Long term Ultra-Violet Variability of Seyfert galaxies

Flux variability is one of the defining characteristics of Seyfert galaxies, a class of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Though these variations are observed over a wide range of wavelengths, results on their flux variability characteristics in the ultra-violet (UV) band are very limited. We present here the long term UV flux variability characteristics of a sample of fourteen Seyfert galaxies using data from the International Ultraviolet Explorer acquired between 1978 and 1995. We found that all the sources showed flux variations with no statistically significant difference in the amplitude of UV flux variation between shorter and longer wavelengths. Also, the flux variations between different near-UV (NUV, 1850 - 3300 A) and far-UV (FUV, 1150 - 2000 A) passbands in the rest frames of the objects are correlated with no time lag. The data show indications of (i) a mild negative correlation of UV variability with bolometric luminosity and (ii) weak positive correlation between UV variability and black hole mass. At FUV, about 50% of the sources show a strong correlation between spectral indices and flux variations with a hardening when brightening behaviour, while for the remaining sources the correlation is moderate. In NUV, the sources do show a harder when brighter trend, however, the correlation is either weak or moderate.Comment: Accepted by Journal of Astrophysics and Astronom

A Survey on the Pteridophyte Flora of the 18 Selected Sacred Groves in Chalavara Grama Panchayath, Palakkad District, Kerala

An exploratory survey conducted on Pteridophytic flora in the 18 selected sacred groves of Chalavara Grama panchayath, Ottapalamtaluk, Palakkad district, Kerala lead to the collection of 26 species of pteridophytes coming under 20 genera and 14 families. Among them, 02 families belongs to class Lycopsida, 01 family belongs to class Psilotopsida and remaining belongs to class Polypodiopsida. Out of 26 species 21 species are terrestrial, 3 species are epiphytes and 2 species are aquatic

Antimicrobial efficacy and phytochemical analysis of Albizia amara (Roxb.) Boiv. an indigenous medicinal plant against some human and plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi

The present investigation evaluates the antimicrobial activity of six different solvent exts. and isolated constituents of leaves of Albizia amara against a total of 21 microorganisms which consisted of seven human pathogenic bacteria, a phytopathogenic Xanthomonas campestris (NCIM 2954) and thirteen seed-​borne phytopathogenic fungi. Our result showed that, among the six solvent exts. tested, the chloroform ext. showed a higher antibacterial and antifungal activity followed by methanol, ethanol and hydro-​methanolic exts. resp. The chloroform, methanol and ethanol exts. exhibited antibacterial activity with zone of inhibition ranging from 5.25 to 23.75, 6.25 to 23.25 and 7.25 to 22.7 mm resp. at 1mg​/mL concn. The minimal inhibitory concn. (MIC) of the chloroform ext. ranged from 15μg​/mL to 500μg​/mL depending upon bacterial species. The most susceptible organism in the present investigation was Streptococcus faecalis (NCIM 5025)​, while the most resistant was Proteus vulgaris (NCIM 2027)​. Highest antifungal activity was obsd. in chloroform ext. followed by methanol ext. with percent of inhibition ranging from 30​% to 77.4​% and 17.4​% to 71.7​% resp. The IC50 value of chloroform ext. ranged from 0.5mg​/mL to 5.0mg​/mL depending upon fungal species. Among the tested fungi, Fusarium lateratum was highly sensitive and Aspergillus flavus was least sensitive. Chloroform ext. was subsequently fractionated and monitored for antibacterial activity guided assay leading to the isolation of active fraction and was confirmed as alkaloid by further phytochem. anal. The present study thus confirms antimicrobial property of A. amara and also demonstrated the role of A. amara used in traditional medicine

Analysis on Design and Implementation of 4×10 Gb/s WDM-TDM PON with Disparate Receivers

This article presents a design of wavelength division multiplexing/ Time division Multiplexing (WDM-TDM) in passive optical network with a data rate of 10 Gbps. The implementation has been carried out for varying link distance from 40km to 100km for 4 different wavelengths with a maximum of 32 supporting users with two different receiver photodiodes. The parameters such as BER and the Q-factor for PON network is being analyzed with the link distance. The BER is decreased as the distance of the network is increased when using the APD receivers than PIN receiver. Optimal value of BER is obtained for a distance of 97 Km in APD and 96 Km in pin receiver

Sugar Cane Refining And Processing Company: A Comprehensive Case In Measuring A Firms Cost Of Capital

The Sugar Cane Refining and Processing Company is a comprehensive case illustrating how a firms financial manager should calculate the firms cost of capital. Senior level undergraduate and graduate corporate financial management courses cover advanced topics in cost of capital and applying the rate in capital budgeting. To cover this relevant topic in a single case, the invented or armchair approach is used. This case is completely contrived but is very educationally effective

A PROSPECTIVE INTERVENTIONAL STUDY OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE (KAP) TOWARDS TUBERCULOSIS AMONG PATIENTS WITH KOCH'S DISEASE

ABSTRACTObjective: To evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of tuberculosis patients and to provide structured patient education through patient counselling on disease, drugs and lifestyle modifications in tuberculosis patients.Methods: All enrolled patient received structured & standard education regarding the disease tuberculosis, medication, diet & lifestyle modification after the preliminary assessment of KAP towards TB. Changes in the knowledge, attitude, and practice in the post-intervention phase were assessed and analyzed statistically.Results: Change in knowledge score of the patients before and after counselling was observed as 37.74% to 79.06% where the mean change in percentage is 41.32%. The change in the attitude of the patients before and after counselling was found to be 21.61%. Counseling towards practice before and after counseling was increased from 63.18% to 82.12% with a mean change of 18.94%.Conclusion: Change in KAP due to educating the patients would help in the increased adherence to antitubercular therapy (ATT) in the patients with tuberculosis; thereby resistance towards the drugs can be reduced.Keywords: Tuberculosis, Koch's disease, Compliance, KAP study

Effect of Bovine Serum Albumin on Red Blood Cell Optical Anisotropy Probed Through the Optomechanical Response in an Optical Trap

The dynamics of trapped entities in an Optical Trap (OT) can yield information with regards to their viscoelastic response as well as optical anisotropy, if any. Detailed analysis of such dynamics correlated with parameters which affect the response can yield additional clues to the exact effect of these on the trapped entities. In this work, we illustrate this point by showing how the altered behavior of Red Blood Cells (RBC) treated with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) yields information about the nature of action of BSA, on which there is no current consensus in literature. We conclude from our studies that BSA treatment leads to a change in the birefringence of the RBCs, a conclusion arrived at from the altered optomechanical response of such cells in a linearly polarized Gaussian beam OT. Furthermore, we argue that the observed changes in cellular optical anisotropy may be thought of as due to changes in the curvature of the RBC membrane. We also note that BSA action could help mimic pathological conditions that result in an altered cell shape. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei