Pilot plant for production of fish ensilage and the economics of production

This communication describes the design aspect and functions of individual pieces of equipment of a pilot plant for the production of fish ensilage based on lactic acid fermentation process. Details about the equipment, process flow sheet and equipment layout of the pilot plant have been given. An attempt has been made to prepare an estimate of the cost of production of liquid ensilage and solid feed mix

Plant hormones and oxidative stress in Hevea brasiliensis

Plant hormones are naturally occurring organic substances that are produced within the plant at low concentrations which regulate the growth and metabolism. It was observed that over-harvesting latex through high intensity tapping had a direct effect on the endogenous hormone levels in rubber plants. This could induce the development of oxidative stress leading to several complex physiological disorders including tapping panel dryness (TPD). During oxidative stress, the levels of stress hormones increased and the growth hormones decreased in the bark tissue. Both ethylene (ET) and abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations were high in trees that are exposed to oxidative stress. The levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and its scavenging enzyme, peroxidase (Px), present in healthy trees were appeared to be capable of scavenging the H2O2 molecule produced in the tissue. Hence, the minimum stress response was noticed in the bark tissues of normal trees. The regular wounding of the bark tissues for harvesting latex cannot be avoided in rubber trees. But, the amount of Px produced in the bark tissue was inadequate to detoxify the H2O2 produced under certain physiological state of the tree (TPD) and thus leading to oxidative stress. Accumulation of malondealdehyde (MDA) was evidenced as the peroxidative damage occurred in the bark tissues of stressed trees. The tissue cyanide (CN) level was very high in stressed trees due to the low levels of CN scavenging enzyme, β-cyanolalanine synthase (β-CAS). Trees under oxidative stress had increased levels of stress hormone in the bark tissue and hence, the low levels of growth hormones and high levels of stress hormones in the soft bark tissue would have caused disorders in the cellular differentiation and metabolism in the laticiferous tissues of Hevea trees limiting the production leading to significant crop loss

Morphological and molecular characterisation of a mixed Cryptosporidium muris/Cryptosporidium felis infection in a cat

To date Cryptosporidium muris has been identified by microscopy and genotyping in cats in two studies. We report morphological and genetic evidence of a mixed C. muris and C. felis infection in a cat and provide the first histological, immunohistochemical, in situ hybridisation and genetic confirmation of a C. muris infection in the stomach of a cat. The cat suffered persistent diarrhoea after the initial consultation, which remained unresolved, despite several medical interventions. Further studies are required to determine the range, prevalence and clinical impact of Cryptosporidium species infecting cats

Attenuation of wave energy due to mangrove vegetation off Mumbai, India

Coastal regions of India are prone to sea level rise, cyclones, storm surges, and human-induced activities, resulting in flood, erosion, and inundation, and some of these impacts could be attributed to climate change. Mangroves play a very protective role against some of these coastal hazards. The primary aim of the study was to estimate wave energy attenuation by mangrove vegetation using modeling, and to validate the model results with measurements conducted off Mumbai coast, where a mangrove forest is present. Wave measurements were carried out from 5–8 August 2015 at three locations in a transect normal to the coast using surface-mounted pressure-level sensors in spring tide conditions. The measured data presented wave height attenuation of the order of 52%. Model set-up and sensitivity analyses were conducted to understand the model performance with respect to vegetation parameters. It was observed that wave attenuation increases with an increase in drag coefficient, vegetation density, and stem diameter. For a typical set-up in the Mumbai coastal region having a vegetation density of 0.175 per m2, stem diameter of 0.3 m, and drag coefficient varying from 0.4 to 1.5, the model reproduced attenuation ranging from 49% to 55%, which matches reasonably well with the measured data. Spectral analysis performed for the cases with and without vegetation very clearly portrays energy dissipation in the vegetation area. This study also highlights the importance of climate change and mangrove vegetation. View Full-TextAcknowledgments: We thank the Director, CSIR-NIO, Goa for providing the facility to carry out this work. Funding: This research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of IndiaScopu

Expression analysis of rubber biosynthetic pathway genes in Hevea brasiliensis

Hevea brasiliensisis, the primary commercial source of natural rubber (cis-1, 4-polyisoprene), is a fundamental raw material used for manufacturing a wide range of industrial and domestic rubber products in automobile, medical and defense industries. In Hevea, biosynthesis of rubber takes place through mevalonate pathway. Clonal variations in the productivity of rubber may be the result of variations in the activities of the enzymes involved in rubber biosynthesis in different Hevea clones. In this study, expression of 14 genes corresponding to enzymes/regulatory proteins involved in rubber biosynthesis was analyzed in high and low latex yielding clones of Hevea brasiliensis. The level of expression of HbSUT3, a sucrose transporter and enzymes related to the synthesis of rubber such as hydroxymethyl glutaryl-CoA synthase (hmgs), HMG-CoA reductase (hmgr) and mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase (MVD) were found to be significantly higher in high rubber yielding clones compared to the low rubber yielding clones. The higher expression of these genes might result in an increased supply of IPP, the isoprenoid monomer, required for rubber biosynthesis. Expression of genes in the downstream rubber biosynthetic pathway such as FPPS, RuT and REF2 were also found to be significantly higher in high rubber yielding clones than low yielders. The results suggest that high rubber yield is associated with high expression of these genes and these genes can be used as markers for high yield potential in Hevea

Bioinspired Breathable Architecture for Water Harvesting

Thuja plicata is a coniferous tree which displays remarkable water channelling properties. In this article, an easily fabricated mesh inspired by the hierarchical macro surface structure of Thuja plicata branchlets is described which emulates this efficient water collection behaviour. The key parameters are shown to be the pore size, pore angle, mesh rotation, tilt angle (branch droop) and layering (branch overlap). Envisaged societal applications include water harvesting and low cost breathable architecture for developing countries

Generation of continuous variable squeezing and entanglement of trapped ions in time-varying potentials

We investigate the generation of squeezing and entanglement for the motional degrees of freedom of ions in linear traps, confined by time-varying and oscillating potentials, comprised of an DC and an AC component. We show that high degrees of squeezing and entanglement can be obtained by controlling either the DC or the AC trapping component (or both), and by exploiting transient dynamics in regions where the ions' motion is unstable, without any added optical control. Furthermore, we investigate the time-scales over which the potentials should be switched in order for the manipulations to be most effective.Comment: 10 pages, submitted to Quantum Information Processing (special issue on Quantum Decoherence and Entanglement

Experimental preparation of Werner state via spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We present an experiment of preparing Werner state via spontaneous parametric down-conversion and controlled decoherence of photons in this paper. In this experiment two independent BBO (beta-barium borate) crystals are used to produce down-conversion light beams, which are mixed to prepare Werner state.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures and 2 table

HyperCP: A high-rate spectrometer for the study of charged hyperon and kaon decays

The HyperCP experiment (Fermilab E871) was designed to search for rare phenomena in the decays of charged strange particles, in particular CP violation in $\Xi$ and $\Lambda$ hyperon decays with a sensitivity of $10^{-4}$. Intense charged secondary beams were produced by 800 GeV/c protons and momentum-selected by a magnetic channel. Decay products were detected in a large-acceptance, high-rate magnetic spectrometer using multiwire proportional chambers, trigger hodoscopes, a hadronic calorimeter, and a muon-detection system. Nearly identical acceptances and efficiencies for hyperons and antihyperons decaying within an evacuated volume were achieved by reversing the polarities of the channel and spectrometer magnets. A high-rate data-acquisition system enabled 231 billion events to be recorded in twelve months of data-taking.Comment: 107 pages, 45 Postscript figures, 14 tables, Elsevier LaTeX, submitted to Nucl. Instrum. Meth.