Potential Benefits of Bt Brinjal in India — An Economic Assessment

The potential economic benefits of Bt brinjal hybrids in terms of yield gain, reduction in insecticide-use, and increase in net returns per hectare have been reported in this study. Results have shown that adoption of Bt brinjal hybrids would provide yield gain of 37 per cent and reduction in total insecticide-use of about 42 per cent over non-Bt hybrids. Other benefits like increase in additional brinjal production (30 thousand tonnes), savings from insecticides (` 47 crore) against Fruit and Shoot Borer (FSB), increase in net returns (` 11029/ha), and reduction in price of brinjal output (3%), etc. would be at 15 per cent adoption level. With increased adoption level of 60 per cent of Bt brinjal hybrids would provide, additional production of 119 thousand tonnes, savings from insecticides against FSB Rs 187 crore, increase in net returns ` 44117/ha and likely reduction in brinjal price by 15 per cent. Simulation of gains adopting Bt brinjal hybrids has shown that country may gain aggregate direct economic benefits between ` 577 crore and ` 2387 crore annually at 15 per cent and 60 per cent adoption levels of bt brinjal hybrids, respectively. The major gains will accrue to consumers (66% of total) and rest would go to the farmers. In brief, Bt brinjal offers a large scope to increase income of farmers, reduce its cost to consumers, improve food safety and reduce health hazards and environmental pollution. The results of study may be helpful in policy decision on Bt brinjal adoption in the context of smallholders agriculture.GM food crop, Bt brinjal hybrid, Fruit and shoot borer, Economic benefits, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q11, Q16, Q15,

Rice Production in India — Implications of Land Inequity and Market Imperfections

The relationship between farm productivity and farm structure has been analyzed focusing mainly on one channel of transmission of this relationship, viz. input-use pattern in rice production. The hypothesized relationship tested in this study is that land inequality influences access to/ use of resources in rice production and in-turn influences productivity. Market imperfections aggravate the negative effect of land inequity on productivity. Results have shown that smallholders’ share in inputs like fertilizers, and irrigation has increased over time, but a large number of smallholders still do not have access to these resources. Study has demonstrated that policies like fertilizer subsidy, agricultural credit, and minimum support prices are able to address market imperfections only partially. Hence, for improving productivity and profitability of rice production of smallholders in particular and other farmers in general, addressing of structural inequity needs attention besides a focus on technology development.Agricultural and Food Policy,

A Review on Skin Disease Classification and Detection Using Deep Learning Techniques

Skin cancer ranks among the most dangerous cancers. Skin cancers are commonly referred to as Melanoma. Melanoma is brought on by genetic faults or mutations on the skin, which are caused by Unrepaired Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) in skin cells. It is essential to detect skin cancer in its infancy phase since it is more curable in its initial phases. Skin cancer typically progresses to other regions of the body. Owing to the disease's increased frequency, high mortality rate, and prohibitively high cost of medical treatments, early diagnosis of skin cancer signs is crucial. Due to the fact that how hazardous these disorders are, scholars have developed a number of early-detection techniques for melanoma. Lesion characteristics such as symmetry, colour, size, shape, and others are often utilised to detect skin cancer and distinguish benign skin cancer from melanoma. An in-depth investigation of deep learning techniques for melanoma's early detection is provided in this study. This study discusses the traditional feature extraction-based machine learning approaches for the segmentation and classification of skin lesions. Comparison-oriented research has been conducted to demonstrate the significance of various deep learning-based segmentation and classification approaches

Performance Based Study And Behavior Of Pervious Concrete

It is used in flat concrete works that allow water to pass through, thus reducing surface runoff from the site and allowing groundwater recharge. High porosity is achieved by highly cross-linked void content. Prior concrete typically has a water to cement ratio of about 0.28 to 0.4. The mix consists of reinforcing material, coarse aggregate, and water with some fine aggregate. Adding a small amount of fine aggregate will reduce void content and increase overall strength. Precast concrete is generally used in parking areas, light traffic areas, and residential areas. It is an important application for groundwater recharge. The current project deals with the study and comparison of mechanical properties, permeability properties and durability of various previous concrete grades (M15, M20, M25). We study the behavior and behavior of the open structure of pre-concrete in climatic conditions of India. We study the resistance properties of conventional concrete with previous concrete. We study the effect of fine aggregate and the water / mix ratio on the properties of the previous concrete

Investigation of graphite effect on the mechanical and tribological properties of Al 7075-SiC-graphite hybrid metal matrix composites

The aluminium metal matrix composite reinforced with ceramic material of Silicon carbide (SiC) has good mechanical properties. However, aluminium based ceramic composites require improvements in their lubrication and tribological properties. In this study an attempt is made in the development of a new material through powder metallurgy technique by the addition of Graphite, which acts as a solid lubricant. This work investigated the influence of graphite on the wear behaviour of Al 7075/SiC /X wt.% graphite(X=0, 5 and 10) hybrid composite. The investigation reveals the effectiveness of incorporation of graphite in the composite for gaining wear reduction. The Al 7075 (aluminium alloy 7075) reinforced with SiC –graphite were investigated. The composites were fabricated using powder metallurgy route. The microstructures, material combination, wear and friction properties were analysed by scanning electron microscopy, XRD, and pin-on-disc wear tester. The newly developed aluminium composite has significant improvements in tribological properties with a combination of 5% Silicon carbide (SiC) and 5% Graphite. The test reveals that sliding distance of 1000 m and sliding speed of 1.5 m/s with applied load of 5 N result in minimum wear loss of 0.01062g and coefficient of friction as 0.1278

IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF TAL SINDOOR

oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/1Science is the intellectual process for using complete mental and physical resources available in order to understand, explain, quantitate and predict normal as well as unusual natural phenomena. Rasoushadhis (metallic and mineral preparations) are unique preparations in Ayurveda along with herbal preparations that includes Bhasmas, herbo-mineral preparations, and Kupipakwa Rasayanas. Tal Sindoor, a Kupipakwa Rasayana, is Sagandha (presence of Sulphur), Sagni (processing with heat), Kantastha (near the neck of the bottle) Murchita Parada Yoga. Tal Sindoor has mercury (Parad), sulphur (Gandhak) and arsenic tri sulphide (Haratal) as ingredients. It is indicated in all types of skin disorders (Sarva Kushtahara), skin problems associated with itching (Kandu), vitiated Rakta Dhatu (Rakta dosha hara) and other diseases of infectious origin like Abscess (Vidradhi), Gonorrhoea (Upadamsha), fever (Jwara, Sannipataja Jwara) at 125-250 mg (1-2 Ratti) dose. Anti–microbial activity of Tal Sindoor was conducted to evaluate drug efficacy against bacilli of gram positive, gram negative and fungus as broad spectrum antibiotic. Drug Tal Sindoor was tested in 2 methods i.e. Gradient plate technique and Kirby-bauer method for its anti-microbial activity against 7 micro-organisms. Tal Sindoor is an effective anti-microbial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans. But K. pneumoniae and A. Baumannii were resistant to Tal Sindoor like they are with other anti-biotics

Parallel Processing for Range Assignment Problem in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor network is a collection of autonomous devices called sensor nodes which sense the environmental factors such as temperature, pressure, humidity, moisture, etc. The nodes sense the data, process it and transmit to the other nodes within their transmission range through radio propagation. Energy minimization in wireless sensor networks is a significant problem since the nodes are powered by a small battery of limited capacity. In case of networks with several thousand nodes, the simulation of algorithms can be very slow. The parallel computing model provides significantly faster simulation time for larger networks. Parallel processing involves executing the program instructions by dividing them among multiple processors with the objective of reducing the running time. So, we propose algorithms for the range assignment problem in wireless sensor networks using the parallel processing techniques. We also discuss the complexity of the proposed algorithms and significance of the parallel processing techniques in detail. The proposed techniques will be useful for implementing the distributed algorithms in WSNs

A novel validated RP-HPLC method for the estimation of canagliflozin in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms

The objective of the present study was to develop a simple, specific and accurate reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of Canagliflozin in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms. The method is optimized on an inertsil ODS-3(250.6mm, 5) column with a mobile phase combination of 0.02% Formic acid: Acetonitrile (40:60) at a flow rate 1.2ml/min and the eluents were monitored at 230nm. Under these LC conditions Canagliflozin peak was eluted at 4.4 min. The developed method was validated as per ICH guidelines. The calibration curve was linear over a concentration range of 10-50g/ml (R 2 =0.999) and the mean percentage assay was found to be 98.2. The statistical data proved that proposed method is accurate, precise and reproducible. The method which is LC-MS compatible can be adopted in the routine analysis of Canagliflozin in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms

PREPARATION AND SOLID STATE CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOCRYSTALS FOR SOLUBILITY ENHANCEMENT OF QUETIAPINE FUMARATE

Objective: Quetiapine fumarate (QF) has poor water solubility and its oral bioavailability is observed to be 9% [1]. The objective of the present work is to prepare QF nanoparticles by wet media milling (WMM) and explore on the improvement in solubility with the aim of dose reduction and minimizing the side effects associated with its oral administration. Methods: Nanoparticle of QF were prepared by WMM using sodiumlaurylsulphate (SLS), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) and Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) as surface stabilizers. The nanosuspensions obtained were characterized for its mean particle size (MPS), zeta-potential (ZP) and Polydispersity-index (PI). Further lyophilized nanoparticles were characterized for MPS, ZP, PI, saturation solubility (SS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Infra-Red (IR) and Scanning electron Microscopy (SEM). Results: The MPS of the nanosuspensions obtained after 1 hour WMM and its lyophilized nanoparticlesis observed to be less than 1000 nm with PI ranges from 0.2 to 0.6 and negative ZP ranging from -30 to -36 mV. Lyophilized nanoparticles have shown significant improvement in SS when compared to plain drug. XRD and DSC have shown absence of the crystalline peaks and endotherm of QF respectively, indicating loss of its crystallinity. IR spectra showed no change in position of bands thus drug is compatible with surface stabilizers used. SEM photographs confirmed the formation of nanoparticles. Conclusion: From the above results it has been concluded that by subjecting QF to WMM, QF nanoparticles were obtained with significant improvement in saturation solubility and drug losing its crystalline nature when compared to plain drug