Impact of Changes in Management Regime on Fisheries: A Temporal Case Study of Dhir Beel in Assam

The floodplain wetlands (beels) constitute important fisheries resources of Assam. These resources are managed through a complex social framework. The state of this management regime determines the level and sustainable utilization with implications on fisheries and livelihoods. To find the impact of such management regime, a case study has been undertaken in the Dhir beel of Assam. The impact of the change in the management regime on the sustainability of fisheries and livelihoods of fishers has been evaluated. This change in the management regime has been due to immigration of a large number of people from the nearby areas since 1985. The study has compared the scenario that existed ‘before 1985’ (data of 1982-84) and “after 1985’ (data of 2004). There has been a significant increase in the fishing pressure with new fishing practices (1.5 to 5 times) as well as intensity of effort (3 to 7 times). The weakening of the regulating institutions has led to irrational practices which in turn, have resulted in a decline (22.32%) in the production and productivity of the beel. The decline has been more (31.79%) in terms of value than production of fish, indicating a definite decline in the quality of the fish available in these resources. In the changed scenario, the economics of the management has gone against the resource managers as they are to spend more money on monitoring and enforcing the rules. The livelihood of the fishers has also declined with the high degree of sharing of fish among the fishers.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Pathos degree prime graph of a tree

Let T be a tree of order n (n ≥ 2). A pathos degree prime graph of T, written PDP(T), is a graph whose vertices are the vertices and paths of a pathos of T, with two vertices of PDP(T) adjacent whenever the degree of the corresponding vertices of T are unequal and relatively prime; or the corresponding paths Pʹᵢ and Pʹᵢ (i ≠ j) of a pathos of T have a vertex in common; or one corresponds to the path Pʹ and the other to a vertex v and Pʹ begins (or ends) at v such that v is a pendant vertex in T. We look at some properties of this graph operator. For this class of graphs we discuss the planarity; outerplanarity; maximal outerplanarity; minimally nonouterplanarity; Eulerian; and Hamiltonian properties these graphs.Publisher's Versio

Women Representation and Rural Politics

The Panchayathraj system has been playing an important role for development of the social economic and political life of the rural Women representation of rural politics. Village is the basic unit of social life in India. This is fact that more than three-fourth Indian population still lives in the villages. The concern of the government for the life, liberty and prosperity of the rural masses, soon after independence, was reflected in various measures adopted by it to better their lot. As a matter of fact, the prominent leader‟s freedom struggle such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jai Prakash Narian indicated that the major task of Independent India would be to take democracy to the grass-roots level and to involve the rural masses in the task of national reconstruction. According to Mahatma Gandhi, true democracy could not worked by twenty men sitting at the Centre. It has to be worked out from below by the people of every village. The author concludes with a suggestion that the village Grama Panchayathiayats are not the relic of tribalism of feudalism but are the results of mature political thinking through ages. Village Grama Panchayathiayats in India could really succeed in bringing about decentralization of economic and political power under the conditions of social and equality. Firstly, interaction between enlightened rural women and illiterate elected one‟s should be encouraged. Secondly, these women could be taken out to the urban areas and their interaction with educated urban elected women representatives be arranged

Synthesis of Narrow Polydispersity Block Copolymers of PtBA-PS by Novel RAFT Polymerization Technique

The synthesis of narrow disperse polystyrene (PS) and poly-t-butylacrylate (PtBA) was carried out by copolymerization using benzyldithiobenzoate as the chain transfer agent (CTA). Benzyl dithiobenzoate as a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) agent has high transfer coefficient in polymerization of styrene to produce PS with higher molecular weight than that of calculated, in contrary with polymerization of t-butylacrylate to produce PtBA. These results were attributed to instability the benzyl dithiobenzoate as RAFT agent under the reaction conditions. PS as a macro-CTA is not active for t-butylacrylate polymerization due to low transfer coefficient. On the other hand PtBA as the macro-CTA is active to polymerize styrene to produce PtBA-PS block copolymer with high transfer coefficient if PtBA as macro-CTA have narrow polydispersity. The RAFT agent appears to degrade over a period of time when it is left at room temperature, which was evident from the results of PtBA

Synthesis of Narrow Polydispersity Block Copolymers of PtBA-PS by Novel RAFT Polymerization Technique

The synthesis of narrow disperse polystyrene (PS) and poly-t-butylacrylate (PtBA) was carried out by copolymerization using benzyldithiobenzoate as the chain transfer agent (CTA). Benzyl dithiobenzoate as a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) agent has high transfer coefficient in polymerization of styrene to produce PS with higher molecular weight than that of calculated, in contrary with polymerization of t-butylacrylate to produce PtBA. These results were attributed to instability the benzyl dithiobenzoate as RAFT agent under the reaction conditions. PS as a macro-CTA is not active for t-butylacrylate polymerization due to low transfer coefficient. On the other hand PtBA as the macro-CTA is active to polymerize styrene to produce PtBA-PS block copolymer with high transfer coefficient if PtBA as macro-CTA have narrow polydispersity. The RAFT agent appears to degrade over a period of time when it is left at room temperature, which was evident from the results of PtBA

Optimal Power Flow with Static VAR Compensator Using Galaxy Based Search Algorithm to Minimize Real Power Losses

AbstractIn this paper, Galaxy based search algorithm (GbSA) is used to solve multi-objective problem of optimization in power systems. The proposed GbSA resembles the spiral arms of some galaxies to search for the optimal solutions. The GbSA also uses a modified Hill Climbing algorithm as a local search. Simulation results show that the GbSA finds the optimal or very near optimal values in all runs of the algorithm. The weighted sum technique with equal weights has been chosen to solve the multi-objective function. The functions considered are to minimize the power losses in transmission line, cost of the real power generation and voltage deviation. Static VAR Compensator (SVC) is used for the purpose of optimal power flow. L-index is used to identify the optimal location to place SVC. The results have been compared with Genetic algorithm (GA) for IEEE-14 System

The Use of Bio‐Agents for Management of Potato Diseases

Potato is an important food crop in the world as well as in India. It is being affected by different pathogens, viz. fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes. These pathogens may cause significant yield losses of the crop, if proper protection measures have not been applied. Among potato pathogens, Phytophthora infestans, Alternaria solani, Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium spp. are the major pathogens in the fungal group, whereas Ralstonia solanacearum, Pectobacterium spp. and Streptomyces spp. are in the bacterial group. For management of these pathogens, various methods, that is, chemical control, biological control, resistant varieties, cultural control and physical control, are applied. Resistant varieties are the best and cheapest method for managing the diseases. However resistant varieties are break down their resistant over the years and moreover against some pathogen absolute resistant are not available. Chemical management is the second best option for managing the diseases, due to continuous and irrational use of the chemicals; pathogens have developed resistance against certain class of fungicides/bactericides. Moreover, these chemicals also assist in environmental pollution and toxicity in the produce. Bio‐agents are naturally occurring living organisms, which are found in rhizosphere, phylloplane, etc. These bio‐agents help in not only managing the diseases but also increasing the crop yield. Therefore, the use of bio‐agents for biological management of potato crops is the focused research area worldwide

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF GREEN INHIBITORS IN CHLORIDE INDUCED CORROSION OF REINFORCING STEEL EMBEDDED IN CONCRETE

Abstract This study investigates the corrosion inhibition efficiency of some organic inhibitors and compares its performance against inorganic inhibitors. The inorganic inhibitors used in the study were sodium molybdate dihydrate (Na2MoO4·2H2O), benzotriazole, while organic inhibitors were prepared from Azadirachta indica (AI) and Calotropis gigantea (CG) plant. The concrete specimens were contaminated during concrete preparation with 2% NaCl by weight of cement. To evaluate the effect of these inhibitors on corrosion of reinforcing steel, cylindrical concrete specimens with centrally embedded reinforcement were prepared. Further to accelerate the corrosion process the specimens after curing period were exposed to NaCl(4%) solution. Concrete cube specimens were used to evaluate the effect of inhibitors on the compressive strength of concrete. The results of the study indicated that the corrosion inhibitors investigated in this study did not have adverse effects on compressive strength of concrete. Furthermore, Benzotriazole proved to be effective in delaying corrosion initiation of reinforcing steel embedded in concrete specimens contaminated with NaCl compared to Na2MoO4·2H2O. Observing the performance of both organic inhibitors, AI inhibitor performed better in mitigating the reinforcing steel corrosion compared to CG