Morphological response of the saltmarsh habitats of the Guadiana estuary due to flow regulation and sea-level rise

In the context of rapid sea-level rise in the 21st century, the reduction of fluvial sediment supply due to the regulation of river discharge represents a major challenge for the management of estuarine ecosystems. Therefore, the present study aims to assess the cumulative impacts of the reduction of river discharge and projected sea-level rise on the morphological evolution of the Guadiana estuary during the 21st century. The assessment was based on a set of analytical solutions to simplified equations of tidal wave propagation in shallow waters and empirical knowledge of the system. As methods applied to estimate environmental flows do not take into consideration the fluvial discharge required to maintain saltmarsh habitats and the impact of sea-level rise, simulations were carried out for ten cases in terms of base river flow and sea-level rise so as to understand their sensitivity on the deepening of saltmarsh platforms.Results suggest saltmarsh habitats may not be affected severely in response to lower limit scenarios of sea-level rise and sedimentation. A similar behaviour can be expected even due to the upper limit scenarios until 2050, but with a significant submergence afterwards. In the case of the upper limit scenarios under scrutiny, there was a net erosion of sediment from the estuary. Multiplications of amplitudes of the base flow function by factors 1.5, 2, and 5 result in reduction of the estimated net eroded sediment volume by 25, 40, and 80%, respectively, with respect to the net eroded volume for observed river discharge. The results also indicate that defining the minimum environmental flow as a percentage of dry season flow (as done presently) should be updated to include the full spectrum of natural flows, incorporating temporal variability to better anticipate scenarios of sea-level rise during this century. As permanent submergence of intertidal habitats can be significant after 2050, due to the projected 79 cm rise of sea-level by the year 2100, a multi-dimensional approach should be adopted to mitigate the consequences of sea-level rise and strong flow regulations on the ecosystem of the Guadiana Estuary. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Finding the unfound: Recovery of missing URLs through Internet Archive

The study investigated the accessibility and permanency of citations containing URLs in the articles published in DESIDOC Journal of Library and Information Technology journal during 2006-2015. A total of 2133 URL citations were identified out of which 823 were found to be incorrect or missing. HTTP-404 was the most common error message associated with the missing URLs. The study also tried to recover the incorrect or URL citations using Internet Archive and recovered a total of 484 (58.81%) missing URL citations

Impact of Reading habits on the Academic Achievements: A Survey

The present paper examines the impact of reading habits on the academic achievements of the students and faculty members in the universities of Karnataka state. The survey was conducted using a well design and structured questionnaire. A total of 2463 postgraduate students, research scholars and faculty members participated in the study. The study population consisted of an equal number of males (50.2%) and female (49.8%) and most of them (63%) are from rural areas. The study found that the majority of the respondents are from Science (48.8%) disciplines. The study found that almost all the respondents have reading habits and most of the them read at their home (69.1%), followed by university library (48.6%). It is very interesting to note that 57.7% of the respondents read books everyday. The study found that, most of the respondents preferred to read newspapers/magazines (69.5%), followed by books (58.9%). The study found that to a great extent, the majority of the respondents read various information sources, because they are interested in the topic of the study (53.2%). The study found that, the reading habit has made an impact on the academic achievements of the respondents. Further, it is found that reading habit has been acting as a channel for gaining real world of knowledge. Further, it also improved mental capacity and enhanced the reading skills in everyday life

Computer usage in teaching and learning among Indian Academics: Exploring the Gender disparity

This study aims to explore the gender disparity in Computer usage for teaching and learning among Indian academics. A total of 2463 samples were selected from 11 state universities in Karnataka, India. A well designed questionnaire was used to collect the data from the respondents. The result shows that, half of the male (50.2%) and female (49.8%) respondents used computer. Further, most of the male respondents used computer every day (58.0%) compared to female (42.0%) respondents. The present study found that majority of the respondents used computer for the research purpose (Male=55.6%, female=44.4%), followed by to read the e-books/e-journals, (Male=54.7%, female=45.3%) to prepare notes, to access Internet (Male=50.6%, female=49.4%), to prepare presentation slides (Male=50.1%, female=49.9%), to prepare class assignments (Male=49.1%, female=50.9%) and to improve typing skills (Male=51.8%, female=48.2%) and also to prepare project reports (Male=48.4%, female=51.6%)

Operation of the helicopter antenna radiation prediction code

HARP is a front end as well as a back end for the AMC and NEWAIR computer codes. These codes use the Method of Moments (MM) and the Uniform Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (UTD), respectively, to calculate the electromagnetic radiation patterns for antennas on aircraft. The major difficulty in using these codes is in the creation of proper input files for particular aircraft and in verifying that these files are, in fact, what is intended. HARP creates these input files in a consistent manner and allows the user to verify them for correctness using sophisticated 2 and 3D graphics. After antenna field patterns are calculated using either MM or UTD, HARP can display the results on the user's screen or provide hardcopy output. Because the process of collecting data, building the 3D models, and obtaining the calculated field patterns was completely automated by HARP, the researcher's productivity can be many times what it could be if these operations had to be done by hand. A complete, step by step, guide is provided so that the researcher can quickly learn to make use of all the capabilities of HARP

Rod photoreceptors drive circadian photoentrainment across a wide range of light intensities.

In mammals, synchronization of the circadian pacemaker in the hypothalamus is achieved through direct input from the eyes conveyed by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). Circadian photoentrainment can be maintained by rod and cone photoreceptors, but their functional contributions and their retinal circuits that impinge on ipRGCs are not well understood. Using mice that lack functional rods or in which rods are the only functional photoreceptors, we found that rods were solely responsible for photoentrainment at scotopic light intensities. Rods were also capable of driving circadian photoentrainment at photopic intensities at which they were incapable of supporting a visually guided behavior. Using mice in which cone photoreceptors were ablated, we found that rods signal through cones at high light intensities, but not at low light intensities. Thus, rods use two distinct retinal circuits to drive ipRGC function to support circadian photoentrainment across a wide range of light intensities

Could homocysteine, angiotensin and alamandine be used as potential biomarkers in management of COVID-19?

The corona virus is now known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Risk predictors and novel predictors associated with COVID-19 is required to enable the risk stratification, guide interventional studies to target patients at enhanced risk of developing severe disease risk and optimize the allocation of limited human and technical resources in the ongoing pandemic all over the globe. The present review focused on potential laboratory biomarkers associated with COVID-19. We carried out an electronic search in Medline (PubMed central), Scopus, Web of Science and using the keywords laboratory, biomarkers, novel biomarkers, corona virus 2019 or COVID-19. We observed that limited data were found that related to homocysteine and angiotensin II in COVID-19 patients. Hence original research on these novel biomarkers which associated with the complication of COVID-19 might be given new clues especially that mediate anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects leading to cardiovascular, renal-protective actions. The present review proposed by the available literature, these predictors might be the potent biomarkers to improve management of corona virus. Further, large cohort studies will be required to support conclusions of present review

Standardization Quality Control and Development of Poly Herbal Formulation for the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Herbal medicines are the oldest form of health care known to mankind. A number of traditional herbal medicinal practices have been adopted for the diagnostic prevention and treatment of various diseases. Based on the extensive review of literature, Six raw materials were selected for the formulated as polyherbal tablet and the antidiabetic potency was evaluated in cell line. The herbal raw materials were analyzed for identity, quality and purity as per the standards prescribed by WHO and Ayurvedic Pharmacopeia of India. The Physiochemical parameters like Loss on drying, ash values and extractive values were determined, which will help in preventing variation in quality of the drugs. Preliminary phytochemical investigation revealed the presence of various phytoconstituents such as alkaloid, steroids, glycosides, Flavonoids, Phenols, Tannins, and terpenoid in the raw materials. The safety of the raw materials was analysed by heavy metals the results found within the standard limits given by WHO. The extracts were dried by tray drying and used for the formulation. HPTLC fingerprinting of the polyherbal formulation was performed and the resultant chromatogram showed the presence of peaks as same in HPTLC fingerprint of extracts. The chromatogram can be used as an index for the qualitative analysis of the formulation. The dried polyherbal extract was optimized for its quality measures and its batch consistency by making nine different trial batches (Trial 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9). The trials were subjected to preformulation parameters to confirm the uniformity and quality. The result concludes that the trial 9 was excellent in all parameters and the values were found within the standard limits and it was used for formulate Polyherbal Tablet. The developed polyherbal Tablets were standardized for its Description, uniformity of weight, disintegration time, moisture content, pH, Physiochemical parameters, and phytochemical studies. Quantitative estimation of phytoconstituents was done for flavonoid, phenols, and tannins. The heavy metal analysis was carried out in polyherbal formulation as per the WHO Guidelines and found within the limits. In vitro anti-diabetic activity was done by using α-glucosidase inhibition assay method. It possesses significant antidiabetic activity as compared to standard Acarbose. 3T3-L1 cell line was performed. The formulation showed significant effect compared to the standard. The phytochemical study showed the presence of flavonoids. This may be responsible for the potent anti diabetic activity. Further studies are recommended for stability studies in the formulated polyherbal tablet and also clinical trials have to perform in future in Human Volunteers

Role of glucose in enhancing life and potency of Cirrhinus mrigala spermatozoa during cryopreservation

Cryopreservation of fish gametes is an emerging technology and breeding with cryopreserved gametes is advancement in fish seed production. Success of cryopreservation is evaluated by the post - thaw motility of the spermatozoa, an for which energy is required. Cryopreservation is known to cause changes in the seminal plasma that would alter the energy supply for the motility of the spermatozoa. Therefore, energy supplementation is found to be useful during cryopreservation. Cirrhinus mrigala spermatozoa were cryopreserved along with glucose as a co-cryoprotectant after 1:100 dilutions with 0.85% physiological saline as extender and Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) as cryoprotectant (85:15). The diluents contained glucose at four different concentrations, viz., T1 (0.25%), T2 (0.5%), T3 (0.75%) and T4 (1%). The diluted milt was equilibrated for 10 min at 5? C and loaded into 0.25 ml straws. The loaded straws were then frozen with LN2 vapour for 5 min and immersed in liquid nitrogen. Observations were made once in 7 days for 42 days on motility parameters based on which the duration, score, pattern and percentage were determined. The spermatozoa cryopreserved with glucose at 0.5% concentration showed the highest motility duration of 204±3.6 s whereas Control group showed motility duration of only 83.33± 4.5 s on 42nd day. The difference in motility duration was statistically significant (P>0.025).The present study revealed the benefits of adding glucose a t0.5% during cryopreservation as it could help in maintaining the motility duration and survival of spermatozoa