TERMITE FAUNA OF KRAKATAU AND ASSOCIATED ISLANDS, SUNDA STRAITS, INDONESIA

Frequent volcanic eruptions, submergence and emergence of some of theIndonesian islands has made them ail object of intense biogeographical significance. These geological catastrophies resulted in complete sterilization of the area biologically, wiping out all forms of life. Subsequent reuegetation and establishment of new fauna attracted many scientists, some of them having made very significant contributions.The present contribution deals with termite fauna of Krakatau and associated islands. In all, twenty five species and 13 genera, the highest number so far reported, from Carita (9 species), Panaitan Islands (6 species), Rahota Besar (2 species), Anak Krakatau and Sertung (1 species each) have been recorded in this publication. Of these, while, Prorhinotermes panaitanensis is new to science, two species (Glyptotermes besarensis and G. panaitanensis) have been described recently by the senior author (MLT). Similarly Glyptotermes minutus, Nasutitermes culasiensis and Hospitalitermes buzpnensis have been recorded for the first time from the Indonesia. Several other species are new distributional records. Nasutitermes matagensis matagensiformisand Schedorhinotermes javanicus are the most successfully colonizedspecies, recorded almost in all the islands under reference.Besides the taxonomic treatment of the fauna, the paper also gives key to genera based on soldier caste

Exchange bias effect in the phase separated Nd_{1-x}Sr_{x}CoO_3 at the spontaneous ferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic interface

We report the new results of exchange bias effect in Nd_{1-x}Sr_{x}CoO_3 for x = 0.20 and 0.40, where the exchange bias phenomenon is involved with the ferrimagnetic (FI) state in a spontaneously phase separated system. The zero-field cooled magnetization exhibits the FI (T_{FI}) and ferromagnetic (T_C) transitions at ~ 23 and \sim 70 K, respectively for x = 0.20. The negative horizontal and positive vertical shifts of the magnetic hysteresis loops are observed when the system is cooled through T_{FI} in presence of a positive static magnetic field. Training effect is observed for x = 0.20, which could be interpreted by a spin configurational relaxation model. The unidirectional shifts of the hysteresis loops as a function of temperature exhibit the absence of exchange bias above T_{FI} for x = 0.20. The analysis of the cooling field dependence of exchange bias field and magnetization indicates that the ferromagnetic (FM) clusters consist of single magnetic domain with average size around \sim 20 and ~ 40 \AA ~ for x = 0.20 and 0.40, respectively. The sizes of the FM clusters are close to the percolation threshold for x = 0.20, which grow and coalesce to form the bigger size for x = 0.40 resulting in a weak exchange bias effect.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Influence of Morphological Characters on the Yield of Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) - A Statistical Approach

Discriminate Analysis was carried out to formulate the categorization rule for allocating the apricot tree to "High Yielder Group" and "Low Yielder Group". Factor Analysis method was also applied to extract the basic factors underlying the observed morphological characters of apricot for both the High and Low Yielder groups. The study brought out five basic factors explaining 69.35% of the total variation in the case of High Yielder population and six factors explaining 74.14% of the total variation in the case of Low Yielder population, respectively. The first factor in both the populations contains the same variables viz. stem girth, number of branches and leaf area which indicate that these variables play an appreciable/significant role in increasing the yield of apricot (21 % in the case of High Yielder and 16.33% in the case of Low Yielder population

On the optical properties of Ag^{+15} ion-beam irradiated TiO_{2} and SnO_{2} thin films

The effects of 200-MeV Ag^{+15} ion irradiation on the optical properties of TiO_{2} and SnO_{2} thin films prepared by using the RF magnetron sputtering technique were investigated. These films were characterized by using UV-vis spectroscopy, and with increasing irradiation fluence, the transmittance for the TiO_{2} films was observed to increase systematically while that for SnO_{2} was observed to decrease. Absorption spectra of the irradiated samples showed minor changes in the indirect bandgap from 3.44 to 3.59 eV with increasing irradiation fluence for TiO_{2} while significant changes in the direct bandgap from 3.92 to 3.6 eV were observed for SnO_{2}. The observed modifications in the optical properties of both the TiO_{2} and the SnO_{2} systems with irradiation can be attributed to controlled structural disorder/defects in the system.Comment: 6 pages, ICAMD-201

Feeding behaviour and pugmark analysis of elephants in Sarguja, Chhattisgarh

The pugmark analysis of the elephants offers basic information to track the wild elephant migratory route, identification and census. For its study, four blocks viz, Sitapur, Lundra, Batouli (Sarguja district) and Farsabahar (Jashpur district) of northern Chhattisgarh were selected because these blocks are commonly visited by elephants and a major path route of movement of heard in inter/intra state. The most commonly consumed species belongs to family poaceae (22.58%) followed by fabaceae (19.35%) but their diet was mainly dependent on availability of seasonal food round the year and on their migration. Elephants extensively fed on Artocarpus heterophyllus, Syzygium cumini, Acacia nilotica, A. catechu, Dalbergia sissoo, Zizyphus mauritiana, Aegle marmelos and Ficus species, besides these elephants also utilized various grasses and shrubs as their food, which mainly included Dendrocalamus strictus, Cynodon dactylon etc. Elephants sometimes spent long time to feed on some particular plant species like D. strictus and Ficus species. Crop raiding, which was sporadic during the rainy season, gradually increased with more area being cultivated with the onset of monsoon. Analysis of pugmark revealed that the circumference varied from 63.80 cm to 172.70 cm whereas length x width varied from 22x20 cm to 60x55 cm, which reflects a substantial variation/differentiation of individual in heard in respect of their age, sex, size etcTherefore, management implications are needed to conserve the corridors for their long term survival and reduction of HEC. The study will be helpful to provide key information and facilitate better understating of the scenario to the forest department, policy maker and conservationist to plan, manage and improve the habitat towards the restoration and afforestation of suitable palatable species preferred by elephants of northern corridors of Chhattisgarh

Socio-economic status of human-elephant conflict: Its assessment and solutions

The study was made to examine the effect of human-elephant conflict (HEC) on socio-economic vulnerability in corridors of northern Chhattisgarh. Incidents relating to conflicts were observed and analyzed to understand the socio-economic status of the people, their attitudes towards elephant, the way people and elephants were affected along with different aspects of conflicts. The records whatsoever available on HEC of forest department were also took into consideration during analysis. It was found that majority of respondents involved in farming besides other sources like livestock (63.0%), NTFPs collection (42.50%) etc. Paddy (57.50%) and sugarcane (40.0%) constitute major crops which likely favours the incidence of HEC in the region. Nearly 112 houses and 939.02 acre of crops were damaged along with 06 human deaths. It was found that 46% of the respondents respected the animal as a religious figure while 30% fear them and most of the respondents (77.50%) were in favour of compensation. This necessitated a detailed assessment of habitat suitability and dispersal corridor for elephants in the area. Therefore, an attempt has been made to present various aspects of HEC along with management implications

Effect of foliar spray of elicitors on status of defense proteins in relation to mustard aphid infestation in crop Brassica cultivars

Mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi Kalt., is the key insect pest of crop Brassicas causing significant reduction in crop yield. In the present study, widely grown Brassica cultivars RLC-1 (Brassica juncea) and GSC-6 (Brassica napus) were treated with elicitors salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) at 0.5mM and 1mM concentration via foliar spray (given at 40 and 60 days after planting (DAP). Their effect was evaluated in terms of total soluble protein content and activities of defense proteins (peroxidase, protease inhibitor, polyphenol oxidase, amylase inhibitor and lectins) in relation to aphid infestation in leaf tissue. SA and JA application caused significant increase in activities of defense proteins as well as total soluble proteins. JA at 1mM concentration was most effective in both Brassica cultivars. The 2nd foliar spray gave a booster response. The aphid population/plant reduced significantly in both the cultivars with JA as well as SA. POD and PPO registered negative correlation with aphid population count. SA and JA foliar applications seemed effective against mustard aphid through positive modulation in activities of defense proteins

What Causes Cancer Gallbladder?: A Review

Gallbladder cancer is a common malignancy of the biliary tract. It is the fifth common malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract in United States [1] and third in Northern India [2]. Despite such high prevalence, there is scanty published literature about this disease in indexed journals. Therefore, this article is intended to provide a brief overview of gallbladder cancer risk factors, based mainly on published evidence from analytical epidemiology and recent research findings of biologists and practising oncologists. Furthermore, an attempt has been made to establish an association between different causative factors and the occurrence of the disease

Assessment of Natural Resources for Conservation of Wetland in District Chamba

The Ramsar Convection of IUCN held in 1971 in Iran raised global attention on the conservation and management of wetlands. 3 wetlands in the Indian State of Himachal Pradesh have been declared a wetland of International importance. Thus it is felt necessary to reclaim and develop high altitude wetlands for its optimum potential use, but a reliable and accurate database is not available. The present endeavour aims at the generation of database in terms of physical aspects/ land use, the extent of water spread and its water quality, vegetation status of the catchment area and surroundings of the lake. The threats to high altitude wetlands have been identified and adequate measures for its conservation and management suggested