Policy incoherence in smallholder dairying in Bihar, India

Small holder dairying plays an important role in the socioeconomic development of Bihar. While several organizations exist for dairy development in Bihar and there is an increase in investments and interventions in this sector during the last one decade, these are yet to contribute to increasing milk productivity. The paper maps the existing innovation capacity of the small holder dairy sector through an analysis of patterns of interaction among the various actors and identifies the major institutions and policies that currently constrain development of improved capacity for innovation. The paper argues the need for addressing the policy incoherence in the small holder dairy sector in Bihar through organization of a multi-stakeholder policy working group which focuses on ways of addressing policy gaps, enhances capacities for policy implementation and facilitates policy learning

Synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial activity of bifunctional sulfonamide-amide derivatives

A convenient synthesis of bifunctional sulfonamide-amide derivatives was reported. Amide coupling of 4-methyl benzoic acid 1 followed by reaction with chlorosulfonic acid produce ethyl-4-(3-(chlorosulfonyl)-4-methylbenzoyl)piperazine- 1-carboxylate 4. The resulted compound on further treatment with various anilines produces the title sulfonamide-amide derivatives 5a−n. The configurations of these compounds were established by elemental analysis, IR, 1H NMR, mass spectra, and by their preparation from the corresponding 4-methyl benzoic acid 1 and chlorosulfonic acid. All these new compounds demonstrate significant in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities against all bacterial and fungal strains.Korean Chemical Societyhttp://journal.kcsnet.or.kr/am201

Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Activity of the Leaf Extract of Mirabilis jalapa Against Pathogenic Microorganisms

Investigation of the phytochemical constituents and antimicrobial activity of the leaf extracts of Mirabilis jalapa were carried out using acetone, chloroform, ethanol and methanol. These extracts were subjected to screening of preliminary phytochemical tests. Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of alkaloids, flavanoids, phenols, glycosides, tannins, saponins and lignins. The methanol extract exhibited the largest zone of inhibition (21mm in dia with 500μg/disc extract) against Staphylococcus aureus and the highest inhibition of fungal radial mycelial growth (97.5% with 500μg/ml medium) against Aspergillus flavus. The methanol extract exhibited the lowest MIC against Staphylococcus aureus (39 μg/ml) and Aspergillus flavus (45μg/ml). It appeared that M. jalapa could be a potential natural source of new antimicrobial agent.Keywords: Mirabilis jalapa, leaf extract, phytochemicals, antimicrobial activity

Rabies Virus Infection in Domestic Buffaloes and Wild Animals in India

Rabies is one of the most significant diseases in India with severe health implication to humans, domestic and wild animals. In the present study, four concomitant incidents of rabies related deaths were recorded in the western province of India, Gujarat during 2012 - 2014. Brain samples were collected from two buffaloes, nilgai, and mongoose during these incidents and rabies virus was identified from these samples. Further genetic relationship of these isolates was determined and the rabies virus transmission among the wild and domestic mammals was established. Molecular epidemiology based on the glycoprotein ecto-domain and complete nucleoprotein gene showed that all the four isolates belonged to Arctic-like 1 lineage which is predominant in India. Phylogenetic analysis and time scaled evolutionary tree analysis indicated that the wild animals are playing an important role in the maintenance and also transmission of the rabies virus in India

Fatigue response evaluation of stainless steel SS 304 L(N) and SS 316 L(N) through cyclic ball indentation studies

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of fatigue response of stainless steel SS 304 L(N) and SS 316 L(N) using cyclic ball indentation test method. A Tungsten Carbide (WC) spherical ball of 1.57 mm diameter is used for applying compression-compression fatigue cycling on the test specimen having a nominal thickness of 5 mm; the displacement response is monitored as a function of every cycle of loading. The study focused on cases where the stainless steel specimens were welded by two different welding processes – Activated flux TIG welding and conventional multi-pass TIG welding. Fatigue response was monitored at locations of weld zone, heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal to identify the effect of microstructure variation on fatigue response. It is observed that there is a steady increase in depth of penetration of the spherical indenter due to fatigue cycling; however, after a number of cycles, there is a sudden increase in depth of penetration which indicates the failure of the material beneath the indenter. The specimens after cyclic ball indentation were examined using a scanning electron microscope and one could observe the presence of secondary cracking in the penetrated region of the specimen

Population Dynamics and Non-Hermitian Localization

We review localization with non-Hermitian time evolution as applied to simple models of population biology with spatially varying growth profiles and convection. Convection leads to a constant imaginary vector potential in the Schroedinger-like operator which appears in linearized growth models. We illustrate the basic ideas by reviewing how convection affects the evolution of a population influenced by a simple square well growth profile. Results from discrete lattice growth models in both one and two dimensions are presented. A set of similarity transformations which lead to exact results for the spectrum and winding numbers of eigenfunctions for random growth rates in one dimension is described in detail. We discuss the influence of boundary conditions, and argue that periodic boundary conditions lead to results which are in fact typical of a broad class of growth problems with convection.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure

Nonlinear ion-acoustic (IA) waves driven in a cylindrically symmetric flow

By employing a self-similar, two-fluid MHD model in a cylindrical geometry, we study the features of nonlinear ion-acoustic (IA) waves which propagate in the direction of external magnetic field lines in space plasmas. Numerical calculations not only expose the well-known three shapes of nonlinear structures (sinusoidal, sawtooth, and spiky or bipolar) which are observed by numerous satellites and simulated by models in a Cartesian geometry, but also illustrate new results, such as, two reversely propagating nonlinear waves, density dips and humps, diverging and converging electric shocks, etc. A case study on Cluster satellite data is also introduced.Comment: accepted by AS

Accelerating Bianchi Type-V Cosmology with Perfect Fluid and Heat Flow in Saez-Ballester Theory

In this paper we discuss the law of variation of scale factor $a = (t^{k}e^{t})^{\frac{1}{n}}$ which yields a time-dependent deceleration parameter (DP) representing a new class of models that generate a transition of universe from the early decelerated phase to the recent accelerating phase. Exact solutions of Einstein's modified field equations with perfect fluid and heat conduction are obtained within the framework of Saez-Ballester scalar-tensor theory of gravitation and the model is found to be in good agreement with recent observations. We find, for n = 3, k = 1, the present value of DP in derived model as q_0 = -0.67 which is very near to the observed value of DP at present epoch. We find that the time-dependent DP is sensible for the present day Universe and give an earmark description of evolution of universe. Some physical and geometric properties of the models are also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure