Rural electrification initiatives in Fiji: a case study of solar home systems

Fiji is continuously striving towards providing its entire population with access to modern forms of energy, especially access to electricity. In 2007, 89% of the population had access to electricity, which comprising 82% of rural and 96% of urban dwellers. Although access to electricity in rural areas is significantly lower compared with urban areas but still represents a marked improvement from 69 % in 2003. The current (2014) estimates of overall national electrification rate are 92- 95% .The progress in rural electrification can mainly be attributed to a number of on-going initiatives including main grid extensions, solar home systems, diesel mini-grids and pico-hydro schemes but the solar home systems (SHS) program is the most popular and preferred option in remote rural and maritime regions. This paper describes

Production of cellulase by Clostridium papyrosolvens CFR-703

Clostridium papyrosolvens producing filter paperase, carboxymethyl cellulase and cellobiase under anaerobic cultivation conditions at 35°C is described. Higher activities of filter paperase and carboxymethylcellulases wereassayed in 48 h culture filtrate, while maximum cellobiase accumulated in the culture broth at 72 h. Filter paperase,carboxymethylcellulase and cellobiase activities were optimum at 35 °C and pH values of 7.0, 6.5 and 7.5 respectively. Cultivation of the strain in 1000 ml Hungate bottles with 1% cellulose at pH 6.5 and 35°C produced carboxymethyl cellulase, filter paperase and cellobiase activities of 45, 35 and 20 IU/ml respectively

Moth Search Optimization for Optimal DERs Integration in Conjunction to OLTC Tap Operations in Distribution Systems

In this paper, a newly developed moth search optimization (MSO) technique is introduced to solve the complex distributed energy resources (DER) integration problems of distribution systems. In order to overcome some of the limitations observed in the standard variant of MSO, minor corrections are also suggested. On the other hand, a new optimization problem is formulated for optimal deployment of dispatchable distributed generations and shunt capacitors while simultaneously optimizing the tap positions of on-load tap-changing transformers, already deployed in grid substations. The objective of this work is to minimize the cost of annual energy loss and node voltage deviations over multiple load levels. The proposed model is implemented and solved for two benchmark test distribution networks of 33 and 118 buses. The suggested corrections are also validated by comparing the performance of the proposed approach with standard MSO and other available optimization methods. The simulation results show that the developed model optimally utilizes the existing distribution system resources and generates higher deployment benefits at lesser DER penetration as compared to the planning model which ignores these resources

Effect of Gamma Irradiation on African Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) Cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda

Seeds of African marigold cv. 'Pusa Narangi Gainda' were irradiated with 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 Grays of gamma rays to induce mutation. Seeds were sown just after irradiation and 30-day old seedlings were transplanted into beds. Reduction in survival percentage, plant height, number of branches, leaf number, leaf size, plant-spread, stem diameter, increased foliage and floral abnormalities were observed upon irradiation and with increase in dose of gamma rays. LD50 was determined on survival basis. Leaf abnormality manifested itself as leathery texture of leaf, enhanced and irregular leaf thickness, asymmetric development of pinnate leaflets, reduction in pinnae number, chlorophyll variegation, pale and deep green leaves, narrow leaves and small leaves. Percentage of abnormal leaves and plants increased with increase in dose of gamma rays. Fasciation of stem was a common abnormality observed in all the treatments. Days to bud initiation, earliness in colour-appearance and days to full bloom were all significantly delayed upon exposure to gamma rays. Flower-head size, height and weight were highest at the lowest dose. Number of ray florets and size (length and width) decreased with increasing radiation dose. Floral abnormalities and % of plants with abnormal flower-heads increased with increasing dose of gamma irradiation. Floral abnormality included fasciation of flower-head and asymmetric development of ray florets. Stimulating effect of gamma irradiation was observed at 100 Grays where almost all the characters studied showed positive correlation, including growth and yield attributes. It is concluded that exposure to 100 Grays of gamma rays in African marigold cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda results in higher yield and marketable bloom

Complexity Dynamics of Gumowski-Mira Map

In the context of nonlinear dynamics, interesting dynamic behavior of Gumowski-Mira Map has been noted under various feasible circumstances. Evolutionary phenomena are discussed through the study of bifurcation analysis leading to period-doubling and chaos. The appearance of chaos in the method is identified by plotting Lyapunov characteristic exponents (LCE) and Topological Entropy within certain parameter range. Dynamic Lyapunov Indicator (DLI) has been procured for further identification of regular and chaotic motions of the Gumowski-Mira Map. The numerical results through the indicator DLI clearly demonstrate the behavior of our map. The correlation dimension has been calculated numerically for the dimension of the chaotic attractor

Antitumour and Immunomodulatory Effects of Cu(II) Complexes of Thiobenzyhdrazide

Thiiobenzyhdrazide (Htbh) and its Cu(II) complexes, [ Cu ( Htbh ) 2 Cl 2 ] and [ Cu ( tbh ) 2 ] were synthesized and characterized by various physicochemical studies. In vivo and in vitro antitumour activity of Htbh, [ Cu ( Htbh ) 2 Cl 2 ] and [ Cu ( tbh ) 2 ] has been tested. LD 50 values were calculated for all the three compounds. It was observed that the antitumour effect of [ Cu ( Htbh ) 2 Cl 2 ] is maximum. Light microscopic study of the treated tumour mass demonstrated that certain cellular degradation, such as disappearance of mitotic figures, loss in cellular compactness, distortion of nucleus and disruption of cytoplasmic boundaries, takes place in the tumour region of complex treated mice. Further, tumour bearing mice administered with Cu(II) complexes showed reversal of tumour growth associated induction of apoptosis in lymphocytes

Vitamin B12 deficiency in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus treated with metformin: a cross section observational study from a tertiary care centre in Sub-Himalayan region of North India

Background: Metformin is first line of treatment in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). It has been reported to be associated with vitamin B12 deficiency with variable results in various studies. The aim of our study is to correlate metformin use and vitamin B12 levels in patients of T2DM with high prevalence in Sub-Himalyan region of north India.Methods: The study was conducted from August 2017 to July 2018 enrolling 124 patients, aged 18 years and above with T2DM taking metformin treatment for >4 months. Vitamin B12 levels were estimated and the levels <200, 200-300 and >300 pg/ml were defined as having definite deficiency, borderline deficiency and normal levels respectively.Results: A total of 124 patients included 66 (53.2%) male and 58 (46.8%) female patients with T2DM on metformin treatment. The mean vitamin B12 level was found significantly low, 176.23±60.96 pg/ml and 18 (14.5%) patients were found to have significant vitamin B12 deficiency and 8(6.5%) patients, borderline deficiency in longer duration of metformin use for >10 years (p<0.001). Vitamin B12 deficiency was found significantly more in 14 (11.3%) patients taking lower doses ≤1000 mg/day of metformin compared to higher doses, a negative correlation. Peripheral neuropathy was significantly present in 15.3% of patients in metformin induced vitamin B12deficiency.Conclusions: Vitamin B12 deficiency was found to be significantly correlated to longer duration of metformin treatment and neuropathy in T2DM but negatively correlated to higher doses of metformin. Therefore, we recommend the assessment and supplementation of vitamin B12 in metformin use in T2DM, compromising financial burden but not the outcome of its deficiency

Modified Taguchi-Based Approach for Optimal Distributed Generation Mix in Distribution Networks

In this paper, a new two-stage optimization framework is proposed to determine the optimal-mix integration of dispatchable Distributed Generation (DG), in power distribution networks, in order to maximize various techno-economic and social benefits simultaneously. The proposed framework incorporates some of the newly introduced regulatory policies to facilitate low carbon networks. A modified Taguchi Method (TM), in combination with a node priority list, is proposed to solve the problem in a minimum number of experiments. Nevertheless, the standard TM is computationally fast but has some inherent tendencies of local trapping and usually converges to suboptimal solutions. Therefore, two modifications are suggested. A roulette wheel selection criterion is applied on priority list to select the most promising DG nodes and then modified TM determines the optimal DG sizes at these nodes. The proposed approach is implemented on two standard test distribution systems of 33 and 118 buses. To validate the suggested improvements, various algorithm performance parameters such as convergence characteristic, best and worst fitness values, and standard deviation are compared with existing variants of TM, and improved genetic algorithm. The comparison shows that the suggested corrections significantly improve the robustness and global searching ability of TM, even compared to meta-heuristic methods