Environmental Control Measures in Sponge Iron Industry with Particualr Reference to Tata Sponge Iron Limited

Direct reduced iron or sponge iron technology was developed as an alternate route for steel making and is considered as a clean technology. The waste generation and gas emissi-ons from this route of steel making are far less when comp-ared to the conventional blast furnace route. The paper details the efforts of Tata Sponge Iron Limited to make the process a clean technology without affecting its surroundings and natural resources

A Study on Effect of Operating Conditions on Gerotor Pump Performance

One of the important accessories of the lubrication system of an aero-engine is the oil pump which consists of multiple pumps with tandem gerotor elements housed in a single casing. This paper presents the volumetric efficiency variation of a single-stage gerotor pump specially designed for aero-engine by conducting experiments at on and off-design conditions and comparing it with the CFD analysis. A Gerotor pump having fixed geometrical parameters designed based on a  athematical 1D model using MatLab and AMESim is manufactured and tested. Performance evaluation of these pumps for pressure and temperature has been discussed in this paper. Commercial CFD code ANSYS-Fluent with a standard k- ε turbulence model has been used for performance evaluation of gerotor pump. Flow characteristics studies on the prototype pump indicate that simulation results closely matched the experimental data. The study concludes that the simulation method adopted is appropriate for predicting the performance of the gerotor pump and the contribution of outlet pressure to the pump volumetric efficiency is significant

Plant protection through RNAi: Alternative for pesticides and chemical approaches to pest control

RNA interference (RNAi) has become a powerful genetic approach to systemically dissect gene function on a genome wide scale. Double stranded RNA (dsRNA) mediated gene silencing has been proven as a potential approach to control several insect pests including fruit fly, nematode, cotton bollworm, and corn rootworm. RNA interference (RNAi) induced by hairpin RNAs are new line of defence against coleopteran and lepidopteron pests. It was shown that insect larvae fed with plant material expressing dsRNA for the insect genes triggered the RNAi pathway in insect larvae and blocked the expression of target genes. The resulting reduction in larval growth and subsequent death has opened up new options for insect control involving the insect genes perse. Hence, protein targets for insect control strategies can be minimized or completely ignored. Prospecting for novel resistance mechanisms depend on the plant generating an effective form of double-stranded RNA in the absence of an endogenous target gene without detrimental effect to itself. Although the amazing popularity of RNAi as a biotechnology tool is certainly justified, the underlying biology is still being worked out and the relative advantages and disadvantages of the approach are being efficiently addressed using emerging Bioinformatic tools and many genome sequences. In this review we would like to highlight the attempts of pest control using gene silencing or RNAi technology, few strategies, target genes for RNAi in insects, target site of action, and probable likely targets for RNAi in insects and plants for potential durable pest resistance mechanisms. © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved

Two Absolute Index-Summability Methods

In this paper we have established a relation between the Summability methods an

Nonresonant microwave absorption in epitaxial La-Sr-Mn-O films and its relation to colossal magnetoresistance

We study magnetic-field-dependent nonresonant microwave absorption and dispersion in thin La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_{3}$ films and show that it originates from the colossal magnetoresistance. We develop the model for magnetoresistance of a thin ferromagnetic film in oblique magnetic field. The model accounts fairly well for our experimental findings, as well as for results of other researchers. We demonstrate that nonresonant microwave absorption is a powerful technique that allows contactless measurement of magnetic properties of thin films, including magnetoresistance, anisotropy field and coercive field.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

LOCAL PROPERTY OF A FACTORED FOURIER SERIES USING ABSOLUTE NORLUND INDEXED-SUMMABILITY

In this paper we have established a theorem on the local property of absolute Norlund indexed-summability of  Factored Fourier series

Response of wheat cultivars to foliar potassium fertilization under irrigated saline environment

A field experiment with split-split plot design (SSPD) was conducted to study the response of two winter wheat (Triticumaestivum L.) cultivars (viz. salt tolerant cultivar KRL-1-4 and salt non-tolerant cultivar HD-2894) under saline irrigation regimes with and without foliar potassium fertilization on growth and grain yield of wheat during rabi 2011-12 and 2012-13. Potassium in the ratio of K+: Na+ (1: 10) was applied as foliar application during the heading stage of the crop. Results showed that the grain yield of KRL-1-4 and HD-2894 cultivars with foliar potassium fertilization at the heading stage increased by 6.5 to 22% and 3 to 15% during rabi 2011-2012, respectively under different saline irrigation regimes as compared to the control. Moreover, the results of rabi 2012-13 showed an increase in grain yield ranging from 4.5 to 20% for KRL-1-4 as compared to the control. Statistical analysis of grain yield parameter showed that the foliar potassium application in both varieties resulted in significant yield difference at 0.05 probability level as compared to the non-foliar application. Overall, it was observed that the foliar potassium fertilization increased the grain yield of both wheat cultivars, while the salt tolerant cultivar performed better than the salt non-tolerant cultivar under irrigated saline regimes

A Wave-function for Stringy Universes

We define a wave-function for string theory cosmological backgrounds. We give a prescription for computing its norm following an earlier analysis within general relativity. Under Euclidean continuation, the cosmologies we discuss in this paper are described in terms of compact parafermionic worldsheet systems. To define the wave-function we provide a T-fold description of the parafermionic conformal field theory, and of the corresponding string cosmology. In specific examples, we compute the norm of the wave-function and comment on its behavior as a function of moduli.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures, v3: references adde

A follow-up survey to assess stakeholders’ perspectives on weed management challenges and current practices in Nebraska, USA

Stakeholders across the state of Nebraska, USA, were surveyed in 2019–2020 to assess problem weeds and weed management practices in agronomic crops. A total of 420 complete responses were obtained across four Nebraska districts (Northeast, Panhandle, Southeast, and West Central). Accumulated across the state, 65.5% of farmed or scouted crop ground in Nebraska was under no-till production, with the major crops being corn and soybean representing 39.3% and 30.7% of agronomic crop production area, respectively. Palmer amaranth, horseweed, waterhemp, kochia, and giant ragweed were ranked the most problematic weeds. In a 2014–2015 survey, Palmer amaranth was the sixth most problematic weed. The most used preplant herbicides were 2,4-D, glyphosate, and dicamba in the 2019–2020 survey. Atrazine applied alone or in mixture with acetochlor, bicyclopyrone, clopyralid, mesotrione, or S-metolachlor were the most applied pre-emergence (PRE) herbicides in corn, whereas the most applied PRE herbicides in soybean were metribuzin/sulfentrazone, flumioxazin/pyroxasulfone, and chloransulam-methyl/sulfentrazone. Like the previous survey, glyphosate was the most frequent choice of survey respondents as a post-emergence (POST) herbicide in glyphosate-resistant corn and soybean, while 2,4-D was the most applied POST herbicide in grain sorghum and wheat. Most of the respondents (77%) were aware of the new multiple herbicide-resistant crops, and 86% listed physical drift and volatility of dicamba/2,4-D as a primary concern. Twenty-three percent of survey respondents identified integrated pest management as a primary research and extension priority for profitable agronomic crop production in Nebrask