Pre- and Post-WTO Changes in Oilseed Economy of Karnataka: A Case of Groundnut

The growth in exports, economics of production and global competitiveness of groundnut has been reported over the period of 20 years (1984-85 to 2004-05) in Karnataka by collecting data from various published sources. Techniques used for the analysis are growth functions, tabular function, nominal protection coefficient and domestic resource cost. The analysis of export trends of groundnut from 1985-86 to 2004-05 has shown that quantity of groundnut export has grown annually at a compound growth rate of 9.52 per cent, whereas the value of groundnut exported has grown at a much higher rate of 13.13 per cent. Structural changes in costs are due to changes in quantity and quality of inputs associated with the technological process and also due to their prices. Groundnut has shown competitive disadvantage during the pre-WTO period, as values of NPC and DRC are more than one. But, during the post-WTO period, the competitiveness has increased as is evident from the NPC and DRC values which turned out be less than one. The study has suggested to exploit the competitiveness of Karnataka in groundnut and other oilseed crops.International Relations/Trade,

Diffusion of particles moving with constant speed

The propagation of light in a scattering medium is described as the motion of a special kind of a Brownian particle on which the fluctuating forces act only perpendicular to its velocity. This enforces strictly and dynamically the constraint of constant speed of the photon in the medium. A Fokker-Planck equation is derived for the probability distribution in the phase space assuming the transverse fluctuating force to be a white noise. Analytic expressions for the moments of the displacement $$ along with an approximate expression for the marginal probability distribution function $P(x,t)$ are obtained. Exact numerical solutions for the phase space probability distribution for various geometries are presented. The results show that the velocity distribution randomizes in a time of about eight times the mean free time ($8t^*$) only after which the diffusion approximation becomes valid. This factor of eight is a well known experimental fact. A persistence exponent of $0.435 \pm 0.005$ is calculated for this process in two dimensions by studying the survival probability of the particle in a semi-infinite medium. The case of a stochastic amplifying medium is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures(Submitted to Phys. Rev. E

Imaginary Potential as a Counter of Delay Time for Wave Reflection from a 1D Random Potential

We show that the delay time distribution for wave reflection from a one-dimensional random potential is related directly to that of the reflection coefficient, derived with an arbitrarily small but uniform imaginary part added to the random potential. Physically, the reflection coefficient, being exponential in the time dwelt in the presence of the imaginary part, provides a natural counter for it. The delay time distribution then follows straightforwardly from our earlier results for the reflection coefficient, and coincides with the distribution obtained recently by Texier and Comtet [C.Texier and A. Comtet, Phys.Rev.Lett. {\bf 82}, 4220 (1999)],with all moments infinite. Delay time distribution for a random amplifying medium is then derived . In this case, however, all moments work out to be finite.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, replaced with added proof, figure and references. To appear in Phys. Rev. B Jan01 200

Pre- and Post-WTO Changes in Oilseed Economy of Karnataka: A Case of Groundnut

The growth in exports, economics of production and global competitiveness of groundnut has been reported over the period of 20 years (1984-85 to 2004-05) in Karnataka by collecting data from various published sources. Techniques used for the analysis are growth functions, tabular function, nominal protection coefficient and domestic resource cost. The analysis of export trends of groundnut from 1985-86 to 2004-05 has shown that quantity of groundnut export has grown annually at a compound growth rate of 9.52 per cent, whereas the value of groundnut exported has grown at a much higher rate of 13.13 per cent. Structural changes in costs are due to changes in quantity and quality of inputs associated with the technological process and also due to their prices. Groundnut has shown competitive disadvantage during the pre-WTO period, as values of NPC and DRC are more than one. But, during the post-WTO period, the competitiveness has increased as is evident from the NPC and DRC values which turned out be less than one. The study has suggested to exploit the competitiveness of Karnataka in groundnut and other oilseed crops

Effect of Non Surgical Periodontal Therapy on Gingival Crevicular Fluid and Serum Visfatin Concentration in Periodontal Health and Disease

Visfatin is a pleiotropic mediator which acts as growth factor, cytokine, enzyme involved in energy including nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide metabolism and has been recently demonstrated to exert several pro-inflammatory functions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Visfatin concentration in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and serum in patients with chronic periodontitis, and to evaluate the effect of non-surgical periodontal therapy on the GCF and serum visfatin concentration. 30 subjects (age range: 25 to 52 years) were selected and divided into two groups based on the gingival index, probing depth, periodontal attachment level, and radiologic parameters (bone loss): group 1 (15 subjects with healthy periodontium), group 2 (15 subjects with chronic periodontitis), while, Group 2 patients after 8 weeks of the treatment (scaling and root planning, SRP) constituted group 3. GCF samples (by microcapillary pipettes) and serum samples (by venipuncture) were collected to estimate the levels of Visfatin using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay kit. The mean Visfatin concentration in GCF and serum was observed to be the highest in group 2 and lowest in group 1. While concentration in group 3 was similar to group 1. The concentration of Visfatin in GCF and serum decreased after SRP. The Visfatin concentration in GCF and serum found to be highest in chronic periodontitis group and decreases after treatment. Hence Visfatin values can be considered as an “inflammatory marker” can be explored in future as a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of periodontal disease