Impact of organic sugercane farming on economics and water use efficiency in Maharashtra

SugercaneEconomic aspectsWater use efficiencyOrganic agricultureFarmersSurveysCultivationYields

Momentum space properties from coordinate space electron density

Electron density and electron momentum density, while independently tractable experimentally, bear no direct connection without going through the many-electron wave function. However, invoking a variant of the constrained-search formulation of density functional theory, we develop a general scheme (valid for arbitrary external potentials) yielding decent momentum space properties, starting exclusively from the coordinate space electron density. Numerical illustration of the scheme is provided for the closed-shell atomic systems He, Be and Ne and for $1s^1~2s^1$ singlet electronic excited state for Helium by calculating the Compton profiles and the $$ expectation values derived from given coordinate space electron densities.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Towards a path integral for the pure-spin connection formulation of gravity

A proposal for the path-integral of pure-spin-connection formulation of gravity is described, based on the two-form formulation of Capovilla et. al. It is shown that the resulting effective-action for the spin-connection, upon functional integration of the two-form field $\Sigma$ and the auxiliary matrix field $\psi$ is {\it non-polynomial}, even for the case of vanishing cosmological constant and absence of any matter couplings. Further, a diagramatic evaluation is proposed for the contribution of the matrix-field to the pure spin connection action.Comment: 8 pages in plain-TeX.-----IUCAA_TH/9

Programmable Electronic Delay Device for Detonator

Delay devices are used to perform various roles like aiding in sequential release of payload, providing safety in flight/ trajectory, enabling self-destruction of ammunitions, allowing blast of the warhead after penetration in runway/bunker, etc. The delay time is introduced to cause a series of detonation events from the explosive charge, in order to achieve desired efficiency. Inspite of many improvements performed along the years, in search of precise delay compositions, it is noticed that the obtained accuracy in chemical delay compositions is of ±4%.The present work using microcontroller gives possible accuracy of upto ±1%.This paper discusses about programmable electronic delay device, timing accuracy of electronic delay device and its merits over chemical delay devices.Defence Science Journal, 2013, 63(3), pp.305-307, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.63.288

Efficient utilization of energy with an improved farming system for selected semi-arid tropics

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India, has developed an improved technology for the management of Vertisols. The results of testing of this technology in farmers' fields in India have shown that substantially higher yields can be achieved by an efficient application of available energy resources along with other high-value inputs. The technology does not depend upon a tractorized form of energy and improves the productivity of farm labo

The village impact of machine threshing and implications for technology development in the semi‐arid tropics of peninsular India

This study evaluates the dynamic consequences of machine threshing in the Semi‐Arid Tropics (SAT) of Peninsular India. We rely on a panel of 30 cultivator and 10 landless labour households to monitor, over five cropping years from 1975/76 to 1979/80, the impact of mechanical threshing on the village economy. Machine threshing did not significantly reduce costs, increase cropping intensity, or greatly harm labour. These results are strongly conditioned by the ecological features of the SAT. Their implications for public‐sector investment in research on selective threshing mechanisation are drawn

Quantifying Serum miRNA using DNA-Gold Nanoparticles: A Modern Approach to Diagnosing Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer (PC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality in America with nearly 50,000 deaths annually. Furthermore, PC’s low 5-year survival rate, 11% overall, is highly dependent on the stage during which it is diagnosed and treated. When confined to the pancreas, the 5-year survival rate has been shown to reach as high as 42%, a nearly four-fold increase. Due to significant mortality differences dependent on PC stage, there is an utmost clinical need to diagnose PC as early as possible to maximize the chance of favorable patient outcomes. Most PC diagnostic methods currently involve imaging techniques including x-rays, CT, MRI, US, PET, ERCP. Issues with these techniques include levels of discomfort for the patient and higher costs and commitment to diagnose PC. For this reason, noninvasive diagnostic tests, such as CA 19-9 and CEA antigen blood tests are widely used to better inform patient outcomes. Current blood tests struggle to show appropriate specificity or sensitivity to reliably diagnose PC, including the limited ability to discriminate between benign and malignant tumors. Lacking validity may lead to patients over or under-investing in PC treatment. In comparison to blood antigens, microRNA (miRNA) is a biomarker that can be much more capable of diagnosing PC. The miRNAs consist of strands of around 20 base pairs in length that are transcribed in the body for gene regulation, controlling the expression of over half of our total genes. Aberrant expression of miRNAs are associated with PC. Current diagnostic tests that utilize miRNA biomarkers (e.g., microarray, qPCR) lack the sensitivity and limit of detection (LOD) required to assay normal versus aberrant miRNA levels since they are designed to detect longer nucleotide chains. Current methods are also cumbersome to use as they require extreme precaution and resources to collect data and avoid contamination. We propose new nanoparticle-based DNA-AuNP technology that will run a real time in situ assay of a patient’s serum sample to more reliably inform PC diagnosis early on.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/surp2022/1010/thumbnail.jp