Functional Organization of the Gustatory System in the Brains of Ictalurid Catfish: a Combined Electrophysiological and Neuroanatomical Study (Taste, Viscerotopic, Sensory Maps, Forebrain).

The present study utilizes electrophysiological and neuroanatomical techniques to investigate the functional organization of the gustatory system in the brainstem and the forebrain of the channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus. Neuroanatomical studies indicate an overlapping, segmental pattern of projection of glossopharyngeal-vagal branches in the vagal lobe. The vagal nerve complex is divisible into an interoceptive input (consisting of general visceral fibers) from abdominal viscera and an exteroceptive-branchial component (consisting of special and general visceral fibers) innervating the oro-pharyngeal region. The interoceptive-visceral input converges onto the exteroceptive, oro-pharyngeal input in the nucleus intermedius of the vagal lobe (nIV). In addition, extra-oral and oral gustatory information converges onto the nucleus intermedius of the facial lobe (nIF) and sensory inputs from separate regions of the oropharynx converge onto separate halves of the dorsal cap of the vagal lobe. Overlapping taste and tactile sensory maps of the oropharynx are present in the vagal lobe of the catfish. The representation of the oropharynx is less well defined than the somatotopic map in the facial lobe except for the bilaterally mapped extra-oral surface. Gustatory information reaches the area dorsalis pars medialis of the telencephalon and several nuclei in the ventral diencephalon of the catfish. The central gustatory pathway ascends from the medulla to the level of the diencephalon via the secondary gustatory nucleus as well as to the telencephalon via small neurons in the diencephalic lobo-bulbar nucleus. Neurons in the gustatory region of the telencephalon descend to the diencephalic level primarily via the medial forebrain bundle

Ultrastructural Changes in Bovine Oocytes Induced During In Vitro Production of Embryos

Despite substantial progress in the development of procedures for in vitro maturation, in vitro fertilisation and in vitro culture, the production of viable embryos in most laboratories is around 20-30%. The objective of this study was to examine ultrastructural changes induced in bovine oocytes during various stages of in vitro embryo production as these changes could contribute towards the low viability of the embryos. The oocytes recovered from slaughterhouse ovanes were transported in modified Dulbecco's phosphate buffered saline for various periods of time at two different temperatures, in vitro matured (WM), in vitro fertilised (WF) and in vitro cultured (WC) to morulae stages. After submitting to various stages mentioned above the oocytes were processed for transmission electron microscopy and examined in Hitachi 7100 or Phillips CM 12 electron microscopes at 75 or 80 kV respectively. Results exhibited that holding of oocytes in commonly used transport medium induced changes in the organelles such as rough endoplasmic reticulum, cortical granules, mitochondria and Golgi complexes both in the cumulus cells and those present in the oocytes. The severity of these changes was higher in oocytes transported at 2-4 C than those transported at 35-370 C the effect of which was reflected by the viability test. None of the cleaved oocytes (0/49) in the former while an average of 18.2% (10/55) of the oocytes in the latter developed to morulae. In the second experiment, the oocytes which were submitted to IVM, exhibited ultrastructural changes such as incomplete cumulus expansion, swelling of mitochondria, reduced incidence of cortical granules and accumulation of lipid droplets which were probably the factors affecting the viability of oocytes. In the third experiment, examination of in vitro produced morulae (35/121, 28.9%) revealed the presence of a large number of lipid droplets, vacuoles and numerous mitochondria undergoing the process of degeneration which ultimately may affect the viability of embryos. It was concluded that the ultrastructural changes induced during various stages of in vitro embryo production contribute towards low viability of the in vitro produced embryos

Feasibility of a Carbon Consumption Tax for sustainable development – A case study of India

Global climate change is a major issue confronting policymakers worldwide, and there is widespread scientific acceptance of the reality of climate change and its adverse consequences In terms of economic analysis, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), which cause planetary climate changes, represent both an environmental externality and the overuse of a common property resource. The paper is premised around the hypothesis that tax policy can be used to address climate concerns by making less Green House Gas intensive purchases and investments more financially attractive. However, in the absence of an international framework capping GHG emissions, countries adopting mitigation policies incur costs that would not exist under global cooperation such as the loss of competitiveness and emissions leakage. A consumption tax based on the carbon footprint of a product levied on all products at the point of purchase by the final end-user, regardless of where the goods are produced using a Credit-method would be capable of addressing these concerns of emissions leakage and loss of competitiveness, while being WTO compliant. The author intends to test the feasibility and effectiveness of such a carbon consumption tax in the Indian Context. The author shall test the feasibility of levy of such a consumption tax in the context of India and evaluate the effectiveness in mitigating climate change and catering to the goal of sustainable development

A Leading Order QCD Computation of ππ Elastic Scattering

This thesis presents the results of a detailed computation of the leading order scattering amplitude and cross-section for the elastic reaction π+π+ → π+π+, in the context of the quark model and perturbative QCD. The calculation is based on the recently demonstrated applicability of QCD-factorization and the renormalization group to exclusive hadronic processes at large momentum-transfers. We show that a large fraction of the hard subprocess diagrams have a pinch singularity in them, which means that the amplitude resulting from these diagrams cannot be proved to be short-distance dominated. This contribution to the scattering amplitude is computed separately and, even after including a Sudakov factor, it is shown to be comparable in magnitude to the hard-scattering contribution. We calculate the energy and angular dependence of the pinch contribution and point out that some of the systematic deviations from power-law scaling, observed in high-PT meson-baryon and baryon-baryon elastic scattering data, can be explained by assuming that the cross-section for these reactions is dominated by pinch, rather than hard, effects. By normalizing the pion distribution amplitude with the help of the pion decay constant, we have also determined the absolute normalization of the ππ elastic cross-section.</p

The Impact of Television Advertising on Young Customers – The Case of Jalandhar City

An average Indian youngster has seen approximately seen 3,50,000 commercials till the age of 18 and has spent 2500 to 3000 hours in doing so which incidentally is more than the time spent on his/her educational career. This input is enough to effectively change the behavior of any youngster. The paper focuses on measuring this impact of television advertising on youngsters. The youngsters represent a sizeable segment of the Indian society, with 70% population being lesser than 40 years of age

CUSTOMER AWARENESS AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GENERAL INSURANCE SERVICES: AN EMPIRICAL SURVEY IN MODERN ERA

Globalization and forces of competition has challenged the way in which business is operated. With the re-opening of insurance sector for private players, the increased number of sellers had to improve customer awareness and knowledge about their services. In the contemporary business environment, the creation of awareness and knowledge about insurance products by general insurance companies is imperative in order to retain in the market. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of awareness and knowledge among customers about general insurance services. The paper provides an overview on sources which are used by insurance players for creating awareness among consumers about insurance policies. The study explores that how customer awareness in insurance services affects the long term profitability of their customers