility Access, Perceived Speed

Enhanced alpha-amylase production using Streptomyces gancidicus ASD by process optimization

845-852The present study was focused on purification and optimization of amylase from marine actinomycetes. Among 101 actinomycetes isolates from Andaman & Nicobar islands, Streptomyces sp gancidicus_ASD was isolated and further studied. The enzyme activity was studied at various physical parameters like temperature, pH, carbon source, Nitrogen source, metal ions, NaCl concentration etc. by maintaining all the factors with 100 ml of crude extract. Also, media optimization with response surface methodology was used to ameliorate the bioprocess economics. A central composite design was conducted to optimize the four selected factors. Statistical analyses of the data of model fitting were done by using Design expert 10.0 (stat-Ease). Results show a maximum predicted amylase yield of 11460.34 IU/ml when using 1.05% sucrose, 0.608% beef extract, 7.1 pH and 40.35 °C temperature. The predicted value is approximately 1.24-fold much higher than the original production (9248 IU/mL) determined by the conventional one-factor-at-a-time optimization method which can be applied in bioprocess for increased amylase yield

Ocimum sanctum: a review on the pharmacological properties

Herbal medicine, the backbone of traditional medicine in many countries have played an important role in curing the diseases of humans since ancient time. Medicinal plants are great source of bioactive compounds and chemical structures that have potential beneficial effects. The present review compiles information on ethnopharmacologically useful information and pharmacological properties of Ocimum sanctum. Ocimum sanctum (OS) has many medicinal properties like antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiulcer, anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal and other. The phytochemicals compounds of Ocimum, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, essential oils, tannins and saponins play an important role in herbal medicine. Bioactive compounds of Ocimum responsible for its various medicinal properties and their effects at the molecular level need to be investigated in more detail. Furthermore, pharmacological properties of bioactive compounds in Ocimum sanctum are required to confirm the ethnomedicinal claims of Ocimum sanctum for pharmaceutical therapeutic applications

ANALYSIS OF GRE PIPES WITH EPOXY RESIN COMPOSITE MATERIAL AND MATERIAL TEST SPECIFICATION

At present scenario composite materials has been extensively used in variety of fields right from house holds to aircrafts for its superior properties like lower specific weight, strength to weight ratio and modulus to weight ratio. In this project effort has been made to extend its application to pipes. Conventional pipes have its own disadvantages such as higher specific weight, low corrosion resistance and low strength which can be replaced by the composite pipes .Design of composite pipe has been done as conventional pipe for its inner diameter and its wall thickness. Structural analysis has been made with ANSYS 12 for its deformation and stress. Comparative study of ANSYS results for M.S.PIPES, and GRE pipes were done to justify the usage of GRE pipes.Filament winding process has been adopted to manufacture GRE pipes in a conventional lathe by implementing a winding setup. Hardness test and compressive test of GRE pipes to be done to assess its strength, leak and corrosion test for its ability to carry liquids.   Key words:- {?} ij -Stress component,    [C]    ijkl- Stiffness marix,  {? } ij -        Strain component ,                     [S]ijkl -  Compliance matrix ,   GRE - Glass reinforced epoxy,  PAN -  Poly acrylo nitrile

Renal Manifestations in Scleroderma: Evidence for Subclinical Renal Disease as a Marker of Vasculopathy

Scleroderma is a disease characterized by immune activation, vasculopathy, fibroblast stimulation, and connective tissue fibrosis. End-organ damage occurs due to progressive tissue fibrosis and vasculopathy. Markers of incipient vasculopathy have not been well studied in scleroderma. However, reduced renal functional reserve and proteinuria are common indicators of progressive vasculopathy in diabetic and hypertensive vasculopathy. Recent studies suggest a strong association between renal involvement and outcomes in scleroderma, with a threefold increased risk of mortality from pulmonary hypertension if renal insufficiency is present. We review the types of renal involvement seen in scleroderma and the data to support the use of renal parameters including proteinuria, glomerular filtration rate, and renal vascular dynamics measured with Doppler ultrasound to identify subclinical renal insufficiency. Further studies are warranted to investigate the use of renal parameters as prognostic indicators in scleroderma