Food of Indian tunas

The existing knowledge on the food of Indian tunas is only of a preliminary nature and relates to the following species: Auxis thazard, thynnoides, Eutynnus affinis affinis, Sarda orientalis, Kishinoella tonggol, Katsuwonus pelamis and Neothunnus macropterus. This has been briefly reviewed and compared with observations from other area

Temperature scaling in a dense vibro-fluidised granular material

The leading order "temperature" of a dense two dimensional granular material fluidised by external vibrations is determined. An asymptotic solution is obtained where the particles are considered to be elastic in the leading approximation. The velocity distribution is a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution in the leading approximation. The density profile is determined by solving the momentum balance equation in the vertical direction, where the relation between the pressure and density is provided by the virial equation of state. The predictions of the present analysis show good agreement with simulation results at higher densities where theories for a dilute vibrated granular material, with the pressure-density relation provided by the ideal gas law, are in error. The theory also predicts the scaling relations of the total dissipation in the bed reported by McNamara and Luding (PRE v 58, p 813).Comment: ReVTeX (psfrag), 5 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to PR

Prospective evaluation of vocal cord function with intra-operative nerve identification in total thyroidectomy patients.

The recurrent laryngeal nerve and the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve are at risk of injury during total thyroidectomy. This may result in change of voice post-operatively. The recurrent laryngeal nerve is at particular risk due to its proximity to the inferior thyroid artery and the ligament of Berry. Injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve may result in dreaded complications like stridor, loss of voice sometimes necessitating tracheostomy as a life saving procedure. One’s voice is one of the integral aspects of one’s identity. Change of voice, to any degree, is not acceptable regardless of whether one is dependent on voice for one’s profession. Post operative voice change is a major concern for the patients undergoing total thyroidectomy as well as for surgeons performing the surgery. This could be mild or it may be severe. While it is often transient, it could be permanent as well. In order to analyze voice change after surgery, an objective method of assessment of the patient’s voice is necessary, which depends on reliable and accurate feedback from the patients. This necessitates a questionnaire, which can be administered to the patients in question. In this respect, compliance of the patients can be ensured with a simple and relatively short questionnaire, which is easy to understand. In addition, the questionnaire should be so constructed as to enable objective assessment of severity of the symptoms. This can be achieved by permitting the patients to grade each voice-related symptom on a simple scale on the basis of severity. Validation of the questionnaire affords credibility to this method of assessment. In the present study, the incidence of transient vocal cord palsy after total thyroidectomy, as evidenced by videolaryngoscopy, was 21%. In about two-thirds of patients, the vocal cords recovered within 6 months of surgery, so that the incidence of permanent vocal cord palsy was 7.6%. With regards to the validated voice assessment score, the score on the 5th post-operative day was invariably higher than that pre-operatively. Vocal cord palsy was associated with a higher score post-operatively. Further, in those patients who had vocal cord palsy and high voice assessment scores on the 5th post-operative day, persistently high scores on the 180th postoperative day and permanent vocal cord palsy were likely. Voice assessment scoring is a reliable, noninvasive method of assessment of vocal cord function, vocal cord palsy and pattern of recovery after thyroidectomy

Stock assessment of the Indian oil-sardinella (Sardinella longiceps) off the West Coast of India

The Indian oil-sardinella (Sardinella longiceps Val .) has traditionally played a critical role in the marine fishery economics of India, and in particular in the State of Kerala. It's production on the west coast of India exhibits large fluctuations over the years, though it continues to be commercially the most important and abundant pelagic resource (Table 1). These fluctuations have attracted the attention of many research workers. As early as 1910 Hornell attributed them to changes in diatom production or food availability to the fry and the prevalence of favourable hydrological conditions. Kesteven (1967) was of the view that the fluctuations are related to shifts in the migratory path of the fish, causing variations in the accessibility of the stocks to fishing due to the limited range of the fishing operations

Comprehensive review of various corrosion behaviours on 316 stainless steel

Corrosion is a destructive process that converts the pure metal into a chemically stabled form by hydroxide or sulphide and it is a slow process of destruction on the material by the chemical or electrochemical reaction in the environmental space. This kind of destruction has been typically produced from oxides or salt content on the material and it results in distinctive orange coloration. The classifications of corrosion act on atmospheric air and liquids as well as on contact of two solids. To resist the corrosion rate, stainless steel 316 has been chosen because of the presence of 2-3% molybdenum content and the presence of molybdenum plays a vital role in corrosion resistance. In this study, literature related to various works has been reviewed to explain the corrosion behaviour on cavitation, crevice, electrochemical, erosion, fatigue, galvanic, uniform, pitting, and stress corrosion which act on 316 stainless steel. In the present work, several coating processes and the additives, that have been added to SS 316 to enhance the outcomes according to various corrosion causes, are discussed

Multibiometric Authentication System Processed by the Use of Fusion Algorithm

The present day authentication system is mostly uni-model i.e having only single authentication method which can be either finger print, iris , palm veins ,etc. Thus these models have to contend with a variety of problems such as absurd or unusual data, non-versatility; un authorized attempts, and huge amount of error rates. Some of these limitations can be reduced or stopped by the use of multimodal biometric systems that integrate the evidence presented by several sources of information. This paper converses a multi biometric based authentication system based on Fusion algorithm using a key. Our work mainly focuses on the fusion algorithm, i.e fusion of finger and palm print out of which the greatest features from the above two traits are taken into account. With minimum possible features the fusion of the both the traits is carried out. Then some key is generated for multi biometric authentication. By processing the test image of a person, the identity of the person is displayed with his/her own image. By the fusion algorithm, it is found that it has less computation time compared to the existing algorithms. By matching results, we validate and authenticate the particular individual

Socio-economic profile of shrimp farmers and its influence on the extent of adoption of shrimp culture technologies

The study of the socio-economic profile of shrimp farmers of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu revealed that 40% of the shrimp farmers had collegiate level of education, and they had medium levels of farming experience, information seeking behaviour, extension contact~ economic motivation and risk orientation. The resu lts of correlation analysis revealed that of the seventeen independent variables studied eleven independent v'ariables had positive and significant relationship with the extent of adoption of shrimp culture technologies by shrimp farmers of Nellore. Among the shrimp farmers of Nagapattinam, seven independent variables had positive and significant relationship with the extent of adoption. The results of step• wise multiple regression analysis revealed that variables such as information seeking behaviour, credit orientation and material possession expfained 48(10 of the variation in the extent of adoption by shrimp farmers of Nellore and variables like extens ion contact, risk orientation, farming experience, type of ownership, annual income and material possession explained 84 percent of the variation in the extent of adoption by shrimp farmers of Nagapattinam

A study on coating of Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose incorporated with a nano-emulsion of Piper betel leaf essential oil to enhance shelf-life and improve postharvest quality of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Edible coating films derived from essential oils effectively preserve farm produce, especially fruits and vegetables, and the technology is widely prevalent in improving their shelf life. The present study aimed to reduce the post-harvest loss and extend the shelf life of tomatoes using edible coatings based on Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) containing Piper betel leaf essential oil nano-emulsion as an antibacterial and bioactive compound. It also aimed for optimal extraction of essential oils (EO) from Piper betel leaves which contain various medicinal, antimicrobial, and antioxidant compounds such as chavibetol, eugenol, and other compounds. The essential oils were extracted, and nano-emulsion was prepared by a low-energy emulsification method and incorporated into edible HPMC composite to determine whether the edible coatings of the nano-emulsion of Piper betel leaf could delay the changes that lead to deterioration of the fruit. Results showed that the coatings delayed 5 % changes in color, 8% weight loss, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content, soluble solids concentration, lycopene, and decay percentage, compared to uncoated control fruits. It was inferred that tomatoes that were coated with 15% nano-emulsion containing dipping solution showed a significant increase in the shelf life of tomatoes up to 8 days. Therefore, it is suggested to use HPMC containing the Piper betel oil nano-emulsion as an edible coating, extending the shelf-life of tomato fruits post-harvest

Shrimp Seed - A Critical Problem Faced by Shrimp Farmers - A Cross Sectional Analysis

Seed is a major input in shrimp farming and all the farmers and entrepreneurs depend on hatchery seeds. For expansion of brackishwater shrimp farming, a regular and steady supply of quality shrimp seeds in large quantities at a given time for stocking Is essential. Hatcheries are the source for the supply of quality hatchery seeds and stocking wild seeds Is banned. Presently, in Tamll Nadu there ore 68 shrimp hatcheries with a production capacity of 3000 million post-larvae. The survey was carried out In Nagapattinam and Thanjavur In two districts of Tamil Nadu. A sample of 300 shrimp farmers was Interviewed randomly for the study. This paper presents the prbblems pertaining to shrlmp seed encountered by the farmers and suggestions to overcome the same. The problems encountered by the farmers in both districts were lack of assurance on quality seeds, non-existence of government agency for regulating the price of seeds, high cost of seeds, non-availability of seeds from research institutes, inadequate supply of hatchery seeds, mortality of seeds during transportation, mixed seeds and deceptive method of counting the seeds. Suggestions given by them to overcome the problems were that the government research institutes should set up some mare hatcheries and virus free Nauplius shoutd be supplied to the farmers, assurance about seed quality from research institute and production of improved broodstock from government research laboratories. Since wjthout a heaithy broodstock shrimp farmers cannot hope to get quality seed, PCR was suggested as a sensitive diagnostic tool for detecting viral infection but due to various gaps in training this tool has not been used with consistent results

Live-bait resources and development

The success of the pole and line fishery of Lakshadweep depends, among other factors, directly on the availability in sufficient quantities of suitable live-bait fishes around the islands. Information on the live-bait resources of Lakshadweep is limited to a few reports from Minicoy- Jones (1958, 1964) described the fishing method, storage and utilisation of bait fish and Iisted the various species of live-bait fishes of Lakshadweep. Jones (1961 a, 1961 b) has predicted the potentialities of Spratelloides delicatulus and S. japonicus as live-bait for pole and line fishery for skipjack much earlier than mechanised fishing was introduced in the northern islands of Lakshadweep. Thomas (1964) made some observations on the fluctuations in the live-bait fishes at Minicoy. Fluctuations in the seasonal availability of live-baits at Minicoy during the years 1981-85 has been presented by Pillai et al. (1986). However, details of exploited bait fish resources and seasonal abundance of different bait species around the various islands is still lacking