Using indirect methods to understand the impact of forced migration on long-term under-five mortality.

Despite the large numbers of displaced persons and the often-lengthy periods of displacement, little is known about the impact of forced migration on long-term under-five mortality. This paper looks at the Brass Method (and adaptations of this method) and the Preceding Birth Technique in combination with a classification of women by their migration and reproductive histories, in order to study the impact of forced migration on under-five mortality. Data came from the Demography of Forced Migration Project, a study on mortality, fertility and violence in the refugee and host populations of Arua District, Uganda and Yei River District, Sudan. Results indicate that women who did not migrate in a situation of conflict and women who repatriated before the age of 15, had children with the highest under-five mortality rates compared with women who were currently refugees and women who repatriated after the age of 15

Cultural and morphological characterization of rhizospheric isolates of fungal antagonist Trichoderma

The genus Trichoderma contains species that are of a great economic importance due to their ability to act as biological control agents against a large variety of fungal plant pathogens. In the present investigation thirty isolates of the Trichoderma sp. were obtained from the rhizosphere soils of different plants at different locations at Nainital, Almora, Udham Singh Nagar, Derhadun, Haridwar and Tehri Garhwal districts of Uttarakhand (India). The isolates were characterized on the basis of their cultural and morphological characteristics. The cultural characteristics included linear growth, colony colour, pigmentation and growth pattern. Morphological characteristics studied were structure, shape and arrangement of conidiophores, phialides and conidia. Out of thirty isolates, 6 isolates namely PB10, PB13, PB23, PB26, PB27 and PB28 were identified as T. virens and remaining 24 isolates as T. harzianum

Induction of water stress tolerance of mustard plants using Trichoderma as biological seed treatment

Water scarcity is one of the main consequences of changing climate which adversely affects the plant growth and productivity. Enhanced root development results in increased surface area of active absorption for water and nutrient uptake which helps in tolerating abiotic stresses including drought in plants. Trichoderma is well known for its biocontrol and growth promontory effect in plants in addition to alleviate abiotic stress. In our study, thirty isolates of Trichoderma were grown on sterilized cow dung at different moisture content ranges from 5 to 30 percent to investigate their ability to grow and multiply under water stress condition. Mustard plants were grown under glass house condition by treating seeds with selected isolates of Trichoderma subjected to water stress subsequently. All isolates of Trichoderma grew upto 20% moisture whereas only eleven isolates exhibited growth at 10% moisture. Isolate PB23 was only isolate which was able to grow and resulted in 1.0 x109 cfu/g air dried cow dung even at 5% moisture content and induced the tolerance of mustard plants under water stress conditions when applied as seed treatment before sowing

Growth, yield attributes, yield and economics of winter popcorn (Zea mays everta Sturt.) as influenced by planting time fertility level and plant population under late sown condition

The field experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications, assigning in 27 treatment combinations i.e. three sowing dates of Pop corn (Zea mays everta Sturt.)cv. V.L. Amber (15 Dec, 30 Dec and 15 Jan) arranged in main plots and three level of plant population (60000, 80000 and 100,000 plants ha-1) in sub plot. Three level of fertility (100:50:50, 150:65:65 and 200:85:85 kg of N: P2O5: K2O ha-1) apportioned in sub-sub plots at the Research farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi (U.P.) during late winter (rabi) seasons of 2009-10 and 2010-11 to study the influenced of planting time, fertility level and plant population on yield attributes, grain yield and economics of winter popcorn (Zea mays everta Sturt.) under late sown condition. The popcorn sown on 15th December recorded highest plant height, leaf-area index, dry matter, popcorn growth rate, yield attributes and yield of pop corn were significantly (P<0.05) affected and recorded highest benefit cost ratio (3.78). While, the maintenance of 80,000 popcorn plants/ha proved optimum for pop corn as it significantly (P<0.05) recorded highest number of kernel cob-1,grain yield (32.61 q/ha) and shelling percentage against density of 60,000 plants, while remained at par in straw yield over 100,000 plants. Application of 200: 85: 85 kg N: P2O5: K2O/ha significantly (P<0.05) increased growth, yield attributes and grain yield over 100: 50: 50 and 150: 65: 65 kg N: P2O5: K2O/ha and fetched the highest B: C ratio (3.14)

Peristaltic Induced Flow of a Particulate Suspension in a Non-Uniform Geometry

The flow induced by sinusoidal peristaltic waves of a particle-fluid suspension in a twodimensional diverging channel under low Reynolds number and long wavelength approximation has been investigated. The analytical expression for the flow characteristics-the flow rate, pressure rise and friction force have been derived. Moreover, we present some results concerning the dependence of these quantities on the geometrical parameters

A complete description of the magnetic ground state in spinel vanadates

Capturing the non-collinear magnetic ground state of the spinel vanadates AV$_2$O$_4$ (A= Mn, Fe and Co) remains an outstanding challenge for state-of-the-art ab-initio methods. We demonstrate that both the non-collinear spin texture, as well as the magnitude of local moments, are captured by a single value of the on-site Hubbard $U$ of 2.7~eV in conjunction with the local spin density approximation (LSDA+$U$), provided the source term (i.e., magnetic monopole term) is removed from the exchange-correlation magnetic field ${\bf B}_{XC}$. We further demonstrate that the magnetic monopole structure in ${\bf B}_{XC}$ is highly sensitive to the value of $U$, to the extent that the interplay between on-site localization and local moment magnitude is qualitatively different depending on whether the source term is removed or not. This suggests that in treating strongly correlated magnetic materials within the LSDA+$U$ formalism, subtraction of the unphysical magnetic monopole term from the exchange-correlation magnetic field is essential to correctly treat the magnetic ground state.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

On the Measurement of Atmospheric Density Using Dial in the O2 A-Band (770 Nm)

Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) measurements in the A-band of molecular oxygen were suggested as a means of profiling atmospheric density. Progress towards this capability is reported

Bootstrap approximation for the exchange-correlation kernel of time-dependent density functional theory

A new parameter-free approximation for the exchange-correlation kernel $f_{\rm xc}$ of time-dependent density functional theory is proposed. This kernel is expressed as an algorithm in which the exact Dyson equation for the response as well as a further approximate condition are solved together self-consistently leading to a simple parameter-free kernel. We apply this to the calculation of optical spectra for various small bandgap (Ge, Si, GaAs, AlN, TiO$_2$, SiC), large bandgap (C, LiF, Ar, Ne) and magnetic (NiO) insulators. The calculated spectra are in very good agreement with experiment for this diverse set of materials, highlighting the universal applicability of the new kernel.Comment: 4 figures 5 page

Manufacture of the Futuristic Castable Type of Screening Smoke Composition

The present trend abroad is to replace conventional smoke compositions with castable type of smoke compositions because of superior performance of the latter over the former. The technology of castable screening smokes has been recently developed for the first time in India by the Explosives Research & Development Laboratory, Pune. This paper discusses the various advantages in large scale manufacture of castable type of screening smoke composition. A comparison is also made with the conventional method of manufacture of screening smoke composition currently followed