Economic Viability of Organic Farming: An Empirical Experience of Wheat Cultivation in Punjab

The present study has assessed the economic viability of organic wheat cultivation in Punjab by collecting primary data from 85 organic growers and 75 inorganic growers spread over 30 villages in the districts of Patiala and Faridkot for the period 2008-09. The area under organic farming has been found about 27 per cent of the total operational area in rabi season for the sample organic growers. The major share of organic area has been found under wheat crop, which accounted for 15 per cent of the total operational area of sample organic growers. The total variable cost on per acre basis for the cultivation of organic wheat has been found less as compared to inorganic wheat. The net returns over variable cost of organic and inorganic wheat have been observed as ` 21895/acre and ` 16700/acre for organic growers. The lower crop yield in organic wheat (6.7q/acre less) was well compensated by the higher price it fetched in the market. A wider varietal distribution has been observed for organic than inorganic wheat cultivation. The regression analysis has revealed that with one per cent increase in expenditure on farmyard manure + jeev amrit , biodynamic and machine labour, the organic wheat productivity would increase by 0.114 per cent, 0.703 per cent, 0.556 per cent, respectively, showing significant impact on value productivity. The study has observed that though organic wheat cultivation has been found more profitable for the growers in the study area, the significant reduction in its productivity level poses a serious challenge in term of food security for the nation.Organic farming, Wheat cultivation, Organic wheat, Punjab, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q12, Q16,

Computer-aided Reverse Engineering for Rapid Replacement of Parts

Indigenous product development using conventional means involves a relatively long leadtime and cost, especially for replacing worn out and broken parts. This paper presentsmethodologies and technologies for computer-aided reverse engineering, illustrated by a reallifecase study of an aluminium alloy separator body of a hydraulic filter assembly for the specialarmy vehicle. It involved reconstruction of part geometry using 3-D scanning, materialidentification using spectrometry, casting process optimisation using simulation software, andfabrication of prototype and tooling using rapid prototyping systems. It was found that thefabrication of wax patterns directly from reverse-engineered CAD data in a suitable rapidprototyping system (such as thermojet), followed by conventional investment casting, gives areliable and economic route for rapid development of one-off intricate parts for the replacementpurpose

de Sitter branes with a bulk scalar

We propose new braneworld models arising from a scalar field in the bulk. In these examples, the induced on--brane line element is de Sitter (or anti de Sitter) and the bulk (five dimensional) Einstein equations can be exactly solved to obtain warped spacetimes. The solutions thus derived are single and two-brane models -- one with {\em thin} branes while the other one of the {\em thick} variety. The field profiles and the potentials are obtained and analysed for each case. We note that for the {\em thick} brane scenario the field profile resembles a kink, whereas for one or more {\em thin} branes, it is finite and bounded in the domain of the extra dimension. We have also addressed the localisation of gravity and other matter fields on the brane for these braneworld models.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures. Substantial changes and new results. To appear in GR

Jet hadrochemistry as a characteristics of jet quenching

Jets produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC are expected to be strongly modified due to the interaction of the parton shower with the dense QCD matter. Here, we point out that jet quenching can leave signatures not only in the longitudinal and transverse jet energy and multiplicity distributions, but also in the hadrochemical composition of the jet fragments. In particular, we show that even in the absence of medium effects at or after hadronization, the medium-modification of the parton shower can result in significant changes in jet hadrochemistry. We discuss how jet hadrochemistry can be studied within the high-multiplicity environment of nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, LaTe

Development of soil and terrain digital database for major food-growing regions of India for resource planning

Soil information system in SOTER (soil and terrain digital database) framework is developed for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and black soil regions (BSR) of India with the help of information from 842 georeferenced soil profiles including morphological, physical and chemical properties of soils in addition to the site characteristics and climatic information. The database has information from 82 climatic stations that can be linked with the other datasets. The information from this organized database can be easily retrieved for use and is compatible with the global database. The database can be updated with recent and relevant data as and when they are available. The database has many applications such as inputs for refinement of agro-ecological regions and sub-regions, studies on carbon sequestration, land evaluation and land (crop) planning, soil erosion, soil quality, carbon and crop modelling and other climate change related research. This warehouse of information in a structured framework can be used as a data bank for posterity

Electromagnetic Probes

A review is presented of dilepton and real photon measurements in relativistic heavy ion collisions over a very broad energy range from the low energies of the BEVALAC up to the highest energies available at RHIC. The dileptons cover the invariant mass range \mll = 0 - 2.5 GeV/c$^2$, i.e. the continuum at low and intermediate masses and the light vector mesons, $\rho, \omega, \phi$. The review includes also measurements of the light vector mesons in elementary reactions.Comment: To be published in Landolt-Boernstein Volume 1-23A; 40 pages, 24 figures. Final version updated with small changes to the text, updated references and updated figure

The energy dependence of ptp_t angular correlations inferred from mean-ptp_{t} fluctuation scale dependence in heavy ion collisions at the SPS and RHIC

We present the first study of the energy dependence of $p_t$ angular correlations inferred from event-wise mean transverse momentum fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. We compare our large-acceptance measurements at CM energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV to SPS measurements at 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. $p_t$ angular correlation structure suggests that the principal source of $p_t$ correlations and fluctuations is minijets (minimum-bias parton fragments). We observe a dramatic increase in correlations and fluctuations from SPS to RHIC energies, increasing linearly with $\ln \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ from the onset of observable jet-related fluctuations near 10 GeV.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Search for Higgs bosons decaying to tautau pairs in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

We present a search for the production of neutral Higgs bosons decaying into tautau pairs in ppbar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb-1, were collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We set upper limits at the 95% C.L. on the product of production cross section and branching ratio for a scalar resonance decaying into tautau pairs, and we then interpret these limits as limits on the production of Higgs bosons in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and as constraints in the MSSM parameter space.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PL

Measurement of the photon+b+b-jet production differential cross section in ppˉp\bar{p} collisions at \sqrt{s}=1.96~\TeV

We present measurements of the differential cross section dsigma/dpT_gamma for the inclusive production of a photon in association with a b-quark jet for photons with rapidities |y_gamma|< 1.0 and 30<pT_gamma <300 GeV, as well as for photons with 1.5<|y_gamma|< 2.5 and 30< pT_gamma <200 GeV, where pT_gamma is the photon transverse momentum. The b-quark jets are required to have pT>15 GeV and rapidity |y_jet| < 1.5. The results are based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.7 fb^-1, recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ Collider at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. The measured cross sections are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations using different sets of parton distribution functions as well as to predictions based on the kT-factorization QCD approach, and those from the Sherpa and Pythia Monte Carlo event generators.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Measurement of three-jet differential cross sections d sigma-3jet / d M-3jet in p anti-p collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

We present the first measurement of the inclusive three-jet differential cross section as a function of the invariant mass of the three jets with the largest transverse momenta in an event in p anti-p collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The measurement is made in different rapidity regions and for different jet transverse momentum requirements and is based on a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.7 fb^{-1} collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The results are used to test the three-jet matrix elements in perturbative QCD calculations at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant. The data allow discrimination between parametrizations of the parton distribution functions of the proton.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Lett. B, corrected chi2 values for NNPD