Tourists’ Satisfaction with Key Coastal Tourism Destinations of West Bengal, India

This study is an attempt to analyse the satisfaction level of tourists’ visiting the popular coastal tourist destinations in the state of West Bengal in India. Simple checklist approach along with Likert scale techniques was employed as a response format to collect primary data from the sample of 300 tourists. Simple statistical techniques were used to analyse the so-collected data. This study indicate that the sample tourists were more satisfied with the scenic beauty of the places, transportation facilities, availability of food & beverages. They were also satisfied with the cleanliness, and accommodation facilities. But they were relatively less satisfied with the state of sanitation & safe drinking water, health facilities, and safety-security of the area. The study revealed that the marital status, household’s income, travel distance, and cost of accommodation had a significant positive association with the tourists’ satisfaction. Strangely, this study found significant negative association between per capita expenditure of the tourist and level of their satisfaction. This study revealed that the service-wise levels of satisfaction were highly sensitive to social, demographic as well as visitation characters of the tourists. It is expected that the findings of this study would be very useful in appropriate policy making for tourism development

Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.Comment: 139 pages, Physics White Paper of the ICAL (INO) Collaboration, Contents identical with the version published in Pramana - J. Physic

Antiseizure Activity of Novel γ-Aminobutyric Acid (A) Receptor Subtype-Selective Benzodiazepine Analogues in Mice and Rat Models

The antiseizure activity of benzodiazepines (BDZs) 1-5 in mice and rats as animal models is described. These BDZs have selective efficacy for α2β3γ2 and α3β3γ2 GABAA-receptors. Significant anticonvulsant activity with little or no motor impairment and therapeutic indexes (TI) of 2.8-44 (mice, ip) were observed for compounds 2-4 in the subcutaneous metrazole seizure (scMET) test. In rats orally (po) the TI was >5 to 105. These compounds represent novel leads in the search for anticonvulsants devoid of sedative, ataxic and amnestic side effects

A study of the structure–activity relationship of GABAA–benzodiazepine receptor bivalent ligands by conformational analysis with low temperature NMR and X-ray analysis

The stable conformations of GABAA-benzodiazepine receptor bivalent ligands were determined by low temperature NMR spectroscopy and confirmed by single crystal X-ray analysis. The stable conformations in solution correlated well with those in the solid state. The linear conformation was important for these dimers to access the binding site and exhibit potent in vitro affinity and was illustrated for α5 subtype selective ligands. Bivalent ligands with an oxygen-containing linker folded back upon themselves both in solution and the solid state. Dimers which are folded do not bind to Bz receptors

Upper limit map of a background of gravitational waves

We searched for an anisotropic background of gravitational waves using data from the LIGO S4 science run and a method that is optimized for point sources. This is appropriate if, for example, the gravitational wave background is dominated by a small number of distinct astrophysical sources. No signal was seen. Upper limit maps were produced assuming two different power laws for the source strain power spectrum. For an f^-3 power law and using the 50 Hz to 1.8 kHz band the upper limits on the source strain power spectrum vary between 1.2e-48 Hz^-1 (100 Hz/f)^3 and 1.2e-47 Hz^-1 (100 Hz /f)^3, depending on the position in the sky. Similarly, in the case of constant strain power spectrum, the upper limits vary between 8.5e-49 Hz^-1 and 6.1e-48 Hz^-1. As a side product a limit on an isotropic background of gravitational waves was also obtained. All limits are at the 90% confidence level. Finally, as an application, we focused on the direction of Sco-X1, the closest low-mass X-ray binary. We compare the upper limit on strain amplitude obtained by this method to expectations based on the X-ray luminosity of Sco-X1.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

Upper limit map of a background of gravitational waves

We searched for an anisotropic background of gravitational waves using data from the LIGO S4 science run and a method that is optimized for point sources. This is appropriate if, for example, the gravitational wave background is dominated by a small number of distinct astrophysical sources. No signal was seen. Upper limit maps were produced assuming two different power laws for the source strain power spectrum. For an f^-3 power law and using the 50 Hz to 1.8 kHz band the upper limits on the source strain power spectrum vary between 1.2e-48 Hz^-1 (100 Hz/f)^3 and 1.2e-47 Hz^-1 (100 Hz /f)^3, depending on the position in the sky. Similarly, in the case of constant strain power spectrum, the upper limits vary between 8.5e-49 Hz^-1 and 6.1e-48 Hz^-1. As a side product a limit on an isotropic background of gravitational waves was also obtained. All limits are at the 90% confidence level. Finally, as an application, we focused on the direction of Sco-X1, the closest low-mass X-ray binary. We compare the upper limit on strain amplitude obtained by this method to expectations based on the X-ray luminosity of Sco-X1.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

A novel naproxen derivative capable of displaying anti-cancer and anti-migratory properties against human breast cancer cells

BACKGROUND: Increasingly, the role of chronic inflammation and its mediators in tumor generation and progression is gaining importance in the field of cancer research. In this context, candidature of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as potential anti-tumor therapeutic agent is being evaluated globally. In the present study we have evaluated the anti-cancer effect of a series of newly synthesized naproxen derivatives on human breast cancer cell lines. METHODS: MCF-7 (poorly invasive) and MDA-MB-231 (highly invasive) cells were treated with different concentrations of naproxen sodium and its derivatives in vitro, and the underlying mechanism of action was monitored by employing studies related to induction of apoptosis, activation of caspases, cell-cycle progression, synthesis of PGE(2) and cellular migration. RESULTS: After a preliminary screening using MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, it was evident that naproxen derivative 4 has a better killing property compared to its parent compound naproxen sodium (NS). On further investigation, it was apparent that the observed growth inhibitory activity on MDA-MB-231 cells after treatment with 4, was not due to cell cycle arrest but due to an early induction of apoptosis and subsequent induction of caspases 3 and 9. Derivative 4 could also inhibit COX activity in MDA-MB-231 cells as evidenced by reduction in prostaglandin E2 secretion. Moreover, 4 was capable of delaying the overall migration rate of MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro. CONCLUSION: In this study we report that a naproxen-derivative (4) has powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties as it induces appreciable amount of apoptosis in breast cancer cell line, and can also delay migration of cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) which would in turn delay cancer cell invasion and formation of secondary tumours in primary breast cancer patients. Thus, we propose that 4 is worthy of further investigation due to its potential as a therapeutic agent in anti-tumor treatment regimen

Changing Pattern of Economic Activities in Agricultural Sector and Role of Government Expenditure in India

This paper is a modest attempt to understand the impacts of changes of government expenditure on the economic activities in agricultural sub-sectors across the states over the period 1993-94 to 2011-12. The agricultural sector has been divided into four sub-sectors, viz. crop, livestock, fisheries and forestry. Economic activities have been considered in terms of value of output and employment in these four subsectors. Two types of employment-Usual Principal Status and Usual Subsidiary Status employment have been considered. The share of government expenditure on fisheries sub-sector is positively related with value of output and Usual Principal Status employment. Change in government on research and education in crop sub-sector has a positive impact on value of output of crop sub-sector. Government expenditure has a positive impact on diversification of economic activities within the agricultural sub-sectors