Effect of combined thyroxine and cortisol treatment on hatching of eggs, post-embryonic growth and survival of larvae of Heteropneustes fossilis

In order to record the effects of thyroxine and cortisol (individual/combined) on hatching, post-embryonic growth and survival of larvae of Heteropneustes fossilis, newly fertilized eggs were given bath immersion treatments of L-thyroxine (T sub(4); 0.05 mg/l), cortisol (0.50 mg/l) and T sub(4)+ cortisol (0.05 mg/l+0.50 mg/l) for 15 days. Hatching of eggs, growth and survival of the larvae improved significantly (P<0.001) in the hormone treated groups as compared to those of control. The frequency of deformities was reduced in the combined hormone treatment group. The present observations suggest that the advanced digestive function probably induced by T sub(4)+cortisol treatment might have resulted in improvement in food utilization during the critical phases of first feeding and promoted vital developmental processes resulting in uniform growth, decreased mortality, better survival and transformation of larvae to juveniles. This combined hormone therapy appears to have practical utility in fish hatchery practice for better success in larval rearing

The STAR Photon Multiplicity Detector

Details concerning the design, fabrication and performance of STAR Photon Multiplicity Detector (PMD) are presented. The PMD will cover the forward region, within the pseudorapidity range 2.3--3.5, behind the forward time projection chamber. It will measure the spatial distribution of photons in order to study collective flow, fluctuation and chiral symmetry restoration.Comment: 15 pages, including 11 figures; to appear in a special NIM volume dedicated to the accelerator and detectors at RHI

A Honeycomb Proportional Counter for Photon Multiplicity Measurement in the ALICE Experiment

A honeycomb detector consisting of a matrix of 96 closely packed hexagonal cells, each working as a proportional counter with a wire readout, was fabricated and tested at the CERN PS. The cell depth and the radial dimensions of the cell were small, in the range of 5-10 mm. The appropriate cell design was arrived at using GARFIELD simulations. Two geometries are described illustrating the effect of field shaping. The charged particle detection efficiency and the preshower characteristics have been studied using pion and electron beams. Average charged particle detection efficiency was found to be 98%, which is almost uniform within the cell volume and also within the array. The preshower data show that the transverse size of the shower is in close agreement with the results of simulations for a range of energies and converter thicknesses.Comment: To be published in NIM

Two-Particle Correlation Functions for the 200-MeV 3-He + Ag Reaction

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Synthetic Nitrogen Fertiliser in South Asia: Production, Import, Export, and Use for Crops, South Asia Nitrogen Hub (SANH) Policy Brief

This policy brief is produced by the UKRI GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH). It provides an overview of the patterns and trends in synthetic nitrogen (N) fertiliser use in crop production, import, export and emission in the South Asian Region (SAR) and its member countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In summary, reactive nitrogen (Nr) in fertilisers is essential for meeting global food and animal feed demands, but Nr pollution has become a major environmental issue across all scales. For SAR, inefficient use of synthetic N fertiliser is a key factor contributing to water pollution, air pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Further insights are provided on major fertiliser products, as well as in crop production, import and export. These data are essential for informing and promoting sustainable nitrogen management. Evidence based policy is more important than ever. The SANH is supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through its Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) to gather evidence on nitrogen issues to support countries in the South Asian Region (SAR) comprising eight countries (Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Maldives) to identify solutions and reduce nitrogen waste. SANH is pioneering a UK-SAR research partnership to catalyse transformational change in SAR to tackle the nitrogen challenge, benefi ting the economy, people’s health and the environment. SANH brings together 32 leading research organisations with governments and other partners. This policy brief provides key insights into national fertiliser trends for all eight SAR countries

Synthetic Nitrogen Fertiliser in South Asia: Production, Import, Export, and Use for Crops, South Asia Nitrogen Hub (SANH) Policy Brief

This policy brief is produced by the UKRI GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH). It provides an overview of the patterns and trends in synthetic nitrogen (N) fertiliser use in crop production, import, export and emission in the South Asian Region (SAR) and its member countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In summary, reactive nitrogen (Nr) in fertilisers is essential for meeting global food and animal feed demands, but Nr pollution has become a major environmental issue across all scales. For SAR, inefficient use of synthetic N fertiliser is a key factor contributing to water pollution, air pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Further insights are provided on major fertiliser products, as well as in crop production, import and export. These data are essential for informing and promoting sustainable nitrogen management. Evidence based policy is more important than ever. The SANH is supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through its Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) to gather evidence on nitrogen issues to support countries in the South Asian Region (SAR) comprising eight countries (Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Maldives) to identify solutions and reduce nitrogen waste. SANH is pioneering a UK-SAR research partnership to catalyse transformational change in SAR to tackle the nitrogen challenge, benefi ting the economy, people’s health and the environment. SANH brings together 32 leading research organisations with governments and other partners. This policy brief provides key insights into national fertiliser trends for all eight SAR countries

Dynamical approach to spectator fragmentation in Au+Au reactions at 35 MeV/A

The characteristics of fragment emission in peripheral $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au collisions 35 MeV/A are studied using the two clusterization approaches within framework of \emph{quantum molecular dynamics} model. Our model calculations using \emph{minimum spanning tree} (MST) algorithm and advanced clusterization method namely \emph{simulated annealing clusterization algorithm} (SACA) showed that fragment structure can be realized at an earlier time when spectators contribute significantly toward the fragment production even at such a low incident energy. Comparison of model predictions with experimental data reveals that SACA method can nicely reproduce the fragment charge yields and mean charge of the heaviest fragment. This reflects suitability of SACA method over conventional clusterization techniques to investigate spectator matter fragmentation in low energy domain.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepte

QGP flow fluctuations and the characteristics of higher moments

The dynamical development of expanding Quark-gluon Plasma (QGP) flow is studied in a 3+1D fluid dynamical model with a globally symmetric, initial condition. We minimize fluctuations arising from complex dynamical processes at finite impact parameters and from fluctuating random initial conditions to have a conservative fluid dynamical background estimate for the statistical distributions of the thermodynamical parameters. We also avoid a phase transition in the equation of state, and we let the matter supercool during the expansion. Then central Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76$ TeV are studied in an almost perfect fluid dynamical model, with azimuthally symmetric initial state generated in a dynamical flux-tube model. The general development of thermodynamical extensives are also shown for lower energies. We observe considerable deviations from a thermal equilibrium source as a consequence of the fluid dynamical expansion arising from a least fluctuating initial state

Mass Parameterizations and Predictions of Isotopic Observables

We discuss the accuracy of mass models for extrapolating to very asymmetric nuclei and the impact of such extrapolations on the predictions of isotopic observables in multifragmentation. We obtain improved mass predictions by incorporating measured masses and extrapolating to unmeasured masses with a mass formula that includes surface symmetry and Coulomb terms. We find that using accurate masses has a significant impact on the predicted isotopic observables.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

The Chiral Phase Transition in Dissipative Dynamics

Numerical simulations of the chiral phase transition in the (3+1)dimensional O(4)-model are presented. The evolutions of the chiral field follow purely dissipative dynamics, starting from random chirally symmetric initial configurations down to the true vacuum with spontaneously broken symmetry. The model stabilizes topological textures which are formed together with domains of disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) during the roll-down phase. The classically evolving field acts as source for the emission of pions and $\sigma$ mesons. The exponents of power laws for the growth of angular correlations and for emission rates are extracted. Fluctuations in the abundance ratios for neutral and charged pions are compared with those for uncorrelated sources as potential signature for the chiral phase transition after heavy-ion collisions. It is found that the presence of stabilizing textures (baryons and antibaryons) prevents sufficiently rapid growth of DCC-domain size, so observability of anomalous tails in the abundance ratios is unlikely. However, the transient formation of growing DCC domains causes sizable broadening of the distributions as compared to the statistical widths of generic sources.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure