Broilers’ Supply Value Chain in the National Capital Region Delhi: A Case Study of Ghazipur Poultry Market

The marketing of broilers/chicken meat in the National Capital Region (NCR) Delhi has been compared in two distinct kinds of markets, viz. organized (shopping malls, organized multi-product retailers) and unorganized or primarily wet markets (exclusive chicken dressers, poultry meat retailers, etc.). Data have been collected from various functionaries involved in marketing of broilers/poultry meat in the NCR Delhi during the year 2008-09 through primary survey. The most prominent channel in the unorganized broiler market has been found as: Producer-Wholesaler- Dresser-cum-Retailers –Consumer, whereas the same in the organized market as Producer - Commission agent- Supplier-Distributor- Shopping Malls/ Hotels/ Retailer-Consumer. The marketing cost, marketing margins, price spread and producers’ share in consumers’ rupee, in the most efficient unorganized marketing channel have been found as Rs 10480, Rs 30220, Rs 40700 per tonne (live wt. basis) and 62 per cent, respectively, whereas the corresponding figures in the most efficient organized marketing channel were Rs 12750, Rs 76350, Rs 88500 per tonne and 43 per cent. The wholesale regulated poultry market at Ghazipur was the key supply centre for chicken in the NCR Delhi. The average daily arrival in the poultry market has been found over one lakh broilers accounting for about 50 per cent sales in Delhi. Over 70 per cent of the broilers at Ghazipur Poultry Market are manually dressed. The manual poultry processing has provided direct employment to nearly 5000 workers. The manual dressing of broilers has resulted in value addition of about 50 per cent on live weight basis and production of over 20 chicken meat products/ by-products. The study has also assessed the pros and cons of manual dressing of broilers vis-à-vis mechanical processing and has estimated the cost of processing in the two systems. It has been observed that manual dressing of broilers is not only cheaper but also provides employment and livelihood to a large number of illiterate and/ or semi-skilled workers. Hence, the study has suggested to improve and organize the manual dressing system so that the qualitative aspects and concerns about health and hygiene could also be addressed. Erratic power supply, long power cuts, lack of refrigerated transportation facility, poor monitoring of food safety and quality norms in manual processing, rampant corruption in transportation of live chickens, etc. have been identified as the major constraints in marketing of broilers/chicken meat in the NCR Delhi.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Morley Type Virtual Element Method for Von K\'{a}rm\'{a}n Equations

This paper analyses the nonconforming Morley type virtual element method to approximate a regular solution to the von K\'{a}rm\'{a}n equations that describes bending of very thin elastic plates. Local existence and uniqueness of a discrete solution to the non-linear problem is discussed. A priori error estimate in the energy norm is established under minimal regularity assumptions on the exact solution. Error estimates in piecewise $H^1$ and $L^2$ norm are also derived. A working procedure to find an approximation for the discrete solution using Newtons method is discussed. Numerical results that justify theoretical estimates are presented.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables Submitted to a journa

Star Classification: A Deep Learning Approach for Identifying Binary and Exoplanet Stars

We present a novel approach for classifying stars as binary or exoplanet using deep learning techniques. Our method utilizes feature extraction, wavelet transformation, and a neural network on the light curves of stars to achieve high-accuracy results. We have also compiled a dataset of binary and exoplanet stars for training and validation by cross-matching observations from multiple space-based telescopes with catalogs of known binary and exoplanet stars. The application of wavelet transformation on the light curves has reduced the number of data points and improved the training time. Our algorithm has shown exceptional performance, with a test accuracy of 81.17%. This method can be applied to large datasets from current and future space-based telescopes, providing an efficient and accurate way of classifying stars.Comment: In Review: MNRA

IN VITRO CYTOTOXICITY EFFECT ON MCF-7 CELL LINE OF CO-ENCAPSULATED ARTESUNATE AND CURCUMIN LIPOSOME

Objective: Cancer drug delivery has focused using novel carrier system due to their high drug loading and release controlled property and minimum side effect. Artesunate (ART) and curcumin (CUR) are proved natural herbal lead chemotherapeutics used as Chinese and Indian food. But due to its low absorption and the poor bioavailability limits its clinical efficacy. The object of the present work was to investigate the cytotoxic vs apoptotic effect of these herbal lead molecules in the co-encapsulated liposome formulation.Methods: ART and CUR liposome were prepared by thin film hydration method. Because of their opposite solubility nature, ART loaded in the aqueous phase at pH 7.4 while CUR is present in the central core through lipophilic interaction. In vitro cytotoxicity action of the free and liposomal formulation was performed by MTT assay.Results: Physiochemical parameters were evaluated and compared to the co-encapsulated formulation of containing both molecules. The mean diameter around 200 nm, low polydispersity index and co-encapsulation efficiency were found to be 90%. Co-encapsulation in nanometer size is beneficial for uptake and photo-stability of a drug. The in vitro cytotoxic effect of the co-encapsulated formulation was shown a better result than individual drug and also gives the clue for apoptosis. IC50 value for ART, CUR and Liposome was found to be 297.61 µg/ml and 60.60 µg/ml respectively. The result explained the co-encapsulation of curcumin with artesunate is show an ameliorative effect for repositioning therapeutic efficacy of the drug.Conclusion: We observed that human breast cancer MCF-7 cells were relatively resistant to ART and sensitive to CUR. Treatment with ART plus CUR had a synergistic cytotoxic, and apoptotic effect was mediated by up regulation of DR4 and DR5 m RNA expression

Improving circuit miniaturization and its efficiency using Rough Set Theory

High-speed, accuracy, meticulousness and quick response are notion of the vital necessities for modern digital world. An efficient electronic circuit unswervingly affects the maneuver of the whole system. Different tools are required to unravel different types of engineering tribulations. Improving the efficiency, accuracy and low power consumption in an electronic circuit is always been a bottle neck problem. So the need of circuit miniaturization is always there. It saves a lot of time and power that is wasted in switching of gates, the wiring-crises is reduced, cross-sectional area of chip is reduced, the number of transistors that can implemented in chip is multiplied many folds. Therefore to trounce with this problem we have proposed an Artificial intelligence (AI) based approach that make use of Rough Set Theory for its implementation. Theory of rough set has been proposed by Z Pawlak in the year 1982. Rough set theory is a new mathematical tool which deals with uncertainty and vagueness. Decisions can be generated using rough set theory by reducing the unwanted and superfluous data. We have condensed the number of gates without upsetting the productivity of the given circuit. This paper proposes an approach with the help of rough set theory which basically lessens the number of gates in the circuit, based on decision rules.Comment: The International Conference on Machine Intelligence Research and Advancement,ICMIRA-201

Lack of research aptitude in medical education

Students are attracted towards the medical profession to become a doctor and not to be a researcher. According to a recent study there are about 1,00,000 undergraduate medical students in India at a given point of time, out of them only 0.9% of the students have shown research aptitude. During their training period of graduation in medical sciences, they are so much burdened with the work load of exams, practicals, ward duties and tutorials. In such an over burdened situation very few of them can think about research. A study had shown that training in research methodology received early in medical school helps students to develop a positive attitude towards research. So changes in the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum are required to promote research among medical students

Essential determinants of Anaemia among children of Uttar Pradesh (India): Evidence from National Family Health Surveys

Background: Using data from the National Family Health Survey, present study was planned to find out the determinants of anaemia in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Aims & Objective: To find out the level and determinants of trend of anaemia. Binary logistic regression was used to examine the factors affecting anaemia among children of Uttar Pradesh. Results & Conclusion: In Uttar Pradesh, there were about 38% of the literate mothers, 23.3% were employed and 34.5% were undernourished. Anaemia level among male were 72.6% and 73.4% among females, about 74.6% in rural areas and 69.7%in urban areas. Maternal Anaemia was present in 77.2 %of women. About 73.9% children are anemic in the Uttar Pradesh state followed by female 49.9% and male 24.3%. The prevalence of severe anaemia is the highest 3.6% in children followed by women 1.6 % and men 2.0%. Children aged 13 to 24 months are significantly (OR; 6.05, CI; 4.04-9.04) more likely to be severely anemic compared to children of 25 to 59 months