ICT-based reforms in local government decision-making in the gram panchayats of Kerala

The beneficial impact of computerisation can be felt in all elements that contribute to decision-making in panchayats in the state of Kerala. However, even though computerisation is bringing about immense improvements compared to traditional administrative practices, but scope still remains for further improvement. Instead of the 'as it is' computerisation that is mostly carried out a process based approach is needed

On the Noisy Feedback Capacity of Gaussian Broadcast Channels

It is well known that, in general, feedback may enlarge the capacity region of Gaussian broadcast channels. This has been demonstrated even when the feedback is noisy (or partial-but-perfect) and only from one of the receivers. The only case known where feedback has been shown not to enlarge the capacity region is when the channel is physically degraded (El Gamal 1978, 1981). In this paper, we show that for a class of two-user Gaussian broadcast channels (not necessarily physically degraded), passively feeding back the stronger user's signal over a link corrupted by Gaussian noise does not enlarge the capacity region if the variance of feedback noise is above a certain threshold.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in IEEE Information Theory Workshop 2015, Jerusale

Role of phosphate solubilizing fungi during phosphocompost production and their effect on the growth of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L) plants

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of phosphate solubilizing fungi (Aspergillus awamori and Trichoderma viride) in phosphocompost preparation along with low grade rock phosphate. Co-inoculation of phosphate-solubilizing fungi significantly increased the nutrient value of the compost that explores high P-solubilizing potential of A.awamori and T.viride which can be exploited for the solubilization of fixed phosphates thereby enhancing soil fertility and plant growth. Rock phosphate application along with phosphate solubilizing fungi increased 69.2% acid phosphatase and 65% alkaline phosphatase activity over ordinary compost. With co-inoculation, maximum P content (64.3%) was observed followed by single inoculation with A.awamori (62.2%). The present findings revealed that phosphate solubilizing fungi can interact positively in promoting nutrient content of compost and plant growth leading to improved yield

Geology and wines of Pachino - Portopalo area : preliminary outlines

This research, still in a developmental phase, analyses geological peculiarities and the relation- ships between them and the vineyards typical to the Pachino-Portopalo area. The actual knowledge does not yet allow the drawing of tourist routes from which a geo-tourist would be able to join together Geosites and Oenosites. This will be one of the main topics of future research, oriented to produce substantial contributions to the sustainable development of this area.peer-reviewe

The Experiential Facets of Special Interest Tourism Offerings of Wayanad, Kerala

Wayanad, an exquisite hill station of Kerala, is emerging as one of the most preferred destinations for nature lovers as well as special interest tourists. Keeping in mind the demand for Special Interest Tourism (SIT) promotion and with the objective of sustaining the natural and unique cultural heritage of Wayanad, an attempt is made in this paper to explore the special interest tourism avenues of Wayanad. All the popular tourist sites of the destination have been personally visited to get firsthand information about the potential for Special interest tourism. An Effort is also made to know the perception of service providers about the current trends in special interest tourism in Wayand. For this, a qualitative study has been conducted based on interaction with various travel and accommodation service providers of Wayanad. Few of the specialised tour proiders were also interviewed for this study. Content analysis was done to interpret the data collected through interviews. The result of the study brings to light the tremendous potential for SIT In Wayanad and its significance for sustainable tourism development

In silico analysis of c-Met expression and its correlation with metabolic network in head and neck cancer

Background: Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) is strongly associated with metabolic dysregulations. c-Met activation is important for high glucose induced acquisition of mesenchymal phenotype, survival under high glucose stress in HNSCC cells. Here, we utilise the In silico approach to analyse the c-Met expression in the head and neck cancer data extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and its strong correlation with genes associated with cancer cell metabolism. Methods: In the current study, our investigations were performed using different bioinformatics tools and databases, including GEPIA (a webserver which extracts data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data portal and the GTEx database of normal tissues. http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn), and STRING databases (functional protein association networks (https://string-db.org/). Results: Here, we report the upregulation of c-Met in HNSCC patient cases along with a significant upregulation of major metabolic genes such as GLUT-1, HK-II, LDH-A, MCT-1, PFK in the HNSCC patient cases as compared to normal samples obtained from TCGA databases. Moreover, the current study revealed the c-Met overexpression across the histological and molecular subtypes of different HNSCC patient cases. We also showed the possible association of c-Met expression between the metabolic gene expression in HNSCC patient samples. We showed that patients with higher expression of c-Met had a shorter overall survival time and worse prognosis, and c-Met higher-expression levels also resulted in worse disease free survival in many cancers, confirming the association of c-Met and metabolic related genes with poor clinical outcomes in HNSCC. Furthermore, the protein-protein network analysis identifies the co-expression of metabolic associated genes with the c-Met. Conclusions: Our analysis suggests the correlation with higher expression of c-Met with a shorter overall survival and worse prognosis of HNSCC patients. Furthermore, the proteinprotein network analysis identifies the co-expression of metabolic associated genes with the c-Met expression. Those genes with moderate and very strong positive correlations with cMet expression in cancers are involved in the glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, cell cycle process. Considering c-Met inhibition in HNSCC would be an important strategy for therapy that may favour the sensitization of HNSCC through metabolic network