Anthropogenic Impacts on Aquatic Insects in Six Streams of South Western Ghats

Diversity patterns of aquatic insects among sampling sites lying with!ç the unprotected and protected areas of Western Ghats were studied. This study primarily emphasizes whether anthropogenic influence is the prime cause for the presence of aquatic insects especialIy of pollution-sensitive organisms belonging to the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera, or to factors such as the physico-chemical features of the water, or sampling methods. Six streams were sampled quantitatively, of which three streams (Abbifalls, Monkey falls and SiIver Cascade) were within protected areas and the remaining three streams (Kumbakarai, Shenbagadevi and Manimutharu falls) were in unprotected areas. A total of 3,209 individual aquatic insects belonging to 25 genera, 18 families and 7 orders were collected. The highest species richness and abundance was observed in Monkey falls followed by Kumbakkarai falls. Large çumbers of more habitat-sensitive organisms such as Ecdyonurus sp., Epeorus sp., Thalerosphyrus sp., Euthraulus sp., and Nathanella sp., were found in Monkey falls. Though the species assemblage was somewhat different, pollution-sensitive taxa were also observed in Kumbakkarai falls. Shenbagadevi and Manimutharu falls had a lower diversity of aquatic insects. The likely causes of these differences are discussed

Yield and fibre quality components analysis in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) under salinity

Cotton being an important cash crop of India plays a distinguished role in energizing the economy of the country by fetching appreciable amount of foreign exchange annually. The cotton production of country is improving significantly but the yield per unit area is still lower than that of the other countries due to some biotic and abiotic factors. Amongst the abiotic stresses, salinity is a serious threat next to drought. Keeping in view, the present study was conducted to assess the salt tolerance of 32 popular upland varieties released for general cultivation between 1980 and 2001 in India. The study was carried out in normal as well as saline-alkaline condition; in which salinity were created using bore well water irrigation and the average electrical conductivity level of bore well water is 3.10 ds/m. The 32 upland cotton genotypes under both salinity and normal conditions revealed high GCV and genetic gain for number of bolls per plant, boll weight, lint yield per plant, 2.5 per cent span length, leaf area index, Na-K ratio and seed cotton yield and these traits could be improved by simple selection. Correlation and path analysis studies revealed that the seed cotton yield was highly influenced by lint yield per plant in both normal and salinealkaline condition. Significant positive correlations exists between Bartlett's rate index with uniformity ratio, 2.5 per cent span length with bundle strength, uniformity ratio with micronaire and elongation percent, specific leaf area with leaf area index. These results clearly indicated that selection for any one of these traits might lead to concurrent improvement of other traits as well as seed cotton yield. The characters boll weight (-0.347), ginning out turn (-0.528), 2.5% span length (-0.312) and uniformity ratio (-0.440) registered high order negative direct effect on seed cotton yield. This result further confirms the negative association between the quality and yield

Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Caddisflies in Streams of Southern Western Ghats

The dynamics of physico-chemical factors and their effects on caddisfly communities were examined in 29 streams of southern Western Ghats. Monthly samples were collected from the Thadaganachiamman stream of Sirumalai Hills, Tamil Nadu from May 2006 to April 2007. Southwest and northeast monsoons favored the existence of caddisfly population in streams. A total of 20 caddisfly taxa were collected from 29 streams of southern Western Ghats. Hydropsyche (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae) were more widely distributed throughout sampling sites than were the other taxa. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that elevation was a major variable and pH, stream order, and stream substrates were minor variables affecting taxa richness. These results suggested that habitat heterogeneity and seasonal changes were stronger predictors of caddisfly assemblages than large-scale patterns in landscape diversity

Sorghum improvement (1980–2010): Status and way forward

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is the fifth most important cereal crop globally and is the dietary staple of more than 500 million people in over 90 countries, primarily in the developing world (Reddy et al. 2010). With its C4 photosynthetic pathway, it is adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. It has multiple uses as a food, feed, fodder, fuel and fiber crop (Paterson et al. 2009). More than 35 percent of world sorghum production is going for food consumption (Awika and Rooney 2004) by the poorest of the poor in the largely low-income deficit countries. Worldwide, it is grown on about 40 million ha, of which about 9 million ha are cultivated in Asia; of this the largest area is in India (7.53 milion ha) which has a production of 7.25 million t (FAOSTAT 2011)

Postrainy season sorghum: Constraints and breeding approaches

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is the fifth most important cereal crop in the world. Different types of sorghum are recognized. These are: grain sorghum, dual purpose (grain and fodder) sorghum, fodder sorghum, forage sorghum and sweet stalk sorghum. Also two types of sorghums are noted based on the season of adaptation; these are rainy (wet) season or postrainy (dry) season sorghum. There are two distinct sorghum growing seasons in India, kharif (rainy season; June–October) and rabi (postrainy season; October–January). In India, the grain productivity is about 1.2 t ha-1 in the rainy season, and about 0.8 t ha-1 in the postrainy season whereas the global grain productivity of sorghum is 1.4 t ha-1 (FAOSTAT 2011). The grain sorghum requirements for these two seasonal adaptations are quite diverse due to different agroclimatic conditions (Rana et al. 1997). There has been a significant decline in area under grain and dual purpose sorghum during the rainy season due to grain molds, but the area has remained stable in the postrainy season where mostly dual purpose sorghums are cultivated

Tool wear monitoring using neuro-fuzzy techniques: a comparative study in a turning process

Tool wear detection is a key issue for tool condition monitoring. The maximization of useful tool life is frequently related with the optimization of machining processes. This paper presents two model-based approaches for tool wear monitoring on the basis of neuro-fuzzy techniques. The use of a neuro-fuzzy hybridization to design a tool wear monitoring system is aiming at exploiting the synergy of neural networks and fuzzy logic, by combining human reasoning with learning and connectionist structure. The turning process that is a well-known machining process is selected for this case study. A four-input (i.e., time, cutting forces, vibrations and acoustic emissions signals) single-output (tool wear rate) model is designed and implemented on the basis of three neuro-fuzzy approaches (inductive, transductive and evolving neuro-fuzzy systems). The tool wear model is then used for monitoring the turning process. The comparative study demonstrates that the transductive neuro-fuzzy model provides better error-based performance indices for detecting tool wear than the inductive neuro-fuzzy model and than the evolving neuro-fuzzy model

Using Barkhausen Noise to Measure Coating Depth of Coated High-Speed Steel

Coated high-speed steel tools are widely used in machining processes as they offer an excellent tool life to cost ratio, but they quickly need replacing once the coated layer is worn away. It would be therefore useful to be able to measure the tool life remaining non-destructively and cheaply. To achieve this, the work presented here aims to measure the thickness of the coated layer of high-speed cutting tools by using Barkhausen noise (BHN) techniques. Coated high-speed steel specimens coated with two different materials (chromium nitride (CrN), titanium nitride (TiN)) were tested using a cost-effective measuring system developed for this study. Sensory features were extracted from the signal received from a pick-up coil and the signal features, Root mean square, peak count, and signal energy, were successfully correlated with the thickness of the coating layer on high-speed steel (HSS) specimens. The results suggest that the Barkhausen noise measuring system developed in this study can successfully indicate the different thickness of the coating layer on CrN/TiN coated HSS specimens

MGEx-Udb: A Mammalian Uterus Database for Expression-Based Cataloguing of Genes across Conditions, Including Endometriosis and Cervical Cancer

Gene expression profiling of uterus tissue has been performed in various contexts, but a significant amount of the data remains underutilized as it is not covered by the existing general resources.). The database can be queried with gene names/IDs, sub-tissue locations, as well as various conditions such as the cervical cancer, endometrial cycles and disorders, and experimental treatments. Accordingly, the output would be a) transcribed and dormant genes listed for the queried condition/location, or b) expression profile of the gene of interest in various uterine conditions. The results also include the reliability score for the expression status of each gene. MGEx-Udb also provides information related to Gene Ontology annotations, protein-protein interactions, transcripts, promoters, and expression status by other sequencing techniques, and facilitates various other types of analysis of the individual genes or co-expressed gene clusters.In brief, MGEx-Udb enables easy cataloguing of co-expressed genes and also facilitates bio-marker discovery for various uterine conditions

Identification of Specific Oral and Gut Pathogens in Full Thickness Colon of Colitis Patients: Implications for Colon Motility

Impaired colon motility is one of the leading problems associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). An expanding body of evidence supports the role of microbiome in normal gut function and in progression of IBD. The objective of this work is to determine whether diseased full thickness colon specimens, including the neuromuscular region (critical for colon motility function), contain specific oral and gut pathogens. In addition, we compared the differences in colon microbiome between Caucasians (CA) and African Americans (AA). Thirty-nine human full thickness colon (diseased colon and adjacent healthy colon) specimens were collected from Crohn's Colitis (CC) or Ulcerative Colitis (UC) patients while they underwent elective colon surgeries. We isolated and analyzed bacterial ribosomal RNA (rRNA) from colon specimens by amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene region. The microbiome proportions were quantified into Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) by analysis with Quantitative Insights Into Microbial ecology (QIIME) platform. Two hundred twenty-eight different bacterial species were identified by QIIME analysis. However, we could only decipher the species name of fifty-three bacteria. Our results show that proportion of non-detrimental bacteria in CC or UC colon samples were altered compared to adjacent healthy colon specimens. We further show, for the first time in full thickness colon specimens, that microbiome of CC and UC diseased specimens is dominated by putative oral pathogens belonging to the Phyla Firmicutes (Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Peptostreptococcus), and Fusobacteria (Fusobacterium). In addition, we have identified patterns of differences in microbiome levels between CA and AA specimens with potential implications for health disparities research. Overall, our results suggest a significant association between oral and gut microbes in the modulation of colon motility in colitis patients