Influence of AM fungi and its associated bacteria on growth promotion and nutrient acquisition in grafted sapota seedling production

A study was undertaken to know the effect of co-inoculation of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and its associated bacteria on enhancing AM root colonization, growth promotion and nutrient acquisition in grafted sapota plants. The best mycorrhiza associated bacteria i.e. Pseudomonas putida (HM590707) isolated from Funneliformis mosseae spore was evaluated along with AM fungi for growth promotion and AM fungal colonization in grafted sapota plants. The combined application of P. putida along with AM fungi significantly increased plant height (39.67 %), stem girth (3.2 cm), total biomass (66.8 g plant-1), AM root colonization (73.4 %)and plant nutrient concentrations viz., N (2.52 %), P (0.18 %), K (2.90 %), Fe (428.4 ppm) and Zn (21.40 ppm) as compared to uninoculated control. This finding clearly demonstrated that grafted sapota plants can be successfully established by combined inoculation of AM fungi and its associated bacteria which have a greater impact on healthy grafted plants

Modelling of Bidirectional DC-DC Converter with DualBattery Energy Storage: An Application for Hybrid Electric Vehicle System

This study develops a newly designed, patented, bidirectional dc/dc converter (BDC) that interfaces amain energy storage (ES1), an auxiliary energy storage (ES2), and dc-bus of different voltage levels,for application in hybrid electric vehicle systems. The proposed converter can operate in a step-upmode (i.e., low-voltage dual-source-powering mode) and a step-down (i.e., high-voltage dc-linkenergy-regenerating mode), both with bidirectional power flow control. In addition, the model canindependently control power flow between any two low-voltage sources (i.e., low-voltage dual-sourcebuck/boost mode). Herein, the circuit configuration, operation, steady-state analysis, and closed-loopcontrol of the proposed BDC are discussed according to its three modes of power transfer. Moreover,the simulation and experimental results for a 1 kW prototype system are provided to validate theproposed converte

A Study on Awareness and Impact of CSR Practices of Life Insurance Companies with Reference to YSR District

Corporate Social Responsibility is the arrangement of business operations with social qualities and it considers the hobbies of partners in the business approaches and activities. Corporate Social Responsibility is an overseeing idea whereby organizations acclimatize social and ecological worries in their business operations and associations with their partners. It is about overseeing organizations to accomplish both business and social advantage to improve brand esteem. The present study highlights the CSR initiatives of insurance companies operating in India. The study focused on the two big insurance companies operating in India i.e., LIC and ICICI prudential Life Insurance Company. The study found that both the Companies operating their businesses and simultaneously taking the society into their consideration. The study found that LIC was more focused on their CSR activities and working for the welfare of society as compared to ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company. The study is an attempt to focus and highlights the activities undertaken by both the companies

Prevalence of unmet need for contraception in urban slum communities, Mumbai

Background: Unmet need for family planning is a tool to monitor the family planning program. Hence, the objective of study is to examine the prevalence of unmet need for family planning among women living in urban slum communities, Mumbai.Methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted among currently married women aged 18-39 years and having at least one child. A total of 2797 women were selected using systematic random sampling. Information on demographic characteristics, their contraceptive behaviour and fertility intention were collected by face to face interview using structured questionnaire. Chi square test was applied and p <0.05 was considered as significant.  Results: About 59.4% were currently using family planning methods and 40.6% have reported unmet need for family planning. Awareness of contraceptive methods among women with unmet need for family planning was universal. The prevalence of unmet need for family planning significantly decreased as the age and number of children increased. The prevalence of unmet need was significantly higher than met need for family planning among women having one child as compared to women having 2 or more children.Conclusions: A significant gap was observed between met and unmet need for family planning among younger women and having one child. The study emphasises the need for family planning programs to focus on younger couples having one child.

Synthesis and structural studies of first row transition metal complexes of N-(2-nitro)-benzilidine-3-hydrazino quinoxaline-2-one

Cr(III), Mn(II), Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes of N-(2-nitro)-benzilidene-3-hydrazino quinoxaline-2-one (NBHQO) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, conductance, thermal, spectral and magnetic data. NBHQO acts as a bidentate ON donor in all the complexes except in Ni(II) complex in which it acts as a tridentate ONO donor. Octahedral geometries have been proposed for all the complexes except for Cu(II) complex to which the square planar geometry is assigned. KEY WORDS: Metal complexes, N-(2-nitro)-benzilidene-3-hydrazino quinoxaline-2-one, ON donor  Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2008, 22(3), 385-390

Determination of Nifedipine by Validated RP-HPLC Method in Bulk and Pharmaceutical Dosage Form

The present paper deals with the development and validation of reverse phase HPLC method for the determination of Nifedipine on Nucleosil 100, 5 μm, C8, 250 x 4.0 mm column. A mobile phase consisting of 40 ml 2-propanol: 60 ml phosphoric acid 0.85% was employed in this study. The flow rate was kept at 0.8 ml/min and the injection volume was 10 µl. The separation was performed at 40°C. Eluents were monitored by UV detector set at 237 nm. The developed method was statistically validated for the linearity, precision, robustness, specificity and solution stability. The specificity of the method was ascertained by force degradation studies by acid and alkali hydrolysis, oxidation, heat and photo degradation. The degraded products were well resolved from the analyte peak with significant differences in their retention time values

REVIEW ON CUBOSOMES

Cubosomes are stable nanostructured liquid crystalline particles which are made of a specific group of amphiphilic lipids in definite proper ratio in water and then stabilised by biocompatible substances like triblock polymer. Cubosomes are curved bicontinuous cubic phase liquid crystals and they can split to form thermodynamically stable particulate dispersions. Cubosomes have biocompatible and bio-adhesive properties andare capable of loading 3D bilayered structure resembling honeycomb (carvenous) like structure by encapsulating lipophilic, hydrophobic and amphiphilic substances. Cubosomes are administered through different ways such as orally, parenterally and percutaneously. Cubosomes are versatile systems in their structure for drug delivery systems

Secure Communication Model for Dynamic Task Offloading in Multi-Cloud Environment

As the data is increasing day-by-day, the mobile device storage space is not sufficient to store the complete information and also the computation capacity also is a limited resource which is not sufficient for performing all the required computations. Hence, cloud computing technology is used to overcome these limitations of the mobile device. But security is the main concern in the cloud server. Hence, secure communication model for dynamic task offloading in multi-cloud environment is proposed in this paper. Cloudlet also is used in this model. Triple DES with 2 keys is used during the communication process between the mobile device and cloudlet. Triple DES with 3 keys is used by the cloudlet while offloading the data to cloud server. AES is used by the mobile device while offloading the data to the cloud server. Computation time, communication time, average running time, and energy consumed by the mobile device are the parameters which are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed system, SCM_DTO. The performance of the proposed system, SCM_DTO is compared with ECDH-SAHE and is proved to be performing better

PRONIOSOMES: A VESICULAR DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

In the development of new dosage forms, drug delivery using nanotechnology is playing a vital role. Vesicular drug delivery systems have gained wide attention in the field of nanotechnology, such as niosomes, liposomes and proniosomes. Among the vesicular carriers, proniosomes are superior. Proniosomes are water-soluble carrier particles that are coated with surfactant so these are dry formulations. They are rehydrated to use on agitation in hot aqueous media within minutes to form niosomal dispersion immediately. Both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugscan be incorporated into these proteasomes. The physical stability problems of niosomes like aggregation, fusion and leaking are minimized in proniosomes, routes, such as oral, parenteral, dermal and transdermal, ocular, oral mucosal, vaginal, pulmonary, and intranasal. Proniosomes prolong the existence of the drug in the systemic circulation and finally reduces toxicity. This review focuses on different aspects of proniosomes such as preparation, characterization, in vitro drug release, entrapment efficiency, applications in the present scenario in the market and future trends