Effect of organic source of nutrients and biofertilizers on growth, yield and quality of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) being a long crop duration, rhizomatous nature and high productivity it re-quires heavy input of fertilizers. Keeping this in view, an experiment was conducted at the Instructional farm of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal during 2009-10 and 2010-11 to study the effect of organic source of nutrients and biofertilizers on growth, yield and quality of Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.). The results revealed that application of green leaf manure (from Glyricidia maculata) @ 12tonnes/ha along with rock phosphate @ 0.2 tonnes/ha, wood ash @ 1 tonnes/ha, Azospirillum @ 5kg/ha + PSB @ 5kg/ha (T5) gave the sig-nificantly highest fresh (29.27 tonnes/ha) and dry yield (7.81 tonnes/ha) followed by vermicompost 5 tonnes/ha along with Azospirillum @ 5kg/ha + PSB @ 5kg/ha (T4) (26.30 tonnes/ha and 6.99 tonnes/ha, respectively) which was statistically at par with sole application of 30 tonnes/ha farm yard manure (T2) ( 26.00 tonnes/ha and 6.77 tonnes/ha, respectively). Next highest dry yield (6.40 tonnes/ha) was recorded in control plots (T6) of recommended dose of fertilizers at the rate of 80:80:120 kg N, P2O5 and K2O/ ha along farm yard manure @ 15 tonnes/ha. The lowest fresh yield of 19.31 tonnes/ha and dry yield (5.26 tonnes/ha) was recorded in the treatment of sole application of FYM @ 15 tonnes/ha (T1). Somewhat higher dry recovery percentage was recorded in case of all the organic treatments compared to control treatment (T6). Maximum dry recovery (27.22%) and curcumin content (5.24%) was recorded in the treatment of sole application of FYM @ 15 tonnes/ha (T1). It may be concluded that the application of green leaf manure (from Glyricidia maculata) @ 12tonnes/ha along with rock phosphate @ 0.2 tonnes/ha, wood ash @ 1 tonnes/ha, Azospirillum @ 5kg/ha and PSB @ 5kg/ha was the best treatment followed by application of Vermicompost @ 5 tonnes/ha + Azospirillium @5 kg/ha + PSB @ 5 kg/ha and application of farm yard manure @ 30 tonnes/ha treatments for dry yield and quality of turmeric

Report on an international workshop on kangaroo mother care: lessons learned and a vision for the future.

Globally, complications of prematurity are the leading cause of death in children under five. Preterm infants who survive their first month of life are at greater risk for various diseases and impairments in infancy, childhood and later life, representing a heavy social and economic burden for families, communities and health and social systems. Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is recommended as a beneficial and effective intervention for improving short- and long-term preterm birth outcomes in low- and high-income settings. Nevertheless, KMC is not as widely used as it should be. The International Network on KMC runs biennial workshops and congresses to help improve the coverage and quality of KMC worldwide. This paper reports the results of the two-day workshop held in November 2016, where 92 participants from 33 countries shared experiences in a series of round tables, group work sessions and plenaries. Barriers to and enablers of KMC are discussed with regard to parents, health workers and the health system. Key factors for effective implementation and uptake relate to appropriate training for health staff, adherence to protocols and the creation of a welcoming environment for families. Recommendations for planning for national programmes are made according to a six-stage change model. Resources and the cost of making progress are discussed in terms of investment, maintenance, and acceleration and scaling-up costs. KMC training requirements are presented according to three levels of care. To ensure quality KMC, key requisites are proposed for the different KMC components and for sensitive communication with caregivers. The group attending to the monitoring and evaluation of KMC at a national and subnational level highlight the lack of standard indicator definitions. Key priorities for investment include health services research, harmonisation of indicators, development of a costing tool, programming and scaling up, and the follow-up of preterm infants. It is hoped that this report will help to further scale-up and sustain KMC through a systematic approach that includes raising commitment, identifying key strategies to address the main barriers and using existing facilitators, ensuring training and quality, agreeing on indicators for monitoring and evaluation, and advancing implementation research

Multiple-spin coherence transfer in linear Ising spin chains and beyond: numerically-optimized pulses and experiments

We study multiple-spin coherence transfers in linear Ising spin chains with nearest neighbor couplings. These constitute a model for efficient information transfers in future quantum computing devices and for many multi-dimensional experiments for the assignment of complex spectra in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We complement prior analytic techniques for multiple-spin coherence transfers with a systematic numerical study where we obtain strong evidence that a certain analytically-motivated family of restricted controls is sufficient for time-optimality. In the case of a linear three-spin system, additional evidence suggests that prior analytic pulse sequences using this family of restricted controls are time-optimal even for arbitrary local controls. In addition, we compare the pulse sequences for linear Ising spin chains to pulse sequences for more realistic spin systems with additional long-range couplings between non-adjacent spins. We experimentally implement the derived pulse sequences in three and four spin systems and demonstrate that they are applicable in realistic settings under relaxation and experimental imperfections-in particular-by deriving broadband pulse sequences which are robust with respect to frequency offsets.Comment: 11 page

Effect of water drawdown and dynamic loads on piled raft: Two-dimensional finite element approach

© 2019 by the authors. The piled raft foundations are widely used in infrastructure built on soft soil to reduce the settlement and enhance the bearing capacity. However, these foundations pose a potential risk of failure, if dynamic traffic loading and ground conditions are not adequately accounted in the construction phase. The ground conditions are complex because of frequent groundwater fluctuations. The drawdown of the water table profoundly influences the settlement and load sharing capacity of piled raft foundation. Further, the dynamic loading can also pose a potential risk to these foundations. In this paper, the two-dimensional finite element method (FEM) is employed to analyze the impact of water drawdown and dynamic loading on the stability of piled raft. The seismic response of piled raft is also discussed. The stresses and deformations occurring in and around the raft structure are evaluated. The results demonstrate that water drawdown has a significant effect on the stability and seismic response of piled raft. Various foundation improvement methods are assessed, such as the use of geotextile and increasing thickness of the pile cap, which AIDS of limiting the settlement

Finite element modeling of ballasted rail track capturing effects of geosynthetic inclusions

© 2019 Jiang and Nimbalkar. This paper presents a two dimensional finite element (FE) approach to investigating beneficial aspects of geogrids in the railway track. The influences of different factors including the subgrade strength, the geogrid stiffness, the placement depth of geogrid, the effective width of geogrid, the strength of ballast-geogrid interface and the combination of double geogrid layers were investigated under the monotonic loading. The results indicated the role of geogrid reinforcement is more pronounced over the weak compressible subgrade. A stiffer geogrid reduces ballast settlement and produces a more uniform stress distribution along a track. The placement location of a geogrid is suggested at the ballast-sub-ballast interface to achieve better reinforcement results. Although the width of a geogrid layer should be sufficient to cover an entire loaded area, excessive width does not guarantee additional benefits. Higher interface strength between a ballast and a geogrid is beneficial for effective reinforcement. Increasing the number of geogrid layers is an effective way to reinforce the ballast over weak subgrades. The results of the limited cyclic FE simulations revealed the consistency of the reinforcement effect of the geogrids under monotonic and cyclic loads

Particle breakage of granular materials during sample preparation

© 2019 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Particle breakage is commonly observed in granular materials when subjected to external loads. It was found that particle breakage would occur during both sample preparation and loading stages. However, main attention was usually paid to the particle breakage behaviour of samples during loading stage. This study attempts to explore the breakage behaviour of granular materials during sample preparation. Triaxial samples of rockfill aggregates are prepared by layered compaction method to achieve different relative densities. Extents of particle breakage based on the gradings before and after test are presented and analysed. It is found that particle breakage during sample preparation cannot be ignored. Gradings after test are observed to shift away from the initial grading. Aggregates with larger size that appear to break are more than the smaller-sized ones. Irrespective of the initial gradings, an increase in the extent of particle breakage with the increasing relative density is observed during sample preparation

Performance of ballasted track under impact loading and applications of recycled rubber inclusion

© 2018 Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. In this paper a review of the sources of impact loads and their effect on the performance of ballasted track is presented. The typical characteristics and implications of impact loading on track deterioration, particularly ballast degradation, are discussed. None of the procedures so far developed to design rail track incorporate the impact that dynamic loading has on the breakage of ballast and therefore it can be said to be incomplete. An intensive study on the impact of induced ballast breakage is needed in order to understand this phenomenon and then use the knowledge gained to further advance the design methodology. A stiff track structure can create severe dynamic loading under operating conditions which causes large scale component failure and increases maintenance requirements. Installing resilient mats such as rubber pads (ballast mat, soffit pad) in rail tracks can attenuate the dynamic force and improve overall performance. The efficacy of ballast mats to reduce structural noise and ground vibration has been studied extensively, but a few recent studies has reported how ballast mats and soffit pads reduce ballast degradation, thus obviating the necessity of a comprehensive study in this direction

Contact Pressure Distribution on Subgrade Soil Underlying Geocell Reinforced Foundation Beds

© Copyright © 2019 Dash, Saikia and Nimbalkar. High contact stresses generated in the foundation soil, owing to increased load, causes distress, instability, and large settlements. Present days, geocell reinforcement is being widely used for the performance improvement of foundation beds. Pressure distribution on subgrade soil in geocell reinforced foundation beds is studied through model tests and numerical analysis. The test data indicates that with provision of geocell reinforcement the contact pressure on the subgrade soil reduces significantly. Consequently, the subgrade soil tends to remain intact until large loadings on the foundation leading to significant performance improvement. Through numerical analysis it is observed that the geocells in the region under the footing were subjected to compression and beyond were in tension. This indicates that the geocell reinforcement right under the footing directly sustains the footing loading through mobilization of its compressive stiffness and bending rigidity. Whereas, the end portions of the geocell reinforcement, contribute to the performance improvement in a secondary manner through mobilization of anchorage derived from soil passive resistance and friction