Cobb-Douglas Based Firm Production Model under Fuzzy Environment and its Solution using Geometric Programming

In this paper, we consider Cobb-Douglas production function based model in a firm under fuzzy environment, and its solution technique by making use of geometric programming. A firm may use many finite inputs such as labour, capital, coal, iron etc. to produce one single output. It is well known that the primary intention of using production function is to determine maximum output for any given combination of inputs. Also, the firm may gain competitive advantages if it can buy and sell in any quantities at exogenously given prices, independent of initial production decisions. On the other hand, in reality, constraints and/or objective functions in an optimization model may not be crisp quantities. These are usually imprecise in nature and are better represented by using fuzzy sets. Again, geometric programming has many advantages over other optimization techniques. In this paper, Cobb-Douglas production function based models are solved by applying geometric programming technique under fuzzy environment. Illustrative numerical examples further demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of proposed model under fuzzy environment. Conclusions are drawn at last

Study on the effect of toxicity under highly arsenic prone zone in Nadia district of West Bengal in India

The present study was carried out on the basis of status of arsenic in soil, drinking water and plants, blood, urine and faeces of animals at arsenic prone zone. Within the ambit with the environment, the examination of animals was taken into consideration. They were screened and categorised on the degree of As toxicity. For field works animals were randomly selected from arsenic prone zone. The external manifestation indicated a complex syndrome and characteristic signs such as increased heart rate and respiratory rate, red urine, congested mucous membrane, anorexia, absence of ruminal motility, diarrhoea with blood, polyuria and unusual weight loss. The haematobiochemical changes such as low Hb level, decreased level of TEC, TLC and increased level ALT, AST, BUN and creatinine. Increased level of arsenic in urine, blood and faeces than the value of control animals could be the confirmatory indication of arsenic toxicity

Nitrogen Challenges and Opportunities for Agricultural and Environmental Science in India

In the last six decades, the consumption of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in the form of fertilizer in India has been growing rapidly, whilst the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of cropping systems has been decreasing. These trends have led to increasing environmental losses of Nr, threatening the quality of air, soils, and fresh waters, and thereby endangering climate-stability, ecosystems, and human-health. Since it has been suggested that the fertilizer consumption of India may double by 2050, there is an urgent need for scientific research to support better nitrogen management in Indian agriculture. In order to share knowledge and to develop a joint vision, experts from the UK and India came together for a conference and workshop on “Challenges and Opportunities for Agricultural Nitrogen Science in India.” The meeting concluded with three core messages: (1) Soil stewardship is essential and legumes need to be planted in rotation with cereals to increase nitrogen fixation in areas of limited Nr availability. Synthetic symbioses and plastidic nitrogen fixation are possibly disruptive technologies, but their potential and implications must be considered. (2) Genetic diversity of crops and new technologies need to be shared and exploited to reduce N losses and support productive, sustainable agriculture livelihoods. Móring et al. Nitrogen Challenges and Opportunities (3) The use of leaf color sensing shows great potential to reduce nitrogen fertilizer use (by 10–15%). This, together with the usage of urease inhibitors in neem-coated urea, and better management of manure, urine, and crop residues, could result in a 20–25% improvement in NUE of India by 2030

The Large Hadron-Electron Collider at the HL-LHC

The Large Hadron-Electron Collider (LHeC) is designed to move the field of deep inelastic scattering (DIS) to the energy and intensity frontier of particle physics. Exploiting energy-recovery technology, it collides a novel, intense electron beam with a proton or ion beam from the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). The accelerator and interaction region are designed for concurrent electron-proton and proton-proton operations. This report represents an update to the LHeC's conceptual design report (CDR), published in 2012. It comprises new results on the parton structure of the proton and heavier nuclei, QCD dynamics, and electroweak and top-quark physics. It is shown how the LHeC will open a new chapter of nuclear particle physics by extending the accessible kinematic range of lepton-nucleus scattering by several orders of magnitude. Due to its enhanced luminosity and large energy and the cleanliness of the final hadronic states, the LHeC has a strong Higgs physics programme and its own discovery potential for new physics. Building on the 2012 CDR, this report contains a detailed updated design for the energy-recovery electron linac (ERL), including a new lattice, magnet and superconducting radio-frequency technology, and further components. Challenges of energy recovery are described, and the lower-energy, high-current, three-turn ERL facility, PERLE at Orsay, is presented, which uses the LHeC characteristics serving as a development facility for the design and operation of the LHeC. An updated detector design is presented corresponding to the acceptance, resolution, and calibration goals that arise from the Higgs and parton-density-function physics programmes. This paper also presents novel results for the Future Circular Collider in electron-hadron (FCC-eh) mode, which utilises the same ERL technology to further extend the reach of DIS to even higher centre-of-mass energies.Peer reviewe

Targeting of mannosylated liposome incorporated benzyl derivative of Penicillium nigricans derived compound MT81 to reticuloendothelial systems for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis

The antileishmanial property of a Benzyl derivative of a new antibiotic MT81 (Bz2MT81), isolated and purified from a fungal strain of Penicillium nigricans NRRL 917 was tested in free, liposome intercalated and mannose coated liposome intercalated forms in vivo against visceral leishmaniasis in hamsters. Mannose grafted liposome intercalated Bz2MT81 eliminated intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania donovani within splenic macrophages more efficiently than the liposome intercalated Bz2MT81 or free Bz2MT81. At a dose equivalent to 7.5 mg/Kg body weight when injected subcutaneously (s.c) in mannose grafted liposome intercalated form for 15 days in an interval of three days, the splenic parasitic load decreased to the extent of 79.1% of the total parasite present in infected control animals. Whereas, an identical amount (7.5 mg/Kg body weight) of Bz2MT81 in free or liposome intercalated form was found less effective in controlling the parasite in spleen (in free Bz2MT81 form, suppression of parasitic load is 49.8% and in liposome intercalated form, it is 55.1%). Both mannosylated liposomes and Bz2MT81 were noted non-toxic to the host peritoneal macrophages. Histological examinations of spleen and liver, kidney function tests (SGPT, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine and urea in blood plasma) showed that the toxicity of Bz2MT81 was reduced up to normal level when mannose grafted liposomal Bz2MT81 were administere

Highly Photoluminescent InP Based Core Alloy Shell QDs from Air-Stable Precursors: Excitation Wavelength Dependent Photoluminescence Quantum Yield, Photoluminescence Decay Dynamics, and Single Particle Blinking Dynamics

InP based quantum dots (QDs) are coming in a big way as an alternative to toxic Cd, or Pb based QDs. Unlike many literature reports in this work, green-yellow-orange-red emitting highly photoluminescent (PLQY as high as 65%) and photostable InP/ZnSeS core/alloy shell quantum dots (CAS QDs) have been synthesized using a less toxic, air-stable aminophosphine precursor (P­(DMA)₃). Unlike literature predictions in this paper, we show that green-yellow-orange-red emitting InP based alloyed QDs can be prepared with InCl₃ only. We report here the hitherto unobserved and quite interesting excitation wavelength dependent PLQY for all of these green-yellow-orange-red emitting InP based CAS QDs. PLQY increases monotonically with increasing excitation wavelength. Significant deviation of the PL excitation spectrum from the absorption spectrum has been observed in the shorter wavelength region. This observation is perhaps because the surface mediated nonradiative pathways predominate over radiative charge carrier recombination when excited at shorter wavelength. PL decay for these QDs generally follows a triexponential decay equation with the shortest lifetime of 3–10 ns, the moderate one with a lifetime of 24–30 ns, and the longest one with a lifetime > 60 ns. Moderate and long lifetimes have been shown to be associated with two mutually interdependent excited-state decay channels, and the competition between these two decay channels dictates the PLQY of these CAS QDs. The moderate lifetime has been shown to be associated with an electron–hole recombination process, and the long lifetime is associated with delayed emission from the band edge due to interaction with the manifold of shallow traps. Quite interestingly, amplitude of the moderate lifetime (dynamical property) has been observed to be correlated with the PLQY (spectral property). PL decay for all of these InP based CAS QDs has been observed to be excitation wavelength independent. However, PL decay gets slower with increasing monitoring wavelength. Thus, the presence of shallow trap states is evidenced. Single particle blinking dynamics of InP based CAS QDs has been investigated for the first time. We could achieve the lowest reported magnitude of the <i>m</i>_ON exponent for InP based QDs and the value is 1.19, which speaks about the much longer On-times or, in other words, superiority of our InP based CAS QD system in comparison to other reported InP based QDs, for example, InP core only, or InP/ZnS, InP/ZnSe/ZnS, InP/GaP/ZnS core/shell or core/shell/shell QD systems

Not Available

Not AvailableRice accounts for a significant contribution to the total food grain production in India. As the rice production area either stabilizes or declines, and there is a wide gap between projected demand and current level of production, vertical growth in production through hybrid rice is a practically feasible and adoptable technology. This paper attempts to elucidate the current scenario, strategies and agro-techniques for seed as well as grain production, quality parameters and economic aspects of hybrid rice in India. As the seed production of hybrid rice is knowledge and labor intensive, different agro-techniques need to be adopted to make it more successful. The two parental lines should be sown and transplanted at the right time with an isolation distance of 50-100 m. For synchronized flowering, the differential seeding of parental lines can be based on their effective accumulated temperature (12-27 degrees C) from seeding to flowering. The optimum ratio for plants of the seed to pollen parent should ensure 3.5 spikelets of the seed parent for each spikelet of the pollen parent. Thus the commonly used seed to pollen parent ratios are 10:3, 6:2 and 14:2. Cultural practices like controlling weeds and pests, roguing of off-types are essential. Application of GA(3) at 15-20 g ha(-1) should be sprayed with ULV sprayer to overcome poor panicle exsertion of parental lines. The agronomic practices for large scale grain production include the seed rate of 15 kg ha(-1), optimum seeding density of 10-20 g m(-2) in the nursery, transplanting of a single seedling per hill with the spacing of 15 cm X 15 cm. Though nutrient requirement differs with type of soil and initial fertility, a general dose of 120-150 kg N, 60 kg P2O5 and 50 kg K2O and 20 kg S ha(-1) is required. Application of ZnSO4 @ 40 kg ha(-1) once in every three crop seasons is needed in the Zn-deficient areas. The grain quality characteristics include long slender (LS) grain, 60-70% milling and 24-31% amylose content. Seed quality control is another essential requirement that should be maintained throughout the process of seed production. A net profit of Rs. 25000 ($ 550) per ha can be obtained by taking up hybrid rice seed production. Moreover, integrated efforts of policy makers, researchers, extension workers and farmers would be desirable to make hybrid rice cultivation a successful endeavor in India.Not Availabl

An unusual (H<SUB>2</SUB>O)<SUB>20</SUB> discrete water cluster in the supramolecular host of a charge transfer platinum(II) complex: cytotoxicity and DNA cleavage activities

The chemical reaction of Pt<SUP>II</SUP>(L<SUP>1</SUP>)Cl<SUB>2</SUB> [L<SUP>1</SUP>=N-4-tolylpyridine-2-aldimine] with a bidentate N,S-donor atom ligand, 2-methylthioaniline, (HL<SUP>2</SUP>) in alkaline methanolic medium yielded a mixed ligand donor-acceptor complex, [Pt<SUP>II</SUP>(L<SUP>1</SUP>)(L<SUP>2</SUP>)]Cl, [1]Cl. The complex has been characterized by different spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques. The complex showed intense interligand charge transfer (ILCT) transition in the long wavelength region of UV-vis spectrum (&gt;600 nm). The single-crystal X-ray structure of complex, [1]Cl·3.3H<SUB>2</SUB>O is reported. The cationic complex upon crystallization from aqueous methanol solvent produces an assembly of discrete, three dimensional (H<SUB>2</SUB>O)<SUB>20</SUB> guest moiety within the reference Pt-complex host lattice. The water assembly showed a unique type of aggregation of a distorted cube encapsulated by hydrogen bonded network of a twelve-water ring. The complex displayed one reversible cathodic response at -0.75 V and two irreversible anodic responses at 0.42 and 0.79 V versus Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The redox processes are characterized by EPR and spectroelectrochemistry. Density-functional theory calculations were employed to confirm the structural features and to support the spectral and redox properties of the complex. The square-planar complex has been found to intercalate DNA. Fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism, cyclic voltammetry, viscosity measurements, together with DNA melting studies have been employed to characterize the binding of [1]Cl with calf thymus DNA. Agarose gel electrophoresis indicates that the complex cleaves supercoiled (SC) pUC19 plasmid DNA to its nicked circular (NC) form via singlet oxygen. As determined by a MTT assay, [1]Cl exhibits significant cytotoxicity with IC<SUB>50</SUB> value 58µM