First distributional report of Filinia camasecla Myers, 1938 (Rotifera: Eurotatoria: Monogononta) from peninsular India

This work reports the first distributional record of Filinia camasecla Myers, 1938 in south India from the Cochin backwaters on the northern stretch of Lake Vembanad. Earlier, the distribution of this species has been known from Oriental (South East-Asia) and Neotropical biogeographical realms. Though it comes under the oriental endemics no previous records of this species were available from this area or other parts of Vembanad backwaters. The occurrence of F. camasecla in this additional geographic region highlights the range extension of the species

Transcriptome analysis and identification of leaf, tuberous root and fibrous root tissue-specific high temperature stress-responsive genes in sweet potato

Sweet Potato is an important food crop, and its production is affected by environmental stresses, including high temperature. The gene expression patterns and molecular responses in different tissues of sweet potato under high temperature stress were studied using microarray data sets. Analysis revealed that modulation in the expression of key genes and pathways associated with various proteins including enzymes under high temperature stress in leaf, fibrous root and storage root tissues. Tissue-specific responses, with both common and unique cellular responses were observed among the tissues. Pathway analysis revealed the differential regulation of genes involved in DNA replication, metabolism, transport, signaling, and stress response during high temperature stress. Six genes viz., DnaJ-domain protein (IpDnaJ), nuclear protein (IpELF5), heat shock protein 90.1 (IpHsp90.1), ABC   transporter   (IpABC)   hydrolase (IpNUDX1)   and alternative oxidase 1a (IpAO1a), were up-regulated in the leaf, fibrous root and tuberous root tissues. These six genes might play an important role in imparting high temperature stress tolerance in the leaf, fibrous root and tuberous root tissues of sweet potato. The information generated provides valuable insights on leaf, tuberous root and fibrous root tissue-specific high temperature stress-responsive genes in sweet potato. These datasets will be helpful in selecting candidate genes and pathways for further functional and genomic analyses, facilitating the genetic improvement of sweet potato with enhanced stress tolerance

Comparison of Z-Source Inverter Fed Induction Motor with Traditional Source Inverter Systems

Abstract: This study presents an impedance-source inverter fed (or Z-source converter) induction motor and its control characteristics compared with other traditional inverters. The impedance source inverter employs a unique impedance network coupled with inverter and rectifier; it overcomes the conceptual barriers and limitations of the traditional voltage-source converter (abbreviated as V-source converter) and current-source converter (abbreviated as I-source converter). By controlling the shoot-through duty cycle, the z-source inverter system provide ride-through capability during voltage sags, reduces line harmonics, improves power factor and extends output voltage range. Analysis and simulation results are presented to demonstrate these features

CFD Analysis of Water Flow Behaviour Inside a Falcon Bowl

In mineral processing, techniques like classification; gravity concentration, thickening etc. require extensive understanding on fluid flow characteistics and relative movement of solids in fluids. The complexities in the geometries of the individual operations along with variable feed characteristics and limited computational facilities forced the researchers to optimize the performance through empirical. Though they are very useful in the mineral industry for a long time, better insight on the process physics can be achieved through computational based fluid dynamics modeling, design and simulation. Out standing developments in the computational facilities in the recent past have opened up avenues for process design and simulation through these techniques. The present study is an attempt to simulate the mechanism of water flow inside a rotating Falcon Concentrator bowl using a commercially available CFD package Fluent

Long term safety, efficacy and clinical outcomes of transobturator tension free tape (inside-out technique) in women with stress urinary incontinence

Background: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is commonly encountered in Gynaecological practice. The management of stress urinary incontinence underwent a paradigm shift with focus changing from bladder neck suspension to support of mid urethra in the last two decades. The aim of our study is to know the safety, efficacy, subjective and objective outcomes of Transobturator Tension Free Tape (TOT) (in-out technique) in women with Stress urinary incontinence.Methods: This is a prospective study conducted in the departments of Gynaecology and Urology at Maharajah’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Nellimerla, Vizianagaram district, Andhra Pradesh, India. 62 patients were treated with Tension Free Trans-obturator tape with inside-out technique using polypropylene mesh. This study was conducted from June 2012 to May 2014. These women were followed up annually for a period of 3 years af-ter surgery. 3 year subjective and objective outcomes were assessed. Subjective outcome is defined as no loss or leak of urine on physical activity and objective outcome is defined as negative Pad test.Results: The subjective and objective cure rates were 91.93% and 95.16% respectively.Conclusions: Transobturator Tension free Tape is an effective treatment for Stress urinary in-continence in women providing high subjective and objective efficacy upto 3 years after surgery

Studies on the ketocarotenoid pigments in the sea urchin gonads of Stomopneustes variolaris from the Mandapam Coast of Gulf of Mannar

Sea urchin gonads of Stomopneustes variolaris is a delicacy in many parts of the world. The bright yellow orange colour of the gonad derives from the carotenoids pigments and an important organoleptic criterion for its quality. The major carotenoids naturally found in sea urchins are β-carotene, α-carotene, β-echinenone, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, lutein, astaxanthin, diatoxanthin, fucoxanthin and alloxanthin. In the present study sea urchin S.variolaris was collected along the Mandapam coast following the lunar phase during pre-monsoon period and they were subjected to the pigment analysis

Fishery for cephalopods using Fish Aggregating Device off Blangad in Kerala

Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) is being deployed off Blangad a small coastal village in Chavakkad, Thrissur district of Kerala, for catching squids and cuttlefishes. The FADs are made up of coconut spadix (locally known as Kolanjil), plastic bottles, nylon ropes, pieces of fishing nets and sacks containing large quantities of sand. This structure is locally known as Norumbu and fishermen from Colachel and Kanyakumari are mainly involved with this activity. The coconut spadix tied with nylon ropes and plastic bottles as float have sacks filled with sand as anchors (Figs. 1 & 2). This structure errected in the sea in identified sites at a distance of 20-44 km from shore and having 30-50 fathom depth, acts as an aggregating device, especially for cephalopods. The fishers record its position on their Global Position System (GPS) unit and after 5 days arrive to operate hooks & lines (Fig.3). Fishing season is from October-May and during the peak season, around 200 fibre boats are operating from Blangad. Most of the boats are fitted with 2 numbers of 9 hp outboard engines. A tractor is used for hauling the boat to the beac

Comparative Analysis of common Edge Detection Algorithms using Pre-processing Technique

Edge detection is the process of segmenting an image by detecting discontinuities in brightness. So far, several standard segmentation methods have been widely used for edge detection. However, due to inherent quality of images, these methods prove ineffective if they are applied without any preprocessing. In this paper, an image preprocessing approach has been adopted in order to get certain parameters that are useful to perform better edge detection with the standard edge detection methods. The proposed preprocessing approach involves median filtering to reduce the noise in image and then Edge Detection technique is carried out. And atlast Standard edge detection methods can be applied to the resultant preprocessing image and its Simulation results are show that our preprocessed approach when used with a standard edge detection method enhances its performance

Characterization Studies on Lead-Zinc Tailings from Rampura-Agucha Mines

The process tailings of base metal industries contain considerable amounts of acid generating 'pyrite and sul-fides of other minerals. The recovery of sulfide minerals from the tailings not only will have environmental advan-tage but will also result in conservation of mineral wealth.For any such recovery activity, it is essential to characterize the tailings for physical, chemical and mineralogical characteristics. In the present study, typi-cal lead-zinc tailings sample from the operating plant at Rampura-Agucha mines of Hindustan Zinc Limited was collec-ted and characterized for size distribution, size by size chemical composition and mineral phase analysis through X-ray diffraction method. The size-by-size metal contents indicated increasing levels of silver and pyrite with decreasing particle size and the lead and zinc bearing minerals are segregated at relatively coarser size fract-ions. Microscopic studies of the coarser fractions have indicated that the lead and zinc minerals are in unliber-ated form. The XRD study has indicated that quartz is the major mineral phase followed by pyrite, sphalerite, galena and silver. The overall tailings sample was found to cont-ain 19.41% of pyrite, 2.02 % of zinc, 0.69 % lead, and 26.94 ppm of silver contents

MGS Studies for Recovering Iron and Silver Values from Lead-Zinc Tailings

In mineral processing plants valuable minerals are recovered by rejecting gangue materials through various physical processing techniques to produce high-grade concentrate. However, after processing these ores, the tailings generated contain considerable amount of valua-bles because of inefficient of process plant or due to fluctuations in the mineralogical composition of the ore. Therefore, recovery of these valuable minerals is prerequisite from environmental and mineral conservation point of views