Fighting malaria in Madhya Pradesh (Central India): Are we loosing the battle?

Malaria control in Madhya Pradesh is complex because of vast tracts of forest with tribal settlement. Fifty four million individuals of various ethnic origins, accounting for 8% of the total population of India, contributed 30% of total malaria cases, 60% of total falciparum cases and 50% of malaria deaths in the country. Ambitious goals to control tribal malaria by launching "Enhanced Malaria Control Project" (EMCP) by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), with the World Bank assistance, became effective in September 1997 in eight north Indian states. Under EMCP, the programme used a broader mix of new interventions, i.e. insecticide-treated bed nets, spraying houses with effective residual insecticides, use of larvivorous fishes, rapid diagnostic tests for prompt diagnosis, treatment of the sick with effective radical treatment and increased public awareness and IEC. However, the challenge is to scale up these services

Faunal component in the diet of lion-tailed macaques

The paper reports the information on the faunal component in the diet of wild lion-tailed macaques. The faunal component accounts for about 19 per cent of the total diet. There is more intake of faunal items during the dry months from December to May when fruit availability is low, as compared to the wet months from June to November. The faunal intake at different times of the day and by different age-sex classes does not differ. Invertebrates constitute the largest portion of the faunal diet. The smaller animals are captured and eaten by all age-sex classes, whereas the larger vertebrates are usually caught and eaten by adult animals, especially males. The method of capturing the prey and the parts of the body eaten are reported

Niche separation in sympatric lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) and Nilgiri langur (Presbytis johnii) in an Indian tropical rain forest

The study was carried out on one group each of lion-tailed macaques and Nilgiri langurs living as sympatric groups in a rainforest in Anaimalai Hills, Western Ghats, south India. Whereas the lion-tailed macaques were found to be frugivorous/ insectivorous, the Nilgiri langurs were primarily folivorous. Fruit was the only shared component in the diet of the two species. The lion-tailed macaques occupied a higher substratum than the Nilgiri langurs not only for their routine activities, but also for overall feeding and fruit feeding. The presence of lion-tailed macaques resulted in further lowering the feeding substratum and increased passivity in Nilgiri langurs. Food specialization and vertical stratification differentiate the niches of these two sympatric species

Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of Flow Patterns, Pressure Drop, and Heat Transfer Coefficient in Staggered and Inline Shell-Tube Heat Exchangers

In this numerical study, the heat transfer performance of shell-and-tube heat exchangers (STHXs) has been compared for two different tube arrangements. STHX having 21 and 24 tubes arranged in the inline and staggered grid has been considered for heat transfer analysis. Shell-and-tube heat exchanger with staggered grid arrangement has been observed to provide lesser thermal stratification as compared to the inline arrangement. Further, the study of variation in the mass flow rate of shell-side fluid having constant tube-side flow rate has been conducted for staggered grid structure STHX. The mass flow rate for the shell side has been varied from 0.1 kg/s to 0.5 kg/s, respectively, keeping the tube-side mass flow rate as constant at 0.25 kg/s. The influence of bulk mass-influx transfer rate on heat transfer efficiency, effectiveness, and pressure drop of shell-tube heat exchangers has been analyzed. CFD results were compared with analytical solutions, and it shows a good agreement between them. It has been observed that pressure drop is minimum for the flow rate of 0.1 kg/s, and outlet temperatures at the shell side and tube side have been predicted to be 40.94°C and 63.63°C, respectively

Dark Matter and Experiments for its Identification

After Fritz Zwicky, through various theoretical models, several dark matter events have been proposed. but none of them is yet discovered. Recent experiment shows that only around 5% of the total matters present in the whole universe are visual. Rest matter is still unknown to us by any present experimental tools. this leads that detection of dark matter is one of the very challenging & curios goal for experimental physicists. For the search of suitable dark matter candidates and for rear physics events, high Purity germanium detectors, Spherical gaseous chamber detector and few more hybrid-detectors are suitable for these purposes. We proposed that any suitable detector hosted under deep sea water will be more effective than the under ground or mountain caverns

Status and conservation of lion-tailed macaque and other arboreal mammals in tropical rainforests of Sringeri forest range, Western ghats, Karnataka, India

The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus), an endangered primate species, was surveyed in the tropical rainforests of Sringeri in the state of Karnataka, south India. A total of 10 groups and a solitary adult male were found in approximately 90 square kilometers of rainforest. The other sympatric arboreal mammals found included common langurs, bonnet macaques and Malabar giant squirrels. The liontailed macaques are sympatric with other primates and giant squirrels in the undisturbed core areas. More towards the human habitations and disturbed areas, the lion-tailed macaques are absent and the forest is occupied by commensal species. The habitat features and the population structure indicate that this region is a potential area for maintaining a biologically viable population of lion-tailed macaques. However, a number of factors such as extraction of fuel wood, collection of minor forest produce, grazing by domestic livestock and plantation of commercial tree species are causing a serious threat to the habitat. The effect of habitat degradation on arboreal wildlife is discussed and the steps are suggested to minimize the effect of human disturbance on habitat

Male migration in lion-tailed macaques

Adult lion-tailed macaque males probably often migrate. Previous observations indicate the presence of solitary adult males in the forest and also the number of adult males in a group varying in repeated counts. This paper reports one fully documented case of a solitary male joining the study group. The resident male was first chased out and then allowed to reenter the group. One female conceived and delivered during the presence of migratory male. Almost all matings with that female were made by the migratory male. The other adult females in the group preferred the migratory male to the resident male in all social interactions including sexual present, approach, proximity, and grooming. The presence of two adult males resulted in a significant reduction in the frequency of social interactions among group members. The fact that the group females easily accepted the migratory male has significant implications for the management of this species inhabiting forest fragments

Baryon Self-Energy With QQQ Bethe-Salpeter Dynamics In The Non-Perturbative QCD Regime: n-p Mass Difference

A qqq BSE formalism based on DB{\chi}S of an input 4-fermion Lagrangian of `current' u,d quarks interacting pairwise via gluon-exchange-propagator in its {\it non-perturbative} regime, is employed for the calculation of baryon self-energy via quark-loop integrals. To that end the baryon-qqq vertex function is derived under Covariant Instantaneity Ansatz (CIA), using Green's function techniques. This is a 3-body extension of an earlier q{\bar q} (2-body) result on the exact 3D-4D interconnection for the respective BS wave functions under 3D kernel support, precalibrated to both q{\bar q} and qqq spectra plus other observables. The quark loop integrals for the neutron (n) - proton (p) mass difference receive contributions from : i) the strong SU(2) effect arising from the d-u mass difference (4 MeV); ii) the e.m. effect of the respective quark charges. The resultant n-p difference comes dominantly from d-u effect (+1.71 Mev), which is mildly offset by e.m.effect (-0.44), subject to gauge corrections. To that end, a general method for QED gauge corrections to an arbitrary momentum dependent vertex function is outlined, and on on a proportionate basis from the (two-body) kaon case, the net n-p difference works out at just above 1 MeV. A critical comparison is given with QCD sum rules results.Comment: be 27 pages, Latex file, and to be published in IJMPA, Vol 1