Estimation of biomass density and carbon storage in the forests of Andhra Pradesh, India, with emphasis on their deforestation and degradation conditions

The current study evaluates the growing stock, biomass and carbon content of Andhra Pradesh state’s forest (India) along with its current status of forest degradation and loss. For this purpose, the study used the growing stock data collected by state forest department in 2010 for the calculation of biomass and carbon storage using the standard conversion and expansion factors given by IPCC. The analysis shows low biomass and carbon values for the state’s forest in comparison to the mean values recorded in different studies made for Andhra Pradesh. It is also observed to be lower when compared with the average carbon and biomass for Indian forests. Overall, the analysis showed degradation and loss of forest in the state, coupled with reduction in biomass and carbon sink

Is current forest landscape research approaches providing the right insights? Observations from India context

One of the major challenges in the current scenario for ecological conservation is to quantify the forest landscape in its spatio-temporal domain and understand further implications of those. While the detailed study of the forest ecosystems may provide insights into biodiversity, carrying capacity and productive nature, most of the studies are restricted to single time/event inventory and focused on assessment of tree diversity patterns. Through the adoption of geospatial technologies like remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS), though forest monitoring has been possible, the linkages to the biodiversity distribution and its patterns are still at an empirical level, thus supporting broad measures of protection and preservation without accounting for the local/regional variability.Towards this the paper discusses the lacuna in the current landscape research approaches in Indian scenario. Presents a framework to analyze the landscape structure at the, micro, meso and macro levels. Emphasize the need for the collection of spatio-temporal field data to analyze the change in biodiversity and their linked entities. The paper suggests the need for development of long term ecological area networks to understand the ecological processes, making the data open and improve collaborations among the organizations working in the similar domain to enhance the impact of the research works

Application of Firefly Algorithm for Combined Economic Load and Emission Dispatch

This paper presents an application of Firefly algorithm for multi-objective optimization problem in power system. By economic load scheduling the generations of different plants can be determined such that the total operating cost is minimum. Considering the environmental impacts that grow from the emissions produced by fossil fuelled power plant, the economic dispatch that minimizes only the total fuel cost can no longer be considered as single objective. Application of Firefly algorithm in this paper is based on mathematical modelling to solve combined economic and emissions dispatch problems by a single equivalent objective function. Firefly algorithm has been applied to two realistic systems at different load conditions. Results obtained with proposed method are compared with other techniques presented in literature. Firefly algorithm is easy to implement and much superior to other algorithms in terms of accuracy and efficiency

OPTIMIZATION OF CULTURAL PARAMETERS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ANTIMICROBIAL COMPOUND FROM ENTEROCOCCUS FAECIUM CST-1 (MCC-2729)

Objective: To improve the productivity of antibacterial compounds of Eenterococcus feacium CST-1 by optimizing its nutrient and physical factors and screened for its antimicrobial activity by agar well diffusion method. Methods: In order to improve its efficiency, the effects of medium components carbon and nitrogen sources, temperature, pH, agitation, incubation time, were optimized and its productivity was determined by agar well diffusion method against four bacterial strains obtained from MTCC, Chandigarh, India namely Bacillus subtilis, E. coli, Psudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus,. Results: The bacterial inhibition rate was more in the optimized medium composition (g/100 ml), containing tryptone 1.5, dextrose 3.0 and incubation time for 76 hrs, temperature 35±2 °C and pH 6.5. Compared to basal medium the optimized medium shown about 1.2 fold increased in the zone of inhibition by Enterococcus feacium CST-1. Conclusion: The results from this study confirmed that the antibacterial substances produced by Eenterococcus feacium CST-1 were found to be more effective after its optimization

Mutualistic interactions of polychaete, barnacles, mollusca and sea anemone with hermit crab

286-287This corresponding report gives a preliminary description of several most typical symbiotic communities formed in association with large subtidal hermit crabs in the Bay of Bengal coastal waters of the West Bengal, India. The mutualistic interactions of different animals with hermit crabs is presented. Localization on the host and possible competitive relationships with other symbionts are described for the number of model species of macrosymbionts

Electrical properties of a lead-free perovskite ceramic: (Na0.5Sb0.5)TiO3

Polycrystalline (Na0.5Sb0.5)TiO3 was prepared using a high-temperature solid-state reaction method. An XRD analysis indicated the formation of a single-phase monoclinic structure. Complex impedance studies revealed the presence of grain boundary effects from 300 °C onwards. Also, the dielectric relaxation in the system was found to be of a non-Debye type. The ac conductivity data were used to evaluate the density of states at the Fermi level, the minimum hopping length and activation energy of the compound. The dc electrical and thermal conductivities of grain and grain boundary have been assessed. The correlated barrier hopping model was found to successfully explain the mechanism of charge transport in (Na0.5Sb0.5)TiO3

Performance Comparison of Static CMOS and Domino Logic Style in VLSI Design: A Review

Of late, there is a steep rise in the usage of handheld gadgets and high speed applications. VLSI designers often choose static CMOS logic style for low power applications. This logic style provides low power dissipation and is free from signal noise integrity issues. However, designs based on this logic style often are slow and cannot be used in high performance circuits. On the other hand designs based on Domino logic style yield high performance and occupy less area. Yet, they have more power dissipation compared to their static CMOS counterparts. As a practice, designers during circuit synthesis, mix more than one logic style judiciously to obtain the advantages of each logic style. Carefully designing a mixed static Domino CMOS circuit can tap the advantages of both static and Domino logic styles overcoming their own short comings

Dielectric and Raman studies of Ba-0.06(Na1/2Bi1/2)(0.94)TiO3-NaNbO3 ceramics

In this work the X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman and dielectric studies of lead free perovskite (1-x)Ba-0.06(Na1/2Bi1/2)(0.94)TiO3-xNaNbO(3) (0 <= x <= 1.0) ceramics, prepared using a standard solid state reaction method, were investigated. X-ray diffraction studies of all the ceramics suggested the formation of single phase with crystal structure transforming from rhombohedral-tetragonal to orthorhombic symmetry with the increase in NaNbO3 content. Raman spectra also confirmed the formation of solid solution without any new phase. Dielectric studies showed that the phase transition is of diffusive character and diffusivity parameter decreases with increasing NaNbO3 content. The compositional fluctuation was considered to be the main cause of diffusivity

Allocative Efficiency of Resource use on Beekeeping in Chitwan District of Nepal

Agriculture is facing with increasing pollinators decline all over the world affecting the functioning of regulatory and production service of pollination in adverse manner. Study on ways to conserve pollinating agents like bee is crucial in modern intensive agriculture. In this context a study was conducted to estimate the productivity and resource use efficiency of bee keeping in Chitwan district of Nepal. The study used data collected from randomly selected 48 bee keepers using face to face interview technique in the year 2014. Descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, benefit cost analysis and multiple regression analysis using Cob-Douglas form were employed to achieve study objectives. It was found that farmers were rearing honey bee on an average of about 34 hives per farm with annual productivity of bee products equivalent to 36 Kg honey per hive. Gross margin of beekeeping in the research area was found to be NRs. 3111.55 per hive with undiscounted benefit cost ratio of 1.71. Human labour use, expenditure on sugar, drugs and comb foundation and; migration cost were significantly contributing to the productivity of beekeeping and were required to increase their use by 39%, 34% and 74%, respectively to achieve optimum profit. It was suggested to increase the level of all variable inputs through loan, subsidy and insurance to promote beekeeping enterprise in the study area for ensuring optimum profit to farmers and conservation of the most important agent of pollination