Effect of Sodium Doping on Thermal Properties of Perovskite RMnO3 for Potential Magnetoelectric Applications

The partial replacement of rare earth cation by sodium introduces large size and charge mismatch at A-site affecting the bulk modulus and thermal properties of RMnO3 which in turn makes them suitable candidates for thermoelectric applications. Thermal, elastic, cohesive properties of sodium doped Rare Earth manganites R1-xNaxMnO3 (R3+= La, Pr, Tb) has been studied by means of a Modified Rigid Ion Model (MRIM) and AIM theory. Lattice specific heat (Cp) of Pr0.8Na0.2MnO3, and Tb0.85Na0.15MnO3 as a function of temperature (1K£T£ 350K) is found to be in agreement with the published data. The trend of variation of Debye temperature (?D), thermal expansion (?), bulk modulus (B) and cohesive energy (?) with A-site cationic radius is predicted probably for the first time for these technologically important doped rare earth manganites. Keywords: Thermal Expansion, Specific Heat, Thermal properties, Colossal Magnetoresistance Materials, Magnetoelectric materials

Integration Of TRMM Rainfall In Numerical Model For Pesticide Prediction In Subtropical Climate

Rain gauge data in developing countries are usually very limited, which constrains most of the hydrological modelling applications. The satellite based rainfall estimates could be a promising choice and hence can be used as a surrogate to ground-based rainfall. However, the usefulness of these products needs to be evaluated for hydrological application such as for pesticide predictions. The present study compares the contaminant transport simulation with the utilization of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rainfall compared with rain gauge data from the field site. Through this study, transport trends of the pesticide, Thiram, a dithiocarbamate, at different time and depth in the fields under real field conditions for the wheat crop were compared to the numerical simulations using HYDRUS- 1D with the input of daily rainfall from the TRMM. The daily rainfall from TRMM has been utilized to simulate the pesticide concentration up to 60 cm vertical soil profile with the intervals of 15 cm. The simulated soil moisture content using ground based rainfall and TRMM derived rainfall measurements indicate an agreeable goodness of fit between the both. The overall analysis reveals that TRMM rainfall is promising for soil pesticide prediction in absence of ground based measurements of soil pesticide. Further, comparison of the model to measured field data of pesticides movement indicates that the modelling approach can provide reliable and useful estimates of the mass flux of water and non-volatile pesticide in vadose zone. Thus, the satellite-based rainfall products could also be useful for policy makers and planners while controlling inappropriate pesticide application under saturated and deficit soil moisture conditions

Evaluation for substitution of stem bark with small branches of Myrica esculenta for medicinal use – A comparative phytochemical study

AbstractBackgroundOver exploitation of many traditional medicinal plants like Myrica esculenta has become a threat and in the near future, many medicinal plants may be unavailable for use of industry.ObjectivePresent study outlines the concept of plant part substitution. Stem bark and small branches of M. esculenta are compared on the basis of physicochemical analysis, phytochemical analysis, total phenolic contents, total flavonoid contents and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) to evaluate the possibilities of using small branches in place of stem bark.Material and methodsPhysicochemical parameters and preliminary phytochemical screening were carried out using standard methods. Total phenolic and total flavonoid contents were estimated spectrophotometrically using Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminum chloride method, respectively. CAMAG HPTLC system equipped with semi-automatic applicator was used for HPTLC profiling. n-Hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts of stem bark and small branches were developed in suitable mobile phase using standard procedures and visualized in UV 254 and 366 nm and in white light after derivatization within anisaldehyde-sulphuric acid reagent.ResultsPhytochemical analysis and HPTLC profile of different extracts showed the presence of almost similar phytochemicals in both stem bark and small branches.ConclusionSimilarities in phytochemical analysis and HPTLC profile of various extracts suggests that small branches may be used in place of stem bark. The study provides the base for further study to use small branches as a substitute of stem bark of M. esculenta

BIODESULF(TM), A Novel Biological Technology for the Removal of H2S From Sour Natural Gas

The state-of-the-art technologies for the removal of sulfur compounds from Sour Natural Gas (SNG) are not cost-effective when scaled down to approximately 2-5 MMSCFD. At the same time, the SNG Production is increasing at 3-6 TCF/Yr and -78 TCF potential reserves are also sour. Assuming only 3% treatment of this potential SNG market is for small volume processing, the potential U.S. Market is worth $0.14 to$0.28 billion. Therefore, the Gas Processing Industry is seeking novel, cost-effective, environmentally compatible and operator friendly technologies applicable to the small volume producers in the range of less than 1 MMSCFD to - 5 MMSCFD. A novel biological process, BIODESTJLFTM (patent pending), developed at ARCTECH removes H{sub 2}S and other sulfur contaminants that make the Natural Gas Sour. The removal is accomplished by utilizing an adapted mixed microbial culture (consortium). A variety of anaerobic microbial consortia from ARCTECH`s Microbial Culture Collection were grown and tested for removal of H{sub 2}S. One of these consortia, termed SS-11 was found to be particularly effective. Utilizing the SS-11 consortium, a process has been developed on a laboratory-scale to remove sulfur species from Sour Natural Gas at well head production pressures and temperatures. The process has been independently evaluated and found to be promising in effectively removing H{sub 2}S and other sulfur species cost effectively

Screening of efficient arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi for Azadirachta indica under nursery condition: a step towards afforestation of semi-arid region of western India

To optimize nursery practices for efficient plant production procedures and to keep up to the ever growing demand of seedlings, identification of the most suitable species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), specific for a given tree species, is clearly a necessary task. Sixty days old seedlings of Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) raised in root trainers were inoculated with six species of AMF and a mixed inoculum (consortia) and kept in green house. Performances of the treatments on this tree species were evaluated in terms of growth parameters like plant height shoot collar diameter, biomass and phosphorous uptake capabilities. Significant and varied increase in the growth parameters and phosphorous uptake was observed for most of the AMF species against control. Consortia culture was found to be the best suited AMF treatment for A.indica, while Glomus intraradices and Glomus mosseae were the best performing single species cultures. It is the first time in the state of Gujarat that a wide variety of AMF species, isolated from the typical semi-arid region of western India, were tested for the best growth performance with one of the most important tree species for the concerned region

Measurement of the Ds lifetime

We report precise measurement of the Ds meson lifetime. The data were taken by the SELEX experiment (E781) spectrometer using 600 GeV/c Sigma-, pi- and p beams. The measurement has been done using 918 reconstructed Ds. The lifetime of the Ds is measured to be 472.5 +- 17.2 +- 6.6 fs, using K*(892)0K+- and phi pi+- decay modes. The lifetime ratio of Ds to D0 is 1.145+-0.049.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures submitted to Phys. Lett.

Confirmation of the Double Charm Baryon Xi_cc+ via its Decay to p D+ K-

We observes a signal for the double charm baryon Xi_cc+ in the charged decay mode Xi_cc+ -> p D+ K- to complement the previously reported decay Xi_cc+ -> Lambda_c K- pi+ in data from SELEX, the charm hadro-production experiment (E781) at Fermilab. In this new decay mode we observe an excess of 5.62 events over an expected background estimated by event mixing to be 1.38+/-0.13 events. The Poisson probability that a background fluctuation can produce the apparent signal is less than 6.4E-4. The observed mass of this state is (3518+/-3)MeV/c^2, consistent with the published result. Averaging the two results gives a mass of (3518.7+/-1.7)MeV/c^2. The observation of this new weak decay mode confirms the previous SELEX suggestion that this state is a double charm baryon. The relative branching ratio Gamma(Xi_cc+ -> pD+K-)/Gamma(Xi_cc+ -> Lambda_c K- pi+) = 0.36+/-0.21.Comment: 11 pages, 6 included eps figures. v2 includes improved statistical method to determine significance of observation. Submitted to PL