Air conditioning, comfort and energy in india's commercial building sector

Before India's building sector can fulfil its CO2 abatement potential, it is imperative for new build projects, especially those which provide for commercial and public functions, to eschew the energy-intensive designs that characterized western commercial buildings of the 20th century. In the absence of an adaptive thermal comfort standard specifically for India's climatic and cultural context, the current trend is simply to design airconditioned buildings to meet the stringent ASHRAE and ISO "Class A" comfort specifications. This paper proposes a holistic Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) study of a cross section of Indian office buildings purposively stratified across a range of energy intensities with diverse environmental control systems and design approach in different climatic zones to develop an adaptive thermal comfort standard. By climatically adapting indoor design temperatures, the standard will offer India a low-carbon development pathway for its commercial building sector without compromising overall comfort or productivity

PESTICIDE USE BEHAVIOUR OF OKRA GROWERS IN SOUTHERN RAJASTHAN

ABSTRACT The present study was conducted in Girwa tehsil of Udaipur district in southern Rajasthan. Total 10 villages were selected from identified tehsil and 120 respondents were selected on the basis of proportionate sampling method from selected villages. The result of the study indicated that 65.83 per cent respondents possessed medium level of pesticide use behaviour whereas, 20.00 and 14.17 per cent okra growers had low and high level of pesticide use behaviour. It was further observed that pesticides namely Malathion 50 EC, phorate 10 G and Iimidacloprid 200 SL were mostly used by majority of the okra growers for controlling insect-pests of okra. Likewise, Bavistin, Rogor, Thiram, Malathion 50 EC were also using commonly for controlling diseases in okra. It was also observed that there was no significant difference in pesticide use behavior among the okra growers of selected villages

Preferences and skills of Indian public sector teachers

With a sample of 700 future public sector primary teachers in India, a Discrete Choice Experiment is used to measure job preferences, particularly regarding location. General skills are also tested. Urban origin teachers and women are more averse to remote locations than rural origin teachers and men respectively. Women would require a 26-73 percent increase in salary for moving to a remote location. The results suggest that existing caste and gender quotas can be detrimental for hiring skilled teachers willing to work in remote locations. The most preferred location is home, which supports decentralised hiring, although this could compromise skills

Analysis of Yield Attributing Characters of Different Genotypes of Wheat in Rupandehi, Nepal

Field experiment was conducted at National Wheat Research Program, Bhairahawa, Rupandehi with the objective to identify high yielding superior wheat genotypes for Rupandehi district of Nepalduring 2014. Experiment was laid out in one factorial Randomized completely block design with ten wheat genotypes including both released and promising; Annapurna 1, Annapurna 3, Pasang Lahmu, Bijaya, BL 3623, Bhirkuti, NL 297, BL 4316, BL 3978 and BL 4347with three replications. The results showed that the grain yield of BL 3978 was found higher (4.03 t ha-1) than other genotypes followed by BL 4347 (3.93t ha-1). BL 3978 have also higher number of effective tillers m-2 and test weight. Among release varieties, NL 297 show higher yield (4 t ha-1) followed by Bhirkuti (3.43 t ha-1)and Bijaya (3.37 t ha-1). From this experiment it can be concluded that BL 3978 was found promising among all genotypes however should be tested at on-farms before promoted for general cultivation in Rupandehi district of Nepal

Risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality: impact of impaired health-related functioning and diabetes: the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study.

OBJECTIVE: There is an established link between health-related functioning (HRF) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, and it is known that those with diabetes predominantly die of CVD. However, few studies have determined the combined impact of diabetes and impaired HRF on CVD mortality. We investigated whether this combination carries a higher CVD risk than either component alone. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study included 11,247 adults aged ≥ 25 years from 42 randomly selected areas of Australia. At baseline (1999-2000), diabetes status was defined using the World Health Organization criteria and HRF was assessed using the SF-36 questionnaire. RESULTS: Overall, after 7.4 years of follow-up, 57 persons with diabetes and 105 without diabetes had died from CVD. In individuals with and without diabetes, HRF measures were significant predictors of increased CVD mortality. The CVD mortality risks among those with diabetes or impaired physical health component summary (PCS) alone were similar (diabetes only: hazard ratio 1.4 [95% CI 0.7-2.7]; impaired PCS alone: 1.5 [1.0-2.4]), while those with both diabetes and impaired PCS had a much higher CVD mortality (2.8 [1.6-4.7]) compared with those without diabetes and normal PCS (after adjustment for multiple covariates). Similar results were found for the mental health component summary. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the combination of diabetes and impaired HRF is associated with substantially higher CVD mortality. This suggests that, among those with diabetes, impaired HRF is likely to be important in the identification of individuals at increased risk of CVD mortality

3-(2H-1,3-Benzodioxol-5-ylmeth­yl)-2-(2-meth­oxy­phen­yl)-1,3-thia­zolidin-4-one

The title mol­ecule, C18H17NO4S, features a 1,3-thia­zolidine ring that is twisted about the S—C(methyl­ene) bond. With reference to this ring, the 1,3-benzodioxole and benzene rings lie to either side and form dihedral angles of 69.72 (16) and 83.60 (14)°, respectively, with the central ring. Significant twisting in the mol­ecule is confirmed by the dihedral angle of 79.91 (13)° formed between the outer rings. Linear supra­molecular chains along the a-axis direction mediated by C—H⋯O inter­actions feature in the crystal packing

Novel multiple sclerosis susceptibility loci implicated in epigenetic regulation

We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility in German cohorts with 4888 cases and 10,395 controls. In addition to associations within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region, 15 non-MHC loci reached genome-wide significance. Four of these loci are novel MS susceptibility loci. They map to the genes L3MBTL3, MAZ, ERG, and SHMT1. The lead variant at SHMT1 was replicated in an independent Sardinian cohort. Products of the genes L3MBTL3, MAZ, and ERG play important roles in immune cell regulation. SHMT1 encodes a serine hydroxymethyltransferase catalyzing the transfer of a carbon unit to the folate cycle. This reaction is required for regulation of methylation homeostasis, which is important for establishment and maintenance of epigenetic signatures. Our GWAS approach in a defined population with limited genetic substructure detected associations not found in larger, more heterogeneous cohorts, thus providing new clues regarding MS pathogenesis