The Influence of GRA and TOPSIS for Assortment of Green Supply Chain Management Strategies in Cement Industry

The present paper aimed at proposing new strategies for evaluating the green supply chain management for enhancing the priority to environmental factors in cement manufacturing life cycle analysis, there by reducing the carbon foot prints. These strategies help in producing eco-friendly products there striking the balance between economy and environment. Initially green supply chain priorities are defined by using grey relational analysis (GRA). The priority weights obtained by GRA method is used to determine the weight for each indicator selected in the present study and then GRA is combined with TOPSIS methodology to obtain the priority for level-II measurement indicators used in the present study. These strategies will influence the decision making priorities during cement manufacturing. Keywords - Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM), strategy prioritization, Grey Relational Analysis (GRA), TOPSIS, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA

OBJECT ORIENTED CLASSIFICATION AND FEATURE EXTRACTION FOR PARTS OF EAST DELHI USING HYBRID APPROACH

Rapid urbanization of Indian cities requires a focused attention with respect to preparation of Master Plans of cities. Urban land use/land cover from very high resolution satellite data sets is an important input for the preparation of the master plans of the cities along with extraction of transportation network, infrastructure details etc. Conventional classifiers, which are pixel based do not yield reasonably accurate urban land use/land cover classification of very high resolution satellite data (usually merged images of Panchromatic & Multispectral). Object Based Image Classification techniques are being used to generate urban land use maps with ease which is GIS compatible while using very high resolution satellite data sets. In this study, Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) has been used to create broad level urban Land Use / Land Cover (LU/LC) map using high resolution ResourceSat-2 LISS-4 and Cartosat-1 pan-sharpened image on the study area covering parts of East Delhi City. Spectral indices, geometric parameters and statistical textural methods were used to create algorithms and rule sets for feature classification. A LU/LC map of the study area comprising of 4 major LU/LC classes with its main focus on separation of barren areas from built up areas has been attempted. The overall accuracy of the result obtained is estimated to be approximately 70%

Biomass energy technology transfer Strategies for large-scale diffusion in India

Bioenergy technologies (BETs) have potential to meet India's energy needs in a sustainable way, particularly for the vast rural areas. India is a pioneer in research and development of certain BETs such as biogas, improved cookstoves and small scale biomass gasifiers. However, developments on more advanced BETs have taken place outside India. Unless the process of technology transfer mechanisms at various levels is promoted and managed effectively, the potential benefits of these technologies to the society and environment at large may not be fully realized. This article attempts to understand the technology transfer and diffusion process for BETs, analyzes the barriers to their transfer and diffusion and finally suggests strategies for their large-scale diffusion in India

Rat brain thioltransferase: regional distribution, immunological characterization, and localization by fluorescent in situ hybridization

Thioltransferase (TTase) is a member of the family of thiol-disulfide oxidoreductases that are involved in the maintenance of sulfhydryl homeostasis in cells by catalyzing thiol-disulfide interchange reactions. One of the major consequences of oxidative stress in brain is the formation of protein-glutathione mixed disulfides (through oxidation of protein thiols), which can be reversed by TTase during the recovery of brain from oxidative stress. We therefore examined the presence of TTase in brain regions from rat. In the rat, TTase activity in the whole brain was comparable with the corresponding activity in liver, but significantly higher in hippocampus. The enzyme activity was significantly lower in striatum and cerebellum compared with activity in whole brain. Rat brain TTase shared immunological similarity with the human red blood cell enzyme, but not with the pig liver enzyme. The constitutive expression of the mRNA to TTase was demonstrable by northern blotting. Localization of the TTase mRNA in rat brain by fluorescent in situ hybridization showed the presence of high amounts of mRNA in the olfactory bulb, cortex, and hippocampus and its predominant localization in the neurons. TTase mRNA was also present in Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, in giant reticular neurons in the midbrain, and in the striatal and thalamic neurons. This study demonstrates the constitutive presence of a functional TTase system in brain and delineates the regional and cellular localization of the enzyme in rat brain

Portable rainout shelter, a useful tool in drought research

A portable rainout shelter to simulate drought conditions was developed. In drought simulation experiments the fixed place rainout shelter reduced yields of pigeon peas [Cajanus cajan] and groundnuts by 8-30% and 16-26%, respectively. Use of the automated rainout shelter reduced pigeonpea yield by 21-49%. It is concluded that portable rainout shelters were effective in producing a drought response in crops. The portable shelter construction details, including building materials and costs, are presente

Drug Metabolism in Human Brain: High Levels of Cytochrome P4503A43 in Brain and Metabolism of Anti-Anxiety Drug Alprazolam to Its Active Metabolite

Cytochrome P450 (P450) is a super-family of drug metabolizing enzymes. P450 enzymes have dual function; they can metabolize drugs to pharmacologically inactive metabolites facilitating their excretion or biotransform them to pharmacologically active metabolites which may have longer half-life than the parent drug. The variable pharmacological response to psychoactive drugs typically seen in population groups is often not accountable by considering dissimilarities in hepatic metabolism. Metabolism in brain specific nuclei may play a role in pharmacological modulation of drugs acting on the CNS and help explain some of the diverse response to these drugs seen in patient population. P450 enzymes are also present in brain where drug metabolism can take place and modify therapeutic action of drugs at the site of action. We have earlier demonstrated an intrinsic difference in the biotransformation of alprazolam (ALP) in brain and liver, relatively more α-hydroxy alprazolam (α-OHALP) is formed in brain as compared to liver. In the present study we show that recombinant CYP3A43 metabolizes ALP to both α-OHALP and 4-hydroxy alprazolam (4-OHALP) while CYP3A4 metabolizes ALP predominantly to its inactive metabolite, 4-OHALP. The expression of CYP3A43 mRNA in human brain samples correlates with formation of relatively higher levels of α-OH ALP indicating that individuals who express higher levels of CYP3A43 in the brain would generate larger amounts of α-OHALP. Further, the expression of CYP3A43 was relatively higher in brain as compared to liver across different ethnic populations. Since CYP3A enzymes play a prominent role in the metabolism of drugs, the higher expression of CYP3A43 would generate metabolite profile of drugs differentially in human brain and thus impact the pharmacodynamics of psychoactive drugs at the site of action

Particle Dark Matter Constraints from the Draco Dwarf Galaxy

It is widely thought that neutralinos, the lightest supersymmetric particles, could comprise most of the dark matter. If so, then dark halos will emit radio and gamma ray signals initiated by neutralino annihilation. A particularly promising place to look for these indicators is at the center of the local group dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco, and recent measurements of the motion of its stars have revealed it to be an even better target for dark matter detection than previously thought. We compute limits on WIMP properties for various models of Draco's dark matter halo. We find that if the halo is nearly isothermal, as the new measurements indicate, then current gamma ray flux limits prohibit much of the neutralino parameter space. If Draco has a moderate magnetic field, then current radio limits can rule out more of it. These results are appreciably stronger than other current constraints, and so acquiring more detailed data on Draco's density profile becomes one of the most promising avenues for identifying dark matter.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Rat brain thioltransferase: regional distribution, immunological characterization, and localization by fluorescent in situ hybridization

Abstract: Thioltransferase ( TTase) is a member of the family of thiol-disulfide oxidoreductases that are involved in the maintenance of sulfhydryl homeostasis in cells by catalyzing thiol-disulfide interchange reactions. One of the major consequences of oxidative stress in brain is the formation of protein-glutathione mixed disulfides (through oxidation of protein thiols), which can be reversed by TTase during the recovery of brain from oxidative stress. We therefore examined the presence of TTase in brain regions from rat. In the rat, TTase activity in the whole brain was comparable with the corresponding activity in liver, but significantly higher in hippocampus. The enzyme activity was significantly lower in striatum and cerebellum compared with activity in whole brain. Rat brain TTase shared immunological similarity with the human red blood cell enzyme, but not with the pig liver enzyme. The constitutive expression of the mRNA to TTase was demonstrable by northern blotting. Localization of the TTase mRNA in rat brain by fluorescent in situ hybridization showed the presence of high amounts of mRNA in the olfactory bulb, cortex, and hippocampus and its predominant localization in the neurons. TTase mRNA was also present in Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, in giant reticular neurons in the midbrain, and in the striatal and thalamic neurons. This study demonstrates the constitutive presence of a functional TTase system in brain and delineates the regional and cellular localization of the enzyme in rat brain. Key Words: Thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase-Thioltransferase-Glutaredoxin-Oxidative stress-Brain-Glutathione