152 research outputs found
Utilization of Agro industrial Food Processing Wastes and Pollutants for Manufacture of Products of Industrial Value A review
Rapid industrialization as a consequence of the population explosion has led to the expansion of the agricultureand food processing sector to feed every mouth and to meet rapidly growing market demand. Extensive harvesting and processing of crops and raw agricultural harvests, and production of secondary and tertiary wastes from industrial manufacturing operations associated with agricultural and food products have impacted the environment in adverse ways, which is causing irreparable damages. To minimize the carbon load on earth, several sustainable technologies have been developed, which can save the environment as well as generate some useful and industrially important products. This review work focuses on the current scenario of these wastes, and their harmful effects on nature in general, and on the environment in particular. It also suggests that sustainable techniques can minimize these harmful impacts, and can instead manufacture some valuable products like antibiotics, enzymes, organic acid, organic chemicals, biomass, pigment, flavors, solid fuel, and bioalcohol. Thus, this is a comprehensive and extensive account of the utilization of agricultural and food processing wastes to derive valuable, useful products
An evaluation of the PCR-RFLP technique to aid molecular-based monitoring of felids and canids in India
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The order Carnivora is well represented in India, with 58 of the 250 species found globally, occurring here. However, small carnivores figure very poorly in research and conservation policies in India. This is mainly due to the dearth of tested and standardized techniques that are both cost effective and conducive to small carnivore studies in the field. In this paper we present a non-invasive genetic technique standardized for the study of Indian felids and canids with the use of PCR amplification and restriction enzyme digestion of scat collected in the field.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Using existing sequences of felids and canids from GenBank, we designed primers from the 16S rRNA region of the mitochondrial genome and tested these on ten species of felids and five canids. We selected restriction enzymes that would cut the selected region differentially for various species within each family. We produced a restriction digestion profile for the potential differentiation of species based on fragment patterns. To test our technique, we used felid PCR primers on scats collected from various habitats in India, representing varied environmental conditions. Amplification success with field collected scats was 52%, while 86% of the products used for restriction digestion could be accurately assigned to species. We verified this through sequencing. A comparison of costs across the various techniques currently used for scat assignment showed that this technique was the most practical and cost effective.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The species-specific key developed in this paper provides a means for detailed investigations in the future that focus on elusive carnivores in India and this approach provides a model for other studies in areas of Asia where many small carnivores co-occur.</p
Quenching Dynamics of a quantum XY spin-1/2 chain in presence of a transverse field
We study the quantum dynamics of a one-dimensional spin-1/2 anisotropic XY
model in a transverse field when the transverse field or the anisotropic
interaction is quenched at a slow but uniform rate. The two quenching schemes
are called transverse and anisotropic quenching respectively. Our emphasis in
this paper is on the anisotropic quenching scheme and we compare the results
with those of the other scheme. In the process of anisotropic quenching, the
system crosses all the quantum critical lines of the phase diagram where the
relaxation time diverges. The evolution is non-adiabatic in the time interval
when the parameters are close to their critical values, and is adiabatic
otherwise. The density of defects produced due to non-adiabatic transitions is
calculated by mapping the many-particle system to an equivalent Landau-Zener
problem and is generally found to vary as , where is the
characteristic time scale of quenching, a scenario that supports the
Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Interestingly, in the case of anisotropic quenching,
there exists an additional non-adiabatic transition, in comparison to the
transverse quenching case, with the corresponding probability peaking at an
incommensurate value of the wave vector. In the special case in which the
system passes through a multi-critical point, the defect density is found to
vary as . The von Neumann entropy of the final state is shown to
maximize at a quenching rate around which the ordering of the final state
changes from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
The Critically Endangered Forest Owlet Heteroglaux Blewitti is Nested Within the Currently Recognized Athene Clade: A Century-Old Debate Addressed
Range-restricted species generally have specific niche requirements and may often have unique evolutionary histories. Unfortunately, many of these species severely lack basic research, resulting in poor conservation strategies. The phylogenetic relationship of the Critically Endangered Forest Owlet Heteroglaux blewitti has been the subject of a century-old debate. The current classifications based on non-phylogenetic comparisons of morphology place the small owls of Asia into three genera, namely, Athene, Glaucidium, and Heteroglaux. Based on morphological and anatomical data, H. blewitti has been alternatively hypothesized to belong within Athene, Glaucidium, or its own monotypic genus Heteroglaux. To test these competing hypotheses, we sequenced six loci (~4300 bp data) and performed phylogenetic analyses of owlets. Mitochondrial and nuclear trees were not congruent in their placement of H. blewitti. However, both mitochondrial and nuclear combined datasets showed strong statistical support with high maximum likelihood bootstrap (\u3e/ = 90) and Bayesian posterior probability values (\u3e/ = 0.98) for H. blewitti being nested in the currently recognized Athene group, but not sister to Indian A. brama. The divergence of H. blewitti from its sister taxa was between 4.3 and 5.7 Ma coinciding with a period of drastic climatic changes in the Indian subcontinent. This study presented the first genetic analysis of H. blewitti, a Critically Endangered species, and addressed the long debate on the relationships of the Athene-Heteroglaux-Glaucidium complex. We recommend further studies with more data and complete taxon sampling to understand the biogeography of Indian Athene species
Defect production due to quenching through a multicritical point
We study the generation of defects when a quantum spin system is quenched
through a multicritical point by changing a parameter of the Hamiltonian as
, where is the characteristic time scale of quenching. We argue
that when a quantum system is quenched across a multicritical point, the
density of defects () in the final state is not necessarily given by the
Kibble-Zurek scaling form , where is the
spatial dimension, and and are respectively the correlation length
and dynamical exponent associated with the quantum critical point. We propose a
generalized scaling form of the defect density given by , where the exponent determines the behavior of the
off-diagonal term of the Landau-Zener matrix at the multicritical
point. This scaling is valid not only at a multicritical point but also at an
ordinary critical point.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, updated references and added one figur
Quenching through Dirac and semi-Dirac points in optical Lattices: Kibble-Zurek scaling for anisotropic Quantum-Critical systems
We propose that Kibble-Zurek scaling can be studied in optical lattices by
creating geometries that support, Dirac, Semi-Dirac and Quadratic Band
Crossings. On a Honeycomb lattice with fermions, as a staggered on-site
potential is varied through zero, the system crosses the gapless Dirac points,
and we show that the density of defects created scales as , where
is the inverse rate of change of the potential, in agreement with the
Kibble-Zurek relation. We generalize the result for a passage through a
semi-Dirac point in dimensions, in which spectrum is linear in parallel
directions and quadratic in rest of the perpendicular directions. We
find that the defect density is given by where
and are the dynamical exponents and the correlation
length exponents along the parallel and perpendicular directions, respectively.
The scaling relations are also generalized to the case of non-linear quenching
Genetic Polymorphism in the Serotonin Transporter Promoter Region and Ecological Success in Macaques
A well-characterised sequence length polymorphism in the serotonin transporter promoter region (5-HTTLPR) influences individual behavioural traits and cognitive abilities in humans and rhesus macaques. Macaques have been classified into four continuous grades on the basis of their behavioural attributes, ranging from highly hierarchical and nepotistic species to the most egalitarian and tolerant ones. A comparative study of several species
that spanned these grades revealed only rhesus macaques to be polymorphic at the 5-HTTLPR and concluded that the polymorphism was responsible for their despotic and aggressive behaviour (Wendland et al., Behav Genet 36:163–172, 2006). We studied wild populations of three other species and found that the egalitarian and tolerant bonnet and Arunachal macaques are also polymorphic while liontailed macaques, although belonging to the same group, are monomorphic. We thus reject a role for this particular polymorphism in interspecific behavioural variability and show that polymorphic species enjoy greater ecological success possibly due to their higher intraspecific variability in individual behavioural traits
Diagnostic biomarkers in ovarian cancer: advances beyond CA125 and HE4
Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynaecologic malignancy, attributed to its insidious growth, non-specific symptoms and late presentation. Unfortunately, current screening modalities are inadequate at detecting OC and many lack the appropriate specificity and sensitivity that is desired from a screening test. Nearly 70% of cases are diagnosed at stage III or IV with poor 5-year overall survival. Therefore, the development of a sensitive and specific biomarker for early diagnosis and screening for OC is of utmost importance. Currently, diagnosis is guided by CA125, the patient’s menopausal status and imaging features on ultrasound scan. However, emerging evidence suggests that a combination of CA125 and HE4 (another serum biomarker) and patient characteristics in a multivariate index assay may provide a higher specificity and sensitivity than either CA125 and HE4 alone in the early detection of OC. Other attempts at combining various serum biomarkers into one multivariate index assay such as OVA1, ROMA and Overa have all shown promise. However, significant barriers exist before these biomarkers can be implemented in clinical practice. This article aims to provide an up-to-date review of potential biomarkers for screening and early diagnosis of OC which may have the potential to transform its diagnostic landscape
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