A Study on the Economics of Milk Processing in a Dairy Plant in Haryana

The economics of manufacturing of different dairy products, viz. ghee, full-cream milk, standardized milk, toned milk, double-toned milk, skimmed milk and ice-cream (processing only) have been reported. The study has been conducted in an ISO-9002 dairy plant situated in the north-eastern part of Haryana. It has been observed that all the products, except the double-toned milk are being produced above the recommended breakeven level. A comparison of unit manufacturing cost with unit price received by the plant for different products has revealed that ice-cream manufacturing has been the most profitable proposition among different dairy products, and standardized milk has provided the maximum profit margin among the milk pouches manufactured during the study period, 2000-01. The double-toned milk has revealed a loss. Therefore, the study has suggested that the quantity of double-toned milk production should be raised at least equal to the recommended break-even level to avoid losses, if there is a market demand for this product or the resources of this product could be shifted to some other profitable products.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Off-season survival and seasonal carry-over of the sorghum shootfly, Atherigona soccata Rondani (Diptera : Muscidae) in Kenya

Au Kenya, des populations actives de mouches du sorgho survivent pendant la saison sèche sur les talles produits par les chaumes de sorgho (#Sorghum bicolor) et sur le sorgho sauvage (#Sorghum bicolor). L'existence d'une estivation-diapause, qui permettrait aux mouches de survivre pendant cette période, n'a pu être mise en évidence. Il n'existe pas non plus de preuve d'un potentiel reproducteur plus élevé pour expliquer l'accroissement rapide des populations en début de saison des pluies. La destruction des chaumes et des pieds de sorgho sauvage pourrait être une méthode culturale de lutte, par interruption du cycle saisonnier d'#A. soccata$. (Résumé d'auteur

Hilbert-Schmidt Operators vs. Integrable Systems of Elliptic Calogero-Moser Type III. The Heun Case

The Heun equation can be rewritten as an eigenvalue equation for an ordinary differential operator of the form $-d^2/dx^2+V(g;x)$, where the potential is an elliptic function depending on a coupling vector $g\in{\mathbb R}^4$. Alternatively, this operator arises from the $BC_1$ specialization of the $BC_N$ elliptic nonrelativistic Calogero-Moser system (a.k.a. the Inozemtsev system). Under suitable restrictions on the elliptic periods and on $g$, we associate to this operator a self-adjoint operator $H(g)$ on the Hilbert space ${\mathcal H}=L^2([0,\omega_1],dx)$, where $2\omega_1$ is the real period of $V(g;x)$. For this association and a further analysis of $H(g)$, a certain Hilbert-Schmidt operator ${\mathcal I}(g)$ on ${\mathcal H}$ plays a critical role. In particular, using the intimate relation of $H(g)$ and ${\mathcal I}(g)$, we obtain a remarkable spectral invariance: In terms of a coupling vector $c\in{\mathbb R}^4$ that depends linearly on $g$, the spectrum of $H(g(c))$ is invariant under arbitrary permutations $\sigma(c)$, $\sigma\in S_4$

Effect of repeated blast Vibrations on damage intensity of granitic rock mass at an hydroelectric Construction project

Rock blasting induced ground vibrations produce deformations in the vicinity of blasting site. The effect of blast loading on structures is a growing concern of safety and stability. Extensive data are available on the behavior of surface structures subjected to blast vibrations. However, only limited information is available on the effect of blast induced dynamic forces on the underground opening like tunnels and caverns. The reported findings state that blast induced dynamic stress, one or several cycle of repeated strains may cause deterioration in the rock mass or create damage to the dam foundation. This paper deals with the research work carried out at jurala hydroelectric power project (JHPP) on the effect of repeated blast vibrations on powerhouse foundation in a jointed rock mass. The damage caused by blast induced vibrations can be categorized in to two types: (i) near-field damage due to high frequency vibrations when blast is occurring in the close proximity and (ii) far-field damage due to low frequency vibrations when the blast is occurring relatively farther distance. The near-field damage was assessed by monitoring ballast vibrations and borehole camera inspection survey. The far field damage was assessed by continuous monitoring of vibrations, borehole camera inspection survey and P-wave velocity measurement by ultrasonic testing machine. Borehole camera was used to examine the crack extension and damage inspection of rock mass. This paper reveals that repeated dynamic loading imparted on the jointed rock mass from subsequent blast, in the vicinity, resulted in damage even at 22% of critical peak particle velocity (Vmax). The far-field damage due to the repeated blast loading of 40-45 rounds was more than 77% of he near-field damage. The results of the experimental study indicated that vibration levels, even at less than critical Vmax, can cause safety and stability problems to the structures in /on joined rock mass, when exposed to the repeated blast loading. This paper stresses the need for consideration of the effect of repeated blast loading in fixing the threshold limits of Vmax to avoid far-field damage

New blasting techniques for productivity enhancement in underground coal mines

The pace of developments in underground blasting technology is insignificant in contrast to developments in opencast blasting. Blasting practices in underground mine s has limited flexibility due to many safety criteria, statutory and field constraints. This has narrowed the scope of major modifications in the solid blasting design vis-à-vis the efficiency and yield per round. However, it is high time to balance the opencast and underground mine production, in view of the exhausting reserves in shallow depth and socio-environmental problems due to opencast mining. With this back-drop, Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research (CIMFR), Regional Centre, Nagpur developed two new underground blasting techniques with simple modifications in explosive loading patterns. They are: (i) in-hole delay solid blasting technique was in-hole delay solid blasting technique by inserting multiple delay detonators in cut holes to improve the solid blasting efficiency. The conventionally available resources are used in this technique without violating the statutory guidelines. The trial blast results indicated improvements in all the parameters like pull, yield per round, powder factor and detonator factor. The overall improvement in pull per round was 49% with 1.5m deep rounds and 40% with 1.8m deep rounds. The technique also resulted in reduction of ground vibration intensity by 32-37%. Another blasting method developed was bottom hole decking technique by inserting air-deck at the bottom of the blast holes. In this technique a spacer is to be placed at the bottom of the hole and remaining portion of the hole is conventionally charged. The length of spacer is equal to 10-12% of depth of blasthole. A wooden spacer or any antistatic plastic pipe can also be used for decking. The technique was also applied in both soft and medium hard coal formations while exploiting the thin coal seams. The trial blast results indicated improvements in pull, yield per round and powder factor. The overall progress/pull per round observed was 36% with 1.5m deep rounds and it was up to 22%was 1.8m deep rounds with the powder factor (ton/kg) improvement up to 70%. The technique was also result in reduction of ground vibrations by 20-26%. The experimental results also reveal that the in-hole delay solid blasting and bottom hole decking techniques are suitable for relatively harder and softer formations respectively for improving blasting productivit

Fragalyst 3.0: An indigenous fragmentation assessment tool based on digital image analysis – application and analysis

Fragalyst 3.0 is an advanced version of the Fragalyst 2.0 developed indigenously by CIMFR and Wavelet Group Pune. The software has multiple functions where the digital images of blasted fragments can be analysed for size distributions (BBSD) and the in situ block size distribution (IBSD)can also be determined using the joint frequencies in a blast face. The software then uses the Bond;s index to determine the explosive energy utilisation in a blast. initially an image of the face is to be imported and joints determined by using a scanline method which in turn determines the IBSD. Once blast is carried out on the same face sufficient number of images (at least 15) need to be imported in the software and analysed for fragmentation distribution. Several options of image enhancement, resize and crop are also available along with a large combination of threshold parameters which makes edge detection easy. The detected edges of fragments can be edited using advanced tools. The analysis of all the individual images is then called for a merged analysis of the blasted fragment size distribution (BBSD). A fines correction option is now available for correcting the BBSD for fines. The area between the BBSD and IBSD curves determines the explosive energy utilised in the blast. The software results have been compared to the results obtained with imported software and results are conforming. The software has been tested at number of sites in India and significant changes in productivity have been reported. There are some advanced features included in the software such as shape factor, spherocity and other distributions of blasted fragments, distance measurements and angle calculations which can be useful to an inquisitive researcher. The paper details the capabilities of Fragalyst 3.0 along with few applications and respective analysis

Theory of unitarity bounds and low energy form factors

We present a general formalism for deriving bounds on the shape parameters of the weak and electromagnetic form factors using as input correlators calculated from perturbative QCD, and exploiting analyticity and unitarity. The values resulting from the symmetries of QCD at low energies or from lattice calculations at special points inside the analyticity domain can beincluded in an exact way. We write down the general solution of the corresponding Meiman problem for an arbitrary number of interior constraints and the integral equations that allow one to include the phase of the form factor along a part of the unitarity cut. A formalism that includes the phase and some information on the modulus along a part of the cut is also given. For illustration we present constraints on the slope and curvature of the K_l3 scalar form factor and discuss our findings in some detail. The techniques are useful for checking the consistency of various inputs and for controlling the parameterizations of the form factors entering precision predictions in flavor physics.Comment: 11 pages latex using EPJ style files, 5 figures; v2 is version accepted by EPJA in Tools section; sentences and figures improve

Genus Two Partition and Correlation Functions for Fermionic Vertex Operator Superalgebras I

We define the partition and $n$-point correlation functions for a vertex operator superalgebra on a genus two Riemann surface formed by sewing two tori together. For the free fermion vertex operator superalgebra we obtain a closed formula for the genus two continuous orbifold partition function in terms of an infinite dimensional determinant with entries arising from torus Szeg\"o kernels. We prove that the partition function is holomorphic in the sewing parameters on a given suitable domain and describe its modular properties. Using the bosonized formalism, a new genus two Jacobi product identity is described for the Riemann theta series. We compute and discuss the modular properties of the generating function for all $n$-point functions in terms of a genus two Szeg\"o kernel determinant. We also show that the Virasoro vector one point function satisfies a genus two Ward identity.Comment: A number of typos have been corrected, 39 pages. To appear in Commun. Math. Phy

Constraining the low energy pion electromagnetic form factor with space-like data

The pionic contribution to the g-2 of the muon involves a certain integral over the the modulus squared of F_\pi(t), the pion electromagnetic form factor. We extend techniques that use cut-plane analyticity properties of F_\pi(t) in order to account for present day estimates of the pionic contribution and experimental information at a finite number of points in the space-like region. Using data from several experiments over a large kinematic range for |t|, we find bounds on the expansion coefficients of F_\pi(t), sub-leading to the charge radius. The value of one of these coefficients in chiral perturbation theory respects these bounds. Furthermore, we present a sensitivity analysis to the inputs. A brief comparison with results in the literature that use observables other than the g-2 and timelike data is presented.Comment: 11 pages in EPJ journal style, to appear in European Physical Journal