Economics of Production of Green Peas (Pisum sativum L.) in Punjab

The economics of production and factors influencing the productivity of green peas in Punjab have been studied using the primary data from pea growers. The data have been analysed using simple tabular and functional analyses. The results have revealed that the green peas and wheat are the main crops in rabi season. It has been noticed that 75.85 per cent of the farmers purchase pea seeds from dealers. The yield of green peas has been found the highest on small farms among all the farm-size categories. The total cost incurred has been higher in large than small and medium farmers due to more use of inputs by the former. The gross and net returns have been found higher in large than small and medium farmers due to realization of higher prices by them and exploring of other markets due to their higher marketable surpluses. The functional analysis has revealed that the fertilizers, irrigation and machinery are the impact variables, influencing the productivity of green peas positively. The returns over variable costs in the case of peas have been higher by 129 per cent than those in wheat (main competing crop). It has been argued that the farmers be advised by the agricultural extension experts to adopt green pea cultivation for improving the efficiency of the farms through increased income per unit of land. Moreover, it will provide impetus to the diversification program of the state government and improve the soil health.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Measuring and Understanding Throughput of Network Topologies

High throughput is of particular interest in data center and HPC networks. Although myriad network topologies have been proposed, a broad head-to-head comparison across topologies and across traffic patterns is absent, and the right way to compare worst-case throughput performance is a subtle problem. In this paper, we develop a framework to benchmark the throughput of network topologies, using a two-pronged approach. First, we study performance on a variety of synthetic and experimentally-measured traffic matrices (TMs). Second, we show how to measure worst-case throughput by generating a near-worst-case TM for any given topology. We apply the framework to study the performance of these TMs in a wide range of network topologies, revealing insights into the performance of topologies with scaling, robustness of performance across TMs, and the effect of scattered workload placement. Our evaluation code is freely available

Dimension Reduction via Colour Refinement

Colour refinement is a basic algorithmic routine for graph isomorphism testing, appearing as a subroutine in almost all practical isomorphism solvers. It partitions the vertices of a graph into "colour classes" in such a way that all vertices in the same colour class have the same number of neighbours in every colour class. Tinhofer (Disc. App. Math., 1991), Ramana, Scheinerman, and Ullman (Disc. Math., 1994) and Godsil (Lin. Alg. and its App., 1997) established a tight correspondence between colour refinement and fractional isomorphisms of graphs, which are solutions to the LP relaxation of a natural ILP formulation of graph isomorphism. We introduce a version of colour refinement for matrices and extend existing quasilinear algorithms for computing the colour classes. Then we generalise the correspondence between colour refinement and fractional automorphisms and develop a theory of fractional automorphisms and isomorphisms of matrices. We apply our results to reduce the dimensions of systems of linear equations and linear programs. Specifically, we show that any given LP L can efficiently be transformed into a (potentially) smaller LP L' whose number of variables and constraints is the number of colour classes of the colour refinement algorithm, applied to a matrix associated with the LP. The transformation is such that we can easily (by a linear mapping) map both feasible and optimal solutions back and forth between the two LPs. We demonstrate empirically that colour refinement can indeed greatly reduce the cost of solving linear programs

Characterization of three somatic embryogenesis receptor kinase genes from wheat, Triticum aestivum

We report here the isolation and characterization of three SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR KINASE (TaSERK) genes from wheat. TaSERKs belong to a small family of receptor-like kinase genes, share a conserved structure and extensive sequence homology with previously reported plant SERK genes. TaSERK genes are in general auxin inducible and expressed during embryogenesis in cell cultures. We show here that somatic embryogenesis in Triticum aestivum is associated with high SERK expression which could be enhanced with auxin application and is calcium dependent. TaSERK transcripts could also be enhanced by epibrassinolide and abscisic acid. TaSERK1 and TaSERK2 may have a role in somatic embryogenesis, whereas TaSERK3 appears to be a brassinosteroid-associated kinase (BAK) lacking an SPP motif but shares a characteristic C-terminal domain with other SERK proteins. Also, the transcripts of all the three TaSERK genes could be induced in zygotic and somatic tissues. Although our analysis suggests them to be involved in somatic embryogenesis, they may have a broader role in acquiring embryogenic competence in wheat

Structural Characterization and Expression Analysis of the SERK/SERL Gene Family in Rice (Oryza sativa)

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is the developmental restructuring of somatic cells towards the embryogenic pathway and forms the basis of cellular totipotency in angiosperms. With the availability of full-length cDNA sequences from Knowledge-based Oryza Molecular Biological Encylopedia (KOME), we identified the leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) genes from rice (Oryza sativa), which also encompasses genes involved in regulating somatic embryogenesis. Eight out of eleven of the rice SERK and SERL (SERK-like) genes have the TIGR annotation as (putative) brassinosteroid insensitive 1-associated receptor kinase (precursor). Real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis was undertaken to quantify transcript levels of these 11 genes. Most of these genes were upregulated by brassinosteroids although only a few of these displayed auxin induction. The expression profile of these genes is nearly uniform in the zygotic embryogenic tissue, but the expression pattern is more complex in the somatic embryogenic tissue. It is likely that OsSERKs and OsSERLs may be involved in somatic embryogenesis and also perform a role in morphogenesis and various other plant developmental processes. Functional validation of these somatic embryogenesis receptor-like kinase genes may help in elucidating their precise functions in regulating various facets of plant development

Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of diethyl phthalate using Zn doped rutile TiO2

A simple, room temperature sol gel synthesis approach has been made to obtain undoped and Zn doped TiO2 samples using titanium tetraisopropoxide and zinc acetate as precursors. The synthesized samples are predominantly in rutile phase which are rarely reported at the calcination temperature of 450 °C. The samples are characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance (DRS), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Raman spectroscopy. The as prepared samples have been used for the photocatalytic degradation of diethyl phthalate. Phthalate esters are one of the persistent organic pollutants found in the environment. Diethyl phthalate has been taken as a model pollutant. Zn doped TiO2 sample shows better photocatalytic activity as compared to undoped TiO2. The kinetic studies reveal that the photocatalytic degradation reaction follows a pseudo first order equation. The diethyl phthalate is almost completely degraded in about 200 min using 0.2 mol % Zn doped rutile TiO2