Treatment of leather industrial effluents by filtration and coagulation processes

AbstractThis study focused on effluents characterization and accessing physical and chemical treatment by filtration and coagulation processes. The analysis results of the raw effluents reveal that the effluents were yellowish-brown color, having basic pH, very high values of BOD5, COD, TDS, TSS, TS and high concentrations of Cr, Na, SO42− and other organic and inorganic constituents. After settling and a subsequent filtration of raw tannery effluents through sand-stone, the filtered effluents were treated with various doses of FeCl3. The study observed that coagulant (FeCl3) of 150mg/L dose near neutral pH showed the best removal efficiencies for major physico-chemical parameters. The analysis results illustrate that most of the physical and chemical parameters were found well below the prescribed permissible limits for effluent discharged. The study suggests that untreated tannery effluents would be treated by a combined process consisting of settling, filtering and coagulating with FeCl3

Bacterial pollution indicators associated in the tissues of an estuarine fish Mugil cephalus from Ashtamudi lake, a Ramsar site of Kerala, India

Fishes are continuously exposed to the microorganisms present in water and in the sediment. The present study was attempted to screen the pollution indicator bacteria in the tissues of an estuarine fish Mugil cephalus from Kureepuzha Backwater, a part of Ashtamudi Lake. Total heterotrophic bacteria, total coliform bacteria, Escherichia coli and fecal streptococci were enumerated from the fish tissues using standard microbiological procedures. Comparison of bacterial count in the skin, gill and gut of Mugil cephalus revealed that highest count of indicator microbes were found in the skin followed by the gill and gut of fish from all sites except site 4. Fishes from site 4, they show bacteria predominantly in the gut. Two way Anova showed a significant difference in microbial count between sites and between tissues except Total heterotrophic bacteria and fecal streptococci between sites. Results of physico chemical parameters also supports that the anthropogenic activities accumulated in the study area, causing the disruption of hydrological quality of Lake and thus increases the load of detrimental microorganisms. Hence it is recommended that good processing of fish such as washing, scraping scales, removal of gills and gut contents and proper cooking help to reduce microbial pathogen in fish body and make it safe for consumption

Recent Advances in Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (l.) Millspaugh) Research

Pigeonpea or red gram [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] is an important food legume of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. It occupies a prime niche in sustainable farming systems of smallholder rainfed farmers. It occupies a prominent place in Indian rainfed agriculture. It is an integral component in various agro ecologies of the country mainly inter cropped with cereals, pulses, oilseeds and millets. It is the second most important pulse crop next to chickpea, covering an area of around 4.42 m ha (occupying about 14.5% of area under pulses) and production of 2.86 MT (contributing to 16% of total pulse production) and productivity of about 707 kg/ha. It is mainly consumed as dry split dhal throughout the country besides several other uses of various parts of pigeonpea plant. Enhancing the productivity of the crop assumes specific significance in India mainly to combat protein malnutrition as it is the main source of protein to the predominant vegetarian population. The productivity of pigeonpea has remained low and stagnant over the last few decades thus this prompted scientists to search for novel ways of crop improvement. To tackle this challenge, ICRISAT and IIPR are working on number of innovative ideas like, genome sequencing (Varshney et al. 2012), development of CGMS hybrids with 30 to 40 % yield advantage over traditional varieties, development of photo insensitive super early maturing lines, introgression of cleistogamous flower structure to maintain genetic purity of elite lines, use of obcordate leaf shape as NEP to assess genetic purity of hybrid parental lines and development of disease resistant hybrids and elite breeding lines. These aspects are described briefly below

Energy Efficiency Renovation Financing Models for Homeowners and Net Present Value Analysis: Case Study from India

In India, the lack of financing mechanisms has been identified as a major impediment in achieving energy efficiency (EE) and requires focused research to identify barriers and propose innovative financial models. This paper presents details of selected Government of India initiatives that highlight interlinking strategies of energy efficiency renovations, their financing models, and institutional policies needed for their implementation. These initiatives show that residential buildings have tremendous scope for retrofitting as they successfully attract finances through Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and Renewable ESCO (RESCO) routes. This research highlights understanding of financial and technical barriers in energy efficiency retrofitting for existing residential buildings. Additionally, it discusses financial models and technical interventions being employed in energy efficiency residential retrofitting projects and demonstrates a retrofitting cost model for an actual case study project for composite climate using various physical and technological interventions. The work includes developing retrofitting scenarios through Government initiatives of technical interventions, then performing energy saving calculations, and finally developing cost model explaining the actual savings and payback periods for the potential intervention’s investments. These steps led to the development of a potential cost model which can assist both homeowners and energy professionals in identifying and implementing energy retrofitting measures in the residential building sector

Immediate Early and Early Lytic Cycle Proteins Are Frequent Targets of the Epstein-Barr Virus–induced Cytotoxic T Cell Response

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a human γ-herpesvirus, can establish both nonproductive (latent) and productive (lytic) infections. Although the CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response to latently infected cells is well characterized, very little is known about T cell controls over lytic infection; this imbalance in our understanding belies the importance of virus-replicative lesions in several aspects of EBV disease pathogenesis. The present work shows that the primary CD8+ CTL response to EBV in infectious mononucleosis patients contains multiple lytic antigen-specific reactivities at levels at least as high as those seen against latent antigens; similar reactivities are also detectable in CTL memory. Clonal analysis revealed individual responses to the two immediate early proteins BZLF1 and BRLF1, and to three (BMLF1, BMRF1, and BALF2) of the six early proteins tested. In several cases, the peptide epitope and HLA-restricting determinant recognized by these CTLs has been defined, one unusual feature being the number of responses restricted through HLA-C alleles. The work strongly suggests that EBVreplicative lesions are subject to direct CTL control in vivo and that immediate early and early proteins are frequently the immunodominant targets. This contrasts with findings in α- and β-herpesvirus systems (herpes simplex, cytomegalovirus) where viral interference with the antigen-processing pathway during lytic infection renders immediate early and early proteins much less immunogenic. The unique capacity of γ-herpesvirus to amplify the viral load in vivo through a latent growth-transforming infection may have rendered these agents less dependent upon viral replication as a means of successfully colonizing their hosts

Performance of some apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) germplasm accessions for fruit quality traits in Himachal Pradesh

The present investigation was carried out in field gene bank of NBPGR Regional Station Phagli, Shimla during the year 2014-15. Twenty accessions of Prunus armeniaca L. namely St. Ambroise, Wenatchee, Nugget, Stirling, Nari, Harogem, Rakovslik, Viva Gold, IC-432145, Erevani, Safed Perchinar, KS-1, AS-1, AS-2, NJ-A96, Jordan Early, Vitillo, Shahib, Kalola and Anglo Arsani were evaluated for their tree, foliage, floral and fruit characters. St. Ambroise recorded maximum tree height (10.10 m) whereas minimum (2.47 m) was in Stirling. Shedding of leaf started from 29 th October (Nugget) and extended till 27 th November (Vitillo). Time of full bloom extended from 16 th March in Shahib to 23 rd March in Safed Perchinar. The longest duration (22 days) of flowering was recorded in Erevani and shortest (9 days) in Wenatchee. Time of fruit maturity was early (25 th May) in Shahib and late (26 th June) in Vitillo. Largest and heaviest fruits were observed in St. Ambroise (77.59 g) whereas smallest and lightest fruits were in Viva Gold (19.37 g). Maximum pulp to stone ratio was recorded in Safed Perchinar (33.21) and minimum in Nari (15.57). TSS content was maximum (19.56 °B) in Nari whereas minimum (10.73°B) in Anglo Arseni. Titratable acidity was recorded maximum (1.86 %) in AS-1 and minimum (0.76%) in IC 432145. Total sugar content ranged from 8.40 per cent in Anglo Arseni to 16.53 per cent in Nari. Total phenol content was maximum (89.57 mg/100 g) in AS-1 and minimum (70.41 mg/100 g) in IC432145. From the present investigation it may be concluded that St. Ambroise, Nari and Shahib can be used for gene source for developing new hybrid cultivars and St. Am-broise may be suggested for cultivation in wet temperate condition of Himachal Pradesh for its better quality

Influence of TNF Alpha on Testosterone Induced Cardiac Effects in Isolated Frog Heart Model

The effect of Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and testosterone was evaluated on the isolated Rana tigrina frog heart. The isolated frog heart (n= 10) were used for this study and the effect of drugs on myocardial contractility and heart rate was ascertained. Namely three drugs testosterone (4mg), bicalutamide (8mg) and TNF-alpha antagonist infliximab (0.4mg) were utilized for this study. Testosterone caused an increase in heart rate by 11.28% and decrease in myocardial contractility by 17.67%. Similarly bicalutamide caused a 20.11% decrease Heart rate and 41.17% decrease in myocardial contractility. To ascertain the role of TNF-alpha, infliximab was perfused through the heart and it potentiated the inhibitory effect of testosterone on the myocardial contractility and heart rate. The results of this study suggest the importance of TNF-alpha and testosterone hormone in cardiovascular pathophysiology

Pigeonpea seed systems in Asia

Pigeonpea seed systems consist of the formal and informal seed sector. However, the informal seed sector dominates the seed production system. Majority of rainfed farmers who grow pigeonpea (about 80% - 90%) save a part of their produce as seed requirement. In the formal seed sector, government agencies and private companies are involved in production and distribution of quality seeds of improved varieties and hybrids. Role of private sector diffusion in pigeonpea market is not encouraging owing to lack of commercial perspective in the crop and other factors. The integrated approach that takes into cognizance the formal and informal seed sector in breeding, seed production and distribution has shown to have promising potential for improving seed supply to smallholder farmers. Moreover, any seed system, for that matter, requires a regulatory framework as well as a seed policy that considers regulations of an expanding and diversifying seed sector for the benefit of the farmers engaged in the seed production system

An Intra-city Route Management System - Sanchari Mitra

Bus transportation system is one of India’s most effective network which keeps the social, economical, political and cultural labyrinth of the country together. Individual states have their state run buses that help people commute. These buses connect major cities and towns. After the trains, buses are the next choice for travelers. Buses carry more than 90 percent of public transport in Indian cities. In spite of having numerous applications pertaining to the bus transportation, the information available is not being used to its full potential. Also, the real time information is not provided to the user. This project is aiming to implement an application on Web and platforms of Google Android, Apple iOS and Microsoft Windows that can provide relevant bus information to the users. The users will be provided with all the possible direct or indirect routes between the source and the destination. In completing the project, different technologies like GPS, location detection and route finding will be examined. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.160411

Epitaxial growth and structural characterization of Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)O3 thin films

We have grown lead iron niobate thin films with composition Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)O3 (PFN) on (0 0 1) SrTiO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The influence of the deposition conditions on the phase purity was studied. Due to similar thermodynamic stability spaces, a pyrochlore phase often coexists with the PFN perovskite phase. By optimizing the kinetic parameters, we succeeded in identifying a deposition window which resulted in epitaxial perovskite-phase PFN thin films with no identifiable trace of impurity phases appearing in the X-ray diffractograms. PFN films having thicknesses between 20 and 200 nm were smooth and epitaxially oriented with the substrate and as demonstrated by RHEED streaks which were aligned with the substrate axes. X-ray diffraction showed that the films were completely c-axis oriented and of excellent crystalline quality with low mosaicity (X-ray rocking curve FWHM<0.09). The surface roughness of thin films was also investigated by atomic force microscopy. The root-mean-square roughness varies between 0.9 nm for 50-nm-thick films to 16 nm for 100-nm-thick films. We also observe a correlation between grain size, surface roughness and film thickness.Comment: 13 Pages, 6 figures. To be published in J. Mag. Mag Mater. proceedings of EMRS200