Trisomics in pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum(L.) R.Br.: development and morphological variation

Crosses between autotetraploid and diploid lines of Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br. resulted in triploids. Progeny were obtained by selfing of F1 triploids and/or backcrossing with diploid parent. Trisomic progeny were classified into seven groups based on their morphological characters. Seed-set was poor on trisomics (10-15%). Transmission rates of the disomic (x + 1) gametes of different trisomics were high, ranging from 16.7%-60.7% although seed germination was poor (6.8%). The progeny of each trisomic exhibited considerable morphological variation due to the heterogeneity resulting from differences in the genetic background of the parental accessions used unlike the uniformity found in earlier studies, where the autotetraploid parents were derived from the corresponding diploid parents

Processing of ilmenite (FeOTiO2) for value added products

Beach Placer Ilmenite is an important source for production of titanium metal, titania slag and pigment grade titanium dioxide. Besides, these well known applications for which Ilmenite is mined and processed, there are other emerging processes that are being tried for obtaining highvalue products. Synthesis of Ilmenite based materials for varistor applications and direct electrochemical reduction of Ilmenite to produce ferrotitanium are two such attempts being discussed in this work. In this paper, recent efforts undertaken to study the electrical and magnetic characteristics are discussed. Ilmenite, FeTiO 3 , is one of the mixed-valence transition metalbearing minerals, inwhich Fe can be in two different oxidation states, Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ .. Similarly, Ti can be in Ti 3+ and Ti 4+ .Ilmenite is inherently suitable for making Varistors, which are devices, used for limiting the transient voltage surges in a circuit. Varistors produced from Ilmenite can withstand harsh environments seen in nuclear reactors and outerspace. Electrochemical reduction of Ilmenite can be used to prepare ferrotitanium directly without any reductant. The process essentially involves removal of oxygen from the mineral through electrolytic action using calcium chloride as electrolyte and graphite as anode. At a temperature of 950°C, it is shown to be possible that all the oxygen can be removed from the Ilmenite sample, which passes through the electrolyte, to form CO/CO 2 at the anode. The process has immense potential for cost effective production of titanium metal as well. Results of the above developmental works are presented in this paper

Pigeonpea - A unique jewel in rainfed cropping systems

Pigeonpea is a crop for rainfed environments endowed with several features to thrive harsh climate. It adapts well in sole crop and inter cropped conditions (with cereals, millets, oils seeds and pulses) by enhancing the system productivity and net income to the small and marginal farmers across the globe. The range of maturity duration in the crop allows it to grow in diversified cropping systems and patterns in varied ecoregions of the world. Development of cytoplasmic male sterility based hybrids provided an opportunity for enhancing the yields under marginal environments. With recent interventions in addressing the photo sensitivity and maturity have led to evolving super early varieties with less than 100 days duration, provided a scope for horizontal expansion of the crop in different agro ecological systems

Fabrication and Testing of an Osmotic Pressure Sensor for Glucose Sensing Application

This paper presents a chemical reaction-free sensor, based on the osmosis principle, fabricated to measure the change in glucose concentration levels. The sensor consists of a square cavity filled with a known concentration of glucose solution and sealed with a semi-permeable membrane. The volume inside the cavity changes in proportion to the glucose concentration outside the device and introduces the displacement in the silicon (Si) membrane on the top. The main considerations targeted for this sensor are better response time, chemical-free nature, improved lifetime and absence of any mechanical excitations. Moreover, as the size of a system plays a major role, efforts have been taken to reduce the dimension of the presented system. The designed glucose sensor is fabricated by employing a bulk micromachining technology on a SOI (silicon on insulator) substrate. This will allow batch fabrication, as well as the integration of the electronic circuit on the same substrate. The output voltage obtained is varied fro

A novel one-pot conversion of amines to homologated esters in poly(ethylene glycol)

The first deaminative homologation of amines (-CH2NH2) to esters (-CH2CH2COOEt) in one-pot is reported. The reaction proceeds through, formation of an aldehyde from an amine in the presence of Pd/C as catalyst followed by Wittig reaction and catalytic hydrogenation using poly(ethylene glycol) as the solvent in one-pot

Application of artificial neural networks and particle swarm optimization for the management of groundwater resources

International audienceGround management problems are typically solved by the simulation-optimization approach where complex numerical models are used to simulate the groundwater flow and/or contamination transport. These numerical models take a lot of time to solve the management problems and hence become computationally expensive. In this study, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) models were developed and coupled for the management of groundwater of Dore river basin in France. The Analytic Element Method (AEM) based flow model was developed and used to generate the dataset for the training and testing of the ANN model. This developed ANN-PSO model was applied to minimize the pumping cost of the wells, including cost of the pipe line. The discharge and location of the pumping wells were taken as the decision variable and the ANN-PSO model was applied to find out the optimal location of the wells. The results of the ANN-PSO model are found similar to the results obtained by AEM-PSO model. The results show that the ANN model can reduce the computational burden significantly as it is able to analyze different scenarios, and the ANN-PSO model is capable of identifying the optimal location of wells efficiently